La Fillon uttered such an exclamation of surprise that Buvat started and turned round; but Dubois had already pushed her out of the room, again recommending her to send him daily news of the captain.
But the reader will ask what Bathilde and D'Harmental were doing all this time. Nothing – they were happy.
CHAPTER XXXI.
A CHAPTER OF SAINT-SIMON
Four days passed thus, during which Buvat – remaining absent from the office on pretext of indisposition – succeeded in completing the two copies, one for the Prince de Listhnay, the other for Dubois. During these four days – certainly the most agitated of his life – he was so taciturn and gloomy that Bathilde several times asked him what was the matter; but as he always answered nothing, and began to sing his little song, Bathilde was easily deceived, particularly as he still left every morning as if to go to the office – so that she saw no material alteration from his ordinary habits.
As to D'Harmental, he received every morning a visit from the Abbe Brigaud, announcing that everything was going on right; and as his own love affairs were quite as prosperous, D'Harmental began to think that to be a conspirator was the happiest thing on the earth.
As to the Duc d'Orleans, suspecting nothing, he continued his ordinary life, and had invited the customary guests to his Sunday's supper, when in the afternoon Dubois entered his room.
"All, it is you, abbe! I was going to send to you to know if you were going to make one of us to-night."
"You are going to have a supper then, monseigneur?" asked Dubois.
"Where do you come from with your fast-day face? Is not to-day Sunday?"
"Yes, monseigneur."
"Well, then, come back to us; here is the list of the guests. Nocé, Lafare, Fargy, Ravanne, Broglie; I do not invite Brancas: he has been wearisome for some days. I think he must be conspiring. Then La Phalaris, and D'Averne, they cannot bear each other; they will tear out each other's eyes, and that will amuse us. Then we shall have La Souris, and perhaps Madame de Sabran, if she has no appointment with Richelieu."
"This is your list, monseigneur?"
"Yes."
"Well, will your highness look at mine now?" – "Have you made one, too?"
"No, it was brought to me ready made."
"What is this?" asked the regent, looking at a paper which Dubois presented to him.
"'Nominal list of the officers who request commissions in the Spanish army: Claude Francois de Ferrette, Knight of Saint Louis, field marshal and colonel of cavalry; Boschet, Knight of Saint Louis, and colonel of infantry, De Sabran, De Larochefoucault-Gondrel, De Villeneuve, De Lescure, De Laval.' Well, what next?"
"Here is another;" and he presented a second letter to the duke.
"'Protestation of the nobility.'"
"Make your lists, monseigneur, you are not the only one, you see – the Prince de Cellamare has his also."
"'Signed without distinction of ranks, so that there may be no dissatisfaction: – De Vieux-Pont, De la Pailleterie, De Beaufremont, De Latour-du-Pin, De Montauban, Louis de Caumont, Claude de Polignac, Charles de Laval, Antoine de Chastellux, Armand de Richelieu.' Where did you fish up all this, you old fox?"
"Wait, monseigneur, we have not done yet. Look at this."
"'Plan of the conspirators: Nothing is more important than to make sure of the strong places near the Pyrenees, to gain the garrison of Bayonne.' Surrender our towns! give the keys of France into the hands of the Spanish! What does this mean, Dubois?"
"Patience, monseigneur; we have better than that to show you; we have here the letters from his majesty Philip V. himself."
"'To the king of France – ' But these are only copies."
"I will tell you soon where the originals are."
"Let us see, my dear abbe, let us see. 'Since Providence has placed me on the throne of Spain,' etc., etc. 'In what light can your faithful subjects regard the treaty which is signed against me?' etc., etc. 'I beg your majesty to convoke the States-General of the kingdom.' Convoke the States-General! In whose name?"
"In the name of Philip V."
"Philip V. is king of Spain and not of France. Let him keep to his own character. I crossed the Pyrenees once to secure him on his throne; I might cross them a second time to remove him from it."
"We will think of that later – I do not say no; but for the present we have the fifth piece to read – and not the least important as you will see."
And Dubois presented another paper to the regent, which he opened with such impatience that he tore it in opening it.
"Never mind," said Dubois, "the pieces are good; put them together and read them."
