Madame de Cambes with consummate3 tact4 had assigned an honorable r?le to Canolles, who, as soon as he had entered the city, side by side with his friend Ravailly, whom he was so near killing5 on two occasions, was surrounded and congratulated as a great captain and a gallant6 soldier.
They who had been so soundly whipped but two days before, especially those of them who had suffered any damage at that time, retained some hard feeling against their conqueror7. But Canolles was so handsome and sweet-tempered; his manners were so simple; he bore himself in his new position so good-humoredly and yet with such becoming dignity; the friends who surrounded him were so demonstrative in their evidences of affection for him; both officers and men of the Navailles regiment8 were so loud in their praise of him as their captain, and as governor of ?le Saint-Georges,—that the Bordelais soon forgot their rancor9. Moreover, they had other things to think of.
Monsieur de Bouillon arrived a day or two later, and they had most precise information that the king would be at Libourne in a week at the latest.
Madame de Condé was dying with curiosity to see Canolles; she stood behind the curtains at her window, and watched him pass, and was impressed with his distinguished10 bearing, which fully11 justified12 the reputation he had acquired among friends and foes13 alike.
Madame de Tourville's opinion did not coincide with that of Madame la Princesse; she claimed that he lacked distinction. Lenet declared that he considered him a gallant fellow, and Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld said simply:—
"Aha! so that's the hero, is it?"
Quarters were assigned Canolles in the principal fortress14 of the city, the Chateau15 Trompette. By day he was free to go where he pleased throughout the city, on business or pleasure as the case might be. At taps he returned to the fortress. His word was taken that he would not attempt to escape nor to correspond with any one outside the city.
Before accepting this last condition, he asked permission to write a few lines: and the permission being granted, he sent Nanon the following letter:—
"A prisoner, but at liberty upon my word of honor to correspond with no one outside the walls of Bordeaux, I write you these few words, dear Nanon, to assure you of my affection, which my silence might cause you to doubt. I depend upon you to defend my honor in the sight of the king and queen.
"Baron16 de Canolles."
In these very mild conditions the influence of Madame de Cambes was very perceptible.
It was four or five days before he came to the end of the banquets and festivities of all sorts, with which his friends entertained him; he was seen constantly with Ravailly, who walked about with his left arm in that of Canolles and his right in a sling17. When the drums beat and the Bordelais set out upon some expedition or hurried to quell18 an uprising, they were sure to see Canolles somewhere on the way, either with Ravailly on his arm, or alone, with his hands behind his back, interested, smiling, and inoffensive.
Since his arrival he had seen Madame de Cambes very rarely, and had hardly spoken to her; the viscountess seemed to be content so long as he was not with Nanon, and she was happy to know that he was in her neighborhood.
Canolles wrote to her to complain, mildly, whereupon she procured19 for him invitations to one or two houses in the city.
More than that. Canolles, through Lenet's intercession, had obtained permission to pay his respects to Madame de Condé, and the comely20 prisoner appeared sometimes at her receptions, dancing attendance upon the ladies of her suite21.
It would be impossible, however, to imagine a man less interested than Canolles in political matters. To see Madame de Cambes and exchange a few words with her; if he could not succeed in speaking to her, to receive an affectionate smile and nod from her, to press her hand when she entered her carriage, and, Huguenot though he was, to offer her holy water at church,—such were the main points of interest in the prisoner's day.
At night he thought over what had taken place during the day.
It was not long, however, before this mild distraction22 ceased to satisfy the prisoner. As he fully realized the exquisite23 delicacy24 of Madame de Cambes, who was even more solicitous25 for his honor than her own, he sought to enlarge the circle of his distractions26. In the first place he fought with an officer of the garrison27 and with two bourgeois28, which helped to while away a few hours. But as he disarmed29 one of his opponents and wounded the others, that form of amusement soon failed him for lack of persons disposed to amuse him.
Then he indulged in one or two little love-affairs. This was not to be wondered at, for not only was Canolles, as we have said, an extremely well-favored youth, but since he had been a prisoner he had become immeasurably more interesting. For three whole days and the morning of the fourth his captivity30 was the talk of the town; more could hardly be said of that of Monsieur le Prince.
One day when Canolles hoped to see Madame de Cambes at church,—and when Madame de Cambes, perhaps for fear of meeting him there, did not appear,—as he stood at his post by the pillar he offered the holy water to a charming creature whom he had not before seen. It was not the fault of Canolles, but of Madame de Cambes; for if she had come, he would have thought of none but her, would have seen none but her, and would have offered holy water to none but her.
That same day, as he was wondering in his own mind who the charming brunette could be, he received an invitation to pass the evening with Lavie, the avocat-général, the same man who had undertaken to interfere31 with the entry of Madame la Princesse, and who, in his capacity of upholder of the royal authority, was detested32 almost as cordially as Monsieur d'épernon. Canolles, who felt more and more imperatively33 the need of being amused, accepted the invitation with thankfulness, and betook himself to the avocat-général's house at six o'clock.
