IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) .V d/or laminated/ Couverture restauria et/ou pellicula I I Cover title missing/ D Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Caites giographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. n D n autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relie avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serrte peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion le long de la marge intcrieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certnines pages blanches ajouties lurs d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela itait possible, ces pages n'ont pas ixi filmtes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplementaires; L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a M possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-4tre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mithode normale de filmage sont indiqufa ci-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur □ Pages damaged/ Pages endommagies □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaur^s et/ou pellicultes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages dteolories, tacheties ou piquies □ Pages detached/ Pages ditachtes HShowthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Qualite inigale de I'impression □ Continuous pagination/ Pagmation continue □ Includes index(es)/ Comprend un (des) index Title on header taken from:/ Le titre de I'en-ttte provient: □ Title page of issue/ Page de titre de la I □ Caption of issue/ Titre de depart de la D vraison depart de la livraison Masthead/ Generique (periodiques) de la livraison This Item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmi au taux de rMuction indiqui ci dessous. ^OX 14X 18X 22X ; 12X liX »X 26 X 24X 28X H 22 1 ue The copy filmed here hes been reproduced thenks to the generoeity of: York University Toronto Scott Library The imeges eppeoring here ere the beet quelity possible considering the condition end legibility of the originsi copy end in keeping with the filming contrsct specificstions. Originsi copies in printed peper covers ere filmed beginning with the front cover end ending on the lest psge with e printed or illustrsted impres- sion, or the beck cover when sppropriete. All other originsi copies sre filmed beginning on the first psge with s printsd or illustrsted imprss- sion, end ending on the lest psge with s printed or illustrstsd imprsssion. The lest rscorded frsme on eech microfiche shsll contsin the symbol — ^ (mesning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meening "END"), whichever sppiies. Msps, pistes, cherts, etc., mey be filmed st different reduction rstios. Those too Isrge to be entirely included in one exposure sre filmed beginning in the upper left hend corner, left to right end top to bottom, ss msny frsmes as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire filmA fut reproduit grflce A la g6n6rosit4 de: York University Toronto Scott Library Les imeges suivsntes ont 6t4 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compto tenu de la condition at de la nettet« de :'exemplaire film«, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrst ds filmsge. Les exempislrss originsux dont Is couverture en pspier est imprimte sont film«s en commenpsnt psr le premier plat et en terminant soit psr Is dernlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'iliuatrstion, soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les sutres exempleires originsux sont filmte en commen^ant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'iliustrstion et en terminant par la dernlAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un dee symbolos suivsnts apparaftra sur Is dernlAre imsge de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols -^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols y ^iynifie "FIN". Les csrtes, pisnches, tsbiesux, etc., peuvent Atre filmte A des tsux de reduction diffirents. Lorsqus le document est trop grsnd pour Atre reproduit en un seul clich«, 11 est film* A partir de I'angle sup^risur gsuche, de gauche h droite, et de heut en bee, sn prsnsnt Is nombrs d'Imsgss nAcosssire. Les diagrammes suivsnts illustrent la m^thode. 1 J 2* 6 '4e( ours, the follies and the frailties— some would say the vices and the crimes— of a dozen generations have g me to their shaping ; and their doom of impotence an ' fail- ure has been upon them before the drawing of their first breath. A watped soul or a debauched mir d is as direct an inheritance as a weakened frame, and is an evil harder to heal and trebly destructive to its generation. As for Henri de Crussenay, I have always held that neither in the pains of birth, nor later with the fir t creeping in of self-consciousness, were his true begir - nings of life. No ; nor even when his father's squire rode post to Crussenay with such news of the sack of Rouen as flung the fourteen-year-old lad a waif on the world, with more sorrow to bear than comes to most in a lifetime. That the tale he then heard was never dulled in his memory I knew from his manner of telling it at Chatillon four years later, but the Marquise— Colig- ny's wife — had used her time so well that the blind rage and passionate vindictiveness of the boy were 7 A Man of His Age held by the grown lad in full control, and in their place had sprung up a calmness of judgment not al- together m keeping with the savage turbulence of the age. " We come of a broken race, we Crussenays, in spite of our far-ofif cousinship with Chatillon," said he as we wandered round the girdle of grass that lay be- tween the moat and the Chateau ; "a race with more ancestors of noble blood than acres of corn-land and vmeyard-a race broken in power, broken in pros- pects, broken even in numbers, seeing that I am the last of them all. Crussenay itself is as fallen as our fortunes : alike they are the victims of fire, siege and restless court ambition. "What the Crussenay of St. Louis's time built through the spoils of war, has been shattered by war Little by little, or much by much, according to the needs of the generation, the lands of Crussenay have shrunk and dwindled till of castle and soil there is but a ruin and a remnant, "Devoured by our necessities as we have been we Crussenays have nowadays but little use for parks and pleasaunces. Every rood that remains to us is for use. Every tree, then, because it made the past- ure thinner beneath it, or because its timber spelled silver or warmth, has disappeared from the slopes and so there was neither oak nor poplar to hide old Roger as he rode, as if for his life, through the clos- ing gray of that October night. '' Mathilde, my nurse, and my father's before me and the one serving-wench left to the poverty of Crussenay, had seen the black speck while it was yet 8 How Roger Came Home to Crussenay a mile away, and together we watched it grow larger and yet fainter in the falling dusk. " ' If fifty rode yonder,' said she, * we might bide the evil as we are. If five, we might thrust to the door m the evil's face and make the best stand we could Seeing there is but one, Master Henri, let's go and meet the evil, for the sooner known the sooner done with.' "'Why evil at all ?' cried I, with a boy's healthy op- timism. 'Why not good?' '"When did good ever ride post to Crussenay? Never in my day, and I've known it fifty years ' an- swered Mathilde, grimly ; and then, though we bided where we were, we both fell silent. Good or bad, this news is worth the telling ' said she, as Roger drew near ; ' horses are none so plentiful at Crussenay that one can founder them for gossip's sake, and no one knows that better than yon sour crab.' "The speck grew into a blur, and the blur took form and outline while yet fifty yards from the mouldered gateway of the Chateau, and Roger was on us with a rush. So spent was the beast that he pulled himself up with a jerk at the mere sight of us standing like ghosts in the gloom, and, with head down and nostrils puffing gray vapor into the gray air, he stood panting, while Roger, silent after the hrst exclamation, climbed stiffly down. " Without greeting, and craning forward to see him the better, Mathilde, witchlike, read ill tidings in his face, and cried : What evil's afoot, man ? Fewest words are kind- i I : 1 A Man of His Age est. Cannot you see the knife's at our throat ?' And in her eagerness she struck him on the wrist as he still grasped the bridle. " For all my ignorant optimism I could see, even through the darkness, the trouble on his face as he looked at me. " ' The cause is lost,' he began. ' Rouen—' The cause, the cause ! Rouen !' echoed Mathilde, shrilly. 'Crussenay has more at stake than creeds and cities, and the lesser woes can wait. What of the Sieur ? What of Madame ? It was like one oi her blood to go with him to that wasps' nest ; but, oh, it was a sore folly !' "His hand flew up to his chin with a gesture I knew, and again I saw the troubled look, and my optimism, which had long been fading, gave place to a dread that was the greater for its very formlessness. The Sieur,' stammered Roger. ' The Sieur ' and stopped with a crack in his voice such as a woman has before she falls a-weeping. I have heard and shivered at the sound here at Chatillon many a time, for more men march out with the Admiral than march back again, and the home-coming is ever an evil day for wives and mothers. "But Mathilde caught up the cry. 'The Sieur? The Sieur ?' and flung her arms about me as if to shield me from hurt. ' It is death, and nothing less. Oh, my heart, my heart, thou alone are left of all the Crussenays ! The race runs as dry as the milk that fed it. God blight the Guisards for this. God bring them to a bloody end, every one, whether king, duke, or gutter rufiian. God— God— ' ID How Roger Came Home to Crussenay " And then she fell to sobbing, as much, I think, from overwrought passion that could no longer frame words as from grief, since the old know overmuch of sorrow to be easily moved. Be that as it may, her breath was choked, and as she clasped me with arms that gripped and slackened in the tempest of her passion, she shook so that she would have fallen, but that I held her fast. "Presently she straightened herself and cried, 'Madame? What of Madame?' forgetting that as yet Roger had told us nothing of my father. ' vSurely it was no better than a coward's part to ride post to refuge at Crussenay, and leave Crussenay's mistress to fend for herself in her sorrow. What of Madame — runaway ?' " This time Rogor did not so much as glance at me, but, turning, he bowed himself on the withers of his beast. Am I a traitor to bread and salt, woman ?' said he, looking at neither of us. ' Madame was in sure refuge a full hour before I rode out of the smoke of Rouen. A sure refuge. Master Henri; take that for comfort. May God give us all as sure a one in His own time.' "At that I began to tremble, for, dear as my father had been, my mother, for her love and tenderness, was dearer yet ; as, at my age, was, I think, but common " nature. "•Who has her in keeping?' I asked. 'It was an ill thing to leave her in her grief, ay, even though she was safeguarded by the Admiral at Chatillon itself.' '"When was I unfaithful to Crussenay, root or branch, stock or graft?' cried Roger. 'A greater II 1 A Man of His Age than Coligny has her in care. Will you have it in h rjeT'f k'': '^"^ '^ '" «°'^'' --^f"^^^ -" - fo" the l^ur. '"'• '"' ""' "' ""^ P*"'"g -'if "'Dead both dead?' said Mathilde, and said no more, while I, too, stood by in silence, dazed beyond "'You have the worst of it now,' answered Roger; and fs your fault, woman, that the words, coming cur ly, cut deeper than I meant. Let us in for it stnkes cold, and to chill us all to the marrow wil serve nether them that's here nor them that's gone" but for al that it was l;indlier in God's air without and the b.tter chill of the damp night wind Jade me sh.ver kss than the silence of the black and emp"y hall. Nowhere m the desolate house was there a ghmmer of light and the darkened air seemed heavy with the smell of death. " That this heaviness was only from the mouldered hangings on the dusty walls I know now, and might have known then had I thought; but, as say.Twas edTetT' '" 'U'' "" '°^"^ '" "P™ "^ wasa'knowl! edge of loss, and a sense of darkness lying within and CHAPTER III HOW TH. S,EUR DE CRUSSENAV SAVKD „,s W,PE ers set the Tadow,,^! ■•ush-lamp, and as the flick- of an the dead DeC"-"^ " ''"""' " " "' ^'^^^ me, and, sturdy b:ytru;"hT ""VT'"^ '" "P°" suddenness of the terror V "''J '^"'"'"^ '" ">e ness of my fear aVi « ^ l"^^ ''" "^^^ "'<' ^h^"-?- rent of he'r thought rLffef^Vr^' '"^ ^"• muttering, and fell fn V *""■ ""^•'herenf midst of f;r„rd' and fH,""^ "'■ ""^ '" "«^ "Then irwis thari fitl '"f '^°«"i°">^d •>■'■ changes thaThad beflue t"^"^.' ™^ "' "=' been Master Henri hl?f-,, ^"" ' '""' ''"'■erto of much love some ch! r ' '"" """' P'^^"^' ^ ">»« In everythL; that tl'"'""'"'- -"" ^cant respect everythin7of theV ""' "'"^ ^"'"'^ valued - -her^errSi:^X"rr™y%";:;] T- -"h^ ^" ^XTd^Tifi':-:?^"?^^^^^^^^ ofa.uafetwL„'V,:^S"t'o're:rV° '"°" ""^ ^^'^-^ "^ if he had liv"d under St Lof°^" ^ "' '^"'''" unaer bt. Louis, and would have '3 ,1 A Man of His Age * ' thrust his hand into the fire at his Sieur's biddin.. without whys or wherefores. That I was but a lad mattered httle, for it was as much the tradition as the person that Roger followed. The thought of the Chang I,ad come to him as he had busied himself, coLtt r/' 1°"''"' "" "''• ""='"« '° "is horse's comfort before h,s own, and the air of equality and frank sorrow with which he had told his evil tidings had vanished. As a servant to Crussenay, he woufd not so much as presume to grieve with its Sieur ^Uit[ ""u""^ ''"'" '" ^'^ '='>''"8^d "anneri but while by me his deference and silence were eLsilv whim f? ;"'^ ""'"""^ '° °"' M^'hilde but some whim of taciturnity, and it was she who first spoke Since when were you dumb, man, that you stand there as shamefaced as a sheep 7 Bi«er news never yet grew sweeter for the keeping. What is there of disgrace ,n the tale that you boggle at the telling?' A gleam of wrath shone under Roger's shLgv eyebrows, but he Icept his temper better^han wafws enough, he said. 'And as for your gibes there i« overmuch heaviness at Crussenay' to-nSht^oIln to give heed to a clacking tongue ' sai'dlt^^' ^'Th'' """""u""' '""'""'''• 'Why 'h"" herse f!,:;^ Then, catching his meaning, she checked Sfe, r Ifr ''■ ^^' °°^ ^ P"'^^" 'here is still a Sieur of Crussenay, but he who is gone will ever be the one Sieur to me, who nursed him at my breast Bid h,m speak. Master Henri ; though before'the face of death IS no place to parade nice ceremonies.' 14 How the Sieur de Crussenay Saved His Wife tattered arras and unlooped unains ?•."'" '""" of gray and black. The treat h' Tu' ''"' ^ P'^^ indeed been shut but unLrT k , """'' ""= had edge the «nd s ,, sUpt w ^f ""' ^"^ ''""'"'^^ and sway the flame, aTat LrtWnT?" '° P"* more than a yellow spark. '^°"'" "> "° "At such moments the gloom closed in and our world dwindled to a six fonT 7 '"'" "'' was my sole possession of love :^h -f 't """=■■«" all was uncertainty and tZ 11 ""' '°'' ''=5'°n... CHAPTER IV PROM CHATILLON TO CARMEUSE " That," said the lad, " was the tale brought to Crus- senay after Rouen fell, and a week later Roger, Ma- thilde, and P^re Batigne held a council as to the fut- ure of their Sieur. " Pere Batigne, fresh from his handling of our new wine, and with his arms red to the elbows, would not so much as sit in my presence, but he had a shrewd brain under his grizzled hair, and for all its slowness his tongue could speak its thought. "What Roger had been to my father, and old Ma- thilde to my mother, P^re Batigne was to Crussenay. In all matters pertaining to the land his word was law, and, therefore, being in a sense the head of one of the departments of my suzerainty, he had his place at the council, and from his devotion to Crus- senay he could be trusted to give his best service of heart, hand, and head. " ' Let us bide as we are,' said Mathilde. * From his own hall a Crussenay can look the world in the face : and there will ever be bite and sup." '"Bide and moulder,' answered Roger. 'As well be Crussenay's dog as Crussenay's Sieur if bite and sup are to be the end-all and be-all of life. Let us 35 A Man of His Age rather to Louis of Cond^, that the Sieur may learn war under some of the great captains. Here, saving his presence, he will grow up no better than a lout and fit to handle a cudgel rather than a sword.' " ' War !• cried Mathilde. ' Is the rumble of battle always m your brain? Pest upon you and your bloody mind ! Has not Crussenay suffered enough by war that you must needs put another curse upon us.?' ^ " ' The Sieur is the Sieur,' replied Roger, doggedly, and he must live and grow as such, and not as a dull plough-boy. For the training of a man, the world has no school like a camp.' " ' Ay,' answered back Mathilde ; ' training enough of a kmd, since in these days the camp is but a nursery to hell. Such a school may fit well the likes of you but for my lad—' ' " The council was like to have broken up in strife when P^re Batigne intervened. ^ '"Ye are both right, and both wrong,' he said. Here the Sieur cannot stay, and under Monsieur le Prmce empty pockets will find but a hard school for all Its good blood. Take him to Chatillon, Mathilde and thou. He is a kinsman on the mother's side to the Marquise, and on the father's to Coligny himself Far enough off I grant, but neither the Admiral nor Madame will deny their blood at its hour of pinch At Chatillon there is a mistress, here there is none • and at Chatillon there will be captains enough, unless the cause is a ruin. God grant there be not wars enough also ; for, being a man of peace, the blood of Burgundy grapes is the only ])lood I would willinHv see shed.' ■' his —mm MN .A-.rtH.;7i»i,. ir may learn riere, saving than a lout, Avord.' ble of battle I and your i enough by 56 upon us?' r, doggedly, lot as a dull le world has ing enough t a nursery kes of you, ip in strife, U' he said, lonsieur le school, for I, Mathilde 2r's side to ly himself, imiral nor • of pinch, e is none ; igh, unless not wars e blood of 1 willingly From Chatillon to Carmeuse " ' Chatillon !' cried Mathilde. ' That means Char- lotte de Laval ! My faith, P^re Batigne, but thou hast a heart in thy breast !' Chatillon !' cried Roger. ' That means Coligny Cond^ Andelot ! My faith, P^re Batigne, but thou hast a head on thy shoulders !' "'A heart and a head,' answered Pere Batigne, slowly; 'and both for Crussenay, now and al- ways.' "Thus it came that three days later, with Mathilde and I hoisted on Roger's horse, and the vSquire him- self trudging in the mud by its head, we three left Crussenay; nor, to my sorrow, have I seen its walls since. I were a very cuckoo if I were not grateful to Chatillon, but "—and the lad of eighteen squared his shoulders as his father might have done that day in Rouen — "Crussenay comes first." All that was told in the autumn of '66 on one of these days when I went back and forth between Chatillon and Carmeuse, planning out a raid to Florida which presently held me in the west hard upon two years, and during which time my own dear lady, who had been Jeanne la Carmeuse, but was then made Jeanne de Bernauld, also found succor and hospitality at Chatillon. Of these two years abroad in which we harried Spain the tale has been already told, and nothing need be said here except that in them Chatillon became the poorer by a mistress, and I the richer by a son, whom, in gratitude to the Admiral for his protection to the mother, we named Craspard. Not the Gaspard who is sire to my grandsons. He 27 vJ ^iB*r^**w»wfew / ; ^ \ A Man of His Age came later to fill a blank for the making of which I owed a fresh score to the Guisards, as shall be told in its place. Though when it comes to reckoning scores, as I lie here and think my debts over, I can thank the Lord there is but little due either to Spain or the House of Guise. The good Charlotte de Laval, then, was dead, and the Admiral the poorer by such a counsellor, com- forter, and friend as has not fallen to the lot of many husbands in France in that or any other generation. She being gone, and I home from the Indies, there was no need that Blaise de Bernauld's wife and child should longer trespass on the love and bounty of Co- ligny; and one day in early April (this was in 68, you understand) I craved the Admiral's leave that I and mine should depart. He was in the hall that looked out over the Italian garden, and where, in such times of peace as were allowed him, it was his wont to sit with his back to the great hunting trophy spread above the huge mantel, and his books littering the table within easy arm's-length. Even after fifty years of life it is sorrow and thought that age a man rather than the ticks of time. Small wonder, then, that Coligny bereft of wife and son in one half-year, baffled by smaller minds in his great national policy, crushed in his hopes of peace and toleration, and compelled to bear the burden of thought for a hundred thousand others, was aged immeasurably beyond his years. The slight figure was bowed and shrunken, the narrow shoulders more sloping in the increased gauntness of the frame, the hollows in the cheeks were deepened a8 ' From Chatillon to Carmeuse and the thin, grave lips compressed as by a never- lifting weight of grief. Across the whole face, from the firm chin to where the high, square forehead met the line of close-cut, grizzled hair, was written a tale of sorrow and care plainly to be read. Yet, for all his disappointments, the steadfast look in the eyes shut out despair from any place in the tale. The last things to die in a man's face are the eyes. They are the index of power, whether of purpose or virility. The hair may whiten, the mouth palsy, the cheeks wither, and, as with me, half nature go dead, but leave the eyes their alertness and their fire, and the man is still a power in the world for good or evil. So it was with the Admiral. The look that met mine was as full of calm strength, and flashed with equal fire, as when, twenty-five years earlier, side by side with Francois de Joinville, the brother in love of his youth, the Guise of his later hatred, he fought Frances's battles in the Low Countries. To my request that I might have leave to go, I tried to add something of the fulness of gratitude that was in my heart ; but, as is ever the case at such times as a man is moved to thank a man, I made but a stam- mering speech of it, and even that was cut short. " My friend," said the Admiral, with his hand pressed on mjt knee as I sat by him. " Talk not to me of debts. To avenge us of The Religion, and to uphold France against Spain, Blaise de Bernauld set both life and fortune at stake there in the west. Weighed against that the safeguarding of one who grew into our love as did Madame Jeanne in these 29 A Man of His Age /' ' // f i, eighteen months is but a small matter. Nay, rather that we have had her comfort is gratitude due to her and to you, and that you should thank me makes me almost halt in a request which is in my mind, lest by asking I seem to suggest a debt and seek its payment. " ^ay, wait," and the sorrowful hardness of his face softoned as he motioned my protestation to silence. I know yo J overwell to pause in any honest request debt or no debt. The world would indeed be the devil's plaything some fools say it is if a man might not trust his friend. This is what troubles me. This peace of Longoumeau that the Queen Mother has so cunnmgly thrust upon us may blind Monsieur le Pnnce de Condd, for whom, as a soldier, I have the hveliest respect. But for my part, I, who am not wiUmgly a man of war, would this once ha /e kept my sword unsheathed. It is no true peace, Monsieur de Bernauld-it is but the feigned sleep of the cat to tempt the mouse to a more certain destruction. It IS but a breathing- time wherein they may gather strength, and we weaken through inaction. " Mark this truth for use in the days of strife you have yet before you. He who fights from underneath and strikes upward is weakened by a truce. Present- ly, when the Guisards think the time is ripe— that is to say, when we are least prepared-Longoumeau will go the way of all the other treaties, and our case will be still more evil than it has been. " The conviction is borne in upon me that next time they will take Alva's counsel to heart. * One sal- mon,' said he to the Queen at Bayonne, ' is worth more than the heads of a thousand frogs'; and Cathe- 30 iiiaiiiiiliiiai smm From Chatillon to Carmeuse Nay, rather 2 due to her e makes me ind, lest by ts payment. ) of his face to silence, est request, eed be the nan might me. This ther has so 'onsieur le [ have the lo am not ha /e kept , Monsieur the cat to jction. It ay gather strife you nderneath Present- e — that is meau will • case will :hat next * One sal- 'is worth nd Cathe- rine de Medici knows who are the salmon of us Hugue- \ nots. It is an assured thing that Navarre, Conde, Ro- i han, Montclar, and Chatillon will be struck at, • "For myself," and he stiffened in his chair, his 'fingers biting the palms of his hands, "I can guard my own, though were it not that my life belongs to the cause of Christ in France, and that it is a shame for a soldier to desert his post, even through the gates of death, I would thank them for the blow that brought me peace, " But what Coligny in his grizzled age risks for him- i self and his own, there is neither justice nor wisdom in risking for another. When you go hence. Monsieur de Bernauld, take, I beg of you, young Henri de Crus- senay with you. My word for it, he will prove faith- ful to any trust you give him in charge." " But—" said I. The Admiral rounded on me sharply, and his lips tightened so that his crisp mustache knit over them into his close-cut beard. " But!— but!" he said. " Since there are buts to the answer, let us forget the request was ever made. You are wise to be cautious, very wise, since to give house- room to a ward of Coligny's might bring a danger in the troublous days to come." There was a time when for such a pointed speech my hot southern blood would have answered even the Admiral roughly. But in the woods of Florida I had at least learned patience, " Surely, my lord," I answered, " a man has a right to be heard to the end. What was in my mind was this. If the evil be so near, and the danger so great 31 M 1i A Man of His Age will not you, who are the brain and heart of our hopes have need — " ' ' Again he interrupted me. "Your pardon, Monsieur de Bernauld, a man who has been so many times de- ceived in the faith of kings grows suspicious even of his friends. As for De Crussenay, keep him for a year or two, then I will claim him from you again and perhaps yourself with him, if Madame Jeanne will spare you." "My lord," I cried, "either now, or next week or next year, by day or by night, I and mine are yours for the lifting of a finger, ai.d when you call me Jeanne will be the first to bid me go." "Who talks of Jeanne?" said my lady from the door. " Or, rather, what have my two lords to say to their servant ?" It was Coligny who answered. "Are there not more Joannes than one ?" he asked half smiling. ' " But one in the world for Blaise, so please- you " she replied, with a mock courtesy, for, in spite of his stern sadness, none who knew and loved the Admiral feared him. No sour austere recluse was he, and in his days of leisure not even the court of Charles himself showed more wealth of color and brightness than did Chatillon. But one in the world, as there was once one Char- . lotte," said he, and as he spoke of his dead wife the lighter look faded out of the hollowed eyes. With his change of mood my lady's mood changed too. Ever quick to sympathy, in an instant she was down on her knees by his chair, with her hands on his, stroking them. 32 ",' From Chatillon to Carmeuse "My father," she cried, softly ;" my father ." .n^ said no more, but knelt there in'silence wTth he head against his arm, knowing well that fL i ^^^^^^^ touch would co.f„„ mofeThan'a tl t oTlords " Those who only saw Coligny braced to dan« and watchfulness in the field or eke at ti,. """.ff"^ ^™ aiert, determined. courteCs^^ut re olue^Twir^H' "My daurtfer ■' ^"'"-T ' '''"PP'"^ "' ">- veil His .^:«::^rnt:;:r; -- rstirr- daug.,ter in works and love The f !^ k, ^ tenfold for the loving serlTc^shi: m^^ dea' %^„^;.! he went on more lightly, "we are forgettTng that a h:re"hasT"r "" ^P^'^^ °^- ^^ -^h ^S, Sail for !; thl "'"^ ^7'" "^^ ^^"^^^^f- ^"d has touched or It that you jomed in the gift. What does Madame Jeanne say to such recklessness ?" ^^^^dame Across his knees she reached out one hand to me her face grown very grave and tender I think," she said, simply, "that neither you nor If I put a drag on his devotion " ^ 33 f , ilufi'-"- II A Man of His Age in the west — tales that lost nothing in the telling — had fired his admiration until, for want of a better object, his ignorance worshipped me as one of the captains of the age. For Coligny he had more rever- ence than love, and a shadow of fear darkened his ad- miration. A restrained natttre such as the Admiral's was as yet beyond his comprehension. From Chatillon to Carmeuse is but little more than a hard day's ride for men, but with women and a babe, and the times being times of peace, we spun our journey out so that it was the afternoon of the third day before the gray towers of Carmeuse showed above the young April green of the woods. As we rode thi^ough Dreux, the memory of the battle fought six years before brought back Rouen to my mind, and I turned to De Crussenay. " This peace of Longoumeau strikes you as hard, or harder, perhaps, than any of us, since it puts back the clock of vengeance. But, lad, vengeance is like sound wme, and ripens with the keeping, and, with the Ad- miral, I think the time for breaking of bottles is not far off." From where he rode, two lengths behind us, old Roger pricked up his ears, and out of the tail of my eye I saw him lean forward as if to catch his master's answer. When it came it was not one likely to please the hot-blooded war-dog. Whoever might, with time, forgive the Guisards the crime of Rouen, the Squire of De Crussenay nursed his hate too well to let it grow cold. "Vengeance on whom, Monsieur de Bernauld? Those who slew my father were but men who did 34 From Chatillon to Carmeuse their duty with their swords, as he with his, and whether they fought for pay or honor matters noth- ing. As well lop a twig for bearing bad fruit when the fault s in the roots. Guise and Navarre have gone as their god the devil listed, and are out of reach. But there are others, and to strike down such savage beasts as Tavannes or Montluc, whether there be a peace of Longoumeau or no. is another thing We gentlemen kill a wolf because he is a wolf and not as the churl does, for the bounty on his head,' and the killing ,s a good deed well done ; but to slaughter a maybe honest hound for the tearing down of a home stag and call it ' vengeance -no. Monsieur de Ber- nauld, that was not the teaching of Madame la Mar- Glancing back I saw old Roger's grizzled jaw wao-. that I could hear, I guessed by the cock of Marcel's mem *'"'''' ^'^"^ ^""^ ^"^"'"^ ""^'^ *" disagree- n.r7p'?;" ! f 'iJ'r" ^^"^^ P^^^ ^° ^ontluc the part Poltrot de M^rd played to Gui.e, and so have thejlanning of another murder laid at Coligny's "Monsieur de Bernauld," said the lad, flushing red to the hair, those who for no bounty kill wild beasts m our woods beyond the Loing take .heir lives in their hands ; and I would do no less " mZ/ ^''' t^^'" "^'^ ^' "^" y^" ^^^"^ the bloody Montluc would cross swords with such as you? He would fling you to his pikemen first, and bid them slay you for sport. If you will not fly at lesser gamT 35 p. 4 A Man of His Age then you must needs bide at Carmeuse when the rest of us go a-hunting." "As for that, that is another affair," he cried. '* Let Monseigneur, or Monsieur I'Amiral, or Monsieur de Bernauld wind the horn, and he will find me hard at his heels, as hard as you ever rode at Dreux in the wake of Condd. But to slay I know not whom as a vengeance for he knows not what, is pagan rather than Christian, and a thing I have no mind to." Whereupon old Roger's beard wagged harder than ever. On that Carmeuse showed round the bend of the road, and at the sight of its gray towers I reined back to where my lady rode by the side of Nannette, her serving-wench and sometime nurse, and who, perched behind a man-at-arms, bore young Gaspard as many a time she had borne his mother. "Ay !" said Jeanne, when I told her what had passed with De Crussenay. " That is the lad all over, and the teaching of the Marquise. He is born some three hundred years too late, and should have been a cru- sader of St. Louis's rather than a penniless gentleman under Charles of Valois. His law of life is at edge with the age, for the one person he forgets in the world is Henri de Crussenay." There my lady hit him off as she had a trick of hitting us all off. Therein lies the power of a shrewd, good woman over us men. She so strips our faults and follies bare to our own gaze that, for very shame's sake, and to bring the light to her eyes, we take to mending them, while what is good we nurse and nourish into something nearer perfection for the • 36 i: \ From Chatillon to Carmeuse sweetness of her praise. No very high aim that ' Who IS talking of high aims ? I speak of the truth as I have found it in the world, and, high aim or low aim, better a man tend upwards for a woman's sake than downwards to pleasure the devil That she knew De Crussenay, as a man knows the bottom of his pocket, I came to believe in these two months of quiet at Carmeuse, which were all the fruits I and mine ever gathered from the peace of Longoumeau. To me, fresh from privations in the western'seas and wearied of that warfare which left a man's sword so great a stranger to its sheath that they had scarce a kissing acquaintance, the days were full of all heart could desire. Both without and within the world was at its^fullest and its best ; but its blessings were those which you. Grandson Gaspard, and such as you set little store by. Of the love of wife you know naught as yet, and to you a woman is but a thing that claims a larger courtesy than your careless ways have at all times a mind to give. Presently that will change and the world, which is now so vast, will contract to some sixty-four inches of clay. When that day comes and, out of its experience, age prays for blessings upon youth, it can pray for none greater than the love and counsel of a good woman. As for the other joys of these two months, what does a lad whose soul is still like the sense of a sev- en days puppy care for the sunshine in the young wood, the resin in the scattered pine pollen, the wind across the tender corn, the smell of the vine blossom drifted from the still spreading vineyards, the bud- 17 •:vi» :."«»«-'• \0\ J N' *f A Man of His Age ding and fall of the apple bloom, the thousand things that fill the pulses when the world is gay with the early wine of summer ? Nothing ! If these were things to eat or to drink, or to kill, or to try the spring of the muscles on, you would be brimming full of your tales of them. For you such talk is so much madness. Therefore, though those two months lie like a jewel on the string of the years, I pass them by and come to the breaking of their quiet. i; CHAPTER V MARCEL AND I FALL OUT Be it remembered that we De Bernaulds are of the south, Navarre our kingdom, Bdarn our province, and in th se days of which I speak we were subjects of Qu en Jeanne first and King Charles afterwards. To be frank. We were loyal subjects to France rather than to Charles, knowing that when all was said and done, and southern pride apart, the fortunes of Navarre were bound up in the bundle with those of the larger kingdom. Whoever struck France shook Navarre, and Navarre would join France in strik- ing back. But let France lay so much as a finger on Navarre, or filch away the least of our rights, and our loyalty to the greater kingdom was forgotten in our love to the less. It followed, then, that though, to pleasure my lady, we dwelt in the north— Carmeuse was in Maine, where it draws towards the He de France above the Orl^an- nais— I was not ignorant of how affairs moved in the south. Nor did Carmeuse, which came to me as my lady's portion, and which is now lost to us, ever hold my love as do these more barren lands of Bernauld. The fat corn-fields and rich pastures of my lady's plains were well enough, but let a man be cradled among 39 A Man of His Age 'r 4 va leys and the sight of a rough hill slope, however wild and desolate, will bring the light dancing to his eyes quicker than will all the flat wealth of the low country. Twice had Marcel ridden south, and the second time, being himself as hot a B^arnnais as I, he knew not whether w be glad or sorry at his tale which, use- less words aside, was this : Charles of France, having failed to lay hold of Queen Jeanne's person by policy and fair promises, had all for kinship, love, and a hungry eye on the Little Kingdom, made a bold bid to secure her by force, and had been outwitted. Warned in time, she had escaped the treachery ; but all Navarre that was not more Catholic than Spain was in arms at the in- suit, and the very beggars in the street talked war. See you, Master Blaise," said Marcel, between a grin and a frown-the one because he foresaw a pros- pect of return to B^arn where Madame Marcel, who was a comely person for her years, lamented and yet encouraged his devotion to me ; the other because if France dared be so bold as to strike, Navarre could but feebly defend herself-" see you, men are sorely wanted down there, and, to speak my mind, a B^arn- nais born who takes his ease and grows fat here in the north while his brethren starve and fight at home, had best ever after keep himself out of the Little Kingdom lest they call him 'traitor ' and 'coward ' Oh ay I know ; let a man say so, or even so much as look askew, and you will do France's work on him for the salving of your honor. That's a Bernauld's way, and right enough, but, by your leave, a woman whose 40 ' r ! •e, however cing to his of the low he second I, he knew vhich, use- y hold of promises, ^e on the re her by time, she 2 that was at the in- :ed war. )etween a iw a pros- ircel, who d and yet because if rre could ire sorely a Bdarn- ire in the at home, he Little ard.' Oh, ;h as look n for the way, and n whose Marcel and I Fall Out sons are slain, and lands harried, has a voice that will make itself heard from St. Girons to Bayonne, and all Navarre will hearken when she cries after us,' To be biunt, I have no mind to listen to the cry ; and by my thinking it's either turn French and Catholic, and so bide in Carmeuse as humble as a priest's dog, or ride south to Bernauld with a bloody spur and bear a man's part, whatever comes of it." " Let them talk, ay, or let them cry," said I, " there is a thing yet harder to bear than to be cried shame on from without, and that is to be cried shame on from within. My word is passed to the Admiral, and to it I'll hold, though every woman in Navarre cry coward." "To speak my mind again. Master Blaise," answered Marcel, doggedly, " service in war is well enough, but in times of peace it is ,m ill thing that a De Bernauld cannot budge but by license. I hold the Admiral in as much reverence as any man, but I had liefer he did not carry me in his pocket to be spent, like a brass token, on the first whim." There was a sort of truth in his words, and, since an unpalatable truth is ever harder to bear than the lie direct, I waxed hot. "What ?" I cried. " Has it come to this, that I am to be schooled like a new-breeched boy ? Thou hast had overmuch privilege these last four years, and now thou pushest privilege too far. Ride thou to Bdarn as hot-spurred as thou wilt, but see to it that thou ridest not to Bernauld. There is room for no more than one master, here or there, and, by the Lord, I am that one !" 41 H.I "it \ rf \'i ; n -' '^^ -tt ;gt and tumbling down of crowns they told the man who uTe SaTcl f ^?^°'^" ^^^^^ -^ notcheTedles Here Marcel found me as I was spelling out the 42 I a ders. "Lash e strokes for leed a wound ows that you St? Or is it rn-lands, the )n them, are De Bernauld we two who " had surely wrath was I ired us, and, 1 Navarr^, I id I see him e in to what rds of Car- » the walls lice adorn- irabesqued ly loved in say, were ther sober their gray gs, broad- erature of or simple, setting up man who led edges, g: out the Marcel and I Fall Out Btory of Pavia from an Italian lance-head, and finding Jlittle to nurse my pride in the tale, for if our love to i^France was lukewarm, our hate to Germany was hot. ■|A leathern bonnet swung by the chin-straps from his ileft hand, and when he entered he bowed lower than Ihis wont ; but for all his respect there was but scant Irepentance in his looks, " If thou hast come to crave pardon," said I, sharp- |ly, flinging down the steel head on the oak table by |which I sat, " it is thine for the sake of all that hath [come and gone between us." I had it in my mind to read him a lecture in true camp fashion, when the sorrow in his face touched j me with a sudden sense of shame, and I stopped short I and looked him in the eyes, waiting. " What has come and gone between us might have been thought on earlier, Master Blaise," he replied, bitterly. " If a mongrel hound had served you as many days as I have years you would not have lashed it as you lashed me, and all for showing you a true scent. If I had naught to crave I had kept to my kennel, till the sting of my whipping was somewhat duller than it is, but what I seek is not pardon for telling honest truth. Thank the Lord that was never the way of De Bernauld, nor of De Bernauld's men, whether of king or priest. Give me three days' leave ;' who knows but by then you and I will be able to for-' get." "Three days' leave?" I cried. "Why, man, what dost thou want with three days' leave ?" " Who knows," he answered, with a sour laugh so full of sorrow in its note, that I fairly winced at the 43 J li :^-i' |;V »' *; A Man of His Age - sound of it. ''To curry favor, perchance, with the Guisards m Dreux yonder, and bury our hate where we buned our dead. Would you not have us at peace with those wc shall shortly doff hats to ?" Begone for a churl," I cried, angrily ; " and if three days do not sweeten thy temper, then take three weeks, c - thrice three weeks." With never another word he bowed and went out and presently 1 heard the quick hoof- beats of hi^ horse. He had lost no time in turning his back on Carmeuse, and as I listened to the hammer on the dry road I tried to piece Pavia together again, but with 111 success, for I was plagued with an uneasy conscia sness that it was I who had played the chur and not Marcel. That night De Crussenay brought us news of him The times being peaceable, the lad had been out for a ride by the Chartres road, with Roger as escort, and broke in on us as we sat at supper with the sun still high in the west. "What mystery's afoot?" cried he, forgetting his • manners in his eagerness, in true boyish fashion for all his twenty years. " We met Monsieur Marcel two hours back pounding along the road like a madman and he not a day in from the south. He hailed Roger as he passed and bade him see to it for the next three days that our beasts were fresh, but gave us neither why nor wherefore." "A pity." I answered, "he does not follow his own counsel. Here he has made fifteen leagues in the cool of the morning, and is hard at work making I know not how many more in the cool of the night." 