THE CASTELLAN.
LE GROS GUILLEM was pacing the stone-vaulted hall of the Castle of
Domme. It was a hall that ran the whole depth of the castle, from one
face to the other, and was lighted solely by large windows to the north,
commanding the valley of the Dordogne. The room was vaulted, not ribbed;
cradled with white stone, the walls were of stone, and the hall was
paved with stone--all of one whiteness. No tapestry covered the naked
sides, nor carpets clothed the floors, only some panelling of oak to
man's height took off some of the chill of the walls, and straw was
littered on the floor. Of ornament there was none in the hall, unless
weapons and defensive armour might be so regarded. Even antlers and
boars' heads were absent. The occupants of the castle had other
amusements than the chase.
"I must have thirty men more," said the Captain. "Let Heliot ride into
the Bretenoux country; he will get them there; and let that sulky
Amanieu, who is neither one of us nor against us, go to Gramat, on the
bald and barren Causse, where nothing grows save lank and hungry men,
there is always a supply of daredevils to be had for the asking. Offer
what you will--we must make an attempt on Bergerac--and have the looting
of its fat merchants' houses. We will make a raid into Sarlat and put
the oily canons into the olive-press. There is plenty to be had for the
taking. I want men. I must have more men. I dare not leave Domme without
a thumb on it to hold it down; and there is that accursed eye of La
Roque watching unwinkingly. Fine times are coming. I hear that the
English are sending an army under the great Talbot. Let us do
something--pick over the vineyard before he comes or the Englishmen will
have the biggest bunches."
One of the attendants came up to the Captain and informed him that there
was an old man desired to speak with him.
"What does he want? Where does he come from? I want no old men. The
young are those who can serve me. I have not here an almshouse for
bedemen, but a training school for soldiers."
"He will not say what he wants--except only that he comes on matters of
extreme importance."
"Importance! importance!" repeated Le Gros Guillem irritably.
"Importance to him and not to me. What is he? a farmer? Some of my boys
have lifted an ox or carried off a daughter. I will not see him."
"Captain, he comes from La Roque."
"Then I will have nothing to do with him. I have no dealings with the
people of La Roque. Run your pikes into his calves and make him skip
down the hill."
The attendant retired but returned shortly with a slip of paper, which
he put into the Captain's hand. Guillem would have thrust it aside. "A
scribbling petitioner--worst of all! Does he look as if he had money?
Can he be made to pay? If so we will put him in the mortar and pound
him."
With careless indifference Guillem opened the paper and read the lines--
Messire le Gros,--If you want a lodging in La Roque now is your
opportunity.
From one who has charge of the keys.
"Eh! eh!" exclaimed the Captain, flushing over his bald head, and his
long fingers crushed the paper in excitement. "What! a chance of that?
Show him in--and you, guard, stand at a distance at the door."
In another moment an old man with short-cut grey hair was introduced. He
walked with the aid of a stick, and kept his eyes on the ground. He was
habited in a shabby dark suit, out at elbows, somewhat clerical in cut,
and he was shaved like a priest. His face was singularly mottled, in
places yellow with sunburn, elsewhere white. He had bushy eyebrows that
contrasted singularly with his close-clipped head and his smooth jaws.
"So!" said Guillem, striding up to him, "you have the keys--and who are
you?"
"Messire Captain, I am your very humble servant."
"To the point! What are you at La Roque, and what do you want with me?"
"Messire, I am now caretaker of the fortress in the cliff. I hold the
keys and am responsible for its custody."
"And what brings you here?"
"Messire, I am willing to let you in."
"Ah! On what terms?"
"Messire--I trust to your generosity."
"That is not a usual mode of doing business. Why do you come to me? Why
betray your trust? There is a reason--is it money? I will pay. What do
you demand?"
"I ask no money."
"Then in Heaven's name what do you want?"
"Revenge!" answered the old man, and bowed his head lower over his
staff.
"Revenge! Hah! I can understand that. Revenge on someone in La Roque?"
"On someone who is not there now, but who will be there on the night
that I admit you."
"And you ask me to revenge your wrong."
"I will do that for myself, Messire--only I can do nothing now. I am
prepared to admit you within the walls of the town. I can do better than
that--I will give you access to the castle--the town without the castle
is nothing. The castle in itself is nothing. But the castle commands the
town."
"Hah! let us in, within the walls of La Roque, and we will soon have the
castle."
"You think that, Messire? You are mistaken. The castle is victualled for
three months. There is a well in it that never runs dry. There is a
garrison under the Sieur François de Bonaldi, brother of the Bishop. If
you took the town with my help, it would be cracking the nut and not
getting the kernel. From the castle they could rain down rocks on you,
and if you attempted to hold the town they would dislodge you, though it
might ruin the houses. No--the town without the castle is an eyeball
without the iris. Take the castle and the town is yours."
"You may be right," said Le Gros Guillem, after a pause.
"I am positive I am right," said the old man, looking up and dropping
his eyes again.
"What, then, do you propose?"
"On a night--let us say to-morrow before midnight, I will admit you and
five men----"
"Why not more?"
"Harken, Messire, I have thought the plan out."
"Go on!--I am impatient to hear."
"It is you, Messire le Gros, who have interrupted me."
"Go on with your plan! If I do not approve, I will none of it. I am not
going to run into a trap."
"A trap! Oh, Messire, how can you think of that?"
"Tell me your plan at once."
