La Dame de Monsoreau (101 page)

" Until he is king no longer ; is not that so ? " said Monso-reau.

The duke started.

" By the way," said he, " is not Madame de Monsoreau staying with you ? "

" Monseigneur, she is ill at present; but for that, she would have already presented her very humble respects to your highness."

" 111 ? Poor woman ! "

" Yes, moriseigneur."

" From grief at seeing your sufferings ? "

" Yes, at first; then from the fatigue of moving."

" Let us hope her indisposition will be of short duration, my dear count. You have such a skilful physician."

And he rose from his seat.

" You are right, monseigneur," said Monsoreau. " My dear friend Remy has treated me admirably."

" Why, that is the name of Bussy's doctor !"

" Yes, monseigneur; the count, in fact, gave him to me."

" Then you and Bussy have become friends ? "

" He is my best, I ought rather to say, my only friend," replied Monsoreau, coldly.

"Adieu, count," said the prince, raising the damask hangings.

At the same instant, just as he was passing his head under the tapestry, he fancied he saw something like the skirt of a gown disappear in the next room, while, at the same time, Bussy rapidly made his way to his post in the middle of the corridor.

The suspicions of the duke grew stronger.

" We are starting," said he to Bussy,

Bussy did not answer, but ran down at once to give the escort orders to get ready, and, perhaps, also to hide from the prince the redness of his face.

The duke, now alone on the landing, tried to enter the corridor through which he had seen the silken dress disappear.

But, on turning, he observed that Monsoreau had followed him and was standing on the threshold, pale and leaning against the door-post.

" Your highness has mistaken your way," said he, coldly.

" You are right," stammered the duke. " Thanks."

And he went downstairs, with rage in his heart.

During their return — and the way was long — Bussy and he did not exchange a single word.

Bussy left the duke at the door of his hotel.

As soon as the duke had entered his cabinet, and was alone, Aurilly glided into it also, with an air of great mystery.

" Well," said the duke, when he perceived him, " I have been actually jeered at by the husband !"

" And, perhaps, also by the lover, monseigneur," said the musician.

« What 'a that you say ? "

" The truth, your highness."

" Tell me all, then."

" Listen, monseigneur, I hope your highness will forgive me, as what I did was done for your service."

" Go on, I forgive you in advance."

"Well, then, after you had gone upstairs, I watched under a shed in the yard."

" Ah! and you saw"

" A woman's dress ; I saw this woman lean forward ; I saw two arms twined round her neck; and, as my ear is well-trained, I heard the sound of a long and tender kiss."

" But who was the man ?" asked the duke. " Did you recognize him ? "

" I cannot recognize a man by his arms, monseigneur," said Aurilly ; " gloves have no features."

" Yes, but you might recognize the gloves."

" Well, not exactly recognized," said Aurilly ; " it seemed to me, however "

" That you recognized them, $id you not ? Go on."

" But it is only a guess."

" No matter; continue."

" Well, then, monseigneur, they looked like M. de Bussy's gloves."

" Buff gloves, embroidered in gold, were they not ? " cried the duke, from whose eyes suddenly vanished the cloud which, until now, had veiled the truth.

" Yes, buff gloves, embroidered in gold, monseigneur," repeated Aurilly.

" Ah! Bussy ! yes, Bussy ! it is Bussy," cried the duke. " Oh, I was blind, or rather, no, I was not blind, only I could not believe in such audacity."

" Take care," said Aurilly ; " it seems -to me your highness is speaking rather loud."

" Bussy ! " repeated the duke once more, recalling a thousand circumstances that had passed unnoticed before, but which now assumed more arid more significance as he recalled them.

" Still your highness ought not to believe too lightly ; might there not have been a man concealed in Madame de Monso-reau's room ? "

" Yes, doubtless ; but Bussy, Bussy, who was in that corridor, would have seen him."

" It is true, monseigneur."

" And then, the gloves, the gloves."

" True also. And, besides, the sound of the kiss, I heard also " —

« What ? "

" Three words."

« What were they ? "

" These : ' Till to-morrow evening/ "

" Great heavens ! "

" So that if we were to set out on an expedition like the one we were once engaged in, we could make sure."

