Joseph Balsamo (40 page)
” His majesty’s horses,” said the countess.
” Very well ‘ said Clion with a smile, and she left the room again.
A moment afterward her voice was heard in the anteroom ordering the king’s carriage.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE KING IS AM US ED.
THE king, delighted at this exercise of his authority, which punished the countess for leaving him alone so long, at the same time that it freed him from the trouble of settling the affair of her presentation, walked toward the door of the saloon.
Chon entered.
” Well, are my attendants there ?”
” No, sire ; there is not one of them in the anteroom ‘
The king advanced into the anteroom himself. ” My attendants ! ” cried he. No one answered ; there seemed not to be even an echo in the silent chateau.
” Who the deuce would believe,” said the king, returning to the saloon, ‘ ‘ that I am the grandson of the man who once said, ‘I was very nearly having to wait!’” and ho wentto the window, opened it, and looked out.
The space in front of the chateau was as deserted as the anterooms no horses, no attendants, no guards. Night alone displayed to the eyes and to the soul all its calmness and all its majesty. The lovely moon shone brightly on the woods of Chatou, whose lofty summits rustled gently, like the waves of the sea rippled by the breeze. The Seine, on whoseb osom glittered a long line of light, looked like a gigantic serpent trailing its slow length along, its wind-ings being visible from Bougival to Maisons that is, for
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fonr or five leagues ; and then, in the midst of this heaveuly scene, a nightingale burst forth with such a sweet and varied song as she only gives in the month of May, as if she felt that nature was worthy of her music in the early days of spring alone days which are scarcely come ere they are gone.
All this beauty and harmony were lost on Louis XV. a king not much of a dreamer, a poet, or an artist, but, on the contrary, a good deal of a sensualist.
” Come, countess,” said he, considerably annoyed, ” give the necessary order, I entreat what the deuce ! this jest must have an end.”
” Sire,” replied the countess, with that charming pouting air which became her so well, “I do not command here ‘
” Nor do I,” replied the king, ” for you see how I am obeyed.”
” It is neither you nor I who command.”
” Who is it, then ? Is it you, Chon ? “
” I ?” said the young lady, who was seated on a couch on the other side of the apartment exactly opposite, the countess, who occupied a similar one on the near side ” I find the task of obeying so difficult, that I have no inclination for that of commanding.”
” But who is the master, then ?”
” The governor, sire, certainly.”
” Monsieur Zamore ? “
“Yes.”
“Ah, very true ! Well, let some one ring for him.”
The countess stretched out her arm with a most graceful air of nonchalance to a silken cord ending in a tassel of beads. A footman, who had no doubt received his lesson beforehand, was ready in the anteroom and appeared.
” The governor,” said the king. *
“The governor,” replied the valet, respectfully, “is on guard, watching over his majesty’s precious life.”
“Where is he? “
“Going his rounds, sir.”
” Going his rounds ? ” repeated the king.
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” Yes, with four officers, sire.”
The king could not help smiling.
” That is droll enough,” said he ; “but it need not prevent my horses from being harnessed immediately.”
” Sire, the governor ordered the stables to be closed, lest some marauder might enter them.” ‘ And where are my grooms ? ” ‘ Gone to bed, sire.” ‘ Gone to bed by whose orders ? ” ‘ The governor’s, sire.” ‘ A ud the gates of the castle ? “
‘ Are locked, sire.”
‘Very well then you mus get the keys.”
The governor has them at his belt, sire.”
” A well-guarded castle, indeed ! Peste ! what order is kept.”
The footman, seeing that the king ceased to question him, retired. The countess, reclining gracefully on a couch, continued to bite off the leaves of a beautiful rose, beside Avhich her lips seemed like coral. ” Come, sire,” said she at length, with a fascinating smile, ” I must take compassion on your majesty give me your arm and let us set out in search of some one to help you Chon, light the way ‘
Chon went before, ready to apprise them of any danger which they might encounter. At the very first turn in the corridor the king’s nose was saluted by an odor quite sufficient to awaken the appetite of the most fastidious epicure.
” Ha ! ha ! what is that, countess ? ” said he stopping.
