La Dame de Monsoreau (57 page)

" Oh, sire ! you do him far too much honor."

" You are right. How could any statesmanlike idea enter the head of such a butcher. But to whom am I to show my gratitude for the help given my cousin of Guise, Francois ? "

" To me, sire," answered the duke.

" To you!" exclaimed Henri, as if his astonishment were excessive.

Chicot again opened an eye.

The duke bowed.

" What! " said Henri, " when I saw every one let loose against me, the preachers against my vices, the poets and lampooners against my follies, the politicians against my faults, while my friends mocked at my impotence and my situation became so intolerable that I peaked and pined, had new white hairs in my head every day, such an idea came to you, Fran-c,ois, to you whom I must confess (ah! how weak is man and how blind are kings!) I have not always regarded as my friend ! Ah, Francois, how guilty I have been !"

And Henri, moved even to tears, held out his hand to his brother.

Chicot again opened both eyes.

" Oh! " continued Henri, " was there ever such a glorious idea ! I was not able to levy taxes or levy troops without raising an outcry; I was not able to walk or sleep or make love without exciting ridicule, and lo ! this idea of M. de Guise, or rather, of yourself, brother, gives me at once an army, money, friends and tranquillity. Now, in order that this tranquillity be permanent, one thing is necessary."

" What is it ? "

" My cousin spoke just now of giving a chief to this great movement."

" Yes, undoubtedly."

" Of course, Franqois, you see clearly that this chief cannot be one of my favorites ; none of them has at once the brains and courage befitting .so lofty a position. Quelus is brave ; but the rascal is taken up entirely with his amours. Maugiron is brave; but the coxcomb thinks only of his toilet. Schomberg is brave; but even his best friends must acknowledge that he is anything but clever. D'Epernon is brave j but

he is, admittedly, a hypocrite ; I cannot trust him for a moment, although I show him a fair face. But you know, Fran-qois," said Henri, more unreservedly than ever, " that one of the heaviest burdens of a king is the necessity of constant dissimulation ; and so when I can speak openly from my heart, as I am doing now, ah! I breathe."

Chicot closed both his eyes.

" Well, then," continued Henri, " if my cousin of Guise has originated the idea in the development of which you have had such an important share, Francois, he certainly has a right to the office of putting it into execution."

" What is this you are saying, sire ?" cried Franqois, trembling with anxiety.

" I say that the director of such a movement should be a great prince."

" Sire, be on your guard ! "

" A good captain and an able negotiator."

" An able negotiator, especially," repeated the duke.

" Well, Francois, do you not think that, from every point of view, M. de Guise is admirably fitted for the post ? Come, now, your opinion ? "

" Brother," answered Francois, " M. de Guise is already very powerful."

" Certainly, but his power is of such a character that it really constitutes my strength."

" The Due de Guise holds the army and the populace ; the Cardinal de Lorraine holds the Church; Mayenne is an instrument in the hands of his two brothers ; you would, certainly, concentrate an immense amount of power in a single house if you did what you say."

" True," said Henri; " I have already thought of that, Francois."

" If the Guises were French princes I could understand it ; it would be their interest to increase the power of the house of France."

" No doubt, while, on the contrary, they are Lorraine princes."

" A house which has ever been the rival of ours."

" Ha ! Franqois, you have just touched the sore. Tudieu ! I did not believe you were so good a politician — well, yes, you see it now ; you know now why I have grown so thin, why my hair is white. The cause of this is the elevation of

the house of Lorraine to a place of rivalry with ours ; for, look you, Francois, a single day does not pass that these three Guises — you spoke truly, the three hojd everything — there passes not a day that the duke, or the cardinal, or Mayenne — one or the other of them, at any rate — does not by audacity, or adroitness, or force, or craft, rob me of some fragment of my power, some particle of my prerogatives, while I am too poor, weak, and isolated a creature to be able to make head against them. Ah ! Franqois, if we could have had this explanation earlier, if I could have read in your heart what I read now, most assuredly, having your support, I should have offered a firmer resistance than I have done; but it is too late now, as you must see yourself."