The regent did so, and read —
"'Dearly and well beloved.'
"Ah!" said the regent, "it is a question of my deposition, and these letters, I suppose, were to be given to the king?"
"To-morrow, monseigneur."
"By whom?" – "The marshal."
"Villeroy?"
"Himself."
"How did he determine on such a thing?"
"It was not he; it was his wife, monseigneur."
"Another of Richelieu's tricks?"
"You are right, monseigneur."
"And from whom do you get these papers?"
"From a poor writer to whom they have been given to be copied, since, thanks to a descent made on Laval's house, a press which he had hidden in the cellar has ceased to work."
"And this writer is in direct communication with Cellamare? The idiots!"
"Not at all, monseigneur; their measures are better taken. The good man has only had to deal with the Prince de Listhnay."
"Prince de Listhnay! Who is he?"
"Rue du Bac, 110."
"I do not know him."
"Yes, you do, monseigneur."
"Where have I seen him?"
"In your antechamber."
"What! this pretended Prince de Listhnay?"
"Is no other than that scoundrel D'Avranches, Madame de Maine's valet-de-chambre."
"Ah! I was astonished that she was not in it."
"Oh! she is at the head, and if monseigneur would like to be rid of her and her clique, we have them all."
"Let us attend to the most pressing."
"Yes, let us think of Villeroy. Have you decided on a bold stroke?"
"Certainly. So long as you confine yourself to parading about like a man at a theater or a tournament, very well; so long as you confine yourself to calumnies and impertinences against me, very good; but when it becomes a question of the peace and tranquillity of France, you will find, Monsieur le Marechal, that you have already compromised them sufficiently by your military inaptitude, and we shall not give you an opportunity of doing so again by your political follies."
"Then," said Dubois, "we must lay hold of him?"
"Yes; but with certain precautions. We must take him in the act."
"Nothing easier. He goes every morning at eight o'clock to the king."
"Yes."
"Be to-morrow at half-past seven at Versailles."
"Well?"
"You will go to his majesty before him." – "Very well."
The regent and Dubois talked for some little time longer, after which Dubois took his leave.
"There is no supper this evening," said Dubois to the usher, "give notice to the guests; the regent is ill."
That evening at nine o'clock the regent left the Palais Royal, and, contrary to his ordinary habit, slept at Versailles.
CHAPTER XXXII.
A SNARE
The next day, about seven o'clock in the morning, at the time when the king rose, an usher entered his majesty's room and announced that his royal highness, Monseigneur le Duc d'Orleans, solicited the honor of assisting at his toilet. Louis XV., who was not yet accustomed to decide anything for himself, turned toward Monsieur de Frejus, who was seated in the least conspicuous corner of the room, as if to ask what he should say; and to this mute question Monsieur de Frejus not only made a sign with his head signifying that it was necessary to receive his royal highness, but rose and went himself to open the door. The regent stopped a minute on the doorstep to thank Fleury, then having assured himself by a rapid glance round the room that the Marshal de Villeroy had not yet arrived, he advanced toward the king.
Louis XV. was at this time a pretty child of nine or ten years of age, with long chestnut hair, jet-black eyes, and a mouth like a cherry, and a rosy complexion like that of his mother, Mary of Savoy, duchesse de Burgundy, but which was liable to sudden paleness. Although his character was already very irresolute, thanks to the contradictory influences of the double government of the Marshal de Villeroy and Monsieur de Frejus, he had something ardent in his face which stamped him as the great-grandson of Louis XIV.; and he had a trick of putting on his hat like him. At first, warned against the Duc d'Orleans as the man in all France from whom he had most to fear, he had felt that prejudice yield little by little during the interviews which they had had together, in which, with that juvenile instinct which so rarely deceives children, he had recognized a friend.
On his part, it must be said that the Duc d'Orleans had for the king, beside the respect which was his due, a love the most attentive and the most tender. The little business which could be submitted to his young mind he always presented to him with so much clearness and talent, that politics, which would have been wearisome with any one else, became a recreation when pursued with him, so that the royal child always saw his arrival with pleasure. It must be confessed that this work was almost always rewarded by the most beautiful toys which could be found, and which Dubois, in order to pay his court to the king, imported from Germany and England. His majesty therefore received the regent with his sweetest smile, and gave him his little hand to kiss with a peculiar grace, while the archbishop of Frejus, faithful to his system of humility, had sat down in the same corner where he had been surprised by the arrival of the regent.
