CHAPTER XXXIX
THE MARQUIS'S VISITOR
On the very day after the Panet documents were added to the Record avisitor called upon the Marquis.
"The 25th of January," records the latter in his journal, "there enteredmy apartments, about half-past ten in the morning, a young man, wearinga sword and a hat with a white plume, his suit entirely of blackknitcloth with trimmings to match, of middle height, firmly built andwell-looking, skin fine with plenty of colour, eye nearly black, softand somewhat large, surmounted by a black eyebrow."
"My name is Monsieur de la Louviere, Gendarme of the Guard," he said. "Icome on the part of the Chevalier de Bailleul respecting the matter ofMonsieur LeCour."
"Be seated, sir," replied the Marquis with interest, indicating a chairnear his writing-desk, at which he himself sat down. "Is this Lecourknown to yourself?"
"I am a friend of his," replied M. de la Louviere.
"Where is he now?"
"A week ago he was in England."
"Have you not heard that he is an impostor?"
"I only know, sir, that he is a very unfortunate man, and that you, whohave so interested yourself against him, have only to show him leniencyand kindness and you would be surprised at his gratitude. I carry theappeal of the Chevalier to you, desirous of seeing whether the troublecannot be amicably arranged."
"Tell the Chevalier de Bailleul, sir, that all who bear the name ofCanadian have a claim upon my good nature, particularly any son of aservant once in my employ. I shall oppose him no further, provided hebut at once replace himself in his own rank. I only, secondly, exactthat the honour of Monsieur de Lery, as the nephew of Madame my wife, becompletely cleared and sustained with his comrades and officers." TheMarquis here noticed that the Record was lying upon the table under theeyes of the stranger, but the latter continued the conversation.
"That can be done. But it ought to be so arranged as not to interferewith the standing, for the present, of Monsieur Lecour, because,Monsieur le Marquis, one of his protectors, the Duc de Liancourt, hasarranged to bestow on him the commandancy of his cadet institute in theprovinces."
"An infinitely better position for him than remaining in the company ofNoailles," remarked de Lotbiniere, removing the Record from the table,"seeing the Bodyguards have caught the rumour of his birth."
"But it is a part of the arrangement that he should stay in theBodyguard eighteen months longer."
"Why should such a person be so much considered? Monsieur de Lery hasdone nothing more than tell the exact truth, which is the duty of a manof honour when pressed by his superiors. He has been most properlyavenged; I see nothing left to arrange."
"But he would be still exposed to a challenge to fight."
"His officers have forbidden him to fight with an inferior."
"There remains the certainty of a caning."
"What do you wish to be done?"
"That Monsieur de Lery should merely say off hand before his friendsthat what he had told of Monsieur Lecour was said at hazard."
"Then, sir, tell the Chevalier de Bailleul that when I said I waswilling to arrange that affair amicably I did not know that he woulddare to propose that I commence by consenting to the formal and completedishonour of Monsieur de Lery. Judge, now, whether a proposal of thesort could be made to me about the cousin-germain of my children?"
"Excuse me, Marquis, this was not exactly my meaning, nor that ofMonsieur de Bailleul."
"Inform Monsieur de Bailleul," cried de Lotbiniere, "that he must feelit impossible, and that all is finished and over by the orders given toeach of them by their respective adjutants."
"No, sir," the stranger sternly cried, in reply, "all is _not_ finished,for so unpardonable have been the offences of Monsieur de Lery towardsMonsieur Lecour that _only one of them must live_."
"Then let him kill Lecour instead of some one of his comrades, who wouldmake life intolerable to him were he to show himself such a coward asyou have proposed. Has he not proved a brave man to have fought sooften, and with that fellow so below his dignity? As for me, knowingwhat I owe to myself, I should refuse most scrupulously to compromisemyself with any one who was not of my station. Were I attacked in astreet by such a man, I should defend my life with the greatest spirit;but never under the arrangements of an affair _en regle_. Such hasalways been my way of conduct, according to the truest principles ofhonour."
"Of honour!" the stranger exclaimed sarcastically; "and who taught deLery to apply these principles to a fellow Bodyguard?"
"He acted, as I have said, under the advice of his superior officers,especially of Monsieur de Villerai, who is his relative, and a Canadiangentleman of distinguished ancestry."
"Ancestry! de Villerai of distinguished ancestry! This, then, is the manwho has undertaken to crush my friend Lecour on the question ofextraction! All the world knows that his paternal uncle, of the samename as he, is a common carter in Quebec, and his children in the lastditch of squalor and degradation."
