Bardelys the Magnificent

by Rafael Sabatini

  CHAPTER V. THE VICOMTE DE LAVEDAN

  When next I awakened, it was to find myself abed in an elegantapartment, spacious and sunlit, that was utterly strange to me. For someseconds I was content to lie and take no count of my whereabouts. Myeyes travelled idly over the handsome furnishings of that choicelyappointed chamber, and rested at last upon the lean, crooked figure ofa man whose back was towards me and who was busy with some phials at atable not far distant. Then recollection awakened also in me, and I setmy wits to work to grapple with my surroundings. I looked through theopen window, but from my position on the bed no more was visible thanthe blue sky and a faint haze of distant hills.

  I taxed my memory, and the events of yesternight recurred to me. Iremembered the girl, the balcony, and my flight ending in my giddinessand my fall. Had they brought me into that same chateau, or--Or what? Noother possibility came to suggest itself, and, seeing scant need to taxmy brains with speculation, since there was one there of whom I mightask the question--

  "Hola, my master!" I called to him, and as I did so I essayed to move.The act wrung a sharp cry of pain from me. My left shoulder was numband sore, but in my right foot that sudden movement had roused a sharperpang.

  At my cry that little wizened old man swung suddenly round. He had theface of a bird of prey, yellow as a louis d'or with a great hooked nose,and a pair of beady black eyes that observed me solemnly. The mouthalone was the redeeming feature in a countenance that had otherwisebeen evil; it was instinct with good-humour. But I had small leisureto observe him then, for simultaneously with his turning there hadbeen another movement at my bedside, which drew my eyes elsewhere. Agentleman, richly dressed, and of an imposing height, approached me.

  "You are awake, monsieur?" he said in a half interrogative tone.

  "Will you do me the favour to tell me where I am, monsieur?" quoth I.

  "You do not know? You are at Lavedan. I am the Vicomte de Lavedan--atyour service."

  Although it was no more than I might have expected, yet a dull wonderfilled me, to which presently I gave expression by asking stupidly--

  "At Lavedan? But how came I hither?"

  "How you came is more than I can tell," he laughed. "But I'll swear theKing's dragoons were not far behind you. We found you in the courtyardlast night; in a swoon of exhaustion, wounded in the shoulder, and witha sprained foot. It was my daughter who gave the alarm and called usto your assistance. You were lying under her widow." Then, seeing thegrowing wonder in my eyes and misconstruing it into alarm: "Nay, have nofear, monsieur," he cried. "You were very well advised in coming to us.You have fallen among friends. We are Orleanists too,--at Lavedan, forall that I was not in the fight at Castelnaudary. That was no fault ofmine. His Grace's messenger reached me overlate, and for all that I setout with a company of my men, I put back when I had reached Lautrec uponhearing that already a decisive battle had been fought and that our sidehad suffered a crushing defeat." He uttered a weary sigh.

  "God help us, monsieur! Monseigneur de Richelieu is likely to have hisway with us. But let that be for the present. You are here, and you aresafe. As yet no suspicion rests on Lavedan. I was, as I have said, toolate for the fight, and so I came quietly back to save my skin, thatI might serve the Cause in whatever other way might offer still. Insheltering you I am serving Gaston d'Orleans, and, that I may continueso to do, I pray that suspicion may continue to ignore me. If they wereto learn of it at Toulouse or of how with money and in other ways I havehelped this rebellion--I make no doubt that my head would be the forfeitI should be asked to pay."

  I was aghast at the freedom of treasonable speech with which this verydebonnaire gentleman ventured to address an utter stranger.

  "But tell me, Monsieur de Lesperon," resumed my host, "how is it withyou?"

  I started in fresh astonishment.

  "How--how do you know that I am Lesperon?" I asked.

