CHAPTER XXIX
THE MARQUIS INTERVENES
The evening of the same day, his Excellency, in the seclusion of asmall private chamber adjoining the _salle du gouvernement_, stoodlooking down at his desk on which were strewn papers and messagescontaining the latest news from Paris and received at the Mount but afew hours before. That the character of this information, politicaland social, was little to his liking, seemed manifest from his manner;he stared at the missives resentfully; then frowned and threw down thepen he had been using to mark, or make note of, their contents.
"Versailles--a mob! Sugar-plums to placate them! Sugar-plums!" herepeated; and, impatiently turning away, walked to the window. Therefor some time he stood peering out, when, the current of his thoughtsslowly changing, he took from his pocket a watch, and examined thejeweled face. "Time they were back!" About to return to his table andtask, a loud knocking arrested the impulse, and testily the Governorcalled out; glanced toward the threshold and surveyed the intruder.
"A message from the commandant, your Excellency!" said the man, atrooper of the Mount, with a respectful, though nervous salute.
"Why," returned the Governor in a dry tone, "didn't he bring ithimself?"
"Because," the trooper shifted; looked away; "because Monsieur leCommandant is engaged in scouring the country for miscreants, yourExcellency."
"Miscreants!" sharply. "What miscreants?"
"Monsieur le Commandant hopes to overtake those who have carried offthe Lady Elise," said the messenger hurriedly, in the tone of oneanxious to be done with his task.
"Carried off!" The thin figure wavered as if struck by a cold breath."Carried off!" he repeated, laying his hand on the back of the chair.
"By a band of the Black Seigneur's men! His lordship, the Marquis,they left behind bound and secured, but the Lady Elise they took withthem."
For some time his Excellency said nothing; like a ghost of himself,leaned hard against his support and looked at the trooper.
"But how could it have happened?" at length in a voice, low, intense,he inquired. "Monsieur le Commandant! The guard--you--all are alive?"
Stumblingly, as best he could, the soldier explained, and when he haddone, his Excellency made no sign that he had heard.
"Monsieur le Commandant further ordered me to say he had no doubt hewould return with the Lady Elise," added the messenger hastily.
"Monsieur le Commandant!" The Governor's eyes suddenly blazed; swiftlyhe put question after question, and, having probed to the core theconsistency of the tale, with a gesture, brusk and contemptuous,dismissed the bearer.
But whatever feeling the lord of the Mount might entertain toward hischief officer, no course at the moment seemed open save to await thereturn of that person and the Marquis. So, curbing his impatience asbest he might, his Excellency kept vigil; and not alone! Tidings ofwhat had happened spread at the top of the rock; sifted through closedgates and thick walls into the town. The late arrival at the Mount ofthe lords and ladies, companions of the Governor's daughter for theday, but added to the questionings of the multitude. All night lifeand expectancy reigned; lights gleamed from high places; responded inlow ones.
"Is it true, my dear, what we hear about the Lady Elise?" the landladyof the inn on the Mount near the strand called out to a stalwart, darkyoung woman, hurrying down the narrow way shortly after the Pariscontingent had gone up.
"I've heard no more than you have," came the curt answer of thisperson--none other than Nanette--who carried a small bundle and seemedanxious to move on.
"Oh, I didn't know but you came from the palace!" observed the mistressof the inn, and returned to her customers, drinking and nodding withheads close together.
On the morrow, however, all doubts were removed and speculations put atrest; for hardly had the sun set its seal in the sky than from theforests the appearance of a body of troops rewarded the watchers. Fromhovel to hut the word went, and men, women and children, unkempt andcurious, ran down to the beach to await the approach of the guard.Proudly had it departed, with waving of plumes; slowly it returned, abedraggled procession of staggering horses and heavy-eyed men. Had itcome back a little earlier, the dark might have kept the truth from thepeople; now the pitiless red glare revealed to the full the plight ofthe troopers. It told, too, the disappointment of Monsieur leCommandant, who looked neither to the right nor to the left; and thedespair of my lord, the Marquis, pale counterfeit of his debonair self.
"Her ladyship!" "They haven't brought her back!" Low murmurs arose;grew louder; some one laughed. But sullenly, without answer, thesoldiers dragged by, into the town, and laboriously up to the top ofthe Mount.
At the gate his Excellency waited; cast one glance at thecompany--their leader--and silently turned. Later, however, was hecloseted with both the commandant and the Marquis--a brief period withthe former who departed, carrying a look eloquent of the unpleasantnessof the interview.
"And now," said the Governor in tones somewhat strained, as theofficer's dejected footfall died in the distance, "we've got rid ofthat dolt, let us consider, my Lord, the purport of this outrage."
"Purport?" repeated the Marquis petulantly, stretching his stiff legs."Did they not tell me that if anything happened to the Black Seigneur,they would hold her, Elise, answerable for it? You see they hadlearned," bitterly, "of your intention to hang him after the wedding!"
