CHAPTER XIX.
THE ABODE OF MAITRE RENE, PERFUMER TO THE QUEEN MOTHER.
At the period of this history there existed in Paris, for passing fromone part of the city to another, but five bridges, some of stone and theothers of wood, and they all led to the Cite; there were le Pont desMeuniers, le Pont au Change, le Pont Notre-Dame, le Petit Pont, and lePont Saint Michel.
In other places when there was need of crossing the river there wereferries.
These five bridges were loaded with houses like the Pont Vecchio atFlorence at the present time. Of these five bridges, each of which hasits history, we shall now speak more particularly of the Pont SaintMichel.
The Pont Saint Michel had been built of stone in 1373; in spite of itsapparent solidity, a freshet in the Seine undermined a part of it on thethirty-first of January, 1408; in 1416 it had been rebuilt of wood; butduring the night of December 16, 1547, it was again carried away; about1550, in other words twenty-two years anterior to the epoch which wehave reached, it was again built of wood, and though it needed repairsit was regarded as solid enough.
In the midst of the houses which bordered the line of the bridge, facingthe small islet on which the Templers had been burnt, and where at thepresent time the platform of the Pont Neuf rests, stood a woodenpanelled house over which a large roof impended like the lid of animmense eye. At the only window, which opened on the first story, overthe window and door of the ground floor, hermetically sealed, shone areddish light, which attracted the attention of the passers-by to thelow, wide facade, painted blue, with rich gold mouldings. A kind offrieze separating the ground floor from the first floor representedgroups of devils in the most grotesque postures imaginable; and a widescroll painted blue like the facade ran between the frieze and thewindow, with this inscription: "RENE, FLORENTIN, PERFUMER DE SA MAJESTELA REINE MERE."
The door of this shop was, as we have said, well bolted; but it wasdefended from nocturnal attacks better than by bolts by its occupant'sreputation, so redoubtable that the passengers over the bridge usuallydescribed a curve which took them to the opposite row of houses, as ifthey feared the very smell of the perfumes that might exhale through thewalls.
More than this, the right and left hand neighbors, doubtless fearingthat they might be compromised by the proximity, had, since MaitreRene's occupancy of the house, taken their departure one after the otherso that the two houses next to Rene's were left empty and closed. Yet,in spite of this solitude and desertedness, belated passers-by hadfrequently seen, glittering through the crevices of the shutters ofthese empty habitations, strange rays of light, and had felt certainthey heard strange noises like groans, which proved that some beingsfrequented these abodes, although they did not know if they belonged tothis world or the other.
The result was that the tenants of the two buildings contiguous to thetwo empty houses from time to time queried whether it would not be wisein them to do as their neighbors had done.
It was, doubtless, owing to the privilege which the dread of him, widelycirculated, had procured for him, that Maitre Rene had ventured to keepup a light after the prescribed hour. No round or guard, moreover, wouldhave dared to molest him, a man doubly dear to her majesty as herfellow-countryman and perfumer.
As we suppose that the reader, panoplied by the philosophical wisdom ofthis century, no longer believes in magic or magicians, we will invitehim to accompany us into this dwelling which, at that epoch ofsuperstitious faith, shed around it such a profound terror.
The shop on the ground floor is dark and deserted after eight o'clock inthe evening--the hour at which it closes, not to open again until nextmorning; there it is that the daily sale of perfumery, unguents, andcosmetics of all kinds, such as a skilful chemist makes, takes place.Two apprentices aid him in the retail business, but do not sleep in thehouse; they lodge in the Rue de la Colandre.
In the evening they take their departure an instant before the shopcloses; in the morning they wait at the door until it opens.
This ground-floor shop is therefore dark and deserted, as we have said.
In this shop, which is large and deep, there are two doors, each leadingto a staircase. One of these staircases is in the wall itself and islateral, and the other is exterior and visible from the quay now calledthe Quai des Augustins, and from the riverbank, now called the Quai desOrfevres.
