The Little Ball O' Fire; or, the Life and Adventures of John Marston Hall

by G. P. R. James

  CHAPTER XXVII.

  Although this was a sad and bitter disappointment to me, yet I couldnot help still entertaining a hope that I had made my situationsufficiently known to Gourville to urge him at least towards fartherinquiries; and with that thought I consoled myself for the rest of theevening. No one came, however; and, when the next day rose and setwithout the appearance of my acquaintance, I began again to givemyself up to despair, the more dark for the ray of light that hadbroken in upon me for a time.

  The sun rose and set, I have said; and, sitting down upon the strawwhich had been given me for my bed, I covered my eyes with my hands,and could have wept; but the very fountain of tears seemed dried up;and I could only brood over my situation with a sort of gloomy horror,which I do believe would have ended in depriving me of my faculties:but, about an hour after nightfall, the bolts and bars of the dungeonbegan to move, and I started up with joy; for the hour was not one atwhich the gaoler ever visited the cell: and the slightest change inthe usual current of events seemed to speak of hope. As soon as thedoor was opened, a light broke in from the turnkey's lantern, andhis own face was the first thing I beheld; but the moment after,I perceived another figure behind; and, to my inexpressiblesatisfaction, saw, as soon as my eyes were a little more accustomedto the light, that it was Gourville himself.

  He embraced me most kindly; and, ordering the gaoler to leave us, in atone of authority which was instantly obeyed, he surveyed me from headto foot by the light of the lantern, which the man had set down on thefloor of the dungeon ere he departed. My imprisonment and all itsconsequences had not improved my appearance particularly; and I saw aslight smile pass over Gourville's countenance as he made hisexamination, and contrasted, I dare say, in his mind, the object thatnow met his eyes with the gay lad who had visited him in Paris severalyears before. He suppressed all signs of merriment, however, for fearof giving me pain; and then made me recount all the adventures whichhad brought me into that situation. In my narrative, I certainly didnot spare Gaspard de Belleville: but Gourville shook his head, saying,that my enemy enjoyed a considerable share of favour with the Princede Cond?.

  "Nevertheless," he continued, "beyond all doubt your liberation mustand will take place as soon as it is communicated to the Prince. SorryI am that I have not the power of ordering you to be set free at once;but as I depart for Paris early to-morrow, I will take care that hisHighness shall immediately know the treatment you have received. Inthe meanwhile that treatment shall instantly be changed in somedegree, for I have authority enough for that at least, and you shallhave every comfort that ever exists in a prison. A little money, too,is not a useless thing in any situation. Here, take my purse, my youngfriend, you can pay me when we meet again."

  I assured him that if I were permitted to write to Monsieur deVillardin I should soon receive sufficient supplies, and, therefore,that I needed not to take advantage of his liberal offer, if he couldobtain for me that permission. He replied, that he would take carethat no obstruction should thenceforward be thrown in the way of mywriting to whom I liked; but at the same time he pressed the loan ofhis purse upon me, saying, that I might want it before I could receiveany reply to my letters. After some farther conversation, which he,who well knew what imprisonment is, took care to make as cheerful aspossible, he summoned the gaoler, and after rebuking him sternly forthe treatment he had shown to an officer of the King, he ordered himto let me have everything which could make me comfortable, consistentwith my safe custody, and especially both to furnish me with materialsfor writing, and to give the letters which I did write to the postwith his own hands. By the gaoler's humble tone it was very evidentthat he well knew the influence which Gourville possessed with thePrince de Cond?; and as soon as my kind friend had left me, he madea thousand excuses for his former harshness, telling me that he hadbut obeyed the orders of those who brought me thither.

  A great change in my situation was the first result of Gourville'svisit: I was removed to a warm and dry chamber, from which I could seeover the whole country round. Good food, books, and writing materialswere allowed me; and my gaoler, now become civil and complacentenough, purchased for me, with part of the money which Gourville hadlent, various articles of clothing, of which I had long stood in need,and for which he did not charge me much more than double the value. Myfirst care was to write to Monsieur de Villardin, and the gaolerundertook to see the epistle despatched; but certain it is the letternever reached its destination; and whether it remained for ever withinthe walls of the prison at Stenay, or lost itself when it got out intothe wide world, I cannot tell. It mattered but little, however; for,eight days after Gourville had left me, I was visited by one of theofficers of the garrison, who informed me that he had received ordersfrom the Prince de Cond? to conduct me to Paris, and that if I had noobjection, he proposed setting out the next day. I assured him thatnothing on earth would give me greater pleasure; and a little afterday-break I had to thank God for seeing the gates of that accursedprison thrown open to give me egress. The officer and his party werewaiting me in the street, with one led horse for myself, and anotherfor my baggage; but as all the clothes I had were those which thegaoler had purchased for me, they were easily so arranged as to go onthe horse that carried myself, and the other was consequently sentback. During the last week I had been permitted to walk every day inthe court of the prison, and had, in consequence, regained, in a greatdegree, the use of my limbs; but still I was very much fatigued when Iarrived at the end of our first day's journey. The officer whoconducted or guarded me was a very quiet, civil personage, and as werode along, he told me that he was ordered to require my parole not toattempt an escape, and then to give me every sort of liberty.

  My parole was, of course, willingly given, and after a slow, and, asit appeared to me, a tedious march, we arrived in Paris just threedays after the battle of the Faubourg St. Antoine. We had nearly, itis true, been cut off by a body of royalist cavalry, who passed us inthe neighbourhood of Charonne; but it is probable that, never dreaminga party attached to the Prince de Cond? would show itself on that sideof the town so immediately after his defeat, they took us for some oftheir own partisans. At all events, they passed within a hundred yardsof our little troop; and their commander even shouted a good morrow tothe officer at our head, which, on his part, was returned with greatcourtesy. Such was the method in which war was carried on in thosedays.

  On our entrance into Paris we found the whole town in one universalgabble concerning the battle of St. Antoine. Distiches, sarcasms, andepigrams were flying in every direction; and the gay tone and wittyrepartee of each Parisian, from whom we even inquired our way, wouldbut little have led a stranger to conclude that within three days anengagement had taken place at the very gates of the town, in which4000 or 5000 men had been killed, and some of the noblest and bravestgentlemen of France had left their bodies on the field. Still less,indeed, did the gaiety and good humour, which were observable amongstthe people, indicate, in any degree, the fierce and sanguinarypassions which were soon to be called into action; and we rode onthrough the streets, amidst a crowd of as merry faces as ever Iremember to have seen.

  Although we inquired repeatedly, no one could tell us anything certainconcerning the Prince de Cond?. Some said that he was even then in thetown; some said he was with his army, encamped without the walls, justbeyond the Faubourg St. Victor; some said that he had gone to effecthis junction with the Spanish force; and the officer, whose orderswere merely to join him, thought it best to proceed to the H?tel deVille, in order to gain further information. It is not impossible,indeed, that the vicinity of a famous sutling-house, known to every _bonvivant_ in the army, at the corner of the _Rue de la Mortellerie_ mightbe an inducement to my conductor, and, at all events, certain it isthat he directed his steps to the sutler's in the very first instance.

  Here, however, he learned that the Prince was, at that very moment, inthe H?tel de Ville itself; and, after taking care to refresh his menand himself
with the choicest stores of the sutler's larder, he leftme at the house on the strength of my parole, and proceeded to seekthe Prince for the purpose of obtaining further orders. As I remainedin the high room in which we had dined, and had nothing else to occupymy attention, I amused myself by gazing out of the window upon thevarious groups that were now thronging into the open space before theTown-house. It was a hot, sultry day in July; and all the crowds ofParisians, who, like butterflies, come forth whenever the sun shines,were filling the streets, and all seemed to me pouring on in onedirection. The masses in the Place de l'H?tel de Ville became everymoment more and more dense, so that it was difficult at length forthose whose business called them to the Town-house, to make their waythither. A number of petty affrays took place, in consequence of theendeavours made by several individuals to force their passage throughthe crowd; and a spirit of riot began to manifest itself, which it wasnot difficult to divine would end in more serious disorders. Iremarked about this time, that almost every one I saw in the crowd hadone or two wheat straws stuck into his hat or cap; the greater partalso appeared armed, and I could not help anticipating very unpleasantresults from the assemblage of such a number of the lower classes at amoment of general excitement and licence. After a time, however, thepeople seemed to become more quiet; and, before long, I saw the Princede Cond?, with a number of other noblemen and gentlemen, come out ofthe H?tel de Ville, and ride away amidst the acclamations of thepopulace.