"I am very glad to see you, monsieur," said Louis XV. in a sweet little voice, from which even the etiquette which they imposed upon him could not entirely take away all grace; "and all the more glad to see you from its not being your usual hour. I presume that you have some good news to tell me."
"Two pieces, sire," answered the regent; "the first is, that I have just received from Nuremberg a chest which seems to me to contain – "
"Oh, toys! lots of toys! does it not, Monsieur le Regent?" cried the king, dancing joyously, and clapping his hands, regardless of his valet-de-chambre who was waiting for him, and holding the little sword with a cut-steel handle which he was going to hang in the king's belt. "Oh, the dear toys! the beautiful toys! how kind you are! Oh! how I love you, Monsieur le Regent!"
"Sire, I only do my duty," answered the Duc d'Orleans, bowing respectfully, "and you owe me no thanks for that."
"And where is it, monsieur? Where is this pretty chest?"
"In my apartments, sire; and if your majesty wishes it brought here, I will send it during the course of the day, or to-morrow morning."
"Oh! no; now, monsieur; now, I beg."
"But it is at my apartments."
"Well, let us go to your apartments," cried the child, running to the door, and forgetting that he wanted, in order to complete his toilet, his little sword, his little satin jacket, and his cordon-bleu.
"Sire," said Frejus, advancing, "I would remark that your majesty abandons yourself too entirely to the pleasure caused by the possession of things that you should already regard as trifles."
"Yes, monsieur; yes, you are right," said Louis XV., making an effort to control himself; "but you must pardon me; I am only ten years old, and I worked hard yesterday."
"That is true," said Monsieur de Frejus; "and so your majesty will employ yourself with the toys when you have asked Monsieur le Regent what the other piece of news which he came to bring you is."
"Ah! yes. By-the-by, what is the second affair?"
"A work which will be profitable to France, and which is of so much importance that I think it most necessary to submit it to your majesty."
"Have you it here?" asked the king.
"No, sire; I did not expect to find your majesty so well inclined to work, and I left it in my study."
"Well," said Louis XV., turning half toward Monsieur de Frejus, half toward the regent, and looking at both of them with an imploring eye, "cannot we reconcile all that? Instead of taking my morning walk, I will go and see these beautiful Nuremberg toys, and when we have seen them we will pass into your study and work."
"It is against etiquette, sire," answered the regent, "but if your majesty wishes it – "
"Oh, I do wish it! That is," added he, turning and looking at Frejus so sweetly that there was no resisting it, "if my good preceptor permits it."
"Does Monsieur de Frejus see anything wrong in it?" said the regent, turning toward Fleury, and pronouncing these words with an accent which showed that the preceptor would wound him deeply by refusing the request which his royal pupil made him.
"No, monseigneur," said Frejus; "quite the contrary. It is well that his majesty should accustom himself to work; and if the laws of etiquette are a little violated, that violation will bring about a happy result for the people. I only ask of monseigneur the permission to accompany his majesty."
"Certainly, monsieur," said the regent, "with the greatest pleasure."
"Oh, how good! how kind!" cried Louis XV. "Quick! my sword, my jacket, my cordon-bleu. Here I am, Monsieur le Regent;" and he advanced to take the regent's hand. But instead of allowing that familiarity, the regent bowed, and, opening the door, signed to the king to precede him, following three or four paces behind, hat in hand, together with Frejus.
