CATHERINE DE MÉDICIS
But Gabriel was strong and brave of heart, and filled with steadfast
resolution. After the consternation of the first moments had abated, he
shook off his despondency, held his head aloft once more, and requested
an audience of the queen.
Catherine de Médicis had no doubt heard of this mysterious tragedy of
her husband and the Comte de Montgommery; in fact, who knows that she
did not herself play a part in it. At that time she was hardly more than
twenty years old. Was it not likely that the jealousy of a beautiful but
abandoned young wife would cause her to keep her eyes constantly open to
every act and every misstep of her rival? Gabriel relied upon her memory
to throw light upon the darkness of the path along which he was groping
his way, but where he was so much interested in having his course made
clear to him both as lover and as son, for his happiness' sake or for
his revenge.
Catherine received Vicomte d'Exmès with that marked kindness which she
had not failed to show him on every occasion.
"Is it you, my handsome king of the lists?" said she. "To what happy
chance do I owe this welcome visit? You very seldom honor us, Monsieur
d'Exmès; and I think this is the very first time that you have sought
an audience of us in our apartments. But you are and always will be a
welcome guest, remember that."
"Madame," said Gabriel. "I do not know how to thank you for such
kindness; rest assured that my devotion--"
"Oh, never mind your devotion!" interposed the queen; "but let us come
to the object which brings you here. Can I serve you in any way?"
"Yes, Madame, I think that you can."
"So much the better, Monsieur d'Exmès," replied Catherine, with a most
engaging smile; "and if what you ask of me lies in my power, I promise
beforehand to grant it. That may be rather a compromising agreement,
perhaps, but I know you will not make an unfair use of it, my good
friend."
"God forbid, Madame! I have no such intention."
"Go on, then, and tell me," said the queen, sighing.
"It is information, Madame, that I have ventured to seek from
you,--nothing more. But to me this nothing is everything; so you will
excuse me, I know, for recalling memories which may be painful to your
Majesty. They relate to something which happened as long ago as the year
1539."
"Oh, dear, I was very young then,--almost a child," said the queen.
"But already very lovely, and most surely worthy of being loved,"
replied Gabriel.
"Some people used to say so," said the queen, delighted at the turn the
conversation was taking.
"And yet," Gabriel went on, "another woman dared to encroach upon the
right which was yours by the gift of God, and by your birth and beauty;
and not content with drawing away from you, by witchery and enchantment,
no doubt, the eyes and the heart of a husband who was too young to see
clearly, this woman betrayed him who had betrayed you, and loved the
Comte de Montgommery. But in your righteous contempt you may have
forgotten all this, Madame?"
"By no means," said the queen; "and this incident, with all the
intrigues dating from it, is very clear still in my mind. Yes, she loved
the Comte de Montgommery; and then, seeing that her passion was
discovered, she basely pretended that it was a mere feint to put the
dauphin's affection for her to the proof; and when Montgommery
disappeared, poor fellow,--made away with, perhaps, by her own
order,--she never shed a tear for him, but appeared at a ball the next
day, laughing and gay. Oh, yes, I shall always remember the first
schemes by means of which this woman undermined my new-born power; for I
was annoyed by them then, and I passed my days and my nights weeping.
But since then my pride has come to my aid. I have always fulfilled my
duty, and more too: I have compelled, by my dignified conduct,
consistent and constant respect for myself as wife, as mother, and as
queen. I have given seven children to the King of France; but now I love
my husband only with a tranquil sort of affection, as a friend and the
father of my sons, and I no longer recognize in him any right to demand
any tenderer emotion. My life has been devoted to the public good long
enough; and may I not now live a little for myself? Have I not bought my
happiness sufficiently dear? If the devotion of some young and
passionate heart should be laid at my feet, would it be a crime in me if
I did not spurn it, Gabriel?"
Catherine's glances were quite in keeping with her words; but Gabriel's
thoughts were elsewhere. As soon as the queen had ceased to speak of his
father, he had ceased to listen, and had lost himself in thought. This
revery, which Catherine interpreted as being in accord with her own
wishes, by no means displeased her. But Gabriel soon broke the silence.
