FRANCE, FAREWELL!
The Major had scarce landed at Sainte Marguerite, ere everything were
in commotion in the fort.
On leaving the isle on the previous evening, the governor had stated
that he was going on a journey, and would be absent a week, perhaps two.
The Lieutenant, intrusted with the command of the fort during his
absence, eagerly hastened to meet him, curious to learn the motive for
such a speedy return.
The Major at first replied evasively, that news he had received on
landing on the mainland, had necessitated the immediate interruption
of his journey; and, while conversing thus, he entered the fort and
proceeded to his apartments, followed by the Lieutenant whom he had
invited to accompany him.
"Sir," he said to him so soon as they were alone, "you will immediately
choose from the garrison ten resolute men; and proceed with them on
board the fishing vessel I noticed at anchor when I entered the fort.
The missive I entrust to you is most important, and if you carry it out
thoroughly, may have important results for you; it must be managed with
the most profound secrecy, however, for it is a secret of state."
The Lieutenant bowed gratefully, evidently flattered at the confidence
his chief placed in him.
The Major continued.
"You will land on the coast a little below Antibes, and keep the boat,
which you will use for your return; you will manage so as not to enter
the town till nightfall, without attracting any attention, you will
lodge your men as best you can without arousing suspicions, but so as
to have them under hand at any moment. Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock,
you will present yourself to the town commandant, hand him a letter I
shall give you, and place yourself at his disposal. Have you understood
me thoroughly, sir?"
"Perfectly, Mr. Governor."
"Before all, I recommend you the most utter discretion; remember that
your fortune probably depends on the success of the mission."
"I will obey you, Major, and I hope that you will only have compliments
to pay me on my return."
"I trust so too, sir, but make haste, for you must be gone in half an
hour. During your preparations I will write the letter; it will be
ready when you come to take leave again."
The lieutenant, after bowing respectfully, retired with a joyous heart,
not having the slightest suspicion of the treachery meditated by his
chief, and went off at full speed to make all the preparations for his
departure.
The Major had under his orders a garrison of fifty men, commanded by
three officers, a captain and two lieutenants.
This captain, the next in rank to him, would doubtless have greatly
impeded the success of the bold stroke he meditated, owing to the
pretext he would have been obliged to invent, in order to account for
the want of a release in writing for the Count.
By sending him away, the Major had only to deal with two subalterns,
ranking too low in the military scale to venture to make observations,
or hesitate to accomplish his orders, the more so, because during
the ten or twelve years M. de l'Oursière had commanded Fort Sainte
Marguerite, nothing in his conduct had led to the slightest painful
suspicions about his honour.
Forced by circumstances to betray his duty and quit his native land
forever, which he knew he should never see again after this audacious
scheme, the Major wished to leave nothing to chance, but turn his lost
position to the greatest possible advantage. He hoped that the measures
he had taken would protect him from any danger, when his treachery was
eventually discovered.
But, through a very laudable feeling of justice, especially on the part
of such a man and under such circumstances, the Major desired alone to
bear the burden of his infamous conduct and not to attract suspicion of
complicity on his poor officers, whom duty compelled to obey him, in
what they considered a portion of their military service.
Hence he wrote to the governor of Antibes a very circumstantial letter,
in which he narrated, without the slightest omission, the treason he
meditated, and which would be carried out at the time when the governor
read the strange missive; he explained the motives that obliged him to
act as he was doing, while taking on himself all the responsibility of
such a deed, and acquitting his officers and soldiers, not only of all
co-operation, but of all cognisance, even indirect, of his project.
These duties scrupulously accomplished--for it was impossible for the
governor to be deceived as to the frankness of his confession, or
to doubt them for a moment--the Major folded the letter, sealed it
carefully, and laid it on the table while awaiting the return of his
second in command.
Now, as his vessels were burnt, M. de l'Oursière could no longer
retreat; he must push on and succeed; the certainty of certain ruin if
his scheme were foiled, removed his last doubts, and restored him all
the necessary calmness to act with the coolness demanded by the strange
circumstances in which he found himself placed.
The Captain entered.
"Well?" the Major asked him.
"I am ready to start, Mr. Governor; my soldiers are already on board
the fishing boat, and we shall have left the island in ten minutes."
