CHAPTER XXI.
MADAME DE SAUVE'S APARTMENT.
Catharine was not deceived in her suspicions. Henry had resumed hisformer habits and went every evening to Madame de Sauve's. At first heaccomplished this with the greatest secrecy; but gradually he grewnegligent and ceased to take any precautions, so that Catharine had notrouble in finding out that while Marguerite was still nominally Queenof Navarre, Madame de Sauve was the real queen.
At the beginning of this story we said a word or two about Madame deSauve's apartment; but the door opened by Dariole to the King of Navarreclosed hermetically behind him, so that these rooms, the scene of theBearnais's mysterious amours, are totally unknown to us. The quarters,like those furnished by princes for their dependents in the palacesoccupied by them in order to have them within reach, were smaller andless convenient than what she could have found in the city itself. Asthe reader already knows, they were situated on the second floor of thepalace, almost immediately above those occupied by Henry himself. Thedoor opened into a corridor, the end of which was lighted by an archedwindow with small leaded panes, so that even in the loveliest days ofthe year only a dubious light filtered through. During the winter, afterthree o'clock in the afternoon, it was necessary to light a lamp, but asthis contained no more oil than in summer, it went out by ten o'clock,and thus, as soon as the winter days arrived, gave the two lovers thegreatest security.
A small antechamber, carpeted with yellow flowered damask; areception-room with hangings of blue velvet; a sleeping-room, the bedadorned with twisted columns and rose-satin curtains, enshrining a_ruelle_ ornamented with a looking-glass set in silver, and twopaintings representing the loves of Venus and Adonis,--such was theresidence, or as one would say nowadays the nest, of the lovelylady-in-waiting to Queen Catharine de Medicis.
If one had looked sharply one would have found, opposite a toilet-tableprovided with every accessory, a small door in a dark corner of thisroom opening into a sort of oratory where, raised on two steps, stood a_priedieu_. In this little chapel on the wall hung three or fourpaintings, to the highest degree spiritual, as if to serve as acorrective to the two mythological pictures which we mentioned. Amongthese paintings were hung on gilded nails weapons such as women carried.
That evening, which was the one following the scenes which we havedescribed as taking place at Maitre Rene's, Madame de Sauve, seated inher bedroom on a couch, was telling Henry about her fears and her love,and was giving him as a proof of her love the devotion which she hadshown on the famous night following Saint Bartholomew's, the nightwhich, it will be remembered, Henry spent in his wife's quarters.
Henry on his side was expressing his gratitude to her. Madame de Sauvewas charming that evening in her simple batiste wrapper; and Henry wasvery grateful.
At the same time, as Henry was really in love, he was dreamy. Madame deSauve, who had come actually to love instead of pretending to love asCatharine had commanded, kept gazing at Henry to see if his eyes were inaccord with his words.
"Come, now, Henry," she was saying, "be honest; that night which youspent in the boudoir of her majesty the Queen of Navarre, with Monsieurde la Mole at your feet, didn't you feel sorry that that worthygentleman was between you and the queen's bedroom?"
"Certainly I did, sweetheart," said Henry, "for the only way that Icould reach this room where I am so comfortable, where at this instant Iam so happy, was for me to pass through the queen's room."
Madame de Sauve smiled.
"And you have not been there since?"
"Only as I have told you."
"You will never go to her without informing me?"
"Never."
"Would you swear to it?"
"Certainly I would, if I were still a Huguenot, but"--
"But what?"
"But the Catholic religion, the dogmas of which I am now learning, teachme that one must never take an oath."
"Gascon!" exclaimed Madame de Sauve, shaking her head.
"But now it is my turn, Charlotte," said Henry. "If I ask you somequestions, will you answer?"
"Certainly I will," replied the young woman, "I have nothing to hidefrom you."
"Now look here, Charlotte," said the king, "explain to me just for oncehow it came about that after the desperate resistance which you made tome before my marriage, you became less cruel to me who am an awkwardBearnais, an absurd provincial, a prince too poverty-stricken, indeed,to keep the jewels of his crown polished."