44 f!' i lance, with the 3ur hate where ot have us at hats to ?" ; "and if three len take three and went out, f- beats of his g his back on immer on the ler again, but th an uneasy ayed the churl > news of him, i been out for ger as escort, with the sun 'orgetting his 5h fashion for ir Marcel two te a madman, hailed Roger ;he next three ve us neither )Ilow his own agues in the >rk making I f the night." Marcel and I Fall Out rhen, to stop the lad's mouth, I added, with a signifi- |ant nod, "If he has as much dust in his throat as }ou on your boots, I would rather he did the riding phan I, let what may be ais errand." That, as you may suppose, drove my young gentle- lan from the room with more color in his face than '|:ame from the setting sun. ,| But what he had gained in ruddiness Jeanne had lost. "Thou art keeping something from me," she said, nth her eyes graver than I had seen them in two lonths. " Since when have I been such a coward Ihat I cannot be trusted to hear of evil ? A wife who fhares no burdens is but half a wife." "When evil is certain," answered I, "there is none Ihall know it sooner than thou ; but to plague thee nth bogies of another man's raising were a folly." Then, lest she should fret herself, as a woman will, \>y creating terrors to her own disquieting, I told her i>f Marcel's news and the quarrel which had been so lear a white heat in the morning that it still was hot between us in the afternoon. "A pretty pass," I cried at the end, "when one's |)ody-servant apes the master." "Yet," she answered,' thoughtfully, "Marcel has teen ears and open eyes, and has been to B^arn, and ihou hast not." " Tut, tut," said I, " Marcel has a wife and sons in 36arn, and so would have us ride south post-haste." " The more shame to him if it were not so," cried ly lady. " Since when, tell me, have wife and son [lounted for nothing ?" » 45 A Man of His Age To that there was but one answer, since, for all our months of marriage, we were still lovers, nor was there then, or ever, a time when the light in my lady's eyes could not set my heart a-leaping. But when her mouth was her own again, she went back to her point. " If Marcel be right,*there is nothing for it but an appeal to Collgny. We-' — and w' at an air of as- sumption it was which said that ' we " — " must risk nothing doubtful for our honor's ?dke, even though it spun out our peace to a lifetime.' Whereon I kissed her again, and so set going the wisdom of the heart in place of that of the head. But my lady's half-chance word had given me a clew my grosser thought had missed, so that the major part of the next day was passed in my study, not polishing my learning, but rather my books themselves. Every man who has occasion to live by the sword, and if need be die by it, has one that wins his fancy and his faith as no other does. It is his companion, his friend, his confidant, a thing of parts and almost consciousness ; and if it were in metal to understand it would know more of the man in spirit and mind than he knows himself. He may coquette with this blade or with that, as some fools, having wives that they love, do with women whom they do not love; but, like these same fools come to their senses, he ever returns to the blade of his affections. So was it with me. Of all the many weapons I had used there was none that, for its weight, lay so light in the hand, and yet so truly answered eye and instinct as a Paris-made 46 Marcel and I Fall Out blade that had gone west with me, and, for all its ser- vice, come home without a notch. This, in times when a man wore a sword not for use, but as a kind of courtesy to himself, I hung in the centre of the fan of blades covering the end wall of the justice-room, but now I unhooked it from its place. As a woman goes lovingly over the jewels in her necklet, fondling them one by one, and eying each lest a flaw should have struck it even in its casket sanctuary, so, with better reason, did I go over every in> 1 of the blade. If there was a dulness, I polished it like a mirror; if there was a speck of rust, I grieved as at a flaw in a gem, and gave my zeal 'no rest until the reproach had vanished; and in the midst of my labor of love in came my lady with little Gaspard in her arms. Often as I had kissed her hands I knew her rings less surely than she my blades. When a man has the white fingers ready to his lips he cares little whether pearls or rubies are set in the gold bands. Not so a woman. All that belongs to the man of her love be- longs to her thought and care, and has a special pre- ciousness in her eyes ; and so, be it but the point of a truss, she knows him as he need never dream to know himself. At the sight of the sword she set dovvn the child on the floor, and, dear as he was, left him there unheeded. " The Paris blade," she cried. ' There must be in- deed something afoot when you take that from its place. Tell me, and without concealment ; your fears are mine by right of a wife." "There is neither fear nor certainty," I answered, 47 1i ''i 1 r \ \ . n V? iiA 1 1 1. \ i i i ■ 1 k^S! ^-, A Man of His Age edge , but De Crussenay met Marcel on the Chartres ITchTJr ^T.V"^ '^' ^'^^^^^^ ^°^d '' ^he road o Chatillon If Marcel, who has learned a trick of thinking for himself, has laid his tale before the Ad- miral, he and I may—" "Where you go, I go," she broke in ; "I have not married a Bernauld of B^ar to live all my life a tw'eTuIl"''" '"' '""'"' ^^^^"^^ ^"^ ™-^ be- '* But," I cried, " these are times—" "These are times, if ever there were times," she said with a set of th, mouth I had learned to know," when a wife should cleave to her husband, come what may " Oaspard, tugging at her skirts and striving des- perately to stagger to his feet, gave me a thought. Would you risk the little lad ? It is the mother's place to see him safe." Up into her arms she caught him, rubbing his cheek nto hers and fondling him with her lips, but never taking her eyes from mine. "That is the common talk," she cried. "Always the mother, the mother, the mother, and never the wite^ Yet a woman is first wife and mother after- wards. Besides, who would harm the boy?" And lookmg into his innocent, laughing face, as he pursed his hps up to his mother's, what could I answer but who indeed? ' Thus without so many words, it came to be under- stood that if Marcel had appealed to the Admiral, and If the Admiral bade us ride south for the sake of the cause, ride south we would-not one, but all 48 Marcel and I Fall Out On the evening of the third day the doubt was solved, for Marcel, a pillar of dust from spur to crown, cantered up between the rows of pollarded poplars bordering the avenue, and, leaving his beast to blow itself into breath again in front of the great porch, tramped across the grass -o where my lady and I sat in the rose-garden. Stiff as a lance-s^^a . and ivith no softening in the stern set of his face, f ? h:.xted two paces off, and sa- luted more like a camp-bred sergeant-of-arms than my body-servant for eight-and-twenty years. " From Chatillon," he said, curtly, taking a packet from under his leather coat, and handing it to me, with a second salute. "Chatillon!" I cried; "who gave thee leave to go to Chatillon ?" "With all respect," he answered," I was my own man for three days, and had business with the Marquis." "Whose business," I asked, "thine or mine?" "By your leave," he said again, "the two are one. Since I could crawl on all fours I can mind no time when I was not on the business of Bernauld in some fashion or another." " What ?" said my lady, grieved that we should be at odds, and trying to draw us together again with a half jest. " Ever when on hands and knees?" "Ay," replied he, with, for the first time these three days, a twinkle in his eyes. " My business was to eat my fill for the future good of the house, and if my mother spoke truth, I did my duty well, as" and his face darkened again— "I hold in conscience I still do." ° 49 .' • \i A Man of His Age Meanwhile I had been reading the Admiral's letter, and found it not altogether to my liking. Have us to go south he would— therein he and Marcel were at one to, no doubt, my Squire's honest pride— but me he would have to go to Orthez direct to the Queen. ^^ "She knows not which way to turn," he wrote, " she is so beset with secret traitors and frank foes.' What with the plottings and subornings of France and Spain, half Navarre must be in the pay of her enemies !" " Go thou, then, to Orthez, my friend. There are, thank God, loyal hearts there already, but add thou another to the number, only— and I grieve for my daughter Jeanne's sake— while there is so much mis- chief in the air, Orthez is no safe place for women and babes." At first my lady would have naught to do with a plan that held us apart, even by so small a space as a few leagues of the Little Kingdom. But when she came to understand that to ride to Orthez was one thing, and to bide there another, since the Queen's business might take me far enough afield and thus compel a separation, she gave way. " 'Twill be something better than fretting my life out at Carmeuse," she said ; "though, dear heart, when I am beyond touch of thy hand and sound of thy voice, if is as if the space and silence of the Florida woods had come again between us." For the next week there was much bustle, and, though day by day Marcel did the work and gave the thought of two men, the heaviness never left his face. At last I could stand the chill of estrangement no 50 Marcel and I Fall Oui longer, and for a day watched the chance of salving my pride by catching him alone, and found it in the dusk in the armory. He was lifting from the wall a blade that brought some story to his mind, some tale of dano-er and com- panionship linking us two together, and as I entered I caught such a dumb dog's-look of pain on his face that I took him fairly round the neck, so moved was I Will nothing phase thy stubborn heart but that thy master must go upon his knees .o thee ? Well no man ever yet lost caste by telling truth I was wrong, old friend, to speak as I did, and, above all to thee. Only," for even the hour of self-reproach pride has a fashion of seeking to save the situation " thv tongue can sting as well as another's." Not a word be answered, only his jaw began to quake and his eyes to fill, until, for all his manhood and tough fibre, he blubbered like a whipped urchin Is It over ?" he cried, at last. " Over forever ? If not, I'd rather. Master Blaise, that you put a dagger mto me and so make an end at once. The Lord .Triu"^ ""^"^ ^^""^ '°^^^ y°^ ^"d yours weH, and If blood be wanted for the proof never doubt but that you shall have it and welcome; mine, or my lads' in Bernauld yonder." " Marcel, Marcel," I answered, " I have said once I "Not twice, nor ever again, Master Blaise. Where IS there room for such words from you to me?" and the good fellow set himself to wipe his cheeks dry with the sleeve of his doublet. SI 4, I A Man of His Age Thenceforward he was more than ever my slave and I venly believe that he viewed with secret satis^ faction that at Auch he and I would part company from the rest, since thereafter he would have his be- loved Master Blaise to himself. ,' CHAPTER VI CARMEUSE AND PARIS MEET The petty events of the three days' travel from Carmeuse to Orleans may be set aside in a sentence, seeing they vere neither more nor less than the dis- comforts inseparable from such a journey. A mired road in the hollows of the woods, a swollen ford at the crossing of the Eure, or else, where the May sun had worked its will, dust a full inch above our horses' fetlocks were the incidents of the days. Travelling by the main roads we found the inns tolerable enough, and, as to company, we fought shy of strangers— and for cause. Catholic and Huguenot were at a kind of a dog's truce ; a snarling, ill - tem- pered, and untrustful peace one with the other; but France and Navarre were as near odds as ever were cat and rat, and it might have fared ill with a gentle- man of B^arn if it were known that he rode south to take service under Jeanne d'Albret. In doubtful times the thirst for knowledge of your neighbor's affairs is a suspicious virtue, but as it may be hard to stifle the curiosity of a swaggering bully without giving undesired offence, we kept our fellow-travel- lers of the road-sides and inns at arm's-length. Nor was this hard, since, one party aside, we never saw 53 'fi ^4 A Man of His Age the same faces twice, and so gave small e«use for stnkmg up an acquaintance. These we first met on the third day of our journev Chartrr^;!;"^ '"^ '°f '™'» ""^ >°'"^ ""it from thartres. There were five in the party, and the sec end glance showed me only one reason why a ma„ should look a third time. The four men-at-arms ^ere a common type enough of camp-bred bullies too com mo„, mdeed, for the welfare and peace of F ance bu the g„l who was the fifth of their number was one :i:rh;"':ifr"'''^'^™«'''--'-an-r,:v: Small, slender, and alert as a bird, her vivacitv was as .s the way with women, her first fascinatl" tIcu came the charm of her face, and, were it not that to g.ve the color of a woman's eyes and hair^he shane riir i^'hf r'"'- "^ T' '" "" che^kstd r crimson m her l,ps, ,s at best to write a cold cata ogue, I could, for all my sluggish blood and w^fi. ered age, pamt you such a picture as would set your vems on fire. They will burn soon eno gh for flesh and b ood, and until then the woman who is now^buta few handfuls of dust may leave you i" It is enough that I, who was no amateur in women's looks, d,d what some might think a valorous thin^and bade my lady note how rare and bright was the gem that was m such rough keep'.rg. Yet after a ntf rtrrn ^ T' ^'""''^"""' ^'~- ^ -e lie than truth m the comr.on chatter of the dav that one woman likes ill to hear another praised. Pr ist say I, and welcome, only for your peace' sake see Xt 54 ill Carmeuse and Paris Meet you draw no comparisons, even by, the slenderest in- ferences, unless they are pleasant ones. " More than you have eyes in their heads," was my lady's answer. " Look yonder. One would think the lad had his first glimp:;e of an angel." "Then," I cried, "he has been blind these two years." Whereupon she bade me be silent, since the father of such a lad as Gaspard had no business pay- ing compliments ; but the flash in her eye gave the reproof the lie direct. Truly, if the damsel had hooked my --gard, she had caught De Crussenay as it were with a gaff, for he stood by the door eying her so hard that I looked to hear the fellow seated by her at the table bid him shift his gaze for his health's sake, if not for polite- ness. But it was che girl who first caught his stare, and in place of being disconcerted she stared him back with so much laughter in her eyes that the lad red- dened to the hair and, I doubt not, grew hot from head to foot after the manner of his kind when smit- ten with a wholesome shame. Then, not content with her victory, but laughing outright, she leaned forward and whispered some jest at his expense, for her companion turned in his seat and between the two De Crussenay was well scanned as he crossed the room to the corner v;here we sat. " 'Tis a shame," said my lady, " tv^ roast the lad so. Where, at her age, got the girl sucii effrontery ?" " I never found that age had aught to do with it," answered I. "The boldest damsel I ever met was but three and a half. As to the shame, why, Master 55 A Man of His Age ,! ' Henri here sta:-e(Lhi,^ hard- .. i u trick from him. Xr ^t^ ?" ^^^ ^"^ ca.ght the his age I^wculd have stared tU."' "''''""' ^"^ ^^ De C;us^^V:!,;^ ;:^^^ ^o h.r." cried my lady to jests." ^ ' ' ^ bra. en-faced hussy for all his "Isshe, Madame .?"ansnr.r«^ rx ,^ "I,saw naught but he; t;";' ^"- ^^^"---J'. -"-Ply. h- 'SciThtrurhtheTthf ^ ^^""^ '" "- --ion •'-s her loots iVefn't tret n?"^"'' " ^"^^ them than—" ^^ ^^ "^ more shame in " Your pardon, Madame •■ Id h "'i""'' '"' on I thought that he, too ^i^rt hi' '"" "' "' "'"' purpose. " The fault is mC ^ .™'"' ''"' '''"' ^ had been less than a ma^ ? "" '""'•' '^- ^nt I not held „e as the sLTflote"""" ^"^"='"- "^^^ tone. "Swee'tness'Ld Ls rdT" "' "" '°"^«' pretty flower and a preUv sun r"''' """"'^ ' A -y,,and.a„nette^errtreon^;^rrint: fa'r tltle'td7at'1.i"„r r; '"' '"° « '"' amused interest. Then ith *^"«f "^ '"h "n wrath had blown across their I' °""'""'' " S"" "^ girl held back her compant ' '?f ""' "'^' ">= answer for Jeanne's ZoT-.-.u? ""^'^ ''''' «° rH,ssenay'sreply,soso,, ., bo^bftr /' °= ^^ } Dombastic and yet so Carmeuse and Paris Meet sincere, the smile came back to the girl's far^ f i,^ u her hand never .eft the sleeve ofX , : ^.tTa p;.ue .as the cause „'';Lrt\;ft:u^a1,rVarw: kne„ to be jests they took for earnest, and the LTs read words were seeds that bore fruit of sorrow be fore many weeks. sorrow be- Presently, to my great satisfaction, the eirl rosP and, attended to the door by l,er cava ler, w!n with ou. and was seen no more that night, whire he w th one hand on his hip and one on his s;ord.hilt ^ JIl gered back to his place. ' ^" For all his outward resemblance to his fellows the man earned himself with a difference. Thr was that assurance in his looks which goes ne ther J^th poverty nor menial service. An easy i„sole„cT a careless swing of the shoulders, a ruffl^ing g^t That Ntrcirth'^rhirtr^" '^"'-"^ -^^^ «ngers, in ^.^r^^r::^^:'^ z:'!^ a common pikeman or hireling swashbucWer Hi, very gestures smoothing down his beard were of fhe court rather than the cabaret, and thoul he wire nonngs there was that set in his fingefs twisTL hs mustache which hinted gems and gewgaws Buf as if to give the liV tr. ^u 4.u- , s^wgctws). cut, four hJ,\ c ^" ^^''' ^^ ^^"ed loudly for four bottles of wme, and seating himself with hk fellows plunged into such a loud medle^of col e tall as drove my lady to her chamber befor'e the th t t had emptied his first glass. tnirstiest The next day we were earliest on the road, and 57 14' A Man of His Age -y patience, and as ™ TodTol-^a'dTb °" '"' s.deways and downward to him ZtllokJ " the pvpc iirif ;, ^i .. 1 tr , ' "^ looked me in like a™' "'" "^'"^"Sl: that stirs a man's wrath permits no aeia^ Jte'::!;.'' .^s^ Z^'' ""^^ Mon?°riuM .te' m'^-::r;"'T ^^""^ -- cioseracuaintanSp" d'when iS^n, "^" ? have a trick of findine it let »hT/ '^''*""" ' way To dav it T.T ^ ^' ""'J' ^"*n<' >n 'he way. lo-day it suits my pleasure to wait I aUo know one another ao-ain an^ -^ ' ^"^ utner again, and it seems to me your i ,1 3 I neither :il Orleans gateway of '; and, had no errand of faith, account it stare of 1, but me ache with ^ord-hilt. Jtion and being out fiim stare f against 1 leaned d me in I's wrath with an md that 2ve me, than a easure I i in the I also ur busi- we will le your I HAITKH I!V HIM ANI; UAVIi HIM SIARIS h OR STARIC n party \^ their ho He w; him wit which n meant il " Tak> my havi a pal*-,ry "You outbursi lence. ' many si: " Lea^ I will be as that wedded turned i While the affai Crussen end to r "Whc will ha\ already have coi "The " Let a blood in "And nay, " t( than th( Carmeuse and Paris Meet party waits you, for I no longer hear the beat of their horse-hoofs." He was swinging away on his heel when I stopped him with a touch of my riding-whip on the shoulder which made him start as if stung, as, indeed, it was meant it should. " Take care !" he cried ; " you presume overmuch on my having that to do which holds me back from even a paltry risk." " You have a name, I suppose," said I, letting his outburst pass, by giving fMm back insolence for inso- lence. " Mayhap you have a dozen. By which of the many shall I seek you when — " " Leave the seeking to me," he retorted ; " I'll wager I will be first to find. As for names, mine is as good as that of any cockerel of B6arn with or without a wedded estate;" and with his fists on his hips he turned into the inn, whistling softly. While I was in two minds whether or not to have the affair out then and there in spite of my lady, De Crussenay came clattering up the street and put an end to my doubt. " What is amiss ?" he cried, " In five minutes you will have Madame herself at my hef^^^. She thinks already that you and yon fellow in tiie rn>-*-y brown have come to blows." " There's a woman all over," said I, with a laugh. " Let a man but look crooked at me, and she sees blood in the air." " And that is a man all over," answered De Crusse- nay, " to gibe at a fear tha. is neither more nor less than the shadow of love." 59 1 i j 1 w ' i i ') Mh . -it.-'-''''^ii^"i-- A Man of His Age fi, I' i ! ! " What dost thou know of men and women," said I Jaughmg again as I put spurs to my beast-" av or of love either?" ^* " I know this much," said he, soberly, and drawing up on my bridle side, "though whether it be love or not IS another thing. There are some women who for a man, make an end of all other women in the world' once and forever." ' "Some women," I echoed. " Plague take the Turk • how many?" "For me, one since last night," he answered, with no break m his gravity, and neither shame nor pride in his voice, and, for all that he was only a lad his words, spoken soberly as they were, lent him a kind of dignity and set me thinking. When a man speaks of a woman with a laugh he is but caught by the eyes and it is an ill thing for him and for her, since he holds her lightly and she has given him cause to so hold her ; when he breaks into a gust of hot passion he is perchance struck in the heart, and it may be good or ill according to the man or the woman ; but let him suppress himself and grow grave as he speaks and the thing is beyond jest She has netted him neither in the eyes nor in the heart but in the spirit, and netted he is like to stay so lone as he lives. Therefore it was that he set me thinking So soon as she saw us cantering down the lone" narrow street behind them, Jeanne had given orders to ride on, for the cool of the forenoon held the sweetest travelling hours of the day. Seeing the train in motion, and having no mind to stand a rak- ing fire of questions, I checked my beast to a walk 60 ' 'mwm:.'wv *' Carmeuse and Paris Meet and, with De Crussenay, played the part of rear- guard. Presently I saw Marcel turn his horse into a past- ure-field on the left, and ride to the crest of a small slope that commanded an outlook in all directions There he halted, and from under his open palm scanned, not the path ahead as would have been rational in a cautious soldier, but that already trav- ersed^ For full five minutes he sat staring his hard- est, then, turning his beast with a jerk of the reins trotted down the slope to where we stood by the road-side, ^ "Is Carmeuse to Orthez not far enough for thee that thou must needs add a furlong or two to the journey ?" said I, jestingly ; " or, mayhap, the peace of Longoumeau is at an end, and the Guisards close at our heels ! "The last, perchance." answered he. and there was no ring of jest in either tone or words. " Tell me Master Blaise, what is like to follow when the French IhTm '^''^'''''^'^ ^"^^ ^"^^"^ ^f SP^i" spoken with a Navarrese patois ?" dle's^° good to us." replied I, " though you talk rid- "No good to us." he echoed. "No good to the cause, no good to Queen Jeanne, and the riddle is oon unriddled. Yon fellow with the peaked beard has been turning Roger inside out like a ripe fie something in this fashion : 'Good-morrow,' saith h!.' Good-morrow.' answers Roger, stiffly enough if one may take his word for it. 'Thy masL travels with a brave tram.' saith he. ' My master travels with no 6i ?f •' f m. +1 hi' A Man of His Age he holds helD 0^3 ^ff" "'^ P"'^^' ^^ -e, C would almost as it savT// ""' "■' "° °'''"' ""^ devil master as DeBemaJd hZ TT?"'' ''" ">^ •hen all might have been welftace%'r'^''ir™«"^ run his wit into a corner am- ^T ^''"''"' ^^^ but in his cursed pride the old f ,"° ""' '° '"" ■'> 'that a De Crussenay needed 1^ """" "''"' ^''''• his own wherever he went 'Lr" °"'' ''"' '""" "-e other, like a man thi't ng hard "oTcr''' "'■'" Where have I— A.r ,<■ « "''^a* -Ue Crussenay? lavc J. Ay, It was at RoiiPn tu gallant a man as ever-' 'V , ^^ "^^^ ^^'^ Roger, touched in his love .. n "" ^'"'^' ^^^^^ ;nce many Another, hl^^oT/s e^ad Lt ^f ^' ^■^^' thier than the living ' Vm, i f ^ ®^^" ^^r- saith the other, 'here were feTil /"" i ' ^'■^•• De Crussenay, and nowrdoubuls th '"' '"^^ off to join Cond^ ,h=„ iT ' ^"^ ^™"g eock is -me p^it as h s sir " %TJ j'" "^ ^""^ '" '"^ Bernauld first. Cond. peX -ar" -b"""' .'i" ones the other with hU f, J^^ '"er. Bernauld!' Nanrette's red kech.ef I f/"'*" '"^ "^"i- <" meet De Bernau d tt he'l7b"et 'f° "' "-"' '"""^ meuse.' 'Why, no,''a„slersRolr ^'-s'""'' " ^'"- ^o much, you may i:„ow a Itole more Y '' '°" '""'' sieur De Bernauld «,!,„ ""'e more. YonwasMon- in the correr."''wL;eaTTe T"'^'''"'''^'^'''^ oath. 'He De BeTna" d Let W l"'''^ ™' ^" over this, my man : the De Bernauld wh^ T ""If' ="^^ paw for Coligny ;„ the west ? 'I 1 ""^''^ <^'"^- catspaws,' answers 110^'' bnt J I "^"«''' "^ '^oger, but yon's Monsieur de 02 Carmeuse and Paris Meet Bernauld.' Whereat- fh« f u and went up-stti^Thrlt^afa :;;:r ^^ ^" '^^ ^-^' when rXt^ t- ,^^'^, ^'-^ tongue, saM I, where in all ^m! "'^^'^"^e to edge in a word • " but vvnere in all this are the Basones nf at. French of Paris ?" ^ Navarre and the "They came before and aft^.. •• "The fellow with the peaked bardTl'T,' "^^^^'• to his three lesser scoundrels 7t iV^'' "«''' the words through bein/toT far „T ."' ''"^^ °^ pity, but I have lived t.„ , ' '""^ ™°''='^ 'he not to know the tval ^H ? ■" "'«''' °^ "^^'^O^'ta a syllable. ^ "'°"«'' " "^ ^ut the ghost of " As to the Paris Prr^nnU t the paek baggage ^trt of'theTr '^^ ''''"' " along the nassao-^ .u , ^^^^ ^"^^ strode ■ntofhedam e,?rooJwitM:'"^ '^^^-^ -<» «"ng " How ?" • ,V ^ '^^^ ceremony—" sad "eTnd th'uttta "r""'' ^'™«'"« '-"" '" "is - ;Thot,harb^e™:;rn^;f,r:r^r--^^- enoS;^al:i Mr^t^' "tt t iZhr h'^^ '-' into her chamber with a scant °h , ^ "'"PP^<^ then they spoke P ™ch and /oT 'T"' "^'^^^ words said not alone 'Paris it p" ^ """ "'^ as plainly as tongue talks ••' "'" °^ '"= '""rt'' ""TwMi K °^'*S:ej' lis rank folly." With ; "whL^tTsIr?" ^'^" ^'^'^ ^^- -- ^ar a Guisard s concerned, whether he be A Man of His Age iv li' Then you listened," I cnVrl • '>«■*«?■• name to it, Master Blaise o^r \T •"" '°° '"'rd a we'SJI^rr-tiXrat'T'rV''- wa-o pan .™„ Jeanne, Mat:- tlttt";^ -t^^rnrsi:::?r---^'^^- '"ore grace than wisdom •f^^'"® '^"'"■^ '° '>'^'- >"'"> l;ilwarr;ntThat'Voul''fe"ow';v:,'; '" """^ "^ '"''>'• his courtesy. If they wan n I '°°" P" '^ ^'='J' °n can find i,im from to dlv a„d' r™"""' """=''' '"ey Jeanne wii, be safe "out'of tht ^Ir^' ^'"" "^"-^ -ad 1" my';-::''.'. "'' *'='"'='• ■■ «- -' the odds I ~ :r e:Ti: - — -r 1;^ 'he south, in thesa :£:;" l??"''^ °" ■•"■ '"="' '° De Crussenay, I could hak a ^ ^"'"'' '^''^"' "^^ Pafence cost nothing. As to De r "'"' ™ ""-"" E 8 ^s to De trussenay, he held u A Man of His Age his tongue; though without having looked out o' window, the glisten in his eye told its own tale ; a woman from the lengthening of her skirts and a man from nigh thirty can keep certain secrets, but a lad of twenty is a veritable blabber for all his silence. if. 'h CHAPTER VII WHY ROGER RODE POST To ORTHEZ h J,hP™ ^\"^'=' <*^ I afterwards learned was Peak beards name) his chance of picking up with me we thez, but to no purpose. Neither of him nor of the cttT o ":' " ''^-"''''' °« Cruss^aT did w tor the time, and the next new j we heard of him came XT ^°'"- '' '"''" "= '""^ P-»"y in "s -n aside'aT^^''" °' °" ""' '"^i'' therefore, be put as.de as addmg nothing to the story, and thourt Cohguys letter to the Queen of Navarre earned me ^l\r:T" '' fl" '"^'^^ "^ EernauM hid no Claim to, and one which might well flaf-f^r . vanity in the teihng, I leavelt all" n'to r In^e^V tl^ese first days at Orthe, are outside the borders of ont: »d ;,'.rar' The" out""""'^"^" "' '™^""^' K I "*^ yueen was m sore need of choif""""^" ""•" "'^"' "" '"« ""e hand more schoolmen, and on the other simple .oldiers. Of the 6? I i A Man of His Age *i former she had enough and to spare, to my thinking at least, smce black cassocks have a ashfon of "farm mg, ay, and forcing, an influence the brain under he broad br.m does not always warrant. Had hey stuck to afl;airs of spirit, and been less bitterfy do/ mafc eyen in these, and left politics alone, they had served the cause better, for it is given to few men to Of thrT °' 'f ""^^ '"' "'^- «-« "f hTnext Of the others, she had room, doubtless, for more than came to her flag, for, as the Admira had TaTd half Navarre seemed in the pay of Prance or Sn ' lad""" f • I' -- "« - much swordTthat re ar'ed^a'ol 'T f '"^"' ^"^ "^^ " -- ">It I have lai/ r ^'^ """=■■ *^°"«">' "' Cond« I could have laid no claim to. I had not alone fought but had seen fightmg, which is quite another thinf You know the saying, one eye that half sees is worth Uvo a^eXtn"^" ""'"^^- ''""'"- -^- Understand; I by no means belittle Queen Teanne's oT;rarai,"'ThTy"wt t aT' r ^^^ -" ^.vation of Na^aTreTn^th^rrmrrrfwHlt- large where that of De Bernauld is effaced hntT u h^dTy:i!"-^™--'-<'--^-:it:n us,Thau:i^'o?t\,?rd thtr-p^r": ^ '"-- "^ Jeanne dm^ret, Cond.t "itlnl^t.-^irr: b:trrth7;efd "n^Tisrih^ -^i ""- ^-" less admirable, the doJrhtX^;--rrig: Do Why Roger Rode Post to Orthez which are forever float mn- ok . there has hairs to! seh-natdnT."'" °^ ^°^^ him but that he must hive tteout'T "h" "'^"^ at once. 'The Sieur de Bernauld " ^ '™' ^'"" of a howl-' the Sienr .i7b ' "^^ ""^ '" =» ^""3 -ie ■ and, good ol d ,e :rtrl'' '°^ ""= ^"^"'^ keeps so hard at if ,hJ , "^ "" ""ore- He hav^ the whole'calt :y;rtt sLrr'f ^ ''^ "'" "Come closer to it " safd r ^ . \"^' '^""'""''■" what do you make oi ZV.nJfXli:^^. "f • thm and my wants ton m,„ . ' ^ P""^ '^ *-°° a beggar's fin Je '" ■■ '' '° "^■™™^ '»= ^ip of du'st^Thumri;";:? :„"■?- ? ^^ "-" ""^ a„d take it. an an'ti u'^ g tta^ta" '"h'T "'"^^^ '^' ' 'ike a soldier, and stfcks "? Ws point iif" '"""'' chine. For thp r^«t i,. ■ ^ ' "''^ a war ma- and from his tonTu: hi ^"^.™™«'' "«'er the dust, .the -uth, th. ugh as UeT™'?™ "['"' """^ '"- his words. It's The Si.. /= " "'^ '"™Sh of sake,, and thl^Jan^nr/f t^ "HaTt'o h'" '"^ '°^'^'^ r;a^t^:;-sra^^^-----^ group round the door i... . ""^"^y' ^" Slathered in a Queen suddenlTct e ^ f ihf Ztf"'' "'' ""= would have met h.,f . c ^'^ entrance she othac.suadren't:::;^^:::^,;;™--''"^'"''^ 69 ii A Man of His Age shlTslaf ":.'„„""!' ''"^' '"f, "° '"^^^ °f ^o- either. For the Lord', TV"' "' guard-houses de Bernauld" '"'"'• ''^'^'^ "^ '° 'he Sieur at2Var;rfar;r;^;::r^, ,\'-"' 7 p'- and this thing is no jeTt Cnd r H '"' """"• t.;™..h the pLs, caiii^ro^t neUtot";::^ As I ran down the stone steps thre,. at , ,• and ca„ght sight of the old SquTre a the bot^n:' I ceased to marvel either nt n^ a/t . oottom, ^^ Jthmg eke, h.s age m.ght have held him scathe- " Let them come one by one " saM p«^ fully, "and m, age wiU aZlnttr^tS j:" " as It IS, and my age thrown in, I may 70 "^ H Why Roger Rode Post to Orthez show you to your hurt that Tn, not yet „„ the .^:ro'.tt%X';rrero:tr.^-°---- Keep thou to thy rabble " cn>r1 T ci,o. . r "X'TVr^^ '' '' '-^'"^ '- - mat's? L^L:" y to th"" jrthr/" wr =^ — ^--,; and hark ye to this, all three. When Monsieur de Bernaulri ■» Con,e,c.d «e„a;.. I w^^t^ll^-^^:^ ™;™- na"yTor thefT; ^"T "' -"siderftion 'than ' rd' the sat n' ir^h '« "'' °' *"' «^P'"^ '"^l^^y^ «nd the salving of the Squire's ruffled feelinRs "these fellows will know their place and yours in future and we can count on there being no more torn Sets ' Even under the dust and grime I could ee the shadows deepen on his face as he looked up towa ds me with troubled eyes. ^ towards JZ^'"' 7^' "°"' °' "'"''• ^"'"S. Monsieur, but is another s ory ; and where to begin and how to e you the tale o the last six days is a thing beyld me " Six days !■• cried I, stopping in my walk and with scant courtesy swinging him round by the e"bow o that he faced me. " Why, man, it i. no more than sx days since I rode out of Auch First and i„ . how are all at Bernauld ?" ' " " '''°"'' "As to that, Monsieur, I could not tell you in a th^sand words, since I have never yet set^^o: 71 ,. i- A Man of His Age m '' Then Madame has not sent you?" Why, ay, she has," said he slowlv =,n^ ^ * • out his words one b^ one, ^sV::isiT,\tT2 yet n^t knowing which to choose, "but no^t TZb:' "anTZri'°"' :"!'""'' *"""'■■ "'"^ I. impatiently and there is at least this-since Madam, i, you there is nought amiss with her'" '™' "Ha !" said I, with a sudden thought. " Mons,V„r so nt""rY~'/^ '"'''' "^f^"- h^. that you are soplaguily dumfoundered?" '^i- you are "Had aught befallen the Sieur," answered Ro^er with a new set of the lips, "I would, so pleasf !„ have seen to the business myself, and not wasted sJ many hours over it as were lost riding to Orthez It was never my way to leave Crussenay's affairs fo another's settling." ^ anairs tor " Then, since Madame and the Sieur are in health you may nurse your mystery and tell your tale fn your own fashion." ^ ^^^ ^" "But " said Roger, with a return to his old falter- ing, there was yet a third that—" "What.man! The babe.? The bovO;5^nr.r^? tiru could hurt so sturdy a lad in so f': Ws "' ' '^''^' Madame bade me sav thi« " o« ' , ,. fa.es"b-^is gi]s:rH::raitt:;;:^^^^ 72 im Why Ro?er Rode Post to Orthez ours. As to w„at could hurt, the hands that slew babes at Vassy or Rouen can surely slay in Bfarn and there you have the tale out, and it has been a sorely ha: d one to put in words. To tell how a man d,ed w,th a sword in his h.^ Ighting for faith and Mum"; 'kl 7" :■ ""' ■«" "-'"S, but to say bluntly that a laughmg inn. snt has gone down to : i'7 «"'.'™ '" "r P""^ '""ghly at a man's heart- strmgs, grizzled and all though he be—" How much longer he prattled on I know not for forgetful of the dozens of on-lookers from doors and wmdows I had him by the shoulders and was owly shakmg h,m m a dazed fashion, striving hard to Wnk It out and understand. ^ wL^^*'''"n''*^^''"^"'''°"'y- "Our little lad dead? What ,s all this talk of Vassy and Rouen? That wh ch ,.as done there was done in heat and wrath an.1 w.th n.en's passions in a ferment ; but who would lay a finger on the lad to hurt him in cold blood-" ^ 11 n I broke into ., passion. "Where wert thou? Where was De Crussenay? Was there not one man's heart among you all, that you could stand quietly bv- a dsri?f t"f '"'"^ ■ ^""^ ^- ""'h for cow' a ds ! I h..d not thought that there was a thing in ll'T- r ""^ "'"" " '"^" ''■»' ^^'d have see," such an ,nfamy. and would not rather have died On this De Montamar, who had watched me from the doorway, joined us, and, seeing my rage, put his arm m mme to stay me, for I made as if to strike Roger to the fiags, in spite of his gray hairs. you have had bad news. Monsieur de Bernauld? 73 ! ! IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) ^. 1.0 1.1 2.5 ■50 ^^ 14.0 li:25 HI 1.4 ELS. liiii m li !.6 rijuiu^ci(jiiiu _Sciences Corporation 4s ^^ •N? 23 WIST MAIN STMIT WnSTIR,N.Y. I4SM (716)l7a-4S03 ^- *<►. '^'Q v\ ) V I A Man of His Age •Tis always bad news when a man rides post Mav a friend—" ^ " News that in the Queen's dominions murder can be done, and none lift a hand to stay it. See this fel- low? He looks like a man, doth he not ?" "Murder?" cried De Montamar. "And'on one of your blood?" "On the last of my race, Monsieur de Montamar- on a weakling babe. On-on-my little lad, who lay so warm in my heart that I never dreamed death could strike him. On a babe, I say. on a babe. These be the Queen's protections to those who serve her." How much longer I would have raved in my wrath and agony I know not had not De Montamar, push- ing Roger aside, led me across the court-yard and out mto the street beyond. " For the Lord's sake be calm. Monsieur de Ber- nauld!" said he. "All B^arn and Navarre are in a ferment, and a chance word might set the blood of a thousand babes aflowing. This thing touches the State, and I beg your leave to hear with you the tale of yon fellow following. And further, I pray you ' father though you are, hear the man patiently, and curb your natural anger." " Father that was," answered I, with a break in my voice, " but father no longer. Come with us and welcome. Monsieur de Montamar, and if in my pain I have said or done aught unbecoming a loyal gen- tleman, I pray you forget it and forgive me Had the lad but been a man grown, and the Queen ?iad claimed him, he was hers to the very death; but- 74 Why Roger Rode Post to Orthez went through the str so OnheVl L"' ''""• ' to rijrht nor left n«^ '-'rthez, looking neither .tare'at the stfa^ge silT, Z'"' "\° '""^'' '" his side and tears o'n W^ohel: " """ * "'^"^ "^ .^e first thiScitutt^sr/Lv^^^^^^^^ r. Z'aste'nir^ hTt""^ ^eK^htw' hin, t„ a ride-o^S :Ura",T;; "^'"^ '^^' """ We saved an hour. Master Ri,:.. •• ■ j . " by sending on Roger to flrrf. . ^'' '™P'^' and though'there w': :: t.e Sin^'inM;"""'!;" than what you hear, yet a man und^ft^ds thl" ' ervaHon of a man, and I knew h,? k . °'" for the little lad. Besides at I. i "' "" ^'^ the best sympathy, and f„"h " hat C^ t^ '' Marcel offered me the surest comfort ""'= JuThe-r r ir^rirtr -^^^ "-«- at^a .,a„ce, and turned to me ^rh^i'hldTpor; m^sf rofr 'aur "■'; "r'^^"^ """-'<»• '-'^ Queen, pleasure "Chave'^rJighT m""'"^ '"' put yourself to your own 's::^':^^'^^^:: 75 M A Man of His Age fli taken that of the Queen in hand; and this, for all my sincere sorrow, I tell you to your face " "Monsieur de Montamar, Monsieur de Montamar " I cned back, "if you had a son's blood crying for vengeance, you would be less of the politician and more of the man." '' Ay, faith," said Marcel. " If Monsieur-" Silence, fellow," said De Montamar, sternly " This IS a question of a man's honor, and therefore not on^ for lackeys to meddle in. Monsieur de Bernauld you have your duty to fulfil, and to follow your private quarrel is to pleasure yourself and nothing else, gloze it how you may. Think-what if all the Queen s servants went this way and that on their private feuds-and the Lord know^ there are feuds enough-there would be a speedy end to Navarre, I In my heart I knew he was right, though for all that i argued it out at length and br. ^iy enough tramping restlessly up and down t.. oom in the heat of debate as a man does under the goad of wrathful sorrow. At last he set a period to ft all by saying — "j "Hear the story out to the end, and by your leave dAlbret has suflfered much both in body and mind love her she has but grov n more tender through her suffering. Trust the Queen, Monsieur de Bernauld trust the Queen, and believe me that in saying so I speak both as a friend to you and a lover of Navarre " Then It was that I bade Poger give his tongue rein. 76 his, for all If fontamar," crying for tician and ily. "This re not one Bernauld, How your 1 nothing if all the on their are feuds ravarre, I :h for all ' enough, m in the goad of it all by )ur leave Jeanne id mind, lose who )ugh her ernauld, ing so I avarre." rue rein. Why Roger Rode Post to Orthez thing Which migh ": e aflc ;: "m"""' ""' ^"'"- nauld hath given me Teave toTom t Th' Y '^ ^"■ and of the chain of cirrnm J r ^ '"^'^ning, nothing •• "■■cumstances I, at least, Icnow vinain heyond „. ::^r.^;T:Z^^y '"' '"= struck at, and with th^\ ^ ™^' "^ '*« g^"' i>unter winTo't TuZ^ ^Z\:''\ ''T '"« my friend." ^' ^^ ^°^ '^ee, to thy tale, 'i ^'^ CHAPTER VIII MADEMOISELLE SUZANNE Although Roger's story was clear enough for our purposes, yet I do not set it down in his own words, as there were many circumstances and details of which he, of necessity, was ignorant. These were gathered ater from my lady and De Crussenay, and what is told IS thus rather the narrative of all three, eked out by certam hints and bruitings which came to me from various quarters. Piecing all these together, what followed my de- parture from Auch was this : De Crussenay had ridden out with us to set us fair- ly on our way, and on his return, as he neared the mn. there met him the damsel of Orleans with a couple of men-at-arms slouching at her heels six paces away. There must have been that in her looks which heartened his courage, since no man learned bold- ness towards women from Charlotte de Laval, for at Ju'^:^^' °^ ^^' ^" ^^^PP^^ ^'•^•^ his horse and, with bndle m one hand and hat in the other, was by her side before she could affect astonishment, even had she thought it necessary to make such a pretence. That she did not was clear, for she was quickest with her tongue, and there was no rebuke either in words or tone. 78 Mademoiselle Suzanne 1 . , y^" ^^ Crussenav with a h^r^i "What!" said she, "and have three dogs trot be than L"er'e M °""°' " '^°" '''"'^' rathfr be ther" nan here Monsieur, thou canst take thy choice •and she stopped, and slipped aside with theiast dTo olt grea! she p .• [^th"" "' ^*''«">--"«." -swered the great Sheep, ,f there was danger, either place " a sJift r I'" "^ '^''•" '*"■ ^''«- "i'h « 'augh and a swift look straght in his evp« ".i,.. .u ' ^"^ call in Monsieur de Bernauld's aid." "Nay," said he, taking her seriouslv j;t« ^u • Pleton he was; "Monsieur de BerTa d^^^^^^^^^^^^ cation should he divulge my mission to Orthez with th. .1 / ' '°"'*^'"^ ^'"^ ''^htJy on the arm v.th the slender twig of a cane she carried " MoT sieur de Bernauld has ridden-" elsewher:'"''"'' Mademoiselle; he has some affairs 79 f' A Man of His Age ' petulantly. Monsieur de Bernuuld has ridden-else where ! M„„s,eur de Berna.dd has affairs-elsewhere . For Mons,eur de Bernauld. whom I have seen but once, I care nothing, but, being a woman, I care mu "h that a whun should be thwarted, and though he whole thmg is a folly, I will take no denial. To 2l sTur'de r "'' n 1" '"^""' "=" '"•'• M°"--. Mon! swer / \ : "^ "■"" """^ '"- What ? No an- swer ? &,nee when ,s it the custom of a French sen ptrnt'rV'""'; 'k"'" "'"''^' '^'^ some com' try "Mademoiselle," cried De Crussenay in despair and h\ i'" "^ """ ""= """"le shame of h 'r gibet and h,s den al, "since when is it the custom to div: a man to tell that which he is pledged not to tell ? If .h,s were my aflfair you should l.av^e it out to th as word w>th my grateful thanks that you were good enough to listen. If you scorn me already lould you not doubk your scathing if I broke my word .„ Mo„ sieur de Bernauld ?" j' xu to Mon- For a moment her face darkened, and a sharp reolv was shpping from her tongue ^ ^^ m Jt-'^rhL/'^ '''"'k' ' '^"'^ "°^ ^^^ ^°-" fool bT .. u '^^ "^"'^"'^ ''"'■^^'f- "Thou art the fir t man," she went on. with an odd note in her voice between vexation and extorted praise, "who hath refused me aught in two years, anS we ;omen like a new thing, even though it hurts our pride ^ n^n,-; n " ^°" ^'''^'''^ ""^ '■'^"'''^' ?" ^"ed he. " Made- moiselle, you are an angel ; which is to tell you 1 80 Mademoiselle Suzanne more than they have told you in p • times"; which was no b- /l ^ ".'"/^'"'^ ^ «core of taking his fir. hand •:;rg:r^^"°"^-'^« - «ieur r Be::t:.:;^^,r';:r; "^ t '^" ''-- ^- quarrel who should be friends -"''^^ "'"^' "'^ ^^" by the same road " ' """'" '''' ''^'•^^ travellers ne^Jinlet.''^^'^-^' Mademoiselle P That is ,ood another thing." '"'' '^ &ood news is "a , gnodness itself " Answer for no woman where anntl,. concerned, and, least of all nroC ,il """"'" '" i»™%'orwe:?Ti.e'"df rr-'' •''"••«-' '<> -y Wd to c„„e in entered ±uT "°'=''"''' =•""■ ''""« 'and might ha™ envied """''^ ^'''^^ "' «<="' without^:VoT;rprjfa?er:' r^™*^'" ■='"= ■««-. i»'.rney lie., through TarbesM^^"™'" ""'" ^""^ stranger to B&r,,andTn„rf;fhe'r' """ '^ =* unfrequented ways be <,„„,.,, ^ '^^"8^=''' "f "><^ 'rain for protection's sLfr"''" '"''' '" i"'" y°ur '^y^'Z^Zt"^,^"'^ ■■' '™<' answered „y taken aback by t'h dTettLssTflr '""^ '"' "^'"^ quest. ■• but I have yet to learn thA,f "''«P«"^d «- ' 8, ''°'"''' °' ^^arn II, .if il A Man of His Age or Navarre are more dangerous than those of Berry, La Marche, or Limousin. These you have found safe enough." " Oh, Madame," said the damsel, " the nearer to Spain the further from peace, is a proverb with us." Then she drew herself up with a pretty air of pride that sat well upon her. " Understand, I beg you, I do not seek to force myself upon your friendship. All that I ask is the help which I have never yet known one woman refuse another." Even then she might have been met with an objec- tion, for my lady still resented the turning De Crus- senay into a jest at Orleans, and held the girl in some- thing more than suspicion, but the little lad Gaspard settled the question. He had been clinging to his mother's skirt while the two women stood facing each other. Now, quitting his hold, he ran staggeringly across the floor to the girl, and at the last would have fallen had she not caught him up. " The heart of th&flphild," said she, fondling him, "might plead for me in my need. Where lies the fault, Madame, in being friendless, poor, and almost alone ?" " As far as Tarbes, then," said Jeanne, ungraciously, and with reluctance ; " but we leave within the hour, and can make no delay." " Within the hour we will be ready, Madame," re- plied the girl, setting down Gaspard and adding no word of thanks, except that at the door she turned and made my lady as deep a reverence as when she entered, and so left her to a medley of conflicting moods and uncertain whether she was mocked or not. 83 iii\ Mademoiselle Suzanne She gave my lady no caiis» f„ ^- ■ , alertness. Within haU the , ' /,„ ^'^'^ " '""" '" her three men-at-arms were in the saLr' '"l '"" "" yard, waitine-- anri «,», V ^°^^ '" ^^^e court- 'hey'formr/i; behildli:';;;'.:"'' ""= "" """^ -' Thus they rode do.nThe , teen hinT '" "" ^=^^- across the narrow bridJ 1 ? " ''■°"' ">« ""fn- "nd on for an hour the Z7f '"' '""'"'y Gers "either lessened nor c ossed ^nf """I "''™ "^'"S shame;s salte, my lad/ rn d Zl V^li '"' 7^^ »ard till the halt for supper Park^nrf r " '°'- side by side. ^"'' Carmeuse rode It was then that the girl told her story She was from Artois, she said ,hlZ . poor gentleman who had ruiLrf L ' ""^./^"^hter of a ing at his own cost aglinst s„ ""'" """'^' "k"'" Alva and his wickednS she could Z/'^"'^^^- «' than was good for a woman oknlVld^r "°"" mostly true. For thesp t„„ i . ' ""^^^ "<^''e i" Paris at the ch ^es oZ (TrJ;"' ^!"= "^^ "-" now packed off to iiZn th" '°''""' """^ "^' might share the burden of h '"""^ °"'''' ■•«'«''« h- name, it ^JZ^^T^:::^'^'^ -^^ '" she was both penniless and parentles; If/u"'™ men-at-arms to guard her since th-h "^ Longoumeau had put a ston " I ''^^^ P"^« °f and Huguenot me'n were p,en«fu> ""T "^""""^ cousin thought 'twas chll I '"""^h, and her A Man of His Age pinch of poverty which moved my lady to a self-chas- tisement of spirit that opened her heart the wider be- cause of the closeness with which it had been shut before As the whole tale was a lie from Artois to Bdarn— saving, perhaps, her age, since she had a woman to deal with, and her stay in Paris— these details are not set down here, but they so touched Jeanne that, in spite of her smothered repugnance, she promised her- self to make full reparation for her coldness before handing Mademoiselle Suzanne over to her unfamiliar relative. "Ah, Madame," said the girl, when my lady spoke m frank contrition of her uncordial reception, "that you should be suspicious of a stranger was natural, yet I guessed that one with so much happiness in her life would let a little overflow into another's emptiness Truly you must have a surplus indeed, and to spare Here you are riding to home and the love of hus- band. I, to I know not whom or what." •' To home for all that Bernauld is strange to me " replied my lady; "but not to husband, and so the home-coming is robbed of its sweetness." " Then Monsieur de Bernauld has not ridden on in advance?" cried the girl. "I made sure that we should meet him at Merande or Tarbes." " No," said Jeanne, with a touch of pride in her voice. " Monsieur de Bernauld is honored with— " Then she checked herself, and went on lamely, " He has been absent from the Kingdom so long that he has many matters to see to." " But," persisted Mademoiselle Suzanne, " do Mon- sieur de Bernauld's affairs not lie at Bernauld ?" 