In accordance with my custom I gave an entertainment on the last day of
this year to the King and Queen; who came to the Arsenal with a
numerous train, and found the diversions I had provided so much to
their taste that they did not leave until I was half dead with fatigue,
and like to be killed with complaisance. Though this was not the most
splendid entertainment I gave that year, it had the good fortune to
please; and in a different and less agreeable fashion is recalled to my
memory by a peculiar chain of events, whereof the first link came under
my eyes during its progress.
I have mentioned in an earlier part of these memoirs, a Portuguese
adventurer who, about this time, gained large sums from the Court at
play, and more than once compelled the King to have recourse to me. I
had the worst opinion of this man, and did not scruple to express it on
several occasions; and this the more, as his presumption fell little
short of his knavery, while he treated those whom he robbed with as
much arrogance as if to play with him were an honour. Holding this
view of him, I was far from pleased when I discovered that the King had
brought him to my house; but the feeling, though sufficiently strong,
sank to nothing beside the indignation and disgust which I experienced
when, the company having fallen to cards after supper, I found that the
Queen had sat down with him to primero.
It did not lessen my annoyance, that I had, after my usual fashion,
furnished the Queen with a purse for her sport; and in this way found
myself reduced to stand by and see my good money pass into the clutches
of this knave. Under the circumstances, and in my own house, I could
do nothing; nevertheless, the table at which they sat possessed so
strong a fascination for me that I several times caught myself staring
at it more closely than was polite; and as to disgust at the
unseemliness of such companionship was added vexation at my own loss, I
might have gone farther towards betraying my feelings if a casual
glance aside had not disclosed to me the fact that I did not stand
alone in my dissatisfaction; but that, frivolous as the majority of the
courtiers were, there was one at least among those present who viewed
this particular game with distaste.
This person stood near the door, and fancying himself secured from
observation, either by his position or his insignificance, was
glowering on the pair in a manner that at another time must have cost
him a rebuke. As it was, I found something friendly, as well as
curious, in his fixed frown; and ignorant of his name, though I knew
him by sight, wondered both who he was and what was the cause of his
preoccupation.
On the one point I had no difficulty in satisfying myself. Boisrueil,
who presently passed, told me that his name was Vallon; that he
belonged to a poor but old family in the Cotentin, and that he had been
only three months at court.
"Making his fortune, I suppose?" I said grimly. "He games?"
"No, your excellency."
"Is in debt?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"To whom does he pay his court, then?"
"To the King."
"And the Queen?"
"Not particularly--as far as I know, at least. But if you wish to know
more, M. le Duc," Boisrueil continued, "I will--"
"No, no," I said peevishly. The Queen had just handed her last rouleau
across the table, and was still playing. "Go, man, about your
business; I don't want to spend the evening gossiping with you."
He went, and I dismissed the young fellow from my mind; only to find
him five minutes later at my elbow. To youth and good looks he added a
modest bearing that did not fail to enhance them and commend him to me;
the majority of the young sparks of the day being wiser than their
fathers. But I confess that I was not prepared for the stammering
embarrassment with which he addressed me--nor, indeed, to be addressed
by him at all.
"M. de Sully," he said, in a tone of emotion, "I beg you to pardon me.
I am in great trouble, and I think that perhaps, stranger as I am, you
may condescend to do me a service."
So many men appeal to a minister with some such formula on their lips,
and at times with a calculated timidity, that at the first blush of his
request I was inclined to bid him come to me at the proper time; and to
remove to another part of the room. But curiosity, playing the part of
his advocate, found so much that was candid in his manner that I
hesitated. "What is it?" I said stiffly.
"A very slight, if a very unusual, one," he muttered. "M. le Duc, I
only want you to--"
"To?" for he stopped and seemed unable to go on.
"To supplement the present you have given to the Queen with this," he
blurted out, his face pale with emotion; and he stealthily held out to
me a green silk purse, through the meshes of which I saw the glint of
gold. "M. de Sully," he continued, observing my hasty movement, "do
not be offended! I know that you have done all that hospitality
required. But I see that the Queen has already lost your gift, and
that--"
"She is playing on credit?"
"Yes, Monsieur."
He said it simply, and as he spoke, he again pressed on me the purse.
I took and weighed it, and calculated at a guess that it held fifty
crowns. The sum astonished me. "Why, man," I said, "you are not mad
enough to be in love with her Majesty?"
"No!" he cried, vehemently, yet with a gleam of humour in his eye. "I
swear that it is not so. If you will do me this favour--"
It was a mad impulse that took me, but I nodded, and resolving to make
good the money out of my own pocket should the case, when all was
clear, seem to demand it, I went straight from him, and, crossing the
floor, laid the purse near her Majesty's hand, with a polite word of
regret that fortune had used her so ill, and a hope that this might be
the means of recruiting her forces.
It would not have surprised me had she shown some signs of
consciousness, and perhaps betrayed that she recognised the purse. But
she contented herself with thanking me prettily, and almost before I
had done speaking had her slender fingers among the coins. Turning, I
found that Vallon had disappeared; so that all came to a sudden stop;
and with the one and the other, I retired completely puzzled, and less
able than before to make even a guess at the secret of the young man's
generosity.
