La reine Margot. English

  CHAPTER IX.

  THE MURDERERS.

  Coconnas had not fled, he had retreated; La Huriere had not fled, he hadflown. The one had disappeared like a tiger, the other like a wolf.

  The consequence was that La Huriere had already reached the Place SaintGermain l'Auxerrois when Coconnas was only just leaving the Louvre.

  La Huriere, finding himself alone with his arquebuse, while around himmen were running, bullets were whistling, and bodies were falling fromwindows,--some whole, others dismembered,--began to be afraid and wasprudently thinking of returning to his tavern, but as he turned into theRue de l'Arbre Sec from the Rue d'Averon he fell in with a troop ofSwiss and light cavalry: it was the one commanded by Maurevel.

  "Well," cried Maurevel, who had christened himself with the nickname ofKing's Killer, "have you finished so soon? Are you going back to yourtavern, worthy landlord? And what the devil have you done with ourPiedmontese gentleman? No misfortune has happened to him? That would bea shame, for he started out well."

  "No, I think not," replied La Huriere; "I hope he will rejoin us!"

  "Where have you been?"

  "At the Louvre, and I must say we were very rudely treated there."

  "By whom?"

  "Monsieur le Duc d'Alencon. Isn't he interested in this affair?"

  "Monseigneur le Duc d'Alencon is not interested in anything which doesnot concern himself personally. Propose to treat his two older brothersas Huguenots and he would be in it--provided only that the work shouldbe done without compromising him. But won't you go with these worthyfellows, Maitre La Huriere?"

  "And where are they going?"

  "Oh, _mon Dieu_! Rue Montorguen; there is a Huguenot minister there whomI know; he has a wife and six children. These heretics are enormousbreeders; it will be interesting."

  "And where are you going?"

  "Oh, I have a little private business."

  "Say, there! don't go off without me," said a voice which made Maurevelstart, "you know all the good places and I want to have my share."

  "Ah! it is our Piedmontese," said Maurevel.

  "Yes, it is Monsieur de Coconnas," said La Huriere; "I thought you werefollowing me."

  "Hang it! you made off too swiftly for that; and besides I turned alittle to one side so as to fling into the river a frightful child whowas screaming, 'Down with the Papists! Long live the admiral!'Unfortunately, I believe the little rascal knew how to swim. Thesemiserable heretics must be flung into the water like cats before theireyes are opened if they are to be drowned at all."

  "Ah! you say you are just from the Louvre; so your Huguenot took refugethere, did he?" asked Maurevel.

  "_Mon Dieu!_ yes."

  "I gave him a pistol-shot at the moment when he was picking up hissword in the admiral's court-yard, but I somehow or other missed him."

  "Well, I did not miss him," added Coconnas; "I gave him such a thrust inthe back that my sword was wet five inches up the blade. Besides, I sawhim fall into the arms of Madame Marguerite, a pretty woman, by Heaven!yet I confess I should not be sorry to hear he was really dead; thevagabond is infernally spiteful, and capable of bearing me a grudge allhis life. But didn't you say you were bound somewhere?"

  "Why, do you mean to go with me?"

  "I do not like standing still, by Heaven! I have killed only three orfour as yet, and when I get cold my shoulder pains me. Forward!forward!"

  "Captain," said Maurevel to the commander of the troop, "give me threemen, and go and despatch your parson with the rest."

  Three Swiss stepped forward and joined Maurevel. Nevertheless, the twocompanies proceeded side by side till they reached the top of the RueTirechappe; there the light horse and the Swiss took the Rue de laTonnellerie, while Maurevel, Coconnas, La Huriere, and his three menwere proceeding down the Rue Trousse Vache and entering the Rue SainteAvoye. "Where the devil are you taking us?" asked Coconnas, who wasbeginning to be bored by this long march from which he could see noresults.

  "I am taking you on an expedition at once brilliant and useful. Next tothe admiral, next to Teligny, next to the Huguenot princes, I couldoffer you nothing better. So have patience, our business calls us to theRue du Chaume, and we shall be there in a second."

  "Tell me," said Coconnas, "is not the Rue du Chaume near the Temple?"

  "Yes, why?"

  "Because an old creditor of our family lives there, one LambertMercandon, to whom my father wished me to hand over a hundred rosenobles I have in my pocket for that purpose."

  "Well," replied Maurevel, "this is a good opportunity for paying it.This is the day for settling old accounts. Is your Mercandon aHuguenot?"

  "Oho, I understand!" said Coconnas; "he must be"--

  "Hush! here we are."

  "What is that large hotel, with its entrance in the street?"

  "The Hotel de Guise."

  "Truly," returned Coconnas, "I should not have failed to come here, as Iam under the patronage of the great Henry. But, by Heaven! all is sovery quiet in this quarter, we scarcely hear any firing, and we mightfancy ourselves in the country. The devil fetch me but every one isasleep!"

  And indeed the Hotel de Guise seemed as quiet as in ordinary times. Allthe windows were closed, and a solitary light was burning behind theblind of the principal window over the entrance which had attractedCoconnas's attention as soon as they entered the street.

  Just beyond the Hotel de Guise, in other words, at the corner of the Ruedu Petit Chantier and the Rue des Quatre Fils, Maurevel halted.

  "Here is the house of the man we want," said he.

  "Of the man you want--that is to say"--observed La Huriere.

  "Since you are with me we want him."

  "What! that house which seems so sound asleep"--

  "Exactly! La Huriere, now go and make practical use of the plausibleface which heaven, by some blunder, gave you, and knock at that house.Hand your arquebuse to M. de Coconnas, who has been ogling it this lasthalf hour. If you are admitted, you must ask to speak to Seigneur deMouy."

  "Aha!" exclaimed Coconnas, "now I understand--you also have a creditorin the quarter of the Temple, it would seem."

  "Exactly so!" responded Maurevel. "You will go up to him pretending tobe a Huguenot, and inform De Mouy of all that has taken place; he isbrave, and will come down."

  "And once down?" asked La Huriere.

  "Once down, I will beg of him to cross swords with me."

  "On my soul, 'tis a fine gentleman's," said Coconnas, "and I propose todo exactly the same thing with Lambert Mercandon; and if he is too oldto respond, I will try it with one of his sons or nephews."

  La Huriere, without making any reply, went and knocked at the door, andthe sounds echoing in the silence of the night caused the doors of theHotel de Guise to open, and several heads to make their appearance fromout them; it was evident that the hotel was quiet after the manner ofcitadels, that is to say, because it was filled with soldiers.

  The heads were almost instantly withdrawn, as doubtless an inkling ofthe matter in hand was divined.

  "Does your Monsieur de Mouy live here?" inquired Coconnas, pointing tothe house at which La Huriere was still knocking.

  "No, but his mistress does."

  "By Heaven! how gallant you are, to give him an occasion to draw swordin the presence of his lady-love! We shall be the judges of the field.However, I should like very well to fight myself--my shoulder burns."

  "And your face," added Maurevel, "is considerably damaged."

  Coconnas uttered a kind of growl.

  "By Heaven!" he said, "I hope he is dead; if I thought not, I wouldreturn to the Louvre and finish him."

  La Huriere still kept knocking.

  Soon the window on the first floor opened, and a man appeared in thebalcony, in a nightcap and drawers, and unarmed.

  "Who's there?" cried he.

  Maurevel made a sign to the Swiss, who retreated into a corner, whilstCoconnas stood close against the wall.

  "Ah! Monsieur de Mou
y!" said the innkeeper, in his blandest tones, "isthat you?"

  "Yes; what then?"

  "It is he!" said Maurevel, with a thrill of joy.

  "Why, sir," continued La Huriere, "do you not know what is going on?They are murdering the admiral, and massacring all of our religion.Hasten to their assistance; come!"

  "Ah!" exclaimed De Mouy, "I feared something was plotted for this night.I ought not to have deserted my worthy comrades. I will come, myfriend,--wait for me."

  And without closing the window, through which a frightened woman couldbe heard uttering lamentations and tender entreaties, Monsieur de Mouygot his doublet, his mantle, and his weapons.

  "He is coming down! He is coming down!" muttered Maurevel, pale withjoy. "Attention, the rest of you!" he whispered to the Swiss.

  Then taking the arquebuse from Coconnas he blew on the tinder to makesure that it was still alight.

  "Here, La Huriere," he added, addressing the innkeeper, who had rejoinedthe main body of the company, "here, take your arquebuse!"

