The Little Ball O' Fire; or, the Life and Adventures of John Marston Hall

by G. P. R. James

  CHAPTER XXXI.

  The convalescence of Laura de Villardin proceeded rapidly, and she wassoon able to take the air in the huge lumbering coach of those times,which was a very different sort of machine from the gay and gildedequipages of the present day. I was always selected to carry her fromher couch to the carriage; and no one suspecting that our feelingswould ever become dangerous to our own peace, our childish partialityonly excited a smile on the part of Monsieur de Villardin, and was thesource of no small pleasure to ourselves. As she acquired strength, itwas decided by her physician that exercise on horseback would completeher recovery; and I sought and obtained the task both of breaking ahorse for her service and teaching her to ride. She was then as sweeta girl as ever I beheld, and each day was adding new graces to herperson and to her mind. Her heart was as gentle and as kind as that ofMadame de Villardin, and she had a degree of the same gracefulplayfulness, which I had observed in her mother when first I saw her,mingled with the deeper and more intense feelings, which--misguidedand abused--had been the cause of misery in her father's bosom.

  The hours fled in great happiness for nearly three months, but atlength the time for renewing the military operations against theSpaniards approached, and messengers from the Court warned MonsieurVillardin that his presence was required at head-quarters.

  It was necessary, of course, to obey the summons, and all ourpreparations were speedily concluded. Laura and the whole householdwere removed to the Pr?s Vall?e before our departure, in order thatmasters might be obtained from Rennes to instruct Mademoiselle deVillardin in all those accomplishments which were required in society,from a person of her rank; and as my little page, Clement de la Marke,was too young to accompany me to the tented field, I left him underthe care of Father Ferdinand, in order that he might derive everyadvantage from the same facility of procuring instruction.

  Before we quitted Dumont, however, Monsieur de Villardin, who neverleft any service I did him unrequited, proposed to give me in exchangefor the very uncertain pension which the government had bestowed uponme, a farm which lay contiguous to Juvigny, and which certainlyrendered my baronial lands of a very respectable extent. I pointed outto the Duke that the present rents of the farm were far more than theamount of the pension, and that it was likely to yield still more; buthe insisted upon the arrangement; and T clearly saw that he wished torecompense the assistance I had afforded him at the H?tel de Ville,without rendering his gift burdensome, by bestowing it in the shape ofa reward.

  As I knew well that fully one half of his income remained unemployed,and had long learned to look upon him as a father, his benefits hadnothing galling in them to any of the weaknesses of my nature; and Iwillingly accepted his offer. The necessary papers were drawn up andsigned, ere we set out for the army; and I need hardly say that thebenefit conferred did not excite the less gratitude in my bosom,because the donation was delicately veiled under the semblance of anexchange.

  It will be unnecessary to follow the armies of France through thecampaign that ensued, or to trace my own individual career in theservice, which was simply that of a young officer, possessed ofconsiderable interest, who rose more by fortunate circumstances, andthe exertions of a few indefatigable friends, than by any particularcredit of his own. It is true that I was active and vigilant, and didnot want courage; but at the same time, I cannot but acknowledge thatboth Monsieur de Villardin and Monsieur de Turenne made more of thosequalities in my person than they deserved. After having followed theroyal army through all its marches and countermarches, after havingdone what I could to distinguish myself at the siege of Rhetel and ofMouson, and after having taken part in the deliverance of Rocroy, Ireturned to Brittany with Monsieur de Villardin, at the end of thecampaign, considerably richer in honour than I had set out.

  Everything at the Pr?s Vall?e was as we left it, or so nearly so, thatit seemed as if that part of the world had stood still, while we hadbeen hurried through so many different scenes and events. FatherFerdinand appeared hardly changed in the least; and though Laura hadgrown taller, she was still a girl. My little page, indeed, hadgreatly improved; and in the couple of months that we spent at thech?teau, wound himself not only round my heart, but also round that ofMonsieur de Villardin himself; and when at our departure he petitionedearnestly to be taken with us, I thought that the Duke himself seemedinclined to second his request.

  Judging it better for himself, however, I left him for another year,and proceeded with Monsieur de Villardin to attend the coronation ofthe young king, a summons to which ceremony had curtailed our stay inBrittany.

