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From the Memoirs of a Minister of France......................................................................................................1

Stanley Weyman......................................................................................................................................1

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

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 approachingand which

must, if he pursued his expressed intention of marrying the Duchess, be fraught with infinite danger to the

State and himselfthe 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

Accordingly I met him with civility, and was not surprised when, with his second speech, he brought out the

word FAVOUR. But I was surprisedfor, as I have said, I knew him to be the best practised beggar in the

worldto note in his manner some indications of embarrassment and nervousness; which, when I did not

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 presentI say nothing of the Duchess, she is a good woman, and devoted to his

"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

"It is a small thing," he said, with illdisguised nervousness. "The King hunts tomorrow."

"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

"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

"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 mighttake 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

"And he may do so," I said, smiling, "tomorrow. But then, again, he may not. The chase may lead him

another way; or he may be late in returning; orin 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

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

"He applied for the post of Assistant Deputy Comptroller of Buildings for his nephew, and took offence when

Boisrueil smiled. "He has lived a week out of the sunshine of his Majesty's countenance, your excellency.

This was my own estimate of the man, whom I took to be one of those smug, pliant selfseekers 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

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 byroad, we sauntered

The sun was near setting, and its rays, which still gilded the treetops, 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

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

"'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.

"The horn, Monsieur?" she exclaimed, opening her eyes in wonder, and staring at him with the prettiest face

"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,

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;

On a sudden, hearing a step behind me, I turned, and saw a young man in a ridingdress 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

Between him and mefor, 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. OrI see that you are overcome by the honour which the King does us. Go, first, and change

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

"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 footI understand you," I replied drily. "Chut, man!" I continued, "you don't

make a catspaw of me. I see the game. You are for sitting in Madame de Sourdis' seat, and giving your son a

"Hush, hush, M. de Rosny," he muttered, turning white and red, and wiping his brow with his kerchief.

I shrugged my shoulders contemptuously. "Tush, man!" I said. "Do you think that I sit in no safer seat than

"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.

"It would be a disgrace to France?" he whispered; and he laid his hand on my arm, and looked eagerly into

"Thenis it not worth while to avoid all that?" he murmured, his face pale, and his small eyes glued to mine.

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

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

"It seems that you were right, sire," she murmured, curtseying in a pretty confusion, "The princess was not

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

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

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

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 wayby 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

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

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

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.

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.

"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

rooma gift from his Majestyis 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

I was willing to divert myself with him for a time, and I pretended to know nothing. "What?" I said, rising.

"Worse! worse!" he cried, waving his hat with a gesture of despair. "My sonyou saw my son yesterday?"

"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,

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 looklike that of a dying fowlthat 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 allall, you understand. And I doing so much, and making such sacrifices for him!"

"I broke my cane on his back," M. de Perrot answered with unction, "and locked him in his room. But what is

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 laughingstock of the Court; and now striving to show

I allowed him to go on in this strain for some time, and then, having sufficiently diverted myself with his

forebodings, I bade him in an altered voice to take courage. "For I think I know," I said, "where your son is."

"MON DIEU! Where?" he cried. And he sprang up, startled out of his lamentations.

"In the next room," I replied, smiling indulgently at his astonishment, which was only less amusing than his

Full of wonder and admiration, he implored me to ring and have him brought immediately; since until he had

set eyes on him he could not feel safe. Accordingly I rang my handbell, and Maignan opened the door. "The

"Gone?" I cried, scarcely able to believe my ears. "Gone, sirrah! and I told you to detain him!"

"Until he had mended the clock, my lord," Maignan stammered, quite out of countenance. "But he set it going

It is in the face of such CONTRETEMPS as these that the lowbred man betrays himself. Yet such was my

chagrin on this occasion, and so sudden the shock, that it was all I could do to maintain my SANGFROID,

and, dismissing Maignan with a look, be content to punish M. de Perrot with a sneer. "I did not know that

your son was a tradesman," I said. He wrung his hands. "He has low tastes," he cried. "He always had. He has

amused himself that way, And now by this time he is with Madame de Beaufort and we are undone!"

But though, having no mind to appear in his eyes dependent on Madame's favour or caprice, I thus checked

his familiarity, I am free to confess that my calmness was partly assumed; and that, though I knew my

position to be unassailablebased as it was on solid services rendered to the King, my master, and on the

familiar affection with which he honoured me through so many yearsI could not view the prospect of a

fresh collision with Madame without some misgiving. Having gained the mastery in the two quarrels we had

had, I was the less inclined to excite her to fresh intrigues; and as unwilling to give the King reason to think

that we could not live at peace. Accordingly, after a moment's consideration, I told Perrot that, rather than he

should suffer, I would go to Madame de Beaufort myself, and give such explanations as would place another

He overwhelmed me with thanks, and, besides, to show his gratitudefor he was still on thorns, picturing

her wrath and resentment he insisted on accompanying me to the Cloitre de St. Germain, where Madame had

"Then anything!" he cried with fervour. "Anything, my dear friend. Oh, that unnatural boy!"

Fortunately the King was not there, and Madame would receive me. I thought, indeed, that her doors flew

open with suspicious speed, and that way was made for me more easily than usual; and I soon found that I

was not wrong in the inference I drew from these facts. For when I entered her chamber that remarkable

woman, who, whatever her enemies may say, combined with her beauty a very uncommon degree of sense

and discretion, met me with a low courtesy and a smile of derision. "So," she said, "M. de Rosny, not

"By his presence here," she answered. "An hour ago," she continued, "the King was with me. I had not then

the slightest ground to expect this honour, or I am sure that his Majesty would have stayed to share it. But I

She spoke with a sparkling eye, and an expression of the most lively resentment; so that, had M. de Perrot

been in my place I think that he would have shed more tears. I was myself somewhat dashed, though I knew

the prudence that governed her in her most impetuous sallies; still, to avoid the risk of hearing things which

we might both afterwards wish unsaid, I came to the point. "I fear that I have timed my visit ill, Madame," I

"Only that you are like the others," she answered with a fine contempt. "You profess one thing and do

"For example!" she replied, with a scornful laugh. "How many times have you told me that you left women,

"And now I find youyou and that Perrot, that creature! intriguing against me; intriguing with some

"Madame!" I said, cutting her short with a show of temper, "where did you get this?"

"Do you deny it?" she cried, looking so beautiful in her anger that I thought I had never seen her to such

"A purpose!" she cried with withering scorn. "Was it not that the King might see that girl?"

"I see no reason why I should not, Madame," I replied easily"I cannot conceive why you should object to

the unionand many why you should desire to see two people happy. Otherwise, if I had had any idea, even

the slightest, that the matter was obnoxious to you, I would not have engaged in it."

"To obtain the King's good word with M. de Perrot to permit the marriage of his son with his niece; who is,

Madame uttered a low exclamation, and her eyes wandering from me, she took upas if her thoughts

strayed alsoa small ornament; from the table beside her. "Ah!" she said, looking at it closely. "But Perrot's

"No," I answered, smiling. "But I have heard that women can love as well as men, Madame. And sometimes

I heard her draw a sigh of relief, and I knew that if I had not persuaded her I had accomplished much. I was

not surprised when, laying down the ornament with which she had been toying, she turned on me one of those

rare smiles to which the King could refuse nothing; and wherein wit, tenderness, and gaiety were so happily

blended that no conceivable beauty of feature, uninspired by sensibility, could vie with them. "Good friend, I

have sinned," she said. "But I am a woman, and I love. Pardon me. As for your PROTEGEE, from this

moment she is mine also. I will speak to the King this evening; and if he does not at once," Madame

continued, with a gleam of archness that showed me that she was not yet free from suspicion, "issue his

commands to M. de Perrot, I shall know what to think; and his Majesty will suffer!"

I thanked her profusely, and in fitting terms. Then, after a word or two about some assignments for the

expenses of her household, in settling which there had been delaya matter wherein, also, I contrived to do

her pleasure and the King's service no wrongI very willingly took my leave, and, calling my people,

started homewards on foot. I had not gone twenty paces, however, before M. de Perrot, whose impatience had

chained him to the spot, crossed the street and joined himself to me. "My dear friend," he cried, embracing

He heaved a deep sigh of relief, and, almost crying in his joy, began to thank me, with all the extravagance of

phrase and gesture to which men of his mean spirit are prone. Through all I heard him silently, and with

secret amusement, knowing that the end was not yet. At length he asked me what explanation I had given.

"The only explanation possible," I answered bluntly. "I had to combat Madame's jealousy. I did it in the only

way in which it could be done: by stating that your niece loved your son, and by imploring her good word on

He sprang a pace from me with a cry of rage and astonishment. "You did that?" he screamed.

"Softly, softly, M. de Perrot," I said, in a voice which brought him somewhat to his senses. "Certainly I did.

You bade me say whatever was necessary, and I did so. No more. If you wish, however," I added grimly, "to

But with a wail of lamentation he rushed from me, and in a moment was lost in the darkness; leaving me to

smile at this odd termination of an intrigue that, but for a lad's adroitness, might have altered the fortunes not

A few weeks before the death of the Duchess of Beaufort, on Easter Eve, 1599, made so great a change in the

relations of all at Court that "Sourdis mourning" came to be a phrase for grief, genuine because interested, an

affair that might have had a serious issue began, imperceptibly at the time, in the veriest trifle.

One day, while the King was still absent from Paris, I had a mind to play tennis, and for that purpose

summoned La Trape, who had the charge of my balls, and sometimes, in the absence of better company,

played with me. Of late the balls he bought had given me small satisfaction, and I bade him bring me the bag,

that I might choose the best. He did so, and I had not handled halfa dozen before I found one, and later

three others, so much more neatly sewn than the rest, and in all points so superior, that even an untrained eye

"Look, man!" I said, holding out one of these for his inspection. "These are balls; the rest are rubbish. Cannot

"Some rogue of a marker," I exclaimed, "from whom you bought filched goods! Who was it, man?"

"Ho!" I said drily. "Now I understand. Bring me your book. Or, tell me, what have you charged me for these

"And never gave a sou, I'll swear!" I retorted. "You took the poor devil's balls, and left him at the gate! Ay, it

is rogues like you get me a bad name!" I continued, affecting more anger than I feltfor, in truth, I was

rather pleased with my quickness in discovering the cheat. "You steal and I bear the blame, and pay to boot!

Off with you and find the fellow, and bring him to me, or it will be the worse for you!"

Glad to escape so easily, La Trape ran to the gate; but he failed to find his friend, and two or three days

elapsed before I thought again of the matter, such petty rogueries being ingrained in a great man's

VALETAILLE, and being no more to be removed than the hairs from a man's arm. At the end of that time La

Trape came to me, bringing the Spaniard; who had appeared again at the gate. The stranger proved to be a

small, slight man, pale and yet brown, with quickglancing eyes. His dress was decent, but very poor, with

more than one rent neatly darned. He made me a profound reverence, and stood waiting, with his cap in his

hand, to be addressed; but, with all his humility, I did not fail to detect an easiness of deportment and a

propriety that did not seem absolutely strange since he was a Spaniard, but which struck me, nevertheless, as

requiring some explanation. I asked him, civilly, who he was. He answered that his name was Diego.

"I am of Guipuzcoa, my lord," he answered, "where we sometimes speak three tongues."

"At Madrid, where I was the keeper of the Duke of Segovia's court; and at Toledo, where I frequently had the

"Softly, softly," I said, somewhat taken aback by his earnestness. "Granted that you are a player, you seem to

I shrugged my shoulders. "You have been in the hands of the Holy Brotherhood?" I said.

On that I fell to considering him with more attention, but at the same time with some distrust; reflecting that

he was a Spaniard, and recalling the numberless plots against his Majesty of which that nation had been

guilty. Still, if his tale were true he deserved support; with a view therefore to testing this I questioned him

farther, and learned that he had for a long time disguised his opinions, until, opening them in an easy moment

to a fellow servant, he found himself upon the first occasion of quarrel betrayed to the Fathers. After

suffering much, and giving himself up for lost in their dungeons, he made his escape in a manner sufficiently

remarkable, if I might believe his story. In the prison with him lay a Moor, for whose exchange against a

Christian taken by the Sallee pirates an order came down. It arrived in the evening; the Moor was to be

removed in the morning. An hour after the arrival of the news, however, and when the two had just been

locked up for the night, the Moor, overcome with excess of joy, suddenly expired. At first the Spaniard was

for giving the alarm; but, being an ingenious fellow, in a few minutes he summoned all his wits together and

made a plan. Contriving to blacken his face and hands with charcoal he changed clothes with the corpse, and

muffling himself up after the fashion of the Moors in a cold climate he succeeded in the early morning in

passing out in his place. Those who had charge of him had no reason to expect an escape, and once on the

road he had little difficulty in getting away, and eventually reached France after a succession of narrow

All this the man told me so simply that I knew not which to admire more, the daring of his devicesince for

a white man to pass for a brown is beyond the common scope of such disguisesor his present modesty in

relating it. However, neither of these things seemed to my mind a good reason for disbelief. As to the one, I

considered that an impostor would have put forward something more simple; and as to the other, I have all

my life long observed that those who have had strange experiences tell them in a very ordinary way. Besides,

I had fresh in my mind the diverting escape of the Duke of Nemours from Lyons, which I have elsewhere

related. On the other hand, and despite all these things, the story might be false; so with a view to testing one

"My lord," he said bluntly, "I had rather not. For if I defeat your excellency, I may defeat also your good

Somewhat surprised by his forethought, I reassured him on this point; and his game, which proved to be one

of remarkable strength and finesse, and fairly on an equality, as it seemed to me, with that of the best French

players, persuaded me that at any rate the first part of his tale was true. Accordingly I made him a present,

and, in addition, bade Maignan pay him a small allowance for a while. For this he showed his gratitude by

attaching himself to my household; and as it was the fashion at that time to keep tennis masters of this class, I

found it occasionally amusing to pit him against other wellknown players. In the course of a few weeks he

gained me great credit; and though I am not so foolish as to attach importance to such trifles, but, on the

contrary, think an old soldier who stood fast at Coutras, or even a clerk who has served the King honestlyif

such a prodigy there bemore deserving than these professors, still I do not err on the other side; but count

him a fool who, because he has solid cause to value himself, disdains the ECLAT which the attachment of

The man went by the name of Diego the Spaniard, and his story, which gradually became known, together

with the excellence of his play, made him so much the fashion that more than one tried to detach him from

my service. The King heard of him, and would have played with him, but the sudden death of Madame de

Beaufort, which occurred soon afterwards, threw the Court into mourning; and for a while, in pursuing the

negotiations for the King's divorce, and in conducting a correspondence of the most delicate character with

the Queen, I lost sight of my playerinsomuch, that I scarcely knew whether he still formed part of my suite

My attention was presently recalled to him, however, in a rather remarkable manner. One morning Don

Antonio d'Evora, Secretary to the Spanish Embassy, and a brother of that d'Evora who commanded the

Spanish Foot at Paris in '94, called on me at the Arsenal, to which I had just removed, and desired to see me. I

bade them admit him; but as my secretaries were at the time at work with me, I left them and received him in

the gardensupposing that he wished to speak to me, about the affair of Saluces, and preferring, like the

However, I was mistaken. Don Antonio said nothing about Savoy, but after the usual preliminaries, which a

Spaniard never omits, plunged into a long harangue upon the comity which, now that peace reigned, should

exist between the two nations. For some time I waited patiently to learn what he would be at; but he seemed

"All this is very well, M. d'Evora," I said. "I quite agree with you that the times are changed, that amity is not

the same thing as war, and that a grain of sand in the eye is unpleasant," for he had said all of these things.

"But I fail, being a plain man and no diplomatist, to see what you want me to do."

"As you do at the grain of sand in the eye," he answered wittily. "After all, however, in what you say, M. de

Rosny, there is some truth. I feel that I am, on delicate ground; but I am sure that you will pardon me. You

"And a subject of the King, my master. A man," Don Antonio continued, with increasing stiffness, "in fine,

M. de Rosny, who, after committing various offences, murdered his comrade in prison, and, escaping in his

"No, or I am sure that you would not harbour the fellow," the secretary answered. "Now that you do know it,

however, I take it for granted that you will dismiss him? If you held any but the great place you do hold, M.

de Rosny, it would be different; but all the world see who follow you, and this man's presence stains you, and

"Softly, softly, M. d'Evora," I said, with a little warmth. "You go too fast. Let me tell you first, that, for my

honour, I take care of it myself; and, secondly, for your master, I do not allow even my own to meddle with

"Is the King of Spain," I answered, cutting him short without much ceremony. "But in the Arsenal of Paris,

which, for the present, is my house, I am king. And I brook no usurpers, M. d'Evora."

"Then I can say no more," he answered. "I have warned you that the man is a rogue. If you will still entertain

him, I wash my hands of it. But I fear the consequences, M. de Rosny, and, frankly, it lessens my opinion of

Thereat I bowed in my turn, and after the exchange of some civilities he took his leave. Considering his

application after he was gone, I confess that I found nothing surprising in it; and had it come from a man

whom I held in greater respect I might have complied with it in an indirect fashion. But though it might have

led me under some circumstances to discard Diego, naturally, since it confirmed his story in some points, and

proved besides that he was not a persona grata at the Spanish Embassy, it did not lead me to value him less.

And as within the week he was so fortunate as to defeat La Varenne's champion in a great match at the

Louvre, and won also a match, at M. de Montpensier's which put fifty crowns into my pocket, I thought less

and less of d'Evora's remonstrance; until the king's return put it quite out of my head. The entanglement with

Mademoiselle d'Entragues, which was destined to be the most fatal of all Henry's attachments, was then in

the forming; and the king plunged into every kind of amusement with fresh zest. The very day after his return

he matched his marker, a rogue, but an excellent player, against my man; and laid me twenty crowns on the

event, the match to be played on the following Saturday after a dinner which M. de Lude was giving in

On the Thursday, however, who should come in to me, while I was sitting alone after supper, but Maignan:

who, closing the door and dismissing the page who waited there, told me with a very long face and an air of

"Something?" I said, being inclined at the moment to be merry. "What? A plot to reduce your perquisites, you

That sobered me, by putting the matter in a new light; and I sat a moment looking at him and reviewing

Diego's story, which assumed on the instant an aspect so uncommon and almost incredible that I wondered

how I had ever allowed it to pass. But when I proceeded from this to the substance of Maignan's charge I

found an IMPASSE in this direction also, and I smiled. "So it is Diego, is it?" I said. "You think that he is a

"Then, tell me," I asked, "what opportunity has he of learning more than all the world knows? He has not

been in my apartments since I engaged him. He has seen none of my papers. The youngest footboy could tell

"I saw him this evening, talking with a Priest in the Rue Petits Pois; and he calls himself a Protestant."

It was natural that after this I should take a more serious view of the matter; and I did so. But my former

difficulty still remained, for, assuming this to be a cunning plot, and d'Evora's application to me a ruse to

throw me off my guard, I could not see where their advantage lay; since the Spaniard's occupation was not of

a nature to give him the entry to my confidence or the chance of ransacking my papers. I questioned Maignan

further, therefore, but without result. He had seen the two together in a secret kind of way, viewing them

himself from the window of a house where he had an assignation. He had not been near enough to hear what

they said, but he was sure that no quarrel took place between them, and equally certain that it was no chance

Infected by his assurance, I could still see no issue; and no object in such an intrigue. And in the end I

contented myself with bidding him watch the Spaniard closely, and report to me the following evening;

adding that he might confide the matter to La Trape, who was a supple fellow, and of the two the easier

Accordingly, next evening Maignan again appeared, this time with a face even longer; so that at first I

supposed him to have discovered a plot worse than Chastel's; but it turned out that he had discovered nothing.

The Spaniard had spent the morning in lounging and the afternoon in practice at the Louvre, and from first to

last had conducted himself in the most innocent manner possible. On this I rallied Maignan on his mare's

nest, and was inclined to dismiss the matter as such; still, before doing so, I thought I would see La Trape,

"One little thing only, your excellency," he answered slyly, "and of no importance."

It may be imagined how I felt on hearing this; for although I might have thought nothing of the matter before

my suspicions were arousedsince any man might visit such a place out of curiositynow, my mind being

disturbed, I was quick to conceive the worst, and saw with horror my beloved master already destroyed

through my carelessness. I questioned La Trape in a fury, but could learn nothing more. He had seen the man

"But did you not go in yourself?" I said, restraining my impatience with difficulty.

"You sacrilegious rascal!" I cried, amused in spite of my anxiety. "And he was none the worse?"

Not satisfied yet, I continued to press him, but with so little success that I still found myself unable to decide

whether the Spaniard had wandered in innocently or to explore his ground. In the end, therefore, I made up

my mind to see things for myself; and early next morning, at an hour when I was not likely to be observed, I

went out by a back door, and with my face muffled and no other attendance than Maignan and La Trape,

This was a small closet on the first floor, of a size to hold two or three persons, and with a casement through

which the King, if he wished to be private, might watch the game. Its sole furniture consisted of a little table

with a mirror, a seat for his Majesty, and a couple of stools, so that it offered small scope for investigation.

True, the stale sherbet and the water were still there, the carafes standing on the table beside an empty comfit

box, and a few toilet necessaries; and it will be believed that I lost no time in examining them. But I made no

discovery, and when I had passed my eye over everything else that the room contained, and noticed nothing

that seemed in the slightest degree suspicious, I found myself completely at a loss. I went to the window, and

But neither did any light come thence, and I had turned again and was about to leave, when my eye alighted

"What is that?" I said. It was a thin case, bookshaped, of Genoa velvet, somewhat worn.

"Plaister," Maignan, who was waiting at the door, answered. "His Majesty's hand is not well yet, and as your

"Silence, fool!" I cried. and I stood rooted to the spot, overwhelmed by the conviction that I held the clue to

the mystery, and so shaken by the horror which that conviction naturally brought with it that I could not move

a finger. A design so fiendish and monstrous as that which I suspected might rouse the dullest sensibilities, in

a case where it threatened the meanest; but being aimed in this at the King, my master, from whom I had

received so many benefits, and on whose life the well being of all depended, it goaded me to the warmest

resentment. I looked round the tenniscourtwhich, empty, shadowy and silent, seemed a fit place for such

horrorswith rage and repulsion; apprehending in a moment of sad presage all the accursed strokes of an

enemy whom nothing could propitiate, and who, sooner or later, must set all my care at nought, and take from

But, it will be said, I had no proof, only a conjecture; and this is true, but of it hereafter. Suffice it that, as

soon as I had swallowed my indignation, I took all the precautions affection could suggest or duty enjoin,

omitting nothing; and then, confiding the matter to no one the two men who were with me exceptedI

The match was to take place at three in the afternoon. A little after that hour, I arrived at the tenniscourt,

attended by La Font and other gentlemen, and M. l'Huillier, the councillor, who had dined with me.

L'Huillier's business had detained me somewhat, and the men had begun; but as I had anticipated this, I had

begged my good friend De Vic to have an eye to my interests. The King, who was in the gallery, had with

him M. de Montpensier, the Comte de Lude, Vitry, Varennes, and the Florentine Ambassador, with Sancy

and some others. Mademoiselle d'Entragues and two ladies had taken possession of his closet, and from the

casement were pouring forth a perpetual fire of badinage and BONS MOTS. The tenniscourt, in a word,

presented as different an aspect as possible from that which it had worn in the morning. The sharp crack of

the ball, as it bounded from side to side, was almost lost in the crisp laughter and babel of voices; which as I

entered rose into a perfect uproar, Mademoiselle having just flung a whole lapful of roses across the court in

return for some witticism. These falling short of the gallery had lighted on the head of the astonished Diego,

Madame de Lude's saucy eye picked me out in a moment. "Oh, the grave man!" she cried. "Crown him, too,

"As they crowned the skull at the feast, madame?" I answered, saluting her gallantly.

"No, but as the man whom the King delighteth to honour," she answered, making a face at me. "Ha! ha! I am

There was a good deal of laughter at this. "What shall I do to her, M. de Rosny?" Mademoiselle cried out,

"If you will have the goodness to kiss her, mademoiselle," I answered, "I will consider it an advance, and as

"Thank you!" the King cried, nimbly cutting me short. "But as my finances seem to be the security, faith, I

will see to the repayment myself! Let them start again; but I am afraid that my twenty crowns are yours,

I looked into the court. Diego, lithe and sinewy, with his cropped black hair, high colour, and quick shallow

eyes, bounded here and there, swift and active as a panther. Seeing him thus, with his heart in his returns, I

could not but doubt; more, as the game proceeded, amid the laughter and jests and witty sallies of the

courtiers, I felt the doubt grow; the riddle became each minute more abstruse, the man more mysterious. But

A little after four o'clock the match ended in my favour; on which the King, tired of inaction, sprang up, and

declaring that he would try Diego's strength himself, entered the court. I followed, with Vitry and others, and

several strokes which had been made were tested and discussed. Presently, the King going to talk with

Mademoiselle at her window, I remarked the Spaniard and Maignan, with the King's marker, and one or two

others waiting at the further door. Almost at the same moment I observed a sudden movement among them,

and voices raised higher than was decent, and I called out sharply to know what it was.

"It is nothing," another muttered. "Maignan was playing tricks, your excellency, and cut Diego's hand a little;

"Cut his hand now!" I exclaimed angrily "And the King about to play with him. Let me see it!"

"Pooh!" I said; "it is nothing. Get some plaister. Here, you," I continued wrathfully, turning to Maignan,

"since you have done the mischief, booby, you must repair it. Get some plaister, do you hear? He cannot play

Diego muttered something, and Maignan that he had not got any; but before I could answer that he must get

some, La Trape thrust his may to the front, and producing a small piece from his pocket, proceeded with a

droll air of extreme carefulness to treat the hand. The other knaves fell into the joke, and the Spaniard had no

option but to submit; though his scowling face showed that he bore Maignan no goodwill, and that but for

my presence he might not have been so complaisant. La Trape was bringing his surgery to an end by

demanding a fee, in the most comical manner possible, when the King returned to our part of the court.

"Oh, yes, sire," I answered. "I have bound it up with a strip of plaister from the case in your Majesty's closet."

And he had not. But it was small wonder that the King asked; small wonder, for the man's face had changed

in the last ten seconds to a strange leaden colour; a terror like that of a wild beast that sees itself trapped had

leapt into his eyes. He shot a furtive glance round him, and I saw him slide his hand behind him. But I was

prepared for that, and as the King moved off a space I slipped to the man's side, as if to give him some

"Listen," I said, in a voice heard only by him; "take the dressing off your hand, and I have you broken on the

Assuring myself that he did understand, and that Maignan and La Trape were at hand if he should attempt

anything, I went back to my place, and sitting down by De Vic began to watch that strange game; while

Mademoiselle's laughter and Madame de Lude's gibes floated across the court, and mingled with the eager

applause and more dexterous criticisms of the courtiers. The light was beginning to sink, and for this reason,

perhaps, no one perceived the Spaniard's pallor; but De Vic, after a rally or two, remarked that he was not

De Vic laughed. "How he sweats!" he said, "and he never turned a hair when he played Colet. I suppose he is

And so they chattered and laughedchattered and laughed, seeing an ordinary game between the King and a

marker; while I, for whom the court had grown sombre as a dungeon, saw a villain struggling in his own

toils, livid with the fear of death, and tortured by horrible apprehensions. Use and habit were still so powerful

with the man that he played on mechanically with his hands, but his eyes every now and then sought mine

with the look of the trapped beast; and on these occasions I could see his lips move in prayer or cursing. The

sweat poured down his face as he moved to and fro, and I, fancied that his features were beginning to twitch.

PresentlyI have said that the light was failing, so that it was not in my imagination only that the court was

sombre the King held his ball. "My friend, your man is not well," he said, turning to me.

"It is nothing, sire; the honour you do him makes him nervous," I answered. "Play up, sirrah," I continued;

Mademoiselle d'Entragues clapped her hands and laughed at the hit; and I saw Diego glare at her with an

indescribable look, in which hatred and despair and a horror of reproach were so nicely mingled with

something as exceptional as his position, that the whole baffled words. Doubtless the gibes and laughter he

heard, the trifling that went on round him, the very game in which he was engaged, and from which he dared

not draw back, seemed in his eyes the most appalling mockery; but ignorant who were in the secret, unable to

guess how his diabolical plot had been discovered, uncertain even whether the whole were not a concerted

piece, he went on playing his part mechanically; with starting eyes and labouring chest, and lips that,

twitching and working, lost colour each minute. At length he missed a stroke, and staggering leaned against

the wall, hisface livid and ghastly. The King took the alarm at that, and cried out that something was wrong.

"It is a fit," I said. "He is subject to them, and doubtless the excitementbut I am sorry that it has spoiled

"It has not," Henry answered kindly. "The light is gone. But have him looked to, will you, my friend? If La

While he spoke, the servants had gathered round the man, but with the timidity which characterises that class

in such emergencies, they would not touch him. As I crossed the court, and they made way for me, the

Spaniard, who was still standing, though in a strange and distorted fashion, turned his bloodshot eyes on me.

I directed Maignan to fetch one. "And do you," I continued to the other servants, "take him into a room

They obeyed, reluctantly. As they carried him out, the King, content with my statement, was giving his hand

to Mademoiselle to descend the stairs; and neither he nor any, save the two men in my confidence, had the

slightest suspicion that aught was the matter beyond a natural illness. But I shuddered when I considered how

narrow had been the King's escape, how trifling the circumstance which had led to suspicion, how fortuitous

the inspiration by which I had chanced on discovery. The delay of a single day, the occurrence of the slightest

mishap, might have been fatal not to him only but to the best interests of France; which his death at a time

Of the wretched Spaniard I need say little more. Caught in his own snare, he was no sooner withdrawn from

the court than he fell into violent convulsions, which held him until midnight when he died with symptoms

and under circumstances so nearly resembling those which had attended the death of Madame de Beaufort at

Easter, that I have several times dwelt on the strange coincidence, and striven to find the connecting link. But

I never hit on it; and the King's death, and that unexplained tendency to imitate great crimes under which the

vulgar labour, prevailed with me to keep the matter secret. Nay, as I believed that d'Evora had played the part

of an unconscious tool, and as a hint pressed home sufficed to procure the withdrawal of the chaplain whom

Maignan had named, I did not think it necessary to disclose the matter even to the King my master.

Believing that I have now set down all those particulars of the treaty with Epernon and the consequent

pacification of Brittany in the year 1598 which it will be of advantage to the public to know, that it may the

better distinguish in the future those who have selfishly impoverished the State from those who, in its behalf,

have incurred obloquy and high looks, I proceed next to the events which followed the King's return to Paris.

But, first, and by way of sampling the diverting episodes that will occur from time to time in the most

laborious existence, and for the moment reduce the minister to the level of the man, I am tempted to narrate

an adventure that befell me on my return, between Rennes and Vitre; when the King having preceded me at

speed under the pretext of urgency, but really that he might avoid the prolix addresses that awaited him in

every town, I found myself no more minded to suffer. Having sacrificed my ease, therefore, in two of the

more important places, and come within as many stages of Vitre, I determined also on a holiday.

Accordingly, directing my baggage and the numerous escort and suite that attended me to the full tale of

fourscore horsesto keep the high road, I struck myself into a byway, intending to seek hospitality for the

night at a house of M. de Laval's; and on the second evening to render myself with a good grace to the

I kept with me only La Font and two servants. The day was fine, and the air brisk; the country open, affording

many distant prospects which the sun rendered cheerful. We rode for some time, therefore, with the gaiety of

schoolboys released from their tasks, and dining at noon in the lee of one of the great boulders that there dot

the plain, took pleasure in applying to the life of courts every evil epithet that came to mind. For a little time

afterwards we rode as cheerfully; but about three in the afternoon the sky became overcast, and almost at the

same moment we discovered that we had strayed from the track. The country in that district resembles the

more western parts of Brittany, in consisting of huge tracts of bog and moorland strewn with rocks and

covered with gorse; which present a cheerful aspect in sunshine, but are savage and barren to a degree when

The position, therefore, was not without its discomforts. I had taken care to choose a servant who was

familiar with the country, but his knowledge seemed now at fault. However, under his direction we retraced

our steps, but still without regaining the road; and as a small rain presently began to fall and the day to

decline, the landscape which in the morning had flaunted a wild and rugged beauty, changed to a brown and

dreary waste set here and there with ghostlike stones. Once astray on this, we found our path beset with

sloughs and morasses; among which we saw every prospect of passing the night, when La Font espied at a

little distance a windswept wood that, clothing a low shoulder of the moor, promised at least a change and

shelter. We made towards it, and discovered not only all that we had expected to see, but a path and a guide.

