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diff --git a/44253-0.txt b/44253-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c27e099 --- /dev/null +++ b/44253-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5439 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44253 *** + + 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. II. + + LONDON: + + HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. + + 1829. + + LONDON: + + PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, + Dorset Street, Fleet Street. + + + + + RICHELIEU. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + The motto of which should be "Out of the frying-pan into the fire." + + +The jingle of Claude de Blenau's spurs, as he descended with a quick +step the staircase of the Palais Cardinal, told as plainly as a pair of +French spurs could tell, that his heart was lightened of a heavy load +since he had last tried their ascent; and the spring of his foot, as he +leaped upon his horse, spoke much of renewed hope, and banished +apprehension. + +But the Devil of it is--(for I must use that homely but happy +expression)--the Devil of it is, that the rebound of hope raises us as +much above the level of truth, as the depression of fear sinks us below +it: and De Blenau, striking his spurs into the sides of his horse, +cantered off towards St. Germain as gaily as if all doubt and danger +were over, and began to look upon bastilles, tortures, and racks, with +all the other et-cetera of Richelieu's government, as little better than +chimeras of the imagination, with which he had nothing farther to do. + +Hope sets off at a hand gallop, Consideration soon contents herself with +a more moderate pace, and Doubt is reduced, at best, to a slow trot. +Thus, as De Blenau began to reflect, he unconsciously drew in the bridle +of his horse; and before he had proceeded one league on the way to St. +Germain's, the marks of deep thought were evident both in the pace of +the courser and the countenance of the rider; De Blenau knitting his +brow and biting his lip, as the various dangers that surrounded him +crossed his mind; and the gentle barb, seemingly animated by the same +spirit as his master, bending his arched neck and throwing out his feet +with as much consideration as if the firm _Chemin de St. Germain_ had +been no better than a quagmire. + +De Blenau well knew that even in France a man might smile, and smile, +and be a villain; and that the fair words of Richelieu too often +preceded his most remorseless actions. He remembered also the warning of +Mademoiselle de Bourbon, and felt too strongly how insecure a warranty +was conscious innocence for his safety; but still he possessed that sort +of chivalrous pride which made him look upon flight as degrading under +any circumstances, and more especially so when the danger was most +apparent. Like the lion, he might have slowly avoided the hunters while +unattacked; but once pressed by the chace, he turned to resist or to +suffer. Such was the quality of his mind; and in the present instance he +resolved to await his fate with firmness, whatsoever that fate might +be. + +I know not whether an author, like an Old Bailey witness, be, by the +laws in that case made and provided, obliged to tell, on every occasion, +not only the truth, but the whole truth: however, lest I should offend +against any known or unknown statute, be it remarked, that the whole +credit due to the determination of De Blenau is not to be attributed to +that great and magnanimous quality, called by some persons _undaunted +resolution_, and by others _fool-hardiness_; for in this as in almost +every other proceeding of the human heart, there were two or three +little personal motives which mingled with all his ideas, and, without +his knowing any thing about it, brought his reasoning to the conclusion +aforesaid. + +Of these little motives I shall only pick out one as a specimen; but +this one in the breast of a young man of five and twenty, living in a +romantic age, and blest with a romantic disposition, may be considered +all sufficient. Now if it should be love!--As I write this volume +entirely for ladies, we are all agreed.--Love it was! and who is there +that will presume to say, Claude de Blenau was not completely justified +in resolving to hazard all, rather than part with Pauline de Beaumont? + +As long as any hesitation had remained in the mind of De Blenau, he had +proceeded, as we have seen, with a slow unequal pace; but the moment his +determination was fixed, his thoughts turned towards St. Germain's, and +all his ideas concentrating into one of those daydreams, that every +young heart is fond to indulge, he spurred on his horse, eager to +realize some, at least, of the bright promises which hope so liberally +held forth. It was late, however, before he arrived at the end of his +journey, and internally cursing the etiquette which required him to +change his dress before he could present himself at the Palace, he sent +forward his Page to announce his return, and beg an audience of the +Queen. + +His toilet was not long, and without waiting for the boy's return, he +set out on foot, hoping to join the Queen's circle before it separated +for the evening. In this he was disappointed. Anne of Austria was alone; +and though her eyes sparkled with gladness for his unexpected return, +and her reception was as kind as his good services required, De Blenau +would have been better pleased to have been welcomed by other lips. + +"I could scarce credit the news till I saw you, _mon Chambellan_," said +the Queen, extending her hand for him to kiss; "nor can I truly believe +it is you that I behold even now. How have you escaped from that +dreadful man?" + +"I will tell your Majesty all that has happened," replied the Count; +"and as I have a boon to ask, I think I must represent my sufferings in +your Majesty's cause in the most tremendous colours. But without a jest, +I have had little to undergo beyond a forced attendance at the +Cardinal's fête, where the only hard word I received was from L'Angeli, +the Duke of Enghien's fool, who, seeing my riding-dress, asked if I were +Puss in Boots." De Blenau then shortly related all that had occurred +during his stay in Paris. "And thus, Madam," he added, "you see that +Chavigni has kept his word; for had it not been for that promise, I +doubt not I should have been even now comfortably lodged in the +Bastille, with a table at his Majesty's expense." + +The Queen mused for a moment without making any reply; but from her +countenance it seemed that she was not a little troubled by what she had +heard. + +"De Blenau," said she at length, in a calm but melancholy voice, "there +is something concealed here. The Cardinal has deeper plans in view. As +Marie de Bourbon told you, they are plotting my ruin. When first I +entered France, that man of blood and treachery resolved to make me his +slave. He flattered my tastes, he prevented my wishes, like an insidious +serpent he wound himself into my confidence; and I was weak enough to +dream that my husband's minister was my best friend. With as much vanity +as insolence, he mistook condescension for love. He sought his +opportunity, and dared to insult my ears with his wishes. I need not +tell you, De Blenau, what was my reply; but it was such as stung him to +the soul. He rose from where he had been kneeling at my feet, and +threatened such vengeance, that, as he said, my whole life should be one +long succession of miseries. Too truly has he kept his word."--The Queen +paused, and as was often her custom when any circumstance called her +memory back to the bitter events of her past life, fell into a deep +reverie, from which it was not easy to rouse her. + +"Too much of this," said she at length; "we must look to the present, De +Blenau. As the mother of two princes, Richelieu both hates and fears me; +and I see that they are plotting my ruin. But yours shall not be +involved therein.--De Blenau, you must fly till this storm has passed +by." + +"Pardon me, madam," replied the Count, "but in this I cannot yield your +Majesty that obedience I would willingly show under any other +circumstances. I cannot, I must not fly. My own honour, madam, requires +that I should stay; for if flight be not construed into an evidence of +guilt, it may at least be supposed a sign of cowardice." + +"Indeed, indeed! De Blenau," said the Queen, earnestly, "you must do as +I require; nay," she added, with a mixture of sweetness and dignity, "as +I command. If they can prove against you that you have forwarded letters +from me to my brother the King of Spain, they will bring you to the +block, and will most likely ruin me." + +"I trust to the promise your Majesty gave me when first I undertook to +have those letters conveyed to your royal brother King Philip," answered +De Blenau: "you then pledged to me your word that they were alone of a +domestic nature, and that they should always continue so, without ever +touching upon one subject of external or internal policy, so that my +allegiance to my king, and my duty to my country, should alike remain +pure and inviolate. I doubt not that your Majesty has pointedly kept +this promise; and De Blenau will never fly, while he can lay his hand +upon his heart and feel himself innocent." + +"Yes, but remember, my good youth," replied the Queen, "that this +Cardinal,--my husband's tyrant rather than his subject,--has commanded +me, his Queen, to forbear all correspondence with my brother, and has +narrowly watched me to prevent that very communication between Philip +and myself, which your kindness has found means to procure. Remember too +his remorseless nature; and then judge whether he will spare the man who +has rendered his precautions vain." + +"Madam," replied De Blenau, "I do not fear; nothing shall make me fly. +Though there be no bounds to what the Cardinal dare attempt, yet his +power does not extend to make me a coward!" + +"But for my sake," still persevered Anne of Austria, labouring to +persuade him to a measure on which she too well knew his safety +depended. "Remember, that if there be proved against me even so small a +crime as having sent those letters, my ruin is inevitable, and there are +modes of torture which will wrench a secret from the most determined +constancy." + +"I fear me," replied De Blenau, "that some act of mine must have much +degraded me in your Majesty's opinion." + +"No, no, my friend!" said the Queen; "not so indeed,--I do not doubt you +in the least: but I would fain persuade you, De Blenau, to that which I +know is best and safest." + +"Your Majesty has now given me the strongest reasons for my stay," +replied De Blenau, with a smile; "I have now the means of proving my +fidelity to you, and nothing shall tempt me to leave you at this moment. +But in the mean time there is one favour I have to request." + +"Name it," replied, the Queen: "indeed, De Blenau, you might command +it." + +"Your Majesty is too good," said the Count. "I will make my story as +brief as possible, but I must explain to you, that Mademoiselle de +Beaumont and myself were plighted to each other when very young." + +"I know it, I know it all," interrupted the Queen, "and that you love +each other still; and believe me, my dear De Blenau, neither time nor +disappointment has so frozen my heart that I cannot enter warmly into +all you feel. Perhaps you never discovered that Anne of Austria was an +enthusiast.--But tell me, what difficulty has occurred between you?" + +"Why, in truth, Madam," answered De Blenau, "the difficulty arises with +your Majesty." + +"With me!" cried the Queen. "With me, De Blenau! impossible! Nothing +could give me more pleasure than to see your union. This Pauline of +yours is one of the sweetest girls that ever I beheld; and with all her +native un-bought graces, she looks amongst the rest of the court like a +wild rose in a flower-garden,--not so cultivated, in truth, but more +simply elegant, and sweeter than them all." + +Those who say that all is selfishness, let them tell me how it is that +one simple word in praise of those we love, will give a thousand times +more pleasure than the warmest commendation of ourselves. + +De Blenau's heart beat, and his eye sparkled, and he paused a moment ere +he could reply; nor indeed were his first sentences very distinct. He +said a great deal about her Majesty's goodness,--and his own +happiness,--and Pauline's excellence; all in that sort of confused way, +which would make it appear simple nonsense were it written down; but +which very clearly conveyed to the Queen how much he loved Pauline, and +how much obliged he was to her Majesty for praising her. + +After this, he entered rather more regularly into a detail of those +circumstances which had induced Mademoiselle de Beaumont to suspect him. +"The point which seems to affect her most," continued De Blenau, "is the +visit with which Mademoiselle de Hauteford honoured me by your Majesty's +command, in order to receive from me the last letter from your Majesty +to the King of Spain, which I was unhappily prevented from forwarding +by my late wounds. Now this, as affecting the character of the Lady your +Majesty employed in the business, does certainly require some +explanation. In regard to every thing else, Pauline will, I feel sure, +consider my word sufficient." + +"Oh, leave it all to me, leave it all to me!" exclaimed the Queen, +laughing. "What! jealous already is she, fair maid? But fear not, De +Blenau. Did she know you as well as I do, she would doubt herself sooner +than De Blenau. However, I undertake to rob the rose of its thorn for +you, and leave love without jealousy. A woman is very easily convinced +where she loves, and it will be hard if I cannot show her that she has +been in the wrong. But take no unworthy advantage of it, De Blenau," she +continued; "for a woman's heart will not hesitate at trifles, when she +wishes to make reparation to a man she loves." + +"All the advantage I could ever wish to take," replied the Count, +"would be, to claim her hand without delay." + +"Nay, nay--that is but a fair advantage," said the Queen. "Yet," +continued she, after a moment's pause, "it were not wise to draw the +eyes of suspicion upon us at this moment. But there are such things as +private marriages, De Blenau."-- + +There was no small spice of romance in the character of Anne of Austria; +and this, on more than one occasion, led her into various circumstances +of danger, affecting both herself and the state. Of an easy and generous +spirit, she always became the partisan of the oppressed, and any thing +that interested or excited her feelings, was certain to meet +encouragement and support, however chimerical or hazardous; while plans +of more judgment and propriety were either totally discountenanced, or +improperly pursued. This appeared through her whole life, but more +especially at an after period, when the Government fell into her own +hands, and when, like a child with some fine and complicated machine, +she played with the engine of the state, till she deranged all its +functions. + +It was, perhaps, this spirit of romance, more than any political +consideration, which, in the present instance, made her suggest to the +Count de Blenau the idea of a private marriage with Pauline de Beaumont; +and he, as ardent as herself, and probably as romantic, caught eagerly +at a proposal which seemed to promise a more speedy union with the +object of his love, than was compatible with all the tedious ceremonies +and wearisome etiquette attendant upon a court-marriage of that day. + +"I shall not see your Pauline to-night," said the Queen, continuing the +conversation which this proposal had induced. "She excused herself +attending my evening circle, on account of a slight indisposition; but +to-morrow I will explain every thing on your part, and propose to her +myself what we have agreed upon." + +"She is not ill, I trust?" said De Blenau. + +"Oh no!" replied the Queen, smiling at the anxiety of his look, "not +enough even to alarm a lover, I believe." + +This answer, however, was not sufficient for De Blenau, and taking leave +of the Queen, he sent for one of Madame de Beaumont's servants, through +whose intervention he contrived to obtain an audience of no less a +person than Louise, Pauline's _suivante_. Now Louise was really a pretty +woman, and doubtless her face might have claimed remembrance from many a +man who had nothing else to think of. De Blenau remembered it too, but +without any reference to its beauty, which, indeed, he had never stayed +to inquire into. + +It must be remembered, that the morning previous to his journey to +Paris, the moment before he was joined by Chavigni, his eye had been +attracted by that nobleman, engaged in earnest conversation with a girl, +habited in the dress of dear Languedoc; and he now found in the +_soubrette_ of Mademoiselle de Beaumont, the very individual he had seen +in such circumstances. All this did not very much enhance the regard of +De Blenau towards Louise; and he satisfied himself with a simple inquiry +concerning her mistress's health, adding a slight recommendation to +herself, to take care whom she gossiped with while she remained at St. +Germain, conveyed in that stately manner, which made Louise resolve to +hate him most cordially for the rest of her life, and declare that he +was not half so nice a gentleman as Monsieur de Chavigni, who was a +counsellor into the bargain. + +After a variety of confused dreams, concerning queens and cardinals, +bastilles and private marriages, De Blenau woke to enjoy one of those +bright mornings which often shine out in the first of autumn,--memorials +of summer, when summer itself is gone. It was too early to present +himself at the Palace; but he had now a theme on which his thoughts were +not unwilling to dwell, and therefore as soon as he was dressed, he +sauntered out, most lover-like, into the Park, occupied with the hope of +future happiness, and scarcely sensible of any external thing, save the +soothing influence of the morning air, and the cheerful hum of +awakening nature. + +As time wore on, however,--and, probably, it did so faster than he +fancied,--his attention was called towards the Palace by an unusual +degree of bustle and activity amongst the attendants, who were now seen +passing to and fro along the terrace, with all the busy haste of a nest +of emmets disturbed in their unceasing industry. + +His curiosity being excited, he quitted the principal alley in which he +had been walking, and ascending the flight of steps leading to the +terrace, entered the Palace by the small door of the left wing. As none +of the servants immediately presented themselves, he proceeded by one of +the side staircases to the principal saloon, where he expected to meet +some of the _valets de chambre_, who generally at that hour awaited the +rising of the Queen. + +On opening the door, however, he was surprised to find Anne of Austria, +already risen, together with the Dauphin and the young Duke of Anjou, +the principal ladies of the court, and several menial attendants, all +habited in travelling costume; while various trunk-mails, saddle-bags, +portmanteaus, &c. lay about the room; some already stuffed to the gorge +with their appropriate contents, and others opening their wide jaws to +receive whatever their owners chose to cram them withal. + +As soon as De Blenau entered this scene of unprincely confusion, the +quick eyes of Anne of Austria lighted upon him, and, advancing from the +group of ladies to whom she had been speaking, she seemed surprised to +see him in the simple morning costume of the court. + +"Why, De Blenau!" exclaimed she, "we wait for you, and you have neither +boots nor cloak. Have you not seen the Page I sent to you?" + +"No, indeed, Madam," replied De Blenau; "but having loitered in the Park +some time, I have probably thus missed receiving your commands." + +"Then you have not heard," said the Queen, "we have been honoured this +morning by a summons to join the King at Chantilly." + +"Indeed!" rejoined De Blenau thoughtfully, "What should this mean, I +wonder? It is strange! Richelieu was to be there last night: so I heard +it rumoured yesterday in Paris." + +"I fear me," answered the Queen, in a low tone, "that the storm is about +to burst upon our head. A servant informs me, that riding this morning, +shortly after sunrise, near that small open space which separates this, +the forest of Laye, from the great wood of Mantes, he saw a large party +of the Cardinal's guard winding along towards the wooden bridge, at +which we usually cross the river." + +"Oh I think nothing of that," replied the Count. "Your Majesty must +remember, that this Cardinal has his men scattered all over the +country:--but, at all events, we can take the stone bridge farther down. +At what time does your Majesty depart? I will but pay my compliments to +these ladies, and then go to command the attendance of my train, which +will at all events afford some sort of escort." + +During this dialogue, the Queen had looked from time to time towards the +group of ladies who remained in conversation at the other end of the +apartment; and with that unsteadiness of thought peculiar to her +character, she soon forgot all her fears and anxieties, as she saw the +dark eye of Pauline de Beaumont wander every now and then with a furtive +glance towards De Blenau, and then suddenly fall to the ground, or fix +upon vacancy, as if afraid of being caught in such employment. + +Easily reading every line expressive of a passion to which she had once +been so susceptible, the Queen turned with a playful smile to De Blenau. +"Come," said she, "I will save you the trouble of paying your +compliments to more than one of those ladies, and she shall stand your +proxy to all the rest. Pauline--Mademoiselle de Beaumont," she +continued, raising her voice, "come hither, Flower! I would speak a word +with you." + +Pauline came forward--not unhappy in truth, but with the blood rushing +up into her cheeks and forehead, till timidity became actual pain, while +the clear cold blue eye of Mademoiselle de Hauteford followed her across +the room, as if she wondered at feelings she herself had apparently +never experienced. + +De Blenau advanced and held out his hand. Pauline instantly placed hers +in it, and in the confusion of the moment laid the other upon it also. + +"Well," said the Queen with a smile, "De Blenau, you must be satisfied +now. Nay, be not ashamed, Pauline; it is all right, and pure, and +natural." + +"I am not ashamed, Madam," replied Pauline, seeming to gain courage from +the touch of her lover; "I have done De Blenau wrong in ever doubting +one so good and so noble as he is: but he will forgive me now, I know, +and I will never do him wrong again." + +I need not proceed farther with all this. De Blenau and Pauline enjoyed +one or two moments of unmingled happiness, and then the Queen reminded +them that he had yet to dress for his journey, and to prepare his +servants to accompany the carriages. This, however, was soon done, and +in less than half an hour De Blenau rejoined the party in the saloon of +the Palace. + +"Now, De Blenau," said the Queen, as soon as she saw him, "you are +prepared for travelling at all points. For once be ruled, and instead of +accompanying me to Chantilly, make the best of your way to Franche +Comté, or to Flanders, for I much fear that the Cardinal has not yet +done with you. I will take care of your interests while you are gone, +even better than I would my own; and I promise you that as soon as you +are in safety, Madame De Beaumont and Pauline shall follow you, and you +may be happy surely, though abroad, for a few short years, till +Richelieu's power or his life be passed away." + +De Blenau smiled. "Nay, nay," replied he, "that would not be like a +gallant Knight and true, either to desert my Queen or my Lady Love. +Besides, I am inclined to believe that this journey to Chantilly bodes +us good rather than harm. For near three months past, the King has been +there almost alone with Cinq Mars, who is as noble a heart as e'er the +world produced, and is well affected towards your Majesty.--So I am +looking forward to brighter days." + +"Well, we shall see," said the Queen, with a doubtful shake of the head. +"You are young, De Blenau, and full of hopes--all _that_ has passed away +with me.--Now let us go. I have ordered the carriages to wait at the end +of the terrace, and we will walk thither:--perhaps it may be the last +time I shall ever see my favourite walk; for who knows if any of us will +ever return?" + +With these melancholy anticipations, the Queen took the arm of Madame de +Beaumont, and, followed by the rest, led the way to the terrace, from +which was to be seen the vast and beautiful view extending from St. +Germain's over Paris to the country beyond, taking in all the windings +of the river Seine, with the rich woods through which it flowed. + +The light mists of an autumnal morning still hung about the various +dells and slopes, softening, but not obscuring the landscape; and every +now and then the sunbeams would catch upon a tower or a spire in the +distant landscape, and create a glittering spot amidst the dark brown +woods round about. + +It is ever a bright scene, that view from St. Germain, and many have +been the royal and the fair, and the noble, whose feet have trod the +terrace of Henry the Fourth; but seldom, full seldom, has there been +there, a group of greater loveliness or honour than that which then +followed Anne of Austria from the Palace. The melancholy which hung over +the whole party took from them any wish for farther conversation, than a +casual comment upon the beauties of the view; and thus they walked on +nearly in silence, till they had approached within a few hundred yards +of the extremity, where they were awaited by the carriages prepared for +the Queen and her ladies, together with the attendants of De Blenau. + +At that moment the quick clanging step of armed men was heard following, +and all with one impulse turned to see who it was that thus seemed to +pursue them. + +The party which had excited their attention, consisted of a soldier-like +old man, who seemed to have ridden hard, and half-a-dozen chasseurs of +the guard, who followed him at about ten or twelve paces distance. + +"It is the Count de Thiery," said De Blenau; "I know him well: as good +an old soldier as ever lived." + +Notwithstanding De Blenau's commendation, Anne of Austria appeared +little satisfied with the Count's approach, and continued walking on +towards the carriages with a degree of anxiety in her eye, which +speedily communicated feelings of the same kind to her attendants. +Pauline, unacquainted with the intrigues and anxieties of the court, saw +from the countenances of all around that something was to be +apprehended; and magnifying the danger from uncertainty in regard to its +nature, she instinctively crept close to De Blenau, as certain of +finding protection there. + +Judging at once the cause of De Thiery's coming, De Blenau drew the arm +of Pauline through his, and lingered a step behind, while the rest of +the party proceeded. + +"Dear Pauline!" said he, in a low but firm tone of voice, "my own +Pauline! prepare yourself for what is coming! I think you will find that +this concerns me. If so, farewell! and remember, whatever be my fate, +that De Blenau has loved you ever faithfully, and will love you till his +last hour--Beyond that--God only knows! but if ever human affection +passed beyond the tomb, my love for you will endure in another state." + +By this time they had reached the steps, at the bottom of which the +carriages were in waiting, and at the same moment the long strides of +the Count de Thiery had brought him to the same spot. + +"Well, Monsieur de Thiery!" said Anne of Austria, turning sharp round, +and speaking in that shrill tone which her voice assumed whenever she +was agitated either by fear or anger; "your haste implies bad news. Does +your business lie with me?" + +"No, so please your Majesty," replied the old soldier; "no farther than +to wish you a fair journey to Chantilly, and to have the pleasure of +seeing your Majesty to your carriage." + +The Queen paused, and regarded the old man for a moment with a steady +eye, while he looked down upon the ground and played with the point of +his grey beard, in no very graceful embarrassment. + +"Very well!" replied she at length; "you, Monsieur de Thiery, shall hand +me to my carriage. So, De Blenau, I shall not need your attendance. +Mount your horse and ride on." + +"Pardon me, your Majesty," said De Thiery, stepping forward with an air +of melancholy gravity, but from which all embarrassment was now +banished. "Monsieur de Blenau," he continued, "I have a most unpleasant +task to accomplish: I am sorry to say you must give me up your sword; +but be assured that you render it to a man of honour, who will keep it +as a precious and invaluable charge, till he can give it back to that +hand, which he is convinced will always use it nobly." + +"I foresaw it plainly!" cried the Queen, and turned away her head. +Pauline clasped her hands and burst into tears: but amongst the +attendants of De Blenau, who during this conversation had one by one +mounted the steps of the terrace, there was first a whisper, then a loud +murmur, then a shout of indignation, and in a moment a dozen swords were +gleaming in the sunshine. + +Old De Thiery laid his hand upon his weapon, but De Blenau stopped him +in his purpose. + +"Silence!" cried he in a voice of thunder; "Traitors, put up your +swords!--My good friends," added he, in a gentler tone, as he saw +himself obeyed, "those swords, which have before so well defended their +master, must never be drawn in a cause that De Blenau could blush to +own. Monsieur le Comte de Thiery," he continued, unbuckling his weapon, +"I thank you for the handsome manner in which you have performed a +disagreeable duty. I do not ask to see the _lettre de cachet_, which, of +course, you bear; for in giving you the sword of an honourable man, I +know I could not place it in better hands; and now, having done so, +allow me to lead her Majesty to her carriage, and I will then follow you +whithersoever you may have commands to bear me." + +"Most certainly," replied De Thiery, receiving his sword; "I wait your +own time, and will remain here till you are at leisure." + +De Blenau led the Queen to the carriage in silence, and having handed +her in, he kissed the hand she extended to him, begging her to rely upon +his honour and firmness. He next gave his hand to Pauline de Beaumont, +down whose cheeks the tears were streaming unrestrained. "Farewell, +dear Pauline! farewell!" he said. Her sobs prevented her answer, but her +hand clasped upon his with a fond and lingering pressure, which spoke +more to his heart than the most eloquent adieu. + +Madame de Beaumont came next, and embraced him warmly. "God protect you, +my son!" said she, "for your heart is a noble one." + +Mademoiselle de Hauteford followed, greeting De Blenau with a calm cold +smile and a graceful bow; and the rest of the royal suite having placed +themselves in other carriages, the cavalcade moved on. De Blenau stood +till they were gone. Raising his hat, he bowed with an air of unshaken +dignity as the Queen passed, and then turning to the terrace, he took +the arm of the Count de Thiery, and returned a prisoner to the Palace. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Which gives an example of "The way to keep him." + + +"Well, Sir," said De Blenau, smiling with feelings mingled of melancholy +resignation to his fate and proud disdain for his enemies, "imprisonment +is too common a lot, now-a-days, to be matter of surprise, even where it +falls on the most innocent. Our poor country, France, seems to have +become one great labyrinth, with the Bastille in the centre, and all the +roads terminating there. I suppose that such is my destination." + +"I am sorry to say it is," replied his companion. "My orders are to +carry you thither direct; but I hope that your sojourn will not be long +within its walls. Without doubt, you will soon be able to clear +yourself." + +"I must first know of what I am accused," replied the Count. "If they +cry in my case, as in that of poor Clement Marot, _Prenez le, il a mangé +le lard_, I shall certainly plead guilty; but I know of no state crime +which I have committed, except eating meat on a Friday.--It is as well, +perhaps, Monsieur de Thiery," continued he, falling into a graver tone, +"to take these things lightly. I cannot imagine that the Cardinal means +me harm; for he must well know that I have done nothing to deserve ill, +either from my King or my country. Pray God his Eminence's breast be as +clear as mine!" + +"Umph!" cried the old soldier, with a meaning shake of the head, "I +should doubt that, De Blenau. You have neither had time nor occasion to +get it so choked up as doubtless his must be.--But these are bad +subjects to talk upon: though I swear to Heaven, Sir Count, that when I +was sent upon this errand, I would have given a thousand livres to have +found that you had been wise enough to set out last night for some other +place." + +"Innocence makes one incautious," replied De Blenau; "but I will own, I +was surprised to find that the business had been put upon you." + +"So was I," rejoined the other. "I was astonished, indeed, when I +received the _lettre de cachet_. But a soldier has nothing to do but to +obey, Monsieur de Blenau. It is true, I one time thought to make an +excuse; but, on reflection, I found that it would do you no good, and +that some one might be sent to whom you would less willingly give your +sword than to old De Thiery. But here we are at the Palace, Sir. There +is a carriage in waiting; will you take any refreshment before you go?" + +The prospect of imprisonment for an uncertain period, together with a +few little evils, such as torture, and death, in the perspective, had +not greatly increased De Blenau's appetite, and he declined accepting +the Count de Thiery's offer, but requested that his Page might be +allowed to accompany him to Paris. The orders of Richelieu, however, +were strict in this respect, and De Thiery was obliged to refuse. "But," +added he, "if the boy has wit, he may smuggle himself into the Bastille +afterwards. Let him wait for a day or two, and then crave of the gaoler +to see you. The prison is not kept so close as those on the outside of +it imagine. I have been in more than once myself to see friends who have +been confined there. There was poor La Forte, who was afterwards +beheaded, and the Chevalier de Caply, who is in there still. I have seen +them both in the Bastille." + +"You will never see the Chevalier de Caply again," replied De Blenau, +shuddering at the remembrance of his fate. "He died yesterday morning +under the torture." + +"_Grand Dieu!_" exclaimed De Thiery; "this Cardinal Prime Minister +stands on no ceremonies. Here are five of my friends he has made away +with in six months. There was La Forte, whom I mentioned just now, and +Boissy, and De Reineville, and St. Cheron; and now, you tell me, Caply +too; and if you should chance to be beheaded, or die under the torture, +you will be the sixth." + +"You are kind in your anticipations, Sir," replied De Blenau, smiling at +the old man's bluntness, yet not particularly enjoying the topic. "But +having done nothing to merit such treatment, I hope I shall not be added +to your list." + +"I hope not, I hope not!" exclaimed De Thiery, "God forbid! I think, in +all probability, you will escape with five or six weeks imprisonment: +and what is that?" + +"Why, no great matter, if considered philosophically," answered De +Blenau, thoughtfully. "And yet, Monsieur de Thiery, liberty is a great +thing. The very freedom of walking amidst all the beauties of the vast +creation, of wandering at our will from one perfection to another, is +not to be lost without a sigh. But it is not that alone--the sense, the +feeling of liberty, is too innately dear to the soul of man to be parted +with as a toy." + +While De Blenau thus spoke, half reasoning with himself, half addressing +his conversation to the old soldier by his side, who, by long service, +had been nearly drilled into a machine, and could not, consequently, +enter fully into the feelings of his more youthful companion, the +carriage which was to convey them to Paris was brought round to the gate +of the Palace at which they stood. Figure to yourself, my dearly beloved +reader, a vehicle in which our good friend, the Giant Magog, of +Guildhall, could have stood upright; its long sides bending inwards with +a graceful sweep, like the waist of Sir Charles Grandison in his best +and stiffest coat; and then conceive all this mounted upon an +interminable perch, connecting the heavy pairs of wheels, which, +straggling and far apart, looked like two unfortunate hounds coupled +together against their will, and eternally struggling to get away from +each other. Such was the _chaise roulante_ which stood at the gate of +the Palace, ready to convey the prisoner to Paris. + +The preparations that had been made for De Blenau's journey to +Chantilly, now served for this less agreeable expedition; and the +various articles which he conceived would be necessary to his comfort, +were accordingly disposed about the vehicle, whose roomy interior was +not likely to suffer from repletion. + +It is sad to say farewell to any thing, and more especially where +uncertainty is mingled with the adieu. Had it been possible, De Blenau +would fain have quitted St. Germain's without encountering the fresh +pain of taking leave of his attendants; but those who had seen his +arrest, had by this time communicated the news to those who had remained +in the town, and they now all pressed round to kiss his hand, and take a +last look of their kind-hearted Lord, before he was lost to them, as +they feared, for ever. There was something affecting in the scene, and +a glistening moisture rose even in the eye of the old Count de Thiery, +while De Blenau, with a kind word to say to each, bade them farewell, +one after another, and then sprang into the carriage that was to convey +him to a prison. + +The vehicle rolled on for some way in silence, but at length De Blenau +said, "Monsieur de Thiery, you must excuse me if I am somewhat grave. +Even conscious rectitude cannot make such a journey as this very +palatable. And besides," he added, "I have to-day parted with some that +are very dear to me." + +"I saw that, I saw that," answered the old soldier. "It was bad enough +parting with so many kind hearts as stood round you just now, but that +was a worse farewell at the end of the terrace.