” Oh, only supper, sire ! 1 thought your majesty intended doing me the honor of supping at Luciennes, and I made arrangements accordingly.”
The king inhaled the gastronomic perfume two or three times, while he called to mind that his stomach had already given him certain tokens of its existence ; then he thought what a fuss there must be before his grooms could be awakened, that would take half an hour at least, a quarter more to harness the horses, ten minutes to reach Marly, and when at Marly, where hewas not expected, he could get only a put-off of a supper. All these things passed through his
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mind as he stood at the dining-room door, inhaling the seductive steam of the viands. Two covers were placed on the table, which was splendidly lighted and sumptuously laid out.
” Peste ! “said Louis, “you have a good cook, countess.”
“Oh, sire, this is merely his first effort ; the poor devil has been doing wonders to deserve your majesty’s approbation. Indeed, he is so sensitive, that he might perhaps, in his disappointment, cut his throat, as poor Vatel did.”
” Really do you think so ? “
” There was to be an omelet of pheasants’ eggs on which he especially prided himself.”
“An omelet of pheasants’ eggs I adore omelets of pheasants’ eggs ! “
” What a pity you must go.”
” Well, countess, we must not vex your cook,” said the king, laughing ; ” and, perhaps, while we are supping, Master Zamore may return from his rounds.”
” Ah ! sire, a capital idea,” said the countess, unable to conceal her delight at having gained this first step. ” Come, sire, come ! “
” But who will wait on us ? ” said the king, looking round in vain for an attendant.
” Ah ! sire,” said
Mme.
Dubarry, ” is your coffee less grateful when presented to you by me ?”
“Xo, countess ; and still more when you make it for me.”
“Well, come, then, sire.”
” Two covers only I Has Chon supped, then ? “
” Sire, I did not venture without your majesty’s express command “
” Come, come,” said the king, taking a plate and cover from a sideboard himself, ” come, my little Chon ; sit there opposite us.”
” Oh, sire ! ” said Chon.
” Yes, yes ; play the very humble and very obedient subject, you little hypocrite. Sit here, countess, near me beside me. What a beautiful profile you have I “
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“Is this the first time yon have observed it, dear France ?”
” How should I observe it when I am so happy in looking at your full countenance ? Decidedly, countess, your cook is first-rate. What soup ! “
” Then I was right in sending away the other ? “
” Quite right quite right.”
” Sire, follow my example you see it will be to your advantage.”
” I do not understand you.”
” Countess, no politics. Give me some Madeira.”
The king held out his glass ; the countess took up a decanter to help him, and as she raised it up, her white fingers and rosy nails were seen to advantage.
” Pour gently and slowly,” said the king.
” Not to shake the wine, sire ? “
” No ; to give me more time to admire your hand.”
” Assuredly, sire,” said the countess, laughing, “your majesty is in the vein of making discoveries.”
” Faith, yes,” said the king, now in perfect good humor again ; ” and think I am in the fair way of discovering “
” A new world ? “
” No ; I am not so ambitious ; besides, I find a kingdom as much as I can manage. No, only an isle a little nook an enchanted mountain a palace of which a certain fair lady will be the Armida, and the entrance to which will be defended by all kinds of monsters.”
“Sire,” said the countess, presenting the king with a glass of iced champagne, a luxury quite new at that period, ” here is some water just drawn from the river Lethe.”
” The river Lethe, countess, are you sure ? “
” Yes, sire ; it was poor Jean who brought it from the shades below, from which you know he has just narrowly
” Countess, I drink to his happy resurrection. But no politics, I beg.”
” Then I don’t know what to talk about, sire. If you
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would relate something yon who have such a happy gift of telling a story.”
“No but I shall repeat you some verses.”
“Verses?”
“Yes, verses. Is there anything surprising in that word ? “
” I thought your majesty detested them ?”
” Par bleu ! out of each hundred thousand manufactured, ninety thousand are against myself.”
” And these which your majesty is going to give me, belong to the ten thousand which cannot even make you look favorably on the ninety thousand.”
” No, countess these are addressed to you.”
” To me ? By whom ? “
” By Monsieur de Voltaire.”