  "Ma foi!" he laughed, "do you imagine I had spoken so unreservedly to aman of whom I knew nothing? Think better of me, monsieur, I beseechyou. I found these letters in your pocket last night, and theirsuperscription gave me your identity. Your name is well known to me," headded. "My friend Monsieur de Marsac has often spoken of you and of yourdevotion to the Cause, and it affords me no little satisfaction to be ofsome service to one whom by repute I have already learned to esteem."

  I lay back on my pillows, and I groaned. Here was a predicament!Mistaking me for that miserable rebel I had succoured at Mirepoix, andwhose letters I bore upon me that I might restore them to some one whosename he had failed to give me at the last moment, the Vicomte de Lavedanhad poured the damning story of his treason into my ears.

  What if I were now to enlighten him? What if I were to tell him that Iwas not Lesperon--no rebel at all, in fact--but Marcel de Bardelys, theKing's favourite? That he would account me a spy I hardly thought; butassuredly he would see that my life must be a danger to his own; he mustfear betrayal from me; and to protect himself he would be justifiedin taking extreme measures. Rebels were not addicted to an excess ofniceness in their methods, and it was more likely that I should rise nomore from the luxurious bed on which his hospitality had laid me. Buteven if I had exaggerated matters, and the Vicomte were not quite sobloodthirsty as was usual with his order, even if he chose to accept mypromise that I would forget what he had said, he must nevertheless--inview of his indiscretion--demand my instant withdrawal from Lavedan. Andwhat, then, of my wager with Chatellerault?

  Then, in thinking of my wager, I came to think of Roxalanneherself--that dainty, sweet-faced child into whose chamber I hadpenetrated on the previous night. And would you believe it that I--thesatiated, cynical, unbelieving Bardelys--experienced dismay at the verythought of leaving Lavedan for no other reason than because it involvedseeing no more of that provincial damsel?

  My unwillingness to be driven from her presence determined me to stay.I had come to Lavedan as Lesperon, a fugitive rebel. In that characterI had all but announced myself last night to Mademoiselle. In thatcharacter I had been welcomed by her father. In that character, then, Imust remain, that I might be near her, that I might woo and win her, andthus--though this, I swear, had now become a minor consideration withme--make good my boast and win the wager that must otherwise involve myruin.

  As I lay back with closed eyes and gave myself over to pondering thesituation, I took a pleasure oddly sweet in the prospect of urging mysuit under such circumstances. Chatellerault had given me a free hand. Iwas to go about the wooing of Mademoiselle de Lavedan as I chose. Buthe had cast it at me in defiance that not with all my magnificence, notwith all my retinue and all my state to dazzle her, should I succeed inmelting the coldest heart in France.

  And now, behold! I had cast from me all these outward embellishments; Icame without pomp, denuded of every emblem of wealth, of every sign ofpower; as a poor fugitive gentleman, I came, hunted, proscribed, andpenniless--for Lesperon's estate would assuredly suffer sequestration.To win her thus would, by my faith, be an exploit I might take pride in,a worthy achievement to encompass.

  And so I left things as they were, and since I offered no denial to theidentity that was thrust upon me, as Lesperon I continued to be known tothe Vicomte and to his family.

  Presently he called the old man to my bedside and I heard them talkingof my condition.

  "You think, then, Anatole," he said in the end, "that in three or fourdays Monsieur de Lesperon may be able to rise?"

  "I am assured of it," replied the old servant.

  Whereupon, turning to me, "Be therefore of good courage, monsieur," saidLavedan, "for your hurt is none so grievous after all."

  I was muttering my thanks and my assurances that I was in excellentspirits, when we were suddenly disturbed by a rumbling noise as ofdistant thunder.

  "Mort Dieu!" swore the Vicomte, a look of alarm coming into his face.With a bent head, he stood in a listening attitude.

  "What is it?" I inquired.

  "Horsemen--on the drawbridge," he answered
shortly. "A troop, by thesound."

  And then, in confirmation of these words, followed a stamping and rattleof hoofs on the flags of the courtyard below. The old servant stoodwringing his hands in helpless terror, and wailing, "Monsieur,monsieur!"

