TO ME, MY FRIENDS!
I was impatient to learn who had come, and what was their errand with
me; and being still in that state of exaltation in which we seem to
hear and see more than at other times, I remarked a peculiar lagging
in the ascending footsteps, and a lack of buoyancy, which was quick to
communicate itself to my mind. A vague dread fell upon me as I stood
listening. Before the door opened I had already conceived a score of
disasters. I wondered that I had not inquired earlier concerning the
king's safety, and in fine I experienced in a moment that complete
reaction of the spirits which is too frequently consequent upon an
excessive flow of gaiety.
I was prepared, therefore, for heavy looks, but not for the persons
who wore them nor the strange bearing the latter displayed on
entering. My visitors proved to be M. d'Agen and Simon Fleix. And so
far well. But the former, instead of coming forward to greet me with
the punctilious politeness which always characterised him, and which I
had thought to be proof against every kind of surprise and peril, met
me with downcast eyes and a countenance so gloomy as to augment my
fears a hundredfold; since it suggested all those vague and formidable
pains which M. de Rambouillet had hinted might await me in a prison. I
thought nothing more probable than the entrance after them of a gaoler
laden with gyves and handcuffs; and saluting M. Francois with a face
which, do what I would, fashioned itself upon his, I had scarce
composure sufficient to place the poor accommodation of my room at his
disposal.
He thanked me; but he did it with so much gloom and so little
naturalness that I grew more impatient with each laboured syllable.
Simon Fleix had slunk to the window and turned his back on us. Neither
seemed to have anything to say. But a state of suspense was one which
I could least endure to suffer; and impatient of the constraint which
my friend's manner was fast imparting to mine, I asked him at once and
abruptly if his uncle had returned.
'He rode in about midnight,' he answered, tracing a pattern on the
floor with the point of his riding-switch.
I felt some surprise on hearing this, since d'Agen was still dressed
and armed for the road, and was without all those prettinesses which
commonly marked his attire. But as he volunteered no further
information, and did not even refer to the place in which he found me,
or question me as to the adventures which had lodged me there, I let
it pass, and asked him if his party had overtaken the deserters.
'Yes,' he answered, 'with no result.'
'And the king?'
'M. de Rambouillet is with him now,' he rejoined, still bending over
his tracing.
This answer relieved the worst of my anxieties, but the manner of the
speaker was so distrait and so much at variance with the studied
_insouciance_ which he usually affected, that I only grew more
alarmed. I glanced at Simon Fleix, but he kept his face averted, and I
could gather nothing from it; though I observed that he, too, was
dressed for the road, and wore his arms. I listened, but I could hear
no sounds which indicated that the Provost-Marshal was approaching.
Then on a sudden I thought of Mademoiselle de la Vire. Could it be
that Maignan had proved unequal to his task?
I started impetuously from my stool under the influence of the emotion
which this thought naturally aroused, and seized M. d'Agen by the arm.
'What has happened?' I exclaimed. 'Is it Bruhl? Did he break into my
lodgings last night? What!' I continued, staggering back as I read the
confirmation of my fears in his face. 'He did?'
M. d'Agen, who had risen also, pressed my hand with convulsive energy.
Gazing into my face, he held me a moment thus embraced, his manner a
strange mixture of fierceness and emotion. 'Alas, yes,' he answered,
'he did, and took away those whom he found there! Those whom he found
there, you understand! But M. de Rambouillet is on his way here, and
in a few minutes you will be free. We will follow together. If we
overtake them--well. If not, it will be time to talk.'
He broke off, and I stood looking at him, stunned by the blow, yet in
the midst of my own horror and surprise retaining sense enough to
wonder at the gloom on his brow and the passion which trembled in his
words. What had this to do with him? 'But Bruhl?' I said at last,
recovering myself with an effort--'how did he gain access to the room?
I left it guarded.'
'By a ruse, while Maignan and his men were away,' was the answer.
'Only this lad of yours was there. Bruhl's men overpowered him.'
'Which way has Bruhl gone?' I muttered, my throat dry, my heart
beating wildly.
He shook his head. 'All we know is that he passed through the south
gate with eleven horsemen, two women, and six led horses, at daybreak
this morning,' he answered. 'Maignan came to my uncle with the news,
and M. de Rambouillet went at once, early as it was, to the king to
procure your release. He should be here now.'
