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+Project Gutenberg's An Enemy To The King, by Robert Neilson Stephens
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+Title: An Enemy To The King
+
+Author: Robert Neilson Stephens
+
+Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9965]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 5, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ASCII
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ENEMY TO THE KING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
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+
+                          AN ENEMY TO THE KING
+
+     From the recently discovered memoirs of the Sieur de la Tournoire
+
+                       By Robert Neilson Stephens
+
+Author of "The Continental Dragoon," "The Road to Paris," "Philip
+Winwood," etc.
+
+                                  1897
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+I.     TWO ENCOUNTERS BY NIGHT
+II.    LOVE-MAKING AT SHORT ACQUAINTANCE
+III.   THE STRANGE REQUEST OF MLLE. D'ARENCY
+IV.    HOW LA TOURNOIRE WAS ENLIGHTENED IN THE DARK
+V.     HOW LA TOURNOIRE ESCAPED FROM PARIS
+VI.    HOW HE FLED SOUTHWARD
+VII.   HOW HE ANNOYED MONSIEUR DE LA CHATRE
+VIII.  A SWEET LADY IN DISTRESS
+IX.    THE FOUR RASCALS
+X.     A DISAPPEARANCE
+XI.    HOW THE HERO GAVE HIS WORD AND KEPT IT
+XII.   AT THE CHATEAU OF MAURY
+XIII.  HOW DE BERQUIN INVITED DEATH
+XIV.   "GOD GRANT I DO NOT FIND YOU FALSE"
+XV.    TO CLOCHONNE, AFTER MADEMOISELLE!
+XVI.   BEHIND THE CURTAINS
+XVII.  SWORD AND DAGGER
+XVIII. THE RIDE TOWARDS GUIENNE
+
+
+
+
+AN ENEMY TO THE KING
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+TWO ENCOUNTERS BY NIGHT
+
+
+Hitherto I have written with the sword, after the fashion of greater men,
+and requiring no secretary. I now take up the quill to set forth,
+correctly, certain incidents which, having been noised about, stand in
+danger of being inaccurately reported by some imitator of Brantome and De
+l'Estoile. If all the world is to know of this matter, let it know
+thereof rightly.
+
+It was early in January, in the year 1578, that I first set out for
+Paris. My mother had died when I was twelve years old, and my father had
+followed her a year later. It was his last wish that I, his only child,
+should remain at the chateau, in Anjou, continuing my studies until the
+end of my twenty-first year. He had chosen that I should learn manners as
+best I could at home, not as page in some great household or as gentleman
+in the retinue of some high personage. "A De Launay shall have no master
+but God and the King," he said. Reverently I had fulfilled his
+injunctions, holding my young impulses in leash. I passed the time in
+sword practice with our old steward, Michel, who had followed my father
+in the wars under Coligny, in hunting in our little patch of woods,
+reading the Latin authors in the flowery garden of the chateau, or in my
+favorite chamber,--that one at the top of the new tower which had been
+built in the reign of Henri II. to replace the original black tower from
+which the earliest De Launay of note got the title of Sieur de la
+Tournoire. All this while I was holding in curb my impatient desires. So
+almost resistless are the forces that impel the young heart, that there
+must have been a hard struggle within me had I had to wait even a month
+longer for the birthday which finally set me free to go what ways I
+chose. I rose early on that cold but sunlit January day, mad with
+eagerness to be off and away into the great world that at last lay open
+to me. Poor old Michel was sad that I had decided to go alone. But the
+only servant whom I would have taken with me was the only one to whom I
+would entrust the house of my fathers in my absence,--old Michel himself.
+I thought the others too rustic. My few tenants would have made awkward
+lackeys in peace, sorry soldiers in war.
+
+Michel had my portmanteau fastened on my horse, which had been brought
+out into the courtyard, and then he stood by me while I took my last
+breakfast in La Tournoire; and, in my haste to be off, I would have
+eaten little had he not pressed much upon me, reminding me how many
+leagues I would have to ride before meeting a good inn on the Paris
+road. He was sad, poor old Michel, at my going, and yet he partook of
+some of my own eagerness. At last I had forced down my unwilling throat
+food enough to satisfy even old Michel's solicitude. He girded on me the
+finest of the swords that my father had left, placed over my violet
+velvet doublet the new cloak I had bought for the occasion, handed me my
+new hat with its showy plumes, and stood aside for me to pass out. In
+the pocket of my red breeches was a purse holding enough golden crowns
+to ease my path for some time to come. I cast one last look around the
+old hall and, trying to check the rapidity of my breath, and the rising
+of the lump in my throat, strode out to the court-yard, breathed the
+fresh air with a new ecstasy, mounted the steaming horse, gave Michel my
+hand for a moment, and, purposely avoiding meeting his eyes, spoke a
+last kind word to the old man. After acknowledging the farewells of the
+other servants, who stood in line trying to look joyous, I started my
+horse with a little jerk of the rein, and was borne swiftly through the
+porte, over the bridge, and out into the world. Behind me was the home
+of my fathers and my childhood; before me was Paris. It was a fine,
+bracing winter morning, and I was twenty-one. A good horse was under me,
+a sword was at my side, there was money in my pocket. Will I ever feel
+again as I did that morning?
+
+Some have stupidly wondered why, being a Huguenot born and bred, I did
+not, when free to leave La Tournoire, go at once to offer my sword to
+Henri of Navarre or to some other leader of our party. This is easily
+answered. If I was a Huguenot, I was also a man of twenty-one; and the
+latter much more than the former. Paris was the centre of the world.
+There was the court, there were the adventures to be had, there must one
+go to see the whole of life; there would I meet men and make conquests of
+women. There awaited me the pleasures of which I had known only by
+report, there the advancement, the triumphs in personal quarrels; and,
+above all else, the great love affair of my dreams. Who that is a man and
+twenty-one has not such dreams? And who that is a man and seventy would
+have been without them? Youth and folly go together, each sweetening the
+other. The greatest fool, I think, is he who would have gone through life
+entirely without folly. What then mattered religion to me? Or what
+mattered the rivalry of parties, except as they might serve my own
+personal ambitions and desires? Youth was ebullient in me. The longing to
+penetrate the unknown made inaction intolerable to me. I must rush into
+the whirlpool; I must be in the very midst of things; I longed for
+gaiety, for mystery, for contest; I must sing, drink, fight, make love.
+It is true that there would have been some outlet for my energies in camp
+life, but no gratification for my finer tastes, no luxury, no such
+pleasures as Paris afforded,--little diversity, no elating sense of being
+at the core of events, no opportunities for love-making. In Paris were
+the pretty women. The last circumstance alone would have decided me.
+
+I had reached twenty-one without having been deeply in love. I had, of
+course, had transient periods of inclination towards more than one of the
+demoiselles in the neighborhood of La Tournoire; but these demoiselles
+had rapidly become insipid to me. As I grew older, I found it less easy
+to be attracted by young ladies whom I had known from childhood up. I had
+none the less the desire to be in love; but the woman whom I should love
+must be new to me, a mystery, something to fathom and yet unfathomable.
+She must be a world, inexhaustible, always retaining the charm of the
+partly unknown. I had high aspirations. No pretty maid, however low in
+station, was unworthy a kiss and some flattery; but the real _affaire
+d'amour_ of my life must have no elements but magnificent ones. She must
+be some great lady of the court, and our passion must be attended by
+circumstances of mystery, danger, everything to complicate it and raise
+it to an epic height. Such was the amour I had determined to find in
+Paris. Remember, you who read this, that I am disclosing the inmost
+dreams of a man of twenty-one. Such dreams are appropriate to that age;
+it is only when they are associated with middle age that they become
+ridiculous; and when thoughts of amatory conquest are found in common
+with gray hairs, they are loathsome. If I seem to have given my mind
+largely up to fancies of love, consider that I was then at the age when
+such fancies rather adorn than deface. Indeed, a young man without
+thoughts of love is as much an anomaly as is an older man who gives
+himself up to them.
+
+I looked back once at La Tournoire, when I reached the top of the hill
+that would, in another minute, shut it from my view. I saw old Michel
+standing at the porte. I waved my hand to him, and turned to proceed on
+my way. Soon the lump in my throat melted away, the moisture left my
+eyes, and only the future concerned me. Every object that came into
+sight, every tree along the roadside, now interested me. I passed several
+travellers, some of whom seemed to envy me my indifference to the cold
+weather, my look of joyous content.
+
+About noon I overtook, just where the road left a wood and turned to
+cross a bridge, a small cavalcade consisting of an erect, handsome
+gentleman of middle age, and several armed lackeys. The gentleman wore a
+black velvet doublet, and his attire, from his snowy ruff to his black
+boots, was in the best condition. He had a frank, manly countenance that
+invited address. At the turn of the road he saw me, and, taking me in at
+a glance, he fell behind his lackeys that I might come up to him. He
+greeted me courteously, and after he had spoken of the weather and the
+promise of the sky, he mentioned, incidentally, that he was going to
+Paris. I told him my own destination, and we came to talking of the
+court. I perceived, from his remarks, that he was well acquainted there.
+There was some talk of the quarrels between the King's favorites and
+those of his brother, the Duke of Anjou; of the latter's sulkiness over
+his treatment at the hands of the King; of the probabilities for and
+against Anjou's leaving Paris and putting himself at the head of the
+malcontent and Huguenot parties; of the friendship between Anjou and his
+sister Marguerite, who remained at the Court of France while her husband,
+Henri of Navarre, held his mimic Huguenot court in Bearn. Presently, the
+name of the Duke of Guise came up.
+
+Now we Huguenots held, and still hold, Henri de Guise to have been a
+chief instigator of the event of St. Bartholomew's Night, in 1572.
+Always I had in my mind the picture of Coligny, under whom my father had
+fought, lying dead in his own courtyard, in the Rue de Bethizy, his
+murder done under the direction of that same Henri, his body thrown from
+his window into the court at Henri's orders, and there spurned by
+Henri's foot. I had heard, too, of this illustrious duke's open
+continuance of his amour with Marguerite, queen of our leader, Henri of
+Navarre. When I spoke of him to the gentleman at whose side I rode, I
+put no restraint on my tongue.
+
+"The Duke of Guise!" I said. "All that I ever wish to say of him can
+be very quickly spoken. If, as you Catholics believe, God has an
+earthly representative in the Pope, then I think the devil has one in
+Henri de Guise."
+
+The gentleman was quiet for a moment, and looked very sober. Then he
+said gravely:
+
+"All men have their faults, monsieur. The difference between men is that
+some have no virtues to compensate for their vices."
+
+"If Henri de Guise has any virtues," I replied, "he wears a mask over
+them; and he conceals them more effectually than he hides his
+predilection for assassination, his amours, and his design to rule France
+through the Holy League of which he is the real head."
+
+The gentleman turned very red, and darted at me a glance of anger. Then
+restraining himself, he answered in a very low tone:
+
+"Monsieur, the subject can be discussed by us in only one way, or not
+at all. You are young, and it would be too pitiful for you to be cut
+off before you have even seen Paris. Doubtless, you are impatient to
+arrive there. It would be well, then, if you rode on a little faster.
+It is my intention to proceed at a much slower pace than will be
+agreeable to you."
+
+And he reined in his horse.
+
+I reined in mine likewise. I was boiling with wrath at his superior tone,
+and his consideration for my youth, but I imitated his coolness as well
+as I could.
+
+"Monsieur," said I, "whether or not I ever see Paris is not a matter to
+concern you. I cannot allow you to consider my youth. You wish to be
+obliging; then consider that nothing in the world would be a greater
+favor to me than an opportunity to maintain with my sword my opinion of
+Henri de Guise."
+
+The man smiled gently, and replied without passion:
+
+"Then, as we certainly are not going to fight, let my refusal be, not on
+account of your youth, but on account of my necessity of reaching Paris
+without accident."
+
+His horse stood still. His lackeys also had stopped their horses, which
+stood pawing and snorting at a respectful distance. It was an awkward
+moment for me. I could not stand there trying to persuade a perfectly
+serene man to fight. So with an abrupt pull of the rein I started my
+horse, mechanically applied the spur, and galloped off. A few minutes
+later I was out of sight of this singularly self-controlled gentleman,
+who resented my description of the Duke of Guise. I was annoyed for some
+time to think that he had had the better of the occurrence; and I gave
+myself up for an hour to the unprofitable occupation of mentally
+reenacting the scene in a manner more creditable to myself.
+
+"I may meet him in Paris some day," I said to myself, "and find an
+occasion to right myself in his estimation. He shall not let my youth
+intercede for me again."
+
+Then I wished that I had learned his name, that I might, on reaching
+Paris, have found out more about him. Having in his suite no gentlemen,
+but several lackeys, he was, doubtless, not himself an important
+personage, but a follower of one. Not wishing to meet him again until
+circumstances should have changed, I passed the next inn to which I came,
+guessing that he would stop there. He must have done so, for he did not
+come up with me that day, or at any time during my journey.
+
+It was at sunset on a clear, cold evening that, without further
+adventure, I rode into Paris through the Porte St. Michel, and stared,
+as I proceeded along the Rue de la Harpe, at the crowds of people
+hurrying in either direction in each of the narrow, crooked streets,
+each person so absorbed in his own errand, and so used to the throng and
+the noise, that he paid no heed to the animation that so interested and
+stirred me. The rays of the setting sun lighted up the towers of the
+colleges and abbeys at my right, while those at my left stood black
+against the purple and yellow sky. I rode on and on, not wishing to stop
+at an inn until I should have seen more of the panorama that so charmed
+me. At last I reached the left bank of the Seine, and saw before me the
+little Isle of the City, the sunlit towers of Notre Dame rising above
+the wilderness of turrets and spires surrounding them. I crossed the
+Pont St. Michel, stopping for a moment to look westward towards the Tour
+de Nesle, and then eastward to the Tournelle, thus covering, in two
+glances, the river bank of the University through which I had just come.
+Emerging from the bridge, I followed the Rue de la Barillerie across the
+Isle of the City, finding everywhere the same bustle, the same coming
+and going of citizens, priests, students, and beggars, all alert, yet
+not to be surprised by any spectacle that might arise before them.
+Reaching the right arm of the Seine, I stopped again, this time on the
+Pont-au-Change, and embraced, in a sweeping look from left to right, the
+river bank of the town, the Paris of the court and the palaces, of the
+markets and of trade, the Paris in which I hoped to find a splendid
+future, the Paris into which, after taking this comprehensive view from
+the towers of the Louvre and the Tour de Bois away leftward, to the Tour
+de Billy away right ward, I urged my horse with a jubilant heart. It was
+a quite dark Paris by the time I plunged into it. The Rue St. Denis,
+along which I rode, was beginning to be lighted here and there by stray
+rays from windows. The still narrower streets, that ran, like crooked
+corridors in a great chateau, from the large thoroughfare, seemed to be
+altogether dark.
+
+But, dark as the city had become, I had determined to explore some of it
+that night, so charming was its novelty, so inviting to me were its
+countless streets, leading to who knows what? I stopped at a large inn in
+the Rue St. Denis, saw my tired horse well cared for by an hostler, who
+seemed amazed at my rustic solicitude for details, had my portmanteau
+deposited in a clean, white-washed chamber, overlooking the street, ate a
+supper such as only a Paris innkeeper can serve and a ravenous youth from
+the country can devour, and went forth afoot, after curfew, into the now
+entirely dark and no longer crowded street, to find what might befall me.
+
+It had grown colder at nightfall, and I had to draw my cloak closely
+around me. A wind had come up, too, and the few people whom I met were
+walking with head thrust forward, the better to resist the breeze when it
+should oppose them. Some were attended by armed servants bearing
+lanterns. The sign-boards, that hung from the projecting stories of the
+tall houses, swung as the wind swayed, and there was a continual sound of
+creaking. Clouds had risen, and the moon was obscured much of the time,
+so that when I looked down some of the narrower streets I could not see
+whether they ended within a short distance, turned out of sight, or
+continued far in the same direction. Being accustomed to the country
+roads, the squares of smaller towns, and the wide avenues of the little
+park at La Tournoire, I was at first surprised at the narrowness of the
+streets. Across one of them lay a drunken man, peacefully snoring. His
+head touched the house on one side of the street, and his feet pressed
+the wall on the opposite side. It surprised me to find so many of the
+streets no wider than this. But there was more breathing room wherever
+two streets crossed and where several of them opened into some great
+place. The crookedness and curvature of the streets constantly tempted me
+to seek what might be beyond, around the corner, or the bend; and
+whenever I sought, I found still other corners or bends hiding the
+unknown, and luring me to investigate.
+
+I had started westward from the inn, intending to proceed towards the
+Louvre. But presently, having turned aside from one irregular street
+into another, I did not know what was the direction in which I went.
+The only noises that I heard were those caused by the wind, excepting
+when now and then came suddenly a burst of loud talk, mingled mirth and
+jangling, as quickly shut off, when the door of some cabaret opened and
+closed. When I heard footsteps on the uneven pebble pavement of the
+street, and saw approaching me out of the gloom some cloaked
+pedestrian, I mechanically gripped the handle of my sword, and kept a
+wary eye on the stranger,--knowing that in passing each other we must
+almost touch elbows. His own suspicious and cautious demeanor and
+motions reflected mine.
+
+At night, in the narrow streets of a great town, there exists in every
+footfall heard, every human figure seen emerging from the darkness, the
+possibility of an encounter, an adventure, something unexpected. So, to
+the night roamer, every human sound or sight has an unwonted interest.
+
+As I followed the turning of one of the narrowest streets, the darkness,
+some distance ahead of me, was suddenly cleft by a stream of light from a
+window that was quickly opened in the second story of a tall house on the
+right-hand side of the way. Then the window was darkened by the form of a
+man coming from the chamber within. At his appearance into view I stood
+still. Resting for a moment on his knees on the window-ledge, he lowered
+first one leg, then the other, then his body, and presently he was
+hanging by his hands over the street. Then the face of a woman appeared
+in the window, and as the man remained there, suspended, he looked up at
+her inquiringly.
+
+"It is well," she said, in a low tone; "but be quick. We are just in
+time." And she stood ready to close the window as soon as he should be
+out of the way.
+
+"Good night, adorable," he replied, and dropped to the street. The
+lady immediately closed the window, not even waiting to see how the
+man had alighted.
+
+Had she waited to see that, she would have seen him, in lurching over to
+prevent his sword from striking the ground, lose his balance on a
+detached paving-stone, and fall heavily on his right arm.
+
+"_Peste_!" he hissed, as he slowly scrambled to his feet. "I have
+broken my arm!"
+
+With his right arm hanging stiff by his side, and clutching its elbow
+with his left hand, as if in great pain, he hastened away from the spot,
+not having noticed me. I followed him.
+
+After a second turn, the street crossed another. In the middle of the
+open space at the junction, there stood a cross, as could be seen by the
+moonlight that now came through an interval in the procession of
+wind-driven clouds.
+
+Just as the man with the hurt arm, who was slender, and had a dandified
+walk, entered this open space, a gust of wind came into it with him; and
+there came, also, from the other street, a robust gentleman of medium
+height, holding his head high and walking briskly. Caught by the gust of
+wind, my gentleman from the second story window ran precipitantly into
+the other. The robust man was not sent backward an inch. He took the
+shock of meeting with the firmness of an unyielding wall, so that the
+slender gentleman rebounded. Each man uttered a brief oath, and grasped
+his sword, the slender one forgetting the condition of his arm.
+
+"Oh, it is you," said the robust man, in a virile voice, of which the
+tone was now purposely offensive. "The wind blows fragile articles into
+one's face to-night."
+
+"It blows gentlemen into muck-heaps," responded the other, quickly.
+
+The hearty gentleman gave a loud laugh, meant to aggravate the other's
+anger, and then said:
+
+"We do not need seconds, M. de Quelus," putting into his utterance of the
+other's name a world of insult.
+
+"Come on, then, M. Bussy d'Amboise," replied the other, pronouncing the
+name only that he might, in return, hiss out the final syllable as if it
+were the word for something filthy.
+
+Both whipped out their swords, M. de Quelus now seemingly unconscious of
+the pain in his arm.
+
+I looked on from the shadow in which I had stopped, not having followed
+De Quelus into the little open space. My interest in the encounter was
+naturally the greater for having learned the names of the antagonists. At
+La Tournoire I had heard enough of the court to know that the Marquis de
+Quelus was the chief of the King's effeminate chamberlains, whom he
+called his minions, and that Bussy d'Amboise was the most redoubtable of
+the rufflers attached to the King's discontented brother, the Duke of
+Anjou; and that between the dainty gentlemen of the King and the bullying
+swordsmen of the Duke, there was continual feud.
+
+Bussy d'Amboise, disdaining even to remove his cloak, of which he quickly
+gathered the end under his left arm, made two steps and a thrust at De
+Quelus. The latter made what parade he could for a moment, so that Bussy
+stepped back to try a feint. De Quelus, trying to raise his sword a
+trifle higher, uttered an ejaculation of pain, and then dropped the
+point. Bussy had already begun the motion of a lunge, which it was too
+late to arrest, even if he had discovered that the other's arm was
+injured and had disdained to profit by such an advantage. De Quelus would
+have been pierced through had not I leaped forward with drawn sword and,
+by a quick thrust, happened to strike Bussy's blade and make it diverge
+from its course.
+
+De Quelus jumped back on his side, as Bussy did on his. Both regarded me
+with astonishment.
+
+"Oh, ho, an ambush!" cried Bussy. "Then come on, all of you, messieurs of
+the daubed face and painted beard! I shall not even call my servants, who
+wait at the next corner."
+
+And he made a lunge at me, which I diverted by a parry made on instinct,
+not having had time to bring my mind to the direction of matters. Bussy
+then stood back on guard.
+
+"You lie," said De Quelus, vainly trying to find sufficient strength
+in his arm to lift his sword. "I was alone. My servants are as near
+as yours, yet I have not called. As for this gentleman, I never saw
+him before."
+
+"That is true," I said, keeping up my guard, while Bussy stood with his
+back to the cross, his brows knit in his effort to make out my features.
+
+"Oh, very well," said Bussy. "I do not recognize him, but he is evidently
+a gentleman in search of a quarrel, and I am disposed to be
+accommodating."
+
+He attacked me again, and I surprised myself, vastly, by being able to
+resist the onslaughts of this, the most formidable swordsman at the
+court of France. But I dared not hope for final victory. It did not even
+occur to me as possible that I might survive this fight. The best for
+which I hoped was that I might not be among the easiest victims of this
+famous sword.
+
+"Monsieur," said De Quelus, while Bussy and I kept it up, with offence
+on his part, defence on mine, "I am sorry that I cannot intervene to
+save your life. My arm has been hurt in a fall, and I cannot even hold
+up my sword."
+
+"I know that," I replied. "That is why I interfered."
+
+"The devil!" cried Bussy. "Much as I detest you, M. de Quelus, you know I
+would not have attacked you had I known that. But this gentleman, at
+least, has nothing the matter with his arm."
+
+And he came for me again.
+
+Nothing the matter with my arm! Actually a compliment upon my
+sword-handling from the most invincible fighter, whether in formal duel
+or sudden quarrel, in France! I liked the generosity which impelled him
+to acknowledge me a worthy antagonist, as much as I resented his
+overbearing insolence; and I began to think there was a chance for me.
+
+For the first time, I now assumed the offensive, and with such suddenness
+that Bussy fell back, out of sheer surprise. He had forgotten about the
+cross that stood in the centre of the place, and, in leaping backward, he
+struck this cross heavily with his sword wrist. His glove did not save
+him from being jarred and bruised; and, for a moment, he relaxed his firm
+grasp of his sword, and before he could renew his clutch I could have
+destroyed his guard and ended the matter; but I dropped my point instead.
+
+Bussy looked at me in amazement, and then dropped his.
+
+"Absurd, monsieur! You might very fairly have used your advantage.
+Now you have spoiled everything. We can't go on fighting, for I would
+not give you another such opening, nor would I kill a man who gives
+me my life."
+
+"As you will, monsieur," said I. "I am glad not to be killed, for what
+is the use of having fought Bussy d'Amboise if one may not live to
+boast of it?"
+
+He seemed pleased in his self-esteem, and sheathed his sword. "I am
+destined not to fight to-night," he answered. "One adversary turns out to
+have a damaged arm, which would make it a disgrace to kill him, and the
+other puts me under obligation for my life. But, M. de Quelus, your arm
+will recover."
+
+"I hope so, if for only one reason," replied Quelus.
+
+Bussy d'Amboise then bowed to me, and strode on his way. He was joined at
+the next crossing of streets by four lackeys, who had been waiting in
+shadow. All had swords and pistols, and one bore a lantern, which had
+been concealed beneath his cloak.
+
+De Quelus, having looked after him with an angry frown, now turned to me,
+and spoke with affability:
+
+"Monsieur, had you not observed the condition of my arm, I should have
+resented your aid. But as it is, I owe you my life no less than he owes
+you his, and it may be that I can do more than merely acknowledge the
+obligation."
+
+I saw here the opportunity for which a man might wait months, and I was
+not such a fool as to lose it through pride.
+
+"Monsieur," I said, "I am Ernanton de Launay, Sieur de la Tournoire. I
+arrived in Paris to-day, from Anjou, with the desire of enlisting in the
+French Guards."
+
+De Quelus smiled. "You desire very little for a gentleman, and one who
+can handle a sword so well."
+
+"I know that, but I do not bring any letters, and I am not one who could
+expect the favor of a court appointment. I am a Huguenot."
+
+"A Huguenot?" said De Quelus. "And yet you come to Paris?"
+
+"I prefer to serve the King of France. He is at present on good terms
+with the Huguenots, is he not?"
+
+"Yes,--at least, he is not at war with them. Well, gentlemen like you are
+not to be wasted, even though Huguenots. Attach yourself to Duret's
+company of the guards for the present, and who knows when you may win a
+vacant captaincy? I will bring you to the attention of the King. Can you
+be, to-morrow at eleven o'clock, at the principal gate of the Louvre?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Very well. I will speak to Captain Duret, also, about you."
+
+He looked at my active figure, neither tall nor short, neither broad nor
+too thin, observed the length of my arm, and remembered that I had made
+so respectable a showing with the sword against Bussy, I could see that
+he was thinking, "It is well to have in one's debt as many such strong
+and honest young gentlemen as can be had. Even a Huguenot may be useful
+in these days."
+
+Then, when so many leaders contended, every man was desirous of gaining
+partisans. At court, wise people were scrupulous to repay obligations, in
+the hope of securing future benefit. I divined De Quelus's motives, but
+was none the less willing to profit by them as to the possible vacant
+captaincy.
+
+"Then I thank you, monsieur, and will keep the appointment," I said.
+
+"You are alone," said De Quelus. "One does not know when one may have
+one's throat cut for a sou, after dark in the streets of Paris. Will you
+accept the escort of two of my servants? They are waiting for me in the
+next street. One does not, you know, let one's servants wait too near
+windows out of which one expects to drop," he added with a smile.
+
+"I thank you, monsieur, but I have already fared so well alone to-night,
+that I should fear to change my fortune by taking attendants."
+
+"Then good night, monsieur. No, thank you. I can sheathe my own sword. My
+arm has lost its numbness. _Parbleu_, I should like to meet Bussy
+d'Amboise now."
+
+And he strode away, leaving me standing by the cross.
+
+I hesitated between returning to the inn, and resuming my exploration of
+the streets. I decided to go back, lest I be shut out for the night.
+
+I had made my way some distance, in the labyrinth of streets, when, on
+reaching another junction of ways, I heard steps at some distance to the
+left. Looking in that direction, I saw approaching a little procession
+headed by two men servants, one of whom carried a lantern. I stepped back
+into the street from which I had just emerged, that I might remain
+unseen, until it should pass. Peering around the street corner, I saw
+that behind the two servants came a lady, whose form indicated youth and
+elegance, and who leaned on the arm of a stout woman, doubtless a
+servant. Behind these two came another pair of lackeys.
+
+The lady wore a mask, and although heavily cloaked, shivered in the
+January wind, and walked as rapidly as she could. The four men had swords
+and pistols, and were sturdy fellows, able to afford her good protection.
+
+The two men in advance passed without seeing me, stepping easily over a
+pool of muddy water that had collected in a depression in the street, and
+had not yet had time to freeze.
+
+When the lady reached this pool, she stopped at its brink and looked down
+at it, with a little motion of consternation.
+
+"I cannot step across this lake," she said, in a voice that was
+low-pitched, rich, and full of charm to the ear. "We must skirt
+its borders."
+
+And she turned to walk a short distance up the street in which I stood.
+
+"Not so, madame," I said, stepping forth and bowing. "The lake is a long
+one, and you would have to go far out of your way. I will convey you
+across in a moment, if you will allow me." And I held out my arms,
+indicating my willingness to lift her across the pool.
+
+The two servants in the rear now hastened up, ready to attack me, and
+those ahead turned and came back, their hands on their weapons.
+
+The lady looked at me through the eye-holes of her mask. Her lips and
+chin being visible, she could not conceal a quizzical smile that came
+at my offer.
+
+"Why not?" she said, motioning her servants back.
+
+I caught her up in my arms and lifted her over the puddle. She slid from
+my grasp with a slight laugh.
+
+I sought some pretext to prolong this meeting. "When I came out
+to-night," I said, "I dared not hope for such happiness as this."
+
+"Nor did the astrologer predict anything of the kind to me," she replied.
+From this I knew the cause of her being in the street so late,--a secret
+visit to some fortune-teller. Then she called to the stout woman, who was
+looking for a place to step over the pool. "Come, Isa, in the name of
+Heaven. You know that if the guard is changed--"
+
+She stopped, but she had already betrayed herself. She meant the guard of
+the palace, doubtless; and that her secret entrance, so long after the
+closing of the gates, depended for its ease on the presence of some
+officer with whom she had an understanding. She must be one of the ladies
+attached to the royal household, and her nocturnal excursion, from the
+Louvre, was evidently clandestine.
+
+Isa now joined her mistress, and the latter, with a mere, "I thank you,
+monsieur," turned and hastened on her way. Soon the footsteps of her
+attendants died out of hearing.
+
+I had not even seen her face, save the white, curved chin and the
+delicate mouth. I had only beheld her lithe figure, felt its heaving as I
+carried her, had my cold cheek warmed for a moment by her breath, heard
+her provoking laugh and her voice, rich with vitality. Yet her charm had
+caught me and remained with me. I could not, nor did I try to throw it
+off. I was possessed by a craving to see her again, to know more of her.
+Already I made this unknown the heroine of my prospective love affair. I
+could soon find her, after gaining the entree of the court; and I could
+identify her by her voice as well as by her probable recognition of me.
+Heaving a deep sigh, I left the place of our meeting and found my way
+back to the inn. Thanks to the presence of some late drinkers, I got in
+without much pounding on the door; and in my little white-washed chamber
+I dreamt of soft eyes that glowed through the holes of a lady's mask.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+LOVE-MAKING AT SHORT ACQUAINTANCE
+
+
+The next morning was bright, and not too cold. At eleven I approached the
+great gate of the Louvre, wearing the bold demeanor of a man determined
+not to be abashed, even by the presence of royalty. Yet within me there
+was some slight trepidation lest I should, on first setting foot within
+the precincts of a palace, betray my rustic bringing up.
+
+Others were being admitted at the gate, and some were coming out, both
+the King's council and the reception having been over for some time. A
+page, who had been waiting just inside the court, came out as I
+approached, and asked me if I were M. de Launay. Astonished, that he
+should have so easily picked me out, I replied that I was. He then said
+that he had come to conduct me to Monsieur the Marquis de Quelus, and I
+followed him into the great courtyard of the Louvre.
+
+Before me was the imposing facade of the palace. Around me was an
+animated scene of well-dressed gentlemen coming and going, meeting one
+another forming little groups for a moment's interchange of news or
+inquiries, and as quickly breaking up. There were soldiers on guard,
+officers on duty and off, courtiers in brilliant doublets, dazzling
+ruffs, rich hose; gentlemen with gay plumes, costly cloaks, jewelled
+sword-hilts. There were pages, strutting about with messages; lackeys,
+belonging only to the greatest nobles or royal favorites. Everybody,
+whether gentleman, soldier, household officer, priest, page, or valet,
+went with an air of great consequence, with head high in air, every
+step, expression, and attitude proclaiming a sense of vast superiority
+to the rest of the world. It was as if people attached to the court were
+an elevated race of beings; or as if the court were Olympus, and these
+were gods and the servitors of gods, who, very properly, regarded
+mortals with disdain. Each man, too, maintained not only this lofty air
+as befitting one of the court, but also an aspect of individual
+preciousness as towards his fellow divinities. There was, in many a face
+or bearing, an expressed resentment, in advance, of any affront that
+might be offered. The soldiers swaggered, the gentlemen showed
+self-esteem in every motion. Nevertheless, there was much good nature
+and courtesy in the salutations, fragments of conversation, and
+exchanges of gossip. Leaving the sunlit courtyard behind, the page
+showed me up a fine stairway, where some gentlemen tarried in little
+parties, while others ascended or descended. We passed through large
+galleries, the same animation continuing everywhere. I had no time, as
+we passed, to examine the superb hangings and fanciful decorations of
+the galleries in detail. The clothes of the courtiers, the brilliant
+display of velvet, silk, furs, and the finest linen, of every known hue,
+made a continually changing, moving panorama of color.
+
+We approached, at last, a group extraordinarily radiant in attire. It was
+composed of very young men, some of whom had hardly yet acquired the
+beard required by the universal fashion. Even at a distance I could see
+that their cheeks were painted, could note their affectation of feminine
+attitudes, could smell the perfumes with which they had deluged their
+bodies. These were some of the favorites of the King, and more of the
+imitators of the favorites. No wonder that Bussy d'Amboise and the sturdy
+gentlemen of the King's ungainly brother, Anjou, had a manly detestation
+for these bedaubed effeminates, and sought opportunities to extirpate
+them with the sword. Yet these dainty youths, one of whom was De Quelus,
+who now came forward to meet me, were not cowards.
+
+The young Marquis wore a slashed doublet of brown velvet and gold. His
+silken hose were of a lighter tint of brown. His ruff was so enormous
+that he had to keep the point of his beard thrust forward at an
+elevation.
+
+"I shall present you when the King passes," he said to me. "I have
+already spoken a word to Captain Duret, to whom you will report
+to-morrow. He will make a veteran of you in a quarter of an hour. The
+King, by the way, knows of your family. He knows every family in France,
+for that matter. I spoke of you to him at his rising this morning. He
+said that your father was a Huguenot, and I told him that you also were
+Protestant. You know enough of things in France to be aware that your
+Protestantism stands a little in your way at court, just now; but things
+may change before there is a vacant captaincy in the Guards."
+
+People who have thought it bad enough that I should have gone to Paris,
+instead of to the court of Henri of Navarre, have been astonished,
+beyond expression, at my having desired to serve in the King's infantry,
+which, in the event of another civil war, might be arrayed against the
+army of our faith. But it must be borne in mind that I had this desire
+at a time when none knew how the different armies might be placed
+towards one another in the civil war, which everybody admitted must, at
+some time or other, occur. I was one of the many who believed that the
+Duke of Guise, using the newly formed Holy League as his instrument,
+would aim for the throne of France; that King Henri III. would be
+forced, in self-defence, to make an alliance with the Huguenot leaders;
+and that, therefore, I, in fulfilling my ambition to be of this King's
+own soldiers, with quarters in or near Paris in time of peace, would, at
+the outbreak of civil war, find myself in line with the armies of our
+faith, opposed to the common enemy, the great Catholic Guise faction. Of
+the various predictions as to the future of France, I chose this one,
+perhaps because it was the only one which permitted me to follow out my
+wishes without outraging my sense of duty.
+
+Before I could answer De Quelus, a voice said, "The King!" At the end of
+the gallery, where two halberdiers and two ushers stood, a pair of
+curtains had quickly parted, and out came a slender young man all velvet,
+silk, gold, and jewels; with the legs and the walk of a woman; with face
+painted like a courtesan's; a very slight beard on his chin, and a weak
+growth of hair on his upper lip; with a look half brazen, half
+shamefaced; with eyes half wistful, half malicious; his pear-shaped face
+expressing some love of the beautiful, some wit, some cynicism, much
+personal vanity, vicious inclinations and practices, restlessness, the
+torture of secret self-reproach, a vague distress, a longing to escape
+somewhere and be at peace.
+
+He wore ear-rings, a necklace, bracelets, and a small jewelled velvet
+cap; but he was without his famous basket of little dogs. This was Henri
+III., and he was going to pray in one of the churches.
+
+As he came down the gallery, he noticed De Quelus, from afar, and then
+glanced at me. When he was before us, De Quelus made obeisance and
+presented me. Before I could finish my bow, the King said:
+
+"Ah, it was your sword that helped to preserve my chamberlain from the
+ambush laid for him?" (From which it appeared that De Quelus had given
+his own account of the previous night's occurrence.) "And you wish to
+enlist in my regiment of French Guards? My faith, I have done well in
+reestablishing that corps, if such brave young gentlemen are induced to
+enter it. I'll wager you hope to earn a commission soon."
+
+I could only reply: "Such a hope is beyond my deserts, sire."
+
+It was indeed beyond them, for I had seen no military service; but it was
+not beyond them for any other reason.
+
+"Nothing is beyond the deserts of one whose sword is always loyal," said
+the King, with intended significance, and passed on; his gentlemen
+falling in behind him. De Quelus gave me directions as to my reporting,
+on the morrow, to Captain Duret, and added, "Rely on me for any favor or
+privilege that you may wish, and for access to the palace. You have only
+to send me word." He then joined the following of the King.
+
+I seemed now at liberty to remain in the Louvre as long as I might
+choose, having once entered it. I thought I would look about, knowing
+that if at any time I should be about to trespass on forbidden ground,
+there would be guards to hinder me. I went first to a window overlooking
+the court. I had no sooner turned my eyes down upon the splendid and
+animated scene below, then I felt a touch on my elbow. Looking around, I
+saw a familiar face,--that of M. de Rilly, another Anjou gentleman, whom
+I had known before his coming to court. He was now one of the King's
+equerries.
+
+He was a sprightly man of about thirty, with none of the effeminacy that
+marked so many of the officers of the King's household. Though not of my
+religion, he made me heartily welcome, and undertook, at once, to
+initiate me into the mysteries of the court. He was a loquacious,
+open-minded man, who did not fear to express his thoughts, even in the
+shadow of royalty itself.
+
+Hearing some clatter in the direction whither the King had gone, I looked
+after him. A short, compact young gentleman, plainly, but richly dressed,
+slightly stooping, with a rather surly face, and an envious eye, was
+coming towards the King. He wore riding-boots and a cloak, and behind
+him came a troop of young men similarly attired. The foremost of them was
+Bussy d'Amboise, expressing defiance in every line of his bold, square
+countenance.
+
+"Ah," said De Rilly, "there is the Duke of Anjou, who has been riding in
+the faubourg."
+
+I took a second look at the surly gentleman. At this moment he exchanged
+glances with his brother, the King. The look of each was eloquent. The
+King's said, "I hate you for being a disloyal brother and a fractious
+subject; for conspiring to take away part of my kingdom; and who knows
+but that you are secretly aiming at my throne and my life?" The younger
+brother's look conveyed this much: "I hate you for your suspicions of me;
+for your not obtaining for me in your court the respect due the son and
+brother of a king; for encouraging your favorites to ridicule me. If I am
+driven to rebel against you, it is your own fault."
+
+The King received the Duke's perfunctory salutation indifferently, and
+passed on. Anjou and his men turned into a gallery leading to his own
+apartments.
+
+"I see that everybody is following the King," I said.
+
+"Yes, but not I," replied De Rilly. "I find it no more amusing to pray
+when the King does than at any other time. I came here, this morning, to
+catch a glimpse of one of the Queen's ladies, but her Majesty has a cold,
+and my lady is in attendance."
+
+"Which of the Queens has a cold?"
+
+"Queen Louise, the King's wife. It is true, one may well ask which, when
+there is mention of the Queen nowadays. The Queen of France is a small
+factor when compared with the King's mother, Queen Catherine, or even
+with his sister, the Queen of Navarre, whose name is on everyone's
+tongue, on account of her love affairs, and of her suspected plots."
+
+"What plots?"
+
+"Some think she plots with the Duke of Guise, who cannot wait to rule
+France until Catherine's sons are both dead,--but Catherine will make
+him wait. Others believe that she plots with her Huguenot husband, the
+King of Navarre, to join him; and that the King keeps her here virtually
+a prisoner, lest her departure might be taken as a concession to the
+Huguenots; and, lastly and chiefly, they aver that she plots with her
+brother Anjou, to help him to join the Huguenots and malcontents as
+their leader."
+
+"This is very interesting, M. de Rilly; but, pardon me, is it safe to say
+these things openly at court? I am fresh from the country, and anxious
+not to blunder."
+
+"It is safe for me, because I am nobody at all, and, moreover, I say
+whatever is in my thoughts, and am looked upon as a rattlebrain, and not
+taken seriously. But it would not be safe for some. There comes the Queen
+of Navarre now. She and her ladies have been walking in their garden."
+
+A number of ladies were entering the gallery from a side stairway.
+Marguerite de Valois, who ought to have been with her husband, the King
+of Navarre, at his little court at Nerac, remained instead at the court
+of France, to be its greatest ornament. She was, alas, its greatest
+scandal, also. But I admired her none the less for that, as she stood
+there, erect among her women, full of color and grace. Vast possibilities
+of mischief seemed buried in the depths of the big and brilliant eyes
+which gave so much life to the small, round face.
+
+While she stood still for one of her maids to detach from her ruff a
+dead leaf that had dropped there during her walk, Bussy d'Amboise
+returned from Anjou's apartment. He walked up to her with a conquering
+air, bowed, and said something that made her laugh. Then he looked
+around and saw me. He spoke to her again, in a low tone, and she cast
+her fine eyes in my direction. She directed her ladies to fall back out
+of hearing, and again conferred with Bussy. At the end of this he left
+her, and strode over to me.
+
+"Monsieur," he said, "the Queen of Navarre would like to know your name.
+I do not remember to have heard it last night."
+
+I told him my name, and he took me by the arm, led me to Marguerite, and
+presented me, somewhat to my confusion, so rapidly was the thing done.
+
+"You are a newcomer at court?" she said.
+
+"I arrived in Paris only yesterday."
+
+"And have taken service with--whom?"
+
+"In the French Guards."
+
+"We shall doubtless hear more of your skill with the sword," said
+Marguerite.
+
+"I knew not I had any," I replied, "until I found out that I could stand
+up for a minute against the sword I met last night. Now I am glad to know
+that I possess skill, that I may hold it ever at the service of your
+Majesty as well as of the King."
+
+This speech seemed to be exactly what Marguerite had desired of me, for
+she smiled and said, "I shall not forget you, M. de la Tournoire," before
+she turned away.
+
+Bussy followed her, and I returned to De Rilly.
+
+"Why should they pay any attention to me?" I said to him.
+
+"No newcomer is too insignificant to be sought as an ally where there are
+so many parties," he replied, indifferently. "Those two are with Anjou,
+who may have use for as many adherents as he can get one of these days.
+They say he is always meditating rebellion with the Huguenots or the
+Politiques, or both, and I don't blame a prince who is so shabbily
+treated at court."
+
+"But what could a mere guardsman do, without friends or influence?
+Besides, my military duties--"
+
+"Will leave you plenty of time to get into other troubles, if you find
+them amusing. How do you intend to pass the rest of the day?"
+
+"I have no plans. I should like to see more of the Louvre on my first
+visit; and, to tell the truth, I had hoped to find out more about a
+certain lady who belongs to the court."
+
+"What do you know of her?"
+
+"Only that she has a beautiful figure and a pretty mouth and chin. She
+wore a mask, but I should recognize her voice if I heard it again."
+
+"I wish you better luck than I have had to-day."
+
+Marguerite and her damsels had turned down a corridor leading to her
+apartments. Bussy d'Amboise was disappearing down the stairs. There came,
+from another direction, the lively chatter of women's voices, and there
+appeared, at the head of the stairs up which Marguerite had come, another
+group of ladies, all young and radiant but one. The exception was a
+stout, self-possessed looking woman of middle age, dressed rather
+sedately in dark satin. She had regular features, calm black eyes, an
+unruffled expression, and an air of authority without arrogance.
+
+"Queen Catherine and some of her Flying Squadron," said De Rilly, in
+answer to my look of inquiry. "She has been taking the air after the
+King's council. Her own council is a more serious matter, and lasts all
+the time."
+
+"Queen Catherine?" I exclaimed, incredulously, half refusing to see, in
+that placid matron, the ceaseless plotter, the woman accused of poisoning
+and all manner of bloodshed, whom the name represented.
+
+"Catherine de Medici," said De Rilly, evidently finding it a pleasure to
+instruct a newcomer as to the personages and mysteries of the court. "She
+who preserves the royal power in France at this moment."
+
+"She does not look as I have imagined her," I said.
+
+"One would not suppose," said De Rilly, "that behind that serene
+countenance goes on the mental activity necessary to keep the throne in
+possession of her favorite son, who spends fortunes on his minions, taxes
+his subjects to the utmost, and disgusts them with his eccentric piety
+and peculiar vices."
+
+"Dare one say such things in the very palace of that King?"
+
+"Why not say what every one knows? It is what people say in hidden
+places that is dangerous."
+
+"I wonder what is passing in the Queen-mother's mind at this moment," I
+said, as Catherine turned into the corridor leading to Anjou's
+apartments.
+
+In the light of subsequent events, I can now give a better answer to that
+query than De Rilly, himself, could have given then. Catherine had to use
+her wits to check the deep designs of Henri, Duke of Guise, who was
+biding his time to claim the throne as the descendant of Charlemagne, and
+was as beloved of the populace as Henri III. was odious to it. Thanks to
+the rebellion of Huguenots and malcontents, Guise had been kept too busy
+in the field to prosecute his political designs. As head of the Catholic
+party, and heir to his father's great military reputation, he could not,
+consistently, avoid the duties assigned him by the crown. That these
+duties might not cease, Catherine found it to her interest that rebellion
+should continue indefinitely. The Huguenot party, in its turn, was kept
+by the Guise or Catholic party from assaults on the crown. In fine, while
+both great factions were occupied with each other, neither could threaten
+the King. This discord, on which she relied to keep her unpopular son
+safe on his throne, was fomented by her in secret ways. She shifted from
+side to side, as circumstances required. The parties must be maintained,
+in order that discontent might vent itself in factional contest, and not
+against the King. The King must belong to neither party, in order not to
+be of the party that might be ultimately defeated; yet he must belong to
+both parties, in order to be of the party that might ultimately triumph.
+To the maintainance of this impossible situation was the genius of
+Catherine de Medici successfully devoted for many years of universal
+discontent and bloodshed.
+
+Now the Duke of Guise had found a way to turn these circumstances to
+account. Since the King of France could not hold down the Huguenots, the
+Holy Catholic League, composed of Catholics of every class throughout the
+most of France, would undertake the task. He foresaw that he, as leader
+of the League, would earn from the Catholics a gratitude that would make
+him the most powerful man in the kingdom. Catherine, too, saw this. To
+neutralize this move, she caused the King to endorse the League and
+appoint himself its head. The Huguenots must not take this as a step
+against them; on the contrary, they must be led to regard it as a shrewd
+measure to restrain the League. The King's first official edicts, after
+assuming the leadership of the League, seemed to warrant this view. So
+the King, in a final struggle against the Guise elements, might still
+rely on the aid of the Huguenots. But the King still remained outside of
+the League, although nominally its chief. Catherine saw that it was not
+to be deluded from its real purpose. The only thing to do was to
+conciliate the Duke of Guise into waiting. There was little likelihood of
+either of her sons attaining middle age. The Duke of Guise, a splendid
+specimen of physical manhood, would doubtless outlive them; he might be
+induced to wait for their deaths. The rightful successor to the throne
+would then be Henri of Navarre, head of the Bourbon family. But he was a
+Huguenot; therefore Catherine affected to the Duke of Guise a great
+desire that he should succeed her sons. The existing peace allowed the
+Duke of Guise the leisure in which to be dangerous; so every means to
+keep him quiet was taken.
+
+Some of these things De Rilly told me, as we stood in the embrasure of a
+window in the gallery, while Catherine visited her son, Anjou,--whose
+discontent at court complicated the situation, for he might, at any time,
+leave Paris and lead the Huguenots and malcontents in a rebellion which
+would further discredit her family with the people, demonstrate anew the
+King's incompetence, and give the League an opportunity.
+
+"And does the Duke of Guise allow himself to be cajoled?" I asked De
+Rilly.
+
+"Who knows? He is a cautious man, anxious to make no false step. They
+say he would be willing to wait for the death of the King, but that he is
+ever being urged to immediate action by De Noyard."
+
+"De Noyard?"
+
+"One of Guise's followers; an obscure gentleman of very great virtue, who
+has recently become Guise's most valued counsellor. He keeps Guise on his
+guard against Catherine's wiles, they say, and discourages Guise's amour
+with her daughter, Marguerite, which Catherine has an interest in
+maintaining. Nobody is more _de trop_ to Catherine just at present, I
+hear, than this same Philippe de Noyard. Ah! there he is now,--in the
+courtyard, the tallest of the gentlemen who have just dismounted, and are
+coming in this direction, with the Duke of Guise."
+
+I looked out of the window, and at once recognized the Duke of Guise by
+the great height of his slender but strong figure, the splendid bearing,
+the fine oval face, with its small mustache, slight fringe of beard, and
+its scar, and the truly manly and magnificent manner, of which report had
+told us. He wore a doublet of cloth of silver, a black cloak of velvet,
+and a black hat with the Lorraine cross on its front. The tallest man in
+his following--Philippe de Noyard, of whom De Rilly had just been
+speaking--was the gentleman whom I had met on the road to Paris, and who
+had refused to fight me after resenting my opinion of the Duke of Guise.
+
+He must have arrived in Paris close behind me.
+
+I was watching Guise and his gentlemen as they crossed the court to enter
+the palace, when suddenly I heard behind me the voice that had lingered
+in my ears all the previous night. I turned hastily around, and saw a
+group of Catherine's ladies, who stood around a fireplace, not having
+followed the Queen-mother to Anjou's apartments.
+
+"Who is the lady leaning against the tapestry?" I quickly asked De Rilly.
+
+"The one with the indolent attitude, and the mocking smile?"
+
+"Yes, the very beautiful one, with the big gray eyes. By heaven, her eyes
+rival those of Marguerite, herself!"
+
+"That is Mlle. d'Arency, a new recruit to Catherine's Flying Squadron."
+
+Her face more than carried out the promise given by her chin and mouth.
+It expressed to the eye all that the voice expressed to the ear.
+
+She had not seen me yet. I had almost made up my mind to go boldly over
+to her, when the Duke of Guise and his gentlemen entered the gallery. At
+the same instant, Catherine reappeared on the arm of the Duke of Anjou.
+The latter resigned her to the Duke of Guise, and went back to his
+apartment, whereupon Catherine and Guise started for the further end of
+the gallery, as if for private conversation. His manner was courteous,
+but cold; hers calm and amiable.
+
+"Ah, see!" whispered De Rilly to me. "What did I tell you?"
+
+Catherine had cast a glance towards Guise's gentlemen. De Noyard, grave
+and reserved, stood a little apart from the others. For an instant, a
+look of profound displeasure, a deeply sinister look, interrupted the
+composure of Catherine's features.
+
+"You see that M. de Noyard does not have the effect on the Queen-mother
+that a rose in her path would have," remarked De Rilly.
+
+He did not notice what followed. But I observed it, although not till
+long afterward did I see its significance. It was a mere exchange of
+glances, and little did I read in it the secret which was destined to
+have so vast an effect on my own life, to give my whole career its
+course. It was no more than this: Catherine turned her glance, quickly,
+from De Noyard to Mlle. d'Arency, who had already been observing her.
+Mlle. d'Arency gave, in reply, an almost imperceptible smile of
+understanding; then Catherine and Guise passed on.
+
+Two looks, enduring not a moment; yet, had I known what was behind them,
+my life would assuredly have run an entirely different course.
+
+The gentlemen of the Duke of Guise now joined Catherine's ladies at the
+fireplace. For a time, Mlle. d'Arency was thus lost to my sight; then the
+group opened, and I saw her resting her great eyes, smilingly, on the
+face of De Noyard, who was talking to her in a low tone, his gaze fixed
+upon her with an expression of wistful adoration.
+
+"The devil!" I muttered. "That man loves her."
+
+"My faith!" said De Rilly, "one would think he was treading on your toes
+in doing so; yet you do not even know her."
+
+"She is the woman I have chosen to be in love with, nevertheless," I
+said.
+
+It seemed as if the Duke of Guise had come to the Louvre solely for a
+word with the Queen-mother, for now he took his departure, followed by
+his suite, while Catherine went to her own apartments. As De Noyard
+passed out, he saw me. His face showed that he recognized me, and that he
+wondered what I was doing in the palace. There was nothing of offence in
+his look, only a slight curiosity.
+
+De Rilly now expressed an intention of going out to take the air, but I
+preferred to stay where I was; for Mile. d'Arency had remained in the
+gallery, with some other of Catherine's ladies. So the loquacious equerry
+went without me.
+
+I formed a bold resolution. Quelling the trepidation that came with it, I
+strode quickly over to Mlle. d'Arency, who still stood against the
+tapestry as if she had been a figure in it but had come to life and
+stepped out into the apartment.
+
+Her large eyes fell on me, and opened slightly wider, showing at once
+recognition and a not unpleasant surprise. I bowed very low, partly to
+conceal the flush that I felt mounting to my face.
+
+"Pardon me, Mile. d'Arency," I said, in a voice as steady as I could make
+it. Then I looked at her and saw her features assuming an expression of
+such coldness and astonishment that for some time neither my tongue nor
+my mind could continue the speech, nor could I move a step in retreat.
+All the while she kept her eyes upon me.
+
+I drew a deep breath at last, and said in desperation:
+
+"Doubtless I ought not to address you, being unknown to you, but if you
+will permit me, I will go and bring M. de Rilly, who will present me."
+
+Her face softened somewhat, and she looked amused. "You seem quite able
+to present yourself," she said.
+
+I was immensely relieved at this melting of the ice, just when I was
+beginning to feel that I was becoming a spectacle.
+
+"I am Ernanton de Launay, Sieur de la Tournoire," I said, and to fill up
+the embarrassing pause that followed, I added, "and, being a Huguenot, I
+am a nobody in Paris,--in fact, a mere volunteer in the French Guards."
+
+"Well, Monsieur Guardsman, what do you wish to say to me?"
+
+She was now in quite a pleasant, quizzical mood.
+
+"I trust you do not expect me to say it in one word," I answered; and
+then I lowered my voice, "or in a single interview."
+
+"It does not matter how many interviews it requires, if it is
+interesting," she answered nonchalantly.
+
+"Alas!" I said. "I fear it is a story which many others have told you."
+
+"An old story may seem new, when it comes from new lips."
+
+"And when it is new to the lips that tell it, as mine is. Actually, I
+have never before made a confession of love."
+
+"Am I to understand that you are about to make one now?"
+
+"Have I not already made it?" I said.
+
+We now stood quite apart from all others in the gallery, unnoticed by
+them; and our voices had fallen almost to a whisper.
+
+She smiled, as if refusing to take my words seriously.
+
+"If you have waited so long before making any confession of love
+whatever," she said, "you have certainly made up for the delay by the
+speed which you use in making your first."
+
+"On the contrary, I have had my confession ready for a long time, as my
+love has existed for a long time. I waited only to meet its object,--the
+woman of whom I had formed the ideal in my mind."
+
+She looked as if about to burst into a laugh; but she changed her mind,
+and regarded me with a look of inquiry, as if she would read my heart.
+The smile was still on her lips, yet she spoke gravely when she said:
+
+"Monsieur, I cannot make you out. If you are as sincere as you are
+original,--but I must go to the Queen-mother now. To-morrow afternoon, I
+shall walk in the gardens of the Tuileries, if the weather is clear."
+
+"But one moment, I beg! M. de Noyard,--he is in love with you, is he
+not?"
+
+Her face again took on its mocking look. "I have not asked him," she said
+lightly. Then she regarded me with a new and peculiar expression, as if
+some daring idea had come into her mind, some project which had to be
+meditated upon before it might be safely breathed.
+
+"You look at me strangely, mademoiselle."
+
+"Oh, I merely wonder at your curiosity in regard to M. de Noyard."
+
+"My curiosity is not in regard to his feelings, but in regard to yours."
+
+"Monsieur," she said, with a very captivating air of reproach, "have I
+not told you that I shall walk in the gardens of the Tuileries to-morrow
+afternoon?"
+
+And she glided away, leaving behind her the most delighted and conceited
+young man, at that moment, in France.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE STRANGE REQUEST OF MLLE. D'ARENCY
+
+
+I was disappointed in the interview that I had with Mlle. d'Arency in
+the gardens of the Tuileries, the next day. I saw her for only a few
+minutes, and then within sight of other of Catherine's ladies. Although
+I lost nothing of the ground I had taken, neither did I gain anything
+further. Afterward, at court receptions and _fetes_, and, sometimes, in
+the palace galleries, when she was off duty, I contrived to meet her.
+She neither gave me opportunities nor avoided me. All the progress that
+I made was in the measure of my infatuation for her. When I begged for a
+meeting at which we might not be surrounded by half the court, she
+smiled, and found some reason to prevent any such interview in the near
+future. So, if I had carried things very far at our first meeting in the
+Louvre, I now paid for my exceptional fortune by my inability to carry
+them a step further.
+
+Thus matters went for several days, during which the assertion of De
+Rilly was proven true,--that my duties as a member of the French Guards
+would leave me some time for pleasure. Thanks to De Quelus, and to his
+enemy, Bussy d'Amboise, I made acquaintances both in the King's following
+and in that of the King's brother, the Duke of Anjou. De Rilly made me
+known to many who belonged to neither camp, and were none the worse for
+that. Our company lodged in the Faubourg St. Honore, but I led the life
+of a gentleman of pleasure, when off duty, and, as such, I had a private
+lodging within the town, near the Louvre, more pretentious than the
+whitewashed chamber in the Rue St. Denis. I drank often in cabarets,
+became something of a swaggerer, and something of a fop,--though never
+descending to the womanishness of the King's minions,--and did not allow
+my great love affair, which I never mentioned save in terms of mystery,
+to hinder me from the enjoyment of lesser amours of transient duration.
+At this time everybody was talking of the feud between the King's
+favorites and the followers of the Duke of Anjou. The King's minions
+openly ridiculed Anjou for his ungainliness, which was all the greater
+for his look of settled discontent and resentment. His faithful and
+pugnacious Bussy retaliated by having his pages dress like the King's
+minions,--with doublets of cloth of gold, stiff ruffs, and great
+plumes,--and so attend him at the Twelfth Day _fetes_. The minions, in
+their turn, sought revenge on Bussy by attacking him, on the following
+night, while he was returning from the Louvre to his lodgings. He eluded
+them, and the next morning he accused M. de Grammont of having led the
+ambuscade. De Quelus then proposed that all the King's gentlemen should
+meet all those of the Duke in a grand encounter to the death. The Duke's
+followers gladly accepted the challenge. Three hundred men on each side
+would have fought, had not the King resolutely forbidden the duel. De
+Quelus, that night, led a number of gentlemen in an attack on Bussy's
+lodgings. Bussy and his followers made a stout resistance, the tumult
+becoming so great that the Marechal de Montmorency called out the Scotch
+Guard to clear the street in front of Bussy's house; and it was time.
+Several gentlemen and servants were lying in their blood; and some of
+these died of their wounds.
+
+It was openly known, about the court, that the Duke of Anjou held the
+King to be privy to these attacks on Bussy, and was frightfully enraged
+thereby; and that the King, in constant fear of the Duke's departure to
+join the Huguenots,--which event would show the King's inability to
+prevent sedition even in the royal family, and would give the Guise party
+another pretext to complain of his incompetence,--would forcibly obstruct
+the Duke's going.
+
+It was this state of affairs that made Catherine de Medici again take up
+her abode in the Louvre, that she might be on the ground in the event of
+a family outbreak, which was little less probable to occur at night than
+in the daytime. She had lately lived part of the time in her new palace
+of the Tuileries, and part of the time in her Hotel des Filles Repenties,
+holding her council in either of these places, and going to the Louvre
+daily for the signature of the King to the documents of her own
+fabrication. At this time, Mlle. d'Arency was one of the ladies of the
+Queen-mother's bedchamber, and so slept in the Louvre. What should I be
+but such a fool as, when off duty, to pass certain hours of the night in
+gazing up at the window of my lady's chamber, as if I were a lover in an
+Italian novel! Again I must beg you to remember that I was only
+twenty-one, and full of the most fantastic ideas. I had undertaken an
+epic love affair, and I would omit none of the picturesque details that
+example warranted.
+
+Going, one evening in February, to take up my post opposite the Louvre, I
+suddenly encountered a gentleman attended by two valets with torches. I
+recognized him as De Noyard, who had twice or thrice seen me about the
+palaces, but had never spoken to me. I was therefore surprised when, on
+this occasion, he stopped and said to me, in a low and polite tone:
+
+"Monsieur, I have seen you, once or twice, talking with M. Bussy
+d'Amboise, and I believe that, if you are not one of his intimates, you,
+at least, wish him no harm."
+
+"You are right, monsieur," I said, quite mystified.
+
+"I am no friend of his," continued M. de Noyard, in his cold,
+dispassionate tone, "but he is a brave man, who fights openly, and, so
+far, he is to be commended. I believe he will soon return from the
+Tuileries, where he has been exercising one of the horses of the Duke of
+Anjou. I have just come from there myself. On the way, I espied, without
+seeming to see them, a number of the gentlemen of the King waiting behind
+the pillars of the house with a colonnade, near the Porte St. Honore."
+
+"One can guess what that means."
+
+"So I thought. As for me, I have more important matters in view than
+interfering with the quarrels of young hot-heads; but I think that there
+is yet time for Bussy d'Amboise to be warned, before he starts to return
+from the Tuileries."
+
+"M. de Noyard, I thank you," I said, with a bow of genuine respect, and
+in a moment I was hastening along the Rue St. Honore.
+
+I understood, of course, the real reasons why De Noyard himself had not
+gone back to warn Bussy. Firstly, those in ambush would probably have
+noticed his turning back, suspected his purpose, and taken means to
+defeat it. Secondly, he was a man from whom Bussy would have accepted
+neither warning nor assistance; yet he was not pleased that any brave man
+should be taken by surprise, and he gave me credit for a similar feeling.
+I could not but like him, despite my hidden suspicion that there was
+something between Mlle. d'Arency and him.
+
+I approached the house with the colonnade, feigning carelessness, as if I
+were returning to my military quarters in the faubourg. The Porte St.
+Honore was still open, although the time set for its closing was past.
+
+Suddenly a mounted figure appeared in the gateway, which, notwithstanding
+the dusk, I knew, by the way the rider sat his horse, to be that of
+Bussy. I was too late to warn him; I could only give my aid.
+
+Three figures rushed out from beneath the supported upper story of the
+house, and made for Bussy with drawn swords. With a loud oath he reined
+back his horse on its haunches, and drew his own weapon, with which he
+swept aside the two points presented at him from the left. One of the
+three assailants had planted himself in front of the horse, to catch its
+bridle, but saw himself now threatened by Bussy's sword, which moved with
+the swiftness of lightning. This man thereupon fell back, but stood ready
+to obstruct the forward movement of the horse, while one of the other
+two ran around to Bussy's right, so that the rider might be attacked,
+simultaneously on both sides.
+
+This much I had time to see before drawing my sword and running up to
+attack the man on the horseman's left, whom I suddenly recognized as De
+Quelus. At the same instant I had a vague impression of a fourth
+swordsman rushing out from the colonnade, and, before I could attain my
+object, I felt a heavy blow at the base of my skull, which seemed
+almost to separate my head from my neck, and I fell forward, into
+darkness and oblivion.
+
+I suppose that the man, running to intercept me, had found a thrust less
+practicable than a blow with the hilt of a dagger.
+
+When I again knew that I was alive, I turned over and sat up. Several
+men--bourgeois, vagabonds, menials, and such--were standing around,
+looking down at me and talking of the affray. I looked for Bussy and De
+Quelus, but did not see either. At a little distance away was another
+group, and people walked from that group to mine, and _vice versa._
+
+"Where is M. Bussy?" I asked.
+
+"Oho, this one is all right!" cried one, who might have been a clerk or a
+student; "he asks questions. You wish to know about Bussy, eh? You ought
+to have seen him gallop from the field without a scratch, while his
+enemies pulled themselves together and took to their heels."
+
+"What is that, over there?" I inquired, rising to my feet, and
+discovering that I was not badly hurt.
+
+"A dead man who was as much alive as any of us before he ran to help M.
+Bussy. It is always the outside man who gets the worst of it, merely for
+trying to be useful. There come the soldiers of the watch, after the
+fight is over."
+
+I walked over to the other group and knelt by the body on the ground. It
+was that of a gentleman whom I had sometimes seen in Bussy's company. He
+was indeed dead. The blood was already thickening about the hole that a
+sword had made in his doublet.
+
+The next day the whole court was talking of the wrath of the Duke of
+Anjou at this assault upon his first gentleman-in-waiting. I was ashamed
+of having profited by the influence of De Quelus, who, I found, had not
+recognized me on the previous evening. Anjou's rage continued deep. He
+showed it by absenting himself from the wedding of Saint-Luc, one of De
+Quelus's companions in the King's favor and in the attack on Bussy.
+Catherine, knowing how the King's authority was weakened by the squabbles
+between him and his brother, took the Duke out to Vincennes for a walk in
+the park and a dinner at the chateau, that his temper might cool. She
+persuaded him to show a conciliatory spirit and attend the marriage ball
+to be held that night in the great hall of the Louvre. This was more than
+she could persuade Marguerite to do, who accompanied mother and son to
+Vincennes, sharing the feelings of the Duke for three reasons,--her love
+for him, her hatred for her brother, the King, and her friendship for
+Bussy d'Amboise. It would have been well had the Duke been, like his
+sister, proof against his mother's persuasion. For, when he arrived at
+the ball, he was received by the King's gentlemen with derisive looks,
+and one of them, smiling insolently in the Duke's piggish, pockmarked
+face, said, "Doubtless you have come so late because the night is most
+favorable to your appearance."
+
+Suppose yourself in the Duke's place, and imagine his resentment. He
+turned white and left the ball. Catherine must have had to use her utmost
+powers to keep peace in the royal family the next day.
+
+On the second morning after the ball, I heard, from De Rilly, that the
+King had put his brother under arrest, and kept him guarded in the Duke's
+own apartment, lest he should leave Paris and lead the rebellion which
+the King had to fear, not only on its own account, but because of the
+further disrepute into which it would bring him with his people. The
+King, doubtless, soon saw, or was made to see, that this conduct towards
+his brother--who had many supporters in France and was then affianced to
+Queen Elizabeth of England--would earn only condemnation; for, on the day
+after the arrest, he caused the court to assemble in Catherine's
+apartments, and there De Quelus went ironically through the form of an
+apology to the Duke, and a reconciliation with Bussy. The exaggerated
+embrace which Bussy gave De Quelus made everybody laugh, and showed that
+this peace-making was not to be taken seriously. Soon after it, Bussy
+d'Amboise and several of his followers left Paris.
+
+The next thing I saw, which had bearing on the difference between the
+King and Monsieur his brother, was the procession of penitents in which
+Monsieur accompanied the King through the streets, after the hollow
+reconciliation. I could scarcely convince myself that the
+sanctimonious-looking person, in coarse penitential robe, heading the
+procession through the mire and over the stones of Paris, from shrine to
+shrine, was the dainty King whom I had beheld in sumptuous raiment in the
+gallery of the Louvre. The Duke of Anjou, who wore ordinary attire,
+seemed to take to this mummery like a bear, ready to growl at any moment.
+His demeanor was all that the King's gentlemen could have needed as a
+subject for their quips and jokes.
+
+Two evenings after this, I was drinking in the public room of an inn,
+near my lodgings in the town, when a young gentleman named Malerain, who,
+though not a Scot, was yet one of the Scotch bodyguard, sat down at my
+table to share a bottle with me.
+
+"More amusement at the palace," he said to me. "To think that, any one of
+these nights, I may be compelled to use force against the person of the
+King's brother, and that some day he may be King! I wonder if he will
+then bear malice?"
+
+"What is the new trouble at the Louvre?" I asked.
+
+"It is only the old trouble. Monsieur has been muttering again, I
+suppose, and this, with the fact that Bussy d'Amboise keeps so quiet
+outside of Paris, has led the King to fear that Monsieur has planned to
+escape to the country. At least, it has been ordered that every member of
+the Duke's household, who does not have to attend at his retiring, must
+leave the palace at night; and Messieurs de l'Archant, De Losses, and the
+other captains, have received orders from the King that, if Monsieur
+attempts to go out after dark, he must be stopped. Suppose it becomes my
+duty to stop him? That will be pleasant, will it not? To make it worse, I
+am devoted to a certain damsel who is devoted to Queen Marguerite, who is
+devoted to Monsieur, her brother. And here I am inviting misfortune,
+too, by drinking wine on the first Friday in Lent. I ought to have
+followed the example of the King, who has been doing penance all day in
+the chapel of the Hotel de Bourbon."
+
+"Let us hope that the King will be rewarded for his penance by the
+submission of Monsieur. I, for one, hope that if Monsieur attempts to get
+away, he will run across some Scotchman of the Guard who will not scruple
+to impede a prince of France. For if he should lead a Huguenot army
+against the King, I, as one of the Guards, might be called on to oppose
+my fellow-Protestants."
+
+"Oh, the Duke does not wish to join the Huguenots. All he desires is to
+go to the Netherlands, where a throne awaits him if he will do a little
+fighting for it."
+
+"I fear he would rather revenge himself on the King for what he has had
+to endure at court."
+
+Presently Malerain left to go on duty at the Louvre, and soon I followed,
+to take up my station in sight of the window where Mlle. d'Arency slept.
+The night, which had set in, was very dark, and gusts of cold wind came
+up from the Seine. The place where, in my infatuation and affectation, I
+kept my lover's watch, was quite deserted. The Louvre loomed up gigantic
+before me, the lights gleaming feebly in a few of its many windows,
+serving less to relieve its sombre aspect than to suggest unknown, and,
+perhaps, sinister doings within.
+
+I laugh at myself now for having maintained those vigils by night beneath
+a court lady's window; but you will presently see that, but for this
+boyish folly, my body would have been sleeping in its grave these many
+years past, and I should have never come to my greatest happiness.
+
+Suddenly my attention was attracted to another window than that on which
+I had fixed my gaze. This other window appertained to the apartments of
+the King's sister, Queen Marguerite, and what caused me to transfer my
+attention to it was the noise of its being opened. Then a head was thrust
+out of it,--the small and graceful head of Marguerite herself. She looked
+down at the moat beneath, and in either direction, and apparently saw no
+one, I being quite in shadow; then she drew her head in.
+
+Immediately a rope was let down into the moat, whose dry bed was about
+five times a tall man's length below the window, which was on the second
+story. Out of the window came a man of rather squat figure, who let
+himself boldly and easily down the rope. As soon as he had reached the
+bed of the moat, he was followed out of the window and down the rope by a
+second man, who came bunglingly, as if in great trepidation. This person,
+in his haste, let go the rope before he was quite down, but landed on
+his feet. Then a third figure came out from the chamber and down the
+cable, whereupon Marguerite's head again appeared in the opening, and I
+could see the heads of two waiting-women behind her. But the Queen of
+Navarre manifestly had no intention of following the three men. These now
+clambered up the side of the moat, and the one who had been first down
+turned and waved her a silent adieu, which she returned with a graceful
+gesture of her partly bare arm. The three men then rapidly plunged into
+one of the abutting streets and were gone. All this time I stood inactive
+and unobserved.
+
+Marguerite remained at the window to cast another look around. Suddenly,
+from out the darkness at the base of the Louvre, as if risen from the
+very earth at the bottom of the moat, sprang the figure of a man, who
+started toward the guard-house as if his life depended on his speed.
+Marguerite drew her head in at once with a movement of great alarm. An
+instant later the rope was drawn up and the window closed.
+
+Two conjectures came into my head, one after the other, each in a flash.
+The one was that Marguerite had availed herself of the fraternal quarrel
+that occupied the King's attention to plan an escape to her husband, King
+Henri of Navarre, and that these three men had gone from a consultation
+in her apartments to further the project. The other conjecture was that
+they were but some of Monsieur's followers who had transgressed the new
+rule, requiring their departure from the palace at nightfall, and had
+taken this means of leaving to avoid discovery. If the former conjecture
+embodied the truth, my sympathies were with the plot; for it little
+pleased me that the wife of our Huguenot leader should remain at the
+French court, a constant subject of scandalous gossip. If the second
+guess was correct, I was glad of an opportunity to avert, even slight,
+trouble from the wilful but charming head of Marguerite. In either case,
+I might serve a beautiful woman, a queen, the wife of a Huguenot king.
+Certainly, if that man, paid spy or accidental interloper, should reach
+the guard-house with information that three men had left the Louvre by
+stealth, the three men might be overtaken and imprisoned, and great
+annoyance brought to Marguerite. All this occupied my mind but an
+instant. Before the man had taken ten steps, I was after him.
+
+He heard me coming, looked around, saw my hand already upon my
+sword-hilt, and shouted, "The guard! Help!" I saw that, to avoid a
+disclosure, I must silence him speedily; yet I dared not kill him, for he
+might be somebody whose dead body found so near the palace would lead to
+endless investigations, and in the end involve Marguerite, for suppose
+that the King had set him to watch her? Therefore I called to him, "Stop
+and face me, or I will split you as we run!"
+
+The man turned at once, as if already feeling my sword-point entering his
+back. Seeing that I had not even drawn that weapon, he, himself, drew a
+dagger and raised it to strike. But I was too quick and too long of arm
+for him. With my gloved fist I gave him a straight blow on the side of
+the chin, and he dropped like a felled tree, at the very moat's edge,
+over which I rolled him that he might recover in safety from the effects
+of the shock.
+
+I knew that, when he should awake, he would not dare inform the guard,
+for the three men would then be far away, and he would have no evidence
+to support his story. He would only put himself in danger of having
+fabricated a false accusation against the King's sister.
+
+I deemed it best to go from the vicinity of the Louvre at once, and I did
+so, with a last wistful look at the windows behind which Mlle. d'Arency
+might or might not be reposing. I did not reappear there until the next
+morning. The first person I then met was Malerain, who was coming from
+the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, where he had been making up for
+previous neglect of devotions.
+
+"Well," I said, as I stood before him, and twisted my up-shooting
+mustaches, in unconscious imitation of him, "I trust you found your
+quarter on duty last night an easy one. You must thank me for saving you
+some labor."
+
+"What do you mean?" he asked, with a look of sudden interest.
+
+"Nothing, only that you might have been called on to give chase to some
+flying bird or other, if I had not knocked down a rascal who was running
+to inform the guard."
+
+"And you saw the bird fly?" he said, with increasing astonishment.
+
+"From an opening in that great cage," I replied, looking towards
+the Louvre.
+
+"Then I, for myself, am glad you knocked down the said rascal who would
+have made falcons of us to bring the bird down. But be more cautious.
+Suppose what you did should reach the ears of the King?"
+
+"Why should the King concern himself?"
+
+"Monsieur, is it possible that you don't know that the bird that flew
+from the Louvre last night was the Duke of Anjou?"
+
+It was now my turn to stare in astonishment.
+
+"But," I said, "what use for him to leave the palace? There would be the
+gates of Paris to pass."
+
+"There is more than one way to cross the fortifications of Paris,
+especially when one has such an ally as Bussy d'Amboise, free, to arrange
+matters. Monsieur is at this moment certainly on his way to some
+stronghold of his own. The King is mad with rage. Queen Marguerite is
+looking innocent and astonished, but I'll wager she had a hand in this
+evasion. My friend, I am under obligations to you!"
+
+"How?"
+
+"Why, since Queen Marguerite undoubtedly rejoices at her favorite
+brother's escape, and you helped to make it good, she owes you gratitude.
+So do all her maids, who, naturally, share in her feelings and benefit by
+her joy. Now, that gratitude extends of course to your friends, of whom I
+am one. Therefore a good turn is due me from one of those maids in
+particular, and for that I am obliged to you!"
+
+I laughed at this fantastic extension of a debt of gratitude.
+"Doubtless," I said; "but since neither Marguerite nor the maid knows
+anything about my share in the matter, I don't see how you are going to
+collect the debt."
+
+Malerain said nothing, but there was already that in his mind which,
+absurd as it might seem at that time, was to save me when death should
+rise threateningly about me on every side. It is a world in which much
+comes from little.
+
+I was somewhat agitated at realizing that I had been the means of aiding
+an escape which might result in opposing the troops of the King to those
+of certain Huguenot leaders; but this thought was suddenly driven from my
+mind by a sight which caused me to leave Malerain abruptly, and make for
+one of the streets that led from the Louvre to the midst of the town.
+
+It was Mlle. d'Arency, mounted on a plumed horse, with tassellated
+trappings, which was led by a young equerry who wore Catherine's colors,
+and followed by two mounted lackeys in similar livery. Beside her rode
+the stout, elderly woman who usually attended her. Mlle. d'Arency wore a
+mask of black velvet, but that could not conceal her identity from eyes
+to which every line of her pretty head, every motion of her graceful
+person, had become familiar in actual contemplation and in dreams. Her
+cloak and gown were, alike, of embroidered velvet of the color of red
+wine, as was the velvet toque which sat perched on her dark brown hair.
+
+I followed her at some distance, resolved to find an opportunity for a
+seemingly accidental meeting. I supposed that she was going to visit some
+of the shops,--perhaps for the Queen-mother, perhaps for herself.
+
+She led me on and on, until I began to wonder what could be her
+destination. She avoided the streets of fine shops, such as were
+patronized by the court, skirted market-places, and continued, in a
+general easterly direction, until she had crossed both the Rue St. Denis
+and the Rue St. Martin. At last, turning out of the Rue St. Antoine, she
+reached, by a little street lined with bakeries, a quiet square before a
+small church, of which I never even learned the name. She and the stout
+woman dismounted, and entered the church, leaving her male attendants
+outside with the horse.
+
+"Oho," I mused, stopping at the door of a pastry-cook's at the place
+where the little street joined the square; "she chooses an obscure place
+for her devotions. Evidently she prefers to mingle solitude with them, so
+I must not disturb her."
+
+I decided, therefore, to wait at the pastry-cook's till she should come
+out, and then to encounter her as if by chance. I would have, at least, a
+word in payment for having come so far afoot.
+
+The pastry-cook must have been convinced of two things before Mlle.
+d'Arency came out of church: first, that his fortune was made if this new
+customer, myself, should only continue to patronize him; second, that
+there existed, at least, one human stomach able to withstand unlimited
+quantities of his wares.
+
+I stood back in the shop, devouring one doughy invention after another,
+with my ear alert for the sound of her horse's hoofs on the stones. At
+last it occurred to me that she might have left the square by some other
+street. I made for the door of the shop to look. As I did so, a man
+rapidly passed the shop, going from the square towards the Rue St.
+Antoine. Was not that figure known to me? I hastened to the street. My
+first glance was towards the church. There stood her horse, and her three
+attendants were walking up and down in the sunlight. Then I looked after
+the man; I thought that the figure looked like that of De Noyard.
+
+He disappeared into the Rue St. Antoine, having given me no opportunity
+to see his face. I would have followed, to make sure, roused into an
+intolerable jealousy at the idea of a secret meeting between Mlle.
+d'Arency and him, but that I now heard the full melodious voice of the
+lady herself. Looking around, I saw her on the steps of the church, with
+her middle-aged companion. At that instant her eyes met mine.
+
+I advanced, with an exaggerated bow, sweeping the stones of the street
+with the plumes of my hat.
+
+"So it is true!" I said, making no effort to control my agitation, and
+restraining my voice only that the lackeys might not hear; "you love
+that man!"
+
+She looked at me steadily for a moment, and then said, "Do you mean M.
+de Noyard?"
+
+"Ah, you admit it!"
+
+"I admit nothing. But if I did love him, what right would you have to
+call me to account?"
+
+"The right of a man who adores you, mademoiselle."
+
+"That is no right at all. A man's right concerning a woman must be
+derived from her own actions. But come inside the church, monsieur."
+
+She made a gesture to her attendants, and reentered the church. I
+followed her. We stood together before the font in the dim light.
+
+"And now," she continued, facing me, "suppose I grant that I have so
+acted as to give you a right to question me; what then? Is it my fault
+that you have followed me this morning? Is it, then, any more my fault
+that I have been followed, also, by M. de Noyard?"
+
+"But he must have been here before you."
+
+"What does that prove? A score of people in the Louvre knew yesterday
+that I was coming to this church to-day."
+
+"But so deserted a church,--so out of the way! Who would come here from
+the Louvre but for a tryst?"
+
+She smiled, indulgently. "Can a thing have no cause except the obvious
+one?" she said. "I visit this church once every month, because, obscure
+though it be, it is associated with certain events in the history of my
+ancestors."
+
+"But," I went on, though beginning to feel relieved, "if M. de Noyard was
+thrusting his presence on you, why did he leave before you did?"
+
+"Probably because he knew that I would not leave the church while he
+remained to press his company upon me outside."
+
+The low tones that we had to use, on account of our surroundings, gave
+our conversation an air of confidence and secrecy that was delicious to
+me; and now her voice fell even lower, when she added:
+
+"I take the pains to explain these things to you, monsieur, because I do
+not wish you to think that I have intrigues;" and she regarded me fixedly
+with her large gray eyes, which in the dimness of the place were darker
+and more lustrous than usual.
+
+Delightfully thrilled at this, I made to take her hand and stoop to kiss
+it, but stopped for a last doubt.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, "I think you only the most adorable woman in the
+world. But there is one thing which has cost me many a sleepless hour,
+many a jealous surmise. If I could be reassured as to the nature of your
+errand that night when I first saw you--"
+
+"Oh!" she laughed, "I was coming from an astrologer's."
+
+"But you were not coming from the direction of Ruggieri's house."
+
+"There are many astrologers in Paris, besides Ruggieri. Although the
+Queen-mother relies implicitly on him, one may sometimes get a more
+pleasing prediction from another; or, another may be clear on a point on
+which he is vague."
+
+"But the hour--"
+
+"I took the time when I was not on duty, and he kept me late. It was for
+a friend that I visited the astrologer,--a friend who was required in the
+palace all that evening. The astrologer had to be consulted that night,
+as my friend wished to be guided in a course that she would have to take
+the next morning. Now, Monsieur Curiosity, are you satisfied?"
+
+This time I took her hand and pressed my lips upon it.
+
+She was silent for a moment, noting the look of admiration on my face.
+Then, quickly, and in little more than a whisper, she said:
+
+"I have answered your questions, though not admitting your right to ask
+them. Would you know how to gain that right?"
+
+"Tell me!" I said, my heart beating rapidly with elation.
+
+"Challenge M. de Noyard, and kill him!"
+
+I stared in astonishment.
+
+"Now you may know whether or not I love him," she added.
+
+"But, mademoiselle,--why--"
+
+"Ah, that is the one thing about which I must always refuse to be
+questioned! I ask you this service. Will you grant it?"
+
+"If he has given you offence," I said, "certainly I will seek him at
+once."
+
+"Not a word of me is to be said between you! He must not know that I have
+spoken to you."
+
+"But a man is not to be killed without reason."
+
+"A pretext is easily invented."
+
+"Certainly,--a pretext to hide the cause of a quarrel from the world. But
+the real cause ought to be known to both antagonists."
+
+"I shall not discuss what ought or ought not to be. I ask you, will you
+fight this man and try to kill him? I request nothing unusual,--men are
+killed every day in duels. You are a good swordsman; Bussy d'Amboise
+himself has said so. Come! will you do this?" She looked up at me with a
+slight frown of repressed petulance.
+
+"If you will assure me that he has affronted you, and permit me to let
+him know, privately, the cause of my quarrel."
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed, with irritation, "must a lady give a hundred reasons
+when she requests a service of a gentleman?"
+
+"One sufficient reason, when it is a service like this."
+
+"Well, I shall give none. I desire his death,--few gentlemen would ask a
+further reason."
+
+"I had not thought you so cruel, mademoiselle, as to desire the death
+of any man."
+
+"God forbid that I should desire the death of any other man! So,
+monsieur, I must understand that you refuse to serve me in this?"
+
+Her contemptuous look made me sigh. "Can you not see, mademoiselle, that
+to resolve deliberately and secretly on a man's death, and with
+premeditation to create a pretext for a challenge, is little better than
+assassination?"
+
+"A fine excuse to avoid risking your life!"
+
+Again I had to endure a look of profound scorn from her.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I replied, patiently, "I would that you might see how
+ready I am to fight when an affront is given me or some one needs a
+defender."
+
+"Oh!" she said, with an ironical smile. "Then to show yourself a lion
+against De Noyard, you require only that he shall affront you, or that
+some one shall need a defender against him! Suppose that _I_ should ever
+be in such need?"
+
+"You know that in your defence I would fight an army."
+
+Her smile now lost its irony, and she assumed a look of conciliation,
+which I was both surprised and rejoiced to behold.
+
+"Well, monsieur, it is pleasant to know that, if you will not take the
+offensive for me, you will, at least, act readily on the defensive if
+the occasion comes."
+
+Much relieved at the turn the conversation had taken, I now undertook to
+continue it to my advantage. After some bantering, maintained with gaiety
+on her part, she said that she must return to the Louvre. Then, as she
+would not have me accompany her in the streets, I begged her to appoint
+another meeting. She evaded my petition at first, but, when I took her
+hand and refused to release it until she should grant my request, she
+said, after a little submissive shrug of her shoulders:
+
+"Very well. Follow me, at a distance, from this church, and observe a
+house before which I shall stop for a moment as if to adjust my cloak. It
+is a house that has been taken by a friend of mine, one of the
+Queen-mother's ladies. I shall be there tomorrow afternoon."
+
+"Alas! To-morrow I shall be on duty till six in the evening."
+
+"Then come at seven. Knock three times on the street door." And with that
+she slipped her hand from mine, and hastened lightly out of the church. I
+stood alone by the font, delighted and bewildered. There was so much to
+mystify me that I did not even search my mind for explanations. I thought
+my happiness about to be attained, and left it for the future to
+explain,--as it did!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HOW LA TOURNOIRE WAS ENLIGHTENED IN THE DARK
+
+
+It was already dark when I started, on the evening appointed, for the
+house indicated by Mlle. d'Arency. I went without attendance, as was my
+custom, relying on my sword, my alertness of eye, and my nimbleness of
+foot. I had engaged a lackey, for whose honesty De Rilly had vouched, but
+he was now absent on a journey to La Tournoire, whither I had sent him
+with a message to my old steward. I have often wondered at the good
+fortune which preserved me from being waylaid, by thieving rascals, on my
+peregrinations, by night, through Paris streets. About this very time
+several gentlemen, who went well attended, were set upon and robbed
+almost within sight of the quarters of the provost's watch; and some of
+these lost their lives as well as the goods upon their persons. Yet I
+went fearlessly, and was never even threatened with attack.
+
+On the way to the house, I reviewed, for the hundredth time, the
+conversation in the church. There were different conjectures to be made.
+Mlle. d'Arency may have made that surprising request merely to convince
+me that she did not love De Noyard, and intending, subsequently, to
+withdraw it; or it may have sprung from a caprice, a desire to ascertain
+how far I was at her bidding,--women have, thoughtlessly, set men such
+tasks from mere vanity, lacking the sympathy to feel how precious to its
+owner is any human life other than their own;--or she may have had some
+substantial reason to desire his death, something to gain by it,
+something to lose through his continuing to live. Perhaps she had
+encouraged his love and had given him a promise from which his death
+would be the means of release easiest to her,--for women will, sometimes,
+to secure the smallest immunity for themselves, allow the greatest
+calamities to others. This arises less from an active cruelty than from a
+lack of imagination, an inability to suppose themselves in the places of
+others. I soon felt the uselessness of searching, in my own mind, for the
+motive of Mlle. d'Arency's desire, or pretence of desire, for the death
+of De Noyard. What had passed between them I could not guess. So, after
+the manner of youth, I gave up the question, satisfied with knowing that
+I had before me an interview with a charming woman, and willing to wait
+for disclosures until events should offer them.
+
+The street in which the house was situated was entirely dark and
+deserted when I stepped into it. The house was wider than its neighbors,
+and each of its upper stories had two chambers overlooking the street. At
+the window of one of these chambers, on the second story, a light shone.
+It was the only light visible in any of the houses, all of which frowned
+down menacingly; and hence it was like a beacon, a promise of cheer and
+warmth in the midst of this black, cold Paris.
+
+I knocked three times on the street door, as she had directed me.
+Presently the wicket at the side of the door was opened, and a light was
+held up to it, that my face might be seen by a pair of eyes that peered
+out through the aperture. A moment later the bolts of the door were
+drawn, and I was let in by the possessor of the eyes. This was the
+elderly woman who always attended Mlle. d'Arency when the latter was
+abroad from the palace. She had invariably shown complete indifference to
+me, not appearing aware of my existence, and this time she said only:
+
+"This way, monsieur."
+
+Protecting the flame of her lamp with her hand, she led me forward to a
+narrow staircase and we ascended, stopping at a landing on which opened
+the second story chamber whose street window had shone with light. She
+gave three knocks at the door of this chamber. At the last knock, her
+lamp went out.
+
+"Curse the wind!" she muttered.
+
+So I stood with her, on the landing, in darkness, expecting the door in
+front of me to open, immediately, and admit me to the lighted chamber.
+
+Suddenly I heard a piercing scream from within the chamber. It was the
+voice of Mlle. d'Arency.
+
+"Help! Help!" she cried. "My God, he will kill me!"
+
+This was followed by one long series of screams, and I could hear her
+running about the chamber as though she were fleeing from a pursuer.
+
+I stood for an instant, startled.
+
+"Good God!" cried the old woman at my elbow. "An assassin! Her enemies
+have planned it! Monsieur, save her life!"
+
+And the dame began pounding on the door, as if to break into the room to
+assist her mistress.
+
+I needed no more than this example. Discovering that the door was
+locked on the inside, and assuming that Mlle. d'Arency, in the flight
+which she maintained around the room, could not get an opportunity to
+draw the bolt, I threw my weight forward, and sent the door flying open
+on its hinges.
+
+To my astonishment, the chamber was in complete darkness. Mlle. d'Arency
+had doubtless knocked the light over in her movements around the room.
+
+She was still screaming at the top of her voice, and running from one
+side to another. The whiteness of the robe she wore made it possible to
+descry her in the absence of light.
+
+I stood for a second, just inside the threshold, and drew my sword. At
+first, I could not see by whom or what she was threatened; but I heard
+heavy footsteps, as of some one following her in her wild course about
+the place. Then I made out, vaguely, the figure of a man.
+
+"Fear not, mademoiselle!" I cried.
+
+"Oh, monsieur!" she screamed. "Save me! Save my life!"
+
+I thrust my sword at the figure of the man. An ejaculation of pain told
+me that it touched flesh. A second later, I heard a sword slide from its
+scabbard, and felt the wind of a wild thrust in my direction.
+
+At this moment, Mlle d'Arency appeared between me and the street window
+of the room. There was enough light from the sky to enable her head and
+shoulders to stand out darkly against the space of the window. Her head
+was moving with the violent coming and going of her breath, and her
+shoulders were drawn up in an attitude of the greatest fright. Is it any
+wonder that I did not stop to ascertain who or what her assailant might
+be, or how he had come there? I could make out only that the man in the
+darkness was a large and heavy one, and wielded a swift blade. All other
+thoughts were lost in the immediate necessity of dealing with him. The
+extreme terror that she showed gave me a sense of his being a formidable
+antagonist; the prompt response that he had given to my own thrust showed
+that he was not to be quelled by a mere command. In fine, there was
+nothing to do but fight him as best I could in the blackness; and I was
+glad for so early an opportunity to show Mlle. d'Arency how ready I was
+to do battle for her when I found her threatened with danger.
+
+From the absence of any sound or other demonstration, except what was
+made by Mlle. d'Arency and the man and myself, I knew that we three were
+the only ones in the room. The elderly woman had not entered with me,--a
+fact whose strangeness, in view of the great desire she had first evinced
+to reach her mistress's side, did not occur to me until afterward.
+
+I made another thrust at the man, but, despite the darkness, he parried
+it with his sword; and a quick backward step was all that saved me from
+his prompt reply. Angered at having to give ground in the presence of the
+lady, I now attacked in turn, somewhat recklessly, but with such good
+luck as to drive him back almost to the window. Mlle. d'Arency gave
+another terrified scream when he came near her, and she ran past me
+towards the door of the apartment. Both my antagonist and myself were
+now beginning to have a clearer impression of each other's outlines, and
+there was sharp sword-work between us by the window. As we stood there,
+breathing rapidly with our exertion and excitement, I heard the door
+close through which I had entered. I knew from this that Mlle. d'Arency
+had left the chamber, and I was glad that she was out of danger. It was
+natural that she should close the door, instinct impelling her to put any
+possible barrier between her assailant and herself.
+
+The man and myself were alone together to maintain the fight which,
+having once entered, and being roused to the mood of contest, I had no
+thought of discontinuing now that Mlle. d'Arency was out of immediate
+danger. It had reached a place at which it could be terminated only by
+the disarming, the death, or the disabling of one of us.
+
+I gradually acquired the power of knowing all my opponent's movements,
+despite the darkness. I supposed that he was equipped with dagger as well
+as with sword, but as he made no move to draw the shorter weapon, I did
+not have recourse to mine. Though I would not take an advantage over him,
+even in the circumstances, yet I was not willing to be at a disadvantage.
+Therefore, as he was not encumbered with cloak or mantle, I employed a
+breathing moment to tear off my own cloak and throw it aside, not
+choosing to use it on my left arm as a shield unless he had been
+similarly guarded.
+
+So we lunged and parried in the darkness, making no sound but by our
+heavy breathing and an occasional ejaculation and the tramping of our
+feet, the knocking of our bodies against unseen pieces of furniture, and
+the clashing of our blades when they met. Each of us fenced cautiously at
+times, and at times took chances recklessly.
+
+Finally, in falling back, he came to a sudden stop against a table, and
+the collision disturbed for an instant his control over his body. In that
+instant I felt a soft resistance encounter my sword and yield to it. At
+once, with a feeling of revulsion, I drew my sword out of the casing that
+his flesh had provided, and stood back. Something wet and warm sprinkled
+my face. The man gave a low moan and staggered sideways over towards the
+window. Then he plunged forward on his face. I stooped beside him and
+turned him over on his back, wetting my gloves with the blood that gushed
+from his wound and soaked his doublet. At that moment a splash of
+moonlight appeared on the floor, taking the shape of the window. His head
+and shoulders lay in this illumined space. I sprang back in horror,
+crying out his name:
+
+"De Noyard! My God, it is you!"
+
+"Yes, monsieur," he gasped, "it is De Noyard. I have been trapped. I
+ought to have suspected."
+
+"But I do not understand, monsieur. Surely you could not have attacked
+Mlle, d'Arency?"
+
+"Attacked her! I came here by her appointment!"
+
+"But her cry for help?"
+
+"It took me by complete surprise. There was a knock on the door--"
+
+"Yes,--mine. I, too, came by her appointment!"
+
+"Mademoiselle instantly put out the light and began to scream. I thought
+that the knock frightened her; then that she was mad. I followed to calm
+her. You entered; you know the rest."
+
+"But what does it mean?"
+
+"Can you not see?" he said, with growing faintness. "We have been
+tricked,--I, by her pretense of love and by this appointment, to my
+death; you, by a similar appointment and her screams, to make yourself my
+slayer. I ought to have known! she belongs to Catherine, to the
+Queen-mother. Alas, monsieur! easily fooled is he who loves a woman!"
+
+Then I remembered what De Rilly had told me,--that De Noyard's counsels
+to the Duke of Guise were an obstacle to Catherine's design of
+conciliating that powerful leader, who aspired to the throne on which her
+son was seated.
+
+"No, no, monsieur!" I cried, unwilling to admit Mlle. d'Arency capable
+of such a trick, or myself capable of being so duped. "It cannot be
+that; if they had desired your death, they would have hired assassins to
+waylay you."
+
+Yet I knew that he was right. The strange request that Mlle. d'Arency had
+made of me in the church was now explained.
+
+A kind of smile appeared, for a moment, on De Noyard's face, struggling
+with his expression of weakness and pain.
+
+"Who would go to the expense of hiring assassins," he said, "when honest
+gentlemen can be tricked into doing the work for nothing? Moreover, when
+you hire assassins, you take the risk of their selling your secret to the
+enemy. They are apt to leave traces, too, and the secret instigator of a
+deed may defeat its object by being found out."
+
+"Then I have to thank God that you are not dead. You will recover,
+monsieur."
+
+"I fear not, my son. I do not know how much blood I lose at every word I
+speak. _Parbleu_! you have the art of making a mighty hole with that toy
+of yours, monsieur!"
+
+This man, so grave and severe in the usual affairs of life, could take on
+a tone of pleasantry while enduring pain and facing death.
+
+"Monsieur," I cried, in great distress, "you must not die. I will save
+you. I shall go for a surgeon. Oh, my God, monsieur, tell me what to do
+to save your life!"
+
+"You will find my lackeys, two of them, at the cabaret at the next
+corner. It is closed, but knock hard and call for Jacques. Send him to
+me, and the other for a surgeon."
+
+De Noyard was manifestly growing weaker, and he spoke with great
+difficulty. Not daring to trust to any knowledge of my own as to
+immediate or temporary treatment of his wound, I made the greatest haste
+to follow his directions. I ran out of the chamber, down the stairs, and
+out to the street, finding the doors neither locked nor barred, and
+meeting no human being. Mlle. d'Arency and her companion had silently
+disappeared.
+
+I went, in my excitement, first to the wrong corner. Then, discovering my
+blunder, I retraced my steps, and at last secured admittance to the place
+where De Noyard's valets tarried.
+
+To the man who opened the door, I said, "Are you Jacques, the serving-man
+of Monsieur de Noyard?"
+
+"I am nobody's serving man," was the reply, in a tone of indignation; but
+a second man who had come to the door spoke up, "I am Jacques."
+
+"Hallo, Monsieur de la Tournoire," came a voice from a group of men
+seated at a table. "Come and join us, and show my friends how you
+fellows of the French Guards can drink!"
+
+It was De Rilly, very merry with wine.
+
+"I cannot, De Rilly," I replied, stepping into the place. "I have very
+important business elsewhere." Then I turned to Jacques and said,
+quietly, "Go, at once, to your master, and send your comrade for a
+surgeon to follow you there. Do you know the house in which he is?"
+
+The servant made no answer, but turned pale. "Come!" he said to another
+servant, who had joined him from an obscure corner of the place. The two
+immediately lighted torches and left, from which fact I inferred that
+Jacques knew where to find his master.
+
+"What is all this mystery?" cried De Rilly, jovially, rising and coming
+over to me, while the man who had opened the door, and who was evidently
+the host, closed it and moved away. "Come, warm yourself with a bottle!
+Why, my friend, you are as white as a ghost, and you look as if you had
+been perspiring blood!"
+
+"I must go, at once, De Rilly. It is a serious matter."
+
+"Then hang me if I don't come, too!" he said, suddenly sobered, and he
+grasped his cloak and sword. "That is, unless I should be _de trop_."
+
+"Come. I thank you," I said; and we left the place together.
+
+"Whose blood is it?" asked De Rilly, as we hurried along the narrow
+street, back to the house.
+
+"That of M. de Noyard."
+
+"What? A duel?"
+
+"A kind of duel,--a strange mistake!
+
+"The devil! Won't the Queen-mother give thanks! And won't the Duke of
+Guise be angry!"
+
+"M. de Noyard is not dead yet. His wound may not be fatal."
+
+I led the way into the house and up the steps to the apartment. It was
+now lighted up by the torch which Jacques had brought. De Noyard was
+still lying in the position in which he had been when I left him. The
+servant stood beside him, looking down at his face, and holding the torch
+so as to light up the features.
+
+"How do you feel now, monsieur?" I asked, hastening forward.
+
+There was no answer. The servant raised his eyes to me, and said, in a
+tone of unnatural calmness, "Do you not see that he is dead, M. de la
+Tournoire?"
+
+Horror-stricken, I knelt beside the body. The heart no longer beat; the
+face was still,--the eyes stared between unquivering lids, in the light
+of the torch.
+
+"Oh, my God! I have killed him!" I murmured.
+
+"Come away. You can do nothing here," said De Rilly, quietly. He caught
+me by the shoulder, and led me out of the room.
+
+"Let us leave this neighborhood as soon as possible," he said, as we
+descended the stairs. "It is most unfortunate that the valet knows your
+name. He heard me speak it at the tavern, and he will certainly recall
+also that I hailed you as one of the French Guards."
+
+"Why is that unfortunate?" I asked, still deprived of thought by the
+horror of having killed so honorable a gentleman, who had not harmed me.
+
+"Because he can let the Duke of Guise know exactly on whom to seek
+vengeance for the death of De Noyard."
+
+"The Duke of Guise will seek vengeance?" I asked, mechanically, as we
+emerged from that fatal house, and turned our backs upon it.
+
+"Assuredly. He will demand your immediate punishment. You must bespeak
+the King's pardon as soon as possible. That is necessary, to protect
+oneself, when one has killed one's antagonist in a duel. The edicts still
+forbid duels, and one may be made to pay for a victory with one's life,
+if the victim's friends demand the enforcement of the law,--as in this
+case the Duke of Guise surely will demand."
+
+"M. de Quelus can, doubtless, get me the King's pardon," I said, turning
+my mind from the past to the future, from regret to apprehension. The
+necessity of considering my situation prevented me from contemplating, at
+that time, the perfidy of Mlle. d'Arency, the blindness with which I had
+let myself be deceived, or the tragic and humiliating termination of my
+great love affair.
+
+"If M. de Quelus is with you, you are safe from the authorities. You will
+then have only to guard against assassination at the hands of Guise's
+followers."
+
+"I shall go to M. de Quelus early in the morning," I said.
+
+"By all means. And you will not go near your lodgings until you have
+assured your safety against arrest. You must reach the King before the
+Duke can see him; for the Duke will not fail to hint that, in killing De
+Noyard, you were the instrument of the King or of the Queen-mother. To
+disprove that, the King would have to promise the Duke to give you over
+to the authorities. And now that I think of it, you must make yourself
+safe before the Queen-mother learns of this affair, for she will advise
+the King to act in such a way that the Duke cannot accuse him of
+protecting you. My friend, it suddenly occurs to me that you have got
+into a rather deep hole!"
+
+"De Rilly," I asked, with great concern, "do you think that I was the
+instrument of Catherine de Medici in this?"
+
+"Certainly not!" was the emphatic answer. "The fight was about a woman,
+was it not?"
+
+"A woman was the cause of it," I answered, with a heavy sigh. "But how do
+you know?"
+
+"To tell the truth," he said, "many people have been amused to see
+you make soft eyes at a certain lady, and to see De Noyard do
+likewise. Neither young men like you, nor older men like him, can
+conceal these things."
+
+Thus I saw that even De Rilly did not suspect the real truth, and this
+showed me how deep was the design of which I had been the tool. Everybody
+would lay the quarrel to rivalry in love. The presence of so manifest a
+cause would prevent people from hitting on the truth. Mlle. d'Arency had
+trusted to my youth, agility, and supposed skill to give me the victory
+in that fight in the dark; and then to circumstances to disclose who had
+done the deed. "It was De Noyard's jealous rival," everybody would say.
+Having found a sufficient motive, no one would take the trouble to seek
+the real source,--to trace the affair to the instigation of Catherine de
+Medici. The alert mind of De Rilly, it is true, divining the equally keen
+mind of the Duke of Guise, had predicted that Guise might pretend a
+belief in such instigation, and so force the King to avenge De Noyard,
+in self-vindication. Mlle. d'Arency well knew that I would not
+incriminate a woman, even a perfidious one, and counted also on my
+natural unwillingness to reveal myself as the dupe that I had been.
+Moreover, it would not be possible for me to tell the truth in such a way
+that it would appear probable. And what would I gain by telling the
+truth? The fact would remain that I was the slayer of De Noyard, and, by
+accusing the instigators, I would but compel them to demonstrate
+non-complicity; which they could do only by clamoring for my punishment.
+And how could I prove that things were not exactly as they had
+appeared,--that the woman's screams were not genuine: that she was not
+actually threatened by De Noyard? Clearly as I saw the truth, clearly as
+De Noyard had seen it in his last moments, it could never be established
+by evidence.
+
+With bitter self-condemnation, and profound rancor against the woman
+whose tool I had been, I realized what an excellent instrument she had
+found for her purpose of ridding her mistress of an obstacle.
+
+It was not certain that the King, himself, had been privy to his mother's
+design of causing De Noyard's death. In such matters she often acted
+without consulting him. Therefore, when De Quelus should present my case
+to him as merely that of a duel over a love affair, Henri would perhaps
+give me his assurances of safety, at once, and would hold himself bound
+in honor to stand by them. All depended on securing these before
+Catherine or the Duke of Guise should have an opportunity to influence
+him to another course.
+
+I felt, as I walked along with De Rilly, that, if I should obtain
+immunity from the punishment prescribed by edict, I could rely on
+myself for protection against any private revenge that the Duke of
+Guise might plan.
+
+De Rilly took me to a lodging in the Rue de L'Autruche, not far from my
+own, which was in the Rue St. Honore. Letting myself be commanded
+entirely by him, I went to bed, but not to sleep. I was anxious for
+morning to come, that I might be off to the Louvre. I lay speculating on
+the chances of my seeing De Quelus, and of his undertaking to obtain the
+King's protection for me. Though appalled at what I had done, I had no
+wish to die,--the youth in me cried for life; and the more I desired
+life, the more fearful I became of failing to get De Quelus's
+intercession.
+
+I grew many years older in that night. In a single flash, I had beheld
+things hitherto unknown to me: the perfidy of which a woman was capable,
+the falseness of that self-confidence and vanity which may delude a man
+into thinking himself the conqueror of a woman's heart, the danger of
+going, carelessly, on in a suspicious matter without looking forward to
+possible consequences. I saw the folly of thoughtlessness, of blind
+self-confidence, of reckless trust in the honesty of others and the luck
+of oneself. I had learned the necessity of caution, of foresight, of
+suspicion; and perhaps I should have to pay for the lesson with my life.
+
+Turning on the bed, watching the window for the dawn, giving in my mind a
+hundred different forms to the account with which I should make De Quelus
+acquainted with the matter, I passed the most of that night. At last, I
+fell asleep, and dreamt that I had told De Quelus my story, and he had
+brought me the King's pardon; again, that I was engaged in futile efforts
+to approach him; again, that De Noyard had come to life. When De Rilly
+awoke me, it was broad daylight.
+
+I dressed, and so timed my movements as to reach the Louvre at the hour
+when De Quelus would be about to officiate at the King's rising. De Rilly
+left me at the gate, wishing me good fortune. He had to go to oversee the
+labors of some grooms in the King's stables. One of the guards of the
+gate sent De Quelus my message. I stood, in great suspense, awaiting the
+answer, fearing at every moment to see the Duke of Guise ride into the
+Place du Louvre on his way to crave an interview with the King.
+
+At last a page came across the court with orders that I be admitted, and
+I was soon waiting in a gallery outside the apartments of the
+chamberlains. After a time that seemed very long, De Quelus came out to
+me, with a look of inquiry on his face.
+
+Ignoring the speech I had prepared for the occasion, I broke abruptly
+into the matter.
+
+"M. de Quelus," I said, "last night, in a sudden quarrel which arose out
+of a mistake, I was so unfortunate as to kill M. de Noyard. It was
+neither a duel nor a murder,--each of us seemed justified in attacking
+the other."
+
+De Quelus did not seem displeased to hear of De Noyard's death.
+
+"What evidence is there against you?" he asked.
+
+"That of M. de Noyard's servant, to whom I acknowledged that I had killed
+his master. Other evidence may come up. What I have come to beg is your
+intercession with the King--"
+
+"I understand," he said, without much interest. "I shall bring up the
+matter before the King leaves his bed."
+
+"When may I expect to know?" I asked, not knowing whether to be reassured
+or alarmed at his indifference.
+
+"Wait outside the King's apartments. I am going there now," he replied.
+
+I followed him, saw him pass into the King's suite, and had another
+season of waiting. This was the longest and the most trying. I stood, now
+tapping the floor with my foot, now watching the halberdiers at the
+curtained door, while they glanced indifferently at me. Various officers
+of the court, whose duty or privilege it was to attend the King's rising,
+passed in, none heeding me or guessing that I waited there for the word
+on which my life depended. I examined the tapestry over and over again,
+noticing, particularly, the redoubtable expression of a horseman with
+lance in rest, and wondering how he had ever emerged from the tower
+behind him, of which the gateway was half his size.
+
+A page came out of the doorway through which De Quelus had disappeared.
+Did he bring word to me? No. He glanced at me casually, and passed on,
+leaving the gallery at the other end. Presently he returned, preceding
+Marguerite, the Queen of Navarre, whom he had gone to summon.
+
+"More trouble in the royal family," I said to myself. The King must
+have scented another plot, to have summoned his sister before the time
+for the _petite levee_. I feared that this would hinder his
+consideration of my case.
+
+Suddenly a tall figure, wearing a doublet of cloth of silver, gray velvet
+breeches, gray mantle, and gray silk stockings, strode rapidly through
+the gallery, and curtly commanded the usher to announce him. While
+awaiting the usher's return, he stood still, stroking now his light
+mustaches, and now his fine, curly blonde beard, which was little more
+than delicate down on his chin. As his glance roved over the gallery it
+fell for a moment on me, but he did not know me, and his splendid blue
+eyes turned quickly away. His face had a pride, a nobility, a subtlety
+that I never saw united in another. He was four inches more than six feet
+high, slender, and of perfect proportion, erect, commanding, and in the
+flower of youth. How I admired him, though my heart sank at the sight of
+him; for I knew he had come to demand my death! It was the Duke of Guise.
+Presently the curtains parted, he passed in, and they fell behind him.
+
+And now my heart beat like a hammer on an anvil. Had De Quelus
+forgotten me?
+
+Again the curtains parted. Marguerite came out, but this time entirely
+alone. As soon as she had passed the halberdiers, her eyes fell on me,
+but she gave no sign of recognition. When she came near me, she said,
+in a low tone, audible to me alone, and without seeming to be aware of
+my presence:
+
+"Follow me. Make no sign,--your life depends on it!"
+
+She passed on, and turned out of the gallery towards her own apartments.
+For a moment I stood motionless; then, with a kind of instinctive sense
+of what ought to be done, for all thought seemed paralyzed within me, I
+made as if to return to the chamberlains' apartments, from which I had
+come. Reaching the place where Marguerite's corridor turned off, I
+pretended for an instant to be at a loss which way to go; then I turned
+in the direction taken by Marguerite. If the halberdiers, at the entrance
+to the King's apartments, saw me do this, they could but think I had made
+a mistake, and it was not their duty to come after me. Should I seek to
+intrude whither I had no right of entrance, I should encounter guards to
+hinder me.
+
+Marguerite had waited for me in the corridor, out of sight of the
+halberdiers.
+
+"Quickly, monsieur!" she said, and glided rapidly on. She led me boldly
+to her own apartments and through two or three chambers, passing, on the
+way, guards, pages, and ladies in waiting, before whom I had the wit to
+assume the mien of one who was about to do some service for her, and had
+come to receive instructions. So my entrance seemed to pass as nothing
+remarkable. At last we entered a cabinet, where I was alone with her. She
+opened the door of a small closet.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "conceal yourself in this closet until I return. I
+am going to be present at the _petite levee_ of the King. Do not stir,
+for they will soon be searching the palace, with orders for your arrest.
+Had you not come after me, at once, two of the Scotch Guards would have
+found you where you waited. I slipped out while they were listening to
+the orders that my mother added to the King's."
+
+I fell on my knee, within the closet.
+
+"Madame," I said, trembling with gratitude, "you are more than a queen.
+You are an angel of goodness."
+
+"No; I am merely a woman who does not forget an obligation. I have heard,
+from one of my maids, who heard it from a friend of yours, how you
+knocked a too inquisitive person into the moat beneath my window. I had
+to burn the rope that was used that night, but I have since procured
+another, which may have to be put to a similar purpose!"
+
+And, with a smile, she shut the closet door upon me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+HOW LA TOURNOIRE ESCAPED FROM PARIS
+
+
+I heard the key turn in the lock, and the Queen of Navarre leave the
+cabinet. She took the key with her, so that a tiny beam of light came
+through the keyhole, giving my dark hiding-place its only illumination.
+
+I felt complete confidence both in Marguerite's show of willingness to
+save me, and in her ability to do so. All I could do was to wait, and
+leave my future in her hands.
+
+After a long time, I heard steps in the cabinet outside the closet door,
+the beam of light from the keyhole was cut off, the key turned again, the
+door opened, and Marguerite again stood before me.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "that we may talk without danger, remain in the
+closet. I will leave the door slightly ajar, thus, and will sit here,
+near it, with my 'Book of Hours,' as if reading aloud to myself. Should
+any one come, I can lock your door again and hide the key. Hark! be
+silent, monsieur!"
+
+And as she spoke, she shut the door, locked it, drew out the key, and
+sat down. I listened to learn what had caused this act of precaution.
+
+"Madame," I heard some one say, "M. de l'Archant desires, by order of the
+King, to search your apartments for a man who is to be arrested, and who
+is thought to have secreted himself somewhere in the palace."
+
+"Let him enter." said Marguerite. My heart stood still. Then I heard her
+say, in a tone of pleasantry:
+
+"What, M. le Capitain, is there another St. Bartholomew, that people
+choose my apartments for refuge?"
+
+"This time it is not certain that the fugitive is here," replied Captain
+de l'Archant, of the bodyguard. "He is known to have been in the palace
+this morning, and no one answering his description has been seen to leave
+by any of the gates. It was, indeed, a most sudden and mysterious
+disappearance; and it is thought that he has run to cover in some chamber
+or other. We are looking everywhere."
+
+"Who is the man?" asked Marguerite, in a tone of indifference.
+
+"M. de la Tournoire, of the French Guards."
+
+"Very well. Look where you please. If he came into my apartments, he must
+have done so while I attended the _petite levee_ of the King; otherwise I
+should have seen him. What are you looking at? The door of that closet?
+He could not have gone there without my knowledge. One of the maids
+locked it the other day, and the key has disappeared." Whereupon, she
+tried the door, herself, as if in proof of her assertion.
+
+"Then he cannot be there," said De L'Archant, deceived by her manner; and
+he took his leave.
+
+For some minutes I heard nothing but the monotonous voice of Marguerite
+as she read aloud to herself from her "Book of Hours."
+
+Then she opened my door again. Through the tiny crack I saw a part
+of her head.
+
+"Monsieur," she said to me, keeping her eyes upon the book, and retaining
+the same changeless tone of one reading aloud, "you see that you are
+safe, for the present. No one in the palace, save one of my maids, is
+aware that I know you or have reason to take the slightest interest in
+you. Your entrance to my apartments was made so naturally and openly that
+it left no impression on those who saw you come in. I have since sent
+every one of those persons on some errand, so that all who might happen
+to remember your coming here will suppose that you left during their
+absence. It was well that I brought you here; had I merely told you to
+leave the palace, immediately, you would not have known exactly how
+matters stood, and you would have been arrested at your lodgings, or on
+your way to your place of duty. By this time, orders have gone to the
+city gates to prevent your leaving Paris. Before noon, not only the
+body-guard, the Provost of the palace, and the French and Scotch Guards
+will be on the lookout for you, but also the gendarmes of the Provost of
+Paris. That is why we must be careful, and why stealth must be used in
+conveying you out of Paris."
+
+"They make a very important personage of me," I said, in a low tone.
+
+"Hush! When you speak imitate my tone, exactly, and be silent the instant
+I cough. Too many people are not to be trusted. That you may understand
+me, you must know precisely how matters stand. This morning my mother
+went to see the King in his chamber before he had risen. They discussed a
+matter which required my presence, and I was sent for. After we had
+finished our family council, my mother and I remained for a few words, in
+private, with each other. While we were talking, M. de Quelus came in and
+spoke for a while to the King. I heard the King reply, 'Certainly, as he
+preserved you to me, my friend.' De Quelus was about to leave the King's
+chamber, when the Duke of Guise was announced. De Quelus waited, out of
+curiosity, I suppose. M. de Guise was admitted. He immediately told the
+King that one of his gentlemen, M. de Noyard, had been killed by the
+Sieur de la Tournoire, one of the French Guards. I became interested, for
+I remembered your name as that of the gentleman who, according to my
+maid, had stopped the spy from whom I had had so much to fear. I
+recalled, also, that you had the esteem of my brother's faithful Bussy
+d'Amboise. My mother immediately expressed the greatest horror at De
+Noyard's death, with the greatest sympathy for M. de Guise; and she urged
+the King to make an example of you."
+
+I remembered, with a deep sigh, what De Rilly had told me,--that
+Catherine, to prevent the Duke of Guise from laying the death of De
+Noyard to her, would do her utmost to bring me to punishment.
+
+"The King looked at De Quelus," continued Marguerite. "That gentleman,
+seeing how things were, and, knowing that the King now wishes to seem
+friendly to the Duke, promptly said, 'This is fortunate. La Tournoire is
+now waiting for me in the red gallery; I suppose he wishes to beg my
+intercession. His presumption will be properly punished when the guards
+arrest him there.'"
+
+I turned sick, at this revelation of treachery. This was the gentleman
+who owed his life to me, and, in the first outburst of gratitude, had
+promised to obtain for me a captaincy!
+
+"The King," Marguerite went on, "at once ordered two of the Scotch Guards
+to arrest you. All this time, I had been standing at the window, looking
+out, as if paying no attention. My mother stopped the guards to give them
+some additional direction. No one was watching me. I passed carelessly
+out, and you know what followed. At the _petite levee_, I learned what
+was thought of your disappearance,--that you had seen the Duke of Guise
+enter the King's apartments, had guessed his purpose, and had
+precipitately fled."
+
+I did not dare tell his sister what I thought of a King who would,
+without hesitation or question, offer up one of his guards as a sacrifice
+to appease that King's greatest enemy.
+
+"And now, monsieur," said Marguerite, still seeming to read from her
+book, "the King and the Queen, my mother, will make every effort to have
+you captured, lest it be thought that they are secretly protecting the
+slayer of M. de Noyard. To convince you that you may rely on me,
+thoroughly, I will confess that it is not solely gratitude for your
+service the other night that induces me to help you,--although my
+gratitude was great. I had seen the spy rise out of the moat and all
+night I was in deadly fear that he had reached the guard-house and
+prevented my brother's flight, or, at least, betrayed me. When I became
+convinced that he had not done so, I thanked Heaven for the unknown
+cause that had hindered him. So you may imagine, when my maid told me
+that a friend of her lover's was that unknown cause, how I felt towards
+that friend."
+
+"Madame," I said, with emotion, "I ought to be content to die, having had
+the happiness of eliciting your gratitude!"
+
+"But I am not content that you should die, for I wish you to serve me
+once more, this time as a messenger to my brother, the Duke of Anjou, who
+is at Angers; to M. Bussy d'Amboise, who is with him; and to my husband,
+the King of Navarre, who is at Nerac, in Gascony. Thus it is to my own
+interest to procure your safe escape from Paris. And if you reach Nerac,
+monsieur, you cannot do better than to stay there. The King of Navarre
+will give you some post more worthy of you than that of a mere soldier,
+which you hold here."
+
+"I enlisted in the French Guards," I hastened to explain, "because I was
+unknown, and a Huguenot, and could expect no higher beginning."
+
+"For the very reason that you are a Huguenot, you can expect a great deal
+from the King of Navarre. His kingdom is little more than a toy kingdom,
+it is true, and his court is but the distant echo of the court of France,
+but believe me, monsieur,"--and here Marguerite's voice indicated a
+profound conviction,--"there is a future before my husband, the King of
+Navarre! They do not know him. Moreover, Paris will never be a safe
+place for you as long as the Duke of Guise lives. He does not forget!"
+
+I knew that Marguerite had excellent means of knowing the Duke of Guise,
+and I did not dispute her assertion. Moreover, I was now quite willing to
+go from the city wherein I was to have achieved such great things. My
+self-conceit had been shaken a little.
+
+"But if every exit is watched, how can I leave Paris?" I asked.
+
+"The exits were watched to prevent the going of my brother Anjou," said
+Marguerite, "but he went. He crossed the Seine with his chamberlain,
+Simier, and his valet, Cange, and went to the Abbey of St. Genevieve, of
+which the gardens are bounded by the city wall. The Abbot Foulon was
+secretly with us. M. Bussy had returned to Paris, and was waiting at the
+Abbey for Monsieur. They left Paris by way of the Abbey garden. The Abbot
+is a cautious soul, and to protect himself, in case of discovery, he had
+M. Bussy tie him to a chair, and after Monsieur and Bussy had joined
+their gentlemen, outside, and galloped off toward Angers, the Abbot came
+to the Louvre, and informed the King of Monsieur's escape. Now I suppose
+we shall have to make use of the same ingenious Foulon."
+
+"You know what is best, madame," I said.
+
+"But the Abbot of Saint Genevieve would not do for you, or even for me,
+what he would do for my brother Anjou. If he knew who you were, he might
+gladly seize an opportunity to offset, by giving you up, the suspicion
+that he had a hand in my brother's escape."
+
+"But if there is a suspicion of that, will they not watch the Abbey now,
+on my account?"
+
+"No; for you are not of my brother's party, and the Abbot would have no
+reason for aiding you. The question is how to make him serve us in
+this. I must now think and act, monsieur, and I shall have to lock you
+up again."
+
+She rose and did so, and again I was left to meditate. It is astonishing
+how unconcerned I had come to feel, how reliant on the ingenuity of this
+charming princess with the small head, the high, broad forehead, the
+burning, black eyes the curly blonde hair, the quizzically discrete
+expression of face.
+
+After some hours, during which I learned, again, the value of patience,
+the door was opened, and Marguerite thrust in some bread and cold meat,
+which she had brought with her own hand. I took it in silence, and
+stooped to kiss the hand, but it was too soon withdrawn, and the door
+locked again.
+
+When the door next opened, Marguerite stood before it with a candle in
+her hand. I therefore knew that it was night. In her other hand, she held
+four letters, three of them already sealed, the fourth open.
+
+"I have made all arrangements," she said, quickly. "This letter is to the
+Abbot Foulon. Read it."
+
+She handed it to me, and held the candle for me while I read:
+
+This gentleman bears private letters to Monsieur. As he was about to
+depart with them, I learned that the King had been informed of his
+intended mission, and had given orders for his arrest at the gate. I call
+upon you to aid him to leave Paris, as you aided my brother Anjou. His
+arrest would result in a disclosure of how that matter was conducted.
+
+MARGUERITE.
+
+I smiled, when I had finished reading the letter.
+
+"That letter will frighten Brother Foulon into immediate action," said
+Marguerite, "and he will be compelled to destroy it, as it incriminates
+him. Take these others. You will first go to Angers, and deliver this to
+the Duke of Anjou, this to M. de Bussy. Then proceed to Gascony with
+this, for the King of Navarre."
+
+"And I am to start?"
+
+"To-night. I shall let you down into the moat, as Monsieur was let down.
