XX
Madame de Cambes had finished her toilet, – a toilet all the more charming for its simplicity, – and throwing a light cape over her shoulders, motioned to Pompée to go before her. It was almost dark, and thinking that she would be less likely to be observed on foot than in a carriage, she ordered her carriage to await her at one of the doors of the Carmelite church, near a chapel in which she had obtained permission for the marriage ceremony to take place. Pompée descended the stairs and the viscountess followed. This assumption of the duties of a scout reminded the old soldier of the famous patrol of the night before the battle of Corbie.
At the foot of the staircase, as the viscountess was about to pass the door of the salon, where there was a great commotion, she met Madame de Tourville dragging the Duc de La Rochefoucauld toward the princess's cabinet, and engaged in an earnest discussion with him on the way.
"One word, madame, I entreat," said she; "what decision has been reached?"
"My plan is adopted!" cried Madame de Tourville, triumphantly.
"What is your plan, madame? I do not know."
"Reprisals, my dear, reprisals!"
"Pardon me, madame, but I am so unfortunate as not to be familiar as you are with warlike terms; what do you mean by the word 'reprisals'?"
"Nothing simpler, dear child."
"Pray explain yourself."
"They hanged an officer in the army of Messieurs les Princes, did they not?"
"Yes; what then?"
"Why, we hunt up an officer of the royal army in Bordeaux, and hang him."
"Great God!" cried Claire, in dismay; "what do you say, madame?"
"Monsieur le Duc," continued the dowager, apparently not heeding the viscountess's alarm, "has not the officer who was in command at Saint-Georges already been arrested?"
"Yes, madame," the duke replied.
"Monsieur de Canolles arrested!" cried Claire.
"Yes, madame," rejoined the duke, coldly, "Monsieur de Canolles is arrested, or soon will be; the order was given in my presence, and I saw the men set out to execute it."
"But did they know where he was?" Claire asked with a last ray of hope.
"He was at the house of our host, Monsieur de Lalasne, in the suburbs, where they say he was having great success at tennis."
Claire uttered a cry. Madame de Tourville turned upon her in amazement, and the duke glanced at her with an imperceptible smile.
"Monsieur de Canolles arrested!" the viscountess repeated. "In God's name, what has he done? What connection has he with the horrible occurrence which saddens us all?"
"What connection has he with it? The very closest, my dear. Is not he a governor, as Richon was?"
Claire tried to speak, but the words died upon her lips.
She seized the duke's arm and gazing at him in terror, succeeded at last in uttering these words in a hoarse whisper: —
"Oh! but it's a feint, is it not, Monsieur le Duc? nothing more than a mere demonstration? We can do nothing – at least so it seems to me – to one who is a prisoner on parole."
"Richon also, madame, was a prisoner on parole."
"Monsieur le Duc, I implore you – "
"Spare your supplications, madame, for they are useless. I can do nothing in the matter; it is for the council to decide."
Claire dropped the duke's arm and hurried to Madame de Condé's cabinet, where she found Lenet striding back and forth, pale and agitated, while Madame de Condé talked with the Duc de Bouillon.
Madame de Cambes glided to the princess's side, as white and light of foot as a ghost.
"Oh, madame," said she, "give me one moment, I entreat you!"
"Ah! is it you, little one? I am not at liberty at this moment; but after the council I am at your service."
"Madame, madame, I must speak to you
before
the council!"
The princess was about to accede, when a door, opposite that by which the viscountess had come in, opened, and Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld appeared.
"Madame," said he, "the council has assembled and is impatiently awaiting your Highness."
"You see, little one," said Madame de Condé, "that it is impossible for me to listen to you at this moment; but come with us to the council, and when it is at an end we will return and talk together."
It was out of the question to insist. Dazzled and bewildered by the frightful rapidity with which events were rushing on, the poor woman began to have the vertigo; she gazed wildly into the faces, and watched the gestures of all about her, without seeing anything, unable to understand what was going on, and struggling in vain to shake off the frightful nightmare that oppressed her.
The princess walked toward the salon. Claire followed her mechanically, nor did she notice that Lenet had taken in his the ice-cold hand that hung listlessly at her side like the hand of a corpse.
They entered the council chamber; it was about eight o'clock in the evening.
It was a vast apartment, naturally dark and gloomy, but made even darker by heavy hangings. A sort of platform had been erected between the two doors, and opposite the two windows, through which the last feeble rays of the dying daylight made their way into the room. Upon the platform were two arm-chairs; one for Madame de Condé, the other for the Duc d'Enghien. On either side of these arm-chairs was a row of
tabourets
for the ladies who composed her Highness's privy council. The other judges were to sit upon benches prepared for them. The Duc de Bouillon stood immediately behind Madame de Condé's chair, and the Duc de La Rochefoucauld behind that of the young prince.
