Shortly after Monsieur de Villardin's return, on the day of which I
have just been speaking, I received notice that I should be required
to accompany him in the evening to a great supper at the house of the
Duke de Bouillon. As I was beginning, at that time, from one
circumstance or another, to imagine that I was in no degree uglier
than my fellow mortals, to find out that good looks were prized even
in a page, and that a handsome person was not shown to less advantage
by appearing in becoming apparel, I took care that the finest of my
wardrobe should be displayed on the present occasion, where I was sure
of seeing, and in some sort mingling with, all that was bright, and
noble, and beautiful, in the French capital.
Although self-conceit has made many a man very comfortable through
life, I do believe that the peculiar modification of the same feeling
which is generally called vanity, seldom, if ever, produces anything
but disappointment. We did not arrive at the Hotel de Bouillon till
more than one half of the company had assembled; and though the scene
was certainly as splendid as youth, beauty, wealth, gaiety, good taste
and grace, could render it, my pleasure was of course confined to
seeing others, without attracting the slightest attention myself.
Confounded with the other pages, of whom there was an immense
profusion, nobody, in all probability, ever saw me, except worthy
Monsieur de Vitray, who recognised me instantly, and spoke a few words
to me as he passed.
As is usually the case, I believe, all the visiters who appeared
there, came with their own thoughts and purposes, and gave not one
idea to anybody else, except as they were connected with their designs
and pleasures. From the extraordinary twist, too, that everything had
got in France at that time, the general order of all things seemed
inverted. The bright, and the beautiful, and the young of the other
sex gave up the whole of their conversation to politics and factious
intrigue; while cunning statesmen, deep lawyers, and reverend divines,
old warriors, and grey-headed politicians, universally devoted
themselves to making love to everybody they should not have made love
to.
I came away, thinking a Parisian party very dull; and sitting in the
_portière_ of the Duke's coach, who earned along with him one or two
of his particular friends in the body of the vehicle, I ruminated over
my disappointment, too young, indeed, to investigate metaphysically
the sensations which I experienced, but quite old enough to resolve
that I would never again expect any one to take notice of me, either
for my fine clothes or my good looks.
When we reached home, Monsieur de Villardin's friends descended and
went in with him, to pay their respects to the Duchess, who, having
been slightly indisposed, had remained at home. He, of course,
accompanied them into the hall, but, as he passed me, he paused a
moment to say in an under voice, "Do not go to bed." There was a good
deal of anxiety in his eye, and emphasis in his tone, which made me
attach to his words a greater degree of importance than they seemed at
first to bear. Nor was I wrong in my interpretation, for in less than
half an hour, the old major-domo called me out of the page's room,--in
which I had been sitting with Gaspard de Belleville, whose spirits I
had remarked to be extravagantly high,--and led me by the hand to his
own apartment.
When he had got me there, and shut the door, good Jerome Laborde
folded me in his arms, and the tears actually rose in his eyes. "I
have bad news for you, my son," he said; "and unfortunately it happens
that your kindness to my nephew is likely to prove your ruin. My lord
the Duke has just been telling me that it was you who saved my poor
nephew, and that the criminal lieutenant and his myrmidons have found
you out."
Of course the first announcement of such a fact was not particularly
agreeable to me; but, as I came hastily to reflect upon my fate, and
to think that I should again be obliged to scamper off, and do the
best I could for myself in the world, there seemed something so absurd
in the sort of perversity with which fate destined me to be a
wanderer, that I could not help laughing, notwithstanding the
difficulties of my situation.
"You laugh, my son," cried the old man, in great astonishment; "but I
can tell you the business is a very serious one, and that you might
chance to be shut up for life in the Bastille."
"If that is the case," replied I, "the matter is serious indeed. I
thought they would only have hanged me; and I have been so accustomed
to risk hanging every day of my life, that it was nothing new; but, as
to spending my whole existence in a prison, that is a very different
affair; and therefore, good Monsieur Jerome, I shall get out of the
way directly, leaving you to make my excuses to my lord, for going
without asking his permission.