I looked at the barred window, the most horrible fears at my heart;
from it to Simon Fleix, who stood beside it, his attitude expressing
the utmost dejection. I went towards him. 'You hound!' I said in a low
voice, 'how did it happen?'
To my surprise he fell in a moment on his knees, and raised his arm as
though to ward off a blow. 'They imitated Maignan's voice,' he
muttered hoarsely. 'We opened.'
'And you dare to come here and tell me!' I cried, scarcely restraining
my passion. 'You, to whom I. entrusted her. You, whom I thought
devoted to her. You have destroyed her, man!'
He rose as suddenly as he had cowered down. His thin, nervous face
underwent a startling change; growing on a sudden hard and rigid,
while his eyes began to glitter with excitement. 'I--I have destroyed
her? Ay, mon dieu! I _have_,' he cried, speaking to my face, and no
longer flinching or avoiding my eye. 'You may kill me, if you like.
You do not know all. It was I who stole the favour she gave you from
your doublet, and then said M. de Rosny had taken it! It was I who
told her you had given it away! It was I who brought her to the Little
Sisters', that she might see you with Madame de Bruhl! It was I who
did all, and destroyed her! Now you know! Do with me what you like!'
He opened his arms as though to receive a blow, while I stood before
him astounded beyond measure by a disclosure so unexpected; full of
righteous wrath and indignation, and yet uncertain what I ought to do.
'Did you also let Bruhl into the room on purpose?' I cried at last.
'I?' he exclaimed, with a sudden flash of rage in his eyes. 'I would
have died first!'
I do not know how I might have taken this confession; but at the
moment there was a trampling of horses outside, and before I could
answer him I heard M. de Rambouillet speaking in haughty tones, at the
door below. The Provost-Marshal was with him, but his lower notes were
lost in the ring of bridles and the stamping of impatient hoofs. I
looked towards the door of my room, which stood ajar, and presently
the two entered, the Marquis listening with an air of contemptuous
indifference to the apologies which the other, who attended at his
elbow, was pouring forth. M. de Rambouillet's face reflected none of
the gloom and despondency which M. d'Agen's exhibited in so marked a
degree. He seemed, on the contrary, full of gaiety and good-humour,
and, coming forward and seeing me, embraced me with the utmost
kindness and condescension.
'Ha! my friend,' he said cheerfully, 'so I find you here after all!
But never fear. I am this moment from the king with an order for your
release. His Majesty has told me all, making me thereby your lasting
friend and debtor. As for this gentleman,' he continued, turning with
a cold smile to the Provost-Marshal, who seemed to be trembling in his
boots, 'he may expect an immediate order also. M. de Villequier has
wisely gone a-hunting, and will not be back for a day or two.'
Racked as I was by suspense and anxiety, I could not assail him with
immediate petitions. It behoved me first to thank him for his prompt
intervention, and this in terms as warm as I could invent. Nor could I
in justice fail to commend the Provost to him, representing the
officer's conduct to me, and lauding his ability. All this, though my
heart was sick with thought and fear and disappointment, and every
minute seemed an age.
'Well, well,' the Marquis said with stately good-nature, we will lay
the blame on Villequier then. He is an old fox, however, and ten to
one he will go scot-free. It is not the first time he has played this
trick. But I have not yet come to the end of my commission,' he
continued pleasantly. 'His Majesty sends you this, M. de Marsac, and
bade me say that he had loaded it for you.'
He drew from under his cloak as he spoke the pistol which I had left
with the king, and which happened to be the same M. de Rosny had given
me. I took it, marvelling impatiently at the careful manner in which
he handled it; but in a moment I understood, for I found it loaded to
the muzzle with gold-pieces, of which two or three fell and rolled
upon the floor. Much moved by this substantial mark of the king's
gratitude, I was nevertheless for pocketing them in haste; but the
Marquis, to satisfy a little curiosity on his part, would have me
count them, and brought the tale to a little over two thousand livres,
without counting a ring set with precious stones which I found among
them. This handsome present diverted my thoughts from Simon Fleix, but
could not relieve the anxiety I felt on mademoiselle's account. The
thought of her position so tortured me that M. de Rambouillet began to
perceive my state of mind, and hastened to assure me that before going
to the Court he had already issued orders calculated to assist me.
'You desire to follow this lady, I understand?' he said. 'What with
the king, who is enraged beyond the ordinary by this outrage, and
Francois there, who seemed beside himself when he heard the news, I
have not got any very clear idea of the position.'
