‘Madame,’ he told the princess, ‘Your Highness can rest assured: instead of four thousand men, we shall send eight thousand, and instead of six cannon we shall set up a dozen, and instead of a hundred men, we shall lose two hundred, three hundred, four hundred if necessary – but we shall retake Saint-Georges.’
‘Bravo!’ cried the duke. ‘Now you’re talking! You know that I’m your man, as leader or volunteer, each and every time you make the attempt. But you should observe that, with the loss of five hundred men each time, assuming that it takes us four attempts such as the last, our army will be reduced to one-fifth of its size.’
‘There are thirty thousand of us in Bordeaux able to bear arms, Duke,’ said d’Espagnet. ‘If need be, we can drag all the cannons in the arsenal in front of the fortress and create a bombardment that would reduce a granite mountain to rubble. I myself shall cross the river, leading the sappers, and we shall retake Saint-Georges. We have just made a solemn oath that we will do it.’
‘I doubt whether you will take Saint-Georges as long as Monsieur de Canolles is alive,’ Claire said, in a barely audible voice.
‘Very well,’ d’Espagnet replied. ‘We shall kill him or have him killed. Then we shall retake Saint-Georges.’
Madame de Cambes stifled a cry of terror that was about to emerge from her breast.
‘Do you want to capture Saint-Georges?’
‘What! Do we want it!’ the princess exclaimed. ‘I should think so. That’s the one thing we do want.’
‘Then, leave it to me and I’ll take the fort,’ said Madame de Cambes.
‘Pooh!’ said the princess. ‘You promised me that once and failed.’
‘I promised Your Highness to make an attempt to win over Monsieur de Canolles. That attempt failed: I found Monsieur de Canolles to be unmovable.’
‘Do you think that he will be any more flexible after his triumph?’
‘No. So this time I did not tell you that I should deliver the governor to you, I said that I should deliver the fort.’
‘How?’
‘By bringing your soldiers inside the courtyard of the fortress.’
‘Are you a witch, Madame, to undertake such a thing?’ asked La Rochefoucauld.
‘No, Monsieur, I am a landowner.’
‘You are joking,’ said the duke.
‘Not at all, not at all,’ said Lenet. ‘I can guess at a lot of things in the four words that Madame de Cambes has just spoken.’
‘That is enough for me,’ said the viscountess. ‘Monsieur Lenet supports me entirely. So, I repeat that Saint-Georges will be taken, if you will let me say a few words in private to Monsieur Lenet.’
‘I, too, shall take Saint-Georges, Madame,’ said Madame de Tourville. ‘If you will let me.’
‘First let Madame de Tourville tell us openly what is her plan,’ said Lenet, stopping Madame de Cambes, who was trying to lead him into a corner. ‘Then you will whisper yours to me.’
‘Tell us, Madame,’ said the princess.
‘I shall leave at night with twenty boats carrying two hundred musketeers. Another troop, of the same number, is making its way cautiously along the right bank, while four or five hundred others are going up the left bank. Meanwhile, a thousand, or twelve hundred men of Bordeaux…’
‘Careful, Madame,’ said La Rochefoucauld. ‘You’ve already mobilized a thousand or twelve hundred men.’
‘And I,’ said Claire, ‘will take Saint George with a single company. Let me have Navailles and I guarantee it.’
‘It’s worth considering,’ said the princess, while La Rochefoucauld, with his most contemptuous smile, looked pityingly at all these women debating matters of war that the boldest and most enterprising of men might find it difficult to resolve.
‘I am listening,’ said Lenet. ‘Come on, Madame.’ He took the viscountess into the recess by one of the windows.
Claire whispered her secret into his ear, and Lenet gave a shout of joy.
‘Indeed, now,’ he said, coming back to the princess. ‘This one time, if you will agree to give a free hand to Madame de Cambes, Saint-Georges will be taken.’
‘When?’ asked the princess.
‘When you wish.’