Both lead to the principal room on the first floor. This room is of thesame size as the ground floor, except that it is divided into twocompartments by tapestry suspended in the centre and parallel to thebridge. At the end of the first compartment opens the door leading tothe exterior staircase. On the side face of the second opens the door ofthe secret staircase. This door is invisible, being concealed by a largecarved cupboard fastened to it by iron cramps, and moving with it whenpushed open. Catharine alone, besides Rene, knows the secret of thisdoor, and by it she comes and departs; and with eye or ear placedagainst the cupboard, in which are several small holes, she sees andhears all that occurs in the chamber.
Two other doors, visible to all eyes, present themselves at the sides ofthe second compartment. One opens into a small chamber lighted from theroof, and having nothing in it but a large stove, some alembecs,retorts, and crucibles: it is the alchemist's laboratory; the otheropens into a cell more singular than the rest of the apartment, for itis not lighted at all--has neither carpet nor furniture, but only a kindof stone altar.
The floor slopes from the centre to the ends, and from the ends to thebase of the wall is a kind of gutter ending in a funnel, through whoseorifice may be seen the dark waters of the Seine. On nails driven intothe walls are hung singular-shaped instruments, all keen or pointed withpoints as fine as a needle and edges as sharp as a razor; some shinelike mirrors; others, on the contrary, are of a dull gray or murky blue.
In a corner are two black fowls struggling with each other and tiedtogether by the claws. This is the soothsayer's sanctuary.
Let us return to the middle chamber, that with two compartments.
Here the common herd of clients are introduced; here ibises from Egypt;mummies, with gilded bands; the crocodile, yawning from the ceiling;death's-heads, with eyeless sockets and loose teeth; and old mustyvolumes, torn and rat-eaten, are presented to the visitor's eye inpellmell confusion. Behind the curtain are phials, singularly shapedboxes, and weird-looking vases; all this is lighted up by two smallsilver lamps exactly alike, perhaps stolen from some altar of SantaMaria Novella or the Church Dei Lervi of Florence; these, supplied withperfumed oil, cast their yellow flames around the sombre vault fromwhich each hangs by three blackened chains.
Rene, alone, his arms crossed, is pacing up and down the secondcompartment with long strides, and shaking his head. After a lengthenedand painful musing he pauses before an hour-glass:
"Ah! ah!" says he, "I forget to turn it; and perhaps the sand has allrun through a long time ago."
Then, looking at the moon as it struggled through a heavy black cloudwhich seemed to hang over Notre-Dame, he said: "It is nine o'clock. Ifshe comes, she will come, as usual, in an hour or an hour and a half;then there will be time for all."
At this moment a noise was heard on the bridge. Rene applied his ear tothe orifice of a long tube, the other end of which reached down thestreet, terminating in a heraldic viper-head.
"No," he said, "it is neither _she_ nor _they_; it is men's footsteps,and they stop at my door--they are coming here."
And three sharp knocks were heard at the door.
Rene hurried downstairs and put his ear against the door, withoutopening it.
The three sharp blows were repeated.
"Who's there?" asked Maitre Rene.
"Must we mention our names?" inquired a voice.
"It is indispensable," replied Rene.
"Well, then, I am the Comte Annibal de Coconnas," said the same voice.
"And I am the Comte Lerac de la Mole," said another voice, which had notas yet been heard.
"Wait, wait, gentlemen, I
am at your service."
And at the same moment Rene drew the bolts and, lifting the bars, openedthe door to the two young men locking it after him. Then, conductingthem by the exterior staircase, he introduced them into the secondcompartment.
La Mole, as he entered, made the sign of the cross under his cloak. Hewas pale, and his hand trembled without his being able to repress thissymptom of weakness.
Coconnas looked at everything, one after the other; and seeing the doorof the cell, was about to open it.
"Allow me to observe, my dear young gentleman," said Rene, in his deepvoice, and placing his hand on Coconnas's, "those that do me the honorof a visit have access only to this part of the room."
"Oh, very well," replied Coconnas; "besides, I feel like sitting down."And he took a seat.
There was unbroken silence for a moment--Maitre Rene was waiting for oneor the other of the young men to open the conversation.
"Maitre Rene," at length said Coconnas, "you are a skilful man, and Ipray you tell me if I shall always remain a sufferer from my wound--thatis, always experience this shortness of breath, which prevents me fromriding on horseback, using my sword, and eating larded omelettes?"
