Collected Works of Rafael Sabatini Page 7

  “You? And with what motive, pray?”

  “At first, as I have told you, because the Cardinal gave me no choice in the matter touching your son. Since then my motive has lain in my friendship for the boy. He has been kind and affectionate to one who has known little kindness or affection in life. I seek to repay him by advancing his interests and his happiness. That, Monsieur, is why I am here to-day — to shield him from St. Auban and his fellows should they appear again, as I believe they will.”

  The old man stood up and eyed me for a moment as steadily as his vacillating glance would permit him, then he held out his hand.

  “I trust, Monsieur,” he said, “that you will do me the honour to dine with us, and that whilst you are at Blois we shall see you at Canaples as often as it may please you to cross its threshold.”

  I took his hand, but without enthusiasm, for I understood that his words sprang from no warmth of heart for me, but merely from the fact that he beheld in me a likely ally to his designs of raising his daughter to the rank of Duchess.

  Eugène de Canaples may have been a good-for-nothing knave; still, methought his character scarce justified the callous indifference manifested by this selfish, weak-minded old man towards his own son.

  There was a knock at the door, and a lackey — the same Guilbert whom I had seen at Choisy in Mademoiselle’s company — appeared with the announcement that the Chevalier was served.

  CHAPTER VIII. THE FORESHADOW OF DISASTER

  In the spacious dining salon of the Château de Canaples I found the two daughters of my host awaiting us — those same two ladies of the coach in Place Vendôme and of the hostelry at Choisy, the dark and stately icicle, Yvonne, and the fair, playful doll, Geneviève.

  I bowed my best bow as the Chevalier presented me, and from the corner of my eye, with inward malice, I watched them as I did so. Geneviève curtsied with a puzzled air and a sidelong glance at her sister. Yvonne accorded me the faintest, the coldest, inclination of her head, whilst her cheeks assumed a colour that was unwonted.

  “We have met before, I think, Monsieur,” she said disdainfully.

  “True, Mademoiselle — once,” I answered, thinking only of the coach.

  “Twice, Monsieur,” she corrected, whereupon I recalled how she had surprised me with my arm about the waist of the inn-keeper’s daughter, and had Heaven given me shame I might have blushed. But if sweet Yvonne thought to bring Gaston de Luynes to task for profiting by the good things which God’s providence sent his way, she was led by vanity into a prodigious error.

  “Twice, indeed, Mademoiselle. But the service which you rendered me upon the first occasion was so present to my mind just now that it eclipsed the memory of our second meeting. I have ever since desired, Mademoiselle, that an opportunity might be mine wherein to thank you for the preservation of my life. I do so now, and at your service do I lay that life which you preserved, and which is therefore as much yours as mine.”

  Strive as I might I could not rid my tone of an ironical inflection. I was goaded to it by her attitude, by the scornful turn of her lip and the disdainful glance of her grey eyes — she had her father’s eyes, saving that her gaze was as steadfast as his was furtive.

  “What is this?” quoth Canaples. “You owe your life to my daughter? Pray tell me of it.”

  “With all my heart,” I made haste to answer before Mademoiselle could speak. “A week ago, I disagreed upon a question of great delicacy with a certain gentleman who shall be nameless. The obvious result attended our disagreement, and we fought ‘neath the eyes of a vast company of spectators. Right was on my side, and the gentleman hurt himself upon my sword. Well, sir, the crowd snarled at me as though it were my fault that this had so befallen, and I flouted the crowd in answer. They were a hundred opposed to one, and so confident did this circumstance render them of their superiority, that for once those whelps displayed sufficient valour to attack me. I fled, and as a coach chanced to come that way, I clutched at the window and hung there. Within the coach there were two ladies, and one of them, taking compassion upon me, invited me to enter and thus rescued me. That lady, sir,” I ended with a bow, “was Mademoiselle your daughter.”

  In his eyes I read it that he had guessed the name of my nameless gentleman.

