With a look of surprise the Franc-Taupin answered: "The poor child was eight years old. It is now ten years since the dear little girl disappeared."
"Did she wear anything by which she might be identified?" pursued Franz.
"She wore from her neck," said the Franc-Taupin with a sigh, "a medal of the Church of the Desert, like all other Protestant children. It was a medal that I presented to her mother the day of the little creature"s birth."
Franz of Gerolstein held before the Franc-Taupin the medal that Anna Bell had just given him, and said: "Do you recognize this medal?
Josephin, this young girl was kidnapped from her family ten years ago--she carried this medal from her neck--"
"Oh!" cried the Franc-Taupin, looking at Anna Bell with renewed confusion. "She is Odelin"s daughter! That accounts for my having been from the first struck with her resemblance to Hena."
"Do you, monsieur, know my parents?" it was now Anna Bell"s turn to ask.
"Pray tell me where I can find them."
But overcome with emotion, the Franc-Taupin said: "But Oh! what a shame for the family! What a disgrace! A maid of honor to the Queen!"
The Franc-Taupin was quickly drawn from his mixed emotions of sorrow and joy. More important work was soon to be done. An officer entered the vestry, bringing orders from Admiral Coligny for the vanguards and outposts to fall back without delay toward St. Yrieix. Franz of Gerolstein immediately conveyed the Admiral"s orders to the Avengers of Israel, who crowded behind the officer, and then turned to Anna Bell, saying:
"Mademoiselle, come; remount your litter. We shall escort you to St.
Yrieix. I shall impart to you on the road tidings concerning your family--of which I am a member."
"What a revelation to Odelin--and to Antonicq!" the Franc-Taupin thought to himself, "when they learn within shortly, at St. Yrieix, that this unfortunate creature--the disgraced and dishonored maid of honor to the Queen is the daughter of the one and the sister of the other!"
The Avengers of Israel and the squadron of German hors.e.m.e.n, with Franz of Gerolstein at their head, completed their reconnoisance about the forest and fell back upon St. Yrieix. The chapel of St. Hubert remained deserted and wrapped in silence. The morning breeze swung the body of the monk as it hung limp from a branch of the oak-tree in front of the portico of the holy place. Horrible to look at were the features of the corpse. They preserved the impress of the Cordelier"s last agonies. The skin was ripped from the head. It had the appearance of being covered with a red skull cap.
Abominable reprisals, without a doubt; and yet less abominable than the crimes of which they record the expiatory vengeance.
CHAPTER IV.
GASPARD OF COLIGNY.
The burg of St. Yrieix stood in the center of the staked-in camp occupied by the army of Admiral Coligny. An inflexible disciplinarian, Admiral Coligny maintained rigorous order among his troops. Never was pillage allowed; never marauding. His soldiers always paid for all that they demanded from city folks or peasants. He went even further.
Whenever it happened that, scared at the approach of armed forces, the peasants fled from their villages, the officers, executing the express orders of Admiral Coligny, left in the houses the price of the vegetables and forage with which the soldiers provisioned themselves and their beasts in the absence of the masters of the place. Finally, as a necessary and terrible example--thieves caught redhanded were inexorably hanged, and the stolen objects tied to their feet. Finally there never were seen at the Huguenot camps the swarms of women of ill fame that ordinarily enc.u.mbered the baggage of the Catholic army, and that, according to the ancient practice, were placed under the supervision of the "King of the Ribalds."
The habits of the Protestants in the army of Admiral Coligny were pious, austere and upright. This notwithstanding, the Admiral found it impossible to impose rigid discipline upon the numerous bands that from time to time attached themselves to his main forces, usually conducted a guerilla warfare, and emulated the royalists in rapine and cruelty.
