Henry of Guise Volume I Part 14

"If you do not reach him before I do," replied his brother with a grim smile, "you and he will be long parted from each other, my good brother; and as to Mademoiselle de Clairvaut, she is in safe hands, and will be well taken care of. Fare you well, my brother. Now march, my men!" And without waiting for any other reply, he shook his bridle and rode out of the court.

The patience of Charles of Montsoreau was nearly at an end, and he paused, gazing upon the ground for a minute or two, before he could overcome the pain and indignation that he felt. He then turned to his own chamber again, beckoning to the boy Ignati, who was still upon the stairs, to follow him thither.

"Now, Ignati," he said, "What is the meaning of all this? You have probably heard all that has pa.s.sed. Give me what information you can, without loss of time."

"This is all that I know," replied the boy; "but it is enough.

Mademoiselle de Clairvaut, the Lady whom you were asking about last night, has met with a party of the King's troops which had been sent against the reiters, and has by them been carried to Chateau Thiery, whence she sent that cavalier whom you saw with your brother, to tell him what had become of her. All those facts I heard the cavalier himself relate: but from the page he brought with him, who was in the room, or at least at the door, when his master and the Marquis were speaking, I gathered, that this Monsieur de Colombel--by the advice of some priest who accompanied Mademoiselle de Clairvaut, I know not whom--has persuaded your brother to join the party of the King, telling him that Henry would certainly hold Mademoiselle de Clairvaut as a hostage for the Duke's good conduct, and would most likely bestow her upon any one he thought fit."

Charles of Montsoreau pressed his hand firmly upon his brow for two or three minutes. He had been learning for some time those dark and painful lessons of human nature which come so bitterly to a n.o.ble and a generous heart, when first the world, the contentions of self-interest, and the strife of pa.s.sion, teaches us how few, how very few, there are who have any thought or motive in all their actions but the mean ungenerous ones of self--those bitter lessons which fix upon mature life the sad, the dark, the horrible companionship of doubt and suspicion.

"Can I," he muttered, speaking to himself, "can I have been mistaken in the Abbe de Boisguerin? Can I have trusted, and believed, and reverenced, where neither trust, nor belief, nor reverence was due?--It cannot be! No, it cannot be!" And after thinking again over all that the page had said, he added aloud, "The King's troops at Chateau Thiery!--The Duke at Gonesse!--We must lose no time, but get to Montigny as speedily as possible."

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.