CHAPTER LVI
THE SHADOW BEHIND THE THRONE
Within the grim walls of Black Angers Duke John of Brittany andreigning sovereign of western France was holding his court. The cityand fortress did not properly, of right and parchment holding,appertain to him. But he had occupied it during the recent troubleswith the English, and his loving cousin and nominal suzerain Charlesthe Seventh of France had not yet been strong enough to make himrender it up again.
The Duke sat in the central tower of the fortress of Black Angers,that which looks between the high flanking turrets of the mightyenceinte of walls. He wriggled discontentedly in his chair andgrumbled under his breath.
At his shoulder, tall, gaunt, angular, with lantern jaws and a mouthlike a wolf trap, deep-set eyes that flamed under bushy eyebrows,stood Pierre de l'Hopital, the true master of Brittany.
"I tell you I will go to the tennis-courts--the three Scots must waitaudience till to-morrow. What errand can they have with me--somerascals whom Charles will not pay now that his job is done? They cometo take service doubtless. A beggarly lot are all such out-landvarlets, but brave--yes, excellent soldiers are the Scots, so long asthey are well fed, that is."
"Nay, my Lord Duke," said Pierre de l'Hopital, standing up tall andsombre, his long black gown accentuating the peculiarities of hisfigure. "It were almost necessary to see these men now and hear whatthey have to say. I myself have seen them and judge it to be so."
John of Brittany threw down the little sceptre, fashioned in imitationof that made for the King of France, with which he had been toying.The action was that of a pettish child.
"Oh," he cried, "if you have decided, there remains nothing for me butto obey!"
"I thank your Excellency for your gracious readiness to grant the menan interview," said Pierre de l'Hopital, having regard to theessential matter and disregarding the unessential manner.
Duke John sat glooming and kicking his feet to and fro on the raiseddais, while behind his chair, impassive as the Grand Inquisitorhimself, Pierre de l'Hopital, President of Brittany, lifted a hand toan unseen servitor; and in a few moments the three Scots were usheredinto the ducal presence.
The Lord James in virtue of his quality stood a little in front, notby his own will or desire, but because Sholto and his father had soplaced themselves that the young noble should have his own rightfulprecedence. For as to these things all Scots are careful by nature.
Duke John continued to keep his eyes averted from the men who soughthis presence. He teased a little lop-eared spaniel, and nipped it tillit yelped. But the President of Brittany never took his eyes off thestrangers, examining them with a bold, keen, remorseless glance, inwhich, however, there was neither evil nor the tolerance of it. Not aman to make himself greatly beloved, this Pierre de l'Hopital.
And little he cared whether or no. In Brittany men did his will. Thatwas enough.
James Douglas was nettled at the inattention of the Duke. He was ofthat large and sanguine nature which is at once easily touched by anydiscourtesy and very quick to resent it.
"My Lord of Brittany," he began in a loud clear voice, and in hisusual immaculate French, "I claim your attention for a little. I cometo lay before you that which touches your kin and kingdom."
Duke John continued to play with the lap-dog, and in addition heformed his mouth to whistle. But he never whistled.
"His Grace of Brittany will now give you his undivided attention,"said the President from behind, without moving a muscle either of hisbody or of his face, save those necessary to propel the words from hisvocal cords.
The brow of Duke John flushed with anger, but he did not disobey. Heraised his head and gazed straight at the three men, fixing his eyes,however, with a studied discourtesy upon Sholto instead of upon theirnatural leader and spokesman.
Behind his chair Pierre de l'Hopital let his deep inscrutable eyedroop once upon his master, and his spare and sinewy wrists twitchedas he held his arms by his side. He seemed upon the point of dealingducal dignity a box on the ear both sound and improving.
"I am the Lord James of Douglas and Avondale," said the leader of theScots with grave dignity, "and I had three years ago the honour ofbreaking a lance with you in the tilt-yard of Poitiers, when in thattown your Grace met with the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy."
At this John of Brittany looked up quickly.
"I do not remember you," he said, "and I never forget faces. EvenPierre will grant me that."
"Your Grace may possibly remember, then, the dint in your shoulderthat you got from the point of a spear, caused by the breaking of thelinks of your shoulder-piece."
A light kindled in the Duke's eyes.
"What," he cried, "you are the young Scot who fought so well and kepthis shield up day by day over the door of a common sergeant's tent,having no pavilion of his own, till it was all over dints like analehouse tankard?"
"As were also the knights who dinted it," grimly commented Pierre del'Hopital.
The Lord James of Avondale bowed.
"I am that knight," he said quietly and with gravity.
"But," cried the Duke, "I knew not then that you were of Douglas. Thatis a great name in Poitiers, and had we known your race and quality wehad not been so ready with our shield-rapping."
"At that time," said James Douglas, "I had not the right to add 'ofDouglas' to my titles. But during this year my father hath succeededto the Earldom and estates."
"What--then is your father Duke of Touraine?" cried the Duke ofBrittany, much astonished.
"Nay, my lord," said James Douglas, with some little bitterness. "TheKing of France hath caused that to revert to himself by the successwhich attended a certain mission executed for him in Scotland by hisChamberlain, the Marshal de Retz, concerning whom we have come fromfar to speak with you."
"Ah, my cousin Gilles!" cried Duke John. "He is not a beauty to lookat, but he is a brave man, our Gilles. I heard he had gone toScotland. I wonder if he contrived to make himself as popular in yourland as he has done in ours."
