THE MARRIAGE IN EXTREMIS.
Lafare dragged the young girl away, almost fainting, and placed her in
one of the carriages always standing in the courtyard of the Palais
Royal. During the route Bathilde did not speak; she was cold, dumb, and
inanimate as a statue. Her eyes were fixed and tearless, but on arriving
at the fortress she started. She fancied she had seen in the shade, in
the very place where the Chevalier de Rohan was executed, something like
a scaffold. A little further a sentinel cried "Qui vive!" the carriage
rolled over a drawbridge, and drew up at the door of the governor's
house. A footman out of livery opened the door, and Lafare gave Bathilde
his arm--she could scarcely stand--all her strength had left her when
hope left her. Lafare and the valet were obliged almost to carry her to
the first floor. M. de Launay was at supper. They took Bathilde into a
room to wait, while Lafare went directly to the governor. Ten minutes
passed, during which Bathilde had only one idea--that of the eternal
separation which awaited her. The poor girl saw but one thing--her lover
on the scaffold. Lafare re-entered with the governor. Bathilde looked at
them with a bewildered air. Lafare approached her, and offering her his
arm--
"Mademoiselle," said he, "the church is prepared, the priest is ready."
Bathilde, without replying, rose and leaned on the arm which was offered
her. M. de Launay went first, lighted by two men bearing torches.
As Bathilde entered by one of the side doors, she saw entering by the
other the Chevalier d'Harmental, accompanied by Valef and Pompadour.
These were his witnesses, as De Launay and Lafare were hers. Each door
was kept by two of the French guard, silent and motionless as statues.
The two lovers advanced, Bathilde pale and fainting, Raoul calm and
smiling. On arriving before the altar, the chevalier took Bathilde's
hand, and both fell on their knees, without having spoken a word.
The altar was lighted only by four wax tapers, which threw a funereal
light over the chapel, already dark, and filled with gloomy
recollections.
The priest commenced the ceremony; he was a fine old man with white
hair, and whose melancholy countenance showed the traces of his daily
functions. He had been chaplain of the Bastille for five-and-twenty
years, and had heard many sad confessions, and seen many lamentable
events. He spoke to them, not, as usual, of their duties as husband and
wife, but of divine mercy and eternal resurrection. At the benediction
Bathilde laid her head on Raoul's shoulder; the priest thought she was
fainting, and stopped.
"Finish, my father," murmured Bathilde.
The priest pronounced the sacramental words, to which both replied by a
"yes," which seemed to unite the whole strength of their souls. The
ceremony finished, D'Harmental asked M. de Launay if he might spend his
few remaining hours with his wife. Monsieur de Launay replied that there
was no objection. Raoul embraced Pompadour and Valef, thanked them for
having served as witnesses at his marriage, pressed Lafare's hand,
thanked Monsieur de Launay for his kindness to him during his
imprisonment, and throwing his arm round Bathilde, led her away by the
door through which he had entered. When they reached D'Harmental's room,
Bathilde could no longer contain her tears, a despairing cry escaped her
lips, and she fell weeping on a chair, where doubtless D'Harmental had
often sat, during the three weeks of his captivity, and thought of her.
Raoul threw himself at her feet, and tried to console her, but was
himself so much moved by her grief, that his own tears mingled with
hers. This heart of iron melted in its turn, and Bathilde felt at once
on her lips the tears and kisses of her lover. They had been about
half-an-hour together when they heard steps approaching the door, and a
key turning in the lock. Bathilde started, and pressed D'Harmental
convulsively against her heart. Raoul understood the dreadful fear
which crossed her mind, and reassured her. It could not be what she
dreaded, since the execution was fixed for eight o'clock in the morning,
and eleven had only just struck.
It was Monsieur de Launay who appeared.
"Monsieur le Chevalier," said he, "have the kindness to follow me."
"Alone?" asked D'Harmental, clasping Bathilde in his arms.
"No, with madame," replied the governor.
"Oh! together, Raoul, together!" cried Bathilde, "where they like, so
that we are together. We are ready, monsieur, we are ready."