"You are too quick, my son--you are too quick," cried the old man; "it
was the Duke himself who told me but now to speak to you. Do not
suppose that he intends to leave you without protection. No, no; he is
a kind-hearted man, though quick and jealous in his disposition from a
boy; and he bade me tell you that he would have defended you to the
last for the act you have committed, even had it not been in favour of
my nephew; but that, as it was so, he will defend you more eagerly
still. He thinks, however, that for your present safety, you had
better quit Paris as soon as possible; and, as he intended to send
some one to his estates in Brittany to-morrow, he will give you the
commission, and order a groom to accompany you and show you the road."
"I am quite ready," replied I; "there is nothing to be done but to
saddle the horses."
"Never did I see so hasty a boy," cried the old man; "how will you get
out of the gates, I should like to know, when they are closed as
firmly as locks and chains can make them?"
"I would get over the walls," replied I, smiling.
"And the horses?" said the old man, with a smile: "no, no, my son, you
must follow the plans laid down for you by my lord, who knows this
country, at least, better than you do. When you have everything ready,
he says, go to bed, and sleep for two or three hours; rise twenty
minutes before the dawn, and you will find horses, and the packet he
intends you to take, all ready prepared for you. By the time you get
to the gates, they will be opened, and you will have nothing else to
do but to ride on as fast as possible, till you reach my lord's castle
of the Prés Vallée. Remain there quietly till you hear from him, and,
in a few weeks, he will have negotiated your pardon with the court."
This plan was, of course, one that both suited my wishes and provided
for my safety, better than any I could have laid out for myself. It
offered me the prospect, too, of new scenes and adventures of a nature
somewhat less appalling than those which might lead me into a dungeon
for life; and I consequently proceeded to put it into execution with
every feeling of joy and gratitude. Good Jerome Laborde undertook to
have me called at the appointed hour, and, accustomed from infancy to
take repose at any scattered moments that offered the possibility of
doing so, I laid down, and was soon asleep.
When I was called in the morning, I found, much to my surprise, that
Monsieur de Villardin was himself up; and, as I afterwards discovered,
had risen at that early hour solely on my account--a mark of kindness
and interest that touched my heart the more, because it was totally
unexpected. After receiving from his own hands a packet of letters for
his different farmers and receivers in Brittany, accompanied by the
assurance that he would leave no means untried to procure my pardon, I
took my leave, and descending to the courtyard, found the groom who
was to accompany me, holding two strong horses, on one of which
already appeared the saddle-bags containing my wealth and apparel. Old
Jerome Laborde was also there, ready to embrace me before I took my
departure; and ere we set out, he did not forget to burden the groom
with a _bissac_ loaded with various Parisian delicacies, to console me
on my journey.
The Duke had strictly enjoined me to avoid all towns in the
neighbourhood of Paris, and to make my first day's ride the longest
and the most rapid of the whole expedition; and, consequently, when
once we had passed the gates, which we were permitted to do without
question, we set spurs to our beasts, and never drew a rein for twenty
miles. By this time, however, I began to feel in security from the
pursuit of anything but hunger, which was now pressing me hard; and
after riding on a few miles further, we saw a small open wood in the
neighbourhood of Epernon, into which we retired for the purpose of
lightening good Jerome Laborde's _bissac_ of some of its savoury
contents. The groom, who, like most of Monsieur de Villardin's
domestics, seemed to be a connoisseur in the good things of this life,
spread forth the viands on the table-cloth afforded by the green grass
at the bottom of the gentle slope in the wood, with infinite taste;
and the fine _pâte_ of turkey and truffles which formed the staple of
the _bissac_, looked none the worse for its crust having cracked in
more than one place under the jumbling of our ride, suffering the
topaz-like jelly to shine forth through the apertures.