+You cannot cross the bridges of the Seine, lest you be stopped by guards
+at the entrances; therefore I have employed, in this matter, the same boy
+who served me the other night. Go immediately from the moat to that part
+of the quay which lies east of the Hotel de Bourbon. You will find him
+waiting there in a boat. He will take you across the river to the Quay of
+the Augustines, and from there you will go alone to the Abbey. When
+Foulon knows that you come in my name, he will at once admit you. I am
+sorry that there is not time to have a horse waiting for you outside the
+fortifications."
+
+"Alas, I must leave my own horse in Paris! I must go forth as a deserter
+from the Guards!"
+
+"It is better than going to the executioner," said Marguerite, gaily.
+"For the last time, monsieur, become a bird in a cage. I am about to
+retire. As soon as all my people are dismissed, and the palace is asleep,
+I shall come for you."
+
+The door closed again upon my prison of a day. I placed the letters
+within my doublet, and looked to the fastening of my clothes, as a man
+who prepares for a race or contest. I straightened myself up in my place
+of concealment, and stood ready to attempt my flight from this Paris of
+which the King had made a cage to hold me.
+
+More waiting, and then came Marguerite, this time without a candle. She
+stood in the darkness, in a white _robe de nuit_, like a ghost.
+
+"Now, monsieur," she whispered.
+
+I stepped forth without a word, and followed her through the cabinet into
+a chamber which also dark. Three of Marguerite's maids stood there, in
+silence, one near the door, the other two at the window. One of the
+latter held a stout stick, to the middle of which was fastened a rope,
+which dangled down to the floor and lay there in irregular coils. I saw
+this by the little light that came through the window from the clouded
+night sky.
+
+Marguerite took the stick and held it across the window. It was longer
+than the width of the window, and hence its ends overlapped the chamber
+walls on either side.
+
+"Are you ready, monsieur?" asked Marguerite, in a whisper.
+
+"Ready, madame."
+
+Still holding the stick in position with one hand, she opened the window
+with the other, and looked out. She then drew in her head, and passed the
+loose end of the rope out of the window. Then she looked at me, and stood
+a little at one side, that I might have room to pass.
+
+Summoning a bold heart, I mounted the window-ledge, got on my knees with
+my face towards the chamber, caught the rope in both hands, lowered my
+head, and kissed one of the hands of the Queen of Navarre; then, resting
+my weight on my elbows, dropped my legs out of the window. Two more
+movements took my body after them, and presently I saw before me only the
+wall of the Louvre, and was descending the rope, hand after hand, the
+weight of my body keeping the stick above in position.
+
+When I was half-way down, I looked up. The wall of the palace seemed now
+to lean over upon me, and now to draw back from me. Marguerite was gazing
+down at me.
+
+At last, looking down, I saw the earth near, and dropped. I cast another
+glance upward. Marguerite was just drawing in her head, and immediately
+the rope's end flew out of my reach.
+
+"There's no going back the way I came!" I said, to myself, and strode
+along the moat to find a place where I could most easily climb out of it.
+Such a place I found, and I was soon in the street, alone, near where I
+had been wont to watch under the window of Mlle. d'Arency. I took a last
+look at the window of Marguerite's chamber. It was closed, and the rope
+had disappeared. My safety was no longer in the hands of the Queen of
+Navarre. She had pointed out the way for me, and had brought me thus far;
+henceforth, I had to rely on myself.
+
+I shivered in the cold. I had left my large cloak beside the dead body of
+M. de Noyard the previous night, and had worn to the Louvre, in the
+morning, only a light mantle by way of outer covering.
+
+"Blessings on the night for being so dark, and maledictions on it for
+being so cold!" I muttered, as I turned towards the river.
+
+I had reached the Hotel de Bourbon, when I heard, behind me, the sound
+of footsteps in accord. I looked back. It was a body of several armed
+men, two of them bearing torches.
+
+Were they gendarmes of the watch, or were they guards of the King? What
+were they doing on my track, and had they seen me?
+
+Probably they had not seen me, for they did not increase their gait,
+although they came steadily towards me. The torches, which illuminated
+everything near them, served to blind them to what was at a distance
+from them.
+
+Fortunately, I had reached the end of the street, and so I turned
+eastward and proceeded along the quay, high walls on one side of me, the
+river on the other. It had been impossible for Marguerite to indicate to
+me the exact place at which the boat was to be in waiting. I did not
+think it best, therefore, to go to the edge of the quay and look for the
+boat while the soldiers were in the vicinity. They might come upon the
+quay at the moment of my embarking, and in that event, they would
+certainly investigate. So I walked on along the quay.
+
+Presently I knew, by the sound of their steps, that they, too, had
+reached the quay, and that they had turned in the direction that I had
+taken. I was still out of the range of their torchlight.
+
+"How far will I be made to walk by these meddlesome archers?" I asked
+myself, annoyed at this interruption, and considering it an incident of
+ill omen. I looked ahead, to see whither my walking would lead me.
+
+I saw another body of gendarmes, likewise lighted by torches, just
+emerging from a street's end, some distance in front of me. They turned
+and came towards me.
+
+I stopped, feeling for an instant as if all my blood, all power of
+motion, had left me. "Great God!" I thought, "I am caught between two
+rows of teeth."
+
+I must wait no longer to seek the boat. Would God grant that it might be
+near, that I might reach it before either troop should see me?
+
+I ran to the edge of the quay and looked over into the river. Of all the
+boats that lay at rest there, not one in sight was unmoored, not one
+contained a boatman!
+
+The two bodies of men were approaching each other. In a few seconds the
+two areas of torchlight would merge together. On one side were walls,
+frowning and impenetrable; on the other was the river.
+
+I took off my sword and dagger, on account of their weight, and dropped
+them with their sheathes into the river. I started to undo the fastening
+of my mantle, but the knot held; my fingers became clumsy, and time
+pressed. So I gave up that attempt, threw away my hat, let myself over
+the edge of the quay, and slid quietly into the icy water. I immediately
+dived, and presently came to the surface at some distance from the
+shore. I then swam for the middle of the river. God knows what powers
+within me awoke to my necessity. I endured the cold, and found strength
+to swim in spite of the clothes that impeded my movements and added
+immensely to my weight.
+
+Without looking back, I could tell, presently, from the talking on the
+quay that the two detachments of gendarmes had met and were standing
+still. Had either one descried me, there would have been loud or hurried
+words, but there were none. After a while, during which I continued to
+swim, the voices ceased, and I looked back. Two torches remained on the
+quay. The others were moving away, along the river. I then made a guess,
+which afterward was confirmed as truth. The boy sent by Marguerite had
+been discovered in his boat, had been taken to the guard-house, and had
+given such answers as led to the suspicion that he was waiting to aid
+the flight of some one. The captain of the Guard, thinking so to catch
+the person for whom the boatman waited, had sent two bodies of men out,
+one to occupy the spot near which the boy had been found, the other to
+patrol the river bank in search of questionable persons. I had arrived
+on the quay in the interval between the boy's capture and the arrival
+of the guards.
+
+My first intention was to reach the left bank and proceed to the Abbey of
+St. Genevieve. But it occurred to me that, although a boat could not pass
+down the river, out of Paris, at night, because of the chain stretched
+across the river from the Tour du Coin to the Tour de Nesle, yet a
+swimmer might pass under or over that chain and then make, through the
+faubourg outside the walls, for the open country. Neither Marguerite nor
+I had thought of this way of leaving Paris, because of the seeming
+impossibility of a man's surviving a swim through the icy Seine, and a
+flight in wet clothes through the February night. Moreover, there was the
+necessity of leaving my sword behind, and the danger of being seen by the
+men on guard at the towers on either side of the river. But now that
+necessity had driven me into the river, I chose this shorter route to
+freedom, and swam with the current of the Seine. In front of me lay a
+dark mass upon the water in the middle of the river. This was the barge
+moored there to support the chain which stretched, from either side,
+across the surface of the water, up the bank and to the Tour de Nesle on
+the left side, and to the Tour du Coin on the right. I might pass either
+to the right or to the left of this barge. Naturally, I chose to avoid
+the side nearest the bank from which I had just fled, and to take the
+left side, which lay in the shadow of the frowning Tour de Nesle.
+
+By swimming close to the left bank of the river, I might pass the
+boundary without diving under the chain, for the chain ascended obliquely
+from the water to the tower, leaving a small part of the river's surface
+entirely free. But this part was at the very foot of the tower, and if I
+tried passage there I should probably attract the attention of the guard.
+I was just looking ahead, to choose a spot midway between the barge and
+the left bank, when suddenly the blackness went from the face of things,
+a pale yellow light took its place, and I knew that the moon had come
+from behind the clouds. A moment later, I heard a cry from the right bank
+of the river, and knew that I was discovered. The shout came from the
+soldiers whom I had so narrowly eluded.
+
+I knew that it was a race for life now. The soldiers would know that any
+man swimming the Seine on a February night was a man whom they ought to
+stop. I did not look back,--the one thing to do was to pass the Tour de
+Nesle before the guards there should be put on the alert by the cries
+from the right bank. So on I swam, urging every muscle to its utmost.
+
+Presently came the crack of an arquebus, and spattering sounds behind me
+told me where the shot had struck the water. I turned to swim upon my
+left side, and so I got a glimpse of the quay that I had left. By the
+hurried movement of torches, I saw that the body that had gone to patrol
+the river bank was returning to rejoin the other force. Of the latter,
+several men were unmooring and manning a large boat. I turned on my back
+to have a look at the sky. I saw that very soon a heavy mass of black
+cloud would obscure the moon. At once I turned, and made towards the left
+bank, as if not intending to pass the chain. I could hear the men in the
+boat speaking rapidly at this, as if commenting on my change of course.
+Again looking back, I saw that the boat had pushed off, and was making
+towards that point on the left bank for which I seemed to be aiming. And
+now I had something else to claim my attention: the sound of voices came
+from the Tour de Nesle. I cast a glance thither. A troop of the watch was
+out at last, having taken the alarm from the movements on the right bank.
+This troop from the Tour de Nesle was moving towards the place for which
+I seemed to be making; hence it was giving its attention solely to that
+part of the left bank which was inside the fortifications. I felt a
+thrill of exultation. The moon passed under the clouds. I changed my
+course, and struck out for the chain. The light of the torches did not
+reach me. Both the boat from the right bank and the watch from the Tour
+de Nesle continued to move towards the same point. I approached the
+chain, took a long breath, dived, felt the stifling embrace of the waters
+for a season, rose to the surface, breathed the air of heaven again, and
+cast a look behind. The chain stretched between me and the distant boat
+and torches. I was out of Paris.
+
+I swam on, past the mouth of the Paris moat, and then made for the left
+bank. Exhaustion seized me as I laid hold of the earth, but I had
+strength to clamber up. I fell into a sitting posture and rested my tired
+arms and legs. What pains of cold and heat I felt I cannot describe.
+Presently, with returning breath, came the strength to walk,--a strength
+of which I would have to avail myself, not only that I might put distance
+between myself and Paris, but also to keep my wet clothes from freezing.
+I rose and started.
+
+Choosing not to follow the left bank of the Seine, which was unknown
+territory to me, I turned southeastward, in the hope of finding the road
+by which I had entered Paris. To reach this, I had but to traverse the
+Faubourg St. Germaine, along the line of the wall of Paris. I had already
+gone some distance along the outer edge of the moat, with the sleeping
+faubourg on my right, when I heard, behind me, the sound of men treading
+a bridge. I looked back. The bridge was that which crossed the moat from
+the Tour de Nesle.
+
+Had the guards at last discovered my way of eluding pursuit, and was I
+now being sought outside the walls? It appeared so, for, after crossing
+the moat, the troop divided into two bodies, one of which went toward the
+left bank below the chain, where I had landed, while the other came along
+the moat after me. I began to run. The moon came out again.
+
+"Look! he is there!" cried one of my pursuers. I heard their footsteps on
+the frozen earth,--they, too, were running. But I had the advantage in
+one respect: I had no weapons to impede me. The coming out of the moon
+did not throw me into despair; it only increased my determination to make
+good the escape I had carried so far. Though nature, herself, became the
+ally of the King of France and the Duke of Guise against me, I would
+elude them. I was filled with hate and resolution.
+
+Suddenly, as I ran, it occurred to me that I was a fool to keep so near
+the fortifications, for, at any of the gates, guards might emerge,
+alarmed by the shouts of my pursuers; and even as I thought this, I
+looked ahead and saw a number of halberdiers coming from the Porte St.
+Germaine. My situation was now as it had been on the quay, with this
+disadvantage, that I was seen by my enemies, and this advantage, that I
+had a way of retreat open on my right; and I turned and sped along a
+street of the Faubourg St. Germaine, towards the country.
+
+It matters not how many pursue you, if you can run faster and longer
+than the best of them all. Gradually, as I went, panting and plunging,
+onward, heedless of every obstacle, I increased the distance between me
+and the cries behind. Soon I was out of the faubourg, but I did not stop.
+I do not know what ground I went over, save that I went southward, or
+what village I presently went through, save that it was silent and
+asleep. I came upon a good road, at last, and followed it, still running,
+though a pain in my side warned me that soon I must halt. All my hunters
+had abandoned the chase now but one. Every time I half turned for a
+backward look, I saw this one coming after me. He had dropped his
+weapons, and so had enabled himself to keep up the chase. Not being
+weakened by a previous swim in the Seine, he was in better form than I,
+and I knew that he would catch me in time. And what then? He was a large
+fellow, but since the struggle must come, I would better let it come ere
+I should be utterly exhausted. So I pretended to stagger and lurch
+forward, and presently came to my knees and then prone upon the ground.
+With a grunt of triumph, the man rushed up to me, caught me by the collar
+of my doublet, and raised me from the ground. Hanging limp, and
+apparently senseless, I put him quite off his guard.
+
+"Stand up!" he cried. "Stomach of the Pope! Have I come so far only to
+take a dead man back?"
+
+While he was trying to make me stand, I suddenly gathered all my energy
+into my right arm and gave him a quick blow in the pit of the stomach.
+With a fearful howl, he let me go and fell upon his knees. A blow in the
+face then made him drop as limp as I had pretended to be; and I resumed
+my flight, this time at a more leisurely pace.
+
+And now all my physical powers seemed to be leaving me. Pains racked my
+head, and I seemed at one time to freeze and burn all over, at another
+time to freeze in one part and burn in another. I ached in my muscles, my
+bones, my stomach. At every step, I felt that it was vastly difficult to
+take another, that it would be ineffably sweet to sink down upon the
+earth and rest. Yet I knew that one taste of that sweetness meant death,
+and I was determined not to lose a life that had been saved from so great
+peril by so great effort. Despite all the soldiers at their command, the
+King of France and the Duke of Guise should not have their will with me.
+At last,--I know not how far from Paris,--I came to an inn. There were
+still a few crowns in my pocket. Forgetting the danger from which I had
+fled, not thinking that it might overtake me here, feeling only the need
+of immediate shelter and rest, I pounded on the door until I got
+admittance. I have never had any but the vaguest recollection of my
+installation at that inn, so near to insensibility I was when I fell
+against its door. I have a dim memory of having exchanged a few words
+with a sleepy, stolid host; of being glad of the darkness of the night,
+for it prevented him from noticing my wet, frozen, begrimed, bedraggled,
+half-dead condition; of my bargaining for the sole occupancy of a room;
+of his leading me up a winding stairway to a chamber; of my plunging from
+the threshold to the bed as soon as the door was opened. I slept for
+several hours. When I awoke, it was about noon, and I was very hungry and
+thirsty. My clothes had dried upon me, and I essayed to put them into a
+fairly presentable condition. I found within my doublet the four letters,
+which had been first soaked and then stiffened. The now useless one
+addressed to the Abbot Foulon, I destroyed; then I went down to the
+kitchen, and saw, with relief, that it was empty. I ate and drank
+hurriedly but ravenously. Again the fear of capture, the impulse to put
+Paris further and further behind, awoke in me. I bought a peasant's cap
+from the landlord, telling him that the wind had blown my hat into the
+river the previous night, and set forth. It was my intention to walk to
+La Tournoire, that my money might last. Afoot I could the better turn
+from the road and conceal myself in woods or fields, at any intimation
+of pursuit. At La Tournoire, I would newly equip myself with clothes,
+weapons, horse, and money; and thence I would ride to Angers, and finally
+away, southward, to Nerac.
+
+It was a fine, sunlit day when I stepped from the inn to take the road
+going southward. I had not gone four steps when I heard horses coming
+from the north. I sought the shelter of a shed at the side of the inn.
+There was a crack between two boards of this shed, through which I could
+look. The horses came into sight, ten of them. The riders were
+brown-faced men, all armed with swords and pistols, and most of them
+having arquebusses slung over their backs. Their leader was a large,
+broad, black-bearded man, with a very ugly red face, deeply scarred on
+the forehead, and with fierce black eyes. He and his men rode up to the
+inn, beat on the door, and, when the host came, ordered each a
+stirrup-cup. When the landlord brought the wine, the leader asked him
+some questions in a low tone. The landlord answered stupidly, shaking his
+head, and the horsemen turned to resume their journey. Just as they did
+so, there rode up, from the south, a merry-looking young cavalier
+followed by two mounted servants. This newcomer gaily hailed the
+ill-looking leader of the troop from the north with the words:
+
+"Ah, M. Barbemouche, whither bound, with your back towards Paris?"
+
+"For Anjou, M. de Berquin," growled the leader.
+
+"What!" said the other, with a grin. "Have you left the Duke of Guise to
+take service with the Duke of Anjou?"
+
+"No, M. le Vicomte," said the leader. "It is neither for nor against the
+Duke of Anjou that we go into his province. It is to catch a rascal who
+may be now on the way to hide on his estate there, and whom my master,
+the Duke of Guise, would like to see back in Paris."
+
+"Indeed? Who is it that has given the Duke of Guise so great a desire for
+his company?"
+
+"The Sieur de la Tournoire," replied Barbemouche. "Have you met him on
+the road?"
+
+"I have never heard of him, before," said the young cavalier,
+indifferently; and he rode on northward, while Barbemouche and his men
+silently took the opposite direction.
+
+He had never heard of me, as he said, nor I of him; yet he was to know
+much of me at a time to come, was the Vicomte de Berquin; and so was
+Barbemouche, the scowling man who was now riding towards Anjou in
+search of me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOW HE FLED SOUTHWARD
+
+
+When one is pursued, one's best course is to pursue the pursuer. So, when
+M. Barbemouche and his troop of Guisards had gone some distance down the
+road, I came forth from the shed and followed them, afoot, keeping well
+to the roadside, ready to vanish, should any of them turn back. It was
+evident that Barbemouche had little or no hope of catching me on the
+road. His plan was to surprise me at my chateau, or to lie there in wait
+for me. He had not shown any persistence in questioning the landlord. The
+latter, through laziness or sheer stupidity, or a fear of incurring blame
+for having sheltered a fugitive, had not given him any information that
+might lead him to suspect that the man he was seeking was so near. So I
+could follow, in comparative safety, into Anjou.
+
+Their horses constantly increased the distance between the Guise
+man-hunters and me, their desired prey. In a few hours they were out of
+sight. Thus they would arrive at La Tournoire long before I could. Not
+finding me there, they would probably put the servants under restraint,
+and wait in ambush for me. Several days of such waiting, I said to
+myself, would exhaust their patience; thereupon, they would give up the
+hope of my seeking refuge at La Tournoire, and would return to their
+master. My best course, therefore, would be to take my time on the road,
+to be on the alert on coming near La Tournoire, and to lie in hiding
+until I should be assured of their departure. In order to consume as much
+time as I could, and to wear out the enemy's patience without putting my
+own to the test, I decided to go first to Angers, deliver Marguerite's
+letters to Monsieur and Bussy d'Amboise, and then make for La Tournoire.
+Therefore, when, after a few days of walking, I came to LeMans, I did not
+turn southward, towards La Tournoire, but followed the Sarthe
+southwestward to Angers.
+
+On this journey, I skirted Rambouillet, Anneau, and the other towns in my
+way, and avoided large inns, for fear of coming up with the Guise party.
+I made my money serve, too, by purchasing cheaply the hospitality of
+farmers and woodmen. My youth had withstood well the experiences
+attending my escape from Paris, and enabled me to fare on the coarse food
+of the peasantry. There was plenty of healthy blood in my veins to keep
+me warm. Outside of my doublet, my shoulders had no covering but the
+light mantle, of which I was now glad that I had been unable to rid
+myself in my swim down the Seine. People who saw me, with my rumpled
+clothes and shapeless ruff and peasant's cap, probably took me for a
+younger son who had endured hard fortune.
+
+Such was my condition when I reached Angers and presented myself at the
+gate of the chateau wherein the Duke of Anjou had taken residence. There
+were many soldiers in and about the town, and horsemen were arriving and
+departing. I might not easily have obtained audience of the Duke, had not
+Bussy d'Amboise ridden up at the head of a small troop of horse, while I
+was waiting at the gate. I called out his name, and he recognized me,
+showing surprise at my appearance. I gave him his letter, and he had me
+conducted to the Duke, who was striding up and down the hall of the
+chateau. His mind was evidently preoccupied, perhaps already with fears
+as to the outcome of his rebellious step, and he did not look at me when
+he took the letter. His face brightened, though, when he saw the
+inscription in Marguerite's handwriting, and he went, immediately, to a
+window to read the letter. Bussy d'Amboise, who had dismounted and come
+in with me, now beckoned me to follow him, and when we were outside, he
+offered to supply me with a horse, money and arms, proposing that I enter
+the service of the Duke of Anjou. But I told him that I was bound for
+Gascony, and when he still offered me some equipment, I protested that I
+would refurnish myself at my own chateau; so he let me go my way. I could
+see that he was in haste to break the seal of Marguerite's letter.
+
+I had gone two leagues or more northward from Angers, and was about to
+turn eastward toward La Tournoire, when I saw a long and brilliant
+cortege approaching from the direction of Paris. Several men-at-arms
+were at the head, then came a magnificent litter, then a number of
+mounted ladies and gentlemen, followed by a host of lackeys, a number of
+mules with baggage, and another body of soldiers. This procession was
+winding down the opposite hillside. The head of it was already crossing
+the bridge over a stream that coursed through the valley toward the
+Sarthe. Slowly it came along the yellow road, the soldiers and gentlemen
+holding themselves erect on their reined-in horses, the ladies chatting
+or laughing, and looking about the country, the wind stirring the plumes
+and trappings, the sunlight sparkling on the armor and halberds of the
+guards, the sword-hilts of the gentlemen, the jewels and rich stuffs
+which shone in the attire of the riders. There were velvet cloaks and
+gowns; satin and silk doublets, breeches, and hose; there were cloth of
+gold and cloth of silver. Here and there the cavalcade passed clumps of
+trees that lined the road, and it was then like pictures you have seen
+in tapestry.
+
+Concealment had lately become an instinctive act with me, and I now
+sought refuge in the midst of some evergreen bushes, at a little distance
+from the road, from which I could view the cavalcade as it passed. On it
+came, the riders throwing back their shoulders as they filled their lungs
+with the bracing country air. The day was a mild one for the time of
+year, and the curtains of the litter were open. Inside sat a number of
+ladies. With a start, I recognized two of the faces. One was Mlle.
+d'Arency's; the other was the Queen-mother's. Mlle. d'Arency was
+narrating something, with a derisive smile, to Catherine, who listened
+with the slightest expression of amusement on her serene face.
+
+Catherine was going to try to persuade her son, the Duke of Anjou, to
+give up his insurrectionary designs and return to the court of his
+brother. I guessed this much, as I lay hidden in the bushes, and I
+heartily wished her failure. As for Mlle. d'Arency, I have no words for
+the bitterness of my thoughts regarding her. I grated my teeth together
+as I recalled how even circumstance itself had aided her. She could have
+had no assurance that in the combat planned by her I should kill De
+Noyard, or that he would not kill me, and yet what she had desired had
+occurred. When the troop had passed, I arose and started for La
+Tournoire. It seemed to me that a sufficient number of days had now
+passed to tire the patience of Barbemouche, and that I might now visit my
+chateau for the short time necessary.
+
+Nevertheless, it was with great caution that I approached the
+neighborhood in which all my life, until my departure for Paris, had been
+passed. At each bend of the road, I stopped and listened before going on.
+When I entered a piece of woods, I searched, with my eyes, each side of
+the road ahead, for a possible ambush. When I approached the top of a
+hill, it was with my ears on the alert for the sound of horsemen or of
+human feet, and, when I reached the crest, I found some spot where, lying
+on my stomach or crouching behind underbrush, I could survey the lowland
+ahead. And so, meeting no indication of peril, treading familiar and
+beloved ground, I at last reached the hill-top from which I would have my
+long-expected view of La Tournoire. It was just sunset; with beating
+heart, I hastened forward, risking something in my eagerness to look
+again upon the home of my fathers. I gazed down, ready to feast my eyes
+on the dear old tower, the peaceful garden, the--
+
+And I saw only a smouldering pile of ruins, not one stone of my chateau
+left upon another, save a part of the stables, before which, heeding the
+desolation no more than crows are repelled by the sight of a dead body,
+sat M. Barbemouche and two of his men throwing dice. Only one tree was
+left in the garden, and from one of its limbs hung the body of a man,
+through which a sword was thrust. By the white hair of the head, I knew
+the body was that of old Michel.
+
+So this was the beginning of the revenge of the Duke of Guise upon a poor
+gentleman for having eluded him; thus he demonstrated that a follower of
+his might not be slain with impunity. And the Duke must have had the
+assurance of the King that this deed would be upheld; nay, probably the
+King, in his design of currying favor with his powerful subject, had
+previously sanctioned this act, or even suggested it, that the Duke might
+have no ground for suspecting him of protecting me.
+
+Grief at the sight of the home of my youth, the house of my ancestors,
+laid low, gave way to rage at the powerful ones to whom that sight was
+due,--the Duke who despoiled me, the King who had not protected me, the
+Queen as whose unknowing tool I had made myself liable to this outrage.
+As I stood on that hill-top, in the dusk, and looked down on the ruins of
+my chateau, I declared myself, until death, the enemy to that Queen, that
+Duke, and that King,--most of all to that King; for, having saved the
+life of his favorite, having taken humble service in his Guards, and
+having received from him a hinted promise of advancement, I had the
+right to expect from him a protection such as he gave every day to
+worthless brawlers.
+
+At nightfall, I went to the hovel of a woodman, on whose fidelity I knew
+I could depend. At my call, he opened the door of his little hut, and
+received me with surprise and joy. With him was a peasant named
+Frolichard.
+
+"Then you are alive, monsieur?" cried the woodman, closing the door after
+me, and making for me a seat on his rude bed.
+
+"As you see," I replied. "I have come to pass the night in your hut.
+To-morrow I shall be off for the south."
+
+"Alas, you have seen what they have done! I knew nothing of it until
+Michel was dead, and the servants came fleeing through the woods. They
+have gone, I know not where, and the tenants, too. All but Frolichard. As
+yet, the soldiers have not found this hut."
+
+By questioning him, I learned that M. Barbemouche had denounced me as a
+heretic and a traitor (I could see how my desertion from the French
+Guards might be taken as implying intended rebellion and treason), and
+had told Michel that my possessions were confiscated. What authority he
+pretended to have, I could not learn. It was probably in wrath at not
+finding me that he had caused the destruction of my chateau, to make
+sure that it might not in any circumstances shelter me again.
+
+I well knew that, whatever my rights might be, my safety lay far from La
+Tournoire; and so did my means of retaliation.
+
+"If I had but a horse and a sword left!" I said.
+
+"There is a horse which I have been using, in my shed," replied the
+forester; "and I made one of the servants leave here the swords that he
+was carrying away in his flight. Moreover, he had filled a bag with
+crowns from Michel's strong box. So you need not leave entirely
+unprovided."
+
+I thanked the faithful fellow as he brought forth the swords and the
+little bag of gold pieces from under his bed, and then I lay down to
+sleep. The peasant Frolichard was already dozing in a corner by the fire.
+
+I was awakened suddenly by a shake of the shoulder. The woodman stood by
+the bed, with every sign of alarm on his face.
+
+"Monsieur," he whispered, "I fear you would best eat and begone. That
+cursed rascal, Frolichard, left while I was asleep. I am sure that the
+devil has been too much for him. He has probably gone to tell the
+soldiers that you are here. Eat, monsieur!"
+
+I sprang up, and saw that the forester had already prepared some
+porridge for me.
+
+"It is nearly dawn," he added, as I looked around I swallowed a few
+mouthfuls of the porridge, and chose the better one of the swords. Then I
+took up the little bag of golden crowns, and went out to mount horse. The
+animal that the woodman held for me was a sorry one, the ugliest and
+oldest of my stable.
+
+Yet I rode blithely through the woods, happy to have again a horse
+under me, and a sword at my side. I knew that the forester could take
+care of himself as long as there should remain woods to hunt in or
+streams to fish in.
+
+When I reached, the road it was daylight. I made for the hill-top, and
+stopped for a last look at my fields. I did not have to hesitate as to my
+course. In my doublet was Marguerite's letter, to be borne to the King of
+Navarre. Yet there was another reason why I should not attach myself to
+the Duke of Anjou, although he was already in rebellion against the King:
+the look on his face, when I saw him at Angers, had convinced me that he
+would not hold out. Should Catherine not win him back to allegiance, his
+own weakness would. I would place my hopes in the future of Henri of
+Navarre. Nothing could, as yet, be predicted with assurance concerning
+this Prince, who, being the head of the house of Bourbon, which
+constituted the younger branch of the Royalty of France, was the highest,
+by blood, of the really Huguenot leaders. Some, however, whispered that
+there was more in him than appeared in his amours and his adventures of
+the chase.
+
+I was just about to turn my horse's head towards the south, when a man
+came out of my half-ruined stable and looked up at me. Instantly he
+called to some one in the stable, and two or three other soldiers came
+out. I recognized the burly form of one of these as that of Barbemouche.
+Another figure, a limp and cringing one, was that of Frolichard the
+peasant. Barbemouche gave some orders, and two or three brought horses
+out of the stable. I knew what all this meant.
+
+I turned my horse, and galloped off towards the south. In a few moments I
+heard the footfalls of galloping horses behind me. Again I was the object
+of a chase.
+
+When I had gone some distance, I looked back and saw my hunters coming,
+ten of them, down the hillside behind me. But the morning was bracing,
+and my horse had more life in him than at first sight appeared. I put
+another hill behind me, but in time my followers appeared at its crest.
+Now they gained on me, now I seemed to leave them further behind. All day
+this race continued. I bore directly southward, and hence passed far east
+of Angers. I soon made up my mind that M. Barbemouche was a man of
+persistence. I did not stop anywhere for food or drink. Neither did M.
+Barbemouche. I crossed the Loire at Saumur. So did he.
+
+"Very well," I said. "If my horse only holds out, I will lead you all the
+way to Gascony."
+
+Once I let my horse eat and rest; twice I let him drink.
+
+At nightfall, the sound of the hoofs behind me gradually died away. My
+own beast was foaming and panting, so I reined in to a walk. Near Loudun,
+I passed an inn whose look of comfort, I thought, would surely tempt my
+tired pursuers to tarry, if, indeed, they should come so far. Some hours
+later, coming to another and smaller inn, and hearing no sound of pursuit
+behind me, I decided to stop for a few hours, or until the tramp of
+horses' feet should disturb the silence of the night.
+
+The inn kitchen, as I entered, was noisy with shouts and curses. One
+might have expected to find a whole company of soldiers there, but to my
+surprise, I saw only one man. This was a robust young fellow, with a big
+round face, piercing gray eyes, fiercely up-sprouting red mustache, and a
+double--pointed reddish beard. There was something irresistibly
+pugnacious, and yet good-natured, in the florid face of this person. He
+sat on a bench beside a table, forcibly detaining an inn maid with his
+left arm, and holding a mug of wine in his right hand. Beside him, on the
+bench, lay a sword, and in his belt was a pistol. He wore a brown cloth
+doublet, brown breeches, and green hose.
+
+"A thousand devils!" he roared, as I entered. "Must a fighting man stand
+and beg for a kiss from a tavern wench? I don't believe in any of your
+painted saints, wooden or ivory, but I swear by all of them, good-looking
+girls are made to be hugged, and I was made to hug them! Here, you ten
+times damned dog of a landlord, bring me another bottle of your filthy
+wine, or I'll make a hole in your barrel of a body! Be quick, or I'll
+roast you on your own spit, and burn down your stinking old inn!" At this
+moment he saw me, as I stood in the doorway. "Come, monsieur!" he cried,
+"I'm not fastidious, curse me, and you might drink with me if you were
+the poxy old Pope himself! Here, wench, go and welcome the gentleman with
+a kiss!" And he shoved the girl towards me and began to pound, in sheer
+drunken turbulence, on the table with his mug.
+
+I left the kitchen to this noisy guest, and took a room up-stairs, where
+the landlord presently brought me light and supper.
+
+I paid in advance for my night's lodging, and arranged to have access, at
+any time during the night, to the shed in which was my horse, so that at
+the least alarm I might make hasty flight. I opened my window, that the
+sound of horses on the road might be audible to me from a distance.
+Then, having eaten, I put out my light and lay down, in my clothes, ready
+on occasion to rise and drop from the window, take horse, and be off.
+
+From the kitchen, below, came frequent sounds emitted or caused by the
+tipsy young Hercules in the brown doublet. Now he bellowed for wine, now
+he thundered forth profanity, now he filled the place with the noise of
+Gargantuan laughter; now he sang at the top or the depth of his big, full
+voice; then could be heard the crash of furniture in collision. These
+sounds continued until far into the night.
+
+I had intended not to sleep, but to lie with ears alert. I could not yet
+bring myself to feel that I was safe from pursuit. So used had I become
+to a condition of flight, that I could not throw off the feeling of being
+still pursued. And yet, I had hoped that Barbemouche would tire of the
+chase. My plan had not been to confuse him as to my track, by taking
+by-roads or skirting the towns, but merely to outrun him. Because I
+wished to reach Nerac at the earliest possible moment, and because the
+country was new to me and I desired not to lose my way, I had held to the
+main road southward, being guided in direction by the sun or the stars.
+Moreover, had I made detours, or skirted cities, Barbemouche might have
+gone ahead by the main road and lain in wait further south for my coming
+up, for Frolichard, the peasant, had heard me tell the woodman my
+destination. So, in that first day's flight, I had trusted to the speed
+of my horse, and now there was some reason to believe that Barbemouche
+had abandoned pursuit, as the soldiers had done who chased me from Paris.
+And yet, it seemed to me that this ugly Barbemouche was not one to give
+up his chosen prey so soon.
+
+Despite my intention, I feel asleep, and when I awoke it was daylight. I
+sprang up and went cautiously down-stairs, sword in hand. But there was
+no danger. Only the host and a servant were stirring in the inn. I made a
+rapid breakfast, and went to see my horse fed. Before the shed, I saw the
+young man who had made such drunken tumult in the kitchen the previous
+night. He was just about to mount his horse; but there was now nothing of
+the roysterer about his look or manner. He had restored neatness to his
+attire, and his expression was sedate and humble, though strength and
+sturdiness were as apparent in him as ever.
+
+"A fine morning," I said, as the inn-servant brought out my own horse.
+
+"Yes, monsieur," said the young man, in a very respectful tone. "A
+sunrise like this is a gift from the good God."
+
+"Yet you look pensive."
+
+"It is because I know how little I deserve such mercy as to live on such
+a day," answered the man, gravely; and he bowed politely, and rode
+southward.
+
+This devoutness and humility impressed me as being strangely out of
+harmony with the profanity and turbulence of the night before, yet the
+one seemed no less genuine than the other.
+
+My horse fed, I mounted and rode after the sturdy youth.
+
+Not far from Mirebeau, happening to turn my head towards the north, I
+saw, in the distance, a group of horsemen approaching at a steady gallop.
+From having looked back at this group many times during the preceding
+day, I had stamped certain of its figures on my memory, and I now
+recognized it as Barbemouche and his party.
+
+"Another day of it," I said, to myself, and spurred my horse to a gallop.
+
+An increase in their own pace told me that they in turn had
+recognized me.
+
+"This grows monotonous," I mused. "If there were only fewer of them, or
+more of me, I would make a stand."
+
+Presently I came up with the young man in the brown doublet. He stared at
+me with a look of inquiry as I passed at such speed; then he looked back
+and saw the distant horsemen coming on at equal speed. He appeared to
+realize the situation at a glance. Without a word, he gave his own horse
+a touch of the spur, with the manifest intention of keeping my company in
+my flight.
+
+"You have a good horse," I said to him, at the same time watching him out
+of the corner of my eye, seeking some indication that might show whether,
+on occasion, he would stand as my friend or my enemy.
+
+"Better than yours, I fear, monsieur," he replied.
+
+"Mine has been hard run," I said, lightly.
+
+Presently he looked back, and said:
+
+"Ah, the devil! Your friends, back there, are sending out an advance
+guard. Three of them are making a race of it, to see which shall have the
+honor of first joining you."
+
+I looked back. It was true; three of them were bearing down with
+great speed, evidently on fresh horses. Barbemouche remained back
+with the rest.
+
+I urged on my horse.
+
+"It is useless, monsieur," said the young man at my side. "Your beast is
+no match for theirs. Besides, you will not find a better place to make a
+stand than the bridge yonder." And he pointed ahead to a bridge that
+crossed a narrow stream that lay between high banks.
+
+"What, face ten men?" I said.
+
+"There are only three. The thing may be over before the others come up."
+
+I laughed. "Well, admitting that, three against one--" I began.
+
+"Oh, there will be two of us," replied the other.
+
+My heart gave a joyous bound, but I said, "I cannot expect you to risk
+your life in my quarrel."
+
+And he answered, "By God! I myself have a quarrel with every man that
+wears on his hat the white cross of the Guises!" His grey eyes flashed,
+his face became red with wrath. "Let us stop, monsieur."
+
+We stopped and turned our horses on the narrow bridge. We both drew sword
+and waited. My new-found ally threw back his hat, and I saw across his
+forehead a deep red scar, which I had not before noticed.
+
+The three men rode up to the attack. They all stopped suddenly before
+they reached the bridge.
+
+"Give up your sword and come with us, monsieur," cried one of them to me.
+
+I said nothing. "Go to hell!" roared my companion. And with that he
+charged with the fury of a wild beast, riding between two of the
+horsemen, and thrusting his sword through the eye and into the brain of
+one before either could make the least show of defence. His horse coming
+to a quick stop, he drew his weapon out of the slain man's head and
+turned on the other. While there was some violent fencing between the
+two, and while the dead man's horse reared, and so rid itself of its
+bleeding burden, the third horseman urged his horse towards me. I turned
+the point of his rapier, whereupon he immediately backed, and then came
+for me again just as I charged on him. Each was too quick to meet the
+other's steel with steel. His sword passed under my right arm and my
+sword under his right arm, and we found ourselves linked together, arm to
+arm. I saw him reach with his left hand for his dagger, and I grew sick
+at the thought that I had no similar weapon with which to make matters
+even. He plucked the dagger from his belt, and raised it to plunge it
+into my back; but his wrist was caught in a clutch of iron. My man in the
+brown doublet, in backing his horse to make another charge on his still
+remaining opponent, had seen my antagonist's motion, and now, with a
+twist of his vigorous fingers, caused the dagger to fall from a limp arm.
+Then my comrade returned to meet his own enemy, and I was again on equal
+terms with mine. We broke away from each other. I was the quicker to
+right myself, and a moment later he fell sidewise from his horse, pierced
+through the right lung.
+
+I backed my horse to the middle of the bridge, and was joined by my
+stalwart friend, who had done for his second man with a dagger thrust
+in the side.
+
+"Whew!" he panted, holding his dripping weapons on either side of him, so
+as not to get any more blood on his clothes. Then a grin of satisfaction
+appeared on his perspiring face, and he said:
+
+"Three Guisards less to shout '_Vive la messe_.' It's a pity we haven't
+time to exchange horses with these dead whelps of hell. But the others
+are coming up, and we ought to rest awhile."
+
+We sheathed our weapons and spurred on our horses, again southward.
+Looking back, soon, we saw that the other pursuers, on coming up to their
+dead comrades, had chosen first to look after the belongings of the
+latter rather than to avenge their deaths. And while Barbemouche and his
+men, of whom there were now six, tarried over the dead bodies, we made
+such good speed that at last we were out of sight of them.
+
+My first use of my returned breath was to thank my stalwart ally.
+
+He received my gratitude with great modesty, said that the Lord had
+guided his arm in the fight, and expressed himself with a humility that
+was in complete contrast to the lion-like fury shown by him in the
+combat. Judging him, from his phrases, to be a Huguenot, I asked whether
+he was one, by birth, as I was.
+
+"By birth, from my mother," he replied. "My father was a Catholic, and in
+order to win my mother, he pretended to have joined the reformers. That
+deceit was the least of his many rascally deeds. He was one of the chosen
+instruments of the devil,--a violent, roystering cut-throat, but a good
+soldier, as was shown in Italy and at St. Quentin, Calais, Jarnac, and
+elsewhere. My mother, though only the daughter of an armorer's workman,
+was, in goodness, an angel. I thank God that she sometimes has the upper
+hand in me, although too often it is my father that prevails in me." He
+sighed heavily, and looked remorseful.
+
+In subsequent talk, as we rode, I learned that he was a soldier who had
+learned war, when a boy, under Coligny. He had fought at his father's
+side against Italians, Spanish, and English, and against his father in
+civil war. His father had died of a knife-wound, received, not in battle,
+but from a comrade in a quarrel about a woman, during the sacking of a
+town. His mother, when the news of the fate of her unworthy spouse
+reached the village where she lived, died of grief. The son was now
+returning from that village, which was near Orleans, and whither he had
+been on a visit to his relations, to Gascony, where he had been employed
+as a soldier in the small army with which Henri of Navarre made shift to
+garrison his towns.
+
+I told him that I hoped to find a place in that little army.
+
+"You do well, monsieur," said the young soldier, whose intelligence and
+native dignity made him, despite his peasant origin, one with whom a
+gentleman might converse. "Some day they will learn in France of what
+stuff the little Bearnaise King is made. I have stood watching him when
+he little supposed that a common soldier might take note of such things,
+and I have seen on his face the sign of great intentions. More goes on
+under that black hair than people guess at,--he can do more than drink
+and hunt and make love and jest and swear."
+
+He was in no haste to reach Gascony, he said, and so he intended to visit
+a former comrade who dwelt in a village some leagues from my road. In the
+afternoon, coming to the by-road which led to this place, he left me,
+with the words:
+
+"My name is Blaise Tripault, and should it happen that you ever enroll a
+company for the King of Navarre--"
+
+"The first name on my list shall be Blaise Tripault," I replied, smiling,
+and rode on, alone.
+
+Whenever I heard riders behind me, I looked back. At evening I reached an
+eminence which gave a good view of the country through which I had
+passed. Two groups of horsemen were visible. One of these consisted of
+seven men. The chief figure was a burly one which I could not mistake,--
+that of Barbemouche.
+
+"_Peste_!" I muttered, frowning. "So they are following me into Poitou!
+Am I never to have any rest?"
+
+I took similar precautions that night to those which I had taken the
+night before. The next day, about noon, emerging out of a valley, I saw
+my pursuers on the top of the hill at my rear. Plainly, they intended to
+follow me to the end of the earth. I hoped they would stop in Poitiers
+and get drunk, but they tarried there no more than I. And so it was,
+later, at Civray and at Angouleme.
+
+Every day I got one or two glimpses of this persistent pack of hounds.
+Every night I used like measures to make sudden flight possible. One
+night the sound for which I kept my ears expectant reached them,--the
+sound of horses' hoofs on the hard road. I dropped from the open window
+of the inn at which I was, led out my horse from the shed, and made off,
+southward. The noise made by their own horses prevented my pursuers from
+hearing that made by mine. Presently the clatter abruptly ceased,
+whereupon I knew that they had stopped at the inn which I had left. My
+relief at this was offset by chagrin at a discovery made by me at the
+same moment: I had left my bag of golden crowns in the inn chamber. I
+dared not now go back for them. Well, Nerac could not be far away, now. I
+had traversed a good part of Guienne. The Dordogne was behind me.
+
+I was glad that I had taken better care of the letter from Marguerite to
+her husband than I had taken of my crowns. Fortunately it had not left
+my doublet. I felt that my future depended on the delivery of that
+letter. There could be no doubt that Marguerite had recommended me in it
+with a favor that would obtain for me both protection and employment from
+the King of Navarre.
+
+Daylight came, and with it hunger. I stopped at an inn, and was about to
+dismount, when I remembered that I had no money.
+
+I could do without food for a time, but my horse could not. I told the
+landlord,--a short, heavy, square-faced, small-eyed man,--that I would,
+later, send him payment for a breakfast. He looked at me with a
+contempt that even a peasant dare show to a gentleman, when the
+gentleman has no money.
+
+"Very well, then," I said. "I will leave you security."
+
+He looked more respectful at this, and made a quick examination of me
+with his eyes.
+
+"Unless you have some jewelry about you," he said, "your sword is the
+only thing that I would accept."
+
+"You clod," I exclaimed, in a rage. "I ought to give you my sword through
+the body."
+
+"A gentleman ought not to demand, for nothing, that which a poor man
+makes his living by selling," answered the host, turning to go in.
+
+I looked down at my horse, which had already shown an endurance beyond
+its stock, and which now turned its eyes, hungrily, towards the inn
+stable. At the same time I thought I heard the sound of hoofs, away
+northward. After all, the delivery of the letter depended more on the
+horse than on my sword, for one horse is more likely to beat seven horses
+than one sword to beat seven swords.
+
+To try whether it were possible, I made one movement, as if to hand over
+the weapon. But my arm refused. As well try to pluck the heart out of my
+body, and give it to the dog's keeping. Rather kill the man on his own
+threshold and, like a brigand, help myself. But I chose to be merciful.
+
+"Be quick, then," I said. "Bring me some wine, and feed my horse as it
+stands here. I could take, for nothing, what you ask such high
+security for."
+
+"And I have three strong sons," said the innkeeper, impudently. But he
+brought the wine, and ordered one of his sons to bring oats for the
+horse. So we made our breakfast there, horse and man, standing before the
+inn door. When the animal had licked up the last grain, I suddenly hurled
+the heavy wine-mug at the innkeeper's head, wheeled my horse about, and
+galloped off, shouting back to the half-stunned rascal, "Your three sons
+must be swift, as well as strong, to take my sword." And I rode on,
+southward.
+
+"Will the Guisards follow me over this river, also?" I asked myself, as
+I crossed the Garonne.
+
+In the afternoon, I stopped for another look backward. There was not a
+soul to be seen on the road.
+
+"Adieu, M. Barbemouche!" I said. "I believe you have grown tired of
+me at last."
+
+At that instant a group appeared at the distant turn of the road. I
+counted them. Seven! And they were coming on at the speed of the wind.
+
+I patted my horse on his quivering neck. "Come, old comrade," I said.
+"Now for one last, long race. In your legs lies my future."
+
+He obeyed the spur, and his increased pace revealed a slight lameness,
+which had not before been perceptible.
+
+"We have only to reach some Gascon town," I said to him. "The soldiers
+of the King of Navarre will protect the bearer of a letter to him from
+their Queen."
+
+I turned in my saddle, and looked back. They were gaining ground.
+
+"They know that this is their last chance," I said. "We are near the
+country held by the King of Navarre, and so they make a last effort
+before giving up the chase. On, my staunch fellow! You shall have fine
+trappings, and shall fare as well as your master, for this!"
+
+The animal maintained its pace as if it understood; but it panted
+heavily and foamed, its eyes took on a wild look, and its lameness
+increased.
+
+"They are coming nearer, there is no doubt of it!" I told myself. "Have I
+escaped from the Louvre and from Paris, led my enemies a chase through
+five provinces, to be taken when refuge is at last in sight? Shall
+Marguerite's letter to Henri of Navarre fall into the hands of those who
+wish him no good?"
+
+Tears gushed from my eyes as I thought of the cruelty of destiny, which
+had sustained me so far in order to betray me at the end. I took the
+letter from my doublet, and held it ready to tear into pieces should I
+indeed be caught. Although Marguerite was thought to have secrets with
+the Duke of Guise, it was likely that she would not wish him to know what
+she might write to her husband, whose political ally she always was.
+
+And now my horse dropped its head lower at each bound forward. The seven
+horses behind showed no sign of tiring.
+
+"Thank God, I kept my sword! I can kill one of them, at least!"
+
+I no longer looked back. Blindly forward I went, impelled only to defer
+the end to the last possible moment. God knew what might yet intervene.
+
+Suddenly my horse gave a snort of pain, stumbled blindly, and fell to his
+knees. He slid forward a short distance, carried on by his impetus, and
+then turned over on his side, and lay quivering. I had taken my feet from
+the stirrups at his stumble, so that I now stood over his body.
+
+I heard the loud clank of the hoofs behind. I stepped over the horse, and
+drew my sword. A short distance ahead was a clump of scrubby pines; there
+I would turn and make my stand.
+
+Then was the time when I might have torn up the letter, had I not
+suddenly forgotten my intention. I held it clutched in my hand,
+mechanically, as I ran. I was conscious of only one thing,--that death
+was bearing down on me. The sound of the horses' footfalls filled my
+ears. Louder and louder came that sound, drowning even the quick panting
+of my breath. Again came that aching in the side, that intolerable pain
+which I had felt in my flight from Paris.
+
+I pressed my hand to my side, and plunged forward. Suddenly the road
+seemed to rise and strike me in the face. I had fallen prostrate, and now
+lay half-stunned on the earth. I had just time to turn over on my back,
+that I might face my pursuers, when the foremost horse came up.
+
+"Well, my man," cried the rider, in a quick, nervous voice, as I looked
+stupidly up at his short, sturdy figure, hooked nose, keen eyes, black
+hair and beard, and shrewd, good-natured face, "did you think the devil
+was after you, that you ran so hard? _Ventre Saint Gris_! You would make
+an excellent courier."
+
+"I am a courier," I answered, trying to rise. "I ran so fast that I might
+soon reach Nerac with this letter for your majesty."
+
+And I held the letter out to King Henri of Navarre.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+HOW HE ANNOYED MONSIEUR DE LA CHATRE
+
+
+I had never seen Henri of Navarre, before, but had often heard him
+described, and no other man exactly fitted his description. His favorite
+oath confirmed my recognition.
+
+He took the letter, saying, "It looks as if it had been through fire
+and flood"
+
+"I had to swim the Seine with it," I said.
+
+He read it, sitting on his horse in the middle of the road, I standing
+beside the horse, the other six riders eyeing me curiously.
+
+Having finished it, he looked at me with some interest and approval. "And
+what made you run from us?" he asked.
+
+"Sire, there were seven horsemen left in the party that has been chasing
+me for some days past. Counting seven in your group, I too quickly
+assumed that it was the same."
+
+The King of Navarre laughed, and ordered one of the lackeys to give me
+his horse and proceed afoot to the nearest town. When I was mounted, he
+asked me to ride beside him.
+
+"The speed at which you rode excited our curiosity," he explained, "and
+that is why we gave chase."
+
+I learned, later, that Henri and three of his gentlemen, with three
+valets, had been inspecting the defences of one of his Gascon towns, and
+were now returning to Nerac. He sometimes traversed those parts of his
+French provinces where his authority as governor was recognized, without
+any state, and often without a guard.
+
+In reply to his questions, I said that I preferred a military position to
+a civil one, but confessed my inexperience. He told me that I might serve
+as ensign in one of his regiments, at Nerac, until I should acquire some
+knowledge of military affairs, when he would give me a captain's
+commission, and I might enlist a company.
+
+I told him of the destruction of my chateau, and the loss of my money. He
+thereupon required me to accept the horse on which I rode, and a purse
+which one of the valets handed over to me. As he then beckoned one of his
+gentlemen to his side, I fell back. We entered Nerac in the evening. As
+soon as the gate was passed, the King and his followers turned towards
+the chateau, and I took the main street to an inn.
+
+The King of Navarre kept his promises. I had been ensign for only a few
+months, stationed at Nerac, when he sent for me, and informed me that he
+intended to augment his army, and that he would maintain a company of my
+raising. He caused a captain's commission to be given to me before I left
+the chateau. I walked thence, down the avenue of fine trees, which were
+now in full leaf, before the chateau, debating with myself the
+possibility of easily raising a company. When I reached the square before
+the inn, I heard from within a human roar which had a familiar sound.
+Entering, I found that it proceeded from the stentorian lungs of Blaise
+Tripault, the young soldier who had aided my flight to Gascony by killing
+two Guisards in my defence. He was sitting at a table, very drunk.
+
+"Ah, Blaise Tripault," I cried, "I see that your father prevails
+in you now!"
+
+He recognized me, threw his bottle of wine out of the open window, and
+made an attempt at sobriety.
+
+"You have been long on the way to Nerac," I went on, "but you come just
+in time to keep your promise. I enroll you first in the company which the
+King has commissioned me to raise."
+
+"I thank you, monsieur," he replied. "I will now go to bed, and will come
+to you as soon as I am sober."
+
+He was of great use to me in enlisting the company. He scoured the
+country daily, and brought me recruits. When the roll was complete, I was
+ordered to remain at Nerac for a time. Subsequently, I was sent to
+garrison different towns, one after another, not only in Gascony and
+parts of Guienne but also in Henri's principality of Bearn and his little
+kingdom of Navarre.
+
+I am proud to have had a share in the constant efforts made by Henri of
+Navarre, while the world thought him given over entirely to gallantry at
+his small but agreeable court, to increase his territory and his
+resources against the time when he was to strike the great blows that no
+one yet dreamed he was meditating. Thanks to the unwillingness, or
+inability, of the King of France to put him in actual possession of his
+governorship of Guienne, we had the pleasant task, now and then, of
+wresting some town from the troops of the League or of Henri III. Our
+Henri had to take by force the places ceded to him by the King of France
+as Marguerite's dower, but still withheld from him. One of these was
+Cahors, in the taking of which I fought for days in the streets, always
+near our Henri, where the heart of the fighting was. It was there that
+Blaise Tripault covered himself with glory and the blood of the enemy,
+and was openly praised by the King.
+
+But my life in the south had other pleasures besides those of fighting.
+As Henri's was a miniature kingdom, so was his court, at cheerful Nerac
+or sombre Pau, a miniature court; yet it had its pretty women and
+gallant gentlemen. Gaiety visited us, too, from the greater world. When
+the King of France and the Queen-mother thought it to their interest to
+seem friendly to our Henri, they ordered Marguerite to Nerac. Catherine
+herself came with her, bringing the Flying Squadron, that Henri and his
+Huguenots might be seduced into the onesided treaties desired by her.
+Catherine was one of the few, I think, who foresaw Henri's possible
+future. Her astrologer, Cosmo Ruggieri, had predicted that he would
+succeed her three sons to the throne of France, and I suppose she could
+not endure the thought of this. Better a Guise than a Bourbon, the son
+of Jeanne d'Albret. But our Henri might be useful to her as an
+instrument to check the Duke of Guise in any attempted usurpation
+during the life of her son. Therefore, Henri was to be cajoled while he
+was being restrained. But he was not fooled into disadvantageous
+compacts or concessions. All that he lost was a single town, which
+Catherine caused to be attacked while he was at a fete; but he learned
+of this at the fete, and retaliated by taking a town of the French
+King's on the same night.
+
+I was presented to Catherine while she was at Nerac. No allusion was made
+to the circumstances which had caused my flight from Paris, or, indeed,
+to my having ever been in Paris. Yet, from her scrutiny of my features, I
+knew that she recalled those circumstances with my name. But Nerac was
+not the place where it would serve her to concern herself about me. I
+learned from one of Catherine's gentlemen that Mlle. d'Arency, who had
+not come with her to Nerac, had wedded the Marquis de Pirillaume, who was
+jealous and kept her on his estate in Dauphiny, away from the court. I
+wished him joy of her.
+
+When Catherine and her troop went back to the French court, leaving
+Marguerite at Nerac, they could boast of a few Huguenot gentlemen won
+over to their designs, but I was not one of the few. I do not say that I
+did not amuse myself where charming women abounded, but I kept my heart
+to myself. I had not resolved to become invulnerable to woman, but I had
+determined that she by whom I would let myself be wounded should be one
+vastly unlike any in Catherine's train. When I should find the woman pure
+as beautiful, incapable of guile, I would love. "Somewhere in France," I
+often said to myself, "that woman exists. I shall know her when I see
+her." As in the former affair, I had my ideal already formed, and was
+already in love, watching for the embodiment of that ideal to appear. But
+this second ideal was different from the first. And it is time to tell
+how at last I met her,--and how, for a while, the reality seemed worse
+even than the first The death of the Duke of Anjou, after his
+reconciliation with the King, his brother, and his failure to win the
+crown he sought in the Netherlands, was a great event for us in Gascony.
+It left our Henri of Navarre next in succession to the throne of France.
+And our Henri was a sturdy man, while Henri III. seemed marked by destiny
+to follow the three other sons of Catherine to an early grave. It
+appeared that Marguerite monopolized all the longevity granted to the
+family. But we knew that the Guises and their League would not let our
+Huguenot Henri peacefully ascend his throne. Therefore, Henri's policy
+was to strengthen himself against the time when the death of Henri III.
+should leave the throne vacant for him. It was his interest also to
+prevent a usurpation of that throne during the life of Henri III., for
+such a usurpation would eventually exclude himself also. Thus
+circumstance made him the natural ally of Henri III. It was, conversely,
+the interest of the Guises to sow enmity between the two kings. The power
+of the League in France, and particularly in Paris, was now so great that
+Henri III. dared not oppose the wishes of the Duke of Guise. He was
+reduced to devices for gaining time. And so, against his own interest, he
+sanctioned the war which the League presently demanded against the
+Huguenots,--a war which might do two things for the Duke of Guise:
+destroy the next heir to the throne, and deprive the present King of his
+chief resource against a usurpation. For the present, the Duke of Guise
+cloaked his design by having the Pope proclaim the old Cardinal de
+Bourbon heir to the throne, our Henri being declared ineligible on
+account of heresy.
+
+In the summer of 1585, the King of France issued anti-Huguenot edicts
+required by the League. Governors of provinces were ordered to make it
+uncomfortable for the "heretics." Several of them promptly obeyed,
+arresting some Huguenots for remaining in their provinces, and arresting
+others for trying to escape therefrom. By this time, Henri of Navarre had
+gathered a sufficient army and acquired a sufficient number of towns to
+hold his own in Guienne, and, indeed, throughout southwestern France. The
+Prince de Conde also put a Huguenot army in the field. Pending the actual
+opening of war, which the edicts of Henri III. foreshadowed, our Henri
+maintained a flying camp in Guienne. Every day recruits came, some of
+them with stories of persecution to which they had been subjected, some
+with accounts of difficulty in escaping from their provinces. One day I
+was summoned to the presence of Henri of Navarre.
+
+"M. de la Tournoire," said he, speaking with his usual briskness and
+directness, "there are, in most of the provinces of France, many
+Huguenots who have publicly recanted, to save their lives and estates.
+Many of these are secretly for us. They would join me, but they fear to
+do so lest their estates be confiscated. These are to be assured that
+what they may lose now by aiding me shall some day be restored to them.
+Here is a list of a number of such gentlemen in the province of Berry,
+and you are to give them the assurances necessary to enlist them in our
+cause. Use what persuasions you can. Take your company, and find some
+place of concealment among the hills of the southern border of Berry. You
+can thus provide escort in crossing the border for those who may need it.
+Where you can in any way aid a Huguenot to escape from the province,
+where you can rescue one from death or prison, do so, always on condition
+of promised service in our cause. As for the gentlemen whose names are on
+this list, have them bring, as contributions, what money and arms they
+can. We are in even greater need of these than of men. Impress upon these
+gentlemen that their only hope of ultimate security lies in our triumph.
+It is a task of danger with which I charge you, monsieur, and I know that
+you will, therefore, the more gladly undertake it. The governor of Berry,
+M. de la Chatre, is one of the bulwarks of the League. I learn that he is
+enforcing the edicts of Henri III. against the Protestants with the
+greatest zeal. He is devoted to the Duke of Guise, and is one of our most
+formidable enemies. It will not, therefore, be well for you to fall into
+his hands. Go, monsieur, and God be with you!"
+
+I bowed my thanks for the favor of this dangerous mission, and went
+away with the list in my doublet, proud of having been made the
+confidant of Henri's resolution to fight for his rights to the end. I
+was elated, too, at the opportunity to work against the King of France
+and the Duke of Guise.
+
+To annoy and hamper M. de la Chatre in his work of carrying out the
+public edicts of the King and the secret designs of the Duke, would give
+me the keenest joy. For once, both my great enemies, usually so opposed
+to each other in interest, could be injured at the same time by the same
+deeds; and such deeds would help my beloved captain, by whom I had been
+chosen to perform them. I could hardly contain my happiness when I
+returned to my company, and ordered immediate preparations for a night's
+march northward.
+
+We set out, myself and Tripault mounted, the others afoot, with several
+horses bearing provisions and supplies. Marching at night, and concealing
+ourselves in the forests by day, we at last reached the mountains that
+form part of the southern boundary of Berry. They were thickly wooded,
+and though the month of August made them a series of masses of deep
+green, they presented a sombre aspect.
+
+"It is somewhere up there," I said, pointing toward the still and
+frowning hills before us, "that we are to find a burrow, from which to
+issue forth, now and then, to the plains on the other side."
+
+"The only man in the company who knows this country," replied my devoted
+squire, Blaise Tripault, "is Frojac, but he makes up for the ignorance of
+the others by knowing it very well. He can lead us to the most deserted
+spot among these mountains, where there is an abandoned chateau, which is
+said to be under a curse."
+
+"If part of it is under a roof as well, so much the better," I answered.
+"Bring Frojac to me."
+
+Blaise rode back along the irregular line formed by my rude soldiers,
+picked out an intelligent looking young arquebusier, and led him forward
+to me. I made this man, Frojac, our guide.
+
+After toilsome marches, forcing our way up wooded ascents devoid of human
+habitation, and through almost impenetrable thickets of brushwood, we
+crossed the highest ridge of the mountain chain, and from a bare spot, a
+natural clearing, gazed down on the Creuse, which wound along the line
+formed by the northern base of the mountains. Beyond that lay the
+province of Berry, which was to be the scene of our operations. Some
+leagues to the northeast, crowning a rocky eminence that rose from the
+left bank of the Creuse, stood a mass of grim-looking towers and high
+gray walls. From the southern side of this edifice, a small town ran down
+the declivity to the plain.
+
+"What is that place yonder?" I asked.
+
+"It is the town and chateau of Clochonne," said Frojac.
+
+"Who occupies the chateau?"
+
+"It belongs to M. de la Chatre, the governor of the province, who
+sometimes comes there. A part of it is occupied by a garrison."
+
+We resumed our progress through the forest, now descending the northern
+slope of the ridge. After some hours, when night was already beginning to
+fall in the woods, Frojac pointed ahead to a knoll covered with huge
+trees between whose trunks the space was choked with lesser vegetation.
+
+"There it is," he said. "The Chateau de Maury."
+
+We made our way through the thicket, and came suddenly upon ruined walls,
+rising in the midst of trees. Wild growths of various kinds filled up
+what had been the courtyard, and invaded the very doors. The broken walls
+and cracked towers themselves seemed as much a part of nature as the
+trees and bushes were. Branches thrust themselves through apertures in
+the crumbling stone. Southward from the foot of the knoll rose the
+mountains, eastward and westward extended an undulating natural platform
+that interrupted the descent of the mountain side. Northward the ground
+fell in a steep precipice to the left bank of the Creuse, along which ran
+a little-used road from Clochonne, which was northeast, to Narjec, which
+was southwest.
+
+"Is there a path down the slope, by which we could reach that road,
+should we wish to go north by way of Clochonne?" I asked.
+
+"I do not think so," replied Frojac. "But there used to be a road from
+here to Clochonne, through the forest. It has not been used since the
+Sieur de Maury left, twenty years ago, to hunt for gold in the new world.
+They said that, before going, he made a compact with the devil, here, by
+which Satan was to lead him to a land of gold across the sea. The devil
+is believed to be taking care of his estate until he returns. Perhaps
+this road has not been entirely wiped out by the forest."
+
+A part of the chateau was yet under roof. This portion included the hall
+and three or four chambers above it. On the day after our arrival, we
+found the road through the forest still sufficiently open to serve us for
+expeditious egress. This abandoned way did not itself go to Clochonne,
+but it ran into a road that went from that town southward across the
+mountain. At the point of junction was the abode of an old woodman and
+his wife, where the couple maintained a kind of inn for the
+entertainment of people crossing the mountain. This man, Godeau, was
+rheumatic, bent, thin, timid, shrill-voiced, and under the domination of
+his large, robust, strong-lunged spouse, Marianne. By means of a little
+flattery, a gold piece, promises of patronage, and hints of dire
+vengeance upon any who might betray me, I secured this woman's complete
+devotion. These two were the only human dwellers within two leagues of
+our chosen hiding-place.
+
+In Guienne, my master considered as enemies those who did not acknowledge
+his authority, and he provisioned his army at their expense. Inasmuch as
+the province of Berry was making war on our party, I treated it as
+hostile country, subject to pillage, according to the customs of war. It
+is true, some of its people were friendly to our cause, but it was as
+much their duty to contribute to our maintenance, since we were fighting
+in their behalf, as it was our right to take from those to whom our
+relation was one of warfare. So I gave my men permission to forage,
+putting but one condition upon them,--that of losing their lives rather
+than allow our hiding-place to be disclosed. Thus, by virtue of many
+nightly visits to farms in the vicinity of Clochonne and Narjec, we
+contrived to avoid the pangs of an empty stomach.
+
+Having established my company on a living basis at Maury, I began with
+relish the work of annoying M. de la Chatre. I sent out certain of my
+men, severally, to different parts of southern Berry as seekers of
+information. In the guise of peasants, or of soldiers going to serve in
+the army which the Governor, La Chatre, was then augmenting, they learned
+much that was valuable to me. It is written, under the title of "How the
+Lord Protected His Own and Chastised His Enemies in Berry," in the book
+called "The Manifold Mercies of God to His Children," by the pastor
+Laudrec, who has reported rightly what I related to him: how we made
+recruits for Henri of Navarre by finding out Huguenots in towns and
+villages and convincing them that they were sure to be arrested should
+they remain in Berry; how we guided these out of the province by various
+ways of our own discovery, across the mountain; how we interrupted the
+hanging of several men at Issoudun, who had been condemned for heresy and
+treason, and sent them in safety to Guienne; how certain of my men,
+without my authority, despoiled Catholic churches of their instruments of
+idolatry, and thus helped to replenish the treasury of our master; how I
+once marched my company by night to a wood near Bourges, lay in wait
+there until a guard came, conducting captured Huguenots for trial,
+attacked the guard, rescued the prisoners, and protected them in a
+hurried flight to the border, whence they proceeded to swell the army of
+our Henri; and how we served our cause in numerous other exploits, which
+I need not relate here, as you may read them in Laudrec's book, printed
+in Geneva.
+
+The many secret departures of Huguenots from southern Berry, despite the
+vigilance of the garrisons at Clochonne and other frontier strongholds,
+must naturally have attracted the attention of the authorities, and so
+must the sudden public appearances that I made with my company on
+occasions like that at Issoudun and that near Bourges. My men, who moved,
+unknown, among the people, began to hear reports of a mysterious captain
+who hid in the southern hills and sallied forth at night to spirit
+Huguenots away. To this mysterious captain and his band were attributed
+not only all the exploits that we did accomplish, but many that we did
+not; and some daring robberies, of which we were innocent, were laid to
+our charge.
+
+Finally, in September, I had evidence that our deeds had begun to make an
+impression on M. de la Chatre, the illustrious governor of the province
+and of the Orleannais as well. One of my men, Roquelin, saw in the
+market-place of Chateauroux an offer of five hundred crowns for the
+capture of this unknown rebel captain, which document was signed by La
+Chatre. I here saw an opportunity to make myself known in high places as
+one capable of harming and defying his enemies, despite their greatness.
+I was rejoiced at the hope of acquainting the Duke of Guise and the King
+of France with the fact that I had survived to work defiantly against
+their cause, under the very nose of one of their most redoubtable
+servants. I had not been of sufficient consequence for the Duke to fear,
+or for the King to protect, but now I was of sufficient consequence, as
+their enemy, for a price to be put on my head. So I sent one of my clever
+fellows, Sabray, to fasten by night beside La Chatre's placard in
+Chateauroux, a proclamation of my own, in which I offered ten crowns for
+the head of M. de la Chatre, and twenty crowns for that of his master,
+the Duke of Guise. I appended this signature: "The Sieur de la Tournoire,
+who does not forget." I knew that some of La Chatre's enemies would take
+great pleasure in making this known to the Duke of Guise, and that the
+latter would reproach the King with my continued existence. It irritates
+the great to be defied by the small, and to irritate these two great ones
+was my delight.
+
+I soon learned, with glee, that my return of compliments had reached the
+knowledge of the governor. Maugert brought me word of a notice posted in
+Clochonne, in which La Chatre doubled his offer and termed me the
+"heretic, rebel, traitor, and robber calling himself Sieur de la
+Tournoire."
+
+While I gave myself the pleasure of annoying M. de la Chatre, I did not
+neglect the more important service imposed on me by Henri of Navarre.
+Accompanied only by Blaise Tripault, and travelling by night, I visited,
+one after another, the gentlemen named on my master's list, and used
+what eloquence I had, pointing out the expediency of assuring future
+security by making present sacrifices for our cause. Many of them
+required very little persuasion. On hearing that Henri of Navarre had
+given his word to defend his succession with his sword, they nobly left
+their estates and went to join his army, carrying with them what money
+and arms they could take. Thanks to the guidance of my men, they eluded
+the garrisons on the border.
+
+It was in early October, when the forests were turning yellow, brown, and
+red, and the fallen leaves began to lie in the roads, that I started out
+with Blaise Tripault to visit the gentleman named last on the list.
+
+"Monsieur," said Blaise, as we neared the end of our hidden forest road
+and were approaching the inn of Godeau, "I have in me a kind of feeling
+that this, being our last excursion, is likely to be the most dangerous.
+It would doubtless please Fortune to play us an ugly trick after having
+served us so well hitherto."
+
+"Nonsense!" I replied.
+
+"I believe that is what the famous Bussy d'Amboise said when he was
+warned not to keep his appointment with Mme. de Monsoreau," returned
+Blaise; "yet he was, none the less, killed by the rascals that lay in
+ambush with her husband."
+
+"Thanks to the most kingly King of France, Henri III., who advised M. de
+Monsoreau to force his wife to make the fatal appointment with Bussy.
+Thanks, also, to the truly grateful Duke of Anjou, who rewarded Bussy for
+his faithful service by concurring in the plot for his assassination."
+
+"The Duke was worse than the King, for the King has been loyal to his
+chosen favorites. Think of the monument he erected in honor of De Quelus,
+and the others who got their deaths in that great duel in the
+horse-market. _Par dieu!_ I should like to have seen those girl-men of
+the King and those Guisards killing one another!"
+
+"I have observed, Blaise, that you take an extraordinary pleasure in the
+slaughter of Guisards."
+
+"I was in Coligny's house, monsieur, on the night of the St. Bartholomew.
+I was one of those who, at the Admiral's command, fled to the roof, and
+from the roof of the next house I saw Coligny's body thrown into his
+courtyard, and the Duke of Guise turn it over with his foot and wipe the
+blood from the face to see if it were indeed my old captain's. Since
+then, the sight of the white cross of Guise stirs in me all the hell that
+my diabolical father transmitted to me. And I should not like to see you
+fall into the hands of this Chatre, who is the right arm of the Duke of
+Guise in Berry. That is why I give heed to the premonition that troubles
+me regarding this journey."
+
+"Certainly we cannot abandon the journey."
+
+"No, but we can take unusual precautions, monsieur. Reports of our doings
+are everywhere. Has it never occurred to you that you are, in appearance,
+exactly the sort of man who would be taken for our leader? Ought you not
+to disguise yourself?"
+
+"An excellent idea, Blaise! I shall put on your clothes, and you shall
+put on mine,--I shall pass as your lackey. It will be quite amusing."
+
+"That is not the disguise I should have suggested," said Blaise, looking
+not too well pleased with the idea. "It would require me to pass as a
+gentleman."
+
+But I saw possibilities of fun in the thing, and welcomed any means of
+enlivening our excursion. Therefore, we dismounted at Godeau's inn, and
+made the exchange of attire, much against the liking of Blaise, who now
+repented of having advised any disguise at all. My clothes were a little
+too tight for Blaise, for I was of medium size, and he puffed and turned
+red in the face, and presented a curious appearance of fierceness and
+discomfort. When I looked at him, I could not help laughing, and he met
+my glance with a grim and reproachful countenance. I did not think that
+his brown doublet and breeches and brown felt hat and feather were much
+disguise for me. As we rode along, I diverted myself by trying to assume
+a servile mien, which did not easily fit my rather bold face, prominent
+nose, keen gray eyes, up-curling brown mustache and pointed brown beard.
+With his curly reddish hair and beard, defiant mustache, honest, big,
+blue eyes, swelling red cheeks, and robust body, Blaise looked like one
+who must have had his dignities thrust upon him very recently.
+
+We reached, without accident, our destination,--the chateau of the Baron
+d'Equinay,--and that gentleman was speedily won by the assurances that I
+bore him from Henri of Navarre. He desired, before starting for Guienne,
+to go to Paris, where he had resources, and he rode off northward at the
+same moment when we departed southward to return to Maury.
+
+"It is well!" I cried to Blaise, as we rode in the bracing air of the
+October morning. "We have carried our King's message to every one of his
+chosen adherents in Berry. We ride through the province of M. de la
+Chatre, breathe his fresh air, absorb his sunshine as freely as he does
+himself. You see how reliable were your premonitions when we last set out
+from Maury."
+
+"It is not too late yet, monsieur," growled Blaise, whose temper was ill
+while he wore my clothes; "we are not yet back at Maury."
+
+"You will talk less dismally over a bottle of good wine, Blaise.
+Therefore, I intend to stop at the first inn on the way. I hope it is a
+good one, for I am very hungry."
+
+"There is an inn at this end of Fleurier," said Blaise, "but I would not
+stop if I were you."
+
+But I was not to be moved from my intention. When a man has finished a
+set task, it is time to eat and drink. Therefore, we stopped at the
+little inn at the northern edge of Fleurier. A gray, bent innkeeper, very
+desirous of pleasing, welcomed us and went to look after our horses,
+while Blaise, acting the part of master, ordered a black-eyed, pretty
+inn-maid to serve us dinner in a private chamber. The room assigned us
+was at the head of a stairway leading from the kitchen. We had no sooner
+seated ourselves than our ears were assailed by the clatter of many
+horses on the road outside. They stopped before the inn, and we heard the
+voices of two men who entered the kitchen, and of a great number who
+remained without. When the inn-maid brought us a bottle of wine, Blaise
+asked her whose cavalcade it was that waited before the inn.
+
+"It is that of the governor of the province, M. de la Chatre," said she,
+"who is below with his secretary, M. de Montignac."
+
+And she left the room in haste to help serve so distinguished a guest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A SWEET LADY IN DISTRESS
+
+
+Blaise looked at me solemnly, with a face that seemed to say, "Did I not
+warn you?" We had seated ourselves at either side of a small, rough
+table, I on the edge of the bed, Blaise on a three-legged stool. For a
+moment I sat returning Blaise's gaze across the table; then noticing that
+the maid had left the door of our chamber slightly ajar, I arose and
+walked stealthily to the crack, through which I could see a part of the
+kitchen below. Blaise remained seated at the table, glumly watching me.
+
+I saw the maid bearing wine to a table near the window, where sat the two
+guests whose names she had mentioned. The landlord was carrying a tray
+full of bottles and drinking-cups out to La Chatre's men, who remained
+before the inn, some having dismounted, some still on horse. I could hear
+their talk, their oaths and cries to one another and to their horses, the
+snorts and pawings of their steeds. A shout of welcome greeted the coming
+of the landlord with the wine.
+
+With curiosity I fastened my gaze on the two at the table. I knew
+instantly that the stout, erect, authoritative gentleman with the
+carefully trimmed gray beard, full cheeks, proud brow, fearless eyes, and
+soldierly air, must be Claude de la Chatre, governor of the Orleannais
+and Berri; and that the slender, delicately formed, sinuous, graceful
+youth with smooth-shaven face, fine sharply cut features, intelligent
+forehead, reddish hair, intent gray eyes, and mien of pretended humility,
+was the governor's secretary, Montignac. La Chatre's look was frank,
+open, brave. Montignac had the face of a man assuming a character, and
+awaiting his opportunity, concealing his ambition and his pride,
+suppressing the scorn that strove to disclose itself at the corners of
+his womanish mouth. La Chatre wore a rich black velvet doublet and
+breeches, and black leather riding-boots. Montignac was dressed, in
+accordance with his pretence of servility, in a doublet of olive-colored
+cloth, breeches of the same material, and buff boots. He sat entirely
+motionless, looking across the table at his master with an almost
+imperceptibly mocking air of profound attention.
+
+Monsieur de la Chatre appeared to be in a bad humor. He gulped down his
+wine hastily, seeming not to taste it. With a frown of irritation he
+drew from his belt a letter, of which the seal was already broken.
+Opening it with quick, angry motions, he held it before him, and
+frowned the more deeply.
+
+"_Peste!"_ he exclaimed, when the maid had left the kitchen; and then he
+went on in a rich, virile, energetic voice: "To be met on the road by
+such a letter! When I saw the courier in the distance I felt that he was
+bound for me, and that he brought annoyance with him. The duke has never
+before used such a tone to me. If he were on the ground, and knew the
+trouble these dogs of heretics give me, he would doubtless change his
+manner of speech."
+
+"Monseigneur the Duke of Guise certainly wrote in haste, and therefore
+his expressions have an abruptness that he did not intend," replied
+Montignac, in a low, discreet, deferential voice, whose very tone was
+attuned to the policy of subtle flattery which he employed towards his
+master. "And he acknowledges, as well, your many successes as he
+complains of your failure to catch this Sieur de la Tournoire."
+
+So the letter by which the governor was so irritated came from the Duke
+of Guise, and concerned myself! My work in Berri had not been in vain.
+Instinctively I grasped the hilt of my sword, and at the same time I
+smiled to myself to think how La Chatre might have felt had he known
+that, while himself and his secretary were the only persons in the inn
+kitchen, the Sieur de la Tournoire saw and heard them from the crack of
+the slightly open door at the top of the stairway. To make myself safer
+from discovery, I now took my eye from the crack, keeping my ear
+sufficiently near to catch the words of my enemies. I glanced at Blaise,
+who had heard enough to acquaint him with the situation, and whose
+open-eyed face had taken on an expression of alertness and amazement
+comical to behold. He, too, had mechanically clutched the handle of his
+sword. Neither of us moving or speaking, we both listened. But the
+governor's next words were drowned by the noise that came from outside,
+as the landlord opened the front door to reenter the inn. La Chatre's
+men, now supplied with wine, had taken up a song with whose words and
+tune we were well acquainted.
+
+"Hang every heretic high,
+   Where the crows and pigeons pass!
+Let the brood of Calvin die;
+   Long live the mass!
+A plague on the Huguenots, ah!
+   Let the cry of battle ring:
+Huguenots, Huguenots, Huguenots, ah!
+   Long live the king!"
+
+The singers uttered the word "Huguenots," and the exclamation "ah," with
+an expression of loathing and scorn which could have been equalled only
+by the look of defiance and hate that suddenly alighted on the face of
+Blaise. He gave a deep gulp, as if forcing back, for safety, some
+answering cry that rose from his breast and sought exit. Then he ground
+his teeth, and through closed lips emitted from his throat a low growl,
+precisely like that of a pugnacious dog held in restraint.
+
+The landlord closed the door, and the song of La Chatre's men sank into a
+rudely melodious murmur. The host then went out by a rear door, and the
+governor resumed the conversation.
+
+"_Corboeuf_! He is a fox, this Tournoire, who makes his excursions by
+night, and who cannot be tracked to his burrow."
+
+"We know, at least," put in the secretary, in his mild way, "that his
+burrow is somewhere in the wooded mountains at the southern border of the
+province."
+
+"Then he knows those mountains better than the garrisons do," said
+La Chatre. "The troops from the southern towns have hunted the
+hills in vain."
+
+"When such a task as the capture of this rebel is entrusted to many, it
+is not undertaken with zeal. The chance of success, the burden of
+responsibility, the blame of failure, are alike felt to be divided."
+
+This observation on the part of the youthful secretary seemed to be
+regarded by the governor as presumptuous. It elicited from him a frown
+of reproof. His look became cold and haughty. Whereupon Montignac
+gently added:
+
+"As you, monsieur, remarked the other day."
+
+La Chatre's expression immediately softened.
+
+"The governor's brains are in the head of the secretary," thought I; "and
+their place in his own head is taken by vanity."
+
+"I remember," returned La Chatre. "And I added, did I not,
+that--ahem, that--"
+
+"That the finding of this Huguenot nuisance ought to be made the
+particular duty of one chosen person, who should have all to gain by
+success, or, better still, all to lose by failure."
+
+And the suave secretary looked at his master with an expression of secret
+contempt and amusement, although the innocent governor doubtless saw only
+the respect and solicitude which the young man counterfeited.
+
+"You are right," said the governor, with unconcealed satisfaction. "I
+ought to reward you for reminding me. But your reward shall come,
+Montignac. The coming war will give me the opportunity to serve both the
+King and the Duke of Guise most effectually, and by whatever favor I
+gain, my faithful secretary shall benefit."
+
+"My benefit will be due to your generosity, not to my poor merit,
+monsieur," replied Montignac, with an irony too delicate for the
+perception of the noble governor.
+
+"Oh, you have merit, Montignac," said La Chatre, with lofty
+condescension. Then he glanced at the letter, and his face clouded. "But
+meanwhile," he added, in obedience to a childish necessity of
+communicating his troubles, "my favor depends, even for its continuance
+in its present degree, on the speedy capture of this Tournoire. The
+rascal appears to have obtained the special animosity of the Duke by
+some previous act. Moreover, he is an enemy to the King, also a deserter
+from the French Guards, so that he deserves death on various accounts,
+old and new."
+
+Herein I saw exemplified the inability of the great to forget or forgive
+any who may have eluded their power.
+
+"Let me, therefore," continued the governor, "consider as to what person
+shall be chosen for the task of bagging this wary game."
+
+And he was silent, seeming to be considering in his mind, but really, I
+thought, waiting for the useful Montignac to suggest some one.
+
+"It need not be a person of great skill," said Montignac, "if it be one
+who has a strong motive for accomplishing the service with success. For,
+indeed, the work is easy. The chosen person," he went on, as if taking
+pleasure in showing the rapidity and ingenuity of his own thoughts, "has
+but to go to the southern border, pretending to be a Huguenot trying to
+escape the penalties of the new edicts. In one way or another, by moving
+among the lower classes, this supposed fugitive will find out real
+Huguenots, of whom there are undoubtedly some still left at Clochonne and
+other towns near the mountains. Several circumstances have shown that
+this Tournoire has made himself, or his agents, accessible to Huguenots,
+for these escapes of heretics across the border began at the same time
+when his rescues of Huguenot prisoners began. Without doubt, any
+pretended Protestant, apparently seeking guidance to Guienne, would, in
+associating with the Huguenots along the Creuse, come across one who
+could direct him to this Tournoire."
+
+"But what then?" said the governor, his eagerness making him forget his
+pretence of being wiser than his secretary. "To find him is not to make
+him prisoner,--for the Duke desires him to be taken alive. He probably
+has a large following of rascals as daring and clever as himself."
+
+"Knowing his hiding-place, you would send a larger body of troops
+against him."
+
+"But," interposed the governor, really glad to have found a weak point in
+the plan suggested by his secretary, "in order to acquaint me with his
+hiding-place, if he has a permanent hiding-place, my spy would have to
+leave him. This would excite his suspicions, and he would change his
+hiding-place. Or, indeed, he may be entirely migratory, and have no
+fixed place of camping. Or, having one, he might change it, for any
+reason, before my troops could reach it. Doubtless, his followers patrol
+the hills, and could give him ample warning in case of attack."
+
+"Your spy," said Montignac, who had availed himself of the governor's
+interruption to empty a mug of wine, "would have to find means of doing
+two things,--the first to make an appointment with La Tournoire, which
+would take him from his men; the second, to inform you of that
+appointment in time for you to lead or send a company of soldiers to
+surprise La Tournoire at the appointed place."
+
+"_Par dieu_, Montignac!" cried the governor, with a laugh of derision.
+"Drink less wine, I pray you! Your scheme becomes preposterous. Of what
+kind of man do you take him to be, this Sieur de la Tournoire, who offers
+a reward, in my own province, for my head and that of the Duke of Guise?"
+
+"The scheme, monsieur," said Montignac, quietly, not disclosing to the
+governor the slightest resentment at the latter's ridicule, "is quite
+practicable. This is the manner in which it can be best conducted. Your
+chosen spy must be provided with two messengers, with whom he may have
+communication as circumstances may allow. When the spy shall have met La
+Tournoire, and learned his hiding-place, if he have a permanent one, one
+messenger shall bring the information to you at Bourges, that you may
+go to Clochonne to be near at hand for the final step. Having sent the
+first messenger, the spy shall fall ill, so as to have apparent reason
+for not going on to Guienne. On learning of your arrival at
+Clochonne,--an event of which La Tournoire is sure to be informed,--your
+spy shall make the appointment of which I spoke, and shall send the
+second messenger to you at Clochonne with word of that appointment, so
+that your troops can be at hand."
+
+"The project is full of absurdities, Montignac," said the governor,
+shaking his head.
+
+"Enumerate them, monsieur," said Montignac, without change of tone or
+countenance.
+
+"First, the lesser one. Why impede the spy with the necessity of
+communicating with more than one messenger?"
+
+"Because the spy may succeed in learning the enemy's hiding-place, if
+there be one, and yet fail in the rest of the design. To learn his
+hiding-place is at least something worth gaining, though the project
+accomplish nothing more. Moreover, the arrival of the first messenger
+will inform you that the spy is on the ground and has won La Tournoire's
+confidence, and that it is time for you to go to Clochonne. The
+appointment must not be made until you are near at hand, for great
+exactness must be observed as to time and place, so that you can surely
+surprise him while he is away from his men."
+
+"Montignac, I begin to despair of you," said the governor, with a look
+of commiseration. "How do you suppose that La Tournoire could be induced
+to make such an appointment? What pretext could be invented for
+requesting such a meeting? In what business could he be interested that
+would require a secret interview at a distance from his followers?"
+
+I thought the governor's questions quite natural, and was waiting in much
+curiosity for the answer of Montignac, of whose perspicacity I was now
+beginning to lose my high opinion, when the inn-maid entered the kitchen,
+and the secretary repressed the reply already on his lips. She took from
+the spit a fowl that had been roasting, and brought it to our chamber. To
+avoid exciting her suspicions I had to leave my place of observation and
+reseat myself on the bed.
+
+Having placed the fowl, hot and juicy, on the table between us, the maid
+went away, again leaving the door partly open. Blaise promptly attacked
+the fowl, but I returned to my post of outlook.
+
+"Lack of zeal?" I heard the governor say. "_Par-dieu,_ where have I
+let a known Huguenot rest in peace in my provinces since the edicts
+have been proclaimed? And I have even made Catholics suffer for
+Showing a disposition to shield heretics. There was that gentleman of
+this very town--"
+
+"M. de Varion," put in Montignac.
+
+"Ay, M. de Varion,--a good Catholic. Yet I caused his arrest because he
+hid his old friend, that Polignart, who had turned heretic. _Mon dieu_,
+what can I do more? I punish not only heretics, but also those who shield
+heretics. Yet the Duke of Guise hints that I lack zeal!"
+
+"As to M. de Varion," said Montignac; "what is your intention
+regarding him?"
+
+"To make an example of him, that hereafter no Catholic will dare shelter
+a Huguenot on the score of old friendship. Let him remain a prisoner in
+the chateau of Fleurier until the judges, whom I will instruct, shall
+find him guilty of treason. Then his body shall hang at the chateau gate
+for the nourishment of the crows."
+
+"Fortunately," said Montignac listlessly, "he has no family to give
+trouble afterward."
+
+"No son," replied the governor. "Did not M. de Brissard say that there
+was a daughter?"
+
+"Yes, an unmarried daughter who was visiting some bourgeois relation in
+Bourges at the time of her father's arrest."
+
+"When she learns of her father's incarceration she will probably pester
+me with supplications for his release. See to it, Montignac, that this
+Mlle. de Varion be not suffered to approach me."
+
+My eavesdropping was again interrupted by the return of the inn-maid. On
+going out of the chamber this time, she closed the door. Hunger and
+prudence, together, overcoming my curiosity, I did not open it, but
+joined Blaise in disposing of the dinner. The table at which we ate was
+near the window of the chamber, and we could look out on the grassy space
+of land before the inn. La Chatre's men were moving about, looking to
+their horses and harness, talking in little groups, and watching for
+their master's appearance at the inn door.
+
+Presently four new figures came into view, all mounted. From our window
+we could see them plainly as they approached the inn. One of these
+newcomers was a young lady who wore a mask. At her side rode a maid,
+slim, youthful, and fresh-looking. Behind these were two serving boys,
+one tall, large, and strong; the other small and agile.
+
+"By the blue heaven!" Blaise blurted out; "a dainty piece of womankind!"
+
+"Silence, Blaise!" I said, reprovingly. "How dare you speak with such
+liberty of a lady?"
+
+"I thought I was supposed to be masquerading as a gentleman," he growled.
+"But it was not of the lady that I spoke. It was the maid."
+
+The lady had the slender figure of a woman of twenty. Over a
+tight-fitting gown of blue cloth, she wore a cloak of brown velvet, which
+was open at the front. Fine, wavy brown hair was visible beneath her
+large brown velvet hat. She wore brown gloves and carried a riding whip.
+As for her face, her black mask concealed the upper part, but there were
+disclosed a delicate red mouth and a finely cut chin. The throat was
+white and full.
+
+The maid was smaller than the mistress. She had a pretty face, rather
+bold blue eyes, an impudent little mouth, an expression of
+self-confidence and challenge.
+
+La Chatre's men made room for this little cavalcade to pass to the inn.
+The maid looked at them disdainfully, but the lady glanced neither to
+right nor left. Having ridden up close to the inn, they dismounted and
+entered, thus passing out of our sight.
+
+I would fain have again looked down into the kitchen, now that these
+attractive guests had arrived to disturb the governor's confidential
+talk, but the inn-maid had closed our chamber door tight, and I might
+have attracted the governor's attention by opening it. Moreover, I could
+not long cherish the idea of watching, unobserved, the movements of a
+lady. So, for some time, Blaise and I confined our attention to the
+dinner, Blaise frequently casting a glance at the door as if he would
+have liked to go down-stairs and make a closer inspection of the pretty
+face of the maid.
+
+Several times we heard voices, now that of a lady, now that of the
+governor, as if the two were conversing together, but the words spoken
+were not distinguishable. It did not please me to think that the lady
+might have come hither to join the governor.
+
+At last the noise of La Chatre's men remounting told us that the governor
+had rejoined them from the inn. Looking out of the window, we saw him at
+their head, a splendid, commanding figure. Montignac, studious-looking,
+despite the horse beneath him, was beside the governor. I noticed that
+the secretary sat a horse as well as any of the soldiers did. I observed,
+too, and with pleasure, that the lady was not with them; therefore, she
+was still in the inn. I was glad to infer that her acquaintance with La
+Chatre was but casual, and that her meeting with him at the inn had been
+by chance.
+
+The governor jerked his rein, and the troop moved off, northward, bound I
+knew not whither, the weapons and harness shining in the sunlight. I
+turned to Blaise with a smile of triumph.
+
+"And now what of your croakings?" I asked. "As if the safest place in all
+France for us was not within sound of M. de la Chatre's voice, where he
+would never suppose us to be! It did not even occur to him to ask what
+guests were in the upper chamber! What would he have given to know that
+La Tour noire sat drinking under the same roof with him! Instead of
+coming to disaster, we have heard his plans, and are thus put on our
+guard. More of your evil forebodings, my amiable Blaise! They mean good."
+
+But Blaise looked none the less gloomy. "There is yet time for evil to
+come of this journey, my captain," he said gravely.
+
+I now made haste to finish my meal, that I might go down into the kitchen
+ere the lady in the brown robe should depart.
+
+Presently, Blaise, glancing out of the window, exclaimed, "The devil! We
+are not yet rid of our friends! There is one of them, at least!"
+
+I looked out and saw two mounted gentlemen, one of whom was Montignac,
+the governor's secretary, who had ridden back. The other, with whom he
+was talking in low tones, and with an air of authority, was a man of
+my own age, dressed in the shabby remains of rich clothes. His face
+showed the marks of dissipation, and had a cynical, daredevil look.
+Now and then a sarcastic smile broke suddenly over the handsome and
+once noble features.
+
+"I have seen that man, somewhere, before," said I to Blaise.
+
+While I stood searching my memory, and the man sat talking to Montignac,
+both having stopped their horses in front of the inn, there tramped up,
+from the South, four other travellers, all of a kind very commonly seen
+on the highways, in those days of frequent war. They were ragged soldiers
+of fortune, out at elbows, red of cheek and nose, all having the same
+look of brow-beating defiance, ready to turn, in a moment, into abject
+servility. The foremost of these was a big burly fellow with a black
+beard, and a fierce scowl.
+
+As he came up towards the gentleman with whom Montignac was talking,
+there suddenly came on me a sense of having once, in the dim past, been
+in strangely similar circumstances to those in which I was now. Once,
+long ago, had I not looked out in danger from a place of concealment upon
+a meeting of those two men before an inn?
+
+The burly rascal saluted the mounted gentleman, saying, in a coarse,
+strident voice:
+
+"At your service, M. le Vicomte de Berquin."
+
+"Know your place, Barbemouche!" was the quick reply. "I am talking with a
+gentleman."
+
+Then I remembered the morning after my flight from Paris, seven years
+before. Montignac's reckless-looking companion had been the gay gentleman
+going north, at whom I had looked from an inn shed. The other was the man
+who had afterwards chased me southward at the behest of the Duke of
+Guise. But he no longer wore on his hat the white cross of Lorraine, and
+the Vicomte de Berquin's apparel was no longer gay and spotless. The two
+had doubtless fallen on hard ways. Both showed the marks of reverses and
+hard drinking. Barbemouche's sword was, manifestly, no longer in the pay
+of the Duke of Guise, but was ready to serve the first bidder.
+
+Barbemouche shrugged his shoulders at De Berquin's reproof, and led his
+three sorry-looking companions to a bench in front of the inn, where they
+searched their pockets for coin before venturing to cross the threshold.
+
+Montignac now pointed to the inn, spoke a few last earnest words to
+Berquin, handed the latter a few gold pieces, cast at him a threatening
+look at parting, and galloped off to rejoin M. de la Chatre, whose
+cavalcade was now out of our sight. De Berquin gave him an ironical bow,
+kissed the gold pieces before pocketing them, dismounted, and entered the
+inn, replying only with a laugh to the supplicating looks of the
+moneyless Barbemouche and his hungry-looking comrades on the bench.
+
+"Now I wonder what in the devil's name the governor's secretary was
+saying to that man?" growled Blaise Tripault.
+
+For reply, I gave a look which reflected the surmise that I saw in
+Blaise's own eyes.
+
+"Well," I said, "if it be that, the Vicomte de Berquin will be a vastly
+ingenious gentleman if he can either find our hiding-place, or delude me
+away from my men. To think that they should have chosen the first
+mercenary wretch they met on their way! Yet doubtless the perspicacious
+Montignac knows his man."
+
+"The secretary pointed to this inn as if he were telling him that you
+were here," observed Blaise, meditatively.
+
+"But inasmuch as the secretary does not know that I am here," said I,
+"his pointing to the inn could not have accompanied that information. He
+was doubtless advising his friend to begin his enterprise with a hearty
+meal, which was very good advice. And now, as this Vicomte de Berquin
+does not know me by sight, let us go down and make his acquaintance.
+Remember that you are the master, and make a better pretence of it than
+you have usually made."
+
+"I pretend the master no worse than you pretend the servant," muttered
+Blaise, while I opened the door of our chamber. A moment later we were
+descending the stairs leading to the kitchen.
+
+An unexpected sight met our eyes. M. de Berquin stood with his back to a
+rear door, his arms extended, as if to prevent the departure of the lady,
+who stood facing him, in the attitude of shrinking back from him. She
+still wore her mask. Beside her stood her maid, who darted looks of
+indignation at the smiling De Berquin. These three were the only ones in
+the kitchen.
+
+"I do not know you, monsieur!" the lady was saying, in a low voice of
+great beauty.
+
+"Death of my life! But you shall know me, mademoiselle," replied De
+Berquin, who had not noticed the entrance of myself and Blaise; "for I
+intend to guard you from harm on the rest of your journey, whether you
+will or not!"
+
+Blaise shot at me a glance of interrogation. To keep up our assumed
+characters, it was for him, not me, to interfere in behalf of this lady;
+yet he dared not act without secret direction from me. But I forgot our
+pretence and hastened forward, my hand on my sword-hilt.
+
+"I fear monsieur is annoying mademoiselle," I said, gently, assuming that
+De Berquin had been correct in addressing her as mademoiselle.
+
+Startled at the voice of a newcomer, the three turned and looked at me in
+surprise. Blaise, at a loss as to what he ought to do, remained in the
+background.
+
+"But," I added, "monsieur will not do so again for the present."
+
+De Berquin took me in at a glance, and, deceived by my dress, said
+carelessly, "Go to the devil!" Then, turning from me to Blaise, as one
+turns from an inferior to an equal, he remarked:
+
+"You have a most impudent servant, monsieur!"
+
+Blaise, embarrassed by the situation, and conscious that the curious eyes
+of the lady and the maid were upon him, could only shrug his shoulders in
+reply. The maid, whom he had so much admired, turned to her mistress with
+a look of astonishment at his seeming indifference. Seeing this, Blaise
+became very red in the face.
+
+It was I who answered De Berquin, and with the words:
+
+"And your servant, if you have one, has a most impudent master."
+
+De Berquin turned pale with rage at the insulting allusion to his
+somewhat indigent appearance.
+
+"Your master shall answer for your impertinence!" he cried, drawing his
+sword and making for Blaise.
+
+In an instant my own sword was out, and I was barring his way.
+
+"Let _us_ argue the matter, monsieur!" said I.
+
+"_Peste_!" he hissed. "I fight not lackeys!"
+
+"You will fight _me_," I said, "or leave the presence of this lady at
+once!"
+
+Impelled by uncontrollable wrath, he thrust at me furiously. With a
+timely twist, I sent his sword flying from his hand to the door. I
+motioned him to follow it.
+
+Completely astonished, he obeyed my gesture, went and picked up his
+sword, opened the door, and then turned to Blaise and spoke these words,
+in a voice that trembled with rage:
+
+"Monsieur, since you let your menial handle your sword for you, I cannot
+hope for satisfaction. But though I am no great prophet, I can predict
+that both you and your cur shall yet feel the foot of _my_ lackey on your
+necks. And, mademoiselle," he added, removing his look to the lady, "this
+is not the end of it with you!"
+
+With which parting threats, he strode out of the inn, closing the door
+after him.
+
+Blaise, deprived by his false position of the power of speech, stood
+with frowning brow and puffed-out cheeks, nervously clutching at his
+sword-hilt. The lady and her maid looked at him with curiosity, as if
+a gentleman who would stand idly and speechlessly by, while his
+servant resented an insult to a lady, was a strange being, to be
+viewed with wonder.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said I, laying my sword on a table, "heaven is kind to me
+in having led me where I might have the joy of serving you."
+
+The lady, whose musical voice had the sound of sadness in it, answered
+with the graciousness warranted by the occasion:
+
+"My good man, your sword lifts you above your degree, even," and here she
+glanced at Blaise, and continued in a tone of irrepressible contempt, "as
+the tameness of some gentlemen lowers them beneath theirs."
+
+Blaise, from whose nature tameness was the attribute farthest removed,
+looked first at the lady, in helpless bewilderment, then at me, with mute
+reproach for having placed him in his ridiculous position, and lastly at
+the maid, who regarded him with open derision. To be laughed at by this
+piquant creature, to whose charms he had been so speedily susceptible,
+was the crowning misery. His expression of woe was such that I could not
+easily retain my own serious and respectful countenance.
+
+Having to make some answer to the lady, I said:
+
+"An opportunity to defend so fair a lady would elevate the most ignoble."
+
+The lady, not being accustomed to exchanging compliments with a
+man-servant, went to her maid and talked with her in whispers, the two
+both gazing at Blaise with expressions of mirth.
+
+Blaise strode to my side with an awkwardness quite new to him. His face
+was in a violent perspiration.
+
+"The devil!" he whispered. "How they laugh at me! Won't you explain?"
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"I object to being taken for a calf," said Blaise, ready to burst with
+anger. Then, suddenly reaching the limit of his endurance, he faced the
+lady and blurted out:
+
+"Mademoiselle, I would have run your pursuer through quickly enough, but
+I dared not rob my master--"
+
+I coughed a warning against his betraying us. He hesitated, then
+despairingly added, in a voice of resignation:
+
+"--my master, the King, of a single stroke of this sword, which I have
+devoted entirely to his service."
+
+"I do not doubt," said the lady, with cold irony, "that your sword is
+active enough when drawn in the service of your King."
+
+"My King," replied Blaise with dignity, "had the goodness to make a
+somewhat similar remark when he took Cahors!"
+
+"Cahors?" repeated the lady in a tone of perplexity. "But the King never
+took Cahors!"
+
+"The King of France,--no!" cried Blaise; "but the King of Navarre did!"
+
+"Blaise!" I cried, in angry reproof at his imprudence.
+
+The tone in which I spoke had so startled the lady that she dropped her
+mask, and I saw the sweetest face that ever gladdened the eyes of a man.
+It was the face of a girl naturally of a cheerful nature, but newly made
+acquainted with sorrow. Grief had not rendered the nature, or the face,
+unresponsive to transient impressions of a pleasant or mirthful kind.
+Hers was one of those hearts in which grief does not exclude all
+possibility of gaiety. Sorrow might lie at the bottom, never forgotten
+and never entirely concealed, but merriment might ripple on the surface.
+As for its outlines, the face, in every part, harmonized with the grace
+and purity of the chin and mouth. Her eyes were blue and large, with an
+eloquence displayed without intent or consciousness.
+
+"What does it mean?" she said, in a charming bewilderment. "The servant
+reproves the master. Ah! I see! The servant _is_ the master."
+
+And she smiled with pleasure at her discovery.
+
+"But still _your_ servant, mademoiselle," was all that I could say.
+
+Blaise vented a great breath of relief. "I feel better now," he said,
+heartily, and he turned with a beaming countenance to the maid, who
+looked at his stalwart form and promptly revised her opinion of him. The
+two were soon in conversation together, at the fireplace, and I was left
+to complete explanations with the lady, who did not attempt the coquetry
+of replacing her mask.
+
+"Our secret is yours, mademoiselle, and our safety is in your hands."
+
+"Your secret is safe, monsieur," she said, modestly averting her eyes
+from my frankly admiring look. "And now I understand why it was you who
+drew sword."
+
+"A privilege too precious to be resigned," I answered in a low tone,
+"even for the sake of my secret and my safety."
+
+My words were spoken so tenderly that she sought relief from her
+charming embarrassment by taking up my sword from the table, and saying,
+with a smile:
+
+"I have you in my power, monsieur, follower of the King of Navarre! What
+if I were minded, on behalf of the governor of this province, to make you
+a prisoner?"
+
+"My faith!" I could only reply, "you need no sword to make
+prisoners of men."
+
+"You hope to purchase your freedom with a compliment," she said,
+continuing the jest; "but you cannot close my eyes with flattery."
+
+"It would be a crime beyond me to close eyes so beautiful!"
+
+She gave a pretty little smile and shrug of helplessness, as if to
+say, "I cannot help it, monsieur, if you will overwhelm me with
+compliments which are not deserved, I am powerless to prevent you."
+But the compliments were all the more deserved because she seemed to
+think them not so.
+
+Her modesty weakened my own audacity, and her innocent eyes put me into
+a kind of confusion. So I changed the subject.
+
+"It appears to me, mademoiselle," I said, "that I have had the honor of
+ridding you of unpleasant company."
+
+Her face quickly clouded, as if my words had brought to her mind a
+greater trouble than the mere importunities of an insolent adventurer.
+
+"De Berquin!" she said, and then heaved a deep sigh; "I had forgotten
+about him."
+
+"I would not commit his offence of thrusting unwelcome company on you," I
+replied; "but I would gladly offer you for a few leagues the sword that
+has already put him to flight."
+
+She was for some time silent. Then she answered slowly in a low voice, "I
+ride towards Clochonne, monsieur."
+
+Taking this for an acceptance of my offer, I sheathed my sword, and
+replied with an animation that betrayed my pleasure:
+
+"And I towards the same place, mademoiselle. When you choose to set out,
+I am ready."
+
+"I am ready now, monsieur--," she said, lingering over the word
+"monsieur," as if trying to recall whether or not I had told her my name.
+
+It was no time at which to disclose the title under which I was known
+throughout the province as one especially proscribed, and yet I was
+unwilling to pass under a false name. Therefore, I said:
+
+"I am M. de Launay, once of Anjou, but now of nowhere in particular. The
+great have caused my chateau to be scattered over my lands, stone by
+stone, and have otherwise encouraged my taste for travel and adventure."
+
+At this moment, glancing towards Blaise, I saw on his face a look of
+alarm and disapproval, as if he feared that the lady or her maid might be
+aware that De Launay and La Tournoire were one man, but it was manifest
+from their faces that he had no cause for such an apprehension.
+
+The lady smiled at my description, and adjusting her gloves, replied:
+
+"And I am Mlle. de Varion, daughter of a gentleman of Fleurier--"
+
+"What!" I interrupted, "the Catholic gentleman who has been imprisoned
+for sheltering a Huguenot?"
+
+"Yes," she answered, sorrowfully, and then with a strange trepidation she
+went on: "and it is to save myself from imprisonment that I have
+determined to flee to the south, in the hope of finding refuge in one of
+the provinces controlled by your King of Navarre."
+
+"But," I interposed, "how can you be in danger of imprisonment? It was
+not you, but your father, who violated the edict."
+
+"Nevertheless," she answered, in a low and unsteady voice, averting her
+glance to the floor, "M. de la Chatre, the governor of the province, has
+threatened me with imprisonment if I remain in Berry."
+
+"Doubtless," I said with indignation, "the governor does this in order to
+escape the importunities you would make in your father's behalf. He would
+save his tender heart from the pain of being touched by your pleadings."
+
+"It may be so," she answered faintly.
+
+I did not tell her that the idea of releasing her father had already
+entered my head. In order to bring him safe out of the Chateau of
+Fleurier, it would be necessary for me to return to Maury for my company.
+The attempt would be a hazardous one, and I might fail, and I did not
+wish to raise hopes in her for disappointment. She should not learn of my
+intention until after its fulfillment. In the meantime, less because I
+thought she would really undergo danger by remaining at Fleurier, than
+because I was loth to lose the new-found happiness that her presence gave
+me, I would conduct her to Maury, on the pretext of its being the best
+place whence to make, at a convenient time, a safe flight to Guienne.
+
+Having summoned the landlord and paid him, I waited for Mlle. de Varion
+to precede me out of the door. There was a moment's delay while her maid
+sought the riding whip which mademoiselle had laid down on one of the
+tables. At this moment, there came to me the idea of a jest which would
+furnish me with amusement on the road southward, and afford mademoiselle
+an interesting surprise on her arrival at Maury.
+
+"It occurs to me, mademoiselle," said I, "that you will be glad to have
+some guidance across the border. Let me recommend to you one, whose
+services I think I can assure you, and whom we may fall in with in the
+vicinity of Clochonne,--the Sieur de la Tournoire."
+
+Mademoiselle turned white, and stared at me with a look of terror
+on her face.
+
+"Decidedly," I thought, "as the mere mention of my name produces such an
+effect on her, it is well that I am not going to introduce myself until
+she shall have learned that I am not such a terrible cutthroat as the
+Catholics in this province think me." And I said aloud:
+
+"Fear not, mademoiselle. He is not as bad as his enemies represent him."
+
+"I shall be glad to have his guidance," she said, still pale.
+
+We left the inn and took horse, being joined, outside, by mademoiselle's
+two serving-boys. Resuming his character of gentleman, Blaise rode ahead
+with the lady, while I followed at the side of the maid, he casting many
+an envious glance at the place I occupied, and I reciprocating his
+feelings if not his looks. Nevertheless, I was sufficiently near
+mademoiselle to be able to exchange speeches with her. The day was at its
+best. The sun shone; a gentle breeze played with the red and yellow
+leaves in the roadway, and I was happy.
+
+Looking down a byway as we passed, I saw, at some distance, M. de Berquin
+talking to Barbemouche, while the latter's three scurvy-looking
+companions stood by, as if awaiting the outcome of the conversation
+between the two.
+
+"Oho, M. de Berquin!" I said to myself, with an inward laugh; "I do not
+know whether you are bargaining for help to persecute Mlle. de Varion, or
+to spy on the Sieur de la Tournoire; but it has come to pass that you can
+do both at the same time."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE FOUR RASCALS
+
+
+We rode southward at an easy pace, that mademoiselle might not be made
+to suffer from fatigue. Aside from the desirability of our reaching safe
+territory, there was no reason for great haste. M. de Varion had not yet
+been tried, and the attempt to deliver him from prison need not be made
+immediately. Time would be required in which I might form a satisfactory
+plan of action in this matter. It would be necessary to employ all my
+men in it, and to bring them secretly from Maury by night marches, but I
+must not take the first step until the whole design should be complete
+in my mind.
+
+I suggested to mademoiselle that we first go to her father's house, in
+Fleurier, where she might get such of her belongings as she wished to
+take with her. But she desired to take no more along than was already in
+the portmanteaus that her boys, Hugo and Pierre, carried with them on
+their horses. She had come directly from Bourges with this baggage,
+having been visiting an unmarried aunt, in that city, when news of her
+father's arrest reached her.
+
+When I questioned her as to her conduct on the reception of that news,
+her face clouded, and she showed embarrassment and a wish to avoid the
+subject. Nevertheless, she gave me answers, and I finally learned that
+her purpose on leaving Bourges had been to seek the governor of the
+province, immediately, and petition for her father's release. It was by
+accident that she had met M. de la Chatre at the inn, where she had
+stopped that her horses might be baited. My persistent, though
+deferential, inquiries elicited from her, in a wavering voice, that she
+had not previously possessed the governor's acquaintance; that her
+entreaties had evoked only the governor's wrathful orders to depart from
+the province on pain of sharing her father's fate; and that La Chatre had
+refused to allow her even to see her father in his dungeon in the Chateau
+of Fleurier.
+
+Her agitation as she disclosed these things to me became so great that I
+presently desisted from pursuing the subject, and sought to restore
+brightness to the face of one whose tenderness and youth made her
+misfortune ineffably touching.
+
+I found that, with a woman's intelligence, she had a child's
+ingenuousness. I had no difficulty in leading her to talk about herself.
+Artlessly she communicated to me the salient facts of her life. Her
+father, the younger son of a noble family, had passed his days in study
+on his little portion of land near Fleurier. Like myself, she had when
+very young become motherless. As for her education, her unmarried aunt
+had taught her those accomplishments which a woman can best impart, while
+her father had instructed her concerning the ancients, the arts, and the
+sciences. She had been to Paris but once, and knew nothing of the court.
+
+Most of my conversation with mademoiselle was had while we traversed a
+deserted stretch of road, where I could, with safety, ride by her side
+and allow Blaise to take my place with the maid, Jeannotte. I could infer
+how deeply the good fellow had been smitten with the petite damsel by the
+means which he took to impress her in return. Far from showing himself as
+the wounded, sighing lover, he swelled to large dimensions, assumed his
+most martial frown, and carried himself as a most formidable personage.
+He boasted sonorously of his achievements in battle.
+
+"And the scar on your forehead," I heard her say, as she inspected his
+visage with a coquettish side glance; "at what battle did you get that?"
+
+His reply was uttered in a voice whose rancorous fierceness must have set
+the maid trembling.
+
+"In the battle of the Rue Etienne," he said, "which was fought between
+myself and a hell-born Papist, on St. Bartholomew's night, in 1572. From
+the next house-roof, I had seen Coligny's body thrown, bleeding, from his
+own window into his courtyard, for I was one of those who were with him
+when his murderers came, and whom he ordered to flee. I ran from roof to
+roof, hoping to reach a house where a number of Huguenots were, that I
+might lead them back to avenge the admiral's murder. I dropped to the
+street and ran around a corner straight into the arms of one of the
+butchers employed by the Duke of Guise that night to decorate the streets
+of Paris with the best blood in France. Seeing that I did not wear the
+white cross on my arm, he was good enough to give me this red mark on my
+forehead. But in those days I was quick at repartee, and I gave him a
+similar mark on a similar place. Then I was knocked down from behind, and
+when I awoke it was the next day. The dogs had thought me dead. As for
+the man who gave me this mark, I have not seen him since, but for
+thirteen years I have prayed hard to the bountiful Father in Heaven to
+bring us together again some day, and the good God in His infinite
+kindness will surely do so!"
+
+Now and then mademoiselle turned in her saddle to look behind. It was
+when she did this for the ninth or tenth time that she gave a start, and
+her lips parted with a half-uttered ejaculation of alarm. I followed her
+look and saw five mounted figures far behind us, on the road. It was
+most probable that these were De Berquin, Barbemouche, and the latter's
+three ragged comrades. But in this sight I found no reason to be
+disturbed. If mademoiselle was the object of De Berquin's quest, I felt
+that our party was sufficiently strong to protect her. If he had
+abandoned the intention of annoying her with further importunities, and
+was merely proceeding to Clochonne in order to act as the governor's spy
+against me, there could be no immediate danger in his presence, for he
+did not suspect that I was the Sieur de la Tournoire.
+
+"Be assured, mademoiselle," I said, "you have nothing whatever to fear
+from M. de Berquin."
+
+"I do not fear for myself," she replied, with a pathetic little smile.
+"It cannot be possible that, having seen me only once, he should put
+himself to so much trouble merely to inflict his attentions on me."
+
+"Then you never saw him before the meeting at the inn to-day?" I asked,
+in surprise.
+
+"Never. When he addressed me and introduced himself, I was surprised that
+he should already know my name."
+
+I then recalled that the governor's secretary, Montignac, at one time,
+during his talk with De Berquin outside our window, had pointed towards
+the inn. Was it, then, of Mlle. de Varion that he had been talking?
+Montignac, of course, having witnessed the interview between mademoiselle
+and the governor, had learned her name. It must have been he who had
+communicated it to De Berquin. Had the subtle secretary entrusted the
+unscrupulous cavalier with some commission relative to mademoiselle, as
+well as with the task of betraying me? It was in vain that I tried to
+find satisfactory answers to these questions.
+
+I asked mademoiselle whether she had ever known Montignac before this
+day.
+
+"Never," she answered, with a kind of shudder, which seemed to express
+both abhorrence and fear. Again she grew reticent; again the shadow and
+the look of confusion appeared on her face. I could make nothing of these
+signs. To attempt a solution by interrogating her was only to cause her
+pain, and rather than do that I preferred to remain mystified.
+
+Once more mademoiselle cast an uneasy look at the riders in the
+distance rearward.
+
+"Ah!" said I, with a smile, "you have no fear for yourself, yet you
+continue to look back with an expression that very nearly resembles that
+of fright."
+
+"I do not fear for myself," she said, quite artlessly; "it is for you
+that I fear. M. de Berquin will surely try to revenge himself for the
+humiliation you gave him."
+
+A joyous thrill sent the blood to my cheeks. Without disguising my
+feelings, I turned and looked at her. Doubtless the gladness that shone
+in my eyes told her what was in my heart. Realizing that her frank and
+gentle demonstration of solicitude was a confession to be received with
+ineffable delight by the man to whom it was tendered, she dropped her
+eyes and a deep blush overspread her face. For some time no word passed
+between us; enough had been said. I knew that the look in my eyes had
+told more, a thousand times, than all the extravagant compliments with
+which I had, half banteringly, deluged her at the inn.
+
+We might, by hard riding, have reached Maury on the night of that day,
+but mademoiselle's comfort was to be considered, and, moreover, I desired
+to throw De Berquin off our track before going to our hiding-place.
+Therefore, when Clochonne was yet some leagues before us, we turned into
+a by-way, and stopped at an obscure inn at the end of a small village.
+This hostelry was a mere hut, consisting of a kitchen and one other
+apartment, and was kept by an old couple as stupid and avaricious as any
+of their class. The whole place, such as it was, was at our disposal. The
+one private room was given over to mademoiselle and Jeannotte for the
+night, it being decided that I and Blaise should share the kitchen with
+the inn-keeper and his wife, while the two boys should sleep in an outer
+shed with the horses.
+
+Roused from sluggishness by the sight of a gold piece, which Blaise
+displayed, the old couple succeeded in getting for us a passable supper,
+which we had served to us on the end of an old wine-butt outside the inn,
+as the kitchen was intolerably smoky.
+
+"A poor place, mademoiselle," said I, ashamed of having conducted so
+delicate a creature to this miserable hovel.
+
+"What would you have?" she replied, with a pretty attempt to cover her
+dejection by a show of cheerfulness. "One cannot flee, for one's liberty,
+through the forest, and live in a chateau at the same time."
+
+As for the others, hunger and fatigue made any fare and shelter welcome.
+Blaise, in particular, found the wine acceptable. Conscious of the
+glances of Jeannotte, now flashing, now demure, he strove to outdo
+himself in one of his happiest accomplishments, that of drinking. The two
+boys, Hugo and Pierre, emulated his achievements, and only the presence
+of mademoiselle deterred our party from becoming a noisy one.
+
+Blaise became more and more exuberant as he made the wine flow the more
+generously. Seeing a way of diverting mademoiselle from her sad thoughts,
+I set him to telling of the things he had done in battle when controlled
+by the sanguinary spirit of his father. He had a manner of narrating
+these deeds of slaughter, which took all the horror out of them, and made
+them rather comical than of any other description. He soon had
+mademoiselle smiling, the maid laughing, and the two boys looking on him
+with open-eyed admiration. Finding Jeannotte and the boys so well
+entertained, mademoiselle allowed them to remain with Blaise when she
+retired to her room.
+
+I followed her to the inn door, and bade her rest without fear, assuring
+her that I would die ere the least harm should befall her.
+
+"Nay," she answered smiling, "I would endure much harm rather than buy
+security at such a price."
+
+For an instant her smooth and delicate fingers lay in mine. Then they
+were swiftly withdrawn, and she passed in, while I stood outside to muse,
+in the gathering dusk, upon the great change that had come over the world
+since my first meeting with her, six hours before. The very stars and sky
+seemed to smile upon me; the moonlight seemed to shine for me consciously
+with a greater softness; the very smell of the earth and grass and trees
+had grown sweeter to me. I thought how barren, though I had not known it,
+the world had been before this transformation, and how unendurable to me
+would be a return of that barrenness.
+
+I rejoined the now somewhat boisterous party at the wine-butt in time to
+catch Blaise making an attempt to kiss Jeannotte, who was maintaining a
+fair pretence of resistance. She seemed rather displeased at my return,
+for as Blaise, unabashedly, continued his efforts, she was compelled, in
+order to make her coyness seem real to me, to break from him, and flee
+into the inn.
+
+Blaise, in whom the spirit of his father was now manifestly gaming the
+ascendancy, consoled himself for the absence of Jeannotte by drinking
+more heroically and betaking to song. The boys labored assiduously to
+keep him company. Finally the stalwart fellow, Hugo, succumbed to the
+effects of the wine, and staggered off to the shed. Pierre followed him a
+few minutes later, and Blaise was left alone with the remains of the
+wine. The landlord and his wife had retired to rest, on their pallets on
+the kitchen floor, some time before. Blaise sat on a log, singing to
+himself and cursing imaginary enemies, until all the wine at hand was
+exhausted. Then he let me lead him into the kitchen, where he immediately
+dropped to the floor, rolled over on his back, and began snoring with the
+vigor that characterized all his vocal manifestations.
+
+Making a pillow of my cloak, I lay down beside him, and tried to sleep;
+but the stale air of the kitchen, the new thoughts to which my mind clung
+with delight, the puzzling questions that sought to displace those
+thoughts, and the tremendous snoring of both the landlord and his wife,
+as well as of Blaise, made slumber impossible to me. I therefore rose,
+and went out of the inn. At a short distance away was a smooth, grassy
+knoll, now bathed in moonlight. I decided to make this my couch. I had
+proceeded only a few steps from the inn when the silence of the early
+night was disturbed by the sound of footsteps on the crisp, fallen leaves
+in the woods close at hand.
+
+The smallness of the village and the obscurity of the locality gave
+importance to every sound, proceeding from a human source, at this hour.
+I, therefore, dropped behind the thick stump of a tree, where I might see
+and hear without being observed. Presently a figure emerged from the edge
+of the wood and moved cautiously towards the inn. It stopped, made a
+gesture towards the wood, and then continued its course. Three more
+figures then came out of the wood, one very tall, one exceedingly broad,
+and the third extremely thin. They came on with great caution, and
+finally joined the first comer near the inn. By this time I had
+recognized the leader as my old friend, Barbemouche. The others were his
+companions.
+
+I awaited their further proceedings with curiosity. Was it in quest of
+us, at the behest of De Berquin, that they had come hither so cautiously
+and without their horses? Very probably. Doubtless, from afar, they had
+seen us turn into the byway which, as one or more of them perhaps knew,
+led to this inn and to no other. It was not likely that, having certainly
+made some bargain with De Berquin, and being moneyless, they had quitted
+his service so soon. Yet, if they were now carrying out orders of his
+against mademoiselle or against me, the supposed lackey who had incurred
+his wrath, why was he not with them? I hoped soon to see these questions
+answered by the doings of the rascals themselves.
+
+The fat ruffian sank down, with a heavy sigh of relief, on the log where
+Blaise had sat. He pulled down with him the thin fellow, who had been
+clutching his arm as if for support. The latter had a wavy, yellow beard,
+a feminine manner, and a dandified air, as if he might once have been a
+fop at the court before descending to the rags which now covered him. The
+fat hireling had a face on which both good nature and pugnacity were
+depicted. At present he was puffing from his exertions afoot. The most
+striking figure of the group was that of the tall rascal. He was gaunt,
+angular and erect, throwing out his chest, and wearing a solemn and
+meditative mien upon his weather-beaten face. This visage, long enough in
+its frame-work, was further extended by a great, pointed beard. There was
+something of grandeur about this cadaverous, frowning, Spanish-looking
+wreck of a warrior, as he stood thoughtfully leaning upon a huge
+two-handed sword, which he had doubtless obtained in the pillage of some
+old armory.
+
+"The place seems closed as tight as the gates of Heaven to a heretic,"
+growled Barbemouche, scrutinizing the inn.
+
+The tall fellow here awoke from his reverie, and spoke in solemn,
+deliberate tones:
+
+"Would it not be well to wake up the landlord and try his wine?"
+
+"Wake up the devil!" cried Barbemouche angrily. "Nobody is to be waked
+up. We are simply to find out whether they are here, and then go back to
+the Captain. Your unquenchable thirst will take you to hell before your
+time, Francois."
+
+"It is astonishing," put in the fat fellow, looking at the tall, lean
+Francois, "how so few gallons of body can hold so many gallons of wine."
+
+"Would I had your body to fill with wine, Antoine," said Francois,
+longingly; and then, casting an unhappy look at the inn, he added, "and
+the wine to fill it with."