The king's apartments, situated on the ground floor, were level with those of the Duc d'Orleans, and were only separated by an antechamber, opening into the king's rooms, and a gallery leading from thence to the antechamber of the regent. The distance was short, therefore, and – as the king was in haste to arrive – they found themselves in an instant in a large study, lighted by four windows, all forming doors, which opened into the garden. This large study led to a smaller one, where the regent generally worked, and where he brought his most intimate friends and his favorites. All his highness's court was in attendance – a very natural circumstance, since it was the hour for rising. The king, however, did not notice either Monsieur d'Artagnan, captain of the Gray Musketeers, or the Marquis de Lafare, captain of the Guards, or a very considerable number of the Light Horse, who were drawn up outside the windows. It is true that on a table in the middle of the room, he had seen the welcome chest, whose monstrous size had, in spite of the chilling exhortation of Monsieur de Frejus, caused him to give a cry of joy.
However, he was obliged to contain himself, and receive the homage of Monsieur d'Artagnan and Monsieur de Lafare; meanwhile the regent had called two valets-de-chambre, who quickly opened the lid, and displayed the most splendid collection of toys which had ever dazzled the eyes of a king of nine years old. At this tempting sight, the king forgot alike perceptor, guards, and Gray Musketeers. He hastened toward this paradise which was opened to him, and, as from an inexhaustible mine, he drew out successively locks, three-deckers, squadrons of cavalry, battalions of infantry, pedlars with their packs, jugglers with their cups; in fact, all those wonders, which, on Christmas eve, turn the heads of all children beyond the Rhine; and that, with such undisguised transports of joy, that Monsieur de Frejus himself respected his royal pupil's happiness. The assistants watched him with that religious silence which surrounds great griefs or great joys. While this silence was the most profound, a violent noise was heard in the antechamber, the door was opened, an usher announced the Duke de Villeroy, and the marshal appeared, loudly demanding to see the king. As they were, however, accustomed to such proceedings, the regent merely pointed to his majesty, who was still continuing to empty the chest, covering the furniture and floor with the splendid toys.
The marshal had nothing to say; he was nearly an hour late; the king was with Monsieur Frejus, but he approached him, grumbling, and throwing round him glances, which appeared to say that he was there ready to protect his majesty from all danger.
The regent exchanged glances with D'Artagnan and Lafare; every thing went well.
The chest was emptied – and, after having allowed the king to enjoy for an instant the sight of all his treasures – the regent approached him, and, still hat in hand, recalled to his mind the promise he had made to devote an hour to the consideration of State affairs.
Louis XV., with that scrupulousness which afterward led him to declare that punctuality was the politeness of kings, threw a last glance over his toys; and then merely asking permission to have them removed to his apartments, advanced toward the little study, and the regent opened the door. Then, according to their different characters, Monsieur de Fleury, under pretext of his dislike of politics, drew back, and sat down in a corner, while the marshal darted forward, and, seeing the king enter the study tried to follow him. This was the moment that the regent had impatiently expected.
"Pardon, marshal," said he, barring the passage; "but I wish to speak to his majesty on affairs which demand the most absolute secrecy, and therefore I beg for a short tete-à-tete."
"Tete-à-tete!" cried Villeroy; "you know, monseigneur, that it is impossible."
"And why impossible?" asked the regent, calmly.
"Because, as governor to his majesty, I have the right of accompanying him everywhere."
"In the first place, monsieur," replied the regent, "this right does not appear to me to rest on any very positive proof, and if I have till now tolerated – not this right, but this pretension – it is because the age of the king has hitherto rendered it unimportant; but now that his majesty has nearly completed his tenth year, and that I am permitted to commence instructing him on the science of government, in which I am his appointed preceptor, you will see that it is quite right that I, as well as Monsieur de Frejus and yourself, should be allowed some hours of tete-à-tete with his majesty. This will be less painful to you to grant, marshal," added the regent, with a smile, the expression of which it was impossible to mistake, "because, having studied these matters so much yourself, it is impossible that you can have anything left to learn."
"But, monsieur," said the marshal, as usual forgetting his politeness as he became warm, "I beg to remind you that the king is my pupil."
"I know it, monsieur," said the regent, in the same tone; "make of his majesty a great captain, I do not wish to prevent you. Your campaigns in Italy and Flanders prove that he could not have a better master; but, at this moment it is not a question of military science, but of a State secret, which can only be confided to his majesty; therefore, again I beg to speak to the king in private."
"Impossible, monseigneur!" cried the marshal.
"Impossible!" replied the regent; "and why?"
