The Knight of Malta Part 16

Nevertheless, transient divisions occurred between the n.o.bility and the citizens when particular interests became involved.

Master Isnard had arrived in La Ciotat at a time when some feeling of resentment against Raimond V. was being manifested.

One of the consuls of the town, Master Talebard-Talebardon, sustained in the name of the citizens a lawsuit against the baron, upon the subject of certain fishing-nets, which he claimed the lord of Anbiez had laid without legal right in a bay outside his privilege, and thereby was injuring the interests of the town.

Although the inhabitants of La Ciotat had, on many occasions, found aid and support from the baron, although at the last descent of the pirates he had, at the head of his own household servants, fought valiantly, and almost saved the city, the grat.i.tude of the citizens did not extend to an absolute submission to the will of Raimond V.

The consul Talebard-Talebardon, a personal enemy of the baron, always exaggerating the faults of this n.o.bleman, had so envenomed the question, that great disaffection was already being manifested among the citizens.

Arriving at this time, Master Isnard excited these dissensions, fanned the fire, and spoke at length of his cruel reception at Maison-Forte.

Although he was not of the country, he succeeded in making the outrage done him appear as a question between the n.o.bility and the citizens.

The recorder induced the consuls to withdraw within the limits of their dignity, and, instead of continuing the amicable negotiations already initiated, to insist upon the baron's appearance before the tribunal of overseers.

This malevolent disposition once gaining ground, the malcontents did not stop there. They forgot the real services that Raimond V. had rendered to the city, his generous hospitality, the good that he was doing in the neighbourhood, to remember that he was abusive, hotheaded, and always ready to lift his rod.

They exaggerated the havoc made by his dogs in the chase; they spoke of the brutal manner in which he had treated the citizens at the time of their complaint concerning the fishing-nets; in short, after the appearance of the recorder in La Ciotat, they began to speak of the Baron des Anbiez as a veritable feudal tyrant.

While the storm was gathering on that side, the most perfect tranquillity reigned in Maison-Forte.

Raimond V. drank and hunted in the finest style, going through his domains almost every day, with an unequalled activity; he visited his neighbours at their country-seats, in order to preserve, as he said, the sacred fire, or, rather, the general opposition to the Marshal of Vitry, demanding from each one his signature, appended to a supplication addressed to the king.

In this manifesto, or public declaration, the Provencal n.o.bility formally demanded the recall of the marshal, reminding Louis XIII. that his father, of glorious memory, the great Henri, had, under similar circ.u.mstances, recalled the Duke d'Epernon, in order to redress the just complaints of the country.

Finally, the n.o.bility expressed, in this act, their respectful regrets not to be able to submit to the orders of the cardinal, in renouncing their right to arm their houses, inasmuch as their own safety required that they should always be in a state of defence.

Redoubling his activity, the baron regained, as he said, the legs and arms of twenty years, in this crusade against Marshal of Vitry.

Such was the moral aspect of Maison-Forte some days after the event of which we have spoken.

We have not forgotten the Bohemian, who, arriving in the train of the recorder, had, upon the baron's invitation, scaled the balcony in so agile and surprising a manner.

To make use of a particular and modern expression, the vagabond Bohemian had become quite the fashion in the rustic and warlike habitation of Raimond V.

In the first place, he had mended numerous household utensils with remarkable skill.

Then Eclair, the favourite greyhound of the baron, put her paw out of joint, whereupon the Bohemian went up on the mountain and gathered certain herbs by the light of the moon, and carefully wrapped the sick member in them, and the next day Eclair was able to stretch her legs on the rosy heather of the baronial plains and valleys.

That was not all. Mistraon, the favourite horse of Raimond V., was wounded in the frush of his foot by a sharp stone; by means of a thin layer of iron deftly inserted in the slope of the shoe, the Bohemian made a sort of Turkish horseshoe, which ever after preserved the invalid foot of Mistraon from all injury.

The baron doted on the Bohemian. Dame Dulceline herself, notwithstanding her holy horror of this unbeliever, who, never having been baptised, could not bear the name of Christian, relented somewhat when the unbeliever gave her marvellous recipes for colouring pieces of gla.s.s, stuffing birds, and making excellent cordials.

The good Abbe Mascarolus was not less under the charm, thanks to some pharmaceutic specifics of which the Bohemian had given him the secret.

The only regret of the worthy chaplain was to find the vagabond so obstinate and shy upon the subject of his conversion.

