A Gentleman of France: Being the Memoirs of Gaston de Bonne Sieur de Marsac

by Stanley John Weyman

  CHAPTER XXIX. PESTILENCE AND FAMINE.

  While Maignan was away about this business I despatched two men to catchour horses, which were running loose in the valley, and to remove thoseof Bruhl's party to a safe distance from the castle. I also blocked upthe lower part of the door leading into the courtyard, and named fourmen to remain under arms beside it, that we might not be taken bysurprise; an event of which I had the less fear, however, since theenemy were now reduced to eight swords, and could only escape, as wecould only enter, through this doorway. I was still busied with thesearrangements when M. d'Agen joined me, and I broke off to compliment himon his courage, acknowledging in particular the service he had done mepersonally. The heat of the conflict had melted the young man's reserve,and flushed his face with pride; but as he listened to me he graduallyfroze again, and when I ended he regarded me with the same coldhostility.

  'I am obliged to you,' he said, bowing. 'But may I ask what next, M. deMarsac?'

  'We have no choice,' I answered. 'We can only starve them out.'

  'But the ladies?' he said, starting slightly. 'What of them?'

  'They will suffer less than the men,' I replied. 'Trust me, the latterwill not bear starving long.'

  He seemed surprised, but I explained that with our small numbers wecould not hope to storm the tower, and might think ourselves fortunatethat we now had the enemy cooped up where he could not escape, and musteventually surrender.

  'Ay, but in the meantime how will you ensure the women againstviolence?' he asked, with an air which showed he was far from satisfied.

  'I will see to that when Maignan comes back,' I answered prettyconfidently.

  The equerry appeared in a moment with the assurance that egress from thefarther side of the tower was impossible. I bade him nevertheless keepa horseman moving round the hill, that we might have intelligence ofany attempt. The order was scarcely given when a man--one of those I hadleft on guard at the door of the courtyard--came to tell me that Fresnoydesired to speak with me on behalf of M. de Bruhl.

  'Where is he?' I asked.

  'At the inner door with a flag of truce,' was the answer.

  'Tell him, then,' I said, without offering to move, 'that I willcommunicate with no one except his leader, M. de Bruhl. And add this,my friend,' I continued. 'Say it aloud that if the ladies whom he hasin charge are injured by so much as a hair, I will hang every man withinthese walls, from M. de Bruhl to the youngest lackey.' And I added asolemn oath to that effect.

  The man nodded, and went on his errand, while I and M. d'Agen, withMaignan, remained standing outside the gate, looking idly over thevalley and the brown woods through which we had ridden in the earlymorning. My eyes rested chiefly on the latter, Maignan's as it proved onthe former. Doubtless we all had our own thoughts. Certainly I had,and for a while, in my satisfaction at the result of the attack andthe manner in which we had Bruhl confined, I did not remark the gravitywhich was gradually overspreading the equerry's countenance. When I didI took the alarm, and asked him sharply what was the matter. 'I don'tlike that, your Excellency,' he answered, pointing into the valley.

  I looked anxiously, and looked, and saw nothing.

  'What?' I said in astonishment.

  'The blue mist,' he muttered, with a shiver. 'I have been watching itthis half-hour, your Excellency. It is rising fast.'

  I cried out on him for a maudlin fool, and M. d'Agen swore impatiently;but for all that, and despite the contempt I strove to exhibit, I felta sudden chill at my heart as I recognised in the valley below the sameblue haze which had attended us through yesterday's ride, and left usonly at nightfall. Involuntarily we both fell to watching it as itrose slowly and more slowly, first enveloping the lower woods, and thenspreading itself abroad in the sunshine. It is hard to witness a boldman's terror and remain unaffected by it; and I confess I trembled.Here, in the moment of our seeming success, was something which I hadnot taken into account, something against which I could not guard eithermyself or others!

  'See!' Maignan whispered hoarsely, pointing again with his linger. 'Itis the Angel of Death, your Excellency! Where he kills by ones and twos,he is invisible. But when he slays by hundreds and by thousands, men seethe shadow of his wings!'

  'Chut, fool!' I retorted with, anger, which was secretly proportioned tothe impression his weird saying made on me. 'You have been in battles!Did you ever see him there? or at a sack? A truce to this folly,' Icontinued. 'And do you go and inquire what food we have with us. It maybe necessary to send for some.'

