Bardelys the Magnificent

by Rafael Sabatini

  CHAPTER XVIII. SAINT-EUSTACHE IS OBSTINATE

  On the occasion of my first visit to Lavedan I had disregarded--or,rather, Fate had contrived that I should disregard--Chatellerault'ssuggestion that I should go with all the panoply of power--with myfollowers, my liveries, and my equipages to compose the magnificenceall France had come to associate with my name, and thus dazzle by mybrilliant lustre the lady I was come to win. As you may remember, I hadcrept into the chateau like a thief in the night,--wounded, bedraggled,and of miserable aspect, seeking to provoke compassion rather thanadmiration.

  Not so now that I made my second visit. I availed myself of all thesplendour to which I owed my title of "Magnificent," and rode into thecourtyard of the Chateau de Lavedan preceded by twenty well-mountedknaves wearing the gorgeous Saint-Pol liveries of scarlet and gold, withthe Bardelys escutcheon broidered on the breasts of their doublets--on afield or a bar azure surcharged by three lilies of the field. Theywere armed with swords and musketoons, and had more the air of a royalbodyguard than of a company of attendant servants.

  Our coming was in a way well timed. I doubt if we could have stayed theexecution of Saint-Eustache's warrant even had we arrived earlier. Butfor effect--to produce a striking coup de theatre--we could not havecome more opportunely.

  A coach stood in the quadrangle, at the foot of the chateau steps:down these the Vicomte was descending, with the Vicomtesse--grim andblasphemant as ever, on one side, and his daughter, white of face andwith tightly compressed lips, on the other. Between these two women--hiswife and his child--as different in body as they were different in soul,came Lavedan with a firm step, a good colour, and a look of well-bred,lofty indifference to his fate.

  He disposed himself to enter the carriage which was to bear him toprison with much the same air he would have assumed had his destinationbeen a royal levee.

  Around the coach were grouped a score of men of Saint-Eustache'scompany--half soldiers, half ploughboys--ill-garbed and indifferentlyaccoutred in dull breastplates and steel caps, many of which wererusted. By the carriage door stood the long, lank figure of theChevalier himself, dressed with his wonted care, and perfumed, curled,and beribboned beyond belief. His weak, boyish face sought by scowls andby the adoption of a grim smile to assume an air of martial ferocity.

  Such was the grouping in the quadrangle when my men, with Gilles attheir head, thundered across the drawbridge, giving pause to thosewithin, and drawing upon themselves the eyes of all, as they rode, twoby two, under the old-world arch of the keep into the courtyard. AndGilles, who knew our errand, and who was as ready-witted a rogue asever rode with me, took in the situation at a glance. Knowing how muchI desired to make a goodly show, he whispered an order. This resultedin the couples dividing at the gateway, one going to the left and oneto the right, so that as they came they spread themselves in a crescent,and drawing rein, they faced forward, confronting and half surroundingthe Chevalier's company.

  As each couple appeared, the curiosity--the uneasiness, probably--ofSaint-Eustache and his men, had increased, and their expectancy was ontiptoe to see what lord it was went abroad with such regal pomp, when Iappeared in the gateway and advanced at the trot into the middle of thequadrangle. There I drew rein and doffed my hat to them as they stood,open-mouthed and gaping one and all. If it was a theatrical display, aparade worthy of a tilt-ground, it was yet a noble and imposing advent,and their gaping told me that it was not without effect. The men lookeduneasily at the Chevalier; the Chevalier looked uneasily at his men;mademoiselle, very pale, lowered her eyes and pressed her lips yet moretightly; the Vicomtesse uttered an oath of astonishment; whilst Lavedan,too dignified to manifest surprise, greeted me with a sober bow.

  Behind them on the steps I caught sight of a group of domestics, oldAnatole standing slightly in advance of his fellows, and wondering, nodoubt, whether this were, indeed, the bedraggled Lesperon of a littlewhile ago--for if I had thought of pomp in the display of my lacqueys,no less had I considered it in the decking of my own person. Withoutany of the ribbons and fopperies that mark the coxcomb, yet was I clad,plumed, and armed with a magnificence such as I'll swear had not beenseen within the grey walls of that old castle in the lifetime of any ofthose that were now present.

  Gilles leapt from his horse as I drew rein, and hastened to holdmy stirrup, with a murmured "Monsieur," which title drew a freshastonishment into the eyes of the beholders.

  I advanced leisurely towards Saint-Eustache, and addressed him with suchcondescension as I might a groom, to impress and quell a man of thistype your best weapon is the arrogance that a nobler spirit wouldresent.