The hour may seem strange to our modern entertainers; but there were two reasons why Canolles made his appearance so seasonably: in the first place, as people in those days dined at noon, evening parties began vastly earlier; in the second place, as Canolles invariably reported at Chateau Trompette as early as half-after nine, he must needs arrive among the first if he wished to do anything more than show himself for a moment.
As he entered the salon34 he uttered an exclamation35 of delight; Madame Lavie was no other than the bewitching brunette to whom he so gallantly36 presented the holy water that very morning.
Canolles was greeted in the avocat-général's salon as a royalist who had been tried and found not wanting. He had no sooner been presented than he was overwhelmed with compliments fit to turn the head of one of the seven wise men of Greece. His defence, at the time of the first attack, was compared with that of Horatius Codes, and his final defeat to the fall of Troy brought about by the artifices37 of Ulysses.
"My dear Monsieur de Canolles," said the avocat-général, "I know from the best authority that you have been much talked of at court, and that your gallant defence has covered you with glory; the queen has declared that she will exchange you as soon as possible, and that when you return to her service it shall be as colonel or brigadier; now, do you wish to be exchanged?"
"'Faith, monsieur," replied Canolles, with a killing glance at Madame Lavie, "I assure you that I desire nothing so much as that the queen will not hurry. She would have to exchange me for a sum of money, or for some good soldier; I am not worth the expense of the one, nor do I deserve the honor of the other. I will wait until her Majesty38 has taken Bordeaux, where I am extremely comfortable just at present; then she will have me for nothing."
Madame Lavie smiled affably.
"The devil!" said her husband, "you speak very lukewarmly of your freedom, baron."
"Well, why should I get excited over it? Do you imagine that it would be very agreeable for me to return to active service, where I am exposed day after day to the risk of killing some of my dearest friends?"
"But what sort of a life are you leading here?" rejoined the avocat-général,—"a life altogether unworthy of a man of your calibre, taking part in no council and in no enterprise for the good of the cause, forced to see others serving the cause in which they believe, while you sit with folded arms, useless to yourself and to everybody else; the situation ought to be burdensome to you."
Canolles looked at Madame Lavie, who happened to be looking at him.
"No," said he, "you are mistaken; I am not bored in the least. You busy yourself with politics, which is a very wearisome pursuit, while I make love, which is very amusing. You people in Bordeaux are on the one hand the servants of the queen, on the other hand the servants of the princess, while I attach myself to the fortunes of no one sovereign, but am the slave of all the ladies."
The retort was much enjoyed, and the mistress of the house expressed her opinion of it by a smile.
Soon they sat down at the card-tables, and Madame Lavie went shares with Canolles against her husband, who lost five hundred pistoles.
The next day the populace, for some unknown reason, thought best to organize an émeute. A partisan39 of the princes, somewhat more fanatical in his devotion than his fellows, proposed that they should go and throw stones at Monsieur Lavie's windows. When the glass was all broken, another proposed to set fire to his house. They were already running to fetch firebrands when Canolles arrived with a detachment of the Navailles regiment, escorted Madame Lavie to a place of safety, and rescued her husband from the clutches of half a score of maniacs40, who, as they had failed to burn him, were determined41 to hang him.
"Well, my man of action," said Canolles to the avocat-général, who was positively42 blue with terror, "what do you think now of my idleness? Is it not better for me to do nothing?"
With that he returned to Chateau Trompette, as taps were just sounding. He found there upon his table a letter, the shape of which made his heart beat faster, and the writing made him jump.
It was written by Madame de Cambes.
Canolles hastily opened it and read:—
"To-morrow, about six in the evening, be at the Carmelite Church, alone, and go to the first confessional on the left as you enter. You will find the door open."
"Well, that's an original idea," said Canolles.
There was a postscript43.
"Do not boast," it said, "of having been where you were yesterday and to-day. Bordeaux is not a royalist city, remember, and the fate Monsieur l'Avocat-général would have suffered but for you should make you reflect."
"Good!" said Canolles, "she is jealous. And so, whatever she may say, I did very well to go to Monsieur Lavie's yesterday and to-day."
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1
laurels
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| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
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2
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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3
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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4
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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7
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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9
rancor
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| n.深仇，积怨 | |
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10
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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11
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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12
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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14
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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15
chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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16
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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17
sling
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| vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓 | |
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18
quell
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| v.压制，平息，减轻 | |
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19
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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20
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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21
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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22
distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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23
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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24
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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solicitous
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| adj.热切的，挂念的 | |
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26
distractions
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| n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱 | |
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27
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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28
bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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29
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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31
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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32
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
imperatively
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| adv.命令式地 | |
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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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35
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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36
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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37
artifices
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| n.灵巧( artifice的名词复数 )；诡计；巧妙办法；虚伪行为 | |
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38
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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39
partisan
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| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
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40
maniacs
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| n.疯子（maniac的复数形式） | |
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41
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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42
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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43
postscript
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| n.附言，又及；(正文后的)补充说明 | |
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