La Dame de Monsoreau (68 page)

Chicot had expected that some such visit would be made ; and so, after leaving Bussy, he strolled about the neighborhood of the Hotel d'Alenqon, situated at the corner of the Rue Hautefeuille and the Rue Saint-Andre.

He was hardly a quarter of an hour there when he saw the person he was waiting for coming out of the Rue de la Huchette.

Chicot hid in a corner of the Rue du Cimetiere, and the Due de Guise entered the hotel without perceiving him.

The duke met the prince's first valet de chambre, who was rather anxious because his master had not returned, but suspected what had really happened; namely, that he had stayed during the night in the Louvre.

The duke asked if, as the prince was absent, he might speak to Aurilly. The valet de chambre answered that Aurilly was in his master's cabinet and that he was at full liberty to question him.

The duke entered the cabinet.

Aurilly, it will be remembered, was the lute-player and confidant of the prince, was acquainted with all his secrets, and knew better than any one where he was likely to be found.

Aurilly was, to say the least, quite as anxious as the valet de chambre. After letting his fingers wander distractedly over his lute, he would, every moment, run to the window and look through the panes to see if there was any sign of his master's return.

A messenger had been sent three times to the Louvre, and had returned with the same answer every time: monseigneur had returned very late, and was now asleep.

M. de Guise questioned Aurilly about the movements of the Due d'Anjou.

Aurilly had been separated from his master the evening before, at the corner of the Rue de PArbre Sec, by a crowd which increased the crush at the hostelry of La Belle-Etoile, and so had returned to wait for the duke at the Hotel d'Alen-qon, not having the slightest idea that his royal highness intended to sleep in the Louvre.

The lute-player then told the Lorraine prince of the three messengers he had sent to the Louvre, and of the same identical reply that had been given to these three messengers.

" Asleep at eleven ? " said the duke ; " not at all probable ; the King himself is up at that hour. You ought to go to the Louvre, Aurilly."

" I thought of doing so, monseigneur," answered Aurilly ; "but I am afraid this sleep is but an invention he ordered the concierge to use for the benefit of troublesome visitors, and that he is on some gallant expedition in the city; in that case, his highness would be anything but pleased if we went searching for him."

" Aurilly, believe me, monseigneur has too much sense to be engaged in any such expedition on a day like this. Go to the Louvre, then, without any fear ; you will be sure to find him there."

" Well, since you wish it, monseigneur, I will go; but what shall I say to him ? "

" You will say to him that the meeting at the Louvre is to be at two, and that we must have a conference before coming into the King's presence. You understand, Aurilly," added the duke, with a gesture that denoted very little respect for the Due d'Anjou, " that it is not at a time when the King is about to choose a chief for the League that his highness should be sleeping."

"Very well, monseigneur, I will beg his highness to come here."

" Where, you will tell him, I am waiting for him very impatiently. As the meeting is to be at two, many have already gone to the Louvre and there is not a moment to be lost. Meanwhile, I shall send for M. de Bussy."

" Very well, monseigneur. But in case I should not find his highness, what am I to do ? "

" If you do not find his highness, Aurilly, do not make any

pretence of searching for him ; it will be enough for you to tell him, later on, how eager I was to meet with him. At all events, I shall be at the Louvre at a quarter to two."

Auriliy bowed himself out.

Chicot witnessed his departure and guessed at its cause.

If the Ducde Guise should learn of the arrest of M. d'Anjou, all was lost, or, at least, the troubles that must ensue would be fraught with mischief.

Chicot saw that Aurilly went up the Rue de la Huchette, evidently intending to cross the Pont Saint-Michel ; on the other hand, he himself descended the Rue Saint-And re-des-Arts with all the speed of his long legs, and passed the Seine at the very moment when Aurilly had still hardly reached the Grand Chatelet.

We shall follow Aurilly, who is guiding us to the very theatre of the important events of the day.

He moved along the quays, thronged with citizens looking like men who had achieved a great triumph, and reached the Louvre, which, amid all this joyous excitement of the Parisians, retained its air of restful and austere tranquillity.

