CHAPTER XXXII
NEAR THE ALTAR
"_Morbleu_! Here's a madman!" Ere the Black Seigneur could unsheathehis sword, that of the Marquis had pierced slightly his shoulder. "Putup your blade, my Lord!" As quickly springing back and drawing hisown, he held himself in an attitude of defense. "In this matter arewe, or should we be--of a mind!"
"We!" My lord's weapon played in fierce curves and flashes; he laughedderisively.
"I am here to serve her ladyship--if I can!"
"You!" A rapid _coup de tierce_ was the Marquis' reply. "You! Whoseoutlaws carried her off before! You are pleased to jest, MonsieurBandit!"
"No jest, my Lord!" coolly. "Moreover, it is you who serve herladyship ill at such a moment in--"
"_Mon dieu_! You instruct!"
"I have no wish for this combat, Monsieur le Marquis!" As he spoke,the Black Seigneur retreated slowly toward the door. "But if you presstoo close--"
"_Ma foi_! You talk very brave, but I notice your legs take youbackward. However, it will not serve; you shall not escape."
"No?" His back now against the door, the Black Seigneur defendedhimself with his right hand, the while his left felt behind for a boltwhich it found; shot into place. "Then let us remove temptation bylocking the door!"
"What! You did not, then, intend--"
A sudden fierce pounding from without on the door, interrupted.
"It was necessary to keep _them_ out--but it will be only for themoment. So put up your blade!" peremptorily. "There is no time tolose."
"You are right!" The Marquis' face expressed scorn and unreasoninganger; his sword leaped to an accelerated tempo. "There is no time tolose. I shall honor you! The Marquis de Beauvillers will stoop tocheat the _fourches patibulaires_!" And my lord lunged, a dangerousand clever thrust that was met; answered. From the Marquis' hand theblade flew; struck the pavement; at the same time, a rending andtearing of wood came from the door.
The Black Seigneur leaped forward; but the stroke his adversary, nowdisarmed, expected, fell not on him; directed toward a lamp overhead,sole source of illumination of the corridor, the weapon struck hard.Shattered by the blow, the ornamental contrivance crashed to the floor;the place was plunged in darkness.
"Save yourself, my Lord!" said a calm voice, and my lady, standing nowas it were, in the center of a vortex of wildly rushing figures, felther waist suddenly clasped; herself swept on! Once or twice shestruggled; resisted, hardly knowing what she did; but the sound of alow, determined voice, not unfamiliar to her, and the consciousness ofa physical force--or was it all physical?--that seemed to beat down herwill, left no choice but to obey.
Darkness gave way to waves of light; reflections of flame surroundedthem; black trails of smoke coiled around. The girl's strength went;her breath came faster. A thick cloud choked her; she wished only tostop, when arms closed about her.
Upward! Still upward! By winding stairs, through passages anddoorways, vaguely she felt herself borne, until a cold breath of air,blowing suddenly in her face, revived her; awoke her to a confusedrealization of the place they had at last reached--the upper platformat the head of the long, open stairway of granite. And with thatconsciousness, she again sought to free herself; but, for an instantthe arms held her tighter, while a dark face bent close, scanning herfeatures, then abruptly he released her.
"Your Ladyship is uninjured?"
"Yes: yes!"
"One moment!" Turning, he left her, and walking to the verge of thatopen space, searched quickly the waste of darkness below, far out tosea. The girl's glance followed him; wavered; her first apprehensionawoke anew. Her father! Where was he? She clasped her handsdespairingly as she gazed down the Mount; then around her. Suddenly, abright patch of light--open doorway to the church--caught her eye andshe started. At the picture, framed by the masonry, which the glowrevealed, a low exclamation fell from her lips, and crossing theplatform, and descending a few steps, she ran to the entrance of thesacred edifice.
"Eh, your Excellency; has your Excellency any orders?" sounded a voice.
There, before an altar, in the dim flicker of candles and thevariegated gleaming from the ancient stained-glass windows, she saw atlast him she sought; in one of the chapels, near the white marblemonument to her mother, was his Excellency; but, not alone! Before himstood, or half crouched, the man Sanchez, who now was speaking.
"Shall I ring for your Excellency's servants and have the noisestopped?" Grotesquely he bowed, the while watching like an animalstudying its prey. "Beppo! Where are you--fat rascal? Consign theseswine to the gibbets! What! You can't obey because your ears havebeen cut off and your throat slit? That's too bad!" Fiercely the manlaughed; then waved his arm toward the window, as if calling theGovernor's attention to the sounds of demolition; the abrupt breakingof glass! "Patter! Patter! Merry little bullets, presents from thepeople, your Excellency! _Metayage_, your Highness!"
