La Dame de Monsoreau (16 page)

" Oh, no ; on the contrary, I promise you I '11 be very reasonable."

" But you will have to ride ? "

" Yes, hang it! that is indispensable."

" Have you a horse of gentle temper and, at the same time, a good goer."

" I have four to choose from."

" Then select for to-day's ride the sort of a horse you would select for the lady of the portrait; you remember her, don't you ? "

" I should think I did! Ah, Remy, you have, in good sooth, found the way to my heart forever. I dreaded awfully you would hinder me going to this hunt, or rather semblance of a hunt, for the ladies of the court, and even a considerable number of citizens' wives and daughters, will be admitted to it. Now, Remy, my dear Rerny, you understand clearly that the lady of the portrait must naturally belong either to the

1 The estortuaire was a staff presented by the grand huntsman to the king, for the purpose of thrusting aside the branches when he was riding at full gallop.

court or to the city ; though, certainly, she cannot be a mere citizen's wife or daughter : the tapestries, the pictured ceiling, the bed of damask and gold, and, in a word, all that luxuiy, accompanied by such refinement and good taste, reveals a woman of rank, or, at all events, a wealthy woman. Now, if I were to meet her yonder ! "

"Anything is possible," answered Remy, philosophically.

" Except finding the house," sighed Bussy.

" And getting into it when we have found it," added E-emy.

" Oh, I don't think there will be any trouble about that when I get to it," said Bussy. " I have a plan."

« What is it ? "

" Get some one to pink me again."

" Good ! " said Eemy. " Now I 'm hopeful you '11 keep me."

" Be easy on that point," answered Bussy. " I seem to have known you twenty years, arid I pledge you my word as a gentleman I don't believe I could exist without you now."

The handsome face of the young practitioner glowed with an expression of unutterable delight.

" Well, then," said he, " it 's settled: you go a-hunting in search of the lady, and I go back to Beautrellis in search of the house."

" 'T would be curious if we both succeeded," said Bussy.

And upon this they separated, more like two friends than master and servant.

A great hunting-party had, in fact, been commanded to meet in the Bois de Vincennes on the occasion of the entrance on the functions of his office by M. Bryan de Monsoreau, who had been appointed grand huntsman a few weeks before. The procession on the day previous and the excessive penitence of the King, who began his Lent on Shrove Tuesday, had led to the belief that he would not be present at the hunt in person; for whenever he fell into one of his devotional fits he never left the Louvre for weeks sometimes, unless, in order to spend his time in the practice of the severest austerities, he entered a convent. But the court now learned to its great astonishment that, about nine in the morning, the King had set out for the Castle of Vincennes and would hunt the stag along with his brother, the Due d'Anjou, and the rest of the courtiers.

The rendezvous was at Point Saint-Louis, a cross-road so named at the time, it was said, because the famous oak under which, the martyr king administered justice could still be seen

there. All were, then, assembled at nine, when the new official, an object of general curiosity, as he was a stranger to almost every one, appeared on a magnificent black steed.

All eyes were directed toward him.

He was a tall man, about thirty-five years old ; his face was scarred by the smallpox, and, according to the emotions he experienced, his swarthy complexion was tinged with spots that came and went, impressing the observer most disagreeably, and inclining him to study the countenance more at length, a scrutiny which few countenances can very well bear.

In fact, it is the first impression that evokes our sympathies : the honest smile on the lips, the frank look in the eyes, will find responsive smiles and looks.

Clad in a jacket of green cloth braided with silver, a baldric on which the royal arms were embroidered, with a long feather in his cap, a boar-spear in his left hand, and the estortuaire for the King in his right, M. de Monsoreau might be taken for an awe-inspiring lord, but, certainly, not for a fine gentleman.

