CHAPTER XXXIV.
PARLIAMENTARY JUSTICE.
The following day, about seven o'clock in the morning, Brigaud came tofetch D'Harmental, and found the young man ready and waiting. They bothwrapped themselves in their cloaks, drew down their hats over theireyes, and proceeded through the Rue de Clery, the Place des Victoires,and the garden of the Palais Royal.
On reaching the Rue de l'Echelle they began to perceive an unusual stir.All the avenues leading toward the Tuileries were guarded by detachmentsof musketeers and light horse, and the people, expelled from the courtand gardens of the Tuileries, crowded into the Place du Carrousel.D'Harmental and Brigaud mixed with the mob.
Having arrived at the place where the triumphal arch now stands, theywere accosted by an officer of Gray Musketeers, wrapped in a large cloaklike themselves. It was Valef.
"Well, baron," asked Brigaud, "what news?"
"Ah! it is you, abbe," said Valef; "we have been looking for you, Laval,Malezieux, and myself. I have just left them; they must be somewherenear. Let us stop here; it will not be long before they find us. Do youknow anything yourself?"
"No, nothing. I called at Malezieux's, but he had already gone out."
"Say that he was not yet come home. We remained at the Arsenal allnight."
"And no hostile demonstration has been made?" asked D'Harmental.
"None. Monsieur le Duc de Maine, and Monsieur le Comte de Toulouse weresummoned for the regent's council, which is to be held before thesitting of the parliament. At half-past six they were both at theTuileries, so Madame de Maine, in order to get the news as soon aspossible, has come and installed herself in her superintendent'sapartments."
"Is it known what has become of the Prince de Cellamare?" askedD'Harmental.
"He is sent to Orleans, in a chaise and four, in the company of agentleman of the king's household, and an escort of a dozen lighthorse."
"And is nothing known about the paper which Dubois picked out of thecinders?" asked Brigaud.----"Nothing."
"What does Madame de Maine think?"
"That he is brewing something against the legitimated princes, and thathe will profit by this to take away some more of their privileges. Thismorning she lectured her husband sharply, and he promised to remainfirm, but she does not rely upon him."
"And Monsieur de Toulouse?"
"We saw him yesterday evening, but, you know, my dear abbe, there isnothing to be done with his modesty, or rather his humility. He alwaysthinks that they have done too much for him, and is ready to abandon tothe regent anything that is asked of him."
"By-the-by, the king?"
"Well, the king--"
"Yes, how has he taken the arrest of his tutor?"
"Ah! do you not know? It seems that there was a compact between themarshal and Monsieur de Frejus, that if one of them left his majesty,the other should leave immediately--yesterday morning Monsieur de Frejusdisappeared."
"And where is he?"
"God knows! And so the king, who had taken the loss of his marshal verywell, was inconsolable at that of his bishop."
"And how do you know all that?"
"Through the Duc de Richelieu, who went yesterday, about two o'clock, toVersailles, to pay his respects to the king, and who found his majestyin despair in the midst of the china and ornaments which he had broken.Unfortunately, Richelieu, instead of encouraging the king's grief, madehim laugh by telling him a hundred stories, and almost consoled him byhelping him to break the rest of the china and ornaments."
At this moment an individual clothed in a long advocate's robe, and witha square cap, passed near the group which was formed by Brigaud,D'Harmental, and Valef, humming the burden of a song made on the marshalafter the battle of Ramillies. Brigaud turned round, and, under thedisguise, thought he recognized Pompadour. On his part the advocatestopped, and approached the group in question. The abbe had no longerany doubt. It was really the marquis.
"Well, Maitre Clement," said he, "what news from the palace?"
"Oh!" answered Pompadour, "good news, particularly if it be true; theysay that the parliament refuses to come to the Tuileries."
"Vive Dieu!" cried Valef, "that will reconcile me with the red robes.But they will not dare."
"Why not? You know that Monsieur de Mesme is for us, and has been namedpresident through the influence of Monsieur de Maine."
"Yes, that is true, but that is long since," said Brigaud; "and if youhave nothing better to rely upon, Maitre Clement, I should advise younot to count upon him."
"Particularly," answered Valef, "as he has just obtained from the regentthe payment of five hundred thousand francs of his salary."
"Oh, oh!" said D'Harmental, "see, it appears to me that something new isgoing on. Are they not coming out of the regent's council?"
