From the Memoirs of a Minister of France
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Stanley Weyman >> From the Memoirs of a Minister of France
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In this Etext, text in italics has been written in capital letters.
Many French words in the text have accents, etc. which have been
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FROM THE MEMOIRS OF A MINISTER OF FRANCE
BY
STANLEY WEYMAN
CONTENTS.
I.--THE CLOCKMAKER OF POISSY
II.--THE TENNIS BALLS
III.--TWO MAYORS OF BOTTITORT
IV.--LA TOUSSAINT
V.--THE LOST CIPHER
VI.--THE MAN OF MONCEAUX
VII.--THE GOVERNOR OF GUERET
VIII.--THE OPEN SHUTTER
IX.--THE MAID OF HONOUR
X.--FARMING THE TAXES
XI.--THE CAT AND THE KING
XII.--AT FONTAINEBLEAU
I. THE CLOCKMAKER OF POISSY.
Foreseeing that some who do not love me will be swift to allege
that in the preparation of these memoirs I have set down only
such things as redound to my credit, and have suppressed the many
experiences not so propitious which fall to the lot of the most
sagacious while in power, I take this opportunity of refuting
that calumny. For the truth stands so far the other way that my
respect for the King's person has led me to omit many things
creditable to me; and some, it may be, that place me in a higher
light than any I have set down. And not only that: but I
propose in this very place to narrate the curious details of an
adventure wherein I showed to less advantage than usual; and on
which I should, were I moved by the petty feelings imputed to me
by malice, be absolutely silent.
One day, about a fortnight after the quarrel between the King and
the Duchess of Beaufort, which I have described, and which arose,
it will be remembered, out of my refusal to pay the christening
expenses of her second son on the scale of a child of France, I
was sitting in my lodgings at St. Germains when Maignan announced
that M. de Perrot desired to see me. Knowing Perrot to be one of
the most notorious beggars about the court, with an insatiable
maw of his own and an endless train of nephews and nieces, I was
at first for being employed; but, reflecting that in the crisis
in the King's affairs which I saw approaching--and which must, if
he pursued his expressed intention of marrying the Duchess, be
fraught with infinite danger to the State and himself--the least
help might be of the greatest moment, I bade them admit him;
privately determining to throw the odium of any refusal upon the
overweening influence of Madame de Sourdis, the Duchess's aunt.
Accordingly I met him with civility, and was not surprised when,
with his second speech, he brought out the word FAVOUR. But I
was surprised--for, as I have said, I knew him to be the best
practised beggar in the world--to note in his manner some
indications of embarrassment and nervousness; which, when I did
not immediately assent, increased to a sensible extent.
"It is a very small thing, M. de Rosny," he said, breathing hard.
On that hint I declared my willingness to serve him. "But," I
added, shrugging my shoulders and speaking in a confidential
tone, "no one knows the Court better than you do, M. de Perrot.
You are in all our secrets, and you must be aware that at
present--I say nothing of the Duchess, she is a good woman, and
devoted to his Majesty--but there are others--"
"I know," he answered, with a flash of malevolence that did not
escape me. "But this is a private favour, M. de Rosny. It is
nothing that Madame de Sourdis can desire, either for herself or
for others."
That aroused my curiosity. Only the week before, Madame de
Sourdis had obtained a Hat for her son, and the post of assistant
Deputy Comptroller of Buildings for her Groom of the Chambers.
For her niece the Duchess she meditated obtaining nothing less
than a crown. I was at pains, therefore, to think of any office,
post, or pension that could be beyond the pale of her desires;
and in a fit of gaiety I bade M. de Perrot speak out and explain
his riddle.
"It is a small thing," he said, with ill-disguised nervousness.
"The King hunts to-morrow."
"Yes," I said.
"And very commonly he rides back in your company, M. le Marquis."
"Sometimes," I said; "or with M. d'Epernon. Or, if he is in a
mood for scandal, with M. la Varenne or Vitry."
"But with you, if you wish it, and care to contrive it so," he
persisted, with a cunning look.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Well?" I said, wondering more and
more what he would be at.
"I have a house on the farther side of Poissy," he continued.
"And I should take it as a favour, M. de Rosny, if you could
induce the King to dismount there to-morrow and take a cup of
wine."
"That is a very small thing," I said bluntly, wondering much why
he had made so great a parade of the matter, and still more why
he seemed so ill at ease. "Yet, after such a prelude, if any but
a friend of your tried loyalty asked it, I might expect to find
Spanish liquorice in the cup."