The Admiral, the Princes of Orange, of Na.s.sau and of Gerolstein, the sons of the Prince of Conde who was a.s.sa.s.sinated upon orders from the Duke of Anjou, young Henry of Bearn, besides many other Protestant chiefs, occupied several houses at St. Yrieix. The ancient priory served as the Admiral"s quarters. Early in the morning, as was his wont, Admiral Coligny left his lodgings accompanied by his servants, to attend the prayers held in the Huguenot camp and called the "Prayer of the Guard." The officers and soldiers of the Admiral"s post, together with those of some neighboring ones, filled on these occasions the courtyard of the priory, and standing erect, bareheaded, silent, they awaited in meditation the hour of raising their souls to G.o.d. Old soldiers grey of beard and seamed with scars; young recruits, barely beyond adolescence; rich n.o.blemen, raised in the s.p.a.cious halls of castles; field laborers, as well as artisans from the cities, who rallied to the defense of the "Church of the Desert"--all animated with an ardent faith, would there unite upon the level of Evangelical equality. The seigneur, battling side by side with his va.s.sal for the holy cause of freedom of conscience, saw in him only a brother. Thus germinated among the Protestants the tendencies toward fraternity that were later to cause the distinctions of castes and races, so much prized by royalists, to vanish. A slight murmur, betokening the affection and respect that he inspired, greeted the Admiral"s arrival. The rude fatigues of many wars had bent his tall and one-time straight figure. His white hair and beard, together with the pallor of his n.o.ble visage, now profoundly changed since the death of his brother, who was treacherously poisoned, imparted to the aspect of the supreme chieftain of the Protestant armies a venerable and touching expression. Encased from his neck down in armor of burnished iron, without any ornament whatever, and half concealed under a flowing cloak of white cloth--the Huguenot color--the Admiral was bareheaded. Beside him stood the brave Francis of Lanoue, a young Breton n.o.bleman. Courage, honor, kindness, were stamped upon his manly and loyal countenance. A sort of steel arm, artistically forged by Odelin Lebrenn, with the aid of which Monsieur Lanoue could guide his horse, replaced the arm that the daring captain had lost in battle. When the murmur that greeted the Admiral"s arrival subsided, one of the pastors, Feron by name, who attended the army, uttered in a benign voice the following short prayer:
"Our trust lies in G.o.d, who made the heavens and the earth.
"Our Father and Savior, since it has pleased You, in the midst of the dangers of war, to preserve us last night and until this day, may it please You to cause us to employ it wholly in Your service. Oh, heavenly Father! Our brothers rely upon our vigilance. They rely upon us, their defenders. Deign by Your grace to help us in faithfully fulfilling our charge, without negligence, or cowardice. Finally, may it please You, O Lord of Hosts, to change these calamitous times into happy times where justice and religion shall reign! Not then shall we any longer be reduced to the necessity of defending ourselves; then will Your holy name be glorified more and more the world over! All these things, O Lord, our Father! O, good G.o.d! we beg of You in the name and by the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. We pray to You to increase our faith which we now confess, saying: I believe in G.o.d the omnipotent Father, and in his Son the Redeemer.
"May the blessing of G.o.d the Father, the grace and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ remain and dwell forevermore among us in the communion of the Holy Ghost.
"Amen!"[67]
"Amen!" responded Admiral Coligny devoutly and in a grave voice.
"Amen!" answered the soldiers.
The morning prayer had been said.
While the Admiral was religiously attending morning service in the courtyard at his headquarters, Dominic, the servant of his household who was captured shortly before by the royalists, was engaged in executing the crime plotted by the Duke of Anjou jointly with the captain of his guards.
Dominic stepped into the chamber of Coligny; he moved about cautiously, with eyes and ears alert, watching from all sides whether he was either seen or heard; he approached a table on which, standing beside several scrolls of paper, was an earthen bowl containing a refreshing drink that Coligny was in the habit of taking every morning, and which his faithful equerry Nicholas Mouche always prepared for him. Mouche was at the moment at prayers with the Admiral, together with the rest of the household servants. Dominic purposely did not join his comrades that morning; he figured upon their absence to carry out his nefarious deed.
