RESULTS OF GABRIEL'S VENGEANCE
Madame de Valentinois made a slight reverence to the young king, a still
slighter one to Catherine de Médicis and Mary Stuart, but seemed not to
see the Duc de Guise.
"Sire," said she, "your Majesty has sent me your commands to appear
before you--"
She checked herself. François II., at once indignant and embarrassed by
the insolent bearing of the ex-favorite, hesitated, blushed, and finally
said,--
"Our uncle De Guise has consented to take it upon himself to make known
our intentions with regard to you, Madame."
Diane turned slowly toward Le Balafré, and seeing the bitter, mocking
smile which was playing about his lips, tried to wither him with the
most imperious of her Juno-like glances.
But Le Balafré was much less easily frightened than his royal nephew.
"Madame," said he to Diane, after bestowing a profound salute upon her,
"the king has noticed your sincere grief, caused by the terrible
calamity which has overwhelmed us all. He is grateful to you for it. His
Majesty trusts that he anticipates your dearest wish by permitting you
to leave the court for a more retired spot. You are at liberty to go as
soon as you find it convenient; this evening, for instance."
A tear of rage appeared in Diane's flaming eye.
"His Majesty has gratified my most earnest desire," said she. "What is
there here for me to do now? I have nothing so much at heart as to
withdraw to my place of exile, Monsieur, at the earliest possible
moment, never fear!"
"Everything turns out for the best, then," replied the Duc de Guise,
carelessly playing with the knots of his velvet cloak. "But, Madame," he
added more gravely, and imparting to his words the significant accent of
an order, "your Château d'Anet, which you owe to the benevolence of the
late king, is something too worldly, too exposed, and too frivolous a
retreat for a desolate recluse like yourself. Therefore Queen Catherine
offers you in exchange for it her Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire, which
is farther from Paris, and proportionately better suited to your present
tastes and needs, I presume. It will be at your disposal as soon as you
desire."
Madame de Poitiers very well understood that this pretended exchange was
simply a mask to cover an arbitrary confiscation. But what could she do?
How resist? She no longer possessed either influence or power. All her
friends of the day before were her enemies of to-day. She must needs bow
to fate, and she did so.
"I shall be only too happy," said she, in a hollow voice, "to offer to
the queen the magnificent domain which I owe to the generosity of her
royal spouse."
"I accept the reparation, Madame," said Catherine de Médicis, dryly,
casting a disdainful glance at Diane, and one full of gratitude to the
Duc de Guise.
In truth, it was he who presented Anet to her.
"The Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire is at your disposal, Madame," she
added, "and shall be put in condition to receive its new proprietress
worthily."
"And there," resumed the Duc de Guise, meeting the withering
glances with which Diane was favoring him by a little harmless
raillery,--"there, in peace, Madame, you may employ your leisure in
resting from the weariness which has, I am informed, been caused during
the last few days by your frequent correspondence and interviews with
Monsieur de Montmorency."
"I did not think that I was doing a disservice to him who was then
king," Diane retorted, "by conferring with the great statesman and great
warrior of his reign as to whatever concerned the welfare of the
kingdom."
In her eagerness to repay sharp words in kind, Madame de Poitiers did
not reflect that she was thus furnishing arms against herself, and
reminding Catherine de Médicis of her other enemy, the constable.
"It is true," said the relentless queen-mother: "Monsieur de Montmorency
has shed the light of his glory and his good works upon two entire
reigns; and it is full time, my son," she added, addressing the young
king, "that you should consider how you may assure him also the
honorable retirement he has so laboriously earned."
"Monsieur de Montmorency," Diane retorted bitterly, "agreed with me in
anticipating such an acknowledgment and recompense of his long and
arduous services. He was with me when your Majesty commanded my
presence. He is probably still in my apartments, and I will seek him
there, and notify him of the generous consideration that is in store for
him; he should come at once to offer his gratitude to the king with his
leave-taking. And he is a man, remember; he is constable, and one of the
powerful noblemen of the realm! Rest assured that sooner or later he
will find an opportunity to demonstrate more forcibly than by words his
profound gratitude to a king so filled with pious regard for the past,
and to the new advisers who show themselves such valuable assistants in
the work of justice and of public interest which he has at heart."
"A threat!" said Le Balafré to himself. "The viper squirms under the
heel. Oh, well, so much the better! I prefer it so!"
"The king is always ready to receive Monsieur le Connétable," observed
the queen-mother, pale with rage. "And if Monsieur le Connétable has
any demands to present to his Majesty's consideration, or any
observations to address to him, he has but to come forward. He will be
listened to, and, as you say, Madame, justice will be done!"
"I will send him hither at once," was Madame de Poitiers's defiant
reply.