+
+"What are you shaking for, Jacques?" asked fat Antoine of his slim
+comrade at his side. "One would think you were afraid. Haven't you told
+us that love of fighting was the one passion of your life?"
+
+"Death of the devil, so it is!" replied Jacques in a soft voice, and
+with a lisp worthy of one of the King's painted minions. "That is what
+annoys me, for if this insignificant matter should come to a fight, and I
+should accidentally be killed in so obscure an affair, how could I ever
+again indulge my passion for fighting?"
+
+Meanwhile, Barbemouche had gone to the door and cautiously opened it, no
+one having barred it after my departure from the kitchen. I could hear
+the sound of Blaise's superb snoring, mingled with the less resonant
+efforts of the old couple. Barbemouche surveyed as much of the kitchen as
+the moonlight disclosed to him. Then he quietly shut the door and turned
+to his fellows.
+
+"It is well," he said. "The gentleman himself is snoring his lungs away
+just inside the door. There is another room, and it is there that the
+women must be. The others are probably in the shed. Let us go quietly, as
+it would not be polite to disturb their sleep."
+
+Whereupon Barbemouche led the way back to the woods, followed by fat
+Antoine, who toiled puffingly, Jacques, who stepped daintily and seemed
+fearful of treading on stones and briars, and last of all Francois, who
+moved at a measured pace, with long strides, retaining his air of
+profound meditation. The sound of the crushing of leaves beneath their
+feet became more distant, and finally died out entirely.
+
+In vain I asked myself the meaning of this strange investigation.
+Manifestly the present object of De Berquin was nothing more than to keep
+himself informed of our whereabouts. But why had he sent all four of his
+henchmen to find out whether we were at this inn, when one would have
+sufficed? I abandoned the attempt to deduce what his exact intentions
+were. Drowsiness now coming over me, and the night air having grown
+colder, I repaired to the shed for the purpose of obtaining there the
+repose that had been denied me in the kitchen. I was satisfied in mind
+that whatever blow De Berquin intended to strike for the possession of
+mademoiselle, or for revenge upon myself, would be attempted at a time
+and place more convenient to him. Knowing that my slumbers invariably
+yielded to any unusual noise, I allowed myself to fall asleep on a pile
+of straw in the shed.
+
+I know not how long I had slept, when I suddenly awoke with a start and
+sat upright. What noise had invaded my sleep, I could not, at that
+moment, tell. The place was then perfectly quiet, save for the regular
+breathing of the two boys, and an occasional movement of one of the
+horses. The shed was still entirely dark, excepting where a thin slice of
+moonlight entered at a crack. I sat still, listening.
+
+Presently a low sound struck my ear, something between a growl and a
+groan. I quickly arose, left the shed, and ran to a clump of bushes at
+the side of the inn, whence the sound proceeded. Separating the bushes I
+saw, lying prone on the ground among them, the stalwart body of Blaise.
+
+"What is the matter?" I cried. "Speak! Are you wounded?"
+
+The only reply was a kind of muffled roar. Looking closer, I saw that
+Blaise's mouth and head were tightly bound by the detached sleeve of a
+doublet, and this had deterred him from articulating. I saw, also,
+that his legs had been tied together, and his hands fastened behind
+him with a rope.
+
+I rapidly released his legs, and he stood up. Then I undid his hands,
+and he stretched out his arms with relief. Finally I unbound his mouth
+and he spoke:
+
+"Oh, the whelps of hell! To fall on a man when he is sleeping off his
+wine, and tie him up like a trussed fowl! I will have the blood of every
+cursed knave of them! And the maid! Grandmother of the devil! They have
+taken the maid! Come, monsieur, let us cut them into pieces, and save
+the maid!"
+
+But I held him back, and cried: "And mademoiselle, what of her? Speak,
+you drunken dog! Have you let her be harmed?"
+
+"She is perfectly safe," he answered, in his turn holding me back from
+rushing to the inn. "I do not think that she was even awakened. What
+use to let her know what has happened? If we rescue the maid and the
+maid will hold her tongue, mademoiselle will never know what danger she
+has escaped."
+
+"Or what vigilant protectors she has had to guard her sleep," I said,
+with bitter self-reproach, no longer daring to blame Blaise for a laxity
+of which I had been equally guilty. "You are right," I went on, "she must
+know nothing. Now tell me at once exactly what has occurred."
+
+Blaise would rather have looked for his sword, and started off
+immediately to the rescue of the maid, but I made him stand with me in
+the shadow of the inn and relate.
+
+"From the time when I fell asleep on the kitchen floor," he said, "I knew
+nothing until a little while ago, when I awoke, and found myself still
+where I had lain down, but tied up as you found me yonder. Four curs of
+hell were lifting me to carry me out. I tried to strike, but the deep
+sleep, induced by that cursed wine, had allowed them to tie me up as
+neatly as if I had been a dead deer. Neither could I speak, though I
+tried hard enough to curse, you may be sure. So they brought me out, and
+laid me down there by the inn-door. 'Would it not be best to stick a
+sword into him?' said one of the rascals, a soft speaking, womanish pup.
+A hungry-looking giant put the point of an old two-handed sword at my
+breast, as if to carry out the suggestion; but a heavy, black-bearded
+scoundrel, whose voice I think I have heard before, pushed the sword away
+and said: 'No, the captain has a quarrel to adjust with him in person. We
+are to concern ourselves entirely with the lady. Lay him yonder.' So they
+carried me over to the bushes. 'And now for the others,' said the giant.
+'Why lose time over them?' said the burly fellow, who seemed to be the
+leader; 'they are sleeping like pigs in the shed. Come! We can do the
+business without waking them up,'
+
+"So they left me lying on the ground and went into the inn again, very
+quietly. They must have gone, without waking the landlord or his wife,
+into the room of mademoiselle and her maid. Presently they came out
+again, carrying the maid. When they had gone about half way to the woods,
+they stopped and set her on her feet. So far, I suppose, it was the wine
+that kept her asleep; but now she awoke, and I could see her looking
+around, very scared, from one to the other of the four rascals. Then she
+gave a scream. At that instant, there came rushing from the woods, with
+his sword drawn, your friend, the Vicomte de Berquin. 'Stand off,
+rascals!' he shouted, as he ran up to them. They drew their weapons, and
+made a weak pretense of resisting him; then, when each one had exchanged
+a thrust with him, they all turned tail, and made off into the woods.
+
+"M. de Berquin now turned to the maid, who had fallen to her knees in
+fright. Taking her hand, he said, 'Mademoiselle, I thank Heaven I arrived
+in time to give you the aid your own escort failed to afford. Perhaps now
+you will be the less unwilling to accept my protection!'--the maid now
+looked up at him, and he got a good view of her face. He started back as
+if hell had opened before him, threw her hand from his, turned towards
+the woods, and shouted to the four rascals, 'You whelps of the devil, you
+have made a mistake and brought the maid!' He was about to follow them,
+when it probably occurred to him that if left free the maid would
+disclose his little project; for he stood thinking a moment, then grasped
+the frightened maid by the wrist, and ran off into the woods, dragging
+her after him. All this I saw through an opening in the bushes while I
+lay helpless and speechless. By industriously working my jaw, I at last
+succeeded in making my mouth sufficiently free to produce the sounds
+which brought you to me. Now, monsieur, let us hasten after the maid, for
+mademoiselle will be vastly annoyed to lose her precious Jeannotte."
+
+I saw that Blaise knew with what argument I was quickest to be moved.
+
+"Blaise," I said, "do not pretend that it is only for mademoiselle's
+sake that you are concerned. In your anxiety about the maid, you forget
+the danger in which mademoiselle still lies, and which requires me to
+remain here. When the ingenious De Berquin learns, from his four
+henchmen, that mademoiselle was not awakened, he will certainly repeat
+his attempt. He thinks to win her favor by appearing to be her rescuer
+from these four pretended assailants, and, at the same time, to make us
+seem unworthy to protect her. He does not know that she has seen the four
+rascals in his company. He wishes to work with his own hand his revenge
+upon us, and so he has let us live. I see the way to make him so
+ridiculous in the eyes of mademoiselle that he will never dare show his
+face to her again."
+
+"But the maid!" persisted Blaise.
+
+"They will doubtless secure her somewhere in the woods, and return here
+to enact, with mademoiselle herself, the sham rescue which they
+mistakenly carried out with the maid. Go and seek your precious
+Jeannotte, if you please, but do not let them discover you. Wait until
+they leave her before you try to release her."
+
+Blaise was quick to avail himself of this conditional commission. He went
+with me into the kitchen, where the old couple were sleeping as noisily
+as ever, and found his sword where he had laid it before supper. The
+door to mademoiselle's room was ajar. Standing at the threshold, I could
+hear her breathing peacefully, unaware of the peril from which, by a
+blunder, she had been saved. Through the small window of the room came a
+bar of moonlight which lighted up her face. It was a face pale, sad,
+innocent,--the face of a girl transformed, in an instant, to womanhood
+by a single grief.
+
+Leaving her door as I had found it, I went from the inn to the shed,
+still wearing my sword, which I had put on in first leaving the kitchen
+after my futile attempt to sleep. Blaise was already making rapidly for
+the woods.
+
+I quietly awoke Hugo and Pierre, and bade them put on their weapons and
+remain ready to respond to my call. I then posted myself again behind the
+tree stump near the inn door and awaited occurrences.
+
+By this time clouds had arisen, and the moonlight was frequently
+obscured. I had waited about half an hour, when, again, the sound of
+breaking leaves and sticks warned me that living beings were
+approaching through the woods. At last I made out the four figures of
+De Berquin's hirelings as they cautiously paused at the edge of the
+open space. Apparently assured by the silence that their presence was
+unsuspected, they came on to the inn. In a moment of moonlight, I
+perceived, also, the figure of De Berquin, who stood at the border of
+the woods watching the proceedings of his varlets. Even as I looked, he
+withdrew into the shadow. At the same time a heavy mass of cloud cast
+darkness over the place.
+
+But I could descry the black forms of the four rascals huddled together
+at the door of the inn, which the foremost cautiously opened. A moment
+later they had all entered the kitchen.
+
+I glided rapidly through the darkness after them, and took my stand just
+within the door, where any one attempting to pass out must encounter me.
+The four rascals were now at the inner door leading to the room of
+mademoiselle.
+
+"Stand off, rascals!" I cried, assuming the tone of De Berquin. In
+the same moment, I gently punctured the back of the nearest rascal
+with my sword.
+
+Surprised at what they took for the premature advent of their master, the
+fellows turned and stood for a moment undecided. But, by thrusting my
+sword among them, I enabled them to make up their minds. They could but
+blindly obey their instructions, and so they came towards me with a
+feeble pretense of attack. In the darkness it was impossible for them to
+make out my features. I met their sham assault with much greater vigor
+than De Berquin had led them to expect from him. This they might have
+been moved to resist, in earnest, but for the fear of losing their pay,
+which De Berquin, in order to secure himself against treachery on their
+part, would certainly have represented as being, not on his person, but
+somewhere awaiting his call. Thus deterred from making a sufficient
+defence against my sword-play, and as mademoiselle, awakened by the
+noise, had hastened to her door and was looking on, the four adventurers
+soon considered that their pretense of battle had lasted long enough. A
+howl of pain from Barbemouche, evoked by a wound in the groin, was the
+signal for their general flight. As I still stood in the doorway to bar
+all exit there, they sought other ways of egress. The slim Jacques ran
+past mademoiselle into her room and bolted through the window.
+Barbemouche managed to go through the rear window of the kitchen, and the
+fat Antoine tried to follow him, but succeeded only as to his head, arms,
+and shoulders. Squeezed tightly into the opening, he remained an
+irresistible temptation to the point of my sword, and at every thrust he
+beat the air with his legs, and shrieked piteously. The tall Francois, in
+attempting to reach this window at one stride, had stumbled against the
+bodies of the terrified innkeeper and his wife, and he now labored,
+vainly, to release his leg from the grasp of the old woman, who clung to
+it with the strength of desperation.
+
+I took mademoiselle by the hand and led her out into the air. Here we
+were joined by Hugo and Pierre, who had run around from the shed at the
+noise. I was just about to answer her look of bewilderment and inquiry,
+when there came a loud cry:
+
+"Stand off, rascals!"
+
+And on rushed De Berquin from the woods, making a great flourish with his
+sword as he came. In the darkness, seeing mademoiselle standing with
+three men, one of whom had led her rapidly from the inn, the inventive
+Vicomte had taken us three for his own zealous henchmen.
+
+And so he came, like some giant-slaying chevalier of the old days,
+crying again: "Stand off, rascals!" and adding, "You hounds, release
+this lady!"
+
+"Fear not for the lady; her friends are here!" I said, motioning Hugo and
+Pierre aside and stepping forward with mademoiselle, my drawn sword in my
+right hand.
+
+The moon reappeared, and showed De Berquin standing with open mouth, as
+if turned to stone. In a moment this astonishment passed.
+
+"Thousand devils!" he cried. "The cursed lackey!"
+
+And he made a wrathful thrust at me, but I disarmed him now as neatly as
+at the inn. Thereupon, he picked up his sword and made rapidly off to the
+woods. Turning towards the inn, I saw the tall fellow and his fat
+comrade leaving it, the former bearing his huge sword on his shoulder.
+They avoided us by a detour, and followed De Berquin. The two who had
+escaped by windows had, doubtless, already reached the protection of the
+trees. I began to explain to mademoiselle, and was asking myself how best
+to account for the absence of Jeannotte, when I saw Blaise coming from
+the woods, bearing the maid in his arms. To prevent her from returning to
+the inn, De Berquin had caused Barbemouche to bind her to a tree. When
+her captors had departed to make a second attempt against mademoiselle,
+the maid had set up a moaning, and this had guided Blaise to her side.
+
+It was now impossible to conceal any of the night's events from
+mademoiselle, but she, far from blaming our lack of vigilance, feigned to
+think herself indebted to us for a second rescue from the attentions of
+her persecutor. During the rest of that night her slumbers were more
+faithfully guarded, although they were not threatened again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A DISAPPEARANCE
+
+
+The next morning we resumed our way southward. The weather was clear and
+fine, yet Mlle. de Varion seemed more heavy at heart than she had been on
+the preceding day. This could not be attributed to any apprehension of
+further annoyance from De Berquin, for, as her talk showed, she believed
+that he would not again trouble her after his having cut so poor a figure
+with his attempt at an intended rescue. But though I did not tell her, I
+had good reason to believe that we were not yet done with him. The
+failure of his attempt with regard to mademoiselle, whether or not that
+attempt had been dictated by Montignac, would not make him abandon the
+more important mission concerning the Sieur de la Tournoire. Therefore, I
+was likely to encounter him again, and probably nearer Maury, and, as it
+was my intention that mademoiselle should remain under my protection
+until after my venture in behalf of her father, it was probable that she,
+too, would see more of her erstwhile pursuer. I would allow events to
+dictate precautions against the discovery of my hiding-place by De
+Berquin, against his interference with my intended attempt to deliver M.
+de Varion, and against his molesting Mlle. de Varion during my absence
+from her on that attempt. I might have killed De Berquin when I disarmed
+him on the previous night, but I did not wish to make him, in the least,
+an object of mademoiselle's pity, and, moreover, I was curious to see
+what means he would adopt towards hunting me down and betraying me.
+
+Not only the dejection of Mlle. de Varion made our ride a melancholy one,
+despite the radiance of the autumn morning. Blaise, repentant of his
+overindulgence, and still feeling the humiliation of the easy capture
+made of him by four scurvy knaves, had taken refuge in one of those moods
+of pious reflection which he attributed to maternal influence. Piqued at
+this reticence, the maid, Jeannotte, maintained a sulky silence. The two
+boys, devoted to their mistress, now faithfully reflected her sad and
+uneasy demeanor.
+
+"Look, mademoiselle!" said I, glad of having found objects toward which
+to draw her attention, "yonder is the Chateau of Clochonne. Beyond that,
+and to the right, are the mountains for which we are bound. It is there
+that I shall introduce to you the Sieur de la Tournoire."
+
+Mademoiselle looked at the distant towers and the mountains beyond
+with an expression of dread. She gave a heavy sigh and shuddered in
+her saddle.
+
+"Nay, mademoiselle," I said; "you have nothing to fear there."
+
+She turned pale, and answered, in a trembling voice:
+
+"Alas, monsieur! Am I not about to put those mountains between myself and
+my father?"
+
+I thought of the joy that I should cause and the gratitude that I should
+win, should I succeed in bringing her father safe to her on those
+mountains, but I kept the thought to myself.
+
+We skirted Clochonne by a wide detour, fording the Creuse at a secluded
+place, and ascended the wooded hills in single file. After a long and
+toilsome progress through pathless and deeply shaded wilds, we reached,
+in the afternoon, the forest inn kept by Godeau and his wife. It had been
+my intention to stop and rest here, and to send Blaise ahead to Maury,
+that one of the rooms of our ruined chateau might be made fit for
+mademoiselle's reception. I had expected to find the inn, as usual,
+without guests, but on approaching it we heard the sound of music
+proceeding from a stringed instrument. We stopped at the edge of the
+small, cleared space before the inn and sent Blaise to reconnoitre. He
+boldly entered and presently returned, followed by the decrepit Godeau
+and his strapping wife, Marianne. Both gave us glad welcome, the old man
+with obsequious bows which doubtless racked his rheumatic joints, the
+woman with bustling cordiality.
+
+"Be at ease, monsieur," said Marianne. "We have no one within except two
+gypsies, who will make music for you and tell your fortunes. Godeau, look
+to the horses."
+
+I dismounted and assisted mademoiselle to descend. Then, on the pretext
+of giving an order, I took Marianne and Godeau aside, and bade them to
+address me as M. de Launay, not on any account as M. de la Tournoire. The
+old man then saw to our horses, and Marianne brought us wine.
+
+"Before sunset," I said to mademoiselle, as I raised my glass, "you shall
+meet the Sieur de la Tournoire at his hiding-place."
+
+Mlle. de Varion turned pale, and, as if suddenly too weak to stand, sat
+down on a wooden bench before the inn door. Jeannotte ran to support her.
+
+"Before sunset!" she repeated, with a shudder.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, unless you are too ill to proceed. I fear the fatigue
+of this ride has been too much for you."
+
+She gave a look of relief, and replied:
+
+"I fear that it has. I shall be better able to go on to-morrow,--unless
+there is danger in remaining here."
+
+"There is very little danger. People crossing the mountains by way of
+Clochonne now use the new road, which is shorter. If, by any chance,
+soldiers from the Clochonne garrison should come this way and detain us
+as fleeing Huguenots, we could summon help,--for we are so near the
+hiding-place of the Sieur de la Tournoire."
+
+Again that shudder! Decidedly, in the accounts that she had received
+of me, I must have been represented as a very terrible personage. I
+smiled at thinking of the surprise that awaited her in the disclosure
+of the truth.
+
+It was thereupon arranged that we should stay at Godeau's inn until the
+next morning. Mademoiselle's portmanteaus were carried to the upper
+chamber, which was a mere loft, but preferable to the kitchen. Thither,
+after eating, she went to rest. Blaise then departed to direct the
+desired preparations at Maury, with orders to return to the inn before
+nightfall. Jeannotte and the two boys remained in the kitchen to hear the
+music of the two gypsies, a man and a girl. Having nothing better to do,
+I took my seat on the bench outside the inn and sat musing.
+
+Late in the afternoon, I heard the light step of mademoiselle on the
+threshold. On seeing me, she stopped, as if it were I whom she had come
+out to seek I rose and offered her the bench. She sat down in silence,
+and for a moment her eyes rested on the ground, while on her face was a
+look of trouble. Suddenly she lifted her glance to mine and spoke
+abruptly, as if forcing herself to broach a subject on which she would
+rather have been silent.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "I suppose that the Sieur de la Tournoire, whom we
+are so soon to meet, is a very dear friend of yours!"
+
+"A very close friend," I replied, with an inward smile. "And yet he has
+got me into so much trouble that I might fairly consider him my enemy."
+
+"I must confess," said she, "that I have heard little of him but evil."
+
+"It is natural that the Catholics in Berry should find nothing good to
+say of him," I replied. "Yet it is true that he is far from perfect,--a
+subtle rascal, who dons disguises, and masquerades as other than he is, a
+leader of night-birds, and sometimes a turbulent roysterer."
+
+"I have been told," she said, "that he treacherously killed a man in
+Paris, and deserted from the French Guards."
+
+"As for the killing," I replied, "there was no treachery or unfairness on
+his part; and if he deserted from the King's French Guards, it was when
+the King had consented to give him up to the Duke of Guise, whom the weak
+King, then as now, hated as much as feared."
+
+She gave a heavy sigh, and went on, "La Tournoire is a brave man,
+of course?"
+
+"He is a man," I said, "who expects to meet death as he meets life,
+cheerfully, not hoping too much, not fearing anything."
+
+"And this hiding-place of his," she said, in a very low voice, again
+dropping her glance to the ground. "Tell me of it."
+
+I gave her a description of the ruined Chateau of Maury.
+
+"But," she said, "is not the place easily accessible to the troops of the
+Governor?"
+
+"The troops of the garrison at Clochonne have not yet found the way to
+it," I replied. "The chateau was abandoned twenty years ago. Its master
+is an adventurer in the new world, if he is not dead. Its very existence
+has been forgotten, for the land pertaining to it is of no value. The
+soldiers from Clochonne could find it only by scouring this almost
+impenetrable wilderness."
+
+"Is there, then, no road leading to it?" she asked.
+
+"This road leads hither from Clochonne, and on southward across the
+mountain. There are the remains of a by-road leading from here westward
+to the chateau, and ending there. But this by-road, almost entirely
+recovered by the forest, is known only to La Tournoire and his friends. A
+better way for the Governor's soldiers to find La Tournoire's stronghold,
+if they but knew, would be to take the road along the river from
+Clochonne to Narjec, and to turn up the hill at the throne-shaped rock
+half-way between those towns. At the top of that hill is Maury, hidden by
+dense woods and thickets."
+
+Mlle. de Varion, who had heard my last words with a look of keen
+attention and also of bitter pain of mind, now rose and walked to and fro
+as if meditating. Inwardly I lamented my inability to drive from her face
+the clouds which I attributed to her increasing distress, as she found
+herself further and further from her father and her home, bound for still
+gloomier shades and wilder surroundings.
+
+I asked if she would go in and hear the music of the gypsy, or have him
+come out and play for her, but she thanked me with a sorrowful attempt at
+a smile, and returned to her own chamber.
+
+When the sun declined, I ordered Marianne to prepare the best supper that
+her resources would allow, and then, as it was time that Blaise should
+have been back from Maury, I went to a little knoll, which gave a view of
+a part of the abandoned byroad, to look and listen for him. Presently, I
+heard the sound of a horse's footfalls near the inn, and made haste back
+to see who rode there. Just as I reached the cleared space, I saw the
+rider disappearing around a bend of the road which led to Clochonne.
+Though I saw only his back, I recognized him as mademoiselle's boy,
+Pierre, mounted on one of her horses.
+
+On the bench before the inn sat mademoiselle herself, alone. She gave a
+start of surprise when I came up to her.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, "I have just seen your boy, Pierre, riding
+towards Clochonne."
+
+"Yes," she replied, looking off towards the darkest part of the forest.
+"I--I was alarmed at your absence. I did not know where you had gone; I
+sent him to look for you."
+
+"Then I would better run after and call him back," I said, taking a step
+towards the road.
+
+"No, no!" she answered, quickly. "Do not leave me now. He will come back
+soon of his own accord. I told him to do so if he did not find you. I
+must ask you to bear with me, monsieur. The solitude, the strangeness of
+the place, almost appal me. I feel a kind of terror when I do not know
+that you are near."
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, sitting beside her on the bench, "I cannot
+describe that which I shall feel, if I am doomed ever to know that you
+are not near me. It will be as if the sun had ceased to shine, and the
+earth had turned barren."
+
+A blush mounted to her cheeks; she dropped her humid eyes; her breast
+heaved. For an instant she seemed to have forgotten her distresses. Then
+sorrow resumed its place on her countenance, and she answered, sadly:
+
+"Ah, monsieur, when you shall have truly known me!"
+
+"Have I not known you a whole day?" I asked. "I wonder that life had any
+relish for me before yesterday. It seems as if I had known you always,
+though the joy that your presence gives me will always be fresh and
+novel. Ah, mademoiselle, if you knew what sweetness suddenly filled the
+world at my first sight of you!"
+
+I took her hand in mine. She made a weak effort to withdraw it; I
+tightened my hold; she let it remain. Then she turned her blue eyes up to
+mine with a look of infinite trust and yielding, so that I felt that,
+rapid as had been my own yielding to the charm of her beauty and her
+gentleness, she had as speedily acknowledged in me the man by whom her
+heart might be commanded.
+
+As we sat thus, the gypsy within, who had been for some time aimlessly
+strumming his instrument, began to sing. The words of his song came to us
+subdued, but distinct:
+
+"The sparkle of my lady's eyes--
+   Ah, sight that is the fairest!
+The look of love that in them lies--
+   Ah, thrill that is the rarest!
+Oh, comrades mine, go roam the earth,
+  You'll find in all your roving
+That all its other joys are worth
+  Not half the joys of loving!"
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle," I whispered, "before yesterday those words would have
+meant nothing to me!"
+
+She made no answer, but closed her eyes, as if to shut out every thought
+but consciousness of that moment.
+
+And now the gypsy, in an air and voice expressive of sadness, as he had
+before been expressive of rapture, sang a second stanza:
+
+"But, ah, the price we have to pay
+  For joys that have their season!
+And, oh, the sadness of the day
+  When woman shows her treason!
+Her look of love is but a mask
+  For plots that she is weaving.
+Alas, for those who fondly bask
+  In smiles that are deceiving!"
+
+I thought of Mlle. d'Arency, but not for long; for suddenly Mlle. de
+Varion started up, as if awakened from a dream, and looked at me with an
+expression of unspeakable distress of mind.
+
+"Oh, monsieur!" she cried. "You must leave me! I must never see you
+again. Go, go,--or let me go at once!"
+
+"Mademoiselle!" I cried, astonished.
+
+"I beg you, make no objections, ask no questions! Only go! It is a
+crime, an infamy, for me to have listened while you spoke as you spoke a
+while ago! I ought not to have accepted your protection! Go, monsieur,
+and have no more to do with the most miserable woman in France!"
+
+She started to go into the inn, but I caught her by the hand and
+detained her.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, gently, "the difference in our religions need not
+forbid such words between us as I have spoken. I can understand how you
+regard it as an insuperable barrier, but it is really a slight one,
+easily removed, as it has been in many notable cases."
+
+"Monsieur," she replied, resolutely, shaking her head, "I say again, we
+must part. I am not to be urged or persuaded. The greatest kindness you
+can do me is to go, or let me go, without more words."
+
+"But, mademoiselle," I interposed, "it will be very difficult for you to
+continue your flight across this border without a guide. Not to speak of
+the danger from men, there is the chance of losing your way."
+
+"The Sieur de la Tournoire will not refuse me his guidance," she said, in
+a voice that seemed forced to an unwonted hardness.
+
+"Then you will discard my protection, and accept his, a stranger's?"
+
+"Yes, because he is a stranger,--thank God!"
+
+What, I asked myself, was to be the end of this? Would she not, on
+learning that La Tournoire was myself, all the more decidedly insist on
+going her own way? Therefore, before disclosing myself to her, I must
+accustom her to the view that a difference in religion ought not to
+separate two who love each other. In order to do this, I must have time;
+so I said:
+
+"At least, mademoiselle, you will let me show you the way to Maury, and
+present to you the Sieur de la Tournoire. That is little to ask."
+
+"I have already accepted too much from you," she replied, hesitating.
+
+"Then cancel the obligation by granting me this one favor."
+
+"Very well, monsieur. But you will then go immediately?"
+
+"From the moment when you first meet La Tournoire, he shall be your only
+guide, unless you yourself choose another. In the meantime," I added, for
+she had taken another step towards the inn, "grant me at least as much of
+your society as you would bestow on an indifferent acquaintance, who
+happened to be your fellow-traveler in this lonely place."
+
+She gave a sigh which I took as meaning that the more we should see each
+other, the harder the parting would be at last, but she said,
+tremulously:
+
+"We shall meet at supper, monsieur, and to-morrow, when you conduct me
+on to Maury." Then she entered the inn, but stopped on the threshold,
+and, casting on me a strangely wistful look, she added, "Great must be
+the friendship between you and La Tournoire, that you can so confidently
+assure his protection to those for whom you ask it."
+
+"Oh, I have done much for him, and he cannot refuse me any request that
+it is in his power to grant," I said, truly enough.
+
+"Then," she went on, "the tie is one of obligation, rather than of great
+friendship?"
+
+"Yes. I have often been in a position to do him great services when no
+one else was, and when he most needed them. As for my feeling of
+friendship for him, I shall not even weep when he is dead."
+
+"Suppose you should love a woman," she continued, with a strange
+eagerness, "and there should come a time when you would have to choose
+between your love for her, and your friendship for this man, which
+would prevail?"
+
+"I would sacrifice La Tournoire for the woman I loved," I answered,
+with truth.
+
+She looked at me steadily, and a hope seemed to dawn in her eyes, but in
+a moment they darkened again; she sighed deeply, and she turned to ascend
+to her chamber, while I stood there trying to deduce a meaning from her
+strange speeches and conduct, which I finally put down to the
+capaciousness of woman. I could understand the feeling that she ought to
+part from a man who loved her and whom her religion forbade her to love
+in return; but why she should seem pleased at the apparent lukewarmness
+of my friendship for La Tournoire, whom she was willing to accept as her
+guide, I could not guess. Since she intended to part from me, never to
+see me again, what mattered it to her whether or not I was the intimate
+of a proscribed ruffian? Yet she seemed glad to hear that I was not, but
+this might be only seeming. I might not have read her face and tone
+aright. Her inquiries might have been due to curiosity alone. So I
+thought no more of them, and gave my mind instead to planning how she
+might be made to ignore the difference between our religions, and to
+revoke the edict banishing me from her side. It would be necessary that
+she should be willing to remain at Maury, with a guard composed of some
+of my men, while I, giving a pretext for delaying the flight and for the
+absence of myself and the most of my company, should attempt the delivery
+of her father from the chateau of Fleurier. It was my hope, though I
+dared not yet breathe it, that I might bring her father and my company
+back to Maury, and that all of us might then proceed to Guienne.
+
+My meditations were interrupted by the return of Blaise from Maury, where
+he had found all well and the men there joyous at the prospect of soon
+rejoining the army in Guienne. A part of the company was absent on a
+foraging raid. Two of the roofed chambers were rapidly being made
+habitable for Mlle. de Varion, whom Blaise had announced to the men as a
+distinguished refugee.
+
+When supper was ready in the kitchen, I sent Jeannotte to summon her
+mistress. Mademoiselle came down from her chamber, her sweet face
+betokening a brave attempt to bear up under the many woes that crushed
+her,--the condition of her father, her own exile, the peril in which she
+stood of the governor's reconsidering his order and sending to make her
+prisoner, the seeming necessity of exchanging my guidance for that of a
+stranger who had been painted to her in repulsive colors, and the other
+unhappy elements of her situation.
+
+"It is strange that the boy, Pierre, has not returned," I said, while we
+sat at table.
+
+Mademoiselle reddened. It then occurred to me that, in her abstraction,
+she had not even noticed his absence, and that now it came on her as a
+new trouble.
+
+"Pardon me for speaking of it in such a way as to frighten you," I said.
+"There is no cause for alarm. Not finding me on the road, he may have
+turned into the woods to look for me, and so have lost his way. He would
+surely be able to find the road again."
+
+"I trust he will not come to any harm," replied mademoiselle, in a low
+voice that seemed forced, as if she were concealing the fears that she
+really felt.
+
+Jeannotte cast a sympathetic look at her mistress.
+
+"Shall I go and look for him?" asked Hugo, showing in his face his
+anxiety for his comrade.
+
+"You would lose yourself, also," I said. "Mademoiselle, I shall go, for I
+know all the hillocks and points of vantage from which he may be seen."
+
+"Nay, monsieur, do not give yourself the trouble, I pray you."
+
+But I rose from the table, to show that I was determined, and said:
+
+"Blaise, I leave you as guard. Remember last night."
+
+"I am not likely to forget," he growled, dropping his eyes before the
+sharp glance of Jeannotte. "Mademoiselle need have no fears."
+
+"But, monsieur," said mademoiselle. She was about to continue, but her
+eye met Jeannotte's, and in the face of the maid was an expression as if
+counselling silence. So mademoiselle said no more, but she followed me to
+the door, and stood on the threshold.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "if you do not find him within a few minutes, I
+entreat that you will not put yourself to further discomfort. See, it is
+already nearly dark. If he be lost in the woods for the night, he can
+doubtless find his way hither tomorrow."
+
+"I shall not seek long, mademoiselle, for the reason that I would not be
+long away from you."
+
+At that moment, feeling under my foot something different from leaves or
+earth, I stooped and found one of mademoiselle's gloves, which she had
+dropped, probably, on first entering the inn. Remaining in my kneeling
+posture and looking up at her sweet, sad face, I said:
+
+"Whatever may come in the future, mademoiselle, circumstance has made me
+your faithful chevalier for a day. Will you not give me some badge of
+service that I may wear forever in memory of that sweet, though
+sorrowful day?"
+
+"Keep what you have in your hand," she replied, in a low voice, and
+pointed to her glove.
+
+I rose, and fastened the glove on my hat, and said: "They shall find
+it on me when I am dead, mademoiselle." Then I turned to go in search
+of Pierre.
+
+"I shall go to my room now," she said, "and so, good-night, monsieur!"
+
+I turned, and made to take her hand that I might kiss it, but she drew it
+away, and then, standing on the threshold, she raised it as one does in
+bestowing a _benedicite_, and said:
+
+"God watch you through the night, monsieur!"
+
+"And you forever, mademoiselle!" said I, but she had gone. For a moment
+I stood looking up at her chamber window, thinking how it had come over
+me again, as in the days of my youth, the longing to be near one woman.
+
+Night was now coming on. In the deeper shades of the forest it was
+already dark, but the sky was clear, and soon the moon would rise. Musing
+as I went, I walked along the road that Pierre had first taken. The only
+sounds that I heard were the ceaseless chirps and whirrs of the insects
+of the bushes and trees.
+
+When I had gone some distance, I bethought me of my heedlessness in
+coming away from the inn without my sword. I had taken this off before
+sitting down to eat, and at my departure my mind had been so taken up
+with other matters that I had omitted to put it on. My dagger was with it
+at the inn. At first I thought of returning for these weapons, but I
+considered that I would not be away long, and that there was no
+likelihood of my requiring weapon in these solitudes. So I continued on
+my way towards a knoll whence I expected to get a good view of the road,
+and thus, should Pierre be returning on that road, spare myself the labor
+of plunging into the wood's depths and listening for the footsteps of his
+horse or of himself.
+
+I had walked several minutes in the increasing darkness, when there came
+to my ears, from the shades at the right, the sound of a human snore.
+Had the boy fatigued himself in trying to find the way, and fallen asleep
+without knowledge of his nearness to the inn?
+
+"Pierre!" I called. There was no answer.
+
+I called again. Again there was no reply, but the snoring ceased. A third
+time I called. My call was unheeded.
+
+I turned into the wilds, and forced my way through dense undergrowth. At
+a short distance from the road, I came on traces of the passage of some
+one else. Following these, I arrived at last at a small open space,
+where the absence of vegetation seemed due to some natural cause.
+Sufficient of the day's failing light reached the clearing to show me
+the figures of four men on the ground before me, three of them stretched
+in slumber, the fourth sitting up. The last held a huge old two-handed
+sword over his shoulder, ready to strike. The threatening attitude of
+this giant made me take mechanically a step backward, and feel for my
+sword. Alas, I was unarmed!
+
+"So, my venturesome lackey, we meet again!" came a sarcastic voice from
+the left, and some one darted between me and the four men, facing me with
+drawn sword.
+
+It was the Vicomte de Berquin, and a triumphant smile was on his face.
+
+Moved by the thought that mademoiselle's safety depended on me, I was
+not ashamed, being unarmed, to turn about for immediate flight. But I had
+no sooner shown my back to M. de Berquin, than I found myself face to
+face with the scowling Barbemouche, who stood motionless, the point of
+his sword not many inches from my breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+HOW THE HERO GAVE HIS WORD AND KEPT IT
+
+
+I stood still and reflected.
+
+"You lack a weapon," said M. de Berquin, humorously. "I shall presently
+give you mine, point first."
+
+As I was still facing Barbemouche, I imagined the point of the Vicomte's
+sword entering my back, and I will confess that I shivered.
+
+"And I mine," growled Barbemouche. "Though you are a lackey and I a
+gentleman, yet, by the grandmother of Beelzebub, I am glad to see you!"
+
+"Indeed!" said I, whose only hope was to gain time for thought. "This is
+a heartier welcome than a stranger might expect."
+
+De Berquin laughed. Barbemouche said, "You are no stranger"
+
+"Then you know me?" said I. "Who am I?"
+
+"You are the answer to a prayer," said Barbemouche, with an ugly grin.
+"You thought you fooled us finely last night, and that when you had made
+a hole in my body you had done with me. But I got a look at you after the
+mistake was discovered, and I vowed the virgin a dozen candles in return
+for another meeting with you. And now she has sent you to me."
+
+And he looked at me with such jubilant vindictiveness that I turned and
+faced De Berquin, saying:
+
+"Monsieur the Vicomte, I have made up my mind that your visage is more
+pleasant to look on than that of your friend."
+
+By this time, the other three rascals on the ground had been awakened by
+the tall fellow, and the four had taken up their weapons and placed
+themselves at the four sides of the open space, so that I could not make
+a bolt in any direction. All the circumstances that made my life at that
+time doubly precious rushed into my mind. On it depended the safety of
+Mlle. de Varion, the rescue of her father, the expeditious return of my
+brave company to our Henri's side, and certain valuable interests of our
+Henri's cause. I will confess that it was for its use to mademoiselle,
+rather than for its use to our Henri, that I most valued, at that moment,
+the life which there was every chance of my speedily losing. In De
+Berquin, and in Barbemouche as well, vengeance cried for my immediate
+death. Moreover, my death would remove the chief obstacle to De Berquin's
+having his will concerning Mlle. de Varion. For an instant, I thought he
+might let me live that I might tell him her whereabouts, but I perceived
+that my presence was indication to him that she was near at hand. He
+could now rely on himself to find her. The opportunity of removing me
+from his way was not to be risked by delay. It was true that I might
+obtain respite by announcing myself as the Sieur de la Tournoire, for he
+would wish to present me alive to the governor, if he could do so. The
+governor and the Duke of Guise would desire to season their revenge on me
+with torture, and to attempt the forcing from me of secrets of our party.
+But to make myself known as La Tournoire was but to defer my death. The
+life that I might thus prolong could not be of any further service to
+mademoiselle or to Henri of Navarre. Still, I might so gain time. I might
+escape; my men might rescue me. So, as a last resource, I would save my
+life by disclosing myself; but I would defer this disclosure until the
+last possible instant. De Berquin and Barbemouche were evidently in for
+amusing themselves awhile at my expense. They would prolong matters for
+their own pleasure and my own further humiliation. Meanwhile, an
+unexpected means of eluding them might arise.
+
+As for their presence there, I have always accounted for it on this
+supposition: That, after their defeat on the previous night, they had
+reunited in the woods, hidden themselves where they might observe our
+departure from the inn in the morning, followed us at a distance into
+the mountain forest, lost our track, and finally, knowing neither of
+Godeau's inn nor of their nearness to the road, dismounted, and sought
+afoot an open space in which to pass the night. Their horses were
+probably not far away.
+
+"Ha!" laughed De Berquin, in answer to my words and movement. "So you
+don't share Barbemouche's own opinion of his beauty?"
+
+An unctuous guffaw from the fat rascal, and a grim chuckle from gaunt
+Francois, indicated that Barbemouche's ugliness was a favorite subject of
+mirth with his comrades.
+
+"The opinion of a dead lackey does not amount to much," gutturally
+observed Barbemouche. Doubtless I should have felt the point of his
+rapier between my shoulders but that he waited on the will of De Berquin.
+
+His tone showed that he really had the high regard for his looks that De
+Berquin's words had implied. It afterward became evident to me that the
+ugliness of this burly rascal was equalled only by his vanity.
+
+"Nor is a dead lackey half as useful as a living one can be," I said,
+looking De Berquin straight in the eyes.
+
+"_Par dieu_! I admit that you have been very useful against me, and that
+is why I am going to kill you," replied De Berquin.
+
+"Would it not be more worthy of a man of intellect, like the Vicomte de
+Berquin, if I have been useful against him, to make me pay for it by
+being useful for him?" I said, quietly, without having yet the least idea
+of what service I should propose doing him in return for my life.
+
+"Most interesting of lackeys, how might you be useful to me?" inquired De
+Berquin, continuing his mood of sinister jocularity.
+
+How, indeed? I asked myself. Aloud I answered slowly, in order to have
+the more time to think:
+
+"In your present enterprise, monsieur."
+
+"The devil! What do you know of my present enterprise?" he asked,
+quickly.
+
+I saw that I had at least awakened his interest in the idea that I might
+be worth using alive.
+
+"I will tell you," I answered, "if you will first ask this unpleasant
+person behind me to step aside."
+
+"Unpleasant person!" repeated Barbemouche, astonished at my audacity.
+"You dog, do you speak in such terms of a gentleman?"
+
+So he was under the delusion also that he possessed gentility.
+
+"Stop, Gilles!" commanded De Berquin. "Go yonder, while I listen to this
+amusing knave. Let him talk awhile before he dies."
+
+Barbemouche sullenly went over to the side of Francois, and stood there
+glowering at me. It was a relief to know that his sword-point was no
+longer at my back.
+
+"Now, rascal!" said De Berquin to me. "My present enterprise, and how you
+can be useful to me in it?"
+
+"In the first place, monsieur," I began, having no knowledge how I was to
+finish, "you and your gallant company are doubtless tired, hungry, and
+thirsty--"
+
+An assenting grunt from the tall fellow, and a look of keen interest on
+the faces of all, showed that I had not spoken amiss.
+
+"You are quite lost in these woods," I went on. "You do not know how near
+you may be to any road or to any habitation, where you might have roof,
+food, and drink. Heaven, in giving me the pleasure of meeting you, has
+also done you the kindness of sending one who can guide you to these
+blessings. That is the first service I can do you."
+
+"Very well, you shall do it. I can kill you as well afterwards."
+
+"But I will not do it unless I have your promise, on your honor as
+gentlemen, to give me both my life and my liberty immediately."
+
+"My very modest lackey, you greatly undervalue both your life and your
+liberty, if you think you can buy them from me at so small a cost. No;
+you offer too little. The pleasure of killing you far exceeds that of
+having your guidance. Now that we have happily met you, we know that
+there must be shelter, food, and drink somewhere near at hand. We can
+find them for ourselves in as short a time, perhaps, as it would require
+you to take us there. We shall doubtless have the happiness of meeting
+there your very gallant master and the lady whom he protects with your
+arm and sword. Having robbed him of his means of guarding his lovely
+charge, I shall in fairness relieve him of the charge."
+
+I perceived here the opportunity of learning whether it was under the
+governor's orders, received through Montignac, that De Berquin pursued
+mademoiselle while he came in quest of the Sieur de la Tournoire, or
+whether it was on his own account.
+
+"Your infatuation for this lady must be very great," I said, in a tone
+too low for his four followers to distinguish my words, "to lead you to
+force your presence on her."
+
+"_My_ infatuation!" he repeated, and then he laughed. "My very knowing
+lackey, if you were better informed of my affairs, you would know that an
+infatuation for Mlle. de Varion is a luxury that I cannot at present
+afford. A man who has lost his estates, his money, his king's favor, and
+who has fled from his creditors in Paris to prey on the provinces, thinks
+not of love, but of how to refill his pockets."
+
+"Then it is not for love that you pursue Mile, de Varion?" I said. I
+now believed, as I had first thought, that the governor had changed his
+mind after ordering mademoiselle to leave the province, had decided to
+hold her in durance, and had commissioned De Berquin to detain her, as
+well as to hunt down me. But I put the question in order to get further
+time for thought.
+
+"For love, yes; but not for mine!" was the answer.
+
+This startled me. "For that of M. de la Chatre?" I asked, quickly.
+
+"You seem to be curious on this point," said De Berquin, derisively.
+
+"If I am to die," I replied, "you can lose nothing by gratifying my
+curiosity. If I am to live, I may be the better able to serve you if you
+gratify it."
+
+"I am not one to refuse the request of a man about to die," he said, with
+a self-amused look. "It is not La Chatre, the superb, whose _amour_ I
+have come into this cursed wilderness to serve."
+
+"Then who--?" But I stopped at the beginning of the question, as a new
+thought came to me. "The secretary!" I said.
+
+"Montignac, the modest and meditative," replied De Berquin.
+
+I might have thought it. What man of his age, however given to deep
+study and secret ambition, could have been insensible to her beauty, her
+grace, her gentleness? Such a youth as Montignac would pass a thousand
+women indifferently, and at last perceive in Mlle. de Varion at first
+glance the perfections that distinguished her from others of her sex.
+Doubtless, to him, as to me, she embodied an ideal, a dream, of which he
+had scarcely dared hope to find the realization. Seeing her at the inn,
+he had been warmed by her charms at once. He had resolved to avail
+himself of his power and of her helplessness. Her father in prison,
+herself an exile without one powerful friend, she would be at his mercy.
+Forbidden by his duties to leave the governor's side, he could charge De
+Berquin, in giving the latter the governor's orders concerning myself,
+with the additional task of securing the person of mademoiselle, that he
+might woo her at his leisure and in his own way. The governor, ready
+enough to frighten into an unwarranted exile a woman whose entreaties he
+feared, would yet not be so ungallant as to give her to his secretary
+for the asking. But Montignac might safely hold her prisoner, the
+governor would think that she had left the province, there would be none
+to rescue her. Such were the acts, designs, and thoughts that I
+attributed to the reticent, far-seeing, resolute secretary. All passed
+through my mind in a moment.
+
+And now I feared for mademoiselle as I had not feared before. I never
+feared a man, or two men at a time, who came with sword in hand; but how
+is one to meet or even to perceive the blows aimed by men of thought and
+power? Such as Montignac, inscrutable, patient, ingenious, strong enough
+to conceal their own passions, which themselves are more intense and far
+more lasting than the passions of a mere man of fighting, are not easily
+turned aside from the quest of any object on which they have put their
+desires. One against whom they have set themselves is never safe from
+them while they live. Years do not make them either give up or forget.
+Montignac, by reason of his influence over the governor, had vast
+resources to employ. He could turn the machinery of government to his own
+ends, and the trustful governor not suspect. In that slim youth,
+smooth-faced, pale, repressed, grave, not always taking the trouble to
+erase from his features the signs of his scorn for ordinary minds, a
+scorn mingled with a sense of his own power and with a kind of derisive
+mirth,--in this quiet student I beheld an antagonist more formidable than
+any against whom I had ever been pitted. In thinking of him, I came at
+once to regard De Berquin, who still stood facing me with ready sword,
+and on his face the intention of killing me plainly written, as a very
+inconsiderable opponent, even when backed by his four ruffians with
+their varied collection of weapons.
+
+If I was to save Mlle. de Varion from the designs of the far-reaching
+secretary, it was time that I eluded the danger immediately
+confronting me.
+
+For a few moments after De Berquin uttered the speech last recorded, I
+stood silent, my eyes meeting his.
+
+"Come," he said, presently, impatiently giving several turns of his wrist
+so that his sword-point described arcs in the air before my eyes. "We
+wander from the subject. What service can you do me? Don't think you can
+keep me talking until your party happens to come up. I intend to kill you
+when I shall have counted twenty, unless before that time you make it
+appear worth my while to let you live. One, two, three--"
+
+His look showed that he had ceased to be amused at my situation. Alive, I
+had begun to bore him. It was time to make sure of his vengeance. His men
+stood on all sides to prevent my flight. At my least movement, he would
+thrust his rapier deep into my body. He went on counting. What could I
+offer him to make him stay his hand? Was there anything in the world that
+he might desire which it would appear to be in my power to give him?
+
+"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen," he counted, taking exact note of the
+distance between us.
+
+As in a flash the idea came to me.
+
+"Monsieur," I said, loudly, so as to be plainly heard above his own
+voice, "let me go and I will deliver to you the Sieur de la Tournoire!"
+
+He had reached nineteen in his count. He stopped there and stared at me.
+
+"The Sieur de la Tournoire," he repeated, as if the idea of his taking
+the Sieur de la Tournoire were a new one.
+
+"You speak, monsieur," said I, quietly, "as if you had not come to these
+hills for the purpose of catching him."
+
+He looked at me with a kind of surprise, but said nothing in reply to my
+remark. "It is natural," thought I, "for him not to disclose his purpose,
+even when there is no use for him to conceal it."
+
+"I take La Tournoire?" he said, presently, half to himself. He stood
+thinking for a time, during which I supposed that he was considering the
+propriety of his personally making the capture, in view of the plan that
+I had overheard Montignac suggest to the governor, namely, that the spy
+should merely lure La Tournoire into an ambush where the governor's
+soldiers should make the seizure. The spy had doubtless received orders
+strictly in accordance with this plan, La Tournoire being considered too
+great game to be bagged by anything less than a company of soldiers.
+
+"Why not?" said I. "Whoever does so will receive a good price in
+addition to the gratitude of M. de la Chatre and that of the Duke of
+Guise. Indeed, the feat might even win you back the King's favor, which
+you say you have lost."
+
+"But suppose Montignac has other plans for the capture of this highly
+valued rebel?" said he.
+
+"If he had," said I, thinking of the arrangement as to the ambush, "they
+were made in the belief that La Tournoire was not to be taken by one man
+with a few hired knaves. The captor of La Tournoire can afford to earn
+Montignac's displeasure by deviating from his orders. Should you take
+this Huguenot, you would be in a position to snap your fingers at
+Montignac."
+
+"But if it is in your power to give up La Tournoire, why do you not take
+him and get the reward? Why have you not done so already?"
+
+"For the very fact which puts it in my power to do so. I am of his party.
+I am his trusted counsellor, lackey that I pretend to be."
+
+"I have, from the first, thought you a most exceptional lackey. But if
+you are of his party, and in his secrets, you must be a vile traitor to
+give him up. That being the case, you would not hesitate to lie to me.
+Indeed, even if it were not the case, you would not hesitate to lie to
+me, to save yourself or to gain time."
+
+"As to my being a vile traitor, a man will descend to much in order to
+save his life. As to my readiness to lie to you, it seems to me that,
+in the present situation, you are the one man to whom I cannot now
+afford to lie. With your sword at my throat, it is much easier for me
+to be a vile traitor to La Tournoire than to lie to you. Besides, I
+have my own reasons for disliking him, notwithstanding that my cause
+and his are the same."
+
+"And how do you propose to give him up to me?"
+
+"By merely bringing him face to face with you."
+
+"_Par dieu_! A charming proposition! How do I know that you will not, in
+pretending to betray him to me, really betray me to him? Suppose you do
+bring him face to face with me, and his men are all around?"
+
+"Only one of his men shall be present," I said, thinking of Blaise. "He
+will not come without this one man. As for the others of his band, not
+one shall be within a league."
+
+"Himself and one man," said De Berquin, musingly. "That is to say, two
+very able fighters."
+
+"There are five of you."
+
+"But this Tournoire is doubtless worth three men in a fight, and his man
+will probably be worth two more. I don't think your offer sufficiently
+attractive. I think I would do better to kill you. Certainly, there are
+many reasons why you should die. If you should escape me now, as you are
+one of La Tournoire's people, you would immediately go to him and tell
+him of my presence here. I do not choose that he shall know as much about
+me as you do."
+
+"Can you suggest any amendment to my offer, so that it might be more
+attractive?"
+
+"If you could bring La Tournoire unarmed--"
+
+"I will do that," I said.
+
+De Berquin looked at me steadily for some time. At last he shook his
+head and said:
+
+"It is a fair bargain, as it now stands, but I see no way of your
+carrying out your part without putting me in danger of your betraying
+me. To find La Tournoire, you would have to leave us. Once out of our
+sight, you would be free to ignore the contract, laugh at me for being
+so easily gulled, and set La Tournoire and his men on me, which would
+entirely spoil my plans. Every minute I see more and more the necessity
+of killing you."
+
+"But I shall find La Tournoire without going out of your sight," I said.
+
+De Berquin again became thoughtful. Then he laughed.
+
+"You mean that you would lead us up to his very den, where we should be
+at the mercy of his men," he said.
+
+"I have already said that, with one exception, none of his men shall be
+within a league of where you are to meet him."
+
+"I do not see how you are going to bring him so far from his men, if you
+do not go for him."
+
+"Leave that to me. I shall take you to a place where he will present
+himself unarmed. Excepting the man who will be with him, not one of his
+company shall be within a league."
+
+"Where is the place?" asked De Berquin, still smiling ironically.
+
+"Not far from here. It is a place where you can get also wine and food."
+
+"And how am I to know that this place is not a trap into which you wish
+to lead me?"
+
+"You shall walk behind me with drawn sword and dagger. At the slightest
+suspicious movement or speech that I make, you can easily kill me."
+
+"That is true. Yet I might lose my own life the next moment. Who knows
+but that you are merely seeking to sell your life as dearly as possible,
+or but that you are aiming to gain time in the hope of some unexpected
+occurrence?"
+
+"Monsieur," said I, "we both know that men cannot read the heart. You
+cannot be sure whether or not I am lying. You indeed take the risk that I
+wish to lead you where you will have to pay for my life with your own,
+and that I am trying to gain time; but, at the same time, there is the
+chance that I intend to keep my word, that I intend to present the Sieur
+de la Tournoire unarmed, and a league away from all his men but one. Is
+not that chance worth the risk? Have you not gambled, monsieur?"
+
+From the shrug of De Berquin's shoulders, I knew that he had gambled, and
+also that my argument had moved him. But another doubt darkened his face.
+
+"And if you do bring an unarmed person before me, how shall I know that
+it is La Tournoire?" said he.
+
+"He shall tell you so himself."
+
+"Excellent proof!"
+
+"What man but La Tournoire would risk his life by declaring himself to be
+that proscribed gentleman?"
+
+"One of his followers might do so, if he thought that he might so throw
+an enemy off La Tournoire's track."
+
+"Then the possibility of my deceiving you on that point is but an
+additional risk you run, in return for the chance of your bagging the
+real game. Besides, I give you my word of honor that I will truly perform
+all that I promise."
+
+"The word of a lackey!" said De Berquin, derisively.
+
+"Have you not yourself described me as an exceptional lackey?"
+
+"Well, I love to take chances. And as you have given me your word, the
+word of an exceptional lackey, I give you my word, the word of a
+gentleman, that if you set La Tournoire unarmed before me, with but one
+of his men at hand, I will give you your life and freedom. But stay! At
+what time am I to have the pleasure of meeting him?"
+
+"When we hear the stroke of eight from the tower of the church in
+Clochonne. The wind this evening is from that direction. It is
+agreed, then?"
+
+"Agreed!" said De Berquin. "Jacques, give me your dagger. Now, Master
+Lackey, lead the way. Follow, you rascals, and be ready to knock down any
+person to whom I shall direct your attention."
+
+And I turned and led the way to the road, followed closely by De Berquin,
+who held his sword in one hand and the dagger in the other. I heard the
+others fall in line, and tramp their way through the brush behind him.
+Barbemouche must have been exceedingly surprised at his leader's
+proceedings, for the conversation between De Berquin and myself had been
+conducted in a tone too low for their ears.
+
+When we reached the road, De Berquin ordered a halt. He then commanded
+Barbemouche to walk at my left side, and Francois to walk at my right, De
+Berquin retained his place behind me, and the other two rascals followed
+him. In this order we proceeded towards the inn.
+
+My object in leading my enemies to the inn was to set them drinking. As
+long as the possibility of taking La Tournoire was before De Berquin,
+there was little likelihood that he would seek to molest Mlle. de Varion.
+In the first place, he could not take her from the vicinity while he
+himself remained there awaiting the coming of La Tournoire. Secondly, he
+would not court any violence during the time of waiting, lest he might
+thereby risk his chance of taking La Tournoire. But it was necessary that
+I should prevent his encountering Blaise or Hugo, for either one, on
+seeing me conducted by him as I was, might make some demonstration that
+would cause De Berquin to kill me immediately. I must contrive to keep my
+enemies from entering the inn, and yet to have them plied with drink.
+Therefore, I said, as we marched:
+
+"Monsieur, we are approaching a kind of inn where there are to be
+obtained the food and drink that I promised. But in the house are some
+who are devoted to the Sieur de la Tournoire. They are not any of his
+soldiers, nor such as are to be feared in a fight. But if they saw you
+and your men, with me as a prisoner, they would certainly convey word to
+La Tournoire or his band, and so it would be impossible for me to fulfil
+my agreement. It is true that you would then kill me, but you would lose
+La Tournoire, and have his followers soon on your heels. So it is best
+that we stop at some distance from the inn. You and I can steal up to a
+spot where I can quietly summon the hostess. She will do anything I ask.
+She will, at my order, secretly bring food and wine to the place of
+waiting, and will not betray our presence to those in the inn."
+
+"It seems a good idea," said De Berquin; "but if you attempt to make a
+fool of me--"
+
+"You will, of course, instantly make a corpse of me, for you will be at
+my side, and will hear every word that I speak to the hostess."
+
+"Very well," he replied.
+
+Having at last reached a little clearing by the roadside quite near the
+inn, but hidden from it by trees, I gave the word to stop. De Berquin
+ordered his men to remain here, sheathed his sword, clutched me by the
+arm, and walked forward with me, his dagger held ready to be plunged into
+my heart at the slightest cause.
+
+I led him to the back of the inn, and we stood near the door of the
+kitchen, listening.
+
+The gypsy was still playing, and every now and then there came an
+exclamation of approval from Biaise. I peered through a corner of the
+window. The clutch of De Berquin on my arm tightened as I did so. I saw
+the gypsy man playing, Biaise and Hugo sitting with wine mugs before
+them, aid Godeau by the fire asleep, the gypsy girl with her head on the
+table, she also asleep, and Marianne removing platters from the table.
+Jeannotte had doubtless gone up the ladder to her mistress.
+
+Presently Marianne came out with some bones of a fowl, to throw
+them away.
+
+"Marianne," I called, softly. "Not a word! Come here and listen"
+
+With some astonishment she obeyed. De Berquin now held his drawn dagger
+under his cloak, and his clutch on my arm, though tight, might yet appear
+to her that of a friend.
+
+"Marianne," said I, "it is very important that no one within--no one,
+remember--shall know that this gentleman is with me. I have a serious
+matter to talk over with him at the clearing yonder, where four of his
+people now wait. No one is to know of their presence any more than of
+his. Bring plenty of wine to us there with what food you can get without
+exciting the curiosity of those inside. Do you understand? But not a
+word, even to me now."
+
+She nodded her head, and went back into the kitchen. I knew that I could
+rely on her. "Come, monsieur," I whispered to De Berquin, and we went
+silently back to the clearing.
+
+The four rascals were seated on the ground, conversing in low tones. De
+Berquin and I sat down in the midst of the group. The fellows went on
+talking, regardless of the presence of their leader, who gave no heed to
+their babble, except occasionally by a gesture to caution Barbemouche to
+lessen his volume of voice.
+
+"I never knew an enterprise to run smoothly which had anything to do with
+women," Barbemouche was saying. "Where men only are concerned, one knows
+exactly what to do, and makes no mistakes."
+
+"You have a prejudice against the sex," put in the foppish fellow.
+
+"_Par dieu_! I ought not to have!" answered Barbemouche. "I owe them
+too much for the many favors I've had from them. But they are
+mystifying creatures. To mistake a maid for her mistress is nothing
+remarkable. For that matter, I've known women of the lower orders who
+had more airs than great ladies. I remember once, after having just
+made an easy conquest of a countess, and become ennuied with her, I
+turned my attention to the daughter of a pastry-cook in Paris. She dug
+deep holes in my face for merely trying to kiss her. She had velvet
+lips, that girl, but what claws!"
+
+The gaunt rascal, whom they called Francois, heaved a pensive sigh, as if
+this reminiscence awakened touching memories in him.
+
+"And yet, to show the perversity of the sex," continued Barbemouche,
+"that same day I saw another man kiss her, and she gave him back two
+kisses for his one."
+
+"Perhaps he was a handsome man," said the fat fellow, sagely.
+
+"Yes," replied Barbemouche, ingenuously, "but no handsomer than I."
+
+"At that time you were probably handsomer even than you are now," dryly
+observed the gaunt man.
+
+"You are right," said Barbemouche, "for I was young, and I did not have
+this scar," and he thrust back the rim of his hat and laid his hand on
+his forehead.
+
+"In what fight with the watch did you get that?" inquired Francois.
+
+"I got it as the Duke of Guise got his, fighting the enemies of the
+church, though not in the same battle. I received mine that St.
+Bartholomew's night when we made the streets of Paris flow with heretic
+blood. A cursed Huguenot gave it me, but I gave him another to match
+mine, and left him for the crowd to trample over."
+
+I gave a start, recalling the incident of which I had so recently heard
+the account, and which seemed the counterpart of this.
+
+At this moment, Marianne appeared at the bend of the road. She carried
+a huge wooden platter, on which were a bowl of mulled wine, some mugs,
+and some cheese, bread, and scraps of cold meat. I afterward learned
+that she had begun to prepare this wine some time before, thinking
+that I and Blaise and the boys would want it after my return from my
+search for Pierre. Knowing Blaise's capacity, she had made ready so
+great a quantity.
+
+Saying not a word, she set down the platter on the ground before me.
+
+"That is well," I said. "Now go back to the inn and step often to the
+door, so that I can easily summon you again without attracting the
+attention of the others. And get more wine ready."
+
+The woman nodded, and went back to the inn.
+
+The four ruffians made an immediate onslaught on the platter. De Berquin
+and Francois ignored the food, that they might the sooner dip their mugs
+into the bowl of wine. The other three speedily disposed of all the
+eatables, and then joined in the drinking. De Berquin, in order to grasp
+his mug, had let my arm go, but he retained his dagger in his other hand,
+and each of his followers used but one hand in eating or drinking,
+holding a weapon in the other.
+
+"Look you, rascals!" said De Berquin to his men, presently. "Be careful
+to keep your wits about you!"
+
+"Rascals!" repeated the tall fellow, his pride awakened by his second mug
+of wine. "By the bones of my ancestors, it goes against me to be so often
+called rascal!"
+
+Barbemouche saw an opportunity to retaliate for the fun that had been
+made of his pretensions to beauty. "They whom the term fits," he growled,
+"ought not to complain, if I endure it, who am a gentleman!"
+
+Instantly the bearded giant was on his feet, with his huge sword poised
+in the air.
+
+"Rascal yourself twice over, and no gentleman!" he cried, quivering with
+noble wrath.
+
+"What, you lank scarecrow!" said Barbemouche, rising in his turn, and
+rushing to meet the other.
+
+Their fat comrade now rose and thrust his sword between the two, for the
+purpose of striking up their weapons. The fop ran behind a tree, to be
+safe from the fracas.
+
+At the instant when Francois was about to bring his great sword down on
+Barbemouche, and the latter was about to puncture him somewhere near the
+ribs, there came the sound of the Angelus, borne on the breeze from
+Clochonne. The two antagonists stood as if transformed into statues,
+their weapons in their respective positions of offence. Each in his way
+moved his lips in his accustomed prayer until the sound of the distant
+bell ceased.
+
+"Now, then, for your dirty blood!" roared Barbemouche, instantly resuming
+animation.
+
+But his fat comrade knocked aside Barbemouche's sword, and at the same
+time pushed Francois out of striking distance.
+
+"Gentlemen, gentlemen," cried the fat rascal, reproachfully, "would you
+spoil this affair and rob me of my share of the pay? God knows we are all
+gentlemen, and rascals, too!"
+
+"Very well," said Barbemouche, relieved by his brief explosion of wrath,
+"this matter can wait."
+
+"I can wait as well as another man," said Francois, with dignity,
+whereupon both men resumed their seats on the turf and their attentions
+to the wine. The prudent Jacques returned to the circle, and De Berquin,
+who during the squabble had employed himself entirely in holding me from
+any attempt at escape, looked relieved.
+
+The effect of the wine on him was to make him merry, so that he soon
+invited me to join in the drinking, and I made a pretense of doing so.
+When the bowl was empty, he went with me again to summon Marianne, which
+we easily did, as she was standing at the door awaiting my reappearance.
+She brought us another pot of wine, and left us as she had before done.
+De Berquin became more and more gaily disposed. He put no limit to the
+quantity imbibed by his men; yet he kept his eyes on me, and his dagger
+dangerously near my breast.
+
+When we heard the clock in Clochonne strike seven, he said to his men:
+
+"Straighten up, you dogs! In another hour we shall have work to do."
+Turning to me, he added, with a grin, "Either to chain that wild beast,
+La Tournoire, or to send the most entertaining of valets to find out
+whether all that they say of purgatory and hell is true."
+
+But he soon became so lax under the influence of the wine that he did not
+heed when the fat man and the ragged dandy dropped off to sleep and
+mingled their snores with the murmurs of the forest insects. He began to
+narrate his adventures, amatory, military, bibulous, and other.
+Presently, for a jest, he drank the health of Henri of Navarre in return
+for my drinking that of the Pope.
+
+By this time Barbemouche and gaunt Francois had added their breathings to
+the somnolent choir.
+
+"You are a mighty drinker, monsieur," I said to De Berquin, admiringly,
+at the same time refilling my own mug.
+
+"Ask of the cabaret keepers of Paris whether the Vicomte de Berquin can
+hold his share of the good red vine-juice!" he replied, jubilantly,
+dipping his mug again into the pot.
+
+I took a gulp from my mug and pretended to choke. In one of my
+convulsive movements, I threw the contents of my mug into the eyes of De
+Berquin. I followed it an instant later with the mug itself, and he fell
+back on the grass, half-stunned. In the moment when his grasp of my arm
+was relaxed, I slipped away from him, narrowly missing the wild dagger
+stroke that he made at me. A second later and I was on my feet. My first
+act was to possess the weapons of Barbemouche and Francois, these two
+being nearest me. I then ran towards the inn, calling at the top of my
+voice, "Blaise! To arms!"
+
+Behind me I heard De Berquin, who had risen, kicking the prostrate bodies
+of his men and crying:
+
+"Up, you drunken dogs! We have been fooled! After him!"
+
+Then I heard him running after me on the road, swearing terribly.
+
+From the place where he had left his men, I could hear them confusedly
+swearing and questioning one another, all having been rudely awakened
+from sleep, two of them being unable to find their weapons, and none
+knowing rightly what had occurred or exactly where their leader had gone.
+
+Blaise came running out of the inn, with sword drawn. When he had
+joined me, I stopped and turned to face De Berquin. He was before me
+ere I had time to explain to Blaise. In his rage, he made a violent
+thrust at me, which Blaise turned aside. De Berquin then leaped back,
+to put himself on guard.
+
+At that instant, the first stroke of eight came from the distant tower
+of Clochonne.
+
+"Filthy cur, you have lied to me!" cried De Berquin.
+
+"Nay, monsieur," I answered, throwing from me the weapons of Barbemouche
+and Francois, "I keep my word. I promised you La Tournoire unarmed.
+Behold him!"
+
+And I stepped out from beside Blaise and stood with open arms.
+
+"La Tournoire!" repeated De Berquin, taking a backward step and staring
+at me with open mouth.
+
+"La Tournoire!" came in a faint, horror-stricken voice from behind me.
+
+I turned and beheld mademoiselle, who had come out from the inn on
+hearing my call for Blaise. With her were Hugo and Jeannotte. Behind were
+the inn-keepers and the gypsies. On mademoiselle's face, which was
+lighted by a torch that Hugo carried, was a death-like pallor, and such a
+look of horror, grief, and self-reproach, as I have never seen on any
+other human countenance.
+
+"Mademoiselle!" I cried, hastening to her side. "What is the matter?"
+
+"'Tis but--surprise,--M. de la Tournoire!" she answered, weakly, raising
+her hand feebly as if to keep me from approaching her, while her eyes,
+which were fixed on mine as by a terrible fascination, seemed to be
+starting from her head. An instant later, she fell in a swoon, and I was
+just in time to save her from striking the ground and to pillow her head
+on my arm.
+
+As for De Berquin, he had made a rush at me, but Blaise had repulsed him
+with such fury that, seeing no hope of being joined by his men, he soon
+turned and fled.
+
+I bore the senseless body of mademoiselle into the inn, vainly asking
+myself why she had shown so profound a distress at my disclosure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+AT THE CHATEAU OF MAURY
+
+
+Presently mademoiselle recovered from her faintness and went up to her
+chamber, supported by Jeannotte. Her eyes met mine as she was about to
+go, but she immediately dropped them, and seemed by an effort to repress
+some kind of emotion.
+
+With a heart saddened by the sight of mademoiselle's distress, I then
+made arrangements for the night. I was to lie at the front door of the
+inn, Blaise at the rear door, Hugo and the gypsies in the horse sheds,
+Marianne in the chamber with mademoiselle and Jeannotte, old Godeau where
+he chose. It happened that he chose a place before the smouldering fire
+in the kitchen.
+
+Any further attempt to find Pierre that night was out of the question. I
+dared not leave the inn again, lest I should expose mademoiselle to
+possible molestation, or myself to an encounter with those from whom I
+had just escaped. Had mademoiselle's safety not depended on that of
+myself and Blaise, I might have invited such an encounter for myself or
+for him or for both, but I would not have her undergo the slightest risk
+of losing her protectors.
+
+I had little apprehension of seeing De Berquin or his men again that
+night. Not that he would probably remember his promise to give me my life
+and liberty in return for my bringing La Tournoire before him. Even that
+promise, if still respected by him, did not affect him in regard to
+mademoiselle. But he would consider that, though I was not accompanied by
+any of my own men except Blaise, mademoiselle's boy, Hugo, would wield a
+stout arm on our side. Unless he knew something of Pierre's
+disappearance, he would count that active youth also with our forces. He
+had doubtless taken in at a glance the group composed of Godeau, the
+gypsies, and Marianne; and he would suppose that I could reckon on
+assistance of one kind or another from some or all of these. Thus, having
+no odds in his favor, and knowing that we would be on the alert, he would
+be little likely to make any kind of demonstration against us. Moreover,
+two of his men finding themselves without their weapons, and all of them
+angry at the manner of their awakening, they would probably receive very
+badly the curses that he would heap on them for their failure to come up
+to his support. Their attitude would, for the rest of that night, be one
+of mutiny. It was likely that he would retreat and meditate a new plan.
+He would not feel safe in the immediate vicinity of the inn, for it
+would occur to him that I might send one of my allies to my men with
+orders to take him. So he would withdraw and either give up the
+enterprise entirely or form a new design.
+
+Now that he knew that I was La Tournoire, what would he do? Abandon his
+mission, since my knowledge of him would put me on my guard against him,
+and forbid his winning my confidence and betraying me in the way which, I
+supposed, Montignac had dictated to him? It was not likely that such a
+man, having found only one road by which he might regain the good things
+he had lost, would be turned aside from that road. He would follow it to
+success or death. Such men are too indolent to go about seeking
+opportunities. Having found one, they will pursue it wherever it may
+lead. Their fortunes are so desperate that they have only their lives to
+lose, and they are so brave that they do not fear death. If they can gain
+the stakes, so much the better. If not, little the worse. Meanwhile, they
+are occupied in a way congenial to a man who loves adventure, who has
+inherited the taste for danger, and finds a pleasurable excitement in
+risking his life. Therefore I felt that De Berquin was not yet through
+with me, but he would have to change his plan, and, until he should have
+time to compose new measures, he would not trouble us.
+
+As I lay in the silence, my thoughts turned from De Berquin to Mlle. de
+Varion. Her demonstration on learning that I was La Tournoire was in
+harmony with the manner in which she had previously questioned me
+concerning my friendship for the bearer of that name. Grieved at the
+thought that I was his friend, relieved at my assertion that I did not so
+highly esteem him, she had shown the utmost horror on learning that I was
+the man himself. Could this be due entirely to the impression conveyed by
+a name to which the Catholics in Berry had attached so much dread? It was
+natural that one should regard with some terror a man whose deeds had
+been so exaggerated by vulgar report; but this fact did not explain the
+intensity of mademoiselle's emotion at the moment of my disclosure. Yet
+she had attributed that emotion entirely to surprise. Perhaps the
+extraordinary manifestation of that surprise was due to her fatigued and
+dejected condition. Or it might be, and I felt a delicious thrill at the
+thought, that it was her concern for me, her fear that my life might be
+the more imperilled by my relations with this proscribed man, that had
+caused the distress accompanying her first inquiries. If this was true,
+the discovery that I was no other than the man proscribed, and all the
+more in danger, would naturally have profoundly affected her.
+
+In the morning she came down from her loft, pale and showing a calmness
+that seemed forced. To my greeting and my announcement that Pierre had
+not returned, she replied, quietly:
+
+"He is a faithful and honest boy, and I have prayed that no harm might
+befall him. His disappearance must not be allowed to alter your plans, M.
+de la Tournoire."
+
+"I shall leave orders with Marianne and Godeau to conduct him to Maury,
+should he return to this place, as he very probably will. If you do not
+wish otherwise, we shall ride on to Maury this morning."
+
+"I do not wish otherwise," she replied. After a moment's pause, she
+added, "Alas, monsieur, your friend, M. de Launay, when be promised me
+your guidance across the border, engaged you to a more tedious task than
+you might have wished to undertake. I fear that I must ask for a delay at
+Maury. You see what trouble your friend has brought you into,--waiting
+until a poor woman, who has been overcome by fatigue, recovers her
+energies."
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle," I said, with delight, "you will then hold me to the
+promise made for me by my friend?"
+
+"What else can a helpless woman do?" she asked, with a pretty smile,
+although there was a tremor in the voice.
+
+I was overjoyed to be assured that she had accepted the situation. I had
+promised that, on her becoming acquainted with La Tournoire, she should
+have no other protector. This had meant to her, at the time when it was
+spoken, that I should go from her. To me it had meant, of course, that I
+should continue with her. I had feared that, on learning the truth, she
+would banish me. She had said that we must part. But now, despite the
+fact that the same barrier existed between me and her, whether I was La
+Tournoire or De Launay, despite her horror on learning that I was the
+former, she had abandoned her intention of parting from me. What had
+caused this change of mind? Had she, now that I was known to her as La
+Tournoire, ceased to entertain for me those feelings which she had, on
+account of our difference in religion, sought by an immediate separation
+to destroy? This was unlikely. La Tournoire or De Launay, I was the same
+man. I chose a happier explanation,--none other than that, considering by
+night, she had come to the conclusion that a religious difference was not
+too great a barrier to be removed, and that La Tournoire was not a person
+to be regarded with any horror. Though modesty might plead against her
+continuing in the company of a man with whom she exchanged such feelings
+as had so rapidly grown up between us, yet circumstance, most imperative
+of all dictators, showed her no other course than to remain under my
+guidance and protection. So I accounted for the decision which was to
+keep us together for a few more days.
+
+I was not sorry that she had asked for a delay at Maury. It relieved me
+of the necessity of making a pretext for retarding her flight while I
+should attempt the rescue of her father. The reason to be given for the
+absence of myself and a party of my men need not be a strong one when
+there was no apparent haste to continue the flight. I was still
+determined to keep the attempt in her father's behalf a secret from her
+if it should fail, and as a surprise for her if successful.
+
+Inwardly jubilant with the hope inspired by her change of mind, I
+hastened to give the innocent reasons for the concealment of my identity
+from her. She listened with a changeless smile, keeping her eyes on mine.
+Before she could answer, Marianne announced that breakfast was ready. No
+further allusion was made to the matter, nor to her now abandoned
+determination that we should part.
+
+After breakfast, our party of five mounted our horses, and, led by
+Blaise, forced our way through the high bushes that marked the beginning
+of the hardly perceptible road to Maury. The two gypsies followed afoot,
+for, knowing that I could rely on their fidelity and secrecy, I had bade
+them come, that their music and tricks might amuse mademoiselle during
+her stay at Maury.
+
+It was a beautiful morning, and I considered that I had many reasons for
+joy. Mademoiselle, too, seemed affected by the sweetness and jocundity of
+the early day. She had evidently nerved herself, too, against her griefs.
+She seemed to have summoned a large stock of resolution to the task of
+facing her troubles without a tear. It appeared that she had banished
+dejection by an effort of the will. All the time it was evident that her
+manner was the result of a vigilant determination. I was, nevertheless,
+glad to see a smile, a steadiness of look, a set lip, though they were
+attained with premeditation. There was in her conversation, as we rode on
+our slow and difficult way, something of the woman of the world. As we
+had to go in single file, and so to speak loudly in order to be heard by
+one another, our talk could not take on the themes and tones of
+tenderness that I would have gladly given to it.
+
+Presently from a bush at the side of the path a man sprang up, saluted,
+and stood respectfully while we passed him. It was one of my men,
+Maugert, on duty as sentry, for I kept men watching every approach to our
+hiding-place night and day. They lay secreted among the brushwood, and
+would observe an intruder long before the intruder could be aware of
+their presence. A few minutes later we passed another of these faithful
+sentinels, who rose out of his concealment to give me a look of welcome,
+and soon afterward we rode through the ruined gate into the old
+courtyard itself.
+
+"Welcome to Maury!" said I to mademoiselle.
+
+She looked up at the broken facade of the chateau, around at the trees
+that environed the walls and in some places pushed their branches through
+openings, then at some of my men, who had been mending their clothes or
+tinkering at their weapons.
+
+"I shall feel safe at Maury, monsieur," she said, quietly.
+
+Thus Mlle. de Varion became my guest in that wilderness fastness. I gave
+her the two chambers in best preservation, one of them being immediately
+over the chief entrance and overlooking the courtyard. My own abode was
+in the northern turret, looking down the steep wooded declivity that fell
+to the road from Clochonne to Narjec. Hugo was to sleep outside her door.
+My own men made their beds in the great hall and in certain sheltered
+portions of the wings and outbuildings. They usually ate in this hall,
+receiving their food on platters from the cook (happily the kitchen had
+remained fit for use), and bearing it thither. It was arranged that Hugo
+should carry the meals of mademoiselle and Jeannotte to mademoiselle's
+apartments.
+
+It was more after our arrival than during our ride to Maury that
+mademoiselle showed the fatigue of which she had spoken. It was evident
+that she had reached a resting-place none too soon. Weakness was
+manifest in all her movements as well as in the pallor of her cheeks.
+Yet, though she languished thus, she did not keep all the time to her
+chamber. Each morning she came down to walk about the courtyard, saying
+that the air and sunshine--as much as found its way through the
+overspreading branches of the trees--strengthened her. There was in one
+corner of the yard an old stone bench, which, in good weather, was for a
+great part of the afternoon half in sun and half in shade. Here she would
+sit by the hour, changing her position as sunlight or shade became
+preferable for the moment.
+
+Morning or afternoon, I was never far from her. For I had had to defer
+from day to day the first steps towards the projected deliverance of M.
+de Varion. On our arrival I had found that some of the men on whose aid I
+would most depend were away on a foraging expedition. Each hour I looked
+for their return, but in vain. Their absence had now become so prolonged
+as to be a cause of alarm. My anxiety about them, and my concern over
+other matters, took up so much of my mind that little was left in which
+to devise a plan for the rescue of the prisoner, and I would not make the
+first move until the whole design should be complete.
+
+As days passed, and mademoiselle's missing boy, Pierre, did not come, I
+ceased to hope that we should ever see him again. Had he found his way
+to the inn where he had left us, Marianne or Godeau would have brought
+him to Maury immediately. It was useless to speculate as to what might
+have become of him. He might have perished in the forest, or found his
+way to Clochonne, or fallen in with De Berquin and suffered for having
+been of our party. When his disappearance was mentioned, Jeannotte would
+look at mademoiselle, and mademoiselle would say:
+
+"Poor boy! I pray that no evil may have befallen him. He was fidelity
+itself. He would die for me!"
+
+But she did not give herself up to poignant sorrow on his account, or,
+indeed, since the night at Godeau's inn, on account of anything. She
+seemed to have set herself to bear her troubles in Spartan manner, and to
+find in herself, perhaps with surprise, the strength to do so.
+
+So the days passed, and still my plans in regard to her father remained
+unformed, the men on whom I relied did not appear, and mademoiselle did
+not speak of resuming her flight southward. There came no further sign of
+the existence of De Berquin. From or of the outside world we heard
+nothing, save occasionally, when the wind was in the right direction, the
+faint sound of the bell of Clochonne. We seemed to dwell apart, in a
+region of our own, an enchanted forest which none other might enter, a
+place where we were forever safe from the strife of humanity, the touch
+of war, the reach of the King's edicts, the power of provincial
+governors, the vengeance of the great. The gypsies remained with us, and
+sweetened the time with their songs and the music of their instruments.
+My men treated mademoiselle with the utmost respect. I had caused them to
+know that she was a refugee, a lady most precious in my esteem, one for
+whose safety and happiness any other consideration must, should occasion
+arise, be sacrificed. The weather was dry, sunny, and, for the time of
+year, mild. It was like a sweet dream, and I, for one, had no premonition
+of the awakening that was to come.
+
+Often during that time I spoke of my love for her. I told her that, to
+me, at least, religion was not so much as to drive me from the woman whom
+I had so long sought in vain among the beauties of our Henri's court,
+whom I had so long worshipped in the ideal, whom I had instantly
+recognized as being the embodiment of that ideal, of whose presence I
+could not endure to be deprived even in thought.
+
+She would sit looking in my eyes while I told her these things. Sometimes
+she would seem to yield to a kind of bliss in hearing them, to forget all
+else than ourselves and my words. Then suddenly a look of anguish would
+come on her features, she would rise and press her hands to her eyes, as
+if to blot out the memory of my look, and say:
+
+"Monsieur, you must not! You must not! You do not know! Oh, if you knew!"
+
+And she would quickly glide away into the chateau, keeping her face
+turned from me until she had disappeared.
+
+I began to think that there might be another obstacle than that of our
+difference in religion. Perhaps a promise to another or some vow! But I
+swore to myself that, whatever the obstacle might be, I would remove
+it. The only matter for present disposition was to get her consent to
+my doing so.
+
+She would soon return, composed and smiling, with no sign of wishing to
+elude me. For the life of me, I could not long refrain from the subject
+that had before so strangely put her to flight.
+
+Sometimes when I talked in the strain of love, joy and pain would succeed
+each other on her face, sometimes they would seem to be present at the
+same moment. From the look of complete abandonment to happiness that
+sometimes, though never for long, shone on her features, I felt that she
+loved me, and that eventually her love would gain the victory. I
+continually tried to elicit an expression of her feelings in words. Sweet
+to me as was the frequent confession of her looks, I sought a confession
+in speech also.
+
+One afternoon, as we stood on a little spur that rose from the declivity
+below the chateau, and whence through a small opening between trees could
+be seen the river, the smiling plain, and afar the high-perched chateau
+of Clochonne, I asked her:
+
+"Why is it that when I speak of what most occupies my heart you become
+silent or sorrowful, or go suddenly from me?"
+
+With assumed lightness she replied:
+
+"Can a woman explain her capricious doings any more than a man can
+understand them? It is well known that we do unaccountable things."
+
+Not heeding this evasion, I went on:
+
+"I sometimes fear that you imagine some other barrier between us than the
+one of religion. Is it that some other gentleman--?"
+
+"Oh, no, monsieur!" she answered, quickly and earnestly, before I had
+time to finish the question.
+
+"Is there, then, some vow or girlish resolution?"
+
+She shook her head negatively in reply, but would not give me any more
+satisfaction.
+
+At last I said, abruptly, "Do you, then, wish me not to love you?"
+
+She looked at me first as if she would answer yes, and then as if she
+would answer no, and finally, after a sigh, she said:
+
+"Can we cause things by wishing?"
+
+Finally, as a last means of trying her, I said:
+
+"Mademoiselle, I have been thinking that it might be better if I were to
+go on alone to Guienne, and leave Blaise and my men to conduct you when
+you are able to follow."
+
+She regarded me strangely, first as if the suggestion were a welcome one,
+then,--while her brow darkened, and a kind of mental anguish forced
+itself into her expression,--as if the plan were not at all acceptable.
+
+"But you will not do that, monsieur?" was all that she said.
+
+I could but sigh in puzzlement, and abandon my attempt to make her tell
+her feelings.
+
+Sometimes I would suddenly turn my eyes towards her, and catch her
+looking at me with mingled tenderness and pity, as a man condemned to die
+might be looked on by the woman who loved him. At those times I thought
+that she had some fear or foreboding that I might yet fall a victim to
+the vengeance of those whom I had offended. Sometimes her look quite
+startled me, for it contained, besides a world of grief and pity,
+something of self-reproach. I then supposed that she blamed herself for
+allowing her fatigue to delay me in my departure from the province.
+
+But these demonstrations did not often escape her. She oftenest showed
+the forced cheerfulness that I have already mentioned. The moments when
+any kind of distress showed itself were exceptional, and many of them
+were caused by the persistence with which I sought a response in words to
+my declarations of love.
+
+There came at last the afternoon--how well I remember it!--when we sat
+together on the stone bench in the sunlit part of the old courtyard.
+Through the interstices of the overspreading branches we could see a
+perfectly clear blue sky. The slightest movement of air made the leaves
+rustle sleepily, dreamily. Save the chirping of the birds, no other sound
+emanated from the forest. The murmur of the river at the foot of the
+wooded steep came up to us. In a corner of the yard the two gypsies lay
+asleep. Some of my men were off on various employments. A few had gone
+for game; others to fish. One of them, Frojac, was in Clochonne disguised
+as a peasant, to keep a watch on the garrison there. The party of
+foragers had not returned. Of the men at the chateau, those who were not
+on guard were with Blaise Tripault in the great hall, where they had just
+finished eating and drinking, Hugo had gone to the stables to feed
+mademoiselle's horses. Jeannotte was asleep in her chamber. Mademoiselle
+and I sat in silence, in the midst of a solitude, a remote tranquillity,
+a dreamy repose that it was difficult to imagine as ever to be broken.
+
+She seemed to yield to the benign influence of this enchanted place. She
+leaned back restfully, closed her eyes, and smiled.
+
+Suddenly there came from within the chateau the sound of my men singing.
+Their rude, strong voices were low at first, but they rose in pitch and
+volume as their song progressed. Mademoiselle ceased to smile, opened her
+eyes, again took on the look of dark foreboding. The song had an ominous
+ring. It was one of the Huguenot war hymns sung in the army of our Henri:
+
+  "With pricking of steel
+    Our foe we have sped,
+  We've peppered his heel
+    With pellets of lead,
+And the battles we win are the gifts of the Lord,
+Who pointeth our cannon and guideth our sword.
+We fire and we charge and there's nothing can bar
+When we fight in the track of the King of Navarre.
+  Then down, down, down with the Duke of Guise!
+  Death, death, death to our enemies!
+  And glory, we sing, to God and our King,
+  And death to the foes of Navarre!"
+
+The melody was grim and stirring. The men's voices vibrated with war-like
+wrath. They were impatient for battles, charges, the kind of fighting
+that is done between great armies on the open field, when there is the
+roar and smoke of cannon, the rattle of small firearms, the clash of
+steel, the cries of captains, the shrieks and groans of wounded, the
+plenteous spilling of blood. They were hungry for carnage.
+
+"There is no cause to shudder, mademoiselle," said I, perceiving the
+effect that the song had on her; "we are far away from fighting. There is
+no danger here."
+
+"There may be dangers of which you do not guess," she answered.
+
+As if to verify her words, a sudden, sharp cry broke the stillness. It
+came from the forest path by which we had arrived at the chateau. It was
+the voice of one of my sentinels challenging a newcomer.
+
+"It is I," came the reply. "I have important news for the captain."
+
+"Oh, it is you, Marianne?" replied the man on guard. "I didn't know you
+for an instant, you appeared so suddenly, without any noise."
+
+I hastened to the gate and called, "Come, Marianne, what is it?"
+
+She came up puffing and perspiring. So breathless was she that she had to
+sit down on a bench in the courtyard before she could answer me.
+
+"Oh, monsieur!" she said, when she had recovered some breath. "Look to
+yourself! The governor of the province is at Clochonne!"
+
+"The devil!" I said, and turned to see the effect of this news on
+mademoiselle.
+
+She was standing, trembling, as white as death, her one hand on the back
+of the bench for support.
+
+"Be not alarmed, mademoiselle," I said, "Clochonne is not Maury! They do
+not know our hiding-place. How did you learn, Marianne, and what else do
+you know?"
+
+Mademoiselle stood perfectly still and fixed her eyes on Marianne,
+awaiting the latter's answers with apparently as much interest as I
+myself felt.
+
+"Godeau went to Clochonne this morning with some eggs to sell, and
+learned that the governor arrived last night and occupies the chateau,"
+said Marianne.
+
+"With how many men?" I asked.
+
+"Godeau said that the courtyard of the chateau and the market-place of
+the town were full of men-at-arms, but he did not wait to find out how
+many there were. He knew what he would catch from me if he did not
+immediately bring me the news, that I might let you know. So he came home
+at once, and as soon as I had heard it I started for this place."
+
+"I thank you, Marianne. You are the best of women. Yet it may not be on
+our account that M. de la Chatre honors Clochonne with a visit."
+
+It was, indeed, true that the governor would naturally visit his border
+towns at a time when war might be expected soon to enter his province.
+Yet I could not help thinking that his coming at this particular time had
+something to do with his plan to capture me. I remembered what course
+Montignac had advised him to take: to wait until his spy should have
+located me and sent him word of my hiding-place, then to come to
+Clochonne, whither the spy, on learning of his presence, should send him
+the information that would enable him to lay an ambuscade for me. This
+was a good plan, for a premature arrival of the governor at Clochonne
+might give me time to flee before my whereabouts should be known to the
+spy; but, knowing my exact whereabouts, La Chatre could first take
+measures for cutting off my flight, and then risk nothing by coming to
+Clochonne. Moreover, should the spy fail as to the ambush, the governor's
+acquaintance with my whereabouts would serve him in a chase that he might
+make with his soldiers. The ambush was but a device more likely to
+succeed than an open search and attack. It was, if at all possible,
+easier, and would cost the governor no lives.
+
+Now, if the plan suggested by Montignac was being carried out, the
+governor's arrival at Clochonne meant that his spy had sent him word of
+my hiding-place. But could De Berquin have done so? He had previously
+shown some skill in secret pursuit. Had he eluded the vigilance of my
+sentinels, learned that we were at Maury, and sent one of his men to the
+governor with the information? It was improbable, yet nothing occurs more
+often than the improbable. So I asked Marianne:
+
+"Have you seen anything of the five men who drank with me the night you
+carried wine to us from the inn?"
+
+"Not since that night, monsieur."
+
+"And you have no more news than you have told me?"
+
+"Nothing more, monsieur; so, if you please, I will hurry back, for
+my old man is sure to have fallen asleep, and it would be a pity if
+the governor's men should come by the forest road without being
+seen. Be sure, if they come after I reach home, you shall know of it
+in good time."
+
+I bade her go, and turned to mademoiselle.
+
+She was as pale as a white lily. As soon as my eye met hers, she said, in
+a faint voice:
+
+"I am going in, monsieur. I am tired. No, I can go alone. Do not be
+concerned about me. I shall soon feel better."
+
+And she went rapidly into the chateau, giving me no time in which to
+assure her that there was no reason for immediate alarm.
+
+I wished to consider Marianne's news before communicating it to any of my
+men. I had to inquire of myself whether it called for any immediate
+action on my part. So that my meditations might not be interrupted, I
+left the chateau and walked into the forest.
+
+For hours I considered the possible relations of the governor's arrival
+to mademoiselle's safety and my own, to that of my men and our cause, and
+to my intention of delivering M. de Varion from prison. But I could
+arrive at no conclusion, for I knew neither the governor's intentions,
+nor what information he had concerning me. There were so many
+probabilities and so many possible combinations of them, that at last I
+threw the whole matter from my mind, determining to await events. On the
+way back to the chateau I reproached myself for having wasted so much
+time in making useless guesses, for when I found myself at the gate it
+was night, and the moon had risen.
+
+I stopped at the entrance and stood still to listen to the voice of
+Blaise, which rose in the courtyard in the words of a psalm. He sang it
+with a gentleness the very reverse of the feeling his voice had expressed
+in the war hymn a few hours earlier. From a sound that came between the
+words now and then, I knew that he was engaged in one of his favorite
+occupations, that of polishing his weapons.
+
+Pleased to hear him singing in the moonlight, I stood at the gate, lest
+by entering I might interrupt the psalm.
+
+Presently, at the end of the stanza, I heard another voice from the
+doorway of the chateau.
+
+"Ah, Blaise," said Jeannotte, "it is the spirit of your mother that
+controls you now."
+
+He made no answer, nor did he resume his singing. Then I recalled that
+for the past few days he had not shown his former susceptibility to the
+maid's charms; he had, indeed, exhibited towards her a kind of
+disapproving shyness. I had not attached any importance to this.
+
+"Why do you not go on singing your psalm?" Jeannotte asked, coming
+nearer to him.
+
+His answer was a strange one. It was spoken with a kind of contemptuous
+irony and searching interrogation. The words were:
+
+"Mademoiselle's boy Pierre has not yet come back to us."
+
+"What has that to do with your singing?" said Jeannotte. "We all know it
+very well. Poor Pierre! To think that he may have been taken by Monsieur
+de Berquin!"
+
+"It is well that he did not know the place of our destination when he
+went away," said Blaise, in the same insignificant tone, "else M. de
+Berquin might torture the secret out of him, and carry it to the governor
+of the province, for M. de Berquin knows now that my master is La
+Tournoire. It would not be well for the boy, or any one else, to be the
+means of the governor's learning La Tournoire's hiding-place!"
+
+After which words, spoken with a kind of ominous menace, Blaise abruptly
+left the girl, and strode around the corner of the chateau. The maid
+stood still a few moments, then went into the chateau.
+
+Completely mystified, I crossed the courtyard and called Blaise.
+
+"M. de la Chatre is at Clochonne," I said, abruptly, as soon as he was
+before me.
+
+He stood still, returning my gaze. Presently he said:
+
+"Do you think that he has learned where you are?"
+
+"Through M. de Berquin?" I said, as if completing his question.
+
+"Or any one else?" he said, in a low voice. "There was the boy who
+disappeared, for instance."
+
+"But he did not know our hiding-place when he left. He did not know how
+near we then were to it. He did not then know that I was La Tournoire."
+
+"But there was much talk of La Tournoire on the journey. Did you at any
+time drop any hint of this place, and how it might be reached?"
+
+"None that could have reached his ears. I told only Mlle. de Varion, and
+we were quite alone when I did so."
+
+Blaise looked at the ground in silence. After some time he gave a heavy
+sigh, and, raising his eyes, said:
+
+"Monsieur, I have been thinking of many things of late. Certain matters
+have had a strange appearance. But,--well, perhaps my thoughts have been
+absurd, and, in short, I have nothing to say about them except this,
+monsieur, it is well to be on one's guard always against every one!"
+
+I was about to ask him whether he meant that the boy Pierre had been
+guilty of eavesdropping and treachery, and to reprove him for that
+unworthy suspicion, when there was a noise at the gate. Looking thither,
+I saw two of my men, Sabray and Roquelin, conducting into the courtyard
+three starved-looking persons, who leaned wearily on one another's
+shoulders, and seemed ready to drop with fatigue.
+
+"We found these wretches in the woods," explained Sabray. "They are
+Catholics, although that one tried to hide his cross and shouted, 'Down
+with the mass!' when we told them to surrender in the name of the Sieur
+de la Tournoire."
+
+"It is true that I was a Catholic," whined the bedraggled fop who had
+belonged to De Berquin's band of four; "but I was just about to abjure
+when these men came up."
+
+"I will abjure twice over, if it pleases monsieur," put in the tall
+Spanish-looking ruffian. "Nothing would delight me more than to be a
+Huguenot. By the windpipe of the Pope, for a flagon of wine I would
+be a Jew!"
+
+"And I a damned infidel Turk," wearily added their fat comrade, "for a
+roast fowl, and a place to lay my miserable body!"
+
+At this moment the fop's eyes fell on Blaise.
+
+"Saint Marie!" he cried, falling to his knees. "We are dead men. It is
+the big fellow we trussed up at the inn!"
+
+"Belly of Beelzebub, so it is!" bellowed Blaise, pulling out his sword.
+Turning to Jeannotte, who had just reappeared in the courtyard, he
+roared: "It is now my father's spirit that controls me!"
+
+Whereupon he fell to belaboring the three poor, weary, hungry, thirsty
+rascals with the flat of his sword, till all of them yelled in concert.
+They were too limp to resist or even to run, and he had his way with them
+until Sabray and Roquelin howled with laughter. At last I ordered him to
+stop, and to confine the men in a chamber, where they should be fed and
+questioned. So they limped away moaning, driven like cattle by Blaise,
+who promised them as they went that they should not be put to the trouble
+of tying up honest people in the dark for some time to come. Jeannotte
+followed, out of curiosity, as did Sabray and Roquelin.
+
+Left alone in the courtyard, I sat on the stone bench, which was now in
+part yellow with moonlight, and began to ponder. I could doubtless learn
+from the three captives whether De Berquin had had any hand in the coming
+of La Chatre to Clochonne. Anxious as I was to inform myself, I was yet
+in no mood to question the men at that moment, preferring to wait and
+hear the result of Blaise's interrogations.
+
+While I was thinking, my arms folded and my eyes turned to the ground at
+my feet, I suddenly heard a deep sigh very near me.
+
+I looked up and saw Mademoiselle de Varion standing before me in the
+moonlight. My gaze met hers, and in the delicious glow that her presence
+sent through me I forgot all in the world but her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+HOW DE BERQUIN INVITED DEATH
+
+
+"Mademoiselle!" I whispered, starting up and taking her hand.
+
+She trembled slightly, and averted her look. But she did not draw
+away her hand.
+
+"You are still disturbed by Marianne's news," I said. "But you have
+little more reason to fear when M. de la Chatre is at Clochonne than if
+he were at the other end of the province."
+
+"Yet I do fear, monsieur," she said, in a low tone, "for your sake."
+
+"Then if you will fear," said I, "I take great happiness in knowing that
+it is for me. But this is no place or time for fear. Look and listen. The
+moonlight, the sounds of the forest, the song of the nightingale, all
+speak of peace."
+
+"The song of the nightingale may give place to the clash of swords and
+the cries of combat," she replied. "And because you have delayed here
+with me, you now risk the peril you are in."
+
+"Peril is familiar company to me, mademoiselle," I said, gaily. "It
+comes and it goes. It is a very welcome guest when it brings with it the
+sweetest lady in the world."
+
+Talking thus, I led her around the side of the chateau to the old garden
+appertaining to it, a place now wild with all kinds of forest growth, its
+former use indicated by a broken statue, a crumbling grotto, and in its
+centre an old sun-dial overgrown with creepers. The path to the sun-dial
+was again passable, thanks to my frequent visits to the spot since my
+first arrival at Maury. It was up this path that we now went.
+
+The moonlight and the presence of mademoiselle made the place a very
+paradise to me. We two were alone in the garden. The moon spread beauty
+over the broken walls of the chateau on one side, and the green
+vegetation around us leaving some places in mysterious shade. The
+sun-dial was all in light, and so was mademoiselle standing beside it. I
+breathed sweet wild odors from the garden. From some part of the chateau
+came the soft twang of the strings responding to the fingers of the
+gypsy, I held the soft hand of mademoiselle. I raised it to my lips.
+
+"I love you, I love you!" I whispered.
+
+She made no answer, only looked at me with a kind of mingled grief and
+joy, bliss embittered by despair.
+
+"It cannot be," I went on, "that Heaven would permit so great a love to
+find no response. Will you not answer me, mademoiselle?"
+
+"What answer would you have?" she asked, in a perturbed voice.
+
+"I would have love for love."
+
+Her answer was arrested by the sound of the gypsy's voice, which at that
+instant rose in an old song, that one in which a woman's love is likened
+to a light or a fire. These are the first words:
+
+"Bright as the sun, more quick to fade;
+  Fickle as marsh-lights prove;
+Where brightest, casting deepest shade--
+  False flame of woman's love."
+
+"Heed the song, monsieur," said mademoiselle, in the tone of one who
+warns vaguely of a danger which dare not be disclosed openly.
+
+"It is an old, old song," I answered. "The raving of some misanthrope of
+bygone time."
+
+"It has truth in it," she said.
+
+"Nay, he judged all women from some bitter experience of his own. His
+song ought to have died with him, ought to be shut up in the grave
+wherein he lies, with his sins and his sorrows."
+
+"Though the man is dead, the truth he sang is not. Heed it, monsieur, as
+a warning from the dead to the living, a warning to all brave men who
+unwarily trust in women!"
+
+"I needed no song to warn me, mademoiselle," I said, thinking of Mile.
+d'Arency and M. de Noyard. "I have in my own time seen something of the
+treachery of which some women are capable."
+
+"You have loved other women?" she said, quickly.
+
+"Once I thought I loved one, until I learned what she was."
+
+"What was she?" she asked, slowly, as if divining the answer, and
+dreading to hear it.
+
+"She was a tool of Catherine de Medici's," said I, speaking with all the
+more contempt when I compared the guileful court beauty, Mile. d'Arency,
+with the pure, sweet woman before me; "one of those creatures whom
+Catherine called her Flying Squadron, and she betrayed a very honest
+gentleman to his death."
+
+"Betrayed him!" she repeated.
+
+"Yes, by a pretended love tryst."
+
+Mademoiselle trembled, and held out her hand to the dial for support.
+
+Something in her attitude, something in the pose of her slender figure,
+something in her white face, her deep, wide-open eyes, so appealed to my
+love, to my impulse to protect her, that I clasped her in my arms, and
+drew her close to me. She made no attempt to repulse me, and into her
+eyes came the look of surrender and yielding.
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle, Julie," I murmured, for she had told me her name,
+"you do not shrink from me, your hand clings to mine, the look in
+your eyes tells what your lips have refused to utter. The truth is
+out, you love me!"
+
+She closed her eyes, and let me cover her face with kisses.
+
+Presently, still holding her hand in mine, I stepped to the other side
+of the sun-dial, so that we stood with it between us, our hands
+clasped over it.
+
+"There needs no oath between us now," said I, "yet here let us vow by the
+moonlight and the sunlight that mark the time on this old dial. I pledge
+you here, on the symbol of time, to fidelity forever!"
+
+"False flame of woman's love!"
+
+came the song of the gypsy, before mademoiselle could answer.
+
+The look of unresisting acquiescence faded from her face. She started
+backward, drew her hand quickly from mine, and with the words, "Oh,
+monsieur, monsieur!" glided swiftly from the garden and around the
+chateau. In perplexity, I followed. When I reached the courtyard she was
+not there. She had gone in, and to her chamber.
+
+But I was happy. I felt that now she was mine. Her face, her attitude,
+had spoken, if not her lips. As for her breaking away, I thought that due
+to a last recurrence of her old scruples concerning the barrier between
+us. I did not attribute it to the effect of the sudden intrusion of the
+gypsy's song. It was by mere accident, I told myself, that her scruples
+had returned at the moment of that intrusion. What was there in her love
+that I need fear? She had told me to heed the song as a warning. I
+considered this a mere device on her part to check the current of my
+wooing. Her old scruples or her maidenly impulses might cause her to use
+for that purpose any device that might occur. But, how long she might
+postpone the final confession of surrender, it must come at last, for the
+surrender itself was already made. Her heart was mine. What mattered it
+now though the governor had come to Clochonne solely in quest of me? What
+though he knew my hiding-place, discovered by the persistent De Berquin,
+and its location by him communicated through Barbemouche? For, I said to
+myself, if De Berquin had sent word to the governor, Barbemouche must
+have been the messenger, for the three rascals now held at Maury could
+not have been relied on, and they had the appearance of having wandered
+in the forest several days.
+
+I was just about to summon Blaise, that I might learn the result of his
+interrogations, when I heard the voice of Maugert, who was lying in watch
+by the forest path, call out:
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+"We are friends," came the answer, quickly.
+
+This voice also I knew, as well as Maugert's. It was that of De Berquin.
+
+I ran to the gate and heard him tell Maugert, who covered him with an
+arquebus, match lighted, that he was seeking the abode of the Sieur de la
+Tournoire, for whom he had important news.
+
+"Let him come, Maugert!" I called from the gate.
+
+I stepped back into the courtyard. At that moment Blaise came out of the
+chateau. Very soon De Berquin strode in through the gateway, followed by
+the burly Barbemouche. Both looked wayworn and fatigued.
+
+"Monsieur de la Tournoire," said De Berquin, saluting me with fine grace
+and a pleasant air,--he never lost the ways of a gallant gentleman,--"I
+have come here to do you a service."
+
+So! thought I, does he really intend to seek my confidence and try to
+betray me, after all? Admirable self-assurance!
+
+I was about to answer, when Barbemouche put in;
+
+"So you, whom it was in my power to kill a hundred times over that night,
+are the very Tournoire whom I chased from one end of France to the other
+eight years ago?" And he looked me over with a frank curiosity.
+
+"Yes," I said, with a smile, "after you had destroyed the home of my
+fathers. And at last you have found me."
+
+"I was but the servant of the Duke of Guise then," said Barbemouche.
+
+At this point Blaise, who, in all our experiences with De Berquin and his
+henchmen, had not while sober come within hearing of Barbemouche's voice,
+or within close sight of him, stepped up and said, coolly:
+
+"Let me see the face that goes with that voice."
+
+And he threw up the front of Barbemouche's hat with one hand, at the same
+time raising the front of his own with the other. The two men regarded
+each other for a moment.
+
+"Praise to the God of Israel, we meet again!" cried Blaise, in a loud
+voice, catching the other by the throat.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded Barbemouche.
+
+"The man on whom you left this mark,"--and Blaise pointed to his own
+forehead,--"in Paris on St. Bartholomew's night thirteen years ago."
+
+"Then I did not kill you?" muttered Barbemouche, glaring fiercely
+at Blaise.
+
+"God had further use for me," said Blaise.
+
+De Berquin and I both stepped aside, perceiving that here was a matter in
+which neither of us was concerned. But we looked on with some interest,
+deferring until its adjustment our own conversation.
+
+"Then it was you who spoiled my appearance for the rest of my days!"
+cried Barbemouche. "May you writhe in the flames of hell!"
+
+And, being without sword or other weapon, he aimed a blow of the fist at
+Blaise's head. Blaise, disdaining to use steel against an unarmed
+antagonist, contented himself with dodging the blow and dragging
+Barbemouche to a place where an opening in the courtyard wall overlooked
+a steep, rocky descent which was for some distance without vegetation.
+Here the two men grappled. There was some hard squeezing, some quick
+bending either way, a final powerful forcing forward of the arms on the
+part of Blaise, a last violent propulsion of the same arms, and
+Barbemouche was thrown backward down the precipice. Blaise stood for a
+time looking oven. We heard a series of dull concussions, a sound of the
+flight of detached small stones, and then nothing.
+
+"God giveth the battle to the strong!" said Blaise, and he came away from
+the precipice.
+
+De Berquin shrugged his shoulders, and turned again to me.
+
+"As I said, monsieur," he began, "I have come here to do you a service."
+
+"Indeed!" said I, coldly, choosing to assume indifference and ignorance.
+"I knew not that I was in need of any."
+
+"Your need of it is all the greater for that," said De Berquin, quietly.
+"Monsieur, I would hinder some one from doing you a foul deed, though to
+do so I must rob that person of your esteem."
+
+"Speak clearly, M. de Berquin," said I, thinking that he was taking the
+wrong way to get my confidence. "It is impossible that any one having my
+esteem should need hindrance from a foul deed."
+
+De Berquin stood perfectly still and looked me straight in the
+face, saying:
+
+"Is it a foul deed to betray a man into the hands of his enemies?"
+
+"Yes," said I, thoughtfully, wondering that he should try to begin that
+very act by accusing some one else of intending it.
+
+"Then, monsieur," he went on, "look to yourself."
+
+But I looked at him instead, with some amazement at the assurance with
+which he continued to face me.
+
+"And what man of my following would you accuse of intending to betray
+me?" I asked.
+
+"No man, monsieur," he said, still meeting my gaze steadily, and not
+changing his attitude.
+
+"No man?" I repeated, for a moment puzzled. "Oh, ho! The boy, Pierre,
+perhaps, who left us while we were at the inn by the forest road! Well,
+monsieur, you speak falsely. I would stake my arm on his loyalty."
+
+"It is not to tell you of any boy that I have sought you these many days
+in this wilderness," said De Berquin, all the time standing as motionless
+as a statue, and speaking in a very low voice. "It is not a boy that has
+come from M. de la Chatre, the governor of the province, to betray you."
+
+"Not man nor boy," I said, curious now to learn what he was aiming at.
+"What, then? Mademoiselle's maid, honest Jeannotte? You must take the
+trouble to invent something else, M. de Berquin. You become amusing."
+
+"Not the maid, monsieur," he replied, very quietly, putting a stress on
+the word "maid," and facing me as boldly as ever.
+
+Slowly it dawned on me what he meant. Slowly a tremendous indignation
+grew in me against the man who dared to stand before me and make that
+accusation. Yet I controlled myself, and merely answered in a tone as low
+as his, but slowly drawing my sword:
+
+"By God, you mean _her_!"
+
+"Mlle. de Varion," he answered, never quailing.
+
+Filled with a, great wrath, my powers of thought for the time paralyzed,
+my mind capable of no perception, but that of mademoiselle's sweetness
+and purity opposed to this horrible charge of black treason, I could
+answer only:
+
+"Then the devil is no more the king of liars, unless you are the devil!
+Come, Monsieur de Berquin, I will show you what I think of the service
+you would do me!"
+
+With drawn sword in hand, I walked across the courtyard and pointed to
+the way leading around the side of the chateau to an open space in one
+part of the garden. I knew that there we should not be interrupted.
+
+As I waited for De Berquin to precede me, I chanced to look at
+Blaise. A strange, thoughtful expression was on his face. He, too,
+stood quite still.
+
+De Berquin looked at my face for a moment longer, then seemed to realize
+the hopelessness of his attempt to make me credit his accusation,
+shrugged his shoulders and said, courteously:
+
+"As you will, monsieur!"
+
+And he walked before me around the side of the chateau to the bare
+space in the garden. Blaise, having received no orders, did not presume
+to follow.
+
+We took off our doublets and other encumbrances, De Berquin raising his
+sheathed sword and very gracefully unsheathing by throwing the scabbard
+off into the air, so that it fell some distance away in the garden.
+
+Twice before that night it had been shown that I was the more skilful
+swordsman, yet now he stood without the least sign of fear. If he had
+formerly retreated, on being disarmed, it was from situations in which he
+had figured ridiculously, and could not endure to remain before
+Mademoiselle de Varion. Also, he had sought to preserve his life, so that
+he might have revenge. But now that events had taken their turn, he
+showed himself not afraid to face death.
+
+"It is a pity," I said, "that a brave man should be so great a liar."
+
+"Rather," he said, "that so brave a man"--and his look showed that he
+alluded to me--"should be so easily fooled; and that so fair a woman
+should be so vile a traitor."
+
+And, seeing that I was ready, he put himself into a posture of defence.
+
+The cup of my resentment having been already filled to overflowing, it
+was impossible for me to be further angered by this. But there came on
+me a desire to let him know that I was not as ill-informed as he had
+thought me; that perhaps he was the greater fool. So, holding my sword
+lowered, I said:
+
+"You should know, monsieur, that I am aware who undertook the task of
+betraying me to La Chatre."
+
+"And yet you say that I lie," he replied.
+
+"I know even how the matter was to be conducted," I went on. "The spy
+was first to learn my place of refuge and send the information to La
+Chatre. The governor was then to come to Clochonne. The governor is
+already at Clochonne. The spy, doubtless, learned where I hid, and sent
+word to La Chatre."
+
+"Doubtless," he replied, impassively, "inasmuch as you speak of one of
+mademoiselle's boys having left you. He was probably the messenger."
+
+"Monsieur," I said, "you desire to leave a slander of mademoiselle that
+may afflict me or her after your death; but your quickness to perceive
+circumstances that seemingly fit your lie will not avail you. A thousand
+facts might seem to bear out your falsehood, yet I would not heed them. I
+would know them to be accidental. For every lie there are many
+circumstances that may be turned to its support. So do not, in dying,
+felicitate yourself on leaving behind you a lie that will live to injure
+her or me. Your lie shall die with you."
+
+"You tire me with reiterations, monsieur," he replied, calmly. "Since you
+will maintain that I have lied, do so. It is you who will suffer for your
+blindness, not I. I told you the truth, not really because I wished to do
+you a kindness, but because there was a chance of its serving my own
+purpose. The woman came here to find your hiding-place, and betray you to
+the governor. La Chatre engaged her to do so. His secretary, Montignac,
+took it into his head that he would like to become sole possessor of
+mademoiselle's time and attractions. But he could not undo the governor's
+plans, nor could he hope for the woman's cooperation, as she seems to
+have taken a dislike to him. It had been agreed that, when she had turned
+you over to the governor's soldiers, she should go to Fleurier to receive
+her reward. She had made this condition so that she might keep out of the
+way of Montignac. Now he dared not interfere to prevent her from doing
+the governor's errand, but he hoped to see more of her after that should
+be completed. Such, as it was necessary for him to tell me, was the state
+of his mind when I came along--I, ordered from court, hounded from Paris
+by creditors, ragged and ready for what might turn up. Near Fleurier
+Montignac turned up, in La Chatre's cavalcade. He wanted me to become the
+woman's escort to Clochonne, keep my eyes on her, know when she had
+settled your business, and, when she was about to start for Fleurier,
+keep her as his guest in a house that I was to hire in Clochonne. But why
+do I grow chilly telling you all this, when you do not intend to believe
+me? Shall we not begin, monsieur?"
+
+"Doubtless you are vain of your skill at fabrication, monsieur," I said,
+wishing to deprive him of the satisfaction of thinking me deceived by
+his story, "but you have no reason to be. That a woman should be sent to
+betray an outlaw, and then a man sent to keep her in view and finally
+hold her,--it is complicated, to say the least. Why should you not have
+been sent to take me?" I thought that I had touched him here.
+
+"That is what I asked Montignac," he replied. "But he told me that she
+had already been commissioned to hunt you down, before he had made up his
+mind to possess her by force. Moreover, it would not do to disturb the
+governor's plan, on which the governor was mightily set, though Montignac
+himself had suggested it. 'And,' said Montignac, 'you have not a woman's
+wit to find his hiding-place, or a woman's means of luring him from his
+men.' And yet, you will remember that when I thought you were a lackey,
+and you offered to deliver La Tournoire to me, I grasped at the chance,
+for I knew that, however set the governor might be on having the lady
+take you, he would be glad enough to have you taken by any one, and if I
+took you and got the reward I could afford to bear Montignac's
+displeasure. I think Montignac's desire to have the lady take you was due
+to his having suggested the plan. He wanted both the credit of having
+devised your capture and the pleasure of mademoiselle's society. Yes,
+when you held out to me the possibility, I was willing to risk
+Montignac's resentment and take La Tournoire myself. Before that, I had
+confined myself to the task of following mademoiselle. At first you and
+your supposed master were in my way. I had hoped to get her from you, and
+to obtain her esteem by the mock rescue, but this was spoiled first by my
+men and then by you. After that failure, I could merely follow and hope
+that chance would enable me to do Montignac's will."
+
+"You cleverly mix truth and fiction, monsieur," I said. "You interest
+me. Go on."
+
+It is true that he did interest me, so ingenious did I think his recital.
+
+"I have no wish to prolong the life of one of us by this talk," he
+replied, "but a tale once begun should be finished. You know how you
+promised to deliver up La Tournoire to me. I grant that you kept the
+promise to the letter. During the rest of that night I lay quiet with my
+men. We heard your departure the next morning, and when the way was clear
+we followed in your track. We could do so quietly, for we were afoot; we
+had left our horses in another part of this wilderness the day before. We
+heard you greeted by your sentinel, and guessed that you were near your
+burrow. We came no further, but looked around and found a projecting
+rock, under which to lie hidden, and a tree from whose top this place
+could be seen. So we have lodged under the rock, one of us keeping watch
+night and day from the tree. I hoped thus to be able to know when you
+should be taken, so that I might then look to the lady. But no soldiers
+came for you, neither you nor the lady departed from the place, no sign
+came to indicate an attack or a flight. You can imagine, monsieur, how a
+gentleman accustomed to court pleasures and Parisian fare enjoyed the
+kind of life that we have been leading for these several days. Now and
+then one of us would crawl forth to a stream for water, or forage for
+nuts and berries, and we snared a few birds, which we had to eat raw, not
+daring to make a fire. This existence became tiresome. This afternoon
+three of my knaves deserted. What was I to do? It was useless to go back
+to Montignac without having done his work. To stay there awaiting your
+capture or the lady's departure was perhaps to starve. To go any distance
+from this place was to lose sight of the woman, who might leave at any
+time, and we could not know what direction she might take. The enterprise
+had been at best a scurvy one, fit only for a man at the end of his
+resources. In fine, monsieur, when the last of my men threatened to
+follow his comrades, I crawled out of my hole, stretched my aching bones,
+and resolved to let Montignac's business go to the devil. There was no
+chance for me in the service of the French King, therefore I came to
+offer myself as a member of your company. In the Huguenot cause I might
+earn back some of the good things of life. It no longer matters on which
+side I fight. 'Twas the same with Barbemouche. And, inasmuch as I had
+decided to cast in my fortunes with yours, I naturally wished you well.
+Thus it was my own interest I sought to serve, as well as yours, when I
+told you that this woman came here to betray you to La Chatre."
+
+"You told me that," said I, calmly, "for one or both of two
+purposes,--the first, to make me withdraw my protection from the lady, in
+order that she might be at your disposal; the second, to get my
+confidence, in order that you yourself might betray me to La Chatre."
+
+De Berquin laughed. "Am I, then, such a fool as to think that the wary
+Tournoire could be put off his guard by a man? No, no. The governor or
+Montignac was wise in choosing a woman for that delicate task. It is only
+by a Delilah that a Samson can be caught!"
+
+"Monsieur," I said, with ironical admiration, "you are indeed as artful
+in your lies as you are bold. You have constructed a story that every
+circumstance seems to bear out. Yet one circumstance you have forgotten,
+or you are not aware of it. It destroys your whole edifice. The father of
+Mlle. de Varion is now a prisoner, held by the governor's order, on a
+charge of treason for having harbored Huguenots. Would his daughter
+undertake to do the work of a spy and a traitor for that governor against
+a Huguenot? Now for your ingenuity, monsieur!"
+
+"Such things have been known," he answered, not at all discomfited. "His
+daughter may not have her father's weakness for Huguenots, and if she
+bears resentment against the governor on her father's account, her desire
+of the reward may outweigh that resentment. Covetousness is strong in
+women. You would not expect great filial devotion in a hired spy and
+traitress. Moreover, for all I know, this woman may not be Mile, de
+Varion, although Montignac so named her to me. She may have assumed that
+character at his suggestion, in order to get your confidence and
+sympathy, not daring to pretend to be a Huguenot, lest some habitual act
+might betray the deception."
+
+"Enough, M. de Berquin," I said. "I do your wit the credit of admitting
+that so well-wrought a lie was never before told. Only two things prevent
+its being believed. It is to me that you tell it, and it is of Mile, de
+Varion! You complained a while ago of being chilly. Let us now warm
+ourselves!"
+
+And so we went at it. I had no reason now to repeat the trick by which I
+had before disarmed him. Indeed, I wished him to keep sword in hand that
+I might have no scruples about killing him. I never could bring myself to
+give the death thrust to an unarmed man. Yet I was determined that the
+brain whence had sprung so horrible a story against my beloved should
+invent no more, that the lips which had uttered the accusation should not
+speak again. Yet he gave me a hard fight. It was for his life that he now
+wielded sword, and he was not now taken by surprise as he had been in our
+former meetings, or unsteadied by a desire of making a great flourish
+before a lady. He now brought to his use all his training as a fencer. He
+had a strong wrist and a good eye, despite the dissolute life that he had
+led. For some minutes our swords clashed, our boots beat the ground, and
+our lungs panted as we fought in the moonlight. I was anxious to have the
+thing over quickly, lest the noise we made might reach the ears of
+mademoiselle, and perhaps bring her to the scene. I knew that Blaise
+would keep the men away, but he would not presume to restrain
+mademoiselle. I wished, too, to have the thrust made before my antagonist
+should begin to show weakness of body or uncertainty of eye. But he
+maintained a good guard, and also required me to give much time and
+attention to my own defence. Indeed, his point once passed through my
+shirt under my left shoulder, my left arm being then raised. But at last
+I caught him between two ribs as he was coming forward, and it was
+almost as though he had fallen on my sword. I missed his own sword only
+by quickly turning sidewise so that his weapon ran along the front of my
+breast without touching me.
+
+He uttered one shriek, I drew my sword out of his body, and he fell in a
+limp heap. With a convulsive motion he straightened out and was still. I
+turned his body so that his face was towards the sky, and I went back to
+the courtyard, leaving him alone in the moonlight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+"GOD GRANT I DO NOT FIND YOU FALSE!"
+
+
+In the courtyard was mademoiselle, very pale and agitated, standing by
+Blaise and grasping his arm as if for support. She still had on the gown
+of pale green that she had worn earlier in the evening. Her head was
+uncovered, her hair in some disorder, and this, with the pallor of her
+face and the fright in her wide-open eyes, gave her some wildness of
+appearance. It was De Berquin's piercing death-cry that had blanched her
+cheek and made her clutch Blaise's arm.
+
+"You have killed him!" she said, in a voice little above a whisper.
+
+"You ought not to be here, mademoiselle," I replied.
+
+"From my chamber window I saw you talking with M. de Berquin. What he
+said I know not, but you drew your sword and went away with him. I
+waited for a long time in anxiety until I heard the sound of swords. I
+came down, and would have gone to beg you to stop, but when I heard
+that awful shriek I could not go any further. Oh, monsieur, you have
+killed him!"
+
+"He brought it on himself, mademoiselle," was all that I could say.
+
+And here Blaise did what I thought a strange and presumptuous thing.
+He approached mademoiselle, and, looking her keenly in the eyes,
+said, gravely:
+
+"He said that you came from the governor of the province to betray M. de
+la Tournoire!"
+
+"Blaise!" I cried, in great astonishment and anger. "How dare you even
+utter the calumny he spoke? Go you and look to the disposal of his body."
+And I motioned him away with a wrathful gesture.
+
+He looked frowningly at mademoiselle and then at me, and went off, with a
+shrug of his shoulders, to the place where De Berquin lay.
+
+I turned to mademoiselle; she stood like a statue, her eyes fixed on the
+empty air before her. Yet she seemed to know when my look fell on her,
+for at that instant a slight tremor passed through her.
+
+"Tremble not for M. de Berquin, mademoiselle," said I, thinking of that
+divine gentleness in a woman which makes her pity even those who have
+persecuted her. "Indeed, he must have wished to die. He well knew that a
+certain way to death was to tempt my sword with a black lie of the truest
+lady in France."
+
+"You killed him," she murmured, in a low, pitying voice, "because he
+said--I came from the governor--to betray you!"
+
+"Why else, mademoiselle? What is the matter? Why do you look so?"
+
+For all life and consciousness seemed to be about to leave her
+countenance.
+
+"_Mon dieu_!" she said, weakly, "I cannot tell--I--"
+
+I hastened to put my arms about her, that she might not fall.
