A ROYAL COUPLE.
Blanche remained alone with her husband, whose face, that for a moment
had brightened up, speedily resumed its normal expression of lassitude.
The Queen had thrown off her simple vestment of the morning to don a
more elaborate costume. Her black hair, braided with pearls, was combed
with skill. She wore an orange colored robe of rich material, with wide
flowing sleeves, leaving half exposed her breast and shoulders. A collar
and gold bracelets studded with precious stones ornamented her neck and
arms. Still reclining on his lounge, now shared by his wife who sat down
at its edge, Louis did not even bestow a glance upon her. With his head
leaning upon one of the pillows, he was mumbling: "You will see the
clumsy fellows will turn out more stupid than the idiot; they will not
catch him."
"In such a disastrous event," replied Blanche with an insinuating smile,
"I shall have to console you, my darling. Why is your face so careworn?
Will you not deign as much as to throw your eyes upon your wife, your
humble servant?"
Louis indolently turned his head towards his wife and said: "How dressed
up you are!"
"Does this dress please my amiable master?" inquired the Queen
caressingly; but noticing that the King suddenly shivered, became gloomy
and brusquely turned away his head, she added: "What is the matter,
Louis?"
"I do not like the color of that dress!"
"I am sorry I did not know the color of orange displeased you, dear
seigneur. I would have guarded against putting it on."
"You were dressed in the same color on the first day of this month last
year."
"My memory is not as perfect as yours on the subject, my dear
seigneur."
"It was on the second of May of last year that I saw my father die,
poisoned by my mother!" answered the King mournfully.
"What a sad souvenir! How I now hate this accursed orange color, seeing
it awakens such recollections in your mind!"
The King remained silent; he turned on his cushions and placed his hands
over his eyes. The door of the apartment was re-opened and one of the
courtiers said: "Seigneur, despite all our search, we have not been able
to find Yvon the Calf; he must have hidden in some corner; he shall be
severely punished soon as we find him again." Louis made no answer, and
Blanche motioned the courtier with an imperious gesture to retire. Left
again alone, and seeing her husband more and more mentally troubled,
Blanche redoubled her blandishments, seeking to provoke a return of her
caresses: "Dear seigneur, your sadness afflicts me."
"Your tenderness is extreme ... this morning. Quite different from
usual."
"My tenderness for you increases by reason of the sorrow that I see you
steeped in, dear seigneur."
"Oh, I lost everything with my father's death," Louis murmured
despondently, and he added with concentrated fury:
"That felonious bishop of Laon! Poisoner and adulterer! Infamous
prelate! And my mother! my mother his accomplice! Such crimes portend
the end of the world! I shall punish the guilty!"
"Pray, my seigneur, do forget that dark past. What is it you said about
the end of the world? It is a fable."
"A fable! What! Do not the holiest bishops assert that in fourteen years
the world must come to an end ... in the year 1000?"
"What makes me question their assertion, Louis, is that, while
announcing the end of the world, these prelates recommend to the
faithful to part with their goods to the Church and to donate their
domains to them."
"Of what use would it be to keep perishable riches if soon everything is
to perish?"
"But then, dear seigneur, if everything is to perish, what is the Church
to do with the goods that she is eternally demanding from the faithful?"
"After all, you are right. It may be another imposture of the tonsured
fraternity. Nor should anything of the sort surprise us when we see
bishops guilty of adultery and poisoning."
"You always come back to those lugubrious thoughts, dear seigneur! Pray
forget those unworthy calumnies regarding your mother.... Just God! Can
a woman be guilty of her husband's murder! Impossible! God would not
permit it!"
"But did I not witness the agony and death of my father! Oh, the effect
of the poison was strange ... terrible!" said the King in somber
meditation. "My father felt his feet growing cold, icy and numb, unable
to support him. By degrees the mortal lethargy invaded his other
members, as if he were being slowly dipped into an ice bath! What a
terrible spectacle that was!"
"There are illnesses so sudden, so strange, my beloved master.... When
such crimes are charged, I am of those who say: 'When I see I believe,
when I do not see I refuse to accept such theories.'"
"Oh, I saw but too much!" cried Louis, and again hiding his face in his
hands he added in a distressful voice: "I know not why these thoughts
should plague me to-day. Oh, God, have pity on me. Remove these fears
from my spirit!"
"Louis, do not weep like that, you tear my heart to pieces. Your sadness
is a wrong done to this beautiful May day. Look out of the window at
that brilliant sun; look at the spring verdure of the forest; listen to
the gay twittering of the birds. Why, all around us, everything in
nature is lovely and joyous; you alone are sad! Come, now, my beautiful
seigneur," added Blanche taking both the hands of the King. "I am going
to draw you out of this dejection that distresses me as much as it does
you.... I am all the gladder at my project, which is intended to please
and amuse you."
"What is your project?"
"I propose to spend the whole day near you. We shall take our morning
meal here. I have issued orders to that effect, my indolent boy. After
that we shall go to mass. We shall then take a long outing in a litter
through the forest. Finally.... But, no, no, the surprise I have in
store for you shall remain a secret. It shall be the price of your
submission."
"What is the surprise about?"
"You will never have spent such a delightful evening.... You whom
everything tires and whom everything is indifferent to ... you will be
charmed by what I have in store for you, my dear husband."
Louis the Do-nothing, a youth of indolent and puerile mind, felt his
curiosity pricked, but failed to draw any explanation from Blanche. A
few minutes later the chamberlains and servants entered carrying silver
dishes and gold goblets, together with the eatables that were to serve
for the morning repast. Other attendants of the royal chamber took up
the large table covered to the floor with tapestry and under which Yvon
the Calf had hidden himself, and carried it forward to the lounge on
which were Louis and Blanche. Bent under the table, and completely
concealed by the ample folds of the cover which trailed along the floor,
the idiot moved forward on his hands and knees as, carried by the
servants, the table was being taken towards the royal lounge. When it
was set down before Louis and Blanche, Yvon also stopped. Menials and
equerries were preparing to render the habitual services at table when
the Queen said smiling to her husband: "Will my charming master consent
that to-day I be his only servant?"
"If it please you," answered Louis the Do-nothing, and he proceeded in
an undertone: "But you know that according to my habit I shall neither
eat nor drink anything that you have not tasted before me."
"What a child you are!" answered Blanche smiling upon her husband with
amiable reproach. "Always suspicious! We shall drink from the same cup
like two lovers."
The officers of the King left upon a sign from the Queen. She remained
alone with Louis.