第133章 AT MEUDON.(1)

Making so early a start from Etampes that the inn,which had continued in an uproar till long after midnight,lay sunk in sleep when we rode out of the yard,we reached Meudon about noon next day.I should be tedious were I to detail what thoughts my mistress and I had during that day's journey--the last,it might be,which we should take together;or what assurances we gave one another,or how often we,repented the impatience which had impelled us to put all to the touch.Madame,with kindly forethought,detached herself from us,and rode the greater part of the distance with Fanchette;but the opportunities she gave us went for little;for,to be plain,the separation we dreaded seemed to overshadow us already.We uttered few words,through those few were to the purpose,but riding hand-in-hand,with full hearts,and eyes which seldom quitted one another,looked forward to Meudon and its perils with such gloomy forebodings as our love and my precarious position suggested.

Long before we reached the town,or could see more of it than the Chateau,over which the Lilies of France and the broad white banner of the Bourbons floated in company,we found ourselves swept into the whirlpool which surrounds an army.Crowds stood at all the cross-roads,wagons and sumpter-mules encumbered the bridges;each moment a horseman passed us at a gallop,or a troop of disorderly rogues,soldiers only in name,reeled,shouting and singing,along the road.Here and there,for a warning to the latter sort,a man,dangled on a rude gallows;under which sportsmen returning from the chase and ladies who had been for an airing rode laughing on their way.

Amid the multitude entering the town we passed unnoticed.Alittle way within the walls we halted to inquire where the Princess of Navarre had her lodging.Hearing that she occupied a house in the town,while her brother had his quarters in the Chateau,and the King of France at St.Cloud,I stayed my party in a by-road,a hundred paces farther on,and,springing from the Cid,went to my mistress's knee.

'Mademoiselle,'I said formally,and so loudly that all my men might hear,'the time is come.I dare not go farther with you.

I beg you,therefore,to bear me witness that as I took you so Ihave brought you back,and both with your good-will.I beg that you will give me this quittance,for it may serve me.'

She bowed her head and laid her ungloved hand on mine,which Ihad placed on,the pommel of her saddle.'Sir,'she answered in a broken voice,'I will not give you this quittance,nor any quittance from me while I live.'With that she took off her mask before them all,and I saw the tears running down her white face.

'May God protect you,M.de Marsac,'she continued,stooping until her face almost touched mine,'and bring you to the thing you desire.If not,sir,and you pay too dearly for what you have done for me,I will live a maiden all my days.And,if I do not,these men may shame me!'

My heart was too full for words,but I took the glove she held out to me,and kissed her hand with my knee bent.Then I waved--for I could not speak--to madame to proceed;and with Simon Fleix and Maignan's men to guard them they went on their way.

Mademoiselle's white face looked back to me until a bend in the road hid them,and I saw them no more.

I turned when all were gone,and going heavily to where my Sard stood with his head drooping,I climbed to the saddle,and rode at a foot-pace towards the Chateau.The way was short and easy,for the next turning showed me the open gateway and a crowd about it.A vast number of people were entering and leaving,while others rested in the shade of the wall,and a dozen grooms led horses up and down.The sunshine fell hotly on the road and the courtyard,and flashed back by the cuirasses of the men on guard,seized the eye and dazzled it with gleams of infinite brightness.

I was advancing alone,gazing at all this with a species of dull indifference which masked for the moment the suspense I felt at heart,when a man,coming on foot along the street,crossed quickly to me and looked me in the face.

I returned his look,and seeing he was a stranger to me,was for passing on without pausing.But he wheeled beside me and uttered my name in a low voice.

I checked the Cid and looked down at him.'Yes,'I said mechanically,'I am M.de Marsac.But I do not know you.'

'Nevertheless I have been watching for you for three days,'he replied.'M.de Rosny received your message.This is for you.'

He handed me a scrap of paper.'From whom?'I asked.

'Maignan,'he answered briefly.And with that,and a stealthy look round,he left me,and went the way he had been going before.

I tore open the note,and knowing that Maignan could not write,was not surprised to find that it lacked any signature.The brevity of its contents vied with the curtness of its bearer.

'In Heaven's name go back and wait,'it ran.'Your enemy is here,and those who wish you well are powerless.'

A warning so explicit,and delivered under such circumstances,might have been expected to make me pause even then.But I read the message with the same dull indifference,the same dogged resolve with which the sight of the crowded gateway before me had inspired me.I had not come so far and baffled Turenne by an hour to fail in my purpose at the last;nor given such pledges to another to prove false to myself.Moreover,the distant rattle of musketry,which went to show that a skirmish was taking place on the farther side of the Castle,seemed an invitation to me to proceed;for now,if ever,my sword might earn protection and a pardon.Only in regard to M.de Rosny,from whom I had no doubt that the message came,I resolved to act with prudence;neither making any appeal to him in public nor mentioning his name to others in private.