  During the festivities that succeeded, Monsieur de Villardin becamefirst acquainted with the Count de Laval, of whom I shall have more tospeak hereafter. He was, as every one knows, wealthy and powerful; andthough he was cold, and somewhat haughty, yet he was, I believe, a manof generous feelings, and a noble disposition, of which I hadultimately an extraordinary proof. He paid considerable attention toMonsieur Villardin; and it struck me from the first that he had somemotive with which I was not aware, in the advances that he madetowards the Duke.

  To myself, he always showed himself polite, though distant; and I wasglad to find, as his acquaintance with Monsieur de Villardin advanced,that he was not inclined to assume a degree of superiority in hismanners towards me, which I might not have been disposed to tolerate.He was, as I have said, somewhat haughty in his manners to every one,but certainly not more so towards myself than towards others.

  Soon after the coronation, we again quitted the court, and joined thearmy, which began its operations by the siege of Stenay. The Prince deCond? and the Spanish troops having attempted to draw us away, by theattack of Arras, Monsieur de Turenne marched to its relief, leavingMonsieur de Faber to carry on the works against Stenay. I remainedwith the army of the latter till the capitulation of the place, afterwhich we rejoined Turenne. No sooner was the junction of the twoarmies effected, than it was determined to attack the lines beforeArras, which was accordingly done; and, notwithstanding the cabals ofseveral of our own officers, and the gallantry and skill of Cond?, theSpanish entrenchments were forced at several points, and the enemyobliged to retire precipitately to Cambray. The campaign thenproceeded with uninterrupted success, several frontier towns weretaken, and at length, after a year of glory, Turenne dispersed histroops in winter-quarters, and Monsieur de Villardin returned toBrittany.

  For my own part, I was rewarded for any little services that I mighthave performed, by receiving the government of the small town ofBinches, and took possession of my new command with no small pride andpleasure. The duties, however, thus imposed upon me, of courseprevented my usual journey into Brittany; and although, in the midstof the winter, I obtained leave to visit Paris, and spent severalpleasant days with my friend and benefactor, Lord Masterton, yet, whenI came to resume my command, it began to seem tiresome and irksome,and I soon found that I would a great deal rather have been inBrittany than at Binches. I longed to see Laura and Father Ferdinand,and my little page, and all the old familiar faces of the ch?teau; tospend the days of winter and spring in the sports of the field and thebusy idleness of country occupations, and the evenings in reading orin conversation with those whose thoughts and feelings flowedhabitually in the same current with my own. Instead of all this, I hadnothing but the petty state and dull routine which follows thegovernor of a small town; and all I could do to amuse myself wascomprised in keeping a continual watch upon the enemy's frontier, andmaking such little expeditions as the nature of my command permitted.

  In these enterprises I occasionally met with some adventures thatafforded me entertainment; but the only event worth relating, perhaps,was the capture of two persons whom I have had occasion to mentionmore than once. A truce of a few weeks had been concluded in the earlypart of spring, and I did all that I could to secure to theinhabitants of the frontier lands even a short space of tranquillity;but I soon found that the inactivity of both armies was seized by thehordes of marauders, wh
ich a long war had called into being, as anopportunity for pillage and exaction. I was instructed, if possible,to punish some of these bands of plunderers; and having heard of somemovements on the part of the enemy, although the truce was not yet atan end, I sent out a party to reconnoitre, who fell in with a body ofSpaniards and Germans, and in a charge took about half-a-dozenofficers and soldiers, amongst whom were the two leaders of theadverse troop. The prisoners were immediately brought into Binches,followed by a crowd of the peasantry of the neighbouring villages, whocharged them loudly with being mere plunderers and assassins, andaccused them of a number of acts, certainly not very honourable to themilitary character.

  All this was reported to me by the officer who took them, and who, atthe same time, laid before me a number of articles of a verymiscellaneous description, which had been found upon their persons, oramongst their baggage, and which tended strongly to confirm thecharges made by the peasantry. Learning upon inquiry that the twoleaders were Frenchmen, and knowing, as I have mentioned, that, underthe pretext of the war, a most disgraceful system of rapine androbbery was carried on upon the frontier, which system I had beencommanded to put down by the most severe measures, I determinedsternly to hang one of these gentlemen before the gate of thetown,--an act which I was authorised to perform by my own instructions,and which had more than once been executed by the Spanish officersunder similar circumstances.

