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diff --git a/old/chplt10.txt b/old/chplt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..369153b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/chplt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20495 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Chaplet of Pearls, by Charlotte M Yonge +#31 in our series by Charlotte M Yonge + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Chaplet of Pearls + +Author: Charlotte M Yonge + +Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5274] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 23, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS *** + + + + +Prepared by Hanh Vu, capriccio_vn@yahoo.com. +A web page for Charlotte M Yonge will be found at www.menorot.com/cmyonge.htm + + + + + + +THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS + +BY + +CHARLOTTE M.YONGE + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. THE BRIDAL OF THE WHITE AND BLACK + +CHAPTER II. THE SEPARATION + +CHAPTER III. THE FAMILY COUNCIL + +CHAPTER IV. TITHONUS + +CHAPTER V. THE CONVENT BIRD + +CHAPTER VI. FOULLY COZENED + +CHAPTER VII. THE QUEEN'S PASTORAL + +CHAPTER VIII. 'LE BROUILLON' + +CHAPTER IX. THE WEDDING WITH CRIMSON FAVOURS + +CHAPTER X. MONSIEUR'S BALLET + +CHAPTER XI. THE KING'S TRAGEDY + +CHAPTER XII. THE PALACE OF SLAUGHTER + +CHAPTER XIII. THE BRIDEGROOM'S ARRIVAL + +CHAPTER XIV. SWEET HEART + +CHAPTER XV. NOTRE-DAME DE BELLAISE + +CHAPTER XVI. THE HEARTHS AND THICKETS OF THE BOCAGE + +CHAPTER XVII. THE GHOSTS OF THE TEMPLARS + +CHAPTER XVIII. THE MOONBEAM + +CHAPTER XIX. LA RUE DES TROIS FEES + +CHAPTER XX. THE ABBE + +CHAPTER XXI. UNDER THE WALNUT-TREE + +CHAPTER XXII. DEPARTURE + +CHAPTER XXIII. THE EMPTY CRADLE + +CHAPTER XXIV. THE GOOD PRIEST OF NISSARD + +CHAPTER XXV. THE VELVET COACH + +CHAPTER XXVI. THE CHEVALIER'S EXPIATION + +CHAPTER XXVII. THE DYING KING + +CHAPTER XXVIII. THE ORPHANS OF LA SABLERIE + +CHAPTER XXIX. IN THE KING'S NAME + +CHAPTER XXX. CAGED IN THE BLACKBIRD'S NEST + +CHAPTER XXXI. THE DARK POOL OF THE FUTURE + +CHAPTER XXXII. 'JAM SATIS' + +CHAPTER XXXIII. THE SCANDAL OF THE SYNOD OF MONTAUBAN + +CHAPTER XXXIV. MADAME LA DUCHESSE + +CHAPTER XXXV. THE ITALIAN PEDLAR + +CHAPTER XXXVI. SPELL AND POTION + +CHAPTER XXXVII. BEATING AGAINST THE BARS + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE ENEMY IN PRESENCE + +CHAPTER XXXIX. THE PEDLAR'S PREDICTION + +CHAPTER XL. THE SANDS OF OLONNE + +CHAPTER XLI. OUR LADY OF HOPE + +CHAPTER XLII. THE SILVER BULLET + +CHAPTER XLIII. LA BAISER D'EUSTACIE + +CHAPTER XLIV. THE GALIMAFRE + + + + + + +PREFACE + + + +It is the fashion to call every story controversial that deals with +times when controversy or a war of religion was raging; but it +should be remembered that there are some which only attempt to +portray human feelings as affected by the events that such warfare +occasioned. 'Old Mortality' and 'Woodstock' are not controversial +tales, and the 'Chaplet of Pearls' is so quite as little. It only +aims at drawing certain scenes and certain characters as the +convulsions of the sixteenth century may have affected them, and +is, in fact, like all historical romance, the shaping of the +conceptions that the imagination must necessarily form when +dwelling upon the records of history. That faculty which might be +called the passive fancy, and might almost be described in Portia's +song, -- + + 'It is engendered in the eyes, + By READING fed - and there it dies,'-- + +that faculty, I say, has learnt to feed upon character and +incident, and to require that the latter should be effective and +exciting. Is it not reasonable to seek for this in the days when +such things were not infrequent, and did not imply exceptional +wickedness or misfortune in those engaged in them? This seems to +me one plea for historical novel, to which I would add the +opportunity that it gives for study of the times and delineation of +characters. Shakespeare's Henry IV. and Henry V., Scott's Louis +XI., Manzoni's Federigo Borromeo, Bulwer's Harold, James's Philip +Augustus, are all real contributions to our comprehension of the +men themselves, by calling the chronicles and memoirs into action. +True, the picture cannot be exact, and is sometimes distorted--nay, +sometimes praiseworthy efforts at correctness in the detail take +away whatever might have been lifelike in the outline. Yet, +acknowledging all this, I must still plead for the tales that +presumptuously deal with days gone by, as enabling the young to +realize history vividly--and, what is still more desirable, +requiring an effort of the mind which to read of modern days does +not. The details of Millais' Inquisition or of his Huguenot may be +in error in spite of all his study and diligence, but they have +brought before us for ever the horrors of the _auto-da-fe_, and the +patient, steadfast heroism of the man who can smile aside his +wife's endeavour to make him tacitly betray his faith to save his +life. Surely it is well, by pen as by picture, to go back to the +past for figures that will stir the heart like these, even though +the details be as incorrect as those of the revolt of Liege or of +La Ferrette in 'Quentin Durward' and 'Anne of Geierstein.' + +Scott, however, willfully carved history to suit the purposes of +his story; and in these days we have come to feel that a story must +earn a certain amount of credibility by being in keeping with +established facts, even if striking events have to be sacrificed, +and that the order of time must be preserved. In Shakespeare's +days, or even in Scott's, it might have been possible to bring +Henry III. and his _mignons_ to due punishment within the limits of +a tale beginning with the Massacre of St. Bartholomew; but in 1868 +the broad outlines of tragedy must be given up to keep within the +bounds of historical verity. + +How far this has been done, critics better read than myself must +decide. I have endeavoured to speak fairly, to the best of my +ability, of such classes of persons as fell in with the course of +the narrative, according to such lights as the memoirs of the time +afford. The Convent is scarcely a CLASS portrait, but the +condition of it seems to be justified by hints in the Port Royal +memoirs, respecting Maubuisson and others which Mere Angelique +reformed. The intolerance of the ladies at Montauban is described +in Madame Duplessis-Mornay's life; and if Berenger's education and +opinions are looked on as not sufficiently alien from Roman +Catholicism, a reference to Froude's 'History of Queen Elizabeth' +will show both that the customs of the country clergy, and likewise +that a broad distinction was made by the better informed among the +French between Calvinism and Protestantism or Lutheranism, in which +they included Anglicanism. The minister Gardon I do not consider +as representing his class. He is a POSSIBILITY modified to serve +the purposes of the story. + +Into historical matters, however, I have only entered so far as my +story became involved with them. And here I have to apologize for +a few blunders, detected too late for alteration even in the +volumes. Sir Francis Walsingham was a young rising statesman in +1572, instead of the elderly sage he is represented; his daughter +Frances was a mere infant, and Sir Philip Sidney was not knighted +till much later. For the rest, I have tried to show the scenes +that shaped themselves before me as carefully as I could; though of +course they must not be a presentiment of the times themselves, but +of my notion of them. + +C. M. Yonge + +November 14th, 1868 + + + + + +THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS + +or + +THE WHITE AND BLACK RIBAUMONT + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE BRIDAL OF THE WHITE AND BLACK + + + + Small was the ring, and small in truth the finger: + What then? the faith was large that dropped it down. + Aubrey De Vere, INFANT BRIDAL + + +Setting aside the consideration of the risk, the baby-weddings of +the Middle Ages must have been very pretty sights. + +So the Court of France thought the bridal of Henri Beranger +Eustache de Ribaumont and of Marie Eustacie Rosalie de Rebaumont du +Nid-de-Merle, when, amid the festivals that accompanied the +signature of the treaty of Cateau-Cabresis, good-natured King Henri +II. presided merrily at the union of the little pair, whose unite +ages did not reach ten years. + +There they stood under the portal of Notre-Dame, the little +bridegroom in a white velvet coat, with puffed sleeves, slashed +with scarlet satin, as were the short, also puffed breeches meeting +his long white knitted silk stockings some way above the knee; +large scarlet rosettes were in his white shoes, a scarlet knot +adorned his little sword, and his velvet cap of the same colour +bore a long white plume, and was encircled by a row of pearls of +priceless value. They are no other than that garland of pearls +which, after a night of personal combat before the walls of Calais, +Edward III. of England took from his helmet and presented to Sir +Eustache de Ribaumont, a knight of Picardy, bidding him say +everywhere that it was a gift from the King of England to the +bravest of knights. + +The precious heirlooms were scarcely held with the respect due to +an ornament so acquired. The manly garb for the first time assumed +by his sturdy legs, and the possession of the little sword, were +evidently the most interesting parts of the affair to the youthful +husband, who seemed to find in them his only solace for the weary +length of the ceremony. He was a fine, handsome little fellow, +fair and rosy, with bright blue eyes, and hair like shining flax, +unusually tall and strong-limbed for his age; and as he gave his +hand to his little bride, and walked with her under a canopy up to +kneel at the High Altar, for the marriage blessing and the mass, +they looked like a full-grown couple seen through a diminishing- +glass. + +The little bride was perhaps a less beautiful child, but she had a +splendid pair of black eyes, and a sweet little mouth, both set +into the uncomprehending solemnity of baby gravity and contentment +in fine clothes. In accordance with the vow indicated by her name +of Marie, her dress was white and blue, turquoise forget-me-nots +bound the little lace veil on her dark chestnut hair, the bosom of +her white satin dress was sprinkled with the same azure jewel, and +turquoises bordered every seam of the sweeping skirt with a train +befitting a count's daughter, and meandered in gorgeous +constellations round the hem. The little thing lisped her own vows +forth without much notion of their sense, and indeed was sometimes +prompted by her bridesmaid cousin, a pretty little girl a year +older, who thrust in her assistance so glibly that the King, as +well as others of the spectators, laughed, and observed that she +would get herself married to the boy instead of her cousin. + +There was, however, to be no doubt nor mistake about Beranger and +Eustacie de Ribaumont being man and wife. Every ceremony, +religious or domestic, that could render a marriage valid, was gone +through with real earnestness, although with infinite gaiety, on +the part of the court. Much depended on their union, and the +reconcilement of the two branches of the family had long been a +favourite scheme of King Henri II. + +Both alike were descended from Anselme de Ribaumont, renowned in +the first Crusade, and from the brave Picard who had received the +pearls; but, in the miserable anarchy of Charles VI.'s reign, the +elder brother had been on the Burgundian side--like most of the +other nobles of Picardy--and had thus been brought into the English +camp, where, regarding Henry V. as lawfully appointed to the +succession, and much admiring him and his brother Nedford, he had +become an ardent supporter of the English claim. He had married an +English lady, and had received the grant if the castle of Leurre in +Normandy by way of compensation for his ancestral one of Ribaumont +in Picardy, which had been declared to be forfeited by his treason, +and seized by his brother. + +This brother had always been an Armagnac, and had risen and thriven +with his party,--before the final peace between France and England +obliged the elder line to submit to Charles VII. Since that time +there had been a perpetual contention as to the restitution of +Chateau Ribaumont, a strife which under Louis XI. had become an +endless lawsuit; and in the days of dueling had occasioned a good +many insults and private encounters. The younger branch, or Black +Ribaumonts, had received a grant from Louis XI. of the lands of +Nid-de-Merle, belonging to an unfortunate Angevin noble, who had +fallen under the royal displeasure, and they had enjoyed court +favour up to the present generation, when Henri II., either from +opposition to his father, instinct for honesty, or both, had become +a warm friend to the gay and brilliant young Baron de Ribaumont, +head of the white or elder branch of the family. + +The family contention seemed likely to wear out of its own accord, +for the Count de Ribaumont was an elderly and childless man, and +his brother, the Chevalier de Ribaumont, was, according to the +usual lot of French juniors, a bachelor, so that it was expected +that the whole inheritance would centre upon the elder family. +However, to the general surprise, the Chevalier late in life +married, and became the father of a son and daughter; but soon +after calculations were still more thrown out by the birth of a +little daughter in the old age of the Count. + +Almost from the hour in which her sex was announced, the King had +promised the Baron de Ribaumont that she should be the wife of his +young son, and that all the possessions of the house should be +settled upon the little couple, engaging to provide for the +Chevalier's disappointed heir in some commandery of a religious +order of knighthood. + +The Baron's wife was English. He had, when on a visit to his +English kindred, entirely turned the head of the lovely Annora +Walwyn, and finding that her father, one of the gravest of Tudor +statesmen, would not hear of her breaking her engagement to the +honest Dorset squire Marmaduke Thistlewood, he had carried her off +by a stolen marriage and _coup de main_, which, as her beauty, +rank, and inheritance were all considerable, had won him great +reputation at the gay court of Henri II. + +Infants as the boy and girl were, the King had hurried on their +marriage to secure its taking place in the lifetime of the Count. +The Countess had died soon after the birth of the little girl, and +if the arrangement were to take effect at all, it must be before +she should fall under the guardianship of her uncle, the Chevalier. +Therefore the King had caused her to be brought up from the cottage +in Anjou, where she had been nursed, and in person superintended +the brilliant wedding. He himself led off the dance with the tiny +bride, conducting her through its mazes with fatherly kindliness +and condescension; but Queen Catherine, who was strongly in the +interests of the Angevin branch, and had always detested the Baron +as her husband's intimate, excused herself from dancing with the +bridegroom. He therefore fell to the share of the Dauphiness Queen +of Scots, a lovely, bright-eyed, laughing girl, who so completely +fascinated the little fellow, that he convulsed the court by +observing that he should not have objected to be married to some +one like her, instead of a little baby like Eustacie. + +Amid all the mirth, it was not only the Chevalier and the Queen who +bore displeased looks. In truth, both were too great adepts in +court life to let their dissatisfaction appear. The gloomiest face +was that of him whose triumph it was--the bridegroom's father, the +Baron de Ribaumont. He had suffered severely from the sickness +that prevailed in St. Quentin, when in the last August the Admiral +de Coligny had been besieged there by the Spaniards, and all agreed +that he had never been the same man since, either in health or in +demeanour. When he came back from his captivity and found the King +bent on crowning his return by the marriage of the children, he had +hung back, spoken of scruples about such unconscious vows, and had +finally only consented under stress of the personal friendship of +the King, and on condition that he and his wife should at once have +the sole custody of the little bride. Even then he moved about the +gay scene with so distressed and morose an air that he was +evidently either under the influence of a scruple of conscience or +of a foreboding of evil. + +No one doubted that it had been the latter, when, three days later, +Henri II., in the prime of his strength and height of his spirits, +encountered young Des Lorges in the lists, received the splinter of +a lance in his eye, and died two days afterwards. + +No sooner were his obsequies over than the Baron de Ribaumont set +off with his wife and the little bridal pair for his castle of +Leurre, in Normandy, nor was he ever seen at court again. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE SEPARATION + + + +Parted without the least regret, +Except that they had ever met. + * * * * +Misses, the tale that I relate, +This lesson seems to carry: +Choose not alone a proper mate, +But proper time to marry! + COWPER, PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED + + +'I will have it!' + +'Thou shalt not have it!' + +'Diane says it is mine.' + +'Diane knows nothing about it.' + +'Gentlemen always yield to ladies.' + +'Wives ought to mind their husbands.' + +'Then I will not be thy wife.' + +'Thou canst not help it.' + +'I will. I will tell my father what M. le Baron reads and sings, +and then I know he will.' + +'And welcome.' + +Eustacie put out her lip, and began to cry. + +The 'husband and wife,' now eight and seven years old, were in a +large room hung with tapestry, representing the history of Tobit. +A great state bed, curtained with piled velvet, stood on a sort of +_dais_ at the further end; there was a toilet-table adorned with +curiously shaped boxes, and coloured Venetian glasses, and filagree +pouncet-boxes, and with a small mirror whose frame was inlaid with +gold and ivory. A large coffer, likewise inlaid, stood against the +wall, and near it a cabinet, of Dutch workmanship, a combination of +ebony, ivory, wood, and looking-glass, the centre retreating, and +so arranged that by the help of most ingenious attention to +perspective and reflection, it appeared like the entrance to a +magnificent miniature cinque-cento palace, with steps up to a +vestibule paved in black and white lozenges, and with three endless +corridors diverging from it. So much for show; for use, this +palace was a bewildering complication of secret drawers and pigeon- +holes, all depending indeed upon one tiny gold key; but unless the +use of that key were well understood, all it led to was certain +outer receptacles of fragrant Spanish gloves, knots of ribbon, and +kerchiefs strewn over with rose leaves and lavender. However, +Eustacie had secured the key, and was now far beyond these mere +superficial matters. Her youthful lord had just discovered her +mounted on a chair, her small person decked out with a profusion of +necklaces, jewels, bracelets, chains, and rings; and her fingers, +as well as they could under their stiffening load, were opening the +very penetralia of the cabinet, the inner chamber of the hall, +where lay a case adorned with the Ribaumont arms and containing the +far-famed chaplet of pearls. It was almost beyond her reach, but +she had risen on tip-toe, and was stretching out her hand for it, +when he, springing behind her on the chair, availed himself of his +superior height and strength to shut the door of this Arcanum and +turn the key. His mortifying permission to his wife to absent +herself arose from pure love of teasing, but the next moment he +added, still holding his hand on the key--'As to telling what my +father reads, that would be treason. How shouldst thou know what +it is?' + +'Does thou think every one is an infant but thyself?' + +'But who told thee that to talk of my father's books would get him +into trouble?' continued the boy, as they still stood together on +the high heavy wooden chair. + +She tossed her pretty head, and pretended to pout. + +'Was it Diane? I will know. Didst thou tell Diane?' + +Instead of answering, now that his attention to the key was +relaxed, Eustacie made a sudden dart, like a little wild cat, at +the back of the chair and at the key. They chair over-balanced; +Beranger caught at the front drawer of the cabinet, which, unlocked +by Eustacie, came out in his hand, and chair, children, drawer, and +curiosities all went rolling over together on the floor with a +hubbub that brought all the household together, exclaiming and +scolding. Madame de Ribaumont's displeasure at the rifling of her +hoards knew no bounds; Eustacie, by way of defence, shrieked 'like +twenty demons;' Beranger, too honourable to accuse her, underwent +the same tempest; and at last both were soundly rapped over the +knuckles with the long handle of Madame's fan, and consigned to two +separate closets, to be dealt with on the return of M. le Baron, +while Madame returned to her embroidery, lamenting the absence of +that dear little Diane, whose late visit at the chateau had been +marked by such unusual tranquility between the children. + +Beranger, in his dark closet, comforted himself with the shrewd +suspicion that his father was so employed as not to be expected at +home till supper-time, and that his mother's wrath was by no means +likely to be so enduring as to lead her to make complaints of the +prisoners; and when he heard a trampling of horses in the court, he +anticipated a speedy release and summons to show himself to the +visitors. He waited long, however, before he heard the pattering +of little feet; then a stool scraped along the floor, the button of +his door was undone, the stool pushed back, and as he emerged, +Eustacie stood before him with her finger to her lip. 'CHUT, +Beranger! It is my father and uncle, and Narcisse, and, oh! so many +_gens d'armes_. They are come to summon M. le Baron to go with +them to disperse the _preche_ by the Bac de l'Oie. And oh, +Beranger, is he not there?' + +'I do not know. He went out with his hawk, and I do not think he +could have gone anywhere else. Did they say so to my mother?' + +'Yes; but she never knows. And oh, Beranger, Narcisse told me--ah, +was it to tease me?--that Diane has told them all they wanted to +know, for that they sent her here on purpose to see if we were not +all Huguenots. + +'Very likely, the little viper! Le me pass, Eustacie. I must go +and tell my father.' + +'Thou canst not get out that way; the court is full of men-at-arms. +Hark, there's Narcisse calling me. He will come after me.' + +There was not a moment to lose. Berenger flew along a corridor, +and down a narrow winding stair, and across the kitchen; then +snatching at the arm of a boy of his own age whom he met at the +door, he gasped out, 'Come and help me catch Follet, Landry!' and +still running across an orchard, he pulled down a couple of apples +from the trees, and bounded into a paddock where a small rough +Breton pony was feeding among the little tawny Norman cows. The +animal knew his little master, and trotted towards him at his call +of 'Follet, Follet. Now be a wise Follet, and play me no tricks. +Thou and I, Follet, shall do good service, if thou wilt be steady.' + +Follet made his advances, but with a coquettish eye and look, as if +ready to start away at any moment. + +'Soh, Follet. I have no bread for thee, only two apples; but, +Follet, listen. There's my _beau-pere_ the Count, and the +Chevalier, all spite, and their whole troop of savage _gens +d'armes_, come out to fall upon the poor Huguenots, who are doing +no harm at all, only listening to a long dull sermon. And I am +much afraid my father is there, for he went out his hawk on his +wrist, and he never does take Ysonde for any real sport, as thou +and I would do, Follet. He says it is all vanity of vanities. But +thou know'st, if they caught him at the _preche_ they would call it +heresy and treason, and all sorts of horrors, and any way they +would fall like demons on the poor Huguenots, Jacques and all-- +thine own Jacques, Follet. Come, be a loyal pony, Follet. Be at +least as good as Eustacie.' + +Follet was evidently attentive to this peroration, turning round +his ear in a sensible attitude, and advancing his nose to the +apples. As Beranger held them out to him, the other boy clutched +his shaggy forelock so effectually that the start back did not +shake him off, and the next moment Beranger was on his back. + +'And I, Monsieur, what shall I do?' + +'Thou, Landry? I know. Speed like a hare, lock the avenue gate, +and hide the key. That will delay them a long time. Off now, +Follet.' + +Beranger and Follet understood one another far too well to care +about such trifles as saddle and bridle, and off they went through +green grassy balks dividing the fields, or across the stubble, +till, about three miles from the castle, they came to a narrow +valley, dipping so suddenly between the hills that it could hardly +have been suspected by one unaware of its locality, and the sides +were dotted with copsewood, which entirely hid the bottom. +Beranger guided his pony to a winding path that led down the steep +side of the valley, already hearing the cadence of a loud, chanting +voice, throwing out its sounds over the assembly, whence arose +assenting hums over an undercurrent of sobs, as though the +excitable French assembly were strongly affected. + +The thicket was so close that Beranger was almost among the +congregation before he could see more than a passing glimpse of a +sea of heads. Stout, ruddy, Norman peasants, and high white-capped +women, mingled with a few soberly-clad townsfolk, almost all with +the grave, steadfast cast of countenance imparted by unresisted +persecution, stood gathered round the green mound that served as a +natural pulpit for a Calvinist minister, who more the dress of a +burgher, but entirely black. To Beranger's despair, he was in the +act of inviting his hearers to join with him in singing one of +Marot's psalms; and the boy, eager to lose not a moment, grasped +the skirt of the outermost of the crowd. The man, an absorbed- +looking stranger, merely said, 'Importune me not, child.' + +'Listen!' said Beranger; 'it imports---' + +'Peace,' was the stern answer; but a Norman farmer looked round at +that moment, and Beranger exclaimed, 'Stop the singing! The _gens +d'armes_!' The psalm broke off; the whisper circulated; the words +'from Leurre' were next conveyed from lip to lip, and, as it were +in a moment, the dense human mass had broken up and vanished, +stealing through the numerous paths in the brushwood, or along the +brook, as it descended through tall sedges and bulrushes. The +valley was soon as lonely as it had been populous; the pulpit +remained a mere mossy bank, more suggestive or fairy dances than of +Calvinist sermons, and no one remained on the scene save Beranger +with his pony, Jacques the groom, a stout farmer, the preacher, and +a tall thin figure in the plainest dark cloth dress that could be +worn by a gentleman, a hawk on his wrist. + +'Thou here, my boy!' he exclaimed, as Beranger came to his side; +and as the little fellow replied in a few brief words, he took him +by the hand, and said to the minister, 'Good Master Isaac, let me +present my young son to you, who under Heaven hath been the means +of saving many lives this day.' + +Maitre Isaac Gardon, a noted preacher, looked kindly at the boy's +fair face, and said, 'Bless thee, young sir. As thou hast been +already a chosen instrument to save life, so mayest thou be ever +after a champion of the truth.' + +'Monsieur le Baron,' interposed Jacques, 'it were best to look to +yourself. I already hear sounds upon the wind.' + +'And you, good sir?' said the Baron. + +'I will see to him,' said the farmer, grasping him as a sort of +property. 'M. le Baron had best keep up the beck. Out on the moor +there he may fly the hawk, and that will best divert suspicion.' + +'Farewell, then,' said the Baron, wringing the minister's hand, and +adding, almost to himself, 'Alas! I am weary of these shifts!' and +weary indeed he seemed, for as the ground became so steep that the +beck danced noisily down its channel, he could not keep up the +needful speed, but paused, gasping for breath, with his hand on his +side. 'Beranger was off his pony in an instant, assuring Follet +that it ought to be proud to be ridden by his father, and exhaling +his own exultant feelings in caresses to the animal as it gallantly +breasted the hill. The little boy had never been so commended +before! He loved his father exceedingly; but the Baron, while ever +just towards him, was grave and strict to a degree that the ideas +even of the sixteenth century regarded as severe. Little Eustacie +with her lovely face, her irrepressible saucy grace and audacious +coaxing, was the only creature to whom he ever showed much +indulgence and tenderness, and even that seemed almost against his +will and conscience. His son was always under rule, often blamed, +and scarcely ever praised; but it was a hardy vigorous nature, and +respectful love throve under the system that would have crushed or +alienated a different disposition. It was not till the party had +emerged from the wood upon a stubble field, where a covey of +partridges flew up, and to Beranger's rapturous delight furnished a +victim for Ysonde, that M. de Ribaumont dismounted from the pony, +and walking towards home, called his son to his side, and asked him +how he had learnt the intentions of the Count and the Chevalier. +Beranger explained how Eustacie had come to warn him, and also told +what she had said of Diane de Ribaumont, who had lately, by her +father's request, spent a few weeks at the chateau with her +cousins. + +'My son,' said the Baron, 'it is hard to ask of babes caution and +secrecy; but I must know from thee what thy cousin may have heard +of our doings?' + +'I cannot tell, father,' replied Beranger; 'we played more than we +talked. Yet, Monsieur, you will not be angry with Eustacie if I +tell you what she said to me to-day?' + +'Assuredly not, my son.' + +'She said that her father would take her away if he knew what M. le +Baron read, and what he sung.' + +'Thou hast done well to tell me, my son. Thinkest thou that this +comes from Diane, or from one of the servants?' + +'Oh, from Diane, my father; none of the servants would dare to say +such a thing.' + +'It is as I suspected then,' said the Baron. 'That child was sent +amongst us as a spy.' Tell me, Beranger, had she any knowledge of +our intended journey to England?' + +'To England! But no, father, I did not even know it was intended. +To England--to that Walwyn which my mother takes such pains to make +us speak rightly. Are we then, going?' + +'Listen, my son. Thou hast to-day proved thyself worthy of trust, +and thou shalt hear. My son, ere yet I knew the truth I was a +reckless disobedient youth, and I bore thy mother from her parents +in England without their consent. Since, by Heaven's grace, I have +come to a better mind, we have asked and obtained their +forgiveness, and it has long been their desire to see again their +daughter and her son. Moreover, since the accession of the present +Queen, it has been a land where the light is free to shine forth; +and though I verily believe what Maitre Gardon says, that +persecution is a blessed means of grace, yet it is grievous to +expose one's dearest thereto when they are in no state to count the +cost. Therefore would I thither convey you all, and there amid thy +mother's family would we openly abjure the errors in which we have +been nurture. I have already sent to Paris to obtain from the +Queen-mother the necessary permission to take my family to visit +thy grand-father, and it must now be our endeavour to start +immediately on the receipt of the reply, before the Chevalier's +information can lead to any hindrance or detention of Eustacie.' + +'Then Eustacie will go with us, Monsieur?' + +'Certainly. Nothing is more important than that her faith should +be the same as yours! But discretion, my son: not a word to the +little one.' + +'And Landry, father? I had rather Landry went than Eustacie. And +Follet, dear father, pray take him.' + +After M. de Ribaumont's grave confidence to his son and heir, he +was a little scandalized at the comparative value that the boy's +voice indicated for wife, foster-brother, and pony, and therefore +received it in perfect silence, which silence continued until they +reached the chateau, where the lady met them at the door with a +burst of exclamations. + +'Ah, there you are, safe, my dear Baron. I have been in despair. +Here were the Count and his brother come to call on you to join +them in dispersing a meeting of those poor Huguenots and they would +not permit me to send out to call you in! I verily think they +suspected that you were aware of it.' + +M. de Ribaumont made no answer, but sat wearily down and asked for +his little Eustacie. + +'Little vixen!' exclaimed the Baroness, 'she is gone; her father +took her away with him.' And as her husband looked extremely +displeased, she added that Eustacie had been meddling with her +jewel cabinet and had been put in penitence. Her first impulse on +seeing her father had been to cling to him and poor out her +complaints, whereupon he had declared that he should take her away +with him at once, and had in effect caused her pony to be saddled, +and he had ridden away with her to his old tower, leaving his +brother, the Chevalier, to conduct the attack on the Huguenot +conventicle. + +'He had no power or right to remove her,' said the Baron. 'How +could you let him do so in my absence? He had made over her +wardship to me, and has no right to resume it!' + +'Well, perhaps I might have insisted on his waiting till your +return; but, you see, the children have never done anything but +quarrel and fight, and always by Eustacie's fault; and if ever they +are to endure each other, it must be by being separated now.' + +'Madame,' said the Baron, gravely, 'you have done your utmost to +ruin your son's chances of happiness.' + +That same evening arrived the King's passport permitting the Baron +de Ribaumont and his family to pay a visit to his wife's friends in +England. The next morning the Baron was summoned to speak to one of +his farmers, a Huguenot, who had come to inform him that, through +the network of intelligence kept up by the members of the +persecuted faith, it had become known that the Chevalier de +Ribaumont had set off for court that night, and there was little +doubt that his interference would lead to an immediate revocation +of the sanction to the journey, if to no severer measures. At +best, the Baron knew that if his own absence were permitted, it +would be only on condition of leaving his son in the custody of +either the Queen-mother or the Count. It had become impossible to +reclaim Eustacie. Her father would at once have pleaded that she +was being bred up in Huguenot errors. All that could be done was +to hasten the departure ere the royal mandate could arrive. A +little Norman sailing vessel was moored two evenings after in a +lonely creek on the coast, and into it stepped M. de Ribaumont, +with his Bible, Marot's Psalter, and Calvin's works, Beranger still +tenderly kissing a lock of Follet's mane, and Madame mourning for +the pearls, which her husband deemed too sacred an heirloom to +carry away to a foreign land. Poor little Eustacie, with her +cousin Diane, was in the convent of Bellaise in Anjou. If any one +lamented her absence, it was her father-in-law. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE FAMILY COUNCIL + + + +He counsels a divorce + Shakespeare, KING HENRY VIII. + + +In the spring of the year 1572, a family council was assembled in +Hurst Walwyn Hall. The scene was a wainscoted oriel chamber closed +off by a screen from the great hall, and fitted on two sides by +presses of books, surmounted the one by a terrestrial, the other by +a celestial globe, the first 'with the addition of the Indies' in +very eccentric geography, the second with enormous stars studding +highly grotesque figures, regarded with great awe by most +beholders. + +A solid oaken table stood in the midst, laden with books and +papers, and in a corner, near the open hearth, a carved desk, +bearing on one slope the largest copy of the 'Bishops' Bible'; on +the other, one of the Prayer-book. The ornaments of the oaken +mantelpiece culminated in a shield bearing a cross _boutonnee_, +i.e. with trefoil terminations. It was supported between a merman +with a whelk shell and a mermaid with a comb, and another like +Siren curled her tail on the top of the gaping baronial helmet +above the shield, while two more upheld the main weight of the +chimney-piece on either side of the glowing wood-fire. + +In the seat of honour was an old gentleman, white-haired, and +feeble of limb, but with noble features and a keen, acute eye. +This was Sir William, Baron of Hurst Walwyn, a valiant knight at +Guingate and Boulogne, a statesman of whom Wolsey had been jealous, +and a ripe scholar who had shared the friendship of More and +Erasmus. The lady who sat opposite to him was several years +younger, still upright, brisk and active, though her hair was milk- +white; but her eyes were of undimmed azure, and her complexion +still retained a beauteous pink and white. She was highly +educated, and had been the friend of Margaret Roper and her +sisters, often sharing their walks in the bright Chelsea garden. +Indeed, the musk-rose in her own favourite nook at Hurst Walwyn was +cherished as the gift of Sir Thomas himself. + +Near her sat sister, Cecily St. John, a professed nun at Romsey +till her twenty-eight year, when, in the dispersion of convents, +her sister's home had received her. There had she continued, never +exposed to tests of opinion, but pursuing her quiet course +according to her Benedictine rule, faithfully keeping her vows, and +following the guidance of the chaplain, a college friend of Bishop +Ridley, and rejoicing in the use of the vernacular prayers and +Scriptures. When Queen Mary had sent for her to consider of the +revival of convents, her views had been found to have so far +diverged from those of the Queen that Lord WalWyn was thankful to +have her safe at home again; and yet she fancied herself firm to +old Romsey doctrine. She was not learned, like Lady Walwyn, but +her knowledge in all needlework and confectionery was consummate, +so that half the ladies in Dorset and Wilts longed to send their +daughters to be educated at Hurst Walwyn. Her small figure and +soft cheeks had the gentle contour of a dove's form, nor had she +lost the conventual serenity of expression; indeed it was curious +that, let Lady Walwyn array her as she would, whatever she wore +bore a nunlike air. Her silken farthingales hung like serge robes, +her ruffs looked like mufflers, her coifs like hoods, even +necklaces seemed rosaries, and her scrupulous neatness enhanced the +pure unearthly air of all belonging to her. + +Eager and lively, fair and handsome, sat the Baronne de Ribaumont, +or rather, since the higher title had been laid aside, Dame Annora +Thistlewood. The health of M. de Ribaumont had been shattered at +St. Quentin, and an inclement night of crossing the Channel had +brought on an attack on the lungs, from which he only rallied +enough to amaze his English friends at finding the gay dissipated +young Frenchman they remembered, infinitely more strict and rigid +than themselves. He was never able to leave the house again after +his first arrival at Hurst Walwyn, and sank under the cold winds of +the next spring, rejoicing to leave his wife and son, not indeed +among such strict Puritans as he preferred, but at least where the +pure faith could be openly avowed without danger. + +Sir Marmaduke Thistlewood, the husband to whom Annora Walwyn had +been destined before M. de Ribaumont had crossed her path, was +about the same time left a widower with one son and daughter, and +as soon as a suitable interval had passed, she became a far happier +wife than she had been in either the Baron's gay or grave days. +Her son had continued under the roof of his grandfather, to whose +charge his father had specially committed him, and thus had been +scarcely separated from his mother, since Combe Manor was not above +three miles across the downs from Hurst Walwyn, and there was +almost daily intercourse between the families. Lucy Thistlewood +had been brought to Hurst Walwyn to be something between a maid of +honour and a pupil to the ladies there, and her brother Philip, so +soon as he was old enough, daily rode thither to share with +Berenger the instructions of the chaplain, Mr. Adderley, who on the +present occasion formed one of the conclave, sitting a little apart +as not quite familiar, though highly esteemed. + +With an elbow on the table, and one hand toying with his long +riding-whip, sat, booted and spurred, the jovial figure of Sir +Marmaduke, who called out, in his hearty voice, 'A good riddance of +an outlandish Papist, say I! Read the letter, Berenger lad. No, +no, no! English it! I know nothing of your mincing French! 'Tis +the worst fault I know in you, boy, to be half a Frenchman, and +have a French name'--a fault that good Sir Marmaduke did his best +to remedy by always terming his step-son Berenger or Berry +Ribmount, and we will so far follow his example as henceforth to +give the youth the English form of his Christian name. He was by +this time a tall lad of eighteen, with straight features, honest +deep blue eyes, very fair hair cut short and brushed up to a crest +upon the middle of his head, a complexion of red and white that all +the air of the downs and the sea failed to embrown, and that +peculiar openness and candour of expression which seems so much an +English birthright, that the only trace of his French origin was, +that he betrayed no unbecoming awkwardness in the somewhat +embarrassing position in which he was placed, literally standing, +according to the respectful discipline of the time, as the subject +of discussion, before the circle of his elders. His colour was +indeed, deepened, but his attitude was easy and graceful, and he +used no stiff rigidity nor restless movements to mask his anxiety. +At Sir Marmaduke's desire, he could not but redden a good deal +more, but with a clear, unhesitating voice, he translated, the +letter that he had received from the Chevalier de Ribaumont, who, +by the Count's death, had become Eustacie's guardian. It was a +request in the name of Eustacie and her deceased father, that +Monsieur le Baron de Ribaumont--who, it was understood, had +embraced the English heresy--would concur with his spouse in +demanding from his Holiness the Pope a decree annulling the +childish marriage, which could easily be declared void, both on +account of the consanguinity of the parties and the discrepancy of +their faith; and which would leave each of them free to marry +again. + +'Nothing can be better,' exclaimed his mother. 'How I have longed +to free him from that little shrew, whose tricks were the plague of +my life! Now there is nothing between him and a worthy match!' + +'We can make an Englishman of him now to the backbone,' added Sir +Marmaduke, 'and it is well that it should be the lady herself who +wants first to be off with it, so that none can say he has played +her a scurvy trick.' + +'What say you, Berenger?' said Lord Walwyn. 'Listen to me, fair +nephew. You know that all my remnant of hope is fixed upon you, +and that I have looked to setting you in the room of the son of my +own; and I think that under our good Queen you will find it easier +to lead a quiet God-fearing life than in your father's vexed +country, where the Reformed religion lies under persecution. +Natheless, being a born liegeman of the King of France, and heir to +estates in his kingdom, meseemeth that before you are come to years +of discretion it were well that you should visit them, and become +better able to judge for yourself how to deal in this matter when +you shall have attained full age, and may be able to dispose of +them by sale, thus freeing yourself from allegiance to a foreign +prince. And at the same time you can take measures, in concert +with this young lady, for loosing the wedlock so unhappily +contracted.' + +'O sir, sir!' cried Lady Thistlewood, 'send him not to France to be +burnt by the Papists!' + +'Peace, daughter,' returned her mother. 'Know you not that there +is friendship between the court party and the Huguenots, and that +the peace is to be sealed by the marriage of the King's sister with +the King of Navarre? This is the most suitable time at which he +could go.' + +'Then, madam,' proceeded the lady, 'he will be running about to all +the preachings on every bleak moor and wet morass he can find, +catching his death with rheums, like his poor father.' + +There was a general smile, and Sir Marmaduke laughed outright. + +'Nay, dame,' he said, 'have you marked such a greed of sermons in +our Berry that you should fear his so untowardly running after +them?' + +'Tilly-vally, Sir Duke,' quoth Dame Annora, with a flirt of her +fan, learnt at the French court. 'Men will run after a preacher in +a marshy bog out of pure forwardness, when they will nod at a godly +homily on a well-stuffed bench between four walls.' + +'I shall commit that matter to Mr. Adderley, who is good enough to +accompany him,' said Lord Walwyn, 'and by whose counsel I trust +that he will steer the middle course between the pope and Calvin.' + +Mr. Adderley bowed in answer, saying he hoped that he should be +enable to keep his pupil's mind clear between the allurements of +Popery and the errors of the Reformed; but meanwhile Lady +Thistlewood's mind had taken a leap, and she exclaimed,-- + +'And, son, whatever you do, bring home the chaplet of pearls! I +know they have set their minds upon it. They wanted me to deck +Eustacie with it on that unlucky bridal-day, but I would not hear +of trusting her with it, and now will it rarely become our Lucy on +your real wedding-day.' + +'You travel swiftly, daughter,' said Lord Walwyn. 'Nor have we yet +heard the thoughts of one who ever thinks wisely. Sister,' he +added, turning to Cecily St. John, 'hold not you with us in this +matter?' + +'I scarce comprehend it, my Lord,' was the gentle reply. 'I knew +not that it was possible to dissolve the tie of wedlock.' + +'The Pope's decree will suffice,' said Lord Walwyn. + +'Yet, sir,' still said the ex-nun, 'methought you had shown me that +the Holly Father exceeded his power in the annulling of vows.' + +'Using mine own lessons against me, sweet sister?' said Lord +Walwyn, smiling; 'yet, remember, the contract was rashly made +between two ignorant babes; and, bred up as they have severally +been, it were surely best for them to be set free from vows made +without their true will or knowledge.' + +'And yet,' said Cecily, perplexed, 'when I saw my niece here wedded +to Sir Marmaduke, was it not with the words, 'What God hath joined +let no man put asunder'?' + +'Good lack! aunt,' cried Lady Thistlewood, 'you would not have that +poor lad wedded to a pert, saucy, ill-tempered little moppet, bred +up that den of iniquity, Queen Catherine's court, where my poor +Baron never trusted me after he fell in with the religion, and had +heard of King Antony's calling me the Swan of England.' + +At that moment there was a loud shriek, half-laugh, half-fright, +coming through the window, and Lady Thistlewood, starting up, +exclaimed, 'The child will be drowned! Box their ears, Berenger, +and bring them in directly.' + +Berenger, at her bidding, hurried out of the room into the hall, +and thence down a flight of steps leading into a square walled +garden, with a couple of stone male and female marine divinities +accommodating their fishy extremities as best they might on the +corners of the wall. The square contained a bowling-green of +exquisitely-kept turf, that looked as if cut out of green velvet, +and was edged on its four sides by a raised broad-paved walk, with +a trimming of flower-beds, where the earliest blossoms were showing +themselves. In the centre of each side another paved path +intersected the green lawn, and the meeting of these two diameters +was at a circular stone basin, presided over by another merman, +blowing a conch on the top of a pile of rocks. On the gravelled +margin stood two distressed little damsels of seven and six years +old, remonstrating with all their might against the proceedings of +a roguish-looking boy of fourteen of fifteen, who had perched their +junior--a fat, fair, kitten-like element of mischief, aged about +five--_en croupe_ on the merman, and was about, according to her +delighted request, to make her a bower of water, by extracting the +plug and setting the fountain to play; but as the fountain had been +still all the winter, the plug was hard of extraction, especially +to a young gentleman who stood insecurely, with his feet wide apart +upon pointed and slippery point of rock-work; and Berenger had time +to hurry up, exclaiming, 'Giddy pate! Dolly would Berenger drenched +to the skin.' + +'And she has on her best blue, made out of mother's French +farthingale,' cried the discreet Annora. + +'Do you know, Dolly, I've orders to box your ears, and send you +in?' added Berenger, as he lifted his half-sister from her perilous +position, speaking, as he did so, without a shade of foreign +accent, though with much more rapid utterance than was usual in +England. She clung to him without much alarm, and retaliated by an +endeavour to box his ears, while Philip, slowly making his way back +to the mainland, exclaimed, 'Ah there's no chance now! Here comes +demure Mistress Lucy, and she is the worst mar-sport of all.' + +A gentle girl of seventeen was drawing near, her fair delicately- +tinted complexion suiting well with her pale golden hair. It was a +sweet face, and was well set off by the sky-blue of the +farthingale, which, with her white lace coif and white ruff, gave +her something the air of a speedwell flower, more especially as her +expression seemed to have caught much of Cecily's air of self- +restrained contentment. She held a basketful of the orange pistils +of crocuses, and at once seeing that some riot had taken place, she +said to the eldest little girl, 'Ah, Nan, you had been safer +gathering saffron with me.' + +'Nay, brother Berry came and made all well,' said Annora; 'and he +had been shut up so long in the library that he must have been very +glad to get out.' + +'And what came of it?' cried Philip. 'Are you to go and get +yourself unmarried?' + +'Unmarried!' burst out the sisters Annora and Elizabeth. + +'What, laughed Philip, 'you knew not that this is an ancient +husband, married years before your father and mother?' + +'But, why? said Elizabeth, rather inclined to cry. 'What has poor +Lucy done that you should get yourself unmarried from her?' + +There was a laugh from both brothers; but Berenger, seeing Lucy's +blushes, restrained himself, and said. 'Mine was not such good +luck, Bess, but they gave me a little French wife, younger than +Dolly, and saucier still; and as she seems to wish to be quit of +me, why, I shall be rid of her.' + +'See there, Dolly,' said Philip, in a warning voice, 'that is the +way you'll be served if you do not mend your ways.' + +'But I thought,' said Annora gravely, 'that people were married +once for all, and it could not be undone.' + +'So said Aunt Cecily, but my Lord was proving to her out of all law +that a contract between such a couple of babes went for nought,' +said Berenger. + +'And shall you, indeed, see Paris, and all the braveries there?' +asked Philip. 'I thought my Lord would never have trusted you out +of his sight.' + +'And now it is to be only with Mr. Adderley,' said Berenger; 'but +there will be rare doings to be seen at this royal wedding, and +maybe I shall break a lance there in your honour, Lucy.' + +'And you'll bring me a French fan?' cried Bess. + +'And me a pouncet-box?' added Annora. + +'And me a French puppet dressed Paris fashion?' said Dolly. + +'And what shall he bring Lucy?' added Bess. + +'I know,' said Annora; 'the pearls that mother is always talking +about! I heard her say that Lucy should wear them on her wedding- +day.' + +'Hush!' interposed Lucy, 'don't you see my father yonder on the +step, beckoning to you?' + +The children flew towards Sir Marmaduke, leaving Berenger and Lucy +together. + +'Not a word to wish me good speed, Lucy, now I have my wish?' said +Berenger. + +'Oh, yes,' said Lucy, 'I am glad you should see all those brave +French gentlemen of whom you used to tell me.' + +'Yes, they will be all at court, and the good Admiral is said to be +in high favour. He will surely remember my father.' + +'And shall you see the lady?' asked Lucy, under her breath. + +'Eustacie? Probably; but that will make no change. I have heard +too much of _l'escadron de la Reine-mere_ to endure the thought of +a wife from thence, were she the Queen of Beauty herself. And my +mother says that Eustacie would lose all her beauty as she grew up- +-like black-eyed Sue on the down; nor did I ever think her brown +skin and fierce black eyes to compare with you, Lucy. I could be +well content never to see her more; but,' and here he lowered his +voice to a tone of confidence, 'my father, when near his death, +called me, and told me that he feared my marriage would be a cause +of trouble and temptation to me, and that I must deal with it after +my conscience when I was able to judge in the matter. Something, +too, he said of the treaty of marriage being a burthen on his soul, +but I know not what he meant. If ever I saw Eustacie again, I was +to give her his own copy of Clement Marot's Psalter, and to tell +her that he had ever loved and prayed for her as a daughter; and +moreover, my father added,' said Berenger, much moved at the +remembrance it brought across him, 'that if this matter proved a +burthen and perplexity to me, I was to pardon him as one who +repented of it as a thing done ere he had learnt to weigh the whole +world against a soul.' + +'Yes, you must see her,' said Lucy. + +'Well, what more were you going to say, Lucy?' + +'I was only thinking,' said Lucy, as she raised her eyes to him, +'how sorry she will be that she let them write that letter.' + +Berenger laughed, pleased with the simplicity of Lucy's admiration, +but with modesty and common sense enough to answer, 'No fear of +that, Lucy, for an heiress, with all the court gallants of France +at her feet.' + +'Ah, but you!' + +'I am all very well here, when you have never seen anybody but +lubberly Dorset squires that never went to London, nor Oxford, nor +beyond their own furrows,' said Berenger; 'but depend upon it, she +has been bred up to care for all the airs and graces that are all +the fashion at Paris now, and will be as glad to be rid of an +honest man and a Protestant as I shall to be quit of a court puppet +and a Papist. Shall you have finished my point-cuffs next week, +Lucy? Depend upon it, no gentleman of them all will wear such +dainty lace of such a fancy as those will be.' + +And Lucy smiled, well pleased. + +Coming from the companionship of Eustacie to that of gentle Lucy +had been to Berenger a change from perpetual warfareto perfect +supremacy, and his preference to his little sister, as he had been +taught to call her from the first, had been loudly expressed. +Brother and sister they had ever since considered themselves, and +only within the last few months had possibilities been discussed +among the elders of the family, which oozing out in some mysterious +manner, had become felt rather than known among the young people, +yet without altering the habitual terms that existed between them. +Both were so young that love was the merest, vaguest dream to them; +and Lucy, in her quiet faith that Berenger was the most beautiful, +excellent, and accomplished cavalier the earth could afford, was +little troubled about her own future share in him. She seemed to +be promoted to belong to him just as she had grown up to curl her +hair and wear ruffs and farthingales. And to Berenger Lucy was a +very pleasant feature in that English home, where he had been far +happier than in the uncertainties of Chateau Leurre, between his +naughty playfellow, his capricious mother, and morose father. If +in England his lot was to be cast, Lucy was acquiesced in willingly +as a portion of that lot. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. TITHONUS + + + +A youth came riding towards a palace gate, +And from the palace came a child of sin +And took him by the curls and led him in! +Where sat a company with heated eyes. + Tennyson, A VISION OF SIN + + +It was in the month of June that Berenger de Ribaumont first came +in sight of Paris. His grandfather had himself begun by taking him +to London and presenting him to Queen Elizabeth, from whom the +lad's good mien procured him a most favourable reception. She +willingly promised that on which Lord Walwyn's heart was set, +namely, that his title and rank should be continued to his +grandson; and an ample store of letter of recommendation to Sir +Francis Walsingham, the Ambassador, and all others who could be of +service in the French court, were to do their utmost to provide him +with a favourable reception there. + +Then, with Mr. Adderley and four or five servants, he had crossed +the Channel, and had gone first to Chateau Leurre, where he was +rapturously welcomed by the old steward Osbert. The old man had +trained up his son Landry, Berenger's foster-brother, to become his +valet, and had him taught all the arts of hair-dressing and surgery +that were part of the profession of a gentleman's body-servant; and +the youth, a smart, acuter young Norman, became a valuable addition +to the suite, the guidance of which, through a foreign country, +their young master did not find very easy. Mr. Adderley thought he +knew French very well, through books, but the language he spoke was +not available, and he soon fell into a state of bewilderment rather +hard on his pupil, who, though a very good boy, and crammed very +full of learning, was still nothing more than a lad of eighteen in +all matters of prudence and discretion. + +Lord Walwyn was, as we have seen, one of those whose Church +principles had altered very little and very gradually; and in the +utter diversity of practice that prevailed in the early years of +Queen Elizabeth, his chaplain as well as the rector of the parish +had altered no more than was absolutely enjoined of the old +ceremonial. If the poor Baron de Ribaumont had ever been well +enough to go to church on a Sunday, he would perhaps have thought +himself still in the realms of what he considered as darkness; but +as he had never openly broken with the Gallic Church, Berenger had +gone at once from mass at Leurre to the Combe Walwyn service. +Therefore when he spent a Sunday at Rouen, and attended a Calvinist +service in the building that the Huguenots were permitted outside +the town, he was much disappointed in it; he thought its very +fervour familiar and irreverent, and felt himself much more at home +in the cathedral into which he strayed in the afternoon. And, on +the Sunday he was at Leurre, he went, as a part of his old home- +habits, to mass at the old round-arched church, where he and +Eustacie had played each other so many teasing tricks at his +mother's feet, and had received so many admonitory nips and strokes +of her fan. All he saw there was not congenial to him, but he +liked it vastly better than the Huguenot meeting, and was not +prepared to understand or enter into Mr. Adderley's vexation, when +the tutor assured him that the reverent gestures that came +naturally to him were regarded by the Protestants as idolatry, and +that he would be viewed as a recreants from his faith. All Mr. +Adderley hoped was that no one would hear of it: and in this he +felt himself disappointed, when, in the midst of his lecture, there +walked into the room a little, withered, brown, dark-eyed man, in a +gorgeous dress of green and gold, who doffing a hat with an +umbrageous plume, precipitated himself, as far as he could reach, +towards Berenger's neck, calling him fair cousin and dear baron. +The lad stood taken by surprise for a moment, thinking that +Tithonus must have looked just like this, and skipped like this, +just as he became a grasshopper; then he recollected that this must +be the Chevalier de Ribaumont, and tried to make up for his want of +cordiality. The old man had, it appeared, come out of Picardy, +where he lived on _soupe maigre_ in a corner of the ancestral +castle, while his son and daughter were at court, the one in +Monsieur's suite, the other in that of the Queen-mother. He had +come purely to meet his dear young cousin, and render him all the +assistance is his power, conduct him to Paris, and give him +introductions. + +Berenger, who had begun to find six Englishmen a troublesome charge +in France, was rather relieved at not being the only French scholar +of the party, and the Chevalier also hinted to him that he spoke +with a dreadful Norman accent that would never be tolerated at +court, even if it were understood by the way. Moreover, the +Chevalier studied him all over, and talked of Paris tailors and +posture-masters, and, though the pink of politeness, made it +evident that there was immensely too much of him. 'It might be the +custom in England to be so tall; here no one was of anything like +such a height, but the Duke of Guise. He, in his position, with +his air, could carry it off, but we must adapt ourselves as best we +can.' + +And his shrug and look of concern made Berenger for a moment almost +ashamed of that superfluous height of which they were all so proud +at home. Then he recollected himself, and asked, 'And why should +not I be tall as well as M. de Guise?' + +'We shall see, fair cousin,' he answered, with an odd satirical +bow; 'we are as Heaven made us. All lies in the management and if +you had the advantages of training, PERHAPS you could even turn +your height into a grace.' + +'Am I such a great lubber?' wondered Berenger; 'they did not think +so at home. No; nor did the Queen. She said I was a proper +stripling! Well, it matters the less, as I shall not stay long to +need their favour; and I'll show them there is some use in my +inches in the tilt-yard. But if they think me such a lout, what +would they say to honest Philip?' + +The Chevalier seemed willing to take on him the whole management of +his 'fair cousin.' He inquired into the amount of the rents and +dues which old Osbert had collected and held ready to meet the +young Baron's exigencies; and which would, it seemed, be all needed +to make his dress any way presentable at court. The pearls, too, +were inquired for, and handed over by Osbert to his young Lord's +keeping, with the significant intimation that they had been +demanded when the young Madame la Baronne went to court; but that +he had buried them in the orchard, and made answer that they were +not in the chateau. The contract of marriage, which Berenger could +just remember signing, and seeing signed by his father, the King, +and the Count, was not forthcoming; and the Chevalier explained +that it was in the hands of a notary at Paris. For this Berenger +was not sorry. His grandfather had desired him to master the +contents, and he thought he had thus escaped a very dry and useless +study. + +He did not exactly dislike the old Chevalier de Ribaumont. The +system on which he had been brought up had not been indulgent, so +that compliments and admiration were an agreeable surprise to him; +and rebuffs and rebukes from his elders had been so common, that +hints, in the delicate dressing of the old knight, came on him +almost like gracious civilities. There was no love lost between +the Chevalier and the chaplain, that was plain; but how could there +be between an ancient French courtier and a sober English divine? +However, to Mr. Adderley's great relief, no attempts were made on +Berenger's faith, his kinsman even was disposed to promote his +attendance at such Calvinist places of worship as they passed on +the road, and treated him in all things as a mere guest, to be +patronized indeed, but as much an alien as if he had been born in +England. And yet there was a certain deference to him as head of +the family, and a friendliness of manner that made the boy feel him +a real relation, and all through the journey it came naturally that +he should be the entire manager, and Berenger the paymaster on a +liberal scale. + +Thus had the travellers reached the neighbourhood of Paris, when a +jingling of chains and a trampling of horses announced the advance +of riders, and several gentlemen with a troop of servants came in +sight. + +All were gaily dressed, with feathered hats, and short Spanish +cloaks jauntily disposed over one shoulder; and their horses were +trapped with bright silvered ornaments. As they advanced, the +Chevalier exclaimed: 'Ah! It is my son! I knew he would come to +meet me.' And, simultaneously, father and son leapt from their +horses, and rushed into each other's arms. Berenger felt it only +courteous to dismount and exchange embraces with his cousin, but +with a certain sense of repulsion at the cloud of perfume that +seemed to surround the younger Chevalier de Ribaumont; the ear- +rings in his ears; the general air of delicate research about his +riding-dress, and the elaborate attention paid to a small, dark, +sallow face and figure, in which the only tolerable feature was an +intensely black and piercing pair of eyes. + +'Cousin, I am enchanted to welcome you.' + +'Cousin, I thank you.' + +'Allow me to present you.' And Berenger bowed low in succession +several times in reply to salutations, as his cousin Narcisse named +M. d'O, M. de la Valette, M. de Pibrac, M. l'Abbe de Mericour, who +had done him the honour to accompany him in coming out to meet his +father and M. le Baron. Then the two cousins remounted, something +was said to the Chevalier of the devoirs of the demoiselles, and +they rode on together bandying news and repartee so fast, that +Berenger felt that his ears had become too much accustomed to the +more deliberate English speech to enter at once into what caused so +much excitement, gesture, and wit. The royal marriage seemed +doubtful--the Pope refused his sanction; nay, but means would be +found--the King would not be impeded by the Pope; Spanish +influence--nay, the King had thrown himself at the head of the +Reformed--he was bewitched with the grim old Coligny--if order were +not soon taken, the Louvre itself would become a temple. + +Then one of the party turned suddenly and said, 'But I forget, +Monsieur is a Huguenot?' + +'I am a Protestant of the English Church,' said Berenger, rather +stiffly, in the formula of his day. + +'Well, you have come at the right moment, 'Tis all for the sermon +now. If the little Abbe there wished to sail with a fair wind, he +should throw away his breviary and study his Calvin.' + +Berenger's attention was thus attracted to the Abbe de Mericour, a +young man of about twenty, whose dress was darker than that of the +rest, and his hat of a clerical cut, though in other respects he +was equipped with the same point-device elegance. + +'Calvin would never give him the rich abbey of Selicy,' said +another; 'the breviary is the safer speculation.' + +'Ah! M. de Ribaumont can tell you that abbeys are no such +securities in these days. Let yonder Admiral get the upper hand, +and we shall see Mericour, the happy cadet of eight brothers and +sisters, turned adrift from their convents. What a fatherly +spectacle M. le Marquis will present!' + +Here the Chevalier beckoned to Berenger, who, riding forward, +learnt that Narcisse had engaged lodgings for him and his suite at +one of the great inns, and Berenger returned his thanks, and a +proposal to the Chevalier to become his guest. They were by this +time entering the city, where the extreme narrowness and dirt of +the streets contrasted with the grandeur of the palatial courts +that could be partly seen through their archways. At the hostel +they rode under such an arch, and found themselves in a paved yard +that would have been grand had it been clean. Privacy had scarcely +been invented, and the party were not at all surprised to find that +the apartment prepared for them was to serve both day and night for +Berenger, the Chevalier, and Mr. Adderley, besides having a +truckle-bed on the floor for Osbert. Meals were taken in public, +and it was now one o'clock--just dinner-time; so after a hasty +toilette the three gentlemen descended, the rest of the party +having ridden off to their quarters, either as attendants of +Monsieur or to their families. It was a sumptuous meal, at which a +great number of gentlemen were present, coming in from rooms hired +over shops, &c--all, as it seemed, assembled at Paris for the +marriage festivities; but Berenger began to gather that they were +for the most part adherents of the Guise party, and far from +friendly to the Huguenot interest. Some of them appeared hardly to +tolerate Mr. Adderley's presence at the table; and Berenger, though +his kinsman's patronage secured civil treatment, felt much out of +his element, confused, unable to take part in the conversation, and +sure that he was where those at home did not wish to see him. + +No sooner was the dinner over than he rose and expressed his +intention of delivering his letters of introduction in person to +the English ambassador and to the Admiral de Coligny, whom, as his +father's old friend and the hero of his boyhood, he was most +anxious to see. The Chevalier demurred to this. Were it not +better to take measures at once for making himself presentable, and +Narcisse had already supplied him with directions to the +fashionable hair-cutter, &c. It would be taken amiss if he went to +the Admiral before going to present himself to the King. + +'And I cannot see my cousins till I go to court?' asked Berenger. + +'Most emphatically No. Have I not told you that the one is in the +suite of the young Queen, the other in that of the Queen-mother? I +will myself present you, if only you will give me the honour of +your guidance.' + +'With all thanks, Monsieur,' said Berenger; 'my grandfather's +desire was that I should lose no time in going to his friend Sir +Francis Walsingham, and I had best submit myself to his judgment as +to my appearance at court.' + +On this point Berenger was resolute, though the Chevalier recurred +to the danger of any proceeding that might be unacceptable at +court. Berenger, harassed and impatient, repeated that he did not +care about the court, and wished merely to fulfil his purpose and +return, at which his kinsman shook his head and shrugged his +shoulders, and muttered to himself, 'Ah, what does he know! He +will regret it when too late; but I have done my best.' + +Berenger paid little attention to this, but calling Landry Osbert, +and a couple of his men, he bade them take their swords and +bucklers, and escort him in his walk through Paris. He set off +with a sense of escape, but before he had made many steps, he was +obliged to turn and warn Humfrey and Jack that they were not to +walk swaggering along the streets, with hand on sword, as if every +Frenchman they saw was the natural foe of their master. + +Very tall were the houses, very close and extremely filthy the +streets, very miserable the beggars; and yet here and there was to +be seen the open front of a most brilliant shop, and the +thoroughfares were crowded with richly-dressed gallants. Even the +wider streets gave little space for the career of the gay horsemen +who rode along them, still less for the great, cumbrous, though +gaily-decked coaches, in which ladies appeared glittering with +jewels and fan in hand, with tiny white dogs on their knees. + +The persons of whom Berenger inquired the way all uncapped most +respectfully, and replied with much courtesy; but when the hotel of +the English ambassador had been pointed out to him, he hardly +believed it, so foul and squalid was the street, where a large +nail-studded door occupied a wide archway. Here was a heavy iron +knocker, to which Osbert applied himself. A little door was at +once opened by a large, powerful John Bull of a porter, whose looks +expanded into friendly welcome when he heard the English tongue of +the visitor. Inside, the scene was very unlike that without. The +hotel was built round a paved court, adorned with statues and stone +vases, with yews and cypresses in them, and a grand flight of steps +led up to the grand centre of the house, around which were +collected a number of attendants, wearing the Walsingham colours. +Among these Berenger left his two Englishmen, well content to have +fallen into an English colony. Landry followed him to announce the +visitor, Berenger waiting to know whether the Ambassador would be +at liberty to see him. + +Almost immediately the door was re-opened, and a keen-looking +gentleman, about six-and-thirty years of age, rather short in +stature, but nevertheless very dignified-looking, came forward with +out-stretched hands--'Greet you well, my Lord de Ribaumont. We +expected your coming. Welcome, mine honoured friend's grandson.' + +And as Berenger bent low in reverent greeting, Sir Francis took his +hand and kissed his brow, saying, 'Come in, my young friend; we are +but sitting over our wine and comfits after dinner. Have you +dined?' + +Berenger explained that he had dined at the inn, where he had taken +lodgings. + +'Nay, but that must not be. My Lord Walwyn's grandson here, and +not my guest! You do me wrong, sir, in not having ridden hither at +once.' + +'Truly, my Lord, I ventured not. They sent me forth with quite a +company--my tutor and six grooms.' + +'Our chaplain will gladly welcome his reverend brother,' said Sir +Francis; and as to the grooms, one of my fellows shall go and bring +them and their horses up. What!' rather gravely, as Berenger still +hesitated. 'I have letters for you here, which methinks will make +your grandfather's wish clear to you.' + +Berenger saw the Ambassador was displeased with his reluctance, and +answered quickly, 'In sooth, my Lord, I would esteem myself only +too happy to be thus honoured, but in sooth----' he repeated +himself, and faltered. + +'In sooth, you expected more freedom than in my grave house,' said +Walsingham, displeased. + +'Not so, my Lord: it would be all that I could desire; but I have +done hastily. A kinsman of mine has come up to Paris with me, and +I have made him my guest. I know not how to break with him--the +Chevalier de Ribaumont.' + +'What, the young ruffler in Monsieur's suite?' + +'No, my Lord; his father. He comes on my business. He is an old +man, and can ill bear the cost, and I could scarce throw him over.' + +Berenger spoke with such earnest, bright, open simplicity, and look +so boyish and confiding, that Sir Francis's heart was won, and he +smiled as he said, 'Right, lad, you are a considerate youth. It +were not well to cast off your kinsman; but when you have read your +letters, you may well plead your grandfather's desires, to say +nothing of a hint from her Grace to have an eye to you. And for +the rest, you can acquit yourself gracefully to the gentleman, by +asking him to occupy the lodging that you had taken.' + +Berenger's face brightened up in a manner that spoke for his +sincerity; and Sir Francis added, 'And where be these lodgings?' + +'At the Croix de Lorraine.' + +'Ha! Your kinsman has taken you into a nest of Guisards. But come, +let me present you to my wife and my other guests, then will I give +you your letters, and you shall return and make your excuses to +Monsieur le Chevalier.' + +Berenger seemed to himself to be on familiar ground again as his +host thus assumed the direction of him and ushered him into a large +dining-hall, where the table had been forsaken in favour of a +lesser table placed in the ample window, round which sat assembled +some six or eight persons, with fruit, wine, and conserves before +them, a few little dogs at their feet or on their laps, and a lute +lying on the knee of one of the young gentlemen. Sir Francis +presented the young Lord de Ribaumont, their expected guest, to +Lady Walsingham, from whom he received a cordial welcome, and her +two little daughter, Frances and Elizabeth, and likewise to the +gentleman with the lute, a youth about a year older than Berenger, +and of very striking and prepossessing countenance, who was named +as Mr. Sidney, the son of the Lord Deputy of Ireland. A couple of +gentlemen who would in these times have been termed _attaches_, a +couple of lady attendants upon Lady Walsingham, and the chaplain +made up the party, which on this day chanced only to include, +besides the household, the young traveller, Sidney. Berenger was +at once seated, and accepted a welcoming-cup of wine (i.e. a long +slender glass with a beautifully twisted stem), responded to +friendly inquiries about his relatives at home, and acknowledged +the healths that were drunk in honour of their names; after which +Lady Walsingham begged that Mr. Sidney would sing the madrigal he +had before promised: afterwards a glee was sung by Sidney, one of +the gentlemen, and Lady Walsingham; and it was discovered that Mr. +de Ribaumont had a trained ear, and the very voice that was wanting +to the Italian song they were practising. And so sped a happy +hour, till a booted and spurred messenger came in with letters for +his Excellency, who being thus roused from his dreamy enjoyment of +the music, carried young Ribaumont off with him to his cabinet, and +there made over to him a packet, with good news from home, and +orders that made it clear that he could do no other than accept the +hospitality of the Embassy. Thus armed with authority, he returned +to the Croix de Lorraine, where Mr. Adderley could not contain his +joy at the change to quarters not only so much more congenial, buts +so much safer; and the Chevalier, after some polite demur, +consented to remain in possession of the rooms, being in fact well +satisfied with the arrangement. + +'Let him steep himself up to the lips among the English,' said +Tithonus to his son. 'Thus will he peaceably relinquish to you all +that should have been yours from the first, and at court will only +be looked on as an overgrown English page.' + +The change to the Ambassador's made Berenger happy at once. He was +not French enough in breeding, or even constitution, to feel the +society of the Croix de Lorraine congenial; and, kind as the +Chevalier showed himself, it was with a wonderful sense of relief +that Berenger shook himself free from both his fawning and his +patronizing. There was a constant sense of not understanding the +old gentleman's aims, whereas in Walsingham's house all was as +clear, easy, and open as at home. + +And though Berenger had been educated in the country, it had been +in the same tone as that of his new friends. He was greatly +approved by Sir Francis as a stripling of parts and modesty. Mr. +Sidney made him a companion, and the young matron, Lady Walsingham, +treated him as neither lout nor lubber. Yet he could not be at +ease in his state between curiosity and repulsion towards the wife +who was to be discarded by mutual consent. The sight of the scenes +of his early childhood had stirred up warmer recollections of the +pretty little playful torment, who through the vista of years +assumed the air of a tricksy elf rather than the little vixen he +used to think her. His curiosity had been further stimulated by +the sight of his rival, Narcisse, whose effeminate ornaments, small +stature, and seat on horseback filled Sir Marmaduke's pupil with +inquisitive disdain as to the woman who could prefer anything so +unmanly. + +Sidney was to be presented at the after-dinner reception at the +Louvre the next day, and Sir Francis proposed to take young +Ribaumont with him. Berenger coloured, and spoke of his equipment, +and Sidney good-naturedly offered to come and inspect. That young +gentleman was one of the daintiest in apparel of his day; but he +was amazed that the suit in which Berenger had paid his devoir to +Queen Elizabeth should have been set aside--it was of pearl-grey +velvet, slashed with rose-coloured satin, and in shape and fashion +point-device--unless, as the Ambassador said good-humouredly, 'my +young Lord Ribaumont wished to be one of Monsieur's clique.' Thus +arrayed, then, and with the chaplet of pearls bound round the small +cap, with a heron-plume that sat jauntily on one side of his fair +curled head, Berenger took his seat beside the hazel-eyed, brown- +haired Sidney, in his white satin and crimson, and with the +Ambassador and his attendants were rolled off in the great state- +coach drawn by eight horses, which had no sinecure in dragging the +ponderous machine through the unsavoury _debris_ of the streets. + +Royalty fed in public. The sumptuous banqueting-room contained a +barrier, partitioning off a space where Charles IX. sat alone at +his table, as a State spectacle. He was a sallow, unhealthy- +looking youth, with large prominent dark eyes and a melancholy +dreaminess of expression, as if the whole ceremony, not to say the +world itself, were distasteful. Now and then, as though +endeavouring to cast off the mood, he would call to some gentleman +and exchange a rough jest, generally fortified with a tremendous +oath, that startled Berenger's innocent ears. He scarcely tasted +what was put on his plate, but drank largely of sherbet, and seemed +to be trying to linger through the space allotted for the ceremony. + +Silence was observed, but not so absolute that Walsingham could not +point out to his young companions the notabilities present. The +lofty figure of Henri, Duke of Guise, towered high above all around +him, and his grand features, proud lip, and stern eye claimed such +natural superiority that Berenger for a moment felt a glow on his +cheek as he remembered his challenge of his right to rival that +splendid stature. And yet Guise was very little older than +himself; but he walked, a prince of men, among a crowd of +gentlemen, attendants on him rather than on the King. The elegant +but indolent-looking Duke de Montmorency had a much more attractive +air, and seemed to hold a kind of neutral ground between Guise on +the one hand, and the Reformed, who mustered at the other end of +the apartment. Almost by intuition, Berenger knew the fine calm +features of the gray-haired Admiral de Coligny before he heard him +so addressed by the King's loud, rough voice. When the King rose +from table the presentations took place, but as Charles heard the +name of the Baron de Ribaumont, he exclaimed, 'What, Monsieur, are +you presented here by our good sister's representative?' + +Walsingham answered for him, alluding to the negotiations for Queen +Elizabeth's marriage with one of the French princes--'Sire, in the +present happy conjuncture, it needs not be a less loyal Frenchman +to have an inheritance in the lands of my royal mistress.' + +'What say you, Monsieur?' sharply demanded the King: 'are you come +here to renounce your country, religion--and love, as I have been +told?' + +'I hope, Sire, never to be unfaithful where I owe faith,' said +Berenger, heated, startled, and driven to extremity. + +'Not ill answered for the English giant,' said Charles aside to an +attendant: then turning eagerly to Sidney, whose transcendent +accomplishments had already become renowned, Charles welcomed him +to court, and began to discuss Ronsard's last sonnet, showing no +small taste and knowledge of poetry. Greatly attracted by Sidney, +the King detained the whole English party by an invitation to +Walsingham to hear music in the Queen-mother's apartments; and +Berenger, following in the wake of his friends, found himself in a +spacious hall, with a raised gallery at one end for the musicians, +the walls decorated with the glorious paintings collected by +Francois I., Greek and Roman statues clustered at the angles, and +cabinets with gems and antiques disposed at intervals. Not that +Berenger beheld much of this: he was absolutely dazzled with the +brilliant assembly into which he was admitted. There moved the +most beautiful women in France, in every lovely-coloured tint that +dress could assume: their bosoms, arms, and hair sparkling with +jewels; their gossamer ruffs surrounding their necks like fairy +wings; their light laugh mingling with the music, as they sat, +stood, or walked in graceful attitudes conversing with one another +or with the cavaliers, whose brilliant velvet and jewels fifty +mixed with their bright array. These were the sirens he had heard +of, the 'squadron of the Queen-mother,' the dangerous beings +against whom he was to steel himself. And which of them was the +child he had played with, to whom his vows had been plighted? It +was like some of the enchanting dreams of romance merely to look at +these fair creatures; and he stood as if gazing into a magic-glass +till Sir Francis Walsingham, looking round for him, said, 'Come, +then, my young friend, you must do your devoirs to the Queens. +Sidney, I see, is as usual in his element; the King has seized upon +him.' + +Catherine de Medicis was seated on a large velvet chair, conversing +with the German ambassador. Never beautiful, she appeared to more +advantage in her mature years than in her girlhood, and there was +all the dignity of a lifetime of rule in demeanour and gestures, +the bearing of her head, and motion of her exquisite hands. Her +eyes were like her son's, prominent, and gave the sense of seeing +all round at once, and her smile was to the highest degree +engaging. She received the young Baron de Ribaumont far more +graciously than Charles has done, held out her hand to be kissed, +and observed 'that the young gentleman was like Madame _sa mere_ +whom she well remembered as much admired. Was it true that she was +married in England?' + +Berenger bowed assent. + +'Ah! You English make good spouses,' she said, with a smile. 'Ever +satisfied with home! But, your Excellency,' added she, turning to +Walsingham, 'what stones would best please my good sister for the +setting of the jewel my son would send her with his portrait? He +is all for emeralds, for the hue of hope; but I call it the colour +of jealousy.' + +Walsingham made a sign that Berenger had better retreat from +hearing the solemn coquetting carried on by the maiden Queen +through her gravest ambassadors. He fell back, and remained +watching the brilliant throng, trying in vain to discover the +bright merry eyes and velvet cheek he remembered of old. Presently +a kind salutation interrupted him, and a gentleman who perceived +him to be a stranger began to try to set him at ease, pointed out +to him the handsome, foppishly-dressed Duke of Anjou, and his ugly, +spiteful little brother of Alengon, then designated as Queen +Elizabeth's future husband, who was saying something to a lady that +made her colour and bite her lips. 'Is that the younger Queen?' +asked Berenger, as his eye fell on a sallow, dark-complexioned, +sad-looking little creature in deep mourning, and with three or +four such stately-looking, black-robed, Spanish-looking duennas +round her as to prove her to be a person of high consequence. + +'That? Oh no; that is Madame Catherine of Navarre, who has resided +here ever since her mother's death, awaiting her brother, our royal +bridegroom. See, here is the bride, Madame Marguerite, conversing +with M. de Guise.' + +Berenger paid but little heed to Marguerite's showy but already +rather coarse beauty, and still asked where was the young Queen +Elizabeth of Austria. She was unwell, and not in presence. 'Ah! +then,' he said, 'her ladies will not be here.' + +'That is not certain. Are you wishing to see any one of them?' + +'I would like to see----' He could not help colouring till his +cheeks rivaled the colour of his sword-knot. 'I want just to know +if she is here. I know not if she be called Madame or Mademoiselle +de Ribaumont.' + +'The fair Ribaumont! Assuredly; see, she is looking at you. Shall +I present you?' + +A pair of exceedingly brilliant dark eyes were fixed on Berenger +with a sort of haughty curiosity and half-recognition. The face +was handsome and brilliant, but he felt indignant at not perceiving +a particle of a blush at encountering him, indeed rather a look of +amusement at the deep glow which his fair complexion rendered so +apparent. He would fain have escaped from so public an interview, +but her eye was upon him, and there was no avoiding the meeting. +As he moved nearer he saw what a beautiful person she was, her rich +primrose-coloured dress setting off her brunette complexion and her +stately presence. She looked older than he had expected; but this +was a hotbed where every one grew up early, and the expression and +manner made him feel that an old intimacy was here renewed, and +that they were no strangers. + +'We need no introduction, cousin,' she said, giving a hand to be +saluted. 'I knew you instantly. It is the old face of Chateau +Leurre, only gone up so high and become so handsome.' + +'Cousins,' thought he. 'Well, it makes things easier! but what +audacity to be so much at her ease, when Lucy would have sunk into +the earth with shame.' His bow had saved him the necessity of +answering in words, and the lady continued: + +'And Madame _votre mere_. Is she well? She was very good to me.' + +Berenger did not think that kindness to Eustacie had been her chief +perfection, but he answered that she was well and sent her +commendations, which the young lady acknowledged by a magnificent +curtsey. 'And as beautiful as ever?' she asked. + +'Quite as beautiful,' he said, 'only somewhat more _embonpoint_.' + +'Ah!' she said, smiling graciously, and raising her splendid eyes +to his face, 'I understand better what that famous beauty was now, +and the fairness that caused her to be called the Swan.' + +It was so personal that the colour rushed again into his cheek. No +one had ever so presumed to admire him; and with a degree gratified +and surprised, and sensible more and more of the extreme beauty of +the lady, there was a sort of alarm about him as if this were the +very fascination he had been warned against, and as if she were +casting a net about him, which, wife as she was, it would be +impossible to him to break. + +'Nay, Monsieur,' she laughed, 'is a word from one so near too much +for your modesty? Is it possible that no one has yet told you of +your good mien? Or do they not appreciate Greek noses and blue +eyes in the land of fat Englishmen? How have you ever lived _en +province?_ Our princes are ready to hang themselves at the +thought of being in such banishment, even at court--indeed, +Monsieur has contrived to transfer the noose to M. d'Alengon. Have +you been at court, cousin?' + +'I have been presented to the Queen.' + +She then proceeded to ask questions about the chief personages with +a rapid intelligence that surprised him as well as alarmed him, for +he felt more and more in the power of a very clever as well as +beautiful woman, and the attraction she exercised made him long the +more to escape; but she smiled and signed away several cavaliers +who would have gained her attention. She spoke of Queen Mary of +Scotland, then in the fifth years of her captivity, and asked if he +did not feel bound to her service by having been once her partner. +Did not he remember that dance? + +'I have heard my mother speak of it far too often to forget it,' +said Berenger, glowing again for her who could speak of that +occasion without a blush. + +'You wish to gloss over your first inconstancy, sir,' she said, +archly; but he was spared from further reply by Philip Sidney's +coming to tell him that the Ambassador was ready to return home. +He took leave with an alacrity that redoubled his courtesy so much +that he desired to be commended to his cousin Diane, whom he had +not seen. + +'To Diane?' said the lady, inquiringly. + +'To Mademoiselle Diane de Ribaumont,' he corrected himself, ashamed +of his English rusticity. 'I beg pardon if I spoke too familiarly +of her.' + +'She should be flattered by M. le Baron's slightest recollection,' +said the lady, with an ironical tone that there was no time to +analyze, and with a mutual gesture of courtesy he followed Sidney +to where Sir Francis awaited them. + +'Well, what think you of the French court?' asked Sidney, so soon +as the young men were in private. + +'I only know that you may bless your good fortune that you stand in +no danger from a wife from thence.' + +'Ha!' cried Sidney, laughing, 'you found your lawful owner. Why +did you not present me?' + +'I was ashamed of her bold visage.' + +'What!--was she the beauteous demoiselle I found you gallanting,' +said Philip Sidney, a good deal entertained, 'who was gazing at you +with such visible admiration in her languishing black eyes?' + +'The foul fiend seize their impudence!' + +'Fie! for shame! thus to speak of your own wife,' said the +mischievous Sidney, 'and the fairest----' + +'Go to, Sidney. Were she fairer than Venus, with a kingdom to her +dower, I would none of a woman without a blush.' + +'What, in converse with her wedded husband,' said Sidney. 'Were +not that over-shamefastness?' + +'Nay, now, Sidney, in good sooth give me your opinion. Should she +set her fancy on me, even in this hour, am I bound in honour to +hold by this accursed wedlock--lock, as it may well be called?' + +'I know no remedy,' said Sidney, gravely, 'save the two enchanted +founts of love and hate. They cannot be far away, since it was at +the siege of Paris that Rinaldo and Orlando drank thereof.' + +Another question that Berenger would fain have asked Sidney, but +could not for very shame and dread of mockery, was, whether he +himself were so dangerously handsome as the lady had given him to +understand. With a sense of shame, he caught up the little mirror +in his casket, and could not but allow to himself that the features +he there saw were symmetrical--the eyes azure, the complexion of a +delicate fairness, such as he had not seen equaled, except in those +splendid Lorraine princes; nor could he judge of the further effect +of his open-faced frank simplicity and sweetness of expression-- +contemptible, perhaps, to the astute, but most winning to the +world-weary. He shook his head at the fair reflection, smiled as +he saw the colour rising at his own sensation of being a fool, and +then threw it aside, vexed with himself for being unable not to +feel attracted by the first woman who had shown herself struck by +his personal graces, and yet aware that this was the very thing he +had been warned against, and determined to make all the resistance +in his power to a creature whose very beauty and enchantment gave +him a sense of discomfort. + + + + +CHAPTER V. THE CONVENT BIRD + + + +Young knight, whatever that dost armes professe, +And through long labours huntest after fame, +Beware of fraud, beware of ficklenesse, +In choice and change of thy beloved dame. + Spenser, FAERY QUEENE + + +Berenger' mind was relieved, even while his vanity was mortified, +when the Chevalier and his son came the next day to bring him the +formal letter requesting the Pope's annulment of his marriage. +After he had signed it, it was to be taken to Eustacie, and so soon +as he should attain his twenty-first year he was to dispose of +Chateau Leurre, as well as of his claim to the ancestral castle in +Picardy, to his cousin Narcisse, and thus become entirely free to +transfer his allegiance to the Queen of England. + +It was a very good thing--that he well knew; and he had a strong +sense of virtue and obedience, as he formed with his pen the words +in all their fullness, Henri Beranger Eustache, Baron de Ribaumont +et Seigneur de Leurre. He could not help wondering whether the lady +who looked at him so admiringly really preferred such a mean-looking +little fop as Narcisse, whether she were afraid of his English home +and breeding, or whether all this open coquetry were really the court +manners of ladies towards gentlemen, and he had been an absolute +simpleton to be flattered. Any way, she would have been a most +undesirable wife, and he was well quit of her; but he did feel a +certain lurking desire that, since the bonds were cut and he was no +longer in danger from her, he might see her again, carry home a +mental inventory of the splendid beauties he had renounced, and +decide what was the motive that actuated her in rejecting his own +handsome self. Meantime, he proceeded to enjoy the amusements and +advantage of his sojourn at Paris, of which by no means the least was +the society of Philip Sidney, and the charm his brilliant genius +imparted to every pursuit they shared. Books at the University, +fencing and dancing from the best professors, Italian poetry, +French sonnets, Latin epigrams; nothing came amiss to Sidney, the +flower of English youth: and Berenger had taste, intelligence, and +cultivation enough to enter into all in which Sidney led the way. +The good tutor, after all his miseries on the journey, was delighted +to write to Lord Walwyn, that, far from being a risk and temptation, +this visit was a school in all that was virtuous and comely. + +If the good man had any cause of dissatisfaction, it was with the +Calvinistic tendencies of the Ambassador's household. Walsingham +was always on the Puritanical side of Elizabeth's court, and such +an atmosphere as that of Paris, where the Roman Catholic system was +at that time showing more corruption than it has ever done before +or since in any other place, naturally threw him into sympathy with +the Reformed. The reaction that half a century later filled the +Gallican Church with saintliness had not set in; her ecclesiastics +were the tools of a wicked and bloodthirsty court, who hated virtue +as much as schism in the men whom they persecuted. The Huguenots +were for the most part men whose instincts for truth and virtue had +recoiled from the popular system, and thus it was indeed as if +piety and morality were arrayed on one side, and superstition and +debauchery on the other. Mr. Adderley thus found the tone of the +Ambassador's chaplain that of far more complete fellowship with the +Reformed pastors than he himself was disposed to admit. There were +a large number of these gathered at Paris; for the lull in +persecution that had followed the battle of Moncontour had given +hopes of a final accommodation between the two parties, and many +had come up to consult with the numerous lay nobility who had +congregated to witness the King of Navarre's wedding. Among them, +Berenger met his father's old friend Isaac Gardon, who had come to +Paris for the purpose of giving his only surviving son in marriage +to the daughter of a watchmaker to whom he had for many years been +betrothed. By him the youth, with his innocent face and gracious +respectful manners, was watched with delight, as fulfilling the +fairest hopes of the poor Baron, but the old minister would have +been sorely disappointed had he known how little Berenger felt +inclined towards his party. + +The royal one of course Berenger could not love, but the rigid +bareness, and, as he thought, irreverence of the Calvinist, and the +want of all forms, jarred upon one used to a ritual which retained +much of the ancient form. In the early years of Elizabeth, every +possible diversity prevailed in parish churches, according to the +predilections of rector and squire; from forms scarcely altered +from those of old times, down to the baldest, rudest neglect of all +rites; and Berenger, in his country home, had been used to the +first extreme. He could not believe that what he heard and saw +among the _Sacrementaires_, as they were called, was what his +father had prized; and he greatly scandalized Sidney, the pupil of +Hubert Languet, by openly expressing his distaste and dismay when +he found their worship viewed by both Walsingham and Sidney as a +model to which the English Protestants ought to be brought. + +However, Sidney excused all this as more boyish distaste to sermons +and love of externals, and Berenger himself reflected little on the +subject. The aspect of the venerable Coligny, his father's friend, +did far more towards making him a Huguenot than any discussion of +doctrine. The good old Admiral received him affectionately, and +talked to him warmly of his father, and the grave, noble +countenance and kind manner won his heart. Great projects were on +foot, and were much relished by the young King, for raising an army +and striking a blow at Spain by aiding the Reformed in the +Netherlands; and Coligny was as ardent as a youth in the cause, +hoping at once to aid his brethren, to free the young King from +evil influences, and to strike one good stroke against the old +national enemy. He talked eagerly to Sidney of alliances with +England, and then lamented over the loss of so promising a youth as +young Ribaumont to the Reformed cause in France. If the marriage +with the heiress could have taken effect, he would have obtained +estates near enough to some of the main Huguenot strongholds to be +very important, and these would now remain under the power of +Narcisse de Ribaumont, a determined ally of the Guise faction. It +was a pity, but the Admiral could not blame the youth for obeying +the wish of his guardian grandfather; and he owned, with a sigh, +that England was a more peaceful land than his own beloved country. +Berenger was a little nettled at this implication, and began to +talk of joining the French standard in a campaign in their present +home and described the conversation, Walsingham said,-- + +'The Admiral's favourite project! He would do wisely not to brag +of it so openly. The King of Spain has too many in his interest in +this place not to be warned, and to be thus further egged on to +compass the ruin of Coligny.' + +'I should have thought.' Said Sidney. 'that nothing could add to +his hatred of the Reformed.' + +'Scarcely,' said Walsingham; 'save that it is they who hinder the +Duke of Guise from being a good Frenchman, and a foe to Spain.' + +Politics had not developed themselves in Berenger's mind, and he +listened inattentively while Walsingham talked over with Sidney the +state of parties in France, where natural national enmity to Spain was +balanced by the need felt by the Queen-mother of the support of that +great Roman Catholic power against the Huguenots; whom Walsingham +believed her to dread and hate less for their own sake than from the +fear of loss of influence over her son. He believed Charles IX. himself +to have much leaning towards the Reformed, but the late victories has +thrown the whole court entirely into the power of the Guises, the truly +unscrupulous partisans of Rome. They were further inflamed against the +Huguenots by the assassination of the last Duke of Guise, and by the +violences that had been committed by some of the Reformed party, in +especial a massacre of prisoners at _Nerac_. + +Sidney exclaimed that the Huguenots had suffered far worse +cruelties. + +'That is true,' replied Sir Francis, 'but, my young friend, you +will find, in all matters of reprisals, that a party has no memory +for what it may commit, only for what it may receive.' + +The conversation was interrupted by an invitation to the +Ambassador's family and guests to a tilting-match and subsequent +ball at the Louvre. In the first Berenger did his part with +credit; to the second he went feeling full of that strange +attraction of repulsion. He knew gentlemen enough in Coligny's +suite for it to be likely that he might remain unperceived among +them, and he knew this would be prudent, but he found himself +unexpectedly near the ranks of ladies, and smile and gesture +absolutely drew him towards his semi-spouse, so that he had no +alternative but to lead her out to dance. + +The stately measure was trod in silence as usual, but he felt the +dark eyes studying him all the time. However, he could bear it +better now that the deed was done, and she had voluntarily made him +less to her than any gallant parading or mincing about the room. + +'So you bear the pearls, sir?' she said, as the dance finished. + +'The only heirloom I shall take with me,' he said. + +'Is a look at them too great a favour to ask from their jealous +guardian?' she asked. + +He smiled, half ashamed of his own annoyance at being obliged to +place them in her hands. He was sure she would try to cajole him +out of them, and by way of asserting his property in them he did +not detach them from the band of his black velvet cap, but gave it +with them into her hand. She looked at each one, and counted them +wistfully. + +'Seventeen!' she said;' and how beautiful! I never saw them so +near before. They are so becoming to that fair cheek that I +suppose no offer from my--my uncle, on our behalf, would induce you +to part with them?' + +An impulse of open-handed gallantry would have made him answer, 'No +offer from your uncle, but a simple request from you;' but he +thought in time of the absurdity of returning without them, and +merely answered, 'I have no right to yield them, fair lady. They +are the witness to my forefather's fame and prowess.' + +'Yes, sir, and to those of mine also,' she replied. 'And you would +take them over to the enemy from whom that prowess extorted them?' + +'The country which honoured and rewarded that prowess!' replied +Berenger. + +She looked at him with an interrogative glance of surprise at the +readiness of his answer; then, with half a sigh, said, 'There are +your pearls, sir; I cannot establish our right, though I verily +believe it was the cause of our last quarrel;' and she smiled +archly. + +'I believe it was,' he said, gravely; but added, in the moment of +relief at recovering the precious heirloom, 'though it was Diane +who inspired you to seize upon them.' + +'Ah! poor Diane! you sometimes recollect her then? If I remember +right, you used to agree with her better than with your little +spouse, cousin!' + +'If I quarrelled with her less, I liked her less,' answered +Berenger--who, since the act of separation, had not been so guarded +in his demeanour, and began to give way to his natural frankness. + +'Indeed! Diane would be less gratified than I ought to be. And +why, may I ask?' + +'Diane was more caressing, but she had no truth.' + +'Truth! that was what _feu_ M. le Baron ever talked of; what +Huguenots weary one with.' + +'And the only thing worth seeking, the real pearl,' said Berenger, +'without which all else is worthless.' + +'Ah!' she said, 'who would have thought that soft, youthful face +could be so severe! You would never forgive a deceit?' + +'Never,' he said, with the crystal hardness of youth; 'or rather I +might forgive; I could never esteem.' + +'What a bare, rude world yours must be,' she said, shivering. 'And +no weak ones in it! Only the strong can dare to be true.' + +'Truth is strength!' said Berenger. 'For example: I see yonder a +face without bodily strength, perhaps, but with perfect candour.' + +'Ah! some Huguenot girl of Madame Catherine's, no doubt--from the +depths of Languedoc, and dressed like a fright.' + +'No, no; the young girl behind the pale, yellow-haired lady.' + +'Comment, Monsieur. Do you not yet know the young Queen?' + +'But who is the young demoiselle!--she with the superb black eyes, +and the ruby rose in her black hair?' + +'Take care, sir, do you not know I have still a right to be +jealous?' she said, blushing, bridling, and laughing. + +But this pull on the cords made him the more resolved; he would not +be turned from his purpose. 'Who is she?' he repeated; 'have I ever +seen her before? I am sure I remember that innocent look of +_espieglerie_.' + +'You may see it on any child's face fresh out of the convent; it +does not last a month!' was the still displeased, rather jealous +answer. 'That little thing--I believe they call her Nid-de-Merle-- +she has only just been brought from her nunnery to wait on the +young Queen. Ah! your gaze was perilous, it is bringing on you one +of the jests of Madame Marguerite.' + +With laughter and gaiety, a troop of gentlemen descended on M. de +Ribaumont, and told him that Madame Marguerite desired that he +should be presented to her. The princess was standing by her pale +sister-in-law, Elizabeth of Austria, who looked grave and annoyed +at the mischievous mirth flashing in Marguerite's dark eyes. + +'M. de Ribaumont,' said the latter, her very neck heaving with +suppressed fun, 'I see I cannot do you a greater favour than by +giving you Mademoiselle de Nid-de-Merle for your partner.' + +Berenger was covered with confusion to find that he had been guilty +of such a fixed stare as to bring all this upon the poor girl. He +feared that his vague sense of recognition had made his gaze more +open than he knew, and he was really and deeply ashamed of this as +his worst act of provincial ill-breeding. + +Poor little convent maid, with crimson cheeks, flashing eyes, +panting bosom, and a neck evidently aching with proud dignity and +passion, she received his low bow with a sweeping curtsey, as lofty +as her little person would permit. + +His cheeks burnt like fire, and he would have found words to +apologize, but she cut him short by saying, hastily and low, 'Not a +word, Monsieur! Let us go through it at once. No one shall make +game of us.' + +He hardly durst look at her again; but as he went through his own +elaborate paces he knew that the little creature opposite was +swimming, bending, turning, bounding with the fluttering fierceness +of an angry little bird, and that the superb eyes were casting +flashes on him that seemed to carry him back to days of early +boyhood. + +Once he caught a mortified, pleading, wistful glance that made him +feel as if he had inflicted a cruel injury by his thoughtless gaze, +and he resolved to plead the sense of recognition in excuse; but no +sooner was the performance over than she prevented all conversation +by saying, 'Lead me back at once to the Queen, sir; she is about to +retire.' They were already so near that there was no time to say +anything; he could only hold as lightly as possible the tiny +fingers that he felt burning and quivering in his hand, and then, +after bringing her to the side of the chair of state, he was forced +to release her with the mere whisper of 'Pardon, Mademoiselle;' and +the request was not replied to, save by the additional stateliness +of her curtsey. + +It was already late, and the party was breaking up; but his head +and heart were still in a whirl when he found himself seated in the +ambassadorial coach, hearing Lady Walsingham's well-pleased +rehearsal of all the compliments she had received on the +distinguished appearance of both her young guests. Sidney, as the +betrothed of her daughter, was property of her own; but she also +exulted in the praises of the young Lord de Ribaumont, as proving +the excellence of the masters whom she had recommended to remove +the rustic clownishness of which he had been accused. + +'Nay,' said Sir Francis; 'whoever called him too clownish for court +spake with design.' + +The brief sentence added to Berenger's confused sense of being in a +mist of false play. Could his kinsman be bent on keeping him from +court? Could Narcisse be jealous of him? Mademoiselle de +Ribaumont was evidently inclined to seek him, and her cousin might +easily think her lands safer in his absence. He would have been +willing to hold aloof as much as his uncle and cousin could wish, +save for an angry dislike to being duped and cajoled; and, +moreover, a strong curiosity to hear and see more of that little +passionate bird, fresh from the convent cage. Her gesture and her +eyes irresistibly carried him back to old times, though whether to +an angry blackbird in the yew-tree alleys at Leurre, or to the +eager face that had warned him to save his father, he could not +remember with any distinctness. At any rate, he was surprised to +find himself thinking so little in comparison about the splendid +beauty and winning manners of his discarded spouse, though he quite +believed that, now her captive was beyond her grasp, she was +disposed to catch at him again, and try to retain him, or, as his +titillated vanity might whisper, his personal graces might make her +regret the family resolution which she had obeyed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. FOULLY COZENED + + + +I was the more deceived.--HAMLET + + +The unhappy Charles IX. had a disposition that in good hands might +have achieved great nobleness; and though cruelly bound and trained +to evil, was no sooner allowed to follow its natural bent than it +reached out eagerly towards excellence. At this moment, it was his +mother's policy to appear to leave the ascendancy to the Huguenot +party, and he was therefore allowed to contract friendships which +deceived the intended victims the more completely, because his +admiration and attachment were spontaneous and sincere. Philip +Sidney's varied accomplishment and pure lofty character greatly +attracted the young King, who had leant on his arm conversing +during great part of the ball, and the next morning sent a royal +messenger to invite the two young gentlemen to a part at pall-mall +in the Tuileries gardens. + +Pall-mall was either croquet or its nearest relative, and was so +much the fashion that games were given in order to keep up +political influence, perhaps, because the freedom of a garden +pastime among groves and bowers afforded opportunities for those +seductive arts on which Queen Catherine placed so much dependence. +The formal gardens, with their squares of level turf and clipped +alleys, afforded excellent scope both for players and spectators, +and numerous games had been set on foot, from all of which, +however, Berenger contrived to exclude himself, in his restless +determination to find out the little Demoiselle de Nid-de-Merle, +or, at least, to discover whether any intercourse in early youth +accounted for his undefined sense of remembrance. + +He interrogated the first disengaged person he could find, but it +was only the young Abbe de Mericour, who had been newly brought up +from Dauphine by his elder brother to solicit a benefice, and who +knew nobody. To him ladies were only bright phantoms such as his +books had taught him to regard like the temptations of St. Anthony, +but whom he actually saw treated with as free admiration by the +ecclesiastic as by the layman. + +Suddenly a clamour of voices arose on the other side of the +closely-clipped wall of limes by which the two youths were walking. +There were the clear tones of a young maiden expostulating in +indignant distress, and the bantering, indolent determination of a +male annoyer. + +'Hark!' exclaimed Berenger; 'this must be seen to.' + +'Have a care,' returned Mericour; 'I have heard that a man needs +look twice are meddling.' + +Scarcely hearing, Berenger strode on as he had done at the last +village wake, when he had rescued Cis of the Down from the +impertinence of a Dorchester scrivener. It was a like case, he +saw, when breaking through the arch of clipped limed he beheld the +little Demoiselle de Nid-de-Merle, driven into a corner and +standing at bay, with glowing cheeks, flashing eyes, and hands +clasped over her breast, while a young man, dressed in the extreme +of foppery, was assuring her that she was the only lady who had not +granted him a token--that he could not allow such _pensionnaire_ +airs, and that now he had caught her he would have his revenge, and +win her rose-coloured break-knot. Another gentleman stood by, +laughing, and keeping guard in the walk that led to the more +frequented part of the gardens. + +'Hold!' thundered Berenger. + +The assailant had just mastered the poor girl's hand, but she took +advantage of his surprise to wrench it away and gather herself up +as for a spring, but the Abbe in dismay, the attendant in anger, +cried out, 'Stay--it is Monsieur.' + +'Monsieur; be he who he may,' exclaimed Berenger, 'no honest man +can see a lady insulted.' + +'Are you mad? It is Monsieur the Duke of Anjou,' said Mericour, +pouncing on his arm. + +'Shall we have him to the guardhouse?' added the attendant, coming +up on the other side; but Henri de Valois waved them both back, and +burst into a derisive laugh. 'No, no; do you not see who it is? +Monsieur the English Baron still holds the end of the halter. His +sale is not yet made. Come away, D'O, he will soon have enough on +his hands without us. Farewell, fair lady, another time you will +be free of your jealous giant.' + +So saying, the Duke of Anjou strolled off, feigning indifference +and contempt, and scarcely heeding that he had been traversed in +one of the malicious adventures which he delighted to recount in +public before the discomfited victim herself, often with shameful +exaggeration. + +The girl clasped her hands over her brow with a gesture of dismay, +and cried, 'Oh! if you have only not touched your sword.' + +'Let me have the honour of reconducting you, Mademoiselle,' said +Berenger, offering his hand; but after the first sigh of relief, a +tempestuous access seized her. She seemed about to dash away his +hand, her bosom swelled with resentment, and with a voice striving +for dignity, though choked with strangled tears, she exclaimed, +'No, indeed! Had not M. le Baron forsaken me, I had never been +thus treated!' and her eyes flashed through their moisture. + +'Eustacie! You are Eutacie!' + +'Whom would you have me to be otherwise? I have the honour to wish +M. le Baron a good morning.' + +'Eustacie! Stay! Hear me! It concerns my honour. I see it is +you--but whom have I seen? Who was she?' he cried, half wild with +dismay and confusion. 'Was it Diane?' + +'You have seen and danced with Diane de Ribaumont,' answered +Eustacie, still coldly; 'but what of that? Let me go, Monsieur; +you have cast me off already.' + +'I! when all this has been of your own seeking?' + +'Mine?' cried Eustacie, panting with the struggle between her +dignity and her passionate tears. 'I meddled not. I heard that M. +le Baron was gone to a strange land, and had written to break off +old ties.' Her face was in a flame, and her efforts for composure +absolute pain. + +'I!' again exclaimed Berenger. 'The first letter came from your +uncle, declaring that it was your wish!' And as her face changed +rapidly, 'Then it was not true! He has not had your consent?' + +'What! would I hold to one who despised me--who came here and never +even asked to see this hated spouse!' + +I did! I entreated to see you. I would not sign the application +till--Oh, there has been treachery! And have they made you too +sign it!' + +When they showed me your name they were welcome to mine.' + +Berenger struck his forehead with wrath and perplexity, then cried, +joyfully, 'It will not stand for moment. So foul a cheat can be at +once exposed. Eutacie, you know--you understand, that it was not +you but Diane whom I saw and detested; and no wonder, when she was +acting such a cruel treason!' + +'Oh no, Diane would never so treat me,' cried Eustacie. 'I see how +it was! You did not know that my father was latterly called +Marquis de Nid-de-Merle, and when they brought me here, they WOULD +call me after him: they said a maid of honour must be Demoiselle, +and my uncle said there was only one way in which I could remain +Madame de Ribaumont! And the name must have deceived you. Thou +wast always a great dull boy,' she added, with a sudden assumption +of childish intimacy that annihilated the nine years since their +parting. + +'Had I seen thee, I had not mistaken for an instant. This little +face stirred my heart; hers repelled me. And she deceived me +wittingly, Eustacie, for I asked after her by name.' + +'Ah, she wished to spare my embarrassment. And then her brother +must have dealt with her.' + +'I see,' exclaimed Berenger, 'I am to be palmed off thus that thou +mayest be reserved for Narcisse. Tell me, Eustacie, wast thou +willing?' + +'I hate Narcisse!' she cried. 'But oh, I am lingering too long. +Monsieur will make some hateful tale! I never fell into his way +before, my Queen and Madame la Comtesse are so careful. Only to- +day, as I was attending her alone, the King came and gave her his +arm, and I had to drop behind. I must find her; I shall be +missed,' she added, in sudden alarm. 'Oh, what will they say?' + +'No blame for being with thy husband,' he answered, clasping her +hand. 'Thou art mine henceforth. I will soon cut our way out of +the web thy treacherous kindred have woven. Meantime---' + +'Hush! There are voices,' cried Eustacie in terror, and, guided by +something he could not discern, she fled with the swiftness of a +bird down the alley. Following, with the utmost speed that might +not bear the appearance of pursuit, he found that on coming to the +turn she had moderated her pace, and was more tranquilly advancing +to a bevy of ladies, who sat perched on the stone steps like great +butterflies sunning themselves, watching the game, and receiving +the attentions of their cavaliers. He saw her absorbed into the +group, and then began to prowl round it, in the alleys, in a tumult +of amazement and indignation. He had been shamefully deceived and +cheated, and justice he would have! He had been deprived of a +thing of his own, and he would assert his right. He had been made +to injure and disown the creature he was bound to protect, and he +must console her and compensate to her, were it only to redeem his +honour. He never even thought whether he loved her; he merely felt +furious at the wrong he had suffered and been made to commit, and +hotly bent on recovering what belonged to him. He might even have +plunged down among the ladies and claimed her as his wife, if the +young Abbe de Mericour, who was two years older than he, and far +less of a boy for his years, had not joined him in his agitated +walk. He then learnt that all the court knew that the daughter of +the late Marquis de Nid-de-Merle, Comte de Ribaumont, was called by +his chief title, but that her marriage to himself had been forgotten +by some and unknown to others, and thus that the first error between +the cousins had not been wonderful in a stranger, since the Chevalier's +daughter had always been Mdlle. de Ribaumont. The error once made, +Berenger's distaste to Diane had been so convenient that it had +been carefully encouraged, and the desire to keep him at a distance +from court and throw him into the background was accounted for. +The Abbe was almost as indignant as Berenger, and assured him both +of his sympathy and his discretion. + +'I see no need for discretion,' said Berenger. 'I shall claim my +wife in the face of the sun.' + +'Take counsel first, I entreat,' exclaimed Mericour. 'The +Ribaumonts have much influence with the Guise family, and now you +have offended Monsieur.' + +'Ah! Where are those traitorous kinsmen?' cried Berenger. + +'Fortunately all are gone on an expedition with the Queen-mother. +You will have time to think. I have heard my brother say no one +ever prospered who offended the meanest follower of the house of +Lorraine.' + +'I do not want prosperity, I only want my wife. I hope I shall +never see Paris and its deceivers again.' + +'Ah! But is it true that you have applied to have the marriage +annulled at Rome?' + +'We were both shamefully deceivers. That can be nothing.' + +'A decree of his Holiness: you a Huguenot; she an heiress. All is +against you. My friend, be cautions, exclaimed the young +ecclesiastic, alarmed by his passionate gestures. 'To break forth +now and be accused of brawling in the palace precincts would be +fatal--fatal--most fatal!' + +'I am as calm as possible,' returned Berenger. 'I mean to act most +reasonably. I shall stand before the King and tell him openly how +I have been tamperes with, demanding my wife before the whole +court.' + +'Long before you could get so far the ushers would have dragged you +away for brawling, or for maligning an honour-able gentlemen. You +would have to finish your speech in the Bastille, and it would be +well if even your English friends could get you out alive.' + +'Why, what a place is this!' began Berenger; but again Mericour +entreated him to curb himself; and his English education had taught +him to credit the house of Guide with so much mysterious power and +wickedness, that he allowed himself to be silenced, and promised to +take no open measures till he had consulted the Ambassador. + +'He could not obtain another glimpse of Eustacie, and the hours +passed tardily till the break up of the party. Charles could +scarcely release Sidney from his side, and only let him go on +condition that he should join the next day in an expedition to the +hunting chateau of Montpipeau, to which the King seemed to look +forward as a great holiday and breathing time. + +When at length the two youths did return, Sir Francis Walsingham +was completely surprised by the usually tractable, well-behaved +stripling, whose praises he had been writing to his old friend, +bursting in on him with the outcry, 'Sir, sir, I entreat your +counsel! I have been foully cozened.' + +'Of how much?' said Sir Francis, in a tone of reprobation. + +'Of my wife. Of mine honour. Sir, your Excellency, I crave +pardon, if I spoke too hotly,' said Berenger, collecting himself; +'but it is enough to drive a man to frenzy.' + +'Sit down, my Lord de Ribaumont. Take breath, and let me know what +is this coil. What hath thus moved him, Mr. Sidney?' + +'It is as he says, sir,' replied Sidney, who had beard all as they +returned; 'he has been greatly wronged. The Chevalier de Ribaumont +not only writ to propose the separation without the lady's +knowledge, but imposed his own daughter on our friend as the wife +he had not seen since infancy.' + +'There, sir,' broke forth Berenger; 'surely if I claim mine own in +the face of day, no man can withhold her from me!' + +'Hold!' said Sir Francis. 'What mean this passion, young sir? +Methought you came hither convinced that both the religion and the +habits in which the young lady had been bred up rendered your +infantine contract most unsuitable. What hath fallen out to make +this change in your mind?' + +'That I was cheated, sir. The lady who palmed herself off on me as +my wife was a mere impostor, the Chevalier's own daughter!' + +'That may be; but what known you of this other lady? Has she been +bred up in faith or manners such as your parents would have your +wife?' + +'She is my wife,' reiterated Berenger. 'My faith is plighted to +her. That is enough for me.' + +Sir Francis made a gesture of despair. 