'She was entrusted to me by--by one, sir, well known to you,' I
answered hoarsely. 'My honour is engaged to him and to her. If I
follow on my feet and alone, I must follow. If I cannot save her, I
can at least punish the villains who have wronged her.'
'But the man's wife is with them,' he said in some wonder.
'That goes for nothing,' I answered.
He saw the strong emotion under which I laboured, and which scarcely
suffered me to answer him with patience; and he looked at me
curiously, but not unkindly. 'The sooner you are off, the better
then,' he said, nodding. 'I gathered as much. The man Maignan will
have his fellows at the south gate an hour before noon, I understand.
Francois has two lackeys, and he is wild to go. With yourself and the
lad there you will muster nine swords. I will lend you two. I can
spare no more, for we may have an _emeute_ at any moment. You will
take the road, therefore, eleven in all, and should overtake them some
time to-night if your horses are in condition.'
I thanked him warmly, without regarding his kindly statement that my
conduct on the previous day had laid him under lasting obligations to
me. We went down together, and he transferred two of his fellows to me
there and then, bidding them change their horses for fresh ones and
meet me at the south gate. He sent also a man to my stable--Simon
Fleix having disappeared in the confusion--for the Cid, and was in the
act of inquiring whether I needed anything else, when a woman slipped
through the knot of horsemen who surrounded us as we stood in the
doorway of the house, and, throwing herself upon me, grasped me by the
arm. It was Fanchette. Her harsh features were distorted with grief,
her cheeks were mottled with the violent weeping in which such persons
vent their sorrow. Her hair hung in long wisps on her neck. Her dress
was torn and draggled, and there was a great bruise over her eye. She
had the air of one frantic with despair and misery.
She caught me by the cloak, and shook me so that I staggered. 'I have
found you at last!' she cried joyfully. 'You will take me with you!
You will take me to her!'
Though her words tried my composure, and my heart went out to her, I
strove to answer her according to the sense of the matter. 'It is
impossible,' I said sternly. 'This is a man's errand. We shall have to
ride day and night, my good woman.'
'But I will ride day and night too!' she replied passionately,
flinging the hair from her eyes, and looking wildly from me to M. de
Rambouillet. 'What would I not do for her? I am as strong as a man,
and stronger. Take me, take me, I say, and when I meet that villain I
will tear him limb from limb!'
I shuddered, listening to her; but remembering that, being country
bred, she was really as strong as she said, and that likely enough
some advantage might accrue to us from her perfect fidelity and
devotion to her mistress, I gave a reluctant consent. I sent one of M.
de Rambouillet's men to the stable where the deaf man's bay was
standing, bidding him pay whatever was due to the dealer, and bring
the horse to the south gate; my intention being to mount one of my men
on it, and furnish the woman with a less tricky steed.
The briskness of these and the like preparations, which even for one
of my age and in my state of anxiety were not devoid of pleasure,
prevented my thoughts dwelling on the future. Content to have M.
Francois' assistance without following up too keenly the train of
ideas which his readiness suggested, I was satisfied also to make use
of Simon without calling him to instant account for his treachery. The
bustle of the streets, which the confirmation of the king's speedy
departure had filled with surly, murmuring crowds, tended still
further to keep my fears at bay; while the contrast between my
present circumstances, as I rode through them well-appointed and
well-attended, with the Marquis by my side, and the poor appearance I
had exhibited on my first arrival in Blois, could not fail to inspire
me with hope that I might surmount this danger also, and in the event
find Mademoiselle safe and uninjured. I took leave of M. de
Rambouillet with many expressions of esteem on both sides, and a few
minutes before eleven reached the rendezvous outside the south gate.
M. d'Agen and Maignan advanced to meet me, the former still presenting
an exterior so stern and grave that I wondered to see him, and could
scarcely believe he was the same gay spark whose elegant affectations
had more than once caused me to smile. He saluted me in silence;
Maignan with a sheepish air, which ill-concealed the savage temper
defeat had roused in him. Counting my men, I found we mustered ten
only, but the equerry explained that he had despatched a rider ahead
to make inquiries and leave word for us at convenient points; to the
end that we might follow the trail with as few delays as possible.
Highly commending Maignan for his forethought in this, I gave the word
to start, and crossing the river by the St. Gervais Bridge, we took
the road for Selles at a smart trot.
