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,d ^^PPLIED IIVMGE
Inc
1 653 East Main Street
Rochester, New York U609 USA
(716) 482 - 0300 - Phone
(715) 288- 5939 -Fox
miiiuiiumgwiHaMu
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'4
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•Ul^&^/^£L
V
A KING'S PAWN
ij
A KINO'S PAWN
UY
HAMILTON DRUMIdOND
AUTHOR (IF 'a man OK IIIH AUK,' 'Foil TIIK UlitlCIDN,' ITf.
ToUONTO
W. J. GAGE & COMPANY, LIMITED
1900
All Rights reserved
/ z""^-
1
sj-*, ^t ^.
Entered according to Act of ParlimiuiU, hi) Thk W. J. Gage
Company (Limitkd), in the year one thousand nine hundred.
« iTt
{, {:' ,': L -u ^ - -f
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAflK
I. THE KING CROOKS H'S FINGER . . . 1
II. HOW BLAISE DE BERNAULD FOLLOWED THE KINO's
BECK . ..... 15
III. THE PIN! JEA OF THE KING OF NAVARRE . . 30
IV. HOW THE KING REFUSPiD THE THRONE OF FRANCE . 43
V. THE CONDESCENSION OF THE DUG D'EPERNON . 57
VI. HOW marcel's HUNGER LOST ITS EDGE . . 67
VIL WE RIDE TO THE TRYST . . . .78
VIII. JEAN MINET OF GUIENNE . . . .88
IX. THE HAND OP TERESA SAUMAREZ . . . U)6
X. TWO MEN OF DISCRETION . . . .121
XI. THROUGH THE RIBS OF NAVARRE . . .132
XIL THE rat's HOLE . . . . .150
XIII. THE king's wager . , . . .163
XIV. AND WHAT CAME OF IT . . . . 177
XV= A DESCENT ON SP.AIN ..... 188
XVI. CHATEAU LIGNAC . . . . . 202
i
^-^\>i
VI
CONTENTS.
XVII. MADEMOISELLE DE LIGNAC .
XVIIL "to the VENGEANCE OF TERESA SAUMARBZ "
XIX. THE DEBIT ACCOUNT OF TERESA SAUMAREZ
XX. MISCHIEF .....
XXL BREAD AND SALT, SPANISH FASHION
XXIL "THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS
friend" .....
XXIII. BETWIXT HEAVEN AND EARTH
XXIV. NORTHWARDS ! . . . .
XXV. THE GREATEST THING UPON EARTH .
214
227
239
251
264
275
294
315
326
HIS
214
227
239
251
264
275
294
315
326
A KING'S PAWN.
CHAPTEK I.
THE KING CROOKS HIS FINGER.
When, out of His divine imaginings, God gave man
the world and all tlie things of charm and worth
that are therein — things seen, things dreamed of,
and things known by instinct — He gave nothing
sweeter or more beautiful than the love of a good
woman. That much is so clear that whosoever has
tasted its truth will cry out upon it for a platitude.
He who has not tasted it is, as it were, as yet out-
side the pale of blessing. What is less certain is
whether in the wife and mother the love to the
husband or the child is the greater. Many a time
it has seemed to me to be the one and many a time
the other, so that I have concluded this : whichever
calls for the greater sanrificp, draws for the time the
greater love.
2
A king's pawn.
Take a case — one of but little moment, I grant,
but it illustrates the point
Jeanne, my wife, had no love for that dusty ride
to Orthez in the blinding July heat. To. bide with
me in the cool quiet and comparative greenery of
Bernauld would have been more to her taste. But
Gaspard, our boy, had slipped his collar-bone in some
school horse-play, and so needs must that his mother
go and nurse him back to healtTi, and a stronger
muscle for the next fool's bout. Have me with her
she would not, lest mothers of a double handful of
bustling boys laugh at her for making much ado of
a small matter. Bide at home she would not, " For,"
said she, with such a shiver in her voice tliat I could
but kiss her and answer nouglit, " I have but him and
you in the whole world.''
Later I told her that for love of the son she had
gone near to lose the life of the father, since but for
being alone at Bernauld I would have sent some politic
answer to the King's letter and kept my place and
peace at home ; or else have brought her with me
to Vic, where her woman's wit would have kept me
clear of the folly I presently fell into with my eyes
open. Yet this was scarcely true, for when a king
wags a crooked finger and says " Come," there are
few but will follow the beck ; nor could she, or any
other — unless it had been Nostradamus himself —
have foreseen what afterwards befell.
This was how it came about.
Two days had passed since my lady had ridden
THE KING CROOKS HIS FINGER.
out for Orthez, where (raspard kept his terms in tlie
school of Beza's founding,', and I, being utterly moped
for want of her, had betaken myself to my study. Not
to books. To my great loss, that solace has never
been mine. Time and again T have seen Coligny,
crushed by defeat, and burdened with the sorrows
of the whole Huguenot family in France, drop care
at the side of an arm-cliair, and find rest and re-
freshment in what to me was mere weariness of
words. (,)ueen Jeanne, too, the mother of our Henry,
could forget the bloody griefs of her beloved Navarre
in a crabbed manuscript of monkish Latin, and draw
from study the strength which others gain in sleep.
These being the two I most reverence in the world,
it is not likely I would have the folly to despise
what gave them comfort, but the thing itself was
beyond me.
My study, then, in place of shelves and cases, had
nails and hooks and racks. Nevertheless, that which
hung upon the walls had tongues as long as sheep-
skin, since they told tales of life and of death; of
victory and defeat; of courage, of cunning, and of
cowardice; of shame, glory, and self-sacrifice; the
growth and decay of nations; the progress and de-
velopment of craftsmanship ; the passions, the follies,
and the failures of men ; the awful nearness of God,
and the sharp swiftness of His judgments. All these
they told. Could books do more ? I trow not
Here was a trophy of lances and pikes; there of
bows, crossbows, and arbalists, tough ash and touaher
A king's pawn.
yow ; or of mnsketoons and the newer-fangled arms
that were so surely pressing the old out of ase.
Between these were suits of armour, browned, ham-
mered, and damascened ; from the heavy plate wherein
a man sat h s horse like a pillar of iron and could
not budge ten feet a- foot to save his life, to the
delicate coats of chain-mail that fitted the body with
the ease and comfort of a shirt, and yet were as safe
as a wall of sand. But my books had other than
metal leaves, for in one corner was a stand of tattered
flags that had flown in more winds than those of
PiUrope, while above the great mantel was set a
star of sword - blades, some with handles and some
without, but mostly notched and grim with use.
With four such walls about him a man could pass
his day and never be alone. But to every man his
lure, and even as the Admiral had his favourite read-
ing so had I mine, and my best beloved books were
those glittering strips of steel above the mantel that
even in the dark glowed like polished silver.
Here it was that Marcel found me in the dusk
of the second day after Jeanne's departure. 1 had
lifted down a sword from the great star, and the old
squire needed no second glance to recognise it.
" The Florida blade ! " he cried as he saw me test
afresh its swing and balance ; " my faith, Master
Blaise, now that it's down you may keep it down.
When the King sends post to Bernauld it's not to
chop gossip, I'm thinking ! "
" Ay," answered 1 bitterly enough, for what with
THE KING CROOKS HIS FINGER, 5
Mornay mid I)e liosny, tlie Kin^' had forgotten mo
of late. " IFhcu. the King sends ! But man and
steel will have rusted beyond use before that day
comes."
" And perhaps better so," cried Marcel. " Better
for the young master, better for madame, better for
Bernauld. We are too old. Master lilaise, to hold
our own with the lads in tlie front line, and struggle
on in the rear we will not."
"Too old?" and I rose and stretched myself:
"let him who thinks he says truth in jest beware
lest he find he has lied in earnest. Too old ? Wliy
four- and- forty is a man's age and no more. As for
thee "
"Oh," said he sourly, "let me and my age be.
Only, if you could cut my years in lialf I would be
twice the man I am."
Which was true enough, though I would have
bitten my tongue across sooner than liave said so.
Kings may liing aside an old servant like a tattered
glove and forget the wounds he has saved them, but
so could not Blaise de Bernauld.
" Chut," said I, doubling on my tracks ; " better
the old dog's cunning than the puppy's conceit. But
what has all this to do with the Florida blade ? "
" Did I not say so ? " and he smote a palm with
a clenched fist. "I'm out -worn, brain and bone.
There's a fellow without wlio swears he comes on
the King's business, and yet he slipped my memory
as if kings' messengers were as common as acorns."
6
A KINGS PAWN.
" And his messaiio ? "
"Ay, I asked hii tliat, and for answer he cocked
his bonnet at me ana said was I, by chance, Messire
Blaise de Bernauld, and when I told him ' No,' he
said I was old enough to know that a king's message
was not blabbed to the first country fool that asked
it ! Fool and old, he called me," went on Marcel in
high wratii, and entirely forgetful of his own self-
depreciation. "He had best mend his maimers, or
for all his Court training I may show him that I am
less of one and other than he thinks."
" No, no ; remember a king's messenger is sacred,"
cried I laughing, and with no thought that within
forty-eight hours I was to forget my own saying.
" Take me to the fellow, that I may keep the peace
between you."
Henry of Bourbon, Henry of Navarre, Henry of
France — whichsoever you will, for he was all three
by turn — being no laggard himself, whether in affairs
of head or heart, had but scant tolerance for lajiaintr
in obhers. Jacques Gobineau, therefore, who rode to
Bernauld that July day, had made a discreet haste,
wisely counting dust and a summer sun as but light
things when weighed against the king's wrath. A
lean-chopped, leather-skinned man-at-arms he was,
and with all the shrewd impudence that is own child
to a strong arm and an empty pocket.
As I cut asunder the silken string that bound
his packet he stood wiping the crust of dust from
his thrice-sweated face with one hand, and swinainc
THE KING CROOKS IIIK FINGER.
his bonnet with tho other with as easy an air as if
not alone Bernauld, but the whole county of Bigorre,
was his for a possession. If he was hot without —
and the red in his cheeks vouched that past doubt
he seemed no less afire within, for he turned his face
to the door and drew in slow draughts of air between
his lips as a man does who, having nothing better
wherewith to cool his thirst, cools it with wind.
" From Pau ? "
" From Pau to - day, monsieur : yesterday from
Vic, and plague take the roads, whether yesterday
or to-day," and he shook the fine dust from him
in a cloud as a spaniel might water.
"The King?" and I turned over the letter with
its broad seal, and the looped chains of the Albrets
impressed on the splash of wax, — "the King is at
Vic ? "
"The King?" Turning towards me the fellow
laughed, not insolently but in good companionship
as one might with an equal. "The King, by your
leave, is a dog straining hard on a leash, and rest-
lessly nosing this way and that for pure love of
energy and delight of life. He ivas at Vic, mon-
sieur, but where he is now the Lord knows. Some
of these days the leash will break and then we shall
see, and France shall see ; and there will be some
slavering at the jaws, with blood in the slaver. An
honest man may then come to his pay, perchance,
by good loot if not by honest crowns. 'The Kins,
where is he?' quoth he. A question easy to ask
8
A KINGS PAWN.
but hard to answer." And again the fellow laughed
as a wan does who has a quaint jest in his memory.
" It is like this," he went on, slipping his bonnet
over the left arm by the chin-strap and checking his
points with the outstretched forefinger of his right
hand. " You see me, monsieur, more rags and
threadbare patches from hose to collar than bits
of whole cloth. That's Navarre, and what Navarre
is the King is, and when a man is out at elbows
he cares little what company he keeps, and so fares
here or there as his humour takes him. No offence,
monsieur, if our Henry has bid you to Vic; I talk
only as the Court talks. He, being King, v^e wink
our eyes ; but were it one of us ! But that's
talk, though where the King is the Lord knows ; for
since Monsieur de Eosny went bridegrooming to
Mantes the leash is slackened, or the tether longer,
which you will."
" And is this the way," said I sternly, being nettled
as much by his easy assumption of commandership
as by his cool impudence — " Is this the way that
hireling trooi)ers and camp scum talk of the King ?
Better beware, friend, lest a shut door come of an
open mouth, and a shackled leg of a loose tongue,
as have come to many a becter man than thou before
this."
" Faith," said he, looking me straight in the face,
" the truth is as open as the mouth, and if it's as
loose as the tongue, whose fault is it ? That it's
truth there's no gainsaying. And when it comes
TlIK KINO CIIOOKS HIR FINGKR.
9
to sluickled l(;«,^s, Vic is twenty lea^'ues iiway, {ind
that's a far cry. As for trooper and camp scum,
I grant there is more hireling than paid man about
me, seeing that the King owes me seven montlis' up-
keep, for whicli I may whistle. Tis a hard tliing
if a man, lackin^L? better pay, may not fill liimself
with windy words. There seems nought else on
tiie hills," he added caustically, again drawing in
a thirsty breath.
Upon tlie hint 1 remembered liospitality and bade
a lackey see to the fellow's comfort. Small wonder
that his tongue was on edge. The dust and wayside
heat would have soured a sweeter temper than that
of a battered man-at-arms with his pay in hopeless
arrears. Truly it was a fool's work to have bandied
words with such a fellow, parched and fasting, and
argued that I was growing dull witted in my handling
of the affairs of men.
"This comes," thought I, turning up the great
hall with the King's letter still unopened in my
liand, "of being buried in stagnation beyond the
whirl of the times. Fineness of touch, whether for
man or steel, lies in action. Or else Marcel was
right, and at four-aud -forty a man grows numb of
instinct and should stand aside that some (juicker
brain may push its way to the front."
The thought shook me like a blast of mountain
wind on a March day — shook me spirit and body.
To a man wlio for a score of years has handled the
affairs of a nation, even though the nation be but
10
A KINliS PAWN.
(I cock-pit to a Koimui circus, as was Navarre to
Fmnce or Spain, tliu hciiij,' out-vvoiii by time, and
imij,' into ii corner as past use, is a stroke as bitter
»s death, afj'l indeed a man of .iction had as lief be
desad as have liis ii.ses blunted. Witli that I opened
the King's letter, and in it found tlie shainin',' of my
mood, ttiongh with the consolation there came, as
often happens to the discomtiting of a man's ease,
a new cause for disquietude.
What the King wrote was this : —
" To Monsinir Blaise dc Btrnauld.
" My Fkiend, — As you have forgotten that tlie road
to Vic is by way of Ossun, I send a messenger to
remind you. The Queen is at Nerac, Mornay at
St Germains, llosny at Mantes; and witli only La
Eochefoucauld and lioquelaure I am weary of my
life and their state-craft. Crave Madame Jeanne
to lend you to me, J)e Bernauld. I kiss her hand
and would it were her cheek. Come to me, I beix.
and if you have a tried friend bring him.
"From Vic, this l7th day of July,
" Your very good and assured friend, Henki.
" Be speedy, for I have an admirable thought in my
mind."
Curt, but being in his own hand Lhvcughout *t
meant more than if another had sviitteii a folio.
Henry had no love for the pen. Curt, ay, but
»i
TIIK KINO CROOKS HIS KINOKR. U
courteous ;
wlierein he (littered from his Valois
cousin nnd
namesake in I'ari" to whom every man,
not a kin^
r Ji minion, w . hickey. He wouhl
have bej^'un
with on imperative " liernauld," like a
curse filing,'
at a doj;.
Twice 1 n'ad it l«. myself while Marcel stood by
tu<,^«,Mn«r at his licard and eyeing me wistfully. Then
I read it u third time, aloud. Why not ? Wit strikes
fire from wit, and besides the sound of a LhinL; opens
up its sense. When the meaning,' of a t'ainy is obscure
better talk to your bedposts than not talk at all.
Besides, again, Marcel was more than squire, ho was
lover and friend and truer than my own heart, there-
fore, I say, why not ?
As I read it, slowly, and sentence by sentence, he
punctuated it with grave nods. Then he said :
"Make us equal, Master IJlaise. Read it out a
second time and then we'll get at tl e marrow."
So I began, " ' My friend.' "
" Ay," broke in Marcel, " he has need of you, that's
clear. But for what. Master Blaise, for what ? That's
the bone we must crack."
" * As you have forgotten that the road to Vic is by
way of Ossun, I send a messenger to remind you.' "
" There's a cunning stroke ! 'Tis you that have
forgotten, not he ; oh Lord, no, not he ! And yet,
for all that you have forgotten, he puts his king's
dignity aside and reminds you that you lave for-
gotten. It's not in nature. Mv faitli. l.'iit. he must
need you sorely."
12
A king's pawn.
" ' The Queen is at Nerac, Mornay at St Germains
Kosny at Mantes ; and with only La Kochefoucauld
and Eoquelaure I am weary of my life and their
state-craft; "
" The pick of the kingdom, d'you mark, and yet he
sends to Bernauld ! 'Tis something hare-brained that
he dare not moot to the Council. God grant it be
honourable, for the King is not at all times too nice
in his purposes."
Crave Madame Jeanne to lend you to me, De Ber-
nauld. I kiss her hand and would it were Iier cheek ' "
" I'll warrant him I The King had ever an open
eye for a fair face. And see how her name comes
pat to his pen to cozen her with a royal memory.
How could my lady say nay to so soft a request ? "
, " 'Come to me, I beg, and if you have a tried
triend brmg him.'"
"Ay, ay, short of death or sickness there is no
getting out of that. The rest you might cry off,
but who can say 'No' to a king's 'I be-'? As to
the friend, why, here we are, two that lovc^ Bernauld
and know one another as a hand knows a .dove Thif
is settled." ° "
" ' Be speedy, for I have an admirable tliou-dit in
my mind.' " °
" Plague take his thoughts ! How many lives will
that thought cost d'you suppose, Master Blaise ? Not
many, perhaps, for the thing is plainly secret, but at
least yours and mine are on the venture. Plahiise was
:o a queer
jred as he
ne another
drink. I
ne, Master
n not the
t back to
re too old
friends for the nice punctilio of master and servant,
and I never held with keeping a trusted comrade'
trotting at one's heels like a trained spaniel. When
we rode in company it was another thing. Marcel
would then as soon have broken the ''unwritten
treaty of bread and salt as liave come within three
lengths of me except upon orders or some stern
necessity.
Curious how that bread and salt binds the Basque
peasant. Some Moslem leavening in their blood,
doubtless, spread northwards from the days of the'
Moorish dominion. Your peasant of France would
eat at your board until his stomach cried "Enough!"
or give you the pickings of his poverty, and "then
for a silver testoon cut your throat in youi sleeps
the same night ; but the Basque would give himself,
or the son of Ins liope, to death sooner than that
harm should touch you through him.
" These women, these women, with their fears and
fancies," laughed he. " ' Beware of Spain's men,' says
the dame, and we witli our backs to the Dons, and
our noses to France. Wiien she comes to a question
of liquor there is more sense in it, for, on my word,
'tis one of the sorrows of threescore that a man's'
head grows hot, and his hand shaking, sooner than
IS reasonable. You would think, to hear these good
souls talk, that they held their men to be fit'' for
nought but herding sheep, and yet, I'll warrant she
would be the first to cry ' Coward ! ' if I so mnnh as
took thought for a whole skin when Bernauld had
B
18
A king's pawn.
need of me. For, d'ye mark, Master Blaise, that
if her first thought was for me her last was for
you, and my word on it, tliat's the thought that
sticks fastest in her mind."
Which, however true a saying, had as close an
application to himself, and so I told him.
" A pretty fellow you are to gibe," and I struck
him lightly on the shoulder with my riding-whip.
" The Bernaulds might go wreck, root and branch,
might they not, and you would not risk so much
as a finger-nail for their savincr ? "
"Oh, but that," said he, very seriously, "is quite
another thing. I am Bernauld straight through, both
born and bred, and by reason of the blood and'' service
of half-a-dozen generations; while she is no more
than a kind of married chattel of the house, with
some thirty years' sufferance. But," he added', " she
was always reasonable, and, thank the Lord, I brought
her up well."
Jacques Gobineau we had left behind. Marcel
saw to his rousing betimes, but the rascal came to
the courtyard yawning, and with his dress flung on
him awry like a man who, having slept two nights
in doublet and breeches, found waking with the "sun
a sore cross to the flesh.
"You must hasten, fellow," cried I. "The King
is impatient, and, if our beasts hold out, we shall
see Vic before midnight."
^ " 'Tis a man's bounden duty to do the King's
biddino"," saifl hp ottx'pI" " >"''-,. >,• ,
_,, ^.11., (ly, gra\ eij. r- Well, then, if Spanish Navarre revolts
to French Navarre, who will say No ? Philip ?
38
A KING 8 I'AWN.
I'hilip has hi.s ,.yu on Kii;,rlaiitivc, or why else is D'Kpernon
so far from I'aris ? All that is on an if. hut a hird
whispers that Spanish Navarre is restless, and seethes
with discontent. The question is, is that true, and
will Si)aniHli Navarre move { France would never
pardon failure, and there is nothing less than a royal
crown upon the cast. Do you know Spain, Monsieur
de Jiernauld ? "
"Which Spain, Sire?" asked 1, l)lunLly. "The
one of the devil's niaking or that after ({od Almi-hty's
pattern ? The Spain of an accursed people, or the
Spain of honest hills and valleys ? The first 1 know
through its men and methods, and loathe, as all
Europe knows and loathes. Of the latter 1 know
nought, and for reasons as big as a man's life."
'• Then, my friend, you shall learn something new,
and that shortly, for needs must that a man with
a cool head and a stout arm ride south and sift
liie truth from the lies, and ]Jlaise de Bernauld is
the man for the work."
"By your lewve, Sire," said I, sharply, "Blaise
de Bernauld is nut the man. Have you forgotten
how eighteen years ago I, with two hundred at my
back, men of my own raising, raided Florida and
avenged on Spain that massacre of Frenchmen France
dared not avenge for herself? Have yon forgotten
how we wiped Spain's accursed settlement off God's
1
4
THE KINK IDKA (tK THK KINO OF NAVAHRE.
39
lo niincl
uiiry tliu
vill sup-
Ki»oriion
t a bird
I seethes
I'lie, jumI
(I never
I a royal
/loii.sieur
" The
ini,!4hty's
, or the
r know
as all
I know
life."
ng new,
m with
uid sift
lauld is
" Blaise
)rgotten
at my
da and
France
>rgotten
f God's
earth as a man wipes a foulness from his palm.
How we swe{»t the seas even as Englisli Drake and
Hawkins swe[)t thcmi, bringing home such booty as
Kociu'lle never saw before or since ^ How that
Alva's bloodiiounds liunted Blaise de Denuiuld for
the price Spain put upon his head, and struck at
his life not once, nor twice, nor thrice. How that
the women of thiit Diego Saumarez whon; I slew
in the west set l)ravoH to lie in wait at Mernauld,
and how I bear, and will bear to the grave, their
sign -manual carvetl upon me, — have you forgotten
all this, Sire, that you say ride south to Spain as
easily as one might say why not go a-heroning
for pastime ? "
"Ay," said the King; "but who is there now
in Spanish Navarre that cares a tig for you and
your Florida raid? Jiesides, tlie story is eighteen
years old, and all forgotten, j».s forgotten as "
" As Saint Bartholomew,' aid I, l)itterly, as he
hesitated for a word.
"Good," ' ' he, "have it so. Then are times
when kings should have short memories. I take
your words, Monsieur de Bernauld. As forgotten
as Saint Bartholomew. And what is it, after all ?
To ride across the hills with as many as you will
at your back, and pass a day here and a day there
with those who, if the whisperings tell truth, love
Albret as much as they hate iiapsburg, and that is
heart and soul. Why, m:=n ris liut a week's pleasur-
ing, but, as you see, no lool would serve our turn.
I
M
40
A king's pawn.
It must be a cool head and a keen brain to sift
talk from truth, since out of this thing may come
the making of history."
" Sire, Sire, I dare not go."
"Dare not. Monsieur de Bernauld ? You dare
Hout France, as you did yesterday, and risk a bloody
war all for a handful of dust, but dare not face
a shadow to build up peace? I say you must
you and no other. Since through you has come
the peril of the kingdom, through you must come
its safety."
"But, Sire, a moment since you jested at this
De Chaussy ? "
"Ay, ay. 'tis the same mouth that laughs and
cries, but France has already such a hunger for
Navarre that who knows how a mouthful of dust
may whet her appetite. Go you must, De Bernauld, '
but have as many with you as you will."
"No troop, Sire, I will take no troop," I cried
" What ? have every officious busybody set ago- to
know who is this that rides into Spain with" an
army at his heels ? Three or four, no more, but
by your leave, since I am the stake in the game
the^ three or four must be of my choosing."
"Said I not that you were the man!" and the
King's open hand fell on my shoulder as I have
seen it fall a score of times when there was a
point to be won by bluff frankness. "Three or
four it sliall be, but, by your leave, of my choosing,
smce I am the stake and have more to lose than
THE FINE IDEA OF THE KING OF NAVARRE. 41
to sift
ly come
ou dare
I bloody
ot face
I must,
s come
it come
at this
IS and
^er for
•f dust
rnauld,
cried,
gog to
ith an
3, but,
game,
id the
have
*vas a
ee or
osing,
than
thou hast, and know my men better. Marcel, for
one. That is why I l)adc thee bring a tried friend.
I know Master Marcel, ay, faith, 1 know him well.
He has much of the bulldog in him for all his
thin jaws. Stubborn, faithful, tenacious, and what
he grips he holds. As to the otiier two, I liave
them in my mind, l)e Bernauld. Never fear for
theni. They love Navarre as well as thou dost,
are. neither squeamish nor fools, can fight if needs
be, and run if needs must, can lie upon occasion
and never ruffle the brow, and can tell the truth
where truth best serves their purpose, and, beyond
all tliat, they have a dozen generations of good blood
to vouch for them. Why ; Saints, man— forgive the
oath, De Bernauld, 'tis a trick of Paris, and mayhap
it will come in fashion again — the thing is as
good as done. 'Tis you, and such as you, are the
true makers of histoiy. The name is the name
of Henry, or of liosny, or the like, but the hand
is Bernauld's. As for plans, we will settle all that
when this popinjay duke has come and gone. He
is twenty -four hours behind, says De Chaussy ; give
him a second twenty-four to say his say, and a third
to get back to Guienne. Be ready four days hence,.
and meanwliile let your tongue be as silent as the
grave where lies Diego Saumarez. If a bird of
the air carried the matter it might fare ill with the
King's friends. You understand ? "
Again he clapped me on tlie shoulder, and five
minutes later I found myself tramping down the
42
A king's pawn.
stairway, with ray heart flutterino- as if the King
had given me a dukedom instead of setting me to
play knucklebones with the devil of Spain, and,
for all his denial, my own life the stake.
Later, as I thought it over in cold blood, I said
as I had said at Bernauld, plague take the ideas
of Henry of Navarre, and the second thouglit was
the truer. I might have added, plague take myself
since my bout with I)e Chaussy had, in a measure'
set me under the King's thumb. But it is a great
comfort to a man's nature to have some othe^r to
curse besides himself.
King
43
CHAPTEE IV.
HOW THE KING REFUSED THE THRONE OF FRANCE.
Whether D'Epernon lagged upon the road 1 know
not, but he was certainly a day later than the King
had reckoned. It was not upon the first but on the
second day after our reaching Vic that Marcel came
to me about an hour and a half past noon with news
of the arrival of tlie embassy. I had dined, and dined
well and placidly as became a man whose meat was
to his liking, and whose appetite, digestion, and con-
science were alike good ; and was lingering over the
last half of the one tiask of wine that was my dining
allowance. Some men hold it a kind of virtue that
they can drink their three or four, or even their five
bottles and yet not be utterly drunken, but I have
seldom found a man wliose judgment in delicate affairs
was as sound after the end of the second bottle as
before the beginning of the first; and that a man
should put himself to the test of a hogshead with an
air of pride seems to me a folly.
Not that I despise the hard head that can with-
stand assaults, whether from within or without. It
44
A king's pawn.
<»
Patli of hfe, and I was presently fo see just sueh a
stoutness of brain save four men fron. destruetio b„
or a. .ts uses it is a poor thing to boast of. My
one Hasic of Gascony wine was, tl.erefore, „.y uj
and .t was at its last glass when Marcel came to me '
s.id H «"' ' ""''' «"P »" *« «'"^'« «f l"ek"
h CW irv"" ^ '"■' ^'""- ™» -^-S'-^ about
he K ngs orders I dared not give him an inkling of
he scheme n. prospect. "The King will have you
and Ber„a.dd there, but what Bernauld reaps out of
t all the Lord only knows. Nought, I expect, but
hard knocks, scant thanks, and a starved purse
But there's the King's „„„ „,,,,,^, ,^^^ ^^'^^
Monsieur de Eohan." ^
" «'™" yon how long since ? " ,,aid I, setting down
the glass and rising from my stool.
t^ced , maybe an hour back, for I mind n.e dinner
was no more than served."
'' What, fool ? " cried I in consternation ; " thou hast
made the King wait whilst I " ^nou test
"Not a whit, not a whit," he said hastily; "there
has been no waiting. He has these iino French
gent en,en to fill the tin.e, and to ,„, „,„ ,, ^
-a er thmg that you went up full than fast.n;
Whe a ,„an goes an.ong such cattle he never
HOW THE KING REFUSED THE THRONE.
45
But I left liiiii babbling, and so never heard the
end of his excuses. That Henry of France had not
sent D'Epernon all the way from Paris to say bluntly
" Anjou is dead," I knew full well. No, no ; some-
thing that touched both France and Navarre lay
behind such an embassage, and here had tliis fool lost
me, perhaps, the hearing of it.
With a do;5en fancies fighting in my head I made
my way to the castle, only to find that the public
audience was ended, and the King and D'Epernon, witli
certain of their suites, retired into Henry's cabinet.
Thither I went, and though D'Arros would have turned
me back I would take no denial. The King had
called me and to the King I would go, and in the
end I won my point as a man commonly does who is
but insistent enough, and so was present at a notable
scene.
The King's cabinet filled the angle of the castle,
and was a long, narrow room with one window at the
end and two at the right hand side. From it one
door opened on the corridor and a second into the
reception hall, where he had met me two days before.
It was, therefore, private, and out of the way of
casual interruption. Down the lower half of the
middle of the room ran a narrow table, beyond it
being a great arm-chair, with half a dozen lesser
chairs, straight backed and leather seated, grouped
round it. There, in the centre, sat the King, one
knee flung across the other while he leaned not on
the chair arm but on the sword hilt propping up his
46
A king's pawn.
^i; '
and at sight of Marniet
I guessed in a flash
r)'FnAvn..«'. • • «»««««u in a flash
DEpernons ...on, and that Hen., would speak
No brtter controversialist was Marmet, no .dcwi„„
fi ebrand .„ a blacic cassock, no narrow b got ridTt:
strL: of ""''^ '"^ '"'" "' «"" ^"^ '-e It
St ataon of pure rel.gio,,, but a man of peace and
oufof t^ as .i,d as he was sincere, and' one ^
found itarTt' '"""""^ "' '"^ '""'''• -"'^ "av
mm and alJ Ins works. Por him th«
mdlenn.um was always just beyond the door „d t
confidently looked to see the Catholic lion He d Ln
w,th the Huguenot lamb, though how they were to
reconde their differences of creed and T !\u
«.s Of blood that lay across b:tT muTt^. ^r !
«h.s faith. Marmefs presence, therefo;rd:
werri>Cnof Vch"^'''''^^ '"-' '-'■
I'errier and a r ^''^' *' '^''"'"-^^"''^ ^n
emer, and a I ,c,soan monk whom I presently
me to know as ..other Mark, a man with 'the a e
c^rrei:;/j:;;rb;;ro::r-
your vojir,fn,,Q -^-M • . -^ ^" "^se as
HOW THE KING REFUSED THE THRONE.
47
, Roque-
)reacher ;
a Hash
d speak
ready to
denion-
ice and
fie who,
d have
of his
im the
and he
down
ere to
et the
sorely
, made
back,
r Du
lently
face
■ay, a
the
and
5 no
e as
In front of Henry was, as I have said, D'Epernon,
and a fine figure of a man he made. Thirty years old,
and therefore only in the beginning of the prime of
life, Jean Louis de Nogaret deserved his description as
the handsomest man at the Court of his master ; and
to good looks he added that easy assurance, touched
with arrogance, which comes of unchecked success and
the security of a king's favour. Governor of the Three
Bishoprics and the Boulonnais and prime favourite of
Henry of Valois, than whom no king was ever more
devoted to those who won his love, he could afford to
look the world insolently in the face. That he had so
looked, and in his pride had ruffled our Bourbon, I
knew from the King's first words.
" Let us have done with compliments," he was
saying as I entered. " Leave aside the sugar and
come to the bitter. Monsieur le Due. Or have men
in Paris taken to calling dukes of my cousin Valois'
creation ' Monseigneur ' yet ? No ? Well, it will
come, but for the present ' Monsieur le Due ' must
content us. I am sure the King has not deprived
himself of the great happiness of your company for so
many days simply to bid me good morning gracefully.
Come to the point, I say."
" What my master bade me say. Sire, he bade me
say to your private ear."
" Then," answered Henry, " what does the Chan-
cellor here, and our friend in the grey frock ? "
" To urge the King's reasons, Sire, and so brin"
conviction "
48
i
A KING'S I'AWN.
"■^»«>- pardon," .sai.l Henrv . ,-
-"--■our, tl,ese .e„tle,„e„ yotT ' ,"'""«'"• Well,
-^ '^e.,ore ,„„ „„, ^t i^"!,"-. N,ava„,
-^'or a moment I)'j?n ''*"^^^7.
"». -'^■.■n, „p h,-„ ^i^ ;;'-; one to the other ;
■'««-.. speaking .„„„,^ ,;, '» "- "navoidable, he
word,, with care. ™™.festly piefci„g ,„.^
^"''oved brother, out of I '" "'" ^'«'"'' »' his
-" »•" of his bur, n :r '"" "^ "-'^ '0 ,o
Church, desires to nr^e lotv .r"' "'"'^ Mother
«'«' lies in deferrin^; JH" ^'"! "''' "^^Wo ^ am
»a«ter affectionately pra " 7 /'^'' >"" ^y „«
'"« message which he doT" '""'' '"'"' '-d to
-» vouchsafe through tS J ,7 ^ 'P'"' "^ «od
7";- worth and hon J al f '''^ ''"'^ ?"-'.
'»a]c.ng but are the very 1 ""'. ''"'"' "^ "an's
^iyhty God." ^ Sift and inspiration „f
"^y," said the K'ino. i
'>^<' never shifted li" fr "'f ^" '''■'^ ^Poeoh
-'Oiled hi» as a warytnj ""t ^ °''"'^ *-' "«
'" P'o-c the hust Of Jord?; :t 7 ''^^'•— y;
"'le teruel of mean-
I
HOW THE KING KEFUSED THE THltONE.
49
"^ in briskly;
nought. Well'
me — welcome
-are 2»fav.arre
'-'^^^ing his lip
to the other;
avoidable, he'
picking his
uncertainty
'eath of his
ears to you,
o^J Mother
ibie danger
J return to
ce in this
come. In
Jre, I am
y nie my
^ heed to
t of God
^y priest,
>f man's
ation of
speech
^ce, but
ersary ;
mean-
ing and be blunt, he would have me turn Catholic a
second time. To what end, monsieur ? Once 1 heard
Mass for a jewelled bonnet and a bare chance of life,
but now — to what end, I say again ? "
"Sire, as I have said, under the shadow of his
brother's death the King, my master, is keenly sensible
of tl e spiritual danger "
" La, la, la," broke in Henry. " When the Kinrr
your master has fewer mistresses, and keeps treaties
with better faith, it will be time enougli to preach
religion to a Huguenot. Ilemember this is Navarre's
private ear, so to the point, monsieur, to the point."
" There is always this, Sire, and I say it with all
respect— Paris is the very prude of orthodoxy, and
can never hold out her arms to the new religion."
" Ah ! but, monsieur," retorted the King drily, " I
have no love for prudes."
" Then view it this way, Sire. Paris is the pivot
of Europe ; Paris is a tree that shadows all France."
" I admit and regret the shadow," answered Henry ;
" but your tree has its roots in the provinces, and so
draws strength even from far-off Beam, and I make a
shrewd guess tliat a growth from the ancient root of
Saint Louis may one day flourish in Navarre, and luo
thanks to. the goodwill of Paris. To be blunt again
monsieur, since it is my nature to be downright, there
is no longer a Valois to succeed a Valois, and the
King your master says to Henry of Bourbon, ' Be
Catholic, and you may be Kin" hereafter,' Am \
right ? "
D.
50
A king's pawn.
" I have no mission, Sire- "
" What ? You would catch Navarre without even
a bait to the hook ? Is this your mission, Master
Chancellor, and yours, too, priest ? "
" Let the barrier be removed, Sire," answered Du
Ferrier, "and what need is there for promises? Do
you not stand on the steps of the throne?"
'Ay, by the Lord! do I," cried Henry, llin-ing
himself back in his chair and staring the Chancellor
proudly in the face; "and let him who seeks to thrust
me down beware of himself, lest ho slip and fall head-
long. Now, sir priest, it is your turn."
Down upon his knees went Brother Mark.
" Sire," he said, " my King is the King eternal, and
therefore I can humble myself to man without shame.
Here, as His ambassador, and kneeling at your feet, I
pray you in His name to give France peace. From
Artois to Navarre the land is sick of blood, and cries
out against the miseries of war. Listen, Sire, listen !
Can you not hear France weeping for her children, and
not comforted because they are not ? And is Navarre
dumb ? Has she no tears ? Is there a home within
its borders, be it that of prince or peasant, that does
not mourn its dead ? These two, Sire, France and
Navarre— these two cry to you this day to dry their
tears and bid them stay their sobbing. That one God
of peace. He whom we alike serve, though from dif-
ferent altars, waits upon your answer. In His name,
Sire, and for the salvation of France and your own
beloved birthright, give us peace." His words I can
1
X
I
HOW THE KINO REFUSED THE THUONE.
ni
a
tell you, or something like th(3m, but tho man's passion-
broken tones, as his voice pled and wailed, are beyond
me. But tliis I know, he sent a shiver tlirough mo
that, rising at the heart, rippled down to the very
finger-tips, and I thanked Clod 1 was not King of
Navarre.
While he spoke Henry sat eyeing him with his
hawk's look, never stirring nor shifting liis gaze, and
the silence that followed was breathless with the fate
of a nation. It was a conscious relief to all when at
length the King answered him, and to me a double
relief that his clear, hard, cool sense brushed aside the
snare that would have trapped me.
" These, monk, are things of policy, and no words
will make them more. Can a man juggle with his
soul's health for policy ? Tell me that."
Whereupon Brother Mark broke afresh into a torrent
of words, of which I gathered no more than this :
There was Marmet and here was lirother Mark. Let
the King appoint judges to hear, weigh, and consider;
and then act as the Holy Spirit inspired them. Whicli,
at the first blush, seemed a more reasonable and
tolerant thing than might have been looked for from
a hunter of Huguenots. But the King would none
of it.
" In this case," cried lie, " I alone am the judge,
since who can come between a man and his conscience ^
and whose ' yea ' shall suffice in the Great Judgment
hereafter if God now snitli ' nay ' ? Or if there be
another judge joined with me, which I doubt, it is the
1 J
52
A KINO'r pawn.
faith of froo Navarro. As to the inspiration, tlie Spirit
hath spoken already, monk, both in my time and in
our mother's, and under His teacliing we have thrust
away priestly aggression further tlian we are like to
reach a hand to drag it back again."
" Ah, Hire," said the Franciscan sorrowfully, as he
rose to his feet, " I fear before God you have no
wish to be converted."
Whereupon tlie King rounded on him with his eyes
ablaze.
•' Understand ; it is you who come to seek me, and
not I you; and I hold it to be God's truth that
France has greater need of me than T of France, and
that tlie need will grow."
On that J)u Ferrier, the Chancellor, had a word to
say. A calm and politic man, JJu Ferrier. Hitherto,
saving for once, he had held his peace, watching the'
changes of the tide with alert eyes, and listening to
the play of words. Now he broke in.
"We bring you. Sire, as the Lord of old brought
Moses to the top of Pisgah, that you may see the
promised land. But there is a division between, Sire,
and it is for you to say whether you will cross and
enter in."
" Eather," interrupted La Eochefoucauld, and speak-
ing with naked bluntness, " you show the King the
kingdoms of this world and the glories of them"", and
say, ' All these do we give you if you will fall down
and worship the devil.' There are mountains and
mountains, Sir Chancellor ; and as to your figure of
HOW THK KING HKKl'.SKI. THIS THHONE.
53
Moses, if the Kinj,' followed your beck he mi^ht be
lost in as unknown a yravu as that in the Vale of
Moab."
" I speak to the Kin^', and from him 1 take my
answer," said I)u I'errier lietween his teeth.
" You speak to Navarre," retorted La llocheluu-
cauld. " To Navarre that remembers that thern is a
Huguenot Cond(5 as well as a Huguenot Vendome.
It IS by Navarre, monsieur, that the last word will be
said."
" Peace, Franrois, let that rest," said the Xing ;
"and remembo*- my Lord Chaneellor is representative
of my good ' ousin, and to comiiare the King of France
to the devil a in y. ur heat you did a moment l)ack,
is a kind of 'Vir KMJestd. Now, monk, if you have
aught to say, say on."
Had Brother Maik aught to say ? Verily he had,
else Brother Mark liad not been there at all. For a
moment he stood silent, looking down upon the lloor,
and his hands clenched hard. Then he faced the
King, and it may be that I read liim wrong, but there
seemed to be a subordinating of will and conviction to
instruction.
" As you, Sire," and he looked across the King's
shoulder at Marmet, who stood behind, " have been
already so well instructed in the Holy Faith, I will
leave aside all niceties of theology."
" Ay," said Henry, and from where I stood at the
side I c: ild SCO his face harden, " I remember well
•the instructing. It was some three days before Bar-
I
54
A king's pawn.
If^
tholomew, and the final arguments were well demon-
strated : at least few stood against them. Thou art
right, monk : leave niceties aside."
For a moment the monk was staggered at the
thrust ; then, with a deep breath, he gave himself to
his task.
Now, when a man whose trade it is to talk, whether
from a pulpit, a rostrum, or an upturned barrel-head
fronting a quack's booth — when such a one, I say, lets
his tongue loose, the common man who sits below with
mouth and ears open understands no more than it is
meant he should. Is there a weak spot in the argu-
ment ? — it is slid across as lightly as a boy skims on
day-old ice. Is there a point that tells ? — it is ham-
mered and twisted and laboured and fashioned as a
smith shapes a lancehead out of a clumsy plough-
share, and in tho end, amidst the froth of words and
the jangle of phrases, he holds little more in his
memory than that black's white, or maybe blue, or
yellow, or green, as the speaker chooses.
Of Brother Mark's argument, therefore, I remember
little in detail, but to my poor judgment it seemed
that he had more discretion than a right appreciation
of the King's mind, for he left aside the weighty dif-
ferences and dwelt rather on the points of approxima-
tion. But these, too, he soon turned his back upon,
and what I remember best savoured more of the
wily politician than the earnest theologian. It came
back to what had already been said, and mav bf>
summed up in this: The Lord has set before you
HOW THE KING REFUSED THE THRONE.
55
this day life and death, blessing and cursing : the life
not of yourself, the blessing not of yourself, but of
the people whose lord and yet whose servant you are.
After all, if that arrow failed to go home he might
keep the rest in his quiver, for it was the straightest
and surest of them all.
When he ended we looked to Marmet to break the
silence that followed, but Henry stopped the preacher
with a gesture and answered for himself.
" You are weak, monk, you are weak, for you seek
to dazzle the Hesh rather than convince the spirit.
With policies I will have nought to do ; but as for the
little leaven of theology that touched your discourse,
here is my reply : I say not that you are altogether
wrong and we altogetlier rigb- It is, rather, that the
light of God comes to this mist-girt earth in a line
direct from Himself, and here breaks in this direction
or in that, no one having the entire of light and no
one the utter darkness. But to be honest with you, it
seems to me that into your light there have drifted
more and greater motes than into ours, and it behoves
a man to see to it that his soul lives as much as may
be in the undimmed shining of Almighty God. I like
not your Church's ways. Liberty is the very soul of
faith, and were I to become heretic to my conscience,
whether through compulsion of fear from witliout or
greed from within, I would be bondslave to unbelief —
an evil case, since he who flings away faith, flings
hope and charitv after it."
My own thought is that Henry, having guessed
56
A king's pawn.
their mission, had prepared his set reply; for neither
his matter nor his fashion of speaking was after his
common manner. Be that as it may. with his last
words he rose, so putting an end to the audience.
l.a Rochefoucauld. Eoquelaure, Mamiet, attend
these gentlemen. Monsieur le Due. I will prepare
fitting letters for your master's private eye. Assure
hnn of our deep and Christian sympathy in the heavy
gnet which has fallen upon his house. For the pre-
sent, gentlemen, farewell : attairs of state press upon
Trders" ''^'''^' ^' ^'""'"'''' ''" ^"" ""''"'' '"^
At the door there was some little confusion, and
above the murmur of whispering voices I heard La
Kocheloucauld say, as if in reply to some comment
by D Epernoii, —
" If you come to comparisons, monsieur, I only wish
some one would offer you the crown of France in one
hand and a few psalms in the other! I know well
which you would choose ! "
67
CHAPTEK V.
THE CONDESCENSION OF THE DUG D'EFERNON.
As the door closed the King stood silent a moment,
his head upon his breast, half listening to the echoes
from the corridor and half in thought. He had shut
all France and the glory of a great throne outside the
door, and for the moment Navarre must have shrunk
very small in his eyes. Tlien he roused himself and,
drawing his hand across his forehead with a quick
gesture, as a man does who brushes aside a thought,
turned to me.
" Which was it, De Bernauld — honestly meant or a
snare ? "
" A snare, Sire," replied I promptly ; " when did a
Valois follow a straight path or seek any end but
his own ? "
But he shook his head. " You are wrong, you are
wrong ; I am persuaded it was an honest hint, but ill
judged. Did you hear La Rochefoucauld ? ' There is
a Cond^,' said he bluntly, ' if a Vendome fails ' ; nor
can I blame him when I remember that his father
perished in Bartholomew. What ? Could I dream
58
A king's pawn.
IB
that the sons of Coligny, Montamar, La Force, Piles,
Teligny, and a hundred others would knit their fortunes
with those of a man who trampled their fathers' blood
under-foot that he might mount a throne which rests
upon their graves ? Never. They would have flown
to Conde first, and there would be two Kings in
Navarre instead of one, and a bloodier, bitterer,
deadlier war than has ever yet cursed us, for it would
have been a war of brother and brother. No, no, it
was well meant but ill judged."
" But, Sire," cried I, " this is policy, and you would
none of their policies."
" If a man have two good reasons, De Bernauld,
need he give them both when one will suffice ? Was'
it for me to put the suggestion in D'Epernon's head
that he might play off a Cond^ against a Vend6me,
and so let France eat the oyster, leaving the shells to
Ud whoever won ? By the Lord, no. But mark this;
there is more need than ever for your ride to Spain.
Paris will now be cold to us, and needs must that
Navarre loom large in the eyes of France. If the
Spanish pretext fails us, then, my friend, there will
be nothing left but war. Come what will, France
must not forget who claims the crown. I am frank
because I trust you, De Bernauld and so tell you this,
and lest you still have scruples about this woman Sau-
marez who. I doubt not, is dust these dozen years."
And yet, for all his frankness, he, as was his
custom with us all, told me no more than suited
his plans, and that was about half his thought.
THE CONDESCENSION OF THE DUC D'EPERNON. 59
i
" To-morrow D'Epernon comes for his conge. After •
Paris the court of Navarre is not to his taste. Did
you hear him sneer at our poverty ? No ? Ah, it
was at the public audience so as to give sharper point
to his courtesy. ' 'Twas rare,' said he with a courtly
bow, and contempt in his face, ' to see a king's
followers so free from the bonds of fashion ! ' upon
which I told him that for the present the court livery
of Navarre was a mailed jacket, and that I prayed
God I and mine might never have cause to return the
ceremony of a state visit ! The fool ! to risk his
master's business for the sake of a vulgar gibe. Well,
he takes leave to-morrow, and rides north the next
morning. Let him be once gone, and the sooner you
are south thereafter the better."
" To-morrow, then, Sire. Marcel is already grum-
bling at the delay."
" Is he so ? Ay, ay, trust the old war-horse to
smell action ! Yet, let him understand, and you also,
De Bernauld, that the errand is one of peace and
quietness. There must be no rulliing, no hectoring,
no quarrelling over nice points. He who can pocket
an insult and bide in patience until the time comes to
pay the debt is the truest lover of Navarre."
" But the language. Sire."
" Chut ! a Basque understands Basque whether it
be of France or Spain."