'He has seen her, I +suppose,' said he to Sidney. + +'Yes truly, sir,' answered Berenger; 'and found that she had been +as greatly deceived as myself.' + +'Then mutual consent is wanting,' said the statesman, gravely +musing. + +'That is even as I say,' began Berenger, but Walsingham help up his +hand, and desired that he would make his full statement in the +presence of his tutor. Then sounding a little whistle, the +Ambassador despatched a page to request the attendance of Mr. +Adderley, and recommended young Ribaumont in the meantime to +compose himself. + +Used to being under authority as Berenger was, the somewhat severe +tone did much to allay his excitement, and remind him that right +and reason were so entirely on his side, that he had only to be +cool and rational to make them prevail. He was thus able to give a +collected and coherent account of his discovery that the part of +his wife had been assumed by her cousin Diane, and that the +signature of both the young pair to the application to the Pope had +been obtained on false pretences. That he had, as Sidney said, +been foully cozened, in both senses of the word, was as clear as +daylight; but he was much angered and disappointed to find that +neither the Ambassador nor his tutor could see that Eustacie's +worthiness was proved by the iniquity of her relation, or that any +one of the weighty reasons for the expediency of dissolving the +marriage was remove. The whole affair had been in such good train +a little before, that Mr. Adderley was much distressed that it +should thus have been crossed, and thought the new phase of affairs +would be far from acceptable at Combe Walwyn. + +'Whatever is just and honourable must be acceptable to my +grandfather,' said Berenger. + +'Even so,' said Walsingham; 'but it were well to consider whether +justice and honour require you to overthrow the purpose wherewith +he sent you hither.' + +'Surely, sir, justice and require me to fulfil a contract to which +the other party is constant,' said Berenger, feeling very wise and +prudent for calling that wistful, indignant creature the other +party. + +'That is also true,' said the Ambassador, 'provided she be +constant; but you own that she signed the requisition for the +dissolution.' + +'She did so, but under the same deception as myself, and further +mortified and aggrieved at my seeming faithlessness.' + +'So it may easily be represented,' muttered Walsingham. + +'How, sir?' cried Berenger, impetuously; 'do you doubt her truth?' + +'Heaven forefend,' said Sir Francis, 'that I should discuss any +fair lady's sincerity! The question is how far you are bound. +Have I understood you that you are veritably wedded, not by a mere +contract of espousal?' + +'Berenger could produce no documents, for they had been left at +Chateau Leurre, and on his father's death the Chevalier had claimed +the custody of them; but he remembered enough of the ceremonial to +prove that the wedding had been a veritable one, and that only the +papal intervention could annul it. + +Indeed an Englishman, going by English law, would own no power in +the Pope, nor any one on earth, to sever the sacred tie of wedlock; +but French courts of law would probably ignore the mode of +application, and would certainly endeavour to separate between a +Catholic and a heretic. + +'I am English, sir, in heart and faith,' said Berenger, earnestly. +'Look upon me as such, and tell me, am I married or single at this +moment?' + +'Married assuredly. More's the pity,' said Sir Francis. + +'And no law of God or man divides us without our own consent.' +There was no denying that the mutual consent of the young pair at +their present age was all that was wanting to complete the +inviolability of their marriage contract. + +Berenger was indeed only eighteen, and Eustacie more than a year +younger, but there was nothing in their present age to invalidate +their marriage, for persons of their rank were usually wedded quite +as young or younger. Walsingham was only concerned at his old +friend's disappointment, and at the danger of the young man running +headlong into a connection probably no more suitable than that with +Diane de Ribaumont would have been. But it was not convenient to +argue against the expediency of a man's loving his own wife; and +when Berenger boldly declared he was not talking of love but of +justice, it was only possible to insist that he should pause and +see where true justice lay. + +And thus the much-perplexed Ambassador broke up the conference with +his hot and angry young guest. + +'And Mistress Lucy---?' sighed Mr. Adderley, in rather an +_inapropos_ fashion it must be owned; but then he had been fretted +beyond endurance by his pupil striding up and down his room, +reviling Diane, and describing Eustacie, while he was trying to +write these uncomfortable tidings to Lord Walwyn. + +'Lucy! What makes you bring her up to me?' exclaimed Berenger. +'Little Dolly would be as much to the purpose!' + +'Only, sir, no resident at Hurst Walwyn could fail to know that has +been planned and desired.' + +'Pshaw!' cries Berenger; 'have you not heard that it was a mere +figment, and that I could scarce have wedded Lucy safely, even had +this matter gone as you wish? This is the luckiest chance that +could have befallen her.' + +'That may be,' said Mr. Adderley; 'I wish she may think so--sweet +young lady!' + +'I tell you, Mr. Adderley, you should know better! Lucy has more +sense. My aunt, whom she follows more than any other creature, +ever silenced the very sport or semblance of love passages between +us even as children, by calling them unseemly in one wedded as I +am. Brother and sister we have ever been, and have loved as such-- +ay, and shall! I know of late some schemes have crossed my +mother's mind---' + +'Yea, and that of others.' + +'But they have not ruffled Lucy's quiet nature--trust me! And for +the rest? What doth she need me in comparison of this poor child? +She--like a bit of her own gray lavender in the shadiest nook of +the walled garden, tranquil there--sure not to be taken there, save +to company with fine linen in some trim scented coffer, whilst this +fresh glowing rosebud has grown up pure and precious in the very +midst of the foulest corruption Christendom can show, and if I +snatch her not from it, I, the innocence and sweetness, what is to +be her fate? The very pity of a Christian, the honour of a +gentleman, would urge me, even if it were not my most urgent duty!' + +'Mr. Adderley argued no more. When Berenger came to his duty in +the matter he was invincible, and moreover all the more provoking, +because he mentioned it with a sort of fiery sound of relish, and +looked so very boyish all the time. Poor Mr. Adderley!' feeling as +if his trust were betrayed, loathing the very idea of a French +court lady, saw that his pupil had been allured into a headlong +passion to his own misery, and that of all whose hopes were set on +him, yet preached to by this stripling scholar about duties and +sacred obligations! Well might he rue the day he ever set foot in +Paris. + +Then, to his further annoyance, came a royal messenger to invite +the Baron de Ribaumont to join the expedition to Montpipeau. Of +course he must go, and his tutor must be left behind, and who could +tell into what mischief he might not be tempted! + +Here, however, Sidney gave the poor chaplain some comfort. He +believed that no ladies were to be of the party, and that the +gentlemen were chiefly of the King's new friends among the +Huguenots, such as Coligny, his son-in-law Teligny, Rochefoucauld, +and the like, among whom the young gentleman could not fall into +any very serious harm, and might very possibly be influenced +against a Roman Catholic wife. At any rate, he would be out of the +way, and unable to take any dangerous steps. + +This same consideration so annoyed Berenger that he would have +declined the invitation, if royal invitations could have been +declined. And in the morning, before setting out, he dressed +himself point device, and with Osbert behind him marched down to +the Croix de Larraine, to call upon the Chevalier de Ribaumont. He +had a very fine speech at his tongue's end when he set out, but a +good deal of it had evaporated when he reached the hotel, and +perhaps he was not very sorry not to find the old gentleman within. + +On his return, he indited a note to the Chevalier, explaining that +he had now seen his wife, Madame la Baronne de Ribaumont, and had +come to an understanding with her, by which he found that it was +under a mistake that the application to the Pope had been signed, +and that they should, therefore, follow it up with a protest, and +act as if no such letter had been sent. + +Berenger showed this letter to Walsingham, who, though much +concerned, could not forbid his sending it. 'Poor lad,' he said to +the tutor; ''tis an excellently writ billet for one so young. I +would it were in a wiser cause. But he has fairly the bit between +his teeth, and there is no checking him while he has this show of +right on his side.' + +And poor Mr. Adderley could only beseech Mr. Sidney to take care of +him. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE QUEEN'S PASTORAL + + + +Either very gravely gay, +Or very gaily grave,--W. M. PRAED + + +Montpipeau, though in the present day a suburb of Paris, was in the +sixteenth century far enough from the city to form a sylvan +retreat, where Charles IX, could snatch a short respite from the +intrigues of his court, under pretext of enjoying his favourite +sport. Surrounded with his favoured associates of the Huguenot +party, he seemed to breathe a purer atmosphere, and to yield +himself up to enjoyment greater than perhaps his sad life had ever +known. + +He rode among his gentlemen, and the brilliant cavalcade passed +through poplar-shaded roads, clattered through villages, and +threaded their way through bits of forest still left for the royal +chase. The people thronged out of their houses, and shouted not +only 'Vive le Roy,' but 'Vive l'Amiral,' and more than once the cry +was added, 'Spanish war, or civil war!' The heart of France was, +if not with the Reformed, at least against Spain and the +Lorrainers, and Sidney perceived, from the conversation of the +gentlemen round him, that the present expedition had been devised +less for the sake of the sport, than to enable the King to take +measures for emancipating himself from the thraldom of his mother, +and engaging the country in a war against Philip II. Sidney +listened, but Berenger chafed, feeling only that he was being +further carried out of reach of his explanation with his kindred. +And thus they arrived at Montpipeau, a tower, tall and narrow, like +all French designs, but expanded on the ground floor by wooden +buildings capable of containing the numerous train of a royal +hunter, and surrounded by an extent of waste land, without fine +trees, though with covert for deer, boars, and wolves sufficient +for sport to royalty and death to peasantry. Charles seemed to sit +more erect in his saddle, and to drink in joy with every breath of +the thyme-scented breeze, from the moment his horse bounded on the +hollow-sounding turf; and when he leapt to the ground, with the +elastic spring of youth, he held out his hands to Sidney and to +Teligny, crying 'Welcome, my friends. Here I am indeed a king!' + +It was a lovely summer evening, early in August, and Charles bade +the supper to be spread under the elms that shaded a green lawn in +front of the chateau. Etiquette was here so far relaxed as to +permit the sovereign to dine with his suite, and tables, chairs, +and benches were brought out, drapery festooned in the trees to +keep off sun and wind, the King lay down in the fern and let his +happy dogs fondle him, and as a hers-girl passed along a vista in +the distance, driving her goats before her, Philip Sidney marvelled +whether it was not even thus in Arcadia. + +Presently there was a sound of horses trampling, wheels moving, a +party of gaily gilded archers of the guard jingled up, and in their +midst was a coach. Berenger's heart seemed to leap at once to his +lips, as a glimpse of ruffs, hats, and silks dawned on him through +the windows. + +The king rose from his lair among the fern, the Admiral stood +forward, all heads were bared, and from the coach-door alighted the +young Queen; no longer pale, subdued, and indifferent, but with a +face shining with girlish delight, as she held out her hand to the +Admiral. 'Ah! This is well, this is beautiful,' she exclaimed; 'it +is like our happy chases in the Tyrol. Ah, Sire!' to the King, +'how I thank you for letting me be with you.' + +After her Majesty descended her gentleman-usher. Then came the +lady-in-waiting, Madame de Sauve, the wife of the state secretary +in attendance on Charles, and a triumphant, coquettish beauty, than +a fat, good-humoured Austrian dame, always called Madame la +Comtesse, because her German name was unpronounceable, and without +whom the Queen never stirred, and lastly a little figure, rounded +yet slight, slender yet soft and plump, with a kitten-like +alertness and grace of motion, as she sprang out, collected the +Queen's properties of fan, kerchief, pouncet-box, mantle, &c., and +disappeared in to the chateau, without Berenger's being sure of +anything but that her little black hat had a rose-coloured feather +in it. + +The Queen was led to a chair placed under one of the largest trees, +and there Charles presented to her such of his gentlemen as she was +not yet acquainted with, the Baron de Ribaumont among the rest. + +'I have heard of M. de Ribaumont,' she said, in a tone that made +the colour mantle in his fair cheek; and with a sign of her hand +she detained him at her side till the King had strolled away with +Madame la Sauve, and no one remained near but her German countess. +Then changing her tone to one of confidence, which the high-bred +homeliness of her Austrian manner rendered inexpressibly engaging, +she said, 'I must apologize, Monsieur, for the giddiness of my +sister-in-law, which I fear caused you some embarrassment.' + +'Ah, Madame,' said Berenger, kneeling on one knee as she addressed +him, and his heart bounding with wild, undefined hope, 'I cannot be +grateful enough. It was that which led to my being undeceived.' + +'It was true, then, that you were mistaken?' said the Queen. + +'Treacherously deceived, Madame, by those whose interest it is to +keep us apart,' said Berenger, colouring with indignation; 'they +imposed my other cousin on me as my wife, and caused her to think +me cruelly neglectful.' + +'I know,' said the Queen. 'Yet Mdlle. de Ribaumont is far more +admired than my little blackbird.' + +'That may be, Madame, but not by me.' + +'Yet is it true that you came to break off the marriage?' + +'Yes, Madame,' said Berenger, honestly, 'but I had not seen her.' + +'And now?' said the Queen, smiling. + +'I would rather die than give her up,' said Berenger. 'Oh, Madame, +help us of your grace. Every one is trying to part us, every one +is arguing against us, but she is my own true wedded wife, and if +you will but give her to me, all will be well.' + +'I like you, M. de Ribaumont,' said the Queen, looking him full in +the face. 'You are like our own honest Germans at my home, and I +think you mean all you say. I had much rather my dear little Nid +de Merle were with you than left here, to become like all the +others. She is a good little _Liegling_,--how do you call it in +French? She has told me all, and truly I would help you with all my +heart, but it is not as if I were the Queen-mother. You must have +recourse to the King, who loves you well, and at my request +included you in the hunting-party.' + +Berenger could only kiss her hand in token of earnest thanks before +the repast was announced, and the King came to lead her to the +table spread beneath the trees. The whole party supped together, +but Berenger could have only a distant view of his little wife, +looking very demure and grave by the side of the Admiral. + +But when the meal was ended, there was a loitering in the woodland +paths, amid healthy openings or glades trimmed into discreet +wildness fit for royal rusticity; the sun set in parting glory on +one horizon, the moon rising in crimson majesty on the other. A +musician at intervals touched the guitar, and sang Spanish or +Italian airs, whose soft or quaint melody came dreamily through the +trees. Then it was that with beating heart Berenger stole up to +the maiden as she stood behind the Queen, and ventured to whisper +her name and clasp her hand. + +She turned, their eyes met, and she let him lead her apart into the +wood. It was not like a lover's tryst, it was more like the +continuation of their old childish terms, only that he treated her +as a thing of his own, that he was bound to secure and to guard, +and she received him as her own lawful but tardy protector, to be +treated with perfect reliance but with a certain playful +resentment. + +'You will not run away from me now,' he said, making full prize of +her hand and arm. + +'Ah! is not she the dearest and best of queens?' and the large eyes +were lifted up to him in such frank seeking of sympathy that he +could see into the depths of their clear darkness. + +'It is her doing then. Though, Eustacie, when I knew the truth, +not flood nor fire should keep me long from you, my heart, my love, +my wife.' + +'What! wife in spite of those villainous letter?' she said, trying +to pout. + +'Wife for ever, inseparably! Only you must be able to swear that +you knew nothing of the one that brought me here.' + +'Poor me! No, indeed! There was Celine carried off at fourteen, +Madame de Blanchet a bride at fifteen; all marrying hither and +thither; and I--' she pulled a face irresistibly droll--'I growing +old enough to dress St. Catherine's hair, and wondering where was +M. le Baron.' + +'They thought me too young,' said Berenger, 'to take on me the +cares of life.' + +'So they were left to me?' + +'Cares! What cares have you but finding the Queen's fan?' + +'Little you know!' she said, half contemptuous, half mortified. + +'Nay, pardon me, _ma mie_. Who has troubled you?' + +'Ah! you would call it nothing to be beset by Narcisse; to be told +one's husband is faithless, till one half believes it; to be looked +at by ugly eyes; to be liable to be teased any day by Monsieur, or +worse, by that mocking ape, M. d'Alecon, and to have nobody who can +or will hinder it.' + +She was sobbing by this time, and he exclaimed, 'Ah, would that I +could revenge all! Never, never shall it be again! What blessed +grace has guarded you through all?' + +'Did I not belong to you?' she said exultingly. 'And had not +Sister Monique, yes, and M. le Baron, striven hard to make me good? +Ah, how kind he was!' + +'My father? Yes, Eustacie, he loved you to the last. He bade me, +on his deathbed, give you his own Book of Psalms, and tell you he +had always loved and prayed for you.' + +'Ah! his Psalms! I shall love them! Even at Bellaise, when first +we came there, we used to sing them, but the Mother Abbess went out +visiting, and when she came back she said they were heretical. And +Soeur Monique would not let me say the texts he taught me, but I +WOULD not forget them. I say them often in my heart.' + +'Then,' he cried joyfully, 'you will willingly embrace my +religion?' + +'Be a Huguenot?' she said distastefully. + +'I am not precisely a Huguenot; I do not love them,' he answered +hastily; 'but all shall be made clear to you at my home in +England.' + +'England!' she said. 'Must we live in England? Away from every +one?' + +'Ah, they will love so much! I shall make you so happy there,' he +answered. 'There you will see what it is to be true and +trustworthy.' + +'I had rather live at Chateau Leurre, or my own Nid de Merle,' she +replied. 'There I should see Soeur Monique, and my aunt, the +Abbess, and we would have the peasants to dance in the castle +court. Oh! if you could but see the orchards at Le Bocage, you +would never want to go away. And we could come now and then to see +my dear Queen. + +'I am glad at least you would not live at court.' + +'Oh, no, I have been more unhappy here than ever I knew could be +borne.' + +And a very few words from him drew out all that had happened to her +since they parted. Her father had sent her to Bellaise, a convent +founded by the first of the Angevin branch, which was presided over +by his sister, and where Diane was also educated. The good sister +Monique had been mistress of the _pensionnaires_, and had evidently +taken much pains to keep her charge innocent and devout. Diane had +been taken to court about two years before, but Eustacie had +remained at the convent till some three months since, when she had +been appointed maid of honour to the recently-married Queen; and +her uncle had fetched her from Anjou, and had informed her at the +same time that her young husband had turned Englishman and heretic, +and that after a few formalities had been complied with, she would +become the wife of her cousin Narcisse. Now there was no person +whom she so much dreaded as Narcisse, and when Berenger spoke of +him as a feeble fop, she shuddered as though she knew him to have +something of the tiger. + +'Do you remember Benoit?' she said; 'poor Benoit, who came to +Normandy as my _laquais_? When I went back to Anjou he married a +girl from Leurre, and went to aid his father at the farm. The poor +fellow had imbibed the Baron's doctrine--he spread it. It was +reported that there was a nest of Huguenots on the estate. My +cousin came to break it up with his _gens d'armes_ O Berenger, he +would hear no entreaties, he had no mercy; he let them assemble on +Sunday, that they might be all together. He fired the house; shot +down those who escaped; if a prisoner were made, gave him up to the +Bishop's Court. Benoit, my poor good Benoit, who used to lead my +palfrey, was first wounded, then tried, and burnt--burnt in the +PLACE at Lucon! I heard Narcisse laugh--laugh as he talked of the +cries of the poor creatures in the conventicler. My own people, +who loved me! I was but twelve years old, but even then the wretch +would pay me a half-mocking courtesy, as one destined to him; and +the more I disdained him and said I belonged to you, the more both +he and my aunt, the Abbess, smiled, as though they had their bird +in a cage; but they left me in peace till my uncle brought me to +court, and then all began again: and when they said you gave me up, +I had no hope, not even of a convent. But ah, it is all over now, +and I am so happy! You are grown so gentle and so beautiful, +Berenger, and so much taller than I ever figured you to myself, and +you look as if you could take me up in your arms, and let no harm +happen to me.' + +'Never, never shall it!' said Berenger, felling all manhood, +strength, and love stir within him, and growing many years in heart +in that happy moment. 'My sweet little faithful wife, never fear +again now you are mine.' + +Alas! poor children. They were a good way from the security they +had begun to fancy for themselves. Early the next morning, +Berenger went in his straightforward way to the King, thanked him, +and requested his sanction for at once producing themselves to the +court as Monsieur le Baron and Madame la Baronne de Ribaumont. + +At this Charles swore a great oath, as one in perplexity, and bade +him not go so fast. + +'See here,' said he, with the rude expletives only too habitual +with him; 'she is a pretty little girl, and she and her lands are +much better with an honest man like you than with that _pendard_ of +a cousin; but you see he is bent on having her, and he belongs to a +cut-throat crew that halt at nothing. I would not answer for your +life, if you tempted him so strongly to rid himself of you.' + +'My own sword, Sire, can guard my life.' + +'Plague upon your sword! What does the foolish youth think it +would do against half-a-dozen poniards and pistols in a lane black +as hell's mouth?' + +The foolish young WAS thinking how could a king so full of fiery +words and strange oaths bear to make such an avowal respecting his +own capital and his own courtiers. All he could do was to bow and +reply, 'Nevertheless, Sire, at whatever risk, I cannot relinquish +my wife; I would take her at one to the Ambassador's.' + +'How, sir!' interrupted Charles, haughtily and angrily, 'if you +forget that you are a French nobleman still, I should remember it! +The Ambassador may protect his own countrymen-none else.' + +'I entreat your Majesty's pardon,' said Berenger, anxious to +retract his false step. 'It was your goodness and the gracious +Queen's that made me hope for your sanction.' + +'All the sanction Charles de Valois can give is yours, and +welcome,' said the King, hastily. 'The sanction of the King of +France is another matter! To say the truth, I see no way out of +the affair but an elopement.' +'Sire!' exclaimed the astonished Berenger, whose strictly- +disciplined education had little prepared him for such counsel. + +'Look you! if I made you known as a wedded pair, the Chevalier and +his son would not only assassinate you, but down on me would come +my brother, and my mother, and M. de Guise and all their crew, +veritably for giving the prize out of the mouth of their satellite, +but nominally for disregarding the Pope, favouring a heretical +marriage, and I know not what, but, as things go here, I should +assuredly get the worst of it; and if you made safely off with your +prize, no one could gainsay you--I need know nothing about it--and +lady and lands would be your without dispute. You might ride off +from the skirts of the forest; I would lead the hunt that way, and +the three days' riding would bring you to Normady, for you had best +cross to England immediately. When she is one there, owned by your +kindred, Monsieur le cousin may gnash his teeth as he will, he must +make the best of it for the sake of the honour of his house, and +you can safely come back and raise her people and yours to follow +the Oriflamme when it takes the field against Spain. What! you are +still discontented? Speak out! Plain speaking is a treat not often +reserved for me.' + +'Sire, I am most grateful for your kindness, but I should greatly +prefer going straightforward.' + +'Peste! Well is it said that a blundering Englishman goes always +right before him! There, then! As your King on the one hand, as +the friend who has brought you and your wife together, sir, it is +my command that you do not compromise me and embroil greater +matters than you can understand by publicly claiming this girl. +Privately I will aid you to the best of my ability; publicly, I +command you, for my sake, if you heed not your own, to be silent!' + +Berenger sought out Sidney, who smiled at his surprise. + +'Do you not see,' he said, 'that the King is your friend, and would +be very glad to save the lady's lands from the Guisards, but that +he cannot say so; he can only befriend a Huguenot by stealth.' + +'I would not be such a king for worlds!' + +However, Eustacie was enchanted. It was like a prince and princess +in Mere Perinne's fairy tales. Could they go like a shepherd and +shepherdess? She had no fears-no scruples. Would she not be with +her husband? It was the most charming frolic in the world. So the +King seemed to think it, though he was determined to call it all +the Queen's doing--the first intrigue of her own, making her like +all the rest of us--the Queen's little comedy. He undertook to +lead the chase as far as possible in the direction of Normandy, +when the young pair might ride on to an inn, meet fresh horses, and +proceed to Chateau Leurre, and thence to England. He would himself +provide a safe-conduct, which, as Berenger suggested, would +represent them as a young Englishman taking home his young wife. +Eustacie wanted at least to masquerade as an Englishwoman, and +played off all the fragments of the language she had caught as a +child, but Berenger only laughed at her, and said they just fitted +the French bride. It was very pretty to laugh at Eustacie; she +made such a droll pretence at pouting with her rosebud lips, and +her merry velvety eyes belied them so drolly. + +Such was to be the Queen's pastoral; but when Elisabeth found the +responsibility so entirely thrown on her, she began to look grave +and frightened. It was no doubt much more than she had intended +when she brought about the meeting between the young people, and +the King, who had planned the elopement, seemed still resolved to +make all appear her affair. She looked all day more like the +grave, spiritless being she was at court than like the bright young +rural queen of the evening before, and she was long in her little +oratory chapel in the evening. Berenger, who was waiting in the +hall with the other Huguenot gentlemen, thought her devotions +interminable since they delayed all her ladies. At length, +however, a page came up to him, and said in a low voice, 'The Queen +desires the presence of M. le Baron de Ribaumont.' + +He followed the messenger, and found himself in the little chapel, +before a gaily-adorned altar, and numerous little shrines and +niches round. Sidney would have dreaded a surreptitious attempt to +make him conform, but Berenger had no notion of such perils,--he +only saw that Eustacie was standing by the Queen's chair, and a +kindly-looking Austrian priest, the Queen's confessor, held a book +in his hand. + +The Queen came to meet him. 'For my sake,' she said, with all her +sweetness, 'to ease my mind, I should like to see my little +Eustacie made entirely your own ere you go. Father Meinhard tells +me it is safer that, when the parties were under twelve years old, +the troth should be again exchanged. No other ceremony is needed.' + +'I desire nothing but to have her made indissolubly my own,' said +Berenger, bowing. + +'And the King permits,' added Elisabeth. + +The King growled out, 'It is your comedy, Madame; I meddle not.' + +The Austrian priest had no common language with Berenger but Latin. +He asked a few questions, and on hearing the answers, declared that +the sacrament of marriage had been complete, but that--as was often +done in such cases--he would once more hear the troth-plight of the +young pair. The brief formula was therefore at once exchanged--the +King, when the Queen looked entreatingly at him, rousing himself to +make the bride over to Berenger. As soon as the vows had been +made, in the briefest manner, the King broke in boisterously: +'There, you are twice marred, to please Madame there; but hold your +tongues all of you about this scene in the play.' + +Then almost pushing Eustacie over to Berenger, he added, 'There she +is! Take your wife, sir; but mind, she was as much yours before as +she is now.' + +But for all Berenger had said about 'his wife,' it was only now +that he really FELT her his own, and became husband rather than +lover-man instead of boy. She was entirely his own now, and he +only desired to be away with her; but some days' delay was +necessary. A chase on the scale of the one that was to favour +their evasion could not be got up without some notice; and, +moreover, it was necessary to procure money, for neither Sidney nor +Ribaumont had more than enough with them for the needful +liberalities to the King's servants and huntsmen. Indeed Berenger +had spent all that remained in his purse upon the wares of an +Italian pedlar whom he and Eustacie met in the woods, and whose +gloves 'as sweet as fragrant posies,' fans, scent-boxes, pocket +mirrors, Genoa wire, Venice chains, and other toys, afforded him +the mean of making up the gifts that he wished to carry home to his +sisters; and Eustacie's counsel was merrily given in the choice. +And when the vendor began with a meaning smile to recommend to the +young pair themselves a little silver-netted heart as a love-token, +and it turned out that all Berenger's money was gone, so that it +could not be bought without giving up the scented casket destined +for Lucy, Eustacie turned with her sweetest, proudest smile, and +said, 'No, no; I will not have it; what do we two want with love- +tokens now?' + +Sidney had taken the youthful and romantic view of the case, and +considered himself to be taking the best possible bare of is young +friend, by enabling him to deal honourably with so charming a +little wife as Eustacie. Ambassador and tutor would doubtless be +very angry; but Sidney could judge for himself of the lady, and he +therefore threw himself into her interests, and sent his servant +back to Paris to procure the necessary sum for the journey of +Master Henry Berenger and Mistress Mary, his wife. Sidney was, on +his return alone to Paris, to explain all to the elders, and pacify +them as best he could; and his servant was already the bearer of a +letter from Berenger that was to be sent at once to England with +Walsingham's dispatches, to prepare Lord Walwyn for the arrival of +the runaways. The poor boy laboured to be impressively calm and +reasonable in his explanation of the misrepresentation, and of his +strong grounds for assuming his rights, with his persuasion that +his wife would readily join the English church--a consideration +that he knew would greatly smooth the way for her. Indeed, his own +position was impregnable: nobody could blame him for taking his own +wife to himself, and he was so sure of her charms, that he troubled +himself very little about the impression she might make on his +kindred. If they loved her, it was all right; if not, he could +take her back to his own castle, and win fame and honour under the +banner of France in the Low Countries. As the Lucy Thistlewood, +she was far too discreet to feel any disappointment or displeasure; +or if she should, it was her own fault and that of his mother, for +all her life she had known him to be married. So he finished his +letter with a message that the bells should be ready to ring, and +that when Philip heard three guns fired on the coast, he might +light the big beacon pile above the Combe. + +Meantime 'the Queen's Pastoral' was much relished by all the +spectators. The state of things was only avowed to Charles, +Elisabeth, and Philip Sidney, and even the last did not know of the +renewed troth which the King chose to treat as such a secret; but +no one had any doubt of the mutual relations of M. de Ribaumont and +Mdlle. de Nid de Merle, and their dream of bliss was like a +pastoral for the special diversion of the holiday of Montpipeau. +The transparency of their indifference in company, their meeting +eyes, their trysts with the secrecy of an ostrich, were the +subjects of constant amusement to the elders, more especially as +the shyness, blushes, and caution were much more on the side of the +young husband than on that of the lady. Fresh from her convent, +simple with childishness and innocence, it was to her only the +natural completion of her life to be altogether Berenger's, and the +brief concealment of their full union added a certain romantic +enchantment, which added to her exultation in her victory over her +cruel kindred. She had been upon her own mind, poor child, for her +few weeks of court life. She had been upon her own mind, poor +child, for her few weeks of court life, but not long enough to make +her grow older, though just so long as to make the sense of her +having her own protector with her doubly precious. He, on the +other hand, though full of happiness, did also feel constantly +deepening on him the sense of the charge and responsibility he had +assumed, hardly knowing how. The more dear Eustacie became to him, +the more she rested on him and became entirely his, the more his +boyhood and INSOUCIANCE drifted away behind him; and while he could +hardly bear to heave his darling a moment out of his sight, the +less he could endure any remark or jest upon his affection for her. +His home had been a refined one, where Cecile's convent purity +seemed to diffuse an atmosphere of modest reserve such as did not +prevail in the court of the Maiden Queen herself, and the lad of +eighteen had not seem enough of the outer world to have rubbed off +any of that grace. His seniority to his little wife seemed to show +itself chiefly in his being put out of countenance for her, when +she was too innocent and too proud of her secret matronhood to +understand or resent the wit. + +Little did he know that this was the ballet-like interlude in a +great and terrible tragedy, whose first act was being played out on +the stage where they schemed and sported, like their own little +drama, which was all the world to them, and noting to the others. +Berenger knew indeed that the Admiral was greatly rejoiced that the +Nid de Merle estates should go into Protestant hands, and that the +old gentleman lost no opportunity of impressing on him that they +were a heavy trust, to be used for the benefit of 'the Religion,' +and for the support of the King in his better mind. But it may be +feared that he did not give a very attentive ear to all this. He +did not like to think of those estates; he would gladly have left +them all the Narcisse, so that he might have their lady, and though +quite willing to win his spurs under Charles and Coligny against +the Spaniard, his heart and head were far too full to take in the +web of politics. Sooth to say, the elopement in prospect seemed to +him infinitely more important than Pope or Spaniard, Guise or +Huguenot, and Coligny observed with a sigh to Teligny that he was a +good boy, but nothing but the merest boy, with eyes open only to +himself. + +When Charles undertook to rehearse their escape with them, and the +Queen drove out in a little high-wheeled litter with Mne. la +Comtesse, while Mme. De Sauve and Eustacie were mounted on gay +palfreys with the pommelled side-saddle lately invented by the +Queen-mother, Berenger, as he watched the fearless horsemanship and +graceful bearing of his newly-won wife, had no speculations to +spend on the thoughtful face of the Admiral. And when at the +outskirts of the wood the King's bewildering hunting-horn--sounding +as it were now here, now there, now low, now high--called every +attendant to hasten to its summons, leaving the young squire and +damsel errant with a long winding high-banked lane before them, +they reckoned the dispersion to be all for their sakes, and did not +note, as did Sidney's clear eye, that when the entire company had +come straggling him, it was the King who came up with Mme. De Sauve +almost the last; and a short space after, as if not to appear to +have been with him, appeared the Admiral and his son-in-law. + +Sidney also missed one of the Admiral's most trusted attendants, +and from this and other symptoms he formed his conclusions that the +King had scattered his followers as much for the sake of an +unobserved conference with Coligny as for the convenience of the +lovers, and that letters had been dispatched in consequence of that +meeting. + +Those letters were indeed of a kind to change the face of affairs +in France. Marshal Strozzi, then commanding in the south-west, was +bidden to embark at La Rochelle in the last week of August, to +hasten to the succour of the Prince of Orange against Spain, and +letters were dispatched by Coligny to all the Huguenot partisans +bidding them assemble at Melun on the third of September, when they +would be in the immediate neighbourhood of the court, which was +bound for Fontainebleau. Was the star of the Guises indeed waning? +Was Charles about to escape from their hands, and commit himself to +an honest, high-minded policy, in which he might have been able to +purify his national Church, and wind back to her those whom her +corruptions had driven to seek truth and morality beyond her pale? + +Alas! there was a bright pair of eyes that saw more than Philip +Sidney's, a pair of ears that heard more, a tongue and pen less +faithful to guard a secret. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. 'LE BROUILON' + + + +But never more the same two sister pearls +Ran down the silken thread to kiss each other.--Tennyson + + +Berenger was obliged to crave permission from the King to spend +some hours in riding with Osbert to the first hostel on their way, +to make arrangements for the relay of horses that was to meet them +there, and for the reception of Veronique, Eustacie's maid, who was +to be sent off very early in the morning on a pillion behind +Osbert, taking with her the articles of dress that would be wanted +to change her mistress from the huntress maid of honour to the +English dame. + +It was not long after he had been gone that a sound of wheels and +trampling horses was heard in one of the forest drives. Charles, +who was amusing himself with shooting at a mark together with +Sidney and Teligny, handed his weapon to an attendant, and came up +with looks of restless anxiety to his Queen, who was placed in her +chair under the tree, with the Admiral and her ladies round her, as +judges of the prize. + +'Here is _le brouillon_,' he muttered. 'I thought we had been left +in peace too long.' + +Elisabeth, who Brantome says was water, while her husband was fire, +tried to murmur some hopeful suggestion; and poor little Eustacie, +clasping her hands, could scarcely refrain from uttering the cry, +'Oh, it is my uncle! Do not let him take me!' + +The next minute there appeared four horses greatly heated and +jaded, drawing one of the court coaches; and as it stopped at the +castle gate, two ladies became visible within it--the portly form +of Queen Catherine, and on the back seat the graceful figure of +Diane de Ribaumont. + +Charles swore a great oath under his breath. He made a step +forward, but then his glance falling on Eustacie's face, which had +flushed to the rosiest hue of the carnation, he put his finger upon +his lip with a menacing air, and then advanced to greet his mother, +followed by his gentlemen. + +'Fear not, my dear child,' said the young Queen, taking Eustacie's +arm as she rose for the same purpose. 'Obey the King, and he will +take care that all goes well.' + +The gentle Elisabeth was, however, the least regarded member of the +royal family. Her mother-in-law had not even waited to greet her, +but had hurried the King into his cabinet, with a precipitation +that made the young Queen's tender heart conclude that some +dreadful disaster had occurred, and before Mademoiselle de +Ribaumont had had time to make her reverence, she exclaimed, +breathlessly, 'Oh, is it ill news? Not from Vienna?' + +'No, no, Madame; reassure yourself,' replied Diane; 'it is merely +that her Majesty, being on the way to Monceaux with Mesdames, +turned out of her road to make a flying visit to your graces, and +endeavour to persuade you to make her party complete.' + +Elisabeth looked as if questioning with herself if this would +possibly be the whole explanation. Monceaux was a castle belonging +to the Queen Dowager at no great distance from Montpipeau, but +there had been no intention of leaving Paris before the wedding, +which was fixed for the seventeenth of August, and the bridegroom +was daily expected. She asked who was the party at Monceaux, and +was told that Madame de Nemours had gone thither the evening +before, with her son, M. de Guise, to make ready; and that Monsieur +was escorting thither his two sisters, Madame de Lorraine and +Madame Marguerite. The Queen-mother had set out before them very +early in the morning. + +'You must have made great speed,' said Elisabeth; 'it is scarcely +two o'clock.' + +'Truly we did, Madame; two of our horses even died upon the road; +but the Queen was anxious to find the King ere he should set off on +one of his long chases.' + +Diane, at every spare moment, kept her eyes interrogatively fixed +on her cousin, and evidently expected that the taciturn Queen, to +whom a long conversation, in any language but Spanish, was always a +grievance, would soon dismiss them both; and Eustacie did not know +whether to be thankful or impatient, as Elisabeth, with tardy, +hesitating, mentally-translated speech, inquired into every +circumstance of the death of the poor horses, and then into all the +court gossip, which she was currently supposed neither to hear nor +understand; and then bethought herself that this good Mademoiselle +de Ribaumont could teach her that embroidery stitch she had so long +wished to learn. Taking her arm, she entered the hall, and +produced her work, so as effectually to prevent any communication +between the cousins; Eustacie, meanwhile her heart clinging to her +friend, felt her eyes filling with tears at the thoughts of how +unkind her morrow's flight would seem without one word of farewell +or of confidence, and was already devising tokens of tenderness to +be left behind for Diane's consolation, when the door of the +cabinet opened, and Catherine sailed down the stairs, with her +peculiar gliding step and sweep of dignity. The King followed her +with a face of irresolution and distress. He was evidently under +her displeasure; but she advanced to the young Queen with much +graciousness, and an air of matronly solicitude. + +'My daughter,' she said, 'I have just assured the King that I +cannot leave you in these damp forests. I could not be responsible +for the results of the exposure any longer. It is for him to make +his own arrangements, but I brought my coach empty on purpose to +transport you and your ladies to Monceaux. + +The women may follow with the mails. You can be ready as soon as +the horses are harnessed.' + +Elisabeth was used to passiveness. She turned one inquiring look +to her husband, but he looked sullen, and, evidently cowed by his +mother, uttered not a word. She could only submit, and Catherine +herself add that there was room for Madame de Sauve and +Mademoiselle de Nid de Merle. Madame la Comtesse should follow! +It was self-evident that propriety would not admit of the only +demoiselle being left behind among the gentlemen. Poor Eustacie, +she looked mutely round as if she hoped to escape! What was the +other unkindness to this? And ever under the eyes of Diane too, +who followed her to their chamber, when she went to prepare, so +that she could not even leave a token for him where he would have +been most certain to find it. Moments were few; but at the very +last, while the queens were being handed in the carriage, she +caught the eye of Philip Sidney. He saw the appealing look, and +came near. She tried to laugh. 'Here is my gage, Monsieur +Sidney,' she said, and held out a rose-coloured knot of ribbon; +then, as he came near enough, she whispered imploringly three of +her few English words-- + +'Give to HIM.' + +'I take the gage as it is meant,' said Sidney, putting a knee to +the ground, and kissing the trembling fingers, ere he handed her +into the carriage. He smiled and waved his hand as he met her +earnest eyes. One bow contained a scrap of paper pricked with +needle-holes. Sidney would not have made out those pricks for the +whole world, even had he been able to do more than hastily secure +the token, before the unhappy King, with a paroxysm of violent +interjections, demanded of him whether the Queen of England, woman +though she were, ever were so beset, and never allowed a moment to +herself; then, without giving time for an answer, he flung away to +his cabinet, and might be heard pacing up and down there in a +tempest of perplexity. He came forth only to order his horse, and +desire M. de Sauve and a few grooms to be ready instantly to ride +with him. His face was full of pitiable perplexity--the smallest +obstacle was met with a savage oath; and he was evidently in all +the misery of a weak yet passionate nature, struggling with +impotent violence against a yoke that evidently mastered it. + +He flung a word to his guests that he should return ere night, and +they thus perceived that he did not intend their dismissal. + +'Poor youth,' said Coligny, mildly, 'he will be another being when +we have him in our camp with the King of Navarre for his +companion.' + +And then the Admiral repaired to his chamber to write one of his +many fond letters to the young wife of his old age; while his son- +in-law and Philip Sidney agreed to ride on, so as to met poor young +Ribaumont, and prepare him for the blow that had befallen him +personally, while they anxiously debated what this sudden descent +of the Queen-mother might portend. Teligny was ready to believe in +any evil intention on her part, but he thought himself certain of +the King's real sentiments, and in truth Charles had never treated +any man with such confidence as this young Huguenot noble, to whom +he had told his opinion of each of his counsellors, and his +complete distrust of all. That pitying affection which clings to +those who cling to it, as well as a true French loyalty of heart, +made Teligny fully believe that however Catherine might struggle to +regain her ascendancy, and whatever apparent relapses might be +caused by Charles's habitual subjection to her, yet the high +aspirations and strong sense of justice inherent in the King were +asserting themselves as his youth was passing into manhood; and +that the much-desired war would enable him to develop all his +higher qualities. Sidney listened, partially agreed, talked of +caution, and mused within himself whether violence might not +sometimes be mistaken for vigour. + +Ere long, the merry cadence of an old English song fell with a +homelike sound upon Sidney's ear, and in another moment they were +in sight of Berenger, trotting joyously along, with a bouquet of +crimson and white heather-blossoms in his hand, and his bright +young face full of exultation in his arrangements. He shouted +gaily as he saw them, calling out, 'I thought I should meet you! +but I wondered not to have heard the King's bugle-horn. Where are +the rest of the hunters?' + +'Unfortunately we have had another sort of hunt to-day,' said +Sidney, who had ridden forward to meet him; 'and one that I fear, +will disquiet you greatly.' + +'How! Not her uncle?' exclaimed Berenger. + +'No, cheer up, my friend, it was not she who was the object of the +chase; it was this unlucky King,' he added, speaking English, 'who +has been run to earth by his mother.' + +'Nay, but what is that to me?' said Berenger, with impatient +superiority to the affairs of the nation. 'How does it touch us?' + +Sidney related the abstraction of the young Queen and her ladies, +and then handed over the rose-coloured token, which Berenger took +with vehement ardour; then his features quivered as he read the +needle-pricked words-two that he had playfully insisted on her +speaking and spelling after him in his adopted tongue, then not +vulgarized, but the tenderest in the language, 'Sweet heart.' That +was all, but to him they conveyed constancy to him and his, +whatever might betide, and an entreaty not to leave her to her +fate. + +'My dearest! never!' he muttered; then turning hastily as he put +the precious token into his bosom, he exclaimed, 'Are their women +yet gone?' and being assured that they were not departed when the +two friends had set out, he pushed his horse on at speed, so as to +be able to send a reply by Veronique. He was barely in time: the +clumsy wagon-like conveyance of the waiting-women stood at the door +of the castle, in course of being packed with the Queen's wardrobe, +amid the janglings of lackeys, and expostulating cries of _femmes +de chambre_, all in the worst possible humour at being crowded up +with their natural enemies, the household of the Queen-mother. + +Veronique, a round-faced Angevin girl--who, like her lady, had not +parted with all her rustic simplicity and honesty, and who had been +necessarily taken into their confidence--was standing apart from +the whirl of confusion, holding the leashes of two or three little +dogs that had been confided to her care, that their keepers might +with more ease throw themselves into the _melee_. Her face lighted +up as she saw the Baron de Ribaumont arrive. + +'Ah, sir, Madame will be so happy that I have seen Monsieur once +more,' she exclaimed under her breath, as he approached her. + +'Alas! there is not a moment to write,' he said, looking at the +vehicle, already fast filling, 'but give her these flowers; they +were gathered for her; give her ten thousand thanks for her token. +Tell her to hold firm, and that neither king nor queen, bolt nor +bar, shall keep me from her. Tell her, our watchword is HOPE.' + +The sharp eyes of the duenna of the Queen's household, a rigid +Spanish dame, were already searching for stray members of her +flock, and Veronique had to hurry to her place, while Berenger +remained to hatch new plans, each wilder than the last, and torment +himself with guesses whether his project had been discovered. +Indeed, there were moments when he fancied the frustration of his +purpose the special object of Queen Catherine's journey, but he had +the wisdom to keep any such suggestion to himself. + +The King came back by supper-time, looking no longer in a state of +indecision, but pale and morose. He spoke to no one as he entered, +and afterwards took his place at the head of the supper-table in +silence, which he did not break till the meal was nearly over. +Then he said abruptly, 'Gentlemen, our party has been broken up, +and I imagine that after our great hunt tomorrow, no one will have +any objection to return to Paris. We shall have merrier sport at +Fontainebleau when this most troublesome of weddings is over.' + +There was nothing to be done but to bow acquiescence, and the King +again became grimly silent. After supper he challenged Coligny to +a game of chess, and not a word passed during the protracted +contest, either from the combatants or any other person in the +hall. It was as if the light had suddenly gone out to others +besides the disappointed and anxious Berenger, and a dull shadow +had fallen on the place only yesterday so lively, joyous, and +hopeful. + +Berenger, chained by the etiquette of the royal presence, sat like +a statue, his back against the wall, his arms crossed on his +breast, his eyes fixed, chewing the cud of the memories of his +dream of bliss, or striving to frame the future to his will, and to +decide what was the next reasonable step he could take, or whether +his irrepressible longing to ride straight off to Monceaux, claim +his wife, and take her on horseback behind him, were a mere +impracticable vision. + +The King, having been checkmated twice out of three times by the +Admiral, too honest a man not truly to accept his declaration of +not wanting courtly play, pushed away the board, and was attended +by them all to his COUCHER, which was usually made in public; and +the Queen being absent, the gentlemen were required to stand around +him till he was ready to fall asleep. He did not seem disposed to +talk, but begged Sidney to fetch his lute, and sing to him some +English airs that had taken his fancy much when sung by Sidney and +Berenger together. + +Berenger felt as if they would choke him in his present turbid +state of resentful uncertainty; but even as the unhappy young King +spoke, it was with a heavy, restless groan, as he added, 'If you +know any lullaby that will give rest to a wretch tormented beyond +bearing, let us have it.' + +'Alas, Sire!' said the Admiral, seeing that no perilous ears +remained in the room; 'there are better and more soothing words +than any mundane melody.' + +'_Peste_! My good father,' said the King, petulantly, 'has not old +Phlipote, my nurse, rocked me to the sound of your Marot's Psalms, +and crooned her texts over me? I tell you I do not want to think. +I want what will drive thought away--to dull---' + +'Alas! what dulls slays,' said the Admiral. + +'Let it. Nothing can be worse than the present,' said the wretched +Charles; then, as if wishing to break away from Coligny, he threw +himself round towards Berenger, and said, 'Here; stoop down, +Ribaumont; a word with you. Your matters have gone up the +mountains, as the Italians say, with mine. But never fear. Keep +silence, and you shall have the bird in your hand, only you must be +patient. Hold! I will make you and Monsieur Sidney gentlemen of my +bed-chamber, which will give you the _entree_ of the Louvre; and if +you cannot get her out of it without an _eclat_, then you must be a +much duller fellow than half my court. Only that it is not their +own wives that they abstract. + +With this Berenger must needs content himself; and the certainty of +the poor King's good-will did enable him to do his part with Sidney +in the songs that endeavoured to soothe the torments of the evil +spirit which had on that day effected a fresh lodgment in that +weak, unwilling heart. + +It was not till the memoirs of the secret actors in this tragedy +were brought to light that the key to these doings was discovered. +M. de Sauve, Charles's secretary, had disclosed his proceedings to +his wife; she, flattered by the attentions of the Duke of Anjou, +betrayed them to him; and the Queen-mother, terrified at the change +of policy, and the loss of the power she had enjoyed for so many +years, had hurried to the spot. + +Her influence over her son resembled the fascination of a snake: +once within her reach he was unable to resist her; and when in +their _tete-a-tete_ she reproached him with ill-faith towards her, +prophesied the overthrow of the Church, the desertion of his +allies, the ruin of his throne, and finally announced her intention +of hiding her head in her own hereditary estates in Auvergne, +begging, as a last favour, that he would give his brother time to +quit France instead of involving him in his own ruin, the poor +young man's whole soul was in commotion. His mother knew her +strength, left the poison to work, and withdrew in displeasure to +Monceaux, sure that, as in effect happened, he would not be long in +following her, imploring her not to abandon him, and making an +unconditional surrender of himself, his conscience, and his friends +into her hands. Duplicity was so entirely the element of the +court, that, even while thus yielding himself, it was as one +checked, but continuing the game; he still continued his connection +with the Huguenots, hoping to succeed in his aims by some future +counter-intrigue; and his real hatred of the court policy, and the +genuine desire to make common cause with them, served his mother's +purpose completely, since his cajolery thus became sincere. Her +purpose was, probably, not yet formed. It was power that she +loved, and hoped to secure by the intrigues she had played off all +her life; but she herself was in the hands of an infinitely more +bloodthirsty and zealous faction, who could easily accomplish their +ends by working on the womanly terrors of an unscrupulous mind. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE WEDDING WITH CRIMSON FAVOURS + + + +And trust me not at all or all in all.--TENNYSON + + +So extensive was the Louvre, so widely separated the different +suites of apartments, that Diane and Eustacie had not met after the +pall-mall party till they sat opposite to their several queens in +the coach driving through the woods, the elder cousin curiously +watching the eyes of the younger, so wistfully gazing at the +window, and now and then rapidly winking as though to force back a +rebellious tear. + +The cousins had been bred up together in the convent at Bellaise, +and had only been separated by Diane's having been brought to court +two years sooner than Eustacie. They had always been on very +kindly, affectionate terms; Diane treating her little cousin with +the patronage of an elder sister, and greatly contributing to +shield her from the temptations of the court. The elder cousin was +so much the more handsome, brilliant, and admired, that no notion +of rivalry had crossed her mind; and Eustacie's inheritance was +regarded by her as reserved for her brother, and the means of +aggradizement an prosperity for herself and her father. She looked +upon the child as a sort of piece of property of the family, to be +guarded and watched over for her brother; and when she had first +discovered the error that the young baron was making between the +two daughters of the house, it was partly in kindness to Eustacie, +partly to carry out her father's plans, and partly from her own +pleasure in conversing with anything so candid and fresh as +Berenger, that she had maintained the delusion. Her father +believed himself to have placed Berenger so entirely in the +background, that he would hardly be at court long enough to +discover the imposition; and Diane was not devoid of a strong hope +of winning his affection and bending his will so as to induce him +to become her husband, and become a French courtier for her sake--a +wild dream, but a better castle in the air than she had ever yet +indulged in. + +This arrangement was, however, disconcerted by the King's passion +for Sidney's society, which brought young Ribaumont also to court; +and at the time of the mischievous introduction by Madame +Marguerite, Diane had perceived that the mistake would soon be +found out, and that she should no longer be able to amuse herself +with the fresh-coloured, open-faced boy who was unlike all her +former acquaintance; but the magnetism that shows a woman when she +produces an effect had been experienced by her, and she had been +sure that a few efforts more would warm and mould the wax in her +fingers. That he should prefer a little brown thing, whose beauty +was so inferior to her own, had never crossed her mind; she did not +even know that he was invited to the pall-mall party, and was +greatly taken by surprise when her father sought an interview with +her, accused her of betraying their interests, and told her that +this foolish young fellow declared that he had been mistaken, and +having now discovered his veritable wife, protested against +resigning her. + +By that time the whole party were gone to Montpipeau, but that the +Baron was among them was not known at the Louvre until Queen +Catherine, who had always treated Diane as rather a favoured, +quick-witted _protegee_, commanded her attendance, and on her way +let her know that Madame de Sauve had reported that, among all the +follies that were being perpetrated at the hunting-seat, the young +Queen was absolutely throwing the little Nid-de-Merle into the arms +of her Huguenot husband, and that if measures were not promptly +taken all the great estates in the Bocage would be lost to the +young Chevalier, and be carried over to the Huguenot interest. + +Still Diane could not believe that it was so much a matter of love +as that the young had begun to relish court favour and to value the +inheritance, and she could quite believe her little cousin had been +flattered by a few attentions that had no meaning in them. She was +not prepared to find that Eustacie shrank from her, and tried to +avoid a private interview. In truth, the poor child had received +such injunctions from the Queen, and so stern a warning look from +the King, that she durst not utter a syllable of the evening that +had sealed her lot, and was so happy with her secret, so used to +tell everything to Diane, so longing to talk of her husband, that +she was afraid of betraying herself if once they were alone +together. Yet Diane, knowing that her father trusted to her to +learn how far things had gone, and piqued at seeing the transparent +little creature, now glowing and smiling with inward bliss, now +pale, pensive, sighing, and anxious, and scorning her as too +childish for the love that she seemed to affect, was resolved on +obtaining confidence from her. + +And when the whole female court had sat down to the silk embroidery +in which Catherine de Medicis excelled, Diane seated herself in the +recess of a window and beckoned her cousin to her side, so that it +was not possible to disobey. + +'Little one,' she said, 'why have you cast off your poor cousin? +There, sit down'--for Eustacie stood, with her silk in her hand, as +if meaning instantly to return to her former place; and now, her +cheeks in a flame, she answered in an indignant whisper, 'You know, +Diane! How could you try to keep him from me?' + +'Because it was better for thee, my child, than to be pestered with +an adventurer,' she said, smiling, though bitterly. + +'My husband!' returned Eustacie proudly. + +'Bah! You know better than that!' Then, as Eustacie was about to +speak, but checked herself, Diane added, 'Yes, my poor friend, he +has a something engaging about him, and we all would have hindered +you from the pain and embarrassment of a meeting with him.' + +Eustacie smiled a little saucy smile, as though infinitely superior +to them all. + +'_Pauvre petite_,' said Diane, nettled; 'she actually believes in +his love.' + +'I will not hear a word against my husband!' said Eustacie, +stepping back, as if to return to her place, but Diane rose and +laid her hand on hers. 'My dear,' she said, 'we must no part thus. +I only wish to know what touches my darling so nearly. I thought +she loved and clung to us; why should she have turned from me for +the sake of one who forgot her for half his life? What can he have +done to master this silly little heart?' + +'I cannot tell you, Diane,' said Eustacie, simply; and though she +looked down, the colour on her face was more of a happy glow than a +conscious blush. 'I love him too much; only we understand each +other now, and it is of no use to try to separate us.' + +'Ah, poor little thing, so she thinks,' said Diane; and as Eustacie +again smiled as one incapable of being shaken in her conviction, +she added, 'And how do you know that he loves you?' + +Diane was startled by the bright eyes that flashed on her and the +bright colour that made Eustacie perfectly beautiful, as she +answered, 'Because I am his wife! That is enough!' Then, before +her cousin could speak again, 'But, Diane, I promised not to speak +of it. I know he would despise me if I broke my word, so I will +not talk to you till I have leave to tell you all, and I am going +back to help Gabrielle de Limeuil with her shepherdess.' + +Mademoiselle de Ribaumont felt her attempt most unsatisfactory, but +she knew of old that Eustacie was very determined--all Bellaise +know that to oppose the tiny Baronne was to make her headstrong in +her resolution; and if she suspected that she was coaxed, she only +became more obstinate. To make any discoveries, Diane must take +the line of most cautious caresses, such as to throw her cousin off +her guard; and this she was forced to confess to her father when he +sought an interview with her on the day of her return to Paris. He +shook his head. She must be on the watch, he said, and get quickly +into the silly girl's confidence. What! had she not found out that +the young villain had been on the point of eloping with her? If +such a thing as that should succeed, the whole family was lost, and +she was the only person who could prevent it. He trusted to her. + +The Chevalier had evidently come to regard his niece as his son's +lawful property, and the Baron as the troublesome meddler; and +Diane had much the same feeling, enhanced by sore jealousy at +Eustacie's triumph over her, and curiosity as to whether it could +be indeed well founded. She had an opportunity of judging the same +evening--mere habit always caused Eustacie to keep under her wing, +if she could not be near the Queen, whenever there was a reception, +and to that reception of course Berenger came, armed with his right +as gentleman of the bedchamber. Eustacie was colouring and +fluttering, as if by the instinct of his presence, even before the +tall fair head became visible, moving forward as well as the crowd +would permit, and seeking about with anxious eyes. The glances of +the blue and the black eyes met at last, and a satisfied radiance +illuminated each young face; then the young man steered his way +through the throng, but was caught midway by Coligny, and led up to +be presented to a hook-nosed, dark-haired, lively-looking young +man, in a suit of black richly laced with silver. It was the King +of Navarre, the royal bridegroom, who had entered Paris in state +that afternoon. Eustacie tried to be proud of the preferment, but +oh! she thought it mistimed, and was gratified to mark certain +wandering of the eye even while the gracious King was speaking. +Then the Admiral said something that brought the girlish rosy flush +up to the very roots of the short curls of flaxen hair, and made +the young King's white teeth flash out in a mirthful, good-natured +laugh, and thereupon the way opened, and Berenger was beside the +two ladies, kissing Eustacie's hand, but merely bowing to Diane. + +She was ready to take the initiative. + +'My cousins deem me unpardonable,' she said; 'yet I am going to +purchase their pardon. See this cabinet of porcelain _a le Reine_, +and Italian vases and gems, behind this curtain. There is all the +siege of Troy, which M. le Baron will not doubt explain to +Mademoiselle, while I shall sit on this cushion, and endure the +siege of St. Quentin from the _bon_ Sieur de Selinville.' + +Monsieur de Selinville was the court bore, who had been in every +battle from Pavia to Montcontour, and gave as full memoirs of each +as did Blaise de Monluc, only _viva voce_ instead of in writing. +Diane was rather a favourite of his; she knew her way through all +his adventures. So soon as she had heard the description of the +King of Navarre's entry into Paris that afternoon, and the old +gentleman's lamentation that his own two nephews were among the +three hundred Huguenot gentleman who had formed the escort, she had +only to observe whether his reminiscences had gone to Italy or to +Flanders in order to be able to put in the appropriate remarks at +each pause, while she listened all the while to the murmurs behind +the curtain. Yet it was not easy, with all her court breeding, to +appear indifferent, and solely absorbed in hearing of the bad +lodgings that had fallen to the share of the royal troops at +Brescia, when such sounds were reaching her. It was not so much +the actual words she heard, though these were the phrases--'-mon +ange_, my heart, my love;' those were common, and Diane had lived +in the Queen-mother's squadron long enough to despise those who +uttered them only less than those who believed them. It was the +full depth of tenderness and earnestness, in the subdued tones of +the voice, that gave her a sense of quiet force and reality beyond +all she had ever known. She had heard and overheard men pour out +frantic ravings of passion, but never had listened to anything like +the sweet protecting tenderness of voice that seemed to embrace and +shelter its object. Diane had no doubts now; he had never so +spoken to her; nay, perhaps he had had no such cadences in his +voice before. It was quite certain that Eustacie was everything to +him, she herself nothing; she who might have had any gallant in the +court at her feet, but had never seen one whom she could believe +in, whose sense of esteem had been first awakened by this stranger +lad who despised her. Surely he was loving this foolish child +simply as his duty; his belonging, as his right he might struggle +hard for her, and if he gained her, be greatly disappointed; for +how could Eustacie appreciate him, little empty-headed, silly +thing, who would be amused and satisfied by any court flatterer? + +However, Diane held out and played her part, caught scraps of the +conversation, and pieced them together, yet avoided all appearance +of inattention to M. de Selinville, and finally dismissed him, and +manoeuvred first Eustacie, and after a safe interval Berenger, out +of the cabinet. The latter bowed as he bade her good night, and +said, with the most open and cordial of smiles, 'Cousin, I thank +you with all my heart.' + +The bright look seemed to her another shaft. 'What happiness!' +said she to herself. 'Can I overthrow it? Bah! it will crumble of +its own accord, even if I did nothing! And my father and brother!' + +Communication with her father and brother was not always easy to +Diane, for she lived among the Queen-mother's ladies. Her brother +was quartered in a sort of barrack among the gentlemen of +Monsieur's suite, and the old Chevalier was living in the room +Berenger had taken for him at the Croix de Lorraine, and it was +only on the most public days that they attended at the palace. +Such a day, however, there was on the ensuing Sunday, when Henry of +Navarre and Marguerite of France were to be wedded. Their +dispensation was come, but, to the great relief of Eustacie, there +was no answer with it to the application for the CASSATION of her +marriage. In fact, this dispensation had never emanated from the +Pope at all. Rome would not sanction the union of a daughter of +France with a Huguenot prince; and Charles had forged the document, +probably with his mother's knowledge, in the hope of spreading her +toils more completely round her prey, while he trusted that the +victims might prove too strong for her, and destroy her web, and in +breaking forth might release himself. + +Strange was the pageant of that wedding on Sunday, the 17th of +August, 1572. The outward seeming was magnificent, when all that +was princely in France stood on the splendidly decked platform in +front of Notre-Dame, around the bridegroom in the bright promise of +his kingly endowments, and the bride in her peerless beauty. +Brave, noble-hearted, and devoted were the gallant following of the +one, splendid and highly gifted the attendants of the other; and +their union seemed to promise peace to a long distracted kingdom. + +Yet what an abyss lay beneath those trappings! The bridegroom and +his comrades were as lions in the toils of the hunter, and the lure +that had enticed them thither was the bride, herself so unwilling a +victim that her lips refused to utter the espousal vows, and her +head as force forward by her brother into a sign of consent; while +the favoured lover of her whole lifetime agreed to the sacrifice in +order to purchase the vengeance for which he thirsted, and her +mother, the corrupter of her own children, looked complacently on +at her ready-dug pit of treachery and bloodshed. + +Among the many who played unconscious on the surface of that gulf +of destruction, were the young creatures whose chief thought in the +pageant was the glance and smile from the gallery of the Queen's +ladies to the long procession of the English ambassador's train, as +they tried to remember their own marriage there; Berenger with +clear recollection of his father's grave, anxious face, and +Eustacie chiefly remembering her own white satin and turquoise +dress, which indeed she had seen on every great festival-day as the +best raiment of the image of Notre Dame de Bellaise. She remained +in the choir during mass, but Berenger accompanied the rest of the +Protestants with the bridegroom at their head into the nave, where +Coligny beguiled the time with walking about, looking at the +banners that had been taken from himself and Conde at Montcontour +and Jarnac, saying that he hoped soon to see them taken down and +replaced by Spanish banners. Berenger had followed because he felt +the need of doing as Walsingham and Sidney thought right, but he +had not been in London long enough to become hardened to the +desecration of churches by frequenting 'Paul's Walk.' He remained +bareheaded, and stood as near as he could to the choir, listening +to the notes that floated from the priests and acolytes at the high +altar, longing from the time when he and Eustacie should be one in +their prayers, and lost in a reverie, till a grave old nobleman +passing near him reproved him for dallying with the worship of +Rimmon. But his listening attitude had not passed unobserved by +others besides Huguenot observers. + +The wedding was followed by a ball at the Louvre, from which, +however, all the stricter Huguenots absented themselves out of +respect to Sunday, and among them the family and guests of the +English Ambassador, who were in the meantime attending the divine +service that had been postponed on account of the morning's +ceremony. Neither was the Duke of Guise present at the +entertainment; for though he had some months previously been piqued +and entrapped into a marriage with Catherine of Cleves, yet his +passion for Marguerite was still so strong that he could not bear +to join in the festivities of her wedding with another. The +absence of so many distinguished persons caused the admission of +many less constantly privileged, and thus it was that Diane there +met both her father and brother, who eagerly drew her into a +window, and demanded what she had to tell them, laughing too at the +simplicity of the youth, who had left for the Chevalier a formal +announcement that he had dispatched his protest to Rome, and +considered himself as free to obtain his wife by any means in his +power. + +'Where is _la petite_?' Narcisse demanded. Behind her Queen, as +usual?' + +'The young Queen keeps her room to-night,' returned Diane. 'Nor do +I advise you, brother, to thrust yourself in the way of _la petite +entetee_ just at present.' + +'What, is she so besotted with the peach face? He shall pay for +it!' + +'Brother, no duel. Father, remind him that she would never forgive +him.' + +'Fear not, daughter,' said the Chevalier; 'this folly can be ended +by much quieter modes, only you must first give us information.' + +'She tells me nothing,' said Diane; 'she is in one of her own +humours--high and mighty.' + +'_Peste_! where is your vaunt of winding the little one round your +finger?' + +'With time, I said,' replied Diane. Curiously enough, she had no +compunction in worming secrets from Eustacie and betraying them, +but she could not bear to think of the trap she had set for the +unsuspecting youth, and how ingenuously he had thanked her, little +knowing how she had listened to his inmost secrets. + +'Time is everything,' said her father; 'delay will be our ruin. +Your inheritance will slip through your fingers, my son. The youth +will soon win favour by abjuring his heresy; he will play the same +game with the King as his father did with King Henri. You will +have nothing but your sword, and for you, my poor girl, there is +nothing but to throw yourself on the kindness of your aunt at +Bellaise, if she can receive the vows of a dowerless maiden.' + +'It will never be,' said Narcisse. 'My rapier will soon dispose of +a big rustic like that, who knows just enough of fencing to make +him an easy prey. What! I verily believe the great of entreaty. +'And yet the fine fellow was willing enough to break the marriage +when he took her for the bride.' + +'Nay, my son,' argued the Chevalier, will apparently to spare his +daughter from the sting of mortification, 'as I said, all can be +done without danger of bloodshed on either side, were we but aware +of any renewed project of elopement. The pretty pair would be +easily waylaid, the girl safely lodged at Bellaise, the boy sent +off to digest his pride in England.' + +'Unhurt?' murmured Diane. + +Her father checked Narcisse's mockery at her solicitude, as he +added, 'Unhurt? Yes. He is a liberal-hearted, gracious, fine young +man, whom I should much grieve to harm; but if you know of any plan +of elopement and conceal it, my daughter, then upon you will lie +either the ruin and disgrace of your family, or the death of one or +both of the youths.' + +Diane saw that her question had betrayed her knowledge. She spoke +faintly. 'Something I did overhear, but I know not how to utter a +treason.' + +'There is no treason where there is no trust, daughter,' said the +Chevalier, in the tone of a moral sage. 'Speak!' + +Diane never disobeyed her father, and faltered, 'Wednesday; it is +for Wednesday. They mean to leave the palace in the midst of the +masque; there is a market-boat from Leurre to meet them on the +river; his servants will be in it.' + +'On Wednesday!' Father and son looked at each other. + +'That shall be remedied,' said Narcisse. + +'Child,' added her father, turning kindly to Diane, 'you have saved +our fortunes. There is put one thing more that you must do. Make +her obtain the pearls from him.' + +'Ah!' sighed Diane, half shocked, half revengeful, as she thought +how he had withheld them from her. + +'It is necessary,' said the Chevalier. 'The heirloom of our house +must not be risked. Secure the pearls, child, and you will have +done good service, and earned the marriage that shall reward you.' + +When he was gone, Diane pressed her hands together with a strange +sense of misery. He, who had shrunk from the memory of little +Diane's untruthfulness, what would he think of the present Diane's +treachery? Yet it was to save his life and that of her brother-- +and for the assertion of her victory over the little robber, +Eustacie. + + + + +CHAPTER X. MONSIEUR'S BALLET. + + + +The Styx had fast bound her +Nine times around her. + POPE, ODE ON ST.CECILIA'S DAY + + +Early on Monday morning came a message to Mademoiselle Nid de Merle +that she was to prepare to act the part of a nymph of Paradise in +the King's masque on Wednesday night, and must dress at once to +rehearse her part in the ballet specially designed by Monsieur. + +Her first impulse was to hurry to her own Queen, whom she entreated +to find some mode of exempting her. But Elisabeth, who was still +in bed, looked distressed and frightened, made signs of caution, +and when the weeping girl was on the point of telling her of the +project that would thus be ruined, silenced her by saying, 'Hush! +my poor child, I have but meddled too much already. Our Lady grant +that I have not done you more harm than good! Tell me no more.' + +'Ah! Madame, I will be discreet, I will tell you nothing; but if +you would only interfere to spare me from this ballet! It is +Monsieur's contrivance! Ah! Madame, could you but speak to the +King!' + +'Impossible, child,' said the Queen. 'Things are not her as they +were at happy Montpipeau.' + +And the poor young Queen turned her face in to her pillow, and +wept. + +Every one who was not in a dream of bliss like poor little Eustacie +knew that the King had been in so savage a mood ever since his +return that no one durst ask anything from him. a little while +since, he had laughed at his gentle wife for letting herself, and +Emperor's daughter, be trampled on where his brother Francis's +Queen, from her trumpery, beggarly realm, had held up her head, and +put down _la belle Mere_; he had amused himself with Elisabeth's +pretty little patronage of the young Ribaumonts as a promising +commencement in intriguing like other people; but now he was +absolutely violent at any endeavour to make him withstand his +mother, and had driven his wife back into that cold, listless, +indifferent shell of apathy from which affection and hope had begun +to rouse her. She knew it would only make it the worse for her +little Nid de Merle for her to interpose when Monsieur had made the +choice. + +And Eustacie was more afraid of Monsieur than even of Narcisse, and +her Berenger could not be there to protect her. However, there was +protection in numbers. With twelve nymphs, and cavaliers to match, +even the Duke of Anjou could not accomplish the being very +insulting. Eustacie--light, agile, and fairy-like--gained +considerable credit for ready comprehension and graceful +evolutions. She had never been so much complimented before, and +was much cheered by praise. Diane showed herself highly pleased +with her little cousin's success, embraced her, and told her she +was finding her true level at court. She would be the prettiest of +all the nymphs, who were all small, since fairies rather than +Amazons were wanted in their position. 'And, Eustacie,' she added, +'you should wear the pearls.' + +'The pearls!' said Eustacie. 'Ah! but HE always wears them. I +like to see them on his bonnet--they are hardly whiter than his +forehead.' + +'Foolish little thing!' said Diane, 'I shall think little of his +love if he cares to see himself in them more than you.' + +The shaft seemed carelessly shot, but Diane knew that it would +work, and so it did. Eustacie wanted to prove her husband's love, +not to herself, but to her cousin. + +He made his way to her in the gardens of the Louvre that evening, +greatly dismayed at the report that had reached him that she was to +figure as a nymph of Elysium. She would thus be in sight as a +prominent figure the whole evening, even till an hour so late that +the market boat which Osbert had arranged for their escape could +not wait for them without exciting suspicion, and besides, his +delicate English feelings were revolted at the notion of her +forming a part of such a spectacle. She could not understand his +displeasure. If they could not go on Wednesday, they could go on +Saturday; and as to her acting, half the noblest ladies in the +court would be in piece, and if English husbands did not like it, +they must be the tyrants she had always heard of. + +'To be a gazing-stock---' began Berenger. + +'Hush! Monsieur, I will hear no more, or I shall take care how I +put myself in your power.' + +'That has been done for you, sweetheart,' he said, smiling with +perhaps a shade too much superiority; 'you are mine entirely now.' + +'that is not kind,' she pouted, almost crying--for between +flattery, excitement, and disappointment she was not like herself +that day, and she was too proud to like to be reminded that she was +in any one's power. + +'I thought,' said Berenger, with the gentleness that always made +him manly in dealing with her, 'I thought you like to own yourself +mine.' + +'Yes, sir, when you are good, and do not try to hector me for what +I cannot avoid.' + +Berenger was candid enough to recollect that royal commands did not +brook disobedience, and, being thoroughly enamoured besides of his +little wife, he hastened to make his peace by saying, 'True, _ma +mie_, this cannot be helped. I was a wretch to find fault. Think +of it no more.' + +'You forgive me?' she said, softened instantly. + +'Forgive you? What for, pretty one? For my forgetting that you +are still a slave to a hateful Court?' + +'Ah! then, if you forgive me, let me wear the pearls.' + +'The poor pearls,' said Berenger, taken aback for a moment, 'the +meed of our forefather's valour, to form part of the pageant and +mummery? But never mind, sweetheart,' for he could not bear to vex +her again: 'you shall have them to-night: only take care of them. +My mother would look back on me if she knew I had let them out of +my care, but you and I are one after all.' + +Berenger could not bear to leave his wife near the Duke of Anjou +and Narcisse, and he offered himself to the King as an actor in the +masque, much as he detested all he heard of its subject. The King +nodded comprehension, and told him it was open to him either to be +a demon in a tight suit of black cloth, with cloven-hoof shoes, a +long tail, and a trident; or one of the Huguenots who were to be +repulsed from Paradise for the edification of the spectators. As +these last were to wear suits of knightly armour, Berenger much +preferred making one of them in spite of their doom. + +The masque was given at the hall of the Hotel de Bourbon, where a +noble gallery accommodated the audience, and left full space +beneath for the actors. Down the centre of the stage flowed a +stream, broad enough to contain a boat, which was plied by the Abbe +de Mericour--transformed by a gray beard and hair and dismal mask +into Charon. + +But so unused to navigation was he, so crazy and ill-trimmed his +craft, that his first performance would have been his submersion in +the Styx had not Berenger, better accustomed to boats than any of +the _dramatis personoe_, caught him by the arms as he was about to +step in, pointed out the perils, weighted the frail vessel, and +given him a lesson in paddling it to and fro, with such a masterly +hand, that, had there been time for a change of dress, the part of +Charon would have been unanimously transferred to him; but the +delay could not be suffered, and poor Mericour, in fear of a +ducking, or worse, of ridicule, balanced himself, pole in hand, in +the midst of the river. To the right of the river was Elysium--a +circular island revolving on a wheel which was an absolute orrery, +representing in concentric circles the skies, with the sun, moon, +the seven planets, twelve signs, and the fixed stars, all +illuminated with small lamps. The island itself was covered with +verdure, in which, among bowers woven of gay flowers, reposed +twelve nymphs of Paradise, of whom Eustacie was one. + +On the other side of the stream was another wheel, whose grisly +emblems were reminders of Dante's infernal circles, and were +lighted by lurid flames, while little bells were hung round so as +to make a harsh jangling sound, and all of the court who had any +turn for buffoonery were leaping and dancing about as demons +beneath it, and uttering wild shouts. + +King Charles and his two brothers stood on the margin of the +Elysian lake. King Henry, the Prince of Conde, and a selection of +the younger and gayer Huguenots, were the assailants,--storming +Paradise to gain possession of the nymphs. It was a very illusive +armour that they wore, thin scales of gold or silver as cuirasses +over their satin doublets, and the swords and lances of festive +combat in that court had been of the bluntest foil ever since the +father of these princes had died beneath Montgomery's spear. And +when the King and his brothers, one of them a puny crooked boy, +were the champions, the battle must needs be the merest show, +though there were lookers-on who thought that, judging by +appearances, the assailants ought to have the best chance of +victory, both literal and allegorical. + +However, these three guardian angels had choice allies in the shape +of the infernal company, who, as fast as the Huguenots crossed +swords or shivered lances with their royal opponents, encircled +them with their long black arms, and dragged them struggling away +to Tartarus. Henry of Navarre yielded himself with a good-will to +the horse-play with which this was performed, resisting just enough +to give his demoniacal captors a good deal of trouble, while +yielding all the time, and taking them by surprise by agile +efforts, that showed that if he were excluded from Paradise it was +only by his own consent, and that he heartily enjoyed the +merriment. Most of his comrades, in especial the young Count de +Rochefoucauld, entered into the sport with the same heartiness, but +the Prince of Conde submitted to his fate with a gloomy, disgusted +countenance, that added much to the general mirth; and Berenger, +with Eustacie before his eyes, looking pale, distressed, and ill at +ease, was a great deal too much in earnest. He had so veritable an +impulse to leap forward and snatch her from that giddy revolving +prison, that he struck against the sword of Monsieur with a hearty +good-will. His silvered lath snapped in his hand, and at that +moment he was seized round the waist, and, when his furious +struggle was felt to be in earnest, he was pulled over on his back, +while yells and shouts of discordant laughter rang round him, as +demons pinioned him hand and foot. + +He thought he heard a faint cry from Eustacie, and, with a sudden, +unexpected struggle, started into a sitting posture; but a derisive +voice, that well he knew, cried, 'Ha, the deadly sin of pride! +Monsieur thinks his painted face pleases the ladies. To the depths +with him--' and therewith one imp pulled him backwards again, while +others danced a war-dance round him, pointing their forks at him; +and the prime tormentor, whom he perfectly recognized, not only +leapt over him, but spurned at his face with a cloven foot, giving +a blow, not of gay French malice, but of malignity. It was too much +for the boy's forbearance. He struggled free, dashing his +adversaries aside fiercely, and as they again gathered about him, +with the leader shouting, 'Rage, too, rage! To the prey, imps--' +he clenched his fist, and dealt the foremost foe such a blow in the +chest as to level him at once with the ground. + +'Monsieur forgets,' said a voice, friendly yet reproachful, 'that +this is but sport. + +It was Henry of Navarre himself who spoke, and bent to give a hand +to the fallen imp. A flush of shame rushed over Berenger's face, +already red with passion. He felt that he had done wrong to use +his strength at such a moment, and that, though there had been +spite in is assailant, he had not been therefore justified. He was +glad to see Narcisse rise lightly to his feet, evidently unhurt, +and, with the frankness with which he had often made it up with +Philip Thistlewood or his other English comrades after a sharp +tussle, he held out his hand, saying, 'Good demon, your pardon. +You roused my spirit, and I forgot myself.' + +'Demons forget not,' was the reply. 'At him, imps!' And a whole +circle of hobgoblins closed upon with their tridents, forks, and +other horrible implements, to drive him back within two tall barred +gates, which, illuminated by red flames, were to form the ghastly +prison of the vanquished. Perhaps fresh indignities would have +been attempted, had not the King of Navarre thrown himself on his +side, shared with him the brunt of all the grotesque weapons, and +battled them off with infinite spirit and address, shielding him as +it were from their rude insults by his own dexterity and +inviolability, though retreating all the time till the infernal +gates were closed on both. + +Then Henry of Navarre, who never forgot a face, held out his hand, +saying, 'Tartarus is no region of good omen for friendships, M. de +Ribaumont, but, for lack of yonder devil's claw, here is mine. I +like to meet a comrade who can strike a hearty blow, and ask a +hearty pardon.' + +'I was too hot, Sire,' confessed Berenger, with one of his +ingenuous blushes, 'but he enraged me.' + +'He means mischief.' said Henry. 'Remember, if you are molested +respecting this matter, that you have here a witness that you did +the part of a gentleman.' + +Berenger bowed his thanks, and began something about the honour, +but his eye anxiously followed the circuit on which Eustacie was +carried and the glance was quickly remarked. + +'How? Your heart is spinning in that Mahometan paradise, and that +is what put such force into your fists. Which of the houris is it? +The little one with the wistful eyes, who looked so deadly white, +and shrieked out when the devilry overturned you? Eh! Monsieur, +you are a happy man.' + +'I should be, Sire;' and Berenger was on the point of confiding the +situation of his affairs to this most engaging of princes, when a +fresh supply of prisoners, chased with wild antics and fiendish +yells by the devils, came headlong in on them; and immediately, +completing, as Henry said, the galimatias of mythology, a +pasteboard cloud was propelled on the stage, and disclosed the +deities Mercury and Cupid, who made a complimentary address to the +three princely brothers, inciting them to claim the nymphs whom +their valour had defended, and lead them through the mazes of a +choric celestial dance. + +This dance had been the special device of Monsieur and the ballet- +master, and during the last three days the houris had been almost +danced off their legs with rehearsing it morning, noon, and night, +but one at least of them was scarcely in a condition for its +performance. Eustacie, dizzied at the first minute by the whirl of +her Elysian merry-go-round, had immediately after become conscious +of that which she had been too childish to estimate merely in +prospect, the exposure to universal gaze. Strange staring eyes, +glaring lights, frightful imps seemed to wheel round her in an +intolerable delirious succession. Her only refuge was in closing +her eyes, but even this could not long be persevered in, so +necessary a part of the pageant was she; and besides, she had +Berenger to look for, Berenger, whom she had foolishly laughed at +for knowing how dreadful it would be. But of course the endeavour +to seek for one object with her eyes made the dizziness even more +dreadful; and when, at length, she beheld him dragged down by the +demoniacal creatures, whose horrors were magnified by her confused +senses, and the next moment she was twirled out of sight, her cry +of distracted alarm was irrepressible. Carried round again and +again, on a wheel that to her was far more like Ixion's than that +of the spheres, she never cleared her perceptions as to where he +was, and only was half-maddened by the fantastic whirl of +incongruous imagery, while she barely sat out Mercury's lengthy +harangue; and when her wheel stood still, and she was released, she +could not stand, and was indebted to Charon and one of her fellow- +nymphs for supporting her to a chair in the back of the scene. +Kind Charon hurried to bring her wine, the lady revived her with +essences, and the ballet-master clamoured for his performers. + +Ill or well, royal ballets must be danced. One long sob, one gaze +round at the refreshing sight of a room no longer in motion, one +wistful look at the gates of Tartarus, and the misery of the +throbbing, aching head must be disregarded. The ballet-master +touched the white cheeks with rouge, and she stepped forward just +in time, for Monsieur himself was coming angrily forward to learn +the cause of the delay. + +Spectators said the windings of that dance were exquisitely +graceful. It was well that Eustacie's drilling had been so +complete, for she moved through it blindly, senselessly, and when +it was over was led back between the two Demoiselles de Limeuil to +the apartment that served as a green-room, drooping and almost +fainting. They seated her in a chair, and consulted round her, and +her cousin Narcisse was among the first to approach; but no sooner +had she caught sight of his devilish trim than with a little shriek +she shut her eyes, and flung herself to the other side of the +chair. + +'My fair cousin,' he said, opening his black vizard, 'do you not +see me? I am no demon, remember! I am your cousin.' + +'That makes it no better,' said Eustacie, too much disordered and +confused to be on her guard, and hiding her face with her hands. +'Go, go, I entreat.' + +In fact he had already done this, and the ladies added their +counsel; for indeed the poor child could scarcely hold up her head, +but she said, 'I should like to stay, if I could: a little, a +little longer. Will they not open those dreadful bars?' she added, +presently. + +'They are even now opening them,' said Mdlle. de Limeuil. 'Hark! +they are going to fight _en melle_. Mdlle. de Nid de Merle is +better now?' + +'Oh yes; let not detain you.' + +Eustacie would have risen, but the two sisters had fluttered back, +impatient to lose nothing of the sports; and her cousin in his grim +disguise stood full before her. 'No haste, cousin,' he said; 'you +are not fit to move.' + +'Oh, then go,' said Eustacie, suffering too much not to be +petulant. 'You make me worse.' + +'And why? It was not always thus,' began Narcisse, so eager to +seize an opportunity as to have little consideration for her +condition; but she was unable to bear any more, and broke out: +'Yes, it was; I always detested you more than ever, since you +deceived me so cruelly. Oh, do but leave me!' + +'You scorn me, then! You prefer to me--who have loved you so long- +-that childish new-comer, who was ready enough to cast you off.' + +'Prefer! He is my husband! It is an insult for any one else to +speak to me thus!' said Eustacie, drawing herself up, and rising to +her feet; but she was forced to hold by the back of her chair, and +Diane and her father appearing at that moment, she tottered towards +the former, and becoming quite passive under the influence of +violent dizziness and headache, made no objection to being half +led, half carried, through galleries that connected the Hotel de +Bourbon with the Louvre. + +And thus it was that when Berenger had fought out his part in the +_melle_ of the prisoners released, and had maintained the honours +of the rose-coloured token in his helmet, he found that his lady- +love had been obliged by indisposition to return home; and while he +stood, folding his arms to restrain their strong inclination to +take Narcisse by the throat and demand whether this were another of +his deceptions, a train of fireworks suddenly exploded in the +middle of the Styx--a last surprise, especially contrived by King +Charles, and so effectual that half the ladies were shrieking, and +imagining that they and the whole hall had blown up together. + +A long supper, full of revelry, succeeded, and at length Sidney ad +Ribaumont walked home together in the midst of their armed servants +bearing torches. All the way home Berenger was bitter in +vituperation of the hateful pageant and all its details. + +'Yea, truly,' replied Sidney; 'methought that it betokens disease +in the mind of a nation when their festive revelry is thus ghastly, +rendering the most awful secrets made known by our God in order to +warm man from sin into a mere antic laughing-stock. Laughter +should be moved by what is fair and laughter-worthy--even like such +sports as our own "Midsummer Night's Dream." I have read that the +bloody temper of Rome fed itself in gladiator shows, and verily, +what we beheld to-night betokens something at once grisly and +light-minded in the mood of this country.' + +Sidney thought so the more when on the second ensuing morning the +Admiral de Coligny was shot through both hands by an assassin +generally known to have been posted by the Duke of Guise, yet often +called by the sinister sobriquet of _Le Tueur de Roi_. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE KING'S TRAGEDY. + + + +The night is come, no fears disturb + The sleep of innocence +They trust in kingly faith, and kingly oath. + They sleep, alas! they sleep +Go to the palace, wouldst thou know + How hideous night can be; +Eye is not closed in those accursed walls, + Nor heart is quiet there! + --Southey, BARTHOLOMEW'S EVE + + +'Young gentlemen,' said Sir Francis Walsingham, as he rose from +dinner on the Saturday, 'are you bound for the palace this +evening?' + +'I am, so please your Excellency,' returned Berenger. + +'I would have you both to understand that you must have a care of +yourselves,' said the Ambassador. 'The Admiral's wound has justly +caused much alarm, and I hear that the Protestants are going +vapouring about in so noisy and incautious a manner, crying out for +justice, that it is but too likely that the party of the Queen- +mother and the Guise will be moved to strong measures.' + +'They will never dare lay a finger upon us!' said Sidney. + +'In a terror-stricken fray men are no respecters of persons,' +replied Sir Francis. 'This house is, of course, inviolable; and, +whatever the madness of the people, we have stout hearts enough +here to enforce respect thereto; but I cannot answer even for an +Englishman's life beyond its precincts; and you, Ribaumont, whom I +cannot even claim as my Queen's subject--I greatly fear to trust +you beyond its bounds.' + +'I cannot help it, sir. Nay, with the most grateful thanks for all +your goodness to me, I must pray you not to take either alarm or +offence if I return not this night.' + +'No more, my friend,' said Walsingham, quickly; 'let me know +nothing of your purposes, but take care of yourself. I would you +were safe at home again, though the desire may seem inhospitable. +The sooner the better with whatever you have to do.' + +'Is the danger so imminent?' asked Sidney. + +'I know nothing, Philip. All I can tell is that, as I have read +that dogs and cattle scent an earthquake in the air, so man and +women seem to breathe a sense of danger in this city. And to me +the graciousness with which the Huguenots have been of late treated +wears a strangely suspicious air. Sudden and secret is the blow +like to be, and we cannot be too much on our guard. Therefore +remember, my young friends both, that your danger or death would +fall heavily on those ye love and honour at home.' + +So saying, he left the two youths, unwilling to seek further +confidence, and Berenger held his last consultation with Sidney, to +whom he gave directions for making full explanation to Walsingham +in his absence, and expediting Mr. Adderley's return to England. +Osbert alone was to go to the Louvre with him, after having seen +the five English grooms on board the little decked market-vessel on +the Seine, which was to await the fugitives. Berenger was to +present himself in the palace as in his ordinary court attendance, +and, contriving to elude notice among the throng who were there +lodged, was to take up his station at the foot of the stairs +leading to the apartments of ladies, whence Eustacie was to descend +at about eleven o'clock, with her maid Veronique. Landry Osbert +was to join them from the lackey's hall below, where he had a +friend, and the connivance of the porter at the postern opening +towards the Seine had been secured. + +Sidney wished much to accompany him to the palace, if his presence +could be any aid or protection, but on consideration it was decided +that his being at the Louvre was likely to attract notice to +Ribaumont's delaying there. The two young men therefore shook +hands and parted, as youths who trusted that they had begun a +lifelong friendship, with mutual promises to write to one another-- +the one, the adventures of his flight; the other, the astonishment +it would excite. And auguries were exchanged of merry meetings in +London, and of the admiration the lovely little wife would excite +at Queen Elizabeth's court. + +Then, with an embrace such as English friends then gave, they +separated at the gate; and Sidney stood watching, as Berenger +walked free and bold down the street, his sword at his side, his +cloak over one shoulder, his feathered cap on one side, showing his +bright curling hair, a sunshiny picture of a victorious bridegroom- +-such a picture as sent Philip Sidney's wits back to Arcadia. + +It was not a day of special state, but the palace was greatly +crowded. The Huguenots were in an excited mood, inclined to rally +round Henry of Navarre, whose royal title made him be looked on as +is a manner their monarch, though his kingdom had been swallowed by +Spain, and he was no more than a French duke distantly related to +royalty in the male line, and more nearly through his grandmother +and bride. The eight hundred gentlemen he had brought with him +swarmed about his apartments, making their lodging on staircases +and in passages; and to Berenger it seemed as if the King's guards +and Monsieur's gentlemen must have come in in equal numbers to +balance them. Narcisse was there, and Berenger kept cautiously +amid his Huguenot acquaintance, resolved not to have a quarrel +thrust on him which he could not honourably desert. It was late +before he could work his way to the young Queen's reception-room, +where he found Eustacie. She looked almost as white as at the +masque; but there was a graver, less childish expression in her +face than he had ever seen before, and her eyes glanced confidence +when they met his. + +Behind the Queen's chair a few words could be spoken. + +'_Ma mie,_ art thou well again? Canst bear this journey now?' + +'Quite well, now! quite ready. Oh that we may never have masques +in England!' + +He smiled--'Never such as this!' + +'Ah! thou knowest best. I am glad I am thine already; I am so +silly, thou wouldest never have chosen me! But thou wilt teach me, +and I will strive to be very good! And oh! let me but give one +farewell to Diane.' + +'It is too hard to deny thee aught to-night, sweetheart, but judge +for thyself. Think of the perils, and decide.' + +Before Eustacie could answer, a rough voice came near, the King +making noisy sport with the Count de Rochefoucauld and others. He +was louder and ruder than Berenger had ever yet seen him, almost +giving the notion of intoxication; but neither he nor his brother +Henry ever tasted wine, though both had a strange pleasure in being +present at the orgies of their companions: the King, it was +generally said, from love of the self-forgetfulness of excitement-- +the Duke of Anjou, because his cool brain there collected men's +secrets to serve afterwards for his spiteful diversion. + +Berenger would willingly have escaped notice, but his bright face +and sunny hair always made him conspicuous, and the King suddenly +strode up to him: 'You here, sir? I thought you would have managed +your affairs so as to be gone long ago!' then before Berenger could +reply, 'However, since here you are, come along with me to my +bedchamber! We are to have a carouse there to-night that will ring +through all Paris! Yes, and shake Rochefoucauld out of his bed at +midnight! You will be one of us, Ribaumont? I command it!' + +And without waiting for reply he turned away with an arm round +Rochefoucauld's neck, and boisterously addressed another of the +company, almost as wildly as if he were in the mood that Scots call +'fey.' + +'Royalty seems determined to frustrate our plans,' said Berenger, +as soon as the King was out of hearing. + +'But you will not go! His comrades drink till--oh! two, three in +the morning. We should never get away.' + +'No, I must risk his displeasure. We shall soon be beyond his +reach. But at least I may make his invitation a reason for +remaining in the Louvre. People are departing! Soon wilt thou be +my own.' + +'As soon as the Queen's COUCHER is over! I have but to change to a +traveling dress.' + +'At the foot of the winding stair. Sweetest be brave!' + +'I fear nothing with thee to guard me. See, the Queen is rising.' + +Elizabeth was in effect rising to make her respectful progress to +the rooms of the Queen-mother, to bid her good night; and Eustacie +must follow. Would Diane be there? Oh that the command to judge +between her heart and her caution had not been given! Cruel +kindness! + +Diane was there, straight as a poplar, cold as marble, with fixed +eyes. Eustacie stole up to her, and touched her. She turned with +a start. 'Cousin, you have been very good to me!' Diane started +again, as if stung. You will love me still, whatever you hear?' + +'Is this meant for farewell?' said Diane, grasping her wrist. + +'Do not ask me, Diane. I may not.' + +'Where there is no trust there is no treason,' said Diane, +dreamily. 'No, answer me not, little one, there will be time for +that another day. Where is he?' + +'In the _oeil-de-boeuf_, between the King's and Queen's suites of +rooms. I must go. There is the Queen going. Diane, one loving +word.' + +'Silly child, you shall have plenty another time,' said Diane, +breaking away. 'Follow thy Queen now!' + +Catherine, who sat between her daughters Claude and Marguerite, +looked pre-occupied, and summarily dismissed her daughter-in-law, +Elizabeth, whom Eustacie was obliged to follow to her own state- +room. There all the forms of the COUCHER were tediously gone +through; every pin had its own ceremony, and even when her Majesty +was safely deposited under her blue satin coverlet the ladies still +stood round till she felt disposed to fall asleep. Elisabeth was +both a sleepy and a considerate person, so that this was not so +protracted a vigil as was sometimes exacted by the more wakeful +princesses; but Eustacie could not escape from it till it was +already almost midnight, the period for her tryst. + +Her heart was very full. It was not the usual flutter and terror +of an eloping girl. Eustacie was a fearless little being, and her +conscience had no alarms; her affections were wholly with Berenger, +and her transient glimpses of him had been as of something come out +of a region higher, tenderer, stronger, purer, more trustworthy +than that where she had dwelt. She was proud of belonging to him. +She had felt upheld by the consciousness through years of waiting, +and now he more than realized her hopes, and she could have wept +for exulting joy. Yet it was a strange, stealthy break with all +she had to leave behind. The light to which he belonged seemed +strange, chill, dazzling light, and she shivered at the thought of +it, as if the new world, new ideas, and new requirements could only +be endured with him to shield her and help her on. And withal, +there seemed to her a shudder over the whole place on that night. +The King's eyes looked wild and startled, the Queen-mother's calm +was strained, the Duchess of Lorraine was evidently in a state of +strong nervous excitement; there were strange sounds, strange +people moving about, a weight on everything, as if they were under +the shadow of a thunder-cloud. 'Could it be only her own fancy?' +she said to herself, because this was to be the great event of her +life, for surely all these great people could not know or heed that +little Eustacie de Ribaumont was to make her escape that night! + +The trains of royalty were not sumptuously lodged. France never +has cared so much for comfort as for display. The waiting-lady of +the bedchamber slept in the ante-room of her mistress; the others, +however high their rank, were closely herded together up a winding +stair leading to a small passage, with tiny, cell-like recesses, +wherein the demoiselles slept, often with their maids, and then +dressed themselves in the space afforded by the passage. +Eustacie's cell was nearly at the end of the gallery, and +exchanging 'good-nights' with her companions, she proceeded to her +recess, where she expected to find Veronique ready to adjust her +dress. Veronique, however, was missing; but anxious to lose no +time, she had taken off her delicate white satin farthingale to +change it for an unobtrusive dark woolen kirtle, when, to her +surprise and dismay, a loud creaking, growling sound made itself +heard outside the door at the other end. Half-a-dozen heads came +out of their cells; half-a-dozen voices asked and answered the +question, 'What is it?' 'They are bolting our door outside.' But +only Eustacie sped like lightning along the passage, pulled at the +door, and cried, 'Open! Open, I say!' No answer, but the other +bolt creaked. + +'You mistake, CONCIERGE! We are never bolted in! My maid is shut +out.' + +No answer, but the step retreated. Eustacie clasped her hands with +a cry that she could hardly have repressed, but which she regretted +the next moment. + +Gabrielle de Limeuil laughed. 'What, Mademoiselle, are you afraid +they will not let us out to-morrow?' + +'My maid!' murmured Eustacie, recollecting that she must give a +colour to her distress. + +'Ah! perhaps she will summon old Pierre to open for us.' + +This suggestion somewhat consoled Eustacie, and she stood intently +listening for Veronique's step, wishing that her companions would +hold their peace; but the adventure amused them, and they discussed +whether it were a blunder of the CONCIERGE, or a piece of prudery +of Madame la Comtesse, or, after all, a precaution. The palace so +full of strange people, who could say what might happen? And there +was a talk of a conspiracy of the Huguenots. At any rate, every +one was too much frightened to go to sleep, and, some sitting on +the floor, some on a chest, some on a bed, the girls huddled +together in Gabrielle de Limeuil's recess, the nearest to the door, +and one after another related horrible tales of blood, murder, and +vengeance--then, alas! Only too frequent occurrences in their +unhappy land--each bringing some frightful contribution from her +own province, each enhancing upon the last-told story, and ever and +anon pausing with bated breath at some fancied sound, or supposed +start of one of the others; then clinging close together, and +renewing the ghastly anecdote, at first in a hushed voice that grew +louder with the interest of the story. Eustacie alone would not +join the cluster. Her cloak round her shoulders, she stood with +her back against the door, ready to profit by the slightest +indication outside of a step that might lead to her release, or at +least enable her to communicate with Veronique; longing ardently +that her companions would go to bed, yet unable to avoid listening +with the like dreadful fascination to each of the terrible +histories, which added each moment to the nervous horror of the +whole party. Only one, a dull and composed girl, felt the +influence of weariness, and dozed with her head in her companion's +lap; but she was awakened by one general shudder and suppressed cry +when the hoarse clang of a bell struck on the ears of the already +terrified, excited maidens. + +'The tocsin! The bell of St. Germain! Fire! No, a Huguenot +rising! Fire! Oh, let us out! Let us out! The window! Where is +the fire? Nowhere! See the lights! Hark, that was a shot! It +was in the palace! A heretic rising! Ah! there was to be a +slaughter of the heretics! I heard it whispered. Oh, let us out! +Open the door!' + +But nobody heard: nobody opened. There was one who stood without +word or cry, close to the door--her eyes dilated, her cheek +colourless, her whole person, soul and body alike, concentrated in +that one impulse to spring forward the first moment the bolt should +be drawn. But still the door remained fast shut! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. THE PALACE OF SLAUGHTER + + + +A human shambles with blood-reeking floor. + MISS SWANWICK, Esch. Agamemnon + + +The door was opened at last, but not till full daylight. It found +Eustacie as ready to rush forth, past all resistance, as she had +been the night before, and she was already in the doorway when her +maid Veronique, her face swollen with weeping, caught her by the +hands and implored her to turn back and listen. + +And words about a rising of the Huguenots, a general destruction, +corpses lying in the court, were already passing between the other +maidens and the CONCIERGE. Eustacie turned upon her servant: +'Veronique, what means it? Where is he?' + +'Alas! alas! Ah! Mademoiselle, do but lie down! Woe is me! I +saw it all! Lie down, and I will tell you.' + +'Tell! I will not move till you have told me where my husband is,' +said Eustacie, gazing with eyes that seemed to Veronique turned to +stone. + +'Ah! my lady--my dear lady! I was on the turn of the stairs, and +saw all. The traitor--the Chevalier Narcisse--came on him, cloaked +like you--and--shot him dead--with, oh, such cruel words of +mockery! Oh! woe the day! Stay, stay, dear lady, the place is +all blood--they are slaying them all--all the Huguenots! Will no +one stop her?--Mademoiselle--ma'm'selle!--' + +For Eustacie no sooner gathered the sense of Veronique's words than +she darted suddenly forwards, and was in a few seconds more at the +foot of the stairs. There, indeed, lay a pool of dark gore, and +almost in it Berenger's black velvet cap, with the heron plume. +Eustacie, with a low cry, snatched it up, continued her headlong +course along the corridor, swiftly as a bird, Veronique following, +and vainly shrieking to her to stop. Diane, appearing at the other +end of the gallery, saw but for a moment the little figure, with +the cloak gathered round her neck, and floating behind her, +understood Veronique's cry and joined in the chase across hall and +gallery, where more stains were to be seen, even down to the marble +stairs, every step slippery with blood. Others there were who saw +and stood aghast, not understanding the apparition that flitted on +so swiftly, never pausing till at the great door at the foot of the +stairs she encountered a gigantic Scottish archer, armed to the +teeth. She touched his arm, and standing with folder arms, looked +up and said, 'Good soldier, kill me! I am a Huguenots!' + +'Stop her! bring her back!' cried Diane from behind. 'It is Mdlle. +De Nil-de-Merle!' + +'No, no! My husband is Huguenot! I am a Huguenot! Let them kill +me, I say!'--struggling with Diane, who had now come up with her, +and was trying to draw her back. + +'Puir lassie!' muttered the stout Scotsman to himself, 'this +fearsome night has driven her demented.' + +But, like a true sentinel, he moved neither hand nor foot to +interfere, as shaking herself loose from Diane, she was springing +down the steps into the court, when at that moment the young Abbe +de Mericour was seen advancing, pale, breathless, horrorstruck, and +to him Diane shrieked to arrest the headlong course. He obeyed, +seeing the wild distraction of the white face and widely glaring +eyes, took her by both hands, and held her in a firm grasp, saying, +'Alas, lady, you cannot go out. It is no sight for any one.' + +'They are killing the Protestants,' she said; 'I am one! Let me +find them and die.' + +A strong effort to free herself ensued, but it was so suddenly +succeeded by a swoon that the Abbe could scarcely save her from +dropping on the steps. Diane begged him to carry her in, since +they were in full view of men-at-arms in the court, and, frightful +to say, of some of the ladies of the palace, who, in the frenzy of +that dreadful time, had actually come down to examine the half- +stripped corpses of the men with whom they had jested not twelve +hours before. + +'Ah! it is no wonder,' said the youthful Abbe, as he tenderly +lifted the inanimate figure. 'This has been a night of horrors. +I was coming in haste to know whether the King knows of this +frightful plot of M. de Guise, and the bloody work that is passing +in Paris.' + +'The King!' exclaimed Diane. 'M. l'Abbe, do you know where he is +now? In the balcony overlooking the river, taking aim at the +fugitives! Take care! Even your _soutane_ would not save you if +M. d'O and his crew heard you. But I must pray you to aid me with +this poor child! I dread that her wild cries should be heard.' + +The Abbe, struck dumb with horror, silently obeyed Mdlle. De +Ribaumont, and brought the still insensible Eustacie to the +chamber, now deserted by all the young ladies. He laid her on her +bed, and finding he could do no more, left her to her cousin and +her maid. + +The poor child had been unwell and feverish ever since the masque, +and the suspense of these few days with the tension of that +horrible night had prostrated her. She only awoke from her swoon +to turn her head from the light and refuse to be spoken to. + +'But, Eustacie, child, listen; this is all in vain--he lives,' said +Diane. + +'Weary me not with falsehoods,' faintly said Eustacie. + +'No! no! no! They meant to hinder your flight, but---' + +'They knew of it?' cried Eustacie, sitting up suddenly. 'Then you +told them. Go--go; let me never see you more! You have been his +death!' + +'Listen! I am sure he lives! What! would they injure one whom my +father loved? I heard my father say he would not have him hurt. +Depend upon it, he is safe on his way to England.' + +Eustacie gave a short but frightful hysterical laugh, and pointed +to Veronique. 'She saw it,' she said; 'ask her.' + +'Saw what?' said Diane, turning fiercely on Veronique. 'What vile +deceit have you half killed your lady with?' + +'Alas! Mademoiselle, I did but tell her what I had seen,' sighed +Veronique, trembling. + +'Tell me!' said Diane, passionately. + +'Yes, everything,' said Eustacie, sitting up. + +'Ah! Mademoiselle, it will make you ill again.' + +'I WILL be ill--I WILL die! Heaven's slaying is better than man's. +Tell her how you saw Narcisse.' + +'False girl!' burst out Diane. + +'No, no,' cried Veronique. 'Oh, pardon me, Mademoiselle, I could +not help it.' + +In spite of her reluctance, she was forced to tell that she had +found herself locked out of her mistress's room, and after losing +much time in searching for the CONCIERGE, learnt that the ladies +were locked up by order of the Queen-mother, and was strongly +advised not to be running about the passages. After a time, +however, while sitting with the CONCIERGE'S wife, she heard such +frightful whispers from men with white badges, who were admitted +one by one by the porter, and all led silently to a small lower +room, that she resolved on seeking out the Baron's servant, and +sending him to warn his master, while she would take up her station +at her lady's door. She found Osbert, and with him was ascending a +narrow spiral leading from the offices--she, unfortunately, the +foremost. As she came to the top, a scuffle was going on--four men +had thrown themselves upon one, and a torch distinctly showed her +the younger Chevalier holding a pistol to the cheek of the fallen +man, and she heard the worlds, _'Le baiser d'Eustacie! Jet e +barbouillerai ce chien de visage,'_ and at the same moment the +pistol was discharged. She sprang back, oversetting, as she +believed, Osbert, and fled shrieking to the room of the CONCIERGE, +who shut her in till morning. + +'And how--how,' stammered Diane, 'should you know it was the +Baron?' + +Eustacie, with a death-like look, showed for a moment what even in +her swoon she had held clenched to her bosom, the velvet cap soaked +with blood. + +'Besides,' added Veronique, resolved to defend her assertion, 'whom +else would the words suit? Besides, are not all the heretic +gentlemen dead? Why, as I sat there in the porter's room, I heard +M. d'O call each one of them by name, one after the other, into the +court, and there the white-sleeves cut them down or pistolled them +like sheep for the slaughter. They lie all out there on the +terrace like so many carcases at market ready for winter salting.' + +'All slain?' said Eustacie, dreamily. + +'All, except those that the King called into his own _garde robe_.' + +'Then, I slew him!' Eustacie sank back. + +'I tell you, child,' said Diane, almost angrily, 'he lives. Not a +hair of his head was to be hurt! The girl deceives you.' + +But Eustacie had again become insensible, and awoke delirious, +entreating to have the door opened, and fancying herself still on +the revolving elysium, 'Oh, demons, have pity!' was her cry. + +Diane's soothings were like speaking to the winds; and at last she +saw the necessity of calling in further aid; but afraid of the +scandal that the poor girl's raving accusations might create, she +would not send for the Huguenots surgeon, Ambroise Pare, whom the +King had carefully secured in his own apartments, but employed one +of the barber valets of the Queen-mother's household. Poor +Eustacie was well pleased to see her blood flowing, and sank back +on her pillow murmuring that she had confessed her husband's faith, +and would soon be one with him, and Diane feared for a moment lest +the swoon should indeed be death. + +The bleeding was so far effectual that it diminished the fever, and +Eustacie became rational again when she had dozed and wakened, but +she was little able or willing to speak, and would not so much as +listen to Diane's asseverations that Veronique had made a frightful +error, and that the Baron would prove to be alive. Whether it were +that the admission that Diane had known of the project for +preventing the elopement that invalidated her words, or whether the +sufferer's instinct made her believe Veronique's testimony rather +than her cousin's assurances, it was all 'cramming words into her +ear against the stomach of her sense,' and she turned away from +them with a piteous, petulant hopelessness: 'Could they not even +let her alone to die in peace!' + +Diane was almost angered at this little silly child being in such +an agony of sorrow--she, who could never have known how to love +him. And after all this persistent grief was willfully thrown +away. For Diane spoke in perfect sincerity when she taxed +Veronique with an injurious, barbarous mistake. She knew her +father's strong aversion to violence, and the real predilection +that Berenger's good mien, respectful manners, and liberal usage +had won from him, and she believed he had much rather the youth +lived, provided he were inoffensive. No doubt a little force had +been necessary to kidnap one so tall, active, and determined, and +Veronique had made up her horrible tale after the usual custom of +waiting-maids. + +Nothing else SHOULD be true. Did she think otherwise, she should +be even more frantic than Eustacie! Why, it would be her own +doing! She had betrayed the day of the escape--she had held aloof +from warning. There was pleasure in securing Nid-de-Merle for her +brother, pleasure in balking the foolish child who had won the +heart that disregarded her. Nay, there might have been even +pleasure in the destruction of the scorner of her charms--the foe +of her house--there might have been pride in receiving Queen +Catherine's dexterous hint that she had been an apt pupil, if the +young Baron had only been something different--something less fair, +gracious, bright, and pure. One bright angel seemed to have +flitted across her path, and nothing should induce her to believe +she had destroyed him. + +The stripped corpses of the murdered Huguenots of the palace had +been laid in a line on the terrace, and the ladies who had laughed +with them the night before went to inspect them in death. A few +remnants of Soeur Monique's influence would have withheld Diane, +but that a frenzy of suspense was growing on her. She must see for +herself. If it were so, she must secure a fragment of the shining +flaxen hair, if only as a token that anything so pure and bright +had walked the earth. + +She went on the horrible quest, shrinking where others stared. For +it was a pitiless time, and the squadron of the Queen-mother were +as lost to womanhood as the fishwomen of two centuries later. But +Diane saw no corpse at once so tall, so young, and so fair, though +blond Normans and blue-blooded Franks, lads scarce sixteen and +stalwart warriors, lay in one melancholy rank. She at least bore +away the certainly that the English Ribaumont was not there; and if +not, he MUST be safe! She could obtain no further certainty, for +she knew that she must not expect to see either her father or +brother. There was a panic throughout the city. All Paris +imagined that the Huguenots were on the point of rising and slaying +all the Catholics, and, with the savagery of alarmed cowardice, the +citizens and the mob were assisting the armed bands of the Dukes of +Anjou and Guise to complete the slaughter, dragging their lodgers +from their hiding-places, and denouncing all whom they suspected of +reluctance to mass and confession. But on the Monday, Diane was +able to send an urgent message to her father that he must come to +speak with her, for Mdlle. De Nid-de-Merle was extremely ill. She +would meet him in the garden after morning mass. + +There accordingly, when she stepped forth pale, rigid, but stately, +with her large fan in her hand to serve as a parasol, she met both +him and her brother. She was for a moment sorry, for she had much +power over her father, while she was afraid of her brother's +sarcastic tongue and eye; she knew he never scrupled to sting her +wherever she was most sensitive, and she would have been able to +extract much more from her father in his absence. France has never +been without a tendency to produce the tiger-monkey, or ferocious +fop; and the GENUS was in its full ascendancy under the sons of +Catherine de Medicis, when the dregs of Francois the First's +PSEUDO-chivalry were not extinct--when horrible, retaliating civil +wars of extermination had made life cheap; nefarious persecutions +had hardened the heart and steeled the eye, and the licentiousness +promoted by the shifty Queen as one of her instruments of +government had darkened the whole understanding. The most hateful +heights of perfidy, effeminacy, and hypocrisy were not reached till +poor Charles IX., who only committed crimes on compulsion, was in +his grave, and Henry III. on the throne; but Narcisse de Ribaumont +was one of the choice companions of the latter, and after the night +and day of murder now stood before his sister with scented hair and +handkerchief--the last, laced, delicately held by a hand in an +embroidered glove--emerald pendants in his ears, a moustache +twisted into sharp points and turned up like an eternal sardonic +smile, and he led a little white poodle by a rose-coloured ribbon. + +'Well, sister,' he said, as he went, through the motions of kissing +her hand, and she embraced her father; 'so you don't know how to +deal with megrims and transports?' + +'Father,' said Diane, not vouchsafing any attention, 'unless you +can send her some assurance of his life, I will not answer for the +consequences.' + +Narcisse laughed: 'Take her this dog, with my compliments. That is +the way to deal with such a child as that.' + +'You do not know what you say, brother,' answered Diane with +dignity. 