  "By Heaven!" exclaimed Coconnas, "the moon is coming out of the cloudsto witness this beautiful fight. I would give a great deal if LambertMercandon were here, to serve as Monsieur de Mouy's second."

  "Wait, wait!" said Maurevel; "Monsieur de Mouy alone is equal to a dozenmen, and it is likely that we six shall have enough to do to despatchhim. Forward, my men!" continued Maurevel, making a sign to the Swiss tostand by the door, in order to strike De Mouy as he came forth.

  "Oho!" said Coconnas, as he watched these arrangements; "it appears thatthis will not come off quite as I expected."

  Already the noise made by De Mouy in withdrawing the bar was heard. TheSwiss had left their hiding-place to arrange themselves near the door,Maurevel and La Huriere were going forward on tiptoe, and Coconnas witha dying gleam of gentlemanly feeling was standing where he was, when theyoung woman who had been for the moment utterly forgotten suddenlyappeared on the balcony and uttered a terrible shriek at the sight ofthe Swiss, Maurevel, and La Huriere.

  De Mouy, who had already half opened the door, paused.

  "Come back! come back!" cried the young woman. "I see swords glitter,and the match of an arquebuse--there is treachery!"

  "Oho!" said the young man; "let us see, then, what all this means."

  And he closed the door, replaced the bar, and went upstairs again.

  Maurevel's order of battle was changed as soon as he saw that De Mouywas not going to come out. The Swiss went and posted themselves at theother corner of the street, and La Huriere, with his arquebuse in hishand, waited till the enemy reappeared at the window.

  He did not wait long. De Mouy came forward holding before him twopistols of such respectable length that La Huriere, who was alreadyaiming, suddenly reflected that the Huguenot's bullets had no farther tofly in reaching the street from the balcony than his had in reachingthe balcony.

  "Assuredly," said he to himself, "I may kill this gentleman, butlikewise this gentleman may kill me in the same way."

  Now as Maitre La Huriere, an innkeeper by profession, was onlyaccidentally a soldier, this reflection determined him to retreat andseek shelter in the corner of the Rue de Braque, far enough away tocause him some difficulty in finding with a certain certainty,especially at night, the line which a bullet from his arquebuse wouldtake in reaching De Mouy.

  De Mouy cast a glance around him, and advanced cautiously like a manpreparing to fight a duel; but seeing nothing, he exclaimed:

  "Why, it appears, my worthy informant, that you have forgotten yourarquebuse at my door! Here I am. What do you want with me?"

  "Aha!" said Coconnas to himself; "he is certainly a brave fellow!"

  "Well," continued De Mouy, "friends or enemies, whichever you are, doyou not see I am waiting?"

  La Huriere kept silence, Maurevel made no reply, and the three Swissremained in covert.

  Coconnas waited an instant; then, seeing that no one took part in theconversation begun by La Huriere and continued by De Mouy, he left hisstation, and advancing into the middle of the street, took off his hatand said:

  "Sir, we are not here for an assassination, as you seem to suppose, butfor a duel. I am here with one of your enemies, who was desirous ofmeeting you to end gallantly an old controversy. Eh, by Heaven! comeforward, Monsieur de Maurevel, instead of turning your back. Thegentleman accepts."

  "Maurevel!" cried De Mouy; "Maurevel, the assassin of my father!Maurevel, the king's assassin! Ah, by Heaven! Yes, I accept."

  And taking aim at Maurevel, who was about to knock at the Hotel de Guiseto request a reinforcement, he sent a bullet through his hat.

  At the noise of the report and Maurevel's shouts, the guard which hadescorted the Duchesse de Nevers came out, accompanied by three or fourgentlemen, followed by their pages, and approached the house of young DeMouy's mistress.

  A second pistol-shot, fired into the midst of the troop, killed thesoldier next to Maurevel; after which De Mouy, finding himselfweaponless, or at least with useless weapons, for his pistols had beenfired and his adversaries were beyond the reach of his sword, tookshelter behind the balcony gallery.

  Meantime here and there windows began to be thrown open in theneighborhood, and according to the pacific or bellicose dispositions oftheir inhabitants, were barricaded or bristled with muskets andarquebuses.

  "Help! my worthy Mercandon," shouted De Mouy, beckoning to an elderlyman who, from a window which had just been thrown open in front of theHotel de Guise, was trying to make out the cause of the confusion.

  "Is it you who call, Sire de Mouy?" cried the old man: "are theyattacking you?"

  "Me--you--all the Protestants; and wait--there is the proof!"

  That moment De Mouy had seen La Huriere aim his arquebuse at him; it wasfired; but the young man had time to stoop, and the ball broke a windowabove his head.

  "Mercandon!" exclaimed Coconnas, who, in his delight at sight of thisfray, had forgotten his creditor, but was reminded of him by De Mouy'sapostrophe; "Mercandon, Rue du Chaume--that is it! Ah, he lives there!Good! Each of us will settle accounts with our man."

  And, while the people from the Hotel de Guise were breaking in the doorsof De Mouy's house, and Maurevel, with a torch in his hand, was tryingto set it on fire--while now that the doors were once broken, there wasa fearful struggle with a single antagonist who at each rapier-thrustbrought down his foe--Coconnas tried, by the help of a paving-stone, tobreak in Mercandon's door, and the latter, unmoved by this solitaryeffort, was doing his best with his arquebuse out of his window.

  And now all this dark and deserted quarter was lighted up, as if by openday,--peopled like the interior of an ant-hive; for from the Hotel deMontmorency six or eight Huguenot gentlemen, with their servants andfriends, had just made a furious charge, and, supported by the firingfrom the windows, were beginning to repulse Maurevel's and the DeGuises' force, who at length were driven back to the place whence theyhad come.

  Coconnas, who had not yet succeeded in smashing Mercandon's door, thoughhe was working at it with all his might, was caught in this suddenretreat. Placing his back to the wall, and grasping his sword firmly, hebegan not only to defend himself, but to attack his assailants, withcries so terrible that they were heard above all the uproar. He struckright and left, hitting friends and enemies, until a wide space wascleared around him. As his rapier made a hole in some breast, and thewarm blood spurted over his hands and face, he, with dilated eye,expanded nostrils, and clinched teeth, regained the ground lost, andagain approached the beleaguered house.

  De Mouy, after a terrible combat in the staircase and hall, had finallycome out of the burning house like a true hero. In the midst of all thestruggle he had not ceased to cry, "Here, Maurevel!--Maurevel, where areyou?" insulting him by the most opprobrious epithets.

  He at length appeared in the street, supporting on one arm his mistress,half naked and nearly fainting, and holding a poniard between his teeth.His sword, flaming by the sweeping action he gave it, trac
ed circles ofwhite or red, according as the moon glittered on the blade or a flambeauglared on its blood-stained brightness.

  Maurevel had fled. La Huriere, driven back by De Mouy as far asCoconnas, who did not recognize him, and received him at sword's point,was begging for mercy on both sides. At this moment Mercandon perceivedhim, and knew him, by his white scarf, to be one of the murderers. Hefired. La Huriere shrieked, threw up his arms, dropped his arquebuse,and, after having vainly attempted to reach the wall, in order tosupport himself, fell with his face flat on the earth.

  De Mouy took advantage of this circumstance, turned down the Rue deParadis, and disappeared.

  Such had been the resistance of the Huguenots that the De Guise party,quite repulsed, had retired into their hotel, fearing to be besieged andtaken in their own habitation.

  Coconnas who, intoxicated with blood and tumult, had reached that degreeof excitement when, with the men of the south more especially, couragechanges into madness, had not seen or heard anything, and noticed onlythat there was not such a roar in his ears, and that his hands and facewere a little dryer than they had been. Dropping the point of his sword,he saw near him a man lying face downward in a red stream, and aroundhim burning houses.

  It was a very short truce, for just as he was approaching this man, whomhe recognized as La Huriere, the door of the house he had in vain triedto burst in, opened, and old Mercandon, followed by his son and twonephews, rushed upon him.

  "Here he is! here he is!" cried they all, with one voice.

  Coconnas was in the middle of the street, and fearing to be surroundedby these four men who assailed him at once, sprang backward with theagility of one of the chamois which he had so often hunted in his nativemountains, and in an instant found himself with his back against thewall of the Hotel de Guise. Once at ease as to not being surprised frombehind he put himself in a posture of defence, and said, jestingly:

  "Aha, father Mercandon, don't you know me?"

