CHAPTER XV. MONSIEUR DE CHATELLERAULT IS ANGRY
Within the room Chatellerault and I faced each other in silence. And howvastly changed were the circumstances since our last meeting!
The disorder that had stamped itself upon his countenance when first hehad beheld me still prevailed. There was a lowering, sullen look in hiseyes and a certain displacement of their symmetry which was peculiar tothem when troubled.
Although a cunning plotter and a scheming intriguer in his owninterests, Chatellerault, as I have said before, was not by nature aquick man. His wits worked slowly, and he needed leisure to considera situation and his actions therein ere he was in a position to engagewith it.
"Monsieur le Comte," quoth I ironically, "I make you my compliments uponyour astuteness and the depth of your schemes, and my condolences uponthe little accident owing to which I am here, and in consequence ofwhich your pretty plans are likely to miscarry."
He threw back his great head like a horse that feels the curb, andhis smouldering eyes looked up at me balefully. Then his sensuous lipsparted in scorn.
"How much do you know?" he demanded with sullen contempt.
"I have been in that room for the half of an hour," I answered, rappingthe partition with my knuckles.
"The dividing wall, as you will observe, is thin, and I heard everythingthat passed between you and Mademoiselle de Lavedan."
"So that Bardelys, known as the Magnificent; Bardelys the mirror ofchivalry; Bardelys the arbiter elegantiarum of the Court of France, isno better, it seems, than a vulgar spy."
If he sought by that word to anger me, he failed.
"Lord Count," I answered him very quietly, "you are of an age to knowthat the truth alone has power to wound. I was in that room by accident,and when the first words of your conversation reached me I had not beenhuman had I not remained and strained my ears to catch every syllableyou uttered. For the rest, let me ask you, my dear Chatellerault, sincewhen have you become so nice that you dare cast it at a man that he hasbeen eavesdropping?"
"You are obscure, monsieur. What is it that you suggest?"
"I am signifying that when a man stands unmasked for a cheat, a liar,and a thief, his own character should give him concern enough torestrain him from strictures upon that of another."
A red flush showed through the tan of his skin, then faded and left himlivid--a very evil sight, as God lives. He flung his heavily-featheredhat upon the table, and carried his hand to his hilt.
"God's blood!" he cried. "You shall answer me for this."
I shook my head and smiled; but I made no sign of drawing.
"Monsieur, we must talk a while. I think that you had better."
He raised his sullen eyes to mine. Perhaps the earnest impressiveness ofmy tones prevailed. Be that as it may, his half-drawn sword was thrustback with a click, and "What have you to say?" he asked.
"Be seated." I motioned him to a chair by the table and when he hadtaken it I sat down opposite to him. Taking up a quill, I dipped it inthe ink-horn that stood by, and drew towards me a sheet of paper.
"When you lured me into the wager touching Mademoiselle de Lavedan,"said I calmly, "you did so, counting upon certain circumstances, ofwhich you alone had knowledge, that should render impossible the urgingof my suit. That, Monsieur le Comte, was undeniably the action of acheat. Was it not?"
"Damnation!" he roared, and would have risen, but, my hand upon his arm,I restrained him and pressed him back into his chair.
"By a sequence of fortuitous circumstances," I pursued, "it becamepossible for me to circumvent the obstacle upon which you had based yourcalculations. Those same circumstances led later to my being arrested inerror and in place of another man. You discovered how I had contravenedthe influence upon which you counted; you trembled to see how theunexpected had befriended me, and you began to fear for your wager.
"What did you do? Seeing me arraigned before you in your quality asKing's Commissioner, you pretended to no knowledge of me; you becameblind to my being any but Lesperon the rebel, and you sentenced me todeath in his place, so that being thus definitely removed I should beunable to carry out my undertaking, and my lands should consequentlypass into your possession. That, monsieur, was at once the act of athief and a murderer. Wait, monsieur; restrain yourself until I shallhave done. To-day again fortune comes to my rescue. Again you see meslipping from your grasp, and you are in despair. Then, in the eleventhhour, Mademoiselle de Lavedan comes to you to plead for my life. By thatact she gives you the most ample proof that your wager is lost. Whatwould a gentleman, a man of honour, have done under these circumstances?What did you do? You seized that last chance; you turned it to the bestaccount; you made this poor girl buy something from you; you made hersell herself to you for nothing--pretending that your nothing was asomething of great value. What term shall we apply to that? To say thatyou cheated again seems hardly adequate."
"By God, Bardelys!"
