CHAPTER XVIII. THE OFFER OF THE LEAGUE.
When the last sound of his footsteps died away, I awoke as from an evildream, and becoming conscious of the presence of M. Francois and theservants, recollected mechanically that I owed the former an apology formy discourtesy in keeping him standing in the cold. I began to offer it;but my distress and confusion of mind were such that in the middle of aset phrase I broke off, and stood looking fixedly at him, my trouble soplain that he asked me civilly if anything ailed me.
'No,' I answered, turning from him impatiently; 'nothing, nothing, sir.Or tell me,' I continued, with an abrupt change of mind, 'who is that;who has just left us?'
'Father Antoine, do you mean?'
'Ay, Father Antoine, Father Judas, call him what you like,' I rejoinedbitterly.
'Then if you leave the choice to me,' M. Francois answered with gravepoliteness, 'I would rather call him something more pleasant, M. deMarsac--James or John, let us say. For there is little said here whichdoes not come back to him. If walls have ears, the walls of Blois arein his pay. But I thought you knew him,' he continued. 'He is secretary,confidant, chaplain, what you will, to Cardinal Retz, and one of thosewhom--in your ear--greater men court and more powerful men lean on. If Ihad to choose between them, I would rather cross M. de Crillon.'
'I am obliged to you,' I muttered, checked as much by his manner as hiswords.
'Not at all,' he answered more lightly. 'Any information I have is atyour disposal.'
However, I saw the imprudence of venturing farther, and hastened totake leave of him, persuading him to allow one of M. de Rambouillet'sservants to accompany him home. He said that he should call on me in themorning; and forcing myself to answer him in a suitable manner, I sawhim depart one way, and myself, accompanied by Simon Fleix, went offanother. My feet were frozen with long standing--I think the corpse weleft was scarce colder--but my head was hot with feverish doubts andfears. The moon had sunk and the streets were dark. Our torch had burnedout, and we had no light. But where my followers saw only blackness andvacancy, I saw an evil smile and a lean visage fraught with menace andexultation.
For the more closely I directed my mind to the position in which Istood, the graver it seemed. Pitted against Bruhl alone, amid strangesurroundings and in an atmosphere of Court intrigue, I had thought mytask sufficiently difficult and the disadvantages under which I labouredsufficiently serious before this interview. Conscious of a certainrustiness and a distaste for finesse, with resources so inferior toBruhl's that even M. de Rosny's liberality had not done much to make upthe difference, I had accepted the post offered me rather readily thansanguinely; with joy, seeing that it held out the hope of high reward,but with no certain expectation of success. Still, matched with a man ofviolent and headstrong character, I had seen no reason to despair; norany why I might not arrange the secret meeting between the king andmademoiselle with safety, and conduct to its end an intrigue simple andunsuspected, and requiring for its execution rather courage and cautionthan address or experience.
Now, however, I found that Bruhl was not my only or my most dangerousantagonist. Another was in the field--or, to speak more correctly, waswaiting outside the arena, ready to snatch the prize when we should havedisabled one another, From a dream of Bruhl and myself as engaged ina competition for the king's favour, wherein neither could expose theother nor appeal even in the last resort to the joint-enemies of hisMajesty and ourselves, I awoke to a very different state of things; Iawoke to find those enemies the masters of the situation, possessed ofthe clue to our plans, and permitting them only as long as they seemedto threaten no serious peril to themselves.
No discovery could be more mortifying or more fraught with terror. Theperspiration stood on my brow as I recalled the warning which M. deRosny had uttered against Cardinal Retz, or noted down the variouspoints of knowledge which were in Father Antoine's possession. He knewevery event of the last month, with one exception, and could tell, Iverily believed, how many crowns I had in my pouch. Conceding this, andthe secret sources of information he must possess, what hope had I ofkeeping my future movements from him? Mademoiselle's arrival would beknown to him before she had well passed the gates; nor was it likely,or even possible, that I should again succeed in reaching the king'spresence untraced and unsuspected. En fin, I saw myself, equally withBruhl, a puppet in this man's hands, my goings out and my comings inwatched and reported to him, his mercy the only bar between myselfand destruction. At any moment I might be arrested as a Huguenot, theenterprise in which I was engaged ruined, and Mademoiselle de la Vireexposed to the violence of Bruhl or the equally dangerous intrigues ofthe League.