"That is out of the question, in my case," he answered with a
slight assumption of offence, which he immediately dropped. "And
you say it is a small thing; it is the more easily granted, M. de
Rosny."
"But the King goes and comes at his pleasure," I replied warily.
"Of course, he might-take it into his head to descend at your
house. There would be nothing surprising in such a visit. I
think that he has paid you one before, M. de Perrot?"
He assented eagerly.
"And he may do so," I said, smiling, "to-morrow. But then,
again, he may not. The chase may lead him another way; or he may
be late in returning; or--in fine, a hundred things may happen."
I had no mind to go farther than that; and I supposed that it
would satisfy him, and that he would thank me and take his leave.
To my surprise, however, he stood his ground, and even pressed me
more than was polite; while his countenance, when I again eluded
him, assumed an expression of chagrin and vexation so much in
excess of the occasion as to awaken fresh doubts in my mind. But
these only the more confirmed me in my resolution to commit
myself no farther, especially as he was not a man I loved or
could trust; and in the end he had to retire with such comfort as
I had already given him.
In itself, and on the surface, the thing seemed to be a trifle,
unworthy of the serious consideration of any man. But in so far
as it touched the King's person and movements, I was inclined to
view it in another light; and this the more, as I still had fresh
in my memory the remarkable manner in which Father Cotton, the
Jesuit, had given me a warning by a word about a boxwood fire.
After a moment's thought, therefore, I summoned Boisrueil, one of
my gentlemen, who had an acknowledged talent for collecting
gossip; and I told him in a casual way that M. de Perrot had been
with me.
"He has not been at Court for a week," he remarked.
"Indeed?" I said.
"He applied for the post of Assistant Deputy Comptroller of
Buildings for his nephew, and took offence when it was given to
Madame de Sourdis' Groom of the Chambers."
"Ha!" I said; "a dangerous malcontent."
Boisrueil smiled. "He has lived a week out of the sunshine of
his Majesty's countenance, your excellency. After that, all
things are possible."
This was my own estimate of the man, whom I took to be one of
those smug, pliant self-seekers whom Courts and peace breed up.
I could imagine no danger that could threaten the King from such
a quarter; while curiosity inclined me to grant his request. As
it happened, the deer the next day took us in the direction of
Poissy, and the King, who was always itching to discuss with me
the question of his projected marriage, and as constantly, since
our long talk in the garden at Rennes, avoiding the subject when
with me, bade me ride home with him. On coming within half a
mile of Perrot's I let fall his name, and in a very natural way
suggested that the King should alight there for a few minutes.
It was one of the things Henry delighted to do, for, endowed with
the easiest manners, and able in a moment to exchange the
formality of the Louvre for the freedom of the camp, he could
give to such cheap favours their full value. He consented on the
instant, therefore; and turning our horses into a by-road, we
sauntered down it with no greater attendance than a couple of
pages.
The sun was near setting, and its rays, which still gilded the
tree-tops, left the wood below pensive and melancholy. The house
stood in a solitary place on the edge of the forest, half a mile
from Poissy; and these two things had their effect on my mind. I
began to wish that we had brought with us half a troop of horse,
or at least two or three gentlemen; and, startled by the thought
of the unknown chances to which, out of mere idle curiosity, I
was exposing the King, I would gladly have turned back. But
without explanation I could not do so; and while I hesitated
Henry cried out gaily that we were there.
A short avenue of limes led from the forest road to the door. I
looked curiously before us as we rode under the trees, in some
fear lest M. de Perrot's preparations should discover my
complicity, and apprise the King that he was expected. But so
far was this from being the case that no one appeared; the house
rose still and silent in the mellow light of sunset, and, for all
that we could see, might have been the fabled palace of
enchantment.
"'He is Jean de Nivelle's dog; he runs away when you call him,'"
the King quoted. "Get down, Rosny. We have reached the palace
of the Sleeping Princess. It remains only to sound the horn,
and--"
I was in the act of dismounting, with my back to him, when his
words came to this sudden stop. I turned to learn what caused
it, and saw standing in the aperture of the wicket, which had
been silently opened, a girl, little more than a child, of the
most striking beauty. Surprise shone in her eyes, and shyness
and alarm had brought the colour to her cheeks; while the level
rays of the sun, which forced her to screen her eyes with one
small hand, clothed her figure in a robe of lucent glory. I
heard the King whistle low. Before I could speak he had flung
himself from his horse and, throwing the reins to one of the
pages, was bowing before her.
