THE PRISONER.
We have mentioned that after proof of identity, and perusal of the order of arrest, Major de l'Oursière, governor of the fortress of St. Marguerite, had the Count conducted to the room which was to serve as his prison, until the day when it might please the Cardinal to restore him to liberty.
This room, very spacious and lofty, of an octagonal shape, and with whitewashed walls, fifteen feet thick, was only lighted by two narrow loopholes, covered with an under and outer iron trelliswork, which completely prevented any looking out.
A large chimney, with a wide mantelpiece, occupied one corner of the room: facing was a bed, composed of a thin palliasse and a narrow mattress laid on a deal bedstead, formerly painted yellow, though time had completely removed the colour.
A rickety table, a stool, a chair, a night commode, and an iron candlestick, completed the furniture, which was more than modest.
This room was situated on the highest floor of the tower, the platform of which, where a sentry tramped day and night, served as the ceiling.
The soldier drew the bolts that garnished the iron-lined door of this room. The Count entered, with a firm step.
After taking a glance at these cold, sad walls, destined henceforward to serve him as a habitation, he sat down on a chair, crossed his arms on his breast, hung his head, and began to reflect.
The soldier, or rather gaoler, who had gone out, returned an hour later, and found him in the same position.
He brought with him sheets, blankets, and wood to light a fire. Behind him two soldiers carried the portmanteau containing the prisoner's clothes and linen, which they placed in a corner, and retired.
The gaoler at once set to work making the bed. Then he swept the room and lit the fire. When these different duties were accomplished, he approached the prisoner.
"My lord?" he said to him politely.
"What do you want with me, my friend?" the Count answered, raising his head and looking at him gently.
"The governor of the castle desires the honour of an interview with you, as he says he has an important communication to make."
"I am at the governor's orders," the Count said laconically.
The gaoler bowed and went out.
"What can the man want with me?" the Count muttered, so soon as he was alone.
He had not long to wait, for the door opened again and the governor made his appearance.
The prisoner rose to receive him, bowed, and then silently waited for him to speak.
The Major made the gaoler a sign to withdraw, and then, after a fresh bow, he said with cold politeness,—
"My lord Count, gentlemen should respect each other. Although the orders I have received on your account from the Cardinal are very strict, I still desire to shew you any attention that is not incompatible with my duty. I have, therefore, come to you frankly in order to have an understanding on the subject."
The Count guessed to what this speech tended, but did not let it be seen, and answered,—
"Mr. Governor, I am grateful, as I ought to be, for the steps you have been kind enough to take; may I ask you, therefore, to have the goodness to explain to me the nature of your orders, and what the favours are by which you can alleviate their severity. But, in the first place, as I am at home here," he added, with a melancholy smile; "do me the honour of seating yourself."
The Major bowed, but remained standing.
"It is unnecessary, my lord," he remarked, "as what I have to say to you is very short; in the first place, you will observe that I have had the delicacy to send you the trunk containing your effects unexamined as I had the right to do."
"I allow the fact, Major, and feel obliged; to you for it."
The Major bowed.
"As you are an officer, my lord," he said, "you are aware that his Eminence the Cardinal, although he is a great man, is not very liberal to officers whose infirmity or wounds compel them to quit the service."
"That is true."
"The governors of fortresses more especially, although nominated by the King, being obliged to pay a long price to their predecessors for the office, are reduced to a perfect state of want, if they have not saved up some money."
"I was not aware of that circumstance, sir, and fancied that the governorship of a fortress was a reward."
"So it is, my lord, but we have to pay for the command of fortresses like this, which are employed as state prisons."
"Ah! Very good."
"You understand, it is supposed that the governor makes a profit by the prisoners intrusted to his keeping."
"Of course, sir; are there at present many unhappy men who have incurred the displeasure of His Eminence detained in this castle?"
"Alas, sir, you are the only one, and that is exactly the reason why I desire to have an amicable settlement with you."
"For my part, be assured, sir, that I desire nothing more earnestly."
"I am convinced of that, and hence will discuss the question frankly."
"Do so, sir, do so; I am listening to you with the most serious attention."
"I have orders, sir, not to let you communicate with anyone but your gaoler, to give you neither books, papers, pens, or ink, and never to allow you to quit this room; it appears there is great fear of your escape from here, and his Eminence is anxious to keep you."
"I am extremely obliged to his Eminence, but luckily for me," the Count answered with a smile, "instead of having to deal with a gaoler, I am dependent on a true soldier, who, while strictly obeying his orders, considers it unnecessary to torture a prisoner already so unhappy as to have fallen into disgrace with the King and the Cardinal minister."