" Aurilly, to-morrow evening we '11 act as you suggest."

" Your highness knows I am at your orders."

" I know it. Ah, Bussy ! Bussy ! " he continued to repeat between his teeth ; " Bussy, traitor to your lord! Bussy, the terror of every one! Bussy, the honest man! Bussy, who would not have me king of France ! "

And the duke, smiling with an infernal joy, dismissed Aurilly, that he might reflect at his ease.

CHAPTER LXXXI.

THE WATCHERS.

AURILLY and the Due d'Anjou kept their word to each other: the duke retained Bussy at his side as much as he was able during the day, so as not to lose sight of any of his movements.

Bussy asked for nothing better than to wait on the prince during the day ; fpr, by doing so, he had his evening free.

His method of spending the evening, after being released, had become in him almost automatic.

At ten o'clock he wrapped himself in his cloak, and, with his rope-ladder under his arm, made his way in the direction of the Bastile.

The duke, who did not know that Bussy had a ladder in his antechamber, and could not believe that any one would walk alone in that way through the streets of Paris ; the duke, who was sure that Bussy would call at his hotel for a horse and a servant, lost ten minutes in preparations. During these ten minutes, Bussy, brisk and amorous, had already gone three-fourths of the distance.

Bussy was lucky, as bold people generally are ; he met with no unpleasant accident on his way, and, as he drew near the house, he saw a light in one of the windows.

It was the signal agreed on between him and Diane.

Bussy's ladder was furnished with six hooks placed inversely, so that when thrown it was sure to fasten itself somewhere.

At the noise, Diane extinguished the light and opened the window to steady the ladder.

The thing was done in a moment.

Diane looked over the square, examining every nook and corner.

The square was apparently deserted.

Then she made a sign to Bussy to mount.

Bussy climbed the rungs two by two; there were ten; he got over them in five seconds.

The moment was happily chosen, for while Bussy was getting in at the window, M. de Monsoreau, who had been listening patiently at his wife's door for over ten minutes, was painfully descending the stairs, supported by the arm of a confidential

valet, who replaced Remy, greatly to his master's advantage, every time dressings and salves were not in question.

This double manoeuvre, which could have been planned by none but a skilful strategist, was executed with such promptitude that Monsoreau was opening the street door just at the very moment when Bussy had drawn up the ladder and Diane had closed the window.

Monsoreau went as far as the street; but, as we have said, the street was deserted, and he saw nothing.

" You must have been incorrectly informed," said Monsoreau to his domestic. ,

" No, monseigneur," replied the latter; " when I was leaving the Hotel d'Anjou I was told in the most positive terms by the head groom, who is one of my friends, that his highness had ordered two horses for to-night. But perhaps, monseigneur, it was for the purpose of going somewhere else."

"Why, where else could he be going to?" said Monsoreau, gloomily.

The count was like all jealous people, who imagine the rest of the world have nothing to think of except to torment them.

He looked round a second time.

" Perhaps it would have been better if I had stayed in Diane's chamber," he murmured; "but, likely enough, they have signals for corresponding. She would have warned him of my presence, and I should have known nothing. Better to watch outside, as was arranged between us. Well, lead me to the hiding-place from which you say we can see everything."

" Come, monseigneur," said the valet.

Monsoreau advanced, leaning on the arm of his valet and supporting himself also by pressing his hand against the wall.

About twenty or twenty-five steps from the door, and near the Bastile, was an enormous heap of stones which had come from the ruins of demolished houses and were used as fortifications by the children of the quarter in those mimic battles that were probably relics of the days of Armagnacs and Burgundians.

In the middle of this heap of stones the valet had constructed a sort of sentry-box which could easily hold and hide two persons.

He spread a cloak over the stones, upon which Monsoreau crouched.

The valet knelt at the feet of the count.

A loaded musketoon was placed near them, to be used in case of emergency.

The valet was getting the match of the weapon ready. Monsoreau stopped him.

" Wait," said he, " there will be plenty of time. The game we are scenting is royal. The punishment for him who touches it is the rope."

