CHAPTER XXI.
I could not but feel melancholy as I rode away from the ch?teau, andpassed by many of the spots which were engraven upon the tablet of mymemory by acts and feelings that could never suffer them to beeffaced. It was not, indeed, that I entertained any sad or gloomyanticipation in regard to the future; for, through life, the noblestblessing of all the many with which Heaven has heaped up my lot, hasbeen that indestructible hopefulness of disposition, which alwayspresents a bright prospect in the coming years: but it was, thatmemory, as if stimulated by the act of leaving the place, called upagain, and passed in long review before my eyes, all those dark hoursand terrible deeds which had filled up my residence in Brittany. Itwas against my will that these recollections swarmed upon me: butthere are moments when we have no power to bid memory cease herrecapitulations--when the heart, often from some mere triflingaccident, is cast prostrate before the past, and cannot struggle upagainst the torrent of remembrances that pour over it; and such wasthen the case with myself.
If I had given a world, I could not have banished from my thoughtsthe violent death, the dying countenance, the bloody grave of theCount de Mesnil, the gentle looks, the melancholy fate of Madame deVillardin--the gloomy swimming down that fatal stream in the endeavourto find her, the long torch-light search for her body, and theterrible nights of watching I had spent by the bedside of herdelirious and culpable husband.
As memory would have way, I strove to turn it into some gentlercourse, and tried to fix it upon something sweeter in the past. Therewere only two or three acts, however, which I could recal, thatafforded a pleasant resting-place for thought in all that had occurredto me since I first entered the house of Monsieur de Villardin. Theefforts I had made to remove from the mind of the Duke the wildsuspicions that he had then entertained of his wife, were now, ofcourse, most grateful in remembrance. Nor, indeed, do I recollect,amongst all that I ever did in my life, anything which gave me greaterpleasure than I experienced at that moment, in calling to mind therescue of sweet little Laura de Villardin from the same stream thathad afterwards proved fatal to her mother, though, after all, it wasbut the service of a water-dog. Neither, indeed, did the memory of allthe little kindnesses I had shown to Jacques Marlot prove at allungrateful to me, though, I confess, they had been done more in aspirit of merriment, perhaps, than benevolence. One is almost alwaysbeneficent when one laughs, with the exception, perhaps, of a fewhuman hyenas, who scarcely deserve the name of men; and,notwithstanding all his misfortunes and distresses, the worthy printerwas always connected in my mind with associations of a gay and jocosecharacter.
It was upon him, then, by this train of associations, that my thoughtslast rested as I rode away from the ch?teau of Dumont; and as myconstant attendance upon Monsieur de Villardin had prevented my seeingMa?tre Jacques for nearly six weeks, I was suddenly seized with agreat desire to take leave of him ere I went to Paris. The road by hishouse was as near, though somewhat rougher, and I turned my bridlethitherward almost as soon as his image rose up before my mind. At hisdoor I met with Father Ferdinand, whom I had left a couple of hoursbefore in the park; and, after explaining to the good Priest that Iwas bound to Paris, on the business of Monsieur de Villardin, Ireceived his benediction and one or two injunctions in regard to myconduct; and, while he pursued his way back to the ch?teau, I knockedloudly with the butt of my whip at the door of the ci-devant printer.He came out immediately, and but few words passed between us, as I hadnot time to dismount. Nor, indeed, did he ask me to come in when hefound that I was bound upon an errand of importance, but, wishing meall prosperity, and that I might live long enough to save a greatnumber of honest men from the gallows, he bade me adieu, and sufferedme to depart.
I have marked this visit, for, strange enough to say, it was the lasttime that I saw the good printer for nearly six years; and, by the endof that period, I need hardly say that we had both undergone manychanges, at least in personal appearance.
From Juvigny I rode on as fast as possible to the next post relay, andthere leaving my horse with the servant who had accompanied me, I setout with my postillion for Paris as fast as I could go. Rememberingthe directions which I had received, I certainly did not fail to makeall speed; and I found it no difficult thing to induce the post-boysto put much more celerity into their beasts than the law required, or,indeed, allowed. By this means, and by utter forgetfulness of allpersonal fatigue, I reached Paris full two days sooner than I shouldotherwise have done, and much earlier, I am convinced, than Monsieurde Villardin himself anticipated.
The moment I arrived, I found out the residence of Gourville, who wasthen lodging at a small house in the Rue St. Thomas; and, after somedifficulty, which showed me that he was not very much at his ease inregard to his own situation, I was admitted to his apartments, andfound a young man of a shrewd, intelligent countenance, and simple butnot vulgar manners. Following a habit I had acquired of examiningevery new face closely ere I said a word myself, I paused a moment ortwo before I delivered the letter with which I was charged fromMonsieur de Villardin, and I could easily see that Gourville wasannoyed and alarmed by the visit of a person so completely a strangerto him, and whose manners, I believe, appeared somewhat extraordinary.The moment, however, that I had explained to him the object of mycoming, his countenance cleared, but still he said not one word whichcould have committed himself in any way, till he had first readMonsieur de Villardin's letter. Nor was he even satisfied with that,without first speaking to me himself upon various matters which I verywell understood were more designed to draw out my character, andascertain whether I were really trustworthy, than to gain anyinformation of another kind. As it was not at all unlike the conductwhich I should have pursued myself under similar circumstances, I didnot certainly feel in the least offended; and, after about half anhour spent in this sort of spider-like investigation, which did nottake place less upon my side than upon his, we began more clearly tounderstand each other, and the conversation turned to the objectswhich brought me thither.
"Well, Monsieur de Juvigny," said Gourville, at length, "plainly andstraightforwardly, what is it that you want to know?"
"Plainly and straightforwardly, then," I replied, "what I want to knowis, whether there is any chance of the liberation of the Princes, andwhether that chance is immediate or remote."
Gourville smiled, and paused for a moment or two, and then, assumingan air of frankness, which I never saw put on suddenly but when it wasintended to deceive, he replied, "Oh! indubitably; there is everychance of their liberation. The Princess Dowager, as you well know, isevery day presenting some new petition either to the Court or to theParliament, and undoubtedly her just complaints will be in the endattended to: and the Princes will be restored to that liberty of whichthey have been most unjustifiably deprived."
As I have said before, from the very air of candour with which hebegan to speak, I had perceived that Gourville intended to deceive me;and, therefore, I only smiled incredulously as a reply. "It is verytrue, I can assure you," he added; and I saw that, either fromdoubting my judgment, on account of my youth, or from some suspicionof my character, he was so far determined to give me no realinformation, that I must employ other means to extort it from him thanany I had hitherto used. As I knew, however, that he could be dependedupon for secrecy at least, I affected, at length, to receive what hesaid as truth; and replied, "Well, well, since such is the case--andof course I cannot doubt your word--I will immediately write toMonsieur de Villardin, informing him that there is no necessitywhatever for his committing himself by joining the Princess andMonsieur de Bouillon at Bordeaux, as the Princes are certain ofobtaining their liberation, without his taking a step which mightembroil him with many of his best friends, as well as with the Court."This, of course, did not suit Gourville's plans at all, and, as I hadforeseen, it forced him into an explanation.
"No, no, sir! no, no!" he replied. "Do not do that too hastily. Waitat least a day or two, that we may see the effect
of the means we areusing at present."
"That, I am sorry to say," replied I, "is quite out of the question. Icame here, as you well know, to investigate for Monsieur de Villardinwhat were the chances in favour of the immediate liberation of thePrinces; and I promised him to write immediately after I had seen you,to give him such information as would determine the part that he wasto take. Come, come, Monsieur Gourville, you are not acting candidlywith me. If you speak frankly, you have nothing to fear. If you do notspeak frankly, you may prevent Monsieur de Villardin from throwing hiswhole weight into the scale of the Princes. You may speak freely tome, I assure you. I am not so much of a boy as I may seem."
"It appears not, indeed," replied my companion; "and, therefore, Isuppose I must speak frankly with you: but there is one thing, younggentleman, I would have you remark, which is, that if I do admit youto my confidence, you must take your part also in the schemes which Iam pursuing; and as I tell you that they are just as likely to conductevery one concerned in them to the gallows, as to produce any otherresult, you may judge whether this is the sort of confidence that youwould like."
I smiled at his reply; and said, that I was too much accustomed todanger of all kinds to fear the gallows more than any other sort ofdeath.
"Well, well, if that be the case," he replied, "the matter will soonbe settled. Monsieur de Villardin here tells me to trust you entirely,and Monsieur de Rochefoucault enjoins me to trust in him in the samemanner. So that, of course, I must obey, whatever be the consequences;though I do not, I confess, like to confide secrets of such vitalimportance to more people than necessary."
He then proceeded to inform me,--though with a great deal ofdifficulty and hesitation, even after having made up his mind to doso,--that a plan was, at that moment, in progress, for the liberationof the Prince de Cond?, by means of the soldiers of the guard ingarrison at Vincennes, where the Prince was at that time confined.These men, many of whom had served under Cond?, and all of whomadmired and loved him, Gourville represented as uniformly favourableto the scheme; and I learned, that the execution of the whole wasmerely put off till the Sunday following, in order that the attemptmight be made while the governor and officers were at vespers in thechapel.
"The only difficulty," he continued, "which presents itself in thecourse of the whole undertaking, is to prepare the Princes themselvesfor the effort that is to be made in their favour. No one is allowedto see them except Pallu, the surgeon of the Prince de Cond?, whovisits him three times a week, in order to dress the wound in his arm.Now Pallu is himself as much attached to the Prince as any man can be,but he is as timid as a child; and, notwithstanding all mypersuasions, will not be the bearer of a message to his Highness."
"But cannot you contrive to introduce some one else?" I demanded. "Ishould think that might be easily done."
"Indeed!" said Gourville, with a smile. "I have turned it in my headin every way I can think of; and yet I not only do not see any easymethod, but I confess that I perceive no possible means of conveyingthe information to Monsieur le Prince. We are, therefore, preparing toexecute our scheme as well as we can without."
I mused a moment ere I answered, and then merely asked what was thepost which Gourville intended to assign me in the matter, and which hehad declared was dangerous.
"Simply this," he replied; "and you will see at once, that it is notmore perilous than that of any other person concerned. We are about tostation twenty or thirty cavaliers in the different villages roundVincennes, divided into parties of three or four, and each providedwith led horses, to afford the Princes the means of escape, whateverdirection they may judge fit to take. If any of the parties arecaught, they will be hanged, to a certainty, but each man must ofcourse make his mind up to his risk; and what I proposed was, that youshould be joined to one of these bodies, and act as guide to thePrinces into Brittany, in case that they should determine uponpursuing that road; for I judge, by your tongue, that you are aBreton, and doubt not that you know the country well."
"That I do, most assuredly," replied I; "but nevertheless I think Ican serve you better in another way--and not without exposing myself,"I added, seeing a slight smile curl my companion's lip; "fully asmuch, if not more, than any of you."
"And pray what do you propose?" he said.
"Simply," I answered, "to convey the tidings of our design to thePrinces themselves."
"Impossible," he replied; "depend upon it, that is quite impossible."
"Not near so much so, rest assured, as you imagine," I answered. "Thefact is, I know Monsieur de Pallu well, for he attended long upon agentleman to whom I was much attached, and I saw him regularly everyday. Now I know all his manners and his habits so well, that I couldfearlessly take upon myself to feign myself one of his assistants, andto give such an account of himself and his person, if by any chance Ishould be questioned, that I am certain I should escape detection. Idoubt not in the least," I added, seeing Gourville's countenance beginto brighten as my plan developed itself, "I doubt not in the leastthat, although he cannot be prevailed upon to deliver the message tothe Princes himself, he may easily be induced to neglect his visit toVincennes for one single day. As soon as that is determined, I willtake advantage of the fact, and dressing myself as a gar?onapothicaire, I will present myself at Vincennes, with dressings andplasters, and, declaring that Monsieur de Pallu is ill, or called bysome urgent case elsewhere, will demand to see the Prince and dresshis arm."
"Bravo! mon cher Breton!" cried Gourville, catching me in his arms andactually embracing me; "bravo! bravo! Pallu will consent, of course;and if he do not, a little gentle force, or some good-natured _ruse_,will easily bring the matter to bear, as far at least as he isconcerned. Diable! I would keep him in his house with a pistol at histhroat sooner than such a hopeful enterprise should fail.--But are yousure, my good young friend, that your courage will hold out?" headded, as he began to reflect; the very delight he felt at my proposalmaking him apprehensive lest it should fail. "Remember, for Heaven'ssake, that Vincennes is a terrible looking place; and what with itsdrawbridges, its guards, and its chains, its gloomy passages andfrowning stone walls, you may lose your presence of mind at the verymoment when it is most necessary; and not only forfeit your own life,but overthrow our whole scheme."
"No fear! no fear!" I answered, smiling; "I am more accustomed to suchwork than you know of, and have no apprehensions."
"Well, well," answered Gourville, "have your will then; though I mustsay you look to me very young to have much acquaintance withproceedings dangerous in themselves, and ten thousand times moredangerous in their consequences. You cannot be above sixteen?"
"Not so much," I replied; "and yet for many a year I have livedamongst scenes to which all that is passing in these foolish wars isbut child's play. But now let us concert our plans, that nothing maygo wrong."
After some more conversation on the subject, Gourville proceeded tothe house of Pallu, and finding him at home, went in, while I remainedin the street. On his return he informed me that all was arranged withthe worthy surgeon, who consented to show an apparent neglect to thePrince de Cond?; but required that, in order to screen himselfcompletely from the ire of the Court, in case of our detection, afictitious letter, demanding his immediate presence at St. Germain,should be sent to him at the very hour in the evening that he usuallyvisited his patient in Vincennes.
All this was settled with the surgeon, and nothing remained but for meto play my part. The time for executing my design was, of necessity,three o'clock on the following day, as that was the usual period ofPallu's visit; and having proceeded to the house of the well-knownfripier Martin, where every sort of dress under the sun was to beprocured for a little more than its real value, I furnished myselfwith the complete equipment of a surgeon's ?l?ve. I spent the rest ofthat evening in concluding my arrangements with Gourville, who gave meall that minute information which was necessary to the accomplishmentof what I had undertaken.
On the following morning early, I rode out to S
t. Maur to see LordMasterton, but found that both Lord Langleigh and himself were absentin Normandy. I saw the Lady Emily, however, and could not but feelwhat a contrast her bright and smiling looks afforded to those whichhad latterly appeared upon the countenance of poor Madame deVillardin, once as gay and happy as her own.
On my return to Paris, it was nearly time to set out for Vincennes;and, mounted on a little sturdy horse, which seemed made on purposefor a surgeon's pony, furnished with ointments and plasters inboundless profusion, and habited as a gar?on chirurgien, I rode offupon my expedition, and soon approached the prison of the Princes. Thecastle had nothing very formidable in its aspect to my eyes; but,nevertheless, in gazing up at the donjon, and remembering the purposeof my visit, I felt more as I used to do in days of old than I haddone for some time. I was little "Ball o' Fire" all over; and I couldalmost have fancied myself upon some of my expeditions during thecivil wars of England. This feeling tended to put me much more at myease than I might otherwise have been; and as there is nothing soserviceable as effrontery under such circumstances, it proved of realuse to me.
On entering the gate, the first question asked me was by agrim-looking guardsman, who came up as the sentry stopped me, anddemanded what I wanted there?
I answered, with all the na?vet? in the world, that I wanted to seethe Prince de Cond?.
"Indeed!" exclaimed the guard, not a little astonished at my coolness."And, pray, what may be your name, my good youth?"
"I am called Jerome," I replied; "and I am assistant to Monsieur dePallu, the surgeon, who sent me here, because he was obliged----"
"Oh, if that be the case," cried the soldier, interrupting me, "youmust come to Monsieur de Bar. We cannot let you in without hisauthority, for we must not even speak to the Prince ourselves."
