Chapter 7: A Rescue.
D'Arblay and his two companions had been engaged, for ten days, invisiting the Huguenots within a circuit of four or five leaguesround Toulouse, when they learned that their movements had beenreported to the authorities there. They had one day halted as usualin a wood, when the soldier on the lookout ran in and reported thata body of horsemen, some forty or fifty strong, were approaching ata gallop by the road from the city.
"They may not be after us," D'Arblay said, "but at any rate, theyshall not catch us napping."
Girths were hastily tightened, armour buckled on, and all tooktheir places in their saddles. It was too late to retreat, for thewood was a small one, and the country around open. As the horsemenapproached the wood they slackened speed; and presently halted,facing it.
"Some spy has tracked us here," D'Arblay said; "but it is one thingto track the game, another to capture it. Let us see what thesegentlemen of Toulouse are going to do. I have no doubt that theyknow our number accurately enough, and if they divide, as I hopethey will, we shall be able to give them a lesson."
This was evidently the intention of the Catholics. After a shortpause an officer trotted off with half the troop, making a circuitto come down behind the wood and cut off all retreat. As they movedoff, the Huguenots could count that there were twenty-five men ineach section.
"The odds are only great enough to be agreeable," D'Arblay laughed."It is not as it was outside Paris, where they were ten to oneagainst us. Counting our servants we muster twenty-two, while thatparty in front are only four stronger; for that gentleman with thelong robe is probably an official of their parliament, or a citycouncillor, and need not be counted. We will wait a couple ofminutes longer, until the other party is fairly out of sight; andthen we will begin the dance."
A minute or two later he gave the word, and the little troop movedthrough the trees until nearly at the edge of the wood.
"Now, gentlemen, forward," D'Arblay said, "and God aid the right!"
As in a compact body, headed by the three gentlemen, they burstsuddenly from the wood, there was a shout of dismay; and then loudorders from the officer of the troop, halted a hundred and fiftyyards away. The men were sitting carelessly on their horses. Theyhad confidently anticipated taking the Huguenots alive, and thoughtof nothing less than that the latter should take the offensive.
Scarcely had they got their horses into motion before the Huguenotswere upon them. The conflict lasted but a minute. Half theCatholics were cut down; the rest, turning their horses, rode offat full speed. The Huguenots would have followed them, but D'Arblayshouted to them to halt.
"You have only done half your work yet," he said. "We have theother party to deal with."
Only one of his Huguenots had fallen, shot through the head by apistol discharged by the officer; who had himself been, a momentlater, run through by D'Arblay, at whom the shot had been aimed.Gathering his men together, the Huguenot leader rode back and, whenhalfway through the wood, they encountered the other party; whoseofficer had at once ridden to join the party he had left, when heheard the pistol shot that told him they were engaged with theHuguenots. Although not expecting an attack from an enemy theydeemed overmatched by their comrades, the troop, encouraged bytheir officer, met the Huguenots stoutly.
The fight was, for a short time, obstinate. Broken up by the trees,it resolved itself into a series of single combats. The Huguenotmen-at-arms, however, were all tried soldiers; while theiropponents were, rather, accustomed to the slaughter of defencelessmen and women than to a combat with men-at-arms. Coolness anddiscipline soon asserted themselves.
Francois and Philip both held their ground, abreast of theirleader; and Philip, by cutting down the lieutenant, brought thecombat to a close. His followers, on seeing their officer fall, atonce lost heart; and those who could do so turned their horses, androde off. They were hotly pursued, and six were overtaken and cutdown. Eight had fallen in the conflict in the wood.
"That has been a pretty sharp lesson," D'Arblay said as, leavingthe pursuit to his followers, he reined in his horse at the edge ofthe wood. "You both did right gallantly, young sirs. It is noslight advantage, in a melee of that kind, to be strong inofficers. The fellows fought stoutly, for a short time.
"Had it not been for your despatching their officer, MonsieurFletcher, we should not have finished with them so quickly. It wasa right down blow, and heartily given, and fell just at the jointof the gorget."
"I am sorry that I killed him," Philip replied. "He seemed a bravegentleman, and was not very many years older than I am, myself."
"He drew it upon himself," D'Arblay said. "If he had not come outto take us, he would be alive now.
