CHAPTER XXI. TWO WOMEN.
Out of compliment, and to show my gratitude, I attended M. deRambouillet home to his lodging, and found him as much pleased withhimself, and consequently with me, as I was with him. For the time,indeed, I came near to loving him; and, certainly, he was a man of highand patriotic feeling, and of skill and conduct to match. But he lackedthat touch of nature and that power of sympathising with others whichgave to such men as M. de Rosny and the king, my master, their peculiarcharm; though after what I have related of him in the last chapter itdoes not lie in my mouth to speak ill of him. And, indeed, he was a goodman.
When I at last reached my lodging, I found a surprise awaiting me in theshape of a note which had just arrived no one knew how. If the mannerof its delivery was mysterious, however, its contents were brief andsufficiently explicit; for it; ran thus: 'SIR, BY MEETING ME THREE HOURSAFTER NOON IN THE SQUARE BEFORE THE HOUSE OF THE LITTLE SISTERS YOUWILL DO A SERVICE AT ONCE TO YOURSELF AND TO THE UNDERSIGNED, MARIE DEBRUHL.'
That was all, written in a feminine character, yet it was enough toperplex me. Simon, who had manifested the liveliest joy at my escape,would have had me treat it as I had treated the invitation to the Parvisof the Cathedral; ignore it altogether I mean. But I was of a differentmind, and this for three reasons, among others: that the request wasstraightforward, the time early, and the place sufficiently public to bean unlikely theatre for violence, though well fitted for an interviewto which the world at large was not invited. Then, too, the square laylittle more than a bowshot from my lodging, though on the farther sideof the Rue St. Denys.
Besides, I could conceive many grounds which Madame de Bruhl might havefor seeing me; of which some touched me nearly. I disregarded Simon'swarnings, therefore, and repaired at the time appointed to the place--aclean, paved square a little off the Rue St. Denys, and entered fromthe latter by a narrow passage. It was a spot pleasantly convenientfor meditation, but overlooked on one side by the House of the LittleSisters; in which, as I guessed afterwards, madame must have awaited me,for the square when I entered it was empty, yet in a moment, though noone came in from the street, she stood beside me. She wore a mask andlong cloak. The beautiful hair and perfect complexion, which had filledme with so much admiration at our first meeting in her house, werehidden, but I saw enough of her figure and carriage to be sure that itwas Madame de Bruhl and no other.
She began by addressing me in a tone of bitterness, for which I was notaltogether unprepared.
'Well, sir,' she exclaimed, her voice trembling with anger, 'you aresatisfied, I hope, with your work?'
I expected this and had my answer ready. 'I am not aware, Madame,' Isaid, 'that I have cause to reproach myself. But, however that may be, Itrust you have summoned me for some better purpose than to chide me foranother's fault; though it was my voice which brought it to light.'
'Why did you shame me publicly?' she retorted, thrusting herhandkerchief to her lips and withdrawing it again with a passionategesture.
'Madame,' I answered patiently--I was full of pity for her, 'considerfor a moment the wrong your husband did me and how small and inadequatewas the thing I did to him in return.'
'To him!' she ejaculated so fiercely that I started. 'It was to me--tome you did it! What had I done that you should expose me to the ridiculeof those who know no pity, and the anger of one as merciless? What had Idone, sir?'
I shook my head sorrowfully. 'So far, madame,' I answered, 'I allow Iowe you reparation, and I will make it should it ever be in my power.Nay, I will say more,' I continued, for the tone in which she spoke hadwrung my heart. 'In one point I strained the case against your husband.To the best of my belief he abducted the lady who was in my charge,not for the love of her, but for political reasons, and as the agent ofanother.'
She gasped. 'What?' she cried. 'Say that again!'
As I complied she tore off her mask and gazed into my face withstraining eyes and parted lips. I saw then how much she was changed,even in these few days--how pale and worn were her cheeks, how darkthe circles round her eyes. 'Will you swear to it?' she said at last,speaking with uncontrollable eagerness, while she laid a hand whichshook with excitement on my arm. Will you swear to it, sir?'
'It is true,' I answered steadfastly. I might have added that after theevent her husband had so treated mademoiselle as to lead her to fear theworst. But I refrained, feeling that it was no part of my duty to comebetween husband and wife.
She clasped her hands, and for a moment looked passionately upwards, asthough she were giving thanks to Heaven; while the flesh of health andloveliness which I had so much admired returned, and illumined herface in a wonderful manner. She seemed, in truth and for the moment,transformed. Her blue eyes filled with tears, her lips moved; nor haveI ever seen anything bear so near a resemblance to those pictures of theVirgin Mary which Romans worship as madame did then.
The change, however, was as evanescent as it was admirable. In aninstant she seemed to collapse. She struck her hands to her face andmoaned, and I saw tears, which she vainly strove to restrain, droppingthrough her fingers. 'Too late!' she murmured, in a tone of anguishwhich wrung my heart. 'Alas, you robbed me of one man, you give me backanother. I know him now for what he is. If he did not love her then, hedoes now. It is too late!'
