I had just returned from a fruitless enquiry at Mademoiselle's lodgings1 when the landlord met me at the door. To see his change of countenance2 was a vision of the contemptible3 in human nature.
"Monsieur is a friend of Monseigneur the Prince de Talmont and I did not know it!" he said plaintively4, his hands lightly crossed upon the servile hinge below his chest. "His Excellency is within asking for your Lordship. Ah! Monsieur, had I but known! What a supper I could have served, what a room I could have prepared——"
"And what a bill would have followed! Be easy, a man can only sleep on one bed at a time. Where is Monsieur de Commines?"
"Monsieur le Prince does me the honour to wait in the garden. He has already given orders——"
But Martin, who had heard my voice, pushed him aside.
"Monsieur Gaspard," he cried ruefully, "tell him you cannot have it so. He says the permit is for you only and that I must bide5 here. I told him, No! Where you went, I went. But he laughed at me, and said every babe must leave its nurse and walk alone some day, and that your time had come."
As he talked we had walked on into the garden that lay to the side and back of the inn, a pleasant place of prune6 trees well set with young fruit; pinks and roses grew underneath7 the boughs8, and after rain the air was heavy with the sweets of lavender. To these thyme and early gillyflowers added their scent9, making the morning air a king's luxury with perfume. Here Monsieur de Commines was waiting for me, a great bunch of newly-gathered flowers in his hands.
Catching10 Martin's last words he looked up.
"Fie!" said he frowning, though a twinkle in his eyes belied11 the gravity of the rebuke12; "a soldier and preaching cowardice13?"
"No coward for myself, Monseigneur, and I'll prove it to you," answered Martin sturdily. "If that fox in Plessis must gnaw14 his bone, then let him gnaw me, not Monsieur Gaspard."
The spasm15 of fear that swept across Monsieur de Commines' face startled me, so sudden was it, so abject16, so unlike the man who had within four days faced a howling mob unflinchingly, with no more than a table's breadth between. His cheeks had gone white even in the sunlight, and the flowers fell from his hands as if the fingers had no longer strength to hold them.
"Christ's life! man! hold your fool's tongue!" he screamed in a harsh high-pitched voice more like a shrewish woman's than a man's; "who are you to take the King's majesty17 into your mouth and mangle18 it? Would you ruin your master? Would you ruin me? Would you hang yourself and that gaping19 idiot behind you there on Tristan's gallows20? By the splendour of God! but I've a mind to swing the two of you! You that dared speak, and him that he dared listen and not cry out upon you! Eh, master host, eh?"
"But Monseigneur," cried the poor shaking wretch21, "I heard nothing, I—I—I swear I heard nothing."
"Nothing at all? You are sure, eh? You are sure?"
"Sure, Monseigneur," he repeated in an agony; "do you think I would hear our gracious King miscalled a—a—sneaking beast, and not resent it? But how could I hear when there was nothing said?"
"Then go bid them saddle the horses; but remember this, if I hear you repeat what that fool never said, then——"
"Never, Monseigneur, never; have no fear."
"Fear? I? Use civiller language, rascal22; what have I to do with fear? Do as thou'rt bid, and thou of the loose tongue, finish thy master's packing, and make haste."
Too cowed to do more than look piteously at me, Martin turned away to obey, and as the pair went about their business, Monsieur de Commines drew the deep breath of a man who for one terrible minute has hung by a single handsgrip above a gulf23 of death.
"I think I played my part," said he, forcing a smile. "Martin has learned his lesson, and the other—yes, for his own sake the other will be silent. But one thing is sure, even had the permit been for two, only one would have used it."
Played a part! My heart was still beating double tides from the sick fear I had seen in his face, and he called it playing a part! No warning, whether of direct words or tongueless flesh hooks with fragments of freshly-used dangling24 rope could urge discretion25 in the affairs of His Most Christian26 Majesty with half the emphasis of that agony of terror. If the King's friend, who tended him by day, and slept at his feet by night, had such cause for circumspection27, how warily28 must he walk who came to urge the King to fling aside a soiled tool still keen for the royal service?
Naturally I accepted Monsieur de Commines' half apologetic explanation without comment, but when I would have asked about the progress of my own affairs he motioned me to silence.
"When we are on our road," he said curtly30. But when Martin brought out Ninus saddled, as well as Roland and the pack-horse, his angry mood again burst constraint31. "What fresh foolery is this? Did I not tell you the permit was for one only?"