  I now expected the return of the officer every moment, butnevertheless he did not appear; and, still gazing forth upon the darkmasses of the multitude, fluctuating hither and thither like the wavesof a troubled sea, I soon after beheld a party of gentlemen, precededby a royal trumpet, enter the Place de Gr?ve, and endeavour to maketheir way through the people. At the head of this little body I atonce recognised Monsieur de Villardin, riding beside a gentleman whomI did not know, but who, I found afterwards, was the Mar?chal deL'H?pital. With much difficulty they gained the steps of theTown-house, amidst the execrations and insults of the people; andevery moment, while waiting the return of a messenger whom they sentinto the building, they were exposed both to danger and offence. Atlength, when, as it appeared, the order for giving them admittance wasreturned, and they dismounted from their horses and entered the doors,a general rush of the people took place, apparently for the purpose ofenveloping and massacring the King's officers, though they had comewith a flag of truce. The doors, however, were closed promptly uponthem; but the fury of the populace now passed all hounds: yells, morelike the cries of demons than those of human beings, issued from themultitude; the signal for strife was given by the discharge of amusket; and while a number, who had possessed themselves of firelocks,kept up a scattered fire at the windows of the H?tel de Ville, I saw alarge body rush away towards the quay, from which they returned in afew minutes, bearing bundles of the fire wood which was there piled upfor sale. Before any measures could be taken to prevent them, a massof these faggots, between six and seven feet in height, was heaped upagainst the great door, some lighted embers were procured from aneighbouring house, and in a moment the whole was in a blase.

  It was now evident that the purpose of the multitude was to massacreall those that were within the H?tel de Ville; and the cries of "Deathto them all!" "Down with the Mazarines!" "Spare not the traitors!""Take none to mercy!" which rose up in deafening shouts as the peoplecontinued firing in at the windows of the Town-house, and piling upfresh logs of wood upon the fire before the door, convinced me that,if something could not be done to save him, the life of Monsieur deVillardin would be lost within ten minutes. The guards, indeed, withinthe building, fired a few shots from time to time upon the people, buttheir number was too few to offer any serious resistance, and theefforts that they did make only served to irritate their assailants toa pitch of frenzy.

  There was no time for consideration; the life of Monsieur de Villardindepended on the turning of a die; and running down the stairs as hardas I could, I caught up for a badge of partisanship some straws, whichI found under a pile of cheeses in the kitchen, and rushing forwardtowards the door of the H?tel de Ville, I determined to force my wayinto it amongst the very first, in order to take advantage of whateveropportunity might occur to save the life of my friend. As I pushed on,elbowing my way through the crowd, one of the rioters, who was armedwith a musket, turned fiercely upon me for disturbing his aim; and heseemed about to strike me with the butt end of his piece, when a shotfrom the windows of the building settled our dispute by going throughhis head. He fell forward upon me, but, throwing him off, I snatchedthe musket out of his hands, as it could be of no farther service tohim, and might be of great service to me; and thus armed, I soonforced a passage for myself up to the very door of the building. Myeagerness and haste, though inspired by very different motives fromthose which actuated the rest of the crowd, caught the attention andexcited the applause of a number of persons in the multitude, and wasafterwards of great service to me in effecting my object. Lucky it wasthat all these circumstances combined to facilitate my advance, forscarcely had I reached the doors, when they gave way, and fellthundering and blazing into the entrance hall. A number of thosecooped up within rushed forth, and, plunging into the crowdendeavoured to effect their escape; while I, darting through the midstof them, sprang up the stairs towards those spots where Monsieur deVillardin had been generally found upon former occasions.

  He was not in the great hall, however, nor in the grand chamber, wherethe Parliament usually assembled, but I found him in one of the_buvettes_ with Monsieur de L'H?pital, and a young man whom I hadremarked amongst the most vehement of the rioters without, but who hadoutstripped me by passing the shortest way, and was now engaged inrapid conversation with the Mar?chal de L'H?pital. The moment I rushedin, with my face covered with the smoke and dirt of the fire which hadbeen kindled at the gate, and the musket in my hand, Monsieur deVillardin drew his sword, not recognising a friend in the figurebefore him; but as soon as I had entered, I closed the door betweenthe buvettes and the passage leading to the great chamber, and turningthe key, which I put in my pocket, I thus shut out those who, I knew,could not be far behind me. By this time the Duke had recognised me,and was exclaiming, "Good God, De Juvigny! I thought you dead, my dearlad! How came you here?"

  "There is no time to tell you," I replied. "Instantly change part ofyour clothes with me, and throw away that scarf, or you will bemurdered directly. If you wish to save that gentleman," I added,turning to the young man who was speaking with the Mar?chal deL'H?pital, "make him change his dress."

  Monsieur de Villardin had at that moment a fillemot-coloured cloak,lined with light blue, and light blue plumes in his hat; but withoutpausing for any ceremonious consent, I tore the cloak from hisshoulders, and threw over him my own, which, having been purchased bythe gaoler at Stenay, and having passed through a long journey inJuly, was neither very fine nor very clean. The blue plumes were nextscattered upon the floor; and as there was a procureur's gown hangingover one of the benches, I tore off the cord to fasten a few of thestraws which I had assumed as the badge of the popular party into thefront of Monsieur de Villardin's hat. The white scarf was thendisposed of; and as we could hear the shouts of the multitude comingfrom the side of the grand chamber, we took our way, as fast aspossible to the small door which led from the buvettes into the outerhall. Here, however, we were met by a dense mass of the populace,who instantly assailed us with cries and hootings, and onefierce-looking savage drew back his pike to run it into my chest; but,calling him boldly an accursed _Mazarine_, I pointed the firelock at hishead, and would certainly have shot, had he made the slightestmovement. But at that moment one of his companions recognised me ashaving shown great activity in the crowd below, and, catching myadversary by the arm, assured him that it was I who had first proposedto burn the doors. This honourable reputation, though founded on afalsehood, gained me instant applause, and knowing that the best meansto manage a mob is to employ it on any mischief, I told the rascals
that some Mazarines in the grand chamber had barricaded the doors ofthe buvettes, and leading them back to the one I had myself locked, Iset them to work to demolish it, well assured that they would meet aparty of their friends on the other side.

  In the meanwhile, Monsieur de Villardin had been pushing his way ontowards the door; and I found him held at bay by half a dozen of therioters, who would have cut his throat within another minute; but, asI approached, I shouted with the full strength of my voice to bringsledge-hammers, and, taking him by the arm, asked if he had foundany. He replied, smiling in the midst of the imminent danger whichsurrounded him, that he could not even seek them, for that the gentrybefore me would not let him pass. Strong in my reputation as a leaderof the tumult, I now set to work to curse them with my whole heart,asking if they were partisans of the Court and friends of Mazarin; andbidding them, if they were followers of the Fronde and the Princes,immediately to seek sledge-hammers, to knock down all the doors. Thisseemed so laudable an undertaking in their sight, that, shouting, "Desmarteaux! des marteaux! vite! des marteaux!" they rushed away insearch of hammers, while, seizing Monsieur de Villardin by the arm, Icried, "Come, come; I know a blacksmith's where we shall find plenty."And thus boldly taking upon ourselves the character of chief rioters,we made our way down the stairs and out into the _Place_. Our situation,however, was still more dangerous here than ever; for a number of themore coolly bloodthirsty had suffered the violent and the excited tomake their way into the building, while they themselves remainedwithout, in order to watch their victims as they came forth into thePlace de Gr?ve, and then massacre them without mercy. The cry forhammers, however, had already spread amongst them, and I found it asort of watch-word, which, for a time, obtained a passage--thoughthat passage was through the warm blood and amongst the quiveringbodies of the unhappy men who had lately tenanted the Town-house.

  Just as we were passing through the midst of the Place, one fierce andbrutal wretch had got down the unhappy Ferrand de Vavari, one of thecouncillors, and was coolly running a knife into his throat,notwithstanding all his cries and struggles, with the same recklessindifference with which a butcher kills a sheep. Starting up as wepassed, the assassin shouted out "More Mazarines! More Mazarines! Whydo you let them go?"

