"I am at your service, monsieur, and ready to follow you wherever you
choose to take me."
"Permit me then to walk in advance to do the honors."
Canolles followed him, congratulating himself upon having fallen into
the hands of so courteous a gentleman.
"I fancy you will be let off with the ordinary question, only four pots
of water," Barrabas whispered in his ear.
"So much the better," said Canolles. "I shall swell up only half as
much."
When they reached the court-yard of the citadel, Canolles found part of
the garrison under arms. Thereupon the officer who escorted him drew
his sword and saluted him.
"_Mon Dieu!_ how tedious!" muttered Canolles.
At the same instant a drum beat under an archway near by. Canolles
turned, and a second file of soldiers issued from the archway and took
up a position behind the first.
The officer thereupon handed Canolles two keys.
"What does this mean?" the baron demanded; "what are you doing?"
"We are going through with the customary formalities in accordance with
the most rigorous laws of military etiquette."
"For whom do you take me, in God's name?" exclaimed Canolles, amazed
beyond expression.
"Why, for who you are,--for Monsieur le Baron de Canolles, Governor of
Île Saint-Georges."
A cloud passed before Canolles' eyes, and he was near falling.
"I shall have the honor in a moment," continued the officer, "of
turning over to Monsieur le Gouverneur his commission, which arrived
this morning, accompanied by a letter announcing monsieur's arrival for
to-day."
Canolles glanced at Barrabas, whose round eyes were fixed upon him
with an expression of speechless amazement impossible to describe.
"So I am Governor of Île Saint-Georges?" faltered Canolles.
"Yes, monsieur, and his Majesty has made us very happy by his choice."
"You are sure that there's no mistake?"
"If you will deign to go with me to your apartments, monsieur, you will
find there your commission."
Canolles, completely staggered by a dénouement so utterly different
from that which he anticipated, followed the officer without a
word, amid the beating of drums, soldiers presenting arms, and all
the inhabitants of the fortress, who made the air resound with
acclamations. Pale and excited, he saluted to right and left, and
questioned Barrabas with dismayed glance.
At last he was introduced into a salon furnished with some pretensions
to elegance, from the windows of which he noticed first of all that
he could see the château de Cambes; and there he read his commission,
drawn up in proper form, signed by the queen, and countersigned by the
Duc d'Épernon.
At that sight Canolles' legs altogether failed him, and he fell
helplessly upon a chair.
After all the fanfares and presenting arms and noisy demonstrations
of respect in the military fashion, and after the first feeling of
surprise which these demonstrations produced in him, Canolles was
anxious to know just what to think with reference to the office the
queen had bestowed upon him, and raised his eyes which for some time
had been fastened upon the floor.
He then saw standing in front of him, no less thunderstruck than
himself, his former keeper, become his very humble servant.
"Ah! is it you, Master Barrabas?" said he.
"Myself, Monsieur le Gouverneur."
"Will you explain what has happened? for I have all the difficulty in
the world not to take it for a dream."
"I will explain to you, monsieur, that when I talked about the
extraordinary question and the ten pots of water I thought, on my
honor, that I was gilding the pill."
"You mean to say that you were convinced--?"
"That I was bringing you here to be broken on the wheel, monsieur."
"Thanks!" said Canolles, shuddering in spite of himself. "But have you
any opinion now as to what has happened?"
"Yes, monsieur."
"Do me the favor to tell me what it is, monsieur."
"It is this, monsieur. The queen must have realized what a difficult
mission it was that she intrusted to you. As soon as the first angry
outburst had spent itself, she must have repented, and as you are not
a repulsive fellow, all things considered, her gracious Majesty has
thought fit to reward you because she had punished you too severely."
"Impossible!" said Canolles.
"Impossible, you think?"
"Improbable, at least."
"Improbable?"
"Yes."
"In that case, monsieur, it only remains for me to offer you
my very humble respects. You can be as happy as a king at Île
Saint-Georges,--excellent wine, abundance of game, and fresh fish
at every tide, brought by boats from Bordeaux and by the women of
Saint-Georges. Ah, monsieur, this is a miraculous ending!"
"Very good; I will try to follow your advice. Take this order signed
by myself, and go to the paymaster, who will give you ten pistoles. I
would give them to you myself, but since you took all my money as a
measure of precaution--"
"And I did well, monsieur," cried Barrabas; "for if you had succeeded
in corrupting me you would have fled, and if you had fled you would
naturally have sacrificed the elevated position which you have now
attained, and I should never have forgiven myself."
"Very cleverly argued, Master Barrabas. I have already noticed that
you are a past master in logic. But take this paper as a token of my
appreciation of your eloquence. The ancients, you know, represented
Eloquence with chains of gold issuing from her mouth."
"Monsieur," rejoined Barrabas, "if I dared I would remark that I think
it useless to call upon the paymaster--"
"What! you refuse?" cried Canolles.
"No, God forbid! I have no false pride, thank Heaven! But I can see
certain strings, which look to me much like purse-strings, protruding
from a box on your chimney-piece."
"You are evidently a connoisseur in strings, Master Barrabas," said
Canolles. "We will see if your previsions are correct."
There was a casket of old faience, incrusted with silver, upon the
chimney-piece. Canolles raised the lid, and found within, a purse, and
in the purse a thousand pistoles with this little note:--
"For the privy purse of Monsieur le Gouverneur of Île Saint-Georges."
"_Corbleu!_" said Canolles, blushing; "the queen does things very
well."
Instinctively the thought of Buckingham came into his mind. Perhaps the
queen had seen the handsome features of the young captain from behind
some curtain; perhaps a tender interest in him led her to extend her
protecting influence over him. Perhaps--We must remember that Canolles
was a Gascon.
Unfortunately, the queen was twenty years older than in Buckingham's
time.
Whatever the explanation, wherever the purse came from, Canolles put
his hand in it and took out ten pistoles, which he handed to Barrabas,
who left the room with a profusion of most respectful reverences.