CHAPTER XII. MAXIMILIAN DE BETHUNE, BARON DE ROSNY.
I looked to make the journey to Rosny in two days. But the heaviness ofthe roads and the sorry condition of my hackney hindered me so greatlythat I lay the second night at Dreux, and, hearing the way was stillworse between that place and my destination, began to think that Ishould be fortunate if I reached Rosny by the following noon. Thecountry in this part seemed devoted to the League, the feelingincreasing in violence as I approached the Seine. I heard nothing saveabuse of the King of France and praise of the Guise princes, and hadmuch ado, keeping a still tongue and riding modestly, to pass withoutmolestation or inquiry.
Drawing near to Rosny, on the third morning, through a low marshycountry covered with woods and alive with game of all kinds, I began tooccupy myself with thoughts of the reception I was likely to encounter;which, I conjectured, would be none of the most pleasant. The daringand vigour of the Baron de Rosny, who had at this time the reputation ofbeing in all parts of France at once, and the familiar terms on which hewas known to live with the King of Navarre, gave me small reason to hopethat he would listen with indulgence to such a tale as I had to tell.The nearer I came to the hour of telling it, indeed, the more improbableseemed some of its parts, and the more glaring my own carelessness inlosing the token, and in letting mademoiselle out of my sight in sucha place as Blois. I saw this so clearly now, and more clearly as themorning advanced, that I do not know that I ever anticipated anythingwith more fear than this explanation; which it yet seemed my duty tooffer with all reasonable speed. The morning was warm, I remember;cloudy, yet not dark; the air near at hand full of moisture and veryclear, with a circle of mist rising some way off, and filling the woodswith blue distances. The road was deep and foundrous, and as I wasobliged to leave it from time to time in order to pass the worst places,I presently began to fear that I had strayed into a by-road. Afteradvancing some distance, in doubt whether I should persevere or turnback, I was glad to see before me a small house placed at the junctionof several woodland paths. From the bush which hung over the door, and awater-trough which stood beside it, I judged the place to be an inn; anddetermining to get my horse fed before I went farther, I rode up to thedoor and rapped on it with my riding-switch.
The position of the house was so remote that I was surprised to seethree or four heads thrust immediately out of a window. For a moment Ithought I should have done better to have passed by; but the landlordcoming out very civilly, and leading the way to a shed beside the house,I reflected that I had little to lose, and followed him. I found, as Iexpected, four horses tied up in the shed, the bits hanging round theirnecks and their girths loosed; while my surprise was not lessened by thearrival, before I had fastened up my own horse, of a sixth rider, who,seeing us by the shed, rode up to us, and saluted me as he dismounted.
He was a tall, strong man in the prime of youth, wearing a plain, almostmean suit of dust-coloured leather, and carrying no weapons except ahunting-knife, which hung in a sheath at his girdle. He rode a powerfulsilver-roan horse, and was splashed to the top of his high untannedboots, as if he had come by the worst of paths, if by any.
He cast a shrewd glance at the landlord as he led his horse into theshed; and I judged from his brown complexion and quick eyes that he hadseen much weather and lived an out-of-door life.
He watched me somewhat curiously while I mixed the fodder for my horse;and when I went into the house and sat down in the first room I came to,to eat a little bread-and-cheese which I had in my pouch, he joinedme almost immediately. Apparently he could not stomach my poor fare,however, for after watching me for a time in silence, switching his bootwith his whip the while, he called the landlord, and asked him, in amasterful way, what fresh meat he had, and particularly if he had anylean collops, or a fowl.
The fellow answered that there was nothing. His honour could have someLisieux cheese, he added, or some stewed lentils.
'His honour does not want cheese,' the stranger answered peevishly, 'norlentil porridge. And what is this I smell, my friend?' he continued,beginning suddenly to sniff with vigour. 'I swear I smell cooking.'
'It is the hind-quarter of a buck, which is cooking for the fourgentlemen of the Robe; with a collop or two to follow,' the landlordexplained; and humbly excused himself on the ground that the gentlemenhad strictly engaged it for their own eating.
'What? A whole quarter! AND a collop or two to follow!' the strangerretorted, smacking his lips. 'Who are they?'
'Two advocates and their clerks from the Parliament of Paris. They havebeen viewing a boundary near here, and are returning this afternoon,'the landlord answered.
