"Listen," he heard Van den6 Enden saying now. "Briefly7, all that is devised is as follows."
"Those men, that money, and the Dutch Fleet are in our hands, at our service," Van den Enden continued next; "the moment that your Normandy is prepared to rise against this tyrant8 whose tyranny is greater than was the tyranny of Richelieu, of Mazarin, or of both combined. If your chiefs, your great noblesse, your merchants of Rouen, Havre and other cities--all groaning9 under this tyrant's unjust taxation10 of them, specially11 for his wars; all hating his wantons, his mad extravagance and love of splendour--are ready to rise and form themselves into a Republic which shall at last be a Republic formed of the whole of France, then the Spaniards and Hollanders are ready to play their part."
"Republics have heads, dictators, rulers, as well as monarchies12. Men who are yet monarchs13 though without crowns, or thrones, or rights hereditary14. Whom does Spain produce?" La Truaumont asked.
"De Montérey at first stipulated15 for the head of the house of--Le Dédaigneux. The Duke----"
"Ah!" whispered Humphrey to himself.
"But finding that this might not be, that the Duke refuses since he would have to throw too heavy a stake to win even so great a prize as this, they will accept him."
"They must," the listener heard the woman say. "He must be head or nothing."
"They have agreed," Van den Enden continued. "They desire Quillebeuf, De Montérey avers16, more than all the places of which Le Roi Soleil has despoiled17 them. They wish to form a Republic rivalling that of Venice, one that, in being with them, shall crush all who are against them."
"And Louis! The King. What of him?"
"Listen. His guards have been dispatched to join the army. Le Dédaigneux as their colonel has taken care of that."
"My God!" Humphrey whispered to himself. "He is in it. The chief conspirator5 and no tool!"
"The King will," Van den Enden went on, "be either at St. Germain or Fontainebleau for the next few weeks or months. And then--then----"
"Then?" said La Truaumont.
"Then five hundred Norman gentlemen will subdue18 the courtiers and seize on him. We shall have him. Hold him."
"Go on!" La Truaumont muttered, his voice husky and deep. "What next? What will you do with him?"
"He will sign a renunciation of his throne or----"
"Or?"
"He will go to the Bastille, or Pignerol--Pignerol is safer; it is afar off, out of, lost to, the world. He will experience that which he has caused countless19 others to experience. And, later, he will--die."
"Die! How?"
"As others have died," the Jew hissed20. "As all die who suffer under his tyranny. By his own hands, or--will--appear--to have done so."
"My horse is in its stall," Humphrey thought to himself now; "my rapier to my hand. It is time, and full time, too, for me to be on my way. On my way to France--thank heaven the frontier is so near at hand! To Paris, to the King. There is no time to lose. The King to be seized and, later, the country invaded; the fortresses21 taken! And I know all the scheme. All, as well as the names of all concerned."
"Yet," he went on, "I must contain myself longer. To leave this room now, however softly; to attempt to unbar the door of this closed house, if it is yet shut; to saddle 'Soupir' and ride off now is to tell those wretches22 in there that they are blown upon. I must wait--wait till full night has come, till midnight at earliest, or even until later and, then, off and away. Away through the mountains, over the plains--on--on--till I stand face to face with the King and tell him all. Heaven above be praised, he knows me and my name: he has befriended me and been good to my mother. It will not be hard to do. Oh! that I could creep out now, at once, so as to waste no precious moment."
For an instant, as thus he communed with himself, there had come to him a thought that he would endeavour to communicate with the Duchess by tapping gently on the door that was between their rooms; by attracting the attention of her or Jacquette, both of whom were probably at supper now in their salon23; and by stealing away in that manner. But no sooner had this idea come to him than it was discarded. The tapping, or scratching, he must make to call their attention to him would equally summon the attention of those in that other room, and might, indeed, reach their ears sooner than it would reach the ears of the others whose notice he desired to attract. No! he must stay quiet until, at least, those in the next room had separated, which, judging by the words he had heard the once unknown voice utter to the effect that La Truaumont and his party should be abed before ten--would undoubtedly24 not be long now.