Taking a map from a drawer, he spread it out upon
the tabic.
" Here is Vic ; be at Pau two days hence, and if
60
A king's pawn.
■I
h
cunous tongues ask questions let it be thought you
nde home to Be.naulcl. Fr„n, Pau take the road
to Oloron, there turn south, and wait where a stream
rom the west joins the Gave d'Aspe. The rendezvous
IS there, four days from this. Is it clear ? "
" But, Sire, why not all ride in com.Bii.v ?■•
"To save gossip, n.y friend. Thar' yon and yo.r
squ.re sh„uld return to Pan is nothiu,, for i, is „JI o„
your journey ; but let two of my court j., with you-
the two „,ark you, I have in my mind-and there
would be no end to the .hatter. No, no, from the
Uve d Aspe onwards the con.rna.d is yours, and I can
promise you that the men I will pick have learned
ote, ,,.nce , but here it is ,ny busine.,s. Now, farewell,
De „.n,.t,)d; ke„p an open eye, a quick ear, a cool
head. ..,0 a qK.et tongue, and I will warrant that ten
days !;.-;„ce you will give a good account of yourself"
and? ' T, ^l '""^ '™''"^'' "« '" "' '1"^ ^"Wnet,
and so stifled the do.en questions I had yet to ask
a favourite method with Hei.ry of Navarre when'
ho had said his say and had no mind to listen to
objections.
Marcel I found waiting nie at our lodgings and
rorn the packed saddle-bags it was evident that he
had his mmd made up for a speedy move
roilT' "' """'" ""'""'" '' "■"'' " ^"^^ "^ sot the
" ^y" answered I, " to Pau to-morrow."
" To Pau ? » and his face lengthened. " In the Lord'»
name, why to Pau ? "
THE CONDESCENSION OF THE DUG d'EPERNON. 61
" Because the Kinj]f wills it, my friend ; but wait,
wait ; from Pau we go — elsewhere."
" Oh, ay," he grumbled. " I said from the first
there was danger, and now I must run into it
blindfold like a fool."
" You run nowhere that I don't lead," answered I,
"and what has served your turn for twenty years
may well serve it now. If it were my affair I
would tell you the truth plump, but it is the King's
business, and so there's an end of it."
Which, though it did not content him, at least
shut his mouth. Yet, it was barely the truth, for
I am frank to confess that the Spanish woman was
much in my mind; and even if I had had the
King's leave I might have told him nought, for I
dreaded lest a whisper of our ride south should
blow ahead of us across the mountains.
Not that I had an uneasy conscience as regards
Diego Saumarez, her son. By the Lord who made me,
no ; a hundred times, no ! He, through treachery and
in the blunt callousness of cold blood, had slaughtered
our expedition to a man, even after hospitality given
and received, so that I alone escaped. The vengeance
that I afterwards took upon him and his was no more
than his due, and if I go to my God with no greater
guilt on my soul than the slaying of Diego Saumarez
there in Florida, I will have little to repent of. But
thrice the woman had tried hard to strike me, and I
had no mind of set deliberation to Dut mvself within
arm's length of her.
62
A king's pawn.
I I
That she was dead was the King's whi.n, and indeed
might well be true seeing how far gone she would be
1" age If living. Diego Saumarez had been some five-
and-thirty years old; it was sixteen years since I had
slain him ; add some twenty-three or four to that, and
he w,tch, if still on the face of the earth, could be
little short of seventy-five. That the devil the mother
had gone to join tlie devil the son I trusted, but
remembering these three attempts at cool murder,
1 iield caution to be no shame.
But not even when I had closured Marcel's grumbles
had the tide of talk ceased Mowing for the day
At "The Three Stars" we supped early, as became
sober people, and the dusk was still warm in the west
when the host came fussing to my room in a tine
pucker of importance.
" One of the French gentlemen is witliout, mon^
sieur, said he, bowiug as he had never bowed to
i>laise de Bernauld, the King's guest. " Will ye nill
ye, he must see you. J^.y ()nr Lady he is a fine figure
of a man, and we poor inn-keepers of Navarre would
be happy had we "
" Eh, eh ? " I broke in shortly, for it vexed me to see
how easily the man's servile mood was bough l "What's
that ? What has Our Lady to do here in Vic ? "
" Wiiat, monsieur ? Did I say so? Truly these
i^rench fashions get a hold of a man."
" French crowns, rather ! " said L " But show him
m, man, lest he give you ten francs more, and you
turn Catholiu outright."
THE CONDESCENSION OF THE DUC D'EPERNON. 63
" One of the French .u;entlemen !" said Pierre Coue.
On my faith it was D'Epernon himself, and had I
been the brother of his love he could not have
embraced me with a greater show of aflection : show, I
say, for the pretence was as hollow as a rotten filbert.
If kings were wise there are some men they would
never send on emljassies, and D'Epernon was one of
them; unless, indeed, to his Holiness Tope Gregory,
Philip of Spain, or the royal vixen of England. With
these he had been civil all through, lest their great-
ness put a slight upon him ; but there in Navarre the
courtesy was but a courtesy on top, a thin veneer
tliat barely covered the arrogant contempt which
possessed the man for so petty a place as The Little
Kingdom. When a man's greatness fills his own eyes
his master's cause is likely to suffer. So was it now.
The man played a part, and his heart wr s so little
in his mission that he plnyed it badly.
" We ride hence to-morrow or the next day, Master
de Bernauld," said he,, flinging on the table the huge
cloak wherewith he had disguised his magnific<3nce,
" and before leaving, it behoves me first to pay my
debts, or rather my master's."
" Debts ! " answered I, " debts ? To my thinking
Navarre owes France more than France Navarre, and
has small chance of paying a full reckoning."
" Nay, nay, nay, let that rest," and he waved his
hand airily, as if with a gesture he had ooce and
for all put an end to a people's v/ronc^s. " The debt
is an apology. Master de Bernauld, an apology on
64
A king's pawn.
I
'; .'
the part of that ill-mannered De Chau«sy. You did
right to treat him to such a lesson, and I tell him
It IS thanks to your forbearance that our embassage
18 not a member short."
" 'Tis no thanks to himself," answered T drily, " for
whetb' • ^ l,is tongue or his swurd he bungled like
"Well, well, well," and he shrugged his shoiuJers
impatiently. " he played the fool and suffered for it
and I have said that he got his deserts, and so there's'
an end."
Then he turned from mc and wnlked up and down
the little room in five hasty strides, combing his beard
with his fingers the while. Suddenly lie stopped and
faced me.
" This is a doomsday for Navarre, Master de Ber-
nauld ; a doomsday, I say. What ? You were there ? "
" A doomsday ? " answered I, watching him, and
with less thought of what he said thn,. .,f what was to
come next. " As to that, Monsieur le Due, every dav
IS a doomsday."
" Tush, tush, you are no fool if your King is. We
havr. heard of you, and you know very well what
I mean, lour King had fortune in his lap to-day
and n,,ng i^ out ag in like a handful of parched peas'
The ^ailift- of liouen is dead, Master de Lernauld
and mv King bade me tell -ou so. The revenues'
are 2000' crowns i;-year."
" Ha, the King of iN-.varre could Iiardly sink sa
low aS' ikal," p^'^^wered 1 gravely.
. You did
1 I tell him
' embassage
drily, " for
ungled like
■I shoiuJers
ired for it,
1 so there's
and down
L,' his beard
topped and
er de Ber-
re there ? "
him, and
hat was to
every day
; is. We
veil whati
p to-day,
hed peas.
Lernauld,
revenues
sink so-
THE CONDESCENSION OF TFIE DUC d'KI'ERNON. 65
Wliereupon he ^'ell into a chair and laughed as
I had not seen man laugh for a twelvemonth.
" Oh, you provinci lis, you provincials," he gasped
between his gulTaws, " you will be the end of me.
The first prince of the blood Baililf of Rouen at 2000
crowns a-year .' Sair-^s ! how Henry will laugh when
I tell liim this ! 'Tis for yourself, man, for yourself."
"Oh, for myself," said 1, still gravely, "browns
are crowns, and scarce enough in Navarre. With my
King's permission, monsieur, I accept." This sobered
my lord Duke, as it was meant to do, for his laughter
was too personal to be to my liking, and gathering his
sprawling limbs together he sat up.
"There is, ^ iturally, a trille of condition," said he,
staring at me curiously, " but notliing, belie v' me,
that a gentleman need boggle at. Merely this. Your
nomination dates from the hour yon self-willed fool
tliinks better of to-day's obstinacy, and carrit>s you
with him, France could hardly place Eouen in the
hands of a Huguenot. You understand ? "
" Two thousand crowns, did you say, monseigneur ? "
" Two thousand, ay, and in sucli a place there
are always pickings, the taking of whicli will be
iked at. It's a bargain, eh ? "
" Commend me to his Majesty, Monsieur le Due,"
answered I, very humbly. " Truly I think he ranks
poor Blaise de Bernauld over 1 aiy."
" Not a whit, not a whit ; " aik! rising to his
feet, D'Rperi_'jn reached for his cloak ! " there i?^ no
need for thanks."
B
*■»
66
A kino's pawn.
f
"Yes. over highly," I persisted, "seeing that
Judas sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver,
paid once and for all. and T am valued at 2000
crowns a-year. The market for traitors has gone up.
What is your price, Monsieur le iJuc ? " With one hand
upon my hip and the other twirling my moustache,
I set myself before him. " Come, talking privately
and between rascals, what. I say, is your price ? "
"My price, fellow, do you dare "
" Ta, to, ta," I broke in ; " fellow me no fellows
lest I make a boast that there were Bernaulds of
Bigorre before Nogarets of Epernon were so munh
as dreamed of. As to what 1 dare. I dare be a
loyal gentleman — loyal to my God, to my (-on-
science, and to my King. What, monsieur ?— under
cover of your office you would seduce the Kino's
servants ? If I am the first you have apj.roached,
let me be the last, lest the thing come to my
Master's ears. His temper is short at times, Mon-
sieur le Due."
Turning to the door, I flung it open and called
down the stairs at the strongest pitch of my voice •
" Below, there, Pierre Cou(5 ; lights for Monseigneur
le Due d'Epernon," and so bowed him out. I had
no mind to have it bruited abroad that Blaise de
Bernauld was in secret conference with the enemies
of Navarre. The poorer a man is, the more need
he has to keep his honour from the breath of
scandal. Fifty thousand crowns a-year are amnle
witness to the excellence of a man's reputation. '
I
67
leing that
of silver,
at 2000
J gone up.
1 one hand
noustache,
privately
price ? "
10 fellows
naulds of
so mueh
are be a
my con-
? — under
e King's
proached,
! to my
les, Mon-
id called
y voice :
iseigneur
I had
liaise de
enemies
re need
■eath of
i ample
tion.
CHAriEK VI.
HOW marcel's hunger lost its edge.
What a blessing it was to be free of the cramped and
pent-up narrow ways of Vic none can tell but those
who love God's country better than man's town.
Even the smother of hot dust could not choke our
satisfaction as, the day following, we took the back
track to Pau. With the whole day on our hands,
and the beasts' strength to save because of the journey
which lay beyond, there was no sense in haste. So,
through the hottest of the day we lay in shade on
the crisp grass and drowsed, or tramped in talk our
many marches over again, and thus rode up to the inn
in the cool of the dusk.
Supper was nearly ended, and a motley crowd had
gathered on the benches before the door. Grave
citizens greedy for the last news, travelling chapmen
of the better sort, soldiers of fortune and misfortune,
with a sprinkling of court gallants, — each class herd-
ing by itself, with a busy flitting of serving-men from
group to group. In the fail of a July night it is
pjeas^yjter drinking one's wine outdoors rather than
68
A KINPx's PAWN.
huddled up in the stewing odours of the common
room, where the reek of many meats spoils the flavour
of the liquor.
In such a laughing, chattering, gossiping throng,
intent upon their own pleasures, our coming would
have passed unnoticed— a thing I greatly wished,
since I had no mind to talk openly of either past or
future, nor yet seem to hide a secret— but for what
I deemed a piece of officious buffoonery.
Having given up our beasts to the care of the
inns-folk, we were shouldering our way to the door,
intent upon supper, when I felt my elbow plucked
with small ceremony, and a shrill voice cried out—
" Here is a sober fortune, master, or rather a pair
of them, so have done with your jests. To look at
the two, you would say they carried all Navarre on
their backs, and, by my faith, they have their share ! "
and a hand smote me briskly between the shoulders,
driving up into the air a cloud as heavy as a puff of
smoke.
" Who gave you leave, friend, to annex so large a
part of The Little Kingdom ? "
Turning sharply, 1 found myself face to face with
a tall slip of a girl, whose brown fingers still held me
fast by the arm. Behind her, one lean hand gripping
her shoulder, the other leaning on a stout stick, was
the frailest and most wrinkled mortal that could
totter on two legs and a crutch. Withered and thin,
he seemed shrunken into bone and parchment, and
..,.,. ,.,. .,,,^ paioieci Chill una restless, siiiiting eyes,
%
"■%
V
le common
the flavour
ng throng,
ling would
ly wished,
ler past or
b for what
ire of the
) the door,
w plucked
■ied out —
her a pair
'o look at
Favarre on
ir share ! "
shoulders,
a puff of
50 large a
face with
i held me
I gripping
stick, was
lat could
and thin,
lent, and
ing eyes,
>i
HOW marcel's hunger lost its edge.
69
he might have passed for a specimen of tlie em-
balmer's skill. As I stood staring, halting between
impatience and compassion, Marcel from behind me
put my thoughts into words.
" Jests, and with him ! The Lord be good to us,
but I would as soon jest with death liimself ! "
" No, no, not him, but my other master," answered
the girl, looking back across her shoulder. "See
where he comes yonder."
Hopping, skipping, and playing antic; now upon
his heels, now on his toes, now rolling like a cart-
wheel, came a lad dressed as a jester — bells, bauble,
cockscomb, and all.
" Two masters ? " he cried. " Ay, ay, and so have we
all. Now one is lord, now the other : wisdom or folly,
youth or age, death or life. Two for all, only some
have three, like Messire Daillon in the corner yonder."
" Life and death are enough for most men. How
is the third called ? " said the girl.
" Wife by her husband, shrew by the neighbours,
and madanie by the priest. Eh, messire ? " and the
lad shook his bells in the air with a crash. Then he
leaned forward, and thrusting his cockscomb under
the flap of a broad -brimmed hat, tilted it over its
owner's eyes.
" Which do you serve," ho cried, " youth or ige ? "
" Youth," answered the lad, a fresh-faced boy with
a laugh in his brown eyes, " and will for ten years."
"Then you serve me. and sinne I am fnllv voi.
serve folly. Like master, like man."
70
A king's pawn.
"If that be so, then I serve age."
"Tell that to your sweetheart, and see how she'll
take the complimenf T'li
^ 111 warrant your tincrlincr
ears wll prove y„„ mfs servant stifl. Thou art
■ "7 '»'"^' *- "' »ine, and for tan years"
Even a small jest pleases a full stomach, but amid
the laughter that greeted the mountebank' ret^ I
wrenched .uy arm free from the girl's grasp.
-e,giri,''sr?anrr^r;r~-
-arnr" "'' / ""'" ''■■■ ^^"' '"^' his trembling
gaze fluttering from Marcel to me and hn.v •
to Marcel. '""''' "Sam
"What was it yon man said?" an,l Ufn- i.-
Wy staff he pointed it tremu.ous.rat t^^i ^
^_I^t h.m have his Jest ready, for I say again, I
ca„!ht f '" f "'"""' °™'°"y ''«' """-t had
caugh. her words, for he turned upon her angrily.
Who says that death is a curse ? " he cried sirilly
A cursf? to him 'vh ^ f ■ « oinuiy,
'" ' ^'^^ ^"^^^ ^^^^t lies beyond, but to
\c^^
HOW marcel'h hunger lost its edge. 71
3 how she'll
3ur tingling
Thou art
years."
ih, but amid
k's retort I
Lsp.
[■less, but it
some other
to the inn
^ering voice
tremblinff
back
again
lifting his
>he squire.
' again, I
J, but this
ed out of
hitened.
^hisijered,
ized him,
Jient had
frily.
d shrilly.
1, but to
no one else. Nor is it of my bringing. If I smell it,
I smell it because it is there ; and if it is there, not
all the terror in the world will thrust it back an hour."
A second time he lifted his stick and pointed it first
at me and then at Marcel. " It is you or you,'' he
said, " for it was not in the air until ye came, but
which of the two it is I know not. Give me your
hand, master, that I may see."
But Marcel, to whom he spoke, drew back.
"Not I, by the Lord. The whole thing's a
mumming lie for money, and I will have nought
to do with it."
Leaning heavily on the girl's shoulder, the old
necromancer shut his eyes and stood a moment silent,
and swaying on his tottery feet. Then suddenly he
looked up, blinking, and thrusting his stick forward,
struck Marcel on the breast. " I saw it, and it was
there," he said, " but whether it was thee or the other
was hidden. A lie ? " and he broke out into a high
cackle of a laugh. " Ay, ay, so they all say because it
frights them to believe the truth, and if the vision be
two weeks old and untrue it is indeed a lie, but not
till then, my master, not till then. Come, girl."
"True or false, jest or earnest," said I, "it was
well played. Let the gaffer warm his old bones with
a mouthful of good wine to-night." and I dropped a
coin into her hand.
" Ay, ay, take it, girl ; we must live, we must live,"
he mumbled out of his toothless jaws, but with no
word of thanks. " Come, let us get home, the cold of
Iil
!i
72
A king's pawn.
I'li
he nxght ch,ls me. A lie! q„„tha; let two weeks
tell two weeks, „„ more. Con.e, girl, come."
Back into the crowd they turned, the clown trip,
ping and jigging at their heels, and the last I saw of
them wa« the sheen of the bauble bells as the lad
Shook them above his head.
" Come," cried I to Marcel, who stood open-mouthed
and starmg '• More than he will be the better of a
my belt is too loose by three holes at the least "
By this time half Pau was gaping round us, and
all hope of concealment at an end. But if the quack
or whatsoever he was, had done us an ill turn in thus'
giving our shy modesty an undesired prominence, his
8 range ravings had set something to the other side
of the account in turning the edge of inquisitive
inquiry. What mattered the gossip of Vic court
scanda and all, compared to the choice tit-bit that a
prophet had foretold Blaise de Bernauld was to di
that month, or that week, or that day, or as some
would have it, that very hour?
Nothing whets a morbid interest, an unassuagable
curiosity like the sight of a man who, with the li e
as ye whole in him and bubbling with an exuberant
vitality, must needs die within a known time. Take
the meanest rogue from the kennel, a depraved, evil-
Iiving and evil-smelling, contemptible wretch, drink-
sodden and the easy prey of all the foulest lower
vices, a thing that honest folk and common rascals
will alike .,h„n, and let it be given out that he is to
■!il.
HOW marcel's hunger lost its edge. 73
3t two weeks
come."
clown trip-
ast I saw of
3 as the lad
pen-mouthed
better of a
and besides,
least."
and us, and
if the quack,
turn in thus
iiinence, bis
■ other side
inquisitive
Vic, court
-bit that a
was to die
r, as some
lassuagable
th the life
exuberant
aie. Take
aved, evil-
ch, drink-
lest lower
on rascals
he is to
M
5
•tf
hang within the hour, and your world of honest folk,
ay, even delicate and dainty women, will throng and
jostle each other for the bare joy of gaping at the
villain. It is, as I think, that he is already an
adopted citizen of that great unknown, to which we
pay more heed for others than for ourselves, and the
glamour of his nearness to the eternal is upon us :
for, look you, it is an awesome thing to be within an
arm's-length of the eternal.
Be that as it may, round they came about us like
bees round a honey - pot, and with as infinite a
buzzing. A dozen questions were plied in the one
instant, while those behind, tiptoeing and straining in
their eagerness, sprawled and fought upon one another's
shoulders to hear the answer.
" Did we know the carl ? " No, nor so much as ever
before clapped eyes on him, " Was he mad ? " Rest
ask himself. " Where had he come from ? " How did
we know ? " Where was he going to ? " Again, how
did we know? "Was it to-night I should die, or
to-morrow, or next week ? " By God's grace, neither
to-night, nor to-morrow, nor next week, unless I died
of plain hunger, since it was nine hours since we broke
fast. "Why had he cursed me?" He had not
cursed me, and I knew not why. " But it was true
he had foretold death ? "
Then I lost my temper and arswered that some-
thing of the sort was said, and I would prove the
truth of the forecast on some of them there and then
if thev did not stand aside and refrain from thronjiina-
il
74
A kino's pawn.
ns. A few more curt words quenched the meddle-
rs toT-"?^ '"^''''■' ^"^ -'"^' "'*' I >•«' no
and so pleasantly round off the spectacle, the crowd
thrnned and we forced our way to our lodgings.
a npe peach of jnice, and ready to overflow at I
would " "° . ^"' ^'' '"^ "8'"' »f 'he story it
would mean much custom to "The Black Horse" and
oitirr''^;' — ^•''^ '•-''" '^-
rrt'all'"'^"'^^''"'^P--P"^P"' a period
fee7uf "w"'"' 'T'- " ""' °" •'"^--^ but to
wol JelX to t "^"r '''^'"^' ""' '-
now" ' "' "'"' "'PP'^''- Q«i<=kly
"Lay one here by the window," struck in Marcel
and one yonder in the corner " '
What, man ? We both ride on the King's business
;:; rC'^^""''"^" '■''"- --'--^^earrd
- it? .^ . " '"" "'""'^' '""' '""^^ ""' talk."
speej" ' '"" '*'"^'^^- ^^^ '-«' '--'. -d be
The fellow must have thought that the way to
0- tongues lay, as with most men, througT ou
stomachs, for in shorter time than I had thoul
It nos.«ib1o h» i"H - . thought
"■ '^ n„ .«iu us a meal tit for a king. Not a
HOW marcel's hunger lost its edge. 75
the meddle-
lat I had no
3 delectation
5, the crowd
?ings.
of curiosity
r^erflow at a
the story it
fforse," and
'cket, since
Jt a period
ess but to
ik, not for
Quickly
in Marcel,
e window.
' business,
lead and
' Wait till
^ill talk."
t, and be
J way to
'Ugh our
thought
Not a
King of Navarre, be it noted, for Henry, thougli a
brave trencherman, was a plain eater ; a Philip of
Spain rather, whose wealth of the Indies bought
him all that heart could desire save quiet at home
and a satisfied ambition abroad. Yet, so far as the
table was concerned, what was he the better for all
his riches ? He could do no more than eat and be
filled, and hope to give God thanks for a good digestion,
and the poorest kind may do that. Six courses there
were, and had I let him our host would have danced
attendance through them all. Hints he gave no heed
to. " Art thou married, friend ? " asked I as he hung
at my shoulder with his ears a-cock.
" Ay, your worship, tliese five years."
" Then I have no doubt the good-wife has need of
a man's help with so many coming and going."
" Trust her to manage ; my place is here with your
worships' honours."
" Then best empty the place," answered I shortly,
"for our worships' honours have things private to
discuss. Begone, friend, till we call."
Which put an end to his prying for that time.
Yet for all its toothsomeness, Marcel but played with
that which was set before him. Neither the broiled
trout, fresh from the Gave waters, nor the larded
reed-birds from the Dax swamps could tempt him,
and when he left the third service hashed about
upon his platter but almost untasted, I broke out
upon him, —
" What are you so backward about, man ? Have
76
A king's pawn.
we not mc,,,»ed toj-ether a score of times, ^.y. and
p.Sged .t with our bare fingers, too, and you never
once played bashful ? "
" Oh, by your leave," said he with a kind of a
groan, " it is not you. Master Blaise, who have come
hetwecn me and „,y meat. Not even the Kin.
would do that-no, not thougl, wc ate off the on^
fin himself like a man, no mutter who sits at his
elbow. But that eldritch carl has put a blight upon
me, and though through being as empty as a beggar's
purse I could soon drink myself drunk, I could never
drink myself merry."
"What!" I cried, and in my astonisMnent I
thrust the bench a foot back on the sanded Hoor
and sat staring. "You? You with your half-do^en
pitched fights and score of skirmishes, to grow peakish
.ke a maid over a out finger, and all for the mumb-
ling a parchment-jawed dotard ! Lord, man, how
often have you thrust yourself into risks that were
none of yours for pure love of the thing, a man's risks
and deadly ?_and now you shiver for a shadow."
" Ay, but that was a thing I saw, while this is God
knows what of underliand mischief, and there's the
difference. If it were a lie the fellow told it would
be nought; if it were truth and I knew it for truth
well a man's a man: but not to know if it be lie or
truth IS what sits so cold on my stomach ! Why it
>s hke a ghost, neither flesh nor devil that a man can
meet and handle, and so a man quakes."
HOW MARCELS HUNGER LOST ITS EDGE.
77
fnes, uy, and
d you never
I kind of a
3 have come
n the Kin"
off the one
a man must
sits at his
blight upon
s a beggar's
could never
lis^ment I
mded floor,
half-dozen
'ow peakish
ihe mumb-
, man, how
that were
nan's risks
idow."
his is God
here's the
1 it would
for truth,
be lie or
Why, it
nian can
4
1
I
" Come, come," said I, dragging back my bench to
the table, " Listen, man ; if it be lie, as of course it
is, what then ? "
" Why, nought as I say — all's well."
" Good ; but if it be truth, what then ? "
For a m^:Tient Marcol hung in the wind, his fingers
at their ola trick of beard-combing, then he answered
slowly, —
" If it be for Bernauld, all's well still. Don't think
I grudge it. Master Blaise."
Leaning forward, I stretched my hand across the
table and caught him by the wrist.
"Who am I, old friend, that you should love
me so ? With you it lias ever been liernauld first
and Bernauld last to the forgetting of self. But
touching this thing, you said a moment since that
if it were a thing certain it would be nought, but
now God knows what might, come, and so you
quaked. So be it ; take your own phrase, ' God
knows.' Leave it there, I say, leave it there."
" Amen, Master Blaise," he answered, and his great
lean hand closed over mine and held it as in a vice.
But let no man gibe at Marcel's qualms. When it
comes to facing the unknown and uiidelined, the best
of us are like children shivering at the dark.
'
78
CHAPTER VII.
WE RIDK TO THE TliV3T.
,IT°"m "f t" " "" '"'• "'" "•"■' *'"> - ^ «I"gg-l,
n h.s Wood that ho has „„ „,ooc,s. H. is as «ata„d
flavourless as unsalted broad, and though ho may be
»ou„d-hoarted and wholoson.o, an.l „,e„ „«/ ^o
spoak, live by l,i„, ,,t ho gives nouher Te; „
pWe to life nor ever tio.les the palat, of oein^
A. well dwell un.ier the tedious san.eness or a .rev
sky as with such a one. Give me rat ,< \
nn/i fi,„ 1 • . ' ™''"'^'. "»' Storm
and the s„„shn,e. the dash of rain and the fleekin»
white clouds across the blue, nay, oven the ra e"
••« -burstnig of a ten.pest, if the air be but clea
Marcel, full by turns of honest anger, a woman's
compassion, sturdy hate or unselli.sh tenderno.," s
tl.e need of the hour demanded
Whatever his over-nighfs gloom may have been
HS spirits he next day. as in the early morning '
rned our backs on Pan and rode down' the wi^li I!
a.uf,. .„„u] oeuatu iour-aiiil -.Sixty.
i
T9^
WK HIDE TO THE TRYST.
79
s SO sluggisli
!? as flat and
iit! may be
may, so to
er zest nor
t'' of being,
5 of a grey
, I'll" storm
lie rteckins:
n the rare
l»ut clear
ations was
L woman's
lerness, as
lave been,
irning we
3 windinf;
s sixteen
•i
I
" Lora, Lord," he chuckled, as we rode acro.^s the
bridge wliich lies to the south-west of the city, and
turned to the right, instead of ^o the left that would
h. ve led to Bernauld. " WI v ,uld my lady say
to see us giving the honiu ad the go-by, and
nding knights orrant where chance may drift ns,
like these dons of Spain they tell of in the old
romances, and we, both of us, grizzlod as badgers?
Though tliere," he added, passing his hand through
his stiff bristle of beard, " I am free to confess I
have the wrong advantaL'e."
Then in his light lit hiess he set himself to
trolling out such a ca; is might come from a
crow with a quinsy. Lm I soon put ;i stay upon
his music.
"Since when have I been fool enough to ride I
knew not whither? Now that Tau is at our back,
and with it is gone all chance of cliopping gossip,
I may tell you our whitherwards. We Jtre bound
for Spain, friend Marcel."
You should have seen his jaw drop. His carol
died in a hoarse quaver as if one had suddenly
clipped him by the tliroat, and the liglit went from
his eyes like the snutting of a candle. Nay, he
fairly gasped as a man does at a rough blow below
the ribs.
" Spain ? " he said in a high drawl, " Spain ? Good
Lord, good Lord, it is pure midsummer madness."
" It is the King's business," answered I, " or rather
it is Navarre's business, and, if you knew tlie ins and
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80
A king's pawn.
outs of it, sane enough for any one but us. But when
tlie King says yea, wlio or what is to say nay ? "
" Common-sense," said he gruffly. "If the King
said, ' Thrust your Iiand in tlie fire,' would you do it ? ''
" Ay, if I could pull Navarre out of the coals, and
so would you."
"But," lie cried wrathfully, " tliere are fires and
fires ; and Navarre is scorched on more sides than
one. Why plunge into Spain's brazier?"
" Because it is the King's business, man, and tliere's
an end of it."
" An end of it," I heard him mutter ; " ay, and of
as. Now I know why yon necromancer smote me
so straight on the breast last night." And, as was
his wont when vexed or ill at ease, he checked his
horse a half-dozen lengths behind and followed in
silence.
The path led first through those JurauQon vine-
yards whence came that famous wine which old
Henry of Albret gave our Henry to drink the very
day of his birth, and which tradition says the babe
swallowed with such satisfaction as to prove him
nn vrai B^arnnais. A rough and sturdy growth it
is, and the man was soon to prove that what had
been the babe's liking had not abated with the years.
Having threaded these, we swung to the left between
rolling hillocks, and headed straight for the snow-cap
of the Pic d'Ossau, and so for a league followed the
rising ground in the centre of the valley. It is a
country of slopes and hollows, and with no stream
WE RIDE TO THE TKYST.
81
US. But when
ay nay ? "
"If the King
lid you do it ? "
the coals, and
are fires and
ore sides than
r?"
lan, and there's
f; "ay, and of
cer smote me
And, as was
Le checked his
d followed in
urangon vine-
le which old
rink the very
iays the babe
prove him
'dy growth it
lat what had
ith the years.
J left between
the snow-cap
followed the
ley. It is a
;h no' stream
to serve as guide. Once south of Lasseube, we
crossed the short spur on the right, and so rode into
Oloron in easy time for dinner without having once
broken our beasts' pace.
This time Marcel had no mind to lose his meat.
The issue was set fair and square before him, and
I have ever found that to look a risk in the face is
to rob it of more than one-half its terrors.
" 'Tis the place of a good Christian to make the
devil's work as hard in the doing as may be," said
he, as lie cleared liis plate for the third time. ^' There-
fore it behoves a man who is on the right side to
keep his muscles hard. If it comes to banging the
accursed dons, or being banged by them, I'll give
away no points in tlie game."
Thenceforward, too, he was cheerful in a sober,
grumbling fashion, and if there were occasional re-
lapses into a sour pessimism it was only when his
almost twenty years of prejudice got the upper hand.
Not that it was all pure prejudice. Marcel had his
own good and enduring reasons for liating the witch-
mother of Diego Saumarez, even as I had, since in
striking viciously at me she had wounded him on
one occasion, and so deeply that a scar was left
which not all the sixteen years which had passed
since then had fully healed. It had come about in
this way.
In her mad hate and wild thirst for vengeance
she had hired a worthy rogue — La Hake by name —
to do that work which was beyond tlie reach of
82
A king's pawn.
s !il
her own hand. That hia instructions were to make
a sw.ft end of Blaise de Bernauld he admitted b„
I be,„g on the Queen's business at the time, my lady
fo me. My whereabouts she refused to reveal, and the
callous-hearted scoundrel slew the little lad b fore h
mother's eyes that he might compel a revelation. Th
was cr:me number one, and it failed in its purpose
no ^'" "T \^''^ ^'''" '^' Ki„g_who was then
no more than the Prince of Bearn-in an ill-con-
s>dered boyish freak, appeared at Bernauld with no
more than two or three attendants, and at his heels
came La Hake and a score or two of :.scals as ev
m:nded as h.mself. See now the villain's quandary.
to do . """"■ """^^ ^"<' ''"■ - he lusted
to do, and so earned his wages from the Spanish
wman, he missed the royal game that had fXn
nto ms net. Henry of Navarre, alive, was worth a
barony at the least from either France or Spl
dead, nothing, except perhaps a long rope '
In the end he agreed that Blaise de Bernauld
should go scot free for that time if the Prfn" J
Beam were given into his hands, and upon .t
bargam I, as some afterwards said, sold my Ki. ,
that was to be, to save my own skin " "
But they who said so lied. What we really did
was to substitute Marcel's fifteen-year-old S t
Henry, and ,n the dark the fraud passed m„ste
but only for a time; and when the Woodv^M'
found he had been cheated, the wolf within him dra'e
WE RIDE TO THE TRYST.
83
were to make
admitted, but
time, my lady
le had spread
3veal, and the
lad before liis
lation. That
s purpose,
ho was tlien
i an ill-con -
uld with no
at his heels
icals as evil-
's quandary.
s he lusted
he Spanish
had fallen
^as worth a
or Spain ;
" Bernauld
Prinr- of
upon ^t
my Kirg
really did
d son for
d muster,
dy villain
bim drave
him, and he slew the lad with as little compunction
as he had slain my boy. That was crime number
two, and it profited its autiior no more than did the
former murder ; for Marcel, the father, ligjitino^ upon
him with a father's agony of loss still raw, struck him
down in cold biood.
There, in few words, is the cause why Marcel held
the mother of Diego Saumarez — or was it the wife ?
La Hake seemed uncertain, and spake sometimes of
one and sometimes of the other — in a dread that was
only equalled by his hate. Tliere, too, is the strange
bond of ungrudging sacrifice which bound the; King
of Navarre to Marcel, the Squire of Bernau-l.
From Oloroii to the place of rendezvous ic no
more than an hour's trot, and you may be sure the
sun was drawing near the crests of the hills before
we turned up the road that runs by the left bank
of the Gave d'Aspe, and made our way to the throat
of the rising valley.
"It's a happy thing, and a great comfort to a
man," said Marcel with a groan as the gorge nar-
rowed, "to have nought to live for in the broad
world ; to be, so to speak, the butt-end of a tag that
has trussed points in its time, ay, and trussed them
busily and well, but lias now not so much as a rag
of silken cord left to create a use or even a reason
for existence. Well, well, let the tag wear out with
the rest, or go to the mire, and be forgotten."
" Nought to live for ? " said I. " What of Marie
and that great son of yours ? "
I
84
A king's pawn.
Tut answered l,e. " a man like me who ia farin-
here and there oa who know, what risky errands"
cues so many times in the imagination „f those he
leaves that there must be at least a do.en ghosts of
me at Bemauld by this time. As to the lad, he's a
good lad, but at eisht-and-twenty tl,c blood in his
own ve.„s counts for more than the blood out of
another., even tl,ough he call that other 'father'
JNo, tis a great comfort."
" Well," said r, to hun,our him. « and what of
Bernau d ? Since wl>en have I shrunk to so poor a
tnng that con.pared with me the nearest ditch has
the greater welcome ? I,o I and Bernauld count for
nothnig, old friend ? "
" Nought to live for at four- or five-and-sixty "
answered he with .-. shake of his head ; " when the old
dog has lost his teeth and can no longer liold his crip
or use h,s nails he is better dead. You would "not
make a turnspit out of a wolf-hound, Master Blaise ■>
Why, ,t wouW br,.ak the beast's heart. Au,l d'ye
thmk that because a man has outlived his day he is
lower than a brute ? But, thank the Lord, tJ.e old
dog can die, and so, I say again, 'tis a comfort there
IS nought to live for."
" But," I cried, " why all this croaking ? a week
ago and you had it in you to trounce Jacques Gobiu-
eau for no more than a cross look, ay, and you could
have done .t, too, for all your whining at the dulness
ot tooth and claw!"
"M. hntr said he, "a man is as old as he feels.
WE KIDE TO THE TKYST.
85
> who is farinff
risky errands,
1 of those he
ozen ghosts of
he lad, he's a
blood in his
blood out of
ther 'father.'
find vvliat of
to so poor a
5st ditch has
lid count for
e-and-sixty,"
*vheii the old
liold his grip
u would not
tster Blaise ?
And d'ye
is day he is
)rd, the old
mfort there
8" ? a week
lues Gobin-
l you could
the dulness
ts he feels,
and there are times wlicn a man ages twenty years
in as many minutes. Tell me, Master Blaise, you
who have hot blood in you for all your cool head,
only you know, as a man should, how to keep a
grip on your passion ; toll me what was your thought
that sorrowful hour it came home to you that the
Hush and power of youth had gone from you, and
though you knew it not, you were half-way to old
age? Nay, you have no need to tell me, for the
trutli has bitten me twice and left its mark each
time. It is as if a man slipped from spring to
autumn in a snap, and I have slipped from autumn
into winter. That it had been autumn I knew.
The warmth and glow of life had failed from the
summer heat, the days were drawing in, and the light
of the eye had dimmed; growth was stayed; the
vigour of life was checked, and tlie sappy limbs were
stiffer and more rigid. Ay, it was autumn, but no
more than autumn, until yon carl touched me with his
stick and you cried Spain in my ears to give the
touch points and pressure. Then the glow went
grey, the dimness darkened, the limbs stiffened into
stark dead uselessness, and the chill of winter had me
in both heart and brain, and I was old — old old."
While he spoke we had unconsciously dropped
into a walk, leaving the beasts to wander as they
would ; nor, when he ended, had I aught to say, so
moved was I by the note of hopeless sadness that
shook his voice. The silence that belongs to the
presence of the dead was upon me, and answer him
86
A king's pawn.
I could not, any more than I could comfort him
that black day we bore home to Bernauld his brave
lad, done to death by La Hake. It may be tnere are
those who will jeer and cry out upon Marcel for a
morbid old fool, but so could not I. The first con-
scious loss of a man's vital power is, after its fashion
as sorrowful a thing as, and at times even more so
than, the laying away of the body in the grave If
the zest of life be gone, the ilesh is, truly, little
better than a grievous burden.
Therefore I kept silence for a time, but at last
stretching out my hand to grasp his, " Thank the'
Lord, old friend," I said. "No frost of winter can
kill the love of brother and brother," and said no
more, for, after all, words are the poorest coin in all
the world wherewith one heart can pay another
Whatever virtue of vital force had gone from him
the power of his grasp was unabated, for his <.Tip
crushed my hand until the bones cracked as he
answered.
"The winter must draw to an eternal sprin..
before that day comes, Master Blaise, thou^rh it is
borne m upon me that the winter is far throucrh "
"Chut man!" cried I, "think shame to yourself!
AH this brooding because of an old fool's maunder-
ings ? Why, 'tis nonsense, arrant nonsense ; besides
it hit me as closely as you."
" No, no, not so ; for it was me he touched But
If I may only die as I have lived, for the house that
has sheltered me and the man who has loved me
i
WE RIDE TO rUE TRYST.
87
comfort him
mid his brave
y be tnere are
Marcel for a
The first con-
;er its fashion,
even more so
he grave. If
, truly, little
but at last,
"Thank the
f winter can
and said no
t coin in all
nether.
)ne from him
for his grip
icked as he
I c«n say no less tlian ' thank God.' What plagues
me is that one of these filthy dons may slap a knife
into me and no one be a whit the better."
Then we shook up our beasts and rode on towards
tlie growing gloom of the gorge in silence for, may-
be, a long half-league. Then Marcel, pointing ahead
and to the right, cried, —
" Vender's the place, Master Blaise, for there is
the brook coming in from the west that the King
spoke of."
3rnal spring
though it is
through."
to yourself!
's niaunder-
ise; besides.
ached. But
e house that
5 loved me.
88
CHAPTEll VIII.
:■'
JEAN MINET OF GUIENNE.
A1.MOST unuotud tlie valley liad closed in upon us
and so sternly that twilight was anticipated by a'
full hour. To the left the Gave roared throu-di its
time-worn bed, a streak of foaming white, with rare
slants of black and silent water rolling across the
. levels m uneasy stress from the outfall of the upper
slope. Beyond it the bank rose rough and impass-
able, a sloping desert of loose stone and clifi; possibly
the feeding-ground of the goat or mountain sheep
but affording no track for man or horse. Tiien,'
still higher, came an abrupt rise strewn by boulders
and seamed with rock slides, into which crept the
advance-guard of stunted pine, larch, and scrub oak
whose better - nourished battalions swarmed upon
the highest reaches and filled the sheltered ravines
On the hither side the road clung to the stream
with such abrupt zigzags as the rocky nature of the
ground compelled, but, saving at one point, there
was the same wild savagery, the same upper growth
of timber, the same huge stretch of tongueless silence
and melancholy suggestion of desolation.
JEAN MINET OF GUIENNE.
89
I ui)oii us,
atod by a
lirougli its
, with rare
across the
the upper
id impuss-
ff, possibly
aiii sheep,
3. Then,
Y boulders
crept the
scrub oak,
led upon
I ravines,
le stream
re of the
int, there
sr growth
3S silence
The exception was wlierc tlie wall of the valley
was split by that stream from the west which the
King had appointed as the meeting-place. Here the
gorge widened, and the detritus from the river had
slowly built up a small ])lateau which, for all the
hot and breathless drought of summer, was a miracle
of greenness and fresh luxuriance.
" Thank tlie Lord," cried Marcel, " we can at least
breathe liere and nrt risk the sucking in of the rocks
atop of us. I would as lief sleep in a prison as in
the cleft that lies farther ahead. And see. Master
Blaise, yonder is a house, and with life in it, too.
We shall rest snugger to-nin;ht than I had thought."
Sure enough he was right. .Sheltered by a group
of trees on the tongue of land between the two
streams was the grey loom of a cottage from the
chimney of which a thin trail of blue smoke drifted
down the valley. No light showed, but that went
for nothing, since a thrifty peasant can eat iiis scant
supper on his door-step, and then go to bed in the
dark to save oil.
" Life, indeed," answered I dubiously, " but per-
haps more life than welcome. A man who dwells
two leagues from anywhere may have his own reasons
for being surly and slammi' ->• the door in the face
of strangers. I'll warrant lew angels come to the
valley of the Aspe."
" Chink two crowns at him and then put them
back in your pocket, and you will see him grin though
he had his father's bones hid under the hearthstone,"
90
A king's pawn.
answerutl Marcul " Ti„f « i •
SCO M.av.„„ „„d „3 , ,,^^,^^„ ,^,^,^j: ^ve on
^olo 0..3K e .hile we share hi« bed with ' , J
Not but ,vh„t the star, are coverlid enough for me
i: srini't: r "■;;' r "^- ~
jaekunapes wl , 1 , """" ''"^'-' "■-« -"'
lil'-e le Benauld i, T "•\ P^^'^''""^ -« «'at
ui. Jieinauld is master wlicreaoover he -op,
when there was no room for two words fv,„
tw:at of the bridle and we're there "' "
— Tthrs:f'/''^'™''-'''^^p«---'-ed
owaids the spksh upon the shadows which w,,
XVnrtrro^:s::rr-''^
somewhat smaller In tl^ / . ""'•' ^'^''^
was the door and at J b 7 "' "" '"" "' ^™"
deeply sett tb .!, ""'"'' "'"■ " """"^ window
boaSLir r'^trrLr i r '^"^^ --«
in fi , ''""' ^ small circular hole beirm- out
•;;»<• to admit light. The door was fa sU
Where there is fire there is life thoucb ti, 7
;: -"-'• -^<' «-l With all a solS'crnlS
tor the peasant not of his owr . • ^'''^'^^P^
-I ins own suigneurie; and
M yave on
iiig. Or if
fetcli him,
■slcop in a
'i the fluus.
igJi for me,
lir sweeter
hese court
y see that
r ho goes,
at a time
Come, a
ve turned
diich was
eyer witli
ith walls
is to say,
it" twenty
)m a city
nes were
e of wall
window
bter were
eing cut
St shut,
the dogs
ontempt
e; and
I
JEAN MINET OK GUIENNE.
01
loaning from lii'- saddle he liammered louiMy, " Halloa,
within there ! Ay ! T said there was life. Do you
hear the fellow mumble i Open, friend, open, and
for your own sake. A churl's welcome brings a churl's
payment," and again lie struck the door smartly.
For all result he might as well have struck the
rocks that were so sheer and black above us, for
no one answered, though the babble and murnnir
of a voice could be heard wilhin. Then Marcel grew
wrathful. In his own country Blaise de iiernaidd
was no small power, and Ijecause of it Bernauld's
squire held a rcliected authority which few cared
to question twice. That we were beyond our own
borders was true, but use and wont are hard thinus
to shake off, therefore Marcel waxed angry.
"Look you, friend," and he shook the door gently
as he spoke, " you are in a fair way to earn yourself
a broken pate. Open for your health's sake, if not
for civility."
He had dismounted and now stood with his bridle
in one hand, and his other list leaning heavily on
the door upon which, he punctuated his speech. But
as there was no sound of motion from within, and
the mumbling still went on, he turned away in hot
anger and threw me the reins.
"Hold these, Master Blaise," he cried; "if they
will not hearken to soft words maybe hard stones
will serve the turn ; " and down he went groping his
way to the river, whence lie presently returned \v!th a
great boulder, as big as a steel bonnet, in his fists.
92
ih
A king's I'AWlN.
Standing two paces back he poispd thn i
«>at the whole house shool ulr tie u' ","""''
^2 .00.. „ah3too. the .hotirL^:, :: : :
babble rose into a grumbling roar.
" Plague take it," growled ho • " a-'a „ ^-x^ ,
^J^an I reckoned " '^ ^'' ' ^^ » ^ stiffer business
B..e, a„r:s r:.r hjinr 'cr
-hole house 'dor' ' •'''■^"'' '''' ^'^ '^"^ '^-
we"held"l''^, '"" ''""'" ^"'^ I' f- the chatter
heaid vexed me, and, whereas I had at fir<,f
no great wish to billet myself i„ wh.f ,.
hnf- K^ ^"j''5bu in wiiat could not
»5ut be poor quarters, T was now ^nf • ,
coTm-,pl ov ^ ' I was now determined to
compel an entrance, Ion gr^ ^al gr6. There would
be a swift end to quiet and nil A ! ^
J^earn if everv Tn! '''''^ "^ "'^^^ ^^
ir cveiy Jack-peasaat could kopn o i j
in act to throw with oil . *^ ^ ^^«'
stopped me. "'^ ^'^^"^th when he
" Tst, tst, tst," said he between his teeth • " l,-cf
Master Blaise, listen ! " ' ^''^^"' ■
JEAN MINET OF GUIENNE.
93
Jnige stone
and pressed
ength — and
I his age —
' where he
it seemed
w, but the
within the
31' business
it, Master
Maybe a
Hulloa,
ding the
3 chatter
at first
'luld not
lined to
e would
order in
closed
beasts
Marcel
?ht leg
len he
listen.
From above came tlie swish, swish of legs pushing
their way through the long grass, and a moving shadow
showed against the shadows at rest.
" There is but one, Master Blaise. Shall we treat
him as friend or foe ? "
" As friend, man, as friend," answered I ; " thank
the Lord, we are not in Spain as yet."
" As friend be it," returned Marcel, " thougli, for
that matter, there are some even in Navarre I would
as lief keep at arm's-length." Then lie raised his
voice in such a shout as must have scared the wits of
the new-comer, for he checked himself with a start
and made as if to bolt for the mountains. " Come,
man, come ; and if you have any love for this door
here come quickly, for our pat- ce is outworn and
the panels are like to follow the patience. Nay, fool,
we wish you no ill. Speak to him. Master Blaise, lest
he take to his heels."
" Have no fear, friend," cried I. " We are travel-
lers who seek a night's lodging and can pay our way.
A roof overhead is all we need, food W(! have of our
own. Have no fear, I say."
But Marcel's hoarse roar liad shaken him, and
though he approached slowly like a timorsome cat, he
was still crossing himself as he came into clear eyeshot.
" Saints ! gentles," stammered he, peering at us in
the gloom, " I had no thought there was a living soul
within a league of me saving the poor devil inside
there, and your nobility's voice sent my heart into
my throat."
94
A king's pawn.
"Then swallow it down again, friend," replied
Marce sharpy, "and dup the door, for we have seen
the outside of it long enough."