Still the other said no word; a figure, so motionless and white, itseemed but a wraith pausing at the side of its own "narrow house." Alouder clamor without; a more vivid brightness of the red, yellow andpurple hues, like a sudden wealth of strange flowers strewn on themarble floor, and again Sanchez laughed.
"Too bad! But 'tis I who must pay first! Who owe so much! Has yourExcellency his strong box with him? Ah, he leans on it! Such a fineone, all of marble! Not easily broken into--or out of! Eh, yourExcellency?" Swinging back something bright. "Full payment, thistime! Not coppers, or round bits of lead, but steel, beautiful steel!"
Held to the spot by the abrupt terror and fascination of the scene, theGovernor's daughter had made no sound, fearful of hastening theinevitable; but at the moment the man, with a last taunting word,launched forward, a cry, half articulate, burst from her lips. It wasdrowned by another voice, loud and commanding, which rang out from theentrance to the church.
"Sanchez!"
Perhaps the call disconcerted him; robbed the old servant's eye of itscertitude; his arm of its sureness, for the blow aimed at hisExcellency the latter was enabled to evade. At the same time, as withsingular agility he moved aside to save himself, the hand the Governorhad been holding to his breast, shot out like an adder. It struckviciously; stung deep--full in the side of his tormentor.
"That for your _metayage_!"
But a momentary expression of satisfaction was, however, permitted hisExcellency; the petty tragedy became overshadowed by the greater!
"The Bastille! Our Bastille!"
And again a shower of bullets, directed in hatred, fell upon thechurch, because its windows were priceless; shone with saints ofinestimable value! In the chapel, an _aumbry_ and a _piscina_ werestruck; around the Governor, glass began to clatter and break into bitson the pavement, when suddenly he wavered; his hand sought his heart,then felt for and clung to the monument, as if abruptly seeking support.
"Why did you do it, Seigneur?" As my lady, exclaiming wildly, ran toher father, Sanchez, from where he lay, looked up to his master.
"Call out, I mean? Not that it matters much now!" His implacableglance, swerving to the Governor, lighted with satisfaction. "Thepeople have paid. And 'twas I--showed them the way!"
"It was you, then--who broke faith in the negotiations for the exchangeof prisoners?"
A smile came to the face of the old servant. "I had to," he saidsimply. "I alone am to blame. No one knew; except, perhaps, the poet,who may have surmised! It was treachery for treachery!" with suddenfierceness. "You could not have done it, nor your father, nor any ofthe seigneurs before him!" The young man seemed scarcely to hear; hisglance had again sought my lady. "But I am only a servant---and indealing with a viper I used its own tricks! Did you think I hadforgotten those stripes? Or the blow he gave your father--in theback?" A moment Sanchez's hand fumbled at his coat; drew out a bag ofoilskin. "Here is something that belonged to your father. I took itfrom his breast the day he died, thinking some time--I can't tellwhat--only it con
tains a letter from the former lady of the Mount!When my master got it, he told me to pack a few belongings--that wewere going--never to return!"
Sanchez's voice broke off; again he strove to speak; could not; put outhis hand. Mechanically the Black Seigneur's closed on that of the oldservant; even as it did so, the latter's fingers clutched suddenly;ceased to move. In the church now all was silent, but without arosediscordant sounds, cries, harsh and vengeful, for the Governor!
Starting, the Black Seigneur gazed about, toward him they wereclamoring for, now lying still, at the base of the monument. Thenreleasing the fingers, that seemed yet to hold him, the young mansprang forward, as my lady threw herself wildly, protectingly, over herfather. At that touch, the Governor's eyes opened; met hers; the BlackSeigneur's!
Nearer the door, now rang the shouts. His Excellency seemed to listen;to realize what they meant; to him--his daughter--
"The Governor! The Governor!"
"_Trembles tyrans_! _Trembles_!"
An ironical flash lit up, for an instant, the dying eyes. He, soon,would be beyond reach of these dogs--_canaille_! But she? His gazeagain rested on the Black Seigneur; in that tense, fleeting second,seemed reading his very soul!
"_Et la belle comtesse, sa fille_!" cried the menacing voices.
A tremor crossed the Governor's face; his pale lips moved. "Forget!Save her!" An instant his eyes lingered persistently on the young man;then passed to his daughter; as they did so, slowly the light, morehuman and appealing than any that had ever shone there before, went outof them. My lady's fair head drooped until it lay on her father'sbreast; unconscious, she seemed yet to shield him with figure inert.But only for a moment!
"_Et la belle comtesse_!"
Stooping, the Black Seigneur snatched the slender form to his breast;ran back to the altar. There, looking around him, as one who madehimself familiar with the place, his glance apparently found what itsought--a small stairway, entrance to the crypt. At the same time hestarted to descend, the people swept into the church.