"We were about to sound the horn, Mademoiselle," he said,
smiling.
"The horn, Monsieur?" she exclaimed, opening her eyes in wonder,
and staring at him with the prettiest face of astonishment.
"Yes, Mademoiselle; to awaken the sleeping princess," he
rejoined. "But I see that she is already awake."
Through the innocence of her eyes flashed a sudden gleam of
archness. "Monsieur flatters himself," she said, with a smile
that just revealed the whiteness of her teeth.
It was such an answer as delighted the King; who loved, above all
things, a combination of wit and beauty, and never for any long
time wore the chains of a woman who did not unite sense to more
showy attractions. From the effect which the grace and freshness
of the girl had on me, I could judge in a degree of the
impression made on him; his next words showed not only its depth,
but that he was determined to enjoy the adventure to the full.
He presented me to her as M. de Sage, and inquiring
affectionately after Perrot, learned in a trice that she was his
niece, not long from a convent at Loches; finally, begging to be
allowed to rest awhile, he dropped a gallant hint that a cup of
wine from her hands would be acceptable.
All this, and her innocent doubt what she ought to do, thus
brought face to face with two strange cavaliers, threw the girl
into such a state of blushing confusion as redoubled her charms.
It appeared that her uncle had been summoned unexpectedly to
Marly, and had taken his son with him; and that the household had
seized the occasion to go to a village FETE at Acheres. Only an
old servant remained in the house; who presently appeared and
took her orders. I saw from the man's start of consternation
that he knew the King; but a glance from Henry's eyes bidding me
keep up the illusion, I followed the fellow and charged him not
to betray the King's incognito. When I returned, I found that
Mademoiselle had conducted her visitor to a grassy terrace which
ran along the south side of the house, and was screened from the
forest by an alley of apple trees, and from the east wind by a
hedge of yew. Here, where the last rays of the sun threw sinuous
shadows on the turf, and Paris seemed a million miles away, they
were walking up and down, the sound of their laughter breaking
the woodland silence. Mademoiselle had a fan, with which and an
air of convent coquetry she occasionally shaded her eyes. The
King carried his hat in his hand. It was such an adventure as he
loved, with all his heart; and I stood a little way off, smiling,
and thinking grimly of M. de Perrot.
On a sudden, hearing a step behind me, I turned, and saw a young
man in a riding-dress come quickly through an opening in the yew
hedge. As I turned, he stopped; his jaw fell, and he stood
rooted to the ground, gazing at the two on the terrace, while his
face, which a moment before had worn an air of pleased
expectancy, grew on a sudden dark with passion, and put on such a
look as made me move towards him. Before I reached him, However,
M. de Perrot himself appeared at his side. The young man flashed
round on him. "MON DIEU, sir!" he cried, in a voice choked with
anger; "I see it all now! I understand why I was carried away to
Marly! I--but it shall not be! I swear it shall not!"
Between him and me--for, needless to say, I, too, understood all
--M. de Perrot was awkwardly placed. But he showed the presence
of mind of the old courtier. "Silence, sir!" He exclaimed
imperatively. "Do you not see M. de Rosny? Go to him at once
and pay your respects to him, and request him to honour you with
his protection. Or--I see that you are overcome by the honour
which the King does us. Go, first, and change your dress. Go,
boy!"
The lad retired sullenly, and M. de Perrot, free to deal with me
alone, approached me, smiling assiduously, and trying hard to
hide some consciousness and a little shame under a mask of
cordiality. "A thousand pardons, M. de Rosny," he cried with
effusion, "for an absence quite unpardonable. But I so little
expected to see his Majesty after what you said, and--"
"Are in no hurry to interrupt him now you are here," I replied
bluntly, determined that, whoever he deceived, he should not
flatter himself he deceived me. "Pooh, man! I am not a fool," I
continued.
"What is this?" he cried, with a desperate attempt to keep up
the farce. "I don't understand you!"
"No, the shoe is on the other foot--I understand you," I replied
drily. "Chut, man!" I continued, "you don't make a cats-paw of
me. I see the game. You are for sitting in Madame de Sourdis'
seat, and giving your son a Hat, and your groom a
Comptrollership, and your niece a--"
"Hush, hush, M. de Rosny," he muttered, turning white and red,
and wiping his brow with his kerchief. "MON DIEU! your words
might--"
"If overheard, make things very unpleasant for M. de Perrot," I
said.