  Resolving to make them draw lots for the fate to which I destined oneof them, I ordered them to be brought before me; but my purpose wassuddenly changed when I beheld in the two culprits my oldacquaintances, Gaspard de Belleville, and his good brother-in-law,Captain Hubert, who seemed to have thoroughly initiated his sister'shusband into the mystery of appropriating the property of otherpeople. What were the peculiar bonds that united them so stronglytogether I never inquired; although, as I knew that their connexion bymeans of Suzette was not likely to be a very inseparable link, Ijudged that a similarity of tastes and pursuits, as well as interestsand necessities, made them cooperate with the friendly zeal whichseemed to actuate them.

  Of course, from what I knew of the characters of both, I was the moreinclined to give implicit credence to the charges brought against theprisoners; but, at the same time, I saw that if I proceeded as I hadat first intended, the many causes of enmity that existed betweenmyself and Gaspard de Belleville might give the act of justice, whichI had proposed to perform, the aspect of a base and cowardly piece ofrevenge. I had by this time learned that it is not sufficient for anyman only to do right, but that where the two are compatible, he mustseem to do right also, injustice to his own character, and indeference to the opinion of that great earthly judge, mankind; and Iconsequently resolved to wave my right of punishing the plunderersmyself, lest the example should lose half its effect by beingattributed to wrong motives. I caused, however, the whole evidence tobe recapitulated in their presence; and, turning to Gaspard deBelleville, I said, "You hear, sir, the charge against you, and beforeseeing you, I had determined that you should expiate the crimes youhave committed by the sacrifice of your life. As, however, there arevarious circumstances which have occurred at different times betweenyou and me which might give such an act the colouring of revenge, Ishall send you and your companion there, back in chains to the Princede Cond?, with a full statement of the case, and will then trust tohis Highness's sense of justice to punish you as you deserve."

  Gaspard de Belleville turned deadly pale at the first part of myspeech, and he attempted to curl his lip into a sneer as I concluded;but the effort was not successful, and only ended in a grimace,wherein the expression of apprehension was still greatly predominantover that of contempt. As to his worthy brother-in-law, his boldbearing remained unquelled; and, remembering me perfectly, though manyyears had now passed since our first meeting in the forest, he boldlyclaimed acquaintance with me--evidently more from a spirit of daringthan from any other feeling--and replied, "that he was sure I wouldnever have the heart to hang an old friend in his situation."

  He spoke with a sort of impudent smile: but, holding the command thatI did in the town, I did not choose to bandy jests with him inpresence of all toy officers; and ordering him and his companion to beremoved, I caused the testimony of the peasants to be put down andproperly attested; and sent the culprits in irons, accompanied by aflag of truce, to the Prince de Cond?, who was at that time in theneighbourhood of Mons. At the same time, I informed his Highness byletter, not only of the facts which accompanied the capture of theprisoners, but of the motives which induced me to act as I did,stating simply and sincerely, without fear or reservation, thedetermination I had originally formed, and my reasons for not puttingit in execution.

  I felt sure that such conduct would be appreciated by the Prince, norwas I deceived; for though, in a letter which I received from hisHighness in reply, he said, in a gay tone, that he had too few friendsto hang any of them himself, yet he assured me that he wouldimmediately dismiss from his service two men that had so disgraced thecause to which they had attached themselves. This the officer, who hadcarried them to his quarters, informed me he had executed in presenceof all his staff, and had at the same time expressed the highestapprobation of my conduct throughout the affair.

  Though, in my progress through life, I had lost a great deal of thattaste for bitter enmities with which I had set out in my boyhood, yet,I confess, I did not feel the least apprehension from a knowledge thattwo men, who viewed me with mortal hatred, had been turned loose uponthe world, although the officer added, that, before quitting thepresence of the Prince de Cond?, they had expressed the most resolutedetermination to find means of avenging themselves upon me.

