Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer
UNDER THE RED ROBE
By Stanley J. Weyman
Transcriber's Note:
In this Etext, text in italics has been written in capital letters.
Many French words in the text have accents, etc. which have beenomitted.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. AT ZATON'S
CHAPTER II. AT THE GREEN PILLAR
CHAPTER III. THE HOUSE IN THE WOOD
CHAPTER IV. MADAM AND MADEMOISELLE
CHAPTER V. REVENGE
CHAPTER VI. UNDER THE PIC DU MIDI
CHAPTER VII. A MASTER STROKE
CHAPTER VIII. A MASTER STROKE--Continued
CHAPTER IX. THE QUESTION
CHAPTER X. CLON
CHAPTER XI. THE ARREST
CHAPTER XII. THE ROAD TO PARIS
CHAPTER XIII. AT THE FINGER-POST
CHAPTER XIV. ST MARTIN'S EVE
CHAPTER XV. ST MARTIN'S SUMMER
UNDER THE RED ROBE
CHAPTER I. AT ZATON'S
'Marked cards!'
There were a score round us when the fool, little knowing the man withwhom he had to deal, and as little how to lose like a gentleman, flungthe words in my teeth. He thought, I'll be sworn, that I should stormand swear and ruffle it like any common cock of the hackle. But that wasnever Gil de Berault's way. For a few seconds after he had spoken Idid not even look at him. I passed my eye instead--smiling, BIENENTENDU--round the ring of waiting faces, saw that there was no oneexcept De Pombal I had cause to fear; and then at last I rose and lookedat the fool with the grim face I have known impose on older and wisermen.
'Marked cards, M. l'Anglais?' I said, with a chilling sneer. 'They areused, I am told, to trap players--not unbirched schoolboys.'
'Yet I say that they are marked!' he replied hotly, in his queer foreignjargon. 'In my last hand I had nothing. You doubled the stakes. Bah,sir, you knew! You have swindled me!'
'Monsieur is easy to swindle--when he plays with a mirror behind him,' Ianswered tartly.
At that there was a great roar of laughter, which might have beenheard in the street, and which brought to the table everyone in theeating-house whom his voice had not already attracted. But I did notrelax my face. I waited until all was quiet again, and then waving asidetwo or three who stood between us and the entrance, I pointed gravely tothe door.
'There is a little space behind the church of St Jacques, M.l'Etranger,' I said, putting on my hat and taking my cloak on my arm.'Doubtless you will accompany me thither?'
He snatched up his hat, his face burning with shame and rage.
'With pleasure!' he blurted out. 'To the devil, if you like!'
I thought the matter arranged, when the Marquis laid his hand on theyoung fellow's arm and checked him.
'This must not be,' he said, turning from him to me with his grand,fine-gentleman's air. 'You know me, M. de Berault. This matter has gonefar enough.'
'Too far! M. de Pombal,' I answered bitterly. 'Still, if you wish totake your friend's place, I shall raise no objection.'
'Chut, man!' he retorted, shrugging his shoulders negligently. 'Iknow you, and I do not fight with men of your stamp. Nor need thisgentleman.'
'Undoubtedly,' I replied, bowing low, 'if he prefers to be caned in thestreets.'
That stung the Marquis.
'Have a care! have a care!' he cried hotly. 'You go too far, M.Berault.'
'De Berault, if you please,' I objected, eyeing him sternly. 'My familyhas borne the DE as long as yours, M. de Pombal.'
He could not deny that, and he answered, 'As you please;' at the sametime restraining his friend by a gesture. 'But none the less,' hecontinued, 'take my advice. The Cardinal has forbidden duelling, andthis time he means it! You have been in trouble once and gone free.A second time it may fare worse with you. Let this gentleman go,therefore, M. de Berault. Besides--why, shame upon you, man!' heexclaimed hotly; 'he is but a lad!'
Two or three who stood behind me applauded that, But I turned and theymet my eye; and they were as mum as mice.
'His age is his own concern,' I said grimly. 'He was old enough a whileago to insult me.'
'And I will prove my words!' the lad cried, exploding at last. He hadspirit enough, and the Marquis had had hard work to restrain him solong. 'You do me no service, M. de Pombal,' he continued, pettishlyshaking off his friend's hand. 'By your leave, this gentleman and I willsettle this matter.'
'That is better,' I said, nodding drily, while the Marquis stood aside,frowning and baffled. 'Permit me to lead the way.'
Zaton's eating-house stands scarcely a hundred paces from St Jacques laBoucherie, and half the company went thither with us. The evening waswet, the light in the streets was waning, the streets themselves weredirty and slippery. There were few passers in the Rue St Antoine; andour party, which earlier in the day must have attracted notice and acrowd, crossed unmarked, and entered without interruption the pavedtriangle which lies immediately behind the church. I saw in the distanceone of the Cardinal's guard loitering in front of the scaffolding roundthe new Hotel Richelieu; and the sight of the uniform gave me pause fora moment. But it was too late to repent.
The Englishman began at once to strip off his clothes. I closed mineto the throat, for the air was chilly. At that moment, while we stoodpreparing, and most of the company seemed a little inclined to stand offfrom me, I felt a hand on my arm, and turning, saw the dwarfish tailorat whose house, in the Rue Savonnerie, I lodged at the time. Thefellow's presence was unwelcome, to say the least of it; and though forwant of better company I had sometimes encouraged him to be free withme at home, I took that to be no reason why I should be plagued withhim before gentlemen. I shook him off, therefore, hoping by a frown tosilence him.
He was not to be so easily put down, however, and perforce I had tospeak to him.
'Afterwards, afterwards,' I said hurriedly. 'I am engaged now.
'For God's sake, don't, sir!' the poor fool cried, clinging to mysleeve. 'Don't do it! You will bring a curse on the house. He is but alad, and--'
'You, too!' I exclaimed, losing patience. 'Be silent, you scum! What doyou know about gentlemen's quarrels? Leave me; do you hear?'
'But the Cardinal!' he cried in a quavering voice. 'The Cardinal, M. deBerault! The last man you killed is not forgotten yet. This time he willbe sure to--'
'Leave me, do you hear?' I hissed. The fellow's impudence passed allbounds. It was as bad as his croaking. 'Begone!' I added. 'I suppose youare afraid that he will kill me, and you will lose your money.'
Frison fell back at that almost as if I had struck him, and I turnedto my adversary, who had been awaiting my motions with impatience. Godknows he did look young as he stood with his head bare and his fair hairdrooping over his smooth woman's forehead--a mere lad fresh from thecollege of Burgundy, if they have such a thing in England. I felt asudden chill as I looked at him: a qualm, a tremor, a presentiment. Whatwas it the little tailor had said? That I should--but there, he did notknow. What did he know of such things? If I let this pass I must kill aman a day, or leave Paris and the eating-house, and starve.
'A thousand pardons,' I said gravely, as I drew and took my place. 'Adun. I am sorry that the poor devil caught me so inopportunely. Nowhowever, I am at your service.'
He saluted and we crossed swords and began. But from the first I hadno doubt what the result would be. The slippery stones and fadinglight gave him, it is true, some chance, some advantage, more than hedeserved; but I had no sooner felt his
blade than I knew that he was noswordsman. Possibly he had taken half-a-dozen lessons in rapier art,and practised what he learned with an Englishman as heavy and awkwardas himself. But that was all. He made a few wild clumsy rushes, parryingwidely. When I had foiled these, the danger was over, and I held him atmy mercy.
I played with him a little while, watching the sweat gather on his browand the shadow of the church tower fall deeper and darker, like theshadow of doom, on his face. Not out of cruelty--God knows I have nevererred in that direction!--but because, for the first time in my life,I felt a strange reluctance to strike the blow. The curls clung to hisforehead; his breath came and went in gasps; I heard the men behind meand one or two of them drop an oath; and then I slipped--slipped, andwas down in a moment on my right side, my elbow striking the pavement sosharply that the arm grew numb to the wrist.
He held off. I heard a dozen voices cry, 'Now! now you have him!' But heheld off. He stood back and waited with his breast heaving and his pointlowered, until I had risen and stood again on my guard.
'Enough! enough!' a rough voice behind me cried. 'Don't hurt the manafter that.'