The weather had changed much in the last twenty-four hours. The sun
shone brightly, with a warm west wind, and the country already showed
signs of the early spring which marked that year. If, the first hurry
of departure over, I had now leisure to feel the gnawing of anxiety
and the tortures inflicted by an imagination which, far outstripping
us, rode with those whom we pursued and shared their perils, I found
two sources of comfort still open to me. No man who has seen service
can look on a little band of well-appointed horsemen without pleasure.
I reviewed the stalwart forms and stern faces which moved beside me,
and comparing their decent order and sound equipments with the scurvy
foulness of the men who had ridden north with me, thanked God, and
ceased to wonder at the indignation which Matthew and his fellows had
aroused in mademoiselle's mind. My other source of satisfaction, the
regular beat of hoofs and ring of bridles continually augmented. Every
step took us farther from Blois--farther from the close town and
reeking streets and the Court; which, if it no longer seemed to me a
shambles, befouled by one great deed of blood--experience had removed
that impression--retained an appearance infinitely mean and miserable
in my eyes. I hated and loathed its intrigues and its jealousies, the
folly which trifled in a closet while rebellion mastered France, and
the pettiness which recognised no wisdom save that of balancing party
and party. I thanked God that my work there was done, and could have
welcomed any other occasion that forced me to turn my back on it, and
sent me at large over the pure heaths, through the woods, and under
the wide heaven, speckled with moving clouds.
But such springs of comfort soon ran dry. M. d'Agen's gloomy rage and
the fiery gleam in Maignan's eye would have reminded me, had I been in
any danger of forgetting the errand on which we were bound, and the
need, exceeding all other needs, which compelled us to lose no moment
that might be used. Those whom we followed had five hours' start. The
thought of what might happen in those five hours to the two helpless
women whom I had sworn to protect burned itself into my mind; so that
to refrain from putting spurs to my horse and riding recklessly
forward taxed at times all my self-control. The horses seemed to
crawl. The men rising and falling listlessly in their saddles maddened
me. Though I could not hope to come upon any trace of our quarry for
many hours, perhaps for days, I scanned the long, flat heaths
unceasingly, searched every marshy bottom before we descended into it,
and panted for the moment when the next low ridge should expose to our
view a fresh track of wood and waste. The rosy visions of the past
night, and those fancies in particular which had made the dawn
memorable, recurred to me, as his deeds in the body (so men say) to a
hopeless drowning wretch. I grew to think of nothing but Bruhl and
revenge. Even the absurd care with which Simon avoided the
neighbourhood of Fanchette, riding anywhere so long as he might
ride at a distance from the angry woman's tongue and hand--which
provoked many a laugh from the men, and came to be the joke of the
company--failed to draw a smile from me.
We passed through Contres, four leagues from Blois, an hour after
noon, and three hours later crossed the Cher at Selles, where we
stayed awhile to bait our horses. Here we had news of the party before
us, and henceforth had little doubt that Bruhl was making for the
Limousin; a district in which he might rest secure under the
protection of Turenne, and safely defy alike the King of France and
the King of Navarre. The greater the necessity, it was plain, for
speed; but the roads in that neighbourhood, and forward as far as
Valancy, proved heavy and foundrous, and it was all we could do to
reach Levroux with jaded horses three hours after sunset. The
probability that Bruhl would lie at Chateauroux, five leagues farther
on--for I could not conceive that under the circumstances he would
spare the women,--would have led me to push forward had it been
possible; but the darkness and the difficulty of finding a guide who
would venture deterred me from the hopeless attempt, and we stayed the
night where we were.
Here we first heard of the plague; which was said to be ravaging
Chateauroux and all the country farther south. The landlord of the inn
would have regaled us with many stories of it, and particularly of the
swiftness with which men and even cattle succumbed to its attacks. But
we had other things to think of, and between anxiety and weariness had
clean forgotten the matter when we rose next morning.
We started shortly after daybreak, and for three leagues pressed on at
tolerable speed. Then, for no reason stated, our guide gave us the
slip as we passed through a wood, and was seen no more. We lost the
road, and had to retrace our steps. We strayed into a slough, and
extracted ourselves with difficulty. The man who was riding the bay I
had purchased forgot the secret which I had imparted to him, and got
an ugly fall. In fine, after all these mishaps it wanted little of
noon, and less to exhaust our patience, when at length we came in
sight of Chateauroux.
