Historical Romances: Under the Red Robe, Count Hannibal, A Gentleman of France

by Stanley John Weyman

  CHAPTER XXXV.

  'LE ROI EST MORT!'

  IT was M. d'Agen's breastpiece saved my life by warding off the pointof the varlet's sword, so that the worst injury I got was the loss ofmy breath for five minutes, with a swimming in the head and a kind ofsyncope. These being past, I found myself on my back on the ground,with a man's knee on my breast and a dozen horsemen standing round me.The sky reeled dizzily before my eyes and the men's figures loomedgigantic; yet I had sense enough to know what had happened to me, andthat matters might well be worse.

  Resigning myself to the prospect of captivity, I prepared to ask forquarter; which I did not doubt I should receive, since they had takenme in an open skirmish, and honestly, and in the daylight. But the manwhose knee already incommoded me sufficiently, seeing me about tospeak, squeezed me on a sudden so fiercely, bidding me at the sametime in a gruff whisper be silent, that I thought I could not dobetter than obey.

  Accordingly I lay still, and as in a dream, for my brain was stillclouded, heard someone say, 'Dead! Is he? I hoped we had come in time.Well, he deserved a better fate. Who is he, Rosny?'

  'Do you know him, Maignan?' said a voice which sounded strangelyfamiliar.

  The man who knelt upon me answered, 'No, my lord. He is a stranger tome. He has the look of a Norman.'

  'Like enough!' replied a high-pitched voice I had not heard before.'For he rode a good horse. Give me a hundred like it, and a hundredmen to ride as straight, and I would not envy the King of France.'

  'Much less his poor cousin of Navarre,' the first speaker rejoined ina laughing tone, 'without a whole shirt to his back or a doublet thatis decently new. Come, Turenne, acknowledge that you are not so badlyoff after all!'

  At that word the cloud which had darkened my faculties swept on asudden aside. I saw that the men into whose hands I had fallen worewhite favours, their leader a white plume; and comprehended withoutmore that the King of Navarre had come to my rescue, and beaten offthe Leaguers who had dismounted me. At the same moment the remembranceof all that had gone before, and especially of the scene I hadwitnessed in the king's chamber, rushed upon my mind with suchoverwhelming force that I fell into a fury of impatience at thethought of the time I had wasted; and rising up suddenly I threw offMaignan with all my force, crying out that I was alive--that I wasalive, and had news.

  The equerry did his best to restrain me, cursing me under his breathfor a fool, and almost squeezing the life out of me. But in vain, forthe King of Navarre, riding nearer, saw me struggling. 'Hallo! hallo!'tis a strange dead man,' he cried, interposing. 'What is the meaningof this? Let him go! Do you hear, sirrah? Let him go!'

  The equerry obeyed and stood back sullenly, and I staggered to myfeet, and looked round with eyes which still swam and watered. On theinstant a cry of recognition greeted me, with a hundred exclamationsof astonishment. While I heard my name uttered on every side in adozen different tones, I remarked that M. de Rosny, upon whom my eyesfirst fell, alone stood silent, regarding me with a face of sorrowfulsurprise.

  'By heavens, sir, I knew nothing of this!' I heard the King of Navarredeclare, addressing himself to the Vicomte de Turenne. 'The man ishere by no connivance of mine. Interrogate him yourself, if you will.Or I will. Speak, sir,' he continued, turning to me with hiscountenance hard and forbidding. 'You heard me yesterday, what Ipromised you? Why, in God's name, are you here to-day?'

  I tried to answer, but Maignan had so handled me that I had not breathenough, and stood panting.

  'Your Highness's clemency in this matter,' M. de Turenne said, with asneer, 'has been so great he trusted to its continuance. And doubtlesshe thought to find you alone. I fear I am in the way.'

  I knew him by his figure and his grand air, which in any other companywould have marked him for master; and forgetting the impatience whicha moment before had consumed me--doubtless I was still light-headed--Ianswered him. 'Yet I had once the promise of your lordship'sprotection,' I gasped.

  'My protection, sir?' he exclaimed, his eyes gleaming angrily.

  'Even so,' I answered. 'At the inn at Etampes, where M. de Crillonwould have fought me.'

  He was visibly taken aback. 'Are you that man?' he cried.

  'I am. But I am not here to prate of myself,' I replied. And withthat--the remembrance of my neglected errand flashing on me again--Istaggered to the King of Navarre's side, and, falling on my knees,seized his stirrup. 'Sire, I bring you news! great news! dreadfulnews!' I cried, clinging to it. 'His Majesty was but a quarter of anhour ago stabbed in the body in his chamber by a villain monk. And isdying, or, it may be, dead.'