Aurilly was familiar with the men and manners of the court ; he talked first with the officer at the gate, always an important personage in the eyes of news-seekers and scandal-mongers.

The officer was affable and communicative; the King had risen in the best possible humor.

Aurilly went from the officer to the concierge.

The concierge was reviewing a number of servants who had received new costumes, and was distributing among them halberds of a novel invention.

He smiled on the lute-player, answered his remark on the rain and fine weather, and, in fact, gave Aurilly the most favorable idea of the condition of the political atmosphere.

After this, Aurilly went further and ascended the grand staircase leading to the duke's apartments, saluting quite a number of courtiers on the way, who were scattered on the landings and through the antechambers.

At the door leading into his highness's apartments he found Chicot sitting on a camp-stool.

Chicot was playing at chess, all by himself, and appeared to be absorbed in some profound combination.

Aurilly tried to pass, but Chicot, with his long legs, blocked up the doorway.

He was forced to tap the Gascon's shoulder.

" Ah, it is you," said Chicot, " excuse me, M. Aurilly."

" Why, what are you doing, M. Chicot ? "

" Playing at chess, as you see."

"All by yourself?"

" Yes — I am studying a problem. Do you play at chess, monsieur ? "

" Very little."

" Ah, yes, I know ; you are a musician, and music is so difficult an art that those gifted in that way must give it all their time and all their understanding.'-'

" Apparently the problem you are engaged on is a rather serious one," said Aurilly, laughing.

" Yes, it is my king who troubles me ; you know, monsieur, that in chess the king is a very stupid, very insignificant personage ; he has no will of his own, cannot take a step to the right, cannot take a step to the left, while he is surrounded with active enemies, — knights who jump three squares at a time, a crowd of pawns always around him, always at his heels, always harassing him, so that he is a badly advised sovereign; ah, faith ! it looks as if, in a little time, he must be a ruined monarch. True he has his fool, 1 who goes and comes, and trots from one end of the chess-board to the other, who has the right to throw himself in front of him, or stand behind him, or beside him, as the case may be; but, the more devoted the fool is to his king, the more risk he runs, himself, and I will not conceal from you, M. Aurilly, that, at the present moment, my king and his fool are in an unpleasant predicament."

" But," asked Aurilly, " what chance has led you, M. Chicot, to study all these combinations at the door of his royal highness ? "

" Because I am waiting for M. Quelus, who is inside."

« Inside ? Where ? "

" Why, with his royal highness."

" M. de Quelus with his royal highness ? " asked Aurilly, utterly bewildered.

During the dialogue, Chicot had left .the way clear for the lute-player, so that, at length, Aurilly was between the jester and the door leading into the Due d'Anjou's apartments.

Still, Aurilly hesitated about opening the door.

1 In English chess, the bishop.

" Would you tell me," said he, " what M. de Quelus is doing with the Due d'Anjou ? I was not aware they were such very great friends."

" Hush ! " answered Chicot, with an air of mystery.

Then, still holding his chess-board with both hands, he made a curve with his long person so that, without moving from the place where he stood, his lips reached the ears of Aurilly.

" He is asking pardon," said he, " of his royal highness for a little quarrel they had yesterday."

« Indeed ? " said Aurilly.

" The King insisted on it. You know on what good terms the two brothers are at present. The King would not for a moment allow Quelus to be impertinent to his brother, and so Quelus was ordered to make the most humble apology to the Due d'Anjou."

« Really ? "

" Ah, M. Aurilly, I think that we are, of a truth, returning to the age of gold. The Louvre will soon be transformed into an Arcadia, and the two brothers will be Arcades ambo. Ah, forgive me, M. Aurilly, I am always forgetting that you are a musician."

Aurilly smiled and passed into the antechamber, while, at the same time, through the door he had opened, Chicot exchanged a significant glance with Quelus, who had probably been warned of the state of affairs beforehand.

Chicot then resumed his combinations, scolding his King in good, set terms, not more harshly than, perhaps, a king in flesh and bone would have deserved, but far too harshly for a poor little king made of ivory.