"And M. de Rosny?"
I shrugged my shoulders contemptuously. "Tush, man!" I said.
"Do you think that I sit in no safer seat than that?"
"Ah! But when Madame de Beaufort is Queen?" he said slily.
"If she ever is," I replied, affecting greater confidence than I
at that time felt.
"Well, to be sure," he said slowly, "if she ever is." And he
looked towards the King and his companion, who were still
chatting gaily. Then he stole a crafty glance at me. "Do you
wish her to be?" he muttered.
"Queen?" I said, "God forbid!"
"It would be a disgrace to France?" he whispered; and he laid
his hand on my arm, and looked eagerly into my face.
"Yes," I said.
"A blot on his fame?"
I nodded.
"A--a slur on a score of noble families?"
I could not deny it.
"Then--is it not worth while to avoid all that?" he murmured,
his face pale, and his small eyes glued to mine. "Is it not
worth a little--sacrifice, M. de Rosny?"
"And risk?" I said. "Possibly."
While the words were still on my lips, something stirred close to
us, behind the yew hedge beside which we were standing. Perrot
darted in a moment to the opening, and I after him. We were just
in time to catch a glimpse of a figure disappearing round the
corner of the house. "Well," I said grimly, "what about being
overheard now?"
M. de Perrot wiped his face. "Thank Heaven!" he said, "it was
only my son. Now let me explain to you--"
But our hasty movement had caught the King's eye, and he came
towards us, covering himself as he approached. I had now an
opportunity of learning whether the girl was, in fact, as
innocent as she seemed, and as every particular of our reception
had declared her; and I watched her closely when Perrot's mode of
address betrayed the King's identity. Suffice it that the vivid
blush which on the instant suffused her face, and the lively
emotion which almost overcame her, left me in no doubt. With a
charming air of bashfulness, and just so much timid awkwardness
as rendered her doubly bewitching, she tried to kneel and kiss
the King's hand. He would not permit this, however, but saluted
her cheek.
"It seems that you were right, sire," she murmured, curtseying in
a pretty confusion, "The princess was not awake."
Henry laughed gaily. "Come now; tell me frankly, Mademoiselle,"
he said. "For whom did you take me?"
"Not for the King, sire," she answered, with a gleam of
roguishness. "You told me that the King was a good man, whose
benevolent impulses were constantly checked--"
"Ah!"
"By M. de Rosny, his Minister."
The outburst of laughter which greeted this apprised her that she
was again at fault; and Henry, who liked nothing better than such
mystifications, introducing me by my proper name, we diverted
ourselves for some minutes with her alarm and excuses. After
that it was time to take leave, if we would sup at home and the
King would not be missed; and accordingly, but not without some
further badinage, in which Mademoiselle de Brut displayed wit
equal to her beauty, and an agreeable refinement not always found
with either, we departed.
It should be clearly understood at this point, that,
notwithstanding all I have set down, I was fully determined (in
accordance with a rule I have constantly followed, and would
enjoin on all who do not desire to find themselves one day
saddled with an ugly name) to have no part in the affair; and
this though the advantage of altering the King's intentions
towards Madame de Beaufort was never more vividly present to my
mind. As we rode, indeed, he put several questions concerning
the Baron, and his family, and connections; and, falling into a
reverie, and smiling a good deal at his thoughts, left me in no
doubt as to the impression made upon him. But being engaged at
the time with the Spanish treaty, and resolved, as I have said,
to steer a course uninfluenced by such intrigues, I did not let
my mind dwell upon the matter; nor gave it, indeed, a second
thought until the next afternoon, when, sitting at an open window
of my lodging, I heard a voice in the street ask where the
Duchess de Beaufort had her apartment.
The voice struck a chord in my memory, and I looked out. The man
who had put the question, and who was now being directed on his
way--by Maignan, my equerry, as it chanced had his back to me,
and I could see only that he was young, shabbily dressed, and
with the air of a workman carried a small frail of tools on his
shoulder. But presently, in the act of thanking Maignan, he
turned so that I saw his face, and with that it flashed upon me
in a moment who he was.
Accustomed to follow a train of thought quickly, and to act; on
its conclusion with energy, I had Maignan called and furnished
with his instructions before the man had gone twenty paces; and
within the minute I had the satisfaction of seeing the two return
together. As they passed under the window I heard my servant
explaining with the utmost naturalness that he had misunderstood
the stranger, and that this was Madame de Beaufort's; after which
scarce a minute elapsed before the door of my room opened, and he
appeared ushering in young Perrot!