Before entering the town we had still an adventure; for we came at a
turn in the road on a scene as surprising as it was at first
inexplicable. A little north of the town, in a coppice of box facing
the south and west, we happed suddenly on a rude encampment,
consisting of a dozen huts and booths, set back from the road and
formed, some of branches of evergreen trees laid clumsily together,
and some of sacking stretched aver poles. A number of men and women of
decent appearance lay on the short grass before the booths, idly
sunning themselves; or moved about, cooking and tending fires, while a
score of children raced to and fro with noisy shouts and laughter. The
appearance of our party on the scene caused an instant panic. The
women and children fled screaming into the wood, spreading the sound
of breaking branches farther and farther as they retreated; while the
men, a miserable pale-faced set, drew together, and seeming half
inclined to fly also, regarded us with glances of fear and suspicion.
Remarking that their appearance and dress were not those of vagrants,
while the booths seemed to indicate little skill or experience in the
builders, I bade my companions halt, and advanced alone.
'What is the meaning of this, my men?' I said, addressing the first
group I reached. 'You seem to have come a-Maying before the time.
Whence are you?'
'From Chateauroux,' the foremost answered sullenly. His dress, now I:
saw him nearer, seemed to be that of a respectable townsman.
'Why?' I replied. 'Have you no homes?'
'Ay we have homes,' he answered with the same brevity.
'Then why, in God's name, are you here?' I retorted, marking the
gloomy air and downcast faces of the group. 'Have you been harried?'
'Ay, harried by the Plague!' he answered bitterly. 'Do you mean to say
you have not heard? In Chateauroux there is one man dead in three.
Take my advice, sir--you are a brave company--turn, and go home
again.'
'Is it as bad as that?' I exclaimed. I had forgotten the landlord's
gossip, and the explanation struck me with the force of surprise.
'Ay, is it! Do you see the blue haze?' he continued, pointing with a
sudden gesture to the lower ground before us, over which a light pall
of summery vapour hung still and motionless. 'Do you see it? Well,
under that there is death! You may find food in Chateauroux, and
stalls for your horses, and a man to take money; for there are still
men there. But cross the Indre, and you will see sights worse than a
battle-field a week old! You will find no living soul in house or
stable or church, but corpses plenty. The land is cursed! cursed for
heresy, some say! Half are dead, and half are fled to the woods! And
if you do not die of the plague, you will starve.'
'God forbid!' I muttered, thinking with a shudder of those before us.
This led me to ask him if a party resembling ours in number, and
including two women, had passed that way. He answered, Yes, after
sunset the evening before; that their horses were stumbling with
fatigue and the men swearing in pure weariness. He believed that they
had not entered the town, but had made a rude encampment half a mile
beyond it; and had again broken this up, and ridden southwards two or
three hours before our arrival.
'Then we may overtake them to-day?' I said.
'By your leave, sir,' he answered, with grave meaning. 'I think you
are more likely to meet them.'
Shrugging my shoulders, I thanked him shortly and left him; the full
importance of preventing my men hearing what I had heard--lest the
panic which possessed these townspeople should seize on them
also--being already in my mind. Nevertheless the thought came too
late, for on turning my horse I found one of the foremost, a long,
solemn-faced man, had already found his way to Maignan's stirrup;
where he was dilating so eloquently upon the enemy which awaited us
southwards that the countenances of half the troopers were as long as
his own, and I saw nothing for it but to interrupt his oration by a
smart application of my switch to his shoulders. Having thus stopped
him, and rated him back to his fellows, I gave the word to march. The
men obeyed mechanically, we swung into a canter, and for a moment the
danger was over.
But I knew that it would recur again and again. Stealthily marking the
faces round me, and listening to the whispered talk which went on, I
saw the terror spread from one to another. Voices which earlier in the
day had been raised in song and jest grew silent. Great reckless
fellows of Maignan's following, who had an oath and a blow for all
comers, and to whom the deepest ford seemed to be child's play, rode
with drooping heads and knitted brows; or scanned with ill-concealed
anxiety the strange haze before us, through which the roofs of the
town, and here and there a low hill or line of poplars, rose to
plainer view. Maignan himself, the stoutest of the stout, looked
grave, and had lost his swaggering air. Only three persons preserved
their _sang-froid_ entire. Of these, M. d'Agen rode as if he had heard
nothing, and Simon Fleix as if he feared nothing; while Fanchette,
gazing eagerly forward, saw, it was plain, only one object in the
mist, and that was her mistress's face.
