CHOISSEZ LE ROI
"She moves a goddess and she looks a queen."
Le Jour de l'An was a full day with me. Though I did not go to early
mass with the family, I left the house when they did and had a fast
gallop on Fatima's back through the gray dawn down to the boat, for
there were still a few finishing touches to be put to my decorations
and arrangements for mademoiselle's comfort, and I was in feverish
haste that all should be in readiness. Captain Clarke and I spent the
day in visits of ceremony made at the houses where we had been so
often and so kindly entertained during our stay. They were really
farewell visits, though for prudential reasons we said nothing of our
approaching departure. At every house we were served with
croquecignolles and wine or ratafia by the young maidens and their
mothers, and we were so hospitably urged to eat and drink that had we
done anything more than make the merest pretense for the sake of good
fellowship we would have been in no condition for the dance in the
evening.
Frenchmen know better how to manage their drinking than do we
Anglo-Saxons. I know not how they do it, but I know not a young
fellow appeared at the governor's house in the evening who had
apparently taken more than was good for him; and yet had our
Philadelphia lads been through the ordeal of proffered glasses all day
long, I warrant there would not have been a corporal's guard able to
line up in good order at the governor's ball. But all these young St.
Louis Frenchmen were out in fine feather, and carrying themselves
grandly, eyes bright and heads steady, ready to lead out to the
governor's table the belles of St. Louis, dazzling in brocades and
feathers, lace, and powder and black patches.
It was a goodly feast, ragout and roast fowl and venison pasties, and
cakes and tarts and rich conserves making the tables groan; but the
crowning moment was when the governor's stately butler brought in the
bean-cake (almost as much as he could carry) and set it down before
the governor. 'Twas a breathless silence as the governor cut each
slice and sent it first to the maiden nearest him and then to the next
in order. I was not in the least surprised when one of the four beans
fell to mademoiselle's lot; I would have been surprised if it had not.
There was a burst of ringing cheers, led by Josef Papin, when the
lucky slice came to her, and I thought, "He knows he will be chosen
king," and smiled with bitterness at the thought.
I had not seen mademoiselle all day. As I glanced at her now, smiling
and coloring with pleasure at the cheers that betokened her
popularity, it flashed into my mind that she would reign a queen
indeed when she came into her own in France, for I was very sure
there were no court ladies could compare with her for beauty and
grace.
The governor himself crowned the four queens, and then they had to
retire into the background for a space while their elders danced the
first minuet, in which the governor led out Madame Chouteau in stately
measure. But after that formal opening of the ball the young people
had it all their own way, and the four queens queened it royally each
with a flock of suitors around her. I said to myself proudly, "I will
not hang on to any of their trains." There was no possible doubt but
that mademoiselle would choose Josef Papin (since the chevalier was
not there), and while I would have liked it well if one of the others
had chosen me, just to show mademoiselle that all did not scorn me, I
would not seem to sue for favors. So I attached myself to Mademoiselle
Chouteau (who had not been so lucky as to draw a bean); and she being
in the sauciest mood (and looking exceeding pretty), and I feeling
that I was at least as well dressed as any other man (since I had on
my plum-colored velvets and my finest lace), and therefore at my ease,
we made ourselves so entertaining to each other that I began in my
heart to feel a little regret that this was to be my last ball with
her.
I would not so much as look at mademoiselle, whose silvery laugh
sometimes floated to my ears, for she had treated me shamefully of
late, and, as far as I could see, without the least reason. Just once
I caught her eye, however. I do not know how it happened, but there
was a moment of almost silence in the crowded room. The violins were
not playing, no one was dancing, and for one fleeting moment, every
one, or nearly every one, seemed to have ceased talking. Into this
strange silence, through the open windows, there floated the clear
call of the whippoorwill,--only one, for the buzz and clamor and
clatter of many voices surged up again instantly, and the violins
began to scrape and screech themselves into tune, and no one seemed to
have noticed either the silence or the whippoorwill. But I could not
for the life of me help one swift glance toward mademoiselle, and I
met her eyes seeking mine in a look of startled alarm that was almost
terror. I held her glance long enough to say to her with my eyes, "Do
not be afraid; I will see what it is," and I had the satisfaction of
seeing, before she turned away, that she understood and was reassured.