"Yes, Monseigneur," answered Martin humbly32, "but with your leave it is my duty to see Monsieur Gaspard as far as—as—as maybe."
De Commines' face cleared.
"Right, my friend! Love and duty are the pillars of the world; happy is the man who holds by them. Thou shalt see thy Master Gaspard as far as—as maybe. Ride thou behind with Benoit and my fellows and tell them to keep their distance; they know what that means. We will travel at a foot's pace," he added to me; "for there is much to be said, and the way is short."
"The first thing," he went on, as, side by side, we wound our way through the narrow streets, "is that you must change your name. Hellewyl smacks33 of Flanders, and the King hates—Good-day, my lord; we are all jealous of you at court. This marriage of the Dauphin will put you gentlemen of Flanders in such high favour that we poor ancient servants of the King will be forgotten in the cold—God grant he thinks so! As I was saying, we must drop the Hellewyl and henceforth be Monsieur Gaspard de Helville. In the King's present health and peevish34 mood—Yes, Monsieur le Conseiller, I rejoice to say His Majesty is in excellent health and spirits, excellent, excellent, but I do not think he receives to-day—with the King in his present mood it would be unwise to cross his prejudice. After all, a name is but a little thing, and the permit is for Monsieur de Helville. Next grasp this; the King is never ailing35, except under the breath, you understand? To you I will tell the truth. When he sleeps we do not know that he will wake again, and when he wakes we do not know but that his next sleep will be eternal. He eats—as I have just said to Monsieur Chasse, excellent! You should have seen him break his fast this morning! I am a fair trencherman, but His Majesty surpasses me in that as in all things—eats nothing, only sucks the juice of an orange or two, so that we can almost see his bones sharpen daily. No man dares cross him—ah, my lord! you ride our way? To Plessis no doubt? Then a friendly word in your ear; the King was asking for you this morning, and you know his impatience36 is not always—H'm! I thought that would put spurs to his horse and so rid us of his company. It is true, too, that His Majesty did ask for 'that fool, de Baux,' but it was to forbid him the gate! It was no business of mine to tell him unpalatable news. Through life I have made it my rule to serve not only my friends but my enemies. Courtesy is a seed that bears fruit in all soils, even the roughest and least kindly37. But there are so many interruptions I had better wait till we are beyond the walls."
To which I cordially agreed, so bewildering were the diplomatic contradictions which a plain man would have called blunt lies.
So, for the remainder of our ride through the city he bowed, smiled, saluted38, talked; and was grave, gay, suave39, stern, cordial, cold, as the person and the occasion demanded. There is nothing like being a courtier with a reputation for favour to win a man acquaintances, friends I dare not call them, for one half are ready to turn upon him for envy, and the other half are thinking their hardest how they can climb upon his back to their own advantage.
But once clear of the gate the throng40 slackened, and he took up his parable41 as if there had been no break in the thread.
"No! no man dares cross him. That does not mean there is need to cross him, by the Spirit of God! no! The King may be frail42 in body, but his brain burns as with fire, and when his thought blazes out in offence upon a man it consumes him. I tell you that, Monsieur de Helville, lest it should flash out at you and shrivel you and your petty vengeance43 out of the world. In your twenty-four hours in Tours rumour44 must have whispered many things in your ears; whispered, I say, since to speak outright45 is to court an outside lodgings at the Chateau46 Tristan, for all these rumours47 buzz round and round the King. The King is half dead; the King was never more alive; the King is crazed; the King's policy is keener witted than ever; the Dauphin goes in terror of his father; the King goes in terror of the Dauphin; these, and many more, and all of them true by turns, for he is compounded of contradictions. For instance, so coward is he that no man dares say Death! or The Grave! in his presence, and yet, when a few months back Death jogged his elbow and sent him staggering to the Grave's mouth, the King never winced48, but thrust out his chin, and stared the Terror in the face, unafraid."
"But, Monseigneur, how can I, a stranger, and no courtier, walk safely through these pitfalls49?"
"For seven days you will share my quarters; make the most of your chances. The King will then put you to service, God knows what, for he has strange whims50 at times, and again I say, make the most of what he offers. Your time in Plessis will be short. It is his wisdom to change his servants often lest they should learn too much and be dangerous. As I have told you, he spends half his days making and breaking men's fortunes; only what the King finally sends you to do, do: or else tear up the permit now and ride back, not to Tours, but to your charnel house of Solignac, lest he reach after you. There stands Plessis!" he added abruptly51.
