A Gentleman of France: Being the Memoirs of Gaston de Bonne Sieur de Marsac, - [if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud .txt] 📗

the spirit in which it is offered,’ my companion answered with a graceful bow, ‘and think myself fortunate in being recognised’—he paused a moment and then continued—‘by a Frenchman and a man of honour.’

The stranger shrugged his shoulders. ‘Your pardon, then,’ he said, ‘if I seem abrupt. My time is short. I want to do the best with it I can. Will you favour me?’

I was for withdrawing, but M. de Rosny ordered Maignan to place lights in the next room, and, apologising to me very graciously, retired thither with the stranger, leaving me relieved indeed by these peaceful appearances, but full of wonder and conjectures who this might be, and what the visit portended. At one moment I was inclined to identify the stranger with M. de Rosny’s brother; at another with the English ambassador; and then, again, a wild idea that he might be M. de Bruhl occurred to me. The two remained together about a quarter of an hour and then came out, the stranger leading the way, and saluting me politely as he passed through the room. At the door he turned to say, ‘At nine o’clock, then?’

‘At nine o’clock,’ M. de Rosny replied, holding the door open. ‘You will excuse me if I do not descend, Marquis?’

‘Yes, go back, my friend,’ the stranger answered. And, lighted by Maignan, whose face on such occasions could assume the most stolid air in the world, he disappeared down the stairs, and I heard him go out.

M. de Rosny turned to me, his eyes sparkling with joy, his face and mien full of animation. ‘The King of Navarre is better,’ he said. ‘He is said to be out of danger. What do you think of that, my friend?’

‘That is the best news I have heard for many a day,’ I answered. And I hastened to add, that France and the Religion had reason to thank God for His mercy.

‘Amen to that,’ my patron replied reverently. ‘But that is not all—that is not all.’ And he began to walk up and down the room humming the 118th Psalm a little above his breath—

La voici l’heureuse journee Que Dieu a faite a plein desir; Par nous soit joie demenee, Et prenons en elle plaisir.

He continued, indeed, to walk up and down the floor so long, and with so joyful a countenance and demeanour, that I ventured, at last to remind him of my presence, which he had clearly forgotten. ‘Ha! to be sure,’ he said, stopping short and looking at me with the utmost good-humour. ‘What time is it? Seven. Then until nine o’clock, my friend, I crave your indulgence. En fin, until that time I must keep counsel. Come, I am hungry still. Let us sit down, and this time I hope we may not be interrupted. Simon, set us on a fresh bottle. Ha! ha! VIVENT LE ROI ET LE ROI DE NAVARRE!’ And again he fell to humming the same psalm—

O Dieu eternel, je te prie, Je te prie, ton roi maintiens: O Dieu, je te prie et reprie, Sauve ton roi et l’entretiens!

doing so with a light in his eyes and a joyous emphasis, which impressed me the more in a man ordinarily so calm and self-contained. I saw that something had occurred to gratify him beyond measure, and, believing his statement that this was not the good news from La Ganache only, I waited with the utmost interest and anxiety for the hour of nine, which had no sooner struck than our former visitor appeared with the same air of mystery and disguise which had attended him before.

M. de Rosny, who had risen on hearing his step and had taken up his cloak, paused with it half on and half off, to cry anxiously, ‘All is well, is it not?’

‘Perfectly,’ the stranger replied, with a nod.

‘And my friend?’

Yes, on condition that you answer for his discretion and fidelity.’ And the stranger glanced involuntarily at me who stood uncertain whether to hold my ground or retire.

‘Good,’ M. de Rosny cried. Then he turned to me with a mingled air of dignity and kindness, and continued: ‘This is the gentleman. M. de Marsac, I am honoured with permission to present you to the Marquis de Rambouillet, whose interest and protection I beg you to deserve, for he is a true Frenchman and a patriot whom I respect.’

M. de Rambouillet saluted me politely. ‘Of a Brittany family, I think?’ he said.

I assented; and he replied with something complimentary. But afterwards he continued to look at me in silence with a keenness and curiosity I did not understand. At last, when M. de Rosny’s impatience had reached a high pitch, the marquis seemed impelled to add something. ‘You quite understand M. de Rosny?’ he said. ‘Without saying anything disparaging of M. de Marsac, who is, no doubt, a man of honour’—and he bowed to me very low—‘this is a delicate matter, and you will introduce no one into it, I am sure, whom you cannot trust as yourself.’

‘Precisely,’ M. de Rosny replied, speaking drily, yet with a grand air which fully matched his companion’s. ‘I am prepared to trust this gentleman not only with my life but with my honour.’

‘Nothing more remains to be said then,’ the marquis rejoined, bowing to me again. ‘I am glad to have been the occasion of a declaration so flattering to you, sir.’

I returned his salute in silence, and obeying M. de Rosny’s muttered direction put on, my cloak and sword. M. de Rosny took up his pistols.

‘You will have no need of those,’ the Marquis said with a high glance.

‘Where we are going, no,’ my companion answered, calmly continuing to dispose them about him. ‘But the streets are dark and not too safe.’

M. de Rambouillet laughed. ‘That is the worst of you Huguenots,’ he said. ‘You never know when to lay suspicion aside.’

A hundred retorts sprang to my lips. I thought of the Bartholomew, of the French fury of Antwerp, of half a dozen things which make my blood boil to this day. But M. de Rosny’s answer was the finest of all. ‘That is true, I am afraid,’ he said quietly. ‘On the other hand, you Catholics—take the late M. de Guise for instance—have the habit of erring on the other side, I think, and sometimes trust too far.’

The marquis, without making any answer to this home-thrust, led the way out, and we followed, being joined at the door of the house by a couple of armed lackeys, who fell in behind us. We went on foot. The night was dark, and the prospect out of doors was not cheering. The streets were wet and dirty, and notwithstanding all our care we fell continually into pitfalls or over unseen obstacles. Crossing the PARVIS of the cathedral, which I remembered, we plunged in silence into an obscure street near the river, and so narrow that the decrepit houses shut out almost all view of the sky. The gloom of our surroundings, no less than my ignorance of the errand on which we were bound, filled me with anxiety and foreboding. My companions keeping strict silence, however, and taking every precaution to avoid being recognised, I had no choice but to do likewise.

I could think, and no more. I felt myself borne along by an irresistible current, whither and for what purpose I could not tell; an experience