  I watched him go doggedly off, and knowing the stout nature of the manand his devotion to his master, I had no fear that he would fail us; butthere were others, almost as necessary to us, in whom I could not placethe same confidence. And these had also taken the alarm. When I turned Ifound groups of pale-faced men, standing by twos and threes at my back;who, pointing and muttering and telling one another what Maignan hadtold us, looked where we had looked. As one spoke and another listened,I saw the old panic revive in their eyes. Men who an hour or two beforehad crossed the court under fire with the utmost resolution, and daredinstant death without a thought, grew pale, and looking from this sideof the valley to that; with faltering eyes, seemed to be seeking, likehunted animals, a place of refuge. Fear, once aroused, hung in theair. Men talked in whispers of the abnormal heat, and, gazing at thecloudless sky, fled from the sunshine to the shadow; or, looking overthe expanse of woods, longed to be under cover and away from this loftyeyrie, which to their morbid eyes seemed a target for all the shafts ofdeath.

  'I was not slow to perceive the peril with which these fears andapprehensions, which rapidly became general, threatened my plans. Istrove to keep the men employed, and to occupy their thoughts as far aspossible with the enemy and his proceedings; but I soon found that evenhere a danger lurked; for Maignan, coming to me by-and-by with agrave face, told me that one of Bruhl's men had ventured out, and wasparleying with the guard on our side of the court. I went at once andbroke the matter off, threatening to shoot the fellow if he was notunder cover before I counted ten. But the scared, sultry faces he leftbehind him told me that the mischief was done, and I could think of nobetter remedy for it than to give M. d'Agen a hint, and station him atthe outer gate with his pistols ready.

  The question of provisions, too, threatened to become a serious one; Idared not leave to procure them myself, nor could I trust any of mymen with the mission. In fact the besiegers were rapidly becoming thebesieged. Intent on the rising haze and their own terrors, they forgotall else. Vigilance and caution were thrown to the winds. The stillnessof the valley, its isolation, the distant woods that encircled us andhung quivering in the heated air, all added to the panic. Despite allmy efforts and threats, the men gradually left their posts, and gettingtogether in little parties at the gate, worked themselves up to such apitch of dread that by two hours after noon they were fit for any folly;and at the mere cry of 'plague!' would have rushed to their horses andridden in every direction.

  It was plain that I could depend for useful service on myself and threeothers only--of whom, to his credit be it said, Simon Fleix was one.Seeing this, I was immensely relieved when I presently heard thatFresnoy was again seeking to speak with me. I was no longer, it will bebelieved, for standing on formalities; but glad to waive in silence thepunctilio on which I had before insisted, and anxious to afford him noopportunity of marking the slackness which prevailed among my men, Ihastened to meet him at the door of the courtyard where Maignan haddetained him.

  I might have spared my pains, however. I had no more than saluted himand exchanged the merest preliminaries before I saw that he was in astate of panic far exceeding that of my following. His coarse face,which had never been prepossessing, was mottled and bedabbled withsweat; his bloodshot eyes, when they met mine, wore the fierce yetterrified expression of an animal caught in a trap. Though his firstword was an oath, sworn for the purpose of raising his courage, thebully's bluster was gone. He spoke in a low voice, and his hands shook;
and for a penny-piece I saw he would have bolted past me and taken hischance in open flight.

  I judged from his first words, uttered, as I have said, with an oath,that he was aware of his state. 'M. de Marsac,' he said, whining like acur, 'you know me, to be a man of courage.'

  I needed nothing after this to assure me that he meditated something ofthe basest; and I took care how I answered him. 'I have known you stiffenough upon occasions,' I replied drily. 'And then, again, I have knownyou not so stiff, M. Fresnoy.'

  'Only when you were in question,' he muttered with another oath. 'Butflesh and blood cannot stand this. You could not yourself. Betweenhim and them I am fairly worn out. Give me good terms--good terms, youunderstand, M. de Marsac?' he whispered eagerly, sinking his voice stilllower, 'and you shall have all you want.'

  'Your lives, and liberty to go where you please,' I answered coldly.'The two ladies to be first given up to me uninjured. Those are theterms.'

  'But for me?' he said anxiously.

  'For you? The same as the others,' I retorted. 'Or I will make adistinction for old acquaintance sake, M. Fresnoy; and if the ladieshave aught to complain of, I will hang you first.'

  He tried to bluster and hold out for a sum of money, or at least forhis horse to be given up to him. But I had made up my mind to reward myfollowers with a present of a horse apiece; and I was besides well awarethat this was only an afterthought on his part, and that he had fullydecided to yield. I stood fast, therefore. The result justified myfirmness, for he presently agreed to surrender on those terms.

  'Ay, but M. de Bruhl?' I said, desiring to learn clearly whether he hadauthority to treat for all. 'What of him?'

  He looked at me impatiently. 'Come and see!' he said, with an uglysneer.

  'No, no, my friend,' I answered, shaking my head warily. 'That is notaccording to rule. You are the surrendering party, and it is for you totrust us. Bring out the ladies, that I may have speech with them, andthen I will draw off my men.'

  'Nom de Dieu!' he cried hoarsely, with so much fear and rage in his facethat I recoiled from him. 'That is just what I cannot do.'

  'You cannot?' I rejoined with a sudden thrill of horror. 'Why not? whynot, man?' And in the excitement of the moment, conceiving the idea thatthe worst had happened to the women, I pushed him back with so much furythat he laid his hand on his sword.

  'Confound you!' he stuttered, 'stand back! It is not that, I tell you!Mademoiselle is safe and sound, and madame, if she had her senses, wouldbe sound too. It is not our fault if she is not. But I have not got thekey of the rooms. It is in Bruhl's pocket, I tell you!'

  'Oh!' I made answer drily. 'And Bruhl?'

  'Hush, man,' Fresnoy replied, wiping the perspiration from his brow, andbringing his pallid, ugly face, near to mine, 'he has got the plague!'

  I stared at him for a moment in silence; which he was the first tobreak. 'Hush!' he muttered again, laying a trembling hand on my arm,'if the men knew it--and not seeing him they are beginning to suspectit--they would rise on us. The devil himself could not keep them here.Between him and them I am on a razor's edge. Madame is with him, andthe door is locked. Mademoiselle is in a room upstairs, and the dooris locked. And he has the keys. What can I do? What can I do, man?' hecried, his voice hoarse with terror and dismay.

  'Get the keys,' I said instinctively.

  'What?' From him?' he muttered, with an irrepressible shudder, whichshook his bloated cheeks. 'God forbid I should see him! It takesstout men infallibly. I should be dead by night! By God, I should!' hecontinued, whining. 'Now you are not stout, M. de Marsac. If you willcome with me I will draw off the men from that part; and you may go inand get the key from him.'

  His terror, which surpassed all feeling, and satisfied me without doubtthat he was in earnest, was so intense that it could not fail to infectme. I felt my face, as I looked into his, grow to the same hue. Itrembled as he did and grew sick. For if there is a word which blanchesthe soldier's cheek and tries his heart more than another, it is thename of the disease which travels in the hot noonday, and, tainting thestrongest as he rides in his pride, leaves him in a few hours a poormass of corruption. The stoutest and the most reckless fear it; norcould I, more than another, boast myself indifferent to it, or think ofits presence without shrinking. But the respect in which a man of birthholds himself saves him from the unreasoning fear which masters thevulgar; and in a moment I recovered myself, and made up my mind what itbehoved me to do.

  'Wait awhile,' I said sternly, 'and I will come with you.'

  He waited accordingly, though with manifest impatience, while I sentfor M. d'Agen, and communicated to him what I was about to do. I did notthink it necessary to enter into details, or to mention Bruhl's state,for some of the men were well in hearing. I observed that the younggentleman received my directions with a gloomy and dissatisfied air. ButI had become by this time so used to his moods, and found myself somuch mistaken in his character, that I scarcely gave the matter a secondthought. I crossed the court with Fresnoy, and in a moment had mountedthe outside staircase and passed through the heavy doorway.

  The moment I entered, I was forced to do Fresnoy the justice ofadmitting that he had not come to me before he was obliged. The threemen who were on guard inside tossed down their weapons at sight of me,while a fourth, who was posted at a neighbouring window, hailed me witha cry of relief. From the moment I crossed the threshold the defence waspractically at an end. I might, had I chosen or found it consistent withhonour, have called in my following and secured the entrance. Withoutpausing, however, I passed on to the foot of a gloomy stone staircasewinding up between walls of rough masonry; and here Fresnoy stood on oneside and stopped. He pointed upwards with a pale face and muttered,'Thedoor on the left.'

  Leaving him there watching me as I went upwards, I mounted slowly to thelanding, and by the light of an arrow-slit which dimly lit the ruinousplace found the door he had described, and tried it with my hand. Itwas locked, but I heard someone moan in the room, and a step crossedthe floor, as if he or another came to the door and listened. I knocked,hearing my heart beat in the silence. At last a voice quite strange tome cried, 'Who is it?'

  'A friend,' I muttered, striving to dull my voice that they might nothear me below.

  'A friend!' the bitter answer came. 'Go! You have made a mistake! Wehave no friends.'