As soon as Aurilly entered the antechamber he was courteously saluted by Quelus, who held between his hands a superb cup and ball of ebony inlaid with ivory, and was making rapid evolutions with them.

" Bravoj M. de Quelus ! " said Aurilly, on seeing the young man perform quite a difficult feat with them, " bravo ! "

" Ah, my dear M. Aurilly," said Que'lus, " shall I ever be able to toss cup and ball as skilfully as you finger the lute ? " " When you have spent as many years studying your toy," answered Aurilly, somewhat offended, " as I have spent in studying my instrument. But, by the way, where is monsei-gneur ? Did you not speak to him this morning, monsieur ? "

" I had an audience with him, my dear Aurilly, but Schom-berg has tripped me up and is the favorite at present."

" What! M. de Schomberg also ? " exclaimed the lute-player, more astonished than ever.

" Why, yes, of course. The King manages all that. He is yondei in the dining-room. Enter, then, M. d'Aurilly, and remind the prince that we are waiting for him."

Aurilly opened the second door and saw Schomberg sitting, or rather, reclining, on a long sofa stuffed with feathers. He was amusing himself in this position by firing little pellets of perfumed clay — of which he had ample supply in his game-bag — from a pea-shooter, and sending them through a gold ring suspended by a silken thread from the ceiling; a pet dog brought back to him all of them that were not broken against the wall.

" What! " cried Aurilly, " practising at such an exercise in the apartments of his highness ! Oh, M. de Schomberg !"

" Ah ! guten morgen, M. Aurilly," said Schomberg, interrupting'for a moment his amusement; "you see I am trying to kill time while waiting for my audience."

" But where is monseigneur ? " asked Aurilly.

" Hush! monseigneur is now granting a pardon to Maugiron and D'Eperiion. But do you not wish to enter, you who are on such familiar terms with the prince ? "

"Perhaps it might be indiscreet ? " inquired the musician.

" Not at all ; quite the contrary. You will find him in his art gallery. Enter, M. Aurilly,'enter."

And he pushed Aurilly by the shoulders into the next apartment, where the dazed musician perceived D'Epernon stiffening his mustache with gum, before a mirror, while Maugiron, seated near a window, was cutting out of a book engravings beside which the bas-reliefs of the temple of Venus Aphrodite at Gnidos and the pictures of Tiberius at Capri would have seemed chaste.

The duke, without his sword, was seated in his* armchair between these two men, who never looked at him except to watch his movements, and never spoke to him except to utter unpleasant words.

As soon as he saw Aurilly he was about to rush forward to meet him.

" Softly, monseigneur," said Maugiron, " you are treading on my pictures."

" Great heavens ! what do I behold ? " cried the musician ; " they are insulting my master ! "

" How is that dear friend of ours M. Aurilly ?" said D'lSpernon, all the while pointing and twisting his mustache. " He must be in pretty good condition, for he looks very red."

" Do me the favor, Mister Musician, to bring me your little dagger, if you please," said Maugiron.

" Gentlemen, gentlemen," said Aurilly, " do you not re-me,mber where you are ? "

" Oh, yes, yes, indeed ! my dear Orpheus," said D'Epernon, " and that is why my friend asks you for your poniard. You see clearly that M. le Due has none."

" Aurilly," said the duke, in a voice choked by grief and rage, " do you not see I am a prisoner ? "

" Prisoner of whom ? "

" Of my brother. Surely you must have understood that when you saw the sort of persons who are my jailers ? "

Aurilly uttered a cry of amazement.

" Oh, if I had suspected this ! " said he.

" You would have brought your lute to amuse his highness, my dear M. Aurilly," said a mocking voice ; " but I thought of that, and sent for it; here it is."

And Chicot handed the poor musician his lute. Behind Chicot were Quelus and Schomberg, yawning as if they must dislocate their jaws.

''And how is your chess getting along, Chicot?" asked D'Epernon.

" Oh, yes, how are you managing your game ? " said Quelus.

" Gentlemen, I think my fool will save his King; but, morbleu! it will not be without some trouble. Come, M. Aurilly, give me your poniard in exchange for your lute — a fair exchange."