"Well, as soon as our fellows return we will move round toMerlincourt, on the other side of the town. There are several ofour friends there, and it is the last place we have to visit. Afterthis skirmish, we shall find the neighbourhood too hot for us. Itis sure to make a great noise and, at the first gleam of the sun onhelm or breast plate, some Catholic or other will hurry off toToulouse with the news. In future we had best take some of themen-at-arms with us, when we pay our visits, or we may be caughtlike rats in a trap."
Making a circuit of twenty miles, they approached Merlincourt thatevening and, establishing themselves as usual in a wood, remainedquiet there next day. After nightfall D'Arblay rode off, takingwith him Francois and five of his own men, and leaving Philip incommand of the rest. The gold and jewels they had gathered had beendivided into three portions, and the bags placed in the holsters ofthe saddles of the three lackeys; as these were less likely to betaken than their masters and, if one were captured, a portion onlyof the contributions would be lost. D'Arblay had arranged that hewould not return that night, but would sleep at the chateau of thegentleman he was going to visit.
"I will get him to send around to our other friends, in themorning. The men will return when they see that all is clear. Sendthem back to meet us at the chateau, tomorrow night."
The five men returned an hour after they set out, and reported thatall was quiet at Merlincourt; and that the Sieur D'Arblay had senta message, to Philip, to move a few miles farther away beforemorning, and to return to the wood soon after nightfall.
Philip gave the men six hours to rest themselves and their horses.They then mounted and rode eight miles farther from Toulouse,halting before daybreak in a thick copse standing on high ground,commanding a view of a wide tract of country. Two of the trooperswere sent off to buy provisions in a village, half a mile away. Twowere placed on watch. Some of the others lay down for anothersleep, while Pierre redressed the wounds that five of the men hadreceived in the fight.
At twelve o'clock one of the lookouts reported that he could see,away out on the plain, a body of horsemen. Philip at once went toexamine them for himself.
"There must be some two hundred of them, I should say, by the sizeof the clump," he remarked to the soldier.
"About that, I should say, sir."
"I expect they are hunting for us," Philip said. "They must haveheard from some villager that we were seen to ride round this way,the day before yesterday, or they would hardly be hunting in thisneighbourhood for us. It is well we moved in the night.
"I wish the Sieur D'Arblay and the Count de Laville were with us.No doubt they were hidden away, as soon as the troop was seen, butone is never secure against treachery."
Philip was restless and uncomfortable all day, and walked about thewood, impatiently longing for night to come. As soon as it was darkthey mounted, and rode back to the wood near Merlincourt. The fivemen were at once sent off to the chateau where they had left theirleaders.
"That is a pistol shot!" Pierre exclaimed, some twenty minutesafter they left.
"I did not hear it. Are you sure, Pierre?"
"Quite sure, sir. At least, I will not swear that it was apistol--it might have been an arquebus--but I will swear it was ashot."
"To your saddle, men," Philip said. "A pistol shot has been heard,an
d it may be that your comrades have fallen into an ambush.Advance to the edge of the wood, and be ready to dash out tosupport them, should they come."
But a quarter of an hour passed, and there was no sound to breakthe stillness of the evening.
"Shall I go into the village and find out what has taken place,Monsieur Fletcher? I will leave my iron cap and breast and backpieces here. I shall not want to fight but to run, and a hare couldnot run in these iron pots."
"Do, Pierre. We shall be ready to support you, if you are chased."
"If I am chased by half a dozen men, I may run here, sir; if by astrong force, I shall strike across the country. Trust me to doubleand throw them off the scent. If I am not back here in an hour, itwill be that I am taken, or have had to trust to my heels; and youwill find me, in the last case, tomorrow morning at the wood wherewe halted today. If I do not come soon after daybreak, you willknow that I am either captured or killed. Do not delay for melonger, but act as seems best to you."
Pierre took off his armour and sped away in the darkness, going ata trot that would speedily take him to the village.
"Dismount and stand by your horses," Philip ordered. "We may wantall their strength."
Half an hour later Pierre returned, panting.