Meanwhile, as these reflections passed through his mind his ears were still on the alert; even as he thought, so he could listen, too, and not only hear but grasp what was the subject of conversation between the conspirators in that room.
From the absolute conspiracy25 itself the talk had now wandered to other matters, and at this moment Humphrey heard La Truaumont say:--
"I ride with this heroine of romance--this folle who is covered with jewels but, sangdieu! will not have more than a change of linen26 with her--as far as Martigny. There I shall be taken with sudden illness, the vapours, the falling sickness--the megrims--one will do as well as t'other, and so I shall be left behind. And then, when they are gone, hey! for France, for Normandy."
A moment later, the opening and shutting gently of the door was heard by Humphrey; a stealthy though heavy tread in the corridor was also apparent to the young man's ears: he knew, he felt sure he knew, that the man had left the room. The plot was laid bare by Van den Enden, the meeting over.
The other two in that room continued, however, to remain in it, and more than once Humphrey heard the rasping tones of the voice which he felt sure belonged to the old man who had descended27 from the French coach, and the softer, sweeter ones of the woman who inhabited those apartments and, as far as he knew, never stirred out of them. But, though he heard the tones, the words that were uttered were now unintelligible28, and it flashed instantly into Humphrey's mind that the pair were whispering to each other.
"Whispering," he said to himself. "Whispering! Yet why now, when the worst is told and has been told openly and, beyond uncertainty29, without fear of that worst being overheard? Why have the two to speak in whispers now since, when they were three, they said nothing that--as they thought--needed suppression?"
He heard, however, something further. He heard shuffling30 feet which, Humphrey did not doubt, were the feet of the old man moving about the room; a piece of furniture--a chair as it seemed to him--moved from one part of the apartment to another; a smooth, rubbing sound on the other side of the wainscot against which he leant with his head beneath the folds of the frouzy, dusty tapestry31, and once--or twice--a word or the fragments of a question.
"Are you sure? Certain? It is death if so," the rasping, or feeble, voice asked, not in one sentence but in three exclamations32, while the clearer, more fresh voice replied, also interjectedly. "Service, I tell you. Safe. Covered. Impossible."
To what these words might refer Humphrey could not conceive, no more than he could conceive to what those various movements in the room applied33. Neither could he form any opinion as to the meaning of what he next heard clearly and distinctly, since, forgetting himself for the moment, the man said:--
"No chance if that is done. The swiftest portion of the Rhine is quickly reached by that brawling34, rushing river outside. I know, I have been a refugee in this city ere now--and then, once there, the secret is hidden for ever. The swirl35 at that spot is worse than the grave, since the latter can be made to give up its dead or what is left of them, but it never."
Of this speech Humphrey could understand nothing; it conveyed naught36 to his mind. Or, if it did convey anything, only the thought that some proof of their secret, something which he could not guess at or surmise37, was to be consigned38 to an eternal and unyielding oblivion.
It seemed as if, now, those two were about to separate for the night. In still broken, still interjected sentences and scraps39 of sentences and stray words, Humphrey could understand that they were telling each other their future plans. He gathered that the woman had promised to set out the next day in her coach for Paris, that she would wait at Mülhausen till the French coach from Basle arrived when she would take her confederate into her own carriage and convey him with her. He also found out for certainty what the old man's name was.
"I will not have you masquerading as my father," he heard the woman whisper. "You need be no longer the Seigneur de Chateaugrand. Your own name of Van den Enden will do very well, since nothing connects you with us or Normandy."
"It will do very well for me, too," Humphrey said to himself, "since I know both of them now. And yours also, my lady, thanks to your chattering40 maid and your travelling necessaries."
A moment later he once more heard the door opened and shut, gently as ever, and knew that the woman was left alone. Still another moment, and he heard her cross the floor of her salon and knew by the sound of a closing door--the different sound made by a different door--that she had entered another room, the one in which she doubtless slept.
