The dining-hall was left untenanted, save by Canolles and the officer
who announced the flag of truce, and who was still standing beside the
door.
"What are Monsieur le Gouverneur's orders?" he said, after a brief
pause.
Canolles, who was deep in thought, started at the voice, raised his
head, and shook off his preoccupation.
"Where is the flag of truce?" he asked.
"In the armory, monsieur."
"By whom is he accompanied?"
"By two of the Bordeaux militia."
"What is he?"
"A young man, so far as I can judge; he wears a broad-brimmed hat, and
is wrapped in a great cloak."
"In what terms did he announce himself?"
"As the bearer of letters from Madame la Princesse and the Parliament
of Bordeaux."
"Request him to wait a moment," said Canolles, "and I will be at his
service."
The officer left the room to perform his errand, and Canolles was
preparing to follow him, when a door opened, and Nanon, pale and
trembling, but with an affectionate smile upon her lips, made her
appearance.
"A flag of truce, my dear," she said, grasping the young man's hand.
"What does it mean?"
"It means, dear Nanon, that the good people of Bordeaux propose either
to frighten me or seduce me."
"What have you decided?"
"To receive him."
"Is there no way to avoid it?"
"Impossible. It is one of the customs which must be followed."
"Oh! _mon Dieu!_"
"What's the matter, Nanon?"
"I'm afraid--"
"Of what?"
"Didn't you say that the mission of this flag of truce was to frighten
you or seduce you?"
"Of course; a flag of truce is good for nothing else. Are you afraid
he'll frighten me?"
"Oh, no! but he may perhaps seduce you--"
"You insult me, Nanon."
"Alas! my dear, I only say what I am afraid of--"
"You distrust me to that extent? For what do you take me, pray?"
"For what you are, Canolles; a noble heart, but easily moved."
"Well, well!" laughed Canolles; "in God's name, who is this flag of
truce? Can it be Dan Cupid in person?"
"Perhaps."
"Why, have you seen him?"
"I haven't seen him, but I heard his voice. It's a very soft voice for
a flag of truce."
"You are mad, Nanon! let me do my duty. It was you who made me
governor."
"To defend me, my dear."
"Well, do you think me dastard enough to betray you? Really, Nanon, you
insult me by placing so little confidence in me!"
"You are determined, then, to see this young man?"
"I must, and I shall take it very ill of you if you make any further
objection to my fulfilling my duty in that respect."
"You are free to do as you please, my dear," said Nanon, sadly. "One
other word--"
"Say it."
"Where shall you receive him?"
"In my cabinet."
"Canolles, one favor--"
"What is it?"
"Receive him in your bedroom instead of your cabinet."
"What have you in your head?"
"Don't you understand?"
"No."
"My room opens into yours."
"And you will listen?"
"Behind your bed-curtains, if you will allow me." "Nanon!"
"Let me be near you, dear. I have faith in my star; I shall bring you
luck."
"But, Nanon, suppose this flag of truce--"
"Well?"
"Should have some State secret to tell me?"
"Can you not intrust a State secret to her who has intrusted her life
and her fortune to you?"
"Very well! listen to us, Nanon, if you insist upon it; but don't
detain me any longer; the messenger is waiting for me."
"Go, Canolles, go; but, first, accept my loving thanks for your
kindness to me!"
And the young woman would have kissed her lover's hand.
"Foolish girl!" said Canolles, pressing her to his heart and kissing
her on the forehead; "so you will be--"
"Behind the curtains of your bed. There I can see and hear."
"Whatever else you do, don't laugh, Nanon, for these are serious
matters."
"Have no fear," said Nanon. "I won't laugh."
Canolles ordered the messenger to be introduced, and passed into his
own apartment, a room of great size, furnished under Charles IX. in
a style of severe simplicity. Two candelabra were burning upon the
chimney-piece, but their feeble glimmer was quite inadequate to light
the immense apartment; the alcove at the farther end was entirely in
shadow.
"Are you there, Nanon?" Canolles asked.
A stifled "Yes" reached his ears.
At that moment he heard steps in the corridor. The sentinel presented
arms; the messenger entered and followed his introducer with his eyes,
until he was, or thought he was, alone with Canolles. Then he removed
his hat and threw back his cloak; immediately a mass of blond locks
fell down over a pair of shapely shoulders, the graceful, willowy form
of a woman appeared under the gold baldric, and Canolles, by the sad,
sweet expression of her face, recognized the Vicomtesse de Cambes.
"I told you that I would seek you," she said, "and I keep my word; here
I am."
Canolles clasped his hands and fell upon a chair in speechless
amazement, and an agony of fear.
"You! you!" he muttered. "_Mon Dieu!_ why are you here; what seek you
here?"
"I have come to ask you, monsieur, if you still remember me."
Canolles heaved a heart-breaking sigh, and put his hands before his
eyes, seeking to banish the ravishing but fatal apparition.
Everything was made clear to him in an instant; Nanon's alarm, her
pallor, her trembling, and, above all, her desire to be present at the
interview. Nanon, with the keen eyes of jealousy, had detected a woman
in the flag of truce.