The latter was as much surprised to see us as we to see her, for when we came upon her she was sitting on the

bank beside the path weeping bitterly. On hearing us, however, she sprang up and discovered the form of a

young girl, barefoot and bareheaded, wearing only a short ragged frock of homespun. Nevertheless, her face

was neither stupid nor uncomely; and though, at the first alarm, supposing us to be either robbers or

hobgoblinsof which last the people of that country are peculiarly fearfulshe made as if she would escape

across the moor, she stopped as soon as she heard my voice. I asked her gently where we were.

At first she did not understand, but the servant who had played the guide so ill, speaking to her in the

PATOIS of the country, she answered that we were near St. Brieuc, a hamlet not far from Bottitort, and

considerably off our road. Asked how far it was to Bottitort, she answeredbetween two and three leagues,

We could ride the distance in a couple of hours, and there remained almost as much daylight. But the horses

were tired, so, resigning myself to the prospect of some discomfort, I asked her if there was an inn at St.

"A poor place for your honours," she answered, staring at us in innocent wonder, the forgotten tears not dry

She turned at the word and tripped on before us. I bade the servant ask her, as we went, why she had been

crying, and learned through him that she had been to her uncle's two leagues away to borrow money for her

mother; that the uncle would not lend it, and that now they would be turned out of their house; that her father

was lately dead, and that her mother kept the inn, and owed the money for meal and cider.

"At least, she says that she does not owe it," the man corrected himself, "for her father paid as usual at Corpus

Doubtless some will view my conduct on this occasion with surprise; and wonder why I troubled myself with

inquiries so minute upon a matter so mean. But these do not consider that ministers are the King's eyes; and

that in a State no class is so unimportant that it can be safely overlooked. Moreover, as the settlement of the

finances was one of the objects of my stay in those partsand I seldom had the opportunity of checking the

statements made to me by the farmers and lessees of the taxes, the receivers, gatherers, and, in a word, all the

corrupt class that imparts such views of a province as suit its interestsI was glad to learn anything that

threw light on the real condition of the country: the more, as I had to receive at Vitre a deputation of the

Accordingly, I continued to put questions to her until, crossing a ridge, we came at last within sight of the

inn, a lonely house of stone, standing in the hollow of the moor and sheltered on one side by a few gnarled

trees that took off in a degree from the bleakness of its aspect. The house was of one story only, with a

window on either side of the door, and no other appeared in sight; but a little smoke rising from the chimney

seemed to promise a better reception than the desolate landscape and the girl's scanty dress had led us to

As we drew nearer, however, a thing happened so remarkable as to draw our attention in a moment from all

these points, and bring us, gaping, to a standstill. The shutters of the two windows were suddenly closed

before our eyes with a clap that came sharply on the wind. Then, in a twinkling, one window flew open again

and a man, seemingly naked, bounded from it, fled with inconceivable rapidity across the front of the house

and vanished through the other window, which opened to receive him. He had scarcely gained that shelter

before a coalblack figure followed him, leaping out of the one window and in at the other with the same

astonishing swiftnessa swiftness which was so great that before any of us could utter more than an

exclamation, the two figures appeared again round the corner of the house, in the same order, but this time

with so small an interval that the fugitive barely saved himself through the window. Once more, while we

stared in stupefaction, they flashed out and in; and this time it seemed to me that as they vanished the black

When I say that all this time the two figures uttered no sound, that there was no other living being in sight,

and that on every side of the solitary house the moor, growing each minute more eerie as the day waned,

spread to the horizon, the more superstitious among us may be pardoned if they gave way to their fears. La

"MON DIEU!" he criedwhile the girl moaned in terror, the Breton crossed himself, and La Trape looked

I silenced her, scolding them all for fools, and her first; and La Font, recovering himself, did the same. But

this was the year of that strange appearance of the spectre horseman at Fontainebleau of which so much has

been said; and my servants, when we had approached the house a little nearer, and it still remained silent and,

as it were, dead to the eye, would go no farther, but stood in sheer terror and permitted me to go on alone

with La Font. I confess that the loneliness of the house, and the dreary waste that surrounded it (which

seemed to exclude the idea of trickery) were not without their effect on my spirits; and that as I dismounted

and approached the door, I felt a kind of chill not remarkable under the circumstances.

But the courage of the gentleman differs from that of the vulgar in that he fears yet goes; and I lifted the latch,

and entered boldly. The scene which met my eyes inside was sufficiently commonplace to reassure me. At

the farther end of a long bare room, draughty, halflighted, and having an earthen floor, yet possessing that

air of homeliness which a wood fire never fails to impart, sat a single traveller; who had drawn his small table

under the open chimney, and there, with his feet almost in the fire, was partaking of a poor meal of black

bread and onions. He was a tall, spare man, with sloping shoulders and a long sour face, of which, as I

I looked round the room, but look as I might I could see no one else, nor anything that explained what we had

witnessed and I accosted the man civilly, wishing him good evening. He made an answer, but indistinctly,

and, this done, went on with his meal like one who viewed our arrival with little pleasure; while I, puzzled

and astonished by the ordinary look of things and the stillness of the house, affected to warm my feet at the

logs. At length, espying no signs of disturbance anywhere, I asked him if he was alone.

I was going on to tell him, though reluctantly, what we had seen outside, and to question him upon it, when

on a sudden, before I could speak again, he leaned towards me and accosted me with startling abruptness.

I stared at him in the most perfect astonishment; and was for a moment so completely taken aback that I

"Yes," he rejoined, turning his pale visage full upon me. "What is your opinion of him, sir? He was a man?"

"Well," I said, shrugging my shoulders, "I take that for granted." I began to think that the traveller was

He leaned towards me, and spoke with the most eager impressiveness. "A manand a king!" he said. "Yet

"Neither a kingly man, nor a manly king!" he repeated with solemn gusto. "You take me clearly, I think?"

I had no stomach for further fooleries, and I was about to answer him with some sharpnessthough I could

not for the life of me tell whether he was mad or an eccentric when a harsh voice shrieked in my ear, "Bob!"

and in a twinkling a red figure appeared bounding and whirling in the middle of the kitchen; now springing

into the air until its head touched the rafters, now eddying round and round the floor in the giddiest gyrations.

At the first glance, startled by the voice in my ear, I recoiled; but a second disclosing what it was, and the

secret of our alarm outside, I masked my movement; and when the man brought his performance to a sudden

stop, and falling on one knee in an attitude of exaggerated respect held out his cap, I was ready for him.

"Why, you knave," I said, "you should be whipped, not rewarded. Who gave you leave to play pranks on

He looked at me with a droll smile on his round merry face, which at its gravest was a thing to laugh at. "Let

him whip who is scared," he said, with roguish impudence. "Or if there is to be whipping, my lord, whip

Thus reminded, I turned to the solemn traveller; but my eyes had no sooner met his than he twisted his visage

into so wry a smile if smile it could be calledthat wherever there was a horse collar he must have won

the prize. To hide my amusement, I asked them what they were. "Mountebanks?" I said curtly.

"Your lordship has pricked the garter offhand," the merry man answered cheerfully. "You see before you the

renowned Pierre Paladin VOILA!and Philibert Le Grand! of the Breton fairs, monsieur."

I left the matter there for a moment, while I summoned La Font and the servants; whose rage, when, entering

atiptoe and with some misgiving, they discovered how they had been deceived, and by whom, was scarcely

to be restrained even by my presence. However, aided by Philibert's comicalities, I presently secured a truce,

and the two strollers vacating in my honour the table by the firethough they had not the slightest notion

who I was we were soon on terms. I had taken the precaution to bring a meal with me, and while La Trape

and his companion unpacked it, and I dried my riding boots, I asked the players who it was they had meant to

They were not very willing to tell me, but at length confessed, to my astonishment, that it was M. Grabot.

"GrabotGrabot!" I said, striving to recollect where I had heard the name. "The Mayor of Bottitort?"

The solemn man made an atrocious grimace. Then, "Yes, monsieur, the Mayor of Bottitort," he said frankly.

"A year ago he put Philibert in the stocks for a riddle; that is his affair. And the woman of this house has

more than once befriended me, and he is for turning her out for a debt she does not owe; and that is my affair.

"He is coming," he answered, with more than his usual gloom. "He passed this way this morning, and

announced that on his return he should spend the night here. We found the goodwife all of a tremble when we

arrived. He is a hard man, monsieur," the mountebank continued bitterly. "She cried after him that she hoped

that God would change his heart, but he only answered that even if St. Brieuc changed his bodyyou know

"And here he is," the other, who had been looking out of one of the windows, cried. "I see his lanthorn

coming down the hill. And by St. Brieuc, I have it! I have it," the droll continued, suddenly spinning round in

a wild dance of triumph on the floor, and then as suddenly stopping and falling into an attitude before us.

"Monsieur, if you will help us, I have the richest jest ever played. Pierre, listen. You, gentlemen all, listen!

We will pretend that he is changed. He is a pompous man; he thinks the Mayor of Bottitort equal to the Saint

Pere. Well, Pierre shall be M. Grabot, Mayor of Bottitort. You, monsieur, that we may give him enough of

mayors, shall be the Mayor of Gol, and I will be the Mayor of St. Just. This gentleman shall swear to us, so

"But," I said, astounded by the very audacity of the rogue's proposition, "you do not flatter yourself that you

"We shall, monsieur, if you will help," he answered confidently. "I will be warrant for it we shall."

The thing had little of dignity in it, and I wonder now that I complied; but I have always shared with the

King, my master, a taste for drolleries of the kind suggested; while nothing that I had as yet heard of this

Grabot was of a nature to induce me to spare him. Seeing that La Font was tickled with the idea, and that the

servants were agrin, and the more eager to trick others as they had just been tricked themselves, I was

After this, the preparations took not a minute. Philibert covered his fool's clothes with a cloak, and their table

was drawn nearer to the fire, so as, with mine, to take up the whole hearth. La Trape fell into an attitude

behind me; and the Breton, adopting a refinement suggested at the last moment, was sent out to intercept

Grabot before he entered, and tell him that the inn was full, and that he had better pass on.

The knave did his business so well that Grabot, being just such a man as the stroller had described to us, the

altercation on the threshold was of itself the most amusing thing in the world. "Who?" we heard a loud,

"The Mayor of Bottitort and the Mayors of Gol and St. Just," the servant repeated as if he noticed nothing

"That is a lie!" the new comer replied, with a snort of triumph, "and an impudent one. But you have got the

"Why, man," a third voice, somewhat nasal and rustical, struck in, "don't you know the Mayor of Bottitort?"

"I should," my Breton answered bluntly, and making, as we guessed, a stand before them. "For I am his

The Mayor fairly roared in his indignation. "Youhis servant! The Mayor of Bottitort's?" he cried in a voice

of thunder. "I'll tell you what you are; you are a liar!a liar, man, that is what you are! Why, you fool, I am

the Mayor of Bottitort myself. Now, do you see how you have wasted yourself? Out of my way! Jehan,

follow me in. I shall look into this. There is some knavery here, but if Simon Grabot cannot get to the bottom

of it the Mayor of Bottitort will. Follow me, I say. My servant indeed? Come, come!"

And, still grumbling, he flung open the door, which the Breton had left ajar, and stalked in upon us, fuming

and blowing out his cheeks for all the world like a bantam cock with its feathers erect. He was a short, pursy

man; with a short nose, a wide face, and small eyes. But had he been Caesar and Alexander rolled into one,

he could not have crossed the threshold with a more tremendous assumption of dignity. Once inside, he stood

and glared at us, somewhat taken aback, I think, for the moment by our numbers; but recovering himself

almost immediately, he strutted towards us, and, without uncovering or saluting us, he asked in a deep voice

"I am, the graver mountebank answered, looking at the stranger with a sober air of surprise. "He is my

"Ah!" the Mayor exclaimed, with a withering glance. "And who, may I ask, are you?"

"You may ask, certainly," the player answered drily. "But until you take off your hat I shall not answer."

The Mayor gasped at this rebuff, and turned, if it were possible, a shade redder; but he uncovered.

"Now I do not mind telling you," Pierre continued, with a mild dignity admirably assumed, "that I am Simon

I looked to see an explosion, but the Mayor was too far gone. "Why, you swindling impostor," he said, with

something that was almost admiration in his tone. "You are the very prince of cheats! The king of cozeners!

But for all that, let me tell you, you have chosen the wrong ROLE this time. For II, sir, am the Mayor of

Pierre stared at him in composed silence, which his comrade was the first to break. "Is he mad?" he said in a

The Mayor heard and saw; and getting no other answer, began to tremble between passion and a natural,

though illdefined, misgiving, which the silent gaze of so large a partyfor we all looked at him

compassionatelywas well calculated to produce. "Mad?" he cried. "No, but some one is, Sir," he continued,

turning to La Font with a gesture in which appeal and impatience were curiously blended, "Do you know this

"M. Grabot? Certainly," he answered, without blushing. "And have these ten years."

"And you say that he is M. Grabot?" the poor Mayor retorted, his jaw falling ludicrously.

The Mayor looked round him, sudden beads of sweat on his brow. "MON DIEU!" be cried. "You are all in it.

La Trape, to whom he addressed himself, shrugged his shoulders. "I should," he said. "The Mayor is pretty

"But I am the MayorI," Grabot answered eagerly, tapping himself on the breast in the most absurd manner.

"I never saw you before, to my knowledge," the rascal answered contemptuously; "and I know this country

pretty well. I should think that you have been crossing St. Brieuc's brook, and forgotten to say your"

"Hush!" the stout player interposed with some sharpness. " Let him alone. LE BON DIEU knows that such a

The Mayor clapped his hand to his head. "Sir," he said almost humbly, addressing the last speaker, "I seem to

"YouFracasse, Mayor of Gol?" Grabot exclaimed between rage and terror. "But Fracasse is a tall man. I

The Mayor wiped the moisture from his brow. He had all the characteristics of an obstinate man; but if there

is one thing which I have found in a long career more true than another, it is that no one can resist the

statements of his fellows. So much, I verily believe, is this the case, that if ten men maintain black to be

white, the eleventh will presently be brought into their opinion. Besides, the Mayor had a currish side. He

looked piteously from one to another of us, his cheeks seemed to grow in a moment pale and flabby, and he

was on the point of whimpering, when at the last moment he bethought him of his servant, and turned to him

in a spurt of sudden thankfulness. "Why, Jehan, man, I had forgotten you," he said. "Are these men mad, or

But Jehan, a simple rustic, was in a state of ludicrous bewilderment. "Dol, master, I don't know," he stuttered,

"Dol, and I don't know," the man whimpered. "I do believe that there is a change in you. I never saw you look

the like before. And I never said any PATER either. Holy saints!" the poor fool continued piteously, "I wish I

He began to blubber at this; which to us was the most ludicrous thought, so that it was all we could do to

restrain our laughter. But the Mayor saw things in another light. Shaken by our steady persistence in our

story, and astounded by our want of respect, the defection of his follower utterly cowed him. After staring

wildly about him for a moment, he fairly turned tail, and sat down on an old box by the door, where with his

hands on his knees, he looked out before him with such an expression of chap fallen bewilderment as nearly

Still he was not persuaded; for, from time to time, he roused himself, and lifting his head cast suspicious

glances at our party. But the two strollers, who were now in their element, played their parts with so much

craft and delicacy, and with such an infinity of humour besides, that everything he overheard plunged him

deeper in the slough. They knew something of local affairs, and called one another Mayor very naturally; and

mentioning their wives, let drop other scraps of information that, catching his ear, made the wretched man

every now and then sit up as if a wasp had stung him. One story in particular which the false Mayor

toldand which, it appeared, was to the knowledge of all the country round the real Mayor's stock

anecdotehad an absurd effect upon him. He straightened himself, listened as if his life depended upon it,

and when he heard the wellknown ending, uttered, doubtless, in something of his old tone, he collapsed into

Presently, however, an effort of commonsense would again disperse the fog. He would raise his head, his

eye grow bright, something of his old pugnacity would come back to him. He would appearthis more than

onceto be on the point of rising to challenge us. But these occasions were as skilfully met as they were

easily detected; and as the rogues had invariably some stroke in reserve that in a twinkling flung him back

into his old state of dazed bewilderment, while it wellnigh killed us with stifled mirth, they only gave ever

This, to be brief, was carried on until I retired; and probably the two strollers would have kept it up longer if

the ludicrous doubt whether he was himself, which they had lodged in the Mayor's mind, had not at last

spurred him to action. An hour before midnight, feeling it rankle intolerably, I suppose, he sprang up on a

sudden, dragged the door open, darted out with the air of a madman, and in a moment was lost in the

When I rose in the morning, therefore, I found him gone, the strollers looking glum, and the goodwife and

her girl between tears and reproaches. I could not but feel, on my part, that I had somewhat stooped in the

night's diversion; but before I had time to reflect much on that an unexpected trait in the strollers' conduct

reconciled me to this odd experience. They proposed to leave when I did; but a little before the start they

came to me, and set before me very ingenuously that the woman of the house might suffer through our jest; if

I would help her therefore, they would subscribe two crowns so that she might have a substantial sum to offer

on account of her debt. As I took this to be the greater part of their capital, and judged for other reasons that

the offer was genuine, I received it in the best part, and found their goodnature no less pleasant than their

foolery. I handed over three crowns for our share, and on that we parted; they set out with their bundles

strapped to their backs, and I waited somewhat impatiently for La Trape and the Breton to bring round the

Before these appeared, however, La Font, who was at the door, cried out that the two players were coming

hack; and going to the window I saw with astonishment a whole troop, some mounted and some on foot,

hurrying down the hill after them. For a moment I felt some alarm, supposing it to be a scheme of Epernon's

to seize my person; and I cursed the imprudence which had led me to expose myself in this solitary place. But

a second glance showing me that the Mayor of Bottitort was among the foremost, I repented almost as

I even debated whether I should mount and, if it were possible, get clear before they arrived; but the rueful

faces of the two players as they appeared breathless in the doorway, and the liking I had taken for the rascals,

"The Mayor, monsieur," Philibert answered, while Pierre pursed up his lips with gloomy gravity. "I fear it

His comrade muttered something about a rod and a fool's back; but M. Grabot's entrance cut his witticism

short. The Mayor, between shame and rage, and the gratification of his revenge, was almost bursting, and the

moment he caught sight of us opened fire. "All, M. de Gol; we have them all!" he cried exultingly. "Now they

shall smart for it! Depend upon it, it is some deeplaid scheme of that party. I have said so."

But the Mayor of Gol, a stout, big, placid man, looked at us doubtfully. "Well," he said, "I know these two;

they are strolling mountebanks, honest knaves enough but always in some mischief."

"Ay, and you may depend upon it it is some joke of theirs," his friend answered, his eyes twinkling. "I begin

to think that you would have done better if you had waited a little before bringing M. le Comte into the

"Ah, but there are these two," M. Grabot cried, as he recovered from the momentary panic into which the

other's words had thrown him. "Depend upon it they are the chief movers. What else but treason could they

mean by asserting that one of them was Mayor of Bottitort? By denying my title? By setting up other officers

"No!" his companion cried in triumph. "But I intend to know them; and to know a good deal about them.

Guard the window there," he continued fussily. "Where is my clerk? Is M. de Laval coming?"

Two or three cried obsequiously that he had crossed the hill; and would arrive immediately.

Hearing this, and thinking it more becoming not to enter into an altercation, I kept my seat and the scornful

silence I had hitherto maintained. The two Mayors had brought with them a posse of busybodieshuissiers,

constables, tipstaves, and the like; and these all gaped upon us as if they saw before them the most notable

traitors of the age. The women of the house wept in a corner, and the strollers shrugged their shoulders and

strove to appear at their ease. But the only person who felt the indifference which they assumed was La Font;

who, obnoxious to none of the annoyances which I foresaw, could hardly restrain his mirth at the

Meanwhile the Mayor, foreseeing a very different issue, stood blowing out his cheeks and fixing us with his

little eyes with an expression of dignity that would have pleased me vastly if I had been free to enjoy it. But

the reflection that Laval's presence, which would cut the knot of our difficulties, would also place me at the

Byandby we heard him dismount, and a moment later he came in with a gentleman and two or three armed

servants. He did not at once see me, but as the crowd made way for him he addressed himself sharply to M.

"Oh! very well. Now for the particulars, then. You must state your charge quickly, for I have to be in Vitre

"He alleged that he had been appointed Mayor of Bottitort," Grabot answered pompously.

"Umph! I don't know?" M. de Laval muttered, looking round with a frown of discontent. "I hope that you

"That one," the Mayor said, pointing to the solemn man, whose gravity and depression were now something

"Oh!" M. de Laval grumbled. "But that is not all, I suppose. What of the others?"

He got no farther; for M. de Laval, springing forward, seized my hand and saluted me warmly. "Why, your

excellency," he cried, in a tone of boundless surprise, "what are you doing in this GALERE! All last evening

I shrugged my shoulders. "Don't ask me," I said. "Perhaps your friend the Mayor call tell you."

"But, Monsieur, I do not understand," the Mayor answered piteously, his mouth agape with horror, his fat

cheeks turning in a moment all colours. "This gentleman, whom you seem to know, Monsieur le Comte"

"Is the Marquis de Rosny, President of the Council, blockhead!" Laval cried irately. "You madman! you

idiot!" he continued, as light broke in upon him, and he saw that it was indeed on a fool's errand that he had

been roused so early. "Is this your conspiracy? Have you dared to bring me here"

But I thought that it was time to interfere. "The truth is," I said, "that M. Grabot here is not so much to blame.

He was the victim of a trick which these rascals played on him; and in an idle moment I let it go on. That is

the whole secret. However, I forgive him for his officiousness since it brings us together, and I shall now

Laval assented heartily to this, and I did not think fit to tell him more, nor did he inquire; the Mayor's

stupidity passing current for all. For M. Grabot himself, I think that I never saw a man more completely

confounded. He stood staring with his mouth open; and, as much deserted as the statesman who has fallen

from office, had not the least credit even with his own sycophants, who to a man deserted him and flocked

about the Mayor of Gol. Though I had no reason to pity him, and, indeed, thought him well punished, I took

the opportunity of saying a word to him before I mounted; which, though it was only a hint that he should

deal gently with the woman of the house, was received with servility equal to the arrogance he had before

displayed; and I doubt not it had all the effect I desired. For the strollers, I did not forget them, but bade them

hasten to Vitre, where I would see a performance. They did so, and hitting the fancy of Zamet, who chanced

to be still there, and who thought that he saw profit in them, they came on his invitation to Paris, where they

took the Court by storm. So that an episode trifling in itself, and such as on my part requires some apology,

Towards the autumn of 1601, when the affair of M. de Biron, which was so soon to fill the mouths of the

vulgar, was already much in the minds of those whom the King honoured with his confidence, I was one day

leaving the hall at the Arsenal, after giving audience to such as wished to see me, when Maignan came after

me and detained me; reporting that a gentleman who had attended early, but had later gone into the garden,

was still in waiting. While Maignan was still speaking the stranger himself came up, with some show of haste

but none of embarrassment; and, in answer to my salutation and inquiry what I could do for him, handed me a

letter. He had the air of a man not twenty, his dress was a trifle rustic; but his strong and handsome figure set

off a face that would have been pleasing but for a something fierce in the aspect of his eyes. Assured that I

did not know him, I broke the seal of his letter and found that it was from my old flame Madame de Bray,

who, as Mademoiselle de St. Mesmin, had come so near to being my wife; as will be remembered by those

The young man proved to be her brother, whom she commended to my good offices, the impoverishment of

the family being so great that she could compass no more regular method of introducing him to the world,

though the house of St. Mesmin is truly respectable and, like my own, allied to several of the first

consequence. Madame de Bray recalled our old TENDRESSE to my mind, and conjured me so movingly by

itand by the regard which her family had always entertained for methat I could not dismiss the

application with the hundred others of like tenor that at that time came to me with each year. That I might do

nothing in the dark, however, I invited the young fellow to walk with me in the garden, and divined, even

before he spoke, from the absence of timidity in his manner, that he was something out of the common. "So

"And what are the tools with which you propose to do it?" I continued, between jest and earnest.

"That letter, sir," he answered simply; "and, failing that, two horses, two suits of clothes, and two hundred

I could not but stand amazed at his coolness; for he spoke to me as simply as to a brother, and looked about

him with as much or as little curiosity as Guise or Montpensier. It was evident that he thought a St. Mesmin

equal to any man under the King; and that of all the St. Mesmins he did not value himself least.

"Well," I said, after considering him, "I do not think that I can help you much immediately. I should be glad

"Frankly, sir," he said, "I thought of this as I travelled; and I decided that fortune can be won by three

thingsby gold, by steel, and by love. The first I have not, and for the last I have a better use. Only the

I looked at him in astonishment; for the assurance of his manner exceeded that of his words. But I did not

I confess that the audacity of this reply silenced me. I reflected that the young man whobrought up in the

depths of the country, and without experience, training or fashioncould so speak in the face of Paris was so

far out of the common that I hesitated to dash his hopes in the contemptuous way which seemed most natural.

I was content to remind him that Crillon had lived in times of continual war, whereas now we were at peace;

and, bidding him come to me in a week, I hinted that in Paris his crowns would find more frequent

He parted from me with this, seeming perfectly satisfied with his reception; and marched away with the port

of a man who expected adventures at every corner, and was prepared to make the most of them. Apparently

he did not take my hint greatly to heart, however; for when I next met him, within the week, he was

fashionably dressed, his hair in the mode, and his company as noble as himself. I made him a sign to stop,

"What!" I said, pointing to his equipment with something of the indignation I felt, "has this cost the balance?

"No," he answered. "On the contrary, I have paid three months' rent in advance and a month's board at

Zaton's; I have added two suits to my wardrobe, and I have lost fifty crowns on the dice."

He shrugged his shoulders quite in the fashionable manner. "Always courage!" he said; and he went on,

I was walking at the time with M. de Saintonge, and be muttered, with a sneer, that it was not difficult to see

the end, or that within the year the young braggart would sink to be a gaming house bully. I said nothing,

but I confess that I thought otherwise; the lad's disposition of his money and his provision for the future

From this time I began to watch his career with interest, and I was not surprised when, in less than a month,

something fell out that led the whole court to regard him with a mixture of amusement and expectancy.

One evening, after leaving the King's closet, I happened to pass through the east gallery at the Louvre, which

served at that time as the outer antechamber, and was the common resort as well of all those idlers who, with

some pretensions to fashion, lacked the ENTREE, as of many who with greater claims preferred to be at their

ease. My passage for a moment stilled the babel which prevailed. But I had no sooner reached the farther

door than the noise broke out again; and this with so sudden a fury, the tumult being augmented by the

crashing fall of a table, as caused me at the last moment to stand and turn. A dozen voices crying

simultaneously, "Have a care!" and "Not here! not here!" and all looking the same way, I was able to detect

the three principals in the FRACAS. They were no other than M. de St. Mesmin, Barradasa low fellow,

still remembered, who was already what Saintonge had prophesied that the former would becomeand

I rather guessed than heard the cause of the quarrel, and that St. Mesmin, putting into words what many had

known for years and some made their advantage of, had accused Barradas of cheating. The latter's fury was,

of course, proportioned to his guilt; an instant challenge while I looked was his natural answer. This, as he

was a consummate swordsman, and had long earned his living as much by fear as by fraud, should have been

enough to stay the greediest stomach; but St. Mesmin was not content. Treating the knave, the word once

passed, as so much dirt, he transferred his attack to St. Germain, and called on him to return the money he

St. Germain, a young spark as proud and headstrong as St. Mesmin himself, and possessed of friends equal to

his expectations, flung back a haughty refusal. He had the advantage in station and popularity; and by far the

larger number of those present sided with him. I lingered a moment in curiosity, looking to see the accuser

with all his boldness give way before the almost unanimous expression of disapproval. But my former

judgment of him had been correctly formed; so far from being browbeaten or depressed by his position, he

repeated the demand with a stubborn persistence that marvellously reminded me of Crillon; and continued to

reiterate it until all, except St. Germain himself, were silent. "You must return my money!" he kept on saying

monotonously. "You must return my money. This man cheated, and you won my money. You must pay or

"Barradas will spit you!" The other scoffed. "Go and order your coffin, and do not trouble me."

"I shall trouble you. If you did not know that he cheated, pay; and if you did know, fight."

"I know?" St. Germain retorted fiercely. "You madman! Do you mean to say that I knew that he cheated?"

"I mean what I say!" St. Mesmin returned stolidly. "You have won my money. You must return it. If you will

I should have heard more, but at that moment the main door opened, and two or three gentlemen who had

been with the King came out. Not wishing to be seen watching the brawl, I moved away and descended the

stairs; and Varenne overtaking me a moment later, and entering on the Biron affairof which I had just been

discussing the latest developments with the KingI forgot St. Mesmin for the time, and only recalled him

next morning when Saintonge, being announced, came into my room in a state of great excitement, and

"Barradas has not killed him then?" I said, reproaching myself in a degree for my forgetfulness.

"Yes!" he said. "I tell you, M. le Marquis, he is a devil of a fellowa devil of a fellow! He fought, I am told,

just like Crillon; rushed in on that rascal and fairly beat down his guard, and had him pinned to the ground

"Ah, but that is not all!" my visitor replied more seriously. "It should be, but it is not; and it is for that reason

"I know that his father and you arewell, that you take opposite sides," I said smiling.

"That is pretty well known," he answered coldly. "Anyway, this lad is to fight St. Germain tomorrow; and

now I hear that M. de Clan, St. Germain's father, is for shutting him up. Getting a LETTRE DE CACHET or

"No!" M. de Saintonge answered, prolonging the sound to the utmost. "St. Mesmin!"

"Yes," the Marquis retorted pettishly, "but I don't. I don't see. And I beg to remind you, M. de Rosny, that this

lad is my wife's second cousin through her stepfather, and that I shall resent any interference with him. I

have spent enough and done enough in the King's service to have my wishes respected in a small matter such

as this; and I shall regard any severity exercised towards my kinsman as a direct offence to myself. Whereas

"But stop," I said, interrupting him, "I heard you speaking of this young fellow the other day. You did not tell

"Be let alone!" he replied interrupting me in his turn more harshly than I approved. "I wish him to be let

alone. If he will fight St. Germain, and kill or be killed, is that the King's affair that he need interfere? I ask

for no interference," M. de Saintonge continued bitterly, "only for fair play and no favour. And for M. de

Clan who is a Republican at heart, and a Bironist, and has never done anything but thwart the King, for him

"Very well," he replied haughtilyhe had gradually wrought himself into a passion; "be good enough to bear

my request in mind then; and my services also. I ask no more, M. de Rosny, than is due to me and to the

And with that, and scarcely an expression of civility, he left me. Some may wonder, I know, that, having in

the Edict of Blois, which forbade duelling and made it a capital offence, an answer to convince even his

arrogance, I did not use this weapon; but, as a fact, the edict was not published until the following June,

when, partly in consequence of this affair and at my instance, the King put it forth.

Saintonge could scarcely have cleared the gates before his prediction was fulfilled. His enemy arrived hot

foot, and entered to me with a mien so much lowered by anxiety and trouble that I hardly knew him for the

man who had a hundred times rebuffed me, and whom the King's offers had found consistently obdurate. All

I had ever known of M. de Clan heightened his present humility and strengthened his appeal; so that I felt

pity for him proportioned not only to his age and necessity, but to the depth of his fall. Saintonge had rightly

anticipated his request; the first, he said, with a trace of his old pride, that he had made to the King in eleven

years: his son, his only son and only childthe single heir of his name! He stopped there and looked at me;

his eyes bright, his lips trembling and moving without sound, his hands fumbling on his knees.

"Well, that is just my case," I answered. "You see this young fellow St. Mesmin was commended to me, and

is, in a manner, of my household; and that is a fatal objection. I cannot possibly act against him in the manner

you propose. You must see that; and for my wishes, he respects them less than your son regards yours."

M. de Clan rose, trembling a little on his legs, and glaring at me out of his fierce old eyes. "Very well," he

said, "it is as much as I expected. Times are changedand faithssince the King of Navarre slept under the

same bush with Antoine St. Germain on the night before Cahors! I wish you goodday, M. le Marquis."