"Here is the letter you have to deliver into the hands of the Governor
of Antibes, sir; remember my instructions."
"I will obey them in every point."
"In that case, Heaven guard you! and good-bye," the Major said, as he
rose.
The officer saluted, and left the room.
The Major watched through the open window of his room; he saw him leave
the fort, go down to the shore, and on board the fishing vessel; the
sail was hoisted, and ere long the boat started, slightly heeling over
under the power of the breeze.
"Ough!" said the Major, closing the window, with a sigh of
relief--"that's one, now for the other."
But, before aught else, the old officer shut himself up in his room,
burnt certain papers, pocketed others, put some clothes in a small
valise, as he did not wish to take all belonging to him, through fear
of arousing suspicions, and carefully wrapping up in his cloak a small
and very heavy iron casket, which, doubtless, contained his ready
money, he assured himself by a glance around that everything was in
order, opened the door again, and called.
A soldier appeared.
"Beg Mess. de Castaix and de Mircey to come here," he said, "as I wish
to speak to them."
They speedily arrived, greatly puzzled at this unexpected interview,
for usually the Governor talked but little with his officers.
"Gentlemen," he said to them, after returning their salute, "an order
from the King caused me to return here in all haste. I have to take our
prisoner, M. de Barmont, to Antibes, where your Captain has preceded
me with a sufficient escort to prevent any attempt at escape on the
part of the prisoner. I have acted thus because it is the King's good
pleasure that this transference of the Count from one prison to another
may have the appearance of a liberation, and I shall explain it in that
sense to the prisoner, in order that he may have no suspicion of the
new orders I have received. Until my return, which will be in two days
at the least, you, Monsieur de Castaix, as senior officer, will assume
the command of the fortress. I am pleased to believe, gentlemen, that I
shall only have to praise the aptitude you will display in performing
your duties during my absence."
The two officers bowed: accustomed to the Cardinal's tortuous and
mysterious policy, the Major's remarks did not at all surprise them,
for, although His Eminence was dead, the event had not occurred so
long that the King should have in any way modified his sullen mode of
governing.
"Be kind enough to give orders for the prisoner to be brought into my
presence, while I inform him of his liberation," he added, with a
mocking smile, whose strange meaning the officers did not comprehend.
"You will have all the effects belonging to him placed in the boat of
the smuggling lugger on board which I came back. Go, gentlemen."
The officers withdrew.
The Count was greatly surprised when La Grenade opened the door of his
cell, and begged him to follow him, as the Governor wished to speak
with the prisoner.
He fancied the Major on the road to Paris, as had been arranged between
them on the previous evening, and did not at all understand his
presence at the fort after the solemn promise he had made.
Another thing also caused him great surprise--ever since he had been a
prisoner at Saint Marguerite the Governor had not once sent for him; on
the contrary, he had always put himself out of the way by visiting his
cell.
But the thing that completely routed his ideas was La Grenade's
recommendation to him, to place all his belongings in a trunk, and take
the key.
"Why this most unnecessary precaution?" the Count asked him.
"No one ever knows what may happen, sir," the gaoler replied,
cunningly; "it is as well to take precautions; and stay, if I were you
I would put on my hat and take my cloak."
And while speaking thus, the soldier actively helped him to pack his
trunk.
"There, that's done," he said, with a grin of satisfaction, when the
Count had taken out the key; "here are your hat and cloak."
"My hat, if you like," the young man remarked, laughingly, "but why
my cloak? I run no risk of catching a pleurisy in my short walk to the
Governor's presence."
"Will you not take it?"
"Certainly not."
"Then I will; you'll see you will want it."
The young gentleman shrugged his shoulders, without replying, and they
left the room, the door of which the gaoler did not take the trouble to
lock after him.
The Major was walking up and down his room while awaiting the prisoner.
La Grenade showed him in, laid the cloak on a chair, and withdrew.
"Ah, ah!" said the Major, with a laugh--"I see that you suspected
something."
"I, Mr. Governor? What was it, if you please?"
"Zounds! you appear to be dressed as if for a journey."
"It is that ass of La Grenade, who, I know not for what reason, obliged
me to put on my hat, and insisted on bringing my cloak here."
"He was right."
"How so?"
"My lord, I have the honour to inform you that you are a free man."