+
+"You pity him," I said, "but there could be nothing of good in one who
+could so slander you. Indeed, mademoiselle, you are ill. Let me lead you
+in. Believe me, mademoiselle, he well deserved his death."
+
+Thus endeavoring to calm and restore her mind, I led her slowly into the
+chateau and up the steps to the door of her chamber. She followed as one
+without will and with little strength. Hugo and Jeannotte, who had been
+sitting on the landing outside her door, had risen as we came up the
+stairs. When I took my arms from about mademoiselle, she leaned on the
+maid's shoulder, and so passed into her chamber, giving me neither look
+nor word. Leaving Hugo to keep his vigil outside her door, I went down to
+the great hall of the chateau.
+
+Several of the men lay on the floor, most of them asleep. I asked one of
+them where Blaise had bestowed the three rascals who had become our
+prisoners, and he rose and led the way to a dark chamber at the rear of
+the hall. He took a torch that was stuck in the wall and followed me into
+this chamber. It was my desire to learn from these men whether or not
+Barbemouche, or one of them, had borne to M. de la Chatre an account of
+my hiding-place; for there had been time for one to have done so and
+returned. It might be that the original plan suggested to the governor by
+Montignac had been altered and that some other step had been adopted for
+my capture. The very visit of De Berquin, the very story he had told me,
+might have been connected with this other step. One of his purposes, in
+trying to make me think myself betrayed, may have been to induce me to
+leave a place so inaccessible to attack. If a new plan had been put in
+operation, these men might know something of it. I would question them
+and then consult with Blaise, comparing the answers they should give me
+with those they had given Blaise.
+
+They lay snoring, their hands fastened behind their backs, their ankles
+so tied that they could not stretch out their legs. The man with me said
+that Blaise, after belaboring them and interrogating them to his heart's
+content, had relented, and brought some cold meat and wine for them. I
+suppose that the gentle spirit of his mother had obtained the
+ascendency. They had devoured the food with the avidity of starving
+dogs, and had lain down, full of gratitude, to sleep. Blaise had then
+bound them up as a precaution against a too unceremonious departure. I
+woke them one after another, with gentle kicks, and they stared up at
+me, blinking in the torchlight. Submissively and readily, though
+drowsily, they answered my questions. They swore that neither
+Barbemouche nor any one of them, nor De Berquin himself, had borne any
+message to the governor; that the five had remained together from the
+first, living under the rock and keeping watch from the tree-top, as De
+Berquin had narrated, until the previous afternoon, when the three had
+deserted, only to fall into the hands of our sentinel. In every detail
+their account agreed with that of their late master. When I accused them
+of telling a prearranged lie, and threatened them with the torture, the
+foppish fellow said:
+
+"What more can a man tell than the truth? But if you're not satisfied
+with it, monsieur, and let me know what you wish me to say, I'll say it
+with all my heart, and swear to it on whatever you name."
+
+From the faces of the others, I knew that they, too, were willing to tell
+anything, true or false, to avoid torture, and so I could not but believe
+their story. Therefore, said I to myself, Montignac's plan not adhered
+to. De Berquin sent no one to the governor with information concerning
+my hiding-place. La Chatre had come to Clochonne without having awaited
+such information. De Berquin had been too slow. Perhaps, indeed, the plan
+had been altered so as to omit the sending of this preliminary word to
+the governor. A fixed time might have been set for the coming of the
+governor to Clochonne. De Berquin had probably retained his men that he
+might have one to use as messenger to the governor, in notifying La
+Chatre where to place his ambuscade, and that he might have others to
+waylay mademoiselle. His lie was doubtless a bold device to put
+mademoiselle into his power, and to get entrance to my company. It was a
+last resource, it was just as likely to bring death as to bring success,
+but he had taken a gambler's chances. They had gone against him, and he
+had uncomplainingly accepted his defeat.
+
+So the governor's presence at Clochonne was not to be taken as reason for
+great alarm, inasmuch as there seemed now no probability that he knew my
+hiding-place. We were still safe at Maury. We should have only to
+maintain greater vigilance. Failing to hear from his agent, who now lay
+dead in the garden at Maury, and could never work us harm, the governor
+would eventually take new measures for my capture, or, if I kept quiet
+and my men left no traces, he would presently suppose that I had gone
+from his province. As for mademoiselle, neither La Chatre nor Montignac
+knew where she was. We might, therefore, have more of those delightful,
+peaceful days at Maury. Moreover, what better time to surprise the
+commandant of the Chateau of Fleurier than while La Chatre was at
+Clochonne? My heart beat gaily at thought of how bright was the prospect.
+I passed out by a back way to the garden, where Blaise had been looking
+to the body of De Berquin.
+
+My late antagonist lay in peace and order, Blaise having replaced his
+doublet on him and put his sword by his side.
+
+"A handsome gentleman," said Blaise, quietly, looking down at the body.
+
+"But a fool as well as a liar," said I. "How could he think that such a
+story was to be swallowed? To have thrown him into confusion, I should
+have told him that I had overheard the plan for my capture, that I knew
+of an attempt to be made to get me from my men, that mademoiselle has
+never made any such attempt either by tryst or summons or on any pretext
+whatever."
+
+"Neither has De Berquin," answered Blaise, sullenly, "and yet you think
+he was the spy whom the governor sent."
+
+"He had no opportunity," I replied, rather sharply, annoyed at Blaise's
+manner. "He did not dare come here until he had formed a desperate plan
+on which to hazard everything."
+
+"As for mademoiselle's having had the opportunity and yet not having
+done so," Blaise went on, with a kind of doggedness, "the spy was not to
+plan the ambush until the governor should arrive at Clochonne."
+
+"By God!" I cried. "Do you dare hint that you credit this villain's lie
+for a moment?" In my exasperation I half drew my sword.
+
+"I credit nothing and discredit nothing," he said, in a low but stubborn
+tone, "but I place no one above doubt, except God and you. I have had my
+thoughts, monsieur, and have them still. It is enough, as yet, to keep
+all eyes open and turned in many directions."
+
+"You cur! You dare to suspect--" Without finishing the sentence, I struck
+him across the face with the back of my hand.
+
+He drew a deep breath, but made no movement.
+
+"I shall not trouble myself to suspect," he went on, with no change of
+tone, "until we know that M. de la Chatre is at Clochonne,--"
+
+"We know that already," I broke in, hotly. "Marianne brought the news
+this afternoon."
+
+"Until we know that mademoiselle knows it," he went on.
+
+"We know that, too," I said. "She heard Marianne tell me."
+
+"Until her other servant happens to be missing, and some occasion arises
+through her for your going somewhere without your men. For example, if
+she should go for a walk in the forest with her maid, and presently the
+maid should return with word that mademoiselle lay mortally hurt
+somewhere--"
+
+"I would go to her at once!" I cried, involuntarily.
+
+"So mademoiselle would suppose. You would not wait for your men to arm
+and accompany you. You would hasten to the place, without precaution,
+never thinking that mademoiselle's servant might have carried word to La
+Chatre, a day before, to have men waiting for you. Kill me if you like,
+monsieur! I cannot avoid my thoughts. They are at your service as my hand
+and sword are. I may be all wrong, but one cannot fathom women. You used
+to speak of a lady of Catherine de Medici's--"
+
+Ah, considered I, it is the thought of Mlle. d'Arency's deed that has
+awakened these foolish suspicions in Blaise's mind! I had given him some
+account of how that lady had, by a love tryst, drawn poor De Noyard to
+his death. He was incapable of discriminating between women. He could not
+see that Mlle. de Varion was of a kind of woman as unlike the court
+intriguer as if the two belonged to different species of beings. Ought
+one to expect delicacy of perception from a common soldier? His
+suspiciousness arose partly from his devotion to me. So, much as I
+adored mademoiselle and held her sacred and above the slightest breath of
+accusation, I regretted the blow I had given him, and which he had
+received so meekly.
+
+"I see, Blaise, what is in your head," I said, "but there are matters of
+which you cannot judge. No more of this talk, therefore. And I require of
+you the greatest respect and devotion to mademoiselle."
+
+"Very well, monsieur," he said, "Let me say but this: You remember my
+forebodings the last time we rode through the province. Because we came
+back alive, you thought there was nothing in them. Perhaps there was
+nothing. Only I have been thinking that out of that last journey may yet
+come our destruction. My premonition may have been right, after all."
+
+I smiled and walked back to the courtyard and sat down on the bench, no
+longer angry at either De Berquin or Blaise, and calm in the thought that
+there seemed no immediate danger. If I could but communicate my sense of
+security to mademoiselle! If I might see a smile on her face, if the look
+of yielding would but come back there and remain! Surely her scruples
+would pass when I should bring her father to her. What imaginary barrier
+could stand before the combined forces of love and gratitude? The rescue
+of her father must not be longer deferred. I must form my plan
+immediately. Yet I continued to waste time thinking of the future, of
+the day when she should acknowledge herself mine. I took off my hat and
+removed from it the glove that she had given me. It was like a part of
+her; it was fashioned by use to the very form of her hand. I pressed it
+to my lips and then looked up at the window of her chamber.
+
+"Ah, Mlle. Julie," I said, "I know that you love me. You will be
+mine; something in the moonlight, in the murmurs of the trees, in the
+song of the nightingale, tells me so. How beautiful is the world! I
+am too happy!"
+
+I heard rapid footsteps from outside the gate, and presently one of my
+men ran into the courtyard from the forest. It was Frojac, who had been
+all day in Clochonne in search of information. Seeing me, he stopped and
+stood still, out of breath from his run.
+
+At the same moment Blaise came from the garden and stood beside the
+bench, curious to hear Frojac's news.
+
+"Ah, Frojac!" said I. "From Clochonne? I know your news already. M. de la
+Chatre is there."
+
+And I motioned to him to speak quietly, lest his news, which might
+be alarming, should reach the ears of mademoiselle through her
+chamber window.
+
+"I had a talk with one of his men," said Frojac, "an old comrade of mine,
+who did not guess that I was of your troop. I told him that I had given
+up righting and settled down as a poacher. He says that it is well known
+to the governor's soldiers that the governor has come south to catch you.
+He declares that the governor knows the exact location of your
+hiding-place."
+
+"Soldiers' gabble," said I.
+
+"But my old comrade is no fool," went on Frojac. "I pretended to laugh at
+him for thinking that any one could find out the burrow of La Tournoire,
+and as we were drinking he got angry and swore that he spoke truly. He
+said that the governor had got word of your hiding-place from a boy. If
+you knew my comrade, monsieur, you would know that what he says is to be
+heeded. He is one who talks little, but keeps his ears and eyes open."
+
+"Word from a boy?" I repeated, rather to myself. "Could De Berquin have
+found some peasant boy and despatched him to the governor?"
+
+"My comrade says that the boy was sent by a woman," said Frojac.
+
+"A woman!" I cried. "If it be true, then, malediction on her! Some
+covetous, spying wife of a farmer has found us out, perchance!"
+
+"Perchance, monsieur! But, all the same, I and Maugert, who was on guard
+yonder by the path, took the liberty just now of stopping the boy of
+mademoiselle, your guest, as he was riding off. In advance of him rode a
+woman. I had just come up the path and had stopped for a word with
+Maugert. Suddenly the woman dashed by and was gone in an instant. Neither
+of us had time to make up our minds whether to stop her or not, for she
+came from this place, not towards it. By the time when we had decided
+that we ought to have detained her, she was out of hearing. But then came
+a second horse, and that we stopped. The rider was the boy Hugo."
+
+"An unknown woman departing from our very camp!" I said, rising. "The
+gypsy girl!" But at that instant the gypsy girl, Giralda, came in through
+the gateway with an armful of herbs that she had been gathering just
+outside the walls. She often plucked herbs after dark, as there are some
+whose potency is believed to be the greater for their being uprooted at
+night. "Ah, no, no, no!" I cried, repenting my unjust suspicion. "A woman
+hidden at Maury! She shall be followed and caught and treated like any
+cur of a papegot spy, man or woman!" I was wild with rage to think that
+our hiding-place might really have been discovered, my guards eluded, the
+presence of mademoiselle perhaps reported to Montignac, her safety and
+ours put in immediate peril, by some one who had contrived to find
+concealment under our very eyes! "And the boy Hugo riding off by night!"
+I added. "Had this woman corrupted him, I wonder? Was it through him
+that she obtained entrance and concealment? Where is he?"
+
+I could at that moment have believed the most incredible things, even
+that a woman had hidden herself in one of the ruined outbuildings; for
+what could have been more incredible than Frojac's account of an unknown
+woman riding from the chateau at the utmost speed?
+
+"Maugert is bringing him to you," said Frojac. "I ran ahead to apprise
+you of what had occurred."
+
+"These are astounding things," I said, turning to Blaise. "Who can tell
+now how much the governor knows or what he may intend? We may be attacked
+at any time. And half our men away! Perhaps the governor knows that, too.
+If not, this woman may tell him. We shall have to flee at once across the
+mountains. Mademoiselle is now well enough to endure the journey. I must
+tell her to make ready for flight."
+
+I looked up at mademoiselle's window, and took a step towards it; but at
+that moment Maugert came into the courtyard, leading Hugo, whom he held
+by the arm with a grip of iron. The horse had been left outside.
+
+"My boy, what is this?" I cried, not hiding my anger. "You would ride
+away secretly, and without permission of your mistress?"
+
+"It was my duty, when I followed to protect her," the boy said. "Mlle.
+de Varion was mad, I think, to go alone at this hour."
+
+"Mademoiselle?" I echoed, in great mystification. "Alone? Whither?"
+
+"To Clochonne, to M. de la Chatre," was the reply.
+
+It took away from me for a moment the very power of speech. I stared at
+the boy in dumb amazement.
+
+"Clochonne! La Chatre! Mademoiselle!" I murmured, questioningly, my
+faculty of comprehension being for the instant dazed. "How do you
+know, boy?"
+
+"She said so when she left this courtyard to take horse," the boy
+replied. "When I asked her whither she was bound, she said to Clochonne
+to see M. de la Chatre, and she spoke of some mission, but I could not
+hear the words exactly, for she was in great excitement. She then made
+off, declaring she would go alone, but it was my duty, nevertheless, to
+follow and guard her."
+
+"Mademoiselle gone to Clochonne, to La Chatre," I repeated, as one
+in a dream.
+
+At that instant there came again from somewhere in the chateau the voice
+of the gypsy in the song.
+
+"False flame of woman's love!"
+
+"The devil!" muttered Blaise. "Was De Berquin right?" And he ran into
+the chateau.
+
+"The woman who told our hiding-place!" said Frojac.
+
+Could it be? Was she another Mademoiselle d'Arency? Had she thought that,
+after De Berquin's accusation, any attempt on her part to draw me from my
+men would convict her in my eyes; that indeed I might come at any moment
+to believe in the treachery of which he had warned me? Had this thought
+driven her to Clochonne, where she might be safe from my avenging wrath,
+where also she might advise the governor to attack me at once? She had
+spoken to the boy of a mission. There had, then, been a mission, and it
+had to do with herself and the governor! As this horrible idea filled my
+mind, I felt a kind of sinking, and as if the very earth trembled beneath
+me. But then I thought of mademoiselle's sweet face, and I hurled the
+dark thought from me, amazed that I could have held it for an instant.
+
+"It is not true!" I cried, loudly. "By God, it is not true! I'll not
+believe it! She has not gone! She is in her chamber yonder!" And I went
+and stood beneath her window. "Mademoiselle! Come to the window! Tell us
+that the boy lies or is deluded! Mademoiselle, I say!"
+
+But no face appeared at the window--that window up to which I had looked
+a few moments before while I sat on the bench, thinking that my love was
+behind it.
+
+And now Blaise came running out of the chateau. He stopped on the steps.
+
+"She is not there," he said. "I found only the maid, wailing out prayers
+to a Catholic saint!"
+
+So she was really gone--gone! She must have left while I was
+interrogating De Berquin's three henchmen in their cell or while I had
+stood with Blaise in the garden, reproving him for his suspicions of her.
+
+"And because he assailed her loyalty I killed that man!" I said aloud,
+forgetful, for the time, of the presence of Blaise and Frojac, Maugert,
+Hugo, and the gypsy girl. All these stood in silence, not knowing what to
+do or say, awaiting some order or sign from me.
+
+"She is a woman, monsieur!" said Blaise, gently, as if he thought to
+please me by offering some excuse for her conduct, or for my having been
+so deceived in her.
+
+And then again I saw her pure, pale face, her full, moist eyes, her
+slender, girlish figure. Let the evidence be what it might, it was
+impossible for me to see her in my mind and conceive her to be
+treacherous. There must be some other thing accounting for all these
+strange circumstances. She could not be a spy, a hired traitress! A
+glad thought came to me. She might have thought that her presence added
+to my danger, that I would refuse to leave Maury while she continued
+weak, that I might thus through her be caught, that her departure
+would leave me no reason for further delay. It was a wild thought, but
+it was within possibility, so I took it in and clung to it. At such a
+time how does a man welcome the least surmise that agrees with his
+wishes or checks his fears!
+
+"She is a woman, monsieur!" Blaise had said, even while this thought
+burst upon me.
+
+"So much the worse for any man that dare accuse her!" I cried. "She is
+the victim of some devilish seeming! My armor, Maugert! Frojac, to horse!
+You and I ride at once! Blaise, marshal the men, and follow when you can,
+by the forest path!"
+
+"Ah!" cried Blaise, overjoyed. "To Guienne, to join Henri of Navarre?"
+
+"No!" I answered. "To Clochonne, to join mademoiselle!"
+
+Maugert obediently and hastily brought me my breast-piece, and began to
+adjust it to my body. I already had my sword. Frojac had started for the
+stables, but at my answer to Blaise he stopped and looked at me in
+astonishment.
+
+It was thus with me: Mademoiselle had gone. The presence that had made
+Maury a paradise to me was no longer there. The place was now
+intolerable. I could not exist away from mademoiselle. Where she was
+not, life to me was torture. Guilty or innocent, she gave the world all
+the charm it had for me. Traitress or true, she drew me to her. If she
+were innocent, she imperilled herself. In any event, if she went to
+Clochonne she put herself in the power of Montignac. The thought of
+that was maddening to me. I must find her, whatever the risk. Perhaps I
+could catch her before she reached Clochonne. If I ran into danger, I
+should presently have Blaise and the men to help me out; but I could
+not wait for them to arm. Every minute of delay was galling. Into what
+might she fall? Whatever she be, good or bad, angel or fiend, I must
+see her--see her!
+
+Blaise stood looking at me with open mouth.
+
+"She will prove her honesty, my life upon it!" I said.
+
+"You are mad!" cried Blaise. "She will reach the chateau of Clochonne
+long before you do!"
+
+"Then I shall enter the chateau!" I answered, helping Maugert buckle
+on my armor.
+
+"And meet the governor and garrison!" said Blaise.
+
+"They will rejoice to see me!"
+
+"'Tis rushing into the lion's den, monsieur!" put in Frojac.
+
+"Let the lion look to himself," said I, standing forth at last, all armed
+and ready.
+
+Frojac ran to get the horses.
+
+"They would not let you see her!" cried Blaise, stubbornly standing in
+my way. "You would go straight to death for nothing! My captain, you
+shall not!"
+
+And, as I started towards the stables to mount, he lay hands on me to
+hold me back, and Maugert, too, caught me by one of the arms.
+
+"Out of my way, rebels!" I cried, vehemently, struggling to free myself
+from them. "I shall see her to-night though I have to beat down every
+sword in France and force the very gates of hell!"
+
+I threw them both from me so violently that neither dared touch me again.
+As I stepped forward I saw on the ground at my feet the glove that
+mademoiselle had given me, and which I had been caressing while sitting
+alone in the courtyard. I must have dropped it on hearing Frojac's news.
+I now stopped and picked it up. 'Twas all that was left with me of
+mademoiselle. She had worn it, it had the form of her hand. I held it in
+my fingers and looked at it. Again came the song of the gypsy:
+
+"False flame of woman's love!"
+
+I pressed the glove again and again to my lips, tears gushed from
+my eyes, and I murmured: "Ah, mademoiselle, God grant I do not find
+you false!"
+
+Five minutes later, Frojac and I were speeding our horses over the forest
+path towards Clochonne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+TO CLOCHONNE, AFTER MADEMOISELLE
+
+
+On through the forest, on over the narrow path, the horse seeming to feel
+my own impatience, his hoofs crushing the fallen twigs and the vegetation
+that lay in the way, the branches of the trees striking me in forehead
+and eyes, my heart on fire, my mind a turmoil, on to learn the truth, on
+to see her! The moon was now overhead, and here and there it lighted up
+the path. Close behind me came Frojac. I heard the footfalls and the
+breathing of his horse.
+
+Would we come up to her before she reached Clochonne? This depended on
+the length of start she had. She would lose some time, perhaps, through
+being less familiar with the road than we were, yet wherever the road lay
+straight before her she would force her horse to its utmost, guessing
+that her departure would be discovered and herself pursued.
+
+My mind inclined this way and that as I rode. Now I saw how strong was
+the evidence against her, yet I refused to be convinced by it before I
+should hear what she might have to say. Now I conjured up her image
+before me, and then all the evidence was naught. It was impossible that
+this face, of all faces in the world, could have been a mask to conceal
+falsehood and treachery, that this voice could have lied in its sweet and
+sorrowful tones, that her appearance of grief could have been but a
+pretence, that her seemingly unconscious signs of love could have been
+simulation!
+
+Yet had not the gypsy sung of the false flame of woman's love? It is
+true, she had bade me heed these words. Would she have done so had her
+own appearance of love been false? Perhaps it was this very thought, the
+very improbability of a false woman's warning a man against woman's
+treachery, that had made her do so, that I might the less readily on
+occasion believe her false. Who can tell the resources and devices of a
+subtle woman?
+
+What? Was I doubting her? Was I believing the story? Was I, with my
+closer knowledge of her, with my experience of the freaks of
+circumstance, with my perception of her heart, to accept the first
+apparent deduction from the few facts at hand, as blind, unthinking,
+undiscriminating soldiers, Blaise and Frojac, had done? Did I not know of
+what kind of woman she was? She was no Mlle. d'Arency.
+
+Yet, who knows but that poor De Noyard had believed Mlle. d'Arency true?
+Might he not, with the eyes of love, have seen in her as pure and
+spotless a creature as I had seen in Mile, de Varion? Do the eyes of
+love, then, deceive? Is the confidence of lovers never to be relied on?
+
+But I must have read her heart aright. Surely her heart had spoken to
+mine. Surely its voice was that of truth. Surely I knew her. Were not her
+eyes to be believed. Were not truth, goodness, gentleness, love, written
+on her face?
+
+Yet, how went the gypsy's song,--the one we had heard him sing at
+Godeau's inn, by the forest road?
+
+"But, ah, the sadness of the day
+When woman shows her treason!
+And, oh, the price we have to pay
+For joys that have their season!
+Her look of love is but a mask
+For plots that she is weaving.
+Alas, for those who fondly bask
+In smiles that are deceiving!"
+
+Might this, then, be true of any woman? So many men had found it out. The
+eyes of so many had been opened at last. Was I still a fool, had I
+learned so little of women, had my experience with Mile. d'Arency taught
+me only to beware of women outwardly like her, did I need a separate
+lesson for each different woman on whom I might set my heart? Was it my
+peculiar lot to be twice deceived in the same way?
+
+And yet, how her eyes had moistened in dwelling on mine, how they had
+dropped before my look, how she had yielded to my embrace, how she had
+stood still and unresisting in my arms! No, no, they were wrong! De
+Berquin had lied, Blaise and Frojac were stolid fools, capable of making
+only the most obvious inference, and I was a contemptible wretch to
+falter in my faith in her for an instant! She was the victim of a set of
+circumstances. She had reason for her hasty departure, she would make all
+clear in a few words. On, on, my horse, that I may hear those words, that
+my heart may rejoice! How soon shall we come up to her? How far ahead is
+she? How near to Clochonne? On! She is true, I know it. On! It may be
+even for my sake that she is endangering herself. On, that I may be at
+her side to shield her! On, for of late I have passed all the hours of
+the day with her, all the nights near her, her presence has been the
+breath of life to me, it is a new and unwonted and intolerable thing to
+be away from her, and I madly thirst and hunger for the sight of her! On,
+good horse!
+
+Yet, torturing thought, how the story explained all that had seemed
+strange! How it fitted so many facts! At the inn at Fleurier we had
+overheard the plan suggested by Montignac for my capture, the employment
+of a spy who was to find my hiding place, send word of it, then plan an
+ambush for me. Then the lady had come to the inn. Perhaps she was one
+who had already some kind of relations with the governor and had now come
+purposely to meet him. What had passed between her and the governor we
+had not overheard. It might easily have been the proposal by him, and the
+acceptance by her, of the mission against me. Such a task might better be
+entrusted to a woman. Catherine herself had employed women to entrap men
+who would have been on their guard against men. Certain Huguenot
+gentlemen had been especially susceptible to the charms of her
+accomplished decoys. Then the governor and his secretary had gone, and
+the latter had reappeared with De Berquin. It might really be that this
+woman, whether she were Mlle. de Varion, or whether she merely took that
+name in order to get my confidence without having to make the risky
+pretence of being a Protestant, was desired by Montignac and yet disliked
+him, and that De Berquin had been hired indeed to hold her forcibly for
+the secretary after she had accomplished her mission. But her ingenuous
+signs of a tender feeling for me? A device to blind me and win my trust,
+and so, through me, get the confidence of my supposed friend, La
+Tournoire. Her grief on the journey? Mere pretence, in order to bear out
+her story and enlist my sympathy. Her periods of silence and meditation?
+She was thinking out the details of her plot. Her questions about La
+Tournoire? A means of learning what manner of man she would have to deal
+with, and of finding out his hiding-place at a time when it would be
+easiest to despatch her boy with a description of it to the governor. Her
+desire to know how great was my friendship for La Tournoire? This arose
+perhaps from a thought that I might be won over to her purpose, perhaps
+from a fear that I might some day avenge his betrayal. The barrier that,
+she said, lay between us? A pretext to get rid of me as soon as I might
+be, not only useless to her, but also in the way of her designs against
+La Tournoire. Her strange agitation? A mask to cover the real excitement
+that one in her position must have felt. Her aspect of horror at the
+disclosure that I was La Tournoire? This may have been real, coming from
+a fear that she might have betrayed herself by the curiosity she had
+shown about me, that the eyes of La Tournoire must be keener than those
+of the light-hearted man she had taken me to be, that I had dissembled to
+her as well as to De Berquin, that I had been playing with her from the
+first. After she knew me to be La Tournoire, and was assured that I did
+not suspect her, she no more spoke of my going from her. What was her
+weakness of body at Maury but a pretext for delay, that the governor
+might have time to come to Clochonne and the project of the ambush be
+carried out? She had forged chains of love to hold me where she was. Her
+coyness but kept those chains the stronger, her postponement of the
+surrender made it the more impossible for me to leave her side. Who can
+go from the woman he loves while his fate is uncertain? If she had made
+no show of love, I could have left her. If she had confessed her love in
+words, and promised to be my own, I could have endured to leave her for a
+time. How well she knew men! How well she had maintained just that
+appearance which kept my thoughts on her night and day, which made me
+unwilling to lose sight of her, and which would have made me instantly
+responsive to any summons that she might have sent me from any part of
+the forest!
+
+So, then, there were two sides, two appearances, to this woman. The one,
+the good side, that which I had seen, that which had been the joy of my
+life, was not real, was but a seeming, had no existence but in pretence.
+The other, the wicked side, was the real one, was the actual woman. I had
+never known her. What I had known was but an assumption; it had no being.
+Was this credible? Could a bad woman so delude one with an angelic
+pretence, so conceal her wicked self? If so, to what depths of vileness
+might she not be capable of descending? Was it, then, not that I had lost
+my beloved, but that she had never existed? At thought of it, I felt a
+sickness within, a weakness, a choking, a giving way. And then her image
+came before me again, as she had stood in the moonlit garden, and my
+beloved was born again. The woman I had known was the real one. I had
+done her incredible wrong to have thought otherwise. But whether good or
+bad, whether or not my betrayer, I loved her; I longed for her; I would
+see her face; I would clasp her in my arms; I would claim her as my own;
+I would hold her against her own will and the world's. On, my horse, on!
+Where is she now, what has befallen her, how soon shall my heart bound at
+sight of her before me in the night? On! Whether she lead me to heaven or
+to hell, I must be with her; I cannot wait!
+
+Presently we came to the abode of Godeau and Marianne, where the forest
+path runs into the old road across the mountains. We had to check our
+speed here, on account of the thick growth of vegetation that served to
+mask the forest path from travellers on the road. We emerged from this,
+and turned the heads of our horses towards Clochonne.
+
+The door of the inn opened, and Marianne came forth. She had been
+watching.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "I did not know whether to come to you or
+not. I have been keeping my eyes and ears open for any of the
+governor's troops."
+
+"But you have seen or heard none," I answered, impatiently.
+
+"None, monsieur. But some one has ridden by, towards
+Clochonne--the lady!"
+
+I knew from her tone that she saw in Mademoiselle's flight alone
+sufficient reason for suspicion of mademoiselle and for alarm on my own
+part. She, too, thought mademoiselle guilty, myself duped. I first
+thought to pretend that mademoiselle's departure was a thing agreed on by
+her and me, but it was no time to value the opinion of a peasant.
+
+"On, Frojac!" I said, and on we went. We could make better speed now, for
+the road, though little used and in bad condition, was continuous and,
+unlike the forest path, comparatively free of intrusive vegetation. It
+was hard, too, for the weather had been dry for a long time. The loud
+clatter of the horses' hoofs was some relief to my eager heart.
+
+There is a place where this road passes near the verge of a precipice,
+which, like that at Maury, falls sheer to the road along the River Creuse
+from Clochonne to Narjec. But, unlike that at Maury, this declivity is
+bare of trees.
+
+We were galloping steadily on and were approaching this place in the
+road. Frojac was now riding at my side, as there was room for two
+horsemen to go abreast.
+
+"Hark!" said Frojac, suddenly. "Do you hear something?"
+
+I heard the sounds made by our riding, but no other.
+
+"Horsemen," he went on. "And men afoot, on the march!"
+
+"Where?" I asked. We continued to gallop forward.
+
+"Ahead," he answered. "Don't you hear, monsieur?"
+
+I listened. Yes, there was the far-off sound of many shod feet striking
+hard earth.
+
+"It is ahead," said I.
+
+"A body of troops," said Frojac.
+
+"Then we may catch up with them."
+
+"Or meet them. Perhaps they are coming this way."
+
+"Troops on a night march!" said I.
+
+Frojac looked at me. I saw written on his face the same thought that he
+saw on mine.
+
+"Whose else could they be?" he said. "And for what other purpose?"
+
+Had Monsieur de la Chatre, then, chosen this night for a surprise and
+attack on me at Maury? If he knew my hiding-place, why should he not have
+done so? The idea of the ambush, then, had been abandoned? Perhaps,
+indeed, the plan that I had overheard Montignac outline to La Chatre had
+been greatly modified. Had mademoiselle, if she were in truth the
+governor's agent, known of this night attack, if it were in truth a night
+attack against me? Had she fled in order to avoid the shame or the danger
+of being present at my capture? These and many other questions rushed
+through my mind.
+
+"What shall we do?" asked Frojac, after a time.
+
+"Go on," said I.
+
+"But if we meet them, and they are La Chatre's men, I fear that our
+chances of catching up with the lady will be small."
+
+"But, after all, we do not know who they are. If they are coming this
+way, they must have met her by this time. Perhaps they have stopped her?
+Who knows? I must follow her."
+
+"But now it seems that the sound comes more from the north. They are
+certainly coming nearer. They may be on the river road. We can see by
+going to the edge of the precipice and looking down."
+
+"We should lose time."
+
+"'Tis but a little way out of the road. This is where the road is nearest
+to the edge."
+
+It might, indeed, be to my advantage to learn at once whether the troops
+were in the road in front of us or in the road at the foot of the
+mountain. So I fought down my impatience, and we turned from the road
+towards the precipice. There was little underbrush here to hinder us,
+and in a very short time we reined in our horses and looked down on the
+vast stretch of moonlit country below.
+
+At the very foot of the steep was the road that runs from Clochonne to
+Narjec. And there, moving from the former towards the latter, went a
+troop of horsemen, followed by a foot company of arquebusiers. They
+trailed along, like a huge dark worm on the yellow way, following the
+turns of the road. Seen from above, their figures were shortened and
+looked squat.
+
+I looked among the horsemen.
+
+"I cannot see La Chatre," said I.
+
+"But some of these are his men," said Frojac, "for I see my old comrade.
+He knew nothing today of this march. I see most of the men of the
+Clochonne garrison. I wonder what use they expect to make of their horses
+if they intend to approach Maury from the river road."
+
+I recalled now the exact words in which I had indicated to mademoiselle
+the location of my hiding-place. I had said that it might be reached by
+turning up the wooded hill from the river road, at the rock shaped like a
+throne. Was it, indeed, in accordance with directions communicated to La
+Chatre by her that they were now proceeding?
+
+"If they are bound for Maury," said I, "they have hit on a good time.
+Blaise and the men will have left there long before they arrive. Come,
+Frojac, we lose precious minutes!"
+
+"One thing is good, monsieur," said Frojac, as our horses resumed their
+gallop towards Clochonne. "If we do have to follow the lady all the way
+to Clochonne, we shall not find many soldiers there when we arrive.
+Nearly all of La Chatre's men and the garrison troops are down there on
+the river road, marching further from Clochonne every minute."
+
+Alas, it was not then of troops to be encountered that I thought! It was
+of what disclosure might be awaiting me concerning mademoiselle. Would
+she admit her guilt or demonstrate her innocence? Would she prove to be
+that other woman, or the one I had known? Would she laugh or weep, be
+brazen or overwhelmed? How would she face me? That was my only thought.
+Let me dare death a thousand times over, only to know the truth,--nay,
+only to see her again!
+
+So we sped forward on the road, which, by its length and its windings,
+makes a gradual descent of the northern slope of the wooded ridge. At
+last we came to the foot of the steep, emerged from the forest, turned
+northward, and then saw before us, a little to the right, the sleeping
+town of Clochonne. At the further end of that, on an eminence commanding
+the river, stood the chateau, looking inaccessible and impregnable.
+
+I thought of the day when I had first seen the chateau, the day when we
+had come over the mountains from the south, and Frojac had pointed out to
+me where it stood in the distance. That was before I had met mademoiselle
+or knew that she was in the world. Little had I thought that ever I
+should be hastening madly towards that chateau in the night on such an
+errand or in such turmoil of heart!
+
+We came to the point where the road by which we had come converges with
+two others. One of these, joining from the right, also comes from the
+south, and is, in fact, the new road across the mountains. The other,
+joining from the left, is the road from Narjec, the one which runs along
+the river and the base of the hills. It is this one which passes the
+throne-shaped rock beneath Maury, and on which we had seen the troops.
+Had we, coming from the mountains, reached this spot before the troops
+coming from Clochonne reached it, we should have met them; but they had
+passed this spot long before we had seen them from the height.
+
+Blaise and the men, whom I had ordered to follow me, would nave left
+Maury soon after I had. Certainly they would not be there when the
+governor's troops should arrive. Coming by the road that I had used,
+Blaise would not meet the governor's men on their way to Maury. But the
+road by the river was much the shorter. The governor's men, on
+discovering Maury deserted, might return immediately to Clochonne. They
+might reach this spot before Blaise's men did, or about the same time.
+Then there would be fighting.
+
+These thoughts came into my mind at sight of the converging roads, not as
+matters of concern to me, but as mere casual observations. There was
+matter of greater moment to claim my anxiety. As to what might be the end
+of this night, as to what might occur after my meeting with mademoiselle,
+as to what might befall Blaise and my men, I had no thought.
+
+And now, turning slightly northeastward, the road lay straight before us,
+between the town wall and the river, up an incline, to the gate of the
+chateau. This gate opens directly from the courtyard of the chateau to
+the road outside the town wall. The chateau has a gate elsewhere, which
+opens to the town, within the town wall.
+
+The road ascended straight before us, I say, and on that road, making for
+the chateau gate, was a horse, and on the horse a woman. She leaned
+forward, urging the horse on. Over her shoulders was a mantle, a small
+cap was on her head. Her hair streamed out behind her as she rode. My
+heart gave a great bound.
+
+"Look, Frojac! It is she!"
+
+"We cannot catch her. She is too near the chateau."
+
+"She will be detained at the gate."
+
+"If she is the governor's agent, she will know what word to give the
+guards. They will have orders to admit her, day or night. One who goes on
+such business may be expected at any hour."
+
+The manner of her reception at the gate, then, would disclose the truth.
+If she were admitted without parley, it would be evident that she was in
+the governor's service. My heart sank. Those who ride so fast towards
+closed gates, at such an hour, expect the gates to let them in.
+
+"Mademoiselle!" I called.
+
+But my voice was hoarse. I had no command over it. I could not give it
+volume. She made no sign. It was evident that she had not heard it. She
+did not seem to know that she was pursued. She did not look back. Was she
+so absorbed in her own thoughts, in her desire to reach her destination,
+that she was conscious of nothing else?
+
+Frojac was right. She was already too near the chateau for us to overtake
+her before she arrived at the gate. We could but force our panting horses
+to their best, and keep our eyes on her. The moon was now in the west,
+and there was no object on the western side of the road to make a shadow.
+So we did not once lose sight of her. She approached the chateau gate
+without diminution of speed; it looked as if she heeded it not, or
+expected the horse to leap it.
+
+"Even if they do admit her promptly," said I, "it will take a little time
+to lower the bridge over the ditch. We may then come up to her."
+
+"Can you not see?" said Frojac. "The bridge is already down."
+
+So it was. The troops had, doubtless, departed by this gate; the bridge,
+let down for their departure, was still down, doubtless for their return.
+The guards left at the chateau were, certainly, on the alert for this
+return. In the event of any hostile force appearing in the meantime, they
+could raise the bridge; but such an event was most unlikely. The only
+hostile force in the vicinity was my own company. It is thus that I
+accounted for the fact that the bridge was down.
+
+Right up to the gate she rode, the horse coming to a quick stop on the
+bridge at the moment when it looked as if he were about to dash his head
+against the gate.
+
+With straining ears I listened, as I rode on towards her.
+
+She called out. I could hear her voice, but could not make out her
+words. For some time she sat on her horse waiting, watching the gate
+before her. I was surprised that she did not hear the clatter of our
+horses and look around. Then she called again. I heard an answer from
+the other side of the gate, and then the way was opened. She rode at
+once into the courtyard.
+
+We pressed on, Frojac and I, myself knowing not what was to come, he
+content to follow me and face whatever might arise. The immediate thing
+was to reach the chateau, as mademoiselle had done. Some means must be
+found for getting entrance, for now that mademoiselle was inside, I
+looked to see the gate fall into place at once.
+
+But we beheld the unexpected. The gate remained open. No guard appeared
+in the opening. We galloped up the hill, over the bridge, into the
+courtyard. Nothing hindered us. What did it mean?
+
+We stopped our horses and dismounted. There in the courtyard stood
+mademoiselle's horse, trembling and panting, but mademoiselle herself had
+disappeared. Before us was an open door, doubtless the principal entrance
+to the chateau. Mademoiselle had probably gone that way.
+
+"Come, Frojac!" said I, and started for this door.
+
+But at that instant we heard rough exclamations and hasty steps behind
+us. We turned and drew sword. From the guard-house by the gate, where
+they must have been gambling or drinking or sleeping, or otherwise
+neglecting their duty, came four men, who seemed utterly astonished at
+sight of us.
+
+"Name of the Virgin!" cried one. "The gate open! Where is Lavigue? He has
+left his post! Who are you?"
+
+"Enemies! Down with La Chatre!" I answered, seeing in a flash that an
+attempt to fool them might be vain and would take time. A quick fight was
+the thing to serve me best, for these men had been taken by surprise, and
+two of them had only halberds, one had a sword, the fourth had an
+arquebus but his match was out.
+
+It was the man with the sword who had spoken. He it was who now
+spoke again:
+
+"Enemies? Prisoners, then! Yield!"
+
+And he rushed up to us, accompanied by the halberdiers, while the
+arquebusier ran to light his match at a torch in the guard-house.
+
+Never was anything so expeditiously done. The leader knew nothing of fine
+sword work. I had my point through his lungs before the halberdiers came
+up. While I was pulling it out, one of the halberdiers aimed a blow at
+me, and the other threatened Frojac. My follower dodged the thrust meant
+for him, and at the same instant laid low, with a wound in the side, the
+fellow who was aiming at me. Thus one of the halberdiers followed the
+swordsman to earth instantly. The second halberdier recovered himself,
+and made to attack Frojac again, but I caught his weapon in my left hand,
+and so held it, while Frojac ran towards the arquebusier, who was now
+coming from the guard-house with lighted match. The halberdier, whose
+weapon I now grasped in one hand, while I held my sword in the other,
+took fright, let his weapon go, and ran from the courtyard through the
+open gateway. The arquebusier tried to bring his weapon to bear on
+Frojac, but Frojac dropped on his knees and, thrusting from below, ran
+his sword into the man's belly. The man fell with a groan, dropping his
+weapon and his match.
+
+I looked around. The courtyard was empty. Were these four, then, the only
+soldiers that had been left to guard the chateau? No, for these four had
+been surprised to find the gate open. Some one else must have opened the
+gate for mademoiselle. Moreover, the swordsman had spoken of a Lavigue.
+"Take the arquebus and the match, Frojac," said I, "and come. There is
+nothing to be done here at present."
+
+He obeyed me, and we returned to the door of the chateau. Just as we were
+about to enter, I heard steps as of one coming down a staircase within.
+Then a man came out. He was a common soldier and he carried a halberd. At
+sight of us he stopped, and stood in the greatest astonishment. Then he
+looked towards the gate. His expression became one of the utmost
+consternation.
+
+A thought came to me. I recalled what the swordsman said.
+
+"You are Lavigue?" said I to the soldier.
+
+"Yes," he said, bewildered.
+
+"You were on duty at that gate, but you left your post."
+
+"Yes, but--"
+
+"But you first opened the gate for a lady."
+
+"It was not I, monsieur," he answered, as if anxious to exonerate
+himself, although he knew not to whom he was talking. "It was my comrade.
+He said he knew the woman, and that the governor would wish her instantly
+admitted, and he opened the gate. When she came in, I would have had her
+wait at the gate till M. de la Chatre had been informed, but she ran into
+the chateau, and my comrade with her. There must be something wrong, I
+thought, if my comrade would leave his post to go in with the lady. So I
+ran after them to get her to come back. It was my thought of my duty that
+made me forget the gate. Indeed it was so, monsieur."
+
+He evidently thought that we were friends of the governor's who had
+happened to arrive at the chateau at this hour.
+
+So he, at least, had not received orders to admit mademoiselle. Joyful
+hope! Perhaps there had been no understanding between her and the
+governor, after all! But his comrade had let her in, had said that the
+governor would wish the gate opened to her at once. Then there was an
+understanding.
+
+"Where is your comrade?" I asked.
+
+"I left him with the lady, in the chamber at the head of the staircase.
+Ah, I hear him coming down the stairs!"
+
+"Look to this man, Frojac," said I, and then hastened into the chateau.
+The moonlight through the open door showed a large vestibule, from which
+the staircase ascended towards the right. The man coming down this
+staircase was at the bottom step when I entered the vestibule. He stopped
+there, taken by surprise. I saw that he was of short stature and slight
+figure. I caught him by the back of the neck with my left hand, and
+brought him to his knees before me.
+
+"Where is the lady who but now entered the chateau?" I said. "Why are you
+silent, knave?"
+
+He trembled in my grasp, and I turned his face up towards mine. It was
+the face of mademoiselle's boy, Pierre, who had left us in the forest!
+
+"You here?" I cried. "It was you, then, who opened the gate to her! How
+came you here? Speak, if ever you would see the blue sky again!"
+
+I pressed my fingers into his throat, until he choked and the fear of
+death showed in his starting eyes; then I released my clasp, that he
+might speak.
+
+"Oh, monsieur, have mercy!" he gasped. "Do not kill me!"
+
+I saw that he was thoroughly frightened for his life. He was but a
+boy, and to a boy the imminent prospect of closing one's eyes forever
+is not pleasant.
+
+"Speak, then! Tell the truth!" I said, still holding him by the neck,
+ready to tighten my clasp at any moment.
+
+"I will, I will!" he said. "I went from Mlle. de Varion to M. de la
+Chatre, with a message, and he kept me in his service."
+
+"What message? The truth, boy! I shall see in your eyes whether or not it
+be truth you tell me, and if you lie your eyes shall never look on the
+world again. Quick, what message?"
+
+"That I came from Mlle. de Varion to the governor," he answered, huskily,
+"and that at the top of the hill that rises from the throne-shaped rock
+by the river road to Narjec is the burrow of the Huguenot fox!"
+
+The last doubt, the last hope, was gone!
+
+"My God!" I cried, and cast the boy away from me. What now to me was he
+or anything that he might do or say? He cowered for a moment on the
+ground, looking up at me, and then, seeing that I no longer heeded him,
+ran out to the courtyard.
+
+For a moment I stood alone in the vestibule, crushed by the terrible
+certainty. All women, then, were as bad as Mlle. d'Arency. The sweet and
+tender girl who had filled my heart was as the worst of them. To be
+betrayed was deplorable, but to be betrayed by her! To find her a
+traitress was terrible, but that I should be her dupe! And that I should
+still love her, love her, love her!
+
+What, she was in the chateau, under this roof, and I tarried here
+deploring her treason when I might be at her side, clasping her, looking
+into her eyes! "In the chamber at the head of the staircase," the guard
+had said. I forgot Frojac, the guard, Pierre. But one thought, one
+desire, one impulse, possessed me. With my dripping sword in my hand, I
+bounded up the stairs. They led me to a narrow gallery, which had windows
+on the side next the courtyard. There were doors on the other side. A
+single light burned. No one was in the gallery. The door nearest the
+staircase landing was slightly open. I ran to it and into the chamber to
+which it gave entrance.
+
+As in the gallery, so in the chamber, I found no one. I stood just within
+the threshold and looked around. The walls of the apartment were hung
+with tapestry. At the right was first a window, then a chimney-place,
+beside which stood a sword, then a _prieu-dieu._ Before the fireplace was
+a table, on which were a lamp burning, paper, ink, pens, and a large bowl
+of fruit. At the left of the chamber was a large bed, its curtains drawn
+aside. Beside this was another table, on which was an empty tray. There
+was a door, slightly ajar, in that side of the room, and another in the
+side that faced me. On the back of a chair near the fireplace was slung a
+hunting-horn. On a stool near the door by which I had entered lay a belt
+with a dagger in sheath. The bed looked as if some one had recently lain
+on it. The presence of the fruit, writing materials, and other things
+seemed to indicate that this was the chamber of M. de la Chatre. But why
+was he not in his bed? Probably he could not sleep while he awaited the
+result of this midnight enterprise of his troops. Certainly the servants
+in the chateau were asleep. It was apparent that the six guards, four of
+whom we had disposed of, were the only soldiers left at the chateau, for,
+if there had been any others in the guard-house, they would have been
+awakened by the fight in the courtyard. How many troops were left in the
+town, I could not know, but they would not come to the chateau during the
+night unless brought by an alarm. So there would not be many to interpose
+themselves between mademoiselle and me. But where was she? Whither
+should I first turn to seek her.
+
+I had well-nigh chosen to try the room at the left, when the door
+opposite me opened without noise, and a figure glided into the chamber,
+swiftly and silently. The movement was that of a person who rapidly
+traverses a place in search of some one.
+
+"Mademoiselle!"
+
+She heard me, saw me, stopped, and stood with parted lips, astounded
+face, and terror-stricken eyes.
+
+So we stood, the width of the room between us, regarding each other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+BEHIND THE CURTAINS
+
+
+So we stood. Irresistible as had been my impulse to follow her, I now
+found myself held back, as if by the look in her eyes, from approaching
+nearer. So, while she gazed at me in wonder and terror, I regarded her
+with inexpressible scorn and love, horror and adoration.
+
+Presently she spoke, in a terrified whisper:
+
+"Why are you here?"
+
+I answered in a low voice:
+
+"Because you are here. Like a poisonous flower you lure me. A flower you
+are in outward beauty! Never was poison more sweetly concealed than is
+treachery in you!"
+
+"You were mad to follow me!" she said, and then she cast a quick,
+apprehensive glance around the chamber, a glance that took in the
+different doors one after another.
+
+I thought she meant that, as we were in the stronghold of my enemies and
+her friends, it would be madness in me to attempt to punish her
+treachery. So I replied:
+
+"Seek not to fright me from vengeance, for I intend none! I did not come
+to punish. I do not know why it is, but where you are not I cannot rest.
+I am drawn to you as by some power of magic. I would be with you even in
+hell! Spy, traitress that you are, I love you! Your dupe that I am, I
+love you!" I went to where, with downcast eyes, she stood, and I caught
+her hand and pressed it to my lips. "I make myself a jest, a thing for
+laughter, do I not, kissing the hand that would slay me?"
+
+She raised her eyes, and held out her hand towards the fire-place,
+saying:
+
+"The hand that I would thrust into the flame to save you from the
+lightest harm!"
+
+What? Now that I was here, now that my capture seemed certain, would she
+pretend that she had not acted for La Chatre against me? She did not know
+that I had met Pierre, and what he had confessed to me.
+
+"Mock me as you will, mademoiselle!" said I.
+
+"Mistrust me as _you_ will, monsieur! I tell you, I would not have you
+undergo the smallest harm!"
+
+"You well sustain the jest!"
+
+"Before God," she answered, "I do not jest!"
+
+There was in her voice a ring of earnestness that seemed impossible to be
+counterfeit. Puzzled, I looked at her, trying to read her countenance.
+
+"Yet," I said, presently, "you were a spy upon me!"
+
+"I was, God pity me! Scourge me with rough words as you will; I merit
+every blow!"
+
+"And you came here to see La Chatre," I went on, "perhaps because you
+feared discovery, perhaps because you thought your work of betrayal was
+done" (for I thought that she may have known of the midnight march of the
+governor's troops), "perhaps to finish that work!"
+
+"Now you wrong me at last!" she cried. "Thank God, I am not as bad as you
+can think me!"
+
+"Then you did not come here to see La Chatre?"
+
+"I came to see him, I admit! I was seeking him when I met you here. But
+it was not because I feared discovery that I left you, nor because I
+thought my miserable work was done, nor to finish it."
+
+I saw now that she was in great agitation. She tottered forward to the
+table and put her hand on it, and leaned on it for support.
+
+It seemed as if she were speaking the truth, as if there might be some
+explanation of all, but that her inward excitement was too great, her
+ideas too confused, for her to assemble the facts and present them in
+proper order. It seemed that she could answer my accusations only as they
+came, that she acknowledged herself guilty in part towards me, and yet
+did not wish me harm.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, dropping my harshness and irony, "to believe you
+true would make me as happy as I now am wretched. But why is your boy
+here, in the governor's service? Why did he carry from you the secret of
+my hiding-place?"
+
+Mademoiselle shuddered and gave a gesture of despair, as if there were
+indeed no defence for her.
+
+"Why are the troops away, if not in quest of me?" I asked. "We saw them
+going towards Maury by the river road."
+
+"I did not know that the troops had gone, or were going," she said. "I
+swear to you, monsieur, if troops have gone to Maury this night, I had
+nothing to do with their going!"
+
+"But they knew what road to take, and how to find my hiding-place. La
+Chatre knew that."
+
+"Alas, it is true!" she moaned, while tears ran down her face. "I sent
+him word!"
+
+"You sent him word! You learned how to reach La Tournoire's hiding-place
+from the man you thought his friend, and you sent the secret to the
+governor, whom you knew to be his enemy? And yet you are not as bad as I
+can think you!"
+
+"I sent him word of your hiding-place; but he was not to seize you till I
+had arranged a meeting with you alone and informed him of it!"
+
+"You confess this! Oh, mademoiselle!"
+
+"Consider! Did I arrange that meeting?"
+
+"You had not time. It was but this afternoon you learned La Chatre was at
+Clochonne."
+
+"Yet, instead of coming here to-night I might have done it, monsieur. I
+ran no risk of discovery in staying at Maury. You would still have had
+faith in me had I remained there. And it was easy to do; it was all
+planned. You know the old tower by the spring, to which we walked the
+other day. I was to send Hugo at midnight to M. de la Chatre, with word
+to have his men hidden there to-morrow at sunset. To-morrow I was to go
+off into the forest with Jeannotte, and at sunset she was to come to you,
+saying that I was at the tower grievously injured. You would have gone,
+monsieur, without waiting to call any of your men; you would have come at
+my summons on the instant, to the end of the world--"
+
+"You knew that? Truly, the heart of man is an open page to women!"
+
+"It was easily to be done, monsieur. Hugo could have shown the troops the
+way. The place was well chosen. Neither your sentinels nor the inn people
+would have seen the troops. They would have hidden there in wait for you.
+So we had planned it, I and Jeannotte; but I abandoned it. I gave no
+orders to Hugo. I came to Clochonne."
+
+"Yes, knowing, perchance, that I would come after you. You thought to
+make of Clochonne a trap into which to lead me! You were careful to let
+it be known where you were coming, that I might find out and follow!"
+
+"I told only my maid and Hugo, in a moment of excitement, when I scarce
+knew what I said. I no more desired you to follow than I desired myself
+to stay at Maury to call you to the ambush!"
+
+"The ambush!" I echoed. "You forget one thing, mademoiselle, when you
+take credit for renouncing the ambush. The troops have gone already to
+Maury. Had they found me there, they would have made your ambush
+unnecessary or impossible."
+
+"But I knew nothing of their going to Maury," she said, helplessly. "It
+was not to have been so. You were to have been taken by an ambush, I say!
+If the governor sent troops to attack you to-night, he must have changed
+the plan."
+
+Now, I could indeed believe this, for I had overheard the plan suggested
+by Montignac, and her very talk about the ambush seemed to show that his
+plan had been adopted without change. In that case, she might not have
+known of the movement of the troops. La Chatre might have decided, at
+any time, to change his plan. Perhaps he had done this, and, for lack of
+means or for some other reason, had not tried to inform her, or had
+tried in vain.
+
+She stood like an accused woman before her judges, incapable of
+formulating her defence, expressing her distress by an occasional low,
+convulsive sob. What did her conduct mean? Was her demeanor genuine or
+assumed? Why did she confess one thing and deny another? Why did she seem
+guilty and not guilty?
+
+"I am puzzled more and more," I said. "I thought that, when I saw you, I
+should at least learn the truth. I should at least know whether to love
+you as an angel, who had been wronged alike by circumstances and by
+report, or as a beautiful demon, who would betray me to my death; but I
+am not even to know what you are. You betrayed my hiding-place. So far,
+at least, you are guilty; but you did not arrange the ambush that you
+were to have arranged. For so much you claim credit. Whatever are your
+wishes in regard to me, they shall be fulfilled. I am yours, to be sent
+to my death, if that is your will. What would you have me do?"
+
+"Save yourself!" she whispered, eagerly, her eyes suddenly aflame with a
+kind of hope, as if the possibility had just occurred to her.
+
+Was this pretence? Did she know that I could not escape, and did she yet
+wish, for shame's or vanity's sake, to appear well in my eyes?
+
+"I shall not leave you," I said, quietly.
+
+"Hark!" she whispered. "Some one comes!"
+
+She looked towards the door near the head of the bed, the door that was
+slightly ajar. She looked aghast, as one does at the apprehension of a
+great and imminent danger. "Go while there is time! Do you not hear? It
+is the voice of La Chatre! I recognize it! And the other,--his secretary,
+Montignac! Go, go, I pray you on my knees, flee while there is yet time!"
+
+She did indeed fall to her knees, clutching my arm with one hand, and
+with the other trying to push me from the room, all the while showing a
+very anguish of solicitude on her white face. Her eyes plead with me for
+my own deliverance. The voices, which I too recognized, came nearer and
+nearer, but slowly, as if the speakers were impeded in their progress
+through the adjoining chamber. "Save yourself, save yourself!" she
+continued to whisper.
+
+"Come what may," I whispered in reply, my hand tightening on my sword, "I
+will not leave you!"
+
+"Then," she whispered, rapidly, seeing that I was not to be moved, "if
+you will court death, at least know me first as I am,--no better, no
+worse! Hide somewhere,--there behind the bed-curtains,--and hear what I
+shall say to La Chatre! After that, if death find you, he shall find me
+with you! I implore you, conceal yourself."
+
+There was no pretence now, I was sure. Mystified, yet not doubting, I
+whispered: "I yield, mademoiselle! God knows I would believe you
+innocent!" and went behind the curtains, at the foot of the bed. It was
+easy to stand behind these without disturbing the natural folds in which
+they fell to the floor. The curtains at the sides also served to shield
+me from view, so that I could not have been seen except from within the
+bed itself.
+
+I had no sooner found this concealment, and mademoiselle had no sooner
+taken her place, standing with as much composure as she could assume, a
+short distance from the foot of the bed, than M. de la Chatre and his
+secretary entered the chamber. Peering between the curtains, I saw that
+La Chatre was lame, and that he walked with the aid of a stick on one
+side and Montignac's shoulder on the other.
+
+"To think," he was saying as he came in, "that the misstep of a horse
+should have made a helpless cripple of me, when I might have led this
+hunt myself!"
+
+I assumed that the "hunt" was the expedition to Maury, and smiled to
+think how far was the game from the place of hunting.
+
+The undisturbed mien of La Chatre showed that he had not heard of the
+arrival of mademoiselle or of myself, or of the brief fight in the
+courtyard. He would not have worn that look of security had he known
+that, of six guards at the chateau, three now lay dead in the courtyard,
+one had fled, and two were being looked after by my man Frojac.
+
+He wore a rich chamber-robe and was bareheaded. Montignac was attired
+rather like a soldier than like a scribe, having on a buff jerkin and
+wearing both sword and dagger. His breeches and hose were of dull hue,
+so that the only brightness of color on him was the red of his hair and
+lips. It was, doubtless, from an excess of precaution that he went so
+well armed in the chateau at so late an hour. Yet I smiled to see
+weapons on this slight and fragile-looking youth, whose strength lay in
+his brain rather than in his wrist. With great interest I watched him
+now, knowing that he had devised the plan for my capture, had caused
+Mlle. de Varion to be sent on her mission against me, and had sent De
+Berquin on his mission against her. This march of the troops to Maury,
+also, was probably his doing, even though it did imply a change from the
+plan overheard by me, and confessed by mademoiselle. He had, too, if De
+Berquin had told the truth, resolved to possess mademoiselle. He was
+thus my worst foe, this subtle youth who had never seen me, and whom I
+had never injured. He still had that look of mock humility, repressed
+scorn, half-concealed derision, hidden ambition, vast inner resource,
+mental activity, all under a calm and thoughtful countenance, over which
+he had control.
+
+It was not until they had passed the bed that they saw mademoiselle.
+Both stopped and looked astonished. Montignac recognized her at once,
+and first frowned, as if annoyed; then looked elated, as if her
+presence suited his projects. But La Chatre did not immediately know
+her. He lost color, as if it were a spirit that he saw, and, indeed,
+mademoiselle, motionless and pale, looked not unlike some beautiful
+being of another world.
+
+"Who are you?" asked La Chatre, in a startled tone.
+
+"It is I--Mlle. de Varion."
+
+La Chatre promptly came to himself; but he looked somewhat confused,
+abashed, and irritated.
+
+"Mlle. de Varion, indeed!" he said. "And why comes Mlle. de Varion here?"
+
+And now Montignac spoke, fixing his eyes on La Chatre, and using a quiet
+but resolute tone:
+
+"She comes too late. La Tournoire will be taken without her aid."
+
+"Be silent, Montignac!" said La Chatre, assuming the authoritative for
+the sake of appearance. "It is true, mademoiselle; you are too late in
+fulfilling your part of the agreement."
+
+He spoke with some embarrassment, and I began to see why. Inasmuch as he
+had been at Clochonne but little more than one day, no more time had
+passed than would have been necessary for the arrangement of the ambush.
+Therefore it could not be honestly held that she had been tardy in
+fulfilling her mission; that is to say, when he told her that she was too
+late, he lied. Hence his embarrassment, for he was a gentleman. Now why
+did he put forth this false pretext of tardiness on her part?
+
+"Too late in fulfilling your part of the agreement," said the governor.
+
+"I came, monsieur," said mademoiselle, heedless of the lie and the
+apparent attempt to put her at fault, "to be released from my agreement."
+
+Montignac looked surprised, then displeased. La Chatre appeared relieved,
+but astonished.
+
+"Released, mademoiselle?" he exclaimed, assuming too late a kind of
+virtuous displeasure to cover his real satisfaction.
+
+"Released, monsieur!" said mademoiselle. "I shall no further help you
+take M. de la Tournoire. It was to tell you that, and for nothing else in
+the world, that I came to Clochonne this night!"
+
+She was close to the bed-curtains behind which I stood. I felt that her
+words were meant for my ears as well as for the governor's.
+
+"I shall not need your help, mademoiselle," replied the governor, with a
+side smile at Montignac. "Yet this is strange. You do not, then, wish
+your father's freedom?"
+
+"Not on the terms agreed on, monsieur! Not to have my father set free
+from prison, not even to save him from torture, not even from death. I
+take back my promise, and give you back your own. I gave you word of La
+Tournoire's hiding-place, and so far resigned my honor. I abandon my
+hateful task unfinished, and so far I get my honor back. And, now, do as
+you will!"
+
+I could have shouted for joy!
+
+This, then, explained it all. She had undertaken to betray me, but it
+was to save her father! I remembered now. They had wanted a spy "who
+would have all to lose by failure." Such were Montignac's words at the
+inn at Fleurier. A spy, too, who might gain a wary man's confidence, and
+with whom a rebel captain might desire or consent to a meeting away from
+his men. Hardly had their need been uttered when there came mademoiselle
+to beg a pardon for her father. A woman, beautiful and guileless, whom
+any man might adore and trust, of whom any man might beg a tryst; a
+woman, whose father was already in prison, his fate at the governor's
+will; a woman, inexperienced and credulous, easily made to believe that
+her father's crime was of the gravest; a woman, dutiful and
+affectionate, willing to purchase her father's life and freedom at any
+cost. What better instrument could have come to their hands? Her anxiety
+to save her father would give her the powers of dissimulation necessary
+to do the work. Her purity and innocence were a rare equipment for the
+task of a Delilah. Who would suspect her of guile and intrigue any more
+than I had done?
+
+And now, having gone as far as she had in the task, she had abandoned it.
+Even to save her father, she would no more play the traitress against me!
+Against _me_! She loved me, then! Her task had become intolerable. She
+must relieve herself of it. Yet as long as La Chatre still supposed that
+she was carrying it out, she would feel bound by her obligation to him.
+She must free herself of that obligation. She had made a compact with
+him, she had given him her word. Though she resolved not to betray me,
+she would not betray him either. He must no longer rely on her for the
+performance of a deed that she had cast from her. She must not play false
+even with him. All must hereafter be open and honest with her. The first
+step towards regaining her self-respect was to see the governor and
+renounce the commission. Then, but not till then, would she dare confess
+all to me. I saw all this in an instant, as she had felt it, for people
+do not arrive at such resolutions slowly and by reason, but instantly and
+by feeling.
+
+And all that she had done and suffered had been to save her father! Had I
+but told her at once of my intention to deliver him, if possible, all
+this, and my own hours of torment, might have been avoided. From what
+little things do events take their course!
+
+I rejoiced, I say, behind the curtains, on learning the truth. What
+matter if we met death together in the enemy's stronghold, now that she
+was pure and loved me? And yet, if we could but find a way out of this,
+and save her father as well, what joy life would have!
+
+La Chatre cast another jubilant smile at Montignac. The governor was
+plainly delighted that mademoiselle herself had given up the task, now
+that he had changed his plans and had no further use for her in them. It
+relieved him of the disagreeable necessity of making her an explanation
+composed of lies. He was really a gallant and amiable gentleman, and
+subterfuge, especially when employed against a lady, was obnoxious to
+him. As for Montignac, he stood frowning meditatively. He surely guessed
+that mademoiselle's act was inspired by love for me, and the thought was
+not pleasant to him.
+
+Suddenly the governor turned quite pale, and asked quickly, in
+some alarm:
+
+"Did you speak the truth when you sent word of his hiding-place?"
+
+It would, indeed, have been exasperating if he had sent his troops on a
+false scent.
+
+Mademoiselle hesitated a moment, then turned her eyes towards the
+bed-curtains, and said:
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+Her look, as I saw it, expressed that my position was not so bad, after
+all, as long as the troops were away, and La Chatre supposed that I was
+at Maury being captured by them.
+
+La Chatre, reassured by her tone, which of course had the ring of truth,
+again breathed freely.
+
+"Then I release you from your agreement, mademoiselle," he said, and
+added slowly and with a curious look at Montignac, "and your father may
+languish in the chateau of Fleurier. But note this, mademoiselle: you
+withdraw your aid from our purpose of capturing this traitor. Therefore,
+you wish him freedom. For you, in the circumstances, not to oppose him is
+to aid him. That is treason. I must treat you accordingly, mademoiselle."
+
+"I have said, do with me as you will," she answered. For a time, relieved
+of the burden that had weighed so heavily on her, she seemed resigned to
+any fate. It was not yet that her mind rose to activity, and she began to
+see possibilities of recovering something from the ruins.
+
+And now the demeanor of La Chatre became peculiar. He spoke to
+mademoiselle, while he looked at Montignac, as if he were taking an
+unexpected opportunity to carry out something prearranged between him
+and the secretary; as if he were dissembling to her, and sought
+Montignac's attention and approval. His look seemed to say to the
+secretary, "You see how well I am doing it?" Montignac stood with folded
+arms and downcast eyes, attending carefully to La Chatre's words, but
+having too much tact to betray his interest.
+
+"And yet," said La Chatre, "you have been of some service to me in this
+matter, and I would in some measure reward you. You sent me information
+of La Tournoire's whereabouts, and for so much you deserve to be paid.
+But you leave unfinished the service agreed on, and of course you cannot
+claim your father's release."
+
+"Yet, if I have at all served you in this, as unhappily I have, there is
+no other payment that you possibly can make me," said mademoiselle.
+
+"The question as to whether you ought to be rewarded for what you have
+done, or held guilty of treasonable conduct in withdrawing at so late a
+stage," said La Chatre, "is a difficult matter for me to deal with. There
+may be a way in which it can be settled with satisfaction to yourself. It
+is your part, not mine, to find such a way and propose it. You may take
+counsel of some one--of my secretary, M. Montignac. He is one who, unlike
+yourself, is entitled to my favor and the King's, and who may, on
+occasion, demand some deviation from the strict procedure of justice.
+Were he to ask, as a favor to himself, special lenience for your father,
+or even a pardon and release, his request would have to be seriously
+considered. Advise her, Montignac. I shall give you a few minutes to talk
+with her."
+
+And La Chatre, aided by his stick, made his way to the window, where he
+stood with his back towards the other two.
+
+I was not too dull to see that all this was but a clumsy way of
+throwing mademoiselle's fate and her father's into the hands of
+Montignac. The governor's manner, as I have indicated, showed that he
+had previously agreed to do this on fit occasion, and that he now
+perceived that occasion.
+
+A new thought occurred to me. Had Montignac, coming more and more to
+desire mademoiselle, and doubting the ability of his hastily found
+instrument, De Berquin, sought and obtained the governor's sanction to
+his wishes? Had he advised this midnight march to Maury in order that I
+might be caught ere mademoiselle could fulfil her mission; in order,
+that is to say, to prevent her from earning her father's freedom by the
+means first proposed; in order that La Chatre might name a new price for
+that freedom; in order, in fine, that herself should be the price, and
+Montignac the recipient? Montignac could persuade the governor to
+anything, why not to this? It was a design worthy alike of the
+secretary's ingenuity and villainy. Circumstance soon showed that I was
+right, that the governor had indeed consented to this perfidy.
+Mademoiselle's unexpected arrival at Clochonne had given excellent
+occasion for the project to be carried out. The governor himself had
+recognized the fitness of the time. No wonder that he had at first
+falsely charged her with tardiness, pretended that her delay had caused
+the alteration of his plans. He had needed a pretext for having sent his
+troops to capture me so that he might cheat her of her reward. I burned
+with indignation. That two men of power and authority should so trick a
+helpless girl, so use her love for her father to serve their own
+purposes, so employ that father's very life as coin with which to buy
+her compliance, so cozen her of the reward of what service she had done,
+so plot to make of her a slave and worse, so threaten and use and cheat
+her! No man ever felt greater wrath than I felt as I stood behind the
+curtains and saw Montignac lift his eyes to mademoiselle's in obedience
+to the governor's command. Yet, by what power I know not, I held myself
+calm, ready to act at the suitable moment. I had taken a resolution, and
+would carry it out if sword and wit should serve me. But meanwhile I
+waited unseen.
+
+Mademoiselle drew back almost imperceptibly, and on her face came the
+slightest look of repugnance. From her manner of regarding him, it was
+evident that this was not the first time she had been conscious of his
+admiration and felt repelled by it. The meeting in the inn at Fleurier
+had left with her a vastly different impression from that which it had
+left with him.
+
+Without smiling, he now bowed very courteously, and placed a chair for
+her near where she stood.
+
+"Mademoiselle," he said, with great tenderness, yet most respectfully, "a
+harder heart than mine would be moved by your gentleness and beauty."
+
+And here my own heart beat very rapidly at sound of another man speaking
+so adoringly to my beloved.
+
+She looked at him questioningly, as if his tone and manner showed that
+she had misjudged him. His bearing was so gentle and sympathetic that she
+could not but be deceived by it. She ceased to show repugnance, and sat
+in the chair that he had brought.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "in my first opinion I may have wronged you. If
+your heart is truly moved, you can demonstrate your goodness by asking
+for my father's freedom. M. de la Chatre will grant it to you. You have a
+claim on his favor, as he says, while I have none. Free my father, then,
+and make me happy!"
+
+Poor Julie! She thought not of herself. She knew that it would be
+useless to ask anything for me. Yet there was one thing that might be had
+from the situation--her father's freedom. So she summoned her energies,
+and devoted them to striving for that, though she was in terror of my
+being at any moment discovered.
+
+"I would make you the happiest of women," said Montignac, in a low,
+impassioned tone, falling on one knee and taking her hand, "if you would
+make me the happiest of men."
+
+Apprehension came into her eyes. She rose and moved towards the
+bed-curtains, and, in the vain hope of turning him from his purpose by
+pretending not to perceive it, said, with a sad little smile:
+
+"Alas! it is out of my poor power to confer happiness!"
+
+She half-turned her head towards where I stood behind the curtains,
+partly at thought of the happiness that it seemed impossible for her to
+confer on me, partly in fear lest Montignac's words might bring me forth.
+
+"It is easily in your power to confer more than happiness," said
+Montignac.
+
+"How, monsieur?" she faltered, trembling under two fears, that of
+Montignac's ardor and that of my disclosing myself. "I am puzzled to
+know."
+
+"By conferring your hand, mademoiselle," said Montignac, following her
+and grasping her wrist. "Your father will be glad to give his consent for
+his liberty, if he knows that you have given yours. But we can arrange to
+proceed without his consent. Do not draw back, mademoiselle. It is
+marriage that I offer, when I might make other terms. My family is a good
+one; my prospects are the best, and I have to lay at your feet a love
+that has never been offered to another, a love as deep as it is fresh--"
+
+I clutched the curtain to give vent to my rage. Mademoiselle was looking
+towards me, and saw the curtain move.
+
+"Say no more!" she cried, fearful lest his continuance might be too much
+for my restraint. "I cannot hear you?"
+
+"I love you, mademoiselle," he went on, losing his self-control, so that
+his face quivered with passion. "I can save you and your father!"
+
+He thrust his face so close to hers that she drew back with an expression
+of disgust.
+
+"A fine love, indeed?" she cried, scornfully, "that would buy the love it
+dare not hope to elicit free!" And she turned to La Chatre as if for
+protection. But the governor shook his head, and remained motionless at
+the window.
+
+"A love you shall not despise, mademoiselle!" hissed Montignac, stung by
+her scorn. He was standing by the table near the bed, and, in his
+anger, he made to strike the table with his dagger, but he struck
+instead the tray on the table, and so produced a loud, ringing sound
+that startled the ear.
+
+"Your fate is in my hands," he went on; "so is your father's. As for this
+Tournoire, concerning whom you have suddenly become scrupulous, he is,
+doubtless, by this time in the hands of the troops who have gone for him,
+and very well it is that we decided not to wait for you to lead him to
+us. So he had best be dismissed from your mind, as he presently will be
+from this life. Accept me, and your father goes free! Spurn me, and he
+dies in the chateau of Fleurier, and you shall still belong to me! Why
+not give me what I have the power and the intention to take?"
+
+"If you take it," cried mademoiselle, "that is your act. Were I to give,
+that would be mine. It is by our own acts that we stand or fall in our
+own eyes and God's!" She spoke loudly, in a resolute voice, as if to show
+me that she could look to herself, so that I need not come out to her
+defence,--for well she guessed my mind, and knew that, though she had
+consented a thousand times to betray me, I would not stand passive while
+a man pressed his unwelcome love on her. And now, as if to force a change
+of theme by sheer vehemence of manner, she turned her back towards
+Montignac and addressed La Chatre with a fire that she had not
+previously shown.
+
+"You have heard the proposal of this buyer of love! You hear me reject
+it! M. de la Chatre, I hold you to your word. I have been of some service
+to you in the matter of La Tournoire, and you would, in some measure,
+reward me! You have said it! Very well! You expect to capture him
+to-night at his hiding-place. Through me you learned that hiding-place,
+therefore, through me you will have taken him. There is but one possible
+way in which you can reward me: Keep your word! What if I did refuse to
+plan the ambush? You yourself had already decided to dispense with that.
+In the circumstances, all that I could have done for you I have done.
+Would I could undo it! But I cannot! Therefore, give me now, at once, an
+order that I may take to Fleurier for my father's release!"
+
+La Chatre was plainly annoyed, for he loved to keep the letter of his
+word. He could not deceive this woman, as he had at first felicitated
+himself on doing, with a false appearance of fair dealing. She saw
+through that appearance. It was indeed irritating to so honest a
+gentleman. To gain time for a plausible answer, he moved slowly from the
+window to the centre of the chamber. At the same time, mademoiselle, to
+be further from Montignac, went towards the door by which she had entered
+the room on my arrival. The secretary, with wolf-like eyes, followed
+her, and both turned so as still to face the governor.
+
+"I shall devise some proper reward for you," said La Chatre, slowly. "I
+adhere always to the strict letter of my word; but I am not bound to free
+your father. The strict letter of my word, remember! Recall my words to
+you at the inn. I recall them exactly, and so does Montignac, who this
+very evening reminded me of--ahem, that is to say, I recall them exactly.
+I was to send the order to the governor of Fleurier for your father's
+immediate release the instant I should stand face to face with the Sieur
+de la Tournoire in the chateau of Clochonne."
+
+I threw aside the bed-curtain, stepped forth, and said:
+
+"That time has come, monsieur!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+SWORD AND DAGGER
+
+
+M. de la Chatre could not have been more surprised if a spirit had risen
+from the floor at his feet. He stared at me with startled eyes. I had
+sheathed my sword while behind the curtains, and now I stood motionless,
+with folded arms, before him. Mademoiselle uttered a slight cry.
+Montignac, who stood beside her, was as much taken aback as La Chatre
+was, but was quicker to comprehend the situation. Without moving from his
+attitude of surprise, he regarded me with intense curiosity and hate.
+This was his first sight of me, hence his curiosity. He had already
+inferred that mademoiselle loved me, therefore his hate.
+
+"Who are you?" said La Chatre, at last, in a tone of mingled alarm and
+resentment, as one might address a supernatural intruder.
+
+"The Sieur de la Tournoire," said I, "standing face to face with you in
+the chateau of Clochonne! You shall give mademoiselle that order for her
+father's release, or you shall never break your word again."
+
+And I drew my sword, and held it with its point towards his breast.
+
+The fear of death blanched his cheeks and spurred his dull wits.
+
+"Montignac," he cried, keeping his eyes fixed on mine, "if this man makes
+a move, kill the woman!"
+
+In his situation of peril, his mind had become agile. He had suddenly
+perceived how things were between mademoiselle and me.
+
+As I have shown, Montignac stood with mademoiselle at some distance from
+La Chatre and myself. I dared not take my eye from the governor, lest he
+should step out of reach of my sword; but I could hear Montignac quickly
+unsheathe his dagger, and mademoiselle give a sharp ejaculation of pain.
+Then I turned my head for a moment's glance, and saw that he had caught
+her wrist in a tight grasp, and that he held his dagger ready to plunge
+it into her breast.
+
+For a short time we stood thus, while I considered what to do next. It
+was certain that Montignac would obey the governor's order, if only out
+of hatred for me and in revenge on her for his despised love, though he
+might fall by my sword a moment later. Therefore, I did not dare go to
+attack him any more than I dared attack La Chatre. The governor, of
+course, would not let her be killed unless I made some hostile movement,
+for if she were dead nothing could save him from me, unless help came. He
+feared to call for help, I suppose, lest rather than be taken I should
+risk a rush at Montignac, and have himself for an instant at my mercy,
+after all.
+
+I cast another glance at Montignac, and measured the distance from me to
+him, to consider whether I might reach him before he could strike
+mademoiselle. La Chatre must have divined my thought, for he said:
+
+"Montignac, I will deal with this gentleman. Take mademoiselle into that
+chamber and close the door." And he pointed to the door immediately
+behind mademoiselle, the one by which I had first seen her enter.
+
+"But, monsieur--" began Montignac.
+
+"I had not quite finished, Montignac," went on La Chatre. "I have my
+reason for desiring you and the lady to withdraw. Fear not to leave me
+with him. Lame as I am, I am no match for him, it is true, but
+mademoiselle shall continue to be a hostage for his good behavior."
+
+"I understand," said Montignac, "but how shall I know--?"
+
+"Should M. de la Tournoire make one step towards me," said the
+governor,--here he paused and took up the hunting-horn and looked at it,
+but presently dropped it and pointed to the bowl of fruit on the table
+near the fireplace,--"I shall strike this bowl, thus." He struck the
+bowl with his stick, and it gave forth a loud, metallic ring, like that
+previously produced by Montignac's dagger from the tray on the other
+table. "The voice is not always to be relied on," continued the governor.
+"Sometimes it fails when most needed. But a sound like this," and he
+struck the bowl again, "can be made instantly and with certainty. Should
+you hear one stroke on the bowl,--one only, not followed quickly by a
+second stroke,--let mademoiselle pay for the rashness of her champion!"
+
+"Yes, monsieur," replied Montignac, a kind of diabolical triumph in
+his voice.
+
+"It may be," said La Chatre, "that no such violent act will be necessary,
+and that I shall merely require your presence here. In that case, I shall
+strike twice rapidly, thus. Therefore, when you hear a stroke, wait an
+instant lest there be a second stroke. But if there be no second, act as
+I have told you."
+
+"After you, mademoiselle," said Montignac, indicating by a motion his
+desire that she should precede him backward out of the chamber. He still
+clutched her arm and held his dagger aloft, intending thus to back out of
+the room after her.
+
+"I will not go!" she answered, trying to resist the force that he was
+using on her arm.
+
+This was the first resistance she had offered She had previously stood
+motionless beneath his lifted dagger, feeling herself unable to break
+from his grasp of iron, and supposing that any effort to do so would
+bring down the dagger into her delicate breast. A woman's instinctive
+horror of such a blow deterred her from the slightest movement that might
+invite it. She had trusted to me for what action might serve to save us
+from our enemies. But now her terror of leaving my presence, and her
+horror of being alone with Montignac, overcame her fear of the dagger. "I
+will not go!" she repeated.
+
+"Go, mademoiselle," said I, gently, taking her glove from my belt, where
+I had placed it, and kissing it, to show that I was still her devoted
+chevalier. "Go! 'Tis the better way." For I welcomed any step that might
+take Montignac from the chamber, and leave La Chatre's wit unaided to
+cope with mine.
+
+Her eyes showed submission, and she immediately obeyed the guidance
+of Montignac's hand. Facing me still, he went out after her, and
+closed the door.
+
+I was alone with La Chatre.
+
+"My secretary stood a little too near the point of your sword," said the
+governor, "for the perfect security of my hostage. There was just a
+possibility of your being too quick for him. I saw that you were
+contemplating that possibility. As it is now, should I give him the
+signal,--as I shall if you move either towards me or towards that
+chamber,--he could easily put mademoiselle out of the way before you
+could open the door. Not that I desire harm to mademoiselle. Her death
+would not serve me at all It would, indeed, be something that I should
+have to deplore. If I should deplore it, how much more would you! And
+since you surely will not be so ungallant as to cause the death of so
+charming a lady, I think I have you, let us say, at a slight
+disadvantage!" And he sat down beside the table near the fireplace.
+
+"I think not so, monsieur," said I, touching lightly with my sword's
+point the tray on the table near the bed; "for should you strike once on
+your bowl, I should very quickly strike once on this tray, so that two
+strokes would be heard, and the obedient Montignac, mindful of his
+orders, would enter this chamber, _not_ having slain mademoiselle."
+
+I ought not to have disclosed this, my advantage. I ought rather to have
+summoned Montignac by two strokes on the tray, and been at the door to
+receive him. But I had not waited to consider. I spoke of the advantage
+as soon as I noticed it, supposing that La Chatre, on seeing it, would
+think himself at my mercy and would come to my terms. He was taken back
+somewhat, it is true, but not much.
+
+"Pah!" he said "After all, I could shout to him."
+
+"It would be your last shouting. Moreover, your shouted orders would be
+cut off unfinished, and the punctilious Montignac would be left in doubt
+as to your wishes. Rather than slay mademoiselle on an uncertainty, he
+would come hither to assure himself,--in which case God pity him!"
+
+"Thank you for your warning, monsieur," said La Chatre, with mock
+courtesy. "There shall be no shouting."
+
+Whereupon he struck the bowl with his stick. Taken by surprise, I could
+only strike my tray with my sword, so that two strokes might surely be
+heard, although at the same time he gave a second stroke, showing that
+his intention was merely to summon Montignac. In my momentary fear for
+mademoiselle's life, and with my thoughts instantly concentrated on
+striking the tray, I did not have the wit to leap to the door and receive
+Montignac on my sword's point, as I would have done had I myself summoned
+him, or had I expected La Chatre's signal.
+
+So there I stood, far from the door, when it opened, and the secretary
+advanced his foot across the threshold. Even then I made a movement as if
+to rush on him, but he brought forward his left hand and I saw that it
+still clutched the white wrist of mademoiselle. Only her arm was visible
+in the doorway. Montignac still held his dagger raised. One step
+backward and one thrust, and he could lay her dead at his feet. Had I
+been ready at the door for him, I could have killed him before he could
+have made these two movements; but from where I stood, I could not have
+done so. So I listened in some chagrin to the governor's words.
+
+"I change the signal, Montignac. At one stroke, do not harm the lady, but
+come hither; but should you hear two strokes, or three, or any number
+more, she is to be sacrificed."
+
+"My dagger is ready, monsieur!"
+
+Again the door closed; again I was alone with La Chatre.
+
+I had lost my former advantage. For now, should I strike my tray
+once, for the purpose of summoning Montignac, so that I might be at
+the door to slay him at first sight, the governor could strike his
+bowl, and Montignac would hear two strokes or more--signal for
+mademoiselle's death.
+
+"And now, monsieur," said the governor, making himself comfortable in his
+chair between table and fireplace, "let us talk. You see, if you approach
+me or that door, or if you start to leave this chamber, I can easily
+strike the bowl twice before you take three steps."
+
+I could see that he was not as easy in his mind as he pretended to be. It
+was true that, as matters now were, his life was secure through my regard
+for mademoiselle's; but were he to attempt leaving the room or calling
+help, or, indeed, if help were to come uncalled, and I should find my own
+life or liberty threatened, I might risk anything, even mademoiselle's
+life, for the sake of revenge on him. He would not dare save himself by
+letting me go free out of his own chateau. To do that would bring down
+the wrath of the Duke of Guise, would mean ruin. That I knew well. If I
+should go to leave the chamber, he would give the signal for Montignac to
+kill mademoiselle. As for me. I did not wish to go without her or until I
+should have accomplished a certain design I had conceived. Thus I was La
+Chatre's prisoner, and he was mine. Each could only hope, by thought or
+talk, to arrive at some means of getting the better of the other.
+
+La Chatre's back was towards the door by which I had entered. By mere
+chance, it seemed, I turned my head towards that door. At that instant,
+my man, Frojac, appeared in the doorway. He had approached with the
+silence of a ghost. He carried the arquebus that had belonged to the
+guardsman, and his match was burning. Risking all on the possible effect
+of a sudden surprise on the governor, I cried, sharply:
+
+"Fire on that man, Frojac, if he moves."
+
+La Chatre, completely startled, rose from his chair and turned about,
+forgetful of the stick and bowl. When his glance reached Frojac, my good
+man had his arquebus on a line with the governor's head, the match
+dangerously near the breech.
+
+"I have looked after the guards, monsieur," said Frojac, cheerily,
+"both of them."
+
+"Stand where you are," said I to him, "and if that gentleman attempts to
+strike that bowl, see that he does not live to strike it more than once."
+
+"He shall not strike it even once, monsieur!"
+
+"You see, M. de la Chatre," said I, "the contents of an arquebus travel
+faster than a man can."
+
+"This is unfair!" were the first words of the governor, after his season
+of dumb astonishment.
+
+"Pardon me," said I. "It is but having you, let us say, at a slight
+disadvantage; and now I think I may move."
+
+I walked over to the governor's table and took up the bowl. La Chatre
+watched me in helpless chagrin, informing himself by a side glance that
+Frojac's weapon still covered him.
+
+"You look somewhat irritated and disgusted, monsieur," said I. "Pray
+sit down!"
+
+As I held my sword across the table, the point in close proximity to his
+chest, he obeyed, uttering a heavy sigh at his powerlessness. I then
+threw the bowl into the bed, taking careful aim so that it might make no
+sound. At that moment I saw La Chatre look towards the chamber in which
+were Montignac and mademoiselle, and there came on his face the sign of
+a half-formed project.
+
+"See also, Frojac," said I, "that he does not open his mouth to shout."
+
+"He shall be as silent as if born dumb, monsieur."
+
+"Oh, he may speak, but not so loud as to be heard in the next chamber.
+Look to it, Frojac."
+
+"Very well, monsieur."
+
+For I did not wish, as yet, that Montignac should know what was going on.
+Through the closed door and the thick tapestried walls, only a loud cry,
+or some such sound as a stroke on the resonant bowl or tray, could have
+reached him. We had spoken in careful tones, La Chatre not daring to
+raise his voice. Thus the closing of the door, intended by the governor
+to make Montignac safer from a sudden rush on my part, now served my own
+purpose. It is true that, since Frojac had appeared, and the governor
+could not make his signal, I might have summoned Montignac by a single
+stroke, and despatched him in the doorway. But now that my own position
+was easier, I saw that such a manoeuvre, first contemplated when only a
+desperate stroke seemed possible, was full of danger to mademoiselle. I
+might bungle it, whereupon Montignac would certainly attempt one blow
+against her, though it were his last. I must, therefore, use the governor
+to release her from her perilous situation; but first I must use him for
+another purpose, which the presence of the keen-witted Montignac might
+defeat. Hence, the secretary was not yet to be made aware of the turn
+things had taken.
+
+There were three quills on the table. I took up one of them and dipped it
+in the horn of ink.
+
+"Shall I tell you of what you are thinking, monsieur," said I, observing
+on the governor's face a new expression, that of one who listens and
+makes some mental calculation.
+
+"Amuse yourself as you please, monsieur," he answered.
+
+"You are thinking, first, that as I am in your chateau, and not alone, I
+have, doubtless, deprived you of all the soldiers left to guard your
+chateau; secondly, that at a certain time, a few hours ago, your troops
+set out for my residence; that they have probably now learned that I am
+not there; that they have consequently started to return. You are asking
+yourself what will happen if I am here when they arrive. Will I kill you
+before I allow myself to be taken? Probably, you say. Men like me value
+themselves highly, and sell themselves dearly. You would rather that I
+leave before they come. Then you can send them on my track. Very well;
+write, monsieur!" And I handed him the pen.
+
+He looked at me with mingled vindictiveness and wonder, as if it were
+remarkable that I had uttered the thoughts that any one in his position
+must have had. Mechanically he took the pen.
+
+"What shall I write?" he muttered.
+
+"Write thus: To M. de Brissard, governor of Fleurier. Release M. de
+Varion immediately. Let him accompany the man who bears this and who
+brings a horse for him."
+
+With many baitings, many side glances at Frojac's arquebus and my
+sword-point, many glum looks and black frowns, he wrote, while I watched
+from across the table. Then he threw the document towards me.
+
+"Sign and seal," I said, tossing it back to him.
+
+With intended slovenliness he affixed the signature and seal, then threw
+the pen to the floor. I took the order, scanned it, and handed him
+another pen.
+
+"Excellent!" said I. "And now again!"
+
+He made a momentary show of haughty, indignant refusal, but a movement of
+my sword quelled the brief revolt in him.
+
+"The bearer of this," I dictated, "M. de Varion, is to pass free in the
+province, and to cross the border where he will."
+
+This time he signed and affixed the seal without additional request. He
+threw the second pen after the first, and looked up at me with a scowl.
+
+"A bold, brave signature, monsieur! There is one pen left!" and I handed
+him the third quill.
+
+He took it with a look of wrath, after which he gave a sigh of forced
+patience, and sat ready to write.
+
+"The bearer of this, Ernanton de Launay--"
+
+"Ernanton de Launay?" he repeated, looking up inquiringly.
+
+"Ernanton de Launay, Sieur de la Tournoire,--" I went on.
+
+He stared at me aghast, as if my presumption really passed all bounds,
+but a glint of light on my sword caught his eye, he carried his eye along
+to the point, which was under his nose, and he wrote:
+
+"--is to pass free in the province, and from it, with all his company."
+
+"No, no, no! I will never write that!"
+
+Without an instant's hesitation, I drew back my sword as if to add weight
+to an intended thrust. He gasped, and then finished the pass, signed it,
+and attached the seal.
+
+"Be assured," I said, as I took up the last order, "these will be used
+before you shall have time to countermand them." He gritted his teeth at
+this. "I thank you heartily, monsieur, and shall ask you to do no more
+writing. But one favor will I claim,--the loan of a few gold pieces for
+M. de Varion. Come, monsieur, your purse has ever been well fed!"
+
+With a look of inward groaning, he negligently handed me some pieces, not
+counting them.
+
+"_Parbleu!_" he said. "You will ask me for my chateau next."
+
+"All in good time. It is a good jest, monsieur, that while you visit me
+at Maury by proxy, I return the visit at Clochonne in person and find
+your chateau unguarded. To complete the jest, I need only take
+possession. But I am for elsewhere. Frojac, come here."
+
+While Frojac approached, I held my sword ready for any movement on
+the part of my unhappy adversary, for I saw him cast a furtive look
+at the tray on the other table, and I read on his face the birth of
+some new design.
+
+Rapidly I gave Frojac my commands, with the gold and the two orders
+first written.
+
+"Take this order immediately, with my horse and your own, to the chateau
+of Fleurier. Secure M. de Varion's release, and fly with him at once from
+the province, leaving by the western border, so that you cannot possibly
+be forestalled by any troops or counter-orders that this gentleman may
+send from here. Make your way speedily to Guienne."
+
+"And in Guienne, monsieur?"
+
+"You will doubtless find me at the camp of Henri of Navarre. As soon as
+you see M. de Varion, assure him of the safety of his daughter. And now
+to horse!"
+
+"I am already on my way, monsieur!" And the good fellow ran from the
+chamber and down the stairs. In a few moments I heard the horses
+clattering out of the courtyard and over the bridge. Pleased at his zeal
+and swiftness, I stepped to the window to wave him a godspeed. I thus
+turned my back towards La Chatre.
+
+Frojac saw me and waved in response, as he dashed down the moonlit way
+towards the road to Fleurier.
+
+I heard a stealthy noise behind me, and, turning, saw what made me
+fiercely repent my momentary forgetfulness and my reliance on the
+governor's lameness. The sight revealed plainly enough what new idea had
+come into La Chatre's mind,--simply that, if he should give the signal
+for mademoiselle's death, I would probably not stay to attack him, but
+would instantly rush into the next chamber in the hope of saving her. He
+could then fasten the door, and so hold me prisoner in that chamber until
+the return of his troops. Well for us that he had not thought of this
+before the arrival of Frojac!
+
+He was already near the table on which was the tray, when I turned and
+saw him. He raised his stick to strike the tray. I rushed after him.
+
+He brought down his stick. The tray sounded, loud and bell-like. He heard
+me coming, and raised his stick again. The second clang would be the
+death-knell of my beloved!
+
+But my sword was in time, my arm served. The blade met the descending
+stick and knocked it from the governor's grasp. The same rush that took
+me between La Chatre and the table carried me across the chamber to a
+spot at one side of the door which Montignac at that moment threw open.
+
+"You struck once, did you not, monsieur?" said Montignac, not seeing me,
+for he naturally looked towards the centre of the chamber.
+
+He held mademoiselle's wrist in his left hand, his dagger in his right. I
+was at his right side. I was too near him to use my sword with effect, so
+I contented myself with stepping quickly behind him and bringing my fist
+down on his left arm above the elbow. This unexpected blow made him
+involuntarily release mademoiselle's wrist, and informed him of my
+whereabouts. The impulse of self-preservation caused him to rush forward
+and turn. I then stepped in front of mademoiselle and faced him. All
+this, from my turning from the window, was done in a moment.
+
+"And now, M. de la Chatre," said I, "you may strike the bowl as often as
+you please."
+
+"M. de la Chatre," said Montignac, in a quick, resolute voice, "give me
+leave to finish this!"
+
+"As you will, Montignac!" replied the governor, moving towards the
+window. His movement betrayed his thought. If his troops should return in
+the next few minutes, I would be too busy with Montignac to attack
+himself. There were two hopes for him. One was that, by some miracle,
+Montignac might kill or wound me. The other was that the troops might
+return before I should have finished with Montignac. La Chatre had
+doubtless inferred that I had brought with me none of my men but Frojac;
+therefore I alone was to be feared.
+
+Montignac, keeping his eyes fixed on me, transferred his dagger to his
+left hand, and drew his sword with his right. I, with my sword already in
+my right hand, drew my dagger with my left.
+
+"Monsieur," said I to Montignac, "I see with pleasure that you are not
+a coward."
+
+"You shall see what you shall see, monsieur!" he answered, in the voice
+of a man who fears nothing and never loses his wits.
+
+It was, indeed, a wonder that this man of thought could become so
+admirable a man of action. There was nothing fragile in this pale
+student. His eyes took on the hardness of steel. Never did more
+self-reliant and resolute an antagonist meet me. The hate that was
+manifest in his countenance did not rob him of self-possession. It only
+strengthened and steadied him. At first I thought him foolhardy to face
+so boldly an antagonist who wore a breastplate, but later I found that,
+beneath his jerkin, he was similarly protected. I suppose that he had
+intended to accompany the troops to Maury, had so prepared himself for
+battle, and had not found opportunity, after the change of intention, to
+divest himself.
+
+Conscious of mademoiselle's presence behind me, I stood for a moment
+awaiting the secretary's attack. In that moment did I hear, or but seem
+to hear, the sound of many horses' footfalls on the distant road? I did
+not wait to assure myself. Knowing that, if the governor's troops had
+indeed found Maury abandoned, and had returned, quick work was
+necessary, I attacked at the same instant as my adversary did. As I
+would no more than disable an antagonist less protected than myself, I
+made to touch him lightly in his right side; but my point, tearing away
+a part of his jerkin, gave the sound and feel of metal, and thus I
+learned that he too wore body armor. I was pleased at this; for now we
+were less unequal than I had thought, and I might use full force. He had
+tried to turn with his dagger this my first thrust, but was not quick
+enough, whereas my own dagger caught neatly the sword-thrust that he
+made simultaneously with mine.
+
+"Oh, M. de Launay!" cried mademoiselle, behind me, in a voice of terror,
+at the first swift clash of our weapons.
+
+"Fear not for me, mademoiselle!" I cried, catching Montignac's blade
+again with my dagger, and giving a thrust which he avoided by
+leaping backward.
+
+"Good, Montignac!" cried La Chatre, looking on from the window. "He
+cannot reach you! If you cannot kill him, you may keep him engaged till
+the troops come back!"
+
+"I shall kill him!" was Montignac's reply, while he faced me with set
+teeth and relentless eyes.
+
+"Listen, monsieur!" cried mademoiselle. "If you die, I shall die with
+you!" And she ran from behind me to the centre of the chamber, where I
+could see her.
+
+"And if I live?" I shouted, narrowly stopping a terrible thrust, and
+stepping back between the table and the bed.
+
+"If we live, I am yours forever! Ernanton, I love you!"
+
+At last she had confessed it with her lips! For the first time, she had
+called me by my Christian name! My head swam with joy.
+
+"You kill me with happiness, Julie!" I cried, overturning the table
+towards Montignac to gain a moment's breath.
+
+"I shall kill you with my sword!" Montignac hurled the words through
+clenched teeth. "For, by God, you shall have no happiness with her!"
+
+His white face had an expression of demoniac hate, yet his thrusts became
+the more adroit and swift, his guard the more impenetrable and firm. His
+body was as sinuous as a wild beast's, his eye as steady. The longer he
+fought, the more formidable he became as an adversary. He was worth a
+score of Vicomtes de Berquin.
+
+"Ernanton," cried mademoiselle, "you know all my treachery!"
+
+"I know that you would have saved your father," I answered, leaping
+backward upon the bed, to avoid the secretary's impetuous rush; "and
+that I have saved him, and that, God willing, we shall soon meet him
+in Guienne!"
+
+"If he meets you, it will be in hell!" With this, Montignac jumped upon
+the bed after me, and there was some close dagger play while I turned to
+back out between the posts at the foot.
+
+At this moment La Chatre gave a loud, jubilant cry, and mademoiselle,
+looking out of the window, uttered a scream of consternation.
+
+"The troops at last!" shouted La Chatre. "Hold out but another minute,
+Montignac!"
+
+So then I had heard aright. Alas, I thought, that the river road to Maury
+should be so much shorter than the forest road; alas, that the governor's
+troops should have had time to return ere Blaise had reached the junction
+of the roads!
+
+"My God, the soldiers have us in a trap!" cried mademoiselle, while I
+caught Montignac's dagger-point with a bed-curtain, and stepped backward
+from the bed to the floor.
+
+"And mademoiselle shall be mine!"
+
+As he uttered these words with a fiendish kind of elation, Montignac
+leaped from the bed after me, releasing his dagger by pulling the curtain
+from its fastening, while at the same time his sword-point, directed at
+my neck, rang on my breast-plate.
+
+"You shall not live to see the end of this, monsieur!" I replied,
+infuriated at his premature glee.
+
+And, having given ground a little, I made so quick an onslaught that, in
+saving himself, he fell back against a chair, which overturned and took
+him to the floor with it.
+
+"Help, monsieur!" he cried to La Chatre, raising his dagger just in time
+to ward off my sword.
+
+The governor now perceived the sword that stood by the fireplace, took it
+up, and thrust at me. Mademoiselle, who, in her distress at the sight of
+the troops, had run to the _prie-dieu_ and fallen on her knees, saw La
+Chatre's movement, and, rushing forward, caught the sword with both hands
+as he thrust. I expected to see her fingers torn by the blade, but it
+happened that the sword was still in its sheath, a fact which in our
+excitement none of us had observed; so that when La Chatre tried to pull
+the weapon from her grasp he merely drew it from the sheath, which
+remained in her hands. By this time I was ready for the governor.
+
+"Come on!" I cried. "It is a better match, two against me!"
+
+And I sent La Chatre's sword flying from his hand, just in time to guard
+against a dagger stroke from Montignac, who had now risen. Julie snatched
+up the sword and held the governor at bay with it.
+
+For some moments the distant clatter of galloping horses had been rapidly
+increasing.
+
+"Quick!" shouted La Chatre through the window to the approaching troops.
+"To the rescue!"
+
+And he stood wildly beckoning them on, but keeping his head turned
+towards Montignac and me, who both fought with the greatest fury. For I
+saw that I had found at last an antagonist requiring all my strength and
+skill, one with whom the outcome was not at all certain.
+
+The tumult of hoofs grew louder and nearer.
+
+"Ernanton, fly while we can! The soldiers are coming!"
+
+Mademoiselle threw La Chatre's sword to a far corner, ran to the door
+leading from the stairway landing, closed it, and pushed home the bolt.
+
+"They are at the gate! They are entering!" cried the governor, joyously.
+"Another minute, Montignac!"
+
+There was the rushing clank of hoofs on the drawbridge, then from the
+courtyard rose a confused turbulence of horses, men, and arms.
+
+Again my weapons clashed with Montignac's. Julie looked swiftly around.
+Her eye alighted on the dagger that lay on one of the chairs. She drew it
+from its sheath.
+
+"If we die, it is together!" she cried, holding it aloft.
+
+There came a deadened, thumping sound, growing swiftly to great volume.
+It was that of men rushing up the stairs.
+
+"To the rescue!" cried La Chatre. "But one more parry, Montignac!"
+
+There was now a thunder of tramping in the hall outside the door.
+
+"Ay, one more--the last!" It was I who spoke, and the speech was truth. I
+leaped upon my enemy, between his dagger and his sword, and buried my
+dagger in his neck. When I drew it out, he whirled around, clutched
+wildly at the air, caught the curtain at the window, and fell, with the
+quick, sharp cry:
+
+"God have mercy on me!"
+
+"Amen to that!" said I, wiping the blood from my dagger.
+
+A terrible pounding shook the door, and from without came cries of
+"Open." Mademoiselle ran to my side, her dagger ready for her breast. I
+put my left arm around her.
+
+"And now, God have mercy on _you_!" shouted La Chatre, triumphantly; for
+the door flew from its place, and armed men surged into the chamber,
+crowding the open doorway.
+
+"Are we in time, my captain?" roared their leader, looking from the
+governor to me.
+
+And La Chatre tottered back to the fireplace, dumbfounded, for the leader
+was Blaise and the men were my own.
+
+Julie gave a glad little cry, and, dropping her dagger, sank to her knees
+exhausted.
+
+"Good-night, monsieur!" I said to La Chatre. "We thank you for your
+hospitality!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE RIDE TOWARDS GUIENNE
+
+
+I ordered the men to return to the courtyard, and, supporting Julie, I
+followed them from the chamber, leaving M. de la Chatre alone with his
+chagrin and the dead body of his secretary.
+
+In the hall outside the governor's chamber, we found Jeannotte and Hugo,
+for Blaise had brought them with him, believing that we would not return
+to Maury. The gypsies had accompanied him as far as Godeau's inn, where
+we had first met them. He had even brought as much baggage and provisions
+as could be hastily packed on the horses behind the men. The only human
+beings left by him at Maury were the three rascals who had so
+blunderingly served De Berquin, but he had considerately unlocked the
+door of their cell before his departure.
+
+I begged mademoiselle to rest a while in one of the chambers contiguous
+to the hall, and, when she and Jeannotte had left us, I told Blaise as
+much of the truth as it needed to show mademoiselle as she was. I then
+explained why he had found the draw-bridge down, the gate open, the
+chateau undefended. He grinned at the trick that fate had played on our
+enemies, but looked rather downcast at the lost opportunity of meeting
+them at Maury.
+
+"But," said he, looking cheerful again, "they will come back to
+the chateau and find us here, and we may yet have some lively work
+with them."
+
+"Perchance," I said, "for I fear that mademoiselle cannot endure another
+ride to-night. If she could, I would start immediately for Guienne. Our
+work in Berry is finished."
+
+"Then you shall start immediately," said a gentle but resolute voice
+behind me. Mademoiselle, after a few minutes' repose, had risen and come
+to demand that no consideration for her comfort should further imperil
+our safety.
+
+"But--" I started to object.
+
+"Better another ride," she said, with a smile, "than another risking of
+your life. I swear that I will not rest till you are out of danger. It is
+not I who most need rest."
+
+She looked, indeed, fresh and vigorous, as one will, despite bodily
+fatigue, when one has cast off a heavy burden and found promise of new
+happiness. When a whole lifetime of joy was to be won, it was no time to
+tarry for the sake of weary limbs.
+
+So it was decided that we should start at once southward, not resting
+until we should be half-way across the mountains. As for my belated
+foragers, we should have to let them take their chances of rejoining
+us; and some weeks later they did indeed arrive at the camp in
+Guienne with rich spoil, having found Maury given over to the owls
+and bats as of yore.
+
+The men cheered for joy at the announcement that we were at last to
+rejoin our Henri's flying camp. In the guard-house we found Pierre and
+the other guardsman, both securely bound by Frojac. We released Pierre
+and sent him to his mistress. I put Blaise at the head of my company, and
+we set forth, half of the troop going first, then mademoiselle and I,
+then Jeannotte and the two boys, and lastly the other half of my force.
+Looking back, I saw the lighted window of the governor's chamber, that
+window whence I had looked out at Frojac and whence La Chatre had
+mistakenly taken my men for his own. Doubtless he still sat in his
+chamber, dazed and incapable of action, for after leaving him alone there
+I neither saw nor heard him. Nor did we see any more troops or any
+servants about the chateau. Some hasty scampering in distant apartments,
+after the entrance of my men, was the only indication of inhabitants that
+we had received. If there were other troops in the chateau than the six
+we had disposed of, they followed the example of the servants and lay
+close. As for the soldiers at the town guard-house, they must have heard
+my men ride to the chateau, but they had wisely refrained from appearing
+before a force greater than their own. I shall never cease to marvel that
+the very night that took me and my men to Clochonne by one road took La
+Chatre's guards and the town garrison to Maury by another.
+
+When I sent Blaise to the head of the troops, I told him to set a good
+pace, for the governor's men had indeed had time sufficient to have gone
+to Maury, discovered their mistake, and come back, so much shorter is the
+river road than the forest way. There was a likelihood, therefore, of
+their reaching the point of junction, on their return, at any minute, and
+I wished to be past that point and well up the mountain-side before they
+should do so.
+
+Julie rode very close to me, and as soon as we were out of the gate she
+began in a low tone to speak of a thing that required no more explanation
+to me; yet I let her speak on, for the relief of her heart. So, in a few
+minutes, as we rode with the soldiers in the night, she eased her mind
+forever of the matter.
+
+"When I received word in Bourges," she said, "that my father was in
+prison, I thought that I would die of grief and horror. They would not
+let me see him, told me that his crime of harboring a Huguenot was a
+grave one, that he had violated the King's edict, and might be charged
+even with treason. The thought of how he must suffer in a dungeon was
+more than I could endure. Only M. de la Chatre, they told me, could order
+his release. La Chatre had left Fleurier to go northward. I started after
+him, not waiting even to refresh my horses. When we reached the inn at
+the end of the town, I had become sufficiently calm to listen to Hugo's
+advice that it would be best to bait the horses before going further. I
+began to perceive, too, that myself and Jeannotte needed some nourishment
+in order to be able to go on a journey. Thus it happened that I stopped
+at the inn where La Chatre himself was. He had not gone immediately north
+from Fleurier, but had been visiting an estate in the vicinity, and it
+was on regaining the main road that he had tarried at the inn, without
+reentering the town. I had never seen him, but the girl at the inn told
+me who he was.
+
+"When I fell on my knees, and told him how incapable my father was of
+harm or disloyalty, he at first showed annoyance, and said that my
+pleading would be useless. My father must be treated as an example, he
+said. To succor traitors was treason, to shield heretics was heresy, and
+there was no doubt that the judges would condemn him to death, to furnish
+others a lesson. He was then going to leave me, but his secretary came
+forward and said that I had come at an opportune moment, an instrument
+sent by Heaven. Was I not, he asked the governor, some one who had much
+to gain or much to lose? Then La Chatre became joyful, and said that
+there was a way--one only--by which I might free my father. Eagerly I
+begged to know that way, but with horror I refused it when I learned that
+it was to--to hunt down a certain Huguenot captain, to make him trust me,
+and to betray him. For a time I would not hear his persuasions. Then he
+swore that, if I did not undertake this detestable mission, my father
+should surely die; and he told me that you were a deserter, a traitor, an
+enemy to the church and to the King, I had heard your name but once or
+twice, and I remembered it only as one who had worked with daring and
+secrecy in the interests of the Huguenots. He described my father
+tortured and killed, his body hanging at the gates of Fleurier, blown by
+the wind, and attacked by the birds. Oh, it was terrible! All this could
+be avoided, my father's liberty regained, by my merely serving the King
+and the church. He gave his word that, if I betrayed you, my father
+should be released without even a trial. You can understand, can you not?
+You were then a stranger to me, and my father the most gentle and kindly
+of men, the most tender and devoted of fathers."
+
+"I understood already when I stood behind the curtain,
+sweetheart," said I.
+
+"When you came," she went on, "and asked whither I was bound, I made my
+first attempt at lying. I wonder that you did not perceive my
+embarrassment and shame when I said that the governor had threatened to
+imprison me if I did not leave the province. It was the best pretext I
+could give for leaving Fleurier while my father remained there in prison,
+though they would not let me see him. It occurred to me that you must
+think me a heartless daughter to go so far from him, even if it were,
+indeed, to save my life."
+
+"I thought only that you were an unhappy child, of whose inexperience and
+fears the governor had availed himself; and that, after all, was the
+truth. From the first moment when I knew that you were the daughter of M.
+de Varion, I was resolved to attempt his rescue; but I kept my intention
+from you, lest I might fail."
+
+"Oh, to think that all the while I was planning your betrayal, you were
+intending to save my father! Oh, the deception of which I was guilty!
+What constant torture, what continual shame I felt! Often I thought I had
+betrayed myself. Did you not observe my agitation when you first
+mentioned the name of La Tournoire, and said that you would take me to
+him. I wonder that you did not hear my heart say, 'That is the man I am
+to betray!' And how bitter, yet sweet, it was to hear you commiserate my
+dejection, which was due in part to the shame of the treacherous task I
+had undertaken. It seemed to me that you ought to guess its cause, yet
+you attributed it all to other sources. What a weight was on me while we
+rode towards Clochonne, the knowledge that I was to betray the man whom I
+then thought your friend,--the friend of the gentleman who protected me
+and was so solicitous for my happiness! How glad I was when you told me
+the man was no great friend of yours, that you would sacrifice him for
+the sake of the woman you loved! After all, I thought you might not
+loathe me when you should learn that I had betrayed him! Yet, to perform
+my task in your presence, to make him love me--for I was to do that, if
+needs be and it could be done--while you were with me, seemed impossible.
+This was the barrier between us, the fact that I had engaged to betray
+your friend, and you can understand now why I begged that you would leave
+me. How could I play the Delilah in your sight? It had been hard enough
+to question you about La Tournoire's hiding-place. And when I learned
+that you were La Tournoire himself, whom I had already half betrayed in
+sending Pierre to La Chatre with an account of your hiding-place; that
+you whom I already loved--why should I not confess it?--were the man
+whom I was to pretend to love; that you who already loved me were the man
+whom I was to betray by making him love me,--oh, what a moment that was,
+a moment when all hope died and despair overwhelmed me! Had I known from
+the first that you were he, I might have guarded against loving you--"
+
+"And well it is," said I, interrupting, "that for a jest and a surprise I
+had kept that knowledge from you! Else you might indeed have--"
+
+"Oh, do not think of it!" And she shuddered. "But you are right. Love
+alone has saved us. But at first even the knowledge that you were La
+Tournoire, and that none the less I loved you, did not make me turn back.
+If my duty to my father had before required that I should sacrifice you,
+did my duty not still require it? Did it make any change in my duty that
+I loved you? What right had I, when devoted to a task like mine, to love
+any one? If I had violated my duty by loving you, ought I not to
+disregard my love, stifle it, act as if it did not exist? I had to forget
+that I was a woman who loved, remember only that I was a daughter. My
+filial duty was no less, my proper choice between my father and another
+was not altered by my having fallen in love. I must carry my horrible
+task to the end. What a night of struggle was that at the inn, after I
+had learned that the appointed victim was you! And now it was necessary
+that you should not leave me; therefore I spoke no more of the barrier
+between us. I fortified myself to hide my feelings and maintain my
+pretence. Surely you noticed the change in me, the forced composure and
+cheerfulness. How I tried to harden myself!
+
+"And after that the words of love you so often spoke to me, what bliss
+and what anguish they caused me! I was to have made you love me, but you
+loved me already. I ought to have rejoiced at this, for the success that
+it promised my purpose. Yet, it was on that account that I shuddered at
+it; and if it did give me moments of joy it was because it was pleasant
+to have your love. My heart rose at the thought that I was loved by you,
+and fell at the thought that your love was to cause your death. Often,
+for your own sake, I wished that I might fail, that you would not love
+me; yet for my father's sake I had to wish that I should succeed, had to
+be glad that you loved me. To make you fall the more easily into the
+hands of your enemies, I had to show love for you. How easy it was to
+show what I felt; yet what anguish I underwent in showing it, when by
+doing so I led you to death! The more I appeared to love you, the more
+truly I disclosed my heart, yet the greater I felt was my treason! I do
+not think any woman's heart was ever so torn by opposing motives!"
+
+"My beloved, all that is past forever!"
+
+"In my dreams at Maury, we would be strolling together among roses, under
+cloudless skies, nothing to darken my joy. Then I would see you wounded,
+the soldiers of the governor gathered around you and laughing at my
+horror and grief. I would awake and vow not to betray you, and then I
+would see my father's face, pale and haggard, and my dead mother's wet
+with tears for his misery and supplicating me to save him!"
+
+"My poor Julie!"
+
+"And to-night,--yes, it was only to-night, it seems so long ago,--when
+you held my hand on the dial, and plighted fidelity, what happiness I
+should have had then, but for the knowledge of my horrible task, of the
+death that awaited you, of the treason I was so soon to commit! For I and
+Jeannotte had already arranged it, Hugo was soon to be sent to La Chatre.
+And then came De Berquin. For telling only the truth of me, you killed
+him as a traducer. So much faith you had in me, who deserved so little! I
+could endure it no longer! Never would I look on your face again with
+that weight of shame on me. God must send other means of saving my
+father. They demanded too much of me. I would, as far as I could, make
+myself worthy of your faith, though I never saw you again. Yet I could
+not betray La Chatre. He had entrusted me with his design, and,
+detestable as it was, I could not play him false in it. But I could at
+least resign the mission. And I went, to undo the compact and claim back
+my honor! I little guessed that he would make use, without my knowledge,
+of the information I had sent him of your hiding-place. It seemed that,
+even though La Chatre did know your hiding-place, God would not let you
+be taken through me if I refused to be your betrayer."
+
+"And so it has turned out," I said, blithely, "and now I no longer regret
+having kept from you my intention of attempting your father's release.
+For had I told you of it, and events taken another course, that attempt
+might have failed, and it would perhaps have cost many lives, whereas the
+order that I got from La Chatre this night is both sure and inexpensive.
+But for matters having gone as they have, I should not have been enabled
+to get that order. Ha! What is this!"
+
+For Blaise had suddenly called a halt, and was riding back to me as if
+for orders.
+
+"Look, monsieur!" and he pointed to where the rive, road appeared from
+behind a little spur at the base of the mountains. A body of horsemen was
+coming into view. At one glance I recognized the foremost riders as
+belonging to the troop I had seen four hours before.
+
+"The devil!" said I. "La Chatre's soldiers coming back from Maury!"
+
+We had ridden down the descent leading from the chateau along the town
+wall, and had left the town some distance behind, so that the mountains
+now loomed large before us. But we had not yet passed the place where the
+roads converged.
+
+"If we can only get into the mountain road before they reach this one, we
+shall not meet them," I went on. "Forward, men!"
+
+"But," said Blaise, astonished and frowning, but riding on beside
+me, "they will reach this road before we pass the junction. Do you
+wish them to take us in the flank? See, they have seen us and are
+pressing forward!"
+
+"If we reach our road in time, we shall lead them a chase. Go to the head
+and set the pace at a gallop!"
+
+"And have them overtake us and fall on our rear?"
+
+"You mutinous rascal, don't you see that they are three times our number?
+We stand better chance in flight than in fight! But, no, you are right!
+They are too near the junction. We must face them. I shall go to the
+head. Julie, my betrothed, I must leave you for a time. Roquelin and
+Sabray shall fall behind with you, Jeannotte, and the two boys."
+
+"I shall not leave your side!" she said, resolutely.
+
+"Oh, mademoiselle!" cried Jeannotte, in a great fright.
+
+"You may fall back, if you like," said Julie to her. "I shall not."
+
+All this time we were going forward and the governor's troops were
+rapidly nearing the junction. We could now plainly hear the noise they
+made, which, because of that made by ourselves, we had not heard sooner.
+They were looking at us with curiosity, and were evidently determined to
+intercept us.
+
+"Julie, consider! There may be great danger."
+
+"If you are endangered, why should not I be? This is not the night,
+Ernanton, on which you should ask me to leave you."
+
+"Then I shall at least remain here," said I. "Go to the head, Blaise. But
+if there is a challenge, I shall answer it. Perhaps they will not know us
+and we can make them think we are friends."
+
+He rode forward with sparkling eyes, although not before casting one
+glance of solicitude at Jeannotte, who did not leave her mistress.
+
+The men eagerly looked to their arms as they rode, and they exchanged
+conjectures in low, quick tones, casting many a curious look at the
+approaching force. Julie and I kept silence, I wondering what would be
+the outcome of this encounter.
+
+Suddenly, when the head of their long, somewhat straggling line had just
+reached the junction, and Blaise was but a short distance from it, came
+from their leader--La Chatre's equerry, I think--the order to halt, and
+then the clear, sharp cry:
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+Before I could answer, a familiar voice near their leader cried out:
+
+"It is his company,--La Tournoire's,--I swear it! I know the big fellow
+at the head."
+
+The voice was that of the foppish, cowardly rascal of De Berquin's band.
+I now saw that the three fellows left by Blaise at Maury were held as
+prisoners by the governor's troops. Poor Jacques, doubtless, thought to
+get his freedom or some reward for crying out our identity.
+
+"I shall wring your neck yet, lap-dog!" roared Blaise.
+
+All chance of passing under false colors was now gone. A battle with
+thrice our force seemed imminent. What would befall Julie if they should
+be too much for us? The thought made me sick with horror. At that instant
+I remembered something.
+
+"Halt!" I cried to the men. "I shall return in a moment, sweetheart.
+Monsieur, the captain," and I rode forward towards the leader of the
+governor's troops, "your informant speaks truly. Permit me to introduce
+myself. I am the Sieur de la Tournoire, the person named in that order."
+With which I politely handed him the pass that I had forced from La
+Chatre, which I had for a time forgotten.
+
+It was about three hours after midnight, and the moon was not yet very
+low. The captain, taken by surprise in several respects, mechanically
+grasped the document and read it.
+
+"It is a--a pass," he said, presently, staring at it and at me in a
+bewildered manner.
+
+"As you see, for myself and all my company," said I; "signed by M. de
+la Chatre."
+
+"Yes, it is his signature."
+
+"His seal, also, you will observe."
+
+"I do. Yet, it is strange. Certain orders that I have received,--in fact,
+orders to which I have just been attending,--make this very surprising. I
+cannot understand--"
+
+"It is very simple. While you were attending to your orders, I was making
+a treaty with M. de la Chatre. In accordance with it, he wrote the pass.
+He will, doubtless, relate the purport of our interview as soon as you
+return to the chateau. I know that he is impatient for your coming.
+Therefore, since you have seen the pass, I shall not detain you longer."
+
+"But--I do not know--it is, indeed, the writing of M. de la Chatre--it
+seems quite right, yet monsieur, since all is right, you will not
+object to returning with me to the chateau that M. de la Chatre may
+verify his pass?"
+
+"Since all is right, there is no use in my doing so; and it would be most
+annoying to M. de la Chatre to be asked to verify his own writing,
+especially as the very object of this pass was to avoid my being delayed
+on my march this night."
+
+The captain, a young and handsome gentleman, with a frank look and a
+courteous manner, hesitated.
+
+"Monsieur will understand," I went on, "that every minute we stand here
+opposes the purpose for which that pass was given."
+
+"I begin to see," he said, with a look of pleasurable discovery. "You
+have changed sides, monsieur? You have repented of your errors and have
+put your great skill and courage at the service of M. de la Chatre?"
+
+"It is for M. de la Chatre to say what passed between us this evening,"
+said I, with a discreet air. "Then _an revoir_, captain! I trust we shall
+meet again."
+
+And I took back the pass, and ordered my men forward, as if the young
+captain had already given me permission to go on. Then I saluted him, and
+returned to Julie. The captain gazed at us in a kind of abstraction as we
+passed. His men were as dumbfounded as my own. His foremost horsemen had
+heard the short conversation concerning the pass, and were, doubtless, as
+much at a loss as their leader was. When we were well in the mountain
+road, I heard him give the order to march, and, looking back, I saw them
+turn wearily up the road to the chateau. We continued to put distance
+between ourselves and Clochonne.
+
+On the northern slope of the mountains, we made but one stop. That was at
+Godeau's, where we had a short rest and some wine. I gave the good
+Marianne a last gold piece, received her Godspeed, and took up our march,
+this time ignoring the forest path to Maury, following the old road
+southward instead. It would be time to set up our camp when we should be
+out of the province of Berry.
+
+It was while we were yet ascending the northern slope of the mountains,
+and the moon still shone now and then from the west through the trees,
+that we talked, Julie and I, of the time that lay before us. It mattered
+not to me under which form our marriage should be. One creed was to me
+only a little the better of the two, in that it involved less of
+subjection, but if the outward profession of the other would facilitate
+our union, I would make that profession, reserving always my sword and my
+true sympathies for the side that my fathers had taken. But when I
+proposed this, Julie said that I ought not even to assume the appearance
+of having changed my colors, and that it was for her, the woman, to
+adopt mine, therefore she would abjure and we should be married as
+Protestants. She could answer for the consent of her father, who could
+not refuse his preserver and hers. It pleased me that she made no mention
+of her lack of dowry, for their little estate would certainly be
+confiscated after her father's flight. Judging my love by her own, she
+knew that I valued herself alone above all the fortunes in the world. We
+would, then, be united as soon as her father, guided by Frojac, should
+join us in Guienne. She and her father should then go to Nerac, there to
+await my return from the war that was now imminent; for I was to continue
+advancing my fortunes by following those of our Henri on the field. Some
+day our leader would overcome his enemies and mount the throne that the
+fated Henri III.--ailing survivor of three short-lived brothers--would
+soon leave vacant. Then our King would restore us our estates, I should
+rebuild La Tournoire, and there we should pass our days in the peace that
+our Henri's accession would bring his kingdom. Blaise should marry
+Jeannotte and be our steward.
+
+So we gave word to our intentions and hopes, those that I have here
+written and many others. Some have been realized, and some have not, but
+all that I have here written have been.
+
+Once, years after that night, having gone up to Paris to give our two
+eldest children a glimpse of the court, we were walking through the
+gallery built by our great Henri IV., to connect the Louvre with the
+Tuileries, when my son asked me who was the painted fat old lady that was
+staring so hard at him as if she had seen him before. In turn I asked the
+Abbe Brantome, who happened to be passing.
+
+"It is the Marquise de Pirillaume," he said. "She was a gallant lady in
+the reign of Henri III. She was Mlle. d'Arency and very beautiful."