(t Fie ! monseigneur," said Bussy to the Due d'Anjou, " you ought to be ashamed of bringing us such an ugly phiz as that from your Government. Is he a sample of the sort of gentlemen your favor pitches on in the provinces ? Devil take me if you find another like him in all Paris, which is a good-sized city and has its fair share of scarecrows. And he has a red beard also ; I did not perceive it at first — it is an additional attraction. It is said, and I warn your Highness I did not believe a word of it, that you forced the King to make this fellow grand huntsman."

"M. de Monsoreau has served me well," said the priuf-e, shortly, " and I reward him."

" Well spoken, monseigneur ; such gratitude on the part of princes is only the more beautiful because it is so rare. But if that was your motive, I, too, monseigneur, have served you well, if I am not greatly mistaken, and I beg you to believe me when I state that I would wear the grand huntsman's jacket far more gracefully than that long-legged spectre."

" I never heard," answered the Due d'Anjou, " that a person had to be an Apollo or an Antinous in order to fill an office at court."

" You never heard so, monseigneur ? " said Bussy, in his coolest manner; " that is astonishing."

" I examine the heart, not the face," replied the prince ; " the services that have been performed, not the services that have been promised.''

" Your Highness must, I am afraid, think me very inquisitive," rejoined Bussy, " but I am really anxious to discover what service this Monsoreau has been able to do you."

" Ah ! Bussy," said the prince, sharply, " you have just spoken the truth: you are very inquisitive, far too inquisitive, in fact."

" That is so like a prince ! " went on Bussy, with his customary freedom; " princes will question you about anything and everything, and always insist on an answer ; while if you question them on the most trifling point, you may be sure you '11 get no reply."

" True," returned the Due d'Anjou ; " but do you know what you ought to do if you are anxious for information ? "

" No."

" Go ask M. de Monsoreau himself."

" I see ! " said Bussy ; " upon my word, you 're right, mon-seigneur, and, as he is a simple gentleman like myself, I have, at least, a remedy if he does not answer."

"Of what kind?"

" I '11 tell him he 's impertinent." And thereupon, turning his back on the prince, under the gaze of his friends, and hat in hand, he carelessly approached M. de Monsoreau, who, mounted in the middle of the circle, and the target for all eyes, was waiting with marvellous composure until the King should relieve him from the troublesome glances that fell on his person.

When he saw Bussy approach, gay and smiling, with hat in hand, his face brightened a little.

"Excuse me, monsieur," said Bussy, "but I see you are quite alone. Is it because the favor you now enjo}'' has already won you as many enemies as you may have had friends, a week ago, before you were appointed grand huntsman ? "

"By my faith, M. le Comte," answered the Seigneur de Monsoreau, " I would not swear but that you are right; I would even make a wager on it. But might I know to what I am to attribute the honor you do me in coming to disturb me in my solitude ? "

" Oh," said Bussy, boldly, "you owe it to the great admiration which the Due d'Anjou has made me feel for you."

" How, pray ? "

" By his account of the exploit that gained for you the office of grand huntsman."

M. de Monsoreau became so frightfully pale that the marks of the small-pox in his face turned to so many black points on his yellow skin. At the same time the look he gave Bussy foreboded a violent storm.

Bussy saw he had gone the wrong way about the matter; but he was not the sort of man that retreats ; on the contrary, he was one of those who make up for being indiscreet by being insolent.

" You say, monsieur," answered the grand huntsman, " that Monseigneur has given you an account of my last exploit ? "

" Yes, monsieur, and quite at length," said Bussy. " This it was, I confess, that made me long to hear the story from your own lips."

M. de Monsoreau clutched the spear convulsively, as if he felt violently inclined to use it as a weapon against Bussy.

" In good sooth, monsieur," said he, " I was quite willing to yield to your request, in recognition of your courtesy; but, unfortunately, as you see, the King is coming, and so I have not time; you will have the goodness, then, to adjourn the matter to another occasion."

Monsoreau was right; the King, mounted on his favorite steed, a handsome Spanish jennet of a light bay color, was galloping from the Castle to the Point Saint-Louis.

Bussy, looking round, encountered the eyes of the Due d'Anjou; the prince was laughing, an evil smile on his face.

" Master and servant," thought Bussy, " have both an ugly grimace when they laugh; what must it be, then, when they weep ? "

The King was fond of handsome, amiable faces; he was, therefore, anything but pleased with that of M. de Monsoreau, which he had seen once before, and which pleased him. as little the second time as it had the first. Still, he accepted graciously enough the estortuaire with which Monsoreau presented him, kneeling, as was the custom.

As soon as the King was armed, the whippers-in announced that a stag was started, and the chase began.

Bussy had stationed himself on the flank of the party, so that every one might pass in front of him; he scrutinized the faces of the women, without exception, to see if he could not discover the original of the portrait ; but it was all useless.

There were plenty of beautiful faces, plenty of captivating faces, at this hunt, where the grand huntsman was to make his first appearance ; but not the charming face for which he sought.

He was compelled to put up with the conversation and company of his ordinary friends. Antraguet, gay and talkative as ever, was a source of great relief to him in his disappointment.

" That 's a hideous grand huntsman we 've got," he said to Bussy ; " what do you think of him ? "

" He 's horrible; what a family he must have if the children who have the honor to belong to him are at all like him ! Be good enough to show me his wife."

" The grand huntsman is still unmarried, my dear," replied Antraguet.

" How do you know that ? "

" From Madame de Veudron, who thinks him very handsome, and would willingly make him her fourth spouse, as Lucretia Borgia did Count d'Este. Look! her bay is always just behind Monsoreau's black charger."

" What estate owns him as its lord ? "

" Oh, he has any number of estates."

« Where ? "

"Near Anjou."

" Then he 's rich ? "

" So I have been told ; but he's nothing more ; he belongs, it seems, to the lower class of nobles."

" And who is the mistress of this country squire ? "

" He has none; the worthy gentleman has decided to be without a parallel among his fellows. But see, the Due d'Anjou is beckoning to you; you had better go to him at once."

" Ah, faith, I '11 let Monseigneur le Due d'Anjou wait. This man piques my curiosity. I think him a very singular person. I don't know why—you get this sort of ideas into your head, you know, the first time you meet people. I don't know why, but I expect to have a crow to pluck with this fellow, some time or other ; and then, his name, Monsoreau ! "

" ' Mont de la Souris,' " l returned Antraguet; " that 's the etymology of it. My old abbe told me all about it this morning ; ' Mons Soricis.' "

" I accept the interpretation," answered Bussy.

i Mousehill.

" But — stay a moment, please," cried Antraguet, suddenly.

« Why ? "

" Livarot knows something about it."

« About what ? "

" Mons Soricis. They are neighbors."

" I say, Livarot ! tell us all you know at once."

Livarot drew near.

" Come here quick, Livarot. What about Monsoreau ? "

" Eh ? " replied the young man.

" We ,want you to inform us about Monsoreau."

" With pleasure."

« Will the story be long ? "

" No, very short; four or five words will be enough to tell you what I think and know of him : I 'in afraid of him ! "

" Good ! and now that you have told us what you think, tell us what you know."

" Listen ! I was returning, one night "

" A terrible opening that," said Antraguet.

" Will you let me finish ? "

" Go on."

" I was returning one night from a visit to my uncle D'En-tragues, through the forest of Meridor, about six months ago, when suddenly I heard a frightful cry, and a white nag, with an empty saddle, rushed by me into the thicket. I pushed on as hard as I could, and, at the end of a long avenue, darkened by the shadows of night, I espied a man on a black horse ; he was not galloping, he was flying. The same stifled cry was heard anew, and I was able to distinguish in front of his saddle the form of a woman and his hand pressed over her mouth. I had my hunting arquebuse with me, and you know I 'm no bungler with it as a rule. I took aim, and, upon my soul, I should have killed him only that my match went out at the wrong moment."

" And then ? " asked Bussy, " what happened next ? "