In a few minutes Suzette returned, and gave me a billet, signed with
her name, in the course of which she prayed Monsieur de Villardin to
believe all that I should tell him in regard to his unhappy wife. She
seemed anxious now to leave me, and to drop the conversation; but I
detained her for a short time, to explain to me how and where she had
found me on the night that I had received my wound; and she was in the
act of telling me, hurriedly, that it was by mere accident, when steps
sounded in the saloon which opened into my apartment, and she started
up with evident marks of alarm.
Her apprehensions were not without cause, for she had not time to quit
the room, ere Gaspard de Belleville entered, booted and spurred as he
had dismounted, and after giving a glance towards my bed, which
evidently showed him who it was that had been the object of his wife's
care, he struck the unhappy woman a blow with his open hand that made
her reel, asking her how she dared to bring one of the enemy within
his doors.
I was in no condition to offer her any protection, but a person who
had followed Gaspard into the apartment, though he did not very
decidedly resent the blow, interposed to prevent another, and, taking
her by the hand, he led her weeping to the door, saying, at the same
time, "Come, come, Monsieur de Belleville, you must not strike a
woman, and that woman my sister!"
As soon as he had led Suzette out of the room, her brother returned,
and approaching her husband--who stood gazing upon me in sullen
silence, from which I augured no very hospitable treatment--he turned
his face full upon me also, when, not a little to my surprise, I
recognised in Suzette's brother my old acquaintance, Captain Hubert,
of whose achievements in the forest I had been a witness, and nearly a
victim.
He was, evidently, not much slower in his recognition than myself, and
although I had given him sufficient proofs of my discretion in regard
to one of his professions, yet the exclamation of "Diable!" which
broke from him before he was aware, showed me that he did not yet feel
safe, and would willingly have avoided any fresh rencontre with such
an inconvenient acquaintance.
The prospects which my situation afforded were certainly not very
consolatory at that moment. There I lay, incapable of offering
resistance or of attempting escape, in the presence of two men, one of
whom hated me with a good old inveterate enmity, which was quite
sufficiently mature to bear fruits of as bitter a--kind as heart could
desire; while the other knew his life and reputation to be in my power
the moment that I issued forth from those walls. I had also enjoyed
the means of learning by experience that neither of these worthy
personages were very scrupulous as to their actions; and, certainly,
if ever I calculated fully and seriously upon having my throat cut in
cold blood, it was at that moment.
I took good care, however, not to make the matter quite certain by
claiming any acquaintance with Captain Hubert, while at the same time
I resolved to treat Gaspard de Belleville, whom I looked upon, after
all, as the worst of the two, in the same manner that I would have
treated any other officer in the service of the Prince de Condé.
"Monsieur de Belleville," I said, after having given him plenty of
time to speak, without his uttering one word, "I claim your protection
and hospitality, as an officer and a gentleman; and I beg, also, that
you will have the goodness, if the armies are in this vicinity, to
send a trumpet to Monsieur de Villardin, or to Monsieur de Turenne,
informing either of them that I am a prisoner in your hands, and
requesting them to negotiate my liberation."
The impudence of the request seemed to strike him dumb; and, after
staring at me for a minute longer, with a curling lip and contracted
brow, he turned upon his heel, and taking his brother-in-law by the
arm, walked out of the room without saying one word, shutting and
locking the door behind him.
That I was not numbered with my fathers that very night was probably
owing to two or three circumstances, which, affecting the
brothers-in-law differently, prevented them from doing together what
each separately might have been very desirous of executing. In the
first place, my residence in his house was known to too many people for
Gaspard to put me out of the way without a great chance of discovery;
and it is also probable that he did not at that time know how easy
and unceremonious Suzette's brother was in the disposal of obnoxious
personages. On his part, Captain Hubert had some touch of humanity in
his nature, and though the dislike which every man must feel to living
in a state of apprehension might have made him forget his better
nature, yet, as Gaspard was not aware of all his worthy relative's
former occupations, and it would have been necessary to communicate
them to him, in order to arrange my destruction as a joint enterprise,
there can he no doubt that the Captain was wise in refraining. Indeed,
it is more than probable that he looked upon me at that period as a
safer depositary of his secret than his brother-in-law would have
been; and I think he was right; for no man that I know was more likely
to use an advantage ungenerously than Gaspard de Belleville.