"I have come to ask you," continued Claire, "if you are ready to carry
out the engagement you entered into with me in the little room at
Jaulnay,--to send your resignation to the queen, and enter the service
of the princes."
"Oh! silence! silence!" cried Canolles.
Claire shuddered at the accent of utter dismay in the commandant's
voice, and glanced uneasily about the room.
"Are we not alone here?" she asked.
"We are, madame; but may not some one hear us through the walls?"
"I thought that the walls of Fort Saint-Georges were more solid than
that," said Claire with a smile.
Canolles made no reply.
"I have come to ask you," Claire resumed, "how it happens that I
have heard nothing of you during the eight or ten days you have been
here,--so that I should still know nothing as to who is governor of Île
Saint-Georges, had not chance, or public rumor, informed me that it is
the man who swore to me, barely twelve days since, that his disgrace
was the best of good fortune, since it enabled him to devote his arm,
his courage, his life, to the party to which I belong."
Nanon could not repress a movement, which made Canolles jump and Madame
de Cambes turn her head.
"Pray, what was that?" she demanded.
"Nothing," Canolles replied; "one of the regular noises of this old
room. There is no end to the dismal creaking and groaning here."
"If it is anything else," said Claire, laying her hand upon Canolles'
arm, "be frank with me, baron, for you must realize the importance of
this interview between us, when I decided to come myself to seek you."
Canolles wiped the perspiration from his brow, and tried to smile.
"Say on," said he.
"I reminded you a moment since of your promise, and asked you if you
were ready to keep it."
"Alas, madame," said Canolles, "it has become impossible."
"Why so?"
"Because since that time many unforeseen events have happened, many
ties which I thought broken forever have been formed anew; for the
punishment which I knew I had merited, the queen has substituted a
recompense of which I am unworthy; to-day I am united to her Majesty's
party by--gratitude."
A sigh floated out upon the air. Poor Nanon doubtless was expecting a
different word from the one that ended the sentence.
"Say by ambition, Monsieur de Canolles, and I can understand it. You
are nobly born; at twenty-eight you are made lieutenant-colonel, and
governor of a fortress; it's all very fine, I know; but it is no more
than the fitting reward of your merit, and Monsieur de Mazarin is not
the only one who appreciates it."
"Madame," said Canolles, "not another word, I beg."
"Pardon, monsieur," returned Claire, "but on this occasion it is not
the Vicomtesse de Cambes who speaks to you, but the envoy of Madame la
Princesse, who is intrusted with a mission to you,--a mission which
she must now fulfil."
"Speak, madame," said Canolles, with a sigh which was much like a groan.
"Very well! Madame la Princesse, being aware of the sentiments which
you expressed, in the first place at Chantilly, and afterwards at
Jaulnay, and being anxious to know to what party you really belong,
determined to send you a flag of truce to make an attempt to secure
the fortress; this attempt, which another messenger might have made
with much less ceremony, perhaps, I undertook to make, thinking that
I should have more chance of success, knowing, as I do, your secret
thoughts on the subject."
"Thanks, madame," said Canolles, tearing his hair; for, during the
short pauses in the dialogue, he could hear Nanon's heavy breathing.
"This is what I have to propose to you, monsieur, in the name of Madame
la Princesse, let me add; for if it had been in my own name," continued
Claire, with her charming smile, "I should have reversed the order of
the propositions."
"I am listening," said Canolles, in a dull voice.
"I propose that you surrender Île Saint-Georges on one of the three
conditions which I submit to your choice. The first is this,--and pray
remember that it does not come from me: the sum of two hundred thousand
livres--"
"Oh, madame, go no further," said Canolles, trying to break off the
interview at that point. "I have been intrusted by the queen with the
post of commandant at Île Saint-Georges, and I will defend it to the
death."
"Remember the past, monsieur," said Claire, sadly; "that is not what
you said to me at our last interview, when you proposed to abandon
everything to follow me, when you had the pen already in your hand to
offer your resignation to the persons for whom you propose to sacrifice
your life to-day."
"I might have had that purpose, madame, when I was free to choose my
own road; but to-day I am no longer free--"
"You are no longer free!" cried Claire, turning pale as death; "how am
I to understand that? What do you mean?"
"I mean that I am in honor bound."
"Very well! then listen to my second proposition."
"To what end?" said Canolles; "have I not told you often enough,
madame, that my resolution is immovable? So do not tempt me; you would
do so to no purpose."
"Forgive me, monsieur," said Claire, "but I, too, am intrusted with a
mission, and I must go through with it to the end."
"Go on," murmured Canolles; "but you are very cruel."
"Resign your command, and we will work upon your successor more
effectively than upon you. In a year, in two years, you can take
service under Monsieur le Prince with the rank of brigadier."
Canolles sadly shook his head.
"Alas! madame," said he, "why do you ask nothing of me but
impossibilities?"
"Do you make that answer to me?" said Claire. "Upon my soul, monsieur,
I do not understand you. Weren't you on the point of signing your
resignation once? Did you not say to her who was beside you at that
time, listening to you with such delight, that you did it freely and
from the bottom of your heart? Why, I pray to know, will you not do
here, when I ask you, when I beg you to do it, the very thing that you
proposed to do at Jaulnay?"