  But the Vicomte crossed rapidly to the window and looked out. Then helaughed with intense relief; and in a wondering voice "They are nottroopers," he announced. "They have more the air of a company ofservants in private livery; and there is a carriage--pardieu, twocarriages!"

  At once the memory of Rodenard and my followers occurred to me, and Ithanked Heaven that I was abed where he might not see me, and that thushe would probably be sent forth empty-handed with the news that hismaster was neither arrived nor expected.

  But in that surmise I went too fast. Ganymede was of a tenacious mettle,and of this he now afforded proof. Upon learning that naught was knownof the Marquis de Bardelys at Lavedan, my faithful henchman announcedhis intention to remain there and await me, since that was, he assuredthe Vicomte, my destination.

  "My first impulse," said Lavedan, when later he came to tell me of it,"was incontinently to order his departure. But upon considering thematter and remembering how high in power and in the King's favour standsthat monstrous libertine Bardelys, I deemed it wiser to affordshelter to this outrageous retinue. His steward--a flabby, insolentcreature--says that Bardelys left them last night near Mirepoix, to ridehither, bidding them follow to-day. Curious that we should have no newsof him! That he should have fallen into the Garonne and drowned himselfwere too great a good fortune to be hoped for."

  The bitterness with which he spoke of me afforded me ample cause forcongratulation that I had resolved to accept the role of Lesperon. Yet,remembering that my father and he had been good friends, his manner leftme nonplussed. What cause could he have for this animosity to the son?Could it be merely my position at Court that made me seem in his rebeleyes a natural enemy?

  "You are acquainted with this Bardelys?" I inquired, by way of drawinghim.

  "I knew his father," he answered gruffly. "An honest, uprightgentleman."

  "And the son," I inquired timidly, "has he none of these virtues?"

  "I know not what virtues he may have; his vices are known to all theworld. He is a libertine, a gambler, a rake, a spendthrift. They say heis one of the King's favourites, and that his monstrous extravaganceshave earned for him the title of 'Magnificent'." He uttered a shortlaugh. "A fit servant for such a master as Louis the Just!"

  "Monsieur le Vicomte," said I, warming in my own defence, "I swearyou do him injustice. He is extravagant, but then he is rich; he isa libertine, but then he is young, and he has been reared amonglibertines; he is a gamester, but punctiliously honourable at play.Believe me, monsieur, I have some acquaintance with Marcel de Bardelys,and his vices are hardly so black as is generally believed; whilst inhis favour I think the same may be said that you have just said of hisfather--he is an honest, upright gentleman."

  "And that disgraceful affair with the Duchesse de Bourgogne?" inquiredLavedan, with the air of a man setting an unanswerable question.

  "Mon Dieu!" I cried, "will the world never forget that indiscretion? Anindiscretion of youth, no doubt much exaggerated outside Court circles."

  The Vicomte eyed me in some astonishment for a moment.

  "Monsieur de Lesperon," he said at length, "you appear to hold thisBardelys in high esteem. He has a staunch supporter in you and a stoutadvocate. Yet me you cannot convince." And he shook his head solemnly."Even if I did not hold him to be such a man as I have pronounced him,but were to account him a paragon of all the virtues, his coming hitherremains an act that I must resent."

  "But why, Monsieur le Vicomte?"

  "Because I know the errand that brings him to Lavedan. He comes to woomy daughter."

  Had he flung a bomb into my bed he could not more effectively havestartled me.

  "It astonishes you, eh?" he laughed bitterly. "But I can assure youthat it is so. A month ago I was visited by the Comte deChatellerault--another of His Majesty's fine favourites. He cameunbidden; offered no reason for his coming, save that he was making atour of the province for his amusement. His acquaintance with me was ofthe slightest, and I had no desire that it should increase; yet herehe installed himself with a couple of servants, and bade fair to take along stay.