"Wait!" I thundered, looking him straight between the eyes, so thatagain he sank back cowed. Then resuming the calm with which hitherto Ihad addressed him, "Your cupidity," said I, "your greed for the estatesof Bardelys, and your jealousy and thirst to see me impoverished and soousted from my position at Court, to leave you supreme in His Majesty'sfavour, have put you to strange shifts for a gentleman, Chatellerault.Yet, wait."
And, dipping my pen in the ink-horn, I began to write. I was consciousof his eyes upon me, and I could imagine his surmisings and bewilderedspeculations as my pen scratched rapidly across the paper. In a fewmoments it was done, and I tossed the pen aside. I took up the sandbox.
"When a man cheats, Monsieur le Comte, and is detected, he is invariablyadjudged the loser of his stakes. On that count alone everything thatyou have is now mine by rights." Again I had to quell an interruption."But if we wave that point, and proceed upon the supposition that youhave dealt fairly and honourably with me, why, then, monsieur, youhave still sufficient evidence--the word of Mademoiselle, herself,in fact--that I have won my wager. And so, if we take this, the mostlenient view of the case"--I paused to sprinkle the sand over mywriting--"your estates are still lost to you, and pass to be myproperty."
"Do they, by God?" he roared, unable longer to restrain himself, andleaping to his feet. "You have done, have you not? You have said allthat you can call to mind? You have flung insults and epithets at meenough to earn the cutting of a dozen throats. You have dubbed me cheatand thief"--he choked in his passion--"until you have had your fill--isit not so? Now, listen to me, Master Bardelys, master spy, masterbuffoon, master masquerader! What manner of proceeding was yours to goto Lavedan under a false name? How call you that? Was that, perhaps, notcheating?"
"No, monsieur, it was not," I answered quietly. "It was in the terms ofyour challenge that I was free to go to Lavedan in what guise I listed,employing what wiles I pleased. But let that be," I ended, and, creasingthe paper, I poured the sand back into the box, and dusted the document."The point is hardly worth discussing at this time of day. If not oneway, why, then, in another, your wager is lost."
"Is it?" He set his arms akimbo and eyed me derisively, his thick-setframe planted squarely before me. "You are satisfied that it is so?Quite satisfied, eh?" He leered in my face. "Why, then, Monsieur leMarquis, we will see whether a few inches of steel will win it back forme." And once more his hand flew to his hilt.
Rising, I flung the document I had accomplished upon the table. "Glancefirst at that," said I.
He stopped to look at me in inquiry, my manner sowing so great acuriosity in him that his passion was all scattered before it. Thenhe stepped up to the table and lifted the paper. As he read, his handshook, amazement dilated his eyes and furrowed his brow.
"What--what does it signify?" he gasped.
"It signifies that, although fully conscious of having won, I preferto acknowledge that I have lost. I make over to you thus my estates ofBardelys, because, monsieur, I have come to realize that that wager wasan infamous one--one in which a ge
ntleman should have had no part--andthe only atonement I can make to myself, my honour, and the lady whom weinsulted--is that."
"I do not understand," he complained.
"I apprehend your difficulty, Comte. The point is a nice one. Butunderstand at least that my Picardy estates are yours. Only, monsieur,you will be well advised to make your will forthwith, for you are notdestined, yourself, to enjoy them."
He looked at me, his glance charged with inquiry.
"His Majesty," I continued, in answer to his glance, "is ordering yourarrest for betraying the trust he had reposed in you and for pervertingthe ends of justice to do your own private murdering."
"Mon Dieu!" he cried, falling of a sudden unto a most pitiful affright."The King knows?"
"Knows?" I laughed. "In the excitement of these other matters you haveforgotten to ask how I come to be at liberty. I have been to the King,monsieur, and I have told him what has taken place here at Toulouse, andhow I was to have gone to the block tomorrow!"
"Scelerat!" he cried. "You have ruined me!" Rage and grief were blent inhis accents. He stood before me, livid of face and with hands clenchingand unclenching at his sides.
"Did you expect me to keep such a matter silent? Even had I been soinclined it had not been easy, for His Majesty had questions to askme. From what the King said, monsieur, you may count upon mounting thescaffold in my stead. So be advised, and make your will without delay,if you would have your heirs enjoy my Picardy chateau."
I have seen terror and anger distort men's countenances, but neverhave I seen aught to compare with the disorder of Chatellerault atthat moment. He stamped and raved and fumed. He poured forth athousand ordures of speech in his frenzy; he heaped insults upon me andimprecations upon the King, whose lapdog he pronounced me. His short,stout frame was quivering with passion and fear, his broad facedistorted by his hideous grimaces of rage. And then, while yet hisravings were in full flow, the door opened, and in stepped the airyChevalier de Saint-Eustache.