  "A world of odd meetings this, Saint-Eustache," I smiled disdainfully."A world of strange comings and goings, and of strange transformations.The last time we were here we stood mutually as guests of Monsieur leVicomte; at present you appear to be officiating as a--a tipstaff."

  "Monsieur!" He coloured, and he uttered the word in accents of awakeningresentment. I looked into his eyes, coldly, impassively, as if waitingto hear what he might have to add, and so I stayed until his glance felland his spirit was frozen in him. He knew me, and he knew how much I wasto be feared. A word from me to the King might send him to the wheel.It was upon this I played. Presently, as his eye fell, "Is your businesswith me, Monsieur de Bardelys?" he asked, and at that utterance of myname there was a commotion on the steps, whilst the Vicomte started, andhis eyes frowned upon me, and the Vicomtesse looked up suddenly to scanme with a fresh interest. She beheld at last in the flesh the gentlemanwho had played so notorious a part, ten years ago, in that scandalconnected with the Duchesse de Bourgogne, of which she never tired ofreciting the details. And think that she had sat at table with him dayby day and been unconscious of that momentous fact! Such, I make nodoubt, was what passed through her mind at the moment, and, to judgefrom her expression, I should say that the excitement of beholdingthe Magnificent Bardelys had for the nonce eclipsed beholding even herhusband's condition and the imminent sequestration of Lavedan.

  "My business is with you, Chevalier," said I. "It relates to yourmission here."

  His jaw fell. "You wish--?"

  "To desire you to withdraw your men and quit Lavedan at once, abandoningthe execution of your warrant."

  He flashed me a look of impotent hate. "You know of the existence ofmy warrant, Monsieur de Bardelys, and you must therefore realize that aroyal mandate alone can exempt me from delivering Monsieur de Lavedan tothe Keeper of the Seals."

  "My only warrant," I answered, somewhat baffled, but far from abandoninghope, "is my word. You shall say to the Garde des Sceaux that you havedone this upon the authority of the Marquis de Bardelys, and you have mypromise that His Majesty shall confirm my action."

  In saying that I said too much, as I was quickly to realize.

  "His Majesty will confirm it, monsieur?" he said interrogatively, and heshook his head. "That is a risk I dare not run. My warrant sets me underimperative obligations which I must discharge--you will see the justiceof what I state."

  His tone was all humility, all subservience, nevertheless it was firmto the point of being hard. But my last card, the card upon which I wasdepending, was yet to be played.

  "Will you do me the honour to step aside with me, Chevalier?" Icommanded rather than besought.

  "At your service, sir," said he; and I drew him out of earshot of thoseothers.

  "Now, Saint-Eustache, we can talk," said I, with an abrupt changeof manner from the coldly arrogant to the coldly menacing. "I marvelgreatly at your temerity in pursuing this Iscariot business afterlearning who I am, at Toulouse two nights ago."

  He clenched his hands, and his weak face hardened.

  "I would beg you to consider your expressions, monsieur, and to controlthem," said he in a thick voice.

  I vouchsafed him a stare of freezing amazement. "You will no doubtremember in what capacity I find you employed. Nay, keep your handsstill, Saint-Eustache. I don't fight catchpolls, and if you give metrouble my men ar
e yonder." And I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. "Andnow to business. I am not minded to talk all day. I was saying thatI marvel at your temerity, and more particularly at your having laidinformation against Monsieur de Lavedan, and having come here to arresthim, knowing, as you must know, that I am interested in the Vicomte."

  "I have heard of that interest, monsieur," said he, with a sneer forwhich I could have struck him.

  "This act of yours," I pursued, ignoring his interpolation, "savoursvery much of flying in the face of Destiny. It almost seems to me as ifyou were defying me."

  His lip trembled, and his eyes shunned my glance.

  "Indeed--indeed, monsieur--" he was protesting, when I cut him short.

  "You cannot be so great a fool but that you must realize that if I tellthe King what I know of you, you will be stripped of your ill-gottengains, and broken on the wheel for a double traitor--a betrayer of yourfellow-rebels."

  "But you will not do that, monsieur?" he cried. "It would be unworthy inyou."

  At that I laughed in his face. "Heart of God! Are you to be what youplease, and do you still expect that men shall be nice in dealing withyou? I would do this thing, and, by my faith, Monsieur de Eustache, Iwill do it, if you compel me!"