'It goes deeper than that.' + +'The deeper it goes, child,' said the elder Chevalier, 'the better +it is that she should be undeceived as soon as possible. She will +recover, and be amenable the sooner.' + +'Then he lives, father?' exclaimed Diane. 'He lives, though she is +not to hear it--say----' + +'What know I?' said the old man, evasively. 'On a night of +confusion many mischances are sure to occur! Lurking in the palace +at the very moment when there was a search for the conspirators, it +would have been a miracle had the poor young man escaped.' + +Diane turned still whiter. 'Then,' she said, 'that was why you +made Monsieur put Eustacie into the ballet, that they might not go +on Wednesday!' + +'It was well hinted by you, daughter. We could not have +effectually stopped them on Wednesday without making a scandal.' + +'Once more,' said Diane, gasping, though still resolute; 'is not +the story told by Eustacie's woman false--that she saw him-- +pistolled--by you, brother?' + +'_Peste_!' cried Narcisse. 'Was the prying wench there? I thought +the little one might be satisfied that he had neighbour's fare. No +matter; what is done for one's _beaux yeux_ is easily pardoned--and +if not, why, I have her all the same!' + +'Nevertheless, daughter,' said the Chevalier, gravely, 'the woman +must be silenced. Either she must be sent home, or taught so to +swear to having been mistaken, that _la petite_ may acquit your +brother! But what now, my daughter?' + +'She is livid!' exclaimed Narcisse, with his sneer. 'What, sir, +did not you know she was smitten with the peach on the top of a +pole?' + +'Enough, brother,' said Diane, recovering herself enough to speak +hoarsely, but with hard dignity. 'You have slain--you need not +insult, one whom you have lost the power of understanding!' + +'Shallow schoolboys certainly form no part of my study, save to +kick them down-stairs when they grow impudent,' said Narcisse, +coolly. 'It is only women who think what is long must be grand.' + +'Come, children, no disputes,' said the Chevalier. 'Of course we +regret that so fine a youth mixed himself up with the enemies of +the kingdom, like the stork among the sparrows. Both Diane and I +are sorry for the necessity; but remember, child, that when he was +interfering between your brother and his just right of inheritance +and destined wife, he could not but draw such a fate on himself. +Now all is smooth, the estates will be united in their true head, +and you--you too, my child, will be provided for as suits your +name. All that is needed is to soothe the little one, so as to +hinder her from making an outcry--and silence the maid; my child +will do her best for her father's sake, and that of her family.' + +Diane was less demonstrative than most of her countrywomen. She +had had time to recollect the uselessness of giving vent to her +indignant anguish, and her brother's derisive look held her back. +The family tactics, from force of habit, recurred to her; she made +no further objection to her father's commands; but when her father +and brother parted with her, she tottered into the now empty +chapel, threw herself down, with her burning forehead on the stone +step, and so lay for hours. It was not in prayer. It was because +it was the only place where she could be alone. To her, heaven +above and earth below seemed alike full of despair, darkness, and +cruel habitations, and she lay like one sick with misery and +repugnance to the life and world that lay before her--the hard world +that had quenched that one fair light and mocked her pity. It was +a misery of solitude, and yet no thought crossed her of going to +weep and sympathize with the other sufferer. No; rivalry and +jealousy came in there! Eustacie viewed herself as his wife, and +the very thought that she had been deliberately preferred and had +enjoyed her triumph hardened Diane's heart against her. Nay, the +open violence and abandonment of her grief seemed to the more +restrained and concentrated nature of her elder a sign of +shallowness and want of durability; and in a certain contemptuous +envy at her professing a right to mourn, Diane never even +reconsidered her own resolution to play out her father's game, +consign Eustacie to her husband's murdered, and leave her to +console herself with bridal splendours and a choice of admirers +from all the court. + +However, for the present Diane would rather stay away as much as +possible from the sick-bed of the poor girl; and when an +approaching step forced her to rouse herself and hurry away by the +other door of the chapel, she did indeed mount to the ladies' bed- +chamber, but only to beckon Veronique out of hearing and ask for +her mistress. + +Just the same still, only sleeping to have feverish dreams of the +revolving wheel or the demons grappling her husband, refusing all +food but a little drink, and lying silent except for a few moans, +heedless who spoke or looked at her. + +Diane explained that in that case it was needless to come to her, +but added, with the _vraisemblance_ of falsehood in which she had +graduated in Catherine's school, 'Veronique, as I told you, you +were mistaken.' + +'Ah, Mademoiselle, if M. le Baron lives, she will be cured at +once.' + +'Silly girl,' said Diane, giving relief to her pent-up feeling by +asperity of manner, 'how could he live when you and your intrigues +got him into the palace on such a night? Dead he is, OF COURSE; +but it was your own treacherous, mischievous fancy that laid it on +my brother. He was far away with M. de Guise at the attack on the +Admiral. It was some of Monsieur's grooms you saw. You remember +she had brought him into a scrape with Monsieur, and it was sure to +be remembered. And look you, if you repeat the other tale, and do +not drive it out of her head, you need not look to be long with +her--no, nor at home. My father will have no one there to cause a +scandal by an evil tongue.' + +That threat convinced Veronique that she had been right; but she, +too, had learnt lessons at the Louvre, and she was too diplomatic +not to ask pardon for her blunder, promise to contradict it when +her mistress could listen, and express her satisfaction that it was +not the Chevalier Narcisse--for such things were not pleasant, as +she justly observed, in families. + +About noon on the Tuesday the Louvre was unusually tranquil. All +the world had gone forth to a procession to Notre Dame, headed by +the King and all the royal family, to offer thanksgiving for the +deliverance of the country from the atrocious conspiracy of the +Huguenots. Eustacie's chamber was freed from the bustle of all the +maids of honour arraying themselves, and adjusting curls, feathers, +ruffs and jewels; and such relief as she was capable of +experiencing she felt in the quiet. + +Veronique hoped she would sleep, and watched like a dragon to guard +against any disturbance, springing out with upraised finger when a +soft gliding step and rustling of brocade was heard. 'Does she +sleep?' said a low voice; and Veronique, in the pale thin face with +tear-swollen eyes and light yellow hair, recognized the young +Queen. 'My good girl,' said Elisabeth, with almost a beseeching +gesture, 'let me see her. I do not know when again I may be able.' + +Veronique stood aside, with the lowest possible of curtseys, just +as her mistress with a feeble, weary voice murmured, 'Oh, make them +let me alone!' + +'My poor, poor child,' said the Queen, bending over Eustacie, while +her brimming eyes let the tears fall fast, 'I will not disturb you +long, but I could not help it.' + +'Her Majesty!' exclaimed Eustacie, opening wide her eyes in +amazement. + +'My dear, suffer me here a little moment,' said the meek Elisabeth, +seating herself so as to bring her face near to Eustacie's; 'I +could not rest till I had seen how it was with you and wept with +you.' + +'Ah, Madame, you can weep,' said Eustacie slowly, looking at the +Queen's heavy tearful eyes almost with wonder; 'but I do not weep +because I am dying, and that is better.' + +'My dear, my dear, do not so speak!' exclaimed the gentle but +rather dull Queen. + +'Is it wrong? Nay, so much the better--then I shall be with HIM,' +said Eustacie in the same feeble dreamy manner, as if she did not +understand herself, but a little roused by seeing she had shocked +her visitor. 'I would not be wicked. He was all bright goodness +and truth: but his does not seem to be goodness that brings to +heaven, and I do not want to be in the heaven of these cruel false +men--I think it would go round and round.' She shut her eyes as if +to steady herself, and that moment seemed to give her more self- +recollection, for looking at the weeping, troubled visitor, she +exclaimed, with more energy, 'Oh! Madame, it must be a dreadful +fancy! Good men like him cannot be shut into those fiery gates +with the torturing devils.' + +'Heaven forbid!' exclaimed the Queen. 'My poor, poor child, grieve +not yourself thus. At my home, my Austrian home, we do not speak +in this dreadful way. My father loves and honours his loyal +Protestants, and he trusts that the good God accepts their holy +lives in His unseen Church, even though outwardly they are separate +from us. My German confessor ever said so. Oh! Child, it would be +too frightful if we deemed that all those souls as well as bodies +perished in these frightful days. Myself, I believe that they have +their reward for their truth and constancy.' + +Eustacie caught the Queen's hand, and fondled it with delight, as +though those words had veritably opened the gates of heaven to her +husband. The Queen went on in her slow gentle manner, the very +tone of which was inexpressibly soothing and sympathetic: 'Yes, and +all will be clear there. No more violence. At home our good men +think so, and the King will think the same when these cruel +counselors will leave him to himself; and I pray, I pray day and +night, that God will not lay this sin to his account, but open his +eyes to repent. Forgive him, Eustacie, and pray for him too.' + +'The King would have saved my husband, Madame,' returned Eustacie. +'He bade him to his room. It was I, unhappy I, who detained him, +lest our flight should have been hindered.' + +The Queen in her turn kissed Eustacie's forehead with eager +gratitude. 'Oh, little one, you have brought a drop of comfort to +a heavy heart. Alas! I could sometimes feel you to be a happier +wife than I, with your perfect trust in the brave pure-spirited +youth, unwarped by these wicked cruel advisers. I loved to look at +his open brow; it was so like our bravest German Junkers. And, +child, we thought, both of us, to have brought about your +happiness; but, ah! it has but caused all this misery.' + +'No, no, dearest Queen,' said Eustacie, 'this month with all its +woe has been joy--life! Oh! I had rather lie here and die for his +loss than be as I was before he came. And NOW--now, you have given +him to me for all eternity--if but I am fit to be with him!' + +Eustacie had revived so much during the interview that the Queen +could not believe her to be in a dying state; but she continued +very ill, the low fever still hanging about her, and the faintness +continual. The close room, the turmoil of its many inhabitants, +and the impossibility of quiet also harassed her greatly, and +Elisabeth had little or no power of making any other arrangements +for her in the palace. Ladies when ill were taken home, and this +poor child had no home. The other maids of honour were a gentler, +simpler set than Catherine's squadron, and were far from unkind; +but between them and her, who had so lately been the brightest +child of them all, there now lay that great gulf. _'Ich habe +gelebt und geliebet.'_ That the little blackbird, as they used to +call her, should have been on the verge of running away with her +own husband was a half understood, amusing mystery discussed in +exaggerating prattle. This was hushed, indeed, in the presence of +that crushed, prostrate, silent sorrow; but there was still an +utter incapacity of true sympathy, that made the very presence of +so many oppressive, even when they were not in murmurs discussing +the ghastly tidings of massacres in other cities, and the fate of +acquaintances. + +On that same day, the Queen sent for Diane to consult her about the +sufferer. Elisabeth longed to place her in her own cabinet and +attend on her herself; but she was afraid to do this, as the +unhappy King was in such a frenzied mood, and so constantly excited +by his brother and Guise, that it was possible that some half- +delirious complaint from poor Eustacie might lead to serious +consequences. Indeed, Elisabeth, though in no state to bear +agitation, was absorbed in her endeavour to prevent him from adding +blood to blood, and a few days later actually saved the lives of +the King of Navarre and Prince of Conde, by throwing herself before +him half-dressed, and tearing his weapon from his hand. Her only +hope was that if she should give him a son, her influence for mercy +would revive with his joy. Meantime she was powerless, and she +could only devise the sending the poor little sufferer to a +convent, where the nuns might tend her till she was restored to +health and composure. Diane acquiesced, but proposed sending for +her father, and he was accordingly summoned. Diane saw him first +alone, and both agreed that he had better take Eustacie to +Bellaise, where her aunt would take good care of her, and in a few +months she would no doubt be weary enough of the country to be in +raptures to return to Paris on any terms. + +Yet even as Diane said this, a sort of longing for the solitude of +the woods of Nid-de-Merle came over her, a recollection of the good +Sister Monique, at whose knee she had breathed somewhat of the free +pure air that her murdered cousin had brought with him; a sense +that there she could pour forth her sorrow. She offered herself at +once to go with Eustacie. + +'No, no, my daughter,' said the Chevalier, 'that is unnecessary. +There is pleasanter employment for you. I told you that your +position was secured. Here is a brilliant offer--M. de +Selinville,' + +_'Le bonhomme de Selinville!'_ exclaimed Diane, feeling rather as +if the compensation were like the little dog offered to Eustacie. + +'Know ye not that his two heretic nephews perished the other night. +He is now the head of his name, the Marquis, the only one left of +his house.' + +'He begins early,' said Diane. + +'An old soldier, my daughter, scarce stays to count the fallen. He +has no time to lose. He is sixty, with a damaged constitution. It +will be but the affair of a few years, and then will my beautiful +Marquise be free to choose for herself. I shall go from the young +Queen to obtain permission from the Queen-mother.' + +No question was asked. Diane never even thought objection +possible. It was a close to that present life which she had begun +to loathe; it gave comparative liberty. It would dull and confuse +her heart-sick pain, and give her a certain superiority to her +brother. Moreover, it would satisfy the old father, whom she +really loved. Marriage with a worn-out old man was a simple step +to full display for young ladies without fortune. + +The Chevalier told Queen Elisabeth his purpose of placing his niece +in the family convent, under the care of her aunt, the Abbess, in a +foundation endowed by her own family on the borders of her own +estate. Elisabeth would have liked to keep her nearer, but could +not but own that the change to the scenes of her childhood might be +more beneficial than a residence in a nunnery at Paris, and the +Chevalier spoke of his niece with a tender solicitude that gained +the Queen's heart. She consented, only stipulating that Eustacie's +real wishes should be ascertained, and herself again made the +exertion of visiting the patient for the purpose. + +Eustacie had been partly dressed, and was lying as near as she +could to the narrow window. The Queen would not let her move, but +took her damp languid hand, and detailed her uncle's proposal. It +was plain that it was not utterly distasteful. 'Soeur Monique,' +she said, 'Soeur Monique would sing hymns to me, and then I should +not see the imps at night.' + +'Poor child! And you would like to go? You could bear the +journey?' + +'It would be in the air! And then I should not smell blood-- +blood!' And her cheeks became whiter again, if possible. + +'Then you would not rather be at the Carmelites, or Maubuisson, +near me?' + +'Ah! Madame, there would not be Soeur Monique. If the journey +would only make me die, as soon as I came, with Soeur Monique to +hush me, and keep off dreadful images!' + +'Dear child, you should put away the thought of dying. Maybe you +are to live, that your prayers may win salvation for the soul of +him you love.' + +'Oh, then! I should like to go into a convent so strict--so +strict, cried Eustacie, with renewed vigour. 'Bellaise is nothing +like strict enough. Does your Majesty indeed think that my prayers +will aid him?' + +'Alas! what hope could we have but in praying?' said Elisabeth, +with tears in her eyes. 'Little one, we will be joined at least in +our prayers and intercessions: thou wilt not forget in thine one +who yet lives, unhappier than all!' + +'And, oh, my good, my holy Queen, will you indeed pray for him--my +husband? He was so good, his faith can surely not long be reckoned +against him. He did not believe in Purgatory! Perhaps----' Then +frowning with a difficulty far beyond a fever-clouded brain, she +concluded--'At least, orisons may aid him! It is doing something +for him! Oh, where are my beads?--I can begin at once.' + +The Queen put her arm round her, and together they said the _De +profundis_,--the Queen understood every word far more for the +living than the dead. Again Elisabeth had given new life to +Eustacie. The intercession for her husband was something to live +for, and the severest convent was coveted, until she was assured +that she would not be allowed to enter on any rule till she had +time to recover her health, and show the constancy of her purpose +by a residence at Bellaise. + +Ere parting, however, the Queen bent over her, and colouring, as if +much ashamed of what she said, whispered--'Child, not a word of the +ceremony at Montpipeau!--you understand? The King was always +averse; it would bring him and me into dreadful trouble with THOSE +OTHERS, and alas! It makes no difference now. You will be silent?' + +And Eustacie signed her acquiescence, as indeed no difficulty was +made in her being regarded as the widow of the Baron de Ribaumont, +when she further insisted on procuring a widow's dress before she +quitted her room, and declared, with much dignity, that she should +esteem no person her friend who called her Mademoiselle de Nid-de- +Merle. To this the Chevalier de Ribaumont was willing to give way; +he did not care whether Narcisse married her as Berenger's widow or +as the separated maiden wife, and he thought her vehement +opposition and dislike would die away the faster the fewer +impediments were placed in her way. Both he and Diane strongly +discouraged any attempt on Narcisse's widow part at a farewell +interview; and thus unmolested, and under the constant soothing +influence of reciting her prayers, in the trust that they were +availing her husband, Eustacie rallied so much that about ten day +after the dreadful St. Batholomew, in the early morning, she was +half-led half-carried down the stairs between her uncle and +Veronique. Her face was close muffled in her thick black veil, but +when she came to the foot of the first stairs where she had found +Berenger's cap, a terrible shuddering came on her; she again +murmured something about the smell of blood, and fell into a swoon. + +'Carry her on at once,' said Diane, who was following,--'there will +be not end to it if you do not remove her immediately.' + +And thus shielded from the sight of Marcisse's intended passionate +gesture of farewell at the palace-door, Eustecie was laid at full +length on the seat of the great ponderous family coach, where +Veronique hardly wished to revive her till the eight horses should +have dragged her beyond the streets of Paris, with their terrible +associations, and the gibbets still hung with the limbs of the +murdered. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE BRIDEGROOM'S ARRIVAL + + + +The starling flew to his mother's window stane, + It whistled and it sang, + And aye, the ower word of the tune + Was 'Johnnie tarries lang.'--JOHNNIE OF BREDISLEE + + +There had been distrust and dissatisfaction at home for many a day +past. Berenger could hardly be censured for loving his own wife, +and yet his family were by not means gratified by the prospect of +his bringing home a little French Papist, of whom Lady Thistlewood +remembered nothing good. + +Lucy was indignantly fetched home by her stepmother, who insisted +on treating her with extreme pity as a deserted maiden, and thus +counteracting Aunt Cecily's wise representations, that there never +should, and therefore never could, have been anything save +fraternal affection between the young people, and that pity was +almost an insult to Lucy. The good girl herself was made very +uncomfortable by there demonstrations, and avoided them as much as +possible, chiefly striving in her own gentle way to prepare her +little sisters to expect numerous charms in brother Berenger's +wife, and heartily agreeing with Philip that Berenger knew his own +mind best. + +'And at any rate,' quoth Philip, 'we'll have the best bonfire that +ever was seen in the country! Lucy, you'll coax my father to give +us a tar-barrel!' + +The tar-barrel presided over a monstrous pile of fagots, and the +fisher-boys were promised a tester to whoever should first bring +word to Master Philip that the young lord and lady were in the +creek. + +Philip gave his pony no rest, between the lock-out on the downs and +the borders of the creek; but day after day passed, and still the +smacks from Jersey held no person worth mentioning; and still the +sense of expectation kept Lucy starting at every sound, and hating +herself for her own folly. + +At last Philip burst into Combe Manor, fiery red with riding and +consternation. 'Oh! father, father, Paul Duval's boat is come in, +and he says that the villain Papists have butchered every +Protestant in France.' + +Sir Marmaduke's asseveration was of the strongest, that he did not +believe a word of it. Nevertheless, he took his horse and rode +down to interrogate Paul Duval, and charge him not to spread the +report was in the air. He went to the Hall, and the butler met him +with a grave face, and took him to the study, where Lord Walwyn was +sitting over letter newly received from London, giving hints from +the Low Countries of bloody work in France. And when he returned +to his home, his wife burst out upon him in despair. Here had they +been certainly killing her poor buy. Not a doubt that he was dead. +All from this miserable going to France, that had been quite +against her will. + +Stoutly did Sir Marmaduke persevere in his disbelief; but every day +some fresh wave of tidings floated in. Murder wholesale had surely +been perpetrated. Now came stories of death-bells at Rouen from +the fishermen on the coast; now markets and petty sessions +discussed the foul slaughter of the Ambassador and his household; +truly related how the Queen had put on mourning, and falsely that +she had hung the French Ambassador, La Mothe Feneon. And Burleigh +wrote to his old friend from London, that some horrible carnage had +assuredly taken place, and that no news had yet been received of +Sir Francis Walsingham or of his suite. + +All these days seems so many years taken from the vital power of +Lord Walwyn. Not only had his hopes and affections would +themselves closely around his grandson, but he reproached himself +severely with having trusted him in his youth and inexperience +among the seductive perils of Paris. The old man grieved over the +promising young life cut off, and charged on himself the loss and +grief to the women, whose stay he had trusted Berenger would have +been. He said little, but his hand and head grew more trembling; +he scarcely ate or slept, and seemed to waste from a vigorous elder +to a feeble being in the extremity of old age, till Lady Walwyn had +almost ceased to think of her grandson in her anxiety for her +husband. + +Letters came at last. The messenger despatched by Sir Francis +Walsingham had not been able to proceed till the ways had become +safe, and he had then been delayed; but on his arrival his tidings +were sent down. There were letters both from Sir Francis +Walsingham and from heart-broken Mr. Adderley, both to the same +effect, with all possible praises of the young Baron de Ribaumont, +all possible reproach to themselves for having let him be betrayed, +without even a possibility of recovering his remains for honourable +burial. Poor Mr. Adderley further said that Mr. Sidney, who was +inconsolable for the loss of his friend, had offered to escort him +to the Low Countries, whence he would make his way to England, and +would present himself at Hurst Walwyn, if his Lordship could endure +the sight of his creature who had so miserably failed in his trust. + +Lord Walwyn read both letters twice through before he spoke. Then +he took off his spectacles, laid them down, and said calmly, 'God's +will be done. I thank God that my boy was blameless. Better they +slew him than sent him home tainted with their vices.' + +The certainty, such as it was, seemed like repose after the +suspense. They knew to what to resign themselves, and even Lady +Thistlewood's tempestuous grief had so spent itself that late in +the evening the family sat round the fire in the hall, the old lord +dozing as one worn out with sorrow, the others talking in hushed +tones of that bright boyhood, that joyous light quenched in the +night of carnage. + +The butler slowly entered the hall, and approached Sir Marmaduke, +cautiously. 'Can I speak with you, sir?' + +'What is it, Davy?' demanded the lady, who first caught the words. +'What did you say?' + +'Madam, it is Humfrey Holt!' + +Humfrey Holt was the head of the grooms who had gone with Berenger; +and there was a general start and suppressed exclamation. 'Humfrey +Hold!' said Lord Walwyn, feebly drawing himself to sit upright, +'hath he, then, escaped?' + +'Yea, my Lord,' said Davy, 'and he brings news of my young Lord' + +'Alack! Davy,' said Lady Walwyn, 'such news had been precious a +while ago.' + +'Nay, so please your Ladyship, it is better than you deem. Humfley +says my young Lord is yet living.' + +'Living! shrieked Lady Thistlewood, starting up. 'Living! My +son! and where?' + +'They are bearing him home, my Lady,' said the butler; 'but I fear +me, by what Humfley says, that it is but in woeful case.' + +'Bringing him home! Which way?' Philip darted off like an arrow +from the bow. Sir Marmaduke hastily demanded if aid were wanted; +and Lady Walwyn, interpreting the almost inaudible voice of her +husband, bade that Humfley should be called in to tell his own +story. + +Hands were held out in greeting, and blessings murmured, as the +groom entered, looking battered and worn, and bowing low in +confusion at being thus unusually conspicuous, and having to tell +his story to the head and body, and slashed about the face so as it +is a shame to see. Nor hath he done aught these three weary weeks +but moan from time to time so as it is enough to break one's heart +to hear him; and I fear me 'tis but bringing him home to die.' + +'Even so, God be thanked; and you too, honest Humfley,' said Lady +Walwyn.' 'Let us hear when and how this deed was done.' + +'Why, that, my Lord, I can't so well say, being that I was not with +him; more's the pity, or I'd have known the reason why, or even +they laid a finger on him. But when Master Landry, his French +foster-brother, comes, he will resolve you in his own tongue. I +can't parleyvoo with him, but he's an honest rogue for a Frenchman, +and 'twas he brought off my young Lord. You see we were all told to +be abroad the little French craft. + +Master Landry took me down and settled it all with the master, a +French farmer fellow that came a horse-dealing to Paris. I knew +what my young Lord was after, but none of the other varlets did; +and I went down and made as decent a place as I could between +decks. My Lord and Master Landry were gone down to the court +meantime, and we were to lie off till we heard a whistle like a +mavis on the bank, then come and take them aboard. Well, we waited +and waited, and all the lights were out, and not a sound did we +hear till just an hour after midnight. Then a big bell rang out, +not like a decent Christianable bell, but a great clash, then +another, and a lot of strokes enough to take away one's breath. +Then half the windows were lighted up, and we heard shots, and +screeches, and splashes, till, as I said to Jack Smithers, 'twas as +if one half the place was murthering the other. The farmer got +frightened, and would have been off; but when I saw what he was at, +"No," says I, "not an inch do we budge without news of my Lord." +So Jack stood by the rope, and let them see that 'twas as much as +their life was worth to try to unmoor. Mercy, what a night it was! +Shrieks and shouts, and shots and howls, here, there, and +everywhere, and splashes into the rive; and by and by we saw the +poor murthered creatures come floating by. The farmer, he had some +words with one of the boats near, and I heard somewhat of Huguenot +and Hereteek, and I knew that was what they called good +Protestants. Then up comes the farmer with his sons looking mighty +ugly at us, and signing that unless we let them be off 'twould be +set ashore for us; and we began to think as how we had best be set +ashore, and go down the five of us to see if we could stand by my +young Lord in some strait, or give notice to my Lord Ambassador.' + +'God reward you!' exclaimed Lady Walwyn. + +'Twas only our duty, my Lady,' gruffly answered Humfrey; 'but just +as Hal had got on the quay, what should I see but Master Landry +coming down the street with my young Lord in his back! I can tell +you he was well-nigh spent; and just then half a dozen butcherly +villains came out on him, bawling, "Tu-y! tu-y!" which it seems +means "kill, kill." He turned about and showed them that he had +got a white sleeve and white cross in his bonnet, like them, the +rascals, giving them to understand that he was only going to throw +the corpse into the river. I doubted him then myself; but he caught +sight of us, and in his fashion of talk with us, called out to us +to help, for there was life still. So two of us took my Lord, and +the other three gave the beggarly French cut-throats as good as +they meant for us; while Landry shouted to the farmer to wait, and +we got aboard, and made right away down the river. But never a +word has the poor young gentleman spoken, though Master Landry has +done all a barber or a sick-nurse could do; and he got us past the +cities by showing the papers in my Lord's pocket, so that we got +safe to the farmer's place. There we lay till we could get a boat +to Jersey, and thence again home; and maybe my young Lord will mend +now Mistress Cecily will have the handing of him.' + +'That is it the wisest Hands, good Humfrey,' said Lord Walwyn, as +the tears of feeble age flowed down his cheeks. 'May He who hath +brought the lad safely so far spare him yet, and raise him up. But +whether he live or die, you son and daughter Thistlewood will look +that the faithfulness of Humfrey Holt and his comrades be never +forgotten or unrewarded.' + +Humfrey again muttered something about no more than his duty; but +by this time sounds were heard betokening the approach of the +melancholy procession, who, having been relieved by a relay of +servants sent at once from the house, were bearing home the wounded +youth. Philip first of all dashed in hurrying and stumbling. He +had been unprepared by hearing Humfrey's account, and, impetuous +and affectionate as he was, was entirely unrestrained, and flinging +himself on his knees with the half-audible words, 'Oh! Lucy! +Lucy! He is as good as dead!' hid his face between his arms on his +sister's lap, and sobbed with the abandonment of a child, and with +all his youthful strength; so much adding to the consternation and +confusion, that, finding all Lucy's gentle entreaties vain, his +father at last roughly pulled up his face by main force, and said, +'Philip, hold your tongue! Are we to have you on our hands as well +as my Lady? I shall send you home this moment! Let your sister +go.' + +This threat reduced the boy to silence. Lucy, who was wanted to +assist in preparing Berenger's room, disengaged herself; but he +remained in the same posture, his head buried on the seat of the +chair, and the loud weeping only forcibly stifled by forcing his +handkerchief into his mouth, as if he had been in violent bodily +pain. Nor did he venture again to look up as the cause of all his +distress was slowly carried into the hall, corpse-like indeed. The +bearers had changed several times, all but a tall, fair Norman +youth, who through the whole transit had supported the head, +endeavouring to guard it from shocks. When the mother and the rest +came forward, he made a gesture to conceal the face, saying in +French, 'Ah! Mesdames; this is no sight for you.' + +Indeed the head and face were almost entirely hidden by bandages, +and it was not till Berenger had been safely deposited on a large +carved bed that the anxious relatives were permitted to perceive +the number and extent of his hurts; and truly it was only by the +breath, the vital warmth, and the heavy moans when he was +disturbed, or the dressings of the wounds were touched, that showed +him still to be a living man. There proved to be no less than four +wounds--a shot through the right shoulder, the right arm also +broken with a terrible blow with a sword, a broad gash from the +left temple to the right ear, and worse than all, _'le baiser +d'Eustacie,'_ a bullet wound where the muzzle of the pistol had +absolutely been so close as to have burnt and blackened the cheek; +so that his life was, as Osbert averred, chiefly owing to the +assassin's jealousy of his personal beauty, which had directed his +shot to the cheek rather than the head; and thus, though the bullet +had terribly shattered the upper jaw and roof of the mouth, and had +passed out through the back of the head, there was a hope that it +had not penetrated the seat of life or reason. The other gash on +the face was but a sword-wound, and though frightful to look at, +was unimportant, compared with the first wound with the pistol-shot +in the shoulder, with the arm broken and further injured by having +served to suspend him round Osbert's neck; but it was altogether so +appalling a sight, that it was no wonder that Sis Marmaduke +muttered low but deep curses on the cowardly ruffians; while his +wife wept in grief as violent, though more silent, than her +stepson's, and only Cecily gathered the faintest ray of hope. The +wounds had been well cared for, the arm had been set, the hair cut +away, and lint and bandages applied with a skill that surprised +her, till she remembered that Landry Osbert had been bred up in +preparation to be Berenger's valet, and thus to practise those +minor arts of surgery then required in a superior body-servant. +For his part, though his eyes looked red, and his whole person +exhausted by unceasing watching, he seemed unable to relinquish the +care of his master for a moment, and her nunnery French would not +have perceived her tender touch and ready skill. These were what +made him consent to leave his post even for a short meal, and so +soon as he had eaten it he was called to Lord Walwyn to supply the +further account which Humfley had been unable to give. He had +waited, he explained, with a lackey, a friend of his in the palace, +till he became alarmed by the influx of armed men, wearing white +crosses and shirt-sleeves on their left arms, but his friend had +assured him that his master had been summoned to the royal +bedchamber, where he would be as safe as in church; and obtaining +from Landry Osbert himself a perfectly true assurance of being a +good Catholic, had supplied him with the badges that were needful +for security. It was just then that Madame's maid crept down to +his waiting-place with the intelligence that her mistress had been +bolted in, and after a short consultation they agreed to go and see +whether M. le Baron were indeed waiting, and, if he were, to warn +him of the suspicious state of the lower regions of the palace. + +They were just in time to see, but not to prevent the attack upon +their young master; and while Veronique fled, screaming, Landry +Osbert, who had been thrown back on the stairs in her sudden +flight, recovered himself and hastened to his master. The +murderers, after their blows had been struck, had hurried along the +corridor to join the body of assassins, whose work they had in +effect somewhat anticipated. Landry, full of rage and despair, was +resolved at least to save his foster-brother's corpse from further +insult, and bore it down-stairs in his arms. On the way, he +perceived that life was not yet extinct, and resolving to become +doubly cautious, he sought in the pocket for the purse that had +been well filled for the flight, and by the persuasive argument of +gold crowns, obtained egress from the door-keeper of the postern, +where Berenger hoped to have emerged in a far different manner. It +was a favourable moment, for the main body of the murderers were at +that time being poster in the court by the captain of the guard, +ready to massacre the gentlemen of the King of Navarre's suite, and +he was therefore unmolested by any claimant of the plunders of the +apparent corpse he bore on his shoulders. The citizens of Paris +who had been engaged in their share of the murders for more than an +hour before the tragedy began in the Louvre, frequently beset him +on his way to the quay, and but for the timely aid of his English +comrades, he would hardly have brought off his foster-brother +safely. + +The pass with which King Charles had provided Berenger for himself +and his followers when his elopement was first planned, enabled +Osbert to carry his whole crew safely past all the stations where +passports were demanded. He had much wished to procure surgical +aid at Rouen, but learning from the boatmen on the river that the +like bloody scenes were there being enacted, he had decide on going +on to his master's English home as soon as possible, merely +trusting to his own skill by the way; and though it was the +slightest possible hope, yet the healthy state of the wounds, and +the mere fact of life continuing, had given him some faint trust +that there might be a partial recovery. + +Lord Walwyn repeated his agitated thanks and praises for such +devotion to his grandson. + +Osbert bower, laid his hand on his heart, and replied--'Monseigneur +is good, but what say I? Monsieur le Baron is my foster-brother! +Say that, and all is said in one word.' + +He was then dismissed, with orders to take some rest, but he +obstinately refused all commands in French or English to go to bed, +and was found some time after fast asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. SWEET HEART + + + +Ye hae marred a bonnier face than your ain. + DYING WORDS OF THE BONNIE EARL OF MORAY + + +One room at Hurst Walwyn, though large, wainscoted, and well +furnished, bore as pertinaciously the air of a cell as the +appearance of Sister Cecily St. John continued like that of a nun. +There was a large sunny oriel, in which a thrush sang merrily in a +wicker cage; and yet the very central point and leading feature of +the room was the altar-like table, covered with rich needlework, +with a carved ebony crucifix placed on it, and on the wall above, +quaint and stiff, but lovely-featured, delicately tinted pictures +of Our Lady in the centre, and of St. Anne and St. Cecilia on +either side, with skies behind of most ethereal blue, and robes +tenderly trimmed with gold. A little shrine of purple spar, with a +crystal front, contained a fragment of sacred bone; a silver shell +help holy water, perpetuated from some blessed by Bishop Ridley. + + 'With velvet bound and broidered o'er, + Her breviary book' + +Lay open at 'Sext,' and there, too, lay with its three marks at the +Daily Lessons, the Bishop's Bible, and the Common Prayer beside it. + +The elder Baron de Ribaumont had never pardoned Cecily his single +glance at that table, and had seriously remonstrated with his +father-in-law for permitting its existence, quoting Rachel, Achan, +and Maachah. Yet he never knew of the hair-cloth smock, the +discipline, the cord and sack-cloth that lay stored in the large +carved awmry, and were secretly in use on every fast or vigil, not +with any notion of merit, but of simple obedience, and with even +deeper comprehension and enjoyment of their spiritual significance, +of which, in her cloister life, she had comprehended little. + +It was not she, however, who knelt with bowed head and clasped +hands before the altar-table, the winter sunbeams making the +shadows of the ivy sprays dance upon the deep mourning dress and +pale cheek. The eyelashes were heavy with tear-drops, and veiled +eyes that had not yet attained to the region of calm, like the +light quivering of the lips showed that here was the beginning of +the course of trial through which serenity might be won, and for +ever. + +By and by the latch was raise, and Cecily came forward. Lucy rose +quickly to her feet, and while giving and returning a fond embrace, +asked with her eyes the question that Cecily answered, 'Still in +the same lethargy. The only shade of sense that I have seen is an +unclosing of the eyes, a wistful look whenever the door opened, and +a shiver through all his frame whenever the great bell rings, till +my Lord forbade it to be sounded.' + +'That frightful bell that the men told us of,' said Lucy, +shuddering; 'oh, what a heart that murderess must have had!' + +'Hold, Lucy! How should we judge her, who may at this moment be +weeping in desolation?' + +Lucy looked up astonished. 'Aunt,' she said, 'you have been so +long shut up with him that you hardly can have heard all-how she +played fast and loose, and for the sake of a mere pageant put off +the flight from the time when it would have been secure even until +that dreadful eve!' + +'I know it,' said Cecily. 'I fear me much that her sin has been +great; yet, Lucy, it were better to pray for her than to talk +wildly against her.' + +'Alas!' murmured Lucy, 'I could bear it and glory in it when it +seemed death for the faith's sake, but,' and the tears burst out, +'to find he was only trapped and slain for the sake of a faithless +girl--and that he should love her still.' + +'She is his wife,' said Cecily. 'Child, from my soul I grieve for +you, but none the less must I, if no other will, keep before your +eyes that our Berenger's faith belongs solely to her.' + +'You--you never would have let me forget it,' said Lucy. 'Indeed I +am more maidenly when not alone with you! I know verily that he is +loyal, and that my hatred to her is more than is meet. I will--I +will pray for her, but I would that you were in your convent still, +and that I could hide me there.' + +'That were scarce enough,' said Cecily. 'One sister we had who had +fled to our house to hide her sorrows for her betrothed had wedded +another. She took her sorrows for her vocation, strove to hurry on +her vows, and when they were taken, she chafed and fretted under +them. It was she who wrote to the commissioner the letter that led +to the visitation of our house, and, moreover, she was the only one +of us who married.' + +'To her own lover?' + +'No, to a brewer at Winchester! I say not that you could ever be +like poor sister Bridget, but only that the cloister has no charm +to still the heart--prayer and duty can do as much without as +within.' + +'When we deemed her worthy, I was glad of his happiness,' said +Lucy, thoughtfully. + +'You did, my dear, and I rejoiced. Think now how grievous it must +be with her, if she, as I fear she may, yielded her heart to those +who told her that to ensnare him was her duty, or if indeed she +were as much deceived as he.' + +'Then she will soon be comforted,' said Lucy, still with some +bitterness in her voice; bitterness of which she herself was +perhaps conscious, for suddenly dropping in her knees, she hid her +face, and cried. 'Oh, help me to pray for her, Aunt Cecily, and +that I may do her wrong no more!' + +And Cecily, in her low conventual chant, sang, almost under her +breath, the noonday Latin hymn, the words of which, long familiar +to Lucy, had never as yet so come home to her. + + 'Quench Thou the fires of heat and strife, + The wasting fever of the heart; + From perils guard our feeble life, + And to our souls Thy help impart.' + +Cecily's judgment would have been thought weakly charitable by all +the rest of the family. Mr. Adderley had been forwarded by Sir +Francis Walsingham like a bale of goods, and arriving in a mood of +such self-reproach as would be deemed abject, by persons used to +the modern relations between noblemen and their chaplains, was +exhilarated by the unlooked-for comfort of finding his young charge +at least living, and in his grandfather's house. From his +narrative, Walsingham's letter, and Osbert's account, Lord Walwyn +saw no reason to doubt that the Black Ribaumonts had thought that +massacre a favourable moment for sweeping the only survivor of the +White or elder branch away, and that not only had royalty lent +itself to the cruel project, but that as Diane de Ribaumont had +failed as a bait, the young espoused wife had herself been employed +to draw him into the snare, and secure his presence at the +slaughter-house, away from his safe asylum at the Ambassador's or +even in the King's garde-robe. It was an unspeakably frightful +view to take of the case, yet scarcely worse than the reality of +many of the dealings of those with whom the poor young girl had +been associated: certainly not worse than the crimes, the suspicion +of which was resting on the last dowager Queen of France; and all +that could be felt by the sorrowing family, was comfort that at +least corruption of mind had either not been part of the game, or +had been unsuccessful, and, by all testimony, the victim was still +the same innocent boy. This was all their relief, while for days, +for weeks, Berenger de Ribaumont lay in a trance or torpor between +life and death. Sometimes, as Cecily had said, his eyes turned +with a startled wistfulness towards the door, and the sound of a +bell seemed to thrill him with a start of agony; but for the most +part he neither appeared to see or hear, and a few moans were the +only sounds that escaped him. The Queen, in her affection for her +old friend, and her strong feeling for the victims of the massacre, +sent down the court physician, who turned him about, and elicited +sundry heavy groans, but could do no more than enjoin patient +waiting on the beneficent powers of nature in early youth. His +visit produced one benefit, namely, the strengthening of Cecily St. +John's hands against the charms, elixirs, and nostrums with which +Lady Thistlewood's friends supplied her,--plasters from the cunning +women of Lyme Regis, made of powder of giant's bones, and snakes +prayed into stone by St. Aldhelm, pills of live woodlice, and +fomentations of living earthworms and spiders. Great was the +censure incurred by Lady Walwyn for refusing to let such remedies +be tried on HER grandson. And he was so much more her child than +his mother's, that Dame Annora durst do no more than maunder. + +In this perfect rest, it seemed as if after a time 'the powers of +nature' did begin to rally, there were appearances of healing about +the wounds, the difference between sleeping and waking became more +evident, the eyes lost the painful, half-closed, vacant look, but +were either shut or opened with languid recognition. The injuries +were such as to exclude him from almost every means of expression, +the wound in his mouth made speech impossible, and his right arm +was not available for signs. It was only the clearness of his +eyes, and their response to what was said, that showed that his +mind was recovering tone, and then he seemed only alive to the +present, and to perceive nothing but what related to his suffering +and its alleviations. The wistfulness that had shown itself at +first was gone, and even when he improved enough to establish a +language of signs with eye, lip, or left hand, Cecily became +convinced that he has little or no memory of recent occurrences, +and that finding himself at home among familiar faces, his still +dormant perceptions demanded no further explanation. + +This blank was the most favourable state for his peace and for his +recovery, and it was of long duration, lasting even till he had +made so much progress that he could leave his bed, and even speak a +few words, though his weakness was much prolonged by the great +difficulty with which he could take nourishment. About two winters +before, Cecily had successfully nursed him through a severe attack +of small-pox, and she thought that he confounded his present state +with the former illness, when he had had nearly the same attendants +and surroundings as at present; and that his faculties were not yet +roused enough to perceive the incongruity. + +Once or twice he showed surprise at visits from his mother or +Philip, who had then been entirely kept away from him, and about +Christmas he brightened so much, and awoke to things about him so +much more fully, that Cecily thought the time of recollection could +not be much longer deferred. Any noise, however, seemed so painful +to him, that the Christmas festivities were held at Combe Manor +instead of Hurst Walwyn; only after church, Sir Marmaduke and Lady +Thistlewood came in to make him a visit, as he sat in a large easy- +chair by his bedroom-fire, resting after having gone through as +much of the rites of the day as he was able for, with Mr. Adderlay. +The room looked very cheerful with the bright wood-fire on the open +hearth, shining on the gay tapestry hangings, and the dark wood of +the carved bed. The evergreen-decked window shimmered with sun +shine, and even the patient, leaning back among crimson cushions, +though his face and head were ghastly enough wherever they were not +covered with patches and bandages, still had a pleasant smile with +lip and eye to thank his stepfather for his cheery wishes of 'a +merry Christmas, at least one better in health.' + +'I did not bring the little wenches, Berenger, lest they should +weary you,' said his mother. + +Berenger looked alarmed, and said with the indistinctness with +which he always spoke, 'Have they caught it? Are they marked?' + +'No, no, not like you, may boy,' said Sir Marmaduke, sufficiently +aware of Berenger's belief to be glad to keep it up, and yet +obliged to walk to the window to hide his diversion at the notion +of his little girls catching the contagion of sword-gashes and +bullet-wounds. Dame Annora prattled on, 'But they have sent you +their Christmas gifts by me. Poor children, they have long been +busied with them, and I fancy Lucy did half herself. See, this +kerchief is hemmed by little Dolly, and here are a pair of bands +and cuffs to match, that Nanny and Bessy have been broidering with +their choicest stitchery.' + +Berenger smile, took, expressed admiration by gesture, and then +said in a dreamy, uncertain manner, 'Methought I had some gifts for +them;' then looking round the room, his eye fell on a small brass- +bound casket which had travelled with him to hold his valuables; he +pointed to it with a pleased look, as Sir Marmaduke lifted it and +placed it on a chair by his side. The key, a small ornamental +brass one, was in his purse, not far off, and Lady Thistlewood was +full of exceeding satisfaction at the unpacking not only of foreign +gifts, but, as she hoped, of the pearls; Cecily meantime stole +quietly in, to watch that her patient was not over-wearied. + +He was resuming the use of his right arm, though it was still weak +and stiff, and he evidently had an instinct against letting any one +deal with that box but himself; he tried himself to unlock it, and +though forced to leave this to Sir Marmaduke, still leant over it +when opened, as if to prevent his mother's curious glances from +penetrating its recesses, and allowed no hands near it but his own. +He first brought out a pretty feather fan, saying as he held it to +his mother, 'For Nan, I promised it. It was bought at the Halles,' +he added, more dreamily. + +Then again he dived, and brought out a wax medallion of Our Lady +guarded by angels, and made the sign that always brought Cecily to +him. He held it up to her with a puzzled smile, saying, 'They +thought me a mere Papist for buying it--M. de Teligny, I think it +was.' + +They had heard how the good and beloved Teligny had been shot down +on the roof of his father-in-law's house, by rabid assassins, +strangers to his person, when all who knew him had spared him, from +love to his gentle nature; and the name gave a strange thrill. + +He muttered something about 'Pedlar,--Montpipeau,'--and still +continued. Then came a small silver casket, diffusing an odour of +attar of roses--he leant back in his chair--and his mother would +have taken it from him, supposing him overcome by the scent, but he +held it fast and shook his head, saying, "For Lucy,--but she must +give it herself. She gave up any gift for herself for it--she said +we needed no love-tokens.' And he closed his eyes. Dame Annora +plunged into the unpacking, and brought out a pocket-mirror with +enamelled cupids in the corner, addressed to herself; and then came +upon Berenger's own. + +Again came a fringed pair of gloves among the personal jewellery +such as gentlemen were wont to wear, the rings, clasps and brooches +he had carried from home. Dame Annora's impatience at last found +vent in the exclamation, 'The pearls, son; I do not see the chaplet +of pearls.' + +'She had them, 'answered Berenger, in a matter-of-fact tone, 'to +wear at the masque.' + +'She----' + +Sir Marmaduke's great hand choked, as it were, the query on his +wife's lips, unseen by her son, who, as if the words had touched +some chord, was more eagerly seeking in the box, and presently drew +out a bow of carnation ribbon with a small piece of paper full of +pin-holes attached to it. At once he carried it to his lips, +kissed it fervently, and then, sinking back in his chair, seemed to +be trying to gather up the memory that had prompted the impulse, +knitted his brows together, and then suddenly exclaimed, 'Where is +she?' + +His mother tried the last antecedent. 'Lucy? She shall come and +thank you to-morrow.' + +He shook his head with a vehement negative, beckoned Cecily +impatiently, and said earnestly, 'Is it the contagion? Is she +sick? I will go to her.' + +Cecily and Sir Marmaduke both replied with a 'No, no!' and were +thankful, though in much suspense at the momentary pause, while +again he leant back on the cushions, looked steadily at the pin- +holes, that formed themselves into the word 'Sweet heart,' then +suddenly began to draw up the loose sleeve of his wrapping-gown and +unbutton the wristband of his right sleeve. His mother tried to +help him, asking if he had hurt or tired his arm. They would have +been almost glad to hear that it was so, but he shook her off +impatiently, and the next moment had a view of the freshly skinned +over, but still wide and gaping gash on his arm. He looked for a +brief space, and said, 'It is a sword-cut,' + +'Truly it is, lad,' said Sir Marmaduke, 'and a very bad one, +happily whole! Is this the first time you have seen it?' + +He did not answer, but covered his eyes with his hand, and +presently burst out again, 'Then it is no dream? Sir--have I been +to France?' + +'Yes, my son, you have,' said Sir Marmaduke, gently, and with more +tenderness than could have been looked for; 'but what passed there +is much better viewed as a dream, and cast behind your back,' + +Berenger had, while he spoke, taken up the same little mirror where +he had once admired himself; and as he beheld the scar and plaster +that disfigured his face, with a fresh start of recollection, +muttered over, '_"Barbouiller ce chien de visage"_ --ay, so he +said. I felt the pistol's muzzle touch! Narcisse! Has God had +mercy on me? I prayed Him. Ah! _"le baiser d'Eustacie"_ --so he +said. I was waiting in the dark. Why did he come instead of her? +Oh! father, where is she?' + +It was a sore task, but Sir Marmaduke went bravely and bluntly, +though far from unkindly, to the point: 'She remains with her +friends in France.' + +There the youth's look of utter horror and misery shocked and +startled them all, and he groaned rather than said, 'Left there! +Left to them! What have I done to leave her there?' + +'Come, Berenger, this will not serve,' said his mother, trying to +rouse and cheer him. 'You should rather be thankful that when you +had been so foully ensnared by their wiles, good Osbert brought you +off with your life away from those bloody doings. Yes, you may +thank Heaven and Osbert, for you are the only one of them living +now.' + +'Of whom, mother?' + +'Of all the poor Protestants that like you were deluded by the pack +of murderers over there. What,'--fancying it would exhilarate him +to hear of his own escape--'you knew not that the bloody Guise and +the Paris cut-throats rose and slew every Huguenot they could lay +hands on? Why, did not the false wench put off your foolish +runaway project for the very purpose of getting you into the trap +on the night of the massacre?' + +He looked with a piteous, appealing glance from her to Cecily and +Sir Marmaduke, as if in hopes that they would contradict. + +'Too true, my lad,' said Sir Marmaduke. 'It is Heaven's good mercy +that Osbert carried you out alive. No other Protestant left the +palace alive but the King of Navarre and his cousin, who turned +renegades.' + +'And she is left there?' he repeated. + +'Heed her not, my dear boy,' began his mother; 'you are safe, and +must forget her ill-faith and----' + +Berenger seemed scarcely to hear this speech--he held out his hands +as if stunned and dizzied, and only said, or rather indicated, 'Let +me lie down.' + +His stepfather almost carried him across the room, and laid him on +his bed, where he turned away from the light and shut his eyes; but +the knot of ribbon and the pin-pricked word was still in his hand, +and his mother longed to take away the token of this false love, as +she believed it. The great clock struck the hour for her to go. +'Leave him quiet,' said Cecily, gently; 'he can bear no more now. +I will send over in the evening to let you know how he fares.' + +'But that he should be so set on the little bloodthirsty baggage,' +sighed Lady Thistlewood; and then going up to her son, she poured +out her explanation of being unable to stay, as her parents were +already at the Manor, with no better entertainers than Lucy, +Philip, and the children. She thanked him for the gifts, which she +would take to them with his love. All this passed by him as though +he heard it not, but when leaning down, she kissed his forehead, +and at the same time tried to withdraw the knot of ribbon: his +fingers closed on it with a grasp like steel, so cold were they, +yet so fast. + +Sir Masmaduke lingered a few moments behind her, and Berenger +opening his eyes, as if to see whether solitude had been achieved, +found the kind-hearted knight gazing at him with eyes full of +tears. 'Berry, my lad,' he said, 'bear it like a man. I know how +hard it is. There's not a woman of them all that an honest, plain +Englishman has a chance with, when a smooth-tongued Frenchman comes +round her! But a man may live a true and honest life however sore +his heart may be, and God Almighty makes it up to him if he faces +it out manfully.' + +Good Sir Marmaduke in his sympathy had utterly forgotten both +Berenger's French blood, and that he was the son of the very +smooth-tongued interloper who had robbed his life of its first +bloom. Berenger was altogether unequal to do more than murmur, as +he held out his hand in response to the kindness, 'You do not know +her.' + +'Ah! Poor lad.' Sir Marmaduke shook his head and left him to +Cecily. + +After the first shock, Berenger never rested till he had made +Osbert, Mr.Adderley, and Cecily tell him all they knew, and asked +by name after those whom he had known best at Paris. Alas! of all +those, save such as had been in the Ambassador's house, there was +but one account to give. Venerable warrior, noble-hearted youth, +devoted pastor, all alike had perished! + +This frightful part of the story was altogether new to him. He had +been probably the earliest victim in the Louvre, as being the +special object of private malice, which had contrived to involve +him in the general catastrophe; and his own recollections carried +him only to the flitting of lights and ringing of bells, that has +made him imagine that an alarm of fire would afford a good +opportunity of escape if SHE would but come. A cloaked figure had +approached, --he had held out his arms--met that deadly stroke-- +heard the words hissed in his ear. + +He owned that for some time past strange recollections had been +flitting though his mind--a perpetual unsatisfied longing for and +expectation of his wife, and confused impressions of scenes and +people had harassed him perpetually, even when he could not discern +between dreams and reality; but knowing that he had been very ill, +he had endeavoured to account for everything as delirious fancies, +but had become increasingly distressed by their vividness, +confusion, and want of outward confirmation. At last these solid +tokens and pledges from that time had brought certainty back, and +with it the harmony and clearness of his memory: and the strong +affection, that even his oblivion had not extinguished, now +recurred in all its warmth to its object. + +Four months had passed, as he now discovered, since that night when +he had hoped to have met Euctacie, and she must be believing him +dead. His first measure on the following day when he had been +dressed and seated in his chair was to send for his casket, and +with his slow stiff arm write thus:-- + +'Mon Coeur, My own sweetheart,--Hast thou thought me dead, and +thyself deserted? Osbert will tell thee all, and why I can scarce +write. Trust thyself to him to bring to me. I shall be whole +seeing thee. Or if thou canst not come with him, write or send me +the least token by him, and I will come and bear thee home so soon +as I can put foot in stirrup. Would that I could write all that is +in my heart! + 'Thy Husband.' + +It was all that either head or hand would enable him to say, but he +had the fullest confidence in Landry Osbert, who was one of the few +who understood him at half a word. He desired Osbert to seek the +lady out wherever she might be, whether still at court or in a +convent, convey the letter to her if possible, and, if she could by +any means escape, obtain from Chateau Leurre such an escort as she +could come to England with. If, as was too much to be feared, she +was under too close restraint, Osbert should send intelligence +home, as he could readily do through the Ambassador's household, +and Berenger trusted by that time to be able to take measures for +claiming her in person. + +Osbert readily undertook everything, but supplies for his journey +were needed, and there was an absolute commotion in the house when +it was known that Berenger had been writing to his faithless +spouse, and wishing to send for her. Lord Walwyn came up to visit +his grandson, and explain to him with much pity and consideration +that he considered such a step as vain, and only likely to lead to +further insult. Berenger's respect forced him to listen without +interruption, and though he panted to answer, it was a matter of +much difficulty, for the old lord was becoming deaf, and could not +catch the indistinct, agitated words-- + +'My Lord, she is innocent as day.' + +'Ah! Anan, boy.' + +'I pledge my life on her love and innocence.' + +'Love! Yes, my poor boy; but if she be unworthy?--Eh? Cecily, what +says he?' + +'He is sure of her innocence, sir?' + +'That is of course. But, my dear lad, you will soon learn that +even a gentle, good woman who has a conscience-keeper is too apt to +think her very sense of right ought to be sacrificed to what she +calls her religion.--What is it, what is he telling you, Cecily?' + +'She was ready to be one of us,' Berenger said, with a great effort +to make it clear. + +'Ah, a further snare. Poor child! The very softest of them become +the worst deceivers, and the kindred who have had the charge of her +all their life could no doubt bend her will.' + +'Sir,' said Berenger, finding argument impossible, 'if you will but +let me dispatch Osbert, her answer will prove to you what she is.' + +'There is something in that,' said Lord Walwyn, when he had heard +it repeated by Cecily. 'It is, of course, needful that both she +and her relations should be aware of Berenger's life, and I trow +nothing but the reply will convince him.' + +'Convince him!' muttered Berenger. 'Oh that I could make him +understand. What a wretch I am to have no voice to defend her!' + +'What?' said the old lord again. + +'Only that I could speak, sir; you should know why it is sacrilege +to doubt her.' + +'Ah! well, we will not wound you, my son, while talk is vain. You +shall have the means of sending your groom, if thus you will set +your mind at rest, though I had rather have trusted to Walsingham's +dealing. I will myself give him a letter to Sir Francis, to +forward him on his way; and should the young lady prove willing to +hold to her contract and come to you here, I will pray him to do +everything to aid her that may be consistent with his duty in his +post.' + +This was a great and wonderful concession for Lord Walwyn, and +Berenger was forced to be contented with it, though it galled him +terribly to have Eustacie distrusted, and be unable to make his +vindication even heard or understood, as well as to be forced to +leave her rescue, and even his own explanation to her, to a mere +servant. + +This revival of his memory had not at all conduced to his progress +in recovery. His brain was in no state for excitement or +agitation, and pain and confusion were the consequence, and were +counteracted, after the practice of the time, by profuse bleedings, +which prolonged his weakness. The splintered state of the jaw and +roof of the moth likewise produced effects that made him suffer +severely, and deprived him at times even of the small power of +speech that he usually possessed; and though he had set his heart +upon being able to start for Paris so soon as Osbert's answer +should arrive, each little imprudence he committed, in order to +convince himself of his progress, threw him back so seriously, that +he was barely able to walk down-stairs to the hall, and sit +watching--watching, so that it was piteous to see him--the gates of +the courtyard, but the time that, on a cold March day, a booted and +spurred courier (not Osbert) entered by them. + +He sprang up, and faster than he had yet attempted to move, met the +man in the hall, and demanded the packet. It was a large one, done +up in canvas, and addressed to the Right Honourable and Worshipful +Sir William, Baron Walwyn of Hurst Walwyn, and he had further to +endure the delay of carrying it to his grandfather's library, which +he entered with far less delay and ceremony than was his wont. +'Sit down, Berenger,' said the old man, while addressing himself to +the fastenings; and the permission was needed, for he could hardly +have stood another minute. The covering contained a letter to Lord +Walwyn himself, and a packet addressed to the Baron de Ribaumont +which his trembling fingers could scarcely succeed in cutting and +tearing open. + +How shall it be told what the contents of the packet were? Lord +Walwyn reading on with much concern, but little surprise, was +nevertheless startled by the fierce shout with which Berenger broke +out: + +'A lie! A lie forged in hell!' And then seizing the parchment, was +about to rend it with all the force of passion, when his +grandfather, seizing his hand, said, in his calm, authoritative +voice, 'Patience, my poor son.' + +'How, how should I have patience when they send me such poisoned +lies as these of my wife, and she is in the power of the villains? +Grandfather, I must go instantly---' + +'Let me know what you have heard,' said Lord Walwyn, holding him +feebly indeed, but with all the impressive power and gravity of his +years. + +'Falsehoods,' said Berenger, pushing the whole mass of papers over +to him, and then hiding his head between his arms on the table. + +Lord Walwyn finished his own letter first. Walsingham wrote with +much kind compassion, but quite decisively. He had no doubt that +the Ribaumont family had acted as one wheel in the great plot that +had destroyed all the heads of Protestant families and swept away +among others, as they had hoped, the only scion of the rival house. +The old Chevalier de Ribaumont had, he said, begun by expressing +sorrow for the mischance that had exposed his brave young cousin to +be lost in the general catastrophe, and he had professed +proportionate satisfaction on hearing of the young man's safety. +But the Ambassador believed him to have been privy to his son's +designs; and whether Mdlle. de Nid de Merle herself had been a +willing agent or not, she certainly had remained in the hands of +the family. The decree annulling the marriage had been published, +the lady was in a convent in Anjou, and Narcisse de Ribaumont had +just been permitted to assume the title of Marquis de Nid de Merle, +and was gone into Anjou to espouse her. Sir Francis added a message +of commiseration for the young Baron, but could not help +congratulating his old friend on having his grandson safe and free +from these inconvenient ties. + +Berenger's own packet contained, in the first place, a copy of the +cassation of the marriage, on the ground of its having been +contracted when the parties were of too tender age to give their +legal consent, and its having been unsatisfied since they had +reached ecclesiastical years for lawful contraction of wedlock. + +The second was one of the old Chevalier's polite productions. He +was perfectly able to ignore Berenger's revocation of his +application for the separation, since the first letter had remained +unanswered, and the King's peremptory commands had prevented +Berenger from taking any open measures after his return from +Montpipeau. Thus the old gentleman, after expressing due rejoicing +at his dear young cousin's recovery, and regret at the unfortunate +mischance that had led to his confounded with the many suspected +Huguenots, proceeded as if matters stood exactly as they had been +before the pall-mall party, and as if the decree that he enclosed +were obtained in accordance with the young Baron's intentions. He +had caused it to be duly registered, and both parties were at +liberty to enter upon other contracts of matrimony. The further +arrangements which Berenger had undertaken to sell his lands in +Normandy, and his claim on the ancestral castle in Picardy, should +be carried out, and deeds sent for his signature so soon as he +should be of age. In the meantime, the Chevalier courteously +imparted to his fair cousin the marriage of his daughter, +Mademoiselle Diane de Ribaumont with M. le Comte de Selinville, +which had taken place on the last St. Martin's day, and of his +niece, Mademoiselle Eustacie de Ribaumont de Nid de Merle with his +son, who had received permission to take her father's title of +Marquis de Nid de Merle. The wedding was to take place at Bellaise +before the end of the Cardinal, and would be concluded before this +letter came to hand. + +Lastly, there was an ill written and spelt letter, running somewhat +thus-- + +'Monseigneur,--Your faithful servant hopes that Monsieur le Baron +will forgive him for not returning, since I have been assured by +good priests that it is not possible to save my soul in a country +of heretics. I have done everything as Monsieur commanded, I have +gone down into Anjou, and have had the honour to see the young lady +to whom Monsieur le Baron charged me with a commission, and I +delivered to her his letter, whereupon the lady replied that she +thanked M. le Baron for the honour he had done her, but that being +on the point of marriage to M. le Marquis de Nid de Merle, she did +not deem it fitting to write to him, nor had she any tokens to send +him, save what he had received on the St. Barthelemy midnight; they +might further his suit elsewhere. These, Monsieur, were her words, +and she laughed as she said them, so gaily that I thought her +fairer than ever. I have prevailed with her to take me into her +service as intendant of the Chateau de Nid de Merle, knowing as she +does my fidelity to the name of Ribaumont. And so, trusting +Monseigneur will pardon me for what I do solely for the good of my +soul, I will ever pray for his welfare, and remain, + + 'His faithful menial and valet, + 'LANDRY OSBERT.' + +The result was only what Lord Walwyn had anticipated, but he was +nevertheless shocked at the crushing weight of the blow. His heart +was full of compassion for the youth so cruelly treated in these +his first years of life, and as much torn in his affections as +mangled in person. After a pause, while he gathered up the sense +of the letters, he laid his hand kindly on his grandson's arm, and +said, 'This is a woeful budget, my poor son; we will do our best to +help you to bear it.' + +'The only way to bear it,' said Berenger, lifting up his face, 'is +for me to take horse and make for Anjou instantly. She will hold +out bravely, and I may yet save her.' + +'Madness,' said his grandfather; 'you have then not read your +fellow's letter?' + +'I read no letter from fellow of mine. Yonder is a vile forgery. +Narcisse's own, most likely. No one else would have so profaned +her as to put such words into her mouth! My dear faithful foster- +brother--have they murdered him?' + +'Can you point to any proof that it is forged?' said Lord Walwyn, +aware that handwriting was too difficult an art, and far too +crabbed, among persons of Osbert's class, for there to be any +individuality of penmanship. + +'It is all forged,' said Berenger. 'It is as false that she could +frame such a message as that poor Osbert would leave me.' + +'These priests have much power over the conscience,' began Lord +Walwyn; but Berenger, interrupting his grandfather for the first +time in his life, cried, 'No priest could change her whole nature. +Oh! my wife! my darling! what may they not be inflicting on her +now! Sir, I must go. She may be saved! The deadly sin may be +prevented!' + +'This is mere raving, Berenger,' said Lord Walwyn, not catching +half what he said, and understanding little more than his +resolution to hasten in quest of the lady. 'You, who have not +mounted a horse, nor walked across the pleasance yet!' + +'My limbs should serve me to rescue her, or they are worth nothing +to me.' + +Lord Walwyn would have argued that he need not regret his +incapacity to move, since it was no doubt already too late, but +Berenger burst forth--'She will resist; she will resist to the +utmost, even if she deems me dead. Tortures will not shake her when +she knows I live. I must prepare.' And he started to his feet. + +'Grandson,' said Lord Walwyn, laying a hand on his arm, 'listen to +me. You are in not state to judge for yourself. I therefore +command you to desist from this mad purpose.' + +He spoke gravely, but Berenger was disobedient for the first time. +'My Lord,' he said, 'you are but my grandfather. She is my wife. +My duty is to her.' + +He had plucked his sleeve away and was gone, before Lord Walwyn had +been able to reason with him that there was no wife in the case, a +conclusion at which the old statesman would not have arrived had he +known of the ceremony at Montpipeau, and all that had there passed; +but not only did Berenger deem himself bound to respect the King's +secret, but conversation was so difficult to him that he had told +very little of his adventures, and less to Lord Walwyn than any one +else. In effect, his grandfather considered this resolution of +going to France as mere frenzy, and so it almost was, not only on +the score of health and danger, but because as a ward, he was still +so entirely under subjection, that his journey could have been +hindered by absolutely forcible detention; and to this Lord Walwyn +intended to resort, unless the poor youth either came to a more +rational mind, or became absolutely unable to travel. + +The last--as he had apprehended--came to pass only too surely. The +very attempt to argue and to defend Eustacie was too much for the +injured head; and long before night Berenger full believed himself +on the journey, acted over its incidents, and struggled wildly with +difficulties, all the time lying on his bed, with the old servants +holding him down, and Cecily listening tearfully to his ravings. + +For weeks longer he was to lie there in greater danger than ever. +He only seemed soothed into quiet when Cecily chanted those old +Latin hymns of her Benedictine rule, and then--when he could speak +at all--he showed himself to be in imagination praying in +Eustacie's convent chapel, sure to speak to her when the service +should be over. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. NOTRE-DAME DE BELLAISE* + + + +There came a man by middle day, +He spied his sport and went away, +And brought the king that very night, +And brake my bower and slew my knight. + The Border Widow's Lament + + +*[footnote: Bellaise is not meant for a type of all nunneries, but +of the condition to which many of the lesser ones had come before +the general reaction and purification of the seventeenth century.] + + +That same Latin hymn which Cecily St. John daily chanted in her own +chamber was due from the choir of Cistercian sisters in the chapel +of the Convent of Our Lady at Bellaise, in the Bocage of Anjou; but +there was a convenient practice of lumping together the entire +night and forenoon hours at nine o'clock in the morning, and all +the evening ones at Compline, so that the sisters might have +undisturbed sleep at night and entertainment by day. Bellaise was +a very comfortable little nunnery, which only received richly +dowered inmates, and was therefore able to maintain them in much +ease, though without giving occasion to a breath of scandal. +Founded by a daughter of the first Angevin Ribaumont, it had become +a sort of appanage for the superfluous daughters of the house, and +nothing would more have amazed its present head, Eustacie Barbe de +Ribaumont,--conventually known as La Mere Marie Seraphine de St.- +Louis, and to the world as Madame de Bellaise,--than to be accused +of not fulfilling the intentions of the Bienheureuse Barbe, the +foundress, or of her patron St. Bernard. + +Madame de Bellaise was a fine-looking woman of forty, in a high +state of preservation, owing to the healthy life she had led. Her +eyes were of brilliant, beautiful black her complexion had a glow, +her hair--for she wore it visibly--formed crisp rolls of jetty +ringlets on her temples, almost hiding her close white cap. The +heavy thick veil was tucked back beneath the furred purple silk +hood that fastened under her chin. The white robes of her order +were not of serge, but of the finest cloth, and were almost hidden +by a short purple cloak with sleeves, likewise lined and edged with +fur, and fastened on the bosom with a gold brooch. Her fingers, +bearing more rings than the signet of her house, were concealed in +embroidered gauntlets of Spanish leather. One of them held an +ivory-handled riding-rod, the other the reins of the well-fed +jennet, on which the lady, on a fine afternoon, late in the +Carnival, was cantering home through the lanes of the Bocage, after +a successful morning's hawking among the wheat-ears. She was +attended by a pair of sisters, arrayed somewhat in the same style, +and by a pair of mounted grooms, the falconer with his charge +having gone home by a footway. + +The sound of horses' feet approaching made her look towards a long +lane that came down at right angles to that along which she was +riding, and slacken her pace before coming to its opening. And as +she arrived at the intersection, she beheld advancing, mounted on a +little rough pony, the spare figure of her brother the Chevalier, +in his home suit, so greasy and frayed, that only his plumed hat +(and a rusty plume it was) and the old sword at his side showed his +high degree. + +He waved his hand to her as a sign to halt, and rode quickly up, +scarcely giving time for a greeting ere he said, 'Sister the little +one is not out with you.' + +'No, truly, the little mad thing, she is stricter and more head- +strong than ever was her preceptress. Poor Monique! I had hoped +that we should be at rest when that _cass-tete_ had carried off her +scruples to Ste.-Claire, at Lucon, but here is this little droll +far beyond her, without being even a nun!' + +'Assuredly not. The business must be concluded at once. She must +be married before Lent.' + +'That will scarce be--in her present frame.' + +'It must be. Listen, sister. Here is this miserable alive!' + +'Her spouse!' + +'Folly about her spouse! The decree from Rome has annulled the +foolish mummery of her infancy. It came a week after the +Protestant conspiracy, and was registered when the Norman peasants +at Chateau Leurre showed contumacy. It was well; for, behold, our +gallant is among his English friends, recovering, and even writing +a billet. Anon he will be upon our hands in person. By the best +fortune, Gillot fell in with his messenger this morning, prowling +about on his way to the convent, and brought him to me to be +examined. I laid him fat in ward, and sent Gillot off to ride day +and night to bring my son down to secure the girl at once.' + +'You will never obtain her consent. She is distractedly in love +with his memory! Let her guess at his life, and---' + +'Precisely. Therefore must we be speedy. All Paris knows it by +this time, for the fellow went straight to the English Ambassador; +and I trust my son has been wise enough to set off already; for +should we wait till after Lent, Monsieur le Baron himself might be +upon us.' + +'Poor child! You men little heed how you make a woman suffer.' + +'How, Reverend Mother! you pleading for a heretic marriage, that +would give our rights to a Huguenot--what say I?--an English +renegade!' + +'I plead not, brother. The injustice towards you must be repaired; +but I have a certain love for my niece, and I fear she will be +heartbroken when she learns the truth, the poor child.' + +'Bah! The Abbess should rejoice in thus saving her soul! How if +her heretic treated Bellaise like the convents of England?' + +'No threats, brother. As a daughter of Ribaumont and a mother of +the Church will I stand by you,' said the Abbess with dignity. + +'And now tell me how it has been with the child. I have not seen +her since we agreed that the request did but aggravate her. You +said her health was better since her nurse had been so often with +her, and that she had ceased from her austerities.' + +'Not entirely; for when first she came, in her transports of +despair and grief on finding Soeur Monique removed, she extorted +from Father Bonami a sort of hope that she might yet save her +husband's, I mean the Baron's soul. Then, truly, it was a frenzy +of fasts and prayers. Father Bonami has made his profit, and so +have the fathers of Chollet--all her money has gone in masses, and +in alms to purchase the prayers of the poor, and she herself +fasting on bread and water, kneeling barefooted in the chapel till +she was transfixed with cold. No _chaufferette_, not she! +Obstinate to the last degree! Tell her she would die--it was the +best news one could bring; all her desire, to be in a more rigid +house with Soeur Monique at Lucon. At length, Mere Perrine and +Veronique found her actually fainting and powerless with cold on +the chapel-floor; and since that time she has been more reasonable. +There are prayers as much as ever; but the fancy to kill herself +with fasting has passed. She begins to recover her looks, nay, +sometimes I have thought she had an air of hope in her eyes and +lips; but what know I? I have much to occupy me, and she persists +in shutting herself up with her woman.' + +'You have not allowed her any communication from without?' + +'Mere Perrine has come and gone freely; but she is nothing. No, +the child could have no correspondence. She did, indeed, write a +letter to the Queen, as you know, brother, six weeks ago; but that +has never been answered, nor could any letters have harmed you, +since it is only now that this young man is known to be living.' + +'You are right, sister. No harm can have been done. All will go +well. The child must be wearied with her frenzy of grief and +devotion! She will catch gladly at an excuse for change. A scene +or two, and she will readily yield!' + +'It is true,' said the Abbess, thoughtfully, 'that she has walked +and ridden out lately. She has asked questions about her Chateaux, +and their garrisons. I have heard nothing of the stricter convent +for many weeks; but still, brother, you must go warily to work.' + +'And you, sister, must show no relenting. Let her not fancy she +can work upon you.' + +By this time the brother and sister were at the gateway of the +convent; a lay sister presided there, but there was no _cloture_, +as the strict seclusion of a nunnery was called, and the Chevalier +rode into the cloistered quadrangle as naturally as if he had been +entering a secular Chateau, dismounted at the porch of the hall, +and followed Madame de Bellaise to the parlour, while she +dispatched a request that her niece would attend her there. + +The parlour had no grating to divide it, but was merely a large +room furnished with tapestry, carved chests, chairs, and cushions, +much like other reception-rooms. A large, cheerful wood-fire blazed +upon the hearth, and there was a certain air of preparation, as +indeed an ecclesiastical dignity from Saumur was expected to sup +with the ladies that evening. + +After some interval, spent by the Chevalier in warming himself, a +low voice at the door was heard, saying, '_Deus vobiscum_.' The +Abbess answered, '_Et cum spiritu tuo_;' and on this monastic +substitute for a knock and 'come in,' there appeared a figure +draped and veiled from head to foot in heavy black, so as to look +almost like a sable moving cone. She made an obeisance as she +entered, saying, 'You commanded my presence, Madame?' + +'Your uncle would speak to you, daughter, on affairs of moment.' + +'At his service. I, too, would speak to him.' + +'First, then, my dear friend,' said the Chevalier, 'let me see you. +That face must not be muffled any longer from those who love you.' + +She made no movement of obedience, until her aunt peremptorily bade +her turn back her veil. She did so, and disclosed the little face, +so well known to her uncle, but less childish in its form, and the +dark eyes sparkling, though at once softer and more resolute. + +'Ah! my fair niece,' said the Chevalier, 'this is no visage to be +hidden! I am glad to see it re-embellished, and it will be +lovelier than ever when you have cast off this disguised.' + +'That will never be,' said Eustacie. + +'Ah! we know better! My daughter is sending down a counterpart of +her own wedding-dress for your bride of the _Mardi-Gras_.' + +'And who may that bride be?' said Eustacie, endeavouring to speak +as though it were nothing to her. + +'Nay, _ma petite_! it is too long to play the ignorant when the +bridegroom is on his way from Paris.' + +'Madame,' said Eustacie, turning to her aunt, 'you cannot suffer +this scandal. The meanest peasant may weep her first year of +widowhood in peace.' + +'Listen, child. There are weighty reasons. The Duke of Anjou is a +candidate for the throne of Poland, and my son is to accompany him +thither. He must go as Marquis de Nid de Merle, in full possession +of your estates.' + +'Let him take them,' began Eustacie, 'who first commits a cowardly +murder, and then forces himself on the widow he has made?' + +'Folly, child, folly,' said the Chevalier, who supposed her +ignorant of the circumstances of her husband's assassination; and +the Abbess, who was really ignorant, exclaimed--'Fid donc_ niece; +you know not what you say.' + +'I know, Madame--I know from an eye-witness,' said Eustacie, +firmly. 'I know the brutal words that embittered my husband's +death; and were there no other cause, they would render wedlock +with him who spoke them sacrilege.' Resolutely and steadily did +the young wife speak, looking at them with the dry fixed eye to +which tears had been denied ever since that eventful night.' + +'Poor child,' said the Chevalier to his sister. 'She is under the +delusion still. Husband! There is none in the case.' Then waving +his hand as Eustacie's face grew crimson, and her eyes flashed +indignation, while her lips parted, 'It was her own folly that +rendered it needful to put an end to the boy's presumption. Had +she been less willful and more obedient, instead of turning the +poor lad's head by playing at madame, we could have let him return +to his island fogs; but when SHE encouraged him in contemplating +the carrying her away, and alienating her and her lands from the +true faith, there was but one remedy--to let +him perish with the rest. My son is willing to forgive her +childish pleasure in a boy's passing homage, and has obtained the +King's sanction to an immediate marriage.' + +'Which, to spare you, my dear,' added the aunt, 'shall take place +in our chapel.' + +'It shall never take place anywhere,' said Eustacie, quietly, +though with a quiver in her voice; 'no priest will wed me when he +has heard me.' + +'The dispensation will overcome all scruples,' said the Abbess. +'Hear me, niece. I am sorry for you, but it is best that you +should know at once that there is nothing in heaven or earth to aid +you in resisting your duty.' + +Eustacie made no answer, but there was a strange half-smile on her +lip, and a light in her eye which gave her an air not so much of +entreaty as of defiance. She glanced from one to the other, as if +considering, but then slightly shook her head. 'What does she +mean?' asked the Chevalier and the Abbess one of another, as, with +a dignified gesture, she moved to leave the room. + +'Follow her. Convince her that she has no hope,' said the uncle; +and the Abbess, moving faster than her wont, came up with her at +the archway whence one corridor led to the chapel, another to her +own apartments. Her veil was down again, but her aunt roughly +withdrew it, saying, 'Look at me, Eustacie. I come to warn you +that you need not look to tamper with the sisters. Not one will +aid you in your headstrong folly. If you cast not off ere supper- +time this mockery of mourning, you shall taste of that discipline +you used to sigh for. We have borne with your fancy long enough-- +you, who are no more a widow than I--nor wife.' + +'Wife and widow am I in the sight of Him who will protect me,' said +Eustacie, standing her ground. + +'Insolent! Why, did I not excuse this as a childish delusion, +should I not spurn one who durst love--what say I--not a heretic +merely, but the foe of her father's house?' + +'He!' cried Eustacie; 'what had he ever done?' + +'He inherited the blood of the traitor Baron,' returned her aunt. +'Ever have that recreant line injured us! My nephew's sword +avenged the wrongs of many generations.' + +'Then,' said Eustacie, looking at her with a steady, fixed look of +inquire, 'you, Madame l'Abbesse, would have neither mercy nor pity +for the most innocent offspring of the elder line?' + +'Girl, what folly is this to talk to me of innocence. That is not +the question. The question is--obey willingly as my dear daughter, +or compulsion must be used.' + +'My question is answered,' said Eustacie, on her side. 'I see that +there is neither pity nor hope from you.' + +And with another obeisance, she turned to ascend the stairs. +Madame paced back to her brother. + +'What,' he said; 'you have not yet dealt with her?' + +'No, brother, I never saw a like mood. She seems neither to fear +nor to struggle. I knew she was too true a Ribaumont for weak +tears and entreaties; but, fiery little being as once she was, I +looked to see her force spend itself in passion, and that then the +victory would have been easy; but no, she ever looks as if she had +some inward resource--some security--and therefore could be calm. +I should deem it some Huguenot fanaticism, but she is a very saint +as to the prayers of the Church, the very torment of our lives.' + +'Could she escape?' exclaimed the Chevalier, who had been +considering while his sister was speaking. + +'Impossible! Besides, where could she go? But the gates shall be +closed. I will warn the portress to let none pass out without my +permission.' + +'The Chevalier took a turn up and down the room; then exclaimed, +'It was very ill-advised to let her women have access to her! Let +us have Veronique summoned instantly.' + +At that moment, however, the ponderous carriage of Monseigneur, +with out-riders, both lay and clerical, came trampling up to the +archway, and the Abbess hurried off to her own apartment to divest +herself of her hunting-gear ere she received her guest; and the +orders to one of the nuns to keep a watch on her niece were oddly +mixed with those to the cook, confectioner, and butterer. + +La Mere Marie Saraphine was not a cruel or an unkind woman. She +had been very fond of her pretty little niece in her childhood, but +had deeply resented the arrangement which had removed her from her +own superintendence to that of the Englishwoman, besides the +uniting to the young Baron one whom she deemed the absolute right +of Narcisse. She had received Eustacie on her first return with +great joy, and had always treated her with much indulgence, and +when the drooping, +broken-hearted girl came back once more to the shelter of her +convent, the good-humoured Abbess only wished to make her happy +again. + +But Eustacie's misery was far beyond the ken of her aunt, and the +jovial turn of these consolations did but deepen her agony. To be +congratulated on her release from the heretic, assured of future +happiness with her cousin, and, above all, to hear Berenger abused +with all the bitterness of rival family and rival religion, tore up +the lacerated spirit. Ill, dejected, and broken down, too subdued +to fire up in defence, and only longing for the power of indulging +in silent grief, Eustacie had shrunk from her, and wrapped herself +up in the ceaseless round of masses and prayers, in which she was +allowed to perceive a glimmering of hope for her husband's soul. +The Abbess, ever busy with affairs of her convent or matters of +pleasure, soon relinquished the vain attempt to console where she +could not sympathize, trusted that the fever of devotion would wear +itself out, and left her niece to herself. Of the seven nuns, two +were decorously gay, like their Mother Abbess; one was a prodigious +worker of tapestry, two were unrivalled save by one another as +confectioners. Eustacie had been their pet in her younger days; +now she was out of their reach, they tried in turn to comfort her; +and when she would not be comforted, they, too, felt aggrieved by +the presence of one whose austerity reproached their own laxity; +they resented her disappointment at Soeur Monique's having been +transferred to Lucon, and they, too, left her to the only persons +whose presence she had ever seemed to relish,--namely, her maid +Veronique, and Veronique's mother, her old nurse Perrine, wife of a +farmer about two miles off. The woman had been Eustacie's +foster-mother, and continued to exert over her much of the +caressing care of a nurse. + +After parting with her aunt, Eustacie for a moment looked towards +the chapel, then, clasping her hands, murmured to herself, 'No! no! +speed is my best hope;' and at once mounted the stairs, and entered +a room, where the large stone crucifix, a waxen Madonna, and the +holy water font gave a cell-like aspect to the room; and a straw +pallet covered with sackcloth was on the floor, a richly curtained +couch driven into the rear, as unused. + +She knelt for a moment before the Madonna; 'Ave Maria, be with me +and mine. Oh! blessed Lady, thou hadst to fly with thy Holy One +from cruel men. Have thou pity on the fatherless!' + +Then going to the door, she clapped her hands; and, as Veronique +entered, she bade her shut and bolt the door, and at the same +moment began in nervous haste to throw off her veil and unfasten +her dress. + +'Make haste, Veronique. A dress of thine---' + +'All is known, then!' cried Veronique, throwing up her arms. + +'No, but he is coming--Narcisse--to marry me at once--_Marde-Gras_- +--' + +'_Et quoi_? Madame has but to speak the word, and it is +impossible.' + +'And after what my aunt has said, I would die a thousand deaths ere +speaking that word. I asked her, Veronique! She would have +vengeance on the most guiltless--the most guiltless--do you hear?-- +of the Norman house. Never, never shall she have the chance! +Come, thy striped petticoat!' + +'But, oh! what will Madame do? Where would she go? Oh! it is +impossible.' + +'First to thy father's. Yes, I know. He has once called it a +madness to think of rallying my vassals to protect their lady. +That was when he heard of it from thee--thou faint of heart--and +thy mother. I shall speak to him in person now. Make haste, I +tell thee, girl. I must be out of this place before I am watched +or guarded,' she added breathlessly. 'I feel as if each moment I +lost might have death upon it;' and she looked about her like a +startled deer. + +'To my father's. Ah! there it is not so ill! But the twilights, +the length of way,' sobbed Veronique, in grievous distress and +perplexity. 'Oh! Madame, I cannot see you go. The Mother Abbess +is good. She must have pity. Oh, trust to her!' + +'Trust! Did I not trust to my cousin Diane? Never! Nothing will +kill me but remaining in their hands.' + +Veronique argued and implored in vain. Ever since, in the height +of those vehement austerities by which the bereaved and shattered +sufferer strove to appease her wretchedness by the utmost endeavour +to save her husband's soul, the old foster-mother had made known to +her that she might thus sacrifice another than herself. Eustacie's +elastic heart had begun to revive, with all its dauntless strength +of will. What to her women seemed only a fear, was to her only a +hope. + +Frank and confiding as was her nature, however, the cruel +deceptions already practiced on her by her own kindred, together +with the harsh words with which the Abbess spoke of Berenger, had +made her aware that no comfort must be looked for in that quarter. +It was, after all, perhaps her won instinct, and the aunt's want of +sympathy, that withheld her from seeking counsel of any save +Perrine and her daughter, at any rate till she could communicate +with the kind young Queen. To her, then, Eustacie had written, +entreating that a royal mandate would recall her in time to bestow +herself in some trustworthy hands, or even in her husband's won +Norman castle, where his heir would be both safe and welcome. But +time has passed--the whole space that she had reckoned as needful +for the going and coming of her messenger--allowing for all the +obstructions of winter roads--nay, he had come back; she knew +letter was delivered, but answer there was none. It might yet +come--perhaps a royal carriage and escort--and day after day had +she waited and hoped, only tardily admitting the conviction that +Elisabeth of Austria was as powerless as Eustacie de Ribaumont, and +meantime revolving and proposing many a scheme that could only have +entered the brain of a brave-spirited child as she was. To appeal +to her vassals, garrison with them a ruinous old tower in the +woods, and thence send for aid to the Montmorencys; to ride to +Saumur, and claim the protection of the governor of the province; +to make her way to the coast and sail for England; to start for +Paris, and throw herself in person on the Queen's protection,--all +had occurred to her, and been discussed with her two _confidantes_; +but the hope of the Queen's interference, together with the +exceeding difficulty of acting, had hitherto prevented her from +taking any steps, since no suspicion had arisen in the minds of +those about her. Veronique, caring infinitely more for her +mistress's health and well-being than for the object of Eustacie's +anxieties, had always secretly trusted that delay would last till +action was impossible, and that the discovery would be made, only +without her being accused of treason. In the present stress of +danger, she could but lament and entreat, for Eustacie's resolution +bore her down; and besides, as she said to herself, her Lady was +after all going to her foster-father and mother, who would make her +hear reason, and bring her back at once, and then there would be no +anger nor disgrace incurred. The dark muddy length of walk would +be the worst of it--and, bah! most likely Madame would be convinced +by it, and return of her own accord. + +So Veronique, though not intermitting her protests, adjusted her +own dress upon her mistress,--short striped petticoat, black +bodice, winged turban-like white cap, and a great muffling gray +cloth cloak and hook over the head and shoulders--the costume in +which Veronique was wont to run to her home in the twilight on +various errands, chiefly to carry her mistress's linen; for +starching Eustacie's plain bands and cuffs was Mere Perrine's +special pride. The wonted bundle, therefore, now contained a few +garments, and the money and jewels, especially the chaplet of +pearls, which Eustacie regarded as a trust. + +Sobbing, and still protesting, Veronique, however, engaged that if +her Lady succeeded in safely crossing the kitchen in the twilight, +and in leaving the convent, she would keep the secret of her escape +as long as possible, reporting her refusal to appear at supper, and +making such excuses as might very probably prevent the discovery of +her flight till next day. + +'And then,' said Eustacie, 'I will send for thee, either to Saumur +or to the old tower! Adieu, dear Veronique, do not be frightened. +Thou dost not know how glad I am that the time for doing something +is come! To-morrow!' + +'To-morrow!' thought Veronique, as she shut the door; 'before that +you will be back here again, my poor little Lady, trembling, +weeping, in dire need of being comforted. But I will make up a +good fire, and shake out the bed. I'll let her have no more of +that villainous palliasse. No, no, let her try her own way, and +repent of it; then, when this matter is over, she will turn her +mind to Chevalier Narcisse, and there will be no more languishing +in this miserable hole.' + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. THE HEARTHS AND THICKETS OF THE BOCAGE. + + + +I winna spare for his tender age, + Nor yet for his hie kin; + But soon as ever he born is, +He shall mount the gallow's pin. --Fause Foodrage. + + +Dusk was closing in, but lamps had not yet been lighted, when with +a trembling, yet almost a bounding heart, Eustacie stole down the +stone staircase, leading to a back-door--an utterly uncanonical +appendage to a nunnery, but one much used among the domestic +establishment of Bellaise. + +A gleam of red light spread across the passage from the half-open +kitchen door, whence issued the savoury steam of the supper +preparing for Monseigneur. Eustacie had just cautiously traversed +it, when the voice of the presiding lay-sister called out, +'Veronique, is that you?' + +'Sister!' returned Eustacie, with as much of the Angevin twang as +she could assume. + +'Where are you going?' + +'To the Orchard Farm with this linen.' + +'Ah! it must be. But there are strict orders come from Madame +about nobody going out unreported, and you may chance to find the +door locked if you do not come back in good time. Oh! and I had +well-night forgot; tell your mother to be here early to-morrow, +Madame would speak with her.' + +Eustacie assented, half stifled by the great throb of her +fluttering heart at the sense that she had indeed seized the last +moment. Forth then she stepped. How dark, waste, and lonely the +open field looked! But her heart did not fail her; she could only +feel that a captivity was over, and the most vague and terrible of +her anxieties soothed, as she made her way into one of the long +shady lanes of the Bocage. It was nearly dark, and very muddy, but +she had all the familiarity of a native with the way, and the farm, +where she had trotted about in her infancy like a peasant's child, +always seemed like home to her. It had been a prime treat to visit +it during her time of education at the convent, and there was an +association of pleasure in treading the path that seemed to bear +her up, and give her enjoyment in the mere adventure and feeling of +escape and liberty. She had no fear of the dark, nor of the +distant barking of dogs, but the mire was deep, and it was plodding +work in those heavy _sabots_, up the lane that led from the +convent; and the poor child was sorely weary long before she came +to the top of the low hill that she used scarcely to know to be +rising round at all. The stars had come out; and as she sat for a +few moments to rest on a large stone, she saw the lights of the +cottage fires in the village below, and looking round could also +see the many gleams in the convent windows, the read fire-light in +her own room among them. She shivered a little as she thought of +its glowing comfort, but turned her back resolutely, tightened her +cloak over her head, looked up to a glimmer in the watch-tower of +her own castle far above her on the hill and closed against her; +and then smiled to herself with hope at the sparkle of a window in +a lonely farmhouse among the fields. + +With fresh vigour she rose, and found her way through lane and +field-path to the paddock where she had so often played. Here a +couple of huge dogs dashed forward with an explosion of barks, +dying away into low growls as she spoke to them by their names, and +called aloud on 'Blaise!' and 'Mere Perrine!' The cottage door was +opened, the light streamed forth, and a man's head in a broad had +appeared. 'Veronique, girl, is this an hour to be gadding abroad?' + +'Blaise, do you not know me?' + +'It is our Lady. Ah!' + +The next moment the wanderer was seated in the ample wooden chair +of the head of the family, the farmer and his two stout sons +standing before her as their liege Lady, and Mere Perrine hanging +over her, in great anxiety, not wholly dispelled by her low girlish +laugh, partly of exultation at her successful evasion, partly of +amusement at their wonder, and partly, too, because it was so +natural to her to enjoy herself at that hearth that she could not +help it. A savoury mess from the great caldron that was for ever +stewing over the fire was at once fished out for her, before she +was allowed to explain herself; and as she ate with the carved +spoon and from the earthenware crock that had been called +Mademoiselle's ever since her baby-days, Perrine chafed and warmed +her feet, fondled her, and assured her, as if she were still their +spoiled child, that they would do all she wished. + +Pierre and Tiennot, the two sons, were sent out to fodder the +cattle, and keep careful watch for any sounds of pursuers from the +convent; and Blaise, in the plenitude of his respects and +deference, would have followed them, but Eustacie desired him to +remain to give her counsel. + +Her first inquire was after the watch-tower. She did not care for +any discomfort if her vassals would be faithful, and hold it out +for her, till she could send for help to the allies of her +husband's house, and her eyes glanced as she spoke. + +But Blaise shook his head. He had looked at the tower as Madame +bade, but it was all in ruins, crumbling away, and, moreover, M. le +Chevalier had put a forester there--a grim, bad subject, who had +been in the Italian wars, and cared neither for saint nor devil, +except Chevalier Narcisse. Indeed, even if he had not been there, +the place was untenable, it would only be getting into a trap. + +'Count Hebert held it out for twelve days against the English!' +said Eustacie, proudly. + +'Ah! ah! but there were none of your falconets, or what call you +those cannons then. No; if Madame would present herself as a +choice morsel for Monsieur le Chevalier to snap up, that is the +place.' + +Then came the other plan of getting an escort of the peasants +together, and riding with them towards the Huguenot territories +around La Rochelle, where, for her husband's sake, Eustacie could +hardly fail to obtain friends. It was the more practicable +expedient, but Blaise groaned over it, wondered how many of the +farmers could be trusted, or brought together, and finally +expressed his intention of going to consult Martin, his staunch +friend, at the next farm. Meantime, Madame had better lie down and +sleep. And Madame did sleep, in Perrine's huge box-bedstead, with +a sweet, calm, childlike slumber, whilst her nurse sat watching her +with eyes full of tears of pity and distress; the poor young +thing's buoyant hopefulness and absence of all fear seemed to the +old woman especially sad, and like a sort of want of comprehension +of the full peril in which she stood. + +Not till near dawn was Eustacie startled from her rest by +approaching steps. 'Nurse, is all ready?' she cried. 'Can we set +off? Are the horses there?' + +'No, my child; it is but my good man and Martin who would speak +with you. Do not hasten. There is nothing amiss as yet.' + +'Oh, nurse,' cried Eustacie, as she quickly arranged the dress in +which she had lain down, 'the dear old farm always makes me sleep +well. This is the first time I have had no dream of the whirling +wheel and fiery gates! Oh, is it a token that HE is indeed at +rest? I am so well, so strong. I can ride anywhere now. Let them +come in and tell me.' + +Martin was a younger, brisker, cleverer man than Blaise, and +besides being a vassal of the young Lady, was a sort of agent to +whom the Abbess instructed many of the matters of husbandry +regarding the convent lands. He stood, like Blaise, bareheaded as +he talked to little Lady, and heard her somewhat peremptorily +demand why they had not brought the horses and men for her escort. + +It was impossible that night, explained Martin. Time was needed to +bring in the farm-horses, and summon the other peasants, without +whom the roads were unsafe in these times of disorder. He and +Blaise must go round and warn them to be ready. A man could not be +ready in a wink of the eye, as Madame seemed to think, and the two +peasants looked impenetrable in stolidity. + +'Laggards that you are!' cried Eustacie, petulantly, clasping her +hands; 'and meantime all will be lost. They will be upon me!' + +'Not so, Madame. It is therefore that I came here,' said Martin, +deferentially, to the little fuming impatient creature; 'Madame +will be far safer close at hand while the pursuit and search are +going on. But she must not stay here. This farm is the first +place they will come to, while they will never suspect mine, and my +good woman Lucette will be proud to keep watch for her. Madame +knows that the place is full of shrubs and thickets, where one half +of an army might spend a fine day in looking for the other.' + +'And at night you will get together the men and convoy me?' asked +Eustacie, eagerly. + +'All in good time, Madame. Now she must be off, ere the holy +mothers be astir. I have brought an ass for her to ride.' + +Eustacie had no choice but compliance. None of the Orchard family +could go with her, as it was needful that they should stay at home +and appear as unconcerned as possible; but they promised to meet +her at the hour and place to be appointed, ad if possible to bring +Veronique. + +Eating a piece of rye-bread as she went, Eustacie, in her gray +cloak, rode under Martin's guardianship along the deep lanes, just +budding with spring, in the chill dewiness before sunrise. She was +silent, and just a little sullen, for she had found stout shrewd +Martin less easy to talk over than the admiring Blaise, and her +spirit was excessively chafed by the tardiness of her retainers. +But the sun rose and cleared away all clouds of temper, the cocks +crew, the sheep bleated, and fresh morning sounds met her ear, and +seemed to cheer and fill her with hope; and in some compunction for +her want of graciousness, she thanked Martin, and praised his ass +with a pretty cordiality that would have fully compensated for her +displeasure, even if the honest man had been sensible of it. + +He halted under the lee of a barn, and gave a low whistle. At the +sound, Lucette, a brown, sturdy young woman with a red handkerchief +over her head, and another over her shoulders, came running round +the corner of the barn, and whispered eagerly under her breath, +'Ah! Madame, Madame, what an honour!' kissing Eustacie's hand with +all her might as she spoke; 'but, alas! I fear Madame cannot come +into the house. The questing Brother Francois--plague upon him!-- +has taken it into his head to drop in to breakfast. I longed to +give him the cold shoulder, but it might have brought suspicion +down.' + +'Right, good woman,' said Martin; 'but what shall Madame do? It is +broad way, and no longer safe to run the lanes!' + +'Give me a distaff,' said Eustacie, rising to the occasion; 'I will +go to that bushy field, and herd the cows.' + +Madame was right, the husband and wife unwillingly agreed. There, +in her peasant dress, in the remote field, sloping up into a thick +wood, she was unlikely to attract attention; and though the field +was bordered on one side by the lane leading to the road to Paris, +it was separated from it by a steep bank, crowned by one of the +thick hedgerows characteristic of the Bocage. + +Here, then, they were forced to leave her, seated on a stone +beneath a thorn-bush, distaff in hand, with bread, cheese, and a +pitcher of milk for her provisions, and three or four cows grazing +before her. From the higher ground below the wood of ash and +hazel, she could see the undulating fields and orchards, a few +houses, and that inhospitable castle of her own. + +She had spent many a drearier day in the convent than this, in the +free sun and air, with the feeling of liberty, and unbounded hopes +founded on this first success. She told her beads diligently, +trusting that the tale of devotions for her husband's spirit would +be equally made up in the field as in the church, and intently all +day were her ears and eyes on the alert. Once Lucette visited her, +to bring her a basin of porridge, and to tell her that all the +world at the convent was in confusion, that messengers had been +sent out in all directions, and that M. le Chevalier had ridden out +himself in pursuit; but they should soon hear all about it, for +Martin was pretending to be amongst the busiest, and he would know +how to turn them away. Again, much later in the day, Martin came +striding across the field, and had just reached her, as she sat in +the hedgerow, when the great dog who followed him pricked his ears, +and a tramping and jingling was audible in the distance in the +lane. Eustacie held up her finger, her eyes dilating. + +'It must be M. le Chevalier returning. Madame must wait a little +longer. I must be at home, or they may send out to seek me here, +and that would be ruin. I will return as soon as it is safe, if +Madame will hide herself in the hedgerow.' + +Into the hedgerow accordingly crept Eustacie, cowering close to a +holly-tree at the very summit of the bank, and led by a strange +fascination to choose a spot where, unseen herself, she could gaze +down on the party who came clanking along the hollow road beneath. +Nearer, nearer, they came; and she shuddered with more of passion +than of fear, as she beheld, not only her uncle in his best well- +preserved green suit, but Narcisse, muddy with riding, though in +his court braveries. Suddenly they came to a halt close beneath +her! Was she detected? Ah! just below was the spot where the road +to the convent parted from the road to the farm; and, as Martin had +apprehended, they were stopping for him. The Chevalier ordered one +of the armed men behind him to ride up to the farm and summon +Martin to speak with him; and then he and his son, while waiting +under the holly-bush, continued their conversation. + +'So that is the state of things! A fine overthrow!' quoth +Narcisse. + +'Bah! not at all. She will soon be in our hands again. I have +spoken with, or written to, every governor of the cities she must +pass through, and not one will abet the little runaway. At the +first barrier she is ours.' + +'_Et puis_?' + +'Oh, we shall have her mild as a sheep.' (Eustacie set her teeth.) +'Every one will be in the same story, that her marriage was a +nullity; she cannot choose but believe, and can only be thankful +that we overlook the escapade and rehabilitate her.' + +'Thank you, my good uncle,' almost uttered his unseen auditor. + +'Well! There is too much land down here to throw away; but the +affair has become horribly complicated and distasteful.' + +'No such thing. All the easier. She can no longer play the +spotless saint--get weak-minded priests on her side--be all for +strict convents. No, no; her time for that is past! Shut her up +with trustworthy persons from whom she will hear nothing from +without, and she will understand her case. The child? It will +scarce be born alive, or at any rate she need not know whether it +is. Then, with no resource, no hope, what can she do but be too +thankful for pardon, and as glad to conceal the past as we could +wish?' + +Eustacie clenched her fist. Had a pistol been within her reach, +the speaker's tenure of life had been short! She was no chastened, +self-restrained, forgiving saint, the poor little thing, only a +hot-tempered, generous, keenly-sensitive being, well-nigh a child +in years and in impulses, though with the instincts of a mother +awakening within her, and of a mother who heard the life of her +unborn babe plotted against. She was absolutely forced to hold her +lips together, to repress the sobbing scream of fury that came to +her throat; and the struggles with her gasping breath, the surging +of the blood in her ears, hindered her from hearing or seeing +anything for some seconds, though she kept her station. By the +time her perceptions had cleared themselves, Martin, cap in hand, +was in the lane below, listening deferentially to the two +gentlemen, who were assuring him that inquiry had been made, and a +guard carefully set at the fugitive could have passed those, or be +able to do so. She must certainly be hidden somewhere near home, +and Martin had better warn all his friends against hiding her, +unless they wished to be hung up on the thresholds of their burning +farm-steads. Martin bowed, and thought the fellows would know +their own interest and Mademoiselle's better. + +'Well,' said the Chevalier, 'we must begin without loss of time. +My son has brought down a set of fellows here, who are trained to +ferret out heretics. Not a runaway weasel cold escape them! We +will set them on as soon as ever they have taken a bit of supper up +there at the Chateau; and do you come up with us just to show them +the way across to Leonard's. That's no unlikely place for her to +lurk in, as you said this morning, good fellow.' + +It was the most remote farm from that of Martin, and Eustacie felt +how great were his services, even while she flushed with anger to +hear him speaking of her as Mademoiselle. He was promising to +follow immediately to the castle, to meet _ces Messieurs_ there +almost as soon as they could arrive, but excusing himself from +accompanying them, by the need of driving home the big bull, whom +no one else could manage. + +They consented, and rode on. Martin watched them out of sight, +then sprang up by some stepping-stones in the bank, a little below +where Eustacie sat, and came crackling through the boughs to where +she was crouching down, with fierce glittering eyes and panting +breath, like a wild animal ready to spring. + +'Madame has heard,' said Martin, under his breath. + +'If I have heard! Oh that I were a man, to slay them where they +stood! Martin, Martin! you will not betray me. Some day WE will +reward you.' + +'Madame need not have said THAT to me,' said Martin, rather hurt. +'I am only thinking what she can do. Alas! I fear that she must +remain in this covert till it is dark, for these men's eyes are all +on the alert. At dark, I or Lucette will come and find a shelter +for her for the night.' + +Long, long, then, did Eustacie sit, muffled in her gray cloak, +shrinking together to shelter herself from the sunset chill of +early spring, but shuddering more with horror than with cold as the +cruel cold-blooded words she had heard recurred to her, and feeling +as if she were fast within a net, every outlet guarded against her, +and search everywhere; yet still with the indomitable determination +to dare and suffer to the utmost ere that which was dearer than her +own life should come into peril from her enemies. + +The twilight closed in, the stars came out, sounds of life died +away, and still she sat on, becoming almost torpid in the cold +darkness, until at length she heard the low call of Lucette, +'MADAME! AH!_la pauvre Madame_.' She started up, so stiff that +she could hardly more, and only guided by the voice to feel her way +through the hedgerow in the right direction. Another moment, and +Lucette's warn arms had received her; and she was guided, scarce +knowing how or where, in cautious silence to the farmyard, and into +the house, where a most welcome sight, a huge fire, blazed +cheerfully on the hearth, and Martin himself held open the door for +her. The other occupants of the kitchen were the sleeping child in +its wooden cradle, some cocks and hens upon the rafters, and a big +sheep-dog before the fire. + +The warmth, and the chicken that Lucette had killed and dressed, +brought the colour back to the exhausted wanderer's cheek, and +enabled her again to hold council for her safety. It was plain, as +Martin had found in conversation with the men-at-arms, that +precautions had been taken against her escaping in any of the +directions where she might hope to have reached friends. Alone she +could not go, and any escort sufficient to protect her would +assuredly be stopped at the first town; besides which, collecting +it in secret was impossible under present circumstances, and it +would be sure to be at once overtaken and demolished by the +Chevalier Narcisse's well-armed followers. Martin, therefore, saw +no alternative but for her to lurk about in such hiding-places as +her faithful vassals could afford her, until the search should blow +over, and the vigilance of her uncle and cousin relax. Hope, the +high-spirited hope of early youth, looked beyond to indefinite but +infinite possibility. Anything was better than the shame and +horror of yielding, and Eustacie trusted herself with all her heart +for the present, fancying, she knew not what, the future. + +Indeed, the Vendean fidelity has often been tested, and she made +full proof of it among the lanes, copses, and homesteads of her own +broad lands. The whole country was a network of deep lanes, sunk +between impenetrable hedgerows, inclosing small fields, orchards, +and thickets, and gently undulating in low hills and shallow +valleys, interspersed with tall wasp-waisted windmills airily +waving their arms on the top of lofty masts. It was partitioned +into small farms, inhabited by a simple-hearted peasantry, +religious and diligent, with a fair amount of rural wealth and +comfort. Their love for their lords was loyally warm, and Eustacie +monopolized it, from their detestation of her uncle's exactions; +they would risk any of the savage punishments with which they were +threatened for concealing her; and as one by one it was needful to +take them into the secret, so as to disarm suspicion, and she was +passed from one farm to another, each proved his faithful +attachment, and though himself repaid by her thankful smile and +confiding manner. + +The Chevalier and his son searched vigorously. On the slightest +suspicion, they came down to the farm, closed up the outlets, +threatened the owners, turned out the house, and the very place +they had last searched would become her quarters on the next night! +Messages always had warned her in time. Intelligence was obtained +by Martin, who contrived to remain a confidential agent, and +warnings were dispatched to her by many a strange messenger--by +little children, by old women, or even by the village innocent. + +The most alarming days were those when she was not the avowed +object of the chase, but when the pursuit of game rendered the +coverts in the woods and fields unsafe, and the hounds might lead +to her discovery. On one of these occasions Martin locked her up +in the great hayloft of the convent, where she could actually hear +the chants in the chapel, and distinguish the chatter of the lay- +sisters in the yard. Another time, in conjunction with the +sacristan, he bestowed her in the great seigneurial tribune (or +squire's pew) in the village church, a tall carved box, where she +was completely hidden; and the only time when she had failed to +obtain warning beforehand, she stood kneading bread at a tub in +Martin's cottage, while the hunt passed by, and a man-at-arms +looked in and questioned the master on the last traces of the +runaway. + +It was seldom possible to see Mere Perrine, who was carefully +watched, under the conviction that she must know where her nursling +was; but one evening Veronique ventured up to Martin's farm, +trusting to tidings that the gentlemen had been Eustacie's only +secure harbour; and when, in a bright evening gleam of the setting +sun from beneath the clouds, Veronique came in sight of her Lady, +the Queen's favourite, it was to see her leading by a string a +little shaggy cow, with a bell round its neck, her gray cloak +huddled round her, though dank with wet, a long lock of black hair +streaming over her brow, her garments clinging with damp, her bare +ankles scratched with thorns, her heavy SABOTS covered with mire, +her cheeks pale with cold and wet. + +The contrast overwhelmed poor Veronique. She dropped on her knees, +sobbing as if her heart would break, and declaring that this was +what the Abbess had feared; her Lady was fast killing herself. + +'Hush! Veronique,' said Eustacie; 'that is all folly. I am wet +and weary now, but oh! if you knew how much sweeter to me life is +now than it was, shut up down there, with my fears. See,' and she +held up a bunch of purple pasque-flowers and wood-sorrel, 'this is +what I found in the wood, growing out of a rugged old dead root; +and just by, sheltered by the threefold leaves of the alleluia- +flower, was a bird's nest, the mother-bird on her eggs, watching me +with the wise black eye that saw I would not hurt her. And it +brought back the words I had heard long ago, of the good God caring +for the sparrows; and I knew He would care the more for me and +mine, because I have not where to lay my head.' + +'Alas!' sobbed Veronique, 'now she is getting to be a saint +outright. She will be sure to die! Ah, Madame--dear Madame! do +but listen to me. If you did but know how Madame de Bellaise is +afflicting herself on your account! She sent for me--ah! do not be +angry, dear Lady?' + +'I wish to hear nothing about her,' said Eustacie. + +'Nay, listen, _de grace_--one moment, Madame! She has wept, she +has feared for you, all the lay-sisters say so. She takes no +pleasure in hawking, nor in visiting; and she did not eat more than +six of Soeur Bernardine's best conserves. She does nothing but +watch for tidings of Madame. And she sent for me, as I told you, +and conjured me, if I knew where you were, or had any means of +finding out, to implore you to trust to her. She will swear on all +the relics in the chapel never to give a hint to Messieurs les +Chevaliers if only you would trust her, and not slay yourself with +all this dreadful wandering.' + +'Never!' said Eustacie; 'she said too much!' + +'Ah! but she declares that, had she known the truth, she never +would have said that. Ah, yes, Madame, the Abbess is good!' And +Veronique, holding her mistress's cloak to secure a hearing, +detailed the Abbess' plan for lodging her niece in secret +apartments within the thickness of the convent walls, where Mere +Perrine could be with her, and every sacred pledge should be given +that could remove her fears. + +'And could they make me believe them, so that the doubt and dread +would not kill me in themselves?' said Eustacie. + +'But it is death--certain death, as it is. Oh, if Madame would +hear reason!