The Suitors of Yvonne: being a portion of the memoirs of the Sieur Gaston de Luynes
CHAPTER XXIII. OF HOW ST. AUBAN CAME TO BLOIS
In silence we rode back to Blois. Not that I lacked matter forconversation. Anger and chagrin at the thought that I had come upon thisjourney to earn naught but an insult and to have a door slammed in myface made my gorge rise until it went near to choking me. I burned torevile Canaples aloud, but Abdon's was not the ear into which I mightpour the hot words that welled up to my lips.
Yet if silent, the curses that I heaped upon the Chevalier's crassnesswere none the less fervent, and to myself I thought with grim relish ofhow soon and how dearly he would pay for the affront he had put upon me.
That satisfaction, however, endured not long; for presently I bethoughtme of how heavily the punishment would fall upon Yvonne--and yet, of howshe would be left to the mercy of St. Auban, whose warrant from Mazarinwould invest with almost any and every power at Canaples.
I ground my teeth at the sudden thought, and for a moment I was on thepoint of going back and forcing my way into the chateau at the swordpoint if necessary, to warn and save the Chevalier in spite of himselfand unthanked.
It was not in such a fashion that I had thought to see my mission toCanaples accomplished; I had dreamt of gratitude, and gratitude unbarsthe door to much. Nevertheless, whether or not I earned it, I mustreturn, and succeed where for want of insistence I had failed awhileago.
Of a certainty I should have acted thus, but that at the very momentupon which I formed the resolution Abdon drew my attention to a darkshadow by the roadside not twenty paces in front of us. This proved tobe the motionless figure of a horseman.
As soon as I was assured of it, I reined in my horse, and taking apistol from the holster, I levelled it at the shadow, accompanying theact by a sonorous--
"Who goes there?"
The shadow stirred, and Michelot's voice answered me:
"'T is I, Monsieur. They have arrived. I came to warn you."
"Who has arrived?" I shouted.
"The soldiers. They are lodged at the Lys de France."
An oath was the only comment I made as I turned the news over in mymind. I must return to Canaples.
Then another thought occurred to me. The Chevalier was capable of goingto extremes to keep me from entering his house; he might for instancegreet me with a blunderbuss. It was not the fear of that that deterredme, but the fear that did a charge of lead get mixed with my poor brainsbefore I had said what I went to say, matters would be no better, andthere would be one poor knave the less to adorn the world.
"What shall we do, Michelot?" I groaned, appealing in my despair to myhenchman.
"Might it not be well to seek speech with M. de Montresor?" quoth he.
I shrugged my shoulders. Nevertheless, after a moment's deliberation Idetermined to make the attempt; if I succeeded something might come ofit.
And so I pushed on to Blois with my knaves close at my heels.
Up the Rue Vieille we proceeded with caution, for the hostelry of theVigne d'Or, where Michelot had hired me a room, fortunately overlookingthe street, fronted the Lys de France, where St. Auban and his men werehoused.
I gained that room of mine without mishap, and my first action was todeal summarily with a fat and well-roasted capon which the landlordset before me--for an empty stomach is a poor comrade in a desperatesituation. That meal, washed down with the best part of a bottle of redAnjou, did much to restore me alike in body and in mind.
From my open window I gazed across the street at the Lys de France.The door of the common-room, opening upon the street, was set wide, andacross the threshold came a flood of light in which there flitted theblack figures of maybe a dozen amazed rustics, drawn thither for all theworld as bats are drawn to a glare.
And there they hovered with open mouths and stupid eyes, hearkening tothe din of voices that floated out on the tranquil air, the snatches ofribald songs, the raucous bursts of laughter, the clink of glasses, theclank of steel, the rattle of dice, and the strange soldier oaths thatfell with every throw, and which to them must have sounded almost aswords of some foreign tongue.