I need not say that my sympathies were with him, and that I would have helped him if I could; but in

accordance with the maxim which I have elsewhere explained, that he who places any consideration before

the King's service is not fit to conduct it, I did not see my way to thwart M. de Saintonge in a matter so small.

And the end justified my inaction; for the duel, taking place that evening, resulted in nothing worse than a

serious, but not dangerous, wound which St. Mesmin, fighting with the same fury as in the morning,

For some weeks after this I saw little of the young firebrand, though from time to time he attended my

receptions and invariably behaved to me with a modesty which proved that he placed some bounds to his

presumption. I heard, moreover, that M. de Saintonge, in acknowledgment of the triumph over the St.

Germains which he had afforded him, had taken him up; and that the connection between the families being

Judge of my surprise, therefore, when one day a little before Christmas, M. de Saintonge sought me at the

Arsenal during the preparation of the plays and interludeswhich were held there that yearand, drawing

"But," I said, in immense astonishment, "what is this? I thought that he was a young man quite to your mind;

"Yes, mad!" he repeated, striking the ground violently with his cane. "Stark mad, M. de Rosny. He does not

know himself! What do you thinkbut it is inconceivable. He proposes to marry my daughter! This

He stared at me, and for an instant I thought that he was going to quarrel with me. Then he asked me why.

I was not sorry to have this opportunity of at once increasing his uneasiness, and requiting his arrogance.

"Because," I said, "this young man appears to me to be very much out of the common. Hitherto, whatever he

has said he would do, he has done. You remember Crillon? Well, I trace a likeness. St. Mesmin has much of

his headlong temper and savage determination. If you will take my advice, you will proceed with caution."

M. de Saintonge, receiving an answer so little to his mind, was almost bursting with rage. "Proceed with

caution!" he cried. "You talk as if the thing could be entertained, or as if I had cause to fear the coxcomb! On

the contrary, I intend to teach him a lesson a little confinement will cool his temper. You must give me a

M. de Saintonge looked at me, frowning. "How?" he said arrogantly. "Have my services earned no better

"You forget," I replied. "Let me remind you that less than a month ago you asked me not to interfere with St.

Mesmin; and at your instance I refused to accede to M. de Clan's request that I would confine him. You were

then all for noninterference, M. de Saintonge, and I cannot blow hot and cold. Besides, to be plain with

you," I continued, "even if that were not the case, this young fellow is in a manner under my protection;

which renders it impossible for me to move against him. If you like, however, I will speak to him."

"Speak to him!" M. de Saintonge cried. He was breathless with rage. He could say no more. It may be

But I was not disposed to endure his presumption and illtemper beyond a certain point; and feeling no

sympathy with him in a difficulty which he had brought upon himself by his spitefulness, I answered him

roundly. "Yes," I said," I will speak to him, if you please. But not otherwise. I can assure you, I should not do

But M. de Saintonge's chagrin and rage at finding himself thus rebuffed, in a quarter where his haughty

temper had led him to expect an easy compliance, would not allow him to stoop to my offer. He flung away

with expressions of the utmost resentment, and even in the hearing of my servants uttered so many foolish

and violent things against me, that had my discretion been no greater than his I must have taken notice of

them. As, however, I had other and more important affairs upon my hands, and it has never been my practice

to humour such hotheads by placing myself on a level with them, I was content to leave his punishment to

St. Mesmin; assured that in him M. Saintonge would find an opponent more courageous and not less stubborn

The event bore me out, for within a week M. de St. Mesmin's pretensions to the hand of Mademoiselle de

Saintonge shared with the Biron affair the attention of all Paris. The young lady, whose reputation and the

care which had been spent on her breeding, no less than her gifts of person and character, deserved a better

fate, attained in a moment a notoriety far from enviable; rumour's hundred tongues alleging, and probably

with truthfor what father can vie with a gallant in a maiden's eyes?that her inclinations were all on the

side of the pretender. At any rate, St. Mesmin had credit for them; there was talk of stolen meetings and a

bribed waitingwoman; and though such tales were probably as false as those who gave them currency were

fair, they obtained credence with the thoughtless, and being repeated from one to another, in time reached her

father's ears, and contributed with St. Mesmin's persecution to render him almost beside himself.

Doubtless with a man of less dogged character, or one more amenable to reason, the Marquis would have

known how to deal; but the success which had hitherto rewarded St. Mesmin's course of action had confirmed

the young man in his belief that everything was to be won by courage; so that the more the Marquis blustered

and threatened the more persistent the suitor showed himself. Wherever Mademoiselle's presence was to be

expected, St. Mesmin appeared, dressed in the extreme of the fashion and wearing either a favour made of her

colours or a glove which he asserted that she had given him. Throwing himself in her road on every occasion,

he expressed his passion by the most extravagant looks and gestures; and protected from the shafts of ridicule

alike by his selfesteem and his prowess, did a hundred things that rendered her conspicuous and must have

In these circumstances M. de Saintonge began to find that the darts which glanced off his opponent's armour

were making him their butt; and that he, who had valued himself all his life on a stately dignity and a pride:

almost Spanish, was rapidly becoming the laughingstock of the Court. His rage may be better imagined than

described, and doubtless his daughter did not go unscathed. But the ordinary contemptuous refusal which

would have sent another suitor about his business was of no avail here; he had no son, while St. Mesmin's

recklessness rendered the boldest unwilling to engage him. Saintonge found himself therefore at his wits' end,

and in this emergency bethought him again of a LETTRE DE CACHET. But the King proved as obdurate as

his minister; partly in accordance with a promise he had made me about a year before that he would not

commonly grant what I had denied, and partly because Biron's affair had now reached a stage in which

Thus repulsed, the Marquis made up his mind to carry his daughter into the country; but St. Mesmin meeting

this with the confident assertion that he would abduct her within a week, wherever she was confined,

Saintonge, desperate as a baited bull, and trembling with ragefor the threat was uttered at Zamet's and was

repeated everywhereavowed equally publicly that since the King would give him no satisfaction he would

take the law into his own hands, and serve this impudent braggart as Guise served St. Megrin. As M. le

Marquis maintained a considerable household, including some who would not stick at a trifle, it was thought

likely enough that he would carry out his threat; especially as the provocation seemed to many to justify it.

St. Mesmin was warned, therefore; but his reckless character was so well known that odds were freely given

At this juncture, however, an unexpected ally, and one whose appearance increased Saintonge's rage to an

intolerable extent, took up St. Mesmin's quarrel. This was young St. Germain, who, quitting his chamber, was

to be seen everywhere on his antagonist's arm. The old feud between the Saint Germains and Saintonges

aggravated the new; and more than one brawl took place in the streets between the two parties. St. Germain

never moved without four armed servants; he placed others at his friend's disposal; and wherever he went he

This seemed to place an effectual check on M. de Saintonge's purpose; and my surprise was great when,

about a week later, the younger St. Germain burst in upon me one morning, with his face inflamed with anger

and his dress in disorder; and proclaimed, before I could rise or speak, that St. Mesmin had been murdered.

"By M. de Saintonge! Last night!" he answered furiously. "But I will have justice; I will have justice, M. de

I checked him as sternly as my surprise would let me; and when I had a little abashed himwhich was not

easy, for his temper vied in stubbornness with St. Mesmin'sI learned the particulars. About ten o'clock on

the previous night St. Mesmin had received a note, and, in spite of the remonstrances of his servants, had

gone out alone. He had not returned nor been seen since, and his friends feared the worst.

"What!" St. Germain cried, flaring up again. "Do you ask on what grounds? When M. de Saintonge has told a

"An assignation, yes," St. Germain retorted; "but one from which he will not return."

"Well, if he does not, go to the Chevalier du Guet," I answered, waving him off. "Go! do you hear? I am

busy," I continued. "Do you think that I am keeper of all the young sparks that bay the moon under the

He went reluctantly, muttering vengeance; and I, after rating Maignan soundly for admitting him, returned to

my work, supposing that before night I should hear of St. Mesmin's safety. But the matter took another turn,

for while I was at dinner the Captain of the Watch came to speak to me. St. Mesmin's cap had been found in a

byestreet near the river, in a place where there were marks of a struggle; and his friends were furious. High

words had already passed between the two factions, St. Germain openly accusing Saintonge of the murder;

He shrugged his shoulders. "What can I think, your Excellency?" he said. "What else was to be expected?"

In spite of this, I thought the conclusion hasty, and contented myself with bidding him see St. Germain and

charge him to be quiet; promising that, if necessary, the matter should be investigated and justice done. I still

had good hopes that St. Mesmin's return would clear up the affair, and the whole turn out to be a freak on his

part; but within a few hours tidings that Saintonge had taken steps to strengthen his house and was lying at

home, refusing to show himself, placed a different and more serious aspect on the mystery. Before noon next

day M. de Clan, whose interference surprised me not a little, was with me to support his son's petition; and at

the King's LEVEE next day St. Germain accused his enemy to the King's face, and caused an angry and

When a man is in trouble foes spring up, as the moisture rises through the stones before a thaw. I doubt if M.

de Saintonge was not more completely surprised than any by the stir which ensued, and which was not

confined to the St. Germains' friends, though they headed the accusers. All whom he had ever offended, and

all who had ever offended him, clamoured for justice; while St. Mesmin's faults being forgotten and only his

merits remembered, there were few who did not bow to the general indignation, which the young and gallant,

who saw that at any moment his fate might be theirs, did all in their power to foment. Finally, the arrival of

St. Mesmin the father, who came up almost broken hearted, and would have flung himself at the King's feet

on the first opportunity, roused the storm to the wildest pitch; so that, in the fear lest M. de Biron's friends

should attempt something under cover of it, I saw the King and gave him my advice. This was to summon

Saintonge, the St. Germains, and old St. Mesmin to his presence and effect a reconciliation; or, failing that, to

He agreed with me and chose to receive them next day at the Arsenal. I communicated his commands, and at

the hour named we met, the King attended by Roquelaure and myself. But if I had flattered myself that the

King's presence would secure a degree of moderation and reasonableness I was soon undeceived; for though

M. de St. Mesmin had only his trembling head and his tears to urge, Clan and his son fell upon Saintonge

with so much violenceto which he responded by a fierce and resentful sullenness equally dangerousthat

I feared that blows would be struck even before the King's face. Lest this should happen and the worst

traditions of old days of disorder be renewed, I interposed and managed at length to procure silence.

"For shame, gentlemen, for shame!" the King said, gnawing his moustachios after a fashion he had when in

doubt. "I take Heaven to witness that I cannot say who is right! But this brawling does no good. The one fact

"Yes, sire; and that M. de Saintonge predicted his disappearance," St. Germain cried, impulsively. "To the

"I gather, de Saintonge," the King said, turning to him, mildly, "that you did use some expressions of that

"Yes, sire, and did nothing upon them," he answered resentfully. But he trembled as he spoke. He was an

"But does M. de Saintonge deny," St. Germain broke out afresh before the King could speak, "that my friend

"I deny nothing!" Saintonge cried, fierce and trembling as a baited animal. "For that matter, I would to

"Ay, so you say now," the irrepressible St. Germain retorted, "when you know that be is dead!"

"I do not know that he is dead," Saintonge answered. "And, for that matter, if he were alive and here now he

"What! Do you tell the King," the young fellow replied incredulously, "that if St. Mesmin were here you

"I doI do!" the other exclaimed passionately. "To be rid of him, and you, and all your crew!"

"Tut, tut!" the King said. "Whatever betides, I will answer for it, you shall have protection and justice, M. de

Saintonge. And do you, young sir, be silent. Be silent, do you hear! We have had too much noise introduced

He proceeded then to ask certain details, and particularly the hour at which St. Mesmin had been last seen.

Notwithstanding that these facts were in the main matters of common agreement, some wrangling took place

over them; which was only brought to an end at last in a manner sufficiently startling. The King with his

usual thoughtfulness had bidden St. Mesmin be seated. On a sudden the old man rose; I heard him utter a cry

of amazement, and following the direction of his eyes I looked towards the door. There stood his son!

At an appearance so unexpected a dozen exclamations filled the air; but to describe the scene which ensued

or the various emotions that were evinced by this or that person, as surprise or interest or affection moved

them, were a task on which I am not inclined to enter. Suffice it that the foremost and the loudest in these

expressions of admiration was young St. Germain; and that the King, after glancing from face to face in

"Yes, sire. And the more as St. Germain tells me that M. de Saintonge in his clemency has reconsidered my

But on that word M. de Saintonge, comprehending the RUSE by which he had been overcome, cut him short;

crying out in a rage that he would see him in perdition first. However, we all immediately took the Marquis in

hand, and made it our business to reconcile him to the notion; the King even making a special appeal to him,

and promising that St. Mesmin should never want his good offices. Under this pressure, and confronted by

his solemn undertaking, Saintonge at last and with reluctance gave way. At the King's instance, he formally

gave his consent to a match which effectually secured St. Mesmin's fortunes, and was as much above

anything the young fellow could reasonably expect as his audacity and coolness exceeded the common

Many must still remember St. Mesmin; though an attack of the smallpox, which disfigured him beyond the

ordinary, led him to leave Paris soon after his marriage. He was concerned, I believe, in the late illadvised

rising in the Vivarais; and at that time his wife still lived. But for some years past I have not heard his name,

and only now recall it as that of one whose adventures, thrust on my attention, formed an amusing interlude

I might spend many hours in describing the impression which this great Sovereign made upon my mind; but

if the part which she took in the conversation I have detailed does not sufficiently exhibit those qualities of

will and intellect which made her the worthy compeer of the King my master, I should labour in vain.

Moreover, my stay in her neighbourhood, though Raleigh and Griffin showed me every civility, was short.

An hour after taking leave of her, on the 15th of August, 1601, I sailed from Dover, and crossing to Calais

without mishap anticipated with pleasure the King's satisfaction when he should hear the result of my

mission, and learn from my mouth the just and friendly sentiments which Queen Elizabeth entertained

Unfortunately I was not able to impart these on the instant. During my absence a trifling matter had carried

the King to Dieppe, whence his anxiety on the queen's account, who was shortly to be brought to bed, led him

to take the road to Paris. He sent word to me to follow him, but necessarily some days elapsed before we met;

an opportunity of which his enemies and mine were quick to take advantage, and that so insidiously and with

The time at their disposal was increased by the fact; that when I reached the Arsenal I found the Louvre

vacant, the queen, who lay at Fontainebleau, having summoned the King thither. Ferret, his secretary,

however, awaited me with a letter, in which Henry, after expressing his desire to see we, bade me

nevertheless stay in Paris a day to transact some business. "Then," he continued, "come to me, my friend, and

we will discuss the matter of which you know. In the meantime send me your papers by Ferret, who will give

Suspecting no danger in a course which was usual enough, I hastened to comply. Summoning Maignan, who,

whenever I travelled, carried my portfolio, I unlocked it, and emptying the papers in a mass on the table,

handed them in detail to Ferret. Presently, to my astonishment, I found that one, and this the most important,

was missing. I went over the papers again, and again, and yet again. Still it was not to be found.

It will be remembered that whenever I travelled on a mission of importance I wrote my despatches in one of

three modes, according as they were of little, great, or the first importance; in ordinary characters that is, in a

cipher to which the council possessed the key, or in a cipher to which only the King and I held keys. This last,

as it was seldom used, was rarely changed; but it was my duty, on my return from each mission, immediately

to remit my key to the King, who deposited it in a safe place until another occasion for its use arose.

It was this key which was missing. I had been accustomed to carry it in the portfolio with the other papers;

but in a sealed envelope which I broke and again sealed with my own signet whenever I had occasion to use

the cipher. I had last seen the envelope at Calais, when I handed the portfolio to Maignan before beginning

my journey to Paris; the portfolio had not since been opened, yet the sealed packet was missing.

More than a little uneasy, I recalled Maignan, who had withdrawn after delivering up his charge, "You

"The bag?" he answered, looking at it. Then his face changed. "You have cut your finger, my lord," he said.

I had cut it slightly in unbuckling the portfolio, and a drop or two of blood had fallen on the papers. But his

reference to it at this moment, when my mind was full of my loss, angered me, and even awoke my

suspicions. "Silence!" I said, "and answer me. Have you let this bag out of your possession?" This time he

That was true; and as I had at bottom the utmost confidence in his fidelity, I pursued the inquiry no farther in

that direction, but made a third search among the papers. This also failing to bring the packet to light, and

Ferret being in haste to be gone, I was obliged for the moment to put up with the loss, and draw what comfort

I could from the reflection that, no despatch in the missing cipher was extant. Whoever had stolen it,

therefore, another could be substituted for it and no one the worse. Still I was unwilling that the King should

hear of the mischance from a stranger, and be led to think me careless; and I bade Ferret be silent about it

When the secretary, who readily assented, had given me his receipt and was gone, I questioned Maignan

afresh and more closely, but with no result. He had not seen me place the packet in the portfolio at Calais,

and that I had done so I could vouch only my own memory, which I knew to be fallible. In the meantime,

though the mischance annoyed me, I attached no great importance to it; but anticipating that a word of

explanation would satisfy the King, and a new cipher dispose of other difficulties, I dismissed the matter from

Twentyfour hours later, however, I was rudely awakened. A courier arrived from Henry, and surprising me

in the midst of my last preparations at the Arsenal, handed me an order to attend his Majesty; an order

couched in the most absolute and peremptory terms, and lacking all those friendly expressions which the

King never failed to use when he wrote to me. A missive so brief and so formaland so needless, for I was

on the point of starting had not reached me for years; and coming at this moment when I had no reason to

expect a reverse of fortune, it had all the effect of a thunderbolt in a clear sky. I stood stunned, the words

which I was dictating to my secretary dying on my lips. For I knew the King too well, and had experienced

his kindness too lately to attribute the harshness of the order to chance or forgetfulness; and assured in a

moment that I stood face to face with a grave crisis, I found myself hard put to it to hide my feelings from

Nevertheless, I did so with all effort; and, sending for the courier asked him with an assumption of

carelessness what was the latest news at Court. His answer, in a measure, calmed my fears, though it could

not remove them. He reported that the queen had been taken ill or so the rumour went.

As to that, however, the man could not say anything; and I was left to nurse my conjectures during the long

ride to Fontainebleau, where we arrived in the cool of the evening, the last stage through the forest awakening

memories of past pleasure that combated in vain the disorder and apprehension which held my spirits.

Dismounting in the dusk at the door of my apartments, I found a fresh surprise awaiting me in the shape of

M. de Concini, the Italian; who advancing to meet me before my foot was out of the stirrup, announced that

Knowing Concini to be one of those whose influence with her Majesty had more than once tempted the King

to the most violent measures against herfrom which I had with difficulty dissuaded himI augured the

worst from the choice of such a messenger; and wounded alike in my pride and the affection in which I held

I told him that I would remove my boots and brush off the dust, and in five minutes be at his service.

"Pardon me," he said, "my orders are strict; and they are to request you to attend his Majesty immediately. He

I was thunderstruck at thisat the message, and at the man's manner; and for a moment I could scarcely

restrain my indignation. Fortunately the habit of selfcontrol came to my aid in time, and I reflected that an

altercation with such a person could only lower my dignity. I contented myself, therefore, with signifying my

assent by a nod, and without more ado followed him towards the queen's apartments.

In the antechamber were several persons, who as I passed saluted me with an air of shyness and incertitude

which was enough of itself to put me on my guard. Concini attended me to the door of the chamber; there he

fell back, and Mademoiselle Galigai, who was in waiting, announced me. I entered, assuming a serene

countenance, and found the King and queen together, no other person being present. The queen was lying at

length on a couch, while Henry, seated on a stool at her feet, seemed to be engaged in soothing and reassuring

"Here he is at last," he said, barely looking at me. "Now, if you will, dear heart ask him your questions. I have

had no communication with him, as you know, for I have been with you since morning."

The queen, whose face was flushed with fever, made a fretful movement but did not answer.

"If you think it is worth while," she muttered, turning sullenly and eyeing me from the middle of her pillows

"I will, then," he answered, and he turned to me. "M. de Rosny," he said in a formal tone, which even without

the unaccustomed monsieur cut me to the heart, "be good enough to tell the queen how the key to my secret

cipher, which I entrusted to you, has come to be in Madame de Verneuil's possession."

I looked at him in the profoundest astonishment, and for a moment remained silent, trying to collect my

thoughts under this unexpected blow. The queen saw my hesitation and laughed spitefully. "I am afraid, sire,"

she said, "that you have overrated this gentleman's ingenuity, though doubtless it has been much exercised in

Henry's face grew red with vexation. "Speak, man!" he cried. "How came she by it?"

The queen laughed again. "Had you not better take him out first, sir," she said scornfully, "and tell him what

"'Fore God, madame," the King cried passionately, "you try me too far! Have I not told you a hundred times,

"If you did not give her that," the queen muttered sullenly, picking at the silken coverlet which lay on her

Henry let a gesture of despair escape him. "Are we to go back to that?" he said. Then turning to me, "Tell

her," he said between his teeth; "and tell me. VENTRE SAINT GRISare you dumb, man?"

Discerning nothing for it at the moment save to bow before this storm, which had arisen so suddenly, and

from a quarter the least expected, I hastened to comply. I had not proceeded far with my story,

howeverwhich fell short, of course, of explaining how the key came to be in Madame de Verneuil's

handsbefore I saw that it won no credence with the queen, but rather confirmed her in her belief that the

King had given to another what he had denied to her. And more; I saw that in proportion as the tale failed to

convince her, it excited the King's wrath and disappointment. He several times cut me short with expressions

of the utmost impatience, and at last, when I came to a lame conclusionsince I could explain nothing

except that the key was gonehe could restrain himself no longer. In a tone in which he had never addressed

me before, he asked me why I had not, on the instant, communicated the loss to him; and when I would have

defended myself by adducing the reason I have given above, overwhelmed me with abuse and reproaches,

which, as they were uttered in the queen's presence, and would be repeated, I knew, to the Concinis and

Nevertheless, for a time, and until he had somewhat worn himself out, I let Henry proceed. Then, taking

advantage of the first pause, I interposed. Reminding him that he had never had cause to accuse me of

carelessness before, I recalled the twentytwo years during which I had served him faithfully, and the

enmities I had incurred for his sake; and having by these means placed the discussion on a more equal

footing, I descended again to particulars, and asked respectfully if I might know on whose authority Madame

"On her own!" the queen cried hysterically. "Don't try to deceive me,for it will be in vain. I know she has

"Then command her to answer in the King's name!" the queen replied, her cheeks burning with fever. "And if

she will not, then has the King no prisonsno fetters smooth enough for those dainty ankles?"

This was a home question, and Henry, who never showed to less advantage than when he stood between two

women, cast a sheepish glance at me. Unfortunately the queen caught the look, which was not intended for

her; and on the instant it awoke all her former suspicions. Supposing that she had discovered our collusion,

she flung herself back with a cry of rage, and bursting into a passion of tears, gave way to frantic reproaches,

wailing and throwing herself about with a violence which could not but injure one in her condition.

The King stared at her for a moment in sheer dismay. Then his chagrin turned to anger; which, as he dared

not vent it on her, took my direction. He pointed impetuously to the door. "Begone, sir!" he said in a passion,

and with the utmost harshness. "You have done mischief enough here. God grant that we see the end of it!

Gogo!" he continued, quite beside himself with fury. "Send Galigai here, and do you go to your lodging

Overwhelmed and almost stupefied by the catastrophe, I found my way out I hardly knew how, and sending

in the woman, made my escape from the antechamber. But hasten as I might, my disorder, patent to a

hundred curious eyes, betrayed me; and, if it did not disclose as much as I feared or the inquisitive desired,

told more than any had looked to learn. Within an hour it was known at Nemours that his Majesty had

dismissed me with high wordssome said with a blow; and half a dozen couriers were on the road to Paris

In my place some might have given up all for lost; but in addition to a sense of rectitude, and the

consciousness of desert, I had to support me an intimate knowledge of the King's temper; which, though I had

never suffered from it to this extent before, I knew to be on occasion as hot as his anger was short lived, and

his disposition generous. I had hopes, therefore although I saw dull faces enough among my suite, and

some pale onesthat the King's repentance would overtake his anger, and its consequences outstrip any that

might flow from his wrath. But though I was not altogether at fault in this, I failed to take in to account one

thingI mean Henry's anxiety on the queen's account, her condition, and his desire to have an heir; which so

affected the issue, that instead of fulfilling my expectations the event left me more despondent than before.

The King wrote, indeed, and within the hour, and his letter was in form an apology. But it was so lacking in

graciousness; so stiff, though it began "My good friend Rosny," and so insincere, though it referred to my

past services, that when I had read it I stood awhile gazing at it, afraid to turn lest De Vic and Varennes, who

For I could not hide from myself that the gist of the letter lay, not in the expressions of regret which opened

it, but in the complaint which closed it; wherein the King sullenly excused his outbreak on the ground of the

magnitude of the interests which my carelessness had endangered and the opening to harass the queen which

I had heedlessly given. "This cipher," he said, "has long been a whim with my wife, from whom, for good

reasons well known to you and connected with the Grand Duke's Court, I have thought fit to withhold it. Now

nothing will persuade her that I have not granted to another what I refused her. I tremble, my friend, lest you

be found to have done more ill to France in a moment of carelessness than all your services have done good."

It was not difficult to find a threat underlying these words, nor to discern that if the queen's fancy remained

unshaken, and ill came of it, the King would hardly forgive me. Recognising this, and that I was face to face

with a crisis from which I could not escape but by the use of my utmost powers, I assumed a serious and

thoughtful air; and without affecting to disguise the fact that the King was displeased with me, dismissed the

envoys with a few civil speeches, in which I did not fail to speak of his Majesty in terms that even

When they were gone, doubtless to tell Henry how I had taken it, I sat down to supper with La Font,

Boisrueil, and two or three gentlemen of my suite; and, without appearing too cheerful, contrived to eat with

my usual appetite. Afterwards I withdrew in the ordinary course to my chamber, and being now at liberty to

look the situation in the face, found it as serious as I had feared. The falling man has few friends; he must act

quickly if he would retain any. I was not slow in deciding that my sole chance of an honourable escape lay in

discoveringand that within a few hourswho stole the cipher and conveyed it to Madame de Verneuil;

By way of beginning, I summoned Maignan and put him through a severe examination. Later, I sent for the

rest of my household such, I mean, as had accompanied meand ranging them against the walls of my

chamber, took a flambeau in my hand and went the round of them, questioning each, and marking his air and

aspect as he answered. But with no result; so that after following some clues to no purpose, and suspecting

several persons who cleared themselves on the spot, I became assured that the chain must be taken up at the

By this time it was nearly midnight, and my people were dropping with fatigue. Nevertheless, a sense of the

desperate nature of the case animating them, they formed themselves voluntarily into a kind of council, all

feeling their probity attacked; in which various modes of forcing the secret from those who held it were

proposedMaignan's suggestions being especially violent. Doubting, however, whether Madame had more

than one confidante, I secretly made up my mind to a course which none dared to suggest; and then

dismissing all to bed, kept only Maignan to lie in my chamber, that if any points occurred to me in the night I

At four o'clock I called him, and bade him go out quietly and saddle two horses. This done, I slipped out

myself without arousing anyone, and mounting at the stables, took the Orleans road through the forest. My

plan was to strike at the head, and surprising Madame de Verneuil while the event; still hung uncertain, to

wrest the secret from her by trick or threat. The enterprise was desperate, for I knew the stubbornness and

arrogance of the woman, and the inveterate enmity which she entertained towards me, more particularly since

I reached Malesherbes, where Madame was residing with her parents, a little before seven o'clock, and riding

without disguise to the chateau demanded to see her. She was not yet risen, and the servants, whom my

appearance threw into the utmost confusion, objected this to me; but I knew that the excuse was no real one,

and answered roughly that I came from the King, and must see her. This opened all doors, and in a moment I

found myself in her chamber. She was sitting up in bed, clothed in an elegant nightrail, and seemed in no

wise surprised to see me. On the contrary, she greeted me with a smile and a taunting word; and omitted

nothing that might evince her disdain or hurt my dignity. She let me advance without offering me a chair; and

when, after saluting her, I looked about for one, I found that all the seats except one very low stool had been

This was so like her that it did not astonish me, and I baffled her malice by leaning against the wall. "This is

"Mercy!" she exclaimed in a mocking tone. "I should have put on new ribbons, I suppose!"

"From the King, madame," I continued, not allowing myself to he moved, "to inquire how you obtained

She laughed loudly. "Good, simple King," she said, "to ask what he knows already!"

"He did, sir!" she retorted, firing up. "Or if he did not, prove itprove it! And, by the way," she continued,

lowering her voice again, and reverting to her former tone of spiteful badinage, "how is the dear queen? I

heard that she was indisposed yesterday, and kept the King in attendance all day. So unfortunate, you know,

"I never heard that you could speak otherwise," she answered quickly. "Even his friends never called M. de

Rosny a wit; but only a plain, rough man who served our royal turn well enough in rough times; but is now

After that, I saw that it was war to the knife between us; and I asked her in very plain terms If she were not

afraid of the queen's enmity, that she dared thus to flaunt the King's favours before her.

"You may suffer; very probably will," she answered, slowly and smiling, "not I. Besides, sirmy child was

"No! In keeping what the King has not given you!" I answered sternly. "Whereas, what do you gain?"

"Well," she replied, raising herself in the bed, while her eyes sparkled and her colour rose, "if you like, I will

tell you. This pleasure, for one thingthe pleasure of seeing you there, awkward, booted, stained, and

standing, waiting my will. That which perhaps you call a petty thingI gain first of all. Then I gain your

ruin, M. de Rosny; I plant a sting in that woman's breast; and for his Majesty, he has made his bed and may

"Have a care, madame!" I cried, bursting with indignation at a speech so shameless and disloyal. "You are

"And what game have you played?" she replied, transported on a sudden with equal passion. "Who was it tore

up the promise of marriage which the King gave me? Who was it prevented me being Queen of France? Who

was it hurried on the match with this tradeswoman, so that the King found himself wedded, before he knew

it? Who was itbut enough; enough!" she cried, interrupting herself with a gesture full of rage. "You have

"On the contrary, madame," I answered, collecting myself for a last effort, and speaking with all the severity

which a just indignation inspired, "I have not ruined you. But if you do not tell me that which I am here to

She laughed out loud. "Oh, you simpleton!" she said. "And you call yourself a statesman! Do you not see that

if I do not tell it, you are disgraced yourself and powerless, and can do me no harm? Tell it you? When I have

you all on the hipyou, the King, the queen! Not for a million crowns, M. de Rosny!"

"And that is your answer, madame?" I said, choking with rage. It had been long since any had dared so to

"Yes," she replied stoutly; "it is! Or, stay; you shall not go emptyhanded." And thrusting her arm under the

pillow she drew out, after a moment's search, a small packet, which she held out towards me. "Take it!" she

said, with a taunting laugh. "It has served my turn. What the King gave me, I give you."

Seeing that it was the missing key to the cipher, I swallowed my rage and took it; and being assured by this

time that I could effect nothing by staying longer, but should only expose myself to fresh insults, I turned on

my heel, with rudeness equal to her own, and, without taking leave of her, flung the door open and went out. I

heard her throw herself back with a shrill laugh of triumph. But as, the moment the door fell to behind me,

my thoughts began to cast about for another way of escapethis failingI took little heed of her, and less

of the derisive looks to which the household, quickly taking the cue, treated me as I passed. I flung myself

into the saddle and galloped off, followed by Maignan, who presently, to my surprise, blurted out a clumsy

"You have got it," he said timidly, pointing to the packet which I mechanically held in my hand.

"And to what purpose?" I cried, glad of this opportunity of unloading some of my wrath. "I want, not the

paper, but the secret, fool! You may have the paper for yourself if you will tell me how Madame got it."

Nevertheless, his words led me to look at the packet. I opened it, and, having satisfied myself that it contained

the original and not a copy, was putting it up again when my eyes fell on a small spot of blood which marked

one corner of the cover. It was not larger than a grain of corn, but it awoke, first, a vague association and then

a memory, which as I rode grew stronger and more definite, until, on a sudden, discovery flashed upon

meand the truth. I remembered where I had seen spots of blood before on the papers I had handed to

Ferret and remembered, too, where that blood had come from. I looked at the cut now, and, finding it nearly

healed, sprang in my saddle. Of a certainty this paper had gone through my hands that day! It had been

among the others; therefore it must have been passed to Ferret inside another when I first opened the bag!