” He charged your majesty to deliver them ? “
“Not at all ; he sent them direct to your highness.”
” How ? without a cover ? “
“No ; inclosed in a charming letter.”
” Ah, I understand ; your majesty has been at work this morning with the postmaster. But read the verses, sire ; read Monsieur de Voltaire’s verses.”
Louis XV. opened the paper, and read :
” ‘ Goddess of pleasure, soft queen of the graces,
Why blend with the fetes which make Paphos to ring,
Foul threat’ning suspicions and hideous disgraces The fate of a hero, oh I why should’st thou bring ?
Still our dear Ulysses his country shall hold, The State’s mighty bulwark the monarch’s delight,
None wiser in council, in battle more bold, And Illion can tell how restless his might !
Fair Venus, thy throne all the gods shall surround, Thy beauty celestial all tongues shall declare,
The roses of joy in thy path shall abound-Then calm the rough waters and smile on our prayer,
Ah ! why should thy anger burn fiercely and high ‘Gainst the hero whom foemen still tremble to meet,
For how can he draw from such beauty a sigh, Save in breathing his vows as he kneels at her feet ? ‘ : ‘
” Decidedly, sire.” said the countess, more piqued than.
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gratified by this poetical offering. ‘ ‘ Monsieur de Voltaire wishes to recommend himself to your favor.”
” He loses his pains, then ‘ said the king. ” He is a firebrand who would burn Paris if he returned to it. Let him stay with his friend, my cousin, Frederick II. ; we can do very well with Monsieur Rousseau. But take the verses, countess, and study them.”
She took the paper, made a match of it, and laid it be-side her.
” Some tokay, sire,” said Chon.
“From the vaults which supply his majesty, the Emperor of Austria,” said the countess.
” From tho emperor’s vaults ?” said the king. ” Pardieu ! no one is supplied from them but myself.”
” Very true, sire,” said the countess ; ” so I had it from your butler.”
” Ah ! ” said the king, ” and you have seduced “
” No, sire, I have ordered.”
” Well answered, countess ; I was a fool.”
” Will the king take coffee ?” ‘asked Chon.
” Oh, certainly.”
” Arid will his majesty burn it, as usual ? ” asked the countess.
” If the lady of the castle permit.” The countess rose. 1 But what are you doing ? “
” 1 am going to wait on you myself.”
” Well,” said the king, leaning back in his chair like a man who had made an excellent supper, and whose humors were, therefore, in a happy state of equilibrium ” well, I see that my best plan is to let you do as you like, countess.”
The countess brought a silver stand, with a little coffee-pot containing the boiling mocha ; she then placed before the king a plate on which was a silver cup and a caraffe of Bohemian glass, and beside the plate she laid the match which she had just folded.
The king, with that profound attention which he always bestowed on this operation, calculated his sugar, measured his coffee, and, having gently poured on it the brandy, so
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that it swam on the surface, he took the little roll of paper, lighted it at a candle, and communicated the flame to the liquor. Five minutes afterward he enjoyed his coffee with all the delight of a finished epicure.
The countess looked on ti’l he had finished the last drop ; then she exclaimed :
” Oh, sire, you have burned your coffee with Monsieur de Voltaire’s verses ! That is a bad omen for the Choiseuls.”
” I was wrong,” said he, laughing ; ” you are not a fairy ; you are a demon.”
The countess rose.
” Does your majesty wish to know whether the governor has returned ?”
” Zamore ? Bah ! for what purpose ? “
” To allow you to go to Marly, sire.”
” True,” said the king, making a great effort to rouse himself from that state of comfort in which he found himself. ” Well, countess, let us see let us see ! “
The countess made a sign to Chon, who vanished.
The king began his search for Zamore again ; but, it must be confessed, with very different feelings from those which had before influenced him. Philosophers say that we behold things either dark or bright, according to the state of our stomachs, and, as kings have stomachs like other men in general, indeed, not so good as other men, but still communicating the sensation of comfort or discomfort to the rest of the body in the same manner our king appeared in the most charming humor which it was possible for a king to be in ; and his search ended without his discovering Zamore, and without his being displeased at his want of success.