Lenet stood opposite the clerk; beside him was Claire, dazed and trembling.
Six officers of the army, six municipal councillors, and six sheriffs were introduced, and took their seats upon the benches.
Two candelabra, each containing three candles, furnished light for the deliberations of this improvised tribunal; they were placed upon a table in front of Madame la Princesse, so that they shed a bright light upon the principal group, while the other persons present were more or less in shadow according as they were near to or at a distance from this feeble centre of light.
The doors were guarded by soldiers of the army of Madame la Princesse, halberd in hand. The roaring of the crowd could be heard without.
The clerk called the roll of the judges, and each one rose in turn and answered to his name.
Thereupon the judge advocate opened the business upon which they were called together; he detailed the capture of Vayres, Monsieur de La Meilleraie's breach of his word, and the infamous death of Richon.
At that point an officer, who had been stationed at a window for that express purpose, and had received his orders in advance, threw the window open, and the voices of the people in the street rolled in in waves: "Vengeance for Richon! Death to the Mazarinists!" Such was the name bestowed upon the royalists.
"You hear," said Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld, "what the voice of the people demands. Two hours hence, either the people will have cast our authority to the winds and taken the law into their own hands, or it will be too late for reprisals. Adjudge this matter, therefore, messieurs, and that without further delay."
The princess rose.
"Why adjudge, I pray to know?" she cried. "What purpose is to be served by a judgment? You have already heard the judgment pronounced by the good people of Bordeaux."
"Indeed," said Madame de Tourville, "it would be impossible to conceive a simpler situation. It's the law of retaliation pure and simple. Such things as this should be done by inspiration, so to speak, between provost and provost."
Lenet could listen to no more; from the place where he stood he rushed into the midst of the circle.
"Oh! not a word more, madame, I beg you," he cried, "for such counsels, were they to prevail, would be too horrible in their consequences. You forget that the royal authorities themselves, although they chose to inflict infamous punishment, nevertheless preserved the forms of law, and that the punishment, whether just or unjust, was ratified by the decree of a court-martial. Do you think that you have the right to do a thing that the king dared not do?"
"Oh! nothing more is needed than for me to express an opinion, to have Monsieur Lenet maintain the opposite!" exclaimed Madame de Tourville. "Unfortunately, my opinion this time agrees with her Highness's."
"Unfortunately, indeed," said Lenet.
"Monsieur!" cried the princess.
"Ah! madame," continued Lenet, "preserve appearances at least. Will you not still be at liberty to condemn?"
"Monsieur Lenet is right," said La Rochefoucauld. "The death of a man is too serious a matter, especially under such circumstances, for us to allow the responsibility to rest upon a single head, even though it be a princely head."
Leaning toward the princess then, so that her immediate neighbors alone could hear, he added: —
"Madame, take the opinion of all, and then retain only those of whom you are sure, to take part in the trial. In that way we shall have no cause for fear that our vengeance will escape us."
"One moment, one moment," interposed Monsieur de Bouillon, leaning upon his cane, and raising his gouty leg. "You have spoken of taking the responsibility off the princess's shoulders. I have no desire to shirk it, but I would be glad to have others share it with me. I ask nothing better than to continue in rebellion, but in company with Madame la Princesse on the one hand and the people on the other. Damnation! I don't choose to be isolated. I lost my sovereignty of Sedan through a pleasantry of this sort. At that time I had a city and a head. Cardinal de Richelieu took my city; to-day I have nothing left but a head, and I'm not anxious that Cardinal Mazarin should take that. I therefore demand that the notables of Bordeaux take part in the proceedings."
"Such signatures beside ours!" murmured the princess; "go to!"
"The mortise holds the timber in place, madame," rejoined Bouillon, whom the conspiracy of Cinq-Mars had rendered prudent for the rest of his life.
"Is that your opinion, messieurs?"
"Yes," said the Duc de La Rochefoucauld.
"And you, Lenet?"
"Fortunately, madame," replied Lenet, "I am neither prince nor duke, nor municipal official, nor sheriff. I am entitled to hold aloof, therefore, and I will do so."
Thereupon the princess rose, and called upon the assemblage to reply in energetic and unmistakable fashion to the royal challenge. Hardly had she finished what she had to say when the window was thrown open again, and again the voices of the people without invaded the hall, crying: —
"Vive Madame la Princesse! Vengeance for Richon! Death to the Épernonists and Mazarinists!"