« Why so ? "

" Because there would be a struggle, and, in truth, every struggle wearies me to death ; I must, therefore, name him chief of the League."

" You will be wrong, brother."

" But whom would you have me name, Francois ? Who would accept this perilous post, for perilous it is ? Do you not see what was the meaning of the duke's words ? Do you not see he intended I should name him ? "

« Well ? »

" Well! why, any man I should name in his stead he would regard as an enemy !"

" Name some man so powerful that his strength, supported by yours, will be a match for the power and strength of all the Lorraines together."

" Ah ! my good brother," said Henri in a tone of utter discouragement, " I do not know a single person who unites the qualities you mention."

f{ Look around you, sire."

" Around me ? Why, the only true friends I see are you and Chicot, brother."

" Oho ! " murmured Chicot, " would he be likely to play a trick on me ? "

And he shut both his eyes.

" Well, brother," said the duke, " you do not understand."

Henri gazed at his brother as if a veil had just dropped from his eyes.

"What?" he cried.

Francois made a sign with his head.

" But no," said Henri; " you would never consent, Fran-qois ! The work would be too rough ; you would surely never undertake the task of exercising all these worthy citizens; you would never give yourself the trouble of going through all the sermons of their preachers; and, in case there was a fight, you would never transform yourself into a butcher and turn the streets of Paris into slaughter-pens. To do so, you should have to be triform like M. de Guise, and have a right arm named Charles, and a left arm called Louis. Now, the duke proved himself quite a master-hand at killing during the day of Saint Bartholomew ; don't you think so, Francois ? "

" Far too good a master-hand, sire !"

" Yes, perhaps. But you do not answer my question, Fran-Qois. What! you would like the sort of trade to which I have just alluded ! You would rub up against the cracked breastplates of these cockneys and the old stewpans they substitute for helmets ? What! you would become a hero of the populace, you, the chief lord of our court ? Mort-de-ma-vie ! brother, what changes age does bring with it! "

" I would not, perhaps, do so for my own sake, sire ; but I would certainly do it for yours."

" Good brother, excellent brother," said Henri, wiping away with the tip of his finger a tear that had never existed.

" Then," said Francois, " you would not be displeased if I undertook the task you were thinking of entrusting to M. de Guise ? "

" Displeased ? " exclaimed Henri. " Corne du diable ! so far from being displeased, I should be delighted, on the contrary. So you, too, had been thinking of the League ? So much the better, mordieux ! so much the better. So you, too, had caught hold of the small end of the idea; what nonsense I am talking when I say the small end ? — the big end. What you have told me is, I give you my word, really marvellous. In good sooth, I am surrounded by superior intellects, and I am myself the greatest ass in my realm."

" Oh, your Majesty jests."

" Jests ? God forbid ! the situation is too serious. I say what I think, Francois. You really relieve me from a very embarrassing position, the more embarrassing, Francois, because I am ill and my mind is not as strong as it was. Miron has shown me this often. But let us return to something more important; and, besides, what use is my mind to me,

when I can light my path by the brilliancy of yours ? It is agreed, then, that I shall name you chief of the League, is it not ? "

Francois started with joy.

" Oh ! " he exclaimed, " if your Majesty believed me worthy of such confidence ! "

" Confidence ! ah, Franqois, confidence ! As long as M. de Guise is not that chief, whom can I distrust ? The League ? Have I, perchance, any danger to fear from the League ? Spe,ak, my dear Franqois, tell me everything."

" Oh ! sire," protested the duke.

" What a fool I am ! " rejoined Henri. " In such a case, my brother would riot be its chief; or, better still, from the moment he became its chief, all danger would vanish. Eh ? that is sound logic, now, is it not ? Clearly, my old pedagogue gave me something, at least, in return for my money. No, by my faith, I have no distrust. Besides, there are a goodly number of stout warriors in France who would be sure to draw the sword against the League whenever the League refused to give me free elbow-room."