'No reason why they should cause a famine!' ejaculated the stranger withenergy. 'Go to them and say a gentleman, who has ridden far, and fastedsince seven this morning, requests permission to sit at their table. Aquarter of venison and a collop or two among four!' he continued, in atone of extreme disgust, 'It is intolerable! And advocates! Why, at thatrate, the King of France should eat a whole buck, and rise hungry! Don'tyou agree with me, sir?' he continued, turning on me and putting thequestion abruptly.
He was so comically and yet so seriously angry, and looked so closely atme as he spoke, that I hastened to say I agreed with him perfectly.
'Yet you eat cheese, sir!' he retorted irritably.
I saw that, not withstanding the simplicity of his dress, he was agentleman, and so, forbearing to take offence, I told him plainly thatmy purse being light I travelled rather as I could than as I would.
'Is it so?' he answered hastily. 'Had I known that, I would have joinedyou in the cheese! After all, I would rather fast with a gentleman, thanfeast with a churl. But it is too late now. Seeing you mix the fodder, Ithought your pockets were full.'
'The nag is tired, and has done its best,' I answered.
He looked at me curiously, and as though he would say more. But thelandlord returning at that moment, he turned to him instead.
'Well!' he said briskly. 'Is it all right?'
'I am sorry, your honour,' the man answered, reluctantly, and with avery downcast air, 'but the gentlemen beg to be excused.'
'Zounds!' cried my companion roundly. 'They do, do they?'
'They say they have no more, sir,' the landlord continued, faltering,'than enough for themselves and a little dog they have with them.'
A shout of laughter which issued at that moment from the other roomseemed to show that the quartette were making merry over my companion'srequest. I saw his cheek redden, and looked for an explosion of anger onhis part; but instead he stood a moment in thought in the middle of thefloor, and then, much to the innkeeper's relief, pushed a stool towardsme, and called for a bottle of the best wine. He pleasantly beggedleave to eat a little of my cheese, which he said looked better than theLisieux, and, filling my glass with wine, fell to as merrily as if hehad never heard of the party in the other room.
I was more than a little surprised, I remember; for I had taken him tobe a passionate man, and not one to sit down under an affront. Still Isaid nothing, and we conversed very well together. I noticed, however,that he stopped speaking more than once, as though to listen; butconceiving that he was merely reverting to the party in the other room,who grew each moment more uproarious, I said nothing, and was completelytaken by surprise when he rose on a sudden, and, going to the openwindow, leaned out, shading his eyes with his hand.
'What is it?' I said, preparing to follow him.
He answered by a quiet chuckle. 'You shall see,' he added the nextinstant.
I rose, and going to the window looked out over his shoulder. Threemen were approaching the inn on horseback. The first, a great burly,dark-complexioned man with fierce black eyes and a feathered cap, hadpistols in his holsters and a short sword by his side. The other two,with the air of servants, were stout fellows, wearing green doublets andleather breeches. All three rode good horses, while a footman led twohounds after them in a leash. On seeing us they cantered forward, theleader waving his bonnet.
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'Halt, there!' cried my companion, lifting up his voice when they werewithin a stone's throw of us. 'Maignan!'
'My lord?' answered he of the feather, pulling up on the instant.
'You will find six horses in the shed there,' the stranger cried in avoice of command. 'Turn out the four to the left as you go in. Give eacha cut, and send it about its business!'
The man wheeled his horse before the words were well uttered, and cryingobsequiously 'that it was done,' flung his reins to one of the otherriders and disappeared in the shed, as if the order given him were themost commonplace one in the world.
The party in the other room, however, by whom all could be heard, werenot slow to take the alarm. They broke into a shout of remonstrance, andone of their number, leaping from the window, asked with a very fierceair what the devil we meant. The others thrust out their faces, swollenand flushed with the wine they had drunk, and with many oaths backed uphis question. Not feeling myself called upon to interfere, I prepared tosee something diverting.
My companion, whose coolness surprised me, had all the air of being aslittle concerned as myself. He even persisted for a time in ignoring theangry lawyer, and, turning a deaf ear to all the threats and abuse withwhich the others assailed him, continued to look calmly at the prospect.Seeing this, and that nothing could move him, the man who had jumpedthrough the window, and who seemed the most enterprising of the party,left us at last and ran towards the stalls. The aspect of the twoserving-men, however, who rode up grinning, and made as if they wouldride him down, determined him to return; which he did, pale with fury,as the last of the four horses clattered out, and after a puzzled lookround trotted off at its leisure into the forest.