Madame de Cambes seized Lenet's arm.
"Monsieur Lenet," said she, "I am dying!"
"Madame la Vicomtesse de Cambes," he replied, "request her Highness's permission to retire."
"No, no," said Claire, "I want – "
"Your place is not here, madame," Lenet interrupted. "You can do nothing for him; I will keep you informed of whatever takes place, and together we will try to save him."
"The viscountess may retire," said the princess. "Those ladies who do not care to be present at this function are at liberty to follow her."
Not a woman stirred; one of the never-ending aspirations of that half of the human race whose destiny it is to fascinate is to usurp the rights of the half destined to command. These ladies saw an opportunity to play the part of men for a moment, and proposed to make the most of it.
Madame de Cambes left the room, supported by Lenet. On the stairs she met Pompée whom she had sent in quest of news.
"Well?" said she inquiringly.
"He is arrested!"
"Monsieur Lenet," said Claire, "I have no confidence or hope save in you and God!" and she rushed despairingly into her own room.
"What questions shall I put to him who is about to appear before us?" Madame la Princess asked, as Lenet resumed his place beside the clerk, "and to whose lot shall it fall to die?"
"It's a very simple matter, madame," replied the duke. "We have some three hundred prisoners, ten or twelve of whom are officers. Let us question them simply as to their names and their rank in the royal army, and the first one who turns out to be the governor of a fortress, as Richon was, we will consider to be the one to whom the lot has fallen."
"It is useless to waste our time questioning ten or twelve different officers, messieurs," said the princess, "you have the list, Monsieur le Greffier: just glance over it, and read the names of those who hold equal rank to Richon's."
"There are but two, madame," said the clerk; "the governor of Île Saint-Georges, and the governor of Braune."
"We have two of them, it is true!" cried the princess; "fate is kind to us, you see. Are they under arrest, Labussière?"
"Certainly, madame," the captain of the guards replied, "and both are in the fortress awaiting the order to appear."
"Let them be brought hither," said Madame de Condé.
"Which one shall we bring?" asked Labussière.
"Bring them both: but we will begin with the first in date, Monsieur le Gouverneur de Saint-Georges."
XXI
A terrified silence, broken only by the receding footsteps of the captain of the guards, and by the constantly increasing murmur of the multitude without, followed this order, which gave the rebellion of Messieurs les Princes a more terrible and perilous aspect than any it had as yet assumed. Its inevitable effect was by a single act to place the princess and her advisers, the army and the city, outside the pale of the law; it was to burden an entire population with responsibility for the selfishness and passions of the few; it was to do on a small scale what the Commune of Paris did on the 2d of September. But, as we know, the Commune of Paris acted on a grand scale.
Not a sound could be heard in the hall; all eyes were fixed upon the door through which the prisoner was expected to appear. The princess, in order to act out her part of presiding magistrate, made a pretence of looking over the lists; Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld had assumed a musing expression, and Monsieur de Bouillon was talking with Madame de Tourville about his gout, which caused him much suffering.
Lenet approached the princess to make a last effort; not that he had any hope of success, but he was one of those conscientious men, who fulfil a duty because their conscience imposes upon them the obligation to do so.
"Consider, madame," said he, "that you are risking the future of your house upon a single throw."
"There is no great merit in that," said the princess dryly, "for I am sure to win."
"Monsieur le Duc," said Lenet, turning to La Rochefoucauld, "do not you, who are so superior to commonplace motives and vulgar human passions, advise moderation?"
"Monsieur," retorted the duke, hypocritically, "I am at this moment discussing the point with my reason."
"Discuss it rather with your conscience, Monsieur le Duc," replied Lenet; "that would be much better."
At that moment they heard the sound of the outer door closing. The sound echoed in every heart, for it announced the arrival of one of the two prisoners. Soon steps resounded on the stairway, halberds rang upon the flags, the door opened, and Canolles appeared.
He had never appeared so distinguished, had never been so handsome; his calm, unmoved face had retained the cheerful expression of happy ignorance. He came forward with easy, unaffected bearing, as he might have done in the salon of Monsieur Lavie, or Président Lalasne, and respectfully saluted the princess and the dukes.
The princess was amazed at his perfect ease of manner, and gazed at the young man for a moment without speaking.
At last she broke the silence.
"Come forward, monsieur," said she.
Canolles obeyed and saluted a second time.
"Who are you?"
"I am Baron Louis de Canolles, madame."
"What rank did you hold in the royal army?"
"I was lieutenant-colonel."
