CHAPTER XLI
A POOR ADVOCATE
The Prince, as Colonel of the company, came specially to Troyes by thedesire of Collinot, though the trouble bored him, for he liked Germain,and would never have raised the question concerning his birth had itmerely come to his knowledge without the scandal of formal charges. Tokeep the company in as aristocratic shape as possible as part of hisestablishment was a thing in which his princely _eclat_ was concerned.He came bringing with him his wife's father, the Duke of Beauveau,Marshal of France. The Marshal, whose white hair, stately form, andliberal ideas were universally blessed throughout the kingdom, was a manof singular firmness and kindness in what he considered to be right. Heit was who, as Viceroy of Languedoc, had released the fourteen Huguenotwomen who, on account of their religion, had languished in the dungeonsof the Tower of Constance till their heads became blanched with age, andwho had fallen at his feet when the Tower was opened for his inspection.The frantic demands of bigotry and the repeated orders of the Ministeron that occasion produced no effect upon his pitying heart.
"For justice and humanity," he answered, "plead in favour of these poorcreatures, and I refuse to return them under any less than the directorder of the King." The King, to his credit--it was Louis XV.--stoodfirm also. Beauveau it was, likewise, who refused support to Maupeou'sinfamous scheme to stifle the whole magistracy and rule the countrywithout a court of justice.
The garrison of Troyes and the company considered the advent of theMarshal their opportunity for a grand review, and an invitation had beensent to the company de Villeroy, who came over from Chalons. Nominallythe Lecour affair did not enter into the consideration of theauthorities, but there was no doubt that it was the grand topic ofexcitement among both corps of the Bodyguard.
At ten of the clock--the appointed hour--the Marshal, accompanied by thePrince, entered the hall where Germain stood ready for theinvestigation. The breast of the old Commandant was covered with starsand well-earned distinctions, and the glittering Order of the HolyGhost, with its crust of great diamonds, scintillated upon it. Beforehim, on the table was Germain's document-box open. Collinot sat besideit, examining the papers, one after another. Nobody else was present.
The Marshal was given the great chair of honour, and the Prince anotherbeside him. The latter sat furtive and uncomfortable. Lecour experienceda sensation of his own immense inferiority to the grand soldier who wassitting as his judge, and he felt helpless and uncertain in such hands.
"Adjutant," began the Marshal, "where are the parties? Is this gentlemanMonsieur de Lincy?"
Collinot assented. Germain bowed and turned ghostly white.
"Have you examined his credentials, and how do you find them?"
"They appear correct, my Lord Duke."
"Are the accusers not here?"
"Perhaps they are delayed, my Lord."
"It is a grave thing to keep a man in suspense over an accusation."
All waited silently several minutes. Every second seemed to pull withthe tug of a cable on Germain's beating heart.
The door opened. In hurried the Chevalier de Villerai, heated, rubicund,confused, and his uniform partly in disorder, saluting the Marshal as ifbereft of his senses.
"Your Excellency--your Grace, I mean--I--I--most humbly--yourExcellency--ah--pardon me, your Grace."
"Entirely, Quartermaster. You represent Monsieur de Lery, I presume?"
"Yes, but--but--but----" Villerai stammered, and stopped, his facegrowing redder.
"Proceed quite tranquilly, Monsieur de Villerai," the Marshal remarked."What accusation do you bring against Monsieur de Lincy?"
Villerai cast an uncomfortable glance at Germain, then he blurted out"That he is--an--some say an im----. I confess I know nothing againstthe gentleman myself--he seems to be a very nice young man, but Monsieurde Lery says he is something of that sort."
"And that his proper title is not de Lincy, but that he is the son of amerchant in Canada who is no noble?" Collinot added.
"You know nothing against him yourself?" Beauveau asked of Villerai.
"Nothing myself, very true."
"You bring evidence, then?"
"My Lord--Marshal we have no evidence. I throw myself on yourgoodness--I had some papers with the contents of which I amunacquainted--but where they are I--I--pardon me your Excellency--thisis a very unfortunate affair."
"I think so, Monsieur de Villerai. Your friends have brought to trial aperfectly innocent man--they have allowed him, for several months, toremain under the intolerable vexations of the ban of society, and tostand deprived of his birthright as a gentleman--have destroyed him atCourt--have almost blighted his career--have forced him to expose hislife to the ocean, to take far-off and highly perilous journeys tocollect his defences--and have compelled him more than once to bravemortal combat. They have done all this, as it appears, while his claimswere perfectly regular, and while they themselves fail to produce theslightest atom of evidence against him beyond the unsupported assertionsof their own family. What am I, as patron of this regiment, and amilitary man of sixty years' experience, to say to this state ofthings?"
"Excuse my--my Lord," de Villerai cried in desperation. "I said ourproofs are lost."
"It was your duty to have properly kept them. The opportunity for trialhas been given. The accused has responded and cleared himself. You maydepart, sir."
"Monsieur de Lincy," continued he, addressing the latter, with analteration from his severe tone to the kindest of voices, "it almostmoves me to tears to think of the indignities to which you have beensubjected. Your honour is absolved, and Major Collinot is requested tomake entry of this fact on the registers of the company, to avail you incase these charges should ever be repeated. You are reinstalled withyour full rank and record, and moreover, in order that yourreinstallment may be unequivocal in the eyes of the public, I appointyou my special _aide-de-camp_ for the review of this morning. Horseyourself and report at my apartments."
Lecour had stood throughout the interview perfectly motionless--almoststatuesque, except a slight clinching of the hands at times. Hisfeelings, however, were at the highest possible tension, and his eyesobservant of the slightest changes on the faces of those concerned, andwhen he found de Villerai--who was a stranger to him--so helpless, afeeling of triumph unexpectedly possessed him. He knew, of course, aboutthe Record--- divined that de Villerai had been entrusted with it--infact, through the mysterious means related, it was safe above theirheads locked in his own sleeping chamber. But what he had been uncertainof was what sort of a man the Quartermaster would turn out to be as arepresentative of de Lery--what kind of a case he would make without thewritings--how much of them he would recite--how that recital would bereceived by the tribunal--and whether the tribunal would have any regardwhatever to the evidence or condemn him by some instinct of casteprejudice. While turning these thoughts over like lightning in his mind,they were brought to a standstill by the pronouncement of Marshal deBeauveau and the sudden relief and violent sense of gratitude producedby the old soldier's sympathetic address to himself.
He felt he had won Cyrene.
He mounted the staircase to his apartment as if his feet were winged.The quarters were deserted. The company had already mustered and marchedto the review ground, a levelled field adjoining the boulevardedrampart, surrounded with willow trees and known as the Champ-de-Mars.Germain, as he approached it, riding with the Marshal and the Prince,felt as he had not since he had first put on the uniform of theBodyguard. His spirit seemed to prance with joy like the horse beneathhim. He had now that security, the want of which had caused him such anocean of misery; he felt that his enemies were now conquered, and thatCyrene was at last his.
Thus they rode to the Champ, where he could see the various regiments,drawn up at the "attention," in a long, brilliant line, their armsshining in the sun, the two companies of the Bodyguard mounted, in theircentre, with their magnificent standards and gorgeously arrayed bands.It was a thrilling and beautiful
sight.
When they came to the edge of the Champ, the horses of the Marshal andhis staff quickened pace, and soon, galloping down the field, theypassed in front of the whole division, every eye both of soldiers andspectators levelled towards them. Lecour was the object of intenseinterest. At this conspicuous moment the Marshal called him to his sideand entrusted him with a general order to pass to the commanders of theregiments.
Germain galloped first to the company of Noailles and passed the orderwith a grave salute to the Prince, who had taken his position in frontof it as Colonel. As he did so, the enthusiasm of his companions got thebetter of their discipline, and they broke into a loud, prolonged cry of"Vive de Lincy!" The members of the company of Villeroy had, as a body,always felt more or less contrary in the affair to their companion deLery, and there was a party who had strongly favoured Germain. Theproof, now so clear, that Louis' accusations had been rejected, suddenlyconverted the rest to Lecour's side and an enthusiasm similar to that ofhis own company broke out in their ranks too, resulting in acontinuation of the cry, "Vive de Lincy!" This extraordinary sceneexcited the other troops. The whole line broke out again and again intothe repeated cry of, "Vive de Lincy!" while Germain rode rapidly along.The crowd of spectators took it up, and added tremendous shouts ofapprobation. Nor did the cry end with the parade. He heard iteverywhere; at mess-table it was the greeting as he entered, theresponse to numerous toasts to his health, and the last sound he heardas he sank to sleep at night.
The feelings of de Lery were very different. The shout was to him hissocial doom. He stood his ground and executed his duty without anexternal sign, but his heart withered when his comrades there and thencommenced to shun him and drive him into Coventry. No protestations, nostatements that he could make, would, he knew, have been of any avail;so he spared himself the trouble. Withdrawing entirely into a proudreserve, he was soon banished from the regiment and from society, anddriven to find a refuge over the ocean in Canada, where, hidden from theeyes of European criticism, he entered upon a new career.
The Marquis de Lotbiniere heard of the loss of the documents first by aletter from de Villerai. On the same day he received the following fromthe Count de Vaudreuil--
"AT VERSAILLES, the 13th February, 1788.
"I should always be well disposed, sir, to oblige persons who, like Monsieur de Lery, might have aroused my interest; but _it is impossible for me to become the accuser of anybody whatsoever_. _Such a maxim is absolutely opposed to all my principles_ and to the invariable law which I have made for myself and from which I cannot depart. It is the place of the Prince de Poix to examine the candidates who present themselves for admission to the Bodyguard; that duty is entirely foreign to me. Be convinced of all the regret I feel in being unable, in this case, to do what would be agreeable to you, and accept fresh assurances of the sincere attachment with which I have the honour to be, sir,
"Your very humble and obedient servant,
"THE COUNT DE VAUDREUIL."
A worse blow followed, in a brief newspaper account conveying word ofthe total defeat of the accusations.
Great movements, he heard, had been aroused among the highest circles ofCourt, in Lecour's favour; the Prince de Poix had proved a broken reed,while the Bodyguards of both companies had clamoured for their de Lincy.The Marquis vented his rage upon de Villerai behind his back, but aftera few days concluded it advantageous to make no further references tothe son of the cantineer.
Germain's first action was to rush to Versailles and clasp in his armsthe love of his life. She, her eyes brimming with the happiness, faith,and trustfulness of a pure young girl, rejoiced in the vindication ofher insulted knight.
News of another addition to his possessions arrived, while it brought agrief. Events had been too much for the Chevalier de Bailleul. He diedin the latter part of the month of February, and a letter from theintendant of his estates informed Germain both of the sad event and atthe same time that the veteran had bequeathed him Eaux Tranquilles andhis fortune. The intendant, a local attorney named Populus, quoted theclauses of the will, and asked instructions from his new master.