Raoul kissed Bathilde again; then recalling all his pride, he followed
M. de Launay, with a face which showed no trace of the terrible emotion
he had experienced. They passed through some ill-lighted corridors,
descended a spiral staircase, and found themselves at the door of a
tower. This door opened out to a yard, surrounded by high walls, which
served as a promenade to those prisoners who were not kept secret. In
this courtyard was standing a carriage with two horses, on one of which
was a postilion, and they saw, shining in the darkness, the cuirasses of
a dozen musketeers. A ray of hope crossed the minds of the two lovers.
Bathilde had asked the regent to change Raoul's death into a perpetual
imprisonment. Perhaps the regent had granted him this favor. The
carriage, ready, doubtless, to conduct him to some State prison, the
musketeers destined to escort them, all gave to the supposition an air
of reality. They raised their eyes to heaven to thank God for this
unexpected happiness. Meanwhile M. de Launay had signed to the carriage
to approach; the postilion had obeyed, the door was opened, and the
governor--with his head uncovered--held his hand to Bathilde, to assist
her into the carriage.
She hesitated an instant, turning uneasily to see that they did not take
Raoul away by the other side; but seeing that he was ready to follow
her, she got in without resistance. An instant afterward Raoul was
sitting by her; the door was closed, and both carriage and escort passed
through the gate, over the drawbridge, and they found themselves outside
of the Bastille.
They threw themselves into each other's arms; there was no longer any
doubt; the regent granted D'Harmental his life, and what was more,
consented not to separate him from Bathilde.
This was what Bathilde and D'Harmental had never dared to hope; this
life of seclusion--a punishment to many--would be to them a paradise of
love--they would be together; and what else had they desired for their
future, even when they were masters of their own fate? A single sad idea
crossed their minds, and both, with the sympathy of hearts who love,
pronounced the name of Buvat.
At this moment the carriage stopped; at such a time everything was, for
the lovers, a subject of fear. They again trembled, lest they should
have given way too much to hope. The door opened--it was the postilion.
"What do you want?" asked D'Harmental.
"I want to know where I am to take you."
"Where you are to take me! Have you no orders?"
"My orders were to take you to the Bois de Vincennes, between the
Chateau and Nogent-sur-Marne, and here we are."
"And where is the escort?" asked D'Harmental.
"Oh, the escort left us at the barrier!"
"Oh, mon Dieu!" cried D'Harmental, while Bathilde--panting with
hope--joined her hands in silence, "is it possible?"
And the chevalier jumped out of the carriage, looked round him
anxiously, then clasping Bathilde in his arms, they uttered together a
cry of joy and thankfulness.
They were free as the air they breathed, but the regent had ordered that
they should be taken to the very place where D'Harmental had carried off
Bourguignon, mistaking him for himself.
This was the only revenge of Philippe le Debonnaire.
* * * * *
Four years after this event, Buvat, reinstated in his place--and with
his arrears paid--had the satisfaction of placing a pen in the hand of a
fine boy of three years old--he was the son of Raoul and Bathilde.
The two first names which the child wrote were Albert du Rocher and
Clarice Gray. The third was that of Philippe d'Orleans, regent of
France.
POSTSCRIPTUM.
Perhaps some persons may have taken sufficient interest in those who
have played a secondary part in our history to wish to know what became
of them after the events which lost the conspiracy and saved the regent.
We will satisfy them in a few words.
The Duc and Duchesse de Maine, whose plotting they wished to stop for
the future, were arrested--the duke at Sceaux, and the duchess in her
house in the Rue Saint Honore. The duke was taken to the chateau of
Doullens, and the duchess to that of Dijon, and afterward to the citadel
of Chalons. Both left at the end of a few months, disarming the regent,
one by an absolute denial, the other by a complete avowal.