  The ladies were struck dumb by my apparent effrontery. Yvonne at last recovered sufficiently to ask if my presence at the château arose from my being attached to M. de Mancini. Now, “attached” is an unpleasant word. A courtier is attached to the King; a soldier to the army; there is humiliation in neither of these. But to a private gentleman, a man may be only attached as his secretary, his valet, or, possibly, as his bravo. Therein lay the sting of her carefully chosen word.

  “I am M. de Mancini’s friend,” I answered with simple dignity.

  For all reply she raised her eyebrows in token of surprise; Canaples looked askance; I bit my lip, and an awkward silence followed, which, luckily, was quickly ended by the appearance of Andrea.

  The ladies received him graciously, and a faint blush might, to searching eyes, have been perceived upon Geneviève’s cheek.

  There came a delicate exchange of compliments, after which we got to table, and for my part I did ample justice to the viands.

  I sat beside Geneviève, and vis-à-vis with Andrea, who occupied the place of the honoured guest, at the host’s right hand, with Yvonne beside him. Me it concerned little where I sat, since the repast was all that I could look for; not so the others. Andrea scowled at me because I was nearer to Geneviève than he, and Yvonne frowned at me for other reasons. By Geneviève I was utterly disregarded, and my endeavours to converse were sorely unsuccessful — for one may not converse alone.

  I clearly saw that Yvonne only awaited an opportunity to unmask me, and denounce me to her father as the man who had sought his son’s life.

  This opportunity, however, came not until the moment of my departure from the château, that evening. I was crossing the hail with the Chevalier de Canaples, and we had stopped for a moment to admire a piece of old chain armour of the days of the Crusaders. Andrea and Geneviève had preceded us, and passed out through the open doorway, whilst Yvonne lingered upon the threshold looking back.

  “I trust, M. de Luynes,” said Canaples, as we moved towards her, “that you will remember my invitation, and that whilst you remain at Biois we shall see you here as often as you may be pleased to come; indeed, I trust that you will be a daily visitor.”

  Before I could utter a reply— “Father,” exclaimed Mademoiselle, coming forward, “do you know to whom you are offering the hospitality of Canaples?”

  “Why that question, child? To M. de Luynes, M. de Mancini’s friend.”

  “And the would-be murderer of Eugène,” she added fiercely.

  Canaples started.

  “Surely such affairs are not for women to meddle with,” he cried. “Moreover, M. de Luynes has already given me all details of the affair.”

  Her eyes grew very wide at that.

  “He has told you? Yet you invite him hither?” she exclaimed.

  “M. de Luynes has naught wherewith to reproach himself, nor have I. Those details which he has given me I may not impart to you; suffice it, however, that I am satisfied that his conduct could not have been other than it was, whereas that of my son reflects but little credit upon his name.”

  She stamped her foot, and her eyes, blazing with anger, passed from one to the other of us.

  “And you — you believe this man’s story?”

  “Yvonne!”

  “Possibly,” I interposed, coolly, “Mademoiselle may have received some false account of it that justifies her evident unbelief in what I may have told you.”

  It is not easy to give a lie unless you can prove it a lie. I made her realise this, and she bit her lip in vexation. Dame! What a pretty viper I thought her at that moment!

  “Let me add, Yvonne,” said her father, “that M. de Luynes and I are old comrades in arms.” Then turning
to me— “My daughter, sir, is but a child, and therefore hasty to pass judgment upon matters beyond her understanding. Forget this foolish outburst, and remember only my assurance of an ever cordial welcome.”

  “With all my heart,” I answered, after a moment’s deliberation, during which I had argued that for once I must stifle pride if I would serve Andrea.

  “Ough!” was all Mademoiselle’s comment as she turned her back upon me. Nevertheless, I bowed and flourished my beaver to her retreating figure.

  Clearly Mademoiselle entertained for me exactly that degree of fondness which a pious hermit feels for the devil, and if I might draw conclusions from what evidences I had had of the strength of her character and the weakness of her father’s, our sojourn at Blois promised to afford me little delectation. In fact, I foresaw many difficulties that might lead to disaster should our Paris friends appear upon the scene — a contingency this that seemed over-imminent.

