X.

The second return of the army of the princes to Bordeaux was very

different from the first. On this occasion there were laurels for

everybody, even for the vanquished.

Madame de Cambes with consummate tact had assigned an honorable rôle to

Canolles, who, as soon as he had entered the city, side by side with

his friend Ravailly, whom he was so near killing on two occasions, was

surrounded and congratulated as a great captain and a gallant soldier.

They who had been so soundly whipped but two days before, especially

those of them who had suffered any damage at that time, retained some

hard feeling against their conqueror. But Canolles was so handsome and

sweet-tempered; his manners were so simple; he bore himself in his new

position so good-humoredly and yet with such becoming dignity; the

friends who surrounded him were so demonstrative in their evidences of

affection for him; both officers and men of the Navailles regiment were

so loud in their praise of him as their captain, and as governor of Île

Saint-Georges,--that the Bordelais soon forgot their rancor. Moreover,

they had other things to think of.

Monsieur de Bouillon arrived a day or two later, and they had most

precise information that the king would be at Libourne in a week at the

latest.

Madame de Condé was dying with curiosity to see Canolles; she stood

behind the curtains at her window, and watched him pass, and was

impressed with his distinguished bearing, which fully justified the

reputation he had acquired among friends and foes alike.

Madame de Tourville's opinion did not coincide with that of Madame la

Princesse; she claimed that he lacked distinction. Lenet declared that

he considered him a gallant fellow, and Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld

said simply:--

"Aha! so that's the hero, is it?"

Quarters were assigned Canolles in the principal fortress of the city,

the Château Trompette. By day he was free to go where he pleased

throughout the city, on business or pleasure as the case might be. At

taps he returned to the fortress. His word was taken that he would not

attempt to escape nor to correspond with any one outside the city.

Before accepting this last condition, he asked permission to write

a few lines: and the permission being granted, he sent Nanon the

following letter:--

"A prisoner, but at liberty upon my word of honor to

correspond with no one outside the walls of Bordeaux, I

write you these few words, dear Nanon, to assure you of my

affection, which my silence might cause you to doubt. I

depend upon you to defend my honor in the sight of the king

and queen.

"BARON DE CANOLLES."

In these very mild conditions the influence of Madame de Cambes was

very perceptible.

It was four or five days before he came to the end of the banquets and

festivities of all sorts, with which his friends entertained him; he

was seen constantly with Ravailly, who walked about with his left arm

in that of Canolles and his right in a sling. When the drums beat

and the Bordelais set out upon some expedition or hurried to quell an

uprising, they were sure to see Canolles somewhere on the way, either

with Ravailly on his arm, or alone, with his hands behind his back,

interested, smiling, and inoffensive.

Since his arrival he had seen Madame de Cambes very rarely, and had

hardly spoken to her; the viscountess seemed to be content so long as

he was not with Nanon, and she was happy to know that he was in her

neighborhood.

Canolles wrote to her to complain, mildly, whereupon she procured for

him invitations to one or two houses in the city.

More than that. Canolles, through Lenet's intercession, had obtained

permission to pay his respects to Madame de Condé, and the comely

prisoner appeared sometimes at her receptions, dancing attendance upon

the ladies of her suite.

It would be impossible, however, to imagine a man less interested than

Canolles in political matters. To see Madame de Cambes and exchange

a few words with her; if he could not succeed in speaking to her, to

receive an affectionate smile and nod from her, to press her hand when

she entered her carriage, and, Huguenot though he was, to offer her

holy water at church,--such were the main points of interest in the

prisoner's day.

At night he thought over what had taken place during the day.

It was not long, however, before this mild distraction ceased to

satisfy the prisoner. As he fully realized the exquisite delicacy of

Madame de Cambes, who was even more solicitous for his honor than

her own, he sought to enlarge the circle of his distractions. In the

first place he fought with an officer of the garrison and with two

bourgeois, which helped to while away a few hours. But as he disarmed

one of his opponents and wounded the others, that form of amusement

soon failed him for lack of persons disposed to amuse him.

Then he indulged in one or two little love-affairs. This was not to be

wondered at, for not only was Canolles, as we have said, an extremely

well-favored youth, but since he had been a prisoner he had become

immeasurably more interesting. For three whole days and the morning of

the fourth his captivity was the talk of the town; more could hardly be

said of that of Monsieur le Prince.