Drawing rein52, we sat in silence and as we waited Martin slowly drew up with us. It was our first view of the—what shall I call it? Chateau? Palace? Prison? Fortress53? It was all four in one, or something of all four. But perhaps Martin's summing up fitted the case best.
"God have mercy upon us!" he said under his breath; "it's a rat trap!"
"There is no cat in Europe with claws strong enough to scratch it open," answered Monsieur de Commines; this time we were alone, and he had no rebuke for Martin's freedom of speech. "No, nor wolf either! Look at its strength. First there is the iron paling set on the near bank of the fosse; next, the fosse is twenty feet deep and is no mere54 ditch, but a lake for breadth; then comes the outermost55 wall, bristling56, as you see, with four-pointed hooks that would rip a man's flesh to the bone and hang him up by joints57 like a sheep in a butcher's shop. These two towers flank the gateway58. It faces the river, and can only be approached by that zig-zag path which is set on every side by springes, traps and gins cunningly hidden. May the world to come show mercy to the man they grip, for in this life there is no longer hope for him! Within that outer wall there is a second which dominates the first and is also bounded by a moat; within that again there is a third yet higher and again girded by water. You see them there, terraced, one, two, three; and if the first gate were forced—a thing hard to believe—the second stands not opposite but aside, and the third yet further aside, so that to reach the core, where the King lies, there must be a transverse straggle along the bank under fire both back and front, then the fosse to cross and another gate to force. That grim black shaft59 rising from the centre is the donjon; strength within strength, defence defending defence, and these four iron-sheeted towers crown and govern all. Monsieur de Helville, your late master, saw war, and you with him, Master Martin, did either of you ever see such a King's house before, or was there ever such seen since the world began?"
"A rat trap," repeated Martin, "and God have mercy on——"
"Monsieur Gaspard!" said Monsieur de Commines, and rode on laughing. But not for long. While we were still more than a bowshot from the outer walls he turned to Martin. "Now, friend, get back to the Cross of Saint Martin, and wait there in patience. Do not go far from the inn door; your master may need you any hour by day or by night. God knows when! It is all as the King wills, and remember this, curiosity is a fatal vice29 at Plessis. If you approach too near the Castle those fellows you see on the walls will shoot you like a mad dog first, and enquire60 why afterwards, and so the saints keep you!"
Dropping the reins61 on Ninus' neck, Martin jumped to the ground, and went on his knee in the dust.
"The Lord, He knows, Monsieur Gaspard, that the leaving you is none of my doing," he said between the mumbles62 of his mouth upon my hand. "If I'd ha' thought it would come to this then the Lord again He knows I'd ha' sooner faced Jan Meert and his twenty devils and so never have been here to taste the bitterness. There were but three of us, Monsieur Gaspard; Babette is gone, now you will go, and I only shall be left, a poor, miserable63, dried skin of a man that—that—would give his life to go first," and he broke down, weeping.
Laughing, but in no laughing mood, I leaned aside, and tried to pull him to his feet. But he would not move, and when at last I drew my hand away—for Monseigneur was waiting for me—its back was wet with his tears. Nor, so long as we were in sight, did he rise from his knee.
"Ah!" said Monseigneur, as we rode on, "Master Martin has a heart in him for all his years, and is not ashamed to show it. I fear he would never make a courtier, he has not learned to forget love, and be ungrateful."
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1
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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plaintively
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| adv.悲哀地，哀怨地 | |
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5
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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6
prune
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| n.酶干；vt.修剪，砍掉，削减；vi.删除 | |
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7
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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8
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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10
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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12
rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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14
gnaw
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| v.不断地啃、咬；使苦恼，折磨 | |
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spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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16
abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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18
mangle
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| vt.乱砍，撕裂，破坏，毁损，损坏，轧布 | |
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19
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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24
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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circumspection
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| n.细心，慎重 | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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32
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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33
smacks
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| 掌掴（声）( smack的名词复数 )； 海洛因； （打的）一拳； 打巴掌 | |
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34
peevish
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| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
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ailing
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| v.生病 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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40
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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parable
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| n.寓言，比喻 | |
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42
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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43
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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44
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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45
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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46
chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
pitfalls
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| （捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误 | |
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50
WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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51
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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52
rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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53
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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54
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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55
outermost
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| adj.最外面的，远离中心的 | |
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56
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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57
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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58
gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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59
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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60
enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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61
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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62
mumbles
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| 含糊的话或声音，咕哝( mumble的名词复数 ) | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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