A Gentleman of France

S >> Stanley Weyman >> A Gentleman of France

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For my part, and despite some gloomy moments, when fear of the
future overcame me, I rode in Paradise riding by my mistress. It
was her presence which glorified alike the first freshness of the
morning, when we started with all the day before us, and the
coolness of the late evening, when we rode hand-in-hand. Nor
could I believe without an effort that I was the same Gaston de
Marsac who she had once spurned and disdained. God knows I was
thankful for her love. A thousand times, thinking of my grey
hairs, I asked her if she did not repent; and a thousand times
she answered No, with so much happiness in her eyes that I was
fain to thank God again and believe her.

Notwithstanding the inconvenience of the practice, we made it a
rule to wear our masks whenever we appeared in public; and this
rule me kept more strictly as we approached Paris. It exposed us
to some comment and more curiosity, but led to no serious trouble
until we reached Etampes, twelve leagues from the capital; where
we found the principal inn so noisy and crowded, and so much
disturbed by the constant coming and going of couriers, that it
required no experience to predicate the neighbourhood of the
army. The great courtyard seemed to be choked with a confused
mass of men and horses, through which we made our way with
difficulty. The windows of the house were all open, and offered
us a view of tables surrounded by men eating and drinking
hastily, as the manner of travellers is. The gateway and the
steps of the house were lined with troopers and servants and
sturdy rogues; who scanned all who passed in or out, and not
unfrequently followed them with ribald jests and nicknames.
Songs and oaths, brawling and laughter, with the neighing of
horses and the huzzas of the beggars, who shouted whenever a
fresh party arrived, rose above all, and increased the reluctance
with which I assisted madame and mademoiselle to dismount.

Simon was no match for such an occasion as this; but the stalwart
aspect of the three men whom Maignan had left with me commanded
respect, and attended by two of these I made a way for the
ladies--not without some opposition and a few oaths--to enter the
house. The landlord, whom we found crushed into a corner inside,
and entirely overborne by the crowd which had invaded his
dwelling, assured me that he had not the smallest garret he could
place at my disposal; but I presently succeeded in finding a
small room at the top, which I purchased from the four men who
had taken possession of it. As it was impossible to get anything
to eat there, I left a man on guard, and myself descended with
madame and mademoiselle to the eating-room, a large chamber set
with long boards, and filled with a rough and noisy crew. Under
a running fire of observations we entered, and found with
difficulty three seats in an inner corner of the room.

I ran my eye over the company, and noticed among them, besides a
dozen travelling parties like our own, specimens of all those
classes which are to be found in the rear of an army. There were
some officers and more horse-dealers; half a dozen forage-agents
and a few priests; with a large sprinkling of adventurers,
braves, and led-captains, and here and there two or three whose
dress and the deference paid to them by their neighbours seemed
to indicate a higher rank. Conspicuous among these last were a
party of four who occupied a small table by the door. An attempt
had been made to secure some degree of privacy for them by
interposing a settle between them and the room; and their
attendants, who seemed to be numerous, did what they could to add
to this by filling the gap with their persons. One of the four,
a man of handsome dress and bearing, who sat in the place of
honour, was masked, as we were. The gentleman at his right hand
I could not see. The others, whom I could see, were strangers to
me.

Some time elapsed before our people succeeded in procuring us any
food, and during the interval we were exposed to an amount of
comment on the part of those round us which I found very little
to my liking. There were not half a dozen women present, and
this and our masks rendered my companions unpleasantly
conspicuous. Aware, however, of the importance of avoiding an
altercation which might possibly detain us, and would be certain
to add to our notoriety, I remained quiet; and presently the
entrance of a tall, dark-complexioned man, who carried himself
with a peculiar swagger, and seemed to be famous for something or
other, diverted the attention of the company from us.

The new-comer was somewhat of Maignan's figure. He wore a back
and breast over a green doublet, and had an orange feather in his
cap and an orange-lined cloak on his shoulder. On entering he
stood a moment in the doorway, letting his bold black eyes rove
round the room, the while he talked in a loud braggart fashion to
his companions. There was a lack of breeding in the man's air,
and something offensive in his look; which I noticed produced
wherever it rested a momentary silence and constraint. When he
moved farther into the room I saw that he wore a very long sword,
the point of which trailed a foot behind him.