Under these circumstances I fancied sleep impossible; but habit andweariness are strong persuaders, and when I reached my lodging I sleptlong and soundly, as became a man who had looked danger in the face morethan once. The morning light too brought an accession both of courageand hope. I reflected on the misery of my condition at St. Jeand'Angely, without friends or resources, and driven to herd with sucha man as Fresnoy. And telling myself that the gold crowns which M. deRosny had lavished upon me were not for nothing, nor the more preciousfriendship with which he had honoured me a gift that called for noreturn, I rose with new spirit and a countenance which threw SimonFleix who had seen me lie down the picture of despair--into the utmostastonishment.
'You have had good dreams,' he said, eyeing me jealously and with adisturbed air.
'I had a very evil one last night,' I answered lightly, wondering alittle why he looked at me so, and why he seemed to resent my returnto hopefulness and courage. I might have followed this train of thoughtfurther with advantage, since I possessed a clue to his state of mind;but at that moment a summons at the door called him away to it, andhe presently ushered in M. d'Agen, who, saluting me with punctiliouspoliteness, had not said fifty words before he introduced the subjectof his toe--no longer, however, in a hostile spirit, but as thehappy medium which had led him to recognise the worth and sterlingqualities--so he was pleased to say--of his preserver.
I was delighted to find him in this frame of mind, and told him franklythat the friendship with which his kinsman, M. de Rambouillet, honouredme would prevent me giving him satisfaction save in the last resort.He replied that the service I had done him was such as to render thisimmaterial, unless I had myself cause of offence; which I was forward todeny.
We were paying one another compliments after this fashion, while Iregarded him with the interest which the middle-aged bestow on the youngand gallant in whom they see their own youth and hopes mirrored, whenthe door was again opened, and after a moment's pause admitted, equally,I think, to the disgust of M. Francois, and myself, the form of FatherAntoine.
Seldom have two men more diverse stood, I believe, in a room together;seldom has any greater contrast been presented to a man's eyes than thatopened to mine on this occasion. On the one side the gay young spark,with his short cloak, his fine suit; of black-and-silver, his trimlimbs and jewelled hilt and chased comfit-box; on the other, the tall,stooping monk, lean-jawed and bright-eyed, whose gown hung about him incoarse, ungainly folds. And M. Francois' sentiment on first seeing theother was certainly dislike. Is spite of this, however, he bestowed agreeting on the new-comer which evidenced a secret awe, and in otherways showed so plain a desire to please, that I felt my fears of thepriest return in force. I reflected that the talents which in such agarb could win the respect of M. Francois d'Agen--a brilliant star amongthe younger courtiers, and one of a class much given to thinking scornof their fathers' roughness--must be both great and formidable; and,so considering, I received the monk with a distant courtesy which I hadonce little thought to extend to him. I put aside for the moment theprivate grudge I bore him with so much justice, and remembered only theburden which lay on me in my contest with him.
I conjectured without difficulty that he chose to come at this time,when M. Francois was with me, out of a cunning regard to his own safety;and I was not surprised when M. Francois, beginni
ng to make his adieux,Father Antoine begged him to wait below, adding that he had somethingof importance to communicate. He advanced his request in terms ofpoliteness bordering on humility; but I could clearly see that, inassenting to it, M. d'Agen bowed to a will stronger than his own, andwould, had he dared to follow his own bent, have given a very differentanswer. As it was he retired--nominally to give an order to hislackey--with a species of impatient self-restraint which it was notdifficult to construe.
Left alone with me, and assured that we had no listeners, the monk wasnot slow in coming to the point.
'You have thought over what I told you last night?' he said brusquely,dropping in a moment the suave manner which he had maintained in M.Francois's presence.
I replied coldly that I had.
'And you understand the position?' he continued quickly, looking at mefrom under his brows as he stood before me, with one clenched fist onthe table. 'Or shall I tell you more? Shall I tell you how poor anddespised you were some weeks ago, M. de Marsac--you who now go invelvet, and have three men at your back? Or whose gold it is has broughtyou here, and made you, this? Chut! Do not let us trifle. You are hereas the secret agent of the King of Navarre. It is my business to learnyour plans and his intentions, and I propose to do so.'
'Well?' I said.
'I am prepared to buy them,' he answered; and his eyes sparkled as hespoke, with a greed which set me yet more on my guard.
'For whom?' I asked. Having made up my mind that I must use the sameweapons as my adversary, I reflected that to express indignation, suchas might become a young man new to the world, could, help me not a whit.'For whom?' I repeated, seeing that he hesitated.
'That is my business,' he replied slowly.
'You want to know too much and tell too little,' I retorted, yawning.
