All had been prepared in the great hall of the Château de Marzay for
the marriage of Rose d'Albret with Nicholas de Chazeul, as far as the
time and circumstances would admit. A few of such flowers, as the
early season of the year afforded, had been gathered to strew the
floor, or to form into nosegays. Various old banners and decorations
had been brought forth, to give an appearance of splendor and gaiety
to the scene; and if friends and relations had not been summoned to
honour the occasion, their places were filled up by the servants and
attendants of the family, dressed in their best attire. All Madame de
Chazeul's maids were there, all the women servants of the château,
with the sole exception of Blanchette, who, as the reader knows, had
remained in her mistress's apartments.
But the principal group in the room, was stationed near the table, in
the midst, on which lay the contract of marriage, neatly tied with
white riband, and surrounded by a chaplet of violets and snow-drops.
That group consisted of the young Marquis de Chazeul, dressed in all
the most extravagant finery of that extravagant day, of the
Marchioness his mother, and the notary public of the Holy Roman
Empire, who, called upon continually to deal with great people, was
conversing familiarly with his two companions, and giving them his
advice how to proceed in certain cases, which they had suggested for
his consideration.
When first Madame de Chazeul had entered the room, she was followed by
her page; but in the conversation which succeeded, between herself,
the notary, and her son, she did not remark that the boy slipped away
quietly and quitted the hall, without attracting the attention of any
one.
The reader will have the kindness to remember that, as I described
this hall at first, it might be entered by three different doors; the
one communicating with the great staircase, by means of a short
corridor with deep windows at the south end; another leading, by a
separate passage, to the apartments of the Count de Liancourt, and to
those which Rose d'Albret had formerly occupied; and the third on the
western side, giving exit to the walls, by the little flying bridge,
which we have more than once already mentioned.
As it was the door on the north by which Rose d'Albret and the Count
were expected to enter, the eyes of the whole party were turned, from
time to time, in that direction; but yet, for more than a quarter of
an hour after the Marchioness de Chazeul had entered, no one else
appeared; and she herself seemed to be, as probably she really was,
somewhat anxious and impatient of the long delay which took place.
Every one remarked that her face looked pale, notwithstanding her
rouge, and that a sort of sharp and irritable twitching about the
muscles of the mouth and nostril displayed itself in a manner which
none of them had ever seen before.
At the end of that quarter of an hour, she advanced to the table at
the further side of the hall, where various refreshments had been set
out, and drank a quantity of water and some wine. Then she sat down;
and then she rose again; and then advancing to her son, she whispered,
"How long they are! I fear your uncle has been fool enough to let her
argue with him, instead of stopping her at once."
"But just as she spoke, the door was thrown sharply open, and the
Count de Liancourt himself appeared, accompanied by poor Rose
d'Albret. She was as pale as death; and before she entered she paused,
and put her hand twice to her head, as if her brain grew giddy; but
Monsieur de Liancourt took her by the arm, not quite as gently as
might be, and led her into the hall. All parties made way, and formed
a circle round the table, on which the contract lay, leaving
sufficient space for the principal parties to advance and sign the
document.
"I am faint," said Rose, as the Count hurried on; "give me some
water."
"Give her some water, give her some water," cried the Count.
"Mademoiselle d'Albret is somewhat faint."
Chazeul instantly sprang to the other table, and fetched a cup of
water; but when he brought it, Rose put it aside, with a look of
disgust, replying, "Not from your hand!" and, seeming to recover
strength and courage from the effort, she took a step forward as if
towards the table.
The notary immediately advanced with the pen in his hand, saying, "The
contract has been read, Mademoiselle, by your guardian, Monsieur de
Liancourt, on your part, and by Monsieur de Chazeul on his own. It is,
therefore, doubtless, unnecessary to read it over to yourself, as they
are quite satisfied."
"Oh! quite unnecessary," cried the Count. "Point out where she is to
sign."
"Stay a moment," cried Rose d'Albret; "I told you, Sir, before I came
hither, that I did not intend to sign this paper--that nothing shall
ever induce me to sign it: and my only object in appearing here now,
is to protest before all these witnesses, that I will never be the
wife of Nicholas de Chazeul."
Looks of surprise passed round the greater part of the crowd; and many
of them whispered to their neighbour, inquiring what would be done
next, while Madame de Chazeul stepped forward with a flashing eye, and
a quivering lip to say something in a low tone to her brother, and
Nicholas de Chazeul, stretching out his tall form to its full height,
tossed back his head with a look of scornful indignation.
"What says Monsieur de Liancourt?" said the notary, who had received
his instructions from the Marchioness. "Does he admit of this protest?
for the lady, I conceive, must act by her guardian."