+
+I turned my eyes from her to Julie at my side,--to Julie, as fair and
+slender and beautiful still as on that night when we rode together with
+my soldiers towards Guienne, in the moonlight.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Enemy To The King, by Robert Neilson Stephens
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+Project Gutenberg's An Enemy To The King, by Robert Neilson Stephens
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+Title: An Enemy To The King
+
+Author: Robert Neilson Stephens
+
+Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9965]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on November 5, 2003]
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+Language: English
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ENEMY TO THE KING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
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+
+
+
+
+                          AN ENEMY TO THE KING
+
+     From the recently discovered memoirs of the Sieur de la Tournoire
+
+                       By Robert Neilson Stephens
+
+Author of "The Continental Dragoon," "The Road to Paris," "Philip
+Winwood," etc.
+
+                                  1897
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+I.     TWO ENCOUNTERS BY NIGHT
+II.    LOVE-MAKING AT SHORT ACQUAINTANCE
+III.   THE STRANGE REQUEST OF MLLE. D'ARENCY
+IV.    HOW LA TOURNOIRE WAS ENLIGHTENED IN THE DARK
+V.     HOW LA TOURNOIRE ESCAPED FROM PARIS
+VI.    HOW HE FLED SOUTHWARD
+VII.   HOW HE ANNOYED MONSIEUR DE LA CHATRE
+VIII.  A SWEET LADY IN DISTRESS
+IX.    THE FOUR RASCALS
+X.     A DISAPPEARANCE
+XI.    HOW THE HERO GAVE HIS WORD AND KEPT IT
+XII.   AT THE CHÂTEAU OF MAURY
+XIII.  HOW DE BERQUIN INVITED DEATH
+XIV.   "GOD GRANT I DO NOT FIND YOU FALSE"
+XV.    TO CLOCHONNE, AFTER MADEMOISELLE!
+XVI.   BEHIND THE CURTAINS
+XVII.  SWORD AND DAGGER
+XVIII. THE RIDE TOWARDS GUIENNE
+
+
+
+
+AN ENEMY TO THE KING
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+TWO ENCOUNTERS BY NIGHT
+
+
+Hitherto I have written with the sword, after the fashion of greater men,
+and requiring no secretary. I now take up the quill to set forth,
+correctly, certain incidents which, having been noised about, stand in
+danger of being inaccurately reported by some imitator of Brantome and De
+l'Estoile. If all the world is to know of this matter, let it know
+thereof rightly.
+
+It was early in January, in the year 1578, that I first set out for
+Paris. My mother had died when I was twelve years old, and my father had
+followed her a year later. It was his last wish that I, his only child,
+should remain at the château, in Anjou, continuing my studies until the
+end of my twenty-first year. He had chosen that I should learn manners as
+best I could at home, not as page in some great household or as gentleman
+in the retinue of some high personage. "A De Launay shall have no master
+but God and the King," he said. Reverently I had fulfilled his
+injunctions, holding my young impulses in leash. I passed the time in
+sword practice with our old steward, Michel, who had followed my father
+in the wars under Coligny, in hunting in our little patch of woods,
+reading the Latin authors in the flowery garden of the château, or in my
+favorite chamber,--that one at the top of the new tower which had been
+built in the reign of Henri II. to replace the original black tower from
+which the earliest De Launay of note got the title of Sieur de la
+Tournoire. All this while I was holding in curb my impatient desires. So
+almost resistless are the forces that impel the young heart, that there
+must have been a hard struggle within me had I had to wait even a month
+longer for the birthday which finally set me free to go what ways I
+chose. I rose early on that cold but sunlit January day, mad with
+eagerness to be off and away into the great world that at last lay open
+to me. Poor old Michel was sad that I had decided to go alone. But the
+only servant whom I would have taken with me was the only one to whom I
+would entrust the house of my fathers in my absence,--old Michel himself.
+I thought the others too rustic. My few tenants would have made awkward
+lackeys in peace, sorry soldiers in war.
+
+Michel had my portmanteau fastened on my horse, which had been brought
+out into the courtyard, and then he stood by me while I took my last
+breakfast in La Tournoire; and, in my haste to be off, I would have
+eaten little had he not pressed much upon me, reminding me how many
+leagues I would have to ride before meeting a good inn on the Paris
+road. He was sad, poor old Michel, at my going, and yet he partook of
+some of my own eagerness. At last I had forced down my unwilling throat
+food enough to satisfy even old Michel's solicitude. He girded on me the
+finest of the swords that my father had left, placed over my violet
+velvet doublet the new cloak I had bought for the occasion, handed me my
+new hat with its showy plumes, and stood aside for me to pass out. In
+the pocket of my red breeches was a purse holding enough golden crowns
+to ease my path for some time to come. I cast one last look around the
+old hall and, trying to check the rapidity of my breath, and the rising
+of the lump in my throat, strode out to the court-yard, breathed the
+fresh air with a new ecstasy, mounted the steaming horse, gave Michel my
+hand for a moment, and, purposely avoiding meeting his eyes, spoke a
+last kind word to the old man. After acknowledging the farewells of the
+other servants, who stood in line trying to look joyous, I started my
+horse with a little jerk of the rein, and was borne swiftly through the
+porte, over the bridge, and out into the world. Behind me was the home
+of my fathers and my childhood; before me was Paris. It was a fine,
+bracing winter morning, and I was twenty-one. A good horse was under me,
+a sword was at my side, there was money in my pocket. Will I ever feel
+again as I did that morning?
+
+Some have stupidly wondered why, being a Huguenot born and bred, I did
+not, when free to leave La Tournoire, go at once to offer my sword to
+Henri of Navarre or to some other leader of our party. This is easily
+answered. If I was a Huguenot, I was also a man of twenty-one; and the
+latter much more than the former. Paris was the centre of the world.
+There was the court, there were the adventures to be had, there must one
+go to see the whole of life; there would I meet men and make conquests of
+women. There awaited me the pleasures of which I had known only by
+report, there the advancement, the triumphs in personal quarrels; and,
+above all else, the great love affair of my dreams. Who that is a man and
+twenty-one has not such dreams? And who that is a man and seventy would
+have been without them? Youth and folly go together, each sweetening the
+other. The greatest fool, I think, is he who would have gone through life
+entirely without folly. What then mattered religion to me? Or what
+mattered the rivalry of parties, except as they might serve my own
+personal ambitions and desires? Youth was ebullient in me. The longing to
+penetrate the unknown made inaction intolerable to me. I must rush into
+the whirlpool; I must be in the very midst of things; I longed for
+gaiety, for mystery, for contest; I must sing, drink, fight, make love.
+It is true that there would have been some outlet for my energies in camp
+life, but no gratification for my finer tastes, no luxury, no such
+pleasures as Paris afforded,--little diversity, no elating sense of being
+at the core of events, no opportunities for love-making. In Paris were
+the pretty women. The last circumstance alone would have decided me.
+
+I had reached twenty-one without having been deeply in love. I had, of
+course, had transient periods of inclination towards more than one of the
+demoiselles in the neighborhood of La Tournoire; but these demoiselles
+had rapidly become insipid to me. As I grew older, I found it less easy
+to be attracted by young ladies whom I had known from childhood up. I had
+none the less the desire to be in love; but the woman whom I should love
+must be new to me, a mystery, something to fathom and yet unfathomable.
+She must be a world, inexhaustible, always retaining the charm of the
+partly unknown. I had high aspirations. No pretty maid, however low in
+station, was unworthy a kiss and some flattery; but the real _affaire
+d'amour_ of my life must have no elements but magnificent ones. She must
+be some great lady of the court, and our passion must be attended by
+circumstances of mystery, danger, everything to complicate it and raise
+it to an epic height. Such was the amour I had determined to find in
+Paris. Remember, you who read this, that I am disclosing the inmost
+dreams of a man of twenty-one. Such dreams are appropriate to that age;
+it is only when they are associated with middle age that they become
+ridiculous; and when thoughts of amatory conquest are found in common
+with gray hairs, they are loathsome. If I seem to have given my mind
+largely up to fancies of love, consider that I was then at the age when
+such fancies rather adorn than deface. Indeed, a young man without
+thoughts of love is as much an anomaly as is an older man who gives
+himself up to them.
+
+I looked back once at La Tournoire, when I reached the top of the hill
+that would, in another minute, shut it from my view. I saw old Michel
+standing at the porte. I waved my hand to him, and turned to proceed on
+my way. Soon the lump in my throat melted away, the moisture left my
+eyes, and only the future concerned me. Every object that came into
+sight, every tree along the roadside, now interested me. I passed several
+travellers, some of whom seemed to envy me my indifference to the cold
+weather, my look of joyous content.
+
+About noon I overtook, just where the road left a wood and turned to
+cross a bridge, a small cavalcade consisting of an erect, handsome
+gentleman of middle age, and several armed lackeys. The gentleman wore a
+black velvet doublet, and his attire, from his snowy ruff to his black
+boots, was in the best condition. He had a frank, manly countenance that
+invited address. At the turn of the road he saw me, and, taking me in at
+a glance, he fell behind his lackeys that I might come up to him. He
+greeted me courteously, and after he had spoken of the weather and the
+promise of the sky, he mentioned, incidentally, that he was going to
+Paris. I told him my own destination, and we came to talking of the
+court. I perceived, from his remarks, that he was well acquainted there.
+There was some talk of the quarrels between the King's favorites and
+those of his brother, the Duke of Anjou; of the latter's sulkiness over
+his treatment at the hands of the King; of the probabilities for and
+against Anjou's leaving Paris and putting himself at the head of the
+malcontent and Huguenot parties; of the friendship between Anjou and his
+sister Marguerite, who remained at the Court of France while her husband,
+Henri of Navarre, held his mimic Huguenot court in Béarn. Presently, the
+name of the Duke of Guise came up.
+
+Now we Huguenots held, and still hold, Henri de Guise to have been a
+chief instigator of the event of St. Bartholomew's Night, in 1572.
+Always I had in my mind the picture of Coligny, under whom my father had
+fought, lying dead in his own courtyard, in the Rue de Bethizy, his
+murder done under the direction of that same Henri, his body thrown from
+his window into the court at Henri's orders, and there spurned by
+Henri's foot. I had heard, too, of this illustrious duke's open
+continuance of his amour with Marguerite, queen of our leader, Henri of
+Navarre. When I spoke of him to the gentleman at whose side I rode, I
+put no restraint on my tongue.
+
+"The Duke of Guise!" I said. "All that I ever wish to say of him can
+be very quickly spoken. If, as you Catholics believe, God has an
+earthly representative in the Pope, then I think the devil has one in
+Henri de Guise."
+
+The gentleman was quiet for a moment, and looked very sober. Then he
+said gravely:
+
+"All men have their faults, monsieur. The difference between men is that
+some have no virtues to compensate for their vices."
+
+"If Henri de Guise has any virtues," I replied, "he wears a mask over
+them; and he conceals them more effectually than he hides his
+predilection for assassination, his amours, and his design to rule France
+through the Holy League of which he is the real head."
+
+The gentleman turned very red, and darted at me a glance of anger. Then
+restraining himself, he answered in a very low tone:
+
+"Monsieur, the subject can be discussed by us in only one way, or not
+at all. You are young, and it would be too pitiful for you to be cut
+off before you have even seen Paris. Doubtless, you are impatient to
+arrive there. It would be well, then, if you rode on a little faster.
+It is my intention to proceed at a much slower pace than will be
+agreeable to you."
+
+And he reined in his horse.
+
+I reined in mine likewise. I was boiling with wrath at his superior tone,
+and his consideration for my youth, but I imitated his coolness as well
+as I could.
+
+"Monsieur," said I, "whether or not I ever see Paris is not a matter to
+concern you. I cannot allow you to consider my youth. You wish to be
+obliging; then consider that nothing in the world would be a greater
+favor to me than an opportunity to maintain with my sword my opinion of
+Henri de Guise."
+
+The man smiled gently, and replied without passion:
+
+"Then, as we certainly are not going to fight, let my refusal be, not on
+account of your youth, but on account of my necessity of reaching Paris
+without accident."
+
+His horse stood still. His lackeys also had stopped their horses, which
+stood pawing and snorting at a respectful distance. It was an awkward
+moment for me. I could not stand there trying to persuade a perfectly
+serene man to fight. So with an abrupt pull of the rein I started my
+horse, mechanically applied the spur, and galloped off. A few minutes
+later I was out of sight of this singularly self-controlled gentleman,
+who resented my description of the Duke of Guise. I was annoyed for some
+time to think that he had had the better of the occurrence; and I gave
+myself up for an hour to the unprofitable occupation of mentally
+reenacting the scene in a manner more creditable to myself.
+
+"I may meet him in Paris some day," I said to myself, "and find an
+occasion to right myself in his estimation. He shall not let my youth
+intercede for me again."
+
+Then I wished that I had learned his name, that I might, on reaching
+Paris, have found out more about him. Having in his suite no gentlemen,
+but several lackeys, he was, doubtless, not himself an important
+personage, but a follower of one. Not wishing to meet him again until
+circumstances should have changed, I passed the next inn to which I came,
+guessing that he would stop there. He must have done so, for he did not
+come up with me that day, or at any time during my journey.
+
+It was at sunset on a clear, cold evening that, without further
+adventure, I rode into Paris through the Porte St. Michel, and stared,
+as I proceeded along the Rue de la Harpe, at the crowds of people
+hurrying in either direction in each of the narrow, crooked streets,
+each person so absorbed in his own errand, and so used to the throng and
+the noise, that he paid no heed to the animation that so interested and
+stirred me. The rays of the setting sun lighted up the towers of the
+colleges and abbeys at my right, while those at my left stood black
+against the purple and yellow sky. I rode on and on, not wishing to stop
+at an inn until I should have seen more of the panorama that so charmed
+me. At last I reached the left bank of the Seine, and saw before me the
+little Isle of the City, the sunlit towers of Notre Dame rising above
+the wilderness of turrets and spires surrounding them. I crossed the
+Pont St. Michel, stopping for a moment to look westward towards the Tour
+de Nesle, and then eastward to the Tournelle, thus covering, in two
+glances, the river bank of the University through which I had just come.
+Emerging from the bridge, I followed the Rue de la Barillerie across the
+Isle of the City, finding everywhere the same bustle, the same coming
+and going of citizens, priests, students, and beggars, all alert, yet
+not to be surprised by any spectacle that might arise before them.
+Reaching the right arm of the Seine, I stopped again, this time on the
+Pont-au-Change, and embraced, in a sweeping look from left to right, the
+river bank of the town, the Paris of the court and the palaces, of the
+markets and of trade, the Paris in which I hoped to find a splendid
+future, the Paris into which, after taking this comprehensive view from
+the towers of the Louvre and the Tour de Bois away leftward, to the Tour
+de Billy away right ward, I urged my horse with a jubilant heart. It was
+a quite dark Paris by the time I plunged into it. The Rue St. Denis,
+along which I rode, was beginning to be lighted here and there by stray
+rays from windows. The still narrower streets, that ran, like crooked
+corridors in a great château, from the large thoroughfare, seemed to be
+altogether dark.
+
+But, dark as the city had become, I had determined to explore some of it
+that night, so charming was its novelty, so inviting to me were its
+countless streets, leading to who knows what? I stopped at a large inn in
+the Rue St. Denis, saw my tired horse well cared for by an hostler, who
+seemed amazed at my rustic solicitude for details, had my portmanteau
+deposited in a clean, white-washed chamber, overlooking the street, ate a
+supper such as only a Paris innkeeper can serve and a ravenous youth from
+the country can devour, and went forth afoot, after curfew, into the now
+entirely dark and no longer crowded street, to find what might befall me.
+
+It had grown colder at nightfall, and I had to draw my cloak closely
+around me. A wind had come up, too, and the few people whom I met were
+walking with head thrust forward, the better to resist the breeze when it
+should oppose them. Some were attended by armed servants bearing
+lanterns. The sign-boards, that hung from the projecting stories of the
+tall houses, swung as the wind swayed, and there was a continual sound of
+creaking. Clouds had risen, and the moon was obscured much of the time,
+so that when I looked down some of the narrower streets I could not see
+whether they ended within a short distance, turned out of sight, or
+continued far in the same direction. Being accustomed to the country
+roads, the squares of smaller towns, and the wide avenues of the little
+park at La Tournoire, I was at first surprised at the narrowness of the
+streets. Across one of them lay a drunken man, peacefully snoring. His
+head touched the house on one side of the street, and his feet pressed
+the wall on the opposite side. It surprised me to find so many of the
+streets no wider than this. But there was more breathing room wherever
+two streets crossed and where several of them opened into some great
+place. The crookedness and curvature of the streets constantly tempted me
+to seek what might be beyond, around the corner, or the bend; and
+whenever I sought, I found still other corners or bends hiding the
+unknown, and luring me to investigate.
+
+I had started westward from the inn, intending to proceed towards the
+Louvre. But presently, having turned aside from one irregular street
+into another, I did not know what was the direction in which I went.
+The only noises that I heard were those caused by the wind, excepting
+when now and then came suddenly a burst of loud talk, mingled mirth and
+jangling, as quickly shut off, when the door of some cabaret opened and
+closed. When I heard footsteps on the uneven pebble pavement of the
+street, and saw approaching me out of the gloom some cloaked
+pedestrian, I mechanically gripped the handle of my sword, and kept a
+wary eye on the stranger,--knowing that in passing each other we must
+almost touch elbows. His own suspicious and cautious demeanor and
+motions reflected mine.
+
+At night, in the narrow streets of a great town, there exists in every
+footfall heard, every human figure seen emerging from the darkness, the
+possibility of an encounter, an adventure, something unexpected. So, to
+the night roamer, every human sound or sight has an unwonted interest.
+
+As I followed the turning of one of the narrowest streets, the darkness,
+some distance ahead of me, was suddenly cleft by a stream of light from a
+window that was quickly opened in the second story of a tall house on the
+right-hand side of the way. Then the window was darkened by the form of a
+man coming from the chamber within. At his appearance into view I stood
+still. Resting for a moment on his knees on the window-ledge, he lowered
+first one leg, then the other, then his body, and presently he was
+hanging by his hands over the street. Then the face of a woman appeared
+in the window, and as the man remained there, suspended, he looked up at
+her inquiringly.
+
+"It is well," she said, in a low tone; "but be quick. We are just in
+time." And she stood ready to close the window as soon as he should be
+out of the way.
+
+"Good night, adorable," he replied, and dropped to the street. The
+lady immediately closed the window, not even waiting to see how the
+man had alighted.
+
+Had she waited to see that, she would have seen him, in lurching over to
+prevent his sword from striking the ground, lose his balance on a
+detached paving-stone, and fall heavily on his right arm.
+
+"_Peste_!" he hissed, as he slowly scrambled to his feet. "I have
+broken my arm!"
+
+With his right arm hanging stiff by his side, and clutching its elbow
+with his left hand, as if in great pain, he hastened away from the spot,
+not having noticed me. I followed him.
+
+After a second turn, the street crossed another. In the middle of the
+open space at the junction, there stood a cross, as could be seen by the
+moonlight that now came through an interval in the procession of
+wind-driven clouds.
+
+Just as the man with the hurt arm, who was slender, and had a dandified
+walk, entered this open space, a gust of wind came into it with him; and
+there came, also, from the other street, a robust gentleman of medium
+height, holding his head high and walking briskly. Caught by the gust of
+wind, my gentleman from the second story window ran precipitantly into
+the other. The robust man was not sent backward an inch. He took the
+shock of meeting with the firmness of an unyielding wall, so that the
+slender gentleman rebounded. Each man uttered a brief oath, and grasped
+his sword, the slender one forgetting the condition of his arm.
+
+"Oh, it is you," said the robust man, in a virile voice, of which the
+tone was now purposely offensive. "The wind blows fragile articles into
+one's face to-night."
+
+"It blows gentlemen into muck-heaps," responded the other, quickly.
+
+The hearty gentleman gave a loud laugh, meant to aggravate the other's
+anger, and then said:
+
+"We do not need seconds, M. de Quelus," putting into his utterance of the
+other's name a world of insult.
+
+"Come on, then, M. Bussy d'Amboise," replied the other, pronouncing the
+name only that he might, in return, hiss out the final syllable as if it
+were the word for something filthy.
+
+Both whipped out their swords, M. de Quelus now seemingly unconscious of
+the pain in his arm.
+
+I looked on from the shadow in which I had stopped, not having followed
+De Quelus into the little open space. My interest in the encounter was
+naturally the greater for having learned the names of the antagonists. At
+La Tournoire I had heard enough of the court to know that the Marquis de
+Quelus was the chief of the King's effeminate chamberlains, whom he
+called his minions, and that Bussy d'Amboise was the most redoubtable of
+the rufflers attached to the King's discontented brother, the Duke of
+Anjou; and that between the dainty gentlemen of the King and the bullying
+swordsmen of the Duke, there was continual feud.
+
+Bussy d'Amboise, disdaining even to remove his cloak, of which he quickly
+gathered the end under his left arm, made two steps and a thrust at De
+Quelus. The latter made what parade he could for a moment, so that Bussy
+stepped back to try a feint. De Quelus, trying to raise his sword a
+trifle higher, uttered an ejaculation of pain, and then dropped the
+point. Bussy had already begun the motion of a lunge, which it was too
+late to arrest, even if he had discovered that the other's arm was
+injured and had disdained to profit by such an advantage. De Quelus would
+have been pierced through had not I leaped forward with drawn sword and,
+by a quick thrust, happened to strike Bussy's blade and make it diverge
+from its course.
+
+De Quelus jumped back on his side, as Bussy did on his. Both regarded me
+with astonishment.
+
+"Oh, ho, an ambush!" cried Bussy. "Then come on, all of you, messieurs of
+the daubed face and painted beard! I shall not even call my servants, who
+wait at the next corner."
+
+And he made a lunge at me, which I diverted by a parry made on instinct,
+not having had time to bring my mind to the direction of matters. Bussy
+then stood back on guard.
+
+"You lie," said De Quelus, vainly trying to find sufficient strength
+in his arm to lift his sword. "I was alone. My servants are as near
+as yours, yet I have not called. As for this gentleman, I never saw
+him before."
+
+"That is true," I said, keeping up my guard, while Bussy stood with his
+back to the cross, his brows knit in his effort to make out my features.
+
+"Oh, very well," said Bussy. "I do not recognize him, but he is evidently
+a gentleman in search of a quarrel, and I am disposed to be
+accommodating."
+
+He attacked me again, and I surprised myself, vastly, by being able to
+resist the onslaughts of this, the most formidable swordsman at the
+court of France. But I dared not hope for final victory. It did not even
+occur to me as possible that I might survive this fight. The best for
+which I hoped was that I might not be among the easiest victims of this
+famous sword.
+
+"Monsieur," said De Quelus, while Bussy and I kept it up, with offence
+on his part, defence on mine, "I am sorry that I cannot intervene to
+save your life. My arm has been hurt in a fall, and I cannot even hold
+up my sword."
+
+"I know that," I replied. "That is why I interfered."
+
+"The devil!" cried Bussy. "Much as I detest you, M. de Quelus, you know I
+would not have attacked you had I known that. But this gentleman, at
+least, has nothing the matter with his arm."
+
+And he came for me again.
+
+Nothing the matter with my arm! Actually a compliment upon my
+sword-handling from the most invincible fighter, whether in formal duel
+or sudden quarrel, in France! I liked the generosity which impelled him
+to acknowledge me a worthy antagonist, as much as I resented his
+overbearing insolence; and I began to think there was a chance for me.
+
+For the first time, I now assumed the offensive, and with such suddenness
+that Bussy fell back, out of sheer surprise. He had forgotten about the
+cross that stood in the centre of the place, and, in leaping backward, he
+struck this cross heavily with his sword wrist. His glove did not save
+him from being jarred and bruised; and, for a moment, he relaxed his firm
+grasp of his sword, and before he could renew his clutch I could have
+destroyed his guard and ended the matter; but I dropped my point instead.
+
+Bussy looked at me in amazement, and then dropped his.
+
+"Absurd, monsieur! You might very fairly have used your advantage.
+Now you have spoiled everything. We can't go on fighting, for I would
+not give you another such opening, nor would I kill a man who gives
+me my life."
+
+"As you will, monsieur," said I. "I am glad not to be killed, for what
+is the use of having fought Bussy d'Amboise if one may not live to
+boast of it?"
+
+He seemed pleased in his self-esteem, and sheathed his sword. "I am
+destined not to fight to-night," he answered. "One adversary turns out to
+have a damaged arm, which would make it a disgrace to kill him, and the
+other puts me under obligation for my life. But, M. de Quelus, your arm
+will recover."
+
+"I hope so, if for only one reason," replied Quelus.
+
+Bussy d'Amboise then bowed to me, and strode on his way. He was joined at
+the next crossing of streets by four lackeys, who had been waiting in
+shadow. All had swords and pistols, and one bore a lantern, which had
+been concealed beneath his cloak.
+
+De Quelus, having looked after him with an angry frown, now turned to me,
+and spoke with affability:
+
+"Monsieur, had you not observed the condition of my arm, I should have
+resented your aid. But as it is, I owe you my life no less than he owes
+you his, and it may be that I can do more than merely acknowledge the
+obligation."
+
+I saw here the opportunity for which a man might wait months, and I was
+not such a fool as to lose it through pride.
+
+"Monsieur," I said, "I am Ernanton de Launay, Sieur de la Tournoire. I
+arrived in Paris to-day, from Anjou, with the desire of enlisting in the
+French Guards."
+
+De Quelus smiled. "You desire very little for a gentleman, and one who
+can handle a sword so well."
+
+"I know that, but I do not bring any letters, and I am not one who could
+expect the favor of a court appointment. I am a Huguenot."
+
+"A Huguenot?" said De Quelus. "And yet you come to Paris?"
+
+"I prefer to serve the King of France. He is at present on good terms
+with the Huguenots, is he not?"
+
+"Yes,--at least, he is not at war with them. Well, gentlemen like you are
+not to be wasted, even though Huguenots. Attach yourself to Duret's
+company of the guards for the present, and who knows when you may win a
+vacant captaincy? I will bring you to the attention of the King. Can you
+be, to-morrow at eleven o'clock, at the principal gate of the Louvre?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+"Very well. I will speak to Captain Duret, also, about you."
+
+He looked at my active figure, neither tall nor short, neither broad nor
+too thin, observed the length of my arm, and remembered that I had made
+so respectable a showing with the sword against Bussy, I could see that
+he was thinking, "It is well to have in one's debt as many such strong
+and honest young gentlemen as can be had. Even a Huguenot may be useful
+in these days."
+
+Then, when so many leaders contended, every man was desirous of gaining
+partisans. At court, wise people were scrupulous to repay obligations, in
+the hope of securing future benefit. I divined De Quelus's motives, but
+was none the less willing to profit by them as to the possible vacant
+captaincy.
+
+"Then I thank you, monsieur, and will keep the appointment," I said.
+
+"You are alone," said De Quelus. "One does not know when one may have
+one's throat cut for a sou, after dark in the streets of Paris. Will you
+accept the escort of two of my servants? They are waiting for me in the
+next street. One does not, you know, let one's servants wait too near
+windows out of which one expects to drop," he added with a smile.
+
+"I thank you, monsieur, but I have already fared so well alone to-night,
+that I should fear to change my fortune by taking attendants."
+
+"Then good night, monsieur. No, thank you. I can sheathe my own sword. My
+arm has lost its numbness. _Parbleu_, I should like to meet Bussy
+d'Amboise now."
+
+And he strode away, leaving me standing by the cross.
+
+I hesitated between returning to the inn, and resuming my exploration of
+the streets. I decided to go back, lest I be shut out for the night.
+
+I had made my way some distance, in the labyrinth of streets, when, on
+reaching another junction of ways, I heard steps at some distance to the
+left. Looking in that direction, I saw approaching a little procession
+headed by two men servants, one of whom carried a lantern. I stepped back
+into the street from which I had just emerged, that I might remain
+unseen, until it should pass. Peering around the street corner, I saw
+that behind the two servants came a lady, whose form indicated youth and
+elegance, and who leaned on the arm of a stout woman, doubtless a
+servant. Behind these two came another pair of lackeys.
+
+The lady wore a mask, and although heavily cloaked, shivered in the
+January wind, and walked as rapidly as she could. The four men had swords
+and pistols, and were sturdy fellows, able to afford her good protection.
+
+The two men in advance passed without seeing me, stepping easily over a
+pool of muddy water that had collected in a depression in the street, and
+had not yet had time to freeze.
+
+When the lady reached this pool, she stopped at its brink and looked down
+at it, with a little motion of consternation.
+
+"I cannot step across this lake," she said, in a voice that was
+low-pitched, rich, and full of charm to the ear. "We must skirt
+its borders."
+
+And she turned to walk a short distance up the street in which I stood.
+
+"Not so, madame," I said, stepping forth and bowing. "The lake is a long
+one, and you would have to go far out of your way. I will convey you
+across in a moment, if you will allow me." And I held out my arms,
+indicating my willingness to lift her across the pool.
+
+The two servants in the rear now hastened up, ready to attack me, and
+those ahead turned and came back, their hands on their weapons.
+
+The lady looked at me through the eye-holes of her mask. Her lips and
+chin being visible, she could not conceal a quizzical smile that came
+at my offer.
+
+"Why not?" she said, motioning her servants back.
+
+I caught her up in my arms and lifted her over the puddle. She slid from
+my grasp with a slight laugh.
+
+I sought some pretext to prolong this meeting. "When I came out
+to-night," I said, "I dared not hope for such happiness as this."
+
+"Nor did the astrologer predict anything of the kind to me," she replied.
+From this I knew the cause of her being in the street so late,--a secret
+visit to some fortune-teller. Then she called to the stout woman, who was
+looking for a place to step over the pool. "Come, Isa, in the name of
+Heaven. You know that if the guard is changed--"
+
+She stopped, but she had already betrayed herself. She meant the guard of
+the palace, doubtless; and that her secret entrance, so long after the
+closing of the gates, depended for its ease on the presence of some
+officer with whom she had an understanding. She must be one of the ladies
+attached to the royal household, and her nocturnal excursion, from the
+Louvre, was evidently clandestine.
+
+Isa now joined her mistress, and the latter, with a mere, "I thank you,
+monsieur," turned and hastened on her way. Soon the footsteps of her
+attendants died out of hearing.
+
+I had not even seen her face, save the white, curved chin and the
+delicate mouth. I had only beheld her lithe figure, felt its heaving as I
+carried her, had my cold cheek warmed for a moment by her breath, heard
+her provoking laugh and her voice, rich with vitality. Yet her charm had
+caught me and remained with me. I could not, nor did I try to throw it
+off. I was possessed by a craving to see her again, to know more of her.
+Already I made this unknown the heroine of my prospective love affair. I
+could soon find her, after gaining the entrée of the court; and I could
+identify her by her voice as well as by her probable recognition of me.
+Heaving a deep sigh, I left the place of our meeting and found my way
+back to the inn. Thanks to the presence of some late drinkers, I got in
+without much pounding on the door; and in my little white-washed chamber
+I dreamt of soft eyes that glowed through the holes of a lady's mask.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+LOVE-MAKING AT SHORT ACQUAINTANCE
+
+
+The next morning was bright, and not too cold. At eleven I approached the
+great gate of the Louvre, wearing the bold demeanor of a man determined
+not to be abashed, even by the presence of royalty. Yet within me there
+was some slight trepidation lest I should, on first setting foot within
+the precincts of a palace, betray my rustic bringing up.
+
+Others were being admitted at the gate, and some were coming out, both
+the King's council and the reception having been over for some time. A
+page, who had been waiting just inside the court, came out as I
+approached, and asked me if I were M. de Launay. Astonished, that he
+should have so easily picked me out, I replied that I was. He then said
+that he had come to conduct me to Monsieur the Marquis de Quelus, and I
+followed him into the great courtyard of the Louvre.
+
+Before me was the imposing façade of the palace. Around me was an
+animated scene of well-dressed gentlemen coming and going, meeting one
+another forming little groups for a moment's interchange of news or
+inquiries, and as quickly breaking up. There were soldiers on guard,
+officers on duty and off, courtiers in brilliant doublets, dazzling
+ruffs, rich hose; gentlemen with gay plumes, costly cloaks, jewelled
+sword-hilts. There were pages, strutting about with messages; lackeys,
+belonging only to the greatest nobles or royal favorites. Everybody,
+whether gentleman, soldier, household officer, priest, page, or valet,
+went with an air of great consequence, with head high in air, every
+step, expression, and attitude proclaiming a sense of vast superiority
+to the rest of the world. It was as if people attached to the court were
+an elevated race of beings; or as if the court were Olympus, and these
+were gods and the servitors of gods, who, very properly, regarded
+mortals with disdain. Each man, too, maintained not only this lofty air
+as befitting one of the court, but also an aspect of individual
+preciousness as towards his fellow divinities. There was, in many a face
+or bearing, an expressed resentment, in advance, of any affront that
+might be offered. The soldiers swaggered, the gentlemen showed
+self-esteem in every motion. Nevertheless, there was much good nature
+and courtesy in the salutations, fragments of conversation, and
+exchanges of gossip. Leaving the sunlit courtyard behind, the page
+showed me up a fine stairway, where some gentlemen tarried in little
+parties, while others ascended or descended. We passed through large
+galleries, the same animation continuing everywhere. I had no time, as
+we passed, to examine the superb hangings and fanciful decorations of
+the galleries in detail. The clothes of the courtiers, the brilliant
+display of velvet, silk, furs, and the finest linen, of every known hue,
+made a continually changing, moving panorama of color.
+
+We approached, at last, a group extraordinarily radiant in attire. It was
+composed of very young men, some of whom had hardly yet acquired the
+beard required by the universal fashion. Even at a distance I could see
+that their cheeks were painted, could note their affectation of feminine
+attitudes, could smell the perfumes with which they had deluged their
+bodies. These were some of the favorites of the King, and more of the
+imitators of the favorites. No wonder that Bussy d'Amboise and the sturdy
+gentlemen of the King's ungainly brother, Anjou, had a manly detestation
+for these bedaubed effeminates, and sought opportunities to extirpate
+them with the sword. Yet these dainty youths, one of whom was De Quelus,
+who now came forward to meet me, were not cowards.
+
+The young Marquis wore a slashed doublet of brown velvet and gold. His
+silken hose were of a lighter tint of brown. His ruff was so enormous
+that he had to keep the point of his beard thrust forward at an
+elevation.
+
+"I shall present you when the King passes," he said to me. "I have
+already spoken a word to Captain Duret, to whom you will report
+to-morrow. He will make a veteran of you in a quarter of an hour. The
+King, by the way, knows of your family. He knows every family in France,
+for that matter. I spoke of you to him at his rising this morning. He
+said that your father was a Huguenot, and I told him that you also were
+Protestant. You know enough of things in France to be aware that your
+Protestantism stands a little in your way at court, just now; but things
+may change before there is a vacant captaincy in the Guards."
+
+People who have thought it bad enough that I should have gone to Paris,
+instead of to the court of Henri of Navarre, have been astonished,
+beyond expression, at my having desired to serve in the King's infantry,
+which, in the event of another civil war, might be arrayed against the
+army of our faith. But it must be borne in mind that I had this desire
+at a time when none knew how the different armies might be placed
+towards one another in the civil war, which everybody admitted must, at
+some time or other, occur. I was one of the many who believed that the
+Duke of Guise, using the newly formed Holy League as his instrument,
+would aim for the throne of France; that King Henri III. would be
+forced, in self-defence, to make an alliance with the Huguenot leaders;
+and that, therefore, I, in fulfilling my ambition to be of this King's
+own soldiers, with quarters in or near Paris in time of peace, would, at
+the outbreak of civil war, find myself in line with the armies of our
+faith, opposed to the common enemy, the great Catholic Guise faction. Of
+the various predictions as to the future of France, I chose this one,
+perhaps because it was the only one which permitted me to follow out my
+wishes without outraging my sense of duty.
+
+Before I could answer De Quelus, a voice said, "The King!" At the end of
+the gallery, where two halberdiers and two ushers stood, a pair of
+curtains had quickly parted, and out came a slender young man all velvet,
+silk, gold, and jewels; with the legs and the walk of a woman; with face
+painted like a courtesan's; a very slight beard on his chin, and a weak
+growth of hair on his upper lip; with a look half brazen, half
+shamefaced; with eyes half wistful, half malicious; his pear-shaped face
+expressing some love of the beautiful, some wit, some cynicism, much
+personal vanity, vicious inclinations and practices, restlessness, the
+torture of secret self-reproach, a vague distress, a longing to escape
+somewhere and be at peace.
+
+He wore ear-rings, a necklace, bracelets, and a small jewelled velvet
+cap; but he was without his famous basket of little dogs. This was Henri
+III., and he was going to pray in one of the churches.
+
+As he came down the gallery, he noticed De Quelus, from afar, and then
+glanced at me. When he was before us, De Quelus made obeisance and
+presented me. Before I could finish my bow, the King said:
+
+"Ah, it was your sword that helped to preserve my chamberlain from the
+ambush laid for him?" (From which it appeared that De Quelus had given
+his own account of the previous night's occurrence.) "And you wish to
+enlist in my regiment of French Guards? My faith, I have done well in
+reestablishing that corps, if such brave young gentlemen are induced to
+enter it. I'll wager you hope to earn a commission soon."
+
+I could only reply: "Such a hope is beyond my deserts, sire."
+
+It was indeed beyond them, for I had seen no military service; but it was
+not beyond them for any other reason.
+
+"Nothing is beyond the deserts of one whose sword is always loyal," said
+the King, with intended significance, and passed on; his gentlemen
+falling in behind him. De Quelus gave me directions as to my reporting,
+on the morrow, to Captain Duret, and added, "Rely on me for any favor or
+privilege that you may wish, and for access to the palace. You have only
+to send me word." He then joined the following of the King.
+
+I seemed now at liberty to remain in the Louvre as long as I might
+choose, having once entered it. I thought I would look about, knowing
+that if at any time I should be about to trespass on forbidden ground,
+there would be guards to hinder me. I went first to a window overlooking
+the court. I had no sooner turned my eyes down upon the splendid and
+animated scene below, then I felt a touch on my elbow. Looking around, I
+saw a familiar face,--that of M. de Rilly, another Anjou gentleman, whom
+I had known before his coming to court. He was now one of the King's
+equerries.
+
+He was a sprightly man of about thirty, with none of the effeminacy that
+marked so many of the officers of the King's household. Though not of my
+religion, he made me heartily welcome, and undertook, at once, to
+initiate me into the mysteries of the court. He was a loquacious,
+open-minded man, who did not fear to express his thoughts, even in the
+shadow of royalty itself.
+
+Hearing some clatter in the direction whither the King had gone, I looked
+after him. A short, compact young gentleman, plainly, but richly dressed,
+slightly stooping, with a rather surly face, and an envious eye, was
+coming towards the King. He wore riding-boots and a cloak, and behind
+him came a troop of young men similarly attired. The foremost of them was
+Bussy d'Amboise, expressing defiance in every line of his bold, square
+countenance.
+
+"Ah," said De Rilly, "there is the Duke of Anjou, who has been riding in
+the faubourg."
+
+I took a second look at the surly gentleman. At this moment he exchanged
+glances with his brother, the King. The look of each was eloquent. The
+King's said, "I hate you for being a disloyal brother and a fractious
+subject; for conspiring to take away part of my kingdom; and who knows
+but that you are secretly aiming at my throne and my life?" The younger
+brother's look conveyed this much: "I hate you for your suspicions of me;
+for your not obtaining for me in your court the respect due the son and
+brother of a king; for encouraging your favorites to ridicule me. If I am
+driven to rebel against you, it is your own fault."
+
+The King received the Duke's perfunctory salutation indifferently, and
+passed on. Anjou and his men turned into a gallery leading to his own
+apartments.
+
+"I see that everybody is following the King," I said.
+
+"Yes, but not I," replied De Rilly. "I find it no more amusing to pray
+when the King does than at any other time. I came here, this morning, to
+catch a glimpse of one of the Queen's ladies, but her Majesty has a cold,
+and my lady is in attendance."
+
+"Which of the Queens has a cold?"
+
+"Queen Louise, the King's wife. It is true, one may well ask which, when
+there is mention of the Queen nowadays. The Queen of France is a small
+factor when compared with the King's mother, Queen Catherine, or even
+with his sister, the Queen of Navarre, whose name is on everyone's
+tongue, on account of her love affairs, and of her suspected plots."
+
+"What plots?"
+
+"Some think she plots with the Duke of Guise, who cannot wait to rule
+France until Catherine's sons are both dead,--but Catherine will make
+him wait. Others believe that she plots with her Huguenot husband, the
+King of Navarre, to join him; and that the King keeps her here virtually
+a prisoner, lest her departure might be taken as a concession to the
+Huguenots; and, lastly and chiefly, they aver that she plots with her
+brother Anjou, to help him to join the Huguenots and malcontents as
+their leader."
+
+"This is very interesting, M. de Rilly; but, pardon me, is it safe to say
+these things openly at court? I am fresh from the country, and anxious
+not to blunder."
+
+"It is safe for me, because I am nobody at all, and, moreover, I say
+whatever is in my thoughts, and am looked upon as a rattlebrain, and not
+taken seriously. But it would not be safe for some. There comes the Queen
+of Navarre now. She and her ladies have been walking in their garden."
+
+A number of ladies were entering the gallery from a side stairway.
+Marguerite de Valois, who ought to have been with her husband, the King
+of Navarre, at his little court at Nerac, remained instead at the court
+of France, to be its greatest ornament. She was, alas, its greatest
+scandal, also. But I admired her none the less for that, as she stood
+there, erect among her women, full of color and grace. Vast possibilities
+of mischief seemed buried in the depths of the big and brilliant eyes
+which gave so much life to the small, round face.
+
+While she stood still for one of her maids to detach from her ruff a
+dead leaf that had dropped there during her walk, Bussy d'Amboise
+returned from Anjou's apartment. He walked up to her with a conquering
+air, bowed, and said something that made her laugh. Then he looked
+around and saw me. He spoke to her again, in a low tone, and she cast
+her fine eyes in my direction. She directed her ladies to fall back out
+of hearing, and again conferred with Bussy. At the end of this he left
+her, and strode over to me.
+
+"Monsieur," he said, "the Queen of Navarre would like to know your name.
+I do not remember to have heard it last night."
+
+I told him my name, and he took me by the arm, led me to Marguerite, and
+presented me, somewhat to my confusion, so rapidly was the thing done.
+
+"You are a newcomer at court?" she said.
+
+"I arrived in Paris only yesterday."
+
+"And have taken service with--whom?"
+
+"In the French Guards."
+
+"We shall doubtless hear more of your skill with the sword," said
+Marguerite.
+
+"I knew not I had any," I replied, "until I found out that I could stand
+up for a minute against the sword I met last night. Now I am glad to know
+that I possess skill, that I may hold it ever at the service of your
+Majesty as well as of the King."
+
+This speech seemed to be exactly what Marguerite had desired of me, for
+she smiled and said, "I shall not forget you, M. de la Tournoire," before
+she turned away.
+
+Bussy followed her, and I returned to De Rilly.
+
+"Why should they pay any attention to me?" I said to him.
+
+"No newcomer is too insignificant to be sought as an ally where there are
+so many parties," he replied, indifferently. "Those two are with Anjou,
+who may have use for as many adherents as he can get one of these days.
+They say he is always meditating rebellion with the Huguenots or the
+Politiques, or both, and I don't blame a prince who is so shabbily
+treated at court."
+
+"But what could a mere guardsman do, without friends or influence?
+Besides, my military duties--"
+
+"Will leave you plenty of time to get into other troubles, if you find
+them amusing. How do you intend to pass the rest of the day?"
+
+"I have no plans. I should like to see more of the Louvre on my first
+visit; and, to tell the truth, I had hoped to find out more about a
+certain lady who belongs to the court."
+
+"What do you know of her?"
+
+"Only that she has a beautiful figure and a pretty mouth and chin. She
+wore a mask, but I should recognize her voice if I heard it again."
+
+"I wish you better luck than I have had to-day."
+
+Marguerite and her damsels had turned down a corridor leading to her
+apartments. Bussy d'Amboise was disappearing down the stairs. There came,
+from another direction, the lively chatter of women's voices, and there
+appeared, at the head of the stairs up which Marguerite had come, another
+group of ladies, all young and radiant but one. The exception was a
+stout, self-possessed looking woman of middle age, dressed rather
+sedately in dark satin. She had regular features, calm black eyes, an
+unruffled expression, and an air of authority without arrogance.
+
+"Queen Catherine and some of her Flying Squadron," said De Rilly, in
+answer to my look of inquiry. "She has been taking the air after the
+King's council. Her own council is a more serious matter, and lasts all
+the time."
+
+"Queen Catherine?" I exclaimed, incredulously, half refusing to see, in
+that placid matron, the ceaseless plotter, the woman accused of poisoning
+and all manner of bloodshed, whom the name represented.
+
+"Catherine de Medici," said De Rilly, evidently finding it a pleasure to
+instruct a newcomer as to the personages and mysteries of the court. "She
+who preserves the royal power in France at this moment."
+
+"She does not look as I have imagined her," I said.
+
+"One would not suppose," said De Rilly, "that behind that serene
+countenance goes on the mental activity necessary to keep the throne in
+possession of her favorite son, who spends fortunes on his minions, taxes
+his subjects to the utmost, and disgusts them with his eccentric piety
+and peculiar vices."
+
+"Dare one say such things in the very palace of that King?"
+
+"Why not say what every one knows? It is what people say in hidden
+places that is dangerous."
+
+"I wonder what is passing in the Queen-mother's mind at this moment," I
+said, as Catherine turned into the corridor leading to Anjou's
+apartments.
+
+In the light of subsequent events, I can now give a better answer to that
+query than De Rilly, himself, could have given then. Catherine had to use
+her wits to check the deep designs of Henri, Duke of Guise, who was
+biding his time to claim the throne as the descendant of Charlemagne, and
+was as beloved of the populace as Henri III. was odious to it. Thanks to
+the rebellion of Huguenots and malcontents, Guise had been kept too busy
+in the field to prosecute his political designs. As head of the Catholic
+party, and heir to his father's great military reputation, he could not,
+consistently, avoid the duties assigned him by the crown. That these
+duties might not cease, Catherine found it to her interest that rebellion
+should continue indefinitely. The Huguenot party, in its turn, was kept
+by the Guise or Catholic party from assaults on the crown. In fine, while
+both great factions were occupied with each other, neither could threaten
+the King. This discord, on which she relied to keep her unpopular son
+safe on his throne, was fomented by her in secret ways. She shifted from
+side to side, as circumstances required. The parties must be maintained,
+in order that discontent might vent itself in factional contest, and not
+against the King. The King must belong to neither party, in order not to
+be of the party that might be ultimately defeated; yet he must belong to
+both parties, in order to be of the party that might ultimately triumph.
+To the maintainance of this impossible situation was the genius of
+Catherine de Medici successfully devoted for many years of universal
+discontent and bloodshed.
+
+Now the Duke of Guise had found a way to turn these circumstances to
+account. Since the King of France could not hold down the Huguenots, the
+Holy Catholic League, composed of Catholics of every class throughout the
+most of France, would undertake the task. He foresaw that he, as leader
+of the League, would earn from the Catholics a gratitude that would make
+him the most powerful man in the kingdom. Catherine, too, saw this. To
+neutralize this move, she caused the King to endorse the League and
+appoint himself its head. The Huguenots must not take this as a step
+against them; on the contrary, they must be led to regard it as a shrewd
+measure to restrain the League. The King's first official edicts, after
+assuming the leadership of the League, seemed to warrant this view. So
+the King, in a final struggle against the Guise elements, might still
+rely on the aid of the Huguenots. But the King still remained outside of
+the League, although nominally its chief. Catherine saw that it was not
+to be deluded from its real purpose. The only thing to do was to
+conciliate the Duke of Guise into waiting. There was little likelihood of
+either of her sons attaining middle age. The Duke of Guise, a splendid
+specimen of physical manhood, would doubtless outlive them; he might be
+induced to wait for their deaths. The rightful successor to the throne
+would then be Henri of Navarre, head of the Bourbon family. But he was a
+Huguenot; therefore Catherine affected to the Duke of Guise a great
+desire that he should succeed her sons. The existing peace allowed the
+Duke of Guise the leisure in which to be dangerous; so every means to
+keep him quiet was taken.
+
+Some of these things De Rilly told me, as we stood in the embrasure of a
+window in the gallery, while Catherine visited her son, Anjou,--whose
+discontent at court complicated the situation, for he might, at any time,
+leave Paris and lead the Huguenots and malcontents in a rebellion which
+would further discredit her family with the people, demonstrate anew the
+King's incompetence, and give the League an opportunity.
+
+"And does the Duke of Guise allow himself to be cajoled?" I asked De
+Rilly.
+
+"Who knows? He is a cautious man, anxious to make no false step. They
+say he would be willing to wait for the death of the King, but that he is
+ever being urged to immediate action by De Noyard."
+
+"De Noyard?"
+
+"One of Guise's followers; an obscure gentleman of very great virtue, who
+has recently become Guise's most valued counsellor. He keeps Guise on his
+guard against Catherine's wiles, they say, and discourages Guise's amour
+with her daughter, Marguerite, which Catherine has an interest in
+maintaining. Nobody is more _de trop_ to Catherine just at present, I
+hear, than this same Philippe de Noyard. Ah! there he is now,--in the
+courtyard, the tallest of the gentlemen who have just dismounted, and are
+coming in this direction, with the Duke of Guise."
+
+I looked out of the window, and at once recognized the Duke of Guise by
+the great height of his slender but strong figure, the splendid bearing,
+the fine oval face, with its small mustache, slight fringe of beard, and
+its scar, and the truly manly and magnificent manner, of which report had
+told us. He wore a doublet of cloth of silver, a black cloak of velvet,
+and a black hat with the Lorraine cross on its front. The tallest man in
+his following--Philippe de Noyard, of whom De Rilly had just been
+speaking--was the gentleman whom I had met on the road to Paris, and who
+had refused to fight me after resenting my opinion of the Duke of Guise.
+
+He must have arrived in Paris close behind me.
+
+I was watching Guise and his gentlemen as they crossed the court to enter
+the palace, when suddenly I heard behind me the voice that had lingered
+in my ears all the previous night. I turned hastily around, and saw a
+group of Catherine's ladies, who stood around a fireplace, not having
+followed the Queen-mother to Anjou's apartments.
+
+"Who is the lady leaning against the tapestry?" I quickly asked De Rilly.
+
+"The one with the indolent attitude, and the mocking smile?"
+
+"Yes, the very beautiful one, with the big gray eyes. By heaven, her eyes
+rival those of Marguerite, herself!"
+
+"That is Mlle. d'Arency, a new recruit to Catherine's Flying Squadron."
+
+Her face more than carried out the promise given by her chin and mouth.
+It expressed to the eye all that the voice expressed to the ear.
+
+She had not seen me yet. I had almost made up my mind to go boldly over
+to her, when the Duke of Guise and his gentlemen entered the gallery. At
+the same instant, Catherine reappeared on the arm of the Duke of Anjou.
+The latter resigned her to the Duke of Guise, and went back to his
+apartment, whereupon Catherine and Guise started for the further end of
+the gallery, as if for private conversation. His manner was courteous,
+but cold; hers calm and amiable.
+
+"Ah, see!" whispered De Rilly to me. "What did I tell you?"
+
+Catherine had cast a glance towards Guise's gentlemen. De Noyard, grave
+and reserved, stood a little apart from the others. For an instant, a
+look of profound displeasure, a deeply sinister look, interrupted the
+composure of Catherine's features.
+
+"You see that M. de Noyard does not have the effect on the Queen-mother
+that a rose in her path would have," remarked De Rilly.
+
+He did not notice what followed. But I observed it, although not till
+long afterward did I see its significance. It was a mere exchange of
+glances, and little did I read in it the secret which was destined to
+have so vast an effect on my own life, to give my whole career its
+course. It was no more than this: Catherine turned her glance, quickly,
+from De Noyard to Mlle. d'Arency, who had already been observing her.
+Mlle. d'Arency gave, in reply, an almost imperceptible smile of
+understanding; then Catherine and Guise passed on.
+
+Two looks, enduring not a moment; yet, had I known what was behind them,
+my life would assuredly have run an entirely different course.
+
+The gentlemen of the Duke of Guise now joined Catherine's ladies at the
+fireplace. For a time, Mlle. d'Arency was thus lost to my sight; then the
+group opened, and I saw her resting her great eyes, smilingly, on the
+face of De Noyard, who was talking to her in a low tone, his gaze fixed
+upon her with an expression of wistful adoration.
+
+"The devil!" I muttered. "That man loves her."
+
+"My faith!" said De Rilly, "one would think he was treading on your toes
+in doing so; yet you do not even know her."
+
+"She is the woman I have chosen to be in love with, nevertheless," I
+said.
+
+It seemed as if the Duke of Guise had come to the Louvre solely for a
+word with the Queen-mother, for now he took his departure, followed by
+his suite, while Catherine went to her own apartments. As De Noyard
+passed out, he saw me. His face showed that he recognized me, and that he
+wondered what I was doing in the palace. There was nothing of offence in
+his look, only a slight curiosity.
+
+De Rilly now expressed an intention of going out to take the air, but I
+preferred to stay where I was; for Mile. d'Arency had remained in the
+gallery, with some other of Catherine's ladies. So the loquacious equerry
+went without me.
+
+I formed a bold resolution. Quelling the trepidation that came with it, I
+strode quickly over to Mlle. d'Arency, who still stood against the
+tapestry as if she had been a figure in it but had come to life and
+stepped out into the apartment.
+
+Her large eyes fell on me, and opened slightly wider, showing at once
+recognition and a not unpleasant surprise. I bowed very low, partly to
+conceal the flush that I felt mounting to my face.
+
+"Pardon me, Mile. d'Arency," I said, in a voice as steady as I could make
+it. Then I looked at her and saw her features assuming an expression of
+such coldness and astonishment that for some time neither my tongue nor
+my mind could continue the speech, nor could I move a step in retreat.
+All the while she kept her eyes upon me.
+
+I drew a deep breath at last, and said in desperation:
+
+"Doubtless I ought not to address you, being unknown to you, but if you
+will permit me, I will go and bring M. de Rilly, who will present me."
+
+Her face softened somewhat, and she looked amused. "You seem quite able
+to present yourself," she said.
+
+I was immensely relieved at this melting of the ice, just when I was
+beginning to feel that I was becoming a spectacle.
+
+"I am Ernanton de Launay, Sieur de la Tournoire," I said, and to fill up
+the embarrassing pause that followed, I added, "and, being a Huguenot, I
+am a nobody in Paris,--in fact, a mere volunteer in the French Guards."
+
+"Well, Monsieur Guardsman, what do you wish to say to me?"
+
+She was now in quite a pleasant, quizzical mood.
+
+"I trust you do not expect me to say it in one word," I answered; and
+then I lowered my voice, "or in a single interview."
+
+"It does not matter how many interviews it requires, if it is
+interesting," she answered nonchalantly.
+
+"Alas!" I said. "I fear it is a story which many others have told you."
+
+"An old story may seem new, when it comes from new lips."
+
+"And when it is new to the lips that tell it, as mine is. Actually, I
+have never before made a confession of love."
+
+"Am I to understand that you are about to make one now?"
+
+"Have I not already made it?" I said.
+
+We now stood quite apart from all others in the gallery, unnoticed by
+them; and our voices had fallen almost to a whisper.
+
+She smiled, as if refusing to take my words seriously.
+
+"If you have waited so long before making any confession of love
+whatever," she said, "you have certainly made up for the delay by the
+speed which you use in making your first."
+
+"On the contrary, I have had my confession ready for a long time, as my
+love has existed for a long time. I waited only to meet its object,--the
+woman of whom I had formed the ideal in my mind."
+
+She looked as if about to burst into a laugh; but she changed her mind,
+and regarded me with a look of inquiry, as if she would read my heart.
+The smile was still on her lips, yet she spoke gravely when she said:
+
+"Monsieur, I cannot make you out. If you are as sincere as you are
+original,--but I must go to the Queen-mother now. To-morrow afternoon, I
+shall walk in the gardens of the Tuileries, if the weather is clear."
+
+"But one moment, I beg! M. de Noyard,--he is in love with you, is he
+not?"
+
+Her face again took on its mocking look. "I have not asked him," she said
+lightly. Then she regarded me with a new and peculiar expression, as if
+some daring idea had come into her mind, some project which had to be
+meditated upon before it might be safely breathed.
+
+"You look at me strangely, mademoiselle."
+
+"Oh, I merely wonder at your curiosity in regard to M. de Noyard."
+
+"My curiosity is not in regard to his feelings, but in regard to yours."
+
+"Monsieur," she said, with a very captivating air of reproach, "have I
+not told you that I shall walk in the gardens of the Tuileries to-morrow
+afternoon?"
+
+And she glided away, leaving behind her the most delighted and conceited
+young man, at that moment, in France.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE STRANGE REQUEST OF MLLE. D'ARENCY
+
+
+I was disappointed in the interview that I had with Mlle. d'Arency in
+the gardens of the Tuileries, the next day. I saw her for only a few
+minutes, and then within sight of other of Catherine's ladies. Although
+I lost nothing of the ground I had taken, neither did I gain anything
+further. Afterward, at court receptions and _fêtes_, and, sometimes, in
+the palace galleries, when she was off duty, I contrived to meet her.
+She neither gave me opportunities nor avoided me. All the progress that
+I made was in the measure of my infatuation for her. When I begged for a
+meeting at which we might not be surrounded by half the court, she
+smiled, and found some reason to prevent any such interview in the near
+future. So, if I had carried things very far at our first meeting in the
+Louvre, I now paid for my exceptional fortune by my inability to carry
+them a step further.
+
+Thus matters went for several days, during which the assertion of De
+Rilly was proven true,--that my duties as a member of the French Guards
+would leave me some time for pleasure. Thanks to De Quelus, and to his
+enemy, Bussy d'Amboise, I made acquaintances both in the King's following
+and in that of the King's brother, the Duke of Anjou. De Rilly made me
+known to many who belonged to neither camp, and were none the worse for
+that. Our company lodged in the Faubourg St. Honore, but I led the life
+of a gentleman of pleasure, when off duty, and, as such, I had a private
+lodging within the town, near the Louvre, more pretentious than the
+whitewashed chamber in the Rue St. Denis. I drank often in cabarets,
+became something of a swaggerer, and something of a fop,--though never
+descending to the womanishness of the King's minions,--and did not allow
+my great love affair, which I never mentioned save in terms of mystery,
+to hinder me from the enjoyment of lesser amours of transient duration.
+At this time everybody was talking of the feud between the King's
+favorites and the followers of the Duke of Anjou. The King's minions
+openly ridiculed Anjou for his ungainliness, which was all the greater
+for his look of settled discontent and resentment. His faithful and
+pugnacious Bussy retaliated by having his pages dress like the King's
+minions,--with doublets of cloth of gold, stiff ruffs, and great
+plumes,--and so attend him at the Twelfth Day _fêtes_. The minions, in
+their turn, sought revenge on Bussy by attacking him, on the following
+night, while he was returning from the Louvre to his lodgings. He eluded
+them, and the next morning he accused M. de Grammont of having led the
+ambuscade. De Quelus then proposed that all the King's gentlemen should
+meet all those of the Duke in a grand encounter to the death. The Duke's
+followers gladly accepted the challenge. Three hundred men on each side
+would have fought, had not the King resolutely forbidden the duel. De
+Quelus, that night, led a number of gentlemen in an attack on Bussy's
+lodgings. Bussy and his followers made a stout resistance, the tumult
+becoming so great that the Marechal de Montmorency called out the Scotch
+Guard to clear the street in front of Bussy's house; and it was time.
+Several gentlemen and servants were lying in their blood; and some of
+these died of their wounds.
+
+It was openly known, about the court, that the Duke of Anjou held the
+King to be privy to these attacks on Bussy, and was frightfully enraged
+thereby; and that the King, in constant fear of the Duke's departure to
+join the Huguenots,--which event would show the King's inability to
+prevent sedition even in the royal family, and would give the Guise party
+another pretext to complain of his incompetence,--would forcibly obstruct
+the Duke's going.
+
+It was this state of affairs that made Catherine de Medici again take up
+her abode in the Louvre, that she might be on the ground in the event of
+a family outbreak, which was little less probable to occur at night than
+in the daytime. She had lately lived part of the time in her new palace
+of the Tuileries, and part of the time in her Hotel des Filles Repenties,
+holding her council in either of these places, and going to the Louvre
+daily for the signature of the King to the documents of her own
+fabrication. At this time, Mlle. d'Arency was one of the ladies of the
+Queen-mother's bedchamber, and so slept in the Louvre. What should I be
+but such a fool as, when off duty, to pass certain hours of the night in
+gazing up at the window of my lady's chamber, as if I were a lover in an
+Italian novel! Again I must beg you to remember that I was only
+twenty-one, and full of the most fantastic ideas. I had undertaken an
+epic love affair, and I would omit none of the picturesque details that
+example warranted.
+
+Going, one evening in February, to take up my post opposite the Louvre, I
+suddenly encountered a gentleman attended by two valets with torches. I
+recognized him as De Noyard, who had twice or thrice seen me about the
+palaces, but had never spoken to me. I was therefore surprised when, on
+this occasion, he stopped and said to me, in a low and polite tone:
+
+"Monsieur, I have seen you, once or twice, talking with M. Bussy
+d'Amboise, and I believe that, if you are not one of his intimates, you,
+at least, wish him no harm."
+
+"You are right, monsieur," I said, quite mystified.
+
+"I am no friend of his," continued M. de Noyard, in his cold,
+dispassionate tone, "but he is a brave man, who fights openly, and, so
+far, he is to be commended. I believe he will soon return from the
+Tuileries, where he has been exercising one of the horses of the Duke of
+Anjou. I have just come from there myself. On the way, I espied, without
+seeming to see them, a number of the gentlemen of the King waiting behind
+the pillars of the house with a colonnade, near the Porte St. Honore."
+
+"One can guess what that means."
+
+"So I thought. As for me, I have more important matters in view than
+interfering with the quarrels of young hot-heads; but I think that there
+is yet time for Bussy d'Amboise to be warned, before he starts to return
+from the Tuileries."
+
+"M. de Noyard, I thank you," I said, with a bow of genuine respect, and
+in a moment I was hastening along the Rue St. Honore.
+
+I understood, of course, the real reasons why De Noyard himself had not
+gone back to warn Bussy. Firstly, those in ambush would probably have
+noticed his turning back, suspected his purpose, and taken means to
+defeat it. Secondly, he was a man from whom Bussy would have accepted
+neither warning nor assistance; yet he was not pleased that any brave man
+should be taken by surprise, and he gave me credit for a similar feeling.
+I could not but like him, despite my hidden suspicion that there was
+something between Mlle. d'Arency and him.
+
+I approached the house with the colonnade, feigning carelessness, as if I
+were returning to my military quarters in the faubourg. The Porte St.
+Honore was still open, although the time set for its closing was past.
+
+Suddenly a mounted figure appeared in the gateway, which, notwithstanding
+the dusk, I knew, by the way the rider sat his horse, to be that of
+Bussy. I was too late to warn him; I could only give my aid.
+
+Three figures rushed out from beneath the supported upper story of the
+house, and made for Bussy with drawn swords. With a loud oath he reined
+back his horse on its haunches, and drew his own weapon, with which he
+swept aside the two points presented at him from the left. One of the
+three assailants had planted himself in front of the horse, to catch its
+bridle, but saw himself now threatened by Bussy's sword, which moved with
+the swiftness of lightning. This man thereupon fell back, but stood ready
+to obstruct the forward movement of the horse, while one of the other
+two ran around to Bussy's right, so that the rider might be attacked,
+simultaneously on both sides.
+
+This much I had time to see before drawing my sword and running up to
+attack the man on the horseman's left, whom I suddenly recognized as De
+Quelus. At the same instant I had a vague impression of a fourth
+swordsman rushing out from the colonnade, and, before I could attain my
+object, I felt a heavy blow at the base of my skull, which seemed
+almost to separate my head from my neck, and I fell forward, into
+darkness and oblivion.
+
+I suppose that the man, running to intercept me, had found a thrust less
+practicable than a blow with the hilt of a dagger.
+
+When I again knew that I was alive, I turned over and sat up. Several
+men--bourgeois, vagabonds, menials, and such--were standing around,
+looking down at me and talking of the affray. I looked for Bussy and De
+Quelus, but did not see either. At a little distance away was another
+group, and people walked from that group to mine, and _vice versa._
+
+"Where is M. Bussy?" I asked.
+
+"Oho, this one is all right!" cried one, who might have been a clerk or a
+student; "he asks questions. You wish to know about Bussy, eh? You ought
+to have seen him gallop from the field without a scratch, while his
+enemies pulled themselves together and took to their heels."
+
+"What is that, over there?" I inquired, rising to my feet, and
+discovering that I was not badly hurt.
+
+"A dead man who was as much alive as any of us before he ran to help M.
+Bussy. It is always the outside man who gets the worst of it, merely for
+trying to be useful. There come the soldiers of the watch, after the
+fight is over."
+
+I walked over to the other group and knelt by the body on the ground. It
+was that of a gentleman whom I had sometimes seen in Bussy's company. He
+was indeed dead. The blood was already thickening about the hole that a
+sword had made in his doublet.
+
+The next day the whole court was talking of the wrath of the Duke of
+Anjou at this assault upon his first gentleman-in-waiting. I was ashamed
+of having profited by the influence of De Quelus, who, I found, had not
+recognized me on the previous evening. Anjou's rage continued deep. He
+showed it by absenting himself from the wedding of Saint-Luc, one of De
+Quelus's companions in the King's favor and in the attack on Bussy.
+Catherine, knowing how the King's authority was weakened by the squabbles
+between him and his brother, took the Duke out to Vincennes for a walk in
+the park and a dinner at the château, that his temper might cool. She
+persuaded him to show a conciliatory spirit and attend the marriage ball
+to be held that night in the great hall of the Louvre. This was more than
+she could persuade Marguerite to do, who accompanied mother and son to
+Vincennes, sharing the feelings of the Duke for three reasons,--her love
+for him, her hatred for her brother, the King, and her friendship for
+Bussy d'Amboise. It would have been well had the Duke been, like his
+sister, proof against his mother's persuasion. For, when he arrived at
+the ball, he was received by the King's gentlemen with derisive looks,
+and one of them, smiling insolently in the Duke's piggish, pockmarked
+face, said, "Doubtless you have come so late because the night is most
+favorable to your appearance."
+
+Suppose yourself in the Duke's place, and imagine his resentment. He
+turned white and left the ball. Catherine must have had to use her utmost
+powers to keep peace in the royal family the next day.
+
+On the second morning after the ball, I heard, from De Rilly, that the
+King had put his brother under arrest, and kept him guarded in the Duke's
+own apartment, lest he should leave Paris and lead the rebellion which
+the King had to fear, not only on its own account, but because of the
+further disrepute into which it would bring him with his people. The
+King, doubtless, soon saw, or was made to see, that this conduct towards
+his brother--who had many supporters in France and was then affianced to
+Queen Elizabeth of England--would earn only condemnation; for, on the day
+after the arrest, he caused the court to assemble in Catherine's
+apartments, and there De Quelus went ironically through the form of an
+apology to the Duke, and a reconciliation with Bussy. The exaggerated
+embrace which Bussy gave De Quelus made everybody laugh, and showed that
+this peace-making was not to be taken seriously. Soon after it, Bussy
+d'Amboise and several of his followers left Paris.
+
+The next thing I saw, which had bearing on the difference between the
+King and Monsieur his brother, was the procession of penitents in which
+Monsieur accompanied the King through the streets, after the hollow
+reconciliation. I could scarcely convince myself that the
+sanctimonious-looking person, in coarse penitential robe, heading the
+procession through the mire and over the stones of Paris, from shrine to
+shrine, was the dainty King whom I had beheld in sumptuous raiment in the
+gallery of the Louvre. The Duke of Anjou, who wore ordinary attire,
+seemed to take to this mummery like a bear, ready to growl at any moment.
+His demeanor was all that the King's gentlemen could have needed as a
+subject for their quips and jokes.
+
+Two evenings after this, I was drinking in the public room of an inn,
+near my lodgings in the town, when a young gentleman named Malerain, who,
+though not a Scot, was yet one of the Scotch bodyguard, sat down at my
+table to share a bottle with me.
+
+"More amusement at the palace," he said to me. "To think that, any one of
+these nights, I may be compelled to use force against the person of the
+King's brother, and that some day he may be King! I wonder if he will
+then bear malice?"
+
+"What is the new trouble at the Louvre?" I asked.
+
+"It is only the old trouble. Monsieur has been muttering again, I
+suppose, and this, with the fact that Bussy d'Amboise keeps so quiet
+outside of Paris, has led the King to fear that Monsieur has planned to
+escape to the country. At least, it has been ordered that every member of
+the Duke's household, who does not have to attend at his retiring, must
+leave the palace at night; and Messieurs de l'Archant, De Losses, and the
+other captains, have received orders from the King that, if Monsieur
+attempts to go out after dark, he must be stopped. Suppose it becomes my
+duty to stop him? That will be pleasant, will it not? To make it worse, I
+am devoted to a certain damsel who is devoted to Queen Marguerite, who is
+devoted to Monsieur, her brother. And here I am inviting misfortune,
+too, by drinking wine on the first Friday in Lent. I ought to have
+followed the example of the King, who has been doing penance all day in
+the chapel of the Hôtel de Bourbon."
+
+"Let us hope that the King will be rewarded for his penance by the
+submission of Monsieur. I, for one, hope that if Monsieur attempts to get
+away, he will run across some Scotchman of the Guard who will not scruple
+to impede a prince of France. For if he should lead a Huguenot army
+against the King, I, as one of the Guards, might be called on to oppose
+my fellow-Protestants."
+
+"Oh, the Duke does not wish to join the Huguenots. All he desires is to
+go to the Netherlands, where a throne awaits him if he will do a little
+fighting for it."
+
+"I fear he would rather revenge himself on the King for what he has had
+to endure at court."
+
+Presently Malerain left to go on duty at the Louvre, and soon I followed,
+to take up my station in sight of the window where Mlle. d'Arency slept.
+The night, which had set in, was very dark, and gusts of cold wind came
+up from the Seine. The place where, in my infatuation and affectation, I
+kept my lover's watch, was quite deserted. The Louvre loomed up gigantic
+before me, the lights gleaming feebly in a few of its many windows,
+serving less to relieve its sombre aspect than to suggest unknown, and,
+perhaps, sinister doings within.
+
+I laugh at myself now for having maintained those vigils by night beneath
+a court lady's window; but you will presently see that, but for this
+boyish folly, my body would have been sleeping in its grave these many
+years past, and I should have never come to my greatest happiness.
+
+Suddenly my attention was attracted to another window than that on which
+I had fixed my gaze. This other window appertained to the apartments of
+the King's sister, Queen Marguerite, and what caused me to transfer my
+attention to it was the noise of its being opened. Then a head was thrust
+out of it,--the small and graceful head of Marguerite herself. She looked
+down at the moat beneath, and in either direction, and apparently saw no
+one, I being quite in shadow; then she drew her head in.
+
+Immediately a rope was let down into the moat, whose dry bed was about
+five times a tall man's length below the window, which was on the second
+story. Out of the window came a man of rather squat figure, who let
+himself boldly and easily down the rope. As soon as he had reached the
+bed of the moat, he was followed out of the window and down the rope by a
+second man, who came bunglingly, as if in great trepidation. This person,
+in his haste, let go the rope before he was quite down, but landed on
+his feet. Then a third figure came out from the chamber and down the
+cable, whereupon Marguerite's head again appeared in the opening, and I
+could see the heads of two waiting-women behind her. But the Queen of
+Navarre manifestly had no intention of following the three men. These now
+clambered up the side of the moat, and the one who had been first down
+turned and waved her a silent adieu, which she returned with a graceful
+gesture of her partly bare arm. The three men then rapidly plunged into
+one of the abutting streets and were gone. All this time I stood inactive
+and unobserved.
+
+Marguerite remained at the window to cast another look around. Suddenly,
+from out the darkness at the base of the Louvre, as if risen from the
+very earth at the bottom of the moat, sprang the figure of a man, who
+started toward the guard-house as if his life depended on his speed.
+Marguerite drew her head in at once with a movement of great alarm. An
+instant later the rope was drawn up and the window closed.
+
+Two conjectures came into my head, one after the other, each in a flash.
+The one was that Marguerite had availed herself of the fraternal quarrel
+that occupied the King's attention to plan an escape to her husband, King
+Henri of Navarre, and that these three men had gone from a consultation
+in her apartments to further the project. The other conjecture was that
+they were but some of Monsieur's followers who had transgressed the new
+rule, requiring their departure from the palace at nightfall, and had
+taken this means of leaving to avoid discovery. If the former conjecture
+embodied the truth, my sympathies were with the plot; for it little
+pleased me that the wife of our Huguenot leader should remain at the
+French court, a constant subject of scandalous gossip. If the second
+guess was correct, I was glad of an opportunity to avert, even slight,
+trouble from the wilful but charming head of Marguerite. In either case,
+I might serve a beautiful woman, a queen, the wife of a Huguenot king.
+Certainly, if that man, paid spy or accidental interloper, should reach
+the guard-house with information that three men had left the Louvre by
+stealth, the three men might be overtaken and imprisoned, and great
+annoyance brought to Marguerite. All this occupied my mind but an
+instant. Before the man had taken ten steps, I was after him.
+
+He heard me coming, looked around, saw my hand already upon my
+sword-hilt, and shouted, "The guard! Help!" I saw that, to avoid a
+disclosure, I must silence him speedily; yet I dared not kill him, for he
+might be somebody whose dead body found so near the palace would lead to
+endless investigations, and in the end involve Marguerite, for suppose
+that the King had set him to watch her? Therefore I called to him, "Stop
+and face me, or I will split you as we run!"
+
+The man turned at once, as if already feeling my sword-point entering his
+back. Seeing that I had not even drawn that weapon, he, himself, drew a
+dagger and raised it to strike. But I was too quick and too long of arm
+for him. With my gloved fist I gave him a straight blow on the side of
+the chin, and he dropped like a felled tree, at the very moat's edge,
+over which I rolled him that he might recover in safety from the effects
+of the shock.
+
+I knew that, when he should awake, he would not dare inform the guard,
+for the three men would then be far away, and he would have no evidence
+to support his story. He would only put himself in danger of having
+fabricated a false accusation against the King's sister.
+
+I deemed it best to go from the vicinity of the Louvre at once, and I did
+so, with a last wistful look at the windows behind which Mlle. d'Arency
+might or might not be reposing. I did not reappear there until the next
+morning. The first person I then met was Malerain, who was coming from
+the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, where he had been making up for
+previous neglect of devotions.
+
+"Well," I said, as I stood before him, and twisted my up-shooting
+mustaches, in unconscious imitation of him, "I trust you found your
+quarter on duty last night an easy one. You must thank me for saving you
+some labor."
+
+"What do you mean?" he asked, with a look of sudden interest.
+
+"Nothing, only that you might have been called on to give chase to some
+flying bird or other, if I had not knocked down a rascal who was running
+to inform the guard."
+
+"And you saw the bird fly?" he said, with increasing astonishment.
+
+"From an opening in that great cage," I replied, looking towards
+the Louvre.
+
+"Then I, for myself, am glad you knocked down the said rascal who would
+have made falçons of us to bring the bird down. But be more cautious.
+Suppose what you did should reach the ears of the King?"
+
+"Why should the King concern himself?"
+
+"Monsieur, is it possible that you don't know that the bird that flew
+from the Louvre last night was the Duke of Anjou?"
+
+It was now my turn to stare in astonishment.
+
+"But," I said, "what use for him to leave the palace? There would be the
+gates of Paris to pass."
+
+"There is more than one way to cross the fortifications of Paris,
+especially when one has such an ally as Bussy d'Amboise, free, to arrange
+matters. Monsieur is at this moment certainly on his way to some
+stronghold of his own. The King is mad with rage. Queen Marguerite is
+looking innocent and astonished, but I'll wager she had a hand in this
+evasion. My friend, I am under obligations to you!"
+
+"How?"
+
+"Why, since Queen Marguerite undoubtedly rejoices at her favorite
+brother's escape, and you helped to make it good, she owes you gratitude.
+So do all her maids, who, naturally, share in her feelings and benefit by
+her joy. Now, that gratitude extends of course to your friends, of whom I
+am one. Therefore a good turn is due me from one of those maids in
+particular, and for that I am obliged to you!"
+
+I laughed at this fantastic extension of a debt of gratitude.
+"Doubtless," I said; "but since neither Marguerite nor the maid knows
+anything about my share in the matter, I don't see how you are going to
+collect the debt."
+
+Malerain said nothing, but there was already that in his mind which,
+absurd as it might seem at that time, was to save me when death should
+rise threateningly about me on every side. It is a world in which much
+comes from little.
+
+I was somewhat agitated at realizing that I had been the means of aiding
+an escape which might result in opposing the troops of the King to those
+of certain Huguenot leaders; but this thought was suddenly driven from my
+mind by a sight which caused me to leave Malerain abruptly, and make for
+one of the streets that led from the Louvre to the midst of the town.
+
+It was Mlle. d'Arency, mounted on a plumed horse, with tassellated
+trappings, which was led by a young equerry who wore Catherine's colors,
+and followed by two mounted lackeys in similar livery. Beside her rode
+the stout, elderly woman who usually attended her. Mlle. d'Arency wore a
+mask of black velvet, but that could not conceal her identity from eyes
+to which every line of her pretty head, every motion of her graceful
+person, had become familiar in actual contemplation and in dreams. Her
+cloak and gown were, alike, of embroidered velvet of the color of red
+wine, as was the velvet toque which sat perched on her dark brown hair.
+
+I followed her at some distance, resolved to find an opportunity for a
+seemingly accidental meeting. I supposed that she was going to visit some
+of the shops,--perhaps for the Queen-mother, perhaps for herself.
+
+She led me on and on, until I began to wonder what could be her
+destination. She avoided the streets of fine shops, such as were
+patronized by the court, skirted market-places, and continued, in a
+general easterly direction, until she had crossed both the Rue St. Denis
+and the Rue St. Martin. At last, turning out of the Rue St. Antoine, she
+reached, by a little street lined with bakeries, a quiet square before a
+small church, of which I never even learned the name. She and the stout
+woman dismounted, and entered the church, leaving her male attendants
+outside with the horse.
+
+"Oho," I mused, stopping at the door of a pastry-cook's at the place
+where the little street joined the square; "she chooses an obscure place
+for her devotions. Evidently she prefers to mingle solitude with them, so
+I must not disturb her."
+
+I decided, therefore, to wait at the pastry-cook's till she should come
+out, and then to encounter her as if by chance. I would have, at least, a
+word in payment for having come so far afoot.
+
+The pastry-cook must have been convinced of two things before Mlle.
+d'Arency came out of church: first, that his fortune was made if this new
+customer, myself, should only continue to patronize him; second, that
+there existed, at least, one human stomach able to withstand unlimited
+quantities of his wares.
+
+I stood back in the shop, devouring one doughy invention after another,
+with my ear alert for the sound of her horse's hoofs on the stones. At
+last it occurred to me that she might have left the square by some other
+street. I made for the door of the shop to look. As I did so, a man
+rapidly passed the shop, going from the square towards the Rue St.
+Antoine. Was not that figure known to me? I hastened to the street. My
+first glance was towards the church. There stood her horse, and her three
+attendants were walking up and down in the sunlight. Then I looked after
+the man; I thought that the figure looked like that of De Noyard.
+
+He disappeared into the Rue St. Antoine, having given me no opportunity
+to see his face. I would have followed, to make sure, roused into an
+intolerable jealousy at the idea of a secret meeting between Mlle.
+d'Arency and him, but that I now heard the full melodious voice of the
+lady herself. Looking around, I saw her on the steps of the church, with
+her middle-aged companion. At that instant her eyes met mine.
+
+I advanced, with an exaggerated bow, sweeping the stones of the street
+with the plumes of my hat.
+
+"So it is true!" I said, making no effort to control my agitation, and
+restraining my voice only that the lackeys might not hear; "you love
+that man!"
+
+She looked at me steadily for a moment, and then said, "Do you mean M.
+de Noyard?"
+
+"Ah, you admit it!"
+
+"I admit nothing. But if I did love him, what right would you have to
+call me to account?"
+
+"The right of a man who adores you, mademoiselle."
+
+"That is no right at all. A man's right concerning a woman must be
+derived from her own actions. But come inside the church, monsieur."
+
+She made a gesture to her attendants, and reentered the church. I
+followed her. We stood together before the font in the dim light.
+
+"And now," she continued, facing me, "suppose I grant that I have so
+acted as to give you a right to question me; what then? Is it my fault
+that you have followed me this morning? Is it, then, any more my fault
+that I have been followed, also, by M. de Noyard?"
+
+"But he must have been here before you."
+
+"What does that prove? A score of people in the Louvre knew yesterday
+that I was coming to this church to-day."
+
+"But so deserted a church,--so out of the way! Who would come here from
+the Louvre but for a tryst?"
+
+She smiled, indulgently. "Can a thing have no cause except the obvious
+one?" she said. "I visit this church once every month, because, obscure
+though it be, it is associated with certain events in the history of my
+ancestors."
+
+"But," I went on, though beginning to feel relieved, "if M. de Noyard was
+thrusting his presence on you, why did he leave before you did?"
+
+"Probably because he knew that I would not leave the church while he
+remained to press his company upon me outside."
+
+The low tones that we had to use, on account of our surroundings, gave
+our conversation an air of confidence and secrecy that was delicious to
+me; and now her voice fell even lower, when she added:
+
+"I take the pains to explain these things to you, monsieur, because I do
+not wish you to think that I have intrigues;" and she regarded me fixedly
+with her large gray eyes, which in the dimness of the place were darker
+and more lustrous than usual.
+
+Delightfully thrilled at this, I made to take her hand and stoop to kiss
+it, but stopped for a last doubt.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, "I think you only the most adorable woman in the
+world. But there is one thing which has cost me many a sleepless hour,
+many a jealous surmise. If I could be reassured as to the nature of your
+errand that night when I first saw you--"
+
+"Oh!" she laughed, "I was coming from an astrologer's."
+
+"But you were not coming from the direction of Ruggieri's house."
+
+"There are many astrologers in Paris, besides Ruggieri. Although the
+Queen-mother relies implicitly on him, one may sometimes get a more
+pleasing prediction from another; or, another may be clear on a point on
+which he is vague."
+
+"But the hour--"
+
+"I took the time when I was not on duty, and he kept me late. It was for
+a friend that I visited the astrologer,--a friend who was required in the
+palace all that evening. The astrologer had to be consulted that night,
+as my friend wished to be guided in a course that she would have to take
+the next morning. Now, Monsieur Curiosity, are you satisfied?"
+
+This time I took her hand and pressed my lips upon it.
+
+She was silent for a moment, noting the look of admiration on my face.
+Then, quickly, and in little more than a whisper, she said:
+
+"I have answered your questions, though not admitting your right to ask
+them. Would you know how to gain that right?"
+
+"Tell me!" I said, my heart beating rapidly with elation.
+
+"Challenge M. de Noyard, and kill him!"
+
+I stared in astonishment.
+
+"Now you may know whether or not I love him," she added.
+
+"But, mademoiselle,--why--"
+
+"Ah, that is the one thing about which I must always refuse to be
+questioned! I ask you this service. Will you grant it?"
+
+"If he has given you offence," I said, "certainly I will seek him at
+once."
+
+"Not a word of me is to be said between you! He must not know that I have
+spoken to you."
+
+"But a man is not to be killed without reason."
+
+"A pretext is easily invented."
+
+"Certainly,--a pretext to hide the cause of a quarrel from the world. But
+the real cause ought to be known to both antagonists."
+
+"I shall not discuss what ought or ought not to be. I ask you, will you
+fight this man and try to kill him? I request nothing unusual,--men are
+killed every day in duels. You are a good swordsman; Bussy d'Amboise
+himself has said so. Come! will you do this?" She looked up at me with a
+slight frown of repressed petulance.
+
+"If you will assure me that he has affronted you, and permit me to let
+him know, privately, the cause of my quarrel."
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed, with irritation, "must a lady give a hundred reasons
+when she requests a service of a gentleman?"
+
+"One sufficient reason, when it is a service like this."
+
+"Well, I shall give none. I desire his death,--few gentlemen would ask a
+further reason."
+
+"I had not thought you so cruel, mademoiselle, as to desire the death
+of any man."
+
+"God forbid that I should desire the death of any other man! So,
+monsieur, I must understand that you refuse to serve me in this?"
+
+Her contemptuous look made me sigh. "Can you not see, mademoiselle, that
+to resolve deliberately and secretly on a man's death, and with
+premeditation to create a pretext for a challenge, is little better than
+assassination?"
+
+"A fine excuse to avoid risking your life!"
+
+Again I had to endure a look of profound scorn from her.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I replied, patiently, "I would that you might see how
+ready I am to fight when an affront is given me or some one needs a
+defender."
+
+"Oh!" she said, with an ironical smile. "Then to show yourself a lion
+against De Noyard, you require only that he shall affront you, or that
+some one shall need a defender against him! Suppose that _I_ should ever
+be in such need?"
+
+"You know that in your defence I would fight an army."
+
+Her smile now lost its irony, and she assumed a look of conciliation,
+which I was both surprised and rejoiced to behold.
+
+"Well, monsieur, it is pleasant to know that, if you will not take the
+offensive for me, you will, at least, act readily on the defensive if
+the occasion comes."
+
+Much relieved at the turn the conversation had taken, I now undertook to
+continue it to my advantage. After some bantering, maintained with gaiety
+on her part, she said that she must return to the Louvre. Then, as she
+would not have me accompany her in the streets, I begged her to appoint
+another meeting. She evaded my petition at first, but, when I took her
+hand and refused to release it until she should grant my request, she
+said, after a little submissive shrug of her shoulders:
+
+"Very well. Follow me, at a distance, from this church, and observe a
+house before which I shall stop for a moment as if to adjust my cloak. It
+is a house that has been taken by a friend of mine, one of the
+Queen-mother's ladies. I shall be there tomorrow afternoon."
+
+"Alas! To-morrow I shall be on duty till six in the evening."
+
+"Then come at seven. Knock three times on the street door." And with that
+she slipped her hand from mine, and hastened lightly out of the church. I
+stood alone by the font, delighted and bewildered. There was so much to
+mystify me that I did not even search my mind for explanations. I thought
+my happiness about to be attained, and left it for the future to
+explain,--as it did!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+HOW LA TOURNOIRE WAS ENLIGHTENED IN THE DARK
+
+
+It was already dark when I started, on the evening appointed, for the
+house indicated by Mlle. d'Arency. I went without attendance, as was my
+custom, relying on my sword, my alertness of eye, and my nimbleness of
+foot. I had engaged a lackey, for whose honesty De Rilly had vouched, but
+he was now absent on a journey to La Tournoire, whither I had sent him
+with a message to my old steward. I have often wondered at the good
+fortune which preserved me from being waylaid, by thieving rascals, on my
+peregrinations, by night, through Paris streets. About this very time
+several gentlemen, who went well attended, were set upon and robbed
+almost within sight of the quarters of the provost's watch; and some of
+these lost their lives as well as the goods upon their persons. Yet I
+went fearlessly, and was never even threatened with attack.
+
+On the way to the house, I reviewed, for the hundredth time, the
+conversation in the church. There were different conjectures to be made.
+Mlle. d'Arency may have made that surprising request merely to convince
+me that she did not love De Noyard, and intending, subsequently, to
+withdraw it; or it may have sprung from a caprice, a desire to ascertain
+how far I was at her bidding,--women have, thoughtlessly, set men such
+tasks from mere vanity, lacking the sympathy to feel how precious to its
+owner is any human life other than their own;--or she may have had some
+substantial reason to desire his death, something to gain by it,
+something to lose through his continuing to live. Perhaps she had
+encouraged his love and had given him a promise from which his death
+would be the means of release easiest to her,--for women will, sometimes,
+to secure the smallest immunity for themselves, allow the greatest
+calamities to others. This arises less from an active cruelty than from a
+lack of imagination, an inability to suppose themselves in the places of
+others. I soon felt the uselessness of searching, in my own mind, for the
+motive of Mlle. d'Arency's desire, or pretence of desire, for the death
+of De Noyard. What had passed between them I could not guess. So, after
+the manner of youth, I gave up the question, satisfied with knowing that
+I had before me an interview with a charming woman, and willing to wait
+for disclosures until events should offer them.
+
+The street in which the house was situated was entirely dark and
+deserted when I stepped into it. The house was wider than its neighbors,
+and each of its upper stories had two chambers overlooking the street. At
+the window of one of these chambers, on the second story, a light shone.
+It was the only light visible in any of the houses, all of which frowned
+down menacingly; and hence it was like a beacon, a promise of cheer and
+warmth in the midst of this black, cold Paris.
+
+I knocked three times on the street door, as she had directed me.
+Presently the wicket at the side of the door was opened, and a light was
+held up to it, that my face might be seen by a pair of eyes that peered
+out through the aperture. A moment later the bolts of the door were
+drawn, and I was let in by the possessor of the eyes. This was the
+elderly woman who always attended Mlle. d'Arency when the latter was
+abroad from the palace. She had invariably shown complete indifference to
+me, not appearing aware of my existence, and this time she said only:
+
+"This way, monsieur."
+
+Protecting the flame of her lamp with her hand, she led me forward to a
+narrow staircase and we ascended, stopping at a landing on which opened
+the second story chamber whose street window had shone with light. She
+gave three knocks at the door of this chamber. At the last knock, her
+lamp went out.
+
+"Curse the wind!" she muttered.
+
+So I stood with her, on the landing, in darkness, expecting the door in
+front of me to open, immediately, and admit me to the lighted chamber.
+
+Suddenly I heard a piercing scream from within the chamber. It was the
+voice of Mlle. d'Arency.
+
+"Help! Help!" she cried. "My God, he will kill me!"
+
+This was followed by one long series of screams, and I could hear her
+running about the chamber as though she were fleeing from a pursuer.
+
+I stood for an instant, startled.
+
+"Good God!" cried the old woman at my elbow. "An assassin! Her enemies
+have planned it! Monsieur, save her life!"
+
+And the dame began pounding on the door, as if to break into the room to
+assist her mistress.
+
+I needed no more than this example. Discovering that the door was
+locked on the inside, and assuming that Mlle. d'Arency, in the flight
+which she maintained around the room, could not get an opportunity to
+draw the bolt, I threw my weight forward, and sent the door flying open
+on its hinges.
+
+To my astonishment, the chamber was in complete darkness. Mlle. d'Arency
+had doubtless knocked the light over in her movements around the room.
+
+She was still screaming at the top of her voice, and running from one
+side to another. The whiteness of the robe she wore made it possible to
+descry her in the absence of light.
+
+I stood for a second, just inside the threshold, and drew my sword. At
+first, I could not see by whom or what she was threatened; but I heard
+heavy footsteps, as of some one following her in her wild course about
+the place. Then I made out, vaguely, the figure of a man.
+
+"Fear not, mademoiselle!" I cried.
+
+"Oh, monsieur!" she screamed. "Save me! Save my life!"
+
+I thrust my sword at the figure of the man. An ejaculation of pain told
+me that it touched flesh. A second later, I heard a sword slide from its
+scabbard, and felt the wind of a wild thrust in my direction.
+
+At this moment, Mlle d'Arency appeared between me and the street window
+of the room. There was enough light from the sky to enable her head and
+shoulders to stand out darkly against the space of the window. Her head
+was moving with the violent coming and going of her breath, and her
+shoulders were drawn up in an attitude of the greatest fright. Is it any
+wonder that I did not stop to ascertain who or what her assailant might
+be, or how he had come there? I could make out only that the man in the
+darkness was a large and heavy one, and wielded a swift blade. All other
+thoughts were lost in the immediate necessity of dealing with him. The
+extreme terror that she showed gave me a sense of his being a formidable
+antagonist; the prompt response that he had given to my own thrust showed
+that he was not to be quelled by a mere command. In fine, there was
+nothing to do but fight him as best I could in the blackness; and I was
+glad for so early an opportunity to show Mlle. d'Arency how ready I was
+to do battle for her when I found her threatened with danger.
+
+From the absence of any sound or other demonstration, except what was
+made by Mlle. d'Arency and the man and myself, I knew that we three were
+the only ones in the room. The elderly woman had not entered with me,--a
+fact whose strangeness, in view of the great desire she had first evinced
+to reach her mistress's side, did not occur to me until afterward.
+
+I made another thrust at the man, but, despite the darkness, he parried
+it with his sword; and a quick backward step was all that saved me from
+his prompt reply. Angered at having to give ground in the presence of the
+lady, I now attacked in turn, somewhat recklessly, but with such good
+luck as to drive him back almost to the window. Mlle. d'Arency gave
+another terrified scream when he came near her, and she ran past me
+towards the door of the apartment. Both my antagonist and myself were
+now beginning to have a clearer impression of each other's outlines, and
+there was sharp sword-work between us by the window. As we stood there,
+breathing rapidly with our exertion and excitement, I heard the door
+close through which I had entered. I knew from this that Mlle. d'Arency
+had left the chamber, and I was glad that she was out of danger. It was
+natural that she should close the door, instinct impelling her to put any
+possible barrier between her assailant and herself.
+
+The man and myself were alone together to maintain the fight which,
+having once entered, and being roused to the mood of contest, I had no
+thought of discontinuing now that Mlle. d'Arency was out of immediate
+danger. It had reached a place at which it could be terminated only by
+the disarming, the death, or the disabling of one of us.
+
+I gradually acquired the power of knowing all my opponent's movements,
+despite the darkness. I supposed that he was equipped with dagger as well
+as with sword, but as he made no move to draw the shorter weapon, I did
+not have recourse to mine. Though I would not take an advantage over him,
+even in the circumstances, yet I was not willing to be at a disadvantage.
+Therefore, as he was not encumbered with cloak or mantle, I employed a
+breathing moment to tear off my own cloak and throw it aside, not
+choosing to use it on my left arm as a shield unless he had been
+similarly guarded.
+
+So we lunged and parried in the darkness, making no sound but by our
+heavy breathing and an occasional ejaculation and the tramping of our
+feet, the knocking of our bodies against unseen pieces of furniture, and
+the clashing of our blades when they met. Each of us fenced cautiously at
+times, and at times took chances recklessly.
+
+Finally, in falling back, he came to a sudden stop against a table, and
+the collision disturbed for an instant his control over his body. In that
+instant I felt a soft resistance encounter my sword and yield to it. At
+once, with a feeling of revulsion, I drew my sword out of the casing that
+his flesh had provided, and stood back. Something wet and warm sprinkled
+my face. The man gave a low moan and staggered sideways over towards the
+window. Then he plunged forward on his face. I stooped beside him and
+turned him over on his back, wetting my gloves with the blood that gushed
+from his wound and soaked his doublet. At that moment a splash of
+moonlight appeared on the floor, taking the shape of the window. His head
+and shoulders lay in this illumined space. I sprang back in horror,
+crying out his name:
+
+"De Noyard! My God, it is you!"
+
+"Yes, monsieur," he gasped, "it is De Noyard. I have been trapped. I
+ought to have suspected."
+
+"But I do not understand, monsieur. Surely you could not have attacked
+Mlle, d'Arency?"
+
+"Attacked her! I came here by her appointment!"
+
+"But her cry for help?"
+
+"It took me by complete surprise. There was a knock on the door--"
+
+"Yes,--mine. I, too, came by her appointment!"
+
+"Mademoiselle instantly put out the light and began to scream. I thought
+that the knock frightened her; then that she was mad. I followed to calm
+her. You entered; you know the rest."
+
+"But what does it mean?"
+
+"Can you not see?" he said, with growing faintness. "We have been
+tricked,--I, by her pretense of love and by this appointment, to my
+death; you, by a similar appointment and her screams, to make yourself my
+slayer. I ought to have known! she belongs to Catherine, to the
+Queen-mother. Alas, monsieur! easily fooled is he who loves a woman!"
+
+Then I remembered what De Rilly had told me,--that De Noyard's counsels
+to the Duke of Guise were an obstacle to Catherine's design of
+conciliating that powerful leader, who aspired to the throne on which her
+son was seated.
+
+"No, no, monsieur!" I cried, unwilling to admit Mlle. d'Arency capable
+of such a trick, or myself capable of being so duped. "It cannot be
+that; if they had desired your death, they would have hired assassins to
+waylay you."
+
+Yet I knew that he was right. The strange request that Mlle. d'Arency had
+made of me in the church was now explained.
+
+A kind of smile appeared, for a moment, on De Noyard's face, struggling
+with his expression of weakness and pain.
+
+"Who would go to the expense of hiring assassins," he said, "when honest
+gentlemen can be tricked into doing the work for nothing? Moreover, when
+you hire assassins, you take the risk of their selling your secret to the
+enemy. They are apt to leave traces, too, and the secret instigator of a
+deed may defeat its object by being found out."
+
+"Then I have to thank God that you are not dead. You will recover,
+monsieur."
+
+"I fear not, my son. I do not know how much blood I lose at every word I
+speak. _Parbleu_! you have the art of making a mighty hole with that toy
+of yours, monsieur!"
+
+This man, so grave and severe in the usual affairs of life, could take on
+a tone of pleasantry while enduring pain and facing death.
+
+"Monsieur," I cried, in great distress, "you must not die. I will save
+you. I shall go for a surgeon. Oh, my God, monsieur, tell me what to do
+to save your life!"
+
+"You will find my lackeys, two of them, at the cabaret at the next
+corner. It is closed, but knock hard and call for Jacques. Send him to
+me, and the other for a surgeon."
+
+De Noyard was manifestly growing weaker, and he spoke with great
+difficulty. Not daring to trust to any knowledge of my own as to
+immediate or temporary treatment of his wound, I made the greatest haste
+to follow his directions. I ran out of the chamber, down the stairs, and
+out to the street, finding the doors neither locked nor barred, and
+meeting no human being. Mlle. d'Arency and her companion had silently
+disappeared.
+
+I went, in my excitement, first to the wrong corner. Then, discovering my
+blunder, I retraced my steps, and at last secured admittance to the place
+where De Noyard's valets tarried.
+
+To the man who opened the door, I said, "Are you Jacques, the serving-man
+of Monsieur de Noyard?"
+
+"I am nobody's serving man," was the reply, in a tone of indignation; but
+a second man who had come to the door spoke up, "I am Jacques."
+
+"Hallo, Monsieur de la Tournoire," came a voice from a group of men
+seated at a table. "Come and join us, and show my friends how you
+fellows of the French Guards can drink!"
+
+It was De Rilly, very merry with wine.
+
+"I cannot, De Rilly," I replied, stepping into the place. "I have very
+important business elsewhere." Then I turned to Jacques and said,
+quietly, "Go, at once, to your master, and send your comrade for a
+surgeon to follow you there. Do you know the house in which he is?"
+
+The servant made no answer, but turned pale. "Come!" he said to another
+servant, who had joined him from an obscure corner of the place. The two
+immediately lighted torches and left, from which fact I inferred that
+Jacques knew where to find his master.
+
+"What is all this mystery?" cried De Rilly, jovially, rising and coming
+over to me, while the man who had opened the door, and who was evidently
+the host, closed it and moved away. "Come, warm yourself with a bottle!
+Why, my friend, you are as white as a ghost, and you look as if you had
+been perspiring blood!"
+
+"I must go, at once, De Rilly. It is a serious matter."
+
+"Then hang me if I don't come, too!" he said, suddenly sobered, and he
+grasped his cloak and sword. "That is, unless I should be _de trop_."
+
+"Come. I thank you," I said; and we left the place together.
+
+"Whose blood is it?" asked De Rilly, as we hurried along the narrow
+street, back to the house.
+
+"That of M. de Noyard."
+
+"What? A duel?"
+
+"A kind of duel,--a strange mistake!
+
+"The devil! Won't the Queen-mother give thanks! And won't the Duke of
+Guise be angry!"
+
+"M. de Noyard is not dead yet. His wound may not be fatal."
+
+I led the way into the house and up the steps to the apartment. It was
+now lighted up by the torch which Jacques had brought. De Noyard was
+still lying in the position in which he had been when I left him. The
+servant stood beside him, looking down at his face, and holding the torch
+so as to light up the features.
+
+"How do you feel now, monsieur?" I asked, hastening forward.
+
+There was no answer. The servant raised his eyes to me, and said, in a
+tone of unnatural calmness, "Do you not see that he is dead, M. de la
+Tournoire?"
+
+Horror-stricken, I knelt beside the body. The heart no longer beat; the
+face was still,--the eyes stared between unquivering lids, in the light
+of the torch.
+
+"Oh, my God! I have killed him!" I murmured.
+
+"Come away. You can do nothing here," said De Rilly, quietly. He caught
+me by the shoulder, and led me out of the room.
+
+"Let us leave this neighborhood as soon as possible," he said, as we
+descended the stairs. "It is most unfortunate that the valet knows your
+name. He heard me speak it at the tavern, and he will certainly recall
+also that I hailed you as one of the French Guards."
+
+"Why is that unfortunate?" I asked, still deprived of thought by the
+horror of having killed so honorable a gentleman, who had not harmed me.
+
+"Because he can let the Duke of Guise know exactly on whom to seek
+vengeance for the death of De Noyard."
+
+"The Duke of Guise will seek vengeance?" I asked, mechanically, as we
+emerged from that fatal house, and turned our backs upon it.
+
+"Assuredly. He will demand your immediate punishment. You must bespeak
+the King's pardon as soon as possible. That is necessary, to protect
+oneself, when one has killed one's antagonist in a duel. The edicts still
+forbid duels, and one may be made to pay for a victory with one's life,
+if the victim's friends demand the enforcement of the law,--as in this
+case the Duke of Guise surely will demand."
+
+"M. de Quelus can, doubtless, get me the King's pardon," I said, turning
+my mind from the past to the future, from regret to apprehension. The
+necessity of considering my situation prevented me from contemplating, at
+that time, the perfidy of Mlle. d'Arency, the blindness with which I had
+let myself be deceived, or the tragic and humiliating termination of my
+great love affair.
+
+"If M. de Quelus is with you, you are safe from the authorities. You will
+then have only to guard against assassination at the hands of Guise's
+followers."
+
+"I shall go to M. de Quelus early in the morning," I said.
+
+"By all means. And you will not go near your lodgings until you have
+assured your safety against arrest. You must reach the King before the
+Duke can see him; for the Duke will not fail to hint that, in killing De
+Noyard, you were the instrument of the King or of the Queen-mother. To
+disprove that, the King would have to promise the Duke to give you over
+to the authorities. And now that I think of it, you must make yourself
+safe before the Queen-mother learns of this affair, for she will advise
+the King to act in such a way that the Duke cannot accuse him of
+protecting you. My friend, it suddenly occurs to me that you have got
+into a rather deep hole!"
+
+"De Rilly," I asked, with great concern, "do you think that I was the
+instrument of Catherine de Medici in this?"
+
+"Certainly not!" was the emphatic answer. "The fight was about a woman,
+was it not?"
+
+"A woman was the cause of it," I answered, with a heavy sigh. "But how do
+you know?"
+
+"To tell the truth," he said, "many people have been amused to see
+you make soft eyes at a certain lady, and to see De Noyard do
+likewise. Neither young men like you, nor older men like him, can
+conceal these things."
+
+Thus I saw that even De Rilly did not suspect the real truth, and this
+showed me how deep was the design of which I had been the tool. Everybody
+would lay the quarrel to rivalry in love. The presence of so manifest a
+cause would prevent people from hitting on the truth. Mlle. d'Arency had
+trusted to my youth, agility, and supposed skill to give me the victory
+in that fight in the dark; and then to circumstances to disclose who had
+done the deed. "It was De Noyard's jealous rival," everybody would say.
+Having found a sufficient motive, no one would take the trouble to seek
+the real source,--to trace the affair to the instigation of Catherine de
+Medici. The alert mind of De Rilly, it is true, divining the equally keen
+mind of the Duke of Guise, had predicted that Guise might pretend a
+belief in such instigation, and so force the King to avenge De Noyard,
+in self-vindication. Mlle. d'Arency well knew that I would not
+incriminate a woman, even a perfidious one, and counted also on my
+natural unwillingness to reveal myself as the dupe that I had been.
+Moreover, it would not be possible for me to tell the truth in such a way
+that it would appear probable. And what would I gain by telling the
+truth? The fact would remain that I was the slayer of De Noyard, and, by
+accusing the instigators, I would but compel them to demonstrate
+non-complicity; which they could do only by clamoring for my punishment.
+And how could I prove that things were not exactly as they had
+appeared,--that the woman's screams were not genuine: that she was not
+actually threatened by De Noyard? Clearly as I saw the truth, clearly as
+De Noyard had seen it in his last moments, it could never be established
+by evidence.
+
+With bitter self-condemnation, and profound rancor against the woman
+whose tool I had been, I realized what an excellent instrument she had
+found for her purpose of ridding her mistress of an obstacle.
+
+It was not certain that the King, himself, had been privy to his mother's
+design of causing De Noyard's death. In such matters she often acted
+without consulting him. Therefore, when De Quelus should present my case
+to him as merely that of a duel over a love affair, Henri would perhaps
+give me his assurances of safety, at once, and would hold himself bound
+in honor to stand by them. All depended on securing these before
+Catherine or the Duke of Guise should have an opportunity to influence
+him to another course.
+
+I felt, as I walked along with De Rilly, that, if I should obtain
+immunity from the punishment prescribed by edict, I could rely on
+myself for protection against any private revenge that the Duke of
+Guise might plan.
+
+De Rilly took me to a lodging in the Rue de L'Autruche, not far from my
+own, which was in the Rue St. Honore. Letting myself be commanded
+entirely by him, I went to bed, but not to sleep. I was anxious for
+morning to come, that I might be off to the Louvre. I lay speculating on
+the chances of my seeing De Quelus, and of his undertaking to obtain the
+King's protection for me. Though appalled at what I had done, I had no
+wish to die,--the youth in me cried for life; and the more I desired
+life, the more fearful I became of failing to get De Quelus's
+intercession.
+
+I grew many years older in that night. In a single flash, I had beheld
+things hitherto unknown to me: the perfidy of which a woman was capable,
+the falseness of that self-confidence and vanity which may delude a man
+into thinking himself the conqueror of a woman's heart, the danger of
+going, carelessly, on in a suspicious matter without looking forward to
+possible consequences. I saw the folly of thoughtlessness, of blind
+self-confidence, of reckless trust in the honesty of others and the luck
+of oneself. I had learned the necessity of caution, of foresight, of
+suspicion; and perhaps I should have to pay for the lesson with my life.
+
+Turning on the bed, watching the window for the dawn, giving in my mind a
+hundred different forms to the account with which I should make De Quelus
+acquainted with the matter, I passed the most of that night. At last, I
+fell asleep, and dreamt that I had told De Quelus my story, and he had
+brought me the King's pardon; again, that I was engaged in futile efforts
+to approach him; again, that De Noyard had come to life. When De Rilly
+awoke me, it was broad daylight.
+
+I dressed, and so timed my movements as to reach the Louvre at the hour
+when De Quelus would be about to officiate at the King's rising. De Rilly
+left me at the gate, wishing me good fortune. He had to go to oversee the
+labors of some grooms in the King's stables. One of the guards of the
+gate sent De Quelus my message. I stood, in great suspense, awaiting the
+answer, fearing at every moment to see the Duke of Guise ride into the
+Place du Louvre on his way to crave an interview with the King.
+
+At last a page came across the court with orders that I be admitted, and
+I was soon waiting in a gallery outside the apartments of the
+chamberlains. After a time that seemed very long, De Quelus came out to
+me, with a look of inquiry on his face.
+
+Ignoring the speech I had prepared for the occasion, I broke abruptly
+into the matter.
+
+"M. de Quelus," I said, "last night, in a sudden quarrel which arose out
+of a mistake, I was so unfortunate as to kill M. de Noyard. It was
+neither a duel nor a murder,--each of us seemed justified in attacking
+the other."
+
+De Quelus did not seem displeased to hear of De Noyard's death.
+
+"What evidence is there against you?" he asked.
+
+"That of M. de Noyard's servant, to whom I acknowledged that I had killed
+his master. Other evidence may come up. What I have come to beg is your
+intercession with the King--"
+
+"I understand," he said, without much interest. "I shall bring up the
+matter before the King leaves his bed."
+
+"When may I expect to know?" I asked, not knowing whether to be reassured
+or alarmed at his indifference.
+
+"Wait outside the King's apartments. I am going there now," he replied.
+
+I followed him, saw him pass into the King's suite, and had another
+season of waiting. This was the longest and the most trying. I stood, now
+tapping the floor with my foot, now watching the halberdiers at the
+curtained door, while they glanced indifferently at me. Various officers
+of the court, whose duty or privilege it was to attend the King's rising,
+passed in, none heeding me or guessing that I waited there for the word
+on which my life depended. I examined the tapestry over and over again,
+noticing, particularly, the redoubtable expression of a horseman with
+lance in rest, and wondering how he had ever emerged from the tower
+behind him, of which the gateway was half his size.
+
+A page came out of the doorway through which De Quelus had disappeared.
+Did he bring word to me? No. He glanced at me casually, and passed on,
+leaving the gallery at the other end. Presently he returned, preceding
+Marguerite, the Queen of Navarre, whom he had gone to summon.
+
+"More trouble in the royal family," I said to myself. The King must
+have scented another plot, to have summoned his sister before the time
+for the _petite levée_. I feared that this would hinder his
+consideration of my case.
+
+Suddenly a tall figure, wearing a doublet of cloth of silver, gray velvet
+breeches, gray mantle, and gray silk stockings, strode rapidly through
+the gallery, and curtly commanded the usher to announce him. While
+awaiting the usher's return, he stood still, stroking now his light
+mustaches, and now his fine, curly blonde beard, which was little more
+than delicate down on his chin. As his glance roved over the gallery it
+fell for a moment on me, but he did not know me, and his splendid blue
+eyes turned quickly away. His face had a pride, a nobility, a subtlety
+that I never saw united in another. He was four inches more than six feet
+high, slender, and of perfect proportion, erect, commanding, and in the
+flower of youth. How I admired him, though my heart sank at the sight of
+him; for I knew he had come to demand my death! It was the Duke of Guise.
+Presently the curtains parted, he passed in, and they fell behind him.
+
+And now my heart beat like a hammer on an anvil. Had De Quelus
+forgotten me?
+
+Again the curtains parted. Marguerite came out, but this time entirely
+alone. As soon as she had passed the halberdiers, her eyes fell on me,
+but she gave no sign of recognition. When she came near me, she said,
+in a low tone, audible to me alone, and without seeming to be aware of
+my presence:
+
+"Follow me. Make no sign,--your life depends on it!"
+
+She passed on, and turned out of the gallery towards her own apartments.
+For a moment I stood motionless; then, with a kind of instinctive sense
+of what ought to be done, for all thought seemed paralyzed within me, I
+made as if to return to the chamberlains' apartments, from which I had
+come. Reaching the place where Marguerite's corridor turned off, I
+pretended for an instant to be at a loss which way to go; then I turned
+in the direction taken by Marguerite. If the halberdiers, at the entrance
+to the King's apartments, saw me do this, they could but think I had made
+a mistake, and it was not their duty to come after me. Should I seek to
+intrude whither I had no right of entrance, I should encounter guards to
+hinder me.
+
+Marguerite had waited for me in the corridor, out of sight of the
+halberdiers.
+
+"Quickly, monsieur!" she said, and glided rapidly on. She led me boldly
+to her own apartments and through two or three chambers, passing, on the
+way, guards, pages, and ladies in waiting, before whom I had the wit to
+assume the mien of one who was about to do some service for her, and had
+come to receive instructions. So my entrance seemed to pass as nothing
+remarkable. At last we entered a cabinet, where I was alone with her. She
+opened the door of a small closet.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "conceal yourself in this closet until I return. I
+am going to be present at the _petite levée_ of the King. Do not stir,
+for they will soon be searching the palace, with orders for your arrest.
+Had you not come after me, at once, two of the Scotch Guards would have
+found you where you waited. I slipped out while they were listening to
+the orders that my mother added to the King's."
+
+I fell on my knee, within the closet.
+
+"Madame," I said, trembling with gratitude, "you are more than a queen.
+You are an angel of goodness."
+
+"No; I am merely a woman who does not forget an obligation. I have heard,
+from one of my maids, who heard it from a friend of yours, how you
+knocked a too inquisitive person into the moat beneath my window. I had
+to burn the rope that was used that night, but I have since procured
+another, which may have to be put to a similar purpose!"
+
+And, with a smile, she shut the closet door upon me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+HOW LA TOURNOIRE ESCAPED FROM PARIS
+
+
+I heard the key turn in the lock, and the Queen of Navarre leave the
+cabinet. She took the key with her, so that a tiny beam of light came
+through the keyhole, giving my dark hiding-place its only illumination.
+
+I felt complete confidence both in Marguerite's show of willingness to
+save me, and in her ability to do so. All I could do was to wait, and
+leave my future in her hands.
+
+After a long time, I heard steps in the cabinet outside the closet door,
+the beam of light from the keyhole was cut off, the key turned again, the
+door opened, and Marguerite again stood before me.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "that we may talk without danger, remain in the
+closet. I will leave the door slightly ajar, thus, and will sit here,
+near it, with my 'Book of Hours,' as if reading aloud to myself. Should
+any one come, I can lock your door again and hide the key. Hark! be
+silent, monsieur!"
+
+And as she spoke, she shut the door, locked it, drew out the key, and
+sat down. I listened to learn what had caused this act of precaution.
+
+"Madame," I heard some one say, "M. de l'Archant desires, by order of the
+King, to search your apartments for a man who is to be arrested, and who
+is thought to have secreted himself somewhere in the palace."
+
+"Let him enter." said Marguerite. My heart stood still. Then I heard her
+say, in a tone of pleasantry:
+
+"What, M. le Capitain, is there another St. Bartholomew, that people
+choose my apartments for refuge?"
+
+"This time it is not certain that the fugitive is here," replied Captain
+de l'Archant, of the bodyguard. "He is known to have been in the palace
+this morning, and no one answering his description has been seen to leave
+by any of the gates. It was, indeed, a most sudden and mysterious
+disappearance; and it is thought that he has run to cover in some chamber
+or other. We are looking everywhere."
+
+"Who is the man?" asked Marguerite, in a tone of indifference.
+
+"M. de la Tournoire, of the French Guards."
+
+"Very well. Look where you please. If he came into my apartments, he must
+have done so while I attended the _petite levée_ of the King; otherwise I
+should have seen him. What are you looking at? The door of that closet?
+He could not have gone there without my knowledge. One of the maids
+locked it the other day, and the key has disappeared." Whereupon, she
+tried the door, herself, as if in proof of her assertion.
+
+"Then he cannot be there," said De L'Archant, deceived by her manner; and
+he took his leave.
+
+For some minutes I heard nothing but the monotonous voice of Marguerite
+as she read aloud to herself from her "Book of Hours."
+
+Then she opened my door again. Through the tiny crack I saw a part
+of her head.
+
+"Monsieur," she said to me, keeping her eyes upon the book, and retaining
+the same changeless tone of one reading aloud, "you see that you are
+safe, for the present. No one in the palace, save one of my maids, is
+aware that I know you or have reason to take the slightest interest in
+you. Your entrance to my apartments was made so naturally and openly that
+it left no impression on those who saw you come in. I have since sent
+every one of those persons on some errand, so that all who might happen
+to remember your coming here will suppose that you left during their
+absence. It was well that I brought you here; had I merely told you to
+leave the palace, immediately, you would not have known exactly how
+matters stood, and you would have been arrested at your lodgings, or on
+your way to your place of duty. By this time, orders have gone to the
+city gates to prevent your leaving Paris. Before noon, not only the
+body-guard, the Provost of the palace, and the French and Scotch Guards
+will be on the lookout for you, but also the gendarmes of the Provost of
+Paris. That is why we must be careful, and why stealth must be used in
+conveying you out of Paris."
+
+"They make a very important personage of me," I said, in a low tone.
+
+"Hush! When you speak imitate my tone, exactly, and be silent the instant
+I cough. Too many people are not to be trusted. That you may understand
+me, you must know precisely how matters stand. This morning my mother
+went to see the King in his chamber before he had risen. They discussed a
+matter which required my presence, and I was sent for. After we had
+finished our family council, my mother and I remained for a few words, in
+private, with each other. While we were talking, M. de Quelus came in and
+spoke for a while to the King. I heard the King reply, 'Certainly, as he
+preserved you to me, my friend.' De Quelus was about to leave the King's
+chamber, when the Duke of Guise was announced. De Quelus waited, out of
+curiosity, I suppose. M. de Guise was admitted. He immediately told the
+King that one of his gentlemen, M. de Noyard, had been killed by the
+Sieur de la Tournoire, one of the French Guards. I became interested, for
+I remembered your name as that of the gentleman who, according to my
+maid, had stopped the spy from whom I had had so much to fear. I
+recalled, also, that you had the esteem of my brother's faithful Bussy
+d'Amboise. My mother immediately expressed the greatest horror at De
+Noyard's death, with the greatest sympathy for M. de Guise; and she urged
+the King to make an example of you."
+
+I remembered, with a deep sigh, what De Rilly had told me,--that
+Catherine, to prevent the Duke of Guise from laying the death of De
+Noyard to her, would do her utmost to bring me to punishment.
+
+"The King looked at De Quelus," continued Marguerite. "That gentleman,
+seeing how things were, and, knowing that the King now wishes to seem
+friendly to the Duke, promptly said, 'This is fortunate. La Tournoire is
+now waiting for me in the red gallery; I suppose he wishes to beg my
+intercession. His presumption will be properly punished when the guards
+arrest him there.'"
+
+I turned sick, at this revelation of treachery. This was the gentleman
+who owed his life to me, and, in the first outburst of gratitude, had
+promised to obtain for me a captaincy!
+
+"The King," Marguerite went on, "at once ordered two of the Scotch Guards
+to arrest you. All this time, I had been standing at the window, looking
+out, as if paying no attention. My mother stopped the guards to give them
+some additional direction. No one was watching me. I passed carelessly
+out, and you know what followed. At the _petite levée_, I learned what
+was thought of your disappearance,--that you had seen the Duke of Guise
+enter the King's apartments, had guessed his purpose, and had
+precipitately fled."
+
+I did not dare tell his sister what I thought of a King who would,
+without hesitation or question, offer up one of his guards as a sacrifice
+to appease that King's greatest enemy.
+
+"And now, monsieur," said Marguerite, still seeming to read from her
+book, "the King and the Queen, my mother, will make every effort to have
+you captured, lest it be thought that they are secretly protecting the
+slayer of M. de Noyard. To convince you that you may rely on me,
+thoroughly, I will confess that it is not solely gratitude for your
+service the other night that induces me to help you,--although my
+gratitude was great. I had seen the spy rise out of the moat and all
+night I was in deadly fear that he had reached the guard-house and
+prevented my brother's flight, or, at least, betrayed me. When I became
+convinced that he had not done so, I thanked Heaven for the unknown
+cause that had hindered him. So you may imagine, when my maid told me
+that a friend of her lover's was that unknown cause, how I felt towards
+that friend."
+
+"Madame," I said, with emotion, "I ought to be content to die, having had
+the happiness of eliciting your gratitude!"
+
+"But I am not content that you should die, for I wish you to serve me
+once more, this time as a messenger to my brother, the Duke of Anjou, who
+is at Angers; to M. Bussy d'Amboise, who is with him; and to my husband,
+the King of Navarre, who is at Nerac, in Gascony. Thus it is to my own
+interest to procure your safe escape from Paris. And if you reach Nerac,
+monsieur, you cannot do better than to stay there. The King of Navarre
+will give you some post more worthy of you than that of a mere soldier,
+which you hold here."
+
+"I enlisted in the French Guards," I hastened to explain, "because I was
+unknown, and a Huguenot, and could expect no higher beginning."
+
+"For the very reason that you are a Huguenot, you can expect a great deal
+from the King of Navarre. His kingdom is little more than a toy kingdom,
+it is true, and his court is but the distant echo of the court of France,
+but believe me, monsieur,"--and here Marguerite's voice indicated a
+profound conviction,--"there is a future before my husband, the King of
+Navarre! They do not know him. Moreover, Paris will never be a safe
+place for you as long as the Duke of Guise lives. He does not forget!"
+
+I knew that Marguerite had excellent means of knowing the Duke of Guise,
+and I did not dispute her assertion. Moreover, I was now quite willing to
+go from the city wherein I was to have achieved such great things. My
+self-conceit had been shaken a little.
+
+"But if every exit is watched, how can I leave Paris?" I asked.
+
+"The exits were watched to prevent the going of my brother Anjou," said
+Marguerite, "but he went. He crossed the Seine with his chamberlain,
+Simier, and his valet, Cange, and went to the Abbey of St. Genevieve, of
+which the gardens are bounded by the city wall. The Abbot Foulon was
+secretly with us. M. Bussy had returned to Paris, and was waiting at the
+Abbey for Monsieur. They left Paris by way of the Abbey garden. The Abbot
+is a cautious soul, and to protect himself, in case of discovery, he had
+M. Bussy tie him to a chair, and after Monsieur and Bussy had joined
+their gentlemen, outside, and galloped off toward Angers, the Abbot came
+to the Louvre, and informed the King of Monsieur's escape. Now I suppose
+we shall have to make use of the same ingenious Foulon."
+
+"You know what is best, madame," I said.
+
+"But the Abbot of Saint Genevieve would not do for you, or even for me,
+what he would do for my brother Anjou. If he knew who you were, he might
+gladly seize an opportunity to offset, by giving you up, the suspicion
+that he had a hand in my brother's escape."
+
+"But if there is a suspicion of that, will they not watch the Abbey now,
+on my account?"
+
+"No; for you are not of my brother's party, and the Abbot would have no
+reason for aiding you. The question is how to make him serve us in
+this. I must now think and act, monsieur, and I shall have to lock you
+up again."
+
+She rose and did so, and again I was left to meditate. It is astonishing
+how unconcerned I had come to feel, how reliant on the ingenuity of this
+charming princess with the small head, the high, broad forehead, the
+burning, black eyes the curly blonde hair, the quizzically discrete
+expression of face.
+
+After some hours, during which I learned, again, the value of patience,
+the door was opened, and Marguerite thrust in some bread and cold meat,
+which she had brought with her own hand. I took it in silence, and
+stooped to kiss the hand, but it was too soon withdrawn, and the door
+locked again.
+
+When the door next opened, Marguerite stood before it with a candle in
+her hand. I therefore knew that it was night. In her other hand, she held
+four letters, three of them already sealed, the fourth open.
+
+"I have made all arrangements," she said, quickly. "This letter is to the
+Abbot Foulon. Read it."
+
+She handed it to me, and held the candle for me while I read:
+
+This gentleman bears private letters to Monsieur. As he was about to
+depart with them, I learned that the King had been informed of his
+intended mission, and had given orders for his arrest at the gate. I call
+upon you to aid him to leave Paris, as you aided my brother Anjou. His
+arrest would result in a disclosure of how that matter was conducted.
+
+MARGUERITE.
+
+I smiled, when I had finished reading the letter.
+
+"That letter will frighten Brother Foulon into immediate action," said
+Marguerite, "and he will be compelled to destroy it, as it incriminates
+him. Take these others. You will first go to Angers, and deliver this to
+the Duke of Anjou, this to M. de Bussy. Then proceed to Gascony with
+this, for the King of Navarre."
+
+"And I am to start?"
+
+"To-night. I shall let you down into the moat, as Monsieur was let down.