--but she is headstrong! She will grieve when it is +too late!' + +'Listen, Veronique. I have a far better plan. The sacristan has a +sister who weaves red handkerchiefs at Chollet. She will receive +me, and keep me as long as there is need. Martin is to take me in +his cart when he carries the hay to the garrison. I shall be well +hidden, and within reach of your mother. And then, when my son is +once come--then all will be well! The peasants will rise in behalf +of their young Lord, though not for a poor helpless woman. No one +will dare to dispute his claim, when I have appealed to the King; +and then, Veronique, you shall come back to me, and all will be +well!' + +Veronique only began to wail aloud at her mistress' obstinacy. +Martin came up, and rudely silenced her, and said afterwards to his +wife, 'Have a care! That girl has--I verily believe--betrayed her +Lady once; and if she do not do so again, from pure pity and +faintness of heart, I shall be much surprised.' + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. THE GHOSTS OF THE TEMPLARS + + + +'Tis said, as through the aisles they passed, + They heard strange voices on the blast, + And through the cloister galleries small, + Which at mid-height thread the chancel wall, + Loud sobs and laughter louder ran, + And voices unlike the voice of man, + As if the fiends kept holiday. + Scott, LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL + + +'Ill news, Martin, I see by your look!' cried Eustacie, starting to +her feet from the heap of straw on which she was sitting in his +cowhouse, one early April day, about seven weeks since her evasion +from the convent. + +'Not so, I hope, Madame, but I do not feel at ease. Monsieur has +not sent for me, nor told me his plans for the morrow, and I much +doubt me whether that bode not a search here. Now I see a plan, +provided Madame would trust herself to a Huguenot.' + +'They would guard me for my husband's sake.' + +'And could Madame walk half a league, as far as the Grange du +Temple? There live Matthieu Rotrou and his wife, who have, they +say, baffled a hundred times the gendarmes who sought their +ministers. No one ever found a pastor, they say, when Rotrou had +been of the congregation; and if they can do so much for an old +preacher with a long tongue, surely they can for a sweet young +lady; and if they could shelter her just for tomorrow, till the +suspicion is over, then would I come for Madame with my cart, and +carry her into Chollet among the trusses of hay, as we had fixed.' + +Eustacie was already tying her cloak, and asking for Lucette; but +she was grieved to hear that Martin had sent her to vespers to +disarm suspicion, and moreover that he meant not to tell her of his +new device. 'The creature is honest enough,' he said, 'but the way +to be safe with women is not to let them know.' + +He cut short all messages and expressions of gratitude, and leading +Eustacie to a small stream, he made her creep along its course, +with her feet in the water so as to be sheltered by the boughs that +hung over the banks, while he used his ling strides to enable him +to double back and enter into conversation with passers-by, quite +of the track of the Grange du Temple, but always telling her where +he should join her again, and leaving with her the great dog, whom +she had come to regard as a friend and protector. Leaving the +brook, he conducted her beneath hedges and by lonely woodland paths +beyond the confines of her own property, to a secluded valley, so +shut in by wooded hills that she had not been aware of its +existence. Through an extensive orchard, she at length, when +nearly spent with the walk, beheld the cluster of stone buildings, +substantial as the erections of religious orders were wont to be. + +Martin found a seat for her, where she might wait while he went on +alone to the house, and presently returned with both the good +people of the farm. They were more offhand and less deferential +than were her own people, but were full of kindliness. They were +middle-aged folk, most neatly clad, and with a grave, thoughtful +look about them, as if life were a much heavier charge to them than +to their light-hearted neighbours. + +'A fair day to you, Madame,' said the farmer, doffing his wide- +flapped hat. 'I am glad to serve a sufferer for the truth's sake.' + +'My husband was,' faltered Eustacie. + +'AH! _la pauvre_,' cried the good woman, pressing forward as she +saw how faint, heated, and exhausted was the wanderer. 'Come in, +_ma pauvrette_. Only a bride at the Bartholomew! Alas! There, +lean on me, my dear.' + +To be _tutoyee_ by the Fermiere Rotrou was a shock; yet the kind +manner was comfortable, and Eustacie suffered herself to be led +into the farm-house, where, as the dame observed, she need not fear +chance-comers, for they lived much to themselves, and no one would +be about till their boy Robinet came in with the cows. She might +rest and eat there in security, and after that they would find a +hiding-place for her--safe as the horns of the altar--for a night +or two; only for two nights at most. + +'Nor do I ask more,' said Eustacie. 'Then Martin will come for +me.' + +'Ah, I or Blaise, or whichever of us can do it with least +suspicion.' + +'She shall meet you here,' added Rotrou. + +'All right, good man; I understand; it is best I should not know +where you hide her. Those rogues have tricks that make it as well +to know nothing. Farewell, Madame, I commend you to all the saints +till I come for you on Monday morning.' + +Eustacie gave him her hand to kiss, and tried to thank him, but +somehow her heart sank, and she felt more lonely than ever, when +entirely cast loose among these absolute strangers, than amongst +her own vassals. Even the farm-kitchen, large, stone-built, and +scrupulously clean, seemed strange and dreary after the little, +smoky, earth-built living-rooms in which her peasantry were content +to live, and she never had seemed to herself so completely +desolate; but all the time she was so wearied out with her long and +painful walk, that she had no sooner taken some food than she began +to doze in her chair. + +'Father,' said the good wife, 'we had better take _la pauvrette_ to +her rest at once.' + +'Ah! must I go any farther?' sighed Eustacie. + +'It is but a few fields beyond the yard, _ma petite_,' said the +good woman consolingly; 'and it will be safer to take you there ere +we need a light.' + +The sun had just set on a beautiful evening of a spring that +happily for Eustacie had been unusually warm and mild, when they +set forth, the dame having loaded her husband with a roll of +bedding, and herself taking a pitcher of mild and a loaf of bread, +whilst Eustacie, as usual, carried her own small parcel of clothes +and jewels. The way was certainly not long to any one less +exhausted than she; it was along a couple of fields, and then +through a piece of thicket, where Rotrou held back the boughs and +his wife almost dragged her on with kind encouraging words, till +they came up to a stone ivy-covered wall, and coasting along it to +a tower, evidently a staircase turret. Here Rotrou, holding aside +an enormous bush of ivy, showed the foot of a winding staircase, +and his wife assured her that she would not have far to climb. + +She knew where she was now. She had heard of the old Refectory of +the Knights Templars. Partly demolished by the hatred of the +people upon the abolition of the Order, it had ever since lain +waste, and had become the centre of all the ghostly traditions of +the country; the locality of all the most horrid tales of REVENANTS +told under the breath at Dame Perrine's hearth or at recreation +hour at Bellaise. Her courage was not proof against spiritual +terrors. She panted and leant against the wall, as she faintly +exclaimed, 'The Temple--there--and alone!' + +'Nay, Lady, methought as _Monsieur votre mari_ knew the true light, +you would fear no vain terror nor power of darkness.' + +Should these peasants--these villeins--be bold, and see the +descendant of the 'bravest of knights,' the daughter of the house +of Ribaumont, afraid? She rallied herself, and replied manfully, +'I FEAR not, no!' but then, womanfully, 'But it is the Temple! It +is haunted! Tell me what I must expect.' + +'I tell you truly, Madame,' said Rotrou; 'none whom I have +sheltered here have seen aught. On the faith of a Christian, no +evil spirit--no ghost--has ever alarmed them; but they were +fortified by prayer and psalm.' + +'I do pray! I have a psalm-book,' said Eustacie, and she added to +herself, 'No, they shall never see that I fear. After all, +REVENANTS can do nothing worse than scare one; they cannot touch +one; the saints and angels will not let them--and my uncle would do +much worse.' + +But to climb those winding stairs, and resign herself to be left +alone with the Templars for the night, was by far the severest +trial that had yet befallen the poor young fugitive. As her tire +feet dragged up the crumbling steps, her memory reverted to the +many tales of the sounds heard by night within those walls--church +chants turning into diabolical songs, and bewildered travelers into +thickets and morasses, where they had been found in the morning, +shuddering as they told of a huge white monk, with clanking +weapons, and a burning cross of fire printed on his shoulder and +breast, who stood on the walls and hurled a shrieking babe into the +abyss. Were such spectacles awaiting her? Must she bear them? And +could her endurance hold out? Our Lady be her aid, and spare her +in her need! + +At the top of the stairs she found Rotrou's hand, ready to help her +out on a stone floor, quite dark, but thickly covered, as she felt +and smelt, with trusses of hay, between which a glimmering light +showed a narrow passage. A few steps, guided by Rotrou's hand, +brought her out into light again, and she found herself in a large +chamber, with the stone floor broken away in some places, and with +a circular window, thickly veiled with ivy, but still admitting a +good deal of evening light. + +It was in fact a chamber over the vaulted refectory of the knights. +The walls and vaults still standing in their massive solidity, must +have tempted some peasant, or mayhap some adventurer, rudely to +cover in the roof (which had of course been stripped of its +leading), and thus in the unsuspected space to secure a hiding- +place, often for less innocent commodities than the salt, which the +iniquitous and oppressive _gabelle_ had always led the French +peasant to smuggle, ever since the days of the first Valois. The +room had a certain appearance of comfort; there was a partition +across it, a hearth with some remains of wood-ashes, a shelf, +holding a plate, cup, lamp, and a few other necessaries; and +altogether the aspect of the place was so unlike what Eustacie had +expected, that she almost forgot the Templar as she saw the dame +begin to arrange a comfortable-looking couch for her wearied limbs. +Yet she felt very unwilling to let them depart, and even ventured +on faltering out the inquiry whether the good woman could not stay +with her,--she would reward her largely. + +'It is for the love of Heaven, Madame, not for gain,' said Nanon +Rotrou, rather stiffly. 'If you were ill, or needed me, all must +then give way; but for me to be absent this evening would soon be +reported around the village down there, for there are many who +would find occasion against us.' But, by way of consolation, they +gave her a whistle, and showed her that the window of their cottage +was much nearer to a loophole-slit looking towards the east than +she had fancied. The whistle perpetrated a mist unearthly screech, +a good deal like that of an owl, but more discordant, and Nanon +assured her that the sound would assuredly break her slumbers, and +bring her in a few minutes at any moment of need. In fact, the +noise was so like the best authenticated accounts of the shrieks +indulged in by the spirits of the Temple, that Eustacie had wit +enough to suspect that it might be the foundation of some of the +stories; and with that solace to her alarms, she endured the +departure of her hosts, Nanon promising a visit in the early +morning. + +The poor child was too weary to indulge in many terrors, the +beneficent torpor of excessive fatigue was upon her, happily +bringing slumberous oblivion instead of feverish restlessness. She +strove to repeat her accustomed orisons; but sleep was too strong +for her, and she was soon lying dreamlessly upon the clean homely +couch prepared for her. + +When she awoke, it was with a start. The moon was shining in +through the circular window, making strange white shapes on the +floor, all quivering with the shadows of the ivy sprays. It looked +strange and eerie enough at the moment, but she understood it the +next, and would have been reassured if she had not become aware +that there was a low sound, a tramp, tramp, below her. 'Gracious +saints! The Templar! Have mercy on me! Oh! I was too sleepy to +pray! Guard me from being driven wild by fright!' She sat +upright, with wide-spread eyes, and, finding that she herself was +in the moonlight, through some opening in the roof, she took refuge +in the darkest corner, though aware as she crouched there, that if +this were indeed the Templar, concealment would be vain, and +remembering suddenly that she was out of reach of the loophole- +window. + +And therewith there was a tired sound in the tread, as if the +Templar found his weird a very length one; then a long heavy +breath, with something so essentially human in its sound that the +fluttering heart beat more steadily. If reason told her that the +living were more perilous to her than the dead, yet feeling +infinitely preferred them! It might be Nanon Rotrou after all; +then how foolish to be crouching there in a fright! It was +rustling through the hay. No-no Nanon; it is a male figure, it has +a long cloak on. Ah! it is in the moonlight-silver hair--silver +beard. The Templar! Fascinated with dismay, yet calling to mind +that no ghost has power unless addressed, she sat still, crossing +herself in silence, but unable to call to mind any prayer or +invocation save a continuous 'Ave Mary,' and trying to restrain her +gasping breath, lest, if he were not the Templar after all, he +might discover her presence. + +He moved about, took off his cloak, laid it down near the hay, then +his cap, not a helmet after all, and there was no fiery cross. + +He was in the gloom again, and she heard him moving much as though +he were pulling down the hay to form a bed. Did ghosts ever do +anything so sensible? If he were an embodied spirit, would it be +possible to creep past him and escape while he lay asleep? She was +almost becoming familiarized with the presence, and the +supernatural terror was passing off into a consideration of +resources, when, behold, he was beginning to sing. To sing was the +very way the ghosts began ere they came to their devilish outcries. +'Our Lady keep it from bringing frenzy. But hark! hark!' It was +not one of the chants, it was a tune and words heard in older times +of her life; it was the evening hymn, that the little husband and +wife had been wont to sing to the Baron in the Chateau de Leurre-- +Marot's version of the 4th Psalm. + + '_Plus de joie m'est donnee_ + _Par ce moyen, O Dieu Tres-Haut_, + _Que n'ont ceux qui ont grand annee_ + _De froment et bonne vinee_, + _D'huile et tout ce qu'il leur faut_.' + +If it had indeed been the ghostly chant, perhaps Eustacie would not +have been able to help joining it. As it was, the familiar home +words irresistibly impelled her to mingle her voice, scarce knowing +what she did, in the verse-- + + '_Si qu'en paix et surete bonne_ + _Coucherai et reposerai_ ; + _Car, Seigneur, ta bonte tout ordonne_ + _Et elle seule espoir me donne_ + _Que sur et seul regnant serai_.' + +The hymn died away in its low cadence, and then, ere Eustacie had +had time to think of the consequences of thus raising her voice, +the new-comer demanded: + +'Is there then another wanderer here?' + +'Ah! sir, pardon me!' she exclaimed. 'I will not long importune +you, but only till morning light--only till the Fermiere Rotrou +comes.' + +'If Matthieu and Anne Rotrou placed you here, then all is well,' +replied the stranger. 'Fear not, daughter, but tell me. Are you +one of my scattered flock, or one whose parents are known to me?' +Then, as she hesitated, 'I am Isaac Gardon--escaped, alas! alone, +from the slaughter of the Barthelemy.' + +'Master Gardon!' cried Eustacie. 'Oh, I know! O sir, my husband +loved and honoured you.' + +'Your husband?' + +'Yes, sir, le Baron de Ribaumont.' + +'That fair and godly youth! My dear old patron's son! You--you! +But--' with a shade of doubt, almost of dismay, 'the boy was +wedded--wedded to the heiress---' + +'Yes, yes, I am that unhappy one! We were to have fled together on +that dreadful night. He came to meet me to the Louvre--to his +doom!' she gasped out, nearer to tears than she had ever been since +that time, such a novelty was it to her to hear Berenger spoken of +in kind or tender terms; and in her warmth of feeling, she came out +of her corner, and held our her hand to him. + +'Alas! poor thing!' said the minister, compassionately, 'Heaven has +tried you sorely. Had I known of your presence here, I would not +have entered; but I have been absent long, and stole into my lair +here without disturbing the good people below. Forgive the +intrusion, Madame.' + +The minister replied warmly that surely persecution was a +brotherhood, even had she not been the window of one he had loved +and lamented. + +'Ah! sir, it does me good to hear you say so.' + +And therewith Eustacie remembered the hospitalities of her loft. +She perceived by the tones of the old man's voice that he was +tired, and probably fasting, and she felt about for the milk and +bread with which she had been supplied. It was a most welcome +refreshment, though he only partook sparingly; and while he ate, +the two, so strangely met, came to a fuller knowledge of one +another's circumstances. + +Master Isaac Gardon had, it appeared, been residing at Paris, in +the house of the watchmaker whose daughter had been newly married +to his son; but on the fatal eve of St. Bartholomew, he had been +sent for to pray with a sick person in another quarter of the city. +The Catholic friends of the invalid were humane, and when the +horrors began, not only concealed their kinsman, but almost +forcibly shut up the minister in the same cellar with him. And +thus, most reluctantly, had he been spared from the fate that +overtook his son and daughter-in-law. A lone and well-night +broken-hearted man, he had been smuggled out of the city, and had +since that time been wandering from one to another of the many +scattered settlements of Huguenots in the northern part of France, +who, being left pastorless, welcomed visits from the minister of +their religion, and passed him on from one place to another, as his +stay in each began to be suspected by the authorities. He was now +on his way along the west side of France, with no fixed purpose, +except so far as, since Heaven had spared his life when all that +made it dear had been taken from him, he resigned himself to +believe that there was yet some duty left for him to fulfil. + +Meantime the old man was wearied out; and after due courtesies had +passed between him and the lady in the dark, he prayed long and +fervently, as Eustacie could judge from the intensity of the low +murmurs she heard; and then she heard him, with a heavy +irrepressible sigh, lie down on the couch of hay he had already +prepared for himself, and soon his regular breathings announced his +sound slumbers. She was already on the bed she had so +precipitately quitted, and not a thought more did she give to the +Templars, living or dead, even though she heard an extraordinary +snapping and hissing, and in the dawn of the morning saw a white +weird thing, like a huge moth, flit in through the circular window, +take up its station on a beam above the hay, and look down with the +brightest, roundest eyes she had ever beheld. Let owls and bats +come where they would, she was happier than she had been for +months. Compassion for herself was plentiful enough, but to have +heard Berenger spoken of with love and admiration seemed to quiet +the worst ache of her lonely heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. THE MOONBEAM + + + +She wandered east, she wandered west, + She wandered out and in; +And at last into the very swine's stythe + The queen brought forth a son.--Fause Foodrage + + +The morrow was Sunday, and in the old refectory, in the late +afternoon, a few Huguenots, warned by messages from the farm, met +to profit by one of their scanty secret opportunities for public +worship. The hum of the prayer, and discourse of the pastor, rose +up through the broken vaulting to Eustacie, still lying on her bed; +for she had been much shaken by the fatigues of the day and alarm +of the night, and bitterly grieved, too, by a message which Nanon +conveyed to her, that poor Martin was in no state to come for her +in the next day; but he and his wife having been seized upon by +Narcisse and his men, and so savagely beaten in order to force from +them a confession of her hiding-place, that both were lying +helpless on their bed; and could only send an entreaty by the +trustworthy fool, that Rotrou would find means of conveying Madame +into Chollet in some cart of hay or corn, in which she could be +taken past the barriers. + +But this was not to be. Good Nanon had sacrificed the sermon to +creep up to Eustacie, and when the congregation were dispersing in +the dusk, she stole down the stairs to her husband; and a few +seconds after he was hurrying as fast as _detours_ would allow him +to Blaise's farm. An hour and a half later, Dame Perrine, closely +blindfolded for the last mile, was dragged up the spiral staircase, +and ere the bandage was removed heard Eustacie's voice, with a +certain cheeriness, say, 'Oh! nurse; my son will soon come!' + +The full moon gave her light, and the woman durst not have any +other, save from the wood-fire that Nanon had cautiously lighted +and screened. The moonshine was still supreme, when some time +later a certain ominous silence and half-whisper between the two +women at the hearth made Eustacie, with a low cry of terror, +exclaim, 'Nurse, nurse, what means this? Oh! He lives! I know he +lives! Perrine, I command you tell me!' + +'Living! Oh, yes, my love, my Lady,' answered Perrine, returning +towards her; 'fair and perfect as the day. Be not disquieted for a +moment.' + +'I will--I will disquiet myself,' panted Eustacie, 'unless you tell +me what is amiss.' + +'Nothing amiss,' said Nanon, gruffly. 'Madame will give thanks for +this fair gift of a daughter.' + +It must be owned the words felt chill. She had never thought of +this! It was as if the being for whom she had dared and suffered +so much, in the trust that he would be Berenger's representative +and avenger, had failed her and disappointed her. No defender, no +paladin, no so to be proud of! Her heart and courage sank down in +her weakness as they had never done before; and, without speaking, +she turned her head away towards the darkness, feeling as if had +been for nothing, and she might as well sink away in her +exhaustion. Mere Perrine was more angry with Nanon than conscious +of her Lady's weakness. 'Woman, you speak as if you knew not the +blow to this family, and to all who hoped for better days. What, +that my Lady, the heiress, who ought to be in a bed of state, with +velvet curtains, lace pillows, gold caudle-cups, should be here in +a vile ruin, among owls and bats, like any beggar, and all for the +sake, not of a young Lord to raise up the family, but of a +miserable little girl! Had I known how it would turn out, I had +never meddled in this mad scheme.' + +Before Nanon could express her indignation, Eustacie had turned her +head opened her eyes, and called out, 'Miserable! Oh! what do you +mean? Oh, it is true, Nanon? is it well with her? + +'As well as heart could wish,' answered Nanon, cheerily. 'Small, +but a perfect little piece of sugar. There, Lady, she shall speak +for herself.' + +And as Nanon laid the babe on the young mother's bosom, the +thrilling touch at once put an end to all the repinings of the +heiress, and awoke far other instincts. + +'My child! my little one, my poor little orphan--all cruel to her! +Oh, no welcome even from thy mother! Babe, babe, pardon me, I will +make it up to thee; indeed I will! Oh! let me see her! Do not +take her away, dear good woman, only hold her in the moonlight!' + +The full rays of the moon, shining through the gable window, +streamed down very near where Eustacie lay, and by a slight +movement Dame Rotrou was able to render the little face as +distinctly visible to her as if it had been daylight, save that the +blanching light was somewhat embellishing to the new-born +complexion, and increased that curious resemblance so often borne +for the first few hours of life to the future self. Eustacie's cry +at once was, 'Himself, himself--his very face! Let me have her, my +own moonbeam--his child--my joy!' + +The tears, so long denied, rushed down like summer rain as she +clasped the child in her arms. Dame Perrine wandered to and fro, +like one beside herself, not only at her Lady's wretched +accommodations, but at the ill omens of the moonlight illumination, +of the owls who snapped and hissed incessantly over the hay, and +above all the tears over the babe's face. She tried to remonstrate +with Eustacie, but was answered only, 'Let me weep! Oh, let me +weep! It eases my heart! It cannot hurt my little one! She +cannot weep for her father herself, so I must weep for her.' + +The weeping was gentle, not violent; and Dame Rotrou thought it did +good rather than harm. She was chiefly anxious to be quit of +Perrine, who, however faithful to the Lady of Ribaumont, must not +be trusted to learn the way to this Huguenot asylum, and must be +escorted back by Rotrou ere peep of dawn. The old woman knew that +her own absence from home would be suspicious, and with many +grumblings submitted; but first she took the child from Eustacie's +reluctant arms, promising to restore her in a few moments, after +finishing dressing her in the lace-edged swaddling bands so +carefully preserved ever since Eustacie's own baby hood. In these +moments she had taken them all by surprise by, without asking any +questions, sprinkling the babe with water, and baptizing her by the +hereditary name of Berangere, the feminine of the only name +Eustacie had always declared her son should bear. Such baptisms +were not unfrequently performed by French nurses, but Eustacie +exclaimed with a sound half dismay, half indignation. + +'_Eh quoi_!' said Perrine, 'it is only _ondoyee_. You can have all +the ceremonies if ever time shall fit; but do you think I could +leave my Lady's child--mere girl though it be--alone with owls, and +_follets_, and REVENANTS, and heretics, and she unbaptized? She +would be a changeling long ere morning, I trow.' + +'Come, good woman,' said Rotrou, from between the trusses of hay at +the entrance; 'you and I must begin our Colin-Mail-lard again, or +it may be the worse for us both.' + +And with the promise of being conducted to Eustacie again in three +nights' time, if she would meet her guide at the cross-roads after +dark, Perrine was forced to take her leave. She had never +suspected that all this time Maitre Gardon had been hidden in the +refectory below, and still less did she guess that soon after her +departure the old man was installed as her Lady's chief attendant. +It was impossible that Nanon should stay with Eustacie; she had her +day's work to attend to, and her absence would have excited +suspicion. He, therefore, came partly up the stairs, and calling +to Nanon, proffered himself to sit with '_cette pauvre_,' and make +a signal in case Nanon should be wanted. The good woman was thus +relieved of a great care. She would not have dared to ask it of +him, but with a low reverence, she owned that it was an act of +great charity towards the poor lady, who, she hoped, was falling +into a tranquil sleep, but who she would hardly have dared to +leave. The pastor, though hardships, battles, and persecutions had +left him childless, had been the father of a large family; and +perhaps he was drawn the more strongly towards the mother and +child, because he almost felt as if, in fulfilling the part of a +father towards the widow of Berenger de Ribaumont, he was taking +her in the stead of the widow of his own Theodore. + +Had the little Baronne de Ribaumont been lodged in a tapes-tried +chamber, between curtains of velvet and gold, with a _beauffet_ by +her side glistening with gold and silver plate, as would have +befitted her station, instead of lying on a bed of straw, with no +hangings to the walls save cobwebs and hay, and wallflowers, no +_beauffet_ but the old rickety table, no attendants but Nanon and +M. Gardon, no visitors but the two white owls, no provisions save +the homely fare that rustic mothers lived upon--neither she nor her +babe could have thriven better, and probably not half so well. She +had been used to a hardy, out-of-door life, like the peasant women; +and she was young and strong, so that she recovered as they did. +If the April shower beat in at the window, or the hole in the roof, +they made a screen of canvas, covered her with cloaks, and heaped +them with hay, and she took no harm; and the pure open air that +blew in was soft with all the southern sweetness of early spring- +tide, and the little one throve in it like the puff-ball owlets in +the hayloft, or the little ring-doves in the ivy, whose parent's +cooing voice was Eustacie's favourite music. Almost as good as +these her fellow-nestlings was the little Moonbeam, _la petite +Rayonette_, as Eustacie fondly called this light that had come back +to her from the sunshine she had lost. Had she cried or been heard, +the sounds would probably have passed for the wailings of the +ghostly victims of the Templars, but she exercised an exemplary +forbearance in that respect, for which Eustacie thought she could +not be sufficiently admired. + +Like the child she was, Eustacie seemed to have put care from her, +and to be solely taken up with the baby, and the amusement of +watching the owl family. + +There was a lull in the search at this moment, for the Chevalier +had been recalled to Paris by the fatal illness of his son-in-law, +M. de Selinvine. The old soldier, after living half his life on +bread and salad, that he might keep up a grand appearance at Paris, +had, on coming into the wealth of the family, and marrying a +beautiful wife, returned to the luxuries he had been wont only to +enjoy for a few weeks at a time, with in military occupation of +some Italian town. Three months of festivities had been enough to +cause his death; and the Chevalier was summoned to assist his +daughter in providing for his obsequies, and in taking possession +of the huge endowments which, as the last of his race, he had been +able to bequeath to her. Such was the news brought by the old +nurse Perrine, who took advantage of the slackening vigilance of +the enemy to come to see Eustacie. The old woman was highly +satisfied; for one of the peasants' wives had--as if on purpose to +oblige her Lady--given birth to twins, one of whom had died almost +immediately; and the parents had consented to conceal their loss, +and at once take the little Demoiselle de Ribaumont as their own-- +guarding the secret till her mother should be able to claim her. +It was so entirely the practice, under the most favourable +circumstances, for French mothers to send their infants to be +nursed in cottages, that Perrine was amazed by the cry of angry +refusal that burst from Eustacie: 'Part with my child! leave her +to her enemies!--never! never! Hold your tongue, Perrine! I will +not hear of such a thing!' + +'But, Madame, hear reason. She will pass for one of Simonette's!' + +'She shall pass for none but mine!--I part with thee, indeed! All +that is left me of thy father!--the poor little orphaned innocent, +that no one loves but her mother!' + +'Madame--Mademoiselle, this is not common sense! Why, how can you +hide yourself? how travel with a baby on your neck, whose crying +may betray you?' + +'She never cries--never, never! And better I were betrayed than +she.' + +'If it were a boy---' began Perrine. + +'If it were a boy, there would be plenty to care for it. I should +not care for it half so much. As for my poor little lonely girl, +whom every one wishes away but her mother--ah! yes, baby, thy +mother will go through fire and water for thee yet. Never fear, +thou shalt not leave her!' + +'No nurse can go with Madame. Simonette could not leave her home.' + +'What needs a nurse when she has me?' + +'But, Madame,' proceeded the old woman, out of patience, 'you are +beside yourself! What noble lady ever nursed her babe?' + +'I don't care noble ladies--I care for my child,' said the +vehement, petulant little thing. + +'And how--what good will Madame's caring for it do? What knows she +of infants? How can she take care of it?' + +'Our Lady will teach me,' said Eustacie, still pressing the child +passionately to her heart; 'and see--the owl--the ring-dove--can +take care of their little ones; the good God shows them how--He +will tell me how!' + +Perrine regarded her Lady much as if she were in a naughty fit, +refusing unreasonably to part with a new toy, and Nanon Rotrou was +much of the same mind; but it was evident that if at the moment +they attempted to carry off the babe, the other would put herself +into an agony of passion, that they durst not call forth; and they +found it needful to do their best to soothe her out of the deluge +of agitated tears that fell from her eyes, as she grasped the child +so convulsively that she might almost have stifled it at once. +They assured her that they would not take it away now--not now, at +any rate; and when the latent meaning made her fiercely insist that +it was to leave her neither now nor ever, Perrine made pacifying +declarations that it should be just as she pleased--promises that +she knew well, when in that coaxing voice, meant nothing at all. +Nothing calmed her till Perrine had been conducted away; and even +then Nanon could not hush her into anything like repose, and at +last called in the minister, in despair. + +'Ah! sir, you are a wise man; can you find how to quiet the poor +little thing? Her nurse has nearly driven her distracted with +talking of the foster-parents she has found for the child.' + +'Not found!' cried Eustacie. 'No, for she shall never go!' + +'There!' lamented Nanon--'so she agitates herself, when it is but +spoken of. And surely she had better make up her mind, for there +is no other choice.' + +'Nay, Nanon,' said M. Gardon, 'wherefore should she part with the +charge that God has laid on her?' + +Eustacie gave a little cry of grateful joy. 'Oh, sir, come nearer! +Do you, indeed, say that they have no right to tear her from me?' + +'Surely not, Lady. It is you whose duty it is to shield and guard +her.' + +'Oh, sir, tell me again! Yours is the right religion. Oh, you are +the minister for me! If you will tell me I ought to keep my child, +then I will believe everything else. I will do just as you tell +me.' And she stretched out both hands to him, with vehement +eagerness. + +'Poor thing! This is no matter of one religion or another,' said +the minister; 'it is rather the duty that the Almighty hath +imposed, and that He hath made an eternal joy.' + +'Truly,' said Nanon, ashamed at having taken the other side: 'the +good _pasteur_ says what is according to nature. It would have +gone hard with me if any one had wished to part me from Robin or +Sara; but these fine ladies, and, for that matter, BOURGEOISES too, +always do put out their babes; and it seemed to me that Madame +would find it hard to contrive for herself--let alone the little +one.' + +'Ah! but what would be the use of contriving for myself, without +her?' said Eustacie. + +If all had gone well and prosperously with Madame de Ribaumont, +probably she would have surrendered an infant born in purple and in +pall to the ordinary lot of its contemporaries; but the exertions +and suffering she had undergone on behalf of her child, its +orphanhood, her own loneliness, and even the general disappointment +in its sex, had given it a hold on her vehement, determined heart, +that intensified to the utmost the instincts of motherhood; and she +listened as if to an angle's voice as Maitre Gardon replied to +Nanon-- + +'I say not that it is not the custom; nay, that my blessed wife and +myself have not followed it; but we have so oft had cause to repent +the necessity, that far be it from me ever to bid a woman forsake +her sucking child.' + +'Is that Scripture?' asked Eustacie. 'Ah! sir, sir, tell me more! +You are giving me all--all--my child! I will be--I am--a Huguenot +like her father! and, when my vassals come, I will make them ride +with you to La Rochelle, and fight in your cause!' + +'Nay,' said Maitre Gardon, taken by surprise; 'but, Lady, your +vassals are Catholic.' + +'What matters it? In my cause they shall fight!' said the feudal +Lady, 'for me and my daughter!' + +And as the pastor uttered a sound of interrogative astonishment, +she continued-- + +'As soon as I am well enough, Blaise will send out messages, and +they will meet me at midnight at the cross-roads, Martin and all, +for dear good Martin is quite well now, and we shall ride across +country, avoiding towns, wherever I choose to lead them. I had +thought of Chantilly, for I know M. de Montmorency would stand my +friend against a Guisard; but now, now I know you, sir, let me +escort you to La Rochelle, and do your cause service worthy of Nid +de Merle and Ribaumont!' And as she sat up on her bed, she held up +her little proud head, and waved her right hand with the grace and +dignity of a queen offering an alliance of her realm. + +Maitre Gardon, who had hitherto seen her as a childish though +cheerful and patient sufferer, was greatly amazed, but he could not +regard her project as practicable, or in his conscience approve it; +and after a moment's consideration he answered, 'I am a man of +peace, Lady, and seldom side with armed men, nor would I lightly +make one of those who enroll themselves against the King.' + +'Not after all the Queen-mother had done!' cried Eustacie. + +'Martyrdom is better than rebellion,' quietly answered the old man, +folding his hands. Then he added 'Far be it from me to blame those +who have drawn the sword for the faith; yet, Lady, it would not be +even thus with your peasants; they might not follow you.' + +'Then,' said Eustacie, with flashing eyes, 'they would be +traitors.' + +'Not to the King,' said the pastor, gently. 'Also, Lady, how will +it be with their homes and families--the hearths that have given +you such faithful shelter?' + +'The women would take to the woods,' readily answered she; 'it is +summer-time, and they should be willing to bear something for my +sake. I should grieve indeed,' she added, 'if my uncle misused +them. They have been very good to me, but then they belong to me.' + +'Ah! Lady, put from you that hardening belief of seigneurs. Think +what their fidelity deserves from their Lady.' + +'I will be good to them! I do love them! I will be their very +good mistress,' said Eustacie, her eyes filling. + +'The question is rather of forbearing than of doing,' said the +minister. + +'But what would you have me do?' asked Eustacie, petulantly. + +'This, Lady. I gather that you would not return to your +relations.' + +'Never! never! They would rend my babe from me; they would kill +her, or at least hide her for ever in a convent--they would force +me into this abhorrent marriage. No--no--no--my child and I would +die a hundred deaths together rather than fall into the hands of +Narcisse.' + +'Calm yourself, Lady; there is no present fear, but I deem that the +safest course for the little one would be to place her in England. +She must be heiress to lands and estates there; is she not?' + +'Yes; and in Normandy.' + +'And your husband's mother lives? Wherefore then should you not +take me for your guide, and make your way--more secretly than would +be possible with a peasant escort--to one of your Huguenot towns on +the coast, whence you could escape with the child to England?' + +'My _belle-mere_ has re-married! She has children! I would not +bring the daughter of Ribaumont as a suppliant to be scorned!' said +Eustacie, pouting. 'She has lands enough of her own.' + +'There is no need to discuss the question now,' said M. Gardon, +gravely; for a most kind offer, involving much peril and +inconvenience to himself, was thus petulantly flouted. 'Madame +will think at her leisure of what would have been the wishes of +Monsieur le Baron for his child.' + +He then held himself aloof, knowing that it was not well for her +health, mental or bodily, to talk any more, and a good deal +perplexed himself by the moods of his strange little impetuous +convert, if convert she could be termed. He himself was a deeply +learned scholar, who had studied all the bearings of the +controversy; and, though bound to the French Reformers who would +gladly have come to terms with the Catholics at the Conference of +Plassy, and regretted the more decided Calvinism that his party had +since professed, and in which the Day of St. Bartholomew confirmed +them. He had a strong sense of the grievous losses they suffered +by their disunion from the Church. The Reformed were less and less +what his ardent youthful hopes had trusted to see them; and in his +old age he was a sorrow-stricken man, as much for the cause of +religion as for personal bereavements. He had little desire to win +proselytes, but rather laid his hand to build up true religion +where he found it suffering shocks in these unsettled, neglected +times; and his present wish was rather to form and guide this +little willful warm-hearted mother--whom he could not help +regarding with as much affection as pity--to find a home in the +Church that had been her husband's, than to gain her to his own +party. And most assuredly he would never let her involve herself, +as she was ready to do, in the civil war, without even knowing the +doctrine which grave and earnest men had preferred to their +loyalty. + +He could hear her murmuring to her baby, 'No, no, little one, we +are not fallen so low as to beg our bread among strangers.' To +live upon her own vassals had seemed to her only claiming her just +rights, but it galled her to think of being beholden to stranger +Huguenots; and England and her mother-in-law, without Berenger, +were utterly foreign and distasteful to her. + +Her mood was variable. Messages from Blaise and Martin came and +went, and it became known that her intended shelter at Chollet, +together with all the adjacent houses, had been closely searched by +the younger Ribaumont in conjunction with the governor; so that it +was plain that some treachery must exist, and that she only owed +her present freedom to her detention in the ruined temple; and it +would be necessary to leave that as soon as it was possible for her +to attempt the journey. + +The plan that seemed most feasible to the vassals was, that Rotrou +should convey her in a cart of fagots as far as possible on the +road to Paris; that there his men should meet her by different +roads, riding their farm-horses--and Martin even hoped to be able +to convey her own palfrey to her from the monastery stable, and +thence, taking a long stretch across country, they trusted to be +able to reach the lands of a dependant of the house of Montmorency, +who would not readily yield her up to a Guise's man. But, whether +instigated by Perrine, or by their own judgment, the vassals +declared that, though Madame should be conducted wherever she +desired, it was impossible to encumber themselves with the infant. +Concealment would be impossible; rough, hasty rides would be +retarded, her difficulties would be tenfold increased, and the +little one would become a means of tracing her. There was no +choice but to leave it with Simonette. + +Angrily and haughtily did Eustacie always reject this alternative, +and send fresh commands back by her messenger, to meet the same +reply in another form. The strong will and practical resolution of +the stout farmers, who were about to make a terrible venture for +her, and might reasonably think they had a right to prescribe the +terms that they thought best. All this time Maitre Gardon felt it +impossible to leave her, still weak and convalescent, alone in the +desolate ruin with her young child; though still her pride would +not bend again to seek the counsel that she had so much detested, +nor to ask for the instruction that was to make her 'believe like +her husband.' If she might not fight for the Reformed, it seemed +as if she would none of their doctrine! + +But, true lady that she was, she sunk the differences in her +intercourse with him. She was always prettily and affectionately +grateful for every service that he rendered her, and as graciously +polite as though she had been keeping house in the halls of +Ribaumont. Then her intense love for her child was so beautiful, +and there was so much sweetness in the cheerful patience with which +she endured the many hardships of her situation, that he could not +help being strongly interested in the willful, spirited little +being. + +And thus time passed, until one night, when Martin ventured over +the farm with a report so serious that Rotrou, at all risks, +brought him up to communicate his own tidings. Some one had given +information, Veronique he suspected, and the two Chevaliers were +certainly coming the next day to search with fire the old buildings +of the temple. It was already dawning towards morning, and it +would be impossible to do more at present than to let Rotrou build +up the lady in a vault, some little way off, whence, after the +search was over, she could be released, and join her vassals the +next night according to the original design. +As to the child, her presence in the vault was impossible, and +Martin had actually brought her intended nurse, Simonette, to +Rotrou's cottage to receive her. + +'Never!' was all Eustacie answered. 'Save both of us, or neither.' + +'Lady,' said M. Gardon as she looked towards him, 'I go my way with +my staff.' + +'And you--you more faithful than her vassals--will let me take +her?' + +'Assuredly.' + +'Then, sir, even to the world's end will I go with you' + +Martin would have argued, have asked, but she would not listen to +him. It was Maitre Gardon who made him understand the project. +There was what in later times has been termed an underground +railway amid the persecuted Calvinists, and M. Gardon knew his +ground well enough to have little doubt of being able to conduct +the lady safely to some town on the coast, whence she might reach +her friends in England. The plan highly satisfied Martin. It +relieved him and his neighbours from the necessity of provoking +perilous wrath, and it was far safer for her herself than +endeavouing to force her way with an escort too large not to +attract notice, yet not warlike enough for efficient defence. He +offered no further opposition, but augured that after all she would +come back a fine lady, and right them all. + +Eustacie, recovering from her anger, and recollecting his services, +gave him her hand to kiss, and bade him farewell with a sudden +effusion of gratitude and affection that warmed the honest fellow's +heart. Rewards could not be given, lest they should become a clue +for her uncle; and perhaps they would have wounded both him and +their kind hosts, who did their best to assist her in their +departure. A hasty meal was provided by Nanon, and a basket so +stored as to obviate the need of entering a village, on that day at +least, to purchase provisions; Eustacie's money and jewels again +formed the nucleus of the bundle of clothes and spare swaddling- +banks of her babe; her peasant dress was carefully arranged--a +stout striped cloth skit and black bodice, the latter covered by a +scarlet Chollet kerchief. The winged white cap entirely hid her +hair; a gray cloak with a hood could either fold round her and her +child or be strapped on her shoulders. Her _sabots_ were hung on +her shoulder, for she had learnt to go barefoot, and walked much +more lightly thus; and her little bundle was slung on a staff on +the back of Maitre Gardon, who in his great peasant's hat and coat +looked so like a picture of St. Joseph, that Eustacie, as the light +of the rising sun fell on his white beard and hair, was reminded of +the Flight into Egypt, and came close to him, saying shyly, 'Our +Blessed Lady will bless and feel for my baby. She knows what this +journey is.' + +'The Son of the Blessed Mary assuredly knows and blesses,' he +answered. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. _LA RUE DES TROIS FEES_ + + + +And round the baby fast and close + Her trembling grasp she folds. +And with a strong convulsive grasp + The little infant holds.--SOUTHEY. + + +A wild storm had raged all the afternoon, hail and rain had +careered on the wings of the wind along the narrow street of the +Three Fairies, at the little Huguenot bourg of La Sablerie; +torrents of rain had poached the unpaved soil into a depth of mud, +and thunder had reverberated over the chimney-tops, and growled far +away over the Atlantic, whose angry waves were tossing on the low +sandy coast about two miles from the town. + +The evening had closed in with a chill, misty drizzle, and, almost +May though it were, the Widow Noemi Laurent gladly closed the +shutters of her unglazed window, where small cakes and other +delicate confections were displayed, and felt the genial warmth of +the little fire with which she heated her tiny oven. She was the +widow of a pastor who had suffered for his faith in the last open +persecution, and being the daughter of a baker, the authorities of +the town had permitted her to support herself and her son by +carrying on a trade in the more delicate 'subtilties' of the art, +which were greatly relished at the civic feasts. Noemi was a +grave, sad woman, very lonely ever since she had saved enough to +send her son to study for the ministry in Switzerland, and with an +aching heart that longed to be at rest from the toil that she +looked on as a steep ladder on her way to a better home. She +occupied two tiny rooms on the ground-floor of a tall house; and +she had just arranged her few articles of furniture with the utmost +neatness, when there was a low knock at her door, a knock that the +persecuted well understood, and as she lifted the latch, a voice +she had known of old spoke the scriptural salutation, 'Peace be +with this house.' + +'_Eh quoi_, Master Issac, is it thou? Come in--in a good hour-- +ah!' + +As, dripping all round his broad hat and from every thread of his +gray mantle, the aged traveller drew into the house a female figure +whom he had been supporting on his other arm, muffled head and +shoulders in a soaked cloak, with a petticoat streaming with wet, +and feet and ankles covered with mire, 'Here we are, my child,' he +said tenderly, as he almost carried her to Noemi's chair. Noemi, +with kind exclamations of '_La pauvre_! _la pauvre_!' helped the +trembling cold hand to open the wet cloak, and then cried out with +fresh surprise and pity at the sight of the fresh little infant +face, nestled warm and snug under all the wrappings in those weary +arms. + +'See,' said the poor wanderer, looking up to the old man, with a +faint smile; 'she is well--she is warm--it hurts her not.' + +'Can you take us in?' added M. Gardon, hastily; 'have you room?' + +'Oh yes; if you can sleep on the floor here, I will take this poor +dear to my own bed directly,' said Noemi. '_Tenez_' opening a +chest; 'you will find dry clothes there, of my husband's. And +thou,' helping Eustacie up with her strong arm, and trying to take +the little one, 'let me warm and dry thee within.' + +Too much worn out to make resistance, almost past speaking, knowing +merely that she had reached the goal that had been promised her +throughout these weary days, feeling warmth, and hearing kind +tones, Eustacie submitted to be led into the inner room; and when +the good widow returned again, it was in haste to fetch some of the +warm _potage_ she had already been cooking over the fire, and +hastily bade M. Gardon help himself to the rest. She came back +again with the babe, to wash and dress it in the warmth of her oven +fire. Maitre Gardon, in the black suit of a Calvinist pastor, had +eaten his _potage_, and was anxiously awaiting her report. 'Ah! +_la pauvre_, with His blessing she will sleep! she will do well. +But how far did you come to-day?' + +'From Sainte Lucie. From the Grange du Temple since Monday.' + +'Ah! is it possible? The poor child! And this little one--sure, +it is scarce four weeks old?' + +'Four weeks this coming Sunday.' + +'Ah! the poor thing. The blessing of Heaven must have been with +you to bear her through. And what a lovely infant--how white--what +beauteous little limbs! Truly, she has sped well. Little did I +think, good friend, that you had this comfort left, or that our +poor Theodore's young wife had escaped.' + +'Alas! no, Noemi; this is no child of Theodore's. His wife shared +his martyrdom. It is I who am escaped alone to tell thee. But, +nevertheless, this babe is an orphan of that same day. Her father +was the son of the pious Baron de Ribaumont, the patron of your +husband, and of myself in earlier days.' + +'Ah!' exclaimed Noemi, startled. 'Then the poor young mother--is +she--can she be the lost Demoiselle de Nid de Merle?' + +'Is the thing known here? The will of Heaven be done; but she can +send to her husband's kindred in England.' + +'She might rest safely enough, if others beside myself believed in +her being your son's widow,' said Noemi. 'Wherefore should she not +be thought so?' + +'Poor Esperance! She would willingly have lent her name to guard +another,' said Master Gardon, thoughtfully; 'and, for the sake of +the child, my little lady may endure it. Ah! there is the making +of a faithful and noble woman in that poor young thing. Bravely, +patiently, cheerfully, hath she plodded this weary way; and, +verily, she hath grown like my own daughter to me--as I never +thought to love earthly thing again; and had this been indeed my +Theodore's child, I could hardly care for it more.' + +And as he related how he had fallen in with the forlorn Lady of +Ribaumont, and all that she had dared, done, and left undone for +the sake of her little daughter, good Noemi Laurent wept, and +agreed with him that a special providence must have directed them +to his care, and that some good work must await one who had been +carried through so much. His project was to remain here for a short +time, to visit the flock who had lost their pastor on the day of +the massacre, and to recruit his own strength; for he, too, had +suffered severely from the long travelling, and the exposure during +many nights, especially since all that was warm and sheltered had +been devoted to Eustacie. And after this he proposed to go to La +Rochelle, and make inquiries for a trusty messenger who could be +sent to England to seek out the family of the Baron de Ribaumont, +or, mayhap, a sufficient escort with whom the lady could travel; +though he had nearly made up his mind that he would not relinquish +the care of her until he had safely delivered her to her husband's +mother. + +Health and life were very vigorous in Eustacie; and though at first +she had been completely worn out, a few days of comfort, entire +rest, and good nursing restored her. Noemi dressed her much like +herself, in a black gown, prim little white starched ruff, and +white cap,--a thorough Calvinist dress, and befitting a minister's +widow. Eustacie winced a little at hearing of the character that +had been fastened upon her; she disliked for her child, still more +than for herself, to take this _bourgeois_ name of Gardon; but +there was no help for it, since, though he chief personages of the +town were Huguenot, there could be no safety for her if the report +were once allowed to arise that the Baronne de Ribaumont had taken +refuge there. + +It was best that she should be as little noticed as possible; nor, +indeed, had good Noemi many visitors. The sad and sorrowful woman +had always shut herself up with her Bible and her meditations, and +sought no sympathy from her neighbours, nor encourage gossip in her +shop. In the first days, when purchasers lingered to ask if it +were true that Maitre Gardon had brought his daughter-in-law and +grandchild, her stern-faced, almost grim answer, that '_la pauvre_ +was ill at ease,' silenced them, and forced them to carry off their +curiosity unsatisfied; but it became less easy to arrange when +Eustacie herself was on foot again--refreshed, active, and with an +irrepressible spring of energy and eagerness that could hardly be +caged down in the Widow Laurent's tiny rooms. Poor child, had she +not been ill and prostrate at first, and fastened herself on the +tender side of the good woman's heart by the sweetness of an +unselfish and buoyant nature in illness, Noemi could hardly have +endured such an inmate, not even half a Huguenot, full of little +Catholic observances like second nature to her; listening indeed to +the Bible for the short time, but always, when it was expounded, +either asleep, or finding some amusement indispensable for her +baby; eager for the least variety, and above all spoilt by Maitre +Gardon to a degree absolutely perplexing to the grave woman. + +He would not bid her lay aside the observances that, to Noemi, +seemed almost worship of the beast. He rather reverted to the +piety which originated them; and argued with his old friend that it +was better to build than to destroy, and that, before the fabric of +truth, superstition would crumble away of itself. The little he +taught her sounded to Noemi's puzzled ears mere Christianity +instead of controversial Calvinism. And, moreover, he never blamed +her for wicked worldliness when she yawned; but even devised +opportunities for taking her out for a walk, to see as much life as +might be on a market-day. He could certainly not forget--as much +as would have been prudent--that she was a high-born lady; and even +seemed taken aback when he found her with her sleeves turned up +over her shapely-delicate arms, and a thick apron before her, with +her hands in Veuve Laurent's flour, showing her some of those +special mysterious arts of confectionery in which she had been +initiated by Soeur Bernardine, when, not three years ago, she had +been the pet of the convent at Bellaise. At first it was half +sport and the desire of occupation, but the produce of her +manipulations was so excellent as to excite quite a sensation in La +Sablerie, and the echevins and baillis sent in quite considerable +orders for the cakes and patties of Maitre Gardon's Paris-bred +daughter-in-law. + +Maitre Gardon hesitated. Noemi Laurent told him she cared little +for the gain--Heaven knew it was nothing to her--but that she +thought it wrong and inconsistent in him to wish to spare the poor +child's pride, which was unchristian enough already. 'Nay,' he +said sadly, 'mortifications from without do little to tame pride; +nor did I mean to bring her here that she should turn cook and +confectioner to pamper the appetite of Baillis La Grasse.' + +But Eustacie's first view was a bright pleasure in the triumph of +her skill; and when her considerate guardian endeavoured to impress +on her that there was no necessity for vexing herself with the +task, she turned round on him with the exclamation, 'Nay, dear +father, do you not see it is my great satisfaction to be able to do +something for our good hostess, so that my daughter and I be not a +burden to her?' + +'Well spoken, my Lady,' said the pastor; 'there is real nobility in +that way of thinking. Yet, remember, Noemi is not without means; +she feels not the burden. And the flock contribute enough for the +shepherd's support, and yours likewise.' + +'Then let her give it to the poor creatures who so often come in +begging, and saying they have been burned out of house and home by +one party or the other,' said Eustacie. 'Let me have my way, dear +sir; Soeur Bernadine always said I should be a prime _menagere_. I +like it so much.' + +And Madame de Ribaumont mixed sugar and dough, and twisted quaint +shapes, and felt important and almost light-hearted, and sang over +her work and over her child songs that were not always Marot's +psalms; and that gave the more umbrage to Noemi, because she feared +that Maitre Gardon actually like to hear them, though, should their +echo reach the street, why it would be a peril, and still worse, a +horrible scandal that out of that sober, afflicted household should +proceed profane tunes such as court ladies sang. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. THE ABBE. + + + +By the day and night her sorrows fall + Where miscreant hands and rude +Have stained her pure, ethereal pall + With many a martyr's blood. +And yearns not her maternal heart + To hear their secret sighs, +Upon whose doubting way apart + Bewildering shadows rise?--KEBLE + + +It was in the summer twilight that Eustacie, sitting on the +doorstep between the two rooms, with her baby on her knees, was +dreamily humming to her a tune, without even words, but one that +she loved, because she had first learnt to sing it with Berenger +and his friend Sidney to the lute of the latter; and its notes +always brought before her eyes the woods of Montpipeau. Then it +was that, low and soft as was the voice, that befell which Noemi +had feared: a worn, ragged-looking young man, who had been +bargaining at the door for a morsel of bread in exchange for a +handkerchief, started at the sound, and moved so as to like into +the house. + +Noemi was at the moment not attending, being absorbed in the study +of the handkerchief, which was of such fine, delicate texture that +an idea of its having been stolen possessed her; and she sought the +corner where, as she expected, a coat-of-arms was embroidered. +Just as she was looking up to demand explanation, the stranger, +with a sudden cry of 'Good heavens, it is she!' pushed past her +into the house, and falling on his knee before Eustacie, exclaimed, +'O Lady, Lady, is it thus that I see you?' + +Eustacie had started up in dismay, crying out, 'Ah! M. l'Abbe, as +you are a gentleman, betray me not. Oh! have they sent you to find +me? Have pity on us! You loved my husband!' + +'You have nothing to fear from me, Lady,' said the young man, still +kneeling; 'if you are indeed a distressed fugitive--so am I. If +you have shelter and friends--I have none.' + +'Is it indeed so?' said Eustacie, wistfully, yet scarce reassured. +'You are truly not come from my uncle. Indeed, Monsieur, I would +not doubt you, but you see I have so much at stake. I have my +little one here, and they mean so cruelly by her.' + +'Madame, I swear by the honour of a nobleman--nay, by all that is +sacred--that I know nothing of your uncle. I have been a wanderer +for many weeks past; proscribed and hunted down because I wished to +seek into the truth.' + +'Ah!' said Eustacie, with a sound of relief, and of apology, +'pardon me, sir; indeed, I know you were good. You loved my +husband;' and she reached out her hand to raise him, when he kissed +it reverently. Little _bourgeoise_ and worn mendicant as they were +in dress, the air of the Louvre breathed round them; and there was +all its grace and dignity as the lady turned round to her +astonished hosts, saying, 'Good sir, kind mother, this gentleman +is, indeed, what you took me for, a fugitive for the truth. Permit +me to present to you, Monsieur l'Abbe de Mericour--at least, so he +was, when last I had the honour to see him.' + +The last time HE had seen her, poor Eustacie had been incapable of +seeing anything save that bloody pool at the foot of the stairs. + +Mericour now turned and explained. 'Good friends,' he said +courteously, but with the _fierete_ of the noble not quite out of +his tone, 'I beg your grace. I would not have used so little +ceremony, if I had not been out of myself at recognizing a voice +and a tune that could belong to none but Madame---' + +'Sit down, sir,' said Noemi, a little coldly and stiffly--for +Mericour was a terrible name to Huguenots ears; 'a true friend to +this lady must needs be welcome, above all if he comes in Heaven's +name.' + +'Sit down and eat, sir,' added Gardon, much more heartily; 'and +forgive us for not having been more hospitable--but the times have +taught us to be cautious, and in that lady we have a precious +charge. Rest; for you look both weary and hungry.' + +Eustacie added an invitation, understanding that he would not sit +without her permission, and then, as he dropped into a chair, she +exclaimed, 'Ah! sir, you are faint, but you are famished.' + +'It will pass,' he said; 'I have not eaten to-day.' + +Instantly a meal was set before him, and ere long he revived; and +as the shutters were closed, and shelter for the night promised to +him by a Huguenot family lodging in the same house, he began to +answer Eustacie's anxious questions, as well as to learn from her +in return what had brought her into her present situation. + +Then it was that she recollected that it had been he who, at her +cousin Diane's call, had seized her when she was rushing out of the +palace in her first frenzy of grief, and had carried her back to +the women's apartments. + +'It was that day which brought me here,' he said. + +And he told how, bred up in his own distant province, by a pious +and excellent tutor, he had devoutly believed in the extreme +wickedness of the Reformers; but in his seclusion he had been +trained to such purity of faith and morals, that, when his brother +summoned him to court to solicit a benefice, he had been appalled +at the aspect of vice, and had, at the same time, been struck by +the pure lives of the Huguenots; for truly, as things then were at +the French court, crime seemed to have arrayed itself on the side +of the orthodox party, all virtue on that of the schismatics. + +De Mericour consulted spiritual advisers, who told him that none +but Catholics could be truly holy, and that what he admired were +merely heathen virtues that the devil permitted the Huguenots to +display in order to delude the unwary. With this explanation he +had striven to be satisfied, though eyes unblended by guilt and a +pure heart continued to be revolted at the practices which his +Church, scared at the evil times, and forgetful of her own true +strength, left undenounced in her partisans. And the more that the +Huguenot gentlemen thronged the court, and the young Abbe was +thrown into intercourse with them, and the more he perplexed +himself how the truth, the faith, the uprightness, the forbearance, +the purity that they evinced could indeed be wanting in the zeal +that made them acceptable. Then came the frightful morning when +carnage reigned in every street, and the men who had been treated +as favourite boon companions were hunted down like wild beasts in +every street. He had endeavoured to save life, but would have +speedily been slaughtered himself except for his soutane; and in +all good faith he had hurried to the Louvre, to inform royalty of +the horrors that, as he thought, a fanatic passion was causing the +populace to commit. + +He found the palace become shambles--the King himself, wrought up +to frenzy, firing on the fugitives. And the next day, while his +brain still seemed frozen with horror, he was called on to join in +the procession of thanksgiving for the King's deliverance from a +dangerous plot. Surely, if the plot were genuine, he thought, the +procession should have savoured of penance and humiliation rather +than of barbarous exultation! Yet these might be only the +individual crimes of the Queen-mother, and of the Guises seeking to +mask themselves under the semblance of zeal; and the infallible +head of the visible Church would disown the slaughter, and cast it +from the Church with loathing as a blood-stained garment. Behold, +Rome was full of rejoicing, and sent sanction and commendation of +the pious zeal of the King! Had the voice of Holy Church become +indeed as the voice of the bloodhound? Was this indeed her call? + +The young man, whose life from infancy had been marked out for the +service of the Church--so destined by his parents as securing a +wealthy provision for a younger son, but educated by his good tutor +with more real sense of his obligations--felt the question in its +full import. He was under no vows; he had, indeed, received the +tonsure, but was otherwise unpledged, and he was bent on proving +all things. The gaieties in which he had at first mingled had +become abhorrent to him, and he studied with the earnestness of a +newly-awakened mind in search of true light. The very face of +study and inquiry, in one of such a family as that of his brother +the Duke de Mericour, was enough to excite suspicion of Huguenot +inclinations. The elder brother tried to quash the folly of the +younger, by insisting on his sharing the debaucheries which, +whether as priest or monk, or simply as Christian man, it would be +his duty to abjure; and at length, by way of bringing things to a +test, insisted on his making one of a party who were about to break +up and destroy a Huguenot assembly. Unable, in his present mood, +to endure the thought of further cruelty, the young Abbe fled, gave +secret warning to the endangered congregation, and hastened to the +old castle in Brittany, where he had been brought up, to pour out +his perplexities, and seek the counsel of the good old chaplain who +had educated him. Whether the kind, learned, simple-hearted tutor +could have settled his mind, he had no time to discover, for he had +scarcely unfolded his troubles before warnings came down that he +had better secure himself--his brother, as head of the family, had +obtained the royal assent to the imprisonment of the rebellious +junior, so as to bring him to a better mind, and cure him of the +Huguenot inclinations, which in the poor lad were simply +undeveloped. But in all the Catholic eyes he was a tainted man, +and his almost inevitable course was to take refuge with some +Huguenot relations. There he was eagerly welcome; instruction was +poured in on him; but as he showed a disposition to inquire and +examine, and needed time to look into what they taught him, as one +who feared to break his link with the Church, and still longed to +find her blameless and glorious, the righteous nation that keepeth +the truth, they turned on him and regarded him as a traitor and a +spy, who had come among them on false pretences. + +All the poor lad wanted was time to think, time to examine, time to +consult authorities, living and dead. The Catholics called this +treason to the Church, the Huguenots called it halting between two +opinions; and between them he was a proscribed, distrusted +vagabond, branded on one side as a recreant, and on the other as a +traitor. He had asked for a few months of quiet, and where could +they be had? His grand-mother had been the daughter of a Scottish +nobleman in the French service, and he had once seen a nephew of +hers who had come to Paris during the time of Queen Mary's +residence there. He imagined that if he were once out of this +distracted land of France, he might find respite for study, for +which he longed; and utterly ignorant of the real state of +Scotland, he had determined to make his way to his kindred there; +and he had struggled on the way to La Rochelle, cheated out of the +small remains of his money, selling his last jewels and all the +clothing that was not indispensable, and becoming so utterly unable +to pay his passage to England, that he could only trust to +Providence to find him some means of reaching his present goal. + +He had been listened to with kindness, and a sympathy such as M. +Gardon's large mind enable him to bestow, where his brethren had +been incapable of comprehending that a man could sincerely doubt +between them and Rome. When the history was finished, Eustacie +exclaimed, turning to Maitre Gardon, 'Ah! sir, is not this just +what we sought? If this gentleman would but convey a letter to my +mother-in-law---' + +M. Gardon smiled. 'Scotland and England are by no means the same +place, Lady,' he said. + +'Whatever this lady would command, wherever she would send me, I am +at her service,' cried the Abbe, fervently. + +And, after a little further debate, it was decided that it might +really be the best course, for him as for Madame de Ribaumont, to +become the bearer of a letter and token from her, entreating her +mother-in-law to notify her pleasure whether she should bring her +child to England. She had means enough to advance a sufficient sum +to pay Mericour's passage, and he accepted it most punctiliously as +a loan, intending, so soon as her despatches were ready, to go on +to La Rochelle, and make inquiry for a ship. + +Chance, however, seemed unusually propitious, for the next day +there was an apparition in the streets of La Sablerie of four or +five weather-beaten, rollicking-looking men, their dress profusely +adorned with ribbons, and their language full of strange oaths. +They were well known at La Sablerie as sailors belonging to a ship +of the fleet of the Count de Montgomery, the unfortunate knight +whose lance had caused the death of King Henry II., and who, +proscribed by the mortal hatred of Catherine de Medicis, had become +the admiral of a piratical fleet in the Calvinist interest, so far +winked at the Queen Elizabeth that it had its head-quarters in the +Channel Islands, and thence was a most formidable foe to merchant +vessels on the northern and eastern coasts of France; and often +indulged in descents on the coast, when the sailors--being in +general the scum of the nation--were apt to comport themselves more +like American buccaneers than like champions of any form of +religion. + +La Sablerie was a Huguenot town, so they used no violence, but only +swaggered about, demanding from Bailli La Grasse, in the name of +their gallant Captain Latouche, contributions and provisions, and +giving him to understand that if he did not comply to the uttermost +it should be the worse for him. Their ship, it appeared, had been +forced to put into the harbour, about two miles off, and Maitre +Gardon and the young Abbe decided on walking thither to see it, and +to have an interview with the captain, so as to secure a passage +for Mericour at least. Indeed Maitre Gardon had, in consultation +with Eustacie, resolved, if he found things suitable, to arrange +for their all going together. She would be far safer out of +France; and, although the Abbe alone could not have escorted her, +yet Maitre Gardon would gladly have secured for her the additional +protection of a young, strong, and spirited man; and Eustacie, who +was no scribe, was absolutely relieved to have the voyage set +before her as an alternative to the dreadful operation of composing +a letter to the _belle-mere_, whom she had not seen since she had +been seven years old, and of whose present English name she had the +most indistinct ideas. + +However, the first sight of the ship overthrew all such ideas. It +was a wretched single-decked vessel, carrying far more sail than +experienced nautical eyes would have deemed safe, and with no +accommodation fit for a woman and child, even had the aspect of +captain or crew been more satisfactory--for the ruffianly +appearance and language of the former fully rivaled that of his +sailors. It would have been mere madness to think of trusting the +lady in such hands; and, without a word to each other, Gardon and +Mericour resolved to give no hint even that she and her jewels were +in La Sablerie. Mericour, however, made his bargain with the +captain, who understood to transport him as far as Guernsey, whence +he might easily make his way to Dorsetshire, where M. Gardon knew +that Berenger's English home had been. + +So Eustacie, with no small trouble and consideration, indited her +letter--telling of her escape, the birth of her daughter, the +dangers that threatened her child--and begging that its grand- +mother would give it a safe home in England, and love it for the +sake of its father. An answer would find her at the Widow Noemi +Laurent's, Rue des Trois Fees, La Sablerie. She could not bring +herself to speak of the name of Eserance Gardon which had been +saddled upon her; and even M. de Mericour remained in ignorance of +her bearing this disguise. She recommended him to the kindness of +her mother-in-law; and M. Gardon added another letter to the lady, +on behalf of the charge to whom he promised to devote himself until +he should see them safe in friendly hands. Both letters were +addressed, as best they might be, between Eustacie's dim +comprehension of the word Thistlewood, and M. Gardon's notion of +spelling. 'Jadis, Baronne de Ribaumont' was the securest part of +the direction. + +And for a token, Eustacie looked over her jewels to find one that +would serve for a token; but the only ones she knew would be +recognized, were the brooch that had fastened the plume in +Berenger's bloody cap, and the chaplet of pearls. To part with the +first, or to risk the second in the pirate-ship, was impossible, +but Eustacie at last decided upon detaching the pear-shaped pearl +which was nearest the clasp, and which was so remarkable in form +and tint that there was no doubt of its being well known. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. UNDER THE WALNUT-TREE + + + +Mistress Jean was making the elder-flower wine-- +'And what brings the Laird at sic a like time?' + LADY NAIRN, THE LAIRD OF COCKPEN + + +Summer was nearly ended, and Lucy Thistlewood was presiding in the +great kitchen of the Manor-house, standing under the latticed +window near the large oak-table, a white apron over her dress, +presiding over the collecting of elder-berries for the brew of +household-wine for the winter. The maids stood round her with an +array of beechen bowls or red and yellow crocks, while barefooted, +bareheaded children came thronging in with rush or wicker baskets +of the crimson fruit, which the maids poured in sanguine cascades +into their earthenware; and Lucy requited with substantial slices +of bread and cheese, and stout homely garment mostly of her own +sewing. + +Lucy was altogether an inmate of her father's house. She had not +even been at Hurst Walwyn for many months; for her step-mother's +reiterated hopes that Berenger would make her his consolation for +all he had suffered from his French spouse rendered it impossible +to her to meet him with sisterly unconsciousness; and she therefore +kept out of the way, and made herself so useful at home, that Dame +Annora only wondered how it had been possible to spare her so long, +and always wound up her praises by saying, that Berenger would +learn in time how lucky he had been to lose the French puppet, and +win the good English housewife. + +If only tidings would have come that the puppet was safe married. +That was the crisis which all the family desired yet feared for +Berenger, since nothing else they saw would so detach his thoughts +from the past as the leave him free to begin life again. The +relapse brought on by the cruel reply to Osbert's message had been +very formidable: he was long insensible or delirious and then came +a state of annihilated thought, then of frightfully sensitive +organs, when light, sound, movement, or scent were alike agony; and +when he slowly revived, it was with such sunken spirits, that his +silence was as much from depression as from difficulty of speech. +His brain was weak, his limbs feeble, the wound in his mouth never +painless; and all this necessarily added to his listless +indifference and weariness, as though all youthful hope and +pleasure were extinct in him. He had ceased to refer to the past. +Perhaps he had thought it over, and seen that the deferred escape, +the request for the pearls, the tryst at the palace, and detention +from the king's chamber, made an uglier case against Eustacie than +he could endure to own even to himself. If his heart trusted, his +mind could not argue out her defence, and his tongue would not +serve him for discussion with his grandfather, the only person who +could act for him. Perhaps the stunned condition of his mind made +the suspense just within the bounds of endurance, while trust in +his wife's innocence rendered his inability to come to her aid +well-nigh intolerable; and doubt of her seemed both profanity and +misery unspeakable. He could do nothing. He had shot his only +shaft by sending Landry Osbert, and had found that to endeavour to +induce his grandfather to use further measures was worse than +useless, and was treated as mere infatuation. He knew that all he +had to do was to endeavour for what patience he could win from +Cecily's sweet influence and guidance, and to wait till either +certainty should come--that dreadful, miserable certainty that all +looked for, and his very helplessness might be bringing about--or +till he should regain strength to be again effective. + +And miserably slow work was this recovery. No one had surgical +skill to deal with so severe a wound as that which Narcisse had +inflicted; and the daily pain and inconvenience it caused led to +innumerable drawbacks that often--even after he had come as far as +the garden--brought him back to his bed in a dark room, to blood- +letting, and to speechlessness. No one knew much of his mind-- +Cecily perhaps the most; and next to her, Philip--who, from the +time he had been admitted to his step-brother's presence, had been +most assiduous in tending him--seemed to understand his least sign, +and to lay aside all his boisterous roughness in his eager desire +to do him service. The lads had loved each other from the moment +they had met as children, but never so apparently as now, when all +the rude horse-play of healthy youths was over--and one was +dependent, the other considerate. And if Berenger had made on one +else believe in Eustacie, he had taught Philip to view her as the +'Queen's men' viewed Mary of Scotland. Philip had told Lucy the +rough but wholesome truth, that 'Mother talks mere folly. Eustacie +is no more to be spoken of with you than a pheasant with old brown +Partlet; and Berry waits but to be well to bring her off from all +her foes. And I'll go with him.' + +It was on Philip's arm that Berenger first crept round the +bowling-green, and with Philip at his rein that he first endured to +ride along the avenue on Lord Walwyn's smooth-paced palfrey; and it +was Philip who interrupted Lucy's household cares by rushing in and +shouting, 'Sister, here! I have wiled him to ride over the down, +and he is sitting under the walnut-tree quite spent, and the three +little wenches are standing in a row, weeping like so many little +mermaids. Come, I say!' + +Lucy at once followed him through the house, through the deep porch +to the court, which was shaded by a noble walnut-tree, where Sir +Marmaduke loved to sit among his dogs. There not sat Berenger, +resting against the trunk, overcome by the heat and exertion of his +ride. His cloak and hat lay on the ground; the dogs fawned round +him, eager for the wonted caress, and his three little sisters +stood a little aloof, clinging to one another and crying piteously. + +It was their first sight of him; and it seemed to them as if he +were behind a frightful mask. Even Lucy was not without a +sensation of the kind, of this effect in the change from the +girlish, rosy complexion to extreme paleness, on which was visible, +in ghastly red and purple, the great scar left by Narcisse, from +the temple on the one side to the ear on the other. + +The far more serious would on the cheek was covered with a black +patch, and the hair had almost entirely disappeared from the head, +only a few light brown locks still hanging round the neck and +temples, so that the bald brow gave a strange look of age; and the +disfigurement was terrible, enhanced as it was by the wasting +effect of nearly a year of sickness. Lucy was so much shocked, +that she could hardly steady her voice to chide the children for +not giving a better welcome to their brother. They would have +clung round her, but she shook them off, and sent Annora in haste +for her mother's fan; while Philip arriving with a slice of diet- +bread and a cup of sack, the one fanned him, and the other fed him +with morsels of the cake soaked in the wine, till he revived, +looked up with eyes that were unchanged, and thanked them with a +few faltering words, scarcely intelligible to Lucy. The little +girls came nearer, and curiously regarded him but when he held out +his hand to his favourite Dolly, she shrank back in reluctance. + +'Do not chide her,' he said wearily. 'May she never become used to +such marks!' + +'What, would you have her live among cowards?' exclaimed Philip; +but Berenger, instead of answering, looked up at the front of the +house, one of those fine Tudor facades that seem all carved timber +and glass lattice, and asked, so abruptly that Lucy doubted whether +she heard him alright,--'How many windows are there in this front?' + +'I never counted,' said Philip. + +'I have,' said Annora; 'there are seven and thirty, besides the two +little ones in the porch.' + +'None shall make them afraid,' he muttered. 'Who would dare build +such a defenceless house over yonder?'--pointing south. + +'Our hearts are guarded now,' said Philip, proudly. Berenger half +smiled, as he was wont to do when he meant more than he could +conveniently utter, and presently he asked, in the same languid, +musing tone, 'Lucy, were you ever really affrighted?' + +Lucy questioned whether he could be really in his right mind, as if +the bewilderment of his brain was again returning; and while she +paused, Annora exclaimed, 'Yes, when we were gathering cowslips, +and the brindled cow ran at us, and Lucy could not run because she +had Dolly in her arm. Oh! we were frightened then, till you came, +brother.' + +'Yes,' added Bessie; 'and last winter too, when the owl shrieked at +the window---' + +'And,' added Berenger, 'sister, what was your greatest time of +revelry?' + +Annora again put in her word. 'I know, brother; you remember the +fair-day, when my Lady Grandame was angered because you and Lucy +went on dancing when we and all then gentry had ceased. And when +Lucy said she had not seen that you were left alone, Aunt Cecily +said it was because the eyes of discretion were lacking.' + +'Oh, the Christmas feast was far grander,' said Bessie. 'Then Lucy +had her first satin farthingale, and three gallants, besides my +brother, wanted to dance with her.' + +Blushing deeply, Lucy tried to hush the little ones, much perplexed +by the questions, and confused by the answers. Could he be +contrasting the life where a vicious cow had been the most alarming +object, a greensward dance with a step-brother the greatest gaiety, +dye of the elder juice the deepest stain, with the temptations and +perils that had beset one equally young? Resting his head on his +hand, his elbow on his knee, he seemed to be musing in a reverie +that he could hardly brook, as his young brow was knitted by care +and despondency. + +Suddenly, the sounds in the village rose from the quiet sleepy +summer hum into a fierce yell of derisive vituperation, causing +Philip at once to leap up, and run across the court to the +entrance-gate, while Lucy called after him some vain sisterly +warning against mingling in a fray. + +It seemed as if his interposition had a good effect, for the uproar +lulled almost as soon as he had hurried to the scene of action; and +presently he reappeared, eager and breathless. 'I told them to +bring him up here,' he said; 'they would have flogged him at the +cart's-tail, the rogues, just because my father is out of the way. +I could not make out his jargon, but you can, brother; and make +that rascal Spinks let him go.' + +'What should I have to do with it?' said Berenger, shrinking from +the sudden exposure of his scarred face and maimed speech. 'I am +no magistrate.' + +'But you can understand him; he is French, the poor rogue something +abut a letter, and wanting to ask his way. Ah! I thought that +would touch you, and it will cost you little pains, and slouching +it over his face, rose, and, leaning upon Annora's shoulder, +stepped forward, just as the big burly blacksmith-constable and +small shriveled cobbler advanced, dragging along, by a cord round +the wrists, a slight figure with a red woolen sailor's shirt, +ragged black hosen, bare head, and almost bare feet. + +Doffing their caps, the men began an awkward salutation to the +young Lord on his recovery, but he only touched his beaver in +return, and demanded, 'How now! what have you bound him for?' + +'You see, my Lord,' began the constable, 'there have been a sort of +vagrants of late, and I'll be bound' twas no four-legged fox as +took Gaffer Shepherd's lamb.' + +The peroration was broken off, for with a start as if he had been +shot, Berenger cried aloud, 'Mericour! the Abbe!' + +'Ah, Monsieur, if you know me,' cried the young man, raising his +head, 'free me from this shame--aid me in my mission!' + +'Loose him, fellows,' shouted Berenger; 'Philip, a knife--Lucy, +those scissors.' + +'Tis my duty, my Lord,' said Spinks, gruffly. 'All vagabonds to be +apprehended and flogged at the cart's-tail, by her Grace's special +commands. How is it to be answered to his Honour, Sir Marmaduke?' + +'Oaf!' cried Philip, 'you durst not have used such violence had my +father been at home! Don't you see my brother knows him?' + +With hands trembling with haste, Berenger had seized the scissors +that, house-wife like, hung at Lucy's waist, and was cutting the +rope, exclaiming in French, 'Pardon, pardon, friend, for so +shameful a reception.' + +'Sir,' was the reply, without a sign of recognition, 'if, indeed, +you know my name, I entreat you to direct me to the chateau of Le +Sieur Tistefote, whose lady was once Baronne de Ribaumont.' + +'My mother! Ah, my friend, my friend! what would you?' he cried in +a tone of tremulous hope and fear, laying one hand on Mericour's +shoulder, and about to embrace him. + +Mericour retreated from him; but the high-spirited young man +crossed his arms on his breast, and gazing at the group with +indignant scorn, made answer, 'My message is from her who deems +herself a widow, to the mother of the husband whom she little +imagines to be not only alive, but consoled.' + +'Faithful! Faithful!' burst out Berenger, with a wild, exultant, +strangely-ringing shout. 'Woe, woe to those who would have had me +doubt her! Philip--Lucy--hear! Her truth is clear to all the +world!' Then changing back again to French, 'Ten thousand +blessings on you, Mericour! You have seen her! Where--how?' + +Mericour still spoke with frigid politeness. 'I had the honour to +part with Madame la Baronne de Ribaumont in the town of La +Sablerie, among humble, Huguenot guardians, to whom she had fled, +to save her infant's life--when no aid came.' + +He was obliged to break off, for Berenger, stunned by the sudden +rush of emotion, reeled as he stood, and would have fallen but for +the prompt support of Lucy, who was near enough to guide him back +to rest upon the bench, saying resentfully in French as she did so, +'My brother is still very ill. I pray you, sir, have a care.' + +She had not half understood the rapid words of the two young men, +Philip comprehended them far less, and the constable and his crew +of course not at all; and Spinks pushed forward among the group as +he saw Berenger sink back on the bench; and once more collaring his +prisoner, exclaimed almost angrily to Philip, 'There now, sir, +you've had enough of the vagabond. We'll keep him tight ere he +bewitches any more of you.' + +This rude interference proved an instant restorative. Berenger +sprang up at once, and seizing Spink's arm, exclaimed, 'Hands off, +fellow! This is my friend--a gentleman. He brings me tidings of +infinite gladness. Who insults him, insults me.' + +Spinks scarcely withdrew his hand from Mericour's neck; and +scowling, said, 'Very odd gentleman--very queer tidings, Master +Berenger, to fell you like an ox. I must be answerable for the +fellow till his Honour comes.' + +'Ah! _Eh quoi_, wherefore not show the _canaille_ your sword?' +said Mericour, impatiently. + +'It may not be here, in England,' said Berenger (who fortunately +was not wearing his weapon). 'And in good time here comes my step- +father,' as the gate swung back, and Sir Marmaduke and Lady +Thistlewood rode through it, the former sending his voice far +before him to demand the meaning of the hurly-burly that filled his +court. + +Philip was the first to spring to his rein, exclaiming, 'Father, it +is a Frenchman whom Spinks would have flogged at the cart's-tail; +but it seems he is a friend of Berenger's, and has brought him +tidings. I know not what--about his wife, I believe--any way he is +beside himself with joy.' + +'Sir, your Honour,' shouted Spinks, again seizing Mericour, and +striving to drag him forward, 'I would know whether the law is to +be hindered from taking its course because my young Lord there is a +Frenchman and bewitched.' + +'Ah,' shrieked Lady Thistlewood, 'I knew it. They will have sent +secret poison to finish him. Keep the fellow safe. He will cast +it in the air.' + +'Ay, ay, my Lady,' said Spinks, 'there are plenty of us to testify +that he made my young Lord fall back as in a swoon, and reel like +one distraught. Pray Heaven it have not gone further.' + +'Sir,' exclaimed Berenger, who on the other side held his friend's +hand tight, 'this is a noble gentleman--the brother of the Duke de +Mericour. He has come at great risk to bring me tidings of my dear +and true wife. And not one word will these demented rascals let me +hear with their senseless clamour.' + +'Berenger! You here, my boy!' exclaimed Sir Marmaduke, more amazed +by this than all the rest. + +'He touches him--he holds him! Ah! will no one tear him away?' +screamed Lady Thistlewood. Nor would Spinks have been slow in +obeying her if Sir Marmaduke had not swung his substantial form to +the ground, and stepping up to the prisoner, rudely clawed on one +side by Spinks, and affectionately grasped on the other side by +Berenger, shouted-- + +'Let go, both!' does he speak English? Peace, dame! If the lad +be bewitched, it is the right way. He looks like the other man. +Eh, lad, what does your friend say for himself?' + +'Sir,' said Berenger, interpreting Mericour's words as they were +spoken, 'he has been robbed and misused at sea by Montgomery's +pirate crews. He fled from court for the religion's sake; he met +her--my wife' (the voice was scarcely intelligible, so tremulously +was it spoken), 'in hiding among the Huguenots--he brings a letter +and a token from her to my mother.' + +'Ha! And you know him? You avouch him to be what he represents +himself?' + +'I knew him at court. I know him well. Father, make these fellows +cease their insults! I have heard nothing yet. See here!' holding +out what Mericour had put into his hand; 'this you cannot doubt, +mother.' + +'Parted the pearls! Ah, the little minx!' cried the lady, as she +recognized the jewels. + +'I thought he had been robbed?' added Sir Marmaduke. + +'The gentleman doubts?' said Mericour, catching some of the words. +'He should know that what is confided in a French gentleman is only +taken from him with his life. Much did I lose; but the pearl I +kept hidden in my mouth.' + +Therewith he produced the letter. Lady Thistlewood pronounced that +no power on earth should induce her to open it, and drew off +herself and her little girls to a safe distance from the secret +poison she fancied it contained; while Sir Marmaduke was rating the +constables for taking advantage of his absence to interpret the +Queen's Vagrant Act in their own violent fashion; ending, however, +by sending them round to the buttery-hatch to drink the young +Lord's health. For the messeger, the good knight heartily grasped +his hand, welcoming him and thanking him for having 'brought +comfort to you poor lad's heart.' + +But there Sir Marmaduke paused, doubting whether the letter had +indeed brought comfort; for Berenger, who had seized on it, when it +was refused by his mother, was sitting under the tree--turning away +indeed, but not able to conceal that his tears were gushing down +like rain. The anxious exclamation of his step-father roused him +at length, but he scarce found power or voice to utter, as he +thrust the letter into the knight's hand, 'Ah! see what has she not +suffered for me! me, whom you would have had believed her +faithless!' + +He then grasped his friend's arm, and with him disappeared into the +house, leaving Sir Marmaduke holding the letter in a state of the +utmost bewilderment, and calling by turns on his wife and daughter +to read and explain it to him. + +And as Lucy read the letter, with her mother could not yet prevail +on herself to touch, she felt at each word more grateful to the +good Aunt Cecily, whose influence had taught her always to view +Berenger as a brother, and not to condemn unheard the poor young +wife. If she had not been thus guarded, what distress might not +this day of joy to Berenger have brought to Lucy! Indeed, Lady +Thistlewood was vexed enough as it was, and ready to carry her +incredulity to the most inconsistent lengths. 'It was all a trick +for getting the poor boy back, that they might make an end of him +altogether. Tell her they thought him dead.--'Tilley-valley! It +was a mere attempt on her own good-nature, to get a little French +impostor on her hands. Let Sir Duke look well to it, and take care +that her poor boy was not decoyed among them. The Frenchman might +be cutting his throat at that moment! Where was he? Had Sir Duke +been so lost as to let them out of sight together? No one had +either pity or prudence now that her poor father was gone;' and she +began to weep. + +'No great fear on that score, dame,' laughed the knight. 'Did you +not hear the lad shouting for 'Phil, Phil!' almost in a voice like +old times? It does one good to hear it.' + +Just at twilight, Berenger came down the steps, conducting a +graceful gentleman in black, to whom Lady Thistlewood's instinct +impelled her to make a low courtesy, before Berenger had said, +'Madam, allow me to present to you my friend, the Abbe de +Mericour.' + +'Is it the same?' whispered Bessie to Annora. 'Surely he is +translated!' + +'Only into Philip's old mourning suit. I know it by the stain on +the knee. + +'Then it is translated too. Never did it look so well on Philip! +See, our mother is quite gracious to him; she speaks to him as +though he were some noble visitor to my Lord.' + +Therewith Sir Marmaduke came forward, shook Mericour with all his +might by the hand, shouted to him his hearty thanks for the good he +had done his poor lad and assured him of a welcome from the very +bottom of his heart. The good knight would fain have kept both +Berenger and his friend at the Manor, but Berenger was far too +impatient to carry home his joy, and only begged the loan of a +horse for Mericour. For himself, he felt as if fatigue or +dejection would never touch him again, and he kissed his mother and +his sisters, including Lucy, all round, with an effusion of +delight. + +'Is that indeed your step-father?' said Mericour, as they rode away +together. 'And the young man, is he your half-brother?' + +'Brother wholly in dear love,' said Berenger; 'no blood relation. +The little girls are my mother's children.' + +'Ah! so large a family all one? All at home? None in convents?' + +'We have no convents.' + +'Ah, no. but all at home! All at peace! This is a strange place, +your England.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. DEPARTURE + + + + It is my mistress! +Since she is living, let the time run on +To good or bad.--CYMBELINE + + +Mericour found the welcome at Hurst Walwyn kindly and more polished +than that at Combe Manor. He was more readily understood, and +found himself at his natural element. Lord Walwyn, in especial, +took much notice of him, and conversed with him long and earnestly; +while Berenger, too happy and too weary to exert himself to say +many words, sat as near Cecily as he could, treating her as though +she, who had never contradicted in his trust in Eustacie, were the +only person who could worthily share his infinite relief, peace, +and thankfulness. + +Lord Walwyn said scarcely anything to his grandson that night, only +when Berenger, as usual, bent his knee to ask his blessing on +parting for the night, he said, gravely, 'Son, I am glad of your +joy; I fear me you have somewhat to pardon your grandsire. Come to +my library so soon as morning prayers be over; we will speak then. +Not now, my dear lad,' he added, as Berenger, with tears in his +eyes, kissed his hand, and would have begun; 'you are too much worn +and spent to make my dear ears hear. Sleep, and take my blessing +with you.' + +It was a delight to see the young face freed from the haggard, +dejected expression that had been sadder than the outward wound; +and yet it was so questionable how far the French connection was +acceptable to the family, that when Berenger requested Mr. Adderley +to make mention of the mercy vouch-safed to him in the morning +devotions, the chaplain bowed, indeed, but took care to ascertain +that his so doing would be agreeable to my Lord and my Lady. + +He found that if Lady Walwyn was still inclined to regret that the +Frenchwoman was so entirely a wife, and thought Berenger had been +very hasty and imprudent, yet that the old Lord was chiefly +distressed at the cruel injustice he had so long been doing this +poor youth thing. A strong sense of justice, and long habit of +dignified self-restraint, alone prevented Lord Walwyn from severely +censuring Mr. Adderley for misrepresentations; but the old nobleman +recollected that Walsingham had been in the same story, and was too +upright to visit his own vexation on the honestly-mistaken tutor. + +However, when Berenger made his appearance in the study, looking as +if not one right, but weeks, had been spent in recovering health +and spirit, the old man's first word was a gentle rebuke for his +having been left unaware of how far matters had gone; but he cut +short the attempted reply, but saying he knew it was chiefly owing +to his own over-hasty conclusion, and fear of letting his grandson +injure himself by vainly discussing the subject. Now, however, he +examined Berenger closely on all the proceedings Paris and at +Montpipeau, and soon understood that the ceremony had been renewed, +ratifying the vows taken in infancy. The old statesman's face +cleared up at once; for, as he explained, he had now no anxieties +as to the validity of the marriage by English law, at least, in +spite of the decree from Rome, which, as he pointed out to his +grandson, was wholly contingent on the absence of subsequent +consent, since the parties had come to an age for free-will. Had +he known of this, the re-marriage, he said, he should certainly +have been less supine. Why had Berenger been silent? + +'I was commanded, sir. I fear I have transgressed the command by +mentioning it now. I must pray you to be secret.' + +'Secret, foolish lad. Know you not that the rights of your wife +and your children rest upon it?' and as the change in Berenger's +looks showed that he had not comprehended the full importance of +the second ceremony as nullifying the papal sentence, which could +only quash the first on the ground of want of mutual consent, he +proceeded, 'Command, quotha? Who there had any right to command +you, boy?' + +'Only one, sir.' + +'Come, this no moment for lover's folly. It was not the girl, +then? Then it could no other than the miserable King--was it so?' + +'Yes, sir,' said Berenger. 'He bade me as king, and requested me +as the friend who gave her to me. I could do no otherwise, and I +thought it would be but a matter of a few days, and that our +original marriage was the only important one.' + +'Have you any parchment to prove it?' + +'No, sir. It passed but as a ceremony to satisfy the Queen's +scruples ere she gave my wife to me to take home. I even think the +King was displeased at her requiring it.' + +'Was Mr. Sidney a witness?' + +'No, sir. None was present, save the King and Queen, her German +countess, and the German priest.' + +'The day?' + +'Lammas-day.' + +'The 1st of August of the year of grace 1572. I will write to +Walsingham to obtain the testimony, if possible, of king or of +priest; but belike they will deny it all. It was part of the +trick. Shame upon it that a king should dig pits for so small a +game as you, my poor lad!' + +'Verily, my Lord,' said Berenger, 'I think the King meant us +kindly, and would gladly have sped us well away. Methought he felt +his bondage bitterly, and would fain have dared to be a true king. +Even at the last, he bade me to his _garde-robe_, and all there +were unhurt.' + +'And wherefore obeyed you not?' + +'The carouse would have kept me too late for our flight.' + +'King's behests may not lightly be disregarded,' said the old +courtier, with a smile. 'However, since he showed such seeming +favour to you, surely you might send a petition to him privately, +through Sir Francis Walsingham, to let the priest testify to your +renewal of contract, engaging not to use it to his detriment in +France.' + +'I will do so, sir. Meanwhile,' he added, as one who felt he had +earned a right to be heard in his turn, 'I have your permission to +hasten to bring home my wife?' + +Lord Walwyn was startled at this demand from one still so far from +recovered as Berenger. Even this talk, eager as the youth was, had +not been carried on without much difficulty, repetitions, and +altered phrases, when he could not pronounce distinctly enough to +be understood and the effort brought lines of pain into his brow. +He could take little solid food, had hardly any strength for +walking or riding; and, though all his wounds were whole, except +that one unmanageable shot in the mouth, he looked entirely unfit +to venture on a long journey in the very country that had sent him +home a year before scarcely alive. Lord Walwyn had already devised +what he thought a far more practicable arrangement; namely, to send +Mr. Adderley and some of my Lady's women by sea, under the charge +of Master Hobbs, a shipmaster at Weymouth, who traded with Bordeaux +for wine, and could easily put in near La Sablerie, and bring off +the lady and child, and, if she wished it, the pastor to whom such +a debt of gratitude was owing. + +Berenger was delighted with the notion of the sea rather than the +land journey; but he pointed out at once that this would remove all +objection to his going in person. He had often been out whole +nights with the fishermen, and knew that a sea-voyage would be +better for his health than anything,--certainly better than pining +and languishing at home, as he had done for months. He could not +bear to think of separation from Eustacie an hour longer than +needful; nay, she had been cruelly entreated enough already; and as +long as he could keep his feet, it was absolutely due to her that +he should not let others, instead of himself, go in search of her. +It would be almost death to him to stay at home. + +Lord Walwyn looked at the pallid, wasted face, with all its marks +of suffering and intense eagerness of expression, increased by the +difficulty of utterance and need of subduing agitation. He felt +that the long-misunderstood patience and endurance had earned +something; and he knew, too, that for all his grandson's submission +and respect, the boy, as a husband and father, had rights and +duties that would assert themselves manfully if opposed. It was +true that the sea-voyage obviated many difficulties, and it was +better to consent with a good grace than drive one hitherto so +dutiful to rebellion. He did then consent, and was rewarded by the +lightning flash of joy and gratitude in the bright blue eyes, and +the fervent pressure and kiss of his hand, as Berenger exclaimed, +'Ah! sir, Eustacie will be such a daughter to you. You should have +seen how the Admiral liked her!' + +The news of Lord Walwyn's consent raised much commotion in the +family. Dame Annora was sure her poor son would be murdered +outright this time, and that nobody cared because he was only HER +son; and she strove hard to stir up Sir Marmaduke to remonstrate +with her father; but the good knight had never disputed a judgment +of 'my Lord's' in his whole life, and had even received his first +wife from his hands, when forsaken by the gay Annora. So she could +only ride over the Combe, be silenced by her father, as effectually +as if Jupiter had nodded, and bewail and murmur to her mother till +she lashed Lady Walwyn up into finding every possible reason why +Berenger should and must sail. Then she went home, was very sharp +with Lucy, and was reckoned by saucy little Nan to have nineteen +times exclaimed 'Tilley-valley' in the course of one day. + +The effect upon Philip was a vehement insistence on going with his +brother. He was sure no one else would see to Berry half as well; +and as to letting Berry go to be murdered again without him, he +would not hear of it; he must go, he would not stay at home; he +should not study; no, no, he should be ready to hang himself for +vexation, and thinking what they were doing to his brother. And +thus he extorted from his kind-hearted father an avowal that he +should be easier a bout the lad if Phil were there, and that he +might go, provided Berry would have him, and my Lord saw no +objection. The first point was soon settled; and as to the second, +there was no reason at all that Philip should not go where his +brother did. In fact, excepting for Berenger's state of health, +there was hardly any risk about the matter. Master Hobbs, to whom +Philip rode down ecstatically to request him to come and speak to +my Lord, was a stout, honest, experienced seaman, who was perfectly +at home in the Bay of Biscay, and had so strong a feudal feeling +for the house of Walwyn, that he placed himself and his best ship, +the THROSTLE, entirely at his disposal. The THROSTLE was a capital +sailer, and carried arms quite sufficient in English hands to +protect her against Algerine corsairs or Spanish pirates. He only +asked for a week to make her cabin ready for the reception of a +lady, and this time was spent in sending a post to London, to +obtain for Berenger the permit from the Queen, and the passport +from the French Ambassador, without which he could not safely have +gone; and, as a further precaution, letters were requested from +some of the secret agents of the Huguenots to facilitate his +admission into La Sablerie. + +In the meantime, poor Mr. Adderley had submitted meekly to the +decree that sentenced him to weeks of misery on board the THROSTLE, +but to his infinite relief, an inspection of the cabins proved the +space so small, that Berenger represented to him grandfather that +the excellent tutor would be only an incumbrance to himself and +every one else, and that with Philip he should need no one. +Indeed, he had made such a start into vigour and alertness during +the last few days that there was far less anxiety about him, though +with several sighs for poor Osbert. Cecily initiated Philip into +her simple rules for her patient's treatment in case of the return +of his more painful symptoms. The notion of sending female +attendants for Eustacie was also abandoned: her husband's presence +rendered them unnecessary, or they might be procured at La +Sablerie; and thus it happened that the only servants whom Berenger +was to take with him were Humfrey Holt and John Smithers, the same +honest fellows whose steadiness had so much conduced to his rescue +at Paris. + +Claude de Mericour had in the meantime been treated as an honoured +guest at Combe Walwyn, and was in good esteem with its master. He +would have set forth at once on his journey to Scotland, but that +Lord Walwyn advised him to wait and ascertain the condition of his +relatives there before throwing himself on them. Berenger had, +accordingly, when writing to Sidney by the messenger above +mentioned, begged him to find out from Sir Robert Melville, the +Scottish Envoy, all he could about the family whose designation he +wrote down at a venture from Mericour's lips. + +Sidney returned a most affectionate answer, saying that he had +never been able to believe the little shepherdess a traitor and was +charmed that she had proved herself a heroine; he should endeavour +to greet her with all his best powers as a poet, when she should +brighten the English court; but his friend, Master Spenser, alone +was fit to celebrate such constancy. As to M. l'Abbe de Mericour's +friends, Sir Robert Melville had recognized their name at once, and +had pronounced them to be fierce Catholics and Queensmen, so sorely +pressed by the Douglases, that it was believed they would soon fly +the country altogether; and Sidney added, what Lord Walwyn had +already said, that to seek Scotland rather than France as a +resting-place in which to weigh between Calvinism and Catholicism, +was only trebly hot and fanatical. His counsel was that M. de +Mericour should so far conform himself to the English Church as to +obtain admission to one of the universities, and, through his uncle +of Leicester, he could obtain for him an opening at Oxford, where +he might fully study the subject. + +There was much to incline Mericour to accept this counsel. He had +had much conversation with Mr. Adderley, and had attended his +ministrations in the chapel, and both satisfied him far better than +what he had seen among the French Calninists; and the peace and +family affection of the two houses were like a new world to him. +But he had not yet made up his mind to that absolute disavowal of +his own branch of the Church, which alone could have rendered him +eligible for any foundation at Oxford. His attainments in classics +would, Mr. Adderley thought, reach such a standard as to gain one +of the very few scholarships open to foreigners; and his noble +blood revolted at becoming a pensioner of Leicester's, or of any +other nobleman. + +Lord Walwyn, upon this, made an earnest offer of his hospitality, +and entreated the young man to remain at Hurst Walwyn till the +return of Berenger and Philip, during which time he might study +under the directions of Mr. Adderley, and come to a decision +whether to seek reconciliation with his native Church and his +brother, or to remain in England. In this latter case, he might +perhaps accompany both the youths to Oxford, for, in spite of +Berenger's marriage, his education was still not supposed to be +complete. And when Mericour still demurred with reluctance to +become a burden on the bounty of the noble house, he was reminded +gracefully of the debt of gratitude that the family owed to him for +the relief he had brought to Berenger; and, moreover, Dame Annora +giggled out that, 'if he would teach Nan and Bess to speak and read +French and Italian, it would be worth something to them.' The +others of the family would have hushed up this uncalled-for +proposal; but Mericour caught at it as the most congenial mode of +returning the obligation. Every morning he undertook to walk or +ride over to the Manor, and there gave his lessons to the young +ladies, with whom he was extremely popular. He was a far more +brilliant teacher than Lucy, and ten thousand times preferable to +Mr. Adderley, who had once begun to teach Annora her accidence with +lamentable want of success. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. THE EMPTY CRADLE + + + + Eager to know +The worst, and with that fatal certainty +To terminate intolerable dread, +He spurred his courser forward--all his fears +Too surely are fulfilled.--SOUTHEY + + +Contrary winds made the voyage of the THROSTLE much more tardy than +had been reckoned on by Berenger's impatience; but hope was before +him, and he often remembered his days in the little vessel as much +happier than he had known them to be at the time. + +It was in the calm days of right October that Captain Hobbs at +length was putting into the little harbour nearest to La Sablerie. +Berenger, on that morning, had for the first time been seized by a +fit of anxiety as to the impression his face would make, with its +terrible purple scar, great patch, and bald forehead, and had +brought out a little black velvet mask, called a _tour de nez_, +often used in riding to protect the complexion, intending to +prepare Eustacie for his disfigurement. He had fastened on a +carnation-coloured sword-knot, would a scarf of the same colour +across his shoulder, clasped a long ostrich plume into his broad +Spanish hat, and looked out his deeply-fringed Spanish gloves; and +Philip was laughing merrily, not to say rudely, at him, for trying +to deck himself out so bravely. + +'See, Master Hobbs,' cried the boy in his high spirits, as he +followed his brother on deck, 'you did not know you had so fine a +gallant on board. Here be braveries for my Lady.' + +'Hush, Phil,' broke in Berenger, who had hitherto taken all the +raillery in perfect good part. 'What is amiss, Master Hobbs?' + +'I cannot justly say, sir,' returned Master Hobbs, without taking +his gaze off the coast, 'but by yonder banks and creeks this should +be the Sables d'Olonne; and I do not see the steeple of La +Sablerie, which has always been the landmark for the harbour of St. +Julien.' + +'What do you understand by that?' asked Berenger, more struck by +his manner than his words. + +'Well, sir, if I am right, a steeple that has stood three or four +hundred years does not vanish out of sight like a cloud of smoke +for nothing. I may be lightning, to be sure; or the Protestants +may have had it down for Popery; but methinks they would have too +much Christian regard for poor mariners than to knock down the only +landmark on this coast till you come to Nissard spire.' Then he +hailed the man at the mast-head, demanding if he saw the steeple of +La Sablerie. 'No, no, sir.' But as other portions of the land +became clearer, there was no doubt that the THROSTLE was right in +her bearings; so the skipper gave orders to cast anchor and lower a +boat. The passengers would have pressed him with inquiries as to +what he thought the absence of his landmark could portend; but he +hurried about, and shouted orders, with the deaf despotism of a +nautical commander; and only when all was made ready, turned round +and said, 'Now, sir, maybe you had best let me go ashore first, and +find out how the land lies.' + +'Never!' said Berenger, in an agony of impatience. + +'I thought so,' said the captain. 'Well, then, sir, are your +fellows ready? Armed? All right.' + +So Berenger descended to the boat, followed by Philip; next came +the captain, and then the two serving-men. Six of the crew were +ready to row them to the shore, and were bidden by their captain to +return at once to the vessel, and only return on a signal from him. +the surging rush of intense anxiety, sure to precede the destined +moment of the consummation of hope long deferred, kept Berenger +silent, choked by something between fear and prayer; but Philip, +less engrossed, asked Master Hobbs if it were not strange that none +of the inhabitants of the squalid little huts on the shore had not +put out to greet them in some of the boats that were drawn up on +the beach. + +'Poor wretches,' said Hobbs; 'they scarce know friend from foe, and +are slow to run their heads into the lion's mouth. Strange fellows +have the impudence to sail under our flag at times.' + +However, as they neared the low, flat, sandy shore, a few red caps +peeped out at the cottage-doors, and then, apparently gaining +confidence from the survey, some wiry, active figures appeared, and +were hailed by Hobbs. His Bordeax trade had rendered him master of +the coast language; and a few incomprehensible shouts between him +and the natives resulted in a line being thrown to them, and the +boat dragged as near as possible to the landing-place, when half a +dozen ran up, splashing with their bare legs, to offer their +shoulders for the transport of the passengers, both of whom were +seized upon before they were aware, Philip struggling with all his +might, till a call from Captain Hobbs warned him to resign himself; +and then he became almost helpless with laughter at the figure cut +by the long-legged Berenger upon a small fisherman's back. + +They were landed. Could it be that Berenger was only two miles-- +only half an hour's walk form Eustacie? The bound his heart gave +as he touched the shore seemed to stifle him. He could not believe +it. Yet he knew how fully he had believed it, the next moment, +when he listened to what the fishermen were saying to Captain +Hobbs. + +'Did Monsieur wish to go to La Sablerie? Ah! then he did not know +what had happened. The soldiers had been there; there had been a +great burning. They had been out in their boats at sea, but they +had seen the sky red--red as a furnace, all night; and the steeple +was down. Surely, Monsieur had missed the steeple that was a guide +to all poor seafarers; and now they had to go all the way to +Brancour to sell their fish.' + +'And the townspeople?' Hobbs asked. + +'Ah! poor things; 'twas pity of them, for they were honest folk to +deal with, even if they were heretics. They loved fish at other +seasons if not in Lent; and it seemed but a fair return to go up +and bury as many of them as were not burnt to nothing in their +church; and Dom Colombeau, the good priest of Nissard, has said it +was a pious work; and he was a saint, if any one was.' + +'Alack, sir,' said Hobbs, laying his hand on the arm of Berenger, +who seemed neither to have breathed nor moved while the man was +speaking: 'I feared that there had been some such bloody work when +I missed the steeple. But take heart yet: your lady is very like +to have been out of the way. We might make for La Rochelle, and +there learn!' Then, again to the fisherman, 'None escaped, fellow?' + +'Not one,' replied the man. 'they say that one of the great folks +was in a special rage with them for sheltering the lady he should +have wedded, but who had broken convent and turned heretic; and +they had victualled Montgomery's pirates too.' + +'And the lady?' continued Hobbs, ever trying to get a more +supporting hold of his young charge, in case the rigid tension of +his limbs should suddenly relax.' + +'I cannot tell, sir. I am a poor fisher; but I could guide you to +the place where old Gillot is always poking about. He listened to +their preachings, and knows more than we do.' + +'Let us go,' said Berenger, at once beginning to stride along in +his heavy boots through the deep sand. Philip, who had hardly +understood a word of the _patois_, caught hold of him, and begged +to be told what had happened; but Master Hobbs drew the boy off, +and explained to him and to the two men what were the dreadful +tidings that had wrought such a change in Berenger's demeanour. +The way over the shifting sands was toilsome enough to all the rest +of the party; but Berenger scarcely seemed to feel the deep plunge +at every step as they almost ploughed their way along for the weary +two miles, before a few green bushes and half-choked trees showed +that they were reaching the confines of the sandy waste. Berenger +had not uttered a word the whole time, and his silence hushed the +others. The ground began to rise, grass was seen still struggling +to grow, and presently a large straggling mass of black and gray +ruins revealed themselves, with the remains of a once well-trodden +road leading to them. But the road led to a gate-way choked by a +fallen jamb and barred door, and the guide led them round the ruins +of the wall to the opening where the breach had been. The sand was +already blowing in, and no doubt veiled much; for the streets were +scarcely traceable through remnants of houses more or less +dilapidated, with shreds of broken or burnt household furniture +within them. + +'Ask him for _la rue des Trois Fees,' hoarsely whispered Berenger. + +The fisherman nodded, but soon seemed at fault; and an old man, +followed by a few children, soon appearing, laden with piece of +fuel, he appealed to him as Father Gillot, and asked whether he +could find the street. The old man seemed at home in the ruins, +and led the way readily. 