84 Mademoiselle Suzanne women love a mystery." ^ mystery, and we "No mystery," answered my lad^ ,<. s.nce nothing pleased her better ,u ° """'"^' and exalt me a little beyond "herm". '." """ °' ""=' me, as the way of women i. ''"^■"y deserts placed "Only that Monsieur deB,n:^'di: ^ '"'' '"''■ ^^te" 'rha-n^ -^es"r^;s?;h"er """ ^ iady "fLrsltrin'r^rapsor '^^^""'^ °" ™^ set a period to curios tyfor'^M/ '" '^""'"'' ">" asked no more q«est!on's,'b t" r :";°m:"%'"^^""'= Silence. ^'^ ^ ""le rode on in harmTdf ^^Sro^'er''^-^ t' '^''"'•"°" "^ '^'•v with the AdmTra Ld had"^ J'™ ™°""'^' ^J""^" with De CrusS „"?h : ,r?eH " "l '" '"^"^h'-p repented. That sL ,h„ m u "" "' "'''''^'> ^^e now rufned race a k ndts, was ''7 """ ''^"^'■'" "^ a Crussenay should "sk ITZll "T^"' ""^ '"« D« boysworshipofap etty £ace»^ "'"' "■'•°"8'> » for an the Peliless' daLt „r oro'/A?"'""'' when talk of Chaf,ii^« i- , . °^ Artois. So senay she took ala m and^h T '"" °' °= ^rus. woman's wit to keen Cl"^'"'"""''' "^=<' «" her 85 M A Man of His Age woman within arm's-length — cried, "Monsieur de Crussenay, what is that town I see through the trees yonder ?" or some such question on a stock or stone of which she cared nothing, Madame Jeanne had, on the instant, a message to Roger forty paces ahead, and so parried the attack. If the lad drew in abreast of them, which he did about thrice in half an hour, she complained that the way was too narrow for the comfort of three, and so drove him behind. Even when Mademoiselle Suzanne, with her eyes full of mischief, beg^^ed Monsieur de Crussenay to be so good as to set her stirrup-leather straight, showing, as she spoke, rather more of a pretty foot than a woman need, Madame Jeanne called up a lackey and bade him put that right which had never been wrong, never budging herself from her place by the girl's side. For every attack of Mademoiselle Suzanne Madame Jeanne had a defence, and with every suc- cess of Carmeuse the deeper grew the mischief, and at last the malice, of Paris. At first it had been a spoiled woman's thought to play herself with her accustomed toy, but before the day was over it grew into a battle betwixt the two, and, out of the evil of her Paris wisdom, Mademoiselle Suzanne made a bold guess at the cause of my lady's persistent watchfulness. At Mielan they halted for the night, and there be- gan the suggestions of misfortune, for when, next morning, the time came to start for Tarbes, Made- moiselle Lavard^re's guards had shrunk from three to two. " Had I been a man," cried she, " I had known yon 86 Mademoiselle Suzanne len, next fellow hed when he came last night seeking an ad- vance of pay, ' I have lost at play,' said he, for all the world as a gentleman might; 'and a debt of honor Mademoiselle, a debt of honor, must perforce be paid ; and I, like a fool, and out of my girl's igno- ranee, believed him. The honor of the off-scouring of a camp forsooth !" " If the man is gone," said Roger, who had his eyes about him and his suspicions awake, "he has left his beast behind." "How?" cried Mademoiselle, rounding on the two who sat their saddles behind her as stolidly as a pair of clay images. " You never told me that. Are you too, in league to fool me ?" ' "A beast like his," said one of the fellows, with the flicker of a grin about his mouth ; " like his, but not his. Am I a fool not to know a horse my own beast has rubbed shoulders with so many days together ?" Ay," persisted Roger, " but it is his, for I am no more fool than either of you, and knew a horse while you sucked thumbs." " It is and it isn't will bring us no nearer if we talk for an hour," said Mademoiselle. "Call the knave innkeeper, and you, Master Roger, bring out the beast this evil is about. Friend, who owns yon four- legged skeleton in the brown hide ?" "A man must be honest to himself," said the host with a grave shake of the head. " I would not take fifteen crowns for the horse." ^^ " Right, fellow," said De Crussenay, who stood by smce no honest man takes what he is not offered and never will be, save by a lunatic. This is no ques' 87 .V li' an II ■wwiiii.«n«Ki,«wfii' A Man of His Age I /' M .'I tion of purchase; but a straight answer now Are you Its owner ?" * ^ "Since there is no question of sale, then a straight answer, Monsieur. To my sorrow, I am " That ended the matter, but as they rode out of the coun.yard, Roger said to De Crussenay, loud enough tor the most part to hear— "A straight answer enough, it was only the truth hat was crooked. A thousand crowns to one, I say still, that IS yon other fellow's horse " That day there fell such a summer deluge as we of the south know too well to our cost. For four hours gray rim of the ^horizon. By reason of the heavy downpour and the increasing hilliness of the road but little progress was made. Nor was the day fol- lowing much more to their liking; but in the after- noon the border between Gascony and Bigorre was Eons "' '''' "" '' '''' '''''' '" ^^^ Q"^-'« Thereafter, with every mile, it became more abun- dantly clear that Mademoiselle Suzanne's fears of turbulence were well founded. The Little Kingdom was in a ferment, and a party of three, of which one was a woman might readily have met with rough handhng. The very peasants by the way-side were split into an intolerant antagonism, and every com- mune was the scene of a miniature struggle between France and Navarre-Catholic and Huguenot As yet the war was for the most part one of words and gestures, though collisions had already taken place, and with the daily strengthening of faction 88 W. Mademoiselle Suzanne tu. factor, and ZZ^lZ'XTZ'' '' ' ''"''■ greatest in the towns iZl tL"^ P'f'"" *"= private hate lent a fire a"d TlhT '!, ""'^ """^ Tarbes that the spirit o revoTt ' ' " "'' "' worst. ^ "™" "as seen at its Tarbes was the haltin^-nlarc fnr fi, ■ l Ue Crussenay, at the head nf ft "'^'"' ^""^ ^« troop, with the hree women t r "°'''"^^''^'' his way through the ",'1'^::" irr^'^" otro/th^Sior^s aH-^ — o.t Of W and courUtrfr:;^S: ^"^ storm for a tempest. ^ exchange of a " Rooms, Monsieur !" cried Ii> f i« t r. innkeeper, with his shoulders ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ palms outspread in deprecation o ^ h 'An Navarre has wanted rooms since mid T . all France is at my throTt mr ^ ^' ^"^ "°^ There is a ]nft .u lu ^^^ ^^" ^ "^an do? xnere is a lott above the stable—" By your leave, my Sieur," said Roirer "l.^ t" rru^t'f :hi/ -?: - -^^'^Jsc 'oft for iadies of The Q^ „, turU iV' " "^"' are oversea,, to iisten^e :ir;r:he" Tger^: -x^dTnUrfofthrstttr t r '°^'-'^^^ at once. For the nicL ? t Crussenay, and selves." ^^ "^^ ^^^^'^ ^^" ^end for our- 89 A' 3 R ^ It . A Man of His Age "For your threats— that !" said the innkeeper, snap- ping his fingers. " A man has not sold good wine in Tarbes for so many years without making friends for a pinch. If it comes to the pulling of ears, other ears might suffer as well as Jean Caron's, Master Bully, and with the temper abroad there are those who would not stop at the pulling. But ladies of the Queen's household — that's another story ; and I re- member now there are two small rooms above the porch which, by good fortune, are empty." Small enough they were; so small — one of them being but a ccck-loft — that De Crussenay would have naught to say to them. *' By your leave, Madame, a chair in the common room will serve ■ my turn better. If I but stretch myself here the walls would crack. Mademoiselle, having so many fewer inches, might perhaps make shift for a night." On which Mademoiselle Suzanne played a bold stroke. " My thanks," said she, with a laugh and a look that gave the lie to the gravity of her courtesy ; " I agree, Monsieur, but only provided that you share our quiet here until such time as it is imperative that you go to your discomfort of half -drunken babble and the smell of spilled wine." " But," he began, looking first at my lady and then round the room, " this is—" ** No time for over-niceness," ended Mademoiselle ; "and Madame de Bernauld has no mind, I am sure, to condemn you to premature misery on my account. In such a case," she added, with a glance at Jeanne, 90 Mademoiselle Suzanne " I think I would find it in my conscience needful to bear you company"; and though she spoke in jest, it was a jest which my lady thought might very well have slipped into earnest. I f . 1^ '. 'n N * ¥ ■•■* CHAPTER IX MADEMOISELLE SUZANNE HAS A REMINISCENCE The hour which Master Jean Caron made his guests in the little room over the porch wait for sup- per passed lightly enough, and even Mademoiselle Paris found a diversion in the excited stir and con- stant bustle of the crowded square facing the inn. " The Crown of the Two Provinces " stood not far from the centre of the northern side of the city mar- ket-place, and full in face of the unimposing munici- pality of Tarbes and its still less impressive watch- house. Round these two points of outward authority, as if in derision of the actual helplessness of the ap- parent power, the mob was chiefly concentrated, so that from the windows above the porch the play, which at any moment might be a tragedy, was in full view. "There will be no outbreak to-night," said De Crus- senay, confidently, in answer to a fear of my lady's, and quoting Roger's experience rather than his own. "You see the women and children, how freely they mingle with the men ? That they are there in such numbers is of itself a guarantee of peace." But out of her knowledge of Paris, Mademoiselle Suzanne had a word to say to that. 92 '1 :i Mademoiselle Suzanne Has a Reminiscence " Let the blood-fever stir in a man," said she, "and neither woman nor child, though they were wife and babe, will put a stay on the unreason of his passion. Down they will go into the mud under his feet with- out a second thought. Five times I have seen it in my two years, and five times it has been as I say, and unless these men of Navarre are of different blood from those of Paris, there wants but a spark and a breath to set the blaze roaring." "Five times?" said Jeanne; "five times?" " Paris is not Carmeuse, Madame," answered the girl, carelessly, and even with a touch of contempt ; "such things made a break in our lives, and therefore we remember them. Once it was as you have it here. A broad place walled in except at the corners just in front of— of— the balcony where by chance I was. "It was winter, and had been bitter cold for all the sunshine. Bread was dear, too, and the people would have it that the King's taxes and Monseigneur the Cardinal de Lorraine's exactions had so robbed them that they must starve. That was the unreason of the people, since needs must that the King and Cardinal live. They would have it, too, that the King, being the father of his people, and especially of the good citizens of Paris, who are forever striking a blow at whoever is uppermost, would feed, clothe, and warm them all if he but knew their need. So they came together by the hundred, and for an hour howled themselves hoarse fo. that which they were as little likely to get as I the throno of France. Out of what could he feed and clothe them, since, by their own showing, he robbed them to feed and clothe himself? 93 A Man of His Age " My faith, what a scene it was ! At first, in their expectancy, they were pleasant-humored enough for all their hunger and pinch of cold, and so played the pitiful, holding up their white-faced, half-naked babes to the windows, while the mothers stood by clinging to the men, and for the most part too dispirited to do more than weep softly. For the most part, I say, but not all of them, for some had hot blood in their veins for all their starvation, and when a woman takes to playing a man's part, she can teach the boldest scoun- drel upon earth something he had never so much as dreamed of. " For an hour they clamored so, and we who sat by the windows began to weary of the sameness of the cry, when in a flash it was all changed. One of these same women whom you call the guarantee of peace had set the whole square in a blaze. " They were, as I have said, for the most part mere lookers-on, these women, but while some had wailed, clamored, shrieked, wept, she, through it all, had not so much as cursed. There she stood, moving neither hand nor foot of herself, but simply swaying with the swaying of the crowd. Nothing in her showed life but her eyes, and they ranged from window to window without rest, and with such a look of curbed wrath, hunger, and despair in them as I never saw but once before, and never since. It was in the eyes of a caged wolf caught in the woods beyond Vincennes, and brought after a day of famishing to be baited before the ladies of the court. There it sat on its haunches staring dumbly between the bars, its eyes shifting ceaselessly from face to face with a hungry passion in 94 Mademoiselle Suzanne Has a Reminiscence them, and now, as I watched her, the woman seemed to me the very own sister to the wolf. •' By her side was one who might have been her husband— they have husbands, have they not, these people? On one arm he carried a wailing infant a half-year old, the other arm rested across the wom- an's shoulder, as much, on my life, as a prop to him as a protection to her. Of the crowd he was the noisiest, but through all his clamoring her lips nev- er moved from their thin line of compression, and but for the shifting of her eyes and the wolfish crave in them, one would have said she was as good as dead. " One would have said wrong. Presently there fell a calm upon the mob. Why, who can say, but there comes at times, even upon the wildest sea of passion, an interval of silence. So it was now. The discord- ant cries ceased and the very surging of the crowd was stayed. But only for an instant. From a lower window and across the silence there came a laugh, a woman's laugh, and in the middle of its peal this wolf of the people came to life. " Suddenly she stirred herself, flinging off the man's arm. * They can jeer our misery, can they ?' she cried. 'Then, since they have taken our children's bread, let them take our children too,' and she snatched the babe from the arm of the man and hurled it full at the window whence the woman had laughed. "Her words fell on the mob like a whip-stroke. From every throat came the roar of a beast, and under the sting of the lash the whole mass of' men surged and swayed across the square, trampling their 95 m '•?; A Man of His Age weakest underfoot in the unreason of their mad pas- sion, and with such a threat in their white faces and clinched hands that more than one in the palace lost color ; ay, even some with swords by their sides. It was as if these famished wretches would devour the very monarchy and make an end at the one meal of King and noble. As for me, I leaned another half- foot out of the window to see the better, and laughed again." "You ?" said De Crussenay. " You were there ?" "Ay," said she ; "why not? Such things were new to me then. It was worth the seeing, if for nothing more than that the memory of the rage and rush makes my blood dance even now." " But the child," asked my lady, who at the telling of the tale had gone very white in the cheeks. " What of the babe ?" "Oh, it?" said Mademoiselle, carelessly. "How should I know? It was naught to me, and since wives and children went down alike in the mad strug- gle, one more or less mattered little," and she held out her arms to young Gaspard who shook himself free from his mother's nursing and staggered across the space between with a shout of laughter. " And was that the end ?" said De Crussenay, who had followed the story with eyes that had a spark in them of Mademoiselle Suzanne's fire. " Not altogether," said she, with a look at my lady'is face that had something of derision in it ; " but some have no liking for hearing of such things. There was some little matter of the clearing of the square by Monsieur de Guise's guard which prolonged the play 96 Mademoiselle Suzanne Has a Reminiscence " A play ?•• said Jeanne " Whx, r,^f ,. "Because, Madie;. a^sw^/d ^..^ fll^Sr thosetherl" front, rin ",? " P"*" °' "■"'' '°-h wifeoreHna,a„r„T,:,f;rBTa::rHetrt^"f leap and str k'e the ZZTou'^^'V"'' "" thou and I wi„ Piay out ve 'thne^ral-r T^- in her arms she went into the little room n„ r senay had given up to her use °' '^'■'''■ "My faith !" said he, looking after her and ,h back to TeannA " T ... .J ■ '"'■er ner and then P.easure^:f r;tinXX^ rG^e^flrerf '" w.th or without his guards at hfs back " '° ''"' The woman who gibed the misery' of her fellow women was the harder of the f «,„ ■• j , "" terly. " At her door , ay h Z,Tt^ 7''^'' "''- o-ould strike the man and forgive her and T'/"" sidelong look in the eves Th?/ ' ^" ^°' * "She was nomorirnarh'^^.'^Lrred DJcrL Ay, said my lady, still bitterly. "She laughed 97 v'> A Man ot His Age then and she laug^^is now, and how soon would she say, 'The child is i.. ight to me ; what matters one more or less?' " On that Master Jean Caron and two serving- wenches came in to lay covers for supper, and so put a stop to^De Crussenay's defence. But though he was silent, Gaspard, as once before, put in a plea greater than any of De Crussenay's. The sound of his glee rang through the closed door with such unrestrained heartiness that the mother in my lady was stirred in spite of herself. Softly she opened the door and looked in; then, turning, beckoned to De Crussenay, whose curiosity was no less keen than hers though centred elsewhere. Looking over her shoulder he saw what was to him the prettiest sight of his life. Mademoiselle Suzanne was full length upoa the floor with a heavy riding- cloak spread out beneath her, and a bundle of some soft, gay-colored stuff under her head. In her play with the boy her hair had broken from its ribbons and was tossed in a tangle about her face and shoulders, after a fashion that was a revelation to De Crussenay. One arm was doubled back under her head, and the other, stretched up towards the boy astride her body, was bare to the elbow where the loose sleeve had fail- en back. "Kiss me, Monsieur Gaspard," said she, shaking the hair from her face and pushing i;;; ^i? r iip&. But when the little lad, who was no anchorite, leaned for- ward to the pursed mouth her hand would thrust him back to his seat again, shaking and fondling him till br shouted in his merriment. 98 sasi si ,-.'-* »^ 111 » ITIi'llfll— 111 Mademoiselle Suzanne Has a Reminiscence that she had better havtL' d'" "'"' ''" '"^ in her vexation the latlh sHnn h . ^^^ ""^P^ned, and a ra^p. '""^ '''PP^^ ^''om her hand with At the sound MademoiseJIe c;.„o„ setting Gaspard on the floor !h ''"■''^^' ^"^ laughter gone from lier Zl ''' ^'^ "P' ^-"^'^ ^ii the " For how long, Madame ha«; it u to make ™e a spectacle To/ uZ'lZlT """"" amusement ?" she said, sharply "A,f" ^"'^"'^r- Jeanne de Bernatdd have saTd if c; '' '"'" »'°"W had turned her chamber in/ '^ .^"''""""^ Lavardere fine lesson you wo'uW hll -tad' iTe" '"' ^ -" ^ A What passed behiL it h co„M ''"' !" '"' ^°^'=«' it opened it was to shovv tha th % /'™ "=" SfUe^s anger had driven out hnaiUft *'''^™°''- t;e Parts mob, and that peacets"mL1 L".l7ji .uf ;t^r;ritt :~ tr?--^ ""•-»-■ rather than an added uproa A .hil"' V'"'"'=' grew apparent, Mademoiselle nodded hi """«'"'=»^ K.mtly. Paris had made her wk . ^"""^ ''S"''- dom she spoke. *^ "" "'^''' ""dout of her wis- ' "The beast is getting danfferoiio"c,; I .. „ ■t growls it is safe, but leuftri v f ^"- ^'"''^ time has come to look to one's ', L ? "« """ '"" upon them and we shall se^l .t ' * ^P^''"' blow Master Landlord, am I rightT""^ "'■"'«'>'• "^ •' 99 ' i/l|ff A Man of His Age "Mademoiselle," said Jean Caron, with a bow, "where there are men there are fools, and where there are fools not even a wise man can foretell an hour ahead. But, Madame and Mademoiselle, there need be no fear, for both sides have thirsts to slake, and one of my trade is of no party save that of a purse and a dry throat." " How ?" cried De Crussenay. " Have we lighted by chance on a rebel, or, what is little better, a fellow who shifts his loyalty with every stoup of liquor ? Thou hadst best know there is but one Queen of Navarre, and I counsel thee — " Jean Caron closed the door softly. "It is tiue. Monsieur," said he, "there is but one Queen, but what with France on one side and Spain on the other, it is well not to say so over-loudly, lest one have no tongue left to say it a second time, and our Queen lose a subject. See you those beyond there, Monsieur ?" and the little man swept the square with a gesture. " Four-fifths there are for France, or Spain, or their own gain, let it come by what dirty road it may, and care not whether the one Queen be Jeanne or Catherine if they are but filled with meat and drink, and be given two coins to jingle. Among such-like scum what chance for life would a man have who deals in flagons and pint-pots an' he ran counter to them ? Just as much as a rat in a pit full of terrier curs, and not a whit more. I would serve neither the Queen's cause nor my own throat— there is but one of each, and I have a love for them both— by shouting * God save Navarre !' over-loudly." "What of the barracks yonder?" said De Crus- lOO a bow, id where iretell an He, there to slake, that of a e lighted , a fellow i liquor ? }ueen of but one id Spain idly, lest ime, and beyond le square France, ^at dirty }ueen be ith meat Among lan have . counter )f terrier ither the ut one of shouting Mademo,se.,e Suzanne Has a Reminiscence senay. "Has the Queen of N» teach these rogues Ihe^pUeet'd'h-r,,,""""^ '" keep civil tongues in their h.^ "" "'^"' ^''her -vhence they cUe, or :ny;heret„ror' 'h^'"^*^^ Soldiers!" cried I«o °'"' °"t of Tarbes?" "Never a soldier. There ^r^'"'""' <=°"''™Ptuously. watch, stout enough with a man""t-''"^-''°^'" "' « would no more lool. cTooked afth" T""' ■"" ""o P"' their naked hands t th ' b """' ^''"''" than burst. Mademoiselle is nerh, "^ "^^ ^"^ "" ""t- her spies and stirrers^^p'^f'tP^, "«■"• ''^='"- "- through this Little K n J " '"■"*" thickly 'hem to try the tt^Tff'l""'' ""«^' P'"- Lord who made „s, they are at' Infant"' '' '"^ )e Crus- • CHAPTER X HOW DE CRUSSENAY FACED THE CITY OF TARBES The crowd had separated into two distinct groups, of which much the larger was collected at the far- ther side of the square. Both were composed, for the most part, of peasants, with a sprinkling of the towns- people with their womenfolk and children drawn by curiosity, but there was one distinct difference, and De Crussenay had enough of the soldier's instinct in him to notice it on the instant. In the one there was an element of preparation and forethought, in the other none, and whereas the smaller crowd car- ried but bare fists, or at best cudgels or rude tools, the larger had a leavening of armed men scattered through the smocks and blouses. These were not all soldiers, but mostly fellows who bore their weapons awkwardly, carrying their scabbardless swords, or handling their half-pikes, with an air of pride and respect that told of a novel experience. That there had not already been a collision was in part because the attention of the larger crowd was drawn elsewhere. Perched on the very sill of the watch-house win- dow, to the bars of which he clung with one hand, while with the other he gave force to his harangue, I02 How De Crussenay Faced the City of Tarbes richer material than was "i be f f • "''• "''=" ''^ his feet, and in artrflr . """^ '" ">« "«d at There ^ere touches oL?"' T^'='=''^ °' '"e eity. throat, and a dat /itrin .h.t "^^ '■^""^'' -^ net, which spolce the m^n ^^^^'^ '° ^'^ '«'"- larger stage than that of ^T '° '■""""^ " °" » 'tai. p-ifhasrht„:i vrirrr ^^•'• venturers of the tongue whose Hlh 7 ''°''^" ^'^- hired for something mo'rrthrn,''^"^ '^ t° ^e -notion an^d a- ^^^^^^^ tha^MXoJi'tft: wtTt^r- "'^ ''"- « aiuTe- 'r ^ :F "^-a „7,r: " Rn f . ^ ^ "" '"'^'^^ at his first Dlav 'ngSL\rs„rhir"'2rt Jr '=~-- -i/ by feeding the^aSonst'o^th rf /r"" 'Z 's tellmg more lies in a minute than ^t '^^^ *"= >" the year. I ,.„ow th™ so t Thlr "' "°""'' a month ago who swore th.T. " ""s one here any one of Cathe nj, 1 ^ ? """ "° ''^"^ than world knows he could 1 ",'" ''°"°'' *"" "« the s|„... "' '°"" S° no lower than that for a splIesT o;th?Q:ree,f :? V^'' '""^"^ '"^" '"o" Master Innkeeper?' sad A ad '"'',f"' ''" '^dies, one told such iL as thlt f''p'"?°'f "^> ^^arply. " If jj„ as that m Pans, he would hang for ""that be so, and all be true one hears," answered •J h»i A Man of His Age Jean Caron coolly, "Paris would have more in air than on earth." '"^ best keep a civil tongue in his head when he speaks of Queen Jeanne. If he talLs such a foulness as that there ,s at least one in Tarbes will give him the He and push the gift home with his swofd's point ' ' .nJ " I 'Jf' '^' ^^"^°^^' Monsieur, and hear nothmg," said Mademoiselle, with a laugh "and so earn an easy conscience by a deaf ear Why my poor boy these fellows would swallow you down al easily as a lark, and with little more heed for you bones. Nay, close the window, I say again, and run no risks for a chance word " ^ » ' ^^^^ run as'rfd as'thTk";" ^1' ^^ '^'*""^"^y' ^''^ ^ f^- as red ^^e knot of ribbon in Mademoiselle's hair I think I would stick in some of their throats " ' By your leave," said Jean, " if that prating parrot's orders are to rouse Tarbes, he will need a stron^e goad than common lies to stir the swine " fl^T^-' f^^ Mademoiselle; "thine own towiis- folk, Master Innkeeper !" J'Nay, Mademoiselle, but, by your leave again Catholic scum of France and Spain, and not true bears o B^arn and Navarre. See, Monsieur was not nght? They need a stronger lash than 'words the^e dross, and, by my faith, he's going to give it' on the cobble pavement as the crowd shifted in its atcfof ma^f V'^ "^ k^ °' ^'^^^'"^' -^ '^^ -ba- lance of many whispers, broken words had come at 104 lore in air How De Crussenay Faced the City of Tarbes dumbness, linWng ph'a ! fn"'\'' '"'' '"' "" "'^'^ of rhetoric "^ "^ '° P*"""' ""h the skill "E'esfsrn ^rcLl"" .^^.^r^ °.' ''-'-" peror of Germany ""N. tl"^ °' ^P*'"' Em- Father the p"pe..' '^A.T""' ^^^'"'" "°" H°'y •ion," "The foTcT'of the Ch^ch •"'/"'"""■""'■^^- such, was simple enoulh 1h ^ /- ^ '™''' ""'^ doublet contented h,mfe''fw,th:„ ^' "' '"= ^^''^^ of blessings and curs.W *'''','>"^'""'»'e mouthfuls Unwillingto pro™ ti"f ;■""" "f ™ >>ad been done, theenemy'sgar^e DeV. ' '"" '°' ^"''^P'' P'ay moiselle's giSs have ZT7 7°"^"' ^^ ^'' "'de^ challenged because of fh ■■°'''" ""'■'''^ P^^^ ""- the mob wenrthe;, re sTmrh""""'^ '"' '" ^ wasted. The stee' - caps Lered Tn'd '"": "^""^ swords as thev hari C. ""^^.^ ^"^ waved their blades and pikes or „^r f" '° "" ^ those with and made no' move Tf TarbL ^'''' ""^ "'"^P"^'' it would be for shlroer „ I T '° ™"""''' 'tself As lean r! "^ , goadmg than mere words let chal" d'ht ta^ef f =P^ '" '"^ '^^^d doub- snatched a hand at from""'"^ '" ""^ «^°""''' he fringe of the crowd ,h P""^"' °" "«= '"ner henc'h that stood ; hrdor^o^^h""^^'?" "" '^ he hacked viciously V the arms of N "^'^''•''""se, cipher of Jeanne d'Alhr., ! Navarre and the "A bloi for Ranee 'cr?;;? "'"^^ '"^ ^"'-"«- as a man does whe" he has a n!' ''"'""^ ^'«°^™^'y "AhlowforthcKmpt^P,:.,----;;,---^ ■ K 1^. I '( p A Man of His Age for the old religion ! A blow for the true faith! Up Rome and down Navarre, up Rome and down with heresy!" and with every sentence the wood and plas- ter flew in splinters. At the first stroke of the axe De Crussenay gave a roar of anger. " Long live Navarre!" he shouted at the full pitch of his voice, and leaning his longest stretch out of the window. " Long live Navarre!" then drew back into the chamber with so much haste and such scant ceremony that while a spur ripped Mademoiselle's skirt from hem to waist, a thrust of his shoulder sent Jean Caron sprawling. Across the room he ran, tug- ging at his sword as he went, and as he clattered along the corridor and down the stairs they could hear him shouting, " Up with Navarre, and down with Spain!" at every stride. " Peste!" said Jean Caron, picking himself up ; "what right has he, or any man, to embroil 'The Crown' in such a quarrel ? There will be a fine breaking of glass presently, and who will pay me my loss, I would like to know ?" "Peste!" said Mademoiselle, in her turn; "could he not make an end of himself without making an enu of my poor clothing ? Half -grown boys are com- mon enough, but who is to get a Paris skirt in such God-forsaken wilds as these?" In his rush for the entrance De Crussenay paused long enough to fling open the door of the common room and to shout, " To me, De Bernauld's men and men of Navarre, to me, I say ! Long live Queen Jeanne, and down with Spain !" Then, without wait- io6 How De Crussenay Faced the City of Tarbes ing to see who followed, he whipped out into the square, still shouting. By evil hap there were at the time but four of our men in the room, and these, having supped and being as nothing in numbers to the fellows outside, were prudently keeping themselves clear of the quarrel at the inner end of the room. At De Crussenay's call they looked at one another once or twice, for, after all, a man has but one life, and the risking of 'it for the Lord knows what is worth a second thought ; and then followed him readily enough. But so far as lending aid to the lad was concerned they might as well have stayed in peace over their wine. He was on the outer fringe of the crowd at the farther side of the square before they were fairly on their feet groping for their laid-by arms, and once there, the affair went to the end in a flash. At the cry of " Up Navarre, and down Spain !" the fellow on the bench had ceased plying his axe, but when he saw the solitary figure flying across the open space, and how the crowd behind hung back unmoved, he returned to his work of demolition, saying, " See to the fool there, some of you," with a contempt that would have wakened afresh the lad's fury had he but noted it. Had De Crussenay had to do with trained soldiers he \ ouM have been safe enough, for though they would, with great promptitude, have stifled the at- tack, the very shame of the disparity of numbers would have held him harmless; but with such a crowd as that into which he plunged it was a differ- ent affair. 107 ' ■ h [1/ i '-tf A Man of His Age There is no beast more bloodthirsty than your amateur soldier, to whom the luxury of shedding blood comes not every day of the week. To return to his dunghill in the wilds with an unwiped pike, and boast how he had thrust through a man in the square of Tarbes was to be dubbed hero to his chil- dren's children. Add that there was no risk in the slaying, and the luxury of the lust trebled, though when it came to the glorying there Would be no need to tell that a dozen others had their points in the same corpse. It would, therefore, have gone ill with De Crusse- nay— how ill he had already read in the eyes of those about him— had not La Hake, the man of Auch, and some three or four of his fellows, sprung whence the lad knew not, ranged themselves alongside him. " Bravo, Monsieur de Crussenay !" cried La Hake, whipping his sword out as he spoke. " Like father like son. Keep your distance, swine. Ha ! Keep your distance, I say," as a fellow lowered his pike for a thrust. "What! thou wilt not? Take it, then," and with a sweep of his sword he shore the weapon short by the head. " 'Twill be thy wrist next time, rascal, or thy fool-head if thou showest not greater caution. And you, sir, fling down that axe and think shame to have spoiled so much good handicraft work for a drunken frolic." By this time my fellows were in the open with— now that the fight was stayed— the mob by the inn door at their heels, clamoring and howling like a ken- nel of newly unleashed dogs. " Now, Monsieur de Crussenay," said La Hake, " to io8 How De Crussenay Faced the City of Tarbes the man of courage add the man of wit. Hold back those yelping hounds lest to-day they start all France a-huntmg with Navarre for quarry. To us De Ber nauld's men, to us! How many are we? Eight? And a mob to right and left. Enough, perhaps, though another dozen had brought a speedier end. Hark you rascals all, whether of France or Navarre, there'll be hangings over this affair if it be not hushed up You Monsieur, with the notched hatchet, stand in danger' o a cool noose in tae quiet of the morning. A stretch of legs, my friend, may save a stretch of neck. Go ''or thy life's sake, and go quickly " "Nay, but," cried De Crussenay, "the rogue must not slip away so easily. What? Can a man hew down he Queen s arms in the Queen's own province and take not so much as a scratch for his villany ?'• "Faith, Monsieur, and he can, if he be a wise man and have wise men to deal with," answered La Hake Better a .free rogue than a kingdom ablaze. Be- sides, and he raised his voice, " the time has not yet come There are things to be done first which allow no delay. I know whereof I speak. Now fellows, dis- perse, disperse !" If your peasant heats slowly, even to his own quar- rel he cools quickly to that of another man. The sight of eight blades where there had been but one was an appeal to peace that touched the mob where It could most easily be moved. As La Hake spoke they had leisure to think, and where there is a risk to be run, thinking, to a man of the field, means leisure to repent To be laid on one's own dunghill with a hole in the ribs, and go down to children's children as 109 M i^ li :. A Man of His Age the man who died for he knew not what in the square of Tarbes was to be a hero at an over-high price. The disappearance through the crowd of the man in the faded finery lent a spur to the zeal for peace, and by every corner of the square there was a trickling which presently grew into a stream. " Monsieur," said La Hake, as he thrust his sword into its scabbard with a force that made it ring, and so aided the swiftness of the current, "we have 'con- quered in the one ten minutes both Fran«:'j and Navarre, and have compelled a peace by force of arms, which is more than Tavannes or Montluc, Co- ligny or Cond6, has accomplished." "Ay," said De Crussenay, with his sword still naked in his hand, " that is well enough, but it wounds me to think that after all his bombast yon fellow escaped with a whole skin." "A word in your ear," said La Hake. " He is not the oniy one who within the last fifteen minutes has looked death in the whites of the eyes." "You do well to remind me," cried De Crussenay, sheathing his sword and holding out his hand. " But for your aid there would be an end of the De Crusse- nays once and for all." " Tut," said La Hake, with a laugh, and looking up at the window where sat Mademoiselle Suzanne, "the cause had need of you. Credit the cause. Monsieur, and not me." Ay," cried Mademoiselle, who caught the words. " credit whom or what you will, but not Monsieur La Hake." CHAPTER XI THE ROADS OF BIQORRE AND THE WAYS OP PAR.S NEED MENDING That night there must have been more than n„. counc held in Tarbe^ if n„f 1- , '"^" °"^ "The Crown ■■itself ' '"""" '"^ "'"'^ "' the soiled finery there is no record, and I leave guesses as.de, though doubtless they had thei ex Phnafons. He who lists may form' his own ludg. The conference of which one knows something as tT:h?i::e?'" ■" ^^^""^'^ ^''-''". o-e ,^eLo; tz^Lr IT "'^' ^''' *"' °" Mademoiselle and old % '^T "''' P«^^"' ^' '' D= Crussenay and old Roger, It is mentioned at all, not for the .n.portanceofitsd.liberation_for,indeedthereseem -butl "" '"r ' u"^ *='" "'^" ^"^ desultory taTk -but because of the inference which later on was drawn from it in spite of my ladys first wlrds "and ,.,",>"'" ""•"'="'' ^■'^ '" D« Crussenay thne tT' ^''' """""'"^ ">" 1^°^^^- voice of a^cvnl " "\"'"'' "^ "«'^'"'°^ ^•"'"W let her fancy not, or guess how small my faith is.'^ In what has she offended, Madame?" answered III } If I I/' A Man of His Age De Crussenay, seating himself, while Roger, bolt upright as a pike, stood behind his Sieur's chair. "Offended?" said my lady, sharply; "that is too large a word. Who spoke of offence ? I said faith. She has seen overmuch of Paris, and has caught too many of the ways of Paris to please me." "The more misfortune hers," replied De Crussenay, "that she has not a Carmeuse and a Chatillon at her back ; but I fail to see it is a fault." "You fail to see aught but a pretty face," cried my lady. "First it was Blaise, now it is you." Then her eyes flashed up at Roger, " You, too, are bewitched, perchance?" For answer Roger spread out an open hand, broad in its sinewy strength for all its leanness, and as hard as a leather glove. " No man with eyes can deny her winsomeness," he said ; " but if she came between the Sieur and good I would crush her like an egg." And as he spoke he folded in his bony fingers on the tough palm and shook his clinched fist slowly. " By the Lord," said De Crussenay, swinging round in his chair, " if thou so much as liftest a finger—" "Not I, for all that she has come between us," said Roger. "Let it pass that I am last who was once first, and she first who came from the Lord knows where. Only — " "Only let us rather talk of to-morrow," broke in my lady. " Now that yon fellow who squired Made- moiselle Lavard^re to Orleans, with so much plain sat- isfaction to them both, is back to his duty, there is no need for us to quit the straight line to Bernauld. 112 i\ The Roads of Bigorre Dger, bolt hair. lat is too laid faith, aught too russenay, on at her cried my Then her ewitched, nd, broad i as hard sness," he id good I spoke he )alm and ng round ger— " us," said tvas once d knows broke in id Made- plain sat- there is Jernauld, place of two long ones." ^ ^^""^^^ '" "^8^"^^^. Madame." answered DeCrussenav with less sorrow in hie ,r«;„ .1. . ^'"^^^"''y. with or else the old promise must hold. Monsieur T ! break. He has been on the roart .hj= u his two fellows hard after Wm ThA ^T """ of th:':'oad'':;ere"h^trd::stet;r "-^ ''-'^ enough even, when the reahTSA '' """*'• ""^ blood after the fashion oTtoX^ "" °" ""' '"' ian'JjVer" -LXLt'e:: ^ttlt'ti" "'^' ''''■ "'''"■ could laugh at the wrTth 'f » f V' T""*^' ""''-■'' fan at the^shadow oHt rw^J^h^t''.."""^ ^"""'^ open .ha^o:: ;at 'the daVl t T°'^^^ '" ''^ is it ? By this tims ,n !: ^"''' ""^^^ »"• ''hat oy this time to-morrow your charge is ended " Be so goo/as tolend metrn^etT; '"Th'eV'^" T' a long one and ^h^ h. ^""^"^- The day will be AnH vu ^"^ ^^^ ^« much need of rest a^ T " "U'LruT^-r" ^ -- - -per H "3 N I r: :■ / Nil ikh , n w A Man of His Age The next day showed no softening of address either to De Crussenay or Mademoiselle Suzanne, though, to give the latter her due, she paid scant heed to my lady's mood. Not so De Crussenay. Since Charlotte de Laval had died, and until Mademoiselle came into his life at Orleans, my lady and Coligny had owned him body and spirit ; and even now, for all his new-found devo- tion, the old bonds bound him fast. Half a dozen times in the first hour from Tarbes he was backward and forward between my lady and the other, earning thanks from neither. Ride that day with Mademoiselle my lady would not, but held fast by the side of the safe-footed, lumbering beast that carried Nannette and little Gaspard. Spur on to the level of my lady Mademoiselle would not, and between the two De Crussenay swung like a pendulum, and was exceedingly ill at his ease. Such antagonisms going so far and no further, neither ripening nor fall- ing into frank forgottenness, puzzle a man's compre- hension, and are but one of those ways of women that drive him to despair. Had there been two men in a like case, they had ridden side by side till sundown, talking with the fullest cordiality of the swaying of parties, vintages, arms, or what not, and then have politely cut one an- other's throats at the first halting-place. If women had other weapons to fight with beyond their tongues, it may be there would be a larger toleration. But the itch of the poisoned prick keeps the strife always upon edge. Therefore, rein back my lady would not, and when 114 The Roads of^ Bigorre De Crussenav. with all a mo^v ay, witn an a mans courage, and even selle to ride on, he met with a curt reply Orussenay to thrust myself on the jealous temper of forsrro'oar- ^'"^ "" '■'™- « '^- »- ^ "^^-^ Whereupon the lad, out of his loyalty to the one and h,sdes,re for the other, rode midway, and so after the fashion of trimmers, pleased neither At Chernex, a mere handful of poor houses and worTe tCtr '"r"^" "'"^ ^^' b"' °- thing reylatdtodire'""'- '"' ""^^ ''^^ "'^ -^^'"«"^ Sonie three leagues beyond and to the left lay Made- moiselle's destination; thence by a circuit of four leagues to the right was Arcizac, where, quit of he charge, my ady promised herself to sleep i, peace For such a journey in an afternoon, encumbered as hey were an early start was needful if they would Z'TufsTX *""""' '°"'»« "--" "-- f- Dragon make haste and another to spur him on When there is a party of ten or a dozen to serv" and a man is host, cook, scullion, and drawer of wine mo tllfaid 1 '• u"""' "'" '"^ '"'™^ °f M^-de- moiselle aid him much. Hitherto the iournev had been to Her no more than a jest, and the' pet"'trLls en tr™"r".*.'''"«^ '"' '="'8'>'"- Now, of'^a sud! aen, she was fastidious. i ! \\\ ':i f A Man of His Age For haste's sake my lady would have made shift with eggs and milk, but Mademoiselle was as nice as at a Paris banquet, and nothing less than a chicken on the spit would content her. That caught and slain, needs must that the plucking be set aside while wine was brought her. Whereupon she made a wry face, and sent the host packing to seek something better. This, being called by a different name, for all that it came from the same vat, contented her, and so the cellarer became once more scullion and cook. All this time my lady sat apart, fuming, but too proud to seek to soften matters, though the ones to pay the ultimate cost of the discomfort would be Gaspard and herself. Roger would have had De Crussenay interfere, but within these last days the lad had learned the beginnings of wisdom, and shook his head. *' They are at odds, these two," said he, " but let a man seek to come between them, and they will each rend him with a most admirable accord ; a woman's gust of temper is like a mountain storm, and a man can do no better than lie snug till the passion of it blows over." " But," persisted Roger, " these way-side roads are a heart-break after last night's rain, and no beast can travel them faster than a walk. 