And his eyes, inflamed as those of a wolf lurking in the neighborhood of a sheepfold, were fixed on Diane's window or pierceol the depths of the faubourg and of the adjacent faubourgs, for he desired to surprise, and was afraid of being surprised.

Diane had prudently drawn her thick tapestry curtains so that scarcely a ray of light filtered through to show there was any life in this house that was plunged in such absolute darkness.

Monsoreau had hardly lain hidden ten minutes when two horses appeared at the opening of the Rue Saint-Antoine.

The valet did not speak, but pointed his hand in the direction of the horses.

" Yes," said Monsoreau, " I see."

The two cavaliers alighted at the corner of the Hotel des Tournelles and fastened their horses to the iron rings placed in the wall for this purpose.

" Monseigneur," said Aurilly, " I believe we have come too late ; he must have gone directly from your hotel; he had an advantage of ten minutes over you and has entered."

" Granted," answered the prince ; " but, though we may not see him go in, we 're sure to see him come out."

" Yes, but when ? " said Aurilly.

" Whenever we wish," said the prince.

« " Would it be showing too much curiosity to ask you how you intend to manage the matter, monseigneur ? "

" In the easiest way in the world. One of us— I '11 let you do it — has but to knock at the door and inquire how M. de Monsoreau is getting along. Any sound frightens a lover. Then as you are getting in through the door, he '11 be getting out through the window, and, as I '11 remain outside, I 'm pretty sure to see him when he is taking to his heels."

" And Monsoreau ? "

" What the devil can he have to object ? He is my friend; I am so uneasy about him that I came to make inquiries, for I

thought he looked very ill when I saw him to-day ; nothing more simple."

" Nothing could be more ingenious, monseigneur," said Aurilly.

" Do you hear what they are saying ? " asked Monsoreau of his valet.

" No, monseigneur; but, if they continue speaking, we cannot fail to hear them, for they are coming in this direction."

" Monseigneur," said Aurilly, " I see a heap of stones which seems expressly designed as a hiding-place for your highness."

" Yes, but wait; perhaps we may be able to see something through the curtains."

In fact, Diane had relit her lamp, and, as we mentioned before, a scarcely perceptible ray of light reached the outside. The duke and Aurilly turned this way and that in search of a spot from whence they could see into the interior of the apartment.

During these different evolutions, Monsoreau was fairly boiling with rage, and often laid a hand on the barrel of his musket, which was less cold than that hand.

" Oh! shall I endure this ? " he murmured ; " shall I swallow this insult also ? No, no ; so much the worse, but my patience is exhausted.

" God's death! am I not to be allowed to either sleep or keep awake or even suffer in tranquillity, because a shameful fancy has lodged in the idle brain of this dastard prince! No, I am not a complaisant lackey, I am the Comte de Monsoreau, and let him but come this way, and I swear by my sacred honor I will blow his brains out. Light the match, Rene, light the"

At this very moment, just as the prince, finding that it was impossible to see into the chamber, had made up his mind to* hide among the stones while Aurilly was knocking at the door, suddenly the latter, forgetful of the distance between him and the prince, laid his hand quickly on the arm of Francois.

" Eh ! monsieur," said the astounded prince, " what is the matter ? "

" Come away, monseigneur, come away," said Aurilly.

"But why?"

" Do you not see a gleam of light on your left ? Come away, monseigneur, come."

" Yes, I see a spark among the stones."

" It is the match of a musket or arquebuse, monseigneur."

"Ah!" exclaimed the prince, "and who the devil can be lying in ambush there ? "

" Some friend or servant of Bussy. Let us go away at once ; we can round a corner and return from another direction. The servant is now sure to give the alarm and we '11 then see Bussy come out of the window."

" Upon my word, you 're right," said the prince, " come."

Both crossed the street and went to the place where their horses were tied.

" They are going away," said the valet.

" Yes," answered Monsoreau. "Did you recognize them?"

" In my opinion, at least, they were the Due d'Anjou and Aurilly."

" Right. But I '11 be absolutely certain in a moment."

" What are you about to do, monseigneur ? "

" Come ! "

Meanwhile, the duke and Aurilly were passing the Rue Sainte-Catherine, intending to skirt the gardens and return by the Boulevard de la Bastille.