'Did he know the Widow Laurent's house?' + +'Mademoiselle [footnote: This was the title of _bourgeoise_wives, +for many years, in France.] Laurent! Full well he knew her; a good +pious soul was she, always ready to die for the truth,' he added, +as he read sympathy in the faces round; 'and no doubt she had +witnessed a good confession.' + +'Knew he aught of the lady she had lodged?' + +'He knew nothing of ladies. Something he had heard of the good +widow having sheltered that shining light, Isaac Gardon, quenched, +no doubt, in the same destruction; but for his part, he had a +daughter in one of the isles out there, who always sent for him if +she suspected danger here on the mainland, and he had only returned +to his poor farm a day or two after Michael-mas.' So saying, he +led them to the threshold of a ruinous building, in the very +centre, as it were, of the desolation, and said, 'That, gentlemen, +is where the poor honest widow kept her little shop.' + +Black, burnt, dreary, lay the hospitable abode. The building had +fallen, but the beams of the upper floor had fallen aslant, so as +to shelter a portion of the lower room, where the red-tile +pavement, the hearth with the gray ashes of the harmless home-fire, +some unbroken crocks, a chain, and a _sabot_, were still visible, +making the contrast of dreariness doubly mournful. + +Berenger had stepped over the threshold, with his hat in his hand, +as if the ruin were a sacred place to him, and stood gazing in a +transfixed, deadened way. The captain asked where the remains +were. + +'Our people,' said the old man and the fisher, 'laid them by night +in the earth near the church.' + +Just then Berenger's gaze fell on something half hidden under the +fallen timbers. He instantly sprang forward, and used all his +strength to drag it out in so headlong a manner that all the rest +hurried to prevent his reckless proceedings from bringing the heavy +beams down on his head. When brought to light, the object proved +to be one of the dark, heavy, wooden cradles used by the French +peasantry, shining with age, but untouched by fire. + +'Look in,' Berenger signed to Philip, his own eyes averted, his +mouth set. + +The cradle was empty, totally empty, save for a woolen covering, a +little mattress, and a string of small yellow shells threaded. + +Berenger held out his hand, grasped the baby-play thing +convulsively, then dropped upon his knees, clasping his hands over +his ashy face, the string of shells still wound among his fingers. +Perhaps he had hitherto hardly realized the existence of his child, +and was solely wrapped up in the thought of his wife; but the +wooden cradle, the homely toy, stirred up fresh depths of feelings; +he saw Eustacie wither tender sweetness as a mother, he beheld the +little likeness of her in the cradle; and oh! that this should have +been the end! Unable to repress a moan of anguish from a bursting +heart, he laid his face against the senseless wood, and kissed it +again and again, then lay motionless against it save for the long- +drawn gasps and sobs that shook his frame. Philip, torn to the +heart, would have almost forcibly drawn him away; but Master Hobbs, +with tears running down his honest cheeks, withheld the boy. +'Don't ye, Master Thistlewood, 'twill do him good. Poor young +gentleman! I know how it was when I came home and found our first +little lad, that we had thought so much on, had been take. But +then he was safe laid in his own churchyard, and his mother was +there to meet me; while your poor brother---Ah! God comfort him!' + +'_Le pauvre Monsieur_!' exclaimed the old peasant, struck at the +sight of his grief, 'was it then his child? And he, no doubt, +lying wounded elsewhere while God's hand was heavy on this place. +Yet he might hear more. They said the priest came down and carried +off the little ones to be bred up in convents.' + +'Who?--where?' asked Berenger, raising his head as if catching at a +straw in this drowning of all his hopes. + +''Tis true,' added the fisherman. 'It was the holy priest of +Nissard, for he send down to St. Julien for a woman to nurse the +babes.' + +'To Nissard, then,' said Berenger, rising. + +'It is but a chance,' said the old Huguenot; 'many of the innocents +were with their mothers in yonder church. Better for them to +perish like the babes of Bethlehem than to be bred up in the house +of Baal; but perhaps Monsieur is English, and if so he might yet +obtain the child. Yet he must not hope too much.' + +'No, for there was many a little corpse among those we buried,' +said the fisher. 'Will the gentleman see the place?' + +'Oh, no!' exclaimed Philip, understanding the actions, and indeed +many of the words; 'this place will kill him.' + +'To the grave,' said Berenger, as if he heard nothing. + +'See,' added Philip, 'there are better things than graves,' and he +pointed to a young green sucker of a vine, which, stimulated by the +burnt soil, had shot up between the tiles of the floor. 'Look, +there is hope to meet you even here.' + +Berenger merely answered by gathering a leaf from the vine and +putting it into his bosom; and Philip, whom only extreme need could +have thus inspired, perceived that he accepted it as the augury of +hope. + +Berenger turned to bid the two men bear the cradle with them, and +then followed the old man out into the PLACE, once a pleasant open +paved square, now grass-grown and forlorn. On one side lay the +remains of the church. The Huguenots had been so predominant at La +Sablerie as to have engrossed the building, and it had therefore +shared the general destruction, and lay in utter, desolate ruin, a +mere shell, and the once noble spire, the mariner's guiding star, +blown up with gun-cruel that ever desolated the country. Beyond +lay the burial-ground, in unspeakable dreariness. The crossed of +the Catholic dead had been levelled by the fanaticism of the +Huguenots, and though a great dominant stone cross raised on steps +had been re-erected, it stood uneven, tottering and desolate among +nettles, weeds, and briers. There seemed to have been a few deep +trenches dug to receive the bodies of the many victims of the +siege, and only rudely and slightly filled in with loose earth, on +which Philippe treading had nearly sunk in, so much to his horror +that he could hardly endure the long contemplation in which his +brother stood gazing on the dismal scene, as if to bear it away +with him. Did the fair being he had left in a king's palace sleep +her last sleep her last sleep amid the tangled grass, the thistles +and briers that grew so close that it was hardly possible to keep +from stumbling over them, where all memorials of friend or foe were +alike obliterated? Was a resting-place among these nameless graves +the best he could hope for the wife whose eyes he had hoped by this +time would be answering his own--was this her shelter from foe, +from sword, famine, and fire? + +A great sea-bird, swooping along with broad wings and wild wailing +cry, completed the weird dismay that had seized on Philip, and +clutching at his brother's cloak, he exclaimed, 'Berry, Berry, let +us be gone, or we shall both be distraught!' + +Berenger yielded passively, but when the ruins of the town had been +again crossed, and the sad little party, after amply rewarding the +old man, were about to return to St. Julien, he stood still, +saying, 'Which is the way to Nissard?' and, as the men pointed to +the south, he added, 'Show me the way thither.' + +Captain Hobbs now interfered. He knew the position of Nissard, +among dangerous sandbanks, between which a boat could only venture +at the higher tides, and by daylight. To go the six miles thither +at present would make it almost impossible to return to the +THROSTLE that night, and it was absolutely necessary that he at +least should do this. He therefore wished the young gentleman to +return with him on board, sleep there, and be put ashore at Nissard +as soon as it should be possible in the morning. But Berenger shook +his head. He could not rest for a moment till he had ascertained +the fate of Eustacie's child. Action alone could quench the horror +of what he had recognized as her own lot, and the very pursuit of +this one thread of hope seemed needful to him to make it +substantial. He would hear of nothing but walking at once to +Nissard; and Captain Hobbs, finding it impossible to debate the +point with one so dazed and crushed with grief, and learning from +the fishermen that not only was the priest one of the kindest and +most hospitable men living, but that there was a tolerable +_caberet_ not far from the house, selected from the loiterers who +had accompanied them from St. Julien a trustworthy-looking, active +lad as a guide, and agreed with the high tide on the morrow, either +to concert measures for obtaining possession of the lost infant, +or, if all were in vain, to fetch them off. Then he, with the mass +of stragglers from St. Julien, went off direct for the coast, while +the two young brothers, their two attendants, and the fishermen, +turned southwards along the summit of the dreary sandbanks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. THE GOOD PRIEST OF NISSARD + + + +Till at the set of sun all tracks and ways +In darkness lay enshrouded. And e'en thus +The utmost limit of the great profound +At length we reach'd, where in dark gloom and mist +Cimmeria's people and their city lie +Enveloped ever.--ODYSSEY (MUSGROVE) + + +The October afternoon had set in before the brothers were the way +to Nissard; and in spite of Berenger's excited mood, the walk +through the soft, sinking sand could not be speedily performed. It +was that peculiar sand-drift which is the curse of so many coasts, +slowly, silently, irresistibly flowing, blowing, creeping in, and +gradually choking all vegetation and habitation. Soft and almost +impalpable, it lay heaped in banks yielding as air, and yet far +more than deep enough to swallow up man and horse. Nay, tops of +trees, summits of chimneys, told what it had already swallowed. +The whole scene far and wide presented nothing but the lone, tame +undulations, liable to be changed by every wind, and solitary +beyond expression--a few rabbits scudding hither and thither, or a +sea-gull floating with white, ghostly wings in the air, being the +only living things visible. On the one hand a dim, purple horizon +showed that the inhabited country lay miles inland; on the other +lay the pale, gray, misty expanse of sea, on which Philip's eyes +could lovingly discern the THROSTLE'S masts. + +That view was Philip's chief comfort. The boy was feeling more +eerie and uncomfortable than ever he had been before as he plodded +along, sinking deep with every step almost up to his ankles in the +sand, on which the bare-footed guide ran lightly, and Berenger, +though sinking no less deeply, seemed insensible to all +inconveniences. This desolateness was well-nigh unbearable; no one +dared to speak while Berenger thus moved on in the +unapproachableness of his great grief, and Philip presently began +to feel a dreamy sense that they had all thus been moving for +years, that this was the world's end, the land of shadows, and that +his brother was a ghost already. Besides vague alarms like these, +there was the dismal English and Protestant prejudice in full force +in Philip's mind, which regarded the resent ground as necessarily +hostile, and all Frenchmen, above all French priests, as in league +to cut off every Englishman and Protestant. He believed himself in +a country full of murderers, and was walking on with the one +determination that his brother should not rush on danger without +him, and that the Popish rogues should be kept in mind that there +was an English ship in sight. Alas! that consolation was soon +lost, for a dense gray mist was slowly creeping in from the sea, +and blotted out the vessel, then gathered in closer, and +obliterated all landmarks. Gradually it turned to a heavy rain, +and about the same time the ground on which they walked became no +longer loose sand-hills, but smooth and level. It was harder +likewise from the wet, and this afforded better walking, but there +lay upon it fragments of weed and shell, as though it were liable +to be covered by the sea, and there was a low, languid plash of the +tide, which could not be seen. Twilight began to deepen the mist. +The guide was evidently uneasy; he sidled up to Philip, and began +to ask what he--hitherto obstinately deaf and contemptuous to +French--was very slow to comprehend. At last he found it was a +question how near it was to All Soul's day; and then came an +equally amazing query whether the gentlemen's babe had been +baptized; for it appeared that on All Soul's day the spirits of +unchristened infants had the power of rising from the sands in a +bewildering mist, and leading wayfarers into the sea. And the poor +guide, white and drenched, vowed he never would have undertaken +this walk if he had only thought of this. These slaughters of +heretics must so much have augmented the number of the poor little +spirits; and no doubt Monsieur would be specially bewildered by one +so nearly concerned with him. Philip, half frightened, could not +help stepping forward and pulling Berenger by the cloak to make him +aware of this strange peril; but he did not get much comfort. +'Baptized? Yes; you know she was, by the old nurse. Let me alone, +I say. I would follow her wherever she called me, the innocent, +and glad--the sooner the better.' + +And he shook his brother off with a sadness and impatience so +utterly unapproachable, that Philip, poor boy, could only watch his +tall figure in the wide cloak and slouched hat, stalking on ever +more indistinct in the gloom, while his much confused mind tried to +settle the theological point whether the old nurse's baptism were +valid enough to prevent poor little Berangere from becoming one of +these mischievous deluders; and all this was varied by the notion +of Captain Hobbs picking up their corpses on the beach, and of Sir +Marmaduke bewailing his only son. + +At last a strange muffled sound made him start in the dead silence, +but the guide hailed the sound with a joyful cry--- + +'Hola! Blessings on Notre-Dame and holy Father Colombeau, now are +we saved!' and on Philip's hasty interrogation, he explained that +it was from the bells of Nissard, which the good priest always +caused to be rung during these sea-fogs, to disperse all evil +beings, and guide the wanderers. + +The guide strode on manfully, as the sound became clearer and +nearer, and Philip was infinitely relived to be free from all +supernatural anxieties, and to have merely to guard against the +wiles of a Polish priest, a being almost as fabulously endowed in +his imagination as poor little Berangere's soul could be in that of +the fisherman. + +The drenching Atlantic mist had wetted them all to the skin, and +closed round them so like a solid wall, that they had almost lost +sight of each other, and had nothing but the bells' voices to +comfort them, till quite suddenly there was a light upon the mist, +a hazy reddish gleam--a window seemed close to them. The guide, +heartily thanking Our Lady and St. Julian, knocked at a door, which +opened at once into a warm, bright, superior sort of kitchen, where +a neatly-dressed elderly peasant woman exclaimed, 'Welcome, poor +souls! Enter, then. Here, good Father, are some bewildered +creatures. Eh! wrecked are you, good folks, or lost in the fog?' + +At the same moment there came from behind the screen that shut off +the fire from the door, a benignant-looking, hale old man in a +cassock, with long white hair on his shoulders, and a cheerful +face, ruddy from sea-wind. + +'Welcome, my friends,' he said. 'Thanks to the saints who have +guided you safely. You are drenched. Come to the fire at once.' + +And as they moved on into the full light of the fire and the rude +iron lamp by which he had been reading, and he saw the draggled +plumes and other appurtenances that marked the two youths as +gentlemen, he added, 'Are you wrecked, Messieurs? We will do our +poor best for your accommodation;' and while both mechanically +murmured a word of thanks, and removed their soaked hats, the good +man exclaimed, as he beheld Berenger's ashy face, with the sunken +eyes and deep scars, 'Monsieur should come to bed at once. He is +apparently recovering from a severe wound. This way, sir; Jolitte +shall make you some hot tisane.' + +'Wait, sir,' said Berenger, very slowly, and his voice sounding +hollow from exhaustion; 'they say that you can tell me of my child. +Let me hear.' + +'Monsieur's child!' exclaimed the bewildered curate, looking from +him to Philip, and then to the guide, who poured out a whole stream +of explanation before Philip had arranged three words of French. + +'You hear, sir,' said Berenger, as the man finished: 'I came +hither to seek my wife, the Lady of Ribaumont.' + +'Eh!' exclaimed the _cure_, 'do I then see M. le Marquis de Nid de +Merle?' + +'No!' cried Berenger; 'no, I am not that _scelerat_! I am her true +husband, the Baron de Ribaumont.' + +'The Baron de Ribaumont perished at the St. Bartholomew,' said the +_cure_, fixing his eyes on him, as though to confute an impostor. + +'Ah, would that I had!' said Berenger. 'I was barely saved with +the life that is but misery now. I came to seek her--I found what +you know. They told me that you saved the children. Ah, tell me +where mine is!--all that is left me.' + +'A few poor babes I was permitted to rescue, but very few. But let +me understand to whom I speak,' he added, much perplexed. 'You, +sir---' + +'I am her husband, married at five years old--contract renewed last +year. It was he whom you call Nid de Merle who fell on me, and +left me for dead. A faithful servant saved my life, but I have +lain sick in England till now, when her letter to my mother brought +me to La Sablerie, to find--to find THIS. Oh, sir, have pity on +me! Tell me if you know anything of her, or if you can give me her +child.' + +'The orphans I was able to save are--the boys at nurse here, the +girls with the good nuns at Lucon,' said the priest, with infinite +pity in his look. 'Should you know it, sir?' + +'I would--I should,' said Berenger. 'But it is a girl. Ah, would +that it were here! But you--you, sir--you know more than these +fellows. Is there no--no hope of herself?' + +'Alas! I fear I can give you none,' said the priest; 'but I will +tell all I know; only I would fain see you eat, rest, and be +dried.' + +'How can I?' gasped he, allowing himself, however, to sink into a +chair; and the priest spoke: + +'Perhaps you know, sir, that the poor lady fled from her friends, +and threw herself upon the Huguenots. All trace had been lost, +when, at a banquet given by the mayor of Lucon, there appeared some +_patisseries_, which some ecclesiastic, who had enjoyed the +hospitality of Bellaise, recognized as peculiar to the convent +there, where she had been brought up. They were presented to the +mayor by his friend, Bailli la Grasse, who had boasted of the +excellent _confitures_ of the heretic pastor's daughter that lodged +in the town of La Sablerie. The place was in disgrace for having +afforded shelter and supplies to Montgomery's pirate crews, and +there were narrations of outrages committed on Catholics. The army +were enraged by their failure before La Rochelle; in effect, it was +resolved to make an example, when, on M. de Nid de Merle's summons, +all knowledge of the lady was denied. Is it possible that she was +indeed not there?' + +Berenger shook his head. 'She was indeed there,' he said, with an +irrepressible groan. 'Was there no mercy--none?' + +'Ask not, sir,' said the compassionate priest; 'the flesh shrinks, +though there may be righteous justice. A pillaged town, when men +are enraged, is like a place of devils unchained. I reached it +only after it had been taken by assault, when all was flame and +blood. Ask me no more; it would be worse for you to hear than me +to tell,' he concluded, shuddering, but laying his hand kindly on +Berenger's arm. 'At least it is ended now and God is more merciful +than men. Many died by the bombs cast into to city, and she for +whom you ask certainly fell not alive into the hands of those who +sought her. Take comfort, sir; there is One who watches and takes +count of our griefs. Sir, turning to Philip, 'this gentleman is +too much spent with sorrow to bear this cold and damp. Aid me, I +entreat, to persuade him to lie down.' + +Philip understood the priest's French far better than that of the +peasants, and added persuasions that Berenger was far too much +exhausted and stunned to resist. To spend a night in a Popish +priest's house would once have seemed to Philip a shocking +alternative, yet here he was, heartily assisting in removing the +wet garments in which his brother had sat only too long, and was +heartily relieved to lay him down in the priest's own bed, even +though there was an image over the head, which, indeed, the boy +never saw. He only saw his brother turn away from the light with a +low, heavy moan, as if he would fain be left alone with his sorrow +and his crushed hopes. + +Nothing could be kinder than Dome Colombeau, the priest of Nissard. +He saw to the whole of his guests being put into some sort of dry +habiliments before they sat round his table to eat of the savoury +mess in the great _pot-au-feu_, which had, since their arrival, +received additional ingredients, and moreover sundry villagers had +crept into the house. Whenever the good Father supped at home, any +of his flock were welcome to drop in to enjoy his hospitability. +After a cup of hot cider round, they carried off the fisherman to +ledge in one of their cottages. Shake-downs were found for the +others, and Philip, wondering what was to become of the good host +himself, gathered that he meant to spend such part of the night on +the kitchen floor as he did not pass in prayer in the church for +the poor young gentleman, who was in such affliction. Philip was +not certain whether to resent this as an impertinence or an attack +on their Protestant principles; but he was not sure, either, that +the priest was aware what was their religion, and was still less +certain of his own comprehension of these pious intentions: he +decided that, any way, it was better not to make a fool of himself. +Still, the notion of the mischievousness of priests was so rooted +in his head, that he consulted Humfrey on the expedience of keeping +watch all night, but was sagaciously answered that 'these French +rogues don't do any hurt unless they be brought up to it, and the +place was as safe as old Hurst.' + +In fact, Philip's vigilance would have been strongly against +nature. He never awoke till full daylight and morning sun were +streaming through the vine-leaves round the window, and then, to +his dismay, he saw that Berenger had left his bed, and was gone. +Suspicions of foul play coming over him in full force as he gazed +round on much that he considered as 'Popish furniture,' he threw on +his clothes, and hastened to open the door, when, to his great +relief, he saw Berenger hastily writing at a table under the +window, and Smithers standing by waiting for the billet. + +'I am sending Smithers on board, to ask Hobbs to bring our cloak +bags,' said Berenger, as his brother entered. 'We must go on to +Lucon.' + +He spoke briefly and decidedly, and Philip was satisfied to see him +quite calm and collected--white indeed, and with the old haggard +look, and the great scar very purple instead of red, which was +always a bad sign with him. He was not disposed to answer +questions; he shortly said, 'He had slept not less than usual,' +which Philip knew meant very little; and he had evidently made up +his mind, and was resolved not to let himself give way. If his +beacon of hope had been so suddenly, frightfully quenched, he still +was kept from utter darkness by straining his eyes and forcing his +steps to follow the tiny, flickering spark that remained. + +The priest was at his morning mass; and so soon as Berenger had +given his note to Smithers, and sent him off with a fisherman to +the THROSTLE, he took up his hat, and went out upon the beach, that +lay glistening in the morning sun, then turned straight towards the +tall spire of the church, with had been their last night's guide. +Philip caught his cloak. + +'You are never going there, Berenger?' + +'Vex me not now,' was all the reply he got. 'There the dead and +living meet together.' + +'But, brother, they will take you for one of their own sort.' + +'Let them.' + +Philip was right that it was neither a prudent nor consistent +proceeding, but Berenger had little power of reflection, and his +impulse at present bore him into the church belonging to his native +faith and land, without any defined felling, save that it was peace +to kneel there among the scattered worshippers, who came and went +with their fish-baskets in their hands, and to hear the low chant +of the priest and his assistant from within the screen. + +Philip meantime marched up and down outside in much annoyance, +until the priest and his brother came out, when the first thing he +heard the good Colombeau say was, 'I would have called upon you +before, my son, but that I feared you were a Huguenot.' + +'I am an English Protestant,' said Berenger; 'but, ah! sir, I +needed comfort too much to stay away from prayer.' + +Pere Colombeau looked at him in perplexity, thinking perhaps that +here might be a promising convert, if there were only time to work +on him; but Berenger quitted the subject at once, asking the +distance to Lucon. + +'A full day's journey,' answered Pere Colombeau, and added, 'I am +sorry you are indeed a Huguenot. It was what I feared last night, +but I feared to add to your grief. The nuns are not permitted to +deliver up children to Huguenot relations.' + +'I am her father!' exclaimed Berenger, indignantly. + +'That goes for nothing, according to the rules of the Church,' said +the priest. 'The Church cannot yield her children to heresy.' + +'But we in England and not Calvinists,' cried Berenger. 'We are +not like your Huguenots.' + +'The Church would make no difference,' said the priest. 'Stay, +sir,' as Berenger stuck his own forehead, and was about to utter a +fierce invective. 'Remember that if your child lives, it is owing +to the pity of the good nuns. You seem not far from the bosom of +the Church. Did you but return---' + +'It is vain to speak of that,' said Berenger, quickly. 'Say, sir, +would an order from the King avail to open these doors?' + +'Of course it would, if you have the influence to obtain one.' + +'I have, I have,' cried Berenger, eagerly. 'The King has been my +good friend already. Moreover, my English grandfather will deal +with the Queen. The heiress of our house cannot be left in a +foreign nunnery. Say, sir,' he added, turning to the priest, 'if I +went to Lucon at once know your name, and refuse all dealings with +you.' + +'She could not do so, if I brought an order from the King.' + +'Certainly not.' + +'Then to Paris!' And laying his hand on Philip's shoulder, he +asked the boy whether he had understood, ad explained that he must +go at once to Paris--riding post--and obtain the order from the +King. + +'To Paris--to be murdered again!' said Philip, in dismay. + +'They do not spend their time there in murder,' said Berenger. +'And now is the time, while the savage villain Narcisse is with his +master in Poland. I cannot but go, Philip; we both waste words. +You shall take home a letter to my Lord.' + +'I--I go not home without you,' said Philip, doggedly. + +'I cannot take you, Phil; I have no warrant.' + +'I have warrant for going, though. My father said he was easier +about you with me at your side. Where you go, I go.' + +The brothers understood each other's ways so well, that Berenger +knew the intonation in Philip's voice that meant that nothing +should make him give way. He persuaded no more, only took measures +for the journey, in which the kind priest gave him friendly advice. +There was no doubt that the good man pitied him sincerely, and +wished him success more than perhaps he strictly ought to have +done, unless as a possible convert. Of money for the journey there +was no lack, for Berenger had brought a considerable sum, intending +to reward all who had befriended Eustacie, as well as to fit her +out for the voyage; and this, perhaps, with his papers, he had +brought ashore to facilitate his entrance into La Sablerie,--that +entrance which, alas! he had found only too easy. He had therefore +only to obtain horses and a guide, and this could be done at la +Motte-Achard, where the party could easily be guided on foot, or +conveyed in a boat if the fog should not set in again, but all the +coast-line of Nissard was dangerous in autumn and winter; nay, even +this very August an old man, with his daughter, her infant, and a +donkey, had been found bewildered between the creeks on a sandbank, +where they stood still and patient, like a picture of the Flight +into Egypt, when an old fisherman found them, and brought them to +the beneficent shelter of the Presbytere. + +Stories of this kind were told at the meal that was something +partaking of the nature of both breakfast and early dinner, but +where Berenger ate little and spoke less. Philip watched him +anxiously; the boy thought the journey a perilous experiment every +way, but, boyishly, was resolved neither to own his fears of it nor +to leave his brother. External perils he was quite ready to face, +and he fancied that his English birth would give him some power of +protecting Berenger, but he was more reasonably in dread of the +present shock bringing on such an illness as the last relapse; and +if Berenger lost his senses again, what should they do? He even +ventured to hint at this danger, but Berenger answered, 'That will +scarce happen again. My head is stronger now. Besides, it was +doing nothing, and hearing her truth profaned, that crazed me. No +one at least will do that again. But if you wish to drive me +frantic again, the way would be to let Hobbs carry me home without +seeking her child.' + +Philip bore this in mind, when, with flood-tide, Master Hobbs +landed, and showed himself utterly dismayed at the turn affairs had +taken. He saw the needlessness of going to Lucon without royal +authority; indeed, he thought it possible that the very application +there might give the alarm, and cause all tokens of the child's +identity to be destroyed, in order to save her from her heretic +relations. But he did not at all approve of the young gentlemen +going off to Paris at once. It was against his orders. He felt +bound to take them home as he has brought them, and they might then +make a fresh start if it so pleased them; but how could he return +to my Lord and Sir Duke without them? 'Mr. Ribaumont might be +right--it was not for him to say a father ought not to look after +his child--yet he was but a stripling himself, and my Lord had +said, 'Master Hobbs, I trust him to you.'' He would clearly have +liked to have called in a boat's crew, mastered the young +gentlemen, and carried them on board as captives; but as this was +out of his power, he was obliged to yield the point. He +disconsolately accepted the letters in which Berenger had explained +all, and in which he promised to go at once to Sir Francis +Walsingham's at Paris, to run into no needless danger, and to watch +carefully over Philip; and craved pardon, in a respectful but yet +manly and determined tone, for placing his duty to his lost, +deserted child above his submission to his grandfather. Then +engaging to look out for a signal on the coast if he should said to +Bordeaux in January, to touch and take the passengers off, Captain +Hobbs took leave, and the brothers were left to their own +resources. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. THE VELVET COACH + + + +No, my good Lord, Diana-- + ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL + + +A late autumn journey from the west coast to Paris was a more +serious undertaking in the sixteenth century than the good seaman +Master Hobbs was aware of, or he would have used stronger +dissuasive measures against such an undertaking by the two youths, +when the elder was in so frail a state of health; but there had +been a certain deceptive strength and vigour about young Ribaumont +while under strong excitement and determination, and the whole +party fancied him far fitter to meet the hardships than was really +the case. Philip Thistlewood always recollected that journey as +the most distressing period of his life. + +They were out of the ordinary highways, and therefore found the +hiring of horses often extremely difficult. They had intended to +purchase, but found no animals that, as Philip said, they would +have accepted as a gift, though at every wretched inn where they +had to wait while the country was scoured for the miserable jades, +their proposed requirements fell lower and lower. Dens of smoke, +dirt, and boorishness were the great proportion of those inns, +where they were compelled to take refuge by the breaking down of +one or other of the beasts, or by stress of weather. Snow, rain, +thaw and frost alternated, each variety rendering the roads +impassable; and at the best, the beasts could seldom be urged +beyond a walk, fetlock-deep in mire or water. Worse than all, +Berenger, far from recovered, and under the heavy oppression of a +heartrending grief, could hardly fail to lose the ground that he +had gained under the influence of hope. The cold seemed to fix +itself on the wound on his cheek, terrible pain and swelling set +in, depriving him entirely of sleep, permitting him to take no +nourishment but fragments of soft crumbs soaked in wine or broth-- +when the inns afforded any such fare--and rendering speech +excessively painful, and at last unintelligible. + +Happily this was not until Philip and Humfrey both had picked up +all the most indispensable words to serve their needs, and storming +could be done in any language. Besides, they had fallen in at La +Motte-Achard with a sharp fellow named Guibert, who had been at +sea, and knew a little English, was a Norman by birth, knew who the +Baron de Ribaumont was, and was able to make himself generally +useful, though ill supplying the place of poor Osbert, who would +have been invaluable in the present predicament. Nothing was so +much dreaded by any of the party as that their chief should become +utterly unable to proceed. Once let him be laid up at one of these +little _auberges_, and Philip felt as if all would be over with +him; and he himself was always the most restlessly eager to push +on, and seemed to suffer less even in the biting wind and sleet +than on the dirty pallets or in the smoky, noisy kitchens of the +inns. That there was no wavering of consciousness was the only +comfort, and Philip trusted to prevent this by bleeding him +whenever his head seemed aching or heated; and under this well- +meant surgery it was no wonder that he grew weaker every day, in +spite of the most affectionate and assiduous watching on his +brother's part. + +Nearly six weeks had been spent in struggling along the cross- +roads, or rather in endless delays; and when at last they came on +more frequented ways, with better inns, well-paved _chaussees_, and +horses more fit for use, Berenger was almost beyond feeling the +improvement. At their last halt, even Philip was for waiting and +sending on to Paris to inform Sir Francis Walsingham of their +situation; but Berenger only shook his head, dressed himself, and +imperatively signed to go on. It was a bright morning, with a +clear frost, and the towers and steeples of Paris presently began +to appear above the poplars that bordered the way; but by this time +Berenger was reeling in his saddle, and he presently became so +faint and dizzy, that Philip and Humfrey were obliged to lift him +from his horse, and lay him under an elm-tree that stood a little +back from the road. + +'Look up, sir, it is but a league further,' quoth Humfrey; 'I can +see the roof of the big church they call Notre-Dame.' + +'He does not open his eyes, he is swooning,' said Philip. 'He must +have some cordial, ere he can sit his horse. Can you think of no +lace where we could get a drop of wine or strong waters?' + +'Not I, Master Philip. We passed a convent wall but now, but 'twas +a nunnery, as good as a grave against poor travelers. I would ride +on, and get some of Sir Francis's folk to bring a litter or coach, +but I doubt me if I could get past the barrier without my young +Lord's safe-conduct.' + +Berenger, hearing all, here made an effort to raise himself, but +sank back against Philip's shoulder. Just then, a trampling and +lumbering became audible, and on the road behind appeared first +three horsemen riding abreast, streaming with black and white +ribbons; then eight pair of black horses, a man walking at the +crested heads of each couple, and behind these a coach, shaped like +an urn reversed, and with a coronet on the top, silvered, while the +vehicle itself was, melon-like, fluted, alternately black, with +silver figures, and white with black landscapes; and with white +draperies, embroidered with black and silver, floating from the +windows. Four lacqueys, in the same magpie-colouring, stood +behind, and outriders followed; but as the cavalcade approached the +group by the road-side, one of the horsemen paused, saying lightly, +'Over near the walls from an affair of honour! Has he caught it +badly? Who was the other?' + +Ere Guibert could answer, the curtains were thrust aside, the coach +stopped, a lady's head and hand appeared, and a female voice +exclaimed, in much alarm, 'Halt! Ho, you there, in our colours, +come here. What is it? My brother here? Is he wounded?' + +'It is no wound, Madame,' said Guibert, shoved forward by his +English comrades, 'it is M.le Baron de Ribaumont who is taken ill, +and--ah! here is Monsieur Philippe.' + +For Philip, seeing a thick black veil put back from the face of the +most beautiful lady who had ever appeared to him, stepped forward, +hat in hand, as she exclaimed, 'Le Baron de Ribaumont! Can it be +true? What means this? What ails him?' + +'It is his wound, Madame,' said Philip, in his best French; 'it has +broken out again, and he has almost dropped from his horse from +_defaillance_.' + +'Ah, bring him here--lay him on the cushions, we will have the +honour of transporting him,' cried the lady; and, regardless of the +wet road, she sprang out of the coach, with her essences in her +hand, followed by at least three women, two pages, and two little +white dogs which ran barking towards the prostrate figure, but were +caught up by their pages. 'Ah, cousin, how dreadful,' she cried, +as she knelt down beside him, and held her essences towards him. +Voice and scent revived him, and with a bewildered look and gesture +half of thanks, half of refusal, he gazed round him, then rose to +his feet without assistance, bent his head, and making a sign that +he was unable to speak, turned towards his horse. + +'Cousin, cousin,' exclaimed the lady, in whose fine black eyes +tears were standing, 'you will let me take you into the city--you +cannot refuse.' + +'Berry, indeed you cannot ride,' entreated Philip; 'you must take +her offer. Are you getting crazed at last?' + +Berenger hesitated for a moment, but he felt himself again dizzy; +the exertion of springing into his saddle was quite beyond him, and +bending his head he submitted passively to be helped into the black +and white coach. Humfrey, however, clutched Philip's arm, and said +impressively, 'Have a care, sir; this is no other than the fine +lady, sister to the murderous villain that set upon him. If you +would save his life, don't quit him, nor let her take him elsewhere +than to our Ambassador's. I'll not leave the coach-door, and as +soon as we are past the barriers, I'll send Jack Smithers to make +known we are coming.' + +Philip, without further ceremony, followed the lady into the coach, +where he found her insisting that Berenger, who had sunk back in a +corner, should lay his length of limb, muddy boots and all, upon +the white velvet cushions richly worked in black and silver, with +devices and mottoes, in which the crescent moon, and eclipsed or +setting suns, made a great figure. The original inmates seemed to +have disposed of themselves in various nooks of the ample +conveyance, and Philip, rather at a loss to explain his intrusion, +perched himself awkwardly on the edge of the cushions in front of +his brother, thinking that Humfrey was an officious, suspicious +fellow, to distrust this lovely lady, who seemed so exceedingly +shocked and grieved at Berenger's condition. 'Ah! I never guessed +it had been so frightful as this. I should not have known him. +Ah! had I imagined---' She leant back, covered her face, and wept, +as one overpowered; then, after a few seconds, she bent forward, +and would have taken the hand that hung listlessly down, but it was +at once withdrawn, and folded with the other on his breast. + +'Can you be more at ease? Do you suffer much?' she asked, with +sympathy and tenderness that went to Philip's heart, and he +explained. 'He cannot speak, Madame; the shot in his cheek' (the +lady shuddered, and put her handkerchief to her eyes) 'from time to +time cases this horrible swelling and torture. After that he will +be better.' + +'Frightful, frightful,' she sighed, 'but we will do our best to +make up. You, sir, must be his _trucheman_.' + +Philip, not catching the last word, and wondering what kind of man +that might be, made answer, 'I am his brother, Madame.' + +'_Eh! Monsieur son frere_. Had _Madame sa mere_ a son so old?' + +'I am Philip Thistlewood, her husband's son, at your service, +Madame,' said Philip, colouring up to the ears; 'I came with him +for he is too weak to be alone.' + +'Great confidence must be reposed in you, sir,' she said, with a +not unflattering surprise. 'But whence are you come? I little +looked to see Monsieur here.' + +'We came from Anjou, Madame. We went to La Sablerie,' and he broke +off. + +'I understand. Ah! let us say no more! It rends the heart;' and +again she wiped away tear. 'And now---' + +'We are coming to the Ambassador's to obtain'--he stopped, for +Berenger gave him a touch of peremptory warning, but the lady saved +his embarrassment by exclaiming that she could not let her dear +cousin go to the Ambassador's when he was among his own kindred. +Perhaps Monsieur did not know her; she must present herself as +Madame de Selinville, _nee_ de Ribaumont, a poor cousin of _ce cher +Baron_, 'and even a little to you, _M. le frere_, if you will own +me,' and she held out a hand, which he ought to have kissed, but +not knowing how, he only shook it. She further explained that her +brother was at Cracow with Monsieur, now King of Poland, but that +her father lived with her at her hotel, and would be enchanted to +see his dear cousin, only that he, like herself, would be desolated +at the effects of that most miserable of errors. She had been +returning from her Advent retreat at a convent, where she had been +praying for the soul of the late M. de Selinville, when a true +Providence had made her remark the colours of her family. And now, +nothing would serve her, but that this dear Baron should be carried +at once to their hotel, which was much nearer than that of the +Ambassador, and where every comfort should await him. She clasped +her hands in earnest entreaty, and Philip, greatly touched by her +kindness and perceiving that every jolt of the splendid by +springless vehicle caused Berenger's head a shoot of anguish, was +almost acceding to her offer, when he was checked by one of the +most imperative of those silent negatives. Hitherto, Master +Thistlewood had been rather proud of his bad French, and as long as +he could be understood, considered trampling on genders, tenses, +and moods as a manful assertion of Englishry, but he would just now +have given a great deal for the command of any language but a +horseboy's, to use to this beautiful gracious personage. '_Merci, +Madame, nous ne fallons pas, nous avons passe notre parole d'aller +droit a l'Ambassadeur's et pas ou else_,' did not sound very right +to his ears ; he coloured up to the roots of his hair, and knew +that if Berry had had a smile left in him, poor fellow, he would +have smiled now. But this most charming and polite of ladies never +betrayed it, if it were ever such bad French; she only bowed her +head, and said something very pretty--if only he could make it out +--of being the slave of one's word, and went on persuading. Nor +did it make the conversation easier, that she inquired after +Berenger, and mourned over his injuries as if he were unconscious, +while Philip knew, nay, was reminded every instant, that he was +aware of all that was passing, most anxious that as little as +possible should be said, and determined against being taken to her +hotel. So unreasonable a prejudice did this seem to Philip, that +had it not been for Humfrey's words, he would have doubted whether, +in spite of all his bleeding, his brother's brain were not +wandering. + +However, what with Humfrey without, and Berenger within, the turn +to the Ambassador's hotel was duly taken, and in process of time a +hearty greeting passed between Humfrey and the porter; and by the +time the carriage drew up, half the household were assembled on the +steps, including Sir Francis himself, who had already heard more +than a fortnight back from Lord Walwyn, and had become uneasy at +the non-arrival of his two young guests. On Smithers's appearance, +all had been made ready; and as Berenger, with feeble, tardy +movements, made courteous gestures of thanks to the lady, and +alighted form the coach, he was absolutely received into the +dignified arms of the Ambassador. 'Welcome, my poor lad, I am glad +to see you here again, though in such different guise. Your +chamber is ready for you, and I have sent my secretary to see if +Maitre Par be at home, so we will, with God's help, have you better +at ease anon.' + +Even Philip's fascination by Madame de Selinville could not hold +out against the comfort of hearing English voices all round him, +and of seeing his brother's anxious brow expand, and his hand and +eyes return no constrained thanks. Civilities were exchanged on +both sides; the Ambassador thanked the lady for the assistance she +had rendered to his young friend and guest; she answered with a +shade of stiffness, that she left her kinsman in good hands, and +said she should send to inquire that evening, and her father would +call on the morrow; then, as Lady Walsingham did not ask her in, +the black and white coach drove away. + +The lady threw herself back in one corner, covered her face, and +spoke no word. Her coach pursued its way through the streets, and +turned at length into another great courtyard, surrounded with +buildings, where she alighted, and stepped across a wide but dirty +hall, where ranks of servants stoop up and bowed as she passed; +then she ascended a wide carved staircase, opened a small private +door, and entered a tiny wainscoted room hardly large enough for +her farthingale to turn round in. 'You, Veronique, come in--only +you,' she said, at the door; and a waiting-woman, who had been in +the carriage, obeyed, no longer clad in the Angevin costume, but in +the richer and less characteristic dress of the ordinary Parisian +_femme de chambre_. + +'Undo my mantle in haste!' gasped Madame de Selinville. 'O +Veronique--you saw--what destruction!' + +'Ah! if my sweet young lady only known how frightful he had become, +she had never sacrificed herself,' sighed Veronique. + +'Frightful! What, with the grave blue eyes that seem like the +steady avenging judgment of St. Michael in his triumph in the +picture at the Louvre?' murmured Madame de Selinville; then she +added quickly, 'Yes, yes, it is well. She and you, Veronique, may +see him frightful and welcome. There are other eyes--make haste, +girl. There--another handerchief. Follow me not.' + +And Madame de Selinville moved out of the room, past the great +state bedroom and the _salle_ beyond, to another chamber where more +servants waited and rose at her entrance. + +'Is any one with my father?' + +'No, Madame;' and a page knocking, opened the door and announced, +'Madame la Comtesse.' + +The Chevalier, in easy _deshabille_, with a flask of good wine, +iced water, and delicate cakes and _confitures_ before him, a witty +and licentious epigrammatic poem close under his hand, sat lazily +enjoying the luxuries that it had been his daughter's satisfaction +to procure for him ever since her marriage. He sprang up to meet +her with a grace and deference that showed how different a person +was the Comtesse de Selinville from Diane de Ribaumont. + +'Ah! _ma belle_, my sweet,' as there was a mutual kissing of hands, +'thou art returned. Had I known thine hour, I had gone down for +thy first embrace. But thou lookest fair, my child; the convent +has made thee lovelier than ever.' + +'Father, who think you is here? It is he--the Baron.' + +'The Baron? Eh, father!' she cried impetuously. 'Who could it be +but one?' + +'My child, you are mistaken! That young hot-head can never be +thrusting himself here again.' + +'But he is, father; I brought him into Paris in my coach! I left +him at the Ambassador's.' + +'Thou shouldest have brought him here. There will be ten thousand +fresh imbroglios.' + +'I could not; he is as immovable as ever, though unable to speak! +Oh, father, he is very ill, he suffers terribly. Oh, Narcisse! +Ah! may I never see him again!' + +'But what brings him blundering her again?' exclaimed the +Chevalier. 'Speak intelligibly, child! I thought we had guarded +against that! He knows nothing of the survivance.' + +'I cannot tell much. He could not open his mouth, and his half- +brother, a big dull English boy, stammered out a few words of +shocking French against his will. But I believe they had heard of +_la pauvre petite_ at La Sablerie, came over for her, and finding +the ruin my brother makes wherever he goes, are returning seeking +intelligence and succour for HIM.' + +'That may be,' said the Chevalier, thoughtfully. 'It is well thy +brother is in Poland. I would not see him suffer any more; and we +may get him back to England ere my son learns that he is here.' + +'Father, there is a better way! Give him my hand.' + +'_Eh quoi_, child; if thou art tired of devotion, there are a +thousand better marriages.' + +'No, father, none so good for this family. See, I bring him all-- +all that I was sold for. As the price of that, he resigns for ever +all his claims to the ancestral castle--to La Leurre, and above +all, that claim to Nid de Merle as Eustacie's widower, which, +should he ever discover the original contract, will lead to endless +warfare.' + +'His marriage with Eustacie was annulled. Yet--yet there might be +doubts. There was the protest; and who knows whether they formally +renewed their vows when so much went wrong at Montpipeau. Child, +it is a horrible perplexity. I often could wish we had had no +warning, and the poor things had made off together. We could have +cried shame till we forced out a provision for thy brother; and my +poor little Eustacie---' He had tears in his eyes as he broke off. + +Diane made an impatient gesture. 'She would have died of tedium in +England, or broken forth so as to have a true scandal. That is all +over, father, now; weigh my proposal! Nothing else will save my +brother from all that his cruel hand merits! You will win infinite +credit at court. The King loved him more than you thought safe.' + +'The King has not a year to live, child, and he has personally +offended the King of Poland. Besides, this youth is heretic.' + +'Only by education. Have I not heard you say that he had by an +abjuration. And as to Monsieur's enmity, if it be not forgotten, +the glory of bringing about a conversion would end that at once.' + +'Then, daughter, thou shouldst not have let him bury himself among +the English.' + +'It was unavoidable, father, and perhaps if he were here he would +live in an untamable state of distrust, whereas we may now win him +gradually. You will go and see him to-morrow, my dear father.' + +'I must have time to think of this thy sudden device.' + +'Nay, he is in no condition to hear of it at present. I did but +speak now, that you might not regard it as sudden when the fit +moment comes. It is the fixed purpose of my mind. I am no girl +now, and I could act for myself if I would; but as it is for your +interest and that of my brother thus to dispose of me, it is better +that you should act for me.' + +'Child, headstrong child, thou wilt make no scandal,' said the +Chevalier, looking up at his daughter's handsome head drawn up +proudly with determination. + +'Certainly not, sir, if you will act for me.' And Diane sailed +away in her sweeping folds of black brocade. + +In a few moments more she was kneeling with hands locked together +before a much-gilded little waxem figure of St. Eustacie with his +cross-bearing stag by his side, which stood in a curtained recess +in the alcove where her stately bed was placed. + +'Monseigneur St. Eustache, ten wax candles everyday to your shrine +at Bellaise, so he recovers; ten more if he listen favourably and +loves me. Nay, all--all the Selinville jewels to make you a +shrine. All--all, so he will only let me love him;' and then, +while taking up the beads, and pronouncing the repeated devotions +attached to each, her mind darted back to the day when, as young +children, she had played unfairly, defrauded Landry Osbert, and +denied it; how Berenger, though himself uninjured, had refused to +speak to her all that day--how she had hated him then--how she had +thought she had hated him throughout their brief intercourse in the +previous year; how she had played into her brother's hands; and +when she thought to triumph over the man who had scorned her, found +her soul all blank desolation, and light gone out from the earth! +Reckless and weary, she had let herself be united to M. de +Selinville, and in her bridal honours and amusements had tried to +crowd out the sense of dreariness and lose herself in excitement. +Then came the illness and death of her husband, and almost at the +same time the knowledge of Berenger's existence. She sought +excitement again that feverish form of devotion then in vogue at +Paris, and which resulted in the League. She had hitherto stunned +herself as it were with penances, processions, and sermons, for +which the host of religious orders then at Paris had given ample +scope; and she was constantly devising new extravagances. Even at +this moment she wore sackcloth beneath her brocade, and her rosary +was of death's heads. She was living on the outward husk of the +Roman Church not penetrating into its living power, and the phase +of religion which fostered Henry III. and the League offered her no +more. + +All, all had melted away beneath the sad but steadfast glance of +those two eyes, the only feature still unchanged in the marred, +wrecked countenance. That honest, quiet refusal, that look which +came from a higher atmosphere, had filled her heart with passionate +beatings and aspirations once more, and more consciously than ever. +Womanly feeling for suffering, and a deep longing to compensate to +him, and earn his love, nay wrest it from him by the benefits she +would heap upon him, were all at work; but the primary sense was +the longing to rest on the only perfect truth she had ever known in +man, and thus with passionate ardour she poured forth her +entreaties to St. Eustache, a married saint, who had known love, +and could feel for her, and could surely not object to the +affection to which she completely gave way for one whose hand was +now as free as her own. + +But St. Eustache was not Diane's only hope. That evening she sent +Veronique to Rene of Milan, the court-perfumer, but also called by +the malicious, _l'empoisonneur de le Reine_, to obtain from him the +most infallible charm and love potion in his whole repertory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. THE CHEVALIER'S EXPIATION + + + + Next, Sirs, did he marry? +And whom, Sirs, did he marry? One like himself, +Though doubtless graced with many virtues, young, +And erring, and in nothing more astray +Than in this marriage.--TAYLOR, EDWIN THE FAIR. + + +Nothing could be kinder than the Ambassador's family, and Philip +found himself at once at home there, at least in his brother's +room, which was all the world to him. fortunately, Ambroise Pare, +the most skillful surgeon of his day, had stolen a day from his +attendance of King Charles, at St. Germain, to visit his Paris +patients, and, though unwilling to add to the list of cases, when +he heard from Walsingham's secretary who the suffer was, and when +injured, he came at once to afford his aid. + +He found, however, that there was little scope for present +treatment, he could only set his chief assistant to watch the +patient and to inform him when the crisis should be nearer; but +remarking the uneasy, anxious expression in Berenger's eyes, he +desired to know whether any care on his mind might be interfering +with his recovery. A Huguenot, and perfectly trustworthy, he was +one who Walsingham knew might safely hear the whole, and after +hearing all, he at once returned to his patient, and leaning over +him, said, 'Vex not yourself, sir; your illness is probably serving +you better than health could do.' + +Sir Francis thought this quite probable, since Charles was so +unwell and so beset with his mother's creatures that no open +audience could be obtained from him, and Pare, who always had +access to him, might act when no one else could reach him. +Meantime the Ambassador rejoiced to hear of the instinctive caution +that had made Berenger silence Philip on the object of the journey +to Paris, since if the hostile family guessed at the residence of +the poor infant, they would have full opportunity for obliterating +all the scanty traces of her. Poor persecuted little thing! the +uncertain hope of her existence seemed really the only thread that +still bound Berenger to life. He had spent eighteen months in hope +deferred, and constant bodily pain; and when the frightful +disappointment met him at La Sablerie, it was not wonder that his +heart and hope seemed buried in the black scorched ruins where all +he cared for had perished. He was scarcely nineteen, but the life +before him seemed full of nothing but one ghastly recollection, +and, as he said in the short sad little letter which he wrote to +his grandfather from his bed, he only desired to live long enough +to save Eustacie's child from being a nameless orphan maintained +for charity in a convent, and to see her safe in Aunt Cecily's +care; and then he should be content to have done with this world +for ever. + +The thought that no one except himself could save the child, seemed +to give him the resolution to battle for life that often bears the +patient through illness, though now he as suffering more severely +and consciously than ever he had done before; and Lady Walsingham +often gave up hopes of him. He was tenderly cared for by her and +her women; but Philip was the most constant nurse, and his +unfailing assiduity and readiness amazed the household, who had +begun by thinking him ungainly, loutish, and fit for nothing but +country sports. + +The Chevalier de Ribaumont came daily to inquire; and the first +time he was admitted actually burst into tears at the sight of the +swollen disfigured face, and the long mark on the arm which lay +half-uncovered. Presents of delicacies, ointments, and cooling +drinks were frequently sent from him and from the Countess de +Selinville; but Lady Walsingham distrusted these, and kept her +guest strictly to the regimen appointed by Pare. Now and then, +billets would likewise come. The first brought a vivid crimson +into Berenger's face, and both it and all its successors he +instantly tore into the smallest fragments, without letting any one +see them. + +On the day of the Carnival, the young men of the household had +asked Master Thistlewood to come out with them and see the +procession of the _Boeuf Gras_; but before it could take place, +reports were flying about that put the city in commotion, caused +the Ambassador to forbid all going out, and made Philip expect +another Huguenot massacre. The Duke of Alencon and the King of +Navarre had been detected, it was said, in a conspiracy for +overthrowing the power of the Queen-mother, bringing in the +Huguenots, and securing the crown to Alencon on the King's death. +Down-stairs, the Ambassador and his secretaries sat anxiously +striving to sift the various contradictory reports; up-stairs, +Philip and Lady Walsingham were anxiously watching Berenger in what +seemed the long-expected crisis, and Philip was feeling as if all +the French court were welcome to murder one another so that they +would only let Ambroise Pare come to his brother's relief. And it +was impossible even to send! + +At last, however, when Ash-Wednesday was half over, there was a +quiet movement, and a small pale man in black was at the bedside, +without Philip's having ever seen his entrance. He looked at his +exhausted patient, and said, 'It is well; I could not have done you +any good before.' + +And when he had set Berenger more at ease, he told how great had +been the confusion at St. Germain when the plot had become known to +the Queen-mother. The poor King had been wakened at two o'clock in +the morning, and carried to his litter, when Pare and his old nurse +had tended him. He only said, 'Can they not let me die in peace?' +and his weakness had been so great on arriving, that the surgeon +could hardly have left him for M. de Ribaumont, save by his own +desire. 'Yes, sir,' added Pare, seeing Berenger attending to him, +'we must have you well quickly; his Majesty knows all about you, +and is anxious to see you.' + +In spite of these good wishes, the recovery was very slow; for, as +the surgeon had suspected, the want of skill in those who had had +the charge of Berenger at the first had been the cause of much of +his protracted suffering. Pare, the inventor of trephining, was, +perhaps, the only man in Europe who could have dealt with the +fracture in the back of the head, and he likewise extracted the +remaining splinters of the jaw, though at the cost of much severe +handling and almost intolerable pain: but by Easter, Berenger found +the good surgeon's encouragement verified, and himself on the way +to a far more effectual cure than he had hitherto thought possible. +Sleep had come back to him, he experienced the luxury of being free +from all pain, he could eat without difficulty; and Pare, always an +enemy to wine, assured him that half the severe headaches for which +he had been almost bled to death, were the consequence of his +living on bread soaked in sack instead of solid food; and he was +forbidden henceforth to inflame his brain with anything stronger +than sherbet. His speech, too, was much improved; he still could +not utter all the consonants perfectly, and could not speak +distinctly without articulating very slowly, but all the discomfort +and pain were gone; and though still very weak, he told Philip that +now all his course seemed clear towards his child, instead of being +like a dull, distraught dream. His plan was to write to have a +vessel sent from Weymouth, to lie off the coast till his signal +should be seen from la Motte-Achard, and then to take in the whole +party and the little yearling daughter, whom he declared he should +trust to no one but himself. Lady Walsingham remonstrated a little +at the wonderful plans hatched by the two lads together, and yet +she was too glad to see a beginning of brightening on his face to +make many objections. It was only too sand to think how likely he +was again to be disappointed. + +He was dressed, but had not left his room, and was lying on +cushions in the ample window overlooking the garden, while Frances +and Elizabeth Walsingham in charge of their mother tried to amuse +him by their childish airs and sports, when a message was brought +that M. le Chevalier de Ribaumont prayed to be admitted to see him +privily. + +'What bodes that?' he languidly said. + +'Mischief, no doubt,' said Philip Walsingham. 'Send him word that +you are seriously employed.' + +'Nay, that could scarce be, when he must have heard the children's +voices,' said Lady Walsingham. 'Come away, little ones.' + +The ladies took the hint and vanished, but Philip remained till the +Chevalier had entered, more resplendent than ever, in a brown +velvet suit slashed with green satin, and sparkling with gold lace +-a contrast to the deep mourning habit in which Berenger was +dressed. After inquiries for his health, the Chevalier looked at +Philip, and expressed his desire of speaking with his cousin alone. + +'If it be of business,' said Berenger, much on his guard, 'my head +is still weak, and I would wish to have the presence of the +Ambassador or one of his secretaries.' + +'This is not so much a matte of business as of family,' said the +Chevalier, still looking so uneasily at Philip that Berenger felt +constrained to advise him to join the young ladies in the garden; +but instead of doing this, the boy paced the corridors like a +restless dog waiting for his master, and no sooner heard the old +gentleman bow himself out than he hurried back again, to find +Berenger heated, panting, agitated as by a sharp encounter. + +'Brother, what is it--what has the old rogue done to you?' + +'Nothing,' said Berenger, tardily and wearily; and for some minutes +he did not attempt to speak, while Philip devoured his curiosity as +best he might. At last he said, 'He was always beyond me. What +think you? Now he wants me to turn French courtier and marry his +daughter.' + +'His daughter!' exclaimed Philip, 'that beautiful lady I saw in the +coach?' + +A nod of assent. + +'I only wish it were I.' + +'Philip,' half angrily, 'how can you be such a fool?' + +'Of course, I know it can't be,' said Philip sheepishly, but a +little offended. 'But she's the fairest woman my eyes ever +beheld.' + +'And the falsest.' + +'My father says all women are false; only they can't help it, and +don't mean it.' + +'Only some do mean it,' said Berenger, dryly. + +'Brother!' cried Philip, fiercely, as if ready to break a lance, +'what right have you to accuse that kindly, lovely dame of +falsehood?' + +'It skills not going through all,' said Berenger, wearily. 'I know +her of old. She began by passing herself off on me as my wife.' + +'And you were not transported?' + +'I am not such a gull as you.' + +'How very beautiful your wife must have been!' said Philip, with +gruff amazement overpowering his consideration. + +'Much you know about it,' returned Berenger, turning his face away. + +There was a long silence, first broken by Philip, asking more +cautiously, 'And what did you say to him?' + +'I said whatever could show it was most impossible. Even I said +the brother's handwriting was too plain on my face for me to offer +myself to the sister. But it seems all that is to be passed over +as an unlucky mistake. I wish I could guess what the old fellow is +aiming at.' + +'I am sure the lady looked at you as if she loved you.' + +'Simpleton! She looked to see how she could beguile me. Love! +They do nothing for love here, you foolish boy, save _par amour_. +If she loved me, her father was the last person she would have sent +me. No, no; 'tis a new stratagem, if I could only seen my way into +it. Perhaps Sir Francis will when he can spend an hour on me.' + +Though full of occupation, Sir Francis never failed daily to look +in upon his convalescent guest, and when he heard of the +Chevalier's interview, he took care that Berenger should have full +time to consult him; and, of course, he inquired a good deal more +into the particulars of the proposal than Philip had done. When he +learnt that the Chevalier had offered all the very considerable +riches and lands that Diane enjoyed in right of her late husband as +an equivalent for Berenger's resignation of all claims upon the +Nid-de-Merle property, he noted it on his tables, and desired to +know what these claims might be. 'I cannot tell,' said Berenger. +'You may remember, sir, the parchments with our contract of +marriage had been taken away from Chateau Leurre, and I have never +seen them.' + +'Then,' said the Ambassador, 'you may hold it as certain that those +parchments give you some advantage which he hears, since he is +willing to purchase it at so heavy a price. Otherwise he himself +would be the natural heir of those lands.' + +'After my child,' said Berenger, hastily. + +'Were you on your guard against mentioning your trust in your +child's life?' said Sir Francis. + +The long scar turned deeper purple than ever. 'Only so far as that +I said there still be rights I had no power to resign,' said +Berenger. 'And then he began to prove to me---what I had no mind to +hear' (and his voice trembled) '---all that I know but too well.' + +'Hum! you must not be left alone again to cope with him,' said +Walsingham. 'Did he make any question of the validity of your +marriage?' + +'No, sir, it was never touched on. I would not let him take her +name into his lips.' + +Walsingham considered for some minutes, and then said, 'It is +clear, then, that he believes that the marriage can be sufficiently +established to enable you to disturb him in his possession of some +part, at least, of the Angevin inheritance, or he would not +endeavour to purchase your renunciation of it by the hand of a +daughter so richly endowed.' + +'I would willingly renounce it if that were all! I never sought +it; only I cannot give up her child's rights.' + +'And that you almost declared,' proceeded Walsingham; 'so that the +Chevalier has by his negotiation gathered from you that you have +not given up hope that the infant lives. Do your men know where +you believe she is?' + +'My Englishmen know it, of course,' said Berenger; 'but there is no +fear of them. The Chevalier speaks no English, and they scarcely +any French; and, besides, I believe they deem him equally my +butcher with his son. The other fellow I only picked up after I +was on my way to Paris, and I doubt his knowing my purpose.' + +'The Chevalier must have had speech with him, though,' said Philip; +'for it was he who brought word that the old rogue wished to speak +with you.' + +'It would be well to be quit yourself of the fellow ere leaving +Paris,' said Walsingham. + +'Then, sir,' said Berenger, with an anxious voice, 'do you indeed +think I have betrayed aught that can peril the poor little one?' + +Sir Francis smiled. 'We do not set lads of your age to cope with +old foxes,' he answered; 'and it seems to me that you used far +discretion in the encounter. The mere belief that the child lives +does not show him where she may be. In effect, it would seem +likely to most that the babe would be nursed in some cottage, and +thus not be in the city of La Sablerie at all. He might, mayhap, +thus be put on a false scent.' + +'Oh no,' exclaimed Berenger, startled; 'that might bring the death +of some other person's child on my soul.' + +'That shall be guarded against,' said Sir Francis. 'In the +meantime, my fair youth, keep your matters as silent as may be +---do not admit the Chevalier again in my absence; and, as to this +man Guibert, I will confer with my steward whether he knows too +much, and whether it be safer to keep of dismiss him!' + +'If only I could see the King, and leave Paris,' sighed Berenger. + +And Walsingham, though unwilling to grieve the poor youth further, +bethought himself that this was the most difficult and hopeless +matter of all. As young Ribaumont grew better, the King grew +worse; he himself only saw Charles on rare occasions, surrounded by +a host of watchful eyes and ears, and every time he marked the +progress of disease; and though such a hint could be given by an +Ambassador, he thought that by far the best chance of recovery of +the child lay in the confusion that might probably follow the death +of Charles IX. in the absence of his next heir. + +Berenger reckoned on the influence of Elisabeth of Austria, who had +been the real worker in his union with Eutacie; but he was told +that it was vain to expect assistance from her. In the first year +of her marriage, she had fondly hoped to enjoy her husband's +confidence, and take her natural place in his court; but she was of +no mould to struggle with Catherine de Medicis, and after a time +had totally desisted. Even at the time of the St. Bartholomew, she +had endeavoured to uplift her voice on the side of mercy, and had +actually saved the lives of the King of Navarre and Prince of +Conde; and her father, the good Maximilian II., had written in the +strongest terms to Charles IX. expressing his horror of the +massacre. Six weeks later, the first hour after the birth of her +first and only child, she had interceded with her husband for the +lives of two Huguenots who had been taken alive, and failing then +either through his want of will or want of power, she had collapsed +and yielded up the endeavour. She ceased to listen to petitions +from those who had hoped for her assistance, as if to save both +them and herself useless pain, and seemed to lapse into a sort of +apathy to all public interests. She hardly spoke, mechanically +fulfilled her few offices in the court, and seemed to have turned +her entire hope and trust into prayer for her husband. Her German +confessor had been sent home, and a Jesuit given her in his stead, +but she had made no resistance; she seemed to the outer world a +dull, weary stranger, obstinate in leading a conventual life; but +those who knew her best--and of these few was the Huguenot surgeon +Pare--knew that her heart had been broken two guilty lives, or to +make her husband free himself from his bondage to bloody counsels. +To pray for him was all that remained to her--and unwearied had +been those prayers. Since his health had declined, she had been +equally indefatigable in attending on him, and did not seem to have +a single interest beyond his sick chamber. + +As to the King of Navarre, for whose help Berenger had hoped, he +had been all these months in the dishonouable thraldom of Catherine +de Medicis, and was more powerless than ever at this juncture, +having been implicated in Alencon's plot, and imprisoned at +Vincennes. + +And thus, the more Berenger heard of the state of things, the less +hopeful did his cause appear, till he could almost have believed +his best chance lay in Philip's plan of persuading the Huguenots to +storm the convent. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. THE DYING KING + + + + Die in terror of thy guiltiness, +Dream on, dream on of bloody deeds and death, +Fainting, despair, despairing yield thy breath + KING RICHARD III. + + +A few days later, when Berenger had sent out Philip, under the +keeping of the secretaries, to see the Queen-mother represent +Royalty in one of the grand processions of Rogation-tide, the +gentle knock came to his door that always announced the arrival of +his good surgeon. + +'You look stronger, M. le Baron; have you yet left your room?' + +'I have walked round the gallery above the hall,' said Berenger. +'I have not gone down-stairs; that is for to-morrow.' + +'What would M. le Baron say if his chirurgeon took him not merely +down-stairs, but up on flight at the Louvre?' + +'Ha!' cried Berenger; 'to the King?' + +'It is well-nigh the last chance, Monsieur; the Queen-mother and +all her suite are occupied with services and sermons this week; and +next week private access to the King will be far more difficult. I +have waited as long as I could that you might gain strength to +support the fatigue.' + +'Hope cancels fatigue,' said Berenger, already at the other end of +the room searching for his long-disused cloak, sword, gloves, hat, +and mask. + +'Not the sword,' said Pare, 'so please you. M. le Baron must +condescend to obtain entrance as my assistant--the plain black +doublet--yes, that is admirable; but I did not know that Monsieur +was so tall,' he added, in some consternation, as, for the first +time, he saw his patient standing up at his full height--unusual +even in England, and more so in France. Indeed, Berenger had grown +during his year of illness, and being, of course, extremely thin, +looked all the taller, so as to be a very inconvenient subject to +smuggle into to palace unobserved. + +However, Ambroise had made up his mind to the risk, and merely +assisted Berenger in assuming his few equipments, then gave him his +arm to go down the stairs. Meeting Guibert on the way, Berenger +left word with him that he was going out to take the air with +Maitre Pare; and on the man's offering to attend him, refused the +proposal. + +Pare carriage waited in the court, and Berenger, seated in its +depths, rolled unseen through the streets, till he found himself at +the little postern of the Louvre, the very door whence he was to +have led off his poor Eustacie. Here Ambroise made him take off +his small black mask, in spite of all danger of his scars being +remarked, since masks were not etiquette in the palace, and, +putting into his arms a small brass-bound case of instruments, +asked his pardon for preceding him, and alighted from the carriage. + +This was Ambroise's usual entrance, and it was merely guarded by a +Scottish archer, who probably observed nothing. They then mounted +the stone stair, the same where Osbert had dragged down his +insensible master; and as, at the summit, the window appeared where +Berenger had waited those weary hours, and heard the first notes of +the bell of St.-Germain-l'Auxerrois, his breath came in such +hurried sobs, that Pare would fain have given him time to recover +himself, but he gasped, 'Not here--not here;' and Pare, seeing that +he could still move on, turned, not to the corridor leading to the +King's old apartments, now too full of dreadful associations for +poor Charles, but towards those of the young Queen. Avoiding the +ante-room, where no doubt waited pages, users, and attendants, Pare +presently knocked at a small door, so hidden in the wain-scoting of +the passage that only a _habitue_ could have found it without +strict search. It was at once opened, and the withered, motherly +face of an old woman, with keen black eyes under a formal tight +white cap, looked out. + +'Eh! Maitre Pare,' she said, 'you have brought the poor young +gentleman? On my faith, he looks scarcely able to walk! Come in, +sir, and rest a while in my chamber while Maitre Ambroise goes on +to announce you to the King. He is more at ease to-day, the poor +child, and will relish some fresh talk. + +Berenger knew this to be Philippe, the old Huguenot nurse, whom +Charles IX. loved most fondly, and in whom he found his greatest +comfort. He was very glad to sink into the seat she placed for +him, the only one is her small, bare room and recover breath there +while Pare passed on to the King, and she talked as one delighted +to have a hearer. + +'Ah, yes, rest yourself--stay; I will give you a few spoonfuls of +the cordial potage I have here for the King; it will comfort your +heart. Ah! you have been cruelly mauled--but he would have saved +you if he could. + +'Yes, good mother, I know that; the King has been my very good +lord. + +'Ah! blessings on you if you say so from your heart, Monsieur; you +know me for one of your poor Reformed. And I tell you--I who saw +him born, who nursed him from his birth--that, suffer as you may, +you can never suffer as he does. Maitre Ambroise may talk of his +illness coming from blowing too much on his horn; I know better. +But, ah! to be here at night would make a stone shed tears of +blood. The Queen and I know it; but we say nothing, we only pray. + +The sight of a Huguenot was so great a treat to the old woman in +her isolated life, that her tongue ran thus freely while Berenger +sat, scarce daring to speak or breathe in the strange boding +atmosphere of the palace, where the nurse and surgeon moved as +tolerated, privileged persons, in virtue of the necessity of the +one to the King--of the other to all the world. After all brief +interval Pare returned and beckoned to Berenger, who followed him +across a large state-bedroom to a much smaller one, which he +entered from under a heavy blue velvet curtain, and found himself +in an atmosphere heavy with warmth and perfume, and strangely +oppressed besides. On one side of the large fire sat the young +Queen, faded, wan, and with all animation or energy departed, only +gazing with a silent, wistful intentness at her husband. he was +opposite to her in a pillowed chair, his feet on a stool, with a +deadly white, padded, puffy cheek, and his great black eyes, always +prominent, now with a glassy look, and strained wide, as though +always gazing after some horrible sight. 'Madame la Comtesse +stood in her old, wooden, automaton fashion behind the Queen; +otherwise, no one was present save Pare, who, as he held up the +curtain, stood back to let M. de Ribaumont advance. He stood +still, however, merely bowing low, awaiting an invitation to come +forward, and trying to repress the startled tear called up by the +very shock of pity at the mournful aspect of the young King and +Queen. + +Elisabeth, absorbed in her husband, and indifferent to all besides, +did not even turn her head as he entered; but Charles signed to him +to approach, holding out a yellow, dropsical-looking hand; and as +he dropped on one knew and kissed it fervently, the King said, +'Here he is, Madame, the Baron de Ribaumont, the same whose little +pleasure-boat was sucked down in our whirlpool. + +All Elisabeth's memories seemed to have been blotted out in that +whirlpool, for she only bowed her head formally, and gave no look +of recognition, though she, too, allowed Berenger to salute her +listless, dejected hand. 'One would hardly have known him again, +continued the King, in a low husky voice; 'but I hope, sir, I see +you recovering. + +'Thanks, Sire, to Heaven's goodness, and to your goodness in +sparing to me the services of Maitre Pare. + +'Ah! there is none like Pare for curing a wound OUTSIDE,' said +Charles, then leant back silent; and Berenger, still kneeling, was +considering whether he ought to proffer his petition, when the King +continued, 'How fares your friend Sidney, M. le Baron? + +'Right well, Sire. The Queen has made him one of her gentlemen. + +'Not after this fashion,' said Charles, as with his finger he +traced the long scar on Berenger's face. 'Our sister of England +has different badges of merit from ours for her good subjects. Ha! +what say they of us in England, Baron? + +'I have lain sick at home, Sire, and have neither seen nor heard, +said Berenger. + +'Ah! one day more at Montpipeau had served your turn,' said the +King; 'but you are one who has floated up again. One--one at least +whose blood is not on my head. + +The Queen looked up uneasy and imploring, as Charles continued: +'Would that more of you would come in this way! They have scored +you deep, but know you what is gashed deeper still? Your King's +heart! Ah! you will not come, as Coligny does, from his gibbet, +with his two bleeding hands. My father was haunted to his dying +day by the face of one Huguenot tailor. Why, I see a score, night +by night! You are solid; let me feel you, man. + +'M. Pare,' exclaimed the poor Queen, 'take him away. + +'No, Madame,' said the King, holding tight in his hot grasp +Berenger's hand, which was as pale as his own, long, thin, and +wasted, but cold from strong emotion; 'take not away the only +welcome sight I have seen for well-nigh two years.' He coughed, +and the handkerchief he put to his lips had blood on it; but he did +not quit his hold of his visitor, and presently said in a feeble +whisper, 'Tell me, how did you escape? + +Pare, over the King's head, signed to him to make his narrative +take time; and indeed his speech was of necessity so slow, that by +the time he had related how Osbert had brought him safely to +England, the King had recovered himself so as to say, 'See what it +is to have a faithful servant. Which of those they have left me +would do as much for me? And now, being once away with your life, +what brings you back to this realm of ours, after your last +welcome? + +'I left my wife here, Sire. + +'Ha! and the cousin would have married her--obtained permission to +call himself Nid de Merle--but she slipped through his clumsy +fingers; did she not? Did you know anything of her, Madame? + +'No,' said the Queen, looking up. 'She wrote to me once from her +convent; but I knew I could do nothing for her but bring her +enemies' notice on her; so I made no answer. + +Berenger could hardly conceal his start of indignation--less at the +absolute omission, than at the weary indifference of the Queen's +confession. Perhaps the King saw it, for he added, 'So it is, +Ribaumont; the kindest service we can do our friends is to let them +alone; and, after all, it was not the worse for her. She did evade +her enemies? + +'Yes, Sire,' said Berenger, commanding and steadying his voice with +great difficulty, 'she escaped in time to give birth to our child +in the ruined loft of an old grange of the Templars, under the care +of a Huguenot farmer, and a pastor who had known my father. Then +she took refuge in La Sablerie, and wrote to my mother, deeming me +dead. I was just well enough to go in quest of her. I came--ah! +Sire, I found only charred ruins. Your Majesty knows how Huguenot +bourgs are dealt with. + +'And she---? + +Berenger answered but by a look. + +'Why did you come to tell me this?' said the King, passionately. +'Do you not know that they have killed me already? I thought you +came because there was still some one I could aid. + +'There is, there is, Sire,' said Berenger, for once interrupting +royalty. 'None save you can give me my child. It is almost +certain that a good priest saved it; but it is in a convent, and +only with a royal order can one of my religion either obtain it, or +even have my questions answered. + +'Nor with one in Paris,' said the King dryly; 'but in the country +the good mothers may still honour their King's hand. Here, +Ambroise, take pen and ink, and write the order. To whom? + +'To the Mother Prioress of the Ursulines at Lucon, so please our +Majesty,' said Berenger, 'to let me have possession of my +daughter. + +'Eh! is it only a little girl? + +'Yes, Sire; but my heart yearns for her all the more,' said +Berenger, with glistening eyes. + +'You are right,' said the poor King. 'Mine, too, is a little girl; +and I bless God daily that she is no son--to be the most wretched +thing the France. Let her come in, Madame. She is little older +than my friend's daughter. I would show her to him. + +The Queen signed to Madame la Comtesse to fetch the child, and +Berenger added, 'Sire, you could do a further benefit to my poor +little one. One more signature of yours would attest that +ratification of my marriage which took place in your Majesty's +presence. + +'Ah! I remember,' said Charles. 'You may have any name of mine +that can help you to oust that villain Narcisse; only wait to use +it--spare me any more storms. It will serve your turn as well when +I am beyond they, and you will make your claim good. What,' seeing +Berenger's interrogative look, 'do you not know that by the +marriage-contract the lands of each were settled on the survivor? + +'No, Sire; I have never seen the marriage-contract. + +'Your kinsman knew it well,' said Charles. + +Just then, Madame la Comtesse returned, leading the little Princess +by the long ribbons at her waist; Charles bent forward, calling, +'Here, _ma petite_, come here. Here is one who loves thy father. +Look well at him, that thou mayest know him. + +The little Madame Elisabeth so far understood, that, with a certain +lofty condescension, she extended her hand for the stranger to +kiss, and thus drew from the King the first smile that Berenger had +seen. She was more than half a year older than the Berangere on +whom his hopes were set, and whom he trusted to find not such a +pale, feeble, tottering little creature as this poor young daughter +of France, whose round black eyes gazed wonderingly at his scar; +but she was very precocious, and even already too much of a royal +lady to indulge in any awkward personal observation. + +By the time she had been rewarded for her good behaviour by one of +the dried plums in her father's comfit-box, the order had been +written by Pare, and Berenger had prepared the certificate for the +King's signature, according to the form given him by his +grandfather. + +'Your writing shakes nearly as much as mine,' said the poor King, +as he wrote his name to this latter. 'Now, Madame, you had better +sign it also; and tell this gentleman where to find Father Meinhard +in Austria. He was a little too true for us, do you see--would not +give thanks for shedding innocent blood. Ah!'--and with a gasp of +mournful longing, the King sank back, while Elisabeth, at his +bidding, added her name to the certificate, and murmured the name +of a convent in Vienna, where her late confessor could be found. + +'I cannot thank you Majesty enough,' said Berenger; 'My child's +rights are now secure in England at least, and this'--as he held +the other paper for the King--'will give her to me. + +'Ah! take it for what it is worth,' said the King, as he scrawled +his 'CHARLES' upon it. 'This order must be used promptly, or it +will avail you nothing. Write to Ambroise how you speed; that is, +if it will bring me one breath of good news.' And as Berenger +kissed his hand with tearful, inarticulate thanks, he proceeded, +'Save for that cause, I would ask you to come to me again. It does +me good. It is like a breath from Montpipeau--the last days of +hope--before the frenzy--the misery. + +'Whenever your Majesty does me the honour---' began Berenger, +forgetting all except the dying man. + +'I am not so senseless,' interrupted the King sharply; 'it would be +losing the only chance of undoing one wrong. Only, Ribaumont,' he +added fervently, 'for once let me hear that one man has pardoned +me. + +'Sire, Sire,' sobbed Berenger, totally overcome, 'how can I speak +the word? How feel aught but love, loyalty, gratitude? + +Charles half smiled again as he said in sad meditation--'Ah! it was +in me to have been a good king if they had let me. Think of me, +bid your friend Sidney think of me, as I would have been--not as I +have been--and pray, pray for me.' Then hiding his face in his +handkerchief, in a paroxysm of grief and horror, he murmured in a +stifled tone, 'Blood, blood, deliver me, good Lord! + +In effect, there was so sudden a gush of blood from mouth and nose +that Berenger sprang to his feet in dismay, and was _bona fide_ +performing the part of assistant to the surgeon, when, at the +Queen's cry, not only the nurse Philippe hurried in, but with her a +very dark, keen-looking man, who at once began applying strong +essences to the King's face, as Berenger supported his head. In a +few moments Pare looked up at Berenger, and setting him free, +intimated to him, between sign and whisper, to go into Philippe's +room and wait there; and it was high time, for though the youth had +felt nothing in the stress of the moment, he was almost swooning +when he reached the little chamber, and lay back in the nurse's +chair, with closed eyes, scarcely conscious how time went, or even +where he was, till he was partly aroused by hearing steps +returning. + +'The poor young man,' said Philippe's kind voice, 'he is fainting. +Ah! no wonder it overcame any kind heart. + +'How is the King?' Berenger tried to say, but his own voice still +sounded unnatural and far away. + +'He is better for the time, and will sleep,' said Pare, +administering to his other patient some cordial drops as he spoke. +'There, sir; you will soon be able to return to the carriage. This +has been a sore trial to your strength. + +'But I have gained all--all I could hope,' said Berenger, looking +at his precious papers. 'But, alas! the poor King! + +'You will never, never let a word of blame pass against him,' cried +Philippe earnestly. 'It is well that one of our people should have +seen how it really is with him. All I regret is that Maitre Rene +thrust himself in and saw you. + +'Who?' said Berenger, who had been too much engrossed to perceive +any one. + +'Maitre Rene of Milan, the Queen-mother's perfume. He came with +some plea of bringing a pouncet-box from her, but I wager it was as +a spy. I was doing my best to walk him gently off, when the +Queen's cry called me, and he must needs come in after me. + +'I saw him not,' said Berenger; 'perhaps he marked not me in the +confusion. + +'I fear,' said Pare gravely, 'he was more likely to have his senses +about him than you. M. le Baron; these bleedings of the King's are +not so new to us familiars to the palace. The best thing now to be +done is to have you to the carriage, if you can move. + +Berenger, now quite recovered, stood up, and gave his warm thanks +to the old nurse for her kindness to him. + +'Ah! sir,' she said, 'you are one of us. Pray, pray that God will +have mercy on my poor child! He has the truth in his heart. Pray +that it may save him at the last. + +Ambroise, knowing that she would never cease speaking while there +was any one to hear her, almost dragged Berenger out at the little +secret door, conveyed him safely down the stairs, and placed him +again in the carriage. Neither spoke till the surgeon said, 'You +have seen a sad sight, Monsieur le Baron: I need not bid you be +discreet. + +'There are some things that go too deep for speech,' sighed the +almost English Berenger; then, after a pause, 'Is there no hope for +him? Is he indeed dying? + +'Without a miracle, he cannot live a month. He is as truly slain +by the St. Bartholomew as ever its martyrs were,' said Pare, moved +out of his usual cautious reserve towards one who had seen so much +and felt so truly. 'I tell you, sir, that his mother hath as truly +slain her sons, as if she had sent Rene there to them with his +drugs. According as they have consciences and hearts, so they pine +and perish under her rule. + +Berenger shuddered, and almost sobbed, 'And hath he no better hope, +no comforter?' he asked. + +'None save good old Flipote. As you heard, the Queen-mother will +not suffer his own Church to speak to him in her true voice. No +confessor but one chosen by the Cardinal of Lorraine may come near +him; and with him all is mere ceremony. But if at the last he +opens his ear and heart to take in the true hope of salvation, it +will be from the voice of poor old Philippe. + +And so it was! It was Philippe, who heard him in the night sobbing +over the piteous words, 'My God, what horrors, what blood!' and, as +she took from his tear-drenched handkerchief, spoke to him of the +Blood that speakth better things than the blood of Abel; and it was +she who, in the final agony, heard and treasured these last words, +'If the Lord Jesus will indeed receive me into the company of the +blest!' Surely, never was repentance deeper than that of Charles +IX.--and these, his parting words, were such as to inspire the +trust that it was not remorse. + +All-important as Berenger's expedition had been, he still could +think of little but the poor King; and, wearied out as he was, he +made very little reply to the astonished friends who gathered round +him on his return. He merely told Philip that he had succeeded, +and then lay almost without speaking on his bed till the Ambassador +made his evening visit, when he showed him the two papers. Sir +Francis could hardly believe his good fortune in having obtained +this full attestation of the marriage, and promised to send to the +English Ambassador in Germany, to obtain the like from Father +Meinhard. The document itself he advised Berenger not to expose to +the dangers of the French journey, but to leave it with him to be +forwarded direct to Lord Walwyn. It was most important, both as +obviating any dispute on the legitimacy of the child, if she lived; +or, if not, it would establish those rights of Berenger to the Nid +de Merle estates, of which he had heard from the King. This +information explained what were the claims that the Chevalier was +so anxious to hush up by a marriage with Madame de Selinville. +Berenger, as his wife's heir, was by this contract the true owner +of the estates seized by the Chevalier and his son, and could only +be ousted, either by his enemies proving his contract to Eustacie +invalid and to be unfulfilled, or by his own voluntary resignation. +The whole scheme was clear to Walsingham, and he wasted advice upon +unheeding ears, as to how Berenger should act to obtain restitution +so soon as he should be of age, and how he should try to find out +the notary who had drawn up the contract. If Berenger cared at +all, it was rather for the sake of punishing and balking Narcisse, +than with any desire of the inheritance; and even for righteous +indignation he was just now too weary and too sad. He could not +discuss his rights to Nid de Merle, if they passed over the rights +of Eustacie's child, round whom his affection were winding +themselves as his sole hope. + +The next evening Pare came in quest of Berenger, and after a calm, +refreshing, hopeful Ascension-day, which had been a real balm to +the weary spirit, found him enjoying the sweet May sunshine under a +tree in the garden. 'I am glad to find you out of doors,' he said; +'I fear I must hasten your departure. + +'I burn to lose no time,' cried Berenger. 'Prithee tell them I may +safely go! They all call it madness to think of setting out. + +'Ordinarily it would be,' said Pare; 'but Rene of Milan has sent +his underlings to see who is my new, tall assistant. He will +report all to the Queen-mother; and though in this house you could +scarcely suffer personal harm, yet the purpose of your journey +might be frustrated, and the King might have to undergo another of +those _bourrasques_ which he may well dread. + +'I will go this very night,' said Berenger, starting up; 'where is +Philip?--where is Sir Francis? + +Even that very night Pare thought not too soon, and the Ascension- +tide illuminations brought so many persons abroad that it would be +easy to go unnoticed; and in the general festivity, when every one +was coming and going from the country to gaze or worship at the +shrines and the images decked in every church, it would be easy for +the barriers to be passed without observation. Then the brothers +would sleep at a large hostel, the first on the road to England, +where Walsingham's couriers and guest always baited, and the next +morning he would send out to them their attendants, with houses for +their further journey back into Anjou. If any enemies were on the +watch, this would probably put them off the scent, and it only +remained further to be debated, whether the Norman Guibert had +better be dismissed at once or taken with them. There was always +soft place in Berenger's heart for a Norman, and the man was really +useful; moreover, he would certainly be safer employed and in their +company, than turned loose to tell the Chevalier all he might have +picked up in the Hotel d'Angleterre. It was therefore decided that +he should be the attendant of the two young men, and he received +immediate orders that night to pack up their garments, and hold +himself ready. + +Nevertheless, before the hour of departure, Guibert had stolen out, +had an interview with the Chevalier de Ribaumont at the Hotel de +Selinville, and came back with more than one good French crown in +his pocket, and hopes of more. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. THE ORPHANS OF LA SABLERIE + + + +The cream tarts with pepper in them.--ARABIAN NIGHTS. + + +Hope, spring, and recovery carried the young Baronde Ribaumont on +his journey infinitely better than his companions had dared to +expect. He dreaded nothing so much as being overtaken by those +tidings which would make King Charles's order mere waste paper; and +therefore pressed on with little regard to his own fatigue, +although happily with increasing strength, which carried him a +further stage every day. + +Lucon was a closely-guarded, thoroughly Catholic city, and his +safe-conduct was jealously demanded; but the name of Ribaumont +silenced all doubt. 'A relation, apparently, of M. de Nid de +Merle,' said the officer on guard, and politely invited him to +dinner and bed at the castle; but these he thought it prudent to +decline, explaining that he brought a letter from the King to the +Mother Prioress. + +The convent walls were pointed out to him, and he only delayed at +the inn long enough to arrange his dress as might appear to the +Abbess most respectful, and, poor boy, be least likely to startle +the babe on whom his heart was set. At almost every inn, the +little children had shrieked and run from his white and gashed +face, and his tall, lank figure in deep black; and it was very +sadly that he said to Philip, 'You must come with me. If she turns +from me as an ogre, your bright ruddy face will win her. + +The men were left at the inn with charge to let Guibert speak for +them, and to avoid showing their nationality. The three months of +Paris, and the tailors there, had rendered Philip much less +conspicuous than formerly; but still people looked at him narrowly +as he followed his brother along the street. The two lads had made +up their minds to encumber themselves with no nurses, or womanfolk. +The child should be carried, fondled, and fed by her boy-father +alone. He believed that, when he once held her in his arms, he +should scarcely even wish to give her up to any one else; and, in +his concentration of mind, had hardly thought of all the +inconveniences and absurdities that would arise; but, really, was +chiefly occupied by the fear that she would not at first let him +take her in his arms, and hold her to his heart. + +Philip, a little more alive to the probabilities, nevertheless was +disposed to regard them as 'fun and pastime.' He had had many a +frolic with his baby-sisters, and this would be only a prolonged +one; besides, it was 'Berry's' one hope, and to rescue any creature +from a convent was a good work, in his Protestant eyes, which had +not become a whit less prejudiced at Paris. So he was quite +prepared to take his full share of his niece, or more, if she +should object to her father's looks, and he only suggested halting +at an old woman's stall to buy some sweetmeats by way of +propitiation--a proceeding which much amazed the gazing population +of Lucon. Two reports were going about, one that the King had +vowed a silver image of himself to St. Ursula, if her Prioress +would obtain his recovery by their prayers; the other that he was +going to translate her to the royal Abbey of Fontevrault to take +charge of his daughter, Madame Elisabeth. Any way, high honour by +a royal messenger must be intended to the Prioress, Mere Monique, +and the Luconnais were proud of her sanctity. + +The portress had already heard the report, and opened her wicket +even before the bell could be rung, then eagerly ushered him into +the parlour, the barest and most ascetic-looking of rooms, with a +boarded partition across, unenlivened except by a grated hollow, +and the outer portion empty, save of a table, three chairs, and a +rugged woodcut of a very tall St. Ursula, with a crowd of pigmy +virgins, not reaching higher than the ample hem of her petticoat. + +'Did Aunt Cecily live in such a place as this?' exclaimed Philip, +gazing round; 'or do they live on the fat among down cushions +inside there? + +'Hush--sh,' said Berenger, frowning with anxiety; for a rustling +was heard behind the screen, and presently a black veil and white +scapulary appeared, and a sweet calm voice said, 'Peace be with +you, sir; what are your commands? + +Berenger bowed low, and replied, 'Thanks, reverend Lady; I bring a +letter from the King, to request your aid in a matter that touches +me nearly. + +'His Majesty shall be obeyed. Come you from him? + +He was forced to reply to her inquiries after the poor King's +health before she opened the letter, taking it under her veil to +read it; so that as he stood, trembling, almost sickening with +anxiety, and scarcely able to breathe, he could see nothing but the +black folds; and at her low murmured exclamation he started as if +at a cannon-shot. + +'De Ribaumont!' she said; 'can it be--the child--of--of--out poor +dear little _pensionnaire_ at Bellaise? + +'It is--it is!' cried Berenger. 'O Madame, you knew her at +Bellaise? + +'Even so,' replied the Prioress, who was in fact the Soeur Monique +so loved and regretted by Eustacie. 'I loved and prayed for her +with all my heart when she was claimed by the world. Heaven's will +be done; but the poor little thing loved me, and I have often +thought that had I been still at Bellaise when she returned she +would not have fled. But of this child I have no knowledge. + +'You took charge of the babes of La Sablerie, Madame,' said +Berenger, almost under his breath. + +'Her infant among those poor orphans!' exclaimed the Prioress, more +and more startled and amazed. + +'If it be anywhere in this life, it is in your good keeping, +Madame,' said Berenger, with tears in his eyes. 'Oh! I entreat, +withhold her no longer. + +'But,' exclaimed the bewildered nun, 'who would you then be, sir? + +'I--her husband--widower of Eustacie--father of her orphan!' cried +Berenger. 'She cannot be detained from me, either by right or +law. + +'Her husband,' still hesitated Monique. 'But he is dead. The poor +little one--Heaven have mercy on her soul--wrote me a piteous +entreaty, and gave large alms for prayers and masses for his soul. + +The sob in his throat almost strangled his speech. 'She mourned me +to the last as dead. I was borne away senseless and desperately +wounded; and when I recovered power to seek her it was too late! +O Madame! have pity--let me see all she has left to me. + +'Is it possible?' said the nun. 'We would not learn the parentage +of our nurslings since all alike become children of Mother Church. +Then, suddenly bethinking herself, 'But, surely, Monsieur cannot be +a Huguenot. + +It was no doubt the first time she had been brought in contact with +a schismatic, and she could not believe that such respectful +courtesy could come from one. He saw he must curb himself, and +explain. 'I am neither Calvinist nor Sacrementaire, Madame. I was +bred in England, where we love our own Church. My aunt is a +Benedictine Sister, who keeps her rule strictly, though her convent +is destroyed; and it is to her that I shall carry my daughter. Ah, +Lady, did you but know my heart's hunger for her! + +The Prioress, better read in the lives of the saints than in the +sects of heretics, did not know whether this meant that he was of +her own faith or not; and her woman's heart being much moved by his +pleadings, she said, 'I will heartily give your daughter to you, +sir, as indeed I must, if she be here; but you have never seen +her? + +'No; only her empty cradle in the burnt house. But I MUST know +her. She is a year old. + +'We have two babes of that age; but I fear me you will scarce see +much likeness in either of them to any one you knew,' said the +Prioress, thoughtfully. 'However, there are two girls old enough +to remember the parentage of their companions, though we forbade +them to mention it. Would you see them, sir? + +'And the infants, so please you, reverend Mother,' exclaimed +Berenger. + +She desired him to wait, and after an interval of suspense there +was a pattering of little _sabots_ behind the partition, and +through the grating he beheld six little girls in blue serge frocks +and tight white caps. Of the two infants, one with a puny, wizen, +pinched face was in the arms of the Prioress; the other, a big, +stout, coarse child, with hard brown cheeks and staring black-eyes, +was on its own feet, but with a great basket-work frame round its +head to save it from falls. There were two much more prepossessing +children of three or four, and two intelligent-looking girls of +perhaps eight and ten, to the elder of whom the Prioress turned, +saying, 'Agathe, I release you from my command not to speak of your +former life, and desire you to tell this gentleman if you know who +were the parents of these two little ones. + +'Yes, reverend Mother,' said Agathe, readily; 'the old name of +Claire' (touching the larger baby) 'was Salome Potier: her mother +was the washerwoman; and Nannonciade, I don't know what her name +was, but her father worked for Maitre Brassier who made the +kettles. + +Philip felt relieved to be free from all doubt about these very +uninviting little ones, but Berenger, though sighing heavily, asked +quickly, 'Permit me, Madame, a few questions.--Little maid, did you +ever hear of Isaac Gardon? + +'Maitre Isaac! Oh yes, sir. We used to hear him preach at the +church, and sometimes he catechized us,' she said, and her lip +quivered. + +'He was a heretic, and I abjure him,' added the other girl, perking +up her head. + +'Was he in the town? What became of him?' exclaimed Berenger. + +'He would not be in the town,' said the elder girl. 'My poor +father had sent him word to go away. + +'_Eh quoi_? + +'Our father was Bailli la Grasse,' interposed the younger girl, +consequentially. 'Our names were Marthe and Lucie la Grasse, but +Agathe and Eulalie are much prettier. + +'But Maitre Gardon?' still asked Berenger. + +'He ought to be take and burnt,' said the new Eulalie; 'he brought +it all on us. + +'How was it? Was my wife with him--Madame de Ribaumont? Speak, my +child. + +'That was the name,' said one girl. + +'But Maitre Gardon had no great lady with him,' said the other, +'only his son's widow and her baby, and they lodged with Noemi +Laurent, who made the _patisserie_. + +'Ah!' cried Berenger, lighting up with the new ray of hope. 'Tell +me, my dear, that they fled with him, and where. + +'I do not know of their going,' said Agathe, confused and overborne +by his eagerness. + +'Curb yourself, sir,' said the Prioress, 'they will recollect +themselves and tell you what they can. + +'It was the little cakes with lemoned sugar,' suggested the younger +girl. 'Maitre Tressan always said there would be a judgment on us +for our daintiness. Ah! he was very cross about them, and after +all it was the Maitre of Lucon who ate fifteen of them all at once; +but then he is not a heretic. + +Happily for Berenger, Agathe unraveled this speech. + +'Mademoiselle Gardon made the sugar-lemoned cakes, and the Mayor of +Lucon, one day when he supped with us, was so delighted with them +that he carried one away to show his wife, and afterwards he sent +over to order some more. Then, after a time, he sent secretly to +my father to ask him if Maitre Gardon was there; for there was a +great outcry about the lemon cakes, and the Duke of Alencon's army +were coming to demand his daughter-in-law; because it seems she was +a great lady, and the only person who could make the cakes. + +'Agathe!' exclaimed the Prioress. + +'I understand,' said Berenger. 'The Cure of Nissard told me that +she was traced through cakes, the secret of which was only known at +Bellaise. + +'That might be,' said Mere Monique. 'I remember there was +something of pride in the cakes of Bellaise, though I always tried +to know nothing of them. + +'Well, little one, continue,' entreated Berenger. 'You are giving +me life and hope. + +'I heard my father and mother talk about it,' said Agathe, gaining +courage. 'He said he knew nothing of great people, and would give +nobody up to the Catholics, but as to Maitre Isaac, he should let +him know that the Catholic army were coming, and that it would be +the better for us if we had no pastor within our walls; and that +there was a cry that his daughter's lemon cakes were made by the +lady that was lost. + +'And they escaped! Ah! would that I could thank the good man! + +'Surely yes, sir, I never saw them again. Maitre Tressan the elder +prayed with us. And when the cruel soldiers came and demanded the +lady and Maitre Isaac, and all obstinate Calvinists, our mayor and +my father and the rest made answer that they had no knowledge of +the lady, and did not know where Maitre Gardon was; and as to +Huguenots, we were all one as obstinate as the other, but that we +would pay any fine within our means so they would spare our lives. +Then the man in the fine coat said, it was the lady they wanted, +not the fine; and a great deal he said besides, I know not what but +my father said, 'It is our life's blood that they want,' and he put +on his breastplate and kissed us all, and went away. Then came +horrible noises and firing of cannon, and the neighbours ran in and +said that the enemy were battering down the old crumbly bit of wall +where the monastery was burnt; and just then our man Joseph ran +back all pale, and staring , to tell us my father was lying badly +hurt in the street. My mother hurried out, and locked the door to +keep us from following. + +The poor child broke down in tears, and her sister went on. 'Oh, +we were so frightened--such frightful sounds came close, and people +ran by all blood and shrieking--and there was a glare in the sky-- +and nobody came home--till at last it grew so dreadful that we hid +in the cellar to hear and see nothing. Only it grew hotter and +hotter, and the light through the little grating was red. And at +last there was a noise louder than thunder, and, oh, such a +shaking--for it was the house falling down. But we did not know +that; we tried to open the door, and could not; then we cried and +called for father and mother--and no one heard--and we sat still +for fear, till we slept--and then it was all dark, and we were very +hungry. I don't know how time went, but at last, when I was +daylight again, there was a talking above, a little baby crying, +and a kind voice too; and then we called out, 'Oh, take us out and +give us bread.' Then a face looked down the grating. Oh, it was +like the face of an angel to us, with all the white hair flying +round. It was the holy priest of Nissard; and when one of the +cruel men said we were only little heretics who ought to die like +rats in a hole, he said we were but innocents who did not know the +difference. + +'Ah! we did,' said the elder girl. 'You are younger, sister, you +forget more;' and then, holding out her hands to Berenger, she +exclaimed, 'Ah! sir, take us away with you. + +'My child!' exclaimed the Prioress, 'you told me you were happy to +be in the good course. + +'Oh yes!' cried the poor child; 'but I don't want to be happy! I +am forgetting all my poor father and mother used to say. I can't +help it, and they would be so grieved. Oh, take me away, sir! + +'Take care, Agathe, you will be a relapsed heretic,' said her +sister, solemnly. 'For me, I am a true Catholic. I love the +beautiful images and the processions. + +'Ah! but what would our mother have said!' cried poor Agathe, +weeping more bitterly. + +'Poor child, her old recollections have been renewed,' said the +Prioress, with unchanged sweetness; 'but it will pass. My dear, +the gentleman will tell you that it is as impossible for him to +take you as it is for me to let you go. + +'It is so, truly, little one,' said Berenger. 'The only little +girl I cold have taken with me would have been my own;' and as her +eyes looked at him wistfully, he added, 'No doubt, if your poor +mother could, she would thank this good Mother-prioress for +teaching you to serve God and be a good child. + +'Monsieur speaks well and kindly,' said the Prioress; 'and now, +Agathe, make your curtsey, and take away the little ones. + +'Let me ask one question more, reverend Mother,' said Berenger. +'Ah! children, did you ever see her whom you call Isaac Gardon's +daughter-in-law? + +'No, sir,' said the children; 'but mother did, and she promised one +day to take us to see the baby, for it was so pretty--so white, +that she had never seen the like. + +'So white!' repeated Berenger to himself; and the Prioress, struck, +perhaps, by the almost flaxen locks that sparsely waved on his +temples, and the hue of the ungloved hand that rested on the edge +of the _grille_, said, smiling, 'You come of a fair family, +Monsieur. + +'The White Ribaumonts,' said Berenger, 'and, moreover, my mother +was called the Swan of England; my little sisters have skins like +snow. Ah! Madame, though I have failed, I go away far happier than +if I had succeeded. + +'And reveal the true faith,' began the nun; but Philip in the +meantime was nudging his brother, and whispering in English, 'No +Popish prayers, I say! Stay, give these poor little prisoners one +feast of the sweetmeats we brought. + +Of this last hint Berenger was glad, and the Prioress readily +consented to a distribution of the dainties among the orphans. He +wished to leave a more lasting token of his gratitude to the little +maiden whose father had perhaps saved Eustacie's life, and +recollecting that he had about him a great gold coin, bearing the +heads of Philip and Mary, he begged leave to offer it to Agathe, +and found that it was received by good Mere Monique almost in the +light of a relic, as bearing the head of so pious a queen. + +Then, to complete Philip's disgust he said, 'I took with me my +aunt's blessing when I set out; let me take yours with me also, +reverend Mother. + +When they were in the street again, Philip railed at him as though +he had subjected himself to a spell. + +'She is almost a saint,' answered Berenger. + +'And have we not saints enough of our own, without running after +Popish ones behind grates? Brother, if ever the good old days come +back of invading France, I'll march straight hither, and deliver +the poor little wretches so scandalously mewed up here, and true +Protestants all the time! + +'Hush! People are noticing the sound of your English. + +'Let them! I never thanked Heaven properly before that I have not +a drop of French---' Here Berenger almost shook him by the +shoulder, as men turned at his broad tones and foreign words, and +he walked on in silence, while Berenger at his side felt as one +treading on air, so infinite was the burden taken off his mind. +Though for the present absolutely at sea as to where to seek +Eustacie, the relief from acquiescence in the horrible fate that +had seemed to be hers was such, that a flood of unspeakable +happiness seemed to rush in on him, and bear him up with a new +infusion of life, buoyancy, and thankfulness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. IN THE KING'S NAME + + + +'Under which king, Bezonian? speak or die. + +'Under King Harry. + --KING HENRY IV. + + +'One bird in the hand is not always worth two in the bush, +assuredly,' said Philip, when Berenger was calm enough to hold +council on what he called this most blessed discovery; 'but where +to seek them? + +'I have no fears now,' returned Berenger. 'We have not been bore +through so much not to be brought together at last. Soon, soon +shall we have her! A minister so distinguished as Isaac Gardon is +sure to be heard of either at La Rochelle, Montauban, or Nimes, +their great gathering places. + +'For Rochelle, then?' said Philip. + +'Even so. We will be off early to-morrow, and from thence, if we +do not find her there, as I expected, we shall be able to write the +thrice happy news to those at home. + +Accordingly, the little cavalcade started in good time, in the cool +of the morning of the bright long day of early June, while apple +petal floated down on them in the lanes like snow, and nightingales +in every hedge seemed to give voice and tune to Berenger's eager, +yearning hopes. + +Suddenly there was a sound of horse's feet in the road before them, +and as they drew aside to make way, a little troop of gendarmes +filled the narrow lane. The officer, a rough, harsh-looking man, +laid his hand on Berenger's bridle, with the words, 'In the name of +the King! + +Philip began to draw his sword with one hand, and with the other to +urge his horse between the officer and his brother, but Berenger +called out, 'Back! This gentleman mistakes my person. I am the +Baron de Ribaumont, and have a safe-conduct from the King. + +'What king?' demanded the officer. + +'From King Charles. + +'I arrest you,' said the officer, 'in the name of King Henry III, +and of the Queen Regent Catherine. + +'The King dead?' Exclaimed Berenger. + +'On the 30th of May. Now, sir. + +'Your warrant--your cause?' still demanded Berenger. + +'There will be time enough for that when you are safely lodged, +said the captain, roughly pulling at the rein, which he had held +all the time. + +'What, no warrant?' shouted Philip, 'he is a mere robber!' and with +drawn sword he was precipitating himself on the captain, when +another gendarme, who had been on the watch, grappled with him, and +dragged him off his horse before he could strike a blow. The other +two English, Humfrey Holt and John Smithers, strong full-grown men, +rode in fiercely to the rescue, and Berenger himself struggled +furiously to loose himself from the captain, and deliver his +brother. Suddenly there was the report of a pistol: poor Smithers +fell, there was a moment of standing aghast, and in that moment the +one man and the two youths were each pounced on by three or four +gendarmes, thrown down and pinioned. + +'Is this usage for gentlemen?' exclaimed Berenger, as he was +roughly raised to his feet. + +'The King's power has been resisted,' was all the answer; and when +he would have been to see how it was with poor Smithers, one of the +men-at-arms kicked over the body with sickening brutality, saying, +'Dead enough, heretic and English carrion! + +Philip uttered a cry of loathing horror, and turned white; +Berenger, above all else, felt a sort of frenzied despair as he +thought of the peril of the boy who had been trusted to him. + +'Have you had enough, sir?' said the captain. 'Mount and come. + +They could only let themselves be lifted to their horses, and their +hands were then set free to use their bridles, each being guarded +by a soldier on each side of him. Philip attempted but once to +speak, and that in English: 'Next time I shall take my pistol. + +He was rudely silenced, and rode on with wide-open stolid eyes and +dogged face, steadfastly resolved that no Frenchman should see him +flinch, and vexed that Berenger had his riding mask on so that his +face could not be studied; while he, on his side, was revolving all +causes possible for his arrest, and all means of enforcing he +liberation, if not of himself at least of Philip and Humfrey. He +looked round for Guibert, but could not see him. + +They rode on through the intricate lanes till the sun was high and +scorching, and Berenger felt how far he was from perfect recovery. +At last, however, some little time past noon, the gendarmes halted +at a stone fountain, outside a village, and disposing a sufficient +guard around his captives, the officer permitted them to dismount +and rest, while he, with the rest of the troop and the horses, went +to the village CABARET. Philip would have asked his brother what +it meant, and what was to be done, but Berenger shook his head, and +intimated that silence was safest as present, since they might be +listened to; and Philip, who so much imagined treachery and +iniquity to be the order of the day in France that he was scarcely +surprised at the present disaster, resigned himself to the same +sullen endurance. Provisions and liquor were presently sent up +from the inn, but Berenger could taste nothing but the cold water +of the fountain, which trickled out cool and fresh beneath an arch +surmounted by a figure of Our Lady. He bathed his face and head in +the refreshing spring, and lay down on a cloak in the shade, Philip +keeping a constant change of drenched kerchiefs on his brow, and +hoping that he slept, till at the end to two or three hours the +captain returned, gave the word to horse, and the party rode on +through intricate lanes, blossoming with hawthorn, and ringing with +songs of birds that spoke a very different language now to +Berenger's heart from what they had said in the hopeful morning. + +A convent bell was ringing to evensong, when passing its gateway; +the escort turned up a low hill, on the summit of which stood a +chateau, covering a considerable extent of ground, with a circuit +of wall, whitewashed so as perfectly to glare in the evening sun; +at every angle a round, slim turret, crowned by a brilliant red- +tiled extinguisher-like cap; and the whole surmounted by a tall old +keep in the centre. There was a square projection containing an +arched gateway, with heavy doorways, which were thrown open as the +party approached. Philip looked up as he rode in, and over the +doorway beheld the familiar fretted shield, with the leopard in the +corner, and _'A moi Ribaumont'_ round it. Could it then be +Berenger's own castle, and was it thus that he was approaching it? +He himself had not looked up; he was utterly spent with fatigue, +dejection, and the severe headache brought on by the heat of the +sun, and was only intent on rallying his powers for the crisis of +fate that was probably approaching; and thus scarcely took note of +the court into which he rode, lying between the gateway and the +_corps de logis_, a building erected when comfort demanded more +space than was afforded by the old keep, against which one end +leant; but still, though inclosed in a court, the lower windows +were small and iron-barred, and all air of luxury was reserved for +the mullioned casements of the upper storey. The court was +flagged, but grass shot up between the stones, and the trim air of +ease and inhabited comfort to which the brothers were used at home +was utterly wanting. Berenger was hustled off his horse, and +roughly pushed through a deep porch, where the first thing he heard +was the Chevalier de Ribaumont's voice in displeasure. + +'How now, sir; hands off! Is this the way you conduct my nephew? + +'He resisted, sir. + +'Sir,' said Berenger, advancing into the hall, 'I know not the +meaning of this. I am peacefully traveling with a passport from +the King, when I am set upon, no warrant shown me, my faithful +servant slain, myself and my brother, an English subject, +shamefully handled. + +'The violence shall be visited on whatever rascal durst insult a +gentleman and my nephew,' said the Chevalier. 'For release, it +shall be looked to; but unfortunately it is too true that there are +orders from the Queen in Council for your apprehension, and it was +only on my special entreaty for the honour of the family, and the +affection I bear you, that I was allowed to receive you here +instead of your being sent to an ordinary prison. + +'On what pretext?' demanded Berenger. + +'It is known that you have letters in your possession from escaped +traitors now in England, to La Noue, Duplessis Mornay, and other +heretics. + +'That is easily explained,' said Berenger. 'You know well, sir, +that they were to facilitate my search at La Sablerie. You shall +see them yourself, sir. + +'That I must assuredly do,' replied the Chevalier, 'for it is the +order of her Majesty, I regret to say, that your person and baggage +be searched;' then, as indignant colour rushed into Berenger's +face, and an angry exclamation was beginning, he added, 'Nay, I +understand, my dear cousin, it is very painful, but we would spare +you as much as possible. It will be quite enough if the search is +made by myself in the presence of this gentleman, who will only +stand by for form's sake. I have no doubt it will enable us +quickly to clear up matters, and set you free again. Do me the +honour to follow me to the chamber destined for you. + +'Let me see the order for my arrest,' said Berenger, holding his +head high. + +'The English scruple must be gratified,' said the Chevalier. And +accordingly the gendarme captain unfolded before him a paper, which +was evidently a distinct order to arrest and examine the person of +Henri Beranger Eustache, Baron de Ribaumont and Sieur de Leurre, +suspected of treasonable practices--and it bore the signature of +Catherine. + +'There is nothing here said of my step-father's son, Philip +Thistlewood, nor of my servant, Humfrey Holt,' said Berenger, +gathering the sense with his dizzy eyes as best he could. 