'Twill be gone sun- down before we see Arcizac, and with two women and a babe in charge it's ill riding an unknown road in the dark." De Crussenay looked from one to the other, and again shook his head. The boy, who had fallen asleep, had been laid snugly aside, and my lady sat ii6 )) The Roads of Bigorre by him in the corner with her face set and hard Mademoiselle had gone without, and through the window he could see her in the sunshine flicking the dust from her tumbled skirts. Her face was hidden but the viciously sharp ring of the switch on the stretched cloth needed no translation. "Though we ride till cockcrow," he said, "things must *be as they are unless thou wouldst have me make them yet worse." So for half an hour they sat in silence, until the clatter of the tin dishes on the wooden table brought a promise of relief to more than hunger. It was a dull enough meal, and not even the eccen- tricities of the " Red Dragon's" cooking could shake Its gravity. In vain De Crussenay drew a laughing comparison between the service of Carmeuse and that of my host of many offices. My lady had no other comment to make out of her vexation and cold wrath, but that amid so many dis- comforts a boorish entertainment more or less was a small matter. "Ay," struck in Mademoiselle, "and 'tis true is it not, that the provinces, whether it be the Orl^aknais or Bigorre, while they vary, are not so very different after all? Besides," she added, turning to De Crus- senay, with a laugh infinitely vexing, "it is well you should grow early accustomed to Navarre fare You and I are in the one boat, and, as beggars, cannot be choosers. Why she should have so sought to drive my lady into an outburst of passion has always been to me a thing of doubt and question. It might have been 117 ^* 1 ^ .. it A Man of His Age simple malice, and a retaliation for the suspicion and thinly hidden contempt in which Jeanne held her ; or — and for the most part I inclined to this — she thought to goad my lady into the saying of something, any- thing, no matter what, which would serve as a justi- fication to her own conscience for the evil turn she had planned. Not even Cain would have slain Abel had he not first cozened himself with a lie. What- ever the purpose was it received no comfort from my lady, who kept word and voice in careful subjection. " There are many in Navarre who fare worse," said she, rising, " and now. Mademoiselle, our way is longer than yours, and already the little lad will lose his rest." But even then they were not done with delays. One of Mademoiselle's remaining men-at-arms was miss- ing, and a further twenty precious minutes were lost before he was found in the straw of the loft, three- parts drunk. Wait for him to grow sober again De Crussenay would not. " No fear," said he, " but the fellow will smell out the road to his pay. Though," he added to Roger, *' how he lost his head over the thing they call wine at the ' Red Dragon ' is past my understanding." " He drank like one of Jean Caron's wine-casks at Tarbes, and never so much as ruffled a hair in his beard " answered Roger. " There it was stout wine of Guienne, here it is the washings of a vinegar-tub. Had he fallen ill of a stomach - ache it had been rational enough, but to go drunk !" " He'll be the sooner in his wits again," said De Crussenay. "And now to the road and push on. It is a clear road, Master Host, to Vatan ?" ii8 The Roads of Bigorre M "To Vatan, your nobility?" answered the inn- keeper who ranked De Crussenay to match his liberal fee. I have the country-side at my finger-ends, as becomes my trade, but of a Vatan I know naught It IS a village perchance, a town, a chateau even ? If it be any of the three and within ten leagues it must needs have been new christened." "Now here's a fault in the hunt," cried De Crus senay ; "a pretty business for Madame if we had to he here all night, and all for want of a little common knowledge. I made sure this fellow could have put his hand on the place." " Perhaps " said my lady, looking straight at De Crussenay, Mademoiselle Lavard^re can waken his memory with some hint of its whereabouts. She can scarce have set out from Paris to ride to no-man's- As she was but five paces away Mademoiselle Suzanne heard every word, but she sat her beast with no more motion than an image hath until De Crussenay, turning, put his hand upon its neck, when she said : "Doubtless Vatan is less splendid than Carmeuse and so fits the misfortunes of a broken gentlewoman! Thfph".' ^"^" V"^'' '' ^^"^'■""^ ^^^^ f°^ little. The Chateau de Bernauld may well be known a score of miles round, but those I go to drink but little wine Its whereabouts is in the St. Aignan direction. Once "St. Aignan direction? That L another thing" cried the innkeeper. "St. Aignan is some four leagues to the east. Ride straight through the wood for a '19 /'(J . i :fii' A Man of His Age short league, then, where the road forks go to the left, skirting a round hill with a fringe of pines on the top, and you will find Le Pallet. A poor place, Monseigneur, with a cabaret the most abominable in all Navarre— a poor place, even in a country of poor places. Avoid it, Monseigneur, avoid it as you would the plague, for 'tis about as dangerous. At Le Pallet any one will tell you the road to St. Aignan, but it lies to the left, and by way of a pine - wood a half league through and no less in breadth." "And the travelling?" said Roger. "Hard roads eh ?" ' " Urn, hard roads for the beasts," answered the innkeeper, rubbing the thick brush of hair on his skull in a kind of perplexity. " For a hill country, the travelling's good enough, though as to speed I had as soon walk as ride." When the fellow spoke Mademoiselle had walked her horse across the sodden yard towards the stable, and as she reined her beast round she cried : " We can prove the roads for ourselves. The pith of it is this, and is the thing to be remembered : first through the woods, then to the left by way of Le Pallet, and after that by a pine-wood, still to the left. Let there be no forgetting. As for yon drunken ras- cal," and she pointed to the man-at-arms blinking in a corner in the sunlight where Roger had flung him with more rage than ceremony, " he can ride after when his wits are clear, or bide here as he lists. Set on. Monsieur de Crussenay, I am as eager for the end of the day as you or any one." Once fairly on the road Roger's fears were more 1 20 The Roads of Bigorre been cut and hacked by hoo7s f„d n!„ H k" 'u """ had%:xf;ir Lf wt h "■' -^^ -^ ^-■"- downpour had so soaked th» > '" '""■"• '"'^ "'^^^'^ a quag a full foot deep "" "° '"''' """• brush and the'thick-s'trernt iLr^Tm L'T'^ °' hope of speed ; but when fairly into th. "'^'"^^"y came a change for the worse. ""^ ">"' Here, untouched by the •.im „„j ., trees, and with slopingbLks dr,fn u""" "' *>•« in from either side'thf road seemed'hf,,''^ "°'""^ a bottomless morass, and a slow fo ' • "' *>'"" '"»" utmost speed to which for .1 ,/ P''"=^ "^^ ">« the beasts could be driv n Even t'' T""'™"' wood there was but smalHmn '"° ''^'" °' the the round.topped hm ha Twe^rr d ,°°™f°" night, seaming the path into Tuch 'i ^' °' ""^ chasms that there w'as no safe "/ex r^' "''"' ^""^ They were a wearv nartv »! u ? caution. gled i/to the hamleZofLeVa ren, r ''^^ ='^''«- ing Arcizac, even by I„„g pa f su„^ "' °^ ™"''- and had the wretched autCe se? ' Tu "'' 8^°"^' the handful of poor cottages I.n V, "" "^"''^ "^ my.adywould''gladlytfe^S'l-J«-°-'y. busmess, and halted for the night. But th°ee'mt 121 !ii /■ ! h J A Man of His Age utes inside its doors told their own tale. For all that it was July, the walls reeked with moisture, and the air was heavy with the smell of rotting wood and mouldering hangings uncleansed from the first day they had been set up. " My faith, but your Navarre is charming !" said Mademoiselle, who had followed Jeanne into the din- gy passage. "Its mobs, its roads, and its inns are a pattern to all France, though when it comes to killing I would back the will and the venom of the two latter rather than the first. Of the three the inn is the surest and most swift ! Your mob, Mon- sieur de Crussenay, is an angel of mercy in compari- son ! Rather than bide here I would ride alone to Vatan, night or ;no night"; and she turned and whipped out to the miry road again. "For all her malice, she is right," said my lady. " There is nothing for it but to ride on to St. Aignan, unless we can fall in with a dc -^ent house on the way." " For the Lord's sake, Madame," answered De Crussenay, "get out into the air again. The place reeks like a vault. Come, Master Landlord, some wine for my fellows yonder, and, as they drink it, a word or two with you. How far to St. Aignan ?" " Three leagues." " Three leagues, man ! What foolery is this ? Why, they told us three leagues two hours back." "Three full leagues," persisted the innkeeper ; "and a worse road than that you've come by." " Ah ! I smell the trick," said De Crussenay, "but, fellow, thou'lt win no guests by thy lies. See here," and he drew a crown from his pocket. "Canst thou 122 The Roads of Bigorre ell the truth for pay? Bide here we would not though .t was black night and twenty leagues to s' A,g„an thou understandest? Here'then ■• and he p^'"='"-. »d no offence. This crle r17h ' ^f ""^">«"'^ masquerade as a trencher serve the t"" ""■ """ '° ' '^^^^ " ^-d<=; »"' to serve the S.eur ,s my place, and mine alone and I *3i I A Man of His Age i It I'l ; For a moment La Hake's face darkened, and a s-aarp retort was on the edge of his tongue ; but he turned off his vexation with a laugh. " What ?" said he, " not content with serving the father with the sword, thou must needs serve the son with a napkin? Have it as thou wilt, my friend, though it somewhat spoils the flavor of the jest." For all my lady's weariness they were a merry, and at times a boisterous enough party. La Hake being the very life of the three tables. A man alike familiar with camp and court, he had tales for all hearers and to suit all moods. More than once he made no scruple to turn the jest upon himself— a thing which few men care to do in a mixed com- pany, lest some misunderstanding fool take the jest for earnest. Of boasting there was nothing, and if La Hake more than once was both top, centre, and bottom of the tale, it seemed a thing of course and accident rather than design. Towards the end of the meal De Crussenay turned on the bench to where Roger stood behind him, and bade him go and see to his own needs. But the old Squire was obstinate and would not budge. "When all's done here is time enough for me," said he. "Right," cried La Hake from his place at the end of the next table; "and what is more, it will not be the first De Crussenay thou hast waited to see make an end ; eh, my friend ?" " This is the sixth time, Monsieur, you have spoken of Rouen," answered Roger, with his fingers twisting in his beard. " But at the hour you hint of there were 132 The Black Cat Catches Mice none present saving Guisards and us two-the Sieur that is, and myself." ^'^"'^' " ^^'^ th^re not ?'• said La Hake. " What of M. varre ? Surely Navarre and Bdarn sent some to foT the Ulelo rr -7 "'^'^ ' "'" P^^-"^^y ^«" you the tale to the finish ; or will you have it now? Ma eTelrroTenV ^^^.--^"^^ ^ ^now. has L ways ner ears open for stories of a man " his'^^ar'T" '"f ?^Cr"-e„ay, springing from wL Itwen f/r,.'^,''""" ""^ ""yfatlier died? "Monsieur de Crussenay is too much my friend " sa,d my lady, "and I too much bound up wTth "he cause for which his father died, for me to hold you baclc a smgle instant. Speak on. Monsieur La Hake we are all eager to hear." *' seZ ■•'■,,'"/J'7'' "'" '""''''"' Monsieur de Crus- senay, sa,d Mademoiselle Suzanne, softly "I make b:.teTwonh";h "r"' '' '"' ^'^^ "' => ™». -<> ° better worth the hstenmg to than some other tales we^have heard to-night. We wait for you. Mot a;,^\^:airt:rc"ult^tr •''°°^^" ^°" :rrers' r '" 'f "-—nrgr Th':^: were reasons, as you will understand presentiv wh,r It was not told earlier." presently, why Pausing, he leaned across to the man seated at the 133 A Man of His Age corner on his left, a kind of squire's squire, and an underling somewhat better than the rest, speaking to him in an undertone, rapidly and with insistence. The other nodded and replied, and rising left the room after a rough salute to my lady. " Your pardon," La Hake went on, turning on his stool so as .o face De Crussenay ; " ther 3 are matters to be seen to without there, but Blonay can set them going as well as I. As to Rouen, Master Roger," and La Hake, who had never laid by his weapons, hitched his sword in front of him, and, resting the point of the scabbard on the floor, leaned his arms on the hilt ; "in that group which thou wilt remember at the street corner hard by the breach there was a sprink- ling of Navarrese and B^arnnois, who for the most part followed Antony of \ endome rather than Henry of Guise, so it is not strange thai, I, whose tongue tells of the south, know what passed when thou hadst a soldier's reasons for keeping eyes elsewhere. " My word for it, he was a fine figure of a man, was the Sieur de Crussenay, as he tramped up the street into the very teeth of a d zen men as hot of blood and as stout-hearted as himself. I can give the son no higher praise than to say that when five years have filled him out he will be the; very image of the father. Up the road he strode, his sword at the level of his breast, and ready for come what might, more like the arbiter of peace or war than the last and almost outworn shred of a routed and demoralized army. ' Messieurs les Guisards,' he cried, adding some touches of his fancy which, though lacking truth, stung where they were meant to sting, * I am the 134 The Black Cat Catches Mice Sieur de Crussenay! Vive Condd ! Vive Colignyt My word on ,t, every man who heard that cry remem- bered it to his dying day, or will remember it so sha^o There, I thmk. Master Roger, thy knowledge ends and mine begins. Thenceforward those fellows on guard by the breach had a claim on thy attention and ^.ould take no denial. That you honored thei claim I learned later. "Not Bayard himself, nor Du Guesclin, was ever foolhardy, so, like the good soldier and shrewd strat- egist that he was. Monsieur de Crussenay had his eyes on a point of vantage, and, remembering the dispar- whom he lashed and scorned, grudged him his niche in the wall, and its foot of added height "His was an ill look to face. When a man plavs with ..aked steel, and his life the stake of The game the glint of hot wrath in the eyes looking at you over' the blade ,s a frank warning. Worse still is the storm of reckless fury born of a clear knowledge of despair for then there is no nicety of fence, and a chance blow may get home where skill fails. But capping all and bidding a man be as circumspect as if he vvrestled with death himself, and felt the very grind of the dry bones on his ribs, is that cruel coldness that neither ooks for nor desires life, and has but one hunger- to bring as many to the grave as may be ere it goes Its own bloody road. "That was De Crussenay all over. He who could read his face could see that here was a man whose hope was not in life but in death, but who had his 135 A Man of His Age heart set on goodly companionship. Some who missed that look and saw no more than a single man at bay to a dozen, paid for their blindness and saw no more m this world. In almost as many passes he had four on the ground, and was untouched himself but for a scratch across the left ribs. That blunted the appe- tite, and the attack grew more wary, so that in three minutes he got home but a single thrust, but it went home, indeed, and the point was back to the guard in a flash, and the eyes looking above it as cruelly cold and deliberate as at the first. "By this time, friend Roger, thou wert beyond the breach, though from the ring of steel and the growl of epithets, the interchange of compliments betwixt thee and the guard was till warm and sincere. "After his challenge, and once fairly settled on the broad flag of the doorway, De Crussenay kept his breath for better use than bitter words. Indeed, but for the life in the eyes and the death in the blade his was the face of a corpse rather than of a living man, unless when he got home a stroke. Then there came a flicker of ghastly merriment, not a laugh, but a thickening of the wrinkles round the eyes, and a spasm of the mouth till the teeth showed white be- tween the tightened lips. A thing of an instant, a grim p'-y of light and shadow on a mask of death and -t was gone, and the old horror of the set calm' was in its place. " Then-it was when the fifth had been pushed aside out of the way of the feet of the rest — one of those dogs of Guisards had a thought. Doubtless, had he been less of a dog, and not so cursed a Guisard, the 136 The Black Cat Catches Mice thought would have come earlier hnf i . • , credit that it came at air IJavZ^l v ' '' ^^ *° ^'' of that long reach, he cried ^^ "'^ '"' °^ ^^"^^ " ' Enough of this, gentlemen. We hamner on other to our own hurt neither ,c !! ^ ''^'"P^^ ^nean- such a fight • ' '' ^^^'^ ^"y honor in What had been said was tr,,. .^ ,. many pressing to the f'.Jtl "°"^^ ' ^^^^ so .....:-.. f,i" £, ,r . r:;r.rr ". From the first word MonmViit- ^^ r^ stood solely on the defensive to„gh fj the "' "'" breaking off of the attack he ^ould S ,, """""^ toll, and risked no scathe in retu™ T "^" "'"^ as one salutes in the nte pu » ^^^ ,' 'f'l stepped down to the level o"^ the road "' '"" for no^:ss^'C^e"„• „f -'>.--^ he, ■! looked have seen beto^trer" l7 "".'°"' '"""S'' ""at I or had not altoget'heTCtetoutrv "v '"" 'j"" SelT""-- -^ - -e Sr. ^"n ^u'd; ^eaL^s:: ptse'dix-^trr r^-- tening, and while one might lunf,' ^^"^u^" '* '''■ a silence. It was RogeTlho b™ke T ' "'" ""' ^37 f •I V, I I <' in h J i, i^^ ■i J ■nJl ,'i 1 1^ J ■s-i '4 ' ■ f' '■ )Jf. A Man of His Age "Yes, Monsieur," he said, impatiently ; "'On guard!' said the Sieur, and then—" While La Hake was speaking his men had risen, and now they stood singly or in little groups about the room, leaning against the walls or kneeling on the benches all silent and watchful. "And then," went on La Hake slowly, dropping his words one by one, "the end could not be far off. Both were masters of fence. Both, for all that one was a dog of a Guisard, were as brave as men need be even in a rougli and turbulent age, -vhen a man's courage is his safety and his advancem< ,nt. Both were at the flood of life, but Monsieur de Crussenay was the more exhausted of the two ; nor, aftet the siege, was his strength at its best. Hate and a tight belt will carry a man far, but bread and meat will wear them down in the long run, and the wearing down had commenced. That much was plain, and so the dog of a Guisard, having a dog's love for his life, forced the fight, giving his man no rest. Presently the thrusts were wilder, the parries not so sure, the recovery to guard slower and less perfect. The point of the blade took on the tremor that tells of faltering strength. The end was surely very near, very certain, and yet that dog of a Guisard took no risks untif as- surance was p?st doubt. I think, too, he had a spice of the devil in him, or else the five on the roadway moved him, for the agony of the other fighting famine within him and death before was no more than a play." Hitherto young De Crussenay had borne his torture in silence, but now he broke out : "Make an end! for the Lord's sake, make an end'" 138 The Black Cat Catches Mice burst out the lad • " f h*. «,o« was my father, and ulZlZ"-''^ '"""^ "^ '""- oaths, ana the heavy .eume Of rorrrrn' to La Hake as to thetrn„ T"' '"^ ''"'='' ^K^'" .he':;SnToVttirr:L?tr^"f'- asi^n with his hand, stood the feliow".""' '"'"■"« mr at Auch, and at s i4 . i \ , CHAPTER XIII 'coward!" said my lady— " coward, to touch the BOY! I" X The rising of La Hake was plainly a signal to his followers, and one they acted on promptly, for though Roger's fingers gripped his belt, his sword never so much as left its sheath. With a stride the two near- est men-at-arms were upon him, and had him in such a hold as would have defied even the strength of his prime to dislodge. Struggle he did, being the man he was, and with such good will that his stout gar- ments were rent like paper in the efforts to prevent him drawing ; but his rage and force were all to no purpose. Budge his blade he could not, they held him in too fast a grip. As for De Crussenay, he was weaponless save for a short dagger hung at his right hip, and with a naked blade a foot from his breast there was nothing for it but submission. The surprise had been complete. " No violence, fellows," cried La Hake, " or at least no more than must be for peace' sake. And thou, Master Roger, unclasp that hand of thine, for thine own health ; and that thou mayest live long and learn watchfulness we will relieve thee of that sword. Tut, man, no foolishness ; what use hast thou for it ? 'Tis 140 UCH THE "Coward, to Touch the Boy!" but an edged tool, and like to cut thine own fin- gers. So, that is safer; now that poniard there Leave them in the corner behind thee, fellow ; nay' tha IS young master's corner, and his time for man^ work ,s not for twenty years. Stand them rather at the end of the room, where our old friend can s.e them smce no good soldier .. '"ningly has his weapons thl's tf If .^°^V^-^' -^- 1^<^^- > ■ - thou must need thrust thyself mto this at a.r that . mpty space beyond the fireplace is thine. anC ior consolation these'two bold fellows will bear thee c • apany. Understand me once and for all "-and the good-humor in La Hake's .oice hardened into a harsh sternness -"move but a single foot, whatever happens, and my word for it thou wilt never move two feet afterwards. These fellows have their orders, and will skewer thee like a rabbit Thou art warned." *«iuoic. J!'7. ^'1 ^■"' ^"''' °^ '^^^' '^^ °'d Squire sub- mitted to the inevitable quietly enough. To skin his knuckles against a stone wall would serve no purpose Your turn to-day. ours to-morrow," he said ; "and when ours comes— then— " " , ana hilv^!"^^ '" ^"'^^^^^ La Hake, with a return of his lighter mood. " Thou knowest the proverb ' To morrow never comes.' " w, lo thf."! ^l Crussenay was less philosophical, and. hreatened though he was. he shook his clinch d fis likef n ' ' "' '\' '" ^' '''''' ^"^ "°"ld have railed like a passionate shrew had not his wrath choked him ly clr^'hT.^ "TU'^^ ?'^'~" treacherous, coward: ^ cur he shouted, and then fell silent, panting and mouthing in his rage. ^ 141 A Man of His Age "That was not your father's thought that day in Rouen he and I crossed swords together," answered the other, coolly ; " no, not even when he followed in the wake of the five who lay in the kennel." "What !" cried Roger, stung out of his phlegm, yet wary enough to make no move. " Thou — thou ?" " I, I," answered La Hake. " I, whom thou hast had at thy elbow a score of times, and into whose ribs thou couldst have comfortably sent that blade of thine and thought it no murder. I; why not?" "Then," cried De Crussenay, "thou art no Queen's man and Mademoiselle Suzanne no Queen's woman ?" "Ay, but she is," said La Hake, with a laugh, " only there ar^ more queens than one, and hers and mine is Queen of France ; and who gave thee leave to call her Suzanne?" At the seizure of Roger and his master the women had risen, my lady stepping instinctively in front of the corner where Gaspard lay, while Mademoiselle had drawn closer to La Hake's table, and almost up to his very side. " That is, or has been, true," said she ; " but hence- forward I go to serve the Queen of Navarre." " But," said De Crussenay, who, after all, had no more sense than a boy, "Jean Caron spoke of the maids of the Queen of France as — " "What does an innkeeper at Tarbes know?" said Mademoiselle, scornfully. " I am what I am." "Ay," mocked La Hake, "and what the devil knows to boot." Then, for the first time since the noise of the scuf- fle had come from the other room, my lady spoke. 142 "Coward, to Touch the Boy!" "Thou art what thou art and fj,of • the Lord may for,i.eXlZT'TlTt\T'r rounded on him with an imper o^Ies o ~ h!d ''' thought possible in so small a frame-"! h„M ""' pronnse ; there shall be no violence • '"""" straw'" '''°'"'"-"' "''" J— ■ "A promise of ^'"^ fr sZi:tit-;-i%r ^ person, at leacst t o„, - "'^'^'^ "le. lo one to myseff To'lsdf f""" °' "^ ''"<'' =">" '"^t - I have sworn ZTourhusbaTd" T™ '° -"^^''f' be told myself; and' by all fhet ''fh^f °"'^ ^''^" been, or ever are to be, I'll keen thL..'™f '''™ stands in my oath ' pL 1 "^ ' "*"' whoever .here is Mon'sfeur de B::nauM7'"' '"""■ ^''^-^' 'Monsieur," said Teann*- ",v • days since we Parted TdLd ' su^hTo's'" '""^ yours I might quibble, and sav thaf T T"'"^"''^ ^' But I will not lie to my own soul in f "°' ''"°"'- such a fashion I know Z^ 1 '" '^""""^ y°" « I can keep my counsel l^' ' '"""^^ ' "^ ' """""n. 'em;:r.%re st'r„' v ""^ "^"^ ^"'^ >■- -en a matter to sU h m' L^ T"'"'' ^'' '~ ™='" him. Nay, when a man has lived to >* tiQ'*' k vK 1^ 1 1 1, H «illf !i |H1 ; f A Man of His Age /; .^i !l ' u U m i^ .1 1 middle age, and spent the best of his years at the beck and call of Catherine de Medici, it is something of a commendation to be supposed to have even the out- worn rag of a conscience left. " Madame," he said, slowly, and with apparent irrel- evance, " I am a hard man — just such a man as, by your leave, you can know nothing of." " Monsieur," she broke in, with just the faintest dip of a courtesy, "therein I count myself happy." " I have fought too many men's battles, Madame," he answered, " to fly into a passion at the stroke of a woman's tongue." "Ay," said she ; " a whip were liker it." " Faith," he answered, " it may be so, but no man has yet tried it'. Let that pass. Gibes, flouts, and sharp words will serve neither your purpose nor mine, nor turn me aside. My meaning is this : So hard a man am I that when I have set my mind to a thing, neither life nor death, neither strength nor weakness, can turn me aside. For all that, I neither risk a life nor take a life lightly. Therefore, to make an end of this, and that no evil comes of it to you or yours, tell me, I beseech you, where I may find Mon- sieur de Bernauld." " If you had no wish that worse may come to Mon- sieur de Bernauld," answered my lady, " you would be less insistent on an answer." " Since when," said he, with a sneer, " has Monsieur de Bernauld grown coward that he must needs hide behind a woman's skirts to defend himself?" " Rogues who trap women will stab a man in the back," replied my lady, with a contempt greater than 144 " Coward, to Touch the Boy I" ac:s iud !'•• '" '°" ^^ '^ '^ '^^ poltroon ,et your "If that be all, Madame," cried La Hake " T openly and before all here that if m' '"^^^^ nauld takes harm from me iw ,1 be 7"".' '^ ^^^- " And your oath M^nret r ^ '" ^'■''" ^^'^'•" as .cod as your pro:::::::^,:^::tirB\r make an end of this .rr.,, i, straw. But to tell you nocLrwheZ und' ""' "°''' '°^ "' ' ""' you, Madame, we wi,T ee Xfh oTno^Tr '"^ ^^ is said. For mv oart T " , """^ °' "<" "le last word two cards .o ",a, 'Cwie vo "s "°'' ""^^ ' "^^ ^^^ friend, put up thaf h .7 f u ™ "■"= ""W^- My fool's hope to expect'ole of L" ac °to""- " ""^ ^ w.th such a threat at his throa Tot brL'""" a man to a man has needs of fewer word, ,h J ' """' to a woman. Monsieur do BernluTd I„H 1 u ' "''" thing to say to one another and wh^h can'::;""!; for us. Where, then, shall I find h,m> p '^"' lie IS no coward and nn ™ ""<'''''"? Remember, ^eenonthehu^trmTaTIfrh'ij;^"-''^-^ n.ontra;d7ouMTav~eST,T-^" '"^ - Crussenay, "what ailed'ou tha vo^h';^ "'' °^ your quarrel there and then r ^ ''"' "°' '""^ "Come, that's reasonable, and sookm == man," cried La Hake • " and != ■""" '° swr it I hadthJo ' . . "*" '° ■"•'"' I'll an- tl.e m tter of t , ^t^ha?"?'",'" "^ '"' '"'' ">' that, and then l';™ Le.o' .^ '^^^^^^y^ will end ^ aui iree to bid Monsieur de Ber- '45 • -!, A Man of His Age jlauld good-day. Are you answered ? See, Monsieur de Crussenay, the cat jumps your way. Here am I seeking to make you a free present of Carmeuse and Bernauld, and you will not so much as aid me by a wjrd. Would you have me put it blunter, and Madame by? Well, we have heard of Chatillon's friendship ; a boy and a girl together, and a husband the Lord knows where. I say no more." " For the love of God," cried my lady, " tell the liar nothing ! no, not so much as a word, lest he twist its meaning to match his foul thought." "Faith, Madame," said La Hake, "you play the game well,^ but the walls of Jean Caron's inn at Tarbes are thinner than you thought. Come, Mon- sieur de Crussenay, this is between you and me, and no stain of blood need rest on Madame's conscience. A fool who goes west to please himself should not complain if others please themselves in the east. Ha ! Madame, do you see one of my cards ? If Monsieur de Crussenay can keep a silent tongue with a sword at his throat, the same sword at the same throat may help you to speech when it comes to a choice 'twixt the two. A husband may surely go- to save a—" " Liar ! liar ! liar !" cried De Crussenay, furiously, and bare-handed as he was he would have sprung on La Hake had not the man-at-arms flung him back. "Well played in your turn, my friend," said La Hake. " Had I not Mademoiselle and twenty years' knowledge of the world as witness I would almost believe you." " Mademoiselle ?" cried the lad. " L* jes she believe your monstrous lie ?" 146 " Coward, to Touch the Boy I" "What odds ay or nay since not one woman in ten knows what she believes ?" answered La Hake, rough ly. Her part m the play is done, and, give her her due, she played it well. End yours, De Crussenav and leave me to see the finish " >-russenay, "Before God, La Hake,'' said the lad, earnestly ■ ir" ■""; ''^ ' ^''' """^ ^ Mademoi elle know ' m her heart As to De Sernauld, I will tell you this much : He ,s on the Queen's business. The whe e I know the what it is is none of my affpir. Mt this rest for to-night, La Hake ; De Berna ,1,; is not so smaU a man that he cannot be found when want d ° La Hal. "'rr ^""'"'^ ^^^''' '° "<= '■■ ^"''"ered La Hake. And as to dancing attendance on Mon- sieur de Bernauld's whims, that is a folly which Tits ne, her my time nor my purse. My faith, but I have better thmgs to do than wait his leisure and the more so that the finding him can help me i'n the do ."g of them. As to what you call a hint being a lie you do your comely face a wrong, and I have sifted uLl %,°' ,'"' ™'"' "^""""S t° be so easily yonder r " '' '" '"" " "'"'""^ "^ ^^'^'^^ •■It is not my affair," said De Crussenay, "and of Mons,eur de Bernauld I have said all I have to sav Let us leave De Bernauld and come to Rouen ' ^' flicker" oTthe'r' "'',' '^'^ '" ^''^'^ ^""^ '^' ">« nicker of the lamp play on the steel. " Have done with such folly. Tut, boy. you are not fit to tfe our fathers shoes, much less stand in them Let t^s make an end of this business. Madame your oily and h,s drive me to the question of the fast word 147 fif m j^- A Man of His Age Not willingly will I redden my blade with the blood of two generations, and not willingly wsil yon losf a lover. That is blunt, but this is no tirnc for smooth niceties and figures of speech. Because 1 have played the courteous, you have iri read me and suppose I am a man of threat and froth, and no nic:e. Now listen. By God! I must havt> what I seek." " You can kill me, Monsieur," said my lady, white enough and shaking for all her bold ; ront, " though I do nor see hov/ that will better you .nuch, since, in yor.r r>>;.>ue's jargon, the dead have silent tongues." *'.i j.m less a fool than you think, and can play a shrewder game than that," he said. "By your leave, Madame." , With a thrust of his hand he swept l.er aside so that she staggered against the wall by the great fireplace, and before she had her wits again lie had lifted Gaspard from his corner and laid him across his left arm. "The first of my two cards," said La Hake. "As De Crussenay is dearer than the child, I hold him back." " The little lad !" cried Jeanne. " Coward, to touch the boy !" and heedless of any danger, she made as if to run forward and drag the child from La Hake's grip. But he still carried his naked sword in his hand, and sweeping its point backward and forward between them he kept her at bay. " Hold her back there, one of you !" he cried ; and as a man - at - arms seized my lady, he added, " Not so roughly, fellow! Madame is not on - if your camp women. See that she has no play '•' r arms, that 148 "Coward, to Touch the Boy r will suffice; so, there you have if h„ „ . you understand what manner of ^,„ f^.''''""'- touct rr;;:.^^"* -''• "-"-^ ^^^^ ■• -a coward, to puLTto'';tfront\u"tth''^''^T°'^^"^^"-"- turned on her slvagdy ' ™"'^ °' "^^ ^"^'^ ^e fli:ci°n"g,3r^This''t\s'ha':"'' '','■ '''"■'' '■'"' - .00 far." Give le the bfy """ " --^h-nay, .r:ir;u:^ f:tidn:;ry ^-^^-"^ • r- wmthru. thee Without. ky.intthelttoTn "Let one so much as lay a finger on mp " =», toned, stii, fronting hi., ..and aif thir^hl.ot the" a;:r„:e^dT£:ir:-/-;-Q^^^^^^ Carry thy tales to the Oueen .„,f , ^ueen. the child, I doubt not Alva h^rK'""'- ^' '" thing of these De Bertiui L^d .T"'"'' '°""- Queen will but give L griater 'tranl "' ''""^''' '"^ n^a^i^y™ ?';• '°"" ^"^''^ '^^^' ^y- -<» for hu- Bven iu:;iVyt:::rcJ:j: :^jfr'- prertr.-hrL7a«™ti;^~^^^ I would not have mj sou" bLVl'"^ T "' "^^' a hot passion of uSorgiv ng rte Sat h" '"'' light forever on La Hake as T hf^K, ^ "" ™'''' *-.• najce, as I humbly pray and be- ■49 •I ■I ^u A Man of His Age lieve it does ; and if for naught else but that he might suffer his deserts, I hold this point of faith unwaver- ingly that there is an eternal damnation of fire. When the mists cleared away from my lady's eyes she found herself upon her knees and freed from the soldier's grip, the little lad held tight to her breast, and La Hake, with a face as white as her own or the boy's, looking down on her not three feet away. This killing of babes was a new thing to him, but, though it shook him as no other slaughter could, it left him as fixed as ever in his purpose. "You thought I lied," he said, and do what he would he could not keep the tremor out of his voice. " You thought I only played upon your terror. Do you understand now what manner of man I am? Listen," and he put out his hand and shook her, not roughly, but to give a point to his words. " It hangs on you or him whether or not the lover goes the way of the boy. Do you understand, Madame ?" From his touch she shrank farther along the wall to where the child had lain, but her eyes never shifted from his. "Devil!" she said thrice over, "devil! devil !" and said no more. La Hake straightened himself and swung round on his heel, halting midway between Jeanne and De Crussenay. Little blame to the lad if his cheeks, too, had gone colorless. To most men the first sight of the shedding of blood is bound up with the drunken exultation of battle when all that part o| him that is slave to the devil and his legions of angels is broken loose into riot. So long as the fury of possession lasts he gives and takes, and, though he be red to the ISO / f " Coward, to Touch the Boy I" wrist, has no thought bevonrf th But with De CrussenavTh. P"'"' °' *''' blade. ere also. Let that be as it may, it suits me t<^> think so. You, fellows s«e to the horses ; I give ^ tr minutes to lake ready, andnomcie. Thre< )id lere— two wit a the .squire and one with the master. 'T is the reverse ^ courtesy, 152 lone ?" cried "Coward, to Touch the Boy r f h,s cid effrontery. The Lord\ ■"''" ^^=""P"°n '0 »;y to the stricken mother h,, T' ""«' ^e had d-ed on his tongue ' """ whatever it „as it Since he had turned fr^n, ., ••"'fobbing and dry eved ^ k'' '" °' C™=«°ay she ti-ing the /ace fhafw'at ^ ;"^f °^= '"^ «"'" ad,' and --nnning her fingers thr T ."" ">*" ^er own t-gled in his ,ast sfeep. "to a'^ f'^f->. "atted and deaf and blind, and neither old n1 ^"''"' '"' »as ^y 'he agony and " atht^tT^ '""-d to Lf ^'' "-i him, and he turned fl u """-"'^ ^Ves under hi- SrMii, i ."™=d from her with ,. „. "1 ^i^ealh, leaving unsaid I.- "^"n a curse cuses the, ere ^ ""^ '"^ excuses, if ex '- o-hrsStrrt:?^ "-^ --^ ^"-^e of a"d the rattle of the heavy w'd"^ °' "^ ''° '• °»en fhrunk setting. The wtad hL ''™™'^ ■" '■>' '"S and mourning uX th T" ""'^ "^^ "oan- eaves, so that the sobhfn" "'t.^'^^>'' "^rhangincr '"e sobbing without aXT '"""<' ''» -"of 7''ef of all, the strain o la Jin". '° '"^ """tterable ^'ampmg ,f horse-hoofs on l^ T '"•°'='" ^y the 'he courtyard, and La Hate T" "T' P^™""'"' °f Mademoiselle '■ ,„!, u "''''' himseh. ' "' 'r,f *^ -'thout turning to U '»» It m * / '\V tikX, ' A Man of His Age where she knelt by Jeanne, half clasping her by the knees, "see that the beasts are not kept waiting. There should be a moon by this, and we must make the most of it." " Make what you will of it for me," said she ; " I am done with you, and bide here with Madame," and she looked up at Jeanne and made as if to catch her by the hand. For answer La Hake laughed, mirthlessly enough, God knows, but for all its hollowness the sound struck like a blow, so out of time and keeping was it. "He who sets the trap has as much credit as he who kills the game," said he. " Have done with the parade of a new-found conscience. The beasts will be here in an instant ; see to it that thou art ready." "What dost thou know of a conscience, new or old?" she retorted. "I say again, I am done with you and bide here." "And I say thou dost not," he cried, loudly, happy at the excuse for warming his blood with rage. " Hast thou done with the Queen Mother, perchance, as well as with me? Give a third thought to that, for Cath- erine de Medici has a long arm, and a longer memory. Cease this fooling. I have a charge given me that Mademoiselle de Romenay is to be delivered safe to Queen Jeanne, or Madame Vendome, or whatsoever thou callest her, and, by the Lord, deliver her safe I will." "Mademoiselle de Romenay?" said De Crussenay, looking from the one to the other, " but she told Madame — " 154 er by the waiting. ust make a she ; " I ime," and catch her y enough, he sound jping was ;dit as he ; with the )easts will rt ready." 3, new or ! with you ily, happy re. "Hast ce, as well for Cath- • memory. 1 me that ed safe to 'hatsoever her safe I >ussenay, t she told " Coward, to Touch the Boy I" ^Iht tlT' "■■"'^ ""° "'^ ■"■■"hiess laugh With a sweep of her arm ml ,T ''°"''"■ skirts from the hands tL^? ^ ^'^^ wrenched her into the corner '^""^ '" ''^"^' ^"^ ^^runk "Murderess!" she said her evp., hi. • ^ the kneeling gia " Murder 3 'The one" wordT °" repeated ; no more. °^° ^^'^^ From without came the rlatf^r ^^ *i. , the voices of the men-a. arms calint , "'''' '"" by the inn door, "^ '° °"^ »n°'h« plZTyo:;. sI^Lf Haf "'t'L'^ ^"' "^'""•«. 'f " •• Now, fellows to saddle S'av"^"^ """'^ ""^ ™°'"- open that wini^w and pifch'thorT"'"'^ ""°^'' ■est they lead to more m'Ischief "'^"""^ "'"'°"'' " and rn-"' ' ^'■^" ''"^ '"-•'" "^^^ ^e Crussenay, o^y:t;^:rrr.iti"^--^^^^ wifh\Tr\'ai^:\rc;tS''rtTh'^ '-^ ''^="' --^ hitten deep into thtptl^^s t-.o": d T/ Ht™ and as he turned as if to sneat .Jl "^''*' meeting my lady's eyelst ' iter d Xh''.'" went out together Ta w,i i , . '^^°' ^"^ the two him. ^ ' ^^ ^"^" ^^^^^"8^ the door behind With the shutting of the^door the tension that had ^ M ■t. ' =fl! A Man of His Age braced Jeanne up slackened, and De Crussenay saw her grope with one hand, fumblingly, at the wall. For a moment she stood, her arm outstretched like that of one blind, then, sheltering the boy to the last, she fell forward on the floor. iiiiBiw w ywo "iftm \ ! CHAPTER XIV SHALL IT BE WAR wtt^u r,^ WAR WITH PRANCE, MONSIEUR DE BER. NAULD ?" afterwards Roger's tale 1 /..''/''''" '"S""'" noted fro„ his TnLllMr.. B cl' S^ f.f^""- over. Enough 1ro,7to';leTrr ^.''='^=^'' course, that I should bid Matd eav ' off "^- "' and make hot ^n^^^ f . °"^ cursing, would have -t or'not ' "'''"" °^ «°"'^">- iirs"t"„\trr:f Ta'tl,' •cfl"'"' '"^ ^^'™'"^ "' «>= unreason which s "sen" r?hT/ ''?"« ™' "^ "^^^ was no cl=. '"separable from ail passion. There was no slackening of hate, no dulling of th. aT mmation to kin r, H^t. "uning ot the deter- The edge of al thi! ' ? «''^'^'"'=" of grief. hatred, purpose Ind '' '''" "^ ''^^^- """nto sober ens 'which Ir'"" """' ""^ ^'^™8"> °f -iris ss::; s.tr -'■• *•"">■ 157 \ % U' ( riV 'f / A Man of His Age " Monsieur de Bernauld," said he, " of your sorrow I dare not speak. There are times when a man can but take his friend's hand in silence and leave com- fort to God. Only believe this : I would give five years of my life to hang La Hake, and a sympathy in hate is a kind of solace. But above and beyond this sorrow and this right of vengeance, and larger in its claims than them both, there is Navarre. For Na- varre's sake Monsieur de Bernauld must not ride out of Orthez except on the Queen's business. If they but dared, there are scores even in Orthez ready to do as that rascal did at Tarbes — hack down the Queen's escutcheon and set up the arms of France and Spain in its place. Beyond these scores there are hundreds who waver, hundreds who want but the blowing of a straw that they may cry, ' Long live Na- varre !' or ' Down with the Queen !' as the straw leads them. Let Monsieur de Bernauld, who in one week has become the Queen's friend and counsellor, seem to desert her cause and ride off, the Lord knows whither, and the scores may take courage to hack, and that which was but the pufifing of a straw will be a tempest strong enough to sweep Navarre into the grip of Philip and his Inquisition. "Besides," he went on, "your revenge is sure, and a man who owns the future can afford to wait. La Hake seeks you as hotly as you seek La Hake, and but for Roger's well-meant lie we should have had him hot-foot in Orthez twelve hours ago. Have no fear of finding I■"" ^'° you. that I confess is a mys erv ' '^T'^ ""^^'''^ IS either revenge or reh-JTon h .' J '*^'' ""'^ ""^--^ All of which w,! I ^T '^''""'' "•" La Hake" pt enra'n °'°"'' ^^'"•'' ^^ "own to between us, wnetter at m""^' ^^''^' "^^d Passed ;n a stt-Ttren'^'^rront^' ''''"''- La Hake, who, if your r«t ?" ""^ ™« «■ '^H rae it a man of the plains the, "^,1 If, """'"''isht. To ment, and no better than » ^^ ' "'■' =" "^'^'der- foundmyselfoffthe ,,tka„dr.''°" '"^^ °'- ^ where." '"' "'"""fading Heayen knr -s Thou art not the Hi-ot •■ ., ■ , .^ a laugh, "who has found' it ' ''°"'^'"''^' '""> .Bfarn yalley than out again Thl" '" "'' '"'» ^ ■^^ ^ones could tel, thflle^:;: rnVry'^^d- ' *""' pray uod, iii t . !•! I ^ hv J' Vl M III • \* I rn A Man of His Age there will be more. What start of thee had La Hake ?" " Hard on fourteen hours," answered Roger, " and we grudged the delay sorely. Never saw I a man so fretted as the Sieur ; but what could he or any man of us do ? To break open the doors and untruss the fellows from their own cellar cost but little time, but after that there was Madame little better than a breathing image of death for seven heart-breaking hours. Even when she came to life she was mazed — and omall wonder, poor lady ! — and Nannette would not let so much as a whisper come near her until al- most noon. Then of a sudden Madame woke into a life with more of fever in it than strength, and would have the Sieur and me into hei chamber in spite of Nannette, and — and, God forgive me, I have done lit- tle else but curse La Hake ever since. "The night before there had been enough of a man's own risk, and the rush of action to blind one to the pity of it all, but to see Madame propped upon the pillows and with the dead babe still in her arms, and—" " There, there," broke in De Montamar, with a side- long glance at me, who stood still and shivered as he spoke. " We have had the story, let it rest ; the past is past, and the question now is how best to do a man's work. Forty - six and fourteen, that makes sixty hours since La Hake set out for Pau." "Ay," Said Roger, " but he had a woman to shackle him, and the hills that wasted my hours might well waste his." " As to the woman," answered De Montamar, " La i6o I "Shall it be War with France?" Hake is DO man to spare a woman t„ ^■ drance, and, saving his mistrlss of Fr°,n" ""'" ■"'"• the sex is like to shackle him 1 , ""■ "°"«^ <>f sires. Nor would the 'l." '" '""= ''""""S his de. this black business he iT s shf 'f ' ''™- '" ^" scoundrel, and Ml wa^erTh!? , ," '"'"''" => ^'"-""d he is, he knows his enemv ! "'™' ^""''^^ pocket. Besides, fomTj ooT'^ f-^ ""^ "'^'^ is the best in the kin Jo™ ? u '' "''^ '"'»'' road part of his journey * '"""^ """ ''^ ">- greater url' tad^CUr;"; :ir'^" ^^ ^— >d, I vent. is-eaio„swithCrd,:r,:.^^''°'' ">-- ""^ ■Way, your worshin " cnVrl m , .. Roger, and iet n.e bid'; ,";:' *':"'• "-t me. Send «-rhtr?ste^°'"^»-'"'"^'>-ger.and -pti';rtht\';--:r,---.. "onee yon fellow with a letter M ^^"-^^'^y^- Send ^nows B.arn andV:SB::r,d ^ ^r^? ' «« and.twenty hours for La H»t ^'"' ""^ f"-"-- meanwhile before the Queen If' ""^ l""^ "'" ''°'y ■«)■ friend? Ay; Roger-lrneed h p'"^ "^™=' h.s testimony to La Hake' WM ^.°^"'' '='"' S'™ in 'he Queen's presence t'T' "'™8^'' '' " be of that little matter of the "f" ""= ^-PP^ssion Jeanne d'Albret ha, ." .' 7'" ."' ""= '^'ack Cat.- and : doubt whethe. Z^^^^Z 'Z ^^'''*""<^^- weigh a feather in -h. , .,,^ ^'^ "^^^^^'"e would Now. Mons/eur de BernauM ' '^^""f "" ^^^^^ «^th. " Have .-f o "^.'^"a"l'3, IS It sett ed ?'• nave it as you w 1," I said " r . ,6x ^ ^"^ still in two r I I , 'I' ;!; -,f if A Man of His Age minds, and when that is the case a man had better follow a cool head than his own botched thought." "Write your letter then," said he, "and bide here till I send word as to the Queen's receiving you. I may tell her, I think, that if you were Navarre's be- fore, you — " " Let the Queen set me work to do," cried I, "and I know little of the spirit of a man if La Hake has not struck an ill blow, not alone for himself but for those who sent him." "Trust the Queen, Monsieur de Bernauld," said he, taking my hand in both his. " My first and last word is, trust Jeanne of Navarre." With that he left me and, Roger being sent to obtain a much- needed rest and refreshment. Marcel and I were left alone. " 'Tis very well. Master Blaise," said he, hotly, " for a fine gentleman like the Viscount de Montamar to cry lackey here and lackey there if a man dares so much as speak a word for his rights. But I am as much Bernauld as you are, bating the blood, and it's no more than my right to bide with you and see this thing out. Will La Hake tight fair? Never; not for a blink, trust him for that ; and it's my business to keep that eye behind which your dignity cannot, seeing that it must needs look before. Let Roger ride east to his master, I'll bide west with mine." Not once nor twice he came doggedly back to the same point, and in the end it was neither of De Montamar's arguments that convinced him, but a third reason which I flung into the scale, and which tickled his vanity into a grumbling consent. No 162 LAii^ IXHR i t " Shallit be War Nvith France?" b'-^ '■■■ but that is poor wale^f """ °° '' ">ouTt ri^ks i. clamoring for the ^'" f '""' "'^ <"" of two sake. ^ '""^ ""= greater, and all (or love's ;.he°rr- :trkrL7oirtit'V''^™^'" ^•^■■" '■ There ,s BernauW and th. / *-""' ^""""^ do. 'o be roused, and thou art the ^^^^"^ '° ""= h'"^ we mwn n " '"^ "nan to do if ti, pawn Carmeuse to Nathan f h. r ^bough once before to pay our wa„ ., J"'' "^ w-^ did a. the very least I hundred ' "'''' ' ">"« bave '° bring the Queen a^the firfllf:™^"/"" -^"^^ No worn. o„^ ^^j„^^ the fie d 1 ;^ """^ ""S^"-' %ht, and who can pick and .i '"''" "'■° <^«" for who knows what Toes fo ?°"'' '° '"<=" ^^ 'bou, 'hou dost ? As for La Hake T , ' '^''""^ "^^ -^ °f him, and, warned as I am T ?'' "^^'^d ahead fool than even thou takest 2 Z™"'" "" =■ ^-''^^'er Ping." That ended the m^t '° "' '''"«''' "^P" ^fer he grumbled it was rf,f ' "f """'S'' '"ere- ;'»'b be on the road o Berna'!,' h' '^ '""" "»' Orthez at the one moment "' ""^ '""^'^ "' ^a'4TAh:ia:n;tratTn^. ^'-■•"- - •■- '^* De Montamar had set 1 "'t"' ""^ """ ■•• "as one thing, and a th! • ^° ""'= "y lady Pi'ohes all formahties o ^ T'' """^ ^'"^^ love "indow; but to wr te he „ "l" "' "-""gh' «« of ^" -me peace and comfor Tuf o^f """'" '"' """^ snef was no light thing ^ "^ """ "-^ge ^nd Had the hand of God been clearer In ,h ,63 ""^ matter it I' .