Monsoreau went home and ordered his litter to be got ready.

What the duke had foretold happened.

Bussy was alarmed by the noise made by Monsoreau : the light was again extinguished, the window again opened, the ladder again fastened, and Bussy, to his great regret, had to fly like Romeo, but without having, like Romeo, seen the sun rise and heard the lark sing.

Just at the moment when his feet touched the ground and Diane threw him the ladder, the duke and Aurilly reached the corner of the Bastile.

They saw distinctly a shadow, suspended between earth and sky, beneath the window of the fair Diane. But this shadow vanished almost immediately at the corner of the Rue Saint-Paul.

" Monseigneur," said the valet, " we shall wake up the entire house."

" What is that to me ? " answered Monsoreau; " I am master in my own house, I presume, and have, at least, the right to do what the Due d'Anjou wished to do."

The litter was now ready. Monsoreau sent for two of his servants, who were lodging in the Rue des Touruelles and had

been his principal attendants ever since the day upon which he had been wounded. When they had arrived and taken their places, one at each portiere, the machine, drawn by two robust horses, started at a brisk trot and, in less than a quarter of an hour, was in front of the gate of the Hotel d'Anjou.

The duke and Aurilly had so recently returned that their horses were not yet unsaddled.

Monsoreau, who was one of those privileged to visit the prince at any time, appeared on the threshold, just as the duke, after throwing his hat on a chair, was stretching out his boots to a valet to pull off.

Another valet announced the grand huntsman, preceding him by only a few steps.

A thunderbolt shattering the windows in the prince's apartment could not have astonished him more than the words just heard.

" M. de Monsoreau ! " he cried, with an anxiety that could be easily discerned in his pallor and in the trembling of his voice.

" Yes, moiiseigneur, myself/' said the count, restraining, or, rather, trying to restrain, the violent emotion that shook him.

He made such desperate efforts to control his feelings that his legs gave way under hyu, and he fell on a chair that stood near the entrance to the chamber.

" Why, my dear friend," said the duke, " you will kill yourself. You are so pale that you seem on the point of fainting."

" Oh, I shall not faint, monseigneur. The matters I have to confide to your highness are too important to allow me to do so — at least now. Perhaps I shall faint afterward."

"Well, speak, my dear count," said Franqois, quite overcome.

" But not before your people, I presume," said Monsoreau.

The duke dismissed every one, even Aurilly.

The two men were alone.

" Your highness has just returned ? "

" As you see, count."

"It is very imprudent of your highness to frequent the streets in this fashion during the night."

" Who told you I had been in the streets ? "

" Why, the dust that covers your clothes, monseigneur."

" M. de Monsoreau," said the prince, in a tone there could be no mistaking, " do you really hold a second office, besides that of grand huntsman ? /?

" That of spy ? Yes, monseigneur. Every one follows that calling now, more or less, and I, like the rest."

" And what does your profession bring you, monsieur ? "

" The knowledge of what is passing."

" A curious trade," remarked the prince, edging nearer to the bell, so that he might have it within his reach, if he found it necessary to ring.

" A curious trade, indeed," said Monsoreau.

" Well, tell me what you have to say.' 7

" That is the purpose for which I came."

" Will you permit me to be seated ? "

" No irony, monseigneur, toward a true and faithful friend like me — a friend who comes at this hour and in this condition because he wants to render you a signal service. If I have ventured to take a seat, it was because, upon my honor, I was unable to stand."

" A service," inquired the duke, " a service ? "

« Yes."

« Speak, then."

" Monseigneur, I came to your highness 011 behalf of a mighty prince."

" On the part of the King ? "

" No, on the part of Monseigneur le Due de Guise."

" Ah! " said the prince ; " on the part of the Due de Guise ; that is another matter. Approach, and speak low."

CHAPTER LXXXII.

HOW THE DUG D'ANJOU SIGNED, AND HOW, AFTER SIGNING,

HE SPOKE.

THE Due d'Anjou and Monsoreau were silent for a moment. The duke was the first to break this silence.

" Well, then, M. le Comte," he asked, " what have you to say to me on the part of the Guises ? "

" Much, monseigneur."

" They have written to you, then ? "