In the spacious dining salon of the Château de Canaples I found the two
daughters of my host awaiting us--those same two ladies of the coach
in Place Vendôme and of the hostelry at Choisy, the dark and stately
icicle, Yvonne, and the fair, playful doll, Geneviève.
I bowed my best bow as the Chevalier presented me, and from the corner
of my eye, with inward malice, I watched them as I did so. Geneviève
curtsied with a puzzled air and a sidelong glance at her sister. Yvonne
accorded me the faintest, the coldest, inclination of her head, whilst
her cheeks assumed a colour that was unwonted.
“We have met before, I think, Monsieur,” she said disdainfully.
“True, Mademoiselle--once,” I answered, thinking only of the coach.
“Twice, Monsieur,” she corrected, whereupon I recalled how she had
surprised me with my arm about the waist of the inn-keeper's daughter,
and had Heaven given me shame I might have blushed. But if sweet Yvonne
thought to bring Gaston de Luynes to task for profiting by the good
things which God's providence sent his way, she was led by vanity into a
prodigious error.
“Twice, indeed, Mademoiselle. But the service which you rendered me upon
the first occasion was so present to my mind just now that it
eclipsed the memory of our second meeting. I have ever since desired,
Mademoiselle, that an opportunity might be mine wherein to thank you for
the preservation of my life. I do so now, and at your service do I lay
that life which you preserved, and which is therefore as much yours as
mine.”
Strive as I might I could not rid my tone of an ironical inflection. I
was goaded to it by her attitude, by the scornful turn of her lip and
the disdainful glance of her grey eyes--she had her father's eyes,
saving that her gaze was as steadfast as his was furtive.
“What is this?” quoth Canaples. “You owe your life to my daughter? Pray
tell me of it.”
“With all my heart,” I made haste to answer before Mademoiselle could
speak. “A week ago, I disagreed upon a question of great delicacy with a
certain gentleman who shall be nameless. The obvious result attended
our disagreement, and we fought 'neath the eyes of a vast company of
spectators. Right was on my side, and the gentleman hurt himself upon
my sword. Well, sir, the crowd snarled at me as though it were my fault
that this had so befallen, and I flouted the crowd in answer. They were
a hundred opposed to one, and so confident did this circumstance
render them of their superiority, that for once those whelps displayed
sufficient valour to attack me. I fled, and as a coach chanced to come
that way, I clutched at the window and hung there. Within the coach
there were two ladies, and one of them, taking compassion upon me,
invited me to enter and thus rescued me. That lady, sir,” I ended with a
bow, “was Mademoiselle your daughter.”
In his eyes I read it that he had guessed the name of my nameless
gentleman.
The ladies were struck dumb by my apparent effrontery. Yvonne at last
recovered sufficiently to ask if my presence at the château arose from
my being attached to M. de Mancini. Now, “attached” is an unpleasant
word. A courtier is attached to the King; a soldier to the army; there
is humiliation in neither of these. But to a private gentleman, a man
may be only attached as his secretary, his valet, or, possibly, as his
bravo. Therein lay the sting of her carefully chosen word.
“I am M. de Mancini's friend,” I answered with simple dignity.
For all reply she raised her eyebrows in token of surprise; Canaples
looked askance; I bit my lip, and an awkward silence followed, which,
luckily, was quickly ended by the appearance of Andrea.
The ladies received him graciously, and a faint blush might, to
searching eyes, have been perceived upon Geneviève's cheek.
There came a delicate exchange of compliments, after which we got to
table, and for my part I did ample justice to the viands.
I sat beside Geneviève, and vis-à-vis with Andrea, who occupied the
place of the honoured guest, at the host's right hand, with Yvonne
beside him. Me it concerned little where I sat, since the repast was all
that I could look for; not so the others. Andrea scowled at me because
I was nearer to Geneviève than he, and Yvonne frowned at me for other
reasons. By Geneviève I was utterly disregarded, and my endeavours to
converse were sorely unsuccessful--for one may not converse alone.
I clearly saw that Yvonne only awaited an opportunity to unmask me, and
denounce me to her father as the man who had sought his son's life.
This opportunity, however, came not until the moment of my departure
from the château, that evening. I was crossing the hail with the
Chevalier de Canaples, and we had stopped for a moment to admire a piece
of old chain armour of the days of the Crusaders. Andrea and Geneviève
had preceded us, and passed out through the open doorway, whilst Yvonne
lingered upon the threshold looking back.
“I trust, M. de Luynes,” said Canaples, as we moved towards her, “that
you will remember my invitation, and that whilst you remain at Biois
we shall see you here as often as you may be pleased to come; indeed, I
trust that you will be a daily visitor.”
Before I could utter a reply--“Father,” exclaimed Mademoiselle, coming
forward, “do you know to whom you are offering the hospitality of
Canaples?”
“Why that question, child? To M. de Luynes, M. de Mancini's friend.”
“And the would-be murderer of Eugène,” she added fiercely.
Canaples started.
“Surely such affairs are not for women to meddle with,” he cried.
“Moreover, M. de Luynes has already given me all details of the affair.”
Her eyes grew very wide at that.
“He has told you? Yet you invite him hither?” she exclaimed.
“M. de Luynes has naught wherewith to reproach himself, nor have I.
Those details which he has given me I may not impart to you; suffice it,
however, that I am satisfied that his conduct could not have been other
than it was, whereas that of my son reflects but little credit upon his
name.”
She stamped her foot, and her eyes, blazing with anger, passed from one
to the other of us.
“And you--you believe this man's story?”
“Yvonne!”
“Possibly,” I interposed, coolly, “Mademoiselle may have received some
false account of it that justifies her evident unbelief in what I may
have told you.”