Rene put his ear to Coconnas's chest and listened attentively to theplay of the lungs.
"No, Monsieur le Comte," he replied, "you will get well."
"Really?"
"Yes, I assure you."
"Well, you fill me with delight."
There was silence once more.
"Is there nothing else you would desire to know, M. le Comte?"
"I wish to know," said Coconnas, "if I am really in love?"
"You are," replied Rene.
"How do you know?"
"Because you asked the question."
"By Heaven! you are right. But with whom?"
"With her who now, on every occasion, uses the oath you have justuttered."
"Ah!" said Coconnas, amazed; "Maitre Rene, you are a clever man! Now, LaMole, it is your turn."
La Mole reddened, and seemed embarrassed.
"I, Monsieur Rene," he stammered, and speaking more firmly as heproceeded, "do not care to ask you if I am in love, for I know that Iam, and I do not hide it from myself; but tell me, shall I be beloved inreturn? for, in truth, all that at first seemed propitious now turnsagainst me."
"Perchance you have not done all you should do."
"What is there to do, sir, but to testify, by one's respect and devotionto the lady of one's thoughts, that she is really and profoundlybeloved?"
"You know," replied Rene, "that these demonstrations are frequently verymeaningless."
"Then must I despair?"
"By no means; we must have recourse to science. In human nature thereare antipathies to be overcome--sympathies which may be forced. Iron isnot the lodestone; but by rubbing it with a lodestone we make it, in itsturn, attract iron."
"Yes, yes," muttered La Mole; "but I have an objection to all thesesorceries."
"Ah, then, if you have any such objections, you should not come here,"answered Rene.
"Come, come, this is child's play!" interposed Coconnas. "Maitre Rene,can you show me the devil?"
"No, Monsieur le Comte."
"I'm sorry for that; for I had a word or two to say to him, and it mighthave encouraged La Mole."
"Well, then, let it be so," said La Mole, "let us go to the point atonce. I have been told of figures modelled in wax to look like thebeloved object. Is that one way?"
"An infallible one."
"And there is nothing in the experiment likely to affect the life orhealth of the person beloved?"
"Nothing."
"Let us try, then."
"Shall I make first trial?" said Coconnas.
"No," said La Mole, "since I have begun, I will go through to the end."
"Is your desire mighty, ardent, imperious to know what the obstacle is,Monsieur de la Mole?"
"Oh," exclaimed La Mole, "I am dying with anxiety."
At this moment some one rapped lightly at the street door--so lightlythat no one but Maitre Rene heard the noise, doubtless because he hadbeen expecting it.
Without any hesitation he went to the speaking-tube and put his ear tothe mouthpiece, at the same time asking La Mole several idle questions.Then he added, suddenly:
"Now put all your energy into your wish, and call the person whom youlove."
La Mole knelt, as if about to address a divinity; and Rene, going intothe other compartment, went out noiselessly by the exterior staircase,and an instant afterward light steps trod the floor of his shop.
When La Mole rose he beheld before him Maitre Rene. The Florentine heldin his hand a small wax figure, very indifferently modelled; it wore acrown and mantle.
"Do you desire to be always beloved by your royal mistress?" demandedthe perfumer.
"Yes, even if it cost me my life--even if my soul should be thesacrifice!" replied La Mole.
"Very good," said the Florentine, taking with the ends of his fingerssome drops of water from a ewer and sprinkling them over the figure, atthe same time muttering certain Latin words.
La Mole shuddered, believing that some sacrilege was committed.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"I am christening this figure with the name of Marguerite."
"What for?"
"To establish a sympathy."
La Mole opened his mouth to prevent his going any further, but a mockinglook from Coconnas stopped him.
Rene, who had noticed the impulse, waited. "Your absolute and undividedwill is necessary," he said.
"Go on," said La Mole.
Rene wrote on a small strip of red paper some cabalistic characters, putit into the eye of a steel needle, and with the needle pierced the smallwax model in the heart.
Strange to say, at the orifice of the wound appeared a small drop ofblood; then he set fire to the paper.
The heat of the needle melted the wax around it and dried up the spot ofblood.
"Thus," said Rene, "by the power of sympathy, your love shall pierce andburn the heart of the woman whom you love."