"I free!" the Count exclaimed, turning pale with joy and emotion.
"The King has deigned to sign your liberation, and I received the
orders on landing at Antibes."
"At last!" the Count burst forth, but then immediately recovered
himself. "Can you show me the order, sir?"
"Excuse me, my lord, that is forbidden."
"Ah! For what reason?"
"It is a general precaution, sir."
"In that case I will not press it: at least, you are permitted to tell
me at whose request my liberty was granted me?"
"I see no objection to that, sir--it was at the request of the Duc de
Bellegarde."
"The dear Duke!--a real friend!" the Count cried, in great emotion.
The Major, with the utmost coolness, handed him a pen, and pointed to a
blank space in the register.
"Will you be kind enough, sir, to sign this register?"
The Count hurriedly perused it, and saw that it was a species of
certificate of the honourable way he had been treated during the period
of his detention. He signed.
"Now, sir, as I am free, for I presume I am so--" "Free as a bird, my
lord."
"In that case I can retire. I know not why, but during the last instant
these thick, gloomy walls, seem to stifle me, and I shall not breathe
at my ease till I feel myself in the open air."
"I understand that, sir. I have made every preparation, and we will
embark whenever you please."
"_We?_" the Count asked, in surprise.
"Yes, my lord, I shall accompany you."
"For what reason, may I ask?"
"To do you honour, sir--for no other reason."
"Very good," he said, thoughtfully; "let us go, then; but I have some
traps here."
"They are already on board: come, sir."
The Major took up his valise and casket, and left the room, followed by
the Count.
"Did I not tell you you would want your cloak?"
La Grenade said to M. de Barmont, with a bow, as he passed--"Pleasant
voyage to you, sir, and good luck."
They went down to the waterside. During the walk, which was not very
long, the Count's brow became more and more clouded; he fancied he
could notice a certain sorrow on the faces of the officers and soldiers
who were watching his departure--they whispered together, and pointed
to the Count in anything but a reassuring way, and it gave him much
cause for anxiety.
Every now and then he took a side-glance at the Major, but he appeared
calm, and had a smile on his face.
They at length reached the boat, and the Major stepped aside to let the
Count get into it first.
As soon as they were both in, the boat was pushed off. During the whole
passage from the shore to the lugger the Count and the Major remained
silent.
At length they came along side the little vessel, a rope was thrown to
them, and they went up the side.
The yawl was immediately hauled up, all sail was set, and the lugger
stood out to sea.
"Ah!" the Count exclaimed on perceiving Michael, "You are here, then I
am saved!"
"I hope so," the latter replied; "but come, my lord, we have matters to
discuss."
They went down into the cabin, followed by the Major.
"There, now we can talk, Captain--the first thing is to settle our
accounts."
"Our accounts?" M. de Barmont repeated, in surprise.
"Yes, let us proceed regularly. You promised this gentleman 50,000
livres?"
"Yes, I did."
"And you authorize me to give them to him?"
"Certainly."
"Good; in that case he shall have them." Then, turning to the
Major--"You have scrupulously kept your promises, and we will keep ours
as loyally. Here, in the first place, is your diamond, which I give you
back: I will hand you over the money in a moment. I suppose you no more
wish to remain in France than we do--eh?"
"I do not wish it the least in the world," the Major replied, delighted
at having regained possession of his diamond.
"Where would you like to be landed? Will England suit you, or do you
prefer Italy?"
"Well, I do not exactly know."
"Do you like Spain better? 'Tis all the same to me."
"Why not Portugal?"
"Done for Portugal. We will drop you there in passing."
The Count had listened with growing surprise to this conversation,
which was incomprehensible to him.
"What is the meaning of all this?" he at length asked.
"It means, Captain," Michael distinctly answered, "that the King has
not signed the pardon--that you are a prisoner, and would probably have
remained so all your life had not this gentleman, luckily for you,
consented to open the door."
"Sir!" the Count exclaimed, making a movement toward the Major.
Michael stopped him.
"Do not be in a hurry to thank him," he said--"wait till he has told
you what has occurred, and in what way he found himself obliged to set
you at liberty, when he would probably have preferred not to do so."
"Come, come!" said the Count, stamping his foot passionately--"Explain
yourself! I understand nothing of all this. I wish to know
everything--everything, I tell you!"
