CHAPTER XXIX.
PESTILENCE AND FAMINE.
While Maignan was away about this business I despatched two men tocatch our horses, which were running loose in the valley, and toremove those of Bruhl's party to a safe distance from the castle. Ialso blocked up the lower part of the door leading into the courtyard,and named four men to remain under arms beside it, that we might notbe taken by surprise; an event of which I had the less fear, however,since the enemy were now reduced to eight swords, and could onlyescape, as we could only enter, through this doorway. I was stillbusied with these arrangements when M. d'Agen joined me, and I brokeoff to compliment him on his courage, acknowledging in particular theservice he had done me personally. The heat of the conflict had meltedthe young man's reserve, and flushed his face with pride; but as helistened to me he gradually froze again, and when I ended he regardedme with the same cold hostility.
'I am obliged to you,' he said, bowing. 'But may I ask what next, M.de Marsac?'
'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, andmust eventually surrender.
'Ay, but in the meantime how will you ensure the women againstviolence?' he asked, with an air which showed he was far fromsatisfied.
'I will see to that when Maignan comes back,' I answered prettyconfidently.
The equerry appeared in a moment with the assurance that egress fromthe farther side of the tower was impossible. I bade him neverthelesskeep a horseman moving round the hill, that we might have intelligenceof any attempt. The order was scarcely given when a man--one of thoseI had left on guard at the door of the courtyard--came to tell me thatFresnoy desired 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 manwithin these walls, from M. de Bruhl to the youngest lackey.' And Iadded a solemn 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 provedon the 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 thegravity which was gradually overspreading the equerry's countenance.When I did I took the alarm, and asked him sharply what was thematter.
'I don't like that, your Excellency,' he answered, pointing into thevalley.
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 sworeimpatiently; but for all that, and despite the contempt I strove toexhibit, I felt a sudden chill at my heart as I recognised in thevalley below the same blue haze which had attended us throughyesterday's ride, and left us only at nightfall. Involuntarily we bothfell to watching it as it rose slowly and more slowly, firstenveloping the lower woods, and then spreading itself abroad in thesunshine. It is hard to witness a bold man's terror and remainunaffected by it; and I confess I trembled. Here, in the moment of ourseeming success, was something which I had not taken into account,something against which I could not guard either myself or others!
'See!' Maignan whispered hoarsely, pointing again with his linger. 'Itis the Angel of Death, your Excellency! Where he kills by ones andtwos, he is invisible. But when he slays by hundreds and by thousands,men see the shadow of his wings!'
'Chut, fool!' I retorted with, anger, which was secretly proportionedto the impression his weird saying made on me. 'You have been inbattles! Did you ever see him there? or at a sack? A truce to thisfolly,' I continued. 'And do you go and inquire what food we have withus. It may be 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;but there were others, almost as necessary to us, in whom I could notplace the same confidence. And these had also taken the alarm. When Iturned I found groups of pale-faced men, standing by twos and threesat my back; who, pointing and muttering and telling one another whatMaignan had told us, looked where we had looked. As one spoke andanother listened, I saw the old panic revive in their eyes. Men who anhour or two before had crossed the court under fire with the utmostresolution, and dared instant death without a thought, grew pale, andlooking from this side of the valley to that; with faltering eyes,seemed to be seeking, like hunted animals, a place of refuge. Fear,once aroused, hung is the air. Men talked in whispers of the abnormalheat, and, gazing at the cloudless sky, fled from the sunshine to theshadow; or, looking over the expanse of woods, longed to be undercover and away from this lofty eyrie, which to their morbid eyesseemed a target for all the shafts of death.
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 faras possible with the enemy and his proceedings; but I soon found thateven here 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. Thestillness of the valley, its isolation, the distant woods thatencircled us and hung quivering in the heated air, all added to thepanic. Despite all my efforts and threats, the men gradually lefttheir posts, and getting together in little parties at the gate,worked themselves up to such a pitch of dread that by two hours afternoon they were fit for any folly; and at the mere cry of 'plague!'would have rushed to their horses and ridden in every direction.
It was plain that I could depend for useful service on myself andthree others only--of whom, to his credit be it said, Simon Fleix wasone. Seeing this, I was immensely relieved when I presently heard thatFresnoy was again seeking to speak with me. I was no longer, it willbe believed, for standing on formalities; but glad to waive in silencethe punctilio on which I had before insisted, and anxious to affordhim no opportunity of marking the slackness which prevailed among mymen, I hastened to meet him at the door of the courtyard where Maignanhad detained 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 handsshook; and for a penny-piece I saw he would have bolted past me andtaken his chance in open flight.
I needed nothing after this to assure me that he meditated somethingof the basest; and I took care how I answered him. 'I have known youstiff enough upon occasions,' I replied drily. 'And then, again, Ihave known you 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. Between himand them I am fairly worn out. Give me good terms--good terms, youunderstand, M. de Marsac?' he whispered eagerly, sinking his voicestill lower, '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 rewardmy followers with a present of a horse apiece; and I was besides wellaware that this was only an afterthought on his part, and that he hadfully decided to yield. I stood fast, therefore. The result justifiedmy firmness, for he presently agreed to surrender on those terms.
'Ay, but M. de Bruhl?' I said, desiring to learn clearly whether hehad authority 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 youto trust us. Bring out the ladies, that I may have speech with them,and then I will draw off my men.'