We found the gates of the town open, and this, which proved to be the
herald of stranger sights, daunted the hearts of my men more than the
most hostile reception. As we entered, our horses' hoofs, clattering
loudly on the pavement, awoke a hundred echoes in the empty houses to
right and left. The main street, flooded with sunshine, which made its
desolation seem a hundred times more formidable, stretched away before
us, bare and empty; or haunted only by a few slinking dogs, and
prowling wretches, who fled, affrighted at the unaccustomed sounds, or
stood and eyed us listlessly as we passed. A bell tolled; in the
distance we heard the wailing of women. The silent ways, the black
cross which marked every second door, the frightful faces which once
or twice looked out from upper windows and blasted our sight, infected
my men with terror so profound and so ungovernable that at last
discipline was forgotten; and one shoving his horse before another in
narrow places, there was a scuffle to be first. One, and then a
second, began to trot. The trot grew into a shuffling canter. The
gates of the inn lay open, nay seemed to invite us to enter; but no
one turned or halted. Moved by a single-impulse we pushed breathlessly
on and on, until the open country was reached, and we who had entered
the streets in silent awe, swept out and over the bridge as if the
fiend were at our heels.
That I shared in this flight causes me no shame even now, for my men
were at the time ungovernable, as the best-trained troops are when
seized by such panics; and, moreover, I could have done no good by
remaining in the town, where the strength of the contagion was
probably greater and the inn larder like to be as bare as the
hillside. Few towns are without a hostelry outside the gates for the
convenience of knights of the road or those who would avoid the dues,
and Chateauroux proved no exception to this rule. A short half-mile
from the walls we drew rein before a second encampment raised about a
wayside house. It scarcely needed the sound of music mingled with
brawling voices to inform us that the wilder spirits of the town had
taken refuge here, and were seeking to drown in riot and debauchery,
as I have seen happen in a besieged place, the remembrance of the
enemy which stalked; abroad in the sunshine. Our sudden appearance,
while it put a stop to the mimicry of mirth, brought out a score of
men and women in every stage of drunkenness and dishevelment, of whom
some, with hiccoughs and loose gestures, cried to us to join them,
while others swore horridly at being recalled to the present, which,
with the future, they were endeavouring to forget.
I cursed them in return for a pack of craven wretches, and threatening
to ride down those who obstructed; us, ordered my men forward; halting
eventually a quarter of a mile farther on, where a wood of groundling
oaks which still wore last year's leaves afforded fair shelter. Afraid
to leave my men myself, lest some should stray to the inn and others
desert altogether, I requested M. d'Agen to return thither with
Maignan and Simon, and bring us what forage and food we required. This
he did with perfect success, though not until after a scuffle, in
which Maignan showed himself a match for a hundred. We watered the
horses at a neighbouring brook, and assigning two hours to rest and:
refreshment--a great part of which M. d'Agen and I spent walking up
and down in moody silence, each immersed in his own thoughts--we
presently took the road again with renewed spirits.
But a panic is not easily shaken off, nor is any fear so difficult to
combat and defeat as the fear of the invisible. The terrors which food
and drink had for a time thrust out presently returned with sevenfold
force. Men looked uneasily in one another's faces, and from them to
the haze which veiled all distant objects. They muttered of the heat,
which was sudden, strange, and abnormal at that time of the year. And
by-and-by they had other things to speak of. We met a man, who ran
beside us and begged of us, crying out in a dreadful voice that his
wife and four children lay unburied in the house. A little farther on,
beside a well, the corpse of a woman with a child at her breast lay
poisoning the water; she had crawled to it to appease her thirst, and
died of the draught. Last of all, in a beech-wood near Lotier we came
upon a lady I living in her coach, with one or two panic-stricken
women for her only attendants. Her husband was in Paris, she told me;
half her servants were dead, the rest had fled. Still she retained in
a remarkable degree both courage and courtesy, and accepting with
fortitude my reasons and excuses for perforce, leaving her in such a
plight, gave me a clear account of Bruhl and his party, who had passed
her some hours before. The picture of this lady gazing after us with
perfect good-breeding, as we rode away at speed, followed by the
lamentations of her women, remains with me to this day; filling my
mind at once with admiration and melancholy. For, as I learned later,
she fell ill of the plague where we left her in the beech-wood, and
died in a night with both her servants.
