About a hundred men of the king's household crossed the Dordogne with
their Majesties; the others remained with Monsieur de La Meilleraie,
who, having decided to besiege Vayres, was awaiting the arrival of the
army.
The queen was no sooner installed in the little house--which, thanks
to Nanon's luxurious tastes, she found infinitely more habitable than
she anticipated--than Guitaut waited upon her to say that an officer,
who claimed to have important matters to discuss with her, requested
the honor of an audience.
"Who is the man?" demanded the queen.
"Captain Cauvignac, madame."
"Is he of my army?"
"I do not think it."
"Ascertain that fact, and if he is not of my army, say that I cannot
receive him."
"I crave your Majesty's pardon for venturing to differ with you on that
point," said Mazarin, "but it seems to me that if he is not of your
army, that is the very best of reasons for receiving him."
"Why so?"
"Because, if he is of your Majesty's army, and seeks an audience, he
cannot be other than a faithful subject; whereas, if he belongs to the
enemy's army, he may be a traitor. At this moment, madame, traitors are
not to be despised, for they may be extremely useful."
"Admit him," said the queen, "since Monsieur le Cardinal so advises."
The captain was at once introduced, and presented himself with an easy
and assured demeanor which amazed the queen, accustomed as she was to
produce a far different effect upon all who approached her.
She eyed Cauvignac from head to foot, but he sustained the royal
scrutiny with marvellous self-possession.
"Who are you, monsieur?" said she.
"Captain Cauvignac," was the reply.
"In whose service are you?"
"I am in your Majesty's service, if such be your pleasure."
"If such be my pleasure? Surely! Indeed, is there any other service in
the kingdom? Are there two queens in France?"
"Assuredly not, madame; there is but one queen in France, and she it is
at whose feet I have the honor to lay my most humble respect; but there
are two contrary opinions in France,--at least, I thought as much just
now."
"What mean you, sirrah?" demanded the queen, with a frown.
"I mean, madame, that I was riding about in this vicinity, and as I
happened to be upon the summit of a slight eminence which overlooks the
whole country-side, admiring the landscape, which, as your Majesty must
have noticed, is surpassingly beautiful, I thought I saw that Monsieur
Richon did not receive your Majesty with all the respect to which
you are entitled; that fact confirmed a suspicion I had previously
entertained, namely, that there are two ways of thinking in France, the
royalist way and another, and that Monsieur Richon is of that other way
of thinking."
Anne of Austria's brow grew darker and darker.
"Ah! you thought you saw that?" said she.
"Yes, madame," Cauvignac replied with the most innocent candor. "I even
thought that I saw that a cannon was fired from the fort, and that the
ball with which it was loaded had something to say to your Majesty's
carriage."
"Enough. Did you seek audience of me, monsieur, only to indulge in such
absurd remarks as these?"
"Ah! you are discourteous," was Cauvignac's mental reflection; "you
shall pay the dearer for that."
"No, madame, I sought an audience to say to you that you are a very
great queen, and that my admiration for you knows no bounds."
"Indeed!" said the queen, dryly.
"Because of your grandeur, and my admiration, which is its natural
consequence, I resolved to devote myself heart and soul to your
Majesty's cause."
"Thanks," said the queen, ironically. "Guitaut," she added, turning to
the captain of the guards, "show this prating fool the door."
"Pardon, madame," said Cauvignac, "I will go without being driven out;
but if I go you will not have Vayres."
Whereupon he saluted her Majesty with perfect grace, and turned upon
his heel.
"Madame," said Mazarin, in an undertone, "I think that you are
ill-advised to send this man away."
"Stay a moment," said the queen, "and say what you have to say; after
all, you are a strange fellow, and most amusing."
"Your Majesty is very kind," said Cauvignac, bowing low.
"What were you saying about obtaining possession of Vayres?"
"I was saying that if your Majesty still entertains the purpose, which
I fancied I detected this morning, of gaining admission to Vayres, I
will make it my duty to show you the way in."
"How so?"
"I have a hundred and fifty men of my own at Vayres."
"Of your own?"