'On guard, sir!' I answered coldly--for he seemed to waver, and be indoubt. 'It was an accident. It shall not avail you again.'
Several voices cried 'Shame!' and one, 'You coward!' But the Englishmanstepped forward, a fixed look in his blue eyes. He took his placewithout a word. I read in his drawn white face that he had made up hismind to the worst, and his courage so won my admiration that I wouldgladly and thankfully have set one of the lookers-on--any of thelookers-on--in his place; but that could not be. So I thought of Zaton'sclosed to me, of Pombal's insult, of the sneers and slights I had longkept at the sword's point; and, pressing him suddenly in a heat ofaffected anger, I thrust strongly over his guard, which had grownfeeble, and ran him through the chest.
When I saw him lying, laid out on the stones with his eyes half shut,and his face glimmering white in the dusk--not that I saw him thus long,for there were a dozen kneeling round him in a twinkling--I felt anunwonted pang. It passed, however, in a moment. For I found myselfconfronted by a ring of angry faces--of men who, keeping at a distance,hissed and cursed and threatened me, calling me Black Death and thelike.
They were mostly canaille, who had gathered during the fight, and hadviewed all that passed from the farther side of the railings. Whilesome snarled and raged at me like wolves, calling me 'Butcher!' and'Cut-throat!' or cried out that Berault was at his trade again, othersthreatened me with the vengeance of the Cardinal, flung the edict in myteeth, and said with glee that the guard were coming--they would see mehanged yet.
'His blood is on your head!' one cried furiously. 'He will be dead in anhour. And you will swing for him! Hurrah!'
'Begone,' I said.
'Ay, to Montfaucon,' he answered, mocking me.
'No; to your kennel!' I replied, with a look which sent him a yardbackwards, though the railings were between us. And I wiped my bladecarefully, standing a little apart. For--well, I could understand it--itwas one of those moments when a man is not popular. Those who had comewith me from the eating-house eyed me askance, and turned their backswhen I drew nearer; and those who had joined us and obtained admissionwere scarcely more polite.
But I was not to be outdone in SANG FROID. I cocked my hat, and drawingmy cloak over my shoulders, went out with a swagger which drove thecurs from the gate before I came within a dozen paces of it. The rascalsoutside fell back as quickly, and in a moment I was in the street.Another moment and I should have been clear of the place and free to lieby for a while--when, without warning, a scurry took place round me. Thecrowd fled every way into the gloom, and in a hand-turn a dozen of theCardinal's guards closed round me.
I had some acquaintance with the officer in command, and he saluted mecivilly.
'This is a bad business, M. de Berault,' he said. 'The man is dead theytell me.'
'Neither dying nor dead,' I answered lightly. 'If that be all you may gohome again.'
'With you,' he replied, with a grin, 'certainly. And as it rains, thesooner the better. I must ask you for your sword, I am afraid.'
'Take it,' I said, with the philosophy which never deserts me. 'But theman will not die.'
'I hope that may avail you,' he answered in a tone I did not like. 'Leftwheel, my friends! To the Chatelet! March!'
'There are worse places,' I said, and resigned myself to fate. Afterall, I had been in a prison before, and learned that only one jail letsno prisoner escape.
But when I found that my friend's orders were to hand me over to thewatch, and that I was to be confined like any common jail-bird caughtcutting a purse or slitting a throat, I confess my heart sank. If Icould get speech with the Cardinal, all would probably be well; but ifI failed in this, or if the case came before him in strange guise, or ifhe were in a hard mood himself, then it might go ill with me. The edictsaid, death!
And the lieutenant at the Chatelet did not put himself to much troubleto hearten me. 'What! again M. de Berault?' he said, raising hiseyebrows as he received me at the gate, and recognised me by the lightof the brazier which his men were just kindling outside. 'You are a verybold man, or a very foolhardy one, to come here again. The old business,I suppose?'
'Yes, but he is not dead,' I answered coolly. 'He has a trifle--a merescratch. It was behind the church of St Jacques.'
'He looked dead enough, my friend,' the guardsman interposed. He had notyet left us.