He stood still, amazed, beneath the lintel--marvelling to see all thisanger, and abashed at beholding me. His sudden appearance reminded methat I had last seen him at Grenade in the Count's company, on the dayof my arrest. The surprise it had occasioned me now returned upon seeinghim so obviously and intimately seeking Chatellerault.
The Count turned on him in his anger.
"Well, popinjay?" he roared. "What do you want with me?"
"Monsieur le Comte!" cried the other, in blent indignation and reproach.
"You will perceive that you are come inopportunely," I put in. "Monsieurde Chatellerault is not quite himself."
But my speech again drew his attention to my presence; and the wondergrew in his eyes at finding me there, for to him I was still Lesperonthe rebel, and he marvelled naturally that I should be at large.
Then in the corridor there was a sound of steps and voices, and as Iturned I beheld in the doorway, behind Saint-Eustache, the facesof Castelroux, Mironsac, and my old acquaintance, the babbling,irresponsible buffoon, La Fosse. From Mironsac he had heard of mypresence in Toulouse, and, piloted by Castelroux, they were both come toseek me out. I'll swear it was not thus they had looked to find me.
They pushed their way into the room, impelling Saint-Eustacheforward, and there were greetings exchanged and felicitations, whilstChatellerault, curbing his disorder, drew the Chevalier into a corner ofthe room, and stood there listening to him.
At length I heard the Count exclaim--
"Do as you please, Chevalier. If you have interests of your own toserve, serve them. As for myself--I am past being interested."
"But why, monsieur?" the chevalier inquired.
"Why?" echoed Chatellerault, his ferocity welling up again. Then,swinging round, he came straight at me, as a bull makes a charge.
"Monsieur de Bardelys!" he blazed.
"Bardelys!" gasped Saint-Eustache in the background.
"What now?" I inquired coldly, turning from my friends.
"All that you said may be true, and I may be doomed, but I swear beforeGod that you shall not go unpunished."
"I think, monsieur, that you run a grave risk of perjuring yourself!" Ilaughed.
"You shall render me satisfaction ere we part!" he cried.
"If you do not deem that paper satisfaction enough, then, monsieur,forgive me, but your greed transcends all possibility of being eversatisfied."
"The devil take your paper and your estates! What shall they profit mewhen I am dead?"
"They may profit your heirs," I suggested.
"How shall that profit me?"
"That is a riddle that I cannot pretend to elucidate."
"You laugh, you knave!" he snorted. Then, with an abrupt change ofmanner, "You do not lack for friends," said he. "Beg one of thesegentlemen to act for you, and if you are a man of honour let us step outinto the yard and settle the matter."
I shook my head.
"I am so much a man of honour as to be careful with whom I cross steel.I prefer to leave you to His Majesty's vengeance; his headsman may beless particular than am I. No, monsieur, on the whole, I do not thinkthat I can fight you."
His face grew a shade paler. It became grey; the jaw was set, and theeyes were more out of symmetry than I had ever seen them. Their glanceapproached what is known in Italy as the mal'occhio, and to protectthemselves against the baneful influences of which men carry charms. Amoment he stood so, eyeing me. Then, coming a step nearer--
"You do not think that you can fight me, eh? You do not think it?Pardieu! How shall I make you change your mind? To the insult of wordsyou appear impervious. You imagine your courage above dispute because bya lucky accident you killed La Vertoile some years ago and the fame ofit has attached to you." In the intensity of his anger he was breathingheavily, like a man overburdened. "You have been living ever since bythe reputation which that accident gave you. Let us see if you can dieby it, Monsieur de Bardelys." And, leaning forward, he struck me onthe breast, so suddenly and so powerfully--for he was a man of abnormalstrength--that I must have fallen but that La Fosse caught me in hisarms.
"Kill him!" lisped the classic-minded fool. "Play Theseus to this bullof Marathon."
Chatellerault stood back, his hands on his hips, his head inclinedtowards his right shoulder, and an insolent leer of expectancy upon hisface.
"Will that resolve you?" he sneered.
"I will meet you," I answered, when I had recovered breath. "But I swearthat I shall not help you to escape the headsman."
He laughed harshly.
"Do I not know it?" he mocked. "How shall killing you help me to escape?Come, messieurs, sortons. At once!"
"Sor," I answered shortly; and thereupon we crowded from the room, andwent pele-mele down the passage to the courtyard at the back.
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