Prince Eugene and His Times Part 90

CHAPTER VI.

THE DELIVERANCE OF TRIER.

The equipage thundered along the streets of Paris, and drew up before the hooded door, at the side entrance of the Louvre, which was especially reserved for the use of the royal family.

The d.u.c.h.ess sprang from her carriage, hurried up the staircase, almost stumbling over the sentry as he made an attempt to present arms, and flew into the antechamber that led to the cabinet of the king.

She came in like a frigate under full sail, but was encountered by a gentleman of the privy chamber, who barred the entrance.

"Make way for me--do!" said she, clasping her hands. "I must see his majesty this very moment."

"His majesty is in secret conference with the Marquis de Louvois and Madame de Maintenon," was the reply. "Not even your royal highness can obtain admittance."

"So much the better if Louvois is there. Let me pa.s.s--I command you, let me pa.s.s!"

"Indeed, madame, you know not what you ask. I have received stringent orders to admit n.o.body."

"The royal family are never included in these prohibitions," cried the d.u.c.h.ess.

"But to-day, your royal highness, I was placed here to prevent their coming! You well know that none but the princes and princesses of the blood would presume to make use of this entrance."

"It concerns the lives of thousands!" urged the d.u.c.h.ess.

"Did it concern that of my own son, I would know better than to seek to save it by disobeying his majesty's orders."

"You will not--positively will not let me pa.s.s?"

"I dare not, madame."

"Then you must excuse me, but I shall force my way," returned Elizabeth-Charlotte, grasping the slender form of the king's gentleman, and, with her powerful hands, flinging him into the corner of the room, while she strode rapidly to the opposite door, and opened and had closed it again before her opponent had recovered his breath. Before touching the bolt of the door which opened directly into the king's cabinet, she paused to recover her breath, and to gather courage for the coming interview. She trembled from head to foot, and leaned against the wall for support. But Elizabeth-Charlotte was not a woman to be deterred, by fear of kings, from what she deemed her duty. "With the resolution that characterized her, she uttered one short e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n for help from above, and opened the door."

Louvois was in the act of speaking. "Sire, our arms are as successful in Italy as they have been in Germany, where town after town has been taken without the drawing of a sword--where the people have offered the keys of all the fortresses to your generals, and have welcomed the advent of our troops with joy."

"Your majesty," cried the d.u.c.h.ess, coming forward, "do not believe him! He tells a falsehood--O G.o.d! what a falsehood!"

The astonishment of that cabinet-council is not to be described. The king rose from his seat and confronted her with eyes that named with anger.

"Madame," exclaimed the grand monarque, in a rage, "were you not told that I would see n.o.body this morning?"

"Yes, your majesty; so emphatically told, that, before I could make my way to your presence, I was obliged to hurl your gentleman to the other side of the room. It is not his fault that I am here!"

Madame de Maintenon rolled up her eyes, Louvois sneered and Louis, looking as if he wished that he could consume his sister-in-law with a glance, turned around to his minister.

"Monsieur Louvois, be so good as to forget the imprudent words that madame has just spoken. It is impossible that a princess of the blood should so far forget her own dignity as to lay hands on an attendant of the king. Take care that the indiscretion of her royal highness go no farther than these walls; and, if you hear it spoken of, contradict it flatly."

"Your majesty," exclaimed the d.u.c.h.ess, "that is the very way to make everybody believe it, for surely n.o.body will believe Monsieur Louvois."

"Sire," said Louvois, shrewdly, "I was about to communicate tidings of the greatest importance to your majesty. I would be glad of your permission to resume our conference. It is late, and--"

"Madame," cried Louis, "once for all, leave this room, and interrupt us no longer."

"Does your majesty suppose that, after forcing my way to your presence, I intend to retreat without accomplishing the object for which I came? I entreat of you, hear me, and judge for yourself whether my pertinacity is not justified by the occasion of my intrusion."

"Very well, madame," replied Louis. "I will remember that you are my brother's wife, and forget an excess of presumption which, were you not my sister-in-law, would merit the Bastile. Speak, and let us hear your pet.i.tion. It needs to be one of moment to earn your pardon."