'They +cannot be detained, being born subjects of the Queen of England. + +'They intercepted the justice of the King,' said the captain, +laying his hand on Philip's shoulder. 'I shall have them off with +me to the garrison of Lugon, and deal with them there. + +'Wait!' said the Chevalier, interposing before Berenger's fierce, +horror-struck expostulation could break forth; 'this is an +honourable young gentleman, son of a chevalier of good reputation +in England, and he need not be so harshly dealt with. You will not +separate either him or the poor groom from my nephew, so the +Queen's authority be now rightly acknowledged. + +The captain shrugged his shoulders, as if displeased; and the +Chevalier, turning to Berenger, said, 'You understand, nephew, the +lot of you all depends on your not giving umbrage to these officers +of her Majesty. I will do my poor best for you; but submission is +first needed. + +Berenger knew enough of his native country to be aware that _la +justice du Roi_ was a terrible thing, and that Philip's resistance +had really put him in so much danger that it was needful to be most +careful not further to offend the functionary of Government; and +abhorrent as the proposed search was to him, he made no further +objection, but taking Philip's arm, lest they should he separated, +he prepared to follow wherever he was to be conducted. The +Chevalier led the way along a narrow stone passage, with loophole- +windows here and there; and Philip, for all his proud, indifferent +bearing, felt his flesh creep as he looked for a stair descending +into the bowels of the earth. A stair there was, but it went up +instead of down, and after mounting this, and going through a sort +of ante-room, a door was opened into a tolerably spacious +apartment, evidently in the old keep; for the two windows on +opposite sides were in an immensely massive wall, and the floor +above and vaulting below were of stone; but otherwise there was +nothing repulsive in the appearance of the room. There was a wood +fire on the hearth; the sun, setting far to the north, peeped in +aslant at one window; a mat was on the floor, tapestry on the lower +part of the walls; a table and chairs, and a walnut chest, with a +chess-board and a few books on it, were as much furniture as was to +be seen in almost any living-room of the day. Humfrey and Guibert, +too, were already there, with the small riding valises they and +poor Smithers had had in charge. These were at one opened, but +contained merely clothes and linen, nothing else that was noticed, +except three books, at which the captain looked with a stupid air; +and the Chevalier did not seem capable of discovering more than +that all three were Latin--one, he believed, the Bible. + +'Yes, sir, the Vulgate--a copy older than the Reformation, so not +liable to be called an heretical version,' said Berenger, to whom a +copy had been given by Lady Walwyn, as more likely to be saved if +his baggage were searched. 'The other is the Office and Psalter +after our English rite; and this last is not mine, but Mr. +Sidney's--a copy of Virgilius Maro, which he had left behind at +Paris. + +The Chevalier, not willing to confess that he had taken the English +Prayer-book for Latin, hastily said, 'Nothing wrong there--no, no, +nothing that will hurt the State; may it only be so with what you +carry on your person, fair cousin. Stand back, gentleman, this is +gear for myself alone. Now, fair nephew,' he added, 'not a hand +shall be laid on you, if you will give me your honourable word, as +a nobleman, that you are laying before me all that you carry about +you. + +An instant's thought convinced Berenger that resistance would save +nothing, and merely lead to indignity to himself and danger to +Philip; and therefore he gave the promise to show everything about +him, without compulsion. Accordingly, he produced his purse for +current expenses, poor King Charles's safe-conduct, and other +articles of no consequence, from his pockets; then reluctantly +opened his doublet, and took off the belt containing his store of +gold, which had been replenished at Walsingham's. This was +greedily eyed by the captain, but the Chevalier at once made it +over to Philip's keeping, graciously saying, 'We do no more than +duty requires;' but at the same time he made a gesture towards +another small purse that hung round Berenger's neck by a black +ribbon. + +'On my sacred word and honour,' said Berenger, 'it contains nothing +important to any save myself. + +'Alas! my bounden duty,' urged the Chevalier. + +An angry reply died on Berenger's lip. At the thought of Philip, +he opened the purse, and held out the contents on his palm: a tiny +gold ring, a tress of black hair, a fragment of carnation-ribbon +pricked with pin-holes, a string of small worthless yellow shells, +and, threaded with them, a large pear-shaped pearl of countless +price. Even the Chevalier was touched at the sight of this +treasury, resting on the blanched palm of the thin, trembling hand, +and jealously watched by eyes glistening with sudden moisture, +though the lips were firm set. 'Alas! my poor young cousin,' he +said, 'you loved her well. + +'Not loved, but love,' muttered Berenger to himself, as if having +recourse to the only cordial that could support him through the +present suffering; and he was closing his fingers again over his +precious hoard, when the Chevalier added, 'Stay! Nephew--that +pearl? + +'Is one of the chaplet; the token she sent to England,' he +answered. + +'_Pauvre petite!_ Then, at least a fragment remains of the reward +of our ancestor's courage,' said the Chevalier. + +And Berenger did not feel it needful to yield up that still better +possession, stored within his heart, that _la petite_ and her +pearls were safe together. It was less unendurable to produce the +leather case from a secret pocket within his doublet, since, +unwilling as he was that any eye should scan the letters it +contained, there was nothing in them that could give any clue +towards tracing her. Nothing had been written or received since +his interview with the children at Lucon. There was, indeed, +Eustacie's letter to his mother, a few received at Paris from Lord +Walwyn, reluctantly consenting to his journey in quest of his +child, his English passport, the unfortunate letters to La Noue; +and what evidently startled the Chevalier more than all the rest, +the copy of the certificate of the ratification of the marriage; +but his consternation was so arranged as to appear to be all on +behalf of his young kinsman. 'This is serious!' he said, striking +his forehead; 'you will be accused of forging the late King's +name. + +'This is but a copy,' said Berenger, pointing to the heading; 'the +original has been sent with our Ambassador's dispatches to +England. + +'It is a pity,' said the Chevalier, looking thoroughly vexed, 'that +you should have brought fresh difficulties on yourself for a mere +piece of waste paper to be affected by the validity of your +marriage. Dear cousin,'--he glanced at the officer and lowered his +voice,--'let me tear this paper; it would only do you harm, and the +Papal decree annuls it. + +'I have given my word,' said Berenger, 'that all that could do me +harm should be delivered up! Besides,' he added, 'even had I the +feeling for my own honour and that of my wife and child, living or +dead, the harm, it seems to me, would be to those who withhold her +lands from me. + +'Ah, fair nephew! you have fallen among designing persons who have +filled your head with absurd claims; but I will not argue the point +now, since it becomes a family, not a State matter. These papers'- +-and he took them into his hand--'must be examined, and to-morrow +Captain Delarue will take them to Paris, with any explanation you +may desire to offer. Meantime you and your companions remain my +guest, at full liberty, provided you will give me your parole to +attempt no escape. + +'No, sir,' said Berenger, hotly, 'we will not become our own +jailers, nor acquiesce in this unjust detention. I warn you that I +am a naturalized Englishman, acknowledged by the Queen as my +grandfather's heir, and the English Ambassador will inform the +court what Queen Elizabeth thinks of such dealings with her +subjects. + +'Well said,' exclaimed Philip, and drawing himself up, he added, 'I +refuse my parole, and warn you that it is at your peril that you +imprison an Englishman. + +'Very well, gentlemen,' said the Chevalier; 'the difference will be +that I shall unwillingly be forced to let Captain Delarue post +guards at the outlets of this tower. A room beneath is prepared +for your grooms, and the court is likewise free to you. I will +endeavour to make your detention as little irksome as you will +permit, and meantime allow me to show you your sleeping chamber. +He then politely, as if he had been ushering a prince to his +apartment, led the way, pointing to the door through which they had +entered the keep, and saying, 'This is the only present +communication with the dwelling-house. Two gendarmes will always +be on the outside.' He conducted the young men up a stone spiral +stair to another room, over that which they had already seen, and +furnished as fairly as ordinary sleeping chambers were wont to be. + +Here, said their compulsory host, he would leave them to prepare +for supper, when they would do him the honour to join him in the +eating-hall on their summons by the steward. + +His departing bow was duly returned by Berenger, but no sooner did +his steps die away on the stairs than the young man threw himself +down on his bed, in a paroxysm of suffering both mental and bodily. + +'Berry, Berry, what is this? Speak to me. What does it all mean? +cried Philip. + +'How can I tell?' said Berenger, showing his face for a moment, +covered with tears; 'only that my only friend is dead, and some +villainous trick has seized me, just--just as I might have found +her. And I've been the death of my poor groom, and got you into +the power of these vile dastards! Oh, would that I had come alone! +Would that they had had the sense to aim direct! + +'Brother, brother, anything but this!' cried Philip. 'The rogues +are not worth it. Sir Francis will have us out in no time, or know +the reason why. I'd scorn to let them wring a tear from me. + +'I hope they never may, dear Phil, nor anything worse. + +'Now,' continued Philip, 'the way will be to go down to supper, +since they will have it so, and sit and eat at one's ease as if one +cared for them no more than cat and dog. Hark! there's the steward +speaking to Guibert. Come, Berry, wash your face and come. + +'I--my head aches far too much, were there nothing else. + +'What! it is nothing but the sun,' said Philip. 'Put a bold face +on it, man, and show them how little you heed. + +'How LITTLE I heed!' bitterly repeated Berenger, turning his face +away, utterly unnerved between disappointment, fatigue, and pain; +and Philip at that moment had little mercy. Dismayed and vaguely +terrified, yet too resolute in national pride to betray his own +feelings, he gave vent to his vexation by impatience with a +temperament more visibly sensitive than his own: 'I never thought +you so mere a Frenchman,' he said contemptuously. 'If you weep and +wail so like a sick wench, they will soon have their will of you! +I'd have let them kill me before they searched me. + +''Tis bad enough without this from you, Phil,' said Berenger, +faintly, for he was far too much spent for resentment or self- +defence, and had only kept up before the Chevalier by dint of +strong effort. Philip was somewhat aghast, both at the involuntary +gesture of pain, and at finding there was not even spirit to be +angry with him: but his very dismay served at the moment only to +feed his displeasure; and he tramped off in his heavy boots, which +he chose to wear as a proof of disdain for his companions. He +explained that M. de Ribaumont was too much fatigued to come to +supper, and he was accordingly marched along the corridor, with the +steward before him bearing a lighted torch, and two gendarmes with +halberds behind him. And in his walk he had ample time for, first, +the resolution that illness, and not dejection, should have all the +credit of Berenger's absence; then for recollecting of how short +standing had been his brother's convalescence; and lastly, for a +fury of self-execration for his own unkindness, rude taunts, and +neglect of the recurring illness. He would have turned about and +gone back at once, but the two gendarmes were close behind, and he +knew Humfrey would attend to his brother; so he walked on to the +hall--a handsome chamber, hung with armour and spoils of hunting, +with a few pictures on the panels, and a great carved music-gallery +at one end. The table was laid out somewhat luxuriously for four, +according to the innovation which was beginning to separate the +meals of the grandees from those of their household. + +Great concern was expressed by the Chevalier, as Philip, in French, +much improved since the time of his conversation with Madame de +Selinville, spoke of his brother's indisposition, saying with +emphasis, as he glared at Captain Delarue, that Maitre Pare had +forbidden all exposure to mid-day heat, and that all their journeys +had been made in morning or evening coolness. 'My young friend,' +as his host called him, 'should, he was assured, have mentioned +this, since Captain Delarue had no desire but to make his situation +as little painful as possible.' And the Chevalier sent his steward +at once to offer everything the house contained that his prisoner +could relish for supper; and then anxiously questioned Philip on +his health and diet, obtaining very short and glum answers. The +Chevalier and the captain glanced at each other with little shrugs; +and Philip, becoming conscious of his shock hair, splashed doublet, +and dirty boots, had vague doubts whether his English dignity were +not being regarded as English lubberliness; but, of course, he +hated the two Frenchmen all the more, and received their civility +with greater gruffness. They asked him the present object of his +journey--though, probably, the Chevalier knew it before, and he +told of the hope that they had of finding the child at Lucon. + +'Vain, of course?' said the Chevalier. 'Poor infant! It is well +for itself, as for the rest of us, that its troubles were ended +long ago.' + +Philip started indignantly. + +'Does your brother still nurture any vain hope?' said the +Chevalier. + +'Not vain, I trust,' said Philip. + +'Indeed! Who can foolishly have so inspired him with a hope that +merely wears out his youth, and leads him into danger?' + +Philip held his tongue, resolved to be impenetrable; and he was so +far successful, that the Chevalier merely became convinced that the +brothers were not simply riding to La Rochelle to embark for +England, but had some hope and purpose in view; though as to what +that might be, Philip's bluff replies and stubborn silence were +baffling. + +After the meal, the Chevalier insisted on coming to see how his +guest fared; and Philip could not prevent him. They found Berenger +sitting on the side of his bed, having evidently just started up on +hearing their approach. Otherwise he did not seem to have moved +since Philip left him; he had not attempted to undress; and Humfrey +told Philip that not a word had been extracted from him, but +commands to let him alone. + +However, he had rallied his forces to meet the Chevalier, and +answered manfully to his excuses for the broiling ride to which he +had been exposed, that it mattered not, the effect would pass, it +was a mere chance; and refused all offers of medicaments, potions, +and TISANES, till his host at length left the room with a most +correct exchange of good nights. + +'Berry, Berry, what a brute I have been!' cried Philip. + +'Foolish lad!' and Berenger half smiled. 'Now help me to bed, for +the room turns round!' + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. CAGED IN THE BLACKBIRD'S NEST + + + + Let him shun castles; +Safer shall he be on the sandy plain +Than where castles mounted stand.--KING HENRY VI. + + +While Berenger slept a heavy morning's sleep after a resless night, +Philip explored the narrow domain above and below. The keep and +its little court had evidently been the original castle, built when +the oddly-nicknamed Fulkes and Geoffreys of Anjou had been at +daggers drawn with the Dukes of Normandy and Brittany, but it had +since, like most other such ancient feudal fortresses, become the +nucleus of walls and buildings for use, defence, or ornament, that +lay beneath him like a spider's web, when he had gained the roof of +the keep, garnished with pepper-box turrets at each of the four +angles. Beyond lay the green copses and orchards of the Bocage, +for it was true, as he had at first suspected, that this was the +chateau de Nid de Merle, and that Berenger was a captive in his +wife's own castle. + +Chances of escape were the lad's chief thought, but the building on +which he stood went sheer down for a considerable way. Then on the +north side there came out the sharp, high-pitched, tiled roof of +the _corps du logis_; on the south, another roof, surmounted by a +cross at the gable, and evidently belonging to the chapel; on the +other two sides lay courts--that to the east, a stable-yard; that +to the west, a small narrow, chilly-looking, paved inclosure, with +enormously-massive walls, the doorway walled up, and looking like a +true prison-yard. Beyond this wall--indeed, on every side-- +extended offices, servants' houses, stables, untidy desolate- +looking gardens, and the whole was inclosed by the white wall with +flanking red-tiled turrets, whose gaudy appearance had last night +made Philip regard the whole as a flimsy, Frenchchified erection, +but he now saw it to be of extremely solid stone and lime, and with +no entrance but the great barbican gateway they had entered by; +moreover, with a yawning dry moat all round. Wherever he looked he +saw these tall, pointed red caps, resembling, he thought, those +worn by the victims of an _auto-de-fe_, as one of Walsingham's +secretaries had described them to him; and he ground his teeth at +them, as thought they grinned at him like emissaries of the +Inquisition. + +Descending, he found Berenger dressing in haste to avoid receiving +an invalid visit from the Chevalier, looking indeed greatly shaken, +but hardly so as would have been detected by eyes that had not seen +him during his weeks of hope and recovery. He was as resolved as +Philip could wish against any sign of weakness before his enemy, +and altogether disclaimed illness, refusing the stock of cooling +drinks, cordials, and febrifuges, which the Chevalier said had been +sent by his sister the Abbess of Bellaise. He put the subject of +his health aside, only asking if this were the day that the +gendarme-captain would return to Paris, and then begging to see +that officer, so as to have a distinct understanding of the grounds +of his imprisonment. The captain had, however, been a mere +instrument; and when Philip clamoured to be taken before the next +justice of the peace, even Berenger smiled at him for thinking that +such a being existed in France. The only cause alleged was the +vague but dangerous suspicion of conveying correspondence between +England and the heretics, and this might become extremely perilous +to one undeniably half English, regarded as whole Huguenot, caught +on the way to La Rochelle with a letter to La Noue in his pocket; +and, moreover, to one who had had a personal affray with a king +famous for storing up petty offences, whom the last poor king had +favoured, and who, in fine, had claims to estates that could not +spared to the Huguenot interest. + +He was really not sure that there was not some truth in the +professions of the Chevalier being anxious to protect him from the +Queen-mother and the Guises; he had never been able to divest +himself of a certain trust in his old kinsman's friendliness, and +he was obliged to be beholden to him for the forms in which to +couch his defence. At the same time he wrote to Sir Francis +Walsingham, and to his grandfather, but with great caution, lest +his letters should be inspected by his enemies, and with the less +hope of their availing him because it was probable that the +Ambassador would return home on the king's death. No answer could +be expected for at least a fortnight, and even then it was possible +that the Queen-mother might choose to refer the cause to King +Henry, who was then in Poland. + +Berenger wrote these letters with much thought and care, but when +they were once sealed, he collapsed again into despair and +impatience, and frantically paced the little court as if he would +dash himself against the walls that detained him from Eustacie; +then threw himself moodily into a chair, hid his face in his +crossed arms, and fell a prey to all the wretched visions called up +by an excited brain. + +However, he was equally alive with Philip to the high-spirited +resolution that his enemies should not perceive or triumph in his +dejection. He showed himself at the noon-day dinner, before +Captain Delarue departed, grave and silent, but betraying no +agitation; and he roused himself from his sad musings at the +supper-hour, to arrange his hair, and assume the ordinary dress of +gentlemen in the evening; though Philip laughed at the roses +adorning his shoes, and his fresh ruff, as needless attentions to +an old ruffian like the Chevalier. However, Philip started when he +entered the hall, and beheld, not the Chevalier alone, but with him +the beautiful lady of the velvet coach, and another stately, +extremely handsome dame, no longer in her first youth, and in +costly black and white garments. When the Chevalier called her his +sister, Madame de Bellaise, Philip had no notion that she was +anything but a widow, living a secular life; and though a couple of +nuns attended her, their dress was so much less conventual than +Cecily's that he did not at first find them out. It was explained +that Madame de Selinville was residing with her aunt, and that, +having come to visit her father, he had detained the ladies to +supper, hoping to enliven the sojourn of his _beaux cousins_. + +Madame de Selinville, looking anxiously at Berenger, hoped she saw +him in better health. He replied, stiffly, that he was perfectly +well; and then, by way of safety, repaired to the society of the +Abbess, who immediately began plying him with questions about +England, its court, and especially the secret marriage of Queen +Elisabeth and '_ce_ Comte de Dudley,' on which she was so minutely +informed as to put him to the blush. Then she was very curious +about the dispersed convents, and how many of the nuns had married; +and she seemed altogether delighted to have secured the attention +of a youth from the outer world. His soul at first recoiled from +her as one of Eustacie's oppressors, and from her unconvent-like +talk; and yet he could not but think her a good-natured person, and +wonder if she could rally have been hard upon his poor little wife. +And she, who had told Eustacie she would strangle with her own +hands the scion of the rival house!--she, like most women, was much +more bitter against an unseen being out of reach, than towards a +courteously-mannered, pale, suffering-looking youth close beside +her. She had enough affection for Eustacie to have grieved much at +her wanderings and at her fate; and now the sorrow-stricken look +that by no effort could be concealed really moved her towards the +youth bereaved husband. Besides, were not all feuds on the point of +being made up by the excellent device concocted between her brother +and her niece? + +Meantime, Philip was in raptures with the kindness of the beautiful +Madame de Selinville. He, whom the Mistresses Walsingham treated +as a mere clumsy boy, was promoted by her manner to be a man and a +cavalier. He blushed up to the roots of his hair and looked +sheepish whenever one of her entrancing smiles lit upon him; but +then she inquired after his brother so cordially, she told him so +openly how brilliant had been Berenger's career at the court, she +regretted so heartily their present danger and detention, and +promised so warmly to use her interest with Queen Catherine, that +in the delight of being so talked to, he forgot his awkwardness and +spoke freely and confidentially, maybe too confidentially, for he +caught Berenger frowning at him, and made a sudden halt in his +narrative, disconcerted but very angry with his brother for his +distrust. + +When the ladies had ridden away to the convent in the summer +evening, and the two brothers had returned to their prison, Philip +would have begun to rave about Madame de Selinville, but his mouth +was stopped at once with 'Don't be such a fool, Phil!' and when +Perrine shut his eyes, leant back, and folded his arms together, +there was no more use in talking to him. + +This exceeding defection continued for a day or two, while +Berenger's whole spirit chafed in agony at his helplessness, and +like demons there ever haunted him the thoughts of what might +betide Eustacie, young, fair, forsaken, and believing herself a +widow. Proudly defiant as he showed himself to all eyes beyond his +tower, he seemed to be fast gnawing and pining himself away in the +anguish he suffered through these long days of captivity. + +Perhaps it was Philip's excitement about any chance of meeting +Madame de Selinville that first roused him from the contemplation +of his own misery. It struck him that if he did not rouse himself +to exert his influence, the boy, left to no companionship save what +he could make for himself, might be led away by intercourse with +the gendarmes, or by the blandishments of Diane, whatever might be +her game. He must be watched over, and returned to Sir Marmaduke +the same true-hearted honest lad who had left home. Nor had +Berenger lain so long under Cecily St. John's tender watching +without bearing away some notes of patience, trust, and dutifulness +that returned upon him as his mind recovered tone after the first +shock. The whispers that had bidden him tarry the Lord's leisure, +be strong, and commit his way to Him who could bring it to pass, +and could save Eustacie as she had already been saved, returned to +him once more: he chid himself for his faintness of heart, rallied +his powers, and determined that cheerfulness, dutifulness, and care +for Philip should no longer fail. + +So he reviewed his resources, and in the first place arranged for a +brief daily worship with his two English fellow-prisoners, +corresponding to the home hours of chapel service. Then he +proposed to Philip to spend an hour every day over the study of the +Latin Bible; and when Philip showed himself reluctant to give up +his habit of staring over the battlements, he represented that an +attack on their faith was not so improbable but that they ought to +be prepared for it. + +'I'm quite prepared,' quoth Philip; 'I shall not listen to a word +they say.' + +However, he submitted to this, but was more contumacious as to +Berenger's other proposal of profiting by Sidney's copy of Virgil. +Here at least he was away from Mr. Adderley and study, and it +passed endurance to have Latin and captivity both at once. He was +more obliged for Berenger's offer to impart to him the instruction +in fencing he had received during his first visit to Paris; the +Chevalier made no difficulty about lending them foils, and their +little court became the scene of numerous encounters, as well as of +other games and exercises. More sedentary sports were at their +service, chess, tables, dice, or cards, but Philip detested these, +and they were only played in the evening, or on a rainy afternoon, +by Berenger and the Chevalier. + +It was clearly no part of the old gentleman's plan to break their +health or spirits. He insisted on taking them out riding +frequently, though always with four gendarmes with loaded +arquebuses, so as to preclude all attempt at escape, or +conversation with the peasants. The rides were hateful to both +youths, but Berenger knew that so many hours of tedium were thus +disposed of, and hoped also to acquire some knowledge of the +country; indeed, he looked at every cottage and every peasant with +affectionate eyes, as probably having sheltered Eustacie; and +Philip, after one visit paid to the convent at Bellaise, was always +in hopes of making such another. His boyish admiration of Madame +de Selinville was his chief distraction, coming on in accesses +whenever there was a hope of seeing her, and often diverting +Berenger by its absurdities, even though at other times he feared +that the lad might be led away by it, or dissension sown between +them. Meetings were rare--now and then Madame de Selinville would +appear at dinner or at supper as her father's guest; and more +rarely, the Chevalier would turn his horse's head in the direction +of Bellaise, and the three gentlemen would be received in the +unpartitioned parlour, and there treated to such lemon cakes as had +been the ruin of La Sablerie; but in general the castle and the +convent had little intercourse, or only just enough to whet the +appetite of the prisoners for what constituted their only variety. + +Six weeks had lagged by before any answer from Paris was received, +and then there was no reply from Walsingham, who had, it appeared, +returned home immediately after King Charles's funeral. The letter +from the Council bore that the Queen-mother was ready to accept the +Baron de Ribaumont's excuses in good part, and to consider his +youth; and she had no doubt of his being treated with the like +indulgence by the King, provided he would prove himself a loyal +subject, by embracing the Catholic faith, renouncing all his +illegitimate claims to the estates of Nid de Merle, and, in pledge +of his sincerity, wedding his cousin, the Countess de Selinville, +so soon as a dispensation should have been procured. On no other +consideration could he be pardoned or set at liberty. + +'Then,' said Berenger, slowly, 'a prisoner I must remain until it +be the will of Heaven to open the doors.' + +'Fair nephew!' exclaimed the Chevalier, 'make no rash replies. +Bethink you to what you expose yourself by obstinacy; I may no +longer be able to protect you when the King returns. And he +further went on to represent that, by renouncing voluntarily all +possible claims on the Nid de Merle estates, the Baron would save +the honour of poor Eustacie (which indeed equally concerned the +rest of the family), since they then would gladly drop all dispute +of the validity of the marriage; and the lands of Selinville would +be an ample equivalent for these, as well as for all expectations +in England. + +'Sir, it is impossible!' said Berenger. 'My wife lives.' + +'Comment! when you wear mourning for her.' + +'I wear black because I have been able to procure nothing else +since I have been convinced that she did not perish at La Sablerie. +I was on my way to seek her when I was seized and detained here.' + +'Where would you have sought her, my poor cousin?' compassionately +asked the Chevalier. + +'That I know not. She may be in England by this time; but that she +escaped from La Sablerie, I am well assured.' + +'Alas! my poor friend, you feed on delusion. I have surer +evidence--you shall see the man yourself--one of my son's people, +who was actually at the assault, and had strict orders to seek and +save her. Would that I could feel the least hope left!' + +'Is the man here? Let me see him,' said Berenger, hastily. + +He was at once sent for, and proved to be one of the stable +servants, a rough, soldierly-looking man, who made no difficulty in +telling that M. de Nid de Merle had bidden his own troop to use +every effort to reach the Widow Laurent's house, and secure the +lady. They had made for it, but missed the way, and met with +various obstacles; and when they reached it, it was already in +flames, and he had seen for a moment Mademoiselle de Nid de Merle, +whom he well knew by sight, with an infant in her arms at an upper +window. He had called to her by name, and was about to send for a +ladder, when recognizing the Ribaumont colours, she had turned +back, and thrown herself and her child into the flames. M. de Nid +de Merle was frantic when he heard of it, and they had searched for +the remains among the ruins; but, bah! it was like a lime-kiln, +nothing was to be found--all was calcined. + +'No fragment left?' said Berenger; 'not a corner of tile or beam?' + +'Not so much wood as you could boil an egg with; I will swear it on +the Mass.' + +'That is needless,' said Berenger. 'I have seen the spot myself. +That is all I desired to ask.' + +The Chevalier would have taken his hand and condoled with him over +the horrible story; but he drew back, repeating that he had seen +Widow Laurent's house, and that he saw that some parts of the man's +story were so much falsified that he could not believe the rest. +Moreover, he knew that Eustacie had not been in the town at the +time of the siege. + +Now the Chevalier _bona fide_ believed the man's story, so far as +that he never doubted that Eustacie had perished, and he looked on +Berenger's refusal to accept the tale as the mournful last clinging +to a vain hope. In his eyes, the actual sight of Eustacie, and the +total destruction of the house, were mere matters of embellishment, +possibly untrue, but not invalidating the main fact. He only said, +'Well, my friend, I will not press you while the pain of this +narration is still fresh.' + +'Thank you, sir; but this is not pain, for I believe not a word of +it; therefore it is impossible for me to entertain the proposal, +even if I could forsake my faith or my English kindred. You +remember, sir, that I returned this same answer at Paris, when I +had no hope that my wife survived.' + +'True, my fair cousin, but I fear time will convince you that this +constancy is unhappily misplaced. You shall have time to consider; +and when it is proved to you that my poor niece is out of the reach +of your fidelity, and when you have become better acquainted with +the claims of the Church to your allegiance, then may it only prove +that your conversion does not come too late. I have the honour to +take my leave.' + +'One moment more, sir. Is there no answer as to my brother?' + +'None, cousin. As I told you, your country has at present no +Ambassador; but, of course, on your fulfillment of the conditions, +he would be released with you.' + +'So,' said Philip, when the old knight had quitted the room, 'of +course you cannot marry while Eustacie lives; but if---' + +'Not another word, profane boy!' angrily cried Berenger. + +'I was only going to say, it is a pity of one so goodly not to +bring her over to the true faith, and take her to England.' + +'Much would she be beholden to you!' said Berenger. 'So!' he +added, sighing, 'I had little hope but that it would be thus. I +believe it is all a web of this old plotter's weaving, and that the +Queen-mother acts in it at his request. He wants only to buy me +off with his daughter's estates from asserting my claim to this +castle and lands; and I trow he will never rise up here till--till- +--' + +'Till when, Berry?' + +'Till mayhap my grandfather can move the Queen to do something for +us; or till Madame de Selinville sees a face she likes better than +her brother's carving; or, what can I tell? till malice is tired +out, and Heaven's will sets us free. May Eustacie only have +reached home! But I'm sorry for you, my poor Phil.' + +'Never heed, brother,' said Philip; 'what is prison to me, so that +I can now and then see those lovely eyes?' + +And the languishing air of the clumsy lad was so comical as to +beguile Berenger into a laugh. Yet Berenger's own feeling would go +back to his first meeting with Diane; and as he thought of the eyes +then fixed on him, he felt that he was under a trial that might +become more severe. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. THE DARK POOL OF THE FUTURE + + + +Triumph, triumph, only she +That knit his bonds can set him free.--SOUTHEY + + +No change was made in the life of the captives of Nid de Merle +after the answer from Paris, except that Pere Bonami, who had +already once or twice dined at the Chevalier's table, was requested +to make formal exposition of the errors of the Reformers and of the +tenets of his own Church to the Baron de Ribaumont. + +Philip took such good care not to be deluded that, though he sat by +to see fair play, yet it was always with his elbows on the table +and his fingers in his ears, regardless of appearing to the priest +in the character of the deaf adder. After all, he was not the +object, and good Pere Bonami at first thought the day his own, when +he found that almost all his arguments against Calvinism were +equally impressed upon Berenger's mind, but the differences soon +revealed themselves; and the priest, though a good man, was not a +very happily-chosen champion, for he was one of the old-fashioned, +scantily-instructed country priests, who were more numerous before +the Jesuit revival of learning, and knew nothing of controversy +save that adapted to the doctrines of Calvin; so that in dealing +with an Anglican of the school of Ridley and Hooker, it was like +bow ad arrow against sword. And tin those days of change, +controversial reading was one of the primary studies even of young +laymen, and Lord Walwyn, with a view to his grandson's peculiar +position, had taken care that he should be well instructed, so that +he was not at all unequal to the contest. Moreover, apart from +argument, he clung as a point of honour to the Church as to the +wife that he had accepted in his childhood; and often tried to +recall the sketch that Philip Sidney had once given him of a tale +that a friend of his designed to turn into a poem, like Ariosto's, +in _terza rima_, of a Red Cross knight separated from his Una as +the true faith, and tempted by a treacherous Duessa, who +impersonated at once Falsehood and Rome. And he knew so well that +the last relaxation of his almost terrified resistance would make +him so entirely succumb to Diane's beauty and brilliancy, that he +kept himself stiffly frigid and reserved. + +Diane never openly alluded to the terms on which he stood, but he +often found gifts from unknown hands placed in his room. The books +which he had found there were changed when he had had time to study +them; and marks were placed in some of the most striking passages. +They were of the class that turned the brain of the Knight of La +Mancha, but with a predominance of the pastoral, such as Diane of +George of Montemayor and his numerous imitators--which Philip +thought horrible stuff--enduring nothing but a few of the combats +of Amadis de Gaul or Palmerin of England, until he found that +Madame de Selinville prodigiously admired the 'silly swains more +silly than their sheep,' and was very anxious that M. le Baron +should be touched by their beauties; whereupon honest Philip made +desperate efforts to swallow them in his brother's stead, but was +always found fast asleep in the very middle of arguments between +Damon and Thyrsis upon the _devoirs_ of love, or the mournings of +some disconsolate nymph over her jealousies of a favoured rival. + +One day, a beautiful ivory box, exhaling sweet perfume, appeared in +the prison chamber, and therewith a sealed letter in verse, +containing an affecting description of how Corydon had been cruelly +torn by the lions in endeavouring to bear away Sylvie from her +cavern, how Sylvie had been rent from him and lost, and how vainly +he continued to bewail her, and disregard the loving lament of +Daphne, who had ever mourned and pined for him as she kept her +flock, made the rivulets, the brooks, the mountains re-echo with +her sighs and plaints, and had wandered through the hills and +valleys, gathering simples wherewith she had compounded a balsam +that might do away with the scars that the claws of the lions had +left, so that he might again appear with the glowing cheeks and +radiant locks that had excited the envy of the god of day. + +Berenger burst out laughing over the practical part of this +poetical performance, and laughed the more at Philip's hurt, +injured air at his mirth. Philip, who would have been the first to +see the absurdity in any other Daphne, thought this a passing +pleasant device, and considered it very unkind in his brother not +even to make experiment of the balsam of simples, but to declare +that he had much rather keep his scars for Eustacie's sake than +wear a smooth face to please Diane. + +Still Berenger's natural courtesy stood in his way. He could not +help being respectful and attentive to the old Chevalier, when +their terms were, apparently at least, those of host and guest; and +to a lady he COULD not be rude and repellant, though he could be +reserved. So, when the kinsfolk met, no stranger would have +discovered that one was a prisoner and the others his captors. + +One August day, when Madame de Selinville and her lady attendants +were supping at the castle at the early hour of six, a servant +brought in word that an Italian pedlar craved leave to display his +wares. He was welcome, both for need's sake and for amusement, and +was readily admitted. He was a handsome olive-faced Italian, and +was followed by a little boy with a skin of almost Moorish dye--and +great was the display at once made on the tables, of + + 'Lawn as white as driven snow, + Cyprus, black as e'er was crow; + Gloves as sweet as fragrant posies, + Masks for faces and for noses;' + +and there was a good deal of the eager, desultory bargaining that +naturally took place where purchasing was an unusual excitement and +novelty, and was to form a whole evening's amusement. Berenger, +while supplying the defects of his scanty traveling wardrobe, was +trying to make out whether he had seen the man before, wondering if +he were the same whom he had met in the forest of Montipipeau, +though a few differences in dress, hair, and beard made him +somewhat doubtful. + +'Perfumes? Yes, lady, I have store of perfumes: ambergris and +violet dew, and the Turkish essence distilled from roses; yea, and +the finest spirit of the Venus myrtle-tree, the secret known to the +Roman dames of old, whereby they secured perpetual beauty and love +--though truly Madame should need no such essence. That which +nature has bestowed on her secures to her all hearts--and one +valued more than all.' + +'Enough,' said Diane, blushing somewhat, though with an effort at +laughing off his words; 'these are the tricks of your trade.' + +'Madame is incredulous; yet, lady, I have been in the East. Yonder +boy comes from the land where there are spells that make known the +secrets of lives.' + +The old Chevalier, who had hitherto been taken up with the abstruse +calculation--derived from his past days of economy--how much ribbon +would be needed to retrim his murrey _just-au-corps_, here began to +lend an ear, though saying nothing. Philip looked on in open-eyed +wonder, and nudged his brother, who muttered in return, 'Jugglery!' + +'Ah, the fair company are all slow to believe,' said the pedlar. +'Hola, Alessio!' and taking a glove that Philip had left on the +table, he held it to the boy. A few unintelligible words passed +between them; then the boy pointed direct to Philip, and waved his +hand northwards. 'He says the gentleman who owns this glove comes +from the North, from far away,' interpreted the Italian; then as +the boy made the gesture of walking in chains, 'that he is a +captive.' + +'Ay,' cried Philip, 'right, lad; and can he tell how long I shall +be so?' + +'Things yet to come,' said the mountebank, 'are only revealed after +long preparation. For them must he gaze into the dark poor of the +future. The present and the past he can divine by the mere touch +of what has belonged to the person.' + +'It is passing strange,' said Philip to Madame de Selinville. 'You +credit it, Madame?' + +'Ah, have we not seen the wonders come to pass that a like diviner +fortold to the Queen-mother?' said Diane: 'her sons should be all +kings--that was told her when the eldest was yet Dauphin.' + +'And there is only one yet to come,' said Philip, awe-struck. 'But +see, what has he now?' + +'Veronique's kerchief,' returned Madame de Selinville, as the +Italian began to interpret the boy's gesture. + +'Pretty maidens, he says, serve fair ladies--bear tokens for them. +This damsel has once been the bearer of a bouquet of heather of the +pink and white, whose bells were to ring hope.' + +'Eh, eh, Madame, it is true?' cried Veronique, crimson with +surprise and alarm. 'M. le Baron knows it is true.' + +Berenger had started at this revelation, and uttered an +inarticulate exclamation; but at that moment the boy, in whose hand +his master had placed a crown from the money newly paid, began to +make vehement gestures, which the main interpreted. '_Le Balafre_, +he says, pardon me, gentlemen, _le Balafre_ could reveal even a +deeper scar of the heart than of the visage'--and the boy's brown +hand was pressed on his heart--'yet truly there is yet hope +(_esperance_) to be found. Yes'--as the boy put his hand to his +neck--'he bears a pearl, parted from its sister pearls. Where they +are, there is hope. Who can miss Hope, who has sought it at a +royal death-bed?' + +'Ah, where is it?' Berenger could not help exclaiming. + +'Sir,' said the pedlar, 'as I told Messieurs and Mesdames before, +the spirits that cast the lights of the future on the dark pool +need invocation. Ere he can answer M. le Baron's demands, he and I +must have time and seclusion. If Monsieur le Chevalier will grant +us an empty room, there will we answer all queries on which the +spirits will throw light.' + +'And how am I to know that you will not bring the devil to shatter +the castle, my friend?' demanded the Chevalier. 'Or more likely +still, that you are not laughing all the time at these credulous +boys and ladies?' + +'Of that, sir, you may here convince yourself,' said the +mountebank, putting into his hand a sort of credential in Italian, +signed by Renato di Milano, the Queen's perfumer, testifying to the +skill of his compatriot Ercole Stizzito both in perfumery, +cosmetics, and in the secrets of occult sciences. + +The Chevalier was no Italian scholar, and his daughter interpreted +the scroll to him, in a rapid low voice, adding, 'I have had many +dealings with Rene of Milan, father. I know he speaks sooth. +There can be no harm in letting the poor man play out his play--all +the castle servants will be frantic to have their fortunes told.' + +'I must speak with the fellow first, daughter,' said the Chevalier. +'He must satisfy me that he has no unlawful dealings that could +bring the Church down on us.' And he looked meaningly at the +mountebank, who replied by a whole muster-roll of ecclesiastics, +male and female, who had heard and approved his predictions. + +'A few more words with thee, fellow,' said the Chevalier, pointing +the way to one of the rooms opening out of the hall. 'As master of +the house I must be convinced of his honesty,' he added. 'If I am +satisfied, then who will may seek to hear their fortune.' + +Chevalier, man and boy disappeared, and Philip was the first to +exclaim, 'A strange fellow! What will he tell us? Madame, shall +you hear him?' + +'That depends on my father's report,' she said. 'And yet,' sadly +and pensively, 'my future is dark and void enough. Why should I +vex myself with hearing it?' + +'Nay, it may brighten,' said Philip. + +'Scarcely, while hearts are hard,' she murmured with a slight shake +of the head, that Philip thought indescribably touching; but +Berenger was gathering his purchases together, and did not see. +'And you, brother,' said Philip, 'you mean to prove him?' + +'No,' said Berenger. 'Have you forgotten, Phil, the anger we met +with, when we dealt with the gipsy at Hurst Fair?' + +'Pshaw, Berry, we are past flogging now.' + +'Out of reach, Phil, of the rod, but scarce of the teaching it +struck into us.' + +'What?' said Philip, sulkily. + +'That divining is either cozening manor forsaking God, Phil. +Either it is falsehood, or it is a lying wonder of the devil.' + +'But, Berry, this man is not cheat.' + +'Then he is worse.' + +'Only, turn not away, brother. How should he have known things +that even I know not?--the heather.' + +'No marvel in that,' said Berenger. 'This is the very man I bought +Annora's fan from; he was prowling round Montpipeau, and my heather +was given to Veronique with little secrecy. And as to the royal +deathbed, it was Rene, his master, who met me there.' + +'Then you think it mere cozeing? If so, we should find it out.' + +'I don't reckon myself keener than an accomplished Italian +mountebank,' said Berenger, dryly. + +Further conference was cut short by the return of the Chevalier, +saying, in his paternal genial way, 'Well, children, I have +examined the fellow and his credentials, and for those who have +enough youth and hope to care to have the future made known to +them, bah! it is well.' + +'Is it sorcery, sir?' asked Philip, anxiously. + +The Chevalier shrugged his shoulders. 'What know I?' he said. +'For those who have a fine nose for brimstone there may be, but he +assures me it is but the white magic practiced in Egypt, and the +boy is Christian!' + +'Did you try this secret, father?' inquired Madame de Selinville. + +'I, my daughter? An old man's fortune is in his children. What +have I to ask?' + +'I--I scarcely like to be the first!' said the lady, eager but +hesitating. 'Veronique, you would have your fortune told?' + +'I will be the first,' said Philip, stepping forward manfully. 'I +will prove him for you, lady, and tell you whether he be a cozener +or not, or if his magic be fit for you to deal with.' + +And confident in the inherent intuition of a plain Englishman, as +well as satisfied to exercise his resolution for once in opposition +to Berenger's opinion, Master Thistlewood stepped towards the +closet where the Italian awaited his clients, and Berenger knew +that it would be worse than useless to endeavour to withhold him. +He only chafed at the smile which passed between father and +daughter at this doughty self-assertion. + +There was a long silence. Berenger sat with his eyes fixed on the +window where the twilight horizon was still soft and bright with +the pearly gold of the late sunset, thinking with an intensity of +yearning what it would be could he truly become certain of +Eustacie's present doings; questioning whether he would try to +satisfy that longing by the doubtful auguries of the diviner, and +then recollecting how he had heard from wrecked sailors that to +seek to delude their thirst with sea-water did but aggravate their +misery. He knew that whatever he might hear would be unworthy of +confidence. Either it merely framed to soothe and please him--or, +were it a genuine oracle, he had no faith in the instinct that was +to perceive it, but what he HAD faith in was the Divine protection +over his lost ones. 'No,' he thought to himself, 'I will not by a +presumptuous sin, in my own impatience, risk incurring woes on them +that deal with familiar spirits and wizards that peep and mutter. +If ever I am to hear of Eustacie again, it shall be by God's will, +not the devil's.' + +Diane de Selinville had been watching his face all the time, and +now said, with that almost timid air of gaiety that she wore when +addressing him: 'You too, cousin, are awaiting Monsieur Philippe's +report to decide whether to look into the pool of mystery.' + +'Not at all, Madame,' said Berenger, gravely. 'I do not understand +white magic.' + +'Our good cousin has been too well bred among the Reformers to +condescend to our little wickednesses, daughter,' said the +Chevalier; and the sneer-much like that which would await a person +now who scrupled at joining in table-turning or any form of +spiritualism--purpled Berenger's scar, now his only manner of +blushing; but he instantly perceived that it was the Chevalier's +desire that he should consult the conjurer, and therefore became +the more resolved against running into a trap. + +'I am sure,' said Madame de Selinville, earnestly, though with an +affectation of lightness, 'a little wickedness is fair when there +is a great deal at stake. For my part, I would not hesitate long, +to find out how soon the King will relent towards my fair cousin +here!' + +'That, Madame,' said Berenger, with the same grave dryness, 'is +likely to be better known to other persons than this wandering +Greek boy.' + +Here Philip's step was heard returning hastily. He was pale, and +looked a good deal excited, so that Madame de Selinville uttered a +little cry, and exclaimed, 'Ah! is it so dreadful then?' + +'No, no, Madame,' said Philip, turning round, with a fervour and +confidence he had never before shown. 'On my word, there is +nothing formidable. You see nothing--nothing but the Italia and +the boy. The boy gazes into a vessel of some black liquid, and +sees--sees there all you would have revealed. Ah!' + +'Then you believe?' asked Madame de Selinville. + +'It cannot be false,' answered Philip; 'he told me everything. +Things he could not have known. My very home, my father's house, +passed in review before that strange little blackamoor's eyes; +where I--though I would have given worlds to see it--beheld only +the lamp mirrored in the dark pool.' + +'How do you know it was your father's house?' said Berenger. + +'I could not doubt. Just to test the fellow, I bade him ask for my +native place. The little boy gazed, smiled, babbled his gibberish, +pointed. The man said he spoke of a fair mansion among green +fields and hills, "a grand _cavalier embonpoint_,"--those were his +very words,--at the door, with a tankard in one hand. Ah! my dear +father, why could not I see him too? But who could mistake him or +the Manor?' + +'And did he speak of future as well as past?' said Diane. + +'Yes, yes, yes,' said Philip, with more agitation. 'Lady, that +will you know for yourself.' + +'It was not dreadful?' she said, rising. + +'Oh no!' and Philip had become crimson, and hesitated; 'certes, not +dreadful. But---I must not say more.' + +'Save good night,' said Berenger, rising; 'See, our gendarmes are +again looking as if we had long exceeded their patience. It is an +hour later than we are wont to retire.' + +'If it be your desire to consult this mysterious fellow now you +have heard your brother's report, my dear Baron,' said the +Chevalier, 'the gendarmes may devour their impatience a little +longer.' + +'Thanks, sir,' said Berenger; 'but I am not tempted,' and he gave +the usual signal to the gendarmes, who, during meals, used to stand +as sentries at the great door of the hall. + +'It might settle your mind,' muttered Philip, hesitating. 'And +yet--yet---' + +But he used no persuasions, and permitted himself to be escorted +with his brother along the passages to their own chamber, where he +threw himself into a chair with a long sigh, and did not speak. +Berenger meantime opened the Bible, glanced over the few verses he +meant to read, found the place in the Prayer-book, and was going to +the stairs to call Humfrey, when Philip broke forth: 'Wait, Berry; +don't be in such haste.' + +'What, you want time to lose the taste of your dealings with the +devil?' said Berenger, smiling. + +'Pshaw! No devil in the matter,' testily said Philip. 'No, I was +only wishing you had not had a Puritan fit, and seen and heard for +yourself. Then I should not have had to tell you,' and he sighed. + +'I have no desire to be told,' said Berenger, who had become more +fixed in the conviction that it was an imposture. + +'No desire! Ah! I have none when I knew what it was. But you +ought to know.' + +'Well,' said Berenger, 'you will burst anon if I open not my ears.' + +'Dear Berry, speak not thus. It will be the worse for you when you +do hear. Alack, Berenger, all ours have been vain hopes. I asked +for HER--and the boy fell well-nigh into convulsions of terror as +he gazed; spoke of flames and falling houses. That was wherefore I +pressed you not again--it would have wrung your heart too much. +The boy fairly wept and writhed himself, crying out in his tongue +for pity on the fair lady and the little babe in the burning house. +Alack! brother,' said Philip, a little hurt that his brother had +not changed countenance. + +'This is the lying tale of the man-at-arms which our own eyes +contradicted,' said Berenger; 'and no doubt was likewise inspired +by the Chevalier.' + +'See the boy, brother! How should he have heard the Chevalier? +Nay, you might hug your own belief, but it is hard that we should +both be in durance for your mere dream that she lives.' + +'Come, Phil, it will be the devil indeed that sows dissension +between us,' said Berenger. 'You know well enough that were it +indeed with my poor Eustacie as they would fain have us believe, +rather than give up her fair name I would not in prison for life. +Or would you have me renounce my faith, or wed Madame de Selinville +upon the witness of a pool of ink that I am a widower?' he added, +almost laughing. + +'For that matter,' muttered Philip, a good deal ashamed and half +affronted, 'you know I value the Protestant faith so that I never +heard a word from the will old priest. Nevertheless, the boy, when +I asked of our release, saw the gates set open by Love.' + +'What did Love look like in the pool? Had he wings like the Cupids +in the ballets at the Louvre?' asked Berenger provokingly. + +'I tell you I saw nothing,' said Philip, tartly: 'this was the +Italian's interpretation of the boy's gesture. It was to be by +means of love, he said, and of a lady who---he made it plain enough +who she was,' added the boy, colouring. + +'No doubt, as the Chevalier have instructed him to say that I--I--' +he hesitated, 'that my--my love--I mean that he saw my shield per +pale with the field fretty and the sable leopard.' + +'Oh! it is to be my daughter, is it?' said Berenger, laughing; 'I +am very happy to entertain your proposals for her.' + +'Berenger, what mocking fiend has possessed you?' cried Philip, +half angrily, half pitifully. 'How can you so speak of that poor +child?' + +'Because the more they try to force on me the story of her fate, +the plainer it is to me that they do not believe it. I shall find +her yet, and then, Phil, you shall have the first chance.' + +Philip growled. + +'Well, Phil,' said his brother, good-humouredly, 'any way, till +this Love comes that is to let us out, don't let Moor or fiend come +between us. Let me keep my credence for the honest Bailli's +daughters at Lucon; and remember I would give my life to free you, +but I cannot give away my faith.' Philip bent his head. He was of +too stubborn a mould to express contrition or affection, but he +mused for five minutes, then called Humfrey, and at the last +moment, as the heavy tread came up-stairs, he turned round and +said, 'You're in the right on't there, Berry. Hap what hap, the +foul fiend may carry off the conjurer before I murmur at you again! +Still I wish you had seen him. You would know 'tis sooth.' + +While Berenger, in his prison chamber, with the lamplight beaming +on his high white brow and clear eye, stood before his two comrades +in captivity, their true-hearted faces composed to reverence, and +as he read, 'I have hated them that hold of superstitious vanities, +and my trust hath been in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in +Thy mercy, for Thou hast considered my trouble and hast known my +soul in adversities,' feeling that here was the oracle by which he +was willing to abide--Diane de Selinville was entering the cabinet +where the secrets of the future were to be unveiled. + +There she stood--the beautiful court lady--her lace coif (of the +Mary of Scotland type) well framed the beautiful oval of her face, +and set of the clear olive of her complexion, softened by short +jetty curls at the temples, and lighted splendid dark eyes, and by +the smiles of a perfect pair of lips. A transparent veil hung back +over the ruff like frostwork-formed fairy wings, and over the white +silk bodice and sleeves laced with violet, and the violet skirt +that fell in ample folds on the ground; only, however, in the dim +light revealing by an occasional gleam that it was not black. It +was a stately presence, yet withal there was a tremor, a quiver of +the downcast eyelids, and a trembling of the fair hand, as though +she were ill at ease; even though it was by no means the first time +she had trafficked with the dealers in mysterious arts who swarmed +around Catherine de Medicis. There were words lately uttered that +weighed with her in their simplicity, and she could not forget them +in that gloomy light, as she gazed on the brown face of the +Italian, Ercole, faultless in outline as a classical mask, but the +black depths of the eyes sparkling with intensity of observation, +as if they were everywhere at once and gazed through and through. +He wore his national dress, with the short cloak over one shoulder; +but the little boy, who stood at the table, had been fantastically +arrayed in a sort of semi-Albanian garb, a red cap with a long +tassel, a dark, gold-embroidered velvet jacket sitting close to his +body, and a white kilt over his legs, bare except for buskins stiff +with gold. The poor little fellow looked pale in spite of his +tawny hue, his enormous black eyes were heavy and weary, and he +seemed to be trying to keep aloof from the small brazen vessel +formed by the coils of two serpents that held the inky liquid of +which Philip had spoken. + +No doubt of the veritable nature of the charm crossed Diane; her +doubt was of its lawfulness, her dread of the supernatural region +she was invading. She hesitated before she ventured on her first +question, and started as the Italian first spoke,--'What would the +Eccelentissima? Ladies often hesitate to speak the question +nearest their hearts. Yet is it ever the same. But the lady must +be pleased to form it herself in words, or the lad will not see her +vision.' + +'Where, then, is my brother?' said Diane, still reluctant to come +direct to the point. + +The boy gazed intently into the black pool, his great eyes dilating +till they seemed like black wells, and after a long time, that +Diane could have counted by the throbs of her heart, he began to +close his fingers, perform the action over the other arm of one +playing on the lute, throw his head back, close his eyes, and +appear to be singing a lullaby. Then he spoke a few words to his +master quickly. + +'He see,' said Ercole, 'a gentleman touching the lute, seated in a +bedroom, where lies, on a rich pillow, another gentleman,'--and as +the boy stroked his face, and pointed to his hands--'wearing a mask +and gloves. It is, he says, in my own land, in Italy,' and as the +boy made the action of rowing, 'in the territory of Venice.' + +'It is well,' said Madame de Selinville, who knew that nothing was +more probable than that her brother should be playing the King to +his sleep in the medicated mask and gloves that cherished the royal +complexion, and, moreover, that Henry was lingering to take his +pastime in Italy to the great inconvenience of his kingdom. + +Her next question came nearer her heat--'You saw the gentleman with +a scar. Will he leave this castle?' + +The boy gazed, then made gestures of throwing his arms wide, and of +passing out; and as he added his few words, the master explained: +'He sees the gentleman leaving the castle, through open gate, in +full day, on horseback; and--and it is Madame who is with them,' he +added, as the lad pointed decidedly to her, 'it is Madame who opens +their prison.' + +Diane's face lighted with gladness for a moment; then she said, +faltering (most women of her day would not have been even thus +reserved), 'Then I shall marry again?' + +The boy gazed and knitted his brow; then, without any pantomime, +looked up and spoke. 'The Eccellentissima shall be a bride once +more, he says,' explained the man, 'but after a sort he cannot +understand. It is exhausting, lady, thus to gaze into the +invisible future; the boy becomes confused and exhausted ere long.' + +'Once more--I will only ask of the past. My cousin, is he married +or a widower?' + +The boy clasped his hands and looked imploringly, shaking his head +at the dark pool, as he murmured an entreating word to his master. +'Ah! Madame,' said the Italian, 'that question hath already been +demanded by the young Inglese. The poor child has been so +terrified by the scene it called up, that he implored he may not +see it again. A sacked and burning town, a lady in a flaming +house---' + +'Enough, enough,' said de; 'I could as little bear to hear as he to +see. It is what we have ever known and feared. And now'--she +blushed as she spoke--'sir, you will leave me one of those potions +that Signor Renato is wont to compound.' + +'_Capisco_!' said Ercole; 'but the Eccellentissima shall he obeyed +if she will supply the means, for the expense will be heavy.' + +The bargain was agreed upon, and a considerable sum advanced for a +philter, compounded of strange Eastern plants and mystic jewels; +and then Diane, with a shudder of relief, passed into the full +light of the hall, bade her father good night, and was handed by +him into the litter that had long been awaiting her at the door. + +The Chevalier, then, with care on his brow, bent his steps towards +the apartment where the Italian still remained counting the money +he had received. + +'So!' he said as he entered, 'so, fellow, I have not hindered your +gains, and you have been true to your agreement?' + +'Illustrissimo, yes. The pool of vision mirrored the flames, but +nothing beyond--nothing--nothing.' + +'They asked you then no more of those words you threw out of +Esperance?' + +'Only the English youth, sir; and there were plenty of other hopes +to dance before the eyes of such a lad! With M. le Baron it will +be needful to be more guarded.' + +'M. le Baron shall not have the opportunity,' said the Chevalier. +'He may abide by his decision, and what the younger one may tell +him. Fear not, good man, it shall be made good to you, if you obey +my commands. I have other work for you. But first repeat to me +more fully what you told me before. Where was it that you saw this +unhappy girl under the name of Esperance?' + +'At a hostel, sir, at Charente, where she was attending on an old +heretic teacher of the name of Gardon, who had fallen sick there, +being pinched by the fiend with rheumatic pains after his deserts. +She bore the name of Esperance Gardon, and passed for his son's +widow.' + +'And by what means did you know her not to be the mean creature she +pretended?' said the Chevalier, with a gesture of scornful horror. + +'Illustrissimo, I never forget a face. I had seen this lady with +M. le Baron when they made purchases of various trinkets at +Montpipeau; and I saw her full again. I had the honour to purchase +from her certain jewels, that the Eccellenza will probably redeem; +and even--pardon, sir--I cut off and bought of her, her hair.' + +'Her hair!' exclaimed the Chevalier, in horror. 'The miserable +girl to have fallen so low! Is it with you, fellow?' + +'Surely, Illustrissimo. Such tresses--so shining, so silky, so +well kept,--I reserved to adorn the heads of Signor Renato's most +princely customers', said the man, unpacking from the inmost +recesses of one of his most ingeniously arranged packages, a parcel +which contained the rich mass of beautiful black tresses. 'Ah! her +head looked so noble,' he added, 'that I felt it profane to let my +scissors touch those locks; but she said that she could never wear +them openly more, and that they did but take up her time, and were +useless to her child and her father--as she called him; and she +much needed the medicaments for the old man that I gave her in +exchange.' + +'Heavens! A daughter of Ribaumont!' sighed the Chevalier, +clenching his hand. 'And now, man, let me see the jewels with +which the besotted child parted.' + +The jewels were not many, nor remarkable. No one but a member of +the family would have identified them, and not one of the pearls +was there; and the Chevalier refrained from inquiring after them, +lest, by putting the Italian on the scent of anything so +exceptionally valuable, he should defeat his own object, and lead +to the man's securing the pearls and running away with them. But +Ercole understood his glance, with the quickness of a man whose +trade forced him to read countenances. 'The Eccellenza is looking +for the pearls of Ribaumont? The lady made no offer of them to +me.' + +'Do you believe that she has them still?' + +'I am certain of it, sir. I know that she has jewels--though she +said not what they were--which she preserved at the expense of her +hair. It was thus. The old man had, it seems, been for weeks on +the rack with pains caught by a chill when they fled from La +Sablerie, and, though the fever had left him, he was still so stiff +in the joints as to be unable to move. I prescribed for him +unguents of balm and Indian spice, which, as the Eccellenza knows, +are worth far more than their weight in gold; nor did these jewels +make up the cost of these, together with the warm cloak for him, +and the linen for her child that she had been purchasing. I tell +you, sir, the babe must have no linen but the finest fabric of +Cambrai--yes, and even carnation-coloured ribbons--though, for +herself, I saw the homespun she was sewing. As she mused over what +she could throw back, I asked if she had no other gauds to make up +the price, and she said, almost within herself, "They are my +child's, not mine." Then remembering that I had been buying the +hair of the peasant maidens, she suddenly offered me her tresses. +But I could yet secure the pearls, if Eccellenza would.' + +'Do you then believe her to be in any positive want or distress?' +said the Chevalier. + +'Signor, no. The heretical households among whom she travels +gladly support the families of their teachers, and at Catholic inns +they pay their way. I understood them to be on their way to a +synod of Satan at the nest of heretics, Montauban, where doubtless +the old miscreant would obtain an appointment to some village.' + +'When did you thus full in with them?' + +'It was on one of the days of the week of Pentecost,' said Ercole. +'It is at that time I frequent fairs in those parts, to gather my +little harvest on the maidens' heads.' + +'_Parbleu_! class not my niece with those sordid beings, man,' said +the Chevalier, angrily. 'Here is your price'--tossing a heavy +purse on the table--'and as much more shall await you when you +bring me sure intelligence where to find my niece. You understand; +and mark, not one word of the gentleman you saw here. You say she +believes him dead?' + +'The Illustrissimo must remember that she never dropped her +disguise with me, but I fully think that she supposed herself a +widow. And I understand the Eccellenza, she is still to think so. +I may be depended on.' + +'You understand,' repeated the Chevalier, 'this sum shall reward +you when you have informed me where to find her--as a man like you +can easily trace her from Montauban. If you have any traffickings +with her, it shall be made worth your while to secure the pearls +for the family; but, remember, the first object is herself, and +that she should be ignorant of the existence of him whom she +fancied her husband.' + +'I see, Signor; and not a word, of course, of my having come from +you. I will discover her, and leave her noble family to deal with +her. Has the Illustrissimo any further commands?' + +'None,' began the Chevalier; then, suddenly, 'This unhappy infant-- +is it healthy? Did it need any of your treatment?' + +'Signor, no. It was a fair, healthy bambina of a year old, and I +heard the mother boasting that it had never had a day's illness.' + +'Ah, the less a child has to do in the world, the more is it bent +on living,' said the Chevalier with a sigh; and then, with a +parting greeting, he dismissed the Italian, but only to sup under +the careful surveillance of the steward, and then to be conveyed by +early morning light beyond the territory where the affairs of +Ribaumont were interesting. + +But the Chevalier went through a sleepless night. Long did he pace +up and down his chamber, grind his teeth, clench his fist and point +them at his head, and make gestures of tearing his thin gray locks; +and many a military oath did he swear under his breath as he +thought to what a pass things had come. His brother's daughter +waiting on an old Huguenot _bourgeois_, making sugar-cakes, selling +her hair! And what next? Here was she alive after all, alive and +disgracing herself; alive--yes, both she and her husband--to +perplex the Chevalier, and force him either to new crimes or to +beggar his son! Why could not the one have really died on the St. +Bartholomew, or the other at La Sablerie, instead of putting the +poor Chevalier in the wrong by coming to live again? + +What had he done to be thus forced to peril his soul at his age? +Ah, had he but known what he should bring on himself when he wrote +the unlucky letter, pretending that the silly little child wished +to dissolve the marriage! How should he have known that the lad +would come meddling over? And then, when he had dexterously +brought about that each should be offended with the other, and +consent to the separation, why must royalty step in and throw them +together again? Yes, and he surely had a right to feel ill-used, +since it was in ignorance of the ratification of the marriage that +he had arranged the frustration of the elopement, and that he had +forced on the wedding with Narcisse, so as to drive Eustacie to +flight from the convent--in ignorance again of her life that he had +imprisoned Berenger, and tried to buy off his clams to Nid de Merle +with Diane's hand. Circumstances had used him cruelly, and he +shrank from fairly contemplating the next step. + +He knew well enough what it must be. Without loss of time a letter +must be sent to Rome, backed by strong interest, so as to make it +appear that the ceremony at Montpipeau, irregular, and between a +Huguenot and Catholic, had been a defiance of the Papal decree, and +must therefore be nullified. This would probably be attainable, +though he did not feel absolutely secure of it. Pending this, +Eustacie must be secluded in a convent; and, while still believing +herself a widow, must immediately on the arrival of the decree and +dispensation, be forced into the marriage with Narcisse before she +heard of Berenger's being still alive. And then Berenger would +have no longer any excuse for holding out. His claims would be +disposed of, and he might be either sent to England, or he might be +won upon by Madame de Selinville's constancy. + +And this, as the Chevalier believed, was the only chance of saving +a life that he was unwilling to sacrifice, for his captive's +patience and courtesy had gained so much upon his heart that he was +resolved to do all that shuffling and temporizing could do to save +the lad from Narcisse's hatred and to secure him Diane's love. + +As to telling the truth and arranging his escape, that scarcely +ever crossed the old man's mind. It would have been to resign the +lands of Nid de Merle, to return to the makeshift life he knew but +too well, and, what was worse, to ruin and degrade his son, and +incur his resentment. It would probably be easy to obtain a +promise from Berenger, in his first joy and gratitude, of yielding +up all pretensions of his own or his wife's; but, however +honourably meant, such a promise would be worth very little, and +would be utterly scorned by Narcisse. Besides, how could he thwart +the love of his daughter and the ambition of his son both at once? + +No; the only security for the possession of Nid de Merle lay in +either the death of the young baron and his child or else in his +acquiescence in the invalidity of his marriage, and therefore in +the illegitimacy of the child. + +And it was within the bounds of possibility that, in his seclusion, +he might at length learn to believe in the story of the destruction +at La Sablerie, and, wearying of captivity, might yield at length +to the persuasions of Diane and her father, and become so far +involved with them as to be unable to draw back, or else be so +stung by Eustacie's desertion as to accept her rival willingly. + +It was a forlorn hope, but it was the only medium that lay between +either the death or the release of the captive; and therefore the +old man clung to it as almost praiseworthy, and did his best to +bring it about by keeping his daughter ignorant that Eustacie +lived, and writing to his son that the Baron was on the point of +becoming a Catholic and marrying his sister: and thus that all +family danger and scandal would be avoided, provided the matter +were properly represented at Rome. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. 'JAM SATIS' + + + +You may go walk, and give me leave a while, +My lessons make no music in three parts. + TAMING OF THE SHREW + + +Whether the dark pool really showed Sir Marmaduke Thistlewood or +not, at the moment that his son desired that his image should be +called up, the good knight was, in effect, sitting nodding over the +tankard of sack with which his supper was always concluded, while +the rest of the family, lured out of the sunny hall by the charms +of a fresh summer evening, had dispersed into the gardens or hall. + +Presently a movement in the neighbourhood made him think it +incumbent on him to open his eyes wide, and exclaim, 'I'm not +asleep.' + +'Oh no! you never are asleep when there's anything you ought to +see!' returned Dame Annora, who was standing by him with her hand +on his chair. + +'How now? Any tidings of the lads?' he exclaimed. + +'Of the lads? No, indeed; but there will be bad tidings for the +lads if you do not see to it! Where do you think your daughter is, +Sir Duke?' + +'Where? How should I know? She went out to give her sisters some +strawberries, I thought.' + +'See here,' said Lady Thistlewood, leading the way to the north end +of the hall, where a door opened into what was called the Yew-tree +Grove. This consisted of five rows of yew-trees, planted at +regular intervals, and their natural mode of growth so interfered +with by constant cutting, that their ruddy trunks had been obliged +to rise branchless, till about twelve feet above ground they had +been allowed to spread out their limbs in the form of ordinary +forest trees; and, altogether, their foliage became a thick, +unbroken, dark, evergreen roof, impervious to sunshine, and almost +impervious to rain, while below their trunks were like columns +forming five arcades, floored only by that dark red crusty earth +and green lichen growth that seems peculiar to the shelter of yew- +trees. The depth of the shade and the stillness of the place made +it something peculiarly soothing and quiet, more especially when, +as now, the sunset light came below the branches, richly tinted the +russet pillars, cast long shadows, and gleamed into all the +recesses of the interlacing boughs and polished leafage above. + +'Do you see, Sir Duke?' demanded his lady. + +'I see my little maids making a rare feast under the trees upon +their strawberries set out on leaves. Bless their little hearts! +what a pretty fairy feast they've made of it, with the dogs looking +on as grave as judges! It takes me young again to get a smack of +the haut-bois your mother brought from Chelsea Gardens.' + +'Haut-bois! He'd never see if the house ere afire overhead. +What's that beyond?' + +'No fire, my dear, but the sky all aglow with sunset, and the red +cow standing up against the light, chewing her cud, and looking as +well pleased as though she knew there wasn't her match in Dorset.' + +Lady Thistlewood fairly stamped, and pointed with her fan, like a +pistol, down a side aisle of the grove, where two figures were +slowly moving along. + +'Eh! what? Lucy with her apron full of rose-leaves, letting them +float away while she cons the children's lesson for the morrow with +Merrycourt? They be no great loss, when the place is full of +roses. Or why could you not call to the wench to take better heed +of them, instead of making all this pother?' + +'A pretty sort of lesson it is like to be! A pretty sort of return +for my poor son, unless you take the better heed!' + +'Would that I saw any return at all for either of the poor dear +lads,' sighed the knight wearily; 'but what you may be driving at I +cannot perceive.' + +'What! When 'tis before your very eyes, how yonder smooth-tongued +French impostor, after luring him back to his ruin beyond seas, is +supplanting him even here, and your daughter giving herself over to +the wily viper!' + +'The man is a popish priest,' said Sir Marmaduke; 'no more given to +love than Mr. Adderley or Friar Rogers.' + +The dame gave a snort of derision:' Prithee, how many popish +priests be now wedded parsons? Nor, indeed, even if his story be +true, do I believe he is a priest at all. I have seen many a young +abbe, as they call themselves, clerk only in name, loitering at +court, free to throw off the cassock any moment they chose, and as +insolent as the rest. Why, the Abbe de Lorraine, cardinal that is +now, said of my complexion---' + +'No vows, quotha!' muttered Sir Marmaduke, well aware of the +Cardinal de Lorraine's opinion of his lady's complexion. 'So much +the better; he is too good a young fellow to be forced to mope +single, and yet I hate men's breaking their word.' + +'And that's all you have to say!' angrily cried her ladyship. 'No +one save myself ever thinks how it is to be with my poor dear +wounded, heart-broken son, when he comes home, to find himself so +scurvily used by that faithless girl of yours, ready---' + +'Hold, madam,' said Sir Marmaduke, with real sternness; 'nothing +rash against my daughter. How should she be faithless to a man who +has been wedded ever since she knew him?' + +'He is free now,' said Lady Thistlewood, beginning to cry (for the +last letters received from Berenger had been those from Paris, +while he still believed Eustacie to have perished at La Sablerie); +'and I do say it is very hard that just when he is rid of the +French baggage, the bane of his life, and is coming home, maybe +with a child upon his hands, and all wounded, scarred, and blurred, +the only wench he would or should have married should throw herself +away on a French vagabond beggar, and you aiding and abetting.' + +'Come, come, Dame Nan,' said Sir Marmaduke, 'who told you I was +aiding and abetting?' + +'Tell me not, Sir Duke, you that see them a courting under your +very eyes, and will not stir a finger to hinder it. If you like to +see your daughter take up with a foreign adventurer, why, she's no +child of mine, thank Heaven! And I've nought to do with it.' + +'Pshaw, dame, there's no taking up in the case; and if there were, +sure it is not you that should be hard on Lucy.' + +Whereupon Annora fell into such a flood of tears at the cruelty of +casting such things up to her, that Sir Marmaduke was fain in his +blundering way to declare that he only meant that an honest +Englishman had no chance where a Frenchman once came in, and then +very nearly to surrender at discretion. At any rate, he escaped +from her tears by going out at the door, and calling to Lucy to +mind her rose-leaves; then, as she gazed round, dismayed at the +pink track along the ground, he asked her what she had been doing. +Whereto she answered with bright face and honest eyes, that Mr. +Mericour had been going over with her the ode '_Jam satis_,' of +Horatius, wherewith to prepare little Nan for him to-morrow, and +then she ran hurriedly away to secure the remainder of the rose- +leaves, while her companion was already on his knees picking up the +petals she had dropped. + +'Master Merrycourt,' said Sir Marmaduke, a little gruffly, 'never +heed the flower-leaves. I want a word with you.' + +Claude de Mericour rose hastily, as if somewhat struck by the tone. + +'The matter is this,' said the knight, leading him from the house, +and signing back the little girls who had sprung towards them--'it +has been brought to my mind that you are but a youth, and, pardon +me, my young master, but when lads and lasses have their heads +together over one book, tongues wag.' + +The colour rushed hotly into young Mericour's face, and he answered +quickly, 'My rank--I mean my order--should answer that.' + +'Stay, young man, we are not in France; your order, be it what it +may, has not hindered many a marriage in England; though, look you, +no man should ever wed with my consent who broke his word to God in +so doing; but they tell me your vows are not always made at your +age.' + +'Nor are they,' exclaimed Mericour, in a low voice, but with a +sudden light on his countenance. 'The tonsure was given me as a +child, but no vow of celibacy has passed my lips.' + +Sir Marmaduke exclaimed, 'Oh!--' with a prolongation of the sound +that lasted till Mericour began again. + +'But, sir, let tongues wag as they will, it is for nought. Your +fair daughter was but as ever preparing beforehand with me the +tasks with which she so kindly indoctrinates her little sisters. I +never thought of myself as aught but a religious, and should never +dream of human love.' + +'I thought so! I said so!' said Sir Marmaduke, highly gratified. +'I knew you were an honourable man that would never speak of love +to my daughter by stealth, nor without means to maintain her after +her birth.' + +The word 'birth' brought the blood into the face of the son of the +peer of France, but he merely bowed with considerable stiffness and +pride, saying, 'You did me justice, sir.' + +'Come, don't be hurt, man,' said Sir Marmaduke, putting his hand on +his shoulder. 'I told you I knew you for an honourable man! +You'll be over here to-morrow to hear the little maids their _Jam +satis_, or whatever you call it, and dine with us after to taste +Lucy's handiwork in jam cranberry, a better thing as I take it.' + +Mericour had recovered himself, smiled, shook the good Sir +Marmaduke proffered hand, and, begging to excuse himself from +bidding good night to the ladies on the score of lateness, he +walked away to cross the downs on his return to Combe Walwyn, where +he was still resident, according to the arrangement by which he was +there to await Berenger's return, now deferred so much beyond all +reasonable expectation. + +Sir Marmaduke, with a free heart, betook himself to the house, +dreading to find that Lucy had fallen under the objurgations of her +step-mother, but feeling impelled to stand her protector, and +guided to the spot by the high key of Dame Annora's voice. + +He found Lucy--who, on the race occasions when good-natured Lady +Thistlewood was really angry with her, usually cowered meekly--now +standing her ground, and while the dame was pausing for breath, he +heard her gentle voice answering steadily, 'No, madam, to him I +could never owe faith, nor troth, nor love, save such as I have for +Philip.' + +'Then it is very unfeeling and ungrateful of you. Nor did you +think so once, but it is all his scars and---' + +By this time Sir Marmaduke had come near enough to put his arm +round his daughter, and say, 'No such thing, dame. It had been +unseemly in the lass had it been otherwise. She is a good girl and +a discreet; and the Frenchman, if he has made none of their vows, +feels as bound as though he had. He's an honest fellow, thinking +of his studies and not of ladies or any such trumpery. So give me +a kiss, Lucy girl, and thou shalt study _Jam satis_, or any other +jam he pleases, without more to vex thee.' + +Lucy, now that the warfare was over, had begun to weep so profusely +that so soon as her father released her, she turned, made a mute +gesture to ask permission to depart, and hurried away; while Lady +Thistlewood, who disliked above all that her husband should think +her harsh to her step-children, began to relate the exceeding +tenderness of the remonstrance which had been followed with such +disproportionate floods of tears. + +Poor Sir Marmaduke hoped at least that the veil of night had put an +end to the subject which harassed him at a time when he felt less +capable than usual of bearing vexation, for he was yearning sadly +after his only son. The youths had been absent ten months, and had +not been heard of for more than three, when they were just leaving +Paris in search of the infant. Sir Francis Walsingham, whose +embassy had ended with the death of Charles IX., knew nothing of +them, and great apprehensions respecting them were beginning to +prevail, and, to Sir Marmaduke especially, seemed to be eating out +the peace and joy of his life. Philip, always at his father's side +ever since he could run alone, was missed at every visit to stable +or kennel; the ring of his cheery voice was wanting to the house; +and the absence of his merry whistle seemed to make Sir Marmaduke's +heart sink like lead as he donned his heavy boots, and went forth +in the silver dew of the summer morning to judge which of his +cornfields would soonest be ready for the sickle. Until this +expedition of his sons he had, for more than fourteen years never +been alone in those morning rounds on his farm; and much as he +loved his daughters, they seemed to weigh very light in the scale +compared with the sturdy heir who loved every acre with his own +ancestral love. Indeed, perhaps, Sir Marmaduke had deeper, fonder +affection for the children of his first marriage, because he had +barely been able to give his full heart to their mother before she +was taken from him, and he had felt almost double tenderness to be +due to them, when he at length obtained his first and only true +love. Now, as he looked over the shinning billows of the waving +barley, his heart was very sore with longing for Philip's gladsome +shout at the harvest-field, and he thought with surprise and +compunction how he had seen Lucy leave him struggling with a flood +of tears. While he was still thus gazing, a head appeared in the +narrow path that led across the fields, and presently he recognized +the slender, upright form of the young Frenchman. + +'A fair good morrow to you, Master Merrycourt! You come right +early to look after your ode?' + +'Sir,' said Mericour, gravely saluting him, 'I come to make you my +confession. I find that I did not deal truly with you last night, +but it was all unwittingly.' + +'How?' exclaimed Sir Marmaduke, recollecting Lucy's tears and +looking much startled. 'You have not---' and there he broke off, +seeing Mericour eager to speak. + +'Sir,' he said, 'I was bred as one set apart from love. I had +never learnt to think it possible to me,--I thought so even when I +replied to you last evening; but, sir, the words you then spoke, +the question you asked me set my heart burning, and my senses +whirling---' And between agitation and confusion he stammered and +clasped his hands passionately, trying to continue what he was +saying, but muttering nothing intelligible. + +Sir Marmaduke filled up the interval with a long whistle of +perplexity; but, too kind not to pity the youth's distress, he laid +his hand on his shoulder, saying, 'You found out you were but a +hot-blooded youth after all, but an honest one. For, as I well +trust, my lass knows nought of this.' + +'How should she know, sir, what I knew not myself?' + +'Ha! ha!' chuckled Sir Duke to himself, 'so 'twas all Dame Nan's +doing that the flame has been lighted! Ho! ho! But what is to +come next is the question?' and he eyed the French youth from head +to foot with the same considering look with which he was wont to +study a bullock. + +'Sir, sir,' cried Mericour, absolutely flinging himself on his knee +before him with national vehemence, 'do give me hope! Oh! I will +bless you, I will---' + +'Get up, man,' said the knight, hastily; 'no fooling of this sort. +The milkmaids will be coming. Hope--why, what sort of hope can be +given you in the matter?' he continued; 'you are a very good lad, +and I like you well enough, but you are not the sort of stuff one +gives one's daughter to. Ay, ay, I know you are a great man in +your own country, but what are you here?' + +'A miserable fugitive and beggar, I know that,' said Mericour, +vehemently, 'but let me have but hope, and there is nothing I will +not be!' + +'Pish!' said Sir Marmaduke. + +'Hear me,' entreated the youth, recalled to common sense: 'you know +that I have lingered at the chateau yonder, partly to study +divinity and settle my mind, and partly because my friend Ribaumont +begged me to await his return. I will be no longer idle; my mind +is fixed. To France I cannot return, while she gives me no choice +between such doctrine and practice as I saw at court, and such as +the Huguenots would have imposed on me. I had already chosen +England as my country before--before this wild hope had awakened in +me. Here, I know my nobility counts for nothing, though, truly, +sir, few names in France are prouder. But it shall be no +hindrance. I will become one of your men of the robe. I have +heard that they can enrich themselves and intermarry with your +country _noblesse_.' + +'True, true,' said Sir Marmaduke, 'there is more sense in that +notion than there seemed to be in you at first. My poor brother +Phil was to have been a lawyer if he had lived, but it seems to me +you are a long way off from that yet! Why, our Templars be mostly +Oxford scholars.' + +'So it was explained to me,' said Mericour, 'but for some weeks +past the Lady Burnet, to whose sons, as you know, I have been +teaching French, has been praying me to take the charge of them at +Oxford, by which means I should at least be there maintained, and +perchance obtain the means for carrying on my studies at the +Temple.' + +'Not ill thought of,' said the knight; 'a fair course enough for +you; but look you, you must have good luck indeed to be in a state +to marry within ten or fifteen years,--very likely not then--having +nothing of your own, and my wench but little, for Lucy's portion +cannot be made equal to her sisters', her mother having been no +heiress like Dame Nan. And would you have me keep the maid +unwedded till she be thirty or thirty-five years old, waiting for +your fortune?' + +Mericour looked terribly disconcerted at this. + +'Moreover,' added the knight, 'they will all be at me, so soon as +those poor lads come home--Heaven grant they do--to give her to +Berenger.' + +'Sir,' said Mericour, looking up with a sudden smile, 'all that I +would ask is, what you are too good a father to do, that you would +not put any force on her inclinations.' + +'How now? you said you had never courted her!' + +'Nor have I, sir. But I see the force of your words. Should she +love another man, my dream were, of course, utterly vain, but if +not---' He broke off. + +'Well, well, I am no man to force a girl to a match against her +will; but never trust to that, man. I know what women are; and let +a fantastic stranger come across them, there's an end of old +friends. But yours is an honest purpose, and you are a good youth; +and if you had anything to keep her with, you should have Lucy to- +morrow, with all my heart.' + +Then came the further question whether Mericour should be allowed +an interview with Lucy. Sir Marmaduke was simple enough to fancy +that she need not be made aware of the cause of Mericour's new +arrangement, and decided against it. The young man sorrowfully +acquiesced, but whether such a secret could be kept was another +thing. To him it would have been impossible to renew their former +terms of intercourse without betraying his feelings, and he +therefore absented himself. Lady Thistlewood triumphed openly in +Sir Marmaduke's having found him out and banished him from the +house; Lucy looked white and shed silent tears. Her father's soft +heart was moved, and one Sunday evening he whispered into her ear +that Dame Nan was all wrong, and Mericour only kept away because he +was an honourable man. Then Lucy smiled and brightened, and Sir +Duke fondly asked her if she were fool enough to fancy herself in +love with the man. + +'Oh no, how should she, when he had never named love to her? She +was only glad her father esteemed him.' + +So then foolish, fond Sir Marmaduke told her all that had passed, +and if it had not been too late, he would have sent for Mericour +from Lady Burnet's; but his own story did almost as well in +bringing back Lucy's soft pink color. She crept up into Cecily's +room one day, and found that she knew all about it, and was as kind +and sympathizing as she could be--when a vocation had been given +up, though no vows had been taken. She did not quite understand +it, but she would take it on trust. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. THE SCANDAL OF THE SYNOD OF MONTAUBAN + + + +O ye, wha are sae guid yourself, + Sae pious and sae holy, +Ye've naught to do but mark and tell + Your neebour's fauts and folly.--BURNS + + +The old city of Montauban, once famous as the home of Ariosto's +Rinaldo and his brethren, known to French romance as '_Les Quatre +Fils Aymon_,' acquired in later times a very diverse species of +fame,--that, namely, of being one of the chief strong-holds of the +Reformed. The Bishop Jean de Lettes, after leading a scandalous +life, had professed a sort of Calvinism, had married, and retired +to Geneva, and his successor had not found it possible to live at +Montauban from the enmity of the inhabitants. Strongly situated, +with a peculiar municipal constitution of its own, and used to +Provencal independence both of thought and deed, the inhabitants +had been so unanimous in their Calvinism, and had offered such +efficient resistance, as to have wrung from Government reluctant +sanction for the open observance of the Reformed worship, and for +the maintenance of a college for the education of their ministry. + +There then was convoked the National Synod, answering to the +Scottish General Assembly, excepting that the persecuted French +Presbyterians met in a different place every year. Delegated +pastors there gathered from every quarter. From Northern France +came men used to live in constant hazard of their lives; from +Paris, confessors such as Merlin, the chaplain who, leaving +Coligny's bedside, had been hidden for three days in a hayloft, +feeding on the eggs that a hen daily laid beside him; army- +chaplains were there who had passionately led battle-psalms ere +their colleagues charged the foe, and had striven with vain +endeavours to render their soldiers saints; while other pastors +came from Pyrenean villages where their generation had never seen +flames lighted against heresy, nor knew what it was to disperse a +congregation in haste and secrecy for hear of the enemy. + +The audience was large and sympathizing. Montauban had become the +refuge of many Huguenot families who could nowhere else profess +their faith without constant danger; and a large proportion of +these were ladies, wives of gentlemen in the army kept up by La +Noue, or widows who feared that their children might be taken from +them to be brought up by their Catholic relations, elderly dames +who longed for tranquillity after having lost husbands or sons by +civil war. Thickly they lodged in the strangely named _gasches_ +and _vertiers_, as the divisions and subdivisions of the city were +termed, occupying floors or apartments of the tall old houses; +walking abroad in the streets in grave attire, stiff hat, crimped +ruff, and huge fan, and forming a society in themselves, close- +packed, punctilious and dignified, rigidly devout but strictly +censorious, and altogether as unlike their typical country folks of +Paris as if they had belonged to a different nation. And the +sourest and most severe of all were such as had lived farthest +south, and personally suffered the least peril and alarm. + +Dancing was unheard-of enormity; cards and dice were prohibited; +and stronger expletive than the elegant ones invented for the +special use of the King of Navarre was expiated either by the purse +or the skin; Marot's psalmody was the only music, black or sad +colour the only wear; and, a few years later, the wife of one of +the most distinguished statesmen and councilors of Henri of Navarre +was excommunicated for the enormity of wearing her hair curled. + +To such a community it was a delightful festival to receive a +national assembly of ministers ready to regale them on daily +sermons for a whole month, and to retail in private the points of +discipline debated in the public assembly; and, apart from mere +eagerness for novelty, many a discreet heart beat with gladness at +the meeting with the hunted pastor of her native home, who had been +the first to strike the spiritual chord, and awake her mind to +religion. + +Every family had their honoured guest, every reception-room was in +turn the scene of some pious little assembly that drank _eau +sucree_, and rejoiced in its favourite pastor; and each little +congress indulged in gentle scandal against its rival coterie. But +there was one point on which all the ladies agreed,--namely, that +good Maitre Isaac Gardon had fallen into an almost doting state of +blindness to the vanities of his daughter-in-law, and that she was +a disgrace to the community, and ought to be publicly reprimanded. + +Isaac Gardon, long reported to have been martyred--some said at +Paris, others averred at La Sablerie--had indeed been welcomed with +enthusiastic joy and veneration, when he made his appearance at +Montauban, pale, aged, bent, leaning on a staff, and showing the +dire effect of the rheumatic fever which had prostrated him after +the night of drenching and exposure during the escape from La +Sablerie. Crowded as the city was, there was a perfect competition +among the tradesfolk for the honour of entertaining him and the +young widow and child of a St. Bartholomew martyr. A cordwainer of +the street of the Soubirous Hauts obtained this honour, and the +wife, though speaking only the sweet Provencal tongue, soon +established the most friendly relations with M. Gardon's daughter- +in-law. + +Two or three more pastors likewise lodged in the same house, and +ready aid was given by Mademoiselle Gardon, as all called Eustacie, +in the domestic cares thus entailed, while her filial attention to +her father-in-law and her sweet tenderness to her child struck all +this home circle with admiration. Children of that age were seldom +seen at home among the better classes in towns. Then, as now, they +were universally consigned to country nurses, who only brought them +home at three or four years old, fresh from a squalid, neglected +cottage life: and Eustacie's little moonbeam, _la petite +Rayonette_, as she loved to call her, was quite an unusual +spectacle; and from having lived entirely with grown people, and +enjoyed the most tender and dainty care, she was intelligent and +brightly docile to a degree that appeared marvellous to those who +only saw children stupefied by a contrary system. She was a lovely +little thing, exquisitely fair, and her plump white limbs small but +perfectly moulded; she was always happy, because always healthy, +and living in an atmosphere of love; and she was the pet and wonder +of all the household, from the grinning apprentice to the grave +young candidate who hoped to be elected pastor to the Duke de +Quinet's village in the Cevennes. + +And yet it was _la petite Rayonette_ who first brought her mother +into trouble. Since her emancipation from swaddling clothes she +had been equipped in a little gray woolen frock, such as Eustacie +had learnt to knit among the peasants, and varied with broad while +stripes which gave it something of the moonbeam effect; but the +mother had not been able to resist the pleasure of drawing up the +bosom and tying it with a knot of the very carnation colour that +Berenger used to call her own. That knot was discussed all up and +down the Rue Soubirous Hauts, and even through the Carriera Major! +The widow of an old friend of Maitre Gardon had remonstrated on the +improprieties of such gay vanities, and Mdlle. Gardon had actually +replied, reddening with insolences, that her husband had loved to +see her wear the colour. + +Now, if the brethren at Paris had indulged their daughters in such +backslidings, see what had come of it! But that poor Theodore +Gardon should have admired his bride in such unhallowed adornments, +was an evident calumny; and many a head was shaken over it in grave +and pious assembly. + +Worse still; when she had been invited to a supper at the excellent +Madame Fargeau's, the presumptuous little _bourgeoise_ had +evidently not known her place, but had seated herself as if she +were a noble lady, a _fille de qualite_, instead of a mere +minister's widow and a watchmaker's daughter. Pretend ignorance +that precedence was to be here observed! That was another Parisian +piece of impudence, above all in one who showed such ridiculous +airs as to wipe her face with her own handkerchief instead of the +table-cloth, and to be reluctant to help herself from the genera +dish of _potage_ with her own spoon. Even that might have been +overlooked if she would have regaled them with a full and +particular account of her own rescue from the massacre at Paris; +but she merely coloured up, and said that she had been so ill as to +know scarcely anything about it; and when they pressed her further, +she shortly said, 'They locked me up;' and, before she could be +cross-examined as to who was this 'they,' Maitre Gardon interfered, +saying that she had suffered so much that he requested the subject +might never be mentioned to her. Nor would he be more explicit, +and there was evidently some mystery, and he was becoming blindly +indulgent and besotted by the blandishments of an artful woman. + +Eustacie was saved from hearing the gossip by her ignorance of the +Provencal, which was the only languages of all but the highest and +most cultivated classes, the hostess had very little _langue +d'oui_, and never ventured on any complicated discourse; and Isaac +Gardon, who could speak both the _oc_ and _oui_, was not a person +whom it was easy to beset with mere hearsay or petty remonstrance, +but enough reached him at last to make him one day say mildly, 'My +dear child, might not the little one dispense with her ribbon while +we are here?' + +'Eh, father? At the bidding of those impertinents?' + +'Take care, daughter; you were perfect with the tradesfolk and +peasants, but you cannot comport yourself as successfully with this +_petite noblesse_, or the pastors' wives.' + +'They are insolent, father. I, in my own true person, would treat +no one as these petty dames treat me,' said Eustacie. 'I would not +meddle between a peasant woman and her child, nor ask questions +that must needs wring her heart.' + +'Ah, child! humility is a bitter lesson; and even this world needs +it now from you. We shall have suspicions; and I heard to-day that +the King is in Dauphiny, and with him M. de Nid de Merle. Be not +alarmed; he has no force with him, and the peace still subsists; +but we must avoid suspicion. There is a _preche_ at the Moustier +to-day, in French; it would be well if you were to attend it.' + +'I understand as little of French sermons as of Provencal,' +murmured Eustacie; but it was only a murmur. + +Maitre Gardon had soon found out that his charge had not head +enough to be made a thorough-going controversial Calvinist. +Clever, intelligent, and full of resources as she was, she had no +capacity for argument, and could not enter into theoretical +religion. Circumstances had driven her from her original Church +and alienated her from those who had practiced such personal +cruelties on her and hers, but the mould of her mind remained what +it had been previously; she clung to the Huguenots because they +protected her from those who would have forced an abhorrent +marriage on her and snatched her child from her; and, personally, +she loved and venerated Isaac Gardon with ardent, self-sacrificing +filial love and gratitude, accepted as truth all that came from his +lips, read the Scriptures, sang and prayed with him, and obeyed him +as dutifully as ever the true Esperance could have done; but, +except the merest external objections against the grossest and most +palpable popular corruptions and fallacies, she really never +entered into the matter. She had been left too ignorant of her own +system to perceive its true clams upon her; and though she could +not help preferring High Mass to a Calvinist assembly, and +shrinking with instinctive pain and horror at the many profanations +she witnessed, the really spiritual leadings of her own individual +father-like leader had opened so much that was new and precious to +her, so full of truth, so full of comfort, giving so much moral +strength, that, unaware that all the foundations had been laid by +Mere Monique, the resolute, high-spirited little thing, out of +sheer constancy and constitutional courage, would have laid down +her life as a Calvinist martyr, in profound ignorance that she was +not in the least a Calvinist all the time. + +Hitherto, her wandering life amid the persecuted Huguenots of the +West had prevented her from hearing any preaching but good Isaac's +own, which had been rather in the way of comfort and encouragement +than of controversy, but in this great gathering it was impossible +that there should not be plenty of vehement polemical oratory, such +as was sue to fly over that weary little head. After a specimen or +two, the chances of the sermon being in Provencal, and the +necessity of attending to her child, had been Eustacie's excuse for +usually offering to attend to the _menage_, and set her hostess +free to be present at the preachings. + +However, Rayonette was considered as no valid excuse; for did not +whole circles of black-eyed children sit on the floor in sleepy +stolidity at the feet of their mothers or nurses, and was it not a +mere worldly folly to pretend that a child of sixteen months could +not be brought to church? It was another instance of the mother's +frivolity and the grandfather's idolatry. + +The Moustier, or minster, the monastic church of Montauban, built +on Mont Auriol in honour of St. Theodore, had, twelve years before, +been plundered and sacked by the Calvinists, not only out of zeal +for iconoclasm, but from long-standing hatred and jealousy against +the monks. Catherine de Medicis had, in 1546, carried off two of +the jasper columns from its chief door-way to the Louvre; and, +after some years more, it was entirely destroyed. The grounds of +the Auriol Mountain Monastery have been desolate down to the +present day, when they have been formed into public gardens. When +Eustacie walked through them, carrying her little girl in her arms, +a rose in her bosom to console her for the loss of her bright +breast-knot, they were in raw fresh dreariness, with tottering, +blackened cloisters, garden flowers run wild, images that she had +never ceased to regard as sacred lying broken and defiled among the +grass and weeds. + +Up the broad path was pacing the municipal procession, headed by +the three Consuls, each with a serjeant bearing a white rod in +front and a scarlet mantle, and the Consuls themselves in long +robes with wide sleeves of quartered black and scarlet, followed by +six halberdiers, likewise in scarlet, blazoned with the shield of +the city--gules, a golden willow-tree, pollarded and shedding its +branches, a chief azure with the three _fleur-de-lys_ of royalty. +As little Rayonette gleefully pointed at the brilliant pageant, +Eustacie could not help saying, rather bitterly, that these +_messieurs_ seemed to wish to engross all the gay colours from +heaven and earth from themselves; and Maitre Isaac could not help +thinking she had some right on her side as he entered the church +once gorgeous with jasper, marbles, and mosaics, glowing with +painted glass, resplendent with gold and jewels, rich with +paintings and draperies of the most brilliant dyes; but now, all +that was, soiled, dulled, defaced; the whole building, even up to +the end of the chancel, was closely fitted with benches occupied by +the 'sad-coloured' congregation. Isaac was obliged by a strenuous +effort of memory to recall 'Ne-hushtan' and the golden calves, +before he could clear from his mind, 'Now they break down all the +carved work thereof with axes and with hammers.' But, then, did +not the thorough going Reformers think Master Isaac a very weak and +back-sliding brother? + +Nevertheless, in right of his age, his former reputation, and his +sufferings, his place was full in the midst of the square-capped, +black-robed ministers who sat herded on a sort of platform +together, to address the Almighty and the congregation in prayers +and discourses, interspersed with psalms sung by the whole +assembly. There was no want of piety, depth, force, or fervour. +These were men refined by persecution, who had struggled to the +light that had been darkened by the popular system, and, having +once been forced into foregoing their scruples as to breaking the +unity of the Church, regarded themselves even as apostles of the +truth. Listening to them, Isaac Gardon felt himself rapt into the +hopes of cleansing the aspirations of universal re-integration that +had shone before his early youth, ere the Church had shown herself +deaf, and the Reformers in losing patience had lost purity, and +disappointment had crushed him into an aged man. + +He was recalled by the echo of a gay, little inarticulate cry-- +those baby tones that had become such music to his ears that he +hardly realized that they were not indeed from his grandchild. In +a moment's glance he saw how it was. A little bird had flown in at +one of the empty window, and was fluttering over the heads of the +congregation, and a small, plump, white arm and hand was stretched +out and pointing--a rosy, fair, smiling face upturned; a little +gray figure had scrambled up on the knee of one of the still, +black-hooded women; and the shout of irrepressible delight was +breaking on the decorum of the congregation, in spite of hushes, in +spite of the uplifted rod of a scarlet serjeant on his way down the +aisle to quell the disturbance; nay, as the bird came nearer, the +exulting voice, proud of the achievement of a new word, shouted +'_Moineau, moineau_.' Angered by defiance to authority, down came +the rod, not indeed with great force, but with enough to make the +arms clasp round the mother's neck, the face hide itself on in, a +loud, terrified wail ring through the church, and tempestuous +sobbing follow it up. Then uprose the black-hooded figure, the +child tightly clasped, and her mantle drawn round it, while the +other hand motioned the official aside, and down the aisle, even to +the door, she swept with the lofty carriage, high-drawn neck, and +swelling bosom of an offended princess. + +Maitre Gardon heard little more of the discourse, indeed he would +have followed at once had he not feared to increase the sensation +and the scandal. He came home to find Rayonette's tears long ago +dried, but her mother furious. She would leave Montauban that +minute, she would never set foot in a heretic conventicle again, to +have her fatherless child, daughter of all the Ribaumonts, struck +by base _canaille_. Even her uncle could not have done worse; he +at least would have respected her blood. + +Maitre Gardon did not know that his charge could be in such a +passion, as, her eyes flashing through tears, she insisted on being +taken away at once. No, she would hear nothing. She seemed to +fell resentment due to the honour of all the Ribaumonts, and he was +obliged peremptorily to refuse to quit Montauban till his business +at the Synod should be completed, and then to leave her in a flood +of angry tears and reproaches for exposing her child to such usage, +and approving it. + +Poor little thing, he found her meek and penitent for her unjust +anger towards himself. Whatever he desired she would do, she would +stay or go with him anywhere except to a sermon at the Moustier, +and she did not think that in her heart her good father desired +little infants to be beaten--least of all Berenger's little one. +And with Rayonette already on his knee, stealing his spectacles, +peace was made. + +Peace with him, but not with the congregation! Were people to +stalk out of church in a rage, and make no reparation? Was Maitre +Isaac to talk of orphans, only children, and maternal love, as if +weak human affection did not need chastisement? Was this saucy +Parisienne to play the offended, and say that if the child were not +suffered at church she must stay at home with it? The ladies +agitated to have the obnoxious young widow reprimanded in open +Synod, but, to their still greater disgust, not a pastor would +consent to perform the office. Some said that Maitre Gardon ought +to rule his own household, others that they respected him too much +to interfere, and there were others abandoned enough to assert that +if any one needed a reprimand it was the serjeant. + +Of these was the young candidate, Samuel Mace, who had been +educated at the expense of the Dowager Duchess de Quinet, and hoped +that her influence would obtain his election to the pastorate of a +certain peaceful little village deep in the Cevennes. She had +intimated that what he wanted was a wife to teach and improve the +wives of the peasant farmers, and where could a more eligible one +be found than Esperance Gardon? Her cookery he tasted, her +industry he saw, her tenderness to her child, her attention to her +father, were his daily admiration; and her soft velvet eyes and +sweet smile went so deep in his heart that he would have bought her +ells upon ells of pink ribbon, when once out of sight of the old +ladies; would have given a father's love to her little daughter, +and a son's duty and veneration to Isaac Gardon. + +His patroness did not deny her approval. The gossip had indeed +reached her, but she had a high esteem for Isaac Gardon, believed +in Samuel Mace's good sense, and heeded Montauban scandal very +little. Her _protege_ would be much better married to a spirited +woman who had seen the world, than to a mere farmer's daughter who +had never looked beyond her cheese. Old Gardon would be an +admirable adviser, and if he were taken into the _menage_ she would +add to the endowment another arable field, and grass for two more +cows. If she liked the young woman on inspection, the marriage +should take place in her own august presence. + +What! had Maitre Gardon refused? Forbidden that the subject should +be mentioned to his daughter? Impossible! Either Mace had managed +matters foolishly, or the old man had some doubt of him which she +could remove, or else it was foolish reluctance to part with his +daughter-in-law. Or the gossips were right after all, and he knew +her to be too light-minded, if not worse, to be the wife of any +pious young minister. Or there was some mystery. Any way, Madame +la Duchesse would see him, and bring him to his senses, make him +give the girl a good husband if she were worthy, or devote her to +condign punishment if she were unworthy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. MADAME LA DUCHESSE + + + +He found an ancient dame in dim brocade.---TENNYSON + + +Madame la Duchesse de Quinet had been a great heiress and a +personal friend and favourite of Queen Jeanne d'Albret. She had +been left a widow after five years' marriage, and for forty +subsequent years had reigned despotically in her own name and that +of _mon fils_. Busied with the support of the Huguenot cause, +sometimes by arms, but more usually by politics, and constantly +occupied by the hereditary government of one of the lesser counties +of France, the Duke was all the better son for relinquishing to her +the home administration, as well as the education of his two +motherless boys; and their confidence and affection were perfect, +though he was almost as seldom at home as she was abroad. At +times, indeed, she had visited Queen Jeanne at Nerac; but since the +good Queen's death, she only left the great chateau of Quinet to +make a royal progress of inspection through the family towns, +castles, and estates, sometimes to winter in her beautiful +hereditary _hotel_ at Montauban, and as at present to attend any +great assembly of the Reformed. + +Very seldom was her will not law. Strong sense and judgment, +backed by the learning that Queen Marguerite of Navarre had +introduced among the companions of her daughter, had rendered her +superior to most of those with whom she came in contact: and the +Huguenot ministers, who were much more dependent on their laity +than the Catholic priesthood, for the most part treated her as not +only a devout and honourable woman, an elect lady, but as a sort of +State authority. That she had the right-mindedness to respect and +esteem such men as Theodore Beza, Merlin, &c., who treated her with +great regard, but never cringed, had not become known to the rest. +Let her have once pronounced against poor little Esperance Gardon, +and public disgrace would be a matter of certainty. + +There she sat in her wainscoted walnut cabinet, a small woman by +her inches, but stately enough to seem of majestic stature, and +with gray eyes, of inexpressible keenness, which she fixed upon the +halting, broken form of Isaac Gardon, and his grave, venerable +face, as she half rose and made a slight acknowledgment of his low +bow. + +'Sit, Maitre Gardon, you are lame,' she said, with a wave of her +hand. 'I gave you the incommodity of coming to see me not openly +discuss _en pleine sale_.' + +'Madame is considerate,' said Isaac, civilly, but with an open-eyed +look and air that at once showed her that she had not to deal with +one of the ministers who never forgot their low birth in +intercourse with her. + +'I understand,' said she, coming to the point at once, 'that you +decline the proposals of Samuel Mace for your daughter-in-law. Now +I wish you to know that Mace is a very good youth, whom I have +known from his birth'--and she went on in his praise, Isaac bowing +at each pause, until she had exhausted both Mace's history and her +own beneficent intentions for him. Then he said, 'Madame is very +good, and the young man appeared to me excellent. Nevertheless, +this thing may not be. My daughter-in-law has resolved not to +marry again.' + +'Nay, but this is mere folly,' said the Duchess. 'We hold not +Catholic tenets on merit in abstaining, but rather go by St. Paul's +advice that the younger widows should marry, rather than wax +wanton. And, to tell you the truth, Maitre Gardon, this daughter +of yours does seem to have set tongues in motion.' + +'Not by her own fault, Madame.' + +'Stay, my good friend; I never found a man--minister or lay--who +was a fair judge in these matters. You old men are no better than +the young--rather worse--because you do not distrust yourselves. +Now, I say no harm of the young woman, and I know an angel would be +abused at Montauban for not wearing sad-coloured wings; but she +needs a man's care--you are frail, you cannot live for ever--and +how is it to be with her and her child?' + +'I hope to bestow them among her kindred ere I die, Madame,' said +Isaac. + +'No kindred can serve a woman like a sensible husband! Besides, I +thought all perished at Paris. Listen, Isaac Gardon: I tell you +plainly that scandal is afloat. You are blamed for culpable +indifference to alleged levities--I say not that it is true--but I +see this, that unless you can bestow your daughter-in-law on a +good, honest man, able to silence the whispers of malice, there +will be measures taken that will do shame both to your own gray +hairs and to the memory of your dead son, as well as expose the +poor young woman herself. You are one who has a true tongue, Isaac +Gardon; and if you can assure me that she is a faithful, good +woman, as poor Mace thinks her, and will give her to him in +testimony thereof, then shall not a mouth open against her. If +not, in spite of all my esteem for you, the discipline of the +Reformed must take its course.' + +'And for what?' said Isaac, with a grave tone, almost of reproof. +'What discipline can punish a woman for letting her infant wear a +coloured ribbon, and shielding it from a blow?' + +'That is not all, Master Isaac,' said the Duchess, seriously. 'In +spite of your much-respected name, evil and censorious tongues will +have it that matters ought to be investigated; that there is some +mystery; that the young woman does not give a satisfactory account +of herself, and that the child does not resemble either her or your +son--in short, that you may be deceived by an impostor, perhaps a +Catholic spy. Mind, I say not that I credit all this, only I would +show you what reports you must guard against.' + +'_La pauvre petite_!' said Isaac, under his breath, as if appalled; +then collecting himself, he said, 'Madame, these are well-nigh +threats. I had come hither nearly resolved to confined in you +without them.' + +'Then there is a mystery?' + +'Yes, Madame, but the deception is solely in the name. She is, in +very truth, a widow of a martyr of the St. Barthelemy, but that +martyr was not my son, whose wife was happy in dying with him.' + +'And who, then, is she?' + +'Madame la Duchesse had heard of the family of Ribaumont.' + +'Ha! M. de Ribaumont! A gay comrade of King Henry II., but who had +his eyes opened to the truth by M. l'Amiral, though he lacked +courage for an open profession. Yes, the very last pageant I +beheld at court, was the wedding of his little son to the Count de +Ribaumont's daughter. It was said that the youth was one of our +victims at Paris.' + +'Even so, Madame; and this poor child is the little one whom you +saw wedded to him.' And then, in answer to the Duchess's +astonished inquiry, he proceeded to relate how Eustacie had been +forced to fly from her kindred, and how he had first encountered +her at his own lurking-placed, and had accepted her as a charge +imposed on him by Providence; then explained how, at La Sablerie, +she had been recognized by a young gentleman whom she had known at +Paris, but who professed to be fleeing to England, there to study +the Protestant controversy; and how she had confided to him a +letter to her husband's mother, who was married in England, begging +her to send for her and her daughter, the latter being heiress to +certain English estates, as well as French. + +'Madame,' added Gardon, 'Heaven forgive me, if I do the Youth +injustice by suspecting him, but no answer ever arrived to that +letter; and while we still expected one, a good and kindly citizen, +who I trust has long been received into glory, sent me notice that +a detachment of Monsieur's army was on its way from La Rochelle, +under command of M. de Nid de Merle, to search out this poor lady +in La Sablerie. He, good man, deemed that, were we gone, he could +make terms for the place, and we therefore quitted it. Alas! +Madame knows how it fared with the pious friend we left. Little +deeming how they would be dealt with, we took our way along the +Sables d'Olonne, where alone we could be safe, since, as Madame +knows, they are for miles impracticable for troops. But we had +another enemy there--the tide; and there was a time when we truly +deemed that the mercy granted us had been that we had fallen into +the hand of the Lord instead of the hand of cruel man. Yes, +Madame, and even for that did she give thanks, as she stood, never +even trembling, on the low sandbank, with her babe in her bosom, +and the sea creeping up on all sides. She only turned to me with a +smile, saying, 'She is asleep, she will not feel it, or know +anything till she wakes up in Paradise, and sees her father.' +Never saw I a woman, either through nature or grace, so devoid of +fear. We were rescued at last, by the mercy of Heaven, which sent +a fisherman, who bore us to his boat when benumbed with cold, and +scarce able to move. He took us to a good priest's, Colombeau of +Nissard, a man who, as Madame may know, is one of those veritable +saints who still are sustained by the truth within their Church, +and is full of charity and mercy. He asked me no questions, but +fed, warmed, sheltered us, and sped us on our way. Perhaps, +however, I was over-confident in myself, as the guardian of the +poor child, for it was Heaven's will that the cold and wet of our +night on the sands--though those tender young frames did not suffer +therefrom--should bring on an illness which has made an old man of +me. I struggled on as long as I could, hoping to attain to a safe +resting-place for her, but the winter cold completed the work; and +then, Madame--oh that I could tell you the blessing she was to me!