  'Dead? The King!' Turenne cried with an oath. 'Impossible!'

  Vaguely I heard others crying, some this, some that, as surprise andconsternation, or anger, or incredulity moved them. But I did notanswer them, for Henry, remaining silent, held me spellbound and awedby the marvellous change which I saw fall on his face. His eyes becameon a sudden suffused with blood, and seemed to retreat under his heavybrows; his cheeks turned of a brick-red colour; his half-open lipsshowed his teeth gleaming through his beard; while his great nose,which seemed to curve and curve until it well-nigh met his chin, gaveto his mobile countenance an aspect as strange as it was terrifying.Withal he uttered for a time no word, though I saw his hand grip theriding-whip he held in a convulsive grasp, as though his thought were''Tis mine! Mine! Wrest it away who dares!'

  'Bethink you, sir,' he said at last, fixing his piercing eyes on me,and speaking in a harsh, low tone, like the growling of a great dog,'this is no jesting-time. Nor will you save your skin by a ruse. Tellme, on your peril, is this a trick?'

  'Heaven forbid, sire!' I answered with passion. 'I was in the chamber,and saw it with my own eyes. I mounted on the instant, and rode hitherby the shortest route to warn your Highness to look to yourself. Monksare many, and the Holy Union is not apt to stop half-way.'

  I saw he believed me, for his face relaxed. His breath seemed to comeand go again, and for the tenth part of a second his eyes sought M. deRosny's. Then he looked at me again. 'I thank you, sir,' he said,bowing gravely and courteously, 'for your care for me--not for yourtidings, which are of the sorriest. God grant my good cousin and kingmay be hurt only. Now tell us exactly--for these gentlemen are equallyinterested with myself--had a surgeon seen him?'

  I replied in the negative, but added that the wound was in the groin,and bled much.

  'You said a few minutes ago, "dying or already dead!"' the King ofNavarre rejoined. 'Why?'

  'His Majesty's face was sunken,' I stammered.

  He nodded. 'You may be mistaken,' he said. 'I pray that you are. Buthere comes Mornay. He may know more.'

  In a moment I was abandoned, even by M. de Turenne, so great was theanxiety which possessed all to learn the truth. Maignan alone, underpretence of adjusting a stirrup, remained beside me, and entreated mein a low voice to begone. 'Take this horse, M. de Marsac, if youwill,' he urged, 'and ride back the way you came. You have done whatyou came to do. Go back, and be thankful.'

  'Chut!' I said, 'there is no danger.'

  'You will see,' he replied darkly, 'if you stay here. Come, come, takemy advice and the horse,' he persisted, 'and begone! Believe me, itwill be for the best.'

  I laughed outright at his earnestness and his face of perplexity. 'Isee you have M. de Rosny's orders to get rid of me,' I said. 'But I amnot going, my friend. He must find some other way out of hisembarrassment, for here I stay.'

  'Well, your blood be on your own head,' Maignan retorted, swinginghimself into the saddle with a gloomy face. 'I have done my best tosave you!'

  'And your master!' I answered, laughing.

  For flight was the last thing I had in my mind. I had ridden this ridewith a clear perception that the one thing I needed was a footing atCourt. By the special kindness of Providence I had now gained this;and I was not the man to resign it because it proved to be scanty andperilous. It was something that I had spoken to the great
Vicomte faceto face and not been consumed, that I had given him look for look andstill survived, that I had put in practice Crillon's lessons and cometo no harm.

  Nor was this all. I had never in the worst times blamed the King ofNavarre for his denial of me. I had been foolish, indeed, seeing thatit was in the bargain, had I done so; nor had I ever doubted hisgood-will or his readiness to reward me should occasion arise. Now, Iflattered myself, I had given him that which he needed, and hadhitherto lacked--an excuse, I mean, for interference in my behalf.

  Whether I was right or wrong in this notion I was soon to learn, forat this moment Henry's cavalcade, which had left me a hundred pacesbehind, came to a stop, and while some of the number waved to me tocome on, one spurred back to summon me to the king. I hastened to obeythe order as fast as I could, but I saw on approaching that though allwas at a standstill till I came up, neither the King of Navarre nor M.de Turenne was thinking principally of me. Every face, from Henry's tothat of his least important courtier, wore an air of gravepreoccupation; which I had no difficulty in ascribing to the doubtpresent in every mind, and outweighing every interest, whether theKing of France was dead, or dying, or merely wounded.