  The people made a movement round us; and I saw that there was nothingfor it but decision. Halting abruptly in the midst, I cried, withevery appearance of fury and indignation, that either my voice orfeatures would take on, "He calls me a Mazarine!--me!--aMazarine!--when he knows us both for officers of the Prince deCond?:--me a Mazarine!" and, without farther ceremony--seeing thatthe incarnate fiend, who, most probably, recognised M. de Villardin,was about to retort upon me--I presented my musket, and, at the samemoment, pulled the trigger. He fell directly; and the people,convinced by the boldness of the action that I was really a followerof the Princes, who were then omnipotent amongst them, made way,shouting, "Vivent les Princes! Vive Cond?!"

  Without giving time for those who had crowded round my fallen opponentto become interested in his cause, or to hear anything he might haveto say in case he were only wounded, I hurried forward as fast aspossible, directing my course away from the river, towards which M. deVillardin seemed inclined to proceed. The fact was, however, that atthe window of one of the houses in that part of the Gr?ve I saw thehead of the Duc de Beaufort backed by the faces of several of hisofficers; and, as I did not feel at all sure that he might not pointus out for massacre as we passed, I thought it best to get out of hissight by the nearest road.

  When once we were fairly away from the Place and its immediatevicinity, where the fury of the people was blind and indiscriminate,the straw in our hats secured us a free passage, though the streetswere everywhere thronged with rioters; but as Monsieur de Villardinmight each moment be recognised by some one who had known him duringhis former residence in Paris, I made the best of my way to the houseof an honest shoemaker, who had served the whole household of theDuke, and served them well. All the shops were by this time shut up,for fear of pillage; and long were we obliged to knock before the goodman ventured to open his door and let us in: when he did so, however,he showed us every sort of kindness, and thanked heaven a thousandtimes for the escape of the Duke. Bringing us to a neat upper room,where we could lie concealed from any one who might enter the lowerpart of the house, he pointed out to us the means of escaping over theroofs should it become necessary; but of this neither Monsieur deVillardin nor myself entertained the least apprehension; and, whilethe good shoemaker went down to provide, as far as possible, for ourcomfort and security, we began to breathe more freely than we had donefor some time, and to talk over the adventures of the last few hours.

  "A second time I have to thank you for life," said Monsieur deVillardin, after a few exclamations concerning the sort of insanitythat had seized upon the Parisians--"a second time I have to thank youfor life.--Take care," he added, with a faint smile, "take care! foryou are causing me to accumulate debts which I shall never have themeans of paying. But, tell me, how came you here, and where have youbeen for the last three months? Several of your men declared they sawyou killed in attempting to repulse the party who set fire to thech?teau of Virmont. I need hardly tell you that I and Father Ferdinandhave grieved for you, and Laura has wept for you ever since."

  "Thank God for that, at least," I replied: "not for your grieving forme, my lord, but for the safety of Father Ferdinand and Mademoisellede Villardin, in regard to both of whom I have been in a cruel stateof anxiety ever since I last saw them." I then proceeded to detail, asbriefly as possible, all the events that had occurred to me during thelast three months; and I could see that Monsieur de Villardin, whilerejoicing in my escape, was moved with no slight indignation both atthe treatment I had received from Gaspard de Belleville, and at thefact of his former page having been the person to burn his house tothe ground.

  "The villain," he said, "did hot even know that my household and mychild were not still within the building; for their escape was owingsolely to the civility of the officer at the village, who sent up towarn them that he was about to march, and that other parties werecoming up, who might not be so well disposed towards them as himself.They took advantage of this information in time, and sought refuge inone of the cottages in the wood; otherwise they might all have beenburned indiscriminately; for the first act that the enemy's soldierswere seen to commit was that of throwing a number of grenades into theopen windows, by which means the whole house was fired in a fewminutes. If I live three days longer," he added, after detailing theseparticulars, "I will represent the whole of that young villain'sconduct to the Prince de Cond?: he must not go any longer unpunished,whatever may have been my reasons for not dealing severely with himhitherto."

  I knew well that Monsieur de Villardin's indignation would beinfinitely increased when he heard all his other obligations toGaspard de Belleville; but, as I had no inclination to irritate himfarther at this time, and, as the tidings that I bore from Suzette,required to be communicated gently, I determined to reserve them foranother moment. "I will request you, my Lord," I replied, "when youmake your complaint against Gaspard de Belleville, to take the sameopportunity of soliciting my liberation at the hands of the Prince deCond?; for, of course, as I only came out of the sutler's in order, torescue you, I must still consider myself a prisoner upon parole."