"Yes, of my own."
"Even so?"
"I turn over those one hundred and fifty men to your Majesty."
"What then?"
"What then?"
"Yes."
"Why, then, it seems to me that the devil's in it if with a hundred and
fifty doorkeepers your Majesty cannot cause a door to be opened."
"'T is a witty knave," said the queen, with a smile.
Cauvignac evidently guessed that a compliment was intended, for he
bowed a second time.
"What is your price, monsieur?" she asked.
"Oh! _mon Dieu,_ madame!--five hundred livres for each doorkeeper;
those are the wages I pay my men."
"You shall have them."
"And for myself?"
"Ah! you must have something for yourself also?"
"I should be proud to hold a commission by virtue of your Majesty's
munificence."
"What rank do you demand?"
"I should love to be governor of Braune. I have always longed to be a
governor."
"Granted."
"In that case, save for a trifling formality, the bargain is
concluded."
"What is that formality?"
"Will your Majesty deign to sign this bit of paper, which I prepared in
advance, hoping that my services would be acceptable to my magnanimous
sovereign?"
"What is the paper?"
"Read it, madame."
With a graceful movement of his arm, and bending his knee with the
utmost deference, Cauvignac presented a paper to the queen, who read as
follows:--
"'On the day that I enter Vayres, without striking a blow, I will pay
to Captain Cauvignac the sum of seventy-five thousand livres, and will
make him governor of Braune.'
"And so," the queen continued, restraining her indignation, "Captain
Cauvignac has not sufficient confidence in our royal word, but demands
a written promise!"
"In matters of importance, madame, a written promise seems to me most
desirable," rejoined Cauvignac, with a bow. '_Verba volant,_' says an
old proverb; 'words fly away,' and, saving your Majesty's presence, I
have been robbed."[1]
"Insolent knave!" exclaimed the queen, "begone!"
"I go," said Cauvignac, "but you will not have Vayres."
Again the captain turned upon his heel and walked toward the door; and
Anne of Austria, whose irritation was far deeper than before, did not
recall him.
Cauvignac left the room.
"See to it that that man is secured," said the queen.
Guitaut started to execute the order.
[Footnote 1: There is a play upon words here which cannot be reproduced
in a translation,--the same French word, _voler,_ meaning to fly, and
to steal or rob.]
"Pardon, madame," said Mazarin, "but I think that your Majesty is wrong
to yield to an angry impulse."
"Why so?"
"But I fear that we may need this man later, and that, if your Majesty
molests him in any way, you will then have to pay double for his
services."
"Very well," said the queen, "we will pay him what we must; but
meanwhile let him be kept in sight."
"Oh! that's another matter, and I am the first to approve that
precaution."
"Guitaut, see what becomes of him," said the queen.
Guitaut went out, and returned half an hour later.
"Well! what has become of him?" the queen demanded.
"Your Majesty may be perfectly easy in your mind, for your man shows
not the least inclination to leave the neighborhood. I made inquiries,
and found that he is domiciled at the inn of one Biscarros, within
three hundred yards of this house."
"And has he gone thither?"
"No, madame; he had gone to the top of a hill near by, and is watching
Monsieur de La Meilleraie's preparations for forcing the intrenchments.
That spectacle seems to possess great interest for him."
"What of the rest of the army?"
"It is coming up, madame, and drawing up in line of battle as fast as
it arrives."
"In that case the marshal proposes to attack at once?"
"In my opinion, madame, it would be much better to give the troops a
night's rest before risking an attack."
"A night's rest!" cried the queen; "the royal army to be delayed a
night and day by such a paltry affair as this! Impossible! Guitaut, go
and order the marshal to attack the fort at once. The king proposes to
lie tonight at Vayres."
"But, madame," murmured Mazarin, "it seems to me that the marshal's
precaution--"
"And it seems to me," retorted Anne of Austria, "that when the royal
authority has been outraged, it cannot be avenged too swiftly. Go,
Guitaut, and say to Monsieur de La Meilleraie that the queen's eye is
upon him."
Dismissing Guitaut with a majestic gesture, the queen took her son by
the hand and left the room; and, without looking to see if she was
followed, ascended a staircase leading to a terrace. This terrace
commanded a view of the surrounding country by means of vistas most
artfully designed.
The queen cast a rapid glance in every direction. Two hundred yards
behind her was the Libourne road, with the hostelry of our friend
Biscarros gleaming white in the sunlight. At her feet flowed the
Dordogne, calm, swift, and majestic. At her right arose the fort of
Vayres, silent as a ruin; the redoubts newly thrown up formed a circle
around it. A few sentinels were pacing back and forth upon the gallery;
five pieces of cannon showed their bronze necks and yawning mouths
through the embrasures. At her left Monsieur de La Meilleraie was
making his dispositions to camp for the night. The main body of the
army had arrived and was drawn up in close order around the marshal's
position.
Upon a hillock stood a man following attentively with his eyes every
movement of besiegers and besieged; it was Cauvignac.
Guitaut crossed the river on the ferry-boat.
The queen stood like a statue upon the terrace, with contracted brow,
holding the hand of little Louis XIV., who gazed on the scene before
him with an interest beyond his years, and from time to time said to
his mother:
"Madame, please let me mount my battle-horse, and go with Monsieur de
La Meilleraie to punish these insolent fellows."
At the queen's side was Mazarin, whose crafty, mocking features had
assumed for the moment that cast of serious thought which they wore
on great occasions only; and behind the queen and the minister were
the maids of honor, who took pattern by their mistress's silence, and
hardly dared exchange a few hurried words in undertones.
In all this there was an appearance of peace and tranquillity; but it
was the tranquillity of the mine, which a spark is soon to change into
a destructive tempest.
The eyes of all were fixed with special intentness upon Guitaut, for
from him was to come the explosion which was awaited with such diverse
emotions.
The army likewise was in a state of painful suspense; and the messenger
had no sooner stepped ashore upon the left bank of the Dordogne and
been recognized than every eye was turned upon him. Monsieur de La
Meilleraie, as soon as he caught sight of him, left the group of
officers in the centre of which he was standing, and went to meet him.
Guitaut and the marshal talked together for a few seconds. Although
the river was quite wide at that point, and although the distance was
considerable between the royal party and the two officers, it was not
so great that the surprised expression upon the marshal's face could
not be detected. It was evident that the order conveyed to him seemed
ill-advised and unseasonable, and he looked doubtfully toward the group
in which the queen could be distinguished. But Anne of Austria, who
understood his thought, made so imperative a gesture with both head and
hand that the marshal, who knew his imperious sovereign of old, bent
his head in token of acquiescence, if not of approbation.
Instantly, at a word from him, three or four captains, who exercised
the functions of _aides-de-camp_ of the present day, leaped into
the saddle and galloped away in three or four different directions.
Wherever they went the work of pitching the camp, which had just been
begun, was at once broken off, and at the beat of the drums and the
shrill call of the bugles, the soldiers let fall the armfuls of straw
they were carrying, and the hammers with which they were driving in
the tent-stakes. All ran to their weapons, which were stacked in due
order; the grenadiers seized their muskets, the common soldiers their
pikes, the artillerymen their various instruments; for a moment there
was incredible confusion, caused by all these men running in all
directions; but gradually order succeeded chaos, and every man was in
his proper place,--the grenadiers in the centre, the king's household
on the right, the artillery on the left; the drums and trumpets were
silent.
A single drum was heard behind the intrenchments; then it too ceased
and deathlike silence prevailed.
Suddenly an order was given in a clear, sharp tone. The queen was too
far away to hear the words, but she saw the troops form instantly in
columns; she drew her handkerchief and waved it, while the young king
cried excitedly, stamping upon the ground: "Forward! forward!"
The army replied with a shout of "Vive le roi!" The artillery set off
at a gallop, and took up its position upon a slight elevation, and the
columns moved forward as the drums beat the charge.
It was not a siege in regular form, but a simple escalade. The
intrenchments thrown up in haste by Richon were earthworks; there were
no trenches to be opened therefore,--it was a matter of carrying them
by assault. Every precaution had been taken by the energetic commandant
of Vayres, and he had availed himself of every possible advantage in
the lay of the land, with unusual science.