  'Quick, sir!' Henry said with impatience, as soon as I came withinhearing. 'Do not detain me with your affairs longer than is necessary.M. de Turenne presses me to carry into effect the order I gaveyesterday. But as you have placed yourself in jeopardy on my account Ifeel that something is due to you. You will be good enough, therefore,to present yourself at once at M. la Varenne's lodging, and give meyour parole to remain there without stirring abroad until your affairis concluded.'

  Aware that I owed this respite, which at once secured my presentsafety and promised well for the future, to the great event that, evenin M. de Turenne's mind, had overshadowed all others, I bowed insilence. Henry, however, was not content with this. 'Come, sir,' hesaid sharply, and with every appearance of anger, 'do you agree tothat?'

  I replied humbly that I thanked him for his clemency.

  'There is no need of thanks,' he replied coldly. 'What I have done iswithout prejudice to M. de Turenne's complaint. He must have justice.'

  I bowed again, and in a moment the troop were gone at a gallop towardsMeudon, whence, as I afterwards learned, the King of Navarre, attendedby a select body of five-and-twenty horsemen, wearing private arms,rode on at full speed to St. Cloud to present himself at His Majesty'sbedside. A groom who had caught the Cid, which had escaped into thetown with no other injury than a slight wound in the shoulder,by-and-by met me with the horse; and in this way I was enabled torender myself with some decency at Varenne's lodging, a small house atthe foot of the hill, not far from the Castle-gate.

  Here I found myself under no greater constraint than that which my ownparole laid upon me; and my room having the conveniency of a windowlooking upon the public street, I was enabled from hour to hour tocomprehend and enter into the various alarms and surprises which madethat day remarkable. The manifold reports which flew from mouth tomouth on the occasion, as well as the overmastering excitement whichseized all, are so well remembered, however, that I forbear to dwellupon them, though they served to distract my mind from my ownposition. Suffice it that at one moment we heard that His Majesty wasdead, at another that the wound was skin deep, and again that we mightexpect him at Meudon before sunset. The rumour that the Duchess deMontpensier had taken poison was no sooner believed than we were askedto listen to the guns of Paris firing _feux de joie_ in honour of theKing's death.

  The streets were so closely packed with persons telling and hearingthese tales that I seemed from my window to be looking on a fair. Norwas all my amusement without doors; for a number of the gentlemen ofthe Court, hearing that I had been at St. Cloud in the morning, and inthe very chamber, a thing which made me for the moment the mostdesirable companion in the world, remembered on a sudden that they hada slight acquaintance with me, and honoured me by calling upon me andsitting a great part of the day with me. From which circumstance Iconfess I derived as much hope as they diversion; knowing thatcourtiers are the best weather-prophets in the world, who hate nothingso much as to be discovered in the company of those on whom the sundoes not shine.

  The return of the King of Navarre, which happened about the middle ofthe afternoon, while it dissipated the fears of some and dashed thehopes of others, put an end to this state of uncertainty byconfirming, to the surprise of many, that His Majesty was in nodanger. We learned with varying emotions that the first appearances,which had deceived, not myself only, but experienced leeches, had beenthemselves belied by subsequent conditions; and that, in a word, Parishad as much to fear, and loyal men as much to hope, as before thiswicked and audacious attempt.

  I had no more than stomached this surprising information, which wasless welcome to me, I confess, than it should have been, when thearrival of M. d'Agen, who greeted me with the affection which he neverfailed to show me, distracted my thoughts for a time. Immediately onlearning where I was and the strange adventures which had befallen mehe had ridden off; stopping only once, when he had nearly reached me,for the purpose of waiting on Madame de Bruhl. I asked him how she hadreceived him.

  'Like herself,' he replied with an ingenuous blush. 'More kindly thanI had a right to expect, if not as warmly as I had the courage tohope.'

  'That will come with time,' I said, laughing. 'And Mademoiselle de laVire?'

  'I did not see her,' he answered, 'but I heard she was well. And ahundred fathoms deeper in love,' he added, eyeing me roguishly, 'thanwhen I saw her last.'

  It was my turn to colour now, and I did so, feeling all the pleasureand delight such a statement was calculated to afford me. Picturingmademoiselle as I had seen her last, leaning from her horse with lovewritten so plainly on her weeping face that all who ran might read, Isank into so delicious a reverie that M. la Varenne, enteringsuddenly, surprised us both before another word passed on either side.