From the man's tone, I doubted not that this was one of the serjeantsof the guard, whom Gourville had spoken of as in the interest of thePrinces; but of course I had nothing to do but to go through with mypart as gar?on apothicaire; and, therefore, assuming as stupid an airas possible, I suffered myself to be led to the presence of Monsieurde Bar, the governor. I never saw a less prepossessing fellow, or onebetter framed by the hand of nature for a gaoler. As soon as I hadinformed him that Monsieur de Pallu, having been sent for to St.Germain on a case of life and death, had despatched me to dress thePrince's arm, which he thought could not remain till the followingday, the governor knit his brows, and stared me all over with a heavyfrown, as if I had committed some offence. But, without taking anynotice, or showing the slightest agitation, I stood upon one leg, likean awkward boy, and looked round the room with an air of stolidcuriosity, which completely deceived him.
"Monsieur de Pallu should not have gone away on any pretext," said thegovernor, abruptly, when he had satisfied himself with his examinationof my person. "It is disgraceful of him to send a stupid boy like youto dress the Prince's wound. I have a great mind to send you back."
I gazed at him for a moment with open mouth and eyes; and thenassuring him that I could dress the wound as well as Monsieur de Palluhimself, I proceeded to detail exactly that surgeon's method ofproceeding, which I had watched attentively during his attendance onLord Masterton. The governor cut me short, with an oath, however; andtelling me that he did not want to learn surgery, rose, and took thekey of the apartments in which the Princes were confined.
Throwing open the door, he pushed me in by the shoulders, bidding meto knock loudly at that same door when I had done, and not to stoplonger than necessary. I now found myself alone, in a littleante-chamber; and as it had but one other door, of course I advancedtowards it, and entered the next room without ceremony. Here, seatedat a table, which was covered with pots of beautiful carnations, sat ayoung man of about five or six and twenty, busily tending andarranging his flowers. He was alone--though I heard voices in achamber beyond; and from the whole appearance of the apartment, theneglect and poverty of the furniture, and the simplicity of theyoung man's own attire, I might have imagined that he was somevalet-de-chambre, admitted to the prison in order to attend upon thePrinces, had he not looked up: as he did so, however, the eagle-eyecould not be mistaken, and I felt that I must be in the presence ofthe great Cond?.
"Who are you, my boy?" he asked, as soon as he saw me. "Good faith,this is a pleasing novelty: I have not seen a new face these twomonths; let me look at you;" and rising from his seat, he approachedthe window near which I passed as I entered from the ante-room. He wasneither very tall nor very strongly made, but there was the promise ofextraordinary activity in every limb. His features were slightlyaquiline, and in general good, without being very striking. But hiseye was, indeed, remarkable. It was deep set, it is true, and notparticularly large; but there was a light, and a keenness, and anintensity in its slightest glance, that are quite indescribable. Itwas quick, too, as the lightning; and I observed, that at almost everyother word the corner of the eyebrow next the nose was drawn forward,and rounded, as it were, so as to shade the eye in a degree, and tocut off every ray of light but those which fell upon the object atwhich he was looking.
"Who are you, my boy? Who are you--who are you?" he repeated, quickly."Has Monsieur de Bar forgotten himself, and learned to believe thatgentlemanly conduct is consistent with the office of a gaoler?"
For a moment I was in doubt how to answer; but as I still heard voicesin the other room, I thought it best to be cautious, and being obligedto speak loud, on account of my distance from the Prince at themoment, I told him the same story that I had passed upon the governor.
"Ha!" he said, "Pallu should have come to me first. He forgets that heis my oracle as well as surgeon, and the only human thing that I seefrom week's end to week's end, except the grim visages of my gaolers,or the gloomy ones of my fellow-prisoners. However, if there was lifeor death in the case, as you say, of course he could not come."
While he was speaking I advanced quietly to the table, and puttingdown the packet of salves and dressings upon it, I approached closerto the Prince without saying a word. He looked at me sharply as I didso, seeming to comprehend at once that there was somethingextraordinary in this man[oe]uvre; and when I was within about a yardof him, he put out his hand to stop my further advance, saying, "Stay,stay; no nearer, if you please, till I hear more of your business."
I bowed low, and replied, in a tone that could only be heard byhimself, "If your Highness will sit down and permit me to dress yourarm, or, at least, to seem to do so, I may prove more oracular thanMonsieur de Pallu. I come from your Highness's faithful friend andservant, Monsieur de Villardin, and from your no less faithfulservant, Gourville."
