The Bath Keepers Volume Ii Part 61

"Is still there, in the wound; I can feel it.--Ah! it hurts me terribly!"

"But you must have it extracted."

"No, no! for a surgeon would see that it is not a pistol bullet. He would see also that I was shot from behind, while running away.

Besides, it is necessary that I should die; but if only the truth might be concealed--the cause of my death!"

"Rest a moment, count; this long narrative is killing you."

"I must finish; for someone may come--to arrest me."

"To arrest you?"

"Wait.--I was flying, despite my wound, when a young woman ran after me, calling to Giovanni, and giving him the sweetest names. That young woman, the Italian's mistress, overtook me not far from here; she clung to me, my strength failed me, my cap and false beard fell off, and she recognized me."

"Recognized you! Who is this young woman?"

"Miretta--the marchioness's maid."

"Fatality!--But, still, perhaps you alarm yourself needlessly; this girl will hold her peace."

"She will speak; for she loved Giovanni, and she divined the whole truth.--She will speak, for she is determined to avenge her lover!"

"Well! no one will listen to her! no one will believe her! Do you suppose that, on the strength of a girl's word, they will dare to accuse, aye, even to suspect, the Comte de Marvejols?--What proofs could she adduce? Your costume?"

"When I arrived here I had only the cloak left; my servants may have seen that; I made Bathilde burn it."

"And your weapons?"

"I never carried any but Giovanni's short sword. It is here, hidden; see, here it is. If they should make a search--if they should find this weapon!"

"Why should they make a search in this house, where you have not been living for several weeks?"

"Because last night, if those soldiers followed my tracks, guided by the blood I lost, they must have seen where I stopped."

"But they had lost your track, when you were overtaken by this girl."

"I say again, Jarnonville, it is not my life that I wish to save; I must die--I am a miserable wretch--I blush for myself! But let my infamy be kept secret--for my father's sake, for my child's!--Oh! how I suffer!"

Leodgard's head fell back, and a livid pallor overspread his face. The chevalier was on the point of going to call Bathilde, when he heard footsteps and voices in the courtyard. The wounded man raised his head and whispered:

"Do you hear, Jarnonville? they are coming; those are the soldiers; they are coming to arrest the Comte de Marvejols as a highwayman. I am lost!"

"Be calm. Yes, there are footsteps approaching."

"And Giovanni's weapon that I have here?"

"Give it to me; I will attach it to my belt in place of my sword, and no one will even notice it."

In an instant Jarnonville removed his sword and placed it in a corner of the room, and replaced it with the weapon that once belonged to Giovanni. He had hardly made this change, when a servant entered the room, saying:

"Monsieur le comte, there is an officer here, accompanied by several men at arms, whom he has stationed in the courtyard. He desires to have the honor of speaking with you. He is sent, he says, by Monseigneur le Cardinal de Richelieu."

"By the cardinal!--Very well! admit this officer."

The servant left the room; and Leodgard cast an imploring glance at Jarnonville, murmuring:

"The cardinal--who has always manifested such a profound regard for my father--it is he who sends----"

The entrance of the officer prevented the count from finishing his sentence. The cardinal's agent bowed low before Leodgard and Jarnonville, and began:

"Monsieur le comte, a ridiculous report, the falsity of which it will surely be very easy for you to prove, has gained currency this morning in Paris, and has reached the ears of his eminence. Last night, some soldiers of the watch pursued the famous Giovanni; they fired upon him and wounded him, for he left a trail of blood as he fled. However, they lost sight of the robber; but a girl whom they met, and near whom they picked up the robber's cap and false beard, said to them:--I beg pardon, monsieur le comte, it is the girl who is speaking;--she declared to them that the man whom they were pursuing was not Giovanni, but Comte Leodgard de Marvejols. These words would not have deserved to be reported, had it not been for the fact that, by an accident which it will doubtless be easy for you to explain, the blood marks stopped directly in front of your gateway.--Having failed to find you at your house in Rue de Bretonvilliers, I have been sent here. Monsieur le cardinal would be glad, monsieur le comte, if you would take the trouble to call upon him, so that a few words from you may suffice to put an end to an abominable calumny."

"Monsieur," Leodgard replied, struggling to surmount his suffering, "I should comply with monsieur le cardinal's wish with the greatest zeal, but it is impossible at this moment; I cannot move--I am wounded!"

"Wounded!" exclaimed the officer; and his expression lost all its amenity; "oho! you are wounded, are you, monsieur le comte? And since when?"

"Since yesterday, monsieur."

"Since yesterday? May I inquire how you received this wound?"

"Under any other circ.u.mstances, I should refuse to reply, monsieur; but, after the circulation of such rumors, I realize that it is my duty to speak. I fought a duel yesterday, with pistols, in Vincennes Forest.--I know the severity of the laws concerning duels, and I desired to keep this secret, to conceal my wound. I waited until night before returning here."

"Very good, monsieur le comte; pardon me if I ask you a few questions.

With whom did you fight?"

"Monsieur, I have delivered myself over to the cardinal's wrath, but I will not denounce my opponent."

"The names of your seconds at least, monsieur le comte?"

Leodgard let his head fall back; his strength seemed to abandon him, and he made no reply. Thereupon Jarnonville rose and placed himself in front of the officer.

"Cease tormenting the Comte de Marvejols, monsieur; he is suffering quite enough with his wound. You wish to know with whom he fought? Well, it was with me. Yes, monsieur, we quarrelled yesterday for a trivial cause; being both too hot-headed to wait until the next day, we went to Vincennes, and there, with no other witness than the sky, we fired at each other. I had the misfortune to wound the count severely in the shoulder. We became friends once more as soon as blood flowed, and we waited until it was very late before returning to Paris. This morning I had just come to inquire for my adversary when you appeared.--Now you know all, monsieur."

While Jarnonville was speaking, a gleam of joy illumined Leodgard's features, and he gave the chevalier a glance expressive of all his grat.i.tude.

"Oh! that explains everything, monsieur le chevalier," said the officer; "and I beg monsieur le comte to accept my apologies. But I still have a painful duty to perform. You know the strict laws concerning duelling; we are ordered to arrest all those who have infringed them. You are both guilty. Because of his wound, I will leave monsieur le comte in his own house, where he will remain until further orders. As for you, Sire de Jarnonville, I cannot shirk the duty of escorting you at once before the cardinal-minister, who will decide your fate."

"'Tis well, monsieur; take me to the cardinal--I am ready to follow you."

The officer bowed and walked toward the door; while Jarnonville approached the wounded man, who said to him in a failing voice:

"Chevalier, you have saved the honor of my family! thanks! thanks a thousand times! May you not fall a victim to your n.o.ble sacrifice!--As for myself, I know my duty--within an hour I shall have ceased to live.

Adieu! I do not ask you for your hand, for mine is sullied! But forgive me--for my wife's sake and my child's!"

Jarnonville, deeply moved, offered Leodgard his hand; but the officer said to him:

"I am waiting, Sire de Jarnonville;" and the chevalier hastened from the room, with a last glance at the wounded man.

When Leodgard was left alone, he looked about the room for several minutes with a vague, uncertain glance, until his eyes rested at last upon a small article of furniture in a recess; a gleam of satisfaction pa.s.sed over his face, and he was about to ring, when a servant entered and said timidly: