The Cornet of Horse: A Tale of Marlborough's Wars

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 17: A Prisoner of War.

  In the brilliant results which arose from the victory at Ramilies,Rupert Holliday had no share. The 5th dragoons formed part of thecavalry force which, when the battle was over, pursued the brokenFrench cavalry to the gates of Hochstad.

  In the pursuit, along a road encumbered with deserted waggons,tumbrels, and guns, the pursuers after nightfall became almost asmuch broken up as the pursued.

  Rupert's horse towards the end of the pursuit went dead lame, andhe dismounted in order to see if he could do anything to its hoof.He found a sharp stone tightly jammed in the shoe, and wasstruggling to get this out when the troop again moved forward. Notdoubting that he would overtake them in a minute or two, andfearing that unless his horse was relieved of the stone it wouldbecome so lame that it would not be able to carry him back, Ruperthammered away at it with a large boulder from the road. It was alonger job than he had anticipated, and five minutes elapsed beforehe succeeded in getting the stone out, and then, mounting hishorse, he rode briskly forward. Presently he came to a point wherethe road forked. He drew rein and listened, and thought he heardthe tramping of horse on the road that led to the left. As he rodeon the noise became louder, and in another five minutes he came upto the troop.

  It was quite dark, and riding past the men, he made his way to thehead of the column.

  "I have had an awful bother in getting rid of that stone," he said,as he rode up to the leader. "I began to think that I should loseyou altogether. It is quite a chance I took this road."

  "An unfortunate chance, sir, for you. A fortunate one for us," theofficer he addressed said in English, but with a strong accent,"since you are our prisoner," and as he spoke he laid his hand onRupert's bridle.

  Rupert gave an exclamation of horror at finding the mistake that hehad made, but he saw at once that resistance would be useless.

  "Je me rends, monsieur. But what horrible luck."

  The three French officers at the head of the troop burst into alaugh.

  "Monsieur," the one who had first spoken said, now in his nativetongue, "we are indebted to you, for you have made us laugh, andheaven knows we have had little enough to laugh at today. But howcame you here? Your cavalry have taken the upper road. We weredrawn up to make a last charge, when we heard them turn off thatway; and were, I can tell you, glad enough to get off without morefighting. We have had enough of it for one day."

  As the speaker proceeded, Rupert became more and more convincedthat he knew the voice; and the fact that the speaker wasacquainted with English, the more convinced him that he was right.

  "I stopped to get rid of a stone in my horse's hoof," he said. "IfI had only had a fight for it I should not have minded, but noteven to have the pleasure of exchanging a pass or two with one ofyou gentlemen is hard indeed."

  "It is just as well that you did not," one of the officers said,"for Monsieur le Marquis de Pignerolles is probably the bestswordsman in our army."

  "The Marquis de Pignerolles," Rupert said, courteously; "it wouldhave been a pleasure to have crossed swords with him, but scarcelyfair, for he knows already that he is not a match for me."

  "What!" exclaimed the marquis himself and the two officers, inastonishment.

  "You are pleased to joke, sir," the marquis said haughtily.

  "Not at all," Rupert said, gravely. "You have met two persons whowere your match. You remember Monsieur Dalboy?"

  "Dalboy!" the marquis said. "Surely, surely, le Maitre Dalboy,yet--?"

  "No, I am assuredly not Monsieur Dalboy," Rupert said. "And theother?"

  The marquis reined in his horse suddenly.

  "What!" he said, "you are--?"

  "Rupert Holliday, my dear Monsieur Dessin."

  "My dear, dear lad," the marquis exclaimed. "What pleasure! Whatdelight!" and drawing his horse by the side of Rupert he embracedhim with affection.

  "My friends," he said to the other officers, who were naturallyastonished at this sudden recognition between their prisoner andtheir colonel, "gentlemen, this English officer is my very dearfriend. What kindness have I not received from his grandfatherduring my time of exile! While to himself I am deeply indebted.

  "What a fortunate chance, that if you were to have the bad luck tobe made prisoner, you should fall into my hands of all men. I wishthat I could let you go, but you know--"

  "Of course, of course," Rupert said. "Really I am hardly sorry,since it has brought us together again."

  "Did you recognize my name?" the marquis said.

  "No indeed," Rupert answered. "The letter which, we doubted not,that you wrote to my grandfather, never came to hand, and we neverknew what Monsieur Dessin's real name was, so that Colonel Hollidaydid not know to whom to write in France."

  "I wrote twice," the marquis said, "but I guessed that the lettershad never arrived. And the good gentleman your grandfather, he isstill alive and well?"

  "As well as ever," Rupert said, "and will be delighted to hear ofyou.

  "Mademoiselle is well, I trust?"

  "Quite well, and quite a belle at the court, I can assure you," themarquis said. "But there are the gates of Louvain. You will, ofcourse, give me your parole not to try to escape, and then you cancome straight to my quarters with me, and I need not report you fora day or so. We shall be in fearful confusion tonight, for half ourarmy is crowding in here, and every one must shift for himself.

  "Peste! What a beating you have given us! That Marlborough of yoursis terrible.

  "I know some people here," he said, turning to the officers. "Theywill take us four in, and the men must picket their horses in thecourtyard and street, and lie down in their cloaks. Tomorrow wewill see what is to be done, and how many have escaped from theterrible debacle."

  The streets of Louvain were crowded with fugitives, some of themhad thrown themselves down by the sidewalks, utterly exhausted;others mingled with the anxious townsmen, and related the incidentsof the disastrous day; while the horses stood, with drooping heads,huddled together along the middle of the street. It was only bymaking long detours that the Marquis de Pignerolles reached thehouse of which he was in search. Late as was the hour the inmateswere up, for the excitement at Louvain was so great that no one hadthought of going to bed; and Monsieur Cardol, his wife and family,did all in their power for their guests.

  Supper was quickly laid for the four gentlemen; a barrel of winewas broached for the troops, and what provisions were in the housewere handed over to them.

  "Now let us look at you," the Marquis de Pignerolles said, as theyentered the brightly lighted room. "Ah, you are a man now; but yourface has little changed--scarcely at all."

  "I am scarcely a man yet," Rupert said, laughing. "I am just twentynow; it is rather more than four years since we parted, withouteven saying goodbye."

  "Yes, indeed, Rupert. I tried to do you a good turn in the matterof the Brownlows. I hope it succeeded."

  "It did indeed," Rupert said. "We are indeed indebted to you foryour intervention then. You saved my lady mother from a wretchedmarriage, and you saved for me the lands of Windthorpe Chace."

  "Ah, I am glad it came off well. But I am your debtor still, mindthat; and always shall be. And now to supper. First, though, I mustintroduce you formally to my comrades, and to our host and hostess,and their pretty daughters."

  Very much surprised were the latter when they heard that thehandsome young officer was an Englishman and a prisoner.

  "He does not look very terrible, does he, this curly-haired youngfellow, mademoiselles; but he is one of those terrible horse whichhave broken the cavalry of the Maison du Roi today, and scatteredthe chivalry of France. As to himself, he is a Rustium, a Bobadil,if he has, as I doubt not, kept up his practice--" and he looked atRupert, who nodded smilingly; for he had indeed, during the fouryears he had been in Flanders, not only practised assiduously inthe regimental fencing salles, but had attended all the schoolskept by the best Spanish, Italian, and German teachers, keepinghimself in practice, and acquir
ing a fresh pass here, an ingeniousdefence there, and ever improving--"The first swordsman in Francewould run a chance against this good-tempered-looking lad with hisblue eyes."

  The French girls opened their eyes in astonishment, but they werenot quite sure whether the marquis was not making fun of them.

  "Parbleu!" the two officers exclaimed. "You are not in earnestsurely, marquis?"