It was clear that Richon had determined not to fire first under any
circumstances, for again he waited for the provocation to come from the
king's troops; but again, as on the former occasion, that terrible row
of muskets, which had done such execution upon the king's household,
was seen to be pointing down at them.
As the forward movement began, the six guns drawn up on the little hill
were discharged, and the cannon-balls threw up showers of dirt on the
crown of the ramparts.
The response was not long delayed; the artillery within the
intrenchments roared forth in its turn, ploughing broad furrows in
the ranks of the royal army; but at the voice of the officers, these
bleeding gaps disappeared; the lips of the wound opened for an instant,
then closed again; the main column, which was momentarily shaken, moved
forward once more.
While the cannon were being reloaded it was the turn of the musketry.
Five minutes later, the great guns on both sides discharged their
volleys again, with but a single report, like two tempests in fierce
combat with each other, like two peals of thunder coming at the same
instant.
As it was perfectly calm, and a dense smoke hung over the battle-field,
besiegers and besieged soon disappeared in a cloud, which was rent from
time to time by the vivid flash of the artillery.
From time to time men could be seen coming out from the cloud in the
rear of the royal army, dragging themselves along with difficulty, and
leaving a bloody track behind them, until they fell exhausted.
The number of wounded rapidly increased, and the roar of the musketry
and artillery continued. The royal artillery, however, were firing
irregularly and at random; for amid the dense smoke the gunners could
not distinguish friends from foes. The gunners in the fort on the
other hand had none but foes in front of them, and their fire was more
constant and more deadly than ever.
At last the royal artillery ceased firing altogether; it was evident
that the assault had begun in good earnest, and that a hand-to-hand
combat was in progress.
There was a moment of keenest anxiety on the part of the spectators,
during which the smoke, the firing having greatly slackened, rose
slowly into the air. The royal army was then seen to be falling back
in disorder, leaving heaps of dead at the foot of the ramparts. A sort
of breach had been made; a few palisades were torn away, leaving an
opening; but that opening bristled with men and pikes and muskets, and
amid those men, covered with blood, and yet as calm and cool as if he
were a disinterested spectator of the tragedy in which he was playing
so terrible a part, stood Richon, holding in his hand an axe all
notched by the blows he had struck with it.
Some invisible power seemed to protect him, for he was constantly in
the thickest of the firing, always in the front rank, always standing
erect and with uncovered head, and yet no bullet had struck him, no
pike had touched him; he was as invulnerable as he was impassive.
Thrice Maréchal de La Meilleraie in person led the royal troops to the
assault; thrice the royal troops were beaten back before the eyes of
the king and queen.
Great tears rolled silently down the pale cheeks of the boy king; Anne
of Austria wrung her hands and muttered:--
"Oh! that man! that man! If he ever falls into my hands I will make a
terrible example of him!"
Luckily flight was close at hand, and spread a veil, so to speak, over
the royal blushes. Maréchal de La Meilleraie ordered the bugles to blow
the recall.
Cauvignac left his post, descended the hill, and sauntered across the
field toward the hostelry of Master Biscarros, with his hands in his
pockets.
"Madame," said Mazarin, waving his hand in Cauvignac's direction,
"there's a man who for a little gold would have spared you all this
bloodshed."
"Nonsense!" said the queen. "Monsieur le Cardinal, that is strange
language for an economical man like yourself."
"True, madame," rejoined the cardinal: "I know the value of gold, but I
know the value of blood also; and at this moment blood is more valuable
to us than gold."
"Be assured," said the queen, "that the blood that has been shed shall
be avenged. Comminges," she added, addressing the lieutenant of her
guards, "seek out Monsieur de La Meilleraie and bring him to me."
"Bernouin," said the Cardinal to his valet, pointing to Cauvignac, who
was within a few steps of the Golden Calf, "do you see that man?"
"Yes, monseigneur."
"Very good! go to him from me, and bring him secretly to my room
to-night."