  It was not my wont, howbeit, to brood over the evils that the future might hold, and to this I owe it that I slept soundly that night in my room at the Lys de France.

  It was a pleasant enough chamber on the first floor, overlooking the street, and having an alcove attached to it which served for Michelot.

  Next day I visited the Château de Canaples early in the afternoon. The weather was milder, and the glow of the sun heralded at last the near approach of spring and brightened wondrously a landscape that had yesterday worn so forbidding a look.

  This change it must have been that drew the ladies, and Andrea with them, to walk in the park, where I came upon them as I rode up. Their laughter rippled merrily and they appeared upon the best of terms until they espied me. My advent was like a cloud that foretells a storm, and drove Mesdemoiselles away, when they had accorded me a greeting that contained scant graciousness.

  All unruffled by this act, from which I gathered that Yvonne the strong had tutored Geneviève the frail concerning me, I consigned my horse to a groom of the château, and linked arms with Andrea.

  “Well, boy,” quoth I, “what progress?”

  He smiled radiantly.

  “My hopes are all surpassed. It exceeds belief that so poor a thing as I should find favour in her eyes — what eyes, Gaston!” He broke off with a sigh of rapture.

  “Peste, you have lost no time. And so, already you know that you find favour, eh! How know you that?”

  “How? Need a man be told such things? There is an inexpressible—”

  “My good Andrea, seek not to express it, therefore,” I interrupted hastily. “Let it suffice that the inexpressible exists, and makes you happy. His Eminence will doubtless share your joy! Have you written to him?”

  The mirth faded from the lad’s face at the words, as the blossom fades ‘neath the blighting touch of frost. What he said was so undutiful from a nephew touching his uncle — particularly when that uncle is a prelate — that I refrain from penning it.

  We were joined just then by the Chevalier, and together we strolled round to the rose-garden — now, alas! naught but black and naked bushes — and down to the edge of the Loire, yellow and swollen by the recent rains.

  “How lovely must be this place in summer,” I mused, looking across the water towards Chambord. “And, Dame,” I cried, suddenly changing my meditations, “what an ideal fencing ground is this even turf!”

  “The swordsman’s instinct,” laughed Canaples.

  And with that our talk shifted to swords, swordsmen, and sword-play, until I suggested to Andrea that he should resume his practice, whereupon the Chevalier offered to set a room at our disposal.

  “Nay, if you will pardon me, Monsieur, ‘t is not a room we want,” I answered. “A room is well enough at the outset, but it is the common error of fencing-masters to continue their tutoring on a wooden floor. It results from this that when the neophyte handles a real sword, and defends his life upon the turf, the ground has a new feeling; its elasticity or even its slipperiness discomposes him, and sets him at a disadvantage.”

  He agreed with me, whilst Andrea expressed a wish to try the turf. Foils were brought, and we whiled away best part of an half-hour. In the end, the Chevalier, who had watched my play intently, offered to try a bout with me. And so amazed was he with the result, that he had not done talking of it when I left Canaples a few hours later — a homage this that earned me some more than ordinarily unfriendly glances from Yvonne. No doubt since the accomplishment was mine it became in her eyes characteristic of a bully and a ruffler.

  During the week that followed I visited the château with regularity, and with equal regularity did Andrea receive his fencing lessons. The object of his presence at Canaples, however, was being frustrated more and more each day, so far as the Cardinal and the Chevalier were concerned.

  He raved to me of Geneviève, the one perfect woman in all the world and brought into it by a kind Providence for his own particular delectation. In truth, love is like a rabid dog — whom it bites it renders mad; so open grew his wooing, and so ardent, that one evening I thought well to take him aside and caution him.

  “My dear Andrea,” said I, “if you will love Geneviève, you will, and there’s an end of it. But if you would not have the Chevalier pack you back to Paris and the anger of my Lord Cardinal, be circumspect, and at least when M. de Canaples is by divide your homage equally betwixt the two. ‘T were well if you dissembled even a slight preference for Yvonne — she will not be misled by it, seeing how unmistakable at all other seasons must be your wooing of Geneviève.”