Every word entered poor Nanon's heart like a dagger-thrust, and
Canolles seemed to share her agony.
"That which at that time was an act of trifling importance would to-day
be treachery, infamous treachery!" said Canolles, gloomily. "I will
never surrender Île Saint-Georges, I will never resign my post!"
"Stay, stay," said Claire in her sweetest voice, but looking about
uneasily all the while; for Canolles' resistance, and, above all, the
constraint under which he was evidently laboring seemed very strange to
her. "Listen now to my last proposition, with which I would have liked
to begin, for I knew, and I said beforehand, that you would refuse the
first two. Material advantages, and I am very happy to have divined
it, are not the things which tempt a heart like yours. You must needs
have other hopes than those of ambition and of fortune; noble instincts
require noble rewards. Listen--"
"In Heaven's name, madame," Canolles broke in, "have pity on me!"
And he made as if he would withdraw.
Claire thought that his resolution was shaken, and, confident that what
she was about to say would complete her victory, she detained him, and
continued:--
"If, instead of a mere mercenary recompense, you were offered a
pure and honorable recompense; if your resignation were to be
purchased,--and you can resign without blame, for, as hostilities have
not begun, it would be neither defection nor treachery, but a matter
of choice, pure and simple,--if, I say, your resignation were to be
purchased by an alliance; if a woman, to whom you have said that you
loved her, whom you have sworn always to love, and who, notwithstanding
your oaths, has never responded directly to your passion, if that
woman should come to you and say: 'Monsieur de Canolles, I am free, I
am wealthy, I love you; be my husband, let us go hence together,--go
wherever you choose, away from all these civil commotions, away from
France,'--tell me, monsieur, would you not then accept?"
Canolles, despite Claire's blushes, despite her fascinating hesitation,
despite the memory of the lovely little château de Cambes, which he
could have seen from his window, had not the darkness come down from
heaven during the scene we have been describing,--Canolles remained
firm and immovable in his determination; for he could see in the
distance, a white spot in the deep shadow, the pale, tear-stained face
of Nanon, trembling with agony, peering out from behind the Gothic
curtains.
"Answer me, in Heaven's name!" exclaimed the viscountess, "for I am at
a loss to understand your silence. Am I mistaken? Are you not Monsieur
le Baron de Canolles? Are you not the same man who told me at Chantilly
that you loved me, and who repeated it at Jaulnay,--who swore that you
loved me alone in all the world, and that you were ready to sacrifice
every other love to me? Answer! answer! in Heaven's name, answer!"
A moan came from behind the curtains, this time so distinct and
unmistakable that Madame de Cambes could no longer doubt that a third
person was present at the interview; her frightened eyes followed
the direction taken by Canolles' eyes, and he could not look away so
quickly that the viscountess did not catch a glimpse of that pale,
immovable face, that form like the form of a ghost, which followed,
with breathless interest, every word that was uttered.
The two women exchanged a glance of flame through the darkness, and
each of them uttered a shriek.
Nanon disappeared.
Madame de Cambes hastily seized her hat and cloak, and said, turning to
Canolles:--
"Monsieur, I understand now what you mean by duty and gratitude. I
understand what duty it is that you refuse to abandon or betray; I
understand, in short, that there are affections utterly impervious to
all seduction, and I leave you to those affections and to that duty and
gratitude. Adieu, monsieur, adieu!"
She started toward the door, nor did Canolles, attempt to detain her;
but a painful memory stopped her. "Once more, monsieur," said she, "in
the name of the friendship that I owe you for the service you were
pleased to render me, in the name of the friendship that you owe me for
the service I rendered you, in the name of all those who love you and
whom you love--and I except not one--do not engage in this struggle;
to-morrow, day after to-morrow, perhaps, you will be attacked at
Saint-Georges; do not cause me the bitter pain of knowing that you are
either conquered or dead."
At the words the young man started and came to himself.
"Madame," said he, "I thank you on my knees for the assurance you give
me of your friendship, which is more precious to me than I can tell
you. Oh! let them come and attack me! _Mon Dieu!_ let them come on! I
look for the enemy with more ardor than will ever impel him to come to
me. I feel the need of fighting, I feel the need of danger to raise me
in my own esteem; let the struggle come, and the danger that attends
it, aye, death itself! death will be welcome since I know that I shall
die rich in your friendship, strong in your compassion, and honored by
your esteem."
"Adieu, monsieur," said Claire, walking toward the door.
Canolles followed her. In the middle of the dark corridor he seized her
hand, and said, in so low a tone that he himself could hardly hear the
words he uttered:--
"Claire, I love you more than I have ever loved you; but it is my
misfortune that I can prove my love only by dying far away from you."
A little ironical laugh was Claire's only reply; but no sooner was she
out of the château than a pitiful sob burst from her throat, and she
wrung her hands, crying:--
"Ah! my God, he doesn't love me! he doesn't love me! And I, poor
miserable wretch that I am, do love him!"