Bardelys the Magnificent

by Rafael Sabatini

  CHAPTER XIII. THE ELEVENTH HOUR

  Castelroux visited me upon the following morning, but he brought no newsthat might be accounted encouraging. None of his messengers were yetreturned, nor had any sent word that they were upon the trail of myfollowers. My heart sank a little, and such hope as I still fosteredwas fast perishing. Indeed, so imminent did my doom appear and sounavoidable, that later in the day I asked for pen and paper that Imight make an attempt at setting my earthly affairs to rights. Yet whenthe writing materials were brought me, I wrote not. I sat instead withthe feathered end of my quill between my teeth, and thus pondered thematter of the disposal of my Picardy estates.

  Coldly I weighed the wording of the wager and the events that hadtranspired, and I came at length to the conclusion that Chatelleraultcould not be held to have the least claim upon my lands. That he hadcheated at the very outset, as I have earlier shown, was of less accountthan that he had been instrumental in violently hindering me.

  I took at last the resolve to indite a full memoir of the transaction,and to request Castelroux to see that it was delivered to the Kinghimself. Thus not only would justice be done, but I should--thoughtardily--be even with the Count. No doubt he relied upon his power tomake a thorough search for such papers as I might leave, and to destroyeverything that might afford indication of my true identity. But he hadnot counted upon the good feeling that had sprung up betwixt the littleGascon captain and me, nor yet upon my having contrived to convince thelatter that I was, indeed, Bardelys, and he little dreamt of such a stepas I was about to take to ensure his punishment hereafter.

  Resolved at last, I was commencing to write when my attention wasarrested by an unusual sound. It was at first no more than a murmuringnoise, as of at sea breaking upon its shore. Gradually it grew itsvolume and assumed the shape of human voices raised in lusty clamour.Then, above the din of the populace, a gun boomed out, then another, andanother.

  I sprang up at that, and, wondering what might be toward, I crossed tomy barred window and stood there listening. I overlooked the courtyardof the jail, and I could see some commotion below, in sympathy, as itwere, with the greater commotion without.

  Presently, as the populace drew nearer, it seemed to me that theshouting was of acclamation. Next I caught a blare of trumpets, and,lastly, I was able to distinguish above the noise, which had now grownto monstrous proportions, the clattering hoofs of some cavalcade thatwas riding past the prison doors.

  It was borne in upon me that some great personage was arriving inToulouse, and my first thought was of the King. At the idea of such apossibility my brain whirled and I grew dizzy with hope. The next momentI recalled that but last night Roxalanne had told me that he was nonearer than Lyons, and so I put the thought from me, and the hopewith it, for, travelling in that leisurely, indolent fashion that wascharacteristic of his every action, it would be a miracle if His Majestyshould reach Toulouse before the week was out, and this but Sunday.

  The populace passed on, then seemed to halt, and at last the shouts dieddown on the noontide air. I went back to my writing, and to wait untilfrom my jailer, when next he should chance to appear, I might learn themeaning of that uproar.

  An hour perhaps went by, and I had made some progress with my memoir,when my door was opened and the cheery voice of Castelroux greeted mefrom the threshold.

  "Monsieur, I have brought a friend to see you."

  I turned in my chair, and one glance at the gentle, comely face andthe fair hair of the young man standing beside Castelroux was enough tobring me of a sudden to my feet.

  "Mironsac!" I shouted, and sprang towards him with hands outstretched.

  But though my joy was great and my surprise profound, greater still wasthe bewilderment that in Mironsac's face I saw depicted.

  "Monsieur de Bardelys!" he exclaimed, and a hundred questions werecontained in his astonished eyes.

  "Po' Cap de Dieu!" growled his cousin, "I was well advised, it seems, tohave brought you."

  "But," Mironsac asked his cousin, as he took my hands in his own, "whydid you not tell me, Amedee, that it was to Monsieur le Marquis deBardelys that you were conducting me?"

  "Would you have had me spoil so pleasant a surprise?" his cousindemanded.

  "Armand," said I, "never was a man more welcome than are you. You arebut come in time to save my life."

  And then, in answer to his questions, I told him briefly of all that hadbefallen me since that night in Paris when the wager had been laid, andof how, through the cunning silence of Chatellerault, I was now upon thevery threshold of the scaffold. His wrath burst forth at that, andwhat he said of the Count did me good to hear. At last I stemmed hisinvective.

  "Let that be for the present, Mironsac," I laughed. "You are here, andyou can thwart all Chatellerault's designs by witnessing to my identitybefore the Keeper of the Seals."

  And then of a sudden a doubt closed like a cold hand upon my brain. Iturned to Castelroux.

  "Mon Dieu!" I cried. "What if they were to deny me a fresh trial?"

  "Deny it you!" he laughed. "They will not be asked to grant you one."

  "There will be no need," added Mironsac. "I have but to tell the King--"

  "But, my friend," I exclaimed impatiently, "I am to die in the morning!"

  "And the King shall be told to-day--now, at once. I will go to him."

  I stared askance a moment; then the thought of the uproar that I hadheard recurring to me, "Has the King arrived already?" I exclaimed.

  "Naturally, monsieur. How else do I come to be here? I am in HisMajesty's train."

  At that I grew again impatient. I thought of Roxalanne and of how shemust be suffering, and I bethought me that every moment Mironsac nowremained in my cell was another moment of torture for that poor child.So I urged him to be gone at once and carry news of my confinement toHis Majesty. He obeyed me, and I was left alone once more, to pace upand down in my narrow cell, a prey to an excitement such as I shouldhave thought I had outlived.

  At the end of a half-hour Castelroux returned alone.

  "Well?" I cried the moment the door opened, and without giving him somuch as time to enter. "What news?"

  "Mironsac tells me that His Majesty is more overwrought than he has everseen him. You are to come to the Palace at once. I have an order herefrom the King."

  We went in a coach, and with all privacy, for he informed me that HisMajesty desired the affair to be kept secret, having ends of his own toserve thereby.

  I was left to wait some moments in an ante-chamber, whilst Castelrouxannounced me to the King; then I was ushered into a small apartment,furnished very sumptuously in crimson and gold, and evidently set apartfor His Majesty's studies or devotions. As I entered, Louis's back wastowards me. He was standing--a tall, spare figure in black--leaningagainst the frame of a window, his head supported on his raised left armand his eyes intent upon the gardens below.

  He remained so until Castelroux had withdrawn and the door had closedagain; then, turning suddenly, he confronted me, his back to the light,so that his face was in a shadow that heightened its gloom and wontedweariness.

  "Voila, Monsieur de Bardelys!" was his greeting, and unfriendly. "Seethe pass to which your disobedience of my commands has brought you."

  "I would submit, Sire," I answered, "that I have been brought to it bythe incompetence of Your Majesty's judges and the ill-will of otherswhom Your Majesty honours with too great a confidence, rather than bythis same disobedience of mine."

  "The one and the other, perhaps," he said more softly. "Though, afterall, they appear to have had a very keen nose for a traitor. Come,Bardelys, confess yourself that."

  "I? A traitor?"

  He shrugged his shoulders, and laughed without any conspicuous mirth.

  "Is not a traitor one who runs counter to the wishes; of his King? Andare you not, therefore, a traitor, whether they call you Lesperon orBardelys? But there," he ended more softly still, and flinging himselfinto a chair as he spoke, "I have been so we
aried since you left me,Marcel. They have the best intentions in the world, these dullards,and some of them love me even; but they are tiresome all. EvenChatellerault, when he has a fancy for a jest--as in your caseperpetrates it with the grace of a bear, the sprightliness of anelephant."

  "Jest?" said I.

  "You find it no jest, Marcel? Pardieu, who shall blame you? He would bea man of unhealthy humour that could relish such a pleasantry as that ofbeing sentenced to death. But tell me of it. The whole story, Marcel. Ihave not heard a story worth the listening to since--since you left us."

  "Would it please you, Sire, to send for the Comte de Chatellerault ere Ibegin?" I asked.

  "Chatellerault? No, no." He shook his head whimsically. "Chatelleraulthas had his laugh already, and, like the ill-mannered dog he is, he haskept it to himself. I think, Marcel, that it is our turn now. I havepurposely sent Chatellerault away that he may gain no notion of thecatastrophic jest we are preparing him in return."

  The words set me in the very best of humours, and to that it may be duethat presently, as I warmed to my narrative, I lent it a vigour thatdrew His Majesty out of his wonted apathy and listlessness. He leanedforward when I told him of my encounter with the dragoons at Mirepoix,and how first I had committed the false step of representing myself tobe Lesperon.

  Encouraged by his interest, I proceeded, and I told my story with asmuch piquancy as I was master of, repressing only those slight matterswhich might reflect upon Monsieur de Lavedan's loyalty, but otherwisedealing frankly with His Majesty, even down to the genuineness of thefeelings I entertained for Roxalanne. Often he laughed, more often stillhe nodded approvingly, in understanding and sympathy, whilst now andthen he purred his applause. But towards the end, when I came to thematter of the Tribunal of Toulouse, of how my trial was conducted, andof the part played in it by Chatellerault, his face grew set and hard.

  "It is true--all this that you tell me?" he cried harshly.

  "As true as the Gospels. If you deem an oath necessary, Sire, I swearby my honour that I have uttered nothing that is false, and that, inconnection with Monsieur de Chatellerault, even as I have suppressednothing, so also have I exaggerated nothing."

  "The dastard!" he snapped. "But we will avenge you, Marcel. Never fearit."

  Then the trend of his thoughts being changed, he smiled wearily.

  "By my faith, you may thank God every night of your worthless life thatI came so opportunely to Toulouse, and so may that fair child whosebeauty you have limned with such a lover's ardour. Nay, never redden,Marcel. What? At your age, and with such a heavy score of affaires toyour credit, has it been left for a simple Languedoc maiden to call ablush to your callous cheek? Ma foi, they say truly that love is a greatregenerator, a great rejuvenator!"

  I made him no answer other than a sigh, for his words set me thinking,and with thought came a tempering of the gay humour that had pervadedme. Remarking this, and misreading it, he laughed outright.

  "There, Marcel, never fear. We will not be rigorous. You have won boththe maid and the wager, and, by the Mass, you shall enjoy both."

  "Helas, Sire," I sighed again, "when the lady comes to know of thewager--"

  "Waste no time in telling her, Marcel, and cast yourself upon her mercy.Nay, go not with so gloomy a face, my friend. When woman loves, she canbe very merciful; leastways, they tell me so."

  Then, his thoughts shifting ground once more, he grew stern again.

  "But first we have Chatellerault to deal with. What shall we do withhim?"

  "It is for Your Majesty to decide."

  "For me?" he cried, his voice resuming the harshness that was never farfrom it. "I have a fancy for having gentlemen about me. Think you I willset eyes again upon that dastard? I am already resolved concerning him,but it entered my mind that it might please you to be the instrument ofthe law for me."

  "Me, Sire?"

  "Aye, and why not? They say you can play a very deadly sword uponnecessity. This is an occasion that demands an exception from our edict.You have my sanction to send the Comte de Chatellerault a challenge. Andsee that you kill him, Bardelys!" he continued viciously. "For, by theMass, if you don't, I will! If he escapes your sword, or if he survivessuch hurt as you may do him, the headsman shall have him. Mordieu! is itfor nothing that I am called Louis the Just?"

  I stood in thought for a moment. Then--

  "If I do this thing, Sire," I ventured, "the world will say of me that Idid so to escape the payment I had incurred."

  "Fool, you have not incurred it. When a man cheats, does he not forfeitall his rights?"

  "That is very true. But the world--"

  "Peste!" he snapped impatiently, "you are beginning to weary me,Marcel--and all the world does that so excellently that it needs notyour collaboration. Go your ways, man, and do as you elect. But take mysanction to slay this fellow Chatellerault, and I shall be the betterpleased if you avail yourself of it. He is lodged at the Auberge Royale,where probably you will find him at present. Now, go. I have morejustice to dispense in this rebellious province."

  I paused a moment.

  "Shall I not resume my duties near Your Majesty?"

  He pondered a moment, then he smiled in his weary way.

  "It would please me to have you, for these creatures are so dismallydull, all of them. Je m'ennuie tellement, Marcel!" he sighed. "Ough!But, no, my friend, I do not doubt you would be as dull as any of themat present. A man in love is the weariest and most futile thing in allthis weary, futile world. What shall I do with your body what time yoursoul is at Lavedan? I doubt me you are in haste to get you there. So go,Marcel. Get you wed, and live out your amorous intoxication; marriage isthe best antidote. When that is done, return to me."

  "That will be never, Sire," I answered slyly.

  "Say you so, Master Cupid Bardelys?" And he combed his beardreflectively. "Be not too sure. There have been other passions--aye, asgreat as yours--yet have they staled. But you waste my time. Go, Marcel;you are excused your duties by me for as long as your own affairs shallhold you elsewhere--for as long as you please. We are here upon a gloomybusiness--as you know. There are my cousin Montmorency and the othersto be dealt with, and we are holding no levees, countenancing no revels.But come to me when you will, and I will see you. Adieu!"

  I murmured my thanks, and very deep and sincere were they. Then, havingkissed his hand, I left him.

  Louis XIII is a man who lacks not maligners. Of how history may come tospeak of him it is not mine to hazard. But this I can say, that I,at least, did never find him other than a just and kindly master, anupright gentleman, capricious at times and wilful, as must inevitablybe the case with such spoilt children of fortune as are princes, butof lofty ideals and high principles. It was his worst fault that he wasalways tired, and through that everlasting weariness he came to entrustthe determining of most affairs to His Eminence. Hence has it resultedthat the censure for many questionable acts of his reign, which were thework of my Lord Cardinal, has recoiled upon my august master's head.

  But to me, with all the faults that may be assigned him, he was everLouis the Just, and wherever his name be mentioned in my hearing, I baremy head.