One day when Canolles hoped to see Madame de Cambes at church,--and

when Madame de Cambes, perhaps for fear of meeting him there, did not

appear,--as he stood at his post by the pillar he offered the holy

water to a charming creature whom he had not before seen. It was not

the fault of Canolles, but of Madame de Cambes; for if she had come, he

would have thought of none but her, would have seen none but her, and

would have offered holy water to none but her.

That same day, as he was wondering in his own mind who the charming

brunette could be, he received an invitation to pass the evening

with Lavie, the _avocat-général,_ the same man who had undertaken

to interfere with the entry of Madame la Princesse, and who, in his

capacity of upholder of the royal authority, was detested almost as

cordially as Monsieur d'Épernon. Canolles, who felt more and more

imperatively the need of being amused, accepted the invitation with

thankfulness, and betook himself to the _avocat-général's_ house at six

o'clock.

The hour may seem strange to our modern entertainers; but there were

two reasons why Canolles made his appearance so seasonably: in the

first place, as people in those days dined at noon, evening parties

began vastly earlier; in the second place, as Canolles invariably

reported at Château Trompette as early as half-after nine, he must

needs arrive among the first if he wished to do anything more than show

himself for a moment.

As he entered the salon he uttered an exclamation of delight; Madame

Lavie was no other than the bewitching brunette to whom he so gallantly

presented the holy water that very morning.

Canolles was greeted in the _avocat-général's_ salon as a royalist who

had been tried and found not wanting. He had no sooner been presented

than he was overwhelmed with compliments fit to turn the head of one

of the seven wise men of Greece. His defence, at the time of the first

attack, was compared with that of Horatius Codes, and his final defeat

to the fall of Troy brought about by the artifices of Ulysses.

"My dear Monsieur de Canolles," said the _avocat-général,_ "I know from

the best authority that you have been much talked of at court, and that

your gallant defence has covered you with glory; the queen has declared

that she will exchange you as soon as possible, and that when you

return to her service it shall be as colonel or brigadier; now, do you

wish to be exchanged?"

"'Faith, monsieur," replied Canolles, with a killing glance at Madame

Lavie, "I assure you that I desire nothing so much as that the queen

will not hurry. She would have to exchange me for a sum of money, or

for some good soldier; I am not worth the expense of the one, nor do I

deserve the honor of the other. I will wait until her Majesty has taken

Bordeaux, where I am extremely comfortable just at present; then she

will have me for nothing."

Madame Lavie smiled affably.

"The devil!" said her husband, "you speak very lukewarmly of your

freedom, baron."

"Well, why should I get excited over it? Do you imagine that it

would be very agreeable for me to return to active service, where I

am exposed day after day to the risk of killing some of my dearest

friends?"

"But what sort of a life are you leading here?" rejoined the

_avocat-général,_--"a life altogether unworthy of a man of your

calibre, taking part in no council and in no enterprise for the good

of the cause, forced to see others serving the cause in which they

believe, while you sit with folded arms, useless to yourself and to

everybody else; the situation ought to be burdensome to you."

Canolles looked at Madame Lavie, who happened to be looking at him.

"No," said he, "you are mistaken; I am not bored in the least. You busy

yourself with politics, which is a very wearisome pursuit, while I make

love, which is very amusing. You people in Bordeaux are on the one

hand the servants of the queen, on the other hand the servants of the

princess, while I attach myself to the fortunes of no one sovereign,

but am the slave of all the ladies."

The retort was much enjoyed, and the mistress of the house expressed

her opinion of it by a smile.

Soon they sat down at the card-tables, and Madame Lavie went shares

with Canolles against her husband, who lost five hundred pistoles.

The next day the populace, for some unknown reason, thought best

to organize an _émeute._ A partisan of the princes, somewhat more

fanatical in his devotion than his fellows, proposed that they should

go and throw stones at Monsieur Lavie's windows. When the glass was

all broken, another proposed to set fire to his house. They were

already running to fetch firebrands when Canolles arrived with a

detachment of the Navailles regiment, escorted Madame Lavie to a place

of safety, and rescued her husband from the clutches of half a score of

maniacs, who, as they had failed to burn him, were determined to hang

him.

"Well, my man of action," said Canolles to the _avocat-général,_ who

was positively blue with terror, "what do you think now of my idleness?

Is it not better for me to do nothing?"

With that he returned to Château Trompette, as taps were just sounding.

He found there upon his table a letter, the shape of which made his

heart beat faster, and the writing made him jump.

It was written by Madame de Cambes.