'Bah!' I answered scornfully. 'Have you ever known me make a mistakeWhen I kill a man I kill him. I put myself to pains, I tell you, not tokill this Englishman. Therefore he will live.'
'I hope so,' the lieutenant said, with a dry smile. 'And you had betterhope so, too, M. de Berault, For if not--'
'Well?' I said, somewhat troubled. 'If not, what, my friend?'
'I fear he will be the last man you will fight,' he answered. 'And evenif he lives, I would not be too sure, my friend. This time the Cardinalis determined to put it down.'
'He and I are old friends,' I said confidently.
'So I have heard,' he answered, with a short laugh. 'I think that thesame was said of Chalais. I do not remember that it saved his head.'
This was not reassuring. But worse was to come. Early in the morningorders were received that I should be treated with especial strictness,and I was given the choice between irons and one of the cells belowthe level. Choosing the latter, I was left to reflect upon many things;among others, on the queer and uncertain nature of the Cardinal, wholoved, I knew, to play with a man as a cat with a mouse; and on the illeffects which sometimes attend a high chest-thrust however carefullydelivered. I only rescued myself at last from these and other unpleasantreflections by obtaining the loan of a pair of dice; and the light beingjust enough to enable me to reckon the throws, I amused myself for hoursby casting them on certain principles of my own. But a long runagain and again upset my calculations; and at last brought me to theconclusion that a run of bad luck may be so persistent as to see out themost sagacious player. This was not a reflection very welcome to me atthe moment.
Nevertheless, for three days it was all the company I had. At the endof that time, the knave of a jailor who attended me, and who had nevergrown tired of telling me, after the fashion of his kind, that I shouldbe hanged, came to me with a less assured air.
'Perhaps you would like a little water?' he said civilly.
'Why, rascal?' I asked.
'To wash with,' he answered.
'I asked for some yesterday, and you would not bring it,' I grumbled.'However, better late than never. Bring it now. If I must hang, I willhang like a gentleman. But depend upon it, the Cardinal will not servean old friend so scurvy a trick.'
'You are to go to him,' he announced, when he came back with the water.
'What? To the Cardinal?' I cried.
'Yes,' he answered.
'Good!' I exclaimed; and in my joy and relief I sprang up at once, andbegan to refresh my dress. 'So
all this time I have been doing him aninjustice,' I continued. 'VIVE MONSEIGNEUR! Long live the little Bishopof Luchon! I might have known it, too.'
'Don't make too sure!' the man answered spitefully. Then he went on, 'Ihave something else for you. A friend of yours left it at the gate,' andhe handed me a packet.
'Quite so!' I said, leading his rascally face aright. 'And you kept itas long as you dared--as long as you thought I should hang, you knave!Was not that so? But there, do not lie to me. Tell me instead whichof my friends left it.' For, to confess the truth, I had not so manyfriends at this time and ten good crowns--the packet contained no lessa sum--argued a pretty staunch friend, and one of whom a man mightreasonably be proud.
The knave sniggered maliciously. 'A crooked dwarfish man left it,' hesaid. 'I doubt I might call him a tailor and not be far out.'
'Chut!' I answered--but I was a little out of countenance, nevertheless.'I understand. An honest fellow enough, and in debt to me! I am glad heremembered. But when am I to go, friend?'
'In an hour,' he answered sullenly. Doubtless he had looked to get oneof the crowns; but I was too old a hand for that. If I came back I couldbuy his services; and if I did not I should have wasted my money.
Nevertheless, a little later, when I found myself on my way to the HotelRichelieu under so close a guard that I could see nothing in the streetexcept the figures that immediately surrounded me, I wished that I hadgiven him the money. At such times, when all hangs in the balance andthe sky is overcast, the mind runs on luck and old superstitions, andis prone to think a crown given here may avail there--though THERE be ahundred leagues away.
The Palais Richelieu was at this time in building, and we were requiredto wait in a long, bare gallery, where the masons were at work. I waskept a full hour here, pondering uncomfortably on the strange whimsand fancies of the great man who then ruled France as the King'sLieutenant-General, with all the King's powers, and whose life Ihad once been the means of saving by a little timely information. Onoccasion he had done something to wipe out the debt; and at other timeshe had permitted me to be free with him, and so far we were not unknownto one another.
