The Chevalier d'Auriac Part 23

As he spoke, a number of long-necked gla.s.ses filled with the wine of Champagne were brought to us. Holding his gla.s.s high above his head, de Belin called out:

'Gentlemen--the King.'

The toast was drunk with a cheer in which my voice alone was still; but I joined with the others in shivering my gla.s.s to fragments on the white marble of the floor, and then, a gay, laughing crowd, we took horse for the Louvre.

As we trotted along, I could not help wondering to myself at my own outward gaiety, and whether the same bright mask covered thoughts as dark as mine in my companions' hearts. Who, on looking at de Belin and hearing the frivol of his talk, or on casting a glance at the red and honest face of de Vitry, would imagine that these men were hilt-deep in the intrigues of the court? Perhaps the stately Bellegarde, the cynical lord of Valryn, the Thersites of his day, whose ribald tongue had silenced even de Sancy, and that devil-may-care d'Aubusson, were up to the elbows in the same pie!

Absorbed for a moment or so in these reflections I became silent, and was only aroused by Bellegarde riding up alongside of me and calling out--

'A tester for your thoughts, chevalier, and three hundred pistoles for your nag.'

'My thoughts would be expensive at that price, duc, and the pistoles will not buy Couronne.'

'_Morbleu!_ Then name your own price. 'Tis just such a horse as that I have dreamed of to lead the King's House against M. de Savoye.'

'I may need her for the Italian war myself, monseigneur. No, Couronne is not for sale. She bears too heavy a stake for us to part.'

Bellegarde looked at me curiously on my speech, and I half repented of my last words; but he said no more, and a second or so later we were past the Magasins and approaching the main entrance to the Louvre.

The sight before us was gay beyond description. All the good commons of Paris had thronged to see the court re-open, and to catch a glimpse, and perhaps a wave of the hand, from the King, whom they now loved with their whole hearts. They came all in their gayest, and as the cheerful crowd swayed backwards and forwards beyond the long line of guards that kept the entrance to the palace free, it was for all the world like a bank of flowers stirred by the wind.

But it was not the commons alone that had gathered there. From within the palace itself we caught the continual flashes of silvered armour, the sheen of silk and satin, the waving of plumes and the glitter of jewels, and, far as the eye could stretch along the river-face, there was an apparently endless cavalcade approaching the Louvre. In that great heaving crowd, wherein all the strength of France was gathered, we saw, as the wind caught the banners and spread them to the sunlight, that there was hardly a house in France but was represented here, from the lordly seigneurs of Champagne and Guienne, with their splendid followings, to the poor knights of Gascony and Bearn, who had not a tower that was not in ruins amongst them, and could barely maintain the brace of starveling lackeys that rode at the heels of each of these lean-pursed but long-sworded gentlemen. Here one saw the white shield of Couci, the lilies of Conde, the griffins of Epernon, there the cross of Croye, the star of d'Andelot, the red hand of d'Auvergne, and the black wolves on the golden shield of La Roche-Guyon, the proudest lord of Burgundy, who traced his descent far back into the mists beyond the middle ages.

Absorbed as I was in my own troubles, I could not restrain a feeling of pride that rose within me at the scene. Down through that roaring crowd that cheered them again and again as they pa.s.sed, it was as if all the old historic names of France had gathered to do honour to the day. And I felt, too, as I looked at the endless sea of heads, that this was no longer a France at murderous war with itself, but a united and powerful nation that was being led onwards to its destiny by the strong hand of a man who had quenched a fratricidal struggle; and for the moment I forgot how small he could be who was yet so great.

I had yet to learn how great he could be; and here, as I write these lines in my study in the watch tower of Auriac, round which the sea-gulls circle and scream, my old eyes grow dim, and I lay down my pen and wonder for a moment at His will, which did not shield that brave heart from an a.s.sa.s.sin's blow.

The throng was so thick that for a time we were unable to gain a pa.s.sage, and were compelled to go at a walking pace, and Belin, reining in his fretting beast, exclaimed, 'Faith! 'tis the largest gathering I have ever seen.'

'All France is here to-day,' said de Valryn. 'There go d'Ossat, and his Eminence fresh from the Quirinal.'

'I wonder d'Ossat did not win his red hat as well as Monseigneur of Evreux,' said de Vitry.

'Ah! he is so unlike the Cardinal,' replied de Valryn.

'How do you mean?'

'In this way. His Eminence deceives but he never lies; the Bishop, on the other hand, lies, but he never deceives.'

'It would cost you your regiment if the King heard that, de Valryn.'

'On the contrary, I am sure it will get to his ears, and then I could almost hope for the vacant baton, though 'tis said that is already in Ornano's hand--see, there is the Constable's banner!'

'And Bouillon too--the stormy petrel is back from Sedan--I almost sniff war in the air.'

'Oh, he has taken to himself a wife--See! He has quartered the arms of La Marck on his scutcheon.'

'_Si dieu ne me vult, le diable me prye_,' said d'Aubusson, reading the scroll on the banner of Turenne; and then, the crowd giving way for a moment, we took the opportunity and pa.s.sed through the gates of the Louvre. So full did we find the Pet.i.te Galerie on our entrance, that it was impossible to see or to observe who was there, and all that I was conscious of, as I slowly made my way forwards at the heels of de Belin, was the sound of music, the murmur of voices, and the rippling of gay laughter. In front of us was the n.o.ble stairway that led to the Galerie d'Apollon, and between the silent and statue-like figures of the King's House who lined the steps, and who still wore their violet sashes in token of mourning for the death of Gabrielle, there seemed an endless train of men and women advancing upwards.