He chose out for his first attentions the party of four whom I
have mentioned; going up to them and accosting them with a
ruffling air, directed especially to the gentleman in the mask.
The latter lifted his head haughtily on finding himself addressed
by a stranger, but did not offer to answer. Someone else did,
however, for a sudden bellow like that of an enraged bull
proceeded from behind the settle. The words were lost in noise,
the unseen speaker's anger seeming so overpowering that he could
not articulate; but the tone and voice, which were in some way
familiar to me, proved enough for the bully, who, covering his
retreat with a profound bow, backed out rapidly, muttering what
was doubtless an apology. Cocking his hat more fiercely to make
up for this repulse, he next proceeded to patrol the room,
scowling from side to side as he went, with the evident intention
of picking a quarrel with someone less formidable.

By ill-chance his eye lit, as he turned, on our masks. He said
something to his companions; and encouraged, no doubt, by the
position of our seats at the board, which led him to think us
people of small consequence, he came to a stop opposite us.

'What! more dukes here?' he cried scoffingly. 'Hallo, you
sir!' he continued to me, 'will you not unmask and drink a glass
with me?'

I thanked him civilly, but declined.

His insolent eyes were busy, while I spoke, with madame's fair
hair and handsome figure, which her mask failed to hide.
'Perhaps the ladies will have better taste, sir,' he said rudely.
'Will they not honour us with a sight of their pretty faces?'

Knowing the importance of keeping my temper I put constraint on
myself, and answered, still with civility, that they were greatly
fatigued and were about to retire.

'Zounds!' he cried, 'that is not to be borne. If we are to lose
them so soon, the more reason we should enjoy their BEAUX YEUX
while we can. A short life and a merry one, sir. This is not a
nunnery, nor, I dare swear, are your fair friends nuns.'

Though I longed to chastise him for this insult, I feigned
deafness, and went on with my meal as if I had not heard him; and
the table being between us prevented him going beyond words.
After he had uttered one or two coarse jests of a similar
character, which cost us less as we were masked, and our emotions
could only be guessed, the crowd about us, seeing I took the
thing quietly, began to applaud him; but more as it seemed to me
out of fear than love. In this opinion I was presently confirmed
on hearing from Simon who whispered the information in my ear as
he handed a dish--that the fellow was an Italian captain in the
king's pay, famous for his skill with the sword and the many
duels in which he had displayed it.

Mademoiselle, though she did not know this, bore with his
insolence with a patience which astonished me; while madame
appeared unconscious of it. Nevertheless, I was glad when he
retired and left us in peace. I seized the moment of his absence
to escort the ladies through the room and upstairs to their
apartment, the door of which I saw locked and secured. That done
I breathed more freely; and feeling thankful that I had been able
to keep my temper, took the episode to be at an end.

But in this I was mistaken, as I found when I returned to the
room in which we had supped, my intention being to go through it
to the stables. I had not taken two paces across the floor
before I found my road blocked by the Italian, and read alike in
his eyes and in the faces of the company--of whom many hastened
to climb the tables to see what passed--that the meeting was
premeditated. The man's face was flushed with wine; proud of his
many victories, he eyed me with a boastful contempt my patience
had perhaps given him the right to feel.

'Ha! well met, sir,' he said, sweeping the floor with his cap in
an exaggeration of respect, 'now, perhaps, your high-mightiness
will condescend to unmask? The table is no longer between us,
nor are your fair friends here to protect their CHER AMI!'

'If I still refuse, sir,' I said civilly, wavering between anger
and prudence, and hoping still to avoid a quarrel which might
endanger us all, 'be good enough to attribute it to private
motives, and to no desire to disoblige you.'

'No, I do not think you wish to disoblige me,' he answered,
laughing scornfully--and a dozen voices echoed the gibe. 'But
for your private motives, the devil take them! Is that plain
enough, sir?'

'It is plain enough to show me that you are an ill-bred man!' I
answered, choler getting the better of me. 'Let me pass, sir.'

'Unmask!' he retorted, moving so as still to detain me, 'or
shall I call in the grooms to perform the office for you?'

Seeing at last that all my attempts to evade the man only fed his
vanity, and encouraged him to further excesses, and that the
motley crowd, who filled the room and already formed a circle
round us, had made up their minds to see sport, I would no longer
balk them; I could no longer do it, indeed, with honour. I
looked round, therefore, for someone whom I might enlist as my
second, but I saw no one with whom I had the least acquaintance.
The room was lined from table to ceiling with mocking faces and
scornful eyes all turned to me.