She again bestowed a superb bow upon the king and the two queens, and
left the room, with head still erect, but wounded to her very
soul,--with pride on her features, but death at her heart.
If Gabriel could have seen her, he would have felt sufficiently revenged
upon her.
Even Catherine de Médicis, at the price of that humiliation, consented
to forego any further reprisals against Diane!
But the queen-mother had noticed with some uneasiness that at the name
of the constable the Duc de Guise had remained silent, and had paid no
further attention to Madame de Poitiers's irritating insolence.
Could it be that Le Balafré feared Monsieur de Montmorency, and wished
to spare him? Would he, in case of need, form an alliance with
Catherine's old foe?
It was essential that the Florentine should know what to expect in that
direction before she allowed the power to fall without resistance into
the hands of François de Lorraine.
Therefore, in order to ascertain his views and those of the king as
well, she remarked, after Diane had gone:
"Madame de Poitiers is very impudent, and seems very strong in her
reliance upon her constable. Be sure, my son, that if you allow Monsieur
de Montmorency to retain any authority, be it much or little, he will
share it with Madame Diane."
Still the Duc de Guise said nothing.
"As for me," continued Catherine, "if I were to offer my opinion to your
Majesty, it would be that you should not divide your confidence among
several persons, but that you should select for your sole minister
either Monsieur de Montmorency or your uncle De Guise or your uncle De
Bourbon, as you choose. But let it be one or the other, and not all. Let
there be only one will in the State,--that of the king, advised by the
small number of persons who have no other interest than in its welfare
and glory. Is not that your opinion, Monsieur de Lorraine?"
"Yes, Madame, if it is yours," replied the duke, condescendingly.
"Aha!" said Catherine to herself, "I guessed aright: he was thinking of
allying himself with the constable. But he must decide between him and
me, and I think he cannot hesitate long.
"It seems to me, Monsieur de Guise," she continued aloud, "that you
ought to share my opinion so much the more fully, because it will be to
your advantage; for the king knows my thought, and that it is neither
the Constable de Montmorency nor Antoine de Navarre whom I would like to
have him select for his adviser; and when I thus declare my sentiments
in favor of the exclusion of a multiplicity of advisers, I do not aim my
remarks against you."
"Madame," said the Duc de Guise, "accept with my heartfelt gratitude my
no less entire devotion."
The subtle politician emphasized the last words, as if he had made up
his mind and had definitely sacrificed the constable to Catherine.
"That is very well," said the queen-mother. "When these gentlemen of the
parliament arrive, it is fitting that they should find among us this
rare and affecting unanimity of views and feelings."
"I, above all others, am overjoyed at this cordial agreement," cried the
young king, clapping his hands. "With my mother to advise me and my
uncle for minister, I begin to feel on better terms with this royalty
which terrified me so at first."
"We will reign _en famille_," added Mary Stuart, gayly.
Catherine de Médicis and François de Lorraine smiled pityingly at
these hopes--illusions, rather--of the young king and queen. Each of
them had for the moment what they most desired,--he the certainty that
the queen-mother would not object to allowing the supreme power to be
intrusted to him, and she the belief that the minister would share his
supreme power with her.
Meanwhile Monsieur de Montmorency was announced. The constable, it must
be said, was at first more dignified and calm than Madame de
Valentinois. Doubtless he had been forewarned by her, and had determined
at least to fall with colors flying.
He bowed respectfully before François II., and began at once to speak.
"Sire," said he, "I anticipated that the old servant of your father and
grandfather would meet with little favor from you. I have no complaint
to make of this sudden change of fortune which I foresaw; I will go into
retirement without a murmur. If the king or France ever have need of me,
I shall be found at Chantilly, Sire; and my property, my children, and
my own life,--all that I possess will always be at your Majesty's
service."
This moderation seemed to move the young king, who, more embarrassed
than ever, turned in his distress to his mother.
But the Duc de Guise, feeling that no intervention could so surely turn
the old constable's reserve to anger as his own, interposed with the
most courteous formality of manner,--
"Since Monsieur de Montmorency is about to quit the court, he would do
well, I think, before his departure, to hand to his Majesty the royal
seal, which the late king intrusted to him, and which we need from this
time."
Le Balafré was not mistaken. These apparently simple words excited the
jealous constable's wrath to the highest pitch.
"Here is the seal," he said bitterly, as he produced it from beneath his
doublet. "I intended to hand it to his Majesty without requiring him to
ask it of me; but I see that his Majesty is surrounded by persons
disposed to advise him to heap insults upon those who deserve nothing
but gratitude."
"To whom does Monsieur de Montmorency mean to refer?" asked Catherine,
haughtily.
"What? I spoke of those by whom his Majesty is surrounded, Madame,"
snarled the constable, giving the rein to his natural testiness and
brutality.
