"Good old Vigo! Vigo, tell me this; if you saw a marshal's baton waiting
you in the field, and at home your dearest friend were alone and in
peril, would you go off after glory?"
"Aye, if 'twas a hopeless business to stay, certes I would go."
"Oh, tell that in Bedlam!" M. Étienne cried. "You would do nothing of
the sort. Was it to win glory you stayed three years in that hole, St.
Quentin?"
"I had no choice, monsieur. My master was there."
"And my mistress is here! You may save your breath, Vigo; I know what I
shall do. The eloquence of monk Christin wouldn't change me."
"What is your purpose, M. Étienne?" Vigo asked.
Indeed, there was a vagueness about his scheme as revealed to us.
"It is quite simple. I purpose to get speech with mademoiselle if I can
contrive it, and I think I can. I purpose to smuggle her out of the
Hôtel de Lorraine--such feats have been accomplished before and may be
again. Then I shall bring her here and hold her against all comers."
"No," Vigo said, "no, monsieur. You may not do that."
"Ventre bleu, Vigo!" his young lord cried.
"No," said Vigo. "I can't have her here, and Mayenne's army after her."
"Coward!" shouted M. Étienne.
I thought Vigo would take us both by the scruff of our necks and throw
us out of the place. But he answered undisturbed:
"No, that is not the reason, monsieur. If M. le Duc told me to hold this
house against the armies of France and Spain, I'd hold it till the last
man of us was dead. But I am here in his absence to guard his hôtel, his
moneys, and his papers. I don't call it guarding to throw a firebrand
among them. Bringing Mayenne's niece here would be worse than that."
"Monsieur would never hesitate! Monsieur is no chicken-heart!" M.
Étienne cried. "If he were here, he'd say, 'We'll defend the lady if
every stone in this house is pulled from its fellow!'"
A twinkle came into Vigo's eyes.
"I think that is likely true," he said. "Monsieur opposed the marriage
as long as Mayenne desired it; but now that Mayenne forbids it, stealing
the demoiselle is another pair of sleeves."
"Well, then," cried M. Étienne, all good humour in a moment, "what more
do you want? We'll divert ourselves pouring pitch out of the windows on
Mayenne's ruffians."
"No, M. Étienne, it can't be done. If M. le Duc were here and gave the
command to receive her, that would be one thing. No one would obey with
a readier heart than I. Mordieu, monsieur, I have no objection to
succouring a damsel in distress; I have been in the business before
now."
"Then why not now? Death of my life, Vigo! When I know, and you know,
Monsieur would approve."
"I don't know it, monsieur," Vigo said. "I only think it. And I cannot
move by my own guesswork. I am in charge of the house till Monsieur
returns. I purpose to do nothing to jeopard it. But I interfere in no
way with your liberty to proceed as you please."
"I should think not, forsooth!" M. Étienne blazed out furiously.
"I could," rejoined Vigo, with his maddening tranquillity. "I could
order the guard--and they would obey--to lock you up in your chamber. I
believe Monsieur would thank me for it. But I don't do it. I leave you
free to act as it likes you."
My lord was white with ire.
"Who is master here, you or I?"
"Neither of us, M. le Comte. But Monsieur, leaving, put the keys in my
hand, and I am head of the house till he returns. You are very angry, M.
Étienne, but my shoulders are broad enough to bear it. Your madness will
get no countenance from me."
"Hang you for an obstinate pig!" M. Étienne cried.
Vigo said no more. He had made plain his position; he had naught to add
or retract. Yeux-gris's face cleared. After all, there was no use being
angry with Vigo; one might as well make fists at the flow of the Seine.
"Very well." M. Étienne swallowed his wrath. "It is understood that I
get no aid from you. Then I have nobody in the world with me save Félix
here. But for all that I'll win my lady!"