With a certain grave severity to which Pierre de l'Hopital noddedapproval, the Lord James replied: "At the instigation of the King ofFrance and Louis the Dauphin he succeeded in murdering my two cousinsWilliam and David of Douglas, and in carrying over hither with him tohis own country their only sister, the little Countess ofGalloway--thus rooting out the greatest house in Scotland to the hurtof the whole realm."
"But to your profit, my Lord James of Avondale," commented the hollowvoice of Pierre de l'Hopital, speaking over his master's head.
The face of James Douglas flushed quickly.
"No, messire," he answered with a swift heat. "Not to my profit--to myinfinite loss. For I loved my cousin. I honoured him, and for his sakewould have fought to the death. For his sake have I renounced my ownfather that begat me. And for his sake I stand here to ask for justiceto the little maiden, the last of his race, to whom by right belongsthe fairest province of his dominions. No, messire, you are wrong. Inall this have I had no profit but only infinite hurt."
Pierre de l'Hopital bowed low. There was a pleased look on his facethat almost amounted to a smile.
"I crave your pardon, my lord," he said; "that is well said indeed,and he is a gentleman who speaks it."
"Aye, it is indeed well said, and he had you shrewdly on the hip thattime, Pierre," cried Duke John. "I wish he could teach me thuscleverly to answer you when you croak."
"If you had as good a cause, my lord," said the President of Brittanyto the Duke, "it were not difficult to answer me as sharply. But weare keeping these gentlemen from declaring the purpose of theirjourney hither."
The Lord James waited for no further invitation.
"I come," he said boldly, holding a parchment in his hand, the same hehad received from the Lady Sybilla, "to denounce Gilles de Retz and toaccuse him of many cruel and unrighteous acts such as have never beendone in any kingdom. I accuse him of the murder of over four hundredchildren of all ages and both sex
es in circumstances of unparalleledbarbarity. I am ready to lead you to the places where lie theirbodies, some of them burned and their ashes cast into the ditch,others charred and thrown into unused towers. I have here names,instances, evidence enough to taint and condemn a hundred monsterssuch as Gilles de Retz."
"Ah, give me the paper," came the raucous voice of the President ofBrittany, as he reached a bony hand over his master's shoulder toseize it.
The Lord James advanced, and giving it to him said, "Messire, I wouldhave you know that a copy of this is already in the hands of a trustyperson in each of the towns and villages which are named here, andfrom which children have been led to cruel death by him whom I haveaccused, Gilles de Retz, Marshal of France."
The President of Brittany nodded as he almost snatched the paper inhis eagerness to peruse it.
"The point is cleverly taken," he said, "as justly indeed as if youknew my Lord of Brittany as well as, for instance, I know him."
The Duke was obviously discomfited. He shuffled his feet more thanever on the dais and combed his straggling fair beard with soft,white, tapering fingers.
"This is wild and wholly absurd," he said, without however looking atJames Douglas; "our cousin Gilles is in ill odour with the commonalty.He is a philosopher and makes smells with bottles. But there isneither harm nor witchcraft in it. He is only trying to discover theelixir of life. So the silly folk think him a wizard. I know himbetter. He is a brave soldier and my good cousin. I will not have himmolested."
"My lord speaks of kinship," grated the voice of Pierre de l'Hopital."Here are the names of four hundred fathers and mothers who have alsoa claim to be heard on that subject, and whose voices, if I judgeright, are being heard at this moment around the Castles of Machecoul,Tiffauges, Champtoce, and Pouzages. I wot there is now a crowd of athousand men pouring through the passages of the Hotel de Suze in yourGrace's own ducal city of Nantes. And if there goes a bruit abroad,that your Highness is protecting this monster whom the people hate,and the evidences of whose horrid cruelty are by this time in theirhands--well, your Grace knows the Bretons as well as I. They willmake one end of Gilles de Retz and of his cousin John, Duke ofBrittany."
"Think you so--think you so truly, Pierre?" cried the unhappy reigningprince; "I would not screen him if this be true. But the King--what ofthe King? They say he hath promised him support with arms and men forrecovering to him and to Louis the Dauphin the Duchy of Touraine."
"And think you, my lord, that the Dauphin will keep his promise, if weshow him good cause why he should fare better by breaking it?"suggested Pierre de l'Hopital, with the grim irony which had becomehabitual to him.
John of Brittany paused irresolute.
"Besides which," continued James Douglas, "I may add that this paperis already in the hands of the Cardinal Bishop of Nantes, and if yourGrace will not move in the matter, his Eminence has promised to seejustice done."
"The hireling--the popular mouther after favour! I know him," criedDuke John, angrily. "What accursed demon sent you to him? In this, asin other matters, he will strive to oust me from the hearts of thefolk of Brittany. He will be the people's advocate and will gain greathonour from this trial, will he? We shall see. Ho! guards there! Turnout. Summon those that are asleep. Let the full muster be called. Iwill lead you to Machecoul myself. And these gentlemen shall marchwith us. But by Heaven and the bones of Saint Anne of Auray, if in onejot they shall fail to substantiate against Gilles de Retz thosethings which they have testified, they shall die by the rack, and bythe cord, and by disembowelling, and by fire. So swear I, Duke Johnof Brittany."
"It is good," said James Douglas. And "It is good," accorded alsoMalise and Sholto MacKim.
"But before any dies in Brittany, Gilles de Retz or another, _I_ willjudge the case," commented Pierre de l'Hopital, President of Justiceand Grand Councillor of the reigning sovereign.