Scarcely, however, had I time to help myself to a ponderous slice, and
to add thereto a portion of wild boar's face, which exceeded any
Hampshire chaw I ever tasted, when I fancied that I heard a low groan
quite near. The sound made me start up and look around; but as I could
perceive nothing, as hunger was unruly, and as the groom, who by this
time was deep in the appropriate worship of the pasty, declared he had
heard nothing, I sat down again, and in one attack very nearly
demolished the slice I had first assigned to myself. I then added a
draught of excellent Burgundy from a flask which the _bissac_ also
afforded; but I now certainly began to think that our regale had made
the hamadryads envious, for another distinct groan followed, evidently
proceeding from a large oak tree hard by, and the moment after, the
body of a man appeared, cautiously descending from the higher boughs.
As he swarmed down the trunk, tightly embracing its rugged
circumference with his arms, which operation was rendered somewhat
difficult by a certain degree of obesity in his own person, he every
now and then turned his head partly over his shoulder, as if to obtain
a sight of the good things before us, exclaiming, as he did so, "It is
irresistible!--philosophy is in vain--I resign myself to my fate!"
The next minute his feet touched the ground, and turning round with a
sort of joyous pirouette, he gave me a full view of my acquaintance,
Jacques Marlot. I confess that a suspicion of the identity of this
genius of the oak and the ci-devant printer had crossed my mind, as he
descended the tree, from various peculiar points of his rotund
conformation; but it appeared that on his part, although he had
obtained a thorough perception of what we had been eating and
drinking, his bird's-eye view in the tree had not enabled him to see
enough of our faces to recognise my person, for his first exclamation
was, as he turned round, "Gentlemen, I am an hungered; and if ye do
not give me food, ye have committed a heinous sin in displaying that
delicious _pâté_ before me.--Ye gods! what do I see?" he continued, as
his eye lighted full upon me: "My ph[oe]nix of pages--my master Jean
l'Anglais! My deliverer from a more elevated station than ever I
coveted! Let me embrace thee in token of thanks for my abasement."
As the best welcome I could give the unfortunate printer, I made him
partake liberally of our fare, and suffered him to cheer his heart
with our flask, till half his woes were forgotten. While he went on,
which was nearly till pasty disappeared and bottle sounded empty, I
told him that I was now suffering on his account, and explained to him
my situation. At first, his whole soul being engrossed in one
occupation, he seemed to feel but little for my misadventures; but as
soon as he had a moment's leisure, he looked shocked; and when he had
finished, and could absolutely eat no more, he expressed, gracefully
enough, both his gratitude for my services, and his grief for the
inconveniences to which they had exposed me. He then told me that as
soon as he was out of the hands of the archers the day before, he had
taken leave of his friendly mob of deliverers, and trusting to nothing
but his own legs, had made the best of his way out of Paris.
"As soon as I was fairly beyond the gates," he added, "I set off
running again, as hard as I could; and when I could run no more, I
walked; and when I could walk no longer, I stood still, which was
exactly on the spot where I now am. I had nothing to eat; and you
there behold my beverage," he continued, pointing to a small stream
that danced before us. "I christened it, however, vin blanc d'Epernon;
and though it was not quite so good as the vin blanc d'Epernay, it
quenched my thirst; and having dug up as many pignuts as I could find,
I mounted yonder oak with all the agility of a light diet, and soothed
myself to sleep by comparing myself to Diogenes. How I should have
passed over this day, I do not know; for I dared not visit my house,
which, doubtless, was also pillaged long ago by the ministers of
justice; and you may easily conceive that the archers of the criminal
lieutenant do not suffer those who are placed under their protection
to do so foolish a thing as go to the gallows with money in their
pockets. However, I never despair, doubting not now, as heretofore, to
make something out of whatever lot dame Fortune chooses to throw. Nor
has she ever been unfavourable to those who trust to her bounty; for
what can prove her kindness more strongly than sending you here for my
relief and consolation?"
I complimented Maître Jacques upon his philosophy, which was much of
the same quality as my own, and begged him to keep the wild boar's
cheek, which had suffered less in the encounter than the pasty, as
another token of fortune's favour. I found, however, that he was very
desirous of accompanying us on our journey, and talked of my horse
being strong enough to carry two. The groom also seconded his proposal
in a way that I thought somewhat extraordinary; but, nevertheless, at
the risk of appearing selfish, I put a decided negative upon it, not
so much upon my own account as because I thought that it might place
my lord in very unpleasant circumstances, if the criminal who had just
been rescued from the gallows, and the page who had helped to rescue
him, were found riding to his estates in Brittany, guided by one of
his own grooms.
I represented, however, to Jacques Marlot, that in all probability the
officers of justice were after us both by this time; and that,
although in some cases union was security, in this instance our best
hope of escape lay in separating, especially as it was more than
probable that the knowledge of my being attached to Monsieur de
Villardin might make the archers follow upon the very road I was
pursuing.
This last argument was conclusive with the printer, and as, thanks to
the bounty of Lord Masterton, I was still furnished with more money
than I knew how to employ, I added thirty crowns to the breakfast I
had given my acquaintance, and left him to continue his journey full
of renewed hope and gratitude.
The groom who accompanied me seemed to take a greater interest in
Jacques Marlot than the length of their intercourse warranted, and
inquired very particularly into the route he was likely to pursue; but
the printer, according to the good English proverb, was too old a bird
to be taken by the chaff which my guide spread before him; and with a
cunning smile evaded his questions, whispering to me as he embraced me
at parting, "Beware of your guide."
Early--too early--had I learned to distrust my fellow-creatures, a
lesson which we have unfortunately too frequent opportunities of
repeating in our course through the world ever to forget, when once
the sweet confidence of innocence and inexperience, like the bloom
upon ripe fruit, has been brushed away by the first touch of the
polluting world. I had seen fully enough, however, to doubt the faith
of my present conductor, and I resolved to watch him closely as we
proceeded, not well knowing what particular line his roguery might
take, but suspecting strongly that he was not the most honest of
servants, nor likely to prove the most infallible of guides.
It luckily so happened that the saddle-bags containing my stores of
all kinds were upon my own horse, and therefore I possessed the power
of directing all our movements, as well as the right of doing so,
which my station and my lord's commands conferred. Nor was it at all
unpleasant, I confess, to reflect, that in the event of any dispute
arising between myself and my companion, who had been directed in all
respects to consider himself as my servant, I had nothing to do but
ride away, and leave him to do the best for himself,--which reflection
was the more especially gratifying, as I believed he might obtain a
considerable reward by betraying me, and did not much doubt that he
had some thoughts of the kind in his own mind.
I showed him, at least, that expedition was part of my plan; for as
soon as we were once more in our saddles, I pushed forward with all
speed, and accomplished nearly forty miles more before night. A
considerable town lay at the distance of a few miles to our right, and
thither my guide strongly recommended me to proceed, lauding to the
skies the accommodation we should there meet with; but I took my own
plan, and riding on till I espied a neat cabaret in a village, halted
there, preferring the risk of a bad supper to the risk of an
unpleasant lodging.
The next day we proceeded in the same manner, though not at the same
rate; taking whatever refreshment we needed at the smallest and most
retired places I could find; and though the worthy groom more than
once attempted to prove restive, and to treat me as a mere boy, he
found that he had to do with one who had managed shrewder men than
himself. It soon became apparent that, though our horses were strong
and well seasoned to hard work, it would take us rather more than four
days to reach the place of our destination; but for the last hundred
miles I found my companion much more easily managed, yielding at once
to my will with the best grace in the world, which conduct pleased,
though it did not deceive me.
Sudden changes, without an apparent cause, always afford very good
reasons for suspicion; and it was clear enough that the alteration in
the good groom's behaviour had not taken place from any increased
reverence for myself.
"Whatever it is he intends to do," I thought, as I remarked this
change in his demeanour, "the fellow has laid out his plan, and thinks
it quite secure. He must have fixed, too, upon some spot for executing
it towards the end of our journey, since he is so indifferent as to
the way we take here. I will watch him well, however, at every mile."
This resolution I kept to the letter, never suffering him to be out of
my sight for a minute; but nothing suspicious occurred till the close
of our fourth day's journey, when he declared, that since I was so
fond of hard riding, he thought we might get on to Rennes that night.
I did not exactly know how far it was to Rennes, for had I been aware
that it was at the distance of twenty miles, when our horses were
already nearly knocked up, I should have concluded that--calculating
on my distaste to anything he proposed--he wanted me to stay where we
were, and, therefore, suggested that we should proceed further. I
certainly fell into the trap; and simply because he desired to go on,
determined to halt at the next village.
When we reached it, the first house I espied was a neat cabaret, and
drawing in my rein I sprang to the ground, announcing my determination
of sleeping there. A grin of satisfaction on the groom's face was the
first thing that excited suspicion in my mind that I had overreached
myself; but the countenance of mine host, who now appeared, confirmed
my doubts; and as he spoke to the servant as an old friend, I soon
found that I had made a terrible mistake. On inquiring the distance to
Rennes, too, and finding that our horses could by no means have
accomplished it, I saw that the attempt had been proposed solely to
make me do the contrary; and thence deducing that, at this very spot,
the consummation of the groom's man[oe]uvres was destined to take
place, of course I determined to be all eyes, ears, and understanding.
The landlord's daughter, a very pretty frank-faced brunette, of about
twenty, attracted by my gay dress, and feeling that kindness which all
women experience towards extreme youth, soon came up to me, and in a
very short time we were great friends; but I could not attend to half
her civil offers of the various sorts of refreshment that the house
afforded, on account of my anxiety to keep watch over the groom. In
this endeavour I was tolerably successful for some time, and I do not
think he obtained an opportunity of exchanging one word with the
landlord, till we had concluded our supper, except, indeed, such as
related to the general affairs of Monsieur de Villardin, whose name
was well known in that part of the country, and to the state of Paris.
All this time, however, I had another subject of anxiety in my
saddle-bags, which were left up stairs in the chamber assigned to me;
and after I had sufficiently refreshed myself, I was tempted thither
to see that all was safe, thinking that I should be down again in time
to prevent much private conversation.
I was wrong; and on again entering the kitchen I found the places of
both the landlord and the groom vacant, while the host's mother sat by
the fire dozing, and the pretty brunette was spinning beside her with
great eagerness.
As soon as ever I appeared, the latter beckoned me to her, and said in
a low voice, "You are betrayed, _mon pauvre garçon_; but if you would
hear how, go out at the back-door, run along at the top of the bank as
quietly as you can, and make the best use of your ears."
I instantly followed her advice, and opening the door to which she
pointed, soon found myself in the little court of the auberge, which
again opened into what seemed the garden of a _guingette_, surrounded
on three sides by walls, and on the fourth, which lay to my right
hand, flanked by a high cliffy bank that sloped down towards the door
at which I stood. It was night, and the moon had not yet risen, but
there was still light enough remaining to let me see or rather divine
all this, and running up the bank, and along the edge, with as
noiseless a foot as possible, I soon heard voices speaking in the
garden below me. I crept on as fast as I could, and the next moment
clearly distinguished the words made use of. The groom was acting the
orator as I came up, and proceeded as follows:--
"No, no, that won't do at all, Monsieur Parnac, for if he were to be
taken in your house, under my guidance, most likely my good lord would
turn me to the door, if he did not throw me out of the window, and
would certainly ruin you here for your pains. You do not know what a
man he is--so sharp, if you give him the least cause for suspicion! I
do believe he finds out when one is going to do any little trick, even
before one knows it oneself. I remember his turning off his chief
ecuyer for merely whispering in the street with a maquignon, who was
bringing him a horse for sale. No, no, let it be managed my way. Send
off some one to-night, and have the officers stationed about the
watering-place, by Meri, you know. Let them take me too, seemingly,
for being in his company; and so my lord's suspicions will be set at
rest, and I shall be carried back to Paris, too, where I shall get the
reward."
"Ay, but, Maître Pierre, are you quite sure of the reward?" demanded
mine host.
"All I can tell thee, Parnac, is this," replied the groom. "I heard it
offered by proclamation, as we were riding home, the evening before I
came away. A thousand crowns were to be given to any one who would
deliver up the leader of those that had rescued the criminal, and two
thousand crowns to those who would deliver up the criminal himself. I
would have done it myself, if I had known at the time that this boy
was the person; and I could have managed it easily as we came through
the city. But I never found it out, as I tell you, till we met with
this Jacques Marlot, and then I heard them talk about it quite as if
they were in security."
"Well, well, Pierre, I think thou wilt get thy thousand crowns,"
answered the landlord; "and they know how to do these things so
secretly at the Court, that thou mayest get them and not lose thy
master's service either; but tell me, what am I to get?"
"Why, of course, I will pay thee for the man and horse sent to the
city," replied the groom.
"Ay, but that will not be quite enough," answered mine host, "to pay
me for risking your good lord's custom and patronage. Something more!
something more! good Pierre, or thou mayest ride to Rennes to-night
thyself."
"Well," answered Pierre, "I will tell you what, Parnac; the officers
shall bring him on here, and while we halt to refresh, you and I will
have the picking of those saddle-bags of his, in which there are a
good thousand crowns besides. If he finds them gone and complains, it
will pass for a piece of the archers' handiwork, and no inquiry will
be made."
"Ay, now thou speakest reason," answered his respectable friend, "and
I will send off directly. At the half-way watering place, thou sayest;
but at what hour? We must name some hour for the officers to be
there."
"Say nine o' the clock," answered the groom; "we shall not be there
till eleven; but they must wait, you know, they must wait."
"Well, it shall be done without delay," replied the host, "but now,
hie you in, Pierre, for you say the boy is as sharp as your master,
and may suspect us. Yet stay; remember, if you fail me about the bags,
I will do for you with your lord. So keep faith."
The groom replied at some length, but as their farther conversation
seemed likely to refer alone to their private affairs, I made the best
of my way back to the house, and ere either groom or landlord
returned, had gained sufficient information from my pretty brunette,
in regard to the roads, to serve my purpose for the next day. I found
that, at the distance of about four miles from the village, the
highway was intersected by another, which led away in the very
direction I wished to take. It was neglected, however, and heavy, she
said, passing through some wide forest ground, which always affords a
bad foundation; and since the new road had been made, she added, few
people ever travelled the old one except the couriers for St. Malo,
who went that way for the purpose of dropping packets, and sometimes
sums of money, at various small towns through which it alone passed.
It used, she said, to have a bad reputation for robbers, and about
three months before, one of the royal messengers had been plundered,
but since that time she had heard of no farther outrage.
As she was speaking, the groom came in, and to break off a
conversation I did not want him to hear, I asked him sharply where he
had been so long. He replied that he had been tending his horses; and
to put him completely off his guard, I ordered them to be at the door
exactly at the hour on which I found he had already calculated. He
promised to be punctual, and not doubting that he would be so, I soon
after retired to bed. Danger of any kind never made me sleep less
soundly, but I confess that, on this occasion, it was long before I
could close my eyes; but it was self-reproach, not apprehension, kept
me awake. I had been twice betrayed into an act of egregious folly
during that one journey, and I began to think I was losing the
acuteness which had been my most serviceable quality. I could have
pardoned myself, perhaps, for suffering the groom to cheat me into
staying where we then were; but for babbling myself, or suffering
Jacques Marlot to babble in the hearing of a third person, I rated
myself for a good hour after I was in bed.