It is not easy to give a lie unless you can prove it a lie. I made her
realise this, and she bit her lip in vexation. Dame! What a pretty viper
I thought her at that moment!
“Let me add, Yvonne,” said her father, “that M. de Luynes and I are
old comrades in arms.” Then turning to me--“My daughter, sir, is but
a child, and therefore hasty to pass judgment upon matters beyond
her understanding. Forget this foolish outburst, and remember only my
assurance of an ever cordial welcome.”
“With all my heart,” I answered, after a moment's deliberation, during
which I had argued that for once I must stifle pride if I would serve
Andrea.
“Ough!” was all Mademoiselle's comment as she turned her back upon me.
Nevertheless, I bowed and flourished my beaver to her retreating figure.
Clearly Mademoiselle entertained for me exactly that degree of
fondness which a pious hermit feels for the devil, and if I might
draw conclusions from what evidences I had had of the strength of
her character and the weakness of her father's, our sojourn at Blois
promised to afford me little delectation. In fact, I foresaw many
difficulties that might lead to disaster should our Paris friends appear
upon the scene--a contingency this that seemed over-imminent.
It was not my wont, howbeit, to brood over the evils that the future
might hold, and to this I owe it that I slept soundly that night in my
room at the Lys de France.
It was a pleasant enough chamber on the first floor, overlooking the
street, and having an alcove attached to it which served for Michelot.
Next day I visited the Château de Canaples early in the afternoon. The
weather was milder, and the glow of the sun heralded at last the near
approach of spring and brightened wondrously a landscape that had
yesterday worn so forbidding a look.
This change it must have been that drew the ladies, and Andrea with
them, to walk in the park, where I came upon them as I rode up. Their
laughter rippled merrily and they appeared upon the best of terms until
they espied me. My advent was like a cloud that foretells a storm, and
drove Mesdemoiselles away, when they had accorded me a greeting that
contained scant graciousness.
All unruffled by this act, from which I gathered that Yvonne the strong
had tutored Geneviève the frail concerning me, I consigned my horse to a
groom of the château, and linked arms with Andrea.
“Well, boy,” quoth I, “what progress?”
He smiled radiantly.
“My hopes are all surpassed. It exceeds belief that so poor a thing as I
should find favour in her eyes--what eyes, Gaston!” He broke off with a
sigh of rapture.
“Peste, you have lost no time. And so, already you know that you find
favour, eh! How know you that?”
“How? Need a man be told such things? There is an inexpressible--”
“My good Andrea, seek not to express it, therefore,” I interrupted
hastily. “Let it suffice that the inexpressible exists, and makes you
happy. His Eminence will doubtless share your joy! Have you written to
him?”
The mirth faded from the lad's face at the words, as the blossom fades
'neath the blighting touch of frost. What he said was so undutiful
from a nephew touching his uncle--particularly when that uncle is a
prelate--that I refrain from penning it.
We were joined just then by the Chevalier, and together we strolled
round to the rose-garden--now, alas! naught but black and naked
bushes--and down to the edge of the Loire, yellow and swollen by the
recent rains.
“How lovely must be this place in summer,” I mused, looking across
the water towards Chambord. “And, Dame,” I cried, suddenly changing my
meditations, “what an ideal fencing ground is this even turf!”
“The swordsman's instinct,” laughed Canaples.
And with that our talk shifted to swords, swordsmen, and sword-play,
until I suggested to Andrea that he should resume his practice,
whereupon the Chevalier offered to set a room at our disposal.
“Nay, if you will pardon me, Monsieur, 't is not a room we want,” I
answered. “A room is well enough at the outset, but it is the common
error of fencing-masters to continue their tutoring on a wooden floor.
It results from this that when the neophyte handles a real sword,
and defends his life upon the turf, the ground has a new feeling; its
elasticity or even its slipperiness discomposes him, and sets him at a
disadvantage.”
He agreed with me, whilst Andrea expressed a wish to try the turf. Foils
were brought, and we whiled away best part of an half-hour. In the end,
the Chevalier, who had watched my play intently, offered to try a bout
with me. And so amazed was he with the result, that he had not done
talking of it when I left Canaples a few hours later--a homage this that
earned me some more than ordinarily unfriendly glances from Yvonne.
No doubt since the accomplishment was mine it became in her eyes
characteristic of a bully and a ruffler.
During the week that followed I visited the château with regularity, and
with equal regularity did Andrea receive his fencing lessons. The object
of his presence at Canaples, however, was being frustrated more and more
each day, so far as the Cardinal and the Chevalier were concerned.
He raved to me of Geneviève, the one perfect woman in all the world and
brought into it by a kind Providence for his own particular delectation.
In truth, love is like a rabid dog--whom it bites it renders mad; so
open grew his wooing, and so ardent, that one evening I thought well to
take him aside and caution him.
“My dear Andrea,” said I, “if you will love Geneviève, you will, and
there's an end of it. But if you would not have the Chevalier pack you
back to Paris and the anger of my Lord Cardinal, be circumspect, and at
least when M. de Canaples is by divide your homage equally betwixt
the two. 'T were well if you dissembled even a slight preference for
Yvonne--she will not be misled by it, seeing how unmistakable at all
other seasons must be your wooing of Geneviève.”
He was forced to avow the wisdom of my counsel, and to be guided by it.
Nevertheless, I rode back to my hostelry in no pleasant frame of mind.
It was more than likely that a short shrift and a length of hemp
would be the acknowledgment I should anon receive from Mazarin for my
participation in the miscarriage of his desires.
I felt that disaster was on the wing. Call it a premonition; call it
what you will. I know but this; that as I rode into the courtyard of
the Lys de France, at dusk, the first man my eyes alighted on was the
Marquis César de St. Auban, and, in conversation with him, six of the
most arrant-looking ruffians that ever came out of Paris.