+You cannot cross the bridges of the Seine, lest you be stopped by guards
+at the entrances; therefore I have employed, in this matter, the same boy
+who served me the other night. Go immediately from the moat to that part
+of the quay which lies east of the Hôtel de Bourbon. You will find him
+waiting there in a boat. He will take you across the river to the Quay of
+the Augustines, and from there you will go alone to the Abbey. When
+Foulon knows that you come in my name, he will at once admit you. I am
+sorry that there is not time to have a horse waiting for you outside the
+fortifications."
+
+"Alas, I must leave my own horse in Paris! I must go forth as a deserter
+from the Guards!"
+
+"It is better than going to the executioner," said Marguerite, gaily.
+"For the last time, monsieur, become a bird in a cage. I am about to
+retire. As soon as all my people are dismissed, and the palace is asleep,
+I shall come for you."
+
+The door closed again upon my prison of a day. I placed the letters
+within my doublet, and looked to the fastening of my clothes, as a man
+who prepares for a race or contest. I straightened myself up in my place
+of concealment, and stood ready to attempt my flight from this Paris of
+which the King had made a cage to hold me.
+
+More waiting, and then came Marguerite, this time without a candle. She
+stood in the darkness, in a white _robe de nuit_, like a ghost.
+
+"Now, monsieur," she whispered.
+
+I stepped forth without a word, and followed her through the cabinet into
+a chamber which also dark. Three of Marguerite's maids stood there, in
+silence, one near the door, the other two at the window. One of the
+latter held a stout stick, to the middle of which was fastened a rope,
+which dangled down to the floor and lay there in irregular coils. I saw
+this by the little light that came through the window from the clouded
+night sky.
+
+Marguerite took the stick and held it across the window. It was longer
+than the width of the window, and hence its ends overlapped the chamber
+walls on either side.
+
+"Are you ready, monsieur?" asked Marguerite, in a whisper.
+
+"Ready, madame."
+
+Still holding the stick in position with one hand, she opened the window
+with the other, and looked out. She then drew in her head, and passed the
+loose end of the rope out of the window. Then she looked at me, and stood
+a little at one side, that I might have room to pass.
+
+Summoning a bold heart, I mounted the window-ledge, got on my knees with
+my face towards the chamber, caught the rope in both hands, lowered my
+head, and kissed one of the hands of the Queen of Navarre; then, resting
+my weight on my elbows, dropped my legs out of the window. Two more
+movements took my body after them, and presently I saw before me only the
+wall of the Louvre, and was descending the rope, hand after hand, the
+weight of my body keeping the stick above in position.
+
+When I was half-way down, I looked up. The wall of the palace seemed now
+to lean over upon me, and now to draw back from me. Marguerite was gazing
+down at me.
+
+At last, looking down, I saw the earth near, and dropped. I cast another
+glance upward. Marguerite was just drawing in her head, and immediately
+the rope's end flew out of my reach.
+
+"There's no going back the way I came!" I said, to myself, and strode
+along the moat to find a place where I could most easily climb out of it.
+Such a place I found, and I was soon in the street, alone, near where I
+had been wont to watch under the window of Mlle. d'Arency. I took a last
+look at the window of Marguerite's chamber. It was closed, and the rope
+had disappeared. My safety was no longer in the hands of the Queen of
+Navarre. She had pointed out the way for me, and had brought me thus far;
+henceforth, I had to rely on myself.
+
+I shivered in the cold. I had left my large cloak beside the dead body of
+M. de Noyard the previous night, and had worn to the Louvre, in the
+morning, only a light mantle by way of outer covering.
+
+"Blessings on the night for being so dark, and maledictions on it for
+being so cold!" I muttered, as I turned towards the river.
+
+I had reached the Hôtel de Bourbon, when I heard, behind me, the sound
+of footsteps in accord. I looked back. It was a body of several armed
+men, two of them bearing torches.
+
+Were they gendarmes of the watch, or were they guards of the King? What
+were they doing on my track, and had they seen me?
+
+Probably they had not seen me, for they did not increase their gait,
+although they came steadily towards me. The torches, which illuminated
+everything near them, served to blind them to what was at a distance
+from them.
+
+Fortunately, I had reached the end of the street, and so I turned
+eastward and proceeded along the quay, high walls on one side of me, the
+river on the other. It had been impossible for Marguerite to indicate to
+me the exact place at which the boat was to be in waiting. I did not
+think it best, therefore, to go to the edge of the quay and look for the
+boat while the soldiers were in the vicinity. They might come upon the
+quay at the moment of my embarking, and in that event, they would
+certainly investigate. So I walked on along the quay.
+
+Presently I knew, by the sound of their steps, that they, too, had
+reached the quay, and that they had turned in the direction that I had
+taken. I was still out of the range of their torchlight.
+
+"How far will I be made to walk by these meddlesome archers?" I asked
+myself, annoyed at this interruption, and considering it an incident of
+ill omen. I looked ahead, to see whither my walking would lead me.
+
+I saw another body of gendarmes, likewise lighted by torches, just
+emerging from a street's end, some distance in front of me. They turned
+and came towards me.
+
+I stopped, feeling for an instant as if all my blood, all power of
+motion, had left me. "Great God!" I thought, "I am caught between two
+rows of teeth."
+
+I must wait no longer to seek the boat. Would God grant that it might be
+near, that I might reach it before either troop should see me?
+
+I ran to the edge of the quay and looked over into the river. Of all the
+boats that lay at rest there, not one in sight was unmoored, not one
+contained a boatman!
+
+The two bodies of men were approaching each other. In a few seconds the
+two areas of torchlight would merge together. On one side were walls,
+frowning and impenetrable; on the other was the river.
+
+I took off my sword and dagger, on account of their weight, and dropped
+them with their sheathes into the river. I started to undo the fastening
+of my mantle, but the knot held; my fingers became clumsy, and time
+pressed. So I gave up that attempt, threw away my hat, let myself over
+the edge of the quay, and slid quietly into the icy water. I immediately
+dived, and presently came to the surface at some distance from the
+shore. I then swam for the middle of the river. God knows what powers
+within me awoke to my necessity. I endured the cold, and found strength
+to swim in spite of the clothes that impeded my movements and added
+immensely to my weight.
+
+Without looking back, I could tell, presently, from the talking on the
+quay that the two detachments of gendarmes had met and were standing
+still. Had either one descried me, there would have been loud or hurried
+words, but there were none. After a while, during which I continued to
+swim, the voices ceased, and I looked back. Two torches remained on the
+quay. The others were moving away, along the river. I then made a guess,
+which afterward was confirmed as truth. The boy sent by Marguerite had
+been discovered in his boat, had been taken to the guard-house, and had
+given such answers as led to the suspicion that he was waiting to aid
+the flight of some one. The captain of the Guard, thinking so to catch
+the person for whom the boatman waited, had sent two bodies of men out,
+one to occupy the spot near which the boy had been found, the other to
+patrol the river bank in search of questionable persons. I had arrived
+on the quay in the interval between the boy's capture and the arrival
+of the guards.
+
+My first intention was to reach the left bank and proceed to the Abbey of
+St. Genevieve. But it occurred to me that, although a boat could not pass
+down the river, out of Paris, at night, because of the chain stretched
+across the river from the Tour du Coin to the Tour de Nesle, yet a
+swimmer might pass under or over that chain and then make, through the
+faubourg outside the walls, for the open country. Neither Marguerite nor
+I had thought of this way of leaving Paris, because of the seeming
+impossibility of a man's surviving a swim through the icy Seine, and a
+flight in wet clothes through the February night. Moreover, there was the
+necessity of leaving my sword behind, and the danger of being seen by the
+men on guard at the towers on either side of the river. But now that
+necessity had driven me into the river, I chose this shorter route to
+freedom, and swam with the current of the Seine. In front of me lay a
+dark mass upon the water in the middle of the river. This was the barge
+moored there to support the chain which stretched, from either side,
+across the surface of the water, up the bank and to the Tour de Nesle on
+the left side, and to the Tour du Coin on the right. I might pass either
+to the right or to the left of this barge. Naturally, I chose to avoid
+the side nearest the bank from which I had just fled, and to take the
+left side, which lay in the shadow of the frowning Tour de Nesle.
+
+By swimming close to the left bank of the river, I might pass the
+boundary without diving under the chain, for the chain ascended obliquely
+from the water to the tower, leaving a small part of the river's surface
+entirely free. But this part was at the very foot of the tower, and if I
+tried passage there I should probably attract the attention of the guard.
+I was just looking ahead, to choose a spot midway between the barge and
+the left bank, when suddenly the blackness went from the face of things,
+a pale yellow light took its place, and I knew that the moon had come
+from behind the clouds. A moment later, I heard a cry from the right bank
+of the river, and knew that I was discovered. The shout came from the
+soldiers whom I had so narrowly eluded.
+
+I knew that it was a race for life now. The soldiers would know that any
+man swimming the Seine on a February night was a man whom they ought to
+stop. I did not look back,--the one thing to do was to pass the Tour de
+Nesle before the guards there should be put on the alert by the cries
+from the right bank. So on I swam, urging every muscle to its utmost.
+
+Presently came the crack of an arquebus, and spattering sounds behind me
+told me where the shot had struck the water. I turned to swim upon my
+left side, and so I got a glimpse of the quay that I had left. By the
+hurried movement of torches, I saw that the body that had gone to patrol
+the river bank was returning to rejoin the other force. Of the latter,
+several men were unmooring and manning a large boat. I turned on my back
+to have a look at the sky. I saw that very soon a heavy mass of black
+cloud would obscure the moon. At once I turned, and made towards the left
+bank, as if not intending to pass the chain. I could hear the men in the
+boat speaking rapidly at this, as if commenting on my change of course.
+Again looking back, I saw that the boat had pushed off, and was making
+towards that point on the left bank for which I seemed to be aiming. And
+now I had something else to claim my attention: the sound of voices came
+from the Tour de Nesle. I cast a glance thither. A troop of the watch was
+out at last, having taken the alarm from the movements on the right bank.
+This troop from the Tour de Nesle was moving towards the place for which
+I seemed to be making; hence it was giving its attention solely to that
+part of the left bank which was inside the fortifications. I felt a
+thrill of exultation. The moon passed under the clouds. I changed my
+course, and struck out for the chain. The light of the torches did not
+reach me. Both the boat from the right bank and the watch from the Tour
+de Nesle continued to move towards the same point. I approached the
+chain, took a long breath, dived, felt the stifling embrace of the waters
+for a season, rose to the surface, breathed the air of heaven again, and
+cast a look behind. The chain stretched between me and the distant boat
+and torches. I was out of Paris.
+
+I swam on, past the mouth of the Paris moat, and then made for the left
+bank. Exhaustion seized me as I laid hold of the earth, but I had
+strength to clamber up. I fell into a sitting posture and rested my tired
+arms and legs. What pains of cold and heat I felt I cannot describe.
+Presently, with returning breath, came the strength to walk,--a strength
+of which I would have to avail myself, not only that I might put distance
+between myself and Paris, but also to keep my wet clothes from freezing.
+I rose and started.
+
+Choosing not to follow the left bank of the Seine, which was unknown
+territory to me, I turned southeastward, in the hope of finding the road
+by which I had entered Paris. To reach this, I had but to traverse the
+Faubourg St. Germaine, along the line of the wall of Paris. I had already
+gone some distance along the outer edge of the moat, with the sleeping
+faubourg on my right, when I heard, behind me, the sound of men treading
+a bridge. I looked back. The bridge was that which crossed the moat from
+the Tour de Nesle.
+
+Had the guards at last discovered my way of eluding pursuit, and was I
+now being sought outside the walls? It appeared so, for, after crossing
+the moat, the troop divided into two bodies, one of which went toward the
+left bank below the chain, where I had landed, while the other came along
+the moat after me. I began to run. The moon came out again.
+
+"Look! he is there!" cried one of my pursuers. I heard their footsteps on
+the frozen earth,--they, too, were running. But I had the advantage in
+one respect: I had no weapons to impede me. The coming out of the moon
+did not throw me into despair; it only increased my determination to make
+good the escape I had carried so far. Though nature, herself, became the
+ally of the King of France and the Duke of Guise against me, I would
+elude them. I was filled with hate and resolution.
+
+Suddenly, as I ran, it occurred to me that I was a fool to keep so near
+the fortifications, for, at any of the gates, guards might emerge,
+alarmed by the shouts of my pursuers; and even as I thought this, I
+looked ahead and saw a number of halberdiers coming from the Porte St.
+Germaine. My situation was now as it had been on the quay, with this
+disadvantage, that I was seen by my enemies, and this advantage, that I
+had a way of retreat open on my right; and I turned and sped along a
+street of the Faubourg St. Germaine, towards the country.
+
+It matters not how many pursue you, if you can run faster and longer
+than the best of them all. Gradually, as I went, panting and plunging,
+onward, heedless of every obstacle, I increased the distance between me
+and the cries behind. Soon I was out of the faubourg, but I did not stop.
+I do not know what ground I went over, save that I went southward, or
+what village I presently went through, save that it was silent and
+asleep. I came upon a good road, at last, and followed it, still running,
+though a pain in my side warned me that soon I must halt. All my hunters
+had abandoned the chase now but one. Every time I half turned for a
+backward look, I saw this one coming after me. He had dropped his
+weapons, and so had enabled himself to keep up the chase. Not being
+weakened by a previous swim in the Seine, he was in better form than I,
+and I knew that he would catch me in time. And what then? He was a large
+fellow, but since the struggle must come, I would better let it come ere
+I should be utterly exhausted. So I pretended to stagger and lurch
+forward, and presently came to my knees and then prone upon the ground.
+With a grunt of triumph, the man rushed up to me, caught me by the collar
+of my doublet, and raised me from the ground. Hanging limp, and
+apparently senseless, I put him quite off his guard.
+
+"Stand up!" he cried. "Stomach of the Pope! Have I come so far only to
+take a dead man back?"
+
+While he was trying to make me stand, I suddenly gathered all my energy
+into my right arm and gave him a quick blow in the pit of the stomach.
+With a fearful howl, he let me go and fell upon his knees. A blow in the
+face then made him drop as limp as I had pretended to be; and I resumed
+my flight, this time at a more leisurely pace.
+
+And now all my physical powers seemed to be leaving me. Pains racked my
+head, and I seemed at one time to freeze and burn all over, at another
+time to freeze in one part and burn in another. I ached in my muscles, my
+bones, my stomach. At every step, I felt that it was vastly difficult to
+take another, that it would be ineffably sweet to sink down upon the
+earth and rest. Yet I knew that one taste of that sweetness meant death,
+and I was determined not to lose a life that had been saved from so great
+peril by so great effort. Despite all the soldiers at their command, the
+King of France and the Duke of Guise should not have their will with me.
+At last,--I know not how far from Paris,--I came to an inn. There were
+still a few crowns in my pocket. Forgetting the danger from which I had
+fled, not thinking that it might overtake me here, feeling only the need
+of immediate shelter and rest, I pounded on the door until I got
+admittance. I have never had any but the vaguest recollection of my
+installation at that inn, so near to insensibility I was when I fell
+against its door. I have a dim memory of having exchanged a few words
+with a sleepy, stolid host; of being glad of the darkness of the night,
+for it prevented him from noticing my wet, frozen, begrimed, bedraggled,
+half-dead condition; of my bargaining for the sole occupancy of a room;
+of his leading me up a winding stairway to a chamber; of my plunging from
+the threshold to the bed as soon as the door was opened. I slept for
+several hours. When I awoke, it was about noon, and I was very hungry and
+thirsty. My clothes had dried upon me, and I essayed to put them into a
+fairly presentable condition. I found within my doublet the four letters,
+which had been first soaked and then stiffened. The now useless one
+addressed to the Abbot Foulon, I destroyed; then I went down to the
+kitchen, and saw, with relief, that it was empty. I ate and drank
+hurriedly but ravenously. Again the fear of capture, the impulse to put
+Paris further and further behind, awoke in me. I bought a peasant's cap
+from the landlord, telling him that the wind had blown my hat into the
+river the previous night, and set forth. It was my intention to walk to
+La Tournoire, that my money might last. Afoot I could the better turn
+from the road and conceal myself in woods or fields, at any intimation
+of pursuit. At La Tournoire, I would newly equip myself with clothes,
+weapons, horse, and money; and thence I would ride to Angers, and finally
+away, southward, to Nerac.
+
+It was a fine, sunlit day when I stepped from the inn to take the road
+going southward. I had not gone four steps when I heard horses coming
+from the north. I sought the shelter of a shed at the side of the inn.
+There was a crack between two boards of this shed, through which I could
+look. The horses came into sight, ten of them. The riders were
+brown-faced men, all armed with swords and pistols, and most of them
+having arquebusses slung over their backs. Their leader was a large,
+broad, black-bearded man, with a very ugly red face, deeply scarred on
+the forehead, and with fierce black eyes. He and his men rode up to the
+inn, beat on the door, and, when the host came, ordered each a
+stirrup-cup. When the landlord brought the wine, the leader asked him
+some questions in a low tone. The landlord answered stupidly, shaking his
+head, and the horsemen turned to resume their journey. Just as they did
+so, there rode up, from the south, a merry-looking young cavalier
+followed by two mounted servants. This newcomer gaily hailed the
+ill-looking leader of the troop from the north with the words:
+
+"Ah, M. Barbemouche, whither bound, with your back towards Paris?"
+
+"For Anjou, M. de Berquin," growled the leader.
+
+"What!" said the other, with a grin. "Have you left the Duke of Guise to
+take service with the Duke of Anjou?"
+
+"No, M. le Vicomte," said the leader. "It is neither for nor against the
+Duke of Anjou that we go into his province. It is to catch a rascal who
+may be now on the way to hide on his estate there, and whom my master,
+the Duke of Guise, would like to see back in Paris."
+
+"Indeed? Who is it that has given the Duke of Guise so great a desire for
+his company?"
+
+"The Sieur de la Tournoire," replied Barbemouche. "Have you met him on
+the road?"
+
+"I have never heard of him, before," said the young cavalier,
+indifferently; and he rode on northward, while Barbemouche and his men
+silently took the opposite direction.
+
+He had never heard of me, as he said, nor I of him; yet he was to know
+much of me at a time to come, was the Vicomte de Berquin; and so was
+Barbemouche, the scowling man who was now riding towards Anjou in
+search of me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOW HE FLED SOUTHWARD
+
+
+When one is pursued, one's best course is to pursue the pursuer. So, when
+M. Barbemouche and his troop of Guisards had gone some distance down the
+road, I came forth from the shed and followed them, afoot, keeping well
+to the roadside, ready to vanish, should any of them turn back. It was
+evident that Barbemouche had little or no hope of catching me on the
+road. His plan was to surprise me at my château, or to lie there in wait
+for me. He had not shown any persistence in questioning the landlord. The
+latter, through laziness or sheer stupidity, or a fear of incurring blame
+for having sheltered a fugitive, had not given him any information that
+might lead him to suspect that the man he was seeking was so near. So I
+could follow, in comparative safety, into Anjou.
+
+Their horses constantly increased the distance between the Guise
+man-hunters and me, their desired prey. In a few hours they were out of
+sight. Thus they would arrive at La Tournoire long before I could. Not
+finding me there, they would probably put the servants under restraint,
+and wait in ambush for me. Several days of such waiting, I said to
+myself, would exhaust their patience; thereupon, they would give up the
+hope of my seeking refuge at La Tournoire, and would return to their
+master. My best course, therefore, would be to take my time on the road,
+to be on the alert on coming near La Tournoire, and to lie in hiding
+until I should be assured of their departure. In order to consume as much
+time as I could, and to wear out the enemy's patience without putting my
+own to the test, I decided to go first to Angers, deliver Marguerite's
+letters to Monsieur and Bussy d'Amboise, and then make for La Tournoire.
+Therefore, when, after a few days of walking, I came to LeMans, I did not
+turn southward, towards La Tournoire, but followed the Sarthe
+southwestward to Angers.
+
+On this journey, I skirted Rambouillet, Anneau, and the other towns in my
+way, and avoided large inns, for fear of coming up with the Guise party.
+I made my money serve, too, by purchasing cheaply the hospitality of
+farmers and woodmen. My youth had withstood well the experiences
+attending my escape from Paris, and enabled me to fare on the coarse food
+of the peasantry. There was plenty of healthy blood in my veins to keep
+me warm. Outside of my doublet, my shoulders had no covering but the
+light mantle, of which I was now glad that I had been unable to rid
+myself in my swim down the Seine. People who saw me, with my rumpled
+clothes and shapeless ruff and peasant's cap, probably took me for a
+younger son who had endured hard fortune.
+
+Such was my condition when I reached Angers and presented myself at the
+gate of the château wherein the Duke of Anjou had taken residence. There
+were many soldiers in and about the town, and horsemen were arriving and
+departing. I might not easily have obtained audience of the Duke, had not
+Bussy d'Amboise ridden up at the head of a small troop of horse, while I
+was waiting at the gate. I called out his name, and he recognized me,
+showing surprise at my appearance. I gave him his letter, and he had me
+conducted to the Duke, who was striding up and down the hall of the
+château. His mind was evidently preoccupied, perhaps already with fears
+as to the outcome of his rebellious step, and he did not look at me when
+he took the letter. His face brightened, though, when he saw the
+inscription in Marguerite's handwriting, and he went, immediately, to a
+window to read the letter. Bussy d'Amboise, who had dismounted and come
+in with me, now beckoned me to follow him, and when we were outside, he
+offered to supply me with a horse, money and arms, proposing that I enter
+the service of the Duke of Anjou. But I told him that I was bound for
+Gascony, and when he still offered me some equipment, I protested that I
+would refurnish myself at my own château; so he let me go my way. I could
+see that he was in haste to break the seal of Marguerite's letter.
+
+I had gone two leagues or more northward from Angers, and was about to
+turn eastward toward La Tournoire, when I saw a long and brilliant
+cortege approaching from the direction of Paris. Several men-at-arms
+were at the head, then came a magnificent litter, then a number of
+mounted ladies and gentlemen, followed by a host of lackeys, a number of
+mules with baggage, and another body of soldiers. This procession was
+winding down the opposite hillside. The head of it was already crossing
+the bridge over a stream that coursed through the valley toward the
+Sarthe. Slowly it came along the yellow road, the soldiers and gentlemen
+holding themselves erect on their reined-in horses, the ladies chatting
+or laughing, and looking about the country, the wind stirring the plumes
+and trappings, the sunlight sparkling on the armor and halberds of the
+guards, the sword-hilts of the gentlemen, the jewels and rich stuffs
+which shone in the attire of the riders. There were velvet cloaks and
+gowns; satin and silk doublets, breeches, and hose; there were cloth of
+gold and cloth of silver. Here and there the cavalcade passed clumps of
+trees that lined the road, and it was then like pictures you have seen
+in tapestry.
+
+Concealment had lately become an instinctive act with me, and I now
+sought refuge in the midst of some evergreen bushes, at a little distance
+from the road, from which I could view the cavalcade as it passed. On it
+came, the riders throwing back their shoulders as they filled their lungs
+with the bracing country air. The day was a mild one for the time of
+year, and the curtains of the litter were open. Inside sat a number of
+ladies. With a start, I recognized two of the faces. One was Mlle.
+d'Arency's; the other was the Queen-mother's. Mlle. d'Arency was
+narrating something, with a derisive smile, to Catherine, who listened
+with the slightest expression of amusement on her serene face.
+
+Catherine was going to try to persuade her son, the Duke of Anjou, to
+give up his insurrectionary designs and return to the court of his
+brother. I guessed this much, as I lay hidden in the bushes, and I
+heartily wished her failure. As for Mlle. d'Arency, I have no words for
+the bitterness of my thoughts regarding her. I grated my teeth together
+as I recalled how even circumstance itself had aided her. She could have
+had no assurance that in the combat planned by her I should kill De
+Noyard, or that he would not kill me, and yet what she had desired had
+occurred. When the troop had passed, I arose and started for La
+Tournoire. It seemed to me that a sufficient number of days had now
+passed to tire the patience of Barbemouche, and that I might now visit my
+château for the short time necessary.
+
+Nevertheless, it was with great caution that I approached the
+neighborhood in which all my life, until my departure for Paris, had been
+passed. At each bend of the road, I stopped and listened before going on.
+When I entered a piece of woods, I searched, with my eyes, each side of
+the road ahead, for a possible ambush. When I approached the top of a
+hill, it was with my ears on the alert for the sound of horsemen or of
+human feet, and, when I reached the crest, I found some spot where, lying
+on my stomach or crouching behind underbrush, I could survey the lowland
+ahead. And so, meeting no indication of peril, treading familiar and
+beloved ground, I at last reached the hill-top from which I would have my
+long-expected view of La Tournoire. It was just sunset; with beating
+heart, I hastened forward, risking something in my eagerness to look
+again upon the home of my fathers. I gazed down, ready to feast my eyes
+on the dear old tower, the peaceful garden, the--
+
+And I saw only a smouldering pile of ruins, not one stone of my château
+left upon another, save a part of the stables, before which, heeding the
+desolation no more than crows are repelled by the sight of a dead body,
+sat M. Barbemouche and two of his men throwing dice. Only one tree was
+left in the garden, and from one of its limbs hung the body of a man,
+through which a sword was thrust. By the white hair of the head, I knew
+the body was that of old Michel.
+
+So this was the beginning of the revenge of the Duke of Guise upon a poor
+gentleman for having eluded him; thus he demonstrated that a follower of
+his might not be slain with impunity. And the Duke must have had the
+assurance of the King that this deed would be upheld; nay, probably the
+King, in his design of currying favor with his powerful subject, had
+previously sanctioned this act, or even suggested it, that the Duke might
+have no ground for suspecting him of protecting me.
+
+Grief at the sight of the home of my youth, the house of my ancestors,
+laid low, gave way to rage at the powerful ones to whom that sight was
+due,--the Duke who despoiled me, the King who had not protected me, the
+Queen as whose unknowing tool I had made myself liable to this outrage.
+As I stood on that hill-top, in the dusk, and looked down on the ruins of
+my château, I declared myself, until death, the enemy to that Queen, that
+Duke, and that King,--most of all to that King; for, having saved the
+life of his favorite, having taken humble service in his Guards, and
+having received from him a hinted promise of advancement, I had the
+right to expect from him a protection such as he gave every day to
+worthless brawlers.
+
+At nightfall, I went to the hovel of a woodman, on whose fidelity I knew
+I could depend. At my call, he opened the door of his little hut, and
+received me with surprise and joy. With him was a peasant named
+Frolichard.
+
+"Then you are alive, monsieur?" cried the woodman, closing the door after
+me, and making for me a seat on his rude bed.
+
+"As you see," I replied. "I have come to pass the night in your hut.
+To-morrow I shall be off for the south."
+
+"Alas, you have seen what they have done! I knew nothing of it until
+Michel was dead, and the servants came fleeing through the woods. They
+have gone, I know not where, and the tenants, too. All but Frolichard. As
+yet, the soldiers have not found this hut."
+
+By questioning him, I learned that M. Barbemouche had denounced me as a
+heretic and a traitor (I could see how my desertion from the French
+Guards might be taken as implying intended rebellion and treason), and
+had told Michel that my possessions were confiscated. What authority he
+pretended to have, I could not learn. It was probably in wrath at not
+finding me that he had caused the destruction of my château, to make
+sure that it might not in any circumstances shelter me again.
+
+I well knew that, whatever my rights might be, my safety lay far from La
+Tournoire; and so did my means of retaliation.
+
+"If I had but a horse and a sword left!" I said.
+
+"There is a horse which I have been using, in my shed," replied the
+forester; "and I made one of the servants leave here the swords that he
+was carrying away in his flight. Moreover, he had filled a bag with
+crowns from Michel's strong box. So you need not leave entirely
+unprovided."
+
+I thanked the faithful fellow as he brought forth the swords and the
+little bag of gold pieces from under his bed, and then I lay down to
+sleep. The peasant Frolichard was already dozing in a corner by the fire.
+
+I was awakened suddenly by a shake of the shoulder. The woodman stood by
+the bed, with every sign of alarm on his face.
+
+"Monsieur," he whispered, "I fear you would best eat and begone. That
+cursed rascal, Frolichard, left while I was asleep. I am sure that the
+devil has been too much for him. He has probably gone to tell the
+soldiers that you are here. Eat, monsieur!"
+
+I sprang up, and saw that the forester had already prepared some
+porridge for me.
+
+"It is nearly dawn," he added, as I looked around I swallowed a few
+mouthfuls of the porridge, and chose the better one of the swords. Then I
+took up the little bag of golden crowns, and went out to mount horse. The
+animal that the woodman held for me was a sorry one, the ugliest and
+oldest of my stable.
+
+Yet I rode blithely through the woods, happy to have again a horse
+under me, and a sword at my side. I knew that the forester could take
+care of himself as long as there should remain woods to hunt in or
+streams to fish in.
+
+When I reached, the road it was daylight. I made for the hill-top, and
+stopped for a last look at my fields. I did not have to hesitate as to my
+course. In my doublet was Marguerite's letter, to be borne to the King of
+Navarre. Yet there was another reason why I should not attach myself to
+the Duke of Anjou, although he was already in rebellion against the King:
+the look on his face, when I saw him at Angers, had convinced me that he
+would not hold out. Should Catherine not win him back to allegiance, his
+own weakness would. I would place my hopes in the future of Henri of
+Navarre. Nothing could, as yet, be predicted with assurance concerning
+this Prince, who, being the head of the house of Bourbon, which
+constituted the younger branch of the Royalty of France, was the highest,
+by blood, of the really Huguenot leaders. Some, however, whispered that
+there was more in him than appeared in his amours and his adventures of
+the chase.
+
+I was just about to turn my horse's head towards the south, when a man
+came out of my half-ruined stable and looked up at me. Instantly he
+called to some one in the stable, and two or three other soldiers came
+out. I recognized the burly form of one of these as that of Barbemouche.
+Another figure, a limp and cringing one, was that of Frolichard the
+peasant. Barbemouche gave some orders, and two or three brought horses
+out of the stable. I knew what all this meant.
+
+I turned my horse, and galloped off towards the south. In a few moments I
+heard the footfalls of galloping horses behind me. Again I was the object
+of a chase.
+
+When I had gone some distance, I looked back and saw my hunters coming,
+ten of them, down the hillside behind me. But the morning was bracing,
+and my horse had more life in him than at first sight appeared. I put
+another hill behind me, but in time my followers appeared at its crest.
+Now they gained on me, now I seemed to leave them further behind. All day
+this race continued. I bore directly southward, and hence passed far east
+of Angers. I soon made up my mind that M. Barbemouche was a man of
+persistence. I did not stop anywhere for food or drink. Neither did M.
+Barbemouche. I crossed the Loire at Saumur. So did he.
+
+"Very well," I said. "If my horse only holds out, I will lead you all the
+way to Gascony."
+
+Once I let my horse eat and rest; twice I let him drink.
+
+At nightfall, the sound of the hoofs behind me gradually died away. My
+own beast was foaming and panting, so I reined in to a walk. Near Loudun,
+I passed an inn whose look of comfort, I thought, would surely tempt my
+tired pursuers to tarry, if, indeed, they should come so far. Some hours
+later, coming to another and smaller inn, and hearing no sound of pursuit
+behind me, I decided to stop for a few hours, or until the tramp of
+horses' feet should disturb the silence of the night.
+
+The inn kitchen, as I entered, was noisy with shouts and curses. One
+might have expected to find a whole company of soldiers there, but to my
+surprise, I saw only one man. This was a robust young fellow, with a big
+round face, piercing gray eyes, fiercely up-sprouting red mustache, and a
+double--pointed reddish beard. There was something irresistibly
+pugnacious, and yet good-natured, in the florid face of this person. He
+sat on a bench beside a table, forcibly detaining an inn maid with his
+left arm, and holding a mug of wine in his right hand. Beside him, on the
+bench, lay a sword, and in his belt was a pistol. He wore a brown cloth
+doublet, brown breeches, and green hose.
+
+"A thousand devils!" he roared, as I entered. "Must a fighting man stand
+and beg for a kiss from a tavern wench? I don't believe in any of your
+painted saints, wooden or ivory, but I swear by all of them, good-looking
+girls are made to be hugged, and I was made to hug them! Here, you ten
+times damned dog of a landlord, bring me another bottle of your filthy
+wine, or I'll make a hole in your barrel of a body! Be quick, or I'll
+roast you on your own spit, and burn down your stinking old inn!" At this
+moment he saw me, as I stood in the doorway. "Come, monsieur!" he cried,
+"I'm not fastidious, curse me, and you might drink with me if you were
+the poxy old Pope himself! Here, wench, go and welcome the gentleman with
+a kiss!" And he shoved the girl towards me and began to pound, in sheer
+drunken turbulence, on the table with his mug.
+
+I left the kitchen to this noisy guest, and took a room up-stairs, where
+the landlord presently brought me light and supper.
+
+I paid in advance for my night's lodging, and arranged to have access, at
+any time during the night, to the shed in which was my horse, so that at
+the least alarm I might make hasty flight. I opened my window, that the
+sound of horses on the road might be audible to me from a distance.
+Then, having eaten, I put out my light and lay down, in my clothes, ready
+on occasion to rise and drop from the window, take horse, and be off.
+
+From the kitchen, below, came frequent sounds emitted or caused by the
+tipsy young Hercules in the brown doublet. Now he bellowed for wine, now
+he thundered forth profanity, now he filled the place with the noise of
+Gargantuan laughter; now he sang at the top or the depth of his big, full
+voice; then could be heard the crash of furniture in collision. These
+sounds continued until far into the night.
+
+I had intended not to sleep, but to lie with ears alert. I could not yet
+bring myself to feel that I was safe from pursuit. So used had I become
+to a condition of flight, that I could not throw off the feeling of being
+still pursued. And yet, I had hoped that Barbemouche would tire of the
+chase. My plan had not been to confuse him as to my track, by taking
+by-roads or skirting the towns, but merely to outrun him. Because I
+wished to reach Nerac at the earliest possible moment, and because the
+country was new to me and I desired not to lose my way, I had held to the
+main road southward, being guided in direction by the sun or the stars.
+Moreover, had I made detours, or skirted cities, Barbemouche might have
+gone ahead by the main road and lain in wait further south for my coming
+up, for Frolichard, the peasant, had heard me tell the woodman my
+destination. So, in that first day's flight, I had trusted to the speed
+of my horse, and now there was some reason to believe that Barbemouche
+had abandoned pursuit, as the soldiers had done who chased me from Paris.
+And yet, it seemed to me that this ugly Barbemouche was not one to give
+up his chosen prey so soon.
+
+Despite my intention, I feel asleep, and when I awoke it was daylight. I
+sprang up and went cautiously down-stairs, sword in hand. But there was
+no danger. Only the host and a servant were stirring in the inn. I made a
+rapid breakfast, and went to see my horse fed. Before the shed, I saw the
+young man who had made such drunken tumult in the kitchen the previous
+night. He was just about to mount his horse; but there was now nothing of
+the roysterer about his look or manner. He had restored neatness to his
+attire, and his expression was sedate and humble, though strength and
+sturdiness were as apparent in him as ever.
+
+"A fine morning," I said, as the inn-servant brought out my own horse.
+
+"Yes, monsieur," said the young man, in a very respectful tone. "A
+sunrise like this is a gift from the good God."
+
+"Yet you look pensive."
+
+"It is because I know how little I deserve such mercy as to live on such
+a day," answered the man, gravely; and he bowed politely, and rode
+southward.
+
+This devoutness and humility impressed me as being strangely out of
+harmony with the profanity and turbulence of the night before, yet the
+one seemed no less genuine than the other.
+
+My horse fed, I mounted and rode after the sturdy youth.
+
+Not far from Mirebeau, happening to turn my head towards the north, I
+saw, in the distance, a group of horsemen approaching at a steady gallop.
+From having looked back at this group many times during the preceding
+day, I had stamped certain of its figures on my memory, and I now
+recognized it as Barbemouche and his party.
+
+"Another day of it," I said, to myself, and spurred my horse to a gallop.
+
+An increase in their own pace told me that they in turn had
+recognized me.
+
+"This grows monotonous," I mused. "If there were only fewer of them, or
+more of me, I would make a stand."
+
+Presently I came up with the young man in the brown doublet. He stared at
+me with a look of inquiry as I passed at such speed; then he looked back
+and saw the distant horsemen coming on at equal speed. He appeared to
+realize the situation at a glance. Without a word, he gave his own horse
+a touch of the spur, with the manifest intention of keeping my company in
+my flight.
+
+"You have a good horse," I said to him, at the same time watching him out
+of the corner of my eye, seeking some indication that might show whether,
+on occasion, he would stand as my friend or my enemy.
+
+"Better than yours, I fear, monsieur," he replied.
+
+"Mine has been hard run," I said, lightly.
+
+Presently he looked back, and said:
+
+"Ah, the devil! Your friends, back there, are sending out an advance
+guard. Three of them are making a race of it, to see which shall have the
+honor of first joining you."
+
+I looked back. It was true; three of them were bearing down with
+great speed, evidently on fresh horses. Barbemouche remained back
+with the rest.
+
+I urged on my horse.
+
+"It is useless, monsieur," said the young man at my side. "Your beast is
+no match for theirs. Besides, you will not find a better place to make a
+stand than the bridge yonder." And he pointed ahead to a bridge that
+crossed a narrow stream that lay between high banks.
+
+"What, face ten men?" I said.
+
+"There are only three. The thing may be over before the others come up."
+
+I laughed. "Well, admitting that, three against one--" I began.
+
+"Oh, there will be two of us," replied the other.
+
+My heart gave a joyous bound, but I said, "I cannot expect you to risk
+your life in my quarrel."
+
+And he answered, "By God! I myself have a quarrel with every man that
+wears on his hat the white cross of the Guises!" His grey eyes flashed,
+his face became red with wrath. "Let us stop, monsieur."
+
+We stopped and turned our horses on the narrow bridge. We both drew sword
+and waited. My new-found ally threw back his hat, and I saw across his
+forehead a deep red scar, which I had not before noticed.
+
+The three men rode up to the attack. They all stopped suddenly before
+they reached the bridge.
+
+"Give up your sword and come with us, monsieur," cried one of them to me.
+
+I said nothing. "Go to hell!" roared my companion. And with that he
+charged with the fury of a wild beast, riding between two of the
+horsemen, and thrusting his sword through the eye and into the brain of
+one before either could make the least show of defence. His horse coming
+to a quick stop, he drew his weapon out of the slain man's head and
+turned on the other. While there was some violent fencing between the
+two, and while the dead man's horse reared, and so rid itself of its
+bleeding burden, the third horseman urged his horse towards me. I turned
+the point of his rapier, whereupon he immediately backed, and then came
+for me again just as I charged on him. Each was too quick to meet the
+other's steel with steel. His sword passed under my right arm and my
+sword under his right arm, and we found ourselves linked together, arm to
+arm. I saw him reach with his left hand for his dagger, and I grew sick
+at the thought that I had no similar weapon with which to make matters
+even. He plucked the dagger from his belt, and raised it to plunge it
+into my back; but his wrist was caught in a clutch of iron. My man in the
+brown doublet, in backing his horse to make another charge on his still
+remaining opponent, had seen my antagonist's motion, and now, with a
+twist of his vigorous fingers, caused the dagger to fall from a limp arm.
+Then my comrade returned to meet his own enemy, and I was again on equal
+terms with mine. We broke away from each other. I was the quicker to
+right myself, and a moment later he fell sidewise from his horse, pierced
+through the right lung.
+
+I backed my horse to the middle of the bridge, and was joined by my
+stalwart friend, who had done for his second man with a dagger thrust
+in the side.
+
+"Whew!" he panted, holding his dripping weapons on either side of him, so
+as not to get any more blood on his clothes. Then a grin of satisfaction
+appeared on his perspiring face, and he said:
+
+"Three Guisards less to shout '_Vive la messe_.' It's a pity we haven't
+time to exchange horses with these dead whelps of hell. But the others
+are coming up, and we ought to rest awhile."
+
+We sheathed our weapons and spurred on our horses, again southward.
+Looking back, soon, we saw that the other pursuers, on coming up to their
+dead comrades, had chosen first to look after the belongings of the
+latter rather than to avenge their deaths. And while Barbemouche and his
+men, of whom there were now six, tarried over the dead bodies, we made
+such good speed that at last we were out of sight of them.
+
+My first use of my returned breath was to thank my stalwart ally.
+
+He received my gratitude with great modesty, said that the Lord had
+guided his arm in the fight, and expressed himself with a humility that
+was in complete contrast to the lion-like fury shown by him in the
+combat. Judging him, from his phrases, to be a Huguenot, I asked whether
+he was one, by birth, as I was.
+
+"By birth, from my mother," he replied. "My father was a Catholic, and in
+order to win my mother, he pretended to have joined the reformers. That
+deceit was the least of his many rascally deeds. He was one of the chosen
+instruments of the devil,--a violent, roystering cut-throat, but a good
+soldier, as was shown in Italy and at St. Quentin, Calais, Jarnac, and
+elsewhere. My mother, though only the daughter of an armorer's workman,
+was, in goodness, an angel. I thank God that she sometimes has the upper
+hand in me, although too often it is my father that prevails in me." He
+sighed heavily, and looked remorseful.
+
+In subsequent talk, as we rode, I learned that he was a soldier who had
+learned war, when a boy, under Coligny. He had fought at his father's
+side against Italians, Spanish, and English, and against his father in
+civil war. His father had died of a knife-wound, received, not in battle,
+but from a comrade in a quarrel about a woman, during the sacking of a
+town. His mother, when the news of the fate of her unworthy spouse
+reached the village where she lived, died of grief. The son was now
+returning from that village, which was near Orleans, and whither he had
+been on a visit to his relations, to Gascony, where he had been employed
+as a soldier in the small army with which Henri of Navarre made shift to
+garrison his towns.
+
+I told him that I hoped to find a place in that little army.
+
+"You do well, monsieur," said the young soldier, whose intelligence and
+native dignity made him, despite his peasant origin, one with whom a
+gentleman might converse. "Some day they will learn in France of what
+stuff the little Bearnaise King is made. I have stood watching him when
+he little supposed that a common soldier might take note of such things,
+and I have seen on his face the sign of great intentions. More goes on
+under that black hair than people guess at,--he can do more than drink
+and hunt and make love and jest and swear."
+
+He was in no haste to reach Gascony, he said, and so he intended to visit
+a former comrade who dwelt in a village some leagues from my road. In the
+afternoon, coming to the by-road which led to this place, he left me,
+with the words:
+
+"My name is Blaise Tripault, and should it happen that you ever enroll a
+company for the King of Navarre--"
+
+"The first name on my list shall be Blaise Tripault," I replied, smiling,
+and rode on, alone.
+
+Whenever I heard riders behind me, I looked back. At evening I reached an
+eminence which gave a good view of the country through which I had
+passed. Two groups of horsemen were visible. One of these consisted of
+seven men. The chief figure was a burly one which I could not mistake,--
+that of Barbemouche.
+
+"_Peste_!" I muttered, frowning. "So they are following me into Poitou!
+Am I never to have any rest?"
+
+I took similar precautions that night to those which I had taken the
+night before. The next day, about noon, emerging out of a valley, I saw
+my pursuers on the top of the hill at my rear. Plainly, they intended to
+follow me to the end of the earth. I hoped they would stop in Poitiers
+and get drunk, but they tarried there no more than I. And so it was,
+later, at Civray and at Angoulême.
+
+Every day I got one or two glimpses of this persistent pack of hounds.
+Every night I used like measures to make sudden flight possible. One
+night the sound for which I kept my ears expectant reached them,--the
+sound of horses' hoofs on the hard road. I dropped from the open window
+of the inn at which I was, led out my horse from the shed, and made off,
+southward. The noise made by their own horses prevented my pursuers from
+hearing that made by mine. Presently the clatter abruptly ceased,
+whereupon I knew that they had stopped at the inn which I had left. My
+relief at this was offset by chagrin at a discovery made by me at the
+same moment: I had left my bag of golden crowns in the inn chamber. I
+dared not now go back for them. Well, Nerac could not be far away, now. I
+had traversed a good part of Guienne. The Dordogne was behind me.
+
+I was glad that I had taken better care of the letter from Marguerite to
+her husband than I had taken of my crowns. Fortunately it had not left
+my doublet. I felt that my future depended on the delivery of that
+letter. There could be no doubt that Marguerite had recommended me in it
+with a favor that would obtain for me both protection and employment from
+the King of Navarre.
+
+Daylight came, and with it hunger. I stopped at an inn, and was about to
+dismount, when I remembered that I had no money.
+
+I could do without food for a time, but my horse could not. I told the
+landlord,--a short, heavy, square-faced, small-eyed man,--that I would,
+later, send him payment for a breakfast. He looked at me with a
+contempt that even a peasant dare show to a gentleman, when the
+gentleman has no money.
+
+"Very well, then," I said. "I will leave you security."
+
+He looked more respectful at this, and made a quick examination of me
+with his eyes.
+
+"Unless you have some jewelry about you," he said, "your sword is the
+only thing that I would accept."
+
+"You clod," I exclaimed, in a rage. "I ought to give you my sword through
+the body."
+
+"A gentleman ought not to demand, for nothing, that which a poor man
+makes his living by selling," answered the host, turning to go in.
+
+I looked down at my horse, which had already shown an endurance beyond
+its stock, and which now turned its eyes, hungrily, towards the inn
+stable. At the same time I thought I heard the sound of hoofs, away
+northward. After all, the delivery of the letter depended more on the
+horse than on my sword, for one horse is more likely to beat seven horses
+than one sword to beat seven swords.
+
+To try whether it were possible, I made one movement, as if to hand over
+the weapon. But my arm refused. As well try to pluck the heart out of my
+body, and give it to the dog's keeping. Rather kill the man on his own
+threshold and, like a brigand, help myself. But I chose to be merciful.
+
+"Be quick, then," I said. "Bring me some wine, and feed my horse as it
+stands here. I could take, for nothing, what you ask such high
+security for."
+
+"And I have three strong sons," said the innkeeper, impudently. But he
+brought the wine, and ordered one of his sons to bring oats for the
+horse. So we made our breakfast there, horse and man, standing before the
+inn door. When the animal had licked up the last grain, I suddenly hurled
+the heavy wine-mug at the innkeeper's head, wheeled my horse about, and
+galloped off, shouting back to the half-stunned rascal, "Your three sons
+must be swift, as well as strong, to take my sword." And I rode on,
+southward.
+
+"Will the Guisards follow me over this river, also?" I asked myself, as
+I crossed the Garonne.
+
+In the afternoon, I stopped for another look backward. There was not a
+soul to be seen on the road.
+
+"Adieu, M. Barbemouche!" I said. "I believe you have grown tired of
+me at last."
+
+At that instant a group appeared at the distant turn of the road. I
+counted them. Seven! And they were coming on at the speed of the wind.
+
+I patted my horse on his quivering neck. "Come, old comrade," I said.
+"Now for one last, long race. In your legs lies my future."
+
+He obeyed the spur, and his increased pace revealed a slight lameness,
+which had not before been perceptible.
+
+"We have only to reach some Gascon town," I said to him. "The soldiers
+of the King of Navarre will protect the bearer of a letter to him from
+their Queen."
+
+I turned in my saddle, and looked back. They were gaining ground.
+
+"They know that this is their last chance," I said. "We are near the
+country held by the King of Navarre, and so they make a last effort
+before giving up the chase. On, my staunch fellow! You shall have fine
+trappings, and shall fare as well as your master, for this!"
+
+The animal maintained its pace as if it understood; but it panted
+heavily and foamed, its eyes took on a wild look, and its lameness
+increased.
+
+"They are coming nearer, there is no doubt of it!" I told myself. "Have I
+escaped from the Louvre and from Paris, led my enemies a chase through
+five provinces, to be taken when refuge is at last in sight? Shall
+Marguerite's letter to Henri of Navarre fall into the hands of those who
+wish him no good?"
+
+Tears gushed from my eyes as I thought of the cruelty of destiny, which
+had sustained me so far in order to betray me at the end. I took the
+letter from my doublet, and held it ready to tear into pieces should I
+indeed be caught. Although Marguerite was thought to have secrets with
+the Duke of Guise, it was likely that she would not wish him to know what
+she might write to her husband, whose political ally she always was.
+
+And now my horse dropped its head lower at each bound forward. The seven
+horses behind showed no sign of tiring.
+
+"Thank God, I kept my sword! I can kill one of them, at least!"
+
+I no longer looked back. Blindly forward I went, impelled only to defer
+the end to the last possible moment. God knew what might yet intervene.
+
+Suddenly my horse gave a snort of pain, stumbled blindly, and fell to his
+knees. He slid forward a short distance, carried on by his impetus, and
+then turned over on his side, and lay quivering. I had taken my feet from
+the stirrups at his stumble, so that I now stood over his body.
+
+I heard the loud clank of the hoofs behind. I stepped over the horse, and
+drew my sword. A short distance ahead was a clump of scrubby pines; there
+I would turn and make my stand.
+
+Then was the time when I might have torn up the letter, had I not
+suddenly forgotten my intention. I held it clutched in my hand,
+mechanically, as I ran. I was conscious of only one thing,--that death
+was bearing down on me. The sound of the horses' footfalls filled my
+ears. Louder and louder came that sound, drowning even the quick panting
+of my breath. Again came that aching in the side, that intolerable pain
+which I had felt in my flight from Paris.
+
+I pressed my hand to my side, and plunged forward. Suddenly the road
+seemed to rise and strike me in the face. I had fallen prostrate, and now
+lay half-stunned on the earth. I had just time to turn over on my back,
+that I might face my pursuers, when the foremost horse came up.
+
+"Well, my man," cried the rider, in a quick, nervous voice, as I looked
+stupidly up at his short, sturdy figure, hooked nose, keen eyes, black
+hair and beard, and shrewd, good-natured face, "did you think the devil
+was after you, that you ran so hard? _Ventre Saint Gris_! You would make
+an excellent courier."
+
+"I am a courier," I answered, trying to rise. "I ran so fast that I might
+soon reach Nerac with this letter for your majesty."
+
+And I held the letter out to King Henri of Navarre.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+HOW HE ANNOYED MONSIEUR DE LA CHATRE
+
+
+I had never seen Henri of Navarre, before, but had often heard him
+described, and no other man exactly fitted his description. His favorite
+oath confirmed my recognition.
+
+He took the letter, saying, "It looks as if it had been through fire
+and flood"
+
+"I had to swim the Seine with it," I said.
+
+He read it, sitting on his horse in the middle of the road, I standing
+beside the horse, the other six riders eyeing me curiously.
+
+Having finished it, he looked at me with some interest and approval. "And
+what made you run from us?" he asked.
+
+"Sire, there were seven horsemen left in the party that has been chasing
+me for some days past. Counting seven in your group, I too quickly
+assumed that it was the same."
+
+The King of Navarre laughed, and ordered one of the lackeys to give me
+his horse and proceed afoot to the nearest town. When I was mounted, he
+asked me to ride beside him.
+
+"The speed at which you rode excited our curiosity," he explained, "and
+that is why we gave chase."
+
+I learned, later, that Henri and three of his gentlemen, with three
+valets, had been inspecting the defences of one of his Gascon towns, and
+were now returning to Nerac. He sometimes traversed those parts of his
+French provinces where his authority as governor was recognized, without
+any state, and often without a guard.
+
+In reply to his questions, I said that I preferred a military position to
+a civil one, but confessed my inexperience. He told me that I might serve
+as ensign in one of his regiments, at Nerac, until I should acquire some
+knowledge of military affairs, when he would give me a captain's
+commission, and I might enlist a company.
+
+I told him of the destruction of my château, and the loss of my money. He
+thereupon required me to accept the horse on which I rode, and a purse
+which one of the valets handed over to me. As he then beckoned one of his
+gentlemen to his side, I fell back. We entered Nerac in the evening. As
+soon as the gate was passed, the King and his followers turned towards
+the château, and I took the main street to an inn.
+
+The King of Navarre kept his promises. I had been ensign for only a few
+months, stationed at Nerac, when he sent for me, and informed me that he
+intended to augment his army, and that he would maintain a company of my
+raising. He caused a captain's commission to be given to me before I left
+the château. I walked thence, down the avenue of fine trees, which were
+now in full leaf, before the château, debating with myself the
+possibility of easily raising a company. When I reached the square before
+the inn, I heard from within a human roar which had a familiar sound.
+Entering, I found that it proceeded from the stentorian lungs of Blaise
+Tripault, the young soldier who had aided my flight to Gascony by killing
+two Guisards in my defence. He was sitting at a table, very drunk.
+
+"Ah, Blaise Tripault," I cried, "I see that your father prevails
+in you now!"
+
+He recognized me, threw his bottle of wine out of the open window, and
+made an attempt at sobriety.
+
+"You have been long on the way to Nerac," I went on, "but you come just
+in time to keep your promise. I enroll you first in the company which the
+King has commissioned me to raise."
+
+"I thank you, monsieur," he replied. "I will now go to bed, and will come
+to you as soon as I am sober."
+
+He was of great use to me in enlisting the company. He scoured the
+country daily, and brought me recruits. When the roll was complete, I was
+ordered to remain at Nerac for a time. Subsequently, I was sent to
+garrison different towns, one after another, not only in Gascony and
+parts of Guienne but also in Henri's principality of Béarn and his little
+kingdom of Navarre.
+
+I am proud to have had a share in the constant efforts made by Henri of
+Navarre, while the world thought him given over entirely to gallantry at
+his small but agreeable court, to increase his territory and his
+resources against the time when he was to strike the great blows that no
+one yet dreamed he was meditating. Thanks to the unwillingness, or
+inability, of the King of France to put him in actual possession of his
+governorship of Guienne, we had the pleasant task, now and then, of
+wresting some town from the troops of the League or of Henri III. Our
+Henri had to take by force the places ceded to him by the King of France
+as Marguerite's dower, but still withheld from him. One of these was
+Cahors, in the taking of which I fought for days in the streets, always
+near our Henri, where the heart of the fighting was. It was there that
+Blaise Tripault covered himself with glory and the blood of the enemy,
+and was openly praised by the King.
+
+But my life in the south had other pleasures besides those of fighting.
+As Henri's was a miniature kingdom, so was his court, at cheerful Nerac
+or sombre Pau, a miniature court; yet it had its pretty women and
+gallant gentlemen. Gaiety visited us, too, from the greater world. When
+the King of France and the Queen-mother thought it to their interest to
+seem friendly to our Henri, they ordered Marguerite to Nerac. Catherine
+herself came with her, bringing the Flying Squadron, that Henri and his
+Huguenots might be seduced into the onesided treaties desired by her.
+Catherine was one of the few, I think, who foresaw Henri's possible
+future. Her astrologer, Cosmo Ruggieri, had predicted that he would
+succeed her three sons to the throne of France, and I suppose she could
+not endure the thought of this. Better a Guise than a Bourbon, the son
+of Jeanne d'Albret. But our Henri might be useful to her as an
+instrument to check the Duke of Guise in any attempted usurpation
+during the life of her son. Therefore, Henri was to be cajoled while he
+was being restrained. But he was not fooled into disadvantageous
+compacts or concessions. All that he lost was a single town, which
+Catherine caused to be attacked while he was at a fête; but he learned
+of this at the fête, and retaliated by taking a town of the French
+King's on the same night.
+
+I was presented to Catherine while she was at Nerac. No allusion was made
+to the circumstances which had caused my flight from Paris, or, indeed,
+to my having ever been in Paris. Yet, from her scrutiny of my features, I
+knew that she recalled those circumstances with my name. But Nerac was
+not the place where it would serve her to concern herself about me. I
+learned from one of Catherine's gentlemen that Mlle. d'Arency, who had
+not come with her to Nerac, had wedded the Marquis de Pirillaume, who was
+jealous and kept her on his estate in Dauphiny, away from the court. I
+wished him joy of her.
+
+When Catherine and her troop went back to the French court, leaving
+Marguerite at Nerac, they could boast of a few Huguenot gentlemen won
+over to their designs, but I was not one of the few. I do not say that I
+did not amuse myself where charming women abounded, but I kept my heart
+to myself. I had not resolved to become invulnerable to woman, but I had
+determined that she by whom I would let myself be wounded should be one
+vastly unlike any in Catherine's train. When I should find the woman pure
+as beautiful, incapable of guile, I would love. "Somewhere in France," I
+often said to myself, "that woman exists. I shall know her when I see
+her." As in the former affair, I had my ideal already formed, and was
+already in love, watching for the embodiment of that ideal to appear. But
+this second ideal was different from the first. And it is time to tell
+how at last I met her,--and how, for a while, the reality seemed worse
+even than the first The death of the Duke of Anjou, after his
+reconciliation with the King, his brother, and his failure to win the
+crown he sought in the Netherlands, was a great event for us in Gascony.
+It left our Henri of Navarre next in succession to the throne of France.
+And our Henri was a sturdy man, while Henri III. seemed marked by destiny
+to follow the three other sons of Catherine to an early grave. It
+appeared that Marguerite monopolized all the longevity granted to the
+family. But we knew that the Guises and their League would not let our
+Huguenot Henri peacefully ascend his throne. Therefore, Henri's policy
+was to strengthen himself against the time when the death of Henri III.
+should leave the throne vacant for him. It was his interest also to
+prevent a usurpation of that throne during the life of Henri III., for
+such a usurpation would eventually exclude himself also. Thus
+circumstance made him the natural ally of Henri III. It was, conversely,
+the interest of the Guises to sow enmity between the two kings. The power
+of the League in France, and particularly in Paris, was now so great that
+Henri III. dared not oppose the wishes of the Duke of Guise. He was
+reduced to devices for gaining time. And so, against his own interest, he
+sanctioned the war which the League presently demanded against the
+Huguenots,--a war which might do two things for the Duke of Guise:
+destroy the next heir to the throne, and deprive the present King of his
+chief resource against a usurpation. For the present, the Duke of Guise
+cloaked his design by having the Pope proclaim the old Cardinal de
+Bourbon heir to the throne, our Henri being declared ineligible on
+account of heresy.
+
+In the summer of 1585, the King of France issued anti-Huguenot edicts
+required by the League. Governors of provinces were ordered to make it
+uncomfortable for the "heretics." Several of them promptly obeyed,
+arresting some Huguenots for remaining in their provinces, and arresting
+others for trying to escape therefrom. By this time, Henri of Navarre had
+gathered a sufficient army and acquired a sufficient number of towns to
+hold his own in Guienne, and, indeed, throughout southwestern France. The
+Prince de Condé also put a Huguenot army in the field. Pending the actual
+opening of war, which the edicts of Henri III. foreshadowed, our Henri
+maintained a flying camp in Guienne. Every day recruits came, some of
+them with stories of persecution to which they had been subjected, some
+with accounts of difficulty in escaping from their provinces. One day I
+was summoned to the presence of Henri of Navarre.
+
+"M. de la Tournoire," said he, speaking with his usual briskness and
+directness, "there are, in most of the provinces of France, many
+Huguenots who have publicly recanted, to save their lives and estates.
+Many of these are secretly for us. They would join me, but they fear to
+do so lest their estates be confiscated. These are to be assured that
+what they may lose now by aiding me shall some day be restored to them.
+Here is a list of a number of such gentlemen in the province of Berry,
+and you are to give them the assurances necessary to enlist them in our
+cause. Use what persuasions you can. Take your company, and find some
+place of concealment among the hills of the southern border of Berry. You
+can thus provide escort in crossing the border for those who may need it.
+Where you can in any way aid a Huguenot to escape from the province,
+where you can rescue one from death or prison, do so, always on condition
+of promised service in our cause. As for the gentlemen whose names are on
+this list, have them bring, as contributions, what money and arms they
+can. We are in even greater need of these than of men. Impress upon these
+gentlemen that their only hope of ultimate security lies in our triumph.
+It is a task of danger with which I charge you, monsieur, and I know that
+you will, therefore, the more gladly undertake it. The governor of Berry,
+M. de la Chatre, is one of the bulwarks of the League. I learn that he is
+enforcing the edicts of Henri III. against the Protestants with the
+greatest zeal. He is devoted to the Duke of Guise, and is one of our most
+formidable enemies. It will not, therefore, be well for you to fall into
+his hands. Go, monsieur, and God be with you!"
+
+I bowed my thanks for the favor of this dangerous mission, and went
+away with the list in my doublet, proud of having been made the
+confidant of Henri's resolution to fight for his rights to the end. I
+was elated, too, at the opportunity to work against the King of France
+and the Duke of Guise.
+
+To annoy and hamper M. de la Chatre in his work of carrying out the
+public edicts of the King and the secret designs of the Duke, would give
+me the keenest joy. For once, both my great enemies, usually so opposed
+to each other in interest, could be injured at the same time by the same
+deeds; and such deeds would help my beloved captain, by whom I had been
+chosen to perform them. I could hardly contain my happiness when I
+returned to my company, and ordered immediate preparations for a night's
+march northward.
+
+We set out, myself and Tripault mounted, the others afoot, with several
+horses bearing provisions and supplies. Marching at night, and concealing
+ourselves in the forests by day, we at last reached the mountains that
+form part of the southern boundary of Berry. They were thickly wooded,
+and though the month of August made them a series of masses of deep
+green, they presented a sombre aspect.
+
+"It is somewhere up there," I said, pointing toward the still and
+frowning hills before us, "that we are to find a burrow, from which to
+issue forth, now and then, to the plains on the other side."
+
+"The only man in the company who knows this country," replied my devoted
+squire, Blaise Tripault, "is Frojac, but he makes up for the ignorance of
+the others by knowing it very well. He can lead us to the most deserted
+spot among these mountains, where there is an abandoned château, which is
+said to be under a curse."
+
+"If part of it is under a roof as well, so much the better," I answered.
+"Bring Frojac to me."
+
+Blaise rode back along the irregular line formed by my rude soldiers,
+picked out an intelligent looking young arquebusier, and led him forward
+to me. I made this man, Frojac, our guide.
+
+After toilsome marches, forcing our way up wooded ascents devoid of human
+habitation, and through almost impenetrable thickets of brushwood, we
+crossed the highest ridge of the mountain chain, and from a bare spot, a
+natural clearing, gazed down on the Creuse, which wound along the line
+formed by the northern base of the mountains. Beyond that lay the
+province of Berry, which was to be the scene of our operations. Some
+leagues to the northeast, crowning a rocky eminence that rose from the
+left bank of the Creuse, stood a mass of grim-looking towers and high
+gray walls. From the southern side of this edifice, a small town ran down
+the declivity to the plain.
+
+"What is that place yonder?" I asked.
+
+"It is the town and château of Clochonne," said Frojac.
+
+"Who occupies the château?"
+
+"It belongs to M. de la Chatre, the governor of the province, who
+sometimes comes there. A part of it is occupied by a garrison."
+
+We resumed our progress through the forest, now descending the northern
+slope of the ridge. After some hours, when night was already beginning to
+fall in the woods, Frojac pointed ahead to a knoll covered with huge
+trees between whose trunks the space was choked with lesser vegetation.
+
+"There it is," he said. "The Château de Maury."
+
+We made our way through the thicket, and came suddenly upon ruined walls,
+rising in the midst of trees. Wild growths of various kinds filled up
+what had been the courtyard, and invaded the very doors. The broken walls
+and cracked towers themselves seemed as much a part of nature as the
+trees and bushes were. Branches thrust themselves through apertures in
+the crumbling stone. Southward from the foot of the knoll rose the
+mountains, eastward and westward extended an undulating natural platform
+that interrupted the descent of the mountain side. Northward the ground
+fell in a steep precipice to the left bank of the Creuse, along which ran
+a little-used road from Clochonne, which was northeast, to Narjec, which
+was southwest.
+
+"Is there a path down the slope, by which we could reach that road,
+should we wish to go north by way of Clochonne?" I asked.
+
+"I do not think so," replied Frojac. "But there used to be a road from
+here to Clochonne, through the forest. It has not been used since the
+Sieur de Maury left, twenty years ago, to hunt for gold in the new world.
+They said that, before going, he made a compact with the devil, here, by
+which Satan was to lead him to a land of gold across the sea. The devil
+is believed to be taking care of his estate until he returns. Perhaps
+this road has not been entirely wiped out by the forest."
+
+A part of the château was yet under roof. This portion included the hall
+and three or four chambers above it. On the day after our arrival, we
+found the road through the forest still sufficiently open to serve us for
+expeditious egress. This abandoned way did not itself go to Clochonne,
+but it ran into a road that went from that town southward across the
+mountain. At the point of junction was the abode of an old woodman and
+his wife, where the couple maintained a kind of inn for the
+entertainment of people crossing the mountain. This man, Godeau, was
+rheumatic, bent, thin, timid, shrill-voiced, and under the domination of
+his large, robust, strong-lunged spouse, Marianne. By means of a little
+flattery, a gold piece, promises of patronage, and hints of dire
+vengeance upon any who might betray me, I secured this woman's complete
+devotion. These two were the only human dwellers within two leagues of
+our chosen hiding-place.
+
+In Guienne, my master considered as enemies those who did not acknowledge
+his authority, and he provisioned his army at their expense. Inasmuch as
+the province of Berry was making war on our party, I treated it as
+hostile country, subject to pillage, according to the customs of war. It
+is true, some of its people were friendly to our cause, but it was as
+much their duty to contribute to our maintenance, since we were fighting
+in their behalf, as it was our right to take from those to whom our
+relation was one of warfare. So I gave my men permission to forage,
+putting but one condition upon them,--that of losing their lives rather
+than allow our hiding-place to be disclosed. Thus, by virtue of many
+nightly visits to farms in the vicinity of Clochonne and Narjec, we
+contrived to avoid the pangs of an empty stomach.
+
+Having established my company on a living basis at Maury, I began with
+relish the work of annoying M. de la Chatre. I sent out certain of my
+men, severally, to different parts of southern Berry as seekers of
+information. In the guise of peasants, or of soldiers going to serve in
+the army which the Governor, La Chatre, was then augmenting, they learned
+much that was valuable to me. It is written, under the title of "How the
+Lord Protected His Own and Chastised His Enemies in Berry," in the book
+called "The Manifold Mercies of God to His Children," by the pastor
+Laudrec, who has reported rightly what I related to him: how we made
+recruits for Henri of Navarre by finding out Huguenots in towns and
+villages and convincing them that they were sure to be arrested should
+they remain in Berry; how we guided these out of the province by various
+ways of our own discovery, across the mountain; how we interrupted the
+hanging of several men at Issoudun, who had been condemned for heresy and
+treason, and sent them in safety to Guienne; how certain of my men,
+without my authority, despoiled Catholic churches of their instruments of
+idolatry, and thus helped to replenish the treasury of our master; how I
+once marched my company by night to a wood near Bourges, lay in wait
+there until a guard came, conducting captured Huguenots for trial,
+attacked the guard, rescued the prisoners, and protected them in a
+hurried flight to the border, whence they proceeded to swell the army of
+our Henri; and how we served our cause in numerous other exploits, which
+I need not relate here, as you may read them in Laudrec's book, printed
+in Geneva.
+
+The many secret departures of Huguenots from southern Berry, despite the
+vigilance of the garrisons at Clochonne and other frontier strongholds,
+must naturally have attracted the attention of the authorities, and so
+must the sudden public appearances that I made with my company on
+occasions like that at Issoudun and that near Bourges. My men, who moved,
+unknown, among the people, began to hear reports of a mysterious captain
+who hid in the southern hills and sallied forth at night to spirit
+Huguenots away. To this mysterious captain and his band were attributed
+not only all the exploits that we did accomplish, but many that we did
+not; and some daring robberies, of which we were innocent, were laid to
+our charge.
+
+Finally, in September, I had evidence that our deeds had begun to make an
+impression on M. de la Chatre, the illustrious governor of the province
+and of the Orleannais as well. One of my men, Roquelin, saw in the
+market-place of Chateauroux an offer of five hundred crowns for the
+capture of this unknown rebel captain, which document was signed by La
+Chatre. I here saw an opportunity to make myself known in high places as
+one capable of harming and defying his enemies, despite their greatness.
+I was rejoiced at the hope of acquainting the Duke of Guise and the King
+of France with the fact that I had survived to work defiantly against
+their cause, under the very nose of one of their most redoubtable
+servants. I had not been of sufficient consequence for the Duke to fear,
+or for the King to protect, but now I was of sufficient consequence, as
+their enemy, for a price to be put on my head. So I sent one of my clever
+fellows, Sabray, to fasten by night beside La Chatre's placard in
+Chateauroux, a proclamation of my own, in which I offered ten crowns for
+the head of M. de la Chatre, and twenty crowns for that of his master,
+the Duke of Guise. I appended this signature: "The Sieur de la Tournoire,
+who does not forget." I knew that some of La Chatre's enemies would take
+great pleasure in making this known to the Duke of Guise, and that the
+latter would reproach the King with my continued existence. It irritates
+the great to be defied by the small, and to irritate these two great ones
+was my delight.
+
+I soon learned, with glee, that my return of compliments had reached the
+knowledge of the governor. Maugert brought me word of a notice posted in
+Clochonne, in which La Chatre doubled his offer and termed me the
+"heretic, rebel, traitor, and robber calling himself Sieur de la
+Tournoire."
+
+While I gave myself the pleasure of annoying M. de la Chatre, I did not
+neglect the more important service imposed on me by Henri of Navarre.
+Accompanied only by Blaise Tripault, and travelling by night, I visited,
+one after another, the gentlemen named on my master's list, and used
+what eloquence I had, pointing out the expediency of assuring future
+security by making present sacrifices for our cause. Many of them
+required very little persuasion. On hearing that Henri of Navarre had
+given his word to defend his succession with his sword, they nobly left
+their estates and went to join his army, carrying with them what money
+and arms they could take. Thanks to the guidance of my men, they eluded
+the garrisons on the border.
+
+It was in early October, when the forests were turning yellow, brown, and
+red, and the fallen leaves began to lie in the roads, that I started out
+with Blaise Tripault to visit the gentleman named last on the list.
+
+"Monsieur," said Blaise, as we neared the end of our hidden forest road
+and were approaching the inn of Godeau, "I have in me a kind of feeling
+that this, being our last excursion, is likely to be the most dangerous.
+It would doubtless please Fortune to play us an ugly trick after having
+served us so well hitherto."
+
+"Nonsense!" I replied.
+
+"I believe that is what the famous Bussy d'Amboise said when he was
+warned not to keep his appointment with Mme. de Monsoreau," returned
+Blaise; "yet he was, none the less, killed by the rascals that lay in
+ambush with her husband."
+
+"Thanks to the most kingly King of France, Henri III., who advised M. de
+Monsoreau to force his wife to make the fatal appointment with Bussy.
+Thanks, also, to the truly grateful Duke of Anjou, who rewarded Bussy for
+his faithful service by concurring in the plot for his assassination."
+
+"The Duke was worse than the King, for the King has been loyal to his
+chosen favorites. Think of the monument he erected in honor of De Quelus,
+and the others who got their deaths in that great duel in the
+horse-market. _Par dieu!_ I should like to have seen those girl-men of
+the King and those Guisards killing one another!"
+
+"I have observed, Blaise, that you take an extraordinary pleasure in the
+slaughter of Guisards."
+
+"I was in Coligny's house, monsieur, on the night of the St. Bartholomew.
+I was one of those who, at the Admiral's command, fled to the roof, and
+from the roof of the next house I saw Coligny's body thrown into his
+courtyard, and the Duke of Guise turn it over with his foot and wipe the
+blood from the face to see if it were indeed my old captain's. Since
+then, the sight of the white cross of Guise stirs in me all the hell that
+my diabolical father transmitted to me. And I should not like to see you
+fall into the hands of this Chatre, who is the right arm of the Duke of
+Guise in Berry. That is why I give heed to the premonition that troubles
+me regarding this journey."
+
+"Certainly we cannot abandon the journey."
+
+"No, but we can take unusual precautions, monsieur. Reports of our doings
+are everywhere. Has it never occurred to you that you are, in appearance,
+exactly the sort of man who would be taken for our leader? Ought you not
+to disguise yourself?"
+
+"An excellent idea, Blaise! I shall put on your clothes, and you shall
+put on mine,--I shall pass as your lackey. It will be quite amusing."
+
+"That is not the disguise I should have suggested," said Blaise, looking
+not too well pleased with the idea. "It would require me to pass as a
+gentleman."
+
+But I saw possibilities of fun in the thing, and welcomed any means of
+enlivening our excursion. Therefore, we dismounted at Godeau's inn, and
+made the exchange of attire, much against the liking of Blaise, who now
+repented of having advised any disguise at all. My clothes were a little
+too tight for Blaise, for I was of medium size, and he puffed and turned
+red in the face, and presented a curious appearance of fierceness and
+discomfort. When I looked at him, I could not help laughing, and he met
+my glance with a grim and reproachful countenance. I did not think that
+his brown doublet and breeches and brown felt hat and feather were much
+disguise for me. As we rode along, I diverted myself by trying to assume
+a servile mien, which did not easily fit my rather bold face, prominent
+nose, keen gray eyes, up-curling brown mustache and pointed brown beard.
+With his curly reddish hair and beard, defiant mustache, honest, big,
+blue eyes, swelling red cheeks, and robust body, Blaise looked like one
+who must have had his dignities thrust upon him very recently.
+
+We reached, without accident, our destination,--the château of the Baron
+d'Equinay,--and that gentleman was speedily won by the assurances that I
+bore him from Henri of Navarre. He desired, before starting for Guienne,
+to go to Paris, where he had resources, and he rode off northward at the
+same moment when we departed southward to return to Maury.
+
+"It is well!" I cried to Blaise, as we rode in the bracing air of the
+October morning. "We have carried our King's message to every one of his
+chosen adherents in Berry. We ride through the province of M. de la
+Chatre, breathe his fresh air, absorb his sunshine as freely as he does
+himself. You see how reliable were your premonitions when we last set out
+from Maury."
+
+"It is not too late yet, monsieur," growled Blaise, whose temper was ill
+while he wore my clothes; "we are not yet back at Maury."
+
+"You will talk less dismally over a bottle of good wine, Blaise.
+Therefore, I intend to stop at the first inn on the way. I hope it is a
+good one, for I am very hungry."
+
+"There is an inn at this end of Fleurier," said Blaise, "but I would not
+stop if I were you."
+
+But I was not to be moved from my intention. When a man has finished a
+set task, it is time to eat and drink. Therefore, we stopped at the
+little inn at the northern edge of Fleurier. A gray, bent innkeeper, very
+desirous of pleasing, welcomed us and went to look after our horses,
+while Blaise, acting the part of master, ordered a black-eyed, pretty
+inn-maid to serve us dinner in a private chamber. The room assigned us
+was at the head of a stairway leading from the kitchen. We had no sooner
+seated ourselves than our ears were assailed by the clatter of many
+horses on the road outside. They stopped before the inn, and we heard the
+voices of two men who entered the kitchen, and of a great number who
+remained without. When the inn-maid brought us a bottle of wine, Blaise
+asked her whose cavalcade it was that waited before the inn.
+
+"It is that of the governor of the province, M. de la Chatre," said she,
+"who is below with his secretary, M. de Montignac."
+
+And she left the room in haste to help serve so distinguished a guest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+A SWEET LADY IN DISTRESS
+
+
+Blaise looked at me solemnly, with a face that seemed to say, "Did I not
+warn you?" We had seated ourselves at either side of a small, rough
+table, I on the edge of the bed, Blaise on a three-legged stool. For a
+moment I sat returning Blaise's gaze across the table; then noticing that
+the maid had left the door of our chamber slightly ajar, I arose and
+walked stealthily to the crack, through which I could see a part of the
+kitchen below. Blaise remained seated at the table, glumly watching me.
+
+I saw the maid bearing wine to a table near the window, where sat the two
+guests whose names she had mentioned. The landlord was carrying a tray
+full of bottles and drinking-cups out to La Chatre's men, who remained
+before the inn, some having dismounted, some still on horse. I could hear
+their talk, their oaths and cries to one another and to their horses, the
+snorts and pawings of their steeds. A shout of welcome greeted the coming
+of the landlord with the wine.
+
+With curiosity I fastened my gaze on the two at the table. I knew
+instantly that the stout, erect, authoritative gentleman with the
+carefully trimmed gray beard, full cheeks, proud brow, fearless eyes, and
+soldierly air, must be Claude de la Chatre, governor of the Orleannais
+and Berri; and that the slender, delicately formed, sinuous, graceful
+youth with smooth-shaven face, fine sharply cut features, intelligent
+forehead, reddish hair, intent gray eyes, and mien of pretended humility,
+was the governor's secretary, Montignac. La Chatre's look was frank,
+open, brave. Montignac had the face of a man assuming a character, and
+awaiting his opportunity, concealing his ambition and his pride,
+suppressing the scorn that strove to disclose itself at the corners of
+his womanish mouth. La Chatre wore a rich black velvet doublet and
+breeches, and black leather riding-boots. Montignac was dressed, in
+accordance with his pretence of servility, in a doublet of olive-colored
+cloth, breeches of the same material, and buff boots. He sat entirely
+motionless, looking across the table at his master with an almost
+imperceptibly mocking air of profound attention.
+
+Monsieur de la Chatre appeared to be in a bad humor. He gulped down his
+wine hastily, seeming not to taste it. With a frown of irritation he
+drew from his belt a letter, of which the seal was already broken.
+Opening it with quick, angry motions, he held it before him, and
+frowned the more deeply.
+
+"_Peste!"_ he exclaimed, when the maid had left the kitchen; and then he
+went on in a rich, virile, energetic voice: "To be met on the road by
+such a letter! When I saw the courier in the distance I felt that he was
+bound for me, and that he brought annoyance with him. The duke has never
+before used such a tone to me. If he were on the ground, and knew the
+trouble these dogs of heretics give me, he would doubtless change his
+manner of speech."
+
+"Monseigneur the Duke of Guise certainly wrote in haste, and therefore
+his expressions have an abruptness that he did not intend," replied
+Montignac, in a low, discreet, deferential voice, whose very tone was
+attuned to the policy of subtle flattery which he employed towards his
+master. "And he acknowledges, as well, your many successes as he
+complains of your failure to catch this Sieur de la Tournoire."
+
+So the letter by which the governor was so irritated came from the Duke
+of Guise, and concerned myself! My work in Berri had not been in vain.
+Instinctively I grasped the hilt of my sword, and at the same time I
+smiled to myself to think how La Chatre might have felt had he known
+that, while himself and his secretary were the only persons in the inn
+kitchen, the Sieur de la Tournoire saw and heard them from the crack of
+the slightly open door at the top of the stairway. To make myself safer
+from discovery, I now took my eye from the crack, keeping my ear
+sufficiently near to catch the words of my enemies. I glanced at Blaise,
+who had heard enough to acquaint him with the situation, and whose
+open-eyed face had taken on an expression of alertness and amazement
+comical to behold. He, too, had mechanically clutched the handle of his
+sword. Neither of us moving or speaking, we both listened. But the
+governor's next words were drowned by the noise that came from outside,
+as the landlord opened the front door to reenter the inn. La Chatre's
+men, now supplied with wine, had taken up a song with whose words and
+tune we were well acquainted.
+
+"Hang every heretic high,
+   Where the crows and pigeons pass!
+Let the brood of Calvin die;
+   Long live the mass!
+A plague on the Huguenots, ah!
+   Let the cry of battle ring:
+Huguenots, Huguenots, Huguenots, ah!
+   Long live the king!"
+
+The singers uttered the word "Huguenots," and the exclamation "ah," with
+an expression of loathing and scorn which could have been equalled only
+by the look of defiance and hate that suddenly alighted on the face of
+Blaise. He gave a deep gulp, as if forcing back, for safety, some
+answering cry that rose from his breast and sought exit. Then he ground
+his teeth, and through closed lips emitted from his throat a low growl,
+precisely like that of a pugnacious dog held in restraint.
+
+The landlord closed the door, and the song of La Chatre's men sank into a
+rudely melodious murmur. The host then went out by a rear door, and the
+governor resumed the conversation.
+
+"_Corboeuf_! He is a fox, this Tournoire, who makes his excursions by
+night, and who cannot be tracked to his burrow."
+
+"We know, at least," put in the secretary, in his mild way, "that his
+burrow is somewhere in the wooded mountains at the southern border of the
+province."
+
+"Then he knows those mountains better than the garrisons do," said
+La Chatre. "The troops from the southern towns have hunted the
+hills in vain."
+
+"When such a task as the capture of this rebel is entrusted to many, it
+is not undertaken with zeal. The chance of success, the burden of
+responsibility, the blame of failure, are alike felt to be divided."
+
+This observation on the part of the youthful secretary seemed to be
+regarded by the governor as presumptuous. It elicited from him a frown
+of reproof. His look became cold and haughty. Whereupon Montignac
+gently added:
+
+"As you, monsieur, remarked the other day."
+
+La Chatre's expression immediately softened.
+
+"The governor's brains are in the head of the secretary," thought I; "and
+their place in his own head is taken by vanity."
+
+"I remember," returned La Chatre. "And I added, did I not,
+that--ahem, that--"
+
+"That the finding of this Huguenot nuisance ought to be made the
+particular duty of one chosen person, who should have all to gain by
+success, or, better still, all to lose by failure."
+
+And the suave secretary looked at his master with an expression of secret
+contempt and amusement, although the innocent governor doubtless saw only
+the respect and solicitude which the young man counterfeited.
+
+"You are right," said the governor, with unconcealed satisfaction. "I
+ought to reward you for reminding me. But your reward shall come,
+Montignac. The coming war will give me the opportunity to serve both the
+King and the Duke of Guise most effectually, and by whatever favor I
+gain, my faithful secretary shall benefit."
+
+"My benefit will be due to your generosity, not to my poor merit,
+monsieur," replied Montignac, with an irony too delicate for the
+perception of the noble governor.
+
+"Oh, you have merit, Montignac," said La Chatre, with lofty
+condescension. Then he glanced at the letter, and his face clouded. "But
+meanwhile," he added, in obedience to a childish necessity of
+communicating his troubles, "my favor depends, even for its continuance
+in its present degree, on the speedy capture of this Tournoire. The
+rascal appears to have obtained the special animosity of the Duke by
+some previous act. Moreover, he is an enemy to the King, also a deserter
+from the French Guards, so that he deserves death on various accounts,
+old and new."
+
+Herein I saw exemplified the inability of the great to forget or forgive
+any who may have eluded their power.
+
+"Let me, therefore," continued the governor, "consider as to what person
+shall be chosen for the task of bagging this wary game."
+
+And he was silent, seeming to be considering in his mind, but really, I
+thought, waiting for the useful Montignac to suggest some one.
+
+"It need not be a person of great skill," said Montignac, "if it be one
+who has a strong motive for accomplishing the service with success. For,
+indeed, the work is easy. The chosen person," he went on, as if taking
+pleasure in showing the rapidity and ingenuity of his own thoughts, "has
+but to go to the southern border, pretending to be a Huguenot trying to
+escape the penalties of the new edicts. In one way or another, by moving
+among the lower classes, this supposed fugitive will find out real
+Huguenots, of whom there are undoubtedly some still left at Clochonne and
+other towns near the mountains. Several circumstances have shown that
+this Tournoire has made himself, or his agents, accessible to Huguenots,
+for these escapes of heretics across the border began at the same time
+when his rescues of Huguenot prisoners began. Without doubt, any
+pretended Protestant, apparently seeking guidance to Guienne, would, in
+associating with the Huguenots along the Creuse, come across one who
+could direct him to this Tournoire."
+
+"But what then?" said the governor, his eagerness making him forget his
+pretence of being wiser than his secretary. "To find him is not to make
+him prisoner,--for the Duke desires him to be taken alive. He probably
+has a large following of rascals as daring and clever as himself."
+
+"Knowing his hiding-place, you would send a larger body of troops
+against him."
+
+"But," interposed the governor, really glad to have found a weak point in
+the plan suggested by his secretary, "in order to acquaint me with his
+hiding-place, if he has a permanent hiding-place, my spy would have to
+leave him. This would excite his suspicions, and he would change his
+hiding-place. Or, indeed, he may be entirely migratory, and have no
+fixed place of camping. Or, having one, he might change it, for any
+reason, before my troops could reach it. Doubtless, his followers patrol
+the hills, and could give him ample warning in case of attack."
+
+"Your spy," said Montignac, who had availed himself of the governor's
+interruption to empty a mug of wine, "would have to find means of doing
+two things,--the first to make an appointment with La Tournoire, which
+would take him from his men; the second, to inform you of that
+appointment in time for you to lead or send a company of soldiers to
+surprise La Tournoire at the appointed place."
+
+"_Par dieu_, Montignac!" cried the governor, with a laugh of derision.
+"Drink less wine, I pray you! Your scheme becomes preposterous. Of what
+kind of man do you take him to be, this Sieur de la Tournoire, who offers
+a reward, in my own province, for my head and that of the Duke of Guise?"
+
+"The scheme, monsieur," said Montignac, quietly, not disclosing to the
+governor the slightest resentment at the latter's ridicule, "is quite
+practicable. This is the manner in which it can be best conducted. Your
+chosen spy must be provided with two messengers, with whom he may have
+communication as circumstances may allow. When the spy shall have met La
+Tournoire, and learned his hiding-place, if he have a permanent one, one
+messenger shall bring the information to you at Bourges, that you may
+go to Clochonne to be near at hand for the final step. Having sent the
+first messenger, the spy shall fall ill, so as to have apparent reason
+for not going on to Guienne. On learning of your arrival at
+Clochonne,--an event of which La Tournoire is sure to be informed,--your
+spy shall make the appointment of which I spoke, and shall send the
+second messenger to you at Clochonne with word of that appointment, so
+that your troops can be at hand."
+
+"The project is full of absurdities, Montignac," said the governor,
+shaking his head.
+
+"Enumerate them, monsieur," said Montignac, without change of tone or
+countenance.
+
+"First, the lesser one. Why impede the spy with the necessity of
+communicating with more than one messenger?"
+
+"Because the spy may succeed in learning the enemy's hiding-place, if
+there be one, and yet fail in the rest of the design. To learn his
+hiding-place is at least something worth gaining, though the project
+accomplish nothing more. Moreover, the arrival of the first messenger
+will inform you that the spy is on the ground and has won La Tournoire's
+confidence, and that it is time for you to go to Clochonne. The
+appointment must not be made until you are near at hand, for great
+exactness must be observed as to time and place, so that you can surely
+surprise him while he is away from his men."
+
+"Montignac, I begin to despair of you," said the governor, with a look
+of commiseration. "How do you suppose that La Tournoire could be induced
+to make such an appointment? What pretext could be invented for
+requesting such a meeting? In what business could he be interested that
+would require a secret interview at a distance from his followers?"
+
+I thought the governor's questions quite natural, and was waiting in much
+curiosity for the answer of Montignac, of whose perspicacity I was now
+beginning to lose my high opinion, when the inn-maid entered the kitchen,
+and the secretary repressed the reply already on his lips. She took from
+the spit a fowl that had been roasting, and brought it to our chamber. To
+avoid exciting her suspicions I had to leave my place of observation and
+reseat myself on the bed.
+
+Having placed the fowl, hot and juicy, on the table between us, the maid
+went away, again leaving the door partly open. Blaise promptly attacked
+the fowl, but I returned to my post of outlook.
+
+"Lack of zeal?" I heard the governor say. "_Par-dieu,_ where have I
+let a known Huguenot rest in peace in my provinces since the edicts
+have been proclaimed? And I have even made Catholics suffer for
+Showing a disposition to shield heretics. There was that gentleman of
+this very town--"
+
+"M. de Varion," put in Montignac.
+
+"Ay, M. de Varion,--a good Catholic. Yet I caused his arrest because he
+hid his old friend, that Polignart, who had turned heretic. _Mon dieu_,
+what can I do more? I punish not only heretics, but also those who shield
+heretics. Yet the Duke of Guise hints that I lack zeal!"
+
+"As to M. de Varion," said Montignac; "what is your intention
+regarding him?"
+
+"To make an example of him, that hereafter no Catholic will dare shelter
+a Huguenot on the score of old friendship. Let him remain a prisoner in
+the château of Fleurier until the judges, whom I will instruct, shall
+find him guilty of treason. Then his body shall hang at the château gate
+for the nourishment of the crows."
+
+"Fortunately," said Montignac listlessly, "he has no family to give
+trouble afterward."
+
+"No son," replied the governor. "Did not M. de Brissard say that there
+was a daughter?"
+
+"Yes, an unmarried daughter who was visiting some bourgeois relation in
+Bourges at the time of her father's arrest."
+
+"When she learns of her father's incarceration she will probably pester
+me with supplications for his release. See to it, Montignac, that this
+Mlle. de Varion be not suffered to approach me."
+
+My eavesdropping was again interrupted by the return of the inn-maid. On
+going out of the chamber this time, she closed the door. Hunger and
+prudence, together, overcoming my curiosity, I did not open it, but
+joined Blaise in disposing of the dinner. The table at which we ate was
+near the window of the chamber, and we could look out on the grassy space
+of land before the inn. La Chatre's men were moving about, looking to
+their horses and harness, talking in little groups, and watching for
+their master's appearance at the inn door.
+
+Presently four new figures came into view, all mounted. From our window
+we could see them plainly as they approached the inn. One of these
+newcomers was a young lady who wore a mask. At her side rode a maid,
+slim, youthful, and fresh-looking. Behind these were two serving boys,
+one tall, large, and strong; the other small and agile.
+
+"By the blue heaven!" Blaise blurted out; "a dainty piece of womankind!"
+
+"Silence, Blaise!" I said, reprovingly. "How dare you speak with such
+liberty of a lady?"
+
+"I thought I was supposed to be masquerading as a gentleman," he growled.
+"But it was not of the lady that I spoke. It was the maid."
+
+The lady had the slender figure of a woman of twenty. Over a
+tight-fitting gown of blue cloth, she wore a cloak of brown velvet, which
+was open at the front. Fine, wavy brown hair was visible beneath her
+large brown velvet hat. She wore brown gloves and carried a riding whip.
+As for her face, her black mask concealed the upper part, but there were
+disclosed a delicate red mouth and a finely cut chin. The throat was
+white and full.
+
+The maid was smaller than the mistress. She had a pretty face, rather
+bold blue eyes, an impudent little mouth, an expression of
+self-confidence and challenge.
+
+La Chatre's men made room for this little cavalcade to pass to the inn.
+The maid looked at them disdainfully, but the lady glanced neither to
+right nor left. Having ridden up close to the inn, they dismounted and
+entered, thus passing out of our sight.
+
+I would fain have again looked down into the kitchen, now that these
+attractive guests had arrived to disturb the governor's confidential
+talk, but the inn-maid had closed our chamber door tight, and I might
+have attracted the governor's attention by opening it. Moreover, I could
+not long cherish the idea of watching, unobserved, the movements of a
+lady. So, for some time, Blaise and I confined our attention to the
+dinner, Blaise frequently casting a glance at the door as if he would
+have liked to go down-stairs and make a closer inspection of the pretty
+face of the maid.
+
+Several times we heard voices, now that of a lady, now that of the
+governor, as if the two were conversing together, but the words spoken
+were not distinguishable. It did not please me to think that the lady
+might have come hither to join the governor.
+
+At last the noise of La Chatre's men remounting told us that the governor
+had rejoined them from the inn. Looking out of the window, we saw him at
+their head, a splendid, commanding figure. Montignac, studious-looking,
+despite the horse beneath him, was beside the governor. I noticed that
+the secretary sat a horse as well as any of the soldiers did. I observed,
+too, and with pleasure, that the lady was not with them; therefore, she
+was still in the inn. I was glad to infer that her acquaintance with La
+Chatre was but casual, and that her meeting with him at the inn had been
+by chance.
+
+The governor jerked his rein, and the troop moved off, northward, bound I
+knew not whither, the weapons and harness shining in the sunlight. I
+turned to Blaise with a smile of triumph.
+
+"And now what of your croakings?" I asked. "As if the safest place in all
+France for us was not within sound of M. de la Chatre's voice, where he
+would never suppose us to be! It did not even occur to him to ask what
+guests were in the upper chamber! What would he have given to know that
+La Tour noire sat drinking under the same roof with him! Instead of
+coming to disaster, we have heard his plans, and are thus put on our
+guard. More of your evil forebodings, my amiable Blaise! They mean good."
+
+But Blaise looked none the less gloomy. "There is yet time for evil to
+come of this journey, my captain," he said gravely.
+
+I now made haste to finish my meal, that I might go down into the kitchen
+ere the lady in the brown robe should depart.
+
+Presently, Blaise, glancing out of the window, exclaimed, "The devil! We
+are not yet rid of our friends! There is one of them, at least!"
+
+I looked out and saw two mounted gentlemen, one of whom was Montignac,
+the governor's secretary, who had ridden back. The other, with whom he
+was talking in low tones, and with an air of authority, was a man of
+my own age, dressed in the shabby remains of rich clothes. His face
+showed the marks of dissipation, and had a cynical, daredevil look.
+Now and then a sarcastic smile broke suddenly over the handsome and
+once noble features.
+
+"I have seen that man, somewhere, before," said I to Blaise.
+
+While I stood searching my memory, and the man sat talking to Montignac,
+both having stopped their horses in front of the inn, there tramped up,
+from the South, four other travellers, all of a kind very commonly seen
+on the highways, in those days of frequent war. They were ragged soldiers
+of fortune, out at elbows, red of cheek and nose, all having the same
+look of brow-beating defiance, ready to turn, in a moment, into abject
+servility. The foremost of these was a big burly fellow with a black
+beard, and a fierce scowl.
+
+As he came up towards the gentleman with whom Montignac was talking,
+there suddenly came on me a sense of having once, in the dim past, been
+in strangely similar circumstances to those in which I was now. Once,
+long ago, had I not looked out in danger from a place of concealment upon
+a meeting of those two men before an inn?
+
+The burly rascal saluted the mounted gentleman, saying, in a coarse,
+strident voice:
+
+"At your service, M. le Vicomte de Berquin."
+
+"Know your place, Barbemouche!" was the quick reply. "I am talking with a
+gentleman."
+
+Then I remembered the morning after my flight from Paris, seven years
+before. Montignac's reckless-looking companion had been the gay gentleman
+going north, at whom I had looked from an inn shed. The other was the man
+who had afterwards chased me southward at the behest of the Duke of
+Guise. But he no longer wore on his hat the white cross of Lorraine, and
+the Vicomte de Berquin's apparel was no longer gay and spotless. The two
+had doubtless fallen on hard ways. Both showed the marks of reverses and
+hard drinking. Barbemouche's sword was, manifestly, no longer in the pay
+of the Duke of Guise, but was ready to serve the first bidder.
+
+Barbemouche shrugged his shoulders at De Berquin's reproof, and led his
+three sorry-looking companions to a bench in front of the inn, where they
+searched their pockets for coin before venturing to cross the threshold.
+
+Montignac now pointed to the inn, spoke a few last earnest words to
+Berquin, handed the latter a few gold pieces, cast at him a threatening
+look at parting, and galloped off to rejoin M. de la Chatre, whose
+cavalcade was now out of our sight. De Berquin gave him an ironical bow,
+kissed the gold pieces before pocketing them, dismounted, and entered the
+inn, replying only with a laugh to the supplicating looks of the
+moneyless Barbemouche and his hungry-looking comrades on the bench.
+
+"Now I wonder what in the devil's name the governor's secretary was
+saying to that man?" growled Blaise Tripault.
+
+For reply, I gave a look which reflected the surmise that I saw in
+Blaise's own eyes.
+
+"Well," I said, "if it be that, the Vicomte de Berquin will be a vastly
+ingenious gentleman if he can either find our hiding-place, or delude me
+away from my men. To think that they should have chosen the first
+mercenary wretch they met on their way! Yet doubtless the perspicacious
+Montignac knows his man."
+
+"The secretary pointed to this inn as if he were telling him that you
+were here," observed Blaise, meditatively.
+
+"But inasmuch as the secretary does not know that I am here," said I,
+"his pointing to the inn could not have accompanied that information. He
+was doubtless advising his friend to begin his enterprise with a hearty
+meal, which was very good advice. And now, as this Vicomte de Berquin
+does not know me by sight, let us go down and make his acquaintance.
+Remember that you are the master, and make a better pretence of it than
+you have usually made."
+
+"I pretend the master no worse than you pretend the servant," muttered
+Blaise, while I opened the door of our chamber. A moment later we were
+descending the stairs leading to the kitchen.
+
+An unexpected sight met our eyes. M. de Berquin stood with his back to a
+rear door, his arms extended, as if to prevent the departure of the lady,
+who stood facing him, in the attitude of shrinking back from him. She
+still wore her mask. Beside her stood her maid, who darted looks of
+indignation at the smiling De Berquin. These three were the only ones in
+the kitchen.
+
+"I do not know you, monsieur!" the lady was saying, in a low voice of
+great beauty.
+
+"Death of my life! But you shall know me, mademoiselle," replied De
+Berquin, who had not noticed the entrance of myself and Blaise; "for I
+intend to guard you from harm on the rest of your journey, whether you
+will or not!"
+
+Blaise shot at me a glance of interrogation. To keep up our assumed
+characters, it was for him, not me, to interfere in behalf of this lady;
+yet he dared not act without secret direction from me. But I forgot our
+pretence and hastened forward, my hand on my sword-hilt.
+
+"I fear monsieur is annoying mademoiselle," I said, gently, assuming that
+De Berquin had been correct in addressing her as mademoiselle.
+
+Startled at the voice of a newcomer, the three turned and looked at me in
+surprise. Blaise, at a loss as to what he ought to do, remained in the
+background.
+
+"But," I added, "monsieur will not do so again for the present."
+
+De Berquin took me in at a glance, and, deceived by my dress, said
+carelessly, "Go to the devil!" Then, turning from me to Blaise, as one
+turns from an inferior to an equal, he remarked:
+
+"You have a most impudent servant, monsieur!"
+
+Blaise, embarrassed by the situation, and conscious that the curious eyes
+of the lady and the maid were upon him, could only shrug his shoulders in
+reply. The maid, whom he had so much admired, turned to her mistress with
+a look of astonishment at his seeming indifference. Seeing this, Blaise
+became very red in the face.
+
+It was I who answered De Berquin, and with the words:
+
+"And your servant, if you have one, has a most impudent master."
+
+De Berquin turned pale with rage at the insulting allusion to his
+somewhat indigent appearance.
+
+"Your master shall answer for your impertinence!" he cried, drawing his
+sword and making for Blaise.
+
+In an instant my own sword was out, and I was barring his way.
+
+"Let _us_ argue the matter, monsieur!" said I.
+
+"_Peste_!" he hissed. "I fight not lackeys!"
+
+"You will fight _me_," I said, "or leave the presence of this lady at
+once!"
+
+Impelled by uncontrollable wrath, he thrust at me furiously. With a
+timely twist, I sent his sword flying from his hand to the door. I
+motioned him to follow it.
+
+Completely astonished, he obeyed my gesture, went and picked up his
+sword, opened the door, and then turned to Blaise and spoke these words,
+in a voice that trembled with rage:
+
+"Monsieur, since you let your menial handle your sword for you, I cannot
+hope for satisfaction. But though I am no great prophet, I can predict
+that both you and your cur shall yet feel the foot of _my_ lackey on your
+necks. And, mademoiselle," he added, removing his look to the lady, "this
+is not the end of it with you!"
+
+With which parting threats, he strode out of the inn, closing the door
+after him.
+
+Blaise, deprived by his false position of the power of speech, stood
+with frowning brow and puffed-out cheeks, nervously clutching at his
+sword-hilt. The lady and her maid looked at him with curiosity, as if
+a gentleman who would stand idly and speechlessly by, while his
+servant resented an insult to a lady, was a strange being, to be
+viewed with wonder.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said I, laying my sword on a table, "heaven is kind to me
+in having led me where I might have the joy of serving you."
+
+The lady, whose musical voice had the sound of sadness in it, answered
+with the graciousness warranted by the occasion:
+
+"My good man, your sword lifts you above your degree, even," and here she
+glanced at Blaise, and continued in a tone of irrepressible contempt, "as
+the tameness of some gentlemen lowers them beneath theirs."
+
+Blaise, from whose nature tameness was the attribute farthest removed,
+looked first at the lady, in helpless bewilderment, then at me, with mute
+reproach for having placed him in his ridiculous position, and lastly at
+the maid, who regarded him with open derision. To be laughed at by this
+piquant creature, to whose charms he had been so speedily susceptible,
+was the crowning misery. His expression of woe was such that I could not
+easily retain my own serious and respectful countenance.
+
+Having to make some answer to the lady, I said:
+
+"An opportunity to defend so fair a lady would elevate the most ignoble."
+
+The lady, not being accustomed to exchanging compliments with a
+man-servant, went to her maid and talked with her in whispers, the two
+both gazing at Blaise with expressions of mirth.
+
+Blaise strode to my side with an awkwardness quite new to him. His face
+was in a violent perspiration.
+
+"The devil!" he whispered. "How they laugh at me! Won't you explain?"
+
+"Impossible!"
+
+"I object to being taken for a calf," said Blaise, ready to burst with
+anger. Then, suddenly reaching the limit of his endurance, he faced the
+lady and blurted out:
+
+"Mademoiselle, I would have run your pursuer through quickly enough, but
+I dared not rob my master--"
+
+I coughed a warning against his betraying us. He hesitated, then
+despairingly added, in a voice of resignation:
+
+"--my master, the King, of a single stroke of this sword, which I have
+devoted entirely to his service."
+
+"I do not doubt," said the lady, with cold irony, "that your sword is
+active enough when drawn in the service of your King."
+
+"My King," replied Blaise with dignity, "had the goodness to make a
+somewhat similar remark when he took Cahors!"
+
+"Cahors?" repeated the lady in a tone of perplexity. "But the King never
+took Cahors!"
+
+"The King of France,--no!" cried Blaise; "but the King of Navarre did!"
+
+"Blaise!" I cried, in angry reproof at his imprudence.
+
+The tone in which I spoke had so startled the lady that she dropped her
+mask, and I saw the sweetest face that ever gladdened the eyes of a man.
+It was the face of a girl naturally of a cheerful nature, but newly made
+acquainted with sorrow. Grief had not rendered the nature, or the face,
+unresponsive to transient impressions of a pleasant or mirthful kind.
+Hers was one of those hearts in which grief does not exclude all
+possibility of gaiety. Sorrow might lie at the bottom, never forgotten
+and never entirely concealed, but merriment might ripple on the surface.
+As for its outlines, the face, in every part, harmonized with the grace
+and purity of the chin and mouth. Her eyes were blue and large, with an
+eloquence displayed without intent or consciousness.
+
+"What does it mean?" she said, in a charming bewilderment. "The servant
+reproves the master. Ah! I see! The servant _is_ the master."
+
+And she smiled with pleasure at her discovery.
+
+"But still _your_ servant, mademoiselle," was all that I could say.
+
+Blaise vented a great breath of relief. "I feel better now," he said,
+heartily, and he turned with a beaming countenance to the maid, who
+looked at his stalwart form and promptly revised her opinion of him. The
+two were soon in conversation together, at the fireplace, and I was left
+to complete explanations with the lady, who did not attempt the coquetry
+of replacing her mask.
+
+"Our secret is yours, mademoiselle, and our safety is in your hands."
+
+"Your secret is safe, monsieur," she said, modestly averting her eyes
+from my frankly admiring look. "And now I understand why it was you who
+drew sword."
+
+"A privilege too precious to be resigned," I answered in a low tone,
+"even for the sake of my secret and my safety."
+
+My words were spoken so tenderly that she sought relief from her
+charming embarrassment by taking up my sword from the table, and saying,
+with a smile:
+
+"I have you in my power, monsieur, follower of the King of Navarre! What
+if I were minded, on behalf of the governor of this province, to make you
+a prisoner?"
+
+"My faith!" I could only reply, "you need no sword to make
+prisoners of men."
+
+"You hope to purchase your freedom with a compliment," she said,
+continuing the jest; "but you cannot close my eyes with flattery."
+
+"It would be a crime beyond me to close eyes so beautiful!"
+
+She gave a pretty little smile and shrug of helplessness, as if to
+say, "I cannot help it, monsieur, if you will overwhelm me with
+compliments which are not deserved, I am powerless to prevent you."
+But the compliments were all the more deserved because she seemed to
+think them not so.
+
+Her modesty weakened my own audacity, and her innocent eyes put me into
+a kind of confusion. So I changed the subject.
+
+"It appears to me, mademoiselle," I said, "that I have had the honor of
+ridding you of unpleasant company."
+
+Her face quickly clouded, as if my words had brought to her mind a
+greater trouble than the mere importunities of an insolent adventurer.
+
+"De Berquin!" she said, and then heaved a deep sigh; "I had forgotten
+about him."
+
+"I would not commit his offence of thrusting unwelcome company on you," I
+replied; "but I would gladly offer you for a few leagues the sword that
+has already put him to flight."
+
+She was for some time silent. Then she answered slowly in a low voice, "I
+ride towards Clochonne, monsieur."
+
+Taking this for an acceptance of my offer, I sheathed my sword, and
+replied with an animation that betrayed my pleasure:
+
+"And I towards the same place, mademoiselle. When you choose to set out,
+I am ready."
+
+"I am ready now, monsieur--," she said, lingering over the word
+"monsieur," as if trying to recall whether or not I had told her my name.
+
+It was no time at which to disclose the title under which I was known
+throughout the province as one especially proscribed, and yet I was
+unwilling to pass under a false name. Therefore, I said:
+
+"I am M. de Launay, once of Anjou, but now of nowhere in particular. The
+great have caused my château to be scattered over my lands, stone by
+stone, and have otherwise encouraged my taste for travel and adventure."
+
+At this moment, glancing towards Blaise, I saw on his face a look of
+alarm and disapproval, as if he feared that the lady or her maid might be
+aware that De Launay and La Tournoire were one man, but it was manifest
+from their faces that he had no cause for such an apprehension.
+
+The lady smiled at my description, and adjusting her gloves, replied:
+
+"And I am Mlle. de Varion, daughter of a gentleman of Fleurier--"
+
+"What!" I interrupted, "the Catholic gentleman who has been imprisoned
+for sheltering a Huguenot?"
+
+"Yes," she answered, sorrowfully, and then with a strange trepidation she
+went on: "and it is to save myself from imprisonment that I have
+determined to flee to the south, in the hope of finding refuge in one of
+the provinces controlled by your King of Navarre."
+
+"But," I interposed, "how can you be in danger of imprisonment? It was
+not you, but your father, who violated the edict."
+
+"Nevertheless," she answered, in a low and unsteady voice, averting her
+glance to the floor, "M. de la Chatre, the governor of the province, has
+threatened me with imprisonment if I remain in Berry."
+
+"Doubtless," I said with indignation, "the governor does this in order to
+escape the importunities you would make in your father's behalf. He would
+save his tender heart from the pain of being touched by your pleadings."
+
+"It may be so," she answered faintly.
+
+I did not tell her that the idea of releasing her father had already
+entered my head. In order to bring him safe out of the Château of
+Fleurier, it would be necessary for me to return to Maury for my company.
+The attempt would be a hazardous one, and I might fail, and I did not
+wish to raise hopes in her for disappointment. She should not learn of my
+intention until after its fulfillment. In the meantime, less because I
+thought she would really undergo danger by remaining at Fleurier, than
+because I was loth to lose the new-found happiness that her presence gave
+me, I would conduct her to Maury, on the pretext of its being the best
+place whence to make, at a convenient time, a safe flight to Guienne.
+
+Having summoned the landlord and paid him, I waited for Mlle. de Varion
+to precede me out of the door. There was a moment's delay while her maid
+sought the riding whip which mademoiselle had laid down on one of the
+tables. At this moment, there came to me the idea of a jest which would
+furnish me with amusement on the road southward, and afford mademoiselle
+an interesting surprise on her arrival at Maury.
+
+"It occurs to me, mademoiselle," said I, "that you will be glad to have
+some guidance across the border. Let me recommend to you one, whose
+services I think I can assure you, and whom we may fall in with in the
+vicinity of Clochonne,--the Sieur de la Tournoire."
+
+Mademoiselle turned white, and stared at me with a look of terror
+on her face.
+
+"Decidedly," I thought, "as the mere mention of my name produces such an
+effect on her, it is well that I am not going to introduce myself until
+she shall have learned that I am not such a terrible cutthroat as the
+Catholics in this province think me." And I said aloud:
+
+"Fear not, mademoiselle. He is not as bad as his enemies represent him."
+
+"I shall be glad to have his guidance," she said, still pale.
+
+We left the inn and took horse, being joined, outside, by mademoiselle's
+two serving-boys. Resuming his character of gentleman, Blaise rode ahead
+with the lady, while I followed at the side of the maid, he casting many
+an envious glance at the place I occupied, and I reciprocating his
+feelings if not his looks. Nevertheless, I was sufficiently near
+mademoiselle to be able to exchange speeches with her. The day was at its
+best. The sun shone; a gentle breeze played with the red and yellow
+leaves in the roadway, and I was happy.
+
+Looking down a byway as we passed, I saw, at some distance, M. de Berquin
+talking to Barbemouche, while the latter's three scurvy-looking
+companions stood by, as if awaiting the outcome of the conversation
+between the two.
+
+"Oho, M. de Berquin!" I said to myself, with an inward laugh; "I do not
+know whether you are bargaining for help to persecute Mlle. de Varion, or
+to spy on the Sieur de la Tournoire; but it has come to pass that you can
+do both at the same time."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE FOUR RASCALS
+
+
+We rode southward at an easy pace, that mademoiselle might not be made
+to suffer from fatigue. Aside from the desirability of our reaching safe
+territory, there was no reason for great haste. M. de Varion had not yet
+been tried, and the attempt to deliver him from prison need not be made
+immediately. Time would be required in which I might form a satisfactory
+plan of action in this matter. It would be necessary to employ all my
+men in it, and to bring them secretly from Maury by night marches, but I
+must not take the first step until the whole design should be complete
+in my mind.
+
+I suggested to mademoiselle that we first go to her father's house, in
+Fleurier, where she might get such of her belongings as she wished to
+take with her. But she desired to take no more along than was already in
+the portmanteaus that her boys, Hugo and Pierre, carried with them on
+their horses. She had come directly from Bourges with this baggage,
+having been visiting an unmarried aunt, in that city, when news of her
+father's arrest reached her.
+
+When I questioned her as to her conduct on the reception of that news,
+her face clouded, and she showed embarrassment and a wish to avoid the
+subject. Nevertheless, she gave me answers, and I finally learned that
+her purpose on leaving Bourges had been to seek the governor of the
+province, immediately, and petition for her father's release. It was by
+accident that she had met M. de la Chatre at the inn, where she had
+stopped that her horses might be baited. My persistent, though
+deferential, inquiries elicited from her, in a wavering voice, that she
+had not previously possessed the governor's acquaintance; that her
+entreaties had evoked only the governor's wrathful orders to depart from
+the province on pain of sharing her father's fate; and that La Chatre had
+refused to allow her even to see her father in his dungeon in the Château
+of Fleurier.
+
+Her agitation as she disclosed these things to me became so great that I
+presently desisted from pursuing the subject, and sought to restore
+brightness to the face of one whose tenderness and youth made her
+misfortune ineffably touching.
+
+I found that, with a woman's intelligence, she had a child's
+ingenuousness. I had no difficulty in leading her to talk about herself.
+Artlessly she communicated to me the salient facts of her life. Her
+father, the younger son of a noble family, had passed his days in study
+on his little portion of land near Fleurier. Like myself, she had when
+very young become motherless. As for her education, her unmarried aunt
+had taught her those accomplishments which a woman can best impart, while
+her father had instructed her concerning the ancients, the arts, and the
+sciences. She had been to Paris but once, and knew nothing of the court.
+
+Most of my conversation with mademoiselle was had while we traversed a
+deserted stretch of road, where I could, with safety, ride by her side
+and allow Blaise to take my place with the maid, Jeannotte. I could infer
+how deeply the good fellow had been smitten with the petite damsel by the
+means which he took to impress her in return. Far from showing himself as
+the wounded, sighing lover, he swelled to large dimensions, assumed his
+most martial frown, and carried himself as a most formidable personage.
+He boasted sonorously of his achievements in battle.
+
+"And the scar on your forehead," I heard her say, as she inspected his
+visage with a coquettish side glance; "at what battle did you get that?"
+
+His reply was uttered in a voice whose rancorous fierceness must have set
+the maid trembling.
+
+"In the battle of the Rue Etienne," he said, "which was fought between
+myself and a hell-born Papist, on St. Bartholomew's night, in 1572. From
+the next house-roof, I had seen Coligny's body thrown, bleeding, from his
+own window into his courtyard, for I was one of those who were with him
+when his murderers came, and whom he ordered to flee. I ran from roof to
+roof, hoping to reach a house where a number of Huguenots were, that I
+might lead them back to avenge the admiral's murder. I dropped to the
+street and ran around a corner straight into the arms of one of the
+butchers employed by the Duke of Guise that night to decorate the streets
+of Paris with the best blood in France. Seeing that I did not wear the
+white cross on my arm, he was good enough to give me this red mark on my
+forehead. But in those days I was quick at repartee, and I gave him a
+similar mark on a similar place. Then I was knocked down from behind, and
+when I awoke it was the next day. The dogs had thought me dead. As for
+the man who gave me this mark, I have not seen him since, but for
+thirteen years I have prayed hard to the bountiful Father in Heaven to
+bring us together again some day, and the good God in His infinite
+kindness will surely do so!"
+
+Now and then mademoiselle turned in her saddle to look behind. It was
+when she did this for the ninth or tenth time that she gave a start, and
+her lips parted with a half-uttered ejaculation of alarm. I followed her
+look and saw five mounted figures far behind us, on the road. It was
+most probable that these were De Berquin, Barbemouche, and the latter's
+three ragged comrades. But in this sight I found no reason to be
+disturbed. If mademoiselle was the object of De Berquin's quest, I felt
+that our party was sufficiently strong to protect her. If he had
+abandoned the intention of annoying her with further importunities, and
+was merely proceeding to Clochonne in order to act as the governor's spy
+against me, there could be no immediate danger in his presence, for he
+did not suspect that I was the Sieur de la Tournoire.
+
+"Be assured, mademoiselle," I said, "you have nothing whatever to fear
+from M. de Berquin."
+
+"I do not fear for myself," she replied, with a pathetic little smile.
+"It cannot be possible that, having seen me only once, he should put
+himself to so much trouble merely to inflict his attentions on me."
+
+"Then you never saw him before the meeting at the inn to-day?" I asked,
+in surprise.
+
+"Never. When he addressed me and introduced himself, I was surprised that
+he should already know my name."
+
+I then recalled that the governor's secretary, Montignac, at one time,
+during his talk with De Berquin outside our window, had pointed towards
+the inn. Was it, then, of Mlle. de Varion that he had been talking?
+Montignac, of course, having witnessed the interview between mademoiselle
+and the governor, had learned her name. It must have been he who had
+communicated it to De Berquin. Had the subtle secretary entrusted the
+unscrupulous cavalier with some commission relative to mademoiselle, as
+well as with the task of betraying me? It was in vain that I tried to
+find satisfactory answers to these questions.
+
+I asked mademoiselle whether she had ever known Montignac before this
+day.
+
+"Never," she answered, with a kind of shudder, which seemed to express
+both abhorrence and fear. Again she grew reticent; again the shadow and
+the look of confusion appeared on her face. I could make nothing of these
+signs. To attempt a solution by interrogating her was only to cause her
+pain, and rather than do that I preferred to remain mystified.
+
+Once more mademoiselle cast an uneasy look at the riders in the
+distance rearward.
+
+"Ah!" said I, with a smile, "you have no fear for yourself, yet you
+continue to look back with an expression that very nearly resembles that
+of fright."
+
+"I do not fear for myself," she said, quite artlessly; "it is for you
+that I fear. M. de Berquin will surely try to revenge himself for the
+humiliation you gave him."
+
+A joyous thrill sent the blood to my cheeks. Without disguising my
+feelings, I turned and looked at her. Doubtless the gladness that shone
+in my eyes told her what was in my heart. Realizing that her frank and
+gentle demonstration of solicitude was a confession to be received with
+ineffable delight by the man to whom it was tendered, she dropped her
+eyes and a deep blush overspread her face. For some time no word passed
+between us; enough had been said. I knew that the look in my eyes had
+told more, a thousand times, than all the extravagant compliments with
+which I had, half banteringly, deluged her at the inn.
+
+We might, by hard riding, have reached Maury on the night of that day,
+but mademoiselle's comfort was to be considered, and, moreover, I desired
+to throw De Berquin off our track before going to our hiding-place.
+Therefore, when Clochonne was yet some leagues before us, we turned into
+a by-way, and stopped at an obscure inn at the end of a small village.
+This hostelry was a mere hut, consisting of a kitchen and one other
+apartment, and was kept by an old couple as stupid and avaricious as any
+of their class. The whole place, such as it was, was at our disposal. The
+one private room was given over to mademoiselle and Jeannotte for the
+night, it being decided that I and Blaise should share the kitchen with
+the inn-keeper and his wife, while the two boys should sleep in an outer
+shed with the horses.
+
+Roused from sluggishness by the sight of a gold piece, which Blaise
+displayed, the old couple succeeded in getting for us a passable supper,
+which we had served to us on the end of an old wine-butt outside the inn,
+as the kitchen was intolerably smoky.
+
+"A poor place, mademoiselle," said I, ashamed of having conducted so
+delicate a creature to this miserable hovel.
+
+"What would you have?" she replied, with a pretty attempt to cover her
+dejection by a show of cheerfulness. "One cannot flee, for one's liberty,
+through the forest, and live in a château at the same time."
+
+As for the others, hunger and fatigue made any fare and shelter welcome.
+Blaise, in particular, found the wine acceptable. Conscious of the
+glances of Jeannotte, now flashing, now demure, he strove to outdo
+himself in one of his happiest accomplishments, that of drinking. The two
+boys, Hugo and Pierre, emulated his achievements, and only the presence
+of mademoiselle deterred our party from becoming a noisy one.
+
+Blaise became more and more exuberant as he made the wine flow the more
+generously. Seeing a way of diverting mademoiselle from her sad thoughts,
+I set him to telling of the things he had done in battle when controlled
+by the sanguinary spirit of his father. He had a manner of narrating
+these deeds of slaughter, which took all the horror out of them, and made
+them rather comical than of any other description. He soon had
+mademoiselle smiling, the maid laughing, and the two boys looking on him
+with open-eyed admiration. Finding Jeannotte and the boys so well
+entertained, mademoiselle allowed them to remain with Blaise when she
+retired to her room.
+
+I followed her to the inn door, and bade her rest without fear, assuring
+her that I would die ere the least harm should befall her.
+
+"Nay," she answered smiling, "I would endure much harm rather than buy
+security at such a price."
+
+For an instant her smooth and delicate fingers lay in mine. Then they
+were swiftly withdrawn, and she passed in, while I stood outside to muse,
+in the gathering dusk, upon the great change that had come over the world
+since my first meeting with her, six hours before. The very stars and sky
+seemed to smile upon me; the moonlight seemed to shine for me consciously
+with a greater softness; the very smell of the earth and grass and trees
+had grown sweeter to me. I thought how barren, though I had not known it,
+the world had been before this transformation, and how unendurable to me
+would be a return of that barrenness.
+
+I rejoined the now somewhat boisterous party at the wine-butt in time to
+catch Blaise making an attempt to kiss Jeannotte, who was maintaining a
+fair pretence of resistance. She seemed rather displeased at my return,
+for as Blaise, unabashedly, continued his efforts, she was compelled, in
+order to make her coyness seem real to me, to break from him, and flee
+into the inn.
+
+Blaise, in whom the spirit of his father was now manifestly gaming the
+ascendancy, consoled himself for the absence of Jeannotte by drinking
+more heroically and betaking to song. The boys labored assiduously to
+keep him company. Finally the stalwart fellow, Hugo, succumbed to the
+effects of the wine, and staggered off to the shed. Pierre followed him a
+few minutes later, and Blaise was left alone with the remains of the
+wine. The landlord and his wife had retired to rest, on their pallets on
+the kitchen floor, some time before. Blaise sat on a log, singing to
+himself and cursing imaginary enemies, until all the wine at hand was
+exhausted. Then he let me lead him into the kitchen, where he immediately
+dropped to the floor, rolled over on his back, and began snoring with the
+vigor that characterized all his vocal manifestations.
+
+Making a pillow of my cloak, I lay down beside him, and tried to sleep;
+but the stale air of the kitchen, the new thoughts to which my mind clung
+with delight, the puzzling questions that sought to displace those
+thoughts, and the tremendous snoring of both the landlord and his wife,
+as well as of Blaise, made slumber impossible to me. I therefore rose,
+and went out of the inn. At a short distance away was a smooth, grassy
+knoll, now bathed in moonlight. I decided to make this my couch. I had
+proceeded only a few steps from the inn when the silence of the early
+night was disturbed by the sound of footsteps on the crisp, fallen leaves
+in the woods close at hand.
+
+The smallness of the village and the obscurity of the locality gave
+importance to every sound, proceeding from a human source, at this hour.
+I, therefore, dropped behind the thick stump of a tree, where I might see
+and hear without being observed. Presently a figure emerged from the edge
+of the wood and moved cautiously towards the inn. It stopped, made a
+gesture towards the wood, and then continued its course. Three more
+figures then came out of the wood, one very tall, one exceedingly broad,
+and the third extremely thin. They came on with great caution, and
+finally joined the first comer near the inn. By this time I had
+recognized the leader as my old friend, Barbemouche. The others were his
+companions.
+
+I awaited their further proceedings with curiosity. Was it in quest of
+us, at the behest of De Berquin, that they had come hither so cautiously
+and without their horses? Very probably. Doubtless, from afar, they had
+seen us turn into the byway which, as one or more of them perhaps knew,
+led to this inn and to no other. It was not likely that, having certainly
+made some bargain with De Berquin, and being moneyless, they had quitted
+his service so soon. Yet, if they were now carrying out orders of his
+against mademoiselle or against me, the supposed lackey who had incurred
+his wrath, why was he not with them? I hoped soon to see these questions
+answered by the doings of the rascals themselves.
+
+The fat ruffian sank down, with a heavy sigh of relief, on the log where
+Blaise had sat. He pulled down with him the thin fellow, who had been
+clutching his arm as if for support. The latter had a wavy, yellow beard,
+a feminine manner, and a dandified air, as if he might once have been a
+fop at the court before descending to the rags which now covered him. The
+fat hireling had a face on which both good nature and pugnacity were
+depicted. At present he was puffing from his exertions afoot. The most
+striking figure of the group was that of the tall rascal. He was gaunt,
+angular and erect, throwing out his chest, and wearing a solemn and
+meditative mien upon his weather-beaten face. This visage, long enough in
+its frame-work, was further extended by a great, pointed beard. There was
+something of grandeur about this cadaverous, frowning, Spanish-looking
+wreck of a warrior, as he stood thoughtfully leaning upon a huge
+two-handed sword, which he had doubtless obtained in the pillage of some
+old armory.
+
+"The place seems closed as tight as the gates of Heaven to a heretic,"
+growled Barbemouche, scrutinizing the inn.
+
+The tall fellow here awoke from his reverie, and spoke in solemn,
+deliberate tones:
+
+"Would it not be well to wake up the landlord and try his wine?"
+
+"Wake up the devil!" cried Barbemouche angrily. "Nobody is to be waked
+up. We are simply to find out whether they are here, and then go back to
+the Captain. Your unquenchable thirst will take you to hell before your
+time, François."
+
+"It is astonishing," put in the fat fellow, looking at the tall, lean
+François, "how so few gallons of body can hold so many gallons of wine."
+
+"Would I had your body to fill with wine, Antoine," said François,
+longingly; and then, casting an unhappy look at the inn, he added, "and
+the wine to fill it with."
+
+"What are you shaking for, Jacques?" asked fat Antoine of his slim
+comrade at his side. "One would think you were afraid. Haven't you told
+us that love of fighting was the one passion of your life?"
+
+"Death of the devil, so it is!" replied Jacques in a soft voice, and
+with a lisp worthy of one of the King's painted minions. "That is what
+annoys me, for if this insignificant matter should come to a fight, and I
+should accidentally be killed in so obscure an affair, how could I ever
+again indulge my passion for fighting?"
+
+Meanwhile, Barbemouche had gone to the door and cautiously opened it, no
+one having barred it after my departure from the kitchen. I could hear
+the sound of Blaise's superb snoring, mingled with the less resonant
+efforts of the old couple. Barbemouche surveyed as much of the kitchen as
+the moonlight disclosed to him. Then he quietly shut the door and turned
+to his fellows.
+
+"It is well," he said. "The gentleman himself is snoring his lungs away
+just inside the door. There is another room, and it is there that the
+women must be. The others are probably in the shed. Let us go quietly, as
+it would not be polite to disturb their sleep."
+
+Whereupon Barbemouche led the way back to the woods, followed by fat
+Antoine, who toiled puffingly, Jacques, who stepped daintily and seemed
+fearful of treading on stones and briars, and last of all François, who
+moved at a measured pace, with long strides, retaining his air of
+profound meditation. The sound of the crushing of leaves beneath their
+feet became more distant, and finally died out entirely.
+
+In vain I asked myself the meaning of this strange investigation.
+Manifestly the present object of De Berquin was nothing more than to keep
+himself informed of our whereabouts. But why had he sent all four of his
+henchmen to find out whether we were at this inn, when one would have
+sufficed? I abandoned the attempt to deduce what his exact intentions
+were. Drowsiness now coming over me, and the night air having grown
+colder, I repaired to the shed for the purpose of obtaining there the
+repose that had been denied me in the kitchen. I was satisfied in mind
+that whatever blow De Berquin intended to strike for the possession of
+mademoiselle, or for revenge upon myself, would be attempted at a time
+and place more convenient to him. Knowing that my slumbers invariably
+yielded to any unusual noise, I allowed myself to fall asleep on a pile
+of straw in the shed.
+
+I know not how long I had slept, when I suddenly awoke with a start and
+sat upright. What noise had invaded my sleep, I could not, at that
+moment, tell. The place was then perfectly quiet, save for the regular
+breathing of the two boys, and an occasional movement of one of the
+horses. The shed was still entirely dark, excepting where a thin slice of
+moonlight entered at a crack. I sat still, listening.
+
+Presently a low sound struck my ear, something between a growl and a
+groan. I quickly arose, left the shed, and ran to a clump of bushes at
+the side of the inn, whence the sound proceeded. Separating the bushes I
+saw, lying prone on the ground among them, the stalwart body of Blaise.
+
+"What is the matter?" I cried. "Speak! Are you wounded?"
+
+The only reply was a kind of muffled roar. Looking closer, I saw that
+Blaise's mouth and head were tightly bound by the detached sleeve of a
+doublet, and this had deterred him from articulating. I saw, also,
+that his legs had been tied together, and his hands fastened behind
+him with a rope.
+
+I rapidly released his legs, and he stood up. Then I undid his hands,
+and he stretched out his arms with relief. Finally I unbound his mouth
+and he spoke:
+
+"Oh, the whelps of hell! To fall on a man when he is sleeping off his
+wine, and tie him up like a trussed fowl! I will have the blood of every
+cursed knave of them! And the maid! Grandmother of the devil! They have
+taken the maid! Come, monsieur, let us cut them into pieces, and save
+the maid!"
+
+But I held him back, and cried: "And mademoiselle, what of her? Speak,
+you drunken dog! Have you let her be harmed?"
+
+"She is perfectly safe," he answered, in his turn holding me back from
+rushing to the inn. "I do not think that she was even awakened. What
+use to let her know what has happened? If we rescue the maid and the
+maid will hold her tongue, mademoiselle will never know what danger she
+has escaped."
+
+"Or what vigilant protectors she has had to guard her sleep," I said,
+with bitter self-reproach, no longer daring to blame Blaise for a laxity
+of which I had been equally guilty. "You are right," I went on, "she must
+know nothing. Now tell me at once exactly what has occurred."
+
+Blaise would rather have looked for his sword, and started off
+immediately to the rescue of the maid, but I made him stand with me in
+the shadow of the inn and relate.
+
+"From the time when I fell asleep on the kitchen floor," he said, "I knew
+nothing until a little while ago, when I awoke, and found myself still
+where I had lain down, but tied up as you found me yonder. Four curs of
+hell were lifting me to carry me out. I tried to strike, but the deep
+sleep, induced by that cursed wine, had allowed them to tie me up as
+neatly as if I had been a dead deer. Neither could I speak, though I
+tried hard enough to curse, you may be sure. So they brought me out, and
+laid me down there by the inn-door. 'Would it not be best to stick a
+sword into him?' said one of the rascals, a soft speaking, womanish pup.
+A hungry-looking giant put the point of an old two-handed sword at my
+breast, as if to carry out the suggestion; but a heavy, black-bearded
+scoundrel, whose voice I think I have heard before, pushed the sword away
+and said: 'No, the captain has a quarrel to adjust with him in person. We
+are to concern ourselves entirely with the lady. Lay him yonder.' So they
+carried me over to the bushes. 'And now for the others,' said the giant.
+'Why lose time over them?' said the burly fellow, who seemed to be the
+leader; 'they are sleeping like pigs in the shed. Come! We can do the
+business without waking them up,'
+
+"So they left me lying on the ground and went into the inn again, very
+quietly. They must have gone, without waking the landlord or his wife,
+into the room of mademoiselle and her maid. Presently they came out
+again, carrying the maid. When they had gone about half way to the woods,
+they stopped and set her on her feet. So far, I suppose, it was the wine
+that kept her asleep; but now she awoke, and I could see her looking
+around, very scared, from one to the other of the four rascals. Then she
+gave a scream. At that instant, there came rushing from the woods, with
+his sword drawn, your friend, the Vicomte de Berquin. 'Stand off,
+rascals!' he shouted, as he ran up to them. They drew their weapons, and
+made a weak pretense of resisting him; then, when each one had exchanged
+a thrust with him, they all turned tail, and made off into the woods.
+
+"M. de Berquin now turned to the maid, who had fallen to her knees in
+fright. Taking her hand, he said, 'Mademoiselle, I thank Heaven I arrived
+in time to give you the aid your own escort failed to afford. Perhaps now
+you will be the less unwilling to accept my protection!'--the maid now
+looked up at him, and he got a good view of her face. He started back as
+if hell had opened before him, threw her hand from his, turned towards
+the woods, and shouted to the four rascals, 'You whelps of the devil, you
+have made a mistake and brought the maid!' He was about to follow them,
+when it probably occurred to him that if left free the maid would
+disclose his little project; for he stood thinking a moment, then grasped
+the frightened maid by the wrist, and ran off into the woods, dragging
+her after him. All this I saw through an opening in the bushes while I
+lay helpless and speechless. By industriously working my jaw, I at last
+succeeded in making my mouth sufficiently free to produce the sounds
+which brought you to me. Now, monsieur, let us hasten after the maid, for
+mademoiselle will be vastly annoyed to lose her precious Jeannotte."
+
+I saw that Blaise knew with what argument I was quickest to be moved.
+
+"Blaise," I said, "do not pretend that it is only for mademoiselle's
+sake that you are concerned. In your anxiety about the maid, you forget
+the danger in which mademoiselle still lies, and which requires me to
+remain here. When the ingenious De Berquin learns, from his four
+henchmen, that mademoiselle was not awakened, he will certainly repeat
+his attempt. He thinks to win her favor by appearing to be her rescuer
+from these four pretended assailants, and, at the same time, to make us
+seem unworthy to protect her. He does not know that she has seen the four
+rascals in his company. He wishes to work with his own hand his revenge
+upon us, and so he has let us live. I see the way to make him so
+ridiculous in the eyes of mademoiselle that he will never dare show his
+face to her again."
+
+"But the maid!" persisted Blaise.
+
+"They will doubtless secure her somewhere in the woods, and return here
+to enact, with mademoiselle herself, the sham rescue which they
+mistakenly carried out with the maid. Go and seek your precious
+Jeannotte, if you please, but do not let them discover you. Wait until
+they leave her before you try to release her."
+
+Blaise was quick to avail himself of this conditional commission. He went
+with me into the kitchen, where the old couple were sleeping as noisily
+as ever, and found his sword where he had laid it before supper. The
+door to mademoiselle's room was ajar. Standing at the threshold, I could
+hear her breathing peacefully, unaware of the peril from which, by a
+blunder, she had been saved. Through the small window of the room came a
+bar of moonlight which lighted up her face. It was a face pale, sad,
+innocent,--the face of a girl transformed, in an instant, to womanhood
+by a single grief.
+
+Leaving her door as I had found it, I went from the inn to the shed,
+still wearing my sword, which I had put on in first leaving the kitchen
+after my futile attempt to sleep. Blaise was already making rapidly for
+the woods.
+
+I quietly awoke Hugo and Pierre, and bade them put on their weapons and
+remain ready to respond to my call. I then posted myself again behind the
+tree stump near the inn door and awaited occurrences.
+
+By this time clouds had arisen, and the moonlight was frequently
+obscured. I had waited about half an hour, when, again, the sound of
+breaking leaves and sticks warned me that living beings were
+approaching through the woods. At last I made out the four figures of
+De Berquin's hirelings as they cautiously paused at the edge of the
+open space. Apparently assured by the silence that their presence was
+unsuspected, they came on to the inn. In a moment of moonlight, I
+perceived, also, the figure of De Berquin, who stood at the border of
+the woods watching the proceedings of his varlets. Even as I looked, he
+withdrew into the shadow. At the same time a heavy mass of cloud cast
+darkness over the place.
+
+But I could descry the black forms of the four rascals huddled together
+at the door of the inn, which the foremost cautiously opened. A moment
+later they had all entered the kitchen.
+
+I glided rapidly through the darkness after them, and took my stand just
+within the door, where any one attempting to pass out must encounter me.
+The four rascals were now at the inner door leading to the room of
+mademoiselle.
+
+"Stand off, rascals!" I cried, assuming the tone of De Berquin. In
+the same moment, I gently punctured the back of the nearest rascal
+with my sword.
+
+Surprised at what they took for the premature advent of their master, the
+fellows turned and stood for a moment undecided. But, by thrusting my
+sword among them, I enabled them to make up their minds. They could but
+blindly obey their instructions, and so they came towards me with a
+feeble pretense of attack. In the darkness it was impossible for them to
+make out my features. I met their sham assault with much greater vigor
+than De Berquin had led them to expect from him. This they might have
+been moved to resist, in earnest, but for the fear of losing their pay,
+which De Berquin, in order to secure himself against treachery on their
+part, would certainly have represented as being, not on his person, but
+somewhere awaiting his call. Thus deterred from making a sufficient
+defence against my sword-play, and as mademoiselle, awakened by the
+noise, had hastened to her door and was looking on, the four adventurers
+soon considered that their pretense of battle had lasted long enough. A
+howl of pain from Barbemouche, evoked by a wound in the groin, was the
+signal for their general flight. As I still stood in the doorway to bar
+all exit there, they sought other ways of egress. The slim Jacques ran
+past mademoiselle into her room and bolted through the window.
+Barbemouche managed to go through the rear window of the kitchen, and the
+fat Antoine tried to follow him, but succeeded only as to his head, arms,
+and shoulders. Squeezed tightly into the opening, he remained an
+irresistible temptation to the point of my sword, and at every thrust he
+beat the air with his legs, and shrieked piteously. The tall François, in
+attempting to reach this window at one stride, had stumbled against the
+bodies of the terrified innkeeper and his wife, and he now labored,
+vainly, to release his leg from the grasp of the old woman, who clung to
+it with the strength of desperation.
+
+I took mademoiselle by the hand and led her out into the air. Here we
+were joined by Hugo and Pierre, who had run around from the shed at the
+noise. I was just about to answer her look of bewilderment and inquiry,
+when there came a loud cry:
+
+"Stand off, rascals!"
+
+And on rushed De Berquin from the woods, making a great flourish with his
+sword as he came. In the darkness, seeing mademoiselle standing with
+three men, one of whom had led her rapidly from the inn, the inventive
+Vicomte had taken us three for his own zealous henchmen.
+
+And so he came, like some giant-slaying chevalier of the old days,
+crying again: "Stand off, rascals!" and adding, "You hounds, release
+this lady!"
+
+"Fear not for the lady; her friends are here!" I said, motioning Hugo and
+Pierre aside and stepping forward with mademoiselle, my drawn sword in my
+right hand.
+
+The moon reappeared, and showed De Berquin standing with open mouth, as
+if turned to stone. In a moment this astonishment passed.
+
+"Thousand devils!" he cried. "The cursed lackey!"
+
+And he made a wrathful thrust at me, but I disarmed him now as neatly as
+at the inn. Thereupon, he picked up his sword and made rapidly off to the
+woods. Turning towards the inn, I saw the tall fellow and his fat
+comrade leaving it, the former bearing his huge sword on his shoulder.
+They avoided us by a detour, and followed De Berquin. The two who had
+escaped by windows had, doubtless, already reached the protection of the
+trees. I began to explain to mademoiselle, and was asking myself how best
+to account for the absence of Jeannotte, when I saw Blaise coming from
+the woods, bearing the maid in his arms. To prevent her from returning to
+the inn, De Berquin had caused Barbemouche to bind her to a tree. When
+her captors had departed to make a second attempt against mademoiselle,
+the maid had set up a moaning, and this had guided Blaise to her side.
+
+It was now impossible to conceal any of the night's events from
+mademoiselle, but she, far from blaming our lack of vigilance, feigned to
+think herself indebted to us for a second rescue from the attentions of
+her persecutor. During the rest of that night her slumbers were more
+faithfully guarded, although they were not threatened again.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+A DISAPPEARANCE
+
+
+The next morning we resumed our way southward. The weather was clear and
+fine, yet Mlle. de Varion seemed more heavy at heart than she had been on
+the preceding day. This could not be attributed to any apprehension of
+further annoyance from De Berquin, for, as her talk showed, she believed
+that he would not again trouble her after his having cut so poor a figure
+with his attempt at an intended rescue. But though I did not tell her, I
+had good reason to believe that we were not yet done with him. The
+failure of his attempt with regard to mademoiselle, whether or not that
+attempt had been dictated by Montignac, would not make him abandon the
+more important mission concerning the Sieur de la Tournoire. Therefore, I
+was likely to encounter him again, and probably nearer Maury, and, as it
+was my intention that mademoiselle should remain under my protection
+until after my venture in behalf of her father, it was probable that she,
+too, would see more of her erstwhile pursuer. I would allow events to
+dictate precautions against the discovery of my hiding-place by De
+Berquin, against his interference with my intended attempt to deliver M.
+de Varion, and against his molesting Mlle. de Varion during my absence
+from her on that attempt. I might have killed De Berquin when I disarmed
+him on the previous night, but I did not wish to make him, in the least,
+an object of mademoiselle's pity, and, moreover, I was curious to see
+what means he would adopt towards hunting me down and betraying me.
+
+Not only the dejection of Mlle. de Varion made our ride a melancholy one,
+despite the radiance of the autumn morning. Blaise, repentant of his
+overindulgence, and still feeling the humiliation of the easy capture
+made of him by four scurvy knaves, had taken refuge in one of those moods
+of pious reflection which he attributed to maternal influence. Piqued at
+this reticence, the maid, Jeannotte, maintained a sulky silence. The two
+boys, devoted to their mistress, now faithfully reflected her sad and
+uneasy demeanor.
+
+"Look, mademoiselle!" said I, glad of having found objects toward which
+to draw her attention, "yonder is the Château of Clochonne. Beyond that,
+and to the right, are the mountains for which we are bound. It is there
+that I shall introduce to you the Sieur de la Tournoire."
+
+Mademoiselle looked at the distant towers and the mountains beyond
+with an expression of dread. She gave a heavy sigh and shuddered in
+her saddle.
+
+"Nay, mademoiselle," I said; "you have nothing to fear there."
+
+She turned pale, and answered, in a trembling voice:
+
+"Alas, monsieur! Am I not about to put those mountains between myself and
+my father?"
+
+I thought of the joy that I should cause and the gratitude that I should
+win, should I succeed in bringing her father safe to her on those
+mountains, but I kept the thought to myself.
+
+We skirted Clochonne by a wide détour, fording the Creuse at a secluded
+place, and ascended the wooded hills in single file. After a long and
+toilsome progress through pathless and deeply shaded wilds, we reached,
+in the afternoon, the forest inn kept by Godeau and his wife. It had been
+my intention to stop and rest here, and to send Blaise ahead to Maury,
+that one of the rooms of our ruined château might be made fit for
+mademoiselle's reception. I had expected to find the inn, as usual,
+without guests, but on approaching it we heard the sound of music
+proceeding from a stringed instrument. We stopped at the edge of the
+small, cleared space before the inn and sent Blaise to reconnoitre. He
+boldly entered and presently returned, followed by the decrepit Godeau
+and his strapping wife, Marianne. Both gave us glad welcome, the old man
+with obsequious bows which doubtless racked his rheumatic joints, the
+woman with bustling cordiality.
+
+"Be at ease, monsieur," said Marianne. "We have no one within except two
+gypsies, who will make music for you and tell your fortunes. Godeau, look
+to the horses."
+
+I dismounted and assisted mademoiselle to descend. Then, on the pretext
+of giving an order, I took Marianne and Godeau aside, and bade them to
+address me as M. de Launay, not on any account as M. de la Tournoire. The
+old man then saw to our horses, and Marianne brought us wine.
+
+"Before sunset," I said to mademoiselle, as I raised my glass, "you shall
+meet the Sieur de la Tournoire at his hiding-place."
+
+Mlle. de Varion turned pale, and, as if suddenly too weak to stand, sat
+down on a wooden bench before the inn door. Jeannotte ran to support her.
+
+"Before sunset!" she repeated, with a shudder.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle, unless you are too ill to proceed. I fear the fatigue
+of this ride has been too much for you."
+
+She gave a look of relief, and replied:
+
+"I fear that it has. I shall be better able to go on to-morrow,--unless
+there is danger in remaining here."
+
+"There is very little danger. People crossing the mountains by way of
+Clochonne now use the new road, which is shorter. If, by any chance,
+soldiers from the Clochonne garrison should come this way and detain us
+as fleeing Huguenots, we could summon help,--for we are so near the
+hiding-place of the Sieur de la Tournoire."
+
+Again that shudder! Decidedly, in the accounts that she had received
+of me, I must have been represented as a very terrible personage. I
+smiled at thinking of the surprise that awaited her in the disclosure
+of the truth.
+
+It was thereupon arranged that we should stay at Godeau's inn until the
+next morning. Mademoiselle's portmanteaus were carried to the upper
+chamber, which was a mere loft, but preferable to the kitchen. Thither,
+after eating, she went to rest. Blaise then departed to direct the
+desired preparations at Maury, with orders to return to the inn before
+nightfall. Jeannotte and the two boys remained in the kitchen to hear the
+music of the two gypsies, a man and a girl. Having nothing better to do,
+I took my seat on the bench outside the inn and sat musing.
+
+Late in the afternoon, I heard the light step of mademoiselle on the
+threshold. On seeing me, she stopped, as if it were I whom she had come
+out to seek I rose and offered her the bench. She sat down in silence,
+and for a moment her eyes rested on the ground, while on her face was a
+look of trouble. Suddenly she lifted her glance to mine and spoke
+abruptly, as if forcing herself to broach a subject on which she would
+rather have been silent.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "I suppose that the Sieur de la Tournoire, whom we
+are so soon to meet, is a very dear friend of yours!"
+
+"A very close friend," I replied, with an inward smile. "And yet he has
+got me into so much trouble that I might fairly consider him my enemy."
+
+"I must confess," said she, "that I have heard little of him but evil."
+
+"It is natural that the Catholics in Berry should find nothing good to
+say of him," I replied. "Yet it is true that he is far from perfect,--a
+subtle rascal, who dons disguises, and masquerades as other than he is, a
+leader of night-birds, and sometimes a turbulent roysterer."
+
+"I have been told," she said, "that he treacherously killed a man in
+Paris, and deserted from the French Guards."
+
+"As for the killing," I replied, "there was no treachery or unfairness on
+his part; and if he deserted from the King's French Guards, it was when
+the King had consented to give him up to the Duke of Guise, whom the weak
+King, then as now, hated as much as feared."
+
+She gave a heavy sigh, and went on, "La Tournoire is a brave man,
+of course?"
+
+"He is a man," I said, "who expects to meet death as he meets life,
+cheerfully, not hoping too much, not fearing anything."
+
+"And this hiding-place of his," she said, in a very low voice, again
+dropping her glance to the ground. "Tell me of it."
+
+I gave her a description of the ruined Château of Maury.
+
+"But," she said, "is not the place easily accessible to the troops of the
+Governor?"
+
+"The troops of the garrison at Clochonne have not yet found the way to
+it," I replied. "The château was abandoned twenty years ago. Its master
+is an adventurer in the new world, if he is not dead. Its very existence
+has been forgotten, for the land pertaining to it is of no value. The
+soldiers from Clochonne could find it only by scouring this almost
+impenetrable wilderness."
+
+"Is there, then, no road leading to it?" she asked.
+
+"This road leads hither from Clochonne, and on southward across the
+mountain. There are the remains of a by-road leading from here westward
+to the château, and ending there. But this by-road, almost entirely
+recovered by the forest, is known only to La Tournoire and his friends. A
+better way for the Governor's soldiers to find La Tournoire's stronghold,
+if they but knew, would be to take the road along the river from
+Clochonne to Narjec, and to turn up the hill at the throne-shaped rock
+half-way between those towns. At the top of that hill is Maury, hidden by
+dense woods and thickets."
+
+Mlle. de Varion, who had heard my last words with a look of keen
+attention and also of bitter pain of mind, now rose and walked to and fro
+as if meditating. Inwardly I lamented my inability to drive from her face
+the clouds which I attributed to her increasing distress, as she found
+herself further and further from her father and her home, bound for still
+gloomier shades and wilder surroundings.
+
+I asked if she would go in and hear the music of the gypsy, or have him
+come out and play for her, but she thanked me with a sorrowful attempt at
+a smile, and returned to her own chamber.
+
+When the sun declined, I ordered Marianne to prepare the best supper that
+her resources would allow, and then, as it was time that Blaise should
+have been back from Maury, I went to a little knoll, which gave a view of
+a part of the abandoned byroad, to look and listen for him. Presently, I
+heard the sound of a horse's footfalls near the inn, and made haste back
+to see who rode there. Just as I reached the cleared space, I saw the
+rider disappearing around a bend of the road which led to Clochonne.
+Though I saw only his back, I recognized him as mademoiselle's boy,
+Pierre, mounted on one of her horses.
+
+On the bench before the inn sat mademoiselle herself, alone. She gave a
+start of surprise when I came up to her.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, "I have just seen your boy, Pierre, riding
+towards Clochonne."
+
+"Yes," she replied, looking off towards the darkest part of the forest.
+"I--I was alarmed at your absence. I did not know where you had gone; I
+sent him to look for you."
+
+"Then I would better run after and call him back," I said, taking a step
+towards the road.
+
+"No, no!" she answered, quickly. "Do not leave me now. He will come back
+soon of his own accord. I told him to do so if he did not find you. I
+must ask you to bear with me, monsieur. The solitude, the strangeness of
+the place, almost appal me. I feel a kind of terror when I do not know
+that you are near."
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, sitting beside her on the bench, "I cannot
+describe that which I shall feel, if I am doomed ever to know that you
+are not near me. It will be as if the sun had ceased to shine, and the
+earth had turned barren."
+
+A blush mounted to her cheeks; she dropped her humid eyes; her breast
+heaved. For an instant she seemed to have forgotten her distresses. Then
+sorrow resumed its place on her countenance, and she answered, sadly:
+
+"Ah, monsieur, when you shall have truly known me!"
+
+"Have I not known you a whole day?" I asked. "I wonder that life had any
+relish for me before yesterday. It seems as if I had known you always,
+though the joy that your presence gives me will always be fresh and
+novel. Ah, mademoiselle, if you knew what sweetness suddenly filled the
+world at my first sight of you!"
+
+I took her hand in mine. She made a weak effort to withdraw it; I
+tightened my hold; she let it remain. Then she turned her blue eyes up to
+mine with a look of infinite trust and yielding, so that I felt that,
+rapid as had been my own yielding to the charm of her beauty and her
+gentleness, she had as speedily acknowledged in me the man by whom her
+heart might be commanded.
+
+As we sat thus, the gypsy within, who had been for some time aimlessly
+strumming his instrument, began to sing. The words of his song came to us
+subdued, but distinct:
+
+"The sparkle of my lady's eyes--
+   Ah, sight that is the fairest!
+The look of love that in them lies--
+   Ah, thrill that is the rarest!
+Oh, comrades mine, go roam the earth,
+  You'll find in all your roving
+That all its other joys are worth
+  Not half the joys of loving!"
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle," I whispered, "before yesterday those words would have
+meant nothing to me!"
+
+She made no answer, but closed her eyes, as if to shut out every thought
+but consciousness of that moment.
+
+And now the gypsy, in an air and voice expressive of sadness, as he had
+before been expressive of rapture, sang a second stanza:
+
+"But, ah, the price we have to pay
+  For joys that have their season!
+And, oh, the sadness of the day
+  When woman shows her treason!
+Her look of love is but a mask
+  For plots that she is weaving.
+Alas, for those who fondly bask
+  In smiles that are deceiving!"
+
+I thought of Mlle. d'Arency, but not for long; for suddenly Mlle. de
+Varion started up, as if awakened from a dream, and looked at me with an
+expression of unspeakable distress of mind.
+
+"Oh, monsieur!" she cried. "You must leave me! I must never see you
+again. Go, go,--or let me go at once!"
+
+"Mademoiselle!" I cried, astonished.
+
+"I beg you, make no objections, ask no questions! Only go! It is a
+crime, an infamy, for me to have listened while you spoke as you spoke a
+while ago! I ought not to have accepted your protection! Go, monsieur,
+and have no more to do with the most miserable woman in France!"
+
+She started to go into the inn, but I caught her by the hand and
+detained her.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, gently, "the difference in our religions need not
+forbid such words between us as I have spoken. I can understand how you
+regard it as an insuperable barrier, but it is really a slight one,
+easily removed, as it has been in many notable cases."
+
+"Monsieur," she replied, resolutely, shaking her head, "I say again, we
+must part. I am not to be urged or persuaded. The greatest kindness you
+can do me is to go, or let me go, without more words."
+
+"But, mademoiselle," I interposed, "it will be very difficult for you to
+continue your flight across this border without a guide. Not to speak of
+the danger from men, there is the chance of losing your way."
+
+"The Sieur de la Tournoire will not refuse me his guidance," she said, in
+a voice that seemed forced to an unwonted hardness.
+
+"Then you will discard my protection, and accept his, a stranger's?"
+
+"Yes, because he is a stranger,--thank God!"
+
+What, I asked myself, was to be the end of this? Would she not, on
+learning that La Tournoire was myself, all the more decidedly insist on
+going her own way? Therefore, before disclosing myself to her, I must
+accustom her to the view that a difference in religion ought not to
+separate two who love each other. In order to do this, I must have time;
+so I said:
+
+"At least, mademoiselle, you will let me show you the way to Maury, and
+present to you the Sieur de la Tournoire. That is little to ask."
+
+"I have already accepted too much from you," she replied, hesitating.
+
+"Then cancel the obligation by granting me this one favor."
+
+"Very well, monsieur. But you will then go immediately?"
+
+"From the moment when you first meet La Tournoire, he shall be your only
+guide, unless you yourself choose another. In the meantime," I added, for
+she had taken another step towards the inn, "grant me at least as much of
+your society as you would bestow on an indifferent acquaintance, who
+happened to be your fellow-traveler in this lonely place."
+
+She gave a sigh which I took as meaning that the more we should see each
+other, the harder the parting would be at last, but she said,
+tremulously:
+
+"We shall meet at supper, monsieur, and to-morrow, when you conduct me
+on to Maury." Then she entered the inn, but stopped on the threshold,
+and, casting on me a strangely wistful look, she added, "Great must be
+the friendship between you and La Tournoire, that you can so confidently
+assure his protection to those for whom you ask it."
+
+"Oh, I have done much for him, and he cannot refuse me any request that
+it is in his power to grant," I said, truly enough.
+
+"Then," she went on, "the tie is one of obligation, rather than of great
+friendship?"
+
+"Yes. I have often been in a position to do him great services when no
+one else was, and when he most needed them. As for my feeling of
+friendship for him, I shall not even weep when he is dead."
+
+"Suppose you should love a woman," she continued, with a strange
+eagerness, "and there should come a time when you would have to choose
+between your love for her, and your friendship for this man, which
+would prevail?"
+
+"I would sacrifice La Tournoire for the woman I loved," I answered,
+with truth.
+
+She looked at me steadily, and a hope seemed to dawn in her eyes, but in
+a moment they darkened again; she sighed deeply, and she turned to ascend
+to her chamber, while I stood there trying to deduce a meaning from her
+strange speeches and conduct, which I finally put down to the
+capaciousness of woman. I could understand the feeling that she ought to
+part from a man who loved her and whom her religion forbade her to love
+in return; but why she should seem pleased at the apparent lukewarmness
+of my friendship for La Tournoire, whom she was willing to accept as her
+guide, I could not guess. Since she intended to part from me, never to
+see me again, what mattered it to her whether or not I was the intimate
+of a proscribed ruffian? Yet she seemed glad to hear that I was not, but
+this might be only seeming. I might not have read her face and tone
+aright. Her inquiries might have been due to curiosity alone. So I
+thought no more of them, and gave my mind instead to planning how she
+might be made to ignore the difference between our religions, and to
+revoke the edict banishing me from her side. It would be necessary that
+she should be willing to remain at Maury, with a guard composed of some
+of my men, while I, giving a pretext for delaying the flight and for the
+absence of myself and the most of my company, should attempt the delivery
+of her father from the château of Fleurier. It was my hope, though I
+dared not yet breathe it, that I might bring her father and my company
+back to Maury, and that all of us might then proceed to Guienne.
+
+My meditations were interrupted by the return of Blaise from Maury, where
+he had found all well and the men there joyous at the prospect of soon
+rejoining the army in Guienne. A part of the company was absent on a
+foraging raid. Two of the roofed chambers were rapidly being made
+habitable for Mlle. de Varion, whom Blaise had announced to the men as a
+distinguished refugee.
+
+When supper was ready in the kitchen, I sent Jeannotte to summon her
+mistress. Mademoiselle came down from her chamber, her sweet face
+betokening a brave attempt to bear up under the many woes that crushed
+her,--the condition of her father, her own exile, the peril in which she
+stood of the governor's reconsidering his order and sending to make her
+prisoner, the seeming necessity of exchanging my guidance for that of a
+stranger who had been painted to her in repulsive colors, and the other
+unhappy elements of her situation.
+
+"It is strange that the boy, Pierre, has not returned," I said, while we
+sat at table.
+
+Mademoiselle reddened. It then occurred to me that, in her abstraction,
+she had not even noticed his absence, and that now it came on her as a
+new trouble.
+
+"Pardon me for speaking of it in such a way as to frighten you," I said.
+"There is no cause for alarm. Not finding me on the road, he may have
+turned into the woods to look for me, and so have lost his way. He would
+surely be able to find the road again."
+
+"I trust he will not come to any harm," replied mademoiselle, in a low
+voice that seemed forced, as if she were concealing the fears that she
+really felt.
+
+Jeannotte cast a sympathetic look at her mistress.
+
+"Shall I go and look for him?" asked Hugo, showing in his face his
+anxiety for his comrade.
+
+"You would lose yourself, also," I said. "Mademoiselle, I shall go, for I
+know all the hillocks and points of vantage from which he may be seen."
+
+"Nay, monsieur, do not give yourself the trouble, I pray you."
+
+But I rose from the table, to show that I was determined, and said:
+
+"Blaise, I leave you as guard. Remember last night."
+
+"I am not likely to forget," he growled, dropping his eyes before the
+sharp glance of Jeannotte. "Mademoiselle need have no fears."
+
+"But, monsieur," said mademoiselle. She was about to continue, but her
+eye met Jeannotte's, and in the face of the maid was an expression as if
+counselling silence. So mademoiselle said no more, but she followed me to
+the door, and stood on the threshold.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "if you do not find him within a few minutes, I
+entreat that you will not put yourself to further discomfort. See, it is
+already nearly dark. If he be lost in the woods for the night, he can
+doubtless find his way hither tomorrow."
+
+"I shall not seek long, mademoiselle, for the reason that I would not be
+long away from you."
+
+At that moment, feeling under my foot something different from leaves or
+earth, I stooped and found one of mademoiselle's gloves, which she had
+dropped, probably, on first entering the inn. Remaining in my kneeling
+posture and looking up at her sweet, sad face, I said:
+
+"Whatever may come in the future, mademoiselle, circumstance has made me
+your faithful chevalier for a day. Will you not give me some badge of
+service that I may wear forever in memory of that sweet, though
+sorrowful day?"
+
+"Keep what you have in your hand," she replied, in a low voice, and
+pointed to her glove.
+
+I rose, and fastened the glove on my hat, and said: "They shall find
+it on me when I am dead, mademoiselle." Then I turned to go in search
+of Pierre.
+
+"I shall go to my room now," she said, "and so, good-night, monsieur!"
+
+I turned, and made to take her hand that I might kiss it, but she drew it
+away, and then, standing on the threshold, she raised it as one does in
+bestowing a _benedicite_, and said:
+
+"God watch you through the night, monsieur!"
+
+"And you forever, mademoiselle!" said I, but she had gone. For a moment
+I stood looking up at her chamber window, thinking how it had come over
+me again, as in the days of my youth, the longing to be near one woman.
+
+Night was now coming on. In the deeper shades of the forest it was
+already dark, but the sky was clear, and soon the moon would rise. Musing
+as I went, I walked along the road that Pierre had first taken. The only
+sounds that I heard were the ceaseless chirps and whirrs of the insects
+of the bushes and trees.
+
+When I had gone some distance, I bethought me of my heedlessness in
+coming away from the inn without my sword. I had taken this off before
+sitting down to eat, and at my departure my mind had been so taken up
+with other matters that I had omitted to put it on. My dagger was with it
+at the inn. At first I thought of returning for these weapons, but I
+considered that I would not be away long, and that there was no
+likelihood of my requiring weapon in these solitudes. So I continued on
+my way towards a knoll whence I expected to get a good view of the road,
+and thus, should Pierre be returning on that road, spare myself the labor
+of plunging into the wood's depths and listening for the footsteps of his
+horse or of himself.
+
+I had walked several minutes in the increasing darkness, when there came
+to my ears, from the shades at the right, the sound of a human snore.
+Had the boy fatigued himself in trying to find the way, and fallen asleep
+without knowledge of his nearness to the inn?
+
+"Pierre!" I called. There was no answer.
+
+I called again. Again there was no reply, but the snoring ceased. A third
+time I called. My call was unheeded.
+
+I turned into the wilds, and forced my way through dense undergrowth. At
+a short distance from the road, I came on traces of the passage of some
+one else. Following these, I arrived at last at a small open space,
+where the absence of vegetation seemed due to some natural cause.
+Sufficient of the day's failing light reached the clearing to show me
+the figures of four men on the ground before me, three of them stretched
+in slumber, the fourth sitting up. The last held a huge old two-handed
+sword over his shoulder, ready to strike. The threatening attitude of
+this giant made me take mechanically a step backward, and feel for my
+sword. Alas, I was unarmed!
+
+"So, my venturesome lackey, we meet again!" came a sarcastic voice from
+the left, and some one darted between me and the four men, facing me with
+drawn sword.
+
+It was the Vicomte de Berquin, and a triumphant smile was on his face.
+
+Moved by the thought that mademoiselle's safety depended on me, I was
+not ashamed, being unarmed, to turn about for immediate flight. But I had
+no sooner shown my back to M. de Berquin, than I found myself face to
+face with the scowling Barbemouche, who stood motionless, the point of
+his sword not many inches from my breast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+HOW THE HERO GAVE HIS WORD AND KEPT IT
+
+
+I stood still and reflected.
+
+"You lack a weapon," said M. de Berquin, humorously. "I shall presently
+give you mine, point first."
+
+As I was still facing Barbemouche, I imagined the point of the Vicomte's
+sword entering my back, and I will confess that I shivered.
+
+"And I mine," growled Barbemouche. "Though you are a lackey and I a
+gentleman, yet, by the grandmother of Beelzebub, I am glad to see you!"
+
+"Indeed!" said I, whose only hope was to gain time for thought. "This is
+a heartier welcome than a stranger might expect."
+
+De Berquin laughed. Barbemouche said, "You are no stranger"
+
+"Then you know me?" said I. "Who am I?"
+
+"You are the answer to a prayer," said Barbemouche, with an ugly grin.
+"You thought you fooled us finely last night, and that when you had made
+a hole in my body you had done with me. But I got a look at you after the
+mistake was discovered, and I vowed the virgin a dozen candles in return
+for another meeting with you. And now she has sent you to me."
+
+And he looked at me with such jubilant vindictiveness that I turned and
+faced De Berquin, saying:
+
+"Monsieur the Vicomte, I have made up my mind that your visage is more
+pleasant to look on than that of your friend."
+
+By this time, the other three rascals on the ground had been awakened by
+the tall fellow, and the four had taken up their weapons and placed
+themselves at the four sides of the open space, so that I could not make
+a bolt in any direction. All the circumstances that made my life at that
+time doubly precious rushed into my mind. On it depended the safety of
+Mlle. de Varion, the rescue of her father, the expeditious return of my
+brave company to our Henri's side, and certain valuable interests of our
+Henri's cause. I will confess that it was for its use to mademoiselle,
+rather than for its use to our Henri, that I most valued, at that moment,
+the life which there was every chance of my speedily losing. In De
+Berquin, and in Barbemouche as well, vengeance cried for my immediate
+death. Moreover, my death would remove the chief obstacle to De Berquin's
+having his will concerning Mlle. de Varion. For an instant, I thought he
+might let me live that I might tell him her whereabouts, but I perceived
+that my presence was indication to him that she was near at hand. He
+could now rely on himself to find her. The opportunity of removing me
+from his way was not to be risked by delay. It was true that I might
+obtain respite by announcing myself as the Sieur de la Tournoire, for he
+would wish to present me alive to the governor, if he could do so. The
+governor and the Duke of Guise would desire to season their revenge on me
+with torture, and to attempt the forcing from me of secrets of our party.
+But to make myself known as La Tournoire was but to defer my death. The
+life that I might thus prolong could not be of any further service to
+mademoiselle or to Henri of Navarre. Still, I might so gain time. I might
+escape; my men might rescue me. So, as a last resource, I would save my
+life by disclosing myself; but I would defer this disclosure until the
+last possible instant. De Berquin and Barbemouche were evidently in for
+amusing themselves awhile at my expense. They would prolong matters for
+their own pleasure and my own further humiliation. Meanwhile, an
+unexpected means of eluding them might arise.
+
+As for their presence there, I have always accounted for it on this
+supposition: That, after their defeat on the previous night, they had
+reunited in the woods, hidden themselves where they might observe our
+departure from the inn in the morning, followed us at a distance into
+the mountain forest, lost our track, and finally, knowing neither of
+Godeau's inn nor of their nearness to the road, dismounted, and sought
+afoot an open space in which to pass the night. Their horses were
+probably not far away.
+
+"Ha!" laughed De Berquin, in answer to my words and movement. "So you
+don't share Barbemouche's own opinion of his beauty?"
+
+An unctuous guffaw from the fat rascal, and a grim chuckle from gaunt
+François, indicated that Barbemouche's ugliness was a favorite subject of
+mirth with his comrades.
+
+"The opinion of a dead lackey does not amount to much," gutturally
+observed Barbemouche. Doubtless I should have felt the point of his
+rapier between my shoulders but that he waited on the will of De Berquin.
+
+His tone showed that he really had the high regard for his looks that De
+Berquin's words had implied. It afterward became evident to me that the
+ugliness of this burly rascal was equalled only by his vanity.
+
+"Nor is a dead lackey half as useful as a living one can be," I said,
+looking De Berquin straight in the eyes.
+
+"_Par dieu_! I admit that you have been very useful against me, and that
+is why I am going to kill you," replied De Berquin.
+
+"Would it not be more worthy of a man of intellect, like the Vicomte de
+Berquin, if I have been useful against him, to make me pay for it by
+being useful for him?" I said, quietly, without having yet the least idea
+of what service I should propose doing him in return for my life.
+
+"Most interesting of lackeys, how might you be useful to me?" inquired De
+Berquin, continuing his mood of sinister jocularity.
+
+How, indeed? I asked myself. Aloud I answered slowly, in order to have
+the more time to think:
+
+"In your present enterprise, monsieur."
+
+"The devil! What do you know of my present enterprise?" he asked,
+quickly.
+
+I saw that I had at least awakened his interest in the idea that I might
+be worth using alive.
+
+"I will tell you," I answered, "if you will first ask this unpleasant
+person behind me to step aside."
+
+"Unpleasant person!" repeated Barbemouche, astonished at my audacity.
+"You dog, do you speak in such terms of a gentleman?"
+
+So he was under the delusion also that he possessed gentility.
+
+"Stop, Gilles!" commanded De Berquin. "Go yonder, while I listen to this
+amusing knave. Let him talk awhile before he dies."
+
+Barbemouche sullenly went over to the side of François, and stood there
+glowering at me. It was a relief to know that his sword-point was no
+longer at my back.
+
+"Now, rascal!" said De Berquin to me. "My present enterprise, and how you
+can be useful to me in it?"
+
+"In the first place, monsieur," I began, having no knowledge how I was to
+finish, "you and your gallant company are doubtless tired, hungry, and
+thirsty--"
+
+An assenting grunt from the tall fellow, and a look of keen interest on
+the faces of all, showed that I had not spoken amiss.
+
+"You are quite lost in these woods," I went on. "You do not know how near
+you may be to any road or to any habitation, where you might have roof,
+food, and drink. Heaven, in giving me the pleasure of meeting you, has
+also done you the kindness of sending one who can guide you to these
+blessings. That is the first service I can do you."
+
+"Very well, you shall do it. I can kill you as well afterwards."
+
+"But I will not do it unless I have your promise, on your honor as
+gentlemen, to give me both my life and my liberty immediately."
+
+"My very modest lackey, you greatly undervalue both your life and your
+liberty, if you think you can buy them from me at so small a cost. No;
+you offer too little. The pleasure of killing you far exceeds that of
+having your guidance. Now that we have happily met you, we know that
+there must be shelter, food, and drink somewhere near at hand. We can
+find them for ourselves in as short a time, perhaps, as it would require
+you to take us there. We shall doubtless have the happiness of meeting
+there your very gallant master and the lady whom he protects with your
+arm and sword. Having robbed him of his means of guarding his lovely
+charge, I shall in fairness relieve him of the charge."
+
+I perceived here the opportunity of learning whether it was under the
+governor's orders, received through Montignac, that De Berquin pursued
+mademoiselle while he came in quest of the Sieur de la Tournoire, or
+whether it was on his own account.
+
+"Your infatuation for this lady must be very great," I said, in a tone
+too low for his four followers to distinguish my words, "to lead you to
+force your presence on her."
+
+"_My_ infatuation!" he repeated, and then he laughed. "My very knowing
+lackey, if you were better informed of my affairs, you would know that an
+infatuation for Mlle. de Varion is a luxury that I cannot at present
+afford. A man who has lost his estates, his money, his king's favor, and
+who has fled from his creditors in Paris to prey on the provinces, thinks
+not of love, but of how to refill his pockets."
+
+"Then it is not for love that you pursue Mile, de Varion?" I said. I
+now believed, as I had first thought, that the governor had changed his
+mind after ordering mademoiselle to leave the province, had decided to
+hold her in durance, and had commissioned De Berquin to detain her, as
+well as to hunt down me. But I put the question in order to get further
+time for thought.
+
+"For love, yes; but not for mine!" was the answer.
+
+This startled me. "For that of M. de la Chatre?" I asked, quickly.
+
+"You seem to be curious on this point," said De Berquin, derisively.
+
+"If I am to die," I replied, "you can lose nothing by gratifying my
+curiosity. If I am to live, I may be the better able to serve you if you
+gratify it."
+
+"I am not one to refuse the request of a man about to die," he said, with
+a self-amused look. "It is not La Chatre, the superb, whose _amour_ I
+have come into this cursed wilderness to serve."
+
+"Then who--?" But I stopped at the beginning of the question, as a new
+thought came to me. "The secretary!" I said.
+
+"Montignac, the modest and meditative," replied De Berquin.
+
+I might have thought it. What man of his age, however given to deep
+study and secret ambition, could have been insensible to her beauty, her
+grace, her gentleness? Such a youth as Montignac would pass a thousand
+women indifferently, and at last perceive in Mlle. de Varion at first
+glance the perfections that distinguished her from others of her sex.
+Doubtless, to him, as to me, she embodied an ideal, a dream, of which he
+had scarcely dared hope to find the realization. Seeing her at the inn,
+he had been warmed by her charms at once. He had resolved to avail
+himself of his power and of her helplessness. Her father in prison,
+herself an exile without one powerful friend, she would be at his mercy.
+Forbidden by his duties to leave the governor's side, he could charge De
+Berquin, in giving the latter the governor's orders concerning myself,
+with the additional task of securing the person of mademoiselle, that he
+might woo her at his leisure and in his own way. The governor, ready
+enough to frighten into an unwarranted exile a woman whose entreaties he
+feared, would yet not be so ungallant as to give her to his secretary
+for the asking. But Montignac might safely hold her prisoner, the
+governor would think that she had left the province, there would be none
+to rescue her. Such were the acts, designs, and thoughts that I
+attributed to the reticent, far-seeing, resolute secretary. All passed
+through my mind in a moment.
+
+And now I feared for mademoiselle as I had not feared before. I never
+feared a man, or two men at a time, who came with sword in hand; but how
+is one to meet or even to perceive the blows aimed by men of thought and
+power? Such as Montignac, inscrutable, patient, ingenious, strong enough
+to conceal their own passions, which themselves are more intense and far
+more lasting than the passions of a mere man of fighting, are not easily
+turned aside from the quest of any object on which they have put their
+desires. One against whom they have set themselves is never safe from
+them while they live. Years do not make them either give up or forget.
+Montignac, by reason of his influence over the governor, had vast
+resources to employ. He could turn the machinery of government to his own
+ends, and the trustful governor not suspect. In that slim youth,
+smooth-faced, pale, repressed, grave, not always taking the trouble to
+erase from his features the signs of his scorn for ordinary minds, a
+scorn mingled with a sense of his own power and with a kind of derisive
+mirth,--in this quiet student I beheld an antagonist more formidable than
+any against whom I had ever been pitted. In thinking of him, I came at
+once to regard De Berquin, who still stood facing me with ready sword,
+and on his face the intention of killing me plainly written, as a very
+inconsiderable opponent, even when backed by his four ruffians with
+their varied collection of weapons.
+
+If I was to save Mlle. de Varion from the designs of the far-reaching
+secretary, it was time that I eluded the danger immediately
+confronting me.
+
+For a few moments after De Berquin uttered the speech last recorded, I
+stood silent, my eyes meeting his.
+
+"Come," he said, presently, impatiently giving several turns of his wrist
+so that his sword-point described arcs in the air before my eyes. "We
+wander from the subject. What service can you do me? Don't think you can
+keep me talking until your party happens to come up. I intend to kill you
+when I shall have counted twenty, unless before that time you make it
+appear worth my while to let you live. One, two, three--"
+
+His look showed that he had ceased to be amused at my situation. Alive, I
+had begun to bore him. It was time to make sure of his vengeance. His men
+stood on all sides to prevent my flight. At my least movement, he would
+thrust his rapier deep into my body. He went on counting. What could I
+offer him to make him stay his hand? Was there anything in the world that
+he might desire which it would appear to be in my power to give him?
+
+"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen," he counted, taking exact note of the
+distance between us.
+
+As in a flash the idea came to me.
+
+"Monsieur," I said, loudly, so as to be plainly heard above his own
+voice, "let me go and I will deliver to you the Sieur de la Tournoire!"
+
+He had reached nineteen in his count. He stopped there and stared at me.
+
+"The Sieur de la Tournoire," he repeated, as if the idea of his taking
+the Sieur de la Tournoire were a new one.
+
+"You speak, monsieur," said I, quietly, "as if you had not come to these
+hills for the purpose of catching him."
+
+He looked at me with a kind of surprise, but said nothing in reply to my
+remark. "It is natural," thought I, "for him not to disclose his purpose,
+even when there is no use for him to conceal it."
+
+"I take La Tournoire?" he said, presently, half to himself. He stood
+thinking for a time, during which I supposed that he was considering the
+propriety of his personally making the capture, in view of the plan that
+I had overheard Montignac suggest to the governor, namely, that the spy
+should merely lure La Tournoire into an ambush where the governor's
+soldiers should make the seizure. The spy had doubtless received orders
+strictly in accordance with this plan, La Tournoire being considered too
+great game to be bagged by anything less than a company of soldiers.
+
+"Why not?" said I. "Whoever does so will receive a good price in
+addition to the gratitude of M. de la Chatre and that of the Duke of
+Guise. Indeed, the feat might even win you back the King's favor, which
+you say you have lost."
+
+"But suppose Montignac has other plans for the capture of this highly
+valued rebel?" said he.
+
+"If he had," said I, thinking of the arrangement as to the ambush, "they
+were made in the belief that La Tournoire was not to be taken by one man
+with a few hired knaves. The captor of La Tournoire can afford to earn
+Montignac's displeasure by deviating from his orders. Should you take
+this Huguenot, you would be in a position to snap your fingers at
+Montignac."
+
+"But if it is in your power to give up La Tournoire, why do you not take
+him and get the reward? Why have you not done so already?"
+
+"For the very fact which puts it in my power to do so. I am of his party.
+I am his trusted counsellor, lackey that I pretend to be."
+
+"I have, from the first, thought you a most exceptional lackey. But if
+you are of his party, and in his secrets, you must be a vile traitor to
+give him up. That being the case, you would not hesitate to lie to me.
+Indeed, even if it were not the case, you would not hesitate to lie to
+me, to save yourself or to gain time."
+
+"As to my being a vile traitor, a man will descend to much in order to
+save his life. As to my readiness to lie to you, it seems to me that,
+in the present situation, you are the one man to whom I cannot now
+afford to lie. With your sword at my throat, it is much easier for me
+to be a vile traitor to La Tournoire than to lie to you. Besides, I
+have my own reasons for disliking him, notwithstanding that my cause
+and his are the same."
+
+"And how do you propose to give him up to me?"
+
+"By merely bringing him face to face with you."
+
+"_Par dieu_! A charming proposition! How do I know that you will not, in
+pretending to betray him to me, really betray me to him? Suppose you do
+bring him face to face with me, and his men are all around?"
+
+"Only one of his men shall be present," I said, thinking of Blaise. "He
+will not come without this one man. As for the others of his band, not
+one shall be within a league."
+
+"Himself and one man," said De Berquin, musingly. "That is to say, two
+very able fighters."
+
+"There are five of you."
+
+"But this Tournoire is doubtless worth three men in a fight, and his man
+will probably be worth two more. I don't think your offer sufficiently
+attractive. I think I would do better to kill you. Certainly, there are
+many reasons why you should die. If you should escape me now, as you are
+one of La Tournoire's people, you would immediately go to him and tell
+him of my presence here. I do not choose that he shall know as much about
+me as you do."
+
+"Can you suggest any amendment to my offer, so that it might be more
+attractive?"
+
+"If you could bring La Tournoire unarmed--"
+
+"I will do that," I said.
+
+De Berquin looked at me steadily for some time. At last he shook his
+head and said:
+
+"It is a fair bargain, as it now stands, but I see no way of your
+carrying out your part without putting me in danger of your betraying
+me. To find La Tournoire, you would have to leave us. Once out of our
+sight, you would be free to ignore the contract, laugh at me for being
+so easily gulled, and set La Tournoire and his men on me, which would
+entirely spoil my plans. Every minute I see more and more the necessity
+of killing you."
+
+"But I shall find La Tournoire without going out of your sight," I said.
+
+De Berquin again became thoughtful. Then he laughed.
+
+"You mean that you would lead us up to his very den, where we should be
+at the mercy of his men," he said.
+
+"I have already said that, with one exception, none of his men shall be
+within a league of where you are to meet him."
+
+"I do not see how you are going to bring him so far from his men, if you
+do not go for him."
+
+"Leave that to me. I shall take you to a place where he will present
+himself unarmed. Excepting the man who will be with him, not one of his
+company shall be within a league."
+
+"Where is the place?" asked De Berquin, still smiling ironically.
+
+"Not far from here. It is a place where you can get also wine and food."
+
+"And how am I to know that this place is not a trap into which you wish
+to lead me?"
+
+"You shall walk behind me with drawn sword and dagger. At the slightest
+suspicious movement or speech that I make, you can easily kill me."
+
+"That is true. Yet I might lose my own life the next moment. Who knows
+but that you are merely seeking to sell your life as dearly as possible,
+or but that you are aiming to gain time in the hope of some unexpected
+occurrence?"
+
+"Monsieur," said I, "we both know that men cannot read the heart. You
+cannot be sure whether or not I am lying. You indeed take the risk that I
+wish to lead you where you will have to pay for my life with your own,
+and that I am trying to gain time; but, at the same time, there is the
+chance that I intend to keep my word, that I intend to present the Sieur
+de la Tournoire unarmed, and a league away from all his men but one. Is
+not that chance worth the risk? Have you not gambled, monsieur?"
+
+From the shrug of De Berquin's shoulders, I knew that he had gambled, and
+also that my argument had moved him. But another doubt darkened his face.
+
+"And if you do bring an unarmed person before me, how shall I know that
+it is La Tournoire?" said he.
+
+"He shall tell you so himself."
+
+"Excellent proof!"
+
+"What man but La Tournoire would risk his life by declaring himself to be
+that proscribed gentleman?"
+
+"One of his followers might do so, if he thought that he might so throw
+an enemy off La Tournoire's track."
+
+"Then the possibility of my deceiving you on that point is but an
+additional risk you run, in return for the chance of your bagging the
+real game. Besides, I give you my word of honor that I will truly perform
+all that I promise."
+
+"The word of a lackey!" said De Berquin, derisively.
+
+"Have you not yourself described me as an exceptional lackey?"
+
+"Well, I love to take chances. And as you have given me your word, the
+word of an exceptional lackey, I give you my word, the word of a
+gentleman, that if you set La Tournoire unarmed before me, with but one
+of his men at hand, I will give you your life and freedom. But stay! At
+what time am I to have the pleasure of meeting him?"
+
+"When we hear the stroke of eight from the tower of the church in
+Clochonne. The wind this evening is from that direction. It is
+agreed, then?"
+
+"Agreed!" said De Berquin. "Jacques, give me your dagger. Now, Master
+Lackey, lead the way. Follow, you rascals, and be ready to knock down any
+person to whom I shall direct your attention."
+
+And I turned and led the way to the road, followed closely by De Berquin,
+who held his sword in one hand and the dagger in the other. I heard the
+others fall in line, and tramp their way through the brush behind him.
+Barbemouche must have been exceedingly surprised at his leader's
+proceedings, for the conversation between De Berquin and myself had been
+conducted in a tone too low for their ears.
+
+When we reached the road, De Berquin ordered a halt. He then commanded
+Barbemouche to walk at my left side, and François to walk at my right, De
+Berquin retained his place behind me, and the other two rascals followed
+him. In this order we proceeded towards the inn.
+
+My object in leading my enemies to the inn was to set them drinking. As
+long as the possibility of taking La Tournoire was before De Berquin,
+there was little likelihood that he would seek to molest Mlle. de Varion.
+In the first place, he could not take her from the vicinity while he
+himself remained there awaiting the coming of La Tournoire. Secondly, he
+would not court any violence during the time of waiting, lest he might
+thereby risk his chance of taking La Tournoire. But it was necessary that
+I should prevent his encountering Blaise or Hugo, for either one, on
+seeing me conducted by him as I was, might make some demonstration that
+would cause De Berquin to kill me immediately. I must contrive to keep my
+enemies from entering the inn, and yet to have them plied with drink.
+Therefore, I said, as we marched:
+
+"Monsieur, we are approaching a kind of inn where there are to be
+obtained the food and drink that I promised. But in the house are some
+who are devoted to the Sieur de la Tournoire. They are not any of his
+soldiers, nor such as are to be feared in a fight. But if they saw you
+and your men, with me as a prisoner, they would certainly convey word to
+La Tournoire or his band, and so it would be impossible for me to fulfil
+my agreement. It is true that you would then kill me, but you would lose
+La Tournoire, and have his followers soon on your heels. So it is best
+that we stop at some distance from the inn. You and I can steal up to a
+spot where I can quietly summon the hostess. She will do anything I ask.
+She will, at my order, secretly bring food and wine to the place of
+waiting, and will not betray our presence to those in the inn."
+
+"It seems a good idea," said De Berquin; "but if you attempt to make a
+fool of me--"
+
+"You will, of course, instantly make a corpse of me, for you will be at
+my side, and will hear every word that I speak to the hostess."
+
+"Very well," he replied.
+
+Having at last reached a little clearing by the roadside quite near the
+inn, but hidden from it by trees, I gave the word to stop. De Berquin
+ordered his men to remain here, sheathed his sword, clutched me by the
+arm, and walked forward with me, his dagger held ready to be plunged into
+my heart at the slightest cause.
+
+I led him to the back of the inn, and we stood near the door of the
+kitchen, listening.
+
+The gypsy was still playing, and every now and then there came an
+exclamation of approval from Biaise. I peered through a corner of the
+window. The clutch of De Berquin on my arm tightened as I did so. I saw
+the gypsy man playing, Biaise and Hugo sitting with wine mugs before
+them, aid Godeau by the fire asleep, the gypsy girl with her head on the
+table, she also asleep, and Marianne removing platters from the table.
+Jeannotte had doubtless gone up the ladder to her mistress.
+
+Presently Marianne came out with some bones of a fowl, to throw
+them away.
+
+"Marianne," I called, softly. "Not a word! Come here and listen"
+
+With some astonishment she obeyed. De Berquin now held his drawn dagger
+under his cloak, and his clutch on my arm, though tight, might yet appear
+to her that of a friend.
+
+"Marianne," said I, "it is very important that no one within--no one,
+remember--shall know that this gentleman is with me. I have a serious
+matter to talk over with him at the clearing yonder, where four of his
+people now wait. No one is to know of their presence any more than of
+his. Bring plenty of wine to us there with what food you can get without
+exciting the curiosity of those inside. Do you understand? But not a
+word, even to me now."
+
+She nodded her head, and went back into the kitchen. I knew that I could
+rely on her. "Come, monsieur," I whispered to De Berquin, and we went
+silently back to the clearing.
+
+The four rascals were seated on the ground, conversing in low tones. De
+Berquin and I sat down in the midst of the group. The fellows went on
+talking, regardless of the presence of their leader, who gave no heed to
+their babble, except occasionally by a gesture to caution Barbemouche to
+lessen his volume of voice.
+
+"I never knew an enterprise to run smoothly which had anything to do with
+women," Barbemouche was saying. "Where men only are concerned, one knows
+exactly what to do, and makes no mistakes."
+
+"You have a prejudice against the sex," put in the foppish fellow.
+
+"_Par dieu_! I ought not to have!" answered Barbemouche. "I owe them
+too much for the many favors I've had from them. But they are
+mystifying creatures. To mistake a maid for her mistress is nothing
+remarkable. For that matter, I've known women of the lower orders who
+had more airs than great ladies. I remember once, after having just
+made an easy conquest of a countess, and become ennuied with her, I
+turned my attention to the daughter of a pastry-cook in Paris. She dug
+deep holes in my face for merely trying to kiss her. She had velvet
+lips, that girl, but what claws!"
+
+The gaunt rascal, whom they called François, heaved a pensive sigh, as if
+this reminiscence awakened touching memories in him.
+
+"And yet, to show the perversity of the sex," continued Barbemouche,
+"that same day I saw another man kiss her, and she gave him back two
+kisses for his one."
+
+"Perhaps he was a handsome man," said the fat fellow, sagely.
+
+"Yes," replied Barbemouche, ingenuously, "but no handsomer than I."
+
+"At that time you were probably handsomer even than you are now," dryly
+observed the gaunt man.
+
+"You are right," said Barbemouche, "for I was young, and I did not have
+this scar," and he thrust back the rim of his hat and laid his hand on
+his forehead.
+
+"In what fight with the watch did you get that?" inquired François.
+
+"I got it as the Duke of Guise got his, fighting the enemies of the
+church, though not in the same battle. I received mine that St.
+Bartholomew's night when we made the streets of Paris flow with heretic
+blood. A cursed Huguenot gave it me, but I gave him another to match
+mine, and left him for the crowd to trample over."
+
+I gave a start, recalling the incident of which I had so recently heard
+the account, and which seemed the counterpart of this.
+
+At this moment, Marianne appeared at the bend of the road. She carried
+a huge wooden platter, on which were a bowl of mulled wine, some mugs,
+and some cheese, bread, and scraps of cold meat. I afterward learned
+that she had begun to prepare this wine some time before, thinking
+that I and Blaise and the boys would want it after my return from my
+search for Pierre. Knowing Blaise's capacity, she had made ready so
+great a quantity.
+
+Saying not a word, she set down the platter on the ground before me.
+
+"That is well," I said. "Now go back to the inn and step often to the
+door, so that I can easily summon you again without attracting the
+attention of the others. And get more wine ready."
+
+The woman nodded, and went back to the inn.
+
+The four ruffians made an immediate onslaught on the platter. De Berquin
+and François ignored the food, that they might the sooner dip their mugs
+into the bowl of wine. The other three speedily disposed of all the
+eatables, and then joined in the drinking. De Berquin, in order to grasp
+his mug, had let my arm go, but he retained his dagger in his other hand,
+and each of his followers used but one hand in eating or drinking,
+holding a weapon in the other.
+
+"Look you, rascals!" said De Berquin to his men, presently. "Be careful
+to keep your wits about you!"
+
+"Rascals!" repeated the tall fellow, his pride awakened by his second mug
+of wine. "By the bones of my ancestors, it goes against me to be so often
+called rascal!"
+
+Barbemouche saw an opportunity to retaliate for the fun that had been
+made of his pretensions to beauty. "They whom the term fits," he growled,
+"ought not to complain, if I endure it, who am a gentleman!"
+
+Instantly the bearded giant was on his feet, with his huge sword poised
+in the air.
+
+"Rascal yourself twice over, and no gentleman!" he cried, quivering with
+noble wrath.
+
+"What, you lank scarecrow!" said Barbemouche, rising in his turn, and
+rushing to meet the other.
+
+Their fat comrade now rose and thrust his sword between the two, for the
+purpose of striking up their weapons. The fop ran behind a tree, to be
+safe from the fracas.
+
+At the instant when François was about to bring his great sword down on
+Barbemouche, and the latter was about to puncture him somewhere near the
+ribs, there came the sound of the Angelus, borne on the breeze from
+Clochonne. The two antagonists stood as if transformed into statues,
+their weapons in their respective positions of offence. Each in his way
+moved his lips in his accustomed prayer until the sound of the distant
+bell ceased.
+
+"Now, then, for your dirty blood!" roared Barbemouche, instantly resuming
+animation.
+
+But his fat comrade knocked aside Barbemouche's sword, and at the same
+time pushed François out of striking distance.
+
+"Gentlemen, gentlemen," cried the fat rascal, reproachfully, "would you
+spoil this affair and rob me of my share of the pay? God knows we are all
+gentlemen, and rascals, too!"
+
+"Very well," said Barbemouche, relieved by his brief explosion of wrath,
+"this matter can wait."
+
+"I can wait as well as another man," said François, with dignity,
+whereupon both men resumed their seats on the turf and their attentions
+to the wine. The prudent Jacques returned to the circle, and De Berquin,
+who during the squabble had employed himself entirely in holding me from
+any attempt at escape, looked relieved.
+
+The effect of the wine on him was to make him merry, so that he soon
+invited me to join in the drinking, and I made a pretense of doing so.
+When the bowl was empty, he went with me again to summon Marianne, which
+we easily did, as she was standing at the door awaiting my reappearance.
+She brought us another pot of wine, and left us as she had before done.
+De Berquin became more and more gaily disposed. He put no limit to the
+quantity imbibed by his men; yet he kept his eyes on me, and his dagger
+dangerously near my breast.
+
+When we heard the clock in Clochonne strike seven, he said to his men:
+
+"Straighten up, you dogs! In another hour we shall have work to do."
+Turning to me, he added, with a grin, "Either to chain that wild beast,
+La Tournoire, or to send the most entertaining of valets to find out
+whether all that they say of purgatory and hell is true."
+
+But he soon became so lax under the influence of the wine that he did not
+heed when the fat man and the ragged dandy dropped off to sleep and
+mingled their snores with the murmurs of the forest insects. He began to
+narrate his adventures, amatory, military, bibulous, and other.
+Presently, for a jest, he drank the health of Henri of Navarre in return
+for my drinking that of the Pope.
+
+By this time Barbemouche and gaunt François had added their breathings to
+the somnolent choir.
+
+"You are a mighty drinker, monsieur," I said to De Berquin, admiringly,
+at the same time refilling my own mug.
+
+"Ask of the cabaret keepers of Paris whether the Vicomte de Berquin can
+hold his share of the good red vine-juice!" he replied, jubilantly,
+dipping his mug again into the pot.
+
+I took a gulp from my mug and pretended to choke. In one of my
+convulsive movements, I threw the contents of my mug into the eyes of De
+Berquin. I followed it an instant later with the mug itself, and he fell
+back on the grass, half-stunned. In the moment when his grasp of my arm
+was relaxed, I slipped away from him, narrowly missing the wild dagger
+stroke that he made at me. A second later and I was on my feet. My first
+act was to possess the weapons of Barbemouche and François, these two
+being nearest me. I then ran towards the inn, calling at the top of my
+voice, "Blaise! To arms!"
+
+Behind me I heard De Berquin, who had risen, kicking the prostrate bodies
+of his men and crying:
+
+"Up, you drunken dogs! We have been fooled! After him!"
+
+Then I heard him running after me on the road, swearing terribly.
+
+From the place where he had left his men, I could hear them confusedly
+swearing and questioning one another, all having been rudely awakened
+from sleep, two of them being unable to find their weapons, and none
+knowing rightly what had occurred or exactly where their leader had gone.
+
+Blaise came running out of the inn, with sword drawn. When he had
+joined me, I stopped and turned to face De Berquin. He was before me
+ere I had time to explain to Blaise. In his rage, he made a violent
+thrust at me, which Blaise turned aside. De Berquin then leaped back,
+to put himself on guard.
+
+At that instant, the first stroke of eight came from the distant tower
+of Clochonne.
+
+"Filthy cur, you have lied to me!" cried De Berquin.
+
+"Nay, monsieur," I answered, throwing from me the weapons of Barbemouche
+and François, "I keep my word. I promised you La Tournoire unarmed.
+Behold him!"
+
+And I stepped out from beside Blaise and stood with open arms.
+
+"La Tournoire!" repeated De Berquin, taking a backward step and staring
+at me with open mouth.
+
+"La Tournoire!" came in a faint, horror-stricken voice from behind me.
+
+I turned and beheld mademoiselle, who had come out from the inn on
+hearing my call for Blaise. With her were Hugo and Jeannotte. Behind were
+the inn-keepers and the gypsies. On mademoiselle's face, which was
+lighted by a torch that Hugo carried, was a death-like pallor, and such a
+look of horror, grief, and self-reproach, as I have never seen on any
+other human countenance.
+
+"Mademoiselle!" I cried, hastening to her side. "What is the matter?"
+
+"'Tis but--surprise,--M. de la Tournoire!" she answered, weakly, raising
+her hand feebly as if to keep me from approaching her, while her eyes,
+which were fixed on mine as by a terrible fascination, seemed to be
+starting from her head. An instant later, she fell in a swoon, and I was
+just in time to save her from striking the ground and to pillow her head
+on my arm.
+
+As for De Berquin, he had made a rush at me, but Blaise had repulsed him
+with such fury that, seeing no hope of being joined by his men, he soon
+turned and fled.
+
+I bore the senseless body of mademoiselle into the inn, vainly asking
+myself why she had shown so profound a distress at my disclosure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+AT THE CHÂTEAU OF MAURY
+
+
+Presently mademoiselle recovered from her faintness and went up to her
+chamber, supported by Jeannotte. Her eyes met mine as she was about to
+go, but she immediately dropped them, and seemed by an effort to repress
+some kind of emotion.
+
+With a heart saddened by the sight of mademoiselle's distress, I then
+made arrangements for the night. I was to lie at the front door of the
+inn, Blaise at the rear door, Hugo and the gypsies in the horse sheds,
+Marianne in the chamber with mademoiselle and Jeannotte, old Godeau where
+he chose. It happened that he chose a place before the smouldering fire
+in the kitchen.
+
+Any further attempt to find Pierre that night was out of the question. I
+dared not leave the inn again, lest I should expose mademoiselle to
+possible molestation, or myself to an encounter with those from whom I
+had just escaped. Had mademoiselle's safety not depended on that of
+myself and Blaise, I might have invited such an encounter for myself or
+for him or for both, but I would not have her undergo the slightest risk
+of losing her protectors.
+
+I had little apprehension of seeing De Berquin or his men again that
+night. Not that he would probably remember his promise to give me my life
+and liberty in return for my bringing La Tournoire before him. Even that
+promise, if still respected by him, did not affect him in regard to
+mademoiselle. But he would consider that, though I was not accompanied by
+any of my own men except Blaise, mademoiselle's boy, Hugo, would wield a
+stout arm on our side. Unless he knew something of Pierre's
+disappearance, he would count that active youth also with our forces. He
+had doubtless taken in at a glance the group composed of Godeau, the
+gypsies, and Marianne; and he would suppose that I could reckon on
+assistance of one kind or another from some or all of these. Thus, having
+no odds in his favor, and knowing that we would be on the alert, he would
+be little likely to make any kind of demonstration against us. Moreover,
+two of his men finding themselves without their weapons, and all of them
+angry at the manner of their awakening, they would probably receive very
+badly the curses that he would heap on them for their failure to come up
+to his support. Their attitude would, for the rest of that night, be one
+of mutiny. It was likely that he would retreat and meditate a new plan.
+He would not feel safe in the immediate vicinity of the inn, for it
+would occur to him that I might send one of my allies to my men with
+orders to take him. So he would withdraw and either give up the
+enterprise entirely or form a new design.
+
+Now that he knew that I was La Tournoire, what would he do? Abandon his
+mission, since my knowledge of him would put me on my guard against him,
+and forbid his winning my confidence and betraying me in the way which, I
+supposed, Montignac had dictated to him? It was not likely that such a
+man, having found only one road by which he might regain the good things
+he had lost, would be turned aside from that road. He would follow it to
+success or death. Such men are too indolent to go about seeking
+opportunities. Having found one, they will pursue it wherever it may
+lead. Their fortunes are so desperate that they have only their lives to
+lose, and they are so brave that they do not fear death. If they can gain
+the stakes, so much the better. If not, little the worse. Meanwhile, they
+are occupied in a way congenial to a man who loves adventure, who has
+inherited the taste for danger, and finds a pleasurable excitement in
+risking his life. Therefore I felt that De Berquin was not yet through
+with me, but he would have to change his plan, and, until he should have
+time to compose new measures, he would not trouble us.
+
+As I lay in the silence, my thoughts turned from De Berquin to Mlle. de
+Varion. Her demonstration on learning that I was La Tournoire was in
+harmony with the manner in which she had previously questioned me
+concerning my friendship for the bearer of that name. Grieved at the
+thought that I was his friend, relieved at my assertion that I did not so
+highly esteem him, she had shown the utmost horror on learning that I was
+the man himself. Could this be due entirely to the impression conveyed by
+a name to which the Catholics in Berry had attached so much dread? It was
+natural that one should regard with some terror a man whose deeds had
+been so exaggerated by vulgar report; but this fact did not explain the
+intensity of mademoiselle's emotion at the moment of my disclosure. Yet
+she had attributed that emotion entirely to surprise. Perhaps the
+extraordinary manifestation of that surprise was due to her fatigued and
+dejected condition. Or it might be, and I felt a delicious thrill at the
+thought, that it was her concern for me, her fear that my life might be
+the more imperilled by my relations with this proscribed man, that had
+caused the distress accompanying her first inquiries. If this was true,
+the discovery that I was no other than the man proscribed, and all the
+more in danger, would naturally have profoundly affected her.
+
+In the morning she came down from her loft, pale and showing a calmness
+that seemed forced. To my greeting and my announcement that Pierre had
+not returned, she replied, quietly:
+
+"He is a faithful and honest boy, and I have prayed that no harm might
+befall him. His disappearance must not be allowed to alter your plans, M.
+de la Tournoire."
+
+"I shall leave orders with Marianne and Godeau to conduct him to Maury,
+should he return to this place, as he very probably will. If you do not
+wish otherwise, we shall ride on to Maury this morning."
+
+"I do not wish otherwise," she replied. After a moment's pause, she
+added, "Alas, monsieur, your friend, M. de Launay, when be promised me
+your guidance across the border, engaged you to a more tedious task than
+you might have wished to undertake. I fear that I must ask for a delay at
+Maury. You see what trouble your friend has brought you into,--waiting
+until a poor woman, who has been overcome by fatigue, recovers her
+energies."
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle," I said, with delight, "you will then hold me to the
+promise made for me by my friend?"
+
+"What else can a helpless woman do?" she asked, with a pretty smile,
+although there was a tremor in the voice.
+
+I was overjoyed to be assured that she had accepted the situation. I had
+promised that, on her becoming acquainted with La Tournoire, she should
+have no other protector. This had meant to her, at the time when it was
+spoken, that I should go from her. To me it had meant, of course, that I
+should continue with her. I had feared that, on learning the truth, she
+would banish me. She had said that we must part. But now, despite the
+fact that the same barrier existed between me and her, whether I was La
+Tournoire or De Launay, despite her horror on learning that I was the
+former, she had abandoned her intention of parting from me. What had
+caused this change of mind? Had she, now that I was known to her as La
+Tournoire, ceased to entertain for me those feelings which she had, on
+account of our difference in religion, sought by an immediate separation
+to destroy? This was unlikely. La Tournoire or De Launay, I was the same
+man. I chose a happier explanation,--none other than that, considering by
+night, she had come to the conclusion that a religious difference was not
+too great a barrier to be removed, and that La Tournoire was not a person
+to be regarded with any horror. Though modesty might plead against her
+continuing in the company of a man with whom she exchanged such feelings
+as had so rapidly grown up between us, yet circumstance, most imperative
+of all dictators, showed her no other course than to remain under my
+guidance and protection. So I accounted for the decision which was to
+keep us together for a few more days.
+
+I was not sorry that she had asked for a delay at Maury. It relieved me
+of the necessity of making a pretext for retarding her flight while I
+should attempt the rescue of her father. The reason to be given for the
+absence of myself and a party of my men need not be a strong one when
+there was no apparent haste to continue the flight. I was still
+determined to keep the attempt in her father's behalf a secret from her
+if it should fail, and as a surprise for her if successful.
+
+Inwardly jubilant with the hope inspired by her change of mind, I
+hastened to give the innocent reasons for the concealment of my identity
+from her. She listened with a changeless smile, keeping her eyes on mine.
+Before she could answer, Marianne announced that breakfast was ready. No
+further allusion was made to the matter, nor to her now abandoned
+determination that we should part.
+
+After breakfast, our party of five mounted our horses, and, led by
+Blaise, forced our way through the high bushes that marked the beginning
+of the hardly perceptible road to Maury. The two gypsies followed afoot,
+for, knowing that I could rely on their fidelity and secrecy, I had bade
+them come, that their music and tricks might amuse mademoiselle during
+her stay at Maury.
+
+It was a beautiful morning, and I considered that I had many reasons for
+joy. Mademoiselle, too, seemed affected by the sweetness and jocundity of
+the early day. She had evidently nerved herself, too, against her griefs.
+She seemed to have summoned a large stock of resolution to the task of
+facing her troubles without a tear. It appeared that she had banished
+dejection by an effort of the will. All the time it was evident that her
+manner was the result of a vigilant determination. I was, nevertheless,
+glad to see a smile, a steadiness of look, a set lip, though they were
+attained with premeditation. There was in her conversation, as we rode on
+our slow and difficult way, something of the woman of the world. As we
+had to go in single file, and so to speak loudly in order to be heard by
+one another, our talk could not take on the themes and tones of
+tenderness that I would have gladly given to it.
+
+Presently from a bush at the side of the path a man sprang up, saluted,
+and stood respectfully while we passed him. It was one of my men,
+Maugert, on duty as sentry, for I kept men watching every approach to our
+hiding-place night and day. They lay secreted among the brushwood, and
+would observe an intruder long before the intruder could be aware of
+their presence. A few minutes later we passed another of these faithful
+sentinels, who rose out of his concealment to give me a look of welcome,
+and soon afterward we rode through the ruined gate into the old
+courtyard itself.
+
+"Welcome to Maury!" said I to mademoiselle.
+
+She looked up at the broken façade of the château, around at the trees
+that environed the walls and in some places pushed their branches through
+openings, then at some of my men, who had been mending their clothes or
+tinkering at their weapons.
+
+"I shall feel safe at Maury, monsieur," she said, quietly.
+
+Thus Mlle. de Varion became my guest in that wilderness fastness. I gave
+her the two chambers in best preservation, one of them being immediately
+over the chief entrance and overlooking the courtyard. My own abode was
+in the northern turret, looking down the steep wooded declivity that fell
+to the road from Clochonne to Narjec. Hugo was to sleep outside her door.
+My own men made their beds in the great hall and in certain sheltered
+portions of the wings and outbuildings. They usually ate in this hall,
+receiving their food on platters from the cook (happily the kitchen had
+remained fit for use), and bearing it thither. It was arranged that Hugo
+should carry the meals of mademoiselle and Jeannotte to mademoiselle's
+apartments.
+
+It was more after our arrival than during our ride to Maury that
+mademoiselle showed the fatigue of which she had spoken. It was evident
+that she had reached a resting-place none too soon. Weakness was
+manifest in all her movements as well as in the pallor of her cheeks.
+Yet, though she languished thus, she did not keep all the time to her
+chamber. Each morning she came down to walk about the courtyard, saying
+that the air and sunshine--as much as found its way through the
+overspreading branches of the trees--strengthened her. There was in one
+corner of the yard an old stone bench, which, in good weather, was for a
+great part of the afternoon half in sun and half in shade. Here she would
+sit by the hour, changing her position as sunlight or shade became
+preferable for the moment.
+
+Morning or afternoon, I was never far from her. For I had had to defer
+from day to day the first steps towards the projected deliverance of M.
+de Varion. On our arrival I had found that some of the men on whose aid I
+would most depend were away on a foraging expedition. Each hour I looked
+for their return, but in vain. Their absence had now become so prolonged
+as to be a cause of alarm. My anxiety about them, and my concern over
+other matters, took up so much of my mind that little was left in which
+to devise a plan for the rescue of the prisoner, and I would not make the
+first move until the whole design should be complete.
+
+As days passed, and mademoiselle's missing boy, Pierre, did not come, I
+ceased to hope that we should ever see him again. Had he found his way
+to the inn where he had left us, Marianne or Godeau would have brought
+him to Maury immediately. It was useless to speculate as to what might
+have become of him. He might have perished in the forest, or found his
+way to Clochonne, or fallen in with De Berquin and suffered for having
+been of our party. When his disappearance was mentioned, Jeannotte would
+look at mademoiselle, and mademoiselle would say:
+
+"Poor boy! I pray that no evil may have befallen him. He was fidelity
+itself. He would die for me!"
+
+But she did not give herself up to poignant sorrow on his account, or,
+indeed, since the night at Godeau's inn, on account of anything. She
+seemed to have set herself to bear her troubles in Spartan manner, and to
+find in herself, perhaps with surprise, the strength to do so.
+
+So the days passed, and still my plans in regard to her father remained
+unformed, the men on whom I relied did not appear, and mademoiselle did
+not speak of resuming her flight southward. There came no further sign of
+the existence of De Berquin. From or of the outside world we heard
+nothing, save occasionally, when the wind was in the right direction, the
+faint sound of the bell of Clochonne. We seemed to dwell apart, in a
+region of our own, an enchanted forest which none other might enter, a
+place where we were forever safe from the strife of humanity, the touch
+of war, the reach of the King's edicts, the power of provincial
+governors, the vengeance of the great. The gypsies remained with us, and
+sweetened the time with their songs and the music of their instruments.
+My men treated mademoiselle with the utmost respect. I had caused them to
+know that she was a refugee, a lady most precious in my esteem, one for
+whose safety and happiness any other consideration must, should occasion
+arise, be sacrificed. The weather was dry, sunny, and, for the time of
+year, mild. It was like a sweet dream, and I, for one, had no premonition
+of the awakening that was to come.
+
+Often during that time I spoke of my love for her. I told her that, to
+me, at least, religion was not so much as to drive me from the woman whom
+I had so long sought in vain among the beauties of our Henri's court,
+whom I had so long worshipped in the ideal, whom I had instantly
+recognized as being the embodiment of that ideal, of whose presence I
+could not endure to be deprived even in thought.
+
+She would sit looking in my eyes while I told her these things. Sometimes
+she would seem to yield to a kind of bliss in hearing them, to forget all
+else than ourselves and my words. Then suddenly a look of anguish would
+come on her features, she would rise and press her hands to her eyes, as
+if to blot out the memory of my look, and say:
+
+"Monsieur, you must not! You must not! You do not know! Oh, if you knew!"
+
+And she would quickly glide away into the château, keeping her face
+turned from me until she had disappeared.
+
+I began to think that there might be another obstacle than that of our
+difference in religion. Perhaps a promise to another or some vow! But I
+swore to myself that, whatever the obstacle might be, I would remove
+it. The only matter for present disposition was to get her consent to
+my doing so.
+
+She would soon return, composed and smiling, with no sign of wishing to
+elude me. For the life of me, I could not long refrain from the subject
+that had before so strangely put her to flight.
+
+Sometimes when I talked in the strain of love, joy and pain would succeed
+each other on her face, sometimes they would seem to be present at the
+same moment. From the look of complete abandonment to happiness that
+sometimes, though never for long, shone on her features, I felt that she
+loved me, and that eventually her love would gain the victory. I
+continually tried to elicit an expression of her feelings in words. Sweet
+to me as was the frequent confession of her looks, I sought a confession
+in speech also.
+
+One afternoon, as we stood on a little spur that rose from the declivity
+below the château, and whence through a small opening between trees could
+be seen the river, the smiling plain, and afar the high-perched château
+of Clochonne, I asked her:
+
+"Why is it that when I speak of what most occupies my heart you become
+silent or sorrowful, or go suddenly from me?"
+
+With assumed lightness she replied:
+
+"Can a woman explain her capricious doings any more than a man can
+understand them? It is well known that we do unaccountable things."
+
+Not heeding this evasion, I went on:
+
+"I sometimes fear that you imagine some other barrier between us than the
+one of religion. Is it that some other gentleman--?"
+
+"Oh, no, monsieur!" she answered, quickly and earnestly, before I had
+time to finish the question.
+
+"Is there, then, some vow or girlish resolution?"
+
+She shook her head negatively in reply, but would not give me any more
+satisfaction.
+
+At last I said, abruptly, "Do you, then, wish me not to love you?"
+
+She looked at me first as if she would answer yes, and then as if she
+would answer no, and finally, after a sigh, she said:
+
+"Can we cause things by wishing?"
+
+Finally, as a last means of trying her, I said:
+
+"Mademoiselle, I have been thinking that it might be better if I were to
+go on alone to Guienne, and leave Blaise and my men to conduct you when
+you are able to follow."
+
+She regarded me strangely, first as if the suggestion were a welcome one,
+then,--while her brow darkened, and a kind of mental anguish forced
+itself into her expression,--as if the plan were not at all acceptable.
+
+"But you will not do that, monsieur?" was all that she said.
+
+I could but sigh in puzzlement, and abandon my attempt to make her tell
+her feelings.
+
+Sometimes I would suddenly turn my eyes towards her, and catch her
+looking at me with mingled tenderness and pity, as a man condemned to die
+might be looked on by the woman who loved him. At those times I thought
+that she had some fear or foreboding that I might yet fall a victim to
+the vengeance of those whom I had offended. Sometimes her look quite
+startled me, for it contained, besides a world of grief and pity,
+something of self-reproach. I then supposed that she blamed herself for
+allowing her fatigue to delay me in my departure from the province.
+
+But these demonstrations did not often escape her. She oftenest showed
+the forced cheerfulness that I have already mentioned. The moments when
+any kind of distress showed itself were exceptional, and many of them
+were caused by the persistence with which I sought a response in words to
+my declarations of love.
+
+There came at last the afternoon--how well I remember it!--when we sat
+together on the stone bench in the sunlit part of the old courtyard.
+Through the interstices of the overspreading branches we could see a
+perfectly clear blue sky. The slightest movement of air made the leaves
+rustle sleepily, dreamily. Save the chirping of the birds, no other sound
+emanated from the forest. The murmur of the river at the foot of the
+wooded steep came up to us. In a corner of the yard the two gypsies lay
+asleep. Some of my men were off on various employments. A few had gone
+for game; others to fish. One of them, Frojac, was in Clochonne disguised
+as a peasant, to keep a watch on the garrison there. The party of
+foragers had not returned. Of the men at the château, those who were not
+on guard were with Blaise Tripault in the great hall, where they had just
+finished eating and drinking, Hugo had gone to the stables to feed
+mademoiselle's horses. Jeannotte was asleep in her chamber. Mademoiselle
+and I sat in silence, in the midst of a solitude, a remote tranquillity,
+a dreamy repose that it was difficult to imagine as ever to be broken.
+
+She seemed to yield to the benign influence of this enchanted place. She
+leaned back restfully, closed her eyes, and smiled.
+
+Suddenly there came from within the château the sound of my men singing.
+Their rude, strong voices were low at first, but they rose in pitch and
+volume as their song progressed. Mademoiselle ceased to smile, opened her
+eyes, again took on the look of dark foreboding. The song had an ominous
+ring. It was one of the Huguenot war hymns sung in the army of our Henri:
+
+  "With pricking of steel
+    Our foe we have sped,
+  We've peppered his heel
+    With pellets of lead,
+And the battles we win are the gifts of the Lord,
+Who pointeth our cannon and guideth our sword.
+We fire and we charge and there's nothing can bar
+When we fight in the track of the King of Navarre.
+  Then down, down, down with the Duke of Guise!
+  Death, death, death to our enemies!
+  And glory, we sing, to God and our King,
+  And death to the foes of Navarre!"
+
+The melody was grim and stirring. The men's voices vibrated with war-like
+wrath. They were impatient for battles, charges, the kind of fighting
+that is done between great armies on the open field, when there is the
+roar and smoke of cannon, the rattle of small firearms, the clash of
+steel, the cries of captains, the shrieks and groans of wounded, the
+plenteous spilling of blood. They were hungry for carnage.
+
+"There is no cause to shudder, mademoiselle," said I, perceiving the
+effect that the song had on her; "we are far away from fighting. There is
+no danger here."
+
+"There may be dangers of which you do not guess," she answered.
+
+As if to verify her words, a sudden, sharp cry broke the stillness. It
+came from the forest path by which we had arrived at the château. It was
+the voice of one of my sentinels challenging a newcomer.
+
+"It is I," came the reply. "I have important news for the captain."
+
+"Oh, it is you, Marianne?" replied the man on guard. "I didn't know you
+for an instant, you appeared so suddenly, without any noise."
+
+I hastened to the gate and called, "Come, Marianne, what is it?"
+
+She came up puffing and perspiring. So breathless was she that she had to
+sit down on a bench in the courtyard before she could answer me.
+
+"Oh, monsieur!" she said, when she had recovered some breath. "Look to
+yourself! The governor of the province is at Clochonne!"
+
+"The devil!" I said, and turned to see the effect of this news on
+mademoiselle.
+
+She was standing, trembling, as white as death, her one hand on the back
+of the bench for support.
+
+"Be not alarmed, mademoiselle," I said, "Clochonne is not Maury! They do
+not know our hiding-place. How did you learn, Marianne, and what else do
+you know?"
+
+Mademoiselle stood perfectly still and fixed her eyes on Marianne,
+awaiting the latter's answers with apparently as much interest as I
+myself felt.
+
+"Godeau went to Clochonne this morning with some eggs to sell, and
+learned that the governor arrived last night and occupies the château,"
+said Marianne.
+
+"With how many men?" I asked.
+
+"Godeau said that the courtyard of the château and the market-place of
+the town were full of men-at-arms, but he did not wait to find out how
+many there were. He knew what he would catch from me if he did not
+immediately bring me the news, that I might let you know. So he came home
+at once, and as soon as I had heard it I started for this place."
+
+"I thank you, Marianne. You are the best of women. Yet it may not be on
+our account that M. de la Chatre honors Clochonne with a visit."
+
+It was, indeed, true that the governor would naturally visit his border
+towns at a time when war might be expected soon to enter his province.
+Yet I could not help thinking that his coming at this particular time had
+something to do with his plan to capture me. I remembered what course
+Montignac had advised him to take: to wait until his spy should have
+located me and sent him word of my hiding-place, then to come to
+Clochonne, whither the spy, on learning of his presence, should send him
+the information that would enable him to lay an ambuscade for me. This
+was a good plan, for a premature arrival of the governor at Clochonne
+might give me time to flee before my whereabouts should be known to the
+spy; but, knowing my exact whereabouts, La Chatre could first take
+measures for cutting off my flight, and then risk nothing by coming to
+Clochonne. Moreover, should the spy fail as to the ambush, the governor's
+acquaintance with my whereabouts would serve him in a chase that he might
+make with his soldiers. The ambush was but a device more likely to
+succeed than an open search and attack. It was, if at all possible,
+easier, and would cost the governor no lives.
+
+Now, if the plan suggested by Montignac was being carried out, the
+governor's arrival at Clochonne meant that his spy had sent him word of
+my hiding-place. But could De Berquin have done so? He had previously
+shown some skill in secret pursuit. Had he eluded the vigilance of my
+sentinels, learned that we were at Maury, and sent one of his men to the
+governor with the information? It was improbable, yet nothing occurs more
+often than the improbable. So I asked Marianne:
+
+"Have you seen anything of the five men who drank with me the night you
+carried wine to us from the inn?"
+
+"Not since that night, monsieur."
+
+"And you have no more news than you have told me?"
+
+"Nothing more, monsieur; so, if you please, I will hurry back, for
+my old man is sure to have fallen asleep, and it would be a pity if
+the governor's men should come by the forest road without being
+seen. Be sure, if they come after I reach home, you shall know of it
+in good time."
+
+I bade her go, and turned to mademoiselle.
+
+She was as pale as a white lily. As soon as my eye met hers, she said, in
+a faint voice:
+
+"I am going in, monsieur. I am tired. No, I can go alone. Do not be
+concerned about me. I shall soon feel better."
+
+And she went rapidly into the château, giving me no time in which to
+assure her that there was no reason for immediate alarm.
+
+I wished to consider Marianne's news before communicating it to any of my
+men. I had to inquire of myself whether it called for any immediate
+action on my part. So that my meditations might not be interrupted, I
+left the château and walked into the forest.
+
+For hours I considered the possible relations of the governor's arrival
+to mademoiselle's safety and my own, to that of my men and our cause, and
+to my intention of delivering M. de Varion from prison. But I could
+arrive at no conclusion, for I knew neither the governor's intentions,
+nor what information he had concerning me. There were so many
+probabilities and so many possible combinations of them, that at last I
+threw the whole matter from my mind, determining to await events. On the
+way back to the château I reproached myself for having wasted so much
+time in making useless guesses, for when I found myself at the gate it
+was night, and the moon had risen.
+
+I stopped at the entrance and stood still to listen to the voice of
+Blaise, which rose in the courtyard in the words of a psalm. He sang it
+with a gentleness the very reverse of the feeling his voice had expressed
+in the war hymn a few hours earlier. From a sound that came between the
+words now and then, I knew that he was engaged in one of his favorite
+occupations, that of polishing his weapons.
+
+Pleased to hear him singing in the moonlight, I stood at the gate, lest
+by entering I might interrupt the psalm.
+
+Presently, at the end of the stanza, I heard another voice from the
+doorway of the château.
+
+"Ah, Blaise," said Jeannotte, "it is the spirit of your mother that
+controls you now."
+
+He made no answer, nor did he resume his singing. Then I recalled that
+for the past few days he had not shown his former susceptibility to the
+maid's charms; he had, indeed, exhibited towards her a kind of
+disapproving shyness. I had not attached any importance to this.
+
+"Why do you not go on singing your psalm?" Jeannotte asked, coming
+nearer to him.
+
+His answer was a strange one. It was spoken with a kind of contemptuous
+irony and searching interrogation. The words were:
+
+"Mademoiselle's boy Pierre has not yet come back to us."
+
+"What has that to do with your singing?" said Jeannotte. "We all know it
+very well. Poor Pierre! To think that he may have been taken by Monsieur
+de Berquin!"
+
+"It is well that he did not know the place of our destination when he
+went away," said Blaise, in the same insignificant tone, "else M. de
+Berquin might torture the secret out of him, and carry it to the governor
+of the province, for M. de Berquin knows now that my master is La
+Tournoire. It would not be well for the boy, or any one else, to be the
+means of the governor's learning La Tournoire's hiding-place!"
+
+After which words, spoken with a kind of ominous menace, Blaise abruptly
+left the girl, and strode around the corner of the château. The maid
+stood still a few moments, then went into the château.
+
+Completely mystified, I crossed the courtyard and called Blaise.
+
+"M. de la Chatre is at Clochonne," I said, abruptly, as soon as he was
+before me.
+
+He stood still, returning my gaze. Presently he said:
+
+"Do you think that he has learned where you are?"
+
+"Through M. de Berquin?" I said, as if completing his question.
+
+"Or any one else?" he said, in a low voice. "There was the boy who
+disappeared, for instance."
+
+"But he did not know our hiding-place when he left. He did not know how
+near we then were to it. He did not then know that I was La Tournoire."
+
+"But there was much talk of La Tournoire on the journey. Did you at any
+time drop any hint of this place, and how it might be reached?"
+
+"None that could have reached his ears. I told only Mlle. de Varion, and
+we were quite alone when I did so."
+
+Blaise looked at the ground in silence. After some time he gave a heavy
+sigh, and, raising his eyes, said:
+
+"Monsieur, I have been thinking of many things of late. Certain matters
+have had a strange appearance. But,--well, perhaps my thoughts have been
+absurd, and, in short, I have nothing to say about them except this,
+monsieur, it is well to be on one's guard always against every one!"
+
+I was about to ask him whether he meant that the boy Pierre had been
+guilty of eavesdropping and treachery, and to reprove him for that
+unworthy suspicion, when there was a noise at the gate. Looking thither,
+I saw two of my men, Sabray and Roquelin, conducting into the courtyard
+three starved-looking persons, who leaned wearily on one another's
+shoulders, and seemed ready to drop with fatigue.
+
+"We found these wretches in the woods," explained Sabray. "They are
+Catholics, although that one tried to hide his cross and shouted, 'Down
+with the mass!' when we told them to surrender in the name of the Sieur
+de la Tournoire."
+
+"It is true that I was a Catholic," whined the bedraggled fop who had
+belonged to De Berquin's band of four; "but I was just about to abjure
+when these men came up."
+
+"I will abjure twice over, if it pleases monsieur," put in the tall
+Spanish-looking ruffian. "Nothing would delight me more than to be a
+Huguenot. By the windpipe of the Pope, for a flagon of wine I would
+be a Jew!"
+
+"And I a damned infidel Turk," wearily added their fat comrade, "for a
+roast fowl, and a place to lay my miserable body!"
+
+At this moment the fop's eyes fell on Blaise.
+
+"Saint Marie!" he cried, falling to his knees. "We are dead men. It is
+the big fellow we trussed up at the inn!"
+
+"Belly of Beelzebub, so it is!" bellowed Blaise, pulling out his sword.
+Turning to Jeannotte, who had just reappeared in the courtyard, he
+roared: "It is now my father's spirit that controls me!"
+
+Whereupon he fell to belaboring the three poor, weary, hungry, thirsty
+rascals with the flat of his sword, till all of them yelled in concert.
+They were too limp to resist or even to run, and he had his way with them
+until Sabray and Roquelin howled with laughter. At last I ordered him to
+stop, and to confine the men in a chamber, where they should be fed and
+questioned. So they limped away moaning, driven like cattle by Blaise,
+who promised them as they went that they should not be put to the trouble
+of tying up honest people in the dark for some time to come. Jeannotte
+followed, out of curiosity, as did Sabray and Roquelin.
+
+Left alone in the courtyard, I sat on the stone bench, which was now in
+part yellow with moonlight, and began to ponder. I could doubtless learn
+from the three captives whether De Berquin had had any hand in the coming
+of La Chatre to Clochonne. Anxious as I was to inform myself, I was yet
+in no mood to question the men at that moment, preferring to wait and
+hear the result of Blaise's interrogations.
+
+While I was thinking, my arms folded and my eyes turned to the ground at
+my feet, I suddenly heard a deep sigh very near me.
+
+I looked up and saw Mademoiselle de Varion standing before me in the
+moonlight. My gaze met hers, and in the delicious glow that her presence
+sent through me I forgot all in the world but her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+HOW DE BERQUIN INVITED DEATH
+
+
+"Mademoiselle!" I whispered, starting up and taking her hand.
+
+She trembled slightly, and averted her look. But she did not draw
+away her hand.
+
+"You are still disturbed by Marianne's news," I said. "But you have
+little more reason to fear when M. de la Chatre is at Clochonne than if
+he were at the other end of the province."
+
+"Yet I do fear, monsieur," she said, in a low tone, "for your sake."
+
+"Then if you will fear," said I, "I take great happiness in knowing that
+it is for me. But this is no place or time for fear. Look and listen. The
+moonlight, the sounds of the forest, the song of the nightingale, all
+speak of peace."
+
+"The song of the nightingale may give place to the clash of swords and
+the cries of combat," she replied. "And because you have delayed here
+with me, you now risk the peril you are in."
+
+"Peril is familiar company to me, mademoiselle," I said, gaily. "It
+comes and it goes. It is a very welcome guest when it brings with it the
+sweetest lady in the world."
+
+Talking thus, I led her around the side of the château to the old garden
+appertaining to it, a place now wild with all kinds of forest growth, its
+former use indicated by a broken statue, a crumbling grotto, and in its
+centre an old sun-dial overgrown with creepers. The path to the sun-dial
+was again passable, thanks to my frequent visits to the spot since my
+first arrival at Maury. It was up this path that we now went.
+
+The moonlight and the presence of mademoiselle made the place a very
+paradise to me. We two were alone in the garden. The moon spread beauty
+over the broken walls of the château on one side, and the green
+vegetation around us leaving some places in mysterious shade. The
+sun-dial was all in light, and so was mademoiselle standing beside it. I
+breathed sweet wild odors from the garden. From some part of the château
+came the soft twang of the strings responding to the fingers of the
+gypsy, I held the soft hand of mademoiselle. I raised it to my lips.
+
+"I love you, I love you!" I whispered.
+
+She made no answer, only looked at me with a kind of mingled grief and
+joy, bliss embittered by despair.
+
+"It cannot be," I went on, "that Heaven would permit so great a love to
+find no response. Will you not answer me, mademoiselle?"
+
+"What answer would you have?" she asked, in a perturbed voice.
+
+"I would have love for love."
+
+Her answer was arrested by the sound of the gypsy's voice, which at that
+instant rose in an old song, that one in which a woman's love is likened
+to a light or a fire. These are the first words:
+
+"Bright as the sun, more quick to fade;
+  Fickle as marsh-lights prove;
+Where brightest, casting deepest shade--
+  False flame of woman's love."
+
+"Heed the song, monsieur," said mademoiselle, in the tone of one who
+warns vaguely of a danger which dare not be disclosed openly.
+
+"It is an old, old song," I answered. "The raving of some misanthrope of
+bygone time."
+
+"It has truth in it," she said.
+
+"Nay, he judged all women from some bitter experience of his own. His
+song ought to have died with him, ought to be shut up in the grave
+wherein he lies, with his sins and his sorrows."
+
+"Though the man is dead, the truth he sang is not. Heed it, monsieur, as
+a warning from the dead to the living, a warning to all brave men who
+unwarily trust in women!"
+
+"I needed no song to warn me, mademoiselle," I said, thinking of Mile.
+d'Arency and M. de Noyard. "I have in my own time seen something of the
+treachery of which some women are capable."
+
+"You have loved other women?" she said, quickly.
+
+"Once I thought I loved one, until I learned what she was."
+
+"What was she?" she asked, slowly, as if divining the answer, and
+dreading to hear it.
+
+"She was a tool of Catherine de Medici's," said I, speaking with all the
+more contempt when I compared the guileful court beauty, Mile. d'Arency,
+with the pure, sweet woman before me; "one of those creatures whom
+Catherine called her Flying Squadron, and she betrayed a very honest
+gentleman to his death."
+
+"Betrayed him!" she repeated.
+
+"Yes, by a pretended love tryst."
+
+Mademoiselle trembled, and held out her hand to the dial for support.
+
+Something in her attitude, something in the pose of her slender figure,
+something in her white face, her deep, wide-open eyes, so appealed to my
+love, to my impulse to protect her, that I clasped her in my arms, and
+drew her close to me. She made no attempt to repulse me, and into her
+eyes came the look of surrender and yielding.
+
+"Ah, mademoiselle, Julie," I murmured, for she had told me her name,
+"you do not shrink from me, your hand clings to mine, the look in
+your eyes tells what your lips have refused to utter. The truth is
+out, you love me!"
+
+She closed her eyes, and let me cover her face with kisses.
+
+Presently, still holding her hand in mine, I stepped to the other side
+of the sun-dial, so that we stood with it between us, our hands
+clasped over it.
+
+"There needs no oath between us now," said I, "yet here let us vow by the
+moonlight and the sunlight that mark the time on this old dial. I pledge
+you here, on the symbol of time, to fidelity forever!"
+
+"False flame of woman's love!"
+
+came the song of the gypsy, before mademoiselle could answer.
+
+The look of unresisting acquiescence faded from her face. She started
+backward, drew her hand quickly from mine, and with the words, "Oh,
+monsieur, monsieur!" glided swiftly from the garden and around the
+château. In perplexity, I followed. When I reached the courtyard she was
+not there. She had gone in, and to her chamber.
+
+But I was happy. I felt that now she was mine. Her face, her attitude,
+had spoken, if not her lips. As for her breaking away, I thought that due
+to a last recurrence of her old scruples concerning the barrier between
+us. I did not attribute it to the effect of the sudden intrusion of the
+gypsy's song. It was by mere accident, I told myself, that her scruples
+had returned at the moment of that intrusion. What was there in her love
+that I need fear? She had told me to heed the song as a warning. I
+considered this a mere device on her part to check the current of my
+wooing. Her old scruples or her maidenly impulses might cause her to use
+for that purpose any device that might occur. But, how long she might
+postpone the final confession of surrender, it must come at last, for the
+surrender itself was already made. Her heart was mine. What mattered it
+now though the governor had come to Clochonne solely in quest of me? What
+though he knew my hiding-place, discovered by the persistent De Berquin,
+and its location by him communicated through Barbemouche? For, I said to
+myself, if De Berquin had sent word to the governor, Barbemouche must
+have been the messenger, for the three rascals now held at Maury could
+not have been relied on, and they had the appearance of having wandered
+in the forest several days.
+
+I was just about to summon Blaise, that I might learn the result of his
+interrogations, when I heard the voice of Maugert, who was lying in watch
+by the forest path, call out:
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+"We are friends," came the answer, quickly.
+
+This voice also I knew, as well as Maugert's. It was that of De Berquin.
+
+I ran to the gate and heard him tell Maugert, who covered him with an
+arquebus, match lighted, that he was seeking the abode of the Sieur de la
+Tournoire, for whom he had important news.
+
+"Let him come, Maugert!" I called from the gate.
+
+I stepped back into the courtyard. At that moment Blaise came out of the
+château. Very soon De Berquin strode in through the gateway, followed by
+the burly Barbemouche. Both looked wayworn and fatigued.
+
+"Monsieur de la Tournoire," said De Berquin, saluting me with fine grace
+and a pleasant air,--he never lost the ways of a gallant gentleman,--"I
+have come here to do you a service."
+
+So! thought I, does he really intend to seek my confidence and try to
+betray me, after all? Admirable self-assurance!
+
+I was about to answer, when Barbemouche put in;
+
+"So you, whom it was in my power to kill a hundred times over that night,
+are the very Tournoire whom I chased from one end of France to the other
+eight years ago?" And he looked me over with a frank curiosity.
+
+"Yes," I said, with a smile, "after you had destroyed the home of my
+fathers. And at last you have found me."
+
+"I was but the servant of the Duke of Guise then," said Barbemouche.
+
+At this point Blaise, who, in all our experiences with De Berquin and his
+henchmen, had not while sober come within hearing of Barbemouche's voice,
+or within close sight of him, stepped up and said, coolly:
+
+"Let me see the face that goes with that voice."
+
+And he threw up the front of Barbemouche's hat with one hand, at the same
+time raising the front of his own with the other. The two men regarded
+each other for a moment.
+
+"Praise to the God of Israel, we meet again!" cried Blaise, in a loud
+voice, catching the other by the throat.
+
+"Who are you?" demanded Barbemouche.
+
+"The man on whom you left this mark,"--and Blaise pointed to his own
+forehead,--"in Paris on St. Bartholomew's night thirteen years ago."
+
+"Then I did not kill you?" muttered Barbemouche, glaring fiercely
+at Blaise.
+
+"God had further use for me," said Blaise.
+
+De Berquin and I both stepped aside, perceiving that here was a matter in
+which neither of us was concerned. But we looked on with some interest,
+deferring until its adjustment our own conversation.
+
+"Then it was you who spoiled my appearance for the rest of my days!"
+cried Barbemouche. "May you writhe in the flames of hell!"
+
+And, being without sword or other weapon, he aimed a blow of the fist at
+Blaise's head. Blaise, disdaining to use steel against an unarmed
+antagonist, contented himself with dodging the blow and dragging
+Barbemouche to a place where an opening in the courtyard wall overlooked
+a steep, rocky descent which was for some distance without vegetation.
+Here the two men grappled. There was some hard squeezing, some quick
+bending either way, a final powerful forcing forward of the arms on the
+part of Blaise, a last violent propulsion of the same arms, and
+Barbemouche was thrown backward down the precipice. Blaise stood for a
+time looking oven. We heard a series of dull concussions, a sound of the
+flight of detached small stones, and then nothing.
+
+"God giveth the battle to the strong!" said Blaise, and he came away from
+the precipice.
+
+De Berquin shrugged his shoulders, and turned again to me.
+
+"As I said, monsieur," he began, "I have come here to do you a service."
+
+"Indeed!" said I, coldly, choosing to assume indifference and ignorance.
+"I knew not that I was in need of any."
+
+"Your need of it is all the greater for that," said De Berquin, quietly.
+"Monsieur, I would hinder some one from doing you a foul deed, though to
+do so I must rob that person of your esteem."
+
+"Speak clearly, M. de Berquin," said I, thinking that he was taking the
+wrong way to get my confidence. "It is impossible that any one having my
+esteem should need hindrance from a foul deed."
+
+De Berquin stood perfectly still and looked me straight in the
+face, saying:
+
+"Is it a foul deed to betray a man into the hands of his enemies?"
+
+"Yes," said I, thoughtfully, wondering that he should try to begin that
+very act by accusing some one else of intending it.
+
+"Then, monsieur," he went on, "look to yourself."
+
+But I looked at him instead, with some amazement at the assurance with
+which he continued to face me.
+
+"And what man of my following would you accuse of intending to betray
+me?" I asked.
+
+"No man, monsieur," he said, still meeting my gaze steadily, and not
+changing his attitude.
+
+"No man?" I repeated, for a moment puzzled. "Oh, ho! The boy, Pierre,
+perhaps, who left us while we were at the inn by the forest road! Well,
+monsieur, you speak falsely. I would stake my arm on his loyalty."
+
+"It is not to tell you of any boy that I have sought you these many days
+in this wilderness," said De Berquin, all the time standing as motionless
+as a statue, and speaking in a very low voice. "It is not a boy that has
+come from M. de la Chatre, the governor of the province, to betray you."
+
+"Not man nor boy," I said, curious now to learn what he was aiming at.
+"What, then? Mademoiselle's maid, honest Jeannotte? You must take the
+trouble to invent something else, M. de Berquin. You become amusing."
+
+"Not the maid, monsieur," he replied, very quietly, putting a stress on
+the word "maid," and facing me as boldly as ever.
+
+Slowly it dawned on me what he meant. Slowly a tremendous indignation
+grew in me against the man who dared to stand before me and make that
+accusation. Yet I controlled myself, and merely answered in a tone as low
+as his, but slowly drawing my sword:
+
+"By God, you mean _her_!"
+
+"Mlle. de Varion," he answered, never quailing.
+
+Filled with a, great wrath, my powers of thought for the time paralyzed,
+my mind capable of no perception, but that of mademoiselle's sweetness
+and purity opposed to this horrible charge of black treason, I could
+answer only:
+
+"Then the devil is no more the king of liars, unless you are the devil!
+Come, Monsieur de Berquin, I will show you what I think of the service
+you would do me!"
+
+With drawn sword in hand, I walked across the courtyard and pointed to
+the way leading around the side of the château to an open space in one
+part of the garden. I knew that there we should not be interrupted.
+
+As I waited for De Berquin to precede me, I chanced to look at
+Blaise. A strange, thoughtful expression was on his face. He, too,
+stood quite still.
+
+De Berquin looked at my face for a moment longer, then seemed to realize
+the hopelessness of his attempt to make me credit his accusation,
+shrugged his shoulders and said, courteously:
+
+"As you will, monsieur!"
+
+And he walked before me around the side of the château to the bare
+space in the garden. Blaise, having received no orders, did not presume
+to follow.
+
+We took off our doublets and other encumbrances, De Berquin raising his
+sheathed sword and very gracefully unsheathing by throwing the scabbard
+off into the air, so that it fell some distance away in the garden.
+
+Twice before that night it had been shown that I was the more skilful
+swordsman, yet now he stood without the least sign of fear. If he had
+formerly retreated, on being disarmed, it was from situations in which he
+had figured ridiculously, and could not endure to remain before
+Mademoiselle de Varion. Also, he had sought to preserve his life, so that
+he might have revenge. But now that events had taken their turn, he
+showed himself not afraid to face death.
+
+"It is a pity," I said, "that a brave man should be so great a liar."
+
+"Rather," he said, "that so brave a man"--and his look showed that he
+alluded to me--"should be so easily fooled; and that so fair a woman
+should be so vile a traitor."
+
+And, seeing that I was ready, he put himself into a posture of defence.
+
+The cup of my resentment having been already filled to overflowing, it
+was impossible for me to be further angered by this. But there came on
+me a desire to let him know that I was not as ill-informed as he had
+thought me; that perhaps he was the greater fool. So, holding my sword
+lowered, I said:
+
+"You should know, monsieur, that I am aware who undertook the task of
+betraying me to La Chatre."
+
+"And yet you say that I lie," he replied.
+
+"I know even how the matter was to be conducted," I went on. "The spy
+was first to learn my place of refuge and send the information to La
+Chatre. The governor was then to come to Clochonne. The governor is
+already at Clochonne. The spy, doubtless, learned where I hid, and sent
+word to La Chatre."
+
+"Doubtless," he replied, impassively, "inasmuch as you speak of one of
+mademoiselle's boys having left you. He was probably the messenger."
+
+"Monsieur," I said, "you desire to leave a slander of mademoiselle that
+may afflict me or her after your death; but your quickness to perceive
+circumstances that seemingly fit your lie will not avail you. A thousand
+facts might seem to bear out your falsehood, yet I would not heed them. I
+would know them to be accidental. For every lie there are many
+circumstances that may be turned to its support. So do not, in dying,
+felicitate yourself on leaving behind you a lie that will live to injure
+her or me. Your lie shall die with you."
+
+"You tire me with reiterations, monsieur," he replied, calmly. "Since you
+will maintain that I have lied, do so. It is you who will suffer for your
+blindness, not I. I told you the truth, not really because I wished to do
+you a kindness, but because there was a chance of its serving my own
+purpose. The woman came here to find your hiding-place, and betray you to
+the governor. La Chatre engaged her to do so. His secretary, Montignac,
+took it into his head that he would like to become sole possessor of
+mademoiselle's time and attractions. But he could not undo the governor's
+plans, nor could he hope for the woman's cooperation, as she seems to
+have taken a dislike to him. It had been agreed that, when she had turned
+you over to the governor's soldiers, she should go to Fleurier to receive
+her reward. She had made this condition so that she might keep out of the
+way of Montignac. Now he dared not interfere to prevent her from doing
+the governor's errand, but he hoped to see more of her after that should
+be completed. Such, as it was necessary for him to tell me, was the state
+of his mind when I came along--I, ordered from court, hounded from Paris
+by creditors, ragged and ready for what might turn up. Near Fleurier
+Montignac turned up, in La Chatre's cavalcade. He wanted me to become the
+woman's escort to Clochonne, keep my eyes on her, know when she had
+settled your business, and, when she was about to start for Fleurier,
+keep her as his guest in a house that I was to hire in Clochonne. But why
+do I grow chilly telling you all this, when you do not intend to believe
+me? Shall we not begin, monsieur?"
+
+"Doubtless you are vain of your skill at fabrication, monsieur," I said,
+wishing to deprive him of the satisfaction of thinking me deceived by
+his story, "but you have no reason to be. That a woman should be sent to
+betray an outlaw, and then a man sent to keep her in view and finally
+hold her,--it is complicated, to say the least. Why should you not have
+been sent to take me?" I thought that I had touched him here.
+
+"That is what I asked Montignac," he replied. "But he told me that she
+had already been commissioned to hunt you down, before he had made up his
+mind to possess her by force. Moreover, it would not do to disturb the
+governor's plan, on which the governor was mightily set, though Montignac
+himself had suggested it. 'And,' said Montignac, 'you have not a woman's
+wit to find his hiding-place, or a woman's means of luring him from his
+men.' And yet, you will remember that when I thought you were a lackey,
+and you offered to deliver La Tournoire to me, I grasped at the chance,
+for I knew that, however set the governor might be on having the lady
+take you, he would be glad enough to have you taken by any one, and if I
+took you and got the reward I could afford to bear Montignac's
+displeasure. I think Montignac's desire to have the lady take you was due
+to his having suggested the plan. He wanted both the credit of having
+devised your capture and the pleasure of mademoiselle's society. Yes,
+when you held out to me the possibility, I was willing to risk
+Montignac's resentment and take La Tournoire myself. Before that, I had
+confined myself to the task of following mademoiselle. At first you and
+your supposed master were in my way. I had hoped to get her from you, and
+to obtain her esteem by the mock rescue, but this was spoiled first by my
+men and then by you. After that failure, I could merely follow and hope
+that chance would enable me to do Montignac's will."
+
+"You cleverly mix truth and fiction, monsieur," I said. "You interest
+me. Go on."
+
+It is true that he did interest me, so ingenious did I think his recital.
+
+"I have no wish to prolong the life of one of us by this talk," he
+replied, "but a tale once begun should be finished. You know how you
+promised to deliver up La Tournoire to me. I grant that you kept the
+promise to the letter. During the rest of that night I lay quiet with my
+men. We heard your departure the next morning, and when the way was clear
+we followed in your track. We could do so quietly, for we were afoot; we
+had left our horses in another part of this wilderness the day before. We
+heard you greeted by your sentinel, and guessed that you were near your
+burrow. We came no further, but looked around and found a projecting
+rock, under which to lie hidden, and a tree from whose top this place
+could be seen. So we have lodged under the rock, one of us keeping watch
+night and day from the tree. I hoped thus to be able to know when you
+should be taken, so that I might then look to the lady. But no soldiers
+came for you, neither you nor the lady departed from the place, no sign
+came to indicate an attack or a flight. You can imagine, monsieur, how a
+gentleman accustomed to court pleasures and Parisian fare enjoyed the
+kind of life that we have been leading for these several days. Now and
+then one of us would crawl forth to a stream for water, or forage for
+nuts and berries, and we snared a few birds, which we had to eat raw, not
+daring to make a fire. This existence became tiresome. This afternoon
+three of my knaves deserted. What was I to do? It was useless to go back
+to Montignac without having done his work. To stay there awaiting your
+capture or the lady's departure was perhaps to starve. To go any distance
+from this place was to lose sight of the woman, who might leave at any
+time, and we could not know what direction she might take. The enterprise
+had been at best a scurvy one, fit only for a man at the end of his
+resources. In fine, monsieur, when the last of my men threatened to
+follow his comrades, I crawled out of my hole, stretched my aching bones,
+and resolved to let Montignac's business go to the devil. There was no
+chance for me in the service of the French King, therefore I came to
+offer myself as a member of your company. In the Huguenot cause I might
+earn back some of the good things of life. It no longer matters on which
+side I fight. 'Twas the same with Barbemouche. And, inasmuch as I had
+decided to cast in my fortunes with yours, I naturally wished you well.
+Thus it was my own interest I sought to serve, as well as yours, when I
+told you that this woman came here to betray you to La Chatre."
+
+"You told me that," said I, calmly, "for one or both of two
+purposes,--the first, to make me withdraw my protection from the lady, in
+order that she might be at your disposal; the second, to get my
+confidence, in order that you yourself might betray me to La Chatre."
+
+De Berquin laughed. "Am I, then, such a fool as to think that the wary
+Tournoire could be put off his guard by a man? No, no. The governor or
+Montignac was wise in choosing a woman for that delicate task. It is only
+by a Delilah that a Samson can be caught!"
+
+"Monsieur," I said, with ironical admiration, "you are indeed as artful
+in your lies as you are bold. You have constructed a story that every
+circumstance seems to bear out. Yet one circumstance you have forgotten,
+or you are not aware of it. It destroys your whole edifice. The father of
+Mlle. de Varion is now a prisoner, held by the governor's order, on a
+charge of treason for having harbored Huguenots. Would his daughter
+undertake to do the work of a spy and a traitor for that governor against
+a Huguenot? Now for your ingenuity, monsieur!"
+
+"Such things have been known," he answered, not at all discomfited. "His
+daughter may not have her father's weakness for Huguenots, and if she
+bears resentment against the governor on her father's account, her desire
+of the reward may outweigh that resentment. Covetousness is strong in
+women. You would not expect great filial devotion in a hired spy and
+traitress. Moreover, for all I know, this woman may not be Mile, de
+Varion, although Montignac so named her to me. She may have assumed that
+character at his suggestion, in order to get your confidence and
+sympathy, not daring to pretend to be a Huguenot, lest some habitual act
+might betray the deception."
+
+"Enough, M. de Berquin," I said. "I do your wit the credit of admitting
+that so well-wrought a lie was never before told. Only two things prevent
+its being believed. It is to me that you tell it, and it is of Mile, de
+Varion! You complained a while ago of being chilly. Let us now warm
+ourselves!"
+
+And so we went at it. I had no reason now to repeat the trick by which I
+had before disarmed him. Indeed, I wished him to keep sword in hand that
+I might have no scruples about killing him. I never could bring myself to
+give the death thrust to an unarmed man. Yet I was determined that the
+brain whence had sprung so horrible a story against my beloved should
+invent no more, that the lips which had uttered the accusation should not
+speak again. Yet he gave me a hard fight. It was for his life that he now
+wielded sword, and he was not now taken by surprise as he had been in our
+former meetings, or unsteadied by a desire of making a great flourish
+before a lady. He now brought to his use all his training as a fencer. He
+had a strong wrist and a good eye, despite the dissolute life that he had
+led. For some minutes our swords clashed, our boots beat the ground, and
+our lungs panted as we fought in the moonlight. I was anxious to have the
+thing over quickly, lest the noise we made might reach the ears of
+mademoiselle, and perhaps bring her to the scene. I knew that Blaise
+would keep the men away, but he would not presume to restrain
+mademoiselle. I wished, too, to have the thrust made before my antagonist
+should begin to show weakness of body or uncertainty of eye. But he
+maintained a good guard, and also required me to give much time and
+attention to my own defence. Indeed, his point once passed through my
+shirt under my left shoulder, my left arm being then raised. But at last
+I caught him between two ribs as he was coming forward, and it was
+almost as though he had fallen on my sword. I missed his own sword only
+by quickly turning sidewise so that his weapon ran along the front of my
+breast without touching me.
+
+He uttered one shriek, I drew my sword out of his body, and he fell in a
+limp heap. With a convulsive motion he straightened out and was still. I
+turned his body so that his face was towards the sky, and I went back to
+the courtyard, leaving him alone in the moonlight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+"GOD GRANT I DO NOT FIND YOU FALSE!"
+
+
+In the courtyard was mademoiselle, very pale and agitated, standing by
+Blaise and grasping his arm as if for support. She still had on the gown
+of pale green that she had worn earlier in the evening. Her head was
+uncovered, her hair in some disorder, and this, with the pallor of her
+face and the fright in her wide-open eyes, gave her some wildness of
+appearance. It was De Berquin's piercing death-cry that had blanched her
+cheek and made her clutch Blaise's arm.
+
+"You have killed him!" she said, in a voice little above a whisper.
+
+"You ought not to be here, mademoiselle," I replied.
+
+"From my chamber window I saw you talking with M. de Berquin. What he
+said I know not, but you drew your sword and went away with him. I
+waited for a long time in anxiety until I heard the sound of swords. I
+came down, and would have gone to beg you to stop, but when I heard
+that awful shriek I could not go any further. Oh, monsieur, you have
+killed him!"
+
+"He brought it on himself, mademoiselle," was all that I could say.
+
+And here Blaise did what I thought a strange and presumptuous thing.
+He approached mademoiselle, and, looking her keenly in the eyes,
+said, gravely:
+
+"He said that you came from the governor of the province to betray M. de
+la Tournoire!"
+
+"Blaise!" I cried, in great astonishment and anger. "How dare you even
+utter the calumny he spoke? Go you and look to the disposal of his body."
+And I motioned him away with a wrathful gesture.
+
+He looked frowningly at mademoiselle and then at me, and went off, with a
+shrug of his shoulders, to the place where De Berquin lay.
+
+I turned to mademoiselle; she stood like a statue, her eyes fixed on the
+empty air before her. Yet she seemed to know when my look fell on her,
+for at that instant a slight tremor passed through her.
+
+"Tremble not for M. de Berquin, mademoiselle," said I, thinking of that
+divine gentleness in a woman which makes her pity even those who have
+persecuted her. "Indeed, he must have wished to die. He well knew that a
+certain way to death was to tempt my sword with a black lie of the truest
+lady in France."
+
+"You killed him," she murmured, in a low, pitying voice, "because he
+said--I came from the governor--to betray you!"
+
+"Why else, mademoiselle? What is the matter? Why do you look so?"
+
+For all life and consciousness seemed to be about to leave her
+countenance.
+
+"_Mon dieu_!" she said, weakly, "I cannot tell--I--"
+
+I hastened to put my arms about her, that she might not fall.