A few minutes later I slipped outside. I was not entirely at ease
about that call, it had meant so much once. And I was not at all sure
of the chevalier. A ball like this, with every one off guard, would be
just his opportunity. Outside there was a motley throng of negroes,
river-men, and Indians, hanging around to get glimpses of the dancers
and the guests coming and going. The yard was brightly lighted in
spots by flaming lightwood torches, which left the other parts in
deepest gloom. I noticed among the throng a little group of mummers,
such as had been at Dr. Saugrain's the night before in hideous masks.
This did not at first seem strange to me, but afterward I thought it
must be unusual, for they belonged peculiarly to New Year's eve.
Leaning against a post that held a lightwood torch, a little withdrawn
from the others, in solitary dignity, stood Black Hawk. I knew if
there had been anything unusual in the whippoorwill cry he would know
it. I sauntered up to him carelessly (for if there were spies about, I
did not want to arouse suspicion), and stopped where the light fell
full on me, for I knew well the value of impressing Black Hawk with
the splendor of my dress. For the benefit of any possible listener, I
told him that the governor's halls were hot and I must needs get a
draft of cold air before I could go back to my dancing. Then I talked
to him of Daniel Boone, for he had been with us on our trip to his
home, and I knew his admiration for that wonderful man. His only
responses were a series of grunts, but they were amiable ones (I think
the old savage rather liked me), and as I talked I gradually drew
nearer. When I was quite close to him, I said suddenly, in a low tone:
"Does the Great Chief of the Sacs think there are any White Wolves or
Red Dogs about to-night?"
I saw a sudden glitter in his eye, but that was the only response
except the invariable "Ugh!" Then I said again in the same low tone:
"If Black Hawk will watch and let his white brother know what he finds
out, it will greatly please the brother of the Captain of the Long
Knives."
There was another "Ugh!"--this time with half an inclination of the
head, and I went back to the dance satisfied that if there was
anything wrong, Black Hawk would discover it.
It was half an hour later when Yorke came to me between the figures of
the dance and begged a word with me.
"Jes as soon as yo' can slip out unbeknownst-like," he said, "that
thar decent redskin 's waitin' to speak to yo'-all at the kitchen
doah. Yo' 's to go down through the house, so 's nobody outside won't
see yo'."
I found an opportunity as soon as that dance was over, and going down
through the house, with Yorke as my guide, I found Black Hawk waiting,
and without a preliminary word, in slow, sententious fashion, he
delivered his message.
"Black Hawk say to White Brother, Beware of White Wolf and six Red
Dogs. Wear devil's faces. All gone now. Wait for Little White Fawn
going home. Black Hawk go home with White Fawn and Fine Dress and Long
Knives' brother and Little Medicine-man and Big Black."
I understood his broken sentences very well. The mummers were, as I
had half suspected, the chevalier and a band of Osages. They would lie
in wait for Pelagie on our way home and capture her if we were off
guard. Black Hawk offered his services to guard her on the way home,
and I gladly accepted them, for even then the chevalier's band would
outnumber us; and while in a hand-to-hand fight I did not doubt we
were much the better men, they would have greatly the advantage of us
in being able to spring upon us from ambuscade and get the first
shot.
[Illustration: "In solitary dignity stood Black Hawk"]
Black Hawk had planned our forces well, but I did not like his title
for me, "Fine Dress"; I would rather he had called me "Straight
Shoot," the name he had several times given me on our trip together up
the Missouri. I had a lurking doubt that he was rebuking me for my
vanity.
But there was no time to quarrel about titles. I hunted up Dr.
Saugrain, whom I found in the wide chimney-corner, the center of a
group of choice spirits,--the two Chouteaus, Mr. Gratiot, Mr. Cerré,
Francis Vigo, and Manuel Lisa,--and he was telling them all, with
great enthusiasm, about his experiments in quicksilver, and, to my
surprise, they were listening as eagerly as if he had been telling
tales of war and adventure--which was a marvelous thing to me, to whom
science was ever dull and dry-as-dust. I liked not to interrupt him,
but the need was pressing, and when I had called him to one side and
told him of the presence of the chevalier and his Osages, he was
greatly excited.