  "Wretch!" cried the old Huguenot, "I know you well; you are engagedagainst me--me, your father's friend and companion."

  "And his creditor, are you not?"

  "Yes; his creditor, as you say."

  "Well, then," said Coconnas, "I have come to settle our accounts."

  "Seize him, bind him!" said Mercandon to the young men who accompaniedhim, and who at his bidding rushed toward the Piedmontese.

  "One moment! one moment!" said Coconnas, laughing, "to seize a man youmust have a writ, and you have forgotten to secure one from theprovost."

  And with these words he crossed his sword with the young man nearest tohim and at the first blow cut his wrist.

  The wounded man retreated with a howl.

  "That will do for one!" said Coconnas.

  At the same moment the window under which Coconnas had sought shelteropened noisily. He sprang to one side, fearing an attack from behind;but instead of an enemy he saw a woman; instead of the enemy's weapon hewas prepared to encounter, a nosegay fell at his feet.

  "Ah!" he said, "a woman!"

  He saluted the lady with his sword, and stooped to pick up the bouquet.

  "Be on your guard, brave Catholic!--be on your guard!" cried the lady.

  Coconnas rose, but not before the second nephew's dagger had pierced hiscloak, and wounded his other shoulder.

  The lady uttered a piercing shriek.

  Coconnas thanked her, assured her by a gesture, and then made a pass,which the nephew parried; but at the second thrust, his foot slipped inthe blood, and Coconnas, springing at him like a tiger-cat, drove hissword through his breast.

  "Good! good! brave cavalier!" exclaimed the lady of the Hotel de Guise,"good! I will send you succor."

  "Do not give yourself any trouble about that, madame," was Coconnas'sreply; "rather look on to the end, if it interests you, and see how theComte Annibal de Coconnas settles the Huguenots."

  At this moment old Mercandon's son aimed a pistol at close range toCoconnas, and fired. The count fell on his knee. The lady at the windowshrieked again; but Coconnas rose instantly; he had knelt only to avoidthe bullet, which struck the wall about two feet beneath where the ladywas standing.

  Almost at the same moment a cry of rage issued from the window ofMercandon's house, and an old woman, who recognized Coconnas as aCatholic, from his white scarf and cross, hurled a flower-pot at him,which struck him above the knee.

  "Capital!" said Coconnas; "one throws flowers at me and at the other,flower-pots; if this goes on, they'll be tearing houses down!"

  "Thanks, mother, thanks!" said the young man.

  "Go on, wife, go on," said old Mercandon; "but take care of yourself."

  "Wait, Monsieur de Coconnas, wait!" said the young woman of the Hotel deGuise, "I will have them shoot at the windows!"

  "Ah! So it is a hell of women, is it?" said Coconnas. "Some of them forme and the others against me! By Heaven! let us put an end to this!"

  The scene in fact was much changed and was evidently approaching itsclimax. Coconnas, who was wounded to be sure, but who had all the vigorof his four and twenty years, was used to arms, and angered rather thanweakened by the three or four scratches he had received, now faced onlyMercandon and his son: Mercandon, an aged man between sixty and seventy;his son, a youth of sixteen or eighteen, pale, fair-haired and slender,had flung down his pistol which had been discharged and was thereforeuseless, and was feebly brandishing a sword half as long as thePiedmontese's. The father, armed only with an unloaded arquebuse and aponiard, was calling for assistance. An old woman--the young man'smother--in the opposite window held in her hand a piece of marble whichshe was preparing to hurl.

  Coconnas, excited on the one hand by threats, and on the other byencouragements, proud of his two-fold victory, intoxicated with powderand blood, lighted by the reflection of a burning house, elated by theidea that he was fighting under the eyes of a woman whose beauty was assuperior as he was sure her rank was high,--Coconnas, like the last ofthe Horatii, felt his strength redouble, and seeing the young manfalter, rushed on him and crossed his small weapon with his terrible andbloody rapier. Two strokes sufficed to drive it out of its owner'shands. Then Mercandon tried to drive Coconnas back, so that theprojectiles thrown from the window might be sure to strike him, butCoconnas, to paralyze the double attack of the old man, who tried tostab him with his dagger, and the mother of the young man, who wasendeavoring to break his skull with a stone she was ready to throw,seized his adversary by the body, presenting him to all the blows, likea shield, and well-nigh strangling him in his Herculean grasp.