'And you are playing with me,' he cried, looking at me suddenly, with sopiercing a gaze and so dark a countenance that I checked a shudder withdifficulty. 'So much the worse for you, so much the worse for you!' hecontinued fiercely. 'I am here to buy the information you hold, but ifyou will not sell, there is another way. At an hour's notice I can ruinyour plans, and send you to a dungeon! You are like a fish caught in anet not yet drawn. It thrusts its nose this way and that, and touchesthe mesh, but is slow to take the alarm until the net is drawn--and thenit is too late. So it is with you, and so it is,' he added, fallinginto the ecstatic mood which marked him at times, and left me in doubtwhether he were all knave or in part enthusiast, 'with all those who setthemselves against St. Peter and his Church!'
'I have heard you say much the same of the King of France,' I saidderisively.
'You trust in him?' he retorted, his eyes gleaming. 'You have beenup there, and seen his crowded chamber, and counted his forty-fivegentlemen and his grey-coated Swiss? I tell you the splendour you sawwas a dream, and will vanish as a dream. The man's strength and hisglory shall go from him, and that soon. Have you no eyes to see thathe is beside the question? There are but two powers in France--the HolyUnion, which still prevails, and the accursed Huguenot; and between themis the battle.'
'Now you are telling me more,' I said.
He grew sober in a moment, looking at me with a vicious anger hard todescribe.
'Tut tut,' he said, showing his yellow teeth, 'the dead tell no tales.And for Henry of Valois, he so loves a monk that you might better accusehis mistress. But for you, I have only to cry "Ho! a Huguenot and aspy!" and though he loved you more than he loved Quelus or Maugiron, hedare not stretch out a finger to save you!'
I knew that he spoke the truth, and with difficulty maintained the airof indifference with which I had entered on the interview.
'But what if I leave Blois?' I ventured, merely to see what he wouldsay.
He laughed. 'You cannot,' he answered. 'The net is round you, M. deMarsac, and there are those at every gate who know you and have theirinstructions. I can destroy you, but I would fain have your information,and for that I will pay you five hundred crowns and let you go.'
'To fall into the hands of the King of Navarre?'
'He will disown you, in any case,' he answered eagerly. 'He had thatin his mind, my friend, when he selected an agent so obscure. He willdisown you. Ah, mon Dieu! had I been an hour quicker I had caughtRosny--Rosny himself!'
'There is one thing lacking still,' I replied. 'How am I to be surethat, when I have told you what I know, you will pay me the money or letme go?'
'I will swear to it!' he answered earnestly, deceived into thinking Iwas about to surrender. 'I will give you my oath, M. de Marsac!'
'I would as soon have your shoe-lace!' I exclaimed, the indignation Icould not entirely repress finding vent in that phrase. 'A Churchman'svow is worth a candle--or a candle and a half, is it?' I continuedironically. 'I must have some security a great deal more substantialthan that, father.'
'What?' he asked, looking at me gloomily.
Seeing an opening, I cudgelled my brains to think of any conditionwhich, being fulfilled, might turn the table on him and place him in mypower. But his position was so strong, or my wits so weak, that nothingoccurred to me at the time, and I sat looking at, him, my mind graduallypassing from the possibility of escape to the actual danger in whichI stood, and which encompassed also Simon Fleix, and, in a degree,doubtless, M. de Rambouillet. In four or five days, too, Mademoiselle dela Vire would arrive. I wondered if I could send any warning to her;and then, again, I doubted the wisdom of interfering with M. de Rosny'splans, the more as Maignan, who had gone to fetch mademoiselle, was of akind to disregard any orders save his master's.
'Well!' said the monk, impatiently recalling me to myself, 'whatsecurity do you want?'
'I am not quite sure at this moment,' I made answer slowly. 'I am in adifficult position. I must have some time to consider.'
'And to rid yourself of me, if it be possible,' he said with irony. 'Iquite understand. But I warn you that you are watched; and that whereveryou go and whatever you do, eyes which are mine are upon you.'
'I, too, understand,' I said coolly.
He stood awhile uncertain, regarding me with mingled doubt andmalevolence, tortured on the one hand by fear of losing the prize ifhe granted delay, on the other of failing as utterly if he exerted hispower and did not succeed in subduing my resolution. I watched him, too,and gauging his eagerness and the value of the stake for which he wasstriving by the strength of his emotions, drew small comfort from thesight. More than once it had occurred to me, and now it occurred to meagain, to extricate myself by a blow. But a natural reluctance to strikean unarmed man, however vile and knavish, and the belief that he hadnot trusted himself in my power without taking the fullest precautions,withheld me. When he grudgingly, and with many dark threats, proposed towait three days--and not an hour more--for my answer, I accepted; for Isaw no other alternative open. And on these terms, but not withoutsome short discussion, we parted, and I heard his stealthy footstep gosneaking down the stairs.