"I have bad news, sir. I have prowled about the village, which isfull of soldiers, and listened to their talk through open windows.The Sieur D'Arblay, Monsieur Francois, and the owner of the chateauand his wife were seized, and carried off to Toulouse this morning,soon after daybreak. By what I heard, one of the servants of thechateau was a spy, set by the council of Toulouse to watch thedoings of its owner; and as soon as Monsieur D'Arblay arrived therelast night, he stole out and sent a messenger to Toulouse. Atdaybreak the chateau was surrounded, and they were seized beforethey had time to offer resistance. The troop of horse we saw haveall day been searching for us, and went back before nightfall toMerlincourt; thinking that we should be sure to be going there,sometime or other, to inquire after our captain. The five men yousent were taken completely by surprise, and all were killed, thoughnot without a tough fight. A strong party are lying in ambush witharquebuses, making sure that the rest of the troop will follow thefive they surprised."
"You were not noticed, Pierre, or pursued?"
"No, sir. There were so many men about in the village that one morestranger attracted no attention."
"Then we can remain here safely for half an hour," Philip said.
The conversation had taken place a few paces from the troop. Philipnow joined his men.
"The Sieur D'Arblay and Count Francois have been taken prisoners.Your comrades fell into an ambush, and have, I fear, all lost theirlives. Dismount for half an hour, men, while I think over what isbest to be done. Keep close to your horses, so as to be inreadiness to mount instantly, if necessary. One of you take myhorse.
"Do you come with me, Pierre.
"This is a terrible business, lad," he went on, as they walked awayfrom the others. "We know what will be the fate of my cousin andMonsieur D'Arblay. They will be burnt or hung, as heretics. Thefirst thing is, how are we to get them out; and also, if possible,the gentleman and his wife who were taken with them?"
"We have but ten of the men-at-arms left, sir; and four of them areso wounded that they would not count for much, in a fight. Thereare the two other lackeys and myself, so we are but fourteen, inall. If we had arrived in time we might have done something but,now they are firmly lodged in the prison at Toulouse, I see notthat we can accomplish anything."
Philip fell into silence for some minutes, then he said:
"Many of the councillors and members of parliament live, I think,in villas outside the walls. If we seize a dozen of them, appearbefore the city, and threaten to hang or shoot the whole of them,if the four captives are not released, we might succeed in gettingour friends into our hands, Pierre."
"That is so, sir. There really seems a hope for us, in that way."
"Then we will lose no time. We will ride at once for Toulouse. Whenwe get near the suburbs we will seize some countryman, and forcehim to point out to us the houses of the principal councillors andthe members of their parliament. These we will pounce upon andcarry off, and at daybreak will appear with them before the walls.We will make one of them signify, to their friends, that if anyarmed party sallies out through the gates, or approaches us frombehind, it will be the signal for the instant death of all of ourcaptives.
"Now let us be off, at once."
The party mounted without delay, and rode towards Toulouse. Thisrich and powerful city was surrounded by handsome villas andchateaux, the abode of wealthy citizens and persons of distinction.At the first house at which they stopped, Philip, with Pierre andtwo of the men-at-arms, dismounted and entered. It was the abode ofa small farmer, who cultivated vegetables for the use of thetownsfolk. He had retired to bed with his family, but upon beingsummoned came downstairs trembling, fearing that his late visitorswere bandits.
"No harm will be done to you, if you obey our orders," Philip said;"but if not, we shall make short work of you. I suppose you knowthe houses of most of the principal persons who live outside thewalls?"
"Assuredly I do, my lord. There is the President of the Parliament,and three or four of the principal councillors, and the Judge ofthe High Court, and many others, all living within a short mile ofthis spot."
"Well, I require you to guide us to their houses. There will be nooccasion for you to show yourself, nor will anyone know that youhave had aught to do with the matter. If you attempt to escape, orto give the alarm, you will without scruple be shot. If, on theother hand, we are satisfied with your work, you will have a coupleof crowns for your trouble."
The man, seeing that he had no choice, put a good face on it.
"I am ready to do as your lordship commands," he said. "I have noreason for goodwill towards any of these personages, who rule usharshly, and regard us as if we were dirt under their feet. Shallwe go first to the nearest of them?"
"No, we will first call on the President of the Parliament, andthen the Judge of the High Court, then the councillors in the orderof their rank. We will visit ten in all, and see that you choosethe most important.
"Pierre, you will take charge of this man, and ride in front of us.Keep your pistol in your hand, and shoot him through the head, ifhe shows signs of trying to escape. You will remain with him whenwe enter the houses.