  "Fear not, fear not, De Juvigny," he replied; "you shall soon beliberated, either as a favour to myself, or upon ransom; and you shallfind, through my whole life, that I never forget, on any occasion, allthe services with which you have contrived to load me in the shortspace of five or six years."

  We had still enough subjects of conversation undiscussed to give usplenty of employment for the rest of the evening, especially as ourthoughts were every now and then diverted to other subjects by reportsbrought to us by our worthy host of all that was going on in the city.From him we soon learned that the Mar?chal de L'H?pital, on whoseaccount Monsieur de Villardin had felt a good deal of anxiety, was ina
place of safety, having effected his escape from the H?tel de Villeby the means of the lad Noblet, whom we had seen speaking with him.About ten o'clock at night we also received the welcome tidings thatthe mob had dispersed, and that large parties of the Garde Bourgeoisewere patrolling the streets in every direction; so that we mightconsider the sedition at an end. We remained in our concealment,however, during the whole of that night; but, early the next morning,finding that tranquillity was perfectly restored, we ventured out, andafter having seen Monsieur de Villardin on his road to the Court, Iturned my steps, as had been agreed upon between us, towards the campof the Prince de Cond?, in order to give myself up and redeem myparole.

  On inquiring farther, I found that the army of the Princes was reallyon the other side of the river; and crossing over by the Cit?, I mademy way on foot towards the open grounds of St. Victor, and the littleriver of Bi?vre, between which and the Seine I soon perceived theforces of the Prince de Cond? intrenched in a position which might beconsidered perfectly impregnable, at least against any power that theCourt could bring against it. I gave myself up as a prisoner at thefirst outpost, but demanded to be conducted to the Prince himself, ifhe were then in the camp. The reply, however, was, that he was stillin Paris, and I was consequently led to his Ma?tre de Camp, who provedto be an officer to whom I was known, he having served with me duringthe siege of Bordeaux, and especially in defence of the demi-lune ofthe Porte Digeaux. From him I received every sort of kindness andattention, till the Prince himself returned to the camp, which did nottake place for several hours. As soon as his arrival was known, I wasconducted to his quarters, and was at once admitted to his presence.Two lacqueys were pulling off his boots and arranging his dress, whilehe was giving a number of orders to those around him, and at the sametime signing two or three papers which different officers presentedfor his approval.

  "Ha! Monsieur de Juvigny," he cried, as soon as his keen eye fell uponme, "I am glad to see you--I am glad to see you; but stay a minutetill I have despatched all these affairs. I have a good deal to say toyou, for Gourville has told me all about you."

  The minute which the Prince desired me to stay, extended itself tonearly an hour and a half; for no sooner was one application attendedto, than another was made from a different quarter; and as soon as onevisiter left his presence, another entered.

  "There! shut the door," he cried at length, as soon as he found thatwe were left alone even for a moment; "let any one who comes waitwithout till I am ready for them." The servant to whom he spokeinstantly proceeded to put his commands in execution, and turning tome, the Prince added, in the brief, frank, perhaps abrupt tone, whichhe usually employed, "Well, Monsieur de Juvigny, I have not seen yousince you were playing the garcon apothicaire, in the castle ofVincennes; and although our scheme did not succeed, and you have now,it seems, turned against me, yet I am not the less grateful for theextreme risk which you then ran in endeavouring to serve me. I hearfrom everybody the highest character of you. I myself have been awitness of your courage and dexterity. Such a person is now mostneedful to me; and what I wished to say to you is, that if you willconsent to attach yourself to me, you shall find me a firm friend andan unfailing protector. I will advance you in the service, andwhatever post about my person you will name shall be yours, unless itbe already filled by some old and tried friend."

  The offer was not only a very tempting one, but it was difficult torefuse it without the chance of giving offence--at least those who didnot know the Prince de Cond? would have thought so. As it wasperfectly impossible for me to comply, however, feeling, as I did,that he was absolutely in a state of rebellion against his King, andthat I was even then bearing a commission in that monarch's service, Ianswered him boldly and straightforwardly, which I had always found tobe the best way with men of his keen and rapid disposition.