That was Mareel all o'ver. For hard on twenty
years he ad schooled and donnneered, teachin! mj
amongst others, that the first necessity of con.2J:
to know how to obey; and now at times, when we
were alone or dealing with one or tw of tL
he still played the master. This, knowing the true
honest heart and love of the man, never 'Ihed me
but lest o„r friend of the solitudes should fall nto a
misapprehension I struck in : ■. Where was that ton ue
of yours bred, my man ? Not here in Navarre . "
the p W'""^"'- ' ^^ '^^ '"- -<• " -n of
froL'°the Trf """"*• ""■' """'"" ' "'^'^ »' blood
from the Knghsh occupation. But what a man of
the pains is doing up here in the hills can wa t fo
^hetelling. See thou to the tethering of the J:,
^e^'JZ 1"" "" '""^ ""^ "P""' ""' «- interior
was as black as a midnight cavern, or rather a blot
of shadows, as now and then a smouldering embe
^m the hearth broke into a rare flicker and^diedt
»rey ash. But our host of the night, blowing the
gr^y asKle. lit a rush-lamp with a wis^ o'f straw t^r
into the red heat of the fire and sent the shadows
re.ble flame couia not drive tJiem.
f
I
•V^,
JEAN MINET OF GUIENNE.
95
3nd," replied
'e have seen
1 on twenty
iieaching me,
command is
es, when we
wo of the
or him, and
Jg the true
chafed me,
fall into a
that tongue
'arre ? "
a man of
sh of blood
a man of
Q wait for
the horses,
le interior
ter a blot
ng ember
i died to
wing the
iw thrust
shadows
that the
"Enter, seigneur, enter," said he, coming forward
with his lamp held \ >h above his head ; " it is a poor
place at the beat, . d to-night there is that within
it "
" Which will serve my turn well enough," I broke
in. " Let there be no excuses, friend."
"Ay," answered he with a sudden shake in his
voice, " you have hit the nail on the head, though by
misadventure. What is here will serve the turn of
king or serf alike, since it is death and no less, if I
read the signs aright. See yonder."
Following his gesture, I turned to a corner of the
hut where there was spread a thick layer of dried
bracken and beaten straw, over which a tattered cover-
ing had been cast. On this lay a man fully dressed
in serviceable homespun, and who, though he took
no note of us at all, never ceased his uneasy toss-
ings. From side to side he flung himself unrestingly,
nor ever ceased moaning, mumbling, or calling out
in his delirium.
" 'Tis the third day, seigneur, and pray God it's the
last, if for nought else but that a man who toils by
day may sleep o' nights."
" Who is he ? Your father ? brother ? " for in the
dim light his age was uncertain.
" A black stranger, seigneur, one would say a wastrel
of the highways, if it were not that his clothes are
good, and there was that in his pockets which will
pay his keep. I found him on the road three days
back, his horse gone the Lord knows where, and since
96
A king's pawn.
I " '! '7 ^P"'-^" "° "-1 »f » Christian tongue, but
shou s and groans and cutters so that not even twelve
leaned f T "" ' "'^" ^'''^P- «<' -^ '-
leaned forward, peering at the sick man as he had
J m thinking he's far through."
" ^"'' "''lat says the surgeon » "
« OOP d beside him and laughing i„ derision; "where
o„ld™ehasr«ndas„rgeon. - Surgeon.' ,uoth
ue. Where's his fee ? ' quotli I "
"His fee, man ? You have cleaned the poor
wretch's pockets and yet grudge a fee for';;
"By your leave, seigneur, if the fee went to
poor'fTli """r""'' '"""^ "'^ ^<'■-.•-
poo, Jolk live or die as we can, and there's an end
" Stand aside and let me see to him "
But before I could go down upon my knees Marcel
was between me and the head of the bed
for'tfr-"'""!".'""'"'''^' "^ ''''' '" '"•" '^t'-r,
foi^t^hat IS more htting. Beside., it may be a catching
" Blaise ! " quoth the sick man, rolling „p his di,„
nseeing eyes at us "Blaise, Ay, Bfaise' de B
As my name came patly from so unexpected a
P!»™. Marcel snatched the light from the 'J^.l
JEAN MINET OF GUIENNE.
97
n tongue, but
t even twelve
jut," and he
n as he had
is patience.
at me as I
on; "where
^geon,' quoth
i the poor
ee for his
e went to
*^o, no ; we
e's an end
ees Marcel
im rather,
a catchintr
P his flim
e de Ber-
ncoherent
fpected a
peasant's
hand and thrust it down to within three inches of the
other's face, and we both stood staring.
" No man that I know," muttered Marcel, stooping
his lowest to see the better. " Nor, by the looks of
him, one that I want to know, for that matter. As
evil-featured a rogue as a man would meet from here
to Toledo."
Marcel was right as to his looks at the moment.
A five or six days' growth of black bristle covered
him from nostrils to chin-point and crept in a stiff-
thicket up to his ears. Great bushy brows hung
pent over lack-lustre eyes. The lips had gone .^hin
and livid, and the once dark skin was like a patch of
unwholesome yellow parchment in its setting of black
hair. The mouth was stretched and gaping, and a
swollen tongue shot quivering out between an ugly
set of yellow fangs. An evil-featured rogue, and yet,
as he lay there tossing and panting in his thirst, a
very pitiable and miserable wretch.
" Leave him to me," said Marcel again. " The
moon is up, and you had best sup outside. Hark to
his ravings ! Get outside, Master Blaise, I say. The
more air he has the better."
" Blaise ! Ay, ay, Blaise de Bernauld," muttered
the fellow a second time. And again, in his per-
plexity. Marcel pushed the lamp under his nose and
stared his hardest.
" If he talks sense call me," said I, for I saw the
squire had reason on his side, " This prattle of Blaise
de Bernauld has something behind it. Have you a
G
98
A king's pawn.
more serviceable lamp, friend ? This one is as frail
in hfe as your guest yonder. A puff would blow
either into the dark."
Out from a corner the peasant fetched a horn lan-
tern, and with it set b.twoen us we seated ourselves
beneath the trees and fell to our supper, and to judge
iL hTu" '' '^"' '-' ''"' •'"^'^ P'^y he made
with his teeth. It was not often that a meal of cold
capon and wheaten bread came his way
"And now friend," said I, as, our hunger blunted,
we picked the bones with some show of daintiness
how comes a man of Guienne so far from his birth-'
place ? Such love for Navarre is a thing uncommon
m a -frenchman."
As I spoke his eyes lit up for a moment fiercely,
then the flash died out and left his face stolid as a
turn^, but while they were still abla.e he snapped
" Cannot a man hate as well as love ? "
" Hate ? " said I—" hate France ? "
"Bah ! seigneur, what is France to a serf? A
fair cause for foul robbeiy, a name, no more, 'see"
and again his face lit up, and his very finger-tip's
became instinct with Jescription as he crooked them
before my face, " here is a grindstone : the lower • that
.3 France. Here is another: the upper; that Is the
overlord-no offence, seigneur, I speak of Guienne
The one below hes passive, the one above whirls thus
and hus and thus, and between the two the handfu
01 Wholp.QQTTlP rrvo,V 4.U_x T , "UlUl
■ 6....X .hu. iies DeLween goes to dust and
JEAN MINET OF GUIENNE.
99
3ne is as frail
' would blow
I a horn Ian-
ted ourselves
and to judge
lay he made
Ileal of cold
ger blunted,
f daintiness,
a his birth-
f uncommon
mt fiercely,
stolid as a
tie snapped
serf ? A
ore. See,"
finger-tips
oked them
»wer; that
hat is the
Guienne.
'hirls thus
e handful
dust and
is gobbled up, though the bulk goes not to France.
Hate France, seigneur ? No ; a man who hates well
has no room in his heart for more than one hate.
Take away France and who remains ? The overlord.
Voila ! "
" But," said I, " all that is too much hate for a
fistful of taxes, or even two of them. Besides, if all
your kind pay alike, how is it that you have shifted
while the rest remain ? "
This time the glare in his eyes was the red hunger
of the wolf, and as he drew back his lips in a snarl
he had more in him of the brute than the man. For
a moment he sat silent, eyeing me, his grimy toilworn
fingers stroking his mouth and chin in the pangs of
indecision. Then he said slowly —
" The seigneur, perchance, loves Guienne ? "
" The seigneur," answered I, sharply, " is Bearnois,
and hates Guienne."
"Then it may be that Eigault de I'Annaise, the
Lord of Gravaine, is a friend of the seigneur's ? "
"Neither Eigault de I'Annaise, nor any other
Frenchman," returned I; "and as for the man him-
self, I never so much as heard of him."
" Then — then, it may be that the seigneur is a
great lord, and I have ever found that wolf stood
by wolf for all that they were not of the one breed."
"As to that," said I, "I hold that master and ser-
vant are as one before God, and that the serf can
have as sorrowful a heart as the lord."
" Ay ? " m^ l;ie drew a long breath, — " that was not
100
A king's pawn.
Risault do rA„nai«o's cree.i Tl.ank the saints, he
has learned to know better,
"Then if the man has amended- "
"Amended? Who said amended ? I said he had
learned better, and the two differ."
" But what has this to do with fleeing Guienne »
Surely the fat plains, for all the grind of the taves'
are better than the hungry hills ? "
"When life is the last thing a man has left
seigneur, and even that has grown bitter, he is per-
haps, a fool to cleave to it, but l,o does. Better
starve n, Navarre than hang in Guienne"
hand!™' '''''"''"''"" ^'^"'"^^'''™''™ y°-
"No more than a man should have," he answered
sullenly. "Though as for hanging, there are a- score
of tlungs for whieh a man n,ay hang in Guienne, and
yet have white hands. If yo„ smuggle salt, you
hang; ,f you steal a noble's deer, you hang; if yon
curse a priest, you bang-when the abbot catehes
you. Oh, It IS simplicity itself, seigneur, and gives
justice a free hand. Were I lord, and Eiganlt de
Anna.se serf. I could wish no better law. As to
the blood on my hands, since you have some con-
science for the poor, listen and judge. Yet, whether
you b ame or no, matters little; I would do the same
again.
It was a mean, ignoble face that stared at me
across the dim light. A foxy, shifty face, with nar-
row, cunning eyes that shot a furtive glance, and
™'-l,..-,.U.miJHI--
JEAN MINET OF GUIENNE.
101
e saints, lie
said he had
: Guienne ?
the taxes,
1 has left,
he is, per-
!s. Better
d on your
answered
re a- score
enne, and
salt, you
?; if you
t catches
tnd gives
gault de
As to
me con-
whether
ihe same
at me
ith nar-
ce, and
then looked down in a lyin.iv forced humility. I had
seen the same thing in a lioiind wliose spirit cruelty
had broken, and tliat crouclieil and wagged its tail
when, but for the wliip, it would have bitten. The
forehead and round the eyes were seamed and
puckered by the premature age which comes of
grinding poverty and incessant labour. The mouth
was big and vicious under its ragged mat of bair,
and from chin point to scalp were the deeply-scored
lines of vice and debauchery. Yet, as he spoke, his
look steadied, the brute within him went under,
the man came to the top, and a kind of greatness'
that compelled a grudging admiration dawned across
the face.
" There were three of us, seigucur,~Marie the wife,
Marie the cliild, and I, Jean Minet ; and, in our poor
way, we were happy~as happy, that is, as a man can
be who has a knife everlastingly at his throat, and feels
the prick of it. The plains are less fat than you think
and full crop, or lean crop, or no crop at all, the priest's
tithes and dues, the lord's taxes and exactions, the
King's this, that, and the other, must be paid. So we
who worked went hungry, that those who never stirred
finger, but yet cursed us for our laziness, might go full
fed. Yet, in our way, we were happy, for the old lord
Eainiond de I'Annaise had a man's heart in him, and
held us at least to have equal rights with his hounds.
"But old Eaimond died, and all that ended; for
Eigault, the new lord, had court debts to pay, and a
court schooling to teach him how to do it. Thencefor-
102
A king's pawn.
ward we hvod wor.,e tl„„, the ,lo,.,t„r they luul a right
to aoean kennel, a„ arn.fnl of »traw, au.l enough coarse
food to keep the life in then,. A hard nnu, and a
v.e,o„s was Kigault de I'Annaise, and night an,l day
pmy God, wUh all n.y heart, he reaps what he sowed
It we saw hin, a league oft; we scnrried to cover like
scared rabbits lest, in the light gaiety of his heart he
au h,s wol hounds on us for .sport. Peasants we
plenfful-the Lord knows they were over-plentiful-
and sport a lord n.ust have. 80. when a bitter winter
t llowed a bhghted harvest, and Marie the wife .lied
of sheer slow hunger, spun out through starving weeks.
-md,_0 God! do Thou eternally forget Thy n,ercy
to the jeenng wretches who harried us bare us a licked
rencher or all o.r cries .- Do Thou ren.e.her tin
Th? ° r;/ ""''-'" '""^ '"> '«''« '«ft t« weep.
Ihat she should die was good.
•■ Marie the child was a thing of wires, while I. as
you .see. am tough as an oak stave, and so we won
through, feeding on roots and haws and oflal of the
dc^s leavng „„til the gras,, came. Young folks are
th g befell her. At the edge of the wood Eigault and
Ins huntsmen came full tilt upon her, and she. being
tdl httle more than child for all her inches, stopped
to peep at the brave sight, when she should have fled
as from worse than the plague. 'HuUoa!' cried he
rBimng back, and staring at her. • Whose doe is this ^
What is thy name, chiid ?
and she, shaking and red-
JEAN MINET OF GUIENNE,
103
liHtl a right
Jugh coarse
nan and a
t and (lay
b he sowed,
cover like
i heart, he
iunts were
lentifiil— .
ter winter
wife died
ing weeks,
liy mercy
s a licked
nber this
' to weep.
hile I, as
we won
d of the
folks are
1 another
L an evil
jault and
le, being
stopped
lave fled
ried he,
is this ?
md red-
dening under his free look, told him she was Marie,
daughter of .^aan Minet, one of his lordship's villeins.
' So,' said he, riding up to her, and thrusting his hand
under her chin that he might see her better; 'and
where has Jean Minet hidden thee all this time ? By
St Denis ! he deserves to hang for defrauding his lord,
but for sake of thy pretty face, child, I spare him.
Bid him send thee to the castle to-night, ma belle; or,
stay, to-night I sup abroad. To-morrow will do, but
without fail. The seigneur hath his rights, thou
knowest— eh? and mayhap the strong box hath a
dowry somewhere within it. Lest tiie messaon
, """• ''"'' ' '■"""'. hi'^'ise 1,0 is just, he cauuot kf
,j.U.<^.„. auU ,„„,„.a n.e-., .M.e MaHe «too<, „,
iWard aI,„ost iuto n.y face, Jean Minct thrust a
to-morrow.' said Hugues, a..d left us
th:2';::ri^rj;:r--,---o„,,
■ tl'en the hand, and so upwa,: O^rT, r^'
patient n.a„, but he holds his g ,> -^ wSlf 'V'
theli,nbsinti„,e. JMter first ^uJ^uSl"
and he b.ds n>e say the place is watched'" '
the t ps of h.s three fingers. Then suddenly he looked
llv '''. J:"='\"'"'-' '^-n that of the death's head who
lay wuhm door,,, and his teeth chattering.
S.he was a good girl," he stammered, " a .^ood ..W^
and I kdled her that night as she slept tCI U '
i;L :!-:;-" "^ -•' ~ --
, iiu was still. Oh! never start- wouht vr.,.
oh Jrd 'ni, :'™' °°"''''^'' ''"' theother-
■ ^'"'' '""' •' ""' the other, not the other. Later, I
■'KAN MINKT OK (iUIENNE.
105
K'illfMl him, too— killed him, ;,,s I w,,iil,l a vat T|,ut
is why, Hci-iicur, I am no longer a man of (}.».-. ano."
The Hush tl It had risen uf tho last U. his face died
out, and a^Miu there came i)aek the furtive, uneasy,
shifting,' look ; hut theiieef.n ward, so lon<,' a8 T live, l'
Hhall h..hl nr, man i-n..hh, until I h.'.ve so proved him,
Wliat a play of passions was his ! What a letting loose
of hell ! Sorrow, wrath, dread, hatred, vengeance! nnir-
tler flc.l in and out of his eyes like the figures of a
'•uisciue. At the last, his tale ended so (piickly and in
such a sombre concentration of desi)air, that, seasoned
as I was to the desperate griefs and bitter losses of
life, I could but sit and gape.
"Killed her?" I gasped at last,— "killed her?
Your own child ? "
"Ay, seigneur, why not?" he answered dully, for
his passions had fallen into grey ashes. " Better' the
body than the soul. You did not know Ifjuault de
I'Annaise!" Then he turned upon me fiercely.
" Maybe you would i)ity him too. the brute beast !
Maybe you would say that rights are rights, and
the powers that be are ordained of the Lord?"
"God forbid!" said I—" God forbid! of the devil
rather. For him I have no pity, and as he sowed so
let him reap."
What more would have passed I know not. but at
that moment Marcel joined us, and, with not so much
as a glance at me, fell-to on his supper in silence.
II
I ii
106
CHAPTER IX.
THE HAND OF TEKESA SAUMAKEZ,
" Well ? ■' asked I, with some show of a reasonable
vexation, as Marcel went on munching stolidly with-
out a word. ■• What of the patient ? "
" Dead," answered he curtly, '• and therefore th»re
IS one rogue less in the world."
" Dead ? " echoed I, awed is most men arc in such
a presence, though it be but for a moment-" dead
and so swiftly?" '
"Did I kill him?" retorted Marcel with gruff
sharpness. "You yourself heard monsieur of the
three (ingers say he was far throu-vh "
^^J What ailed him that he went L quietly at the
"The sun ailed him to begin with, and a horse
hoof or a God-be-praiscd Navarre road ailed him to
end with, but which I know not. The skull is
cracked under the scalp."
"Dead! Ay, ay, dead! God rest hh„, poor
wreteh. and comfort the hearts that will be sore
for this nirrlif'o 1^„„ .,-'--». ^^
-„_..„., ^^^^ rtiiurever tiiey may be.'"
THE HAND OF TEllESA SAUMAREZ.
107
easonable
dly with-
)re t;Iiere
! in such
-" dead,
th gruff
• of the
Y at the
a horse
him to
ikull is
n, poor
t)e sore
Whereupon Marcel broke into a hoarse laugh, and
catching up his can of wine, cried —
" Here's a toast. May more of his kind go the
same way, and speedily!" and again he laughed,
but with so bitter a jollity that I forbore to
chide him for his unseemliness.
"And what of his wild talk of Blaise de Ber-
nauld?" asked I curiously; "did he speak out?"
"Ay, he spoke," answered Marcel briefly; "but,
by your leave, you know the proverb of the full
man and the fasting, and it is a plaguy long time
since I dined."
Yet, for all his show of appetite, it was clear there
was more ostentation and pretence about his eating
than honest hunger. He mangled his meat and left
the bones unpicked; and as for the hunch of bread
he ripped from the loaf, it went for the most part
in crumbs, and down the outside of his jerkin rather
than his throat.
Jean Minet had dropped his elbows on his knees
and his chin on his palms, and, as we spoke, sat
staring at the dull gleam of the light. To my mind
he neither heard nor saw us, but was back once
more in Guienne and living afresh the sorrows, the
losses, and the hatred of his past. But presently
Marcel roused him. His pretence at supper had
come to an end, and he could no longer fritter
away the minutes playing a part.
"Hulloa! Waken up, friend," he said sharply,
and pushing the other with his foot as he spoke.
108
A Kma's PAWN.
■I
t
I II
" Best see to your guest within there. Though if
you take my advice, you will have him promrtly
»t by the heels and so sleep the sounder. a'
honest mans house is better without such cattle
dead or ahve. As for us. God's roof-tree will dj
tor my master and mo to-night"
started at he authontative voice and looked about
hm rn a da.ed fashion. Then ho rose clumsily to
Jus toet, and mutterinr " i„ •
mrdnn = • """""'~ Ay, ay, seigneur, your
pardon, se gneur, your pardon," like a man half
a loep, and n.ade for the open door. Midway i„
he paused and turned,
•■There was no priest," he said, looking vacantly
at Marcel. " But there ; to die or to live, whether
ine.st= said Marcel between his teeth. "Not
r Li d T'^ "r '"" '" '"'"' <^""" '-™ as.
tow 1 •'■ """' '"' ""' «'"-■'- -d only
told truth 111 maunderings."
" I'iague take your mysteries," cried I ; •■ cannot
you speak out, man."
"How do I know," answered he cautionsly and
eaking under his lu.eath, ..but the fellow. Mi:
■ fT 1 " M " "' '"'"'" "'"' "'•^' d-' -gue ? "
reasJ;tt . v '"" ''"""'"' ™^ "- '"^ -n
reasous for being solitary. I vouch for Minet."
Guienne?" he cried, rising and coining over to
where I sat "That e..plains it!"
" ^y^'^'^io^ again ! E.xpl,,;,,^ ^j.^j^ ^^^ , „
THE HAND OF TERESA SAUMAREZ.
109
" Why the poor wretch's wanderings were so imich
gibberisli to his three-fingered host."
" Ay ? and why ? "
" Because it's not in reason that a man of Guienne
would understand Spanish Basque."
"So he was from the south, was he? Now we
know where he got his yellow skin. But what of
his chatter of Blaise de Bernauld."
"Listen, Master Blaise," and Marcel sat himself
down beside me under the sliadow of the great
trees. " When you two were gone out I went down
on ray knees and scanned him as a mother might
her babe, for what right had a stranger to prattle
of Blaise de Bernauld in that fashion ? but never a
hair of him did I know. Then I set the light on
a stove that was handy and began to feel him.
His ribs and limbs were sound, but the first touch
of the head was enough. Back of the ear, just
where the hair thickened, was a pulp I might
have thrust in with my thumb, though for all the
break in the bone the skin was whole, and but for
the uncanny softness of it his life was little the
worse. Then I pushed up his lids, and the twist
of his eyes told me the sun had hit him hard,
and that between the stroke from above and the
smash from below his time was so many hours and
no more. My own thought is that a splinter of
the bone turned inwards, and saving that a surgeon
scooped out the pulp and fixed a silver plate across
the hole, his wits would never have been sound
110
A king's pawn.
I! S
again. After that I gave him a drink, and layina
his head back on the riding-coat that propped him
up, sat and watched him awhile. But his breath
came in heavy slow puffs, and the thought that
the end was nearer than I at first supposed spurred
me on.
Blaise de Bernauld ! ' said I. On the moment he
stopped rooting and fidgeting in the straw, and
screwed his blind eyes up at me.
Blaise de Bernauld,' said he, like an echo, and
swore in Spanish Basque.
" That gave me a thought. Dropping you. Master
Blaise, I groped for the other end of the coil and
caught it first time.
" ' Madame Saumarez ! '
" You should have seen him jump. The word was
like a half-inch dagger prick. 'Ay, ay,' he cried
'Senora Saumarez, the devil of a woman, the devil
of a woman,' and then he fell to moaning and comb-
ing at the straw with his fingers.
" That bolt had gone home, so I notched another
' Five hundred crowns— eh ? Five hundred crowns ? '
Round he heaved himself in the bed and flung his
arms up aimlessly. ' No, no, no,' he mumbled, rollincr
his head from side to side ; ' not five hundred, three
hundred only, no more than three. 'Tis too little
for a man's life.'
" Now I had both ends of the coil and knew two
things— that Diego Saumarez's accursed witch of a
mother was alive, .and that her hate was alive too
THE HAND OF TERESA SATJMAREZ.
Ill
But the rogue was weaker, and was plucking with
his finger-tips at the rumpled covering flung across
the straw in a way a man understands, though he
may have seen it no more than once. There was
little time to lose if I would assure assurance.
'"Madame Saumarez gave you three hundred
crowns to murder Blaise de Bernauld ? ' Paid I, very
slowly and with my lips at his ear; and again he
rounded on me even with the rattle in his throat.
" ' No, no,' he panted, ' half only, and half when it
was done.' Then he burst out with broken curses,
mixed with disjointed recollections, that would have
blackened a dozen souls, and moaning prayers; and
God, the devil, and the saints, were invoked in' turn
till his breath failed, and for ten minutes he lay
gasping, with growing intervals between the gasps.
Then of a sudden he stretched himself with a sigh,
aiKl the end came."
" Thank the Lord he died," went on Marcel, " for
had the life taken fresh root in him I would have
stamped it out again, witless and all as he was. It
was either him or you. Master Blaise."
I will not deny that Marcel's tale troubled me, but
as his hand gripped my knee in the darkness, and I
felt his fingers tremble, I cast forebodings from me
with an effort. When a man has a fit of the quakes
there is no better medicine than to have to hearten-
up one who is in a still more evil case.
" Bah ! " cried I, with a sounding slap on his shaking
hand ; " Spain is as broad as France, and we will but
112
A king's pawn.
touch Its fringe. What though the witch be alive
and venomous ? It is a thousand to one if we so
much as go within ten leagues of her. Thou and I
have faced worse odds many a time than such a
chance as that. And, after all, what is the pother
about ? A woman ! "
" It is not the woman I fear," answered lie moodily,
" but fatality that works througli her. The predes-
tination of it ! "
"But, man," said I sharply— for fatalism either
^akes or breaks a man, and here it was like to be
uiie latter—" Calvin never preached the doctrine to
make us shiver, but to give us comfort, since by it
we are in God's hands."
"Ay," replied Marcel, "there you have it, and
that's a thing men are prone to talk of but have no
wish to hasten. I never saw the priest yet, whether
he followed liome or Luther, who so longed to meet
God Almighty that he hunted death hot-foot. As to
the thousand -to -one chance. Master Blaise, what do
you make of yon fellow meeting us plump on the
road ? Answer me that ! "
"I make this," said I ; " the pass which gapes so
black and narrow behind us there is a short cut, and
therefore a wise one for him and for us. Why, it's a
straight line, though he came from Seville 'itself
Your mind is full of shadows."
" Have it so, but it's a crooked path for so straight
a road," he answered dourly ; " and take this w^th
It, that there's no shadow without a substance, and
THE HAND OF TERESA SAUMAREZ.
113
where you find the shadow the substance is not far
behind."
It was on the tip of my tongue to bid him ride
home to Bernauld with the first of the light, since
in a party of four there was no room for one to be
a poltroon, wlien the reappearance of Jean Minet in
the hut doorway checked me.
" The bed is vacant now, seigneur," said he, hold-
ing out the rushlight in front of him, and speaking
as coolly as if he were the serving wench of "The
Three Stars" at Vic. Mf I was long in making
ready, it is because the three days' rooting had worn
it out of shape."
" What ? " I cried. " Could you not let the poor
soul lie till the morning ? "
" By your leave, seigneur, he will rest as quietly
under the settle as in the bed. Why waste good
straw on bones that can't feel when there are bones
that can which want it ? "
" Then lay your own bones there, friend," answered
I. " The earth for bed and our saddles for pillows
will serve our turn for to-night."
"Every man to his taste," said he with a grin;
"but I find him better company than he was any
time these three days past. Best think twice, seign-
eur, and try the straw. There's nought catching in
a broken head. Though, for that matter, I have
known one make many before now ! No ? Well,
the saints give you good rest, seigneurs both. If
you need aught call me, but call loud, for there are
H
I
lU
A king's pawn.
three nights' sleep owing to me, and by the grit in
my eyes I am going to have my dues,"
If nature paid Jean Minet his debt it was not at
our expense. In spite of the hard ground, Spain, and
Marcel's dolefulness, I never slept sweeter under a
brocaded canopy than I did that night beneath the
shadow of the great trees. Nor do I think it any
shame that the sun was in my eyes between a cleft
in the hills on the farther side of the gorge before I
awoke. Where needs must I can waken with any
man, and I thank God that at sleepii.g T can also
hold my own with any man. Indeed, when a man is
in camp or on the march, and has his fourteen, or
maybe more, hours of duty packed into the twenty-
four, I hold that the faculty of sound sleep i^. as
needful and as worthy as that of wakefulness.
One advantage there is in such a bed as was
mine. Once awake, there is small pleasure in play-
ing lazy-bones. Mother earth's knees are kindly
enough to him who, out of honest weariness, seeks
sleep, but they are over-hard for dandling. In three
blinks I was broad awake and staring about me.
Both Marcel and Jean Minet were already afoot
and at their tasks, the one for the living, the other
for the dead — for the squire was busy warming a
measure of wine as a corrective of the night dews,
while the Guiennese was hard at work with mattock
and shovel, and was already sunk to his knees in the
soft earth. An easy labour was his, and by the time
the wine had caught the proper dcuree
heat — that
THE HAND OF TERESA SAUMAREZ.
115
is to say, warm enough to bring the tears to the eyes
without scalding the throat — lie was climbing out of
the pit.
With the glare of the sun in his shifty face and
the smudges of black clay on hands and ragged
clothing, T looked in vain for the finer instinct and
power of passion that had been so mightily stirred as
we sat on either ^hh of the horn lantern. They
were gone, until the depths within him of suspicion
and self-effacement were again broken up, and in
their place was a furtive and sordid servility.
" All's ready, seigneur," said he, rubbing the mould
slowly from his hands as he spoke ; " and if the other
seigneur would give me a hand, we can tuck him out
of sight at once and have done witli him."
" With a good will, though with a better will still
had there been six of his kind instead of one,"
answered Marcel; "but as I was blowing the fire,
Master Blaise, the thought came to me that there
might have been news of her we wot of in the
fellow's pockets. I'll warrant they are empty enough
now ! "
"Right," cried I. "Hark you, friend, what spoils
were there ? Disgorffe."
"There was nought, seigneur, there wa nought,"
answered Jean Minet hastily and clapping a tell-tale
hand to his side. " At least, nought but a beggarly
raffle of odds and ends not worth your lordship's
turning over."
" What ? " said Marcel, laying a hard lean hand
M
IIG
A king's pawn.
on the other's shoulder. " Nought ? Neither weapons
nor papers ? Jostle up thy memory, man, and see
thou assert not overmuch. Too large a lie is as
dangerous at times as too much truth."
Jean Minet looked at us cunningly, but in silence,
as if reckoning up the chances.
" There was a crown, or maybe two, but no more
than my due for the three days' nursing and the loss
of sleep o' nights, (lentles like you would not rob
the poor," he whined at last.
" Faith of Bernauld ! are we thieves ? " cried Marcel,
shaking him wrathfully. "Empty thy pockets as
thou emptied his. You may keep your crowns, and
if there be money's worth in what we find we will
buy it."
But the Guiennese still hung in the wind. ",You
would not cozen me ? " said he, fawning on Marcel.
"Cozen you?" cried he back contemptuously.
"Why, man, we are two and you are >ne. That,
and the limb of the tree yonder. Would be cozenage
enough if we had a mind to it. Must we search ? "
" No, no," he replied in haste. " I will trust your
honour, seigneurs."
" Ay," said Marcel grimly. " Just as much trust
as Navarre shows France, and no more. The trust
of what can't be cured. We understand. Down
on your knees, friend, and spread out the loot."
If he had carried all his worldly possessions upon
him — as I made no doubt he did — then truly the
battered rogue who lay dead behind the jamb of the
THE HAND OF TEKKSA SAUAIAUEZ.
1 ^
door had found tlie profession of thief and cut-
throat a poor paying one. Out of his poverty an
honest artisan had laid by as mucli in a year as
he had earned in fifteen. The inventory is soon
told.
" Item," said Marcel as Jean Minet emptied his
pockets with very little haste but a -jreat show of
alacrity, and laid out his treasures in order, " nine
crowns, two francs, and four deniers. Now, Master
Blaise, wnere is the rest of the blood -money gone?
Dice, liquor, and hona rohas, I suppose ! Truly what
the devil gives with the right hand he hlches
with the left, and perhaps a little more with it.
Item, one leaden saint indifferently l)attered. James
of Campostello for a wager, iind mucli good he did
to him! Item, one roll of stout cord. 'Twas to
keep him humble, I take it, and remind him of the
death he ought to die if he but got his dues. Item,
one square of dog-eared paper. Set that aside,
Master Blaise — we will see to it presently. Do you
note that, for all its dirt of grease and thumb-marks,
it is not frayed at the edges, therefore it has not been
many days in its mixed company. Item, three silver
buttons which might serve as bullets at a pinch, and
item, to go with the same, one short dag with a
mouth as wide as a priest's bell, and one leather bag
of black powder, — a proper combination, on my faith,
to bring down that wizard c^' Bernauld we two wot of.
Silver will kill where lead fails. Well, an honest
Navarre highway has put an end to that caper.
II
«
11
PI
! f
f!
118
A king's pawn.
Item, ono bone charm against the evil eye. There
is some sense in that, and, by your leave, we will set
it aside also. The Lord only knows what we shall
meet beyond the mountains. Item, two cogged dice.
Ay, ay, a rogue all through ! Ho would neither
hglit fair nor play fair, but he's ta'en his wages, so
we may let that pass. Item, one knife. Now ! look
at tlie blade ! Seven incliea long if a hpir's-breadth,
and keen as a barber's blooding -tool. A back, too,
stout enough to carry it tlirough a rib as easily as
I would slice a currot. Mark, also, that it is new.
A true and nice courtesy in tiie worthy gentleman
who lies yonder, and accounts for one or two of the
vanished crowns : you don't buy such a knife as that
for nought ! And last ; item, a brass token of high
and peculiar sanctity, for the legend saith it has been
blessed by no less a person than the Cardinal lUshop
of Toledo himself, and is granted as a special favour
to Bernardino — now plague take me if I can decipher
the rest, 'tis scrabbled. A nice man Bernardino !
He took as few risks as may be for this world or the
next, and yet, mark how he miscarried ! "
" Then, seigneur," said Jean Minet timidly, " your
lordship has no need of aught save the paper and the
bone charm ? The rest "
" Pouch the coin, the buttons, the cord, the dice,
the saint, and the brass token, friend," said Marcel.
" Let the rest be, and do thou come and put this
Bernardino to bed. If we keep the dag and the
knife we will pay thee for them. Take the paper,
THE ilANK OF TEUKHA SAUMAICZ.
119
Master IJlai.sc hi.s suuill iiiconsiderato pioce of bono
will serve me as rememluMiice."
" We will take the weapons at two crowns eaeh,'
said I shortly ; '* the bag of powder to go with the
dag. Saving iiis sword, whieh I made no doubt
you had hidden away, is this all ? "
" All, seigneur, all," he cried, letting the (question of
the sword slip by him. " See, I swear it on the holy
apostle."
" I will take thy word for it, friend. Now to your
task. Marcel."
While they buried him I unfolded the grimy paper.
If not, as Marcel had said, frayed at the edges, it was
at least worn so thin at the folds that tlie light showed
through in thin lines, and the writing, being of the
faintest, was hard to read. It was in the hand of
a woman, tremulous, but yet roundly formed, and
ran to this effect: —
" I, Teresa Saumarez, hereby ratify and reailirm my
promise that I will pay you, J3ernardino Zarresco, or
the bearer of the Toledo token, 150 Spanish crowns
or 50 ducats of Milan at your choice, in addition to a
like snm already received by you, provided always
that proof to my satisfaction be forthcoming that
the thing you and I wot of ib fully accomplished. To
this I pledge my oath in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teresa Saumahez."
Then came a ragged edge whence a strip had been
120
A KING S PAWN.
torn so that, to my great chagrin, both date and place
of signing were missing. A sore loss they were to
prove presently.
To him who held the key the enigma was clear:
the paper was neither more nor less than a contract
in solemn form, and for my own destruction !
121
CHAPTEE X.
TWO MKN OF DISCRETION.
1 PRAY with all my heart," said Marcel, three hours
later, " that the King will send us the men of his
choice speedily. This Minet of yours, Master Blaise,
has too deft a way with dead men to please me. I
would rather he handled them with larger respect,
and have an idea that the niglit air of the valley
might be unhealthy for us."
" If they slept at Oloron last night, as I reckon
they did," answered I, " you may look to see them
top the rise any minute. As for this Minet of mine,
as you call him, I warrant him honest."
" Honest ? Oh, ay, I know the kind of honesty !
It is rife after every battle, for what theft is there in
robbing a corpse of what it has no further use for ?
To my mind a three league space between us would
be a mighty aid to Master Minet's honesty."
" Then saddle up," said I, " and go as far as the
stream to see if the two be coming. If they have
half the virtues the King endowed them with, there
Ill" .y
122
A king's pawn.
is little chance that they will lag while on his
business."
"Virtues in the King's presence, and virtues out
of it, are two different things," quoth Marcel senten-
tiously. "Trust a court lord no further than you
see him, say I."
"Then the more reason to go and meet them,"
replied I, " since, be they who they may, we must
needs trust them up to the hilt for two weeks to
come."
" Would to the Lord they were at an end," answered
he, as he climbed into the saddle. " Two weeks said
the old death's-head at Pau, and here we have to
trust God knows who for these same two weeks,
and if they fail us "
Out shot his palms before him, and up went his
shoulders to his ears; and the pantomime was as
expressive as if he had held forth for an hour.
Minet had gone about his business. What it was,
or where it lay, I never knew, nor did I at that time
set eyes on him again. He being gone. Marcel
and I had the plateau to ourselves, nor was there
aught for me to do but watch the squire pricking
slowly up the slope through the grass. He was
in no haste, and the distance was a few hundred paces
at most, so that, but for a horseman's dislike to going
a-foot when he can ride, he might have tramped it.
As listlessly as I gazed so listlessly he rode, the
great four-feet weeds lording it above the grass, docks,
teasels and cow-parsnips, slapping and picking at his
TWO MEN OF DlSCllETION.
123
jackboots. Then, as he neared the top of the rise he
straightened himself, and roused his beast into life
with a dig of the heel. In three bounds they were
on the crest of the hill, and reining his horse in
with a jerk Marcel rose bolt upright in the stirrups,
steadying himself with a grip of the knees. For
a moment he stood straining at gaze, his hand hollowed
above his eyes, then grasping the reins with both fists
he swung round and galloped downhill with a fine
contempt for his neck's safety.
" Mount, mount, mount," he roared as soon as
he came within clear earsliot. " 'Tis the King
himself, Master Blaise, — the King of Navarre, and
no other."
" The King, man ? " answered I, rising leisurely
on my elbow. " What gnat in the brain has bitten
you this time ? The King is at Vic."
" Am I a fool not to know Henry of Navarre,"
replied he, drawing up beside me with such a tug at
the reins that his beast fairly slipped uphill on its
crouched haunches. " The King it is, and if he
is to fare to Spain with us the fat's in the fire with
a vengeance.
"The King, the King?" repeated I, stumbling
to my feet and fumbling at the horse-gear with fingers
that had neither feeling nor instinct in them, so
dumbfoundered was I. " The King here ? It is
madness in you or in him — pure madness."
Back to me came Jacques Gobineau's caustic
grumblings. "The King's a dog straining on the
I
I
s a:
i
124
A king's pawn.
leash," said he, " and with Eosiiy and Morny out of
Navarre the tether is longer or the leash weaker!"
God grant it were not snapped altogether. Once
already a mad freak of Henry of Navarre's had run
us into a trap. Was the man renewing the boy's
folly, and must a life pay for the whim as it paid
then ? Back, too, came IMarcel's groan, " Plague take
the fine thoughts of the King of Navarre ! " and as
I pressed home the bit in my beast's mouth I stamped
in fair vexation.
"Madness?" echoed Marcel. "Ay, madness, in
very truth, but not in me; and can you stop it
Master Blaise?"
" I can try," answered I, between my teeth. " To
squire Henry across the border is to play traitor to
tlie Kingdom, and that I shall never do, though
he kill me for the disobedience. But are you sure,
man, are you sure that it is the Kin^r?"
"Am I sure that you are Blaise de Bernauld ? "
said Marcel curtly. " There are two of them, as he
proniised. One is a stranger, but the other is the
King of Navarre."
"Will you hold to your word, Master Blaise?"
he went on, as we breasted the slope in a lumping
gallop; "if so, the King has my thanks, for he has
unwittingly done us a good turn, and we may both
see Bernauld yet."
" What word, man ? " asked I testily, for my mind
was full of trouble. "For the Lord's sake, bate
chattering for once."
TWO MEN OF DISCRETION.
125
"That you will turn back to Navarre, and so
scotch this great idea of his. Burn his plans with
his own heat, Master lilaise — that's my advice. Lord,
Lord ! it's a new life to us both, a new life, and
Madam Spider must spin a fresh web."
" Not a foot will I budge," said I, " not a foot."
" Not a foot ! " chuckled Marcel, slapping his thigh
in his glee. Then he sobered, "But he's a kittle
man to cross is the King, and a hard man to say
Nay to. I'm thinking we'd best not holloa yet
awhile."
By this time we had reached the road, and there,
sure enougli, were two horsemen jogging slowly to-
wards us. Sure enough, too, one was Henry of
Navarre. Not even the three furlongs of distance
which lay between could make that doubtful to
one who knew his every trick of gesture as I did.
The upward tilt of the chin, the aggressive squaringa
of the not over- wide shoulders, the sudden fiinginff
out of a hand level with the breast and swift swoop
of the fingers for the curled moustache, together
with half-a-dozen mannerisms peculiar to the most
pronounced individuality of his age, proclaimed the
man without cavil or question.
His companion, who rode his beast more soberly
and with none of the volatile movements so charac-
teristic of the King, was Rend de Montamar, a man
some three or four years his junior, and a cadet
of that great house wliich had given Queen Jeanne
one of her seven famous viscounts. Shrewd, cool
126
A king's pawn.
beyond his years, as full of cautious courage as of
reckless devotion, I could have wished no better
comrade on sucli a thorny business as this was like
to prove than Eene de Montaniar. In him, too,
I might look to find an ally when the pinch witli
the King came.
All that ran through my mind witli tlie first sweep
of the eyes, and on its heels came the memory of
Marcel's last words. Truly the King was a kittle
man to cross, and lest my courage fail it behoved
me to act while my blood was still warm and my
purpose unshaken.
" Bide thou liere," cried I, and set off at a gaibp.
The King's first words were not comforting.
"Turn about, turn about," he shouted as I came
within earshot. "Ventre St Oris! you ride the
wrong way, man ! 'Tis a brave tryst, Monsieur de
Bernauld. and do I not keep my word to tlie letter ?
The stream from the west and two men of courage
and discretion willing to obey orders."
Then he drew rein so that his horse fell to a
walk, and sitting back in his saddle he roared with
laughter at my dolorous face— roared till he almost
rolled himself flat on the grass.
" See to him, De Montamar," he gasped ; " saw one
ever such a scandalised solemnity ! "
"Sire, Sire," I cried, leaping to the ground and
kneeling at his stirrup, " what midsummer madness
is this?"
"Neither madness nor fnljy/' replied he, straight^
ceu-
TWO MEN OF DISCRETION.
127
ing himself and his face grown grave on the instant,
" but sound sense, as I shall show you. Nay, man,
hand-kissings are done with; an honest grasp, as
between comrades, if you will. What ? did you tliink
I would bid you harry a wasp's nest, and not myself
take my risk of the stings? You shame tiie, J)e
Bernauld, that after fifteen years you know me so
little. Up, man, up ! we are all on a level here."
" But, Sire," said I, rising as he bade me, " we
are not, and never can be on a level, and what is
a fit and common risk for Bernauld or Montamar
is no fit risk for Navarre. Ah ! 1 see, Sire — you came
to test me. You could not trust poor Blaise de
Bernauld, so, under cover of a jest, you put me to
the trial. Be it so, though the Lord knows it was
not needed. Now that you have proved me, ride
back to your train, Sire, and we three will ride south."
"No, no, by my faith, that is not so," he cried
earnestly. " I am no Valois to be suspicious of my
tried gentlemen. In sober truth, I have come to see
for myself how things stand across the border. As
for a train, I have none nearer than Vic, where I doubt
not Roquelaure .has half-a-dozen companies scouring
the country searching for me, though it is a question
if that can be called a train which has nought in
charge and will have nought!"
" Then in sober truth. Sire," answered I, " I would
be no Mrnd to Navarre if I did not say this must
stop here and now. Vv^ho gave you leave, Sire, to
risk your head? We three will ride alone or we
128
A king's pawn.
i
I
will not ride at all. What do you say, Monsieur de
Montamar ? "
" Ta, ta, ta," cried the King. " It will be a new
thing for me to ask leave of any man to risk my head
or whatever it may please me to risk. As to Monsieur
de Montamar, what has Monsieur de Montamar to do
with the will of his king ? Why, nought, save to obey
it without question. Nor have you. Besides, I hold
your promise."
" A promise given in ignorance is no promise. Sire.
Had you been as frank with me as I with you, we
had never left Vic."
"Plague take your Jesuitries," replied he. "A
promise is a promise, and so will say any man of
honour. Eh, Monsieur de Montamar ? "
" Ta, ta, ta," cried I in my turn, and with an angry
rasp in my voice. " As to Monsieur de Montamar,
what has Monsieur de Montamar to do with the
honour of Bernauld save leave it to its master's
keeping ? This thing is folly, I say, folly ; and I will
have no part in it."
" Monsieur de Bernauld," said the King sharply,
so sharply that I winced as if a hornet had stung me,
" understand me at once, that I may not have to say
it twice. For the present I am Henry of Navarre,
and so to be obeyed without flinch or question. What,
Monsieur, would you dare bandy pros and cons with
me ? It is my part to command and yours to fulfil,
and let there be neither pause nor hesitation. Later,
when I am Monsieur d'Albret, it will be another
TWO MKN OF DISCRETION.
129
matter. If needs must, as, indeed, needs will, Henry
tlie Kirn- can sink himself in Henry the man. But not
yet— nj, by my faith, not yet. Do you understand ? "
I understood well enougji, but, for all that, had no
mind to give up tlie point.
" It is like this, Sire," and the lingers that twisted
and plucked his horse's mane were as unsteady as on
the day when I first laid my heart bare to Jeanne,
my wife. " It is yours to command because you are
Navarre, therefore it is to Navarre that I owe a first
obedience. Now if this thing is for the ruin of
Navarre "
" Oh, a pest on your casuistry. Listen now to me.
Though you turn back, though Master Marcel there
turns back, as I don't doubt he would at a crook of
your finger, for Bernauld is Navarre and all the
world to him ; ay, and if this dumb fish of a Montamar
turns back, yet will not I, but will ride on alone. If I
am Navarre as you say, what will Navarre say to you
then. Monsieur de Bernauld ? Tush, man, it is the
part of a wise man to know when he is beaten, and.
Ventre St Gris ! you are routed beyond rally. Mount,
mount, and let us push on."
Without waiting for an answer he put his horse
at a trot, and left me biting my fingers and in two
minds what to do. De Montamar ended the doubt.
" Go we must, though it is on a fool's errand," said
he. " He has been like a mad schoolboy these four-
and- twenty hours, and is ripe for any mischief. The
only hope is that we may sober him."
130
A KINGS PAWN.
" Sober him ! " 1 groaiKid, but mouiitin<,f as I spoke.
" There are but two things that will ever fully sober
Henry of Navarre, old age and death, and of the
former of these I have a doubt. Plague take it, man,
wliy did you sit there mute ? Had you but spoken
your mind we migiit have moved him between the
two."
" Not a jot, not a jot, no, nor would the whole
council. He was pledged to himself in this thing,
and whosoever he may disappoint it will not be Henry
of Navarre."
The King, as I have said, had ridden on, and now
we found him Hinging jests at Marcel in true rough
camp fashion, much to the squire's embarrassment.
What turn aifairs had taken he knew not, so held his
peace lest he made bad worse, and therefore stood
sliifting himself from leg to leg like an awkward school-
boy with his eye upon the ferrule.
" Thou hast my pity, my friend. Truly my heart
is sore for thee," Henry was saying as we rode up.
" That master of thine has the temper of a bear. If
he be-rates thee as he has just be-rated me, thy life
nmst be a dog's life. And all for what ? For a little
difference as to north and south, no more. Ay, here
he comes. Mount, man, mount, and let us ride on,
lest he let his tongue loose a second time."
" Presently, Sire, presently," T cried ; " I have a
message first."
" A message, De Bernauld ? " and the King swung
round on me sharply. " What message can you have
TWO MEN OF DISCHKTION.
131
in these wilds ? Is tliis some fresh folly t Do not
try my patience over-much, monsieur."
" It is to pay a debt. Sire, and no more. Last nioarnnoise chanson wherewith his mother had sun^^
him into life — ^
" Notre Diuiii;, du bout du pont,
Aidoz-iuoi 11 ccttu heme ! "
Truly the King of Navarre was as variable in his
moods as any ten women.
ii I
132
CHAl'TEK XT.
THllOUGII TlIK UIHS OF NAVAKllE.