"Were you not governor of Île Saint-Georges?"
"I had that honor."
"You have told the truth?"
"In every point, madame."
"Have you taken down the questions and answers, master clerk?"
The clerk bowed.
"Sign, monsieur," said the princess.
Canolles took the pen with the air of a man who does not understand the purpose of a command, but obeys out of deference to the rank of the person who makes it, and signed his name with a smile.
"'Tis well, monsieur," said the princess; "you may now retire."
Canolles saluted his judges once more, and withdrew with the same grace and freedom from constraint, and with no manifestation of surprise or curiosity.
The door was no sooner closed behind him than the princess rose.
"Well, messieurs?" said she with a questioning accent.
"Well, madame, let us vote," said the Duc de La Rochefoucauld.
"Let us vote," echoed the Duc de Bouillon. "Will these gentlemen be kind enough to express their opinion?" he added, turning to the municipal dignitaries.
"After you, monseigneur," replied one of them.
"Nay, nay, before you!" cried a sonorous voice, in which there was such an accent of determination that everybody stared in amazement.
"What does this mean?" demanded the princess, trying to identify the owner of the voice.
"It means," cried a man, rising, so that there should be no doubt as to his identity, "that I, André Lavie, king's advocate and counsellor of parliament, demand in the king's name, and in the name of humanity, for prisoners detained in Bordeaux upon parole, the privileges and guaranties to which they are entitled. Consequently, my conclusion is – "
"Oho! Monsieur l'Avocat," exclaimed the princess with a shrug, "none of your court jargon in my presence, I pray you, for I do not understand it. This is an affair of sentiment that we are engaged upon, and not a paltry pettifogging lawsuit; every one who has a seat upon this tribunal will understand the propriety of this course, I presume."
"Yes, yes," rejoined the sheriffs and the officers in chorus; "vote, messieurs, vote!"
"I said, and I say again," continued Lavie; unabashed by the princess's rebuke, "I demand their privileges and guaranties for prisoners detained on parole. This is no question of lawsuits, but of the law of nations!"
"And I say, furthermore," cried Lenet, "that Richon was heard in his own defence before he met his cruel fate, and that it is no more than fair that we should hear these accused persons."
"And I," said D'Espagnet, the militia officer, who took part in the attack upon Saint-Georges with Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld, "I declare that if any clemency be shown, the city will rise in revolt."
A shout from without seemed to echo and confirm his words.
"Let us make haste," said the princess. "What penalty shall we inflict upon the accused?"
"There are two of them, madame," suggested several voices.
"Is not one enough for you, pray?" retorted Lenet, smiling scornfully at this sanguinary servility.
"Which shall it be, then; which?" demanded the same voices.
"The fattest one, cannibals!" cried Lavie. "Ah! you complain of injustice and shout sacrilege, and yet you propose to reply to an assassination by two murders! A noble combination of philosophers and soldiers melted together into murderers!"
The flashing eyes of the majority of the judges seemed quite ready to blast the courageous king's advocate. Madame de Condé had risen from her chair and was looking inquiringly into the faces of those about her as if to assure herself that the words she had heard had really been uttered, and if there really was a man on earth bold enough to say such things in her presence.
Lavie realized that his continued presence would result in adding to the bitter feeling, and that his manner of defending the accused would destroy instead of saving them. He determined to retire, therefore, but to retire rather as a judge declining to serve than as a soldier taking to his heels.
"In the name of God Almighty," said he, "I protest against what you propose to do; in the king's name, I forbid it!"
With that, he overturned his arm-chair with a wrathful gesture, and stalked out of the room with his head in the air, like a man strong in the consciousness of duty well done, and indifferent to the possible results thereof.
"Insolent!" muttered the princess.
"No matter! no matter! let him have his way," said several; "Master Lavie's turn will come."
"Let us vote!" exclaimed the judges, almost as one man.
"But why vote without hearing the accused?" said Lenet. "Perhaps one of them will seem to you more guilty than the other. Perhaps you will conclude to concentrate upon a single head the vengeance which you now propose to divide between two."
At that moment the outer door was heard a second time.
"Very good!" said the princess, "we will vote upon both at once."
The judges, who had left their seats in disorder, sat down once more. Again the sound of footsteps was heard, accompanied by the ringing of halberds on the flags; the door opened once more and Cauvignac appeared.
The newcomer presented a striking contrast to Canolles; his garments still showed the effects of his encounter with the populace, despite the pains he had taken to efface them; his eyes glanced hastily from the sheriffs to the officers, from the dukes to the princess, embracing the whole tribunal in a sort of circular glance; then, with the air of a fox devising a stratagem, he came forward, feeling the ground at every step, so to speak, with every faculty on the alert, but pale and visibly disturbed.