"Henry," said Charlotte, "you are asking the explanation of the enigmawhich the philosophers of all countries have been trying to determinefor the past three thousand years! Henry, never ask a woman why sheloves you; be satisfied with asking, 'Do you love me?'"
"Do you love me, Charlotte?" asked Henry.
"I love you," replied Madame de Sauve, with a fascinating smile,dropping her pretty hand into her lover's.
Henry retained the hand.
"But," he went on to say, following out his thought, "supposing I haveguessed the word which the philosophers have been vainly trying to findfor three thousand years--at least as far as you are concerned,Charlotte?"
Madame de Sauve blushed.
"You love me," pursued Henry, "consequently I have nothing else to askyou and I consider myself the happiest man in the world. But you knowhappiness is always accompanied by some lack. Adam, in the midst ofEden, was not perfectly happy, and he bit into that miserable applewhich imposed upon us all that love for novelty that makes every onespend his life in the search for something unknown. Tell me, my darling,in order to help me to find mine, didn't Queen Catharine at first bidyou love me?"
"Henry," exclaimed Madame de Sauve, "speak lower when you speak of thequeen mother!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Henry, with a spontaneity and boldness which deceivedMadame de Sauve herself, "it was a good thing formerly to distrust her,kind mother that she is, but then we were not on good terms; but nowthat I am her daughter's husband"--
"Madame Marguerite's husband!" exclaimed Charlotte, flushing withjealousy.
"Speak low in your turn," said Henry; "now that I am her daughter'shusband we are the best friends in the world. What was it they wanted?For me to become a Catholic, so it seems. Well, grace has touched me,and by the intercession of Saint Bartholomew I have become one. We livetogether like brethren in a happy family--like good Christians."
"And Queen Marguerite?"
"Queen Marguerite?" repeated Henry; "oh, well, she is the link unitingus."
"But, Henry, you said that the Queen of Navarre, as a reward for thedevotion I showed her, had been generous to me. If what you say is true,if this generosity, for which I have cherished deep gratitude towardher, is genuine, she is a connecting link easy to break. So you cannottrust to this support, for you have not made your pretended intimacyimpose on any one."
"Still I do rest on it, and for three months it has been the bolster onwhich I have slept."
"Then, Henry!" cried Madame de Sauve, "you have deceived me, and MadameMarguerite is really your wife."
Henry smiled.
"There, Henry," said Madame de Sauve, "you have given me one of thoseexasperating smiles which make me feel the cruel desire to scratch youreyes out, king though you are."
"Then," said Henry, "I seem to be imposing now by means of thispretended friendship, since there are moments when, king though I am,you desire to scratch out my eyes, because you believe that it exists!"
"Henry! Henry!" said Madame de Sauve, "I believe that God himself doesnot know what your thoughts are."
"My sweetheart," said Henry, "I think that Catharine first told you tolove me, next, that your heart told you the same thing, and that whenthose two voices are speaking to you, you hear only your heart's. Nowhere I am. I love you and love you with my whole heart, and that is thevery reason why if ever I should have secrets I should not confide themto you,--for fear of compromising you, of course,--for the queen'sfriendship is changeable, it is a mother-in-law's."
This was not what Char
lotte expected; it seemed to her that thethickening veil between her and her lover every time she tried to soundthe depths of his bottomless heart was assuming the consistency of awall, and was separating them from each other. So she felt the tearsspringing to her eyes as he made this answer, and as it struck teno'clock just at that moment:
"Sire," said Charlotte, "it is my bed-time; my duties call me very earlyto-morrow morning to the queen mother."
"So you drive me away to-night, do you, sweetheart?"
"Henry, I am sad. As I am sad, you would find me tedious and you wouldnot like me any more. You see that it is better for you to withdraw."
"Very good," said Henry, "I will withdraw if you insist upon it, only,_ventre saint gris_! you must at least grant me the favor of staying foryour toilet."
"But Queen Marguerite, sire! won't you keep her waiting if you remain?"
"Charlotte," replied Henry, gravely, "it was agreed between us that weshould never mention the Queen of Navarre, but it seems to me that thisevening we have talked about nothing but her."
Madame de Sauve sighed; then she went and sat down before hertoilet-table. Henry took a chair, pulled it along toward the one thatserved as his mistress's seat, and setting one knee on it while heleaned on the back of the other, he said:
"Come, my good little Charlotte, let me see you make yourself beautiful,and beautiful for me whatever you said. Heavens! What things! Whatscent-bottles, what powders, what phials, what perfumery boxes!"
"It seems a good deal," said Charlotte, with a sigh, "and yet it is toolittle, since with it all I have not as yet found the means of reigningexclusively over your majesty's heart."
"There!" exclaimed Henry; "let us not fall back on politics! What isthat little fine delicate brush? Should it not be for painting theeyebrows of my Olympian Jupiter?"
"Yes, sire," replied Madame de Sauve, "and you have guessed at the firstshot!"
"And that pretty little ivory rake?"
"'Tis for parting the hair!"
"And that charming little silver box with a chased cover?"
"Oh, that is something Rene sent, sire; 'tis the famous opiate which hehas been promising me so long--to make still sweeter the lips which yourmajesty has been good enough sometimes to find rather sweet."
And Henry, as if to test what the charming woman said, touched his lipsto the ones which she was looking at so attentively in the mirror. Nowthat they were returning to the field of coquetry, the cloud began tolift from the baroness's brow. She took up the box which had thus beenexplained, and was just going to show Henry how the vermilion salve wasused, when a sharp rap at the antechamber door startled the two lovers.
"Some one is knocking, madame," said Dariole, thrusting her head throughthe opening of the portiere.
"Go and find out who it is, and come back," said Madame de Sauve. Henryand Charlotte looked at each other anxiously, and Henry was beginning tothink of retiring to the oratory, in which he had already more than oncetaken refuge, when Dariole reappeared.
"Madame," said she, "it is Maitre Rene, the perfumer."
At this name Henry frowned, and involuntarily bit his lips.
"Do you want me to refuse him admission?" asked Charlotte.
"No!" said Henry; "Maitre Rene never does anything without havingpreviously thought about it. If he comes to you, it is because he has areason for coming."
"In that case, do you wish to hide?"
"I shall be careful not to," said Henry, "for Maitre Rene knowseverything; therefore Maitre Rene knows that I am here."
"But has not your majesty some reason for thinking his presence painfulto you?"
"I!" said Henry, making an effort, which in spite of his will-power hecould not wholly dissimulate. "I! none at all! we are rather cool toeach other, it is true; but since the night of Saint Bartholomew we havebeen reconciled."
"Let him enter!" said Madame de Sauve to Dariole.
A moment later Rene appeared, and took in the whole room at a glance.
Madame de Sauve was still before her toilet-table.
Henry had resumed his place on the couch.
Charlotte was in the light, and Henry in the shadow.
"Madame," said Rene, with respectful familiarity, "I have come to offermy apologies."
"For what, Rene?" asked Madame de Sauve, with that condescension whichpretty women always use towards the world of tradespeople who surroundthem, and whose duty it is to make them more beautiful.
"Because long ago I promised to work for these pretty lips, andbecause"--
"Because you did not keep your promise until to-day; is that it?" askedCharlotte.
"Until to-day?" repeated Rene.
"Yes; it was only to-day, in fact, this evening, that I received the boxyou sent me."
"Ah! indeed!" said Rene, looking strangely at the small opiate box onMadame de Sauve's table, which was precisely like those he had in hisshop. "I thought so!" he murmured. "And you have used it?"
"No, not yet. I was just about to try it as you entered." Rene's faceassumed a dreamy expression which did not escape Henry. Indeed, very fewthings escaped him.
"Well, Rene, what are you going to do now?" asked the king.
"I? Nothing, sire," said the perfumer, "I am humbly waiting until yourmajesty speaks to me, before taking leave of Madame la Baronne."
"Come, now!" said Henry, smiling. "Do you need my word to know that itis a pleasure to me to see you?"
Rene glanced around him, made a tour of the room as if to sound thedoors and the curtains with his eye and ear, then he stopped andstanding so that he could embrace at a glance both Madame de Sauve andHenry:
"I do not know it," said he, thanks to that admirable instinct whichlike a sixth sense guided him during the first part of his life in themidst of impending dangers. Henry felt that at that moment somethingstrangely resembling a struggle was passing through the mind of theperfumer, and turned towards him, still in the shadow, while theFlorentine's face was in the light.
"You here at this hour, Rene?" said he.
"Am I unfortunate enough to be in your majesty's way?" asked theperfumer, stepping back.
"No, but I want to know one thing."
"What, sire?"
"Did you think you would find me here?"
"I was sure of it."
"You wanted me, then?"
"I am glad to have found you, at least."
"Have you something to say to me?" persisted Henry.
"Perhaps, sire!" replied Rene.
Charlotte blushed, for she feared that the revelation which the perfumerseemed anxious to make might have something to do with her conducttowards Henry. Therefore she acted as though, having been whollyengrossed with her toilet, she had heard nothing, and interrupted theconversation.
"Ah! really, Rene," said she, opening the opiate box, "you are adelightful man. This cake is a marvellous color, and since you are hereI am going to honor you by experimenting with your new production."
She took the box in one hand, and with the other touched the tip of herfinger to the rose paste, which she was about to raise to her lips.
Rene gave a start.
The baroness smilingly lifted the opiate to her mouth.
Rene turned pale.
Still in the shadow, but with fixed and glowing eyes, Henry lost neitherthe action of the one nor the shudder of the other.
Charlotte's hand had but a short distance to go before it would touchher lips when Rene seized her arm, just as Henry rose to do so.
Henry fell back noiselessly on the couch.
"One moment, madame," said Rene, with a constrained smile, "you must notuse this opiate without special directions."
"Who will give me these directions?"
"I."
"When?"
"As soon as I have finished saying what I have to say to his Majesty theKing of Navarre."
Charlotte opened her eyes wide, understanding nothing of the mysteriouslanguage about her, and sat with the opiate pot in one hand, g
azing atthe tip of her finger, red with the rouge.
Henry rose, and moved by a thought which, like all those of the youngking, had two sides, one which seemed superficial, the other which wasdeep, he took Charlotte's hand and red as it was, made as though toraise it to his lips.
"One moment," said Rene, quickly, "one moment! Be kind enough, madame,to rinse your lovely hands with this soap from Naples which I neglectedto send you at the same time as the rouge, and which I have the honor ofbringing you now."
Drawing from its silver wrapping a cake of green soap, he put it in avermilion basin, poured some water over it, and, with one knee on thefloor, offered it to Madame de Sauve.
"Why, really, Maitre Rene, I no longer recognize you," said Henry, "youare so gallant that you far outstrip every court fop."
"Oh, what a delicious perfume!" cried Charlotte, rubbing her beautifulhands with the pearly foam made by the scented cake.
Rene performed his office of courtier to the end. He offered a napkin offine Frisian linen to Madame de Sauve, who dried her hands on it.
"Now," said the Florentine to Henry. "Let your mind be at rest,monseigneur."
Charlotte gave her hand to Henry, who kissed it, and while she halfturned on her chair to listen to what Rene was about to say, the King ofNavarre returned to his couch, more convinced than ever that somethingunusual was passing through the mind of the perfumer.
"Well?" asked Charlotte. The Florentine apparently made an effort tocollect all his strength, and then turned towards Henry.
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