The rogue, getting it and seeing his opportunity, and that I did not suspect, had doubtless secreted it, probably

I had not suspected him before, because I had ticked off the earlier papers as I handed them to him; and had

searched only among the rest and in the bag for the missing one. Now I wondered that I had not done so, and

seen the truth from the beginning; and in my impatience I found the leagues through the forest, though the

sun was not yet high and the trees sheltered us, the longest I had ridden in my life. When the roofs of the

chateau at length appeared before us, I could scarcely keep my pace within bounds. Reflecting how Madame

de Verneuil had over reached herself, and how, by indulging in that last stroke of arrogance, she had placed

the secret in my hands, I had much ado to refrain from going to the King booted and unwashed as I was; and

though I had not eaten since the previous evening. However, the habit of propriety, which no man may lightly

neglect, came to my aid. I made my toilet, and, having broken my fast standing, hastened to the Court. On the

way I learned that the King was in the queen's garden, and, directing my steps thither, found him walking

with my colleagues, Villeroy and Sillery, in the little avenue which leads to the garden of the Conciergerie. A

number of the courtiers were standing on the low terrace watching them, while a second group lounged about

the queen's staircase. Full of the news which I had for the King, I crossed the terrace; taking no particular

heed of anyone, but greeting such as came in my way in my usual fashion. At the edge of the terrace I paused

a moment before descending the three steps; and at the same moment, as it happened, Henry looked up, and

our eyes met. On the instant he averted his gaze, and, turning on his heel in a marked way, retired slowly to

The action was so deliberate that I could not doubt he meant to slight me; and I paused where I was, divided

between grief and indignation, a mark for all those glances and whispered gibes in which courtiers indulge on

such occasions. The slight was not rendered less serious by the fact that the King was walking with my two

colleagues; so that I alone seemed to be out of his confidence, as one soon to be out of his councils also.

I perceived all this, and was not blind to the sneering smiles which were exchanged behind my back; but I

affected to see nothing, and to be absorbed in sudden thought. In a minute or two the King turned and came

back towards me; and again, as if he could not restrain his curiosity, looked up so that our eyes met. This time

I thought that he would beckon me to him, satisfied with the lengths to which he had already carried his

At this a courtier, one of Sillery's creatures, who had presumed on the occasion so far as to come to my

elbow, thought that he might safely amuse himself with me. "I am afraid that the King grows older, M. de

"It should not be neglected then," I said grimly. "I will tell him presently what you say."

He fell back, looking foolish at that, at the very moment that Henry, having taken another turn, dismissed

Villeroy, who, wiser than the puppy at my elbow, greeted me with particular civility as he passed. Freed from

him, Henry stood a moment hesitating. He told me afterwards that he had not turned from me a yard before

his heart smote him; and that but for a mischievous curiosity to see how I should take it, he would not have

carried the matter so far. Be that as it mayand I do not doubt this, any more than I ever doubted the reality

of the affection in which he held meon a sudden he raised his hand and beckoned to me.

I went down to him gravely, and not hurriedly. He looked at me with some signs of confusion in his face.

"I do not doubt that," he replied querulously, his eyes wandering. "I am notI am troubled this morning."

And after a fashion he had when he was not at his ease, he ground his heel into the soil and looked down at

M. de Sillery, whose constant opposition to me at the council board I have elsewhere described, began to

affirm it. I let him go on for a little time, and then interrupted him brusquely. "I think it was you," I said,

"Ferret?" he exclaimed, reddening at my tone, while the King, who knew me well, pricked up his ears.

"Only this," I said. "That if his Majesty will summon him to the queen's closet, without warning or delay, and

ask him in her presence how much Madame de Verneuil gave him for the King's cipher, her Majesty, I think,

"What?" the King cried. "You have discovered it? But he gave you a receipt for the papers he took."

"Not sowith your Majesty's leave," I said, interposing quickly. "M. de Sillery may say too much or too

little. Let a lackey take a message, bidding him go to the queen's closet, and he will suspect nothing."

The King assented, and bade me go and give the order. When I returned, he asked me anxiously if I felt sure

"Yes, if you pretend to know all, sire," I answered. "He will think that Madame has betrayed him."

But I declined to be present; partly on the ground that if I were there the queen might suspect me of inspiring

the man, and partly because I thought that the rogue would entertain a more confident hope of pardon, and be

more likely to confess, if he saw the King alone. I contrived to keep Sillery also; and Henry giving the word,

as he mounted the steps, that he should be back presently, the whole Court remained in a state of suspense,

aware that something was in progress but in doubt what, and unable to decide whether I were again in favour

Sillery remained talking to me, principally on English matters, until the dinner hour; which came and went,

neglected by all. At length, when the curiosity of the mass of courtiers, who did not dare to interrupt us, had

been raised by delay to an almost intolerable pitch, the King returned, with signs of disorder in his bearing;

and, crossing the terrace in half a dozen strides, drew me hastily, along with Sillery, into the grove of white

mulberry trees. There we were no sooner hidden in part, though not completely, than he threw his arms about

me and embraced me with the warmest expressions. "Ah, my friend," he said, putting me from him at last,

Henry nodded, with a look in his face that I did not understand. "Yes," he said, "fully. It was as you thought,

The King nodded, and could not repress a shudder. "Yes," he said; "but not, thank Heaven, until he had left

Sillery began anxiously to clear himself; but the King, with his usual good nature, stopped him, and bade us

all go and dine, saying that we must be famished. He ended by directing me to be back in an hour, since his

own appetite was spoiled. "And bring with you all your patience," he added, "for I have a hundred questions

to ask you. We will walk towards Avon, and I will show you the surprise which I am preparing for the

Alas, I would I could say that all ended there. But the rancour of which Madame de Verneuil had given token

in her interview with me was rather aggravated than lessened by the failure of her plot and the death of her

tool. It proved to be impenetrable by all the kindnesses which the King lavished upon her; neither the

legitimation of the child which she soon afterwards bore, nor the clemency which the Kingagainst the

advice of his wisest ministers extended to her brother Auvergne, availing to expel it from her breast. How far

she or that illomened family were privy to the accursed crime which, nine years later, palsied France on the

threshold of undreamedof glories, I will not take on myself to say; for suspicion is not proof. But history, of

which my beloved master must ever form so great a part, will lay the blame where it should rest.

In the month of August of this year the King found some alleviation of the growing uneasiness which his

passion for Madame de Conde occasioned him in a visit to Monceaux, where he spent two weeks in such

diversions as the place afforded. He invited me to accompany him, but on my representing that I could not

thereso easily as in my own closet, where I had all the materials within reachprepare the report which he

had commanded me to draw up, he directed me to remain in Paris until it was ready, and then to join him.

This report which he was having written, not only for his own satisfaction but for the information of his heir,

took the form of a recital of all the causes and events, spread over many years, which had induced him to take

in hand the Great Design; together with a succinct account of the munitions and treasures which he had

prepared to carry it out. As it included many things which were unknown beyond the council, and some

which he shared only with meand as, in particular, it enumerated the various secret alliances and

agreements which he had made with the princes of North Germany, whom a premature discovery must place

at the Emperor's mercyit was necessary that I should draw up the whole with my own hand, and with the

utmost care and precaution. This I did; and that nothing might be wanting to a memorial which I regarded

with justice as the most important of the many State papers which it had fallen to my lot; to prepare, I spent

seven days in incessant labour upon it. It was not, therefore, until the third week in August: that I was free to

I found my quarters assigned to me in a pavilion called the Garden House; and, arriving at supper time, sat

down with my household with more haste and less ceremony than was my wont. The same state of things

prevailed, I suppose, in the kitchen; for we had not been seated half an hour when a great hubbub arose in the

house, and the servants rushing in cried out that a fire had broken out below, and that the house was in danger

In such emergencies I take it to be the duty of a man of standing to bear himself with as much dignity as is

consistent with vigour; and neither to allow himself to be carried away by the outcry and disorder of the

crowd, nor to omit any direction that may avail. On this occasion, however, my first thought was given to the

memorial I had prepared for the King; which I remembered had been taken with other books and papers to a

room over the kitchen. I lost not a moment, therefore, in sending Maignan for it; nor until I held it safely in

my hand did I feel myself at liberty to think of the house. When I did, I found that the alarm exceeded the

danger; a few buckets of water extinguished a beam in the chimney which had caught fire, and in a few

moments we were able to resume the meal with the added vivacity which such an event gave to the

conversation. It has never been my custom to encourage too great freedom at my table; but as the company

consisted, with a single exception, of my household, and as this persona Monsieur de Vilain, a young

gentleman, the cousin of one of my wife's maidsofhonourshowed himself possessed of modesty as well

This was the cause of the misfortune which followed, and bade fair to place me in a position of as great

difficulty as I have ever known; for, having in my good humour dismissed the servants, I continued to talk for

an hour or more with Vilain and some of my gentlemen; the result being that I so far forgot myself, when I

rose, as to leave the report where I had laid it on the table. In the passage I met a man whom the King had

sent to inquire about the fire; and thus reminded of the papers I turned back to the room; greatly vexed with

myself for negligence which in a subordinate I should have severely rebuked, but never doubting that I

To my chagrin the paper was gone. Still I could not believe that it had been stolen, and supposing that

Maignan or one of my household had seen it and taken it to my closet, I repaired thither in haste. I found

Maignan already there, with M. Boisrueil, one of my gentlemen, who was waiting to ask a favour; but they

knew nothing of the report, and though I sent them down forthwith, with directions to make strict but quiet

Then I grew seriously alarmed; and reflecting on the many important secrets which the memorial contained,

whereof a disclosure must spoil plans so long and sedulously prepared, I found myself brought on a sudden

face to face with disaster. I could not imagine how the King, who had again and again urged on me the

utmost precaution, would take such a catastrophe; nor how I should make it known to him. For a moment,

therefore, while I listened to the tale, I felt the hair rise on my head and a shiver descend my back; nor was it

Plainly no steps in such a position could be too stringent. I sent Maignan with an order to close all the doors

and let no one pass out. Then I made sure that none of the servants had entered the room, between the time of

my rising and return; and this narrowed the tale of those who could have taken the packet to eleven, that

being the number of persons who had sat down with me. But having followed the matter so far, I came face to

face with this difficulty: that all the eleven were, with one exception, in my service and in various ways

pledged to my interests, so that I could not conceive even the possibility of a betrayal by them in a matter so

I confess, at this, the perspiration rose upon my brow; for the paper was gone. Still, there remained one

stranger; and though it seemed scarcely less difficult to suspect him, since he could have no knowledge of the

importance of the document, and could not have anticipated that I should leave it in his power, I found in that

the only likely solution. He was one of the Vilains of Pareil by Monceaux, his father living on the edge of the

park, little more than a thousand yards from the chateau; and I knew no harm of him. Still, I knew little; and

for that reason was forward to believe that there, rather than in my own household, lay the key to the enigma.

My suspicions were not lessened when I discovered that he alone of the party at table had left the house

before the doors were closed; and for a moment I was inclined to have him followed and seized. But I could

scarcely take a step so decisive without provoking inquiry; and I dared not at this stage let the King know of

my negligence. I found myself, therefore, brought up short, in a state of exasperation and doubt difficult to

describe; and the most minute search within the house and the closest examination of all concerned failing to

provide the slightest clue, I had no alternative but to pass the night in that condition.

On the morrow a third search seeming still the only resource, and proving as futile as the others, I ordered La

Trape and two or three in whom I placed the greatest confidence to watch their fellows, and report anything

in their bearing or manner that seemed to be out of the ordinary course; while I myself went to wait; on the

King, and parry his demand for the memorial as well as I could. This it was necessary to do without

provoking curiosity; and as the lapse of each minute made the pursuit of the paper less hopeful and its

recovery a thing to pray for rather than expect, it will be believed that I soon found the aspect of civility

which I was obliged to wear so great a trial of my patience, that I made an excuse and retired early to my

Here my wife, who shared my anxiety, met me with a face full of meaning. I cried out to know if they had

"No," she answered; "but if you will come into your closet I will tell you what I have learned."

I went in with her, and she told me briefly that the manner of Mademoiselle de Mars, one of her maids, had

struck her as suspicious. The girl had begun to cry while reading to her; and when questioned had been able

My wife hastened to comply; and whatever had been the girl's state earlier, before the fright of this hasty

summons had upset her, her agitation when thus confronted with me gave me, before a word was spoken, the

highest hopes that I had here the key to the mystery. I judged that it might be necessary to frighten her still

more, and I started by taking a harsh tone with her; but before I had said many words she obviated the

necessity of this by falling at my wife's feet and protesting that she would tell all.

But she seemed for a moment unable to answer this; her distress being such that my wife had to fetch a vial

of pungent salts to restore her before she could say more. At length she found voice to tell us that M. de

Vilain had taken the paper, and was this evening to hand it to an agent of the Spanish ambassador.

Then she confessed that the cousin was also the lover, and had before employed her to disclose what went on

in my household, and anything of value that could be discovered there. Doubtless the girl, for whom my wife,

in spite of her occasional fits of reserve and temper, entertained no little liking, enjoyed many opportunities

of prying; and would have continued still to serve him had not this last piece of villainy, with the stir which it

caused in the house and the rigorous punishment to be expected in the event of discovery, proved too much

for her nerves. Hence this burst of confession; which once allowed to flow, ran on almost against her will.

Nor did I let her pause to consider the full meaning of what she was saying until I had learned that Vilain was

to meet the ambassador's agent an hour after sunset at the east end of a clump of trees which stood in the

park; and being situate between his, Vilain's, residence and the chateau, formed a convenient place for such a

She sobbed a moment, but presently confessed. "Yes; or it will be in the hollow of the most easterly tree. He

"Good!" I said; and then, having assured myself by one or two questions of that, of which her state of distress

and agitation left me in little doubtnamely, that she was telling the truth I committed her to my wife's

care; bidding the Duchess lock her up in a safe place upstairs, and treat her to bread and water until I had

After thisbut I should be tedious were I to describe the alternations of hope and fear in which I passed the

period of suspense. Suffice it that I informed no one, not even Maignan, of what I had discovered, but

allowed those in the secret of the loss still to pursue their efforts; while I, by again attending the Court,

endeavoured at once to mitigate the King's impatience and persuade the world that all was well. A little

before the appointed time, however I made a pretext to rise from supper, and quietly calling out Boisrueil,

bade him bring four of the men, armed, and Maignan and La Trape. With this small body I made my way out

by a private door, and crossed the park to the place Mademoiselle had, indicated.

Happily, night had already begun to close in, and the rendezvous was at the farther side of the clump of trees.

Favoured by these circumstances, we were able to pass round the thicketsome on one side and some on the

otherwithout noise or disturbance; and fortunate enough, having arrived at the place, to discover a man

walking uneasily up and down on the very spot where we expected to find him. The evening was so far

advanced that it was not possible to be sure that the man was Vilain; but as all depended on seizing him

before he had any communication with the Spanish agent, I gave the signal, and two of my men, springing on

He proved to be Vilain, so that, when he was brought face to face with me, I was much less surprised than he

affected to be. He played the part of an ignorant so well, indeed, that, for a moment, I was staggered by his

show of astonishment, and by the earnestness with which he denounced the outrage; nor could Maignan find

anything on him. But, a moment later, remembering the girl's words, I strode to the nearest tree, and, groping

about it, in a twinkling unearthed the paper from a little hollow in the trunk that seemed to have been made to

receive it. I need not say with what relief I found the seals unbroken; nor with what indignation I turned on

the villain thus convicted of an act of treachery towards the King only less black than the sin against

hospitality of which he had been guilty in my house. But the discovery I had made seemed enough of itself to

overwhelm him; for, after standing apparently stunned while I spoke, he jerked himself suddenly out of his

captors' hands, and made a desperate attempt to escape. Finding this hopeless, and being seized again before

he had gone four paces, he shouted, at the top of his voice: "Back! back! Go back!"

We looked about, somewhat startled, and Boisrueil, with presence of mind, ran into the darkness to see if he

could detect the person addressed; but though he thought that he saw the skirt of a flying cloak disappear in

the gloom, he was not sure; and I, having no mind to be mixed up with the ambassador, called him back. I

asked Vilain to whom he had called, but the young man, turning sullen, would answer nothing except that he

knew naught of the paper. I thought it best, therefore, to conduct him at once to my lodgings, whither it will

be believed that I returned with a lighter heart than I had gone out. It was, indeed, a providential escape.

How to punish the traitor was another matter, for I could scarcely do so adequately without betraying my

negligence. I determined to sleep on this, however, and, for the night, directed him to be locked into a

chamber in the southwest turret, with a Swiss to guard the door; my intention being to interrogate him

farther on the morrow. However, Henry sent for me so early that I was forced to postpone my examination;

and, being detained by him until evening, I thought it best to tell him, before I left, what had happened.

He heard the story with a look of incredulity, which, little by little, gave way to a broad smile. "Well," he

said, "Grand Master, never chide me again! I have heard that Homer sometimes nods; but if I were to tell this

"They would believe anything that your Majesty told them," I said. "But you will not tell them this?"

"No," he said kindly, "I will not; and there is my hand on it. For the matter of that, if it had happened to them,

"Don't believe it," he answered. "But now, what of this young Vilain? You have him safe?"

"Oh, she must go," Henry said. "I quite understand. But for himwe had better have no scandal. Keep him

until tomorrow, and I will see his father, and have him sent out of the country."

"Yes, my friend," Henry answered with a dry smile; "but that should have been done last night. As it is, he is

your guest and we must give an account of him. But first drain him dry. Frighten him, as you please, and get

all out of him; then I wish them joy of him. Faugh! and he a young man! I would not be his father for two

As I returned to my lodgings I thought over these words; and I fell to wondering by what stages Vilain had

sunk so low. Occasionally admitted to my table, he had always borne himself with a modesty and discretion

that had not failed to prepossess me; indeed, the longer I considered the King's saying, the greater was the

surprise I felt at this DENOUEMENT; which left me in doubt whether my dullness exceeded my negligence

A few questions, I thought, might resolve this; but having been detained by the King until suppertime, I

postponed the interview until I rose. Then bidding them bring in the prisoner, I assumed my harshest aspect

But when I had waited a little, only Maignan came in, with an air of consternation that brought me to my feet.

"I do not please!" I said sternly, believing that I knew what had happened. "Is he dead?"

"Then, PAR DIEU!" I replied, "the man who was on guard shall suffer in his place! Escaped? How could he

"But the windowthe window, fool, is fifty feet from the ground!" I said. "And not so much footing outside

Maignan shrugged his shoulders, and in a rage I bade him follow me, and went myself to view the place; to

which a number of my people had already flocked with lights, so that I found some difficulty in mounting the

staircase. A very brief inspection, however, sufficed to confirm my first impression that Vilain could have

escaped by the door only; for the window, though it lacked bars and boasted a tiny balcony, hung over fifty

feet of sheer depth, so that evasion that way seemed in the absence of ladder or rope purely impossible. This

being clear, I ordered the Swiss to be seized; and as he could give no explanation of the escape, and still

persisted that he was as much in the dark as anyone, I declared that I would make an example of him, and

I did not really propose to do this, but in my irritation I spoke so roundly that my people believed me; even

Boisrueil, who presently came to intercede for the culprit, who, it seemed, was a favourite. "As for Vilain,"

"Then catch him before the end of three days," I answered obstinately, "and the man lives."

The truth was that Vilain's escape placed me in a position of some discomfort; for though, on the one hand, I

had no particular desire to get him again into my hands, seeing that the King could effect as much by a word

to his father as I had proposed to do while I held him safe; on the other hand, the evasion placed me very

peculiarly in regard to the King himself, who was inclined to think me ill or suddenly grown careless. Some

of the facts, too, were leaking out, and provoking smiles among the more knowing, and a hint here and there;

the result of all being that, unable to pursue the matter farther in Vilain's case, I hardened my heart and

This obstinacy on my part had an unforeseen issue. On the evening of the second day, a little before

suppertime, my wife came to me, and announced that a young lady had waited on her with a tale so

"It is about M. Vilain," my wife answered, her face still wearing all the marks of lively astonishment.

She went, and quickly returned with a young lady, whose face and modest bearing were known to me, though

I could not, at the moment, recall her name. This was the less remarkable as I am not prone to look much in

maids' faces, leaving that to younger men; and Mademoiselle de Figeac's, though beautiful, was disfigured on

this occasion by the marked distress under which she was labouring. Accustomed as I was to the visits of

persons of all classes and characters who came to me daily with petitions, I should have been disposed to cut

her short, but for my wife's intimation that her errand had to do with the matter which annoyed me. This, as

well as a trifle of curiosityfrom which none are quite freeinclined me to be patient; and I asked her what

"Justice, M. le Duc," she answered simply. "I have heard that you are seeking M. de Vilain, and that one of

It is my custom to betray no astonishment, even when I am astonished. "Do so," I said.

I could hide my astonishment no longer. "You must be mad, girl!" I said, "mad! You do not know what you

are saying! The window of the room in which Vilain was confined is fifty feet from the ground, and you say

"Yes, M. de Sully," she answered. "And the man who is about to suffer is innocent."

"My brother was flying a kite that day," she answered. "He had been doing so for a week or more, and

everyone was accustomed to seeing him here. After sunset, the wind being favourable, he came under M. de

Vilain's window, and, when it was nearly dark, and the servants and household were at supper, he guided the

"My brother had a knotted rope, which M. de Vilain drew up," she answered simply; "and afterwards, when

"I am here to do so," she replied, her face white and red by turns, but her eyes continuing to meet mine.

"This is a very serious matter," I said. "Are you aware, mademoiselle, why M. Vilain was arrested, and of

"Perfectly," she answered; "and that he is innocent. More!" she continued, clasping her hands, and looking at

me bravely, "I am willing both to tell you where he is, and to bring him, if you please, into your presence."

She blushed vividly. "I shall be his wife or no one's," she said; and she looked a moment at my wife.

"This paper, which it is alleged that he stoleit was not found on him; but in the hollow of a tree."

"He came to meet me," she answered, her voice trembling slightly. "He could have told you so, but he would

"I swear it!" she answered, clasping her hands. And then, with a sudden flash of rage, "Will the other woman

"The woman who sent you to that place," she answered. "He would not tell me her name, or I would go to her

now and wring the truth from her. But he confessed to me that he had let a woman into the secret of our

I stood a moment pondering, with my eyes on the girl's excited face, and my thoughts, following this new

clue through the maze of recent events; wherein I could not fail to see that it led to a very different conclusion

from that at which I had arrived. If Vilain had been foolish enough to wind up his lovepassages with

Mademoiselle de Mars by confiding to her his passion for the Figeac, and even the place and time at which

the latter was so imprudent as to meet him, I could fancy the deserted mistress laying this plot; and first

placing the packet where we found it, and then punishing her lover by laying the theft at his door. True, he

might be guilty; and it might be only confession and betrayal on which jealousy had thrust her. But the longer

I considered the whole of the circumstances, as well as the young man's character, and the lengths to which I

knew a woman's passion would carry her, the more probable seemed the explanation I had just received.

Nevertheless, I did not at once express my opinion; but veiling the chagrin I naturally felt at the simple part I

had been led to playin the event I now thought probableI sharply ordered Mademoiselle de Figeac to

Mademoiselle de Mars had been three days in solitary confinement, and might be taken to have repented of

her rash accusation were it baseless. I counted somewhat on this; and more on the effect of so sudden a

summons to my presence. But at first sight it seemed that I did so without cause. Instead of the agitation

which she had displayed when brought before me to confess, she now showed herself quiet and even sullen;

nor did the gleam of passion, which I thought that I discerned smouldering in her dark eyes, seem to promise

either weakness or repentance. However, I had too often observed the power of the unknown over a guilty

"I want to ask you two or three questions," I said civilly. "First, was M. de Vilain with you when you placed

I saw her eyelids quiver as with sudden fear, and her voice shook as she stammered, "When I placed the

"Yes," I said, "when you placed the paper. I have reason to know that you did it. I wish to learn whether he

She looked at me, her face a shade paler, and I do not doubt that her mind was on the rack to divine how

much I knew, and how far she might deny and how far confess. My tone seemed to encourage frankness,

"Yes," I said drily, my last doubt resolved by the admission; "but that being so, why did Vilain go to the

She grew still a shade paler, but in a moment she answered, "To meet the agent."

She saw the difficulty in which she had placed herself, and for an instant she stared at me with the look of a

"But since Vilain had to go to the spot, why did he not deposit the paper in the tree himself? Why did he send

you to the place beforehand? Why did" and then I broke off and cried harshly, "Shall I tell you why? Shall

She cowered away from me at the words, and stood terrorstricken, gazing at me like one fascinated. But she

"Because," I cried, "your story is a tissue of lies! Because it was you, and you only, who stole this paper!

BecauseDown on your knees! down on your knees!" I thundered, "and confess! Confess, or I will have you

She threw herself down shrieking, and caught my wife by the skirts, and in a breath had said all I wanted; and

more than enough to show me that I had suspected Vilain without cause, and both played the simpleton

So far good. I could arrange matters with Vilain, and probably avoid publicity. But what was now to be done

In the case of a man I should have thought no punishment too severe, and the utmost rigour of the law too

tender for such perfidy; but as she was a woman, and young, and under my wife's protection, I hesitated.

Finally, the Duchess interceding, I leaned to the side of that mercy which the girl had not shown to her lover;

and thought her sufficiently punished, at the moment by the presence of Mademoiselle de Figeac whom I

called into the room to witness her humiliation, and in the future by dismissal from my household. As this

imported banishment to her father's countryhouse, where her mother, a shrewd old Bearnaise, saved pence

and counted lentils into the soup, and saw company once a quarter, I had perhaps reason to be content with

For the rest I sent for M. de Vilain, and by finding him employment in the finances, and interceding for him

with the old Vicomte de Figeac, confirmed him in the attachment he had begun to feel for me before this

unlucky event; nor do I doubt that I should have been able in time to advance him to a post worthy of the

talents I discerned in him. But, alas, the deplorable crime, which so soon deprived me at one blow of my

Without attaching to dreams greater importance than a prudent man will always be willing to assign to the

unknown and unintelligible, I have been in the habit of reflecting on them; and have observed with some

curiosity that in these later years of my life, during which France has enjoyed peace and comparative

prosperity, my dreams have most often reproduced the stormy rides and bivouacs of my youth, with all the

rough and bloody accompaniments which our day knows only by repute. Considering these visions, and

comparing my sleeping apathy with my daylight reflections, I have been led to wonder at the power of habit;

which alone makes it possible for a man who has seen a dozen stricken fields, and viewed, scarcely with

emotion, the slaughter of a hundred prisoners, to turn pale at the sight of a coach accident, and walk a mile

I am impelled to this train of thought by an adventure that befell me in the summer of this year 1605; and

which, as it seemed to me in the happening to be rather an evil dream of old times than a waking episode of

these, may afford the reader some diversion, besides relieving the necessary tedium of the thousand

particulars of finance that render the five farms a study of the utmost intricacy.

My appointment to represent the King at the Assembly of Chatelherault had carried me in the month of July

into Poitou. Being there, and desirous of learning for myself whether the arrest of Auvergne had pacified his

country to the extent described by the King's agents, I determined to take advantage of a vacation of the

assembly and venture as far in that direction as Gueret; though Henry, fearing lest the malcontents should

make an attempt on my person in revenge for the death of Biron, had strictly charged me not to approach

I had with me for escort at Chatelherault a hundred horse; but, these seeming to be either too many or too few

for the purpose, I took with me only ten picked men with Colet their captain, five servants heavily armed, and

of my gentlemen Boisrueil and La Font. Parabere, to whom I opened my mind, consented to be my

companion. I gave out that I was going to spend three days at Preuilly, to examine an estate there which I

thought of buying, that I might have a residence in my government; and, having amused the curious with this

statement, I got away at daybreak, and by an hour before noon was at Touron, where I stayed for dinner. That

night we lay at a village, and the next day dined at St. Marcel. The second afternoon we reached Crozant.

Here I began to observe those signs of neglect and disorder which, at the close of the war, had been common

in all parts of France, but in the more favoured districts had been erased by a decade of peace. Briars and

thorns choked the roads, which ran through morasses, between fields which the husbandman had resigned to

tares and undergrowth. Ruined hamlets were common, and everywhere wolves and foxes and all kinds of

game abounded. But that which roused my ire to the hottest was the state of the bridges, which in this

country, where the fords are in winter impassable, had been allowed to fall into utter decay. On all sides I

found the peasants oppressed, disheartened, and primed with tales of the King's severity, which those who

had just cause to dread him had instilled into them. Bands of robbers committed daily excesses, and, in a

word, no one thing was wanting to give the lie to the rosecoloured reports with which Bareilles, the

I confess that, at sight and thought of these thingsof this country so devoured, the King's authority so

contemned, all evils laid at his door, all his profits divertedmy anger burned within me, and I said more to

Parabere than was perhaps prudent, telling him, in particular, what I designed against Bareilles, of whose

doubledealing I needed no further proof; by what means I proposed to lull his suspicions for the moment,

since we must lie at Gueret, and how I would afterwards, on the first occasion, have him seized and punished.

I forgot, while I avowed these things, that one weakness of Parabere's character which rendered him unable to

believe evil of anyone. Even of Bareilles, though the two were the merest acquaintances, he could only think

indulgently, because, forsooth, he too was a Protestant. He began to defend him therefore, and, seeing how

Still I did not think that he bad been serious in his plea, and that which happened on the following morning

took me completely by surprise. We had left Crozant an hour, and I was considering whether, the road being

bad, we should even now reach Gueret before night, when Parabere, who had made some excuse to ride

Parabere's confusion furnished me with the answer before he spoke. "Do not be angry, my friend," he said. "I

wanted to do Bareilles a good turn. I saw that you were enraged with him, and I thought that I could not help

him better than by suggesting to him to come and meet you in a proper spirit, and make the explanations

which I am sure that he has it in his power to make. Yesterday morning, therefore, I sent to him."

Parabere admitted with a blush that he was not. His messenger had found Bareilles on the point of starting

against a band of plunderers who had ravaged the country for a twelvemonth. He had sent me the most; civil

messages thereforebut he had not come. "However, he will be at Gueret tomorrow," Parabere added

"I will answer for it," he answered. "In the meantime, he has done what he can for our comfort."

"He bids us not to attempt the last three leagues to Gueret to night; the road is too bad. But to stay at Saury,

After this, it was no use to say anything to him, though his officiousness would have justified the keenest

reproaches. I swallowed my resentment, therefore, and we went on amicably enough, though the valley of the

Creuse, in its upper and wilder part, through which our road now wound, offered no objects of a kind to

soften my anger against the governor. I saw enough of ruins, of blocked defiles, and overgrown roads; but of

returning prosperity and growing crops, and the King's peace, I saw no signnot so much as one dead

About noon we alighted to eat a little at a wretched tavern by one of the innumerable fords. A solitary

traveller who was here before us, and for a time kept aloof, wearing a grand and mysterious manner with a

shabby coat, presently moved; edging himself up to me where I sat a little apart, eating with Parabere and my

"Sir," he said, on a sudden and without preface, "I see that you are the leader of this party."

As I was more plainly dressed than Parabere, and had been giving no orders, I wondered how he knew; but I

He shrugged his shoulders. "Not I," he said, "but those who speak by me. Enough that you are in danger."

"From what?" I asked sceptically; while my companions stared, and the troopers and servants, who were just

"A oneeyed woman and a oneeyed house," he answered darkly. Then, before I could frame a question, he

turned from me as abruptly as he had come, and, mounting a sorry mare that stood near, stumbled away

It required little wit to see that the man was an astrologer, and one whose predictions, if they had not profited

his clients more than himself, had been ominous indeed. I was inclined, therefore, to make sport of him,

knowing that the pretenders to that art are to the true men as ten to one. But his words, and particularly the

fact that he had asked for nothing, had impressed my followers differently; so that they talked of nothing else

while we ate, and could still be heard discussing him in the saddle. The wildness of the road and the gloomy

aspect of the valley had doubtless some effect on their minds; which a thunderstorm that shortly afterwards

overtook us and drenched us to the skin did not tend to lighten. I was glad to see the roofs of Saury before us;

though, on a nearer approach, we found all the houses except the inn ruined and tenantless; and even, that

scorched and scarred, with the great gate that had once closed its courtyard prostrate in the road before it.

