CHAPTER VIII.
A few hours earlier on the day of which we have just been speaking, agallant band of men-at-arms rode forward on the highway between Milanand Pavia. It consisted of nearly four hundred lances, that is to say,of about eight hundred men. Had it been complete, the number wouldhave amounted to many more, for the usual proportion was at leastthree inferior soldiers, esquires, or pages to each lance; but theeagerness of the young King of France to achieve what he believedwould be an easy conquest had hurried his departure from France erehis musters were one half filled.
A short repose in Milan had sufficed to wipe away all stains of travelfrom his host; and the band of the Lord of Vitry appeared in all theiraccoutrements, what Rosalind calls "point device." It is true, the dayhad been somewhat dry and sultry, and some dust had gathered uponsplendid surcoats, and scarfs, and sword-knots; and the horses, so gayand full of spirit in the morning, now looked somewhat fatigued, butby no means jaded.
At their head rode their commander, a man of some thirty to two andthirty years of age, of a fine, manly person and handsome countenance,although the expression might be somewhat quick and hasty, and a deepscar on the brow rather marred the symmetry of his face. By his side,on a horse of much inferior power, but full of fire and activity, rodea man, not exactly in the garb of a servant, but yet plainly habitedand nearly unarmed. Sword and dagger most men wore in those days, buthe wore neither lance nor shield, cuirass nor back-piece. He carried alittle black velvet cap upon his head, with a long feather; and herode in shoes of untanned leather, with long, sharp points, somewhatlike a pod of mustard-seed.
"Are you sure you know the way, Master Tony?" asked De Vitry.
"I know the way right well, noble lord," replied the other; "but youdo me too much honour to call me master. In Italy none is master but aman of great renown in the arts."
"Good faith, I know not what you are," answered the leader, "and Inever could make out what young Lorenzo kept you always trotting athis heels for, like a hound after his master."
"You do me too much honour again, my lord," replied the other, "incomparing me to a hound."
"What, then, in Fortune's name, are you?" asked De Vitry, laughing.
"A mongrel," replied Antonio, "half French, half Italian; but pray,your lordship, don't adjure me by Fortune; for the blind goddess withthe kerchief over her eyes has never been favourable to me all mylife."
"Time she should change then," answered De Vitry.
"Oh, sir, she is like a school-boy," answered Antonio; "she neverchanges but from mischief to mischief; only constant in doing evil;and whichever side of her wheel turns uppermost, my lot is sure toslide down to the bottom. But here your lordship must turn off."
De Vitry was following on the road to which the other pointed, when avoice behind said:
"You are leaving the high road, my lord. If you look forward, you willsee this is but a narrow lane."
"By my faith that is true," said the commander of the band; "you arenot tricking me, I trust, Master Antonio? Halt there--halt!"
"It might be fine fun to trick a French knight if I were my lord'sjester," said Antonio, "but I have not arrived at that dignity yet."
"Where does that road lead to, then, sirrah?" demanded De Vitry,pointing to the one they were just leaving.
"To Pavia, my lord," replied the man; "but you will find this theshortest, and, I judge, the best."
There was a lurking smile upon Antonio's face, which De Vitry did notlike; and, after but a moment's hesitation, he turned his horse backinto the other path, saying:
"I will take the broad way; I never liked narrow or crooked paths inmy life."
"I trust you will then allow me to follow the other, sir," saidAntonio; "first, because there is no use in trying to guide people whowill not be guided, and, secondly, because I have something importantto say to my young lord."
"No, sir--no," answered De Vitry, sharply; "ride here by my side.To-morrow, at farthest, I will take care to know whether you havetried to deceive me: and if you have, beware your ears."
"You will know to-night, my lord," said the man, "and my ears are inno danger, if you are not given, like many another gentlemen, tocuffing other people for your own faults."
"You are somewhat saucy, sir," replied the marquis; "your masterspoils you, methinks."
The man saw that his companion was not to be provoked farther, and wassilent while they rode onward.
It was now drawing towards evening, but the light had not yet faded;and De Vitry gazed around with a soldier's eye, scanning the militaryaspect of the country around.