It was now ten o'clock, as Humphrey heard plainly from all the various clocks in the city, and he knew that he must, as yet, have no thought of setting out for France. By the absence of all movement whatever in the Duchess's room to the right he recognised that she had not yet sought her bed; he heard, too, all the sounds rising up the stairs from the ground portion of the inn which told him that there was as yet no likelihood of the place being closed for the night. There were, he knew well, no other travellers, or at least none of importance, staying in the house, yet--even in this rigid41 and now harsh and severe Protestant city that, nearly a hundred years after Calvin's death, had not yet shaken off the gloomy asceticism42 with which he had dyed and imbued43 it, as well as Geneva and others--there were wassailers and carousers who came here to drink nightly. He had seen them and heard them, too, the evening before, as, also, he had seen Fleur de Mai and Boisfleury drinking with them. He knew, also, that until midnight, or at least as long as the landlord would allow them to remain, which was so long as they would drink and sup, the house would not be closed and these topers sent forth44.
"Therefore," thought Humphrey, "I must possess my soul in patience. There is naught else for it." Though, even as he so thought, there came another reflection to his mind.
"Foregad!" he said to himself, "if I stay in here until the house is closed, I am as like not to be unable to leave it. Therefore let me consider what is best. Either to quit the house before it is shut up for the night, to get to the stables and remain in them till all is quiet and then steal away on 'Soupir'--she is fleet of foot and, once off, none will catch us!--or wait here till all are gone to their beds and take my chance of finding an exit? Which shall I do?"
Suddenly, however, he made his final decision. To stay here and risk being unable to obtain that exit was folly45. Better walk about the streets for hours and then return and make his way to the stables and obtain his horse--if the stables were not themselves made fast for the night--than stay here to be shut in till the morning. Consequently, he decided46 he would go in an hour's time if not sooner. And, also, it might be best that then, if he could get into the stables, he should saddle "Soupir," at once, lead her out gently, and, mounting her without delay, ride forth out of the town. That he would have to pass the gate he knew, but, with the passport he carried in his pocket signed by D'Argenson for the King--the King whom, if possible, he went forth to warn and save--this would be easy.
So that he should make no noise which might inform the woman he was there, if at any minute she should return to the room next to him, he took off his long boots and walked softly about seeking the few necessaries which he must take with him: to wit, his rapier, his pistols and cloak and hat. The other things he had with him, which were contained in the little valise for strapping47 in front of the saddle, he would leave behind. Jacquette, he knew, would understand in the morning, when he was found to be missing, that he had purposely left them and would see that they were placed in safe custody48, while, even if she did not do so, their loss would be no serious thing.
Humphrey went to the door now, turning the key back as softly as might be so as to make no noise, and, next, took it from the inside and inserted it in the lock on the outside and pushed the door-to without shutting it, after which he drew his boots on once more and crept softly out. Then he locked the door and, dropping the key into his pocket, descended the stairs.
He met no one on them and, so far as he knew, no one saw him. The landlord was not in his room, as he could see through the glass window giving on to the passage: the door of the great general room was shut, though from it there issued a hum of voices, above all of which he could distinguish the loud boasting tones of Fleur de Mai as, doubtless, he indulged in some of his usual rhodomontades. Likewise, and he thanked heaven for it, the street door still stood wide open as though inviting49 custom. To add to his satisfaction the oil-lamp in the passage was extinct, it having probably been blown out by the warm southerly breeze that had arisen with the coming of the night.
"All is very well," Humphrey said to himself. "Yet a few moments more and 'Soupir' and I shall be on our road for Paris. Then, catch who can."
And he stepped out on to the place between the inn and the river.
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1
sobriquet
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| n.绰号 | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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bespeaks
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| v.预定( bespeak的第三人称单数 )；订（货）；证明；预先请求 | |
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conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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conspirator
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| n.阴谋者，谋叛者 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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7
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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8
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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monarchies
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| n. 君主政体, 君主国, 君主政治 | |
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monarchs
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| 君主，帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
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hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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15
stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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avers
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| v.断言( aver的第三人称单数 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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despoiled
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| v.掠夺，抢劫( despoil的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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fortresses
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| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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salon
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| n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室 | |
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24
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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32
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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33
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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brawling
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| n.争吵，喧嚷 | |
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35
swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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41
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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asceticism
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| n.禁欲主义 | |
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43
imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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44
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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45
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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46
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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47
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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