CHAPTER VI
A MESSENGER FOR MY LADY
"So you failed to capture him, Monsieur le Commandant?"
The speaker, the Marquis de Beauvillers, leaned more comfortably backin his chair in the small, rather barely furnished barracks'sitting-room in which he found himself later that night and languidlysurveyed the florid, irate countenance of the man in uniform before him.
"No, Monsieur le Marquis," said the latter, endeavoring to conceal anyevidence of mortification or ill humor in the presence of a visitor sodistinguished; "we didn't. But," as if to turn the conversation, witha gesture toward a well-laden table, "I should feel honored if--"
"Thank you, no! After our repast on the beach--however, stand on noceremony yourself. Nay, I insist--"
"If Monsieur le Marquis insists!--" The commandant drew up his chair;then, reaching for a bottle, poured out a glass of wine, which heoffered his guest.
"No, no!" said the Marquis. "But as I remarked before, stand on noceremony!" And daintily opening a snuff-box, he watched his host withan expression half-amused, half-ironical.
That person ate and drank with little relish; the wine--so he said--hadspoiled; and the dishes were without flavor; it was fortunate Monsieurle Marquis had no appetite--
Whereupon the Marquis smiled; but, considering the circumstances, inhis own mind excused the commandant, who had only just come from theGovernor's palace, and who, after the interview that undoubtedly hadensued, could hardly be expected to find the pate palatable, or thewine to his liking. This, despite the complaisance of the youngnobleman whom the commandant had encountered, while descending from theGovernor's abode, and who, adapting his step to the other's hadaccompanied the officer back to his quarters, and graciously acceptedan invitation to enter.
"Well, you know the old saying," the Marquis closed the box with asnap, "'There's many a slip'--but how," airily brushing with hishandkerchief imaginary particles from a long lace cuff, "did he getaway?"
"He _had_ got away before we were down on the beach. It was awild-goose chase, at best. And so I told his Excellency, theGovernor--"
"A thankless task, no doubt! But the shots we heard--"
"An imbecile soldier saw a shadow; fired at it, and--"
"The others followed suit?" laughed the visitor.
"Exactly!" The commandant's face grew red; fiercely he pulled at hismustache. "What can one expect, when they make soldiers out of everydunderpate that comes along?"
"True!" assented the Marquis. "But this fellow, this BlackSeigneur--why is the Governor so anxious to lay hands on him? Who ishe, and what has he done? I confess," languidly, "to a mild curiosity."
"He's a privateersman and an outlaw, and has done enough to hanghimself a dozen times--"
"When you capture him!" interposed the visitor lightly. A moment hestudied the massive oak beams of the ceiling. "Why do they call himthe Black Seigneur? An odd sobriquet!"
"His father was a Seigneur--the last of the fief of Desaurac. TheSeigneurs have all been fair men for generations, while this fellow--"
"Then he has noble blood in him?" The Marquis showed surprise. "Whereis the fief?"
"The woods on the shore mark the beginning of it."
"But--I don't understand. The father was a Seigneur; the son--"
Bluntly the commandant explained; the son was a natural child; themother, a common peasant woman whom the former Seigneur had taken tohis house--
"I see!" The young nobleman tapped his knee. "And that being thecase--"
"Under the terms of the ancient grant, there being no legal heir, thelands were confiscated to the crown. His Excellency, however, hadalready bought many of the incumbrances against the property, and, inview of this, and his services to the King, the fief, declaredforfeited by the courts, was subsequently granted and deeded, withoutcondition, to the Governor."
"To the Governor!" repeated the Marquis.
"Who at once began a rare clearing-out; forcing the peasants who foryears had not been paying metayage, to meet this just requirement,or--move away!"
"And did not some of them object?"
"They did; but his Excellency found means. The most troublesome werearrested and taken to the Mount, where they have had time toreflect--his Excellency believes in no half-way measures with peasants."
"A rich principality, no doubt!" half to himself spoke the Marquis.
"I have heard," blurted the commandant, "he's going to give it to theLady Elise; restore the old castle and turn the grounds surrounding itinto a noble park."
The visitor frowned, as if little liking the introduction of the lady'sname into the conversation. "And what did the Black Seigneur do then,"he asked coldly, "when he found his lands gone?"
"Claimed it was a plot!--that his mother was an honest woman, thoughneither the priest who performed the ceremony nor the marriage recordscould be found. He even resisted at first--refused to be turnedout--and, skulking about the forest with his gun, kept the deputies atbay. But they surrounded him at last; drove him to the castle, andwould have captured him, only he escaped that night, and took to thehigh seas, where he has been making trouble ever since!"
"Trouble?"
"He has seriously hampered his Excellency's commerce; interfered withhis ships, and crippled his trade with the Orient."
"But--the Governor has many boats, many men. Why have they failed tocapture him?"
"For a number of reasons. In the first place he is one of the mostskilful pilots on the coast; when hard pressed, he does not hesitate touse even the Isles des Rochers as a place of refuge."
"The Isles des Rochers?" queried the nobleman.
"A _chevaux-de-frise_ on the sea, my Lord!" continued the commandant;"where fifty barren isles are fortified by a thousand rocks; frothingfangs when the tide is low; sharp teeth that lie in wait to bite whenthe smiling lips of the treacherous waters have closed above! There,the Governor's ships have followed him on several occasions, and--fewof them have come back!"
"But surely there must be times when he can not depend on that retreat?"
"There are, my Lord. His principal harbor and resort is a little islefarther north--English, they call it--that offers refuge at any time tomiscreants from France. There may they lie peacefully, as in a cradle;or go ashore with impunity, an they like. Oh, he is safe enough there.Home for French exiles, they designate the place. Exiles! Bah! Itwas there he first found means to get his ship--sharing his profits, nodoubt, with the islander who built her. There, too, he mustered hiscrew--savage peasants who had been turned off the lands of the oldSeigneur; fisher-folk who had become outlaws rather than pay to theGovernor just dues from the sea; men fled from the _banalite_ of themill, of the oven, of the wine-press--"
"Still must he be a redoubtable fellow, to have done what he didto-night; to have dared mingle with the people, under the Governor'svery guns!"
"The people! He has nothing to fear from them. An ignorant, low,disloyal lot! They look upon this fellow as a hero. He has played hiscards well; sends money to the lazy, worthless ones, under pretext thatthey are poor, over-taxed, over-burdened. In his company is oneGabriel Gabarie, a poet of the people, as he is styled, who keeps intouch with those stirring trouble in Paris. Perhaps they hope for aninsurrection there, and then--"
"An insurrection?" The Marquis' delicate features expressed ironicalprotest; he dismissed the possibility with an airy wave of the hand."One should never anticipate trouble, Monsieur le Commandant," he saidlightly and rose. "Good night."
"Good night, Monsieur le Marquis," returned the officer with duedeference, and accompanied his noble visitor to the door.
At first, without the barracks, the Marquis walked easily on, but soonthe steepness of the narrow road, becoming more marked as it approachedthe commanding structures at the top of the Mount, caused his gaitgradually to slacken; then he paused altogether, at an upper platform.
From where he stood, by day could be seen, almost directly be
neath, thetiny habitations of men clinging like limpets to the precipitous sidesof the rocks at the base; now was visible only a void, an abysm, out ofwhich swam the sea; so far below, a boat looked no larger than a gullon its silver surface; so immense, the dancing waves seemed receding toa limit beyond the reach of the heavens.
"You found him?" A girl's clear voice broke suddenly upon him. Hewheeled.
"Elise! You!"
"Yes! why not? You found him? The commandant?"
"At your command, but--"
"And learned all?"
"All he could tell."
"It is reported at the castle that the man escaped!" quickly.
"It is true. But," in a voice of languid surprise, "I believe you areglad--"
"No, no!" She shook her head. "Only," a smile curved her lips, "Beppowill be so disappointed! Now," seating herself lightly on the low wallof the giant rampart, "tell me all you have learned about this BlackSeigneur."
The Marquis, considered; with certain reservations obeyed. At theconclusion of his narrative, she spoke no word and he turned to herinquiringly. Her brows were knit; her eyes down-bent. A moment heregarded her in silence; then she looked up at him suddenly.
"I wonder," she said, her face bathed in the moonlight, "if--if it wasthis Black Seigneur I danced with?"
"The Black Seigneur!" My lord started; frowned. "Nonsense! What anabsurd fancy! He would not have dared!"
"True," said the girl quickly. "You are right, my Lord. It is absurd.He would not have dared."
The Lady of the Mount Page 6