"Is there not a river runs behind that ridge, Master Tony?" he askedat the end of ten minutes, with easily recovered good-humour.
"Yes, sir," replied the man shortly.
"And what castle is that on the left--there, far in the distance?"
"That is the castle of Sant' Angelo," answered Antonio.
"Why, here is the river right before us," said De Vitry, "but where isthe bridge?"
"Heaven knows," replied the man, with the same quiet smile he hadborne before; "part of it, you may see, is standing on the other side,and there are a few stones on this, if they can be of any service toyour lordship. The rest took to travelling down toward the Po somemonth or two ago, and how far they have marched I cannot tell."
"Doubtless we can ford it," said De Vitry, in an indifferent tone.
"First send your enemy, my lord," replied Antonio, "then your friend,and then try it yourself--if you like."
"By my life, I have a mind to send you first, head foremost," repliedthe commander, sharply, but the next moment he burst into agood-humoured laugh, saying, "Well, what is to be done? The streamseems deep and strong. We did you wrong, Antonio. Now lead us right,at all events."
"You did yourself wrong, and your own eyesight, my lord," answered theman, "for, if you had looked at the tracks on the road, you would haveseen that all the ox-carts for the last month have turned off where Iwould have led you. You have only now to go back, again."
"A hard punishment for a light fault," replied De Vitry. "Why told youme not this before, my good sir."
"Because, my lord, I have always thought St. Anthony, my patron, waswrong in preaching to fishes which have no ears. But we had betterspeed, sir, for it is touching upon evening, and night will havefallen before we reach Sant' Angelo. There you will find good quartersin the Borgo for your men; and, doubtless, the noble signor in thecastle will come down at the first sound of your trumpets, and ask youand your prime officers to feast with him above. He is a noble lord,and loves the powers that be. Well that the devil has not come uponearth in his day, for he would have entertained him royally, and mighthave injured his means in honour of his guest."
De Vitry burst into another gay laugh, and, turning his horse's head,gave orders for his band to retrace their steps, upon which, ofcourse, the young men commented as they would, while the old soldiersobeyed without question, even in their thoughts.
Night had long fallen when they reached Sant' Angelo a place then ofmuch more importance than it is now, or has been for two centuries.But Antonio had been mistaken in supposing that De Vitry and hisprincipal officers would be invited to lodge within the castle. Thelord thereof was absent, knowing that the route of the King of Francemust be close to his residence. He was well aware that the attachmentprofessed toward the young monarch by persons more powerful thanhimself was all hollow and deceptive, and that inferior men, inconflicts of great interests, always suffer, whose party soever theyespouse. But he knew, too that unexplained neutrality suffers morethan all, and he resolved to absent himself from his lands on thefirst news of the arrival of the King of France in Italy, that hemight seem to favour neither him nor his opponents, and yet notproclaim a neutrality which would make enemies of both.
The castle, indeed, would at once have opened its gates, had it beensummoned; but De Vitry, knowing the king's anxiety to keep on goodterms with all the Italian nobles of Lombardy, contented
himself withlodgings in the humble inn of the place, and hunger made his food seemas good as any which the castle could have afforded. The supper passedgaily over; the men were scattered in quarters through the littleborough; wine was with difficulty procured by any but the officers,and sober perforce, the soldiery sought rest early. De Vitry and oneor two others sat up late, sometimes talking, sometimes falling intofits of thought.
Antonio, in the meantime, had not even thought of rest. He hadcarefully attended to his horse, had ordered him to be fed, and seenhim eat his food, and he stood before the door of the inn, gazing upat the moon, as if enjoying the calm sweetness of the soft Italiannights, but in reality meditating a farther ride as soon as all therest were asleep. It was in the shadiest corner of this doorwaythat the man had placed himself, and yet he could see the fullnearly-rounded orb without coming under her beams. As so oftenhappens, two processes seemed going on in his mind at once; onesuggested by objects present, and finding utterance in an occasionalmurmured sentence or two, the other originating in things past, andproceeding silently.