However, in view of the country we had come through, and the general desolation, we were thankful to find

things no worse. The village stood at the entrance to a gorge, with the Creuse here a fastrushing

streamrunning at the back of the inn. The latter was of good size, stonebuilt and tiled, and, at first,

seemed to be empty; but the servants presently unearthed a man and then a boy. Fires were lit, and the horses

stabled; and a second room with a chimney being found, Parabere and I, with Colet and my gentlemen, took

I had had my boots removed, and was drying my clothes and expecting supper, when Boisrueil, who was

He did not answer, and I followed his eyes. A woman had just entered the room with a bundle of sticks. She

I confess that, for an instant, this staggered me; but a moment's thought reminded me that the astrologer had

come from this inn to us, and I smiled at the credulity which would have built on a coincidence that was no

coincidence. When the woman had retired again, therefore, I rallied Boisrueil on his timidity; but, though he

admitted the correctness of my reasoning, I saw that he was not entirely convinced. He started whenever a

shutter flapped, or the draughts, which searched the grim old building through and through, threatened to

extinguish our lights. He hung cloaks over the windows to obviate the latter inconvenience he saidand was

continually going out and coming back with gloomy looks. Parabere joined me in rallying him, which we did

without mercy; but when I had occasion, after a while, to pass through the outer room I found that he was not

alone in his fears. The troopers sat moodily listening, or muttered together; while the cup passed round in

silence. When I bade a man go on an errand to the stable, four went; and when I dropped a word to the

woman who was attending to her pot, a dozen heads were stretched out to catch the answer.

Such a feelingto which, in this instance, the murmur of the stream and the steady downpour of rain

doubtless added something is so contagious that I was not surprised to find Colet and La Font sinking

under it. Only Parabere, in fact, rose quite superior to the notion, laughed at their fears, and drank to their

better spirits; and, making the best of the situation, as became an old soldier, presently engaged me in tales of

the war fought again the siege of Laon, and buried men whose bodies bad lain for ten years under the oaks

Talk of this kind, which we still maintained after we had despatched our supper, was sufficiently engrossing

to erase Boisrueil's fancies entirely from my mind. They were recalled by his sudden entrance, with Colet at

his elbow, the faces of both full of importance. I saw that they had something to say, and asked what it was.

"Well," I said again, "there is nothing wonderful in that. Anyone can see that there has been rough work here.

"But if is so barricaded that it is not possible to open it," he objected. "And the men have an idea"

Parabere laughed loudly. "Of course it is!" he said. "That strolling rogue saw the gate as well as the woman,

"No," he said. "On the contrary, it is a great deal too good for the priceor the house. And you ordered a

I was genuinely startled at last; but Parabere still made light of it. "What!" he said. "Are we a pack of nervous

women, or one poor traveller in a solitary inn, that we see shadows and shake at them?"

"But we are twenty swords!" Parabere retorted, opening his eyes wide. "Why, I have ridden all day in an

I was inclined to laugh at this as extravagance; but seeing that La Font and Colet sided with Boisrueil, I

remembered that the latter was no coward though a great gossip; and I thought better of it. Accordingly,

resolving to look into the thing myself, I bade La Font fetch a couple of lanthorns, and, when he had done so,

went out with him and Boisrueil as if I had a mind to go round the horses before I retired. Parabere declined

to accompany me on the ground that he would not be at the pains of it; and Colet I left in the kitchen to keep

There was no moon, rain was still falling, and the yard, crowded with steaming, shivering horses, was dreary

enough where the lanthorns displayed it; but, accustomed to such a sight, I made, without regarding it, for the

gate, which a moment's examination showed to be barricaded, as they had described, with great beams and

stones. In this there was nothing beyond the ordinary, one entrance to a house being in troublous times better

than two; but Boisrueil, bidding me kneel and look lower, I found, when I did so, that the soil under the

beamswhich did not touch the ground by some incheswas wet, and I began to understand. When he

asked me at what hour rain had begun to fall, I answered two in the afternoon, and drew at once the inference

at which he aimed that the beams had been put there, and the gate barricaded, at some later hour.

"We reached here at six," he said; "it was done some time between two and six, my lord; therefore today.

Today," he repeated in a low voice; "and by a dozen men at least, Fewer could not move those beams."

I assented; and we went back into the house, where it would not have surprised me if we had found the

wretches flown and the nest empty. But Colet had done his work too well. They were both there, and, in a

moment, at a signal from Boisrueil, were secured and pinioned. Parabere, hearing the scuffle, came out and

would have remonstrated, but I silenced him with a sharp word; and, despatching La Font with a couple of

discreet men to keep watch in the court that we might not be surprised, I bade one of the servants throw some

fircones on the fire. These, blazing up, filled the squalid room in a moment with a glare of light, which

revealed alike the livid faces of the two prisoners and the excited looks and dark countenances of my escort.

I bade them put the woman forward first, and addressed her sternly, telling her that I knew all, and that she

would do well to confess; inasmuch as if she made a clean breast of the matter, I would grant her her life, and

if she did not, she would be the first to die, since I would hang her were a single shot fired against the house.

The promise found her unmoved, but the threat, uttered in a tone which showed that I was in earnest, proved

more effectual. With an ugly look, under which my men shrank as if her eye had power to scorch them, the

hag said that she would confess, and, with impotent rage, admitted the truth of Boisrueil's surmises. The

rearward gate had been barricaded that afternoon by the Great Band, who had had notice of our coming, and

"Very well," I said. "And, supposing that we do not wait for them, how shall we escape? By the road to

"The village is watched, and this house," she answered, with a sparkle of joy in her eye.

At that the position began to assume so serious an aspect that I turned to Parabere to take his advice. We

numbered twenty in all, and were well armed; but five to one are large odds, and we had little ammunition,

while, for all we knew, the house might be fired with ease from the outside. The roads north and south being

occupied, and the river enclosing us on the west, there remained only one direction in which escape seemed

possible; but, as we knew nothing of the country, and the brigands everything, the desperate idea of plunging

into it blindly, at night, and with pursuers at our heels, was dismissed as soon as formed.

Parabere interrupted these calculations by drawing me aside into the room in which we had supped, where,

after rallying me on the whimsical notion of the Grand Master of the Ordnance and Governor of the Bastile

being besieged in a paltry inn, he confessed that he had been wrong, and that the adventure was likely to

prove serious. "Ten to one this is the very band that Bareilles is pursuing," he said.

"Very likely," I answered bluntly; "but the question is how are we to evade them. Are we to fight or fly?"

"Well, for lighting," he replied coolly; "the front gate lies in the road, there are no shutters to half the

windows, the door is crazy, and there is a thatched penthouse against one wall."

"Three leagues," he assented. "And from that we are cut off. Fifty men in the gorge might hold it against five

hundred. Better man the courtyard here than that, tether the horses in the gateway, and fight it out." "Perhaps

so," I said; and we looked at one another, hearing through the open door the men muttering and whispering in

the kitchen, and above their voices the dull murmur of the stream, which seemed of a piece with the bleak

night outside, the ruined hamlet, and the danger that lurked round us. Bitterly repenting the hardihood that

had led me to expose myself to such risks in breach of the King's commandment, I found it difficult to direct

my mind to the immediate question. So many reflections connected with my mission at Chatelherault and

other affairs of state would intrude that I seemed to be occupied rather with the results of my death at this

juncture, and particularly the injury which it must inflict on the King's service, than with the question how I

However, Parabere soon recalled me to the point. "It is now ten o'clock," he said in a placid tone; "we have

"Yes," I answered; then, as if my mind had all the time been running in an undercurrent to the desired goal,

I continued, "And we must make the most of them. We must remove the barricade, in the dark and quietly,

from the rear to the front gate. Do you see? Then the moment they sound the attack in front we must slip out

We went in, and in a moment the orders were given, and, the men being charged to be silent and to make as

little noise as possible over the work, we had every hope of accomplishing it undetected. To go out into the

road and raise and replace the shattered gate would have been too bold a step. We contented ourselves,

therefore, with removing four great baulks of timber from the one gate to the other, and placing them across

the gap in such a manner that, being supported by large stones, they formed a pretty high barrier. To these, at

Boisrueil's suggestion, were added three doors which we forced from their hinges in the house, and behind

the whole, to cover our retreat the better, we tethered six sumpter horses in two lines.

It remained only to unbar the rear gate and see that it opened easily. This being done, as we had done all the

rest, stealthily and in darkness, and by men who dared not speak above a whisper, I gave the word to hang the

male prisoner and gag and bind the woman. Colet undertook these duties, and with a grim humour of his own

hung the rascally host on the threshold where the brigands must run against him when they entered. Then I

directed every man to saddle and bridle his nag and stand by it, and so we waited with what patience we

It seemed very long in coming, yet when it did, what with the restless movements of the horses and the

melancholy murmur of the stream, it wellnigh took us by surprise. It was Boisrueil who touched my sleeve

and made me aware of a low trampling on the road outside, a sound that had scarcely become clearly audible

before it ceased. I judged that the moment was come, and passed the word in a whisper to open the gates.

Unfortunately, they creaked, and I feared for a moment that I had been premature; but before they were more

than ajar a harsh whistle startled the silence, a flare blazed up on the road, and a voice cried to charge.

On the instant the ground shook under the assailants' rush, but the barricade, which doubtless took the rogues

by surprise, brought them to a sudden stop, and gave us time to file out. The heavy rain which was failing

served to cover our movements almost as well as the baggage horses which we had posted for the purpose;

while we ran the less risk, inasmuch as the flare they had kindled lit up the upper part of the house but left the

Naturally, once outside, we did not linger to see what happened, but, filing in a line and like ghosts up the

bank of the stream, were glad to hit on the road a hundred and fifty paces away, where it entered the gorge.

Here, where it was as dark as pitch, we whipped our horses into a canter and made a good pace for half a

league, then, drawing rein, let our horses trot until the league was out. By that time we were through the

gorge, and I gave the word to pull up, that we might listen and learn whether we were pursued. Before the

order had quite brought us to a standstill, however, two figures on a sudden rose out of the darkness before us

and barred the way. I was riding in the front rank, abreast of Parabere and La Font, and I had just time to lay

"Well, M. le Capitaine, what luck?" he cried, advancing, and drawing rein to turn with us.

I saw his mistake, and, raising my hand to check those behind, muttered in my beard that all had gone well.

"Good!" he answered. "Then now for Bareilles, supper, and a full purse; and afterwards, for me, the quietest

In a flash Parabere had him by the throat, and dragged him in a grip of iron on to the withers of his horse.

Still he managed to utter a cry, and the other rascal, taking the alarm, whipped his horse round, and in a

second got a start of twenty paces. Colet, a light man and well mounted, was after him in a trice, and we

heard them go dingdong, dingdong, through the darkness for a mile or more as it seemed to us. Then a

"Good!" Parabere said cheerfully. "Let us be jogging." He had tied his prisoner neck and knees over the

"I think, Grand Master," he replied drily, "that the sooner you are out of La Marche and Bareilles'

I was quite of that opinion myself, having drawn the same inferences from the words the prisoner had uttered.

But for the moment I had no alternative save to go on, and put a bold face on the matter; and accordingly I

led the way forward at as fast a pace as the darkness and the jaded state of our horses permitted. Colet

presently joined us, and half an hour later a bunch of lights which appeared on the side of a hill in front

proclaimed that we were nearing Gueret. From this point half a league across a rushy bottom and through a

ford brought us to the gate, which opened before we summoned it. I had taken care to call to the van one of

my men who knew the town; and he guided us quickly, no one challenging us, through a number of foul,

narrow streets and under dark archways, among which a stranger must have gone astray. We reached at last a

goodsized square, on one side of whichthough the rest of the town lay buried in darknessa large

building, which I judged to be Bareilles' residence, exposed a dozen lighted windows to the street. Two or

three figures lounged halfseen on the wide stone steps which led up to the entrance, and the rattle of dice,

with a murmur of voices, came from the windows. Without a moment's hesitation I dismounted at the foot of

the steps, and, bidding La Font and Boisrueil attend me, with three of the servants, I directed Colet to

Dreading nothing so much as that I might lose the advantage of surprise, I put aside two of the men on the

steps who would have questioned me, and strode boldly across the stone landing at the head of the flight.

Here I found two doors facing me, and foresaw the possibility of error; but I was relieved from the burden of

choosing by the sudden appearance at one of them of Bareilles himself. The place was lit only by an oil lamp,

and, for a reason best known to himself, he did not look directly at me, but stood with his head halfturned as

I heard the dicers hold their hands to catch the answer, and in the silence a bottle in some unsteady hand

clinked against a glass. Through the halfopen door behind him it was possible to see a long table, laid and

Parabere broke the spell. "We are late!" he said in a ringing voice, which startled the governor as if it had

been the voice of doom. "But we could not have found you better prepared, it seems. Do you always sup as

For a moment the villain could not speak, but leaned against the doorpost, with his cheeks gone white and his

jaw fallen, the most pitiable spectacle to be conceived. I affected to see nothing, however, but went by him

easily, and into the room, drawing off my gauntlets as entered. The dicers, from their seats beside a table on

the hearth, gazed at me, turned to stone. I took up a glass, filled it, and drank it off. "Now I am better!" I said.

He muttered something, looking fearfully from one to another of us; and, his hand shaking, filled a glass and

pledged me. The wine gave him courage and impudence: he began to speak; and though his hurried sentences

and excited manner must have betrayed him to the least suspicious, we pretended to see nothing, but rather to

congratulate ourselves on his late hours and timely preparations. And certainly nothing could have seemed

more cheerful in comparison with the squalid inn and miry road from which we came than this smiling feast;

"I thought it likely that you would lie at Saury," he said, with a ghastly smile.

"And yet made this preparation for us?" I answered politely, yet letting a little of my real mind be seen.

"And that thing?" he asked, his tongue almost failing him as he put the question.

"A villain, M. le Capitaine Martin," I continued sternly. "You sent him out this morning against the Great

Band; instead, he took it upon him to lay a plot for me, from which I have only narrowly escaped."

"Yes, M. de Bareilles, Martin!" I answered roundly, fixing him with my eyes; while Parabere went quietly to

the door, and stood by it. "If I am not mistaken, I hear him at this moment dismounting below. Let us

understand one another therefore, I propose to sup with you, but I shall not sit down until he hangs."

It would be useless for me to attempt to paint the mixture of horror, perplexity, and shame which distorted

Bareilles' countenance as I spoke these words. While Parabere's attitude and my demeanour gave him clearly

to understand that we suspected the truth, if we did not know it, our coolness and the very nature of my

demand imposed upon his fears and led him to believe that we had a regiment at our call. He knew, too, that

that which might be done in a ruined hamlet might not be done in the square at Gueret; and his knees

trembled under him. He muttered that he did not understand; that we must be mistaken. What evidence had

"The best!" I answered grimly. "If you wish to hear it, I will send for it; but witnesses have sometimes loose

He started and glared at me. From me his eyes passed to Parabere; then he shuddered, and looked down at the

table. As he leaned against it, I heard the glasses tinkling softly. At last he muttered that the man must have a

I shrugged my shoulders, and would have answered that that was his business; but at the moment a heavy

step rang on the stone steps, the door was flung hastily open, and a darkcomplexioned man came in with his

hat on. The stranger was splashed to the chin, and his face wore an expression of savage annoyance; but this

gave place the instant he saw us to one of intense surprise, while the words he had had on his lips died away,

He stood clutching the table, and in the bright light of the candles that burned on it his face was horrible. Still

The Captain turned and went downstairs in amazement, returning immediately after with four troopers at his

The Captain's jaw fell, and, stepping back a pace, he looked from one to another. But all were silent; he found

every eye upon him, and, doubtful and taken by surprise, he unbuckled his sword and flung it with an oath

"To the garden with him!" Bareilles continued, hoarsely. "Quick! Take him! I will send you your orders."

They laid hands on the man mechanically, and, unnerved by the suddenness of the affair, the silence, and the

presence of so many strangers,ignorant, too, what was doing or what was meant, he went unresisting. They

marched him out heavily; the door closed behind them; we stood waiting. The glittering table, the lights, the

arrested dicers, all the trivial preparations for a carouse that at another time must have given a cheerful aspect

to the room, produced instead the most sombre impression. I waited, but, seeing that Bareilles did not move, I

He slunk to a table in a corner where there was ink, and scrawled it. I took it from his hand, and, giving it to

Boisrueil, "Take it," I said, "and the three men on the landing, and see the order carried out. When it is over,

He took the order and disappeared, La Font after him. I remained in the room with Parabere, Bareilles, and

the dicers. The minutes passed slowly, no one speaking; Bareilles standing with his head sunk on his breast,

and a look of utter despair on his countenance. At length Boisrueil and La Font returned. The former nodded.

"Very well," I said. "Then let us sup, gentlemen. Come, M. de Bareilles, your place is at the head of the table.

Parabere, sit here. Gentlemen, I have not the honour of knowing you, but here are places."

And we supped; but not all with the same appetite. Bareilles, silent, despairing, a prey to the bitterest

remorse, sat low in his chair, and, if I read his face aright, had no thought but of vengeance. But, assured that

by forcing him to that which must for ever render him odiousand particularly among his inferiors I had

sapped his authority at the root, I took care only that he should not leave us. I directed Colet to unsaddle and

bivouac in the garden, and myself lay all night with Parabere and Bareilles in the room in which we had

To have betrayed too much haste to be gone might have proved as dangerous as a long delay; and our horses

needed rest. But an hour before noon next day I gave the order and we mounted in the square, in the presence

of a mixed mob of soldiers and townsfolk, whom it needed but a spark to kindle. I took care that that spark

should be wanting, however; and to that end I compelled Bareilles to mount and ride with us as far as Saury.

Here, where I found the inn burned and the woman murdered, I should have done no more than justice had I

hung him as well; and I think that he half expected it. But reflecting that he had a score of relations in Poitou

who might give trouble, and, besides that, his position called for some degree of consideration, I parted with

him gravely, and hastened to put as many leagues between us as possible. That night we slept at Crozant, and

It was chiefly in consequence of the observations I made during this journey that Henry, in the following

October, marched into the Limousin with a considerable force and received the submission of the governors.

The details of that expedition, in the course of which he put to death ten or twelve of the more disorderly, will

be found in another place. It remains for me only to add here that Bareilles was not of them. He escaped a

fate he richly deserved by flying betimes with Bassignac to Sedan. Of his ultimate fate I know nothing; but a

week after my return to the Arsenal, a man called on me who turned out to be the astrologer. I gave him fifty

Few are ignorant of that weakness of the vulgar which leads them to admire in the great not so much the

qualities which deserve admiration as those which, in the eyes of the betterinformed, are defects; so that the

amours of Caesar, the clockmaking of Charles, and the jests of Coligny are more in the mouths of men than

their statesmanship or valour. For one thing commendable, two that are diverting are told; and for one man

who in these days recalls the thousand great and wise deeds of the late King a thousand remember his

occasional freaks, the duel he would have fought, or his habit of visiting the streets of Paris by night and in

disguise. That this last has been much exaggerated, I can myself bear witness; for though Varenne or Coquet,

the Master of the Household, were his usual companions on these occasions, he seldom failed to confess to

If I remember rightly, it was in April or May of this year, 1606, and consequently a few days after his return

from Sedan, that he surprised me one night as I sat at supper, and, requesting me to dismiss my servants, let

me know that he was in a flighty mood; and that nothing would content him but to play the Caliph in my

company. I was not too willing, for I did not fail to recognise the risk to which these expeditions exposed his

person; but, in the end, I consented, making only the condition that Maignan should follow us at a distance.

This he conceded, and I sent for two plain suits, and we dressed in my closet. The King, delighted with the

frolic, was in his wildest mood. He uttered an infinity of jests, and cut a thousand absurd antics; and, rallying

me on my gravity, soon came near to making me repent of the easiness which had led me to fall in with his

However, it was too late to retreat, and in a moment we were standing in the street. It would not have

surprised me if he had celebrated his freedom by some noisy extravagance there; but he refrained, and

contented himselfwhile Maignan locked the postern behind uswith cocking his hat and lugging forward

his sword, and assuming an air of whimsical recklessness, as if an adventure were to be instantly expected.

But the moon had not yet risen, the night was dark, and for some time we met with nothing more diverting

than a stumble over a dead dog, a word with a forward wench, or a narrow escape from one of those liquid

douches that render the streets perilous for common folk and do not spare the greatest. Naturally, I began to

tire, and wished myself with all my heart back at the Arsenal; but Henry, whose spirits a spice of danger

never failed to raise, found a hundred things to be merry over, and some of which he made a great tale of

afterwards. He would go on; and presently, in the Rue de ]a Pourpointerie, which we entered as the clocks

By that time the moon had risen; but, naturally, few were abroad so late, and such as were to be seen

belonged to a class among whom even Henry did not care to seek adventures. Our astonishment was great

therefore when, halfway down the street a street of tall, mean houses neither better nor much worse than

others in that quarterwe saw, standing in the moonlight at an open door, a boy about seven years old.

The King saw him first, and, pressing my arm, stood still. On the instant the child, who had probably seen us

before we saw him, advanced into the road to us. "Messieurs," he said, standing up boldly before us and

The boy's manner, full of selfpossession, and his tone, remarkable at his age, took us so completely by

surpriseto say nothing of the late hour and the deserted street, which gave these things their full

effectthat for a moment neither of us answered. Then the King spoke. "Indeed, M. l'Empereur," he said

"We do please," Henry replied, saluting him with mock reverence. "You may consider the shutter closed.

For the first time the boy looked doubtful; but he turned without saying anything, and passing through the

doorway, was in an instant lost in the pitchy darkness of the entry. I laid my hand on the King's arm, and tried

to induce him not to follow; fearing much that this might be some new thieves' trap, leading nowhither save

to the POIRE D'ANGOISSE and the poniard. But the attempt was hopeless from the first; he broke from me

We groped for the balustrade and found it, and began to ascend, guided by the boy's voice; who kept a little

before us, saying continually, "This way, messieurs; this way!" His words had so much the sound of a signal,

and the staircase was so dark and illsmelling, that, expecting every moment to be seized or to have a knife in

my back, I found it almost interminable. At last, however, a gleam of light appeared above us, the boy opened

a door, and we found ourselves standing on a mean, narrow landing, the walls of which had once been

whitewashed. The child signed to us to enter, and we followed him into a bare attic, where our heads nearly

"Messieurs, the air is keen," he said in a curiously formal tone. "Will you please to close the shutter?"

The King, amused and full of wonder, looked round. The room contained little besides a table, a stool, and a

lamp standing in a basin on the floor; but an alcove, curtained with black, dingy hangings, broke one wall.

I went to it, and, leaning out, managed, with a little difficulty, to comply. Meanwhile, the King, gazing

curiously at the curtains, gradually approached the alcove. He hesitated long, he told me afterwards, before he

touched the hangings; but at length, feeling sure that there was something more in the business than appeared,

he did so. Drawing one gently aside, as I turned from the window, he peered in; and saw just what he had

been led to expecta huddled form covered with dingy bedclothes and a grey head lying on a ragged,

yellow pillow. The man's face was turned to the wall; but, as the light fell on him, he sighed and, with a

The adventure had not turned out as well as he had hoped; and, with a whimsical look at me, he laid a crown

on the table, said a kind word to the boy, and we went out. In a moment we were in the street.

It was my turn now to rally him, and I did so without mercy; asking if he knew of any other beauteous damsel

who wanted her shutter closed, and whether this was the usual end of his adventures. He took the jest in good

part, laughing fully as loudly at himself as I laughed; and in this way we had gone a hundred paces or so very

"How could he be? His father in bed, no one even to close the shutter. How could he be clean?"

For answer Henry seized me by the arm, turned me round without a word, and in a moment was hurrying me

back to the house. I thought that he was going thither again, and followed reluctantly; but twenty paces short

of the door he crossed the street, and drew me into a doorway. "Can you see the shutter?" he said. "Yes? Then

I had no option but to resign myself, and I nodded. A moist and chilly wind, which blew through the street

and penetrating our cloaks made us shiver, did not tend to increase my enthusiasm; but the King was proof

even against this, as well as against the kennel smells and the tedium of waiting, and presently his persistence

was rewarded. The shutter swung slowly open, the noise made by its collision with the wall coming clearly to

our ears. A minute later the boy appeared in the doorway, and stood looking up and down.

"They would not earn a crown in a month," he answered. There must be something more than that at the

Beginning to share his curiosity, I was about to propose that we should sally out and see if the boy would

repeat his overture to us, when I caught the sound of footsteps coming along the street. "Is it Maignan?" the

Before Henry could answer, the appearance of two strangers coming along the roadway confirmed my

statement. They paused opposite the boy, and he advanced to them. Too far off to hear precisely what passed,

we were near enough to be sure that the dialogue was in the main the same as that in which we had taken

part. The men were cloaked, too, as were we, and presently they went in, as we had gone in. All, in fact,

happened as it had happened to us, and after the necessary interval we saw and heard the shutter closed.

I had no explanation to give, however, and shook my head; and we stood awhile, watching silently. At the

end of five minutes the two men came out again and walked off the way they had come, but more briskly.

Henry moreover, whose observation was all his life most acute, remarked that whatever they had been doing

Indeed, I was beginning to take my full share of interest in the adventure; and in place of wondering, as

before, at Henry's persistence, found it more natural to admire the keenness which he had displayed in

scenting a mystery. I was not surprised, therefore, when he gripped my arm to gain my attention, and, a the

window fell slowly open again, drew me quickly into the street, and hurried me across it and through the

"Up!" he muttered in my ear. "Quickly and quietly, man! If there are to be other visitors, we will play the spy.

We stood aside against the wall, scarcely daring to breathe; and the child, guiding himself by the handrail,

passed us in the dark without suspicion, and pattered on down the staircase. We remained as we were until we

heard him cross the threshold, and then we crept up; not to the uppermost landing, where the light, when the

door was opened, must betray us, but to that immediately below it. There we took our stand in the angle of

the stairs and waited, the King, between amusement at the absurdity of our position and anxiety lest we

should betray ourselves, going off now and again into stifled laughter, from which he vainly strove to restrain

I was not in so gay a mood myself, however, the responsibility of his safety lying heavy upon me; while the

possibility that the adventure might prove no less tragical in the sequel than it now appeared comical, did not

fail to present itself to my eyes in the darkest colours. When we had watched, therefore, five minutes

morewhich seemed to me an hourI began to lose faith; and I was on the point of undertaking to

persuade Henry to withdraw, when the voices of men speaking at the door below reached us, and told me that

it was too late. The next moment their steps crossed the threshold, and they began to ascend, the boy saying

continually, "This way, messieurs, this way!" and preceding them as he had preceded us. We heard them

approach, breathing heavily, and but for the balustrade, by which I felt sure that they would guide themselves,

and which stood some feet from our corner, I should have been in a panic lest they should blunder against us.

But they passed safely, and a moment later the boy opened the door of the room above. We heard them go in,

and without a second's hesitation we crept up after them, following them so closely that the door was scarcely

shut before we were at it. We heard, therefore, what passed from the first: the child's request that they would

close the shutter, their hasty compliance, and the silence, strange and pregnant, which followed, and which

was broken at last by a solemn voice. "We have closed one shutter," it said, "but the shutter of God's mercy Is

"Amen," a second person answered in a tone so distant and muffled that it needed no great wit to guess

whence it came, or that the speaker was behind the curtains of the alcove. "Who are you?"

There was a pause on this, a long pause; which was broken at length by a third speaker, in a tone half sullen,

"I must be sorry," the man panted with sudden fierceness, "or hang!" Hidden though he was from us, there

was a tremor in his voice that told a tale of pallid cheeks and shaking knees,and a terror fast rising to

Someone in the room groaned; it should have been the culprit, but unless I was mistaken the sound came

through the curtains. A long pause followed. Then, "And if I help you," the muffled voice resumed, "will you

But the answer may be guessed. I need not repeat the assurances, the protestations and vows of repentance,

the cries and tears of gratitude which ensue; and to which the poor wretch, stripped of his sullen indifference,

completely abandoned himself. Suffice it that we presently heard the clinking of coins, a word or two of

solemn advice from the cure, and a man's painful sobbing; then the King touched my arm, and we crept down

the stairs. I was for stopping on the landing where we had hidden ourselves before; but Henry drew me on to

He turned towards home, and for some time did not speak. At length he asked me what I thought of it.

"Do you not think," he said in a voice of much emotion, "that if we could do what he does, and save a man

"For the man, sire, doubtless," I answered drily; "but for the State it might not be so well. If mercy became

the rule and justice the exceptionthere would be fewer bodies at Montfaucon and more in the streets at

Shaking off the moodiness that had for a moment overcome him, Henry asked with vivacity what that was.

"Why?" the King replied in some surprisehe was ever of so kind a nature that an appeal to his feelings

"Well, sire, I grant that he may be M. de Joyeuse, who has spent his life in passing in and out of monasteries,

and has performed so many tricks of the kind that I could believe anything of him. But if it be not he"

"Then there is something here," I answered, "still unexplained. Consider the oddity of the conception, sire,

the secrecy of the performance, the hour, the mode, all the surrounding circumstances! I can imagine a man

currying favour with the basest and most dangerous class by such means. I can imagine a conspiracy

recruited by such means. I can imagine this shibboleth of the shutter grown to a watchword as deadly as the

'TUEZ!' of '72. I can imagine all that, but I cannot imagine a man acting thus out of pure benevolence."

"No?" Henry said, thoughtfully. "Well, I think that I agree with you." and far from being displeased with my

warmth (as is the manner of some sovereigns when their best friends differ from them), he came over to my

opinion so completely as to halt and express his intention of returning and probing the matter to the bottom.

Midnight had gone, however; it would take some little time to retrace our steps; and with some difficulty I

succeeded in dissuading him, promising instead to make inquiries on the morrow, and having learned who

lived in the house, to turn the whole affair into a report, which should be submitted to him.

This amused and satisfied him, and, expressing himself well content with the evening's diversionthough

we had done nothing unworthy either of a King or a Ministerhe parted from me at the Arsenal, and went

It did not occur to me at the time that I had promised to do anything difficult; but the news which my agents

brought me next daythat the uppermost floor of the house in the Rue Pourpointerie was emptyput

another face upon the matter. The landlord declared that he knew nothing of the tenant, who had rented the

rooms, ready furnished, by the week; and as I had not seen the man's face, there remained only two sources

whence I could get the information I neededthe child, and the cure of St. Marceau.

I did not know where to look for the former, however; and I had to depend on the cure. But here I carne to an

obstacle I might easily have foreseen. I found him, though an honest man, obdurate in upholding his priest's

privileges; to all my inquiries he replied that the matter touched the confessional, and was within his vows;

and that he neither could, nor daredto please anyone, or for any cause, however plausibledivulge the

slightest detail of the affair. I had him summoned to the arsenal, and questioned him myself, and closely; but

of all armour that of the Roman priesthood is the most difficult to penetrate, and I quickly gave up the

Baffled in the only direction in which I could hope for success, I had to confess my defeat to the King, whose

curiosity was only piqued the more by the rebuff. He adjured me not to let the matter drop, and, suggesting a

number of persons among whom I might possibly find the unknown, proposed also some theories. Of these,

one that the benevolent was a disguised lady, who contrived in this way to give the rein at once to gallantry

and charity, pleased him most; while I favoured that which had first occurred to me on the night of our sally,

and held the unknown to be a clever rascal, who, to serve his ends, political or criminal, was corrupting the

Things remained in this state some weeks, and, growing no wiser, I was beginning to think less of the

affairwhich, of itself, and apart from a whimsical interest which the King took in it, was

unimportantwhen one day, stopping in the Quartier du Marais to view the works at the new Place Royale, I

saw the boy. He was in charge of a decentlooking servant, whose hand he was holding, and the two were

gazing at a horse that, alarmed by the heaps of stone and mortar, was rearing and trying to unseat its rider.

The child did not see me, and I bade Maignan follow him home, and learn where he lived and who he was.