  This little incident, which possessed some degree of interest while itlasted, was soon forgotten, and all the weariness of my command beganto return; but, without knowing it, my governorship of Binches wasdrawing towards a close. About a fortnight after the capture ofGaspard and his companions, I received a letter from Monsieur leTellier, which, from its very cordial and friendly commencement,--verydifferent in style and form from the generality of officialcommunications,--I clearly saw was destined, ere its close, to demandsome service, or to require some sacrifice. I was not disappointed;for after a number of high commendations, and promises of futureadvancement, the worthy minister went on to inform me that there was ayoung prot?g? of the Cardinal greatly in want of some appointment, andthat, if I were inclined to resign my government in his favour, itwould be immediately beneficial to him, and ultimately beneficial tomyself. To render what the minister believed would be a bitter draughtmore palatable, he added an immense quantity of the universalsweetener, flattery, telling me that the Cardinal had the lesshesitation in making this request, as it would be impossible for theKing to suffer so distinguished an officer as myself to remain in theinactivity of a small government after the armies were called into thefield for the next campaign; and, as a more substantial inducement, heoffered to grant me immediately a higher grade in the army, upon myresignation of the governorship of Binches.

  I took very good care, as it may be easily conceived, not to let theminister know, by my reply, how tired I was of the post I occupied,and how desirous I was of returning to Brittany for the two monthsthat were yet likely to elapse before the opening of the campaign. Onthe contrary, I quietly pointed out how inadequate the new rankoffered me was, when viewed as an equivalent to the governorship: but,at the same time, I expressed my perfect willingness to do anythingwhich could oblige or give pleasure to the Cardinal Prime Minister;and I ended by assuring Monsieur le Tellier that, as soon as Ireceived the commission giving the rank he promised, I would send himmy resignation of the government in favour of the gentleman he pointedout.

  This reply speedily produced a rejoinder, enclosing my commission,thanking me repeatedly for my prompt acquiescence, and promising greatthings for the future. Extremely well pleased with the whole affair,though very well convinced that the Cardinal would soon find means offorgetting all his promises, I drew up my resi
gnation in due form, andpresented it with my own hands to Monsieur le Tellier. My successorwas instantly sent to Binches; and, without lingering in Paris amoment more than was necessary, I set out for Brittany alone, leavingmy servants and baggage to follow,--preferring still, above allthings, the sort of rapid and independent mode of proceeding, to whichI had been accustomed before state, or rank, or fortune entitled,enabled, or required me to burden myself with followers or attendants.

  My journey, as I rode my own horse, was less rapid than many of thosewhich I had previously made to and from the same spot; but it was afar more pleasant one. Looking upon the house of Monsieur de Villardinas my home, and upon his household as my family, I experienced fullyas much pleasure in the prospect of rejoining him as if his blood hadflowed in my veins. I felt greatly relieved, too, by the resignationof an irksome office; and, with a sensation of liberty andindependence which I had never known while chained, as it were, to thewalls of Binches, I rode on through a rich and varying country, which,throughout the whole of my journey, was lighted up by the sweet freshsunshine of the spring, and which at every step afforded new andbeautiful traces of the cessation of anarchy and civil war, and thereturn of industry and security.

  It was evening when I reached Rennes, but there still wanted an houror two of night; and as my horse was extremely tired, I left him atthe auberge, and walked on by the bank of the stream towards the Pr?sVall?e. The calm sweet meadows, the magnificent woods that surroundedthem, the still silvery river that wandered through the midst, allseemed more tranquilly solemn than usual. A feeling of soft reposepervaded the whole scene, while the beams of the setting sun, pouringbetween the bolls of the giant trees, and streaming amidst the greentransparent leaves of the young spring, cheered away every trace ofgloom, and left it all still and peaceful, though anything but gay.Although I was going to those I loved, and delighted in the thought ofseeing them again, yet the many feelings of my heart, the memories ofthe past, the hopes of the future, the enjoyment of the present, all,perhaps, tended to make me linger as I wandered on through a scenethat seemed to blend and harmonise with every mingled emotion of mybosom.