My opponent saw the look, and misread it; being much accustomed,
I imagine, to a one-sided battle. He laughed contemptuously.
'No, my friend, there is no way out of it,' he said. 'Let me see
your pretty face, or fight.'

'So be it,' I said quietly. 'If I have no other choice, I will
fight.'

'In your mask?' he cried incredulously.

'Yes,' I said sternly, feeling every nerve tingle with long-
suppressed rage. 'I will fight as I am. Off with your back and
breast, if you are a man. And I will so deal with you that if
you see to-morrow's sun you shall need a mask for the rest of
your days!'

'Ho! ho!' he answered, scowling at me in surprise, 'you sing in
a different key now. But I will put a term to it. There is
space enough between these tables, if you can use your weapon;
and much more than you will need to-morrow.'

'To-morrow will show,' I retorted.

Without more ado he unfastened the buckles of his breast-piece,
and relieving himself of it, stepped back a pace. Those of the
bystanders who occupied the part of the room he indicated--a
space bounded by four tables, and not unfit for the purpose,
though somewhat confined--hastened to get out of it, and seize
instead upon neighbouring posts of 'vantage. The man's
reputation was such, and his fame so great, that on all sides I
heard naught but wagers offered against me at odds; but this
circumstance, which might have flurried a younger man and numbed
his arm, served only to set me on making the most of such
openings as the fellow's presumption and certainty of success
would be sure to afford.

The news of the challenge running through the house had brought
together by this time so many people as to fill the room from end
to end, and even to obscure the light, which was beginning to
wane. At the last moment, when we were on the point of engaging,
a slight commotion marked the admission to the front of three or
four persons, whose consequence or attendants gained them this
advantage. I believed them to be the party of four I have
mentioned, but at the time I could not be certain.

In the few seconds of waiting while this went forward I examined
our relative positions with the fullest intention of killing the
man--whose glittering eyes and fierce smile filled me with a
loathing which was very nearly hatred--if I could. The line of
windows lay to my right and his left. The evening light fell
across us, whitening the row of faces on my left, but leaving
those on my right in shadow. It occurred to me on the instant
that my mask was actually an advantage, seeing that it protected
my sight from the side-light, and enabled me to watch his eyes
and point with more concentration.

'You will be the twenty-third man I have killed!' he said
boastfully, as we crossed swords and stood an instant on guard.

'Take care!' I answered. 'You have twenty-three against you!'

A swift lunge was his only answer. I parried it, and thrust, and
we fell to work. We had not exchanged half a dozen blows,
however, before I saw that I should need all the advantage which
my mask and greater caution gave me. I had met my match, and it
might be something more; but that for a time it was impossible to
tell. He had the longer weapon, and I the longer reach. He
preferred the point, after the new Italian fashion, and I the
blade. He was somewhat flushed with wine, while my arm had
scarcely recovered the strength of which illness had deprived me.

On the other hand, excited at the first by the cries of his
backers, he played rather wildly; while I held myself prepared,
and keeping up a strong guard, waited cautiously for any opening
or mistake on his part.

The crowd round us, which had hailed our first passes with noisy
cries of derision and triumph, fell silent after a while,
surprised and taken aback by their champion's failure to spit me
at the first onslaught. My reluctance to engage had led them to
predict a short fight and an easy victory.

Convinced of the contrary, they began to watch each stroke with
bated breath; or now and again, muttering the name of Jarnac,
broke into brief exclamations as a blow more savage than usual
drew sparks from our blades, and made the rafters ring with the
harsh grinding of steel on steel.

The surprise of the crowd, however, was a small thing compared
with that of my adversary. Impatience, disgust, rage and doubt
chased one another in turn across his flushed features.
Apprised that he had to do with a swordsman, he put forth all
his power. With spite in his eyes he laboured blow on blow, he
tried one form of attack after another, he found me equal, if
barely equal, to all. And then at last there came a change. The
perspiration gathered on his brow, the silence disconcerted him;
he felt his strength failing under the strain, and suddenly, I
think, the possibility of defeat and death, unthought of before,
burst upon him. I heard him groan, and for a moment he fenced
wildly. Then he again recovered himself. But now I read terror
in his eyes, and knew that the moment of retribution was at hand.
With his back to the table, and my point threatening his breast,
he knew at last what those others had felt!

