His doubts as to what his next step should be were soon resolved for him in a very summary fashion. These were days when, if the Huguenot was not absolutely forbidden in France, he was at least looked upon as a man who existed upon sufferance, and who was unshielded by the laws which protected his Catholic fellow-subjects. For twenty years the stringency12 of the persecution13 had increased until there was no weapon which bigotry14 could employ, short of absolute expulsion, which had not been turned against him. He was impeded15 in his business, elbowed out of all public employment, his house filled with troops, his children encouraged to rebel against him, and all redress17 refused him for the insults and assaults to which he was subjected. Every rascal18 who wished to gratify his personal spite, or to gain favour with his bigoted19 superiors, might do his worst upon him without fear of the law. Yet, in spite of all, these men clung to the land which disowned them, and, full of the love for their native soil which lies so deep in a Frenchman’s heart, preferred insult and contumely at home to the welcome which would await them beyond the seas. Already, however, the shadow of those days was falling upon them when the choice should no longer be theirs.
Two of the king’s big blue-coated guardsmen were on duty at that side of the palace, and had been witnesses to his unsuccessful appeal. Now they tramped across together to where he was standing20, and broke brutally21 into the current of his thoughts.
“Now, Hymn-books,” said one gruffly, “get off again about your business.”
“You’re not a very pretty ornament22 to the king’s pathway,” cried the other, with a hideous23 oath. “Who are you, to turn up your nose at the king’s religion, curse you?”
The old Huguenot shot a glance of anger and contempt at them, and was turning to go, when one of them thrust at his ribs24 with the butt8 end of his halberd.
“Take that, you dog!” he cried. “Would you dare to look like that at the king’s guard?”
“Children of Belial,” cried the old man, with his hand pressed to his side, “were I twenty years younger you would not have dared to use me so.”
“Ha! you would still spit your venom25, would you? That is enough, Andre! He has threatened the king’s guard. Let us seize him and drag him to the guard-room.”
The two soldiers dropped their halberds and rushed upon the old man, but, tall and strong as they were, they found it no easy matter to secure him. With his long sinewy26 arms and his wiry frame, he shook himself clear of them again and again, and it was only when his breath had failed him that the two, torn and panting, were able to twist round his wrists, and so secure him. They had hardly won their pitiful victory, however, before a stern voice and a sword flashing before their eyes, compelled them to release their prisoner once more.
It was Captain de Catinat, who, his morning duties over, had strolled out on to the terrace, and had come upon this sudden scene of outrage27. At the sight of the old man’s face he gave a violent start, and drawing his sword, had rushed forward with such fury that the two guardsmen not only dropped their victim, but, staggering back from the threatening sword-point, one of them slipped and the other rolled over him, a revolving28 mass of blue coat and white kersey.
“Villains!” roared De Catinat. “What is the meaning of this?”
The two had stumbled on to their feet again, very shamefaced and ruffled29.
“If you please, captain,” said one, saluting30, “this is a Huguenot who abused the royal guard.”
“His petition had been rejected by the king, captain, and yet he refused to go.”
De Catinat was white with fury. “And so, when a French citizen has come to have a word with the great master of his country, he must be harassed31 by two Swiss dogs like you?” he cried. “By my faith, we shall soon see about that!”
He drew a little silver whistle from his pocket, and at the shrill32 summons an old sergeant33 and half a dozen soldiers came running from the guard-room.
“Your names?” asked the captain sternly.
“Andre Meunier.”
“And yours?”
“Nicholas Klopper.”
“Sergeant, you will arrest these men, Meunier and Klopper.”
“Certainly, captain,” said the sergeant, a dark grizzled old soldier of Conde and Turenne.
“See that they are tried today.”
“And on what charge, captain?”
“For assaulting an aged16 and respected citizen who had come on business to the king.”
“He was a Huguenot on his own confession,” cried the culprits together.
“Hum!” The sergeant pulled doubtfully at his long moustache. “Shall we put the charge in that form, captain? Just as the captain pleases.” He gave a little shrug34 of his epauletted shoulders to signify his doubt whether any good could arise from it.
“No,” said De Catinat, with a sudden happy thought. “I charge them with laying their halberds down while on duty, and with having their uniforms dirty and disarranged.”