‘The lady is a great captain,’ said La Rochefoucauld sarcastically.
‘You may judge for yourself, Duke,’ Lenet replied, ‘when you enter Saint-Georges in triumph without having fired a single shot.’
‘Then I shall approve her plan.’
‘Well, then,’ said the princess. ‘If the business is as certain as you say, let everything be made ready for tomorrow morning.’
‘For whatever day and time Her Highness wishes,’ Madame de Cambes replied. ‘I shall await your orders in my apartment.’
Saying which, she curtsied and retired to her chamber. The princess, who had passed from anger to hope in a moment, did the same, and Madame de Tourville followed her. D’Espagnet repeated his assurances, then left, leaving the duke alone with Lenet.
VII
‘My dear Lenet,’ said the duke. ‘Since the women are taking over the war, I think it would be a good thing for the men to become involved in a little intrigue. I have heard you speak of a man called Cauvignac, whom you commissioned to raise a company, and who has been represented to me as a useful companion. I asked for him: is there any chance of seeing him?’
‘He is waiting, Monseigneur,’ said Lenet.
‘Let him come in then.’
Lenet pulled the cord of a bell, and a servant entered.
‘Bring in Captain Cauvignac,’ said Lenet.
A moment later, our old acquaintance appeared in the door: and, still being a prudent man, he waited there.
‘Come over, Captain,’ said the duke. ‘I am the Duke de La Rochefoucauld.’
‘I recognize you very well, Monseigneur,’ said Cauvignac.
‘Ah, so much the better. You have been commissioned to levy a company?’
‘I have done so.’
‘How many men do you have at your disposal?’
‘One hundred and fifty.’
‘Are they well equipped and armed?’
‘Well armed and poorly equipped. I took care of the weapons first, as being the most essential. As for the equipment, I am a very disinterested man, inspired chiefly by my love of the princes, and having received only ten thousand livres from Monsieur Lenet, money was short.’
‘With ten thousand livres you enlisted a hundred and fifty soldiers?’
‘Yes, my lord.’
‘Wonderful.’
‘I have means by which I operate, my lord, known only to myself.’
‘Where are these men?’
‘They are here. You’ll see what a fine company it is, my lord, especially from the spiritual point of view: all are men of quality, with not a single low-born scoundrel among them.’
The Duke de La Rochefoucauld went over to the window and did indeed see a hundred and fifty individuals in the street, of all ages, sizes and states, drawn up in two ranks by Ferguzon, Barabbas, Carrotel and their other two companions, wearing their most splendid clothes. These individuals were considerably more like a troop of bandits than a company of soldiers.
As Cauvignac had said, they were dressed in rags, but well armed.
‘Have you received any orders concerning your men?’ asked the duke.
‘I have received the order to take them to Vayres, and I am only waiting for your lordship to entrust all my company to the hands of Monsieur Richon, who is waiting for it.’
‘What about you? Won’t you stay in Vayres with them?’
‘I make a point of never shutting myself up between four walls when I can be wandering around the countryside. I was not born to lead a patriarch’s life.’
‘Fine! Stay where you wish, but send your men to Vayres.’
‘So they will definitely be part of the garrison of the fort?’
‘Yes.’
‘Under Monsieur Richon?’
‘Y
es.’
‘But, my lord,’ said Cauvignac, ‘what are my men going to do, since there are already some three hundred men in the fort?’
‘You are very curious.’
‘Oh, it’s not a matter of curiosity, my lord, it’s fear.’
‘What are you afraid of?’
‘I’m afraid that they might be condemned to inaction and that would be unfortunate: it is wrong let a good weapon rust.’
‘Do not worry, Captain, they will not get rusty. In a week they shall be fighting.’
‘But then they’ll be killed, I suppose?’
‘Very likely, unless as well as a means for recruiting soldiers, you also have one for making them invulnerable.’
‘Oh, that’s not the problem! It’s just that before they get killed, I’d like to be paid for them.’
