They ran at full speed towards the place whence it seemed to come, but found only solitude, darkness, and silence. They looked in every direction.
"I can"t see a living soul," said Jeannin, "and I very much fear that the poor devil who gave that yell has mumbled his last prayer."
"I don"t know why I tremble so," replied de Jars; "that heart-rending cry made me shiver from head to foot. Was it not something like the chevalier"s voice?"
"The chevalier is with La Guerchi, and even if he had left her this would not have been his way to rejoin us. Let us go on and leave the dead in peace."
"Look, Jeannin! what is that in front of us?"
"On that stone? A man who has fallen!"
"Yes, and bathed in blood," exclaimed de Jars, who had darted to his side. "Ah! it"s he! it"s he! Look, his eyes are closed, his hands cold!
My child he does not hear me! Oh, who has murdered him?"
He fell on his knees, and threw himself on the body with every mark of the most violent despair.
"Come, come," said Jeannin, surprised at such an explosion of grief from a man accustomed to duels, and who on several similar occasions had been far from displaying much tenderness of heart, "collect yourself, and don"t give way like a woman. Perhaps the wound is not mortal. Let us try to stop the bleeding and call for help."
"No, no--"
"Are you mad?"
"Don"t call, for Heaven"s sake! The wound is here, near the heart. Your handkerchief, Jeannin, to arrest the flow of blood. There--now help me to lift him."
"What does that mean?" cried Jeannin, who had just laid his hand on the chevalier. "I don"t know whether I"m awake or asleep! Why, it"s a---"
"Be silent, on your life! I shall explain everything--but now be silent; there is someone looking at us."
There was indeed a man wrapped in a mantle standing motionless some steps away.
"What are you doing here?" asked de Jars.
"May I ask what you are doing, gentlemen?" retorted Maitre Quennebert, in a calm and steady voice.
"Your curiosity may cost you dear, monsieur; we are not in the habit of allowing our actions to be spied on."
"And I am not in the habit of running useless risks, most n.o.ble cavaliers. You are, it is true, two against one; but," he added, throwing back his cloak and grasping the hilts of a pair of pistols tucked in his belt, "these will make us equal. You are mistaken as to my intentions. I had no thought of playing the spy; it was chance alone that led me here; and you must acknowledge that finding you in this lonely spot, engaged as you are at this hour of the night, was quite enough to awake the curiosity of a man as little disposed to provoke a quarrel as to submit to threats."
"It was chance also that brought us here. We were crossing the square, my friend and I, when we heard groans. We followed the sound, and found this young gallant, who is a stranger to us, lying here, with a wound in his breast."
As the moon at that moment gleamed doubtfully forth, Maitre Quennebert bent for an instant over the body of the wounded man, and said:
"I know him more than you. But supposing someone were to come upon us here, we might easily be taken for three a.s.sa.s.sins holding a consultation over the corpse of our victim. What were you going to do?"
"Take him to a doctor. It would be inhuman to leave him here, and while we are talking precious time is being lost."
"Do you belong to this neighbourhood?"
"No," said the treasurer.
"Neither do I," said Quennebert, "but I believe I have heard the name of a surgeon who lives close by, in the rue Hauteville."
"I also know of one," interposed de Jars, "a very skilful man."
"You may command me."
"Gladly, monsieur; for he lives some distance from here."
"I am at your service."
De Jars and Jeannin raised the chevalier"s shoulders, and the stranger supported his legs, and carrying their burden in this order, they set off.
They walked slowly, looking about them carefully, a precaution rendered necessary by the fact that the moon now rode in a cloudless sky. They glided over the Pont Saint-Michel between the houses that lined both sides, and, turning to the right, entered one of the narrow streets of the Cite, and after many turnings, during which they met no one, they stopped at the door of a house situated behind the Hotel-de-Ville.
"Many thanks, monsieur," said de Jars,--"many thanks; we need no further help."
As the commander spoke, Maitre Quennebert let the feet of the chevalier fall abruptly on the pavement, while de Jars and the treasurer still supported his body, and, stepping back two paces, he drew his pistols from his belt, and placing a finger on each trigger, said--
"Do not stir, messieurs, or you are dead men." Both, although enc.u.mbered by their burden, laid their hands upon their swords.
"Not a movement, not a sound, or I shoot."
There was no reply to this argument, it being a convincing one even for two duellists. The bravest man turns pale when he finds himself face to face with sudden inevitable death, and he who threatened seemed to be one who would, without hesitation, carry out his threats. There was nothing for it but obedience, or a ball through them as they stood.
"What do you want with us, sir?" asked Jeannin.
Quennebert, without changing his att.i.tude, replied--
"Commander de Jars, and you, Messire Jeannin de Castille, king"s treasurer,--you see, my gentles, that besides the advantage of arms which strike swiftly and surely, I have the further advantage of knowing who you are, whilst I am myself unknown,--you will carry the wounded man into this house, into which I will not enter, for I have nothing to do within; but I shall remain here; to await your return. After you have handed over the patient to the doctor, you will procure paper and write---now pay great attention--that on November 20th, 1658, about midnight, you, aided by an unknown man, carried to this house, the address of which you will give, a young man whom you call the Chevalier de Moranges, and pa.s.s off as your nephew--"
"As he really is."
"Very well."
"But who told you--?"
"Let me go on: who had been wounded in a fight with swords on the same night behind the church of Saint-Andre-des-Arts by the Duc de Vitry."
"The Duc de Vitry!--How do you know that?"
"No matter how, I know it for a fact. Having made this declaration, you will add that the said Chevalier de Moranges is no other than Josephine-Charlotte Boullenois, whom you, commander, abducted four months ago from the convent of La Raquette, whom you have made your mistress, and whom you conceal disguised as a man; then you will add your signature. Is my information correct?"
De Jars and Jeannin were speechless with surprise for a few instants; then the former stammered--
"Will you tell us who you are?"
"The devil in person, if you like. Well, will you do as I order?
Supposing that I am awkward enough not to kill you at two paces, do you want me to ask you in broad daylight and aloud what I now ask at night and in a whisper? And don"t think to put me off with a false declaration, relying on my not being able to read it by the light of the moon; don"t think either that you can take me by surprise when you hand it me: you will bring it to me with your swords sheathed as now. If this condition is not observed, I shall fire, and the noise will bring a crowd about us. To-morrow I shall speak differently from to-day: I shall proclaim the truth at all the street corners, in the squares, and under the windows of the Louvre. It is hard, I know, for men of spirit to yield to threats, but recollect that you are in my power and that there is no disgrace in paying a ransom for a life that one cannot defend.