Coconnas, true to his repute as a bold thinker, laughed in his mustache,and in a low tone jested; but La Mole, desperately in love and full ofsuperstition, felt a cold perspiration start from the roots of his hair.
"And now," continued Rene, "press your lips to the lips of the figure,and say: 'Marguerite, I love thee! Come, Marguerite!'"
La Mole obeyed.
At this moment the door of the second chamber was heard to open, andlight steps approached. Coconnas, curious and incredulous, drew hisponiard, and fearing that if he raised the tapestry Rene would repeatwhat he said about the door, he cut a hole in the thick curtain, andapplying his eye to the hole, uttered a cry of astonishment, to whichtwo women's voices responded.
"What is it?" exclaimed La Mole, nearly dropping the waxen figure, whichRene caught from his hands.
"Why," replied Coconnas, "the Duchesse de Nevers and Madame Margueriteare there!"
"There, now, you unbelievers!" replied Rene, with an austere smile; "doyou still doubt the force of sympathy?"
La Mole was petrified on seeing the queen; Coconnas was amazed atbeholding Madame de Nevers. One believed that Rene's sorceries hadevoked the phantom Marguerite; the other, seeing the door half open, bywhich the lovely phantoms had entered, gave at once a worldly andsubstantial explanation to the mystery.
While La Mole was crossing himself and sighing enough to split a rock,Coconnas, who had taken time to indulge in philosophical questioningsand to drive away the foul fiend with the aid of that holy watersprinkler called scepticism, having observed, through the hole in thecurtain, the astonishment shown by Madame de Nevers and Marguerite'ssomewhat caustic smile, judged the moment to be decisive, andunderstanding that a man may say in behalf of a friend what he cannotsay for himself, instead of going to Madame de Nevers, went straight toMarguerite, and bending his knee, after the fashion of the greatArtaxerxes as represente
d in the farces of the day, cried, in a voice towhich the whistling of his wound added a peculiar accent not withoutsome power:
"Madame, this very moment, at the demand of my friend the Comte de laMole, Maitre Rene was evoking your spirit; and to my great astonishment,your spirit is accompanied with a body most dear to me, and which Irecommend to my friend. Shade of her majesty the Queen of Navarre, willyou desire the body of your companion to come to the other side of thecurtain?"
Marguerite began to laugh, and made a sign to Henriette, who passed tothe other side of the curtain.
"La Mole, my friend," continued Coconnas, "be as eloquent asDemosthenes, as Cicero, as the Chancellor de l'Hopital! and be assuredthat my life will be imperilled if you do not persuade the body ofMadame de Nevers that I am her most devoted, most obedient, and mostfaithful servant."
"But"--stammered La Mole.
"Do as I say! And you, Maitre Rene, watch that we are not interrupted."
Rene did as Coconnas asked.
"By Heaven, monsieur," said Marguerite, "you are a clever man. I amlistening to you. What have you to say?"
"I have to say to you, madame, that the shadow of my friend--for he is ashadow, and he proves it by not uttering a single little word--I say,that this shadow begs me to use the faculty which material bodiespossess of speaking so as to be understood, and to say to you: Lovelyshadow, the gentleman thus disembodied has lost his whole body and allhis breath by the cruelty of your eyes. If this were really you, Ishould ask Maitre Rene to plunge me in some sulphurous pit rather thanuse such language to the daughter of King Henry II., to the sister ofKing Charles IX., to the wife of the King of Navarre. But shades arefreed from all earthly pride and they are never angry when men lovethem. Therefore, pray your body, madame, to love the soul of this poorLa Mole a little--a soul in trouble, if ever there was one; a soul firstpersecuted by friendship, which three times thrust into him severalinches of cold steel; a soul burnt by the fire of your eyes--fire athousand times more consuming than all the flames of hell. So have pityon this poor soul! Love a little what was the handsome La Mole; and ifyou no longer possess speech, ah! bestow a gesture, bestow a smile uponhim. My friend's soul is a very intelligent soul, and will comprehendeverything. Be kind to him, then; or, by Heaven! I will run my swordthrough Rene's body in order that, by virtue of the power which hepossesses over spirits, he may force yours, which he has already soopportunely evoked, to do all a shade so amiably disposed as yoursappears to be should do."