- ■ I fl 1 ' I i A Man of His Age it had been less hard. Not so long before Coligny had written to the weeping mother, his wife, of the death of their Gaspard, " Remember, my well beloved, that he is happy in dying while still free from sin. It is God who has willed it, and in Him only is our hope"; but this in its black treachery seemed to me all of the will of the devil, and so with no ray of comfort in the darkness. What I wrote in the end is neither here nor there, for the setting down of these blurred and broken sen- tences is a thing sacred and apart. I had as soon spread abroad the bones of my dear dead lady in the glare of the sun for all men who listed to see and handle, as loose the curtains that shut off from the common eye the secret places where our sorrows met. But at last it was finished, and the afternoon saw- Marcel started fairly on his way. To De Crussenay he bore other letters, easier written. One for his private eye, and one for public use in the furthering of the project Marcel had in hand. The lad had too much sense to be piqued at the committing of such an enterprise to an inferior in rank, but the courtesy of explanation was his due and is a marvellous smoother of difficulties, and costs little. Though, to be frank, were he piqued or not, I would have risked no failure for a foolish politeness. When it came to the parting, Marcel's warnings were so many, and so great his insistency for watchfulness. that one would have sworn that I was Squire and he Sieur ; or, at the least, that I was still the raw lad he had tutored for so many years. But it was all love 164 "Shaint be War With France?" for Master Blaisp an^ f i good grace. ' '"' ''' '^^^'^ «-ke I bore it with a I was still with my foot on th. a Marcel disappear behind a bend of 1""''^ "^^^^^^ messenger from De Montamar T u^ '^""^^^ ^^^^" ^ that in an hour the Queen Zm"^^' " ^'''^' «^yin& audience. ^ '"" ^°"^^ ^^^eive me in private "Give no time to the stnr, ^ ^vrote. "Her indignat on J hL , "^^^^ ^'^""^'" ^e grief-is a match for von7n "^"^^'^ ^^'"^" ^^^ "^ence. Besides her nnd. ^" ^'P'^ ^"^ vehe- sion at Tarbes a't the ve'Vm""''' '^ ^^^ ^^^-- speaks smooth counsel " he^ hT"' ."'"^ ^^^^^^^ friend, for Navarre's sake Z ^^^ ^^"^^°"- My -h ; it is alreadyVvtCa:;:nT"^ " ^^^ ^"-'^ De Montamar's words < even avenging the murdttf an''' ' "^'''■' '^'^ ">-« 'tat I was the less determ „/. T ,?""' '""'=■ ^ot count, but Whereas at™ "re^r? he'-: T' '° - the very court and government nfp '^ """^ '»■■ "0 more than a solitarv .^ . ""'" ^^ "^""^ "ow "ever before set foot the^ ^" '" ^^^^^ ^ ^^d A Man of His Age m . \\ ii't walls and between the windows were shelves fully lined with books such as Jeanne d'Albret dearly loved, but for the enjoyment of which she had all too little leisure. Theology they were for the most part, and the writings of the ancients, though that was a matter of common knowledge rather than my own observation. As to furnishings, there were none but the absolutely necessary, and these were plain even to austerity. It was the work-room of a student and a man of affairs rather than the paints ! and bedecked resting-place of a woman, and that woman a Queen. By the table sat Jeanne, immersed in the reading of a lengthy report just presented to her by De Gourdon, perhn- ; rhe most trusted of all her nobles, and to wlioiti ir- m time to time she referred for explana- tion. At my entrance she rose and, with more of the woman and less of the Queen of Navarre than I had ever seen in her, came three steps to meet me. Down on one knee I went, but. touching me lightly on the shoulder, she bade me rise. " That is for ceremony and the outer world, Mon- sieur de Bernauld. Here, a woman who is much harassed by foes, receives her friends. Monsieur de Montamar has been with me and told me of your suffering and your wrong, and I, who have lost two sons, know what vain things words are for the com- forting of such a sorrow. But in the soreness of my grief I thank the Lord He sent me comfort, and for what bears so heavily upon you I can but say, God strengthen you to bear the cross and give you peace." I66 jirs "Shall it be War with France?" "Madame," I began, but got no further than "your tenderness," when my voice went from me in a choke and .v,th one hand clinched up a^^ainst my ch n j stood dumb before her. "Words heal few wounds, but I have sor ith in action. Let us have done with the past, M ..eur de Bernauld," said she. "The sorrows of Navae are LZ\ u ? ^'""^ "^y ^°"' '^^' '■" this blow France has but forged firmer the links that bind us Never forget, Monsieur de Bernauld-never forget i'' IS France that struck you, and through you 1 never forget that, I say." ^ ' ' "When I forget it, Madame," answered I, "may God forget me. But in front of France, and as^hl hand of France, there is La Hake." fnl^!"!' ^ I'r''''" '^'"^ '^"' ^"^ ^^^^ fell Silent and took to walkmg u,, and down the scant space of the room, while De Gourdon and I looked at one another waiting for what wo aid come next ' When she spoke one would have sworn that the current of her thought had changed, but De Gour- don who knew her well-no one better-signed to me to wait and give attention. "Spain to the south and France to the north- these are the two stones that grind Navarre. Unless the Lord work a miracle one or other will crush us kings of Navarre. Even though we set them by the th In .^" conqueror. Better, perhaps, hang the fellow and so risk Catherine's wrath, and with 167 (<* I I 1 ij ^MAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^/ ^ >. V ^\ 1.0 I.I '"US ■" IL25 IMIU 1.6 fl-_X 1-. C Sdences Corporatioii 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WIUTIII,N.Y. MStO (716) 172-4903 ^.^ ^J^ ^ H A Man of His Age it French tolerance, rather than Spain's Inquisition ; and yet— and yet — while Coligny and Cond6 live' while Rochelle is open, and one-fourth of France is Huguenot, neither Charles nor Philip dares lay open hand on us. It would set the monarchy ablaze." Again she fell silent, and had we not known that Jeanne d'Albret was no woman to speak her thought aloud without a purpose, we would have said she had forgotten us. Suddenly she turned round on me. "Shall it be war with France, Monsieur de Ber- nauld ? To hang La Hake is no more than his deserts, and to hang La Hake is war, since my smooth cousin of Medici sets a value on the rogue's head, doubtless because of his aptitude for devil's work. I am my cousin Catherine's very good friend, and .o tender- hearted is she that Monsieur de la Mothe is with me from her on an errand of mercy for the rebels against my crown, but if we hang La Hake she will have no mercy on Navarre. What do you say. Monsieur de Bernauld?" " Madame," answered I, " there is first the catch- ing." " Understand," cried Jeanne, striking the table by which she stood an angry blow with her open palm, " when the Queen of Navarre says, Shall we do this or that ? it is because she knows the choice lies ready to her hand, and such a hint as yours is little bet- ter than an insult. You come, do you not, to prefer some request? So, at least, said Monsieur de Monta- mar when "—and she softened on the instant— "he told me a story over which I have not ceased to mourn." i68 t the catch- "Shall it be War with France ?" hold to be a perrona* m '""'""^O,"-" what I t-ence on my own affairs such ^' "" """ '" ""^ it clear that Blaise d Bernauld d ' '' '""" "^"^ back on his Queen »hen her fl ^r T '"™ "■■' their faces on her Leav.T '"f^ threaten to turn Madame, is all I seek." " "" '°™°rrow, Ay, I understand *' caiH ^u ^, "i.i''und:;tr„d''"'::;^';f-""'^'— as." then fell to thinking again " ^o'^™"" ''"''• -'"' sieur de Bernauld? Wei be itZZl"" " "' *'''"• tion to-night in honor ofMo;;"' '^"^ '^ » «cep. on my cousin, ambassadt," d L/f ^^^^'"^ ^^"^- ent, Monsieur de BernanM ^ '"X mend. Bepres- if to-morrow you dese';id^ rT'" '" '° " 'hat Pau all men sha I W tL f"""'" ''>' "»>■ of business. See to it thJ, T" ''"'' ™ "'^ Q-een's senays Squi" with yfu'^'J^'S T"''''"'" ^'-- some questions to ask him ? - ."' ""*" h"e De Gourdon, who airthi, u J ^"^ ''"' '""ed to i"g us, •• the itaf 'e 'a , ""h '"' "°°'' ■''■'™'- "^^^^ "Not yet, Madame" 1; "" ""'■"'"' P'-»"oe?" sieurdeL;„a„,d?makfn;"Tr'' """' "' ''""■ -ch a man as he Nav fe count"ed"'f"''" "" "''"' Pnvate hate, or even privat: .X'' "" "''" "^^ It Will come— it will mm*. " o -j "t f""yi "and in hanX La Hal "'''"""• "'°"^'"- have had justice on olr side " "' "°"''' " '^='^' " Oh, Madame," reolied n^ n ' "^^P^'ed^De Gourdon, bitterly, "if A Man of His Age it be but justification you want^have no fear but that at all time you will have ample cause. France will see well to that." " But all this is incomprehensible to Monsieur de Bernauld. We have been so beset, MonsieiT, by foes within and without," said the Queen, " men such as yon fellow at Tarbes, and a dozen others, high and low, sapping the loyalty of our people by lies, prom- ises, and bribes, that it was a question whether an open rupture was not to be preferred. We therefore turned you into a kind of divination — SorUs Sanctorum, is it not, they call it ?— as men seek guidance by a seem- ing haphazard text of Scripture. La Hake is deep in Catherine's counsels, and if I, as Queen, laid hands on him, even for a crime as black as this, it would cause, on some pretext or another, such a reprisal as would provoke war. Yet, had you maintained your common right and claim to public justice, hanged he would have been, and in the very square of Pau it- self. It is not often, Monsieur, that the word of a simple gentleman can turn the destinies of nations, but so it has been to-day, and, as I have faith in God, it is for the best. The miracle will come. Now, my friend," and she turned to De Gourdon, " we must to work again. Monsieur de Bernauld, farewell until to-night." CHAPTER XV HOW THE QUEEN ANSWERED THE INSULT OP TARBES Once- the replacing of Roe-pr'^ f^-„ ^ soiled garments hy so'-methinrie mtinr'on"' " presence had been seen to, the hours Zn?' passed wearily enough. The food LT u '"^ doubtless abundant l,t it was'ltrl y^Ir' e^; U sh"' Tf '° ''"'= '"'° P''"^' ^^ beyond me ' It IS hard for a man to lav foldeH hn^j • [• \ ^^'d^iterdt^'^rt^trrth''^"-' who had played liar and traU^r a Uth se 'd""""" the sweat ran from me, and at the last found a kind 171 J ^ I 1 4; f > A Man of His Age of rest in the violence of labor as has many another troubled soul before me. Roger, I think, understood, but to the good dame, who had known me but four days, T seemed a madman, the common name in a wider world than hers for him who seeks to work out his salvation according to his lights. The dusk was gathering in fast as I made my way to the Castle with Roger hard after me, three paces away. To suit the occasion, and match the dress that custom and necessity put upon me, I had changed my weapon for a light Spanish blade, good steel enough, but more a kind of a finish to a man's dress than a sword for hard use. Roger, too, carried a blade but little stouter than my own, and I remember well that the swing of it in his hand as he buckled it on puck- ered his face into a grim derision. "My faith," said he, shaking it as a man would a cane, " 'tis a good thing we go but to make a show of ourselves, for if it came to the keeping of my life whole within me I had liefer trust the mercies of a three-foot cudgel." It was not alone because of the hour of the night that the dusk thickened, but also by reason of a heavy drift of clouds coming up from the south with that touch of dun in them that says thunder. " We are like to have use for these cloaks, Master Blaise," said Roger to me over my shoulder, "and if the wind that's above there flattens, the street corners ere long will be black enough. Neither torch nor lamp will hold against it." "As for that," answered I, "I know my way in the dark, but Marcel, I fear, is in for a soaked skin." 172 The Insult of Tarbes other; -.was La Hake hid " "'^' °' ^"■ his skin but ours." ' '">' """''' «"d not We were crossing the court-yard of the Caal„ i, "That's very ,ve I but a^ ^"" """"- honest sunlight w'uld h: no ha™ •■^''"^ "'" ^ ""'^■ Rog:r;:fj"our cloaks In Sir"' r-'"^"^' ' "^^^ follow me. "'S^' "' "" "'endant and " By your leave, Monsieur " «aM h. ■ne through the doorway, i would be'b!?"^ ""' among pigeons' Let m. Lj T ^ ''"' » ""'" corned ^h^ou^hlf^ny™ y't m^'e^^hi^r^ '" '"^ hereP' it's odds theyu pu^ '^^ :*;■ Z'niZ st "Th?T" I"' ""^ "'"■ght to answer ■• ' ''"" JS l^r /u^.:: -7,^-^^^^^^^^^^^ and stTti^ifn^-eX^^hrrr""-"^^^^^ poor and oaltrv m "^ ' ""P'^^ ""»" be but Pau mustS 7recete7hir''' ""'■' '"" f"^- '" outvying that of S dTlbT^' ' "'^""^"■"^ '- F^nL';':a:forther„''r tv '-""''"' ^-^ "-- of show, and Na tre ,ad t': r'^' "yanyghtter careful husbandi„rof its s ' , ^ """'^ ''"■ ">« .He unnecessary efp^n^L^tS^rror "^"' •73 i^ ; i Wfl A Man of His Age To all appearance, therefore, beyond a few added lights, the great hall was as if there had been no am- bassador of France within the Chateau. There may have been a set and deliberate purpose in this absence of display, for in her astute knowledge of men, Jeanne d'Albret had her own method of moving the repre- sentative of the French court, and had no mind to spoil her plan by disconcerting or confusing his at- tention. If Fen^lon cared little for profusion, he could be touched by strength. Wnere common magnificence passed him by and was forgotten, what tended to real power stuck fast in the memory. Gilding, crystal, and silken hangings were but a matter of so much cost, and that was an end to them ; but brains and men were a different merchandise, and Jeanne d'Albret's great hall of Orthez was notable h its guests. A significant show of power makes for peace, and could Queen Catherine have flung down the walls of Orthez that night she would have crushed in the one ruin three-fourths of the notables of Navarre, B^arn, Bigorre, Foix, and d'Albret, and not a few from Gascony and Guienne. De Fontrailles of Castel-Jaloux, St. Maigrin of Ber- gerac, De Grammont from my own province of B^arn, d'Arros, the Queen's Viceroy of the same province and father to my friend De Montamar, De Bourni- quil, Montclar, Rapin. To give a list would be to catalogue the loyal gentlemen of the Kingdom, but to them let me add the Scotchman, Montgommery, the slayer of King Henri at the tourney of the Rue Saint-Antoine in '59, the defender of Rouen, and the 174 The Insult of Tarbes third soldier in Franr*. t„ n . ■ »how Fe„.,„„ f„:Th,ng.'';i2 Tat i%'"'r'''' power to attract ^..^i, ' ^"^ '^^^ the as was M„:c,:.r :r;r .t^'n"^ '""-= not yet subservient to Prance b1', h "'■'■" "■"' and in face of the two P?.? . """" '^"Kt'estive, thoughts : and seeTn/ h ' ""^'" "'" '^"^ ^=^°"'' F^n^lon would haveTlIr' ^ """ "" ^''^'="'' ^s say his mistrel „ ! ^"""^'"''at to tell his mistress. I at'eastXlrrVrLret^.:;: "" ""r^^^^'""' Mother rather than Charl^: the^N^th"^ '"^ ^'"''" talf whil" weTa,rtr " ""= 'T ^""^ "^P' "^ '" " Navarr. ™"""8 "' ""6 Queen whe^rreTr^uroj^r '■' ^""'^^•■•-"' '- to avoid greater suLv^, I, 8;"ssip with which, hin> of 4 aftnt'.sll:;,.^^^^'' ''r"" '""^•. ' """ is less complete th;.n ., ^ !; '"■ "■■g^'zation to Plunge i„rvro:™:o?;ut"t a ;r • r' very liberties the trL^ , t "" '° '*«'" f"-- ">« to grant it i no ?I '' '^""e""™--" '^ assumed 'he people." """^^ "'^ ^™" '"" "est knows Nexff ektert ml'^"" "" '"= ™'« "' » *y. aloud-and then""' '™^ '"^'' °"''^«'= "^-« '75 il A Man of His Age serious. See, the door is opening. Here comes the Queen, and there, to meet her, goes a man too good to be the mouthpiece of such a mistress as the Flor- entine." Pausing a moment to welcome Fdndlon, the Queen, with him at her side, passed slowly round the room. At almost every yard of the circuit there was a halt, and a greeting by name of some one or other of her nobles. *"Tis a far ride from Nerac, Monsieur la Noue, but the King of France will understand the loyalty that prompts so warm a welcome to his ambassador. At last we have peace in Foix, Monsieur de Coumont ; that rebel De Luxe will scarce unlearn his lesson in a hurry. The Count de Montgommery needs no pres- entation, I think, Monsieur I'Ambassadeur ? Was it in England or in France that ye met ? Ah ! Mon- sieur de Piles, I hear strange things of Tarbes. There are some there who think there is no longer a Queen in Navarre. You, my lord, will teach them better if need be, though, indeed, the just punishment of even a single subject would grieve me. Monsieur de Ber- nauld," and she halted where I stood at the edge of the laneway cleared for her progress round the room, "with the permission of Monsieur de la Mothe, I would present you to the envoy of my good friend and cousin of France." " Monsieur de Bernauld ?" said Fdndlon. "We have heard of Monsieur de Bernauld in Paris, and for my own part I can tell him that I love certain deeds of Spain no better than he does himself." " Let Spain's deeds wait, Monsieur de la Mothe," 176 The Insult of Tarbes le la Mothe," said Jeanne, drvlv " o« i i hewed down Navarre's armtTrrK'''" """ ''^""^•= Nay, Madame," cried pT-if ^'"^''"• no P^art i„ .u^h a^ ouTrage •"°"' '■"— ou,d have Marsha) Tava„„es, do you h „." fu"'"''- '^""'d ^y an attack on Navarre 't'h '"■'' """ '^™r Never for an hour ' rZZ u "' '"" '"arrant > i^^acking, is but the : ;:'*f r^. "'ho did P"l'amentand of this loyal lent,! ,""' '^""'""'^ 'hen no part in the outrage^ """""' "^^ ^'^"o., r-.'H1::Su?;:::7„t^^— "<'- -give those traitors to thai n"'"' "'^^ ' ' ' '" Monnems, d'Eschaux, and the r I"'"' °= ^-''«. '""8 sapped our strength but J^ ' "''° "^^ ^^ ^ "0., happily, broken 't's a n-r T" '""'^"' peace as well as mercy 't^J ^"^ ^''= '»>'es not "ercy alone for Navarre' e '7' °°' """ ^"^ has Navarre. But let tharpLs T,'"' "'"' "»"= for h^ld my prerogative of'^mercv ""' ""' "■" I l"nss.towhom we must al^ ^ /°'" "'^ King of «" reply to your ^e "io" t: /p '""'"• ' "^^ht -r-nTarbes,.ands„,et?h'it'::rfo^^U^;r hV '7^ A Man of His Age " But I have chosen another manner of reply. Look round you, Monsieur rAmbassadeur, and in this hall find the answer Navarre sends France, not to your prayer for mercy alone, but also to the crime of Tarbes. As to De Luxe and the rest, let them within six weeks submit themselves and they have Jeanne de Navarre's word for safe conduct and pardon. Submission full, humble, and complete, Monsieur I'Ambassadeur. No Jesuitical reservations, you understand, for I call God to witness that a further treachery will find no for- giveness ; no, not though the crown of France hung on the issue." As the Queen spoke she raised her voice with the full purpose that all might hear, and throughout the hall there fell at first a silence, broken only by her words and the faint rustle of the women's skirts. Then, as she spoke of Richarde's outrage on the national honor, a murmur grew on every side, only to fall into quiet again at an imperious gesture of hand and arm. But at the proud appeal to the devotion of Navarre as proven by those present, there swelled out an acclamation that drowned all other sound, and that was infinitely comforting to all except Monsieur de la Mothe ; and yet, per- haps, even to him also, since such a demonstration made for peace, and, in his personal attachment to Queen Jeanne, F^n^lon desired nothing better than peace. As to the pardoning of the rebel nobles, the out- burst that followed the Queen's words might have been construed as satisfaction at her clemency, or have been no more than the exuberance of loyalty. 178 The Insult of Tarbes ^^ I ui r ranee to assume the former likest to that Kint Tkl T i'"^' "' '"■■"> '^"■"e please the God of hea "^' "' ?"'" >■"" ^'^>'-- To earth," and with at, "el ?"''' "^""'^ "P°" room into the scope o h ?»„ ^ .'r "' ""'"'''' every ruler." ""' "* ""' given to "er well and brought out th. """"r. """ '"<=''"'« nature, "the KinX t ! "an-l'teness of her mercy.'and De Luxe wilTdo ",/'"'*^ "^ "" - side of truth sHps not i " ' '" '"' '"" 'h«' Christopher Ricl^arde let -T""''^' ^^ ^"^ 'his and Monsieur deTavann "' J'^ '■"""^ "" h™. it, he hangs." ™"""' """>' •'"^ ""V word (or wwi^rt;as:til^a^^■t:Vu'destT: r ^^^'^'"="-' -<» on the shoulder-I press^u'ftlLf 1^ f''''™ P"""^'^ wince, man though f wl' "'"'' "^ '"^'■' ="«i " For the Lord's sake look bevond h^r " = -id vo.ce in a hoarse whisper beh nd my ear .!:'"'^ kno^ ^''^-'-^ ^^ "^"-^'^ i" Orthei:::^- the^gu^ outr fXwtg ^hlTotejT "^T" ^-'' ^''°' of Orleans and Auch Lr ^ ^^"^ ' '"" 'he girl bre demureness as a b„tterfl T' ''°'" ''^^ ^°"- Cose behind Jearne wa ' Th/ thT r' '""'■ ^° seen her the instant ZTr. ' ' '"""' ^ave mstant the Queen entered the room 179 ..' ii A Man of His Age had I not followed so eagerly the interview with F^ndlon. Though no more than a week had passed since I had seen her she had aged, whether from weariness or the scenes she had passed through, and all her wealth of courtly Paris finery but underlined her haggard looks. What that finery was I know not, being but a man, and to say truth the gust of pas- sion that filled me left but little room for the noting of silks, satins, laces, and suchlike frippery. "Ha ! Monsieur de Bernauld,' said the Queen, fol- lowing my glance and misinterpreting its show of anger, " said I not rightly, ' Wait till to-morrow !' Have you still need to ride to Pau ?" "Ay, Madame," answered I, bitterly forgetful of everything but the little lad and his stricken moth- er. " To Pau, or anywhere out of Orthez, lest I be a sharer in bloodguiltiness. The court that shelters the slayer of my son and joins hands with a murder- ess is no place for me." So near was the Queen, and so great the stir of acclamation still filling the hall, that I doubt if any but she herself heard me. That she heard and under- stood I read in her face, though at first she made no direct reply. Turning to De Gourdon she spoke to him softly ; then, to me : " In twenty minutes, Monsieur de Bernauld," and passed on as if she spoke of some trivial thing of the court, leaving me staring and biting my lips. The crowd closed in behind her, and in the crush an arm was linked in mine, and I was drawn through the press towards the dais at the farther end of the hall 1 80 rview with The Insult of Tarbes Jhe Q"een," I broke out, furiously, " the Queen - caoinet, who are you to cri;' nut or,^ • l Under^f5,nH Af , ^ ' ^""^ *" ^er own h /> unaerstand, Monsieur de BernnnM t-u .entje^en of Nava„e, bu^tro^f'^ :';„ "^ ^"^ Do you threaten ?" I cried Queen Je»„e ifi^ he ghTo ir"""!, t?/"^" self aggrieved by what I sav la™ J^ '"^ *'°"''- «nd. SeethesLntura, L:rh:;lX? ' on my word, I think she pushes condesc™ ir'over: bi„e?at ast" t" "' "■°"^'" f"""'^- «^ '"e — o. these b.c.ioo.s'.t^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 'opmi^rnrrrroigntr^T- they know not what Then th. n ' ^^^ She wasted no time on ceremonies. Monsieur de Bernauld.^there are three ways in I' ;'r^i .1 A Man of His Age which a queen might answer such words as yours. One is after the fashion of Philip of Spain, and of which we had best say no more. My cousin Cathe- rine would have stared you down, and Besme, Mon- sieur de Guise's bully, would have seen to an eternal quittance for the insult !" "You have always Monsieur La Hake, Madame," said I, smartly, as I thought. At the words De Gourdon turned on me in wrath, but the Queen went on with not so much as a change in tone : " For my part, in the school of suffering I have learned sympathy and patience, and so, setting aside the Queen, I speak as a mother to a father. The boy's murder is no more a murder than it was this afternoon when you yourself elected to take its aveng- ing into your own hands. You chose your course ; abide by it, Monsieur de Bernauld ; to-night I have set you on the path. " As for Mademoiselle de Romenay, are you so blind that you cannot see the Queen Mother of France wants but the shadow of a pretext to crush Navarre, while Condd and Coligny are still unprepared? For what other purpose was the treaty of Longoumeau signed but to tie us of The Religion hand and feet while they made ready at their leisure? Crush Navarre and Rochelle, and all Angoumois is half shorn of their strength. Now, mark : the pretext must come from us lest Elizabeth of England put out a hand and stay the iniquity. Who, then, suffers most, you or i? You with your single loss, heavy and grievous though it is, or I who bear insult and contumely in patience, be- 182 The Insult of Tarbes cause I have faith that God will one day aven« Hi. elect; and the times are His, not mine ^ Do you think one of my lineage can lightly bear the wrong of Tarbes > I have my answer ready Mon 7aL , ""'"'"' '"^ " '^ 'his: hack down my d Albret motto ,f they will, and though "by the grace of God I st,ll am what I am,' yet I put this new moUo .n Its place; through all their treachery and plots'l w,ll e, her make or will find out a way '"o safety ' But there is worse behind, and yet, for Navarre's sake, and for the truth's sake, I bow to it Wo sV because tt strikes the mother as well as the na^on because it strikes the soul rather than the body E^en more than you. Monsieur de Bernauld, I haverealo" afshefstr":r"' '^ ''°'"^"^^- '' '^ "»' " tnat she is thrust as a spy into the very heart of n,„- court, and yet must needs be accepted'sm lingW lest worse come of it-that does not content my mere ful cousin of Medici, but that subtle Florentine who plagues France for its sins, and through France Th^ world, holds that fourteen is not overearly an L a which to debauch the Prince of B&rn. ThL too or at least the risk of it, I must needs endure fesl he i^ nocent of Navarre be made to suffer " To do her justice-I talk of Mademoiselle-I think she had no thought of La Hake's villany. Yet even though she was with him hand and glove in his wi'cked ness which of us two has the greater cause to hate her ? You, whose little lad is laid away in God's keen eternal hfe? Dare you compare the two, and dare you agam cry out against your Queen that she be- 183 nl \^i A Man of His Age friends a murderess ? This is no matter of common policy ; this Is no matter of base expediency. Policy ! expediency ! I hate the words ; they are the whited egg-shell, hiding, perhaps, a rottenness within. This is no such thing, it is the very saving of a nation, the laying of a son of promise on an altar of sacri- fice in the faith of the God of Abraham. The mother has spoken t( the father, Monsieur de Bernauld — to- morrow let the subject give his answer to the Queen." Leaving me no time to reply, she swept out of the room with a carriage and a gesture I have never for- gotten in all the turbulent fifty years since then. As the door closed De Gourdon turned to me : " For all that I knew nothing of the business, said I not truly that the Queen was in the right of it ?" What answer I returned I know not, nor knew at the time, for my blood was on fire and roaring in my ears like a furnace. Hot as it was, it was cool enough before morning, for in the dark La Hake played bar- ber-surgeon to quiet the fever by a sound bloodlet- ting, and even in the heart of the summer a blind archway in Orthez is but a chilly resting-place with a sword-stroke as bedfellow. il CHAPTER XVI LA HAKE MAKES A THRI'ct ixt ^ A IHRLST IN THE DARK stood in th ctnl d I'hr" ™^,'''^'' '''^'' - 1 ing. Needs must that l' l^Z ''"""'^'O" "f "oth- Queen, pri^.^V^^lX^ZZV''^'' '^ '"^ «, and if tl,e sentry clialknld m* """°''>' °' that, too, and how I an " -H ' ''l."^' ^'' '''">•• sought entrance instead refido^hf'^"'. "''^ ' "ave brought me to my seizes hn "°' ^' """'^ passed. The play of tbl^LT ' *' " "^^^ ^ member, and ho/it i ed mThtllV'^P''!.' - for all the nighfs sultriness ''^"'^ '^"o' - "aifoft" rm-trsrtr -t '- among the peaks above R L'svaufs Td' "'^"'"'^^ away ; with such a wind s^irrinf?' '^f " ''^«""^ before long, and with It the ddl "'"'"' "^ °" "^ sciti: " irwVira^^arr"' '" i"" ^""■o""- thinl^ing withta him a^fh ' '"° "''"^s alert and .1 A Man of His Age ^ it or of mind, or of instinct, and mingled with it all was the memory of the Queen's words, and a war as to the path to follow. Then I remembered Roger, and for an instant turned to the main entrance; but only for an instant. Let him find his way as best he could, the bare thought of seeking him out in the crowd, whose blurred shadows I saw cast upon the right, was abhorrent. Roger must fend for himself. Back, then, to my lodging to think out my course in quiet ; and hatless, cloakless, I crossed the court- yard and passed out into the street. The wind had flattened as Roger had predicted, and was already howling through Orthez as only a summer storm can,, and with its blast — as Roger, too, had predicted — the few dim lamps had given up the ghost, and the lanes and streets were vaults of black- ness, wolves' gullets, into which a man entered and was swallowed up. But wind and gloom troubled me little. Storm and darkness were in my mood, and at such an hour few stirred abroad in Orthez, so that the roadways were my own. In the few minutes I had lingered in the court-yard a change had come. The fore-promise of a vicious rain was falling in heavy, solitary drops, and already the thunder was rolling north to the Landes. With head bent, and taking the centre of the street, more from a soldier's instinct than heed of possible danger, I plodded through the growing downpour until a heavier gust, lashing the rough pavement as with a Hril of water and scattering the spray like so much chaff, drove me to shelter. Such violence, I thought, must be short-lived, and so, to wait the better humor 1 86 La Hake Makes a Thrust in the Dark of the night, I turned into the black chasm of a cellar entrance, and stood listening in the darkness to t^e thunder roarmg above me to the south, and theTnte mittent splash of water at my feet A turn of the street had hidden the Chateau and Its lights, and of all Orfh^-, t .i ^"'^'•^^au and K%ht and left was he h„w Jf tf T""''"'' ""'^■ trickle o( water from the tdden , e buTn'o "' of man nor sound of man. hfe. tTs o a .Iri'nl at the dark a gr,m thou,.:ht sprung in my brafn-f ought that iumped weUwith the wild n^t'ure" th: mght and my own solitariness. Orthez wa, -, J, i the dead a place of tombs, and I the on yghost L ing the silences ! ^ ^ ^^'^" their nerves" are'o' '^"S"^",^'-". - "en do when tneir nerves are overwrought, and while the lanch was sfll on my lips there came sounds fom do J„"f street that gave the thought the lie-hTsounds o men m haste, with feet splashing in the wet roadtav and speakmg in smothered tones, as cowed bvth; dark and the wildness of the night ^ There were five of them as I saw, more by their shadow, on the film of rain coating the street than by thetr^substance, and in pity for thdr forirnls:" tlagger, and carried a steel bonnet on the head th7n '" * "'■"-■• "- •"-""- -s on us agat, foMLg „ • 187 ' ^ . W i!,' 1:; I, I -■! \m nl ,i »,', A Man of His Age all the thicker by very reason of the sudden bright- ness. While I waited, with a growing consciousness that there had been a rashness in my pity, a voice came out of the gloom that made my heart leap, though I had heard its sound but once. It was that of La Hake himself. " By all the saints, it is the very man ! So the woman of the lodging spoke truth, after all, and what we missed in the lair we have found in the open. After this who shall say the devil has no providences? At him, fellows, and make a speedy end, both for our skin's sake and lest there come a rescue." Had I but had my Paris blade and a cloak for my left arm I would have had some heart and hope. What De Crussenay could do at Rouen in open day T might well do at Orthez in the pitchy dark of the blind arch, since they struck at they saw not what, while I had at least a faint grayness to guide eye and hand. But the courtly Spanish blade spoiled all, and as I stood a foot deep in the covered gloom, I cursed the finicky folly of fashion that disarmed a man of his honest weapon, and in its place mocked him with a plaything. But presently, as I stood on guard, there came a touch of comfort. It was an easy thing enough for La Hake to cry "On fellows !" but there was not one of the rascals who did not sorrowfully remember that he had but one life, and so was loth to squander it. They had come out on an errand of pure murder, think- ing to catch me unarmed and unawares in my lodg- ing, and lo ! it was a duel in the dark, with odds that 1 88 I La Hake Makes a Thrust in the Dark --than one of .h«„„o„M,ose .hat Which he ca^e ed;et;athoLr"^;;,tr .t™: T: ""-^- thought for your sW„/f,t ""i.^^^"^^^ ^"''"^e gives more than he takp« r„ I Bernauld slaughterer of babes, ho„ Her"d 'th'" '"'' "•™ wolfish eur. Thou c^nst bra" ■ ImI" T'f'' •" "^ ">°"'er's arms, but when comes toll ' '"' man thou criest, 'On felln«,. ,• j V '^""S " self." "°'"' ' ''"<' hangest back thy. ha" 'spt^l my'^brtth't^f ^''^'"^' ' "''^^'^ - -„ a man's breath miVht „. , °"'= "^^ that other that my voTce told T ' "' " "^"'^ "f^' '"e brought a lunge^o s t'b a^k^ss"';"^""""' ^"^ the steel lay in a dim gray streakon th '^" """"' 1 turned the thrust aLl ! J^k ! ^^ «''"""• """t the length of the ^eUow s arm Th ''.''"' """^"^ other flash, followed hlrd bv = ""='"" "^^"^ ^"- the glare I'saw La Hake behind T^T'!;^'''' ""^ '» facing me in the arc of a dr le w th^h^ ' """""^ ing from all live. ^ "'" ^tream- In the gross blackness that succeodM r . ,. thrust, a prick at th. h. . 7 ,^'^''^° I got home a of pre sure on the noin ' 7 ''""' ""^ >"" => '""^h - much as staglereT r T °"' "' ">e shadows servedasaspurrclutio/r. t" "^ '"'' ^"^ " in the beatinrof th, ' ' t .' '■^" ''"' "«'" "^k delay without advant "'""' '""""'-J- All this Hak's schemes and it,--'"'^'"'' """^ """ ^^ cnemes, and, l,ke the dog he was, he played '/J ■/I A Man of His Age a dog's trick on his own men, thinking by the sacri fice of one to make an end of me. " Be ready, you fellows to right and left,'* he cried ; and then, with all his strength, he thrust one of the centre rascals sheer into my arms. Had the rogues known his plot, it might have gone hard with me, but all alike were taken by surprise, and my wit being the quicker of the two, and the shorter blade standing me in stead for once, I had him through the ribs and flung back, shrieking, to the kennel before the men at the sides closed in. Round on La Hake swung the fellow left in the middle. " No more such' tricks," he cried. " By the Lord, if it were not for losing the pay I would run you through with less scruple than I would drown a rat. Come into the line and take your part like a man. I have more fear of you behind than of him in front." "Tut," said La Hake, turning the body aside with his foot. " There are but three to share the pay— 'tis four crowns apiece in place of three." "Come thou to the front for all that," answered the fellow, " lest by some prank of thine I will pay for the rest and lose my own four crowns." "What?" cried La Hake, with a sneer. "Ye are three, and yet afraid of one man in the dark ?" "Ay, because of the dark," answered the other, " let me but see the whites of his eyes, and I ask no more ; yet, for all that, I fear you more within touch behind, rather than him in the dark before." " Bah ! close in, fellows, and make an end," cried 190 -■iSBSSSB^jt^-' La Hake Makes a Thrust in tlie Dark r^a Hake, " lest f h,. i...,f,.i, . i.-> rm, .»„„-' '""• "'™ ■•■ — >»■ I.. point warily I inchcH .1 '"'''''/' "'^' f^'nr'n^r their "•••/, I niciiea s owJv bad- I^n^ c ^i casio.ial blaze of lightnirur .h ' ''''' °^- ffrown accustomed ?oh,," '^'' ^^^"'^^ ^^^'^ held out as l;;te onu' a T di? "^' ' ''' "^^ sudden glare dazed an Tr , . '"'""'"''' ^"^ ^^e I'ower tlfe duration of , " ''''"^' ""^ ^""^ ^" '^^ press in ^ith X ''''' -sovershort to let then. Of rasp of steel there was but little Tf ^. fumbling in the gloom w e ^y ne^: T ' suice no man kn^w wk u ■ ^'^^ "erve tense, Navarre' Navarr^f r k , ward whirled .he b LI ^^^ "^ "' '"""^ '°'- ^.>i«ed. th:.*^ ih 4'rt ::ri^ it ■: "°'""^ "'' Spanish steel short by the hilt "' " '""PP'^'' '^e " Navarre ! Navarre i" t ^J- j ■;i't at hi™ whor?,,, e"To' bf L";";;'!"^ '"; drawing back to avoid the refu-ringthrust" ' ""' ardstc"e1'laTrd • t ^^-^'-"^^ '"'"PP^" ^^ -P^ -.- cellar, and, d.pp.ng at the top, I stumbled and 191 A Man of liis Age fell upon one tnee as the lightning bla-^ed out again. With a roar La Hake was upon me, and in the white glare I saw his arm drawn back to thrust, while be- hind, and out in the tempest, a new shadow, leaning forward, peered in from the street; a flash, a second of time, no more, but the glistening walls of the passage, the three black figures bending towards me as I lay half prone, the fourth leaning against the brickwork, his sword dropped, and one hand pressed hard on his ribs, and the fifth beyond the rest on the sopped and shining street, is burned, every line of it, into my brain, but chiefest the gleam of the fore - shortened blade two feet away from my throat. All that I re- member, but I remember no more. " Navarre ! Navarre !" I cried for the third time, flinging my hands forward in a wild attempt to grap- ple with the bare steel as the darkness closed in— darkness not alone of the night, but a darkness that was the very shadow of death itself. That he struck, and struck viciously, I know, and if any man doubt it, I have that to show him which I have carried ever since, and which it is hard to give the lie to. But for the sound of the feet on the pavement, and the terror of the fifth shadow staring into the abyss of dark, La Hake would have repeated the blow, but as a master in the art of sword-strokes, he was, on the whole, well content ; and well he might be. No man can desire a fairer mark than an upturned throat and breast, nor a MJ^fteter advantage than the weight of the body to ^o'v '■ . e weight of the arm. K' CHAPTER xvir ONE WAY OP CUR INT,- ^. ^U«'NO THE HEART-BREAK Had La Hake had the use of », ^en a groping i„ the sheer h/ u?''' ^^^^'^^'^ «'" the records of Blaise de BernLld h ' "''^ "^ ^^"^t night in Orthez As i w^.J """^ ^"^^^ ^^^^ July 'i^ht and utter blact s hlA'-'^'^^^^'^" ^^ ^^^'^e time death passed me bv thn k "''"'' ""^ ^^^ that stroke of his wing N^e'of "'l"'^'^"^ ^ ^^-vy same, and there have been V^'- ^"' ^'^^ ^^^" the flown since then that h. '''"'^'"^ ^^ the fifty -hat I may can a ender rlcX.'""^'^ "^'^ ^^^- m the dark. recollection of that struggle What followed the sDa«;m ( • ^home is only known to'me thro''". '^ ''^ ^^^^^ --t for I awoke no more to con^ "^ '"^'^^'"'^ ^^"i«&. - se. my lad: s face be t re;""'""^ ""^'^ ^ ^^-^e '-^byr..o.of^^^-r-"^^^-vision Though at Chatiilon there had h. ^" ""heeded. «<"ng,and an abundance of hn '"™."'"<^h ro,„i„g ^nd tat little gaiety. Tthosf ., ""l"^' ">"' ^^d been troublous dayJt would haveT*'."'' "''""^"'- »« » - "i.e to .ng attr :r sr^tt:;^- N ^91 7 I'M <1 ij iifcUl A Man of His Age would hire defence for The Religion. The guests were, therefore, of the sterner sort, and their enter- tainment, ample as it was, without display. Had Queen Jeanne consulted only her own inclinations, her life at Pau or Orthez would have been as austere as that of the Admiral in Chatillon, but to seem a queen in the common eye one must live as a queen, and so the court, though rigid in its morality as that of Charles was lax, had its brighter side, with but lit- tle of splendor, indeed, but what was to the plain man-at-arms an undreamed-of beauty and magnifi- cence. The flare of the many lights, the faint breath of perfume on the air, the plr^y and interchange of color, were a revelation and a delight. When the interest of these flagged there came the tags of talk with the bruitings of names known even so far away as in the Orl^annais, and at some of which the old soldier pricked his ears and stared. His undefined and almost unconscious contempt for this petty kingdom of Navarre was fast shifting into a kind of pride that the house of De Crussenay, fallen though its fortunes were, had its share and place together with men whose names carried a respect with them even into far-off Flanders. So the hour passed, and another might have followed at its back had not De Montamar roused him into wakefulness. " Hulloa, friend," he cried, "hath Monsieur de Ber- nauld given thee the slip that thou art hunting the hall with thine eyes in such a fashion ? Search, man, search, but thou wilt find nothing. Monsieur de Ber- nauld has made his bow and gone home to bed like 194 One Way of Curing the Heart-break ' the man of sense he ' ^ 'ook of those lines aCtltTy'"^!:' ' ""'"'' "y '"e worse." '"^ *yes, thou mightest do "«one : !i^d X;;.. "" ' "°' "■■"> ''™ '•■ "ied Roger. "How then?'' saM n^ tv/t Monsieur de Berna^id on frlT""' '^"«'""^- " ^^ found his way twice to FloriL"T.^' ^ "^n "ho the Dons in his goin^ ; '^ """^ '"'^''' ='"d banged "adi„Orthe.o„l°:i;VT.:ight"^'^ '° ■»■- "'^ with,.?''a„\:W':,^;,°:^;;'>- .-s La Ha.e 'o reckon 0«hez, and if the £r ™" V "-^ «^'^^ '^ '■" iveapon by his side than Z "'"' "° b«"er fol's toy your worsi^,;e'a;H!rf/°r P^^^nce, the follow the son." ^ '^'' ">= f^'her is lijce to "La Hake in Orthez ?" cried n« n. ost thou know that, n.y rfend . He''""- "«°- hou by way of the south andTt, ? °'''= '° P^". La Hake in De BernauM ,' Z " ''="'^' "° '^'^ of "See, Monsieur' anlRl*'"^'-" "here was the Queen t.^h*!"' '^'"'"^ '<> ""e dais F^naon, and certafnof he rZ 7°™™' ^^ ^othe Bfarn, " behind the Queen a„dt'' °' '^"-"e and "Ay, Mademoiselle deR^l '""^ '° ■>" "ght. " "■^^ health, by the wish ofM^'i' ™""= ^°»"' '"^ Mother." "'"'' °' Madame the Queen Knd one kite, and the Cher s ?: ^' ""''^ '^ ^ere. "Then, for the Lord" , "°' '*■• °'f" , > "i tne Lrords sake" Qa.vi t-» ti* 8:et out of this, and in haste' T ^ ?\M°ntamar, "^^aste! I had thought this . sssftwwaaaiKRs, M A Man of His Age was some private feud, but if Catherine de Medici- nay, I have it: 'tis no affair of the Queen Mother's; a hundred to one 'tis Spain's answer to De Bernaulds raid in the west. I have heard that he showed Philip's men little ceremony and less courtesy, though, doubt- less, as much as they deserved. If the guess be right, it will take a longer arm than thine, my friend, to parry the thrust. Tell him I have bid myself' to breakfast, and as for thee, lose no time on the road. What ? Thou knowest not Orthez ? Why, it is thou who shouldst be dry nursed. Out of the court-yard by the right, then the first street to the left, and after that— plague on it, man, canst thou not hammer with thy sword-hilt on a door and ask the way? 'Tis not the first time thou hast set foot in a strange town, I will wager; and an old soldier is like a dog on J hot scent— he will nose his way straight as the line runs." With his cloak up to his ears, and mine tucked under his arm, Roger drove headforemost into the storm. The swish of rain and whistle of the wind in his ears added to his confusion, and in his perplex- ity he grumbled at the vileness of the night and swore at La Hake alternately, and with impartial fervor. In such weather there would be few abroad to set him on his way, and though he knew the turn of the street as it approached the Chateau, all beyond was a blank. 'Twas very well to say hammer on the first door with a sword-hilt. De Montamar, one of the Queen's viscounts, and as well known in Orthez as the tower- ed bridge, might rouse whom he would and be sure 196 O- Way Of Curing the Heart-break wotildearn more curse" l^f"'"':™-'*' ')"«""" no, he m„.st fend for Jm e.T """" ^"^''^^■^- No, Chut ! if ihe south conM rf 7"; ay. and blow too - p, "!''f t ''^=' " ^°'"" plague take Orthez anrl J^^}'" '^ke Navarre- Phg"e take the sodde bewin"'""-^"'"" '''^^'s- Pausing in his ,itt,e b ueTth"™™' "'-'"^ "''«ht.' fl"ng my cloak above hi, 1 '"""'^^ '"nip he '""in the bla.t waittag :;:";,^"''' ^ "<= »'ood'in a path, above ti,. splash of^hT, "^"™ '° P°''nt his thin-pitehed and ea^er lid ! ^'l""^ '^'""^ " cr^ again, twice repeated '" """ ="™« the cry Breaking into a doir-trot u street, his feet ri„g,°|t/;/^." "own the empty fones.andhisears^eoetdforth'""^ °" '"^ *' 'ollowed is told already pr,i't,r'^ ''"'"'• ^^"at an archway he heard the erv tTe ,K .''"■''''' '"•" "' y the sound of a heavy fal\Vj":f ""''' ''°"°*^"t, broke out afresh, flingfn^ i " ^" '""^^ ">^ "ghtning An instant of re;e.at!^:"„ ^f^ '"" '■"'" -y face' and while still blinded by he ;L""= "'«^>^ <='°«d, "'■ngstaggering back into the ro^^^^T. ""^'^ "^ "as ::;i--:^^-'".pa:^d:rrvrs'ttt «-rm'.tdT;^i~red the point well l^Se, groping his way 1^^.