CHAPTER XLVII.
THE CHESS OF M. CHICOT, AND THE CUP AND BALL OF M. QUELUS.
Chicot returned joyfully to the Louvre. It was a great satisfactionto him to have saved a brave gentleman like Bussy.
M. de Guise, after having received in the morning the principalLeaguers, who came to bring him the registers filled with signatures,and after having made them all swear to recognize the chief thatthe king should appoint, went out to visit M. d'Anjou, whom hehad lost sight of about ten the evening before. The duke foundthe prince's valet rather unquiet at his master's absence, buthe imagined that he had slept at the Louvre.
The Due de Guise asked to speak to Aurilly, who was most likelyto know where his master was. Aurilly came, but stated he hadbeen separated from the prince the evening before by a pressureof the crowd, and had come to the Hotel d'Anjou to wait for him,not knowing that his highness had intended to sleep at the Louvre.He added that he had just sent to the Louvre to inquire, and thata message had been returned that the duke was still asleep.
"Asleep at eleven o'clock! not likely. You ought to go to theLouvre, Aurilly."
"I did think of it, monseigneur, but I feared that this was onlya tale invented to satisfy my messenger, and that the prince wasseeking pleasure elsewhere, and might be annoyed at my seekinghim."
"Oh, no; the duke has too much sense to be pleasure-seeking ona day like this. Go to the Louvre; you will be sure to find himthere."
"I will if you wish it; but what shall I say to him?"
"Say that the convocation at the Louvre is fixed for two o'clock,and that it is necessary that we should have a conference first.It is not at the time when the king is about to choose a chieffor the League that he should be sleeping."
"Very well, monseigneur, I will beg his highness to come here."
"And say that I am waiting impatiently for him.Meanwhile I will go and seek M. de Bussy."
"But if I do not find his highness, what am I to do?"
"Then make no further search for him. In any event I shall beat the Louvre at a quarter before two."
Aurilly passed through the courtiers who crowded the Louvre,and made his way to the duke's apartments. At the door he foundChicot playing chess. Aurilly tried to pass, but Chicot, withhis long legs blocked up the doorway. He was forced to touchhim on the shoulder.
"Ah, it is you, M. Aurilly."
"What are you doing, M. Chicot?"
"Playing chess, as you see."
"All alone?"
"Yes, I am studying; do you play?"
"Very little."
"Yes, I know you are a musician, and music is so difficult anart, that those who give themselves to it must sacrifice alltheir time."
"You seem very serious over your game."
"Yes, it is my king who disquiets me; you must know, M. Aurilly,that at chess the king is a very insignificant person, who hasno will, who can only go one step forward or back, or one tothe right or left, while he is surrounded by active enemies, byknights who jump three squares at a time, by a crowd of pawnswho surround him, so that if he be badly counseled he is a ruinedking in no time, ma foi."
"But, M. Chicot, how does it happen that you are studying thisat the door of his royal highness' room?"
"Because I am waiting for M. Quelus, who is in there."
"Where?"
"With his highness."
"With his highness! What is he doing there? I did not think theywere such friends."
"Hush!" then he whispered in Aurilly's ear "he is come to askpardon of the duke for a little quarrel they had yesterday."
"Really!"
"It was the king who insisted on it; you know on what excellentterms the brothers are just now. The king would not suffer animpertinence of Quelus's to pass, and ordered him to apologize."
"Really!"
"Ah! M. Aurilly, I think that we are entering the golden age; theLouvre is about to become Arcadia, and the two brothers Arcadesambo."
Aurilly smiled, and passed into the ante-chamber, where he wascourteously saluted by Quelus, between whose hands a superb cupand ball of ebony inlaid with ivory was making rapid evolutions.
"Bravo! M. Quelus," said Aurilly.
"Ah! my dear M. Aurilly, when shall I play cup and ball as wellas you play the lute?"
"When you have studied your plaything as long as I have myinstrument. But where is monseigneur? I thought you were withhim."
"I have an audience with him, but Schomberg comes first."
"What! M. de Schomberg, also!"
"Oh! mon Dieu; yes. The king settled all that. He is in thenext room. Enter, M. Aurilly, and remind the prince that we arewaiting for him."
Aurilly opened the second door and saw Schomberg reclining ona kind of couch, from which he amused himself by sending from atube little balls of earth through a gold ring, suspended fromthe ceiling by a silk thread, while a favorite dog brought himback the balls as they fell.
"Ah! guten morgen, M. Aurilly, you see I am amusing myself whileI wait for my audience."
"But where is monseigneur?"
"Oh! he is occupied in pardoning D'Epernon and Maugiron. But willyou not enter, you who are privileged?"
"Perhaps it would be indiscreet."
"Not at all; enter, M. Aurilly, enter." And he pushed him intothe next room, where the astonished musician perceived D'Epernonbefore a mirror, occupied in stiffening his mustachios, whileMaugiron, seated near the window, was cutting out engravings, bythe side of which the bas-reliefs on the temple of Venus Aphroditewould have looked holy.
The duke, without his sword, was in his armchair between thesetwo men, who only looked at him to watch his movements, and onlyspoke to him to say something disagreeable: seeing Aurilly, hegot up to meet him.
"Take care monseigneur," said Maugiron, "you are stepping on myfigures."
"Mon Dieu!" cried the musician, "he insults my master!"
"Dear M. Aurilly," said D'Epernon, still arranging his mustachois,"how are you?"
"Be so kind as to bring me here your little dagger," said Maugiron.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen, do you not remember where you are?"
"Yes, yes, my dear Orpheus, that is why I ask for your dagger;you see M. le Duc has none."
"Aurilly!" cried the duke, in a tone full of grief and rage, "doyou not see that I am a prisoner?"
"A prisoner! to whom?"
"To my brother; you might know that by my jailers."
"Oh! if I had but guessed it."
"You would have brought your lute to amuse his highness," saida mocking voice behind them, "but I thought of it, and sent forit; here it is."
"How does your chess go on, Chicot?" said D'Epernon.
"I believe I shall save the king, but it is not without trouble.Come, M. Aurilly, give me your poniard in return for the lute;a fair exchange."
The astonished musician obeyed.
"There is one rat in the trap," said Quelus, who returned tohis post in the antechamber, only exchanging his cup and ballfor Schomberg's shooting tube.
"It is amusing to vary one's pleasures," said Chicot; "so fora change I will go and sign the League."