"Hush!" he replied, "hush!" And advancing to the door which led intothe other room, he said, speaking to the Prince de Conti and the Dukede Longueville, who were within, "Messieurs, I am going to have mywound dressed; and therefore, unless you wish to learn surgery, youmay stay where you are for half an hour." He then closed the door, andreturning to his seat near the table, stripped off his coat, anddrawing back his sleeve, presented his arm to me, saying at the sametime, "Now!"
I, on my part, busied myself with the dressings, and while I did so,proceeded to explain to him, in a low tone, but as distinctly aspossible, the measures that had been taken for setting him at libertyon the Sunday following. I told him that the guards, who had enteredinto our plan, were already provided with the means of fastening theofficers into the chapel during the vesper service, that horses wouldbe ready at each of the villages within four miles of Vincennes, thatthe whole garrison was in his favour, and that nothing was wanting butpreparation on his part to take advantage of the opportunity when itoccurred.
"Fear not," he replied, in the same tone; "fear not that I will befound unprepared. No, no; as soon as that door is open, I will bequite ready to walk out of it. But tell me," he added, "who are youthat have been trusted with such an important communication, and havehad courage and address sufficient to execute it?"
"I am one, your Highness," replied I, "for whom you we
re kind enoughsome time ago, at the intercession of Monsieur de Villardin, to obtainsome favours at the hands of the Court."
"What! the young Englishman," he cried, "who saved his daughter'slife!--Is it so?"
I replied in the affirmative; and he added, "Well, then, they were thelast favours that I obtained for any one, for not three days after myarrest took place."
"Most grateful I am to your Highness," I replied; "and I thank Heaventhat the commission with which Monsieur de Villardin has intrusted meenables me to be of some slight service to your cause."
"Of inestimable service, young gentleman," he replied; "for, in truth,I know none, except yourself, and perhaps Gourville, who would haveundertaken the dangerous task which you have accomplished. Should yoube successful,--which I will not doubt, since the scheme is so welldevised and so well conducted--I shall not be found wanting ingratitude to any who have served me, especially to one who has servedme so well as you have: and now, as it is clear enough that you knownothing of dressing wounds, get you gone as speedily as possible, lestPallu himself should come, and worse should befal you."
"There is no fear, my lord," I replied; "we have taken good means tokeep Monsieur de Pallu away."
"Indeed!" he answered; "then it would seem you have forgot nothing;but, nevertheless, I am anxious for your safety. Tell Gourville andthe rest that I shall be ready to a moment at the hour of vespers;and, once beyond these prison-walls, the Court and Mazarin shall havesomething to remember which they may find it not easy to forget. Fareyou well, young man; and be sure, that whether we succeed or not,Cond? will not be found ungrateful."
My errand was done, and of course I did not feel inclined to linger insuch dangerous circumstances.
Gathering up all the trumpery which I had brought with me on thepretence of dressing his wound, I took my leave, and, retiring intothe ante-chamber, I knocked hard, as I had been told to do, in orderto call some one to the door. During nearly ten minutes, however, Iknocked in vain, and, of course, gradually increased the vehemence ofmy application, till the whole passages rang again with the sound. Atlength the governor appeared, and showered upon my head no mitigatedabuse for the noise which I had made. As it was necessary, however, toproceed with the same caution in effecting my exit as I had employedin procuring admittance to the prison, I resumed my air of stupidity,and, muttering something about having knocked for ten minutes, Iglided past him as he locked the door, and walked on towards thestairs. With a few more abusive epithets he suffered me to depart,and, passing down into the court, the wicket gate was thrown open forme to go out into the park.
As the soldier at the gate maliciously refused to open it any farther,I was obliged to lead my pony through the wicket; and as the apertureseemed much less than the animal conceived its own dignity andmagnitude required, it cost me nearly a quarter of an hour to force itthrough. When this was at length effected, amidst the merriment of thesoldiery, I mounted, and proceeded on my way; nor did anything occurin the course of my ride towards Paris which was worthy of remark,except the fact of my meeting, at about twenty yards from the gate ofthe ch?teau, one of the serjeants of the guard, who, with downcastlooks, and a rapid but unsteady pace, was returning towards the castlewhich I had just left.
The Little Ball O' Fire; or, the Life and Adventures of John Marston Hall Page 21