" What did I tell you ? " said Marcel, laughing softly.
" ' The King is an ill man to cross,' said I. ' Not
a foot will I budge,' said you. ' He is a hard nuin
to say Nay to,' said I. ' 'Twould be the ruin of
Navarre,' said you. Aiul "
" Have done, num, have done. Is it not enough
to be compelled to do a folly that is still a folly in
spite of all the compulsion in the world, but thou
must sharpen thy tongue on a gibe at it ? Or hearken,
if the King's business is not to thy liking, turn back
and go home again. Either come with a good grace
or stay away — is that plain ? "
" I did but jest, Mastc v Blaise," he cried hastily,
putting out an appealing hand ; " and how is a plain
man to know wliat to do ? One moment it is, we
are comrades all, and equals all ; the next, ' Get to
your kennel, hound.' I who would not anger you
for a king's ransom."
" My fault, old friend," said I, conscious of my ill-
temper and pricked to the heart at the sorrow in his
TIinoUOH TIIK Kills OF NAVAUUE.
133
g softly.
. 'Not
11(1 man
ruin uf
enough
folly in
lut thou
hearken,
irn back
dd grace
hastily,
3 a plain
t is, we
'Get to
iger you
' my ill-
w in his
voice. " Tlu3 King was right. T am as surly as a
bear. lUit can you marvel ? If aught goes wrong,
who hoars the blame? Why, lUaiso de iJermuiM,
wlio out of his riper years .should have known better
tlian to give the King his head. If all goes well,
wlio gains the credit / Why, the King and no otlier,
since it is the way of the world to praise the great
and blame the liumbh.. iu,t hit that be. Leave
these five crowns on Jean Minet's settle. He <'i\vo
us ot his best, and neither peer nor peasant could do
morc!. (Jod forbid that we should play the churl to
him. Then its * Ho I for Spain.' "
" Ho ! for Spain," he echoed disnially, like a Jew
saying his pater noster on Holy -Cross day. "For
the Lord's sake, wait for me, Miister lUaise, while I
do your bidding, lest tiu; cur in nie turn tail."
Tt was where the road, having mad. a sharp ascent,
curves abruptly across the naked ri , of an angular
spur that we at length made up upon the King and
de Montamar. They had drawn rein on the "^sumy
flat of the cr(. ,, at the point which still h.dd in full
view the wmding cleft we had traversed and yet
opened u] thi; wild ravine which lay before us.
Above was sheer rock, witli a line of pines like a
far-off pent eyebrow; below was sheer rock, the Gave
no more than a roaring tiiread of silver, Jostling and
tearing at the stern bounds whicli iudd it back,
lieyond the stream the sinuous bends of the barren
cliffs fell away on either side until lost behind grey
crags as sombre and as barren as themselves. Life
134
A king's pawn.
everywhere was at its lowest ebb. In its despairing
clutches for existence it had gained a feeble foothold
on the southern precipices, but on the north the
sun had driven it to utter rout; there was neither
shrub, nor grass, nor weed, nor greenery of any kind,
— nought but a ponderous and many-ribbed skeleton
of death.
Yet it pleased the King's fancy.
" See," said he, with a sweep of his arm that
gathered into its scope the whole bend of the valley —
" See what a barrier of heights and depths the mercy
of God Almighty has set between us and the throaten-
ings of Spain. With our outposts entrenched beyond
these fastnesses, the King of France may sit on his
throne in peace from all fear of Spanish meddling.
Tell me, De Bernauld, is it not our part to see we
hold the passes through and through and both north
and south ? "
" The wisdom is clear enough. Sire, but "
" Ha ! " he broke in. " That is a point which had
slipped from me. Let there be no more talk of Sires.
Henceforward we leave the crown and its trappings
of lip courtesy behind, and until we sight Pau again
I am plain Henri d'Albret, a simple gentleman in the
train of Monsieur Blaise de Bernauld."
" No, no," cried I, hastily. " By your leave, Sire,
Blaise de Bernauld is at home breeding sheep in the
good county of Bigorre, where I would to the Lord
I were with him. Henceforward, for reasons which
you kiiovv, and until the King picks up the crown
THROUGH THE RIBS OF NAVARRE.
135
again, I am Monsieur Blaise de Zero, and from my
heart I pray you not to forget it."
" What ! Have you still tliat maggot in the
brain ? "
"Ay, Sire, and with cause, for the old blowlly has
laid a fresh crop."
There and then I told them of our meeting with
Master liernardino Zarresco, and of his bloody com-
mission to Bernauld.
"Chut," said Henry, as I ended. "It's a long
league to Toledo. Let us not cry out till we're
hurt. Tliat the fellow meant you a miscliief, I
grant, but," he went on, Beza's theology coming' to
the surface, "that no mischief was to befall "you
is shown by the grave in Jean Minet's pasture, and
if not a mischief from him who sleeps there, why
from another ? " Which was very comforting to the
man who was not threatened— though, for that inatter,
there is nothing easier to be endured in the whole
world than another's dangers, unless it be another's
losses.
Later my anxiety on the King's account got a little
consolation from De Montamar. Henry had ridden
ahead, and in his new mood of democracy nothing
would serve him but that Marcel should ride with
him wherever the width of the path gave space for
two abreast, which in such a cramped country was
but seldom. We others, therefore, hung togetlier.
" How came you to lend yourself to such a mad
prank as this ? " asked 1, sourly, as
we jogged along
136
A king's TAWN.
,1 I
at a foot-pace. To go faster was to court a broken
back or a cracked skull, so full of rolling stones was
the steep road. " There in Vic a No, with a hint to
Eoquelaiire to back it, meant more than it did an
hour since on the slopes."
" What ! Do you think he trusted me ? No, not
by so much as an inch. ' I have business at St Jannes,
— come thou with me. Do Montamar;' and I, with
no second thought in my head but that it was well
Madame Margot was elsewhere, went against his
custom. He Iiad no pity on horseflesh, and that of
itself should have set me tliinking ; but I was a fool,
and spurred on as hotly as himself. Twice, indeed,
I spoke, but he only looked askew at me from the
corners of his eyes, and spurred the harder, saying,
' The thing is urgent.'
" At St Jannes there were fresh beasts waiting us,
and with no more delay than sufficed to fling our-
selves from saddle to saddle, we rode on. ' I was
wrong,' said he, with a queer twist of his mouth ; ' the
business was at Lescar.' But he left Lescar to the
right and dashed through the Gave at the Grey ford,
and never drew rein till we reached Oloron, nor for
the last hour of the ride would he so nmch as let
me get within five lengths of him. By that it was
dusk, and as he rode through the town with a cloak
about his face, he was as free from recognition as the
Grand Turk. That night he told me his wild plan
and swore me to silence, and when I dared remon-
strate he gave his tongue as loose a rein as he had
THROUGH THE KIBS OF NAVARKE. I37
given his horse all day, and played the King as none
but he can play it. What could a man do, De Ber-
nauld ? It was like this,—
" ' It is madness, Sire.'
" ' It is sense, monsieur, and therefore beyond your
cojnprehension.'
" ' I will ride back, Sire.'
" ' Who are you, monsieur, to fling I wills at your
Aing ? Be careful, I say, be careful'
" ' I will raise Oloron, Sire.'
" ' And be the first De Montamar to break your
l^edged word. Go on, monsieur-lie, lie, and raise
Oloron.
" ' Oh, Sire, Sire, for Navarre's sake.'
God's name, man, it is out and out for Navarre's
sake . but that thick head of thine could nnder-
stai! .
" ' At least take a fitting guard.'
" ' Ay, and send a trumpeter aliead proclaiming—
Here comes his most puissant and still more out-at-
elbows Majesty the King of Navarre. You would
ensure me a warm welcome!'
But it is madness, Sire.'
" ' So you said ])efore. I am no lover of parrots
30 Montamar.' Again I say, what could a n^an'
do ?
" Something," said I, still sourly, " surely some-
thing."
" Something is own brotlier to nothing," answered
he impatiently. " When a man is at his own wits'
138
A king's pawn.
i '
i !
» '
end he always flings a * something ' at his neighbour.
But this much I did without the King's knowledge.
I warned Roquelaure from Oloron, and in two days he
should be on our track."
" What ? And you sworn to secrecy ? "
" Secrecy ? Who talked of secrecy ? I said
silence, and a tvvist of paper has as quiet a tongue
as Mornay himself. Do you call that breaking
silence ? "
To which I made no answer, for the King had
halted and was waiting for us.
The gorge had suddenly forked, or rather another
valley as cramped as that up which we had ridden
opened to the right, with a narrow wedge of rock
thrust between.
" Which path, De Bernauld ? " cried Henry. " Thou
art leader."
" Leader if you will," answered I, " but not guide ;
and since you, Sire, have led us by the nose thus far,
you had better finish what you began."
For a moment he looked affronted at my blunt
speech, and a bitter answer was on the tip of his
tongue, but he checked himself and replied smoothly
enough, —
" Tut, man, there is no need to ruffle your quills.
Since it concerns us all alike, let us take counsel.
What saith thy grey wisdom. Master Marcel ? "
" That it is dinner-time. Monsieur D'Albret, and
who knows but the jaws may help the brain. As for
the roads, they are as like as two peas in a pod, so for
h^'a
TirilOUGII THE RinS OF NAVARRE.
139
me the choice is a pulling of jackstraws and no
more.
'Sound sense," cried Henry. "And did you
hearken to his pat ' Monsieur d'Albret ' ? 'Tis more
than I have got out of him this half hour past Yes
and No were the length of his tether, and not even
praise of Madame Jeanne could win more than a sour
smile. Let us dine, then, and if the further counsel
be as close to the point we shall do well."
No dainty feeder was Henry of Navarre. Many a
time I have seen a lump of bread torn from a two
days' old loaf serve him as dinner, and without a
grumble. What contented his soldiers contented him
and in that frank sharing of their haps, chances, and
privations lay much of his power. Your jack-at-arms
loves a leader who, while he checks impudent famili-
arity, can yet rub shoulders. Later he could hold
ceremony and state with any king in Christendom
but that was rather for the honour of the nation than
to puff his own pride.
In the end, so equally vile were the roads, and so
similar the valleys in theii rising curves and promise
of a final outlet, we took Marcel's method, and the lot
falling on the gorge to the right we followed it, the
King and I leading the way.
What a ride that was. Paradise and Purgatory alter-
nating, and between them broad glimpses ^of a dismal
barrenness that might have passed for the very Hell
of the great Italian. The asphodels were lone, passed
but m favoured spots the yellow and blue gentians'
140
A KING S PAWN.
the violet and purple saxifrages, and the great golden
Pyrennean poppy, spread a garden that by its beauty
set at nought the art of man. Then would come a
dreary stretch of naked savagery, a veritable battle-
field of fallen angels, piled with grey and formless
rocks half-bedded in a troubled sea of splintered
boulders wrenched from the upper heights. A vast
sterility unrelieved by stunted shrub or tuft of grass ;
a voiceless silence, where the sullen booming of the
distant torrent was an offence and an intrusion. A
dozen times in an hour a slip was death, so smooth
and narrow was the road, and so sheer and ragged
the descent. From the risks of such a fall chance of
escape there was none, and at the best it could have
been but a tattered pulp of humanity that would have
found a resting-place on the lower ledges when tlie
keen teeth that fretted the swift slope like a saw had
done their work.
But the weight of silence was the sorest trial.
Little by little it wrought its will upon us all, as
night works its will upm the world, slowly spread-
ing, deepening, broadeni ^, till it holds the whole
wide earth for a possession, So it was with the
spirit of solitude : chatter fell to slow and solemn
talk, laughter died, talk di ifted into desultory phrases,
these to monosyllables, and presently we rode in grim
unbroken silence, so burdened and oppressed tliat even
thought itself almost became a blank. It was Henry
who roused me to a dazed alertness by a cry and a
sudden halt.
THROUGH Till!; RIIJS OF NAVAKHE.
141
grass ;
" Life at last," said he, pointing ahead. " Ventre St
Gris ! but I began to think we were no better than ghosts
in the nether world, and done witli time and change to
all eternity. See, there is not only life but faith."
A turn of the road had opened up a fresh stretch
of the valley, and there, solitary, upon a small strip of
sun-dried and sandy turf that fronted a huge face of
weedless rock, was a grey chapel with cross, chancel,
and belfry tower, but all in miniature. Two unglazed
rough-edged lancet window's pierced the side, and the
door stood open, as I liold the door of the House of
God should always stand by day or by night.
Involuntarily we had reined back to a slow walk,
and for half the three hundred paces that lay between
we rode in silence, curious and observant.
" Saw you ever such a place before ? " said Henry
at last. " Neither chisel nor hammer has touched a
stone, and here and there, in the lower courses, are
holes through which a man might thrust an arm.
Mark the roof with its slatey slabs. I'll warrant
these were split by the frost, and not by man's labour.
Eound boulders from the stream for the walls, and flat
Hags from some twisted scliisty rock for the roof, and
yet a noble house of prayer, for all its poor plainness.
Note, too, the legend carved upon the lintel the
worker put his whole soul into that : ' MAKLi; Peca-
ToiiUM Eefugio.' I warrant there is a full month's
labour of love in these three words. A pity they are
not truer ! Ha ! and see ! there dwelt the sculptor
mason — priest, in that walled-up cleft in the rock."
142
,'c.
A KINGS PAWN.
" Why dwelt, Sire ? Why not dwells ? "
" Because men are not so common hereabout but
that he would have left the Mass itself at the una of
hoof's on the stone. No, the priest is gone."
" Ay, but the sanctuary remains," answered I, " and
thereby hangs a truth."
" Keep such truths for Brother Mark — he has the
larger need to learn them," laughed Henry, as he dis-
mounted at the chapel door ; " and since the sanctuary
remains, let us enter. To me, politics apart, altars are
much akin. To the earnest soul there is the one God,
the one main truth, the one Lord of mercy,
what have we here ? De Bernauld, De Bernauld, come
quickly ! what devilment has been at work ? "
I had dismounted leisurely, and had paused at the
door of the chapel for the coming up of Marcel and De
Montamar, but at the King's excited cry 1 left the
horses to their own keeping, and followed him with
all haste. But, at first, to little purpose. In spite of
the chapel's petty size, its windows were so narrow
that the interior lay in such shadow as for the moment
dulled the sight." There so dim was it that I stood,
no more than two paces from the door, blinking and
groping, and conscious of but one thing, that though
the door stood open to invite to prayer, there were no
lights ablaze upon the altar.
Presently the shadows took form and outline. Eough
pillars of flat stones — unhewn, untrimmed — ran up to
the slope of the roof, blocking a full third of the
cramped space. Beyond these, and at the farther end,
THROUGH THE KIBS OF NAVARKE.
143
was a ruined and dishonoured altar, its poor covering
of stuff rent to tatters, and crusted thickly with smears
of white wax from the candles flung upon it while still
aflame. A litter of withered flowers and leaves was
strewn upon the uneven clay floor, as if the decora-
tions of the holy table had been trampled under foot,
but there was no sign of any sacred vessel.
That was the harvest reaped by the first sweep of
the eyes, for at such times the impulse is to look as far
afield as may be, trusting to the instinct to grasp a
danger that lies near ut hand. Then I turned to the
shadows which bulked so hugely at my feet as to seem
to fill the whole intervening space.
There were two upon the floor. The one, the King
on his knees and left hand, and bending low; the
other, a thing stretched prone, the rigid lines of death
showing clear under the arch of Henry's arm, despite
the tumbled monk's frock— the face flat upon the clay,
the shoulders curved by the hollow to which they had
shaped themselves, the arms flung out, the fingers
bent talon-wise in a last unconscious clutch.
At the sound of my feet rasping their way across
the floor, Henry raised himself, and the light from the
side window, shining upon him as he turned, showed
the gravely stern set of his face.
" Help here, De Bernauld," said he, " though I fear
we are too late by thirty hours. Take thou the feet,
and let us have him out into the air. Way, there. Be
Montamar. Nay, nay," he went on, testily, as Marcel
sought to take the burden from him, "let me be Henry
144
A KINC'S PAWN.
d'All.rot lias no need to be as nice as the Kiug in such
things."
Though it was but five steps to the sunshine, I con-
fess I was thankful from my heart when they were
ended. To handle a corpse has ever been an abhor-
rence to me ; and to grasp the poor soul's legs, as if
they were no more than the wooden poles of a barrow,
raised my gorge, so that 1 fairly shivered. That he had
been dead anything from twelve to thirty-six hours
was plain, for he hung between us as stifHy as a fence
rail ; and, as we turned him over in the sun, there was
a horrible upward grip of the hands, as if he were
alive, and craved our aid to set him on his feet again.
" H'm," said Marcel, critically, as, in the cold stolid-
ness of an expert in such things, he stood staring down
into the dead face, "all the wounds in front, and yet torn
like a ravined sheep. God rest him for a brave man.
My faith, but it is not the soldier's jerkin that makes
the stout spirit. See how the wretches luive mauled
him, and then look at his hands, dust and dirt enough,
but never a bruise or a spot of blood. I'll wager" if
he had a thought beyond his rough rebuke of sin it
was to save the altar, and not himself. A martyr for
all his monkery, if ever there was one ; ay, a martyr
among martyrs, for to die alone is no easy thing. The
smash on the temple finished him as it might have
finished a Goliath of Gath ; after that he spun round,
twice maybe, and there was an end. I know the
fashion of it, for I saw the thing thrice— once at Dreux
and twice at Jarnac, and "
^ ill such
e, I con-
ley were
11 abhor-
egs, as if
I barrow,
Lt he had
ix hours
i a fence
here was
he were
it ayaiii.
d stolid-
ng down
yet torn
ive man.
it makes
mauled
enough,
W'ager, if
>f sin it
irtyr for
I martyr
g. The
ht have
II round,
low the
it Ureux
TllfiOUGIl IIIE HIB8 Of NAVABHE. ..45
■; Tlmt will do, friend," broke in Henry, who l,ad
ns-tm gone down on hi.s knees, und w«s gently drawing
baek the matted hair from the soiled forehead " I
know now what will loosen your eautious tongue, and
I pray God you may never have as pitiful a prompt-
ing The thing is clear enough. No doubt the
wre ehes eame upon him as he served the altar. No
doubt, too, he faeed round, and talked frank truth to
them ; little doubt, also, that he cursed them as thieves
and breakers of sanetuary, and so showed them hell be-
ore then- time. The rest was, for then,, a half-ndnute's
tmy, and for him, at least, God's peace thereafter. And
a 1 (or what ? a few poor pewter vessels, and a couple
of half-burnt caudles!" Then he laid hi.s hand on
the dead man's breast, and looked round upon us, one
by one. "■
" The Lord aiding me," said he, with stern solem-
nity, " I shall do sueh justice on these rogues as shall
make the ears of whosoever hears it tingle. I am
H«g«enot-oh ay, I am Huguenot; but, before God,
1 I catch these slayers of priests, they will think, for
all my Hugueuotry, that the I'ope of Eome has got his
gnp upon them." Then, as we stood round, with bared
heads, a startling thing happened. The King had but
done speaking when the head and the hands sank slowly
back until they rested on the ground, and the appallin'
sharp rigidity smoothed away, so that he lay as if in
slumber.
" A sign, a sign," cried Marcel, his face blanchin.-^
and indeed for the moment we all fell back. " The'
It6
A king's I'AWN.
'.m
Lord God hear.s, and will ^rivo tliu duvilH into our
luinds." Jiut for my ]m ' I think it was that tho
rigour of deatli liad passed, and also tliat the sudden
sliift from the cool of tlie cliapel to the liot blaze
of tlie sun had sometiiing to do with the miracle.
In tlie angle of rock, where he had lived unknown,
unknown we l^uried him ; building round and over him'
the smooth river stones which in life had formed his
defence against the wolves. Tliere lie rests, a nam jless
and almost forgotten hero, a stout-hearted fighting man
in that great army which the Lord God recruits from
every creed. Their units and their thousands perish,
but their march is unstayed, unstayable, and trium-
phant. They fall and rot by the waysieics and ditches
of life, but the heart of truth they champion under
different banners beats on eternally. God rest him
hereafter, for I trow he gave himself little of ease
on earth.
Later, we came to closer quarters with some of
these same brigands and masterless men such as
had done the monk to death. The very identical
villains, for aught we could tell. But by that time
a thing had revealed itself to us which gave even
stronger food for thought than the finding of a
priest slain at his own altar - step.
Little by little the road had grown fainter and
more rugged. With ev(>ry ravine there had been
the branching off of a petty track, no more than
a smoothing of the stones in the rougher ways, or
an almost invisible shortening of the wind -mown
IStJi'
into our
tllilt tliu
) suddon
ot bluzc
niraclo.
nknown,
)ver liim
iiied his
iani3le8S
iu'^ nvdu
its from
} perish,
triuin-
(Utchos
1 under
2St liiiu
of ease
onio of
uch as
lentical
it time
e even
; of a
er and
1 been
e tlian
lys, or
-niown
TiiiioimH THE ninR of nwakrk.
147
grass, but still a sappin- of tbu breadth of tlie path.
This tappiiiL' of the stream was draining it dry, and
presently what had been a doubt and a fear came
home to us as a trutli. We hail bst our way. This
upliill track was no open pass from Navarre to Spain.
V>y the time that knowledge was ours beyond (luestion,
the day was too far worn through to let us dreani
of return. The path, since there was a path, such as
it was, must lead to life somewhere, therefore better
go forward and face the chances than turn back into
the dusk already thickening in the lower valley.
The track led htoss !.he face of the slope, a mixture
of rough grounc ;rid ti.tber, broken by a half mile
long slide of smo >.'(, r< .,k set at a villainously steep
angle. Three hunured feet it rose, and not an ell
less; not sheer, but alinost sheer, and as even in
its lines as if Charlemagne's fal^led sword had shorn
it down. Here the road liugged the feet of the
clifts and for cause, as the other side was a dip,
so sharp and so strewn with boulders that the'
beast which stumbled down would have had legs
tit for nougiit but marrow bones within three minutes.
" Warily, warily," said Henry, as we left the cover
of the timber and passed into the shadow of the great
rock. "A loose stone here will take both man'^and
horse a longer journey than fifty feet, and, my faith '
how thick they lie. Wliy, 'tis a charnel house for
the earth's bonc^s ! l]ut what a place for a forlorn
stand ! Ten stout men could hold .5 in check, ay, and
rout them too, if they had but a brace of cannon.''
I
148
A king's pawn.
" See," he went on, and reining up as he spoke
" you would tumble a cart there, set half your men
behind it, and the other half in tliat niche of shelter
yonder. Your cannon you would place where they
commanded the slope, and pouf-pouf "
Suddenly he stopped, chopping his sentence in two
as If it had been a radish, and, with one arm flun-
up across his face, sat staring at the crest of the rocks"
" Ventre St Gris ! Spur, De Bernauld, spur ! " he
cried, himself setting me the example. "Nay, man
never ask why ; though, by the Lord, since you ask
the question, there's your answer."
From above there came a rumble and a clatter
and glancing up as I galloped, I saw upon the line'
of the ridge a dozen craning heads, no bigger against
the sky than pin points, and a smoke of stones
liurled roaring down the cliff. On they came, leapincr
a dozen feet into the air at every bound, each impact
ripping loose a score of fragments as murderous as
themselves, until it seemed as if the whole broad
face of the rock had crumbled into life and was
clamouring down upon our heads. The cause of
the rubble over which we plunged was clear enourrh
now, and yet the King was right, gallop we must
though for myself I know my heart was like so
nmch water under my ribs from the stumbling
and the sliding, until by nothing short of a miracle
we all four had passed unscathed througli the
fusilade.
Once past llie clifls, and the length of where the
TIIROUail THE RIRS OF NAVARRE.
149
«1
the
pines once more sloped up, we were safe, and halt-
ing, turned in our saddles to look back; and as
we did so, a thing happened that made us draw
in the breath and stare our hardest. Not for long,
—it all passed while a man might count a dozen,'
—but long enough to bring time and eternity into
the one gasp.
The cliff was still alive, and seeming to creep
valleywards with the belated trickle of the lighter
stones, when above the sullen rattle here came a
cry: one cry only, but in it terror, wrath, despair,
and agony were blent. It was the voice of a man,'
but with the man's desperation there was the fear
of the brute. A single cry, no more, for on its heels
there came a horrible dull crunch, and through the
wreath of dust that curled slowly earthward like the
drifting spray of a cascade down the cliff', pitching
heavily from ledge to ledge, tumbled a sprawling
mass that whirled its poor helpless Hails of broken
limbs as it circled in the air, and presently fell
with a thud upon the roadway not twenty paces
from us, and slowly rolled on into the ravine.
Whether it was accident or design,— whether he
had toppled in the hot excitement of his murderous
eagerness, or been flung headlong in some mad
quarrel,— we could not guess. Nor, for all the horror
of it, could we honestly say, "God pity him."
"One!" said Marcel, shaking up his beast and
taking the road again. "One, and were it twenty
and one it would be no great harm."
f '^i
150
CHAPTER XIT.
THE rat's hole.
1
It was some twenty minutes later that Marcel, who
had been leading, turned round and trotted sharply
back to us. By this time the night was grey in the
valleys, and even the great square-pointed peak of
Ossau Itself had r.o more than a tooth of crold to
show that the sun had not yet gone to bed for
the night. Let the gold fade into dull copper, and
the copper grow grey cold, and the night would
be on us with all the silence and haste of slippered
feet !
"A shelter, Master Blaise, a shelter," he shouted
as he came pounding down the path. "I cauoht
the loom of its shape beyond the bend yonder —
a poor place, but a shelter."
"A roof and four walls," answered I, rousing n,y.
self out of a sour brooding, " let them be as" poor
as they may, are God's mercy when such nei^dibours
as live above mere are within arm's length. " What
did you make of it?"
" 'Twas but a glance and no more," said he, shakincr
THE rat's hole.
151
'ccl, who
sharply
y in the
peak of
gold to
bed for
per, and
' would
lippered
sliouted
caught
nder, —
ng 11 y-
^s poor
,dibours
What
5Jiaking
his head ; " but it stands so flush with the road that
I fear it is an inn or a wineshop, though I will vouch
for neither the fare nor the welcome."
" Hark to the man," cried Henry, as Marcel turned
in behind us. " Here are we with nothing better to
stay the crave of our stomachs but a wallet of stale
food and he fears 'tis a wine-sliop ; fears, forsooth !
What has come to thee, friend, that thou turnest up
thy nose at honest wine ? "
" If the wine be honest," answered Marcel glumly,
"it must be strong in spirit indeed that its morals
are not wrecked, for I'll wager it will be the only
honest thing in the house."
" And why ? " asked I)e Montamar who rode by
his side. " In my country, the poorer the folk the
honester ; it is the half way man that is a rogue."
"Ay," replied Marcel shrewdly, "because the
poorer the folk the longer the arm of the law, and
the sharper its claws. As for this place — tell me,
monsieur, what manner of guests would empty the
stoups and fill the tills of a wine-shop in such lawless
wilds as these ? Such rogues as played ball with us
below there, or folk who are not only honest but fools
to boot, and so lose their way ? Why, the rogues
for certain, and to-day you have twice tasted their
quality. Now, it is like this. If one coward makes
many, as the proverb says, I'll warrant many thieves
will make one ; and if our host of the inn yonder —
for inn it is, d'ye mark the bl.qck square of the sign ?
— if our host, I say, doth not add the trades of
152
A king's pawn.
K ?
i el
cut-throat and thief to that of wine-selling, and
tWe more by the first than the last, never trust
grey hairs again."
"But," cried Henry, turning round in his saddle,
at t e Z ," """' °' '"'™^'^ "l-y '" cock-a-whoop
at the sight of it ? " ^
" Because," answered Marcel, ■■ we are not of the
sheep that go sleeping to slaughter, and four men
open h>ll.s,de. With all respect, I thought
Mons,eur d'Albret knew enough of war to Sw
■•Monsieur d'Albret knows more of war in the
field than of murder indoors." replied the King.
Though ,t .s borne in upon him that before he
s^s P u agam he may have been tausbt much he
Jd not set out to learn. Now, De Bernauld. down
with you, and let us smell supper."
"No names, I beseech you, sire," .said I ; « and l»t
Monsieur d'Albret set mo tK ■
lost I forget." " ''"'"I"^ "' ^^""»"'
"Faith. Monsieur Zero. I think thou'rt right "he
rephed, laughing. " „ u.e worst event befalls h 're is
no need for these brigands of the rock to know Th
m fishmg for gudgeon they have netted salmon "
The auberge lay to the left-hand side of the road
as m a hollowed palm turned on edge. The roughly
square , „f „,;,, ^, ^^^ ^^.,^ ^^_^ ^Jy
patched ,n hrowns and greys of n,a„y shades, while
m
THE UAT's hole.
153
the huge projecting eaves, the high-pitched roof, and
lumbering porch had their own tale to tell of winter's
snow-drifts. The house fronted on the road, its door
being midway along the wall, with a small square
window flanking it on either side. Thrust out from
the hood of the porch was a sign, but in the dusk its
fall was a blank.
"Batter at the door," cried Henry impatiently.
" Ventre St Gris ! custom does not come so often
their way that Ha ! a light at last. Batter
again to put a little quicksilver into their heels."
But there was no need. From within came the
rumble of a heavy step, the door was pulled back,
and in its gaping mouth a man appeared sheltering a
guttering candle with his fingers.
" What's your will, gentles ? " said he, thrusting
his head forward to see the better, and thereby
flinging the light upon his face. A sturdy fellow he
was— broad-shouldered and burly, coarse jowled, and
with little pig's eyes peering from a fat face of a
most unwholesome pastiness, a big nose, heavy full
lips and red bristle of moustache, beard, and whisker
running together. "We mountain folk get to bed
early, and so, d'ye see "
" Ta, ta, ta," I broke in, " we excuse the excuses. As
to our will, what's any man's will after a nine hours'
ride? Supper and bed for ourselves, a feed and
litter-down for the beasts."
"One, two, three, four," said he, crowing his neck
round the door jamb to count us. " How many more
A king's pawn.
are there behind ? You can see for yourselves, gentles
that there is no sparse here for a troop."
I'our, man, four and no more," cried Henry im-
patiently ; "and if the troop comes, why, we four will
help you keep the door barred."
He had cocked his head as the King ,poke. and
now a twinkl. took lire in his little eyes, and his ^-ent
race wrinkled with a grin. ''
" Good, messire. good," and he nodded ; " if ill folks
come in the night you will hold me scatheless ^ It's
a bargain. There's a shed behind, g(..tles, where the
beasts will be as snug as a cat in a basket. As fo-
supper tA,^ good wife will see to ihat. JVfarie I^rarie"
he roai..d across his .shoulder, "art thou and 'the old
witch botl. gono deaf? Blow up the fire, slut, and
set thy ste^vypan briskly to work."
Leaving Marcel and our host to see to the horses
we entered and found ourselves in what .erved for
kitchen, common room, and tapster's parlour. A hu-e
firepliice— black as a cavern, but filled six inches de^p
with grey ash and half-charred faggots above which a
great pot swung by a chain—yawned at the farther
end ; at either side were shelves and cupboards. Broad
settles of time -stained wood lined the walls their
edges hacked, and the flatness of the seat almost lost
m a bewilderment of rude carvings. In the centre
of the room was a stout bench, along which were set
unbacked forms, with a stool at either end. On this
stood a smoky lantern, above which stared a wizened
old witch of a vvoman leaning upo.i two sticks, while
THE rat's hole.
155
by the fireplace knelt a stout-waisted younger dame,
whose deep breatlis as she made the flaky ash Hy in
dust testified to her depth of chest. To the ri^lit
was the window, its sliding shutter in its groove beside
it ; and presently from the left, and behind the house,
we heard the grumble of voices and the stumbling
tramp of horses on an unaccustomed floorway. Beyond
the window a ten-rung ladder was propped, sloping,
in the corner.
Even at our entrance the woman never turned from
her task, nor did she budge until she had a corner of
the ashen gulf in a red glow that presently broke into
a crackling blaze. Then she looked up and showed
us a frank and comely face, broad -browed, and firm
in the mouth.
" Give me ten minutes, monsieur," panted she to
De Montamar, who stood nearest. " A little ten
minutes, no more, and you must be well served where
you come from if you look awry on the supper of The
Eat's Hole."
" The Eat's Hole ? " echoed Henry, caught by the
comely face and pushing to the front ; " faith, dame, the
rat-catcher has my compliments on his taste. Ihit
where got the place such a name ? "
" There be mountain rats as well as valley rats,"
answered she, rising ; " and wheresoever the poor are
there must be some hole for them to slink to, and we
are the only burrow hereabouts. Fetch some wood,
mother, to keep the blaze alive ; and sit you own,
gentles. Eierre will fetch a skin of wine with him.
156
A king's pawn.
When a man waits for supper, time is like a shod
wheel, and goes the faster for being wet."
As she spoke she bustled about over her prepara-
tions, and soon a savoury smell spread itself abroad
sharpening the already keen tooth of our Imnner As
for the crone, having brought the fuel she seated
herself by the opposite corner of the fire and watched
us across the tops of her crutches, her withered
lips and chin twitching and wagging in the palsy
or age. "^
" The sooner the better, dame," answered Henry
thrush-ng out a dusty leg as he spoke, " for our throats
are about as dry as our boots, and both will take a
deal of washing. But to a tired man supper is no
more than half the entertainment. What of the
night's rest ? "
-ril warrant the rest, messire," answered she
"l^olks who sleep here sleep sound."
" Sleep sound," chuckled the crone, breaking into
a cackle of laughter. " Oh, Saints ! yes, folks who
sleep here sleep sound."
" Ay ! " said Henry, turning on the bench to face
her corner, " but where ? "
" Why, there, there." Lifting a staff she pointed
wavermgly upward at the smoked ceiling, and lauohed
anew, " Could a man ask better ? "
" She means in the garret above, messires." said
Mane, shaking up her pan till its contents sana and
spluttered in the heat. " We have but three rooms
here. The one you see, whicli is over foul with wine
THE KAT's hole.
If) 7
face
and the reek of meat for ••ontles like you, though some
have used it at a pinch. Our own Ilea behind you,
yonder. It is like what you see, but smaller, and
there we tliree sleep. The tliird is the garret above,
and runs from end to end, so that a score could stretch
themselves in it and never jostle. Call me pig if you
iiave aught to grumble at in the morning."
At that Marcel came in, with Pierre at his heels
bearing the promised skin of wine under his arm.
This he set on the table, together with four wooden
tankards tliat might have held a pint apiece.
" What kind of beast have we here ? " cried Henry,
moving the lantern the better to look at the wine
vessel. " 'Tis a kid of the goats, and, by my faith, well
nourished, though it is long since he filled his belly with
meat. Mark his fatness, Master Marcel. Wilt ;hou
have a rib to thy share or a piece off the haunch ? "
" The blood for me," answered Marcel, falling into
tlic King's humour; " I have bones enough of my own."
Truly it was a quaint flagon, if flagon such a vessel
could be called. Saving that it lacked the head and
the four hoofs, it stood upon its stumps on the table
a three-months' kid, shaggy hide, tail, and smell com-
plete. The neck and legs were bound fast with whip-
cord, and the rip in its belly had been so cunningly
sown that not a drop oozed through.
" If it b(> not better than it looks " began D^i
Montamar, but our friend of the red bristles cut him
short.
" Never judge a bottle or a woman by the outside
158
A king's pawn.
o
uu-nmo." said he, whippin,^ the boiist off the bench
and runnin^r a k„ife-point under the knot at one le--
point. " You nuist kins tlieir lips before you can
judcre either. Taste that!" he added, Nvith a nu-l.tv
ring of pride in ' :, •, ifoe. ^
Lifting ''• beakc to liia nose, Henry snieit the
contents.
" I couid wish her breath were sweeter," said he
and put bis lips to it cautiously. " That wine and
women are umeh alike. ^ ^,^uc, i,e went on, settin-r
down the vessel with a wry face. " Some are over
green for a man's palate and some go sour with a-c
Some put spirit in a man, some turn him to a bruL
beatt, and some are to be avoided like tlie very devil
•Ihis wine of yours, my friend, is the last, but as even
a she-tartar is more endurable when the stomach is
full, we will be just, and defer final judgment"
_ " Meanwhile/' said I, "lei us see this famous ..rret
of your^'."
" For .are, messire, for sure," and lifting tiie laddc
from Its corner, he dragged it into the space between
the bench and the window. " The trui. I. tliere " s'lid
ho pointing to a square in the grii.y roof where the
spiders had b^en disturbed a their spinnincr. Theii
he poised the . .dder carefully, and ihrust it"stron.dy
upward until the end ran a full foot bevond the phtne
of the ceiling. " J^y your lea^ c, gentles, ' and he lifted
the lantern from the table, " 'Us but for a minute
and the fire will give you ligi.t. u is as pile' y as
the night alcove here."
"iJIH ' WH
T![R l!ATS IIOLK.
150
btJiicli
t
Up the ladder he rti riiiiihly iur all hi.s bulk, and
pushed the trap-door upward until it loll hack with a
banj4 that sent the dust Hying in a line cluud tVoni the
cracks in the boards.
"A noble room, mcsr'— ; why, the Kinj,' in his
palace is not better housed. Look/' and he swung
the light above his head.
" Eight," cried Henry, who had followed us. " I
will wager we shall sleep as well as the King himself.
Leave us the light. Master Pierre, and while thou and
madame set out the supper we will give an eye to
our lodging."
For a moment th ' fellow liesitated, but I ended his
doubts by snatching the lantern from liis hand and
pushing him towards the ladder head, with " We give
thee three minutes, but not a tick longer, so make
haste."
As his head disappeared below, the King gripped
me by the elbow.
"'The Hat's' Hole' they call it," said he softly,
" but I say the rat's trap. Wh;i» do you think, l.)e
'•nauld?"
' I' us first make our rounds. Sire, then 1 will
answer.''
The garret stretched not only, as the wonum had
said, from end tu end of the house, bvi .so '■ m back
to front, so that, '^c far as floor s])ace wen!., it could
have given barrn k space to the whole troop that
Master Pierre declared he had no room for. A second
irap-door lay towards the farther cud, and opcnc as
i I
160
A KIN(i'R PAWN.
«"• jn.lKocl, ovur our l,osf« sIcopi„f;.room. To the
ront w,« „ window closed l,y . „|i,|i„j, ,|,„tt„.. t„
he back a yreat two-winged w„odc„ gate that at its
t..l est must have opened a spaee of ten feet breadth
and at each end there wore two doors of about half
that wnlth. All these, except the window, wore fast
barred, but what was strange was that thoUHh the
slope of th. roof ean.e mid-way down (he walls, these
doors and gates were so bnilt that they ran a n.ore
than con,mon height, the sides being cased like dormer
WM,dows Except for half a dozen straw m,.ttresses
sou tered here and there upon the door, the place was
witliout furnishings.
" H'm," sai
ready to
f Henry
3 ladder.
3t's nest,
stinging.
CHAPTEE XIII.
THE king's wager.
The room below was in the intermittent darkness of
a flickering fire, De Montamar and Marcel casting
luige shadows that bulked sharply against the walF,
and then were gulfed in the gathered blackness. By
the foot of the ladder stood Rodbeard, staring up
towards the trap and with his foot on the first rung ;
and as the embers shot into flame I caught a look of
eager intent suspicion in the malevolent good nature
of his face.
" A plaguy long three minutes, gentles," he growled
as he shouldered the ladder back into its corner, while
Henry set the lantern upon the bench. " But that it
was no business of mine if your supper spoiled, I
would have cried you down long ago."
" Lay the blame on the size of your room, friend,
and not on us," answered Henry carelessly. " Why,
man, it would house a troop ; ay, and defy a troop!
too, which is a comforting thing, even tliough no
disturbance is possible in such a placid quietness as
reigns .lere. ^,ow, dame, supper, and let us taste the
goat's milk a second time; mayhap it improves on
r
164
A king's pawn.
acquaintance. Certes ! no knowledge could make it
grow worse ! "
What all was in the savoury mess she poured into
the great wooden bowl which was now set before us I
know not. There were shreds of more than one kind
of flesh of beasts, tags and scraps stewed almost to
a pulp and tender as jelly ; wings and legs of wild
birds ; beans, carrots, cabbage, onions, olive oil, grated
cheese, garlic,— and all brought cunningly to the
thickness of a porridge, so that a hungry man
might sup it with a spoon and yet eat solids. This
much I know, it touched the palate delicately, and
warmed the stomach with a generous contentment
that is not often found in king's banquets. As
for the wine, it was execrable and smelt like stale
vitals.
" This will never do ! " cried Henry, setting down
his measure. " There must be better wine than this
in some corner of The Rat's Hole, else would the rats
die of thirst. Have it out, friend, and if it be a
question of cost never fear but we can pay the shot.
For, d'ye see, it is not only a man's pleasure but a
man's sleep, and a night's rest is well worth an extra
crown or two. To drink such stuff as that would be
to ride a nightmare and start broad awake at every
creak. Come, search thy cellars again, and Marcel
will lend thee a hand."
" What ails the drink, messire ? " said the fellow,
with a grin ; " has it not body enough ? "
" Body enough ! " echoed De Montamar ; " ay, but
THE king's wager.
165
d make it
)oured into
before us I
n one kind
almost to
gs of wild
oil, grated
ly to the
agry man
ids. This
lately, and
ntentment
lets. As
like stale
ting down
than this
d the rats
f it be a
the shot.
ire but a
1 an extra
would be
at every
d Marcel
lie fellow,
" ay, but
not the body of grapes. It is the quintessence of a
herd of goats."
" 'Tis a man's arink, stout and full-blooded, and so
I gave it to your worships," answered the innkeeper
impudently; "but since it is over -heavy for you I
must try you with what we of the mountains call
babes' liquor. This," and he slapped the goat's hide
on the flank with the familiarity of old friendship,
" is from the south, and has the stout blood that comes
of a southern sun ; the other is from the north, and
is as thin as whey."
Binding up the vent in the skin, he tucked the
beast under his arm and disappeared, returning im-
mediately with a small cask of the capacity of about
seven gallons upon his shoulder. This he set down
upon the edge of the bench, and having drawn for-
ward the settle he placed a wide -mouthed earthen-
ware crock under the vent.
" Now, messire," said he to Henry, who was seated
nearest him, " do you tilt forward the crock while I
knock out the bung. Good, good ; you are fit to be
a master cellarer, messire. Put your nose down to
that ; how does that smell to your dainty worships ? "
KoUing back the cask until it lay bung uppermost
on the bench, he threw the dregs of the Spanish wine
upon the lioor and dipped the tankard into the crock.
" Blood of Spain and blood of Navarre," said he
with a grin, as the wine ran into veins and splashes
in the sand, " and as I'm an honest man I love to
spill them both, but all in the way of business."
166
A king's pawn.
I' ?
1' i
P
H
bH
r '
1^
1 ^
'^■'1
!*
* * '^S
'\'' (^3
t ^
'7' i
' i
8
^j!\9
m
" How else does any man spill blood ? " said the
King carelessly, and lifting the tankard to his mouth
as he spoke. " Soldier, rogue, or innkeeper, 'tis all in
the way of business, is it not ? Though if there be
aught in a jest it is Spanish blood that will run waste
to-night, and not that of Navarre— an omen, friend,
an omen ; so if you stand for Spain, look to yourself.''
With an excess of caution born of sorrowful re-
membrance, he sipped the contents of the tankard,
smelt them, dipped in a finger-point and eyed tlie'
red drop critically, then sipped again. Then he set
down the tankard and turned upon Kedbeard.
" Babes' liquor in truth, and none should know it
better than I," said he. "Which art thou, rogue,
fool, or jester, that thou revilest good Jurancon wine'
and pratest of it as babes' liquor ? Look you, master
host, here are we four gentlemen stranded without so
much as a dicebox to pass the time, and so to give us
all sport I will play a wager with thee. Ten crowns
to nothing tliat tankard for tankard I will drink thee
drunk with this same babes' liquor of which thou art
so contemptuous. Ten crowns, host, and I will pay
thee for the wine beforehand, both of thy drinking
and mine, lest hereafter my wit be too sodden. Is
it a bargain ? See here."
Pulling out a pouoli he shook a heap of coins
out upon the table, and ran his finger-tips through
them, playing with them till they jingled and rang
like the clatter of a silver bell.
"Was there ever such a madcap offer made
fill .
THE king's wager.
167
? " said the
his mouth
sr, 'tis all in
if there be
1 run waste
Liien, friend,
yourself."
rrowful re-
hie tankard,
i eyed tlie
'hen he set
iard.
Id know it
hou, rogue,
angon wine
>^ou, master
without so
to give us
'en crowns
drink thee
ih thou art
1 will pay
1^ drinking
)dden. Is
> of coins
►s through
and rang
ffer made
before ! " he went on, laughing as he spoke, and still
jangling the money. "Here is a chance for a man
to drink his own liquor and be paid for the drink-
ing, and, mayhap, reap ten crowns in addition. It
is business and pleasure in one, the spilling of nmch
Navarre blood, but all in the way of trade ! What
sayest thou, host. By the way, what is thy name,
friend ? "
" Pierre Salces, messire," answered liedbeard, eyeing
the shining heap wistfully as he bent across the end
of the bench.
" Good. Fetch a measure for thyself, Pierre Salces,
tliat we may drink fair. My faith ! but it is long
since I drank myself drunken with JuranQon wine,
but the morrow's repentance will be cheaply bought
by the night's rest. Come, man, to our wager."
But from two quarters there came protests, — De
Montamar across the table and the hag from her
corner both alike cried out upon the folly.
"No drink, Pierre," she screamed shrilly, scram-
bling to her tottering feet and pounding her way
upon her sticks to where we sat. " For the love
of God, gentles, keep the wine from him, for he
goes fair mad with it. Pierre, Pierre, bethink thee,
man, wouldst thou give thyself to the devil again
as thou didst before ? "
Nor was De Montamar less importunate, though
the poor lad was sorely at a loss how to bring the
Kimi to a y-eniembrance of his rliimif.v nnH vpt not
betray him. Under cover of the woman's passion
■
■i
!
i' ^
1
1 ^
i'
If-
?f'
mi
168
A king's pawn.
he leaned across the table and caught Henry by
the sleeve.
"Monsieur, monsieur, this is not the place nor
time for such a jest. Do you forget how much
hangs upon " But the King shook him off,
and turned upon him as he had once turned upon
me at Vic, and before the wrath of his look De
Montamar slipped stammering back to his seat
Few men cared to face the lightning passion of
Henry of Navarre.
" Jest ? " he snarled, still staring and smiting the
table with his open pahn as he spoke. " Who thinks
of jesting ? Am I a buffoon, monsieur, to play antics
for a hare-brained whim ? More hangs up. -n it than
you dream, and it is your ignorance wins your pre-
sumption pardon." Then like the sudden Hash of
the sun from a thunder cloud his dark mood passed.
"What? May a man not play himself once in a
while when the freakisli humour takes him? If
thou hast a mind to keep sober, then keep sober-
who prevents thee? As for me, I have a mind
to be drunken for once."
But though De Montamar was silenced the ha^
was more persistent. Tlirusting herself between
Kedbeard and the table she pushed him back, and
levelled a palsied stick at his face.
" There shall be no drink." she cried quaveringly.
" For thee, Pierre Salces, drink is blood. Shall "l
tell the gentles of the last time thou wentest mad
uruiiK
X C
bring
them through the door
THE king's wager.
169
yonder, and show them the stain on the floor ?
Eh, ye may well look, hangdog, and ye may well
curse in your beard. But better you be hangdog
than I a corpse, and if no other way will stop
you, and needs must, I'll tell the truth. I'm o'er
old to die in a hurry, and so "
It was Marie, the wife, who stopped the outburst.
She had been busied here and there about the great
presses that flanked the fire, bnt at Henry's challenge
she had ceased all work. Standing midway between
us and the whitening ashes, she watched the scene
with troubled eyes, gnawing her lip, her nervous
fingers crimping and twisting the edge of her soiled
apron. Now she broke in.
" For shame, mother, for shame," said she sharply,
but watching her husband all the while with dread
and terror plain to bo seen. "My man's a good
man. Let him do his work his own way."
"Ay," answered the other, lowering her stick, "a
good man enough when the drink's not in him, but
how's a sodden log to do his work, tell me that ? "
" Ha ! " cried Henry, resting his palms on the edge
of the table, and pushing himself back upon the settle.
"Why, the house is a very Cerberus; it has three
heads. But what of this stain, master innkeeper ? "
At the King's question the wife's face suddenly
blanched, and I saw her hand fly up to her throat
as if a sob choked her.
" It- w.as but a lamb, messire," said slic, breaking in
before her husband could answer, but speaking with
170
I
il
A king's pawn.
a queer catch in her breath. " My man was in his
cups and it angered him, and so— and so "
" ^y. ay ; a pet of the house ? Men are brutes at
times. Let the tale rest, dame, let it rest."