"One last explanation, and the most serious of all," said he. "You are
so kind to me! I was sure that in coming to you I should be entirely
satisfied. You have spoken of devotion; you may count absolutely on
mine, Madame. But complete your work, for Heaven's sake! Since you knew
the details of this tragic incident in the life of the Comte de
Montgommery, do you know whether there was any doubt at the time that
Madame de Castro, who was born some months after the count's
disappearance, was really the king's daughter? Did not the tongue of
scandal, of calumny, I may say, set afloat suspicion in that direction
and ascribe to Monsieur de Montgommery the paternity of Diane?"
Catherine de Médicis looked at Gabriel for some time without a word, as
if to satisfy herself of the feeling which had dictated his words. She
thought she had discovered it, and began to smile.
"I have noticed," she said, "that you have been attracted by Madame de
Castro, and have been assiduously paying court to her. Now I see your
motive. Only, before you commit yourself, you wish to be sure, do you
not, that you are following no false scent, and that it is really a
daughter of the king to whom you are offering your homage? You don't
wish, after you have married the legitimatized daughter of Henri II., to
discover some fine day unexpectedly that your wife is the Comte de
Montgommery's illegitimate child? In a word, you are ambitious, Monsieur
d'Exmès. Don't protest, for it only makes me esteem you the more; and
more than that, it may be of advantage to my plans for you, rather than
detrimental to them. You are ambitious, are you not?"
"But, Madame," replied Gabriel, in great embarrassment, "perhaps it
amounts to that--"
"Very good; I see that I have guessed your secret, young gentleman,"
said the queen. "Well, then! Are you willing to believe a friend? In the
interest of these plans of yours, lay aside your views touching this
Diane. Give up this doll-faced chit. I don't know, to tell the truth,
whose daughter she is, whether king's or count's, and the last
supposition may very well be the true one; but if she were born of the
king, she is not the woman or the support that you stand in need of.
Madame d'Angoulême's is a weak and yielding nature, all feeling and
grace, if you please, but without force or energy or courage. She has
succeeded in winning the king's good graces, I agree; but she hasn't the
tact to take advantage of them. What you need, Gabriel, to help you to
the fulfilment of your noble dreams, is a virile and courageous heart,
which will assist you as it loves you, which will serve you and be
served by you, and which will fill both your heart and your life. Such
a heart you have found without being aware of it. Vicomte d'Exmès."
He looked at her in utter amazement; but she continued, warming to her
subject:--
"Listen: our lofty destiny makes us queens free from the observance of
the proprieties enjoined upon the common herd; and from our supreme
height if we wish to be the object of the affection of a subject, we
must take some steps forward ourselves, and extend a welcoming hand.
Gabriel, you are handsome, brave, ardent, and proud! Since the first
moment that I saw you I have felt for you a strange sentiment, and--I am
not in error, am I?--your words and your looks, and even this very
proceeding to-day, which is perhaps only a well-planned
détour,--everything combines to make me believe that I have not to do
with an ingrate."
"Madame!" said Gabriel, whose surprise had changed to alarm.
"Oh, yes, you are touched and surprised, I see," continued Catherine,
with her sweetest smile. "But you do not judge me harshly, do you, for
my necessary frankness? I say again, the queen must make excuses for the
woman. You are shy, with all your ambition, Monsieur d'Exmès; and if I
had been withheld by scruples which would be beneath me, I might have
been deprived of a devotion which is very precious to me. I much
preferred to be the first to speak. Come, then! collect yourself once
more. Am I such a very terrible object?"
"Oh, yes!" muttered Gabriel, pale and trembling.
But the queen entirely misinterpreted the meaning of his exclamation.
"Come, come!" said she, with a playful pretence of misgiving. "I have
not deprived you of your good sense yet, so far as to make you lose
sight of your own interests, as you proved by the questions you put to
me on the subject of Madame d'Angoulême. But set your mind at ease, for
I do not desire your abasement, I say again, but your elevation.