  "I am, indeed, gentlemen; and I can claim some share of the merit,for I taught him myself; and before he was sixteen he was a betterswordsman than I was; and as he loved the art, he will have gone onimproving, and must be miraculous.

  "By the way," he said, suddenly, "there was a story went throughFlanders near four years back of the best swordsman in the Germanarmy being killed by a mere boy in an English regiment, and I saidthen, I think that this must be my pupil. Was it so?"

  "It was," Rupert said. "It was a painful affair; but I was forcedinto it."

  "Make no excuse, I beg," the marquis said, laughing.

  "Now, young ladies, let us to supper; but beware of this prisonerof war, for if he is only half as formidable with his eyes as withhis wrist, it is all up with your poor hearts."

  Then, with much merriment, the four officers sat down to table,their host and hostess joining for company, and the young ladiesacting as attendants.

  No one would have guessed that three of the party had formed partof an army which that day had been utterly routed, or that theother was their prisoner; but the temperament of the French enablesthem to recover speedily from misfortune; and although they hadbeen dull and gloomy enough until Rupert so suddenly fell intotheir hands, the happy accident of his being known to theircolonel, and the pleasure and excitement caused by the meeting,sufficed to put them in high spirits again, especially as their owncorps had suffered but slightly in the action, having been inreserve on the left, and never engaged except in a few charges tocover the retreat.

  When the battle was alluded to, the brows of the French officersclouded, and they denounced in angry terms the fatal blunder of themarshal of weakening his centre to strengthen the left against afeigned attack. But the subject soon changed again, for, as themarquis said, "It would be quite time to talk it over tomorrow,when they would know who had fallen, and what were the losses;" forfrom their position on the left, they had little idea of theterrible havoc which had been made among the best blood in France.

  Long after all the others had retired, the marquis and Rupert sattogether talking over old times. Rupert learned that even before hehad left the Chace the marquis had received news that the order ofbanishment, which the king had passed against him because he hadventured to speak in public in terms of indignation at thewholesale persecution of the Protestants, had been rescinded; andthat the estates, which had also been confiscated, were restored.The Protestant persecutions had become things of the past, thegreater portion of the French Protestants having fled the country;and the powerful friends of De Pignerolles had never ceased tointerest themselves in his favour. The king, too, was in need ofexperienced soldiers for the war which was about to break out; andlastly, and by the tone in which his friend spoke Rupert saw thatthe subject was rather a sore one, his Majesty wished to have Adelenear the court.

  "Mademoiselle Dessin!" Rupert said, in astonishment.

  "Well, not exactly Mademoiselle Dessin," the marquis said, smiling,"but la Marquise Adele de Pignerolles, who is by her mother'sside--she was a Montmorency--one of the richest heiresses inFrance, and as inheriting those lands, a royal ward, although I,her father, am alive."

  "But even so," Rupert said, "what can his Majesty wish to have herat court for?"

  "Because, as a very rich heiress, and as a very pretty one, herhand is a valuable prize, and his Majesty may well intend it as areward to some courtier of high merit."

  "Oh, Monsieur Dessin!" Rupert said, earnestly; "surely you do notmean that!"

  "I am sorry to say that I do, Master Rupert. The Grand Monarque isnot in the habit of considering such trifles as hearts orinclinations in the bestowal of his royal wards; and although it isa sort of treason to say so, I would rather be back in England, orhave Adele to myself, and be able to give her to some worthy manwhom she might love, than to see her hand held out as a prize ofthe courtiers of Versailles. I have lived long enough in England tohave got some of your English notions, that a woman ought at leastto have the right of refusal."

  Rupert said nothing, but he felt sorry and full of pity at thethought of the young girl he remembered so well being bestowed as asort of royal gift upon some courtier, quite irrespective of thedictates of her own heart. After sitting some time in silence, themarquis changed the subject suddenly.