"Have you any rope, my man?"
"Yes, my lord, I have several long ropes, with which I bind thevegetables on my cart when I go to market."
"That will do. Bring them at once."
Pierre accompanied the man when he went to his shed. On his returnwith the ropes, Philip told the men-at-arms to cut them intolengths of eight feet, and to make a running noose at one end ofeach. When this was done, they again mounted and moved on.
"When we enter the houses," he said to the two other lackeys, "youwill remain without with Pierre, and will take charge of the firstfour prisoners we bring out. Put the nooses round their necks, anddraw them tight enough to let the men feel that they are there.Fasten the other ends to your saddles, and warn them, if they putup their hands to throw off the nooses, you will spur your horsesinto a gallop. That threat will keep them quiet enough."
In a quarter of an hour they arrived at the gate of a large andhandsome villa. Philip ordered his men to dismount, and fasten uptheir horses.
"You will remain here, in charge of the horses," he said to thelackeys; and then, with the men-at-arms, he went up to the house.
Two of them were posted at the back entrance, two at the front,with orders to let no one issue out. Then with his dagger he openedthe shutters of one of the windows and, followed by the other sixmen, entered. The door was soon found and, opening it, they foundthemselves in a hall where a hanging light was burning.
Several servants were asleep on the floor. These started up, withexclamations of alarm, at seeing seven men with drawn swords.
"Silence!" Philip said
sternly, "or this will be your last moment.
"Roger and Jules, do you take each one of these lackeys by thecollar. That is right. Now, put your pistols to their heads.
"Now, my men, lead us at once to your master's chamber.
"Eustace, light one of these torches on the wall at the lamp, andbring it along with you.
"Henri, do you also come with us.
"The rest of you stay here, and guard these lackeys. Make them sitdown. If any of them move, run him through without hesitation."
At this moment an angry voice was heard shouting above.
"What is all this disturbance about! If I hear another sound, Iwill discharge you all in the morning."
Philip gave a loud and derisive laugh, which had the effect he hadanticipated for, directly afterwards, a man in a loose dressinggown ran into the hall.
"What does this mean, you rascals?" he shouted angrily, as heentered.
Then he stopped, petrified with astonishment.
If you move a step, you are a dead man.]
"It means this," Philip said, levelling a pistol at him, "that ifyou move a step, you are a dead man."
"You must be mad," the president gasped. "Do you know who I am?"
"Perfectly, sir. You are president of the infamous parliament ofToulouse. I am a Huguenot officer, and you are my prisoner. Youneed not look so indignant; better men than you have been draggedfrom their homes, to prison and death, by your orders. Now it isyour turn to be a prisoner.
"I might, if I chose, set fire to this chateau, and cut the throatsof all in it; but we do not murder in the name of God. We leavethat to you.
"Take this man away with you, Eustace. I give him into your charge.If he struggles, or offers the least resistance, stab him to theheart."
"You will at least give me time to dress, sir?" the president said.
"Not a moment," Philip replied. "The night is warm, and you will dovery well, as you are.
"As for you," he went on, turning to the servants, "you will remainquiet until morning; and if any of you dare to leave the house, youwill be slain without mercy. You can assure your mistress that shewill not be long without the society of your master; for in allprobability he will be returned, safe and sound, before middaytomorrow. One of you may fetch your master's cloak, since he seemsto fear the night air."
The doors were opened and they issued out, Philip bidding theservants close and bar them behind them. When they reached thehorses, the prisoner was handed over to D'Arblay's lackey, whoplaced the noose round his neck, and gave him warning as Philip hadinstructed him. Then they set off, Pierre with the guide againleading the way.
Before morning they had ten prisoners in their hands. In one or twocases the servants had attempted opposition, but they were speedilyoverpowered, and the captures were all effected without loss oflife. The party then moved away about a mile, and the prisonerswere allowed to sit down. Several of them were elderly men, andPhilip picked these out, by the light of two torches they hadbrought from the last house, and ordered the ropes to be removedfrom their necks.