With these words, Louis threw himself into his arm-chair, and, pointing to a tabouret at hand, requested her royal highness to be seated. The d.u.c.h.ess looked around the room, and, seeing a vacant arm-chair a little farther off, she rolled it forward, and seated herself with great grandeur. This chair belonged to Madame de Maintenon, who, a moment previous, had risen and walked to the window.

She became very red in the face, and, coming directly in front of the d.u.c.h.ess, said: "Madame, this is my own arm-chair; be so good as to excuse me if I ask you to rise."

"Impossible, my dear marquise, impossible!" was the rejoinder. "His majesty requests me to be seated, and this is the only seat in the room that accords with my rank. If his majesty allows you to seat yourself in his presence, and that of a princess of the blood, there is a tabouret which doubtless was placed for your accommodation on such occasions."

Madame de Maintenon looked imploringly at the king, hoping that he would interfere; but he did not. His eyes were cast down, and it was plain that no help was to be expected from him. His unacknowledged spouse was therefore obliged to yield the point, and put up with the tabouret.

"Now, madame," said Louis, as though rousing himself from profound meditation, "I await your pleasure."

"Sire," cried the d.u.c.h.ess, "I have come hither to accuse yonder traitor, who, in your majesty's name, is perpetrating deeds of horror that are enough to brand any sovereign with infamy. Did I not hear him say, as I entered this room, that the French army was received with open arms by the Germans?"

"You did, madame. As a proof of the truth of this a.s.sertion, here are the very keys of all the towns and fortresses we have besieged."

The king pointed to a basket wreathed with flowers, wherein lay a heap of gigantic keys.

"Oh, sire," exclaimed the d.u.c.h.ess, "these keys were purchased with blood and pillage. Your soldiers have not marched into Germany like the invading armies of a civilized nation; they have come as incendiaries and a.s.sa.s.sins. Witness my father's castle, which they reduced to a heap of ashes."

"My dear madame," said Louis, deprecatingly, "war is not a pastime.

I regret that it was necessary to burn your father's castle; but you perceive that it was not burned in vain, for your countrymen, since then, have shown themselves amenable to reason."

"Sire, you are shamefully deceived; and I have come to lay at the foot of your throne the plaint of an unhappy people. Ah, you little know what crimes are being committed in your name! General Montclas himself shed tears when Mannheim was sacked and destroyed; and, when the people of Durlach were driven by your soldiery into the very midst of the flames that were consuming their homes, the Duke de la Roche remonstrated with the Marquis de Crequi on the atrocity of the crime. What do you suppose was the answer of the marquis? 'Le roi le veut!'"

"Is this so?" asked the king, turning to Louvois, who was hiding his troubled countenance in the embrasure of a window.

"Sire, I have never heard of it before," replied the minister.

"Well may he say that he never heard of it, if he means that your majesty never gave such an order to him!" cried Elizabeth-Charlotte.

"But if he means that he did not order these ma.s.sacres, he tells an untruth. He is avenging on the people of Germany the laurels which Prince Eugene has earned in the service of the emperor, and which, but for him, would have redounded to the glory of France. Oh, sire!

this war is one of personal vengeance on the part of your wicked subject; it is not waged for your honor or advantage. I ask in his presence, did the King of France order the destruction of Worms and Speier? Was it by the order of our gracious sovereign that the very house of G.o.d was committed to the flames?"

"Can such a crime have been perpetrated in my name?" cried Louis, with indignation.

"Sire," replied Louvois, "your majesty has said it--'War is no pastime.'"

"He does not deny it," cried the d.u.c.h.ess, wiping away her tears, and struggling for composure to go on. "But what is done, is done--Worms and Speier are in ashes, and their murdered inhabitants at rest.

But, oh, my liege, my gracious lord, the city of Trier is threatened with the same fate! For three days the people have been crying in vain for mercy.--At your feet, sire, I implore you, have pity, and save them from butchery!"

And the d.u.c.h.ess, with hands upraised, and eyes that were streaming with tears, sank on her knees before the king.

Louis rose hastily from his seat.