  "I am afraid you will not be exchanged before next winter, Rupert.There are, no doubt, plenty of prisoners in Marlborough's hands,but the campaign is sure to be a stirring and rapid one after thisdefeat. He will strike heavy blows, and we shall be doing our bestto avoid them. It will not be until the fighting is over that thenegotiations for the exchange of prisoners will begin."

  The next morning the Marquis de Pignerolles went off early to theheadquarters of the commandant; and Rupert remained chatting withthe family of his host. Two hours later he returned.

  "Things are worse than I even feared," he said; "the royal guardsare almost destroyed, and the destruction wrought in all our noblefamilies is terrible. It is impossible to estimate our total lossat present, but it is put down at 20,000, including prisoners. Infact, as an army it has almost ceased to exist; and yourMarlborough will be able to besiege the fortresses of Flanders ashe likes. There has been a council of all the general officers herethis morning. I am to carry some dispatches to Versailles--notaltogether a pleasant business, but some one must do it, and ofcourse he will have heard the main incidents direct from Villeroi.I leave at noon, Rupert, and you will accompany me, unless indeedyou would prefer remaining here on the chance of getting an earlierexchange."

  Rupert naturally declared at once for the journey to Paris.Officers on parole were in those days treated with great courtesy,especially if they happened to have a powerful friend. He thereforelooked forward to a pleasant stay in Paris, and to a renewal of hisacquaintance with Adele, and to a sight of the glories ofVersailles, which, under Louis XIV, was the gayest, the mostintellectual, and the most distinguished court of Europe.

  Louis XIV could not be termed a good man, but he was unquestionablya great king. He did much for France, whose greatness and power hestrove to increase; and yet it was in no slight degree owing to hispolicy that, seventy years later, a tempest was to burst out inFrance, which was to sweep away the nobility and the crown itself;which was to deluge the soil of France with its best blood, tocarry war through Europe, and to end at last by the prostration ofFrance beneath the feet of the nations to whom she had been ascourge.

  The tremendous efforts made by Louis XIV to maintain the Spanishsuccession, which he had secured for France; the draining of theland of men; and the impoverishing of the nobles, who hesitated atno sacrifices and efforts to enable the country to make headagainst its foes, exhausted the land; while the immenseextravagance of the splendid court in the midst of an impoverishedland, ruined not only by war, but by the destruction of its trade,by the exile of the best and most industrious of its people onaccount of their religion, caused a deep and widespread discontentthroughout the towns and country of France.

  Three hours later, Rupert set out with the Marquis of Pignerollesand two troopers. After two days ride through Belgium they reachedValenciennes, where the uniform of Rupert, in the scarlet andbright cuirass of the British dragoons, excited much attention, forBritish prisoners were rare in France.

  On the evening of the fifth day they reached Paris, where they rodeto the mansion of the marquis. Rupert was aware that he would notsee Adele, who was, her father had told him, at Versailles, underthe care of Madame de Soissons, one of the ladies of the court.Rupert was told to consider himself at home; and then the marquisrode on to Versailles.

  "I saw h
is Majesty last night," he told Rupert when he returnednext morning, "and he was very gracious. I hear that even Brousac,who brought the news of our defeat, was kindly received. I am toldthat he feels the cutting up of his guards very much. A grandentertainment, which was to have taken place this week, has beenpostponed, and there will be no regular fetes this autumn. I toldhis Majesty that I had brought you with me on parole, and themanner of your capture. He charged me to make the time passpleasantly for you, and to bring you down to Versailles, and topresent you at the evening reception.

  "We must get tailors to work at once, Rupert, for although you mustof course appear in uniform, that somewhat war-stained coat ofyours is scarcely fit for the most punctilious court in Europe.However, as they will have this coat for a model, the tailors willsoon fashion you a suit which would pass muster as your uniformbefore Marlborough himself.

