"Well!" he said at last, misreading the emotion which appeared in my face. "You consent, sir?"
"Never!" I answered firmly.
He started. "I think I cannot have heard you aright," he said, speaking slowly and almost courteously. "I offer you a great place and my patronage, M. de Marsac. Do I understand that you prefer a prison and my enmity?"
"On those conditions," I answered.
"Think, think!" he said harshly.
"I have thought," I answered.
"Ay, but have you thought where you are?" he retorted. "Have you thought how many obstacles lie between you and this little fool? How many persons you must win over, how many friends you must gain? Have you thought what it will be to have me against you in this, or which of us is more likely to win in the end?"
"I have thought," I rejoined.
But my voice shook, my lips were dry. The room had grown dark. The rock outside, intercepting the light, gave it already the air of a dungeon. Though I did not dream of yielding to him, though I even felt that in this interview he had descended to my level, and I had had the better of him, I felt my heart sink. For I remembered how men immured in prisons drag out their lives always pet.i.tioning, always forgotten; how wearily the days go, that to free men are bright with hope and ambition. And I saw in a flash what it would be to remain here, or in some such place; never to cross horse again, or breathe the free air of Heaven, never to hear the clink of sword against stirrup, or the rich tones of M. d"Agen"s voice calling for his friend!
I expected M. de Turenne to go when I had made my answer, or else to fall into such a rage as opposition is apt to cause in those who seldom encounter it. To my surprise, however, he restrained himself. "Come," he said, with patience which fairly astonished me, and so much the more as chagrin was clearly marked in his voice, "I know where you put your trust. You think the King of Navarre will protect you. Well, I pledge you the honour of Turenne that he will not; that the King of Navarre will do nothing to save you. Now, what do you say?"
"As I said before," I answered doggedly.
He took up the parchment from the table with a grim laugh. "So much the worse for you then!" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "So much the worse for you! I took you for a rogue! It seems you are a fool!"
CHAPTER x.x.xVI. "VIVE LE ROI!"
He took his leave with those words. But his departure, which I should have hailed a few minutes before with joy, as a relief from embarra.s.sment and humiliation, found me indifferent. The statement to which he had solemnly pledged himself in regard to the King of Navarre, that I could expect no further help from him, had prostrated me; dashing my hopes and spirits so completely that I remained rooted to the spot long after his step had ceased to sound on the stairs. If what he said was true, in the gloom which darkened alike my room and my prospects I could descry no glimmer of light. I knew His Majesty"s weakness and vacillation too well to repose any confidence in him; if the King of Navarre also abandoned me, I was indeed without hope, as without resource.
I had stood some time with my mind painfully employed upon this problem, which my knowledge of M. de Turenne"s strict honour in private matters did not allow me to dismiss lightly, when I heard another step on the stairs, and in a moment M. la Varenne opened the door. Finding me in the dark he muttered an apology for the remissness of the servants; which I accepted, seeing nothing else for it, in good part.
"We have been at sixes-and-sevens all day, and you have been forgotten," he continued. "But you will have no reason to complain now. I am ordered to conduct you to His Majesty without delay."
"To St. Cloud?" I exclaimed, greatly astonished.
"No, the king of France is here," he answered.
"At Meudon?"
"To be sure. Why not?"
I expressed my wonder at his Majesty"s rapid recovery.
"Pooh!" he answered roughly. "He is as well as he ever was. I will leave you my light. Be good enough to descend as soon as you are ready, for it is ill work keeping kings waiting. Oh! and I had forgotten one thing," he continued, returning when he had already reached the door. "My orders are to see that you do not hold converse with anyone until you have seen the king, M. de Marsac. You will kindly remember this if we are kept waiting in the antechamber."
"Am I to be transported to-other custody?" I asked, my mind full of apprehension.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Possibly," he replied. "I do not know."
Of course there was nothing for it but to murmur that I was at the king"s disposition; after which La Varenne retired, leaving me to put the best face on the matter I could. Naturally I augured anything but well of an interview weighted with such a condition; and this contributed still further to depress my spirits, already lowered by the long solitude in which I had pa.s.sed the day. Fearing nothing, however, so much as suspense, I hastened to do what I could to repair my costume, and then descended to the foot of the stairs, where I found my custodian awaiting me with a couple of servants, of whom one bore a link.
We went out side by side, and having barely a hundred yards to go, seemed in a moment to be pa.s.sing through the gate of the Castle. I noticed that the entrance was very strongly guarded, but an instant"s reflection served to remind me that this was not surprising after what had happened at St. Cloud. I remarked to M. la Varenne as we crossed the courtyard that I supposed Paris had surrendered; but he replied in the negative so curtly, and with so little consideration, that I forebore to ask any other questions; and the Chateau being small, we found ourselves almost at once in a long, narrow corridor, which appeared to serve as the antechamber.
It was brilliantly lighted and crowded from end to end, and almost from wall to wall, with a mob of courtiers; whose silence, no less than their keen and anxious looks, took me by surprise. Here and there two or three, who had seized upon the embrasure of a window, talked together in a low tone; or a couple, who thought themselves sufficiently important to pace the narrow pa.s.sage between the waiting lines, conversed in whispers as they walked. But even these were swift to take alarm, and continually looked askance; while the general company stood at gaze, starting and looking up eagerly whenever the door swung open or a newcomer was announced. The strange silence which prevailed reminded me of nothing so much as of the Court at Blois on the night of the Duke of Mercoeur"s desertion; but that stillness had brooded over empty chambers, this gave a peculiar air of strangeness to a room thronged in every part.