'Nom de Dieu!' he cried hoarsely, with so much fear and rage in hisface that 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 ideathat the worst had happened to the women, I pushed him back with somuch fury that 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,would be sound too. It is not our fault if she is not. But I have notgot the key 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,and bringing his pallid, ugly face, near to mine, 'he has got theplague!'
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 feigning, and satisfied me withoutdoubt that he was in earnest, was so intense that it could not fail toinfect me. I felt my face, as I looked into his, grow to the same hue.I trembled as he did and grew sick. For if there is a word whichblanches the soldier's cheek and tries his heart more than another, itis the name of the disease which travels in the hot noonday, and,tainting the strongest as he rides in his pride, leaves him in a fewhours a poor mass of corruption. The stoutest and the most recklessfear it; nor could I, more than another, boast myself indifferent toit, or think of its presence without shrinking. But the respect inwhich a man of birth holds himself saves him from the unreasoning fearwhich masters the vulgar; and in a moment I recovered myself, and madeup my mind what it behoved 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 didnot think it necessary to enter into details, or to mention Bruhl'sstate, for some of the men were well in hearing. I observed that theyoung gentleman received my directions with a gloomy and dissatisfiedair. But I had become by this time so used to his moods, and foundmyself so much mistaken in his character, that I scarcely gave thematter a second thought. I crossed the court with Fresnoy, and in amoment had mounted the outside staircase and passed through the heavydoorway.
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 mewith a cry of relief. From the moment I crossed the threshold thedefence was practically at an end. I might, had I chosen or found itconsistent with honour, have called in my following and secured theentrance. Without pausing, however, I passed on to the foot of agloomy stone staircase winding up between walls of rough masonry; andhere Fresnoy stood on one side and stopped. He pointed upwards with apale face and muttered, 'The door on the left.'
Leaving him there watching me as I went upwards, I mounted slowly tothe landing, and by the light of an arrow-slit which dimly lit theruinous place found the door he had described, and tried it with myhand. It was locked, but I heard someone moan in the room, and a stepcrossed the 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 to me 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 repeatingmy demand I heard a rusty bolt withdrawn, and Madame de Bruhl, openingthe door, a few inches, showed her face in the gap. 'What do youwant?' she murmured 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.Her blue eyes had grown larger and harder, and there were dark marksunder them. Her face, once so brilliant, was grey and pinched; herhair had lost its golden lustre. 'What do you want?' she repeated,eyeing me fiercely.
'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 Imight enter. But I was not half-way across the room before she hadpassed me, and was again between me and the wretched makeshift pallet.Nay, when I stood and looked down at him, as he moaned and rolled insenseless agony, with livid face and distorted features (which thecold grey light of that miserable room rendered doubly appalling), shehung over him and fenced him from me: so that looking on him and her,and remembering how he had treated her, and why he came to be in thisplace, I felt unmanly tears rise to my eyes. The room was still aprison, a prison with broken mortar covering the floor and loopholesfor windows; but the captive was held by other chains than those offorce. When she might have gone free, her woman's love surviving allthat he had done to kill it, chained her to his side with fetterswhich old wrongs
and present danger were powerless to break.
It was impossible that I could view a scene so strange withoutfeelings of admiration as well as pity; or without forgetting for awhile, in my respect for Madame de Bruhl's devotion, the risk whichhad seemed so great to me on the stairs. I had come simply for apurpose of my own, and with no thought of aiding him who lay here. Butso great, as I have noticed on other occasions, is the power of anoble example, that, before I knew it, I found myself wondering what Icould do to help this man, and how I could relieve madame in thedischarge of offices which her husband had as little right to expectat her hands as at mine. At the mere sound of the word Plague I knewshe would be deserted in this wilderness by all, or nearly all; areflection which suggested to me that I should first removemademoiselle to a distance, and then consider what help I could affordhere.
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--seizedhim, and threatened to tax her powers to the utmost. I could not lookon and see her spend herself in vain; and almost before I knew what Iwas doing I had laid my hands on him and after a brief struggle thrusthim back exhausted 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 didyou come?' she cried at length, breathing quickly. 'You, of all men?Why did you come? He was no friend of yours, Heaven knows!'
'No, madame, nor I of his,' I answered bitterly, with a suddenrevulsion of feeling.
'Then why are you here?' she retorted.
'I could not send one of my men,' I answered. 'And I want the key ofthe room above.'
At the mention of that--the room above--she flinched as if I hadstruck her, and looked as strangely at Bruhl as she had before lookedat me. No doubt the reference to Mademoiselle de la Vire recalled toher mind her husband's wild passion for the girl, which for the momentshe had forgotten. Nevertheless she did not speak, though her faceturned very pale. She stooped over the couch, such as it was, andsearching his clothes, presently stood up, and held out the key to me.'Take it, and let her out,' she said with a forced smile. 'Take it upyourself, and do it. You have done so much for her it is right thatyou 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 heardher step behind me. The next instant she touched me on the shoulder.'You fool!' she exclaimed, her eyes flashing, 'would you kill her?Would you go from him to her, and take the plague to her? God forgiveme, it was in my mind to send you. And men are such puppets you wouldhave gone!'
I trembled with horror, as much at my stupidity as at her craft. Forshe was right: in another moment I should have gone, and comprehensionand remorse 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 wentout with a full heart.
Historical Romances: Under the Red Robe, Count Hannibal, A Gentleman of France Page 81