Nevertheless, when the doors were at last thrown open, and I was ledinto his presence, my confidence underwent a shock. His cold glance,that, roving over me, regarded me not as a man but an item, the steelyglitter of his southern eyes, chilled me to the bone. The room was bare,the floor without carpet or covering. Some of the woodwork lay about,unfinished and in pieces. But the man--this man, needed no surroundings.His keen pale face, his brilliant eyes, even his presence--though he wasof no great height, and began already to stoop at the shoulders--wereenough to awe the boldest. I recalled, as I looked at him, a hundredtales of his iron will, his cold heart, his unerring craft. He hadhumbled the King's brother, the splendid Duke of Orleans, in the dust.He had curbed the Queen-mother. A dozen heads, the noblest in France,had come to the block through him. Only two years before he had quelledRochelle; only a few months before he had crushed the great insurrectionin Languedoc: and though the south, stripped of its old privileges,still seethed with discontent, no one in this year 1630 dared lifta hand against him--openly, at any rate. Under the surface a hundredplots, a thousand intrigues, sought his life or his power; but these, Isuppose, are the hap of every great man.
No wonder, then, that the courage on which I plumed myself sank low atsight of him; or that it was as much as I could do to mingle withthe humility of my salute some touch of the SANG FROID of oldacquaintanceship.
And perhaps that had been better left out. For it seemed that thisman was without bowels. For a moment, while he stood looking at me, andbefore he spoke to me, I gave myself up for lost. There was a glintof cruel satisfaction in his eyes that warned me, before he opened hismouth, what he was going to say to me.
'I could not have made a better catch, M. de Berault,' he said, smilingvillainously, while he gently smoothed the fur of a cat that had sprungon the table beside him. 'An old offender, and an excellent example. Idoubt it will not stop with you. But later, we will make you the warrantfor flying at higher game.'
'Monseigneur has handled a sword himself,' I blurted out. The very roomseemed to be growing darker, the air colder. I was never nearer fear inmy life.
'Yes?' he said, smiling delicately. 'And so--?'
'Will not be too hard on the failings of a poor gentleman.'
'He shall suffer no more than a rich one,' he replied suavely as hestroked the cat. 'Enjoy that satisfaction, M. de Berault. Is that all?'
'Once I was of service to your Eminence,' I said desperately.
'Payment has been made,' he answered, 'more than once. But for that Ishould not have seen you.'
'The King's face!' I cried, snatching at the straw he seemed to holdout.
He laughed cynically, smoothly. His thin face, his dark moustache, andwhitening hair, gave him an air of indescribable keenness.
'I am not the King,' he said. 'Besides, I am told that you have killedas many as six men in duels. You owe the King, therefore, one life atleast. You must pay it. There is no more to be said, M. de Berault,'he continued coldly, turning away and beginning to collect some papers.'The law must take its course.'
I thought that he was about to nod to the lieutenant to withdraw me, anda chilling sweat broke out down my back. I saw the scaffold, I felt thecords. A moment, and it would be too late!
'I have a favour to ask,' I stammered desperately, 'if your Eminencewill give me a moment alone.'
'To what end?' he answered, turning and eyeing me with cold disfavour.'I know you--your past--all. It can do no good, my friend.'
'No harm!' I cried. 'And I am a dying man, Monseigneur!'
'That is true,' he said thoughtfully. Still he seemed to hesitate; andmy heart beat fast. At last he looked at the lieutenant. 'You mayleave us,' he said shortly. 'Now,' he continued, when the officer hadwithdrawn and left us alone, 'what is it? Say what you have to sayquickly. And, above all, do not try to fool me, M. de Berault.'
But his piercing eyes so disconcerted me now that I had my chance,and was alone with him, that I could not find a word to say, and stoodbefore him mute. I think this pleased him, for his face relaxed.
'Well?' he said at last. 'Is that all?'
'The man is not dead,' I muttered.
He shrugged his shoulders contemptuously.
'What of that?' he said. 'That was not what you wanted to say to me.'
'Once I saved your Eminence's life,' I faltered miserably.