Indeed, a great movement was taking place in the court of the Tuileries,and the two carriages of the Duc de Maine and the Comte de Toulouse lefttheir post, and approached the clock pavilion. At the same instant theysaw the two brothers appear. They exchanged few words, each got into hisown carriage, and the two vehicles departed at a rapid pace by thewaterside wicket.
For ten minutes Brigaud, D'Harmental, Pompadour, and Valef were lost inconjectures regarding this event, which, having been remarked by othersas well as by them, had made a sensation among the crowd, but withoutbeing able to assign it to its proper cause. Then they noticedMalezieux, who appeared to be looking for them: they went to him, and byhis discomposed face they judged that the information which he had tobring was not comforting.
"Well," asked Pompadour, "have you any idea of what has been going on?"
"Alas!" answered Malezieux, "I am afraid that all is lost."
"You know that the Duc de Maine and the Comte de Toulouse have left thecouncil?" asked Valef.
"I was on the quay when he passed in his carriage, and he recognized me,and stopped the carriage, and sent me this little pencil note by hisvalet-de-chambre."
"Let us see," said Brigaud, and he read:
"I do not know what is plotting against us, but the regent invited us--Toulouse and me--to leave the council. That invitation appeared to me an order, and, as all resistance would have been useless, seeing that we have in the council only four or five voices, upon which we cannot count, I was obliged to obey. Try and see the duchesse, who must be at the Tuileries, and tell her that I am retiring to Rambouillet, where I shall wait for the turn of events.
"Your affectionate,
"LOUIS AUGUSTE."
"The coward," said Valef.
"And these are the men for whom we risk our heads," murmured Pompadour.
"You are mistaken, my dear marquis," said Brigaud, "we risk our heads onour own account I hope, and not for others. Is not that true, chevalier?Well, what the devil are you about now?"
"Wait, abbe," answered D'Harmental; "I seem to recognize--yes, byHeaven, it is he! You will not go away from this place, gentlemen!"
"No, I answer for myself at least," said Pompadour.
"Nor I," said Valef.
"Nor I," said Malezieux.
"Nor I," said the abbe.
"Well, then, I will rejoin you in an instant."
"Where are you going?" asked Brigaud.
"Do not look, abbe," said D'Harmental, "it is on private business."
Dropping Valef's arm, D'Harmental began to traverse the crowd in thedirection of an individual whom he had been following with his eyes forsome time, and who, thanks to his personal strength, had approached thegate.
"Captain," said the chevalier, tapping Roquefinette on the shoulder, andhoping that, thanks to the movement occasioned by the approach of theparliament, they should be able to talk without being observed, "can Isay a few words to you in private?"
"Yes, chevalier, with the greatest pleasure. What is it?" continued he,drawing back. "I have recognized you for the last five minutes, but itwas not my business to speak first."
"And I see with pleasu
re," said D'Harmental, "that Captain Roquefinetteis still prudent."
"Prudentissimo, chevalier; so if you have any new overture to make, outwith it."
"No, captain, no; not at present, at least. Besides, the place is notsuitable for a conference of that nature. Only I wish to know, in caseof my having need of you, whether you still live in the same place?"
"Still, chevalier; I am like a briar--I die where I grow; only, insteadof your finding me, as you did the first time, on the first or secondfloor, you will have to look for me on the fifth or sixth, seeing that,by a very natural see-saw movement, as my funds lower I go up."
"How, captain," said D'Harmental, laughing, and putting his hand in hispocket, "you are in want of money, and you do not address yourself toyour friends?"
"I, borrow money!" cried the captain, stopping D'Harmental's liberalintentions with a sign; "no; when I do you a service you make me apresent; well and good. When I conclude a bargain you execute theconditions. But I to ask without having a right to ask! It may do for achurch rat, but not for a soldier; although I am only a simplegentleman, I am as proud as a duke or a peer; but, pardon me, if youwant me, you know where to find me. Au revoir, chevalier! au revoir!"
And, without waiting for D'Harmental's answer, Roquefinette left him,not thinking it safe that they should be seen talking together.