The poisoner took up the earthen bowl to drop the poison in. For an instant he hesitated. Brought up in the house of Coligny and ever treated by his master with paternal kindness, the thoughts of the wretch for an instant conjured up the past before him. Then cupidity stifled pity in the a.s.sa.s.sin"s breast. He took out of his pocket a scent-bag containing some grey powder, shook the contents into the bowl, and stirred it, in order to mix the poison well with the liquid. Dominic was placing the bowl back from where he took it when he heard steps approaching. Quickly and tremblingly he slid away from the table. It was Odelin Lebrenn, bringing back the Admiral"s casque, which was sent to him to repair, it having been bent in the day before by a ball from a large arquebus while the Admiral was on a reconnoitering expedition.
Although serving as a volunteer with his son Antonicq in the Protestant army, Odelin exercised his trade with the help of a portable forge.
Thirty-three years had elapsed since the day when he returned to Paris with Master Raimbaud. He was now bordering on his forty-eighth year.
His beard and hair were grizzled with grey. His features betokened frankness and resolution. Odelin had not seen Dominic since his capture by the Catholics. He now congratulated him heartily upon his escape from the enemy, but remarking the wretch"s pallor, he added:
"What is the matter, my dear Dominic? You look ashy pale."
"I do not know--what--you mean--" stammered Dominic, saying which the poisoner rushed out precipitately.
The hurry of the man"s departure, his pallor and flutter, awakened the armorer"s suspicion; but these thoughts were quickly crowded out of his mind by the sudden appearance of his son Antonicq, who ran in with fl.u.s.tered face and tears in his eyes, crying:
"Oh, father! Come quick! In heaven"s name come to the Prince of Gerolstein who is just back to camp with uncle Josephin, the Franc-Taupin."
At this moment, Nicholas Mouche, the Admiral"s confidential equerry entered his master"s room. Not seeing the face of either Odelin or his son, both having their backs turned to the door, he cried out in surprise and alarm:
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" But instantly recognizing the armorer and his son, for whom he entertained warm esteem, he added: "Excuse me, my dear Lebrenn, I did not recognize you at first. Excuse me. You and your son are really members of the household. Your presence here need not alarm me for my master"s safety."
"I brought back Monsieur Coligny"s casque," Odelin explained, "and my son came after me. I do not yet know the cause of his excitement. See how fl.u.s.tered his face is! What extraordinary thing has happened, my boy?"
"My sister--Marguerite--whom we thought lost forever--has been found--"
"Great G.o.d!"
"Come, father--the Prince--and my uncle--will tell you all about it--they will narrate to you the extraordinary affair--"
"What!" exclaimed Nicholas Mouche, looking at Odelin. "Is the poor child who disappeared so long ago found again! Heaven be praised!"
"Oh, I can not yet believe such a happy thing possible!" said Odelin, his heart beating between doubt and hope.
"Come, father, you will know all!"
"Adieu!" said the armorer to Nicholas, as he followed his son, no less wrought up than the young man.
"Poor father!" mused the old equerry as he followed Odelin with his eyes. "Provided only he is not running after some cruel disappointment!"
Approaching his master"s writing table to a.s.sure himself that the Admiral was supplied with ink, Nicholas"s eyes fell upon the earthen bowl. He noticed that it was full to the brim--untouched.
"Monsieur the Admiral has not taken a single mouthful of his chicory water! Truth to say, in point of taking care of himself, the dear old hero is as thoughtless as a child! But here he is! He shall not escape a lecture;" and addressing Coligny, who now returned to his room after prayers, the equerry said in a tone of familiar reproach that his long years of service justified: "Well, Monsieur Admiral; what about your chicory water! The bowl is as full as when I brought it in early this morning--"
"That is so," answered Coligny with a smile. "The trouble lies with you.
You make the drink so frightfully bitter that I postpone all I can the hour of gulping it down."