‘Didn’t you say that you were given ten thousand livres?’
‘Yes, in cash. Ask Monsieur Lenet, who is a tidy man and who, I am sure, has remembered our agreements.’
The duke turned to Lenet.
‘That’s true, Duke,’ said the irreproachable counsellor. ‘We gave Monsieur Cauvignac ten thousand in cash for his original expenses, but we also promised him a hundred écus per man over and above these ten thousand livres.’
‘So we owe the Captain thirty-five thousand francs?’
‘Precisely, my lord.’
‘You will be given them.’
‘Might we not speak in the present tense, Duke?’
‘No, that’s impossible.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you are one of our friends, and strangers must take precedence over everyone. You will understand that it is only when one is afraid of people that one has to mollify them.’6
‘An excellent maxim!’ said Cauvignac. ‘However, in every deal it is customary to set a term.’
‘Fine! Let’s say a week,’ said the duke.
‘Let’s say a week,’ Cauvignac agreed.
‘But suppose we have not paid in a week?’ asked Lenet.
‘Then I shall take back the charge of my company.’
‘That is only fair,’ said the duke.
‘And I shall do as I wish with it.’
‘Since it will be yours.’
‘However…’ Lenet said.
‘Pooh!’ said the duke. ‘Since they’ll be shut up in Vayres.’
‘I don’t like this kind of deal,’ said Lenet.
‘It’s very commonly met with in Normandy,’ said Cauvignac. ‘They call it a repurchase option.’
‘Do we agree, then?’ asked the duke.
‘Absolutely,’ Cauvignac replied.
‘And when will your men leave?’
‘At once, if those are your orders.’
‘I order it, then.’
The captain went down, said two words in Ferguzon’s ear, and Cauvignac’s company, together with all the onlookers who had been drawn in a crowd around it by its peculiar appearance, set off for the port where three boats were waiting to take it up the Dordogne as far as Vayres, while its leader, loyal to the principle of freedom that he had enunciated a moment earlier to the Duke de Le Rochefoucauld, watched it go with a great deal of affection.
Meanwhile, the viscountess had retired to her apartments, where she was weeping and sobbing. ‘Alas!’ she told herself. ‘I could not entirely save his honour, but I shall at least save the appearance of it. He must not be overcome by force: I know him; if he were to be overcome by force, he would die defending himself. So he must appear to be overcome by treachery. Then, when he knows what I have done for him and above all why I have done it, even though he is defeated, he will still bless me.’
Reassured by this hope, she got up, wrote a few words that she hid in her breast and went to see the princess, who had just called for her so that the two of them could go and succour the wounded, and bring the consolation of money to the widows and orphans.
The princess gathered all those who had taken part in the expedition. In her name and that of the Duke d’Enghien, she lauded the deeds of those who had distinguished themselves in the action, talked for a long time with Ravailly – who, with his arm in a sling, swore that he was ready to fight again the next day – put a hand on the shoulder of d’Espagnet, saying that she considered him and his brave townspeople as the strongest pillar of her cause, and finally so roused their spirits that the most downcast swore that they would take their revenge and were all for returning to the Ile Saint-Georges at that very moment.
‘No, not immediately,’ said the princess. ‘Take a day and a night of rest and the day after tomorrow you will be settled there for good.’
This assurance, given in a firm voice, was greeted with warlike cries, each of which sank deep into the viscountess’s heart like a dagger threatening her lover’s life.
‘See what I have undertaken to do, Claire,’ said the princess. ‘It is for you to acquit my debt to these good people.’
‘Fear not, Madame,’ the viscountess replied. ‘I shall keep my promise.’
That very evening, a messenger left at full speed for Saint-Georges.
VIII
The following day, as Canolles was doing his morning round, Vibrac came up to him and handed over a letter and a key that an unknown man had brought during the night and left with the lieutenant in charge, saying that no reply was expected.