- +-her patience, her watchfulness, her tenderness, through all the +long weeks that I lay helpless alike in mind and body at Charente. +Ah! Madame, had my own daughter lived, she could not have been +more to me than that noble lady; and her cheerful love did even +more for me than her tender care.' + +'I must see her,' ejaculated the Duchesse; then added, 'But was it +this illness that hindered you from placing her in safety in +England?' + +'In part, Madame; nay, I may say, wholly. We learnt that the +assembly was to take place here, and I had my poor testimony to +deliver, and to give notice of my intention to my brethren before +going to a foreign land, whence perhaps I may never return.' + +'She ought to be in England,' said Madame de Quinet; 'she will +never be safe from these kinsmen in this country.' + +'M. de Nid de Merle has been all the spring in Poland with the +King,' said the minister, 'and the poor lady is thought to have +perished at La Sablerie. Thus the danger has been less pressing, +but I would have taken her to England at once, if I could have made +sure of her reception, and besides---' be faltered. + +'The means?' demanded the Duchess, guessing at the meaning. + +'Madame is right. She had brought away some money and jewels with +her, but alas, Madame, during my illness, without my knowledge, the +dear child absolutely sold them to procure comforts for me. Nay'-- +his eyes filled with tears--'she whom they blame for vanities sold +the very hair from her head to purchase unguents to ease the old +man's pains; nor did I know it for many a day after. From day to +day we can live, for our own people willingly support a pastor and +his family; and in every house my daughter has been loved,-- +everywhere but in this harsh-judging town. But for the expense of +a voyage, even were we at Bordeaux or La Rochelle, we have nothing, +save by parting with the only jewels that remain to her, and those- +-those, she says, are heirlooms; and, poor child, she guards them +almost as jealously as her infant, around whom she has fastened +them beneath her clothes. She will not even as yet hear of leaving +them in pledge, to be redeemed by the family. She says they would +hardly know her without them. And truly, Madame, I scarce venture +to take her to England, ere I know what reception would await her. +Should her husband's family disown or cast her off, I could take +better care of her here than in a strange land.' + +'You are right, Maitre Gardon,' said the Duchess; 'the risk might +be great. I would see this lady. She must be a rare creature. +Bear her my greetings, my friend, and pray her to do me the honour +of a visit this afternoon. Tell her I would come myself to her, +but that I understand she does not wish to attract notice.' + +'Madame,' said Isaac, rising, and with a strange manner, between a +smile and a tear of earnestness, 'allow me to bespeak your goodness +for my daughter. The poor little thing is scarcely more than a +child. She is but eighteen even now, and it is not always easy to +tell whether she will be an angel of noble goodness, or, pardon me, +a half-petulant child.' + +'I understand:' Madame de Quinet laughed, and she probably did +understand more than reluctant, anxious Isaac Gardon thought she +did, of his winning, gracious, yet haughty, head-strong little +charge, so humbly helpful one moment, so self-asserting and +childish the next, so dear to him, yet so unlike anything in his +experience. + +'Child,' he said, as he found her in the sunny window engaged in +plaiting the deep folds of his starched ruffs, 'you have something +to forgive me.' + +'Fathers do not ask their children's pardon,' said Eustacie, +brightly, but then, with sudden dismay, 'Ah! you have not said I +should go to the Moustier again.' + +'No, daughter; but Madame de Quinet entreats--these are her words-- +that you will do her the honour of calling on her. She would come +to you, but that she fears to attract notice to us.' + +'You have told her!' exclaimed Eustacie. + +'I was compelled, but I had already thought of asking your consent, +and she is a true and generous lady, with whom your secret will be +safe, and who can hush the idle tongues here. So, daughter,' he +added restlessly, 'don your hood; that ruff will serve for another +day.' + +'Another day, when the morrow is Sunday, and my father's ruff is to +put to shame all the other pastors',' said Eustacie, her quick +fingers still moving. 'No, he shall not go ill-starched for any +Duchess in France. Now am I in any haste to be lectured by Madame +de Quinet, as they say she lectured the Dame de Soubrera the other +day.' + +'My child, you will go; much depends on it.' + +'Oh yes, I am going; only if Madame de Quinet knows who I am, she +will not expect me to hurry at her beck and call the first moment. +Here, Rayonette, my bird, my beauty, thou must have a clean cap; +ay, and these flaxen curls combed.' + +'Would you take the child?' + +'Would I go without Mademoiselle de Rambouillet? She is all her +mother is, and more. There, now she is a true rose-bud, ready to +perch on my arm. No, no _bon pere_. So great a girl is too much +for you to carry. Don't be afraid, my darling, we are not going to +a sermon, no one will beat her; oh no, and if the insolent +retainers and pert lacqueys laugh at her mother, no one will hurt +her.' + +'Nay, child,' said Maitre Gardon; 'this is a well-ordered +household, where contempt and scorn are not suffered. Only, dear, +dear daughter, let me pray you to be your true self with the +Duchess.' + +Eustacie shrugged her shoulders, and had mischief enough in her to +enjoy keeping her good father in some doubt and dread as he went +halting wearily by her side along the much-decorated streets that +marked the grand Gasche of Tarn and Tarascon. The Hotel de Quinet +stretched out its broad stone steps, covered with vaultings, +absolutely across the street, affording a welcome shade, and no +obstruction where wheeled carriages never came. + +All was, as Maitre Isaac had said, decorum itself. A couple of +armed retainers, rigid as sentinels, waited on the steps; a grave +porter, maimed in the wars opened the great door; half a dozen - +_laquais_ in sober though rich liveries sat on a bench in the hall, +and had somewhat the air of having been set to con a lesson. Two +of them coming respectfully forward, ushered Maitre Gardon and his +companion to an ante-room, where various gentlemen, or pastors, or +candidates--among them Samuel Mace--were awaiting a summons to the +Duchess, or merely using it as a place of assembly. A page of high +birth, but well schooled in steadiness of demeanour, went at once +to announce the arrival; and Gardon and his companion had not been +many moments in conversation with their acquaintance among the +ministers, before the grave gentleman returned, apparently from his +audience and the page, coming to Eustacie, intimated that she was +to follow him to Madame le Duchesse's presence. + +He conducted her across a great tapestry-hung saloon, where twelve +or fourteen ladies of all ages--from seventy to fifteen--sat at +work: some at tapestry, some spinning, some making coarse garments +for the poor. A great throne-like chair, with a canopy over it, a +footstool, a desk and a small table before it, was vacant, and the +work--a poor child's knitted cap--laid down; but an elderly +minister, seated at a carved desk, had not discontinued reading +from a great black book, and did not even cease while the strangers +crossed the room, merely making a slight inclination with his head, +while the ladies half rose, rustled a slight reverence with their +black, gray or russet skirts, but hardly lifted their eyes. +Eustacie thought the Louvre had never been half so formidable or +impressive. + +The page lifted a heavy green curtain behind the canopy, knocked at +a door, and, as it opened, Eustacie was conscious of a dignified +presence, that, in spite of her previous petulance, caused her +instinctively to bend in such a reverence as had formerly been +natural to her; but, at the same moment, a low and magnificent +curtsey was made to her, a hand was held out, a stately kiss was on +her brow, and a voice of dignified courtesy said, 'Pardon me, +Madame la Baronne, for giving you this trouble. I feared that +otherwise we could not safely meet.' + +'Madame is very good. My Rayonette, make thy reverence; kiss thy +hand to the lady, my lamb.' And the little one obeyed, gazing with +her blue eyes full opened, and clinging to her mother. + +'Ah! Madame la Baronne makes herself obeyed,' said Madame de +Quinet, well pleased. 'Is it then a girl?' + +'Yes, Madame, I could scarcely forgive her at first; but she has +made herself all the dearer to me.' + +'It is a pity,' said Madame de Quinet, 'for yours is an ancient +stem.' + +'Did Madame know my parents?' asked Eustacie, drawn from her spirit +of defiance by the equality of the manner with which she was +treated. + +'Scarcely,' replied the Duchess; but, with a smile, 'I had the +honour to see you married.' + +'Ah, then,'--Eustacie glowed, almost smiled, though a tear was in +her eyes--'you can see how like my little one is to her father,--a +true White Ribaumont.' + +The Duchess had not the most distinct recollection of the +complexion of the little bridegroom; but Rayonette's fairness was +incontestable, and the old lady complimented it so as to draw on +the young mother into confidence on the pet moonbeam appellation +which she used in dread of exciting suspicion by using the true +name of Berangere, with all the why and wherefore. + +It was what the Duchess wanted. Imperious as some thought her, she +would on no account have appeared to cross-examine any one whose +essential nobleness of nature struck her as did little Eustacie's +at the first moment she saw her; and yet she had decided, before +the young woman arrived, that her own good opinion and assistance +should depend on the correspondence of Madame de Ribaumont's +history of herself with Maitre Gardon's. + +Eustacie had, for a year and a half, lived with peasants; and, +indeed, since the trials of her life had really begun, she had +never been with a woman of her own station to whom she could give +confidence, or from whom she could look for sympathy. And thus a +very few inquiries and tokens of interest from the old lady drew +out the whole story, and more than once filled Madame de Quinet's +eyes with tears. + +There was only one discrepancy; Eustacie could not believe that the +Abbe de Mericour had been a faithless messenger. Oh, no! either +those savage-looking sailors had played him false, or else her +_bele-mere_ would not send for her. 'My mother-in-law never loved +me,' said Eustacie; 'I know she never did. And now she has +children by her second marriage, and no doubt would not see my +little one preferred to them. I will not be HER suppliant.' + +'And what then would you do?' said Madame de Quinet, with a more +severe tone. + +'Never leave my dear father,' said Eustacie, with a flash of +eagerness; 'Maitre Isaac I mean. He has been more to me than any-- +any one I ever knew--save----' + +'You have much cause for gratitude to him,' said Madame de Quinet. +'I honour your filial love to him. Yet, you have duties to this +little one. You have no right to keep her from her position. You +ought to write to England again. I am sure Maitre Isaac tells you +so.' + +Eustacie would have pouted, but the grave, kind authority of the +manner prevented her from being childish, and she said, 'If I +wrote, it should be to my husband's grandfather, who brought him +up, designated him as his heir, and whom he loved with all his +heart. But, oh, Madame, he has one of those English names! So +dreadful! It sounds like Vol-au-vent, but it is not that +precisely.' + +Madame de Quinet smiled, but she was a woman of resources. 'See, +my friend,' she said, 'the pursuivant of the consuls here has the +rolls of the herald's visitations throughout the kingdom. The +arms and name of the Baron de Ribaumont's wife will there be +entered; and from my house at Quinet you shall write, and I, too, +will write; my son shall take care that the letters be forwarded +safely, and you shall await their arrival under my protection. +That will be more fitting than running the country with an old +pastor, _hein_?' + +'Madame, nothing shall induce me to quit him!' exclaimed Eustacie, +vehemently. + +'Hear me out, child,' said the Duchess. 'He goes with us to assist +my chaplain; he is not much fitter for wandering than you, or less +so. And you, Madame, must, I fear me, still remain his daughter- +in-law in my household; or if you bore your own name and rank, this +uncle and cousin of yours might learn that you were still living; +and did they claim you---' + +'Oh, Madame, rather let me be your meanest kitchen-girl!' + +'To be--what do they call you?--Esperance Gardon will be quite +enough. I have various women here--widows, wives, daughters or +sufferers for the truth's sake, who either are glad of rest, or are +trained up to lead a godly life in the discipline of my household. +Among them you can live without suspicion, provided,' the old lady +added, smiling, 'you can abstain from turning the heads of our poor +young candidates.' + +'Madame,' said Eustacie, gravely, 'I shall never turn any one's +head. There was only one who was obliged to love me, and happily I +am nor fair enough to win any one else.' + +'_Tenez_, child. Is this true simplicity? Did Gardon, truly, +never tell you of poor Samuel Mace?' + +Eustacie's face expressed such genuine amazement and consternation, +that the Duchess could not help touching her on the cheek, and +saying, 'Ah! simple as a _pensionnaire_, as we used to say when no +one else was innocent. But it is true, my dear, that to poor +Samuel we owe our meeting. I will send him off, the poor fellow, +at once to Bourge-le-Roy to preach his three sermons; and when they +had driven you a little out of his head, he shall have Mariette +there--a good girl, who will make him an excellent wife. She is +ugly enough, but it will be all the same to him just then! I will +see him, and let him know that I have reasons. He lodges in your +house, does he? Then you had better come to see me at once. So +will evil tongues best be silenced. + +'But hold,' the Duchess said, smiling. 'You will think me a +foolish old woman, but is it true that you have saved the Pearls of +Ribaumont, of which good Canon Froissart tells?' + +Eustacie lifted her child on her knee, untied the little gray +frock, and showed them fastened beneath, well out of sight. 'I +thought my treasures should guard one another,' she said. 'One I +sent as a token to my mother-in-law. For the rest, they are not +mine, but hers; her father lent them to me, not gave: so she wears +them thus; and anything but HER life should go rather than THEY +should.' + +'_Hein_, a fine guardian for them!' was all the Duchess said in +answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. THE ITALIAN PEDLAR + + + +This caitiff monk for gold did swear, +That by his drugs my rival fair + A saint in heaven should be.--SCOTT + + +A grand cavalcade bore the house of Quinet from Montauban--coaches, +wagons, outriders, gendarmes--it was a perfect court progress, and +so low and cumbrous that it was a whole week in reaching a grand +old castle standing on a hill-side among chestnut woods, with an +avenue a mile long leading up to it; and battlemented towers fit to +stand a siege. + +Eustacie was ranked among the Duchess's gentlewomen. She was so +far acknowledged as a lady of birth, that she was usually called +Madame Esperance; and though no one was supposed to doubt her being +Theodore Gardon's widow, she was regarded as being a person of rank +who had made a misalliance by marrying him. This Madame de Quinet +had allowed the household to infer, thinking that the whole bearing +of her guest was too unlike that of a Paris _bourgeoise_ not to +excite suspicion, but she deemed it wiser to refrain from treating +her with either intimacy or distinction that might excite jealousy +or suspicion. Even as it was, the consciousness of a secret, or +the remnants of Montauban gossip, prevented any familiarity between +Eustacie and the good ladies who surrounded her; they were very +civil to each other, but their only connecting link was the delight +that every one took in petting pretty little Rayonette, and the +wonder that was made of her signs of intelligence and attempts at +talking. Even when she toddled fearlessly up to the stately +Duchess on her canopied throne, and held out her entreating hands, +and lisped the word '_nontre_,' Madame would pause in her +avocations, take her on her knee, and display that wonderful gold +and enamel creature which cried tic-tic, and still remained an +unapproachable mystery to M. le Marquis and M. le Vicomte, her +grandsons. + +Pale, formal stiff boys they looked, twelve and ten years old, and +under the dominion of a very learned tutor, who taught them Latin, +Greek and Hebrew, alternately with an equally precise, stiff old +esquire, who trained them in martial exercises, which seemed to be +as much matters of rote with them as their tasks, and to be quite +as uninteresting. It did not seem as if they ever played, or +thought of playing; and if they were ever to be gay, witty +Frenchmen, a wonderful change must come over them. + +The elder was already betrothed to a Bearnese damsel, of an +unimpeachably ancient and Calvinistic family; and the whole +establishment had for the last three years been employed on +tapestry hangings for a whole suite of rooms, that were to be +fitted up and hung with the histories of Ruth, of Abigail, of the +Shunammite, and of Esther, which their diligent needles might hope +to complete by the time the marriage should take place, three years +later! The Duchess, who really was not unlike 'that great woman' +the Shunammite, in her dignified content with 'dwelling among her +own people,' and her desire to 'receive a prophet in the name of a +prophet,' generally sat presiding over the work while some one, +chaplain, grandson, or young maiden, read aloud from carefully +assorted books; religious treatises at certain hours, and at +others, history. Often, however, Madame was called away into her +cabinet, where she gave audience to intendants, notaries from her +estates, pastors from the villages, captains of little garrisons, +soldiers offering service, farmers, women, shepherds, foresters, +peasants, who came either on her business or with their own needs-- +for all of which she was ready with the beneficence and decision of +an autocrat. + +The chapel had been 'purified,' and made bare of all altar or +image. It was filled with benches and a desk, whence Isaac Gardon, +the chaplain, any pastor on a visit, or sometimes a candidate for +his promotion, would expound, and offer prayers, shortly in the +week, more at length on Sunday; and there, too, classes were held +for the instruction of the peasants. + +There was a great garden full of medicinal plants, and decoctions +and distilleries were the chief variety enjoyed by the gentlewomen. +The Duchess had studied much in quaint Latin and French medical +books, and, having great experience and good sense, was probably as +good a doctor as any one in the kingdom except Ambroise Pare and +his pupils; and she required her ladies to practise under her upon +the numerous ailments that the peasants were continually bringing +for her treatment. 'No one could tell,' she said, 'how soon they +might be dealing with gun-shot wounds, and all ought to know how to +sew up a gash, or cure an argue.' + +This department suited Eustacie much better than the stitching, and +best of all she liked to be sent with Maitre Isaac to some cottage +where solace for soul and body were needed, and the inmate was too +ill to be brought to Madame la Duchess. She was learning much and +improving too in the orderly household, but her wanderings had made +her something of a little gipsy. She now and then was intolerably +weary, and felt as if she had been entirely spoilt for her natural +post. 'What would become of her,' she said to Maitre Isaac, 'if +she were too grand to dress Rayonette?' + +She was not greatly distressed that the Montauban pursuivant turned +out to have only the records of the Provencal nobility, and was +forced to communicate with his brethren at Bordeaux before he could +bring down the Ribaumont genealogy to the actual generation; and so +slow was communication, so tardy the mode of doing everything, that +the chestnut leaves were falling and autumn becoming winter before +the blazoned letter showed Ribaumont, de Picardie--'Gules, fretty +or, a canton of the last, a leopard, sable. Eustacie Berangere, m. +Annora, daughter and heiress of Villiam, Baron of Valvem, in the +county of Dorisette, England, who beareth, azure, a siren regardant +in a mirror proper.' The siren was drawn in all her propriety +impaled with the leopard, and she was so much more comprehensible +than the names, to both Madame de Quinet and Eustacie, that it was +a pity they could not direct their letters to her rather than to +'Le Baron de Valvem,' whose cruel W's perplexed them so much. +However, the address was the least of Eustacie's troubles; she +should be only too glad when she got to that, and she was sitting +in Maitre Isaac's room, trying to make him dictate her sentences +and asking him how to spell every third word, when the dinner-bell +rang, and the whole household dropped down from _salon_, library, +study, or chamber to the huge hall, with its pavement of black and +white marble, and its long tables, for Madame de Quinet was no +woman to discard wholesome old practices. + +Then, as Eustacie, with Rayonette trotting at her side, and Maitre +Isaac leaning on her arm, slowly made her way to that high table +where dined Madame la Duchess, her grandsons, the ministers, the +gentlemen in waiting, and some three or four women besides herself, +she saw that the lower end of the great hall was full of silks, +cloths, and ribbons heaped together; and, passing by the lengthy +rank of retainers, she received a bow and look of recognition from +a dark, acute-looking visage which she remembered to belong to the +pedlar she had met at Charente. + +The Duchess, at the head of her table, was not in the best of +humours. Her son had sent home letters by a courier whom he had +picked up for himself and she never liked nor trusted, and he +required an immediate reply when she particularly resented being +hurried. It was a _galimafre_, literally a hash, she said; for +indeed most matters where she was not consulted did become a +_galimafre_ with her. Moreover, under favour of the courier, her +porters had admitted this pedlar, and the Duchess greatly disliked +pedlars. All her household stores were bought at shops of good +repute in Montauban, and no one ought to be so improvident as to +require dealings with these mountebank vagabonds, who dangled +vanities before the eyes of silly girls, and filled their heads +with Paris fashion, if they did not do still worse, and excite them +to the purchase of cosmetics and love-charms. + +Yet the excitement caused by the approach of a pedlar was +invincible, even by Madame la Duchess. It was inevitable that the +crying need of glove, kerchief, needle, or the like, should be +discovered as soon as he came within ken, and, once in the hall, +there was no being rid of him except by a flagrant act of +inhospitality. This time it was worst of all, for M. le Marquis +himself must needs be the first to spy him, bring him in, and be in +want of a silver chain for his hawk; and his brother the Vicomte +must follow him up with all manner of wants inspired by the mere +sight of the pack. + +Every one with the smallest sum of money must buy, every one +without inspect and assist in bargaining; and all dinner-time, +eyes, thoughts, and words were wandering to the gay pile in the +corner, or reckoning up needs and means. The pedlar, too, knew +what a Calvinist household was, and had been extremely discreet, +producing nothing that could reasonably be objected to; and the +Duchess, seeing that the stream was too strong for her, wisely +tried to steer her bark through it safely instead of directly +opposing it. + +As soon as grace was over, she called her maitre d'hotel, and bade +him look after that _galimafre_, and see that none of these fools +were unreasonably cheated, and that there was no attempt at gulling +the young ones with charms or fortune-telling, as well as to +conclude the matter so as to give no excuse for the Italian fellow +lingering to sup and sleep. She then retired to her cabinet to +prepare her dispatches, which were to include a letter to Lord +Walwyn. Though a nominal friendship subsisted between Elisabeth +and the French court, the Huguenot chiefs always maintained a +correspondence with England, and there was little danger but that +the Duke de Quinet would be able to get a letter, sooner or later, +conveyed to any man of mark. In the course of her letter, Madame +de Quinet found it necessary to refer to Eustacie. She rang her +little silver handbell for the hall. There, of course, Master Page +had been engulfed in the _galimafre_, and not only forming one of +the swarm around the pedlar, but was actually aping courtly +grimaces as he tried a delicate lace ruffle on the hand of a silly +little smirking maiden, no older than himself! But this little +episode was, like many others, overlooked by Madame de Quinet, as +her eye fell upon the little figure of Rayonette standing on the +table, with her mother and two or three ladies besides coaxing her +to open her mouth, and show the swollen gums that had of late been +troubling her, while the pedlar was evidently expending his +blandishments upon her. + +The maitre d'hotel was the first to perceive his mistress, and, as +he approached, received a sharp rebuke from her for allowing the +fellow to produce his quack medicines; and, at the same time, she +desired him to request Madame Esperance to come to her immediately +on business. Eustacie, who always had a certain self-willed sense +of opposition when the Duchess showed herself peremptory towards +her, at first began to make answer that she would come as soon as +her business was concluded; but the steward made a gesture towards +the great lady sailing up and down as she paced the _dais_ in +stately impatience. 'Good fellow,' she said, 'I will return +quickly, and see you again, though I am now interrupted. Stay +there, little one, with good Mademoiselle Perrot; mother will soon +be back.' + +Rayonette, in her tooth-fretfulnes, was far from enduring to be +forsaken so near a strange man, and her cry made it necessary for +Eustacie to take her in arms, and carry her to the _dais_ where the +Duchess was waiting. + +'So!' said the lady, 'I suspected that the fellow was a quack as +well as a cheat.' + +'Madame,'said Eustacie, with spirit, 'he sold me unguents that +greatly relieved my father last spring.' + +'And because rubbing relieved an old man's rheumatics, you would +let a vagabond cheat drug and sicken this poor child for what is +not ailment at all--and the teeth will relieve in a few days. Or, +if she were feverish, have not we decoctions brewed from Heaven's +own pure herbs in the garden, with no unknown ingredient?' + +'Madame,' said Eustacie, ruffling into fierceness, 'you are very +good to me; but I must keep the management of my daughter to +myself.' + +The Duchess looked at her from head to foot. Perhaps it was with +an impulse to treat her impertinence as she would have done that of +a dependant; but the old lady never forgot herself: she only +shrugged her shoulders and said, with studied politeness, 'When I +unfortunately interrupted your consultation with this eminent +physician, it was to ask you a question regarding this English +family. Will you do me the honour to enter my cabinet?' + +And whereas no one was looking, the old lady showed her displeasure +by ushering Madame de Ribaumont into her cabinet like a true noble +stranger guest; so that Eustacie felt disconcerted. + +The Duchess then began to read aloud her own letter to Lord Walwyn, +pausing at every clause, so that Eustacie felt the delay and +discussion growing interminable, and the Duchess then requested to +have Madame de Ribaumont's own letter at once, as she wished to +inclose it, make up her packet, and send it without delay. Opening +a secret door in her cabinet, she showed Eustacie stair by which +she might reach Maitre Gardon's room without crossing the hall. +Eustacie hoped to find him there and tell him how intolerable was +the Duchess; but, though she found him, it was in company with the +tutor, who was spending an afternoon on Plato with him. She could +only take up her letter and retreat to Madame's cabinet, where she +had left her child. She finished it as best she might, addressed +it after the herald's spelling of the title, bound it with some of +the Duchess's black floss silk--wondering meanwhile, but little +guessing that the pedlar knew, where was the tress that had bound +her last attempt at correspondence, guessing least of all that that +tress lay on a heart still living and throbbing for her. All this +had made her a little forget her haste to assert her liberty of +action by returning to the pedlar; but, behold, when she came back +to the hall, it had resumed its pristine soberness, and merely a +few lingering figures were to be seen, packing up their purchases. + +While she was still looking round in dismay, Mademoiselle Perrot +came up to her and said, 'Ah! Madame, you may well wonder! I +never saw Maitre Benoit there so cross; the poor man did but offer +to sell little Fanchon the elizir that secures a good husband, and +old Benoit descended on him like a griffin enraged, would scarce +give him time to compute his charges or pack his wares, but hustled +him forth like a mere thief! And I missed my bargain for that +muffler that had so taken my fancy. But, Madame, he spoke to me +apart, and said you were an old customer of his, and that rather +than the little angel should suffer with her teeth, which surely +threaten convulsions, he would leave with you this sovereign remedy +of sweet syrup--a spoonful to be given each night.' + +Eustacie took the little flask. She was much inclined to give the +syrup by way of precaution, as well as to assure herself that she +was not under the Duchess's dominion; but some strong instinct of +the truth of the lady's words that the child was safer and +healthier undoctored, made her resolve at least to defer it until +the little one showed any perilous symptom. And as happily +Rayonette only showed two little white teeth, and much greater +good-humour, the syrup was nearly forgotten, when, a fortnight +after, the Duchess received a dispatch from her son which filled +her with the utmost indignation. The courier had indeed arrived, +but the packet had proved to be filled with hay and waste-paper. +And upon close examination, under the lash, the courier had been +forced to confess to having allowed himself to be overtaken by the +pedlar, and treated by him to a supper at a _cabaret_. No doubt, +while he was afterwards asleep, the contents of his packet had been +abstracted. There had been important documents for the Duke +besides Eustacie's letters, and the affair greatly annoyed the +Duchess, though she had the compensation of having been proved +perfectly right in her prejudice against pedlars, and her dislike +of her son's courier. She sent for Eustacie to tell her privately +of the loss, and of course the young mother at once turned pale and +exclaimed, 'The wicked one! Ah! what a blessing that I gave my +little darling none of his dose!' + +'_Hein_? You had some from him then!' demanded the Duchess with +displeasure. + +'No, Madame, thanks, thanks to you. Oh! I never will be self- +willed and naughty again. Forgive me, Madame.' And down she +dropped on her knee, with clasped hands and glistening eyes. + +'Forgive you, silly child, for what?' said Madame de Quinet, nearly +laughing. + +'Ah! for the angry, passionate thoughts I had! Ah! Madame, I was +all but giving the stuff to my little angel in very spite--and +then---' Eutacie's voice was drowned in passion of tears, and she +devoured the old lady's hand with her kisses. + +'Come, come,' said the Duchess, 'let us be reasonable. A man may be +a thief, but it does not follow that he is a poisoner.' + +'Nay, that will we see,' cried Eutacie. 'He was resolved that the +little lamb should not escape, and he left a flask for her with +Mademoiselle Perrot. I will fetch it, if Madame will give me +leave. Oh, the great mercy of Heaven that made her so well that I +gave her none!' + +Madame de Quinet's analytic powers did not go very far; and would +probably have decided against the syrup if it had been nothing but +virgin honey. She was one who fully believed that her dear Queen +Jeanne had been poisoned with a pair of gloves, and she had +unlimited faith in the powers of evil possessed by Rene of Milan. +Of course, she detected the presence of a slow poison, whose +effects would have been attributed to the ailment it was meant to +cure; and though her evidence was insufficient, she probably did +Ercole no injustice. She declined testing the compound on any +unfortunate dog or cat, but sealed it up in the presence of Gardon, +Eutacie, and Mademoiselle Perrot, to be produced against the pedlar +if ever he should be caught. + +Then she asked Eutacie if there was any reason to suspect that he +recognized her. Eutacie related the former dealings with him, when +she had sold him her jewels and her hair, but she had no notion of +his being the same person whom she had seen when at Montpipeau. +Indeed, he had altered his appearance so much that he had been only +discovered at Nid-de-Merle by eyes sharpened by distrust of his +pretensions to magic arts. + +Madame de Quinet, however, concluded that Eutacie had been known, +or else that her jewels had betrayed her, and that the man must +have been employed by her enemies. If it had not been the depth of +winter, she would have provided for the persecuted lady's immediate +transmission to England; but he storms of the Bay of Biscay would +have made this impossible in the state of French navigation, even +if Isaac Gardon had been in a condition to move; for the first +return of cold had brought back severe rheumatic pains, and with +them came a shortness of breath which even the Duchess did not know +to be the token of heart complaint. He was confined to his room, +and it was kneeling by his bedside that Eutacie poured out her +thankfulness for her child's preservation, and her own repentance +for the passing fit of self-will and petulance. The thought of +Rayonette's safety seemed absolutely to extinguish the fresh +anxiety that had arisen since it had become evident that her +enemies no longer supposed her dead, but were probably upon her +traces. Somehow, danger had become almost a natural element to +her, and having once expressed her firm resolution that nothing +should separate her from her adopted father, to whom indeed her +care became constantly more necessary, she seemed to occupy herself +very little with the matter; she nursed him as merrily as ever, and +left to him and Madame de Quinet the grave consultations as to what +was to be done for her security. There was a sort of natural +buoyancy about her that never realized a danger till it came, and +then her spirit was roused to meet it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. SPELL AND POTION + + + +Churl, upon thy eyes I throw +All the power this charm doth owe + MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM + + +Her rival lived! The tidings could not but be communicated to +Diane de Selinville, when her father set out _en grande tenue_ to +demand his niece from the Duke de Quinet. This, however, was not +till spring was advancing; for the pedlar had not been able to take +a direct route back to Nid-de-Merle, since his first measure had +necessarily been to escape into a province where the abstraction of +a Huguenot nobleman's despatches would be considered as a +meritorious action. Winter weather, and the practice of his +profession likewise, delayed Ercole so much that it was nearly +Easter before he brought his certain intelligence to the Chevalier, +and to the lady an elixir of love, clear and coloured as crystal, +and infallible as an inspirer of affection. + +Should she administer it, now that she knew her cousin not to be +the lawful object of affection she had so long esteemed him, but, +as he persisted in considering himself, a married man? Diane had +more scruples than she would have had a year before, for she had +not so long watched and loved one so true and conscientious as +Berenger de Ribaumont without having her perceptions elevated; but +at the same time the passion of love had become intensified, both +by long continuance and by resistance. She had attached herself, +believing him free, and her affections could not be disentangled by +learning that he was bound--rather the contrary. + +Besides, there was plenty of sophistry. Her father had always +assured her of the invalidity of the marriage, without thinking it +necessary to dwell on his own arrangements for making it invalid, +so that was no reasonable ground of objection; and a lady of +Diane's period, living in the world where she had lived, would have +had no notion of objecting to her lover for a previous amour, and +as such was she bidden to rank Berenger's relations with Eutacie. +And there was the less scruple on Eutacie's account, because the +Chevalier, knowing that the Duchess had a son and two grandsons, +had conceived a great terror that she meant to give his niece to +one of them; and this would be infinitely worse, both for the +interests of the family and of their party, than even her reunion +with the young Baron. Even Narcisse, who on his return had written +to Paris a grudging consent to the experiment of his father and +sister, had allowed that the preservation of Berenger's life was +needful till Eutacie should be in their power so as to prevent such +a marriage as that! To Diane, the very suggestion became +certainty: she already saw Eutacie's shallow little heart consoled +and her vanity excited by these magnificent prospects, and she +looked forward to the triumph of her own constancy, when Berenger +should find the image so long enshrined in his heart crumble in its +sacred niche. + +Yet a little while then would she be patient, even though nearly a +year had passed and still she saw no effect upon her prisoners, +unless, indeed, Philip had drunk of one of her potions by mistake +and his clumsy admiration was the consequence. The two youths went +on exactly in the same manner, without a complaint, without a +request, occupying themselves as best they might--Berenger +courteously attentive recovered his health, and the athletic powers +displayed by the two brothers when wrestling, fencing, or snow- +balling in the courtyard, were the amazement and envy of their +guard. Twice in the course of the winter there had been an alarm of +wolves, and in their eagerness and excitement about this new sport, +they had accepted the Chevalier's offer of taking their parole for +the hunt. They had then gone forth with a huge posse of villagers, +who beat the woods with their dogs till the beast was aroused from +its lair and driven into the alleys, where waited gentlemen, +gendarmes, and game keepers with their guns. These two chases were +chiefly memorable to Berenger, because in the universal +intermingling of shouting peasants he was able in the first to have +some conversation with Eutacie's faithful protector Martin, who +told him the incidents of her wanderings, with tears in his eyes, +and blessed him for his faith that she was not dead; and in the +second, he actually found himself in the ravine of the Grange du +Temple. No need to ask, every voice was shouting the name, and +though the gendarmes were round him and he durst not speak to +Rotrou, still he could reply with significative earnestness to the +low bow with which the farmer bent to evident certainty that here +was the imprisoned Protestant husband of the poor lady. Berenger +wore his black vizard mask as had been required of him, but the +man's eyes followed him, as though learning by heart the outline of +his tall figure. The object of the Chevalier's journey was, of +course, a secret from the prisoners, who merely felt its effects by +having their meals served to them in their own tower; and when he +returned after about a month's absence though him looking harassed, +aged, and so much out of humour that he could scarcely preserve his +usual politeness. In effect he was greatly chagrined. + +'That she is in their hands is certain, the hypocrites!' he said to +his daughter and sister; 'and no less so that they have designs on +her; but I let them know that these could be easily traversed.' + +'But where is she, the unhappy apostate child?' said the Abbess. +'They durst not refuse her to you.' + +'I tell you they denied all present knowledge of her. The Duke +himself had the face to make as though he never heard of her. He +had no concern with his mother's household and guests forsooth! I +do not believe he has; the poor fellow stands in awe of that +terrible old heretic dragon, and keeps aloof from her as much as he +can. But he is, after all, a _beau jeune home_; nor should I be +surprised if he were the girl's gay bridegroom by this time, though +I gave him a hint that there was an entanglement about the child's +first marriage which, by French law, would invalidate any other +without a dispensation from the Pope.' + +'A hard nut that for a heretic,' laughed the Abbess. + +'He acted the ignorant--knew nothing about the young lady; but had +the civility to give me a guide and an escort to go to Quinet. _Ma +foi_! I believe they were given to hinder me--take me by indirect +roads, make me lose time at chateaux. When I arrived at the grim +old chateau--a true dungeon, precise as a convent--there was the +dame, playing the Queen Jeanne as well as she could, and having the +insolence to tell me that it was true that Madame la Baronne de +Ribaumont, as she was pleased to call her, had honoured her +residence for some months, but that she had now quitted it, and she +flatly refused to answer any question whither she was gone! The +hag! she might at least have had the decorum to deny all knowledge +of her, but nothing is more impertinent that the hypocritical +sincerity of the heretics.' + +'But her people,' exclaimed the Abbess; 'surely some of them knew, +and could be brought to speak.' + +'All the servants I came in contact with played the incorruptible; +but still I have done something. There were some fellows in the +village who are not at their ease under that rule. I caused my +people to inquire them out. They knew nothing more than that the +old heretic Gardon with his family had gone away in Madame la +Duchesse's litter, but whither they could not tell. But the +_cabaretier_ there is furious secretly with the Quinets for having +spoilt his trade by destroying the shrine at the holy well, and I +have made him understand that it will be for his profit to send me +off intelligence so soon as there is any communication between them +and the lady. I made the same arrangement with a couple of +gendarmes of the escort the Duke gave me. So at least we are safe +for intelligence such as would hinder a marriage.' + +'But they will be off to England!' said the Abbess. + +'I wager they will again write to make sure of a reception. +Moreover, I have set that fellow Ercole and others of his trade to +keep a strict watch on all the roads leading to the ports, and give +me due notice of their passing thither. We have law on our side, +and, did I once claim her, no one could resist my right. Or should +the war break out, as is probable, then could my son sweep their +whole province with his troops. This time she cannot escape us. + +The scene that her father's words and her own imagination conjured +up, of Eustacie attracting the handsome widower-duke, removed all +remaining scruples from Madame de Selinville. For his own sake, +the Baron must be made to fulfil the prophecy of the ink-pool, and +allow his prison doors to be opened by love. Many and many a +tender art did Diane rehearse; numerous were her sighs; wakeful, +languishing, and restless her nights and days; and yet, whatever +her determination to practise upon her cousin the witcheries that +she had learnt in the _Escadron de la Reine-mere_, and seen played +off effectually where there was not one grain of love to inspire +them, her powers and her courage always failed her in the presence +of him whom she sought to attract. His quiet reserve and +simplicity always disconcerted her, and any attempt at blandishment +that he could not mistake was always treated by him as necessarily +an accidental error, as if any other supposition would render her +despicable; and yet there was now and then a something that made +her detect an effort in his restraint, as if it were less distaste +than self-command. Her brother had contemptuously acquiesced in +the experiment made by herself and her father, and allowed that so +long as there was any danger of the Quinet marriage, the Baron's +existence was needful. He would not come to Nid-de-Merle, nor did +they want him there, knowing that he could hardly have kept his +hands off his rival. But when the war broke out again in the +summer of 1575 he joined that detachment of Guise's army which +hovered about the Loire, and kept watch on the Huguenot cities and +provinces of Western France. The Chevalier made several +expeditions to confer with his son, and to keep up his relations +with the network of spies whom he had spread over the Quinet +provinces. The prisoners were so much separated from all +intercourse with the dependants that they were entirely ignorant of +the object of his absence from home. On these occasions they never +left their tower and its court, and had no enlivenment save an +occasional gift of dainties or message of inquiry from the ladies +at Bellaise. These were brought by a handsome but slight, pale lad +called Aime de Selinville, a relative of the late Count, as he told +them, who had come to act as a gentleman attendant upon the widowed +countess. The brothers rather wondered how he was disposed of at +the convent, but all there was so contrary to their preconceived +notions that they acquiesced. The first time he arrived it was on +a long, hot summer day, and he then brought them a cool iced +sherbet in two separate flasks, that for Philip being mixed with +wine, which was omitted for Berenger; and the youth stood lingering +and watching, anxious, he said, to be able to tell his lady how the +drinks were approved. Both were excellent, and to that effect the +prisoners replied; but no sooner was the messenger gone than +Berenger said smilingly, 'That was a love potion, Phil.' + +'And you drank it!' cried Philip, in horror. + +'I did not think of it till I saw how the boy's eyes were gazing +curiously at me as I swallowed it. You look at me as curiously, +Phil. Are you expecting it to work? Shall I be at the fair lady's +feet next time we meet?' + +'How can you defy it, Berry?' + +'Nay, Phil; holy wedded love is not to be dispelled by a +mountebank's decoction.' + +'But suppose it were poisonous, Berry, what can be done?' cried +Philip, starting up in dismay. + +'Then you would go home, Phil, and this would be over. But'-- +seeing his brother's terror--'there is no fear of that. She is not +like to wish to poison me.' + +And the potion proved equally ineffective on mind and body, as +indeed did all the manipulations exercised upon a little waxen +image that was supposed to represent M. le Baron. Another figure +was offered to Diane, in feminine form, with black beads for eyes +and a black plaster for hair, which, when stuck full of pins and +roasted before the fire, was to cause Eustacie to peak and pine +correspondingly. But from this measure Diane shrank. If aught was +done against her rival it must be by her father and brother, not by +herself; and she would not feel herself directly injuring her +little cousin, nor sinking herself below him whom she loved. Once +his wife, she would be good for ever, held up by his strength. + +Meantime Berenger had received a greater shock than she or her +father understood in the looking over of some of the family +parchments kept in store at the castle. The Chevalier, in showing +them to him, had chiefly desired to glorify the family by +demonstrating how its honours had been won, but Berenger was +startled at finding that Nid-de-Merle had been, as it appeared to +him, arbitrarily and unjustly declared to be forfeited by the Sieur +de Bellaise, who had been thrown into prison by Louis XI. for some +demonstration in favour of the poor Duke de Berri, and granted to +the favourite Ribaumont. The original grant was there, and to his +surprise he found it was to male heirs--the male heirs alone of the +direct line of the Ribaumont--to whom the grant was made. How, +then, came it to Eustacie? The disposal had, with almost equal +injustice, been changed by King Henry II. and the late Count de +Ribaumont in favour of the little daughter whose union with the +heir of the elder line was to conclude all family feuds. Only now +did Berenger understand what his father had said on his death-bed +of flagrant injustice committed in his days of darkness. He felt +that he was reaping the reward of the injuries committed against +the Chevalier and his son on behalf of the two unconscious +children. He would willingly at once have given up all claim to +the Nid-de-Merle estate--and he was now of age; two birthdays had +passed in his captivity and brought him to years of discretion--but +he had no more power than before to dispose of what was the +property of Eustacie and her child; and the whole question of the +validity of his marriage would be given up by his yielding even the +posthumous claim that might have devolved on him in case of +Eustacie's death. This would be giving up her honour, a thing +impossible. + +'Alas!' he sighed, 'my poor father might well say he had bound a +heavy burthen round my neck.' + +And from that time his hopes sank lower as the sense of the justice +of his cause left him. He could neither deny his religion nor his +marriage, and therefore could do nothing for his own deliverance; +and he knew himself to be suffering in the cause of a great +injustice; indeed, to be bringing suffering on the still more +innocent Philip. + +The once proudly indifferent youth was flagging now; was losing +appetite, flesh, and colour; was unwilling to talk or to take +exercise; and had a wan and drooping air that was most painful to +watch. It seemed as if the return of summer brought a sense of the +length and weariness of the captivity, and that the sunshine and +gaiety of the landscape had become such a contrast to the captives' +deadness of spirit that they could hardly bear to behold them, and +felt the dull prison walls more congenial to their feelings than +the gaiety of the summer hay and harvest-fields. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. BEATING AGAINST THE BARS + + + +My horse is weary of the stall, +And I am sick of captive thrall.--LADY OF THE LAKE + + +Letters! They were hailed like drops of water in a thirsty land. +No doubt they had been long on the way, ere they had reached the +hands of the Chevalier de Ribaumont, and it was quite possible that +they had been read and selected; but, as Berenger said, he defied +any Frenchman to imitate either Lord Walwyn's style or Sir +Marmaduke's, and when late in the autumn the packet was delivered +to him, the two captives gloated over the very outsides before they +opened them. + +The first intelligence that greeted them made them give a cry of +amusement and surprise. Lady Thistlewood, whose regrets that each +of her girls was not a boy had passed into a proverb, had at +length, in Dolly's seventh year, given birth to a son on Midsummer +Day. + +'Well,' said Philip, sighing, 'we must drink his health tonight! +It is well, if we are to rot here, that some one should make it up +to them!' + +'And join Walwyn and Hurst!' said Berenger; and then both faces +grew much graver, as by these letters, dated three months since, +they understood how many they must have missed, and likewise that +nothing had been heard of themselves since they had left Paris +sixteen months ago. Their letters, both to their relations and to +Sir Francis Walsingham, had evidently been suppressed; and Lord +North, who had succeeded Walsingham as ambassador, had probably +been misled by design, either by Narcisse de Nid-de-Merle himself, +or by some of his agents, for Lord Walwyn had heard from him that +the young men were loitering among the castles and garrisons of +Anjou, leading a gay and dissipated life, and that it was +universally believed that the Baron de Ribaumont had embraced the +Catholic faith, and would shortly be presented to Henry III. to +receive the grant of the Selinville honours, upon his marriage with +his cousin, the widow of the last of the line. With much +earnestness and sorrow did good old Lord Walwyn write to his +grandson, conjuring him to bethink himself of his some, his pure +faith, his loving friends, and the hopes of his youth: and, at +least, if he himself had been led away by the allurements of the +other party, to remember that Philip had been intrusted to him in +full confidence, and to return him to his home. 'It was grief and +shame to him,' said the good old man, 'to look at Sir Marmaduke, +who had risked his son in the charge of one hitherto deemed +trustworthy; and even if Berenger had indeed forgotten and cast +away those whom he had once seemed to regard with love and duty, he +commanded him to send home Philip, who owed an obedience to his +father that could not be gainsaid.' Lord Walwyn further bade his +grandson remember that the arrangements respecting his inheritance +had been made in confidence that his heir was English in heart and +faith, and that neither the Queen nor his own conscience would +allow him to let his inheritance pass into French of Papist hands. +There was scarcely a direct reproach, but the shaken, altered +handwriting showed how stricken the aged man must be; and after his +signature was added one still more trembling line, 'An ye return +not speedily, ye will never see the old grandsire more.' + +Berenger scarcely finished the letter through his burning tears of +agony, and then, casting it from him, began to pace the room in +fierce agitation, bursting out into incoherent exclamations, +grasping at his hair, even launching himself against the massive +window with such frenzied gestures and wild words that Philip, who +had read through all with his usual silent obtuseness, became +dismayed, and, laying hold of him, said, 'Prithee, brother, do not +thus! What serves such passion?' + +Berenger burst into a strange loud laugh at the matter-of-fact +tone. 'What serves it! what serves anything!' he cried, 'but to +make me feel what a miserable wretch I am? But he will die, +Philip--he will die--not having believed me! How shall we keep +ourselves from the smooth-tongued villain's throat? That I should +be thus judged a traitor by my grandfather----' + +And with a cry as of bodily anguish, he hid his face on the table, +and groaned as he felt the utter helplessness of his strong youth +in bonds. + +'It can't be helped,' was the next of the unconsolatory platitudes +uttered by Philip, who always grew sullen and dogged when his +brother's French temperament broke forth under any sudden stroke. +'If they will believe such things, let them! You have not heard +what my father says to it.' + +'It will be all the same,' groaned Berenger. + +'Nay! now that's a foul slander, and you should be ashamed of doing +my father such wrong,' said Philip, 'Listen;' and he read: 'I +will believe no ill of the lad no more than of thee, Phil. It is +but a wild-goose chase, and the poor young woman is scarce like to +be above ground; but, as I daily tell them, 'tis hard a man should +forfeit his land for seeking his wife. My Lord North sends rumours +that he is under Papist guiding, and sworn brother with the Black +Ribaumonts; and my Lady, his grandmother, is like to break her +heart, and my Lord credits them more than he ought, and never a +line as a token comes from you. Then there's Dame Annora, as proud +of the babe as though neither she nor woman born ever had a son +before, and plains over him, that both his brothers should be +endowed, and he but a younger son. What will be the end on't I +cannot tell. I will stand up for the right as best man may do, and +never forget that Berry is her first-born, and that his child may +be living; but the matter is none of mine, and my Lord is very +aged, nor can a man meddle between his wife and her father. So +this I tell you that you may make your brother lay it to heart. +The sooner he is here the better, if he be still, as I verily +believe and maintain him to be, an honest English heart that snaps +his fingers at French papistry.' 'There,' conclude Philip +triumphantly, 'he knows an honest man! He's friend and good father +to you as much as ever. Heed none of the rest. He'll never let +this little rogue stand in your light.' + +'as if I cared for that!' said Berenger, beginning his caged-tiger +walk again, and, though he tried to repress his anguish, breaking +out at times into fierce revilings of the cruel toils that beset +him, and despairing lamentations over those beloved ones at home, +with sobs, groans, and tears, such as Philip could not brook to +witness. Both because they were so violent and mourn-full, and +because he thought them womanish, though in effect no woman's grief +could have had half that despairing force. The _fierte_ of the +French noble, however, came to his aid. At the first sound of the +great supper-bell he dashed away his tears, composed his features, +washed his face, and demanded haughtily of Philip, whether there +were any traces in his looks that the cruel hypocrite, their +jailer, could gloat over. + +And with proud step and indifferent air he marched into the hall, +answered the Chevalier's polite inquiry whether the letter had +brought good tidings by coolly thanking him and saying that all at +home were well; and when he met the old man's inquiring glance out +of the little keen black bead in the puckered, withered eyelid, he +put a perfectly stony unmeaningness into his own gaze, till his +eyes looked like the blue porcelain from China so much prized by +the Abbess. He even played at chess all the evening with such +concentrated attention as to be uniformly victorious. + +Yet half the night Philip heard suppressed moans and sobs--then +knew that he was on his knees--then, after long and comparatively +silent weeping, he lay down again, and from the hour when he awoke +in the morning, he returned no more to the letters; and though for +some little time more sad and dispirited, he seemed to have come to +regard the misjudgment at home as a part of the burthen he was +already bearing. + +That burthen was, however, pressing more heavily. The temperaments +of the two brothers so differed that while the French one was +prostrated by the agony of a stroke, and then rallied patiently to +endure the effects, the English character opposed a passive +resistance to the blow, gave no sign of grief or pain, and from +that very determination suffered a sort of exhaustion that made the +effects of the evil more and more left. Thus, from the time +Philip's somewhat tardy imagination had been made to realize his +home, his father, and his sisters, the home-sickness, and weariness +of his captivity, which had already begun to undermine his health +and spirits, took increasing effect. + +He made no complaint--he never expressed a wish--but, in the words +of the prophet, he seemed 'pining away on his feet.' He did not +sleep, and though, to avoid remark, he never failed to appear at +meals, he scarcely tasted food. He never willingly stirred from +cowering over the fire, and was so surly and ill-tempered that only +Berenger's unfailing good-humour could have endured it. Even a +wolf-hunt did not stir him. He only said he hated outlandish +beasts, and that it was not like chasing the hare in Dorset. His +calf-love for Madame de Selinville had entirely faded away in his +yearnings after home. She was only one of the tediously recurring +sights of his captivity, and was loathed like all the rest. The +regulation rides with the Chevalier were more detestable than ever, +and by and by they caused such fatigue that Berenger perceived that +his strength must be warning, and became so seriously alarmed that +one evening, when Philip had barely dragged himself to the hall, +tasted nothing but a few drops of wine, and then dropped into an +uneasy slumber in his chair, he could not but turn to the Chevalier +an appealing, indignant countenance, as he said, in a low but +quivering voice, 'You see, sir, how he is altered!' + +'Alas! fair nephew, it is but too plain. He is just of the age +when such restraint tells severely upon the health.' + +Then Berenger spoke out upon the foul iniquity of the boy's +detention. For himself, he observed, he had nothing to say; he +knew the term of his release, and had not accepted them; but +Philip, innocent of all damage to the Ribaumont interests, the heir +of an honourable family, what had he done to incur the cruel +imprisonment that was eating away his life? + +'I tell you, sir,' said Berenger, with eyes filled with tears,' +that his liberty is more precious to me than my own. Were he but +restored to our home, full half the weight would be gone from my +spirit.' + +'Fair nephew,' said the Chevalier, 'you speak as though I had any +power in the matter, and were not merely standing between you and +the King.' + +'Then if so,' said Berenger, 'let the King do as he will with me, +but let Philip's case be known to our Ambassador.' + +'My poor cousin,' said the Chevalier, 'you know not what you ask. +Did I grant your desire, you would only learn how implacable King +Henri is to those who have personally offended him--above all, to +heretics. Nor could the Ambassador do anything for one who +resisted by force of arms the King's justice. Leave it to me; put +yourself in my hands, and deliverance shall come for him first, +then for you.' + +'How, sir?' + +'One token of concession--one attendance at mass--one pledge that +the alliance shall take place when the formalities have been +complied with--then can I report you our own; give you almost +freedom at once; despatch our young friend to England without loss +of time; so will brotherly affection conquer those chivalrous +scruples, most honourable in you, but which, carried too far, +become cruel obstinacy.' + +Berenger looked at Philip; saw how faded and wan was the ruddy sun- +burnt complexion, how lank and bony the sturdy form, how listless +and wasted the hands. Then arose, bursting within him, the devoted +generosity of the French nature, which would even accept sin and +ruin for self, that so the friend may be saved; and after all, had +he not gone to mass out of mere curiosity?--did he not believe that +there was salvation in the Gallican Church? Was it not possible +that, with Philip free to tell his story at home, his own +deliverance might come before he should be irrevocably committed to +Madame de Selinville? If Eustacie were living, her claims must +overthrow that which her rival was forcing upon him at her own +peril. Nay, how else could he obtain tidings of her? And for +those at home, did they deserve that he should sacrifice all, +Philip included, for their sake? The thoughts, long floating round +his brain, now surged upon him in one flood, and seemed to +overwhelm in those moments of confusion all his powers of calling +up the other side of the argument; he only had an instinct +remaining that it would be a lie to God and man alike. 'God help +me!' he sighed to himself; and there was sufficient consideration +and perplexity expressed in his countenance to cause the Chevalier +to feel his cause almost gained; and rising eagerly, with tears in +his eyes, he exclaimed, 'Embrace me, my dear, dear son! The thing +is done! Oh! what peace, what joy!' + +The instinct of recoil came stronger now. He stepped back with +folded arms, saying again, 'God help me! God forbid that I should +be a traitor!' + +'My son, hear me; these are but easily removed points of honour,' +began the Chevalier; but at that moment Philip suddenly started +from, or in his slumber, leapt on his feet, and called out, +'Avaunt, Satan!' then opened his eyes, and looked, as if barely +recalling where he was. + +'Philip!' exclaimed Berenger, 'did you hear?' + +'I--I don't know,' he said, half-bewildered. 'Was I dreaming that +the fiend was parleying with us in the voice of M. le Chevalier +there to sell our souls for one hour of home?' + +He spoke English, but Berenger replied in French. + +'You were not wrong, Philip. Sir, he dreamt that the devil was +tempting me in your voice while you were promising me his liberty +on my fulfilling your first condition.' + +'What?' said Philip, now fully awake, and gathering the state of +things, as he remembered the words that had doubtless been the +cause of his dream. 'And if you did, Berenger, I give you warning +they should never see me at home. What! could I show my face there +with such tidings? No! I should go straight to La Noue, or to the +Low Countries, and kill every Papist I could for having debauched +you!' + +'Hush! hush! Philip,' said Berenger; 'I could not break my faith +to Heaven or my wife even for your sake, and my cousin sees how +little beholden you would be to me for so doing. With your leave, +Monsieur, we will retire.' + +The Chevalier detained Berenger for a moment to whisper, 'What I +see is so noble a heart that I know you cannot sacrifice him to +your punctilio.' + +Philip was so angry with Berenger, so excited, and so determined to +show that nothing ailed him, that for a short time he was roused, +and seemed to be recovering; but in a few days he flagged again, +only, if possible with more gruffness, moodiness, and pertinacity +in not allowing that anything was amiss. It was the bitterest drop +of all in Berenger's cup, when in the end of January he looked back +at what Philip had been only a month before, and saw how he had +wasted away and lost strength; the impulse rather to ruin himself +that destroy his brother came with such force that he could +scarcely escape it by his ever-recurring cry for help to withstand +it. And then Diane, in her splendid beauty and withchery, would +rise before him, so that he knew how a relaxation of the lengthened +weary effort would make his whole self break its bonds and go out +to her. Dreams of felicity and liberty, and not with Eustacie, +would even come over him, and he would awaken to disappointment +before he came to a sense of relief and thankfulness that he was +still his own. The dislike, distaste, and dread that came so +easily in his time of pain and weakness were less easy to maintain +in his full health and forced inactivity. Occupation of mind and +hope seemed the only chance of enabling either of the two to +weather this most dreary desert period; and Berenger, setting his +thoughts resolutely to consider what would be the best means of +rousing Philip, decided at length that any endeavour to escape, +however arduous and desperate, would be better than his present +apathetic languor, even if it led to nothing. After the first +examination of their prison, Berenger had had no thought of escape; +he was then still weak and unenterprising. He had for many months +lived in hopes of interference from home; and, besides, the +likelihood that so English a party as his own would be quickly +pursued and recaptured, where they did not know their road and had +no passports, had deterred him lest should fall into still straiter +imprisonment. But he had since gained, in the course of his rides, +and by observation from the top of the tower, a much fuller +knowledge of the country. He knew the way to the grange du Temple, +and to the chief towns in the neighbourhood. Philip and Humfrey +had both lost something of their intensely national look and +speech, and, moreover, was having broken out again, there was hope +of falling in with Huguenot partisans even nearer that at La +Rochelle. But whether successful or not, some enterprise was +absolutely needed to save Philip from his despondent apathy; and +Berenger, who in these eighteen months had grown into the strength +and vigour of manhood, felt as if he had force and power for almost +any effort save this hopeless waiting. + +He held council with Humfrey, who suggested that it might be well +to examine the vaults below the keep. He had a few days before, +while going after some of the firewood stored below the ground- +floor chamber, observed a door, locked, but with such rusty iron +hinges that they might possibly yield to vigorous efforts with a +stone; and who could tell where the underground passages might come +out? + +Berenger eagerly seized the idea. Philip's mood of contradiction +prompted him to pronounce it useless folly, and he vouchsafed no +interest in the arrangements for securing light, by selecting all +the bits of firewood fittest for torches, and saving all the oil +possible from the two lamps they were allowed. The chief +difficulty was that Guibert was not trusted, so that all had to be +done out of his sight; and on the first day Berenger was obliged to +make the exploration alone, since Humfrey was forced to engross +Guibert in some occupation out of sight, and Philip had refused to +have anything to do with it, or be like a rat routing in the +corners of his trap. + +However, Berenger had only just ascertained that the ironwork was +so entirely rusted away as to offer no impediment, when Philip came +languidly roaming into the cellar, saying, 'Here! I'll hold the +torch! You'll be losing yourself in this wolf's mouth of a place +if you go alone.' + +The investigation justified Philip's predictions of its +uselessness. Nothing was detected but rats, and vaults, and +cobwebs; it was cold, earthy, and damp; and when they thought they +must have penetrated far beyond the precincts of the keep, they +heard Humfrey's voice close to them, warning them that it was +nearly dinner-time. + +The next day brought them a more promising discovery, namely of a +long straight passage, with a gleam of light at the end of it; and +this for the first time excited Philip's interest or curiosity. He +would have hastened along it at once, but for the warning summons +from Humfrey; and in the excitement of even this grain of interest, +he ate more heartily at supper than he had done for weeks, and was +afterwards more eager to prove to Berenger that night was the best +time to pursue their researches. + +And Berenger, when convinced that Guibert was sound asleep, thought +so too, and accompanied by Humfrey, they descended into the +passage. The light, of course, was no longer visible, but the form +of the crypt, through which they now passed, was less antique than +that under the keep, and it was plain they were beneath a later +portion of the Castle. The gallery concluded in a wall, with a +small barred, unglazed window, perfectly dark, so that Berenger, +who alone could reach to the bottom of it, could not uses where it +looked out. + +'We must return by daylight; then, maybe, we may judge,' sighed +Philip. + +'Hark!' exclaimed Berenger. + +'Rats,' said Philip. + +'No--listen--a voice! Take care!' he added, in a lower tone, 'we +may be close on some of the servants.' + +But, much nearer than he expected, a voice on his right hand +demanded, 'Does any good Christian hear me?' + +'Who is there?' exclaimed Philip. + +'Ah! good sir, do I hear the voice of a companion in misery? Or, +if you be free, would you but send tidings to my poor father?' + +'It is a Norman accent!' cried Berenger. 'Ah! ah! can it be poor +Landry Osbert?' + +'I am--I am that wretch. Oh, would that M. le Baron could know!' + +'My dear, faithful foster-brother! They deceived me,' cried +Berenger, in great agitation, as an absolute howl came from the +other side of the wall: 'M. le Baron come to this! Woe worth the +day!' and Berenger with difficulty mitigated his affectionate +servant's lamentations enough to learn from him how he had been +seized almost at the gates of Bellaise, closely interrogated, +deprived of the letter to Madame la Baronne, and thrown into this +dungeon. The Chevalier. Not an unmerciful man, according to the +time, had probably meant to release him as soon as the marriage +between his son and niece should have rendered it superfluous to +detain this witness to Berenger's existence. There, then, the poor +fellow had lain for three years, and his work during this weary +time had been the scraping with a potsherd at the stone of his +wall, and his pertinacious perseverance had succeeded in forming a +hole just large enough to enable him to see the light of the torch +carried by the gentlemen. On his side, he said, there was nothing +but a strong iron door, and a heavily-barred window, looking, like +that in the passage, into the fosse within the walled garden; but, +on the other hand, if he could enlarge his hole sufficiently to +creep through it, he could escape with them in case of their +finding a subterranean outlet. The opening within his cell was, of +course, much larger than the very small space he had made by +loosening a stone towards the passage, but he was obliged always to +build up each side of his burrow at the hours of his jailer's +visit, lest his work should be detected, and to stamp the rubbish +into his floor. But while they talked, Humfrey and Philip, with +their knives, scraped so diligently that two more stones could be +displaced; and, looking down the widening hole through the +prodigious mass of wall, they could see a ghastly, ragged, long- +bearded scarecrow, with an almost piteous expression of joy on his +face, at once again seeing familiar faces. And when, at his +earnest entreaty, Berenger stood so as to allow his countenance to +be as visible as the torch could make it through the 'wall's-hole,' +the vault echoed with the poor fellow's delighted cry. 'I am +happy! M. le Baron is himself again. The assassin's cruel work is +gone! Ah! thanks to the saints! Blessed be St. Lucie, it was not +in vain that I entreated her!' + +The torches were, however, waxing so low that the sight could not +long be afforded poor Osbert; and, with a promise to return to him +next day, the party returned to the upper air, where they warmed +themselves over the fire, and held council over measures for the +present relief of the captive. Berenger grieved that he had given +him up so entirely for lost as to have made no exertions on his +behalf, and declared his resolution of entreating that he might be +allowed to enjoy comparative comfort with them in the keep. It was +a risk, but the Chevalier might fairly suppose that the knowledge +of Osbert's situation had oozed out through the servants, and +gratitude and humanity alike impelled Berenger to run some risk for +his foster-brother's sake. He was greatly touched at the poor +fellow's devotion, and somewhat amused, though with an almost +tearful smile at the joy with which he had proclaimed--what +Berenger was quite unaware of, since the keep furnished no mirrors- +-the disappearance of his scars. ''Tis even so,' said Philip, +'though I never heeded it. You are as white from crown to beard as +one of the statues at Paris; but the great red gash is a mere seam, +save when yon old Satan angers you, and then it blushes for all the +rest of your face.' + +'And the cheek-wound is hidden, I suppose,' said Berenger, feeling +under the long fair moustache and the beard, which was developing +into respectable proportions. + +'Hidden? ay, entirely. No one would think your bald crown had only +twenty-one years over it; but you are a personable fellow still, +quite enough to please Daphne,' said Philip. + +'Pshaw!' replied Berenger, pleased nevertheless to hear the shadow +of a jest again from Philip. + +It was quite true. These months of quiescence--enforced though +they were--had given his health and constitution time to rally +after the terrible shock they had sustained. The severe bleedings +had, indeed, rendered his complexion perfectly colourless; but +there was something in this, as well as in the height which the +loss of hair gave his brow, which, added to the depth and loftiness +of countenance that this long period of patience and resolution had +impressed on his naturally fine features, without taking away that +open candour that had first attracted Diane when he was a rosy lad. +His frame had strengthened at the same time, and assumed the +proportions of manhood; so that, instead of being the overgrown +maypole that Narcisse used to sneer at, he was now broad-shouldered +and robust, exceedingly powerful, and so well made that his height, +upwards of six feet, was scarcely observed, except by comparison +with the rest of the world. + +And his character had not stood still. He had first come to Paris +a good, honest, docile, though high-spirited boy: and though manly +affections, cares, and sorrows had been thrust on him, he had met +them like the boy that he was, hardly conscious how deep they went. +Then had come the long dream of physical suffering, with only one +thought pertinaciously held throughout--that of constancy to his +lost wife; and from this he had only thoroughly wakened in his +captivity, the resolution still holding fast, but with more of +reflection and principle, less of mere instinct, than when his +powers were lost or distracted in the effort of constant endurance +of pain and weakness. The charge of Philip, the endeavour both of +educating him and keeping up his spirits, as well as the +controversy with Pere Bonami, had been no insignificant parts of +the discipline of these months; and, little as the Chevalier had +intended it, he had trained his young kinsman into a far more +substantial and perilous adversary, both in body and mind, than +when he had caged him in his castle of the Blackbird's Nest. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE ENEMY IN PRESENCE + + + +Then came and looked him in the face, + An angel beautiful and bright, +And then he knew it was a fiend, + That miserable knight.--COLERIDGE + + +'Father, dear father, what is it? What makes you look so ill, so +haggard?' cried Diane de Selinville, when summoned the next morning +to meet her father in the parlour of the convent. + +'Ah, child! see here. Your brother will have us make an end of it. +He has found her.' + +'Eustacie! Ah, and where?' + +'That he will not say, but see here. This is all billet tells me: +"The hare who has doubled so long is traced to her form. My dogs +are on her, and in a week's time she will be ours. I request you, +sir, to send me a good purse of crowns to reward my huntsmen; and +in the meantime--one way or the other--that pet of my sister's must +be disposed of. Kept too long, these beasts always become savage. +Either let him be presented to the royal menagerie, or there is a +still surer way."' + +'And that is all he says!' exclaimed Diane. + +'All! He was always cautions. He mentions no names. And now, +child, what is to be done? To give him up to the King is, at the +best, life-long imprisonment, yet, if he were still here when my +son returns-- Alas! alas! child, I have been ruined body and soul +between you! How could you make me send after and imprison him? +It was a mere assassination!' and the old man beat his head with +grief and perplexity. + +'Father!' cried Diane, tearfully, 'I cannot see you thus. We meant +it for the best. We shall yet save him.' + +'Save him! Ah, daughter, I tossed all night long thinking how to +save him, so strong, so noble, so firm, so patient, so good even to +the old man who has destroyed his hope--his life! Ah! I have +thought till my brain whirls.' + +'Poor father! I knew you would love him,' said Diane, tenderly. +'Ah! we will save him yet. He shall be the best of sons to you. +Look, it is only to tell him that she whom he calls his wife is +already in my brother's hands, wedded to him.' + +'Daughter,'--and he pushed back his gray hair with a weary +distressed gesture,--'I am tired of wiles; I am old; I can carry +them out no longer.' + +'But this is very simple; it may already be true--at least it will +soon be true. Only tell him that she is my brother's wife. Then +will his generosity awaken, then will he see that to persist in the +validity of his marriage would be misery, dishonour to her, then--- +-' + +'Child, you know not how hard he is in his sense of right. Even +for his brother's sake he would not give way an inch, and the boy +was as obstinate as he!' + +'Ah! but this comes nearer. He will be stung; his generosity will +be piqued. He will see that the kindest thing he can do will be to +nullify his claim, and the child----' + +The Chevalier groaned, struck his brow with his fist, and muttered, +'That will concern no one--that has been provided for. Ah! ah! +children, if I lose my own soul for you, you----' + +'Father, my sweet father, say not these cruel things. Did not the +Queen's confessor tell us that all means were lawful that brought a +soul to the Church? and here are two.' + +'Two! Why, the youth's heresy is part of his point of honour. +Child, child, the two will be murdered in my very house, and the +guilt will be on my soul.' + +'No, father! We will--we will save him. See, only tell him this.' + +'This--what? My brain is confused. I have thought long--long.' + +'Only this, father, dear father. You shall not be tormented any +more, if only you will tell him that my brother has made Eustacie +his wife, then will I do all the rest.' + +Diane coaxed, soothed, and encouraged her father by her caresses, +till he mounted his mule to return to the castle at dinner-time, +and she promised to come early in the afternoon to follow up the +stroke he was to give. She had never seen him falter before,--he +had followed out his policy with a clear head and unsparing hand,-- +but now that Berenger's character was better known to him, and the +crisis long delayed had come so suddenly before his eyes, his whole +powers seemed to reel under the alternative. + +The dinner-bell clanged as he arrived at the castle, and the +prisoners were marched into the hall, both intent upon making their +request on Osbert's behalf, and therefore as impatient for the +conclusion of the meal, and the absence of the servants, as was +their host. His hands trembled so much that Berenger was obliged +to carve for him; he made the merest feint of eating; and now and +then raised his hand to his head as if to bring back scattered +ideas. + +The last servant quitted the room, when Berenger perceived that the +old man was hardly in a state to attend to his request, and yet the +miserable frost-bitten state of poor Landry seemed to compel him to +speak. + +'Sir,' he began, 'you could do me a great kindness.' + +The Chevalier looked up at him with glassy eyes. + +'My son,' he said, with an effort, 'I also had something to say. +Ah! let me think. I have had enough. Call my daughter,' he added, +feeling helplessly with his hands, so that Berenger started up in +alarm, and received him in his arms just in time to prevent his +sinking to the floor senseless. + +'It is a stroke,' exclaimed Berenger. 'Call, Phil! Send the +gendarmes.' + +The gendarmes might be used to the sight of death of their own +causing, but they had a horror of that which came by Nature's hand. +The purple face and loud gasps of the stricken man terrified them +out of their senses. _'C'est un coup,'_ was the cry, and they went +clattering off to the servants. These, all men but one old crone, +came in a mass to the door, looked in, beheld their master rigid +and prostrate on the floor, supported by the prisoner, and with +fresh shrieks about 'Mesdames! a priest! a doctor!' away they +rushed. The two brothers were not in much less consternation, only +they retained their senses. Berenger loosened the ruff and +doublet, and bade Philip practice that art of letting blood which +he had learnt for his benefit. When Madame de Selinville and her +aunt, with their escort, having been met half-way from Bellaise, +arrived sooner than could have been expected, they found every door +open from hall to entrance gateway, not a person keeping watch, and +the old man lying deathlike upon cushions in the hall, Philip +bandaging his arm, and Berenger rubbing his temples with wine and +the hottest spices on the table. 'He is better--he is alive,' said +Berenger, as they entered; and as both ladies would have fallen on +him with shrieks and sobs, he bade them listen, assured them that +the only chance of life was in immediate care, and entreated that +bedding might be brought down, and strong essences fetched to apply +to the nose and temples. They obeyed, and the sister infirmarer +had arrived from the convent, he had opened his eyes, and, as he +saw Berenger, tried to murmur something that sounded like _'Mon +fils.'_ + +'He lives!--he speaks!--he can receive the sacraments!' was the +immediate exclamation; and as preparations began to be made, the +brothers saw that their presence was no longer needed, and returned +to their own tower. + +'So, sir,' said the gendarme sergeant, as they walked down the +passage, 'you did not seize the moment for escape.' + +'I never thought of it,' said Berenger. + +'I hope, sir, you will not be the worse for it,' said the sergeant. +'An honourable gentleman you have ever proved yourself to me, and I +will bear testimony that you did the poor old gentleman no hurt; +but nobles will have it their own way, and pay little heed to a +poor soldier.' + +'What do you mean, friend?' + +'Why, you see, sir, it is unlucky that you two happened to be alone +with M. le Chevalier. No one can tell what may be said when they +seek an occasion against a person.' + +To the brothers, however, this suggestion sounded so horrible and +unnatural, that they threw it from them. They applied themselves +at every moment possible to enlarging Osbert' hole, and seeking an +outlet from the dungeon; but this they had not been able to +discover, and it was necessary to be constantly on their guard in +visiting the vaults, lest their absence from their apartment should +be detected. They believed that if Narcisse arrived at the castle, +they should find in him a far less gentle jailer than the poor old +man, for whose state their kindly young hearts could not but +grieve. + +They heard that he had recovered consciousness enough to have made +a sort of confession; and Pere Bonami brought them his formal +request, as a dying man, for their pardon for all the injuries he +had done them; but his speech was too much affected for any +specification of what these were. The first thing they heard in +early morning was that, in the course of the night, he had breathed +his last; and all day the bells of all the churches round were +answering one another with the slow, swinging, melancholy notes of +the knell. + +In the early twilight, Pere Bonami brought a message that Madame de +Selinville requested M. le Baron to come and speak with her, and he +was accordingly conducted, with the gendarme behind him, to a small +chamber opening into the hall--the same where the incantations of +the Italian pedlar had been played off before Philip and Diane. +The gendarme remained outside the door by which they entered the +little dark room, only lighted by one little lamp. + +'Here, daughter,' said the priest, 'is your cousin. He can answer +the question you have so much at heart;' and with these words Pere +Bonami passed beneath the black curtain that covered the entrance +into the hall, admitting as he raised it for a moment a floor of +pure light from the wax tapers, and allowing the cadence of the +chanting of the priests to fall on the ear. At first Berenger was +scarcely able to discern the pale face that looked as if tears were +all dried up, and even before his eyes had clearly perceived her in +the gloom, she was standing before him with clasped hands, +demanding, in a hoarse, breathless whisper, 'Had he said anything +to you?' + +'Anything? No, cousin,' said Berenger, in a kind tone. 'He had +seemed suffering and oppressed all dinner-time, and when the +servants left us, he murmured a few confused words, then sank.' + +'Ah, ah, he spoke it not! Thank Heaven! Ah! it is a load gone. +Then neither will I speak it,' sighed Diane, half aloud. 'Ah! +cousin, he loved you.' + +'He often was kind to us,' said Berenger, impelled to speak as +tenderly as he could of the enemy, who had certainly tortured him, +but as if he loved him. + +'He bade us save you,' said Diane, her eyes shining with strange +wild light in the gloom. 'He laid it on my aunt and me to save +you; you must let us. It must be done before my brother comes,' she +added, in hurried accents. 'The messengers are gone; he may be here +any moment. He must find you in the chapel--as--as my betrothed!' + +'And you sent for me here to tempt me--close to such a chamber as +that?' demanded Berenger, his gentleness becoming sternness, as +much with his own worse self as with her. + +'Listen. Ah! it is the only way. Listen, cousin. Do you know what +killed my father? It was my brother's letter saying things must be +brought to an end: either you must be given up to the King, or +worse--worse. And now, without him to stand between you and my +brother, you are lost. Oh! take pity on his poor soul that has +left his body, and bring not you blood on his head.' + +'Nay,' said Berenger, 'if he repented, the after consequences to me +will have no effect on him now.' + +'Have pity then on yourself--on your brother.' + +'I have,' said Berenger. 'He had rather die with me than see me a +traitor.' + +'And least of all,' she exclaimed, with choking grief, 'have you +compassion on me!--on me who have lost the only one who felt for +me--on me who have loved you with every fibre of my heart--on me +who have lived on the music of your hardest, coldest word--on me +who would lay my life, my honour, in the dust for one grateful +glance from you--and whom you condemn to the anguish of--your +death! Aye, and for what? For the mere shadow of a little girl, +who had no force to love you, or whom you know nothing--nothing! +Oh! are you a crystal rock or are you a man? See, I kneel to you +to save yourself and me.' + +There were hot tears dropping from Berenger's eyes as he caught +Diane's hand, and held it forcibly to prevent her thus abasing +herself. Her wild words and gestures thrilled him in every pulse +and wrung his heart, and it was with a stifled, agitated voice that +he said-- + +'God help you and me both, Diane! To do what you ask would--would +be no saving of either. Nay, if you will kneel,' as she struggled +with him, 'let it be to Him who alone can bring us through;' and +releasing her hand, he dropped on his knees by her side, and +covered his face with his hands, in an earnest supplication that +the spirit of resistance which he almost felt slipping from him +might be renewed. The action hushed and silenced her, and as he +rose he spoke no other word, but silently drew back so much of the +curtain that he could see into the hall, where the dead man still +lay uncoffined upon the bed where his own hands had laid him, and +the low, sweet requiem of kneeling priests floated round him. +Rest, rest, and calm they breathed into one sorely tried living +soul, and the perturbed heart was quelled by the sense how short +the passage was to the world where captivity and longing would be +ended. He beckoned to Pere Bonami to return to Diane, and then, +protected by his presence from any further demonstrations, kissed +her hand and left her. + +He told Philip as little as possible of this interview, but his +brother remarked how much time he spent over the Psalms that +evening. + +The next day the brothers saw from their upper winder the arrival +of Narcisse, or, as he had called himself for the last three years, +the Marquis de Nid-de-Merle, with many attendant gentlemen, and a +band of fifty or sixty gendarmes. The court was filled with their +horses, and rang with their calls for refreshment. And the +captives judged it wise to remain in their upper room incase they +should be called for. + +They were proved to have been wise in so doing; for about an hour +after their arrival there was a great clanging of steel boots, and +Narcisse de Ribaumont, followed by a portly, heavily-armed +gentleman, wearing a scarf of office, by two of the servants, and +by two gendarmes, entered the room. It was the first time the +cousins had met since _le baiser d'Eutacie_ had been hissed into +Berenger's ear. Narcisse looked older, sallower, and more worn +than at that time; and Philip, seeing his enemy for the first time, +contrasted him with the stately presence of Berenger, and felt as +if a rat were strangling a noble steed. + +Each young man punctiliously removed his hat, and Nid-de-Merle, +without deigning further salutation, addressed his companion. +'Sir, you are here on the part of the King, and to you I deliver up +these prisoners, who, having been detained here on a charge of +carrying on a treasonable correspondence, and protected by my +father out of consideration for the family, have requited his +goodness by an attempt to strangle him, which has caused his +death.' + +Philip actually made a leap of indignation; Berenger, better +prepared, said to the officer, 'Sir, I am happy to be placed in +charged of a King's servant, who will no doubt see justice done, +and shelter us from the private malice that could alone devise so +monstrous an accusation. We are ready to clear ourselves upon oath +over the corpse, and all the household and our own guards can bear +witness.' + +'The witnesses are here,' said Narcisse, pointing to the servants, +ill-looking men, who immediately began to depose to having found +their master purple-faced and struggling in the hands of the two +young men, who had been left alone with him after dinner. + +Berenger felt that there was little use in self-defence. It was a +fabrication the more easily to secure his cousin's purpose of +destroying him, and his best hope lay in passing into the hands of +persons who were less directly interested in his ruin. He drew +himself up to his full height, saying, 'If there be justice in +France, our innocence will be proved. I demand, sir, that you +examine the abbess, the priest, the steward, the sergeant of +gendarmes: they are impartial witnesses, and will serve the King's +justice, if justice be his purpose. Or, if this be but M. de Nid- +de-Merle's way of completing the work he left unfinished four years +ago, I am ready. Only let my brother go free. He is heir to +nothing here.' + +'Enough, sir. Words against the King's justice will be reckoned +against you,' said the officer. 'I shall do myself the honour of +attending the funeral the day after to-morrow, and then I shall +convey you to Tours, to answer for this deed at your leisure. +Monsieur le Marquis, are the prisoners secure here, or would you +have them _garde a vue_.' + +'No need for that,' said Narcisse, lightly; 'had there been any +exit they would have found it long ago. Your good fellows outside +the door keep them safe enough. M. le Baron de Ribaumont, I have +the honour to wish you a good morning.' + +Berenger returned his bow with one full of defiance, and the door +was again locked upon the prisoners; while Philip exclaimed, 'The +cowardly villain, Berry; is it a hanging matter?' + +'Not for noble blood,' said Berenger. 'We are more likely to be +brought to no trial, but to lie prisoners for life;' then, as +Philip grew white and shivered with a sick horror, he added +bravely, 'But they shall not have us, Philip. We know the vaults +well enough to play at hide and seek with them there, and even if +we find no egress we may hold out till they think us fled and leave +open the doors!' + +Philip's face lighted up again, and they did their best by way of +preparation, collecting wood for torches, and putting aside food at +their meals. It was a very forlorn hope, but the occupation it +caused was effectual in keeping up Philip's spirits, and saving him +from despondency. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. THE PEDLAR'S PREDICTION + + + +But if ne'er so close you wall him, + Do the best that you may; +Blind Love, if so you call him, + Will find out his way.--OLD SONG + + +'Too late,' muttered Berenger to himself, as he stood by the fire +in his prison-chamber. Humfrey and Philip were busy in the vaults, +and he was taking his turn in waiting in the sitting-room to disarm +suspicion. 'It is too late now, and I thank God that so it is.' + +'Do you indeed, M. le Baron?' said a low voice close beside him; +and, as he turned in haste, he beheld, at the foot of the turret- +stair, the youth Aime de Selinville, holding a dark lantern in his +hand, and veiling its light. + +'Ha!' and he started to his feet. 'Whence come you?' + +'From my Lady,' was the youth's answer. 'She has sent me to ask +whether you persist in what you replied to her the other day. For +if not, she bids me say that it is not too late.' + +'And if I do persevere?' + +'Then--ah! what do I know? Who can tell how far malice can go? +And there are towers and bastilles where hope never enters. +Moreover, your researches underground are known.' + +'Sir,' said Berenger, the heart-sinking quelled by the effort of +resistance, 'Madame de Selinville has my answer--I must take the +consequences. Tell her, if she truly wishes me well, the +honourable way of saving us would be to let our English friends +know what has befallen us.' + +'You forget, M. le Baron, even if she could proclaim the dishonour +of her family, interference from a foreign power might only lead to +a surer mode of removing you,' said Aime, lowering his voice and +shuddering. + +'Even so, I should thank her. Then would the bitterest pang be +taken away. Those at our home would not deem us faithless +recreants.' + +'Thank her!' murmured the lad in an inward voice. 'Very well, sir, +I will carry her your decision. It is your final one. Disgrace, +prison, death--rather than freedom, love, wealth!' + +'The semblance of dishonour rather than the reality!' said +Berenger, firmly. + +The light-footed page disappeared, and in a few moments a very +different tread came up from below, and Philip appeared. + +'What is it, Berry? Methought I heard a voice.' + +'Forgive me, brother,' said Berenger, holding out his hand; 'I have +thrown away another offer.' + +'Tush, the thing to pardon would be having accepted one. I only +wish they would leave us in peace! What was it this time?' + +'A messenger through young Selinville. Strange, to trust her +secrets to that lad. But hush, here he is again, much sooner than +I thought. What, sir, have you been with your lady again?' + +'Yes, sir,' the young said, with a tembling voice, and Berenger saw +that his eyes were red with weeping; 'she bids me tell you that she +yields. She will save you eve while you have and despite her! +There is only one thing---' + +'And what is that?' + +'You must encumber yourself with the poor Aime. You must let me +serve you instead of her. Listen, sir, it cannot be otherwise.' +Then with a brisher, more eager voice, he continued: 'Monsieur +knows that the family burial-place is Bellaise? Well, to-morrow, +at ten o'clock, all the household, all the neighbourhood, will come +and sprinkle holy water on the bier. The first requiem will be +sung, and then will all repair to the convent. There will be the +funeral mass, the banquet, the dole. Every creature in the castle +--nay, in all the neighbourhood for twenty miles round--will be at +the convent, for the Abbess has given out that the alms are to be +double, and the bread of wheat. Not a soul will remain here, save +the two gendarmes on guard at that door, and the poor Aime, whom no +one will miss, even if any person could be distinguished in their +black cloaks. Madame la Comtesse has given him this key, which +opens a door on the upper floor of the keep, unknown to the guards, +who, for that matter, shall have a good tankard of spiced wine to +console and occupy them. Then is the way clear to the castle +court, which is not over looked by their window, the horses are in +the stables, and we are off,--that is if M. le Baron will save a +poor youth from the wrath of M. de Nid-de-Merle.' + +'You are and honest fellow!' cried Philip, shaking him vehemently +by the hand. 'You shall go with us to England, and we will make a +brave man of you.' + +'We shall owe you our lives,' said Berenger, warmly, 'and be ever +bound to you. Tell your lady that THIS is magnanimity; that now I +truly thank her as our preserver, and shall bless her all the days +of the life she gives us. But my servants?' + +'Guibert is a traitor,' said Aime; 'he has been so ever since you +were at Paris. Breathe no word to him; but he, as a Catholic, shall +be invited to the funeral. Your stout Englishman should by all +means be with us.' + +'My Norman also,' added Berenger,--'my dear foster-brother, who has +languished in the dungeon for three years;' and when the +explanation had been made, Aime assented, though half-unwillingly, +to the necessity, and presently quitted them to bear back their +answer to his lady. Philip shook his hand violently again, patted +him on the back, so as almost to take away his breath, and bade him +never fear, they would be sworn brothers to him for ever; and then +threw up his hat into the air, and was so near astonishing the +donjon walls with a British hurrah, that Berenger had to put his +hand over his mouth and strangle the shout in his very throat. + +The chief of that night was spent in enlarging the hole in Osbert's +wall, so as to admit of his creeping through it; and they also +prepared their small baggage for departure. Their stock of money, +though some had been spent on renewing their clothes, and some in +needful gratuities to the servants and gendarmes, was sufficient +for present needs, and they intended to wear their ordinary dress. +They were unlikely to meet any of the peasants in the +neighbourhood; and, indeed, Berenger had so constantly ridden out +in his black mask, that its absence, now that his scars were gone, +was as complete a change as could be effected in one whose height +was of unusual. + +'There begins the kneel,' said Philip, standing at the window. +'It's our joy-bell, Berry! Every clang seems to me to say, "Home! +home! home!" + +'For you, Phil,' said Berenger; 'but I must be satisfied of +Eutacie's fate first. I shall go first to Nissard--whither we were +bound when we were seized--then to La Rochelle, whence you may---' + +'No more of that,' burst out Philip. 'What! would you have me +leave you now, after all we have gone through together? Not that +you will find her. I don't want to vex you, brother, on such a day +as this, but you conjurer's words are coming true in the other +matter.' + +'How? What mean you, Phil?' + +'What's the meaning of Aime?' asked Philip. 'Even I am French +scholar enough for that. And who sends him?' + +Meantime the court was already filling with swarms of persons of +every rank and degree, but several anxious hours had passed before +the procession was marshaled; and friars and monks, black, white, +and gray,--priests in rich robes and tall caps,--black-cloaked +gentlemen and men-at-arms,--all bearing huge wax tapers,--and +peasants and beggars of every conceivable aspect,--filed out of the +court, bearing with them the richly-emblazoned bier of the noble +and puissant knight, the Beausire Charles Eutache de Ribaumont Nid- +de-Merle, his son walking behind in a long black mantle, and all +who counted kindred of friendship following two and two; then all +the servants, every one who properly belonged to the castle, were +counted out by the brothers from their windows, and Guibert among +them. + +'Messieurs,' a low, anxious voice sounded in the room. + +'We will only fetch Osbert.' + +It was a terrible only, as precious moments slipped away before +there appeared in the lower chamber Berenger and Humfrey, dragging +between them a squalid wretch, with a skin like stained parchment +over a skeleton, tangled hair and beard, staring bewildered eyes, +and fragments of garments, all dust, dirt, and rags. + +'Leave me, leave me, dear master,' said the object, stretching his +whole person towards the fire as they let him sink down before it. +'You would but ruin yourself.' + +'It is madness to take him,' said Aime, impatiently. + +'I go not without him,' said Berenger. 'Give me the soup, Philip.' + +Some soup and wine had been placed by the fire, and likewise a +shirt and a suit of Humfrey's clothes were spread before it. Aime +burst out into the yard, absolutely weeping with impatience, when, +unheeding all his remonstrances, his three companions applied +themselves to feeding, rubbing, and warming Osbert, and assuring +him that the pains in his limbs would pass away with warmth and +exercise. He had been valiant of heart in his dungeon; but his +sudden plunge into upper air was like rising from the grave, and +brought on all the effects of his dreary captivity, of which he had +hardly been sensible when he had first listened to the voice of +hope. + +Dazzled, crippled, helpless, it seemed almost impossible that he +should share the flight, but Berenger remained resolute; and when +Aime returned from his fourth frantic promenade, he was told that +all was ready. + +But for the strength of Berenger and Humfrey the poor fellow could +never have been carried up and up, nearly to the top of the keep, +then along a narrow gallery, then down again even to the castle +hall, now empty, though with the candle-sticks still around where +the bier had been. Aime knelt for a moment where the head had +been, hiding his face; Osbert rested in a chair; and Philip looked +wistfully up at his own sword hung over the chimney. + +'Resume your swords, Messieurs,' said Aime, observing him; 'Madame +desires it; and take pistols also.' + +They gladly obeyed; and when, after this short delay, they +proceeded, Osbert moved somewhat less painfully, but when they +arrived at the stable only four horses stood there. + +'Ah! this miserable!' cried Aime, passionately, 'he ruins all my +arrangements.' + +'Leave me,' again entreated Landry. 'Once outside, I can act the +beggar and cripple, and get back to Normandy.' + +'Better leave me,' said Humfrey; 'they cannot keep me when you are +out of their clutches.' + +'Help me, Humfrey,' said Berenger, beginning to lift his +foster-brother to the saddle, but there the poor man wavered, cried +out that his head swam, and he could not keep his seat, entreating +almost in agony to be taken down. + +'Lean on me,' said Berenger, putting his arms round him. 'There! +you will be able to get to the Grange du Temple, where you will be +in safe shelter.' + +'Sir, sir,' cried Aime, ready to tear his hair, 'this is ruin! My +lady meant you to make all speed to La Rochelle and there embark, +and this is the contrary way!' + +'That cannot be helped,' said Berenger; 'it is the only safe place +for my foster-brother.' + +Aime, with childish petulance, muttered something about ingratitude +in crossing his lady's plans; but, as no one attended to him, he +proceeded to unfasten his horse, and then exclaimed, half crying, +'Will no one help me?' + +'Not able to saddle a horse! a pretty fellow for a cavalier!' +exclaimed Philip, assisting, however, and in a few minutes they +were all issuing from a low side gate, and looking back with +bounding hearts at the drooping banner on the keep of Nid-de-Merle. + +Only young Aime went with bowed head and drooping look, as though +pouting, and Berenger, putting Osbert's bridle into Humfrey's hand, +stepped up to him, saying, 'Hark you, M. de Selinville, I am sorry +if we seemed to neglect you. We owe you and your lady all +gratitude, but I must be the judge of my own duty, and you can only +be with me if you conform.' + +The young seemed to be devouring his tears, but only said, 'I was +vexed to see my lady's plan marred, and your chance thrown away.' + +'Of that I must judge,' said Berenger. + +They were in a by-lane, perfectly solitary. The whole country was +at the funeral. Through the frosty air there came an occasional +hum or murmur from Berenger, or the tinkle of a cow-bell in the +fields, but no human being was visible. It was certain, however, +that the Rotrous, being Huguenots, and no vassals of Nid-de-Merle, +would not be at the obsequies; and Berenger, walking with swift +strides, supporting Osbert on his horse, continued to cheer him +with promises of rest and relief there, and listened to no +entreaties from Philip or Humfrey to take one of their horses. Had +not Osbert borne him on his shoulders through the butchery at +Paris, and endured three years of dungeon for his sake? + +As for Philip, the slow pace of their ride was all insufficient for +his glee. He made his horse caracole at every level space, till +Berenger reminded him that they might have far to ride that night, +and even then he was constantly breaking into attempts at shouting +and whistling as often repressed, and springing up in his stirrups +to look over the high hedges. + +The Grange was so well concealed in its wooded ravine, that only +when close upon the gate the party became aware that this farm- +yard, usually so solitary, formed an exception to the general +desertion of the country. There was a jingle and a stamp of horses +in the court, which could hardly be daylight echoes of the +Templars. Berenger feared that the Guisards might have descended +Rotrou, and was stepping forward to reconnoiter, while young De +Selinville, trembling, besought him not to run into danger, but to +turn and hasten to La Rochelle. By this time, however, the party +had been espied by two soldiers stationed at the gate, but not +before Berenger had had time to remark that they did not wear +either the gold _fleur-de-lys_ like his late guards, or the white +cross of Lorraine; nor had they the strange air of gay ferocity +usual with the King's mercenaries. And almost by instincts, at a +venture, he made the old Huguenot sign he had learnt form his +father, and answered, 'For God and the Religion.' + +The countersign was returned. 'Bearn and Bourbon is the word to- +day, comrade,' replied the sentinel. '_Eh quoi_! have you had an +encounter, that you bring a wounded man?' + +'Not wounded, but nearly dead in a Guisard prison,' said Berenger, +with an unspeakable sense of relief and security, as the sentries +admitted them into the large walled court, where horses were eating +hay, being watered and rubbed down; soldiers snatching a hasty meal +in corners; gentlemen in clanking breastplates coming in and out of +the house, evidently taking orders from a young man in a gray and +silver suit, whose brown eagle face, thin cheeks, arched nose, and +black eyes of keenest fire, struck Berenger at once with a sense of +recognition as well as of being under a glance that seemed to +search out everybody and everything at once. + +'More friends!' and the tone again recalled a flood of +recollections. 'I thank and welcome you. What! You have met the +enemy--where is he?' + +'My servant is not wounded. Sire,' said Berenger, removing his hat +and bending low. 'This is the effect of long captivity. We have +but just escaped.' + +'Then we are the same case! Pardon me, sir, I have seen you +before, but for once I am at fault.' + +'When I call myself De Ribaumont, your Grace will not wonder.' + +'The dead alive! If I mistake not, it was in the Inferno itself +that we last met! But we have broken through the gates at last! +I remember poor King Charles was delighted to hear that you lived! +But where have you been a captive?' + +'At Nid-de-Merle, Sire; my kinsmen accused me of treason in order +to hinder my search for my wife. We escaped even now during the +funeral of the Chevalier.' + +'By favour of which we are making our way to Parthenay unsuspected, +though, by my faith, we gather so like a snowball, that we could be +a match for a few hundreds of Guisards. Who is with you, M. de +Ribaumont?' + +'Let me present to your Majesty my English brother, Philip +Thistlewood,' said Berenger, drawing the lad forward, making due +obeisance, though entirely ignorant who was the plainly-dressed, +travel-soiled stranger, so evidently a born lord of men. + +'An Englishman is ever welcome,' was his gracious reception. + +'And,' added Berenger, 'let me also present the young De +Selinville, to whom I owe my escape. Where is he, Philip?' + +He seemed to be busy with the horses, and Berenger could not catch +his eye. + +'Selinville! I thought that good Huguenot house was extinct.' + +'This is a relation of the late Count de Selinville, my cousin's +husband, Sire. He arranged my evasion, and would be in danger at +Nid-de-Merle. Call him, Philip.' + +Before this was done, however, the King's attention was otherwise +claimed, and turning to one of his gentlemen he said, 'Here, +d'Augigne, I present to you an acquaintance made in Tartarus. See +to his entertainment ere we start for Parthenay.' + +Agrippa d'Aubigne, still young, but grave and serious-looking +greeted M. de Ribaumont as men meet in hours when common interests +make rapid friendships; and from him Berenger learnt, in a few +words, that the King of Navarre's eyes had been opened at last to +the treachery of the court, and his own dishonourable bondage. +During a feverish attack, one night when D'Aubigne and D'Armagnac +were sitting up with him, his resolution was taken; and on the +first hunting day after his recovery, he, with these two, the Baron +de Rosny and about thirty more of his suite, had galloped away, and +had joined the Monsieur and the Prince of Conde at Alencon. He had +abjured the Catholic faith, declared that nothing except ropes +should bring him back to Paris, and that he left there the mass and +his wife--the first he could dispense with, the last he meant to +have; and he was now on his way to Parthenay to meet his sister, +whom he had sent Rosny to demand. By the time Berenger had heard +this, he had succeeded in finding honest Rotrou, who was in a state +of great triumph, and readily undertook to give Osbert shelter, and +as soon as he should have recovered to send him to head-quarters +with some young men who he knew would take the field as soon as +they learnt that the King of Navarre had set up his standard. Even +the inroads made into the good farmer's stores did not abate his +satisfaction in entertaining the prime hope of the Huguenot cause; +but Berenger advanced as large a sum as he durst out of his purse, +under pretext of the maintenance of Osbert during his stay at the +Grange. He examined Rotrou upon his subsequent knowledge of Isaac +Gardon and Eutacie, but nothing had been heard of them since their +departure, now nearly three years back, except a dim rumour that +they had been seen at the Synod of Montauban. + +'Well, my friend,' said Philip, when about to remount, 'this will +do rather better than a headlong gallop to Rochelle with Nid-de- +Merle at our heels.' + +'If M. le Baron is safe, it is well,' said Aime shortly. + +'Is Selinville there?' said Berenger, coming up. 'Here, let me +take you to the King of Navarre: he knew your family in Lauguedoc.' + +'No, no,' petulantly returned the boy. 'What am I that he should +notice me? It is M. de Ribaumont whom I follow, not him or his +cause.' + +'Boy,' said Berenger, dismayed, 'remember, I have answered for +you.' + +'I am no traitor,' proudly answered the strange boy, and Berenger +was forced to be thus satisfied, though intending to watch him +closely. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. THE SANDS OF OLONNE + + + + Is it the dew of night + That on her glowing cheek +Shines in the moonbeam?--Oh, she weeps, she weeps, + And the good angel that abandoned her + At her hell baptism, by her tears drawn down + Resumes his charge...and the hope + Of pardon and salvation rose + As now she understood + Thy lying prophecy of truth.--SOUTHEY + + +'M. de Ribaumont,' said Henry of Navarre, as he stood before the +fire after supper at Parthenay, 'I have been thinking what +commission I could give you proportioned to your rank and +influence.' + +'Thanks to your Grace, that inquiry is soon answered. I am a +beggar here. Even my paternal estate in Normandy is in the hands +of my cousin.' + +'You have wrongs,' said Henry, 'and wrongs are sometimes better +than possessions in a party like ours.' + +Berenger seized the opening to explain his position, and mention +that his only present desire was for permission, in the first +place, to send a letter to England by the messenger whom the King +was dispatching to Elisabeth, in tolerable security of her secret +countenance; and, secondly, to ride to Nissard to examine into the +story he had previously heeded so little, of the old man and his +daughter rescued from the waves the day before La Sablerie was +taken. + +'If Pluto relented, my dear Orpheus, surely Navarre may,' said +Henry good-humouredly; 'only may the priest not be more adamantine +than Minos. Where lies Nissard? On the Sable d'Olonne? Then you +may go thither with safety while we lie here, and I shall wait for +my sister, or for news of her.' + +So Berenger arranged for an early start on the morrow; and young +Selinville listened with a frown, and strange look in his dark +eyes. 'You go not to England?' he said. + +'Not yet?' said Berenger + +'This was not what my Lady expected,' he muttered; but though +Berenger silenced him by a stern look, he took the first +opportunity of asking Philip if it would not be far wiser for his +brother to place himself in safety in England. + +'Wiser, but less honest,' said Philip. + +'He who has lost all here, who has incurred his grandfather's +anger,' pursued Aime, 'were he not wiser to make his peace with his +friends in England?' + +'His friends in England would not like him the better for deserting +his poor wife's cause,' said Philip. 'I advise you to hold your +tongue, and not meddle or make.' + +Aime subsided, and Philip detected something like tears. He had +still much of rude English boyhood about him, and he laughed +roughly. 'A fine fellow, to weep at a word! Hie thee back to feed +my Lady's lap-dog, 'tis all thou art fit for.' + +'There spoke English gratitude,' said Aime, with a toss of the head +and flash of the eye. + +Philip despised him the more for casting up his obligations, but +had no retort to make. He had an idea of making a man of young +Selinville, and his notion of the process had something of the +bullying tendency of English young towards the poor-spirited or +cowardly. He ordered the boy roughly, teased him for his ignorance +of manly exercises, tried to cure his helplessness by increasing +his difficulties, and viewed his fatigue as affectation or +effeminacy. Berenger interfered now and then to guard the poor boy +from a horse-jest or practical joke, but he too felt that Aime was +a great incumbrance, hopelessly cowardly, fanciful, and petulant; +and he was sometimes driven to speak to him with severity, verging +on contempt, in hopes of rousing a sense of shame. + +The timidity, so unusual and inexplicable in a youth of eighteen or +twenty, sowed itself irrepressibly at the Sands of Olonne. These +were not misty, as on Berenger's former journey. Nissard steeple +was soon in sight, and the guide who joined them on a rough pony +had no doubt that there would be ample time to cross before high +water. There was, however, some delay, for the winter rains had +brought down a good many streams of fresh water, and the sands were +heavy and wet, so that their horses proceeded slowly, and the rush +and dash of the waves proclaimed that the low of the tide had +begun. To the two brothers the break and sweep was a home-sound, +speaking of freshness and freedom, and the salt breeze and spray +carried with them life and ecstasy. Philip kept as near the +incoming waves as his inland-bred horse would endure, and sang, +shouted, and hallooed to them as welcome as English waves; but Aime +de Selinville had never even beheld the sea before: and even when +the tide was still in the distance, was filled with nervous terror +as each rushing fall sounded nearer; and, when the line of white +foamy crests became more plainly visible, he was impelled to hurry +on towards the steeple so fast that the guide shouted to him that +he would only bury himself in a quicksand. + +'But,' said he, white with alarm, and his teeth chattering, 'how +can we creep with those dreadful waves advancing upon us to drown +us?' + +Berenger silence Philip's rude laugh and was beginning to explain +that the speed of the waves could always be calculated by an +experienced inhabitant; and his voice had seemed to pacify Aime a +little, when the spreading water in front of a broken wave flowing +up to his horse's feet, again rendered him nearly frantic. 'Let us +go back!' he wildly entreated, turning his horse; but Berenger +caught his bridle, saying, 'That would be truly death. Boy, unless +you would be scorned, restrain your folly. Nothing else imperils +us.' + +Here, however, the guide interposed, saying that it had become too +late to pursue their course along the curve of the shore, but they +must at once cut straight across, which he had intended to avoid, +because of the greater depth of a small river that they would have +to cross, which divided further out into small channels, more +easily forded. They thus went along the chord of the arc formed by +the shore, and Aime was somewhat reassured, as the sea was at first +farther off; but before long they reached the stream, which lost +itself in many little channels in the sands, so that when the tide +was out there was a perfect network of little streams dividing low +shingly or grassy isles, but at nearly high tide, as at present, +many of these islets were submerged, and the strife between river +and sea caused sudden deepenings of the water in the channels. + +The guide eagerly explained that the safest place for crossing was +not by the large sandbank furthest inland and looking firm and +promising--it was a recent shifting performance of the water's +heaping up, and would certainly sink away and bury horse the +channels on either side had shingly bottoms, and were safe. + +'This way,' called Berenger, himself setting the example, and +finding no difficulty; the water did not rise above his boots, and +the current was not strong. He had reached the shingly isle when +he looked round for his companions; Humfrey and Philip were close +behind him; but, in spite of the loud '_gare_!' of the guide, Aime, +or his horse,--for each was equally senseless with alarm,--were +making inwards; the horse was trying to tread on the sandbank, +which gave way like the water itself, under its frantic struggles-- +there was a loud cry--a shrill, unmistakable woman's shriek--the +horse was sinking--a white face and helpless form were being +carried out on the waves, but not before Berenger had flung himself +from his horse, thrown off his cloak and sword, and dashed into the +water; and in the lapse of a few moments he struggled back to the +island, where were Philip and Humfrey, leg-deep in water: the one +received his burthen, the other helped him to land. + +'On, gentlemen, not a moment to lose,' cried the guide; and +Berenger, still panting, flung himself on his horse, held out his +arms, gathered the small, almost inanimate figure upon the horse's +neck before him, and in a few minutes more they had crossed the +perilous passage, and were on a higher bank where they could safely +halt; and Philip, as he came to help his brother, exclaimed, 'What +a fool the boy is!' + +'Hush!' said Berenger, gravely, as they laid the figure on the +ground. + +'What! he can't have been drowned in that moment. We'll bring him +to.' + +'Hands off!' said Berenger, kneeling over the gasping form, and +adding in a lower voice, 'Don't you see?' He would his hand in the +long drenched hair, and held it up, with cheeks burning like fire, +and his scar purple. + +'A woman!--what?--who?' Then suddenly divining, he exclaimed, 'The +jade!' and started with wide eyes. + +'Stand back,' said Berenger; 'she is coming to herself.' + +Perhaps she had been more herself than he knew, for, as he +supported her head, her hand stole over his and held it fast. Full +of consternation, perplexity, and anger as he was, he could not but +feel a softening pity towards a creature so devoted, so entirely at +his mercy. At the moment when she lay helpless against him, gasps +heaving her breast under her manly doublet, her damp hair spread on +his knees, her dark eyes in their languor raised imploring his +face, her cold hand grasping his, he felt as if this great love +were a reality, and as if he were hunting a shadow; and, as if fate +would have it so, he must save and gratify one whose affection must +conquer his, who was so tender, so beautiful--even native +generosity seemed on her side. But in the midst, as in his +perplexity he looked up over the gray sea, he seemed to see the +picture so often present to his mind of the pale, resolute girl, +clasping her babe to her breast, fearless of the advancing sea, +because true and faithful. And at that thought faith and prayer +rallied once again round his heart, shame at the instant's wavering +again dyed his cheek; he recalled himself, and speaking the more +coldly and gravely because his heart was beating over hotly, he +said, 'Cousin, you are better. It is but a little way to +Nissard.' + +'Why have you saved me, if you will not pity me?' she murmured. + +'I will not pity, because I respect my kinswoman who has save our +lives,' he said steadying his voice with difficulty. 'The priests +of Nissard will aid me in sparing your name and fame.' + +'Ah!' she cried, sitting up with a start of joy, 'but he would make +too many inquiries! Take me to England first.' + +Berenger started as he saw how he had been misunderstood. + +'Neither here nor in England could my marriage be set aside, +cousin. No; not priest shall take charge of you, and place you in +safety and honour.' + +'He shall not!' she cried hotly. 'Why--why will you drive me from +you--me who ask only to follow you as a menial servant?' + +'That has become impossible,' he answered; 'to say nothing of my +brother, my servant and the guide have seen;' and, as she +remembered her streaming hair, and tried, in dawning confusion, to +gather it together, he continued: 'You shrank from the eye of the +King of Navarre. You cannot continue as you have done; you have +not even strength.' + +'Ah! have you sailed for England,' she murmured. + +'It had only been greater shame,' he said. 'Cousin, I am head of +your family, husband of your kinswoman, and bound to respect the +reputation you have risked for me. I shall, therefore, place you +in charge of the priest till you can either return to your aunt or +to some other convent. You can ride now. We will not wait longer +in these wet garments.' + +He raised her from the ground, threw his own dry cloak round her +shoulders and unmanageable hair, and lifted her on his horse; but, +as she would have leant against him, he drew himself away, beckoned +Philip, and put the bridle into his hands, saying, 'Take care of +her. I shall ride on and warm the priest.' + +'The rock of diamond,' she murmured, not aware that the diamond had +been almost melting. That youthful gravity and resolution, with +the mixture of respect and protection, imposed as usual upon her +passionate nature, and daunted her into meekly riding beside Philip +without a word--only now and then he heard a low moan, and knew +that she was weeping bitterly. + +At first the lad had been shocked beyond measure, and would have +held aloof as from a kind of monster, but Madame de Selinville had +been the first woman to touch his fancy, and when he heard how +piteously she was weeping, and recollected where he should have +been but for her, as well as all his own harshness to her as a +cowardly boy, he felt himself brutally ungrateful, and spoke: +'Don't weep so, Madame; I am sorry I was rude to you, but you see, +how should I take you for a woman?' + +Perhaps she heard, but she heeded not. + +'My brother will take good care to shield you,' Philip added. 