"Ay, Madam Moon," he said; "you are a curious creature, with yourchanges, and your risings, and your settings, and your man with hisdog and lantern. I wonder what you really are. You look like a greatbig ducat nailed upon the sky, or a seal of yellow wax pendent fromthe charter of the heavens. I could almost fancy, though, that I cansee behind you on this clear night. Perhaps you are but the big bossof a sconce, put up there to reflect the light of the sun. You willsoon be up there, just above the watch-tower of the castle, like aball upon a gate-post. Hark! there are people riding late. By myfaith! if they be travellers coming hither, they will find scantylodging and little to eat. These gormandizing Frenchmen have gobbledup everything in the village, I warrant, and occupied every bed. On myfaith, they will find themselves too confident some day: not a sentryset except at the stables; no one on guard; the two or three officersin the dining-hall. They think they have got Italy at their feet; theymay discover that they are mistaken before they leave it. Thesehorsemen are coming hither. Who can they be?"
While these thoughts had been occupying one part of the man--I knownot how better to express it--and had more or less clothed themselvesin words, another train, more nearly allied to feeling, had beenproceeding silently in the deeper recesses of his bosom. There wassomething which made him half sorry that he had been prevented fromproceeding further before nightfall, half angry with him who had been,partly at least, the cause of the delay. "I do not believe," hethought, "that the big bravo can reach the villa before morning. Hehad not set out when we came away, and yet I should like to see theyoung lord to-night. I have a great mind to get upon my horse's skinat once and go on. But then, a thousand to one, De Vitry would sendafter and stop me; and if I were to meet Buondoni and his people, Ishould get my throat cut, and all my news would escape through thegash. If I could persuade this dashing French captain to lend me halfa dozen men now, I might do something; but their horses are all tiredwith carrying the cart-load of iron each has got upon his shoulders.Hark! these travellers are coming nearer. Perhaps they may bring somenews from the Villa Rovera. They are coming from that side."
He drew farther back into the shadow of the gateway. It may seemstrange that he did so; for even in distracted England, in those daysas well as afterward, the first impulse of the lodger in an inn was tomeet the coming guest and obtain the general tidings which he brought,and which were hardly to be obtained from any other source. But inItaly men had learned such caution that every stranger was consideredan enemy till he was ascertained to be a friend. The evils of highcivilization were upon the land, without any of its benefits; nay,more, this had endured so long that suspicion might almost be lookedupon as the normal condition of the Italian mind.
The republics of Italy have been highly extolled by eloquent men, buttheir results were all evil except in one respect. They served topreserve a memory of the arts--to rescue, in fact, something whichmight decorate life from the wreck of perished years. In thusspeaking, I include commerce with the arts. But as to socialadvancement, they did nothing except through the instrumentality ofthose arts. They endeavoured to revive ancient forms unsuited to theepoch; they succeeded in so doing only for the briefest possibleperiod, and the effort ended everywhere, first in anarchy, and then indespotism--each equally destructive to individual happiness, togeneral security, and to public morals. They afforded a spectacle, atonce humiliating and terrible, of the impotence of the human mind tostem the strong, calm current of pre-ordained events. Their briefexistence, their lamentable failure, the brightness of their shortcourse, and the evils consequent upon the attempts to recall rotteninstitutions from millennial graves, were but as the last flash of theexpiring candle of old Rome, ending in darkness and a bad smell. Formore than two centuries, at the time I speak of, life and property inItaly had enjoyed no security except in the continual watchfulness ofthe possessor. The minds of men were armed as well as their bodies,and thus had been engendered that suspicion and that constantwatchfulness which rendered life a mere campaign, because the worldwas one battlefield.
Oh! happy state under the old Saxon king of England, when from one endto the other of the bright island a young girl might carry a purse ofgold unmolested!
Antonio drew back as the travellers approached to hear something ofwho and what they were before he ventured to deal with thempersonally. They were within a few yards of him in a minute, drawingin the rein when they came opposite the archway leading to thestable-yard. There the first challenge of a sentinel was heard, andthe answer given, "Amici!" showed that they were Italians.
The word was uttered quickly and in a tone of surprise, which showedthey were unaware the borgo had been occupied by the French troops;but, after a few whispered sentences, one of the four who had newlyarrived asked the sentinel, in marvellous bad French, to call thelandlord or one of the horse-boys. They wanted food for themselves andhorses, they said, and hoped to find some place to rest in for thenight.