" Yes, let it rest," cried Pierre Salces furiously, his
fat face aflame with anger, and the little pig's eyes
of him no more than pins' poinds in the pucker of
his brows. " Take your chatter to bed. Is a man's
one fault to be for ever flung in his face ? Let
it rest, I say, lest I show you what manner of
man I can be out of my cups as well as in them."
Striding to the door of communication, he flung it
open. "Begone to your kennels the two of you;
and you, woman, cease your mewling, lest I give
you fresh cause to howl; what's done is done, and
there's an end of it."
At that they went, but their going seemed to me
to savour more of the discipline of a heavy hand
than goodwill, for even at the threshold the elder
woman paused and faced him anew.
"There be no more lambs," said she, with more
stern solemnity than had seemed possible to one so
palsied ; " and so, lest a greater evil befall, I conjure
you "
But with scant ceremony he thrust her into the
black vacuity of the unlit room beyond the par-
tition, and banged the door behind her. Then, with
a deprecatory shrug of the shoulders, he turned
back to us.
"A man must be master in his own house.
THE king's wager.
171
a was in his
80 "
are brutes at
t."
furiously, his
le pig's eyes
le pucker of
Is a mail's
face ? Let
< maimer of
as in them."
he flung it
wo of you ;
lest I give
is done, and
lemed to me
heavy hand
d the elder
, with more
ie to one so
11, I conjure
ler into the
d the par-
Then, with
he turned
own house.
I
1
1
gentles: a pretty thing it is that the likes of her
should seek to keep such a man as I in leadinc
strings as if I were a new - breeched boy. Ten
crowns you said, niessire," and his little eyes flashed
with greed — "tcs -jrowns and the price of the wine ;
tliat'U be, urn — urn — three crowns more."
"Three kingdoms!" cried Henry. "Thou art
extortionate, master host, but for the sake of the
jest I'll not haggle witli you. Thirteen pieces; it
is a sign of ill fortune that same thirteen, and, mark
you, it goes from me to you, and follows the omen
of the Spanish blood."
"Let the morning read its own omens, messire,"
answered he sullenly, and dipping his tankard in
the pitcher as he spoke ; " our business is witii
the wager."
In a life prolonged far beyond that of the average
of men, especially in these times when battle and
bloody death have laid my fellows in swathes as
mowers do the grass of a field, I have rarely borne
a part in a stranger scene. It was a picture tliat
would have taxed the i)0wers of a Buonarcftti, sup-
Ijosing he had left his saints and angels and con-
descended to common men, and a half-possession of
the devil. For though it was a jest in name,
tragedy lurked so near that its shadows were fiun"
across the laughter, and the desperate game of life
and death was slowly played to its eternal close
where outwardly there was the light-lieartcd banter
of an hour.
w m
172
A KINr's I'AWN.
Of US all, De Montamar, irr spite of his smooth
face, was thu most serious. Henry and I knew our
parts, and to play them out wm no hard matter.
Marcei knew nought and can"' nought. It was
enough for him that Master Liai.si was content,
the King's freakish folly was none of his care. Or
if a thought troubled him, it wan that he himself
was not chosen to champion the hard heads (f
Navarre, since how could a mere court-bred King
compare with a seasoned squire o^" the camps?
Pierre Salces, on his part, was well content. Who-
ever lost, his wine was drunk and paid for at
thrice its value, and from tlie grim smile on his
square jaw I judged he thought it would be a
bold messire who emptied his pouch of the ten
crowns. Besides, he doubtless looked upon the
wager as already won, and behind it all his thou^ hts,
I take it, were busy with what manner of scene the
moiiiing light would show in the chamber above.
l>r»..;, De Montamar was in the dark, and saw nothing
b-.it another mad folly which would give good cause
to the enemies of Henry of Navarre to sneer and
gibe. So that it was witli knitted brow and un-
ceasingly gnawed under -lip that he sat, and, all
unknowing, watclied tlie King play the Ibol and
risk the sot for four men's lives, of which one was
his own.
"Eight," cried the King, answering the fellow's
last words. "Our business is with to-night and
not with to-morrow. Gentlemen, to your duty 1
^»
THE king's \>aoer.
173
f his anioo*-h
I knew our
hard matter,
ht. It was
was content,
lis cure. Or
he himsult
d heads of
•t-bred King
the camps ?
tent. Who-
paid for at
tni^o on his
ivould be a
of the ten
upon the
lis thoughts,
3f scene the
liber above,
saw nothing
good cause
• sneer and
•w and un-
it, and, all
e Ibol and
ch one was
'he fellow's
-night and
'our duty I
"'Hiih- as he watched
lire, messire ; niay-
t it too full before
Do you measure the weapons and let us fall to
work."
Pouring bac Red beard's wine ilie crock, 1
careful'v reHlled hi tankard so tl it the contents
lipped the brim ; tlien, taking the King's beaker,
I urnvely tumbled the liquor from tlie one vessel to
the other. Again the wine came level with the brim,
a thin chain of ruddy beads stringing the very line
of the wooden edge.
"Ay, ay," said Eedbeard, i
me. " I give honest and full
be the little gentleman will
the night is out."
" Fill his tankard and let us see to that, Monsieur
Zi " answered Henry. " Here's a toast, friend ;
success to the King."
" Success to the King ! " answered l*ierre Salces as
he set down his empty beaker ; " but, perched as we
are between Philip and Henry, which King, messire ? '"
" What ? " said I, " is not this Navarre ? "
" By the saints, messire," replied he, " this is no-
man's- land, or the land of the strongest arm, which
you will."
" But the laws are the laws of Navarre ? "
"The laws are the laws of Navarre, France, Spain,
or the Popedom," answ red he, banging his vessel on
the bench ; " that hi' who can take, takes ; and he
who can keep, keeps."
Then he plunged his tankard into the crock, and
drawing it out dripping full, cried, " My toast,
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174
A KING'S PAWN.
messire. To the laws of The liafs Hole, and God
send us a quiet to-morrow ! "
"A proper toast," answered Heniy, filli„„ his
measure in his turn; "and, for the time, the" laws
of The Uats Hole please me well enoucrh"
Though they both set down their beakers empty
H was the last of their deep draughts. So far it
had been the sharp onslaught of thrust and parry
a tryn>g, as it were, of the adversary's temper a
Saugmg of his powers and endurance. Thence-
forward it was rather the wary fence of men who
by ts effects ! I speak not now as to its potency in
druggmg or ma,Ideni„g the brain, though some will
grow owhsh or a fool with what will no more
than qurcken another man's wit, but rather of its
lighter effects. This one will sing, that one grow
sullen, the other amorous, maudlin, quarrelsome
obst„,ate, spendthrift, cautious, reckless. There is
not a vein of good or evil hidden in all the deep
complexd^ of nature but in one man or another
w.ne wdl open it up, though, to be honest, it is
einefiy the evd that comes to the surface. As for
Pierre Salees, he ran through half the gamut of
human ra,?,5ion3.
THE king's wager.
175
Hole, and God
nry, filling his
time, the laws
snough."
beakers empty
hts. So far it
ust and parry,
iry's temper, a
nee. Thence-
e of men who
weary the foe
ind to write a
igs-on to filthy
3rdid and des-
wherewith we
vine varies in
its potency in
agh some will
will no more
rather of its
hat one grow
quarrelsome,
s- There is
n.11 the deep
n or another
honest, it is
ace. As for
^e gamut of
With the dregs of his fifth tankard his tongue
loosened ; tags of meaningless talk, snatches of song,
amorous and bacchanalian, all poured out as if h'o
sat alone at the soaking of a solitary drinking-
bout, and kept his heart merry with the sound of
his own voice. Then he turned moody, blinking
at us malevolently, and sucking down his wine in
sullen silence. But not for long: as the wine
got second wind of him and double heated his
brain, his tongue took afresh to wagging. Dark
boasting hints of his own powers, ^shifting into
coarse vituperation, until at last he roundly cursed
the King for a presumptuous popinjay in matching
himself at anything, but more especially at a
(Irinking-bont with such a man of parts as Pierre
Salces. Then in his exultation he grew so foul-
mouthed that De Montamar took him by the collar
and swore that if he did not mend his langua-e
he would thrust him head foremost into his* own
wine crock and so stop his tongue, wager or no
wawer.
That silenced him, for he was coward at bottom
for all his hulking bulk, and thenceforward he sat
mouthing and muttering, and drinking down his
liquor in great gulps, so that all that was needful
was to fill his beaker and let him drink himself
(Irunk at his own pleasure. It may be that some
will cry out upon us for false play, but let these
remember that the wager was no more than a pre-
tence; and surely when the man's folly and thirsty
176
A king's pawn.
i f;
: i
humour opened up a door of safety, there was no
need that the King should degrade himself for a
spurious nicety of honour: as to the ten crowns,
they remained in Eedbeard's poucli, as it was in-
tended from the first they should.
Once only were we interrupted. In the silence that
followed De Montaraar's firm protest the door between
the two rooms creaked, and, in the slit of darkness, two
white faces appeared, staring, open-mouthed, out at us
like masks of terror. But Pierre Salces was sober
enough to know whom he might safely curse, and at
the oath he spat out upon them the vision faded in a
swift eclipse.
As to the King, he played him fairly move for move
so long as the bestial soul of the fellow had sense in it,
humouring him with all tlie wily skill of i practised
court hand; soothing, spurring, praising, belittling,
curbing, egging, as the occasion needed, so that, in all
his wild twists of moodiness, his mind was ever turned
back to the business afoot. Nor was this a light thing
to do, for time and again the man's suspicions were
alert to take offence, and it was nothing but the King's
ready tact tliat kept him from seein,^ t he was seU-
ing himself for nought ; nor, until tne swaying head
dived forward on the bencli, with a crash, was I sure
that the wit of Henry of Navarre had saved fron^
death the heir of France.
*■
177
CHAPTER XIV.
AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
^OR a cime we sat silent, watchino- the fellow's shoulders
5hake and heave in his stertorous breathing ; but pre-
sently the Kin- pushed back the settle, and rose to
his feet,
"The rest is your affair, De Bernauld," said he;
"take what precaution you think fit, but, for my part.'
T think we shall sleep undisturbed."
" First, then," answered T, "we must have this hog
to bed, lest he waken in the night, and set the house
ablaze in his owlishness."
" Trust him to sleep sound ! " replied the Kin-,
rubbincr his forehead roughly with the fiat of his hancr;'
" my own head hums like a hive, and had he driven
me to the bottom of another tankard I had been as
great a fool as himself, and so taken to sin<^in«T—
' Notre Damo, du Iwut dii pont,
Aidez-mni a cette henre ! '
Let him be ; he will snore these ten hours."
But I would not. The women's talk of his reckless
was in my mind, and for all that we were four
I Imd no wish that a madman, still half-soddeu
tempi
to
178
A KINGS PAWN.
and his brain afire with the lees of drink, should let
himself loose, baresark, upon us, when by handing him
over to the care of the women wo might count on a
night's quiet. Therefore I bade Marcel rap at the
door, and rouse them.
Nor had he long to wait for an answer. With a
quickness that hinted at an uneasy watchfulness the
door was opened, and the transition from frank terror
to unrestrained relief as they saw Pierre Salces log-
drunk, and prone against the bench, told a sorrowful
tale. They had made no change in their dress, and
at once both bustled forward ; nor was the old witch
provident in the expression of her satisfaction.
" The saints in their goodness grant it's a sound
soaking," cried she, in a shrill whisper. "A sober
man's any man's man, a drunk man's no man's man,
not even his own self ; but a man half-drunk is the
devil's soul and body. We're thankful to ye, gentles,
that ye did your work so well; and," she added, with a
hardening of her voice that told of smothered resent-
ment, " maybe you've more cause to be thankful than
we have. The soaked hog ! Let us get him to bed
Marie."
" Tut, tut, mother, we will see to that," said Henry,
good-humouredly ; " to drag such a weight as his is
beyond your withered strength."
But the slur on her decayed powers nettled her.
" I'd have you know," she snarled, striking her staff
wrathfuUy on the floor, "that what you call my withered
strength has many a time dragged a better man than
AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
179
rink, should let
)y handing him
ght count on a
eel rap at the
swer. With a
atchfulneas the
m frank terror
rre Salces log-
•Id a sorrowful
heir dress, and
3 the old witch
action.
t it's a sound
er. "A sober
10 man's man,
P-drunk is the
to ye, gentles,
J added, with a
)t]iered resent-
thankful than
;et him to bed,
J," said Henry,
sight as his is
lettied her.
iking her staff
11 my withered
tter man than
you a longer journey than from here to a night s bed ;
ay, and may again, if the saints be good to us. As for
him, take him an' you will ; I luive no love for hand-
ling drunken beasts."
"Would you have said 'drunken beast' an hour
ago, and him listening," said Marcel slirewdly.
" Nay ; and why should I," she snapped, " seeing he
was sober then. But, your pardon, gentles"— and the
shrill wrath died away in a whine— " I mean no
offence, but my old tongue runs faster than my will at
times, and many a brown l)ruise it has earned me."
Suiting the action to his wo#ds, the King had seized
Pierre Salces by the shoulders, and drawn him back,
so that the helpless head rolled round like that of a
slaughtered sheep, while De Montamar had caught
him by the feet. As they lifted liim between them we
formed a procession, and truly no soldier, dead on the
field of honour, could have had a more noble atten-
dance than this swinish rogue of a cut- throat inn-
keeper—the heir of France and a Montamar of Arros
as bearers, with Blaise de Bernauld to play linkman !
Except for its size, the sleeping-room was the counter
part of that we had left. At the farther end was the
same deep fireplace, and the windows were identical ;
but there was no bench in the centre, and in one corner
was spread a broad mattress, over which a coarse blanket
was thrown. Beyond this, and running from the back
wall to the middle of the room, was a wattle screen
which, f suppose, hid the elder woman's sleeping-place.
Of furnishing there was little, but above the head
180
A king's pawn.
i il
of the mattress a woodman's axe hung by leather
thongs.
The women entered first, T next, lanter*. in hand,
and on my heels came De Montamar bearing Eed-
beard's feet, with as ill a grace as was possible in a
kindly man. Back in the darkened room we had left
Marcel was groping in the corner for the ladder. It
was then that a thing occurred which, small as it was
in itself, I have never forgotten.
Stepping back from tlie line of march, I took no
heed where I walked. The floor was clear of hind-
rances, and that was enough for me. But, suddenly,
the younger woman turned upon me fiercely, and grip-
ping my arm, with a strength which miglit have been
a man's pride she ilung me staggering back.
" Have you no heart in you that you stand on blood ?"
said she, gasping, and pressing the other hand liard
against her bosom.
For a moment, in my bewilderment, I gaped, and
did no more ; then, half mechanically, lowered the
lantern to the floor. There, sure enougli, was a broad,
brown stain, rough edged, and with veins from it like
streams trickling from a central pool.
" Blood ? " said I stupidly, for the abruptness of it
confounded me ; " blood ? "
" Ay," she wailed, wringing her hands ; " blood of
my heart, and yet you trample it under foot."
"Give no heed to her chatter, messire," broke in
the old witch, plucking at me from the other side as
I still stood staring; "she's over-wrought. 'Tis the
m
AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
181
ng by leather
iteri. in hand,
bearing lied-
I possible in a
»m we had left
he ladder. It
small as it was
'ch, I took no
clear of hind-
l»ut, suddenly,
cely, and ^rip-
^ht have been
xck.
find on blood?"
ler hand liard
I gaped, and
, lowered the
I, was a broad,
IS from it like
:"uptness of it
Is; "blood of
er foot."
ire," broke in
other side as
?ht. 'Tis the
blood of the lamb I spoke of yonder. Have done,
woman, have done, and see to thi.s man of thine.
Saints ! how the pig snores ! "
" I know, I know," answered the other ; " but when
I saw his heavy boots stamping there, my heart went
fair broken. I ask your pardon, messire, and I thank
you, gentles, for troul)ling with such cattle as "
"Ventre St Oris!" said the King, stopping her
sliort, " he is a man of weight and substance it" ever
there was one. Loosen his collar and have his boots
off, and I'll wager Navarre against Spain he will not
so much as turn on his elbow before morning. And
remember this, dame, if the churl wakens and grows
outrageous, you have a voice in your throat, and we
are not far away, you understand ? With your leave,
though, we will take the lantern. As you may have
perceived by this time, wo are not men to be left in
the dark."
With a significant nod he led the way back to the
common room. There we found Marcel slowly clank-
ing his way up the ladder he had thrust through the
gaping square hole in the ceiling. Him we followed
with all speed, for the hour was late, and then ;set
ourselves with all our skill of defence to guard agaii^st
surprise.
Drawing our stairway after us, we angled it against
the great door at the back, jamming the upper end
against the edges of the heavy cross-piece that topped
the panels, while the lower we pushed below the side
of the mattress assigned to De Montamar. That secured
182
A king's pawn.
I L'
our rear, since who-so drove in the door must needs
waken the sleeper. As to the flanks, by which I
mean the doors at either end, these we found secured
with the same mock show of honest bars, but with
doors ready to swing at a tomh. Here the distance
from the hill was only four feet, and there had been
a levelling of the slope so that to cross was no more
than a step. But there were no corbels, and as the
doors hung flush with the perpendicular of the wall
they seemed to me intended for escape rather than
attack. These we secured with wedges, and having
dragged a mattress above eacli closed trap-door we
held that we might sleep in peace and without a
watch. To me was assigned the post of drowsy
sentinel above the family room, while Marcel stretched
liis lean length on tlie bed that guarded the kitchen
trap.
Even though all this is long in the telling, and dry
in the reading, it is needful to a right understanding
of what befell later on, therefore I make no excuses
for its length.
That we slept as dreamlessly as only babes and
tired men can sleep is no marvel. No marvel, either,
that I was the first who woke. The King and De
Montamar were as yet happily short of that alert
middle age upon which responsibility weighs like a
pack on a pedlar's back. As to Marcel, the affair
was none of his. Let the others treat him as they
might, he was no leader of men. His business was
to serve and obey, and when live-and-sixty has lived
m
AND WHAT CAME OF IT-
183
)r must needs
I, by which I
found secured
))ars, but with
} the distance
lere had been
was no more
Is, and as the
ir of the wall
e rather than
:!, and having
trap-door we
ad without a
st of drowsy
ircel stretched
I the kitchen
lliug, and dry
Linderstandinu
e no excuses
ly babes and
narvel, either,
<^ing and De
of that alert
veighs like a
!el, the affair
him as they
business was
ay has lived
I
i
a hard and healthy life it is glad enougli to fdl up
its full measure of sleep.
With me it was dillerent. This freak of the King
was to me life and deatli, the setting of botli faith
and nation as upon a turn of the dice, and the burden
of it weiglied on me like a millstone even in sleep.
Therefore, when 1 awoke it was to that nimble sense
of watchfulness which in an unaccustomed place is
bed-fellow to every man of affairs. To such a one the
transition from dreamless stupor to heedful vigihuice
is no more than a tick of time, and my awakening
had none of that dim voluptuous sense of rest and
ease which is the crowning of a quiet slumber.
The hour I could do no more than guess at, but
the sun was high and cloudless ; for here and there,
through chinks and knot-holes, yellow shafts of ligiit
shot level from wall and roof, and the wliole chamber
was aglow with a mellow haze. The great rear gate
and the Hanking doors were fast closed, and in their
several places my three comrades were stretclied like
so many figures of the dead. All that I gleaned in
the first swift look round as I lay propped upon my
elbow.
But to the ministry of sight was joined the ministry
of hearing, and before -nv eyes had made the circuit
of the garret I knev. ihat I was not the only one
awake in The Rat's Hole. From beneath me came the
gruff and grumbling rumble of a dead level mono-
logue — speech that suppressed itself and yet would
not be silent. Not question and answer, for there
I Hi
A KINGS PAWN.
wa8 no variation in thu pitcli of voico ; n.t soliloquy,
for there was no intermission, no break in the steady
flow of words.
Kising on my knees, I stepped cautiously from my
bed with naked feet, and lifting up the mattress in
my arms, as one might a truss of straw, laid it gently
aside, making neitlier creak nor rustle. Then grasping
the iron ring which served as handle to the door, I
warily opened the trap three or four inches, and again
kneeling set my ear to the crack.
That there are many who, for such an act, will
denounce one as spy, eavesdropper, and what not, 1
know ; but a wiser than these has said, " IJe not
righteous overmuch."
There are times when a nuin must pouch his
niceties, and this was one of them. We were, so to
speak, in the enemy's country, and had aught hap-
pened to the King it would have been a poor answer
to bereaved Navarre that in a question of his saving
I had set my own small honour against the nation's
weal. That the thing went against the grain I grant,
and had the talk been the common talk of wife and
husband I had closed the trap as gently as I had
opened it, and taken myself to my bed again.
But the first words held me, and that I might
listen the better I thrust my boot-toe into the open
«pace and craned lower. It was the elder woman
who spoke.
" Ay, groan my man, groan ; truly thou hast cause ;
only for thy life's sake groan softly, lest the folks
AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
185
above j,'row curious. Lei lliem but get wind ol' thy
nights hauuiwoik and tliou art shent. Tliuy would
hung tliee, for sure, hang tliee, and witli thine own
porcli for a gidlows ; and tlien who would give n»e
bite and sii)) in what yon fool called my withered
age, and keep a roof over nie ! Withered age ! quotha;
by the .saints my withered age is like to see thy
sajjpiness nought but bones ! Why the plague didst
thou medille with drink ? Had the stain yonder
no tongue to bid thee keep sober ? Saints ' What a
blow, what a blow ! Thou wert drunk ( ay, I know,
and 80 have a word to say on that. Thou wert
drunk, and so did what thou didst do. Harken to
me now, Pierre Salces, and hearken well, for all that
there is a buzz in thy brain. Let me but see thee so
nmch as grow drowsed with wine, and there will be
an end of thee. You may curse, you may curse, but
life's life, and no sot's madness '11 send me to my
grave before my time ; there's fair warning."
While she spoke, I had slowly turned back the
trap so that at last the hole gaped its widest, and
with every inch of greater space the sharp weak
voice waxed clearer and clearer, until in the end
it shrilled out like the high-pitched note of a llutc.
What I saw, as I bent forward, was this :
Hunched up upon the bed, his folded arms on
his crooked knees, and his head upon his arms, was
Redbeard, one puffed cheek showing wliite in the
anojle of an elbow. By him, leauin'' <.r the good
him ! "
tne with her
id had not
hat Master
Blaise must be in tlie right whatever lie did — had
not Marcel, I say, held her back, I was like to have
been routed, but with all my wounds in front.
" She is right, De Bernauld," said the King gravely.
" This is pushing your point over far. Ventre St
Gris ! let the dog bide in liis kennel."
" By your leave, monsieur," cried I, turning on him
sharply, but still holding my place by the half-open
door, " are you leader, or am I ? Last night you
had your plan in your liead, and we let you play it
unhindered. More came of it than you wot of. To-
day it is my turn, and Blaise de Bernauld is over old
in the world to have the honour of his acts ques-
tioned. Free the woman, Marcel. Do thou, fellow,
follow me ; ay, and thou, too, mother. Wait for me,
gentlemen, I beg ; but believe me I am neither fool
nor bully, nor yet one to insult a helpless woman."
With that 1 whipped through the door with the two
clamouring at my heels, and had I not left behind me
three strong reasons for my safety Pierre Salces would
have had a second murder on his soul that day. As
it was, his wrath had melted into cold fear, and of the
two upon whom I closed the door the woman was uy
much the stouter-hearted. For an instant she tried
to brazen it out.
"For the Lord's sake speak low, messire," she
whispered, laying a shaking hand on my arm, while
with the other she pointed half behind her at a rigid
something stretched beneath the coverlid. " Would
you waken " Then, as her eyes met the liard-
N
t
l'
194
A KINGS PAWN.
ness of my look her voice roae into a wail, " Hu
knows ! he knows ! od's curse on you for a black
murderer, Pierre Salces ; you swine, you sot, you
drunken slayer of women in their sleep! Do you
hear ? He knows, I tell you, he knows ; you coward,
beast, you wolf with a hare's heart ! It was him that
did it, messire, him only. What ? " and she gripped
me by the hand and shook me in her eager excite-
ment. " Would I hurt my girl, the very child of my
body, and dearer than myself? No, messire, no.
'Twas him only in his sottish passion, and she sleeping
like a lamb."
" A lamb ! " said I, shaking her off, for her craven
and callous selfishness sickened me. " Was the lamb
you spoke of "
" Ay, messire, his own child, his only bairn. See
it in his face ! We hushed it up, though the Lord
knows a life more or less counts for little round here.
But I'll hush up no more murders lest I go next.
Your rope is spun, Pierre Salces — spun to the very
noose, and a blessing it is, God's blessing ! You'll not
leave me to his mercy, messire ? When he could do
that with the stain yonder crying out against him, it's
little chance I will have. His own bairn, the coward,
the coward ! "
"And what of his oath, dame? St James, the
saints, and all the rest of it ? "
For a moment she stood staring, then she said
slowly : " So it was then you heard ? The Lord
forgive me for a fool, but I forgot the trap. Never
.,^m
A DESCENT ON SPAIN.
lOf)
) a wail, " He
^ou for a black
you sot, you
eep ! Do you
5 ; you coward,
b was him that
d she gripped
r eager excite -
ry child of my
, messire, no.
id she sleeping
for her craven
Was the lamb
y bairn. See
)ugh the Lord
ie round here.
ist I go next,
n to the very
; ! You'll not
n he could do
ainst him, it's
n, the coward,
t James, the
hen she said
? The Lord
trap. Never
he J his oath, messire ; what's an oath more or less
to a man like Pierre Salces ? "
And truly 1 thought it would be a thing of small
account,
"The choice is his,"' said I, turning to him and
looking iiini up and down ; " either he guides us into
Spain as I said, or I cry ' Hulloa,' and what will
happen then, he can guess for himself."
Since I had cl )sed the door, and he had lound
himself shut in with his dead, Pierre Salces had
stood stolidly silent, his sullen lieavy eyes following
every move unwinkingly, but his tongue he held
quiet behind his teeth. Tliere was an apish wist-
fiilness about him that moved me to compassion for
all his villainy. It was the attitude of some dumb
beast caught red-fanged and with no hope of mercy,
but yet hungry after life with a piteous hunger. I
have seen the same pathetic and yet apathetic ques-
tioning in the eyes of a poaching dog as it lay upon
its back and watched the whip it knew it merited, and
now, as then, the inarticulate pleading touched me.
With my last words I'ierre Salces woke into alert-
ness of life. The pathetic uncertainty became a
fawning hope, and his moody face lightened.
" It's a bargain," he said eagerly ; " a man knows
when he is beaten, and I as well as another. As
for what's yonder, messire," and he looked aslant at
the corner, "a fellow may be rough in his way at
times, and yet not be a bud sort at the bottom.
Have no fear of me ; it's a bargain." .
\
I
1%
A KINf.S PAWN.
" Ay," said I slowly, " ;i biir;,Min for to-cUiy, and
you may be very sure I have no fear of you."
For a moment his face fell, then his look grew
cunning — " There be few who travel by The liat's Hole
a second time. Let to-day go by, and to-day is as
good as for ever, messire."
lUit his cunning grew into submission as speedily
as tliundcr over- head follows the Hash, for I turned
upon him.
" Mind that you try no tricks, fool ! I know your
sort, and the company you keep. Your friends on
tlie hill-tops played ninepins with us yesterday, but
let a pebble so much as cross the road to-day and
there's an end of l*ierre Salces and his playful ways.
Is that pl'iin ? Now make ready."
" liut what of me, messire ? " cried the old witch
shrilly, wringing her hands as she spoke. " Here
have I denounced him to his face, and now," with a
shrug, " you leave me to his mercies as if I counted
for nought. Hang him, messire, for the love of God
hang him, for 'tis either him or me. See," — hobbling
hastily to the bed-side she flung the coverlet back
from the staring face, with its ghastly dint above the
temple and half-dried slime of blood across the cheek,
and pointed down with a shaking hand, — " will that
not move your gall ? No, not even that ? Saints !
Had you ever a mother, man, that you can look at
such a sight and not throttle the rogue who did it ? "
Then she fell a-whimpering, " 'Tis cither him or me,
messire, for he'll kill me sure, ay, kill me, and if I
r to-day, and
of you."
lis look <^V(iW
'he Kat's Hole
I to-day is as
)ii as speedily
, for I turned
I know your
ur friends on
yesterday, but
id to-day and
playful ways.
the old witcli
poke. " Here
now," with a
3 if I counted
3 love of God
ie," — hobbling
coverlet back
iint above the
•OSS the cheek,
I, — " will that
hat ? Saints !
I Cdii look at
who did it ? "
31 hini or me,
me, and if I
I
A DESCENT ON SPAIN.
197
liad not thought you'd hang him out of hand I'd havo
lied, and lied, and lied."
"For c lanie and pity's sake cover her up, woman,"
said 1 sternly. " And do you, Tierre Salces, remem-
l)(',r this : the King of Navarre has a longer arm than
you dream of, and if ill comes to "
" Little he cares for the King of Navarre," she
broke in contemptuously, " and small comfort his
lianging hereafter will be to me in my grave. ]>ut
thou'rt not safe yet, Pierre Salcos. I'll not die like a
sheep to pleasure his cold-blooded worshij) who rates
Ins little finger higher than justice for a slain woman.
The other gentles will have a word to say lirst. Ha !
that chokes you, does it ? He with the curly beard
has a kindly face for all his fool's wagering."
]>ut I had no mind to have justice and expediency
set a-tilting in the King's brain, and so, sorely against
the grain, had a hand upon her mouth before she
could cry out. He might hold himself in part to
blame for Eedbeard's evil work, seeing the women
had warned him, though, for my part, T acquit him
since there were four lives in the balance against
what seemed a whim, or little better. But an aching
head is own brother to compunction, and there is no
denying that, for all her silence, Marie Salces pled
potently for vengeance.
" Hold thy tongue, woman," said I between my
teeth, " lest we make a clean sweep once and for all.
The whole nest of thieves would be sweeter for a
torch under the eaves."
ii
198
A kino's pawn.
That silenced lior, and though in face of both the
ilmA md the living,' I loathed the part T played, I
' )lu I could httVH done no less. Tlio King's safety
was uij lirst necessity. Resides, T had this as a
salve. The old ha^' was us foul with crime as Tierre
Salces, anil [ reckon few were ever deeper in the
devil's mire than he, srr come what evil might to her
tiUe would, at its worst, get, no more than justice.
" Well ? " cried the King as we two men returned
to the common room. " Is she content to be left ? "
" She made no demur," replied I grimly, as I set
a hand on Pierre Salces ; " nay, more, we may tliiink
her for removing thy scruples, eh ? "
T>ut Pierre Salces answered never a word.
How, and by what route, we passed from Navarre
of France to Navarre of Spain, and how tlie Kin" for
the first time set eyes on his lost provinces, may be
left untold, saving for a thing that happened as we
bade adieu to our guide. The journey lives in my
memory as a bewilderment and a delight, a marvellous
alternative of barren wilds, fertile ravines, deep woods,
and naked rock ; of sparse and stunted pines growinn-
swiftly tall and sappy in our abrupt descent ; of oak
forests, chestnut groves, and fig-yards sinking slowly
downwards into slopes of sun-steeped vines and fields
of corn ; of prodigious curves and sheer depths sicken-
ing in their appalling silences; of clamuariiig lur-
bulent white streams, and living silver Uiieads hat
in their fall wore tliemselvcs to dust, or drifted
valley-wards in smoke; of heights as black as the
ii
U^t^aV. ..-'^k. i«^.'*n.!fc«iiii
A DEHCKNT UN SPAIN.
199
} of both the
I played, I
King's safety
id this as a
irae as Pierro
jcper in the
nii«,'lit to her
justice,
nen returned
) be left ? "
ily, as I set
3 may thiiuk
rd.
rem Navarre
bhe Kin'' for
ices, may be
jened as wo
lives in my
I marvellous
deep woods,
ines growing
;ent ; of oak
king slowly
3s and fields
ipths sicken-
louriijg Lur-
Juead? ilmt
or drifted
ack as the
hosom of the tlu;nderl)olt, and Mashing waters that
hiy along tlie vales like shijunering satin rc'»oy ,'own
thick yvith Jewels ; of l)eaut\ and luagniHceucc, terror
iind charm, a vision of God Almighty's paradise in-
termingled and cut across with swart suggestions of
the very pit.
For league after league we travelled iiemmed in
by the monntains, our horizon at times no farther
than n stone's cast in any din^ction ; then, of a sudden,
wn rounded a spur, and swine though he was a kind
of dignity flushed even the face of Pierre Salces.
All Spain lay before us, and at the sight, for all
that I hate all bred of Spain as I hate the d(!vil,
my heart leaped within me.
As for Henry, he stood upon his toes in the stirrups,
and while one might count fifty slowly looked down-
ward and outward with kindling eyes, gnawing his
nether lip the while. Then he drew a deep breath,
liair sigh, half vow, and laid a hand upon my elbow.
" Let a man come with thai in his hand, and what
will France say to him, Huguenot or not Huguenot ;
tell me that, De IJernauld ? Are the stakes not
worth the playing for ? Ay are they, though a man
was ten times a king ! "
Nor with that valley of beauty and promise spread
out in front of me could I find it in my heart to
nnswer " No."
Thenceforward our path was clear before us.
" To the right, gentles, as far as the river's bank,
tlieu follow the water down to that great walnut
M
II
!
f'ls 5^ i' :
200
A king's pawn.
lying beyond the pines. After that it's a blind-
man's road, and by the heif^ht of the sun you have
two hours in which to find a roof."
It was the longest speech the fellow had yet put
together, but doubtless the relief at being rid of us
in peace and safety inspired him.
" Right," said Henry, who had again been feasting
his gaze on the landscape as if, with his eyes at
least; he would devour all Spain, — " that roof is well
thought of. What village or town is there, or,
better still, what great house that would give four
strangers lodging and a welcome ? "
But before Pierre Salces could answer Marcel had
his word to say.
"Tell me, friend, dost thou know ought of one,
Teresa Saumarez ? " said he in a tone of a monk
who asked did one, perchance, know aught of the
foul fiend, from whom all saints defend us ! Pierre
Salces had had his great mouth open to reply to
the King, but of a sudden his eyes twinkled as
if with a new thought, and he turned on Marcel
curiously.
"Know aught of Your pardon, mossire ;
aught of whom ? "
"Aught of one, Teresa Saumarez."
"How should he?" said I sharply, for to my
mind the less said of Teresa Saumarez the better.
"As well ask does he know aught of a burr in a
cornfield."
"So I pray," answered Marcel, shaking his head
A DESCENT ON SPAIN.
201
it's a blincl-
lun you have
had yet put
ing rid of us
been feasting
liis eyes at
roof is well
is there, or,
Id give four
Marcel had
ight of one,
of a monk
LUglit of the
us ! Pierre
to reply to
twinkled as
on Marcel
»n, rncssire ;
soberlv ; " but I ask because when a man knows
the whereabouts of a thing he can give it the go-by."
" I know nought, I know nought," cried Hed-
beard, with more haste than was needful. "As
messire says, how could I know ? But for a night's
lodging," and he turned eagerly to the King, stretching
out before him a shaking hand — " follow my finger,
messire. See yon grey pile to the left of the blaze
of the sun. It stands like a shoulder hunched up
from the flat of the plain. No, messire, not this
side of the river, but beyond. Ay, now you have
it. They have space there and to spare, and you
will find as warm a welcome as in all Spain."
" And the name ? To give your host his dignities
is no more than a beggar's courtesy."
"Name?" and Pierre Salces' face grew sober,
" De la Vega ? Azevedo ? Mendoza ? how should I
know? Bite, sup, and bed are our patents of
nobility, messire. Let the name be what it may,
you can trust me for the welcome."
But remembering what lay in the inn behind us,
it seemed to me the security offered was none of
the best.
for to my
the better.
I burr in a
■g his head
202
I
CHAPTER XYl.
CHATEAU LIGNAC.
To the fact that we were in the very pitnh of summer
thanks may be given that we were able to ford tlie
river so easily. Bridge there was none, and with the
high banks brimming full a man must either have
bided where he was, staring at the spate, or taken
his life in his hand. As it was, we crossed but little
worse than wet-shod. Thence to the castle of Ked-
beard's choosing was no more than a half-hour's trot
and with the sun still giving a promise of ample day-
light we set ourselves to do the distance leisurely.
To arrive with too broad a margin of time for
curious questioning was none of our plan, seein-
that our business in Spain was to learn much and
tell nothing. And because of ^his, that we knew
the name of neither place nor person whither we
went troubled the Kin^^
" To fire a volley of who's, what's, and why's in
the hrst five minutes," said he, checking his beast
to a walk, " is to draw their lire in return, and areues
us strangers and therefore suspicious."
^Mimt
CHATEAU LIGNAC.
203
"Let me tap yon clodpole, Sire," said De Mon-
tamar, pointing to a peasant at his labour in the
fields ; " a fool can sometimes tell more than a wise
man."
" Let Marcel go," said Henry curtly. " He knows
the breed better than you. See that thou pickest
liis brains, man, and clean picked, too. The more
we learn of that of which we know nothing the
better."
But it was soon clear that if pantomime went
for anything Marcel would return as ignorant as
he went, for we saw his arms tly about his head
like flails while the other leant stolidly on his tool,
putting in a word or two at times but replying
mostly by a shake of the head. At tlie last, still
judging by gesture and attitude, Marcel expressed
himself in French more vigorous tlian compliment-
ary, and made his way back to us.
" Well ? " cried Henry impatiently ; " what says
the fellow?"
" More than I can understand," replied Marcel,
ignoring the King and speaking t() me as was his
way, not through impudence but sheer uncertainty
how to rightly answer one who was comrade, King,
and equal all in one. " It was this way, Master
Blaise. I bade him good day in honest French,
and lie stared as if I had been a ranting Turk. Then
I tried him with the Basque of Bigorre, and he
gibbered at mo like an ape, nor did the J3asque
of Spain fare better, so that at the last I cursed him
204
m
A king's pawn.
in all three for a pagan dog, and the louder I cursed
the broader he grinned and the more he nodded
Ood send us a Christian next time ; this fellow, I
take it, was pure Spain."
"If his patois baflies Marcel, Sire," said I, "the
rest of us need waste no time upon him."
" Then let him mount," answered the Kincr sourly
"It means a more cautious playing of onr cards, that
IS all.
But presently he drew up close to my side and
said : " This creates a difficulty not foreseen. I ]iad
counted. De Eernauld, that Basque would serve our
turn throughout the lost provinces, and none been
the wiser. That has failed. What now ? "
"Plain French, Sire," replied T bluntly, and with
difficulty keeping back an anathema on the whole
misbegotten business. "There is a treaty between
1^ ranee and Spain, and the two are at peace- why
should four plain gentlemen not polish their manners
on Spanish courtliness ? "
" For two reasons : first, because there is no need
our manners are well enough ; second, because four'
gentlemen on such an errand would have four lackeys
to fetch and carry."
" The second weighs more than tlie first, Sire but
our lackeyo are behind, and if they miss their way
whoso fault is that? Not ours."
" A lie, De Eernauld ? What would Marmet say ? "
"A half-trutli, Sire, for behind th.y are-some
twenty or thirty leagues, maybe. As'
to Marmet
CHATEAU LIGNAC.
205
show me the churchman who never (quibbles. Life
is a patchwork at the best, and if folly makes a
hole what can we do but darn it ? "
Whereat he looked at me sharply, but in the end
his eyes twinkled. He knew better than J that
for him to cry out against half-truths was to fault
the policy oi' his life.
Up from tlie undulating slope of the broad valley,
broad almost as a plain, was thrust a huge spur of
rock. It was as if nature in her travail Hung up an
arm to heaven, and, dying, held it there frozen into
stone. In three directions the sides fell away in
smooth clitis, but towards the north the ascent,
though abrupt, was more gradual. Up this slope —
a bewilderment of titanic toppling boulders tliat
seemed forever ready to fall and yet forever held
their place, and would hold while the world endured
a corkscrew path wound with slow curves to v/here,
grey as its eternal foundations, the Castle stood with
walls so closely knit to the ascending rock as to seem
its pinnacle and crown.
It lay four-square, a pointed turret at every corner,
and deep machicolations running beneath the battle-
ments. From each angle that overtopped the plain,
and from the upper centre of each wall, stout iron
cages were thrust out still further to dominate the
approaches; and that tlie pious folk might pray as
well as light, the ridge of a chapel roof abutted upon
the eastern tower.
As we rode onwards Henry scanned its every
If
206
A king's pawn.
' ^
. )
par .cular w.th ea,er interest. Hi,, were the seareh-
bulk that frowned down the slope, escaped his notice.
last hi^ TT ''^' "^''"' "*' ^''"'^"''''" '>^ ^-d »t
last h,s feslnng eyes never shifting their gaxe.
Mine by r.ght, and if nought nusearries it will
be m,„e again. Why, with such defences Hve score
men could flout an army."
full?'""' ^'n '" '"f"^ ^- '"''""S my heard thought-
"% ; as III a place to get into as to get out of
Let them bolt the door, and nought but a bird— "
He gave me no time to finish.
"Let me bolt a door in Pau," he broke in with a
gesture of impatience, •■ and my word for it, nou-ht
than a door here or there, A moment since you said
there, a treaty with Spain. There lies your guarantee."
Guarantee!" I echoed; "Philip would break
through h-fty treaties to lay hands on the heir of
France. Then there is Teresa Saumare. »
Again he interrupted me.
^ "Plague take your forebodings," he cried angrily
Are you turned coward or madman. Monsieur de
Bernauld, that you harp so on the one strino. > "
What I would have answered I know not. but
a that moment there came a great clatter of lioofs
behind, and I)e Montamar, whom we had not missed,
galloped up, with Marcel two lengths behind
CHATEAU LIONAC.
207
" The name at last," he cried as he came abreast.
" We shall have no host to-night, but a hostess ; the
Castle belongs to Mademoiselle de Lignac."
" De Lignac ? De Lignac smacks more of France
than Spain."
" Ay," said the King, " and more of Navarre than
either. Is this certain, De Montamar ? "
" Unless the fellow we ([Uestioned lied, Sire. ' De
Lignac,' said he, ' and a demoiselle to boot.' We
stopped to learn no more, for you were at the foot
of the ascent."
" De Lignac ? De Lignac ? Ay : I have it now.
There are Lignacs west there by Clairence. Honest
Huguenots and true men. My faith ! but if this is
a scion of that root, fortune has met us with both
hands full. It was in my bones, De Bernauld, that
good would come of this for all thy croaking. Let
us ride on, gentlemen, and do thou, my friend, think
shame of thyself and thy whinings of Teresa Saumarez.
Our role is now frank boldness."
" But no names, Sire."
" I grant you that ; no names, at least not yet ; "
and as we rode up the winding slope I promised
myself there should be none until the frontier lay
once more to the south of us.
The ascent was steep, and at every angle of the
curve there stood a sodded battery of two guns com-
manding the approach, while on either side were
enormous boulders whose liu^e bulk afiorded ample
and impregnable shelter for arquebusiers. Famine,
208
A KIN(;'.S PAWN.
iff
u 3
''J
thirst, or pestilence miglit make u prey of Chuteau
Lignac. but never the assault of man, unless aided
by treachery from within, or that incaution which in
a captain is as criminal as treachery.
That mademoiselle, our hostess who was to be, ran
no risks from this last we soon had full evidence.' A
turn of the road while yet we were little better than
halt-way up the incline brought in view a massive
gateway Hung across the patli from one gigantic
'-moulder to its opposite fellow.—a gateway in the
upper shadows of which hun- the iron teetii of
a portcullis, and before whose gaping mouth there
lounged three men-at-arms.
" Now comes the pinch," said the King across his
shoulder, but never shifting the straight poise of his
head. " Bustle them, De Bernauld, as if it were the
Duke of Salamanca, or the Prince of the Asturias
himself come to pay a visit incognito."
Which was very well said, but advice easier to oive
than to follow for a man who knew dimly tha^t a
certain Mademoiselle de Lignac already had him in
her grip, and knew no more save that he was in an
enemy's country, in spite of all treaties to the contrary
Still, it was very well said, and, even admitting the
pitfalls, the best advice to follow.
" Good day, men," said I, in Basque, and speakin^r
with the nonchalance of their mistress's best-beloved
first cousin. " Are the guest-chambers empty ? We
seek the grace of a night's lodgment at the hands of
Madame the Chatelaine," and would have passed on
CHATEAU l,I(iNA('
209
with a patioiiisiii}^ .<,'esture hut that two of thoin
lowered their long pikes across the entrance.
" You have the password, seigneur ? "
" Password, fellow ? Wiiere should 1 find a pass-
word save the password of common courtesy ? Are
we of your castle trencher- scrapers ? Best turn aside
these toothpicks of yours lest you bring a heavier
censure than mine on your heads ? "
" Your pardon, seigneur," answered one, civilly
enough, and witli a hesitancy f was swift to note ;
" we had our orders."
" Ay, ay, but not touching us," and with a prick
of the spur I pressed forward, leaving them staring
and in doubt.
" Well hectored," whispered the King softly ; " but
'tis no more than the first trick of the game. Ventre
St Gris ! look what lies ahead. Where is there in all
Navarre, even in Pau itsolf, a fortress as well watched
as this plain demoiselle's • "
He might well exclaim. For there, at the head of
the next turn, was another gateway, own brother in
strength to that we had passed through, and with a
sunilar trio of guardians standing between its jaws.
Nor was this the last of them. Later we were to
come upon a third, identical in all particulaT-^ with its
forerunners, but having a castellated turret at either
angle.
N^either of these, however, proved any barrier ; for
in place of levelled pikes and inconvenient question-
ings, we were met by respectful salutes, and as strict
210
A kino's I'AWN.
a standing at arniH as if tlie rank of him who went by
had been truly nues«ed. 1 take it that, having passed
the first line of defence without commotion, it was no
longer any one's duty to interpose an obstruction.
Gardens, parterres, and pleasaunces there were none
at Chateau Lignac. The narrow path, with its rough
ilankings of naked rock, ran unchanged to the grJJit
door. There was not even a broad court fronting the
facjade. Mademoiselle's forebears had been cauhous
men, and had built with such care that an enemy
would lind no foothold even under the sturdiest de-
fences of the castle, and that these defences were
rooted in skill and experience was clear.
"Mark," said Henry, as wc topped the lip of the
last ascent—" mark how the walls are honeycombed
with loopholes, and how each loophole slopes so that
it commands the road. Mark, too, how thickly the
echauguettes are set. Why, they are as plentiful as
the cotes in a columbary. Look liow the merlons
are pierced, and how wide the macuicolatiou. Every
window grated ! There is reason in that, but to set a
bar where nought but a bird can reach out-reasons
reason. Nor are the pigeons wanting for the dove-
cotes ; look, man, look, as I live there is a fellow in
every one of them ! 'Tis a hornet's hive, De Ber-
nauld, a hornet's hive, and I'll warrant with every
sting sharpened ! "
" The more need to be wary. Monsieur d'Albret,"
replied 1, shortly, pulling up at the foot of the fan
of steps in front of the great door, where already a
- a=r*, :^-+ ittoiiSH^,,-,^ .. „
CHATEAU Ur.NAn.
21
yellow-faced major- doino and two or tlireu lacki^
were in vvaiLing.
The "Monsieur d'Albret " sobered him, for I saw
him bite his lip as he climbed down, and thencefor-
ward, lor a time, he was as circumspect as a prude; in
questionable company.
" Tiie Chateau de Li«,'nac ? " said I, interro<,'atively,
and dropping my reins with the air of an exi)ectant
guest as I spoke. " Ay ? then tht fellow we met
told us truth. We are strangers, friend; that much
my speech will have shown you. I>ei!i
A KFNr.'s PAWN.
<< 'I',
Iwo rnon.s will suflico." Haid T. ,i,M,o.s,sinc. at his
P''"'tonu.ne. « W. uro m„ Pads ,alluntH. ne.sitMr.. without servants, wo can tl.e bettor truss one
''"•'ther's points. F<,r a sohlier to do a soldier's
valetin;,' is no hardshii)."
Which was what Henry would have call.-d another
l«Hlt-truth, since my uppermost thou^d.t was that we
slioidd he two an,l two, instead of one and one, it-
events went askew.
"It shall be as your Excellency pleases," answered
our inend of tl.e yellow face, with a bow that was Castil-
^<^" >" it« depth. " Follow me, messieurs ; these fellows
mil see to your beasts and your own travelling gear "
It the hall into which he led us was sombre to
obscurity, it was at least nobly proportion3d and
richly furnished, though the meagre light prevented
any mil grasp of its details. The hangings were of
crimson velvet, looped, braided and fringed with crokl
cord, while curtains of the same material, lavishly
embroidered, were drawn across tlie doors to ri-dit
and left. J)rocaded silks and work of elaborate
tapestry covered the seats and backs of the antique
settles, and bear- and wolf-skin mats were strewn upon
the flagged lloor.
Crossing the hall, which at the side opposite the
entrance opened upon a corridor running the length
of the facade, we mounted a broad but ill-lit and
well-worn stairway hung with arras; turned down
a gallery to the left, and were ushered into two rooms
still aglow with the brightness of the settin. slK.,, .lor. but wth all respect. « that r.ignac keeps
Wund I.,,„ac's teeth. This nmeh is true : . am o
Navarre and you know the proverb, 'No 1
cam e,.rcoa, in a four sack.' Is there need to :
ren, mlSr- '""^ ^'^'"^' ''^'""'^ -• ^^ "'
'* And Senor Mi'^nel " n«I^or7 *-i. t^-
ivii^uu, aslcecl the Kms; soft v "of
what side is Senor Miguel ? "
"Eeverse the proverb, monsieur," said the fellow
came to L,g„ae w,th the Uonna gnt we have
arrived, sefior. The hall is yonder "
W.th a bow h. stood aside, and pointed to where
th inajor-doino waited for us by an open door
Plainly, Senor Miguel had ears like a fo.x- L all kl
august courtesy. '^
Leaving the others to pass on, I set my foot upon
t e three-inch deep black oak moulding which ra"
above the skirting-board, and motioned to the S end
ant to set nght a bow which had not gone wron!
to dle^ r"'" ""'''""' '' """""S -- ''"""- if
or T e p'p ™°™"""'^' " '^ Mademoiselle de Lignac
Cath!!::.^"""'^"™'^ Is she Huguenot or
"The first, monsieur, the first," .said he under his
breath, ami smoothing the ribbon with shaking ^^
MADKMOTSELLE DE IJCrNAC.
001
" but, for the Lord's sake, be cautious. Wo live but
on sufferance, every one of us — both mistress and man
— and my dead hidy's family have never for«j;iven her
for turning' heretic like her husband. They suck
the revenues of Lignac, these S])aniards, and there-
fore we are tolerated ; but mny God have mercy U])on
us if the old cat takes to scratchinii ! "
" Thou art certain of this, friend ? "
" I was my Lord's body-servant, monsieui'," readied he
simply, as if to say, " Who should know betU;i' than 1 ! "
Lifting my foot from the beading, I examined it
critically, nodded my thanks, and leisurely followed
the King and his companions. They were already at
table, and if I was more silent than they it was
because my mind had something to chew as well as
my teeth.
The prospects of success appeared brighter than at
any time since the first mooting of the King's hare-
brained scheme, and, with Mademoiselle de Lignac to
guide us, we might hope to traverse Spanish Navarre
not only in safety, but witli some assurance of a toler-
able welcome. Let us find a dozen great families
who still clung to the proscribed faith, and Henry's
dream might yet become a reality. Nor should this
be impossible. There are none more clannish than
the Basques. The currents of other nationalities flow
round about them, but do not penetrate. The Basque
of Spain Intermarried with the Basque of France, and
so the principles of Marguy
what names shall 1 have tJie honour "
Fearful lest the King's loosened tongue should
forget caution I cut in quickly, not allowing Zarresco
to finish.
" Name to mademoiselle," said T, pointing round
the table, " Monsieur d'Albret, the Count de Mon-
tamar, and Monsieur Clairet."
Senor Miguel bowed to each in turn witli solemn
gravity, but giving to iJe Montamar a full half foot
greater depth of reverence than to eitlier of the
others.
" Monsieur d'Albret, the Count de Montamar,
Monsieur Clairet," he repeated, " and his Excellency
himself ? "
"Monsieur de Zero," replied I shortly, and rising
as I spoke, so as to cut short the inquisition. " If
mademoiselle will honour us, we are ready."
As we followed the major-domo down the broad
passage and round the south-west angle of the castle,
I found time to whisper in the King's ear what I
had learned from De Lignac's valet. For a moment
he made no reply in words, but the light that flashed
into his eyes and the sudden firmer set of the mouth
told me that he, too, fully understood tlie importance
of the news. Then he said —
" It hangs upon the stuff the girl is made of, but " —
and then came the squaring of the shoulders and the
224
A KlNfj's PAWN.
I
inevitable upward twist of the moustadip — « if she be
worth the winning she sliiili be won ; be easy us to
that."
Lest too many descriptions become te(Hoiis, I omit
the portrayal of the enormous dreary room in which
we were received by Claire de Lignac' Such a cata-
logue belongs rather to the house -milliner. It is
sufficient that the air was so stuffed with rormalities
that even the King's buoyancy was pricked. A well-
filled mausoleum was about as cheerful a place as
the great reception-room of Chateau Lignac ! Nor
can I tell aught either of Mademoiselle Claire's
costume, save that it was of some shimmering stuff
caught in low at the waist and falling down to the
feet, and that on her head was the Hat French hood
of the period. My one thought was of her face.
Not, the Lord knows, because she was a wonuui and
pleasant to look upon. No, not that. Since my
Lady came into my life there lias been but one woman
in the world for me, and tl . ugh we both grew old,
it was enough that we grew old together. It was
rather to see, as the Xing said, what manner of stuff
she was made of, and what I saw contented me.
Strangely, too, of her looks, as a woman's looks
are commonly reckoned, I saw little. Later the King
raved of grey eyes, level brows, red lips, tawny brown
hair, and I know not what else. I, for my part, saw
nothing but a clear firm gaze, a resolute set mouth,
a broad purposeful forehead, and an upright carriage
that told of health, strength, and activity.
MADEMOISELLE DE LION AC.
226
De Montaiimr, being in Sefior Miguel's eyes the
most im})ortant of the party, was presented first ;
then came Marcel, followed by myself. The King
ca/ne last of all. Now, as I have said, my one
thought was Mademoiselle de Lignac's face, and
whereas we three were greeted with the frank cour-
tesy common to any well-l)r(!d he U 3, a flattering
change swept across her face as slu^ rose from the
curtsey whicli acknowledged the King's bow. Her
eyes dilated, and a sudden Hush reddened her to the
very tcMujdes — a thing which Henry was as swift to
note as I.
But it was no more tlian the emotion of an in-
stant, and before even the King's ready tongue could
clack a compliment, her smiling face was set anew
in its polite mask.
" T have but waited, messieurs," said she — and her
voice being strong and clear matched her face — " to
thank you, before retiring for the night, for the
honour done to Lignac ; and to say that I beg you
will command my people as you would your own.
To-morrov/ I hope to play the hostess to better
purpose."
" To-morrow ? " cried Henry, his face falling ; " does
the moon always set with the sun at Lignac ? "
" It were but a quenched and lifeless orb if it did,"
broke in De Montamar. " Monsieur d'Albret must
rather mean Venus."
" Monsieur d'Albret can explain his own mean-
ings," answered the King tartly. " You push pre-
226
A KINO'h pawn.
,*'. )
■>:>'
P'
=idl
Plllj
JIIIIII
sumption over-far, Monsieur le Corate." The slip in
his coniplinicnt had nettled him, and it was a new
thinj,' to liave another openly offer incense at the
same shrine as himself. Then he went on: "If it
be a point in Spanish etiquette "
" I am mistress in my own house, monsieur," she
broke in with a touch of hauteur that became her well.
" To be frank, and as an excuse to cover the discour-
tesy, my grand -dam has need of me. She is ailing
to-night."
" Ah, mademoiselle ! " cried Henry, " is the enter-
taining of strangers not also a charity ? "
" Do you hint at angels unawares, monsieur ? "
replied she, looking him full in the face, but making
him no other answer. "Miguel, lights; and see to
it that these gentlemen want for nothin upper floors,
ail-.!. \j\:i: Oj ti Udixu'TV t-tuOi tV a, Jf LU LUC Uai/l^iUmoUi/U.
Heavens ! what a prospect spread itself in tae cloud-
228
A king's pawn.
I V. «
Uli
less glory of the early morning ! I had seen more of
the world in my time than falls to the common lot of
men, but never had I been so moved. Doubtless the
isolated position of Lignac, perched upon its solitary
rock, aided the imagination, but with such a prize to
be won as spread itself in all directions it was little
wonder that the King set small store op the pawns of
the game.
As I stood looking out to the west with shaded
brows Marcel joined me. The night's rest had left
its mark upon the old squire, and never since I cut
short his singing in the Juranqon vineyards had I
seen his eye so bright.
" Well ? " cried I, sweeping an arm round me. " Is
that not worth ten times the labours and risks ? "
He glanced carelessly from west to east and pushed
out his nether lip.
" Well enough, oh ay, well enough," he answered,
looking down through a crenelle ; " but to my mind,
^e woods as you look out from Madame Jeanne's
sewing-room at Bernauld are better worth the seein<^.
To what use, d'you suppose. Master Blaise, they put
these bird-cages yonder ? " and as he spoke he pointed
below to two railed projections thrust out from the
wall, and whose airy absence of solidity fully
warranted his description.
" They ar^ echauguettes," answered I ; " and though
they are commonly more substantial, you may see the
same at Blois."
" The Lord forbid that I should ever play sentinel
TO THE VENGEANCE OF TERESA SAUMAUEZ. ' 229
in one of them," said he, with a shake of his head.
" Honest brick and mortar for me, and not a half-inch
bar and a four-inch space, and maybe a hundred and
fifty feet of air between me and the nearest solid.
A man would want the nerve of a cat for such work
as that, and since yon fellow stabbed me with his
stick at l*au I have been as timorsome as a hare."
Nor, in the face of the sheer and awful drop that
fell away at our feet, could I find courage to laugh at
him.
In such a place as Lignac, with its hollow court
in the centre, its brass carronades, its splayed
embrasures, its fighting turrets with their stands of
antique petronels, there were a score of things to
delight men whose trade at the best had been the art
of maintaining peace by being ever ready for war ;
so that time slipped by us unnoted, and we were
summoned to breakfast before we were well aware
that we were hungry.
Having been joined by the King and De Montan^ar
we made our way once more down the winding stairs,
but this time we were ushered into the great banquet-
ing hall, of 'vhich the previous night I had caught no
more than a glimpse. It was a T-shaped room, down
the centre of which ran a huge table of dull oak, black
with time, stained with use, its edges hacked and
notched by many generations of careless feasters. At
the head of the T stood a dais some three feet high.
iiCrOou viilo clllOvilOi vtlOiC OXt'v-llviGCl, aX- ttIIOuL- \,*"Iltfit-j
facing the entire length of the hall, were set two
f
1 ' ''
1
1
i
1
)
< V
ii
1
,(i
230
A KIN<^'S PAWN.
high -backed chairs embellished with quaint and
fantastic carvings. Flanking these were two stuffed
settles, while down either side of the long table were
ranged hnes of stools and wooden benches.
These last were two-thirds occupied by just such a
motley crowd as was a strange relic of feudal days
Retainers of different degrees, begging friars, wandering
chapmen, a few stray soldiers of fortune, filled the
seats as their forerunners might have done any time
in hve centuries. In Navarre such a gathering would
have been a nine days' wonder, but in Spain a custom
dies hard. Before each was placed a deep wooden
vessel-half bowl, half platter-an iron-bladed knife
a wooden spoon, a metal cup, and a huge trencher of
bread to serve both as food and napkin. The dais
was unoccupied.
"My faith ! " whispered Henry in my ear, as stand-
ing in the hollow of the doorway we looked round the
room; "a style like this would fit badly with the
revenues of The Little Kingdom!" Then he turned
to the major-domo, '« And we, friend, are we above or
below the salt ? "
" Your places lie this way, messieurs," said Senor
Miguel, who having met us at the door now preceded
us up the four steps leading to the raised platform.
" My two mistresses will be here presently."
So saying he placed us on either side the carved
chairs, De Montamar having the place of honour to
the right with Marcel by him, and I on the left with
the King next me.
i' :
" TO THE VENGEANCE OF TERESA SAUMAREZ." 231
" Then Madame de' Lignac is recovered ? " said
Henry, seating himself carelessly ; " should we not
pay her our respects in some more formal way
than is possible here ? "
"Madame de Lignac?" replied the major-domo,
questioningly ; " ah yes, I understand. These are her
orders, monsieur."
Even while he was speaking there was a bustle
in the room behind — the ante-chamber where we
had supped the previous night — the dividing curtain
masking the doorway was thrown back, and a lackey
entered with a long white wand in his hand.
" Mademoiselle de Lignac," he cried loudly.
At the sound of the metal rings rasping on the
curtain bar the buzz and chatter which had rumbled
contir usly down the hall ceased, and every face
was . ' >:id towards the dais. It was as if his Most
Catholic Majesty Philip the Second were about to
make his entrtie. Nor was the illusion dispelled
when Claire de Lignac appeared in the doorway, an
elder woman leaning upon her shoulder. With the
gravity of a Turk, and the stiff precision of an
automaton, each individual in the long lines on
either side the table — soldier, stranger, jack-at-arms,
and whatnot — bent in a ceremonious bow. The
salutations being returned with an equal gravity,
all resumed their seats, and the hum of conversation
buzzed slowly down the hall.
At mademoiselle's entrance we too had risen, and
were by her presented with due form and ceremony
^32
A king's pawn.
«
1
M
in turn to the elder lady. Earely had 1 seen a
nobler figure, a more charming type of how to grow
old gracefully. Taller than mademoiselle by half-
a-foot, she so bore herself that not a hair's-breadth
of her height was lost. Slender without meagreness,
her upright carriage gave her grace and dignity
notw..hstarding the feebleness of her gait. Nor
did her face mar the charm of the picture. In spite
of age her skin retained a delicate softness, and but
tor a furrow or two upon the forehead she was as
unwrinkled as any woman of half her years need
wish to be. Alert black eyes, that still held much
of the fire of youth, looked keenly out from under
level brows ; her cheeks were full, and with a touch
of colour upon their faint sallowness ; her nose was
straight, aquiline, and finely chiselled; her mouth
and chm as resolute as mademoiselle's own It
was a great face, a noble face, but over it was a
transparent veil of sorrow, and that pathetic hard-
ness which comes only of much brooding upon grief.
As to her dress, it was notable for sombre mourn-
fulness. From head to foot she was draped in black
the robe being of a stiff and rustling silk, unrelieved
by jewel or ornament of any kind, while a filmy
shawl of Spanish lace served her as cap, the ends
being carried behind the ears and tied beneath the
chin.
" Peste ! " whispered the King in my ear pettishly
as we again took the places allotted to us, De Mon-
tamar ' •-- - • •
being on Claire's right hand, and I
on the
TO THE VENGEANCE OF TERESA HAUMAREZ." 233
left of the elder lady ; " there is such a thing as
being too modest. I should have called myself the
Duke of Bigorre, or wheresoever you will. That
chattering coxcomb will weary her to death. As
for you, my friend, I would as soon rub shoulders
with the devil as with that malignant witch, with
her flaming coals of eyes and hawk's beak."
For my part, as I looked down the length of
the dais, it seemed to me that mademoiselle was
well enough pleased with her neighbour; and when
it came to hawk's beaks the King laid himself open
to a palpable tu quoquc !
But I had little leisure to listen to his ill-humour.
" Monsieur is French ? " said my neighbour, turning
on me abruptly, and speaking with little of tlie weak-
ness of age in her voice.
" Yes, madame, I and my companions are of
France."
" Of France, but not French, ay, T catch your
meaning, and your accent tells its own tale. You
are Bearnnois, and to be Bearnnois is not to be
French. Well, so much the better, monsieur, for
Beam and Navarre interest me."
" We are honoured, madame, and anything that
I "
" We will come to that presently," answered she,
cutting me short with small ceremony. *• As to
Monsieur D'Albret, his name betrays him. There
are Albrets and Ajbrets, some far ofi" cousin of the
King's, no doubt?"
234
A king's pawn.
:!!!«
" As to that, madame," said I cautiously, " I never
heard my friend claim any such cousinship."
"So much the better for him," cried she, her
mouth curling in a fine contempt. "Are you kin
to that pitiful rogue, Monsieur d'Albret ? If so,
pray accept my regrets beforehand if I wound your
feelings."
" Meaning the King of Navarre, madame ? " said
Henry, leaning forward.
Meaning that beggarly renegade who has turned
his coat not once, but twice, and who I doubt not
would do it a third time for a single crown."
" True, for a crown, he might do so," answered
he coolly. '' As to kin. We had the same ancestor,
madame, but it would puzzle Mountjoy himself to
count our cousinship."
At this mgment there came an interruption from
the lower end of the great hall, and a hush fell upon
the universal chatter. The door was flung open and
three brethren of St Dominic filed in, their hands
crossed upon the bosor- of their black robes. Rang-
ing themselves in lint at the end of the table, they
bent their heads and sang a prolonged grace with
sonorous solemnity, bowed at its close, and turn-
ing, filed out in the sauie silence as they had entered.
With the first note thus struck, all present, we
upon the dais amongst the rest, rose to their feet
and stood listening with bowed heads, nor until the
last black skirt had fluttered out of sight was there
as much sound as the rustle of a sleeve. Then all
■
with you it be l,ut for form's mke. It i, a test and
custom of Lignac, and I ask no more timn tho bare
compliance. We can be tolerant as well as Monsieur
de Zero, and welcome Catholic and Huguenot alike
ay or even Pagan, asking no question for conscience'
sake. But dogs of Jews we will not have, and so
who sits at the board of Lignac must eat .,wine'.,
flesh.
"And now," she went on as the lackey retired
down the room, " we come to a second custom of
Lignac, and for the hoiiouring of which I be- you
gentlemen, one and all, to charge your glasses." '
" It is a toast, then, madame ? "
" A toast, Monsieur de Zero."
Eising from lier chair she rapped loudly on the
table, and it was clear the signal was expected, for in
an instant there was a great stillness.
'' Are you ready ? " cried she ; " then to your feet
and m silence."
"But, madame," said I, as I rose in conmion with
all the rest, "you have nothing but water;" nor in-
deed, had she drunk anything else throughout ' the
meal.
'• Oh, believe me, monsieur," answered she bitterlv
"while I have life I thank the saints I need no
wine-heated blood to warm my hate. Are you readv
my friends ? Well, then-To the vengeance of Teresa
Saumarez ! "
d
239
CHAPTER XIX.
THE DEBIT ACCOUNT OF TERKSA SAUMAI5EZ.
Teresa Saumarez !
For all the profound silence that followed her
words — a silence as of the solemn memory of the
dead — there was a thunderous booming in my ears as
the blood rushed to my head, and I take credit to
myself that I emptied my glass with the rest and set
it down soundlessly before me. Not with enthusiasm,
no ; a man's complacency stops short of riotous delight
in toasting his own sudden end
But if I was tranquil, not so Marcel. As the
words came home to him I saw him so sway upon his
feet that he would have fallen if De Montamar had
not grasped him by the arm. As it was, a full half
of his wine splashed upon the table, and the glass not
only rattled against his teeth but ran;, a tattoo upon
the wood as he replaced it- Once rid of it, he leaned
with both hands on the edge of the board as a man
might in a mortal spasm ; and when, in the same grim
silence, we all once more sat down, his face was aged
by ten years. What the effect would have been had
240
A KINO'm fawn.
1 i
Mfc.!
M
played hare and hounds in my brain, each fresh
scheme driving its predecessor scurrying before it.
In the end I let them all go, since there was no
possibility of concerted action, and turned an anxious
eye on Marcel.
Marcel was the weak point in our defence. V/e
three were wary, cool, expectant, and on guard.
Not 80 Marcel. His nerve was broken, and when
a man's nerve is broken he can neither lie straight
nor tell the truth straight, but in his pitiful incertitude
he tries to run a midway course and so ruins all.
Nine times out of ten when it is unwise to babble
out the whole truth it is doubly foolish to tell a
half lie. Therefore in his present palsy of sense
I trembled for Marcel's imprudence, and sought,
though vainly, to put him on his guard with a
gesture.
For a terrible five minutes the silence lasted.
Then Zarresco returned bringing with him a lona
narrow book of perhaps fifty leaves' thickness. It
was bound in yellow parchment, broad mourning lines
running up the outer edge on either side, and along
both top and bottom. Two clasps of silver held it
closely fastened, though to judge by the soiled creases
on its back it passed its days open rather than shut.
Placing the volume before his mistress the major-
domo would have retired, but at the first jingle of
the curtain nags upon the rod Donna Teresa stopped
him.
"Bide thou, Miguel," she said harshly; "this is
_,«>!iaial|j#».,v
THE DEI5IT ACCOUNT OF TERESA SAUMAREZ.
245
a family affair, and in a fashion touches thee as well
as me."
" Is Senor Miguel, then, a relative ? " asked Henry
in his smoothest voice.
" He is more," replied she. " He is a friend, and
a friend born for adversity is at times nearer kin
than kindred."
The side glance she shot at Mademoiselle Claire
not alone gave point to the remark but was a rebuke,
nay, more, it was a challenge, and as the girl's mouth
stiffened into firmness I half forgot my own danger,
and thought with an odd sense of complacency that
I had read her character aright.
" Kindred for love," said she, looking down the
table towards us two, " and there is little love in
keeping the ashes ^f hate ablaze, and little friendli-
ness either. The story we heard was at best but
half a story, and my uncle Diego "
" Yes ? " said the elder woman softly, as the
younger paused, " thy uncle Diego ? "
" Madame, it is hard upon twenty years ago, and
I was no more than a child of five, but I am lold
that among vstern men n)y uncle Diego "
" Was sternest ? — Be it so. That was to his
foes. To them he was of the fibre Spain lias
need of, but to me he was the only son of liis
mother, and may God forget me when I forget the
sou of my love. What ? Do we bear cliildrcn so
easily, we mothers, that we can give God thanks
for their loss ? and when a crafty, pitiless villain
m
113
» i
246
A king's pawn.
traps them to their death shall we cringe and fawn
and forgive like nuns who know no motherhood?
Let who will do so, not Teresa Saumarez."
She was leaning forward against the table, bolt
upright, and in the silence that followed she sat
tapping the book gently with her finger tips in the
mechanical fashion of one whose thoughts are leagues
away. Then she slowly unhooked the clasps and
spread out the book, face upwards, on the table,
resting her open hands upon its pages.
" And this, niadame," said the King, when at last
waiting had grown into an itch of weariness, "this
is "
" The account due by Blaise de Bernauld of Ber-
nauld in Bigorre to Teresa Saumarez, and by the
Lord God who made us both, he shall pay it ! ",
'• Gee," she went on, lifting her hands and laying
a steady forefinger on the right-hand page. "Here
is the bald statement : —
'"'Feb. 1567. Diego Saumarez.
May 1568. Fee to Denis La Hake to
slay the coward Blaise de
Bernauld ....
Sept. 1568. Denis La Hake ; and may
the Lord have mercy on
his soul ....
Sept. 1572. Fee to Marco of Pavia, to
the same end .
April 1680. Juan the Dominican ; to
advance God's glory is re-
ward enough, therefore
he would take no fee.
One hundred crowns.
One hundred crowns.
One hundred crowns.
u
THE DEBIT ACCOUNT OF TERESA SAUMAKEZ. 247
Ired crowns.
Dec. 1582. Fee to Carlos d' Albuquerque
July 1584. Fee to Bernardino Zarresco.
A like amount to be paid
to him on full proof that
the said Blaise de Ber-
nauld has gone to his own
place ....
One hundred and fifty
crowns.
One hundred and fifty
crown,".
The other side of the book was blank.
" With such a record, messieurs, would any one of
you say ' God be praised ' ? "
"But, madame," said De Montamar, "I do not
understand."
" Not understand ? " she echoed, flaming up, and
turning? on him with hands trembling and her face
all aglow with passion. " By my faith ! it is very
simple. See, moncieur, see. On this date Blaise
de Bernauld murdered Diego Saumarez, son to
Teresa Saumarez, murdered him in cold blood and
by cowardly treachery — murdered him, murdered him,
I say. Therefore it is set down to be paid for by
Blaise de Bernauld, but since not all the ingots of the
Indies can be weighed against a son's life I leave the
money column blank. But have no fear, Blaise de
Bernauld shall pay for it. Note now the second line.
Can I avenge myself ? Can I track this wolf to its den
and slay it ? It is my curse that I am a woman and
helpless; therefore Denis La Hake for a fee acts as
the hand in Navarre of her who must bide in Spain,
fretting out her heart, and T set down to the account
one hundred crowns. By what hapless chance I do
248
A king's pawn.
;
not know, but the wt^lf slew the hunter ; therefore, as
his fef- was his valuation of himself, I set down
anoinrr hundred crowns against De Bernauld. Then
comes Marco of Pavia v.-ith a like sum, and of him
I never hetird again ; it may be that the wol? trapped
him too. After hiii; followed Juan the Dominican,
and this time 1 held the debt an good as pail Let
a man have the terror of eternity upon him and he
will stick at nought. To him t^ie corpse of Blaise
de Bernauld was but a titcpping- stone to grace. But.
Torriano, the General of the Dominicaus, mu.sl; needs
have a use for him, and so Juan works out his salva-
tion by ruother road thai! that of my vengeance.
Carlos of AJbut-uerque was Marco over again, and
so there ar^ xnoLber hundred and fifty rowns due
to me. l.hstly, and this very month, this very
month, monsieur, judge by that if my hate slackens,
— lastly, I sfiy, there is Bernardino Zarresco. A week
to go, two weeks to hunt, a fourth to return; not
long in days, and yet, and yet, delay gnaws and
tears me to the very soul. Do you understand
now, monsieur ? "
Ren^ de Montamar had been a duller man than
I ever found him if he had failed of comprehension.
Apart from the words, the fierce wrath of the old
fury told its own tale, and that she held her passion
leashed in a certain restraint only added force and
venom to the reality of her purpose. Had she
frothed and raved and cursed it had been less dan-^er-
ous than this savage concentration uf abhorn noe, this
uafl
THE DEBIT ACCOUNT OF TERESA SAUMAREZ, 249
cool controlled intentness upon vengeance. Did he
understand ? Verily, he did ; but he knew not what
to say, and so answered, half at random —
" And the other side of the account, madame,
what is on it ? "
" Nought as yet," cried she, striking the open
page with her hand. " Nothing that I call ven-
geance ; a brat there was, a paltry whining babe
that La Hake set his heel upon — a nothing, a
nothing, but through no fault of mine,"
" Son for son, madame," said I between ray teeth,
for even after all these years I could not bear to
hear the little lad reviled; "son for son, it is
quits."
" Quits ! " and she laughed aloud, such a laugh
as might fill the mouth of devils in hell. " As
well set Spain against the mud-heap they call
Navarre. Quits i No, by the Lord God ! nor will
be until I can write on the blank there and in
letters an inch long, ' Blaise de IJernauld, gone to
his own place ; and may God have no mercy on his
soul ! ' Then I am quits with him, but not till
then."
Of a sudden her voice fell into a quaver. For
all her implacability of passion the spirit was
stronger than the flesh, and she was outworn by
her own vehemence. In a breath the burden of
threescore years and ten was upon her, and it was
a VjpokeT! and a tremulous voice that said —
" You will pardon a frail old woman, messieurs,
250
A king's pawn.
il
1
will you not ? a poor, weak, frail old woman. Claire,
child, take me to my room, and bid Anita bring the'
cordial and the salts; I am overwrought, over-
wrought. A frail old woman, messieurs, a frail old
woman."
" May the Lord never send us such a one in her
strength," said Henry, looking after her. " I hope,
for his comfort's sake, that his excellency Don
Saumarez died young!"
251
CHAPTEK XX.
MISCHIEF.
Had I had my will, that glimpse we caught of Douiia
Saumarez as, leaning on her grand-daughter's arm,
she faltered out of the great hall, would have been
our last, but the King was obstinate, and would not
budge. He had come to Spain for a set purpose,
and it would take more than an old woman's ill-
tempered ravings to turn him back.
" Why, man, what do you fear ? " said he, as we
wound our way up the narrow staircase in single file ;
" the witch has blabbed her secret while we have
kept ours. As for her threats, I value them not a
hair. More than that. You know this De Bernauld,
do you not ? Ay ; none better ! Well, your part is
to have an edge against the fellow, and so let another
line be added to the account. It would run like
this: 'July 1584. — Blaise de Zero no fee, save a
Christian woman's blessing, seeing that to kill th?^
wretch is a good deed, and he has his own private
srudae to settle.' Whv. the haii's gratitude would be
worth a hundred men to our side when the rupture
252
A KING'8 pawn.
i:
comes— as come it will, if I can wlioedle that little
hussy who has hooked De Montjiniar."
" J^ut that is jest," he went on hastily, seeing the
sour look on ray tuce ; for certes, it was a little thing
for hin. who w.' ,eed, to set small value on
her threats. " vVh-^L . serious is, that we would
have all N.varre, ay, and all France, too, sinking
scurrilous ballads of the four knights who fled from
a woman's tongue. To fail would he injury enough,
but to be ridiculous in luaure would be fatal. V
lampoon is, to a man's reputation, what a diiraer is
to hi.i life."
Pa.' sing by our sleeping chambers, we had mounted
to tiie ramparts, where we three gentlemen walked
abreast, while Marcel, with ni odd kind of fascina-
tion, returned to his old scrutiny of the watch-out
cages.
" What is your opinion, De Montamar ? "
"My opinion!" said he, nervously curlinrr his
moustache. " I— oh, I—I agree with De Bern'auld ;
and yet, Sire, there is a great deal also in the view
you take. In .short, I think that to leave in haste
while we can stay in safety " and between his
will and his wi he hv^ke d vn stammering.
"I understand,' said the King gravely 1' "your
words are at odds, ba^ your menning is r vystal clear
You would have u« ride po.st to Oloron, but take
Mademoiselle de Lignac with u.- '
"I would save the girl 'rom that siie-wolf of a
grand-dam."
MISCHIEF.
253
I
" And who told yon that sb wished to l)o snved ? "
asked Henry tartly ; " or, for l hat matter, that there
was aught of saving in it ? Ventre St Oris ! hut
you take too much upon you, monsieur ; and all he-
cause of an hour's courtesy undc^ a false conception."
" No falsehood upon my part, Sire," he hegun
hotly.
" Ta, ta, ta," hroke in the King, waving his hand
in front of him impatiently ; " we know w(dl enough
what women are, and mademoiselle is no exception.
You were the Count de MDUtamar, the rest of us
plain Monsieur This or That ; and she flew at what
she thought the higgest 'ame."
" The question," said 1, "is riding home to hiu."
" What itch have you tor Pau ? " cried Henry
petulantly. " Would it not he enough to he clear of
Lignac ? Ay ; and you, ])e Montamar, if the girl
rode with us — with her maid and who else she would
—would not you, too, be content ? Ay, again. Well,
gl e me but an hour's talk with her, and I warrant
iiat we will all three have our will. Ventre St CJris !
there is by that farther turret. Now, gentlenien,
give me my ' 'lur, and if I win not yon sliy l)ir(l I am
not Henry of Navarre."
" Win her to what, Sire ? " asked De Montamar
fiercely; " are these puiitics, or some accurst "
" The one or other, or maybe botli," answer ta Lie
lightly ; " whichev^T n, r(!fikinK loose from my arm, he hastened alonrr tiie
rampart to where Mademoiselle de Li-nac stood, as he
said, at the foot of the south-east turret, hut facing
away from us out towards the land of the sun-risinjr.
With an anj^ry exclamation Do Montamar sprang? for-
ward, and would have followed, but that I held him hack.
" Let him be," aid I ; "if she is a true woman an
hour will not wheedle her to her own hurt— no, nor
a week of hours. If she is u light-o'-mind it were
better you knew it now than later."
" Biu if he plays the King, the glamour "
" Still let him be," said I again, stopping him short
in liis heresy. " Where a king can wlieedle in one
hour a plain man can in two; and again, it is better
tliat you should know it lirst tiian last. But liave no
fear; for all his vanity he has a close affection for
Henry of Navarre, and will put himself in the hollow
of no girl's palm, however soft and rosy it may be."
At the same time I told my.self the trial was a hard
one : a country girl pitted against the greatest gallant
of his generation ! and that, in an age of gallants, is a
large word. That he was not handsome went for
little. Few women, I think, unless they be them-
selves animal, set that in the forefront. He was
better—he was comely ; and for all that his inches
were not great, it would be no hard thing for a
woman to look kindly on such a sunny-faced man as
the King. From his bare, curly head, as he strode
along, hat in hand, to his silver-buckled and be-
ribboned shoes, there was not a slack muscle in his
MISCHTRF.
206
straif,'lit, supple, hard-bitten frame. Add lo that a
shrewd wit, a winninf; manner, a *i,ay assurance, and
he had small need (tl a pink-and-white perfection.
" It is very well for you, De liernauld, to say let
him be," replied J )oMontaTnar, " but if Madame Jeanne
were in question you nii<,'ht be less philosoi)liical."
" What ? My poor lad, art thou bitten so deep
as all that ? " and, takinji; him by the arm, T walked
him slowly up and down. " Tlnit is the unreason
of the boy that clothes his mistress in every ])erfec-
tion but common -sense and constancy. Wait till
thou art f^rown a man in loving — that is to say,
when thou hast added to thy passion adoration, to
thy adoration devotion, to thy devotion sacrifice, to
thy sacrifice reverence, and to thy reverence assur-
ance of faith — then it will be no longer mere flesh
and blood that thou art in love with, but mind, soul,
and spirit, not forgetting the frame they tenant ;
womanhood as it truly is, and not as thou thinkest
it to be. When that day comes thou wilt be as
philosophical as I am over Madame Jeanne.'
But it was a waste of words, and as if a man
talked of the stars to the blind. He was as yet a
puppy with his eyes but one day openod, and so could
see no farther than Mademoiselle de Lignac and the
King leaning together upon the parapet in all the
glory of the sunshine.
" To smother me in words is easy enough,'' he said
glumly, twisting his head over his shoulder to watch
the two; "but twenty years ago your blood was
25e
A king's pawn.
hotter, and you would have cared as little as I do for
another man's wise saws."
Which was so true that I had no answer ready, and
so tried him on another scent.
"Let us hold council, we two. How shall we
overcome the King's stubbornness? That we are
better out of this is plain."
" There are two words to that," said he, shaking his
head with an air of cunning. " It would be an ill
return to such frank hospitality if we rode off in the
niglit like churls. After such a discourtesy no man
of us would dare show face at Lignac again."
" The frank hospitality of Donna Saumarez ? You
would have another word to say if your name was in
her books."
"No, no, no, you forget mademoiselle is our
hostess," cried he; then he added with a sigh,
" I would give ten years of my life to be as mu'^h
in the thoughts of one lady of Lignac as you are
of the other ! "
After that I tried the coming of Roquelaure,
D'Epernon's visit to Vic, the last escapade of Madame
Margot, the rough and arid slope of the hills to the
north— nay, even the sweet crispness of the day;
but one and all came back, and in three sentences,'
to Mademoiselle de Lignac, her charm, lier graces,'
and her perfections. In the end I let iiim talk, and
so for ten minutes he lived in a kind of reflected
paradise, though where the fellow found such wealth
of sugared words puzzled me.
MISCHIEF.
267
as T do for
But the paradise was ruthlessly broken into.
Mademoiselle had greeted the King with a curtsey
as deep as his own bow, and the two had quickly
plunged into close talk. Cool headed, and with a
clear eye upon the purpose of his visit to Spain,
Henry at the first talked the common jargon of the
day's gallantry, a subtle compliment, a hint of admira-
tion, a half- veiled flattery, phrases that sound pleasant
in any woman's ear be she drudge or duchess, but
which on such occasions are so much breath and no
more. From grace of person to grace of mind was
but a step, from that to grace of spirit but anotlier ;
and lo ! in ten minutes he had linked her sympathies
by their common creed.
In those days, as in these, religion and politics
were so near akin that one was often mistaken for
the other. The truth is, one was the soil from which
the other grew ; therefore, after creed, politics. Who,
like Henry, could paint the villainy of the theft that
robbed Navarre of half her strength ? Who, like him,
could renew to fresh life the glories of the ancient
freedom, or steep the unhappy stolen province in the
dark shadows of the Inquisition ever creeping north-
wards, northwards, till their advance was stayed by
the unquenched light of free Navarre ? In another
ten minutes he had her eyes aglow with the rapture
of enthusiasm, and her moist lips tremulous to ask,
" What must I do ? " Then, fired by the very mood
his cunning had compelled, he played the fool and
flung away his gains.
B
258
A king's pawn.
i '
Misreading her generous heart, and caught in his
quick fancy by the new beauty that broke upon her
face, he faltered in his impassioned speech. But only
for an instant, and before the girl was aware of his
new thought the patriot was lost in the lover. Spain,
France, Navarre, went to the winds, and for the King
the world had shrunk to a yard of bare stone and no
more. We were out of common earshot, therefore
what he said I know not ; but his gesture told its
own tale as, oblivious of our very existence, he sought
to take her in his arms, as also did hers as she thrtst
him back. But we were near enough to hear her
cry of anger, and De Montamar waited for no second
call.
Dropping his glorification in mid Fentence, round
he swung on his heel and raced at full speed towards
them, gripping his dangling scabbard in his left hand
as he ran. Teste! What a pace he went! If
there is one thing that can outrun fear it is love,
and so i)e Montamar had pushed himself between'
Mademoiselle de Lignac and the King while the latter
still staggered from the unexpected repulse.
For a moment there was silence, but though for
no more than a moment it was long enough to permit
me to join the play of comedy turned tragedy. Then
the King broke out —
" God's wounds. Monsieur do Montamar, what im-
pertinence is this ? You not alone intrude yourself,
but you dare, you dare to touch your sword ? Have'
a care, monsieur, have a care I say, lest you be taught
MISCHIEF.
259
to mend your manners after a fashion you will never
forget."
De Montamar had gone very white even before
the King spoke, but he met the hot outpouring of
wrath unllinchingly, giving him back stare for stare ;
nor, for all his whiteness, did his voice shake.
"Mademoiselle de Lignac called, monsieur, there-
fore I am here. As to manners, I am more accus-
tomed giving lessons than receiving them."
With an effort the King controlled himself, and
though the hard look never left his eyes, his mouth
smiled.
" You forget yourself," he said coldly. " Made-
moiselle de Lignac no longer calls you. You can
go, monsieur, and I will try to forget your folly."
For answer De Montamar turned to the girl, — " I
am at your command, mademoiselle," he said softly,
the colour coming back into his face as he spoke.
" Oh go, monsieur, go," she cried, putting out her
hands appealingly. "J am already ashamed of my
foolishness. Go, I beg of you, and now, now, at
once."
" You hear, monsieur," said Henry, twisting his
moustache ; "as I said, you intruded."
"Then you wish," replied De Montamar, deliber-
ately turning his back on the King, and speaking to
mademoiselle as if slie alone were within hearing
— " you wish that I should leave you with Monsieur
d'Albret ? "
Up went the girl's hands to her face, and for a
260
A king's pawn.
moment she stood rocking herself and sobbing as if
her heart was broken. Then locking her lingers
behind her back she turned to the King, the tears
still running down her cheeks —
" Have you no shame, no pity, no common cour-
tesy, monsieur? No reverence, that you hold us
women to be but soulless toys and playthings of a
foolish hour ? You trick us with the thought that
we are your fellows in the building and the bettering
of the world, and it is all a lie, a cheat. Some vice of
nature trips you, and to your dishonour the true
thought flashes out, and we are no more than the
puppets of your pleasures. Your talk of common
faith, Navarre, the sorrows and the saving of a
nation, was but another lie, another cheat, to cover
a base purpose. Oh, shame upon you, monsieur;
shame, I say, shame, shame ! "
Slipping past the King, who all this time stood
gnawing his lip, she walked quickly to the turret
door that opened upon the stair-head. But once
there she turned sharply as if a new thought struck
her, and she made as if to come back.
"There is evil enough done already, messieurs.
For God's sake let there be no ill-blood between you
two. I do not say for my sake, for who am I to
bring about or stay a quarrel between " and she
stopped short, looking from one to the otlior.
" Be easy, mademoiselle," said I. " This quarrel
has already gone too far, and will go no further. I
pledge my word to that. "
MISCHIKF.
261
sobbing as if
; her lingers
ing, the tears
onimon cour-
you hold us
-ythings of a
thought that
the betterini;
Some vice of
)ur the true
3re than the
of common
saving of a
eat, to cover
Li, monsieur ;
3 time stood
the turret
But once
ought struck
f, messieurs,
between you
'ho am I to
- " and she
er.
rhis quarrel
further. I
I
For a moment she stood as if still unsatisfied ; then
she turned into the doorway without another word,
and we heard the ring of her heels grow fainter on
the stone steps.
"Well, monsieur?" and the King, setting his
hands upon his hips, faced De Montamar angrily.
" If you have excuses to offer 1 will hear them. To
grant pardon will be more difficult."
" Excuses ! " echoed the other, tapping his foot upon
the stone, and every whit as wrathful as tlie King.
" Rather, monsieur, I wait yours."
Round upon his heel swung Henry.
" Plague take the meddlesome squire of dames ! " he
cried. "Is the fellow mad, De Bernauld, that he
prates of excuses to me — to me ! "
"Either that," said De Montamar, "or " and
he shifted his sword hilt nearer to his right hand
significantly. "Monsieur de Bernauld may find he
has promised more than he can fulfil"
" Bah, you rave, man, you rave," answered Henry
contemptuously. "As I said a moment since, you
forget yourself. Huw can I stoop to cross swords
with the Count de Montamar?"
" Whatsoever I forget," he replied sullenly, " I re-
member that here you are no more than Henry
d'Albret, and Henry d'Albret may well answer Rene
de Montamar. Here it is a ciuestion not of king and
subject, nor of man's allegiance, but of two gentlemen
and an insulted v oTnnn,"
" Sits tlie bird ou t iiat tree ? " cried Heury, his face
M
I
262
A king's pawn.
clearing. " There I grant you are within your rights
but plague take me if I know how Henry d'Albret is'
to fight, and yet not risk the King of Navarre, a
thing he has no right to do. Come, man, I will be
frank with you. I was wrong, and if mademoiselle
desires I will crave her pardon in a white sheet, and
taper m hand. Can I say more, De Montamar ? My
faith, if she only understood it aright all this is the
prettiest compliment Mademoiselle de Lignac has had
paid her in a twelvemonth."
For a moment De Montamar hung in the wind •
then he caught the King's extended hand in both of
his.
" Oh, Sire, Sire," he cried, " the pity of it that you
should ever forget that you are a king ! "
Before Henry could answer—and" I doubt not it
would have been with a jest — Miguel Zarresco
appeared in the dark hollow of the turret door.
So softly had he climbed the stairs, and so intent had
we been upon the quarrel and its reconciliation, that
we had heard no sound, and as I saw the eager ques-
tioning look on his yellow face I fairly gasped to
think that he had caught De Montamar's last
words.
"Your pardon, Excellencies," said he, with, it
seemed to me, an exaggeration of his cringing, ser-
vile manner. " My lady begs that you will honour
her with your presence."
" A 11 four of us ? "
■ Ail four. Excellency."
MISCHIEF.
263
" Ha ! Mademoiselle is sceptical of your powers as
peacemaker, De Bernauld ! We will follow you,
irieiid. Ho ! Master Marcel ! Here, here ! To set
her mind at ease, gentlemen, let us leave tliese lum-
bering blades behind us. They are more fit for a
stricken field than for a lady's presence-chamber.
Master Marcel, do thou fiing these and that great
skewer of thine into our own sleeping-rooms. This
time, De Montamar, the word lies with you. We three
will talk sport with Yellowface. Nay, man, never
blush like that ! Why, he is sweating like a boy at
his first tilting - match ! Art thou belli nd. Marcel ?
Good. What, friend ? The smaller chamber be-
yond the dining - hall ? Again, good. Faith ! they
make a gallant show of their ceremony in Lignac.
No less than five of them bowing at the door. You
first. Monsieur de Zero ; then we two at your heels
like lambs. Peste ! We have reckoned without our
hostess. It is the old devil of a grand-dam ! "
As the last whispered words were spoken in my
ear the door closed behind us with a crash; there
was the sharp rasp of bolts shot home in their
sockets, the click of a key in its lock, and Teresa
Saumarez, leaning forward on her crutched ^tick,
asked —
" And now, gentlemen, which of you four is Mon-
sieur Blaise de Burnauld ? "
264
CHAPTEIi XXI.
BREAD AND SALT, SPANISH FASHION.
With an accord more natural than comfortin- all
three turned to me, and for a moment there" was
silence. The King was the first to recover from
the thrust.
"De Bernauld?" said he, with an admirable note
of interrogation in his voice ; " is this some jest ? "
"Jest," echoed Donna Teresa with a laugh even
more disquieting than her malignancy,—" if when I
am done with him, this De Bernauld still ihinks it
^s a jest, then, by the saints, he must have a stran..e
taste in pleasantries. Let him trust me for th^Ct
wlnchever he is. You may spare your lies, messieurs'
and let the three who will live remember this : not
to clack as they say a woman does, for a secret is
only a secret while it is behind the teeth. Let one
of you say-as you did—' Hulloa ! De Bernauld t '
and the secret is out. Now ; again I say, Wliich of
you four is Blaise de Bernauld ? "
We were alone in the small salon, we five not
uven Miguel /:arresco having entered behind us, and
BREAD AND SALT, SPANISH FASHION.
266
as the mocking old witch baited us, the one obvious
thought filled our minds — to seize her and hold her
hostage for our safety. But as Marcel, who was ever
foremost in action when Master Blaise was threatened,
pushed to the fronf ds hand upon his dagger, she
wagged her mocking fingers in his face so com-
placently that he halted and fell back a pace.
" Cliut ! " she cried, divining our thought but still
smiling, " Navarre truly must be the paradise of
fools if ye think I am trapped as easily as that !
See there, and there, and there ; the walls are honey-
combed with loopholes, and in every hole there is a
musketoon. I grant you can kill me, you being the
noble gentlemen you are and I a weak old woman,
but the killing will cost four lives instead of one."
Then the laugh flickered to a snarl, and she burst
out, "And, by the saints, I would pay the price to
danm all four before your time. Kill, ye dogs, kill ;
I bid ye do it — bid ye, T say. What? Ye hang
back ? Well, ye have a kind of wisdom after all,
though it be but a coward's wisdom. Were I Blaise
de Bernauld and you Teresa Saumarez I would have ere
this throttled the old beldam, though 1 died with her."
And verily I believe she would !
That no one answered her tirade was but reason-
able, seeing that speech was beset with pitfalls, not
alone to me, but to all. For as I dreaded lest an
incautious word should betray me to be the man she
hunted, the others feared that a like careless slip
would excuse themselves, and so by elimination re-
i H
III
266
A kino's pawn.
Juce the uncertainty. But Donna Teresa had wit
enouj/h to clear tho doubt as to two.
"Well?" she went on as wi- stood silent, "you
were glib enough the other side of th< door there."
"Madame," began Dr Montamar, "ycu will under-
stand "
" 1 understand," said she. turning on him sharply
" that you are not the man ; no, nor you," and she'
pointed a shaking finger at the King. "Seventeen
years ago you, and you. were but miching S( 'loolboys.
The luring Diego Saumarez to his death was the
work of a grown man."
" Then," said Marcel, speaking his gruffost, " let
these two go, since tliey are out of court."
" No, by the saints, not I ; and seeing I have you
so fast by the leg, I will tell you why. Caution is
now no virtue, and you may have seen that I love
plain speaking. One of you is forfeit, but the other
three s.m guests of bread and salt, and heretics and
all m vou are, Teresa Saumarez can honour hospit-
ality ; t!..efore these three are safe. Oh, spare your
jubilancy; you came unasked, and I have no mind
to feed unbidden guests. You understand?"
"What?" cried Henry, "you would starve us?
Why, 'tis rank murder."
" There is one forfeit," answered she coolly • " let
him pay his forfeit, that the three may eat. For the
rest it is very simple— whoso will starve, must st irve •
but I keep by bread and salt, and so will lay no
hand upon him."
BREAD VNI) SALT, SPANISH t ASH ION.
267
sresa had wit
" An^l," said De Montamar, asking a question that
was burning i- y own tongue, "if you lay 'fls on
De J'ernaukl i "
" If," she > ied, stifl'ening herself in the chair and
striking the floor with her aiick. " If ? Plague take
the fool : Why, I have him there," and she thrust
out a hollowed hand and snapped the lingers -^Mwn
across the palm. "Are you so blind not to see tiiat
if he speaks I have him, and if he and you stay
iiumb he starves, and so I still have ' 'mi ( He is so
safe either way that I am in two Is which to
pray for."
