Chicot the Jester

  CHAPTER XC.

  WHAT WAS PASSING NEAR THE BASTILE WHILE CHICOT WAS PAYING HISDEBT TO Y. DE MAYENNE.

  It was eleven at night, and the Duc d'Anjou was waiting impatientlyat home for a messenger from the Duc le Guise. He walked restlesslyup and down, looking every minute at the clock. All at once heheard a horse in the courtyard, and thinking it was the messenger,he ran to the window, but it was a groom leading up and down ahorse which was waiting for its master, who almost immediatelycame out. It was Bussy, who, as captain of the duke's guards,came to give the password for the night. The duke, seeing thishandsome and brave young man, of whom he had never had reasonto complain, experienced an instant's remorse, but on his facehe read so much joy, hope, and happiness, that all his jealousyreturned. However, Bussy, ignorant that the duke was watchinghim, jumped into his saddle and rode off to his own hotel, wherehe gave his horse to the groom. There he saw Remy.

  "Ah! you Remy?"

  "Myself, monsieur."

  "Not yet in bed?"

  "I have just come in. Indeed, since I have no longer a patient,it seems to me that the days have forty-eight hours."

  "Are you ennuye?"

  "I fear so."

  "Then Gertrude is abandoned?"

  "Perfectly."

  "You grew tired?"

  "Of being beaten. That was how her love showed itself."

  "And does your heart not speak for her to-night?"

  "Why to-night?"

  "Because I would have taken you with me."

  "To the Bastile?"

  "Yes."

  "You are going there?"

  "Yes."

  "And Monsoreau?"

  "Is at Compiegne, preparing a chase for the king."

  "Are you sure, monsieur?"

  "The order was given publicly this morning."

  "Ah, well; Jourdain, my sword."

  "You have changed your mind?"

  "I will accompany you to the door, for two reasons."

  "What are they?"

  "Firstly, lest you should meet any enemies." Bussy smiled.

  "Oh! mon Dieu, I know you fear no one, and that Remy the doctoris but a poor companion; still, two men are not so likely to beattacked as one. Secondly, because I have a great deal of goodadvice to give you."

  "Come, my dear Remy, come. We will speak of her; and next tothe pleasure of seeing the woman you love, I know none greaterthan talking of her."

  Bussy then took the arm of the young doctor, and they set off. Remyon the way tried hard to induce Bussy to return early, insistingthat he would be more fit for his duel on the morrow.

  Bussy smiled. "Fear nothing," said he.

  "Ah! my dear master, to-morrow you ought to fight like Herculesagainst Antaeus--like Theseus against the Minotaur--like Bayard--likesomething Homeric, gigantic, impossible; I wish people to speakof it in future times as the combat, par excellence, and in whichyou had not even received a scratch."

  "Be easy, my dear Remy, you shall see wonders. This morning Iput swords in the hands of four fencers, who during eight minutescould not touch me once, while I tore their doublets to pieces."

  So conversing, they arrived in the Rue St. Antoine.

  "Adieu! here we are," said Bussy.

  "Shall I wait for you?"

  "Why?"

  "To make sure that you will return before two o'clock, and haveat least five or six hours' sleep before your duel."

  "If I give you my word?"

  "Oh! that will be enough; Bussy's word is never doubted."

  "You have it then."

  "Then, adieu, monsieur."

  "Adieu, Remy."

  Remy watched, and saw Bussy enter, not this time by the window,but boldly through the door, which Gertrude opened for him. ThenRemy turned to go home; but he had only gone a few steps, whenhe saw coming towards him five armed men, wrapped in cloaks.When they arrived about ten yards from him, they said good nightto each other, and four went off in different directions, whilethe fifth remained stationary.

  "M. de St. Luc!" said Remy.

  "Remy!"

  "Remy, in person. Is it an indiscretion to ask what your lordshipdoes at this hour so far from the Louvre?"

  "Ma foi! I am examining, by the king's order, the physiognomyof the city. He said to me, 'St. Luc, walk about the streets ofParis, and if you hear any one say I have abdicated, contradicthim.'"

  "And have you heard it?"

  "Nowhere; and as it is just midnight, and I have met no one butM. de Monsoreau, I have dismissed my friends, and am about toreturn."

  "M. de Monsoreau?"

  "Yes."

  "You met him?"

  "With a troop of armed men; ten or twelve at least."

  "Impossible!"

  "Why so?"

  "He ought to be at Compiegne."

  "He ought to be, but he is not."

  "But the king's order?"

  "Bah! who obeys the king?"

  "Did he know you?"

  "I believe so."

  "You were but five?"

  "My four friends and I."

  "And he did not attack you?"

  "On the contrary, he avoided me, which astonished me, as on seeinghim, I expected a terrible battle."

  "Where was he going?"

  "To the Rue de la Tixanderie."

  "Ah! mon Dieu!"

  "What?"

  "M. de St. Luc, a great misfortune is about to happen."

  "To whom?"

  "To M. de Bussy."

  "Bussy! speak, Remy; I am his friend, you know."

  "Oh! M. de Bussy thought him at Compiegne."

  "Well?"

  "And, profiting by his absence, is with Madame de Monsoreau."

  "Ah!"

  "Do you not see? he has had suspicions, and has feigned to depart,that he might appear unexpectedly."

  "Ah! it is the Duc d'Anjou's doing, I believe. Have you good lungs,Remy?"

  "Corbleu! like a blacksmith's bellows."

  "Well! let us run. You know the house?"

  "Yes."

  "Go on then." And the young men set off like hunted deer.

  "Is he much in advance of us?" said Remy.

  "About a quarter of an hour."

  "If we do but arrive in time!"