"This man will tell you it, Captain; but he is afraid at present of the
consequences of his confession, and that is why he hesitates to make
it."
M. de Barmont smiled disdainfully.
"This man is beneath my contempt," he said; "whatever he may say I will
not take the slightest vengeance on him--he is pardoned beforehand, I
pledge him my word as a gentleman."
"Now speak, Major," said Michael; "during that time I will go on deck
again with Skipper Nicaud, or, if you prefer it, Bowline, who has
played his part remarkably well throughout the affair."
Michael left the cabin, and the two men remained alone.
The Major understood that it was better to make a clean breast of it:
hence he told the Count, without any equivocation, the full details of
his treachery, and in what manner Michael had compelled him to save
him, when, on the contrary, he was paid to ruin him.
Although the name of the Duc de Peñaflor had not once been mentioned
during the Major's narration, the Count divined that it was he alone
who had dealt him all the blows he had felt so severely during the last
eighteen months; however great his resolution might be, this depth
of hatred, this Machiavellian vengeance terrified him; but in this
extremely detailed narrative one point seemed to him obscure, and that
was, how Michael had discovered the final machinations of his enemies,
and done so opportunely enough to be able to foil them.
All the questions the Count asked on this head the Major was unable to
answer, for he was ignorant.
"Well," asked the sailor, suddenly entering the cabin, "are you now
informed, Captain?"
"Yes," the latter replied, with a certain tinge of sadness, "except on
one point."
"What is it, Captain?"
"I should like to know in what manner you detected this cleverly
contrived plot."
"Very simply, Captain, and I will tell you the whole affair in a couple
of words. Bowline and I, without the Major suspecting it, followed him
carefully into the ruins, while cautiously avoiding being seen; in this
way no part of his conversation with the stranger escaped us. When the
Major handed him the papers, and the stranger retired, I jumped at his
throat, and, with Bowline's help, took the papers from him--"
"Where are these papers?" the Count interrupted him eagerly.
"I will give them to you, Captain."
"Thanks, Michael; now go on."
"Well, my story's finished; I gagged him to prevent him calling out,
and after tying him up like a plug of tobacco to stop him running after
us, I left him there and went away."
"What, you went away, Michael, leaving the man thus gagged and bound on
a desert isle?"
"What would you have had me do with him, Captain?"
"Oh, perhaps it would have been better to kill him, than leave him
exposed to such a horrible punishment."
"He had been so precious tender to you, hadn't he, Captain? Stuff! Pity
for such a ferocious brute would be madness on your part; besides, the
fiend always protects his creatures, you may be sure, and I am certain
that he has escaped."
"How so?"
"Hang it, he didn't swim off to Saint Honorat; his people were probably
concealed somewhere: tired of not seeing him return, they will have
set out to seek him, and picked him up where I put him to bed; he will
probably have got off with gnawing the bit for two or three hours."
"Well, that is possible, Michael, and even probable. Where are you
taking us?"
"Zounds, you are the commander here, Captain; we will go wherever you
please."
"I will tell you, but first let us land the Major, for I fancy he
wishes to be free of our company as much as we do of his."
At this moment Bowline's voice was heard.
"Hilloh, Michael," he shouted, "we have a large vessel to windward."
"Confusion!" said the sailor, "Has she hoisted her colours?"
"Yes; she is a Norwegian."
"That will be a good opportunity for you, Major," said the Count.
"Eh, helmsman," Michael shouted, without awaiting the Major's answer,
"steer down to the Norwegian."
The Major considered it useless to protest.
Two hours later the vessels were within speaking distance: the
stranger was bound for Helsingfors, and the captain consented to take
the passenger offered him.
The Major was consequently transported on board, with everything
belonging to him.
"Now, Captain," said Michael, when the boat had returned, "where shall
we steer?"
"Let us go to the islands," the Count answered sadly, "henceforth we
shall only find a shelter there and taking a last glance at the coast
of France, whose outline was beginning to fade away in the distant
horizon," he muttered, with a sigh, and concealing his face sorrowfully
in his hands, "Farewell, France!"
In these two words was exhaled the last human feeling that remained at
the bottom of the heart of this man who had been so tried by adversity,
and who, vanquished by despair, was going to ask of the new world the
vengeance which the old world so obstinately refused him.