In an hour my equerry returned with the information I desired. The child was the only son of Fauchet, one of

the Receivers General of the Revenue; a man who kept great state in the largest of the oldfashioned houses

in the Rue de Bethisy, where he, had lately entertained the King. I could not imagine anyone less likely to be

concerned in treasonable practices; and, certain that I had made no mistake in the boy, I was driven for a

while to believe that some servant had, perverted the child to this use. Presently, however, second thoughts,

and the position of the father, taken, perhaps, with suspicions that I had for a long time entertained of

Fauchetin common with most of his kind suggested an explanation, hitherto unconsidered. It was not an

explanation very probable at first sight, nor one that would have commended itself to those who divide all

men by hard and fast rules and assort them like sheep. But I had seen too much of the world to fall into this

mistake, and it satisfied me. I began by weighing it carefully; I procured evidence, I had Fauchet watched;

The King was dicing with Fernandez, the Portuguese banker; but I ventured to interrupt the game and draw

him aside. He might not have taken this well, but that my first word caught his attention.

He understood in a moment. "St. Gris!" He exclaimed with animation. "Where? At the same house?"

"Well, I was going to ask for your Majesty's company to the place," I answered smiling. "I will undertake that

He shrugged his shoulders. "That may very well be," he said with a grimace. "That rogue Pimentel has

stripped me of two thousand crowns since supper. He is plucking Bassompierre now.

Remembering that only that morning I had had to stop some necessary works through lack of means, I could

scarcely restrain my indignation. But it was not the time to speak, and I contented myself with repeating my

request. Ashamed of himself, he consented with a good grace, and bidding me go to his: closet, followed a

few minutes later. He found me cloaked to the eyes, and with a soutane and priest's hat; on my arm. "Are

He made a wry face. "Come, Grand Master," he said; "he died yesterday. Is not the jest rather grim?"

He flashed a roguish look at me. "Ah!" he said, "I thought that that was a wicked rule which only we

Coquet, the Master of the Household, let us out by one of the river gates, and we went by the new bridge and

the Pont St. Michel. By the way I taught the King the role I wished him to play, but without explaining the

mystery; the opportune appearance of one of my agents who was watching the end of the street bringing

"Then come, sire," I said, "I see the boy yonder. Let us ascend, and I will undertake that before you reach the

"St. Gris!" he answered with alacrity. Why did you not say that before, and I should have asked no questions.

I restrained the caustic jest that rose to my lips, and we proceeded in silence down the street. The boy, whom

I had espied loitering in a doorway a little way ahead, as if the great bell above us which had just tolled

eleven had drawn him out, peered at us a moment askance; and then, coming forward, accosted us. But I need

not detail the particulars of a conversation which was almost word for word the same as that which had

passed in the Rue de la Pourpointerie; suffice it that he made the same request with the same frank audacity,

and that, granting it, we were in a moment following hint up a similar staircase.

"This way, messieurs, this way!" he said; as he had on that other night, while we groped our way upwards in

the dark. He opened a door, and a light shone out; and we entered a room that seemed, with its bare walls and

rafters, its scanty stool and table and lamp, the very counterpart of that other room. In one wall appeared the

dingy curtains of an alcove, closely drawn; and the shutter stood open, until, at the child's request, expressed

We were both so well muffled up and disguised, and the light of the lamp shining upwards so completely

distorted the features, that I had no fear of recognition, unless the King's voice betrayed him. But when he

spoke, breaking the oppressive silence of the room, his tone was as strange and hollow as I could wish.

"The shutter is closed," be said; "but the shutter of God's mercy is never closed!"

Still, knowing that this was the crucial moment, and that we should be detected now if at all, I found it; an

age before the voice behind the curtains answered "Amen!" and yet another age before the hidden speaker

The man behind the curtains gasped, and they were for a moment violently agitated, as if a hand seized them

and let them go again. But I had reckoned that the unknown, after a pause of horror, would suppose that he

had heard amiss and continue his usual catechism. And so it proved. In a voice that shook a little, he asked,

The light in the basin flared up a little, casting dark shadows on the ceiling, and at the same moment the

shutter, which I had failed to fasten securely, fell open with a grinding sound. One of the curtains swayed a

The bed shook until the boards creaked under it; but this time no hand grasped the curtains. Instead, a strained

voicethick and coarse, yet differing from that muffled tone which we had heard beforeasked, "Who are

I waited. The King, who understood nothing but had listened to my answers with eager attention, and marked

no less closely the agitation which they caused in the unknown, leant forward to listen. But the bed creaked

no more; the curtain hung still; even the voice, which at last issued from the curtains, was no more like the

ordinary accents of a man than are those which he utters in the paroxysms of epilepsy. "Are yousorry?" the

unknown mutteredinvoluntarily, I think; hoping against hope; not daring to depart from a formula which

had become second nature. But I could fancy him clawing, as he spoke, at his choking throat.

France, however, had suffered too long at the hands of that race of men, and I had been too lately vilified by

them to feel much pity; and for answer I lifted a voice that to the quailing wretch must have been the voice of

doom. "Sorry?" I said grimly. "I must beor hang! For tomorrow the King examines his books, and the

The King's hand was on mine, to stop me before the last word was out; but his touch came too late. As it rang

through the room one of the curtains before us was twitched aside, and a face glared out, so ghastly and

drawn and horrorstricken, that few would have known it for that of the wealthy fermier, who had grown

sleek and fat on the King's revenues. I do not know whether he knew us, or whether, on the contrary, he

found this accusation, so precise, so accurate, coming from an unknown source, still more terrible than if he

"St. Gris!" Henry cried, looking on the body with a shudder, "you have killed him, Grand Master! It was true,

"Yes, sire," I answered. "But he is not dead, I think." And going to the window I whistled for Maignan, who

in a minute came to us. He was not very willing to touch the man, but I bade him lay him on the bed and

loosen his clothes and throw water on his face; and presently M. Fauchet began to recover.

I stepped a little aside that he might not see me, and accordingly the first person on whom his eyes lighted

was the King, who had laid aside his hat and cloak, and taken the terrified and weeping child on his lap. M.

Fauchet stared at him awhile before he recognised him; but at last the trembling man knew him, and tottering

to his feet, threw himself on his knees, looking years older than when I had last seen him in the street.

Henry looked at him gravely, and nodded. "It is well," he said. "You are fortunate, M. Fauchet; for had this

come to my ears in any other way I could not have spared you. You will render your accounts and papers to

M. de Sully tomorrow, and according as you are frank with him you will be treated."

Fauchet thanked him with abject tears, and the King rose and prepared to leave. But at the door a thought

struck him, and he turned. "How long have you done this?" he said, indicating the room by a gesture, and

The King cast an indescribable look at me, wherein amusement, scorn, and astonishment were all blended.

"St. Gris! man!" he said, shrugging his shoulders and drawing in his breath sharply, "you think God is as

He did not speak again until we were halfway back to the Louvre; when he opened his mouth to announce

his intention of rewarding me with a tithe of the money recovered. It was duly paid to me, and I bought with

it part of the outlying lands of Villebon those, I mean, which extend towards Chartres. The rest of the

money, notwithstanding all my efforts, was wasted here and there, Pimentel winning thirty crowns of the

King that year. But the discovery led to others of a similar character, and eventually set me on the track of a

In accordance with my custom I gave an entertainment on the last day of this year to the King and Queen;

who came to the Arsenal with a numerous train, and found the diversions I had provided so much to their

taste that they did not leave until I was half dead with fatigue, and like to be killed with complaisance.

Though this was not the most splendid entertainment I gave that year, it had the good fortune to please; and

in a different and less agreeable fashion is recalled to my memory by a peculiar chain of events, whereof the

I have mentioned in an earlier part of these memoirs, a Portuguese adventurer who, about this time, gained

large sums from the Court at play, and more than once compelled the King to have recourse to me. I had the

worst opinion of this man, and did not scruple to express it on several occasions; and this the more, as his

presumption fell little short of his knavery, while he treated those whom he robbed with as much arrogance as

if to play with him were an honour. Holding this view of him, I was far from pleased when I discovered that

the King had brought him to my house; but the feeling, though sufficiently strong, sank to nothing beside the

indignation and disgust which I experienced when, the company having fallen to cards after supper, I found

It did not lessen my annoyance, that I had, after my usual fashion, furnished the Queen with a purse for her

sport; and in this way found myself reduced to stand by and see my good money pass into the clutches of this

knave. Under the circumstances, and in my own house, I could do nothing; nevertheless, the table at which

they sat possessed so strong a fascination for me that I several times caught myself staring at it more closely

than was polite; and as to disgust at the unseemliness of such companionship was added vexation at my own

loss, I might have gone farther towards betraying my feelings if a casual glance aside had not disclosed to me

the fact that I did not stand alone in my dissatisfaction; but that, frivolous as the majority of the courtiers

were, there was one at least among those present who viewed this particular game with distaste.

This person stood near the door, and fancying himself secured from observation, either by his position or his

insignificance, was glowering on the pair in a manner that at another time must have cost him a rebuke. As it

was, I found something friendly, as well as curious, in his fixed frown; and ignorant of his name, though I

knew him by sight, wondered both who he was and what was the cause of his preoccupation.

On the one point I had no difficulty in satisfying myself. Boisrueil, who presently passed, told me that his

name was Vallon; that he belonged to a poor but old family in the Cotentin, and that he had been only three

"Not particularlyas far as I know, at least. But if you wish to know more, M. le Duc," Boisrueil continued,

"No, no," I said peevishly. The Queen had just handed her last rouleau across the table, and was still playing.

"Go, man, about your business; I don't want to spend the evening gossiping with you."

He went, and I dismissed the young fellow from my mind; only to find him five minutes later at my elbow.

To youth and good looks he added a modest bearing that did not fail to enhance them and commend him to

me; the majority of the young sparks of the day being wiser than their fathers. But I confess that I was not

prepared for the stammering embarrassment with which he addressed menor, indeed, to be addressed by

"M. de Sully," he said, in a tone of emotion, "I beg you to pardon me. I am in great trouble, and I think that

So many men appeal to a minister with some such formula on their lips, and at times with a calculated

timidity, that at the first blush of his request I was inclined to bid him come to me at the proper time; and to

remove to another part of the room. But curiosity, playing the part of his advocate, found so much that was

"A very slight, if a very unusual, one," he muttered. "M. le Duc, I only want you to"

"To supplement the present you have given to the Queen with this," he blurted out, his face pale with

emotion; and he stealthily held out to me a green silk purse, through the meshes of which I saw the glint of

gold. "M. de Sully," he continued, observing my hasty movement, "do not be offended! I know that you have

done all that hospitality required. But I see that the Queen has already lost your gift, and that"

He said it simply, and as he spoke, he again pressed on me the purse. I took and weighed it, and calculated at

a guess that it held fifty crowns. The sum astonished me. "Why, man," I said, "you are not mad enough to be

"No!" he cried, vehemently, yet with a gleam of humour in his eye. "I swear that it is not so. If you will do

It was a mad impulse that took me, but I nodded, and resolving to make good the money out of my own

pocket should the case, when all was clear, seem to demand it, I went straight from him, and, crossing the

floor, laid the purse near her Majesty's hand, with a polite word of regret that fortune had used her so ill, and

It would not have surprised me had she shown some signs of consciousness, and perhaps betrayed that she

recognised the purse. But she contented herself with thanking me prettily, and almost before I had done

speaking had her slender fingers among the coins. Turning, I found that Vallon had disappeared; so that all

came to a sudden stop; and with the one and the other, I retired completely puzzled, and less able than before

However, the King summoning me to him, there, for the time, was an end of the matter: and between fatigue

and the duties of my position, I did not give a second thought to it that evening. Next morning, too, I was

taken up with the gifts which it was my privilege as Master of the Mint to present to the King on New Year's

Day, and which consisted this year of medals of gold, silver, and copper, bearing inscriptions of my own

composition, together with small bags of new coins for the King, the Queen, and their attendants.

These I always made it a point to offer before the King rose; nor was this year an exception, for I found his

Majesty still in bed, the Queen occupying a couch in the same chamber. But whereas it generally fell to me to

arouse them from sleep, and be the first to offer those compliments which befitted the day, I found them on

this occasion fully roused, the King lazily toying with his watch, the Queen talking fast and angrily, and at

the edge of the carpet beside her bed Mademoiselle D'Oyley in deep disgrace. The Queen, indeed, was so

taken up with scolding her that she had forgotten what day it was; and even after my entrance, continued to

rate the poor girl so fiercely that I thought her present violence little less unseemly than her condescension of

Perhaps some trace of this feeling appeared in my countenance; for, presently, the King, who seldom failed to

read my thoughts, tried to check her in a goodnatured fashion. "Come, my dear," he said; "let that trembling

mouse go. And do you hear what our good friend Sully has brought you? I'll be bound"

"How your Majesty talks!" the Queen answered, pettishly. "As if a few paltry coins could make up for my

jar! I'll be bound, for my part, that this idle wench was romping and playing with"

"Come, come; you have made her cry enough!" the King interruptedand, indeed, the girl was sobbing so

passionately that a man could not listen without pain. "Let her go, I say, and do you attend to Sully. You have

"A jar of majolica," the Queen cried, Utterly disregarding him, "worth your body and soul, you little slut!"

"Nightcap," the King muttered. "There, there, sweetheart," he continued, aloud, "let the girl go!"

"Of course! She is a girl," the Queen cried, with a sneer. "That is enough for you!"

"And consider yourself lucky," the Queen cried, venomously. "You ought to be whipped; and if I had you in

my country, I would have you whipped for all your airs! San Giacomo, if you cross me, I will see to it!"

This was a parting thrust; for the girl, catching at the King's permission, had turned and was hurrying in a

passion of tears to the door. Still, the Queen had not done. Mademoiselle had broken a jar; and there were

other misdemeanours which her Majesty continued to expound. But in the end I had my say, and presented

the medals, which were accepted by the King with his usual kindness, and by the Queen, when her feelings

had found expression, with sufficient complaisance. Both were good enough to compliment me on my

entertainment; but observing that the Queen quickly buried herself again in her pillows and was inclined to be

peevish, I cut short my attendance on the plea of fatigue, and left them at liberty to receive the very numerous

Of these, the greater number came on afterwards, to wait on me; so that for some hours the large hall at the

Arsenal was thronged with my friends, or those who called themselves by that name. But towards noon the

stream began to fail; and when I sat down to dinner at that hour, I had reason to suppose that I should be left

at peace. I had not more than begun my meal, however, when I was called from table by a messenger from

"What is it?" I said, when I had gone to him. Had he come from the King, I could have understood it more

"Her Majesty desires to know, your excellency, whether you have seen anything of Mademoiselle D'Oyley."

"No!" I answered, angrily. "God bless the Queen, I know nothing of her. I am sitting at meat, and"

The man interrupted me with protestations of regret, and, hastening to express himself thoroughly satisfied,

retired with a crestfallen air. I wondered what the message meant, and what had come over the Queen, and

whither the girl had gone. But as I made it a rule throughout my term of office to avoid, as far as possible, all

participation in bedchamber intrigues, I wasted little time on the matter, but returning to my dinner, took up

the conversation where I had left it. Before I rose, however, La Trape came to me and again interrupted me.

I went out, thinking it very probable that Henry had sent me a present; though it was his more usual custom

on this day to honour me with a visit, and declare his generous intentions by word of mouth, when we had

both retired to my library and the door was closed. Still, on one or two occasions he had sent me a horse from

his stables, a brace of Indian fowl, a melon or the like, as a foretaste; and this I supposed to be the errand on

His first words disabused me. "May it please your excellency," he said, very civilly, "the King desires to be

remembered to you as usual, and would ]earn whether you know anything of Mademoiselle D'Oyley."

"Not I, i'faith!" I said, drily. "I am no squire of dames, to say nothing of maids!"

"If he has sent that message," I replied, "has yet something to learnthat I do not interest myself in maids of

On this he gave me to understand, in the sly, secretive manner such men affect, that it was so. I asked him

then what all this ferment was about. "Has Mademoiselle D'Oyley disappeared?" I said, peevishly.

"Yes, your excellency. She was with the Queen at eight o'clock. At noon her Majesty desired her services,

"What?" I exclaimed. "A maid of honour is missing for three hours in the morning, and there is all this

But discerning that he was little more than a youth, and could not; restrain a smile, I broke off discreetly, and

contented myself with asking if there was reason to suppose that there was more than appeared in the girl's

"Well, in any case, I know nothing about it," I replied. "I am not hiding her. You may tell his Majesty that,

He answered me, eagerly, that that was not necessary, and that the King had desired merely a word from me;

and with that and many other expressions of regret, he went away and left me at leisure to go to the

ridingschool, where at this time of the year it was my wont to see the young men practise those manly arts,

which, so far as I can judge, are at a lower ebb in these modern days of quips and quodlibets than in the

stirring times of my youth. Then, thank God, it was held more necessary for a page to know his seven points

But the first day of this year was destined to be a day of vexation. I had scarcely entered the school, when M.

de Varennes was announced. Instead of going to meet him I bade them bring him to me, and, on seeing him,

bade him welcome to the sports. "Though," I said, politely overlooking his past history and his origin, "we

"Very true," he answered, suavely. "And I wish I could stay with you. But it was not for pleasure I came. The

I looked at him in amazement. "Why," I said, "what on earth has the girl done now?"

"Yes. The truth is," Varennes continued, looking at me doubtfully, "the King has information which leads

"She may be anywhere," I answered in a tone that closed his mouth, "but she is not here. And you may tell

Though he had begun life as a cook, few could be more arrogant than Varennes on occasion; but he possessed

the valuable knack of knowing with whom he could presume, and never attempted to impose on me.

Apologising with the easy grace of a man who had risen in life by pleasing, he sat with me awhile, recalling

old days and feats, and then left, giving me to understand that I might depend on him to disabuse the King's

As a fact, Henry visited me that evening without raising the subject; nor had I any reason to complain of his

generosity, albeit he took care to exact from the Superintendent of the Finances more than he gave his

servant, and for one gift to Peter got two Pauls satisfied. To obtain the money he needed in the most

commodious manner, I spent the greater part of two days in accounts, and had not yet settled the warrants to

my liking, when La Trape coming in with candles on the second evening disturbed my secretaries. The men

yawned discreetly; and reflecting that we had had a long day I dismissed them, and stayed myself only for the

purpose of securing one or two papers of a private nature. Then I bade La Trape light me to my closet.

Instead, he stood and craved leave to speak to me. "About what, sirrah?" I said.

"No, your excellency," he answered. "To do a service for anotherM. Pimentel. The Portuguese gentleman

"To tell him where the young lady with Madame lies; and lend him the key of the garden gate tonight."

He returned my look with a stupidity which I knew was assumed. "Yes, your excellency. The young lady

Then I knew that I had been betrayed, and had given my enemies such a handle as they would not be slow to

seize; and I stood in the middle of the room in the utmost grief and consternation. At last, "Stay here," I said

to the man, as soon as I could speak. "no not move from the spot where you stand until I come back!"

It was my almost invariable custom to be announced when I visited my wife's closet; but I had no mind now

for such formalities, and swiftly passing two or three scared servants on the stairs, I made straight for her

room, tapped and entered. Abrupt as were my movements, however, someone had contrived to warn her; for

though two of her women sat working on stools near her, I heard a hasty foot flying, and caught the last

flutter of a skirt as it disappeared through a second door. My wife rose from her seat, and looked at me

"Madame," I said, "send these women away. Now," I continued when they had gone, "who was that with

"You do well not to try to deceive me, Madame," I continued severely. "It was Mademoiselle D'Oyley."

"Who has absented herself from the Queen's service," I answered bitterly, "and chosen to hide herself here of

all places! Madame," I continued, with a severity which the sense of my false position amply justified, "are

you aware that you have made me dishonour myself? That you have made me lie; not once, but three times?

She cried out at that, being frightened, that "she had meant no harm; that the girl coming to her in great grief

"Because the Queen had scolded her for breaking a china jar!" I said, contemptuously.

"No, Monsieur; her trouble was of quite another kind," my wife answered with more spirit than I had

"It is plain that you do not yet understand the case," Madame persisted, facing me with trembling hardihood.

"Mademoiselle D'Oyley has been persecuted for some time by the suit of a man for whom I know you,

Monsieur, have no respect: a man whom no Frenchwoman of family should be forced to marry."

"Has made his suit her own. Doubtless her Majesty," Madame de Sully continued with grimness, "who plays

with him so much, is under obligations to him, and has her reasons. The King, too, is on his side, so that

My wife looked at me in trepidation. "It may be so, Monsieur," she said hesitating

"It is so, Madame; and you know it," I answered in the same tone. "M. Vallon is the man."

"I know, Madame," I replied, with vigour, "that to please this lovesick girl you have placed me in a position

of the utmost difficulty; that you have jeopardised the confidence which my master, whom I have never

willingly deceived, places in me; and that out of all this I see only one way of escape, and that is by a full and

My wife began to sob at that, as women will; but I had too keen a sense of the difficulties into which she had

plunged me by her deceit, to pity her over much. And, doubtless, I should have continued in the resolution I

had formed, and which appeared to hold out the only hope of avoiding the malice of those enemies whom

every man in power possessesand none can afford to despiseif La Trape's words, when he betrayed the

Doubtless, Mademoiselle had been watched into my house, and my illwishers would take the earliest

opportunity of bringing the lie home to me. My wife's confession, under such circumstances, would have but

a simple air, and believed by some would be ridiculed by more. It might, and probably would, save my credit

with the King; but it would not exalt me in others' eyes, or increase my reputation as a manager. If there were

Still I was half way to the door when I paused, and turned. My wife was still weeping. "It is no good crying

over spilled milk, Madame," I said severely. "If the girl were not a fool, she would have gone to the

Ursulines. The abbess has a stiff neck, and is as big a simpleton to boot as you are. It is only a step, too, from

My wife lifted her head, and looked at me eagerly; but I avoided her gaze and went out without more, and

downstairs to my study, where I found La Trape awaiting me. "Go to Madame la Duchesse," I said to him.

He obeyed, and after an interval of about half an hour, during which I had time to mature my plan, presented

himself again before me. "Pimentel had a notion that the young lady was here then?" I said carelessly.

"If she went in the direction of the Rue St. Marcel," he answered stolidly, "she would not be seen."

The convent of the Ursulines is in the Rue St. Marcel. I knew, therefore, that Madame had had the sense to

act on my hint; and after reflecting a moment I continued, "So Pimentel wished to know where she was

"Well, you are at liberty to accept the offer," I answered carelessly. "It will not clash with my service." And

then, as he stood staring in astonishment, striving to read the riddle, I continued, "By the way, are the rooms

in the little Garden Pavilion aired? They may be needed next week; see that one of the women sleeps there

He said no more, but I saw that he understood; and bidding him be careful in following my instructions, I

dismissed him. The line I had determined to take was attended by many uncertainties, however; and more

than once I repented that I had not followed my first; instinct, and avowed the truth. A hundred things might

fall out to frustrate my scheme and place me in a false position; from whichsince the confidence of his

sovereign is the breath of a minister, and as easily destroyed as a woman's reputation I might find it

I slept, therefore, but ill that night; and in conjunctures apparently more serious have felt less trepidation. But

experience has long ago taught me that trifles, not great events, unseat the statesman, and that of all intrigues

those which revolve round a woman are the most dangerous. I rose early, therefore, and repaired to Court

before my usual hour, it being the essence of my plan to attack, instead of waiting to be attacked. Doubtless

my early appearance was taken to corroborate the rumour that I had made a false step, and was in difficulties;

for scarcely had I crossed the threshold of the antechamber before the attitude of the courtiers caught my

attention. Some who twentyfour hours earlier would have been only too glad to meet my eye and obtain a

word of recognition, appeared to be absorbed in conversation. Others, less transparent or better inclined to

me, greeted me with unnatural effusion. One who bore a grudge against me, but had never before dared to do

more than grin, now scowled openly; while a second, perhaps the most foolish of all, came to me with advice,

drew me with insistency into a niche near the door, and adjured me to be cautious.

"You are too bold," he said; "and that way your enemies find their opening. Do not go to the King now. He is

incensed against you. But we all know that he loves you; wait, therefore, my friend, until he has had his day's

huntinghe is just now booting himself and see him when he has ridden off his annoyance."

"And when my friends, my dear Marquis, have had time to poison his mind against me? No, no," I answered,

"But the Queen is with him now," he persisted, seizing the lappel of my coat to stay me, "and she will be sure

"Therefore," I answered drily, "I had better see his Majesty before the one word becomes two."

"Be persuaded," he entreated me. "See him now, and nothing but ill will come of it."

"Nothing but ill for some," I retorted, looking so keenly at him that his visage fell. And with that he let me

go, and with a smile I passed through the door. The rumour had not yet gained such substance that the crowd

had lost all respect for me; it rolled back, and I passed through it towards the end of the chamber, where the

King was stooping to draw on one of his boots. The Queen stood not far from him, gazing into the fire with

an air of illtemper which the circle, serious and silent, seemed to reflect, I looked everywhere for the

For a moment the King affected to be unaware of my presence, and even turned his shoulder to me; but I

observed that he reddened, and fidgeted nervously with the boot which he was drawing on. Nothing daunted,

therefore, I waited until he perforce discovered me, and was obliged to greet me. "You are early this

"For the best of reasons, sire," I answered hardily. "I am ill placed at home, and come to you for justice."

I was about to answer, when the Queen interposed with a sneer. "I think that I can tell you, sire," she said.

"Madame," I said, respectfully but with firmness. "I know this only, that my house was last night the scene of

a gross outrage; and by all I can learn it was perpetrated by one who is under your Majesty's protection."

"In the course of last night he broke into my house with a gang of wretches, and bore off one of the inmates."

The Queen's smile grew broader; the King began to grin. Some of the circle, watching them closely, ventured

to smile also. "Come, my friend," Henry said, almost with good humour, "this is all very well. But this inmate

"Was, in fact, I suppose, the rebellious little wench of whom you knew nothing yesterday!" the Queen cried

harshly, and with an air of open triumph. "There can be no stealing of stolen goods, sir; and if M. Pimentel,

who had at least as much right as you to the girland more, for I am her guardianhas carried her off, you

"But, Madame," I said, with an air of bewilderment, "I really do notit must be my fault, but I do not

Two or three sniggered, seeing me apparently checkmated and at the end of my resources. And the King

laughed out with kindly malice. "Come, Grand Master," he said, "I think that you do. However, if Pimentel

"But, sire," I answered, looking sternly round the grinning circle, "am I mad, or is there some mystery here? I

assured your Majesty yesterday that Mademoiselle D'Oyley was not in my house. I say the same today. She

is not; your officers may search every room and closet. And for the woman whom M. Pimentel has carried

off, she is no more Mademoiselle D'Oyley than I am; she is one of my wife's waitingmaids. If you doubt

The King stared at me. "Nonsense!" he said, sharply. "If Pimentel has carried off anyone, it must be

"But it is not, sire," I answered with persistence. "He has broken into my house, and abducted my servant. For

But the Portuguese, as it happened, was at the door even then, and being called, had no alternative but to

come forward. His face and mien as he entered and reluctantly showed himself were more than enough to

dissipate any doubts which the courtiers had hitherto entertained; the former being as gloomy and downcast

as the latter was timid and cringing. It is true he made some attempt at first, and for a time, to face the matter

out; stammering and stuttering, and looking piteously to the Queen for help. But he could not long delay the

crisis, nor deny that the person he had so cunningly abducted was one of my waitingwomen; and the

moment that this confession was made his case was at an end, the statement being received with so universal

a peal of laughter, the King leading, as at one and the same time discomfited him, and must have persuaded

After that he would have spent himself in vain, had he contended that Mademoiselle D'Oyley was at my

house; and so clear was this that he made no second attempt to do so, but at once admitting that his people

had made a mistake, he proffered me a handsome apology, and desired the King to speak to me in his behalf.

This I, on my side, was pleased to take in good part; and having let him off easily with a mild rebuke, turned

from him to the Queen, and informed her with much respect that I had learned at length where Mademoiselle

She winced, for she had already quarrelled with the abbess without advantage. And there for the moment the

matter ended. At a later period I took care to confess all to the King, and he did not fail to laugh heartily at

the clever manner in which I had outwitted Pimentel. But this was not until the Portuguese had left the

country and gone to Italy, the affair between him and Mademoiselle D'Oyley (which resolved itself into a

contest between the Queen and the Ursulines) having come to a close under circumstances which it may be

In the summer of the year 1608, determining to take up my abode, when not in Paris, at Villebon, where I had

lately enlarged my property, I went thither from Rouen with my wife, to superintend the building and mark

out certain plantations which I projected. As the heat that month was great, and the dust of the train annoying,

I made each stage in the evening and on horseback, leaving my wife to proceed at her leisure. In this way I

was able, by taking rough paths, to do in two or three hours a distance which her coaches had scarcely

covered in the day; but on the third evening, intending to make a short cut by a ford on the Vaucouleurs, I

found, to my chagrin, the advantage on the other side, the ford, when I reached it at sunset, proving

impracticable. As there was every prospect, however, that the water would fall within a few hours, I

determined not to retrace my steps; but to wait where I was until morning, and complete my journey to

There was a poor inn near the ford, a mere hovel of wood on a brick foundation, yet with two storeys. I made

my way to this with Maignan and La Trape, who formed, with two grooms, my only attendance; but on

coming near the house, and looking about with a curious eye, I remarked something which fixed my

attention, and, for the moment, brought me to a halt. This was the spectacle of three horses, of fair quality,

feeding in a field of growing corn, which was the only enclosure near the inn. They were trampling and

spoiling more than they ate; and, supposing that they had strayed into the place, and the house showing no

signs of life, I bade my grooms fetch them out. The sun was about setting, and I stood a moment watching the

long shadows of the men as they plodded through the corn, and the attitudes of the horses as, with heads

Suddenly a man came round the corner of the house, and seeing us, and what my men were doing, began to

gesticulate violently, but without sound. The grooms saw him too, and stood; and he ran up to my stirrup, his

"Do you want to see us all ruined?" he muttered. And he begged me to call my men out of the corn.

"You are more likely to be ruined that way," I answered, looking down at him. "Why, man, is it the custom in

He shook his fist stealthily. "God forbid!" he said. "But the devil is within doors, and we must do his

The boor shaded his eyes, and looked at me sulkily from under his matted and tangled hair. "You are not of

"I hope not," I answered, smiling at his simplicity. "But your corn is your own. I will call the men out." On

which I made a sign to them to return. "Now," I said, as I walked my horse slowly towards the house, while

"And he said that I might eat it. It was not good enough for his horses. They must have hay or corn; and if I

Full of indignation, I made in my mind a note of M. Gringuet's name; but at the moment I said no more, and

we proceeded to the house, the exterior of which, though meagre, and even miserable, gave me an impression

of neatness. From the inside, however, a hoarse, continuous noise was issuing, which resolved itself as we

crossed the threshold into a man's voice. The speaker was out of sight, in an upper room to which a ladder

gave access, but his oaths, complaints, and imprecations almost shook the house. A middleaged woman,

scantily dressed, was busy on the hearth; but perhaps that which, next to the perpetual scolding that was

going on above, most took my attention was a great lump of salt that stood on the table at the woman's elbow,

and seemed to be evidence of greater luxuryfor the GABELLE had not at that time been reducedthan I

The roaring and blustering continuing upstairs, I stood a moment in sheer astonishment. "Is that M.

The innkeeper nodded sullenly, while his wife stared at me. "But what; is the matter with him?" I said.

"The gout. But for that he would have been gone these two days to collect at Le Mesnil."

"Ah!" I answered, beginning to understand. "And the salt is for a bath for his feet, is it?"

"Well," I said, as Maignan came in with my saddlebags and laid them on the floor, "he will swear still louder

"Bill?" the housewife answered bitterly, looking up again from her pots. "A taxgatherer's bill? Go to the

dead man and ask for the price of his coffin; or to the babe for a nursefee! You will get paid as soon. A

She spoke plainly; yet I found a clearer proof of the slavery in which the man held them in the perfect

indifference with which they regarded my arrivalthough a guest with two servants must have been a rarity

in such a placeand the listless way in which they set about attending to my wants. Keenly remembering

that not long before this my enemies had striven to prejudice me in the King's eyes by alleging that, though I

filled his coffers, I was grinding the poor into the dustand even, by my exactions, provoking a rebellion I

was in no mood to look with an indulgent eye on those who furnished such calumnies with a show of reason.