'Admitted,' he answered, in his thin, incisive voice. 'You mentioned thefact before. On the other hand, you have taken six to my knowledge,M. de Berault. You have lived the life of a bully, a common bravo, agamester. You, a man of family! For shame! Do you wonder that it hasbrought you to this! Yet on that one point I am willing to hear more,'he added abruptly.
'I might save your Eminence's life again,' I cried. It was a suddeninspiration.
'You know something?' he said quickly, fixing me with his eyes. 'Butno,' he continued, shaking his head gently. 'Pshaw! The trick is old. Ihave better spies than you, M. de Berault.'
'But no better sword,' I cried hoarsely. 'No, not in all your guard!'
'That is true,' he said slowly. 'That is true.' To my surprise, he spokein a tone of consideration; and he looked down at the floor. 'Let methink, my friend,' he continued.
He walked two or three times up and down the room, while I stoodtrembling. I confess it, trembling. The man whose pulses danger has nopower to quicken, is seldom proof against suspense; and the sudden hopehis words awakened in me so shook me that his figure as he trod lightlyto and fro with the cat rubbing against his robe and turning time fortime with him, wavered before my eyes. I grasped the table to steadymyself. I had not admitted even in my own mind how darkly the shadow ofMontfaucon and the gallows had fallen across me.
I had leisure to recover myself, for it was some time before he spoke.When he did, it was in a voice harsh, changed, imperative. 'You have thereputatio
n of a man faithful, at least, to his employer,' he said. 'Donot answer me. I say it is so. Well, I will trust you. I will give youone more chance--though it is a desperate one. Woe to you if you failme! Do you know Cocheforet in Bearn? It is not far from Auch.'
'No, your Eminence.'
'Nor M. de Cocheforet?'
'No, your Eminence.'
'So much the better,' he replied. 'But you have heard of him. He hasbeen engaged in every Gascon plot since the late King's death, and gavemore trouble last year in the Vivarais than any man twice his years.At present he is at Bosost in Spain, with other refugees, but I havelearned that at frequent intervals he visits his wife at Cocheforetwhich is six leagues within the border. On one of these visits he mustbe arrested.'
'That should be easy,' I said.
The Cardinal looked at me. 'Chut, man! what do you know about it?' heanswered bluntly. 'It is whispered at Cocheforet if a soldier crossesthe street at Auch. In the house are only two or three servants, butthey have the countryside with them to a man, and they are a dangerousbreed. A spark might kindle a fresh rising. The arrest, therefore, mustbe made secretly.'
I bowed.
'One resolute man inside the house,' the Cardinal continued,thoughtfully glancing at a paper which lay on the table, 'with the helpof two or three servants whom he could summon to his aid at will, mighteffect it. The question is, Will you be the man, my friend?'
I hesitated; then I bowed. What choice had I?
'Nay, nay, speak out!' he said sharply. 'Yes or no, M. de Berault?'
'Yes, your Eminence,' I said reluctantly. Again, I say, what choice hadI?
'You will bring him to Paris, and alive. He knows things, and that iswhy I want him. You understand?'
'I understand, Monseigneur,' I answered.
'You will get into the house as you can,' he continued with energy. 'Forthat you will need strategy, and good strategy. They suspect everybody.You must deceive them. If you fail to deceive them, or, deceiving them,are found out later, I do not think that you will trouble me again, orbreak the edict a second time. On the other hand, should you deceiveme'--he smiled still more subtly, but his voice sank to a purringnote--'I will break you on the wheel like the ruined gamester you are!'
I met his look without quailing. 'So be it!' I said recklessly. 'If Ido not bring M. de Cocheforet to Paris, you may do that to me, and morealso!'
'It is a bargain!' he answered slowly. 'I think that you will befaithful. For money, here are a hundred crowns. That sum should suffice;but if you succeed you shall have twice as much more. That is all, Ithink. You understand?'
'Yes, Monseigneur.'
'Then why do you wait?'
'The lieutenant?' I said modestly.
The Cardinal laughed to himself, and sitting down wrote a word or two ona slip of paper. 'Give him that,' he said in high good-humour. 'I fear,M. de Berault, you will never get your deserts--in this world!'