However, the King summoning me to him, there, for the time, was an end
of the matter: and between fatigue and the duties of my position, I
did not give a second thought to it that evening. Next morning, too, I
was taken up with the gifts which it was my privilege as Master of the
Mint to present to the King on New Year's Day, and which consisted this
year of medals of gold, silver, and copper, bearing inscriptions of my
own composition, together with small bags of new coins for the King,
the Queen, and their attendants.
These I always made it a point to offer before the King rose; nor was
this year an exception, for I found his Majesty still in bed, the Queen
occupying a couch in the same chamber. But whereas it generally fell
to me to arouse them from sleep, and be the first to offer those
compliments which befitted the day, I found them on this occasion fully
roused, the King lazily toying with his watch, the Queen talking fast
and angrily, and at the edge of the carpet beside her bed Mademoiselle
D'Oyley in deep disgrace. The Queen, indeed, was so taken up with
scolding her that she had forgotten what day it was; and even after my
entrance, continued to rate the poor girl so fiercely that I thought
her present violence little less unseemly than her condescension of the
night before.
Perhaps some trace of this feeling appeared in my countenance; for,
presently, the King, who seldom failed to read my thoughts, tried to
check her in a good-natured fashion. "Come, my dear," he said; "let
that trembling mouse go. And do you hear what our good friend Sully
has brought you? I'll be bound--"
"How your Majesty talks!" the Queen answered, pettishly. "As if a few
paltry coins could make up for my jar! I'll be bound, for my part,
that this idle wench was romping and playing with--"
"Come, come; you have made her cry enough!" the King interrupted--and,
indeed, the girl was sobbing so passionately that a man could not
listen without pain. "Let her go, I say, and do you attend to Sully.
You have forgotten that it is New Year's Day--"
"A jar of majolica," the Queen cried, Utterly disregarding him, "worth
your body and soul, you little slut!"
"Pooh! pooh!" the King said.
"Do you think that I brought it from Florence, all the way in my own--"
"Nightcap," the King muttered. "There, there, sweetheart," he
continued, aloud, "let the girl go!"
"Of course! She is a girl," the Queen cried, with a sneer. "That is
enough for you!"
"Well, madam, she is not the only one in the room," I ventured.
"Oh, of course, you are the King's echo!"
"Run away, little one," Henry said, winking to me to be silent.
"And consider yourself lucky," the Queen cried, venomously. "You ought
to be whipped; and if I had you in my country, I would have you whipped
for all your airs! San Giacomo, if you cross me, I will see to it!"
This was a parting thrust; for the girl, catching at the King's
permission, had turned and was hurrying in a passion of tears to the
door. Still, the Queen had not done. Mademoiselle had broken a jar;
and there were other misdemeanours which her Majesty continued to
expound. But in the end I had my say, and presented the medals, which
were accepted by the King with his usual kindness, and by the Queen,
when her feelings had found expression, with sufficient complaisance.
Both were good enough to compliment me on my entertainment; but
observing that the Queen quickly buried herself again in her pillows
and was inclined to be peevish, I cut short my attendance on the plea
of fatigue, and left them at liberty to receive the very numerous
company who on this day pay their court.
Of these, the greater number came on afterwards, to wait on me; so that
for some hours the large hall at the Arsenal was thronged with my
friends, or those who called themselves by that name. But towards noon
the stream began to fail; and when I sat down to dinner at that hour, I
had reason to suppose that I should be left at peace. I had not more
than begun my meal, however, when I was called from table by a
messenger from the Queen.
"What is it?" I said, when I had gone to him. Had he come from the
King, I could have understood it more easily.
"Her Majesty desires to know, your excellency, whether you have seen
anything of Mademoiselle D'Oyley."
"I?"
"Yes, M. le Duc."
"No, certainly not. How should I?" I replied.
"And she is not here?" the man persisted.
"No!" I answered, angrily. "God bless the Queen, I know nothing of
her. I am sitting at meat, and--"
The man interrupted me with protestations of regret, and, hastening to
express himself thoroughly satisfied, retired with a crestfallen air.
I wondered what the message meant, and what had come over the Queen,
and whither the girl had gone. But as I made it a rule throughout my
term of office to avoid, as far as possible, all participation in
bed-chamber intrigues, I wasted little time on the matter, but
returning to my dinner, took up the conversation where I had left it.
Before I rose, however, La Trape came to me and again interrupted me.
He announced that a messenger from his Majesty was waiting in the hall.
I went out, thinking it very probable that Henry had sent me a present;
though it was his more usual custom on this day to honour me with a
visit, and declare his generous intentions by word of mouth, when we
had both retired to my library and the door was closed. Still, on one
or two occasions he had sent me a horse from his stables, a brace of
Indian fowl, a melon or the like, as a foretaste; and this I supposed
to be the errand on which the man had come.
His first words disabused me. "May it please your excellency," he
said, very civilly, "the King desires to be remembered to you as usual,
and would learn whether you know anything of Mademoiselle D'Oyley."
"Of whom?" I cried, astonished.
"Of Mademoiselle D'Oyley, her Majesty's maid of honour."
"Not I, i'faith!" I said, drily. "I am no squire of dames, to say
nothing of maids!"
"But his Majesty--"
"If he has sent that message," I replied, "has yet something to
learn--that I do not interest myself in maids of honour or such
frailties."