He would fain have stopped to breathe, but I would not let him
though my blows also were growing feeble, and my guard weaker;
for I knew that if I gave him time to recover himself he would
have recourse to other tricks, and might out-manoeuvre me in the
end. As it was, my black unchanging mask, which always
confronted him, which hid all emotions and veiled even fatigue,
had grown to be full of terror to him--full of blank, passionless
menace. He could not tell how I fared, or what I thought, or how
my strength stood. Superstitious dread was on him, and
threatened, to overpower him. Ignorant who I was or whence I
came, he feared and doubted, grappling with monstrous suspicions,
which the fading light encouraged. His face broke out in
blotches, his breath came and went in gasps, his eyes began to
protrude. Once or twice they quitted mine for a part of a second
to steal a despairing glance at the rows of onlookers that ran to
right and left of us. But he read no pity there.

At last the end came--more suddenly than I had looked for it, but
I think he was unnerved. His hand lost its grip of the hilt, and
a parry which I dealt a little more briskly than usual sent the
weapon flying among the crowd, as much to my astonishment as to
that of the spectators. A volley of oaths and exclamations
hailed the event; and for a moment I stood at gaze, eyeing him
watchfully. He shrank back; then he made for a moment as if he
would fling himself upon me dagger in hand. But seeing my point
steady, he recoiled a second time, his face distorted with rage
and fear.

'Go!' I said sternly. 'Begone! Follow your sword! But spare
the next man you conquer.'

He stared at me, fingering his dagger as if he did not
understand, or as if in the bitterness of his shame at being so
defeated even life were unwelcome. I was about to repeat my
words when a heavy hand fell on my shoulder.

'Fool!' a harsh growling voice muttered in my ear. 'Do you want
him to serve you as Achon served Matas? This is the way to deal
with him.'

And before I knew who spoke or what to expect a man vaulted over
the table beside me. Seizing the Italian by the neck and waist,
he flung him bodily--without paying the least regard to his
dagger--into the crowd. 'There!' the new-comer cried,
stretching his arms as if the effort had relieved him, 'so much
for him! And do you breathe yourself. Breathe yourself, my
friend,' he continued with a vain-glorious air of generosity.
'When you are rested and ready, you and I will have a bout. Mon
dieu! what a thing it is to see a man! And by my faith you are
a man!'

'But, sir,' I said, staring at him in the utmost bewilderment,
'we have no quarrel.'

'Quarrel?' he cried in his loud, ringing voice. 'Heaven forbid!
Why should we? I love a man, however, and when I see one I say
to him, "I am Crillon! Fight me!" But I see you are not yet
rested. Patience! There is no hurry. Berthon de Crillon is
proud to wait your convenience. In the meantime, gentlemen,' he
continued, turning with a grand air to the spectators, who viewed
this sudden BOULEVERSEMENT with unbounded surprise, 'let us do
what we can. Take the word from me, and cry all, "VIVE LE ROI,
ET VIVE L'INCONNU!"'

Like people awaking from a dream--so great was their astonishment
the company complied and with the utmost heartiness. When the
shout died away, someone cried in turn, 'Vive Crillon!' and this
was honoured with a fervour which brought the tears to the eyes
of that remarkable man, in whom bombast was so strangely combined
with the firmest and most reckless courage. He bowed again and
again, turning himself about in the small space between the
tables, while his face shone with pleasure and enthusiasm.
Meanwhile I viewed him with perplexity. I comprehended that it
was his voice I had heard behind the settle; but I had neither
the desire to fight him nor so great a reserve of strength after
my illness as to be able to enter on a fresh contest with
equanimity. When he turned to me, therefore, and again asked,
'Well, sir, are you ready?' I could think of no better answer
than that I had already made to him, 'But, sir, I have no quarrel
with you.'

'Tut, tut!' he answered querulously, 'if that is all, let us
engage.'

'That is not all, however,' I said, resolutely putting up my
sword. 'I have not only no quarrel with M. de Crillon, but I
received at his hands when I last saw him a considerable
service.'

'Then now is the time to return it,' he answered. briskly, and
as if that settled the matter.

I could not refrain from laughing. 'Nay, but I have still an
excuse,' I said. 'I am barely recovered from an illness, and am
weak. Even so, I should be loth to decline a combat with some;
but a better man than I may give the wall to M. de Crillon and
suffer no disgrace.'