--Now out upon the policy +that can make such bright eyes shed such bitter tears. I can hardly get +those eyes out of my head, old as it is.--Oh, if I were but forty years +younger!" + +"What then?" demanded De Blenau, with a smile. + +"Why, perhaps I might have ten times more pleasure in lodging you safe +in the Bastille than I have now," answered De Thiery. "Oh, Monsieur de +Blenau, take my word for it, age is the most terrible misfortune that +can happen to any man; other evils will mend, but this is every day +getting worse." + +The conversation between De Blenau and his companion soon dropped, as +all conversation must do, unless it be forced, where there exists a +great dissimilarity of ideas and circumstances. It is true, from time to +time, Monsieur de Thiery uttered an observation which called for a reply +from De Blenau; but the thoughts which crowded upon the young Count were +too many, and too overpowering in their nature, to find relief in +utterance. The full dangers of his situation, and all the vague and +horrible probabilities which the future offered, presented themselves +more forcibly to his mind, now that he had leisure to dwell upon them, +than they had done at first, when all his energies had been called into +action; and when, in order to conceal their effect from others, he had +been obliged to fly from their consideration himself. + +A thousand little accessory circumstances also kept continually renewing +the recollection of his painful situation. When he dropped his hand, as +was his custom, to rest it upon the hilt of his sword, his weapon was +gone, and he had to remember that he had been disarmed; and if by chance +he cast his eyes from the window of the carriage, the passing and +repassing of the guards continually reminded him that he was a prisoner. +De Blenau was new to misfortune, and consequently the more sensible to +its acuteness. Nor did he possess that buoyant spirit with which some +men are happily gifted by nature--that sort of carelessness which acts +better than philosophy, raising us above the sorrows and uncomforts of +existence, and teaching us to _bear_ our misfortunes by _forgetting_ +them as soon as possible. He had too much courage, it is true, to resign +himself to grief for what he could not avoid.--He was prepared to +encounter the worst that fate could bring; but at the same time he could +not turn his thoughts from the contemplation of the future, though it +offered nothing but dark indistinct shapes; and out of these his +imagination formed many horrible images, which derived a greater +appearance of reality from the known cruelty of Richelieu, in whose +power he was, and the many dreadful deeds perpetrated in the place to +which he was going. + +Thus passed the hours away as the carriage rolled on towards Paris. It +may be well supposed that such a vehicle as I have described did not +move with any great celerity; and I much doubt whether the +act-of-parliament pace which hackney-coaches are obliged to adhere to, +would not have jolted the unhappy _chaise roulante_ limb from limb, if +it had been rigorously enforced. But it so happened that the machine +itself was the personal property of Monsieur de Thiery, who always +styled it _une belle voiture_; and looking upon it as the most perfect +specimen of the coach-building art, he was mighty cautious concerning +its progression. This the postilion was well aware of, and therefore +never ventured upon a greater degree of speed than might carry them over +the space of two miles in the course of an hour; but notwithstanding +such prudent moderation, the head of Monsieur de Thiery would often be +protruded from the window, whenever an unfriendly rut gave the vehicle a +jolt, exclaiming loudly, "_Holla! Postillon! gardez vous de casser ma +belle voiture_;" and sundry other adjurations, which did not serve to +increase the rapidity of their progress. + +Such tedious waste of time, together with the curious gazing of the +multitude at the State-prisoner, and uncertain calculations as to the +future, created for De Blenau a state of torment to which the Bastille +at once would have been relief; so that he soon began most devoutly to +wish his companion and the carriage and the postilion all at the Devil +together for going so slowly. But, however tardily Time's wings seem to +move, they bear him away from us notwithstanding.--Night overtook the +travellers when they were about a league from Paris, and the heaviest +day De Blenau had ever yet known found its end at last. + +Avoiding the city as much as possible, the carriage passed round and +entered by the Porte St. Antoine; and the first objects which presented +themselves to the eyes of De Blenau, after passing the gates, were the +large gloomy towers of the Bastille, standing lone and naked in the +moonlight, which showed nothing but their dark and irregular forms, +strongly contrasted with the light and rippling water that flowed like +melted silver in the fosse below. + +One of the guards had ridden on, before they entered the city, to +announce their approach; and as soon as the carriage came up, the outer +drawbridge fell with a heavy clang, and the gates of the court opening, +admitted them through the dark gloomy porch into that famous prison, so +often the scene of horror and of crime. At the same time, two men +advancing to the door, held each a lighted torch to the window of the +carriage, which, flashing with a red gleam upon the rough stone walls, +and gloomy archways on either side, showed plainly to De Blenau all the +frowning features of the place, rendered doubly horrible by the +knowledge of its purpose. + +A moment afterwards, a fair, soft-looking man, dressed in a black velvet +pourpoint, (whom De Blenau discovered to be the Governor,) approached +the carriage with an official paper in his hand, and lighted by one of +the attendant's torches, read as follows, with that sort of hurried +drawl which showed it to be a matter of form:-- + +"Monsieur le Comte de Thiery," said he, "you are commanded by the King +to deliver into my hands the body of Claude Count de Blenau, to hold and +keep in strict imprisonment, until such time as his Majesty's will be +known in his regard, or till he be acquitted of the crimes with which he +is charged, by a competent tribunal; and I now require you to do the +same." + +This being gone through, De Thiery descended from the carriage, followed +by the Count de Blenau, whom the Governor instantly addressed with a +profound bow and servile smile. + +"Monsieur de Blenau," said he, "you are welcome to the Bastille; and any +thing I can do for your accommodation, consistent with my duty, you +shall command." + +"I hope you will let it be so, Sir Governor," said old De Thiery; "for +Monsieur de Blenau is my particular friend, and without doubt he will be +liberated in a few days. Now, Monsieur de Blenau," continued he, "I must +leave you for the present, but hope soon to see you in another place. +You will, no doubt, find several of your friends here; for we all take +it in turn: and indeed, now-a-days, it would be almost accounted a piece +of ignorance not to have been in the Bastille once in one's life. So, +farewell!" And he embraced him warmly, whispering as he did so, "Make a +friend of the Governor--gold will do it!" + +De Blenau looked after the good old soldier with feelings of regret, as +he got into his _belle voiture_ and drove through the archway. +Immediately after, the drawbridge rose, and the gates closed with a +clang, sounding on De Blenau's ears as if they shut out from him all +that was friendly in the world; and overpowered by a feeling of +melancholy desolation, he remained with his eyes fixed in the direction +De Thiery had taken, till he was roused by the Governor laying his hand +upon his arm. "Monsieur de Blenau," said he, "will you do me the favour +of following me, and I will have the honour of showing you your +apartment." + +De Blenau obeyed in silence, and the Governor led the way into the inner +court, and thence up the chief staircase to the second story, where he +stopped at a heavy door plated with iron, and sunk deep in the stone +wall, from the appearance of which De Blenau did not argue very +favourably of the chambers within. His anticipations, however, were +agreeably disappointed, when one of the attendants, who lighted them, +pulled aside the bolts, and throwing open the door, exposed to his view +a large neat room, fitted up with every attention to comfort, and even +some attempt at elegance. This, the Governor informed him, was destined +for his use while he did the Bastille the honour of making it his abode; +and he then went on in the same polite strain to apologize for the +furniture being in some disorder, as the servants had been very busy an +the chateau, and had not had time to arrange it since its last occupant +had left them, which was only the morning before. So far De Blenau might +have imagined himself in the house of a polite friend, had not the bolts +and bars obtruded themselves on his view wherever he turned, speaking +strongly of a prison. + +The end of the Governor's speech also was more in accordance with his +office: "My orders, Monsieur de Blenau," said he in continuation, "are, +to pay every attention to your comfort and convenience, but at the same +time to have the strictest guard over you. I am therefore obliged to +deny you the liberty of the court, which some of the prisoners enjoy, +and I must also place a sentinel at your door. I will now go and give +orders for the packages which were in the carriage to be brought up +here, and will then return immediately to advise with you on what can be +done to make your time pass more pleasantly." + +Thus saying, he quitted the apartment, and De Blenau heard the heavy +bolts of the door grate into their sockets with a strange feeling of +reluctance; for though he felt too surely that liberty was gone, yet he +would fain have shrunk from those outward marks of captivity which +continually forced the recollection of it upon his mind. The polite +attentions of the Governor, however, had not escaped his notice, and his +thoughts soon returned to that officer's conduct. + +"Can this man," thought he, "continually accustomed to scenes of blood +and horror, be really gentle in his nature, as he seems to show +himself? or can it be that he has especial orders to treat me with +kindness? Yet here I am a prisoner,--and for what purpose, unless they +intend to employ the most fearful means to draw from me those secrets +which they have failed in obtaining otherwise?" + +Such was the nature of his first thoughts for a moment or two after the +Governor had left him; but rousing himself, after a little, from +reveries which threw no light upon his situation, he began to examine +more closely the apartment which bade fair to be his dwelling for some +time to come. + +It was evidently one of the best in the prison, consisting of two +spacious chambers, which occupied the whole breadth of the square tower +in the centre of the Bastille. The first, which opened from the +staircase and communicated with the second by means of a small door, was +conveniently furnished in its way, containing, besides a very fair +complement of chairs and tables of the most solid manufacture, that +happy invention of our ancestors, a corner cupboard, garnished with +various articles of plate and porcelain, and a shelf of books, which +last De Blenau had no small pleasure in perceiving. + +On one of the tables were various implements for writing, and on another +the attendant who had lighted them thither had placed two silver lamps, +which, though of an antique fashion, served very well to light the whole +extent of the room. Raising one of these, De Blenau proceeded to the +inner chamber, which was fitted up as a bed-room, and contained various +articles of furniture in a more modern taste than that which decorated +the other. But the attention of the prisoner was particularly attracted +by a heavy iron door near the head of the bed, which, however, as he +gladly perceived, possessed bolts on the inside, so as to prevent the +approach of any one from without during the night. + +So much of our happiness is dependent on the trifles of personal +comfort, that De Blenau, though little caring in general for very +delicate entertainment, nevertheless felt himself more at ease when, on +looking round his apartment, he found that at all events it was no +dungeon to which he had been consigned: and from this he drew a +favourable augury, flattering himself that no very severe measures would +ultimately be pursued towards him, when such care was taken of his +temporary accommodation. + +De Blenau had just time to complete the perambulation of his new abode, +when the Governor returned, followed by two of the subordinate ministers +of the prison, carrying the various articles with which Henry de La +Mothe had loaded the _belle voiture_ of Monsieur de Thiery: and as the +faithful Page had taken care to provide fully for his master's comfort, +the number of packages was not small. + +As soon as these were properly disposed about the apartment, the +Governor commanded his satellites to withdraw, and remained alone with +his prisoner, who, remembering the last words of the old Count de +Thiery, resolved, as far as possible, to gain the good will of one who +had it in his power not only to soften or to aggravate the pains of his +captivity, but even perhaps to serve him more essentially. De Thiery had +recommended gold, all-powerful gold, as the means to be employed; but at +first De Blenau felt some hesitation as to the propriety of offering +sordid coin to a man holding so responsible a situation, and no small +embarrassment as to the manner. These feelings kept him silent for a +moment, during which time the Governor remained silent also, regarding +his prisoner with a polite and affable smile, as if he expected him to +begin the conversation. + +"I will try the experiment at all events," thought De Blenau. "I could +almost persuade myself that the man expects it." + +Luckily it so happened, that amongst the baggage which had been prepared +for Chantilly, was comprised a considerable sum of money, besides that +which he carried about him: and now drawing forth his purse, the +contents of which might amount to about a thousand livres, he placed it +in the hands of the Governor. + +"Let me beg you to accept of this, Monsieur le Gouverneur," said he, +"not as any inducement to serve me contrary to your duty, but as a +slight remuneration for the trouble which my being here must occasion." + +The smooth-spoken Governor neither testified any surprise at this +proceeding, nor any sort of reluctance to accept what De Blenau +proffered. The purse dropped unrejected into his open palm, and it was +very evident that his future conduct would greatly depend upon the +amount of its contents, according as it was above or below his +expectation. + +"Monseigneur," replied he, "you are very good, and seem to understand +the trouble which prisoners sometimes give, as well as if you had lived +in the Bastille all your life; and you may depend upon it, as I said +before, that every thing shall be done for your accommodation--always +supposing it within my duty." + +"I doubt you not, Sir," answered De Blenau, who from the moment the +Governor's fingers had closed upon the purse, could hardly help +regarding him as a menial who had taken his wages: "I doubt you not; and +at the present moment I should be glad of supper, if such a thing can be +procured within your walls." + +"Most assuredly it can be procured _to-night_, Sir," replied the +Governor; "but I am sorry to say, that we have two meager days in the +week, at which times neither meat nor wine is allowed by Government, +even for my own table: which is a very great and serious grievance, +considering the arduous duties I am often called upon to perform." + +"But of course such things can be procured from without," said De +Blenau, "and on the days you have mentioned. I beg that you would not +allow my table to bear witness of any such regulations; and farther, as +I suppose that _you_, Sir, have the command of all this, I will thank +you to order your purveyor to supply all that is usual for a man of my +quality and fortune, for which he shall have immediate payment through +your hands." + +The tone in which De Blenau spoke was certainly somewhat authoritative +for a prisoner; and feeling, as he proceeded, that he might give offence +where it was his best interest to conciliate regard, he added, though +not without pain,-- + +"When you will do me the honour to partake my fare, I shall stand +indebted for your society. Shall I say to-morrow at dinner, that I shall +have the pleasure of your company?" + +The Governor readily accepted the invitation, more especially as the +ensuing day chanced to be one of those meager days, which he held in +most particular abhorrence. And now, having made some farther +arrangements with De Blenau, he left him, promising to send the meal +which he had demanded. + +There is sometimes an art in allowing one's self to be cheated, and De +Blenau had at once perceived that the best way to bind the Governor to +his interest, was, not only to suffer patiently, but even to promote +every thing which could gratify the cupidity of his gaoler or his +underlings; and thus he had laid much stress upon the provision of his +table, about which he was really indifferent. + +Well contented with the liberality of his new prisoner, and praying God +most devoutly that the Cardinal would spare his life to grace the annals +of the Bastille for many years, the Governor took care to send De Blenau +immediately the supper which had been prepared for himself: an act of +generosity, of which few gaolers, high or low, would have been guilty. + +It matters little how De Blenau relished his meal; suffice it, that the +civility and attention he experienced, greatly removed his apprehensions +for the future, and made him imagine that no serious proceedings were +intended against him. In this frame of mind, as soon as the Governor's +servants had taken away the remains of his supper, and the bolts were +drawn upon him for the night, he took a book from the shelf, thinking +that his mind was sufficiently composed to permit of his thus occupying +it with some more pleasing employment than the useless contemplation of +his own fate. But he was mistaken. He had scarcely read a sentence, +before his thoughts, flying from the lettered page before his eyes, had +again sought out all the strange uncertain points of his situation, and +regarding them under every light, strove to draw from the present some +presage for the future. Thus finding the attempt in vain, he threw the +book hastily from him, in order to give himself calmly up to the impulse +he could not resist. But as the volume fell from his hand upon the +table, a small piece of written paper flew out from between the leaves, +and after having made a circle or two in the air, fell lightly to the +ground. + +De Blenau carelessly took it up, supposing it some casual annotation; +but the first few words that caught his eye riveted his attention. It +began. + +"To the next wretched tenant of these apartments I bequeath a secret, +which, though useless to me, may be of service to him. To-day I am +condemned, and to-morrow I shall be led to the torture or to death. I am +innocent; but knowing that innocence is not safety, I have endeavoured +to make my escape, and have by long labour filed through the lock of the +iron door near the bed, which was the sole fastening by which it was +secured from without. Unfortunately, this door only leads to a small +turret staircase communicating with the inner court; but should my +successor in this abode of misery be, like me, debarred from exercise, +and also from all converse with his fellow prisoners, this information +may be useful to him. The file with which I accomplished my endeavour is +behind the shelf which contains these books. Adieu, whoever thou art! +Pray for the soul of the unhappy Caply!" + +As he read, the hopes which De Blenau had conceived from the comforts +that were allowed him fled in air. There also, in the same apartment, +and doubtless attended with the same care, had the wretched Caply +lingered away the last hours of an existence about to be terminated by a +dreadful and agonizing death. "And such may be my fate," thought De +Blenau with an involuntary shudder, springing from that antipathy which +all things living bear to death. But the moment after, the blood rushed +to his cheek, reproaching him for yielding to such a feeling though no +one was present to witness its effects. "What!" thought he, "I who have +confronted death a thousand times, to tremble at it now! However, let me +see the truth of what this paper tells;" and entering the bed-room, he +approached the iron door, of which he easily drew back the bolts, Caply +having taken care to grease them with oil from the lamp, so that they +moved without creating the smallest noise. + +The moment that these were drawn, the slightest push opened the door, +and De Blenau beheld before him a little winding stone staircase, +filling the whole of one of the small towers; which containing no +chambers and only serving as a back access to the apartments in the +square tower, had been suffered in some degree to go to decay. The walls +were pierced with loopholes, which being enlarged by some of the stones +having fallen away, afforded sufficient aperture for the moonlight to +visit the interior with quite enough power to permit of De Blenau's +descending without other light. Leaving the lamp, therefore, in the +bed-room, he proceeded down the steps till they at once opened from the +turret into the inner court, where all was moonlight and silence, it +being judged unnecessary, after the prisoners were locked in for the +night, to station even a single sentry in a place which was otherwise so +well secured. + +Without venturing out of the shadow of the tower, De Blenau returned to +his apartment, feeling a degree of satisfaction in the idea that he +should not now be cut off from all communication with those below in +case he should desire it. He no longer felt so absolutely lonely as +before, when his situation had appeared almost as much insulated as +many of those that the lower dungeons of that very building contained, +who were condemned to drag out the rest of their years in nearly +unbroken solitude. + +Having replaced the paper in the book, for the benefit of any one who +might be confined there in future, De Blenau fastened the iron door on +the inside, and addressing his prayers to Heaven, he laid himself down +to rest. For some time his thoughts resumed their former train, and +continued to wander over his situation and its probable termination, but +at length his ideas became confused, memory and perception gradually +lost their activity, while fatigue and the remaining weakness from his +late wounds overcame him, and he slept. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Which shows a new use for an old Castle; and gives a good receipt + for leading a man by the nose. + + +Now if the reader imagined that I wrote the whole of the twelfth chapter +of the last volume for the sole purpose of telling a cock and a bull +story about a country innkeeper and conjuror's first cousin, he was very +much mistaken. Let him immediately transport himself back to the little +village of Mesnil St. Loup, and let him remember the church, and the old +trees, and the ruined castle beyond, with all the circumstances +thereunto appertaining; and if any thing that has since passed has put +the particulars out of his mind, let him return to the aforesaid twelfth +chapter, and learn it by heart, as a penance for having forgotten it. +But if, on the contrary, he remembers it fully--I will go on with my +story. + +It was in the old Chateau of St. Loup, near the village of Mesnil, on a +sultry evening about the end of September, that a party was assembled, +who, in point of rank and greatness of design, had seldom been equalled +within those walls, even when they were the habitation of the great and +beautiful of other days. But years and centuries had passed since they +had been so tenanted. The court-yard was full of weeds, and grass, and +tangled shrubs: the ivy creeping over the ruined walls obtruded its long +branches through the unglazed windows, and the breaches which the siege +of time had effected in the solid masonry, gave entrance to the wind of +night and the wintry tempest. + +The chamber that had been chosen for a place of meeting on the present +occasion was one which, more than any other, had escaped the hand of +desolation. The casements, it is true, had long ceased to boast of +glass, and part of the wall itself had given way, encumbering with its +broken fragments the farther end of the great saloon, as it had once +been called. The rest, however, of the chamber was in very tolerable +repair, and contained also several pieces of furniture, consisting of +more than one rude seat, and a large uncouth table, which evidently had +never belonged to the castle in its days of splendour. + +At the head of this table sat Gaston Duke of Orleans, the younger +brother of the King, leaning his head upon his hand in an attitude of +listless indifference, and amusing himself by brushing the dust which +had gathered on the board before him, into a thousand fanciful shapes +with the feather of a pen--now forming fortifications with lines and +parallels, and half moons and curtains--and then sweeping them all +heedlessly away--offering no bad image of the many vast and intricate +plans he had engaged in, all of which he had overthrown alike by his +caprice and indecision. + +Near him sat his two great favourites and advisers, Montressor and St. +Ibal: the first of whom was really the inconsiderate fool he seemed; +the second, though not without his share of folly, concealed deeper +plans under his assumed carelessness. These two men, whose pride was in +daring every thing, affected to consider nothing in the world worth +trouble or attention, professing at the same time perfect indifference +to danger and uncomfort, and contending that vice and virtue were merely +names, which signified any thing, according to their application. Such +was the creed of their would-be philosophy; and Montressor lost no +opportunity of evincing that heedlessness of every thing serious which +formed the principal point of his doctrine. In the present instance he +had produced a couple of dice from his pocket, and was busily engaged in +throwing with St. Ibal for some pieces of gold which lay between them. + +Two more completed the party assembled in the old Chateau of St. Loup. +The first of these was Cinq Mars: his quick and ardent spirit did not +suffer him to join in the frivolous pastimes of the others, but on the +contrary, he kept walking up and down the apartment, as if impatient +for the arrival of some one expected by all; and every now and then, as +he turned at the extremity of the chamber, he cast a glance upon the +weak Duke and his vicious companions, almost amounting to scorn. + +Beside the Master of the Horse, and keeping an equal pace, was the +celebrated President De Thou, famed for unswerving integrity and the +mild dignity of virtuous courage. His personal appearance, however, +corresponded ill with the excellence of his mind; and his plain +features, ill-formed figure, and inelegant movements, contrasted +strongly with the handsome countenance and princely gait of Cinq Mars, +as well as the calm pensive expression of his downcast eye, with the +wild and rapid glance of his companion's. + +As the time wore away, the impatience of Cinq Mars visibly increased; +and every two or three minutes he would stop, and look out from one of +the open casements, and then approaching the table would take one of +the torches, of which there were several lighted in the room, and +strike it against the wall to increase the flame. "It is very +extraordinary," cried he at length, "that Fontrailles has not yet +arrived." + +"Oh! no, Cinq Mars," replied De Thou, "we are a full hour before the +time. You were so impatient, my good friend, that you made us all set +off long before it was necessary." + +"Why, it is quite dark," said the Master of the Horse, "and Fontrailles +promised to be here at nine.--It is surely nine, is it not, Montressor?" + +"Size ace," said the Gambler, "_quatre à quatre_, St. Ibal. I shall win +yet!" + +"Pshaw!" cried Cinq Mars--"who will tell me the time? I wish we could +have clocks made small enough to put in our pockets." + +"I will show you what will tell us the hour as well as if we had," +answered De Thou. "Look out there in the west! Do you see what a red +light the sun still casts upon those heavy masses of cloud that are +coming up? Now the sun goes down at seven; so you may judge it can +scarce be eight yet." + +"_Cinq quatre!_" cried Montressor, throwing. "I have lost, after +all--Monsieur De Thou, will you bet me a thousand crowns that it is not +past eight by the village clock of Mesnil St. Loup?" + +"No, indeed!" replied the President; "I neither wish to win your money, +Monsieur Montressor, nor to lose my own. Nor do I see how such a bet +could be determined." + +"Oh! if you do not take the bet, there is no use of inquiring how it +might be determined," rejoined Montressor. "Monseigneur," he continued, +turning to the Duke of Orleans, who had just swept away his last +fortification, and was laying out a flower-garden in its place; "can you +tell how in the name of fortune these chairs and this table came here, +when all the rest of the place is as empty as your Highness's purse?" + +"Or as your head, Montressor," answered the Duke. "But the truth is, +they were the property of poor old Père Le Rouge, who lived for many +years in these ruins,--half-knave, half-madman,--till they tried and +burnt him for a sorcerer down in the wood there at the foot of the hill. +Since then it has been called the Sorcerer's Grove, and the country +people are not fond of passing through it, which has doubtless saved the +old Conjuror's furniture from being burnt for firewood; for none of the +old women in the neighbourhood dare come to fetch it, or infallibly it +would undergo the same fate as its master." + +"So, that wood is called the Sorcerer's Grove," said St. Ibal, laughing: +"that is the reason your Highness brought us round the other way, is it +not?" + +Gaston of Orleans coloured a good deal at a jest which touched too near +one of his prevailing weaknesses; for no one was more tinctured with the +superstition of the day than himself, yet no one was more ashamed of +such credulity. "No, no!" answered he; "I put no faith in Père Le Rouge +and his prophecies. He made too great a mistake in my own case to show +himself to me since his predictions have proved false, I will answer for +him." + +"Why, what did he predict about you, Monseigneur?" asked De Thou, who +knew the faith which the Duke still placed in astrology. + +"A great deal of nonsense," answered the Duke, affecting a tone very +foreign to his real feelings. "He predicted that I should marry the +Queen, after the death of Louis. Now, you see, I have married some one +else, and therefore his prophecy was false. But however, as I said, +these chairs belonged to him: where he got them I know not--perhaps from +the Devil; but at all events, I wish he were here to fill one now; he +would be a good companion in our adventures." As he spoke, a bright +flash of lightning blazed through the apartment, followed by a loud and +rolling peal of thunder, which made the Duke start, exclaiming, "Jesu! +what a flash!" + +"Your Highness thought it was Père Le Rouge," said St. Ibal; "but he +would most likely come in at the door, if he did come; not through the +window." + +Gaston of Orleans heard the jests of his two companions without anger; +and a moment or two after, Cinq Mars, who stood near one of the +dilapidated casements, turned round, exclaiming, "Hark! I hear the sound +of a horse's feet: it is Fontrailles at last. Give me a torch; I will +show him where we are." + +"If it should be the Devil now----" said Montressor, as Cinq Mars left +the room. + +"Or Père Le Rouge," added St. Ibal. + +"Or both," said the Duke of Orleans. + +"Why for cunning and mischief they would scarcely supply the place of +one Fontrailles," rejoined St. Ibal. "But here comes one or the +other,--I suppose it is the same to your Royal Highness which." + +"Oh, yes!" answered the Duke, "they shall all be welcome. Nothing like +keeping good company, St. Ibal." + +As he spoke, Cinq Mars returned, accompanied by Fontrailles, both +laughing with no small glee. "What makes ye so merry, my Lords?" +exclaimed Montressor; "a laugh too good a thing to be lost. Has Monsieur +de Fontrailles encountered his old friend Sathanus by the road-side, or +what?" + +"Not so," answered Cinq Mars, "he has only bamboozled an innkeeper. But +come, Fontrailles, let us not lose time: will you read over the articles +of alliance to which we are to put our names; and let us determine upon +them to-night, for, if we meet frequently in this way, we shall become +suspected ere our design be ripe." + +"Willingly for my part," replied Fontrailles, approaching the table, and +speaking with some degree of emphasis, but without immediately deviating +into declamation. "There certainly never was a case when speedy decision +was more requisite than the present. Every man in this kingdom, from the +King to the peasant, has felt, and does now feel, the evils which we are +met to remedy. It is no longer zeal, but necessity, which urges us to +oppose the tyranny of this daring Minister. It is no longer patriotism, +but self-defence. In such a case, all means are justifiable; for when a +man (as Richelieu has done) breaks through every law, human and divine, +to serve the ungenerous purpose of his own aggrandizement; when he +sports with the lives of his fellow-creatures with less charity than a +wild beast; are we not bound to consider him as such, and to hunt him to +the death for the general safety?" + +De Thou shook his head, as if there was something in the proposition to +which he could not subscribe; but Cinq Mars at once gave his unqualified +assent, and all being seated round the table, Fontrailles drew forth +some papers, and proceeded. + +"This, then, is our first grand object," said he: "to deprive this +tyrant, whose abuse of power not only extends to oppress the subject, +but who even dares, with most monstrous presumption, to curb and +overrule the Royal authority, making the Monarch a mere slave to his +will, and the Monarch's name but a shield behind which to shelter his +own crimes and iniquities--I say, to deprive this usurping favourite of +the means of draining the treasures, sacrificing the honour, and +spilling the blood of France; thereby to free our King from bondage, to +restore peace and tranquillity to our country, and to bring back to our +homes long banished confidence, security, and ease--To this you all +agree?" + +A general assent followed, and Fontrailles went on. + +"Safely to effect our purpose, it is not only necessary to use every +energy of our minds, but to exert all the local power we possess. Every +member, therefore, of our association will use all his influence with +those who are attached to him by favour or connexion, and prepare all +his vassals, troops, and retainers, to act in whatsoever manner shall +hereafter be determined, and will also amass whatever sums he can +procure for the general object. It will also be necessary to concentrate +certain bodies of men on particular points, for the purpose of seizing +on some strong fortified places. And farther, it will be advisable +narrowly to watch the movements of the Cardinal, in order to make +ourselves masters of his person." + +"But whose authority shall we have for this?" demanded De Thou; "for +while he continues Prime Minister by the King's consent, we are +committing high treason to restrain his person." + +"We must not be so scrupulous, De Thou," rejoined Cinq Mars; "we must +free his Majesty from those magic chains in which Richelieu has so long +held his mind, before we can expect him to do any thing openly: but I +will take it upon me to procure his private assent. I have sounded his +inclinations already, and am sure