"It is this, Messire. I will let you in through the postern gate on the
upper--the Vitrac--Sarlat Road, you and five men--no more. As many as
you will need can be admitted later; they shall remain without till the
castle is in your hands, and then two of your men who will tarry by the
gate will unbar to them and let them all enter. But consider, Messire,
it will not do to allow access to more than five at the outset--there
are sentinels on the walls. I have no understanding with them, and they
might see and give the alarm. If the alarm were given before you had
obtained possession of the castle, then the whole expedition would be in
vain. If you hold the castle you have the heart of La Roque Gageac in
your hands."
"And you will admit us into the fortress?"
"I will admit you and three men."
"It is not enough."
"It suffices. There are but six men in the castle--and no guard is kept
at night, for none is needed, as you will see when you get there. That
on the town walls suffices; one of these men is in agreement with me.
Him you must pay, but not me. I shall be well indemnified if I get my
revenge."
"So then--you will first open the gate to me and five men. Then, two are
to be left in charge of the gate, I and three others are next to be
given admittance to the castle, where we are to overpower the garrison.
You say there are but six men. That is very few."
"Messire, the Bishop says he can afford no more, and his brother, the
Sieur François, has written to urge him to supply him with more, but he
says that his treasury is exhausted and his land impoverished, and that
there are no more men to be got. Besides, what they reckon on is for the
whole garrison of the town to fly to the castle should the walls of the
town fall into the enemy's power. It has never entered into their heads
that the citadel should be first grasped, and the citadel commands
all--it commands the town, it commands the road to Sarlat, it commands
the whole country."
"And the Bishop says there is nothing to be got--no money?"
"So he says; that is the reason he gives. He told the Sieur François to
do his best with the handful he has; he was unable to assist further."
"We will speedily prove if his words be true. We shall soon make him
beat his head to think that he was so parsimonious that he had scruples
about melting up his church plate. That only is an exhausted land which
yields naught when it has passed through my sieve." Guillem halted in
his walk, laid one hand on the shoulder of the old man, and said, in a
tone in which was some suspicion, "So you will turn traitor, betray a
trust for nothing!"
"Pardon, Messire; I said that I did it to satisfy my revenge."
"By the Holy Caul of Cahors!"[9] laughed Le Gros Guillem, "revenge is
sweet, especially to the old. When the kisses of women and the clink of
spurs and the fingering of gold no longer charm, revenge is still
palatable. What makes you so lust for vengeance, old man?"
[9] _La Sainte Coiffe_--a caul in which it was fabled that the
infant Christ was born--was one of the choice relics
preserved at Cahors. It fell into the hands of the Huguenots
at the memorable capture of Cahors by Henry of Navarre, but
was recovered. It happily disappeared at the Revolution.
"Ah, Messire! what do the small troubles of a nobody like me concern
you?"
Guillem let go his hold and recommenced his pacing: "The Holy Caul to my
aid! but I, too, have my grievance, and my mouth waters for the same
dainty as does yours. Let me but be established at La Roque, and they
may expect me at Le Peuch."
"Who is at Le Peuch, Messire?"
"Old man, one who has injured my honour; one to whom I will show no
mercy if I but get him in my grip. From La Roque I can command all the
Sarladais, and I can swoop down at my leisure on Le Peuch. I shall get
gold at Sarlat and blood at Le Peuch. By Heaven, I do not know which
will best please me!"
"You accept my offer, Messire le Gros?"
"Aye--to-morrow, at an hour to midnight. Are you an ecclesiastic?"
"No, Messire."
"You have a clerical aspect; but I suppose all who serve the Bishop
assume something of that. Very well. I shall be there--I and my men.
Will you eat? Will you drink?"
"Thank you, Messire. I have not come from far--only across the water.
The ferryman put me over. I made some excuse that I had a married
daughter to visit, and none suspect evil; but I must make speed and
return before mistrust breeds. Mistrust will spoil all, Messire."
"Very well. Go! So we meet to-morrow. If you fail--if you prove false,
old man--terrible will be your lot."
"I shall not fail. Fear not. I shall not eat, I shall not sleep; I shall
count the hours till you come."
Le Gros Guillem mused a moment. Then he said: "What shall be the sign by
which you will know we are there--at the gate?"
"You will come," answered the old man, "to the little postern at the
Sarlat gate. It lays on the right--twenty strides up the slope; you pass
by a vineyard to it. I will tarry there till I hear you scratch like a
cat."
"Very well--and the word?"
"The word--for a merry jest--as you said it, Le Peuch."
"Le Peuch--so be it," said the Captain. "Further--the main body of men
will be posted outside, and they are not to be admitted till the castle
is ours. How shall I communicate with them?"
"Nothing is easier," replied the castellan. "When Messire is above, and
has got the men of the garrison bound, let him ring the alarm-bell. It
is in the tower of the castle gate, and at once your men below will
admit their fellows, and the townsfolk will awake to discover themselves
betrayed, and in the hands of the illustrious and very generous Captain
Guillem."
"It is good!" said the _routier._"You have thought this plan well out,
old man."
"Oh, I have thought it well out. I have been long about it. I took much
consideration before all was fitted together. So--there--all is agreed.
I wish you well till we meet."
The castellan made for the door, but before he reached it, he rested on
his staff, and burst into a convulsive fit of laughter.
"What is that?" asked the Captain, coming towards him. "What makes you
laugh?"
"Excuse me, Messire. I am old, and my nerves are shaken. I have had much
to agitate them--and these convulsive fits come on me--when I think I am
on the eve of a great pleasure--and it will be a great pleasure," he
turned and bowed, and made a salutation with his cap, and with extended
hands--"ah! Messire a great pleasure, to open the gate, and let you in!"
He bowed profoundly, and went out backwards laughing and saluting.