'Oh, if you put it that way--enough said,' he answered in a tone
of disappointment. 'And, to be sure, the light is almost gone.
That is a comfort. But you will not refuse to drink a cup of
wine with me? Your voice I remember, though I cannot say who you
are or what service I did you. For the future, however, count on
me. I love a man who is brave as well as modest, and know no
better friend than a stout swordsman.'

I was answering him in fitting terms--while the fickle crowd,
which a few minutes earlier had been ready to tear me, viewed us
from a distance with respectful homage--when the masked gentleman
who had before been in his company drew near and saluted me with
much stateliness.

'I congratulate you, sir,' he said, in the easy tone of a great
man condescending. 'You use the sword as few use it, and fight
with your head as well as your hands. Should you need a friend
or employment, you will honour me by remembering that you are
known to the Vicomte de Turenne.'

I bowed low to hide the start which the mention of his name
caused me. For had I tried, ay, and possessed to aid me all the
wit of M. de Brantome, I could have imagined nothing more
fantastic than this meeting; or more entertaining than that I,
masked, should talk with the Vicomte de Turenne masked, and hear
in place of reproaches and threats of vengeance a civil offer of
protection. Scarcely knowing whether I should laugh or tremble,
or which should occupy me more, the diverting thing that had
happened or the peril we had barely escaped, I made shift to
answer him, craving his indulgence if I still preserved my
incognito. Even while I spoke a fresh fear assailed me: lest M.
de Crillon, recognising my voice or figure, should cry my name on
the spot, and explode in a moment the mine on which we stood.

This rendered me extremely impatient to be gone. But M. le
Vicomte had still something to say, and I could not withdraw
myself without rudeness.

'You are travelling north like everyone else?' he said, gazing
at me curiously. 'May I ask whether you are for Meudon, where
the King of Navarre lies, or for the Court at St. Cloud?'

I muttered, moving restlessly under his keen eyes, that I was for
Meudon.

'Then, if you care to travel with a larger company,' he rejoined,
bowing with negligent courtesy, 'pray command me. I am for
Meudon also, and shall leave here three hours before noon.'

Fortunately he took my assent to his gracious invitation for
granted, and turned away before I had well begun to thank him.
From Crillon I found it more difficult to escape. He appeared to
have conceived a great fancy for me, and felt also, I imagine,
some curiosity as to my identity. But I did even this at last,
and, evading the obsequious offers which were made me on all
sides, escaped to the stables, where I sought out the Cid's
stall, and lying down in the straw beside him, began to review
the past, and plan the future. Under cover of the darkness sleep
soon came to me; my last waking thoughts being divided between
thankfulness for my escape and a steady purpose to reach Meudon
before the Vicomte, so that I might make good my tale in his
absence. For that seemed to be my only chance of evading the
dangers I had chosen to encounter.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

AT MEUDON.

Making so early a start from Etampes that the inn, which had
continued in an uproar till long after midnight, lay sunk in
sleep when we rode out of the yard, we reached Meudon about noon
next day. I should be tedious were I to detail what thoughts my
mistress and I had during that day's journey--the last, it might
be, which we should take together; or what assurances we gave one
another, or how often we, repented the impatience which had
impelled us to put all to the touch. Madame, with kindly
forethought, detached herself from us, and rode the greater part
of the distance with Fanchette; but the opportunities she gave us
went for little; for, to be plain, the separation we dreaded
seemed to overshadow us already. We uttered few words, through
those few were to the purpose, but riding hand-in-hand, with full
hearts, and eyes which seldom quitted one another, looked forward
to Meudon and its perils with such gloomy forebodings as our love
and my precarious position suggested.

Long before we reached the town, or could see more of it than the
Chateau, over which the Lilies of France and the broad white
banner of the Bourbons floated in company, we found ourselves
swept into the whirlpool which surrounds an army. Crowds stood
at all the cross-roads, wagons and sumpter-mules encumbered the
bridges; each moment a horseman passed us at a gallop, or a troop
of disorderly rogues, soldiers only in name, reeled, shouting and
singing, along the road. Here and there, for a warning to the
latter sort, a man, dangled on a rude gallows; under which
sportsmen returning from the chase and ladies who had been for an
airing rode laughing on their way.

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