But it has never been my wont to act hastily; and while I stood in the middle of the kitchen, debating whether

I should order the servants to fling the fellow out, and bid him appear before me at Villebon, or should

instead have him brought up there and then, the man's coarse voice, which had never ceased to growl and

snarl above us, rose on a sudden still louder. Something fell on the floor over our heads and rolled across it;

and immediately a young girl, barefoot and shortskirted, scrambled hurriedly and blindly down the ladder

She was sobbing, and a little blood was flowing from a cut in her lip; and she trembled all over. At sight of

the blood and her tears the woman seemed to be transported. Snatching up a saucepan, she sprang towards the

ladder with a gesture of rage, and in a moment would have ascended if her husband had not followed and

dragged her back. The girl also, as soon as she could speak, added her entreaties to his, while Maignan and

All this while, the bully above continued his maledictions. "Send that slut back to me!" he roared. "Do you

think that I am going to be left alone in this hole? Send her back, or" and he added halfadozen oaths of a

kind to make an honest man's blood boil. In the midst of this, however, and while the woman was still

contending with her husband, he suddenly stopped and shrieked in anguish, crying out for the saltbath.

But the woman, whom her husband had only halfpacified, shook her fist at the ceiling with a laugh of

defiance. "Shriek; ay, you may shriek, you wretch!" she cried. "You must be waited on by my girl, must

youno older face will do for youand you beat her? Your horses must eat corn, must they, while we eat

grass? And we buy salt for you, and wheaten bread for you, and are beggars for you! For you, you thieving

"Silence, woman!" her husband cried, cutting her short, with a pale face. "Hush, hush; he will hear you!"

But the woman was too far gone in rage to obey. "What! and is it not true?" she answered, her eyes glittering.

"Will he not tomorrow go to Le Mesnil and squeeze the poor? Ay, and will not Lescauts the corndealer,

and Philippon the silkmerchant, come to him with bribes, and go free? And de Fonvelle and de Curtin

they with a DE, forsooth!plead their nobility, and grease his hands, and go free? Ay, and"

"Silence, woman!" the man said again, looking apprehensively at me, and from me to my attendants, who

"A taxgatherer?" I said, smiling. "No. But how long has your friend upstairs been here?"

"Two days, Monsieur," she answered, wiping the perspiration from her brow, and speaking more quietly. "He

is talking of sending on a deputy to Le Mesnil; but Heaven send he may recover, and go from here himself!"

"Well," I answered, "at any rate, we have had enough of this noise. My servant shall go up and tell him that

there is a gentleman here who cannot put up with a disturbance. Maignan," I continued, "see the man, and tell

him that the inn is not his private house, and that he must groan more softly; but do not mention my name.

Maignan and La Trape, who knew me, and had counted on a very different order, stared at me, wondering at

my easiness and complaisance; for there is a species of tyranny, unassociated with rank, that even the coarsest

view with indignation. But the woman's statement, which, despite its wildness and her excitement, I saw no

reason to doubt, had suggested to me a scheme of punishment more refined; and which might, at one and the

same time, be of profit to the King's treasury and a lesson to Gringuet. To carry it through I had to submit to

some inconvenience, and particularly to a night passed under the same roof with the rogue; but as the news

that a traveller of consequence was come had the effect, aided by a few sharp words from Maignan, of

lowering his tone, and forcing him to keep within bounds, I was able to endure this and overlook the

occasional outbursts of spleen which his disease and pampered temper still drew from him.

His two men, who had been absent on an errand at the time of my arrival, presently returned, and were

doubtless surprised to find a second company in possession. They tried my attendants with a number of

questions, but without success; while I, by listening while I had my supper, learned more of their master's

habits and intentions than they supposed. They suspected nothing, and at daybreak we left them; and, the

water having duly fallen in the night, we crossed the river without mishap, and for a league pursued our

proper road. Then I halted, and despatching the two grooms to Houdan with a letter for my wife, I took,

At a little inn, a league short of Le Mesnil, I stopped, and instructing my two attendants in the parts they were

to play, prepared, with the help of the seals, which never left Maignan's custody, the papers necessary to

enable me to enact the role of Gringuet's deputy. Though I had been two or three times to Villebon, I had

never been within two leagues of Le Mesnil, and had no reason to suppose that I should be recognised; but to

lessen the probability of this I put on a plain suit belonging to Maignan, with a blackhilted sword, and no

ornaments. I furthermore waited to enter the town until evening, so that my presence, being reported, might

In a larger place my scheme must have miscarried, but in this little town on the hill, looking over the plain of

vineyards and cornfields, with inn, markethouse, and church in the square, and on the fourth side the open

battlements, whence the towers of Chartres could be seen on a clear day, I looked to have to do only with

Accordingly, riding up to the inn about sunset, I called, with an air, for the landlord. There were

halfadozen loungers seated in a row on a bench before the door, and one of these went in to fetch him.

When the host came out, with his apron twisted round his waist, I asked him if he had a room.

"Very well," I answered pompously, considering that I had just such an audience as I desiredby which I

mean one that, without being too critical, would spread the news. "I am M. Gringuet's deputy, and I am here

with authority to collect and remit, receive and give receipts for, his Majesty's taxes, tolls, and dues, now, or

to be, due and owing. Therefore, my friend, I will trouble you to show me to my room.

I thought that this announcement would impress him as much as I desired; but, to my surprise, he only stared

"Yes," I said, dismounting somewhat impatiently; "he is ill with the gout and cannot come."

Still he did not move to do my bidding, but continued to rub his bald head and stare at me as if I fascinated

him. "Well, I amI meanI think we are full," he stammered at last, with his eyes like saucers.

I replied, with some impatience, that he had just said that he had a room; adding, that if I was not in it and

comfortably settled before five minutes were up I would know the reason. I thought that this would settle the

matter, whatever maggot had got into the man's head; and, in a way, it did so, for he begged my pardon

hastily, and made way for me to enter, calling, at the same time, to a lad who was standing by, to attend to the

horses. But when we were inside the door, instead of showing me through the kitchen to my room, he

muttered something, and hurried away; leaving me to wonder what was amiss with him, and why the

loungers outside, who had listened with all their ears to our conversation, had come in after us as far as they

The landlord remained long away, and seemed, from sounds that came to my ears, to be talking with someone

in a distant room. At length, however, he returned, bearing a candle and followed by a servingman. I asked

him roughly why he had been so long, and began to rate him; but he took the words out of my mouth by his

humility, and going before me through the kitchenwhere his wife and two or three maids who were about

the fire stopped to look at us, with the basting spoons in their handshe opened a door which led again into

"It is across the yard," he said apologetically, as he went before, and opening a second door, stood aside for

us to enter. "But it is a good room, and, if you please, a fire shall be lighted. The shutters are closed," he

continued, as we passed him, Maignan and "La Trape carrying my baggage, "but they shall be opened. Hallo!

On the word his voice roseand broke; and in a moment the door, through which we had all passed

unsuspecting, fell to with a crash behind us. Before we could move we heard the bars drop across it. A little

before, La Trape had taken a candle from someone's hand to light me the better; and therefore we were not in

darkness. But the light this gave only served to impress on us what the falling bars and the rising sound of

The room in which we stood, looking foolishly at one another, was a great barnlike chamber, with small

windows high in the unplaistered walls. A long board set on trestles, and two or three stools placed round

iton the occasion, perhaps, of some recent festivityhad for a moment deceived us, and played the

In the first shock of the discovery, hearing the bars drop home, we stood gaping, and wondering what it

I joined him more at my leisure, and raising my voice, asked angrily what this folly meant. "Open the door

"Do you hear?" I repeated, between anger and amazement at the fix in which we had placed ourselves.

But, although the murmur of voices outside the door grew louder, no one answered, and I had time to take in

the full absurdity of the position; to measure the height; of the windows with my eye and plumb the dark

shadows under the rafters, where the feebler rays of our candle lost themselves; to appreciate, in a word, the

extent of our predicament. Maignan was furious, La Trape vicious, while my own equanimity scarcely

supported me against the thought that we should probably be where we were until the arrival of my people,

whom I had directed my wife to send to Le Mesnil at noon next day. Their coming would free us, indeed, but

Wincing at the thought, I bade Maignan be silent; and, drumming on the door myself, I called for the

landlord. Someone who had been giving directions in a tone of great, consequence ceased speaking, and came

"Silence, rogues!" he cried. "Do you hear? Silence there, unless you want your ears nailed to the post."

"Fool!" I answered. "Open the door instantly! Are you all mad here, that you shut up the King's servants in

"Here!" I answered, swallowing my rage as well as I might. "I am M. Gringuet's deputy, and if you do not

"M. Gringuet's deputy! Ho! ho!" he said. "Why, you fool, M. Gringuet's deputy arrived two hours before you.

You must get up a little earlier another time. They are poor tricksters who are too late for the fair. And now

There are situations in which even the greatest find it hard to maintain their dignity, and this was one. I

looked at Maignan and La Trape, and they at me, and by the light of the lanthorn which the latter held I saw

that they were smiling, doubtless at the dilemma in which we had innocently placed ourselves. But I found

nothing to laugh at in the position; since the people outside might at any moment leave us where we were to

fast until morning; and, after a moment's reflection, I called out to know who the speaker on the other side

"Well, M. de Fonvelle," I replied, "I advise you to have a care what you do. I am M. Gringuet's deputy. The

"Oh, yes, he has!" he answered, mocking me. "M. Curtin has seen them, my fine fellow, and he is not one to

At this several laughed, and a quavering voice chimed in with "Oh, yes, he has papers! I have seen them.

"There!" M. Fonvelle cried, drowning the other's words. "Now are you satisfiedyou in there?"

"It is all wrong!" I retorted. "Wrong, I say! Go to your man, and you will find him gonegone with your

Two or three laughed, but I heard the sound of feet hurrying away, and I guessed that Curtin had retired to

satisfy himself. Nevertheless, the moment which followed was an anxious one, since, if my random shot

missed, I knew that I should find myself in a worse position than before. But judgingfrom the fact that the

deputy had not confronted us himselfthat he was an impostor, to whom Gringuet's illness had suggested

the scheme on which I had myself hit, I hoped for the best; and, to be sure, in a moment an outcry arose in the

house and quickly spread. Of those at the door, some cried to their fellows to hearken, while others hastened

off to see. Yet still a little time elapsed, during which I burned with impatience; and then the crowd came

At the door the chattering ceased, and, a hand being laid on the bar, in a moment the door was thrown open,

and I walked out with what dignity I might. Outside, the scene which met my eyes might have been, under

other circumstances, diverting. Before me stood the landlord of the inn, bowing with a light in each hand, as

if the more he bent his backbone the more he must propitiate me; while a fat, middleaged man at his elbow,

whom I took to be Fonvelle, smiled feebly at me with a chapfallen expression. A little aside, Curtin, a

shrivelled old fellow, was wringing his hands over his loss; and behind and round these, peeping over their

shoulders and staring under their arms, clustered a curious crowd of busybodies, who, between amusement at

The host began to mutter apologies, but I cut him short. "I will talk to you tomorrow!" I said, in a voice

which made him shake in his shoes. "Now give me supper, lights, and a roomand hurry. For you, M.

Fonvelle, you are an ass! And for the gentleman there, who has filled the rogue's purse, he will do well

With that I left the twoFonvelle purple with indignation, and Curtin with eyes and mouth agape and tears

stayedand followed my host to his best room, Maignan and La Trape attending me with very grim faces.

Here the landlord would have repeated his apologies, but my thoughts beginning to revert to the purpose

which had brought me hither, I affected to be offended, that, by keeping all at a distance, I might the more

I succeeded so well that, though half the town, through which the news of my adventure had spread, as fire

spreads in tinder, were assembled outside the inn until a late hour, no one was admitted to see me; and when I

made my appearance next morning in the marketplace and took my seat, with my two attendants, at a table

by the cornmeasures, this reserve had so far impressed the people that the smiles which greeted me scarcely

exceeded those which commonly welcome a taxcollector. Some had paid, and, foreseeing the necessity of

paying again, found little that was diverting in the jest. Others thought it no laughing matter to pay once; and

a few had come as ill out of the adventure as I had. Under these circumstances, we quickly settled to work, no

one entertaining the slightest suspicion; and La Trape, who could accommodate himself to anything, playing

the part of clerk, I was presently receiving money and hearing excuses; the minute acquaintance with the

routine of the finances, which I had made it my business to acquire, rendering the work easy to me.

We had not been long engaged, however, when Fonvelle put in an appearance, and elbowing the peasants

aside, begged to speak with me apart. I rose and stepped back with him two or three paces; on which he

winked at me in a very knowing fashion, "I am M. de Fonvelle," he said. And he winked again.

"Has not Gringuet told you?" he repeated, reddening with anger; and this time speaking, on compulsion, so

I answered him in the same tone. "Yes," I said roundly. "He has told me; of course, that every year you give

He glanced behind him with an oath. "Man, are you mad?" he gasped, his jaw falling. "They will hear you."

I do not know what he thought of thisperhaps that I was mad but he staggered back from me, and

looked wildly round. Finding everyone laughing, he looked again at me, but still failed to understand; on

which, with another oath, he turned on his heel, and forcing his way through the grinning crowd, was out of

I was about to return to my seat, when a pursy, palefaced man, with small eyes and a heavy jowl, whom I

had before noticed, pushed his way through the line, and came to me. Though his neighbours were all

"I am very deaf," he said in a whisper. "My name, Monsieur, is Philippon. I am a"

"I am the silk merchant," he continued pretty audibly, but with a suspicious glance behind him. "Probably

"Yes," he answered in a similar tone; for, aware that deaf persons cannot hear their own voices and are

seldom able to judge how loudly they are speaking, I had led him to this. "And I suppose that you will do as

"I cannot hear a word," I bellowed. By this time the crowd were shaking with laughter.

"Accept the usual gift?" he said, his fat, pale face perspiring, and his little pig's eyes regarding me balefully.

But this, and the simplicity with which he said it, drew so loud a roar of laughter from the crowd as

penetrated even to his dulled senses. Turning abruptly, as if a bee had stung him, he found the place

convulsed with merriment; and perceiving, in an instant, that I had played upon him, though he could not

understand how or why, he glared about him a moment, muttered something which I could not catch, and

After this, it was useless to suppose that I could amuse myself with others. The crowd, which had never

dreamed of such a tax collector, and could scarcely believe either eyes or ears, hesitated to come forward

even to pay; and I was considering what I should do next, when a commotion in one corner of the square

drew my eyes to that quarter. I looked and saw at first only Curtin. Then, the crowd dividing and making way

for him, I perceived that he had the real Gringuet with himGringuet, who rode through the market with an

air of grim majesty, with one foot in a huge slipper and eyes glaring with illtemper.

Doubtless Curtin, going to him on the chance of hearing something of the rogue who had cheated him, had

apprised the taxcollector of the whole matter; for on seeing me in my chair of state, he merely grinned in a

vicious way, and cried to the nearest not to let me escape. "We have lost one rogue, but we will hang the

other," he said. And while the townsfolk stood dumbfounded round us, he slipped with a groan from his

"And do you," he called to the host, "see that you help, my man! You have harboured him, and you shall pay

With that he hopped a step nearer; and then, not dreaming of resistance, sank with another groanfor his

A glance showed me that, if I would not be drawn into an unseemly brawl, I must act; and meeting Maignan's

eager eye fixed upon my face, I nodded. In a second he seized the unsuspecting Gringuet by the neck,

snatched him up from the chair, and flung him half adozen paces away. "Lie there," he cried, "you insolent

The violence of the action, and Maignan's heat, were such that the nearest drew back affrighted; and even

Gringuet's servants recoiled, while the market people gasped with astonishment. But I knew that the respite

would last a moment only, and I stood forward. "Arrest that man," I said, pointing to the collector, who was

In a second my two men stood over him. "In the King's name," La Trape cried; "let no man interfere."

"Raise him up," I continued, "and set him before me; and Curtin also, and Fonvelle, and Philippon; and

I spoke boldly, but I felt some misgiving. So mighty, however, is the habit of command, that the crowd, far

from resisting, thrust forward the men I named. Still, I could not count on this obedience, and it was with

pleasure that I saw at this moment, as I looked over the heads of the crowd, a body of horsemen entering the

square. They halted an instant, looking at the unusual concourse; while the townsfolk, interrupted in the

middle of the drama, knew not which way to stare. Then Boisrueil, seeing me, and that I was holding some

"Let halfadozen of your varlets dismount and guard these men," I said; "and do you, you rogue," I

continued, addressing Gringuet, "answer me, and tell me the truth. How much does each of these knaves give

you to cheat the King, and your master? Curtin first. How much does he give you?"

"My lord," he answered, pale and shaking, yet with a mutinous gleam in his eyes, "I have a right to know first

"Enough," I thundered, "that it is before one who has the right to question you! answer me, villain, and be

Still he stood silent, glaring with the devil in his eyes; while the other men whimpered and protested their

"Liar!" I exclaimed. "Liar, who devour widows' houses and poor men's corn! Who grind the weak and say it

is the King; and let the rich go free. Answer me, and answer the truth. How much do these men give you?"

"It is in your shoe," I repeated, pointing to his gouty foot. "Maignan, off with his shoe, and look in it."

Disregarding his shrieks of pain, they tore it off and looked in it. There was no list.

He flung himself down at that, cursing and protesting by turns. But I remembered the trampled corn, and the

girl's bleeding face, and I was inexorable. The stocking was drawn off, not too tender]y, and turned inside

"He has it," I persisted. "We have tried the shoe and we have tried the stocking, now we must try the foot.

Fetch a stirrup leather, and do you hold him, and let one of the grooms give him a dozen on that foot."

He glanced at the man I named, and shivered, and for a moment was silent. But one of the grooms

approaching with the stirrup leather, he found his voice. "Forty crowns," he muttered.

I made him confess also the sums which he had received from Lescaut and Philippon, and then the names of

seven others who had been in the habit of bribing him. Satisfied that he had so far told the truth, I bade him

put on his stocking and shoe. "And now," I said to Boisrueil, when this was done, "take him to the

whippingpost there, and tie him up; and see that each man of the eleven gives him a stripe for every crown

with which he has bribed himand good ones, or I will have them tied up in his place. Do you hear, you

rascals?" I continued to the trembling culprits. "Off, and do your duty, or I will have your backs bare."

But the wretch, as cowardly as he had been cruel, flung himself down and crawled, sobbing and crying, to my

feet. I had no mercy, however. "Take him away," I said, "It is such men as these give kings a bad name. Take

He sprang up then, forgetting his gout, and made a frantic attempt to escape. But in a moment he was

overcome, hauled away, and tied up; and though I did not wait to see the sentence carried out, but entered the

inn, the shrill screams he uttered under the punishment reached me, even there, and satisfied me that Fonvelle

It is a sad reflection, however, that for one such sinner brought to justice ten, who commit the same crimes,

go free, and flourishing on iniquity, bring the King's service, and his officers, into evil repute.

It was in the spring of the year 1609 that at the King's instance I had a suite of apartments fitted up for him at

the Arsenal, that he might visit me, whenever it pleased him, without putting my family to inconvenience; in

another place will be found an account of the six thousand crowns a year which he was so obliging as to

allow me for this purpose. He honoured me by using these rooms, which consisted of a hall, a chamber, a

wardrobe, and a closet, two or three times in the course of that year, availing himself of my attendants and

cook; and the free opportunities of consulting me on the Great Undertaking, which this plan afforded, led me

to hope that notwithstanding the envy of my detractors, he would continue to adopt it. That he did not do so,

nor ever visited me after the close of that year, was due not so much to the lamentable event, soon to be

related, which within a few months deprived France of her greatest sovereign, as to a strange matter that

attended his last stay with me. I have since had cause to think that this did not receive at the time as much

attention as it deserved; and have even imagined that had I groped a little deeper into the mystery I might

have found a clue to the future as well as the past, and averted one more, and the last, danger from my

beloved master. But Providence would not have it so; a slight indisposition under which I was suffering at the

time rendered me less able, both in mind and body; the result being that Henry, who was always averse to the

publication of these ominous episodes, and held that being known they bred the like in mischievous minds,

had his way, the case ending in no more than the punishment of a careless rascal.

On the occasion of this last visitthe third, I think, that he paid methe King, who had been staying at

Chantilly, came to me from Lusarche, where he lay the intervening night. My coaches went to meet him at

the gates a little before noon, but he did not immediately arrive, and being at leisure and having assured

myself that the dinner of twelve covers, which he had directed to be ready, was in course of preparation, I

went with my wife to inspect his rooms and satisfy myself that everything was in order.

They were in charge of La Trape, a man of address and intelligence, whom I have had cause to mention more

than once in the course of these memoirs. He met me at the door and conducted us through the rooms with an

air of satisfaction; nor could I find the slightest fault, until my wife, looking about her with a woman's eye for

minute things, paused by the bed in the chamber, and directed my attention to something on the floor.

"Upset here?" I said, looking also. There was a little pool of white liquid on the floor beside the bed.

La Trape uttered an exclamation of annoyance, and explained that he had not seen it before; that it had not

been there five minutes earlier; and that he did not know how it came to be there now.

"What is it?" I said, looking about for some pitcher that might; have overflowed; but finding none. "Is it

"I don't know, your excellency," he answered. "But it shall be removed at once."

"See that it is," I said. "Are the boughs in the fireplace fresh?" For the weather was still warm and we had

"Well, see to that, and remove it," I said, pointing to the mess. "It looks ill."

And with that the matter passed from my mind; the more completely as I heard at that moment the sound of

the King's approach, and went into the courtyard to receive him. He brought with him Roquelaure, de Vic,

Erard the engineer, and some others, but none whom he did not know that I should be glad to receive. He

dined well, and after dinner amused himself with seeing the young men ride at the ring, and even rode a

course himself with his usual skill; that being, if I remember rightly, the last occasion on which I ever saw

him take a lance. Before supper he walked for a time in the hall, with Sillery, for whom he had sent; and after

supper, pronouncing himself tired, he dismissed all, and retired with me to his chamber. Here we had some

talk on a subject that I greatly dreadedI mean his infatuation for Madame de Conde; but about eleven

o'clock he yawned, and, after thanking me for a reception which he said was quite to his mind, he bade me go

I was half way to the door when he called me back. "Why, Grand Master," he said, pointing to the little table

by the head of the bed on which his night drinks stood, "you might be going to drown me. Do you expect me

"I think that there is only your posset, sire," I said, "and the lemonwater which you generally drink."

"Perhaps they have given your majesty some of the Arbois wine that you were good enough to"

"Tuttut!" he said, lifting the cover of one of the cups. "This is not wine. It may be a milkposset."

"But it is not!" he answered, when he had smelled it. "It is plain milk! Come, my friend," he continued,

looking drolly at me, "have you turned leech, or I babe is arms that you put such strong liquors before me?

However, to show you that I have some childish tastes left, and am not so depraved as you have been trying

to make me out for the last hourI will drink your health in it. It would serve you right if I made you pledge

The cup was at his lips when I sprang forward and, heedless of ceremony, caught his arm. "Pardon, sire!" I

cried, in sudden agitation. "If that is milk, I gave no order that it should be placed here; and I know nothing of

"They have all been tasted?" he asked, still holding the cup in his hand with the lid raised, but looking at it

"They should have been!" I answered. "But La Trape, whom I made answerable for that, is outside. I will go

I gave the order to the pages who were waiting outside, and in a moment La Trape appeared, looking startled

and uncomfortable. Naturally, his first glance was given to the King, who had taken his seat on the edge of

the bed, but still held the cup in his hand. After asking the King's permission, I said, "What drinks did you

He looked more uncomfortable at this, but he answered boldly enough that he had served a posset, some

"True, your excellency," he answered. "But when I went to the pantry hatch, to see the underbutler carry up

the tray, I found that the milk was on the tray; and I supposed that you had given another order."

"Possibly Madame de Sully," the King said, looking at me, "gave the order to add it?"

"She would not presume to do so, sire," I answered, sternly. "Nor do I in the least understand the matter. But

"You drank a quantity, a substantial quantity of eachaccording to the orders given to you? I persisted.

But I caught a guilty look in his eyes, and in a gust of rage I cried out that he lied. "The truth!" I thundered, in

"I did, your excellency; as God is above, I did!" he answered. But he had grown pale, and he looked at the

Yet I did not believe him, and I was about to give him the lie again, when the King intervened. "Quite so," he

said to La Trape with a smile. "You drank, my good fellow, of the posset and the lemon water, and you tasted

"There, Grand Master," the King said, turning to me, "that is the truth, I think. What do you say to it?"

"That the rest is simple," I answered, grimly. "He did not drink it before; but he will drink it now, sire."

The King, sitting on the bed, laughed and looked at La Trape; as if his goodnature almost led him to

interpose. But after a moment's hesitation he thought better of it, and handed me the cup. "Very well," he

said; "he is your man. Have your way with him. After all, he should have drunk it."

"He shall drink it now, or be broken on the wheel!" I said. "Do you hear, you?" I continued, turning to him in

a white heat of rage at the thought of his negligence, and the price it might have cost me. "Take it, and

beware that you do not drop or spill it. For I swear that that shall not save you!"

He took the cup with a pale face, and hands that shook so much that he needed both to support the vessel. He

hesitated, too, so long that, had I not possessed the best of reasons for believing in his fidelity, I should have

suspected him of more than negligence. The shadow of his tall figure seemed to waver on the tapestry behind

him; and with a little imagination I might have thought that the lights in the room had sunk. The soft

whispering of the pages outside could be heard, and a stifled laugh; but inside there was not a sound. He

He recoiled a pace, his face ghastly. "Patience, excellency," he said, hoarsely. "I shall drink it. But I want to

"If there is death in it, I take God to witness that I know nothing, and knew nothing! There is some witch's

work here it is not the first time that I have come across this devil's milk to day! But I take God to witness I

He did not finish the sentence, but drawing a deep breath raised the cup to his lips. I saw the apple in his

throat rise and fall with the effort he made to swallow, but he drank so slowly that it seemed to me that he

would never drain the cap. Nor did he, for when he had swallowed, as far as I could judge from the tilting of

the cup, about half of the milk, Henry rose suddenly and, seizing it, took it from him with his own hand.

La Trape drew a trembling hand across his brow, on which the sweat stood in beads; but instead of answering

he remained silent, gazing fixedly before him. We waited and watched, and at length, when I should think

three minutes had elapsed, he changed his position for one of greater ease, and I saw his face relax. The

unnatural pallor faded, and the open lips closed. A minute later he spoke. "I feel nothing, sire," he said.

The King looked at me drolly. "Then take five minutes more," he said. "Go, and stare at Judith there, cutting

off the head of Holofernes"for that was the story of the tapestry"and come when I call you."

La Trape went to the other end of the chamber. "Well," the King said, inviting me by a sign to sit down

beside him, "is it a comedy or a tragedy, my friend? Or, tell me, what was it he meant when he said that about

I explained, the matter seeming so trivial now that I came to tell itthough it; had doubtless contributed

"Still it is odd,"the King said. "These drinks were not here, at that time, of course?"

"Well, your butler must explain it." And with that he raised his voice and called La Trape back; who came,

"Then begone. Or, stay!" Henry continued. "Throw the rest of this stuff into the fireplace. It may be

La Trape emptied the cup among the green boughs that filled the hearth, and hastened to withdraw. It seemed

to be too late to make further inquiries that night; so after listening to two or three explanations which the

King hazarded, but which had all too fanciful an air in my eyes, I took my leave and retired.

Whether, however, the scene had raised too violent a commotion in my mind, or I was already sickening for

the illness I have mentioned, I found it impossible to sleep; and spent the greater part of the night in a fever of

fears and forebodings. The responsibility which the King's presence cast upon me lay so heavily upon my

waking mind that I could not lie; and long before the King's usual hour of rising I was at his door inquiring

how he did. No one knew, for the page whose turn it was to sleep at his feet had not come out; but while I

stood questioning, the King's voice was heard, bidding me enter. I went in, and found him sitting up with a

haggard face, which told me, before he spoke, that he had slept little better than I had. The shutters were

thrown wide open, and the cold morning light poured into the room with an effect rather sombre than bright;

the huge figures on the tapestry looming huger from a drab and melancholy background, and the chamber

presenting all those features of disorder that in a sleepingroom lie hid at night, only to show themselves in a

The King sent his page out, and bade me sit by him. "I have had a bad night," he said, with a shudder. "Grand

Master, I doubt that astrologer was right, and I shall never see Germany, nor carry out my designs."

Seeing the state in which he was, I could think of nothing better than to rally him, and even laugh at him.

"You think so now, sire," I said. "It is the cold hour. By and by, when you have broken your fast, you will

"But, it may be, less correctly," he answered; and as he sat looking before him with gloomy eyes, he heaved a

deep sigh. "My friend," he said, mournfully, "I want to live, and I am going to die."

"I do not know; but I dreamed last night that a house fell on me in the Rue de la Ferronerie, and I cannot help

"Only," I explained, "that, in that case, as your Majesty need never pass through that street, you have it in

"And perhaps it may not happen yet," I rejoined. And then, more seriously, "Come, sire," I continued, "why

"But not after such a dream as I had last night," he said, with a grimaceyet I could see that he was already

comforted. "I thought that I was passing along that street in my coach, and on a sudden, between St.

"I heard a great roar, and something struck me down, and I found myself pinned to the ground, in darkness,

with my mouth full of dust, and an immense beam on my chest. I lay for a time in agony, fighting for breath,

He saw what I meant, and laughed; and being by this time quite himself, left that and passed to discussing the

strange affair of La Trape and the milk. "Have you found, as yet, who was good enough to supply it?" he

"No, sire," I answered. "But I will see La Trape, and as soon as I have learned anything, your majesty shall

"I suppose he is not far off now," he suggested. "Send for him. Ten to one he will have made inquiries, and it

I went to the door and, opening it a trifle, bade the page who waited send La Trape. He passed on the message

to a crowd of sleepy attendants, and quickly, but not before I had gone back to the King's bedside, La Trape

Having my eyes turned the other way, I did not at once remark anything. But the King did; and his look of

astonishment, no less than the exclamation which accompanied it, arrested my attention. "St. Gris, man!" he

La Trape, who had stopped just within the door, made an effort to do so, but no sound passed his lips; while

his pallor and the fixed glare of his eyes filled me with the worst apprehensions. It was impossible to look at

him and not share his fright, and I stepped forward and cried out to him to speak. "Answer the King, man," I

For a moment we were all silent. Then I looked at the King, and he at me, with gloomy meaning in our eyes.

"But still, courage!" the King cried. "Courage, man! A dose that would kill a cat may not kill a man. Do you

"I have a trembling in all my limbs, and ahah, my God, I am a dead man! I have a burning herea pain

like hot coals in my vitals!" And, leaning against the wall, the unfortunate man clasped his arms round his

"A doctor! a doctor!" Henry cried, thrusting one leg out of bed. "Send for Du Laurens!" Then, as I went to the

I had opened the door by this time, and found the attendants, whom the man's cries had alarmed, in a cluster

round it. Silencing them sternly, I bade one go for M. Du Laurens, the King's physician, while another

The page who had spent the night in the King's chamber, fetched it. I told him to bring it in, and ordering the

others to let the doctor pass when he arrived, I closed the door upon their curiosity, and went back to the

King. He had left his bed and was standing near La Trape, endeavouring to hearten him; now telling him to

tickle his throat with a feather, and now watching his sufferings in silence, with a face of gloom and

despondency that sufficiently betrayed his reflections. At sight of the page, however, carrying the dead cat, he

turned briskly, and we both examined the beast which, already rigid, with staring eyes and uncovered teeth,

was not a sight to cheer anyone, much less the stricken man. La Trape, however, seemed to be scarcely aware

of its presence. He had sunk upon a chest which stood against the wall, and, with his body strangely twisted,

"Pardon, sire," the page, who was holding the cat, said; "I saw it after midnight. It was alive then."

"Yes, excellency. I heard a noise aboutI think about two o'clockand his Majesty breathing very heavily,

It was a noise like a cat spitting. It frightened me, and I rose from my pallet and went round the bed. I was

"Yes, sire; for as soon as it was on the floor it began to writhe and roll and bite itself, with all its fur on end,

like a mad cat. Then it flew to the door and tried to get out, and again began to spit furiously. I thought that it

"Well, sire," I said, smiling, "this accounts, I think, for your dream of the house that fell, and the beam that

It would have been difficult to say whether at this the King looked more foolish or more relieved. Whichever

the sentiment he entertained, however, it was quickly cut short by a lamentable cry that drove the blood from

"I suppose that the cat came in unseen," I said; "with him last night, and then stayed in the room?"