Such was the serious side of the Bohemian's qualifications. To that he united the most versatile and agreeable accomplishments. He had in a little cage two beautiful pigeons, which showed an almost superhuman intelligence; his a.s.s astonished the household of Maison-Forte by the grace with which he walked on his hind legs; besides, the Bohemian played with iron b.a.l.l.s and daggers as well as the best juggler from India; he was as good a marksman as the most accomplished carabineer; and, finally, to conclude the enumeration of this vagabond's wonderful attractions, he sang charmingly, as he accompanied himself on a sort of Moorish guitar with three strings.

It was doubtless to this talent that he owed the nickname of the "Singer," by which he was known among his comrades.

Stephanette was the first to inform her mistress of the new troubadour; in fact, although he was rather ugly than handsome, the flexible and expressive features of the Bohemian seemed almost charming when he sang his soft and melancholy songs.

One must understand the calm, monotonous life of the inmates of Maison-Forte, to comprehend the success of the Bohemian.

Reine, beset by the entreaties of Stephanette, finally consented to hear him.

Honorat de Berrol, together with his betrothed, had made a visit to Ma.r.s.eilles, without the knowledge of Raimond V., to learn the results of the complaints entered by the recorder.

In case the baron had aught to fear from these complaints, Honorat was immediately to inform Reine, and employ the influence of one of her relatives, who was a friend of Marshal of Vitry, to subdue the resentment raised by the imprudent conduct of the baron.

Reine hoped to find some distraction to her sad thoughts, by listening to the songs of the Bohemian.

The image of the unknown hero haunted her more and more. The fantastical, mysterious circ.u.mstances, which had so strangely excited her memory, interested and frightened her at the same time; in the meanwhile, desiring, or, rather, thinking to put an end to this romantic adventure, she had, to the great joy of Honorat, fixed her marriage on the day following the festivity of Christmas, and yet, the nearer the day approached, the more she repented of her promise.

In the very depths of her heart she would ask herself with a vague fear if she no longer loved her betrothed as in the past. But this question remained unanswered; the young girl did not dare, so to speak, to listen to the response made by her conscience.

Reine was seated in sad meditation in the little turret which served her as a drawing-room, when Stephanette entered and said to her mistress:

"Mademoiselle, here is the Singer; he is in the pa.s.sage, shall I ask him to enter?"

"For what purpose?" said Reine, with indifference. "For what purpose, mademoiselle? Why, to distract you from these witchcrafts which torment you. What a pity this unbeliever is an unbeliever! Really, mademoiselle, since he has left off his leather jerkin, and monseigneur has made him a present of a scarlet doublet, he looks like a gendarme, and more, too, he has a golden tongue, I answer for it. And I was obliged, if you please, to give him the flame-coloured ribbon I always wore around my head to fasten his collar, you see. Without that he would not dare, so he said, to present himself before mademoiselle."

"I see, my dear, that you have sacrificed yourself," said Reine, smiling in spite of herself. "I doubt if Luquin will congratulate you very much on this disinterested devotion. But where is this brave captain, and when will he return?"

"This evening or to-morrow morning, mademoiselle; the fishermen met him near Trefus. He was obliged to lessen the speed of his tartan to accommodate the large ships that he was escorting from Nice."

"And do you think that he would like to have you give ribbons to this strolling singer?"

"By Our Lady! whether he likes it or not does not matter to me. If it is necessary to obtain some amus.e.m.e.nt for my dear mistress I would not hesitate for a cheap piece of ribbon."

"Ah, Stephanette, Stephanette! you are a real coquette. I have seen the sharp black eyes of this vagabond looking into yours more than once."

"That shows, mademoiselle, that he approves of Lu-quin's taste, and my captain ought to feel flattered by it," answered Stephanette, smiling.

"You are wrong; you will make your betrothed angry," replied Reine, with a more serious expression.

"Ah, my dear mistress, cannot one love her betrothed faithfully and tenderly, and amuse herself with the flatteries of a vagabond foreigner, as you call him?"

Reine took this response, to which Stephanette had attached no significance, as an allusion to her own thoughts.

She looked at her attendant sternly, and said, with an imperious air, "Stephanette!"

The pretty, innocent face of the young girl suddenly a.s.sumed an expression of such sadness as she raised her large eyes, in which a tear glittered, full of a grieved surprise to her mistress, that Reine extended her hand to her and said:

"Come, come, you are a foolish but a good and honest girl."

Stephanette, smiling through her tears, kissed the hand of her mistress with affectionate grat.i.tude, and said, as she wiped her eyes with the end of her slender fingers: "Shall I tell the Singer to come in, mademoiselle?"

"Yes, go and tell him, since you wish it; let the sacrifice of your flame-coloured ribbon do some good at least."