Chapter LXXII: The King's Mandate

These four horsemen were from Paris direct, and proved to be M. de Brissac, a Commander of Notre Dame de Mont Carmel, and two grey musketeers, gentlemen in the suite of Cardinal Richelieu, who came as commissioners, with a warrant to convey Marie Louise of Lorraine, daughter of Duke Charles IV., and her husband the Duke d'Alsace, direct, under suitable escort, to the capital, where they were to be delivered to the captain of the _Bastille_!

As I read over the warrant, and with a sickening heart handed it to Dundrennan, to whom, as new chatelain of Lutzelstein, it was more immediately addressed, I felt a strong desire to pass my sword in succession through the bodies of M. De Brissac, the unfortunate Knight of Our Lady of Mont Carmel, and their two companions.

'Dundrennan,' I whispered, 'what shall we do?'

'Receive the King's mandate with respect in the first place, and promise implicit obedience in the second; but whether we shall see fit to fulfil that promise, is a matter for future consideration. Gentlemen,' said he, turning to the four visitors, 'I am Viscount Dundrennan, a gentleman of the Garde du Corps Ecossais, now captain of this tower, and shall see that our fair prisoner is duly apprised of your arrival, and of the King's kind views concerning her and the little Duke, who is now happily beyond the reach even of Cardinal Richelieu. When do you propose returning towards Paris?'

'To-night, if possible,' said De Brissac.

'Pardieu! my dear De Brissac,' exclaimed the knight of Mont Carmel, 'don't speak yet of returning, before we have almost seated ourselves.'

'Of course, gentlemen, you will breakfast with us?'

'With pleasure. I have tasted nothing since we supped at a wayside auberge yesterday, where we had to cook the fowls for ourselves.'

'And you pronounced them delicious, M. le Chevalier, and gave all the heads and legs to the aubergiste, with your customary liberality.'

'De Brissac!' I muttered, 'this caterer for the Bastille, is, like De Bitche, my evil genius.'

'Hush!' said Dundrennan; 'any display of hostility will spoil the plan of my intended campaign. I mean you to play a little game with these four commissioners, as the warrant of Louis, "by God's grace, King of France and Navarre," styles them. So, gentlemen, what is the latest news from the vicinity of Notre Dame?'

'The same as ever,' replied the commander of Mont Carmel; 'the star of La Comtesse d'Amboise is still in the ascendant.'

'King Louis still reigns in the bosoms of his subjects--the female portion thereof especially,' said De Brissac.

'For shame, De Brissac; this is "lese Majesty."'

'Nay, 'tis a melancholy truism.'

'And Monseigneur le Cardinal still worships at the shrine of Marion de l'Orme?' said I, with a spiteful glance at De Brissac.

'Oh yes, M. Blane!' said he, with a covert smile; 'and has employed M. Poussin to paint two classic subjects from ancient history for her boudoir.'

'The sorrows of the chaste Lucretia, perhaps?'

'No: Nero, after his first shave, presenting his soapsuds to thundering Jove in the Capitol; and Caligula making love to the moon, and beseeching her to enter his bed.'

There was an undefinable something in the jaunty air and jocular tone of De Brissac that irritated me, I scarcely knew why; so I said--'You and I had a little affair left unsettled in Paris, M. de Brissac, if I remember rightly.'

'I was just about to recall it to your memory, and regret that you have but anticipated me. You consider me still your debtor?' 'I do,' was the haughty reply.

'And wish to fight with me?' 'Yes,' I replied, heedless of a twitch Dundrennan gave my cloak.

'Then I regret, M. Blane, that I must decline the honor of crossing swords with you.' 'Zounds!--decline?'

'For a little time yet.' 'Indeed!--wherefore?'

'Pardieu--for two sufficient reasons.' 'Name them.'

'If I killed you, people in Paris would say I had done so because you demurred to let king Louis have the daughter of Duke Charles. If you killed me they would say it was done because I came to demand her, or that you resented being omitted in this pressing invitation to share the hospitality of the Bastille; moreover, they will put unpleasant constructions on the circumstance of the duke d'Alsace being drowned while in your care. They are very provoking, these Parisians, so let our little quarrel remain open until you return to the Louvre, when I will be delighted to afford you an opportunity of going comfortably home upon a door or shutter from the Boulevards or the Bois de Boulogne.'

'Agreed,' said I, for one part of his remarks made me grow pale with anxiety; 'but will you please to inform me what interest these devilish gossips of Paris can conceive me to have in withstanding the King's orders concerning Marie Louise of Lorraine?'

'My dear young friend,' said De Brissac, laughing, as he seated himself at table, 'your residence here among these wooded mountains is very secluded; but, believe me, that Cardinal Richelieu has more spies in France and Germany than Father du Tremblay, that devil of a Capuchin.'

I retired, and was followed by Dundrennan, who said to me, gravely--

'Be silent and be wary, for that you are suspected at Paris is but too evident.'

I threw myself upon a fauteuil to unravel and consider the difficulties of my new position, while the Viscount visited the poor victim of all these wars and politics to announce her intended removal to Paris and to the Bastille. Her first emotions were anger and alarm, then grief and shame at the idea of being immured in that atrocious prison; and she burst into a flood of tears.

'I have but my old advice to offer,' said Dundrennan, as he rejoined me; 'marry her, and trust the sequel to Providence and the heels of a good horse.'

'So be if, then, Viscount; I love her too dearly to surrender her again. I have twice lost her, I may say--once I deemed for ever. You alone know this secret, Dundrennan, and must befriend us.'

'You heard De Brissac's mysterious hints about Richelieu and the gossips of Paris.'

'True!' said I, stamping my foot; 'bear with me like a friend--advise me like a brother.'

'My advice is already given--marry and levant from Lutzelstein, leaving De Brissac to return to Paris from a bootless errand. Twenty leagues from Seltz, on the Baden side of the Rhine, my cousin, Marmaduke Maxwell, commands an imperial garrison at Lieben-Zell; I will give you letters to him. Once with him you will be safe, for he will put you and your bride on the way to Flanders, from the coast of which you can easily obtain shipping for Scotland.'

'And if once again I place my foot on the Galloway hills, I may defy alike the Emperor and Duke Charles. I have run enough about the world, and seen enough of bloodshed. Yes, yes,' I added, with a glow of joy, 'I will go home once more to the glen where my forefathers sleep under the shadow of the old village spire.'

While Dundrennan went in search of Father Colville to talk with him on the crisis of our affairs--for as a Scottish peer he had great influence with the priest--I repaired, with an anxious heart, to the presence of Marie Louise.