The sentinel grumbled forth something to the effect that they weremuch mistaken, but, raising his stentorian voice, he called the peopleof the house into the courtyard; and Antonio gazed forth andscrutinised the appearance of the new-comers for a minute or two,while they made their application for entertainment, and heard all theobjections and difficulties laid before them by the landlord, who wasalready overcrowded, but unwilling to lose certain _lire_ which theymight expend in his house.
"I can but feed your horses in the yard, and give you some straw andcovering for yourselves, Signor Sacchi," replied the landlord; "andthen you must lie on the floor of the hall."
The leading horseman turned to consult with his three companions,saying, "He told us to wait him here if he came not in an hour."
"Nay, I understood, if he came not in an hour," replied another, "wewere to conclude he had obtained entertainment in the Villa--, whichthe count's letter was sure to secure for him; but I did not hear himsay we were to come back here, as I told you long ago, Sacchi."
But before they had proceeded even thus far, Antonio had re-enteredthe house, and was conversing eagerly with the young Marquis de Vitry.
"If you will but let me have half a dozen common troopers, my lord,"said he--"I know not how many this man may have with him--but I willrisk that."
"But who is he? who is he?" asked De Vitry, "and what are your causesof suspicion?"
"Why I told you, my lord," replied Antonio, "he is that tallbig-limbed Ferrara man who is so great a favourite with the CountRegent--Buondoni is his name. Then, as to the causes of suspicion, Icame upon Ludovic and him talking in the gallery of the castle lastnight, and I heard the count say, 'Put him out of the way any how; heis a viper in my path, and must be removed. Surely, Buondoni, you canpick a quarrel with the young hound, and rid me of him. He is not avery fearful enemy, I think, to a master of fence like you!' Thereuponthe other laughed, saying, 'Well, my lord, I will set out to-night orto-morrow, and you shall hear of something being done before Thu
rsday,unless Signor Rovera takes good care of his young kinsman.' 'Let himbeware how he crosses me,' muttered the Moor. And now, Signor deVitry, I am anxious to warn my young lord of what is plotting againsthim."
"After all, it may be against another, a different person from him yousuppose," replied De Vitry. "This Buondoni, if it be the same man, wasinsolent to young De Terrail, and Bayard struck him. We also weregoing to halt at the Villa Rovera, and Ludovic knew it."
"But, my lord," exclaimed Antonio, "do you not perceive--"
"I see, I see," replied De Vitry, interrupting him: "I know what youwould say. Ludovic has no cause to hate Bayard or to remove him; itwas but Buondoni's private quarrel. There is some truth in that. Areyou sure these men just arrived are his servants?"
"As sure as the sun moves round the earth," replied Antonio.
"Nay, that I know nought of," answered De Vitry; "but here they come,I suppose. Find out De Terrail, Antonio. Tell him to take twenty menof his troop and go forward with you. You can tell him your errand asyou go. I will deal awhile with these gentlemen, and see what I canmake out of them."
Antonio retired quietly keeping to the shady side of the largeill-lighted hall, while the three freshly-arrived travellers movedslowly forward, with a respectful air, toward the table near which DeVitry sat.
"Give you good evening, gentlemen," said the marquis, turning sharplyround as soon as he heard their footsteps near. "Whence come you?"
"From Pavia, my lord," said Sacchi, a large-boned, black-bearded man.
"And what news bring you?" inquired the French commander. "None, mylord," replied the man; "all was marvellous peaceful."
"Ay, peace is a marvel in this wicked world," answered De Vitry."Called you at the Villa Rovera as you passed?"
"No, sir--that is, we stopped a moment, but did not call," repliedSacchi.
"And what did you stop for?" asked the Frenchman.
"Only just to--to be sure of our way," replied Sacchi.
"And you came from Pavia, then?" said De Vitry. "You must have set outat a late hour, especially for men who did not rightly know their way.But methinks I saw you in Milan this morning. Will you have the bountyto wake that gentleman at the end of the table, who has gone to sleepover his wine?"