^ ""'"''"^ ^^^ Pas- .1 ,. A Man of His Age dowr\ found me flung forward on my face, though till the coming of the next flash he knew not that he had found the man whom he had set out to seek. Stir me he dared not, leave me he dared not, and his lungs had iheir full share of shouting ere help came. Of the two who at length answered his cries, he packed one to the Chateau praying for the Lord's sake to send a surgeon, for that Monsieur de Ber- nauld had* been done to death in the dark. The other he sent to seek a lantern, torch, anything to end the curse of darkness. The latter returned first, and under the glare of a flambeau the two kept vigil until the arrival of De Montamar and Desnoeux, the surgeon in persqnal attendance on the Queen. The story of a man with a sword's thrust in his ribs is one that needs no telling in these days, or, in- deed, in any other that I have ever known. La Hake had been wellnigh as good as his purpose, and at first Desnoeux despaired. There were, they told me, five days of a raving unconsciousness, during which I killed and was killed by La Hake a score of times, but in the end I woke to life to find my lady's eyes looking down into mine. Hard as Marcel had ridden, the messenger who followed him rode harder, and for all the ten hours' start there was not a third of that time between them at the finish. See how good comes out of evil. From La Hake's murderous villany sprung a blessing to my lady and to me; and also, though I say it in all humility, to Navarre itself. With my lady the one nail helped drive out the other. Dear as had been the little lad, the father was dearer still, and in the labor and 198 MJ- One Way of Curing the Heart-break and an houHy co™™„„i„„ ofTpwfrth "h FalL^^ anap.,e..H;:e",ra^tXfHX:rs;:n^ i-or rae the gam took another shape Had th. morning broken on me with the blood stinhn, my ve,n.,and the wrath unsubdued I do„rnot'r was rough, hut it wTslffieal! t^:^ ^^f,:^ .e^ure, repented o^/p^ ro^hattr^^^^^^^^ give his country more than To'yaUr devoTon T treasure, and his blood. ^' '^=''°"™. his All that, you may take it, was not learned at fh. wakmg mto consciousness, when, ind ed " ta' o! seemed 'tZ"r '" °'''"''' '"^ "" "° "ore-as" heemed — than the space of a nio-hi- m • T first days, was there more than a fa. v I' '" '^"'^ luure man a lazy wonder at, and '99 IM jfUl A Man of His Age a devout thankfulness for, her presence, her sooth- ing, and her cheerfulness. Even when strength crept back, at first haltingly but afterwards with steady increase, I spoke but once of the little lad. A sentence or two, as she sat by me no more ; for at the mention of his name the brave face fell a-trembling, and my lady's lips on mine, and the touch of her wet cheek, stopped the words. "Not yet," said she— "not yet. God has given me a kmd of a peace, but to speak of it is to break it." That silence should move her to peace was no sur- prise, being, indeed, simple nature, for there is noth- ing more healing to the spirit than love poured out in wordless sympathy ; but that she, in her sorrow of bereavement, should calmly endure to hear of the Queen's French guest was an astonishment. Yet when I broke out bitter - tongued upon her, she prayed me to be silent, since rt was possible the girl was less vile than we had thought. ^^ "Why," said I, turning on my shoulder in the bed, "out of what fountain of a woman's mercy came that thought ?" "Out of no fountain of my mercy," said she, "but out of the Queen's justice. She abhorred the girl no less than I, and yet for that very abhorrence was the more bent on weighing her guilt fairly, lest prejudice should warp judgment." " Abhorred, not abhor ?" said I. " Has the cunning devil caught the Queen as she caught De Crussenay ? I thought women had a keener eye to a woman than that." " La Hake's treachery has swung the girl round " 200 One Way of Curing the Heart-ache said my lady, pa,,„ ^^ villain's name, " and she i, n„ ,, '"™"°n of the Queen, and all remorse ohav7n.'''°"°" «° '"e so vile a part," navmg consented to play clinc'i[ed\?„d>theQu;eftf'? ["" "^^ "''h "V 'hat touches Navarre S?.""'."" '''"' "othing her tools wen, and may be tr.CtTd ^ ''^'"■^' ^''°-- of them rusts on her ha'nd o^ut' '! fi" " "°"^ thou not see whence all (hJ ''"S^^''^- Dost leads ? Here was she a the n ''""*^'' ''"'^ "''"e it very skirtssplashed with LaHS'.'-'°"" "'" h^^ discredited, and her missbn Ir r"™'' """'^^ked, Ye' out of the very crtae ZfT'" '° '^""^«' snatches not alone slletybJlf t'""'"* *>" '"'« an open field of labor. Devotion T '""''"^"^^ ^"^ to the black devil, say jt"™"™' '"--sooth ; devotion "Nay, but," said mv U^„ • i • and smoothing outThVfin'ge f Jlf'f.''^'' - hers grip, "hadst thou but seen th, ^^" ''"'""' hadst thou but heard her sohh-"'''™ '" ''" '^^ = alone to the Queen but t^ 1 « ^' ''"' ■="«"■ not the shame JZZhlllZllJ''''' '"^ "ut heard '0 Navarre; hadst thou but IL.?''"^' "^""d the court of France, oroatherinf '" '"""'"^ "' her tearful submission to the Ou: '''u °' ""^e". dismissal-' Though ' saM ,hl H^ 11' *"■■ •"■^'y^'' ^r has a 'ongarmand alonge ™'e ' ^"'™ "' ^^«n<^« varre against her win is to m TJ' ''"'"° '^^™ ^a- -'here and in what form But L"^^'" ' '""'- -' I« me go, since perhaps in del L 7 ^°' f^-^^-^^. -..venessr-hadst th^^_hefra,/ trt^anV^: ^-ll ' ^ ;J nil . ill Mm ' i, iw,4 . t im^, 1 if A Man of His Age times more than that, thou wouldst have been no sterner than the Queen," *"A long arm, and a longer memory'; ay, there she quoted La Hake," said I. " By my faith, a fitting original. So, by a lie and a whine the spy of the Florentine has won all she had lost, and much more to boot ! Said I not right tnat Catherine de Medici chooses her tools well." " Since when have you found the Queen a fool ?" said my lady, slowly. " And which will form the truer judgment — Madame Jeanne, who has spoken with her face to face, ay, and sifted her with ruthless complete- ness, or Monsieur Blaise, who has spoken with her not at all and has a hole in his ribs to the hurting of his temper? Yet, for your peace' sake, I may tell you that the Queen's confidences are but little likely to work Navarre harm, since she speaks of no purpose so far ahead of the act that Paris can hear of it until all's done." "Then, in Heaven's name, why tell her aught?" cried I. " For the same reason," said my lady, with a laugh, " that one gives a child a toy — to keep it out of mis- chief, and lest, empty-handed, it should work danger. The Queen holds the girl is honest in her repentance. Suppose the Queen is right, there is a friend gained ; suppose the Queen is wrong, she has parried the thrust and holds an advantage at no cost." "And what does De Crussenay say to all this?" " Oh !" and my lady laughed again, " Monsieur de Crussenay is more a woman's bond-slave than ever was Monsieur de Bernauld ; and yet I have known a 202 lave been no One Way of Curing the Heart-ache period to it." PPOs^tion of a king could set a And since when " Qai/^ t i- ch IsthecourtatPau?" sieur de Bernauld be st" 'hed onV'T '1"°"^" *'°"- weeks' time De LuxeTnTt., ^ " '''"=''■ I" 'hree mission ana the'rciS:t:r;r-"''^ small thmg, must be prepared for " "' '""« "" /hen m three weeks' time " said T " r •>e.nPau. and take my word fnih^wtLt 203 f! I A Man of His Age for the pacification of Navarre by the submission of De Luxe leaves out of count the hatred of the Queen Mother and the zeal of Philip. Peace in Navarre is the salvation of The Religion, and that is a thing that neither the hate of France nor the bigotry of Spain will endure." "Thou at Pau; and in three weeks?" cried my lady. "Thou, with a wound I could even now hide two fingers in ? Truly, I think at times that Navarre comes first and the wife second." Which was true enough in a sense, as it is of every man who calls himself the Queen's servant ; and had I forgotten it, Jeanne, my wife, would not have been slack to put me in remembrance. CHAPTER XVIII WE RIDE TO PAU in. Of spirit har:™:TH;o4t,?ft;;irr' ^r'- unwearied watching, hv h, f ""fofgetfulness, her sapped her st fngt' She'^he". , ' "'^'" "^^ ^°^^'^ ney to Pau by ii?,er thn! °''' '""''^ "'^ i"-"" more than a ma^'s a'f ter h'"""'"* "■" """ '^ "" labor. after-dmner ride to a two days' herself saw to it tha^ V" T '"'"■"• '°^ '"e Queen though no ZL w Z'ZlT'r"'"- ^'• tion than Jeanne d'Albret Jet in I k "^ '"P"^"" my life stood in her eyes for ti" k ^"''"' ''"^'°" an omen, as it were of^L , ''""'' "' Navarre, her fancy thl " "„;!''„ ' U H^L'^^'ir^'™^' ^" saged the triumph of France afdtLTl' r"^ ^^^ while if, in the content rv,u Cathohc party, I prevailed, so l.^wS wo' ?d ZT 'TT" "=' and The Religion prevair A l, ^ Tf °' "^"^"^ 'ion, perhaps,\ut in ev ty age"th: e "''™'^'' """ after a sign and th.r« r ^ ^^^ ^^ ^ groping sign, and there are few who have not at some 205 m' i' 7( ' ) h V^ihl A Man of His Age crisis or another of life craved from the unseen a visi- ble manifestation by which to prop their faith. It was on this ride to Pan that the story of the four days from Auch was told. " Man,' said I to De Crussenay when it was ended, "how came it that through all that dastardly busi- ness you forgot you had a dagger by your side? Sure- ly there must have been some slackening of the vigi- lance, some moment of unwatchfulness in which you could have got home a stroke ! That you are in no haste to avenge your father I know, which is very Christian, though it goes against the grain of a com- mon man. That you are no coward I also know, but there are times when it is as much a man's duty to take life as to save life." " I remembered Rouen," answered he, " and so held my hand." " You remembered Rouen," I cried, "and so spared your father's murderer for the father's sake ! Now, of all the—" " By your leave," said he. " For all that La Hake is a scoundrel, he killed my father in fair fight, and so I owe him no more than if they had fought foot to foot in that gap in the woods yonder. What I re- membered of Rouen was my mother. Madame was too far off for a second stroke, and had I killed La Hake — They were an unholy crew. Monsieur de Bernauld, men with more and worse devils in them than the devil of blood, and so I kept my dagger for — " and he turned with a gesture to the litter which carried my lady. I knew too much of the scum of camps to misunder- 206 We Ride to f^au havf ^; asr;:uTp;;;r £'"■' ?:'' ^"-"^"^ -^ • when it comerto a ml ^ " '""" '''""'''■ ""' Ho.e.to.rLr,-rr.toX:r'"^^-- you ,.ere at Pau, and the efore ,.,"'„ , J bemg no lie, no false oath When h,, , J "r^' He, ana ^o ^^^^^1^:1::^ ^^^ -'' "^ no more than my duty Was T n^ v, ,??' r^hteousness to Rahab the hado that h 1 ' /"' the saving of a stranir„r> H '"='' '° then, for the savingo^the la" of^Jh r'"^ "°"' :;hose bread I eat.^ Thoug\ nddl'D^C^er;' E„ti:rpau"hy "h: °' t ""^ »-- -.^ iiiig rau Dy tile western sate at fh» h^ j c the long curve that sweens un fh. f ! "'' °^ river's bank we f,.„„71 ^ ^ "'°P^ f''"" 'he of its own b'els If th. T' """"'"^ '"^^ ' "ive drawn the notL of iJ^laretCLr the^" \^ ''" - :k\\-- ^irr ? "^^ = -n.edsothatamanc:M'^::-^^^^^^^^^ ao7 ! i f : A Man of His Age While still under the city walls De Montamar met us, and took us in charge through the short, winding way that led from the gate to the Chateau, which we entered by the eastern drawbridge, having made a half-circle round the moat. Me he greeted as an old friend received bdck from death. "On my word," said he, as we pushed our way through the throng, ' I thought we were a head, a heart, and a hand the poorer when I saw you that black night under the cellar archway, and I was in sore doubt which of the three was the heaviest loss. More than you owe Madame and Desnceux a debt." " As for you. Monsieur," and he turned to De Crus- senay, "'tis commpn gossip that between France and Navarre you are well served with friends at court. It is given to few men in the Little Kingdom to have both the lion and the bear on his side ; but, with Tarbes in our mind, there are few of our party at least who grudge you your favor. Has he told you of all this ?" " Never a word," said I, " except that the Queen had received him, and had been — as indeed she is to all — more courteous than he deserved." " No more than that ?" cried De Montamar. "Why, there is not a man of our faction— at least of us who are younger— who would not have given his left hand for that same reception. It was at Orthez, the morn- ing of the day the Queen set out for Pau, and there- fore in the presence of a greater company than ordi- narily suits the Queen's simplicity. There had been some talk, I think, between Queen Jeanne and that French damsel. Ha ! Monsieur de Crussenay, why 208 We Ride to Pau bare steel for as g^^d a t ,eT"'"' ""^ "°""' "* before the whole court noM "° "i"'" ™'°^- O"' cassock and satin cloak thro" .'™P'"' ^ack heard much, Monsieur dec'uSr" "''' '"^^ '■='™ much, of the insult nut 1..^^' ""'"8:h not too have heard too lit le " T "' ^' '^^'■''^^- B"' ^e his life in his hand and forT "'° "'^' "^^^ '°°k against a thousand You are T''^ ^^-^^^ ^'°° ; "^^"^ *""' ^^ ^e rode .ueen for yo„^h«;ss" v^^iir,?''"^.'" -^^ ^ m the palace, there is no, lu \^ """ "'at. saving a free bed in aH Pau ""' \f ^'"'her that can boas! deep, and neither threats nor n! '""' ^"^"' """ ^^ so much as floor spac:t an at";"'"^ "'" """^ -' Whatever good c^nc^ <^^^ were lodged blonde" de Lr^ha '"' "'""' ""''■ ^ to the south looking down „"„' ,u -^ '" ^P^«ment -P'ain. With its /oodeZjdXtr^^^^^ ff fl N ,1^ h ji. ir A Man of His Ai^e ting of peaks and ridges, Anie, Ossau, N6r6, with the heights of Bigorre to the eastward. From Orthez their line is but a thread, but here they lean towards you, as it were ; and after four years of absence tlic sight of their rough and honest faces, though still from such a distance, moved me like the loving welcome of a friend. Years, and the curse of circumstances, may crush loyalty out of a man, as I have seen a hundred times; but the land that has been the cradle of his race, and the nurse of his youth, will stir his heart to the day of his death, even though in his degeneracy his hand be turned against it. The buzzing grew to its height the day after our arrival in the city.. It was then, secretly as they had hoped but openly as it proved, that the rebel barons made their entry. How, none can tell, but likely epough with the good-will of the Council, if not of the Queen herself, wind of their coming had blown across Pau, and there was not a child of ten years old but was agog to see the trou biers of the peace, and cry shame upon them. Care was taken that they should come to no hurt ; no, not even by a skin's scratch, seeing that they held the Queen's safe-conduct. But while they rode the street secure in life, I take it neither Queen nor Council had a mind to shield their pride of spirit, so, for the winding journey from the gate that lies east- ward towards Foiz, and up and down the valley gap between the farther city and the Chateau, they had such a cross-fire of gibe, jeer, and revilement as should have brought their guilt home to them with an edge which even failure lacked. 2IO \\\ We Ride to Pau t)e Luxe, indeerl v ^.r.- ^ " "e ha„ no bettldea CpoZ; '!"= '^'"'- " "'"'■ ■"•)' in Prance '• ^ ""P ""^ '«d best seek lux 'he jest at the Count's Wth^r™"u '"""'^"- ^"<' at itself hoarse. buthplace the rabble roared «'>i^?;nrhe::.:7o..r tr "^'■" "-•■■-'e. a "White it may be^Vail^d ,' "«"'"■" street, "but no whft'er tha,f T ." ^'°'" '""^^ 'he cheek-s. Truly his name fits u" "'"'' '" "'E^^haux- wrestling with the heart- ^""- "" '« ""ink of feathers? He hath littTe of tl "f """ >"' ""^ -e, and naught of the dove b t wf "'?' •■• """^ "" Did Ph-in nf Qr^ • "'^ meekness'" Monneinsrroared",^,!^.''- '"^ -"" Change, ed window-shutter ^nd a ' 'n^h"^ '" ' '■"'f-^ench- Proval at the feeble and far^^ I , """'^ y^""" ^P- To bait a lord with imn"" '"'' Proval, comes perch 'c Tut"":' "''' ^"^ "■"' ap. 'Ogive the scum of pl.the r d'' '". ^ '"'"""^- ^'4 "f their opportunities ""' "'">' ''^^'ed none To give De Luxe and tk. "ore themselves as g „t emr':"° '"''^ ""'• "-ey provocation, and w th Td " v \^°""' »»d" such I 'hey had been, warmed mrprfdo/' '"""^^ '"""S" -"- - ' verily h^SalTk:r firsV^hi ^,' A Man of His Age was a sense of shame and humiliation, it was early swallowed up by a wrath all the more fierce for its suppression. Men may set their faces as rigidly as stone blocks, but to him who has seeing eyes, and that knowledge of the passions of nature which is part instinct and part experience, there are always signs— a tightening of the lips, a widening of the nostrils, a lowering of the eyelids, ay, or the very reverse of these, according to the nature of the man ; one or other of them, even CL dulling of the eyes at times, and the secret is out. They strove their strongest, these men, to hide the stirrings of wrath under a mask of pride or contempt, but the bitterness of spirit peeped out in spite of them, and it was plain that the submission was but a name. Let France do no more than beckon these men with a finger, and Navarre might look to itself, if for nothing else than to wipe out the insults of Pau. As for De Luxe, it is more than likely that his soul found comfort in the knowledge that Philip of Spain had already named him for the grand collar of Saint Michael, though, being a politic sovereign, he kept his good-will a secret until the Viscount's peace was fully made, lest, in her anger. Queen Jeanne left him no head to keep the collar in place. That night they slept in the Chateau, as much as prisoners as guests, and though, once behind the walls of the court-yard, they met with nothing but respect, their hearts must have been sore within them. Something of the sort I said to De Montamar. *' 'Tis their own brew they drink," said he, " and few will pity the bitterness of the draught, but to- 212 I, it was early fierce for its stone blocks, at knowledge t instinct and —a tightening a lowering of ese, according of them, even ecret is out. sn, to hide the : or contempt, It in spite of ion was but a beckon these lok to itself, if suits of Pau. ^ that his soul hilip of Spain ;ollar of Saint eign, he kept t's peace was anne left him We Ride to Pau one hour and at you the next T.°^°"" '°'' ^°" ">- their baying go for litt e But J '''™""« ""^ very essence of abasement ., '.°:"°"<>«' it is the of their own peers " humilmtion in the face De Montamar was rio-ht ;„ n. own part I hold that J,?,, *^ '"^'"' ■»" for my -s his then, and's the now""''"'" °' '"^ P-P'= as root of disaffection and is neiLT"' "" ^' "^^ ^'^ a sowing of dragon;' teeth "°''" "" '^=^ ""^n 1, as much as lind the walls g but respect, I them, ontamar. aid he, *' and LUght, but to- sfefJ I CHAPTER XIX DB LUXE MAKES HIS SUBMISSION TO THE QUEEN Though Fdn^lon had returned to his mistress in Paris five weeks before, curiosity to see what Beza called " the troublers of Israel," drew to Pau many of the notables who had gathered round Jeanne at Orthez. Not that the rebels were strangers to the most part. Navarre was not so large that men could have harassed its peace for so many months as De Luxe, Monneins, De Sus, Sainte-Colombe and the rest had harassed it, without making a more or less close acquaintance with Queen Jeanne's viscounts, and the bulk of her loyal gentlemen. But there are few men, and no women, so old that they do not love a spec- tacle, and when that spectacle was the humbling of an enemy who had many a time proved the stronger of the two in the open field, the zest of the enjoy- ment was doubly whetted. In his brief day of power in Lower Navarre De Luxe, at least, had won their hatred by his arrogance, and since he had played the part of puppet both to Catherine of France and Philip of Spain, men saw in his dancing to Navarre's music the humiliation of the two powers which threatened The Religion. The gathering at Pau was, therefore, second in nothing to 214 rHE QUEEN De Luxe Makes His Submission glory its college of the Ouee^'. f ^?' ^''^^"='' as they moved in the measures of a h^^ '■°''' Pa..,at the farther end "et he steps with I '" "'"'' and freedom than suited the austeriw ofT! f" aTettTr.o?-""^'' --'™- -'-'«% pfaXir„;rdeTfrrto''ir'T-^' rh:L':^:et''\trtr ^^-" -^ " wans .ere haU'^cl^LrSr^ar^rt: 315 A Man of His Age heavy with tinsel embroidery as was ever the pavil- ion of Marguerite's brother in the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Well might Beza cry in a moment of controversial exasperation : " What said the Lord? ' Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven.' But thou hoardest tinsel, and hast thy treasure here. The King of kings had not where to lay his head, where- as the devil himself is not better housed than thou." He might as well have spoken to the wind. Jeanne d'Albret knew well that the doing of the will of God lay in the building up of a faith whereby the soul of a man may live, and not in the destruction of toys and frippery. For these trappings she cared little, but they belonged to the throne and were, in a sense, outward signs of the authority to which she laid such insistent claim. That day I and some others had been summoned to her cabinet nominally as a kind of council, but actual- ly to hear and approve, with the best grace we might, a decision the Queen had already arrived at. This was no less than that the Prince of Beam should make a progress north and east through B^arn, Bigorre," and Foix, and by his presence win over to something more than a hollow and temporary peace the dis- affected provinces. Once before, in company with d'Arros and De Grammont, he had made such a progress through that part of Lower Navarre which Monneins was stirring to revolt, and never was a simmering of re- bellion more quickly cooled. ' 216 ontroversial De Luxe Makes His Submission compel quiet " ^ ^" '^'^ count, only, he who fails to extinKuish a fir^ h J !. may well look for burned fingers '" ««-'>'-and L'Thf m- tfa^-to ^X rara InTs ause to fear h"'' "'? '''"' *'^ P^°P'^ ""' ^O"" have ress shal a f "'? '' '"'' ' P^^P"^' '^at this prog! ress shall aim for Foix itself. Mv word for ft 1 presence of the Prince and n. V ° , ' ""* will win us the orovince.' ^""^ '"'""■■^='™' "But, Madame," and De Grammont turned to me as he spoke, and then back to the Oueen "ttl men in B&rn— •• yueen, there are stan?',^^ ^""^ Viscount," cried Jeanne, "under- stand, I have no mmd to advertise this move Out wm r r'" ""' "''"' '^"='«^ f"«"ds the protct' will be unknown, and though mv cousin r»JL would sacrifice her dear wfndTDu de GuY,"?' ay er hand upon the Prince, and think the pri^e a" small one. Pans shall know nothing of the move un! i < :l ' i! ( A"^ A Man of His Age til he is again safe within the gates of Pau. No, no, my lords, this thing is secret until, as needs must happen, rumors spread abroad, and even these can work no harm since the line of travel will be known to only those whose faith is sure. Had Bernauld but been farther north. Monsieur," she went on, turn- ing to me, " I would have claimed from you a first night's hospitality." " If bluntness may be pardoned, Madame," said I, "then, bluntly, I do not like the project. The Prince is Prince of Bdarn, but he is the possession of the whole kingdom without a limit, since the day tHe King, your father, claimed him in the name of a!i Navarre." ' "And has the mother who sung him into life no right?" cried Jeanne ; "and am I blind that I cannot see danger ? But beyond the mother is the Queen, who before God is answerable for Navarre, and the mother within the Queen dares the risk for Navarre's sake. The thing is settled ; let your wisdom, Mes- sieurs, so arrange details that the Prince shall lie each night where neither treason nor surprise can touch him. Let his journeys not be overlong— the whole is not fifty leagues of a crowfiight— and al- ways in the broad of day. As to guard, let him have a guard as befits the Prince of B^arn, but no such troop as argues either terror or distrust. These things are for your arrangement, and let all remem- ber that the truest safety of the Prince lies in silence. You have three days, Messieurs, in which to com- plete arragements, and for that time, at least, we can all hold our peace ; Monsieur de Bernauld, to 218 De Luxe Makes His Submission you I have something to sav in reo-arrf t„ i]lness " regard to your late In common with the rest I had risen at the Oueen', d.sm,ssa,, and now, as the others retired, sto:d^b;"he Be'r„!;^l^'T ""^ °' ^ '""" ^^P°^^' Monsieur de Bernauld, she went on, "than is to be found even at a court so ser.ous as that ol Pau, where we whet " u leisure w,ts on study rather than on the follies of Z world. When the Prince rides east, do you de v fh l>.m and break off at Bernauld. I am B&rn noise enough to know that healing comes from the hills ' Madame •• said I, speaking my own thought a her han answermg the Queen, "in face of youx deci ion dare not offer further advice as to this progress of he Pnnce of B&rn, but with all my souU beg ™u keep ,t secret from Mademoiselle de Romenay She .s no better than the open ear and eye of France." Not IS, but was. Monsieur de Bernauld" an wered the Queen, "but you have a sorrowful right to be prejua.ced, and so on that point I say no more Frankly though, I hold it wise to tell her Let her' .f she will, despatch the news to Catherine-it argues my openness and faith, and as the Prince will travel by an unknown route no harm can come of Tnd do you not see. Monsieur, that if Mademoiselle send no news she may be superseded in her office of spy by one more dangerous?" ^' ' That ended the matter, but the Queen's nroiert was a cold shadow on the rest of the day, and wa st.ll heavy on my thought as the great recep'fon Tal of the palace filled for the night's ceremonies I 4Mk\ m ^■dB^ fji i j^H >i^^H 1 Ji^^^H ;|l>«|| M ^^1 im'>u liH iifl/^f ■t^M I* ^fi \:l^ (|. l u A Man of His Age De Montamar's hand upon my shoulder roused me. " What new gnat in the brain has taken De Crusse- nay's lady-love ?" said he. "She is dunning the lad with as many questions as if he were a school-boy and she his mistress. How far is it to Foix? What road went by the towns that lie along the hills to the south ? How far will a sturdy boy ride betwixt breakfast and supper, going at his ease? And a dozen questions which the lad, knowing no more of Bdarn than lies between Pau and Orthez, and nothing at all of Bigorre and Foix, answers but lamely, and so comes to me for help." " No gnat, but rather the buzzing of a hornet," said I. "What reply gave you?" " Faith, I turned it into a jest as the shortest way of saying nothing, and told him that of late the going to Foix had been shorter than the coming back ; and that as to roads, Navarre was not so poor but that she had more roads than one, whether north or south." "What men has she with her, De Montamar?" " Not more than one if De Crussenay can help it," said he, with a laugh. "No, no, I mean rogues, not fools. How many of La Hake's rascals, for instance ?" "Why," said De Montamar, "there comes in the Queen's folly. The girl must have her messengers to France, and so there are some half-dozen of the scoundrels hanging forever about the court -yard. Had I my way their hanging would be elsewhere." "Then for the Lord's sake see to this, and more depends on it than you dream. If within four days 220 t M De Luxe Makes His Submission enough for France ; the ofheT;' biry^ff,, °"' '^ ;ear :r:^ r; : r r.r™- "- °- great hall, with all her ladL L f ■"""■ '"" °' "'^ by half a score of gent erne" He" r7' ""' '"^"''^'' might have sworn, being r'fther"""''' '^ ""^ Just mthin the doorway, and facing'the ..reat «„V way, a daVs a foot or two in heio-h, hi!, f "^" with, over it, a huge canopy of state T, f ' "^ pie, deeply edged and fringed with .old 7."' """■ the corners with gold tassds was bTcSd "wt T '' the Queen, purposl thffr'of'atrUor ^^ ^^ the°d\i:„runrnts't?atpr;' '^r°^ time in commanding De Luxe and hV ■"'"""' °" "° be admitted. " '-"'"Panions to in"hIrToi:r.'.'ira '"'' T ' '°"* "' "'tterness cousin Cath\i:rard":: wo^ldT/d"""^'^^ °' °" delay their audience " discourteous to be™ U"i„'; •:; tl""' ""^ ^"^^ ^"^ "^e rest had of the i I ; and a To"'"' '"^ " '"^ "--^ of gossip and rustle o Im'^tlulTX''' '='^"" pectation, and along the leLth f l." """ °' "''• ception-hall the guests drew h' J, " "°''^'^ ''■ 'eaving a laneway fromlrdoor of ^hl" t '"" '^''' the foot of the daVs. ^ anteroom to 221 A Man of His Age i.fi' i' . I Presently even the buzz quieted, and there M^as no sound heard but the tramp of feet, as the rebel bar- ons marched in single file to face the Queen. A notable line of men »hey were in their quiet-colored, even sombre, garbs amid so much of gayety and such wealth of dress. That, more than the gibes and jeers of the streets of Pau, more even than the cold wrath and scorn of the Queen, was, I take it, the bitterest moment of their shame. The cries of the mob were, to them, but the froth of the groundlings, the gutter splashing up at the foot that treads it. Presently their turn would come, and |the mud be dust under their heel Such gibes might sting for the hour, but they left no wound behind them that time and its revenges would not salve. The Queen was, after all, the Queen, and that they had outraged her justice, her laws, and her mercy they knew right well, and that they should pay the penalty of failure was but natural. That she should be wrathful and speak her wrath was her pre- rogative, and there was not a man of them that held the house of Albret in less respect because of the public submission imposed upon him, nor would have questioned her sovereign right had she ended their lives in blood. These, the mob and the throne, were well enough, and in the course of nature, high or low, when a man meddles with affairs of state. But that their peers, men their fellows and admitted equals, should stand and laugh at their failure and abasement was worm- wood whidi no pretence of pride could sweeten, and an insult for which no code of honor had a vengeance. 222 De Luxe Makes His Submission skin. ^^^'^ '' ^"t the thickness of his ger in a wound At th/f , ! '"""^ °f « ^ag- Luxe, their spokesma , h in '^ ''" ^" ''"'" ^ 0-= when he ^acfe tulZ^ZlV': "'"""''' '"" '^^" 'he Queen insisted, the ma m! TT"' "P°" »""'-" changed. ^''''^ "' ""er face never of justice and had promts '' "'^ ^'™''<' were there." P^m'^ed mercy, therefore they ;nto De Luxe's upturned face ''all th!!"-^ *'"" '"" hefore pardon follows there mu.th " '""^ ' *"" than an avowal of mi de ds Th '°'»«'""ff "ore ™«ues hung if that would sale a, eTk Tt^^ ''" nor man. Monsieur can „« Neither God have sinned ' flung in hlTace""'™' ^''^ ' "'""' ' ' " Humbly, Madame " sain ri^ t that had littie of hini y ,f^ "r,":)'" " ""' ™'- hent knees, we crave of „ "'' ''"" «". "" *h in justice rcIn-Ulc"::^. '^^ "-^^ '" '0 he/'fa" a/ThT;:cr"' 'r-'"'' ~'- "■-« words, and which L took / T^'^y^^^^ 'he other? cousin Of France ist^trJ-^V;'- '° ''■■''^' " "^ ^ea. Confession and peti- 223 • ,'''1 ■ "'wi i- M aBgc; \ 1 ly A Man of His Age tion are well enough, but there is a third step, and I and all these my loyal gentlemen of Navarre are wait- ing for it." For the first time De Luxe looked ill at ease, and his face reddened. As he knelt there, silent, De Montamar whispered in my ear : "Who would have thought he had grace enough to find a lie a hard thing. He has swallowed his derid- ing with but little visible straining, and now the lie, for the want of which all the rest goes for naught, sticks in his throat." " Come, we are waiting," said Jeanne, as the silence grew heavier; "we are waiting." " We had hoped, Madame," said De Luxe, slowly, and with an effort, "that this frank submission would have been accepted as a demonstration of good faith." " And it is so accepted," answered the Queen, coldly, "but as a demonstration of good faith in my safe- conduct, and no more. What ? You are to receive your absolution without either repentance or a promise of amendment? You would have us give you back a life that you may use it a second— nay, a third time against us. What complacent priest taught you this theology ? By my faith in the jus- tice and anger of God, you ask too much." To the right and left of him, down the line of kneeling men De Luxe looked, but not one of them so much as turned his eyes to answer him. "Do you see?" again whispered De Montamar; "they would cheat their consciences hereafter with the comfortable lie that they gave De Luxe no author- ity to pledge the future." 224 IP , i, as the silence De Luxe Makes His Submission "Madame," said the rebel of P..; right hand above his head ^!/'''^' '^'''''S an open that I sincerely and fully repent m '"^ ""^'""^^ you and the state, and t^LTerelf"; j!^'' ^^^^^^ ^tay, interrupted the Queen -Jr^fu- only for yourself." "^^ ^^^^ you speak "Oh, Madame," he an««r«,.^^ i.- eththe,heartofama„ bTth ■ '"""'■'^' "''^° know vouch for Charts deL:« of p" ""'T'" '" "'^ I And with his hand stiU upiifLdT '"' "" "° °">"" obedience to the laws of Nav ' / "7'."^ °^"> °' to the Queen-swore it f !' ""'^ "^ '"^^l '^ith nothing of circumstance a ■' • ", "'"""'^'y' omitting «e, it was a lie wel told and 'f ""'"'• " " *»^ ^ vation there was he lid, '?" ■"'"'«' ■■«-■- each, in turn, took for hTmself""' "'"''■ ™' ""^ Qy^n:aflt:hin^[r;;et;>r "" --^^ '-^ .ast,totT issr ^ r ' H^'^^'™^='" ^"^ -'<> - Almighty God, whom so r 'I' '""^'^ "°' «'one Navarre and FrrcTto^XTs""; th^'Ih'f ' t"h^'^° me I, m my turn and in renlv „. j ^^ '° ''«ar Yet know, Messieurs tha't such ^'^"""^^'^"■ency. noteasyof expiation and, hev are""? '^ '""'' ^'^ cause of the e-rane»n^ ^ °"'>' Pardoned be- has so abu:iaX showeTL"'''■■r°'^°"'^■■'"- e^'en of your making nThas r« . P'" ''^"Kers, 'hefurtheranceofntfono tha r H ""''"^ " '^ '°r The past is forgiven Cr°"'^°'"='en'ency. your prayer of rtrL^"!'dT' '" ^---^^ee with May this forgivenes p odTclrrrh:' ^'"T"''"'- p " - ^° '"^ ^^^ worthy fruit h . i A Man of His Age of good and faithfi! subjects. I desire in all sincerity to have a firm trust in your loyal service and fidelity but if that trust be violated, then I call God and Navarre and France to witness that, come what may I am mnocent of your blood." ' When the Queen ended the pardoned rebels rose to then- feet, and filing before her kissed her hand in silence and with a low reverence, and departed as they came ; nor, to my thinking, did one of them ever agam -ee Jeanne d'Albret. For their next treachery they had Montgommery as judge, and though some blame both him and the Queen for these men's bloody end, I hold her innocent and him excused. The Queen, because she did not so much as know of their capture, being in Rochelle at the time, and so too far off to receive tidings of their capture and return her commands; and Montgommery because a three and four -fold traitor is but little better than a bloody- fanged wild beast, and with no more claim on mercy Even if he promised them an amnesty, and broke his pledged word, as some say and more deny, it was, at the worst, but a meting out of the same measure' as they gave the Queen ; and so again I say I hold hira excused. But al! this was a year later to the very month, and does not come into the present tale. m' CHAPTER XX rest, that De Crussenav T ^""^ *"d the 'ions ,„ .he .ns::i7JZV^ D^ m"' ''^ ''"^^- S.ven him so little satfsfactton Montamar had abseneti" t-J i""::] :tr'^ f" ^°" ^-- Of whose business i'ies here at P?" 7 "'"^^ "> ^O" wherever her wii, sends you r """ ""^ «"'="• "^ she-t°hirir-°'atl f:;? 'n """' ^^^^-oiseHe- " Mademoiselle" " cri d I Trf"^' hernewest frealc > Mv f„;'i, ,,^/\''o"'''«' and hose sturdy boy enough !" '^'^ """''' "^ke a Then a thought struck mp " nt .t. nothing, and of the^rerttV °' ""^ "-oads I knon- much, but you can tell m=h ^^ «™tleman not '» no more [han a bo/ Hder^he fi ?'V ^^'"^""' and while the davs Z, i ''''^' "' a journey the less true, thoTgh " ;"'\r'n """"■ " ''^ "°- ioyai servant than^BlaisTdrB^rl^uM^" "" "° '"°- Nothmg more passed at the tim. ^ . ._ --<^ -"s message to the j27:;r^TZ'V:, fc. 1 ' m 'it, * 'I .■\ A Man of His Age hard at me, and presently the two slipped away from the group gathered around the Queen and made their way to where I stood by the door into the ante- room. To please the two Jeannes I had made my peace with her, and if our friendship was a hollow affair, it had, after all, as much heart to it as most court friendships. Forget the little lad I did not, trust Mademoiselle de Romenay I did not, but with fuller Health, and the juster judgment that comes with it, I had come to acquit her of wilful evil in the past,' and looked confidently to the future bringing its own vengeance for the, doubtful part she had played. Her talk at first, being but the polite sr soothing of her way to the core of her purpose and the throw- mg dust in my eyes, may be passed over, though we soon came to close quarters. ^^ " I hear you ride to Bernauld presently," aid she. " Do you look for many changes in the four years, • Monsieur ?" " The world takes a mighty interest in my affairs " answered I, with a laugh, "though, for the life of me, I cannot recall so much as telling even my lady that I was leaving Pau." "Oh," said she, biting her lip over her slip of the tongue, "there was some court gossip." "If we believe all court gossip," answered I, still laughing, "De Crussenay here is much to be envied. Is one piece of gossip as true as the other?" The shaft went home, and, my word for it, for all her brazen coquetry, she reddened to the throat. " Monsieur de Crussenay is my very good friend," 228 2r slip of the How the Prince of Beam Set Out question and the rh;,n,v.o . « '^^^^f^'^your second would not ho^V^lTLt :'"'"''■ ^'■°"»'' 'hey four years win have "old but Ht^' " """" "' '"'"' 'hey built in the time of Sain r •"" '""' """^ ^^ Chateau be not fit ft ! ""' """^ '^ ">e old -;.htn,al.eshiftf:if;ora''^lrh"'"''''"^" => '''"^ said^he, !:rm%tT] T' '='™"'' '"^ ---n^." r„?rarvt:;r "^' '"^^ ^"- ";?«! at De CrusrayJwh: iTrr '"k ^ ^'"^ ^'-- sleeves with his^i^nger-.Tps atif hel /f' °' ''" Queen's business comes firs. Ho . "''"'• '"^^^ " Attfr rr,^ r, • ""^^ It not f" knowi;^;^in:he?ersrX?rK'[^'" ^"^--l I. no' "Ay.' she persi el"" B^'tf^rh ""r"'' nothing but the plain devH and ' , "^ "° '^°<'' then it is the Queen ?" """''°'' "' "^^'h ; " You talk riddles," said 7 " »„ j r again-after God. the Q„e' ' IJ ''" I"'' """"" had some scheme in her h.?^' . T' """'"'"« ^he senay, I added, " Z to him w^o T"' "' ^™^- ready in his hand fails tn?, 7\^^^'"« a weapon and crown." ° ""''^ <"» W"* for faith " You have said it," she criert " d 3.eur de Bernauld, you have afd it ^T""""' '^°"- ' ^ "'^^^ ''^id It, and not I " Anti 229 " H ml , J il l .lJ I J.WJl — ■ fc m ii'K Id' A Man of His Age without another word she took De Crussenay by the arm, and led him in the wake of the royal party As for me, I stood and stared after her, plucking my beard m my perplexity, but on the whole well con- tent, for If she thought to touch the Prince of B^arn on his first night out from Pau her rogues were like to harry an empty nest. There was also this • If truly La Hake's lies had hoodwinked her once into being his unsuspicious accomplice, the remembrance of the wrong done me and mine might hold Bernauld sacred from attack, even though the prize were Henry of Navarre himself. ^ If hitherto I haye said nothing of the Prince of i^earn, it has been through fear lest little would run into more, more to much, and much to everything and so to you to whom he is no more than a dead king, the telling would grow wearisome. To me he IS Henry the Great, the man of Ivry, of Arques, and of Nantes ; the maker of France, and the freer of the faith ; the one true man in a line of sensualists and sots, and as much alive as the day before Ravail- lacs knife struck him down in the Rue de la Ferro mere. He found religion shackled, and gave her lib- erty; he found the nation . rotting carcass, and gave It life, and health, an 1 power. He held Spain in check m the south, and baffled Germany in the east He raised the poor fiom the mire where the nobles had trodden them, and thrust back the Lorraines from the steps of the throne. He- Oh, ay, to you these are a dotard s maunderings,and in seven years France has had time to forget. But I who have known the before and the after can never forget, and to me 330 How the Prince of Beam Set Out it better than I? '"" "^^^ «^°"ld know Of the Prince of Bdarn I will th.. c more than must be lest 11 ' ^^^'^^^^^^ say no -y temper rebate 1 Sn^ ready half-dead man It l "f ^^^n^ing an al- this. Even at thTLe^i^rh^ '/^^^^^^^^^ ^^ of the man was astir in fu u , ^ '^ ^"^ spirit for evil, and Henry" he G^tTt' T. f '""^ ^"' 'he larger growthVa^TtJe tad'of ^^^ "■" shrewd wit, dashed with ra.h„„7K I ''"«"- a boldest and wisest i^the "1;^^^ h^^r o7 d'"' '"' failure. Generous tr. r.. ^ , "^"'^ °^ desperate alone ever the eTp iesUn the t' "7°^'^' "^^ "»' ?he cause of ™„eh 'gentro^t oZ:Zt\t' T w^rrsT^eZrLti:^shtr'^'^^'«- "Monsieur de Bernauld : and I are at o„l as I tr t trrvt/wU, L'^'h"'"* ~^™™ for at the moment I hav^ Z, ' '"" '" »" 'hings. Which, if you hav them I wouwl"'^^'' °' ''"^ "°"-. 'or inreturn pray you to .Te^ th^wrS:;'" "'"'' ""''' ^"^ 'he iet^rr tXrmTst.-iZS^-' - 'o return " Henri." 231 m- i !| A Man of His Age '-: B treasury for sixty hundred crowns would not purchase the ev,dence of the father's frank faith in Blaise de Bernauld's friendship. To say that the Prince was the merriest of us all when three days after De Luxe's submission we rod" out of Pau by the west gate, is to say no m^re tha„ that he was a light-hearted lad on his way to the next new th.ng, while we bore, heavily enough the burden of doubt and responsibility. ""fuen De Montamar, and, indeed, half the court Made mcselle and De Crussenay among them, roke wftt us down the slope as far as the river D;nk • a^d a brave company we were, though, as it seemed to me w.th an overscanty guard for such a charge as The Prmce of B&rn. Some six or eight pikemen argued a admirable as ,t was unjustified, and more flattering to them than comfoi ting to us. ^ »>," 7'" Jf'' ''^" '"'' *''^ Q"=™ t° shut her eyes to ste "bu "" ' '° °' '''"''"'"' ""^ ^"^ b"-y side , but ours are open, and another score of stout fellows would have done no harm " hin^'w ''"'.'""' " '^'"^'""'selle, thirty yards be- nmd, before he answered. hin/ ^l"" r'"'°",' """"''' '' ^^''^" ^^'<1 h^. " and so be- stout s Vu *"' ''"' '""'''" y°" ^'» fi"d your tZl % ^^"' '™' "° "'"^ 'hat, for all our frankness, Pau and Paris should know everything" 1 hen It i.s given out—" " It is given out that the Prince of B^arn rides to the very borders of Languedoc. ay, even to the^at s of Toulouse Itself, with less of a guard than a simple ty yards be- How the Prince of Beam Set Out Wend La Hake, sf^iLlt^orS "' T' '^" and, my word for it, the feiWs in 1! "'- '""' pmes yonder will rid Navarr^Tf '^'^J^h^dov of tlie he went on, "if anv nZT ^ «^'"'>'- Tliough " Mademoise ,e Her "ascat'" ""'■'!'''' ^'°°' ''' - "°t This was good new etoir /'"■■"« "^^"■" urged him still to vigil, .c" an^H '/ ^' "' P"''^ I nor horse in sending rosttlfi. T/'" "'''"'='• -"an -uch as a shadow s'rws doubTr ^'°""' '^^" ^ At the river we narf^.^ ^ moiselle, and De Crussenl ".T"""^' "'' ''^^' **^''^- test of the court, while Te L ' "'"« '" ^'" "''*' 'he 'urned our beasis aero X wZf " T'" '°''''' -.«, holding as near i^Se'^r:^^^^^^^^ ;^o"'raX'"sx"^rrdr^--- faction to see that De Mnnf ^^'T ^ ^^^ ^ satis- '"e Queen. cauC^^a ^ha f r"?"™"^" Pnnce she had keot thi« 1 / ^" ^'■°™ 'he -^ the spirit ofte Z^aTtT' ^^^'^ "" our strength. Pleased at the addition to " Back with these fellows to P^i, "u ■ . ^y lord, cannot we ride Th r. t' ' '''''^' ^^^^t, ' without an army a o:';hees.1 T T '^"^^°- my mother had not added ^'"^^^ ^^^ ^"^^^ the Lord, Monsieur /.r ""^^emaid or two. By farther with suTha trL^'^"'' ^ ^^" ^^ ^^ ^ ^oo^ 233 V ' ^--°- Bel^/oir".."' """"•" "'" "^^ "-d how far from D:Grr:o/rh:stny^"L!^!"S"^'''''"'"''°-<' a fun hour before sundowrand "" "" l""''''" not, Monsieur de BernauTd'?-,'"! hl"^"'' 'V branch ..; and he threw a warninl , P"*"^ i^sr:irt;-nXt=— ^^ Some three leagues by road, Monseigneur ; and I V ' : i\ii ( ; '»i. A Man of His Age pray God you may receive everywhere as loyal a greet ing as would be yours at Bernauld " fh " ^^JT. ^'u ^""^^ ^^ '°^^ • ^ ^^^^^"t it is little more than half that by a crow-flight? Well, we are bu guests ourselves at Beauvoir, Monsieur de Bernauld and so cannot bid you welcome. Yet I have a thought in my head that- There, it can 'rest unsaid sieur 7od H "'• '' " r "^^^^ ^'^" ^^ ^--''' Mon- "and ll°t,'" '" " ^' '"'"" '"^ "^ "^^^^ ^^^- Twice he turned and waved to me as I sat my beast, bonnet m hand, by the fork of the roads then a turn of the path hid them, and pulling mv' bnd le to the right I set off at a trot towards^B^r i I fy CHAPTER XXI bear but Hght,y o„ the s of/^.e^td":, ^'"'' '"^^ penence common to everv J u ' ^"^ '^^"^ e^- "tepuIli„gtopiece°£o;t\^^'^^"^ ''■■■•d.it -™M be flower, a long. dead woman^r tT '""^ ''"^'' were these : the sio-|,t nfo . ^^^ '"^ things fields ; and the w fome tivr"'"' K '"'' ''^ '^">«>-- fellows. "eicome g,ven me by Marcel and his he^t^erLttfp his'°" '"' ^°" '" ^ -n '^ ^'^ Wghten at the 1^ If "."™!. ""«^'^' ^"^ his eyes '0- years oftp:t,l';r'lft°? "r^ ^''- k;n> not at all, then, to myfh nking X ' '^ ''"' l»m -s as good as dead in^T ^' 'P'"' *'">in !»'« the spirit the bet'ter h '°°""" ""^ Ae^h f°'- -.s pau:„t°:Tf: 'Ztitr ' ^"'' '-« -'• »<> -ow M-er Biaise I't Z'J.tZ ^^^ '7'"' '--"^stotheatwXX-arrer; i If '. tr,i> f. iH A Man of His Age night, and not to the loud clatter of the public day A men,al, a serving-man, and wench some would sav" with a touch of contempt ; but I hold love a thing as sacred m the humble as the high, and worthy of the like gratitude and reverence. Of Maria, Marcel's wife, nothing now need be said nor, for the moment, of their children, save this • they were three-a curly-haired, slender lad of fifteen look- ing under his age, another of ten, and a girl of seven- and that all had alike been brought up in the creed of and at all times and in all ways." So well had they been taught, that, to be frank, had there been a con flict at any time between loyalty to Blaise de Ber- nauld and Jeanne d'Albret or her son and successor I doubt not the crown's claims would have gone to the Yet, for all the warmth of welcome a bitter sense of loneliness came over me as, supper being done with, I stood looking at the familiar stretch of mountain darkening in the close of the nig.ht The voice of wife and child in my own home had been part of my dream of the Bernauld that should be, from the day we urned our backs on Carmeuse to that in which Ro.er rode into Orthez. Now my lady was at Pau, broken m strength, and the little lad laid away in the'resttg" d ea'ml/"'"? generation of his forefathers, and the dream at an eternal end. Who can tell why it should have been so? But ful- ler and stronger than ever before, fuller of purpose and stronger of resolve, wrath and hate agaLst'll Hake possessed me. A man builds up the plan of 238 Bernauld Reaps More Honor Than it Sowed '^->"^VJt:r.L'zv^^^^ '^ - ^^ - ^ take his plan, and Teari„/il ';^\"''"''8:e and death 'he grave, it is not u"tU MV" T'"'' *""8 " '"'o is upon him that he "si w """" °' '■■"■■'■■°" °f --uin. I was to .M ^ possessed of the sense wifeandchattoofehM 'Tu""""'"" '° '°™ "f absent and the "ther s "iedlt'f °"^" ,' """' ""' "'- of the lonely rooms Ihlthl: . ' ""'^ '" ""e silenee loss bit the soul "' '"«'' °f """^ose of do'Zwithr:;;"ad7fori '""™^'^ '-•" '"-"■"- line of darknerbo^ndTThrh"'"'^'"''"'"^^^^ silent behind me ^ ^°"'°"' «° Marcel, 'hat I spoke no namt Mar"el u'nT"?"': '"' ""' ="' e<|. " Amen, and my oa^h ^ ha" ~ ^bi' ^""'"- when It comes to the huntino- t il f '"""' ""'^ «om fellows to ioin the chase • " "'"^"^ '"™'^ ".it thetifa ::;:drt,r oii "r --"-^ "> yard, and a voice ranll Tl °''^' '" ^^^ ^^^^t- ^ ■; Huiioa, the:; MoS/ -f„VnM rh^ had beenkcastre^he poot^;.""' ''''"''■ '"<= Q-» ■■whatU^;":^:Lortit:tV''' \"''''' ^^^-'■ this of all nights of Vf "°™ ""^ hither on jade piavs f t .1 ^C ' ''°"' "'^ "'^' ^^^-^ rumed race and nation. for the Lord's sake, Mar, Run, III- eel, run and set up every 239 .. > h A Man of His Age bolt and bar, and batten every door. Nay, stop for no Questions, man, but do as thou'rt bid. Stay • what of those twenty stout fellows ?