The thing that troubled me most was that we were without firearms. I
had my sword on, of course, and so had the captain, but swords would
be of little use, for the savages would not wait for a hand-to-hand
encounter, but would fire at long range. The only thing to be done was
to borrow from the governor; and in his grand Spanish manner he
pressed all the guns of his armory upon us, and said he would send a
messenger at once to the fort to have a troop despatched to scour the
town and rid it of every suspicious character; which was somewhat of a
relief to me, but would have been more so if I could only have felt
more confidence in his slow-moving Spanish soldiers.
But the governor begged, since it was a matter that required no haste,
that we would say nothing to alarm his guests and so break up the
dance in undue time, for, as he said, the kings had not yet been
chosen, and it would be a great pity to interfere with that pleasant
ceremony. As for me, I would have been quite willing to dispense with
it. There would be no pleasure to me in seeing mademoiselle pin her
bouquet on the lapel of Josef Papin's coat, thus choosing him her
king; but there was nothing to do but go back to the ball-room and see
it out.
As I entered the room, there happened to be a little break in the
coterie of young men surrounding mademoiselle, and through it I met
her glance of eager inquiry. She had evidently missed me from the
room, and had her suspicions as to the cause of my long absence. I
returned her glance with an assuring smile that all was well, and went
on to where I had left Mademoiselle Chouteau a half-hour before. I
could not have expected her to sit in a corner waiting for me all that
while, yet when I found that she too had her little coterie, and I was
evidently not missed, I felt unaccountably hurt and forlorn: as if
there was no place for me, an alien, among these St. Louis French
people. As I had done many times before, I turned to Madame Saugrain
for comfort.
It was nearing midnight, and I had wondered as I came in why they were
not dancing. Now I saw the reason of it. Down through the center of
the floor came the governor, followed by his tall butler bearing a
silver tray with four small bouquets upon it. He went directly to
mademoiselle first, and then to the three other queens in turn,
presenting each with one of the bouquets and making to each a gallant
little speech, which the four maidens received with smiles and blushes
and curtsies as became them, but mademoiselle also with a stately
grace befitting a queen.
Then there was a moment of intense expectancy, for it was mademoiselle
who was first to place her bouquet on the lapel of the coat of the
chosen king. I would not look at her. I did not want to see her put it
upon Josef Papin's coat, though there was no other there more fitting
to receive it or who would make a more royal king for such a queen. So
I half turned my back and talked busily to madame, who listened to me
not at all, so engrossed was she in the spectacle. It seemed to me a
long time in the doing, and presently I saw in madame's eyes a light
of eager surprise.
"Look, m'ami, look!" she cried to me. But I would not look; no, not
even when I began to feel a suspicion of what was going to happen,
from a queer feeling in my backbone, and my heart beating like a
trip-hammer, and the blood rushing to the roots of my hair.
"Look, look! I beg you to turn!" madame cried again. But I would not
turn, though I heard a subdued murmur of voices all around me, and a
soft rustle of silken skirts coming nearer and nearer--not until the
soft rustle stopped close beside me, and a sweet voice said:
"Shall I pin my bouquet upon Monsieur's back? I believe it is usual to
pin it upon the lapel of the coat."
Then I turned quickly, and for all the answer I made I dropped on one
knee and held toward her the lapel of my coat, and as she stooped to
pin it on I looked straight into her eyes. And what my eyes said to
hers I know not, but quickly the white lids drooped over hers and shut
me out from heaven, while the long black lashes lay upon her cheek,
and the rich blood swept in a slow flood from the snowy throat to the
dark waves of hair that crowned her white brow.
And now her fingers trembled so in pinning on the flowers that she was
long in the doing of it (though I could have wished it much longer);
and when she had finished I seized the hand that trembled, and for the
first time I had ever dared I pressed my lips upon it. I saw another
wave of color sweep her face, and then she bade me rise, and as I
stood beside her a burst of acclaims came from every lip, "Vive le
roi! Vive le roi!" and from one, "Vive le roi et la reine!" and I
could not have been prouder had I been king indeed, and she my royal
consort beside me!