La Dame de Monsoreau (87 page)

" And whom do you suspect ? "

" Whom do I suspect, are you asking ? "

" Yes," said the count.

" Suspect of what ? "

" Of climbing the wall to enter the park and talk with my wife ? "

Saint-Luc seemed to be revolving the matter deeply in his mind, and Monsoreau awaited the result of his meditation anxiously.

"Well?" said he.

" Why, hang it!" answered Saint-Luc, " as far as I can see, it must have been " —

" Who ? " eagerly asked the count.

" Nobody but — yourself."

" My dear M. de Saint-Luc, you are jesting," said the count, completely taken aback.

" Jesting ? Faith, no. In the early days of my marriage I committed follies of that sort; why should n't you also ?"

" Oh, nonsense. I see you are trying to avoid giving me an answer; confess that that is the case, my dear friend. But do not be afraid, I have courage. Help me in my search, and you will be doing me an immense favor."

Saint-Luc scratched his ear.

" I still think it was you," said he.

" A truce to raillery ; try and look at the matter seriously, monsieur; for I assure you it is very important."

" You think so ? "

" I am sure of it, I tell you."

"Oh, then, that is different. And do you know how this man manages to enter ? "

" By stealth, of course."

" Often ? "

" Undoubtedly; he has left the marks of his feet on the soft stone of the wall; you can see for yourself."

" Yes, I see them."

"And you never saw anything of what I have just told you ? "

" Oh," answered Saint-Luc, " I have had some suspicions."

" Ah ! now we are coming to it! " gasped the count; " and what did you do ? "

" I did nothing. I was not at all uneasy, for I believed it was you."

" But now that I tell you it was not ? "

" I believe you, my dear monsieur."

" You believe me ? "

« Yes."

"Well, and now?"

" Now I believe it was some one else."

The grand huntsman looked at him almost threateningly; but Saint-Luc never altered his affable, unruffled demeanor.

" Ah ! " cried Monsoreau, in a tone so savage that the young man raised his head.

" I have another idea," said he.

"What is it?"

" What if it were " -

"Were who?"

« No."

« NO ? "

" But it might be " —

"Who?"

" The Due d'Anjou."

" I thought so, too," returned the count ; " but I have made inquiries and I found it could not have been he."

" Oh, the duke is a very wily intriguer."

" I know it, but it was not he."

" You are always answering: ' this is not so and that is

not so,' " said Saint-Luc; " yet you are asking me for information."

" Because, as you are staying at the castle, you ought to know "

" Hold on a moment," cried Saint-Luc.

" What is it now ? "

" I have another idea. If it was n't you and if it was n't the duke, it must have been I."

" You, Saint-Luc ? "

" Why not ? "

" You to come to the outside of the park and leave your horse there when there was nothing to prevent you from riding up to the castle ? "

" Egad, there would be nothing strange in that. You see I am such a whimsical creature," said Saint-Luc.

" Is it likely you would have fled when you saw me on the top of the wall ?•"

" Faith, many would have fled for less."

" You knew, then, you were acting wrong ? " said the count, whose anger was beginning to get the better of him.

" Possibly."

" Ha!" cried the count, turning pale, " so you have been jeering at me, and that for the last quarter of an hour."

" You are mistaken, monsieur," said Saint-Luc, drawing out his watch and eying Monsoreau with an expression that sent a shudder through his veins, in spite of his ferocious courage, " for twenty minutes."

" But this is an insult, monsieur! " said the count.

" And do you believe you have not insulted me, monsieur, with all those questions of yours, more worthy of a police spy than of a gentleman ? "

" Ah ! I see everything clearly now."

" A miracle ! You see clearly at ten in the forenoon ! And pray, what do you see ? "

" That you have an understanding with the traitor, the coward, I was near killing yesterday."

" Nothing wonderful in that," answered Saint-Luc ; " he is my friend."

" Then, if that be the case, I will kill you instead of him."

" Pshaw ! in your own house, suddenly, without warning !"

" Do you think I shall be over-scrupulous about chastising a wretch like you ? " cried the exasperated nobleman.

" Ah, M. de Monsoreau, how badly you have been brought up! " replied Saint-Luc, " and how sadly your manners have been spoiled by your constant association with wild beasts ! Shame, shame ! "

" Do you not see that I am furious! " roared the count, standing before Saint-Luc with folded arms, the hideous contraction of his features showing forth the agony and despair that tore his heart.

" Mordieu J I should say I did; and, to tell God's truth, there is no one in the world who can less afford to get in a rage than you; you look absolutely hideous, my dear M. de Monsoreau."

The count, beside himself, clapped his hand on his sword.

" Ah ! " said Saint-Luc, "it is you who challenge me, then, not I you ; for you see for yourself that I am perfectly calm."

" Yes, coxcomb," answered Monsoreau, " yes, minion, I challenge you."

"Then do me the favor, M. de Monsoreau, to climb over the wall ; on the other side of the wall we shall be on neutral ground."

" What does that matter ? " cried the count.

" It matters a good deal to me," answered Saint-Luc; " I should not like to kill you almost in your own house."

" Just as you like ! " said Monsoreau, hastening to get over.

" Take care ! gently, count ! a stone there is just ready to fall; it must have been shaken pretty often. Please don't get hurt ; I should never forgive myself if you did."

Then Saint-Lnc followed the count, and climbed to the top of the wall.

" Come, make haste ! " said Monsoreau, drawing his sword.

" Well, I came to the country for pleasure," said Saint-Luc to himself, " and, faith, I am now going to have a little of the sort of amusement I like."

And he jumped to the other side of the wall.

CHAPTER LXVI.

