I bade Voban come to me at the little house behind the church that night
at ten o’clock, and by then I should have arranged some plan of action.
I knew not whether to trust Gabord or no. I was sorry now that I had
not tried to bring Clark with me. He was fearless, and he knew the town
well; but he lacked discretion, and that was vital.
Two hours of waiting, then came a scene which is burned into my brain.
I looked down upon a mass of people, soldiers, couriers of the woods,
beggars, priests, camp followers, and anxious gentlefolk, come from
seclusion, or hiding, or vigils of war, to see a host of powers torture
a young girl who by suffering had been made a woman long before her
time. Out in the streets was the tramping of armed men, together with
the call of bugles and the sharp rattle of drums. Presently I heard the
hoofs of many horses, and soon afterwards there entered the door, and
way was made for him up the nave, the Marquis de Vaudreuil and his
suite, with the Chevalier de la Darante, the Intendant, and--to my
indignation--Juste Duvarney.
They had no sooner taken their places than, from a little side door near
the vestry, there entered the Seigneur Duvarney and Alixe, who, coming
down slowly, took places very near the chancel steps. The Seigneur was
pale and stern, and carried himself with great dignity. His glance never
shifted from the choir, where the priests slowly entered and took their
places, the aged and feeble bishop going falteringly to his throne.
Alixe’s face was pale and sorrowful, and yet it had a dignity and
self-reliance that gave it a kind of grandeur. A buzz passed through the
building, yet I noted, too, with gladness that there were tears on many
faces.
A figure stole in beside Alixe. It was Mademoiselle Lotbiniere, who
immediately was followed by her mother. I leaned forward, perfectly
hidden, and listened to the singsong voices of the priests, the musical
note of the responses, heard the Kyrie Eleison, the clanging of the
belfry bell as the host was raised by the trembling bishop. The silence
which followed the mournful voluntary played by the organ was most
painful to me.
At that moment a figure stepped from behind a pillar, and gave Alixe a
deep, scrutinizing look. It was Doltaire. He was graver than I had ever
seen him, and was dressed scrupulously in black, with a little white
lace showing at the wrists and neck. A handsomer figure it would be hard
to see; and I hated him for it, and wondered what new devilry was in his
mind. He seemed to sweep the church with a glance. Nothing could have
escaped that swift, searching look. His eyes were even raised to where
I was, so that I involuntarily drew back, though I knew he could not see
me.
I was arrested suddenly by a curious disdainful, even sneering smile
which played upon his face as he looked at Vaudreuil and Bigot. There
was in it more scorn than malice, more triumph than active hatred. All
at once I remembered what he had said to me the day before: that he had
commission from the King through La Pompadour to take over the reins of
government from the two confederates, and send them to France to answer
the charges made against them.
At last the bishop came forward, and read from a paper as follows:
“Forasmuch as a well-beloved child of our Holy Church, Mademoiselle
Alixe Duvarney, of the parish of Beauport and of this cathedral parish,
in this province of New France, forgetting her manifest duty and our
sacred teaching, did illegally and in sinful error make feigned contract
of marriage with one Robert Moray, captain in a Virginian regiment, a
heretic, a spy, and an enemy to our country; and forasmuch as this was
done in violence of all nice habit and commendable obedience to Mother
Church and our national uses, we do hereby declare and make void this
alliance until such time as the Holy Father at Rome shall finally
approve our action and proclaiming. And it is enjoined upon Mademoiselle
Alixe Duvarney, on peril of her soul’s salvation, to obey us in this
matter, and neither by word or deed or thought have commerce more
with this notorious and evil heretic and foe of our Church and of our
country. It is also the plain duty of the faithful children of our Holy
Church to regard this Captain Moray with a pious hatred, and to destroy
him without pity; and any good cunning or enticement which should
lure him to the punishment he so much deserves shall be approved.
Furthermore, Mademoiselle Alixe Duvarney shall, until such times as
there shall be peace in this land, and the molesting English are driven
back with slaughter--and for all time, if the heart of our sister
incline to penitence and love of Christ--be confined within the Convent
of the Ursulines, and cared for with great tenderness.”
He left off reading, and began to address himself to Alixe directly;
but she rose in her place, and while surprise and awe seized the
congregation, she said:
“Monseigneur, I must needs, at my father’s bidding, hear the annulment
of my marriage, but I will not hear this public exhortation. I am but a
poor girl, unlearned in the law, and I must needs submit to your power,
for I have no one here to speak for me. But my soul and my conscience I
carry to my Saviour, and I have no fear to answer Him. I am sorry that
I have offended against my people and my country and Holy Church, but
I repent not that I love and hold to my husband. You must do with me as
you will, but in this I shall never willingly yield.”
She turned to her father, and all the people breathed hard; for it
passed their understanding, and seemed most scandalous that a girl could
thus defy the Church, and answer the bishop in his own cathedral. Her
father rose, and then I saw her sway with faintness. I know not what
might have occurred, for the bishop stood with hand upraised and a
great indignation in his face, about to speak, when out of the desultory
firing from our batteries there came a shell, which burst even at the
cathedral entrance, tore away a portion of the wall, and killed and
wounded a number of people.
Then followed a panic which the priests in vain tried to quell. The
people swarmed into the choir and through the vestry. I saw Doltaire
with Juste Duvarney spring swiftly to the side of Alixe, and, with her
father, put her and Mademoiselle Lotbiniere into the pulpit, forming
a ring round it, and preventing the crowd from trampling on them, as,
suddenly gone mad, they swarmed past. The Governor, the Intendant, and
the Chevalier de la Darante did as much also for Madame Lotbiniere;
and as soon as the crush had in a little subsided, a number of soldiers
cleared the way, and I saw my wife led from the church. I longed to leap
down there among them and claim her, but that thought was madness, for I
should have been food for worms in a trice, so I kept my place.