" Then," said he, altering his plirase, " when you
have laid hands on him and singled him out, what
then ? "
She drew in a long breath, so that it hissed between
her lips, and her eyes lit up.
" Better not ;isk, monsieur. When a woman has
kept her vengeance for seventeen years she is in no
haste to squander it." Then she flashed a keen look
upon us all, and went on : " That you will say noth-
ing now, I know ; three of you because as gentlemen
you may not, and one because as coward, dastard,
and cur, he dares not; but the patience of seven-
teen years may well wait seven days. Disarm,
messieurs, if you please : tut, tut, hesitation is a
folly, a vice ; have you forgotten the musketoons ?
Right ! one dagger, two, three, four : so, that is well.
Now, see how I trust you, faith of a gentleman, have
you any other arms ? No ? and you three will
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268
A king's pawn.
nea y cught you then. I will take your paroles
gentlemen you .nay retire to your chambers, W
I have not played the spy in your baggage Ther
was no need. Farewell, gentlen.en, ferevell a„d
whe er .t he ,y day or by night, when you' w 1
to .ell me wh.ch .s Blaise de Bernauld, I am at your
brid""" T"""^'^— ^^•^•^ei.is^r
bolt the door and attend our guesf "
" Miguel Zarresco ! " cried Mareel, falling back a
step ; " not hrotlier to Bernardino ? "
"Ha, friend, where gottest thou that white face in
nch haste 1 And what knowest thou of Bernar-
.no Zarresco? Ah! I see. You remember "^
Ittle account book, do you? Are the toils elosin'
m, Master Blaise de Bernauld ? Ha » "
Marcel made no reply, and as by' this time the
door stood open behind us, I bade hfm bego n
my breath, and we four tramped back to the corri
of ha« "'" r' f"'' "°'" »'■ "''^ ^-yant gaiety
f>i nalt an hour bpforp "R„f „^ ^i , *^
turned back. ' "' '^' "*'^ ^''"y
"You spoke of paroles." said he; "understand we
give none that we will not escape »
she the paroles I meant were as to your arms,"
We give you our word on tliat"
It was a silent procession that wound its way
up the .qt.nivQ ivp hail /I .- 1 1 • 1 "
r --„ii.. .VL naa aeacenaeU in the
morn mo- with
.4wr"
BllEAD AND SALT, SrANLSH FASHION.
269
, falling back a
understand we
such complaisant chattering ; Miguel Zarresco headed
it, with Marcel shivering at his back. To him it
was as if the man who slept so peaceably in Jean
Minet's pasture had risen from his grave to threaten
Bernauld. A true son of the hills, Marcel was crammed
with superstitious fancies, and that a Zarresco should
meet him face to face at Lignac was nothing less than
a visitation of God by the road of the devil. Behind
him were two n)en-at-arms ; then walked De Montamar,
followed by two more of the she-fiend's retainers. I
was next with a like attendance, and last of us all was
Henry, the rear being brought up by a couple of pike-
men. My faith ! but it was like the crawling of
a gigantic serpent, and the major-domo was fussing
at our doors when the last joint of the tail was still in
the corrif'.or below !
To my surprise this time Marcel made no attempt
to join me, but tramped into the room he shared with
De Montamar without so much as turning round for
a farewell. He seemed bewildered by the double
surprise, and I looked for nothing less than that
he should break down. At the doors, which were
side by side, with nothing more than the thickness
of the wall between, De Montamar paused and waited
for the King to join us.
" We are friends and at peace, are we not ? " said
he, holding out a hand to each of us, but with his
eyes on the King. " Thank God for that."
" Friends and lovers, and without a shadow,"
answered Henry, grasping his hand in both his.
>H
270
A king's pawn.
That was all, but it shook my nerve more than all
Donna Teresa's wrath and threats, for they spoke
as men speak who bury their quarrel before the
very face of the dead, and because they look for
nothing less than never to cross hands again in
this world.
When the door had clanged behind us, and the
ponderous lock, which had been such a comfort and
reassurance the night before, turned against us, 1
think it no shame to admit that I ilung myself upon
the bed and dropped my head upon my hands in utter
dejection. That • a man should fight down despair,
and, sword in hand, go smiling to his death, is nothing'
no, not though the odds are hopeless fifty times over.'
The briskness of action stirs his blood and blots cool
thought from his brain, and pride in playing the man
stiffens his courage. There is glory to be gained,
or that loud-tongued notoriety in a man's small world
of life which passes for glory, and for the moment he
thinks himself the centre and pivot of the universe.
In such a case to be brave to folly's length, ? r
even to heroism, is easy, and the man who faix.^ .,o
play a man's part must be a coward in grain.
But change the scene; shut him up in a corner
away from the world's eye, and witlt nothing but
his own soul to hearten him, and the man who does
not gnaw his lip must be a Eoland, or such another
as that Bert-and who is the glory of Rennes. Not
that the fear of death turns him cur~no : nineteen
times in twenty it is the loneliness, the isolation, the
BKEAD AND SALT, SPANISH FASHION.
271
seeming waste and uselessness of the sacrifice, that
devour bis fortitude. Death and God are terrible
realities, but at times they are less awful than the
grave, with its tremendous silences, its dissolutions,
its oblivion.
It was the King who roused me. On the closing
of the door he had taken to tramping up and down
the room with bent head, his hands behind his back,
the left hand gripping the right wrist. Presently he
halted by me, and took me firmly by the shoulder.
" My fault, old friend," he said sorrowfully ; " but
who could have guessed we would tlirust our heads
into the one wasp's nest in all the province ? Is that
not like a man," he went on with a laugh that choked
dismally in his throat, " to blame himself for a clear
folly, and then excuse the blame all in the one Vr-ath ! "
" No, Sire, no," I cried, ashamed of my weakness ;
" the fault rather is mine that I did not frankly say,
' I am he,' and so let the hfU-cat flesh her claws
as she lusted. But my wit went numb in the sudden-
ness of it all." Then in a flush of determination I
started to my feet. " 'Tis a fault easily mended, and
the sooner the better. Three words are enough," and
I sprang for the door, my hand raised to hammer on
the panel. But the King pushed me back.
" Time enough for that," said he, keeping his open
hand on my breast lest I should push past him.
" Silence is a saving virtue, and the night brings
counsel. No, no," he continued, as I still fono-ht
against his opposition, his voice hardening and growing
I
272
A king's pawn.
fi
nil
authoritative, so tliat it was no longer simply the
friend who spoke. " I forbid it. What, man ? here
am I a king with but one subject. Am I fallen
so low that even he rebels ? "
" Counsel is well enough, Sire, where there is hope
Eemember the woman's bitter gibe, ' Ely through the
windows and welcome,' said she."
" Tut, man, there is always hope. If the lion is
netted a mouse may gnaw the cord."
" But it is starvation ! "
" Well 7 What of that ? Do you call the loss of
one meal starvation ? You would risk that any day
for a stag hunt. Besides, it will not be the first time
I have dined off two holes of a leather belt ; I pray
God It may not be the last."
After that what was to be said ? Nouglit, nought
So we set ourselves to pass the long day as best
we might. My God ! how we sickened of the sun-
shine as we stood staring out between the bars while
the glory of the day wore on. Never before had
the world seemed so bubbling full of life and strencxth
Every field of corn, every acre of green vineyard
every giant chestnut that shaded the pastures nay'
every pine-mottled slope of the hills where the woods
lay like the broad shadows of clouds dapplin- a
landscape, was a voice that preached the power
and spiendid sufficiency of a man's being.
Had we had dice we might have played, but I
think not for long. I have heard~more than that,
^ have known— of men who thus gamed away their
BREAD AND SALT, SPANISH FASHION
273
dregs of time, and earned thereby a reputation for
coolness and calm fortitude. But to me that was
a courage that aped the brute, a warped mind that
knew not how to appraise truly time and eternity;
nor could the clear, shrewd head of the King have
found either pleasure or forgetfulness in s^uch a
puerility. Mostly we talked, fitfully it is true and
with little animation, but it brought the kindly
and healing warmth of fellowship. Then the night
fell, and as the swift twilight looked in at the window
and was gone, Henry, with ^, laugh, supped off his
boasted two inches of broad belt
From the tawny orange of the west there grew
and flared a smoky conflagration; crimson fireships
a-sail on a sea of olive ; dusky continents that flamed
molten red their splendid three minutes of time,
as if the eternal fires smouldered in their heart,
then hardens 1 to an inky purple that shifted in a'
wink to a sullen grey as though the breath of death
had blown across them. Out of I know not how
many long months of forgetfulness some words of
Marmet, the words of a greater than he, came back
to me: "Lift up your heads, ye gates; and be
ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of
glory shall come in;" and lo ! the King of Glory
was the great King of shadow and eternal peace.
Later I slept, and the night slipped away like
so much dry sand from a bony fist.
The rasping of the bolt in the lock woke me, and
274
A king's I'AWN.
as I lay on my elbow, blinking, Miguel Zarrepco
entered, gravely servile, and obsequious as ever.
My lady bids me say, Excellencies, that Monsieur
Bla,sc de liernauld having declared himself, you are
at liberty to come and go as you list."
276
CHArXEli XXII.
"THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOIl HIS FUIEND."
Still lieavy witli sleep, I sat up, dazed and gaping.
What fool's talk was this, that I had, as he put it,
declared myself ? and how, if I had chattered in my
sleep, was the door open that we might come or
go as we listed ? Then the thought Hashed into
my sluggish brain that this was some cunning
trick to lure us, one or other, into a disclosure by
a chance word. Therefore I sat up, rubbing my
eyes like a man still half in a dream, and said to
test him :
" Hulloa, friend, what is Be Bernauld to a starving
man ? after such a fast as ours, meat and wine count
for more to us than an open door."
"For that reason I have brought them. Excellency;
see, they are here on this stool."
That, I confess staggered me, and left me with
no other tliought than that Donna Teresa was minded
to take a short cut to her vengeance by the road
of poison. That she should have foregone it was
incredible. But as I sat looking from the tray
27(5
A kino's I'AWN.
I, .ij
mi
of food to Miguel Z„„osco's impassive yellow face,
and back again to the tray, Henry struck in •
'■ We vv.ll dispense with attendance, friend, and
hough we thank thy distress our gratitude would
have been livelier twelve hours ago"
" ^''^ '""dness is this, Sire ? " cried I, rising from
the bed a. the door closed behind the major-dumo.
Has the woman relented ? or is there some cursed
Borgias drug n. the meat and drink ? and why this
talk De Bernauld declaring himself ? Is it a wile
a ,)uggle ? "
Drawing the stool nearer to where he sat on the
bedside, the King helped himself leisurely to both
food and wme; ate a mouthful or two of the one
and drank a glassful of the other, nodding his
satisfaction. *
■'That tov your poison!" said he. and went on
eating with stolid discrimination of the daintier
morsels.
" Then what, Sire ? "
Ventre St Gris ! is it your habit at Bernauld to live
on a „eal a day? That is not my way. and when
God gives a man the good gift of an appetite He
means him to use it— in reason TTof t
be thankful." ' ^ ''^' *"''
Knowing that he had his s:lent as well as hi,
loquacious moods, and that the one was as hard to
penetrate as the other to curb, I drew a stool to
the opposite side of the tray, and set myself to fill
"TFIAT A \rAN LAY DOWN lUS LIFE." ETC.
277
up the blanks of the provioua day. lint, alaa ! a
supper is like last month, and once wasted it can
never be recalled.
At last, our hunger being satisfied, I returned to
my questionings, but at first could draw no answer
from the King. Then he rose, went to tlie door
softly, opened it an inch or two, muttered to himself,
" Yes, yes, I thought the fellow spoke truth," closed
it without noise, and returning, stood over me.
" So the thing is a mystery ? "
"An utter mystery, Sire."
" Did I not say well that you grow rusty." answered
he. shaking his head and looking at me with a strange
pathetic merriment in his eyes. " The mystery Is
plain enough. Marcel is a servant who knows his
duty and has done it. Marcel has my respect."
" Marcel ? " said I, stupidly ; " Marcel ? "
" Marcel, Marcel," he echoed, growing testy in his
impatience at my slowness ; " did not that old witch
say that it lay between you two? and Marcel has
done that which, if I had but had his ear a minute,
I would have bidden him do."
" Then he has lied "
" Oh ! Good Lord, have it p, If you will; he has
bed. But your body-servant, who lies fifty times a
clay to his own advantage, may well lie once to yours."
" Marcel is no servant. Sire."
" Ay, 1 know. He is Bernauld's bone and sinew ;
but we breed such fellows for
this.
just such a time as
278
A KIN(i's PAWN.
" But, Sire, it l. intol(>ml.l(. ; I would be shamed
for ever b«lore the vvh..h> worhl and in my own con-
.sc.enoe," and I .stru^r.d.d hard to ,,..1 my feet un.ler
»i^. Hut lie set his hands on my shoulders an.l held
ni. down, as he could easily eiiou-di, for no man ever
called Henry of Navarre a weaklino.
" Be quiet, man, be quiet. Set Blaise de Bernauld
a.id this Marcel of thine in a scale, and which weighs
the heavier ? he quiet, 1 say."
" But it is an infamy."
" Tut, it is his plain duty, and Marcel himself would
be the first to say so. Have reason. Who has the
better head, he or you ? "
^ " Mme is poor enough," said I, humbly ; " see how
X could not guess the truth of all this."
" Oh. that," answered the King coolly, " was a thin.-
of cunning, and your wisdom, my friend, does not lie
hat way. Now, in the pinch of action, which is the
better man ? Why, you, twenty times over. There-
fore It IS plain policy that until we are outside Licmac
>t IS for the general weal that as between you 'two
Blaise de Bernauld should have the free hand, and
Marcel be laid by the heels."
" But, Sire, once we are clear of Lignac. what is to
become of Marcel laid by the heels ? "
"That is the point, man, that is the point," said he
hastily. « We must have you untrammelled, so that we
may free Marcel-therefore, say nothing, say nothing-
and since the door is open, let us join De Montamar and'
hear from him what has happened through the ni^ht "
THAT A MAN LAY DOWN rilS MKK," KTC.
279
ibly ; " see how
imc, what is to
" But, Sire," T objected af,'ain, " if in the ineantiine
Marcel should bo mishandled?"
" IJut!" he cried, " but, but, but; your s[)irit is as
full of buts as most butts are of spirit. Trust nie,
they will be in no haste to mishandle him. What ?
lias a woman chewed her vengeance all these years
only to bolt it in one swallow at the first touch of
sweet on the palate? No, by the Lord, no! You
have lived over much with Madame Jeanne to be
versed in the ways of women. Now I, who owe you
a dozen years, know more — but there, Margot herself
is a full education. Trust me, I say again. Donna
Teresa will dandle her joy before she hugs it to death,
though meanwhile Marcel must take his chance of the
caresses. Now, then, let us find De Montamar."
That there was a grain of truth in the Kind's
bushel of chaff I knew, since I, being free, could
serve Marcel better than, in a reversed case, Marcel
could have served Pdaise do Bernauld, but neither
then nor later was I clear as to the King's good
faith. To him Marcel's sacrificv. was but the duty
of a soldier, and I half believe that if he could have
got me clear of Lignac he would have given no second
thought to the squire's fate.
De Montamar we found pacing his room from end
to end, an untouched tray of food being, as with us,
on a stool by the door. His healthy bronze had faded
to a dull brown, and the soft smoothness of youth was
overlaid with that haggard care which it is as rare
as lamentable to see upon the face of a man under
H
. SI
280
A king's pawn.
• d
'&2
»
HI
11
ijii
middle age. By his looks he had passed his night
wakmg or slept only in worthless snatches. At the
sound of the door closing behind us he halted in hi
walk, and cried—
" Is there hope, Sire, is there hope ? Can Eoque-
laure come in time ? " ^
" Koquelaure ? Are you mad ? "
eye7"i' ;"".*" f' '" "P'^" ''''"' — ^s
I thank God that I disobeyed yon. Sire, and sent him
word from Oloron. I pray from my heart he may
come in time." ^
With a quick jerk of the shoulders the King drew
himself up, and I saw his hands clench in a spL of
passion but at the sight of the hope that spraT:;
my face he swallowed his anger
w?"hetirgri::^^.rs„;r ^^ - ^-^^^
— the treacly, b^ . Jj— Z^ "^
ess. More than that, it i. a useless treachery, since
Koquelaure could not be here for two days, and how
^a^^he,^ out of all the province, to set his hnger on
"But Sire," cried I. "you said but ten minutes
since there would be no haste, and as for „dt
Lignac. surely God Himself will point the way'""
Nor will there be haste, but are we fools to play
wit. edged tools two days in Lignac. My faitHn
b?H Zk™;;r" °™' .«»-""« ^-amd,
k„ turuugh men, anU God's providences and
"THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE"
ETC.
281
men's follies will not pull in the one harness. Fin no
hope on Eoquelaure ; we must fend for ourselves.
What of Marcel, De Montamar ? "
" What ? Did you not hear ? "
" We guess," answered the King curtly — " we guess,
but we know nothing for certain."
" I would give my left arm to have him back, and
we four clear of this accursed place. Three days we
have been comrades, and there is no truer gentleman
on God's earth than old Marcel."
" Granted," said the King, " granted. We kr -w all
that ; but what we do not know is what happened
after the bolts were shot upon us yesterday."
"I, you will remember, waited a .he door, but
Marcel went straight to the window there, and never
so much as turned his head. Later, when they shut
us in, I found him gripping the bars with both hands,
and staring out into the great hollow of tlie dip below
the wall. Three times I spoke to him, and three times
he answered me at random. After that I let liim be,
for I saw his trouble was more than brain deep— -a
thing of soul and spirit ; and there, for a full hour, he
stood like a statue. Then he turned :
" ' Will the woman keep faith, monsieur ? '
" ' Trust her for that,' I answered bitterly ; ' she is
devil enough.'
" ' Oh ! Your pardon, monsieur ; not her threats— a
man were a fool past mending to doubt them— but
her promises. Will she let go you— that is, we three,
^f — if — ^^\ Master Blaise — you understand ? '
ii
-
i
i.j;
282
A king's pawn.
IfMiil
" ' I think so/ answered I slowly ; ' I think so Yes
there is reason for it ; I think she would.'
" ' I pray the Lord she will,' said he earnestly ; ' but
we must risk it.'
"'Then you think Monsieur de Bernauld will
speak ? '
" • Why/ replied he with a briskness as unlike his
depression of an hour back as laughing is unlike cry-
ing, ' the thing's as good as done, and by this time
to-morrow it will be boot and saddle for three if mv
advice is taken.'
'• ' What ! ' cried I in hot contempt, ' you have been
Bernauld s man and eaten their bread these sixty
years, and yet would leave your master to this hell-
cat s claws without a qualm ? '
"'You may say five - and - sixty, monsieur/ he
answered; 'and if I have no chance to speak
to-morrow, I pray you now for God's sake not to
dawdle nor waste time on useless scheming, but to
ride north with all haste.'
"'After sixty -five years you would save your
wretched worn-out carcass at the cost of .. God
pity you, man, but I think the Donna's notion of
bread and salt is not much worse than yours ' '
" ' Then you would stand by Master Blaise, let come
what might?'
" ' Ay would I.'
" ' Let us sb..ke hands on that, monsieur '
"But I would not. and cursed him for a soulless,
selfish scoundrel.
. If
Bernauld will
"THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE," ETC. 283
" After that you may gue -^ there was not much talk
between us, and the day re away heavily enough.
Nor did the niglit bring rest. Neither of us slept,
but both sat and watched the stars in a kind of sullen
silence that was ten times worse than a solitary vigil.
One hour was like another, except that presently the
stars were blotted out, and there fell sucli a deluge of
rain as falls nowhere except under the shadow of
the mountains. It was the outpouring of a cataract.
At last, when the dawn in the east showed yellow
in the hollow of the west, he roused himself, and
had his hand raised to strike upon the door, when
I, scenting treacliery, flung him back. But only
for a moment; then he was at my throat like a
wolf.
"'You may gibe me,' he cried; 'you may sneer,
you may treat me with the contempt of a dog, but, by
the Lord, you shall not hold me back.'
Judas ! ' cried I in answer ; ' Judas ! You would
betray your master.'
" ' Tut ! ' and for all tliat I am the bigger man he
fairly shook me, his bony hands never slackening
their grip. ' Do you not see ? / am Blaise de Ber-
nauld, monsieur — I am Blaise de Bernauld.'
" ' You ? You ? '
" ' Why not ? They know no better.'
" Then I understood.
Leave go my throat,' I said, ' and let us talk.'
" Grudgingly he loosed his grasp, ])ut not until he
had edged himself between me and the d
oor.
\
284
A king's pawn.
time to work.
"'But this is self-murder; I cried-' self-murder
and no less.' '
" ' Tell me, monsieur/ he answered very quietly ' if
It were a question of you and the Kin,, would not 'you
do the same ? '
" That staggered me, and I hummed and cleared n,v
throat a while ; then at last :
" ' I would never have thought of it,' I said
" ' Ay, would you,' replied he, giving me credit, out of
his own great soul, for being nobler than I am ; 'and
having thought of it, you would have done it. Now
Master Blaise is ten times u.ore my king than Henry
of Navarre is yours. What need is there for talk r
" Then he turned and hammered on the door with
his clenched Hst as if the dearest wish of his heart
Zl ''■ ""'" ""' "* *' ''"""" "'"""" ''™"»ered
-Tell Donna Teresa,' said he, speaking quietly, lest
the sound carry farther than he meant and waken
those It should not, • that Blaise do Bernauld bids
her good morning and is at her service'
"At which there was the bu.. of some whispered
talk and a voice called out:
" ' Are you Blaise de Bernauld ? '
" ' Have I not said so,' he answered ; ' what need to
rouse the whole house ? '
•■ Then there was another buzz of talk and the scurry-
mg n. feet down the length of the passage.
"THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE," ETC.
285
low it is a man's
— 'self-murder.
But,' said I as we waited in the greyness, ' when
this was in your mind last night, why not have said
so to these fellows ? '
And give Master Blaise the chance to call out
that it was a lie? No, no. My faith! but that
would have been a fool's move. Now, d'ye see, they
will have five or six hours to— to— do their will in.
And when they're done wi' me Master Blaise may
keep his tongue quicu, since no good could come of
talking,'
" Again there came the echo of feet from the cor-
ridor, this time a steady tramp.
Must ic be ? ' said I, not very clearly, I think, for
my throat had gone dry ; ' must it be ? '
What other way is there, monsieur ? ' he answered
simply ; ' and say to Master Blaise '
" But what 1 was to say to Master Blaise was lost in
the creak of the door as it was thrown open, and there
was no time for more talk, except that I asked him,
humbly enough, to give me before we parted the
hand-grip I had denied him last night.
" That is the end of it, Sire."
" No, God helping me, it is not the end," I cried.
" I will denounce the trick rather than that a hair of
him should come to harm."
" Gently, De Bernauld, gently," said the King, " Let
there be no foolish haste. Take my word again for
it, Marcel is for the moment in no great danger.
Now, the first thing is to make a friend within the
garrison."
286
A kino's pawn.
" Mademoiselle de Lignac," I began.
"Mademoiselle is excellent; bnt after yesterday, I
fear and tl,e rueful ;„olc on Henry's face was beLd
sma 1 confidence ,n my protests. De Montamar," I,e
went on maliciously, "is too young; therefore on
yon De berrauld, devolves the duty of persuading
Mademoiselle de Lignac. De Montomar and I musi
ferret out h.s whereabouts-some dismal hole in the
very bowels of the rock, I fear. The pity of it is
that we have no lackey ! Your true lackey has a
nose for a secret like a dog for a scent"
In my search for Mademoiselle de Liguac fortune
so avoured me that I could not but believe that she
on her part, had set herself to seek me out. This her
nrst words confirmed.
" Oh, monsieur, monsieur," she cried, givino- me no
greeting, good or bad ; " what evil chance \rought
the King to Spain, and here of all places in Spain r
The King ? " I gasped, " the King ? "
"Let us have done with pretexts, monsieur. I
and not know the Kiuy."
"And knowing him, you could still berate him as
you did yesterday?"
now J?^ "<"■ '"""^i^-"- ? In the King is the greater
power for good because he is King, and so the greater
sm and shame for its misuse."
dnly. 'As to why he is here, your ear, if it taught
"THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIKE," ETC.
287
berate liim as
, answered I
you to know the King, should also have taught you
this : when he says ' T will,' there is an end to argu-
ment. Tell me, mademoiselle, is it common know-
ledge that the so-called D'Albret "
" No, monsieur, no ; and if we are circumspect, all
may yet go well."
"Not may, but must," said I; "though, to be
honest, I am more troubled about "
" Monsieur de Bernauld ? "
" Ah ! You know, then, mademoiselle ? But listen ;
since you know and can keep one secret, I will tell
you a second. I am Blaise de Bernauld. '
"You, you!" she cried, stepping back a pace or
two ; " then who is caged yonder ? "
"The bravest soul in all Spain, and the most
devoted."
In as few words as possible I told her the history
of the night, and as I did so her eyes kindled and
moistened, and her bosom rose and fell with the
quickened breath.
" And he did that for you — for you ? Then,
Monsieur de Bernauld, for all men say of you here
you cannot be utterly vile. There nmst surely be
something of nobility in a man to win a love like
that? And yet, my grand-dam "
"They were lies, mademoiselle, lies," I cried, as
she hesitated ; " but the question is not now the
honour of Blaise de Bernauld, but the saving of
Marcel from his self-sacrifice. Wliere have they
placed him ? "
288
A kino's pawn.
I followed her down the passage, she turned, "o.
your fa,th. monsieur, you are not playing on my
sympathy ? " ^ ''^ "= ^^^
"Ask De Montaraar." answered I shortly. "You
wUl at least believe him. Marcel shared iL priso
and how ,t was paid. He knows the story."
t„l; T'^'^"'^ ^™'''^ "'"^ '■=" ™ «8-" towards the
myself that I had done both De Montamar and myself
a grace at one stroke.
staL''l ?"'"' ""' ''' """" ''*™ *°"-'^d the
leWt „f H T' "°"'' ""' '" ""^ ^-y »'ti-''te
h h h "'; '"' '° '"^ '"P"- ^he passed
ments. and w.thout a pause made for the southern
in hand, were two of what we had come to call the
Spanish faction : ilHooking cut-throat fellows they
prejudice of the hour. Their back, were toward us
and as each leaned out of his crenelle gazing do^ '
into space I caught a louder chatter of voices than
seemed called for by their ei^ht feet „f /!
from the other. " ''""'"''' """^
At the ring of our feet upon the stone they raised
themselves, and the fellow nearest, jumping forward a
step, pushed out his weapon hori.ontally°acros:hi:
y -. ir 118 would liuve blocked Mademoiselle de
"THAT . MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE," ETC.
289
Lignac's advance. But she went boldly on and
thrust both him and it aside.
"What?" she cried, as arrogantly as the Kin"
himself. "You dare? Yon dare ? Take care, fellow"!
or there shall be more birds caged than one."
"But," he stammered, "I have Sefior Miguel's
orders. Said he, 'Let none come '"
" Sefior Miguel's orders ! " cried she contemptuously ;
" and who, pray, is mistress in Lignac ? He takes too'
much upon him, does Sefior Miguel, and risks a whip-
ping, or worse, for his impudence."
" But "
" But ? Wilt thou have me call Lignac's men and
make a sweep of you lazy good-for-noughts once and
for all ? Stand aside, fellow, and learn now, if thou
didst not know it before, that I am mistress in
Lignac."
With a grudging obedience, that was almost as
galling as their open resistance, the two retired to the
nearest corner, whence, after a brief talk, one disap-
peared within the stair -head, doubtless to report his
rout to his master. The other stood sentinel but kept
his distance.
Leaning across the parapet Mademoiselle de Lignac
beckoned to me to do the like, but before I caught'' her
meaning she had faced me again.
"The cowards, the cruel cowards," she cried, her
eyes ablaze and her whole body shaking with passion.
" Let them kill the man if they must, but to torture
him as some savage wretch might a rat in a trap is
t
290
A king's pawn.
'in
devilish. Spfiiu's work. Spain's work. Oh that I
were a man to give Miguel Zarresco his deserts ! See
monsieur, see, is it not infamous ?"
Still uncomprehending, I bent across the coping of
the parapet and looked down. Thrust out from the
face of the wall was one of the cages we had scanned
so closely the previous morning. It was some five
feet square and a little over six feet in height, clos, ly
barred on every side and top and bottom by iron rods
of about an inch thickness, with a four- inch space
between each rod. Stout iron stays set in the wall
below and running to the outer corners held it in
place. In it, his arms thrust between the side bars
and hugging them hard to his breast, was Marcel
Though the awful depth of the sheer profundity
appalled me, T was at a loss to understand the squire's
terrified attitude. It was no mere striving for sup-
port, but a grappling as if for life itself. Into the
hollow of either crooked elbow a bar was drawn, while
the hands, meeting outside, clutched the upright rod
which ran nearest the centre of his chest with'a grim
tenacity. So hard had he drawn himself to the rail-
mg that his face was turned sidelong and upward and
the set whiteness of it was terrible to see.
" Look, look," said mademoiselle hoarsely, pointina
downwards as she spoke ; " the brutal cruelty of it i ""
Then I saw that some four or five of the bars
fonmng the floor of the cage had been removed, so
that behind Marcel's very heels there was a two-feet
gap opening phimb into the abyss. Let him stagaer
"THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE," ETC. 291
let his crniiiped Umbs relax, let him grow giddy in
the fierce heat o: the noon sun, and he was flung
helpless, hopeless to his death.
" Marcel ! Marcel ! " cried I, ready to weep with rage
and pity that he should bear such torment for me.
"For God's sake keep your hold, old friend; in ten
minutes I will have you out of that."
Half- dazed, and with his faculties keenly alert
to nothing but his necessities, he had not recognised
the change of voices above him. But as T spoke
he looked upward, never shifting his cheek from
the bars, but screwing his face round to see the
better; and oh, the agony in his eyes!
" What ? Are you not gone. Master Blaise ? " he
answered hoarsely, but his face lighting up as he
saw me. " Make haste, make haste, for then it will
make no matter if I " and he jerked his head
backward significantly.
"You are mistress here," and I turned roughly
on mademoiselle. "In the Lord's name stop this
torturing of soul and body."
" I am mistress," answered she between her set teeth,
" mistress of such fellows as him in the corner there.
To use brave words to such scum is easy enough, but
with Donna Teresa it is another matter. Daughter's
daughter though I am, she would turn the Inquisition
on me — ay, and on you all — rather than let her prey
escape. To my shame, to my sorrow, my bitter
sorrow, mistress though I am there is no honp in
me."
292
A kino's pawn.
" Theti T must act. Hold fast, Marcel, hold fast ;
jL fa m going hijw to tell that she-dovil the truth. Fn
ten j/aimutt«s we will have you out of that; courage,
old friend."
" No, no, no," he cried, a terror shooting across liis
face; "listen, Master Blaise, listen. It would be
i#ieless, useless, a sacni. e of yourself for no gain to
me. I am doomed."
" Chut," answered 1, turning from the wall. " Let
her hear the cheat and she will have you out of that.
She has no quarrel with you."
" Stop him, mademoiselle, for the Lord's sake stop
him ! " he cried across his shoulder. " One minute.
Master Blaise, one, one, no more ; then do what you
think fit."
" Well ? " said I impatiently, for it was a coward
thing to leave him hanging there in suffering for my
sake; "briefly now, but I warn you I will not be
moved."
"They searched me," said he, speaking quickly,
" and found that confounded bone charm which was
in Bernardino Zarresco's pocket, and that ill -looking
knife of his, so his villain of a brother will have
it that I have slain him. Were you twenty times
Blaise de Bernauld I am doomed. It was he, the
hound, who drew out the bars, and he has sworn to
draw out one every third hour until -- rnMl
But that's past mending ; for Navarre's waKC, tor the
King's sake, for Madame Jeanne's sake, ride north,
-aster Blaise, and let the thought warm my heart
"THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE," ETC. 293
at the last that we h »ve cheated no. or devil, but
two."
Then ho turned his head from us as a man who
had said his say; and giviii„ him such wordw oi
comfort as I could I left him for thu time to seek
the King, that with Madduoisello de Ligntic and
De Montamar we might hold counsel.
294
'-^
Mf-fl
CHAPTER XXIIl.
BETWIXT HEAVEN AND EAETII.
There is no need to spin out the story of that day :
hov/ we plotted and planned, how we pled with
Donna Teresa, how we cried shame upon the cruelty
of Miguel Zarresco. Though as to this last she was
candid enough. " These are none of my orders," said
she, "but since he is where he is, let him bide.
Mayhap it will be to his gain if he slips through the
bars, and by letting him be where Miguel has placed
him I show the villain a kindness : as to pity for him,
we will talk of that when I have balanced my book."
Us she gave leave to depart, but when we begged
permission to remain till the cool of the next morn-
ing she made no demur. Nay, she rather played
the guest. Who was she to say go or stay to any
stranger in Lignac ? Was she not herself there on
the loving sufferance of her best beloved grandchild ?
TJiat she had but one gave the adjective a point and
truth which it might otherwise have lacked. Nor
did she hinder our free going and coming. Her pre"
was fast limed, and with bars above and all round,
BETWIXT HEAVEN AND EARTH.
295
and the entrance to the cage thrice padlocked, she
was under no alarm. None but a bird could fly out
of the echauguettes of Chateau Lignac ! One grace
we obtained for him, he was not left to starve. Food
and drink were pushed between the bars as to a
wild beast, and in spite of the terrible gulf behind
him, a gulf which yawned wider every third hour,
Marcel contrived to eat and quench his thirst.
Still uncertain of my good faith, Mademoiselle de
Lignac took me at my word, and that De Montamar's
story of France in Florida, and Diego Saumarez's
treachery and punishment, differed widely from that
told by Donna Teresa I presently had signal proof.
More than that. It is probable that to serve his own
ends De Montamar was over kind to my virtues and
dumb to my faults; while of Madame Jeanne — of
whom he knew but little — his praise might well have
excited jealousy had he not the forethought to add
that she was more than forty years old.
Following this explanation we held council as to
setting Marcel at liberty with an openness that was
itself an admission of our impotence ; and that Teresa
Saumarez left us undisturbed was ample evidence of
her just sense of security, and the contempt in which
she held our scheming. Hit upon a project which
promised success we could not. Devices there were
in plenty, both of force and craft ; but each, when
in turn well considered, was marred by some fatal
blemish, and so in turn discarded. In the end we
parted in a kind of despair ; nor was it any comfort
296
A king's pawn.
liii
that each was to think out the problem silently for
himself and in his own fashion. What had defied
four wits acting in concert was little likely to yield
to one. And yet it was by the one the problem was
solved.
It was late in the afternoon, as I was restlessly
pacing the corridor upon which opened our apart-
ments, that Mademoiselle de Lignac joined me.
" What would you say to me," cried she, laying a
hand upon my arm, "if I told you I had cut the
knot? Would you believe me? And if I said,
' have faith and wait,' could you trust me ? "
"Mademoiselle," answered I slowly and in great
perplexity, for this was a hard thing she asked'' " if
It were for myself I could believe and trust and wait
But when it is for another, and the hindrances are so
great, the risks so tremendous, it is asking a man
too much to say ' have blind faith.' To-morrow will
be too late."
" Then, monsieur, I will compromise— you know we
women love half measures." The first smile I had
seen upon her face that day flickered into her eyes
as she spoke ; a poor, pitiful smile, but that she could
relax the tension of gravity even by so much warmed
my heart with hope. " I will tell you my plan, but
you must not tell MM. dAlbret and de Montamar."
"And why?" cried I in astonishment; "their
trouble is but little short of my own."
y Because," answered she with another flicker of a
smile, " I have never found thai men could keep a
BETWIXT HEAVEN AND EARTH.
297
secret much closer than a woman. Besides, the King
has a fashion of bettering other people's plans, and
being who he is it is hard to say him no, even
though the bettering is for the worse. We will walk
up and down if you please, Monsieur de Bernauld,
and round here by the gallery that lies to the south.
I have your promise ? "
" Eeadily, mademoiselle, for I am sure that if I can
show good cause you will give me back my word.
You are too shrewd to hold to a yea or nay for a
mere caprice."
" Merci, monsieur," and in her new found gaiety
she dropped a mock curtsey, "I like your compli-
ments better than Monsieur d'Albret's — they at least
go to the point. Now," and as if to hoodwink I
know not whom, the light banter of her tone never
faltered, " follow what I say. The cage where Marcel
is confined is set between the machicolations of the
south wall, and projects, as you know, some five feet.
The entrance to it is up a few stone steps that rise
from the corridor of the top storey. It is a heavy
gate of open bars such as form the cage itself, and is
padlocked not once but thrice. That way there is no
approach. The top of the cage is some seven feet
below the opening of the crenelles, and is as im-
penetrable as this flag under our feet. Besides, there
are the guards by the parapet."
"You see," said I despondingly, as she paused,
"Donna Teresa is justified in her security. The
thing is hopeless.'
i
298
A king's pawn.
"Wait, monsieur, wait. We eliminate the door
and the top, and what remains? The bottom."
" True," answered I grimly ; " and a hundred and
fifty feet of nothing below it ! "
"And a window ten feet below it, by means of
which we shall hoist Miguel Zarresco with his own
petard. The cruelty of the day shall be Marcel's
salvation by night. To fling a light cord up through
the hole so thoughtfully made will be no hard matter.
At the end of the cord Marcel will find a stout rope,
which you, monsieur, shall hold steady, that he may
climb down. That is simple, is it not ? "
"But that is not all," answered I, "there is the
great door."
" Of which I, as mistress, keep the key when once
the rounds have been made and all fast shut for the
night. That also is simple."
"And shall we, mademoiselle, clamber down the
rocks like so many rabbits ? "
" Lignac's men keep the stables, Monsieur de Ber-
nauld. Oh, have no fear ! For all that I am a woman
I know a man's needs as well as another."
" Then what of arms ? We would be fools to seek
to pass bare-handed through such a country, and we
have not even a two -inch blade amongst the four
of us."
"That, too, I have thought of. Have no fear for
arms."
"But what of you?" I cried. "That Marcel
might slip his prison by our help is possible ; possible.
BETWIXT HEAVEN AND EARTH.
299
there is the
ir down the
no fear for
also, that we might bribe your grooms and so find
horses; but the door, mademoiselle, the door, that
betrays your part, and how can we leave you to the
vengeance of such a one as— pardon the discourtesy
— your mother's mother. Xot even to save Marcel,
no, nor us all, can we sacrifice you."
For a moment or two she maae no answer, and
we paced up and down the corridor side by side in
silence; then she looked up from the broad square
stones under our feet, and her cheeks were rosy as
a peach.
"There is but one way, Monsieur dc Bernauld.
If madame, your wife "
" Dolt that I am ! Now I understand : we shall
ride five instead of four, and Jeanne will love and
welcome you as a sister. Make no doubt of that,
mademoiselle. Trust me, — nay, not me alone, trust
us each one that "
" I do, I do," she broke in, interrupting me in her
turn, her face fiaming still hotter ; " and believe, mon-
sieur, that if there was any other way I would not
thus thrust myself upon you. But I am a coward, a
miserable coward, and face my grand-dam's anger I
dare not."
"Then let us say no more, mademoiselle. The
plan is made, and all that remains is to carry it out.
If it fails "
" Oh, you men, you men ! Is it thus a captain
heartens- his soldiers? Shame, monsieur, shame, to
talk of failure. There shall, there must be none.
300
A king's pawn.
:0
There can be none if we keep our own counsel and
are resolute. But that we run no more risks than
we need we must have done with conferences, so one
last word. The guard will be changed at nine and
then again at midnight, every third hour, that they
may draw out another bar-oh, that I could make
Miguel Zarresco pay for that ! —therefore at half-past
twelve be ready. Let the King and Monsieur de
Montamar await us in the hall. You, monsieur, will
find me m the room I tell you of."
" And the five horses will be ready ? "
'^ Eight, monsieur, eight. I have three faithful
servants. God pity them if they fell into Donna
Teresa's hands! Oh! that gives me a thought.
Continue your protestations, Monsieur de Bernauld
lest your apathy bring a suspicion, but be not im-
portunate overmuch, for a touch of pity would ruin
all. Therefore, while you protest, irritate, and let
every plea for mercy have the crime as its echo : you
understand?"
Oh, yes, I understood ! For all the rustiness at
which the King gibed I was no such fool but that her
meaning and its sense were clear. But as I watched
her turn the corner of the gallery my admiration for
her shrewd wit was dashed with pity that she should
already have been compelled by desperate need to
learn the wisdom of the serpent.
If there was little to be said of the night, so is
there little to be said of the day. Of Mademoiselle
de i^iguac we saw nothing; she had a migraine or
BETWIXT HEAVEN AND EARTH.
301
iigrame or
some such convenient femininity, and so kept her
room. Donna Teresa we met twice, once at dinner
and once again at supper, when we four dined and
supped with two vacant places set gaping at us
with a kind of ironical ostentation. That we sat at
meat with Donna Teresa may seem strange ; but we
had reasons, and at the moment policy over-rode
nicety of feeling: firstly, it gave us opportunity to
seem to move her compassion while we played upon
her hate ; secondly, it allayed suspicion ; and thirdly,
in her then temper the old witch might well have
told us that beggars could not be choosers and we
must dine where she willed or not at all, and to face
a night's ride upon empty stomachs would have risked
the whole enterprise and so been a folly.
That the banquets were of the dullest is no marvel :
so dull were they that even the long lines at either
side the common table used their tongues but in
whispers. Indeed, no funeral feast could have been as
melancholy, for the shadow death casts forward at his
coming is ever deeper than that flung behind, since a
dread mingles with tlie certainty of sorrow. Later,
even grief has a numbness.
With us on the dais the talk turned on Blaise de
Bernauld in his cage on the south wall.
" Show grace, madame," said I, pleadingly. " To for-
give is Christian, and doubly so to forgive a heretic."
"Ay," said she smartly, "when he repents and
amends. I have not yet heard of the first, and he is
like to have scant time for the second."
302
A king's pawn.
;l
1}
" But, madame, consider," struck in the Kin., and
ZX:r - "^^ '^ - ■<-"« since he a.ew
"Ay," she replied, her lips tightening across the
still sound teeth. " Yet is my son slain."
"But the time, madame, the time is so lon<. aco"
"Never yet did I hear that time pardoned crln'.e "
answered she, "and in Spain we have long memorie;"
Then she broke out with a hot vilification in which
coward, traitor, murderer, .jostled one another like
Idlers in a crowd. But the King stopped her.
The man is our friend," cried he, striking his
open hand loudly on the table, "and by the Lord we
will not sit here to hear hin. blackened ! Your enemy
^witlun arm's length, madame; let that suffice you
What? Are you lost to all womanliness that vou'
■.ot^only kill, but curse like a Bordeaux fish-
A rebuke which I thought would have cost us
dear; but she only drew a deeper breath or two. and
sat sdent, glaring at him.
sitv " f' H '^T """ ""''^- ^'■""' ""-^ ^S"'" "><' '^•>»o-
s ty of the Kmg sought to penetrate the secret of our
plan ; but firm in my promise to Mademoiselle de IA« T\/rpr-<^"'r>->- - ^ ^
.... ^.Tiontaiiiax- were to play.
BETWIXT HEAVEN AND BARTH.
303
"And now, Sire," I went on, " may we not keep our
own counsel seeing the risks are ours, or rather chiefly
mademoiselle's, since what danoer is there in lying
'perdu in the shadows of the great hall ? '
" But why mademoiselle's ? " cried he. " The place
of danger is no place for a woman."
"Because mademoiselle is loyal to the King of
Navarre, Sire," replied I ; " and I never yet knc^w a
true woman wlio shrunk from danger if duty lay that
way."
"Then you told her. Monsieur de Bernauld ? Was
that well done ? "
"I told her nothing. Sire; she knew from the
first."
" What ? even on the ramparts ? "
" Even on the ramparts. Sire."
De Montamar had stood silently by ; but now he
laid both hands upon my shoulders :
" I said I would give an arm to save Marcel, and
so I would; but to risk mademoiselle is another
thing. As friend to friend, De Bernauld, is there no
other way ? "
" None ! None tliat I see."
" Then I trust her to you," said he ^nd said no
more. Nor, to use his own phrase, as fi-iend to friend
was there any need that he should.
On the stroke of half an hour past midnight I gave
the King and De Montamar their final instruction!
"This thing will take us some twenty minutes.
Wait you, therefore, a quarter of an hour ; then slip
iili
304
A king's pawn.
m
your hand, go down barefooted. The corridors are
d rk as ,„,dnight, and for the Lord's sake let th re b
no stnn.bl,ng ; „o, „„r a whisper either. In the "e.
hall p.ck o«t the darkest corner, and think it nc
shame to hide. This is no ti,„e for bravado Ten
minutes later we shall join you "
Ventre St Gns ! that .s not to my taste."
I am leader, Sire," answered I; "and bv v„„.
W.^taj has nought to do With it," and tStC
I had said the corridors were dark as nidni.ht but
with the weighty oppressiveness which comes of a
onfined space. Up the spiral stairs and alon. the
south gallery I fumbled my way. boots in hand" Id
would have overshot the open door had not C ait de
Lignac called me softly. Ev.,n then I hattd t
doubt she stood in such a misty, uncertain greynL
I c u T'" *' "'"P*'""' ''"<> groping forwards
I caught her outstretched hand, " Set your boolbv
e waU, and look out, Marcel is Just above. God I
thanked for such a night of wind and cloud "
Tae window lay like a patch of shadow on the
dense garment of the night, and mounting the one
high step which lay beneath it i u ,
head an/ .1, , , oeneath it, I pushed myself,
head and shoulders, out into the air, and looked up
So dark liad been the corridor so ..rev fl, ,
that even the faintly lesser '-"^ ^7 u ^ """'
>-y lesser =»,aii,uess of the external
riding- boots in
3 corridors are
ke let there be
In the great
• tliink it no
bravado. Ten
De Bernauld !
iste."
and, by your
id so left him
midnight, but
e dark rather
comes of a
nd along the
in hand, and
lot Claire de
I halted in
n greyness.
ng forwards
our boots by
^e- God be
d."
3ow on the
ng the one
led myself,
looked up.
the gloom,
he external
BETWIXT HEAVEN AND EARTH. 30tf
air dimmed my sight, and for a moment my eyes were
blurred. Then slowly, slowly, the huge mass of the
castle wall grew into ponderous bulk, and thrust from
It, out against the blackness of the vault of cloud the
interlacing of Marcel's prison bars took shape 'and
outhne, with a foreshortened pillar of more intense
darkness clinging to their edge. It was the man
himself. As for the depths below and beyond they
wert Eternity !
Mademoiselle de Lignac was right as to the ni-ht
There was no rain, but a sudden storm had swept'' in
from the south-west, such a storm as Spain knows
well, and we on our pinnacle of rock felt its every
gusty breath. They did wisely that they had built
well, these old builders, else would that howling
tempest, which set the stout bars wailing like an
^ohan harp, and tlactened Marcel against his prison
bounds like a hare on a gridiron, have toppled us
down into the bottomless gulf of blackness that aaped
at our feet. Well, lot it howl, there would be the
fewer sounds heard on the ramparts above, the fewer
ears open.
Though all this took me not three minutes yet
mademoiselle was impatient, and I felt her pluckin-
at my doublet. '^
" Rouse him, monsieur," she whispered. " He can-
not be asleep, but he may be dazed and cramped
"Marcel!" called I, softly; "Marcel! Hulloa '
Marcel, old friend ! " Then to mademoiselle-
he know the plan ? "
Does
U
I
1
1 '
•
1 • i ?,'
1
f '
m
III
I
'f:
WP
tW
306
A KINo'h pawn.
Ay, .^y. '>e know., ; f,„. t|,„ UriS sake haste, ! •
Marcel -Marcdr'ori.,,!, move .Wently; and
the loom of hia head as he looked down '^
groan. 1 hen to me *' T^nf if o «^ n*-
no manne,. of „se It all r !;"' *""'" '''"''' '
and if I loose my . p J,! T " •" """I"" ""'•
11 , , . "^ '^ P' ^^'7' there is a t hree-feef
I'ole belnnd me, and I'm a dead man "
"Nonsense!" cried I cheerily, n,o,.c cheerily than I
It at heart, for the awful depth chilled me. "M Ue
the t„al, man ; wait, I will ,li„, up the cord."
hi a oo ; T "" "' " '""'^ ^R^.f-™. which
hung a loose end of several yards length, with the
touter cord knotted fast. This ball I Ihm, „ Ij
but though >t passed through the bottom ol theZ>'
fuf Inc H kT" ' '"' "" """' "''''"■' -- -ecess-
the Id ' ■ '"'"'"" '^'""" '"^ "-«■ «- out in
"Now, man," I cried, "you have nothing to do but
J-^P the cord, and make fast the "rope thS
"Nothing!" interrupted he, bitterly. -Had von
hung here these eighteen hours. Master B,a7se yo
would know better than that. My nerve is broken
and I dare not budge." "roi>en,
;; Try," I urged ; "" try, for the Lord's sake, try."