On this, the man grew more violent, as I have remarked frightened mendo; so that at last the stranger condescended to notice him.
'My good sir,' he said coolly, looking at him through the window as ifhe had not seen him before, 'you annoy me. What is the matter?'
The fellow retorted with a vast amount of bluster, asking what the devilwe meant by turning out his horses.
'Only to give you and the gentlemen with you a little exercise,' mycompanion answered, with grim humour, and in a severe tone strange inone so young--'than which nothing is more wholesome after a full meal.That, and a lesson in good manners. Maignan,' he continued, raisinghis voice, 'if this person has anything more to say, answer him. He isnearer your degree than mine.'
And leaving the man to slink away like a whipped dog--for the mean areever the first to cringe--my friend turned from the window. Meeting myeyes as he went back to his seat, he laughed. 'Well,' he said, 'what doyou think?'
'That the ass in the lion's skin is very well till it meets the lion,' Ianswered.
He laughed again, and seemed pleased, as I doubt not he was. 'Pooh,pooh!' he said. 'It passed the time, and I think I am quits with mygentlemen now. But I must be riding. Possibly our roads may lie for awhile in the same direction, sir?' And he looked at me irresolutely.
I answered cautiously that I was going to the town of Rosny.
'You are not from Paris?' he continued, still looking at me.
'No,' I answered. 'I am from the south.'
'From Blois, perhaps?'
I nodded.
'Ah!' he said, making no comment, which somewhat surprised me, all menat this time desiring news, and looking to Blois for it. 'I am ridingtowards Rosny also. Let us be going.'
But I noticed that as we got to horse, the man he called Maignan holdinghis stirrup with much formality, he turned and looked at me more thanonce with an expression in his eye which I could not interpret; sothat, being in an enemy's country, where curiosity was a thing to bedeprecated, I began to feel somewhat uneasy. However, as he presentlygave way to a fit of laughter, and seemed to be digesting his latediversion at the inn, I thought no more of it, finding him excellentcompany and a man of surprising information.
Notwithstanding this my spirits began to flag as I approached Rosny; andas on such occasions nothing is more trying than the well-meant rallyingof a companion ignorant of our trouble, I felt rather relief than regretwhen he drew rein at four cross-roads a mile or so short of the town,and, announcing that here our paths separated, took a civil leave of me,and went his way with his servants.
I dismounted at an inn at the extremity of the town, and, stoppingonly to arrange my dress and drink a cup of wine, asked the way to theChateau, which was situate, I learned, no more than a third of a mileaway. I went thither on foot by way of an avenue of trees leading upto a drawbridge and gateway. The former was down, but the gates wereclosed, and all the formalities of a fortress in time of war wereobserved on my admission, though the garrison appeared to consist onlyof two or three serving-men and as many foresters. I had leisure aftersending in my name to observe that the house was old and partlyruinous, but of great strength, covered in places with ivy, and closelysurrounded by woods. A staid-looking page came presently to me, and ledme up a narrow staircase to a parlour lighted by two windows, looking,one into the courtyard, the other towards the town. There a tall man waswaiting to receive me, who rose on my entrance and came forward. Judgeof my surprise when I recognised my acquaintance of the afternoon! 'M.de Rosny?' I exclaimed, standing still and looking at him in confusion.
'The same, sir,' he answered, with a quiet smile. 'You come from theKing of Navarre, I believe? and on an errand to me. You may speakopenly. The king has no secrets from me.'
There was something in the gravity of his demeanour as he waited for meto speak: which strongly impressed me; notwithstanding that he was tenyears younger than myself, and I had seen him so lately in a lightermood. I felt that his reputation had not belied him--that here was agreat man; and reflecting with despair on the inadequacy of the tale Ihad to tell him, I paused to consider in what terms I should begin. Hesoon put an end to this, however. 'Come, sir,' he said with impatience.'I have told you that you may speak out. You should have been here fourdays ago, as I take it. Now you are here, where is the lady?'
'Mademoiselle de la Vire?' I stammered, rather to gain time than withany other object.
'Tut, tut!' he rejoined, frowning. 'Is there any other lady in thequestion? Come, sir, speak out. Where have you left her? This is noaffair of gallantry,' he continued, the harshness of his demeanourdisagreeably surprising me, 'that you need beat about the bush. The kingentrusted to you a lady, who, I have no hesitation in telling you now,was in possession of certain State secrets. It is known that she escapedsafely from Chize and arrived safely at Blois. Where is she?'