  His look and tone were as abrupt as it was in his nature, which wassoft and compliant, to make them. 'M. de Marsac,' he said, 'I am sorryto put any constraint upon you, but I am directed to forbid you toyour friends. And I must request this gentleman to withdraw.'

  'But all day my friends have come in and out,' I said with surprise.'Is this a new order?'

  'A written order, which reached me no farther back than two minutesago,' he answered plainly. 'I am also directed to remove you to a roomat the back of the house, that you may not overlook the street.'

  'But my parole was taken,' I cried, with a natural feeling ofindignation.

  He shrugged his shoulders. 'I am sorry to say that I have nothing todo with that,' he answered. 'I can only obey orders. I must ask thisgentleman, therefore, to withdraw.'

  Of course M. d'Agen had no option but to leave me; which he did, Icould see, notwithstanding his easy and confident expressions, with agood deal of mistrust and apprehension. When he was gone, La Varennelost no time in carrying out the remainder of his orders. As aconsequence I found myself confined to a small and gloomy apartmentwhich looked, at a distance of three paces, upon the smooth face ofthe rock on which the Castle stood. This change, from a window whichcommanded all the life of the town, and intercepted every breath ofpopular fancy, to a closet whither no sounds penetrated, and where thevery transition from noon to evening scarcely made itself known, couldnot fail to depress my spirits sensibly; the more as I took it to besignificant of a change in my fortunes fully as grave. Reflecting thatI must now appear to the King of Navarre in the light of a bearer offalse tidings, I associated the order to confine me more closely withhis return from St. Cloud; and comprehending that M. de Turenne wasonce more at liberty to attend to my affairs, I began to look about mewith forebodings which were none the less painful because the parole Ihad given debarred me from any attempt to escape.

  Sleep and habit enabled me, nevertheless, to pass the night incomfort. Very early in the morning a great firing of guns, which madeitself heard even in my quarters, led me to suppose that
Paris hadsurrendered; but the servant who brought me my breakfast declined in asurly fashion to give me any information. In the end, I spent thewhole day alone, my thoughts divided between my mistress and my ownprospects, which seemed to grow more and more gloomy as the hourssucceeded one another. No one came near me, no step broke the silenceof the house; and for a while I thought my guardians had forgotteneven that I needed food. This omission, it is true, was made goodabout sunset, but still M. la Varenne did not appear, the servantseemed to be dumb, and I heard no sounds in the house.

  I had finished my meal an hour or more, and the room was growing dark,when the silence was at last broken by quick steps passing along theentrance. They paused, and seemed to hesitate at the foot of thestairs, but the next moment they came on again, and stopped at mydoor. I rose from my seat on hearing the key turned in the lock, andmy astonishment may be conceived when I saw no other than M. deTurenne enter, and close the door behind him.

  He saluted me in a haughty manner as he advanced to the table, raisinghis cap for an instant and then replacing it. This done he stoodlooking at me, and I at him, in a silence which on my side was theresult of pure astonishment; on his, of contempt and a kind of wonder.The evening light, which was fast failing, lent a sombre whiteness tohis face, causing it to stand out from the shadows behind him in a waywhich was not without its influence on me.

  'Well! 'he said at last, speaking slowly and with unimaginableinsolence, 'I am here to look at you!'

  I felt my anger rise, and gave him back look for look. 'At your will,'I said, shrugging my shoulders.

  'And to solve a question,' he continued in the same tone. 'To learnwhether the man who was mad enough to insult and defy _me_ was the oldpenniless dullard some called him, or the dare-devil others paintedhim.'

  'You are satisfied now?' I said.

  He eyed me for a moment closely; then with sudden heat he cried,'Curse me if I am! Nor whether I have to do with a man very deep orvery shallow, a fool or a knave!'

  'You may say what you please to a prisoner,' I retorted coldly.

  'Turenne commonly does--to whom he pleases!' he answered. The nextmoment he made me start by saying, as he drew out a comfit-box andopened it, 'I am just from the little fool you have bewitched. If shewere in my power I would have her whipped and put on bread and watertill she came to her senses. As she is not, I must take another way.Have you any idea, may I ask,' he continued in his cynical tone, 'whatis going to become of you, M. de Marsac?'

  I replied, my heart inexpressibly lightened by what he had said ofmademoiselle, that I placed the fullest confidence in the justice ofthe King of Navarre.

  He repeated the name in a tone I did not understand.

  'Yes, sir, the King of Navarre,' I answered firmly.

  'Well, I daresay you have good reason to do so,' he rejoined with asneer. 'Unless I am mistaken he knew a little more of this affair thanhe acknowledges.'