"I should regret, gentlemen," he said, "the indignity that I havebeen forced to place upon you, had you been other than you are. Itis well, however, that you should have felt, though in a veryslight degree, something of the treatment that you have all beeninstrumental in inflicting upon blameless men and women, whose onlyfault was that they chose to worship God in their own way. You maythank your good fortune at having fallen into the hands of one whohas had no dear friends murdered in the prisons of Toulouse. Thereare scores of men who would have strung you up without mercy,thinking it a righteous retribution for the pitiless cruelties ofwhich the parliament of Toulouse has been guilty.
"Happily for you, though I regard you with loathing as pitilesspersecutors, I have no personal wrongs to avenge. Your consciencewill tell you that, fallen as you have into the hands of Huguenots,you could only expect death; but it is not for the purpose ofpunishment that you have been captured. You are taken as hostages.My friends, the Count de Laville and the Sieur D'Arblay, wereyesterday carried prisoners into Toulouse; and with them Monsieurde Merouville, whose only fault was that he had afforded them anight's shelter. His innocent wife was also dragged away with him.
"You, sir," he said to one of the prisoners, "appear to me to bethe oldest of the party. At daybreak you will be released; and willbear, to your colleagues in the city, the news that these ninepersons are prisoners in my hands. You will state that, if any bodyof men approaches this place from any quarter, these nine personswill at once be hung up to the branches above us. You will say thatI hold them as hostages for the four prisoners, and that I demandthat these shall be sent out here, with their horses and the armsof my two friends, and under the escort of two unarmed troopers.
"These gentlemen here will, before you start, sign a documentordering the said prisoners at once to be released; and will alsosign a solemn undertaking, which will be handed over to Monsieur deMerouville, pledging themselves that, should he and his wife chooseto return to their chateau, no harm shall ever happen to them; andno accusation, of any sort, in the future be brought against them.
"I may add that, should at any time this guarantee be broken, Ishall consider it my duty, the moment I hear of the event, toreturn to this neighbourhood; and assuredly I will hang thesignatories of the guarantee over their own door posts, and willburn their villas to the ground. I know the value of oaths sworn toHuguenots; but in this case, I think they will be kept, for I swearto you--and I am in the habit of keeping my oaths--that if youbreak your undertaking, I will not break mine."
As soon as it was daylight, Pierre produced from his saddlebag anink horn, paper, and pens; and the ten prisoners signed their nameto an order for the release of the four captives. They then wroteanother document, to be handed by their representative to thegovernor, begging him to see that the order was executed, informinghim of the position they were in, and that their lives wouldcertainly be forfeited, unless the prisoners were released withoutdelay. They also earnestly begged him to send out orders, to thearmed forces who were searching for the Huguenots, bidding themmake no movement, whatever, until after midday.
The councillor was then mounted on a horse and escorted, by two ofthe men-at-arms, to within a quarter of a mile of the nearest gateof the city. The men were to return with his horse. The councillorwas informed that ten o'clock was the limit given for the return ofthe prisoners; and that, unless they had by that hour arrived, itwould be supposed that the order for their release would not berespected, and in that case the nine hostages would be hungforthwith; and that, in the course of a night or two, another batchwould be carried off.
Philip had little fear, however, that there would be anyhesitation, upon the part of those in the town, in acting upon theorder signed by so many important persons; for the death of thepresident, and several of the leading members of the parliament,would create such an outcry against the governor, by their friendsand relatives, that he would not venture to refuse the release offour prisoners, of minor importance, in order to save their lives.
After the messenger had departed, Philip had the guarantee for thesafety of Monsieur de Merouville and his wife drawn up and signed,in duplicate.
"One of these documents," he said, "I shall give to Monsieur deMerouville. The other I shall keep myself, so that, if this solemnguarantee is broken, I shall have this as a justification for theexecution of the perjured men who signed it."
The time passed slowly. Some of the prisoners walked anxiously andimpatiently to and fro, looking continually towards the town.Others sat in gloomy silence, too humiliated at their presentposition even to talk to one another.
The soldiers, on the contrary, were in high spirits. They rejoicedat the prospect of the return of their two leaders, and they feltproud of having taken part in such an exploit as the capture of thechief men of the dreaded parliament of Toulouse. Four of them kepta vigilant guard over the prisoners. The rest ate their breakfastwith great gusto, and
laughed and joked at the angry faces of someof their prisoners.
It was just nine o'clock when a small group of horsemen were seenin the distance.