These motives I have only, of course, assigned upon guess; but they
were the fruits of my reflections after I was left alone, and very
much they certainly did console me, as I lay helpless enough in the
house of my bitter enemy, with the door locked upon me, and no means
of making my situation known to any friend in the world. Many a time,
however, did I wish that Suzette had left me where she found me, to
take my chance of death or recovery; but all such wishes were in vain,
and, as the best thing I could do, I banished thought as soon as I
could, and fell asleep, feeling, at the same time, very doubtful as to
what world I should wake in when I next opened my eyes.
No one, however, disturbed my slumber, and I was roused only by the
daylight streaming into my room. I felt myself better and stronger for
my long sleep, and much need, indeed, had I to be so, for after lying
for two or three hours without any one bringing me meat or drink, a
trooper entered my room, and told me that I must get up and dress
myself. It was vain to resist, and therefore I made the attempt; but I
was far too weak to accomplish the task myself; and it was only
with the continual assistance of the soldier, who acted as a
valet-de-chambre, that I was enabled to put on the same torn and
bloody habiliments in which I had been brought thither.
When this unpleasant sort of toilet was completed, the progress of
which had perfectly satisfied my attendant that I was not capable of
walking even across the room, one of the servants was called in, and
between him and the trooper I was carried out through the saloon into
the court-yard, in which a light carriage, with two horses, was
standing ready prepared. Although I was certainly not in the very best
condition for travelling, yet, well knowing that opposition would be
in vain, of course I offered none to the proceedings of those into
whose hands I had fallen; and was speedily lifted into the chaise,
without much ceremony or consideration. Gaspard de Belleville,
however, seemed to think that my companions were showing me too much
lenity, and I heard his voice from an upper window, ordering them, in
no very measured terms, to put me in any how, and, above all things,
to make haste.
As soon as I was finally thrust into the machine, the trooper got in
beside me, the man who had aided to carry me took his seat on the
coach-box, and away we went, at a pace more fitted for a cavalry
regiment at the charge than for the carriage of a wounded man. While
undergoing the operation of being dressed, I had discovered that the
purse which was on my person when I was wounded had, by some fortunate
accident, been suffered to remain in my pocket; but this had been
perceived by my new attendant also, and, though he did not absolutely
transfer the purse at once from my hands to his own, he soon gave me
notice that he intended to make a gradual appropriation of its
contents. Beyond all doubt, Gaspard de Belleville, who could not tell
whether I had any money about me or not, had given the man a
sufficient sum to defray his expenses on the road, and, equally beyond
doubt, as the fellow was evidently a trooper in some regiment of
horse, he was paid for his services as usual. Nevertheless, scarcely
had we proceeded three miles, when he informed me that Monsieur le
Capitaine de Belleville expected me to discharge the score at all the
cabarets where we stopped on the road, and likewise to give him, my
guard and attendant, the reasonable sum of four crowns per diem for
his good company and assistance.
Weak and uncomfortable as I was, this method of proceeding amused me.
An English blackguard would have committed robbery, and taken the
purse without more ado; the Frenchman, however, was more moderate, and
contented himself with cheating me out of the greater part of its
contents. Though the result appeared likely to be much the same, yet
there were conveniences attending the Frenchman's mode of proceeding
of which I did not fail to take advantage; and representing to him
civilly my weak state, and the pain and discomfort which I suffered
from the furious jolting of the carriage, at that quick rate of
progression, I pointed out to him that the more days we were upon the
journey the greater would be the amount of crowns to be given to him;
and, having discovered that his orders were to carry me to Stenay, a
town on the Meuse, belonging to the Prince de Condé, I did not scruple
to assure him that, if he would turn the horses' heads the other way,
and drive to the quarters of Monsieur de Turenne, wherever they might
be, a thousand crowns and a Serjeant's post in my troop should be his
immediate reward.
The man expressed himself highly obliged by my polite offer, as he
termed it, but informed me at the same time that he had three strong
reasons for acting honestly in the present instance, and obeying the
orders he had received. These were, that, in the first place, he would
in all probability be hanged if he went near the quarters of Monsieur
de Turenne, as he had lately come over from his army to that of the
Prince de Condé; in the next place, that the other party, to which he
now belonged, might sooner or later hang him if he again changed
sides; and lastly, that even if he could make up his mind to run all
these risks, the man who was driving had his orders also, and would
not suffer him to deviate from the prescribed route.
I could not help acknowledging that these were all potent reasons,
and, as I saw that it would be in vain to combat their influence on
his mind, I suffered myself to be rolled on towards Stenay, with no
farther discussion than merely what was necessary to induce my
conductors to give me as much repose as possible. My brief
communication with the trooper had, however, established a sort of
friendly intercourse between us, which rendered him extremely civil
during the rest of the journey; and from him I learned that, although
Condé had completely defeated the Maréchal d'Hocquincourt at Blenau,
Turenne had, by the most splendid man[oe]uvres that it is possible to
conceive, arrested the progress of the victorious army with a force of
not one third its number. The Prince had himself turned his steps
towards Paris, and Gaspard de Belleville, as well as several superior
officers, had been left to bring up a number of scattered parties
which had spread over a part of Champagne and the Orleanois, during
the unsteady command of the Dukes of Beaufort and Nemours. He could
tell me nothing, however, in regard to Monsieur de Villardin, his
daughter, or Father Ferdinand, though he had been at no great
distance, he said, from the château of Virmont at the time that it was
fired, which was done, he declared by the command of the Duke of
Nemours, in order to give notice to another division of the army that
the Prince was on his march. Notwithstanding this assurance of my
companion, I could not help thinking, that Gaspard de Belleville had
fully as much to do with the conflagration as the Duke of Nemours.
Five days' journey brought us to Stenay, and in spite of my wounds and
my weakness, thanks to a constitution of iron, and an early hardening
in the fiery furnace of the English civil wars, I was far better at
the end of the time than on the day when we first set out. After being
admitted within the walls of the town, which was not permitted without
manifold challenges and investigations, the carriage drove direct to
the prison, where I was delivered into the hands of a man whose
countenance was certainly as rugged as the stone walls amidst which he
dwelt. Nor can I boast of having found his heart much softer; for,
though the trooper who had accompanied me had recommended me to his
notice, in my hearing, as a _bon garçon_, no sooner were the doors
closed upon me, than a course of ill usage began, which was not
destined to terminate for some time. My purse, rendered meagre by the
frequent demands of the road, was the first thing attacked, and from
that moment vanished entirely. I was then thrust into one of the
dungeons, with a pile of straw for a bed, and a little grated window
of about nine inches square, looking out upon the ramparts, as my only
source of light and air. Bread and water became my diet, and, as the
floor of the dungeon was not particularly dry, it was with no small
difficulty that I kept myself from the effects of the damp.
In reply to all my questions in regard to the authority by which I was
there detained, the gaoler merely told me that I was considered as a
deserter from the army of the Prince de Condé, found fighting against
him, and that I might think myself very well off that I had not been
shot immediately. Although this was evidently a pretext, and I very
well understood that both Gaspard de Belleville and good Captain
Hubert might greatly approve of my detention, yet I could not bring
myself to believe that this state of things could continue long; and
for the first two or three days of my imprisonment I consoled myself
with the expectation of its speedy termination. My health, also, I
must confess, improved greatly under the severe regimen to which I was
subjected, and the healing of my wounds proceeded more rapidly than I
could have at all anticipated. Nevertheless, as day went by after day,
and no relief came, my spirits fell, and my heart, hitherto so buoyant
under all the adversities and changes which I had met with, sunk
oppressed beneath that most horrible of all inflictions, solitary
confinement.
No language can describe in the slightest degree the state of my
feelings in that prison, by the time that ten days had passed over my
head within its walls. The lingering weariness of the moments, the
faint chillness of apprehension, the utter vacuity of each heavy day,
the changeless, unceasing poring of thought upon one subject, the want
of every event, however small, the burning thirst for freedom, and
activity, and change, and the fresh air, and the fair face of
nature--all combined to make a state of existence which was the very
essence of "hope delayed that maketh the heart sick."
Often--often I asked myself, when was this to end, or would it ever
end? Put in there by two men, to one of whom my freedom might be
dangerous, and to the other of whom anything which afflicted me would
be delightful, how could I tell that I might not be kept there for
years. In the state of the country, at that time, no investigation was
ever likely to take place, no one would, in all probability, hear of
my imprisonment, nobody would strive to obtain my release. Monsieur de
Villardin, doubtless, by this time, thought me dead, and I might feel
perfectly sure that neither Gaspard de Belleville nor any of his
household would suffer my situation to be known, so long as they could
by any means conceal it. Such thoughts formed the only occupation for
my mind, while I could neither find nor devise any other exercise for
my limbs than that which could be obtained by traversing in every
different direction a chamber of ten feet square. It is true I could
occasionally hear the steps and voices of people without, passing
along the ramparts; but the little 'window was so high that I could
not amuse myself by the view which it might otherwise have afforded,
and the merry tones of people at large, as the wind brought them to my
ear, seemed but a mockery of my solitude and captivity.
At length, a slight change was afforded me. After I had lingered on in
this manner for some months, the gaoler fell sick, and his wife
brought me the daily loaf and pitcher of water in his place. She was
not the most prepossessing person I ever beheld, it is true, but it is
scarcely possible to describe the pleasure I felt at even seeing a new
face. The joy that I expressed, it seems, melted her heart, and on the
second day of her coming she brought me a meat meal, the first that I
had tasted since I had entered the prison. Anything that was in the
least degree new was, of course, delightful; but this mark of her
kindness induced me to ask for more, and, showing her that it was
perfectly impossible, from the size of the aperture, that I could
escape by the window if I were permitted to reach it, I begged hard
that she would let me have a chair, or a stool, or a table, in order
to amuse myself by looking out. To this she consented, telling me,
however, that she was sure her husband would take it away again, as
soon as ever he was well enough to resume his official duties.
Nevertheless, every day's amusement I looked upon as something gained;
and in a few minutes after, she brought me a large settle, by means of
which I instantly climbed up to the window, and gazed out.
No words can express the delight which the first sight of the world
without afforded me; and yet, strange and absurd as it may seem, this
delight was occasioned by a prospect which did not extend to the space
of two hundred yards in any direction. Underneath me were the
ramparts, and beyond them again, in a straight line, were some other
parts of the fortifications, which bounded my view in that direction:
to the left was a square tower, projecting, I believe, from the body
of the prison; and to the right, at the distance of about a hundred
and fifty yards, were some sheds and houses which had encroached upon
the defences of the place. But it was all something new,--something
different from the black solitude of the dungeon,--something that I
had not seen for months; and, consequently, it was all delightful.
There was nobody to be seen upon the ramparts at the time I first
looked out; but there was a man washing his face at a window of the
house I have mentioned, and a cat creeping along with stealthy pace
from tile to tile of the roof, in order to catch a sparrow that was
perched upon the ridge; and it would seem childish and frivolous thus
to dwell upon the pleasure with which I watched both of these very
ordinary occurrences, did it not give some idea, though a very faint
one, of the dull horror of that situation, compared to which such
sights were the most enchanting visions.
Standing on my settle, I remained there for hours, and could almost
have wept when the sun went down. With the first ray of morning I was
again at my post, and remained there the greater part of that day,
which, from what the gaoler's wife told me in regard to his
convalescence, was the last that I could count upon for that
indulgence. Few people, indeed, passed along the ramparts; but still,
every one that did so afforded me new pleasure. At length, towards
evening, when I had got down for a few moments in order to rest
myself, I caught the sound of several cheerful voices speaking; and,
starting up again to my loop-hole, I soon saw four or five gentlemen
coming round the angle of the projecting tower. They seemed officers
belonging to the garrison; and, as soon as I set eyes upon them, I
determined to endeavour to make my situation known to a party, amongst
whom, as officers and men of honour, I doubted not that I should find
some one to compassionate my situation, and, perhaps, to afford me
relief. Such being my resolution, it will be easy to conceive my joy,
when, as they approached, I perceived, in the person nearest to the
prison, no other than Gourville, whom I had known and acted with in
Paris.
"Monsieur de Gourville," I cried, "Monsieur de Gourville; stay a
moment,--stay a moment, and listen to me, for God's sake!"
I had forgot that he could not see me as well as I could see him; but,
nevertheless, he paused and looked round, exclaiming, "Who called me?"
"It was I; it was Monsieur de Juvigny," I replied, giving myself the
name by which he had known me in Paris; "stay, and speak to me for one
moment."
"But where are you?" cried Gourville, looking up towards the aperture
through which I spoke.
"Here in the prison," replied I; but ere I could add another word, I
found myself suddenly grasped by the arm, and thrown down upon the
floor of the dungeon, with a degree of violence which hurt me much in
the fall, though my head luckily lighted on the straw which composed
my bed. The first object on which my eyes lighted after my compelled
descent, was the grim and unshaved face of the gaoler, which, however,
showed me, without further explanation, that my voice had been
overheard by his jealous and watchful ear. He deigned no observation,
but a few curses pretty equally divided between myself and his wife;
and, snatching up the settle, he turned away from the dungeon and
locked the door.