"No, I do not admit it," cried the Count. "I insist that the marriage
go forward. Is it competent for me to sign on her behalf?"
The notary hesitated. "No," he said, at length; "I think we must have
her signature."
"That you shall never have," replied Rose. "I would rather cut off my
hand."
"I would pass over ceremonies, Sir, if I were you," said the notary,
speaking to the Count in a whisper. "The lady's hand can be guided
over the paper."
"It shall be done," replied the Count; and Madame de Chazeul beckoned
up one of her men, saying in an under voice to her brother, "do it
suddenly, and it will be over before she is aware."
"In the first place," rejoined the notary, in the same tone, "to make
it all formally right, we had better inquire whether there be any one
who wishes to take act of opposition to the marriage.--You are sure of
all in the hall, I suppose?"
The Marchioness nodded her head; and the notary proceeded to demand,
in a louder voice, if there was any one who had any lawful cause of
opposition to the marriage, between Nicholas, Marquis de Chazeul, and
Rose Demoiselle d'Albret.
There was a sudden noise at the other side of the hall, even while he
was speaking, and the moment after he had ceased, a voice, sweet and
melancholy though clear and firm, exclaimed, "I have;" and, as the
crowd broke away, and turned towards the spot whence the sounds
issued, Helen de la Tremblade advanced, and stood directly opposite
the Marquis de Chazeul and his mother.
Chazeul turned first as red as fire, and then as pale as ashes; and
the Marchioness stood by his side, not with the rage and vehemence
which might have been supposed, not with the ready command of
resources and the power, as well as the will, to bear down opposition,
but with her teeth chattering, her face pale, her lips white, and her
limbs trembling.
"I feel ill," she said, "I feel ill.--I must have taken the wrong
cup.--Chazeul, I feel ill."
But none attended to her; for the notary had turned to Helen de la
Tremblade, and was inquiring in a formal but scornful tone, what were
the grounds of her opposition, when another voice was heard,
exclaiming "These!" and father Walter strode forward and took her by
the hand, holding forth an open letter, "These are the grounds of her
opposition," he said, "inasmuch as she is contracted with Monsieur de
Chazeul, _par paroles de future_."
The notary turned and looked to Monsieur de Liancourt, who exclaimed,
in a furious tone, "They are all in a conspiracy to stop the marriage.
I will have it go forward as I have sworn."
"You can pass over this objection, Sir," said the notary. "If it be at
all valid, it may be pleaded hereafter in nullification."
"Well, then, pass it over," cried the Count. "Will you sign,
Mademoiselle d'Albret?"
"Never!" answered Rose, firmly. "Never! so help me God!"
"Then thus I will make you," muttered Monsieur de Liancourt; and,
seizing her suddenly by the wrist, he dragged her forward to the
table; and while the man, René, stood behind to prevent her escape, he
placed the pen partly in her hand, partly held it in his own, and was
actually running it over the paper, before Rose was well aware of what
he was doing.
"I protest, in the name of God, and the Holy Catholic Church, against
this violent and outrageous act!" exclaimed Walter de la Tremblade,
lifting up his hands to Heaven.
"Hold!" cried a voice of thunder at the same moment; and, striding
forward through the crowd, a stout short man, with a grey beard and
hair, dressed in a plain suit of russet brown, advanced to the table,
and struck the pen out of Monsieur de Liancourt's hand, exclaiming,
"Hold! Hear a word or two first!--Parbleu! you make quick work of it!"
The Count laid his hand upon his sword, demanding fiercely, "Who are
you, insolent villain?"
"Why, this is that man, Chasseron," cried Chazeul. "What have you to
do with this affair, Sir?"
"Why, Ventre Saint Gris! I oppose the marriage," cried Chasseron, "as
the lady's cousin."
"Her cousin!" exclaimed Chazeul, bursting into a scornful laugh. "Who
ever heard of you before?"
"That will not avail, unless you can prove your relationship,"
exclaimed Monsieur de Liancourt, looking to the notary.
But that worthy officer was gazing down upon the ground somewhat pale
in the face; and Chasseron, in his bluff way, replied, "Will that not
do?--Pardi, then, this will!" and, drawing his sword, he laid it naked
upon the table. Then, taking up the contract of marriage, he tore it
to atoms.
Chazeul sprang towards him with fury in his countenance. But the
notary darted in between, holding up both his hands, and exclaiming,
"The King! the King!"
"The King!" cried Chazeul staggering back.
"The King!" exclaimed Monsieur de Liancourt, gazing upon him.
"The King! the King!" cried many voices in the hall; and at least one
half added, "Vive Henri Quatre!"