  He reddened and moved his foot uneasily. Perhaps I did not take the bestway with him, after all. I might have confined myself to sowing fear inhis heart; that alone might have had the effect I desired; by visitingupon him at the same time the insults I could not repress, I may havearoused his resistance, and excited his desire above all else to thwartme.

  "What do you want of me?" he demanded, with a sudden arrogance whichalmost cast mine into the shade.

  "I want you," said I, deeming the time ripe to make a plain tale of it,"to withdraw your men, and to ride back to Toulouse without Monsieurde Lavedan, there to confess to the Keeper of the Seals that yoursuspicions were unfounded, and that you have culled evidence that theVicomte has had no relations with Monsieur the King's brother."

  He looked at me in amazement--amusedly, almost.

  "A likely story that to bear to the astute gentlemen in Toulouse," saidhe.

  "Aye, ma foi, a most likely story," said I. "When they come to considerthe profit that you are losing by not apprehending the Vicomte, and canthink of none that you are making, they will have little difficulty inbelieving you."

  "But what of this evidence you refer to?"

  "You have, I take it, discovered no incriminating evidence--no documentsthat will tell against the Vicomte?"

  "No, monsieur, it is true that I have not--"

  He stopped and bit his lip, my smile making him aware of hisindiscretion.

  "Very well, then, you must invent some evidence to prove that he was inno way, associated with the rebellion."

  "Monsieur de Bardelys," said he very insolently, "we waste time in idlewords. If you think that I will imperil my neck for the sake of servingyou or the Vicomte, you are most prodigiously at fault."

  "I have never thought so. But I have thought that you might be inducedto imperil your neck--as you have it--for its own sake, and to the endthat you might save it."

  He moved away. "Monsieur, you talk in vain. You have no royal warrantto supersede mine. Do what you will when you come to Toulouse," and hesmiled darkly. "Meanwhile, the Vicomte goes with me."

  "You have no evidence against him!" I cried, scarce believing that hewould dare to defy me and that I had failed.

  "I have the evidence of my word. I am ready to swear to what Iknow--that, whilst I was here at Lavedan, some weeks ago, I discoveredhis connection with the rebels."

  "And what think you, miserable fool, shall your word weigh againstmine?" I cried. "Never fear, Monsieur le Chevalier, I shall be inToulouse to give you the lie by showing that your word is a word towhich no man may attach faith, and by exposing to the King your pastconduct. If you think that, after I have spoken, King Louis whom theyname the just will suffer the trial of the Vicomte to go further on yourinstigation, or if you think that you will be able to slip your own neckfrom the noose I shall have set about it, you are an infinitely greaterfool than I deem you."

  He stood and looked at me over his shoulder, his face crimson, and hisbrows black as a thundercloud.

  "All this may betide when you come to Toulouse, Monsieur de Bardelys,"said he darkly, "but from here to Toulouse it is a matter of some twentyleagues."

  With that, he turned on his heel and left me, baffled and angry, topuzzle out the inner meaning of his parting words.

  He gave his men the order to mount, and bade Monsieur de Lavedan enterthe coach, whereupon Gilles shot me a glance of inquiry. For a second,as I stepped slowly after the Chevalier, I was minded to try armedresistance, and to convert that grey courtyard into a shambles. Then Isaw betimes the futility of such a step, and I shrugged my shoulders inanswer to my servant's glance.

  I would have spoken to the Vicomte ere he departed, but I was too deeplychagrined and humiliated by my defeat. So much so that I had no room inmy thoughts even for the very natural conjecture of what Lavedan must bethinking of me. I repented me then of my rashness in coming to Lavedanwithout having seen the King--as Castelroux had counselled me. I hadcome indulging vain dreams of a splendid overthrow of Saint-Eustache. Ihad thought to shine heroically in Mademoiselle's eyes, and thus I hadhoped that both gratitude for having saved her father and admiration atthe manner in which I had achieved it would predispose her to grant mea hearing in which I might plead my rehabilitation. Once that wereaccorded me, I did not doubt I should prevail.

  Now my dream was all dispelled, and my pride had suffered just such ahumiliating fall as the moralists tell us pride must ever suffer. Thereseemed little left me but to go hence with lambent tail, like a dog thathas been whipped--my dazzling escort become a mockery but that it servedthe more loudly to advertise my true impotency.

  As I approached the carriage, the Vicomtesse swept suddenly down thesteps and came towards me with a friendly smile. "Monsieur de Bardelys,"said she, "we are grateful for your intervention in the cause of thatrebel my husband."