  "Nothing I should consider a higher honour, nothing I should feel tobe a greater pleasure than that of serving your Highness," I replied,"if your Highness' service were compatible with that of the King; butyou must remember, my lord, that I have bound myself by oath to thecause of his Majesty."

  "Pshaw!" cried the Prince de Cond?. "In these times no one minds suchoaths as that. Why, there is not an officer in my service that doesnot come and go between my camp and the King's a dozen times in theyear; and, in truth, I do not always very well know, when I meet afriend in the field, whether he is my own partisan for the time ornot."

  "All I can reply to your Highness," I answered, "is, that had I joinedyour forces I should, of course, have remained with them till war wereover; and, such being my feelings, I am afraid that if I can obtain myfreedom either by ransom or exchange, or the kindness of yourHighness, I must still go back to the camp of the King, and undergoall the defeats which I doubt not you intend to inflict upon us."

  "Think of it better--think of it better," replied the Prince: "yourliberty you certainly shall have; and you shall choose whether youwill take it at my hands, as a full acquittal of all I owe you, forendeavouring to deliver me from Vincennes, or whether--holding stillyour claim upon me for that service, to be discharged by somethingmore important hereafter--you will pay a light ransom to MasterGaspard de Belleville, who, to say the truth, is somewhat grasping andavaricious for so young a man."

  Of course I could not hesitate in regard to which I should choose,and, therefore, I replied at once, "I will endeavour to pay whateverransom your Highness may think proper to name, and will give an orderfor it instantly to Monsieur de Belleville, though he has no justright to consider me as his prisoner."

  "Nay, nay, not so fast, not so fast!" cried the Prince; "you must takesome little time to think of my proposal. De Belleville is not in thecamp just now, but he will be here to-morrow or the next day. In themeanwhile, seek out Gourville, whom you will find either with thearmy, or at the Hotel de Rochefoucault in Paris. Bid him make much ofyou, and treat you well on my account, trying all he can to persuadeyou to remain with us. Nay, do not shake your head, but go and thinkover it better."

  As his last words implied an order to quit him, I immediately took myleave and withdrew, somewhat mortified at not being able to obtain myfreedom as soon as I had expected, but fully determined not to flinchfrom my duty in the slightest degree, however long I mightconsequently be detained a prisoner.

  Almost immediately after quitting the Prince de Cond?, my good fortunethrew me in the way of Gourville, to whom I related all that had justpassed. As far as treating me well, he certainly did follow theinjunctions of his Highness, but in regard to persuading me that itwould be better to join the party of the Princes, he most assuredlydid not do as Cond? had directed him. He shook his head at the verythought, saying, "No, no; let those who are attached to the partyremain attached to it, for if no divisions existed amongst ourselves,we should do very well, and compel the Court to take what measures weliked: but it would never do for you, who neither know all theintrigues that are going on, nor the men that are conducting them; andbesides, the party of the Court is, at all events, the most secure;for, however long the struggle may be protracted, it will be thesuccessful side in the end, depend upon it."

  By the assistance and attention of Gourville, everything that I couldwant was supplied to me; and, by means of some of the bankers inParis, I obtained money upon an assignment of my rents in Normandy andBrittany. My first care was to repay Gourville the sum I had receivedfrom him at Stenay, which, of course, he did not affect to decline. Mynext step was to ascertain from him the amount which my liberation waslikely to cost me. To my inquiries on this head, he replied, that hecould hardly tell, but, that when he was in prison at Sedan, it hadcost his friends six thousand livres to obtain his enlargement. Thisprospect rather frightened me, as such a sum would nearly exhaust mywhole income for the year, but, of course, I was obliged to make up mymind to it, and there the matter dropped.

  The day following I caught a distant glance of Gaspard de Bellevilleriding through the streets of Paris, and I consequently beggedGourville to represent
to the Prince my extreme desire to be set atliberty. But either he thought it worth while to keep me for a day ortwo longer, in order to make me join his party, or he was too deeplyengaged in more important affairs to attend to my request. At allevents, I could obtain no answer, and remained that day and the next,without hearing anything more upon the subject.