-but no, bolt the doors and make all fast first, then seek me be- low. Haste, man, haste !" For a moment he stared as if I had of a sudden lost my wits, then swung round and, like the ^ood soldier he was, made off at top speed to obey a com- mand of which he understood nothing Hastening below I met De Grammont in a temper worse than my own ; and with good cause, since to him had been committed the c.re of the Prince ''Heard one ever of a madder freak?" he cried You and I are close friends, De Bernauld, yet I would to the Lord you were fifty leagues e.ywhere out of Navarre. Here have we ridden from Beau- voir secretly and in fear like so many scoundrel cattle-hfters. If but the old Baron gets wind of it he is lost to Navarre for good and all " "Where is the Prince," said I, "that I may bid my yueen s son welcome to Bernauld ?" " Plague take your welcomings ! Cannot you hear him chattering without there ?" It was De Grammonfs ill- humor that spoke, and not the man, and so I passed his words by In his case and with his provocation I had said no less and meant no more, and there are times when it is no credit to a man to be overready to take offence. At he threshold I met the Prince, and would have knelt and kissed his hand in acknowledgment of the honor done my poor house, but with a laugh he caught me by the shoulder and held me upright. 240 'annot you hear BernauM Reaps More Honor Than it So.ed than frfend and friend Whal^H ""'.'"'"^ ""''' word? My faith, but De Or' ' I kept my pucker, and all fe nothin. w '"°"' ''' '" ^ ^^'e breakfast in the cool of the moT' "'" "'' "^^"^ '° Baron hears of our i ,00 T '"^' '""^ " ""^ °M ra^.^"-'-'--^«'^^e;r„^ttsrs «ut that s just it," he cried • "K ways of squandering crowns fh ™"' ''^^ »"'«'• supper Besides," he added 1^" .°" ^ ""-<=<=-hours' de Beauvoir is my host t , ' '/'"«'""«■ "Monsieur grudge him the honor • *'"' """ ^'°" ™ust not ™fr? Why, in thfs fir""'' "^'^^'^ of Beau. Such asup^;. .si\.ZHuJ"1, "^ ^"PP^"- courses. Did he think H '"""^"^ ^"-ing of has ten stomachs an^ eats bt.t""'""'' "'^^ ^ ^^^-^ Monseigneur, this pasty Z ' " '"='"■• " "^^ Monseigneur, this roa ^ 'm^„ "^"'"'•' ""^ bird ; Monseigneur this dish of ^°"^"'"' ""'^ ™?°u' '"the time on tho^s b /u^e Tirt*'™^^'^"-'^ '".Bernauid simmering in h" h:!^" """ °' ^ '"^'>' I '-s weari':d^^ 'Zrll """' "'' ''^^ ^ "« '° -^ ""■-.e if my Lord Baron ,h T'/""'^ "° '^ult of from Pau . Then clme ac^t '""'^ °' '"^ "''^ prolonged as if Philip of Sn»^"^' "' '°''""' ^"^ Q P "' IPf " «"« being put to bed \ '►i I a HM mm A Man of His Age i^ ■ / ■J i ■■ I: by every grandee in the kingdom. De Grammont there will tell you that the Qnieen, my mother, ob- serves no such state at Pau. Rut at last we were quit of It all, and you should have seen mv ^- d's face of horror when I told him I had a mind for an ho.^r's ride after such a weighty repast. 'It is n^vinrss ' cried ne. 'It is sense,' ar.swered I, 'lest I die of ai' indig^^ion.' 'We will allront the Baron,' said he The Baron will x )ov .nothing.' .aid I. ' But I have passed my word to the Oueen," said he. ' But I hold your promise,' said I , .nd though he urged a dozen reasons I shook his pi^'dged word in the face of them all, so, in the end, we crept down by the lackeys- stairway, and with the three or four fellows who are now drinkin;:r good wine in your kitchen, we set off across the fields. Some bribery has been done and I lear me there is more yet to do ; but I do not know how certain sixty crowns could be better spent than in a visit to Bernauld." "Ay,"said De Grammont, sourly; "there you have It. Monsei^neur knows he can twist me how he wills and yet I think if I had counted up the cost in cooi blood I would have been iron, promise or no prom- ise. Happily the worst that can come of it is that De Beauvoir may get wind of the freak and have his ancient gall stirred by the slight of his hospital- "Never a word shall he hear," cried Henri, "never a word, and- List a moment, Messieurs ; ay, I thought I caught the batter of hoofs. We are not your only visitors to-night. Monsieur de Bernauld." Out of the dark, as we l led, came the rhythm> ^ ?e De Grammont , my mother, ob- at last we were sen my ^.m d's face lind for an honr's 'It is ma'infss,' ' lest I die of at Baron,' said he. I. ' But I have he. ' But I hold e urged a dozen the face of them by the lackeys' fellows who are :chen, we set off been done, and I ; I do not know Btter spent than Flenri, "never a ; ay, I thought not your only d." e the rhythm >' Berna..ld Reaps More Honor Than it Sowed beast, and the approach „i,H. '™' '"" " '''"8"^ Hake wo.ld have had 7 T '^''""^'"'ent. La cho«„ .,„.e stTalh e/p:::^r a ?'> ^"'' ''-'' the open highway; u„less7„de ^ I ''''"''■8''"°? on z:' -- -. ^ a r™p\r-r t: 'orp:::;:e:tre:t :;^^^^^^^^^ irt - — - horseman was already mS h ° l^' """"^ ">*= butt-end of his ridingwhTp ^ ' "'"•" "'"■ ""e the best race on it we can • ' '™ '""^' P"' th:o!;rd:r.'^^.^;.H?artr; ''Z''" ''"'' ' thou seek?" ' "'°"> ^""^ "horn dost "I'comeTom ,f V' "'''" "' """'''•" '"'^^"-^ he Mon ,?„r dcB tlirr' "' ''°"''""^'' ^-^ ^ -'I' <«■!? ri ^^^"^"^a> thy master." your f^ he^re't^^^^^^^^^^ '''''■ " «""- ^-el, that the door g : ZZ t^' '?' '" ^''^- ^- thou, friend hand ,..7. ? '' ^"^ "° "^^'"^ ' ^"d thy message I am Mo '' 'T\'' '°'^"' °^ '^'^^ " My faitl'" grulTe;h:"''"lt f " welcome north an^outhbu/r- "'""^ " '"'"""^^^ Is there a sie^e ^£00^ V '' ^'^''^'^P'^ ^^^"^ all. or what.v ^ °'' °' ^"^'^ y^ the plague within, " The plague, fellow, the plague " lauD-hPrl w • . my back "n^^rVoJ ^^ ''sue, laugtied Henri at acic. De Grammont has called me so in his 243 ml "m.i>\ m h ! A Man of His Age :?7 ki. »ir i:?:i heart a score of times since supper. Why so much mystery, Monsieur de Bernauld ? Open the door and let the fellow in." " His letter first, Monseigneur, and if that be right he shall have no complaint of his welcome thereafter I would we had a hundred of his kind. So, that is De Montamar's seal. Round with you, my friend to the postern there to the left. See thou to him and his beast, Marcel, and let them want for nothing Now for the letter, with your permission, Monseigneur, and Monsieur le Viscomte. De Montamar does not waste good horseflesh so hard on my heels for nothing " "Read away. Monsieur," said the Prince, eying me and the square* of paper with all a healthy lad's cu riosity. " By my faith, if my mother's court were aught but what it is, and Madame de Bernauld a little less than what all the world knows her to be, I would say— But read on. Monsieur— read on." The ipsissima verba of what De Montamar wrote is gone from me, but the tenor was this, and in my heart I cursed louder than ever the boy's freak that had run us all into such a net : Midway up the slope from the river, as they rode back to Pau, two of Mademoiselle's rogues had met them, reining in to let the troop pass. No words had passed, nor any token either, unless a shifting of a kerchief from pocket to breast was to be so construed, but the men had turned on their way down the hill, making as if towards the south, and up to three hours later they had not shown face at the castle. If one was bound for France, as I had conjectured, then he was like to find It a long road to Paris by the way he headed. 244 Bernauld Reaps More Honor Than it Sowed as, hT:^gt,::-r; tt ^t""'-" ^"^-^ ">^ p-^, nothing and Wnk,W "■' "^' ' ''~<' ^'^""S '"to of Spain married th Queen ;i "° '' °' ""' ^''"'P would or no?" ^ ' ""^^ "°""=""' "hether slie " This is no jest, Monseii>-n»t„. ■• t ly, "for if what De Mnnf "' ^ answered, grave- pass, not oily Lon J ^^[ foreshadows comes to faith with our c^eed.nd^rar' '"' '" "''"^' »'' ^11 Monseigneur, M::s4neur:hi:rn" ^^"!,'--er. is likely to be naid for ", J °"°'' '° Bernauld fortJland^tt%t:?;:7,:;- -r-.y.itisin "yoXet;otsi^?"-"'" "'^^Henri. sharply, varrl '7" '"' ^?"'''S<^-''^. but the danger to Na varre, I answered. " Monsieur rf« n and I must hold counsel TtTsJLr"""""'' ^°" th^^La Hake wil, have us all i^rgr^Sn're: .fo?;r-Ltc:3tr;-tror^^^^^ hoodwink La HakT or r/o "'''• ™""'"^ ""^ '» with,intoafrui:S attacIatreT; ''^ '"'«''=^'' compel a special o-uard f^ f "^ °"'*''' and so the r'emainrr of ?he prog"resr' A d""^ '''™"^''°"' --.notoniyatth:z:r^f^n:::,r:?:f 24S .)'? Vij "lill A Man of His Age ^rery life of the Prince, and trough him at the peace of Navarre and the toleration of The Religion. With such a hostage as Henry of Beam in her hands, the Queen of France would show scant ceremony in ne- gotiations. As I ended, and all sat in silence, the Prince looked curiously at me a moment, then said ; "For how long. Monsieur, can Bernauld stand siege against such ,t body as La Hake might bring against ^^ '• Not an hour, Monseigneur," I answered, bitterly. "We have no hope in Bernauld." "Once La Hake missed your life by a miracle," he went on. " I tak^e it he is not the man to fail twice. It was a rash invitation, Monsieur de Bernauld, to give such a man, was it not ?" "On my word, Monseigneur," said I, looking, I suppose, a httle of the fool 1 felt, " I had not thought of that." ^ Henry of Beam put out his hand and gripped mine hard. " I said, a moment ago. Monsieur, that -ou forgot yourself, and I said, truly, ' ough my wc Is had an- other meaning then. Your pardon for them, and if we all come out of this, may Navarre remember Ber- nauld as Bernauld has i emembeied Navarre." That is hard on fifty years ago, and I shall die the simple gentleman I was then. Neither l.enry of Navarre nor Henry of France forgot it ^v ^en'the time came when, as one or oth er, he ha ag to give, there were too many open hands outsu etched under his very eyes for him to see mine clinched in empty 246 %) I Prince looked gripped mine Bernauld Reaps More Honor Than it Sowed loudest echo ''' ™'" "''" ^^"^ °"' the De olr* Z:7 '^"' ^---^-ur," broke in the pinSof this c,e Ific'r '° '"" """""^"^ °"' <>' andquicklvLuo R '"^ ""'" "''"■ ourselves, ••tI K ; ^"'^ "'" ^""d tli^ odds'" plieJjT n ''' '"' "" ^P^'" "ehind h „;• re- Have whom • ou will " cnVH n^ n pr. -oii^ru of -t-::^^-^ - ;^ 1^ ' i'li 1 .1 • r . CHAPTER XXII ONE GUEST MAKES MANY hl'^l"^^^ *"'' °^ ^^''"'^"'^■•■s messenger I found both hard at work, in different fashions but with equa earnestness ; the one upon his belated supper he other p.ecmg together such patches of hints and (acts as he could extract between the mouthfuls It needs no great shrewdness to guess that a post would not have followed me so hard from Pau except whh news that m some way touched Bernauld closely and Marcel held that whatever touched Bernauld tou'ched him and behooved him to know touched Pau^'lJ^'lt' f"n '""' *"' "'"" ""= than we at Pau said the fellow, turning round the carcass of his fowl to see whence would come the sweetest picking, for It. Thou knowest those russet-brown loafers of Mademoiselle deRomenay?' said my lord ; 'there are two on the road somewhere betwixt this and the mountams. Keep open eyes for them, and tell Mon- sieur de Bernauld if thou seest one or other, but give them a wide berth, for this business admits neifhir risk nor delay.' Your wine, too. is stouter than ours For myself, I love a rough wine that tickles not alone your palate, but also makes you thank God for a drv 248 ■' '\ One Guest Makes Many said Marcd"" """■ ''"^''*"«' °f -«• La HakeP" I could, going wariiv ,« . t "'°"''' '""■■" »" sound di! I h'eaT sav'e he wind "T'' ^ ■"" "°' ^ Vour country-sid/l: ff^e T "/ g^ate^Lr" '^"°''- comes to think of it ^ r>, S^^ve, and, now one and a stout'ti^l'^^rp-^-J^^-j^^^ood feeding -b_ A,„ ,, p^„ ^P„^ ^^Hean^anve ,^^^ .^H^a But I wasted no more time anri k-^ i • chatter, bade Marcel see th^t'th. / n "^ ''' °" ^'' and then follow me '"°^ ' ^"8^ ^^^^ f"» "'Tis full enough, Master Blaise" said hp ««c P|ease,you we'll Have no hot wit^in^^Btntid t pass!°gri^"*;foj'ru:r,°"''-'-''^^-'^-soahe I guess that bloody Alva's wi«,i«r^ triple truth ••said he, " and the 0"':""'^ H V may catch salmon heads before morntg... "^^ "^'^ therel'uld tr tlr ^7^'' '"' ''^"-. -- When we rlu^'eTt^The P. fe 'a"nd 0^0"' °"' "" It was to find that in n,. • . , Grammont changed. "•' '"'"™' "'^'f ""od had PHnce .us; nfe^re restT^eVt-ir^V^i: 249 ;4' M w IM, I «i /' ;!; 1 11 » ' ! .if! ff V) ■ I i i!:^ 1 ■4 ;^ i A Man of His Age 'm t. journey to-morrow ; and, after all, this terror of La Hake is but the starting at the shadow of a chance." "By your leave, my lord," answered I, " terror is not a word one man can lightly take from another Lest there be other shadows than that of La Hake, I pray you to choose your speech with a nicer cour- tesy. Let the Prince rest himself, with all my heart If watchfulness can bring him safety he may sleep in peace." " On my word, Monsieur de Grammont is right " said Henri, stifling a yawn with a laugh, " and to tell the truth I think it will matter little to me whether the beds of Bernauld be soft or hard. Nay, my lord never trouble yourself. Monsieur, my host, will see to me." "Remember, Monseigneur," said De Grammont who had risen from his chair and stood facing me at f he door, " we must needs be at Beauvoir in the first of the dawn." "Plague take it!" cried the lad; "there lies the blot on the whole prank ; but we must pay for our whistle, my lord. Wake me betimes, and once in the saddle I will ask nothing better than a gallop in the dusk. Now, Monsieur de Bernauld, lights." When I returned to De Grammont it was to find him pacing up and down the room, and Marcel bolt upright by the great mantel at the farther end. " Your pardon. Monsieur de Bernauld," said the Viscount, stopping short in his walk. " On my word as a gentleman I had no thought of giving offence nor, betw'xt us two at least, of belittling the possible danger. My one intent was to get rid of the Prince, 250 One Guest Makes Many :>i and so leave ourselves untrammelled. He is a mef tlesome lad, with all his mother's fire and hi fathe t obstmacy, and had he dreamed the danger as a hve Whio. . us shalf ciuesti^-r t:r:ae:erS " In sueh cases as this, my lord, you have the ereat est expenenee," replied I. " It is enough ff I sav Tou can rely on Marcel's word to the letter^ ^ "^ " - hairs. Now, my /rie„; hrieflra d' o^^ ^^2^" Your master says o£ you what I would be loath to av of any ten men at the Queen's court, but I take Wr^ at_h.s word. What force have we >" ™ .00 Jf^h :::d:e:f:i;Tnf rn^; r^^v-^" nauld s men, the three that rode in with vour lord ship, and yon fellow from Pau " ^ "'" _^ ■• Ha !•■ said De Grammont. " Nine , and al, good swer''for°five'of"r''"r' """'"• ^'"P'^' "' "" -n- anahtorp::f---l---°--P's»en ■■.^4'nr::: :n\Th;otru:hr^----'- -°Bira:^i';r. r;;ari'o;rr"^ your lordship." ^^^^' ^"^^s Whereat De Grammont looked mightily pleased 351 ,•1 <, i r A Man of His Age behind his laugh. He knew his own value as well as any man, but from soldier to soldier Marcel's phrase was worth a dozen court compliments. " If I vouch the other four, that gives us nine good men. For how long could we hold Bernauld against thrice that number ?" " Not for an hour," said Marcel, "and if La Hake be agamst us, not for thirty minutes." " Faith, this La Hake must be the very devil of a fellow," cried De Grammont, "that both your master and you hold him in such respect. Thirty minutes > What ! nme men hold out no longer than a bare half- hour?" "He who thinks his foe a fool is the greater fool of the two," answered Marcel, sententiously ; "and as to the time, what stand can nine swords and half a dozen pikes make against a score of musketoons and the like ? Tis a case of pure murder, and not of fair fight." For an instant De Grammont looked grave then he said : ' " Bah ! La Hake, not being a fool, will use steel and risk no noise." "Faith, my lord," said Marcel, "he may well risk what there is none to hear." " But the doors .?" "The doors are stout enough, but the winter's sup- ply of wood, dry as the sun can make it, lies outside Let La Hake stack a few faggots and set a torch to them, and with the wind that's blowing—" ^ "And this, fellow," broke in De Grammont-" this is the way Bernauld is guarded ?" 252 md if La Hake may well risk imont— " this One Guest Makes Many lin "By your leave," answered Marcel ^v\ih f .u first time, a roughness in his voice 'th J ' '^^ Bdarn." "^^' ^*^ere is peace in "Peace in Bdarn '" echnpri n^ r^ I-ord's name when w.??^ ^^"'"'°"^- "^^the Ha! now T ;ememh M '^''' ^'^'^ ^" ^^^^n? spoke of a\r;tr;h;r:^ Bemau^you chance, my friends of i ^ " ' '^'^''^- What these fdlowsr' '^^"^ ^^""^^ °" «««^e of cei! tn'd nitLlT'^"'^": 'r'''" — ^d Mar- six La Hakes.- ' "' "'^ '^^^ ^-"-"Id against "Twenty-four hour«; ^" crif^,^ ^^u^^T^ "as well ask all time and el .'°""'' '^^"^^^^'^ twenty-four hour are ke^end '' '°"°"' ^^"^^ afloat o„ ,,,,,,,, Wh;t:e"tyrurTour: ..^" "^ the neTtrre:rnTh:t^ ^" T '''-'^^ ^^ "and that's the Ih" ' "'"'"' Parcel, shortly. "Then let La Hake come and we're shent " . -^ De Grammont. "For fhp^ rv, ^ • / ^' ^^'^ canst do is to s^e thL ^ "'"^' '^' ^''' ^^ou and if thy sight and h. "' ""' "'^^ '^^^" ""^^-^r-, I will ha'e t fears'prf '7," ""'''' '' '"^^ ^^^"^ again, for thou speakesf o"..' "'• "^^ ^^" ^'^- Should. Now. Mon's u 1 Be naV;-"' 7 u' '''''''' to me as the door closed bernl^reT 'W^^^^ you say to a dash in the darkness PTh^ one's soul in a t■rar^ ic r*., '*'*^"^ss!' ihis gnawing " An^ , , P ' ^'"^^ ''^ "^y liking." ^ .And as little to mine," answered I -hn. .u point is the safpfv r^f f. ^ /t^^weiea i. but the dark will hard y Lt er Ih!" h"' "^' ^ ''''' '" ^'- «iy Dettei the chances. Tis like this 253 'hi < 1 •• r ■^■|/i| i Jill I / ■j" 1 ' 'i! \l A Man of His Age my lord : La Hake is either there or he is not there. If not, let the boy have his rest. If the rogue is on the prowl, whether for him or for me, we would but bolt into his arms in the dark, and a chance musket- ball might put an end to the d'Albrets. The lad being worth more alive than dead, I cannot think La Hake would willingly lay violent hands on him." "Then there is nothing for it," said he, "but to see that all are on the alert, though I pray God we are like children frightened at an empty darkness." Though I well knew we could trust Marcel to see that no risks were added through careless folly I led the way round the Chateau willingly enough Few things fret a man's nerves sooner than idly wait- ing for the unknown, and, besides, it was a leader's place to make certain for himself that all was well It is a poor consolation to a man that he has rightly trusted his underlings nineteen times out of a score, if the twentieth time he is caught napping. At every turn De Grammont had n^'othing but praise; doors were barricaded, shutters barred no lights showing, and at every outlook of vantage there was a watcher stationed, so that no point of view was uncommanded. "So, so," said he, approvingly; "our friend can work. Give me the man who says no more than he must, and nine times out of ten he has the readiest hands and the shrewdest wit to guide them." Wherein Marcel differed from La Hake, as shall be told in its place. This took a full half-hour, and was, as it were a kind of crutch to the halting of the night, for, once 2S4 One Guest Makes Many back in our chamber with the t.^ i u time lagged heavily dI 1 f n ^''^"^^" "«> though as for myself iZ u '^ ^^^ ^'^^ °"t fhoughtswereneilherpl :;r^^^^^^^^ ^^- n^y' Tis useless to say to vo., ",u , "°""ly company, for y.^rse,f," forUle s " „f 'h ^ "'""^'"^ °" hour, the ruin of his name ht, . ''"' """ ^ '" «>at cannot imagine their sWs'LT'"' ^""^ ■>- '-«, he ■t as you may, there was Zo ' , '^""dnigs. Believe fulness that La HaJ IdTeft n ' "' ^™ '"^"k- to be pointed at as the on If . '"°" °' "^ "«■"« 'visdom had destroyed Navarre "'" '"'°'= ^"""^^ Then came remembrance of mv r.^ covered from her siclcness and L l^' "°' y**' «' ""comforted, and at the bkte" „ '\'"''' "'"°^ '^W must have groaned aloud orDer ""= """"Sht I from his reverie, and for a mL P""'™""' started another ,uestio„ing,y It X^r;*^'' " °- Small wonder if it was a relief u at last a hurried .volZZ Vr "'^'" ""='''= «"« ^"artly by a hammerrf o n " ' '™"'"^'' f""""^" told us that at length we had °"'"' '^°°'-' ''W<='> 'V- done with ghfstt :n?std:;"s " ''-' """• -^ and stre::iing",;:i°rf,''xr:itVtr'^'"^-'° "'^ '-' -second nature in a sildfe 'hlr „ h' ?"""' ""''^'^ Ins belt, and twitched his 'sworrh-t^"*^""™"^ «asy to his hand " I et the f "°''" '""^y then one of your fellow, en. f """'=■ '"' ^ time, .™th is always .iZlTuTZ I' M ""'"'■ '''^ and confirms no more than they tno. "'"■' ^^^^'^'^ h» own that you are here, h„t\ra:t:rL:;:' 255 I ti. ill 1 . ! < . if M ,1 1 r i *;' A Man of His Age Meanwhile, call Marcel, and we will hold our la^t council. Thank the Lord we are done with brood- ing, once for all." " But the Prince ?" " Time enough for the Prince presently ; let us first see our way a yard or two ahead. If my campaigninjr goes tor aught, these fellows will not botch their work by overhaste. Why should they, seeing that with three leisure hours there is naught to press them '" Of our talk there is little need be said, since not one of the three of us had more to suggest than that we should fence them with our words as long- as possible, and after that take to steel. In war as in every other ganle, the case is never so desperate but that the unexpected may turn the scale of chances Time, for the present, was against us, but let La Hake dally, and time would change sides. So said De Grammont, but in our hearts we each one of us knew La Hake would not dally. Meanwhile from be- low there had come the sound of voices. Monnon's gruff tones answered by muffled speech, of which we did not catch the import, but within it passed from inquiry to expostulation and protests, and without ended m a still stronger assault on the stout panels angry and loud enough though somewhat dulled bv the defensive lumber piled behind. "Well," cried De Grammont, as Monnon looked in at the door with a face whiter than one likes to see in a man to whom will presently come a tussle for life who is the rogue, and what says he ?" "Naught but 'Send me hither Monsieur de Ber- nauldl'-that. and that only," answered Monnon. 256 I hold our last Dne with brood- 'tly ; let us first ly campaigning otch their work sing that with press them ?" said, since not ) suggest than words as long 1. In war, as in desperate but le of chances. IS, but let La sides. So said ;ach one of us (vhile from be- ces, Monnon's I, of which we : passed from , and without stout panels, hat dulled by ion looked in likes to see in ussle for life, ieur de Ber- Monnon. One Guest Makes Many horse-hoofs." '^^ ^^^ J^'^ble of their Terror counts double " qaJri n^r> gives a score in front .n^ ^^^^ DeGrammont. "That hind. Hark to tV "^'^"'^ ^^^^ ^' "^^"y be- .o to him^^M^s TbIzz:' .r T'' ■' '-' Prince. God ^rant ^.1 " ' ""'^''^ ^ '"^^^^ the hour hence/ ^ " ^" ""' '''" ^^^^^^ ^^ ^vaken an .'I I I ■■'1 fi l\ m CHAPTER XXIII !l it I 1 1 I HOW MARCEL THE YOUNGER SAVED THE PRINCE OP B^ARN There was, as yet, no attempt at breaking in the door, which was as stout as oak and iron could make It, only the rattle of blows dealt from a heavy sword- hilt, or the thunder of a thick -heeled riding -boot, with, above the clatter. La Hake's voice, " Bid thy master hasten, fellow, and beware of tricks, for I and mine are in no mood for fooling." " Get you gone, La Hake !" cried I. " This is no place for such as you. Here there are no more babes for slaughter." "Ha! the man himself," I heard him say; "then, by the Lord, the jade told truth." Then he went on in a louder tone, " Let that rest, Monsieur de Ber- nauld, so that what you and I have to settle between us may come the easier." "There is but one thing that is at issue between us two," answered I, " and that is life and death. Give me but half an hour of daylight—" "Chut, chut!" said he; "why rake up bygones like a spoiled child? And besides, when one hunts the bear one does not turn aside even for a wolfslot. Let us leave off beating about the bush and come to 258 THE PRINCE How Marcel the Younger Saved the Prince truth, I have .erZZtZy ' J:':,^:" ^^^^^ ther man nor devil anH ,„!,„ i, "°*^ ""o fear nei- gold crowns and a f"n t "? "° °"'^^ ^ods than they know aslufe a t Tdo of f ' '^"/"'^ ^"^ -thin,. -<« nothing is ';/atXre'f::i,;jr " There are three hours vet to / ^^'"^^• timber piled outside your Uhs I "' '"' J^^' ^^^ nauld that the sun ./ . "^^^ ^'^ ^^^ ^er- Stic, nor sto':nrs:udorr%T" "'1 "^'"■- hark to the whistle of the w nd fn // ^"^ *"•" ""■ "you bide in-doors you bu „ ; ° ^h^'T '''^°"''- shoot you down like dogs iL 'the r^ht""'? "°'"' *^ fire. There is an end tf Bernauld'? . '""'" "*" an end to BernauldV ml!^ .u ''°"^^' 'he'e is nauld's race. A."'tttT tuaf "^th "/"" '° ^^^^ you may kick at if , * ""^"t^'tfuth. Fence it how will remain and no allThr", '"'ll '™'^' ''"" 't to^Michaelmas tlTbate'a 'o^ of It '"^ "" '™-" "^'^ did o^ s; r r;" '• '° t-^' -™ -■ - ^ou -«>etrapp?drofn^^t^^rrytdr.r:n" ve:y^rd:a'„: r yo^^eir ^^T '^"-"'^ a^ .^tir ^b: ^i^-V^^^^^^^^ ^veT^^ had no guests rthin ,7"," ^°"- " ^""^"'d 259 'ft a m 1 ihil A Man of His Age ing to let Blaise de Bernauld go scatheless. For aught I care he might burn, too, and welcome, but it chances he has a greater value with his life whole in him. Ha ! Do you take me now ? My faith, had a man told me but a day since that I would give De Bernauld life on any terms 1 would have cursed him for a fool and liar. Is it a bargain ?" What I would have said in my anger I know not, but Marcel, who had slipped in behind me unheard,' whispered : " Speak him fair. Master Blaise, and so gain time, then hasten up-stairs, for my lord is growing restless." " Henry of B^arn ?" said I. " What fool's talk is this of Henry of B^arn ?" " Tut !" answered ) ,a Hake, scornfully. " Art thou going to play such a i .c. fool's game as that, and so late in the day ? Come now, Monsieur de Bernauld, on your word as a gentleman, is the Prince of B6arn not within there, with some bare half-dozen fellows who have not so much as one musketoon between them ? Faith of a gentleman, Monsieur de Ber- nauld ?" To be honest, had I dreamed he would have be- lieved my lie, faith of a gentleman, lied I would have ; but I knew it would but draw his contempt and leave things where they were, so hung silent a minute, then said : " Suppose we strike a bargain, what warrant have I that Monseigneur's life would be spared ?" " That is sense," cried La Hake, " and the more so that had Henry of Biarn not been within you had burned without mercy. Warrant ? The warrant that 260 fi'-vw^*r?-^-M«w**iitTOesg*»r How Marcel the Younger Saved the Prince burn BernauM about Jyltt ^Cl'^ l?" ""' ""' " Faith of a gentleman," he cried at Ip^f «o ^ u better warrant can you have v ' '"''' ^"^ ^^^^ " The security is admirable, but by your leave - .n other gods tha gorc^rrr/r;!'""'^ might hold that th'e /ewTr , vi / 1 e te^ Th'' pay, and so make an end of us all Th !t for it behooves a man who has but olt We'to r''"f ' bargain well for its safeguarding" '° '"'^ '° for ytur?are°"''et'-r" ' " '"' ' °"^ ^°" "° g™-^ge the^;rr::mrh:nd^:;ftr:hr«r;frd"''"r' aimost thinlc I would take the durance • '""' ' mat s not the point," answered T " hnf fu u ing^of Bernauia, and I aid mineToo;;,, b^rdl""d Again there was a silence, e^ept that I could hear 261 i I i r M ifj IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 us lu 11,2 ui li£ 2.5 2.2 2.0 ■■•£ M U 11.6 _j Uj_ ^^ ^Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTn,N.Y. MStO (71«) 872.4503 '^ .« n^^ ^ <^ r- m i ' i- • (I '4 A Man of His Age him cursing softly, half under his breath as it were If he had cursed for an hour it would have pleased me since r '" T" "' ""' Grammonfs impatience, since It seemed to me that every frittered momen was a gam to us ; but presently he broke out • This time at least there can be no cavil See Monsieur de Bernauld, I will covenant to hand you' half our musketoons, with their powder and ball and thereafter 'tis a fair fight, and whoever sets Bernauld aflame takes his life in his hands " added, with a bitterness of meaning that touched h.m not at all, "And is this, too, faith of a gentle man?" scune nauld, he answered. "Then grant me half an hour to weigh it over. forTll'tr "" ' "^ '''^ '''' ^'^"^ ^' -^ '^-^'-^ "Half a hundred devils!" he answered, savagely ; think, man-,f you say no 'tis between you and your conscience that it's the damning you for all eternity for burn you will. Here it is iii a nutshell. Say nav and you and the Prince of Bdarn, and De Grammont -I know the old fox is within-perish to a man ; say ay, and all are as you were, except that the Prince goes south as hostage. My faith, but the terms are a fool s terms and had I not pledged my word to them I wou d make them harder. As to time, you have while I count five hundred slowly, and I warn you the ten minutes will not be lost to us. for we will spend them piling faggots for your roasting, and at five 262 MMMW jain for Ber- How Marcel the Younger Saved the Prince hundred and ten you will smell the smoke of your Monseigneur I found wakeful enough, and De Gram- mont by h,m, fuming, with Marcel, a silent sentinel outside their door. Taking him by Jhe am bog, Ha^re'rr''^^'''"''^^^ "'«•>' ^-"'•''^-t ; Twice," said De Grammont, " I have had it in mv bolt for It while you had that fellow in talk The rogues were mostly to the front and keeping" but a careless watch. The odds were we might have broken through but the blackness of the treachery to yc u held me back. Now, with them buzzing like home on all sides, the chance has slipped - but rather reckon the chances that ^etnain " terlJXf fh '' '° """l" "" '"'"^P^'" ^"^^ ^-' bit. terly , for there is nothing left but to fling open the door and die like men. and not as badgers^in'a ". " Even then it is to leave the women and childre^' shrieking behind." cnuaren intt'thetr "Z ^''■"' ''"''' '"^ ^'"^ ^'^ hand up into the air with a gesture I understood ^^ Speak on," I said, " but waste no time " By your leave, then," and he looked from one to the other of us, "does this La Hake know Moreig! neur ? Know him by looks, I mean ?" ^ "He may have seen him in Paris or St. Germain four years ago," said JDe Grammont, "but-out wt h your scheme, man, for the Lord's sake, if you have 2<53 i hy m 5 II A Man of His Age h , <. II,' •:• h For answer Marcel turned on his heel, and we heard him running at top speed down the corridor When he returned it was with young Marcel in his arms naked as when snatched from bed. and still blinking witn sleep. ° fhf Tl^' ^^ ^" '^' '^""^ ^y '^^ ^'^^ «f t^e Prince, he father flung a coverlid across his shoulders, and TW. ^^f,^""^*^^ '^'^ '"-^"'•"g on the moment. There was the same tossed and curly hair, the same thin face with the nose overlong for the breadth of the cheeks the same alertness of spirit in the eyes the same slender, sinewy young limbs. Dress Marcel in silks and lac, and belt a sword to his waist, and so long as he held his tongue he would pass for Henry of B^arn with one who had not seen the Prince for so many years. "God for Navarre and the faith. We'll cheat the rogues yet," cried De Grammont. Then he turn^ 'Z Marcel, standing rigid behind him : " Do you the risks, friend ? This is no play of puppets Do youjo this thing for Monseigneur with'your eye^ ^ "Never a bit for Monseigneur," answered Marcel We are Bernaulds, the lad and I, and do it for Mas^ ter Bla.se. As to the risk, who should know La Hake better than we ?" '• But can the lad play his part, and will he ?" As to the can he, the Lord knows ; and as to the will he, ask himself." « « hi,! ^fTK^^'/^'^F °^ ''' "'^^ ^^^' '^ '^'" «^'d the boy, but if It be for Master Blaise, why not ?" 264 How Marcel the Younger Saved the Prince as to the risks, lyin^ as if thZ-.T ^" '^'"^ conscience or ; God of t m h T "" '"'^ ''^'"^ ^« last forced a con^nt '" ''' ""^''' ^'^^^ ^^ ^^ "Why should he hurt the InH ?•• c • i .u whose face had gone whiter th.nM '*'' '^''^''"' better cause "When hi fi ^ Monnon's and with ausc. wften he finds out the cheaf 't»;u u no more, perchance, than a cut of a whin and wh , a .vh,p-stroke to an idle lad > Why nauJht ' All this had taken longer than t'hlr r granted by La Hake but »i,h """ "' ^race < had hailed himlr'm n 1: ^Hnd"" "1'"''' -ch .ankness told hi. r\ut:r:aVt 'hii^Tdrrrur :/Lry:Vr: ?f '- r- a pound of profit Th.f t ^ ^ ''''^ ^^ '°se a-el, as V^Ltl t^r^ ^airnTh ' '"°^^ saving his honor with his life • ^ '^^"'' °^ "There is some tricJc in this to e-ain tim. •- », suspiciously. ^ ^ "'"^' he said, " If to gain time were all." rpnlipH t " t • u , fenced you with words for ha« ath'o ur, and7^ d n'oT" You may have till the wood is piled to my atnl.. f 1 I u take La Hake at his word, and cheat him with young Marcel in the dark, but the agony written across the father's faro set me thinking whether even a loophole of escap. could not be devised. He, at least, had no illusions The uioment of the discovery of the cheat would be the lad's last of life. In the end, and with few words -for to do him justice De Grammont saw eye to eye with me in this matter-what we settled was this • Five of the horses which were in the inner court- yard should be saddled. On these I, Marcel and hi. lad, and two of the Queen's men-at-arms should mak. a bolt for the mountains, trusting to the half light to fu"u h\"^''^~^' ^" thought -the Prince, and to the half darkness to cover our flight. Touch the lad they would not except in a last desperation, and with the advantage of the surprise, and our knowledge of the paths, we should at least lead them a dance Meanwhile, if we drew the rascals, as I counted we 366 ^^•> * nil be some fif- 1." lieve.and never ^remony in his I homespun, ho and down, "if Navarre. I'll '1(1 would wear it that we had Id have given thanks than a > take La Hake Marcel in the e father's face liole of escapi> d no illusions, heat would bo ith few words iaw eye to eye d was this : ; inner court - tarcel and \u<. 5 should maki- e half light to ^rince, and to rouch the lad :ion, and with knowledge of "lem a dance, t counted we How Marcel the Younger Saved the Prince minute., start La mkeitu.\^°' "° """" ">=" ten "er see of them ^^' "•""'' '"■• ="' he wo„,d Bidding them make all sneed i„ ,i, turned to the window and al. ,, ? '^"""J'"'' ' re- alone to divert a.tentT^bltaL" .'■■"'"' 1'^ "^"^•""t " Hulloa, there, without l.t T'''"*' ""'attack, ketoons, and let there be „rd? ""'' "'"' ""= -"us- n.y part, am having .'..rhor,;" !.' """ '''' '• °" Prince may be fitti Vy attenTed ^^"^ '''"' """ "'^ a.ree > ■• Sr^^ ' ^"7^ «""-«• '- man's life was worth a twi„„ T. ' ' "'""'f'" » ".e other fo„, ,,, h,,, ZTol'^Z'"'"^'- ^' '"^ ^or^:^l sW;!,""!.^;;;::- -^'^-s the ,ast must at least have ,,„me e«cu ^ ^"n I ^'""'""'" Prm« has his guard with h*m- • "^ '"'' *"" " "><> at their p^rfrrn:'"' u's' 271^1' : ^^y '"^y come tongues, for I will sundl^e," her foil "' '"P ^'^" come what may. Now a t ^"'' "■"" '"'"'"ence, Rood faith. Monsieur deB^nlu d v. '""''"~-' '^ '' Fifteen, full told " said r •• -.i. . ball. We will take 'th m o„e b ""'' P"""" -"d to the right. As to theTai^h „ '^ °"" " ^"""^ "oor Pimg Of th horses if 'vl^t l^^^en^^" ''" '-^ "- , lyrth'e'terfCrf r t '--^ -<> p-'- and made for the court Ja'd^l "^ ''^^'' "'"';" --.•«M.. Ahighwirithi'Cmt'irrr: I.. f! ft' II '4 i^ V /f ■■ if / A Man of His Age wind coming, and great splashes of black and gray clouds drifting across the hollov; of the upper sky. Here and there a star showed, but when one looked for it a second time it was lost in the wrack, and in Its place another looked out half the heavens away. Light there was of a kind where the wind wore the clouds thin, but it WAS a light that helped us rather than hindered, because of the quick, disconcerting mterchange of shadow. Even in absolute blackness a man may be a fair mark, but it is another thing to throw a ball straight when he looks now thirty yards away and now sixty. Marcel knew this as well as I, and there was a slackening of the tense lines about the mouth. There was, at least, the promise of a chance of life. Detailed plan we had none, except that we three should hold together, and, once clear of La Hake's fellows, the two men - at - arms might scatter whither they would for safety's sake. This time, at least, there were no toy weapons, and it was almost with a grim satisfaction that I shorten- ed up the strap carrying the Paris blade. With the Prince out of the way, and no boy's life in peril, and a dag or two at the saddle-flap to equalize chances, the night's ride would have been no more than a man's risk. Bidding all mount softly, and two fellows stand ready to open and slam to the gates behind us, I raised the hatch in the rear postern and peered out between its bars. If La Hake made ready in front, •he also kept open eyes behind, for in the glimmer of the uncertain light I could see his fellows, some on 268 ac^sR How Marcel the Younger Saved the Prince horseback and some afoot, dotted here anri ,k , only two or three with musketoons ""'' '"' -!rrnV?r„eTtot;-rcet7i!:r'"- stand^g in the darker shadow'of the "a,,''"""""'"' in m^lil'Z '''''"■ '"^ '-"^ ■■ «od have you leave to "uttt^r:;^"";- """"" "-= '^" -= name of BTnauid NoTfe, ^wf •■ ZT "' °" '"' the saddle, "s.artiy Xzx::"::^':!:: the word. Keen the lari k . ^'^^ you two hang o'n lur flank rTrn "'' f ^"'' """ the beasts their heads a^d d„ , ""' """' «'™ first. Parewel Mnn. ' 'P^'^ ^P"' at the mont. Down with the L"'"' ""' ''^'•"- Let the raslaliffro'n, t^r' uT"'GodVM"'"n'"'"«- and Navarre ! Up B&rn /„H^ I""" """ ^"een for your lives " ' ''°"'" ^P^'" '' Spur The hunt was fairly afoot. U:| { I*!: K 'ii ' I v H? I CHAPTER XXIV HOW MARCEL PARTED LA HAKE AND BERNAULD Doubtless they thought the game already in the net. for, with all their seeming watchfulness, it was ^nf .t V^^'7^'"« flung loose on their beasts' necks, Zr'^u" '^^ '"'^'^ ""'^'- '^^'^ nding-cloaks fo; warmth, smce, even in August, the core of the night IS chilly when a north wind blows. Half asleep they were, too, hunched up with their collars about their ears, and even those afoot had more thought for their own^discomfort than for the quarry trapped in Ber- Drawing our beasts together, with the lad close packed between us, we three passed them in a flash flmgmg one fellow sprawling on his back in the T u . ?' '"^^ '"^^ - ^' ■ ^'"^' ^1-^-d in behind as hey had been bidden, and had a bullet followed us I doubt .t would have done no more than make a vacancy m the ranks of the Queen's servants. Some motion to fire I caught with the tail of my eye as we fled past, but these lumbering weapons are slow of use. and a man would need have the patient leisure of a siege to put them to good service. Even had they been as ready as an honest crossbow we were 370 «^ D BERNAULD already in the lifulness, it was Phose on horse- ir beasts' necks, ding-cloaks for re of the night alf asleep they irs about their ought for their rapped in Ber- the lad close »em in a flash, I back in the i in behind as it followed us, than make a rvants. Some my eye as we IS are slow of latient leisure e. Even had (bow we were r^^ M^ '''yi..> f' k ' 9 ill " ^"E iiiUD OK THE HOOKS c;KKW ,.o I I'KR i, \ If How Marcel Parted La Hake and Bernauld TJVJ'hI^ 'he attempt upon us cried sharply purs, were to be had f'r the'.rvt" '"""'" '""' " ""' money but to «#.*. k.-. f , """^^^ nait his blood- That he hadU L hu h"^'" "" ^'"'^ "" ""'"g^- in so„': f:sht:"i'r's"urr;„':"h"at'" '': '"'^'' fox should himself be outwi led would .111 him r^' dae-cer-slflsK "t..,^ /• ,. ""uiu gaii mm like a ""' tossin, thei? hea::'a„dTlHn;"hardT tTe" impatience to be off he tor*, of , ^^^"* round the bend of the waH shout in '"' ^'"^^ he rode Once w,>h I '''^"''"g commands as pace, and weruirhta^^rr;^^!.^^^^^^^^^ poTntfne [h"'^' """ ^'' ''""' '"' ^^fdo^'y^es u^ret pointing the way we had eone For o «'''*'^"\es ^^^^nln^^^^^^^ turned bacic on those left behind. ""^ disappointment 271 I ,■ i n< f py^ w 'I 1 A Man of His Age " Hath Philip of Spain none but fools that he sends such as thee on his errands ?" I cried. " Dost hear thy crowns jingle, La Hake ?" And I shook the bri- dle till the steel bit rang, laughing my loudest the while. "Sharpen thy wits, man, next time thou ridest to harry Bernauld." Whether the jeer stung him, or the laugh, I know not. The latter, I think, for many a time a laugh will goad a cool men to a folly when a word, or even a blow, fails to stir his phlegm. Be it one or the other, stung he was as I had hoped, and answered me back wrathfuUy : "Art thou there, cheat and liar, with thy prate of faith of a gentleman ? Ye are sure, fellows, ye saw the lad? Tut! what time have we for chatter — ay or nay? Ay? Then God have mercy on thee, De Bernauld, for I'll have none. Ten crowns apiece for the lad or De Bernauld, twenty if ye take them alive. Ride, fellows, as if hell howled for you !" " Now for it, Marcel," said I. " Catch the lad's rein if need be, lest he go wild," and with the thud of the hoofs beneath, and the third of the hoofs behind, we shot out into the black of the night. No need to bid Marcel gallop. He knew the size of the stakes as well as I, and whereas I rode for one life, he rode for two, and so spared neither hand nor spur. Which had the better beasts none could tell, and at the first, at least, it seemed an even match. If they had ridden far since sundown, we had ridden farther, and with no great interval of rest. If, being Bernauld born and bred, we knew the country better, having the boy with us equalized the advantages, 272 i ^' 1, 5 that he sends 1. " Dost hear shook the bri- ly loudest the ;xt time thou laugh, I know time a laugh , word, or even it one or the and answered h thy prate of ellows, ye saw r chatter — ay y on thee, De «rns apiece for ke them alive. Itch the lad's th the thud of hoofs behind, knew the size I rode for one ther hand nor me could tell, ren match. If e had ridden 3st. If, being Duntry better, ; advantages, How Marcel Parted La Hake and Bernauld That IS a man's knowledee and nn, - knowledge either sinr, ^ ^^"^ ™^" ^ than can ride a 'hor Th^'^"''^°" ''°^^^'>^'='' was aiso a curb on u'r spe o^'afttr'alf ^ """='■ horfe^ T^ Ti -r ^-^ t-'e PatoVrjo^:: horse. They, ,f they had the heart for it miirhf f!i into a string with their fleetest bea- 1^1. while the others tailed off but read "'""P "£. "P came to e-rin« R„f i ''°^^ ^^^^^ -^ jom m if it take hTh, , V ■"" "' ""« ■^"^"■'d "'• This I She d tL' ;S.' wf "d '"' '"' °' '"^ «^"°P into ten, but the tirrof ;ri^ " '"! T"'' "°""^ heeis e e, ,,,,1 -^ :^J^^-X:Z''' "^ t^3r--"-^™--^^^^^^^ play had been to swell the numbed of ,h. ! tTrai'nt r r -'''•-"' --^^^^^^^^^^ to gam by their hanging back. To fight La nfb' was no part of our purpose, unless to fight as the rat fights when pent in a corner and hopetes ouch a corner seemed not far .