La Dame de Monsoreau (22 page)

dispense with his care ; but he answered that she was skittish and might fly off in another direction, thus separating me from him.

"We had travelled about ten minutes when I heard Gertrude's voice calling to me. I turned round and saw that our troop had divided. Four men had taken a by-path and were hurrying her into the forest, while the count and four others followed the same road along with me.

" ( Gertrude !' I cried. ' Monsieur, why is she not coming with us ? '

" ' It is an indispensable precaution,' said he. ' If we are pursued, we must leave two tracks behind us ; it is absolutely necessary that those who may have perceived us should be able to say they saw two different women carried off in two different directions. It may then be our good fortune to have the Due d'Anjou take the wrong road and run after the maid instead of her mistress.'

" The answer was specious, but not satisfactory. However, what could I say ? what could I do ? I sighed and waited.

" Moreover, the path taken by the count was the one which led to the Castle of Meridor; at the gait at which we were going we should be there in a quarter of an hour. But suddenly, at a cross-road well known to me, the count, instead of continuing on the road which would bring me to my father, swerved into a path on the left which clearly led elsewhere. I cried out at once, and, in spite of the rate at which we were galloping, I had my hand on the pommel ready to spring to the ground, when the count, who no doubt had his eye on all my movements, leaned over, seized me by the waist, lifted me up, and set me on his own horse in front of him. <)i ••<• at liberty, my nag fled, neighing, into the forest.

" The action was executed so swiftly that I had barely time to utter a cry.

" The count placed his hand over my mouth.

" < Mademoiselle,' said he, ' I swear upon my honor that everything I do is by your father's orders, and I will prove it at our first stopping-place. If you do not regard the proof as sufficient, I pledge you my honor a second time that you shall be free.'

" ' But, monsieur, you told me you were conducting me to my father,' I cried, thrusting his hand away and throwing my head back.

" ' Yes, I told you so because I saw you hesitated to follow me, and a moment's further hesitation would have been fatal to both of us, as you saw for yourself. And now, think of our position/ said the count, halting. ' Do you want to kill the baron ? Do you want to inarch to your own dishonor ? Say but the word and I lead you back to Meridor.'

" t You said you had a proof you acted for my father ? '

" l And here it is,' answered the count; < take this letter and read it at the first place we stop at. If, after reading it, you wish to return to the castle, I again repeat that, upon my honor, you shall be free. But if you have any respect for the baron's orders, you will not return; of that I am very sure.'

" ' Then, monsieur, let us gain the first stopping-place as soon as possible, for I am certainly in a hurry to find out if you speak the truth.'

" < Remember, you are coming with me freely.'

" { Yes, freely, or, rather, as freely as a young girl can act who sees on one side her father's death and her own dishonor, and on the other the necessity of trusting in the good faith of a man she hardly knows. No matter, I follow you freely, monsieur, as you shall have evidence of if you are kind enough to give me back my horse.'

" The count made a sign to one of his men to dismount. I leaped off his steed, and, a moment after, was riding beside him.

" ( The nag cannot be far,' said he to the man who had dismounted ; ' you know she comes like a dog when called by her name or whistled for. You will follow us to La Chatre.'

" I shuddered in spite of myself. La Chatre was ten leagues from Meridor and on the highroad to Paris.

" ' Monsieur,' said I, ' I go with you, but at La Chatre we shall make our conditions.'

" ' Or, rather, mademoiselle, at La Chatre you shall give your orders,' answered the count.

" This assumed deference did not reassure me. However, as I had no choice and as the course suggested by Monsoreau seemed the only one that would enable me to escape from the Due d'Anjou, I continued my journey in silence. We reached La Chatre at daybreak. But instead of entering the village, we turned aside as soon as we came to the first gardens, crossed the fields, and rode toward a lonely house.

" I halted.

" ' Where are we going ? ' I asked.

" ' Listen, mademoiselle/ said the count. ' I have already remarked that your understanding is clear-sighted and judicious, and it is to your understanding I make my appeal. Can we, in flying from a prince next in power to the King, stop at an ordinary hostelry, in the midst of a village where the first peasant that sees us will denounce us ? You might bribe a single man, but you cannot bribe a whole village/

" Like all the answers of the count, this, too, had a con-clusiyeness, or a seeming conclusiveness, that struck me.

" ' Be it so,' said I, ( let us go on.'

"And we started again.

" We were expected. A man had been sent in advance, without my knowledge, to provide suitable accommodations.

"A bright fire burned in the chimney of a room that was almost clean, and a bed was ready.

" ' This is your apartment, mademoiselle,' said the count ; ' I will await your orders.'

" He saluted, passed out, and left me alone.

" My first act was to approach the lamp and draw my father's letter from my bosom. Here it is, Monsieur de Bussy. I make you my judge ; read."

Bussy took the letter and read:

" My beloved Diane, if, as I do not doubt, you have, in compliance with my entreaties, followed the Comte de Monsoreau, he must have told you that you have had the misfortune to attract the attention of the Due d'Anjou, and that it was this prince who had you seized and conducted to the Castle of Beauge. By this violence you can judge of what he is capable and of the shame that threatens you. There is one way of escaping this shame, which I would not survive : it is to marry our noble friend ; once you are Comtesse de Monsoreau, it is his wife the count defends, and he has sworn to me to defend you by any and every means. My wish, then, my darling daughter, is that this marriage take place as soon as possible, and should you yield to my desire, I add a father's blessing to my formal consent, and pray God to bestow on you all the treasures of happiness which his love reserves for such hearts as yours.

" Your father, who does not command but entreats,

" Baron de Meridor."

" Alas ! madame," said Bussy, " if this letter be indeed your father's it is only too positive,"

" It is his — I have no doubt on that point; still, I read it three times before coming to any decision. Then I called the count.