  "Help! help!" cried the young man; "he is crushing my chest--help!help!"

  And his voice grew faint in a low and choking groan.

  Then Mercandon ceased to attack, and began to entreat.

  "Mercy, mercy! Monsieur de Coconnas, have mercy!--he is my only child!"

  "He is my son, my son!" cried the mother; "the hope of our old age! Donot kill him, sir,--do not kill him!"

  "Really," cried Coconnas, bursting into laughter, "not kill him! What,pray, did he mean to do to me, with his sword and pistol?"

  "Sir," said Mercandon, clasping his hands, "I have at home your father'snote of hand, I will give it back to you--I have ten thousand crowns ofgold, I will give them to you--I have our family jewels, they shall beyours; but do not kill him--do not kill him!"

  "And I have my love," said the lady in the Hotel de Guise, in a lowtone, "and I promise it you."

  Coconnas reflected a moment, and said suddenly:

  "Are you a Huguenot?"

  "Yes, I am," murmured the youth.

  "Then you must die!" replied Coconnas, frowning and putting to hisadversary's breast his keen and glittering dagger.

  "Die!" cried the old man; "my poor child die!"

  And the mother's shriek resounded so pitifully and loud that for amoment it shook the Piedmontese's firm resolution.

  "Oh, Madame la Duchesse!" cried the father, turning toward the lady atthe Hotel de Guise, "intercede for
us, and every morning and evening youshall be remembered in our prayers."

  "Then let him be a convert," said the lady.

  "I am a Protestant," said the boy.

  "Then die!" exclaimed Coconnas, lifting his dagger; "die! since you willnot accept the life which those lovely lips offer to you."

  Mercandon and his wife saw the blade of that deadly weapon gleam likelightning above the head of their son.

  "My son Olivier," shrieked his mother, "abjure, abjure!"

  "Abjure, my dear boy!" cried Mercandon, going on his knees to Coconnas;"do not leave us alone on the earth!"

  "Abjure all together," said Coconnas; "for one _Credo_, three souls andone life."

  "I am willing," said the youth.

  "We are willing!" cried Mercandon and his wife.

  "On your knees, then," said Coconnas, "and let your son repeat after me,word for word, the prayer I shall say."

  The father obeyed first.

  "I am ready," said the son, also kneeling.

  Coconnas then began to repeat in Latin the words of the _Credo_. Butwhether from chance or calculation, young Olivier knelt close to wherehis sword had fallen. Scarcely did he see this weapon within his reachthan, not ceasing to repeat the words which Coconnas dictated, hestretched out his hand to take it up. Coconnas watched the movement,although he pretended not to see it; but at the moment when the youngman touched the handle of the sword with his fingers he rushed on him,knocked him over, exclaiming, "Ah, traitor!" and plunged his dagger intohis throat.

  The youth uttered one cry, raised himself convulsively on his knee, andfell dead.

  "Ah, ruffian!" shrieked Mercandon, "you slay us to rob us of the hundredrose nobles you owe us."

  "Faith! no," said Coconnas, "and the proof,"--and as he said these wordshe flung at the old man's feet the purse which his father had given himbefore his departure to pay his creditor,--"and the proof," he went onto say, "is this money which I give you!"

  "And here's your death!" cried the old woman from the window.

  "Take care, M. de Coconnas, take care!" called out the lady at the Hotelde Guise.

  But before Coconnas could turn his head to comply with this advice, orget out of the way of the threat, a heavy mass came hissing through theair, fell on the Piedmontese's hat, broke his sword, and prostrated himon the pavement; he was overcome, crushed, so that he did not hear thedouble cry of joy and distress which came from the right and left.

  Mercandon instantly rushed, dagger in hand, on Coconnas, now bereft ofhis senses; but at this moment the door of the Hotel de Guise opened,and the old man, seeing swords and partisans gleaming, fled, while thelady he had called "Madame la Duchesse," her beauty terrible in thelight of the flames, dazzling with diamonds and other gems, leaned halfout of the window, in order to direct the newcomers, pointing her armtoward Coconnas.

  "There! there! in front of me--a gentleman in a red doublet.There!--that is he--yes, that is he."