  'It is I, M. de Marsac,' I rejoined, knocking more imperatively. 'Iwould see M. de Bruhl. I must see him.'

  The person inside, at whose identity I could now make a guess, uttereda low exclamation, and still seemed to hesitate. But on my repeating mydemand I heard a rusty bolt withdrawn, and Madame de Bruhl, opening thedoor a few inches, showed her face in the gap. 'What do you want?' shemurmured jealously.

  Prepared as I was to see her, I was shocked by the change in herappearance, a change which even that imperfect light failed to hide. Herblue eyes had grown larger and harder, and there were dark marks underthem. Her face, once so brilliant, was grey and pinched; her hair hadlost its golden lustre. 'What do you want?' she repeated, eyeing mefiercely.

  'To see him,' I answered.

  'You know?' she muttered. 'You know that he--'

  I nodded.

  And you still want to come in? My God! Swear you will not hurt him?'

  'Heaven forbid!' I said; and on that she held the door open that I mightenter. But I was not half-way across the room before she had passed me,and was again between me and the wretched makeshift pallet. Nay, whenI stood and looked down at him, as he moaned and rolled in senselessagony, with livid face and distorted features (which the cold grey lightof that miserable room rendered doubly appalling), she hung over him andfenced him from me: so that looking on him and her, and remembering howhe had treated her, and why he came to be in this place, I felt unmanlytears rise to my eyes. The room was still a prison, a prison with brokenmortar covering the floor and loopholes for windows; but the captive washeld by other chains than those of force. When she might have gone free,her woman's love surv
iving all that he had done to kill it, chainedher to his side with fetters which old wrongs and present danger werepowerless to break.

  It was impossible that I could view a scene so strange without feelingsof admiration as well as pity; or without forgetting for a while, inmy respect for Madame de Bruhl's devotion, the risk which had seemed sogreat to me on the stairs. I had come simply for a purpose of my own,and with no thought of aiding him who lay here. But so great, as Ihave noticed on other occasions, is the power of a noble example, that,before I knew it, I found myself wondering what I could do to help thisman, and how I could relieve madame, in the discharge of offices whichher husband had as little right to expect at her hands as at mine. Atthe mere sound of the word Plague I knew she would be deserted in thiswilderness by all, or nearly all; a reflection which suggested to methat I should first remove mademoiselle to a distance, and then considerwhat help I could afford here.

  I was about to tell her the purpose with which I had come when aparoxysm more than ordinarily violent, and induced perhaps by theexcitement of my presence--though he seemed beside himself--seized him,and threatened to tax her powers to the utmost. I could not look on andsee her spend herself in vain; and almost before I knew what I was doingI had laid my hands on him and after a brief struggle thrust him backexhausted on the couch.

  She looked at me so strangely after that that in the half-light whichthe loopholes afforded I tried in vain to read her meaning. 'Why did youcome?' she cried at length, breathing quickly. 'You, of all men? Why didyou come? He was no friend of yours, Heaven knows!'

  'No, madame, nor I of his,' I answered bitterly, with a sudden revulsionof feeling.

  'Then why are you here?' she retorted.

  'I could not send one of my men,' I answered. 'And I want the key of theroom above.'

  At the mention of that the room above--she flinched as if I had struckher, and looked as strangely at Bruhl as she had before looked at me. Nodoubt the reference to Mademoiselle de la Vire recalled to her mindher husband's wild passion for the girl, which for the moment she hadforgotten. Nevertheless she did not speak, though her face turned verypale. She stooped over the couch, such as it was, and searching hisclothes, presently stood up, and held out the key to me. 'Take it, andlet her out,' she said with a forced smile. 'Take it up yourself, and doit. You have done so much for her it is right that you should do this.'

  I took the key, thanking her with more haste than thought, and turnedtowards the door, intending to go straight up to the floor above andrelease mademoiselle. My hand was already on the door, which madame, Ifound, had left ajar in the excitement of my entrance, when I heard herstep behind me. The next instant she touched me on the shoulder. 'Youfool!' she exclaimed, her eyes flashing, 'would you kill her?' Would yougo from him to her, and take the plague to her? God forgive me, it wasin my mind to send you. And men are such puppets you would have gone!'

  I trembled with horror, as much at my stupidity as at her craft. For shewas right: in another moment I should have gone, and comprehension andremorse would have come too late. As it was, in my longing at onceto reproach her for her wickedness and to thank her for her timelyrepentance, I found no words; but I turned away in silence and went outwith a full heart.