"Such as he has now!" Henry answered; for La Trape had fallen to the floor. "Such as he has now!" he

repeated, his eyes flaming, his face pale. "Oh, my friend, this is too much. Those who do these things are

devils, not men. Where is Du Laurens? Where is the doctor? He will perish before our eyes."

"No, no," I said, going to La Trape, and touching his hand. "Yet, he is very cold." And turning, I sent the page

to hasten the doctor. Then I begged the King to allow me to have the man conveyed into another room. "His

"No, he shall not go!" he answered. "Ventre Saint Gris! man, he is dying for me! He is dying in my place. He

Still ill satisfied, I was about to press him farther, when La Trape raised his voice, and feebly asked for me. A

page who had taken the other's place was supporting his head, and two or three of my gentlemen, who had

come in unbidden, were looking on with scared faces. I went to the poor fellow's side, and asked what I could

I feared that he was passing, but I bade him have courage. "In a moment he will be here," I said; while the

"I took ten pistoles yesterday from a man to get him a scullion's place; and there is none vacant."

"And your excellency's favourite hound, Diane," he gasped. "She had three puppies, not two. I sold the

"Ah, I have been a villain," he groaned. "I have lived loosely. Only last night I kissed the butler's wench,

And I made way for M. Du Laurens, who, having saluted the King, knelt down by the sick man, and felt his

pulse; while we all stood round, looking down on the two with grave faces. It seemed to me that the man's

eyes were growing dim, and I had little hope. The King was the first to break the silence. "You have hope?"

"Pardon, sire, a moment," the physician answered, rising from his knees. "Where is the cat?"

Someone brought it, and M. Du Laurens, after looking at it, said curtly, "It has been poisoned."

La Trape uttered a groan of despair. "At what hour did it take the milk?" the physician asked.

"A little before ten last evening," I said, seeing that La Trape was too far gone for speech.

Du Laurens shook his head, and was preparing to lay down the cat, which he had taken in his hands, when

some appearance led him to examine it again and more closely. "Why what is this?" he exclaimed, in a tone

of surprise, as he took the body to the window. "There is a large swelling under its chin."

"Give me a pair of scissors," he continued; and then, after a minute, when they had been handed to him and

he had removed the fur, "Ha!" he said gravely, "this is not so simple as I thought. The cat has been poisoned,

The King uttered an exclamation of incredulity. "But it drank the milk," he said. "Some milk that"

"Pardon, sire," Du Laurens answered positively. "A draught of milk, however drugged, does not produce an

"Ah, that is the question," the physician answered. "A ring, perhaps, with a poisonchamber and hollow

"But there is no question of that here," I said. "Let us be clear. Do you say that the cat did not die of the

"I see no proof that it did," he answered. "And many things to show that it died of poison administered by

He turned, and with him all eyes, to the unfortunate equerry, who still lay seemingly moribund, with his head

propped on some cushions. M. Du Laurens advanced to him and again felt his pulse, an operation which

appeared to bring a slight tinge of colour to the fading cheeks. "How much milk did he drink?" the physician

"And for supper? What did you have?" the leech continued, addressing himself to his patient.

"I had some wine," he answered feebly. "And a little Frontignac with the butler; and some honeymead that

M. Du Laurens rose slowly to his feet, and, to my amazement, dealt the prostrate man a hearty kick; bidding

him at the same time to rise. "Get up, fool! Get up," he continued harshly, yet with a ring of triumph in his

voice, "all you have got is the colic, and it is no more than you deserve. Get up, I say, and beg his Majesty's

"He is no more dying than you are, sire," the other answered. "Or, if he is, it is of fright. There, he can stand

And to be sure, as he spoke, La Trape scrambled to his feet, and with a mien between shame and doubt stood

staring at us, the very picture of a simpleton. It was no wonder that his jaw fell and his impudent face burned;

for the room shook with such a roar of laughter, at first low, and then as the King joined in it, swelling louder

and louder, as few of us had ever heard, Though I was not a little mortified by the way in which we had

deceived ourselves, I could not help joining in the laugh; particularly as the more closely we reviewed the

scene in which we had taken part, the more absurd seemed the jest. It was long before silence could be

obtained; but at length Henry, quite exhausted by the violence of his mirth held up his hand. I seized the

"Why, you rascal!" I said, addressing La Trape, who did not know which way to look, "where are the ten

"To be sure," the King said, going off into another roar. "And the third puppy?"

"Ay, and the gipsy girl?" the King continued. "The butler's wench, what of her? And of your evil living?

Begone, begone, rascal!" he continued, falling into a fresh paroxysm, "or you will kill US in earnest. Would

I took this as a hint to clear the room, not only of La Trape himself but of all; and presently only I and Du

Laurens remained with the King. It then appeared that there was still a mystery, and one which it behoved us

to clear up; inasmuch as Du Laurens took the cat's death very seriously, insisting that it had died of poison

administered in a most sinister fashion, and one that could not fail to recall to our minds the Borgian popes. It

needed no more than this to direct my suspicions to the Florentines who swarmed about the Queen, and

against whom the King had let drop so many threats. But the indisposition which excitement had for a time

kept at bay began to return upon me; and I was presently glad to drop the subject; and retire to my own

Consequently, I was not with him when the strange discovery which followed was made. In the ordinary

course of dressing, one of the servants going to the fireplace to throw away a piece of waste linen, thought

that he heard a rat stir among the boughs. He moved them, and in a moment a small snake crawled out,

hissing and darting out its tongue. It was killed, and then it at once occurred to the King that he had the secret

of the cat's death. He came to me hotfoot with the news, and found me with Du Laurens who was in the act

I confess that I heard the story almost with apathy, so ill was I. Not so the physician. After examining the

snake, which by the King's orders had been brought for my inspection, he pronounced that it was not of

"That is what I should like to know, sire," the physician answered severely; "and yet I think that I can guess.

"Ah!" the King said slowly, with a change of countenance and a shudder which he could not repress; "and

But at this stage I was attacked by a fit of illness so severe that I had to break in on the discussion, and beg

the King to withdraw. The sickness increased on me during the day, and by noon I was prostrate, neither

taking interest in anything, nor allowing others, who began to fear for my life, to divert their attention. After

twentyfour hours I began to mend, but still several days elapsed before I was able to devote myself to

business; and then I found that, the mastermind being absent, and the King, as always, lukewarm in the

I could not rest easy, however, with so abominable a suspicion attaching to my house; and as soon as I could

bend my mind to the matter I began an inquiry. At the first stage, however, I came to an IMPASSE; the

butler, who had been long in my service, cleared himself without difficulty, but a few questions discovered

the fact that a person who had been in his department on the evening in question was now to seek, having

indeed disappeared from that time. This was the gipsygirl, whom La Trape had mentioned, and whose

presence in my household seemed to need the more elucidation the farther I pushed the inquiry. In the end I

had the butler punished, but though my agents sought the girl through Paris, and even traced her to Meaux,

The affair, at the King's instance, was not made public; nevertheless, it gave him so strong a distaste for the

Arsenal that he did not again visit me, nor use the rooms I had prepared. That later, when the first impression

wore off, he would have done so, is probable; but, alas, within a few months the malice of his enemies

prevailed over my utmost precautions, and robbed me of the best of masters; strangely enough, as all the

world now knows, at the corner of that very Rue de la Feronnerie which he had seen in his dream.

The passion which Henry still felt for Madame de Conde, and which her flight from the country was far from

assuaging, had a great share in putting him upon the immediate execution of the designs we had so long

prepared. Looking to find in the stir and bustle of a German campaign that relief of mind which the Court

could no longer afford him, he discovered in the unhopedfor wealth of his treasury an additional incitement;

and now waited only for the opening of spring and the Queen's coronation to remove the last obstacles that

Nevertheless, relying on my assurances that all things were ready, and persuaded that the more easy he

showed himself the less prepared would he find the enemy, he made no change in his habits; but in March,

1610, went, as usual, to Fontainebleau, where he diverted himself with hunting. It was during this visit that

the Court credited him with seeingI think, on the Friday before the Feast of the Virginthe Great

Huntsman; and even went so far as to specify the part of the forest in which he came upon it, and the

formthat of a gigantic black horseman, surrounded by houndswhich it assumed The spectre had not

been seen since the year 1598; nevertheless, the story spread widely, those who whispered it citing in its

support not only the remarkable agitation into which the Queen fell publicly on the evening of that day, but

also some strange particulars that attended the King's return from the forest; and, being taken up and

repeated, and confirmed, as many thought, by the unhappy sequence of his death, the fable found a little later

As it happened, however, I was that day at Fontainebleau, and hunted with the King; and, favoured both by

chance and the confidence with which my master never failed to honour me, am able not only to refute this

story, but to narrate the actual facts from which it took its rise. And though there are some, I know, who boast

that they had the tale from the King's own mouth, I undertake to prove either that they are romancers who

seek to add an inch to their stature, or dull fellows who placed their own interpretation on the hasty words he

As a fact, the King, on that day wishing to discuss with me the preparations for the Queen's entry, bade me

keep close to him, since he had more inclination for my company than the chase. But the crowd that attended

him was so large, the day being fine and warmand comprised, besides, so many ladies, whose badinage

and gaiety he could never foregothat I found him insensibly drawn from me. Far from being displeased, I

was glad to see him forget the moodiness which had of late oppressed him; and beyond keeping within sight

of him, gave up, for the time, all thought of affairs, and found in the beauty of the spectacle sufficient

compensation. The bright dresses and waving feathers of the party showed to the greatest advantage, as the

long cavalcade wound through the heather and rocks of the valley below the Apremonts; and whether I

looked to front or rearon the huntsmen, with their great horns, or the hounds straining in the leashesI

was equally charmed with a sight at once joyous and gallant, and one to which the calls of duty had of late

On a sudden a quarry was started, and the company, galloping off pellmell, with a merry burst of music,

were in a moment dispersed, some taking this track, and others that, through the rocks and DEBRIS that

make that part of the forest difficult. Singling out the King, I kept as near him as possible until the chase led

us into the Apremont coverts, where, the trees growing thickly, and the rides cut through them being intricate,

I lost him for a while. Again, however, I caught sight of him flying down a ride bordered by darkgreen

boxtrees, against which his white hunting coat showed vividly; but now he was alone, and riding in a

direction which each moment carried him farther from the line of the chase, and entangled him more deeply

Supposing that he had made a bad cast and was in error, I dashed the spurs into my horse, and galloped after

him; then, finding that he still held his own, and that I did not overtake him, but that, on the contrary, he was

riding at the top of his speed, I called to him. "You are in error, sire, I think!" I cried. "The hounds are the

He heard, for he raised his hand, and, without turning his head, made me a sign; but whether of assent or

denial, I could not tell. And he still held on his course. Then, for a moment, I fancied that his horse had got

the better of him, and was running away; but no sooner had the thought occurred to me than I saw that he was

spurring it, and exciting it to its utmost speed, so that we reached the end of that ride, and rushed through

another and still another, always making, I did not fail to note, for the most retired part of the forest,

We had proceeded in this way about a mile, and the sound of the hunt had quite died away behind us, and I

was beginning to chafe, as well as marvel, at conduct so singular, when at last I saw that he was slackening

his pace. My horse, which was on the point of failing, began, in turn, to overhaul his, while I looked out with

sharpened curiosity for the object of pursuit. I could see nothing, however, and no one; and had just satisfied

myself that this was one of the droll freaks in which he would sometimes indulge, and that in a second or two

he would turn and laugh at my discomfiture, when, on a sudden, with a final pull at the reins, he did turn, and

I was so taken aback that I cried out. "MON DIEU! sire," I said. "What is it? What is the matter?"

"Matter enough!" he cried, with an oath. And on that, halting his horse, he looked at me as if he would read

my heart. "VENTRE DE SAINT GRIS!" he said, in a voice that made me tremble, "if I were sure that there

"Oh, sire, I am weary of these suspicions!" I answered, affecting an indifference I did not feel. "If your

But he cut me short. "Answer me!" he said harshly, his mouth working in his beard and his eyes gleaming

"Most certainly!" I answered firmly, beginning to think that his passion had turned his brain. "I had

"Yes, Madame de Conde, or I am a madman!" Henry answered, speaking a little more moderately. "I saw her

gallop out of the patch of rocks at the end of the Dormoirwhere the trees begin. She did not heed the line

of the hounds, but turned straight down the boxwood ride; and, after that, led as I followed. Did you not see

"No, sire," I said, inexpressibly alarmedI could take it for nothing but fantasy"I saw no one."

"And I saw her as clearly as I see you," he answered. "She wore the yellow ostrichfeather she wore last

year, and rode her favourite chestnut horse with a white stocking. But I could have sworn to her by her figure

"There is no lady wearing a yellow feather," he answered passionately. "And the horse! And I knew her, man!

Besides, she waved to me! And, for the otherswhy should they turn from the hunt and take to the woods?"

I could not answer this, but I looked at him in fear; for, as it was impossible that the Princess de Conde could

be here, I saw no alternative but to think him smitten with madness. The extravagance of the passion which

he had entertained for her, and the wrath into which the news of her flight with her young husband had

thrown him, to say nothing of the depression under which he had since suffered, rendered the idea not so

unlikely as it now seems. At any rate, I was driven for a moment to entertain it; and gazed at him in silence, a

We stood in a narrow ride, bordered by evergreens, with which that part of the forest is planted; and but for

the songs of the birds the stillness would have been absolute. On a sudden the King removed his eyes from

He pointed to the ground. "We are right!" he said. "There are her tracks! Come! We will overtake her yet!"

I looked, and saw the fresh prints of a horse's shoes, and felt a great weight roll off my mind, for at least he

had seen someone. I no longer hesitated to fall in with his humour, but, riding after him, kept at his elbow

until he reached the end of the ride. Here, a vista opening right and left, and the ground being hard and free

from tracks, we stood at a loss; until the King, whose eyesight was always of the keenest, uttered an

I followed more slowly, and saw him dismount and pick up a glove, which, even at that distance, he had

discerned lying in the middle of one of the paths. He cried, with a flushed face, that it was Madame de

I confess that this so staggered me that I knew not what to think; but, between sorrow at seeing my master so

infatuated and bewilderment at a riddle that grew each moment more perplexing, I sat gaping at Henry like a

man without counsel. However, at the moment, he needed none, but, getting to his saddle as quickly as he

could, he began again to follow the tracks of the horse's feet, which here were visible, the path running

through a beech wood. The branches were still bare, and the shining trunks stood up like pillars, the ground

about them being soft. We followed the prints through this wood for a mile and a half or more, and then, with

a cry, the King darted from me, and, in an instant, was racing through the wood at breakneck speed.

I had a glimpse of a woman flying far ahead of us; and now hidden from us by the trunks and now disclosed;

and could even see enough to determine that she wore a yellow feather drooping from her hat, and was in

figure not unlike the Princess. But that was all; for, once started, the inequalities of the ground drew my eyes

from the flying form, and, losing it, I could not again recover it. On the contrary, it was all I could do to keep

up with the King; and of the speed at which the woman was riding, could best judge by the fact that in less

than five minutes he, too, pulledup with a gesture of despair, and waited for me to come abreast of him.

"You saw her?" he said, his face grim, and with something of suspicion lurking in it.

"Yes, sire," I answered, "I saw a woman, and a woman with a yellow feather; but whether it was the

To that, again, I had not a word to say, and for a moment we rode in silence. Observing, however, that this

last turn had brought us far on the way home, I called the King's attention to this; but he had sunk into a fit of

gloomy abstraction, and rode along with his eyes on the ground. We proceeded thus until the slender path we

followed brought up into the great road that leads through the forest to the kennels and the new canal.

Here I asked him if he would not return to the chase, as the day was still young.

"Mon Dieu, no!" he answered passionately. "I have other work to do. Hark ye, M. le Duc, do you still think

"Trick?" he cried, with a flash of his eyes. "A trick, you say? No, VENTRE DE SAINT GRIS! there is no

I did not contradict him, the rather as we were now close to the kennels, and I was anxious to allay his

excitement; that it might not be detected by the keen eyes that lay in wait for us, and so add to the gossip to

which his early return must give rise. I hoped that at that hour he might enter unperceived, by way of the

kennels and the little staircase; but in this I was disappointed, the beauty of the day having tempted a number

of ladies, and others who had not hunted, to the terrace by the canal; whence, walking up and down, their fans

and petticoats fluttering in the sunshine, and their laughter and chatter filling the air, they were able to watch

Unfortunately, Henry had no longer the patience and selfcontrol needful for such a RENCONTRE. He

dismounted with a dark and peevish air, and, heedless of the staring, bowing throng, strode up the steps. Two

or three, who stood high in favour, put themselves forward to catch a smile or a word, but he vouchsafed

neither. He walked through them with a sour air, and entered the chateau with a precipitation that left all

To add to the misfortune, somethingI forget whatdetained me a moment, and that cost us dear. Before I

could cross the terrace, Concini, the Italian, came up, and, saluting me, said that the Queen desired to speak to

"She is waiting at the gate of the farther court," he answered politely, his keen black eyes reverting, with

I could not refuse, and went to her. "The King has returned early, M. le Duc?" she said.

"Yes, madame," I answered. "He had a fancy to discuss affairs today, and we lost the hounds."

"Madame," I answered bluntly, "his Majesty has no more faithful servant; but we do not always agree."

She raised her hand, and, with a slight gesture, bade her ladies stand back, while her face lost its expression

of goodtemper, and grew sharp and dark. "Was it about the Conde?" she said, in a low, grating voice. "No,

madame," I answered; "it was about certain provisions. The King's ear had been grossly abused, and his

"Faugh!" she cried, with a wave of contempt, "that is an old story! I am sick of it. Is she still at Brussels?"

And with that she dismissed me, and went into the chateau. I proposed to rejoin the King; but, to my chagrin,

I found, when I reached the closet, that he had already sent for Varennes, and was shut up with him. I went

back to my rooms therefore, and, after changing my hunting suit and transacting some necessary business, sat

down to dinner with Nicholas, the King's secretary, a man fond of the table, whom I often entertained. He

kept me in talk until the afternoon was well advanced, and we were still at table when Maignan appeared and

This somewhat surprised me, but I thought no evil; and, finding one of the Queen's Italian pages at the door

waiting to conduct me, I followed him across the court that lay between my lodgings and her apartments.

Two or three of the King's gentlemen were in the anteroom when I arrived, and Varennes, who was standing

by one of the fireplaces toying with a hound, made me a face of dismay; he could not speak, owing to the

Still this, in a degree, prepared me for the scene in the chamber, where I found the Queen storming up and

down the room, while the King, still in his hunting dress, sat on a low chair by the fire, apparently drying his

boots. Mademoiselle Galigai, the Queen's waitingwoman, stood in the background; but more than this I had

not time to observe, for, before I had reached the middle of the floor, the Queen turned on me, and began to

"And you!" she cried, "who speak so slow, and look so solemn, and all the time do his dirty work, like the

meanest cook he has ennobled! It is well you are here! ENFIN, you are found out you and your provisions!

"He has given me patience these ten years, sire!" she retorted passionately. "Patience to see myself flouted by

your favourites, insulted and displaced, and set aside! But this is too much! It was enough that you made

yourself the laughing stock of France once with this madame! I will not have it again no: though twenty

"Liar!" she cried, giving way to her fury. "When you were with her this morning! When you saw her! When

"Madame!" he King said sternly, "if you forget yourself, be good enough to remember that you are speaking

She sneered. "You think to wound me by that!" she cried, breathing quickly. "But I have my grandfather's

"One King of France will presently make your uncle of that blood sing small!" the King answered viciously.

"Oh!" she cried, "I will go: I will not stay to be outraged by that woman's presence!"

I had now an inkling what was the matter; and discerning that the quarrel was a more serious matter than their

everyday bickerings, and threatened to go to lengths that might end in disaster, I ignored the insult her

Majesty had flung at me, and entreated her to be calm. "if I understand aright, madame," I said, "you have

some grievance against his Majesty. Of that I know nothing. But I also understand that you allege something

against me; and it is to speak to that, I presume, that I am summoned. If you will deign to put the matter into

"Words!" she cried. "You have words enough! But get out of this, Master GraveAirs, if you can! Did you,

or did you not, tell me this morning that the Princess of Conde was in Brussels?"

"Although half an hour before you had seen her, you had talked with her, you had been with her in the

"What?" she cried, staring at me, surprised doubtless that I manifested no confusion. "Do you say that you

"The King, Madame, cannot have seen her this morning," I said, "because he is here and she is in Brussels."

"Certainly!" I said. "Besides, madame," I continued, "I have no doubt that the King has given you his

"His word is good for everyone but his wife!" she answered bitterly. "And for yours, M. le Duc, I will show

"Nay, madame!" I said, interrupting her with spirit, "if you are going to call your household to contradict

"But I am not!" she cried in a voice of triumph that, for the moment, disconcerted me. "Mademoiselle, send

The King whistled softly, while I, who knew Bassompierre to be devoted to him, and to be, in spite of the

levity to which his endless gallantries bore witness, a man of sense and judgment, prepared myself for a

serious struggle; judging that we were in the meshes of an intrigue, wherein it was impossible to say whether

the Queen figured as actor or dupe. The passion she evinced as she walked to and fro with clenched hands, or

turned now and again to dart a fiery glance at the Cordovan curtain that hid the door, was so natural to her

character that I found myself leaning to the latter supposition. Still, in grave doubt what part Bassompierre

was to play, I looked for his coming as anxiously as anyone. And probably the King shared this feeling; but

he affected indifference, and continued to sit over the fire with an air of mingled scorn and peevishness.

At length Bassompierre entered, and, seeing the King, advanced with an open brow that persuaded me, at

least, of his innocence. Attacked on the instant, however, by the Queen, and taken by surprise, as it were,

between two firesthough the King kept silence, and merely shrugged his shouldershis countenance fell.

He was at that time one of the handsomest gallants about the Court, thirty years old, and the darling of

"Answer, sir! answer!" the Queen cried. "And without subterfuge! Who was it, sir, whom you saw come from

"Pooh, man!" the Queen cried with biting contempt. "You have told it to halfadozen. Discretion comes a

"Well, if you will, madame," he said, striving to assert himself, but cutting a poor figure, "I fancied that I saw

But the Queen cared no more for him. She turned, looking superb in her wrath, to the King. "Now, sir!" she

"Sweet!" the King said, governing his temper in a way that surprised me, "hear reason, and you shall have it

"But others saw her!" the Queen rejoined sharply. "Madame Paleotti, who was with the gentleman, saw her

"At a distance of fifty paces?" the King said drily. "I don't attach much weight to that." And then, rising, with

a slight yawn. "Madame," he continued, with the air of command which he knew so well how to assume, "for

the present, I am tired! If Madame de Conde is here, it will not be difficult to get further evidence of her

presence. If she is at Brussels, that fact, too, you can ascertain. Do the one or the other, as you please; but, for

"All, madame!" the King said sternly. "Moreover, let me have no prating outside this room. GrandMaster, I

And with these words, uttered in a voice and with an air that silenced even the angry woman before us, he

signed to me to follow him, and went from the room; the first glance of his eye stilling the crowded

antechamber, as if the shadow of death passed with him. I followed him to his closet; but, until he reached

I stared at him a moment. "Pardon, said. "Do you think that it was Madame de Conde?"

"I tell you I saw her this morning!" he answered. "Go, learn all you can! Find her! Find her! If she has

returned, I will God knows what I will do!" he cried, in a voice shamefully broken. "Go; and send

I would have remonstrated with him, but he was in no mood to bear it; and, sad at heart, I withdrew, feeling

the perplexity, which the situation caused me, a less heavy burden than the pain with which I viewed the

change that had of late come over my master; converting him from the gayest and most DEBONAIRE of men

into this morose and solitary dreamer. Here, had I felt any temptation to moralise on the tyranny of passion,

was the occasion; but, as the farther I left the closet behind me the more instant became the crisis, the present

soon reasserted its power. Reflecting that Henry, in this state of uncertainty, was capable of the wildest acts,

and that not less was to be feared from his imprudence than from the Queen's resentment, I cudgelled my

brains to explain the RENCONTRE of the morning; but as the courier, whom I questioned, confirmed the

report of my agents, and asseverated most confidently that he had left Madame in Brussels, I was flung back

on the alternative of an accidental resemblance. This, however, which stood for a time as the most probable

solution, scarcely accounted for the woman's peculiar conduct, and quite fell to the ground when La Trape,

making cautious inquiries, ascertained that no lady hunting that day had worn a yellow feather. Again,

therefore, I found myself at a loss; and the dejection of the King and the Queen's illtemper giving rise to the

wildest surmises, and threatening each hour to supply the gossips of the Court with a startling scandal, the

issue of which no one could foresee, I went so far as to take into my confidence MM. Epernon and

Such being my state of mind, and such the suspense I suffered during two days, it may be imagined that M.

Bassompierre was not more happy. Despairing of the King's favour unless he could clear up the matter, and

by the event justify his indiscretion, he became for those two days the wonder, and almost the terror, of the

Court. Ignorant of what he wanted, the courtiers found only insolence in his mysterious questions, and

something prodigious in an activity which carried him in one day to Paris and back, and on the following to

every place in the vicinity where news of the fleeting beauty might by any possibility be gained; so that he far

outstripped my agents, who were on the same quest. But though I had no mean opinion of his abilities, I

hoped little from these exertions, and was proportionately pleased when, on the third day, he came to me with

"The King will be there," he said, "and I shall surprise you. But I will not tell you more. Come! and I promise

And that was all he would say; so that, finding my questions useless, and the man almost frantic with joy, I

had to be content with it; and at the Queen's hour that evening presented myself in her gallery, which proved

Making my way towards her in some doubt of my reception, I found my worst fears confirmed. She greeted

me with a sneering face, and was preparing, I was sure, to put some slight upon mea matter wherein she

could always count on the applause of her Italian servantswhen the entrance of the King took her by

surprise. He advanced up the gallery with a listless air, and, after saluting her, stood by one of the fireplaces

talking to Epernon and La Force. The crowd was pretty dense by this time, and the hum of talk filled the

room when, on a sudden, a voice, which I recognised as Bassompierre's, was lifted above it.

"Very well!" be cried gaily, "then I appeal to her Majesty. She shall decide, mademoiselle! No, no; I am not

The King looked that way with a frown, but the Queen took the outburst in good part. "What is it, M. de

"Today, in the forest, I found a ring, madame," he answered, coming forward." I told Mademoiselle de la

"Precisely, mademoiselle!" he answered, bowing. "But the stones in this ring are not sapphires, nor are there

There was a great laugh at this, and the Queen said, very wittily, that as neither of the claimants could prove a

"In one moment your Majesty shall at least see it," he answered. "But, first, has anyone lost a ring? Oyez!

Two or three, falling in with his humour, set up absurd claims to it; but none could describe the ring, and in

the end he handed it to the Queen. As he did so his eyes met mine and challenged my attention. I was

Someone pushed forward Mademoiselle Paleotti, sisterinlaw to Madame Paleotti, the Queen's first

chamberwoman. She was barely out of her teens, and, ordinarily, was a pretty girl; but the moment I saw her

deadwhite face, framed in a circle of fluttering fans and pitiless, sparkling eyes, I discerned tragedy in the

farce; and that M. de Bassompierre was acting in a drama to which only he and one other held the key. The

contrast between the girl's blanched face and the beauty and glitter in the midst of which she stood struck

others, so that, before another word was said, I caught the gasp of surprise that passed through the room; nor

"Why, girl," the Queen said, "this is the ring I gave you on my birthday! When did you lose it? And why have

Mademoiselle stood speechless; but madame her sisterinlaw answered for her. "Doubtless she was afraid

She spoke harshly and suspiciously, looking from the ring to the trembling girl. The silence was such that the

chatter of the pages in the anteroom could be heard. Still Mademoiselle stood dumb and confounded.

"Well, what is the mystery?" the Queen said, looking round with a little wonder. "What is the matter? It IS

"Perhaps mademoiselle is wondering where are the other things she left with it!" Bassompierre said in a silky

tone. "The things she left at Parlot the verderer's, when she dropped the ring. But she may free her mind; I

"What do you mean?" the Queen said. "What things, monsieur? What has the girl been doing?"

"Only what many have done before her," Bassompierre answered, bowing to his unfortunate victim, who

seemed to be paralysed by terror: "masquerading in other people's clothes. I propose, madame, that, for

At that the girl uttered a cry, and looked round the circle as if for a way of escape; but a Court is a cruel place,

in which the ugly or helpless find scant pity. A dozen voices begged the Queen to insist; and, amid laughter

and loud jests, Bassompierre hastened to the door, and returned with an armful of women's gear, surmounted

"If the Queen will command mademoiselle to retire and put these on," he said, "I will undertake to show her

But the girl had flung herself on her knees before her, and, clinging to her skirts, burst, into a flood of tears

and prayers; while her sisterinlaw stepped forward as if to second her, and cried out, in great excitement,

"Hoity, toity!" said the Queen, cutting her short, very grimly. "What is all this? I tell the girl to put on a

masquerade which it seems that she has been keeping at some cottageand you talk as if I were cutting

off her head! It seems to me that she escapes very lightly! Go! go! and see, you, that you are arrayed in five

"Perhaps Mademoiselle de la Force will go with her, and see that nothing is omitted," Bassompierre said with

The laughter and applause with which this proposal was received took me by surprise; but later I learned that

the two young women were rivals. "Yes, yes," the Queen said. "Go, mademoiselle, and see that she does not

Knowing what I did, I had by this time a fair idea of the discovery which Bassompierre had made; but the

mass of courtiers and ladies round me, who had not this advantage, knew not what to expectnor,

especially, what part M. Bassompierre had in the businessbut made most diverting suggestions, the

majority favouring the opinion that Mademoiselle Paleotti had repulsed him, and that this was his way of

avenging himself. A few of the ladies even taxed him with this, and tried, by random reproaches, to put him

at least on his defence; but, merrily refusing to be inveigled, he made to all the same answer that when

Mademoiselle Paleotti returned they would see. This served only to whet a curiosity already keen, insomuch

that the door was watched by as many eyes as if a miracle had been promised; and even MM. Epernon and

Vendome, leaving the King's side, pressed into the crowd that they might see the better. I took the

opportunity of going to him, and, meeting his eyes as I did so, read in them a look of pain and distress. As I

I had scarcely done so when the door opened and Mademoiselle Paleotti, pale, and supported on one side by

her rival, appeared at it; but so wondrously transformed by a wig, hat, and redingote that I scarcely knew her.

At first, as she stood, looking with shamed eyes at the staring crowd, the impression made was simply one of

bewilderment, so complete was the disguise. But Bassompierre did not long suffer her to stand so. Advancing

"Mademoiselle," he said, "will you oblige me by walking as far as the end of the gallery with me?"

She complied involuntarily, being almost unable to stand alone. But the two had not proceeded halfway

down the gallery before a low murmur began to be heard, that, growing quickly louder, culminated in an

M. Bassompierre dropped her hand with a low bow, and turned to the Queen. "Madame," he said, "this, I

find, is the lady whom I saw on the Terrace when Madame Paleotti was so good as to invite me to walk on

It was easy to see that the Queen had already drawn them; but, for the moment, the unfortunate girl was saved

from her wrath. With a low cry, Mademoiselle Paleotti did that which she would have done a little before,

I turned to look at the King, and found him gone. He had withdrawn unseen in the first confusion of the

surprise; nor did I dare at once to interrupt him, or intrude on the strange mixture of regret and relief, wrath

and longing, that probably possessed him in the silence of his closet. It was enough for me that the Italians'

plot had failed, and that the danger of a rupture between the King and Queen, which these miscreants desired,

The Paleottis were punished, being sent home in disgrace, and a penury, which, doubtless, they felt more

keenly. But, alas, the King could not banish with them all who hated him and France; nor could I, with every

precaution, and by the unsparing use of all the faculties that, during a score of years, had been at the service

of my master, preserve him for his country and the world. Before two months had run he perished by a mean

hand, leaving the world the poorer by the greatest and most illustrious sovereign that ever ruled a nation. And

men who loved neither France nor him entered into his labours, whose end also I have seen.