'I would to Heaven I knew, sir!' I exclaimed in despair, feeling thepainfulness of my position increased a hundred fold by his manner. 'Iwish to God I did.'
'What is this?' he cried in a raised voice. 'You do not know where sheis? You jest, M. de Marsac.'
'It were a sorry jest,' I answered, summoning up a rueful smile. And onthat, plunging desperately into the story which I have here set down, Inarrated the difficulties under which I had raised my escort, the mannerin which I came to be robbed of the gold token, how mademoiselle wastrepanned, the lucky chance by which I found her again, and the finaldisappointment. He listened, but listened throughout with no word ofsympathy--rather with impatience, which grew at last into derisiveincredulity. When I had done he asked me bluntly what I called myself.
Scarcely understanding what he meant, I repeated my name.
He answered, rudely and flatly, that it was impossible. I do not believeit, sir!' he repeated, his brow dark. 'You are not the man. You bringneither the lady nor the token, nor anything else by which I can testyour story. Nay, sir, do not scowl at me,' he continued sharply. 'I amthe mouthpiece of the King of Navarre, to whom this matter is of thehighest importance. I cannot believe that the man whom he would choosewould act so. This house you prate of in Blois, for instance, and theroom with the two doors? What were you doing while mademoiselle wasbeing removed?'
'I was engaged with the men of the house,' I answered, striving toswallow the
anger which all but choked me. 'I did what I could. Had thedoor given way, all would have been well.'
He looked at me darkly. 'That is fine talking!' he said with a sneer.Then he dropped his eyes and seemed for a time to fall into a brownstudy, while I stood before him, confounded by this new view of thecase, furious, yet not knowing how to vent my fury, cut to the heart byhis insults, yet without hope or prospect of redress.
'Come' he said harshly, after two or three minutes of gloomy reflectionon his part and burning humiliation on mine, 'is there anyone here whocan identify you, or in any other way confirm your story, sir? Until Iknow how the matter stands I can do nothing.'
I shook my head in sullen shame. I might protest against his brutalityand this judgment of me, but to what purpose while he sheltered himselfbehind his master?
'Stay!' he said presently, with an abrupt gesture of remembrance. 'I hadnearly forgotten. I have some here who have been lately at the King ofNavarre's Court at St. Jean d'Angely. If you still maintain that youare the M. de Marsac to whom this commission was entrusted, you willdoubtless have no objection to seeing them?'
On this I felt myself placed in a most cruel dilemma if I refused tosubmit my case to the proposed ordeal, I stood an impostor confessed.If I consented to see these strangers, it was probable they would notrecognise me, and possible that they might deny me in terms calculatedto make my position even worse, if that might be. I hesitated but, Rosnystanding inexorable before me awaiting an answer, I finally consented.
'Good!' he said curtly. 'This way, if you please. They are here. Thelatch is tricky. Nay, sir, it is my house.'
Obeying the stern motion of his hand, I passed before him into the nextroom, feeling myself more humiliated than I can tell by this referenceto strangers. For a moment I could see no one. The day was waning, theroom I entered was long and narrow, and illuminated only by a glowingfire. Besides I was myself, perhaps, in some embarrassment. I believedthat my conductor had made a mistake, or that his guests had departed,and I turned towards him to ask for an explanation. He merely pointedonwards, however, and I advanced; whereupon a young and handsome lady,who had been seated in the shadow of the great fireplace, rose suddenly,as if startled, and stood looking at me, the glow of the burning woodfalling on one side of her face and turning her hair to gold.
'Well!' M. de Rosny said, in a voice which sounded a little odd in myears. 'You do not know madame, I think?'
I saw that she was a complete stranger to me, and bowed to her withoutspeaking. The lady saluted me in turn ceremoniously and in silence.
'Is there no one else here who should know you?' M. de Rosny continued,in a tone almost of persiflage, and with the same change in his voicewhich had struck me before; but now it was more marked. 'If not, M. deMarsac, I am afraid--But first look round, look round, sir; I would notjudge any man hastily.'
He laid his hand on my shoulder as he finished in a manner so familiarand so utterly at variance with his former bearing that I doubted if Iheard or felt aright. Yet I looked mechanically at the lady, and seeingthat her eyes glistened in the firelight, and that she gazed at me verykindly, I wondered still more; falling, indeed, into a very confusionof amazement. This was not lessened but augmented a hundredfold when,turning in obedience to the pressure of de Rosny's hand, I saw besideme, as if she had risen from the floor, another lady--no other thanMademoiselle de la Vire herself! She had that moment stepped out of theshadow of the great fireplace, which had hitherto hidden her, and stoodbefore me curtseying prettily, with the same look on her face and in hereyes which madame's wore.