"From which you infer?"
"They will keep her as hostage! Indeed, they said as much, when--"
"They bound you, my Lord?"
The color came to the young man's face. "It was a trap," he said, hisvoice pitched higher; "and they came prepared, not for one man, but theguard!"
"Still was it very ill-advised--a great mistake--to have taken theshorter way through the forest alone."
"The proposal did not originate with me! Elise suggested it. Sheseemed in a wild, headstrong mood; nothing would stop her. Now,"moodily he rose, "_mon dieu_! What has she brought upon herself?Where is she now?"
His Excellency did not stir; his face, like a pale mask, was turnedaside. "I do not think," he said slowly, as arguing to convincehimself, "she is in any immediate danger."
But my lord caught irritably at the word. "No danger! She issurrounded by it. And we? what are we to do? Sit idly here? Give mea ship, your Excellency, and I will follow the boat of this BlackSeigneur, and, when I find it, force them to--"
"What?" The Governor's eyes swerved dully. "Have you forgotten theirthreat? Their last words to you that if we attempted to follow, torescue--that, rather than give her up--"
"They would not dare!" cried my lord with sparkling glance.
But his Excellency shook his head. "No; no; it won't do! And now,"again looking away, "leave me, my Lord, to consider." With which, theinterview, as unsatisfactory to the one as the other, terminated.
Several days that passed were not calculated either to alleviate hisExcellency's anxiety, or the Marquis' impatience; for during thatperiod of waiting came no word of my lady, or news of her captors.Mysteriously as a phantom ship had the boat that had carried theGovernor's daughter away appeared on the coast and vanished, and fromnone of the Governor's vessels, or any of the fishing craft could begleaned information of its whereabouts. My lord, the Marquis, annoyedat what seemed but fruitless delay, was still for setting forth andinviting battle; but of this his Excellency would not hear, arguing, nodoubt, to himself that in temporizing lay greater assurance of safetyto his daughter than in precipitate action. So the situation grewhourly more trying, until--as if it already were not intolerableenough!--a new concern added ironical weight to present perplexities.
My young lord, between whom and the master of the Mount had beengrowing a more strained relationship, sought the Governor one day, and,in excited tones, announced he had just learned that the prisoner, theBlack Seigneur, was ill and probably would survive but a short timelonger in the dungeon where he was confined. As his Excellency knew,the fellow h
ad been wounded, and now with scanty nourishment, want ofair, and close quarters, was generally in a bad way.
His Excellency heard; moistened his lips and seemed about to speak, butwas silent, while more anxiously the young man went on. Of courseunder different conditions, with care and attention--a well-lightedroom and excellent food--they might hope to restore their prisoner'sstrength; at least, preserve for a time one so precious to themselves,upon the thread of whose life hung my lady's!
His Excellency still answered no word; only looked down, and, knittinghis brows, the young nobleman restlessly waited. At length, with anexpression on his face the Marquis had never before seen there, hisExcellency rose, moved like an automaton to the bell, and called forthe jailer.
"Monsieur le Marquis has a few instructions to give you." TheGovernor's voice, but a breath, told what the words cost him.
The man responded gravely, looking from one to the other.
"Use your own judgment in the matter, my Lord," went on his Excellency,and left them together.
After that, a change, subtle but deep-rooted, came over the Governor; asilent man always, now his taciturnity became most marked. Understress of untoward circumstances, all the guests at the Mount, save theyoung noble, departed; but his Excellency appeared hardly to noticetheir going; drawing his cloak of reserve closer about him, seemed onlyto ask for that solitude, not difficult to find in his aerial kingdom.Sometimes for a long while he would stand in the cloister, gazingseaward; again wander in the church, look at the monuments, always topass one of them quickly. Only on a single occasion, when the Marquis,who was daily becoming more nervous, sought him, with a favorablereport of his prisoner-patient, did the Governor give sign that beneaththis apparent apathy yet stirred malevolence and rancor.
"Yes, yes," he returned, a spark of ill-concealed venom in his glance;"he is doing well, no doubt! I am sure he will do well. But well orill, I wish to hear no more of him! No more, Monsieur le Marquis!"His voice vibrated; surprised, the kinsman of the King stared, thenstiffly turned away.
So matters stood, when one day, alone in the cloister, his Excellencywas disturbed by a rough-looking fellow who brought a letter and saidhe would await the reply at the tavern in the town.
Deliberately the Governor took the missive, tore open the envelope, andsurveyed the small bit of paper it contained. Whatever the briefmessage told him, his Excellency's face did not change, and he wasstill coldly, carefully studying sentences and words, after hisfashion, when through the door my lord, the Marquis, stepped in somehaste. Lifting his eyes, the Governor had no difficulty in reading thequestion on the young man's countenance. For a moment they looked ateach other, and then the long, white fingers of his Excellency againsought the letter.
"They," his voice seemed to clip the words, "propose an exchange ofprisoners, and give me three days to consent to it!"