  "Madame," I besought her, under my breath, "if you would not totallydestroy him, I beseech you to be cautious. By your leave, I will have mymen refreshed, and thereafter I shall take the road to Toulouse again. Ican only hope that my intervention with the King may bear better fruit."

  Although I spoke in a subdued key, Saint-Eustache, who stood near us,overheard me, as his face very clearly testified.

  "Remain here, sir," she replied, with some effusion, "and follow us whenyou are rested."

  "Follow you?" I inquired. "Do you then go with Monsieur de Lavedan?"

  "No, Anne," said the Vicomte politely from the carriage. "It will betiring you unnecessarily. You were better advised to remain here untilmy return."

  I doubt not that the poor Vicomte was more concerned with how she wouldtire him than with how the journey might tire her. But the Vicomtessewas not to be gainsaid. The Chevalier had sneered when the Vicomte spokeof returning. Madame had caught that sneer, and she swung round upon himnow with the vehement fury of a virago.

  "He'll not return, you think, you Judas!" she snarled at him, her lean,swarthy face growing very evil to see. "But he shall--by God, he shall!And look to your skin when he does, monsieur the catchpoll, for, onmy honour, you shall have a foretaste of hell for your trouble in thismatter."

  The Chevalier smiled with much restraint. "A woman's tongue," said he,"does no injury."

  "Will a woman's arm, think you?" demanded that warlike matron. "Youmusk-stinking tipstaff, I'll--"

  "Anne, my love," implored the Vicomte soothingly, "I beg that you willcontrol yourself."

  "Shall I submit to the insolence of this misbegotten vassal? Shall I--"

  "Remember rather that it does not become the dignity of your station toaddress the fellow. We avoid venomous reptiles, but we do not pause toreproach them with their venom. God made them so."

  Saint-Eustache coloured to the roots of his hair, then
, turning hastilyto the driver, he bade him start. He would have closed the door withthat, but that madame thrust herself forward.

  That was the Chevalier's chance to be avenged. "You cannot go," said he.

  "Cannot?" Her cheeks reddened. "Why not, monsieur Lesperon?

  "I have no reasons to afford you," he answered brutally. "You cannotgo."

  "Your pardon, Chevalier," I interposed. "You go beyond your rights inseeking to prevent her. Monsieur le Vicomte is not yet convicted. Donot, I beseech you, transcend the already odious character of yourwork."

  And without more ado I shouldered him aside, and held the door that shemight enter. She rewarded me with a smile--half vicious, half whimsical,and mounted the step. Saint-Eustache would have interfered. He cameat me as if resenting that shoulder-thrust of mine, and for a second Ialmost thought he would have committed the madness of striking me.

  "Take care, Saint-Eustache," I said very quietly, my eyes fixed on his.And much as dead Caesar's ghost may have threatened Brutus with Philippi"We meet at Toulouse, Chevalier," said I, and closing the carriage doorI stepped back.

  There was a flutter of skirts behind me. It was mademoiselle. So braveand outwardly so calm until now, the moment of actual separation--andadded thereunto perhaps her mother's going and the loneliness that forherself she foresaw--proved more than she could endure. I stepped aside,and she swept past me and caught at the leather curtain of the coach.

  "Father!" she sobbed.

  There are some things that a man of breeding may not witness--somethings to look upon which is near akin to eavesdropping or reading theletters of another. Such a scene did I now account the present one, and,turning, I moved away. But Saint-Eustache cut it short, for scarce hadI taken three paces when his voice rang out the command to move. Thedriver hesitated, for the girl was still hanging at the window. But asecond command, accompanied by a vigorous oath, overcame his hesitation.He gathered up his reins, cracked his whip, and the lumbering wheelsbegan to move.

  "Have a care, child!" I heard the Vicomte cry, "have a care! Adieu, monenfant!"

  She sprang back, sobbing, and assuredly she would have fallen, thrownout of balance by the movement of the coach, but that I put forth myhands and caught her.

  I do not think she knew whose were the arms that held her for that briefspace, so desolated was she by the grief so long repressed. At last sherealized that it was this worthless Bardelys against whom she rested;this man who had wagered that he would win and wed her; this impostorwho had come to her under an assumed name; this knave who had lied toher as no gentleman could have lied, swearing to love her, whilst, inreality, he did no more than seek to win a wager. When all this sherealized, she shuddered a second, then moved abruptly from my grasp,and, without so much as a glance at me, she left me, and, ascending thesteps of the chateau, she passed from my sight.

  I gave the order to dismount as the last of Saint-Eustache's followersvanished under the portcullis.