Gabriel, up to this time I have kept myself out of sight in the second
rank; but do you know, I shall soon shine in the first. Madame Diane de
Poitiers is no longer young enough to preserve her beauty and her
supremacy. On the day when that creature's prestige begins to wane, my
reign will begin; and mark well that I shall know how to reign, Gabriel.
The instincts of domination which I feel at work in me assure me of it;
and then, too, it is in the very Médicis blood. The king will learn
some day that he has no more clever adviser, none more skilful and more
experienced, than myself. And then, Gabriel, when that time comes, to
what heights may not that man aspire who linked his fortune with mine
when mine was still in the shadow; who loved in me the woman, not the
queen? Will not the mistress of the whole realm be able to recompense
worthily the man who devoted himself to Catherine? Will not this man be
her second self, her right arm, the real king, with a mere phantom of a
king above him? Will he not hold in his hand all the dignity and all the
might of France? A fair dream, is it not, Gabriel? Well, Gabriel, do you
choose to be that man?"
She valiantly held out her hand to him.
Gabriel kneeled at her feet and kissed that lovely white hand; but his
nature was too frank and loyal to allow him to involve himself in the
tricks and falsehoods of a simulated passion. Between deceit and danger
he was too honest and too bold to hesitate a moment, so raising his
noble head, he said,--
"Madame, the humble gentleman who is at your feet begs you to look upon
him as your most obedient servant and your most devoted subject; but--"
"But," said Catherine, smiling, "these are not the worshipful terms
which I require of you, my noble cavalier."
"And yet, Madame," continued Gabriel, "I cannot make use of any more
tender and affectionate words in addressing you, for--pardon me, I
beg--she whom I loved dearly before I ever saw you is Madame Diane de
Castro; and no love, even though it be the love of a queen, can ever
find a resting-place in this heart, which is always filled with the
image of another."
"Ah!" exclaimed Catherine, with colorless cheeks and tightly closed
lips.
Gabriel, with head cast down, waited manfully for the storm of
indignation and scorn which was impending over him. Scorn and
indignation are not apt to be long in coming, and after a few moments of
silence,--
"Do you know, Monsieur d'Exmès," said Catherine, struggling to keep
down her voice and her anger,--"do you know that I consider you very
bold, not to say impudent! Who spoke to you of love, Monsieur? Where did
you get the idea that I wished to tempt your bashful virtue? You must
have a most exalted and presumptuous opinion of your own deserts to dare
to think of such things, and to put such a hasty construction upon a
kindness of heart whose only mistake was in bestowing itself in an
undeserving quarter. You have very deeply injured a woman and a queen,
Monsieur!"
"Oh, Madame," replied Gabriel, "pray believe that my religious
veneration--"
"Enough!" Catherine interposed; "I know that you have insulted me, and
that you came here to insult me! Why are you here? What purpose directed
your steps? Of what importance to me are your love and Madame de Castro,
or any of your concerns? You came to seek information from me! Absurd
pretext! You desired to make a queen of France the confidante of your
passion! It is senseless, I tell you! worse than that, it is an
outrage!"
"No, Madame," replied Gabriel, standing proudly erect, "it is no outrage
to have met an honest man who chose to wound you rather than deceive
you."
"Hold your peace, Monsieur!" replied Catherine; "I command you to hold
your peace and to leave me. Consider yourself lucky if I do not yet
think best to divulge to the king your audacious offence. But never let
me see you again, and henceforth consider Catherine de Médicis your
bitter enemy. Yes, I shall come across you again, be sure, Monsieur
d'Exmès! And now leave me."
Gabriel saluted the queen, and withdrew without a word.
"Well," he reflected when he was alone again, "one hatred more! But what
difference would that make to me if I had only learned something about
my father and Diane? The king's favorite and the king's wife for
enemies! Fate may be preparing perhaps to make the king himself my
enemy. And now for Diane, for the hour has arrived; and God grant that I
may not be more sad and despairing when I part from her who loves me
than I have been on leaving those who hate me!"