  I had passed the second and third sweep of trees, had crossed thefourth savanna, and had entered the fourth grove, when I heard someone speaking, and, looking forward, I saw two female figures, underone of the trees which bordered the meadow I was just about to cross.They were evidently enjoying the evening sunshine, the one standingwith her arm leaning against the old elm that overhung their heads,the other seated on a bench which had been placed at its foot. I hadno difficulty in recognising in the first my old acquaintance, Lise,the suivante of Mademoiselle de Villardin, but I could scarcelybelieve that the other was her young mistress. It seemed but a daysince I had left her a mere child; at least, so gradual had been thechange up to the time of my last departure, that to me she had seemedbut little older than when first I knew her. Now, however, there was achange indeed. Even before I saw her face, the full rounded contour ofher whole form, the very fall of her figure, still replete withgrace and beauty--but, oh, so different from the grace ofchildhood--prepared me for an alteration, or rather made me doubt thatit could be herself; but when my step caught her ear, and she turnedtowards me, I paused in surprise. It was certainly the face of Laura deVillardin--every feature was there, but yet so splendidly changed. Thefull ruby lip, the dark bright eye, the long black lashes, the sunnycheek, were all before me, as I had known them for years: but therewas a new soul in them all--a light, a feeling, that left them asdifferent as it is possible to conceive; and yet the generalexpression, too, was the same--innocent, natural, playful. Thefeatures, however, had also become more formed: they had lost everyremains of what one may call the shapelessness of childhood, and hadacquired all the chiselled symmetry of young maturity.

  As I have said, I could scarcely believe my eyes, and I paused; but Isoon found that, however changed in form, she was in no degree changedin mind, or heart, or feelings. I was scarcely altered: she saw in mealone the dear companion of her childhood,--the boy who had saved herown and her father's life; and as soon as her eyes rested on me, shestarted up, and cast herself into my arms, exactly as she had donewhen she was seven years old. The same affection that she had feltthrough life beamed up in her eyes--the same joy to see me again,which she had always manifested, sparkled over her countenance--andthe same endearing terms of unreserved regard, and delighted welcome,hung upon her lips. It is impossible to describe all that I felt, andindeed I did not stay to analyse it at the time. I pressed her to myheart as a sister, and, kissing her cheek, led her back to her seat.But as she sat down again, and I took my place beside her, a growingblush seemed to tell that for the first time she remembered thatshe was no longer a child.

  It passed away again in a moment; and I was glad to find that, howevershe settled the matter with her own heart, she was determined to letthe change be no change to me. My good friend Lise, too, was delightedto see me; and though eight or nine years had certainly made aconsiderable difference in her since first I saw her, she had lostnone of her native kindness of heart, or cheerfulness of disposition.She loaded me with a thousand questions, admired my dress, declaredthat I was turning more handsome every year, and called upon Laura foran opinion in regard to my beauty, which roused Mademoiselle deVillardin from a deep reverie into which she had fallen, and whichended in another blush.

  It was now her turn to ask questions; and many did she put, though ina very different strain from those of Lise. They were all questions ofaffection and interest in my fate and happiness, without a touch ofcuriosity; and when she heard that I had resigned the petty governmentthat I had held, and was at liberty to remain with Monsieur deVillardin as before, I shall not easily forget the joy that beamed outof her beautiful eyes.

  It would make her father so very, very happy, she said, for he hadoften regretted my absence, and had never seemed so cheerful since Ihad been away. Often, too, she told me, he had blamed himself foradvising me to accept the post I bad taken, and which he declared wasunworthy of my merits; and she added many another little trait fromwhich she herself had divined, and which led me to believe also, thatMonsieur de Villardin had long been anxious for my return. NeitherLaura nor myself, however, did anything to hasten our walk to thech?teau, from which we were nearly a mile distant. The scene was sosweet and calm, and the evening so warm and fine, that it might wellinvite us to tarry: but there was a sensation of delight in our firstconversation after so long a separation, which we were unwilling tocut short, and a feeling of happiness, too, in the almost unwitnessedenjoyment of each other's society, which, as it might be long ere thesame pleasure was renewed, we were both glad to prolong.

  At length, however, the purple hues that began to spread over the skywarned us that we must bend our steps homeward; and Lise, though shehad no small touch of romance in her nature, declared that Monsieurwould be anxious if Mademoiselle did not return. Laura rose, and,leaning on my arm, took the way along the river, whose glossy bosomwas reflecting, bright but softened, the trees, and the banks, and thechanging sky above. Our eyes now met, and now rested on the waters;our conversation flew from subject to subject, like a butterfly in aflower-garden,--now poured on uninterrupted, now dropped altogether,and gave place to thought. She told me again and again how glad myreturn would make every one in the ch?teau, leaving me to includeherself in the number; and I thought how beautiful she had grown, andremembered how dear and amiable she always had been. At length, thegrey turrets and slated roofs of the ch?teau rose over the nearesttrees; and one of the sweetest and the happiest walks ended that everI enjoyed through life.