HOW M. DE SAINT—LUC SHOWED M. DE MONSOREAU THE LUNGE THE KING HAD SHOWN HIM.

M. DE MONSOREAU waited for Saint-Luc, sword in hand and stamping the ground in his fury at the delay.

" Are you ready ? " said he.

"I say," answered Saint-Luc, "you have taken a position that's rather to your advantage with your back to the sun; still, I don't mind."

Monsoreau wheeled round a little.

" Ah, that's an improvement," said Saint-Luc; " now I shall be better able to see what I am doing."

" Don't spare me," said the count, " for certainly I shall not spare you."

" Indeed!" answered Saint-Luc 5 " so you really wish to kill me, then ? "

" Wish to kill you ? — ah ! yes — I am determined to kill you."

" Man proposes and God disposes," said Saint-Luc, drawing his sword.

" What are you saying ? "

" I am saying— Look at yon bed of poppies and dandelions."

" Well ? "

" Well, I mean to lay you there," said Saint-Luc, laughing and placing himself on guard.

Monsoreau took the offensive impetuously and made two or three passes at his antagonist with the utmost quickness, but they were parried with a quickness equal to his own.

" Pardieu ! monsieur," said Saint-Luc, while playing with his enemy's blade, " you have a very pretty knack with the sword, and your last thrust would have done for any one except Bussy and me."

Monsoreau turned pale : he saw at last the sort of man he had to deal with.

" You are, perhaps, surprised to find," continued Saint-Luc, " that I do not handle it so badly, either. Well, you see, the King, who, as you know, is very fond of me, used to give me lessons, and, among other things, he showed me a certain

lunge which I shall have the pleasure of showing you in a few minutes. I tell you this because, should I kill you suddenly, it must be a pleasure to you to learn that you owe your death to a lunge taught me by the King ; this ought to flatter you excessively."

" You are wonderfully witty, monsieur," said Monsoreau, in a rage, at the same time aiming a thrust at him with such force that it might have pierced^a wall.

'•' Oh, a person can only do the best he is able," answered Saint-Luc modestly, springing to one side and by this movement compelling his adversary to half turn round, with the result that he had the sun full in his eyes.

" Ah," said Saint-Luc, " now I have you where I wanted to have you before laying you in the place I intend laying you. Aha ! what do you think of that last little pass ? Neat, eh ? Yes, I am well pleased with it, very well pleased, I assure you. Until now there were fifty chances in a hundred that you might not be killed; now there is only one."

And with a suppleness, vigor, and fury which took Monsoreau completely by surprise, and which no one would have suspected the existence of in this effeminate young man, Saint-Luc lunged five times in rapid succession at the grand huntsman, who parried the thrusts, although quite dazed by the rapidity of his adversary's movements ; then Saint-Luc made a feint, parried, and thrust in a peculiar fashion, which the count did not see clearly, owing to the sunlight in his eyes, and plunged his sword into his enemy's chest.

Monsoreau remained on his feet for a moment, like an uprooted oak that is waiting for a breath of air to tell it in what direction it is to fall.

" There go your hundred chances now," said Saint-Luc, " and have the goodness to notice, monsieur, that you will fall just where I said you should."

The count's strength failed him, his hands opened, a dark cloud spread over his eyes, his knees bent under him, and he sank on the poppies, crimsoning the purple flowers with his blood. Saint-Luc, after wiping his sword, stood quietly by, watching the changes that came over the face of the dying man.

" Ah ! you have killed me, monsieur," said Monsoreau.

" I did my best to do so," answered Saint-Luc ; " but now that I see you stretched there and on the point of death, devil

take me if I am not sorry for what I have done. I respect you, monsieur ; you were horribly jealous, but you were a brave man."

And quite satisfied with this funeral oration, Saint-Luc knelt beside Monsoreau and said:

" Have you any last wishes you would like to mention ? I give you my word as a gentleman that they shall be executed. I know from my own experience that, when a person is wounded, he is generally thirsty. Shall I get you something to drink ? "

Monsoreau did not answer.

He had turned over with his face to the earth, biting the turf and writhing in his blood.

" Poor devil ! " muttered Saint-Luc, rising. " 0 friendship, friendship, thou art an exacting divinity ! "

Monsoreau opened his fading eyes, tried to raise his head, and fell back with a dismal groan.

" It 's all over ! " said Saint-Luc; " he is dead ; no use thinking any more about it. It 's easy enough saying : ( Think no more about it,' when you have killed a man. Not so easy forgetting it, though. Well, no one can say I have wasted my time in the country."

And, climbing over the wall again, he took his way to the castle through the park.

The first person he perceived was Diane; she was talking with her friend.

" How well black will become her ! " said Saint-Luc.

Then approaching the two charming women :

" Excuse me, my dear madame," said he to Diane, " but will you allow me to say a few words in private to Madame de Saint-Luc ? "

" Of course, my friend," answered Madame de Monsoreau. " I must go and see my father, who is in the library. When you have finished with M. de Saint-Luc," she added, addressing her friend, " please come and join me there."

" Yes, without fail," replied Jeanne.

And Diane left them, with a bow and a smile.

Husband and wife were alone.

" Why, what is the matter ? Why this gloomy mien, husband mine ?" asked Madame de Saint-Luc, looking at him merrily.

" Because I feel gloomy," answered Saint-Luc.

I RESPECT YOU, MONSIEUR ; YOU WERE HORRIBLY JEALOUS, BU" YOU WERE A BRAVE MAN."

" What has happened ? "

" Oh, an accident, unfortunately."

" To you ? " inquired Jeanne, in alarm.

" Not exactly to me, but to a person who was with me ? "

" Who is this person ? "

" The person I was walking with."

" M. de Monsoreau ?• "