THE VIDAME'S THREAT.
Croisette used to tell a story, of the facts of which I have no remembrance, save as a bad dream. He would have it that I left my pallet that night--I had one to myself in the summer, being the eldest, while he and Marie slept on another in the same room --and came to him and awoke him, sobbing and shaking and clutching him; and begging him in a fit of terror not to let me go. And that so I slept in his arms until morning. But as Ihave said, I do not remember anything of this, only that I had an ugly dream that night, and that when I awoke I was lying with him and Marie; so I cannot say whether it really happened.
At any rate, if I had any feeling of the kind it did not last long; on the contrary--it would be idle to deny it--I was flattered by the sudden respect, Gil and the servants showed me.
What Catherine thought of the matter I could not tell. She had her letter and apparently found it satisfactory. At any rate we saw nothing of her. Madame Claude was busy boiling simples, and tending the messenger's hurts. And it seemed natural that Ishould take command.
There could be no doubt--at any rate we had none that the assault on the courier had taken place at the Vidame's instance. The only wonder was that he had not simply cut his throat and taken the letter. But looking back now it seems to me that grown men mingled some childishness with their cruelty in those days--days when the religious wars had aroused our worst passions. It was not enough to kill an enemy. It pleased people to make--I speak literally--a football of his head, to throw his heart to the dogs. And no doubt it had fallen in with the Vidame's grim humour that the bearer of Pavannes' first love letter should enter his mistress's presence, bleeding and plaistered with mud.
And that the riff-raff about our own gates should have part in the insult.
Bezers' wrath would be little abated by the issue of the affair, or the justice I had done on one of his men. So we looked well to bolts, and bars, and windows, although the castle is well-nigh impregnable, the smooth rock falling twenty feet at least on every side from the base of the walls. The gatehouse, Pavannes had shown us, might be blown up with gunpowder indeed, but we prepared to close the iron grating which barred the way half-way up the ramp. This done, even if the enemy should succeed in forcing an entrance he would only find himself caught in a trap--in a steep, narrow way exposed to a fire from the top of the flanking walls, as well as from the front. We had a couple of culverins, which the Vicomte had got twenty years before, at the time of the battle of St. Quentin. We fixed one of these at the head of the ramp, and placed the other on the terrace, where by moving it a few paces forward we could train it on Bezers' house, which thus lay at our mercy, Not that we really expected an attack. But we did not know what to expect or what to fear. We had not ten servants, the Vicomte having taken a score of the sturdiest lackeys and keepers to attend him at Bayonne. And we felt immensely responsible. Our main hope was that the Vidame would at once go on to Paris, and postpone his vengeance. So again and again we cast longing glances at the House of the Wolf hoping that each symptom of bustle heralded his departure.
Consequently it was a shock to me, and a great downfall of hopes, when Gil with a grave face came to me on the terrace and announced that M. le Vidame was at the gate, asking to see Mademoiselle.
"It is out of the question that he should see her," the old servant added, scratching his head in grave perplexity.
"Most certainly. I will see him instead," I answered stoutly.
"Do you leave Francis and another at the gate, Gil. Marie, keep within sight, lad. And let Croisette stay with me."These preparations made--and they took up scarcely a moment--Imet the Vidame at the head of the ramp. "Mademoiselle de Caylus," I said, bowing, "is, I regret to say, indisposed to-day, Vidame.""She will not see me?" he asked, eyeing me very unpleasantly.
"Her indisposition deprives her of the pleasure," I answered with an effort. He was certainly a wonderful man, for at sight of him, three-fourths of my courage, and all my importance, oozed out at the heels of my boots.
"She will not see me. Very well," he replied, as if I had not spoken. And the simple words sounded like a sentence of death.
"Then, M. Anne, I have a crow to pick with you. What compensation do you propose to make for the death of my servant?
A decent, quiet fellow, whom you killed yesterday, poor man, because his enthusiasm for the true faith carried him away a little.""Whom I killed because he drew a dagger on M. St. Croix de Caylus at the Vicomte's gate," I answered steadily. I had thought about this of course and was ready for it. "You are aware, M. de Bezers," I continued, "that the Vicomte has jurisdiction extending to life and death over all persons within the valley?""My household excepted," he rejoined quietly.
"Precisely; while they are within the curtilage of your house," Iretorted. "However as the punishment was summary, and the man had no time to confess himself, I am willing to--""Well?"
"To pay Father Pierre to say ten masses for his soul."The way the Vidame received this surprised me. He broke into boisterous laughter. "By our Lady, my friend," he cried with rough merriment, "but you are a joker! You are indeed. Masses?
Why the man was a Protestant!"