  'Indeed? The King of Navarre?' I said, staring stolidly at him.

  'Yes, indeed, indeed, the King of Navarre!' he retorted, mimicking me,with a nearer approach to anger than I had yet witnessed in him. 'Butlet him be a moment, sirrah!' he continued, 'and do you listen to me.Or first look at that. Seeing is believing.'

  He drew out as he spoke a paper, or, to speak more correctly, aparchment, which he thrust with a kind of savage scorn into my hand.Repressing for the moment the surprise I felt, I took it to thewindow, and reading it with difficulty, found it to be a royal patentdrawn, as far as I could judge, in due form, and appointing someperson unknown--for the name was left blank--to the post ofLieutenant-Governor of the Armagnac, with a salary of twelve thousandlivres a year!

  'Well, sir?' he said impatiently.

  'Well?' I answered mechanically. For my brain reeled; the exhibitionof such a paper in such a way raised extraordinary thoughts in mymind.

  'Can you read it?' he asked.

  'Certainly,' I answered, telling myself that he would fain play atrick on me.

  'Very well,' he replied, 'then listen. I am going to condescend; tomake you an offer, M. de Marsac. I will procure you your freedom, andfill up the blank, which you see there, with your name--upon onecondition.'

  I stared at him with all the astonishment it was natural for me tofeel in the face of such a proposition, 'You will confer this officeon me?' I muttered incredulously.

  'The king having placed it at my disposal,' he answered, 'I will. Butfirst let me remind you,' he went on proudly, 'that the affair hasanother side. On the one hand I offer you such employment, M. deMarsac, as should satisfy your highest ambition. On the other, I warnyou that my power to avenge myself is no less to-day than it wasyesterday; and that if I condescend to buy you, it is because thatcourse commends itself to me for reasons, not because it is the onlyone open.'

  I bowed, 'The condition, M. le Vicomte?' I said huskily, beginning tounderstand him.

  'That you give up all claim and suit to the hand of my kinswoman,' heanswered lightly. 'That is all. It is a simple and easy condition.'

  I looked at him in renewed astonishment, in wonder, in stupefaction;asking myself a hundred questions. Why did he stoop to bargain, whocould command? Why did he condescend to treat, who held me at hismercy? Why did he gravely discuss my aspirations, to whom they mustseem the rankest presumption? Why?--but I could not follow it. I stoodlooking at him in silence; in perplexity as great as if he had offeredme the Crown of France; in amazement and doubt and suspicion that knewno bounds.

  'Well!' he said at last, misreading the emotion which appeared in myface. 'You consent, sir?'

  'Never!' I answered firmly.

  He started. 'I think I cannot have heard you aright,' he said,speaking slowly and almost courteously. 'I offer you a great place andmy patronage, M. de Marsac. Do I understand that you prefer a prisonand my enmity?'

  'On those conditions,' I answered.

  'Think, think!' he said harshly.

  'I have thought,' I answered.

  'Ay, but have you thought where you are?' he retorted. 'Have youthought how many obstacles lie between you and this little fool? Howmany persons you must win over, how many friends you must gain? Haveyou thought what it will be to have me against you in this, or whichof us is more likely to win in the end?'

  'I have thought,' I rejoined.

  But my voice shook, my lips were dry. The room had grown dark. Therock outside, intercepting the light, gave it already the air of adungeon. Though I did not dream of yielding to him, though I even feltthat in this interview he had descended to my level, and I had had thebetter of him, I felt my heart sink. For I remembered how men immuredin prisons drag out their lives always petitioning, always forgotten;how wearily the days go, that to free men are bright with hope andambition. And I saw in a flash what it would be to remain here, or insome such place; never to cross horse again, or breathe the free airof heaven, never to hear the clink of sword against stirrup, or therich tones of M. d'Agen's voice calling for his friend!

  I expected M. de Turenne to go when I had made my answer, or else tofall into such a rage as opposition is apt to cause in those whoseldom encounter it. To my surprise, however, he restrained himself.'Come,' he said, with patience which fairly astonished me, and so muchthe more as chagrin was clearly marked in his voice, 'I know where youput your trust. You think the King of Navarre will protect you. Well,I pledge you the honour of Turenne that he will not; that the King ofNavarre will do nothing to save you. Now, what do you say?'

  'As I said before,' I answered doggedly.

  He took up the parchment from the table with a grim laugh. 'So muchthe worse for you then!' he said, shrugging his shoulders. 'So muchthe worse for you! I took you for a rogue! It seems you are a fool!'