" He entered at once, which proved he had been waiting at the door.

" I was holding the letter in my hand.

" < Well/ said he, < have you read it ?'

" l Yes/ I answered.

" i Do you still doubt of my discretion and respect ?'

" ' Though I did, monsieur/ I answered, f this letter would force me to believe in them. And now, monsieur, there is something still. Supposing I am inclined to follow my father's advice, what do you intend doing ? '

" ' I intend leading you to Paris, mademoiselle ; it is the place where you can be most easily concealed/

" < And my father ?'

" ' You know well that, no matter where you are, the baron is sure to join you, as soon as he can do so without exposing you to peril.'

" t Well, then, monsieur, I am ready to accept your protection on the conditions which you impose.'

"' I impose nothing, mademoiselle/ replied the count, f I simply offer you the means of saving yourself.'

" ( Then I accept the correction, and say, almost in your own words, I am ready to accept the means of salvation you offer, but on three conditions.'

" ' Speak, mademoiselle.'

" < The first is that Gertrude be restored to me.'

" < She is so already/ said the count.

" i The second is that we travel apart to Paris.'

" ' I was about to propose it, to avoid offending your delicacy.'

"' And the third is that our marriage, unless I acknowledge some urgent necessity for it, shall not take place except in the presence of my father.'

" ' It is my most -earnest desire. I am sure his blessing on our union will be followed by that of Heaven.'

" I was bewildered. I had believed that, certainly, some one of my proposals, at least, would be found unacceptable, and, lo ! they were all such as the count intended to make himself.

" ' Now, mademoiselle/ said he, < will you allow me, in my turn, to give you some advice ? '

" ' I will hear you, monsieur.'

" ' Then I should counsel you to travel by night.'

" ' I agree to that fully.'

" i And to permit me to select the route and the lodgings you will occupy; all my precautions will have but one object — to protect you from the Due d'Anjou.'

" i If you love me as jfou say, monsieur, our interests are the same. I see no objection to complying with your request.'

" ' My last counsel is for you to be satisfied with the home I select for you, however plain and retired.'

" ' All I ask, monsieur, is to be concealed ; so the plainer and the more remote the place is the better it will be suited to a fugitive.'

" ' Then we are agreed on all points, mademoiselle, and all that remains, in accordance with the plans you have traced, is for me to present my very humble respects, send you your maid, and give my attention to the route you are to follow.'

" ' And as for myself, monsieur,' I answered, ' I am a gentlewoman just as you are a gentleman ; do you keep your promises and I will keep mine.'

" ' That is all I ask,' said the count, ' and this assurance convinces me that I shall soon be the happiest of men.'

" And with these words he bowed and passed out.

" Five minutes after, Gertrude entered.

" The joy of this good girl was great; she had believed she was separated from me forever. I told her all that had passed; I needed some one who could enter into my views, second my wishes, understand a hint at the proper moment, and obey a sign or a gesture. The complacent behavior of M. de Monsoreau astonished me, and I feared there might be some infraction of the treaty we had just made.

" As I was coming to the end of my story, we heard the sound of a horse's hoofs. I ran to the window ; it was the count galloping back the way we had come. Why did he go back instead of going forward ? It was a thing I could not understand. But he had fulfilled the first article of the treaty by restoring Gertrude to me, and he was now observing the second by retiring ; I had nothing to complain of. Besides, in whatever direction he went, his absence reassured me.

" We spent all the day in this little house, waited on by our landlady. It was not until evening that the man whom I re-

garded as the leader of our escort entered my room and asked me for orders.

" As the nearer I was to Beauge, the greater, in my opinion, was the danger, I told him I was ready. Five minutes later he returned and informed me, as he bowed, that all preparations were made. I found my white nag at the door; she had come at the first call, as the Comte de Monsoreau had predicted.

" We travelled the whole night, and stopped at daybreak, as on the evening before. I reckoned that we must have made nearly fifteen leagues. However, M. de Monsoreau had seen to it that I should not suffer from cold or weariness; the mare of his choice trotted in a peculiarly gentle fashion, and, when I left the house, a fur mantle was thrown over my shoulders.

" This halt resembled the first, and all these night journeys were similar to the one we had just made. I was treated on every occasion with the same respect, the same deference, the same attention; it was evident some one preceded us to prepare our lodgings; whether it was the count or not, I could not say, for I never saw him once during our travels ; he was plainly determined to obey this article of our treaty as exactly as the other two.

" On the evening of the seventh day I perceived an immense crowd of houses. It was Paris.

" We stopped till nightfall; then we resumed our journey.

" We soon passed under a gate, beyond which the first object that struck me was an immense building, which I knew from its walls to be a monastery ; next, we crossed the river at two points, turned to the right, and, after a ten minutes' ride, were in the Place de la Bastille. There, a man, who seemed to be expecting us, came out of a doorway and approached the leader of our escort.

" ' This is the place,' said he.

" The leader of the escort turned to me, saying:

" ( You hear, madame ; we have arrived.'

" Then he leaped from his horse and assisted me in alighting, as had been his custom at every stopping-place.

" The door was open and the staircase was lighted by a lamp placed on one of the steps.

" ' Madame,' said the leader of the escort, 'you are now at home. The mission I received to wait upon you ends here; may I hope to be able to say that this mission has been accom-

plished according to your wishes and with all the respect which we were ordered to show toward you ? "

" ' Yes, monsieur,' said I, < I have nothing but thanks to give you. Offer them also to the other brave men who have accompanied me. I should like to remunerate them in a different fashion ; but I possess nothing.'

" ' Do not be uneasy, madame, as to that,' he answered, < they have been rewarded liberally.'