Canolles trembled when he recognized Madame de Cambes’s handwriting, and his hand shook as he opened the letter.
This is what he read:
In my last letter, I warned you that the fort of Saint-Georges would be attacked during the night; in this one, I am warning you that tomorrow the fort of Saint-Georges will be captured. As a man, as a soldier of the king, you run no greater risk than that of being taken prisoner, but Mademoiselle de Lartigues’s situation is quite different, and the hatred felt for her is so great that I could not answer for her life were she to fall into the hands of the people of Bordeaux. Persuade her to escape. I shall tell you how.
At the head of your bed, behind a tapestry bearing the arms of the lords of Cambes, to whom the Ile Saint-Georges used to belong in former times, being a part of their lands that the late Viscount de Cambes, my husband, gave to the king, you will find a door. Here is the key. It is one of the openings to the great underground tunnel that passes under the river and leads to the Château de Cambes. Get Mademoiselle Nanon de Lartigues to flee through this tunnel, and if you love her, flee with her…
I will answer for her life with my honour.
Farewell. We are quits.
Viscountess de Cambes.
Canolles read and reread this letter, shuddering with terror at every line, and paling as he read. Without knowing why, he felt that a strange power was enfolding him and disposing of him. This underground passage, which linked the head of his bed to the Château de Cambes, and which ought to allow him to save Nanon, could surely have served, if the secret of it were known, to deliver Saint-Georges to the enemy?
Vibrac was reading the most recent of these emotions on the governor’s face.
‘Bad news, Commander?’ he asked.
‘Yes, it appears that we shall be attacked once again tomorrow night.’
‘The stubborn devils!’ said Vibrac. ‘I would have thought they might consider themselves thoroughly enough trounced and that we should not hear from them again for a week, at least.’
‘I don’t need to instruct you to keep the closest watch.’
‘Don’t worry, Commander. No doubt they will try to surprise us, as they did last time?’
‘I don’t know, but let’s be ready for anything and take the same precautions as we did then. Finish the round on my behalf. I’m going back to my rooms. I have some orders to send out.’
Vibrac made a sign of agreement and strode off with that military nonchalance with regard to danger that is shown by men who are in a position to meet danger at every step. As for Canolles, he went back to his room, taking as much care as possible
not to be seen by Nanon. And, after ensuring that he was alone, he locked the door.
At the head of his bed were the arms of the lords of Cambes on a piece of tapestry, hemmed by a kind of gold ribbon.
Canolles lifted the ribbon, which, as it came away from the tapestry, revealed the outline of a door.
The door opened with the key that the viscountess had sent him at the same time as her letter, and Canolles found himself looking at the gaping mouth of a tunnel, which led off clearly in the direction of the Château de Cambes.
For a moment, he remained silent, the sweat beading on his forehead. This mysterious passage, which might quite easily not be the only one, filled him with terror despite himself.
He lit a candle and prepared to explore it.
First of all, he went down twenty steep stairs, then continued his descent into the depths of earth by a more gentle slope.
He soon heard a dull sound that frightened him at first, since he did not know what was causing it, then, as he went further, he could distinguish above his head the rumbling of the great river flowing towards the sea.
Several cracks had appeared in the vault, through which, at different times, water must have seeped, but these gaps, having no doubt been noticed in time, had been sealed with a sort of cement that had become harder than the stones it held together.
For almost ten minutes, Canolles heard the water flowing above his head. Then the sound gradually faded and soon was no more than a murmur. Finally, the murmur too vanished and was replaced by silence; after fifty yards or so in this silence, Canolles came to a staircase similar to the one down which he had entered, closed on its last step by a massive door that ten men together could not have broken and made fireproof by a thick plate of iron.
‘Now I understand,’ thought Canolles. ‘They will wait for Nanon at this door, and she will be safe.’
He went back, passed once more under the river, came to his staircase, returned to his room, pinned back the ribbon and went to see Nanon, deep in thought.