"Even so, my good friends," said Henry. "Monsieur de Liancourt, you
will excuse me for taking such liberties in your château. I have been
obliged to make it my halting-place this morning, with about a couple
of hundred of my friends, who have just been hunting with me in these
woods. But we shall all depart before night, and leave you in full
possession of your own again, as I came with no hostile intention, but
merely to do a little act of justice. And now, my fair cousin," he
continued, turning to Rose d'Albret, "you must prepare for a journey
to-night, for we intend to take you with us."
"My lord the King," said the Count de Liancourt, assuming a tone of
dignity for a last effort. "I have to beg that, whatever you do, you
would abstain from meddling with the arrangements of my family."
"Parbleu!" exclaimed Henry, "what would the man have? Without,
there!--Send in the captain of the guard and a file of soldiers.
Either as a friend or an enemy, Monsieur de Liancourt--either as a
good and obedient subject, or a rebel against his King!--You shall act
which character you please, and I will behave accordingly. In the mean
time, Sir, this lady is no longer your ward; for, let me tell you,
that you have attempted to violate the contract with her father, by
means--of which the less we say the better. It shall be my task to
carry that contract into execution. Ha! the guard!--Attach Monsieur de
Chazeul for high treason--But! what have we got here?" he continued,
looking to a spot a little behind the Count, where the servants of
Madame de Chazeul had placed her in a chair and gathered round her. "A
dead woman, I think!--By my life! my old acquaintance, Jacqueline de
Chazeul!"
"Good God, my mother!" exclaimed Chazeul darting towards her: but the
hand that he took was cold and inanimate; and, "the poisoned chalice"
she had prepared for others, had worked too certainly upon herself.
At first, it was supposed, she did but faint: but the truth was soon
ascertained; and when Chazeul rose from his knee, and turned round to
the rest of the party, he beheld what was to him a more painful sight
than even that on which he had been just gazing. It was Rose d'Albret
in the arms of Louis de Montigni: while Monsieur de Liancourt, with
all his assumed firmness gone, was apparently making amends to the
King by courtesy and explanation, for the tone which he had at first
assumed towards him.
But, in another part of the hall stood Helen de la Tremblade, with her
hand in that of her uncle, while her eyes were buried on the old man's
shoulder; and around,--at each door of the hall, and filling up the
whole of one side,--were seen the scarred and weather-beaten faces of
the veteran royalist soldiery, with their white scarfs over their
shoulders, and their naked swords in their hand.
Chazeul turned again to the form of his dead mother, and then once
more bent his eyes on Helen de la Tremblade. "It is the hand of God!"
he murmured. "It is the hand of God!" and then, as the captain of the
guard advanced to arrest him, he said, "Wait one moment," and strode
across the room towards the priest and his niece.
"Helen," he said in a low tone, "Helen, I have done you wrong.--I am
ready to make atonement.--Will you be my wife?"
"No!" cried Helen, turning round towards him, "No!--My fate is fixed.
The cloister is the only shelter for one whose heart has been trampled
on like mine."
"Nay, nay!" cried Henri Quatre stepping forward. "Remember, my fair
friend, penitence should be always accepted. Were it not so, how
should I ever find grace, as I yet hope to do?--Nay, suffer me to be
the mediator. Here, Monsieur de Chazeul," he continued, taking Helen's
hand, and placing it in that of the Marquis. "Take her: and if she
have loved you too well heretofore, it is a thousand chances to
one that you soon teach her to mend that fault, when you are her
husband.--However, you shall have fair room to try; for we must not
cage so promising a bridegroom. Captain, we shall not want your good
offices for the present."
The augury of the King was unhappily but too correct; and two years
had barely elapsed, when Helen, Marchioness of Chazeul, retired for
ever from the busy world, with the consent of her husband, to the
convent of a sisterhood of cloistered nuns.
FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 1: This phenomenon was seen distinctly by many persons in
both armies, immediately before the battle of Ivry, and was visible
over an extent of more than twenty leagues.]
[Footnote 2: The duel of one to one, without seconds or witnesses, was
not uncommon at this time in France, especially when men were of high
rank, and wished to void a serious quarrel without danger of
interruption. They often also took place on horseback with the pistol,
but Monsieur de Monteil is wrong in stating under the reign of Henry
IV., that it was a new custom to introduce seconds into duels. During
the reign of Charles IX. and Henry III., the practice of fighting with
a number of seconds who all took part in the affray, was general; and
in the famous challenge of Henry IV. himself, when King of Navarre, to
the Duke of Guise, he offered to figght him one to one, two to two, or
ten to ten.]
THE END.
PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER.