The Rose of Old St. Louis

by Mary Dillon

  CHAPTER XI

  CHOISSEZ LE ROI

  "She moves a goddess and she looks a queen."

  Le Jour de l'An was a full day with me. Though I did not go to earlymass with the family, I left the house when they did and had a fastgallop on Fatima's back through the gray dawn down to the boat, forthere were still a few finishing touches to be put to my decorationsand arrangements for mademoiselle's comfort, and I was in feverishhaste that all should be in readiness. Captain Clarke and I spent theday in visits of ceremony made at the houses where we had been sooften and so kindly entertained during our stay. They were reallyfarewell visits, though for prudential reasons we said nothing of ourapproaching departure. At every house we were served withcroquecignolles and wine or ratafia by the young maidens and theirmothers, and we were so hospitably urged to eat and drink that had wedone anything more than make the merest pretense for the sake of goodfellowship we would have been in no condition for the dance in theevening.

  Frenchmen know better how to manage their drinking than do weAnglo-Saxons. I know not how they do it, but I know not a youngfellow appeared at the governor's house in the evening who hadapparently taken more than was good for him; and yet had ourPhiladelphia lads been through the ordeal of proffered glasses all daylong, I warrant there would not have been a corporal's guard able toline up in good order at the governor's ball. But all these young St.Louis Frenchmen were out in fine feather, and carrying themselvesgrandly, eyes bright and heads steady, ready to lead out to thegovernor's table the belles of St. Louis, dazzling in brocades andfeathers, lace, and powder and black patches.

  It was a goodly feast, ragout and roast fowl and venison pasties, andcakes and tarts and rich conserves making the tables groan; but thecrowning moment was when the governor's stately butler brought in thebean-cake (almost as much as he could carry) and set it down beforethe governor. 'Twas a breathless silence as the governor cut eachslice and sent it first to the maiden nearest him and then to the nextin order. I was not in the least surprised when one of the four beansfell to mademoiselle's lot; I would have been surprised if it had not.There was a burst of ringing cheers, led by Josef Papin, when thelucky slice came to her, and I thought, "He knows he will be chosenking," and smiled with bitterness at the thought.

  I had not seen mademoiselle all day. As I glanced at her now, smilingand coloring with pleasure at the cheers that betokened herpopularity, it flashed into my mind that she would reign a queenindeed when she came into her own in France, for I was very surethere were no court ladies could compare with her for beauty andgrace.

  The governor himself crowned the four queens, and then they had toretire into the background for a space while their elders danced thefirst minuet, in which the governor led out Madame Chouteau in statelymeasure. But after that formal opening of the ball the young peoplehad it all their own way, and the four queens queened it royally eachwith a flock of suitors around her. I said to myself proudly, "I willnot hang on to any of their trains." There was no possible doubt butthat mademoiselle would choose Josef Papin (since the chevalier wasnot there), and while I would have liked it well if one of the othershad chosen me, just to show mademoiselle that all did not scorn me, Iwould not seem to sue for favors. So I attached myself to MademoiselleChouteau (who had not been so lucky as to draw a bean); and she beingin the sauciest mood (and looking exceeding pretty), and I feelingthat I was at least as well dressed as any other man (since I had onmy plum-colored velvets and my finest lace), and therefore at my ease,we made ourselves so entertaining to each other that I began in myheart to feel a little regret that this was to be my last ball withher.

  I would not so much as look at mademoiselle, whose silvery laughsometimes floated to my ears, for she had treated me shamefully oflate, and, as far as I could see, without the least reason. Just onceI caught her eye, however. I do not know how it happened, but therewas a moment of almost silence in the crowded room. The violins werenot playing, no one was dancing, and for one fleeting moment, everyone, or nearly every one, seemed to have ceased talking. Into thisstrange silence, through the open windows, there floated the clearcall of the whippoorwill,--only one, for the buzz and clamor andclatter of many voices surged up again instantly, and the violinsbegan to scrape and screech themselves into tune, and no one seemed tohave noticed either the silence or the whippoorwill. But I could notfor the life of me help one swift glance toward mademoiselle, and Imet her eyes seeking mine in a look of startled alarm that was almostterror. I held her glance long enough to say to her with my eyes, "Donot be afraid; I will see what it is," and I had the satisfaction ofseeing, before she turned away, that she understood and was reassured.

  A few minutes later I slipped outside. I was not entirely at easeabout that call, it had meant so much once. And I was not at all sureof the chevalier. A ball like this, with every one off guard, would bejust his opportunity. Outside there was a motley throng of negroes,river-men, and Indians, hanging around to get glimpses of the dancersand the guests coming and going. The yard was brightly lighted inspots by flaming lightwood torches, which left the other parts indeepest gloom. I noticed among the throng a little group of mummers,such as had been at Dr. Saugrain's the night before in hideous masks.This did not at first seem strange to me, but afterward I thought itmust be unusual, for they belonged peculiarly to New Year's eve.

  Leaning against a post that held a lightwood torch, a little withdrawnfrom the others, in solitary dignity, stood Black Hawk. I knew ifthere had been anything unusual in the whippoorwill cry he would knowit. I sauntered up to him carelessly (for if there were spies about, Idid not want to arouse suspicion), and stopped where the light fellfull on me, for I knew well the value of impressing Black Hawk withthe splendor of my dress. For the benefit of any possible listener, Itold him that the governor's halls were hot and I must needs get adraft of cold air before I could go back to my dancing. Then I talkedto him of Daniel Boone, for he had been with us on our trip to hishome, and I knew his admiration for that wonderful man. His onlyresponses were a series of grunts, but they were amiable ones (I thinkthe old savage rather liked me), and as I talked I gradually drewnearer. When I was quite close to him, I said suddenly, in a low tone:

  "Does the Great Chief of the Sacs think there are any White Wolves orRed Dogs about to-night?"

  I saw a sudden glitter in his eye, but that was the only responseexcept the invariable "Ugh!" Then I said again in the same low tone:

  "If Black Hawk will watch and let his white brother know what he findsout, it will greatly please the brother of the Captain of the LongKnives."

  There was another "Ugh!"--this time with half an inclination of thehead, and I went back to the dance satisfied that if there wasanything wrong, Black Hawk would discover it.

  It was half an hour later when Yorke came to me between the figures ofthe dance and begged a word with me.

  "Jes as soon as yo' can slip out unbeknownst-like," he said, "thatthar decent redskin 's waitin' to speak to yo'-all at the kitchendoah. Yo' 's to go down through the house, so 's nobody outside won'tsee yo'."

  I found an opportunity as soon as that dance was over, and going downthrough the house, with Yorke as my guide, I found Black Hawk waiting,and without a preliminary word, in slow, sententious fashion, hedelivered his message.

  "Black Hawk say to White Brother, Beware of White Wolf and six RedDogs. Wear devil's faces. All gone now. Wait for Little White Fawngoing home. Black Hawk go home with White Fawn and Fine Dress and LongKnives' brother and Little Medicine-man and Big Black."

  I understood his broken sentences very well. The mummers were, as Ihad half suspected, the chevalier and a band of Osages. They would liein wait for Pelagie on our way home and capture her if we were offguard. Black Hawk offered his services to guard her on the way home,and I gladly accepted them, for even then the chevalier's band wouldoutnumber us; and while in a hand-to-hand fight I did not doubt wewere much the better men, they would have greatly the advantage of usin being able to spring upon us from
ambuscade and get the firstshot.

  "In solitary dignity stood Black Hawk"]

  Black Hawk had planned our forces well, but I did not like his titlefor me, "Fine Dress"; I would rather he had called me "StraightShoot," the name he had several times given me on our trip together upthe Missouri. I had a lurking doubt that he was rebuking me for myvanity.

  But there was no time to quarrel about titles. I hunted up Dr.Saugrain, whom I found in the wide chimney-corner, the center of agroup of choice spirits,--the two Chouteaus, Mr. Gratiot, Mr. Cerre,Francis Vigo, and Manuel Lisa,--and he was telling them all, withgreat enthusiasm, about his experiments in quicksilver, and, to mysurprise, they were listening as eagerly as if he had been tellingtales of war and adventure--which was a marvelous thing to me, to whomscience was ever dull and dry-as-dust. I liked not to interrupt him,but the need was pressing, and when I had called him to one side andtold him of the presence of the chevalier and his Osages, he wasgreatly excited.

  The thing that troubled me most was that we were without firearms. Ihad my sword on, of course, and so had the captain, but swords wouldbe of little use, for the savages would not wait for a hand-to-handencounter, but would fire at long range. The only thing to be done wasto borrow from the governor; and in his grand Spanish manner hepressed all the guns of his armory upon us, and said he would send amessenger at once to the fort to have a troop despatched to scour thetown and rid it of every suspicious character; which was somewhat of arelief to me, but would have been more so if I could only have feltmore confidence in his slow-moving Spanish soldiers.

  But the governor begged, since it was a matter that required no haste,that we would say nothing to alarm his guests and so break up thedance in undue time, for, as he said, the kings had not yet beenchosen, and it would be a great pity to interfere with that pleasantceremony. As for me, I would have been quite willing to dispense withit. There would be no pleasure to me in seeing mademoiselle pin herbouquet on the lapel of Josef Papin's coat, thus choosing him herking; but there was nothing to do but go back to the ball-room and seeit out.

  As I entered the room, there happened to be a little break in thecoterie of young men surrounding mademoiselle, and through it I mether glance of eager inquiry. She had evidently missed me from theroom, and had her suspicions as to the cause of my long absence. Ireturned her glance with an assuring smile that all was well, and wenton to where I had left Mademoiselle Chouteau a half-hour before. Icould not have expected her to sit in a corner waiting for me all thatwhile, yet when I found that she too had her little coterie, and I wasevidently not missed, I felt unaccountably hurt and forlorn: as ifthere was no place for me, an alien, among these St. Louis Frenchpeople. As I had done many times before, I turned to Madame Saugrainfor comfort.

  It was nearing midnight, and I had wondered as I came in why they werenot dancing. Now I saw the reason of it. Down through the center ofthe floor came the governor, followed by his tall butler bearing asilver tray with four small bouquets upon it. He went directly tomademoiselle first, and then to the three other queens in turn,presenting each with one of the bouquets and making to each a gallantlittle speech, which the four maidens received with smiles and blushesand curtsies as became them, but mademoiselle also with a statelygrace befitting a queen.

  Then there was a moment of intense expectancy, for it was mademoisellewho was first to place her bouquet on the lapel of the coat of thechosen king. I would not look at her. I did not want to see her put itupon Josef Papin's coat, though there was no other there more fittingto receive it or who would make a more royal king for such a queen. SoI half turned my back and talked busily to madame, who listened to menot at all, so engrossed was she in the spectacle. It seemed to me along time in the doing, and presently I saw in madame's eyes a lightof eager surprise.

  "Look, m'ami, look!" she cried to me. But I would not look; no, noteven when I began to feel a suspicion of what was going to happen,from a queer feeling in my backbone, and my heart beating like atrip-hammer, and the blood rushing to the roots of my hair.

  "Look, look! I beg you to turn!" madame cried again. But I would notturn, though I heard a subdued murmur of voices all around me, and asoft rustle of silken skirts coming nearer and nearer--not until thesoft rustle stopped close beside me, and a sweet voice said:

  "Shall I pin my bouquet upon Monsieur's back? I believe it is usual topin it upon the lapel of the coat."

  Then I turned quickly, and for all the answer I made I dropped on oneknee and held toward her the lapel of my coat, and as she stooped topin it on I looked straight into her eyes. And what my eyes said tohers I know not, but quickly the white lids drooped over hers and shutme out from heaven, while the long black lashes lay upon her cheek,and the rich blood swept in a slow flood from the snowy throat to thedark waves of hair that crowned her white brow.

  And now her fingers trembled so in pinning on the flowers that she waslong in the doing of it (though I could have wished it much longer);and when she had finished I seized the hand that trembled, and for thefirst time I had ever dared I pressed my lips upon it. I saw anotherwave of color sweep her face, and then she bade me rise, and as Istood beside her a burst of acclaims came from every lip, "Vive leroi! Vive le roi!" and from one, "Vive le roi et la reine!" and Icould not have been prouder had I been king indeed, and she my royalconsort beside me!