Whilst I stood by my window, the landlord entered my room, and coming upto me--
"Thank Heaven they are not housed at the Vigne d'Or," he said. "It willtake Maitre Bernard a week to rid his house of the stench of leather.They are part of a stray company that is on its way to fight theSpaniards," he informed me. "But methinks they will be forced to spendtwo or three days at Blois; their horses are sadly jaded and will needthat rest before they can take the road again, thanks to the pace atwhich their boy of an officer must have led them. There is a gentlemanwith them who wears a mask. 'T is whispered that he is a prince ofthe blood who has made a vow not to uncover his face until this war beended, in expiation of some sin committed in mad Paris."
I heard him in silence, and when he had done I thanked him for hisinformation. So! This was the story that the crafty St. Auban had spreadabroad to lull suspicion touching the real nature of their presenceuntil their horses should be fit to undertake the return journey toParis, or until he should have secured the person of M. de Canaples.
Towards eleven o'clock, as the lights in the hostelry opposite wereburning low, I descended, and made my way out into the now desertedstreet. The troopers had apparently seen fit--or else been ordered--toseek their beds, for the place had grown silent, and a servant was inthe act of making fast the door for the night. The porte-cochere washalf closed, and a man carrying a lantern was making fast the bolt,whistling aimlessly to himself. Through the half of the door that wasyet open, I beheld a window from which the light fell upon a distantcorner of the courtyard.
I drew near the fellow with the lantern, in whom I recognised Rene, thehostler, and as I approached he flashed the light upon my face; thenwith a gasp--"M. de Luynes," he exclaimed, remembering me from the timewhen I had lodged at the Lys de France, three months ago.
"Sh!" I whispered, pressing a louis d'or into his hand. "Whose window isthat, Rene?" And I pointed towards the light.
"That," he replied, "is the room of the lieutenant and the gentleman inthe mask."
"I must take a look at them, Rene, and whilst I am looking I shallsearch my pocket for another louis. Now let me in."
"I dare not, Monsieur. Maitre Bernard may call me, and if the doors arenot closed--"
"Dame!" I broke in. "I shall stay but a moment."
"But--"
"And you will have easily earned a louis d'or. If Bernard callsyou--peste, tell him that you have let fall something, and that you areseeking it. There, let me pass."
I got past him at last, and made my way swiftly towards the other end ofthe quadrangle.
As I approached, the sound of voices smote my ear, for the lightedwindow stood open. I stopped within half a dozen paces of it, andclimbed on to the step of a coach that stood there. Thence I could lookstraight into the room, whilst the darkness hid me from the eyes ofthose I watched.
Three men there were; Montresor, the sergeant of his troop, and a tallman dressed in black, and wearing a black silk mask. This I concludedto be St. Auban, despite the profusion of fair locks that fell upon hisshoulders, concealing--I rightly guessed--his natural hair, which was asblack as my own. It was a cunning addition to his disguise, and one wellcalculated to lead people on to the wrong scent hereafter.
Presently, as I watched them, St. Auban spoke, and his voice was thatof a man whose gums are toothless, or else whose nether lip is drawnin over his teeth whilst he speaks. Here again the dissimulation was aseffective as it was simple.
"So; that is concluded," were the words that reached me. "To-morrowwe will install our men at the chateau, for while we remain here it ispreposterous to lodge them at an inn. On the following day I hope thatwe may be able to set out again."
"If we could obtain fresh horses--" began the sergeant, when he of themask interrupted him.
"Sangdieu! Think you my purse is bottomless? We return as we came, withthe Cardinal's horses. What signify a day or two, after all? Com
e--callthe landlord to light me to my room."
I had heard enough. But more than that, whilst I listened, an idea hadof a sudden sprung up in my mind which did away with the necessityof gaining speech with Montresor--a contingency, moreover, that nowpresented insuperable difficulties.
So I got down softly from my perch and made my way out of the yard, and,after fulfilling my part of the bargain with Rene, across to the Vigned'Or and to my room, there to sit and mature the plan that of a sudden Ihad conceived.