The intelligence we had from her inspired us to push forward, sparing
neither spur nor horseflesh, in the hope that we might overtake Bruhl
before night should expose his captives to fresh hardships and
dangers. But the pitch to which the dismal sights and sounds I have
mentioned, and a hundred like them, had raised the fears of my
following did much to balk my endeavours. For a while, indeed, under
the influence of momentary excitement, they spurred their horses to
the gallop, as if their minds were made up to face the worst; but
presently they checked them despite all my efforts, and, lagging
slowly and more slowly, seemed to lose all spirit and energy. The
desolation which met our eyes on every side, no less than the
death-like stillness which prevailed, even the birds, as it seemed to
us, being silent, chilled the most reckless to the heart. Maignan's
face lost its colour, his voice its ring. As for the rest, starting at
a sound and wincing if a leather galled them, they glanced backwards
twice for once they looked forwards, and held themselves ready to take
to their heels and be gone at the least alarm.
Noting these signs, and doubting if I could trust even Maignan, I
thought it prudent to change my place, and falling to the rear, rode
there with a grim face and a pistol ready to my hand. It was not the
least of my annoyances that M. d'Agen appeared to be ignorant of any
cause for apprehension save such as lay before us, and riding on in
the same gloomy fit which had possessed him from the moment of
starting, neither sought my opinion nor gave his own, but seemed to
have undergone so complete and mysterious a change that I could think
of one thing only that could have power to effect so marvellous a
transformation. I felt his presence a trial rather than a help, and
reviewing the course of our short friendship, which a day or two
before had been so great a delight to me--as the friendship of a young
man commonly is to one growing old--I puzzled myself with much
wondering whether there could be rivalry between us.
Sunset, which was welcome to my company, since it removed the haze,
which they regarded with superstitious dread, found us still plodding
through a country of low ridges and shallow valleys, both clothed in
oak-woods. Its short brightness died away, and with it my last hope of
surprising Bruhl before I slept. Darkness fell upon us as we wended
our way slowly down a steep hillside where the path was so narrow and
difficult as to permit only one to descend at a time. A stream of some
size, if we might judge from the noise it made, poured through the
ravine below us, and presently, at the point where we believed the
crossing to be, we espied a solitary light shining in the blackness.
To proceed farther was impossible, for the ground grew more and more
precipitous; and, seeing this, I bade Maignan dismount, and leaving us
where we were, go for a guide to the house from which the light
issued.
He obeyed, and plunging into the night, which in that pit between the
hills was of an inky darkness, presently returned with a peasant and a
lanthorn. I was about to bid the man guide us to the ford, or to some
level ground where we could picket the horses, when Maignan gleefully
cried out that he had news. I asked what news.
'Speak up, _manant!_' he said, holding up his lanthorn so that the
light fell on the man's haggard face and unkempt hair. 'Tell his
Excellency what you have told me, or I will skin you alive, little
man!'
'Your other party came to the ford an hour before sunset,' the peasant
answered, staring dully at us. 'I saw them coming, and hid myself.
They quarrelled by the ford. Some were for crossing, and some not.'
'They had ladies with them?' M. d'Agen said suddenly.
'Ay, two, your Excellency,' the clown answered, 'riding like men. In
the end they did not cross for fear of the plague, but turned up the
river, and rode westwards towards St. Gaultier.'
'St. Gaultier!' I said. 'Where is that? Where does the road to it go
to besides?'
But the peasant's knowledge was confined to his own neighbourhood. He
knew no world beyond St. Gaultier, and could not answer my question. I
was about to bid him show us the way down, when Maignan cried out that
he knew more.
'What?' I asked.
'Arnidieu! he heard them say where they were going to spend the
night!
'Ha!' I cried. 'Where?'
'In an old ruined castle two leagues from this, and between here and
St. Gaultier,' the equerry answered, forgetting in his triumph both
plague and panic. 'What do you I say to that, your Excellency?' It is
so, sirrah, is it not?' he continued; turning to the peasant. 'Speak,
Master Jacques, or I will roast you before a slow fire!'
But I did not wait to hear the answer. Leaping to the ground, I took
the Cid's rein on my arm, and cried impatiently to the man to lead us
down.