^ff f 11 , the hoofs grew loude.ld"! he dusk! e^l stc"/ bok,ng back across his shoulder, showed how/S was h,s apprehension -apprehension, mind you no 273 ^ A Man of His Age have a clear and exact expectation of the worst that can befall, and yet have no terror. That he should already despair was a mystery, for our chances were, as yet, not much worse than ever, and how could I know that he had his mind resolved on one last sac- rifice for Bernauld ? For all my knowledge of the country through which we rode, four years' absence and the changes wrought in them had dulled the edge of familiarity, and half unconsciously I leaned on Marcel for guidance. Not only had he from time to time visited Bernauld but the carrying out of his recruiting mission these last few weeks had taken him over every foot of the countryside. When, therefore, having taken another long look behind, he shortened his hold on the lad's rein and called to me softly, "To the left, and God bless you. Master Blaise," I swerved aside unhesitatingly, and' finding myself on soft turf, bent forward on the sad- dle and spurred harder than ever. On my right, of a sudden, there was the loom of thick timber, solid to the ground with an under- growth of brush, and lying on the night black and flat as a wall. Across this came the sharp clatter of hoofs on a stony road, and, to my wonder. Marcel's voice raised to a shout : « This way, Monseigneur, this way and keep by me !" and then, and only then, I saw that I rode alone. Reining my beast back with a jerk, I stood up in my stirrups, listening. Out of the gloom on the right front, faint through the wind for all their near- ness, I heard Marcel and the lad, abreast, and, to my 374 How Marcel Parted La Hake and Bernauld tense nerves, as if but a yard away was the loud scurry of the pursuit ; behind, silence, utter and complete ; then again from the front Marcel's voice in a hoarse shout that broke down even the opposi- tion of the wind, " Hold by me, Monseigneur ' Up Navarre, and down Spain !" Then I understood In the hurly - burly of the wind the thud of my gallop on the soft turf would pass unheard, and La Hake and his fellow-bloodhounds, following the decoy would be led astray. To the last Marcel's thought was for Bernauld. On him and on his be the risk me he had tricked into safety. Nine times out of ten the first impulse in a man is the most generous and self -forgetful. Following it and driven by an unreasoning sense .f shame and cowardice, I swung my beast round, and set to work feeling my way back in the dark as best I might and found It no easy task. The shadow of the timber on my left was but a blind guide, and every half-dozen strides plunged me irtto brush that choked all prog- ress. To draw to the right was to lose the loom of the trees, and with it the line of advance. Do what I would, follow the curving of the wood I could not and on the sixth check I drew bridle in sheer despair' In the gallop south from Bernauld I had left the reins loose on the horse's neck, and the brute's instinct had earned me straight and safely. Such a course was impracticable now, nor was the man's reason an ade- quate substitute for the brute's sagacity. There I sat, cursing my impotence, while from the other side of the timber belt came the clatter of belated strag- glers coursing their blood -money with the dogged 275 A Man of His Age persistence that trusts to some turn in the chapter of accidents. Then, suddenly, born out of what twist in the brain I knew not, there came to my relief a sense of my own futility, and, sullenly enough, I headed once more towards the mountains, leaving my beast to pick its own path. To ride into the middle of Lc. Hake's rogues, savage with the cheat put upon them, was but to fling away Marcel's sacrifice for naught, and turn the whole failure of the raid into a half triumph. Truly the heart knoweth its own bitterness, and my chafings of spirit were sore enough as I rode on, as it were, into vacancy, cursing La Hake, cursing the Prince, cursinp^ myself, and at times cursing even Marcel. What right had he to take the lead from my hands without yea or nay, making me play the pup- pet and dance to his whistle? Who in Pau, yonder, would believe but that when the pinch came I saved my skin by thrusting on others the burden of danger? When a captain escapes scatheless and his squire goes down, men say with a laugh the captain had the lon- ger spur of the two, and so every velvet-scabbarded prater from Languedoc to the ocean would have his gibe ready barbed, and not a few would welcome the weapon, since few things make readier enemies than success and a queen's favor. Bitter thoughts, if they be but bitter enough, turn hours into minutes as fast as will any joys upon earth, and so the promise of morn- ing was broad upon me before I so much as knew the east was gray. Left uncontrolled, my horse had fallen to a walk, and, when I roused myself, was cropping at such poor tufts of grass as the heat of the summer had spared. 276 the chapter f what twist my relief a ' enough, I leaving my le middle of ; upon them, naught, and ilf triumph, erness, and s I rode on, ke, cursing Lirsing even id from my ly the pup- au, yonder, me I saved of danger ? squire goes ad the lon- scabbarded d have his elcome the smies than hts, if they ;s as fast as e of morn- 3 knew the had fallen 5 cropping le summer How Marcel Parted La Hake and Bernauld With the sun no lower than the tree-tops, the lie of the country was plain enough to me. There to the right was Moust6 ; further east, le Monn^. Ger would be four or five leagues to the south, and Bernauld— and I turned on my saddle, leaning one hand on my beast's flank— Bernauld would be— But my thought got no further. Five hundred yards behind, and rid- ing leisurely, as became a gentleman who had his whole day of pleasure before him, and nothing to hinder its perfect enjoyment, was La Hake. As he saw me turn he clapped spurs to his horse, but once within speaking distance he dropped into a walk and shouted : " Write me down a Calvinist henceforth, and a firm convert to predestination. Not even the devil, father of all lies though he is, could save the liar and cheat. Oh ho. Monsieur de Bernauld, I saw your back last night in the dark, and now by God's grace I see your face by daylight. I told you that, hide where you would in all France, I would find you out. Once it was in the city, once on your own dunghill, and now, and for the last time, in the open field. So much for your avoidances, Monsieur de Bernauld." For myself, though my heart was hot enough with- in me, I answered nothing at the time, but gathered in the reins tighter, loosened my sword, and thanked God under my breath. Three lengths from me he halted, and we two sat in silence, eying each other like a pair of fighting cocks reckoning up points and chances. A strange couple we made— things of laughter both of us, for all our deadly intent. The court gallants, whether 277 in if 1 > ;:IT A Man of His Age of Paris or Navarre, would have cracked many a jest on our unkempt and bedraggled trim; collars awry hair wisped and tangled, I hatless, since an overhang- mg branch had swept my head bare in the night's ride, both with points untrussed, both smirched and stained, and with tags and tatters of clothing flying in the wind. Proper scarecrows we were, for a man cannot ride breakneck through brush in the dark and come out of it curled and groomed as if for a queen's gathering. " Faith of a gentleman !" he cried at last. " Faith of a gentleman ! and, good Lord, to think that I be- lieved It ! I might, have known from what they told me down in Spain there, that from Blaise de Bernauld I could look for nothing but black treason Oh ay I know you promised nothing, not in so many words' but to bid me make ready the tale of weapons was as much as to say the pact is settled, and I have al- ways held that a gentleman's hint was worth his oath Not many men have f-oled Denis La Hake, and no man has fooled him twice, nor, by all the saints, will you ! If there was aught of treachery between us— and some men might say there was, though I prom- ised the hussy nothing that I remember-I hold it wiped out, and the debt on my side. Yet no ; you owe me that thrust at Orthez, and that you'll never pay My faith, what a fool you looked skulking in the black of the arch ! Hulloa ! cried the pigeon to the hawk Had I guessed at this night's cheat, I would have had a second thrust though all Orthez was howling three yards away in the rain." "All this is bluster," said I. "Quit words and come 278 lany a jest liars awry, overhang- he night's rched and ling flying for a man ; dark and a queen's . "Faith that I be- they told Bernauld • Oh ay, ny words, pons was have al- his oath. 2, and no lints, will reen us — 1 1 prom- I hold it you owe ver pay. :he black le hawk, lave had ng three nd come How Marcel Parted La Hake and Bernauld to work, for there is no longer room for thee and me in Bdarn." " Leave theeing aside, Monsieur de Bernauld," he answered; "that is for friend or lackey, and God knows I am neither one nor other. As for coming to work— presently, presently, a man nimble with his tongue is nimble with his eye and hand, therefore I love words. Nor is there any haste. 'Tis a good world —so good that not even the last of the De Bernaulds need be in a splutter to quit it. Oh ay, there are accidents; but accidents aside, you are as good as dead, and in your heart you know it. De Crussenay was twice the man you are, and yet— ay, faith," and he drew his sword leisurely, "and with this very blade— I cooled his fev^r for him. So let there be no haste ; you and I will shortly be farther apart than even the breadth of B^arn." "Ay," answered I, "as far apart as earth and hell!" " As for that," said he, with the same jeering care- lessness, " you know your own road best, and I have met many a man who found the one no more than a heart's-beat from the other." I, too, had my blade out, but for all our rancor in words we were sluggish in action. The night dews had chilled our blood, and the drunkenness of pas- sion, like that of Rhine wine, leaves a flatness after it, so that the hate within ^ smoked and smouldered rather than burned hotly. The fanning of it came from La Hake. " 'Twill be a kind of comfort to you," said he, twist- ing his mouth in a sneer, " that Madame Jeanne will have De Crussenay as consoler. A fine thing for a 279 liH m :\n 'k? A Man of His Age penniless lad to fall heir to Carmeuse and Bernauld and so stay the wai^trin™ „f _ ■ • "crnaum, Plaisant in iif„ ^"^ f "' «°^^'P">g '""gues. Com- ma.sant m life, complaisant in death; my faith Monsieur, but you are a model husband • h7ho hn a model husband!" ' ' °' '"'' The laugh woke me to fury, and without so much ^en spurred"""^ '"" "u'"°"^'^' ^"^ ''^ "» "=«' "ever Foral t",hV"'\'" "'^ B"' dash from Bernauld For all La Hake's chatter he had never relaxed watch fulness, and was ready for me, answering the atUck" not by a slash at me, but at the muzzle of my horse just above the bit. A cruel and a dastard trick and one that failed, since the edge caught the ch^n'that reins. With a wince the poor beast swerved to one side, and had not the reins held I would have been flung^sprawling on the grass and at the scoundrlr^ " 'T.^f » gfod stroke and a fair risk," he said, cool- A man h tfbe p'^'Tr' °" ^""Provincialism, ed A un, P^"^ b«d to foresee the unexpect- Ji^TZ'LT'"^'"' ""- -- ""^o. " On guard. Monsieur." "On guard!" he echoed; "but I think I was over much on guard. More so than thou we t to "eave Madame- Ha! that touches you, does it ? Well I will touch you closer presently. Steady, steady or De Crussenay will come to his own a'^ll 2;" 280 i! How Marcel Parted U Hake and Bernauld sooner than I had counted. Why ! a good stroke, on my word Where learned a petty gentleman of B^arn such pretty play ? Nay, I almost had you • a touch, I thmk, a touch. To lose the temper plays the very devil with a man's steadiness. Ha! by the saints a stiff lunge, and a stronger wrist than I credited • no, no, no, 'tis my sleeve and nothing more, but the in- tent was good, and it's about time to make an end " What I owned then in my heart I may own open- ly now. La Hake was the better man, and both he and I knew it. Not by much, perhaps, but in nicety of skill, alertness, ay, even in strength of arm, he held me at an advantage. If one could put such a thing into figures he had, as it were, ten points out of nineteen, and to a dead man the odd point counts for much. As he once played with De Crussenay in Rouen, so now he played with me. But when he fell silent he dropped all such banter, and with lips set and teeth clinched, turned his play into grim earnest. Hitherto he had been content to stand on his defence, lunging only when a careless return to guard left a clear open- ing. Now It was I who had need of all my wits to evade attack. Never for an instant did his blade leave mine, but hugging it as fire hugs wood he pressed in hotly, giving me no rest. Twice he beat me, and the laugh leaped to his eyes twice a twist of the body saved me, and he fell to work again, holding me so close in hand that my breath was no better than a spasm of gasps. Then, of a sud- den, he changed his tactics. Pushing his beast for- ward with his knee, he dropped his reins, and, as I 281 m m A Man of His Age bent half backward from his attack, swept down his left hand and gripped my bridle, dragging the bit to one side viciously. If he meant to disconcert me and in the flurry of my confusion strike home at his ease, he succeeded at least in the first, and what followed after was none of my doing. Wrenched from between the teeth the steel bar slipped up, scoring afresh the wound in the cheek, and maddening the brute beyond all con- trol. Rearing and plunging, it backed beyond the reach of his arm, pulling him forward on his beast's neck; then, snorting with pain, it dashed ahead, en- tangling the reins in La Hake's sword as it passed and forcing the hilt from his grip. As I say, it was none of my doing, for the ring of the steel on the ground was the first I knew of the turn in affairs, and had La Hake but had his wits about him he might have secured his weapon, and been back in his saddle before I could have rounded on him. But he made no such attempt. Without so much as the pause of a breath he clapped spurs to his horse and headed at a gallop for the hills, with me tearing behind him fifty yards in the rear. At that time, I think, all the wild devils that can possess a man had me in a loose leash, and chiefest of all was a brutal exultation that La Hake should lap the bitter drink of his own brewing. My heart was afire with the rebound from the terror of death, and fairly sang within me as we raced along. As he had played with me, so would I play with him, thrusting him into the grave by inches, and not for a kintr's 282 * r How Marcel Parted La Hake and Bernauld ransom would I have shortened by a tick of time the dragging out of triumph. '• Ride on, La Hake !" I shouted. " 'Tis the very wind of life to me, for, by God, I have you safe." Whereupon he looked back at me over his shoulder, and, to be honest, as one should be to a dead man the quiet of his face killed the devilish exultation in'me for it left me no room for triumj. h. Whether the look- mg back worked his ruin, or whether his beast, driv- ing into a mole-run, stumbled, I never knew, but with a stagger his horse lurched forward, flinging La Hake violently on his right shoulder and arm, and rolling him over on his face like a log. For an instant he lay huddled in a heap, and, as I thought and feared, dead ; then he stirred, moaning Propping himself up with his left arm, he rose to his knees and looked round him, his dazed and white face twitching with agony. The right arm, broken above the elbow and crushed at the shoulder, hung limply as he swung, swaying on his hand, and across his forehead there were already broad trickles of blood. Even then, ghastly, wrecked, and helpless as he was, the rogue had a kind of dignity in him that held me,' as it were, at arm's length, so that, shrinking from at- tack and settling back in the saddle, I sat and watched him, the blood growing colder in me every minute. Slowly, and groaning under the compulsion of pain, he doubled a knee in front of him and staggered to his feet and again looked round him. By this time his eyes had cleared and he saw me, and as he saw me he laughed. Good Lord, what a laugh ! It shiv- ered me then and it shivers me now to the very soles 28^ I' ' Si % i f i A Man of His Age of my dead feet. It was .uch a burst of ehasti v m.r u were lost in the greatness of the oain A It he limped, and with aim^c* • c • ^'""''^^®- ^o down fronyng „' "'"^ "'"°'' ■"«""' P^'". sat him seaways at his *;;:«;■ Ta^^ ^rtote'""^^^^^ and not y^.. j;"-'; ^ e^ ktS^r."^ to make a story and a boast out of tliis daVs Z-h Come „„, b„,,,„^ ,^^ ^^ ^^^^ kiUin;^."''" ""•'" Then passion wakened in him anrt .k.i.- • paroxysm of impotent wrath h! . . "«^ '° * shut teeth, "Cur'e your" t ho": of ?n '"""' "" that I had both arm's .nd thetet „t 'r" ' Be" tween^us two bare hands to naked steel J:^^ Z Slipping the reins over my arm I swung mvself tr. tte ground swiftly enoueh and w.JI ^ . ° That be shm.irf I,,, ^ ' "*'" "*ar to h m. he should have no expectation of pity moved ; ■ . h., Iness, since what we call pity is ottTno — u,an a shamefaced fear lest the Jorid ty „" t 284 Age urst of ghastly mer- dare-devil soul that been cozened of its B man left to stiffen ikles struggled with le white face, and in ;ss of the pain. A id neither heart nor ier, too large to be >f the pasture. To finite pain, sat him St begin to believe )reath and looking i'hen to me : " The 3ne to whine at a (lance has done it : liar De Bernauld this day's murder ng." and shaking in a •oaned behind his a N:.\'.%rrt I Oh irhoJe in jne Be- teei ;^ouId be but swung myself to int near to him. n of pity moved pity is often no be world cry out i;i ij "WITH A STAGGKR HIS HORSE LURCHED FORWARD " I i\ m >ii*«smmsm-'!)iw--*bf How Marcel Parted U Hake and Bernauld upon us, and here La Hake and my sense of man- hood were my sole world, and these were like to judge me with lenience. Had he craved mercy, as at times a brave man may in his straits, it would have gone hard to have answered by a cold-blooded thrust in the throat, but as it was I stiffened my hate and with the hilt of my sword the level of his eyes slanted the point to his breast so that he might see the full length of the steel, and taste it by anticipation. •'There is Gaspard," said I, "and Jeanne, and Or- thez," and touched him on the naked skin with the point; ''what have I ever done to thee that thou shouldst work two murders ?" "If I answer at all," said he, looking not at me but at the glint of the steel, and wincing as he spoke, for at last his nerve was broken, "it is to set you at your proper value. You were worth a hundred crowns to the widow of one Diego Saumarez, whom you slew in the Indies. The whole race of Bernauld for a hun- dred crowns," and, as I live, he broke again into his cackling laugh, even with the trickle of blood drop- ping from his throat, "a hundred crowns, and a fair price, too !" " What !" I cried, trying to give him back contempt for contempt ; " you could kill a babe for hire ?" "No, no, no," he answered, sharply, and waking again into a passion that shook him till he groaned as much with rage as with distress of body, "but the woman was obstinate, and for my oath's sake and for them that stood by. D'ye think Herod killed John Baptist for love of Salome ? Never a bit ; but be- cause of his oath ; and who am I to be nicer than a 285 V i : i Wj '-ri 'D 4.' t^ f ,» » .) I f u I i A Man of His Age king? Besides, she flouted me. As for you, in these rotting times of peace a man must still live like a gen- tleman, and ruffle it with the rest, though he earn his hire on carrion. You were worth a hundred crowns to me, and there you havfe the truth." "Why not have claimed your blood -money by a glib lie ?" said I, scornfully. " Not knowing you as I do, your widow would have been none the wiser." " What ?" and he brushed aside the point from his throat, and in his indignation made as if to struggle to his feet, but tumbled back again, groaning anew. " 'Tis a brave thing to insult a broken man, and you with a sword to his throat ! Am I a thief ? Kill me, coward," then he added, slowly, and staring me straight in the eyes, " if you can." But the time had gone by, and I could not, and he read in my face that I could not, for in spite of the suffering a light crept into his dull eyes. " Have I kept you in talk long enough ?" he cried, in a triumph. " By the saints, I guessed there was a weak spot in your nerve. Bah ! what a pitiful rogue you are after all, De Bernauld, that you cannot kill a man without a sickening of conscience." I' Man, man !" I cried, " hast thou no fear—" " Neither of thee, nor God, nor devil," he answered not waiting for me to finish. " I know your sort, and I know this— you could no more kill me now than you could put a knife to your own throat." Sullenly, half-repentant, and ashamed of my repent- ance, I sheathed my sword and turned to where my horse stood cropping the herbage, twenty feet away "Take your life for this time," I said. "God for- 286 How Marcel Parted La Hake and Bernauld bid I should sink myself to your level !" and as I turned Marcel rode round by a knot of timber, and galloped up as hard as his tired beast could carry him Powdered with dust, and streaked with grime and sweat, the Squire's face was still whiter than La Hake's, and as he flung the reins from him and tum- bled, rather than climbed, from the saddle, he cried hoarsely : ' "Leave the life in him for the Lord's sake, Master Blaise. My word for it, La Hake, you will kill no more lads !" and drawing his sword he rushed at the broken rogue, and would have cut him down had I not thrown myself between them and thrust him back " What folly is this. Marcel ?" I cried, sternly. " If I, the lad's father, have spared him for this time—" "The lad's father !" and his voice ran high and broken like a wrathful woman's-" the lad's father' 'Tis I am the lad's father, and, by the Lord who made me. Ill do no sparing! Stand aside. Master Blaise stand aside, or, Bernauld though you are, I'll hack you down to get at him." "The lad's father!" I echoed. "You-you? What madness has gotten you ?" " Look behind you for answer," said he. " Look at his coward face. There, in the wood beyond, as that bloody rogue rode upon us I lost the lad in the dark- ness, and he shouted for me -'Father, father'' What !• cried La Hake, reaching across the bridle that had slipped my grip, 'art thou not the Prince of B6arn ?' * Not I,' said the lad, with a laugh, and for answer, and while he still laughed, the villain cut him down, cursing him." 287 '1 ! -t'SHies** ri**ia-i .. f: 4. J A Man of His Age Sullenly, ahd defiantly La Hake looked up from his place on the bowlder. His face had gone gray with Che premonition of death, and the slaver was dribbling from his mouth, but he held his impudence to the "A pretty play," he said, though the chattering of his teeth so chopped the words that they could be but worn fuTl '^"'^ ^"''''^ "'• " ^^' ""^''^^ S^--' his word that the man may break it. A pretty jest, and a pretty piece of Bernauld honor." "Is this true?" said I, hoarsely, and not in much less stammering fashion than himself, for Marcel's passion set me Shaking. " It's true you passed your word." he answered, and then drawing his sleeve across his knee he played the pitiful with a parade of his helpless arm "True?" cried Marcel. " God's truth ;" and thrust- ing me aside he rushed on La Hake, striking such a blow as shore through the uplifted arm, and let out the hfe below it. Again and again and again he struck in a blind fury, crying, "That for the lad »" at every blow, until there was little semblance to" hu- manity in the mass at his feet. Then, of a sudden he ceased, and looked from the dead man to me and back again to the dead, and flung his sword on the grass. "Thank the Lord !" he said in a deep breath, and going down on his knees he fell to weeping as if his heart would break. w « CHAPTER XXV A MAN SHALL CLEAVE UNTO HIS WIPE Ours was, at the first, but a silent companionship as we rode home to Bernauld through the August sun- shine, with the crisp breeze of the morning whis- tling in our ears. In the course of nature Marcel's thoughts were bitter and heavy enough, and a kind of shame for his savagery added to his dumbness My own brain, too, was in a whirl, and I know not yet whether I was glad or wrathful that the Squire had thrust my will aside and taken the law of ven- geance into his own hands. So we rode in silence, and looked askance at one another as men do who are heavy at heart and fear to niake bad worse by the wounding of an unweighed word ; and what could I say? To blame Marcel was to condone the lad's murder, and what father would endure that. > While to applaud him was to excuse in another what I had condemned in myself, so in our war of thought, we rode in silence, and with a wall of restraint between us. It was Marcel who broke it down. "Don't think, Master Blaise, that I grudge him to Bernauld " said he, putting out a hand in f gesTure of appeal. "No, nor will his mother when I tell ^ 289 1 1 1 SSm •"Xtm iiiiMmii A Man of His Age her, though God help her with His comfort at the telling of it. But," and a catch came in his breath as his voice broke-" but that it should be through a coward stroke, and the lad with a laugh in his mouth Father ! cried he twice-' father, father !' thinking I had slipped his bridle because all was well That stung me, the savage hardness of the hound and I crave pardon, Master Blaise, if I did aught that was unseemly to him, living or dead." ^^ " 'Tis a good riddance for Navarre," said I, slowly only, I wish to the Lord he had had his life whole in him and a sword in his grip." "Amen to that," answered Marcel, "for then the going would have tasted the bitterer." "The lad?" said I, looking over my shoulder with a question, after we had ridden another furlong in silence. ^ "That's seen to," replied Marcel, shortly, "and by your leave, what's least talked of is soonest for- gotten." Of the grief of the mother I say little. When God set up chambers in the heart he put a mother's sor- row m the Holy of Holies where none may enter save himself, and he who seeks to thrust his comfort there is either a blundering fool or one who knows little of the world's grief. Dry-eyed and silent, and with a face hard set in its stern repression she re- ceived us, asking, at least at that time, nothing of how or when. Later on, still dry-eyed and silent she took to her arms all that malice had left to her of love and pride. Dry-eyed and silent she went about the silent rooms doing her woman's duty as 290 omfort at the in his breath 1 be through a in his mouth. ;r !' thinking I s well. That hound, and I ight that was said I, slowly, his life whole for then the houlder with sr furlong in tly, "and, by soonest for- When God nother's sor- i may enter his comfort who knows d silent, and sion she re- , nothing of and silent, i left to her t she went m's duty as "A Man Shall Cleave Unto His Wife" necessity called her, slipping back, as these duties permitted, to that other silent room with its silent tenant. But for the agony in her face one would have called her callous. We who knew her knew better, and knew also that time had rushed by her ten years, in a stride, in that one hour. Hers was not only the heaviest grief, but that also to which nature gives the least assuaging. The bonds of circumstances held her fixed at Bernauld with but little of bustle and change to put a new and brighter color into life. With Marcel it was other- wise. He had, at least, his recruiting to see to, and presently-the very day we laid the lad to rest- there came tidings that set both our hearts a-leaping and turned out thoughts abroad. France had wearied of her subtle policy of lies, and the peace of Longou- meau was at an end de jure, as it had long been cfe facto. The news came from my lady, and the fellow who brought it of a certainty spared neither spur, whip nor beast on the road, for he reached Bernauld with the first red to the boots and the two latter so broken as to be fit for little more in this world. " Dear Love " (she wrote),-" It grieves me much that mv first letter should be one with heavy news. What the Ad- miral long foresaw has come to pass. All France is once more in a blaze, and this time the fire threatens not only Navarre, but the Queen herself. "Marshal Tavannes is in open hunt fOr the Prince de Conde. but. please God, the stag will slip the toils. Coligny has fled from Chatillon and is in full retreat on Rochelle whither the Queen intends presently to join him, though 291 j; u A Man of His Age this quitting of the kingdom seems to my ignorance doubtful wisdom. Messengers have ridden post to recall the Prince of Beam and we count on his return to-morrow. Come thou to Pau with an speed, dear love-if thou art strong enough, as I pray God thou art-and let Marcel follow with h.s enrolment, losing no time on the way. Were it not that peace and truth are threatened, and that death and sorrow must possess both France and Navarre. I would thank God that thou art to come back to me so many days the sooner. " Thy loving wife. "Jeanne." There is the letter, word for word, as it lies in the muniment chest with the Prince of Beam's letter and such other papers as have the heart and pride of a man bound up in them. One other time only smce she had ceased to be Jeanne la Carmeuse, had my lady written me. Then it was a blurred and half heart-broken farewell ere I sailed for Florida, and If there is no abiding record of the words it is be- cause they are written still deeper on my life It was late at night when my lady's letter reached Bernauld, and the first light of the morning found me nding out of the court-yard whence three days before we had made our burst on La Hake's men Of the Prince I had heard nothing, and therefore argued-rightly, as it turned out-that he had made his way to Beauvoir in safety. But as I rode down ^ AiK TuV^'^^^^' ^'^"'^y ""°"&''' t^^t Jeanne d Albret had little notion how far the lad had been on a journey from the end of which not all the mothers or queens in Christendom could have re- called him. Our hopes and fortunes were low 292 trance doubtful call the Prince lorrow. Come lou art strong eel follow with 'ere it not that th and sorrow ild thank God s the sooner, nfe, "Jeanne." it lies in the farn's letter, •t and pride ' time only, rmeuse, had red and half Florida, and rds it is be- life. ter reached ning found three days [ake's men. i therefore 3 had made rode down lat Jeanne i had been lot all the d have re- were low "A Man Shall Cleave Unto His Wife" enough, but had that dead rogue's cast of the net meshed the royal salmon, Navarre would indeed have been in evil case, whether to fight or treat. Small wonder that all Pau was in a ferment. Every corner had its knot of Parliamentarians, so that it was no smooth matter to i ush a way through the bustling streets; but saving in uproar the ferment differed from that of a week past. Then it had been a roar of triumph, brutal in its frank rejoicing, and that cynical disregard of fallen fortunes so characteristic of bulked humanity. Now it was the ignorant and apprec'ative hysteria where- with that same bulked humanity so lightly applauds the letting of blood not its own. All Pau was for war, but all Pau was not for fight. The time came, and that quickly, when not only all Pau, but all B^arn and Navarre, had enough not alone of fight, but of war also. As was natural the ferment seethed thickest and hottest as I neared the Chateau, but once within the gates the stir of life, though it never slackened, was changed from riot to order. Queen Jeanne and her viscounts were alike intolerant of confusion. Through the throng of men-at-arms Roger pushed his way to meet me and take my beast in charge. It struck me with a shiver to see how he had aged five years in the ten or a dozen weeks since we had left Carmeuse, and when one has turned his back on sixty, and lived a life of privation and hard labor in the field, such a leap of time lands a man hard by the edge of the grave. " What of La Hake, Monsieur ?" said he, eagerly, 393 I f U\ Ml A Man of His Age ii ■') m Ia >! [M f and putting a lean hand on my knee. " Did vou give the rascal the slip ?" tJ'^^?^''^■',' "^'^ ^' "^^ ^^^^^ What knowest thou of La Hake ?" "No more than the Queen," answered he, with a grm, but no less either, for what's whispered in a dog s ear comes out in the wag of its tail The Pnnce of Beam rode into Pau three hours ago. and you may trust a steel bonnet to skim the gossip and guess at what is left unsaid. But it's between us and the Queen, and these common lords and gentry know naugnt. < ;; But my lady V I cried. " If she had heard-" Why, so she has, and stared out of wu.gow with her eyes fixed on the great gate ever since," said Roger. " What of La Hake ?" And there, truly, she was, with her fear still white m her face, and at the sight Roger got, as I dis- mounted, more hard words than thanks for his ofticiousness. "That's the Sieur all over," he said, sourly, his face puckenng into a frown. "The love of the woman blnids the service of the man. Good Lord till a man's gone forty he takes a woman to be the Tomt" ^^'' '^°'^'^' ^""^ ^ ^'"^^ °^ ^^^ ^'°^^d to • " ^?^''' ^^''^ ^' ^^'''"§^ ^ moment, " what of Mon- sieur de Crussenay ?" " What of him ?" he answered, angrily. " Nauo-ht Naught but that the witch hath him 'fast, andta Hake and 'The Black Cat' are as if they never had 294 "A Man Shall Cleave Unto His Wife" " Did you hat knowest d he, with a ispered in a s tail. The jrs ago, and 5 gossip and w^een us and rentry know leard — " 'iiidov/ with since," said • still white 't, as I dis- ks for his fly, his face the woman ^ord, till a to be the 2 world to it of Mon- " Naught. >t, and La never had The Queen was well served, for I had scarcely taken m/ lady in my arms when De Montamar came in such great haste to summon me to the private cabinet, dtsty and dishevelled though I was, that we heard the scuffle of his footsteps on the boards before even he came in sight. ' Let them bide, man ; let them bide !" cried he, as I stooped to flick the mud-spatters from my riding- boots. " The Queen is in no mood to give heed to niceties. The Angouleme blood is uppermost, and were she but a man she would be in a swearing rage. Madame," and he turned to Jeanne, " you are also bidden, and I pray you hasten, Monsieur de Bernauld, for every minute's delay is but a fresh sting in her anger. Never, since the devil gave King Antony over :o Guise, have I seen her it such a passion." While De Montamar was speaking we had followed him quickly round the corridor to that northwestern angle of the palace where was the private cabinet. " Hush!" said he, pausing while we were still twenty feet away from the curtained door ; " De Grammont is with her, and I would not stand in his boots this moment for the county of Foix." " De Grammont ? Who else ?" asked I, pricking up my ears and catching some inkling of what lay in store. " Not a soul," answered De Montamar ; " he bears the brunt of it all, horse, foot, and artillery, and I will wager the battle goes heavy against him." Whereat I girded up my soul, and pulling the drapery aside opened the door softly. In an angle was De Grammont, as far removed 295 J A Man of His Age II; ■) m from h,s mistress as it seemed to me, as the lines o< he walls would let him go, and with such a "a™ look on h.s face as not Catherine, nor Ph^lLZ Alva, nor all three confederate, couW have ,e theTe As I entered he threw up his hand, a T^UcL^^Z gave me no greeting, as neither did the o[lT'^' thrfra;m»tlrtm"hn;i;; '- ''"'-■ -" «"■" „i,?^ f T'*" "'" "'"'"' Madame." answered 1 w. h a bow but taking her in her mood anlgivlng her no greeting either. "By so much the betfer af an open foe is better than a false friend " ' By so much the worse," answered ' she testilv • and you would do well to remember, Monsirttt' truth %V^"^i' ' ■"^'"""^ '■' '^ ""' neces arily the truth. The good.will of France we knew to a hiir's breadth, and so were under no illusions, but the treaty Jnf"vrr™i;:rp^;:ri?-"--'---- God grant me patience," said she, with a gesture talks o r' " " '"' flung a folly from her; "who talks of rights and courtesies of nations when it Is a g etot r Th -"r ^"^ Navarre-Catholic and Hu guenot ? The right is the right of a bloody mind and 296 s the lines of ich a craven r Philip, nor ^ve set there, 'alf foot, but Queen, wio keeping her . " you hare is and this!" gain across, s, and flung mswered 1, and giving e better, as le, testily ; 'sieur, that issarily the to a hair's- the treaty breathing lose noth- in solemn a gesture ^er ; " who len it is a and Hu- tnind and "A Man Shall Cleave Unto His Wife" a strong arm, the right of intolerance and power the right of the devil and his angels. Are you answer- ed, and have you, perchance, a platitude to cap that Monsieur de Bernauld?" ' "Then, Madame," answered I, remembering the folly of the Prince of B^arn, and dreading what might lie behind all this, and so keeping my temper that I might provoke no greater irritation, " there is noth- ing left for us but to fight." ^^ ''Why," said she, with a bitter sting in her voice, there is a platitude with some sense. Coligny and Cond^ are already on the road to Rochelle, and by the Lord's help Fll join them there and so concentrate our forces." "Leave Navarre, Madame?" and as I spoke De Grammont shifted uneasily in his corner as one who would say, " Now comes the pinch." " Leave the kingdom with France in arms? Is that wise?" "You are very ready with your advice, Monsieur de Bernauld," said Jeanne, sharply, "but on this point I have not asked it." " I am no wiser than my fellows," replied I, nettled and out of my soreness speaking unwarily, " but at least I advised against the progress of the Prince of B6arn." "And well you might," she cried, "when you had given La Hake a rendezvous at Bernauld. Be in no haste to cast up the Prince of Beam's progress I'll warrant we will have enough of that when we come to It shortly. Let it pass for the present." But it was not to be so easily let sleep. While she was speakmgd'Arros, who was on guard without, knocked 297 nH J A Man of His Age and entered, saying that Mademoiselle de Romenay was in waiting. For a moment the Queen stood irresolute, looking from me to the door, and from the door to De Montamar, then, half to herself, she said • She has come sooner than I had counted on but all's one for that. Admit her. Monsieur d'Arros' and then to your duty again. Monsieur de Montamar we will excuse your presence for the moment, but let the rest remain." One not in the secret might have seen but little difference in Mademoiselle Suzanne, but to me there was a subtle change. There was a new grace of womanliness, a softening of the lines of the mouth a quenching of the malice in the eyes, and an added touch of pallor but made her face the sweeter. " You sent for me, Madame," said she, courtesying • and then there was a silence, for at that moment not even the Queen knew what was to come next. " In France," said she, at last, speaking with studied slowness, and looking at Mademoiselle as if they two alone were in the room-" in France they break a murderess on the wheel, and a would-be killer of princes they tear asunder with cart -ropes-that is brutal, and in Navarre the sword and the block serve for either." "Is La Hake's crime still unpurged?" answered Mademoiselle, turning from the Queen to my lady; " or am I a scapegoat for the breaking of treaties .v ' "Answer for yourself. Mademoiselle de Romenay " cried the Queen, furiously. " The Lord knows the count IS heavy enough without adding to it the sins of others." 298 de Romenay Jueen stood md from the elf, she said : nted on, but d'Arros, and Montamar, lent, but let !n but little to me there ew grace of tie mouth, a d an added eter. 3urtesying ; noment not lext. i^ith studied if they two sy break a 3e killer of >es— that is block serve answered ) my lady ; reaties ?" Romenay," knows the it the sins "A Man Shall Cleave Unto His Wife" " But, Madame," said the girl, paling under the Queen's wrath, but still speaking to my lady, " you hold me innocent?" "God send me patience," broke in the Queen, with her old gesture; "what has that innocence to do with this guilt ? Is the Prince of Beam to be likened to the killing of a year-old nobody ?" *' Madame !" cried my lady, sharply—" Madame !" "Ay, I know," answered the Queen; "but there are a* thousand such, and but one Prince of B^arn." " But," said Mademoiselle, " the Prince of B^arn rode into Pau four hours ago." " For which no thanks to Mademoiselle de Rome- nay," said the Queen, loudly ; and what more she would have said I do not know, for the door was opened softly and De Crussenay entered, his face white and as hard set in anger as that of Jeanne her- self. Ranging himself by the side of Mademoiselle Suzanne, and a half pace behind, he bowed deeply, then, like a soldier at his post, stiffened himself,' speaking never a word. " This is an intrusion. Monsieur," said Jeanne, se- verely. " You are over-presumptuous and must learn to mend your manners. How came Monsieur d'Arros to pass you in without our orders ?" " I had relieved Monsieur d'Arros, Madame, and— and— I heard Mademoiselle's name," stammered De ' Crussenay, shaken a little in his nerves for all his bold front. "So you are on guard, Monsieur?" cried the Queen. " Was it thus Monsieur de Coligny taught you your duty ?" 299 ■rl * ■ \i ml' A Man of His Age " Monsieur de Coligny taught me loyalty, Madame, and to protect the weak and defenceless." " I take your meaning, Monsieur," said the Queen sharply. "Never fear but I take your meaning! Loyalty, but not to me. Loyalty ! A pretty loyalty that, to a vile wench who plots the killing of the Prince of Bdarn." "No, no, no!" cried Mademoiselle, passionately, and turning from Jeanne she put her hands upon his shoulder, raising her face to his. " Never believe it ! never ! never !" Turning, he lodked down at her, and a light leaped to his eyes-a light my lady, seeing, understood. * Thank the Lord," he said, under his breath, and slipping an arm round her he drew her close to him and then faced the Queen again. " You hear, Madame," he said, simply. " It is well, Monsieur de Crussenay," said Jeanne gravely — "it is very well that I have not forgotten Tarbes, for it seems to me you give me the lie direct Were I Catherine and De Grammont Tavannes that word had been your last. Come girl, the truth. You plotted with La Hake to seize the Prince of B^arn?" " Not to his hurt, Madame." "What? To his bettering? See thou hurt not the lamb, quoth the fox to the wolf ; but rather let the kites of Paris do the rending ! A pretty better- ing that ! Your own mouth condemns you, girl." From the Queen Mademoiselle turned toDe Crus- senay, as if to convince him touched her more nearly. " La Hake swore he would do the Prince no hurt " said she, earnestly. " It makes for peace, he said, for 300 Ity, Madame, d the Queen, ur meaning, retty loyalty illing of the passionately, nds upon his T believe it ! light leaped understood, breath, and :lose to him aid Jeanne, )t forgotten le lie direct, i^annes that truth. You of B^arn?" u hurt not : rather let stty better- u, girl." o De Crus- iore nearly. e no hurt," he said, for "A Man Shall Cleave Unto His Wife" with the Prince in the keeping of Catherine at Paris there is no room for war in Navarre, and that-tha^ Heve me"r """ ''"'"' "^ " ^°"' '' ^-«^' ^e- Jll u'' r' ^°"' ""^ ^'^'^'" ^"^wered he, tightening his hold, but never shifting his eyes from the Queen For a full minute Jeanne de Navarre looked at the two in silence. last " " U^T ^"^ 'u^ ^/'^" '"^ '^' ^""^'" ^^id «he, at last. If I had but La Hake, the tool might go I have scant time for niceties of law, and no mind to take a life without law. La Hake, at least, is forfeit " And has paid forfeit, Madame," said L "La Hake has gone to his own place " the otw'" "t''^' 1 ^r"' '"^^'^"^ ""^ P^^'" ^^--«t word f .. .?'^' ^'"^ • ^" °^^^ y°" ^^'^ than words for this. Monsieur de Bernauld !" and for the first time there was a softening in the harshness of her speech. "Down on your knees, girl, and thank your God as you never before thanked him. What now, Monsieur de Grammont ? The man being dead and we pressed for time, the girl may go, I think ^ ?r 7^"^?^ '' ^'^''''- Monsieur de Crussenay, we ride for N^rac in an hour, thence to Rochelle As tor you, girl, we give you twelve hours to get you where you will out of Navarre. After that you may seek mercy from the Lord, but none from me I'll have no traitors behind my back." "But, Madame," cried my lady, " where can she go and how? By this time all Navarre is in arms, and a woman were better dead than face the roads alone ner men-at-arms are gone." 301 ll H Ml ii >."j' 'J ' 3! A Man of His Age " I pray God they are dead with La Hake, to whom she sent them," answered Jeanne, bitterly. "Get her gone she must, as to the how and whither, that is her affair and not mine, nor can the roads of Navarre have inany terrors for a tiring -damsel of Catherine de Medici. Monsieur de Crussenay, you who keep the door so well, bid some one without send for Monsieur de Montamar." At the Queen's last words the lad's face had crim- soned but now, except to draw the girl still closer to hmi he moved neither hand nor foot, nor, saving for the tightening of >his clasp, did he make any answer Dumb as he was the motion was enough, and never have I seen Jeanne d'Albret's anger so moved "So, Monsieur," said she, and though her voice was lowered it shook as it had never shaken in her rebuke of De Luxe and his fellows, " you fling away faith honor, service, duty, advancement ; and all for a light woman ?" ^""^ " No, no !" cried Mademoiselle, in a scream. " Never that, Henri ! never that, by God above, never that " Again he looked at her as he looked once before then back to the Queen. "You hear, Madame," he repeated. "As for me you speak of duty and service. My duty and service are to ho d my wife that is to be safe and sacred, or, if that fails, to make an end as my father did before me. And I humbly pray to God, Madame, I may show you later as to faith and honor. Come, my With his arm still fast round her and she clirt^ing to him in a half faint, they passed out into the cor- 302 ake, to whom ly. "Get her ther, that is Is of Navarre of Catherine ivho keep the :or Monsieur ce had crim- till closer to r, saving for any answer. I, and never oved. ;r voice was I her rebuke away faith, 1 for a light tn. " Never ver that." )nce before, for me, you service are acred, or, if did before me, I may Come, my "A Man Shall Cleave Unto His Wife" ridor, and as the curtain fell behind them I had looked my last on Henri de Crussenay. " For this shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave unto his wife," said my lady, softly, linking her arm m mme ; and at her words the wrath died out of the Queen's face. She had known but little of love with Antony of Vendome. THE END he clir o^ing to the cor-