She seemed so much overcome that I assisted her to reach a bench whichstood against the wall a few paces away; nor, I confess, was it withoutdifficulty and much self-reproach that I limited myself to those prudentoffices only which her state and my duty required. To console her on thesubject of her husband was impossible; to ignore him, and so to consoleher, a task which neither my discretion nor my sense of honour, thoughsorely tried, permitted me to undertake.
She presently recovered and, putting on her mask again, said hurriedlythat she had still a word to say to me. 'You have treated me honestly,'she continued, 'and, though I have no cause to do anything but hate you,I say in return, look to yourself! You escaped last night--I know all,for it was my velvet knot--which I had made thinking to send it to youto procure this meeting--that he used as a lure. But he is not yet atthe end of his resources. Look to yourself, therefore.'
I thought of the appointment I had made with him for the morrow, but Iconfined myself to thanking her, merely saying, as I bowed over the handshe resigned to me in token of farewell, 'Madame, I am grateful. I amobliged to you both for your warning and your forgiveness.'
'Bending her head coldly she drew away her hand. At that moment, as Ilifted my eyes, I saw something which for an instant rooted me to thespot with astonishment. In the entrance of the passage which led to theRue St. Denys two people were standing, watching us. The one was SimonFleix, and the other, a masked woman, a trifle below the middle height,and clad in a riding-coat, was Mademoiselle de la Vire!
I knew her in a moment. But the relief I experienced on seeing her safeand in Blois was not unmixed with annoyance that Simon Fleix should havebeen so imprudent as to parade her unnecessarily in the street. I feltsomething of confusion also on my own account; for I could not tell howlong she and her escort had been watching me. And these two feelingswere augmented when, after turning to pay a final salute to Madamede Bruhl, I looked again towards the passage and discovered thatmademoiselle and her squire were gone.
Impatient as I was, I would not seem to leave madame rudely or withoutfeeling, after the consideration she had shown me in her own sorrow; andaccordingly I waited uncovered until she disappeared within the 'LittleSisters.' Then I started eagerly towards my lodging, thinking I mightyet overtake mademoiselle before she entered. I was destined to meet,however, with another though very pertinent hindrance. As I passed fromthe Rue St. Denys into the quiet of my street I heard a voice calling myname, and, looking back, saw M. de Rambouillet's equerry, a man deep inhis confidence, running after me. He brought a message from his master,which he begged me to consider of the first importance.
'The Marquis would not trust it to writing, sir,' he continued, drawingme aside
into a corner where we were conveniently retired, 'but he mademe learn it by heart. "Tell M. de Marsac," said he, "that that which hewas left in Blois to do must be done quickly, or not at all. There issomething afoot in the other camp, I am not sure what. But now is thetime to knock in the nail. I know his zeal, and I depend upon him."'
An hour before I should have listened to this message with seriousdoubts and misgivings. Now, acquainted with mademoiselle's arrival, Ireturned M. de Rambouillet an answer in the same strain, and partingcivilly from Bertram, who was a man I much esteemed, I hastened on to mylodgings, exulting in the thought that the hour and the woman were comeat last, and that before the dawn of another day I might hope, all beingwell, to accomplish with honour to myself and advantage to others thecommission which M. de Rosny had entrusted to me.
I must not deny that, mingled with this, was some excitement at theprospect of seeing mademoiselle again. I strove to conjure up before meas I mounted the stairs the exact expression of her face as I had lastseen it bending from the window at Rosny; to the end that I might havesome guide for my future conduct, and might be less likely to fall intothe snare of a young girl's coquetry. But I could come now, as then, tono satisfactory or safe conclusion, and only felt anew the vexation Ihad experienced on losing the velvet knot, which she had given me onthat occasion.
I knocked at the door of the rooms which I had reserved for her, andwhich were on the floor below my own; but I got no answer. Supposingthat Simon had taken her upstairs, I mounted quickly, not doubting Ishould find her there. Judge of my surprise and dismay when I found thatroom also empty, save for the lackey whom M. de Rambouillet had lent me!
'Where are they?' I asked the man, speaking sharply, and standing withmy hand on the door.
'The lady and her woman, sir?' he answered, coming forward.
'Yes, yes!' I cried impatiently, a sudden fear at my heart.
She went out immediately after her arrival with Simon Fleix, sir, andhas not yet returned,' he answered.
The words were scarcely out of his mouth before I heard several personsenter the passage below and begin to ascend the stairs. I did not;doubt that mademoiselle and the lad had come home another way and, beensomehow detained; and I turned with a sigh of relief to receive them.But when the persons whose steps I had heard appeared, they proved to beonly M. de Rosny's equerry, stout, burly, and bright-eyed as ever, andtwo armed servants.