He spoke in the calmest and most good-humoured tone, without moving inhis seat, his feet stretched out before him, and his head thrown back;and the man to whom he spoke approached the French officer who wasseated sleeping at the table, and took him by the shoulder.
"Shake him," said De Vitry; "shake him hard; he sleeps soundly when hedoes sleep."
Sacchi did as he was bid, and the officer started up, exclaiming:
"What is it? Aux armes!"
"No need of arms, Montcour," answered his commander; "only do me thefavour of taking that gentleman by the collar, and placing him inarrest."
He spoke at first slowly, but increased in rapidity of utterance as hesaw his officer's sleepy senses begin to awaken. But Montcour washardly enough roused to execute his orders, and though he stretchedout his hand somewhat quickly towards Sacchi's neck, the Italian hadtime to jump back and make toward the door.
De Vitry was on his feet in a moment, however, and barred the way,sword in hand. The other servants of Buondoni rushed to the only otherway out; but there were officers of De Vitry's band not quite sosleepy as Montcour, and, without waiting for orders, they soon madethree out of the four prisoners. The other leaped from the window andescaped.
"My lord, my lord, this is too bad!" exclaimed Sacchi; "you came hereas friends and allies of the noble regent, and you are hardly ten daysin the country before you begin to abuse his subjects and servants."
For a moment or two De Vitry kept silence, and gazed at his prisonerwith a look of contempt. The man did not like either the look or thesilence. Each was significant, but difficult to answer; and in amoment after, De Vitry having given him over to one of the subalternofficers, nodded his head, quietly saying:
"We understand you, sirrah, better than you think. If I were toconsider you really as a servant of Prince Ludovic, I might remarkthat the regent invited us here as friends and allies, and we had beenscarcely ten days in the land ere he sent you and others to murder oneof our officers, and a kinsman of our king; but I do not choose toconsider you as his servant, nor to believe that he is responsible foryour acts. The king must judge of that as he finds reason, and eitherhang you or your master, as in his equity he judges right. As to othermatters, you know your first word was a lie, that you do not come fromPavia at all, and that the beginning and end of your journey was theVilla Rovera. What you have done there I do not know, but I know theobject of your master."
"But, sir, I have nought to do with my master's business," repliedSacchi. "I know nought of his objects; I only know that I obey myorders."
"Hark ye! we are wasting words," said De Vitry. "Doubtless you will beglad to know what I intend to do with you. I shall keep you here tillan hour before daybreak, and then take you on to the villa. If I findthat one hair of Lorenzo Visconti's head has suffered, I will firsthang your master, the worshipful Signor Buondoni, on the nearest tree,and then hang you three round him for the sake of symmetry. I swear iton the cross;" and he devoutly kissed the hilt of his sword.
Sacchi's face turned deadly pale, and he murmured:
"It will be too late--to-morrow--before to-morrow it will be done."
"What is that you mutter?" said De Vitry; "what do you mean will bedone?"
"Why, my lord," replied the man, "my master--my master may have somegrudge against the young lord Lorenzo. He is a man of quick action,and does not tarry long in his work. I know nought about it, so helpme Heaven! but it is hard to put an innocent man's life in jeopardyfor what may happen in a night. Better set off at once and stop themischief rather than avenge it."
"So, so!" said De Vitry; "then the story is all too true. Bayard!Bayard!"
"He has just passed into the court, seigneur," replied one of theyoung officers who was standing near the window; "he and some othersare mounting their horses now. Shall I call him?"
"No, let him go," answered the leader; "he is always prompt and alwayswise. We can trust it all to him. As for these fellows, take them andput them in an upper room where they cannot jump out. Set a guard atthe door. You, signors, best know whether your consciences are quiteclear; but if they be not, I advise you to make your peace with Heavenas best you may during the night, for I strongly suspect, from whatyou yourselves admit, that I shall have to raise you a little aboveearthly things about dawn to-morrow. There, take them away. I do notwant to hear any more. Our good King Louis, eleventh of the name, hada way of decorating trees after such a sort. I have seen as many as adozen all pendent at once when I was a young boy, and I do not knowwhy it should go against my stomach to do this same with a pack ofmurderous wolves, who seem made by Heaven for the purpose of giving awarning to their countrymen."