At this burst of eloquence delivered by Coconnas as he stood in front ofthe queen like AEneas descending into Hades, Marguerite could not refrainfrom a hearty burst of laughter, yet, preserving the silence which onsuch an occasion may be the supposed characteristic of a royal shade,she presented her hand to Coconnas. He took it daintily in his, and,calling to La Mole, said:
"Shade of my friend, come hither instantly!"
La Mole, amazed, overcome, silently obeyed.
"'T is well," said Coconnas, taking him by the back of the head; "andnow bring the shadow of your handsome brown countenance into contactwith the white and vaporous hand before you."
And Coconnas, suiting the action to the word, raised the delicate handto La Mole's lips, and kept them for a moment respectfully united,without the hand seeking to withdraw itself from the gentle pressure.
Marguerite had not ceased to smile, but Madame de Nevers did not smileat all; she was still trembling at the unexpected appearance of the twogentlemen. She was conscious that her awkwardness was increased by allthe fever of a growing jealousy, for it seemed to her that Coconnasought not thus to forget her affairs for those of others.
La Mole saw her eyebrows contracted, detected the flashing threat of hereyes, and in spite of the intoxicating fever to which his delight wasinsensibly urging him to succumb he realized the danger which his friendwas running and perceived what he should try to do to rescue him.
So rising and leaving Marguerite's hand in Coconnas's, he grasped theDuchesse de Nevers's, and bending his knee he said:
"O loveliest--O most adorable of women--I speak of living women, and notof shades!" and he turned a look and a smile to Marguerite; "allow asoul released from its mortal envelope to repair the absence of a bodyfully absorbed by material friendship. Monsieur de Coconnas, whom yousee, is only a man--a man of bold and hardy frame, of flesh handsome togaze upon perchance, but perishable, like all flesh. _Omnis caro fenum._Although this gentleman keeps on from morning to night pouring into myears the most touching litanies about you, though you have seen himdistribute as heavy blows as were ever seen in wide France--thischampion, so full of eloquence in presence of a spirit, dares notaddress a woman. That is why he has addressed the shade of the queen,charging me to speak to your lovely body, and to tell you that he laysat your feet his soul and heart; that he entreats from your divine eyesa look in pity, from your rosy fingers a beckoning sign, and from yourmusical and heavenly voice those words which men can never forget; ifnot, he has supplicated another thing, and that is, in case he shouldnot soften you, you will run my sword--which is a real blade, for swordshave no shadows except in the sunshine--run my sword right through hisbody for the second time, for he can live no longer if you do notauthorize him to live exclusively for you." All the verve and comicalexaggeration which Coconnas had put into his speech found theircounterpart in the tenderness, the intoxicating vigor, and the mockhumility which La Mole introduced into his supplication.
Henriette's eyes turned from La Mole, to whom she had listened till heended, and rested on Coconnas, to see if the expression of thatgentleman's countenance harmonized with his friend's ardent address. Itseemed that she was satisfied, for blushing, breathless, conquered, shesaid to Coconnas, with a smile which disclosed a double row of pearlsenclosed in coral:
"Is this true?"
"By Heaven!" exclaimed Coconnas, fascinated by her look, "it is true,indeed. Oh, yes, madame, it is true--true on your life--true on mydeath!"
"Come with me, then," said Henriette, extending to him her hand, whileher eyes proclaimed the feelings of her heart.
Coconnas flung his velvet cap into the air and with one stride was atthe young woman's side, while La Mole, recalled to Marguerite by agesture, executed at the same time an amorous _chassez_ with his friend.
Rene appeared at the door in the background.
"Silence!" he exclaimed, in a voice which at once damped all the ardorof the lovers; "silence!"
And they heard in the solid wall the sound of a key in a lock, and of adoor grating on its hinges.
"But," said Marguerite, haughtily, "I should think that no one has theright to enter whilst we are here!"
"Not even the queen mother?" whispered Rene in her ear.
Marguerite instantly rushed out by the exterior staircase, leading LaMole after her; Henriette and Coconnas almost arm-in-arm followed them,all four taking flight, as fly at the first noise the birds seenengaged in loving parley on the boughs of a flowering shrub.