Richelieu was arrested, as Mademoiselle de Valois had warned him, the
day after that on which he had procured Bathilde's interview with the
regent; but his captivity was a new triumph for him. It was reported
that the handsome prisoner had obtained permission to walk on the
terrace of the Bastille. The Rue Saint Antoine was filled with most
elegant carriages, and became, in twenty-four hours, the fashionable
promenade. The regent--who declared that he had proofs of the treason of
M. de Richelieu, sufficient to lose him four heads if he had them--would
not, however, risk his popularity with the fair sex by keeping him long
in prison. Richelieu, again at liberty, after a captivity of three
months, was more brilliant and more sought after than ever; but the
closet had been walled up, and Mademoiselle de Valois became Duchesse de
Modena.
The Abbe Brigaud--arrested, as we have said, at Orleans--was kept for
some time in the prison of that town, to the great despair of Madame
Denis and her children; but, one fine morning, as they were sitting down
to breakfast, the abbe entered, as calm as ever. They asked him a number
of questions, but--with his habitual prudence--he referred them to his
judicial declarations, saying that the affair had already given him so
much trouble that they would greatly oblige him by never speaking of it
any more. Now, as the Abbe Brigaud was quite an autocrat in Madame
Denis's establishment, his desire was religiously respected, and from
that day the affair was as completely forgotten in the Rue du
Temps-Perdu as if it had never existed. Some days afterward Pompadour,
Valef, Laval, and Malezieux went out of prison in their turn, and began
again to pay their court to Madame de Maine, as if nothing had happened.
As to the Cardinal de Polignac, he was not even arrested; he was simply
exiled to his Abbey d'Anchin.
These proofs of clemency appeared to Dubois so out of all reason that he
came to the regent, intending to make a scene about it, but the regent
only replied by repeating the burden of the song which Saint-Simon had
made on him:
"For I am Philippe le Debonnaire,
Philippe le Debonnaire."
This enraged Dubois so much that the regent, in order to pacify him, was
obliged to transform him into his Eminence the Cardinal.
END OF "THE CONSPIRATORS."
[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the
original edition have been corrected.
On page 242, an extra quotation mark after "would deceive." was deleted.
On page 243, an extraneous period following "which his fathers had left
him" was deleted.
On page 250, "The Chevalier d'Harmentel saw" was changed to "The
Chevalier d'Harmental saw".
On page 260, "D'Harmental only knew the Marquis de Pompador" has been
changed to "D'Harmental only knew the Marquis de Pompadour".
On page 266, "soupe au fromage and macroni" was changed to "soupe au
fromage and macaroni".
On page 286, "you come, young and inexperiened" was changed to "you
come, young and inexperienced".
On page 293, a comma following "he sketched the delicious picture before
him" was changed to a period.
On page 298, a missing quotation mark was added after "I admit no one
into my games."
On page 318, "abstracted mein" was changed to "abstracted mien".
On page 320, "she might as well open her's" was changed to "she might as
well open hers".
On page 321, "Mizra's skill" was changed to "Mirza's skill", "acquired
for Mizra" was changed to "acquired for Mirza", and "evidently not to
Mizra" was changed to "evidently not to Mirza".
On page 323, "the statue of Henri IV.." was changed to "the statue of
Henri IV.", and "standing at her wnidow" was changed to "standing at her
window".
On page 325, "were not eompensated" was changed to "were not
compensated".
On page 326, "secretely the mistress" was changed to "secretly the
mistress".
On page 329, a missing quotation mark was added before "I did come to
speak".
On page 339, "Melezieux advanced" was changed to "Malezieux advanced".
On page 354, "sat down opposite D'Harmemtal" was changed to "sat down
opposite D'Harmental", and a missing quotation mark was added following
"something profoundly sad has happened to you.".
On page 377, "where the orignals are" was changed to "where the
originals are".
On page 408, "the name--the name--of--Chevalier--Raoul D'Harmental" was
changed to "the name--the name--of--Chevalier--Raoul d'Harmental".
On page 410, "By the light of the t orch" was changed to "By the light
of the torch".
On page 411, "mounted on the postllion's horse" was changed to "mounted
on the postilion's horse".
On page 412, "risked all, sufered all" was changed to "risked all,
suffered all".]
End of Project Gutenberg's The Conspirators, by Alexandre Dumas (Pere)