Or so it seemed to me; and the start of surprise and
consternation which escaped the stranger when he first saw me
confirmed me in the impression. But a moment later I doubted; so
natural was the posture into which the man fell, and so stupid
the look of inquiry which he turned first on me and then on
Maignan. As he stood before me, shifting his feet and staring
about him in vacant wonder, I began to think that I had made a
mistake; and, clearly, either I had done so or this young man was
possessed of talents and a power of controlling his features
beyond the ordinary. He unslung his tools, and saluting me
abjectly waited in silence. After a moment's thought, I asked
him peremptorily what was his errand with the Duchess de
Beaufort.
"To show her a watch, your excellency," he stammered, his mouth
open, his eyes staring. I could detect no flaw in his acting.
"What are you, then?" I said.
"A clockmaker, my lord."
"Has Madame sent for you?"
"No, my lord," he stuttered, trembling.
"Do you want to sell her the watch?"
He muttered that he did; and that he meant no harm by it.
"Show it to me, then," I said curtly.
He grew red at that, and seemed for an instant not to understand.
But on my repeating the order he thrust his hand into his breast,
and producing a parcel began to unfasten it. This he did so
slowly that I was soon for thinking that there was no watch in
it; but in the end he found one and handed it to me.
"You did not make this," I said, opening it.
"No, my lord," he answered; "it is German, and old."
I saw that it was of excellent workmanship, and I was about to
hand it back to him, almost persuaded that I had made a mistake,
when in a second my doubts were solved. Engraved on the thick
end of the egg, and partly erased by wear, was a dog's head,
which I knew to be the crest of the Perrots.
"So," I said, preparing to return it to him, "you are a
clockmaker?"
"Yes, your excellency," he muttered. And I thought that I caught
the sound of a sigh of relief.
I gave the watch to Maignan to hand to him. "Very well," I said.
"I have need of one. The clock in the next room--a gift from his
Majesty--is out of order, and at a standstill. You can go and
attend to it; and see that you do so skilfully. And do you,
Maignan," I continued with meaning, "go with him. When he has
made the clock go, let him go; and not before, or you answer for
it. You understand, sirrah?"
Maignan saluted obsequiously, and in a moment hurried young
Perrot from the room; leaving me to congratulate myself on the
strange and fortuitous circumstance that had thrown him in my
way, and enabled me to guard against a RENCONTRE that might have
had the most embarassing consequences.
It required no great sagacity to foresee the, next move; and I
was not surprised when, about an hour later, I heard a clatter of
hoofs outside, and a voice inquiring hurriedly for the Marquis de
Rosny. One of my people announced M. de Perrot, and I bade them
admit him. In a twinkling he came up, pale with heat, and
covered with dust, his eyes almost starting from his head and his
cheeks trembling with agitation. Almost before the door was
shut, he cried out that we were undone.
I was willing to divert myself with him for a time, and I
pretended to know nothing. "What?" I said, rising. "Has the
King met with an accident?"
"Worse! worse!" he cried, waving his hat with a gesture of
despair. "My son--you saw my son yesterday?"
"Yes," I said.
"He overheard us!"
"Not us," I said drily. "You. But what then, M. de Perrot? You
are master in your own house."
"But he is not in my house," he wailed. "He has gone! Fled!
Decamped! I had words with him this morning, you understand."
"About your niece?"
M. de Perrot's face took a delicate shade of red, and he nodded;
he could not speak. He seemed for an instant in danger of some
kind of fit. Then he found his voice again. "The fool prated of
love! Of love!" he said with such a look--like that of a dying
fowl--that I could have laughed aloud. "And when I bade him
remember his duty he threatened me. He, that unnatural boy,
threatened to betray me, to ruin me, to go to Madame de Beaufort
and tell her all--all, you understand. And I doing so much, and
making such sacrifices for him!"
"Yes," I said, "I see that. And what did you do?"
"I broke my cane on his back," M. de Perrot answered with
unction, "and locked him in his room. But what is the use? The
boy has no natural feelings!"
"He got out through the window?"
Perrot nodded; and being at leisure, now that he had explained
his woes, to feel their full depth, shed actual tears of rage and
terror; now moaning that Madame would never forgive him, and that
if he escaped the Bastille he would lose all his employments and
be the laughing-stock of the Court; and now striving to show that
his peril was mine, and that it was to my interest to help him.
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