As it was only eleven o'clock in the morning, however, and as in allprobability the parliament would not break up till four in theafternoon, and as, no doubt, there was nothing determined on yet, thechevalier thought that, instead of remaining on the Place du Carrousel,he would do better to turn the four hours which he had before him to theprofit of his love. Moreover, the nearer he approached to thecatastrophe, the more need he felt of seeing Bathilde. Bathilde hadbecome one of the elements of his life; one of the organs necessary tohis existence; and, at the moment when he might perhaps be separatedfrom her forever, he did not understand how he could live a single dayaway from her. Consequently, pressed by the eternal craving for thepresence of the loved object, the chevalier, instead of going to lookfor his companions, went toward the Rue du Temps-Perdu.
D'Harmental found the poor child very uneasy. Buvat had not come homesince half-past nine the morning before. Nanette had been to inquire atthe library, and to her great astonishment, and the scandal of hisfellow-clerks, she had learned that he had not been there for five orsix days. Such a derangement in Buvat's habits indicated serious events.On the other hand, the young girl had noticed in Raoul, the day before,a sort of nervous agitation, which, although kept down bydetermination, gave warning of an important crisis. Thus, joining herold fears to her new agonies, Bathilde felt instinctively that amisfortune, invisible but inevitable, hung above her, and that at anymoment it might fall on her devoted head.
But when Bathilde saw Raoul, all fear, past or future, was lost in thehappiness of the present. On his part, Raoul, whether it wasself-command, or a similar feeling to her own, thought of nothing butBathilde. Nevertheless, this time the preoccupations on both sides wereso powerful that Bathilde could not help expressing her uneasiness toRaoul; he made but little answer, for the absence of Buvat becameconnected in his mind with some suspicions which he had entertained fora minute, and then cast from him. The time, nevertheless, flowed awaywith its accustomed rapidity, and four o'clock struck, when the loversfancied that they had only been together a few minutes. It was the hourat which he generally took his leave.
If Buvat returned, he would probably return at this time. Afterexchanging a hundred vows, the two young people separated, agreeing,that if anything new happened to either of them, whatever hour of theday or night it might be, they should let the other know directly.
At the door of Madame Denis's house D'Harmental met Brigaud. The sittingwas over, and nothing positive was yet known, but vague rumors wereafloat that terrible measures had been taken. The information must soonarrive, and Brigaud had fixed a rendezvous with Pompadour and Malezieuxat D'Harmental's lodgings, which, as they were the least known, must bethe least watched.
In about an hour the Marquis de Pompadour arrived. The parliament had atfirst wished to make opposition, but everything had given way before thewill of the regent. The king of Spain's letters had been read andcondemned. It had been decided that the dukes and peers should rankimmediately after the princes of the blood. The honors of thelegitimated princes were restricted to the simple rank of theirpeerages. Finally, the Duc de Maine lost the superintendence of theking's education, which was given to the Duc de Bourbon. The Comte deToulouse alone was maintained, during his lifetime, in his privilegesand prerogatives. Malezieux arrived in his turn; he had recently leftthe duchess. They had just given her notice to quit her apartments inthe Tuileries, which belonged henceforward to Monsieur le Duc. Such anaffront had, as may easily be understood, exasperated the granddaughterof the great Conde. She had flown into a violent passion, broken all thelooking-glasses with her own hands, and had all the furniture thrown outof the window; then, this performance finished, she had got into hercarriage, sending Laval to Rambouillet, in order to urge Monsieur deMaine to some vigorous action, and charging Malezieux to assemble allher friends that evening at the Arsenal.
Pompadour and Brigaud cried out against the imprudence of such ameeting. Madame de Maine was evidently watched. To go to the Arsenal theday when they must know that she was the most irritated would be tocompromise themselves openly. Pompadour and Brigaud were therefore infavor of going and begging her highness to appoint some other time orplace for the rendezvous. Malezieux and D'Harmental were of the sameopinion regarding the danger of the step; but they both declared--thefirst from devotion, the second from a sense of duty--that the moreperilous the order was, the more honorable it would be to obey it.
The discussion, as always happens in similar circumstances, began todegenerate into a pretty sharp altercation, when they heard the steps oftwo persons mounting the stairs. As the three individuals who hadappointed a meeting at D'Harmental's were all assembled, Brigaud, who,with his ear always on the qui-vive had heard the sound first, put hisfinger to his mouth, to impose silence on the disputants. They couldplainly hear the steps approaching; then a low whispering, as of twopeople questioning; finally, the door opened, and gave entrance to asoldier of the French guard, and a little grisette.
The guardsman was the Baron de Valef.
As to the grisette, she threw off the little black veil which hid herface, and they recognized Madame de Maine.