  "I was surprised, but on the morrow I had an explanation. A courier,arriving from an old friend of mine at Court, bore me a letter with theinformation that Monsieur de Chatellerault was come to Lavedan atthe King's instigation to sue for my daughter's hand in marriage. Thereasons were not far to seek. The King, who loves him, would enrich him;the easiest way is by a wealthy alliance, and Roxalanne is accountedan heiress. In addition to that, my own power in the province is known,whilst my defection from the Cardinalist party is feared. What betterlink wherewith to attach me again to the fortunes of the Crown--forCrown and Mitre have grown to be synonymous in this topsy-turvyFrance--than to wed my daughter to one of the King's favourites?

  "But for that timely warning, God knows what mischief had been wrought.As it was, Monsieur de Chatellerault had but seen my daughter upon twooccasions. On the very day that I received the tidings I speak of,I sent her to Auch to the care of some relatives of her mother's.Chatellerault remained a week. Then, growing restive, he asked when mydaughter would return. 'When you depart, monsieur,' I answered him,and, being pressed for reasons, I dealt so frankly with him that withintwenty-four hours he was on his way back to Paris."

  The Vicomte paused and took a turn in the apartment, whilst I ponderedhis words, which were bringing me a curious revelation. Presently heresumed.

  "And now, Chatellerault having failed in his purpose, the King choosesa more dangerous person for the gratifying of his desires. He sends theMarquis, Marcel de Bardelys to Lavedan on the same business. No doubthe attributes Chatellerault's failure to clumsiness, and he has decidedthis time to choose a man famed for courtly address and gifted with sucharts of dalliance that he cannot fail but enmesh my daughter in them. Itis a great compliment that he pays us in sending hither the handsomestand most accomplished gentleman of all his Court--so fame has it--yet itis a compliment of whose flattery I am not sensible. Bardelys goes henceas empty-handed as went Chatellerault. Let him but show his face, andmy daughter journeys to Auch again. Am I not well advised, Monsieur deLesperon?"

  "Why, yes," I answered slowly, after the manner of one who deliberates,"if you are persuaded that your conclusions touching Bardelys arecorrect."

  "I am more than persuaded. What other business could bring him toLavedan?"

  It was a question that I did not attempt to answer. Haply he did notexpect me to answer it. He left me free to ponder another issue of thissame business of which my mind was become very full. Chatellerault hadnot dealt fairly with me. Often, since I had left Paris, had I marvelledthat he came to be so rash as to risk his fortune upon a matter thatturned upon a woman's whim. That I possessed undeniable advantagesof person, of birth, and of wealth, Chatellerault could not havedisregarded. Yet these, and the possibility that they might suffice toengage this lady's affections, he appeared to have set at naught when heplunged into that rash wager.

  He must have realized that because he had failed was no reason topresume that I must also fail. There was no consequence in such anargument, and often, as I have said, had I marvelled during the pastdays at the readiness with which Chatellerault had flung down the gage.Now I held the explanation of it. He counted upon the Vicomte de Lavedanto reason precisely as he was reasoning, and he was confident that noopportunities would be afforded me of so much as seeing this beautifuland cold Roxalanne.

  It was a wily trap he had set me, worthy only of a trickster.

  Fate, however, had taken a hand in the game, and the cards were redealtsince I had left Paris. The terms of the wager permitted me to chooseany line of action that I considered desirable; but Destiny, it seemed,had chosen for me, and set me in a line that should at least sufficeto overc
ome the parental resistance--that breastwork upon whichChatellerault had so confidently depended.

  As the rebel Rene de Lesperon I was sheltered at Lavedan and madewelcome by my fellow-rebel the Vicomte, who already seemed much takenwith me, and who had esteemed me before seeing me from the much thatMonsieur de Marsac--whoever he might be--had told him of me. As Rene deLesperon I must remain, and turn to best account my sojourn, praying Godmeanwhile that this same Monsieur de Marsac might be pleased to refrainfrom visiting Lavedan whilst I was there.