  He was forced to avow the wisdom of my counsel, and to be guided by it.

  Nevertheless, I rode back to my hostelry in no pleasant frame of mind. It was more than likely that a short shrift and a length of hemp would be the acknowledgment I should anon receive from Mazarin for my participation in the miscarriage of his desires.

  I felt that disaster was on the wing. Call it a premonition; call it what you will. I know but this; that as I rode into the courtyard of the Lys de France, at dusk, the first man my eyes alighted on was the Marquis César de St. Auban, and, in conversation with him, six of the most arrant-looking ruffians that ever came out of Paris.

  CHAPTER IX. OF HOW A WHIP PROVED A BETTER ARGUMENT THAN A TONGUE

  “I crave Monsieur’s pardon, but there is a gentleman below who desires to speak with you immediately.”

  “How does this gentleman call himself, M. l’Hote?”

  “M. le Marquis de St. Auban,” answered the landlord, still standing in the doorway.

  It wanted an hour or so to noon on the day following that of St. Auban’s arrival at Blois, and I was on the point of setting out for the château on an errand of warning.

  It occurred to me to refuse to see the Marquis, but remembering betimes that from your enemy’s speech you may sometimes learn where to look for his next attack, I thought better of it and bade my host admit him.

  I strode over to the fire, and stirring the burning logs, I put my back to the blaze, and waited.

  Steps sounded on the stairs; there was the shuffling of the landlord’s slippered feet and the firm tread of my visitor, accompanied by the jingle of spurs and the clank of his scabbard as it struck the balustrade. Then my door was again opened, and St. Auban, as superbly dressed as ever, was admitted.

  We bowed formally, as men bow who are about to cross swords, and whilst I waited for him to speak, I noted that his face was pale and bore the impress of suppressed anger.

  “So, M. de Luynes, again we meet.”

  “By your seeking, M. le Marquis.”

  “You are not polite.”

  “You are not opportune.”

  He smiled dangerously.

  “I learn, Monsieur, that you are a daily visitor at the Château de Canaples.”

  “Well, sir, what of it?”

  “This. I have been to Canaples this morning and, knowing that you will learn anon, from that old dotard, what passed between us, I prefer that you shall hear it first from me.”

/>   I bowed to conceal a smile.

  “Thanks to you, M. de Luynes, I was ordered from the house. I — César de St. Auban — have been ordered from the house of a provincial upstart! Thanks to the calumnies which you poured into his ears.”

  “Calumnies! Was that the word?”

  “I choose the word that suits me best,” he answered, and the rage that was in him at the affront he had suffered at the hands of the Chevalier de Canaples was fast rising to the surface. “I warned you at Choisy of what would befall. Your opposition and your alliance with M. de Mancini are futile. You think to have gained a victory by winning over to your side an old fool who will sacrifice his honour to see his daughter a duchess, but I tell you, sir—”

  “That you hope to see her a marchioness,” I put in calmly. “You see, M. de St. Auban, I have learned something since I came to Blois.”

  He grew livid with passion.

  “You shall learn more ere you quit it, you meddler! You shall be taught to keep that long nose of yours out of matters that concern you not.”

  I laughed.

  “Loud threats!” I answered jeeringly.

  “Never fear,” he cried, “there is more to follow. To your cost shall you learn it. By God, sir! do you think that I am to suffer a Sicilian adventurer and a broken tavern ruffler to interfere with my designs?”

  Still I kept my temper.

  “So!” I said in a bantering tone. “You confess that you have designs. Good! But what says the lady, eh? I am told that she is not yet outrageously enamoured of you, for all your beauty!”

  Beside himself with passion, his hand sought his sword. But the gesture was spasmodic.

  “Knave!” he snarled.

  “Knave to me? Have a care, St. Auban, or I’ll find you a shroud for a wedding garment.”

  “Knave!” he repeated with a snarl. “What price are you paid by that boy?”

  “Pardieu, St. Auban! You shall answer to me for this.”

  “Answer for it? To you!” And he laughed harshly. “You are mad, my master. When did a St. Auban cross swords with a man of your stamp?”