M. la Varenne, who was received by those about the door with silent politeness, drew me into the recess of a window; whence I was able to remark, among other things, that the Huguenots present almost outnumbered the king"s immediate following. Still, among those who were walking up and down, I noticed M. de Rambouillet, to whom at another time I should have hastened to pay my respects; with Marshal d"Aumont, Sancy, and Humieres. Nor had I more than noted the presence of these before the door of the chamber opened and added to their number Marshal Biron, who came out leaning on the arm of Crillon. The sight of these old enemies in combination was sufficient of itself to apprise me that some serious crisis was at hand; particularly as their progress through the crowd was watched, I observed, by a hundred curious and attentive eyes.
They disappeared at last through the outer door, and the a.s.semblage turned as with one accord to see who came next. But nearly half an hour elapsed before the Chamber door, which all watched so studiously, again opened. This time it was to give pa.s.sage to my late visitor, Turenne, who came out smiling, and leaning, to my great surprise, on the arm of M. de Rosny.
As the two walked down the room, greeting here and there an obsequious friend, and followed in their progress by all eyes, I felt my heart sink indeed; both at sight of Turenne"s good-humour, and of the company in which I found him. Aware that in proportion as he was pleased I was like to meet with displeasure, I still might have had hope left had I had Rosny left. Losing him, however-and I could not doubt, seeing him as I saw him, that I had lost him-and counting the King of Navarre as gone already, I felt such a failure of courage as I had never known before. I told myself with shame that I was not made for Courts, or for such scenes as these; and recalling with new and keen mortification the poor figure I had cut in the King of Navarre"s antechamber at St. Jean, I experienced so strange a gush of pity for my mistress that nothing could exceed the tenderness I felt for her. I had won her under false colours, I was not worthy of her. I felt that my mere presence in her company in such a place as this, and among these people, must cover her with shame and humiliation.
To my great relief, since I knew my face was on fire, neither of the two, as they walked down the pa.s.sage, looked my way or seemed conscious of my neighbourhood. At the door they stood a moment talking earnestly, and it seemed as if M. de Rosny would have accompanied the Vicomte farther. The latter would not suffer it, however, but took his leave there; and this with so many polite gestures that my last hope based on M. de Rosny vanished.
Nevertheless, that gentleman was not so wholly changed that on his turning to re-traverse the room I did not see a smile flicker for an instant on his features as the two lines of bowing courtiers opened before him. The next moment his look fell on me, and though his face scarcely altered, he stopped opposite me.
"M. de Marsac is waiting to see His Majesty?" he asked aloud, speaking to M. la Varenne.
My companion remaining silent, I bowed.
"In five minutes," M. de Rosny replied quietly, yet with a distant air, which made me doubt whether I had not dreamed all I remembered of this man. "Ah! M. de Paul, what can I do for you?" he continued. And he bent his head to listen to the application which a gentleman who stood next me poured into his ear. "I will see," I heard him answer. "In any case you shall know to-morrow."
"But you will be my friend?" M. Paul urged, detaining him by the sleeve.
"I will put only one before you," he answered.
My neighbour seemed to shrink into himself with disappointment. "Who is it?" he murmured piteously.
"The king and his service, my friend," M. de Rosny replied drily. And with that he walked away. But half a dozen times at least; before he reached the upper end of the room I saw the scene repeated.
I looked on at all this in the utmost astonishment, unable to guess or conceive what had happened to give M. de Rosny so much importance. For it did not; escape me that the few words he had stopped to speak to me had invested me with interest in the eyes of all who stood near. They gave me more room and a wider breathing-s.p.a.ce, and looking at me askance, muttered my name in whispers. In my uncertainty, however, what this portended I drew no comfort from it; and before I had found time to weigh it thoroughly the door through which Turenne and Rosny had entered opened again. The pages and gentlemen who stood about it hastened to range themselves on either side. An usher carrying a white wand came rapidly down the room, here and there requesting the courtiers to stand back where the pa.s.sage was narrow. Then a loud voice without cried, "The King, gentlemen! the King!" and one in every two of us stood a-tiptoe to see him enter.
But there came in only Henry of Navarre, wearing a violet cloak and cap.
I turned to La Varenne and with my head full of confusion, muttered impatiently, "But the king, man! Where is the king?"
He grinned at me, with his hand before his mouth. "Hush!" he whispered. "Twas a jest we played on you! His late Majesty died at daybreak this morning. This is the king."
"This! the King of Navarre?" I cried; so loudly that some round us called "Silence!"
"No, the King of France, fool!" he replied. "Your sword must be sharper than your wits, or I have been told some lies!"
I let the gibe pa.s.s and the jest, for my heart was beating so fast and painfully that I could scarcely preserve my outward composure. There was a mist before my eyes, and a darkness which set the lights at defiance. It was in vain I tried to think what this might mean-to me. I could not put two thoughts together, and while I still questioned what reception I might expect, and who in this new state of things were my friends, the king stopped before me.
"Ha, M. de Marsac!" he cried cheerfully, signing to those who stood before me to give place. "You are the gentleman who rode so fast to warn me the other morning. I have spoken to M. de Turenne about you, and he is willing to overlook the complaint he had against you. For the rest, go to my closet, my friend. Go! Rosny knows my will respecting you."
I had sense enough left to kneel and kiss his hand; but it was in silence, which he knew how to interpret. He had moved on and was speaking to another before I recovered the use of my tongue, or the wits which his gracious words had scattered. When I did so, and got on my feet again I found myself the centre of so much observation and the object of so many congratulations that I was glad to act upon the hint which La Varenne gave me, and hurry away to the closet.