  "I saw Adele, and told her I had brought an English officer, whohad galloped in the darkness into our ranks, as a prisoner. I didnot mention your name. It will be amusing to see if she recognizesyou. She was quite indignant at my taking you prisoner, and saidthat she thought soldiers ought not to take advantage of anaccident of that kind. In fact, although Adele, as I tell her, isvery French at heart, the five years she passed in Derby have lefta deep impression upon her. She was very happy at school. Everyone, as she says, was kind to her; and the result is, that althoughshe rejoices over our victories in Italy and Germany, she talksvery little about the Flanders campaign; about which, by the way,were she even as French as possible, there would not be anythingvery pleasant to say."

  Rupert was at once furnished from the wardrobe of the marquis with clothesof all kinds, and as they were about the same height--although Rupert wassomewhat broader and heavier--the things fitted well, and Rupert was ableto go about Paris, without being an object of observation and curiosityby the people.

  Rupert was somewhat disappointed in Paris. Its streets werenarrower than those of London, and although the public buildingswere fine, the Louvre especially being infinitely grander than thePalace of Saint James, there was not anything like the bustle andrush of business which had struck Rupert so much on his arrival inLondon.

  Upon arriving at Versailles, however, Rupert was struck withwonder. Nothing that he had seen could compare with the statelyglories of Versailles, which was then the real capital of France. Awing of the magnificent palace was set apart for the reception ofthe nobles and military men whose business brought them for shortperiods to the court, and here apartments had been assigned to themarquis. The clothes had already been sent down by mounted lackeys,and Rupert was soon in full uniform again, the cuirass alone beinglaid aside. The laced scarlet coat, and the other items of attire,were strictly in accordance with the somewhat lax regulations as tothe dress of an officer of dragoons; but the lace cravat falling infront, and the dress lace ruffles of the wrists, were certainlymore ample than the Duke of Marlborough might have considered fitfor strict regimental attire. But indeed there was little rule asto dress in those early days of a regular British army.

  Rupert's knee breeches were of white satin, and his waistcoat of thickbrocaded silk of a delicate drab ground. Standing as he did some sixfeet high, with broad shoulders, and a merry, good-tempered face, withbrown curls falling on his lace collar, the young lieutenant was asfine a looking specimen of a well-grown Englishman as could be desired.

  "Ma foi!" the marquis said, when he came in in full dress to see ifRupert was ready, "we shall have the ladies of the court settingtheir caps at you, and I must hasten to warn my countrymen of yourskill with the rapier, or you will be engaged in a dozen affairs ofhonour before you have been here as many days.

  "No," he said, laughing at Rupert's gestures of dislike toduelling, "his gracious Majesty has strictly forbidden allduelling, and--well, I will not say that there is none of it, butit goes on behind the scenes, for exile from court is the leastpunishment, and in some cases rigorous imprisonment when anyspecial protege of the king has been wounded.

  "And now, Rupert, it is time to be off. The time for gathering inthe antechamber is at hand. By the way, I have said nothing to theking of our former knowledge of each other. There were reasons whyit was better not to mention the fact."

  Rupert nodded as he buckled on his sword and prepared to accompanyhis friend.

  Along stately corridors and broad galleries, whose magnificenceastonished and delighted Rupert, they made their way until theyreached the king's antechamber. Here were assembled a large numberof gentlemen, dressed in the extreme of fashion, some of whomsaluted the marquis, and begged particulars of him concerning thelate battles; for in those days news travelled slowly, newspaperswere scarcely in existence, special correspondents were a race ofmen undreamed of.

  To each of those who accosted him the marquis presented Rupert, whowas soon chatting as if at Saint James's instead of Versailles. InFlanders he had found that all the better classes spoke French,which was also used as the principal medium of communicationbetween the officers of that many-tongued body the allied army,consequently he spoke it as fluently and well as he had done as alad. Presently the great door at the end of the antechamber wasthrown back, and the assembled courtiers fell back on either side.

  Then one of the officers of the court entered, crying, "The king,gentlemen, the king!"

  And then Louis himself, followed by some of the highest officers ofstate, entered.