'Mademoiselle!' I muttered, unable to take my eyes from her.
'Mais oui, monsieur, mademoiselle,' she answered, curtseying lower, withthe air of a child rather than a woman.
'Here?' I stammered, my mouth open, my eyes staring.
'Here, sir--thanks to the valour of a brave man,' she answered, speakingin a voice so low I scarcely heard her. And then, dropping her eyes,she stepped back into the shadow, as if either she had said too muchalready, or doubted her composure were she to say more. She was soradiantly dressed, she looked in the firelight more like a fairy thana woman, being of small and delicate proportions; and she seemed inmy eyes so different a person, particularly in respect of the softenedexpression of her features, from the Mademoiselle de la Vire whom I hadknown and seen plunged in sloughs and bent to the saddle with fatigue,that I doubted still if I had seen aright, and was as far fromenlightenment as before.
It was M. de Rosny himself who relieved me from the embarrassment I wassuffering. He embraced me in the most kind and obliging manner, and thismore than once; begging me to pardon the deception he had practised uponme, and to which he had been impelled partly by the odd nature of ourintroduction at the inn, and partly by his desire to enhance the joyfulsurprise he had in store for me. 'Come,' he said presently, drawing meto the window, 'let me show you some more of your old friends.'
I looked out, and saw below me in the courtyard my three horses drawn upin a row, the Cid being bestridden by Simon Fleix, who, seeing me, waveda triumphant greeting. A groom stood at the head of each horse, and oneither side was a man with a torch. My companion laughed gleefully.'It was Maignan's arrangement,' he said. 'He has a quaint taste in suchthings.'
After greeting Simon Fleix a hundred times, I turned back into the room,and, my heart overflowing with gratitude and wonder, I begged M. deRosny to acquaint me with the details of mademoiselle's escape.
'It was the most simple thing in the world,' he said, taking me by thehand and leading me back to the hearth. 'While you were engaged withthe rascals, the old woman who daily brought mademoiselle's food grewalarmed at the uproar, and came into the room to learn what it was.Mademoiselle, unable to help you, and uncertain of your success, thoughtthe opportunity too good to be lost. She forced the old woman to showher and her maid the way out through the garden. This done, they randown a lane, as I understand, and came immediately upon the lad with thehorses, who recognised them and helped them to mount. They waited someminutes for you, and then rode off.'
'But I inquired at the gate,' I said.
'At which gate?' inquired M. de Rosny, smiling.
'The North-gate, of course,' I answered.
'Just so,' he rejoined with a nod. 'But they went out through theWest-gate and made a circuit. He is a strange lad, that of yours belowthere. He has a head on his shoulder, M. de Marsac. Well, two leaguesoutside the town they halted, scarcely knowing how to proceed. By goodfortune, however, a horse-dealer of my acquaintance was at the inn.He knew Mademoiselle de la Vire, and, hearing whither she was bound,brought her hither without let or hindrance.'
'Was he a Norman?' I asked,
M. de Rosny nodded, smiling at me shrewdly. 'Yes,' he said, 'he toldme much about you. And now let me introduce you to my wife, Madame deRosny.'
He led me up to the lady who had risen at my entrance, and who nowwelcomed me as kindly as she had before looked on me, paying me manypleasant compliments. I gazed at her with interest, having heard muchof her beauty and of the strange manner in which M. de Rosny, beingenamoured of two young ladies, and chancing upon both while lodging indifferent apartments at an inn, had decided which he should visit andmake his wife. He appeared to read what was in my mind, for as I bowedbefore her, thanking her for the obliging things which she had uttered,and which for ever bound me to her service, he gaily pinched her ear,and said, 'When you want a good wife, M. de Marsac, be sure you turn tothe right.'
He spoke in jest, and having his own case only in his mind. But I,looking mechanically in the direction he indicated, saw mademoisellestanding a pace or two to my right in the shadow of the greatchimney-piece. I know not whether she frowned more or blushed more;but this for certain, that she answered my look with one of sharpdispleasure, and, turning her back on me, swept quickly from the room,with no trace in her bearing of that late tenderness and gratitude whichI had remarked.