"I think there are six of them, sir," Eustace said.
"That is the right number, Eustace. The lady is doubtless ridingbehind her husband. Two men are the escort, and the other is, nodoubt, the councillor we released, who is now acting as guide tothis spot.
"Bring my horse, Pierre," and, mounting, Philip rode off to meetthe party.
He was soon able to make out the figures of Francois and D'Arblayand, putting his horse to a gallop, was speedily alongside of them.
"What miracle is this?" Monsieur D'Arblay asked, after the firstgreeting was over. "At present we are all in a maze. We were inseparate dungeons, and the prospect looked as hopeless as it couldwell do; when the doors opened and an officer, followed by twosoldiers bearing our armour and arms, entered and told us to attireourselves. What was meant we could not imagine. We supposed we weregoing to be led before some tribunal; but why they should arm us,before taking us there, was more than we could imagine.
"We met in the courtyard of the prison, and were stupefied atseeing our horses saddled and bridled there, and Monsieur DeMerouville and his wife already mounted. Two unarmed troopers werealso there, and this gentleman, who said sourly:
"'Mount, sirs, I am going to lead you to your friends.'
"We looked at each other, to see if we were dreaming, but you mayimagine we were not long in leaping into our saddles.
"This gentleman has not been communicative. In fact, by his manner,I should say he is deeply disgusted at the singular mission withwhich he was charged; and on the ride here Francois, Monsieur deMerouville, and myself have exhausted ourselves in conjectures asto how this miracle has come about."
"Wait two or three minutes longer," Philip said, with a smile."When you get to yonder trees, you will receive an explanation."
Francois and Monsieur D'Arblay gazed in surprise at the figures ofnine men, all in scanty raiments, wrapped up in cloaks, andevidently guarded by the men-at-arms, who set up a joyous shout asthey rode in. Monsieur de Merouville uttered an exclamation ofastonishment, as he recognized the dreaded personages collectedtogether in such a plight.
"Monsieur de Merouville," Philip said, "I believe you know thesegentlemen by sight.
"Monsieur D'Arblay and Francois, you are not so fortunate as to beacquainted with them; and I have pleasure in introducing to you thePresident of the Parliament of Toulouse, the Judge of the HighCourt, and other councillors, all gentlemen of consideration. Ithas been my misfortune to have had to treat these gentlemen withscant courtesy, but the circumstances left me no choice.
"Monsieur de Merouville, here is a document, signed by these ninegentlemen, giving a solemn undertaking that you and Madame shallbe, in future, permitted to reside in your chateau without theslightest let or hindrance; and that you shall suffer nomolestation, whatever, either on account of this affair, or on thequestion of religion. I have a duplicate of this document; andhave, on my part, given an undertaking that, if its terms arebroken I will, at whatever inconvenience to myself, return to thisneighbourhood, hang these ten gentlemen if I can catch them, and atany rate burn their chateaux to the ground. Therefore I think, asyou have their undertaking and mine, you can without fear returnhome; but this, of course, I leave to yourself to decide.
"Gentlemen, you are now free to return to your homes; and I trustthis lesson--that we, on our part, can strike, if necessary--willhave some effect in moderating your zeal for persecution."
Without a word, the president and his companions walked away in abody. The troopers began to jeer and laugh, but Philip held up hishand for silence.
"There need be no extra scorn," he said. "These gentlemen have beensufficiently humiliated."
"And you really fetched all these good gentlemen from their beds,"D'Arblay said, bursting into a fit of laughter. "Why, it was worthbeing taken prisoner, were it only for the sake of seeing them.They looked like a number of old owls, suddenly disturbed bydaylight--some of them round eyed with astonishment, some of themhissing menacingly. By my faith, Philip, it will go hard with you,if you ever fall into the hands of those worthies.
"But a truce to jokes. We owe you our lives, Philip; of that thereis not a shadow of doubt. Though I have no more fear than anotherof death in battle, I own that I have a dread of being tortured andburned. It was a bold stroke, thus to carry off the men who havebeen the leaders of the persecution against us."