But he had chosen his time ill; and Catherine was only awaiting an
opportunity to burst out.
She rose, and casting all decorum to the winds, began to reproach the
constable for the harsh and disdainful manner he had always adopted
toward her, his hostility for everything Florentine, the preference
which he had openly shown to the mistress over the lawful wife. She was
not ignorant of the fact that it was to him that all the humiliation
suffered by her countrymen who had followed her to France was to be
attributed. She knew, too, that during the early years of her married
life Montmorency had had the hardihood to suggest to Henri that he
should cast her off as being barren, and that since then he had basely
slandered her.
To this the constable, who was little accustomed to reproof, replied
with a sneer, which was in itself a fresh affront.
Meanwhile the Duc de Guise had had time to take François II.'s orders,
or rather to dictate those orders to him in a low tone; and now, calmly
raising his voice, he proceeded to crush his rival, to the unbounded
delight of Catherine de Médicis.
"Monsieur le Connétable," said he, with his jeering courtesy, "your
friends and creatures who sit with you at the council-board--Bochetel,
L'Aubespine, and the rest, notably his Eminence the Keeper of the Seals,
Jean Bertrandi--may probably prefer to imitate you in your longing for
retirement. The king desires you to express his gratitude to them.
To-morrow they will be quite at liberty, and their places will have been
filled."
"'T is well," muttered Monsieur de Montmorency between his clinched
teeth.
"As for your nephew, Monsieur de Coligny, who is at once governor of
Picardy and of the Île de France," continued Le Balafré, "the king
considers that the double task is altogether too heavy for one man, and
desires to relieve him of one of his governments at his choice. You will
have the kindness to notify Monsieur l'Amiral to that effect, will you
not?"
"To be sure," rejoined the constable, with a bitter sneer.
"As for yourself, Monsieur le Connétable--" the duke continued quietly.
"Am I to be deprived of my constable's bâton?" interrupted Monsieur de
Montmorency, sharply.
"Oh," replied François de Lorraine, "you know that it is impossible,
and that the office of constable is not like that of lieutenant-general
of the kingdom, but that the former is conferred for life. However, is
it not incompatible with that of grand master, which you also hold? It
seems to be so to his Majesty, who asks for your resignation of the
last-named charge, Monsieur, and deigns to confer it upon me, since I
have no other."
"It is for the best," retorted Montmorency, grinding his teeth. "Is that
all, Monsieur?"
"Why, yes; I think so," said the Duc de Guise, resuming his seat.
The constable felt that it would be difficult for him to restrain his
rage any longer,--that he should perhaps make a scene, and by failing in
respect for the king become a rebellious subject instead of a disgraced
one. He did not wish to afford his triumphant foe that satisfaction; so
he saluted the king abruptly, and made ready to take his leave.
However, before departing, and as if thinking better of his
determination,--
"Sire," said he, "allow me one word more, to fulfil my last duty to the
memory of your glorious father. He who struck the fatal blow, the author
of all our grief, was not perhaps simply careless, Sire,--at least I
have reason to think so. In this melancholy catastrophe there may have
been--in my opinion, there was--an element of criminal intent. The man
whom I accuse did, I know, consider himself wronged by the late king.
Your Majesty will without doubt order a strict inquiry into this
matter."
The Duc de Guise was alarmed at this formal and dangerous charge against
Gabriel; but Catherine de Médicis took it upon herself to reply.
"Be assured, Monsieur," said she to the constable, "that your
intervention was not needed to remind us of such a deed as that; for the
necessity of dealing promptly with the offender is not forgotten by
those to whom the kingly existence so cruelly terminated was quite as
precious as to you. I, the widow of Henri II., cannot yield to any other
person in the world the initiative in such a matter. Therefore be quite
easy, Monsieur; your solicitude is premature. You may withdraw with your
mind at rest on that point."
"I have nothing further to say, then," said the constable.
He was not even to be allowed to gratify in person his implacable
resentment to the Comte de Montgommery, and to pose as the denouncer of
the culprit and the avenger of his master.
Suffocated with shame and anger, he went from the royal presence in
despair.
He departed the same evening for his estate at Chantilly.
That day Madame de Valentinois also quitted the Louvre, where she had
been more of a queen than the queen herself, for her gloomy and distant
exile at Chaumont-sur-Loire, whence she never returned while she lived.
Thus Gabriel's vengeance upon Madame de Poitiers was complete.
It is true that the ex-favorite had in store a terrible vengeance for
him who had thus hurled her from her lofty position.
As for the constable, Gabriel had not done with him, but would be on the
watch for the day when he should regain his influence.
However, we will not anticipate events, but return in haste to the
Louvre, where the deputies of parliament are just being announced to
François II.