"Why?" continued the marshal; "because my duty is not to lose sight of the king for a moment, and because I will not permit it."
"Take care, marshal," interrupted the Duc d'Orleans, haughtily: "you are forgetting your proper respect toward me."
"Monseigneur," continued the marshal, becoming more and more angry, "I know the respect which I owe to your royal highness, and I also know what I owe to my charge, and to the king, and for that reason I will not lose sight of his majesty for an instant, inasmuch as – "
The duke hesitated.
"Well, finish," said the regent.
"Inasmuch as I answer for his person," said the marshal.
At this want of all restraint, there was a moment's silence, during which nothing was heard but the grumblings of the marshal, and the stifled sighs of Monsieur de Fleury.
As to the Duc d'Orleans, he raised his head with a sovereign air of contempt, and, taking that air of dignity which made him, when he chose, one of the most imposing princes in the world:
"Monsieur de Villeroy," said he, "you mistake me strangely, it appears, and imagine that you are speaking to some one else; but since you forget who I am, I must endeavor to remind you. Marquis de Lafare," continued he, addressing his captain of the guards, "do your duty."
Then the Marshal de Villeroy, seeing on what a precipice he stood, opened his mouth to attempt an excuse, but the regent left him no time to finish his sentence, and shut the door in his face.
The Marquis de Lafare instantly approached the marshal, and demanded his sword. The marshal remained for an instant as if thunderstruck. He had for so long a time been left undisturbed in his impertinence that he had begun to think himself invincible. He tried to speak, but his voice failed him, and, on the second, and still more imperative demand, he gave up his sword. At the same moment a door opens, and a chair appears; two musketeers push the marshal into it – it is closed. D'Artagnan and Lafare place themselves at each side, and the prisoner is carried off through the gardens. The Light Horse follow, and, at a considerable and increasing speed they descend the staircase, turn to the left, and enter the orangery. There the suite remain, and the chair, its porters, and tenant, enter a second room, accompanied only by Lafare and D'Artagnan. The marshal, who had never been remarkable for sang-froid, thought himself lost.
"Gentlemen," cried he, turning pale, while perspiration and powder ran down his face, "I hope I am not going to be assassinated!"
"No, no, make yourself easy," said Lafare, while D'Artagnan could not help laughing at his ridiculous figure – "something much more simple, and infinitely less tragic."
"What is it, then?" asked the marshal, whom this assurance rendered a little more easy.
"There are two letters, monsieur, which you were to have given to the king this morning, and which you must have in one of your pockets."
The marshal, who, till that moment, in his anxiety about himself, had forgotten Madame de Maine's affairs, started, and raised his hands to the pocket where the letters were.
"Your pardon," said D'Artagnan, stopping his hand, "but we are authorized to inform you – in case you should feel inclined to remove these letters – that the regent has copies of them."
"I may add," said Lafare, "that we are authorized to take them by force, and are absolved in advance from all accidents that may happen in such a struggle."
"And you assure me," said the marshal, "that the regent has copies of these letters?"
"On my word of honor," said D'Artagnan.
"In this case," replied Villeroy, "I do not see why I should prevent you from taking these letters, which do not regard me in the least, and which I undertook to deliver to oblige others."
"We know it," said Lafare.
"But," added the marshal, "I hope you will inform his royal highness of the ease with which I submitted to his orders, and of my regret for having offended him."
"Do not doubt it; all will be reported as it has passed. But these letters?"
"Here they are, monsieur," said the marshal, giving two letters to Lafare.
Lafare assured himself by the seals that they were really the letters he was in search of. "My dear D'Artagnan," said he, "now conduct the marshal to his destination, and give orders, in the name of the regent, that he is to be treated with every respect."
The chair was closed, and the porters carried it off. At the gate of the gardens a carriage with six horses was waiting, in which they placed the marshal, who now began to suspect the trap which had been laid for him. D'Artagnan seated himself by him, an officer of musketeers and Du Libois, one of the king's gentlemen, opposite; and with twenty musketeers at each side, and twelve following, the carriage set off at a gallop. Meanwhile, the Marquis of Lafare returned to the chateau with the two letters in his hand.