" True, sire," answered the duke, with an artless frankness that was almost as cleverly assumed as his brother's, but not quite ; " the King is still the King."

Chicot opened an eye.

" Indeed ! " said Henri. " But unfortunately an idea has also come into my head. It is incredible how many ideas are sprouting to-day; there are days, however, of that sort."

" What idea, brother ? " inquired the duke, uneasily, for he could hardly believe that such good fortune could fall on his head without meeting some obstacle on the way.

" Oh, our cousin of Guise, the father, or rather, the putative father, of the invention, has probably gone away with the notion that he is to be the chief. He is sure to want to be the commander."

" The commander, sire ? "

" Without doubt, without even the slightest doubt. He has probably cherished the idea solely because it would be profitable to him. It is true that you, too, have cherished it. But take care, Frariqois ; he is not the man to stand being the victim of the Sic vos non vobis — you know your Virgil — nidifi-catis, aves."

"Oh! sire."

" Francois, I should be willing to wager the thought has occurred to him. He knows I am so giddy."

" Oh, the moment you make known your will, he will yield."

" Or pretend to yield. I have said already, < Take care, Francois. 7 He has a long arm, has my cousin of Guise. I will say even more ; I will say he has long arms, and that not a man in the kingdom except him, not even the King, can stretch his arms so far as to touch with one hand the Spains and with the other England : Don Juan of Austria and Elizabeth. Bourbon's sword was not as long as my cousin of Guise's arm, and yet he did much harm to our grandfather, Francois I."

" But," answered Francois, "if your Majesty consider him so dangerous, the stronger the reason why you should give me the command of the League. He will thus be caught between my power and yours, and then you can easily have him tried after the first treasonable enterprise."

Chicot opened the other eye.

" Have him tried, Francois, have him tried ? An easy thing for Louis XL, who was rich and powerful, to have men tried and erect scaffolds for them. But I have not money enough even to purchase all the black velvet I should need."

While saying these words, Henri, who, in spite of his self-control, had grown excited, flashed a piercing glance at the duke, which compelled him to lower his eyes.

Chicot closed both his.

There was a moment's silence between the two princes.

The King was the first to break it.

" You must be very prudent, my dear Francois, in everything," said he ; " no civil wars, no quarrels between my subjects. Though I am the son of Henri the Contentious, I am also the son of Catharine the Crafty, and I have inherited a little of the astuteness of my mother. I will recall the Due de Guise and make him so many promises that everything shall be arranged amicably."

" Sire," cried the Due d'Anjou, " you grant me the command, do you not?"

" Certainly."

" And you wish me to have it ? "

" It is my fondest wish. But we must not give too much umbrage to my cousin of Guise in this matter."

" Then your Majesty may make your mind easy/' said the

Due d'Anjou ; " if this be the only obstacle you see to my nomination, I can arrange the matter with the duke."

« But when ? "

" Immediately."

" Are you going in search of him ? going to visit him ? Oh, brother! just think of it, will not that be doing him too much honor ? "

'•No, sire, I am not going in search of him."

« How is that ? "

u< He is waiting for me."

« Where ? "

" In my apartments."

" In your apartments ? Why, I heard the cheers that hailed him as he left the Louvre! "

" Yes ; but, after leaving the grand gate, he returned by the postern. The King had a right to the Due de Guise's first visit ; I had a right to the second."

" Ah, brother," said Henri, " how grateful I am to you for thus supporting our prerogatives, which I am sometimes weak enough to abandon! Go, then, Francois, and try to come to an understanding with him."

The duke took his brother's hand and bowed to kiss it.

" What are you doing, Francois ? " cried Henri; " to my arms, on my heart, there is your true place! "

And the two brothers embraced several times ; then, after a last one, the Due d'Anjou, restored to liberty, passed out of the cabinet, crossed the galleries rapidly, and ran to his apartments.

His heart, like that of the first mariner, must have been encased in oak and steel not to have burst with joy.