of my ground. But proceed, +Fontrailles: let us hear what arrangements you have made respecting +troops, for we must have some power to back us, or we shall fail." + +"Well, then," said Fontrailles, "I bring with me the most generous +offers from the noble Duke of Bouillon. They are addressed to you, Cinq +Mars, but were sent open to me. I may as well, therefore, give their +contents at once, and you can afterwards peruse them at your leisure. +The Duke here offers to place his town and principality of Sedan in our +hands, as a depôt for arms and munition, and also as a place of retreat +and safety, and a rendezvous for the assembling of forces. He farther +promises, on the very first call, to march his victorious troops from +Italy, when, as he says, every soldier will exult in the effort to +liberate his country." + +"Generously promised of the Duke," exclaimed Montressor, slapping the +table with mock enthusiasm. "My head to a bunch of Macon grapes, he +expects to be prime minister in Richelieu's place." + +"The Duke of Bouillon, Monsieur de Montressor," replied Cinq Mars +somewhat warmly, "has the good of his country at heart; and is too much +a man of honour to harbour the ungenerous thought you would attribute to +him." + +"My dear Cinq Mars, do not be angry," said Montressor. "Don't you see +how much the odds were in my favour? Why, I betted my head to a bunch +of grapes, and who do you think would be fool enough to hazard a full +bunch of grapes against an empty head? But go on, Fontrailles; where are +the next troops to come from?" + +"From Spain!" answered Fontrailles calmly; while at the name of that +country, at open war with France, and for years considered as its most +dangerous enemy, each countenance round the table assumed a look of +astonishment and disapprobation, which would probably have daunted any +other than the bold conspirator who named it. + +"No, no!" exclaimed Gaston of Orleans, as soon as he had recovered +breath. "None of the Spanish Catholicon for me;" alluding to the name +which had been used to stigmatize the assistance that the League had +received from Spain during the civil wars occasioned by the accession of +Henry IV. to the throne. "No, no! Monsieur de Fontrailles, this is high +treason at once." + +St. Ibal was generally supposed, and with much appearance of truth, to +have some secret connexion with the Spanish court; and having now +recovered from the first surprise into which he had been thrown by the +bold mention of an alliance with that obnoxious country, he jested at +the fears of the timid and unsteady Duke, well knowing that by such +means he was easily governed. "Death to my soul!" exclaimed he. "Your +Highness calls out against high treason, when it is what you have lived +upon all your life! Why, it is meat, drink, and clothing to you. A +little treason is as necessary to your comfort as a dice-box is to +Montressor, a Barbary horse to Cinq Mars, or a bird-net and +hawking-glove to the King. But to speak seriously, Monseigneur," he +continued, "is it not necessary that we should have some farther support +than that which Monsieur de Bouillon promises? His enthusiasm may have +deceived him;--his troops may not be half so well inclined to our cause +as he is himself;--he might be taken ill;--he might either be arrested +by the gout, to which he is subject; or by the Cardinal, to whom we all +wish he was not subject. A thousand causes might prevent his giving us +the assistance he intends, and then what an useful auxiliary would Spain +prove. Besides, we do not call in Spain, to fight against France, but +for France. Spain is not an enemy of the country, but only of the +Cardinal; and the moment _that_ man is removed, who for his sole +interest and to render himself necessary has carried on a war which has +nearly depopulated the kingdom, a lasting and glorious peace will be +established between the two countries; and thus we shall confer another +great benefit on the nation." + +"Why, in that point of view, I have no objection," replied the Duke of +Orleans. "But do you not think that Louis will disapprove of it?" + +"We must not let him know it," said Montressor, "till Richelieu is +removed, and then he will be as glad of it as any one." + +"But still," rejoined the Duke with more pertinacity than he generally +displayed, "I am not fond of bringing Spanish troops into France. Who +can vouch that we shall ever get rid of them?" + +"That will I," answered St. Ibal. "Has your Highness forgot what good +faith and courtesy the Spanish government has shown you in your exile; +as also the assistance it yielded to your late Royal Mother? Besides, we +need not call in a large body of troops. What number do you propose, +Fontrailles?" + +"The offer of Spain is five thousand," replied Fontrailles; "with the +promise of ten thousand more, should we require it. Nothing can be more +open and noble than the whole proceeding of King Philip. He leaves it +entirely to ourselves what guarantee we will place in his hands for the +safety of his troops." + +"Well, well," said the Duke of Orleans, getting tired of the subject, "I +have no doubt of their good faith. I am satisfied, St. Ibal; and +whatever you think right, I will agree to. I leave it all to you and +Montressor." + +"Well then," said Fontrailles hastily, "that being settled, we will +proceed--" + +"Your pardon, gentlemen," interposed De Thou, "I must be heard now--Your +schemes extend much farther than I had any idea of--Cinq Mars, I was not +informed of all this--had I been so, I would never have come here. To +serve my country, to rid her of a Minister who, as I conceive, has +nearly destroyed her, who has trampled France under his feet, and +enthralled her in a blood-stained chain, I would to-morrow lay my head +upon the block--Frown not, Monsieur de Fontrailles--Cinq Mars, my noble +friend, do not look offended--but I cannot, I will not be a party to the +crime into which mistaken zeal is hurrying you. Are we not subjects of +France? and is not France at war with Spain? and though we may all wish +and pray God that this war may cease, yet to treat or conspire with that +hostile kingdom is an act which makes us traitors to our country and +rebels to our King. Old De Thou has but two things to lose--his life and +his honour. His life is valueless. He would sacrifice it at once for +the least benefit to his country. He would sacrifice it, Cinq Mars, for +his friendship for you. But his honour must not be sullied: and as +through life he has kept it unstained, so shall it go with him unstained +to his last hour. Were it merely personal danger you called upon me to +undergo, I would not bestow a thought upon the risk: but my fame, my +allegiance, my very salvation are concerned, and I will never give my +sanction to a plan which begins by the treasonable proposal of bringing +foreign enemies into the heart of the land." + +"As to your salvation, Monsieur le President," said Montressor, "I'll +undertake to buy that for you for a hundred crowns. You shall have an +indulgence to commit sins _ad libitum_, in which high treason shall be +specified by name. Now, though these red-hot heretics of Germany, who +seem inclined to bring that fiery place upon earth, which his Holiness +threatens them with in another world, and who are assisted by our +Catholic Cardinal with money, troops, ammunition, and all the +hell-invented implements of war,--though these Protestants, I say, put +no trust in the indulgences which their apostacy has rendered cheap in +the market, yet I am sure you are by far too staunch a stickler for all +antique abuses to doubt their efficacy. I suppose, therefore, when +salvation can be had for a hundred crowns, good Monsieur de Thou, you +can have no scruple on that score--unless indeed you are as stingy as +the dog in the fable." + +"Jests are no arguments, Monsieur de Montressor," replied De Thou, with +stern gravity; "you have a bad habit, young Sir, of scoffing at what +wiser men revere. Had you any religion yourself of any kind, or any +reason for having none, we might pardon your error, because it was +founded on principle. As for myself, Sir, what I believe, I believe from +conviction, and what I do, I do with the firm persuasion that it is +right; without endeavouring to cloak a bad cause with a show of spirit, +or to hide my incapacity to defend it with stale jokes and profane +raillery. Gentlemen, you act as you please; for my part I enter into no +plan by which Spain is to be employed or treated with." + +"I think it dangerous too," said the unsteady Duke of Orleans. + +"Ten times more dangerous to attempt any thing without it," exclaimed +Fontrailles.--"Should we not be fools to engage in such an enterprise +without some foreign power to support us? We might as well go to the +Palais Cardinal, and offer our throats to Richelieu at once." + +Montressor and St. Ibal both applied themselves to quiet the fears of +the Duke, and soon succeeded in removing from his mind any apprehensions +on the score of Spain: but he continued from time to time to look +suspiciously at De Thou, who had risen from the table, and was again +walking up and down the apartment. At length Gaston beckoned to Cinq +Mars, and whispered something in his ear. + +"You do him wrong, my Lord," exclaimed Cinq Mars indignantly, "I will +answer for his faith. De Thou," he continued, "the Duke asks your +promise not to reveal what you have heard this night; and though I think +my friend ought not to be suspected, I will be obliged by your giving +it." + +"Most assuredly," replied De Thou; "his Highness need be under no alarm. +On my honour, in life or in death, I will never betray what I have heard +here. But that I may hear as little as possible, I will take one of +these torches, and wait for you in the lower apartments." + +"Take care that you do not meet with Père Le Rouge, Monsieur de Thou," +exclaimed St. Ibal as De Thou left them. + +"Cease your jesting, gentlemen," said Cinq Mars; "we have had too much +of it already. A man with the good conscience of my friend De Thou, need +not mind whom he meets. For my own part, I am resolved to go on with the +business I have undertaken; I believe I am in the right; and if not, God +forgive me, for my intentions are good." + +The rest of the plan was soon settled after the President had left the +room; and the treaty which it was proposed to enter into with Spain was +read through and approved. The last question which occurred, was the +means of conveying a copy of this treaty to the Court of King Philip +without taking the circuitous route by the Low Countries. Numerous +difficulties presented themselves to every plan that was suggested, till +Fontrailles, with an affectation of great modesty, proposed to be the +bearer himself, if, as he said, they considered his abilities equal to +the task. + +The offer was of course gladly accepted, as he well knew it would be: +and now being to the extent of his wish furnished with unlimited powers, +and possessed of a document which put the lives of all his associates in +his power, Fontrailles brought the conference to an end: it being agreed +that the parties should not meet again till after his return from Spain. + +A few minutes more were spent in seeking cloaks and hats, and +extinguishing the torches; and then descending to the court-yard, they +mounted their horses, which had found shelter in the ruined stable of +the old castle, and set out on their various roads. By this time the +storm had cleared away, leaving the air but the purer and the more +serene; and the bright moon shining near her meridian, served to light +Cinq Mars and De Thou on the way towards Paris, while the Duke of +Orleans and his party bent their steps towards Bourbon, and Fontrailles +set off for Troyes to prepare for his journey to Spain. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Intended to prove that keen-sighted politicians are but buzzards + after all, and to show how Philip the woodman took a ride earlier + than usual. + + +I wish to Heaven it were possible, in a true story, to follow the old +Greek's rule, and preserve at least unity of place throughout. It would +save a great deal of trouble, both to writer and reader, if we could +make all our characters come into one hall, say their say, and have done +with it. But there is only one place where they could be supposed to +meet--heroes and heroines, statesmen and conspirators, servant and +master, proud and humble--the true Procrustes' bed which is made to fit +every one. However, as before I could get them there, the story would be +done, and the generation passed away, I must even violate all the +unities together, and gallop after my characters all over the country, +as I have often seen a shepherd in the Landes of France, striding here +and there upon his long stilts after his wilful and straggling sheep, +and endeavouring in vain to keep them all together. I must ask the +reader, therefore, to get into the chaise with me, and set off for +Chantilly; and as we go, I will tell him a few anecdotes, just to pass +the time. + +It was a common custom with Louis the Thirteenth to spend a part of the +morning in that large circular piece of ground at Chantilly, called +then, as now, the Manège; while his various hunters, in which he took +great delight, were exercised before him. Here, while the few gentlemen +that generally accompanied him, stood a step behind, he would lean +against one of the pillars that surrounded the place, and remark, with +the most minute exactitude, every horse as it passed him, expressing his +approbation to the grooms when any thing gave him satisfaction. But on +the same morning which had witnessed at St. Germain the arrest of De +Blenau, something had gone wrong with the King at Chantilly. He was +impatient, cross, and implacable: and Lord Montague, an English +nobleman, who was at that time much about him, remarked in a low voice +to one of the gentlemen in waiting, "His Majesty is as peevish as a +crossed child, when Cinq Mars is absent." + +The name of his Grand Ecuyer, though spoken very low, caught the King's +ear. + +"Do any of you know when Cinq Mars returns?" demanded he. "We never +proceed well when he is not here.--Look at that man now, how he rides," +continued Louis, pointing to one of the grooms; "would not any one take +him for a monkey on horseback? Do you know where Cinq Mars is gone, _Mi +Lor_?" + +"I hear, Sire," replied Lord Montague, "that he is gone with Monsieur de +Thou to Troyes, where he has an estate, about which there is some +dispute, which Monsieur de Thou, who is learned in such matters, is to +determine." + +"To Troyes!" exclaimed the King, "that is a journey of three days--Did +not some of you tell me, that Chavigni arrived last night, while I was +hunting?" + +"I did so, please your Majesty," replied one of the gentlemen; "and I +hear, moreover, that the Cardinal himself slept at Luzarches last night, +with the purpose of being here early this morning." + +"The Cardinal at Luzarches!" said the King, a cloud coming over his +brow. "It is strange I had not notice--We shall scarce have room for +them all--I expect the Queen to-night--and the Cardinal and her Majesty +are as fond of each other as a hawk and a heron poulet." + +Louis was evidently puzzled. Now the best way to cut the Gordian knot of +an _embarras_, is to run away from it, and let it settle itself. It is +sure to get unravelled somehow; and by the time you come back, a +thousand to one the fracas is over. Louis the Thirteenth, who of all men +on earth hated what is called in the vulgar tongue _a piece of work_, +except when he made it himself, was very much in the habit of adopting +the expedient above mentioned, and, indeed, had been somewhat a loser by +the experiment. However, it was a habit now, confirmed by age, and +therefore more powerful than Nature. Accordingly, after thinking for a +moment about the Queen and the Cardinal, and their mutual hatred, and +their being pent up together in the small space of Chantilly, like two +game cocks in a cock-pit; and seeing no end to it whatever, he suddenly +burst forth-- + +"Come, Messieurs, I'll go hunt. Quick! saddle the horses!" and casting +kingly care from his mind, he began humming the old air _Que ne suis je +un Berger!_ while he walked across the manège towards the stables. But +just at that moment, Chavigni presented himself, doffing his hat with +all respect to the King, who could not avoid seeing him. + +Louis was brought to bay, but still he stood his ground. "Ah! good day, +Monsieur de Chavigni," exclaimed he, moving on towards the stables. +"Come in good time to hunt with us. We know you are free of the forest." + +"I humbly thank your Majesty," replied the Statesman; "but I am +attending the Cardinal." + +"And why not attend the King, Sir? Ha!" exclaimed Louis, his brow +gathering into a heavy frown. "It is our will that you attend us, Sir." + +Chavigni did not often commit such blunders, but it was not very easy to +remember at all times to pay those external marks of respect which +generally attend real power, to a person who had weakly resigned his +authority into the hands of another: and as the Cardinal not only +possessed kingly sway, but maintained kingly state, it sometimes +happened that the King himself was treated with scanty ceremony. This, +however, always irritated Louis not a little. He cared not for the +splendour of a throne, he cared not even for the luxuries of royalty; +but of the personal reverence due to his station, he would not bate an +iota, and clung to the shadow when he had let the substance pass away. +The Statesman now hastened to repair his error, and bowing profoundly, +he replied, "Had I not thought that in serving the Cardinal I best +served your Majesty, I should not have ventured on so bold an answer; +but as your Majesty is good enough to consider my pleasure in the chase, +and the still greater pleasure of accompanying you, your invitation will +be more than an excuse for breaking my appointment with the Cardinal." + +To bear the burthen of forcing one of the Council to break his +engagement with the prime Minister, and all for so trifling a cause as +an accidental hunting-party, was not in the least what the King wished +or intended, and he would now very willingly have excused Chavigni's +attendance; but Chavigni would not be excused. + +The wily Statesman well knew, that Richelieu had that day a point to +carry with the King of the deepest importance as to the stability of +his power. The Queen, whom the Cardinal had long kept in complete +depression, being now the mother of two princes, her influence was +increasing in the country to a degree that alarmed the Minister for his +own sway. It was a principle with Richelieu always to meet an evil in +its birth; and seeing plainly that as the King's health declined--and it +was then failing fast--the party of Anne of Austria would increase, if +he did not take strong measures to annihilate it--he resolved at once to +ruin her with her husband, to deprive her of her children, and, if +possible, even to send her back to Spain. "And then," thought he, "after +the King's death I shall be Regent.--Regent? King! ay, and one more +despotic than ever sat upon the throne of France. For twenty years this +young Dauphin must be under my guidance; and it will be strange indeed +if I cannot keep him there till my sand be run." And the proud man, who +reasoned thus, knew not that even then he trembled on the verge of the +grave. + + "Ainsi, dissipateurs peu sages + Des rapides bienfaits du temps, + Nos désirs embrassent des âges, + Et nous n'avons que des instans." + +However, the object of his present visit to Chantilly was to complete +the ruin of the Queen; and Chavigni, who suffered his eyes to be blinded +to simple right and wrong by the maxims of State policy, lent himself +entirely to the Cardinal's measures, little imagining that personal +hatred had any share in the motives of the great Minister whose steps he +followed. + +A moment's reflection convinced Chavigni that he might greatly promote +the object in view by accompanying the King in the present instance. He +knew that in difficult enterprises the most trifling circumstances may +be turned to advantage; and he considered it a great thing gained at +that moment, to lay Louis under the necessity of offering some amends, +even for the apparent trifle of making him break his appointment with +Richelieu. In riding with the King, he would have an opportunity of +noting the Monarch's state of mind, which he perceived was unusually +irritated, and also of preparing the way for those impressions which +Richelieu intended to give: and accordingly he avoided with consummate +art any subject which might open the way for Louis to withdraw his +previous order to accompany him. + +Having already followed one royal hunt somewhat too minutely, we will +not attempt to trace the present; only observing that during the course +of the day, Chavigni had many opportunities of conversing with the King, +and took care to inform him that the campaign in the Netherlands was +showing itself much against the arms of France; that no plan was formed +by the Government, which did not by some means reach the ears of the +Spanish generals, and consequently that all the manoeuvres of the +French troops were unavailing; and from this, as a natural deduction, he +inferred, that some one at the court of France must convey information +to the enemy; mingling these pleasant matters of discourse, with sundry +sage observations respecting the iniquity and baseness of thus +betraying France to her enemies. + +Louis was exactly in the humour that the Statesman could have wished. +Peevish from the absence of Cinq Mars, and annoyed by the unexpected +coming of Richelieu, he listened with indignation to all that Chavigni +told him, of any one in France conveying intelligence to a country which +he hated with the blindest antipathy. + +The predominant passion in the King's mind had long been his dislike to +Spain, but more especially to Philip, whom he regarded as a personal +enemy: and Chavigni easily discerned, by the way in which the news he +conveyed was received, that if they could cast any probable suspicion on +the Queen, (and Chavigni really believed her guilty,) Louis would set no +bounds to his anger. But just at the moment he was congratulating +himself upon the probable success of their schemes, a part of the storm +he had been so busily raising fell unexpectedly upon himself. + +"Well, Monsieur de Chavigni," said the King, after the chase was over, +and the Royal party were riding slowly back towards Chantilly, "this +hunting is a right noble sport: think you not so, Sir?" + +"In truth I do, Sire," replied Chavigni; "and even your Majesty can +scarce love it better than myself." + +"I am glad to hear it, Sir," rejoined the King, knitting his brows; +"'tis a good sign. But one thing I must tell you, which is, that I do +not choose my Royal forests to be made the haunt of worse beasts than +stags and boars.--No wolves and tigers.--Do you take me, Sir?" + +"No, indeed, Sire," replied Chavigni, who really did not comprehend the +King's meaning, and was almost tempted to believe that he had suddenly +gone mad. "Allow me to remind your Majesty that wolves are almost +extinct in this part of France, and that tigers are altogether beasts of +another country." + +"There are beasts of prey in every part of the world," answered the +King. "What I mean, Sir, is, that robbers and assassins are beginning +to frequent our woods; especially, Sir, the wood of Mantes. Was it that, +or was it the forest of Laye, in which the young Count de Blenau was +attacked the other day?" + +It was not easy on ordinary occasions to take Chavigni by surprise, and +he was always prepared to repel open attack, or to parry indirect +questions, with that unhesitating boldness, or skilful evasion, the +proper application of which is but one of the lesser arts of diplomacy; +but on the present occasion, the King's question was not only so +unexpected as nearly to overcome his habitual command of countenance, +but was also uttered in such a tone as to leave him in doubt whether +Louis's suspicions were directed personally towards himself. He replied, +however, without hesitation: "I believe it was the wood of Mantes, Sire; +but I am not perfectly sure." + +"You, of all men, ought to be well informed on that point, Monsieur de +Chavigni," rejoined the King, "since you took care to send a servant to +see it rightly done." + +The matter was now beyond a doubt, and Chavigni replied boldly: "Your +Majesty is pleased to speak in riddles, which I am really at a loss to +comprehend." + +"Well, well, Sir," said Louis hastily, "it shall be inquired into, and +made plain both to you and me. Any thing that is done legally must not +be too strictly noticed; but I will not see the laws broken, and murder +attempted, even to serve State purposes." + +Thus speaking, the King put his horse into a quicker pace, and Chavigni +followed with his mind not a little discomposed, though his countenance +offered not the slightest trace of embarrassment. How he was to act, now +became the question; and running over in his own mind all the +circumstances connected with the attack upon the Count de Blenau, he +could see no other means by which Louis could have become acquainted +with his participation therein, than by the loquacity of Philip, the +woodman of Mantes: and as he came to this conclusion, Chavigni +internally cursed that confident security which had made him reject the +advice of Lafemas, when the sharp-witted Judge had counselled him to +arrest Philip on first discovering that he had remarked the livery of +Isabel and silver amongst the robbers. + +In the present instance the irritable and unusually decided humour of +the King, made him fear that inquiries might be instituted immediately, +which would not only be dangerous to himself personally, but might +probably overthrow all those plans which he had been labouring, in +conjunction with the Cardinal, to bring to perfection. Calculating +rapidly, therefore, all the consequences which might ensue, Chavigni +resolved at once to have the Woodman placed in such a situation as to +prevent him from giving any farther evidence of what he had seen. But +far from showing any untimely haste, though he was the first to dismount +in the court-yard in order to offer the King his aid in alighting, yet +that ceremony performed, he loitered, patting his horse's neck, and +giving trifling directions to his groom, till such time as Louis had +entered the Palace, and his figure had been seen passing the window at +the top of the grand staircase. That moment, however, Chavigni darted +into the Chateau, and seeking his own apartments, he wrote an order for +the arrest of Philip the woodman, which with the same despatch he placed +in the hands of two of his most devoted creatures, adding a billet to +the Governor of the Bastille, in which he begged him to treat the +prisoner with all kindness, and allow him all sort of liberty within the +prison, but on no account to let him escape till he received notice from +him. + +We have already had occasion to see that Chavigni was a man who +considered State-policy paramount to every other principle; and +naturally not of an ungentle disposition or ignoble spirit, he had +unfortunately been educated in a belief that nothing which was expedient +for the statesman could be discreditable to the man. However, the +original bent of his mind generally showed itself in some degree, even +in his most unjustifiable actions, as the ground-work of a picture will +still shine through, and give a colour to whatever is painted above it. +In the present instance, as his only object was to keep the Woodman out +of the way till such time as the King's unwonted mood had passed by, he +gave the strictest commands to those who bore the order for Philip's +arrest, to use him with all possible gentleness, and to assure his wife +and family that no harm was intended to him. He also sent him a purse, +to provide for his comfort in the prison, which he well knew could not +be procured without the potent aid of gold. + +The two attendants, accustomed to execute commands which required +despatch, set out instantly on their journey, proceeding with all speed +to Beaumont, and thence to Pontoise, where crossing the river Oise they +soon after arrived at Meulan: and here a dispute arose concerning the +necessity of calling upon two Exempts of that city to aid in arresting +Philip the woodman, the one servant arguing that they had no such orders +from their Lord, and the other replying that the said Philip might have +twenty companions for aught they knew, who might resist their authority, +they not being legally entitled to arrest his Majesty's lieges. This +argument was too conclusive to be refuted; and they therefore waited at +Meulan till the two Exempts were ready to accompany them. It being night +when they arrived at Meulan, and the two Exempts being engaged in +"potations deep and strong," drinking long life to the Cardinal de +Richelieu, and success to the royal prisons of France, some time was of +course spent before the party could proceed. However, after the lapse of +about an hour, discussed no matter how, they all contrived to get into +their saddles, and passing the bridge over the Seine, soon reached the +first little village, whose white houses, conspicuous in the moon-light, +seemed, on the dark back-ground of the forest, as if they had crept for +protection into the very bosom of the wood; while it, sweeping round +them on every side, appeared in its turn to afford them the friendly +shelter that they sought. + +All was silence as they passed through the village, announcing plainly +that its sober inhabitants were comfortably dozing away the darkness. +This precluded them from asking their way to Philip's dwelling; but +Chavigni had been so precise in his direction, that notwithstanding the +wine-pots of Meulan, the two servants, in about half an hour after +having entered the wood, recognized the _abreuvoir_ and cottage, with +the long-felled oak and piece of broken ground, and all the other +_et-cetera_, which entered into the description they had received. + +There is nothing half so amusing as the bustle with which little people +carry on the trifles that are intrusted to them. They are so important, +and so active, one would think that the world's turning round upon its +axis depended upon them; while all the mighty business of the universe +slips by as quietly as if the wheels were oiled; and the government of +a nation is often decided over a cup of coffee, or the fate of empires +changed by an extra bottle of Johanisberg. + +But to return. Chavigni's two servants, with the two Exempts of Meulan, +were as important and as busy as emmets when their hill is disturbed--or +a _sous-secretaire_ when he opens his first despatch, and receives +information of a revolution in the Isle of Man--or the fleas in an +Italian bed, when you suddenly light your candle to see what the Devil +is biting you so infernally--or the Devil himself in a gale of wind--or +any other little person in a great flurry about nothing. So having +discovered the cottage, they held a profound council before the door, +disputing vehemently as to the mode of proceeding. One of the Exempts +proposed to knock at the door, and then suddenly to seize their prisoner +as he came to open it; but Chavigni's servants, though somewhat dipped +in the Lethean flood, in which the Exempts of Meulan had seduced them to +bathe, remembered the strict orders of their master, to treat Philip +with all possible gentleness, and judging that the mode proposed might +startle him, and affect his nerves, they decided against the motion. + +A variety of other propositions were submitted, and rejected by the +majority, each one liking nobody's suggestion but his own; till one of +the Exempts, not bearing clearly in mind the subject of discussion, +knocked violently at the door, declaring it was tiresome to stand +disputing on their feet, and that they could settle how they should gain +admission after they had got in and sat down. + +This seemed a very good motion, and settled the matter at once; and +Philip, who was in that sound and fearless sleep which innocence, +content, and labour can alone bestow, not exactly answering at first, +they all repeated the noise, not a little enraged at his want of +attention to personages of such high merit as themselves. + +The moment after, the Woodman appeared at the window, and seeing some +travellers, as he imagined, he bade them wait till he had lighted a +lamp, and he would come to them. Accordingly, in a moment or two Philip +opened the door, purposing either to give them shelter, or to direct +them on their way, as they might require; but when the light gleamed +upon the black dresses of the Exempts, and then upon the well-known +colours of Isabel and silver, the Woodman's heart sank, and his cheek +turned pale, and he had scarcely power to demand their errand. + +"I will tell you all that presently," replied the principal servant of +the two, who, like many another small man in many another place, thought +to become great by much speaking. "First let us come in and rest +ourselves; for as you may judge by our dusty doublets, we have ridden +far and hard: and after that I will expound to you, good friend, the +cause of our coming, with sundry other curious particulars, which may +both entertain and affect you." + +Philip suffered them to enter the house, one after another, and setting +down the lamp, he gazed upon them in silence, his horror at gentlemen +in black coats and long straight swords, as well as those dressed in +Isabel and silver, being quite unspeakable. + +"Well, Monsieur Philip le Bucheron," said the spokesman, throwing +himself into the oaken settle with that sort of percussion of breath +denoting fatigue: "you seem frightened, Monsieur Philip; but, good +Monsieur Philip, you have no cause for fear. We are all your friends, +Monsieur Philip." + +"I am glad to hear it, Sir," replied the Woodcutter; "but may I know +what you want with me?" + +"Why, this is the truth, Monsieur Philip," replied the servant, "it +seems that his Majesty the King, whom we have just left at Chantilly, is +very angry about something,--Lord knows what! and our noble employer, +not to say master, the Count de Chavigni, having once upon a time +received some courtesy at your hands, is concerned for your safety, and +has therefore deemed it necessary that you should be kept out of the +way for a time." + +"Oh, if that be the case," cried Philip, rubbing his hands with +gladness, "though I know not why the King's anger should fall on me, I +will take myself out of the way directly." + +"No, no, Monsieur Philip, that won't do exactly," answered the servant. +"You do not know how fond my master is of you; and so concerned is he +for your safety, that he must be always sure of it, and therefore has +given us command to let you stay in the Bastille for a few days." + +At that one word _Bastille_, Philip's imagination set to work, and +instantly conjured up the image of a huge tower of red copper, somewhat +mouldy, standing on the top of a high mountain, and guarded by seven +huge giants with but one eye apiece, and the like number of fiery +dragons with more teeth and claws than would have served a dozen. If it +was not exactly this, it was something very like it; for Philip, whose +travels had never extended a league beyond the wood of Mantes, knew as +much about the Bastille as Saint Augustin did of Heaven,--so both drew +from their own fancy for want of better materials. + +However, the purse which Chavigni's attendants gave him in behalf of +their master, for they dared not withhold his bounty, however much they +might be inclined, greatly allayed the fears of the Woodman. + +There is something wonderfully consolatory in the chink of gold at all +times; but in the present instance, Philip drew from it the comfortable +conclusion, that they could not mean him any great harm when they sent +him money. "I know not what to think," cried he. + +"Why, think it is exactly as I tell you," replied the servant, "and that +the Count means you well. But after you have thought as much as you +like, get ready to come with us, for we have no time to spare." + +This was the worst part of the whole business. Philip had now to take +leave of his good dame Joan, which, like a well-arranged sermon, +consisted of three distinct parts; he had first to wake her, then to +make her comprehend, and then to endure her lamentation. + +The first two were tasks of some difficulty, for Joan slept tolerably +well--that is to say, you might have fired a cannon at her ear without +making her hear--and when she was awake, her understanding did not +become particularly pellucid for at least an hour after. This on +ordinary occasions--but on the present Philip laboured hard to make her +mind take in that he was arrested and going to the Bastille. But finding +that her senses were still somewhat obdurate, and that she did nothing +but rub her eyes, and stretch and yawn in his face, he had recourse to +the same means morally, which he would have used physically to cleave an +oak; namely, he kept shouting to her, "Bastille! Bastille! Bastille!" +reiterating the word upon her ear, just in the same manner that he would +have plied the timber with his axe. + +At length she comprehended it all. Her eye glanced from the inner room +upon the unwonted guests who occupied the other chamber, and then to the +dismayed countenance of her husband; and divining it suddenly, she threw +her arms round the athletic form of the Woodman, bursting into a passion +of tears, and declaring that he should not leave her. + +Of course, on all such occasions there must follow a very tender scene +between husband and wife, and such there was in the present instance: +only Joan, availing herself of one especial privilege of the fair sex, +did not fail, between her bursts of tears and sobs, to rail loudly at +the Cardinal, the King, and all belonging to them, talking more high +treason in five minutes, than would have cost any _man_ an hour to +compose; nor did she spare even the Exempts, or the two gentlemen in +Isabel and silver, but poured forth her indignation upon all alike. + +However, as all things must come to an end, so did this; and Philip was +carried away amidst the vain entreaties his wife at length condescended +to use. + +The only difficulty which remained was, how to mount their prisoner, +having all forgot to bring a horse from Meulan for that purpose; and +Philip not choosing to facilitate his own removal by telling them that +he had a mule in the stable. + +However it was at length agreed, that one of the Exempts should walk to +the next town, and that Philip should mount his horse till another could +be obtained. As the party turned away from the hut, the chief servant, +somewhat moved by the unceasing tears of Joan, took upon him to say that +he was sure that Charles the Woodman's son, who stood with his mother at +the door, would be permitted to see his father in the Bastille, if they +would all agree to say, that they did not know what was become of him, +in case of any impertinent person inquiring for him during his absence. + +This they all consented to, their grief being somewhat moderated by the +prospect of communicating with each other, although separated; and +Philip once more having bid his wife and children adieu, was carried on +to a little village, where a horse being procured for him, the whole +party took the road to Marly, and thence proceeded to Paris with all +possible diligence. + +Day had long dawned before they reached the Bastille, and Philip, who +was now excessively tired, never having ridden half the way in his life, +was actually glad to arrive at the prison, which he had previously +contemplated with so much horror. + +Here he was delivered, with the _lettre de cachet_, and Chavigni's note, +to the Governor; and the servant again, in his own hearing, recommended +that he should be treated with all imaginable kindness, and allowed +every liberty consistent with his safe custody. + +All this convinced the Woodcutter, as well as the conversation he had +heard on the road, that Chavigni really meant well by him; and without +any of those more refined feelings, which, however they may sometimes +open the gates of the heart to the purest joys, but too often betray the +fortress of the breast to the direst pains, he now felt comparatively +secure, and gazed up at the massy walls and towers of the Bastille with +awe indeed, but awe not unmingled with admiration. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + Which shows that diadems are not without their thorns. + + +This shall be a short Chapter, I am determined; because it is one of the +most important in the whole book. + +During the absence of the King and Chavigni in the chase, two arrivals +had taken place at Chantilly very nearly at the same moment. Luckily, +however, the Queen had just time to alight from her carriage, and seek +her apartments, before the Cardinal de Richelieu entered the court-yard, +thus avoiding an interview with her deadly enemy on the very +threshold,--an interview, from which she might well have drawn an +inauspicious augury, without even the charge of superstition. + +As soon as Chavigni had (as far as possible) provided for his own safety +by despatching the order for Philip's arrest, he proceeded to the +apartments of Richelieu, and there he gave that Minister an exact +account of all he had heard, observed, and done; commenting particularly +upon the violent and irascible mood of the King, and the advantages +which might be thence derived, if they could turn his anger in the +direction that they wished. + +In the mean while Louis proceeded to the apartments of the Queen, not +indeed hurried on by any great affection for his wife, but desirous of +seeing his children, whom he sincerely loved, notwithstanding the +unaccountable manner in which he so frequently absented himself from +them. + +Never very attentive to dress, Louis the Thirteenth, when any thing +disturbed or irritated him, neglected entirely the ordinary care of his +person. In the present instance he made no change in his apparel, +although the sports in which he had been engaged had not left it in a +very fit state to grace a drawing-room. Thus, in a pair of immense +jack-boots, his hat pressed down upon his brows, and his whole dress +soiled, deranged, and covered with dust, he presented himself in the +saloon where Anne of Austria sat surrounded by the young Princes and the +ladies who had accompanied her to Chantilly. + +The Queen immediately rose to receive her husband, and advanced towards +him with an air of gentle kindness, mixed however with some degree of +apprehension; for to her eyes, long accustomed to remark the various +changes of his temper, the disarray of his apparel plainly indicated the +irritation of his mind. + +Louis saluted her but coldly, and without taking off his hat. "I am glad +to see you well, Madam," said he, and passed on to the nurse who held in +her arms the young Dauphin. + +The child had not seen its father for some weeks, and now perceiving a +rude-looking ill-dressed man, approaching hastily towards it, became +frightened, hid its face on the nurse's shoulder, and burst into tears. + +The rage of the King now broke the bounds of common decency. + +"Ha!" exclaimed he, stamping on the ground with his heavy boot, till the +whole apartment rang: "is it so, Madam? Do you teach my children, also, +to dislike their father?" + +"No, my Lord, no, indeed!" replied Anne of Austria, in a tone of deep +distress, seeing this unfortunate _contretems_ so strangely misconstrued +to her disadvantage. "I neither teach the child to dislike you, nor +_does_ he dislike you; but you approached Louis hastily, and with your +hat flapped over your eyes, so that he does not know you. Come hither, +Louis," she continued, taking the Dauphin out of the nurse's arms. "It +is your father; do not you know him? Have I not always told you to love +him?" + +The Dauphin looked at his mother, and then at the King, and perfectly +old enough to comprehend what she said, he began to recognize his +father, and held out his little arms towards him. But Louis turned +angrily away. + +"A fine lesson of dissimulation!" he exclaimed; and advanced towards his +second son, who then bore the title of Duke of Anjou. "Ah, my little +Philip," he continued, as the infant received him with a placid +smile,--"you are not old enough to have learned any of these arts. You +can love your father without being told to show it, like an ape at a +puppet-show." + +At this new attack, the Queen burst into tears. + +"Indeed, indeed, my Lord," she said, "you wrong me. Oh, Louis! how you +might have made me love you once!" and her tears redoubled at the +thought of the past. "But I am a weak fool," she continued, wiping the +drops from her eyes, "to feel so sensibly what I do not deserve--At +present your Majesty does me deep injustice.--I have always taught both +my children to love and respect their father. That name is the first +word that they learn to pronounce; and from me they learn to pronounce +it with affection. But oh, my Liege! what will these dear children think +in after years, when they see their father behave to their mother, as +your Majesty does towards me?" + +"Pshaw!" exclaimed the King, "let us have no more of all this. I hate +these scenes of altercation. Fear not, Madam; the time will come, when +these children will learn to appreciate us both thoroughly." + +"I hope not, my Lord"--replied the Queen fervently--"I hope not. From +me, at least, they shall never learn all I have to complain of in their +father." + +Had Anne of Austria reflected, she would have been silent; but it is +sometimes difficult to refrain when urged by taunts and unmerited +reproach. That excellent vial of water, which the Fairy bestowed upon +the unhappy wife, is not always at hand to impede the utterance of +rejoinders, which, like rejoinders in the Court of Chancery, only serve +to urge on the strife a degree farther, whether they be right or wrong. +In the present case the King's pale countenance flushed with anger. +"Beware, Madam, beware!" exclaimed he. "You have already been treated +with too much lenity--Remember the affair of Chalais!" + +"Well, Sir!" replied the Queen, raising her head with an air of dignity: +"Your Majesty knows, and feels, and has said, that I am perfectly +guiltless of that miserable plot. My Lord, my Lord! if _you_ can lay +your head upon your pillow conscious of innocence like mine, you will +sleep well; _my_ bosom at least is clear." + +"See that it be, Madam," replied Louis, darting upon her one of those +fiery and terrible glances in which the whole vindictive soul of his +Italian mother blazed forth in his eyes with the glare of a basilisk. +"See that it be, Madam; for there may come worse charges than that +against you.--I have learned from a sure source that a Spaniard is +seeking my overthrow, and a woman is plotting my ruin," he continued, +repeating the words of the Astrologer; "that a Prince is scheming my +destruction, and a Queen is betraying my trust--so, see that your bosom +_be_ clear, Madam." And passing quickly by her, he left the apartment, +exclaiming loud enough for all within it to hear, "Where is his Eminence +of Richelieu? Some one, give him notice that the King desires his +presence when he has leisure." + +Anne of Austria clasped her hands in silence, and looking up to Heaven +seemed for a moment to petition for support under the new afflictions +she saw ready to fall upon her; and then without a comment on the +painful scene that had just passed, returned to her ordinary +employments. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + Containing a great many things not more curious and interesting + than true. + + +In the old Chateau of Chantilly was a long gallery, which went by the +name of the _Cours aux cerfs_, from the number of stags' heads which +appeared curiously sculptured upon the frieze, with their long branching +horns projecting from the wall, and so far extended on both sides as to +cross each other and form an extraordinary sort of trellis-work +architrave, before they reached the ceiling. + +The windows of this gallery were far apart, and narrow, admitting but +little light into the interior, which, being of a dingy stone colour, +could hardly have been rendered cheerful even by the brightest sunshine; +but which, both from the smallness of the windows and the projection of +a high tower on the other side of the court, was kept in continual +shadow, except when in the longest days of summer the sun just passed +the angle of the opposite building and threw a parting gleam through the +last window, withdrawn as quickly as bestowed. + +But at the time I speak of, namely, two days after the Queen's arrival +at Chantilly, no such cheering ray found entrance. It seemed, indeed, a +fit place for melancholy imaginings; and to such sad purpose had Anne of +Austria applied it. For some time she had been standing at one of the +windows, leaning on the arm of Madame de Beaumont, and silently gazing +with abstracted thoughts upon the open casements of the corridor on the +other side, when the figures of Richelieu and Chavigni, passing by one +of them, in their full robes, caught her eye; and withdrawing from the +conspicuous situation in which she was placed, she remarked to the +Marchioness what she had seen, and observed that they must be going to +the council-chamber. + +Thus began a conversation which soon turned to the King, and to his +strange conduct, which ever since their arrival had continued in an +increasing strain of petulance and ill-temper. + +"Indeed, Madam," said the Marchioness de Beaumont, "your Majesty's +gentleness is misapplied. Far be it from me to urge aught against my +King; but there be some dispositions to have their vehemence checked and +repelled; and it is well also for themselves, when they meet with one +who will oppose them firmly and boldly." + +"Perhaps, De Beaumont," replied the Queen, "if I had taken that course +many years ago, it might have produced a happy effect; but now, alas! it +would be in vain; and God knows whether it would have succeeded even +then!" + +As she spoke, the door of the gallery opened, and an officer of the +Council appeared, notifying to the Queen that his Majesty the King +demanded her presence in the council-chamber. + +Anne of Austria turned to Madame de Beaumont with a look of melancholy +foreboding. "More, more, more still to endure," she said: and then +added, addressing the officer, "His Majesty's commands shall be +instantly obeyed; so inform him, Sir.--De Beaumont, tell Mademoiselle de +Hauteford that I shall be glad of her assistance too. You will go with +me, of course." + +Mademoiselle de Hauteford instantly came at the Queen's command, and +approaching her with a sweet and placid smile, said a few words of +comfort to her Royal mistress in so kind and gentle a manner, that the +tears rose in the eyes of Anne of Austria. + +"De Hauteford!" said she, "I feel a presentiment that we shall soon +part, and therefore I speak to you now of what I never spoke before. I +know how much I have to thank you for--I know how much you have +rejected for my sake--The love of a King would have found few to refuse +it. You have done so for my sake, and you will have your reward." + +The eloquent blood spread suddenly over the beautiful countenance of the +lady of honour. "Spare me, spare me, your Majesty," cried she, kissing +the hand the Queen held out to her. "I thought that secret had been +hidden in my bosom alone. But oh let me hope that, even had it not been +for my love for your Majesty, I could still have resisted. Yes! yes!" +continued she, clasping her hands, and murmuring to herself the name of +a higher and holier King, "yes! yes! I could have resisted!" + +The unusual energy with which the beautiful girl spoke, on all ordinary +occasions so calm and imperturbable, showed the Queen how deeply her +heart had taken part in that to which she alluded; and perhaps female +curiosity might have led her to prolong the theme, though a painful one +to both parties, had not the summons of the King required her immediate +attention. + +As they approached the council-chamber, Madame de Beaumont observed that +the Queen's steps wavered. + +"Take courage, Madam," said she. "For Heaven's sake, call up spirit to +carry you through, whatever may occur." + +"Fear not, De Beaumont," replied the Queen, though her tone betrayed the +apprehension she felt. "They shall see that they cannot frighten me." + +At that moment the _Huissier_ threw open the door of the +council-chamber, and the Queen with her ladies entered, and found +themselves in the presence of the King and all his principal ministers. +In the centre of the room, strewed with various papers and materials for +writing, stood a long table, at the top of which, in a seat slightly +raised above the rest, sat Louis himself, dressed, as was usual with +him, in a suit of black silk, without any ornament whatever, except +three rows of sugar-loaf buttons of polished jet,--if these could be +considered as ornamental. His hat, indeed, which he continued to wear, +was looped up with a small string of jewels; and the feather, which fell +much on one side, was buttoned with a diamond of some value; but these +were the only indications by which his apparel could have been +distinguished from that of some poor _avoué_, or _greffier de la cour_. + +On the right hand of the King was placed the Cardinal de Richelieu, in +his robes; and on the left, was the Chancellor Seguier. Bouthilliers, +Chavigni, Mazarin, and other members of the council, filled the rest of +the seats round the table; but at the farther end was a vacant space, in +front of which the Queen now presented herself, facing the chair of the +King. + +There was an angry spot on Louis's brow, and as Anne of Austria entered, +he continued playing with the hilt of his sword, without once raising +his eyes towards her. The Queen's heart sank, but still she bore an +undismayed countenance, while the Cardinal fixed upon her the full +glance of his dark commanding eyes, and rising from his seat, slightly +inclined his head at her approach. + +The rest of the Council rose, and Chavigni turned away his eyes, with an +ill-defined sensation of pain and regret; but the more subtle Mazarin, +ever watchful to court good opinion, whether for present, or for future +purposes, glided quietly round, and placed a chair for her at the table. +It was an action not forgotten in after days. + +A moment's pause ensued. As soon as the Queen was seated, Richelieu +glanced his eye towards the countenance of the King, as if to instigate +him to open the business of the day: but Louis's attention was deeply +engaged in his sword-knot, or at least seemed to be so, and the Cardinal +was at length forced to proceed himself. + +"Your Majesty's presence has been desired by the King, who is like a God +in justice and in equity," said Richelieu, proceeding in that bold and +figurative style, in which all his public addresses were conceived, "in +order to enable you to cast off, like a raiment that has been soiled by +a foul touch, the accusations which have been secretly made against you, +and to explain some part of your conduct, which, as clouds between the +earth and the sun, have come between yourself and your royal husband, +intercepting the beams of his princely approbation. All this your +Majesty can doubtless do, and the King has permitted the Council to hear +your exculpation from your own lips, that we may trample under our feet +the foul suspicions that appear against you." + +"Lord Cardinal," replied the Queen, calmly, but firmly, "I wonder at the +boldness of your language. Remember, Sir, whom it is that you thus +presume to address--The wife of your Sovereign, Sir, who sits there, +bound to protect her from insult and from injury." + +"Cease, cease, Madam!" cried Louis, breaking silence. "First prove +yourself innocent, and then use the high tone of innocence, if you +will." + +"To you, my Lord," replied the Queen, "I am ready to answer every +thing, truly and faithfully, as a good wife, and a good subject; but not +to that audacious vassal, who, in oppressing and insulting me, but +degrades your authority and weakens your power." + +"Spare your invectives, Madam," said the Cardinal calmly, "for, if I be +not much mistaken, before you leave this chamber you will be obliged to +acknowledge all that is contained in the paper before me; in which case, +the bad opinion of your Majesty would be as the roar of idle wind, that +hurteth not the mariner on shore." + +"My Lord and Sovereign," said the Queen, addressing Louis, without +deigning to notice the Cardinal, "it seems that some evil is laid to my +charge; will you condescend to inform me of what crime I am accused, +that now calls your Majesty's anger upon me?--If loving you too +well,--if lamenting your frequent absence from me,--if giving my whole +time and care to your children, be no crimes, tell me, my Lord, tell me, +what I have done." + +"What you have done, Madam, is easily told," exclaimed Louis, his eyes +flashing fire. "Give me that paper, Lord Cardinal;" and passing hastily +from article to article of its contents, he continued: "Have you not, +contrary to my express command, and the command of the Council, +corresponded with Philip of Spain? Have you not played the spy upon the +plans of my Government, and caused the defeat of my armies in Flanders, +the losses of the Protestants in Germany, the failure of all our schemes +in Italy, by the information you have conveyed? Have you not written to +Don Francisco de Mello, and your cousin the Archduke? Have you not----" + +"Never, never!" exclaimed the Queen, clasping her hands, "never, so help +me Heaven!" + +"What!" cried Louis, dashing the paper angrily upon the table. "Darest +thou deny what is as evident as the sun in the noonday sky? Remember, +Madam, that your minion, De Blenau, is in the Bastille, and will soon +forfeit his life upon the scaffold, if his obstinacy does not make him +die under the _question_." + +"For poor De Blenau's sake, my Lord," replied the Queen,--"for the sake +of as noble, and as innocent a man as ever was the victim of tyranny, I +will tell you at once, that I have written to Philip of Spain--my own +dear brother. And who can blame me, my Lord, for loving one who has +always loved me? But I knew my duty better than ever once to mention +even the little that I knew of the public affairs of this kingdom: and +far less, your Majesty, did I pry into secret plans of State policy for +the purpose of divulging them. My letters, my Lord, were wholly +domestic. I spoke of myself, of my husband, of my children; I spoke as a +woman, a wife, and a mother; but never, my Lord, as a Queen; and never, +never as a spy. + +"As to De Blenau, my Lord, let me assure you, that before he undertook +to forward those letters, he exacted from me a promise, that they +should never contain any thing which could impeach his honour, or his +loyalty. This, my Lord, is all my crime, and this is the extent of his." + +There was a degree of simplicity and truth in the manner of the Queen, +which operated strongly on the mind of Louis. "But who," said he, "will +vouch that those letters contained nothing treasonable? We have but your +word, Madam; and you well know that we are at war with Spain, and cannot +procure a sight of the originals." + +"Luckily," replied Anne of Austria, her countenance brightening with a +ray of hope, "they have all been read by one whom your Majesty yourself +recommended to my friendship. Clara de Hauteford, you have seen them +all. Speak! Tell the King the nature of their contents without fear and +without favour." + +Mademoiselle de Hauteford advanced from behind the Queen's chair; and +the King, who, it was generally believed, had once passionately loved +her, but had met with no return, now fixed his eyes intently upon the +pale, beautiful creature, that, scarcely like a being of the earth, +glided silently forward and placed herself directly opposite to him. +Clara de Hauteford was devotedly attached to the Queen. Whether it +sprang from that sense of duty which in general governed all her +actions, or whether it was personal attachment, matters little, as the +effect was the same, and she would, at no time, have considered her life +too great a sacrifice to the interest of her mistress. + +She advanced then before the Council, knowing that the happiness, if not +the life of Anne of Austria, might depend upon her answer; and clasping +her snowy hands together, she raised her eyes towards Heaven, "So help +me God at my utmost need!" she said, with a clear, slow, energetic +utterance, "no line that I have ever seen of her Majesty's writing--and +I believe I have seen almost all she has written within the last five +years--no line that I have seen, ever spoke any thing but the warmest +attachment to my Lord the King; nor did any ever contain the slightest +allusion to the politics of this kingdom, but were confined entirely to +the subject of her domestic life;--nor even then," she continued, +dropping her full blue eyes to the countenance of the King, and fixing +them there, with a calm serious determined gaze, which overpowered the +glance of the Monarch, and made his eyelid fall--"nor even then did they +ever touch upon her domestic sorrows." + +Richelieu saw that the King was moved: he knew also the influence of +Mademoiselle de Hauteford, and he instantly resolved upon crushing her +by one of those bold acts of power which he had so often attempted with +impunity. Nor had he much hesitation in the present instance, knowing +that Louis's superstitious belief in the predictions of the Astrologer +had placed the Monarch's mind completely under his dominion. +"Mademoiselle de Hauteford," said he in a stern voice, "answer me. Have +you seen all the letters that the Queen has written to her brother, +Philip King of Spain, positively knowing them to be such?" + +"So please your Eminence, I _have_," replied Mademoiselle de Hauteford. + +"Well then," said Richelieu, rising haughtily from his chair while he +spoke, "in so doing you have committed misprision of treason, and are +therefore banished from this court and kingdom for ever; and if within +sixteen days from this present, you have not removed yourself from the +precincts of the realm, you shall be considered guilty of high treason, +and arraigned as such, inasmuch as, according to your own confession, +you have knowingly and wilfully, after a decree in council against it, +concealed and abetted a correspondence between persons within the +kingdom of France, and a power declaredly its enemy." + +As the Cardinal uttered his sentence in a firm, deep, commanding voice, +the King, who had at first listened to him with a look of surprise, and +perhaps of anger, soon began to feel the habitual superiority of +Richelieu, and shrunk back into himself, depressed and overawed: the +Queen pressed her hand before her eyes; and Chavigni half raised +himself, as if to speak, but instantly resumed his seat as his eye met +that of the Cardinal. + +It was Mademoiselle de Hauteford alone that heard her condemnation +without apparent emotion. She merely bowed her head with a look of the +most perfect resignation. "Your Eminence's will shall be obeyed," she +replied, "and may a gracious God protect my innocent Mistress!" Thus +saying, she again took her place behind the Queen's chair, with hardly a +change of countenance--always pale, perhaps her face was a little paler +but it was scarcely perceptible. + +"And now," continued Richelieu in the same proud manner, assuming at +once that power which he in reality possessed,--"and now let us proceed +to the original matter, from which we have been diverted to sweep away a +butterfly. Your Majesty confesses yourself guilty of treason, in +corresponding with the enemies of the kingdom. I hold in my hand a paper +to that effect, or something very similar, all drawn from irrefragable +evidence upon the subject. This you may as well sign, and on that +condition no farther notice shall be taken of the affair; but the matter +shall be forgotten as an error in judgment." + +"I have _not_ confessed myself guilty of treason, arrogant Prelate," +replied the Queen, "and I have not corresponded with Philip of Spain as +an enemy of France, but as my own brother. Nor will I, while I have +life, sign a paper so filled with falsehoods as any one must be that +comes from your hand." + +"Your Majesty sees," said Richelieu, turning to the King, from whom the +faint sparks of energy he had lately shown were now entirely gone. "Is +there any medium to be kept with a person so convicted of error, and so +obstinate in the wrong? And is such a person fit to educate the children +of France? Your Majesty has promised that the Dauphin and the Duke of +Anjou shall be given into my charge." + +"I have," said the weak Monarch, "and I will keep my promise." + +"Never! never!" cried the Queen vehemently, "never, while Anne of +Austria lives! Oh, my Lord!" she exclaimed, advancing, and casting +herself at the feet of the King; with all the overpowering energy of +maternal love, "consider that I am their mother!--Rob me not of my only +hope,--rob me not of those dear children who have smiled and cheered me +through all my sorrows. Oh, Louis! if you have the feelings of a father, +if you have the feelings of a man, spare me this!" + +The King turned away his head, and Richelieu, gliding behind the throne, +placed himself at the Queen's side. "Sign the paper," said he, in a low +deep tone, "sign the paper, and they shall not be taken from you." + +"Any thing! any thing! but leave me my children!" exclaimed the Queen, +taking the pen he offered her. "Have I your promise?" + +"You have," replied he decidedly. "They shall not be taken from you." + +"Well, then!" said Anne of Austria, receiving the paper, "I will sign +it; but I call Heaven to witness that I am innocent; and you, gentlemen +of the Council, to see that I sign a paper, the contents of which I know +not, and part of which is certainly false." Thus saying, with a rapid +hand she wrote her name at the bottom of the page, threw down the pen +and quitted the apartment. + +The Queen walked slowly, and in silence, to the apartments allotted to +her use, without giving way to the various painful feelings that +struggled in her bosom; but once arrived within the shelter of her own +saloon, she sank into a chair, and burst into a flood of tears. +Mademoiselle de Hauteford, who stood beside her, endeavoured in vain for +some time to calm her agitation, but at length succeeding in a degree. + +"Oh, Clara!" said the Queen, "you have ruined yourself for my sake." + +"I hope, Madam," replied the young lady, "that I have done my duty, +which were enough in itself to reconcile me to my fate; but if I could +suppose that I have served your Majesty, I should be more than rewarded +for any thing I may undergo." + +"You have served me most deeply on this and every occasion," answered +the Queen; "and the time may come, when the affection of Anne of Austria +will not be what it is now,--the destruction of all that possess +it.--But why comes Mademoiselle de Beaumont in such haste?" she +continued, as Pauline, who had been absent in the gardens of the Palace, +and unconscious of all that had lately passed, entered the saloon with +hurry and anxiety in her countenance. + +"Please your Majesty," said Pauline, and then suddenly stopped, seeing +that the Queen had been weeping. "Proceed, proceed! wild rose," said +Anne of Austria; "they are but tears--drops that signify nothing." + +"As I was walking in the gardens but now," continued Pauline, "a little +peasant boy came up to me, and asked if I could bring him to speech of +your Majesty. I was surprised at his request, and asked him what was his +business; when he told me that he brought you a letter from the +Bastille. This seemed so important that I made bold to take him into the +Palace by the private gate, and concealed him in my apartments, till I +had informed you of it all." + +"You did right, Pauline, you did right," replied the Queen. "It must +surely be news from De Blenau. Bring the boy hither directly--not by the +anteroom, but by the inner apartments--You, Clara, station Laporte at +the top of the staircase, to see that no one approaches." + +Pauline flew to execute the Queen's commands, and in a few minutes a +clatter was heard in the inner chamber, not at all unlike the noise +produced by that most unfortunate animal a cat, when some mischievous +boys adorn her feet with walnut-shells. + +The moment after, the door opened, and Pauline appeared leading in a +fine curly-headed boy of about ten years old. He was dressed in hodden +grey, with a broad leathern belt round his waist, in which appeared a +small axe and a knife, while his feet, displaying no stockings, but +with the skin tanned to the colour of Russia leather, were thrust into a +pair of unwieldy _sabots_, or wooden-shoes, which had caused the clatter +aforesaid. + +"Take off his _sabots_, take off his _sabots_," cried the Queen, putting +her hands to her ears. "They will alarm the whole house." + +"_Dame oui!_" cried the boy, slipping his feet out of their +incumbrances. "_J'avons oublié, et vous aussi, Mademoiselle_," turning +to Pauline, who, anxious to hear of De Blenau, would have let him come +in, if he had been shod like a horse. + +The little messenger now paused for a moment, then having glanced his +eye over the ladies at the other end of the room, as if to ascertain to +which he was to deliver his credentials, advanced straight to the Queen, +and falling down upon both his knees, tendered her a sealed packet. + +"Well, my boy," said Anne of Austria, taking the letter, "whom does this +come from?" + +"My father, the Woodman of Mantes," replied the boy, "told me to give it +into the Queen's own hand; and when I had done so, to return straight to +him and not to wait, for fear of being discovered." + +"And how do you know that I am the Queen?" asked Anne of Austria, who +too often suffered her mind to be distracted from matters of grave +importance by trifling objects of amusement. "That lady is the Queen," +she continued, pointing to Madame de Beaumont, and playing upon the +boy's simplicity. + +"No, no," said Charles, the Woodman's son, "she stands and you sit; and +besides, you told them to take off my _sabots_, as if you were used to +order all about you." + +"Well," rejoined the Queen, "you are right, my boy: go back to your +father, and as a token that you have given the letter to the Queen, +carry him back that ring;" and she took a jewel from her finger, and put +it into the boy's hand. "Mademoiselle de Beaumont," she continued, "will +you give this boy into the charge of Laporte, bidding him take him from +the Palace by the most private way, and not to leave him till he is safe +out of Chantilly." + +According to Anne of Austria's command, Pauline conducted Charles to the +head of the staircase, at which had been stationed Laporte, the +confidential servant of the Queen, keeping watch to give notice of any +one's approach. To him she delivered her charge with the proper +directions, and then returned to the saloon, not a little anxious to +learn the contents of De Blenau's letter. I will not try to explain her +sensations. Let those who have been parted from some one that they love, +who have been anxious for his safety, and terrified for his danger, who +have waited in fear and agony for tidings long delayed--let them call up +all that they felt, and tinging it with that shade of romance, which +might be expected in the mind of a young, feeling, imaginative, +Languedocian girl of 1643, they will have something like a picture of +Pauline's sensations, without my helping them a bit. + +"Come hither, my wild rose," said the Queen, as she saw her enter. "Here +is a letter from De Blenau, full of sad news indeed. His situation is +perilous in the extreme; and though I am the cause of all, I do not know +how to aid him." + +Pauline turned pale, but cast down her eyes, and remained without +speaking. + +"Surely, Pauline," said the Queen, misinterpreting her silence, "after +the explanations I gave you some days ago, you can have no farther doubt +of De Blenau's conduct?" + +"Oh no indeed! Madam," replied Pauline, vehemently, "and now that I feel +and know how very wrong those suspicions were, I would fain do something +to atone for having formed them." + +"Thou canst do nothing, my poor flower," said the Queen, with a +melancholy smile. "However, read that letter, and thou wilt see that +something must soon be done to save him, or his fate is sealed. De +Blenau must be informed that I have acknowledged writing to my brother, +and all the particulars connected therewith; for well I know that +Richelieu will not be contented with my confession, but will attempt to +wring something more from him, even by the _peine forte et dure_." + +Pauline read, and re-read the letter, and each time she did so, the +colour came and went in her cheek, and at every sentence she raised her +large dark eyes to the Queen, as if inquiring what could be done for +him. Each of the Queen's ladies was silent for a time, and then each +proposed some plan, which was quickly discussed and rejected, as either +too dangerous, or totally impracticable. One proposed to bribe the +Governor of the Bastille to convey a letter to De Blenau, but that was +soon rejected: another proposed to send Laporte, the Queen's valet de +chambre, to try and gain admittance; but Laporte had once been confined +there himself, and was well known to all the officers of the prison: and +another mentioned Seguin, Anne of Austria's surgeon; but he also was not +only too well known, but it appeared, from what De Blenau had informed +the Queen of his conference with Richelieu, that the very words of the +message which had been sent by him on the night of the young Count's +rencontre with the robbers, had been communicated to the Cardinal; and +the whole party forgot that Louise, the _soubrette_, had been present +when it was delivered. + +In the mean while, Pauline remained profoundly silent, occupied by many +a bitter reflection, while a thousand confused schemes flitted across +her mind, like bubbles floating on a stream, and breaking as soon as +they were looked upon. At length, however, she started, as if some more +feasible plan presented itself to her thoughts----"I will go!" exclaimed +she,--"Please your Majesty, I will go." + +"You, Pauline!" said the Queen, "you, my poor girl! You know not the +difficulties of such an undertaking. What say you, Madame de Beaumont?" + +"That I am pleased, Madam, to see my child show forth the spirit of her +race," replied the Marchioness. "Nor do I doubt of her success; for sure +I am Pauline would not propose a project which had no good foundation." + +"Then say how you intend to manage it," said the Queen, with little +faith in the practicability of Pauline's proposal. "I doubt me much, my +sweet girl, they will never let you into the Bastille. Their hearts are +as hard as the stones of the prison that they keep, and they will give +you no ingress for love of your bright eyes." + +"I do not intend to make that a plea," replied Pauline, smiling in +youthful confidence; "but I will borrow one of my maid's dresses, and +doubtless shall look as like a _soubrette_ as any one. Claude directs +us, here, to ask at the gate for Philip the woodman of Mantes. Now he +will most likely be able to procure me admission; and if not, I can but +give the message to him and be sent away again." + +"Oh, no, no!" cried the Queen, "give no messages but in the last +extremity. How do we know that this Woodman might not betray us, and +raise Richelieu's suspicions still more? If you can see De Blenau, +well---- I will give you a letter for him; but if not, only tell the +Woodman to inform him, that I have confessed all. If that reach the +tyrant's ears, it can do no harm. Your undertaking is bold, Pauline: +think you your courage will hold out?" + +The boundaries between emulation and jealousy are very frail, and Madame +de Beaumont, who regarded the services which Mademoiselle de Hauteford +had rendered the Queen with some degree of envy, now answered for her +daughter's courage with more confidence than perhaps she felt. But +Pauline's plan yet required great arrangement, even to give it the +probability of success. With a thousand eyes continually upon their +actions, it was no very easy matter even to quit Chantilly without +calling down that observation and inquiry which would have been fatal to +their project. + +To obviate this difficulty, however, it was agreed that Pauline should +accompany Mademoiselle de Hauteford, whose sentence of banishment +required her immediate presence in Paris, for the arrangement of her +affairs. On their arrival in that city, the two ladies were to take up +their abode with the old Marchioness de Senecy, one of the Queen's most +devoted adherents, and to determine their future proceedings by the +information they received upon the spot. + +The greatest rapidity, however, was necessary to any hope of success, +and neither Pauline nor Mademoiselle de Hauteford lost any time in their +preparations. The Queen's letter to De Blenau was soon written. Pauline +borrowed from her maid Louise, the full dress of a Languedoc peasant, +provided herself with a considerable sum of money, that no means might +be left untried, and having taken leave of her mother, whose bold +counsels tended to raise her spirits and uphold her resolution, she +placed herself in the _chaise roulante_ beside Mademoiselle de +Hauteford, buoyed up with youthful confidence and enthusiasm. + +It was rather an anxious moment, however, as they passed the gates of +the Palace, which by some accident were shut. This caused a momentary +delay, and several of the Cardinal's guard (for Richelieu assumed that +of a bodyguard amongst other marks of royalty) gathered round the +vehicle with the idle curiosity of an unemployed soldiery. Pauline's +heart beat fast, but the moment after she was relieved by the appearance +of the old _concierge_, or porter, who threw open the gates, and the +carriage rolled out without any question being asked. Her mind, however, +was not wholly relieved till they were completely free of the town of +Chantilly, and till the carriage slowly mounting the first little hill, +took a slight turn to avoid a steeper ascent, showing them the towers of +the chateau and the course of the road they had already passed, without +any human form that could afford subject for alarm. + +Pauline, seeing that they were not followed, gave herself up to +meditations of the future, firmly believing that their departure had +entirely escaped the observation of the Cardinal. This, however, was not +the case. He had been early informed that one of the Queen's carriages +was in preparation to carry some of the ladies of honour to Paris; but +concluding that it was nothing more than the effect of that sentence of +banishment which he had himself pronounced against Mademoiselle de +Hauteford, he suffered Pauline and her companion to depart without +inquiry or obstruction; although some of the many tools of his power had +shut the Palace gates, as if by accident, till his decision was known. + +As the carriage rolled on, and Pauline reflected in silence upon the +task she had undertaken, the bright colouring of the moment's enthusiasm +faded away; the mists in which hope had concealed the rocks and +precipices around her path, no longer intercepted her view, and the +whole difficulties and dangers to which she exposed herself, presented +themselves one after another to her sight. But the original motives +still remained in full force. Her deep romantic attachment to De Blenau, +her sense of duty to the Queen, and that generosity of purpose which +would have led her at any time to risk her life to save the +innocent--much more the innocent and loved--of these, nothing could +deprive her; and these kept up her resolution, although the very +interest which her heart took in the success of her endeavour, made her +magnify the dangers, and tremble at the thought of failure. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Which shows what they did with De Blenau in the Bastille, and what + he himself did to get out of it. + + +As a young member of what is technically called the _lower house_, or +otherwise the House of Commons, when first he goes down after his +election to take the oaths and his seat, his heart fluttering both with +pride and timidity, most conscientiously resolves to be independent in +all his opinions, and determines heroically to have no party: so had I, +when I entered upon the arduous duties of giving this work to the public +in its present form, determined heroically to have no hero; but to do +equal justice to all the several characters, and let each reader find a +hero for himself. + +However, pursuing the course of the abovementioned young member of the +Commons House of Parliament, who soon begins to perceive, that it is as +easy to eat oysters and brown sugar, as to vote with a party to whom he +has a natural antipathy; or for the needle to fly from the magnet as for +him to keep aloof from that faction to which individual interests, +long-indulged habits, and early prejudices attach him; so, I soon began +to find that my own feelings more particularly inclining me to the Count +de Blenau, I unconsciously made him the hero of my tale, dilated on his +history, enlarged upon his character, quitted him with regret, and +returned to him with pleasure. + +At present, however, the course of my tale naturally conducts me once +more to the gloomy walls of the Bastille, to give some account of the +circumstances which led to the latter events of the last chapter; and +consequently I feel no hesitation in once more taking up the history of +my Hero. + +The sleep of the Count de Blenau was fully as sound within the Bastille +as ever it had been in his own hotel at St. Germain: nor was it till the +day was risen high that he awoke, on the first morning after his +imprisonment. + +It was some moments before he could remember his precise situation, so +profound had been his sleep. But the unpleasant parts of our fate soon +recall themselves to our senses, though we may forget them for a time; +and the narrow windows, the iron door, and the untapestried walls, +speedily brought back to De Blenau's recollection many a painful +particular, to which sleep had given a temporary oblivion. + +On rising, he missed in some degree the attendance to which he was +accustomed; but nevertheless he contrived to get through the business of +the toilet, without much difficulty; although no page was ready at his +call, no groom prepared to adjust every part of his apparel. He then +proceeded into the outer chamber, which he mentally termed his saloon, +and would willingly have ordered his breakfast, but his apartments +afforded no means of communicating with those below, except by the iron +door already mentioned; the secret of which was of too great importance +to be lost upon so trifling an occasion. + +No remedy presented itself but patience, and proceeding to the window, +which opened at will to admit the air, but which was strongly secured on +the outside with massy iron bars, he endeavoured to amuse the time by +looking into the court below, in which he could occasionally catch a +glimpse of some of his fellow-prisoners, appearing and disappearing, as +they sometimes emerged into the open space within his sight, and +sometimes retired into the part, which the thickness of the walls in +which the window was placed, hid from his view. + +They were now apparently taking their morning's walk, and enjoying the +privilege of conversing with each other--a privilege which De Blenau +began to value more highly than ever he had done. Amongst those that he +beheld were many whom he recognised, as having either known them +personally, or having seen them at the court, or with the army; and the +strange assemblage of all different parties which met his eye in the +court-yard of the Bastille, fully convinced him, that under the +administration of a man who lived in constant fear that his ill-gotten +power would be snatched from him, safety was to be found in no tenets +and in no station. + +Here he beheld some that had been of the party of Mary de Medicis, and +some who had been the avowed followers of Richelieu himself; some that +the Minister suspected of being too much favoured by the King, and some, +as in his own case, who had been attached to the Queen. One he saw who +was supposed to have favoured the Huguenots in France, and one that had +assisted the Catholic party in Germany. + +"Well," thought De Blenau, "I am but one out of the many, and whatever +plan I had pursued, most probably I should have found my way here +somehow. Wealth and influence, in despotic governments, are generally +like the plumes of the ostrich, which often cause her to be hunted down, +but will not help her to fly." + +Whilst engaged in such reflections, De Blenau heard the bolts of the +door undrawn, and the Governor of the prison entered, followed by his +servant loaded with the various requisites for so substantial a meal as +a breakfast of that period. De Blenau and the Governor saluted each +other with every outward form of civility; and the Count, perceiving +that his _custodier_ still lingered after the servant had disposed the +various articles upon the table and had taken his departure, luckily +remembered that this was one of the _jours maigres_ of which he had +heard, and invited his companion to partake of his morning meal. The +Governor agreed to the proposal _sans cérémonie_, and having done ample +justice to the dish of stewed partridges, which formed the principal +ornament of the table, he himself finished a bottle of the celebrated +wine of Suresnes, which is one of the things now lost to the _bons +vivants_ of Paris. + +De Blenau was not so much importuned by hunger as to envy the Governor +the very large share he appropriated of the viands before him; and he +had plenty of leisure to remark, that his companion performed his feats +of mastication with a wonderful degree of velocity. But the Governor had +a reason for thus wishing to hurry, what was to him a very agreeable +occupation, to its conclusion; for he had scarcely poured out the last +goblet of his wine, and was still wiping and folding up his case-knife, +(which, by the way, was the constant companion of high and low in those +days, and the only implement they had for cutting their food,) when the +door opened, and a servant appeared, giving the Governor a significant +nod, which was answered by a sign of the same kind. + +Upon this the man retired, and the door being closed, the well-filled +official turned to De Blenau,--"I did not tell you before, Monsieur le +Comte," said he, "for fear of taking away your appetite; but we have had +a message this morning from Monsieur Lafemas,--you have heard of +Monsieur Lafemas, doubtless?--importing that he would soon be here to +put some questions to you. Now, Monsieur de Blenau, you are a gentleman +for whom I have a great regard, and I will give you a hint which may be +of service to you. If in the examination which you are about to undergo, +there be any questions to which you do not find it convenient to reply, +do not refuse to answer them, but speak always in such a manner as to +bear two interpretations, by which means I have known many a prisoner +avoid the torture, and sometimes go on from examination to examination, +till they gave him his liberty from pure weariness." + +De Blenau bowed, already determined as to the course he should pursue. +"When do you expect this worthy Judge?" he demanded. "I am perfectly +unconcerned as to his coming, let me assure you, though I feel obliged +by your consideration for my appetite." + +"He is here now, Sir," replied the Governor; "we had better, if you +please, join him in the audience-hall. That servant came to announce his +arrival." + +"I will follow you instantly," replied the Count; upon which the +Governor rose and opened the door. + +The moment De Blenau had passed out, the guard, who had been stationed +at the head of the stairs, followed at the distance of a couple of +paces, while the Governor led the way. In this order they proceeded to +the inner court, which they had to pass before they could reach the +audience-chamber. This open space was still filled by the prisoners, +who, glad of the little liberty allowed them, seldom retired to their +cells, except when obliged by the regulations of the prison. The moment +De Blenau appeared in the court, there was a slight stir amongst its +tenants, and the question of, "Who is he? who is he?" circulated rapidly +among them. + +"It is the Count de Blenau, by St. Louis!" exclaimed a deep voice, +which De Blenau remembered to have heard somewhere before; but, though +on looking round he saw several persons that he knew, he could not fix +upon any one in particular as the one who had spoken. + +He had not time, however, for more than a momentary glance, and was +obliged to pass on to the door of the audience-hall, which opened into a +little narrow passage leading from the court. Here De Blenau paused for +an instant to collect his thoughts, and then followed the Governor, who +had already entered. + +The audience-hall of the Bastille was a large oblong chamber, dimly +lighted by two high Gothic windows, which looked into the outer court. +The scanty gleam of daylight which would have thus entered, had the +space been open, was impeded by the dust and dirt of many a century, and +by the thick crossing of the leaden framework, while its progress into +the hall itself was also farther obstructed by several heavy columns +which supported the high pointed arches of the roof. + +This roof, the apartment having been originally intended for the chapel, +would have afforded a relief to the dullness of the rest by its +beautiful proportions, and the highly finished tracery with which it was +adorned, had the eye been able to reach it; but the rays, which from the +causes above mentioned were barely enough to illuminate the lower part +of the hall, were lost before they could attain its height, leaving it +in that profound obscurity, which cast a double gloom upon the space +below. + +The pavement of this melancholy hall was damp and decayed, many of the +stones having strayed from their bed of mortar, and become vagrant about +the apartment; and the furniture, if it might be so called, far from +filling it, served only to show its size and emptiness. At the farther +extremity was a long table, at the end of which, in a chair somewhat +elevated, sat the Judge Lafemas, with a Clerk at a desk below him, and +two or three Exempts standing round about. + +Near the end next De Blenau was another chair, which he conceived to be +placed for his use; while between two of the pillars, sitting on a +curious machine, the use of which De Blenau at once suspected, appeared +an ill-favoured muscular old man, whose lowering brow and doggedness of +aspect seemed to speak of many a ruthless deed. + +As the Count entered, the door closed after him with a loud clang; and +advancing to the table, he took his seat in the vacant chair, while the +Governor placed himself at a little distance between him and the Judge. + +"Well, Monsieur de Blenau," said Lafemas in that sweet mild tone which +he always assumed when not irritated by the taunts of Chavigni, "This is +the last place where I could have wished to meet a nobleman whose +general character has always engaged my most affectionate esteem." + +De Blenau knew Lafemas to be one of the meanest and most viperous of the +Cardinal's tools, and not feeling much moved to exchange courtesies with +him, he merely acknowledged the Judge's salutation by a silent bow, +while the other proceeded: "I have requested the pleasure of your +society for a space, in order to ask you a few questions; your reply to +which will, doubtless, soon procure your liberation from this unpleasant +place." + +"I trust so, Sir," replied the Count, "as the detention of an innocent +person must occasion fully as much discredit to his Majesty's +Government, as it does inconvenience to the person himself." + +"You are quite right, you are quite right," rejoined the sweet-tongued +Judge. "Indeed, my very object in coming is to obtain such answers from +you as will convince the Cardinal de Richelieu, who, though a profound +minister, is somewhat suspicious withal,--to convince him, I say, that +you are innocent; of which, on my conscience, and as I believe in the +Saviour, I have no doubt myself.--In the first place, then," he +continued, "tell me as a friend, have you any acquaintance in Brussels?" + +"I have!" replied De Blenau decidedly. + +"That is honourable,--that is candid," said the Judge. "I told you, +Monsieur le Gouverneur, that we should have no difficulty, and that +Monsieur de Blenau would enable me easily to establish his +innocence.--Pray do you correspond with these friends," he continued, +"and by what means?" + +"I do correspond with them; but seldom: and then by any means that +occur." + +"Monsieur de Blenau," exclaimed Lafemas, "I am enchanted with this +frankness; but be a little more specific about the means. If you have no +particular objection to confide in me, mention any channel that you call +to mind, by which you have sent letters to the Low Countries." + +De Blenau felt somewhat disgusted with the sweet and friendly manner of +a man whose deeds spoke him as cruel and as bloody-minded as a famished +tiger; and unwilling to be longer mocked with soft words, he replied, +"Sometimes by the King's courier, Sir; sometimes by the Cardinal's: and +once I remember having sent one by your cousin De Merceau, but I +believe that letter never reached its destination; for you must +recollect that De Merceau was hanged by Don Francisco de Mello, for +ripping open the bag, and purloining the despatches." + +"We have nothing to do with that, my dear Count," said Lafemas, +struggling to maintain his placidity of demeanour.--"The next thing I +have to inquire is,"--and he looked at a paper he held in his hand: +"Have you ever conveyed any letters to the Low Countries for any one +else?" + +De Blenau answered in the affirmative; and the Judge proceeded with a +series of questions, very similar to those which had been asked by +Richelieu himself, artfully striving to entangle the prisoner by means +of his own admissions, so as to force him into farther confessions by +the impossibility of receding. But beyond a certain point De Blenau +would not proceed. + +"Monsieur Lafemas," said he in a calm firm tone, "I perceive that you +are going into questions which have already been asked me by his +Eminence the Cardinal Prime Minister. The object in doing so is +evidently to extort from me some contradiction which may criminate +myself; and therefore henceforward I will reply to no such questions +whatsoever. The Cardinal is in possession of my answers; and if you want +them, you must apply to him." + +"You mistake entirely, my dear Count," said Lafemas; "on my salvation, +my only object is to serve you. You have already acknowledged that you +have forwarded letters from the Queen,--why not now inform me to whom +those letters were addressed? If those letters were not of a treasonable +nature, why did she not send them by one of her own servants?" + +"When a Queen of France is not allowed the common attendants which a +simple gentlewoman can command, she may often be glad to use the +servants and services of her friends. My own retinue, Sir, trebles that +which the Queen has ever possessed at St. Germain's. But, without going +into these particulars, your question is at once replied to by +reminding you, that I am her Majesty's Chamberlain, and therefore her +servant." + +"Without there were something wrong, Monsieur de Blenau," said Lafemas, +"you could have no objection to state whether you have or have not +conveyed some letters from her Majesty to Don John of Austria, Don +Francisco de Mello, or King Philip of Spain. It is very natural for a +Queen to write to her near relations, surely!" + +"I have already said," replied De Blenau, "that I shall reply to no such +questions, the object of which is alone to entangle me." + +"You know not what you are exposing yourself to," rejoined the Judge; +"there are means within this prison which would easily compel an +answer." + +"None," replied De Blenau, firmly. "My resolution is taken, and no power +on earth can shake it." + +"Really, Monsieur de Blenau, it would hurt me to the heart to leave you +to the dreadful fate which your mistaken determination is likely to +call upon you. I could weep, truly I could weep, to think of what you +are calling upon your own head;" and the Judge glanced his eye towards +the machine, which we have already noticed, and from which the old man +rose up, as if preparing for his task. + +"You mean the torture?" said De Blenau, looking at it without a change +of countenance. "But let me tell you, Monsieur Lafemas, that you dare +not order it to a man of my rank, without an express warrant for the +purpose; and, even if you had such authority, not all the torture in the +world would wring one word from me. Ask that instrument of tyranny, +Sir," and he pointed to the Executioner,--"ask him how the noble Caply +died; and so would De Blenau also." + +Lafemas looked at the Governor, and the Governor at the Executioner, and +so round. One of the dreadful secrets of the Bastille had evidently +escaped beyond those precincts to which they were fearfully confined; no +one could divine how this had occurred, and each suspected the other. A +temporary silence ensued, and then Lafemas proceeded: + +"The torture! no, Monsieur de Blenau: God forbid that I should think of +ordering such a thing! But let me advise you to answer; for I must, of +course, report your refusal to the Cardinal Prime Minister, and you know +that he is not likely to consider either your rank or your fortune, but +will, in all probability, order you the Question ordinary and +extraordinary instantly." + +"The guilt be his then!" said De Blenau. "I have already told you my +resolution, Sir; act upon it as you think fit." + +Lafemas seemed at a loss, and a whispering consultation took place +between him and the Secretary, who seemed to urge more vigorous measures +than the Judge himself thought proper to pursue; for their conference +was terminated by Lafemas exclaiming in a tone not sufficiently low to +escape De Blenau's ear, "I dare not, I tell you--I dare not--I have no +orders.--Monsieur de Blenau," he continued aloud, "you may now retire, +and I must report your answers to the Cardinal. But let me advise you, +as a sincere friend, to be prepared with a reply to the questions you +have now refused to answer, before we next meet; for by that time I +shall have received his Eminence's commands, which, I fear, will be more +severe than my heart could wish." + +De Blenau made no reply, but withdrew, escorted as before; and it were +needless to deny, that, notwithstanding the coolness with which he had +borne his examination, and the fortitude with which he was prepared to +repel the worst that could be inflicted, his heart beat high as the door +of the audience-hall closed behind him, and he looked forward to +returning to his apartments with more pleasure than a captive usually +regards the place of his confinement. + +The many agitating circumstances which had passed since, had completely +banished from his thoughts the voice which he had heard pronounce his +name, on the first time of his crossing the court; but as he returned, +his eye fell upon the form of a tall, strong man, standing under the +archway; and he instantly recognized the Woodman of the forest of +Mantes. + +De Blenau had spoken to him a thousand times in his various +hunting-excursions, and he could not help being astonished to meet him +in such a place, little dreaming that he himself was the cause. "What, +in the name of Heaven!" thought he, "can that man have done to merit +confinement here? Surely, Richelieu, who affects to be an eagle of the +highest flight, might stoop on nobler prey than that." + +As these thoughts crossed his mind, he passed by the foot of the little +tower, containing the staircase which communicated with his apartments +by the iron door in the inner chamber. This had evidently been long +disused; and on remembering the position of the two chambers which he +occupied, he conceived that they must have been at one time quite +distinct, with a separate entrance to each, the one being arrived at by +the turret, and the other by the chief staircase. He had, however, only +time to take a casual glance, and wisely refrained from making that +very apparent; for the Governor, who walked beside him, kept his eyes +almost constantly fixed upon him, as if to prevent any communication +even by a sign with the other prisoners. + +On arriving at his chamber, the Governor allowed him to pass in alone, +and having fastened the door, returned to Lafemas, leaving De Blenau to +meditate over his situation in solitude. The first pleasure of having +escaped from immediate danger having subsided, there was nothing very +cheering to contemplate in his position. His fate, though postponed, +seemed inevitable. Richelieu, he knew, was no way scrupulous; and the +only thing which honour could permit him to do, was to defend the +Queen's secret with his life. + +The Queen herself indeed might relieve him from his difficulty, if he +could find any way of communicating with her. But in looking round for +the means, absolute impossibility seemed to present itself on all sides. +In vain he sought for expedients; his mind suggested none that a second +thought confirmed. He once contemplated inducing the Governor to forward +a letter by the temptation of a large bribe; but a moment's reflection +showed him that it was a thousand to one that the smooth-spoken officer +both accepted his bribe and betrayed his trust. + +Many other plans were rejected in a like manner, from a conviction of +their impracticability, till at length a vague thought of gaining an +interview with the Woodman of Mantes, and, if possible, engaging him to +bribe some of the inferior officers of the prison, crossed De Blenau's +mind; and he was still endeavouring to regulate his ideas on the +subject, when the bolts were once more withdrawn, and the Governor again +entered the apartment. + +"Let me congratulate you, Monsieur de Blenau," said he, with a look of +sincere pleasure, which probably sprang more from the prospect of +continued gain to himself than any abstract gratification in De Blenau's +safety. "Monsieur Lafemas is gone, and as the Cardinal is at Chantilly, +you will be safe for three or four days at least, as nothing can be +decided till his Eminence returns." + +De Blenau well knew how to estimate the kindness of his friend the +Governor; but though he put its proper value upon it, and no more, he +felt the necessity of striving to make his interested meanness act the +part of real friendship. + +"Well, Monsieur le Gouverneur," said he, assuming a cheerful air, "I +suppose, then, that I shall remain with you a day or two longer; nor +should I, indeed, care so much for the confinement, where I am so well +treated, if I had some one to wait upon me whom I have been accustomed +to." + +"I do not know how that could be arranged," replied the Governor +thoughtfully; "I would do any thing to serve you, Monsieur de Blenau, +consistent with my duty, but this is quite contrary to my orders; and if +I were to allow you one of my own servants, it would put me completely +in his power." + +"Oh, that would not do at all," said De Blenau; "but are there not some +of the inferior prisoners--" The Governor's brow darkened.--"Of course," +continued the Count, "you would have to pay them for their trouble--and +I, of course, would reimburse you. If you think that three hundred +crowns would induce one of them to wait on me for the time I am here, I +would willingly pay the money into your hands, and you could make all +the necessary arrangements for the purpose." + +The countenance of the Governor gradually cleared up as De Blenau spoke, +like a sheltered lake that, after having been agitated for a moment by +some unwonted breeze, soon relapses into its calm tranquillity, when +that which disturbed it has passed away. The idea of appropriating, with +such unquestioned facility, the greater part of three hundred crowns, +was the sun which thus speedily dispersed the clouds upon his brow: and +he mused for a moment, calculating shrewdly the means of attaining his +object. + +"The worst of it is," said he at length, "that we have no inferior +prisoners. They are all prisoners of State in the Bastille---- But +stay," he added, a felicitous idea crossing his mind, "I remember there +was a man brought here this morning by Chavigni's people, and they told +me to give him all possible liberty, and employ him in the prison if I +could." + +"That will just do then," said De Blenau, inwardly praying that it might +be the honest Woodman of Mantes. "He can visit me here occasionally +during the day, to see if I have need of him, and the guard at the door +can take good care that I do not follow him out, which is all that your +duty demands." + +"Of course, of course," replied the Governor; "it is your safe custody +alone which I have to look to: and farther, I am ordered to give you +every convenience and attention, which warrants me in allowing you an +attendant at least. But here comes your dinner, Sir." + +"Dinner!" exclaimed De Blenau, "it surely is not yet noon." But so it +proved: the time had passed more quickly than he thought: nor indeed had +he any reason to regret the appearance of dinner, for the substantial +and luxurious meal which was served up at his expense on that _jour +maigre_ did not prove any bad auxiliary in overcoming whatever scruple +yet lingered about the mind of Monsieur le Gouverneur. At every mouthful +of _Becasse_, his countenance became more placable and complacent, and +while he was busily occupied in sopping the last morsels of his _Dorade_ +in the _sauce au cornichons_, and conveying them to the capacious +aperture which stood open to receive them, our prisoner obtained his +full consent that the person he had mentioned should have egress and +regress of the apartment; for which liberty, however, De Blenau was +obliged to pay down the sum of three hundred crowns under the specious +name of wages to the attendant. + +This arrangement, and the dinner, came to a conclusion much about the +same time; and the Governor, who had probably been engaged with De +Blenau's good cheer much longer than was quite consistent with his other +duties, rose and retired, to seek the inferior prisoner whose name he +could not remember, but whom he piously resolved to reward with a crown +_per diem_, thinking that such unparalleled liberality ought to be +recorded in letters of gold. + +In regard to De Blenau, the Governor looked upon him as the goose with +the golden eggs; but more prudent than the boy in the fable, he resolved +to prolong his life to the utmost of his power, so long, at least, as he +continued to produce that glittering ore which possessed such wonderful +attraction in his eyes. De Blenau, however, was not the goose he thought +him; and though he waited with some impatience to see if the person on +whom so much might depend, were or were not his honest friend the +Woodman, yet his thoughts were deeply engaged in revolving every means +by which the cupidity of the Governor might be turned to his own +advantage. + +At length the bolts were undrawn, and the prisoner, fixing his eyes upon +the door, beheld a little old man enter, with withered cheeks and sunken +eyes; a greasy night-cap on his head, and a large knife suspended by the +side of a long thin sword, which sometimes trailed upon the ground, and +sometimes with reiterated blows upon the tendons of his meagre shanks, +seemed to reproach them for the bent and cringing posture in which they +carried the woodcock-like body that surmounted them. + +"Well, Sir!" said De Blenau, not a little disappointed with this +apparition; "are you the person whom the Governor has appointed to wait +upon me?" + +"_Oui, Monsieur_," said the little man, laying his hand upon his heart, +with a profound inclination of his head, in which he contrived to get +that organ completely out of sight, and, like a tortoise, to have +nothing but his back visible. "_Oui, Monsieur_; I am _Cuisinier +Vivandier_, that is to say, formerly _Vivandier_; at present, _Cuisinier +Aubergiste ici à la porte de la Bastille, tout près_. I have the honour +to furnish the dinner for Monseigneur, and I have come for the plates." + +"Oh, is that all!" cried De Blenau; "take them, take them, my good +friend, and begone." + +The little man vowed that Monseigneur did him too much honour, and +gathering up his dishes with admirable dexterity, he held the heap with +his left arm, reserving his right to lay upon his heart, in which +position he addressed another profound bow to De Blenau, and left the +apartment. The prisoner now waited some time, getting more and more +impatient as the day wore on. At length, however, the door once more +opened, and Philip the woodman himself appeared. + +Between Philip and the young Count there was of course much to be +explained, which, requiring no explanation to the reader, shall not be +here recapitulated. Every circumstance, however, that Philip told, +whether of his writing the letter to inform him of the plots of +Chavigni and Lafemas, or of the manner and apparent reason of his being +dragged from his cottage to the Bastille, concurred to give De Blenau +greater confidence in his new ally; and perhaps Philip himself, from +having suffered a good deal on De Blenau's account, felt but the greater +inclination to hazard still more. Between two persons so inclined, +preliminaries are soon adjusted: nor had De Blenau time to proceed with +diplomatic caution, even had he had reason to suspect the sincerity of +the Woodman. The dangers of his situation admitted no finesse; and, +overleaping all ceremonies, he at once demanded if Philip would and +could convey a letter from him to the Queen. + +Of his willingness, the Woodman said, there was no doubt; and after a +moment's thought he added, that he had reason to hope that opportunity +also would be afforded him. "It will be dangerous," said he, "but I +think I can do it." + +"Tell me how, good friend," demanded De Blenau, "and depend upon it, +whatever risks you run on my account, whether I live or die, you will +be rewarded." + +"I want no reward, Sir," answered Philip, "but a good cause and a good +conscience; and I am sure, if I serve you, I am as well engaged as if I +were cutting all the fagots in Mantes. But my plan is this: They tell +me, that my children shall always be allowed to see me. Now I know my +boy Charles, who is as active as a _picvert_, will not be long before he +follows me. He will be here before nightfall, I am sure, and he shall +take your letter to the Queen." + +De Blenau remained silent for a moment. "Was it your son who brought +your letter to me?" demanded he. The Woodman assented; and the Count +continued: "He was a shrewd boy, then. At all events, it must be risked. +Wait, I will write, and depend upon you." + +The Woodman, however, urged that if he stayed so long, suspicion might +be excited; and De Blenau suffered him to depart, desiring him to return +in an hour, when the letter would be ready. During his absence, the +prisoner wrote that epistle which we have already seen delivered. In it +he told his situation, and the nature of the questions which had been +asked him by Lafemas. He hinted also that his fate was soon likely to be +decided; and desired, that any communication which it might be necessary +to make to him, might be conveyed through the Woodman of Mantes. + +More than one hour elapsed after this letter was written before Philip +again appeared. When he did so, however, he seemed in some haste. +"Monsieur le Comte," said he, "my son is here. They have let me take him +into my cell to rest, but I dare not be absent more than a moment, for +fear they suspect something. Is the letter ready?" + +De Blenau placed it in his hand, and would fain have added some gold. +"The Queen is at Chantilly," said he, "and your son will want money for +his journey." + +"No, no, Sir," replied Philip, "that is no stuff for a child. Let him +have a broad-piece, if you like, to help him on, but no more." + +"Well then," said the Count, "accept the rest for your services. I have +more in that valise." + +"Not so, either, Monseigneur," answered the Woodman. "Pay for what is +done, when it is done;" and taking the letter and one gold piece, he +left the apartment. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + Which shows that Accident holds Wisdom by the leg, and like a + pig-driver with a pig, often makes her go forward by pulling her + back. + + +The heavy carriage which conveyed Pauline de Beaumont towards Paris +rolled on with no great rapidity, and the time, to her anxious mind, +seemed lengthened to an inconceivable degree. Towards night, every +little town they entered she conceived to be the capital, and was not +undeceived till Mademoiselle de Hauteford observed, that they had set +out so late she was afraid they would be obliged to pass the night at +Ecouen. + +In her companion Pauline found but little to console or soothe her under +the anxiety and fear which the dangerous enterprise she had undertaken +naturally produced. Mademoiselle de Hauteford had little either of +warmth of heart or gentleness of disposition; and such were the only +qualities which could have assimilated with Pauline's feelings at that +time. + +In combating the passionate love with which the King had regarded her, +Mademoiselle de Hauteford had entirely triumphed over her own heart, and +having crushed every human sensation that it contained, she substituted +a rigid principle of duty, which, like the mainspring of a piece of +clock-work, originated all her actions, making them regular without +energy and correct without feeling. + +In the present instance, she seemed to look upon the task which Pauline +had undertaken as a thing which ought to be done, and therefore that no +doubt or hesitation of any kind could remain upon her mind. She talked +calmly of all the difficulties and dangers which presented themselves, +and of the best means of obviating them; but did not offer the least +consolation to the fears of a young and inexperienced girl, who had +taken upon herself a bold and perilous enterprise, in which her own +happiness was at stake, as well as the lives and fortunes of others. The +indifferent coolness with which she spoke of risks and obstacles was far +from reassuring Pauline, who soon dropped the conversation, and sinking +into herself, revolved all the circumstances in her mind; her heart +sometimes beating high with hope, sometimes sickening at the thought of +failure. + +Thus in silence the travellers proceeded to Ecouen, where, from the +lateness of the hour, they were obliged to pass the night; but leaving +it early the next morning, they reached Paris in a short time, and +alighted at the hotel of the Marchioness de Senecy. That Lady, it +appeared, was absent, having left Paris some time before for a distant +part of the country; but this was no disadvantage, as Mademoiselle de +Hauteford was well known to the servants that remained in the house, and +she did not in the least hesitate to take up her abode there on the +service of the Queen, though the mistress of the mansion herself was +absent. + +At Ecouen, Pauline had dressed herself in the clothes of her maid +Louise, and on alighting at the hotel de Senecy, was taken by the +servants for the _soubrette_ of Mademoiselle de Hauteford. All this was +to her wish; and not a little delighted with the first success of her +disguise, she affected the _ton paysan_, and treated the domestics with +the same familiarity which they showed towards her. + +An old and confidential servant of the Queen was the only male attendant +who accompanied them to Paris, and he took especial care not to +undeceive the others in regard to Mademoiselle de Beaumont's rank, +though he had more than once nearly betrayed the secret by smiling at +the Lady's maid airs which Pauline contrived to assume. This task, +however, was not of long duration; for Pauline's anxiety would not +suffer her to remain inactive, and she accordingly pressed her companion +to set out speedily for the Bastille, afraid that under any long delay +her courage, which she felt to be failing every moment, might give way +entirely, and that she might at length prove unequal to accomplish her +undertaking. + +Mademoiselle de Hauteford, whose acquaintance with the city qualified +her to act as guide, readily agreed to proceed immediately on their +expedition; and Pauline's disguise as _soubrette_ not permitting her to +make use of a mask like her companion, she covered her head as far as +she could with a large capuchin of brown tafetas, which, however, was +all-insufficient to conceal her face. This being done, she followed the +Lady of honour into the street, and in a moment found herself immersed +in all the bustle and confusion of the capital. + +Poor Pauline's senses were almost bewildered by the crowd; but +Mademoiselle de Hauteford, leaning on her arm, hurried her on as far as +the Rue St. Antoine, where she stopped opposite to the Church of St. +Gervais, or rather the narrow dirty street which leads towards it. + +Here she directed Pauline straight on to the Bastille, and pointing out +the church, told her that she would wait there for her return, offering +up prayers for the success of her enterprise. + +The magnificent peristyle of the Church of St. Gervais, which the +celebrated De Brosse is said to have pronounced the most perfect of his +works,--observing, like Solon on the Athenian Laws, that it was not, +indeed, the best that could be formed, but the best that could be +adapted to the old gothic building which he was directed to +improve,--was then in the first gloss of its novelty, and amongst the +many sombre smoky buildings that she had passed, offered to Pauline's +eye a bright and conspicuous landmark, which she felt sure she could not +mistake. She took, however, another glance, and then hurried on towards +the Bastille. + +Totally ignorant of Paris and all that it contained; young, beautiful +and timid; engaged in an undertaking full of danger and difficulty, and +dressed in a manner to which she was unaccustomed; Pauline de Beaumont +shrank from the glance of the numerous passengers that thronged the Rue +St. Antoine; and every eye which, attracted by her loveliness, or by the +frightened haste with which she proceeded, gazed on her with more than +common attention, she fancied could see into her bosom, and read the +secret she was so anxious to conceal. + +At length, however, her eye rested on a group of heavy towers, +presenting nothing but massy stone walls, pierced with loop-holes, and +surmounted at various distances with embrasures, through the aperture of +which the threatening mouths of some large cannon were occasionally +visible. Sweeping round this gloomy building was a broad fosse filled +with water, which prevented all approach but at one particular point, +where a drawbridge, suspended by two immense chains, gave access to the +outer court. But even here no small precaution was taken to guard +against any who came in other than friendly guise; for the gate which +terminated the bridge on the inner side, besides the security afforded +by its ponderous doors and barricadoes, possessed two flanking-towers, +the artillery of which commanded the whole course of the approach. + +Pauline had often heard the Bastille described, and its horrors +detailed, by the guests who occasionally visited her mother's château in +Languedoc; but, whatever idea she had formed of it, the frowning +strength and gloomy horrors which the original presented, far outdid the +picture her imagination had drawn; and so strong was the sensation of +fear which it produced upon her mind, that she had nearly turned back +and run away the moment she beheld it. An instant's reflection, however, +reawakened her courage. + +"Claude de Blenau," she thought, "immured within those walls! and do I +hesitate when his life, perhaps, depends upon my exertion?" That thought +was enough to recall all her resolution; and rapidly crossing the +drawbridge, she passed what is called the _grille_. But here her farther +progress was stayed by a massy door covered with plates and studs of +iron, which offered none of those happy contrivances either of modern +or ancient days, by which people within are called upon to communicate +with people without. There was no horn, as in the days of chivalry, and +if there had been, Pauline could not have blown it; but still worse, +there was neither bell nor knocker; and the door, far from imitating the +gates of Dis, in standing open night and day, seemed most determinately +shut, although the comparison might have held in many other respects. +With shaking knees and trembling hands Pauline tried for some moments to +gain admission, but in vain. The gate resisted all her weak efforts, her +voice was scarcely audible, and vexed, wearied, and terrified, and not +knowing what to do, she burst into a flood of tears. + +At about a hundred yards on the other side of the fosse, forming one +corner of the Rue St. Antoine, on the face of which it seemed a wart, or +imposthume, stood a little narrow house of two stories high, the front +of which displayed an immense board covered with a curious and +remarkable device. This represented no other than the form of an +immense wild boar, with a napkin tucked under his chin, seated at a +table, on which smoked various savoury dishes, of which the above +ferocious gentleman appeared to be partaking with a very wild-boarish +appetite. Underneath all was written, in characters of such a size that +those who ran might read, _Au Sanglier Gourmand_, and then followed a +farther inscription, which went to state that Jacques Chatpilleur, +_autrefois Vivandier de l'Armée de Perpignan, à present Aubergiste +Traiteur_, fed the hungry, and gave drink to those that thirsted, at all +hours of the day and night. + +Every one will allow that this man must have been blessed with a +charitable disposition; and it so happened that, standing at his own +door, with his heart opened by the benign influence of having cooked a +dinner for the Count de Blenau, he beheld the ineffectual efforts of +Pauline de Beaumont to gain admission into the Bastille. + +The poor little man's heart was really moved; and skipping across the +drawbridge, he was at her side in a moment. "What seek you, _charmante +demoiselle_?" demanded the _aubergiste_, making her a low bow; and then +observing her tears, he added, "_Ma pauvre fille_, do not weep. Do you +wish to get in here?" + +"Yes, indeed," replied Pauline; "but I cannot make them hear." + +"There are many who want to get out, who cannot make them hear either," +said the _aubergiste_: "but they shall hear me, at all events." So +saying, he drew forth his knife, with a flourish which made Pauline +start back, and applied the handle with such force to the gate of the +prison, that the whole place echoed with the blows. Immediately, a +little wicket was opened, and the head of a surly-looking Porter +presented itself at the aperture. + +"Philip the Woodman! Philip the Woodman!" said he, as soon as he heard +Pauline's inquiries. "Who is he, I wonder? We have nothing to do with +woodmen here. Oh, I remember the man. And we are to break through all +rules and regulations for him, I suppose? But I can tell Monsieur +Chavigni, or whoever gave the order, that I shall not turn the key for +any one except at proper hours; so you cannot see him now, young +woman--you cannot see him now." + +"And is not this a proper hour?" asked Pauline. "I thought mid-day was +the best time I could come." + +"No!" answered the Porter, "I tell you no, my pretty demoiselle; this is +the dinner-hour, so you must come again." + +"When can I come then, Sir?" demanded Pauline, "for I have journeyed a +long way to see him." + +"Why, then you are in need of rest," replied the other, "so you will be +all the better for waiting till evening. Come about seven o'clock, and +you shall see him." + +"Cannot I see him before that?" asked the young lady, terrified at the +delay. + +"No! no! no!" roared the Porter, and turned to shut the wicket; but +bethinking him for a moment, he called after Mademoiselle de +Beaumont--"Who shall I tell him wants him, when I see him?" + +Pauline was unprepared with an answer, but the necessity of the moment +made her reply, "His daughter;" trusting that, as there must be some +understanding between him and De Blenau, the Woodman would conceive her +errand, and not betray any surprise, whether he had a daughter or not. + +During this conversation, the _aubergiste_ had remained hard by, really +compassionating Pauline's disappointment. + +"_Ma pauvre fille_," said he, as the wicket closed, "I am very sorry +that they treat you so; but they are great brutes in these prisons. _Bon +Dieu!_ you look very pale. Come in with me here to my little place, and +take some soup, and rest yourself till the time comes round." + +Pauline thanked him for his offer, but declined it, of course; telling +him, that she was going to the house of a friend who waited for her; and +then taking leave of the good _aubergiste_, she left him interested in +her sorrow, and enchanted by her sweet manner. + +"_La pauvrette!_" said he, as he turned him home, "_Elle a bien l'air +d'une femme de qualité ça. Il y a quelque chose la dessous, ou je me +trompe._" + +In the mean while, Pauline returned to the Church of St. Gervais, where +she found Mademoiselle de Hauteford still on her knees in the Chapel of +St. Denis. + +Pauline's recital of what had happened, called forth but few remarks +from her companion, who only observed, that seven would be an unpleasant +hour, for that by that time night began to fall. To Mademoiselle de +Beaumont, however, night seemed more favourable to her enterprise than +day, when the trepidation which she felt was visible to every passing +eye; and she congratulated herself on the prospect of the darkness +covering the agitation which might lead to suspicion if observed. + +I shall not follow the two ladies through the remaining part of the +day. Suffice it, that Mademoiselle de Hauteford employed herself in +preparations for the long journey which the Cardinal's sentence of +banishment required her to take, and that Pauline's time passed in +anxiety and apprehension, till the hour came for her once more to visit +the Bastille. + +As soon as the long hand upon the dial pointed towards the Roman +capitals IX. and the shorter one to VII. the two ladies set out in the +same guise, and on the same route, as in the morning, with only this +difference in their proceedings, that the old domestic of the Queen, who +had accompanied them to Paris, received orders to follow at a few paces +distance, well armed with sword and pistol. + +It was now quite dark, and the streets not being so crowded as when she +before passed through them, Pauline proceeded more calmly, except when +the torch-bearers of some of the gay world of Paris flashed their +flambeaux in her eyes as they lighted their lords along to party or +spectacle. At the Church of St. Gervais she again left Mademoiselle de +Hauteford with the servant; and now, well acquainted with the way, ran +lightly along till she arrived at the Bastille, where, not giving her +resolution time to fail, she passed the drawbridge, and entered the +outer gate, which was at that moment open. Before her stood the figure +of the Porter, enjoying the cool evening air that blew through the open +gate into the court. His hand rested upon the edge of the door, and the +moment Pauline entered, he pushed it to with a clang that made her heart +sink. + +"Whom have we here," said he, "that comes in so boldly? Oh, so! is it +you, _ma belle demoiselle_?" he continued, as the light of the lanterns +which hung under the arch fell upon her countenance:--"well, you shall +see your father now. But first, I think, you had better go and speak to +the Governor; he is a man of taste, and would like such a pretty +prisoner, no doubt; perhaps he might find a warrant for your detention." + +Pauline's heart sank at the idea of being carried before the Governor, +well knowing how little competent she was to answer any inquiries +concerning her errand; but the excess of fear will often give courage, +and the most timid animals turn and resist when pressed to extremity. +Thus Pauline summoned up all her resolution, and remembering the +allusion which the Porter had made to Chavigni's orders in favour of the +Woodman, she replied boldly: "This is no time for jesting, Sir! and as +to detaining me, it would be as much as the Governor's post is worth, if +it came to Monsieur de Chavigni's ears that he ever thought of such a +thing." + +"So, so!" cried the Porter with a grin, "you are a friend of Monsieur de +Chavigni's. So--I thought there was something made him so careful of yon +sour old Woodman. These great Statesmen must have their little +relaxations. So that is it, Mademoiselle? He takes especial care of the +father for the daughter's sake." + +There was a drop or two of the warm blood of Languedoc flowing in +Pauline's veins with all her gentleness, and her patience now became +completely exhausted. "Well, Sir!" she answered, "all I have to say to +you is, that if I meet with any insolence, it may cost you dear. So +bring me to see my father, or refuse me at once." + +"I am not going to refuse you, my pretty demoiselle," replied the +Porter; "though, truly, you speak more like a lady of quality than a +Woodman's daughter. Now I'll swear you are Madame la Comtesse's +_suivante_. Nay, do not toss your head so impatiently; your father will +be here in a minute; he knows of your having called at the wicket this +morning, and is to come here to see you at seven--But here is the +Governor, as I live--going to take a twilight walk, I suppose." + +As he spoke, the Governor approached: "Whom have you got here, porter?" +he asked, while he eyed Pauline with one of those cool luxurious glances +that made her shrink. + +"This is the Woodman's daughter, Sir," replied the man, "who wishes to +speak with her father." + +"By the keys of St. Peter! which are something in my own way," exclaimed +the Governor, "thou art a beautiful daughter for a Woodman. Art thou +sure thy mother did not help thee to a better parentage? What is thy +father's name?" + +Terrified, confused, and ignorant of the Woodman's name, Pauline +faltered forth, unconscious of what she said, "I do not know." + +"Ha! ha! ha! thou sayest well, my pretty damsel," cried the Governor +laughing, and thinking that she answered his jest in kind. "It is a wise +father that knows his own child; and why not a wise child that knows his +own father? But without a joke, what is your supposed father's name?" + +"My supposed father!" repeated Pauline, in the same state of +perturbation; "Oh, Philip the Woodman." + +"Nay, nay," replied the Governor, "that does not answer my meaning +either. What is the surname of this Philip the Woodman?" + +The impossibility of answering overpowered her. Pauline had not the most +remote idea of Philip's name, and another instant would indubitably have +betrayed all; but at the moment the Governor asked his question, Philip +had entered the court. He had heard the last sentence, saw Pauline's +embarrassment, and divining its cause, with quick presence of mind +caught her in his arms, and kissed her on both cheeks, with that sort of +fatherly affection which would have deceived the Governor's eyes by day, +much less by the fainter light of the lanterns in the archway. + +"My dear child!" cried he, "how art thou? and how is thy mother?" And +then turning to the Governor, without giving her time to reply, he went +on, "My name, Sir, which you were asking but now, is Philip Grissolles, +but I am better known by the name of Philip the Woodman, and some folks +add the name of the wood, and call me Philip the Woodman of Mantes." + +"Philip Grissolles!" said the Governor; "very well, that will do. It was +your surname that I wished to know, for it is not put down in the order +for your detention, and it must be inserted in the books. And now, +Monsieur Philip Grissolles, you may take your daughter to your cell; but +remember that you have to wait upon the Count de Blenau in half an hour, +by which time I shall have returned. You can leave your daughter in your +cell till you have done attending the Count, if you like." + +He then proceeded to the gate, and beckoning to the Porter, he whispered +to him, "Do not let her go out till I come back. It is seldom that we +have any thing like that in the Bastille! Doubtless, that Woodman would +be glad to have her with him; if so, we will find her a cell." + +Philip turned his ear to catch what the Governor was saying, but not +being able to hear it distinctly, he addressed himself to Pauline loud +enough to reach every one round. "Come," said he, "_ma fille_, you are +frightened at all these towers and walls and places; but it is not so +unpleasant after one is in it either. Take my arm, and I'll show you the +way." + +Pauline was glad to accept of his offer, for her steps faltered so much +that she could hardly have proceeded without assistance; and thus, +leaning on the Woodman, she was slowly conducted through a great many +narrow passages, to the small vaulted chamber in which he was lodged. + +As soon as they had entered, the Woodman shut the door, and placing for +Pauline's use the only chair that the room contained, he began to pour +forth a thousand excuses for the liberty he had taken with her cheek. "I +hope you will consider, Mademoiselle, that there was no other way for me +to act, in order to bring us out of the bad job we had fallen into. The +Porter of the prison told me this morning that my daughter was coming +to see me, and knowing very well I had no daughter, I guessed that it +was some one on the Count de Blenau's account; but little did I think +that it was you, Mademoiselle--you that I saw in the wood of Mantes on +the day he was wounded." + +Pauline was still too much agitated with all that had passed to make any +reply, and sitting with her hands pressed over her eyes, her thoughts +were all confusion, though one terrible remembrance still predominated, +that she was there--in the very heart of the Bastille--far from all +those on whom she was accustomed to rely--habited in a disguise foreign +to her rank--acting an assumed character, and engaged in an enterprise +of life and death. + +All this was present to her, not so much as a thought, but as a feeling; +and for a moment or two it deprived her not only of utterance, but of +reflection. As her mind grew more calm, however, the great object for +which she came began again to recover the ascendency; and she gradually +regained sufficient command over her ideas to comprehend the nature of +the excuses which Philip was still offering for his presumption, as he +termed it. + +"You did perfectly right," replied Pauline; "and, having extricated us +from a dangerous predicament, merit my sincere thanks. But now," she +continued, "without loss of time I must see the Count de Blenau." + +"See the Count de Blenau!" exclaimed Philip in astonishment. +"Impossible, Mademoiselle! utterly impossible! I can deliver a letter or +a message; but that is all I can do." + +"Why not?" demanded Pauline. "For pity's sake, do not trifle with me. If +you have free admission to his prison, why cannot you open the way to +me?" + +"Because, Mademoiselle, there is a sentinel at his door who would not +allow you to pass," replied Philip. "I have no wish to trifle with you, +indeed; but what you ask is merely impossible." + +Pauline thought for a moment. "Cannot we bribe the sentinel?" she +demanded. "Here is gold." + +"That is not to be done either," answered Philip. "He is not allowed to +speak to any one, or any one to speak to him. The first word, his fusil +would be at my breast; and the second, he would fire: such are his +orders, Mademoiselle, and be sure he would obey them." + +"Well then," cried Pauline, "fly to the Count de Blenau, tell him that +there is a lady here from the Queen, with a letter which she must not +trust to any one else, and ask him what is to be done--but do not stay +long, for I am afraid of remaining here by myself." + +The Woodman promised not to be a moment, and hastened to the Count de +Blenau's apartment, where the wary sentinel, as usual, examined him well +to ascertain his identity before he gave him admission. He then entered +and communicated as rapidly as possible to De Blenau the message he had +received. + +"It is Mademoiselle de Hauteford, without doubt," said De Blenau +thoughtfully; "I must see her by all means." + +"See her, Sir!" exclaimed Philip. "The guard will never let her pass. It +is quite impossible." + +"Not so impossible as you think. The gates of the inner court do not +shut, I think, till nearly nine--Is there any one in the court?" + +"No one, Sir," answered the Woodman; "all the State prisoners were +locked up at six." + +"Well then, Philip," proceeded De Blenau, "do you know a small tower in +the court, where you just see through the archway part of an old flight +of steps?" + +"Oh yes, I know it well," replied Philip. "The tower is never used now, +they tell me. There is a heap of rubbish in the doorway." + +"Exactly," said the Count. "Now, my good Philip, bring the lady with all +speed to that tower, and up the old flight of steps till you come to a +small iron door: push that with your hand, and you will find that it +brings you into the inner room, where I will wait for you." + +Philip's joy and astonishment found vent in three _Bon Dieu's!_ and +three _Est-il possible_'s and rushing away without more loss of time, he +flew to Pauline, whose stay in his cell had been undisturbed by any +thing but her own anxious fears. These, however, magnified every sound +into the approach of some one to be dreaded. Even the footstep of the +Woodman made her heart beat with alarm; but the news he brought far more +than compensated for it, and, inspired with new hope, she followed him +gladly through the gloomy passages which led to the inner court. + +The darkness which pervaded the unlighted avenues of the Bastille was so +great, that Pauline was obliged to follow close upon Philip's footsteps +for fear of losing her way. The Woodman, however, was a little in +advance, when a faint light showed that they were approaching the open +air, and Pauline began to catch an indistinct glimpse of the dark +towers that surrounded the inner court. But at that moment Philip drew +back:--"There is some one in the court," he whispered: "Hark!"--and +listening, she clearly heard the sound of measured steps crossing the +open space before her. + +"It is the guard," said the Woodman, in the same low voice; "they are +going to relieve the sentinel at the Count's door." He now waited till +they were heard ascending the stairs, and then, "Quick, follow me across +the court, Mademoiselle," he said; "for they go through this passage on +their return." + +Pauline was about to follow him as he desired, but her dress caught upon +one of the staples of the doorway. Philip attempted to disentangle it +for her, but in vain, his efforts only fixed it the more. Pauline +herself tried to tear it away, but the soubrette's stout serge-dress +would not tear. In the mean time they heard the "_Qui vive?_" of the +sentinel, the countersign returned, the relief of the guard; and by the +time that Philip had by main strength torn away the dress from the +staple that had caught it, the steps of the soldiers were again heard +descending the staircase from the prison of De Blenau. + +"For God's sake, Mademoiselle," whispered the Woodman, "run back as +quickly as you can to my cell, for we cannot pass now without their +seeing us. I will wait here, for they would hear my heavy feet in the +passage, and follow us both; but if I can stop them a while, I will, to +give you time." + +Pauline doubted not that she could remember the turnings, and, gliding +along as fast as possible, she endeavoured to find her way back. As she +went, she heard some words pass between Philip and the guard; and +immediately after, she distinguished that they had entered the passage, +for the echoing tramp of their feet, reverberated by the low arches, +seemed following close upon her. Terrified and agitated, she flew on +with the speed of lightning. But we all know how difficult it is to +retrace any course we have pursued in the dark; and in her haste and +confusion, Pauline lost the turning she ought to have taken, and, afraid +of going back, even after she discovered her mistake, she paused for a +moment in a state of alarm and suspense, little short of agony. + +She could now distinctly hear the guard approaching, and not knowing +where the passage might terminate, or what might obstruct the path, she +felt her way with her hand along the wall, till at length she discovered +a small recess, apparently one of those archways which gave entrance to +the various cells, for beneath her fingers she felt the massy bolts and +fastenings which secured it from without. She had scarce a moment to +think, but, placing herself under the arch, she drew back as far as +possible, in the hope that sheltered by the recess, and concealed by the +darkness, the guard would pass her by unnoticed. + +It was a dreadful moment for poor Pauline. The soldiers were not so near +as the echoes of the place had led her to imagine; and she had several +minutes to wait, holding her breath, and drawing herself in, as if to +nothing, while the tramp of the armed feet came nearer and nearer, till +at length she felt, or fancied that she felt, their clothes brush +against her as they passed; and then heard their steps becoming fainter +and more faint as they proceeded to some other part of the building. + +It was not till all was again silent, that Pauline ventured, still +trembling with the danger she had just escaped, to seek once more the +path she had lost in her terror. But her search was now in vain; she had +entirely forgot the turnings that she had taken in her flight, and in +the darkness only went wandering on from one passage to another, +starting at every sound, and always convinced that she was mistaken, but +not knowing in what direction to seek the right. + +At length, however, she found herself at a gateway which led into what +seemed an open court, and imagining from the towers she saw round about, +that she had arrived once more at the spot from which she had been +frightened by the approach of the guards, she resolved again to seek +more cautiously the cell of the Woodman, to which, of course, he would +return in search of her. But as she turned to put this resolve in +execution, she perceived a light coming down the passage towards her; +and without giving herself a moment to reflect that it might possibly be +the Woodman himself, fear seized her again, and darting across the +court, she looked round for some place of concealment. + +Exactly opposite, she perceived another archway similar to the one she +had left, and concealing herself within it, she paused to see who it was +that followed, it just occurring to her mind at that instant, that +perhaps she was in full career away from the very person she wished to +find. But, the moment after, the light appeared in the archway, and +glancing on the face of the man who carried it, discovered to her the +features of the Governor. + +This sight was not calculated to allay her fears; but her alarm was +infinitely increased when she perceived that he began crossing the court +towards the spot where she stood. Flight again became her resource, and, +turning to escape through the passages to which she supposed that +archway led, as well as the others, she struck her foot against some +steps and had nearly fallen. Recovering herself, however, without loss +of time she began ascending the steps that lay before her, nor stopped, +till reaching a small landing-place, she looked through one of the +loopholes in the wall, and beheld the Governor directing his course to +another part of the building. + +Satisfied that he did not follow her, but faint and out of breath with +the speed she had employed in her flight, Pauline paused for a moment's +repose; and stretching out her hand, she leaned against a door which +stood at the top of the staircase:--however, it afforded her no support, +for the moment she touched it, it gave way under her hand, and flying +open, discovered to her a well-lighted apartment. New terror seized upon +Pauline; her eyes were dazzled by the sudden glare, and drawing back she +would have fallen headlong down the stairs, but at that instant she was +caught in the arms of De Blenau. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Which gets Pauline out, and Philip in, and leaves De Blenau in the + middle. + + +The tumult of joy and surprise--the mutual explanations--the delight of +De Blenau--the relief to Pauline--with the thousand little _et-cetera_ +of such a meeting, I must leave to the reader's imagination, which will +doubtless do much more justice to every circumstance than could the +quill of a foolish bird such as I hold in my hand. Neither shall I +dilate upon the surprise of Philip the woodman, when, on coming to +inform De Blenau that he had lost the lady in the windings of the +Bastille, he discovered that she had found her way to the object of her +search without his sage guidance. One piece of information, however, he +conveyed, which hurried their conference towards a conclusion. The +Governor, he said, who had been absent, had returned, and was then +engaged in visiting the western wards; and therefore he might be shortly +expected in that part of the prison. + +This unpalatable news reminded Pauline to deliver the letter from the +Queen, which in the joy and agitation of their first meeting she had +neglected to do. De Blenau looked it over with a hurried glance. "She +commands me," said he, "to confess all exactly as it occurred; but on +one or two points I have already refused to answer, and if I do so now +without producing the Queen's warrant for my conduct, I shall be held a +base coward, who betrays his trust for fear of the torture." + +"And do you hesitate, Claude?" demanded Pauline, rather +reproachfully--"do you hesitate to take the only means which can save +you? Do you think nothing of what I feel? You, Claude, may be proof +against corporeal torture; but I can not endure much longer the mental +agony I have suffered since you have been confined here, especially when +I reflected that even while you were acting most nobly, I was suspecting +you ungenerously. If you love me as you profess, dear Claude, you will +take the means that the Queen directs to ensure your safety." + +"Well, dearest Pauline," replied De Blenau, yielding to the +all-persuasive eloquence of woman's lips, "I will do as you wish, and +endeavour to pursue such measures as will be both safe and honourable. +But now conclude what you were telling me, of having lost yourself in +the prison, and how you found your way hither." + +It may be necessary to explain, that while this conversation had taken +place between De Blenau and Pauline in the inner apartment, Philip the +woodman had remained in the outer chamber, keeping watch with his ear +to the door which communicated with the staircase, in order to apprise +them in time of the Governor's approach. Pauline now had not time to +conclude her little history of perilous escapes and dangers ere Philip +entering from the outer chamber interrupted her: "Fly down the stairs, +Mademoiselle," cried he, "and wait at the bottom till I join you. The +Governor is coming, for I hear other steps on the stairs as well as +those of the sentinel at the top." + +Prisons are not places for great ceremonies, nor for all the mighty +delicacies of general society; so Pauline suffered De Blenau to press +his lips upon hers unreproved, and then fled down the back staircase +with the speed of light; after which the Count shut and bolted the iron +door, and passed into the outer chamber, while the Woodman bustled about +in the inner one, arranging the Count's apparel for the night, and +appearing much more busy than he really was. + +Thus every thing was as it should be when the Governor entered; but +still there was an angry spot upon his brow, and with but a slight +inclination to De Blenau, he looked through the door between the two +chambers, saying, "Well, Mr. Woodman of Mantes, where is your daughter? +She is not in your cell." + +"You have made sure of that in person, I suppose," replied Philip, in +his usual surly manner. + +"Whether I have or not," answered the Governor, "does but little +signify. I ask where is your daughter? We must have no strangers +wandering about the Bastille." + +"I know my child's beauty as well as you do, Monsieur," replied Philip, +"and was too wise to leave her in my cell, where every one that chose +would have liberty and time to affront her, while I was attending upon +Monsieur le Comte here: so I made her come with me, and set her under +the archway of the old tower to wait till I was done. Now, if Monsieur +has done with me, I will go and conduct her to the outer gate, and +never with my will shall she set her foot within these walls again." + +"I have no farther need of you to-night, Philip," said De Blenau, as the +Woodman stood at the door ready to depart; and then seeing that the +Governor turned to follow him out, he added, "Monsieur le Gouverneur, +will you sup with me this evening?" + +Philip quitted the room, but the Governor was obliged to stay to reply. +"With pleasure, Sir, with pleasure," said he. "I will be back with you +immediately, before my servant brings the plates; but I must first take +the liberty of seeing this demoiselle out of the prison gates." He then +left De Blenau, and having bolted the door, followed the Woodman quickly +down the steps. Philip, however, had gained so much upon him, that he +had time to whisper to Pauline, whom he found waiting in the archway: +"The Governor is coming, but do not be alarmed. Let him think that I +bade you wait for me here till I had attended the Count." + +Pauline, however, could not help being alarmed. While the excitement of +her enterprise had continued, it afforded a false sort of courage, which +carried her through; but now that her object was gained, all her native +timidity returned, and she thought of encountering the Governor again +with fear and trembling. Nor had she much time to recall her spirits +before he himself joined them. + +"Well, my fair demoiselle," he cried, "I think if I had known that you +were waiting here all alone in the dark, I should have paid you a +visit;" and he raised the lamp close to Pauline's face, which was as +pale as death. "Why, you look as terrified," proceeded the Governor, "as +if you had been committing murder. Well, I will light you out, and when +you come to-morrow, you will not be so frightened. At what hour do you +come, eh?" + +"I desire that you would not come at all," said Philip aloud, as he +followed the Governor, who was escorting Pauline along with an air of +gallantry and badinage which did not at all set off his thin demure +features to advantage, especially in the unbecoming light of the lamp +that flickered upon them but at intervals, tipping all the acute angles +of his countenance with not the most agreeable hue. "I desire that you +would not come at all: you have been here once too often already. Let +your brother Charles come the next time." + +The Governor darted a glance at Philip, which certainly evinced that his +face could take on, when it liked, an expression of hatred, malice, and +all uncharitableness; and in a minute or two after, by some means, the +lamp went out in his hands. "Here, Philip," cried he, "take the lamp, +and get a light." + +"Your pardon, Sir," answered the sturdy Woodman; "not till I have seen +my daughter beyond the gates." + +"Philip Grissolles, or Philip the Woodman, or whatever you call +yourself," cried the Governor, "are you mad? Do you know what you are +about? Go and fetch me a light instantly, or refuse me at your peril." + +"I do refuse then," replied the Woodman, who had learned by conversation +with the Porter and turnkeys, how much power the Governor had placed in +his hands by permitting him to attend upon the Count de Blenau; "I am +your prisoner, Sir," he continued, "but not your servant." + +"I have allowed you to act as such in the prison," said the Governor, +"and there are no servants here but mine." + +"In suffering me to attend upon the Count de Blenau," rejoined Philip +boldly, "you have outstepped your duty, and broken the express order of +the Cardinal. So much have I learned since I came here--therefore allow +my daughter to depart quietly, Sir. We shall find a light in the +Porter's room." + +"By Heavens! I have a mind to detain the girl all night, for your +insolence," cried the Governor, stamping with rage. + +"Oh, for God's sake do not!" exclaimed Pauline, clasping her hands; but +Philip came close up to him,--"You dare not," said he, in a low voice; +"for your head, you dare not." And then added aloud to Pauline, "Come +along, my child; Monsieur le Gouverneur will let you out." + +During this altercation they had continued to proceed; and the Governor, +knowing that his violation of the Cardinal's commands with regard to the +strict confinement of De Blenau, might bring his head to the block if +sifted thoroughly, thought it best to abstain from irritating a person +who not only possessed, but knew that he possessed, so much power. Not +that he would not willingly have silenced the Woodman by some of those +infallible means which were much resorted to in that day; but that he +knew Chavigni was not easily satisfied on such points; and thus being +in a situation which is popularly expressed by "the horns of a +dilemma," like a good Christian as he was, he chose rather to risk +discovery than commit a murder which would undoubtedly be found out. +Under these circumstances, he permitted Philip and Pauline to proceed to +the gates, and ordered the Porter to give the young lady egress, taking +care, however, to follow them all the way till they arrived at the last +gate opening upon the drawbridge, which, at the time they arrived, had +not been yet raised for the evening. + +Pauline's heart beat with glad impatience as the Janitor put his key +into the lock, whose bolt grating harshly, as it was withdrawn, produced +to her ears most excellent music. + +It so unfortunately happened, however, that at the moment the gate swung +heavily back upon its hinges, Charles, the Woodman's son, presented +himself for admission; and having before had free access to his father, +was proceeding calmly through the open door, without taking any notice +of Mademoiselle de Beaumont, whom he did not recognize in her disguise. + +"What!" exclaimed the Governor, whose Bastille habits rendered him quick +to the slightest suspicion; "do you not speak to your sister?" + +"Sister!" said the boy, confounded; "I have no sister!" + +Pauline saw that in another moment all would be lost; and darting past +the Governor, she was through the gate, and over the drawbridge in a +moment. + +"_Nom de Dieu!_" cried the Governor: "Follow her, Letrames!--quick, +quick!" + +The Turnkey was on Pauline's footsteps in a minute; but she had gained +so much in the first instance, that she would certainly have escaped +with ease, if an envious stone had not obstructed her path at the bottom +of the glacis, and striking her foot, occasioned her to fall. Pauline +uttered a scream of both pain and fear; and two steps would have brought +the Turnkey to the spot where she lay, when suddenly a small, +strange-shaped figure in white, skipped over her prostrate form, and +interposed between her and her pursuer. + +"_Ventre Saint Gris!_" cried the redoubtable Jacques Chatpilleur, +_cuisinier aubergiste_, who thus came to her assistance--"You shall not +touch her!" and drawing the long rapier that hung beside his +carving-knife, he made a pass so near the breast of the Turnkey, that +the official started back full ten paces, not knowing, in the dim light +of the hour, what hobgoblin shape thus crossed his purpose. "_Maraud!_" +continued the _aubergiste_, "Who are you that dare to injure this +demoiselle? under the very walls of the Bastille, too, contrary to the +peace and quiet of His Majesty's true subjects! Get thee gone! or I will +spit thee like a _chapon de maine_, or rather skewer thee like an +ortolan under the wings." + +This professional allusion, together with a moment's reflection, +enabled Letrames, the turnkey, to call to mind the _ancien vivandier_; +and showering upon him a thousand harsh epithets for his interference, +he called upon him to stand aside, and let him secure his prisoner; +still, however, standing aloof from the point of the weapon,--for +Jacques Chatpilleur, while _vivandier_ to the army, had shown that he +could gather laurels with his sword, as well as with his knife; and had +as often, to use Sancho's expression, given his enemies a bellyfull of +dry blows, as he had filled his friends with more dainty fare; with this +difference, however, that the drubbings he bestowed gratis. + +In the present instance, he either did not, or would not, know the +Turnkey; and continued vociferating to him to hold off, and tell who he +was, with such reiteration, that for some time the other had no +opportunity of replying. At length, however, he roared, rather than +said, "_Jacques Diable!_ you know me well enough; I am Letrames, +_Géolier au château_." + +The _aubergiste_ looked over his shoulder, and seeing that Pauline was +no longer visible, he very quietly put up his rapier, saying, "_Mais mon +Dieu! mon ami_, why did you not tell me that before? _Je vous en demande +mille pardons_;" and seizing the Turnkey in his arms, he embraced him, +making a thousand excuses for having mistaken him, and hugging him with +a sort of malicious affection, which quite put a stop to his pursuit of +Pauline. + +The only benediction that the gaoler thought proper to bestow on the +little _aubergiste_, was a thousand curses, struggling all the time to +free himself from the serpent folds of Chatpilleur's embrace. But it was +not till the _aubergiste_ had completely satisfied himself, that he +suffered Letrames to escape, and then very composedly offered to assist +him in the pursuit, which he well knew would now be ineffectual. + +The darkness of the night had prevented this scene from being visible +from the gates of the Bastille, and Letrames, on his return to the +prison, was too wise to complain of the conduct of our friend +Chatpilleur; a _vivandier_ at the gates of the Bastille being much too +convenient an acquaintance to be quarrelled with upon trifles. + +During his absence, the wrath of the Governor turned upon Philip the +woodman. "What is the meaning of this? Villain!" exclaimed he, "this is +none of your daughter! Fouchard! La Heuterie!" he called aloud to some +of his satellites--"quick! bring me a set of irons! we shall soon hear +who this is, Monsieur Philip Grissoles!" + +"You will never hear any thing from me more than you know already," +replied Philip; "so put what irons on me you like. But you had better +beware, Sir Governor; those that meddle with pitch will stick their +fingers. You do not know what you may bring upon your head." + +"Silence, fool!" cried the Governor, in a voice that made the archway +ring; "you know not what you have brought upon your own +head.--Fouchard! La Heuterie! I say, why are you so long? Oh, here you +come at last. Now secure that fellow, and down with him to one of the +black dungeons!--Porter, turn that young viper out," he continued, +pointing to Charles, who stood trembling and weeping by his father's +side; "Turn him out, I say!--we will have no more of these traitors than +we have occasion for." + +At the word the _dark dungeon_, Philip's courage had almost failed him, +and it was not without an effort that he kept his sturdy limbs from +betraying his emotion, while the gaolers began to place the irons on his +wrists and ancles: but when he heard the order to drive forth his son, +he made a strong effort and caught the boy in his arms: "God bless you, +Charles! God bless you, my boy! and fear not for me," he exclaimed, +"while there is a Power above." + +It was a momentary solace to embrace his child, but the Porter soon tore +the boy from his arms, and pushing him through the gate closed it after +him, rejoicing that he should no more have to turn the key for any of +the Woodman's family. "Now," said he, "now we shall have no more +trouble; I hate to see all our good old rules and regulations broken +through. I dare say if his Eminence the Cardinal--God protect him!--were +to follow this Monsieur Chavigni's advice, we should have every thing +out of order; and all the good store of chains and irons here in the +lodge would get rusty for want of use." + +"Peace, peace!" cried the Governor: "La Heuterie, take that fellow down, +as I told you. He shall have the question to-morrow, and we shall see if +he finds that so easy to bear. Away with him, quick!--A fool I was to be +so deceived!--I suspected something when she stammered so about her +father's name." So saying, he turned to hear the report of Letrames, who +at that moment returned from his unsuccessful pursuit of Pauline. + +In the mean while, the gaolers led Philip, who moved with difficulty in +his heavy irons, across the first and second court, and opening a low +door in the western tower displayed to his sight a flight of steps +leading down to the lower dungeons. At this spot La Heuterie, who seemed +superior in rank to his fellow-turnkey, lighted a torch that he had +brought with him at his companion's lantern, and descending to the +bottom of the steps, held it up on high to let Philip see his way down. +The Woodman shuddered as he gazed at the deep gloomy chasm which +presented itself but half seen by the glare of the torch, the light of +which glancing upon the wall in different places, showed its green damp +and ropy slime, without offering any definite limit to the dark and +fearful vacuity. But he had no time to make any particular remark, for +the second gaoler, who stood at his side, rudely forced him on; and +descending the slippy stone steps, he found himself in a large long +vault, paved with round stones, and filled with heavy subterranean air, +which at first made the torch burn dim, and took away the Woodman's +breath. As the light, however, spread slowly through the thick darkness, +he could perceive three doors on either hand, which he conceived to give +entrance to some of those under-ground dungeons, whose intrinsic horror, +as well as the fearful uses to which they were often applied, had given +a terrific fame to the name of the Bastille, and rendered it more +dreaded than any other prison in France. + +During this time they had paused a moment, moving the torch slowly +about, as if afraid that it would be extinguished by the damp, but when +the flame began to rise again, La Heuterie desired his companion to +bring the prisoner to number six, and proceeding to the extremity of the +vault, they opened the farthest door on the left, which led into a low +damp cell, cold, narrow, and unfurnished, the very abode of horror and +despair. Into this they pushed the unfortunate Woodman, following +themselves, to see, as they said, if there was any straw. + +"Have you brought some oil with you?" demanded La Heuterie, examining a +rusty iron lamp that hung against the wall: "This is quite out." + +"No, indeed," replied Fouchard, "and we cannot get any to-night: but he +does not want it till day. It is time for him to go to sleep." + +"No, no," rejoined the other, who seemed at least to have some human +feeling; "do not leave the poor devil without light. Give him your +lantern, man; you can fetch it to-morrow, when you come round to trim +the lamps." + +The man grumbled, but did as La Heuterie bade him; and having fastened +the lantern on the hook where the lamp hung, they went away, leaving +Philip to meditate over his fate in solitude. + +"I have brought it on myself at last," thought the Woodman, as looking +round him he found all the horrors he had dreamed of the Bastille more +than realized; and his spirit sank within him. Cut off from all +communication with any human being, he had now no means of making his +situation known; and the horrible idea of the torture shook all his +resolution and unmanned his heart. + +It would hardly be fair to pursue the course of his reflections any +farther; for if, when he remembered his happy cottage in the wood of +Mantes, and his wife, and his little ones, a momentary thought of +disclosing all he knew crossed the Woodman's mind, the next instant, the +ruin of the Queen, the death of the good Count de Blenau, and a train of +endless ills and horrors to those who confided in him, flashed across +his imagination, and nerved his heart to better things. He called to +mind every generous principle of his nature; and though but a humble +peasant, he struggled nobly against the dishonouring power of fear. + +Sleep, however, was out of the question; and he sat mournfully on the +straw that had been placed for his bed, watching the light in the +lantern, as inch by inch it burned away, till at last it gleamed for a +moment in the socket--sank--rose again with a bright flash, and then +became totally extinguished. He now remained in utter darkness, and a +thousand vague and horrible fancies crowded upon his imagination while +he sat there, calculating how near it was to day, when he fancied that +even the momentary presence of the gaoler would prove some relief to the +blank solitude of his situation. Hour after hour, however, passed away, +and no glimpse of light told him it was morning. At length the door +opened and the gaoler appeared, bringing with him a fresh lighted lamp, +thus offering a frightful confirmation of Philip's fears that the beams +of day never penetrated to the place of his confinement. + +The gaoler took down the lantern, and having fastened the lamp in its +place, gave to the unfortunate Woodman a loaf of bread and a pitcher of +water. "Come!" exclaimed Fouchard, in a tone which spoke no great +pleasure in the task; "get up; I am to take off your irons for you: and +truly, there is no great use of them, for if you were the Devil himself, +you could not get out here." + +"I suppose so," answered Philip. "But I trust that it will not be long +before I am released altogether." + +"Why, I should guess that it would not," answered the gaoler, in +somewhat of a sarcastic tone, still continuing to unlock the irons; +"People do not in general stay here very long." + +"How so?" demanded Philip anxiously, misdoubting the tone in which the +other spoke. + +"Why," replied he, "you must know there are three ways, by one of which +prisoners are generally released, as you say, _altogether_; and one way +is as common as another, so far as my experience goes. Sometimes they +die under the torture; at other times they are turned out to have their +head struck off; or else they die of the damp: which last we call being +_Home sick_." And with this very consolatory speech he bundled up the +irons under his arm, and quitted the cell, taking care to fasten the +door behind him. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Showing what it is to be a day after the Fair; with sundry other + matters, which the reader cannot fully comprehend without reading + them. + + +Having now left the Woodman as unhappy as we could wish, and De Blenau +very little better off than he was before; we must proceed with Pauline, +and see what we can do for her in the same way. + +It has been already said that, in the hurry of her flight, she struck +her foot against a stone, and fell. This is an unpleasant accident at +all times, and more especially when one is running away; but Pauline +suffered it not to interrupt her flight one moment longer than +necessary. Finding that some unexpected obstacle had delayed her +pursuer as well as herself, she was upon her feet in a moment; and +leaving him to arrange his difference with Monsieur Chatpilleur in the +best way he could, she flew on towards the Rue Saint Antoine, without +stopping to thank her deliverer; and, indeed, without knowing that the +good _aubergiste_, taking a sincere interest in her fate, had, at the +hour appointed, waited at the door of his auberge till he saw her enter +the Bastille, and then, from some undefined feeling that all would not +go right, had watched anxiously to see her safe out again. + +The interest not being reciprocal, Pauline had forgot all about the +_aubergiste_; and only seeing that some one obstructed her pursuer, she +fled, as I have said before, to the Rue Saint Antoine. She passed +Jacques Chatpilleur's little auberge, without any exchange of sentiment, +even with the _Sanglier Gourmand_, and darted by the boutique of a +_passementier_ with the same celerity. The next shop was a _marchand de +broderie et de dentelle_, with a little passage, or _cul de sac_, +between it and the following house, which was occupied by a +_brocanteur_, both which trades requiring daylight in aid of their +operations, were at that hour firmly closed with bolt and bar, nor shed +one solitary ray to light the passenger along the streets. + +Just as she had come opposite to the first of these, Pauline found some +one seize her robe behind, and the next minute a large Spanish cloak was +thrown over her head, while a gigantic pair of arms embracing her waist, +raised her from the ground, and bore her along the street. Naturally +conceiving that she was in the power of some of her pursuers from the +Bastille, Pauline did not perceive, in the dreadful agitation of the +moment, that she was carried in a different direction; and, giving +herself up for lost, she yielded to her fate without scream or cry. +Whoever it was that held her, carried her like a feather; but after +striding along through several turnings, he paused, placed her on the +ground, and still holding the cloak over her head with one hand, seemed +to open a door with the other. The next moment he raised her again, +though in a different position, and carried her up what was evidently a +small winding staircase, at the top of which he again opened a door, +where, even through the cloak, Pauline could perceive that they had +entered some place which contained a powerful light. The moment the door +was open, some one exclaimed, "It is her! Oh Jesu! yes, it is her!" in a +voice which sounded so like that of her maid Louise that Pauline was +more than ever bewildered. The person who had carried her, now placed +her in a chair, and taking the additional security of tying the cloak +over her head, communicated for a few minutes with the other person in +whispers; after which Pauline fancied that some one quitted the room. +The covering was then removed from her eyes, and she found herself in a +small, meanly-furnished apartment, whose only occupant, besides +herself, was a handsome man, of very gigantic proportions, and of that +sort of daring aspect which smacked a little of the bravo. He was well +dressed in a pourpoint of green lustring, braided with gold lace, +slightly tarnished; the _haut-de-chausses_ was of the same, tied down +the side with red ribbons; and the cloak which he removed from Pauline's +head seemed to form a part of the dress, though he had deprived himself +of it for the moment, to answer the purpose in which we have seen it +employed. On the whole, he was a good-looking cavalier, though there was +a certain air of lawlessness in his countenance and mien which made +Pauline shrink. + +"Nay, do not be afraid, Mademoiselle," said he, with a strong Norman +accent: "_Point de danger, point de danger_;" and he strove to reassure +her to the best of his power. He possessed no great eloquence, however, +at least of the kind calculated to calm a lady's fears; and the only +thing which tended to give Pauline any relief, was the manifest respect +with which he addressed her, standing cap in hand, and reiterating that +no harm was intended or could happen to her. + +She listened without attending, too much frightened to believe his words +to their full extent, and striving to gain from the objects round about +some more precise knowledge of her situation. She was evidently not in +the Bastille; for the door of the room, instead of offering to her view +bolts and bars, of such complicated forms that, like the mousetrap, they +would have puzzled the man that made them, was only fastened by a single +wooden lock, the key of which, like a dog's tongue in a hot day, kept +lolling out with a negligent inclination towards the ground, very much +at ease in its keyhole. The more Pauline gazed around her, the more she +was bewildered; and after resolving twenty times to speak to the Norman, +and as often failing in courage, she at last produced an articulate +sound, which went to inquire where she was. The Norman, who had been +walking up and down the room, as if waiting the arrival of some one, +stopped in the midst, and making a low inclination, begged to assure +Mademoiselle that she was in a place of safety. + +The ice being broken, Pauline demanded, "Did not I hear the voice of my +maid Louise?" + +"No; it was my wife, Mademoiselle," replied her companion drily; and +recommencing his perambulations, the young lady sank back into herself. +At length a tap was heard at the door, and the Norman starting forward +went on the outside, closing it after him, though not completely; and of +the conversation which ensued between him and some other man, Pauline +could catch detached sentences, which, though they served but little to +elucidate her position to herself, may be of service to the reader. + +At first all was conducted in a whisper, but the Norman soon broke +forth, "Sachristie! I tell you she got in. I did not catch her till she +was coming out." + +"Monseigneur will be precious angry with us both," answered the other. +"How I missed you, I cannot imagine; I only went to call upon _la petite +Jeanette_, and did not stay five minutes." + +"And I just stepped into the _Sanglier Gourmand_," rejoined our Norman, +"which is opposite, you know. There I thought I could see all that went +on. But that _maraud_, Jacques Chatpilleur, was always at his door about +something; so finding that I could not get my second bottle of wine, I +went down to the _cave_ for it myself; and she must have passed while I +was below." + +"How did you find out, then, that she had got into the Bastille?" +demanded the other. + +The Norman's reply was delivered in so low a tone that Pauline could +only distinguish the words--"Heard a scream--saw her running past like +mad--threw the cloak over her, and brought her here." + +"Perhaps she was not in, after all," rejoined the other; "but at all +events, we must tell Monseigneur so. You swear you caught her just as +she was going in, and I'll vow that I was there and saw you." + +A new consultation seemed to take place; but the speakers proceeded so +rapidly, that Pauline could not comprehend upon what it turned exactly, +although she was herself evidently the subject of discussion. "Oh, she +will not tell, for her own sake," said one of the voices. "She would be +banished, to a certainty, if it was known that she got in; and as to the +folks at the Bastille, be sure that they will hold their tongues." + +Something was now said about a letter, and the voice of the Norman +replied, "Monseigneur does not suppose that she had a letter. Oh, no! +trust me, she had none. It was word of mouth work, be you sure. They +were too cunning to send a letter which might be stopped upon her. No, +no, they know something more than that." + +"Well, then, the sooner we take her there, the better," rejoined the +other; "the carriage is below, but you must blind her eyes, for she may +know the liveries." + +"Ah! your cursed livery betrayed us once before," answered the Norman. +"_Holla! la haut! mon Ange_, give me a kerchief; I will tie her eyes +with that, for the cloak almost smothers her, poor little soul!" + +A light step was now heard coming down stairs, and a third person was +added to the party without. What they said, Pauline could not make out; +but though speaking in a whisper, she was still confident that she +distinguished the voice of her maid Louise. "Harm!" said the Norman, +after a moment, "we are going to do her no harm, _chère amie_! She will +be down there in Maine, with the Countess, and as happy as a Princess. +Give this gentleman the trunk-mail, and get yourself ready against I +come back; for we have our journey to take too, you know, _ma petite +femme_." + +The Norman now laid his hand upon the lock; there was a momentary bustle +as of the party separating; and then entering the room, he informed +Pauline that she must allow him to blindfold her eyes. Knowing that +resistance was in vain, Pauline submitted with a good grace; and, her +fears considerably allayed by the conversation she had overheard, +attempted to draw from the Norman some farther information. But here he +was inflexible; and having tied the handkerchief over her eyes, so as +completely to prevent her seeing, he conducted her gently down the +stairs, taking care to keep her from falling; and having arrived in the +open air, lifted her lightly into a carriage, placed himself by her +side, and gave orders to drive on. + +The vehicle had not proceeded many minutes, when it again stopped; and +Pauline was lifted out, conducted up a flight of stone steps, and then +led into an apartment, where she was placed in a fauteuil, the luxurious +softness of which bespoke a very different sort of furniture from that +of the chamber which she had just left. There was now a little bustle, +and a good deal of whispering, and then every one seemed to leave the +room. Fancying herself alone, Pauline raised her hand, in order to +remove the handkerchief from her eyes, at least for a moment; but a loud +"_Prenez garde!_" from the Norman, stopped her in her purpose, and the +next instant a door opened, and she heard steps approaching. + +"Shut the door," said a voice she had never heard before. "Marteville, +you have done well. Are you sure that she had no conversation with any +one within the prison?" + +"I will swear to it!" answered the Norman, with the stout asseveration +of a determined liar. "Ask your man Chauvelin, Monseigneur; he was by, +and saw me catch hold of her before she was at the gate." + +"So he says," rejoined the other; "but now leave the room. I must have +some conversation with this demoiselle myself. Wait for me without." + +"Pardie!" muttered the Norman, as he withdrew; "he'll find it out now, +and then I'm ruined." + +"Mademoiselle de Beaumont," said the person that remained, "you have +been engaged in a rash and dangerous enterprise--Had you succeeded in +it, the Bastille must have been your doom, and severe judgment according +to the law. By timely information on the subject, I have been enabled to +save you from such a fate; but I am sorry to say that, for the safety of +all parties, you must endure an absence from your friends for some +time." + +He paused, as if expecting a reply; and Pauline, after a moment's +consideration, determined to answer, in order to draw from him, if +possible, some farther information concerning the manner in which he had +become acquainted with her movements, and also in regard to her future +destination. "I perceive, Sir," said she, "from your conversation, that +you belong to the same rank of society as myself; but I am at a loss to +imagine how any gentleman presumes to attribute dangerous enterprises, +and actions deserving imprisonment, to a lady, of whom he neither does, +nor can know any thing." + +"My dear young lady," replied her companion, "you make me smile. I did +not think that I should have to put forth my diplomatic powers against +so fair and so youthful an opponent. But allow me to remind you that, +when young ladies of the highest rank are found masquerading in the +streets at night, dressed in their servants' garments, they subject +their conduct, perhaps, to worse misconstructions than that which I have +put upon yours. But, Mademoiselle de Beaumont, I know you, and I know +the spirit of your family too well to suppose that any thing but some +great and powerful motive could induce you to appear as you do now. +Withdraw that bandage from your eyes, (I have no fear of encountering +them,) and look if that be a dress in which Mademoiselle de Beaumont +should be seen." + +Pauline's quick fingers instantly removed the handkerchief, and raising +her eyes, she found that she was placed exactly before a tall Venetian +mirror, which offered her a complete portrait of herself, sitting in an +immense arm-chair of green velvet, and disguised in the costume of a +Languedoc _paysanne_. The large _capote_, or hood, which she had worn, +had been thrust back by the Norman, in order to blindfold her eyes, and +her dark hair, all dishevelled, was hanging about her face in glossy +confusion. The red serge _jupe_ of Louise had acquired in the passages +of the Bastille no inconsiderable portion of dust; and near the knee on +which she had fallen at the foot of the glacis, it was stained with +mire, as well as slightly torn. In addition to all this, appeared a +large rent at the side, occasioned by the efforts of Philip the woodman +to disengage it from the staple on which it had caught; and the black +bodice had been broadly marked with green mould, in pressing against the +wall while the guards passed so near to her. + +Her face also was deathly pale, with all the alarm, agitation, and +fatigue she had undergone; so that no person could be more different +from the elegant and blooming Pauline de Beaumont than the figure which +that mirror reflected. Pauline almost started when she beheld herself; +but quickly recovering from her surprise, she cast her eyes round the +room, which was furnished in the most splendid and costly manner, and +filled with a thousand objects of curiosity or luxury, procured from all +the quarters of the globe. + +Her attention, however, rested not upon any of these. Within a few paces +of the chair in which she sat, stood a tall elegant man, near that +period of life called the middle age, but certainly rather below than +above the point to which the term is generally applied. He was +splendidly dressed, according to the custom of the day; and the neat +trimming of his beard and mustaches, the regular arrangement of his dark +flowing hair, and the scrupulous harmony and symmetry of every part of +his apparel, contradicted the thoughtful, dignified expression of his +eyes, which seemed occupied with much higher thoughts. Vandyke has +transmitted to us many such a physiognomy, and many such a dress; but +few of his costumes are more splendid, or his countenances more +dignified, than was that of the stranger who stood beside Mademoiselle +de Beaumont. + +He paused for a moment, giving her time to make what examination she +liked of every thing in the apartment; and as her eye glanced to +himself, demanded with a smile, "Well, Mademoiselle de Beaumont, do you +recollect me?" + +"Not in the least," replied Pauline: "I think, Sir, that we can never +have seen each other before." + +"Yes, we have," answered her companion, "but it was at a distance. +However, now look in that glass, and tell me--Do you recollect +_yourself_?" + +"Hardly!" replied Pauline, with a blush, "hardly, indeed!" + +"Well then, fair lady, I think that you will no longer demand my reasons +for attributing to you dangerous enterprises, and actions, as you say, +deserving imprisonment; but to put an end to your doubts at once, look +at that order, where, I think, you will find yourself somewhat +accurately described." And he handed to Pauline a small piece of +parchment, beginning with the words of serious import '_De par le roy_,' +and going on to order the arrest of the Demoiselle Pauline, daughter of +the late Marquis de Beaumont, and of the Dame Anne de la Hautière; with +all those good set terms and particulars, which left no room for mistake +or quibble, even if it had been examined by the eyes of the sharpest +lawyer of the _Cour des Aides_. + +"What say you now, Mademoiselle de Beaumont?" demanded her companion, +seeing her plunged in embarrassment and surprise. + +"I have nothing to say, Sir," replied Pauline, "but that I must submit. +However, I trust that, in common humanity, I shall be allowed to see my +mother, either when I am in prison, or before I am conveyed thither." + +"You mistake me," said the other; "you are not going to a prison. I only +intend that you should take a little journey into the country; during +the course of which all attention shall be paid to your comfort and +convenience. Of course, young lady, when you undertook the difficult +task of conveying a message from the Queen to a prisoner in the +Bastille, you were prepared to risk the consequences. As you have not +succeeded, no great punishment will fall upon you; but as it is +absolutely necessary to the Government to prevent all communication +between suspected parties, you must bear a temporary absence from the +Court, till such time as this whole business be terminated; for neither +the Queen, nor any one else, must know how far you have succeeded or +failed." + +Pauline pleaded hard to be allowed to see her mother, but in vain. The +stranger was obdurate, and would listen to neither entreaties, +promises, nor remonstrances. All she could obtain was, the assurance +that Madame de Beaumont should be informed of her safety, and that, +perhaps, after a time she might be permitted to write to her. "Listen to +me," said the stranger, cutting short the prayers by which she was +attempting to influence him. "I expect the King and Court from Chantilly +within an hour; and before that time you must be out of Paris. For your +convenience, a female servant shall attend you, and you will meet with +all the respect due to your rank; but for your own sake, ask no +questions, for I never permit my domestics to canvass my affairs with +any one--nay, they are forbidden ever to mention my name, except for +some express and permitted purpose. I will now leave you, and send +Mathurine to your assistance, who will help you to change your dress +from that _coffre_. You will then take some refreshment, and set out as +speedily as possible. At the end of your journey, you will meet with +one to whose care I have recommended you, and you will then learn in +whose hands you are placed. At present, I have the honour of bidding you +farewell." + +The uncertainty of her fate, the separation from her mother, the vague +uneasy fear attendant upon want of all knowledge of whither she was +going, and the impossibility of communicating with her friends under any +event, raised up images far more terrifying and horrible to the mind of +Pauline, than almost any specific danger could have done; and, as her +companion turned away, she hid her face in her hands and wept. + +Hearing her sob, and perhaps attributing her tears to other motives, he +returned for a moment, and said in a low voice: "Do not weep, my dear +child! I give you my honour, that you will be well and kindly treated. +But one thing I forgot to mention. I know that your object was to visit +the Count de Blenau; and I know, also, that a personal interest had +something to do in the matter. Now, Mademoiselle de Beaumont, I can +feel for you; and it may be some comfort to know, that M. de Blenau has, +at least, one person in the Council, who will strive to give to the +proceedings against him as much leniency as circumstances will admit." + +This said, he quitted the apartment, and in a moment after Pauline was +joined by the female servant of whom he had spoken. She was a staid, +reputable-looking woman, of about fifty, with a little of the primness +of ancient maidenhood, but none of its acerbity. And, aware of Pauline's +rank, she assisted her to disentangle herself from her uncomfortable +disguise with silent respect, though she could not help murmuring to +herself. "_Mon Dieu! Une demoiselle mise comme ça._" She then called the +young Lady's attention to the contents of the _coffre_, asking which +dress she would choose to wear; when, to her surprise, Pauline found +that it contained a considerable part of her own wardrobe. Forgetting +the prohibition to ask questions, she could not help demanding of +Mathurine how her clothes could come there; but the servant was either +ignorant, or pretended to be so, and Pauline could obtain no +information. As soon as she was dressed, some refreshments were placed +on the table by Mathurine, who received them from a servant at one of +the doors, which she immediately closed again, and pressed Pauline to +eat. Pauline at first refused; but at length, to satisfy her companion, +who continued to insist upon it with a degree of quiet, persevering +civility, that would take no refusal, she took some of the coffee, which +was at that time served up as a rarity. As soon as ever the domestic +perceived that no entreaty would induce her to taste any thing else, she +called in a servant to carry the _coffre_ to the carriage, and then +notified to Pauline that it was time for them to depart. + +Pauline felt that all resistance or delay would be vain; and she +accordingly followed Mathurine down a magnificent staircase into a +court-yard, where stood a _chaise roulante_, the door of which was held +open by the Norman we have already mentioned, while two men-servants +appeared ready mounted to follow the vehicle, as soon as it set out. +Mathurine placed herself by Pauline's side when she had entered; and the +Norman, having closed the door, opened the _porte-cochère_ of the court, +and the carriage drove out into the street. + +We will not take the trouble of following Mademoiselle de Beaumont on +her journey, which occupied that night and the two following +days:--suffice it to say, that on the evening of the second day they +arrived in the beautiful neighbourhood of Château du Loir. The smiling +slopes, covered with the first vines; the rich fruit-trees hanging +actually over the road, and dropping with the latest gifts of liberal +Nature; the balmy air of a warm September evening; the rosy cheeks of +the peasantry; and the clear, smooth windings of the river Loir,[A] all +announced that they were approaching the land of happy Touraine: and +after putting her head more than once from the window, Mathurine, with a +smile of pleasure, pointed forward, exclaiming, "_Voilà le Château_." + +[A] Not the Loire. + +Pauline's eyes followed to the point where the other's hand directed +them; and upon a high ground, rising gently above the trees which +crowned a little projecting turn of the river, she beheld a group of +towers and pinnacles, with the conical-slated roofs, multifarious +weathercocks, long narrow windows, one turret upon the back of another, +and all the other distinctive marks of an old French château. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + In which De Blenau finds that he has got the rod in his own hand, + and how he uses it; together with a curious account of a tremendous + combat and glorious victory. + + +I can easily imagine myself, and I dare say the reader will not find +much difficulty in fancying, that the Count de Blenau suffered not a +little inquietude while he remained in uncertainty respecting Pauline's +free exit from the Bastille. + +Take and draw him, as Sterne did his captive. See him walking up and +down the chamber with the anxiety of doubt upon his brow and in his +heart, listening for every sound in the court-yard, catching the +footstep of the sentinel at his door, and fancying it the return of the +Governor,--hope struggling against fear, and fear remaining +victor,--conjuring up a thousand wild, improbable events, and missing +the true one; and, in short, making his bosom a _hell_ wherein to +torment his own heart. + +Thus did Claude de Blenau, during that lapse of time which the Governor +might reasonably be supposed to be occupied in the duties of his office. +But when a longer time passed, and still no news arrived of Pauline's +escape, the uncertainty became too great for mortal endurance; and he +was about to risk all, by descending into the court through the turret, +when the challenge of the sentinel announced the approach of some one, +and in the next moment the Governor entered the room, his pale features +flushed with anger, and his lip quivering with ill-subdued rage. + +"Monsieur de Blenau!" said he, in a tone that he had never before +presumed to use towards his wealthy prisoner, "here is something wrong. +There has been a woman in the prison to-night, passing for that rascal +Woodman's daughter: and I am given to understand, that she has brought +either letter or message to you. But I will ascertain the truth--By +Heaven! I will ascertain the truth!" + +"Have you detained her, then?" exclaimed De Blenau, losing all caution +in his fears for Pauline. + +"Oh, ho! Monsieur le Comte," said the Governor, fixing on him his keen +and angry eye; "then you do know that she has been here? But do you +know, Sir, that it may cost me my head?" + +"Very possibly, if you tell any body," replied De Blenau; who by this +time had recovered his self-possession, and had, upon reconsideration, +drawn from the Governor's speech a different conclusion from that which +he had formed at first; feeling sure, that if Pauline had not escaped, +his anger would have taken a calmer form. "Listen to me, Sir Governor," +continued he firmly, after having determined in his own mind the line of +conduct which he ought to pursue: "let us deal straightforwardly towards +each other, and like friends as we have hitherto done. We are both in +some degree in each other's power. On your part, do not attempt to +entrap me into any acknowledgment, and I will show you that I will not +make use of any advantage you may have given me----" + +"I do not understand your meaning, Sir," cried the Governor, still +angrily: "I have given you no advantage. By Heaven! I will have the +apartment searched;--ay, Sir, and your person too." + +"Will you so?" replied De Blenau, coolly drawing from his bosom the +Queen's billet, and approaching the edge to the lamp so that it caught +fire. The Governor started forward to seize it; but the strong arm of +the Count held him at a distance, till the few lines the Queen had +written were irretrievably destroyed; and then freeing him from his +grasp, he pointed to a chair, saying, "Now, Monsieur le Gouverneur, sit +down and listen to a few words of common sense." The Governor placed +himself in the chair with a look of bitter malignity; but this softened +down gradually into an expression of thoughtful cunning, as De Blenau +proceeded--"Thus stands the case," said the Count; "I was committed to +your charge, I think, with positive orders not to allow me communication +with any person whatsoever--was it not so?" The Governor assented: "It +so happened, however," continued the Count with a smile, "that at our +very first interview, you conceived a friendship for me of the most +liberal and disinterested nature," (the Governor bit his lip,) "a sort +of love at first sight; and, for the sake of my accommodation, you not +only broke through the positive commands of the Cardinal Prime Minister, +in suffering me once to have communication with another person, but +allowed such to take place at all times, according to my pleasure; and +also took especial pains to procure the attendance of the person I +wished, paying him with my money, for which, and other excellent +purposes, you have, within the space of six days, received from me +upwards of one thousand crowns." + +The Governor winced most desperately; and fully convinced, that a tale +so told, would readily convey his head under the axe of the executioner, +if it reached the ears of Richelieu, he cursed himself for a fool, De +Blenau for a knave, and Philip the woodman for something between the +two; most devoutly wishing both the others at the Devil, so he could +slip his own neck out of the halter. + +De Blenau, without much skill in reading the mind's construction by the +face, easily divined what was passing in his companion's bosom; and +perceiving him to be much in the situation of a lame dog, he resolved +still to apply the lash a little, before he helped him over the stile. +"Well, Sir Governor," continued he; "now we will suppose, as a mere +hypothesis to reason upon, that, through this very liberty which your +disinterested kindness has allowed me, I have received those +communications from without, which it was the Cardinal's great object to +prevent. How ought you to act under such circumstances? Ought you to go +to the stern, unrelenting Richelieu, and say to him,--'May it please +your Eminence, I have intentionally and wilfully broken through every +order you gave me--I have taken the utmost pains that they should not be +observed; and I have so far succeeded in thwarting your designs, that +Monsieur de Blenau, from whom I have received one thousand crowns, and +from whom I expect a thousand more the moment he is liberated--I say, +that this good friend of mine, and your enemy, has gained all the +information which you wished to prevent,'--This would be a pretty +confession of faith!" + +De Blenau paused, and the Governor bit his lip; but after a moment, he +looked the Count full in the face, and replied, "Perhaps it might be the +best way." + +De Blenau, however, was not to be deceived; he saw terror in the deadly +hue of the Governor's pale cheek, and the anxious rolling of his sunken +eye, and he went on--"Perhaps it might be the best way--to have your +head struck off without delay; for what would your confession avail the +Cardinal now, after the mischief is done?--Would it not be better to say +to yourself,--'Here is a young nobleman, whom I believe to be +innocent--for whom I have a regard--whom I have served already, and who +is both willing and able to reward any one who does serve him; and who, +lastly, will never betray me, let happen what will. Under these +circumstances, should I not be a fool of the first water, to inquire +into a matter, the truth of which I am very unlikely to discover, and +which, if I do, it will be my duty to disclose: whereas, standing as the +affair does now, without my knowledge in the least, my ignorance makes +my innocence, and I betray no one. Even supposing that the whole be +found out, I am no worse than I was before, for the story can but be +told at last; while, if the Count be liberated, which most likely he +will, instead of losing my office, or my head, I shall gain a thousand +crowns to indemnify me for all the trouble I have had, and shall ensure +his friendship for life.' Now, Monsieur le Gouverneur, this is what you +ought to say to yourself. In my opinion, the strength of argument is all +on one side. Even if there were any thing to know, you would be a fool +to investigate it, where you must of necessity be your own accuser; +where all is to be lost, and nothing can be gained." + +"You argue well, Monsieur de Blenau," answered the Governor, +thoughtfully; "and your reasoning would be convincing, if it extended to +all the circumstances of the case. But you do not know one half;--you do +not know, that Chavigni, from whose eyes nothing seems hidden, knew of +this girl's coming, and sent me an order to detain her, which that +sottish fool the Porter never gave me till she had escaped--How am I to +get over that, pray?" + +"Then, positively, she has escaped?" demanded De Blenau. + +"Yes, yes, she has escaped!" replied the Governor pettishly: "you seem +to consider nothing but her; but, let me tell you, Monsieur de Blenau, +that you are fully as much concerned as I am, for if they discover that +she has got in, you will have a touch of the _peine forte et dure_, to +make you confess who she is, and what she came for." + +"Truly, I know not what can be done," answered the Count. "Chavigni +seems to know all about it." + +"No, no! he does not know all," replied the Governor; "for he says here, +in his note, that if a young lady dressed in a _jupe_ of red serge, with +a black bodice, comes to the gate of the prison, asking any thing +concerning the Count de Blenau, we are to detain her: now she never +mentioned your name, and, God knows, I heeded not what she was dressed +in." + +"Then the matter is very simple," replied the Count; "no such person as +he bade you detain, has been here. This is no matter of honour between +man and man, where you are bound to speak your suspicions as well as +your knowledge. No person has come to the gate of the prison asking any +thing concerning me; and so answer Chavigni." + +"But the Porter, Monsieur de Blenau," said the officer, anxiously,--"he +may peach. All the other dependents on the prison are my own, placed by +me, and would turn out were I to lose my office; but this porter was +named by the Cardinal himself.--What is to be done with him?" + +"Oh! fear not him," answered De Blenau; "as his negligence was the cause +of your not receiving the order in time to render it effectual, your +silence will be a favour to him." + +"True! true!" cried the Governor, rubbing his hands with all the rapture +of a man suddenly relieved from a mortal embarrassment: "True! true! +I'll go and bully him directly--I'll threaten to inform the Cardinal, +and Chavigni, and the whole Council; and then--when he begins to fancy +that he feels the very rope round his neck--I'll relent, and be +charitable, and agree to conceal his mistake, and to swear that the lady +never came.--How will Chavigni know? She will never confess it herself, +and at that hour it was too dark for any one to watch her up to the +gates.--_Morbleu!_ that will do precisely." + +"I see little or no danger attending upon it," said the prisoner; "and, +at all events, it is a great deal better than conveying your neck into +the noose, which you would certainly do by confessing to Richelieu the +circumstances as they have occurred." + +"Well, well, we will risk it, at all events," replied the Governor, who, +though not quite free from apprehension respecting the result, had now +regained his usual sweet complacency of manner. "But one thing, Monsieur +de Blenau, I am sure you will promise me; namely, that this attempt +shall never be repeated, even if occasion should occur: and for the +rest--with regard to your never betraying me, and other promises which +your words imply, I will trust to your honour." + +De Blenau readily agreed to what the Governor required, and repeated his +promises never to disclose any thing that had occurred, and to reward +his assistance with a thousand crowns, upon being liberated. Mindful of +all who served him, he did not forget Philip the woodman; and deeply +thankful for the escape of Pauline, was the more anxious to ascertain +the fate of one who had so greatly contributed to the success of her +enterprise. + +"Speak not of him! speak not of him!" exclaimed the Governor, breaking +forth into passion at De Blenau's inquiries. "This same skilful plotter +attends upon you no longer. You will suffer some inconvenience for your +scheme; but it is your fault, not mine, and you must put up with it as +best you may." + +"That I care not about," replied De Blenau. "But I insist upon it that +he be treated with no severity. Mark me, Monsieur le Gouverneur: if I +find that he is ill used, Chavigni shall hear of the whole business. I +will risk any thing sooner than see a man suffer from his kindness for +me." + +"You paid him well, of course," said the Governor, drawing up his lip, +"and he must take his chance. However, do not alarm yourself for him: he +shall be taken care of--only, with your good leave, Seigneur Comte, you +and he do not meet again within the walls of the Bastille.--But in the +name of Heaven! what clatter is this at the door?" he exclaimed, +starting from his chair, at a most unusual noise which proceeded from +the staircase. + +The Governor, indeed, had good reason to be astonished; for never was +there a more strange and inconsistent sound heard within the walls of a +prison, than that which saluted their ears. First came the "_Qui vive?_" +of the sentinel; to which a voice roared out, "_Le Diable!_" "_Qui +vive?_" cried the sentinel again, in a still sharper key. The answer to +this was nothing but a clatter, as the Governor had expressed it, such +as we might suppose produced by the blowing up of a steam-kitchen: then +followed the discharge of the sentinel's firelock; and then sundry blows +given and received upon some hard and sonorous substance, mingled with +various oaths, execrations, and expletives then in use amongst the lower +classes of his Christian Majesty's lieges, making altogether a most +deafening din. + +At this sound the Governor, as little able to conceive whence it +originated as De Blenau himself, drew his sword, and throwing open the +door, discovered the redoubtable Jacques Chatpilleur, _Cuisinier +Aubergiste_, striding in triumph over the prostrate body of the +sentinel, and waving over his head an immense stew-pan, being the +weapon with which he had achieved the victory, and through which +appeared a small round hole, caused by the ball of the soldier's +firelock. In the mean while was to be seen the sentinel on the ground, +his iron morion actually dented by the blows of his adversary, and his +face and garments bedabbled, not with blood, indeed, but with the +_Poulet en blanquette_ and its white sauce, which had erst been tenant +of the stew-pan. + +"Victoria! Victoria! Victoria!" shouted the _aubergiste_, waving his +stew-pan; "Twice have I conquered in one night! Can Mieleraye or +Bouillon say that? Victoria! Victoria!" But here his triumph received a +check; for looking into the unhappy utensil, he suddenly perceived the +loss of its contents, which had flown all over the place, the +treacherous lid having detached itself during his conflict with the +sentinel, and sought safety in flight down the stairs. "_Mon Poulet! mon +Poulet!_" exclaimed he, in a tone of bitter despair, "_le nid y est, +mais l'oiseau est parti_,--the nest is there, but the bird is flown. +_Helas, mon Poulet! mon pauvre Poulet!_" and quitting the body of his +prostrate foe, he advanced into the apartment with that sort of zig-zag +motion which showed that the thin sinewy shanks which supported his +woodcock-shaped upper man, were somewhat affected by a more than usual +quantity of the generous grape. + +The whole scene was so inexpressibly ludicrous, that De Blenau burst +into an immoderate fit of laughter, in which the Governor could not help +joining, notwithstanding his indignation at the treatment the sentinel +had experienced. Recovering himself, however, he poured forth his wrath +upon the _aubergiste_ in no measured terms, demanding how he dared to +conduct himself so in the Royal Chateau of the Bastille, and what had +become of the Count de Blenau's supper, adding a few qualificatory +epithets, which may as well be omitted. + +"_Eh bien, Monsieur! Eh bien!_" cried the _aubergiste_, with very little +respect for the Governor: "as for the gentleman there, lying on his +belly, he ought to have let me in, and not fired his piece at me. He +knew me well enough. He might have cried _Qui vive?_ once,--that was +well, as it is the etiquette." + +"But why did you not answer him, _sacré maraud_?" cried the Governor. + +"I did answer him," replied the other, stoutly. "He cried _Qui vive?_ +and I answered _Le Diable, car le Diable vive toujours_. And as for the +supper, I have lost it all. _Je l'ai perdu entre deux mâtins._ The first +was a greedy Norman vagabond, who feeds at my auberge; and while I was +out for a minute, he whips me up my _matelot d'anguille_ from out of the +_casserole_, and my _dinde piquée_ from the spit, and when I came back +five minutes after, there was nothing left but bare bones and empty +bottles. Pardie! And now I have bestowed on the head of that varlet a +_poulet en blanquette_ that might have comforted the stomach of a King. +_Oh Dieu! Dieu! mes malheurs ne finiront jamais._ Oh! but I forgot," he +continued, "there is still a _fricandeau à l'oseille_ with a cold +_paté_, that will do for want of a better.--_Monseigneur, votre +serviteur_," and he bowed five or six times to De Blenau; "_Monsieur le +Gouverneur, votre très humble_," and bowing round and round to every +one, even to the sentinel, who by this time was beginning to recover his +feet, the tipsy _aubergiste_ staggered off, escaping the wrath of the +Governor by the promise of the _fricandeau_, but not, however, without +being threatened with punishment on the morrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + The bureau of a Counsellor of State, or how things were managed in + 1642. + + +"Marteville, you have served me essentially," said the Count de Chavigni +as soon as he had left Pauline in what was called the ladies' hall of +the Hotel de Bouthilliers, addressing the tall Norman, whom the reader +has already recognised beyond a doubt. "You know I never suffer any good +service to go without its reward; therefore I will now pay you yours, +more especially as I have fresh demands to make upon your zeal. Let us +see how our accounts stand;" and approaching a small table, which served +both for the purposes of a writing-desk and also to support a strong +ebony cabinet clasped with silver, he drew forth a bunch of keys and +opened a drawer plated with iron, which contained a quantity of gold and +silver coin. Chavigni then seated himself at the table, and the Norman +standing on his right hand, they began regularly to balance accounts, +the items of the Norman's charge being various services of rather a +curious nature. + +"For stopping the Archduke's courier," said Chavigni, "and taking from +him his despatches--fifty crowns is enough for that." + +"I demand no more," said Marteville; "any common thief could have done +it." + +"But, by the way, I hope you did not hurt him, for he came with a safe +conduct." + +"Hurt him! no," replied the Norman: "we are the best friends in the +world. When I met him on the road, I told him civilly that I must have +his despatches; and that I would either cut his throat or drink a bottle +with him, whichever he liked: so he chose the latter, and when we +parted, he promised to give me notice the next time he came on the same +errand." + +"The rascal!" said Chavigni, "that is the way we are served. But now we +come to this business of the Count de Blenau--what do you expect for the +whole concern?" + +"Nay but, Monseigneur, you forget," exclaimed the other; "there is one +little item before that. Put down,--for being an Astrologer." + +"Why, I have given you fifty crowns on that account already," rejoined +the Statesman; "you are exorbitant, Seigneur Marteville." + +"That fifty crowns went for my expenses--all of it," replied the other. +"There was my long black robe all covered with gimcracks; there was my +leathern belt, painted with all the signs under heaven; there was my +white beard, and wig, which cost me ten good crowns at the shop of +Jansen the Peruquier: besides the harness of my horse, which was made to +suit, and my Astrologer's bonnet, which kept all fast upon my head. +Now, Monseigneur, you cannot give me less than fifty crowns, for being +out two nights, and running the risk of being burnt alive." + +"I think not," said Chavigni, "so let that pass. But to come to the +other business." + +"Why, first and foremost," replied the Norman, marking each article as +he named it, by laying the index of his right hand upon one of the +immense fingers of his left,--"For making love to Mademoiselle's maid." + +"Nay, nay, nay!" cried Chavigni, "this is too much. That must be part of +the dower I have promised with her, of which we will talk presently. But +have you married her?" + +"No," answered the Norman, "not yet. We will see about that hereafter." + +Chavigni's cheek reddened, and his brow knit into a heavy frown. "No +evasions, Sir. I commanded you, when you took her away last night from +Chantilly, to marry her directly, and you agreed to do so. Why is it not +done?" + +"If the truth must be told, Monseigneur, it is not done, because it goes +against a Norman gentleman's stomach to take up with any body's +cast-offs." + +"Do not be insolent, Sir," cried the Statesman. "Did I not give you my +honour that your suspicion was false? Know, Sir, that though Chavigni +may sometimes condescend to converse with you, or may appear to trifle +for a moment with a girl like this Louise, it is merely to gain some +greater object that he does so; and that unless it be for some State +purpose, he never honours such beings with his thoughts." + +"Well, well, Monseigneur," replied the other, seeing the fire that +flashed in his Lord's eye, "I will marry her: _Foy de Normand!_ Don't be +angry; I will marry her." + +"_Foy de Normand!_ will not do," said Chavigni. "It must be this very +night." + +"_Eh bien! Eh bien! Soit_," cried the Norman, and then muttered to +himself with a grin, "I've four wives now living; a fifth won't make +much difference." + +"What murmur you, Sir?" demanded the Statesman. "Mark me! in one hour +from hence you will find a priest and two witnesses in the Cardinal's +chapel! When you are married, the priest will give you a certificate of +the ceremony, carry it to my intendant, and upon the sight of it he will +pay you the sum we agree upon. Now, proceed with your demands." + +"Well then, Monseigneur," continued Marteville, "what is the information +concerning Mademoiselle's coming to Paris worth?" + +"It is worth a good deal," replied Chavigni, "and I will always pay more +for knowledge of that kind than any acts of brute force. Set that down +for a hundred crowns, and fifty more for catching the young lady, and +bringing her here; making altogether two hundred and fifty." + +"Yes, Sir, yes; but the _dot_--the dowry you mentioned," cried the +Norman. "You have forgot that." + +"No, I have not," replied Chavigni. "In favour of Louise, I will make +the sum up one thousand crowns, which you will receive the moment you +have married her." + +"Oh! I'll marry her directly, if that be the case," cried the Norman. +"_Morbleu!_ that makes all the difference." + +"But treat her kindly," said Chavigni. "With the stipend of a thousand +crowns, which I allow you yearly, and what you can gain by particular +services, you may live very well; and perhaps I may add some little +gratification, if you please me in your conduct towards your wife." + +"Oh! I'll be the tenderest husband living," cried the Norman, "since my +gratification depends upon her's. But I'll run and fetch her to be +married directly, if you will send the Priest, Monseigneur." + +"Nay, stop a moment," said the Statesman. "You forget that I told you I +had other journeys for you to take, and other services for you to +perform." + +"No, Sir," answered the Norman, "all is prepared to set out this very +night, if you will tell me my errand." + +Chavigni paused for a moment, and remained in deep thought, gnawing his +lip as if embarrassed by doubts as to the best manner of proceeding. +"Mark me, Marteville," said he at length: "there are two or three sorts +of scoundrels in the world, amongst whom I do not look upon you as the +least." The Norman bowed with the utmost composure, very well aware of +the place he held in Chavigni's opinion. "There are, however, some good +points about you," continued the Statesman; at which Marteville bowed +again. "You would rob, kill, and plunder, I believe, without remorse, +any one you hated or did not care about; but I do not think you would +forget a kindness or betray a trust." + +"Never!" said the Norman: "red-hot pincers will not tear from me what is +intrusted to my honour." + +"So be it, then, in the present instance," said Chavigni; "for I am +obliged to give you the knowledge of some things, and to enter into +explanations with you, which I do not often do with any one. You must +know, then, I have information that on the same day that Monsieur de +Cinq Mars set out from Chantilly with Monsieur de Thou, the Duke of +Orleans, with Montressor and St. Ibal, took their departure from +Moulins, and the Count de Fontrailles from Paris. They all journeyed +towards the same point in Champagne. I can trace Fontrailles to Troyes, +the Duke and his companions to Villeneuve, and Cinq Mars and De Thou to +Nogent, but no farther. All this might be accidental, but there are +circumstances that create suspicion in my mind. Cinq Mars, when he set +forth, gave out that he went to his estate near Troyes, in which I find +he never set his foot; and when he returned, his conference with Louis +was somewhat long. It might have been of hawks and hounds, it is true; +but after it, the King's manner both to the Cardinal and myself was cold +and haughty, and he suddenly took this resolution of coming to Paris +himself to examine into the case of the young Count de Blenau:--in +short, I suspect that some plot is on foot. What I require of you then +is, to hasten down to Champagne; try to trace each of these persons, and +discover if they had a conference, and where; find out the business that +brought each of them so far, examine their track as you would the slot +of a deer, and give me whatever information you collect; employ every +means to gain a thorough knowledge of all their proceedings--force, +should it be required--but let that be the last thing used. Here is this +signet, upon the sight of which all the agents of Government in the +different towns and villages will communicate with you." And he drew +from his finger a small seal ring, which the Norman consigned to his +pocket, his hands being somewhat too large to admit of his wearing it in +the usual manner. + +"The Duke of Orleans and his pack I know well," answered Marteville, +"and also Cinq Mars and De Thou; but this Count de Fontrailles--what +like is he, Monseigneur?" + +"He is a little ugly mean-looking man," replied Chavigni; "he frequently +dresses himself in grey, and looks like a sorcerer. Make him your first +object; for if ever there was a devil of cunning upon earth, it is +Fontrailles, and he is at the bottom of the plot if there be one." + +"You traced him to Troyes, you say, Monseigneur? Had he any pretence of +business there?" + +"None," answered Chavigni; "my account says that he had no attendants +with him, lodged at the _Auberge du Grand Soleil_, and was poorly +dressed." + +"I will trace him if he were the Devil himself," said the Norman; "and +before I see you again, Monseigneur, I shall be able to account for each +of these gentry." + +"If you do," said Chavigni, "a thousand crowns is your reward; and if +you discover any plot or treasonable enterprise, so that by your means +they may be foiled and brought to justice, the thousand shall grow into +ten thousand, and you shall have a place that will give you a life of +luxury." + +The Norman's eyes sparkled at the anticipation, and his imagination +pourtrayed himself and his five wives living together in celestial +harmony, drinking the best vintages of Burgundy and Epernay, eating of +the fat of the land, and singing like mad. These blissful ideas were +first interrupted by the sound of horses' feet in the court. "Hark!" +cried Chavigni, "they are putting the horses to the carriage; go down, +and see that all be prepared for the young lady's journey." + +"Instantly," answered the Norman, "and after that I will carry Louise to +the Priest, finger your Lordship's cash, and we will set off for +Troyes." + +"Do you intend to take her with you?" demanded Chavigni, in some +surprise. + +"Nay, my Lord, you would not wish me to leave my bride on our wedding +night, surely," replied the Norman, in a mock sentimental tone. "But the +truth is, I think she may be useful. Woman's wit will often find a way +where man's wisdom looks in vain; and as I have now, thanks to your +bounty, two good horses, I shall e'en set Louise upon one of them, and +with the bridle rein over my arm lead her to Brie, where, with your good +leave, we will sleep, and thence on upon our journey. Travelling with a +woman, no one will suspect my real object, and I shall come sooner at my +purpose." + +"Well, so be it then," answered the Statesman. "You are now, as you +wished to be, intrusted with an affair of more importance than stopping +a courier, or carrying off a weak girl; and as the reward is greater, so +would be the punishment in case you were to betray your trust. I rely on +your honour; but let me hint at the same time, that there is such a +thing as the rack, which has more than once been applied to persons who +reveal State secrets. Keep good account of your expenses, and such as +are truly incurred for the Government, the Government wall pay." + +Thus ended the conference between Chavigni and the Norman, neither of +whom we shall follow much farther in this volume. Of Chavigni it is only +necessary to say, that immediately after the departure of Pauline he +proceeded to the Louvre to wait the arrival of Louis the Thirteenth, who +soon after entered Paris, accompanied by the Queen, Cinq Mars, and all +the usual attendants of the court, and followed by the Cardinal and +those members of the Council who had not previously arrived along with +Chavigni. + +In regard to the Norman, inspired by the agreeable prospect of a +thousand crowns, he was not long in visiting the Chapel of the Palais +Cardinal, where the Priest speedily united him to a black-eyed damsel +that he brought in his hand. Who this was, it does not suit me to +discover to the reader. If he have found it out already, I cannot help +it; but if he have not, I vow and protest that in the whole course of +this true history I will afford him no farther explanation; no, not even +in the last sentence of the last page of the last volume. + +Immediately after their marriage the Norman put his bride upon horseback +and proceeded to Brie, each carrying behind them a valise, containing a +variety of articles which would doubtless greatly edify the reader to +learn, but which unfortunately cannot now be detailed at full length, +the schedule having been lost some years after by one of their +collateral descendants in the great fire of London, where it had found +its way in consequence of the revocation of the edict of Nantes. All +that can be affirmed with certainty is, that in the valise of the Norman +were three shirts and a half with falling collars, according to the +fashion of that day; a pourpoint or doublet of blue velvet, (which was +his best,) and a cloak to match; also (of the same stuff) a +_haut-de-chausses_, which was a machine then used for the same purpose +as a pair of breeches now-a-days; and over and above all the rest was +his Astrologer's robe and grey beard, folded round a supernumerary brace +of pistols, and a small stiletto. Into the Lady's wardrobe we shall not +inquire: suffice it to say, that it accompanied its mistress safe from +Brie to Troyes, where, putting up at the _Grand Soleil_, the Norman +began his perquisitions concerning Fontrailles. + +Now having left all my friends and acquaintances at sixes and sevens, I +shall close this volume; and if the reader be interested in their fate, +he may go on to the next, in which I mean utterly to annihilate them +all, leaving nothing behind but the sole of the Count de Blenau's shoe, +with FINIS at the bottom of the page. + + END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, + Dorset Street, Fleet Street. + + * * * * * + +Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: + +aud the servant again=> and the servant again {pg 118} + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Richelieu, v. 2/3, by G. P. R. James + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44253 *** diff --git a/44253-h.zip b/44253-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8e30e52..0000000 --- a/44253-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/44253-h/44253-h.htm b/44253-h/44253-h.htm index d2fb202..1d20f8b 100644 --- a/44253-h/44253-h.htm +++ b/44253-h/44253-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. II., by G. P. R. James. @@ -76,45 +76,7 @@ display: inline-block; text-align: left;} </style> </head> <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Richelieu, v. 2/3, by G. P. R. James - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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