“That is better,” answered the sergeant, with the freedom of a privileged veteran. “Thunder of God, but you have disgraced the guards! An hour on the wooden horse with a musket35 at either foot may teach you that halberds were made for a soldier’s hand, and not for the king’s grass-plot. Seize them! Attention! Right half turn! March!”
And away went the little clump36 of guardsmen with the sergeant in the rear.
The Huguenot had stood in the background, grave and composed, without any sign of exultation37, during this sudden reversal of fortune; but when the soldiers were gone, he and the young officer turned warmly upon each other.
“Amory, I had not hoped to see you!”
“Nor I you, uncle. What, in the name of wonder, brings you to Versailles?”
“My wrongs, Amory. The hand of the wicked is heavy upon us, and whom can we turn to save only the king?”
The young officer shook his head. “The king is at heart a good man,” said he. “But he can only see the world through the glasses which are held before him. You have nothing to hope from him.”
“He spurned38 me from his presence.”
“Did he ask your name?”
“He did, and I gave it.”
The young guardsman whistled. “Let us walk to the gate,” said he. “By my faith, if my kinsmen39 are to come and bandy arguments with the king, it may not be long before my company finds itself without its captain.”
“The king would not couple us together. But indeed, nephew, it is strange to me how you can live in this house of Baal and yet bow down to no false gods.”
“I keep my belief in my own heart.”
The older man shook his head gravely.
“Your ways lie along a very narrow path,” said he, “with temptation and danger ever at your feet. It is hard for you to walk with the Lord, Amory, and yet go hand in hand with the persecutors of His people.”
“Tut, uncle!” said the young man impatiently. “I am a soldier of the king’s, and I am willing to let the black gown and the white surplice settle these matters between them. Let me live in honour and die in my duty, and I am content to wait to know the rest.”
“Content, too, to live in palaces, and eat from fine linen,” said the Huguenot bitterly, “when the hands of the wicked are heavy upon your kinsfolk, and there is a breaking of phials, and a pouring forth40 of tribulation41, and a wailing42 and a weeping throughout the land.”
“What is amiss, then?” asked the young soldier, who was somewhat mystified by the scriptural language in use among the French Calvinists of the day.
“Twenty men of Moab have been quartered upon me, with one Dalbert, their captain, who has long been a scourge43 to Israel.”
“Captain Claude Dalbert, of the Languedoc Dragoons? I have already some small score to settle with him.”
“Ay, and the scattered44 remnant has also a score against this murderous dog and self-seeking Ziphite.”
“What has he done, then?”
“His men are over my house like moths45 in a cloth bale. No place is free from them. He sits in the room which should be mine, his great boots on my Spanish leather chairs, his pipe in his mouth, his wine-pot at his elbow, and his talk a hissing46 and an abomination. He has beaten old Pierre of the warehouse47.”
“Ha!”
“And thrust me into the cellar.”
“Ha!”
“Because I have dragged him back when in his drunken love he would have thrown his arms about your cousin Adele.”
“Oh!” The young man’s colour had been rising and his brows knitted at each successive charge, but at this last his anger boiled over, and he hurried forward with fury in his face, dragging his elderly companion by the elbow. They had been passing through one of those winding48 paths, bordered by high hedges, which thinned away every here and there to give a glimpse of some prowling faun or weary nymph who slumbered49 in marble amid the foliage51. The few courtiers who met them gazed with surprise at so ill-assorted a pair of companions. But the young soldier was too full of his own plans to waste a thought upon their speculations52. Still hurrying on, he followed a crescent path which led past a dozen stone dolphins shooting water out of their mouths over a group of Tritons, and so through an avenue of great trees which looked as if they had grown there for centuries, and yet had in truth been carried over that very year by incredible labour from St. Germain and Fontainebleau. Beyond this point a small gate led out of the grounds, and it was through it that the two passed, the elder man puffing53 and panting with this unusual haste.
“How did you come, uncle?”
“In a caleche.”
“Where is it?”
“That is it, beyond the auberge.”
“Come, let us make for it.”
“And you, Amory, are you coming?”
“My faith, it is time that I came, from what you tell me. There is room for a man with a sword at his side in this establishment of yours.”
“But what would you do?”
“I would have a word with this Captain Dalbert.”
“Then I have wronged you, nephew, when I said even now that you were not whole-hearted towards Israel.”
“I know not about Israel,” cried De Catinat impatiently. “I only know that if my Adele chose to worship the thunder like an Abenaqui squaw, or turned her innocent prayers to the Mitche Manitou, I should like to set eyes upon the man who would dare to lay a hand upon her. Ha, here comes our caleche! Whip up, driver, and five livres to you if you pass the gate of the Invalides within the hour.”
It was no light matter to drive fast in an age of springless carriages and deeply rutted roads, but the driver lashed54 at his two rough unclipped horses, and the caleche jolted55 and clattered56 upon its way. As they sped on, with the road-side trees dancing past the narrow windows, and the white dust streaming behind them, the guardsman drummed his fingers upon his knees, and fidgeted in his seat with impatience57, shooting an occasional question across at his grim companion.
“When was all this, then?”
“It was yesterday night.”
“And where is Adele now?”
“She is at home.”
“And this Dalbert?”
“Oh, he is there also!”
“What! you have left her in his power while you came away to Versailles?”
“She is locked in her room.”
“Pah! what is a lock?” The young man raved58 with his hands in the air at the thought of his own impotence.
“And Pierre is there?”
“He is useless.”
“And Amos Green.”
“Ah, that is better. He is a man, by the look of him.”
“His mother was one of our own folk from Staten Island, near Manhattan. She was one of those scattered lambs who fled early before the wolves, when first it was seen that the king’s hand waxed heavy upon Israel. He speaks French, and yet he is neither French to the eye, nor are his ways like our ways.”
“He has chosen an evil time for his visit.”
“Some wise purpose may lie hid in it.”
“And you have left him in the house?”
“Yes; he was sat with this Dalbert, smoking with him, and telling him strange tales.”
“What guard could he be? He is a stranger in a strange land. You did ill to leave Adele thus, uncle.”
“She is in God’s hands, Amory.”
“I trust so. Oh, I am on fire to be there!”
He thrust his head through the cloud of dust which rose from the wheels, and craned his neck to look upon the long curving river and broad-spread city, which was already visible before them, half hid by a thin blue haze59, through which shot the double tower of Notre Dame60, with the high spire61 of St. Jacques and a forest of other steeples and minarets62, the monuments of eight hundred years of devotion. Soon, as the road curved down to the river-bank, the city wall grew nearer and nearer, until they had passed the southern gate, and were rattling63 over the stony64 causeway, leaving the broad Luxembourg upon their right, and Colbert’s last work, the Invalides, upon their left. A sharp turn brought them on to the river quays65, and crossing over the Pont Neuf, they skirted the stately Louvre, and plunged66 into the labyrinth67 of narrow but important streets which extended to the northward68. The young officer had his head still thrust out of the window, but his view was obscured by a broad gilded69 carriage which lumbered50 heavily along in front of them. As the road broadened, however, it swerved70 to one side, and he was able to catch a glimpse of the house to which they were making.
It was surrounded on every side by an immense crowd.
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1
repulse
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| n.击退，拒绝；vt.逐退，击退，拒绝 | |
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moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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3
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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4
wig
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| n.假发 | |
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puckers
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的第三人称单数 ) | |
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6
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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7
gibe
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| n.讥笑；嘲弄 | |
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8
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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9
buckle
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| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
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10
cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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11
recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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12
stringency
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| n.严格，紧迫，说服力；严格性；强度 | |
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13
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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14
bigotry
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| n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
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15
impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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17
redress
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| n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除 | |
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18
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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19
bigoted
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| adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的 | |
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20
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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21
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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22
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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23
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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24
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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25
venom
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| n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨 | |
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26
sinewy
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| adj.多腱的，强壮有力的 | |
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27
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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28
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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29
ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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30
saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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31
harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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32
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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33
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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34
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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35
musket
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| n.滑膛枪 | |
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36
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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37
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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38
spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
kinsmen
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| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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40
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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41
tribulation
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| n.苦难，灾难 | |
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42
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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43
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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44
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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45
moths
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| n.蛾( moth的名词复数 ) | |
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46
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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47
warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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48
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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49
slumbered
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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50
lumbered
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| 砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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51
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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52
speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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53
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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54
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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55
jolted
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| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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57
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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58
raved
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| v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说 | |
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59
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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60
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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61
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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62
minarets
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| n.（清真寺旁由报告祈祷时刻的人使用的）光塔( minaret的名词复数 ) | |
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63
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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64
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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65
quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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66
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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67
labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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68
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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69
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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70
swerved
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| v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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