"There was nothing in the feat, if it can be called a feat," Philipsaid. "Of course, directly we heard that you had been seized andcarried into Toulouse, I cast about for the best means to save you.To attempt it by force would have been simple madness; and anyother plan would have required time, powerful friends, and aknowledge of the city, and even then we should probably have failedto get you out of prison. This being so, it was evident that thebest plan was to seize some of the citizens of importance, whomight serve as hostages. There was no difficulty in finding out,from a small cultivator, who were the principal men living outsidethe walls; and their capture was as easy a business. Scarcely ablow was struck, and no lives lost, in capturing the whole ofthem."
"But some of the men are missing," D'Arblay said.
"Yes; five of your men, I am sorry to say. On getting back to thewood after dark I sent them, as you ordered, to fetch you fromMonsieur de Merouville's; but of course you had been capturedbefore that, and they fell into an ambush that was laid for them,and were all killed."
"That is a bad business, Philip.
"Well, Monsieur de Merouville, will you go with us, or will youtrust in this safeguard?"
"In the first place, you have not given me a moment's opportunityof thanking this gentleman; not only for having saved the lives ofmy wife and myself, but for the forethought and consideration withwhich he has, in the midst of his anxiety for you and Monsieur deLaville, shown for us who were entire strangers to him.
"Be assured, Monsieur Fletcher, that we are deeply grateful. I hopethat some time in the future, should peace ever again be restoredto France, we may be able to meet you again, and express morewarmly the obligations we feel towards you."
Madame de Merouville added a few words of gratitude, and thenD'Arblay broke in with:
"De Merouville, you must settle at once whether to go with us, orstay on the faith of this safeguard. We have no such protectionand, if we linger here, we shall be having half a dozen troops ofhorse after us. You may be sure they will be sent off, as soon asthe president and his friends reach the city; and if we were caughtagain, we should be in an even worse plight than before. Do youtalk it over with Madame and, while you are doing so, Francois andI will drink a flask of wine, and eat anything we can find here;for they forgot to give us breakfast before they sent us off, andit is likely we shall not have another opportunity, for somehours."
"What do you think, Monsieur Fletcher?" Monsieur de Merouvillesaid, after speaking for a few minutes with his wife; "will theyrespect this pledge? If not we must go, but we are both past theage when we can take up life anew. My property would, of course, beconfiscated, and we should be penniless among strangers."
"I think they will respect the pledge," Philip replied. "I assuredthem, so solemnly, that any breach of their promises would befollowed by prompt vengeance upon themselves and their homes, thatI feel sure they will not run the risk. Two or three among themmight possibly do so, but the others would restrain them. I believethat you can safely return; and that, for a long time, at any rate,you will be unmolested.
"Still, if I might advise, I should say sell your property, as soonas you can find a purchaser at any reasonable price; and thenremove, either to La Rochelle or cross the sea to England. You maybe sure that there will be a deep and bitter hatred against you, bythose whose humiliation you have witnessed."
"Thank you. I will follow your advice, Monsieur Fletcher; and Ihope that I may, ere long, have the pleasure of seeing you, and of
worthily expressing our deep sense of the debt of gratitude we oweyou."
Five minutes later the troop mounted and rode away, while Monsieurde Merouville, with his wife behind him, started for home.
"I hope, Francois," D'Arblay said, as they galloped off from thewood, "that the next time I ride on an expedition your kinsman mayagain be with me, for he has wit and resources that render him avaluable companion, indeed."
"I had great hopes, even when I was in prison, and things lookedalmost as bad as they could be," Francois said, "that Philip woulddo something to help us. I had much faith in his long headedness;and so has the countess, my mother. She said to me, when westarted:
"'You are older than Philip, Francois; but you will act wisely if,in cases of difficulty, you defer your opinions to his. Histraining has given him self reliance and judgment, and he has beenmore in the habit of thinking for himself than you have,' andcertainly he has fully justified her opinion.
"Where do you propose to ride next, D'Arblay?"
"For La Rochelle. I shall not feel safe until I am within thewalls. Presidents of Parliament, judges of High Court, anddignified functionaries are not to be dragged from their beds withimpunity. Happily it will take them an hour and a half to walk backto the town; or longer, perhaps, for they will doubtless go firstto their own homes. They will never show themselves, in such sorryplight, in the streets of the city where they are accustomed tolord it; so we may count on at least two hours before they can takeany steps. After that, they will move heaven and earth to captureus. They will send out troops of horse after us, and messengers toevery city in the province, calling upon the governors to takeevery means to seize us.