'He +will take care you are safe in one of your nunneries;' and as she +only wept the more, he added, with a sudden thought, 'You would not +go there; you would embrace the Protestant faith?' + +'I would embrace whatever was his.' + +Philip muttered something about seeing what could be done. They +were already at the entrance of the village, and Berenger had come +out to meet them, and, springing towards him, Philip exclaimed, in +a low voice, 'Berry, she would abjure her Popish errors! You can't +give her up to a priest.' + +'Foolery, Philip,' answered Berenger, sternly. + +'If she would be a convert!' + +'Let her be a modest woman first;' and Berenger, taking her bridle, +led her to the priest's house. + +He found that Pere Colombeau was preaching a Lent sermon, and that +nobody was at home but the housekeeper, to whom he had explained +briefly that the lady with him had been forced to escape in +disguise, had been nearly drowned, and was in need of refreshment +and female clothing. Jacinthe did not like the sound, but drenched +clothes were such a passport to her master's house, that she durst +not refuse. Berenger carried off his other companions to the +cabaret, and when he had dried himself, went to wait for the priest +at the church door, sitting in the porch where more than one echo +of the exhortation to repentance and purity rang in his ears, and +enforced his conviction that here he must be cruel if he would be +merciful. + +It was long before Pere Colombeau came out, and then, if the scar +had not blushed for all the rest of his face, the sickly, lanky lad +of three years since would hardly have been recognized to the good +cure. But the priest's aspect was less benignant when Berenger +tried to set before him his predicament; he coldly asked where the +unhappy lady was; and when Berenger expressed his intention of +coming the next morning to ask his counsel, he only bowed. He did +not ask the brothers to supper, nor show any civility; and +Berenger, as he walked back to the cabaret, perceived that his +story was but half believed, and that, if Diane's passion were +still stronger than her truth or generosity, she would be able to +make out a terrible case against him, and to willing ears, +naturally disposed against a young cavalier and a heretic. + +He sat much dispirited by the fire of the little wine shop, +thinking that his forbearance had been well-nigh thrown away, and +that his character would never be cleared in Eustacie's eyes, +attaching, indeed, more importance to the blot than would have been +done by a youth less carefully reared. + +It was quite dark when a knock came to the door: the cure's white +head appeared in the lamplight; he nodded kindly to all the guests, +and entreated that M. de Ribaumont would do him a favour to come +and speak with him. + +No sooner were they outside the house, than the cure held out his +hand, saying 'Sir, forgive me for a grievous injustice towards +you;' then pressing his hand, he added with a voice tremulous with +emotion, 'Sir, it is no slight thing to have saved a wandering +sheep by your uprightness and loyalty.' + +'Have you then opened her eyes, father?' said Berenger, relieved +from a heavy load. + +'You have, my son,' said the old man. 'You have taught her what +truth and virtue are. For the rest, you shall heard for yourself.' + +Before Berenger knew where he was, a door was opened, and he found +himself in the church. The building was almost entirely dark; +there were two tall lights at the altar in distance, and a few +little slender tapers burning before certain niches and shrines, +but without power to conquer with the gloom more than enough to +spread a pale circle of yellow light beneath them, and to show +mysteriously a bit of vaulting above. A single lamp hung from an +arch near the door, and beneath it, near a pillar, knelt, or rather +crouched, on the floor, a female figure with a dark peasant cloak +drawn over her head. + +'The first token of penitence is reparation to the injured,' said +the priest. + +Berenger looked at him anxiously. + +'I will not leave you,' he added. 'See, I shall pray for you +yonder, by the altar,' and he slowly moved up the aisle. + +'Rise, cousin, I entreat you,' said Berenger, much embarrassed, as +he disappeared in the darkness. + +'I must speak thus,' she answered, in a hoarse, exhausted voice. +'Ah! pardon, pardon!' she added, rising, however, so far as to +raise clasped hands and an imploring face. 'Ah! can you pardon? +It was through me that you bear those wounds; that she--Eustacie-- +was forced into the masque, to detain you for THAT night. Ah! +pardon.' + +'That is long past,' said Berenger. 'I have been too near death +not to have pardoned that long ago. Rise, cousin, I cannot see you +thus.' + +'That is not all,' continued Diane. 'It was I--I who moved my +father to imprison you.' Then, as he bent his head, and would have +again entreated her to rise, she held out her hand as if to silence +him, and spoke faster, more wildly. 'Then--then I thought it would +save your life. I thought---' she looked at him strangely with her +great dark eyes, all hollow and cavernous in her white face. + +'I know,' said Berenger, kindly, 'you often urged it on me.' + +There was a sort of movement on the part of the kneeling figure of +the priest at the altar, and she interrupted, saying precipitately. +'Then--then, I did think you free.' + +'Ah!' he gasped. 'Now---!' + +'Now I know that she lives!' and Diane once more sank at his feet a +trembling, shrinking, annihilated heap of shame and misery. + +Berenger absolutely gave a cry that, though instantly repressed, +had the ring of ecstasy in it. 'Cousin--cousin!' he cried, 'all is +forgiven--all forgotten, if you will only tell me where!' + +'That I cannot,' said Diane, rousing herself again, but speaking in +a dull, indifferent tone, as of one to whom the prime bitterness +was past, 'save that she is under the care of the Duchess de +Quinet;' and she then proceeded, as though repeating a lesson: 'You +remember the Italian conjurer whom you would not consult? Would +that I had not!' she added, clasping her hands. 'His prediction +lured me? Well, he saw my father privately, told him he had seen +her, and had bought her jewels, even her hair. My father sent him +in quest of her again, but told not me till the man returned with +tidings that she was at Quinet, in favour with the Duchess. You +remember that he went from home. It was to demand he; and, ah! you +know how long I had loved you, and they told me that your marriage +was void, and that all would be well upon the dispensation coming. +And now the good father there tells me that I was deceived--cruelly +deceived--that such a dispensation would not be granted save +through gross misrepresentation.' Then, as Berenger began to show +tokens of eagerness to come at tidings of Eustacie, she continued, +'Ah! it is vain to seek to excuse one you care not for. My father +could learn nothing from the Duchess; she avowed that she had been +there, but would say no more. However, he and my brother were sure +she was under their protection; they took measures, and--and the +morning my poor father was stricken, there had been a letter from +my brother to say he was on her track, and matters must be ended +with you, for he should have her in a week;' and then, as Berenger +started forward with an inarticulate outburst, half of horror, half +of interrogation, she added, 'Where, he said not, nor did I learn +from him. All our one interview was spend in sneers that answered +to my wild entreaties; but this I know--that you would never have +reached Tours a living man.' + +'And now, now he is on the way to her!' cried Berenger, 'and you +kept it from me!' + +'There lay my hope,' said Diane, raising her head; and now, with +glittering eyes and altered voice, 'How could I not but hate her +who had bereaved me of you; her for whose sake I could not earn +your love?' + +The change of her tone had, perhaps, warned the priest to draw +nearer, and as she perceived him, she said, 'Yes, father, this is +not the way to absolution, but my heart will burst if I say not +all.' + +'Thou shalt not prevail, foul spirit,' said the priest, looking +earnestly into the darkness, as though he beheld the fiend hovering +over her, 'neither shall these holy walls be defiled with accents +of unhallowed love. You have made your reparation, daughter; it is +enough.' + +'And can you tell me no more?' said Berenger, sadly. 'Can you give +me no clue that I may save her from the wolf that may be already on +her track? Cousin, if you would do this, I would bless you for +ever.' + +'Alas! I would if I could! It is true, cousin, I have no heart to +deceive you any longer. But it is to Madame de Quinet that you +must apply, and if my brother has though me worth pursuit, you may +be in time! One moment,'--as he would have sprung away as if in +the impulse to fly to the rescue,--'cousin; had you gone to England +as I hoped, I would have striven to deserve to win that love of +yours, but you have conquered by your constancy. Now, father, I +have spoken my last save as penitent.' + +She covered her head and sank down again. + +Berenger, bewildered and impelled to be doing something, let the +priest lead him out before he exclaimed, 'I said nothing to her of +pardon!' + +'You do pardon?' said the priest. + +He paused a moment. 'Freely, if I find my wife. I can only +remember now that she set me on the way. I would ease her soul, +poor thing, and thinking would make me hard again.' + +'Do the English bring up their sons with such feelings?' asked the +cure, pausing for a moment. + +'Of course,' said Berenger. 'May I say that one word, sir?' + +'Not now,' said the priest; 'she had better be left to think of her +sin towards Heaven, rather than towards man.' + +'But do you leave her there, sir?' + +'I shall return. I shall pray for her true penitence,' said the +priest, and Berenger perceived from his tone that one without the +pale might inquire no further. He only asked how safe and +honourable shelter could be found for her; and the cure replied +that he had already spoken to her of the convent of Lucon, and +should take her there so soon as it could safely be done, and that +Abbess Monique, he trusted, would assist her crushed spirit in +finding the path of penitence. He thought her cousin had better +not endeavour to see her again; and Berenger himself was ready to +forget her very existence in his burning anxiety to outstrip +Narcisse in the quest of Eustacie. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. OUR LADY OF HOPE + + + + Welcome to danger's hour, +Brief greeting serves the time of strife.--SCOTT + + +As soon as it was possible to leave Nissard, Berenger was on his +way back to head-quarters, where he hoped to meet the Duke de +Quinet among the many Huguenot gentlemen who were flocking to the +Bourbon standard; nor was he disappointed in the hope, for he was +presented to a handsome middle-aged gentleman, who told him, with +much politeness, that his mother had had the honour to receive and +entertain Mme. de Ribaumont and that some months ago he had himself +arranged for the conveyance of her letters to England, but, he +said, with a smile, he made a point of knowing nothing of his +mother's guests, lest his duties as a governor might clash with +those of hospitality. He offered to expedite M. de Ribaumont's +journey to Quinet, observing that, if Nid de Merle were, indeed, on +the point of seizing the lady, it must be by treachery; indeed he +had, not ten days back, had the satisfaction of hanging an Italian +mountebank who had last year stolen a whole packet of dispatches, +among them letters from Mme. de Ribaumont, and the fellow was +probably acting as a spy upon her, so that no time was to be lost +in learning from his mother where she was. On the next morning he +was about to send forward twenty men to reinforce a little frontier +garrison on the river Dronne, and as M. le Baron must pass through +the place, it would be conferring a favour on him to take the +command. The men were all well mounted, and would not delay; and +when once across the frontier of Guyenne, no escort would be +needed. + +Berenger gladly accepted the proposal. It did not occur to him +that he was thus involved in the civil war, and bearing arms +against the sovereign. In spite of Queen Elisabeth's alliance with +the French court, she connived at her youthful subjects seeking the +bubble reputation in the mouths of Valois cannon; and so little did +Henry III. seem to Berenger to be his king, that he never thought +of the question of allegiance,--nay, if the royal officers were +truly concerned in his arrest, he was already an outlaw. This was +no moment for decision between Catholic and Calvinist; all he +wanted was to recover his wife and forestall her enemies. + +Henry of Navarre gave his full consent to the detachment being +placed under charge of M. de Ribaumont. He asked somewhat +significantly what had become of the young gentleman who had +attended M. de Ribaumont, and Philip blushed crimson to the ears, +while Berenger replied, with greater coolness than he had given +himself credit for, that the youth had been nearly drowned on the +Sable d'Olonne, and had been left at Dom Colombeau's to recover. +The sharp-witted King looked for a moment rather as Sir Hugh the +Heron did when Marmion accounted for his page's absence, but was +far too courteous and too INSOUCIANT to press the matter further, +though Berenger saw quite enough of is expression to feel that he +had been delivered from his companion only just in time. + +Berenger set forth as soon as his impatience could prevail to get +the men into their saddles. He would fain have ridden day and +night, and grudged every halt for refreshment, so as almost to run +the risk of making the men mutinous. Evening was coming on, and +his troop had dismounted at a cabaret, in front of which he paced +up and down with Philip, trying to devise some pretext for +hastening them on another stage before night, when a weary, travel- +stained trooper rode up to the door and was at once hailed as a +comrade by the other men, and asked, 'What cheer at Pont de +Dronne?' + +'Bad enough,' he answered, 'unless you can make the more speed +there!' then making obeisance to Berenger he continued his report, +saying that Captain Falconnet was sending him to M. le Duc with +information that the Guisards were astir, and that five hundred +_gens d'armes_, under the black Nid de Merle, as it was said, were +on their way intending to surprise Pont de Dronne, and thus cut the +King of Navarre off from Guyenne and his kingdom beyond it. After +this Berenger had no more difficulty with his men, who were most of +them Quinet vassals, with homes south of the Dronne, and the +messenger only halted for a hasty meal, hastening on to the Duke, +that a more considerable succour might at once be dispatched. + +'Is she there whom they call the Lady of Hope?' asked one of the +soldiers, a mercenary, less interested than most of his comrades, +as he had only a fortnight since transferred his services from +Guise to Quinet + +'Our Lady of Sadness just now,' replied the messenger; 'her old +father is at the point of death. However, she is there, and at our +last siege twenty wine-skins would not so well have kept up men's +hearts.' + +'And the little one, the white fairy, is she there too? They say +'tis a spirit, a changeling that could not brook the inside of a +church, but flew out of the Moustier at Montauban like a white +swan, in the middle of a sermon.' + +'I only know I've seen her sleep like a dormouse through prayers, +sermon, and all at Pont de Dronne. _Follette_ is she be, she +belongs to the white elves of the moonlight.' + +'Well, they say bullets won't touch her, and no place can be taken +where she is,' replied the trooper. 'Nay, that Italian pedlar +rogue, the same that the Duke has since hung, has sold to long +Gilles and snub-nosed Pierre silver bullets, wherewith they have +sworn to shoot the one or the other next time they had a chance.' + +These words were spoken at not great distance from Berenger, but +passed by him as mere men-at-arms' gossip, in his eagerness to +expedite the start of his party; and in less than an hour they were +_en route_ for Pont de Dronne; but hasten as he would, it was not +till near noon the next day that he came in sight of a valley, +through which wound a river, crossed by a high-backed bridge, with +a tall pointed arch in the middle, and a very small one on either +side. An old building of red stone, looking like what it was--a +monastery converted into a fortress--stood on the nearer, or +northern bank, and on the belfry tower waved a flag with the arms +of Quinet. Higher up the valley, there was an ominous hum, and +clouds of smoke and dust; and the _gen d'armes_, who knew the +country, rejoiced that they were come just in time, and exchanged +anxious questions whether the enemy were not fording the river +above them, so as to attack not only the fortress on this northern +side, but the bridge tower on the southern bank of the river. + +Spurring down the hill, the party were admitted, at the well- +guarded gateway, into a large thickly-walled yard, where the +soldiers and horses remained, and Berenger and Philip, passing +through a small arched doorway into the body of the old monastery, +were conducted to a great wainscoted hall, where a pulpit +projecting from the wall, and some defaced emblematic ornaments, +showed that this had once been the refectory, though guard-room +appliances now occupied it. The man who had shown them in left +them, saying he would acquaint Captain Falconnet with their +arrival, and just then a sound of singing drew both brothers to the +window. It looked out on what had once been the quadrangle, +bounded on three sides by the church, the refectory, and the monk's +lodgings, the cloistered arcade running round all these. The +fourth side was skirted by the river, which was, however, concealed +by an embankment, raised, no doubt, to supply the place of the +wall, which had been unnecessary to the peaceful original +inhabitants. What attracted Berenger's eyes was, however, a group +in the cloister, consisting of a few drooping figures, some of men +in steel caps, others of veiled, shrouded women, and strange, +mingled feelings swept over him as he caught the notes of the psalm +sung over the open grave-- + + 'Si qu'en paix et seurte bonne + Coucherai et reposerai-- + Car, Seigneur, ta bonte tout ordonne + Et elle seule espoir donne + Que seur et sain regnant serai.' + +'Listen, Philip,' he said, with moistening eyes; then as they +ended, 'It is the 4th Psalm: "I lay me down in peace and take my +rest." Eustacie and I used to sing it to my father. It was well +done in these mourners to sing it over him whom they are laying +down to take his rest while the enemy are at the gates. See, the +poor wife still kneels while the rest disperse; how dejected and +utterly desolate she looks.' + +He was so intently watching her as not to perceive the entrance of +a tall, grizzled old man in a steel cap, evidently the commander of +the garrison. There was the brief welcome of danger's hour--the +briefer, because Captain Falconnet was extremely deaf, and, taking +it for granted that the new-comers were gentlemen of the Duke's, +proceeded to appoint them their posts without further question. +Berenger had intended to pursue his journey to Quinet without +delay, but the intelligence that the enemy were on the southern as +well as the northern side of the river rendered this impossible; +and besides, in defending this key of Guyenne against Narcisse, he +was also defending Eustacie. + +The state of affairs was soon made known to him. The old +monastery, covering with its walls an extensive space, formed a +fortress quite strong enough to resist desultory attacks, and +protect the long bridge, which was itself strongly walled on either +side, and with a barbican at the further end. In former assaults +the attacks had always been on the north, the Catholic side, as it +might be called; but now the enemy had crossed the river above the +fort, and were investing the place on both sides. Long foreseeing +this, the old commandant had guarded the bank of the river with the +earthwork, a long mound sloped irregularly on either hand, over +which numerous little paths had since been worn by the women +within, when on their way to the river with their washing; but he +had been setting every one to work to destroy and fill up these, so +that the rampart was smooth and slopping, perfectly easy indeed to +cross, but high and broad enough to serve as an effectual +protection against such artillery as the detached troops of the +Guise party were likely to possess; and the river was far too wide, +deep, and strong in its main current to be forded in the face of a +hostile garrison. The captain had about fifty _gen d'armes_ in his +garrison, besides the twenty new-comers whom he persisted in +regarding as Berenger's charge; and there were, besides, some +seventy peasants and silk spinners, who had come into the place as +a refuge from the enemy--and with these he hoped to hold put till +succour should come from the Duke. He himself took the command of +the north gate, where the former assaults had been made, and he +instructed to his new ally the tower protecting the bridge, +advising him to put on armour; but Berenger, trying on a steel cap, +found that his head could not bear the weight and heat, and was +forced to return to his broad-brimmed Spanish hat, while Philip in +high glee armed himself as best he could with what Captain +Falconnet could lend him. he was too much excited to eat of the +scanty meal that was set before them: a real flight seemed like a +fair-day to him, and he was greatly exalted by his brother's post +of command--a post that Berenger felt a heavy responsibility only +thrust upon him by the commandant's incapacity of hearing how +utterly inexperienced he was. + +The formal summons to surrender to the King, and the refusal, had +duly passed, and it became evident that the first attack was to be +on the bridge-gate. Captain Falconnet hurried to the place, and +the fighting was hot and desperate. Every assailant who tried to +throw his fagot into the moat became a mark for arquebus or pistol, +and the weapons that had so lately hung over the hearth at Nid de +Merle were now aimed again and again at the heads and corslets of +Guisards, with something of the same exulting excitement as, only +higher, more engrossing, and fiercer than, that with which the lads +had taken aim at a wolf, or ridden after a fox. Scaling-ladders +were planted and hurled down again; stones were cast from the +battlements, crushing the enemy; and throughout Berenger's quick +eye, alert movements, and great height and strength, made him a +most valuable champion, often applauded by a low murmur of +commendation from old Falconnet, or a loud shout of 'Ha, well done, +the Duke's Englishman,' from the _gen d'armes_--for English they +would have him to be--on the presumptions afforded by his +companions, his complexion, and his slow speech. Nor did Philip +and Humfrey fail to render good service. But just as the enemy had +been foiled in a sharp assault and were dragging away their +wounded, Philip touched his brother, and saying, 'I can hold out no +longer,' showed blood trickling down his right side. + +Berenger threw an arm round him, and Captain Falconnet, seeing his +case, said, 'You are hit, _petit Anglais_; you have done gallantly. +There will be time for you to take him to his quarters, sir; these +fellows have had enough for the present, and you can tarry with him +till you hear the bugle. Whither, did you ask? Let me see. You, +Renaud, take him to the chapel: the old chancel behind the boarding +will be more private; and desire Madame to look to him. Farewell! +I hope it may prove slight; you are a brave youth.' And he shook +hands with Philip, whose intense gratification sustained him for +many steps afterwards + +He hardly remembered receiving the hurt, and was at first too busy +to heed it, or to call off any one attention, until a dread of +falling, and being trodden on, had seized him and made him speak; +and indeed he was so dizzy that Berenger with difficulty kept him +on his feet over the bridge, and in the court lifted him in his +arms and carried him almost fainting into the cloister, where by +the new-made grave still knelt the black-veiled mourner. She +started to her feet as the soldier spoke to her, and seemed at +first not to gather the sense of his words; but then, as if with an +effort, took them in, made one slight sound like a moan of +remonstrance at the mention of the place, but again recollecting +herself, led the way along a stone passage, into which a flight of +stairs descended into the apsidal chancel, roughly boarded off from +the rest of the church. It was a ruinous, desolate place, and +Berenger looked round in dismay for some place on which to lay down +his almost unconscious burthen. The lady bent her head and signed +towards the stone sedilia in the wall; then, after two ineffectual +essays to make her voice audible, choked as it was with long +weeping, she said, low and huskily, 'We will make him more +comfortable soon;' and added some orders to the soldier, who +disappeared up the stairway, and Berenger understood that he was +gone to fetch bedding. Then taking from under her heavy mourning +cloak a large pair of scissors, she signed to Berenger how to +support his brother, while they relieved him of his corslet, sword- +belt, and doublet. The soldier had meantime returned with an old +woman, both loaded with bedding, which she signed to them to +arrange in one of the little bays or niches that served to form a +crown of lesser chapels around the chancel. She flung aside her +muffling cloak, but her black hood still hung far over her face, +and every now and then hand or handkerchief was lifted as if to +clear her eyes from the tears that would not cease to gather and +blind her; and she merely spoke when some direction to an +assistant, some sympathetic word to the patient, was needed. Even +Philip in his dizzy trance guessed that he was succeeding to the +bed whence one much dearer had gone to his quieter rest in the +cloister. Before he was laid there, however, the bugle sounded; +there was a loud shout, and Philip exclaimed, 'Go, brother!' + +'Trust him to me, sir,' said the sunken, extinguished voice; 'we +will do our best for him.' + +He was forced merely to lift Philip to the bed, and to hurry away, +while the soldier followed him saying, consolingly, 'Fear not, sir, +now our Lady of Hope has him. Nothing goes ill to which she sets +her hand.' + +Another growl of artillery was not heard, and it was time for the +warriors to forget the wounded in the exigencies of the present. +An attack was made on both gates at once, and the commandant being +engaged at his own post, Berenger had to make the utmost of his +brief experience, backed by the counsel of a tough old sergeant; +and great was his sense of exhilaration, and absolute enjoyment in +this full and worthy taxing of every power of mind or body. The +cry among the enemy, 'Aime at the black plume,' attested his +prominence; but he black plum was still unscathed when spring +twilight fell. The din began to subside; recalls were sounded by +the besiegers; and Berenger heard his own exploit bawled in the ear +of the deaf commandant, who was advancing over the bridge. The old +captain complimented him, told him that he should be well reported +of to M. le Duc and Sieur la Noue, and invited him to supper and +bed in his own quarters. The supper Berenger accepted, so soon as +he should know how it was with his brother; but as to bed, he +intended to watch his brother, and visit his post form time to +time. + +The captain entered by the main door of the chapel, where ten or +twelve wounded were now lying, tended by peasant women. Berenger +merely passed through, seeing as he went the black hood busy over a +freshly-brought-in-patient. He found a door which admitted him +through the rough screen of boards to the choir where he had been +in the earlier part of the day. The moonlight came through the +shivered eastern windows, but a canvas curtain had been hung so as +to shelter Philip's vaulted recess from the cold draught, and the +bed itself, with a chair beside it, looked neat, clean, and +comfortable. Philip himself was cheery; he said the bullet had made +a mere flesh-wound, and had passed out on the other side, and the +Lady of Hope, as they called he, was just such another as Aunt +Cecily, and had made him very comfortable, with clean linen, good +cool drinks, and the tenderest hand. But he was very sleepy, so +sleepy that he hardly cared to hear of the combat, only he roused +himself for a moment to say, 'Brother, I have seen Dolly.' + +'Dolly!' + +'Our sister Dolly.' + +'Ah, Phil! many a strange visitor has come to me in the Walnut +Chamber at home.' + +'I tell you I was in my perfect senses,' returned Philip; 'there +she was, just as when we left her. And, what was stranger still, +she talked French.' + +'Sleep and see her again,' laughed Berenger. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. THE SILVER BULLET + + + +I am all wonder, O my son, my soul +Is stunned within me; powers to speak to him +Or to interrogate him have I none, +Or even to look on him.--Cowper's ODYSSEY + + +In his waking senses Philip adhered to his story that his little +sister Dolly had stood at the foot of his bed, called him '_le +pauvre_' and had afterwards disappeared, led away by the nursing +lady. It seemed to Berenger a mere delusion of feverish weakness; +for Philip had lost a great deal of blood, and the wound, though +not dangerous, permitted no attempt at moving, and gave much pain. +Of the perfections of the lady as nurse and surgeon Philip could +not say enough, and, pale and overwept as he allowed her to be, he +declared that he was sure that her beauty must equal Mme. De +Selinville's. Berenger laughed, and looking round this strange +hospital, now lighted by the full rays of the morning sun, he was +much struck by the scene. + +It was the chancel of the old abbey church. The door by which they +had entered was very small, and perhaps had led merely to the +abbot's throne, as an irregularity for his own convenience, and +only made manifest by the rending away of the rich wooden stall +work, some fragments of which still clung to the walls. The east +end, like that of many French churches, formed a semicircle, the +high altar having been in the centre, and five tall deep bays +forming lesser chapels embracing it, their vaults all gathered up +into one lofty crown above, and a slender pillar separating between +each chapel, each of which further contained a tall narrow window. +Of course, all had been utterly desolated, and Philip was actually +lying in one of these chapels, where the sculptured figure of St. +John and his Eagle still remained on the wall; and a sufficient +remnant of his glowing sanguine robe of love was still in the +window to serve as a shield from the _bise_. The high altar of +rich marbles was a mere heap of shattered rubbish; but what +surprised Berenger more than all the ruined architectural beauty +which his _cinque-cento_ trained taste could not understand, was, +that the tiles of the pavement were perfectly clean, and diligently +swept, the rubbish piled up in corners; and here and there the +relics of a cross or carved figure lay together, as by a tender, +reverential hand. Even the morsels of painted glass had been +placed side by side on the floor, so as to form a mosaic of dark +red, blue, and green; and a child's toy lay beside this piece of +patchwork. In the midst of his observations, however, Captain +Falconnet's servant came to summon him to breakfast; and the old +woman appearing at the same time, he could not help asking whether +the lady were coming. + +'Oh yes, she will come to dress his wound in good time,' answered +the old woman. + +'And when? I should like to hear what she thinks of it,' said +Berenger. + +'How?' said the old woman with a certain satisfaction in his +disappointment; 'is our Lady of Hope to be coming down among you +gay gallants?' + +'But who is this Lady of Hope?' demanded he. + +'Who should she be but our good pastor's daughter? Ah! and a +brave, good daughter she was too, abiding the siege because his +breath was so bad that he could not be moved.' + +'What was his name?' asked Berenger, attracted strangely by what he +heard. + +'Ribault, Monsieur--Pasteur Ribault. Ah! a good man, and sound +preacher, when preach he could; but when he could not, his very +presence kept the monks' REVENANTS from vexing us--as a cat keeps +mice away; and, ah! The children have been changed creatures since +Madame dealt with them. What! Monsieur would know why they call +her our Lady of Hope? Esperance is her true name; and, moreover, +in the former days this abbey had an image that they called Notre- +Dame de l'Esperance, and the poor deceived folk thought it did +great miracles. And so, when she came hither, and wrought such +cures, and brought blessing wherever she went, it became a saying +among us that at length we had our true Lady of Hope. + +A more urgent summons here forced Berenger away, and his repetition +of the same question received much the same answer from deaf old +Captain Falconnet. He was obliged to repair to his post with +merely a piece of bread in his hand; abut, though vigilance was +needful, the day bade fair to be far less actively occupied than +its predecessor: the enemy were either disposed to turn the siege +into a blockade, or were awaiting reinforcements and heavier +artillery; and there were only a few desultory attacks in the early +part of the morning. About an hour before noon, however, the +besiegers seemed to be drawing out in arms, as if to receive some +person of rank, and at the same time sounds were heard on the hills +to the eastward, as if troops were on the march. Berenger having +just been told by the old sergeant that probably all would be quiet +for some time longer, and been almost laughed at by the veteran for +consulting him whether it would be permissible for him to be absent +a few minutes to visit his brother, was setting out across the +bridge for the purpose, his eyes in the direction of the rampart, +which followed the curve of the river. The paths which--as has +been said--the feet of the washerwomen and drawers of water had +worn away in quieter times, had been smoothed and scarped away on +the outer side, so as to come to an abrupt termination some feet +above the gay marigolds, coltsfoot, and other spring flowers that +smiled by the water-side. Suddenly he beheld on the rampart a tiny +gray and white figure, fearlessly trotting, or rather dancing, +along the summit and the men around him exclaimed, 'The little +moonbeam child!' 'A fairy--a changeling!'--'They cannot shoot at +such a babe!' 'Nor could they harm her!' 'Hola! little one! +_Gare_! Go back to your mother!' 'Do not disturb yourself, sir; +she is safer than you,' were the ejaculations almost at the same +moment, while he sprang forward, horrified at the peril of such an +infant. He had reached the angle between the bridge and rampart, +when he perceived that neither humanity nor superstition were +protecting the poor child; for, as she turned down the remnant of +one of the treacherous little paths, a man in bright steel and deep +black had spurred his horse to the river's brink, and was +deliberately taking aim at her. Furious at such brutality, +Berenger fired the pistol he held in his hand, and the wretch +dropped from his horse; but at the same moment his pistol exploded, +and the child rolled down the bank, whence a piteous wail came up, +impelling Berenger to leap down to her assistance, in the full face +of the enemy. Perhaps he was protected for the moment by the +confusion ensuing on the fall of the officer; and when he reached +the bottom of the bank, he saw the little creature on her feet, her +round cap and gray woolen dress stripped half off in the fall, and +her flaxen hair falling round her plump, white, exposed shoulder, +but evidently unhurt, and gathering yellow marigolds as composedly +as though she had been making May garlands. He snatched her up, +and she said, with the same infantine dignity, 'Yes, take me up; +the naughty people spoilt the path. But I must take my beads +first.' And she tried to struggle out of his arms, pointing +therewith to a broken string among the marshy herb-age on which +gleamed--the pearls of Ribaumont! + +In the few seconds in which he grasped them, and then bore the +child up the embankment in desperate bounds, a hail of bullets +poured round him, ringing on his breastplate, shearing the plume +from his hat, but scarcely evenheard; and in another moment he had +sprung down, on the inner side, grasping the child with all his +might, but not daring even to look at her, in the wondrous flash of +that first conviction. She spoke first. 'Put me down, and let me +have my beads,' she said in a grave, clear tone; and then first he +beheld a pair of dark blue eyes, a sweet wild-rose face--Dolly's +all over. He pressed her so fast and so close, in so speechless +and over powering an ecstasy, that again she repeated, and in +alarm, 'Put me down, I want my mother!' + +'Yes, yes! your mother! your mother! your mother!' he cried, unable +to let her out of his embrace; and then restraining himself as he +saw her frightened eyes, in absolute fear of her spurning him, or +struggling from him, 'My sweet! my child! Ah! do you not know me?' +Then, remembering how wild this was, he struggled to speak calmly: +'What are you called, my treasure?' + +'I am _la petite Rayonette_,' she said, with puzzled dignity and +gravity; 'and my mother says I have a beautiful long name of my own +besides.' + +'Berangere--my Berangere---' + +'That is what she says over me, as I go to sleep in her bosom at +night,' said the child, in a wondering voice, soon exchanged for +entreaty, 'Oh, hug me not so hard! Oh, let me go--let me go to +her! Mother! mother!' + +'My child, mine own, I am take thee!--Oh, do not struggle with me!' +he cried, himself imploring now. 'Child, one kiss for thy father;' +and meantime, putting absolute force on his vehement affection, he +was hurrying to the chancel. + +There Philip hailed them with a shout as of desperate anxiety +relieved; but before a word could be uttered, down the stairs flew +the Lady of Hope, crying wildly, 'Not there--she is not--' but +perceiving the little one in the stranger's arms, she held out her +own, crying, 'Ah! is she hurt, my angel?' + +'Unhurt, Eustacie! Our child is unhurt!' Berenger said, with an +agonized endeavour to be calm; but for the moment her instinct was +so entirely absorbed in examining into the soundness of her child's +limbs, that she neither saw nor hear anything else. + +'Eustacie,' he said, laying his hand on her arm, she started back, +with bewildered eyes. 'Eustacie--wife? do you not know me? Ah! I +forgot that I am changed.' + +'You--you--' she gasped, utterly confounded, and gazing as if +turned to stone, and though at that moment the vibration of a +mighty discharge of cannon rocked the walls, and strewed Philip's +bed with the crimson shivers of St. John's robe, yet neither of +them would have been sensible of it had not Humfrey rushed in at +the same moment, crying, 'They are coming on like friends, sir!' + +Berenger passed his hand over his face. 'You will know me WHEN--IF +I return, my dearest,' he said. 'If not, then still, thank God! +Philip, to you I trust them!' + +And with one kiss on that still, cold, almost petrified brow, he +had dashed away. There was a space of absolutely motionless +silence, save that Eustacie let herself drop on the chancel step, +and the child, presently breaking the spell, pulled her to attract +her notice to the flowers. 'Mother, here are the _soucis_ for the +poor gentleman's broth. See, the naughty people had spoilt all the +paths, and I rolled down and tore my frock, and down fell the +beads, but be not angry, mother dear, for the good gentleman picked +them up, and carried me up the bank.' + +'The bank!' cried Eustacie, with a scream, as the sense of the +words reached her ears. 'Ah! no wonder! Well might thy danger +bring thy father's spirit;' and she grasped the little one +fervently in her arms, murmuring, 'Thank, thank God, indeed! Oh! +my precious one; and did He send that blessed spirit to rescue +thee?' + +'And will you tie up my frock? and may I put the flowers into the +broth?' chattered Rayonette. 'And why did he kiss me and hug me so +tight? and how did he know what you say over me as we fall asleep?' + +Eustacie clasped her tighter, with a convulsive, shudder of +thankfulness; and Philip, but half hearing, and barely gathering +the meaning of her mood, ventured to speak, 'Madame---' + +As if touched by an electric shock, Eustacie started up, as +recalled to instant needs, and coming towards him said, 'Do you +want anything, sir? Pardon one who has but newly seen a spirit +from the other world--brought by his child's danger.' And the +dazed, trance-like look was returning. + +'Spirit!' cried Philip. 'Nay, Madame, it was himself. Ah! and you +are she whom we have sought so long; and this dear child--no wonder +she has Dolly's face.' + +'Who--what?' said Eustacie, pressing her temples with her hands, as +if to retain her senses. 'Speak; was yonder a living or dead man-- +and who?' + +'Living, thank God! and your own husband; that is, if you are +really Eustacie. Are you indeed?' he added, becoming doubtful. + +'Eustacie, that am I,' she murmured. 'But he is dead--they killed +him; I swathe blood where he had waited for me. His child's danger +brought him from the grave.' + +'No, no. Look at me, sister Eustacie. Listen to me. Osbert +brought him home more dead than alive--but alive still.' + +'No!' she cried, half passionately. 'Never could he have lived and +left me to mourn him so bitterly.' + +'If you knew--' cried Philip, growing indignant. 'for weeks he lay +in deadly lethargy, and when, with his left hand, he wrote and sent +Osbert to you, your kinsfolk threw the poor fellow into a dungeon, +and put us off with lies that you were married to your cousin. All +believed, only he--sick, helpless, speechless, as he was--he +trusted you still; and so soon as Mericour came, though he could +scarcely brook the saddle, nothing would hold him from seeking you. +We saw only ruin at La Sablerie, and well-nigh ever since have we +been clapped up in prison by your uncle. We were on the way to +Quinet to seek you. He has kept his faith whole through wounds and +pain and prison and threats,--ay, and sore temptation,' cried +Philip, waxing eloquent; 'and, oh, it cannot be that you do not +care for him!' + +'Doubt not my faith, sir,' said Eustacie, proudly; 'I have been as +true to him as if I had known he lived. Nor do I know who you are +to question me.' + +At this moment the child pressed forward, holding between her tow +careful plump hands a red earthenware bowl, with the tisane +steaming in it, and the yellow petals strewn over the surface. She +and Philip had taken a great fancy to each other, and while her +mother was busy with the other patients, she had been left to her +quiet play with her fragments of glass, which she carried one by +one to display, held up to the light, to her new friends; who, in +his weak state, and after his long captivity, found her the more +charming playmate because she so strangely reminded him of his own +little sisters. She thought herself his little nurse, and missing +from his broth the yellow petals that she had been wont to think +the charm of tisane, the housewifely little being had trotted off, +unseen and unmissed, across the quadrangle, over the embankment, +where she had often gathered them, or attended on the '_lessive_' +on the river's brink; and now she broke forth exultingly, 'Here, +here is the tisane, with all the _soucis_. Let me feed you with +them, sir.' + +'Ah! thou sweet one,' gasped Philip, 'I could as soon eat them as +David could drink the water! For these--for these---!' and the +tears rushed into his eyes. 'Oh! let me but kiss her, Madame; I +loved her from the first moment. She has the very face of my +little sweeting, (what French word is good enough for her?) didst +run into peril for me, not knowing how near I was to thee? What, +must I eat it? Love me then.' + +But the boarded door was thrown back, and 'Madame, more wounded,' +resounded. The thrill of terror, the elastic reaction, at the +ensuing words, 'from the north gate,' was what made Eustacie in an +instant know herself to be not widow but wife. She turned round at +once, holding out her hand, and saying with a shaken, agitated +voice, '_Mon frere_, pardon me, I know not what I say; and, after +all, he will find me _bien mechante_ still.' Then as Philip +devoured her hand with kisses, and held it fast, 'I must go; these +poor men need me. When I can, I will return.' + +'Only let me have the little one,' entreated Philip; 'it is almost +home already to look at her.' + +And when Eustacie next looked in on them, they were both fast +asleep. + +She, poor thing, the only woman with brains among the many scared +females in the garrison, might not rest or look the wonder in the +face. Fresh sufferers needed her care, and related gallant things +of 'the Duke's Englishman,' things of desperate daring and prowess +that sent the blood throbbing to her heart with exultation, but +only to be followed by a pang of anguish at having let him go back +to peril--nay, perhaps, to death--without a word of tenderness or +even recognition. She imaged him as the sunny-faced youth who had +claimed her in the royal castle, and her longing to be at his side +and cling to him as his own became every moment more fervent and +irresistible, until she gladly recollected the necessity of +carrying food to the defenders; and snatching an interval from her +hospital cares, she sped to the old circular kitchen of the +monastery, where she found the lame baker vainly trying to organize +a party of frightened women to carry provisions to the garrison of +the bridge-tower. + +'Give some to me,' she said. 'My husband is there! I am come to +fetch his dinner.' + +The peasant women looked and whispered as if they thought that, to +add to their misfortunes, their Lady of Hope had become distracted +by grief; and one or two, who held the old faith, and were like the +crane among the sparrows, even observed that it was a judgment for +the profane name that had been given her, against which she had +herself uniformly protested. + +'My husband is come,' said Eustacie, looking round with shining +eyes. 'Let us be brave wives, and not let our men famish.' + +She lifted a loaf and a pitcher of broth, and with the latter +poised on her erect and graceful head, and elastic though steady +step, she led the way; the others following her with a sort of awe, +as of one they fancied in a superhuman state. In fact, there was +no great danger in traversing the bridge with its lofty parapet on +either side; and her mind was too much exalted and moved to be +sensible of anything but a certain exulting awe of the battle +sounds. There was, however, a kind of lull in the assault which +had raged so fiercely ever since the fall of the officer, and the +arrival of the reinforcements. Either the enemy had paused to take +food, or were devising some fresh mode of attack; and as the line +of women advanced, there started forth from under the arch a broad- +shouldered, white-faced, golden-bearded personage, who cried +joyously, 'My dearest, my bravest! this for me!' and lifted the +pitcher from her head as he grasped her hand with a flesh and blood +clasp indeed, but the bright-cheeked, wavy-haired lad of her dream +withered away with a shock of disappointment, and she only looked +up with wistful puzzled earnestness instead of uttering the dear +name that she had so long been whispering to herself. 'Dearest,' +he said, 'this is precious indeed to me, that you should let me +feast my eyes once more on you. But you may not tarry; the rogues +may renew the attack at any moment.' + +She had thought of herself as insisting on standing beside him and +sharing his peril. Had he been himself she must have don so, but +this was a stranger, whose claiming her made her shrink apart till +she could feel the identity which, though she believed, she could +not realize. Her hand lay cold and tremulous within his warm +pressure, but he was too much wrought up and too full of joy and +haste to be sensible of anything but of the brave affection that +had dared all to come to him; and he was perfectly happy, even as a +trumpet-call among the foe warned him to press her fingers to his +lips and say, as his bright blue eye kindled, 'God grant that we +may meet and thank Him tonight! Farewell, my lost and found! I +fight as one who has something to fight for.' + +He might not leave his post, but he watched her with eyes that +could not be satiated, as she recrossed the bridge; and, verily, +his superabundant ecstasy, and the energy that was born of it, were +all needed to sustain the spirits of his garrison through that +terrible afternoon. The enemy seemed to be determined to carry the +place before it could be relieved, and renewed the storm again and +again with increasing violence; while the defenders, disheartened +by their pertinacity, dismayed at the effects of the heavy +artillery, now brought to bear on the tower, and direfully afraid +of having the bridge destroyed, would have abandoned their barbican +and shut themselves up within the body of the place, had not +Berenger been here, there, and everywhere, directing, commanding, +exhorting, cheering, encouraging, exciting enthusiasm by word and +example, winning proud admiration by feats of valour and dexterity +sprung of the ecstatic inspiration of new-found bliss, and +watching, as the conscious defender of his own most beloved, +without a moment's respite, till twilight stillness sank on the +enemy, and old Falconnet came to relieve him, thanking him for his +gallant defence, and auguring that, by noonday tomorrow at latest, +M. le Duc would succour them, unless he were hampered by any folly +of this young Navarre. + +Too blissful for the sense of fatigue, Berenger began to impart to +the Commandant his delight, but the only answer he got was 'Hope, +yes, every hope;' and he again recognized what he had already +perceived, that the indistinctness of his utterance made him +entirely unintelligible to the deaf Commandant, and that shouting +did but proclaim to the whole garrison, perhaps even to the enemy's +camp, what was still too new a joy not to be a secret treasure of +delight. So he only wrung the old Captain's hand, and strode away +as soon as he was released. + +It was nearly dark, in spite of a rising moon, but beneath the +cloister arch was torchlight, glancing on a steel head-piece, and +on a white cap, both bending down over a prostrate figure; and he +heard the voice he loved so well say, 'It is over! I can do no +more. It were best to dig his grave at once here in silence--it +will discourage the people less. Renaud and Armand, here!' + +He paused for a few minutes unseen in the shadow while she closed +the eyes and composed the limbs of the dead soldier; then, +kneeling, said the Lord's Prayer in French over him. Was this the +being he had left as the petted plaything of the palace? When she +rose, she came to the arch and gazed wistfully across the moonlit +quadrangle, beyond the dark shade cast by the buildings, saying to +the soldier, 'You are sure he was safe?' + +'My Eustacie,' said Berenger, coming forward, 'we meet in grave +times!' + +The relief of knowing him safe after the sickening yearnings and +suspense of the day, and moreover the old ring of tenderness in his +tone, made her spring to him with real warmth of gladness, and cry, +'It is you! All is well. + +'Blessedly well, _ma mie_, my sweetheart,' he said, throwing his +arm round her, and she rested against him murmuring, 'Now I feel +it! Thou are thyself!' They were in the dark cloister passage, +and when he would have moved forward she clung closer to him, and +murmured, 'Oh, wait, wait, yet an instant--thus I can feel that I +have thee--the same--my own!' + +'My poor darling,' said Berenger, after a second, 'you must learn +to bear with both my looks and speech, though I be but a sorry +shattered fellow for you.' + +'No, no,' she cried, hanging on him with double fervour. 'No, I am +loving you the more already,--doubly--trebly--a thousand times. +Only those moments were so precious, they made all these long years +as nothing. But come to the little one, and to your brother.' + +The little one had already heard them, and was starting forward to +meet them, though daunted for a moment by the sight of the strange +father: she stood on the pavement, in the full flood of the +moonlight from the east window, which whitened her fair face, +flaxen hair, and gray dress, so that she did truly look like some +spirit woven of the moonbeams. Eustacie gave a cry of satisfac- +tion: 'Ah! good, good; it was by moonlight that I saw her first!' + +Berenger took her in his arm, and held her to his breast with a +sense of insatiable love, while Philip exclaimed, 'Ay, well may you +make much of her, brother. Well might you seek them far and wide. +Such treasures are not to be found in the wide world.' + +Berenger without answering, carried the little one to the step of +the ruined high altar, and there knelt, holding Eustacie by the +hand, the child in one arm, and, with the moon glancing on his high +white brow and earnest face, he spoke a few words of solemn thanks +and prayer for a blessing on their reunion, and the babe so +wonderfully preserved to them. + +Not till then did he carry her into the lamplight by Philip's bed, +and scan therein every feature, to satisfy his eyes with the +fulfilled hope that had borne him through those darkest days, when, +despairing of the mother, the thought of the child had still +sustained him to throw his will into the balance of the scale +between life and death. Little Berangere gazed up into his face +silently, with wondering, grave, and somewhat sleepy eyes, and then +he saw them fix themselves on his powder-grimed and blood-stained +hands. 'Ah! little heart,' he said, 'I am truly in no state to +handle so pure a piece of sugar as thou; I should have rid myself +of the battle-stains ere touching thee, but how recollect anything +at such a moment?' + +Eustacie was glad he had broken the spell of silence; for having +recovered her husband, her first instinct was to wait upon him. +She took the child from him, explaining that she was going to put +her to bed in her own rooms up the stone stair, which for the +present were filled with fugitive women and children who had come +in from the country, so that the chancel must continue the lodging +of Berenger and his brother; and for the time of her absence she +brought him water to wash away the stains, and set before him the +soup she had kept warm over her little charcoal brazier. It was +only when thus left that he could own, in answer to Philip's +inquiries, that he could feel either hunger or weariness; nay, he +would only acknowledge enough of the latter to give a perfect charm +to rest under such auspices. Eustacie had dispatched her motherly +cares promptly enough to be with him again just as in taking off +his corselet he had found that it had been pierced by a bullet, and +pursuing the trace, through his doublet, he found it lodged in that +purse which he had so long worn next his heart, where it had spent +its force against the single pearl of Ribaumont. And holding it up +to the light, he saw that it was of silver. Then there returned on +him and Philip the words they had heard two days before, of silver +bullets forged for the destruction of the white moonlight fairy, +and he further remembered the moment's shock and blow that in the +midst of his wild amaze on the river's bank had made him gather his +breath and strength to bound desperately upwards, lest the next +moment he should find himself wounded and powerless. + +For the innocent, then, had the shot been intended; and she running +into danger out of her sweet, tender instincts of helpfulness, had +been barely saved at the extreme peril of her unconscious father's +life. Philip, whose vehement affection for the little one had been +growing all day, was in the act of telling Berenger to string the +bullet in the place of the injured pearl, as the most precious +heirloom of Ribaumont bravery, when Eustacie returned, and learning +all, grew pale and shuddered as danger had never made her do +before: but this strange day had almost made a coward of her. + +'And this is has spared,' said Berenger, taking out the string of +little yellow shells. 'Dost know them, sweet heart? They have +been my chaplet all this time.' + +'Ah!' cried Eustacie, 'poor, good Mademoiselle Noemi! she threaded +them for my child, when she was very little. Ah! could she have +given them to you--could it then not have been true--that horror?' + +'Alas! it was too true. I found these shells in the empty cradle, +in the burnt house, and deemed them all I should ever have of my +babe.' + +'Poor Noemi! poor Noemi! She always longed to be a martyr; but we +fled from her, and the fate we had brought on her. That was the +thought that preyed on my dear father. He grieved so to have left +his sheep--and it was only for my sake. Ah! I have brought evil on +all who have been good to me, beginning with you. You had better +cast me off, or I shall bring yet worse!' + +'Let it be so, if we are only together.' + +He drew her to him and she laid her head on his shoulder, +murmuring, 'Ah! father, father, were you but here to see it. So +desolate yesterday, so ineffably blest today. Oh! I cannot even +grieve for him now, save that he could not just have seen us; yet I +think he knew it would be so.' + +'Nay, it may be that he does see us,' said Berenger. 'Would that I +had known who it was whom you were laying down "_en paix et seurte +bonne_!" As it was, the psalm brought precious thoughts of Chateau +Leurre, and the little wife who was wont to sing it with me.' + +'Ah!' said Eustacie, 'it was when he sang those words as he was +about to sleep in the ruin of the Temple that first I-- cowering +there in terror--knew him for no Templar's ghost, but for a friend. +That story ended my worst desolation. That night he became my +father; the next my child came to me!' + +'My precious treasure! Ah! what you must have undergone, and I all +unknowing, capable of nothing wiser than going out of my senses, +and raging in a fever because I could convince no one that those +were all lies about your being aught but my true and loving wife. +But tell me, what brought thee hither to be the tutelary patron, +where, but for the siege, I had over-passed thee on the way to +Quinet?' + +Then Eustacie told him how the Italian pedlar had stolen her +letters, and attempted to poison her child--the pedlar whom he soon +identified with that wizard who had talked to him of 'Esperance,' +until the cue had evidently been given by the Chevalier. Soon +after the Duke had dispatched a messenger to say that the Chevalier +de Ribaumont was on the way to demand his niece; and as it was a +period of peace, and the law was decidedly on his side, Madame de +Quinet would be unable to offer any resistance. She therefore had +resolved to send Eustacie away--not to any of the seaports whither +the uncle would be likely to trace her, but absolutely to a place +which he would have passed through on his journey into Guyenne. +The monastery of Notre-Dame de l'Esperance at Pont de Dronne had +been placed there, as well as a colony of silk-spinners, attracted +by the mulberry-trees of the old abbey garden. These, however, +having conceived some terror of the ghosts of the murdered monks, +had entreated for a pastor to protect them; and Madame la Duchesse +thought that in this capacity Isaac Gardon, known by one of the +many aliases to which the Calvinist ministers constantly resorted, +might avoid suspicion for the present. She took the persecuted +fugitives for some stages in an opposite direction, in her own +coach, then returned to face and baffle the Chevalier, while her +trusty steward, by a long _detour_, conducted them to Pont de +Dronne, which they reached the very night after to Chevalier had +returned through it to Nid de Merle. + +The pastor and his daughter were placed under the special +protection of Captain Falconnet, and the steward had taken care +that they should be well lodged in three rooms that had once been +the abbot's apartments. Their stay had been at first intended to +be short, but the long journey had been so full of suffering to +Isaac, and left such serious effects, that Eustacie could not bear +to undertake it again, and Madame de Quinet soon perceived that she +was safer there than at the chateau, since strangers were seldom +admitted to the fortress, and her presence there attracted no +attention. But for Isaac Gardon's declining health, Eustacie would +have been much happier here than at the chateau; the homely +housewifely life, where all depended on her, suited her; and, using +her lessons in domestic arts of nursing and medicine for the +benefit of her father's flock, she had found, to her dismay, that +the simple people, in their veneration, had made her into a sort of +successor to the patroness of the convent. Isaac had revived +enough for a time to be able to conduct the worship in the church, +and to instruct some his flock; but the teaching of the young had +been more and more transferred to her, and, as he ingenuously said, +had taught her more than she ever knew before. He gradually became +weaker through more suffering, and was absolutely incapable of +removal, when an attack by the Guisards was threatened. Eustacie +might have been sent back to Quinet; but she would not hear of +leaving him; and this first had been a mere slight attack, as if a +mere experiment on the strength of the place. She had, however, +then had to take the lead in controlling the women, and teaching +them to act as nurses, and to carry out provisions; and she must +then have been seen by some one, who reported her presence there to +Narcisse--perhaps by the Italian pedlar. Indeed Humfrey, who came +in for a moment to receive his master's orders, report his watch, +and greet his lady, narrated, on the authority of the lately +enlisted men-at-arms, that M. de Nid de Merle had promised twenty +crowns to any one who might shoot down the heretics' little white +_diablesse_. + +About six weeks had elapsed since the first attack on Pont de +Dronne, and in that time Gardon had sunk rapidly. He died as he +lived, a gentle, patient man, not a characteristic Calvinist, +though his lot had been thrown with that party in his perplexed +life of truth-seeking and disappointment in the aspirations and +hopes of early youth. He had been, however, full of peace and +trust that he should open his eyes where the light was clear, and +no cloud on either side would mar his perception; and his +thankfulness had been great for the blessing that his almost +heaven-sent daughter had been to him in his loneliness, +bereavement, and decay. Much as he loved her, he did not show +himself grieved or distressed on her account; but, as he told her, +he took the summons to leave her as a sign that his task was done, +and the term of her trials ended. 'I trust as fully,' he said, +'that thou wilt soon be in safe and loving hands, as though I could +commit thee to them.' + +And so he died in her arms, leaving her a far fuller measure of +blessing and of love than ever she had derived from her own father; +and as the enemy's trumpets were already sounding on the hills, she +had feared insult to his remains, and had procured his almost +immediate burial in the cloister, bidding the assistants sing, as +his farewell, that evening psalm which had first brought soothing +to her hunted spirit. + +There, while unable, after hours of weeping, to tear herself from +the grave of her father and protector, had she in her utter +desolation been startled by the summons, not only to attend to the +wounded stranger, but to lodge him in the chancel. 'Only this was +wanting,' was the first thought in her desolation, for this had +been her own most cherished resort. Either the _bise_, or fear of +a haunted spot, or both, had led to the nailing up of boards over +the dividing screen, so that the chancel was entirely concealed +from the church; and no one ever thought of setting foot there till +Eustacie, whose Catholic reverence was indestructible, even when +she was only half sure that it was not worse than a foible, had +stolen down thither, grieved at its utter desolation, and with fond +and careful hands had cleansed it, and amended the ruin so far as +she might. She had no other place where she was sure of being +uninterrupted; and here had been her oratory, where she daily +prayed, and often came to hide her tears and rally her spirits +through that long attendance on her fatherly friend. It had been a +stolen pleasure. Her reverent work there, if once observed, would +have been treated as rank idolatry; and it was with consternation +as well as grief that she found, by the Captain's command, that +this her sanctuary and refuge was to be invaded by strange +soldiers! Little did she think---! + +And thus they sat, telling each other all, on the step of the +ruined chancel, among the lights and shadows of the apse. How +unlike to stately Louvre's halls of statuary and cabinets of +porcelain, or the Arcadian groves of Montpipeau! And yet how little +they recked that they were in a beleaguered fortress, in the midst +of ruins, wounded sufferers all around, themselves in hourly +jeopardy. It was enough that they had one another. They were so +supremely happy that their minds unconsciously gathered up those +pale lights and dark fantastic shades as adjuncts of their bliss. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. LE BAISER D'EUSTACIE + + + +No pitying voice, no eye, affords +One tear to grace his obsequies.--GRAY + + +Golden sunshine made rubies and sapphires of the fragments of glass +in the windows of Notre-Dame de l'Esperance, and lighted up the +brown face and earnest eyes of the little dark figure, who, with +hands clasped round her knees, sat gazing as if she could never +gaze her fill, upon the sleeping warrior beside whom she sat, his +clear straight profile like a cameo, both in chiseling and in +colour, as it lay on the brown cloak where he slept the profound +sleep of content and of fatigue. + +Neither she nor Philip would have spoken or stirred to break that +well-earned rest; but sounds from without were not long in opening +his eyes, and as they met her intent gaze, he smiled and said, +'Good morrow, sweet heart! What, learning how ugly a fellow is +come back to thee?' + +'No, indeed! I was trying to trace thine old likeness, and then +wondering how I ever liked thy boyish face better than the noble +look thou bearest now!' + +'Ah! when I set out to come to thee, I was a walking rainbow; yet I +was coxcomb enough to think thou wouldst overlook it.' + +'Show me those cruel strokes,' she said; 'I see one'--and her +finger traced the seam as poor King Charles had done--'but where is +the one my wicked cousin called by that frightful name?' + +'Nay, verily, that sweet name spared my life! A little less spite +at my peach cheek, and I had been sped, and had not lisped and +stammered all my days in honour of _le baiser d'Eustacie_!' and as +he pushed aside his long golden silk moustache to show the +ineffaceable red and purple scar, he added, smiling, 'It has waited +long for its right remedy.' + +At that moment the door in the rood-screen opened. Captain +Falconnet's one eye stared in amazement, and from beneath his gray +moustache thundered forth the word 'Comment!' in accents fit to +wake the dead. + +Was this Esperance, the most irreproachable of pastor's daughters +and widows? 'What, Madame, so soon as your good father is under +ground? At least I thought ONE woman could be trusted; but it +seems we must see to the wounded ourselves.' + +She blushed, but stood her ground; and Berenger shouted, 'She is my +wife, sir!--my wife whom I have sought so long!' + +'That must be as Madame la Duchesse chooses,' said the Captain. +'She is under her charge, and must be sent to her as soon as this +_canaille_ is cleared off. To your rooms, Madame!' + +'I am her husband!' again cried Berenger. 'We have been married +sixteen years.' + +'You need not talk to me of dowry; Madame la Duchesse will settle +that, if you are fool enough to mean anything by it. No, no, +Mademoiselle, I've no time for folly. Come with me, sir, and see +if that be true which they say of the rogues outside.' + +And putting his arm into Berenger's, he fairly carried him off, +discoursing by the way on _feu_ M. l'Amiral's saying that 'over- +strictness in camp was perilous, since a young saint, an old +devil,' but warning him that this was prohibited gear, as he was +responsible for the young woman to Madame la Duchesse. Berenger, +who had never made the Captain hear anything that he did not know +before, looked about for some interpreter whose voice might be more +effectual, but found himself being conducted to the spiral stair of +the church steeple; and suddenly gathering that some new feature in +the case had arisen, followed the old man eagerly up the winding +steps to the little square of leaden roof where the Quinet banner +was planted. It commanded a wide and splendid view, to the Bay of +Biscay on the one hand, and the inland mountains on the other; but +the warder who already stood there pointed silently to the north, +where, on the road by which Berenger had come, was to be seen a +cloud of dust, gilded by the rays of the rising sun. + +Who raised it was a matter of no doubt; and Berenger's morning +orisons were paid with folded hands, in silent thanks-giving, as he +watched the sparkling of pikes and gleaming of helmets--and the +white flag of Bourbon at length became visible. + +Already the enemy below were sending out scouts--they rode to the +top of the hill--then a messenger swan his horse across the river. +In the camp before the bridge-tower men buzzed out of their tents, +like ants whose hill is disturbed; horses were fastened to the +cannon, tents were struck, and it was plain that the siege was to +be raised. + +Captain Falconnet did his ally the honour to consult him on the +expedience of molesting the Guisards by a sally, and trying to take +some of their guns; but Berenger merely bowed to whatever he said, +while he debated aloud the PROS and CONS, and at last decided that +the garrison had been too much reduced for this, and that M. le Duc +would prefer finding them drawn up in good order to receive him, to +their going chasing and plundering disreputable among the enemy-- +the Duke being here evidently a much greater personage than the +King of Navarre, hereditary Governor of Guyenne though he were. +Indeed, nothing was wanting to the confusion of Berenger's late +assailants. In the camp on the north side of the river, things +were done with some order; but that on the other side was +absolutely abandoned, and crowds were making in disorder for the +ford, leaving everything behind them, that they might not have +their retreat cut off. Would there be a battle? Falconnet, taking +in with his eye the numbers of the succouring party, thought the +Duke would allow the besiegers to depart unmolested, but remembered +with a sigh that young king had come to meddle in their affair! + +However, it was needful to go down and marshal the men for the +reception of the new-comers, or to join in the fight, as the case +might be. + +And it was a peaceful entrance that took place some hours later, +and was watched from the windows of the prior's rooms by Eustacie, +her child, and Philip, whom she had been able to install in her own +apartments, which had been vacated by the refugee women in haste to +return home, and where he now sat in Maitre Gardon's great straw +chair, wrapped in his loose gown, and looking out at the northern +gates, thrown open to receive the King and Duke, old Falconnet +presenting the keys to the Duke, the Duke bowing low as he offered +them to the King, and the King waving them back to the Duke and the +Captain. Then they saw Falconnet presenting the tall auxiliary who +had been so valuable to him, his gesture as he pointed up to the +window, and the King's upward look, as he doffed his hat and bowed +low, while Eustacie responded with the most graceful of reverences, +such as reminded Philip that his little sister-in-law and tender +nurse was in truth a great court lady. + +Presently Berenger came up-stairs, bringing with him his faithful +foster-brother Osbert, who, though looking gaunt and lean, had +nearly recovered his strength, and had accompanied the army in +hopes of finding his master. The good fellow was full of delight +at the welcome of his lady, and at once bestirred himself in +assisting her in rectifying the confusion in which her guests had +left her apartment. + +Matters had not long been set straight when steps were heard on the +stone stair, and, the door opening wide, Captain Falconnet's gruff +voice was heard, 'This way, Monseigneur; this way, Sire.' + +This was Madame la Baronne de Ribaumont's first reception. She was +standing at the dark walnut table, fresh starching and crimping +Berenger's solitary ruff, while under her merry superintendence +those constant playfellows, Philip and Rayonette, were washing, or +pretending to wash, radishes in a large wooden bowl, and Berenger +was endeavouring to write his letter of good tidings, to be sent by +special messenger to his grand-father. Philip was in something +very like a Geneva gown; Eustacie wore her prim white cap and +frill, and coarse black serge kirtle; and there was but one chair +besides that one which Philip was desired to retain, only two +three-legged stools and a bench. + +Nevertheless, Madame de Ribaumont was equal to the occasion; +nothing could have been more courtly, graceful, or unembarrassed +than her manner of receiving of King's gallant compliments, and of +performing all the courtesies suited to the hostess and queen of +the place: it was the air that would have befitted the stateliest +castle hall, yet that in its simplicity and brightness still more +embellished the old ruinous convent-cell. The King was delighted, +he sat down upon one of the three-legged stools, took Rayonette +upon his knee, undertook to finish washing the radishes, but ate +nearly all he washed, declaring that they put him in mind of his +old hardy days on the mountains of Bearn. He insisted on hearing +all Rayonette's adventure in detail; and on seeing the pearls and +the silver bullet, 'You could scarcely have needed the token, sir,' +said he with a smile to Berenger; 'Mademoiselle had already shown +herself of the true blood of the bravest of knights.' + +The tidings of the attack on Pont de Dronne had caused the Duke to +make a forced march to its relief, in which the King had insisted +on joining him; and they now intended to wait at Pont de Dronne +till the rest of the troops came up, and to continue their march +through Guyenne to Nerac, the capital of Henry's county of Foix. +The Duke suggested that if Philip were well enough to move when the +army proceeded, the family might then take him to Quinet, where the +Duchess would be very desirous to see Madame; and therewith they +took leave with some good-humoured mirth as to whether M. le +Ribaumont would join them at supper, or remain in the bosom of his +family, and whether he were to be regarded as a gay bridegroom or a +husband of sixteen year's standing. + +'Nay,' said the King, 'did his good Orpheus know how nearly his +Eurydice had slipped through his fingers again? how M. de Quinet +had caught the respectable Pluto yonder in the gray moustache +actually arranging an escort to send the lady safe back to Quinet +_bon gre malgre_--and truly a deaf Pluto was worse than even +Orpheus had encountered!' + +So laughing, he bowed again his compliments; but Eustacie demanded, +so soon as he was gone, what he meant by calling her by such names. +If he thought it was her Christian name, it was over-familiar--if +not, she liked it less. + +'It is only that he last saw you in the Infernal Region, _ma mie_,' +said Berenger; 'and I have sought you ever since, as Orpheus sought +Eurydice.' + +But her learning did not extend so far; and when the explanation +was made, she pouted, and owned that she could not bear to be +reminded of the most foolish and uncomfortable scene in her life-- +the cause of all her troubles; and as Berenger was telling her of +Diane's confession that her being involved in the pageant was part +of the plot for their detention at Paris, Osbert knocked at the +door, and entered with a bundle in his arms, and the air of having +done the right thing. + +'There, sir,' he said with proud satisfaction, 'I have been to the +camp across the river. I heard there were good stuffs to be had +there for nothing, and thought I would see if I could find a coat +for Monsieur Philippe, for his own is a mere ruin.' + +This was true, for Eustacie had been deciding that between blood +and rents it had become a hopeless case for renovation; and Osbert +joyfully displayed a beautifully-embroidered coat of soft leather, +which he had purchased for a very small sum of a plunderer who had +been there before him. The camp had been so hastily abandoned that +all the luggage had been left, and, like a true valet, Osbert had +not neglected the opportunity of replenishing his master's +wardrobe. 'And,' said he, 'I saw there on whom M. le Baron knows, +--M. de Nid de Merle.' + +'Here!' cried Eustacie, startled for a moment, but her eyes resting +reassured on her husband. + +'Madame need not be alarmed,' said Osbert; 'M. le Baron has well +repaid him. Ah! ah! there he lies, a spectacle for all good +Christians to delight in.' + +'It was then he, _le scelerat_?' exclaimed Berenger; 'I have +already thought it possible.' + +'And he fell by your hands!' cried Eustacie. 'That is as it should +be.' + +'Yes, Madame,' said Osbert; 'it did my very heart good to see him +writhing there like a crushed viper. M. le Baron's bullet was +mortal, and his own people thought him not worth the moving, so +there he lies on the ground howling and cursing. I would have +given him the _coup de grace_ myself, but that I thought M. le +Baron might have some family matters to settle with him; so I only +asked what he thought now of clapping guiltless folk into dungeons, +and shooting innocent children like sparrows; but he grinned and +cursed like a demon, and I left him.' + +'In any one's charge?' asked Berenger. + +'In the field's, who is coming for him,' said the descendant of the +Norseman. 'I only told Humfrey that if he saw any one likely to +meddle he should tell them he was reserved for you. Eh! M. le +Baron is not going now. Supper is about to be served, and if M. le +Baron would let me array him with this ruff of Spanish point, and +wax the ends of his belle moustache---' + +'It is late,' added Eustacie, laying her hand on his arm; 'there +may be wild men about--he may be desperate! Oh, take care!' + +'_Ma mie_, do you not think me capable of guarding myself from a +wild cat leap of a dying man? He must not be left thus. Remember +he is a Ribaumont.' + +Vindictiveness and revenge had their part in the fire of Eustacie's +nature. Many a time had she longed to strangle Narcisse; and she +was on the point of saying, 'Think of his attempts on that little +one's life--think of your wounds and captivity;' but she had not +spent three years with Isaac Gardon without learning that there was +sin in giving way to her keen hatred; and she forced herself to +silence, while Berenger said, reading her face, 'Keep it back, +sweet heart! Make it not harder for me. I would as soon go near a +dying serpent, but it were barbarity to leave him as Osbert +describes.' + +Berenger was too supremely and triumphantly happy not to be full of +mercy; and as Osbert guided him to the hut where the miserable man +lay, he felt little but compassion. The scene was worse than he +had expected; for not only had the attendants fled, but plunderers +had come in their room, rent away the coverings from the bed, and +torn the dying man from it. Livid, nearly naked, covered with +blood, his fingers hacked, and ears torn for the sake of the jewels +on them, lay the dainty and effeminate tiger-fop of former days, +moaning and scarcely sensible. But when the mattress had been +replaced, and Berenger had lifted him back to it, laid a cloak over +him, and moistened his lips, he opened his eyes, but only to +exclaim, 'You there! As if I had not enough to mock me! Away!' and +closed them sullenly. + +'I would try to relieve you, cousin,' said Berenger. + +The answer was a savage malediction on hypocrisy, and the words, +'And my sister?' + +'Your sister is in all honour and purity at the nunnery of Lucon.' + +He laughed a horrible, incredulous laugh. 'Safely disposed of ere +you cajoled _la petite_ with the fable of your faithfulness! +Nothing like a Huguenot for lying to both sides;' and then ensued +another burst of imprecations on the delay that had prevented him +from seizing the fugitives--till be--till be felt as if the breath +of hell were upon him, and could not help vindicating himself, vain +though he knew it to be: 'Narcisse de Ribaumont,' he said gravely, +'my word has never been broken, and you know the keeping of it has +not been without cost. On that word believe that Madame de +Selinville is as spotless a matron as when she periled herself to +save my life. I never even knew her sex till I had drawn her half +drowned from the sea, and after that I only saw her in the presence +of Dom Colombeau of Nissard, in whose care I left her.' + +Narcisse's features contorted themselves into a frightful sneer as +he muttered, 'The intolerable fool; and that he should have got the +better of me, that is if it be true--and I believe not a word of +it.' + +'At least,' said Berenger, 'waste not these last hours on hating +and reviling me, but let this fellow of mine, who is a very fair +surgeon, bind your wound again.' + +'Eh!' said Narcisse, spitefully, turning his head, 'your own rogue? +Let me see what work he made of _le baiser d'Eustacie_. Pray, how +does it please her?' + +'She thanks Heaven that your chief care was to spoil my face.' + +'I hear she is a prime doctress; but of course you brought her not +hither lest she should hear HOW you got out of our keeping.' + +'She knows it.' + +'Ah! she has been long enough at court to know one must overlook, +that one's own little matters may be overlooked.' + +Berenger burst out at last, 'Her I will not hear blasphemed: the +next word against her I leave you to yourself.' + +'That is all I want,' said Narcisse. 'These cares of yours are +only _douceurs_ to your conceited heretical conscience, and a +lengthening out of this miserable affair. You would scoff at the +only real service you could render me.' + +'And that is---' + +'To fetch a priest. Ha! ha! one of your sort would sooner hang me. +You had rather see me perish body and soul in this Huguenot dog- +hole! What! do you stammer? Bring a psalm-singing heretic here, +and I'll teach him and you what you MAY call blasphemy.' + +'A priest you shall have, cousin,' said Berenger, gravely; 'I will +do my utmost to bring you one. Meanwhile, strive to bring yourself +into a state in which he may benefit you.' + +Berenger was resolved that the promise should be kept. He saw that +despair was hardening the wretched man's heart, and that the +possibility of fulfilling his Church's rites might lead him to +address himself to repentance; but the difficulties were great. +Osbert, the only Catholic at hand, was disposed to continue his +vengeance beyond the grave, and only at his master's express +command would even exercise his skill to endeavour to preserve life +till the confessor could be brought. Ordinary Huguenots would +regard the desire of Narcisse as a wicked superstition, and +Berenger could only hurry back to consult some of the gentlemen who +might be supposed more unprejudiced. + +As he was crossing the quadrangle at full speed, he almost ran +against the King of Navarre, who was pacing up and down reading +letters, and who replied to his hasty apologies by saying he looked +as if the fair Eurydice had slipped through his hands again into +the Inferno. + +'Not so, Sire, but there is one too near those gates. Nid de Merle +is lying at the point of death, calling for a priest.' + +'_Ventre Saint-Gris_!' exclaimed the King, 'he is the very demon of +the piece, who carved your face, stole your wife, and had nearly +shot your daughter.' + +'The more need of his repentance, Sire, and without a priest he +will not try to repent. I have promised him one.' + +'A bold promise!' said Henry. 'Have you thought how our good +friends here are likely to receive a priest of Baal into the camp?' + +'No, Sire, but my best must be done. I pray you counsel me.' + +Henry laughed at the simple confidence of the request, but replied, +'The readiest way to obtain a priest will be to ride with a flag of +truce to the enemy's camp--they are at St. Esme--and say that M. de +Nid de Merle is a prisoner and dying, and that I offer safe-conduct +to any priest that will come to him--though whether a red-hot +Calvinist will respect my safe-conduct or your escort is another +matter.' + +'At least, Sire, you sanction my making this request?' + +'Have you men enough to take with you to guard you from marauders?' + +'I have but two servants, Sire, and I have left them with the +wounded man.' + +'Then I will send with you half a dozen Gascons, who have been long +enough at Paris with me to have no scruples.' + +By the time Berenger had explained matters to his wife and brother, +and snatched a hasty meal, a party of gay, soldierly-looking +fellows were in the saddle, commanded by a bronzed sergeant who was +perfectly at home in conducting messages between contending +parties. After a dark ride of about five miles, the camp at the +village of St. Esme was reached, and this person recommended that +he himself should go forward with a trumpet, since M. de Ribaumont +was liable to be claimed as an escaped prisoner. There was then a +tedious delay, but at length the soldier returned, and another +horseman with him. A priest who had come to the camp in search of +M. de Nid de Merle was willing to trust himself to the King of +Navarre's safe-conduct. + +'Thanks, sir,' cried Berenger; 'this is a work of true charity.' + +'I think I know that voice,' said the priest. + +'The priest of Nissard!' + +'Even so, sir. I was seeking M. de Nid de Merle, and had but just +learnt that he had been left behind wounded.' + +'You came to tell him of his sister?' + +And as they rode together the priest related to Berenger that M. de +Solivet had remained in the same crushed, humiliated mood, not +exactly penitent, but too much disappointed and overpowered with +shame to heed what became of her provided she were not taken back +to her brother or her aunt. She knew that repentance alone was +left for her, and permitted herself to be taken to Lucon, where +Mere Monique was the only person whom she had ever respected. +There had no doubt been germs of good within her, but the crime and +intrigue of the siren court of Catherine de Medicis had choked +them; and the first sense of better things had been awakened by the +frank simplicity of the young cousin, while, nevertheless, jealousy +and family tactics had led her to aid in his destruction, only to +learn through her remorse how much she loved him. And when in his +captivity she thought him in her power, but found him beyond her +reach, unhallowed as was her passion, yet still the contemplation +of the virtues of one beloved could not fail to raise her standard. +It was for his truth and purity that she had loved him, even while +striving to degrade these quantities; and when he came forth from +her ordeal unscathed, her worship of him might for a time be more +intense, but when the idol was removed, the excellence she had +first learnt to adore in him might yet lead that adoration up to +the source of all excellence. All she sought NOW was shelter +wherein to weep and cower unseen; but the priest believed that her +tears would soon spring from profound depths of penitence such as +often concluded the lives of the gay ladies of France. Mere +Monique had received her tenderly, and the good priest had gone +from Lucon to announce her fate to her aunt and brother. + +At Bellaise he had found the Abbess much scandalized. She had +connived at her niece's releasing the prisoner, for she had +acquired too much regard for him to let him perish under Narcisse's +hands, and she had allowed Veronique to personate Diane at the +funeral mass, and also purposely detained Narcisse to prevent the +detection of the escape; but the discovery that her niece had +accompanied his flight had filled her with shame and furry. + +Pursuit had been made towards La Rochelle, but when the +neighbourhood of the King of Navarre became known, no doubt was +entertained that the fugitives had joined him, and Narcisse, +reserving his vengeance for the family honour till he should +encounter Berenger, had hotly resumed the intention of pouncing on +Eustacie at Pont de Dronne, which had been decided on upon the +report of the Italian spy, and only deferred by his father's death. +This once done, Berenger's own supposed infidelity would have +forced him to acquiesce in the annulment of the original marriage. + +It had been a horrible gulf, and Berenger shuddered as one who had +barely struggled to the shore, and found his dear ones safe, and +his enemies shattered and helpless on the strand. They hurried on +so as to be in time. The priest, a brave and cautious man, who had +often before carried the rites of the Church to dying men in the +midst of the enemy, was in a secular dress, and when Berenger had +given the password, and obtained admittance they separated, and +only met again to cross the bridge. They found Osbert and Humfrey +on guard, saying that the sufferer still lingered, occasionally in +a terrible paroxysm of bodily anguish, but usually silent, except +when he upbraided Osbert with his master's breach of promise or +incapacity to bring a priest through his Huguenot friends. + +Such a taunt was on his tongue when Pere Colombeau entered, and +checked the scoff by saying, 'See, my son, you have met with more +pardon and mercy even on earth than you had imagined possible.' + +There was a strange spasm on Narcisse's ghastly face, as though he +almost regretted the obligation forced on him, but Berenger +scarcely saw him again. It was needful for the security of the +priest and the tranquillity of the religious rites that he should +keep watch outside, lest any of the more fanatical of the Huguenots +should deem it their duty to break in on what they had worked +themselves into believing offensive idolatry. + +His watch did not prove uncalled for. At different times he had to +plead the King's safe-conduct, and his own honour, and even to +defend his own Protestantism by appealing to his wounds and +services. Hearts were not soft enough then for the cruelty of +disturbing a dying man to be any argument at all in that fierce +camp; but even there the name of Pere Colombeau met with respect. +The saintly priest had protected too many enemies for any one who +had heard of him to wish him ill. + +Nearly all night was Berenger thus forced to remain on guard, that +the sole hope of Narcisse's repentance and salvation might not be +swept away by violence from without, renewing bitterness within. +Not till towards morning was he called back. The hard, lingering +death struggle had spent itself, and slow convulsive gasps showed +that life was nearly gone; but the satanic sneer had passed away, +and a hand held out, a breathing like the word 'pardon' seemed to +be half uttered, and was answered from the bottom of Berenger's +kind and pitying heart. Another quarter of an hour, and Narcisse +de Ribaumont Nid de Merle was dead. The priest looked pale, +exhausted, shocked, but would reveal nothing of the frame of mind +he had shown, only that if he had been touched by any saving +penitence, it was owing to his kinsman. + +Berenger wished to send the corpse to rest in the family vault at +Bellaise, where the Chevalier had so lately been laid; and the +priest undertook to send persons with a flag of truce to provide +for the transport, as well as to announce the death to the sister +and the aunt. Wearied as he was, he would not accept Berenger's +earnest invitation to come and take rest and refreshment in the +prior's rooms, but took leave of him at the further side of the +fortress, with almost reverent blessings, as to one not far from +the kingdom of heaven; and Berenger, with infinite peacefulness in +his heart, went home in the silence of the Sunday morning, and lay +sleeping away his long fatigue through the chief part of the day, +while Pastor Merlin was preaching and eloquent sermon upon his good +brother Isaac Gardon, and Eustacie shed filial tears, more of +tenderness than sorrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. THE GALIMAFRE + + + +Speats and raxes, speats and raxes, speat and raxes + Lord Somerville's billet + + +Never wont to let the grass grow under his feet, Henry of Navarre +was impatient of awaiting his troops at Pont de Dronne, and +proposed to hasten on to Quinet, as a convenient centre for +collecting the neighbouring gentry for conference. Thus, early on +Monday, a party of about thirty set forth on horseback, including +the Ribaumonts, Rayonette being perched by turns in front of her +father or mother, and the Duke de Quinet declaring that he should +do his best to divide the journey into stages not too long for +Philip, since he was anxious to give his mother plenty of time to +make preparations for her royal guest. + +He had, however, little reckoned on the young King's promptitude. +The first courier he had dispatched was overtaken at a _cabaret_ +only five leagues from Pont de Dronne, baiting his horse, as he +said; the second was found on the road with a lame horse; and the +halt a day's journey remained beyond it. The last stage had been +ridden, much to the Duke's discontent, for it brought them to a +mere village inn, with scarcely any accommodation. The only +tolerable bed was resigned by the King to the use of Philip, whose +looks spoke the exhaustion of which his tongue scorned to complain. +So painful and feverish a night ensued that Eustacie was anxious +that he should not move until the Duke should, as he promised, send +a mule litter back for him; but this proposal he resented; and in +the height of his constitutional obstinacy, appeared booted and +spurred at the first signal to mount. + +Nor could Eustacie, as she soon perceived, annoy him more than by +showing her solicitude for him, or attracting to him the notice of +the other cavaliers. As the only lady of the party, she received a +great deal of attention, with some of which she would gladly have +dispensed. Whether it were the King's habit of calling her 'la +Belle Eurydice_,' or because, as she said, he was '_si laid_' and +reminded her of old unhappy days of constraint, she did not like +him, and had almost displeased her husband and his brother by +saying so. She would gladly have avoided the gallantries of this +day's ride by remaining with Philip at the inn; but not only was +this impossible, but the peculiar ill-temper of concealed suffering +made Philip drive her off whenever she approached him with +inquiries; so that she was forced to leave him to his brother and +Osbert, and ride forward between the King and the Duke, the last of +whom she really liked. + +Welcome was the sight of the grand old chateau, its mighty wings of +chestnut forest stretching up the hills on either side, and the +stately avenue extending before it; but just then the last courier +was discovered, reeling in his saddle under the effects of repeated +toasts in honour of Navarre and Quinet. + +'We are fairly sped,' said the Duke to Eustacie, shrugging his +shoulders between amusement and dismay. + +'Madame la Duchesse is equal to any _galimafre_,' said Eustacie, +demurely; at which the Duke laughed heartily, saying, 'It is not +for the family credit I fear, but for my own!' + +'Nay, triumph makes everything be forgiven.' + +'But not forgotten,' laughed the Duke. 'But, _allons_. Now for +the onset. We are already seen. The forces muster at the +gateway.' + +By the time the cavalcade were at the great paved archway into the +court, the Duchess stood at the great door, a grandson on either +side, and a great burly fresh-coloured gentleman behind her. + +M. de Quinet was off his horse in a second, his head bare, his hand +on the royal rein, and signing to his eldest son to hold the +stirrup; but, before the boy had comprehended, Henry had sprung +down, and was kissing the old lady's hand, saying, 'Pardon, Madame! +I trust to your goodness for excusing this surprise from an old +friend's son.' + +Neither seeing nor caring for king or prince, the stranger +gentleman at the same moment pounced upon Eustacie and her little +girl, crying aloud in English, 'Here she is! My dear, I am glad to +see you. Give her to me, poor Berenger's little darling. Ah! she +does not understand. Where's Merrycourt?' + +Just then there was another English exclamation, 'My father! +Father! dear father!' and Philip, flinging himself from the saddle, +fell almost prone on that broad breast, sobbing convulsively, while +the eyes that, as he truly boasted, had never wasted a tear on his +enemies, were streaming so fast that his father's welcome savoured +of reproof: 'What's all this? Before these French too.' + +'Take care, father,' cried Berenger, leaping from his horse; 'he +has an ugly wound just where you are holding him.' + +'Wounded! my poor boy. Look up.' + +'Where is your room, sir?' said Berenger, seeing his hosts entirely +occupied with the King; and at once lifting the almost helpless +Philip like a little child in his strong arms, he followed Sir +Marmaduke, who, as if walking in his sleep, led the way up the +great stone staircase that led outside the house to the upper +chambers. + +After a short interval, the Duchess, in the plenitude of her glory +at entertaining her dear Queen's son, came up _en grande tenue_, +leading the King by the hand, the Duke walking backwards in front, +and his two sons each holding a big wax candle on either side. + +'Here, Sire, is the chamber where the excellent Queen did me the +honour to repose herself.' + +The Duke swung open the door of the state bed-chamber. There on +the velvet-hung bed sat _le gros Chevalier Anglais_, whom she had +herself installed there on Saturday. Both his hands were held fast +in those of a youth who lay beside him, deadly pale, and half +undressed, with the little Ribaumont attending to a wound in his +side, while her child was held in the arms of a very tall, bald- +headed young man, who stood at the foot of the bed. The whole +group of interlopers looked perfectly glorified with happiness and +delight. Even the wounded youth, ghastly and suffering as he was, +lay stroking the big Englishman's hand with a languid, caressing +air of content, almost like that of a dog who has found his master. +None of them were the least embarrassed, they evidently thought +this a visit of inquiry after the patient; and while the Duchess +stood confounded, and the Duke much inclined to laugh, Eustacie +turned eagerly, exclaiming, 'Ah! Madame, I am glad you are come. +May I beg Mademoiselle Perrot for some of your cooling mallow +salve. Riding has sadly inflamed the wound.' + +'Riding--with such a wound! Are we all crazed?' said Madame la +Duchesse, absolutely bewildered out of her dignified equanimity: +and her son, seeing her for once at a loss, came to her rescue. +'His Grace will condescend to the Andromeda Chamber, Madame. He +kindly gave up his bed to our young friend last night, when there +was less choice than you can give him.' + +They all moved off again; and, before Eustacie was ready for the +mallows, Madame de Quinet, for whom the very name of a wound had an +attraction, returned with two hand-maidens bearing bandages and +medicaments, having by this time come to the perception that the +wounded youth was the son of the big Englishman who had arrived +with young Mericour in search of her little _protegee_, and that +the tall man was the husband so long supposed to be dead. She was +curious to see her pupil's surgery, of which she highly approved, +though she had no words to express her indignation at the folly of +traveling so soon. Indeed, nothing but the passiveness of fatigue +could have made her despotism endurable to Philip; but he cared for +nothing so long as he could see his father's face, and hear his +voice--the full tones that his ear had yearned for among the sharp +expression of the French accent--and Sir Marmaduke seemed to find +the same perfect satisfaction in the sight of him; indeed, all were +so rejoiced to be together, that they scarcely exerted themselves +to ask questions. When Berenger would have made some explanation, +Sir Marmaduke only said, 'Tell me not yet, my dear boy. I see it +is all right, and my head will hold no more yet but that I have you +and the lad again! Thank God for it! Never mind how.' + +When, however, with some difficulty they got him away from Philip's +bedside down to supper, the King came and made him high compliments +upon the distinguished bravery of his sons, and Mericour +interpreted, till Sir Marmaduke--though answering that of course +the lads must do their duty, and he was only glad to hear they had +done it--became more and more radiant and proud, as he began to +gather what their trials and what their steadfastness and courage +had been. His goodly face, beaming with honest gladness, was, as +Henry told the Duchess, an absolute ornament to her table. + +Unable, however, to converse with any one but Berenger and +Mericour, and pining all the time to get back to his son, the +lengthy and ceremonious meal was a weary penance to him; and so +soon as his release was possible, he made his way up-stairs again, +where he found Philip much refreshed by a long sleep, and only +afraid that he should find the sight of his father merely a dream; +then, when satisfied on that head, eager to hear of all at home-- +'the sisters, the dogs, my mother, and my little brother?' as he +arranged his inquiry. + +'Ha! you heard of that, did you?' + +'Yes,' said Philip, 'the villains gave us letters once--only once-- +and those what they thought would sting us most. O father, how +could you all think such foul shame of Berry?' + +'Don't speak of it, Phil; I never did, nor Aunt Cecily, not for a +moment; but my Lord is not the man he was, and those foes of yours +must have set abroad vile reports for the very purpose of deceiving +us. And then this child must needs be born, poor little rogue. I +shall be able to take to him now all is right again; but by St. +George, they have tormented me so about him, and wanted me to take +him as a providence to join the estates together, instead of you +and Berry, that I never thought to care so little for a child of my +own.' + +'We drank his health at Nid de Merle, and were not a little +comforted that you would have him in our place.' + +'I'd rather--- Well, it skills not talking of it, but it just shows +the way of women. After all the outcry Dame Annora had made about +her poor son, and no one loving him or heeding his interest save +herself, no sooner was this little fellow born than she had no +thought for any but he, and would fain have had her father settle +all his lands on him, protesting that if Berry lived, his French +lands were enough for him. Out of sight, out of mind, is the way +with women.' + +Womanhood was already made accountable for all Lady Thistlewood's +follies, and Philip acquiesced, asking further, 'Nay, but how came +you hither, father? Was it to seek us or Eustacie?' + +'Both, both, my lad. One morning just after Christmas, I rid over +to Combe with my dame behind me, and found the house in commotion +with a letter that young Sidney, Berry's friend, had just sent down +by special messenger. It had been writ more than a year, but, +bless you, these poor foreigners have such crooked ears and tongues +that they don't know what to make of a plain man's name, and the +only wonder was that it ever came at all. It seems the Duke here +had to get it sent over by some of the secret agents the French +Protestants have in England, and what do they do but send it to one +of the Vivians in Cornwall; and it was handed about among them for +how long I cannot say, till there was a chance of sending it up to +my Lord of Warwick; and he, being able to make nothing if it, shows +it to his nephew, Philip Sidney, who, perceiving at once whom it +concerned, sends it straight to my Lord, with a handsome letter +hoping that it brought good tidings. There then it was, and so we +first knew that the poor lady had not been lost in the sack of the +town, as Master Hobbs told us. She told us how this Duchess had +taken her under her protection, but that her enemies were seeking +her, and had even attempted her child's life.' + +'The ruffians! Even so.' + +'And she said her old pastor was failing in health, and prayed that +some trusty person might be sent to bring home at least the child +to safety with her kindred. There was a letter to the same effect, +praising her highly too, from the Duchess, saying that she would do +her best to guard her, but the kinsmen had the law on their side, +and she would be safer in England. Well, this was fair good news, +save that we marveled the more how you and Berry should have missed +her; but the matter now was who was the trusty person who should +go. Claude Merrycourt was ready---' + +'How came he there?' demanded Philip. 'I thought he had gone, or +been sent off with Lady Burnet's sons.' + +'Why, so he had; but there's more to say on that score. He was so +much in favour at Combe, that my Lord would not be denied his +spending the holiday times there; and, besides, last summer we had +a mighty coil. The Horners of Mells made me a rare good offer for +Lucy for their eldest son, chiefly because they wanted a wife for +him of my Lady Walwyn's and Mistress Cecily's breeding; and my wife +was all for accepting it, having by that time given up all hope of +poor Berry. But I would have no commands laid on my girl, seeing +that I had pledged my word not to cross her in the matter, and she +hung about my neck and prayed me so meekly to leave her unwedded, +that I must have been made of stone not to yield to her. So I told +Mr. Horner that his son Jack must wait for little Nancy if he +wanted a daughter of mine--and the stripling is young enough. I +believe he will. But women's tongues are not easy to stop, and +Lucy was worn so thin, and had tears in her eyes--that she thought +I never marked--whenever she was fretted or flouted, and at last I +took her back to stay at Combe for Aunt Cecily to cheer up a bit; +and--well, well, to get rid of the matter and silence Dame Nan, I +consented to a betrothal between her and Merrycourt--since she +vowed she would rather wait single for him than wed any one else. +He is a good youth, and is working himself to a shadow between +studying and teaching; but as to sending him alone to bring Berry's +wife back, he was over-young for that. No one could do that fitly +save myself, and I only wish I had gone three years ago, to keep +you two foolish lads out of harm's way. But they set up an +unheard-of hubbub, and made sure I should lose myself. What are +you laughing at, you Jacksauce?' + +'To think of you starting, father, with not a word of French, and +never from home further than once to London.' + +'Ah! you thought to come the traveled gentleman over me, but I've +been even with you. I made Dame Nan teach me a few words, but I +never could remember anything but that "mercy" is "thank ye." +However, Merrycourt offered to come with me, and my Lord wished it. +Moreover, I thought he might aid in tracing you out. So I saw my +Lord alone, and he passed his word to me that, come what would, no +one should persuade him to alter his will to do wrong to Berenger's +daughter; and so soon as Master Hobbs could get the THROSTLE +unladen, and fitted out again, we sailed for Bordeau, and there he +is waiting for us, while Clause and I bought horses and hired a +guide, and made our way here on Saturday, where we were very +welcome; and the Duchess said she would but wait till she could +learn there were no bands of the enemy at hand, to go down with me +herself to the place where she had sent the lady. A right worthy +dame is this same Duchess, and a stately; and that young King, as +they call him, seems hard to please, for he told Berry that his +wife's courtliness and ease in his reception were far above aught +that he found here. What he means is past a plain man, for as to +Berry's wife she is handy, and notable enough, and 'tis well he +loves her so well; but what a little brown thing it is, for a man +to have gone through such risks for. Nothing to look at beside his +mother!' + +'If you could only see Madame de Selinville!' sighed Philip; then-- +'Ah! sir, you would know the worth of Eustacie had you seen her in +yonder town.' + +'Very like!' said Sir Marmaduke; 'but after all our fears at home +of a fine court madam, it takes one aback to see a little homely +brown thing, clad like a serving wench. Well, Dame Nan will not be +displeased, she always said the girl would grow up no beauty, and +'tis the way of women to brook none fairer than themselves! Better +so. She is a good Protestant, and has done rarely by you, Phil.' + +'Truly, I might be glad 'twas no court madam that stood by me when +Berry was called back to the fight: and for the little one, 'tis +the loveliest and bravest little maid I ever saw. Have they told +you of the marigolds, father?' + +'Why, the King told the whole to the Duchess, so Berry said, and +then drank the health of the daughter of the bravest of knights; +and Berry held her up in his arms to bow again, and drink to them +from his glass. Berry looked a proud man, I can tell you, and a +comely, spite of his baldness; and 'tis worth having come here to +see how much you lads are thought of--though to be sure 'tis not +often the poor creatures here see so much of an Englishman as we +have made of Berry.' + +Philip could not but laugh. ''Tis scarce for that that they value +him, sir.' + +'Say you so? Nay, methinks his English heart and yours did them +good service. Indeed, the King himself told me as much by the +mouth of Merrycourt. May that youngster's head only not be turned! +Why, they set him at table above Berenger, and above half the +King's gentlemen. Even the Duchess makes as if he were one of her +highest guests--he a poor Oxford scholar, doubting if he can get +his bread by the law, and flouted as though he were not good enough +for my daughter. 'Tis the world topsy turvy, sure enough! And +that this true love that Berenger has run through fire and water +after, like a knight in a pedlar's run through turn out a mere +little, brown, common-looking woman after all, not one whit equal +to Lucy!' + +Sir Marmaduke modified his disappointment a little that night, when +he had talked Philip into a state of feverishness and suffering +that became worse under Madame de Quinet's reproofs and remedies, +and only yielded to Eustacie's long and patient soothing. He then +could almost have owned that it was well she was not like his own +cherished type of womanhood, and the next day he changed his +opinion still more, even as to her appearance. + +There was a great gathering of favourers of the Huguenot cause on +that day; gentlemen came from all parts to consult with Henry of +Navarre, and Madame de Quinet had too much sense of the fitness of +things to allow Madame de Ribaumont to appear at the ensuing +banquet in her shabby, rusty black serge, and tight white +borderless cap. The whole wardrobe of the poor young Duchess de +Quinet was placed at her service, and though, with the thought of +her adopted father on her heart, she refused gay colours, yet when, +her toilette complete, she said into Philip's room, he almost +sprang up in delight, and Sir Marmaduke rose and ceremoniously +bowed as to a stranger, and was only undeceived when little +Rayonette ran joyously to Philip, asking if _Manan_ was not _si +belle, si belle_. + +The effects of her unrestful nights has now passed away, and left +her magnificent eyes in their full brilliancy and arch fire; the +blooming glow was restored to her cheek; and though neck, brow, and +hands were browner than in the shelter of convent or palace, she +was far more near absolute beauty than in former days, both from +countenance and from age. Her little proud head was clustered with +glossy locks of jet, still short, but curling round her brow and +neck, whose warm brunette tints contrasted well with the delicate, +stiffened cobweb of her exquisite standing ruff, which was gathered +into a white satin bodice, with a skirt of the same material, over +which swept a rich black brocade train open in front, with an open +body and half-sleeves with falling lace, and the hands, delicate +and shapely as ever, if indeed a little tanned, held fan and +handkerchief with as much courtly grace as though they had never +stirred broth nor wrung out linen. Sir Marmaduke really feared he +had the court madam on his hands after all, but he forgot all about +his fears, as she stood laughing and talking, and by her pretty +airs and gestures, smiles and signs, making him enter into her +mirth with Philip, almost as well as if she had not spoken French. + +Even Berenger started, when he came up after the counsel to fetch +her to the banqueting-hall. She was more entirely the Eustacie of +the Louvre than he had ever realized seeing her, and yet so much +more; and when the Duchess beheld the sensation she produced among +the _noblesse_, it was with self-congratulation in having kept her +in retirement while it was still not known that she was not a +widow. The King of Navarre had already found her the only lady +present possessed of the peculiar aroma of high-breeding which +belonged to the society in which both he and she had been most at +home, and his attentions were more than she liked from one whose +epithet of Eurydice she had never quite forgiven; at least, that +was the only reason she could assign for her distaste, but the +Duchess understood her better than did Berenger, nay, better than +she did herself, and kept her under the maternal wings of double +form and ceremony. + +Berenger, meanwhile, was in great favour. A command had been +offered him by the King of Navarre, who had promised that if he +would cast in his lot with the Huguenots, his claims on all the +lands of Ribaumont should be enforced on the King of France when +terms were wrung from him, and Narcisse's death removed all valid +obstacle to their recognition; but Berenger felt himself bound by +all home duties to return to England, nor had he clear convictions +as to the absolute right of the war in which he had almost +unconsciously drawn his sword. Under the Tudors the divine right +of kings was strongly believed in, and it was with many genuine +misgivings that the cause of Protestant revolt was favoured by +Elisabeth and her ministers; and Berenger, bred up in a strong +sense of loyalty, as well as in doctrines that, as he had received +them, savoured as little of Calvinism as of Romanism, was not ready +to espouse the Huguenot cause with all his heart; and as he could +by no means have fought on the side of King Henry III. or of the +Guises, felt thankful that the knot could be cut by renouncing +France altogether, according to the arrangement which had been +defeated by the Chevalier's own supper-subtle machinations. + +At the conference of gentlemen held at Quinet, he had been startled +by hearing the name of the Sieur de Bellaise, and had identified +him with a grave, thin, noble-looking man, with an air of high-bred +and patient poverty. He was a Catholic but no Guisard, and +supported the middle policy of the Montmorency party, so far as he +possessed any influence; but his was only the weight of personal +character, for he had merely a small property that had descended to +him through his grandmother, the wife of the unfortunate Bellaise +who had pined to death in the dungeon at Loches, under Louis XI. +Here, then, Berenger saw the right means of riding himself and his +family of the burthen that his father had mourned over, and it only +remained to convince Eustacie. Her first feeling when she heard of +the King's offer, was that at last her ardent wish would be +gratified, she should see her husband at the head of her vassals, +and hear the war-cry motto '_A moi Ribaumont_.' Then came the old +representation that the Vendeen peasants were faithful Catholics +who could hardly be asked to fight on the Calvinist side. The old +spirit rose in a flush, a pout, a half-uttered query why those +creatures should be allowed their opinions. Madame la Baronne was +resuming her haughty temperament in the _noblesse_ atmosphere; but +in the midst came the remembrance of having made that very speech +in her Temple ruin--of the grave sad look of rebuke and shake of +the head with which the good old minister had received it--and how +she had sulked at him till forced to throw herself on him to hinder +her separation from her child. She burst into tears, and as +Berenger, in some distress, began to assure her that he would and +could do nothing without her consent, she struggled to recover +voice to say, 'No! no! I only grieve that I am still as wicked as +ever, after these three years with that saint, my dear father. Do +as you will, only pardon me, the little fierce one!' + +And then, when she was made to perceive that her husband would have +to fight alone, and could not take her with him to share his +triumphs or bind his wounds, at least not except by bringing her in +contact with Henry of Navarre and that atmosphere of the old court, +she acquiesced the more readily. She was a woman who could feel +but not reason; and, though she loved Nid de Merle, and had been +proud of it, Berenger's description of the ill-used Sieur de +Bellaise had the more effect on her, because she well remembered +the traditions whispered among the peasants with whom her childhood +had been passed, that the village crones declared nothing had gone +well with the place since the Bellaise had been expelled, with a +piteous tale of the broken-hearted lady, that she had never till +now understood. + +For the flagrant injustice perpetrated on her uncle and cousin in +the settlement on Berenger and herself she cared little, thinking +they had pretty well repaid themselves, and not entering into +Berenger's deeper view, that this injustice was the more to be +deplored as the occasion of their guilt; but she had no doubt or +question as to the grand stroke of yielding up her claims on the +estate to the Sieur de Bellaise. The generosity of the deed struck +her imagination, and if Berenger would not lead her vassals to +battle, she did not want them. There was no difficulty with Sir +Marmaduke; he only vowed that he liked Berenger's wife all the +better for being free of so many yards of French dirt tacked to her +petticoat, and Philip hated the remembrance of those red sugar-loaf +pinnacles far too much not to wish his brother to be rid of them. + +M. de Bellaise, when once he understood that restitution was +intended, astonished Sir Marmaduke by launching himself on +Berenger's neck with tears of joy; and Henry of Navarre, though +sorry to lose such a partisan as the young Baron, allowed that the +Bellaise claims, being those of a Catholic, might serve to keep out +some far more dangerous person whom the court party might select in +opposition to an outlaw and a Protestant like M. de Ribaumont. + +'So you leave us,' he said in private to Berenger, to whom he had +taken a great liking. 'I cannot blame you for not casting your lot +into such a witch's caldron as this poor country. My friends think +I dallied at court like Rinaldo in Armida's garden. They do not +understand that when one hears the name of Bourbon one does not +willingly make war with the Crown, still less that the good Calvin +left a doctrine bitter to the taste and tough of digestion. Maybe, +since I have been forced to add my spoon to stir the caldron, it +may clear itself; if so, you will remember that you have rights in +Normandy and Picardy.' + +This was the royal farewell. Henry and his suite departed the next +morning, but the Duchess insisted on retaining her other guests +till Philip's cure should be complete. Meantime, Claude de +Mericour had written to his brother and arranged a meeting with +him. He was now no boy who could be coerced, but a staid, self- +reliant, scholarly person, with a sword by his side and an English +passport to secure him, and his brother did not regard him as quite +the disgrace to his family he had at first deemed him. He was at +least no rebel; and though the law seemed to French eyes infinitely +beneath the dignity of a scion of nobility, still it was something +not to have him a heretic preacher, and to be able at least to +speak of him as betrothed to the sister of the Baron de Ribaumont. +Moreover, that Huguenot kinsman, whose extreme Calvinist opinions +had so nearly revolted Mericour, had died and left him all his +means, as the only Protestant in the family; and the amount, when +Claude arranged matters with his brother, proved to be sufficient +to bear him through his expenses handsomely as a student, with the +hope of marriage so soon as he should have kept his terms at the +Temple. + +And thus the good ship THROSTLE bore home the whole happy party to +Weymouth, and good Sir Marmaduke had an unceasing cause for +exultation in the brilliant success of his mission to France. + +After all, the first to revisit that country was no other than the +once homesick Philip. He wearied of inaction, and thought his +county neighbours ineffably dull and lubberly, while they blamed +him for being a fine, Frenchified gentleman, even while finding no +fault with their old friend Berenger, or that notable little, +lively, housewifely lady his wife, whose broken English and bright +simplicity charmed every one. Sorely Philip needed something to +do; he might have been a gentleman pensioner, but he had no notion, +he said, of loitering after a lady to boat and hunt, when such a +king as Henry of Navarre was in the field; and he agreed with +Eustacie in her estimate of the court, that it was horribly dull, +and wanting in all the sparkle and brilliancy that even he had +perceived at Paris. + +Eustacie gladly retreated to housewifery at Combe Walwyn, but a +strenuous endeavour on Lady Thistlewood's part to marry her stepson +to a Dorset king's daughter, together with the tidings of the +renewed war in France, spurred Philip into writing permission from +his father to join the King of Navarre as a volunteer. + +Years went by, and Philip was only heard of in occasional letters, +accompanied by presents to his sisters and to little Rayonette, and +telling of marches, exploits, and battles,--how he had taken a +standard of the League at Coutras, and how he had led a charge of +pikemen at Ivry, for which he received the thanks of Henry IV. +But, though so near home, he did not set foot on English ground +till the throne of France was secured to the hero of Navarre, and +he had marched into Paris in guise very unlike the manner he had +left it. + +Then home he came, a bronzed gallant-looking warrior, the pride of +the county, ready for repose and for aid to his father in his +hearty old age, and bearing with him a pressing invitation from the +King to Monsieur and Madame de Ribaumont to resume their rank at +court. Berenger, who had for many years only known himself as Lord +Walwyn, shook his head. 'I thank the King,' he said, 'but I am +better content to breed up my children as wholly English. He bade +me to return when he should have stirred the witch's caldron into +clearness. Alas! all he has done is to make brilliant colours +shine on the vapour thereof. Nay, Phil; I know your ardent love +for him, and marvel not at it. Before he joined the Catholic +Church I trusted that he might have given truth to the one party, +and unity to the other; but when the clergy accepted him with all +his private vices, and he surrendered unconditionally, I lost hope. +I fear there is worse in store. Queen Catherine did her most fatal +work of evil when she corrupted Henry of Navarre.' + +'If you say more, Berry, I shall be ready to challenge you!' said +Philip. 'When you saw him, you little knew the true king of souls +that he is, is greatness, or his love for his country.' + +'Nay, I believe it; but tell me, Philip, did you not hint that you +had been among former friends--at Lucon, you said, I think?' + +Philip's face changed. 'Yes; it was for that I wished to see you +alone. My troop had to occupy the place. I had to visit the +convent to arrange for quartering my men so as least to scandalize +the sisters. The Abbess came to speak to me. I knew her only by +her eyes! She is changed--aged, wan, thin with their discipline +and fasts--but she once or twice smiled as she alone in old times +could smile. The place rings with her devotion, her charity, her +penances, and truly her face is'--he could hardly speak--'like that +of a saint. She knew me at once, asked for you all, and bade me +tell you that NOW she prays for you and yours continually, and +blesses you for having opened to her the way of peace. Ah! Berry, +I always told you she had not her equal.' + +'Think you so even now?' + +'How should I not, when I have seen what repentance has made of +her?' + +'So!' said Berenger, rather sorrowfully, 'our great Protestant +champion has still left his heart behind in a French convent.' + +'Stay, Berenger! do you remember yonder villain conjurer's +prediction that I should wed none but a lady whose cognizance was +the leopard?' + +'And you seem bent on accomplishing it,' said Berenger. + +'Nay, but in another manner--that which you devised on the spur of +the moment. Berenger, I knew the sorcerer spake sooth when that +little moonbeam child of yours brought me the flowers from the +rampart. I had speech with her last night. She has all the fair +loveliness that belongs of right to your mother's grandchild, but +her eye, blue as it is, has the Ribaumont spirit; the turn of the +head and the smile are what I loved long ago in yonder lady, and, +above all, she is her own sweet self. Berenger, give me your +daughter Berangere, and I ask no portion with her but the silver +bullet. Keep the pearls for your son's heirloom; all I ask with +Rayonette is the silver bullet.' + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Chaplet of Pearls, by Charlotte M Yonge + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS *** + +This file should be named chplt10.txt or chplt10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, chplt11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, chplt10a.txt + +Prepared by Hanh Vu, capriccio_vn@yahoo.com. +A web page for Charlotte M Yonge will be found at www.menorot.com/cmyonge.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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