De Lotbiniere's countenance changed as quickly as though he had beenstabbed.
"To the sorrow of his family, you speak but too truly, although thefather was educated very differently. His misfortune was to have marrieda fool, who supposed herself obliged, as the wife of a gentleman, todissipate their substance in innumerable petty entertainments; but fromthis the only rightful conclusion to be drawn is that that branch hasderogated from _noblesse_, and can no longer pretend to enjoy for thefuture the state of its ancestors. But Monsieur Lecour must know wellthat, as for the branch of the Chevalier de Villerai, the further backyou go in his family tree in Canada the more brightly his _noblesse_stands forth in splendour."
"His grandfather," the stranger retorted scornfully, "was a runawaybankrupt out of the prison of Rouen. And who is this de Lery? Hisfather, during the siege of Quebec, instead of confronting the enemy,went buying up cattle in the parishes to sell over again to thecommissariat at the expense of the misery of an expiring people."
"Who told you that?" cried de Lotbiniere in a passion. "Who is theauthor of such an infamy? I have heard that story told of Monsieur deLanaudiere, but it is as false of one as of the other. It was to Captainde Lanaudiere that the compulsion of farmers to bring in provisions wasentrusted, but even he went out as an officer doing duty, and never as atrader in beef. Lies, all lies!"
"Let that pass, then," said the unknown Gendarme of the Guard; "butthough I can understand de Lery's reporting to his superior on beingpressed for information, it was nothing less than ignoble and disgustingof him to have spread these tales concerning my friend among hiscomrades."
"What!" returned de Lotbiniere, "when Lecour was wearing the name of hisuncle!"
"If he wore it he did not seek it; it was his companions who gave it tohim."
"To have worn it at all, sir, admits of no excuses."
"It was never dishonoured by him; it suffered in nothing."
"That may be, but it does not destroy in the slightest this most sacredprinciple of society, that each one carry his true name and not that ofanother."
The stranger lost patience.
"Eh, but, sir," he cried, "this name is not so precious! This name isnot so precious, I say, after the adventure of the eldest of the family,who was hung in effigy in that country for having assassinated a worthycitizen of Quebec on his doorstep at the entrance to the Upper Town. Andmy friend Lecour possesses the proofs of it. It was Panet who was thejudge that condemned him for the assassination and ordered him hanged ineffigy."
"Hold," returned the Marquis, "Panet the judge? Does your friend notknow that Monsieur Panet was only a simple attorney in the days of theFrench _regime_? I see that you are very badly informed. He of whom youspeak was my best friend from childhood, and without question one of themost estimable men Canada ever produced. This is what befell: Hisquarters as an officer were given him upon Philibert, a man who, havingkept a bakery, furnished the King's store with bread for the soldiers atQuebec, whence he grew to look upon himself as th
e King's_munitionnaire_, and exempt from providing quarters. Monsieur deRepentigny presents his order for lodgings. Philibert refuses.Repentigny replies, 'This must be settled either with theLieutenant-General, whose written order this is, or with theIntendant--but I must be lodged either by you or by some one else.'Philibert, who was a brute, and filled himself with wine at every meal,goes after his dinner and insults the Intendant, who threatens him withprison unless he arranges for Monsieur de Repentigny. The man, leavingthere, rushes, drunk with anger and wine, to Monsieur de Repentigny,whom he covers with the most insolent and revolting expressions.Repentigny turns him out of his chamber. Philibert, continuing hisoutrageous shouts, ends by delivering the officer a violent stroke ofhis cane. Monsieur de Repentigny then, as one might well do on suchsudden pain and provocation, drew out his sword and ran him through thebody, so that he died a couple of days afterwards. That, sir, is yourassassination without cause! Then the Sovereign Court of course wasobliged to order his decapitation in effigy--not his hanging, as yousay; and such is the measure of truth in the information which is givenyou by that young man on the occurrences of his native colony."
The Marquis's voice having risen in a towering fury, it was impossibleto say any more to him, and the Gendarme of the Guard, with a smile,rose and bowed himself out. Immediately after his departure, the Marquisuttered a sudden exclamation.
He hastened to the lodging of his nephew, and asked him, in greatexcitement, what was the personal appearance of Lecour. By closecomparison he arrived at the confirmation of his suspicion--that hisvisitor had been none other than the adventurer himself.