No, he answered, groaning dismally; " r dare not.
BETWIXT IfEAVEN AND KAKTH.
307
and tl.als the last wo. 1 can die like a iiiaii. let
that sh«-w()lf kill me how she may ; hut go to my
death down that hlack lioI(> like a (h)g I cannot, ({(it
you away, Master Hlais(. ; for the love of Madame
J'"' " """"te segment
of the lower passage was visihk :"'""^" "' *'' '"'^ ^"'^
upward bend. " "'^P' ^'""'^ -""^ the
looe the clear boldness of their outline,
BETWIXT HEAVEN AND EAETH.
313
Again the
Ls time, hung
quickly as it
on the pave-
3 are makinsr
Qay pass on;
i at him with
' darkness I
ite, and the
Qbled as if
; it will be
again, and
Great Grod /
coming
full
te segment
re was no
white hand
I -shod end
3cond step,
first stair
■ stiff silk
round the
the brain,
r outline,
while others, no less vital at the moment, blur and
grow sloven with the years. This was no more than
a look while one might count ten, but tliat fore-
shortened upright figure, sombre as the incarnation
of a pestilence, and swinging in its hand a two-flamed
Italian lamp of polished brass, the small tools on which
clicked and claitered on their chains as she walked,
stands living before ray shut eyes, as clean cut as
when for five seconds we watched it that night. Five
seconds, no more, then I whispered in Marcel's ear
"Follow softly; for your life let there be no
noise," and turning crept swiftly upstairs.
At the outlet into the corridor I looked down,
but Marcel had not moved except to flatten himself
against the farther side of the step on which he stood.
There he hugged the bareness of the wall as best he
might, his shoulders squared back, his arms by his
side, and his face ghastly in the growing light, as he
stared fixedly at the climbing figure. It was the
horrible fascination of blank, unreasoning terror, and
as I watched him I saw his jaw shake and glistening
points of sweat start upon his forehead. Higher
came Donna Teresa, the head bent in the unac-
customed effort— higher, higher— until the two were
but four steps apart, and the trembling had crept
down to Marcel's knees. Then the stockinged feet
came within her range, and raising the lamp level
with her head she looked up. An instant the two
stood staring, the glare aglow upon their faces,
and as in a mirror the agony of fear abovo was
314
A king's pawn.
reflected below. Swiftly the consternation deepened
and broadened. With a clang the lamp swung
against the wall once, twice, and fell jangling at
her feet; flickered dully an instant and went out.
Instantly, from above and below, the darkness rushed
in upon us with the living force of a cold breath, and
out of it came a cry, a scream, a calling upon God in
terror, and the crash of a body pitching backward
upon tlie steep steps, the sound of splintered bones, and
the muffled rustle of a dead mass tumbling down the
incline — then silence I
With the noise of the catastrophe Marcel's nervous
terror vanished.
" A judgment," I heard him whisper, his voice dry
and harsh — "a plain judgment. Truly the Lord
fights for us ! This way, Master Blaise, and quickly
—such a clatter will send a dozen at our heels ; but
her day for harm is done." And I heard liini run
down the stairs with but little thought of quietness.
A pause and smothered cry followed, and I judged he
had stumbled blindly upon his enemy; then again
came the heavy wispy patter of feet, and this time
I was not far behind.
In the hall by the great door was a startled group
of some three or four— no more than shadows in the
gloom— but I brushed aside all talk, and bade them
see to the horses, while Marcel and I made ready,
and for all its wildness the first sweep of the gale'
in m.y face was the sweetest welcome that had
greeted me for many a day.
315
CHAPTER XXIV.
NORTHWARDS !
From a huddled mass gathered under the shelter of
the wall to the right of the fan of steps came the
stamping of hoofs and the rattle of chain-bridles and
bits. Lignac's faction was true to Lignac's mistress,
and as I fumbled for the reins of my beast my
spirits rose into a wildness that matched the fury of
the night. My horse, honest brute, whinnied as it
recognised its master, and what with this one backing
in its terror of the darkness and that one pawing in
its restless impatience at the long delay, there was a
turmoil that broke down even the rough crash of the
wind and warned us to begone with all speed.
De Montamar had squired Mademoiselle Claire to
her saddle ; Marcel, groaning at his cramped stiffness,
had climbed uneasily to his, when, like an ice douche,
the thought of the three barrier gates came upon me.
To have forgotten them was a grievous blunder, a
crime even, and my shame was heavy on me as I
pushed through the press to where mademoiselle and
De Montamar were turning down the slope of the
.y*-- '
m
316
A king's pawn.
patl. As I ranged alongside she checked her horse
and leaned towards me to listen.
^ "Oh! that?" she cried back across the blast.
One of our own men holds the first gate, and as for
the others- "
"As for the otliers." broke in De Moutamar, "with
the first gate locked behind us, and the key in our
pocket, we will have time to win tlie otlier two "
"It will not be locked for long," answered she;
there is a duplicate key in the castle, but it is in
M.guel Zarresco's keeping, and I could not have asked
tor It without rousing suspicion."
"Still," he persisted, "it gives us another fifteen
minutes, and at such a time fifteen minutes may be
worth as many hours."
How Lignac's man had contrived it I never asked
-.t IS an easy and a very liuman thing to take your
b essings without question-bnt we found tne portcullis
of the first barrier swung to its top notch, and the
broad wings of the gate stretched to their widest.
Tlie former we slid into its groove, and so down with
a rasp ; the latter we fast locked, and with the addi-
tion of one to our troop we rode on to the middle
guard Here our key was mademoiselle's authority,
and though the fellow was but half awake, or maybe
because of that, he only gaped and let us through
witliout question. So was it also at the lowest keep
save that when the key had but turned in the lock
there came such a shout down the wind as made him
pause, and with freedom before us we might have been
NORTHWARDS !
317
Denned as in a trap had not Do Montamar spurred
forward. That settled tho doubt. The <,'ate (lew
open with a clatter, and the fellow was flung sprawl-
ing into the thickest of the shadows where we heard
him cursing his hardest as we rode by.
" Where now ? " cried I, for in the dark the twist
of the path had nioidered me.
" Let Louis guide. Eide thou on, Louis, and ride
fast. No fear but we will match the pace."
" Tnen let him head for the pass by which we
travelled hither. I have my reasons."
" All that is settled," called back mademoiselle,
who, bridle to bridle with De Montamar, was already
no more than a shadow ; " have no fear."
Much need was there to ride fast ! The shouts
above had died away, but in their place, jangled on
the wind, came the ring of horse hoofs clanging in
desperate haste over the stony path, and we knew
Miguel Zarresco had not lost those fifteen minutes,
but, like a prudent steward, had carried the key of
the great keep with him. Mechanically I groped
about the pommel of ray saddle. Ay ' there was the
sword as Mademoiselle Claire had promised, and my
own Florida blade to boot ; even in the dark the
handle was as familiar as my own pocket. Dropping
the reins, but never slackening pace, I buckled the
strap round my waist and drew in the buckle of
the loop by which the scabbard hung so as to lessen
the play of the yard of steel. So ; that was to
rights. If those behind gained ground, they — and in
318
A king's pawn.
my exultation of froedom T i,oif i
1 "«tfiom 1 half laurrhed at t]w
paradox-gained it to their loss !
With that I (,d'' "I'-spor being „ hoarse
ro,.r which the w„„l swept into silonce before it hul
travelled two vaids 7>„f i i
insensibly we ^„ s,i ! ,'" T"'^"*"''"' ™'" •^'•»"«'
J' ivc two slipped back ai. ; eft the Kin-
nde ,,p t n,aden.oise.le at the heels of ul
tl'o „n,de. It was our place to secure the retreat
On we pounded. h„„gi„, „,„ „„„^^^ ^ '-
Mtilly np the w„„I, „„' on my
ho ■► , ^ '''*''*; "'"^'er his breath
be .understood, when the welter of wind ,'00"::
s dered. Looking sharply round. I saw him with
h.s hand flung up towards the sky and at the
clear_ and that the night was bright about us.
An 111 chance," he shouted, " for in the darl-
the ew have a haphazard luck which they ,"
'n the light, and if mademoiseUe be ri.htf '
may be fifteen or twenty at our heels-
NORTTIWAIIDS !
319
" An ill chance indeed," T answered, standino; np
in my stirrups and lookinj,' l)ack. " Ay, then; tliey
are on the bend of tlie road, strun^,' out like black
l)eads on a strinj^', and nearer tlie score than fifteen.
It is one of two thinos, ride back or ride harder."
Risinri; in liis turn, he t( /k a long look beliind
and then aliead.
" Hide harder," said he ; " there is always the
river."
Peste ! I had forgotten tlu; river. Rusty ! I was
worse than rusty, 1 was time-worn and rust eaten,
and once safe in Navarre, lilaise de liernauld had
better lay himself on the slielf for the rest of his
days ! The river ! Let me see ? Ay ; there was
the loom of the hills, and that dark ridge that lay
I»etwixt us and them must be the cutting where the
stream ran. It was no great distance now, not half
a mile, and De Montamar was right ; better ride on.
In our reckoning of chances we had insensibly
slackened pace, and Miguel Zarresco and his crew
had closed in upon us, or their leaders had, for they
had tailed - off sadly. A bare six-score paces lay
between us and them, and for the sake of those
ahead I had no mind to increase the distance. If
the fording of the river caused the King delay, a
demonstration to check the advance might be neces-
sary ; and he is an unskilful general who makes
his stand with a double bank under his horse's
hind legs. We were, therefore, divided into two
groups : the King, mademoiselle, and a couple of
Ml
n
m
'■If*?:
i
320
A king's pawn.
Lignac's men ahead ; De Montainar, Marcel, I. aud
a man-at-arms or two behind.
As we thus hung in the wind, riding the last
furlong at but a half-pace, I saw Louis the guide
break away to the right and disappear, closely
followed by the other three. They, then, were safe
for the moment. To lead the pursuit astray that
the moment might become all time was my affair
Drawing sharply to the left, I quitted the track and
plunged hotly across the pasture. De Montamar and
Marcel followed, but the others, crying out I knew
not what, kept the road and held on. Here the
light stood us in stead. Miguel Zarresco cared little
for a pair of cross-bred Huguenots, much for Blaise
de Bernauld. Therefore, quitting the road as we had
done, he and the three or four with him made after us
saving the angle thereby.
Now was the issue knit. It was ride Navarre
ride Spam, and God have mercy on him who lost'
for there was no mercy in man ! On we drove the'
breatli hard held, heads bent and elbows glued to the
ribs, our wits half behind and half before, when
Marcel, two yards on my left, startled me bolt up-
right with a mighty shout.
" LonV look, look ! " he roared ; " the river's in flood,
and the devils have us netted ! "
In the last few strides we had drawn fast in to-
wards the line of the bank, and now rising in my
stirrups I groaned in despair at what I saw. Th«
land fell away sharply to the left along the face
I
Marcel, I, and
iclincr the last
mis tho guide
ippear, closely
hen, were safe
it astray that
i^as my afFair.
the track and
ilontamar and
out I knew
'• Here the
50 cared little
ch for Blaise
ad as we had
made after us,
'ide Navarre,
ini who lost,
ve drove, the
glued to the
before, wheu
me bolt up-
vefs in flood,
fast in to-
ising in my
'. saw. The
ig the face
NORTHWARDS I
321
of the hills, and, thanks to the thunder - burst of
the night, a wild tumble of awcllen waters tilled
the channel we had crossed two days before with
no more than a splash. So deep they ran, so lip-
high along the soft grass of the slope, that for all
their swirl and turbulence they ran as silently as the
very river of death. Curdled frothy ropes and clotted
cakes of foam curled in the drift, and each small
space of embayed slack water glistened with yeasty
scum. The dark margins were piled inches higher
than the centre by the force of the flow, and for
all its silence, its face was barred and wrinkled by
the fierce pulsations welling up from underneath.
It was the world's artery rushing in fever heat.
There was scant time for brooding. Miguel Zar-
resco was no more than a dozen lengths behind.
" God for Navarre ! " I cried, Tove my spurs home,
shook the reins loose on my bea j neck, and plunged
in, nose up stream. A splash on my right told me
l)e Montai! luo followed, but in such a bewilder-
ment of broken currents 1 did not dare so much as
glance aside. Not that I did aught, tor, with the
instinct that feels a nicer wisdom than its own, I left
my salvation to my beast. But the man could aid
the brute, and he needed all my watchfulness lest the
roll of the spate be too strong for him, and so needs
must that I swim. Therefoit;, for 1 know not how
many minutes or how few, 1 was blind not alone to
the passage of time, but ,to everything else save the
deadly peril of Blaise de Bernauld, and of the noble
wl
322
A king's pawn.
beast that carried him. Thrice he faltered in his
s roke and thrice a word and a touch steadied him as
at a time of desperate need a word and a touch
steady a man. Once his fore-quarters swerved down
stream and for a horrible half- minute all seemed
lost; then I edged him round, and, by the mercy
of God. he struck a shelf in the bank, and so
clambered to land, dripping, and trembling like a
scared child.
Once there my wit came back, and, turning in the
saddle, I searched the river and the bank beyond
The distance across was short, you understand-not
more rhan forty, or may be fifty, feet-but for all our
upward swimming the drift had carried us down
stream a hundred yards or thereabouts. First I
scanned the water, but that was clear. Neither
man nor beast broke the dull lead of its swollen
heavy surface. Then De Montamar, not much more'
aan midway higher up the bank, caught my eye
He was safe, and witli a lighter heart I hunted fo^
Marcel. Ay, there was where we had plunged in
and-yes-yes-like shadows against a grey cloth
there were Marcel and Lig„ac's rogues stifl in a
confusion upon the banlv-.
At last his nerve must have failed him, as it
had failed h.m in the iron cage, or_and it would be
tnl '"'^"l''';''-^- '«'l again given himself to the
wolves that Master Blaise might save his skin. At
this last thought I shook up my horse, and rode
n-anticaiiy up stream, shouting as" I galloped :'
Itered in his
eadied him as
and a touch
werved down
;e all seemed
y the mercy
ank, and so
bling like a
irning in the
ank beyond,
irstand — not
it for all our
id us down
s. First I
r. Neither
its swollen,
much more
ht my eye.
hunted for
plunged in,
grey cloth
still in a
him, as it
t would be
iself to the
skin. At
and rodf^
ped :
NORTHWARDS !
323
" Ho ! Marcel I Marcel ! Come, man, come !
Marcel ! I say. Marcel ! "
As if to prove that my second thought had been
the truer, I saw him as I spoke draw his beast side-
long to the river, and, still carrying his naked sword
on guard, force it into the flood. But not alone.
Like a dog at a deer's throat Zarresco flung himself
upon the squire while he was yet in mid-air, and
with such a force that he still swayed from the
shock as the horse struck the water. Then came
such a combat as I pray I may never see again.
Mad with passion against the man who was to him
not alone the slayer of his master but also the
murderer of his brother, Miguel Zarresco paid no
heed to his own safety, but bent his every effort
on the destruction of his enemy. He had aimed to
spring upon the saddle behind him, but had missed
his leap, and so hung trailing waist-deep in the water,
one desperate grip round Marcel's liridle-arm, and
one clenched in the fold of the squire's doublet.
To hold his balance in the saddle needs must that
Marcel fling his weight to the right, and so neutralise
the odds given him by a bare blade. Strike he could
not ; thrust he dare not, lest the shifting of the
balance play his foe's game, and so both drift to
death together. Therefore, flinging his weight on
the right stirrup, he gripped his beast with his
knees, while his foe clutched and clawed at him
with the venom of a wild cat. Round they spun in
the swirl and eddy of the spate as if in some wild
324
A king's pawn.
I II
drunken dance. Now Zarresco's weight streamed
downwards in the force of the current, now the rush
of water sucked him beneath the horse's belly, and
ever braced against him, the naked steel held rigidly
up. Marcel kept his place. Then— Zarresco was up
stream at the time— I saw the Spaniard loosen his
left hand, and, rising in the water to his hips, make
a dash for Marcel's throat. It was the crisis of the
struggle. Let him get his grip on the squire's gorge,
and the end had come ! But the mad clutch failed,'
and with the freed bridle arm Marcel pulled his'
beast round so that the other's whole weight was
flung upon his right hand as he floundered down
stream. A moment it held, but as the reaction of
the spring sank him lower in the water his grasp
failed, and the last we saw of Miguel Zarresco*' was
one clenched hand flung up out of the yeasty silver
of the water, then it, too, sank. Fifty yards lower
down Marcel's horse found footing.
" Are you hurt, old friend ? "
" Not a jot, not a jot," answered he heartily, while
his beast stood between us, its head drooped and its
flanks heaving with the breathlessness of the fight
for life. "Caly we have no time for words. L^ok
there "—and he pointed to a broken string of horse-
men on the farther bank—" let them get their dazed
wits sound again, and they will be on our heels.
The ford is a furlong or two higher up."
" Let your beast blow," answered I ; " time enoue-h to
move when it gets its wind. Tell us what happened."
NORTHWARDS !
325
jht streamed
now the rush
's belly, and
held rigidly
resco was up
d loosen his
s hips, make
crisis of the
[uire's gorge,
jlutch failed,
pulled his
weight was
dered down
reaction of
r his grasp
iarresco was
^easty silver
i^ards lower
irtily, while
ped and its
f the fight
rds. Look
? of horse-
their dazed
our heels.
]( enouffh to
happened."
Hi safet
" There's nought to tell," replied he roughly. " You
saw for yourselves. '
" Yes, after I called. But what of before ? "
" Oh ! That ? That, too, is nought. You and
monsieur dived, and I, well, I found them round me
and so drew steel to keep them at arm's length.
With that" — and he nodded a'j the silent current —
" with that behind and half a dozen in front they
could have made an end of me quickly enough, but
Zarresco had no use for a dead man. I was still
Blaise de Bernauld, d'ye see, and so," he added with
a grin, " you saved my life ! But if they spared me,
they spared themselves too, and I never got a thrust
home, no, not once. Then you called, and — and —
you know the rest."
' And you have no hurt ? "
" Not so much as a scratch. And liere's a queer
thing. Master Blaise. In all that jumble of waters I
was never even scared, no, nor in that accursed cage
either, though I did cling to the bars as if they were
my very bones. D'you know why, monsieur ? No
credit to me. You remember that old warlock at
Pau ? ' There,' said he, with a touch on the breast,
* there's the spot,' and so neither water nor that
great gap into nothing could do me hurt. Truly,
faith is a comforting thing."
" Come," answered I, rousing myself. " Navarre
lies beyond the ridge, and where Navarre is there is
'pf.v nnrl nn pnd to nil these nualms. Let us find
the King and ride on.
326
• I
CHAPTER XXY.
THE GREATEST THING UPON EARTH.
^^Oh! the King, the King/' exclaimed De Montamar.
lo find the King is easily enough said ; but how
fand him in such a wilderness?"
"Have no fear, we shall find him," answered I
" There is no more loyal man than Henry of Navarre
This way," and I spurred up stream, but headed to
the left towards the slope of the hill.
" And what of those fellows yonder ? " and De
Montamar pointed to the string of horsemen keeping
pace with us on the farther bank.
" They are no affair of o:irs as yet. Whether they
follow us or ride back is the turn of a chance. Our
business is with the King and not to borrow trouble "
Nor had we to go far to find him. Neither then
nor ever was it Henry of Navarre's way to climb to
safety over another man's back. If he had left us to
ourselves on the thither side of the stream it was for
one of two reasons, or for both. There was made-
moiselle-s retreat to secure ; and how, until he was in
THE GREATEST THING UPON EARTH.
327
mid-water, could he tell that we were not hard at his
heels ? All this I was saying to De Montamar, when
there came a cry from the shadows on the left, and
the King himself rode across the grass to meet us.
" Thank God you are safe ! " he cried, as he came
nearer ; " my heart has been in my throat ever since
I found you had not followed us. What ? Old war-
horse ; this is not the first time thou hast cheated the
Dons, eh ? Nor the last, either, I hope. What shall
we do, De Bernauld ? Rest ? Mademoiselle is spent.
She is there in that grove beyond the great rock," he
added, turning to De Montamar. " I excuse you,
monsieur."
" Eest, but not yet. Sire," replied I, as De Mon-
tamar rode oh', with a muttering that was half thanks
and half shame-faced apology, for your new-fiedged
lover is a shy bird. " Let us first put a mile between
ourselves and "
" Miguel Zarresco ? A pretty scoundrel he is !
He is the wolf, Pierre Salces the jackal, and between
the two a man is fortunate if he pass to Navarre by
this road and lose no more than his purse. So much
I have learned in the last ten minutes. Let me lay
hands on Miguel Zarresco, and he hangs. You will
not say ' No ' to that. Master Marcel ? "
" Nor ' Yes ' either," answered L " Zarresco has
ended his villainies in this world. He and his mis-
tress are dead."
Very briefly, as we walked our horses across the
broken boulder-scattered pasture towards the break in
328
A king's pawn.
the h,lls,de, I told the tale of Lignac and the fording
enough for the time and plaee. Too bald it seemed
they must have been, for the King rode on in silenee,
ha ch.n on his chest and his hands crossed upon
h,s saddle-po,nt, like a man who heard, but hearrf so
dully that words were no more sense than the moan-
ing of the wind. Then, with a start, he roused
Mmsel and turned half to me who rode by his side
and half to Marcel two lengths behind
and^t ''' 'uT'"'^ '°' ™"'> '"^"■"^^'d he slowly,
and with a shake in his voice that was no common
th ng with him; "and may Navarre never lack the
breed, nor France either in the days to come. It was
-ns work done Hke men. Are you ,uits no"
Marcel, with your life for a life ? "
"No, monsieur," answered he bluntly- a bad
courtier was Marcel-', there is still one owing and
by__the looks of things it won't be paid this journly "
'7:L^r'''_^""r''^'"^'-^™too.a
score of risks, I
one. But what of you, Sire ? Is
there a ford yon. r ? "
"The river broadens so we were but girth-deep, and
as the channel banks up we crossed in slack water.
That was right enough, but, plague take it, I never
me such a girl! It was -Monsieur de Montamar
this. Monsieur de Montamar that,' till I was sick of
Monsieur de Montamar. Look at them there ! How
he strokes and pets the beast she sits on a., the next
best thing to petting the mistress, and she, cmnin..
I
THE GREATEST THING UPON EARTH.
329
wench, knows his thought as well as if he spoke it.
A lucky man, De Montamar — the only one of us all
who had nought to gain by this wild cast of the net,
and the only one of us all who comes out the
gainer
" You will not spoil his happiness, Sire ? Think
how much the honest love of a good woman means.
Think what misery "
" Have no fear for me, De Bernauld ; I am no
woman-hunter, and love nought but love. God knows
I am at times too sick at heart for want of that same
honest But there ; let it rest ! A king's true
love is his people, and so France shall yet see."
" Now," he went on as he rode up to the others,
" what of rest ? It must be three o'clock, and Made-
moiselle de. Lignac has had no sleep to-night."
"Wait, Sire, wait; give us a mile of hill-country
between us and Spain and then we shall see. By
this the horses are well breathed ; let us ride on,
rather, and quickly."
" Be it so ; for another four-and-twenty hours you
are leader. Canst thou keep thy eyes open, friend
Marcel ? This is the second night thy brain has gone
fasting."
" I can do better, monsieur," answered he ; "I can
sleep sitting. That is an old trick of the march."
" My faith ! there will be rocking enough ! " laughed
Henry, as we swayed and staggered uphill after Louis.
" He who sleeps on this jolting road v/ould dream
through an earthquake."
330
A king's pawn.
i
i
An hour later we halted in the shelter of a small
atoral valley where the growth overhead was ahnost
thiek enough to shut out the grey of the morning.
There was grass in plenty, and such an abundance of
moss as would seem to our weariness a bed of down
Here we picketed the beasts, loosening their girths'
but not removing the saddles, and having set one of
L'gnacs men as sentinel we lay down, bidding him
call us m two hours' time.
For myself I slept. To obey like a dog, cat like a
wolf, and sleep like a child, arc three prime neces-
s.t es to the man of camps, and in any one of the
three I could have held my own with most. How
long I slept was another matter. To him who has no
dreams five hours and five minutes are much alike.
But at the first heavy touch of a hand upon the
shoulder I was broad awake, blinking at the gathered
3 ren th , ,,, ^^^ ^^^ ^^^.^^ ^^^ ^^^ .^^^^^^
buckle of my sword-belt.
" They are after us, monsieur,"-it was Lignac's
" Have you seen them ? "
" No, monsieur."
" Then why may they not b^ travellers ? "
"Because of the hour, monsieur, and because, too
of their curses at the vileness of the path. He who
rnTso-^'-!" ''''' ""'" ''^'' ^^'' "' " ^^^"S ^^ ''^'''>
'■'Good. Waken your fellows, but let there be
THE GREATEST TII1N(} UPON EAllTIl.
331
neither noise nor confusion; speed is own child to
quietness. Then see to the horses; we will leave
mademoiselle to her rest as long as may be."
But mademoiselle was not to be left. At almost
my first move she was up on her elbow, peering about
with no sign of sleep in her eyes.
"Is there danger, Monsieur de Bernauld ? "
" No ; but there is need of precaution. Have you
slept ? "
" No," said she, rising, and speaking with a half
apology as one does who confesses a fault. " It was
all too strange. For a time I stared at the tree-
trunks lest I knew not what might lurk behind them.
Tlien when nothing stirred I closed my eyes and tried
to sleep, but in an instant the wood was alive upon
either side with hideous things ; so I started up and
stared afresh. That happened thrice, and each time
it seemed to me they came nearer. Then the grass-
hoppers awoke, and every inch of moss, every tuft of
grass, every drifted leaf, was creeping full of life and
sound, so I lay awake and watched and listened.
But indeed, indeed I am rested. Have no fear for
me, Monsieur de Bernauld."
After all, that was no more than might have been
expected, and it was to her credit that, face to face
with the noisy forest solitudes and the terror of the
new and unknown, she had not shrieked aloud, and
so not only lost her own rest but robbed others of
theirs.
While she was speaking I had roused the rest of
332
A kino's pawn.
i i
i ill
the sleepers, and e„ch was our speed, and so few our
preparations, that in five minutes from t!,e first touch
on my shoulder we were once more on the road
Then came a strange ordeal, a snailVpaee flight
followed by a snail's-paee pursuit, since for all our
haste speed was impossible. It was a cat-like clam-
ber, a scrambling up abrupt and little used paths, now
strewn with loose stones where secure foothold there
was none, now of a pasty clay still sodden from the
nights deluge, the sticky face of which our beasts-
feet scored like strokes from an iron mattock. In
either case a dozen times an hour death lurked an
arms length off.
So for three hours wc fought, nature our foe rather
than man, and yet man no more than a furlong off
striving his hardest to come to nature's aid With
every long slope of hill Lignac's Spanish faction came
m sight, with every twist we lost them, and at the
end of the three hours we knew to our comfort that
or all our hide-and-seek they had not gained a single
rod---nay, for the time we outdistanced .some of them
But the speed of advance was the speed of our slow-'
est members, and it was plain that the men-at-arms
hampered us.
By that time— that is three hours from the halt—
we had reached the watershed, and were in a country
where the going was better. It was no longer the
trend of a confined valley that held us, for, from the
crest of the pass, a fan of declivities spread out HH
ti.e spokes of a great wheel. By any of these
safety
THE GREA.TEST THING UPON EARTH.
338
lay, and therefore I had no scruple in bidding Lignac's
men God-speed by another ruad than ours, having tirst
driven them a rendezvous at Bernauld. Then at our
best pace we turned down the slope in the direction
of the inn.
Scant as had been our farewells, they had given the
pursuit time to close, and again we learned to our
cha^'rin that the slowness of one was the pace of all.
This time it was Mademoiselle Claire who failed us.
As was natural, fatigue had told upon her, and in the
descent there was a scope for reckless riding and
blind haste of which those behind were not slow to
avail themselves. On they came, driving their tired
and staggering beasts at a cruel pace, while we, bitter-
hearted and almost despairing, dared do no more than
keep together and plod forward. At last we turned
into the slope where lay the wayside inn, and at the
sight of the more familiar hill I pushed on stirrup to
stirrup with the King.
" We must make a stand and fight for it," I cried,
as we swayed and jolted. " The garret of The Kat's
Hole is the place. Do you and Marcel ride ahead
and see that the way is clear."
For an instant he hesitated, looking backwards
over his shoulder. Doubtless he thought it a ruse to
gain time to his saving, but had that been so made-
moiselle had been his companion, not Marcel. What
he saw decided him. In another half-mile they would
be Vr'ithin pistol range, and so, if so armed, miglit make
an end of us at their leisure.
334
A kino's I'AWN.
I
t|i
" Why Marcel ? "
" Who else ? Would De Montamar go ? Not for
a dozen kings."
" Why not yourself ? "
" I command, and my place is here. For God's
sake waste no time but ride on, Sire. Off with you
This time he nodded, an,l_too old a soldier to dis-
obey-Marcel too spurred on. Then I reinrd back
to De Montamar, and for fifty paces we rode all three
side by side in silence.
"We shall do it," said he at last, with a glance be-
hind. ■ It will be a near thing and we must lose the
horses, but we shall do it."
_ But even as he spoke Mademoiselle de Lignac swayed
.n her saddle as her beast lurched suddenly forward
on his knees with a crash, and but for De Montamar's
ready arm she would have fallen heavily. As it was
she was dragged clear and lighted on her feet, spinning
with the force of the shock.
"Bide where you are," cried I, fli„gi„g ,„ jf ^
the ground; "and you. mademoiselle, there is no way
but this." ^
Grasping her with small ceremony, I lifted her
. H n T "f '"'""'°"' °" '" "« Montamar's crupper.'
Hold him hard by the waist. Closer, closer yet
bo, that IS brave. Now, on with yon."
" And you ? "
;;^At your heels. Have no fear, there is still time "
iiut 1 was wrong. The double weight was too
■- "* ^f*gWW*» ^'^■■'-^*»»™i
THE OREATEST THING rPON EARTH.
335
great a burden for t^ie wearied beast, and had wo
ridden round by the last curve of the path we would
have been overtaken before reaching our goal. There
was one hope left, and one ordy.
" To the right," I cried, and leaving the alope I
dashed ahead, galloping my hardest along th" face
of the hill towards where the russet brown of the
inn roof showed above the cutting in the sod. " Let
your beast go and jump for it," I went on, reining
sharply up ten feet from the gable. Too sharply indeed,
for at the suddop jerk my horse slid upon the soft
turf on all lours at upon ice, and stumbling. Hung
me sprawlir i?.
But with I ' ou-coming patter of hoofs so loud
in my ears I was up as soon as down. That the
gable door though slair, was unbolted I knew of old,
and my purpose was to spring across the gap, and
send the wood flying with my weight. But the
fall spoiled the plan, and De Montamar was before
me. Jumping down, he had caught mademoiselle
in his arms, then, with head and shoulder down,
he flung himself with all his power against the
door, and as I reached the bank's edge I saw him
stagger on the floor inside, and fall heavily, undermost.
To follow him was but a six-feet leap into the well
of the door, and when Lignac's men rode up it was to
find a steel point looking out at them across the
hollow. That gave them pause, and knowing they
held us safe thev turned, and rode off to join their
fellows who kept to the road.
336
A king's pawn.
" Are you hurt, De Montamar ? " cried I, too
intent on keeping watch to look back.
The answer was such a cry as makes a man
shiver, — a woman's wail, half-fear, half-pain, and all
despair; a cry that, through terror and agony of
spirit, is beyond tears. God keep us from such
cries !
" He is dead, he is dead ! quick. Monsieur de
Bernauld. Dead, dead, and for me, for me!"
" Dead ? " and I turned with a start, a start that
was repeated as I saw the poor fellow's white face
and huddled limbs. "Nonsense, it tnkes more than
such a fall as that to kill a man like De Montamar,
Go you to the door, and watch while I see to him."
" No," answered she, setting her mouth obstinately ;
" this is my doing, and I must "
"Go and watch as you are bid, girl. If these
fellows steal a march on us he will be dead in full
earnest. For his sake as well as our own, go and
watch."
With a pitiful look that was a sharp reproach to
my roughness— a roughness assumed for the moment,
since there was no time to waste on whimsies — she
rose from her knees, and, leaning against one of the
swinging leaves of the door, watched me rather than
the slope outside. The briefest touch told me the
man was but in a faint, so leaving him I raised
the trap, and peered below. The safety of the King
troiiuiecl me more tiian luc swoon.
" Are you tliere, Sire ? Marcel ! Marcel ! "
•ied I, too
kes a man
tin, and all
I agony of
from such
lonsieur de
me!"
I start that
white face
more than
Montamar.
to him."
obstinately ;
. If these
lead in full
wn, go and
reproach to
:he moment,
imsies — she
one of the
rather than
:old me the
im I raised
of the King
eel!"
THE GIIEATEST THING UPON EARTH.
337
Both answered, but it was Marcel who appeared
on the floor beneath.
" God be praised you are safe, Master Blaise !
What of the lady?"
" We are all here, but Monsieur de Montamar is
hurt — an arm broken, I think. Hasten ! "
" We only stayed that we might barricade the
door after you," replied he. " Give us three minutes."
" Good. If you can lay hands on bread and wine,
bring some. What of Pierre Salces ? "
" We have seen no hair of him, nor of the crone
either. Three minutes, Master Blaise, three minutes."
Then came the rasping of benches on the sanded
floor, the crash of an overturned .able, and all the
medley of making the door siege-proof, and in the
midst of the hubbub De Montamar opened his eyes,
and turning on his left side groaned in his distress.
" Claire — is Claire safe ? " he whispered, as soon
as his dazed wits had fixed my identity. Then,
reading the answer in my face, he gasped a " Thank
God," and rolled over on his back still groaning.
With that a ladder was thrust up the trap, and the
King appeared, followed by Marcel with a loaf under
one arm and a great jug of wine in his hand. Him
we set to keep watch while we saw to De Montamar.
As I had supposed, his arm — the left — was broken, but
it seemed a clear break, and he was more shaken than
hurt. For all its evil smell a gulp or two of the
roncrh winp brought back the colour to his cheeks.
Then having laid him in a corner — like, as he said,
X
388
A king's pawn.
I
so much battered lumber !_we left him to Mademoi-
selle de Lignac's nursing, and saw to our defence
The prospect was of the worst. There were three
doors to guard, and but as many men to see to their
guardmg. Therefore, following our old tactics we
drew up the ladder and jammed the great gate to the
rear as we best could ; and angling a bench, brought
from below, edgewise against the further gable door
we took counsel.
The quiet troubled us. After the first dash the
Spanmrds had drawn off. and though they doubtless
had their sentries posted, we never saw nor heard
ZVL ?• "" '■''"'""' '' ""^ "^""^ had pleased
me better, for such silence smelt of some scurvy trick
The K,ng wmdd have it that they would burn us out!
but this I did not believe.
"What was it Louis told you of Miguel Zarresco,
Well, If he IS, then not he alone but his jackals also.
To burn The Eafs Hole is to burn their trade, and
tha there is no need to do since they have us in
a cleft stick. Why burn when they can starve?"
Thats very well, Master Blaise," said Marcel
shrewdly; ■'but if we starve, they starve trn_ay
and sooner, since we have food, and bread .nd wine
don t grow on thorn bushes."
" Then they will try assault," answered I. sticking
to my point that no Spaniard would burn his profit
for bare spite; "and if it comes to tliat. and if thov
uuvc no pisLois "
THE GREATEST THING UPON EARTH.
339
" And, and, and," broke in the King. " Ventre St
Gris ! are we to sit on our thumbs and wait your
ands ? Whether it be fire, famine, or sword, what
chance have we against so many ? "
" None but one. Sire."
" And what is tliat ? for, by the Lord, I see none ! "
Marcel's grip on my knee stopped the answer.
Again there came the thud of hoofs upon the tough
mountain turf, but this time, there rose above it the
rumble of rough voices too contemptuously sure of
their prey to disguise approach. Tlien a fellow, one
of Lignac's Spanish faction, rode frankly up before
the open door and jumped from his horse.
" You know the place," said he, grinning as he
came forward to the very edge of the bank ; " The
Rat's Hole and the outlet guarded ! There you have
the point in a word. The five of you are as if you
lay there," and he tapped his hollowed hand noisily,
then closed his fingers down and shook his fist in the
air. " You are there, my gentlemen, do you see ?
What ? You look uncertain ? Well, I will prove it.
A mat of dried bracken to the fartlier end, a spurt of
fire, and — pouf ! The wind will do the rest ! "
" We are not afraid," answered 1, though that was
hardly the whole truth. " The liat's Hole is Lignac's
decoy ; you will not burn trade."
" Good ! " and he showed his white teeth genially.
" The sefior is shrewd. To burn trade without need
would be foolish. To another point, then ; we can
starve you."
340
A king's pawn.
on our side. Again, we are not afraid."
Samts ! but the seHor truly is shrewd. Food we
here. The n.ght air ,s not always healthy to men of
our present trade. Lastly, then, and this time it wil
Zf '"" "•' '" P'* " "»■- We are many T 1
are few ; you understand ? " ''^
him'^%"' *°" "en "-there was no need to tell
the last time, wo are not afraid."
. "Ah I" and he laughed. "Twelve! No no-
twenty-five or thirty. Our good friends of the hH s'
have come to our aid. Now do you feel the fin
^r'aT'?"'"'"^ «~^ ^ you are safe th"::
here all five of you; and yet I say, give us two and
he rest may go. Give „s our mademoiselle and him
acing you there, him of the lantern jaws and «
beard and i„ call quits. Eh? IsitaharS"
It was the King who answered
toglth?" °" "" ''" ""•"■ ^-^ ^-O or m
"That is your last word? tjenos! then by the
samts ! it is fall ; " and linking his bridle over'^al
he disappeared up the hill.
Then there came to me an inspiration. The break-
nee 1, "" " ™"'' "^ '^»' " """'<'^ ^t time
once the gangway was firm fi.xed on the eorbe,., .or
coula we oppose the fixing and guard the gab/e Xor
THE GREATEST THING UPON EARTH.
341
Why not block the smaller door with the ladder, open
the larger, and let us three hold the breach ?
" Be it so," said the King, when I had hastily ex-
plained my thought. " As the fellow said, it will be
' fall ' ; but at least it will be fair fighting, and not
dying like dogs pent in a kennel."
After that be sure there was no waste of time. In
a trice the ladder points were jammed into the lower
edge of the gable head-board, and the wiiigs of the
rear door flung open. But for all our haste we ran no
more than neck and neck with those outside, for the
rasp of the wood grating over the uneven floor had
its echo in the crash of the gangway as it settled on
the corbels. Parley was past, and within and with-
out there was the grimmest promise of men's work.
The great door had, as has been said, a width of
about ten feet ; three men, therefore, so long as they
held their feet, were as good as three hundred. Nay,
we had an advantage, for the gangway being some two
feet narrower, and having an ugly drop at the edge,
gave room to no more than two abreast. The fighting
odds were three to two, with a score or more to
relieve the two, and the three to face the brawn
of them all.
My faith ! but when it came to biting the dogs
were loth to risk their teeth ! The sight of the three
naked blades and the faces that looked across their
points cooled the ardour, and the rush which was
already halfway across the bridr,^ reeled back. To
roll stones down two hundred feet of rock upon help-
342
A king's pawn.
less travellers was safer murder than to engage two
bwords to three ; and there was cold comfort in the
thought that when they were dead in the kennel
the tenth man back would take what tliey missed !
Back they sta^-gered, and for a time we all stood in
silence, reckoning chances.
But not for long. The rc-ues behind lurched
forward, driving on the rogues in front, inch by inch,
foot by foot, till for- very desperation they flung them-
selves upon us. For a breath thr air vras ablaze with
the white h'ohtning oi bare steel. A breath, no more.
A tbrnst, a parry, a rasp of blade on UHd% a swift
lim,';\. aa 1 Nvith n sob and a groan the two foremost
tottered on thoir heels, grasping at the air, and stumbled
sideion^r ipon the cobbles below.
' (iod for Navarre ! " cried the King, setting afresh
his toe -point to his satisfaction. " God for Navarre ! "
and agiiin with right elbow on hip, upturned knuckles,
and sword point level with the eyes, we waited the'
second attack.
This time the two were Lignac's men, and so trained
to arms. Bidding with a curse those behind stand
back and give them room, they came on warily. Point
to point, and inch by inch, they fenced us, till it was
plain tlieir plan was to tire us out and run no risks.
To wait was to play their game and give ourselves
as sheep to the slaughter. Therefore I drew back,
and, taking their cue from me. Marcel in the centre'
'^'"o "'^ tnc extiuhic icic drew back also ■
not with haste, but inch by inch. IncJ: - inch they
followed us, those behind striking iai -tently at us
THE GREATEST THING UPON EARTH.
343
above their fellows' shoulders ; inch by inch until I
judged we had them limed. With a swift touch on
the shoulder I warned Marcel, and in a Hash we two
were upon them. Taken unawares, the fellows never
so much as parried the attack, and but for the
odds behind, the thrust I gave would have been sheer
butchery.
That sobered the rogues. The spilling of blood,
even though not their own, was a marvellous cooler.
No barber-surgeon's lancet ever so quickly brought
down a fever, for no man was in haste to lay his
cheek alongside the ghastly white and twisted faces
which looked up so blindly from the shadow of the
bridge !
" God for Navarre ! " cried the King a second time,
as we again faced them, unhurt but breathing heavier
than was comforting.
During the struggle a silence had fallen upon the
reserve on the hillside, though they breathed harder,
as if they themselves bore the brunt of the fight.
But as the second pair went down a yell broke from
behind, a storm of wild threats and wilder curses,
above which the harsh voice of Pierre Salces could
be heard roaring out from the rear —
'' Bow down there in front, and by the saints I will
open such a breach as will let us all in ! What ?
You slayers of women ! You who killed my poor
wench no more than four days back ! do ye dare face
the Eed Eat a second time ? 'Tis once too often.
Bow down, comrades, lower, lower, and now follow
hard on the heels of this."
344
1
A king's pawn.
Leaping on a point of rock, the ruffian poised a
huge 3tone against his shoulder and slung it full at
he d o„th with all his migh,-s„ch: stone and
such a strength as would have dinged a hole in the
very wall, to say nought of a man's frail ribs. By the
mercy of God his foot slid as he launched the mi^s le
Turmng on h,s palm it left his hand askew, and fall
Z '^'T,^''-' -'^ 'he King bounded cross he
floor u,tj the farther wall stayed its progress. Bu
aside that the stone might pass. Marcel slipped hi^
, staggered, and fell upon his knees, snap^ng h
blade short off at the hilt as he fell
cover",S.'"'"' '""^ ""'"S '"' ' ^'^PP^" »-«d« to
" De Montamar's sword, quick," I cried; but the
m.sch,ef was done. The rabble was on us with a
savage rush that meant murder, and in a «ash murder
was wrought, but not on us
^Seeing the two blades ready, the fellow who faced
me .„ the second rank thrust the man in front of him
Bheer upon my point, and with such fore, that the
ht jarred agamst his ribs. With a piteous scream
forward, hung his whole dead weight upon me bearin"
down my arm. That was the opportunity lookedTr!
In a wmk the fellow behind drove his point full a
my exposed breast.
"One!" he cried, barino
" One ! "
his teeth in
a
gnn.
THE GREATEST THING UPON EARTH.
345
" Ay, one ! " cried Marcel back, fiiiifring himself
forward and taking the tlirust ; " but not that one !
God for Bernauld — God — God " and he went
down upon his knees in a heap, swayed, frothing redly
at the mouth, and rolled back upon the floor.
" Two ! " cried Henry, lunging aslant, and striking
the villain in the throat with such force that he
drove him off the bridge, still standing : " two ; God
for Navarre ! "
On this there came such a battering at the inn
door as shook the very house, and above the din rose
the clatter of horse-hoofs on the stony road.
" What ? " he went on bitterly ; " both behind and
before ? Well, we two arc men, and can take our
turn as well as Marcel. God for Navarre ! "
As for me, I was shaking in every limb, and nigh
upon cursing in my bitter despair and forlorn help-
lessness to succour the man who had given his life
for mine.
But others had heard the clatter of horses as well
as we. For a moment a silence fell upon the mob ;
then with a roar of fear and disappointed rage they
turned, and every man fled up hill for his life.
" Has their master, the devil " began the King.
But he checked himself. " Nay, it is worse," and all
unwiped he pushed his sword back into its sheath.
" Ha ! Roquelaure, you are welcome, as you ever are.
How many men have you ? "
'' Mercy of God ! What is the meaning of this,
Sire ? " I heard Roquelaure's rough voice reply. See
846
A king's pawn.
him I did not, for I had Marcel in my arms and was
cutting open liis doublet at the breast.
God! What a vicious thrust it had been, and
clean where the warlock had laid his stick's point, a
thrust t a man's life were he as vital as
Golia /, o. ' ...u.
"Marcel!" I cried, bending low. "Marcel! u
word, old friend, a word, onu, one!"
The lids flickered ov^r ^he already dull eyes, the
mouth quivered, anu i saw his finger-tips twitch,' but
it was the last of life. The tears thnt fell from me
like rain fell on a dead face, and the great unselfish
soul had gone back to the God who gave it.
^ At my cry the King had turned to me. and that
his eyes, too, were wot, was, as it were, another cord
of love to bind me to him. Now laying Marcel
gently down I rose unon my knees.
" Bid^ Monsieur de Eoquelaure lend mu a liorse,
Sire. There is vengeance to be taken."
"Not so," answered he, turning once more to die
open doorway. "Not vengeanre, but the King's
justice. Again, man, how many have you with
you ? "
Eoqu( • ure wus stiJ sitting his panting horse, and
staring at the gangway, red to the edge with blood.
Now he ro'is-d himself
" Thirty men, Sire ; but what is the rcoani.ig "
" Take twenty and follow the rogues. Ksper.ially
mark one, a fat-cl c^ked ruddy-faced giaat with a
wUd tangle of red . irci Mark him ^ell, I say but
%
THE GREATEST THING UPON EARTH.
347
u
let none pscape. .; ten you leave will serve ns our
escort, for I niubt uueds ride on. Stay, we must have
five horses,"
" I have your own, Sire. It was meeting them
grazing near a shee^ face of rock that "
" Ay, ay," broke in Henry. " That rock has its
story. It is the sport hereabouts to play nme-pins
down it at folks who pass. Now begone, and join
me at Pau with all speed."
" But when I have caught these fellows, Sire, what
then ? I am no hangman."
"Then leave them unhung. Do what you choose
with them, v n; what you see is warrant enough.
Play nine-pins if you will."
" One moment and I am with you. Monsieur d(
Eoquelaure," said I rising.
But the King laid his hand upon my shoulder.
" No, no, De Bernauld. Come you with me. We
rode up the hill as brother and brother ; so shall we
ride down. Besides, there is Mademoiselle de Lignac
to see safe to Madame Jeanne's care."
'* But, Sire " and I looked at Marcel lying at
lay feet.
" He goes with us ; and that my heai ♦^ is sore, both
for him and for you, is God's truth. The game is
lost, De Bernauld, but believe th. : th> King does not
so soon forget his pawns."
cost was the life of a gallant man ; and yet I belie
vu
!|" I
348
A kino's pawn.
from my soul that Marcel's .InnH. .1 ,
^e T T^ZZ: ^ Tf' ^'""" ""'" "-'
""t Claire do Montalr 1 ■ her 7 " '"" """'
still alive in this vearlf '' *'"■"" '""' "«
"■et the end h and h, fr '"'• «"- ^'''ce'-
'-re „ok the K„^.; jtr;~
"- t..e cliff, .0 tat „:i :;'; '''^'■', ''"'^"'""
;oc. of the Ki„«,ju,,ceti, ,;'';•:':::'''''"
"03t on o„r side was .,ac.,.,es GoLj' Z^Z
Witch of The Eat'«, w^i ^^""'neau. The old
•^ guess IS, that Ked beard had nnf k
sod before our return to Th .1 ^ ' ""^'" ^^^«
•i ,« ^tJturn to the thieves' rl^n nn •
Itself was burnt to the ground. "" '""
THE END.
PRmen sv wilu^m
BLACKWOOD AND S0S3.