Amongst the jewelled cl.u.s.ters of fair and dainty dames, my eye sought in vain for the face of Madame; but my glance was, for the moment, arrested by the graceful figure of the celebrated La Noirmoutiers, as, with one arched and scarlet-shod foot resting on the white marble of the topmost step of the stairway, she turned to address some laughing remark to the cavalier who was her escort. I had not seen her since I was a boy of fifteen; but years had not changed her--her eyes were as l.u.s.trous, her cheeks as pink and dimpled as when she trailed the honour of Lorraine in the dust, and broke the heart of Joyeuse. I could not restrain a feeling of pity for the man upon whom she was now turning the light of her cruel beauty, for there was that in his honest eyes that showed he would do for her what Mornay, what Joyeuse, what Francis of Lorraine had done.

'Who is the man?' I bent forward and whispered to de Belin.

'Poor de Rethelois, who held La Fere so well against us. I fear he will find holding his heart a harder task.'

'He has capitulated already, I think,' I answered, and then she rested one small gloved hand on her escort's arm and they pa.s.sed out of sight.

By this time I had collected myself to some degree, and began to try and rapidly rehea.r.s.e in my mind what I should say when I came face to face with the King, but I am not ashamed to confess that at each attempt I found myself getting more and more hopelessly confused, and finally, dropping the effort, determined to let the occasion find its own words. At last we were on the stairway, and in twenty steps had entered the great hall which Henry had built himself, and which was known as the Galerie d'Apollon. Except for the vacant s.p.a.ce round the still empty throne, the full length of its seventy yards was almost as much crowded as the hall below; but here the music was much louder, though the laughter and talk was not less merry and incessant. There was not, of course, nearly so much movement, and the people were more or less gathered in little knots or groups, though there were many gay b.u.t.terflies flitting from one of these to the other.

'Keep by me,' said de Belin, and almost as he spoke we came face to face with Tavannes, de Gie, and de Cosse-Brissac, all dressed in the extreme of fashion. Belin saluted coldly, but my heart warmed towards my old comrades in arms, and I stretched out my hand. This de Gie took limply, but Tavannes and de Cosse-Brissac contented themselves with bows of the politest ceremony. The Vicompte de Gie was, however, effusive in speech if chill in manner.

'It is not everyone who could tear a hole in the Edict as you have done, d'Auriac,' he said; and then added with a smile, 'but who made your cloak? 'Tis a trifle longer than we wear it here.'

'It is short enough for me to see the King in,' I answered a little crisply.

'The King!' exclaimed both Tavannes and Brissac, a marked interest in their tones.

'My dear fellow,' said de Gie, interrupting my reply, 'I knew you would fall on your feet; see here,' and stepping right up to me, he threw open my cloak slightly with a turn of his wrist, 'wear it so, d'Auriac; it shows your cross of St. Denis now.' Then dropping his voice, 'friend or foe? Are you for the Marshal or the Master-General?'

'I am here for a short time,' I replied. 'I have come to see the King.

I neither understand nor care about your intrigues.'

'I understand perfectly, monsieur,' he said, falling back, a half-smile on his lips, and, bowing to each other, we pa.s.sed on in different ways, they down, and I up the hall to join de Belin, who had gone a few paces ahead.

'The King is still in his cabinet,' he said, pointing to a closed door, before which a sentry stood on guard. 'I go in at once. When I come out let it be the signal for you to join me. I will then present you; and mind--speak freely.'

'I mean to,' I answered, and with a nod he pa.s.sed up through the press. I leaned against the pillar near which I was standing and surveyed the crowd. Madame was nowhere there, or else I had missed her. Perhaps it was better so, for did I see her I might be unnerved; and here Bellegarde joined me.

'Do you see her?' he asked.

'See whom?' I answered, with a start and an eager look around.

'_La belle_ Henriette. See, there she stands! A little court around her, with the brightest eyes and the sharpest tongue in France. I wager a hundred pistoles she will rule us all some day.'

As events showed, Bellegarde was right, though that concerns not this story. I followed his glance, and saw Mademoiselle d'Entragues surrounded by a group of admirers, with whom she was bandying jest and repartee. I saw before me a tall, slight woman, beautiful in a wicked, imperious way, her eyes as black as night, and her features exquisite, but marred in every line, to my mind, by their look of pride. I never saw her again but once, and that was at Bois Lancy, where the once-powerful Marquise de Verneuil had gone to hide her shame.

It was a pleasanter sight to turn from this girl, who was even then weighing the price of her honour, to the cl.u.s.ter of fair faces around the tabouret of Madame Catherine, the King's sister, now the d.u.c.h.esse de Bar. Close to the Princess was Mary of Guise, and within a few feet of her were the wives and daughters of Rohan, de Pangeas, de Guiche, and d'Andelot. I did not, of course, know who they were, but Bellegarde pointed them out one by one, and then suddenly waved his hand in greeting to a man.

'Ah, there is Pimental! one moment, chevalier,' and he left me to join his friend. I was again alone, and resigned myself to patience, when a voice seemed to whisper over my shoulder:

'If M. le Chevalier will kindly survey the other side of the room, perhaps he will be equally interested.'

I turned round sharply. There was no one whom I could recognise as the person who had addressed me. On the other hand, however, I blessed him in my heart, for not ten feet away was Madame, radiant and beautiful, with Palin by her side, and M. d'Ayen, with his arm in a silken sling, bowing before her. He was pressing the tips of her fingers to his lips when our eyes met, and, drawing away her hand, she made a half-movement towards me. I was by her side in a moment, and as we shook hands she said with a smile:

'So we have met again, chevalier! In the Louvre, above all places!

'This with a slight rising of colour.

'I thought I had missed you. I was looking for you everywhere, and had given you up. I of course knew you were in Paris.'