"Your Highness did me the honor to summon me to your presence," he began, without waiting to be questioned.
"Yes, monsieur, for I desired to be enlightened upon certain points relative to yourself, which cause us some perplexity."
"In that case," rejoined Cauvignac, with a bow, "I am here, madame, ready to requite the honor your Highness is pleased to confer upon me."
He bowed with the most graceful air he could muster, but it was clearly lacking in ease and naturalness.
"That you may do very speedily," said the princess, "if your answers are as definite as our questions."
"Allow me to remind your Highness," said Cauvignac, "that, as the question is always prepared beforehand, and the response never, it is more difficult to respond than to question."
"Oh! our questions will be so clear and precise," said the princess, "that you will be spared any necessity for reflecting upon them. Your name?"
"Ah! madame, there you are! there is a most embarrassing question, first of all."
"How so?"
"It often happens that one has two names, the name one has received from his family, and the name one has received from himself. Take my own case as an example: I thought that I had sufficient reason for laying aside my first name in favor of another less widely known; which of the two names do you require me to give you?"
"That under which you presented yourself at Chantilly, that under which you agreed to raise a company in my interest, that under which you did raise it, and that under which you sold yourself to Monsieur de Mazarin."
"Pardon me, madame," said Cauvignac; "but I have the impression that I had the honor to reply satisfactorily to all these questions during the audience your Highness was graciously pleased to grant me this morning."
"At this time I put but one question to you," said the princess beginning to lose patience. "I simply ask you your name."
"Very true! but that is just what embarrasses me."
"Write Baron de Cauvignac," said the princess.
The accused made no objection, and the clerk wrote as directed.
"Now, your rank?" said the princess; "I trust you will find no difficulty in replying to this question."
"On the contrary, madame, that is one of the most embarrassing questions you could put to me. If you refer to my rank as a scholar, I am a bachelor of letters, licentiate in law, doctor of theology; I reply, as your Highness sees, without hesitation."
"No, monsieur, we refer to your military rank."
"Ah, yes! upon that point it is impossible for me to reply to your Highness."
"How so?"
"Because I have never really known what I was myself."
"Try to make up your mind upon that point, monsieur, for I am anxious to know."
"Very well; in the first place I constituted myself a lieutenant on my own authority; but as I had no power to sign a commission, and as I never had more than six men under my orders while I bore that title, I fancy that I have no right to take advantage of it."
"But I myself made you a captain," said the princess, "and you are therefore a captain."
"Ah! that is just where my embarrassment redoubles, and my conscience cries more loudly than ever. For I have since become convinced that every military grade in the State must emanate from the royal authority in order to have any value. Now, your Highness did, beyond question, desire to make me a captain, but in my opinion you had not the right. That being so, I am no more a captain now than I was a lieutenant before."
"Even so, monsieur; assume that you were not a lieutenant by virtue of your own act, and that you are not a captain by mine, as neither you nor I have the right to sign a commission; at least you are governor of Braune; and as the king himself signed your commission you will not contest its validity."
"In very truth, madame, it is the most contestable of the three."
"How so?" cried the princess.
"I was appointed, I grant you, but I never entered upon my duties. What constitutes the title? Not the bare possession of the title itself, but the performance of the functions attached to the title. Now, I never performed a single one of the functions of the post to which I was promoted; I never set foot in my jurisdiction; there was on my part no entrance upon my duties; therefore I am no more governor of Braune than I was a captain before being governor, or a lieutenant before being a captain."
"But you were taken upon the road to Braune, monsieur."
"True; but a hundred yards beyond the point where I was arrested, the road divides; thence one road leads to Braune, but the other to Isson. Who can say that I was not going to Isson, rather than to Braune?"
"Enough," said the princess; "the tribunal will take under consideration the force of your defence. Clerk, write him down governor of Braune."
"I cannot prevent your Highness from ordering the clerk to write down whatever seems best to you."
"It is done, madame," said the clerk.
"Good. Now, monsieur, sign your deposition."
"It would give me the greatest pleasure, madame," said Cauvignac; "I should be enchanted to do anything that would be agreeable to your Highness; but in the struggle I was forced to wage this morning against the populace of Bordeaux, – a struggle in which your Highness so generously came to my rescue with your musketeers, – I had the misfortune to have my right wrist injured, and it has always been impossible for me to write with my left hand."
"Record the refusal of the accused to sign, monsieur," said the prince