+
+"You pity him," I said, "but there could be nothing of good in one who
+could so slander you. Indeed, mademoiselle, you are ill. Let me lead you
+in. Believe me, mademoiselle, he well deserved his death."
+
+Thus endeavoring to calm and restore her mind, I led her slowly into the
+château and up the steps to the door of her chamber. She followed as one
+without will and with little strength. Hugo and Jeannotte, who had been
+sitting on the landing outside her door, had risen as we came up the
+stairs. When I took my arms from about mademoiselle, she leaned on the
+maid's shoulder, and so passed into her chamber, giving me neither look
+nor word. Leaving Hugo to keep his vigil outside her door, I went down to
+the great hall of the château.
+
+Several of the men lay on the floor, most of them asleep. I asked one of
+them where Blaise had bestowed the three rascals who had become our
+prisoners, and he rose and led the way to a dark chamber at the rear of
+the hall. He took a torch that was stuck in the wall and followed me into
+this chamber. It was my desire to learn from these men whether or not
+Barbemouche, or one of them, had borne to M. de la Chatre an account of
+my hiding-place; for there had been time for one to have done so and
+returned. It might be that the original plan suggested to the governor by
+Montignac had been altered and that some other step had been adopted for
+my capture. The very visit of De Berquin, the very story he had told me,
+might have been connected with this other step. One of his purposes, in
+trying to make me think myself betrayed, may have been to induce me to
+leave a place so inaccessible to attack. If a new plan had been put in
+operation, these men might know something of it. I would question them
+and then consult with Blaise, comparing the answers they should give me
+with those they had given Blaise.
+
+They lay snoring, their hands fastened behind their backs, their ankles
+so tied that they could not stretch out their legs. The man with me said
+that Blaise, after belaboring them and interrogating them to his heart's
+content, had relented, and brought some cold meat and wine for them. I
+suppose that the gentle spirit of his mother had obtained the
+ascendency. They had devoured the food with the avidity of starving
+dogs, and had lain down, full of gratitude, to sleep. Blaise had then
+bound them up as a precaution against a too unceremonious departure. I
+woke them one after another, with gentle kicks, and they stared up at
+me, blinking in the torchlight. Submissively and readily, though
+drowsily, they answered my questions. They swore that neither
+Barbemouche nor any one of them, nor De Berquin himself, had borne any
+message to the governor; that the five had remained together from the
+first, living under the rock and keeping watch from the tree-top, as De
+Berquin had narrated, until the previous afternoon, when the three had
+deserted, only to fall into the hands of our sentinel. In every detail
+their account agreed with that of their late master. When I accused them
+of telling a prearranged lie, and threatened them with the torture, the
+foppish fellow said:
+
+"What more can a man tell than the truth? But if you're not satisfied
+with it, monsieur, and let me know what you wish me to say, I'll say it
+with all my heart, and swear to it on whatever you name."
+
+From the faces of the others, I knew that they, too, were willing to tell
+anything, true or false, to avoid torture, and so I could not but believe
+their story. Therefore, said I to myself, Montignac's plan not adhered
+to. De Berquin sent no one to the governor with information concerning
+my hiding-place. La Chatre had come to Clochonne without having awaited
+such information. De Berquin had been too slow. Perhaps, indeed, the plan
+had been altered so as to omit the sending of this preliminary word to
+the governor. A fixed time might have been set for the coming of the
+governor to Clochonne. De Berquin had probably retained his men that he
+might have one to use as messenger to the governor, in notifying La
+Chatre where to place his ambuscade, and that he might have others to
+waylay mademoiselle. His lie was doubtless a bold device to put
+mademoiselle into his power, and to get entrance to my company. It was a
+last resource, it was just as likely to bring death as to bring success,
+but he had taken a gambler's chances. They had gone against him, and he
+had uncomplainingly accepted his defeat.
+
+So the governor's presence at Clochonne was not to be taken as reason for
+great alarm, inasmuch as there seemed now no probability that he knew my
+hiding-place. We were still safe at Maury. We should have only to
+maintain greater vigilance. Failing to hear from his agent, who now lay
+dead in the garden at Maury, and could never work us harm, the governor
+would eventually take new measures for my capture, or, if I kept quiet
+and my men left no traces, he would presently suppose that I had gone
+from his province. As for mademoiselle, neither La Chatre nor Montignac
+knew where she was. We might, therefore, have more of those delightful,
+peaceful days at Maury. Moreover, what better time to surprise the
+commandant of the Château of Fleurier than while La Chatre was at
+Clochonne? My heart beat gaily at thought of how bright was the prospect.
+I passed out by a back way to the garden, where Blaise had been looking
+to the body of De Berquin.
+
+My late antagonist lay in peace and order, Blaise having replaced his
+doublet on him and put his sword by his side.
+
+"A handsome gentleman," said Blaise, quietly, looking down at the body.
+
+"But a fool as well as a liar," said I. "How could he think that such a
+story was to be swallowed? To have thrown him into confusion, I should
+have told him that I had overheard the plan for my capture, that I knew
+of an attempt to be made to get me from my men, that mademoiselle has
+never made any such attempt either by tryst or summons or on any pretext
+whatever."
+
+"Neither has De Berquin," answered Blaise, sullenly, "and yet you think
+he was the spy whom the governor sent."
+
+"He had no opportunity," I replied, rather sharply, annoyed at Blaise's
+manner. "He did not dare come here until he had formed a desperate plan
+on which to hazard everything."
+
+"As for mademoiselle's having had the opportunity and yet not having
+done so," Blaise went on, with a kind of doggedness, "the spy was not to
+plan the ambush until the governor should arrive at Clochonne."
+
+"By God!" I cried. "Do you dare hint that you credit this villain's lie
+for a moment?" In my exasperation I half drew my sword.
+
+"I credit nothing and discredit nothing," he said, in a low but stubborn
+tone, "but I place no one above doubt, except God and you. I have had my
+thoughts, monsieur, and have them still. It is enough, as yet, to keep
+all eyes open and turned in many directions."
+
+"You cur! You dare to suspect--" Without finishing the sentence, I struck
+him across the face with the back of my hand.
+
+He drew a deep breath, but made no movement.
+
+"I shall not trouble myself to suspect," he went on, with no change of
+tone, "until we know that M. de la Chatre is at Clochonne,--"
+
+"We know that already," I broke in, hotly. "Marianne brought the news
+this afternoon."
+
+"Until we know that mademoiselle knows it," he went on.
+
+"We know that, too," I said. "She heard Marianne tell me."
+
+"Until her other servant happens to be missing, and some occasion arises
+through her for your going somewhere without your men. For example, if
+she should go for a walk in the forest with her maid, and presently the
+maid should return with word that mademoiselle lay mortally hurt
+somewhere--"
+
+"I would go to her at once!" I cried, involuntarily.
+
+"So mademoiselle would suppose. You would not wait for your men to arm
+and accompany you. You would hasten to the place, without precaution,
+never thinking that mademoiselle's servant might have carried word to La
+Chatre, a day before, to have men waiting for you. Kill me if you like,
+monsieur! I cannot avoid my thoughts. They are at your service as my hand
+and sword are. I may be all wrong, but one cannot fathom women. You used
+to speak of a lady of Catherine de Medici's--"
+
+Ah, considered I, it is the thought of Mlle. d'Arency's deed that has
+awakened these foolish suspicions in Blaise's mind! I had given him some
+account of how that lady had, by a love tryst, drawn poor De Noyard to
+his death. He was incapable of discriminating between women. He could not
+see that Mlle. de Varion was of a kind of woman as unlike the court
+intriguer as if the two belonged to different species of beings. Ought
+one to expect delicacy of perception from a common soldier? His
+suspiciousness arose partly from his devotion to me. So, much as I
+adored mademoiselle and held her sacred and above the slightest breath of
+accusation, I regretted the blow I had given him, and which he had
+received so meekly.
+
+"I see, Blaise, what is in your head," I said, "but there are matters of
+which you cannot judge. No more of this talk, therefore. And I require of
+you the greatest respect and devotion to mademoiselle."
+
+"Very well, monsieur," he said, "Let me say but this: You remember my
+forebodings the last time we rode through the province. Because we came
+back alive, you thought there was nothing in them. Perhaps there was
+nothing. Only I have been thinking that out of that last journey may yet
+come our destruction. My premonition may have been right, after all."
+
+I smiled and walked back to the courtyard and sat down on the bench, no
+longer angry at either De Berquin or Blaise, and calm in the thought that
+there seemed no immediate danger. If I could but communicate my sense of
+security to mademoiselle! If I might see a smile on her face, if the look
+of yielding would but come back there and remain! Surely her scruples
+would pass when I should bring her father to her. What imaginary barrier
+could stand before the combined forces of love and gratitude? The rescue
+of her father must not be longer deferred. I must form my plan
+immediately. Yet I continued to waste time thinking of the future, of
+the day when she should acknowledge herself mine. I took off my hat and
+removed from it the glove that she had given me. It was like a part of
+her; it was fashioned by use to the very form of her hand. I pressed it
+to my lips and then looked up at the window of her chamber.
+
+"Ah, Mlle. Julie," I said, "I know that you love me. You will be
+mine; something in the moonlight, in the murmurs of the trees, in the
+song of the nightingale, tells me so. How beautiful is the world! I
+am too happy!"
+
+I heard rapid footsteps from outside the gate, and presently one of my
+men ran into the courtyard from the forest. It was Frojac, who had been
+all day in Clochonne in search of information. Seeing me, he stopped and
+stood still, out of breath from his run.
+
+At the same moment Blaise came from the garden and stood beside the
+bench, curious to hear Frojac's news.
+
+"Ah, Frojac!" said I. "From Clochonne? I know your news already. M. de la
+Chatre is there."
+
+And I motioned to him to speak quietly, lest his news, which might
+be alarming, should reach the ears of mademoiselle through her
+chamber window.
+
+"I had a talk with one of his men," said Frojac, "an old comrade of mine,
+who did not guess that I was of your troop. I told him that I had given
+up righting and settled down as a poacher. He says that it is well known
+to the governor's soldiers that the governor has come south to catch you.
+He declares that the governor knows the exact location of your
+hiding-place."
+
+"Soldiers' gabble," said I.
+
+"But my old comrade is no fool," went on Frojac. "I pretended to laugh at
+him for thinking that any one could find out the burrow of La Tournoire,
+and as we were drinking he got angry and swore that he spoke truly. He
+said that the governor had got word of your hiding-place from a boy. If
+you knew my comrade, monsieur, you would know that what he says is to be
+heeded. He is one who talks little, but keeps his ears and eyes open."
+
+"Word from a boy?" I repeated, rather to myself. "Could De Berquin have
+found some peasant boy and despatched him to the governor?"
+
+"My comrade says that the boy was sent by a woman," said Frojac.
+
+"A woman!" I cried. "If it be true, then, malediction on her! Some
+covetous, spying wife of a farmer has found us out, perchance!"
+
+"Perchance, monsieur! But, all the same, I and Maugert, who was on guard
+yonder by the path, took the liberty just now of stopping the boy of
+mademoiselle, your guest, as he was riding off. In advance of him rode a
+woman. I had just come up the path and had stopped for a word with
+Maugert. Suddenly the woman dashed by and was gone in an instant. Neither
+of us had time to make up our minds whether to stop her or not, for she
+came from this place, not towards it. By the time when we had decided
+that we ought to have detained her, she was out of hearing. But then came
+a second horse, and that we stopped. The rider was the boy Hugo."
+
+"An unknown woman departing from our very camp!" I said, rising. "The
+gypsy girl!" But at that instant the gypsy girl, Giralda, came in through
+the gateway with an armful of herbs that she had been gathering just
+outside the walls. She often plucked herbs after dark, as there are some
+whose potency is believed to be the greater for their being uprooted at
+night. "Ah, no, no, no!" I cried, repenting my unjust suspicion. "A woman
+hidden at Maury! She shall be followed and caught and treated like any
+cur of a papegot spy, man or woman!" I was wild with rage to think that
+our hiding-place might really have been discovered, my guards eluded, the
+presence of mademoiselle perhaps reported to Montignac, her safety and
+ours put in immediate peril, by some one who had contrived to find
+concealment under our very eyes! "And the boy Hugo riding off by night!"
+I added. "Had this woman corrupted him, I wonder? Was it through him
+that she obtained entrance and concealment? Where is he?"
+
+I could at that moment have believed the most incredible things, even
+that a woman had hidden herself in one of the ruined outbuildings; for
+what could have been more incredible than Frojac's account of an unknown
+woman riding from the château at the utmost speed?
+
+"Maugert is bringing him to you," said Frojac. "I ran ahead to apprise
+you of what had occurred."
+
+"These are astounding things," I said, turning to Blaise. "Who can tell
+now how much the governor knows or what he may intend? We may be attacked
+at any time. And half our men away! Perhaps the governor knows that, too.
+If not, this woman may tell him. We shall have to flee at once across the
+mountains. Mademoiselle is now well enough to endure the journey. I must
+tell her to make ready for flight."
+
+I looked up at mademoiselle's window, and took a step towards it; but at
+that moment Maugert came into the courtyard, leading Hugo, whom he held
+by the arm with a grip of iron. The horse had been left outside.
+
+"My boy, what is this?" I cried, not hiding my anger. "You would ride
+away secretly, and without permission of your mistress?"
+
+"It was my duty, when I followed to protect her," the boy said. "Mlle.
+de Varion was mad, I think, to go alone at this hour."
+
+"Mademoiselle?" I echoed, in great mystification. "Alone? Whither?"
+
+"To Clochonne, to M. de la Chatre," was the reply.
+
+It took away from me for a moment the very power of speech. I stared at
+the boy in dumb amazement.
+
+"Clochonne! La Chatre! Mademoiselle!" I murmured, questioningly, my
+faculty of comprehension being for the instant dazed. "How do you
+know, boy?"
+
+"She said so when she left this courtyard to take horse," the boy
+replied. "When I asked her whither she was bound, she said to Clochonne
+to see M. de la Chatre, and she spoke of some mission, but I could not
+hear the words exactly, for she was in great excitement. She then made
+off, declaring she would go alone, but it was my duty, nevertheless, to
+follow and guard her."
+
+"Mademoiselle gone to Clochonne, to La Chatre," I repeated, as one
+in a dream.
+
+At that instant there came again from somewhere in the château the voice
+of the gypsy in the song.
+
+"False flame of woman's love!"
+
+"The devil!" muttered Blaise. "Was De Berquin right?" And he ran into
+the château.
+
+"The woman who told our hiding-place!" said Frojac.
+
+Could it be? Was she another Mademoiselle d'Arency? Had she thought that,
+after De Berquin's accusation, any attempt on her part to draw me from my
+men would convict her in my eyes; that indeed I might come at any moment
+to believe in the treachery of which he had warned me? Had this thought
+driven her to Clochonne, where she might be safe from my avenging wrath,
+where also she might advise the governor to attack me at once? She had
+spoken to the boy of a mission. There had, then, been a mission, and it
+had to do with herself and the governor! As this horrible idea filled my
+mind, I felt a kind of sinking, and as if the very earth trembled beneath
+me. But then I thought of mademoiselle's sweet face, and I hurled the
+dark thought from me, amazed that I could have held it for an instant.
+
+"It is not true!" I cried, loudly. "By God, it is not true! I'll not
+believe it! She has not gone! She is in her chamber yonder!" And I went
+and stood beneath her window. "Mademoiselle! Come to the window! Tell us
+that the boy lies or is deluded! Mademoiselle, I say!"
+
+But no face appeared at the window--that window up to which I had looked
+a few moments before while I sat on the bench, thinking that my love was
+behind it.
+
+And now Blaise came running out of the château. He stopped on the steps.
+
+"She is not there," he said. "I found only the maid, wailing out prayers
+to a Catholic saint!"
+
+So she was really gone--gone! She must have left while I was
+interrogating De Berquin's three henchmen in their cell or while I had
+stood with Blaise in the garden, reproving him for his suspicions of her.
+
+"And because he assailed her loyalty I killed that man!" I said aloud,
+forgetful, for the time, of the presence of Blaise and Frojac, Maugert,
+Hugo, and the gypsy girl. All these stood in silence, not knowing what to
+do or say, awaiting some order or sign from me.
+
+"She is a woman, monsieur!" said Blaise, gently, as if he thought to
+please me by offering some excuse for her conduct, or for my having been
+so deceived in her.
+
+And then again I saw her pure, pale face, her full, moist eyes, her
+slender, girlish figure. Let the evidence be what it might, it was
+impossible for me to see her in my mind and conceive her to be
+treacherous. There must be some other thing accounting for all these
+strange circumstances. She could not be a spy, a hired traitress! A
+glad thought came to me. She might have thought that her presence added
+to my danger, that I would refuse to leave Maury while she continued
+weak, that I might thus through her be caught, that her departure
+would leave me no reason for further delay. It was a wild thought, but
+it was within possibility, so I took it in and clung to it. At such a
+time how does a man welcome the least surmise that agrees with his
+wishes or checks his fears!
+
+"She is a woman, monsieur!" Blaise had said, even while this thought
+burst upon me.
+
+"So much the worse for any man that dare accuse her!" I cried. "She is
+the victim of some devilish seeming! My armor, Maugert! Frojac, to horse!
+You and I ride at once! Blaise, marshal the men, and follow when you can,
+by the forest path!"
+
+"Ah!" cried Blaise, overjoyed. "To Guienne, to join Henri of Navarre?"
+
+"No!" I answered. "To Clochonne, to join mademoiselle!"
+
+Maugert obediently and hastily brought me my breast-piece, and began to
+adjust it to my body. I already had my sword. Frojac had started for the
+stables, but at my answer to Blaise he stopped and looked at me in
+astonishment.
+
+It was thus with me: Mademoiselle had gone. The presence that had made
+Maury a paradise to me was no longer there. The place was now
+intolerable. I could not exist away from mademoiselle. Where she was
+not, life to me was torture. Guilty or innocent, she gave the world all
+the charm it had for me. Traitress or true, she drew me to her. If she
+were innocent, she imperilled herself. In any event, if she went to
+Clochonne she put herself in the power of Montignac. The thought of
+that was maddening to me. I must find her, whatever the risk. Perhaps I
+could catch her before she reached Clochonne. If I ran into danger, I
+should presently have Blaise and the men to help me out; but I could
+not wait for them to arm. Every minute of delay was galling. Into what
+might she fall? Whatever she be, good or bad, angel or fiend, I must
+see her--see her!
+
+Blaise stood looking at me with open mouth.
+
+"She will prove her honesty, my life upon it!" I said.
+
+"You are mad!" cried Blaise. "She will reach the château of Clochonne
+long before you do!"
+
+"Then I shall enter the château!" I answered, helping Maugert buckle
+on my armor.
+
+"And meet the governor and garrison!" said Blaise.
+
+"They will rejoice to see me!"
+
+"'Tis rushing into the lion's den, monsieur!" put in Frojac.
+
+"Let the lion look to himself," said I, standing forth at last, all armed
+and ready.
+
+Frojac ran to get the horses.
+
+"They would not let you see her!" cried Blaise, stubbornly standing in
+my way. "You would go straight to death for nothing! My captain, you
+shall not!"
+
+And, as I started towards the stables to mount, he lay hands on me to
+hold me back, and Maugert, too, caught me by one of the arms.
+
+"Out of my way, rebels!" I cried, vehemently, struggling to free myself
+from them. "I shall see her to-night though I have to beat down every
+sword in France and force the very gates of hell!"
+
+I threw them both from me so violently that neither dared touch me again.
+As I stepped forward I saw on the ground at my feet the glove that
+mademoiselle had given me, and which I had been caressing while sitting
+alone in the courtyard. I must have dropped it on hearing Frojac's news.
+I now stopped and picked it up. 'Twas all that was left with me of
+mademoiselle. She had worn it, it had the form of her hand. I held it in
+my fingers and looked at it. Again came the song of the gypsy:
+
+"False flame of woman's love!"
+
+I pressed the glove again and again to my lips, tears gushed from
+my eyes, and I murmured: "Ah, mademoiselle, God grant I do not find
+you false!"
+
+Five minutes later, Frojac and I were speeding our horses over the forest
+path towards Clochonne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+TO CLOCHONNE, AFTER MADEMOISELLE
+
+
+On through the forest, on over the narrow path, the horse seeming to feel
+my own impatience, his hoofs crushing the fallen twigs and the vegetation
+that lay in the way, the branches of the trees striking me in forehead
+and eyes, my heart on fire, my mind a turmoil, on to learn the truth, on
+to see her! The moon was now overhead, and here and there it lighted up
+the path. Close behind me came Frojac. I heard the footfalls and the
+breathing of his horse.
+
+Would we come up to her before she reached Clochonne? This depended on
+the length of start she had. She would lose some time, perhaps, through
+being less familiar with the road than we were, yet wherever the road lay
+straight before her she would force her horse to its utmost, guessing
+that her departure would be discovered and herself pursued.
+
+My mind inclined this way and that as I rode. Now I saw how strong was
+the evidence against her, yet I refused to be convinced by it before I
+should hear what she might have to say. Now I conjured up her image
+before me, and then all the evidence was naught. It was impossible that
+this face, of all faces in the world, could have been a mask to conceal
+falsehood and treachery, that this voice could have lied in its sweet and
+sorrowful tones, that her appearance of grief could have been but a
+pretence, that her seemingly unconscious signs of love could have been
+simulation!
+
+Yet had not the gypsy sung of the false flame of woman's love? It is
+true, she had bade me heed these words. Would she have done so had her
+own appearance of love been false? Perhaps it was this very thought, the
+very improbability of a false woman's warning a man against woman's
+treachery, that had made her do so, that I might the less readily on
+occasion believe her false. Who can tell the resources and devices of a
+subtle woman?
+
+What? Was I doubting her? Was I believing the story? Was I, with my
+closer knowledge of her, with my experience of the freaks of
+circumstance, with my perception of her heart, to accept the first
+apparent deduction from the few facts at hand, as blind, unthinking,
+undiscriminating soldiers, Blaise and Frojac, had done? Did I not know of
+what kind of woman she was? She was no Mlle. d'Arency.
+
+Yet, who knows but that poor De Noyard had believed Mlle. d'Arency true?
+Might he not, with the eyes of love, have seen in her as pure and
+spotless a creature as I had seen in Mile, de Varion? Do the eyes of
+love, then, deceive? Is the confidence of lovers never to be relied on?
+
+But I must have read her heart aright. Surely her heart had spoken to
+mine. Surely its voice was that of truth. Surely I knew her. Were not her
+eyes to be believed. Were not truth, goodness, gentleness, love, written
+on her face?
+
+Yet, how went the gypsy's song,--the one we had heard him sing at
+Godeau's inn, by the forest road?
+
+"But, ah, the sadness of the day
+When woman shows her treason!
+And, oh, the price we have to pay
+For joys that have their season!
+Her look of love is but a mask
+For plots that she is weaving.
+Alas, for those who fondly bask
+In smiles that are deceiving!"
+
+Might this, then, be true of any woman? So many men had found it out. The
+eyes of so many had been opened at last. Was I still a fool, had I
+learned so little of women, had my experience with Mile. d'Arency taught
+me only to beware of women outwardly like her, did I need a separate
+lesson for each different woman on whom I might set my heart? Was it my
+peculiar lot to be twice deceived in the same way?
+
+And yet, how her eyes had moistened in dwelling on mine, how they had
+dropped before my look, how she had yielded to my embrace, how she had
+stood still and unresisting in my arms! No, no, they were wrong! De
+Berquin had lied, Blaise and Frojac were stolid fools, capable of making
+only the most obvious inference, and I was a contemptible wretch to
+falter in my faith in her for an instant! She was the victim of a set of
+circumstances. She had reason for her hasty departure, she would make all
+clear in a few words. On, on, my horse, that I may hear those words, that
+my heart may rejoice! How soon shall we come up to her? How far ahead is
+she? How near to Clochonne? On! She is true, I know it. On! It may be
+even for my sake that she is endangering herself. On, that I may be at
+her side to shield her! On, for of late I have passed all the hours of
+the day with her, all the nights near her, her presence has been the
+breath of life to me, it is a new and unwonted and intolerable thing to
+be away from her, and I madly thirst and hunger for the sight of her! On,
+good horse!
+
+Yet, torturing thought, how the story explained all that had seemed
+strange! How it fitted so many facts! At the inn at Fleurier we had
+overheard the plan suggested by Montignac for my capture, the employment
+of a spy who was to find my hiding place, send word of it, then plan an
+ambush for me. Then the lady had come to the inn. Perhaps she was one
+who had already some kind of relations with the governor and had now come
+purposely to meet him. What had passed between her and the governor we
+had not overheard. It might easily have been the proposal by him, and the
+acceptance by her, of the mission against me. Such a task might better be
+entrusted to a woman. Catherine herself had employed women to entrap men
+who would have been on their guard against men. Certain Huguenot
+gentlemen had been especially susceptible to the charms of her
+accomplished decoys. Then the governor and his secretary had gone, and
+the latter had reappeared with De Berquin. It might really be that this
+woman, whether she were Mlle. de Varion, or whether she merely took that
+name in order to get my confidence without having to make the risky
+pretence of being a Protestant, was desired by Montignac and yet disliked
+him, and that De Berquin had been hired indeed to hold her forcibly for
+the secretary after she had accomplished her mission. But her ingenuous
+signs of a tender feeling for me? A device to blind me and win my trust,
+and so, through me, get the confidence of my supposed friend, La
+Tournoire. Her grief on the journey? Mere pretence, in order to bear out
+her story and enlist my sympathy. Her periods of silence and meditation?
+She was thinking out the details of her plot. Her questions about La
+Tournoire? A means of learning what manner of man she would have to deal
+with, and of finding out his hiding-place at a time when it would be
+easiest to despatch her boy with a description of it to the governor. Her
+desire to know how great was my friendship for La Tournoire? This arose
+perhaps from a thought that I might be won over to her purpose, perhaps
+from a fear that I might some day avenge his betrayal. The barrier that,
+she said, lay between us? A pretext to get rid of me as soon as I might
+be, not only useless to her, but also in the way of her designs against
+La Tournoire. Her strange agitation? A mask to cover the real excitement
+that one in her position must have felt. Her aspect of horror at the
+disclosure that I was La Tournoire? This may have been real, coming from
+a fear that she might have betrayed herself by the curiosity she had
+shown about me, that the eyes of La Tournoire must be keener than those
+of the light-hearted man she had taken me to be, that I had dissembled to
+her as well as to De Berquin, that I had been playing with her from the
+first. After she knew me to be La Tournoire, and was assured that I did
+not suspect her, she no more spoke of my going from her. What was her
+weakness of body at Maury but a pretext for delay, that the governor
+might have time to come to Clochonne and the project of the ambush be
+carried out? She had forged chains of love to hold me where she was. Her
+coyness but kept those chains the stronger, her postponement of the
+surrender made it the more impossible for me to leave her side. Who can
+go from the woman he loves while his fate is uncertain? If she had made
+no show of love, I could have left her. If she had confessed her love in
+words, and promised to be my own, I could have endured to leave her for a
+time. How well she knew men! How well she had maintained just that
+appearance which kept my thoughts on her night and day, which made me
+unwilling to lose sight of her, and which would have made me instantly
+responsive to any summons that she might have sent me from any part of
+the forest!
+
+So, then, there were two sides, two appearances, to this woman. The one,
+the good side, that which I had seen, that which had been the joy of my
+life, was not real, was but a seeming, had no existence but in pretence.
+The other, the wicked side, was the real one, was the actual woman. I had
+never known her. What I had known was but an assumption; it had no being.
+Was this credible? Could a bad woman so delude one with an angelic
+pretence, so conceal her wicked self? If so, to what depths of vileness
+might she not be capable of descending? Was it, then, not that I had lost
+my beloved, but that she had never existed? At thought of it, I felt a
+sickness within, a weakness, a choking, a giving way. And then her image
+came before me again, as she had stood in the moonlit garden, and my
+beloved was born again. The woman I had known was the real one. I had
+done her incredible wrong to have thought otherwise. But whether good or
+bad, whether or not my betrayer, I loved her; I longed for her; I would
+see her face; I would clasp her in my arms; I would claim her as my own;
+I would hold her against her own will and the world's. On, my horse, on!
+Where is she now, what has befallen her, how soon shall my heart bound at
+sight of her before me in the night? On! Whether she lead me to heaven or
+to hell, I must be with her; I cannot wait!
+
+Presently we came to the abode of Godeau and Marianne, where the forest
+path runs into the old road across the mountains. We had to check our
+speed here, on account of the thick growth of vegetation that served to
+mask the forest path from travellers on the road. We emerged from this,
+and turned the heads of our horses towards Clochonne.
+
+The door of the inn opened, and Marianne came forth. She had been
+watching.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "I did not know whether to come to you or
+not. I have been keeping my eyes and ears open for any of the
+governor's troops."
+
+"But you have seen or heard none," I answered, impatiently.
+
+"None, monsieur. But some one has ridden by, towards
+Clochonne--the lady!"
+
+I knew from her tone that she saw in Mademoiselle's flight alone
+sufficient reason for suspicion of mademoiselle and for alarm on my own
+part. She, too, thought mademoiselle guilty, myself duped. I first
+thought to pretend that mademoiselle's departure was a thing agreed on by
+her and me, but it was no time to value the opinion of a peasant.
+
+"On, Frojac!" I said, and on we went. We could make better speed now, for
+the road, though little used and in bad condition, was continuous and,
+unlike the forest path, comparatively free of intrusive vegetation. It
+was hard, too, for the weather had been dry for a long time. The loud
+clatter of the horses' hoofs was some relief to my eager heart.
+
+There is a place where this road passes near the verge of a precipice,
+which, like that at Maury, falls sheer to the road along the River Creuse
+from Clochonne to Narjec. But, unlike that at Maury, this declivity is
+bare of trees.
+
+We were galloping steadily on and were approaching this place in the
+road. Frojac was now riding at my side, as there was room for two
+horsemen to go abreast.
+
+"Hark!" said Frojac, suddenly. "Do you hear something?"
+
+I heard the sounds made by our riding, but no other.
+
+"Horsemen," he went on. "And men afoot, on the march!"
+
+"Where?" I asked. We continued to gallop forward.
+
+"Ahead," he answered. "Don't you hear, monsieur?"
+
+I listened. Yes, there was the far-off sound of many shod feet striking
+hard earth.
+
+"It is ahead," said I.
+
+"A body of troops," said Frojac.
+
+"Then we may catch up with them."
+
+"Or meet them. Perhaps they are coming this way."
+
+"Troops on a night march!" said I.
+
+Frojac looked at me. I saw written on his face the same thought that he
+saw on mine.
+
+"Whose else could they be?" he said. "And for what other purpose?"
+
+Had Monsieur de la Chatre, then, chosen this night for a surprise and
+attack on me at Maury? If he knew my hiding-place, why should he not have
+done so? The idea of the ambush, then, had been abandoned? Perhaps,
+indeed, the plan that I had overheard Montignac outline to La Chatre had
+been greatly modified. Had mademoiselle, if she were in truth the
+governor's agent, known of this night attack, if it were in truth a night
+attack against me? Had she fled in order to avoid the shame or the danger
+of being present at my capture? These and many other questions rushed
+through my mind.
+
+"What shall we do?" asked Frojac, after a time.
+
+"Go on," said I.
+
+"But if we meet them, and they are La Chatre's men, I fear that our
+chances of catching up with the lady will be small."
+
+"But, after all, we do not know who they are. If they are coming this
+way, they must have met her by this time. Perhaps they have stopped her?
+Who knows? I must follow her."
+
+"But now it seems that the sound comes more from the north. They are
+certainly coming nearer. They may be on the river road. We can see by
+going to the edge of the precipice and looking down."
+
+"We should lose time."
+
+"'Tis but a little way out of the road. This is where the road is nearest
+to the edge."
+
+It might, indeed, be to my advantage to learn at once whether the troops
+were in the road in front of us or in the road at the foot of the
+mountain. So I fought down my impatience, and we turned from the road
+towards the precipice. There was little underbrush here to hinder us,
+and in a very short time we reined in our horses and looked down on the
+vast stretch of moonlit country below.
+
+At the very foot of the steep was the road that runs from Clochonne to
+Narjec. And there, moving from the former towards the latter, went a
+troop of horsemen, followed by a foot company of arquebusiers. They
+trailed along, like a huge dark worm on the yellow way, following the
+turns of the road. Seen from above, their figures were shortened and
+looked squat.
+
+I looked among the horsemen.
+
+"I cannot see La Chatre," said I.
+
+"But some of these are his men," said Frojac, "for I see my old comrade.
+He knew nothing today of this march. I see most of the men of the
+Clochonne garrison. I wonder what use they expect to make of their horses
+if they intend to approach Maury from the river road."
+
+I recalled now the exact words in which I had indicated to mademoiselle
+the location of my hiding-place. I had said that it might be reached by
+turning up the wooded hill from the river road, at the rock shaped like a
+throne. Was it, indeed, in accordance with directions communicated to La
+Chatre by her that they were now proceeding?
+
+"If they are bound for Maury," said I, "they have hit on a good time.
+Blaise and the men will have left there long before they arrive. Come,
+Frojac, we lose precious minutes!"
+
+"One thing is good, monsieur," said Frojac, as our horses resumed their
+gallop towards Clochonne. "If we do have to follow the lady all the way
+to Clochonne, we shall not find many soldiers there when we arrive.
+Nearly all of La Chatre's men and the garrison troops are down there on
+the river road, marching further from Clochonne every minute."
+
+Alas, it was not then of troops to be encountered that I thought! It was
+of what disclosure might be awaiting me concerning mademoiselle. Would
+she admit her guilt or demonstrate her innocence? Would she prove to be
+that other woman, or the one I had known? Would she laugh or weep, be
+brazen or overwhelmed? How would she face me? That was my only thought.
+Let me dare death a thousand times over, only to know the truth,--nay,
+only to see her again!
+
+So we sped forward on the road, which, by its length and its windings,
+makes a gradual descent of the northern slope of the wooded ridge. At
+last we came to the foot of the steep, emerged from the forest, turned
+northward, and then saw before us, a little to the right, the sleeping
+town of Clochonne. At the further end of that, on an eminence commanding
+the river, stood the château, looking inaccessible and impregnable.
+
+I thought of the day when I had first seen the château, the day when we
+had come over the mountains from the south, and Frojac had pointed out to
+me where it stood in the distance. That was before I had met mademoiselle
+or knew that she was in the world. Little had I thought that ever I
+should be hastening madly towards that château in the night on such an
+errand or in such turmoil of heart!
+
+We came to the point where the road by which we had come converges with
+two others. One of these, joining from the right, also comes from the
+south, and is, in fact, the new road across the mountains. The other,
+joining from the left, is the road from Narjec, the one which runs along
+the river and the base of the hills. It is this one which passes the
+throne-shaped rock beneath Maury, and on which we had seen the troops.
+Had we, coming from the mountains, reached this spot before the troops
+coming from Clochonne reached it, we should have met them; but they had
+passed this spot long before we had seen them from the height.
+
+Blaise and the men, whom I had ordered to follow me, would nave left
+Maury soon after I had. Certainly they would not be there when the
+governor's troops should arrive. Coming by the road that I had used,
+Blaise would not meet the governor's men on their way to Maury. But the
+road by the river was much the shorter. The governor's men, on
+discovering Maury deserted, might return immediately to Clochonne. They
+might reach this spot before Blaise's men did, or about the same time.
+Then there would be fighting.
+
+These thoughts came into my mind at sight of the converging roads, not as
+matters of concern to me, but as mere casual observations. There was
+matter of greater moment to claim my anxiety. As to what might be the end
+of this night, as to what might occur after my meeting with mademoiselle,
+as to what might befall Blaise and my men, I had no thought.
+
+And now, turning slightly northeastward, the road lay straight before us,
+between the town wall and the river, up an incline, to the gate of the
+château. This gate opens directly from the courtyard of the château to
+the road outside the town wall. The château has a gate elsewhere, which
+opens to the town, within the town wall.
+
+The road ascended straight before us, I say, and on that road, making for
+the château gate, was a horse, and on the horse a woman. She leaned
+forward, urging the horse on. Over her shoulders was a mantle, a small
+cap was on her head. Her hair streamed out behind her as she rode. My
+heart gave a great bound.
+
+"Look, Frojac! It is she!"
+
+"We cannot catch her. She is too near the château."
+
+"She will be detained at the gate."
+
+"If she is the governor's agent, she will know what word to give the
+guards. They will have orders to admit her, day or night. One who goes on
+such business may be expected at any hour."
+
+The manner of her reception at the gate, then, would disclose the truth.
+If she were admitted without parley, it would be evident that she was in
+the governor's service. My heart sank. Those who ride so fast towards
+closed gates, at such an hour, expect the gates to let them in.
+
+"Mademoiselle!" I called.
+
+But my voice was hoarse. I had no command over it. I could not give it
+volume. She made no sign. It was evident that she had not heard it. She
+did not seem to know that she was pursued. She did not look back. Was she
+so absorbed in her own thoughts, in her desire to reach her destination,
+that she was conscious of nothing else?
+
+Frojac was right. She was already too near the château for us to overtake
+her before she arrived at the gate. We could but force our panting horses
+to their best, and keep our eyes on her. The moon was now in the west,
+and there was no object on the western side of the road to make a shadow.
+So we did not once lose sight of her. She approached the château gate
+without diminution of speed; it looked as if she heeded it not, or
+expected the horse to leap it.
+
+"Even if they do admit her promptly," said I, "it will take a little time
+to lower the bridge over the ditch. We may then come up to her."
+
+"Can you not see?" said Frojac. "The bridge is already down."
+
+So it was. The troops had, doubtless, departed by this gate; the bridge,
+let down for their departure, was still down, doubtless for their return.
+The guards left at the château were, certainly, on the alert for this
+return. In the event of any hostile force appearing in the meantime, they
+could raise the bridge; but such an event was most unlikely. The only
+hostile force in the vicinity was my own company. It is thus that I
+accounted for the fact that the bridge was down.
+
+Right up to the gate she rode, the horse coming to a quick stop on the
+bridge at the moment when it looked as if he were about to dash his head
+against the gate.
+
+With straining ears I listened, as I rode on towards her.
+
+She called out. I could hear her voice, but could not make out her
+words. For some time she sat on her horse waiting, watching the gate
+before her. I was surprised that she did not hear the clatter of our
+horses and look around. Then she called again. I heard an answer from
+the other side of the gate, and then the way was opened. She rode at
+once into the courtyard.
+
+We pressed on, Frojac and I, myself knowing not what was to come, he
+content to follow me and face whatever might arise. The immediate thing
+was to reach the château, as mademoiselle had done. Some means must be
+found for getting entrance, for now that mademoiselle was inside, I
+looked to see the gate fall into place at once.
+
+But we beheld the unexpected. The gate remained open. No guard appeared
+in the opening. We galloped up the hill, over the bridge, into the
+courtyard. Nothing hindered us. What did it mean?
+
+We stopped our horses and dismounted. There in the courtyard stood
+mademoiselle's horse, trembling and panting, but mademoiselle herself had
+disappeared. Before us was an open door, doubtless the principal entrance
+to the château. Mademoiselle had probably gone that way.
+
+"Come, Frojac!" said I, and started for this door.
+
+But at that instant we heard rough exclamations and hasty steps behind
+us. We turned and drew sword. From the guard-house by the gate, where
+they must have been gambling or drinking or sleeping, or otherwise
+neglecting their duty, came four men, who seemed utterly astonished at
+sight of us.
+
+"Name of the Virgin!" cried one. "The gate open! Where is Lavigue? He has
+left his post! Who are you?"
+
+"Enemies! Down with La Chatre!" I answered, seeing in a flash that an
+attempt to fool them might be vain and would take time. A quick fight was
+the thing to serve me best, for these men had been taken by surprise, and
+two of them had only halberds, one had a sword, the fourth had an
+arquebus but his match was out.
+
+It was the man with the sword who had spoken. He it was who now
+spoke again:
+
+"Enemies? Prisoners, then! Yield!"
+
+And he rushed up to us, accompanied by the halberdiers, while the
+arquebusier ran to light his match at a torch in the guard-house.
+
+Never was anything so expeditiously done. The leader knew nothing of fine
+sword work. I had my point through his lungs before the halberdiers came
+up. While I was pulling it out, one of the halberdiers aimed a blow at
+me, and the other threatened Frojac. My follower dodged the thrust meant
+for him, and at the same instant laid low, with a wound in the side, the
+fellow who was aiming at me. Thus one of the halberdiers followed the
+swordsman to earth instantly. The second halberdier recovered himself,
+and made to attack Frojac again, but I caught his weapon in my left hand,
+and so held it, while Frojac ran towards the arquebusier, who was now
+coming from the guard-house with lighted match. The halberdier, whose
+weapon I now grasped in one hand, while I held my sword in the other,
+took fright, let his weapon go, and ran from the courtyard through the
+open gateway. The arquebusier tried to bring his weapon to bear on
+Frojac, but Frojac dropped on his knees and, thrusting from below, ran
+his sword into the man's belly. The man fell with a groan, dropping his
+weapon and his match.
+
+I looked around. The courtyard was empty. Were these four, then, the only
+soldiers that had been left to guard the château? No, for these four had
+been surprised to find the gate open. Some one else must have opened the
+gate for mademoiselle. Moreover, the swordsman had spoken of a Lavigue.
+"Take the arquebus and the match, Frojac," said I, "and come. There is
+nothing to be done here at present."
+
+He obeyed me, and we returned to the door of the château. Just as we were
+about to enter, I heard steps as of one coming down a staircase within.
+Then a man came out. He was a common soldier and he carried a halberd. At
+sight of us he stopped, and stood in the greatest astonishment. Then he
+looked towards the gate. His expression became one of the utmost
+consternation.
+
+A thought came to me. I recalled what the swordsman said.
+
+"You are Lavigue?" said I to the soldier.
+
+"Yes," he said, bewildered.
+
+"You were on duty at that gate, but you left your post."
+
+"Yes, but--"
+
+"But you first opened the gate for a lady."
+
+"It was not I, monsieur," he answered, as if anxious to exonerate
+himself, although he knew not to whom he was talking. "It was my comrade.
+He said he knew the woman, and that the governor would wish her instantly
+admitted, and he opened the gate. When she came in, I would have had her
+wait at the gate till M. de la Chatre had been informed, but she ran into
+the château, and my comrade with her. There must be something wrong, I
+thought, if my comrade would leave his post to go in with the lady. So I
+ran after them to get her to come back. It was my thought of my duty that
+made me forget the gate. Indeed it was so, monsieur."
+
+He evidently thought that we were friends of the governor's who had
+happened to arrive at the château at this hour.
+
+So he, at least, had not received orders to admit mademoiselle. Joyful
+hope! Perhaps there had been no understanding between her and the
+governor, after all! But his comrade had let her in, had said that the
+governor would wish the gate opened to her at once. Then there was an
+understanding.
+
+"Where is your comrade?" I asked.
+
+"I left him with the lady, in the chamber at the head of the staircase.
+Ah, I hear him coming down the stairs!"
+
+"Look to this man, Frojac," said I, and then hastened into the château.
+The moonlight through the open door showed a large vestibule, from which
+the staircase ascended towards the right. The man coming down this
+staircase was at the bottom step when I entered the vestibule. He stopped
+there, taken by surprise. I saw that he was of short stature and slight
+figure. I caught him by the back of the neck with my left hand, and
+brought him to his knees before me.
+
+"Where is the lady who but now entered the château?" I said. "Why are you
+silent, knave?"
+
+He trembled in my grasp, and I turned his face up towards mine. It was
+the face of mademoiselle's boy, Pierre, who had left us in the forest!
+
+"You here?" I cried. "It was you, then, who opened the gate to her! How
+came you here? Speak, if ever you would see the blue sky again!"
+
+I pressed my fingers into his throat, until he choked and the fear of
+death showed in his starting eyes; then I released my clasp, that he
+might speak.
+
+"Oh, monsieur, have mercy!" he gasped. "Do not kill me!"
+
+I saw that he was thoroughly frightened for his life. He was but a
+boy, and to a boy the imminent prospect of closing one's eyes forever
+is not pleasant.
+
+"Speak, then! Tell the truth!" I said, still holding him by the neck,
+ready to tighten my clasp at any moment.
+
+"I will, I will!" he said. "I went from Mlle. de Varion to M. de la
+Chatre, with a message, and he kept me in his service."
+
+"What message? The truth, boy! I shall see in your eyes whether or not it
+be truth you tell me, and if you lie your eyes shall never look on the
+world again. Quick, what message?"
+
+"That I came from Mlle. de Varion to the governor," he answered, huskily,
+"and that at the top of the hill that rises from the throne-shaped rock
+by the river road to Narjec is the burrow of the Huguenot fox!"
+
+The last doubt, the last hope, was gone!
+
+"My God!" I cried, and cast the boy away from me. What now to me was he
+or anything that he might do or say? He cowered for a moment on the
+ground, looking up at me, and then, seeing that I no longer heeded him,
+ran out to the courtyard.
+
+For a moment I stood alone in the vestibule, crushed by the terrible
+certainty. All women, then, were as bad as Mlle. d'Arency. The sweet and
+tender girl who had filled my heart was as the worst of them. To be
+betrayed was deplorable, but to be betrayed by her! To find her a
+traitress was terrible, but that I should be her dupe! And that I should
+still love her, love her, love her!
+
+What, she was in the château, under this roof, and I tarried here
+deploring her treason when I might be at her side, clasping her, looking
+into her eyes! "In the chamber at the head of the staircase," the guard
+had said. I forgot Frojac, the guard, Pierre. But one thought, one
+desire, one impulse, possessed me. With my dripping sword in my hand, I
+bounded up the stairs. They led me to a narrow gallery, which had windows
+on the side next the courtyard. There were doors on the other side. A
+single light burned. No one was in the gallery. The door nearest the
+staircase landing was slightly open. I ran to it and into the chamber to
+which it gave entrance.
+
+As in the gallery, so in the chamber, I found no one. I stood just within
+the threshold and looked around. The walls of the apartment were hung
+with tapestry. At the right was first a window, then a chimney-place,
+beside which stood a sword, then a _prieu-dieu._ Before the fireplace was
+a table, on which were a lamp burning, paper, ink, pens, and a large bowl
+of fruit. At the left of the chamber was a large bed, its curtains drawn
+aside. Beside this was another table, on which was an empty tray. There
+was a door, slightly ajar, in that side of the room, and another in the
+side that faced me. On the back of a chair near the fireplace was slung a
+hunting-horn. On a stool near the door by which I had entered lay a belt
+with a dagger in sheath. The bed looked as if some one had recently lain
+on it. The presence of the fruit, writing materials, and other things
+seemed to indicate that this was the chamber of M. de la Chatre. But why
+was he not in his bed? Probably he could not sleep while he awaited the
+result of this midnight enterprise of his troops. Certainly the servants
+in the château were asleep. It was apparent that the six guards, four of
+whom we had disposed of, were the only soldiers left at the château, for,
+if there had been any others in the guard-house, they would have been
+awakened by the fight in the courtyard. How many troops were left in the
+town, I could not know, but they would not come to the château during the
+night unless brought by an alarm. So there would not be many to interpose
+themselves between mademoiselle and me. But where was she? Whither
+should I first turn to seek her.
+
+I had well-nigh chosen to try the room at the left, when the door
+opposite me opened without noise, and a figure glided into the chamber,
+swiftly and silently. The movement was that of a person who rapidly
+traverses a place in search of some one.
+
+"Mademoiselle!"
+
+She heard me, saw me, stopped, and stood with parted lips, astounded
+face, and terror-stricken eyes.
+
+So we stood, the width of the room between us, regarding each other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+BEHIND THE CURTAINS
+
+
+So we stood. Irresistible as had been my impulse to follow her, I now
+found myself held back, as if by the look in her eyes, from approaching
+nearer. So, while she gazed at me in wonder and terror, I regarded her
+with inexpressible scorn and love, horror and adoration.
+
+Presently she spoke, in a terrified whisper:
+
+"Why are you here?"
+
+I answered in a low voice:
+
+"Because you are here. Like a poisonous flower you lure me. A flower you
+are in outward beauty! Never was poison more sweetly concealed than is
+treachery in you!"
+
+"You were mad to follow me!" she said, and then she cast a quick,
+apprehensive glance around the chamber, a glance that took in the
+different doors one after another.
+
+I thought she meant that, as we were in the stronghold of my enemies and
+her friends, it would be madness in me to attempt to punish her
+treachery. So I replied:
+
+"Seek not to fright me from vengeance, for I intend none! I did not come
+to punish. I do not know why it is, but where you are not I cannot rest.
+I am drawn to you as by some power of magic. I would be with you even in
+hell! Spy, traitress that you are, I love you! Your dupe that I am, I
+love you!" I went to where, with downcast eyes, she stood, and I caught
+her hand and pressed it to my lips. "I make myself a jest, a thing for
+laughter, do I not, kissing the hand that would slay me?"
+
+She raised her eyes, and held out her hand towards the fire-place,
+saying:
+
+"The hand that I would thrust into the flame to save you from the
+lightest harm!"
+
+What? Now that I was here, now that my capture seemed certain, would she
+pretend that she had not acted for La Chatre against me? She did not know
+that I had met Pierre, and what he had confessed to me.
+
+"Mock me as you will, mademoiselle!" said I.
+
+"Mistrust me as _you_ will, monsieur! I tell you, I would not have you
+undergo the smallest harm!"
+
+"You well sustain the jest!"
+
+"Before God," she answered, "I do not jest!"
+
+There was in her voice a ring of earnestness that seemed impossible to be
+counterfeit. Puzzled, I looked at her, trying to read her countenance.
+
+"Yet," I said, presently, "you were a spy upon me!"
+
+"I was, God pity me! Scourge me with rough words as you will; I merit
+every blow!"
+
+"And you came here to see La Chatre," I went on, "perhaps because you
+feared discovery, perhaps because you thought your work of betrayal was
+done" (for I thought that she may have known of the midnight march of the
+governor's troops), "perhaps to finish that work!"
+
+"Now you wrong me at last!" she cried. "Thank God, I am not as bad as you
+can think me!"
+
+"Then you did not come here to see La Chatre?"
+
+"I came to see him, I admit! I was seeking him when I met you here. But
+it was not because I feared discovery that I left you, nor because I
+thought my miserable work was done, nor to finish it."
+
+I saw now that she was in great agitation. She tottered forward to the
+table and put her hand on it, and leaned on it for support.
+
+It seemed as if she were speaking the truth, as if there might be some
+explanation of all, but that her inward excitement was too great, her
+ideas too confused, for her to assemble the facts and present them in
+proper order. It seemed that she could answer my accusations only as they
+came, that she acknowledged herself guilty in part towards me, and yet
+did not wish me harm.
+
+"Mademoiselle," I said, dropping my harshness and irony, "to believe you
+true would make me as happy as I now am wretched. But why is your boy
+here, in the governor's service? Why did he carry from you the secret of
+my hiding-place?"
+
+Mademoiselle shuddered and gave a gesture of despair, as if there were
+indeed no defence for her.
+
+"Why are the troops away, if not in quest of me?" I asked. "We saw them
+going towards Maury by the river road."
+
+"I did not know that the troops had gone, or were going," she said. "I
+swear to you, monsieur, if troops have gone to Maury this night, I had
+nothing to do with their going!"
+
+"But they knew what road to take, and how to find my hiding-place. La
+Chatre knew that."
+
+"Alas, it is true!" she moaned, while tears ran down her face. "I sent
+him word!"
+
+"You sent him word! You learned how to reach La Tournoire's hiding-place
+from the man you thought his friend, and you sent the secret to the
+governor, whom you knew to be his enemy? And yet you are not as bad as I
+can think you!"
+
+"I sent him word of your hiding-place; but he was not to seize you till I
+had arranged a meeting with you alone and informed him of it!"
+
+"You confess this! Oh, mademoiselle!"
+
+"Consider! Did I arrange that meeting?"
+
+"You had not time. It was but this afternoon you learned La Chatre was at
+Clochonne."
+
+"Yet, instead of coming here to-night I might have done it, monsieur. I
+ran no risk of discovery in staying at Maury. You would still have had
+faith in me had I remained there. And it was easy to do; it was all
+planned. You know the old tower by the spring, to which we walked the
+other day. I was to send Hugo at midnight to M. de la Chatre, with word
+to have his men hidden there to-morrow at sunset. To-morrow I was to go
+off into the forest with Jeannotte, and at sunset she was to come to you,
+saying that I was at the tower grievously injured. You would have gone,
+monsieur, without waiting to call any of your men; you would have come at
+my summons on the instant, to the end of the world--"
+
+"You knew that? Truly, the heart of man is an open page to women!"
+
+"It was easily to be done, monsieur. Hugo could have shown the troops the
+way. The place was well chosen. Neither your sentinels nor the inn people
+would have seen the troops. They would have hidden there in wait for you.
+So we had planned it, I and Jeannotte; but I abandoned it. I gave no
+orders to Hugo. I came to Clochonne."
+
+"Yes, knowing, perchance, that I would come after you. You thought to
+make of Clochonne a trap into which to lead me! You were careful to let
+it be known where you were coming, that I might find out and follow!"
+
+"I told only my maid and Hugo, in a moment of excitement, when I scarce
+knew what I said. I no more desired you to follow than I desired myself
+to stay at Maury to call you to the ambush!"
+
+"The ambush!" I echoed. "You forget one thing, mademoiselle, when you
+take credit for renouncing the ambush. The troops have gone already to
+Maury. Had they found me there, they would have made your ambush
+unnecessary or impossible."
+
+"But I knew nothing of their going to Maury," she said, helplessly. "It
+was not to have been so. You were to have been taken by an ambush, I say!
+If the governor sent troops to attack you to-night, he must have changed
+the plan."
+
+Now, I could indeed believe this, for I had overheard the plan suggested
+by Montignac, and her very talk about the ambush seemed to show that his
+plan had been adopted without change. In that case, she might not have
+known of the movement of the troops. La Chatre might have decided, at
+any time, to change his plan. Perhaps he had done this, and, for lack of
+means or for some other reason, had not tried to inform her, or had
+tried in vain.
+
+She stood like an accused woman before her judges, incapable of
+formulating her defence, expressing her distress by an occasional low,
+convulsive sob. What did her conduct mean? Was her demeanor genuine or
+assumed? Why did she confess one thing and deny another? Why did she seem
+guilty and not guilty?
+
+"I am puzzled more and more," I said. "I thought that, when I saw you, I
+should at least learn the truth. I should at least know whether to love
+you as an angel, who had been wronged alike by circumstances and by
+report, or as a beautiful demon, who would betray me to my death; but I
+am not even to know what you are. You betrayed my hiding-place. So far,
+at least, you are guilty; but you did not arrange the ambush that you
+were to have arranged. For so much you claim credit. Whatever are your
+wishes in regard to me, they shall be fulfilled. I am yours, to be sent
+to my death, if that is your will. What would you have me do?"
+
+"Save yourself!" she whispered, eagerly, her eyes suddenly aflame with a
+kind of hope, as if the possibility had just occurred to her.
+
+Was this pretence? Did she know that I could not escape, and did she yet
+wish, for shame's or vanity's sake, to appear well in my eyes?
+
+"I shall not leave you," I said, quietly.
+
+"Hark!" she whispered. "Some one comes!"
+
+She looked towards the door near the head of the bed, the door that was
+slightly ajar. She looked aghast, as one does at the apprehension of a
+great and imminent danger. "Go while there is time! Do you not hear? It
+is the voice of La Chatre! I recognize it! And the other,--his secretary,
+Montignac! Go, go, I pray you on my knees, flee while there is yet time!"
+
+She did indeed fall to her knees, clutching my arm with one hand, and
+with the other trying to push me from the room, all the while showing a
+very anguish of solicitude on her white face. Her eyes plead with me for
+my own deliverance. The voices, which I too recognized, came nearer and
+nearer, but slowly, as if the speakers were impeded in their progress
+through the adjoining chamber. "Save yourself, save yourself!" she
+continued to whisper.
+
+"Come what may," I whispered in reply, my hand tightening on my sword, "I
+will not leave you!"
+
+"Then," she whispered, rapidly, seeing that I was not to be moved, "if
+you will court death, at least know me first as I am,--no better, no
+worse! Hide somewhere,--there behind the bed-curtains,--and hear what I
+shall say to La Chatre! After that, if death find you, he shall find me
+with you! I implore you, conceal yourself."
+
+There was no pretence now, I was sure. Mystified, yet not doubting, I
+whispered: "I yield, mademoiselle! God knows I would believe you
+innocent!" and went behind the curtains, at the foot of the bed. It was
+easy to stand behind these without disturbing the natural folds in which
+they fell to the floor. The curtains at the sides also served to shield
+me from view, so that I could not have been seen except from within the
+bed itself.
+
+I had no sooner found this concealment, and mademoiselle had no sooner
+taken her place, standing with as much composure as she could assume, a
+short distance from the foot of the bed, than M. de la Chatre and his
+secretary entered the chamber. Peering between the curtains, I saw that
+La Chatre was lame, and that he walked with the aid of a stick on one
+side and Montignac's shoulder on the other.
+
+"To think," he was saying as he came in, "that the misstep of a horse
+should have made a helpless cripple of me, when I might have led this
+hunt myself!"
+
+I assumed that the "hunt" was the expedition to Maury, and smiled to
+think how far was the game from the place of hunting.
+
+The undisturbed mien of La Chatre showed that he had not heard of the
+arrival of mademoiselle or of myself, or of the brief fight in the
+courtyard. He would not have worn that look of security had he known
+that, of six guards at the château, three now lay dead in the courtyard,
+one had fled, and two were being looked after by my man Frojac.
+
+He wore a rich chamber-robe and was bareheaded. Montignac was attired
+rather like a soldier than like a scribe, having on a buff jerkin and
+wearing both sword and dagger. His breeches and hose were of dull hue,
+so that the only brightness of color on him was the red of his hair and
+lips. It was, doubtless, from an excess of precaution that he went so
+well armed in the château at so late an hour. Yet I smiled to see
+weapons on this slight and fragile-looking youth, whose strength lay in
+his brain rather than in his wrist. With great interest I watched him
+now, knowing that he had devised the plan for my capture, had caused
+Mlle. de Varion to be sent on her mission against me, and had sent De
+Berquin on his mission against her. This march of the troops to Maury,
+also, was probably his doing, even though it did imply a change from the
+plan overheard by me, and confessed by mademoiselle. He had, too, if De
+Berquin had told the truth, resolved to possess mademoiselle. He was
+thus my worst foe, this subtle youth who had never seen me, and whom I
+had never injured. He still had that look of mock humility, repressed
+scorn, half-concealed derision, hidden ambition, vast inner resource,
+mental activity, all under a calm and thoughtful countenance, over which
+he had control.
+
+It was not until they had passed the bed that they saw mademoiselle.
+Both stopped and looked astonished. Montignac recognized her at once,
+and first frowned, as if annoyed; then looked elated, as if her
+presence suited his projects. But La Chatre did not immediately know
+her. He lost color, as if it were a spirit that he saw, and, indeed,
+mademoiselle, motionless and pale, looked not unlike some beautiful
+being of another world.
+
+"Who are you?" asked La Chatre, in a startled tone.
+
+"It is I--Mlle. de Varion."
+
+La Chatre promptly came to himself; but he looked somewhat confused,
+abashed, and irritated.
+
+"Mlle. de Varion, indeed!" he said. "And why comes Mlle. de Varion here?"
+
+And now Montignac spoke, fixing his eyes on La Chatre, and using a quiet
+but resolute tone:
+
+"She comes too late. La Tournoire will be taken without her aid."
+
+"Be silent, Montignac!" said La Chatre, assuming the authoritative for
+the sake of appearance. "It is true, mademoiselle; you are too late in
+fulfilling your part of the agreement."
+
+He spoke with some embarrassment, and I began to see why. Inasmuch as he
+had been at Clochonne but little more than one day, no more time had
+passed than would have been necessary for the arrangement of the ambush.
+Therefore it could not be honestly held that she had been tardy in
+fulfilling her mission; that is to say, when he told her that she was too
+late, he lied. Hence his embarrassment, for he was a gentleman. Now why
+did he put forth this false pretext of tardiness on her part?
+
+"Too late in fulfilling your part of the agreement," said the governor.
+
+"I came, monsieur," said mademoiselle, heedless of the lie and the
+apparent attempt to put her at fault, "to be released from my agreement."
+
+Montignac looked surprised, then displeased. La Chatre appeared relieved,
+but astonished.
+
+"Released, mademoiselle?" he exclaimed, assuming too late a kind of
+virtuous displeasure to cover his real satisfaction.
+
+"Released, monsieur!" said mademoiselle. "I shall no further help you
+take M. de la Tournoire. It was to tell you that, and for nothing else in
+the world, that I came to Clochonne this night!"
+
+She was close to the bed-curtains behind which I stood. I felt that her
+words were meant for my ears as well as for the governor's.
+
+"I shall not need your help, mademoiselle," replied the governor, with a
+side smile at Montignac. "Yet this is strange. You do not, then, wish
+your father's freedom?"
+
+"Not on the terms agreed on, monsieur! Not to have my father set free
+from prison, not even to save him from torture, not even from death. I
+take back my promise, and give you back your own. I gave you word of La
+Tournoire's hiding-place, and so far resigned my honor. I abandon my
+hateful task unfinished, and so far I get my honor back. And, now, do as
+you will!"
+
+I could have shouted for joy!
+
+This, then, explained it all. She had undertaken to betray me, but it
+was to save her father! I remembered now. They had wanted a spy "who
+would have all to lose by failure." Such were Montignac's words at the
+inn at Fleurier. A spy, too, who might gain a wary man's confidence, and
+with whom a rebel captain might desire or consent to a meeting away from
+his men. Hardly had their need been uttered when there came mademoiselle
+to beg a pardon for her father. A woman, beautiful and guileless, whom
+any man might adore and trust, of whom any man might beg a tryst; a
+woman, whose father was already in prison, his fate at the governor's
+will; a woman, inexperienced and credulous, easily made to believe that
+her father's crime was of the gravest; a woman, dutiful and
+affectionate, willing to purchase her father's life and freedom at any
+cost. What better instrument could have come to their hands? Her anxiety
+to save her father would give her the powers of dissimulation necessary
+to do the work. Her purity and innocence were a rare equipment for the
+task of a Delilah. Who would suspect her of guile and intrigue any more
+than I had done?
+
+And now, having gone as far as she had in the task, she had abandoned it.
+Even to save her father, she would no more play the traitress against me!
+Against _me_! She loved me, then! Her task had become intolerable. She
+must relieve herself of it. Yet as long as La Chatre still supposed that
+she was carrying it out, she would feel bound by her obligation to him.
+She must free herself of that obligation. She had made a compact with
+him, she had given him her word. Though she resolved not to betray me,
+she would not betray him either. He must no longer rely on her for the
+performance of a deed that she had cast from her. She must not play false
+even with him. All must hereafter be open and honest with her. The first
+step towards regaining her self-respect was to see the governor and
+renounce the commission. Then, but not till then, would she dare confess
+all to me. I saw all this in an instant, as she had felt it, for people
+do not arrive at such resolutions slowly and by reason, but instantly and
+by feeling.
+
+And all that she had done and suffered had been to save her father! Had I
+but told her at once of my intention to deliver him, if possible, all
+this, and my own hours of torment, might have been avoided. From what
+little things do events take their course!
+
+I rejoiced, I say, behind the curtains, on learning the truth. What
+matter if we met death together in the enemy's stronghold, now that she
+was pure and loved me? And yet, if we could but find a way out of this,
+and save her father as well, what joy life would have!
+
+La Chatre cast another jubilant smile at Montignac. The governor was
+plainly delighted that mademoiselle herself had given up the task, now
+that he had changed his plans and had no further use for her in them. It
+relieved him of the disagreeable necessity of making her an explanation
+composed of lies. He was really a gallant and amiable gentleman, and
+subterfuge, especially when employed against a lady, was obnoxious to
+him. As for Montignac, he stood frowning meditatively. He surely guessed
+that mademoiselle's act was inspired by love for me, and the thought was
+not pleasant to him.
+
+Suddenly the governor turned quite pale, and asked quickly, in
+some alarm:
+
+"Did you speak the truth when you sent word of his hiding-place?"
+
+It would, indeed, have been exasperating if he had sent his troops on a
+false scent.
+
+Mademoiselle hesitated a moment, then turned her eyes towards the
+bed-curtains, and said:
+
+"Yes, monsieur."
+
+Her look, as I saw it, expressed that my position was not so bad, after
+all, as long as the troops were away, and La Chatre supposed that I was
+at Maury being captured by them.
+
+La Chatre, reassured by her tone, which of course had the ring of truth,
+again breathed freely.
+
+"Then I release you from your agreement, mademoiselle," he said, and
+added slowly and with a curious look at Montignac, "and your father may
+languish in the château of Fleurier. But note this, mademoiselle: you
+withdraw your aid from our purpose of capturing this traitor. Therefore,
+you wish him freedom. For you, in the circumstances, not to oppose him is
+to aid him. That is treason. I must treat you accordingly, mademoiselle."
+
+"I have said, do with me as you will," she answered. For a time, relieved
+of the burden that had weighed so heavily on her, she seemed resigned to
+any fate. It was not yet that her mind rose to activity, and she began to
+see possibilities of recovering something from the ruins.
+
+And now the demeanor of La Chatre became peculiar. He spoke to
+mademoiselle, while he looked at Montignac, as if he were taking an
+unexpected opportunity to carry out something prearranged between him
+and the secretary; as if he were dissembling to her, and sought
+Montignac's attention and approval. His look seemed to say to the
+secretary, "You see how well I am doing it?" Montignac stood with folded
+arms and downcast eyes, attending carefully to La Chatre's words, but
+having too much tact to betray his interest.
+
+"And yet," said La Chatre, "you have been of some service to me in this
+matter, and I would in some measure reward you. You sent me information
+of La Tournoire's whereabouts, and for so much you deserve to be paid.
+But you leave unfinished the service agreed on, and of course you cannot
+claim your father's release."
+
+"Yet, if I have at all served you in this, as unhappily I have, there is
+no other payment that you possibly can make me," said mademoiselle.
+
+"The question as to whether you ought to be rewarded for what you have
+done, or held guilty of treasonable conduct in withdrawing at so late a
+stage," said La Chatre, "is a difficult matter for me to deal with. There
+may be a way in which it can be settled with satisfaction to yourself. It
+is your part, not mine, to find such a way and propose it. You may take
+counsel of some one--of my secretary, M. Montignac. He is one who, unlike
+yourself, is entitled to my favor and the King's, and who may, on
+occasion, demand some deviation from the strict procedure of justice.
+Were he to ask, as a favor to himself, special lenience for your father,
+or even a pardon and release, his request would have to be seriously
+considered. Advise her, Montignac. I shall give you a few minutes to talk
+with her."
+
+And La Chatre, aided by his stick, made his way to the window, where he
+stood with his back towards the other two.
+
+I was not too dull to see that all this was but a clumsy way of
+throwing mademoiselle's fate and her father's into the hands of
+Montignac. The governor's manner, as I have indicated, showed that he
+had previously agreed to do this on fit occasion, and that he now
+perceived that occasion.
+
+A new thought occurred to me. Had Montignac, coming more and more to
+desire mademoiselle, and doubting the ability of his hastily found
+instrument, De Berquin, sought and obtained the governor's sanction to
+his wishes? Had he advised this midnight march to Maury in order that I
+might be caught ere mademoiselle could fulfil her mission; in order,
+that is to say, to prevent her from earning her father's freedom by the
+means first proposed; in order that La Chatre might name a new price for
+that freedom; in order, in fine, that herself should be the price, and
+Montignac the recipient? Montignac could persuade the governor to
+anything, why not to this? It was a design worthy alike of the
+secretary's ingenuity and villainy. Circumstance soon showed that I was
+right, that the governor had indeed consented to this perfidy.
+Mademoiselle's unexpected arrival at Clochonne had given excellent
+occasion for the project to be carried out. The governor himself had
+recognized the fitness of the time. No wonder that he had at first
+falsely charged her with tardiness, pretended that her delay had caused
+the alteration of his plans. He had needed a pretext for having sent his
+troops to capture me so that he might cheat her of her reward. I burned
+with indignation. That two men of power and authority should so trick a
+helpless girl, so use her love for her father to serve their own
+purposes, so employ that father's very life as coin with which to buy
+her compliance, so cozen her of the reward of what service she had done,
+so plot to make of her a slave and worse, so threaten and use and cheat
+her! No man ever felt greater wrath than I felt as I stood behind the
+curtains and saw Montignac lift his eyes to mademoiselle's in obedience
+to the governor's command. Yet, by what power I know not, I held myself
+calm, ready to act at the suitable moment. I had taken a resolution, and
+would carry it out if sword and wit should serve me. But meanwhile I
+waited unseen.
+
+Mademoiselle drew back almost imperceptibly, and on her face came the
+slightest look of repugnance. From her manner of regarding him, it was
+evident that this was not the first time she had been conscious of his
+admiration and felt repelled by it. The meeting in the inn at Fleurier
+had left with her a vastly different impression from that which it had
+left with him.
+
+Without smiling, he now bowed very courteously, and placed a chair for
+her near where she stood.
+
+"Mademoiselle," he said, with great tenderness, yet most respectfully, "a
+harder heart than mine would be moved by your gentleness and beauty."
+
+And here my own heart beat very rapidly at sound of another man speaking
+so adoringly to my beloved.
+
+She looked at him questioningly, as if his tone and manner showed that
+she had misjudged him. His bearing was so gentle and sympathetic that she
+could not but be deceived by it. She ceased to show repugnance, and sat
+in the chair that he had brought.
+
+"Monsieur," she said, "in my first opinion I may have wronged you. If
+your heart is truly moved, you can demonstrate your goodness by asking
+for my father's freedom. M. de la Chatre will grant it to you. You have a
+claim on his favor, as he says, while I have none. Free my father, then,
+and make me happy!"
+
+Poor Julie! She thought not of herself. She knew that it would be
+useless to ask anything for me. Yet there was one thing that might be had
+from the situation--her father's freedom. So she summoned her energies,
+and devoted them to striving for that, though she was in terror of my
+being at any moment discovered.
+
+"I would make you the happiest of women," said Montignac, in a low,
+impassioned tone, falling on one knee and taking her hand, "if you would
+make me the happiest of men."
+
+Apprehension came into her eyes. She rose and moved towards the
+bed-curtains, and, in the vain hope of turning him from his purpose by
+pretending not to perceive it, said, with a sad little smile:
+
+"Alas! it is out of my poor power to confer happiness!"
+
+She half-turned her head towards where I stood behind the curtains,
+partly at thought of the happiness that it seemed impossible for her to
+confer on me, partly in fear lest Montignac's words might bring me forth.
+
+"It is easily in your power to confer more than happiness," said
+Montignac.
+
+"How, monsieur?" she faltered, trembling under two fears, that of
+Montignac's ardor and that of my disclosing myself. "I am puzzled to
+know."
+
+"By conferring your hand, mademoiselle," said Montignac, following her
+and grasping her wrist. "Your father will be glad to give his consent for
+his liberty, if he knows that you have given yours. But we can arrange to
+proceed without his consent. Do not draw back, mademoiselle. It is
+marriage that I offer, when I might make other terms. My family is a good
+one; my prospects are the best, and I have to lay at your feet a love
+that has never been offered to another, a love as deep as it is fresh--"
+
+I clutched the curtain to give vent to my rage. Mademoiselle was looking
+towards me, and saw the curtain move.
+
+"Say no more!" she cried, fearful lest his continuance might be too much
+for my restraint. "I cannot hear you?"
+
+"I love you, mademoiselle," he went on, losing his self-control, so that
+his face quivered with passion. "I can save you and your father!"
+
+He thrust his face so close to hers that she drew back with an expression
+of disgust.
+
+"A fine love, indeed?" she cried, scornfully, "that would buy the love it
+dare not hope to elicit free!" And she turned to La Chatre as if for
+protection. But the governor shook his head, and remained motionless at
+the window.
+
+"A love you shall not despise, mademoiselle!" hissed Montignac, stung by
+her scorn. He was standing by the table near the bed, and, in his
+anger, he made to strike the table with his dagger, but he struck
+instead the tray on the table, and so produced a loud, ringing sound
+that startled the ear.
+
+"Your fate is in my hands," he went on; "so is your father's. As for this
+Tournoire, concerning whom you have suddenly become scrupulous, he is,
+doubtless, by this time in the hands of the troops who have gone for him,
+and very well it is that we decided not to wait for you to lead him to
+us. So he had best be dismissed from your mind, as he presently will be
+from this life. Accept me, and your father goes free! Spurn me, and he
+dies in the château of Fleurier, and you shall still belong to me! Why
+not give me what I have the power and the intention to take?"
+
+"If you take it," cried mademoiselle, "that is your act. Were I to give,
+that would be mine. It is by our own acts that we stand or fall in our
+own eyes and God's!" She spoke loudly, in a resolute voice, as if to show
+me that she could look to herself, so that I need not come out to her
+defence,--for well she guessed my mind, and knew that, though she had
+consented a thousand times to betray me, I would not stand passive while
+a man pressed his unwelcome love on her. And now, as if to force a change
+of theme by sheer vehemence of manner, she turned her back towards
+Montignac and addressed La Chatre with a fire that she had not
+previously shown.
+
+"You have heard the proposal of this buyer of love! You hear me reject
+it! M. de la Chatre, I hold you to your word. I have been of some service
+to you in the matter of La Tournoire, and you would, in some measure,
+reward me! You have said it! Very well! You expect to capture him
+to-night at his hiding-place. Through me you learned that hiding-place,
+therefore, through me you will have taken him. There is but one possible
+way in which you can reward me: Keep your word! What if I did refuse to
+plan the ambush? You yourself had already decided to dispense with that.
+In the circumstances, all that I could have done for you I have done.
+Would I could undo it! But I cannot! Therefore, give me now, at once, an
+order that I may take to Fleurier for my father's release!"
+
+La Chatre was plainly annoyed, for he loved to keep the letter of his
+word. He could not deceive this woman, as he had at first felicitated
+himself on doing, with a false appearance of fair dealing. She saw
+through that appearance. It was indeed irritating to so honest a
+gentleman. To gain time for a plausible answer, he moved slowly from the
+window to the centre of the chamber. At the same time, mademoiselle, to
+be further from Montignac, went towards the door by which she had entered
+the room on my arrival. The secretary, with wolf-like eyes, followed
+her, and both turned so as still to face the governor.
+
+"I shall devise some proper reward for you," said La Chatre, slowly. "I
+adhere always to the strict letter of my word; but I am not bound to free
+your father. The strict letter of my word, remember! Recall my words to
+you at the inn. I recall them exactly, and so does Montignac, who this
+very evening reminded me of--ahem, that is to say, I recall them exactly.
+I was to send the order to the governor of Fleurier for your father's
+immediate release the instant I should stand face to face with the Sieur
+de la Tournoire in the château of Clochonne."
+
+I threw aside the bed-curtain, stepped forth, and said:
+
+"That time has come, monsieur!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+SWORD AND DAGGER
+
+
+M. de la Chatre could not have been more surprised if a spirit had risen
+from the floor at his feet. He stared at me with startled eyes. I had
+sheathed my sword while behind the curtains, and now I stood motionless,
+with folded arms, before him. Mademoiselle uttered a slight cry.
+Montignac, who stood beside her, was as much taken aback as La Chatre
+was, but was quicker to comprehend the situation. Without moving from his
+attitude of surprise, he regarded me with intense curiosity and hate.
+This was his first sight of me, hence his curiosity. He had already
+inferred that mademoiselle loved me, therefore his hate.
+
+"Who are you?" said La Chatre, at last, in a tone of mingled alarm and
+resentment, as one might address a supernatural intruder.
+
+"The Sieur de la Tournoire," said I, "standing face to face with you in
+the château of Clochonne! You shall give mademoiselle that order for her
+father's release, or you shall never break your word again."
+
+And I drew my sword, and held it with its point towards his breast.
+
+The fear of death blanched his cheeks and spurred his dull wits.
+
+"Montignac," he cried, keeping his eyes fixed on mine, "if this man makes
+a move, kill the woman!"
+
+In his situation of peril, his mind had become agile. He had suddenly
+perceived how things were between mademoiselle and me.
+
+As I have shown, Montignac stood with mademoiselle at some distance from
+La Chatre and myself. I dared not take my eye from the governor, lest he
+should step out of reach of my sword; but I could hear Montignac quickly
+unsheathe his dagger, and mademoiselle give a sharp ejaculation of pain.
+Then I turned my head for a moment's glance, and saw that he had caught
+her wrist in a tight grasp, and that he held his dagger ready to plunge
+it into her breast.
+
+For a short time we stood thus, while I considered what to do next. It
+was certain that Montignac would obey the governor's order, if only out
+of hatred for me and in revenge on her for his despised love, though he
+might fall by my sword a moment later. Therefore, I did not dare go to
+attack him any more than I dared attack La Chatre. The governor, of
+course, would not let her be killed unless I made some hostile movement,
+for if she were dead nothing could save him from me, unless help came. He
+feared to call for help, I suppose, lest rather than be taken I should
+risk a rush at Montignac, and have himself for an instant at my mercy,
+after all.
+
+I cast another glance at Montignac, and measured the distance from me to
+him, to consider whether I might reach him before he could strike
+mademoiselle. La Chatre must have divined my thought, for he said:
+
+"Montignac, I will deal with this gentleman. Take mademoiselle into that
+chamber and close the door." And he pointed to the door immediately
+behind mademoiselle, the one by which I had first seen her enter.
+
+"But, monsieur--" began Montignac.
+
+"I had not quite finished, Montignac," went on La Chatre. "I have my
+reason for desiring you and the lady to withdraw. Fear not to leave me
+with him. Lame as I am, I am no match for him, it is true, but
+mademoiselle shall continue to be a hostage for his good behavior."
+
+"I understand," said Montignac, "but how shall I know--?"
+
+"Should M. de la Tournoire make one step towards me," said the
+governor,--here he paused and took up the hunting-horn and looked at it,
+but presently dropped it and pointed to the bowl of fruit on the table
+near the fireplace,--"I shall strike this bowl, thus." He struck the
+bowl with his stick, and it gave forth a loud, metallic ring, like that
+previously produced by Montignac's dagger from the tray on the other
+table. "The voice is not always to be relied on," continued the governor.
+"Sometimes it fails when most needed. But a sound like this," and he
+struck the bowl again, "can be made instantly and with certainty. Should
+you hear one stroke on the bowl,--one only, not followed quickly by a
+second stroke,--let mademoiselle pay for the rashness of her champion!"
+
+"Yes, monsieur," replied Montignac, a kind of diabolical triumph in
+his voice.
+
+"It may be," said La Chatre, "that no such violent act will be necessary,
+and that I shall merely require your presence here. In that case, I shall
+strike twice rapidly, thus. Therefore, when you hear a stroke, wait an
+instant lest there be a second stroke. But if there be no second, act as
+I have told you."
+
+"After you, mademoiselle," said Montignac, indicating by a motion his
+desire that she should precede him backward out of the chamber. He still
+clutched her arm and held his dagger aloft, intending thus to back out of
+the room after her.
+
+"I will not go!" she answered, trying to resist the force that he was
+using on her arm.
+
+This was the first resistance she had offered She had previously stood
+motionless beneath his lifted dagger, feeling herself unable to break
+from his grasp of iron, and supposing that any effort to do so would
+bring down the dagger into her delicate breast. A woman's instinctive
+horror of such a blow deterred her from the slightest movement that might
+invite it. She had trusted to me for what action might serve to save us
+from our enemies. But now her terror of leaving my presence, and her
+horror of being alone with Montignac, overcame her fear of the dagger. "I
+will not go!" she repeated.
+
+"Go, mademoiselle," said I, gently, taking her glove from my belt, where
+I had placed it, and kissing it, to show that I was still her devoted
+chevalier. "Go! 'Tis the better way." For I welcomed any step that might
+take Montignac from the chamber, and leave La Chatre's wit unaided to
+cope with mine.
+
+Her eyes showed submission, and she immediately obeyed the guidance
+of Montignac's hand. Facing me still, he went out after her, and
+closed the door.
+
+I was alone with La Chatre.
+
+"My secretary stood a little too near the point of your sword," said the
+governor, "for the perfect security of my hostage. There was just a
+possibility of your being too quick for him. I saw that you were
+contemplating that possibility. As it is now, should I give him the
+signal,--as I shall if you move either towards me or towards that
+chamber,--he could easily put mademoiselle out of the way before you
+could open the door. Not that I desire harm to mademoiselle. Her death
+would not serve me at all It would, indeed, be something that I should
+have to deplore. If I should deplore it, how much more would you! And
+since you surely will not be so ungallant as to cause the death of so
+charming a lady, I think I have you, let us say, at a slight
+disadvantage!" And he sat down beside the table near the fireplace.
+
+"I think not so, monsieur," said I, touching lightly with my sword's
+point the tray on the table near the bed; "for should you strike once on
+your bowl, I should very quickly strike once on this tray, so that two
+strokes would be heard, and the obedient Montignac, mindful of his
+orders, would enter this chamber, _not_ having slain mademoiselle."
+
+I ought not to have disclosed this, my advantage. I ought rather to have
+summoned Montignac by two strokes on the tray, and been at the door to
+receive him. But I had not waited to consider. I spoke of the advantage
+as soon as I noticed it, supposing that La Chatre, on seeing it, would
+think himself at my mercy and would come to my terms. He was taken back
+somewhat, it is true, but not much.
+
+"Pah!" he said "After all, I could shout to him."
+
+"It would be your last shouting. Moreover, your shouted orders would be
+cut off unfinished, and the punctilious Montignac would be left in doubt
+as to your wishes. Rather than slay mademoiselle on an uncertainty, he
+would come hither to assure himself,--in which case God pity him!"
+
+"Thank you for your warning, monsieur," said La Chatre, with mock
+courtesy. "There shall be no shouting."
+
+Whereupon he struck the bowl with his stick. Taken by surprise, I could
+only strike my tray with my sword, so that two strokes might surely be
+heard, although at the same time he gave a second stroke, showing that
+his intention was merely to summon Montignac. In my momentary fear for
+mademoiselle's life, and with my thoughts instantly concentrated on
+striking the tray, I did not have the wit to leap to the door and receive
+Montignac on my sword's point, as I would have done had I myself summoned
+him, or had I expected La Chatre's signal.
+
+So there I stood, far from the door, when it opened, and the secretary
+advanced his foot across the threshold. Even then I made a movement as if
+to rush on him, but he brought forward his left hand and I saw that it
+still clutched the white wrist of mademoiselle. Only her arm was visible
+in the doorway. Montignac still held his dagger raised. One step
+backward and one thrust, and he could lay her dead at his feet. Had I
+been ready at the door for him, I could have killed him before he could
+have made these two movements; but from where I stood, I could not have
+done so. So I listened in some chagrin to the governor's words.
+
+"I change the signal, Montignac. At one stroke, do not harm the lady, but
+come hither; but should you hear two strokes, or three, or any number
+more, she is to be sacrificed."
+
+"My dagger is ready, monsieur!"
+
+Again the door closed; again I was alone with La Chatre.
+
+I had lost my former advantage. For now, should I strike my tray
+once, for the purpose of summoning Montignac, so that I might be at
+the door to slay him at first sight, the governor could strike his
+bowl, and Montignac would hear two strokes or more--signal for
+mademoiselle's death.
+
+"And now, monsieur," said the governor, making himself comfortable in his
+chair between table and fireplace, "let us talk. You see, if you approach
+me or that door, or if you start to leave this chamber, I can easily
+strike the bowl twice before you take three steps."
+
+I could see that he was not as easy in his mind as he pretended to be. It
+was true that, as matters now were, his life was secure through my regard
+for mademoiselle's; but were he to attempt leaving the room or calling
+help, or, indeed, if help were to come uncalled, and I should find my own
+life or liberty threatened, I might risk anything, even mademoiselle's
+life, for the sake of revenge on him. He would not dare save himself by
+letting me go free out of his own château. To do that would bring down
+the wrath of the Duke of Guise, would mean ruin. That I knew well. If I
+should go to leave the chamber, he would give the signal for Montignac to
+kill mademoiselle. As for me. I did not wish to go without her or until I
+should have accomplished a certain design I had conceived. Thus I was La
+Chatre's prisoner, and he was mine. Each could only hope, by thought or
+talk, to arrive at some means of getting the better of the other.
+
+La Chatre's back was towards the door by which I had entered. By mere
+chance, it seemed, I turned my head towards that door. At that instant,
+my man, Frojac, appeared in the doorway. He had approached with the
+silence of a ghost. He carried the arquebus that had belonged to the
+guardsman, and his match was burning. Risking all on the possible effect
+of a sudden surprise on the governor, I cried, sharply:
+
+"Fire on that man, Frojac, if he moves."
+
+La Chatre, completely startled, rose from his chair and turned about,
+forgetful of the stick and bowl. When his glance reached Frojac, my good
+man had his arquebus on a line with the governor's head, the match
+dangerously near the breech.
+
+"I have looked after the guards, monsieur," said Frojac, cheerily,
+"both of them."
+
+"Stand where you are," said I to him, "and if that gentleman attempts to
+strike that bowl, see that he does not live to strike it more than once."
+
+"He shall not strike it even once, monsieur!"
+
+"You see, M. de la Chatre," said I, "the contents of an arquebus travel
+faster than a man can."
+
+"This is unfair!" were the first words of the governor, after his season
+of dumb astonishment.
+
+"Pardon me," said I. "It is but having you, let us say, at a slight
+disadvantage; and now I think I may move."
+
+I walked over to the governor's table and took up the bowl. La Chatre
+watched me in helpless chagrin, informing himself by a side glance that
+Frojac's weapon still covered him.
+
+"You look somewhat irritated and disgusted, monsieur," said I. "Pray
+sit down!"
+
+As I held my sword across the table, the point in close proximity to his
+chest, he obeyed, uttering a heavy sigh at his powerlessness. I then
+threw the bowl into the bed, taking careful aim so that it might make no
+sound. At that moment I saw La Chatre look towards the chamber in which
+were Montignac and mademoiselle, and there came on his face the sign of
+a half-formed project.
+
+"See also, Frojac," said I, "that he does not open his mouth to shout."
+
+"He shall be as silent as if born dumb, monsieur."
+
+"Oh, he may speak, but not so loud as to be heard in the next chamber.
+Look to it, Frojac."
+
+"Very well, monsieur."
+
+For I did not wish, as yet, that Montignac should know what was going on.
+Through the closed door and the thick tapestried walls, only a loud cry,
+or some such sound as a stroke on the resonant bowl or tray, could have
+reached him. We had spoken in careful tones, La Chatre not daring to
+raise his voice. Thus the closing of the door, intended by the governor
+to make Montignac safer from a sudden rush on my part, now served my own
+purpose. It is true that, since Frojac had appeared, and the governor
+could not make his signal, I might have summoned Montignac by a single
+stroke, and despatched him in the doorway. But now that my own position
+was easier, I saw that such a manoeuvre, first contemplated when only a
+desperate stroke seemed possible, was full of danger to mademoiselle. I
+might bungle it, whereupon Montignac would certainly attempt one blow
+against her, though it were his last. I must, therefore, use the governor
+to release her from her perilous situation; but first I must use him for
+another purpose, which the presence of the keen-witted Montignac might
+defeat. Hence, the secretary was not yet to be made aware of the turn
+things had taken.
+
+There were three quills on the table. I took up one of them and dipped it
+in the horn of ink.
+
+"Shall I tell you of what you are thinking, monsieur," said I, observing
+on the governor's face a new expression, that of one who listens and
+makes some mental calculation.
+
+"Amuse yourself as you please, monsieur," he answered.
+
+"You are thinking, first, that as I am in your château, and not alone, I
+have, doubtless, deprived you of all the soldiers left to guard your
+château; secondly, that at a certain time, a few hours ago, your troops
+set out for my residence; that they have probably now learned that I am
+not there; that they have consequently started to return. You are asking
+yourself what will happen if I am here when they arrive. Will I kill you
+before I allow myself to be taken? Probably, you say. Men like me value
+themselves highly, and sell themselves dearly. You would rather that I
+leave before they come. Then you can send them on my track. Very well;
+write, monsieur!" And I handed him the pen.
+
+He looked at me with mingled vindictiveness and wonder, as if it were
+remarkable that I had uttered the thoughts that any one in his position
+must have had. Mechanically he took the pen.
+
+"What shall I write?" he muttered.
+
+"Write thus: To M. de Brissard, governor of Fleurier. Release M. de
+Varion immediately. Let him accompany the man who bears this and who
+brings a horse for him."
+
+With many baitings, many side glances at Frojac's arquebus and my
+sword-point, many glum looks and black frowns, he wrote, while I watched
+from across the table. Then he threw the document towards me.
+
+"Sign and seal," I said, tossing it back to him.
+
+With intended slovenliness he affixed the signature and seal, then threw
+the pen to the floor. I took the order, scanned it, and handed him
+another pen.
+
+"Excellent!" said I. "And now again!"
+
+He made a momentary show of haughty, indignant refusal, but a movement of
+my sword quelled the brief revolt in him.
+
+"The bearer of this," I dictated, "M. de Varion, is to pass free in the
+province, and to cross the border where he will."
+
+This time he signed and affixed the seal without additional request. He
+threw the second pen after the first, and looked up at me with a scowl.
+
+"A bold, brave signature, monsieur! There is one pen left!" and I handed
+him the third quill.
+
+He took it with a look of wrath, after which he gave a sigh of forced
+patience, and sat ready to write.
+
+"The bearer of this, Ernanton de Launay--"
+
+"Ernanton de Launay?" he repeated, looking up inquiringly.
+
+"Ernanton de Launay, Sieur de la Tournoire,--" I went on.
+
+He stared at me aghast, as if my presumption really passed all bounds,
+but a glint of light on my sword caught his eye, he carried his eye along
+to the point, which was under his nose, and he wrote:
+
+"--is to pass free in the province, and from it, with all his company."
+
+"No, no, no! I will never write that!"
+
+Without an instant's hesitation, I drew back my sword as if to add weight
+to an intended thrust. He gasped, and then finished the pass, signed it,
+and attached the seal.
+
+"Be assured," I said, as I took up the last order, "these will be used
+before you shall have time to countermand them." He gritted his teeth at
+this. "I thank you heartily, monsieur, and shall ask you to do no more
+writing. But one favor will I claim,--the loan of a few gold pieces for
+M. de Varion. Come, monsieur, your purse has ever been well fed!"
+
+With a look of inward groaning, he negligently handed me some pieces, not
+counting them.
+
+"_Parbleu!_" he said. "You will ask me for my château next."
+
+"All in good time. It is a good jest, monsieur, that while you visit me
+at Maury by proxy, I return the visit at Clochonne in person and find
+your château unguarded. To complete the jest, I need only take
+possession. But I am for elsewhere. Frojac, come here."
+
+While Frojac approached, I held my sword ready for any movement on
+the part of my unhappy adversary, for I saw him cast a furtive look
+at the tray on the other table, and I read on his face the birth of
+some new design.
+
+Rapidly I gave Frojac my commands, with the gold and the two orders
+first written.
+
+"Take this order immediately, with my horse and your own, to the château
+of Fleurier. Secure M. de Varion's release, and fly with him at once from
+the province, leaving by the western border, so that you cannot possibly
+be forestalled by any troops or counter-orders that this gentleman may
+send from here. Make your way speedily to Guienne."
+
+"And in Guienne, monsieur?"
+
+"You will doubtless find me at the camp of Henri of Navarre. As soon as
+you see M. de Varion, assure him of the safety of his daughter. And now
+to horse!"
+
+"I am already on my way, monsieur!" And the good fellow ran from the
+chamber and down the stairs. In a few moments I heard the horses
+clattering out of the courtyard and over the bridge. Pleased at his zeal
+and swiftness, I stepped to the window to wave him a godspeed. I thus
+turned my back towards La Chatre.
+
+Frojac saw me and waved in response, as he dashed down the moonlit way
+towards the road to Fleurier.
+
+I heard a stealthy noise behind me, and, turning, saw what made me
+fiercely repent my momentary forgetfulness and my reliance on the
+governor's lameness. The sight revealed plainly enough what new idea had
+come into La Chatre's mind,--simply that, if he should give the signal
+for mademoiselle's death, I would probably not stay to attack him, but
+would instantly rush into the next chamber in the hope of saving her. He
+could then fasten the door, and so hold me prisoner in that chamber until
+the return of his troops. Well for us that he had not thought of this
+before the arrival of Frojac!
+
+He was already near the table on which was the tray, when I turned and
+saw him. He raised his stick to strike the tray. I rushed after him.
+
+He brought down his stick. The tray sounded, loud and bell-like. He heard
+me coming, and raised his stick again. The second clang would be the
+death-knell of my beloved!
+
+But my sword was in time, my arm served. The blade met the descending
+stick and knocked it from the governor's grasp. The same rush that took
+me between La Chatre and the table carried me across the chamber to a
+spot at one side of the door which Montignac at that moment threw open.
+
+"You struck once, did you not, monsieur?" said Montignac, not seeing me,
+for he naturally looked towards the centre of the chamber.
+
+He held mademoiselle's wrist in his left hand, his dagger in his right. I
+was at his right side. I was too near him to use my sword with effect, so
+I contented myself with stepping quickly behind him and bringing my fist
+down on his left arm above the elbow. This unexpected blow made him
+involuntarily release mademoiselle's wrist, and informed him of my
+whereabouts. The impulse of self-preservation caused him to rush forward
+and turn. I then stepped in front of mademoiselle and faced him. All
+this, from my turning from the window, was done in a moment.
+
+"And now, M. de la Chatre," said I, "you may strike the bowl as often as
+you please."
+
+"M. de la Chatre," said Montignac, in a quick, resolute voice, "give me
+leave to finish this!"
+
+"As you will, Montignac!" replied the governor, moving towards the
+window. His movement betrayed his thought. If his troops should return in
+the next few minutes, I would be too busy with Montignac to attack
+himself. There were two hopes for him. One was that, by some miracle,
+Montignac might kill or wound me. The other was that the troops might
+return before I should have finished with Montignac. La Chatre had
+doubtless inferred that I had brought with me none of my men but Frojac;
+therefore I alone was to be feared.
+
+Montignac, keeping his eyes fixed on me, transferred his dagger to his
+left hand, and drew his sword with his right. I, with my sword already in
+my right hand, drew my dagger with my left.
+
+"Monsieur," said I to Montignac, "I see with pleasure that you are not
+a coward."
+
+"You shall see what you shall see, monsieur!" he answered, in the voice
+of a man who fears nothing and never loses his wits.
+
+It was, indeed, a wonder that this man of thought could become so
+admirable a man of action. There was nothing fragile in this pale
+student. His eyes took on the hardness of steel. Never did more
+self-reliant and resolute an antagonist meet me. The hate that was
+manifest in his countenance did not rob him of self-possession. It only
+strengthened and steadied him. At first I thought him foolhardy to face
+so boldly an antagonist who wore a breastplate, but later I found that,
+beneath his jerkin, he was similarly protected. I suppose that he had
+intended to accompany the troops to Maury, had so prepared himself for
+battle, and had not found opportunity, after the change of intention, to
+divest himself.
+
+Conscious of mademoiselle's presence behind me, I stood for a moment
+awaiting the secretary's attack. In that moment did I hear, or but seem
+to hear, the sound of many horses' footfalls on the distant road? I did
+not wait to assure myself. Knowing that, if the governor's troops had
+indeed found Maury abandoned, and had returned, quick work was
+necessary, I attacked at the same instant as my adversary did. As I
+would no more than disable an antagonist less protected than myself, I
+made to touch him lightly in his right side; but my point, tearing away
+a part of his jerkin, gave the sound and feel of metal, and thus I
+learned that he too wore body armor. I was pleased at this; for now we
+were less unequal than I had thought, and I might use full force. He had
+tried to turn with his dagger this my first thrust, but was not quick
+enough, whereas my own dagger caught neatly the sword-thrust that he
+made simultaneously with mine.
+
+"Oh, M. de Launay!" cried mademoiselle, behind me, in a voice of terror,
+at the first swift clash of our weapons.
+
+"Fear not for me, mademoiselle!" I cried, catching Montignac's blade
+again with my dagger, and giving a thrust which he avoided by
+leaping backward.
+
+"Good, Montignac!" cried La Chatre, looking on from the window. "He
+cannot reach you! If you cannot kill him, you may keep him engaged till
+the troops come back!"
+
+"I shall kill him!" was Montignac's reply, while he faced me with set
+teeth and relentless eyes.
+
+"Listen, monsieur!" cried mademoiselle. "If you die, I shall die with
+you!" And she ran from behind me to the centre of the chamber, where I
+could see her.
+
+"And if I live?" I shouted, narrowly stopping a terrible thrust, and
+stepping back between the table and the bed.
+
+"If we live, I am yours forever! Ernanton, I love you!"
+
+At last she had confessed it with her lips! For the first time, she had
+called me by my Christian name! My head swam with joy.
+
+"You kill me with happiness, Julie!" I cried, overturning the table
+towards Montignac to gain a moment's breath.
+
+"I shall kill you with my sword!" Montignac hurled the words through
+clenched teeth. "For, by God, you shall have no happiness with her!"
+
+His white face had an expression of demoniac hate, yet his thrusts became
+the more adroit and swift, his guard the more impenetrable and firm. His
+body was as sinuous as a wild beast's, his eye as steady. The longer he
+fought, the more formidable he became as an adversary. He was worth a
+score of Vicomtes de Berquin.
+
+"Ernanton," cried mademoiselle, "you know all my treachery!"
+
+"I know that you would have saved your father," I answered, leaping
+backward upon the bed, to avoid the secretary's impetuous rush; "and
+that I have saved him, and that, God willing, we shall soon meet him
+in Guienne!"
+
+"If he meets you, it will be in hell!" With this, Montignac jumped upon
+the bed after me, and there was some close dagger play while I turned to
+back out between the posts at the foot.
+
+At this moment La Chatre gave a loud, jubilant cry, and mademoiselle,
+looking out of the window, uttered a scream of consternation.
+
+"The troops at last!" shouted La Chatre. "Hold out but another minute,
+Montignac!"
+
+So then I had heard aright. Alas, I thought, that the river road to Maury
+should be so much shorter than the forest road; alas, that the governor's
+troops should have had time to return ere Blaise had reached the junction
+of the roads!
+
+"My God, the soldiers have us in a trap!" cried mademoiselle, while I
+caught Montignac's dagger-point with a bed-curtain, and stepped backward
+from the bed to the floor.
+
+"And mademoiselle shall be mine!"
+
+As he uttered these words with a fiendish kind of elation, Montignac
+leaped from the bed after me, releasing his dagger by pulling the curtain
+from its fastening, while at the same time his sword-point, directed at
+my neck, rang on my breast-plate.
+
+"You shall not live to see the end of this, monsieur!" I replied,
+infuriated at his premature glee.
+
+And, having given ground a little, I made so quick an onslaught that, in
+saving himself, he fell back against a chair, which overturned and took
+him to the floor with it.
+
+"Help, monsieur!" he cried to La Chatre, raising his dagger just in time
+to ward off my sword.
+
+The governor now perceived the sword that stood by the fireplace, took it
+up, and thrust at me. Mademoiselle, who, in her distress at the sight of
+the troops, had run to the _prie-dieu_ and fallen on her knees, saw La
+Chatre's movement, and, rushing forward, caught the sword with both hands
+as he thrust. I expected to see her fingers torn by the blade, but it
+happened that the sword was still in its sheath, a fact which in our
+excitement none of us had observed; so that when La Chatre tried to pull
+the weapon from her grasp he merely drew it from the sheath, which
+remained in her hands. By this time I was ready for the governor.
+
+"Come on!" I cried. "It is a better match, two against me!"
+
+And I sent La Chatre's sword flying from his hand, just in time to guard
+against a dagger stroke from Montignac, who had now risen. Julie snatched
+up the sword and held the governor at bay with it.
+
+For some moments the distant clatter of galloping horses had been rapidly
+increasing.
+
+"Quick!" shouted La Chatre through the window to the approaching troops.
+"To the rescue!"
+
+And he stood wildly beckoning them on, but keeping his head turned
+towards Montignac and me, who both fought with the greatest fury. For I
+saw that I had found at last an antagonist requiring all my strength and
+skill, one with whom the outcome was not at all certain.
+
+The tumult of hoofs grew louder and nearer.
+
+"Ernanton, fly while we can! The soldiers are coming!"
+
+Mademoiselle threw La Chatre's sword to a far corner, ran to the door
+leading from the stairway landing, closed it, and pushed home the bolt.
+
+"They are at the gate! They are entering!" cried the governor, joyously.
+"Another minute, Montignac!"
+
+There was the rushing clank of hoofs on the drawbridge, then from the
+courtyard rose a confused turbulence of horses, men, and arms.
+
+Again my weapons clashed with Montignac's. Julie looked swiftly around.
+Her eye alighted on the dagger that lay on one of the chairs. She drew it
+from its sheath.
+
+"If we die, it is together!" she cried, holding it aloft.
+
+There came a deadened, thumping sound, growing swiftly to great volume.
+It was that of men rushing up the stairs.
+
+"To the rescue!" cried La Chatre. "But one more parry, Montignac!"
+
+There was now a thunder of tramping in the hall outside the door.
+
+"Ay, one more--the last!" It was I who spoke, and the speech was truth. I
+leaped upon my enemy, between his dagger and his sword, and buried my
+dagger in his neck. When I drew it out, he whirled around, clutched
+wildly at the air, caught the curtain at the window, and fell, with the
+quick, sharp cry:
+
+"God have mercy on me!"
+
+"Amen to that!" said I, wiping the blood from my dagger.
+
+A terrible pounding shook the door, and from without came cries of
+"Open." Mademoiselle ran to my side, her dagger ready for her breast. I
+put my left arm around her.
+
+"And now, God have mercy on _you_!" shouted La Chatre, triumphantly; for
+the door flew from its place, and armed men surged into the chamber,
+crowding the open doorway.
+
+"Are we in time, my captain?" roared their leader, looking from the
+governor to me.
+
+And La Chatre tottered back to the fireplace, dumbfounded, for the leader
+was Blaise and the men were my own.
+
+Julie gave a glad little cry, and, dropping her dagger, sank to her knees
+exhausted.
+
+"Good-night, monsieur!" I said to La Chatre. "We thank you for your
+hospitality!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE RIDE TOWARDS GUIENNE
+
+
+I ordered the men to return to the courtyard, and, supporting Julie, I
+followed them from the chamber, leaving M. de la Chatre alone with his
+chagrin and the dead body of his secretary.
+
+In the hall outside the governor's chamber, we found Jeannotte and Hugo,
+for Blaise had brought them with him, believing that we would not return
+to Maury. The gypsies had accompanied him as far as Godeau's inn, where
+we had first met them. He had even brought as much baggage and provisions
+as could be hastily packed on the horses behind the men. The only human
+beings left by him at Maury were the three rascals who had so
+blunderingly served De Berquin, but he had considerately unlocked the
+door of their cell before his departure.
+
+I begged mademoiselle to rest a while in one of the chambers contiguous
+to the hall, and, when she and Jeannotte had left us, I told Blaise as
+much of the truth as it needed to show mademoiselle as she was. I then
+explained why he had found the draw-bridge down, the gate open, the
+château undefended. He grinned at the trick that fate had played on our
+enemies, but looked rather downcast at the lost opportunity of meeting
+them at Maury.
+
+"But," said he, looking cheerful again, "they will come back to
+the château and find us here, and we may yet have some lively work
+with them."
+
+"Perchance," I said, "for I fear that mademoiselle cannot endure another
+ride to-night. If she could, I would start immediately for Guienne. Our
+work in Berry is finished."
+
+"Then you shall start immediately," said a gentle but resolute voice
+behind me. Mademoiselle, after a few minutes' repose, had risen and come
+to demand that no consideration for her comfort should further imperil
+our safety.
+
+"But--" I started to object.
+
+"Better another ride," she said, with a smile, "than another risking of
+your life. I swear that I will not rest till you are out of danger. It is
+not I who most need rest."
+
+She looked, indeed, fresh and vigorous, as one will, despite bodily
+fatigue, when one has cast off a heavy burden and found promise of new
+happiness. When a whole lifetime of joy was to be won, it was no time to
+tarry for the sake of weary limbs.
+
+So it was decided that we should start at once southward, not resting
+until we should be half-way across the mountains. As for my belated
+foragers, we should have to let them take their chances of rejoining
+us; and some weeks later they did indeed arrive at the camp in
+Guienne with rich spoil, having found Maury given over to the owls
+and bats as of yore.
+
+The men cheered for joy at the announcement that we were at last to
+rejoin our Henri's flying camp. In the guard-house we found Pierre and
+the other guardsman, both securely bound by Frojac. We released Pierre
+and sent him to his mistress. I put Blaise at the head of my company, and
+we set forth, half of the troop going first, then mademoiselle and I,
+then Jeannotte and the two boys, and lastly the other half of my force.
+Looking back, I saw the lighted window of the governor's chamber, that
+window whence I had looked out at Frojac and whence La Chatre had
+mistakenly taken my men for his own. Doubtless he still sat in his
+chamber, dazed and incapable of action, for after leaving him alone there
+I neither saw nor heard him. Nor did we see any more troops or any
+servants about the château. Some hasty scampering in distant apartments,
+after the entrance of my men, was the only indication of inhabitants that
+we had received. If there were other troops in the château than the six
+we had disposed of, they followed the example of the servants and lay
+close. As for the soldiers at the town guard-house, they must have heard
+my men ride to the château, but they had wisely refrained from appearing
+before a force greater than their own. I shall never cease to marvel that
+the very night that took me and my men to Clochonne by one road took La
+Chatre's guards and the town garrison to Maury by another.
+
+When I sent Blaise to the head of the troops, I told him to set a good
+pace, for the governor's men had indeed had time sufficient to have gone
+to Maury, discovered their mistake, and come back, so much shorter is the
+river road than the forest way. There was a likelihood, therefore, of
+their reaching the point of junction, on their return, at any minute, and
+I wished to be past that point and well up the mountain-side before they
+should do so.
+
+Julie rode very close to me, and as soon as we were out of the gate she
+began in a low tone to speak of a thing that required no more explanation
+to me; yet I let her speak on, for the relief of her heart. So, in a few
+minutes, as we rode with the soldiers in the night, she eased her mind
+forever of the matter.
+
+"When I received word in Bourges," she said, "that my father was in
+prison, I thought that I would die of grief and horror. They would not
+let me see him, told me that his crime of harboring a Huguenot was a
+grave one, that he had violated the King's edict, and might be charged
+even with treason. The thought of how he must suffer in a dungeon was
+more than I could endure. Only M. de la Chatre, they told me, could order
+his release. La Chatre had left Fleurier to go northward. I started after
+him, not waiting even to refresh my horses. When we reached the inn at
+the end of the town, I had become sufficiently calm to listen to Hugo's
+advice that it would be best to bait the horses before going further. I
+began to perceive, too, that myself and Jeannotte needed some nourishment
+in order to be able to go on a journey. Thus it happened that I stopped
+at the inn where La Chatre himself was. He had not gone immediately north
+from Fleurier, but had been visiting an estate in the vicinity, and it
+was on regaining the main road that he had tarried at the inn, without
+reentering the town. I had never seen him, but the girl at the inn told
+me who he was.
+
+"When I fell on my knees, and told him how incapable my father was of
+harm or disloyalty, he at first showed annoyance, and said that my
+pleading would be useless. My father must be treated as an example, he
+said. To succor traitors was treason, to shield heretics was heresy, and
+there was no doubt that the judges would condemn him to death, to furnish
+others a lesson. He was then going to leave me, but his secretary came
+forward and said that I had come at an opportune moment, an instrument
+sent by Heaven. Was I not, he asked the governor, some one who had much
+to gain or much to lose? Then La Chatre became joyful, and said that
+there was a way--one only--by which I might free my father. Eagerly I
+begged to know that way, but with horror I refused it when I learned that
+it was to--to hunt down a certain Huguenot captain, to make him trust me,
+and to betray him. For a time I would not hear his persuasions. Then he
+swore that, if I did not undertake this detestable mission, my father
+should surely die; and he told me that you were a deserter, a traitor, an
+enemy to the church and to the King, I had heard your name but once or
+twice, and I remembered it only as one who had worked with daring and
+secrecy in the interests of the Huguenots. He described my father
+tortured and killed, his body hanging at the gates of Fleurier, blown by
+the wind, and attacked by the birds. Oh, it was terrible! All this could
+be avoided, my father's liberty regained, by my merely serving the King
+and the church. He gave his word that, if I betrayed you, my father
+should be released without even a trial. You can understand, can you not?
+You were then a stranger to me, and my father the most gentle and kindly
+of men, the most tender and devoted of fathers."
+
+"I understood already when I stood behind the curtain,
+sweetheart," said I.
+
+"When you came," she went on, "and asked whither I was bound, I made my
+first attempt at lying. I wonder that you did not perceive my
+embarrassment and shame when I said that the governor had threatened to
+imprison me if I did not leave the province. It was the best pretext I
+could give for leaving Fleurier while my father remained there in prison,
+though they would not let me see him. It occurred to me that you must
+think me a heartless daughter to go so far from him, even if it were,
+indeed, to save my life."
+
+"I thought only that you were an unhappy child, of whose inexperience and
+fears the governor had availed himself; and that, after all, was the
+truth. From the first moment when I knew that you were the daughter of M.
+de Varion, I was resolved to attempt his rescue; but I kept my intention
+from you, lest I might fail."
+
+"Oh, to think that all the while I was planning your betrayal, you were
+intending to save my father! Oh, the deception of which I was guilty!
+What constant torture, what continual shame I felt! Often I thought I had
+betrayed myself. Did you not observe my agitation when you first
+mentioned the name of La Tournoire, and said that you would take me to
+him. I wonder that you did not hear my heart say, 'That is the man I am
+to betray!' And how bitter, yet sweet, it was to hear you commiserate my
+dejection, which was due in part to the shame of the treacherous task I
+had undertaken. It seemed to me that you ought to guess its cause, yet
+you attributed it all to other sources. What a weight was on me while we
+rode towards Clochonne, the knowledge that I was to betray the man whom I
+then thought your friend,--the friend of the gentleman who protected me
+and was so solicitous for my happiness! How glad I was when you told me
+the man was no great friend of yours, that you would sacrifice him for
+the sake of the woman you loved! After all, I thought you might not
+loathe me when you should learn that I had betrayed him! Yet, to perform
+my task in your presence, to make him love me--for I was to do that, if
+needs be and it could be done--while you were with me, seemed impossible.
+This was the barrier between us, the fact that I had engaged to betray
+your friend, and you can understand now why I begged that you would leave
+me. How could I play the Delilah in your sight? It had been hard enough
+to question you about La Tournoire's hiding-place. And when I learned
+that you were La Tournoire himself, whom I had already half betrayed in
+sending Pierre to La Chatre with an account of your hiding-place; that
+you whom I already loved--why should I not confess it?--were the man
+whom I was to pretend to love; that you who already loved me were the man
+whom I was to betray by making him love me,--oh, what a moment that was,
+a moment when all hope died and despair overwhelmed me! Had I known from
+the first that you were he, I might have guarded against loving you--"
+
+"And well it is," said I, interrupting, "that for a jest and a surprise I
+had kept that knowledge from you! Else you might indeed have--"
+
+"Oh, do not think of it!" And she shuddered. "But you are right. Love
+alone has saved us. But at first even the knowledge that you were La
+Tournoire, and that none the less I loved you, did not make me turn back.
+If my duty to my father had before required that I should sacrifice you,
+did my duty not still require it? Did it make any change in my duty that
+I loved you? What right had I, when devoted to a task like mine, to love
+any one? If I had violated my duty by loving you, ought I not to
+disregard my love, stifle it, act as if it did not exist? I had to forget
+that I was a woman who loved, remember only that I was a daughter. My
+filial duty was no less, my proper choice between my father and another
+was not altered by my having fallen in love. I must carry my horrible
+task to the end. What a night of struggle was that at the inn, after I
+had learned that the appointed victim was you! And now it was necessary
+that you should not leave me; therefore I spoke no more of the barrier
+between us. I fortified myself to hide my feelings and maintain my
+pretence. Surely you noticed the change in me, the forced composure and
+cheerfulness. How I tried to harden myself!
+
+"And after that the words of love you so often spoke to me, what bliss
+and what anguish they caused me! I was to have made you love me, but you
+loved me already. I ought to have rejoiced at this, for the success that
+it promised my purpose. Yet, it was on that account that I shuddered at
+it; and if it did give me moments of joy it was because it was pleasant
+to have your love. My heart rose at the thought that I was loved by you,
+and fell at the thought that your love was to cause your death. Often,
+for your own sake, I wished that I might fail, that you would not love
+me; yet for my father's sake I had to wish that I should succeed, had to
+be glad that you loved me. To make you fall the more easily into the
+hands of your enemies, I had to show love for you. How easy it was to
+show what I felt; yet what anguish I underwent in showing it, when by
+doing so I led you to death! The more I appeared to love you, the more
+truly I disclosed my heart, yet the greater I felt was my treason! I do
+not think any woman's heart was ever so torn by opposing motives!"
+
+"My beloved, all that is past forever!"
+
+"In my dreams at Maury, we would be strolling together among roses, under
+cloudless skies, nothing to darken my joy. Then I would see you wounded,
+the soldiers of the governor gathered around you and laughing at my
+horror and grief. I would awake and vow not to betray you, and then I
+would see my father's face, pale and haggard, and my dead mother's wet
+with tears for his misery and supplicating me to save him!"
+
+"My poor Julie!"
+
+"And to-night,--yes, it was only to-night, it seems so long ago,--when
+you held my hand on the dial, and plighted fidelity, what happiness I
+should have had then, but for the knowledge of my horrible task, of the
+death that awaited you, of the treason I was so soon to commit! For I and
+Jeannotte had already arranged it, Hugo was soon to be sent to La Chatre.
+And then came De Berquin. For telling only the truth of me, you killed
+him as a traducer. So much faith you had in me, who deserved so little! I
+could endure it no longer! Never would I look on your face again with
+that weight of shame on me. God must send other means of saving my
+father. They demanded too much of me. I would, as far as I could, make
+myself worthy of your faith, though I never saw you again. Yet I could
+not betray La Chatre. He had entrusted me with his design, and,
+detestable as it was, I could not play him false in it. But I could at
+least resign the mission. And I went, to undo the compact and claim back
+my honor! I little guessed that he would make use, without my knowledge,
+of the information I had sent him of your hiding-place. It seemed that,
+even though La Chatre did know your hiding-place, God would not let you
+be taken through me if I refused to be your betrayer."
+
+"And so it has turned out," I said, blithely, "and now I no longer regret
+having kept from you my intention of attempting your father's release.
+For had I told you of it, and events taken another course, that attempt
+might have failed, and it would perhaps have cost many lives, whereas the
+order that I got from La Chatre this night is both sure and inexpensive.
+But for matters having gone as they have, I should not have been enabled
+to get that order. Ha! What is this!"
+
+For Blaise had suddenly called a halt, and was riding back to me as if
+for orders.
+
+"Look, monsieur!" and he pointed to where the rive, road appeared from
+behind a little spur at the base of the mountains. A body of horsemen was
+coming into view. At one glance I recognized the foremost riders as
+belonging to the troop I had seen four hours before.
+
+"The devil!" said I. "La Chatre's soldiers coming back from Maury!"
+
+We had ridden down the descent leading from the château along the town
+wall, and had left the town some distance behind, so that the mountains
+now loomed large before us. But we had not yet passed the place where the
+roads converged.
+
+"If we can only get into the mountain road before they reach this one, we
+shall not meet them," I went on. "Forward, men!"
+
+"But," said Blaise, astonished and frowning, but riding on beside
+me, "they will reach this road before we pass the junction. Do you
+wish them to take us in the flank? See, they have seen us and are
+pressing forward!"
+
+"If we reach our road in time, we shall lead them a chase. Go to the head
+and set the pace at a gallop!"
+
+"And have them overtake us and fall on our rear?"
+
+"You mutinous rascal, don't you see that they are three times our number?
+We stand better chance in flight than in fight! But, no, you are right!
+They are too near the junction. We must face them. I shall go to the
+head. Julie, my betrothed, I must leave you for a time. Roquelin and
+Sabray shall fall behind with you, Jeannotte, and the two boys."
+
+"I shall not leave your side!" she said, resolutely.
+
+"Oh, mademoiselle!" cried Jeannotte, in a great fright.
+
+"You may fall back, if you like," said Julie to her. "I shall not."
+
+All this time we were going forward and the governor's troops were
+rapidly nearing the junction. We could now plainly hear the noise they
+made, which, because of that made by ourselves, we had not heard sooner.
+They were looking at us with curiosity, and were evidently determined to
+intercept us.
+
+"Julie, consider! There may be great danger."
+
+"If you are endangered, why should not I be? This is not the night,
+Ernanton, on which you should ask me to leave you."
+
+"Then I shall at least remain here," said I. "Go to the head, Blaise. But
+if there is a challenge, I shall answer it. Perhaps they will not know us
+and we can make them think we are friends."
+
+He rode forward with sparkling eyes, although not before casting one
+glance of solicitude at Jeannotte, who did not leave her mistress.
+
+The men eagerly looked to their arms as they rode, and they exchanged
+conjectures in low, quick tones, casting many a curious look at the
+approaching force. Julie and I kept silence, I wondering what would be
+the outcome of this encounter.
+
+Suddenly, when the head of their long, somewhat straggling line had just
+reached the junction, and Blaise was but a short distance from it, came
+from their leader--La Chatre's equerry, I think--the order to halt, and
+then the clear, sharp cry:
+
+"Who goes there?"
+
+Before I could answer, a familiar voice near their leader cried out:
+
+"It is his company,--La Tournoire's,--I swear it! I know the big fellow
+at the head."
+
+The voice was that of the foppish, cowardly rascal of De Berquin's band.
+I now saw that the three fellows left by Blaise at Maury were held as
+prisoners by the governor's troops. Poor Jacques, doubtless, thought to
+get his freedom or some reward for crying out our identity.
+
+"I shall wring your neck yet, lap-dog!" roared Blaise.
+
+All chance of passing under false colors was now gone. A battle with
+thrice our force seemed imminent. What would befall Julie if they should
+be too much for us? The thought made me sick with horror. At that instant
+I remembered something.
+
+"Halt!" I cried to the men. "I shall return in a moment, sweetheart.
+Monsieur, the captain," and I rode forward towards the leader of the
+governor's troops, "your informant speaks truly. Permit me to introduce
+myself. I am the Sieur de la Tournoire, the person named in that order."
+With which I politely handed him the pass that I had forced from La
+Chatre, which I had for a time forgotten.
+
+It was about three hours after midnight, and the moon was not yet very
+low. The captain, taken by surprise in several respects, mechanically
+grasped the document and read it.
+
+"It is a--a pass," he said, presently, staring at it and at me in a
+bewildered manner.
+
+"As you see, for myself and all my company," said I; "signed by M. de
+la Chatre."
+
+"Yes, it is his signature."
+
+"His seal, also, you will observe."
+
+"I do. Yet, it is strange. Certain orders that I have received,--in fact,
+orders to which I have just been attending,--make this very surprising. I
+cannot understand--"
+
+"It is very simple. While you were attending to your orders, I was making
+a treaty with M. de la Chatre. In accordance with it, he wrote the pass.
+He will, doubtless, relate the purport of our interview as soon as you
+return to the château. I know that he is impatient for your coming.
+Therefore, since you have seen the pass, I shall not detain you longer."
+
+"But--I do not know--it is, indeed, the writing of M. de la Chatre--it
+seems quite right, yet monsieur, since all is right, you will not
+object to returning with me to the château that M. de la Chatre may
+verify his pass?"
+
+"Since all is right, there is no use in my doing so; and it would be most
+annoying to M. de la Chatre to be asked to verify his own writing,
+especially as the very object of this pass was to avoid my being delayed
+on my march this night."
+
+The captain, a young and handsome gentleman, with a frank look and a
+courteous manner, hesitated.
+
+"Monsieur will understand," I went on, "that every minute we stand here
+opposes the purpose for which that pass was given."
+
+"I begin to see," he said, with a look of pleasurable discovery. "You
+have changed sides, monsieur? You have repented of your errors and have
+put your great skill and courage at the service of M. de la Chatre?"
+
+"It is for M. de la Chatre to say what passed between us this evening,"
+said I, with a discreet air. "Then _an revoir_, captain! I trust we shall
+meet again."
+
+And I took back the pass, and ordered my men forward, as if the young
+captain had already given me permission to go on. Then I saluted him, and
+returned to Julie. The captain gazed at us in a kind of abstraction as we
+passed. His men were as dumbfounded as my own. His foremost horsemen had
+heard the short conversation concerning the pass, and were, doubtless, as
+much at a loss as their leader was. When we were well in the mountain
+road, I heard him give the order to march, and, looking back, I saw them
+turn wearily up the road to the château. We continued to put distance
+between ourselves and Clochonne.
+
+On the northern slope of the mountains, we made but one stop. That was at
+Godeau's, where we had a short rest and some wine. I gave the good
+Marianne a last gold piece, received her Godspeed, and took up our march,
+this time ignoring the forest path to Maury, following the old road
+southward instead. It would be time to set up our camp when we should be
+out of the province of Berry.
+
+It was while we were yet ascending the northern slope of the mountains,
+and the moon still shone now and then from the west through the trees,
+that we talked, Julie and I, of the time that lay before us. It mattered
+not to me under which form our marriage should be. One creed was to me
+only a little the better of the two, in that it involved less of
+subjection, but if the outward profession of the other would facilitate
+our union, I would make that profession, reserving always my sword and my
+true sympathies for the side that my fathers had taken. But when I
+proposed this, Julie said that I ought not even to assume the appearance
+of having changed my colors, and that it was for her, the woman, to
+adopt mine, therefore she would abjure and we should be married as
+Protestants. She could answer for the consent of her father, who could
+not refuse his preserver and hers. It pleased me that she made no mention
+of her lack of dowry, for their little estate would certainly be
+confiscated after her father's flight. Judging my love by her own, she
+knew that I valued herself alone above all the fortunes in the world. We
+would, then, be united as soon as her father, guided by Frojac, should
+join us in Guienne. She and her father should then go to Nerac, there to
+await my return from the war that was now imminent; for I was to continue
+advancing my fortunes by following those of our Henri on the field. Some
+day our leader would overcome his enemies and mount the throne that the
+fated Henri III.--ailing survivor of three short-lived brothers--would
+soon leave vacant. Then our King would restore us our estates, I should
+rebuild La Tournoire, and there we should pass our days in the peace that
+our Henri's accession would bring his kingdom. Blaise should marry
+Jeannotte and be our steward.
+
+So we gave word to our intentions and hopes, those that I have here
+written and many others. Some have been realized, and some have not, but
+all that I have here written have been.
+
+Once, years after that night, having gone up to Paris to give our two
+eldest children a glimpse of the court, we were walking through the
+gallery built by our great Henri IV., to connect the Louvre with the
+Tuileries, when my son asked me who was the painted fat old lady that was
+staring so hard at him as if she had seen him before. In turn I asked the
+Abbé Brantome, who happened to be passing.
+
+"It is the Marquise de Pirillaume," he said. "She was a gallant lady in
+the reign of Henri III. She was Mlle. d'Arency and very beautiful."
+
+I turned my eyes from her to Julie at my side,--to Julie, as fair and
+slender and beautiful still as on that night when we rode together with
+my soldiers towards Guienne, in the moonlight.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Enemy To The King, by Robert Neilson Stephens
+
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