"We have collected a good sum of money, and carried out the greaterportion of our mission. We shall only risk its loss, as well as theloss of our own lives, by going forward. The horses are fresh, andwe will put as many miles between us and Toulouse as they can carryus, before nightfall."
The return journey was accomplished without misadventure. They madeno more halts than were required to rest their horses and,travelling principally at night, they reached La Rochelle withouthaving encountered any body of the enemy.
While they had been absent, the army of Conde and the Admiral hadmarched into Lorraine and, eluding the forces that barred hismarch, effected a junction with the German men-at-arms who had beenbrought to their aid by the Duke Casimir, the second son of theElector Palatine. However, the Germans refused to march a stepfarther, unless they received the pay that had been agreed uponbefore they started.
Conde's treasury was empty, and he had no means, whatever, ofsatisfying their demand. In vain Duke Casimir, himself, tried topersuade his soldiers to defer their claims, and to trust theirFrench co-religionists to satisfy their demands, later on. Theywere unanimous in their refusal to march a step, until theyobtained their money.
The Admiral then addressed himself to his officers and soldiers. Hepointed out to them that, at the present moment, everythingdepended upon their obtaining the assistance of the Germans--whowere, indeed, only demanding their rights, according to theagreement that had been made with them--and he implored them tocome to the assistance of the prince and himself at this crisis. Sogreat was his influence among his soldiers that his appeal waspromptly and generally acceded to, and officers and men alikestripped themselves of their chains, jewels, money, and valuablesof all kinds, and so made up the sum required to satisfy theGermans.
As soon as this important affair had been settled, the united armyturned its face again westward; with the intention of givingbattle, anew, under the walls of Paris. It was, however, terriblydeficient in artillery, powder, and stores of all kinds and, themilitary chest being empty and the soldiers without pay, it wasnecessary, on the march, to exact contributions from the smallCatholic towns and villages through which the army marched and, inspite of the orders of the Admiral, a certain amount of pillage wascarried on by the soldiers.
Having recruited the strength of his troops, by a short stay atOrleans, the Admiral moved towards Paris. Since the commencement ofthe war, negotiations had been going on fitfully. When the courtthought that the Huguenots were formidable, they pushed on thenegotiations in earnest. Whenever, upon the contrary, they believedthat the royal forces would be able to crush those of the Admiral,the negotiations at once came to a standstill.
During the Admiral's long march to the east, they would grant noterms whatever that could possibly be accepted; but as soon as thejunction was effected with Duke Casimir and his Germans, and theHuguenot army again turned its face to Paris, the court becameeager to conclude peace. When the Prince of Conde's army arrivedbefore Chartres the negotiators met, and the king professed areadiness to grant so many concessions, that it seemed as if theobjects of the Huguenots could be attained without furtherfighting, and the Cardinal of Chatillon and some Huguenot nobleswent forward to have a personal conference with the royalcommissioners, at Lonjumeau.
After much discussion, the points most insisted upon by theHuguenots were conceded, and the articles of a treaty drawn up,copies of which were sent to Paris and Chartres. The Admiral andConde both perceived that, in the absence of any guarantees for theobservance of the conditions to which the other side boundthemselves, the treaty would be of little avail; as it could bebroken, as soon as the army now menacing Paris was scattered. Thefeeling among the great portion of the nobles and their followerswas, however, strongly in favour of the conditions being accepted.
The nobles were becoming beggared by the continuance of the war,the expenses of which had, for the most part, to be paid from theirprivate means. Their followers, indeed, received no pay; but theyhad to be fed, and their estates were lying untilled for want ofhands. Their men were eager to return to their farms and families,and so strong and general was the desire for peace that the Admiraland Conde bowed to it.
They agreed to the terms and, pending their ratification, raisedthe siege of Chartres. Already their force was dwindling rapidly.Large numbers marched away to their homes, without even asking forleave; and their leaders soon ceased to be in a position to makeany demands for guarantees, and the peace of Lonjumeau wastherefore signed.
Its provisions gave very little more to the Huguenots than that ofthe preceding arrangement of the same kind, and the campaign leftthe parties in much the same position as they had occupied beforethe Huguenots took up arms.