"You have judged me correctly, my lord, though the orders are so strict. I command alone in this castle, where I have no control to fear. Hence I hope to have it in my power to relax the rigor I am commanded to show you."
"Whatever may be your intention in that respect, allow me, sir, in my turn to speak like a frank and loyal sailor. As prisoner of your King, doubtless for a very long time, money is perfectly useless to me; though not rich, I enjoy a certain ease, on which I congratulate myself, as this ease permits me to requite any polite attentions you may show me; service for service, sir, I will give you every year 10,000 livres, paid in advance; and, on your side, will you allow me to procure, at my own charges of course, all the objects susceptible of alleviating my captivity."
The Major felt as if about to faint. The old officer of fortune had never in his whole life possessed so large a sum.
The Count continued without seeming to notice the effect his words produced on the governor.
"Well then, that is quite understood. To the sum the King pays you for my board, we will add 200 livres a month, or 2,400 per annum, for papers, pens, ink, &c., suppose we say the round sum of 3,000 livres, does that suit you?"
"Ah, Sir, it is too much, a great deal too much."
"No, Sir, since I assist an honourable man, who will owe me thanks for it."
"Ah! I shall be eternally grateful, sir; but, do not be angry with my frankness, you will oblige me to offer up vows to keep you as long as possible."
"Who knows, sir, whether my departure will not some day be more advantageous than my stay here?" he said with a meaning smile; "be good enough to lend me your tablets."
The Major offered them to him.
The Count tore out a leaf, with a few pencilled words on it, and handed it back to him.
"Here," he said, "is a draught for 16,000 livres, which you can receive at sight from Messrs. Dubois, Loustal, and Co., of Toulon, whenever you have leisure."
The governor clutched the paper with a start of joy.
"But it seems to me that this draft is 800 livres in excess of the sum agreed on between us?" he said.
"That is correct, sir, but the 800 livres are for the purchase of different articles, of which here is the list, and which I must ask you to procure for me."
"You shall have them tomorrow, my lord," and after bowing very low the governor walked backwards out of the room.
"Come," the Count muttered gaily, when the heavy door had closed on the Major; "I was not deceived, I judged that man correctly, and his is really perfect, but his most thoroughly developed vice is decidedly avarice; I can make something of it, I fancy, when I like, but I must not go ahead too fast, but act with the greatest prudence."
Certain of not being disturbed, at least for some hours, the Count opened the trunk brought in by the two soldiers, in order to convince himself whether the governor had told him the truth, and the contents were really intact.
The trunk had not been examined.
In the foresight of a probable arrest, the Count when he started in pursuit of the Duc de Peñaflor, had purchased several objects which he found again with the most lively satisfaction.
In addition to a certain quantity of clothes and linen, the trunk contained a very fine and strong silk cord, nearly one hundred fathoms in length, two pairs of pistols, a dagger, a sword, powder and bullets, objects which the governor would have confiscated without any scruple, had he seen them, and which the Count had laid in at all risks, trusting to chance.
There were also several iron and steel tools, and concealed in a double bottom, a very heavy purse containing the sum of 25,000 livres in gold, in addition to another almost equally large amount in Spanish quadruples sewn into a wide leathern belt.
So soon as the Count was certain that the Major had told him the truth, he carefully locked the trunk again, hung the key round his neck by a steel chain, and sat down quietly in the chimney corner.
His meditations were interrupted by the gaoler. This time the man not only brought him bed furniture, far superior to what he had given him before, but he had added a carpet, a mirror, and even toilet utensils.
A cloth was spread on a table, upon which he placed in a moment a very appetising dinner.
"The Major begs me to apologize, sir," he said; "tomorrow he will send you what you asked for. In the meanwhile he has forwarded you some books."
"Very good, my friend," the Count replied.
"What is your name?"
"La Grenade, sir."
"Has the Governor selected you to wait on me?"
"Yes, sir."
"My friend, you appear to me a good fellow, here are three louis for you. I will give you the same amount every month if I am satisfied with your attention."
"Had you given me nothing, sir," La Grenade replied, as he took the money, "it would not have prevented me from serving you with all the zeal of which I am capable, and if I receive these three louis, it is only because a poor devil like me has no right to refuse a present from so generous a gentleman as you. But, I repeat, sir, I am quite at your service, and you can employ me in whatever way you please."
"Goodness!" the Count said, in surprise; "and yet I do not know you, as far as I am aware, La Grenade—whence, may I ask, comes this great devotion to my person?"
"I am most willing to tell you, sir, if it interests you. I am a friend of M. François Bouillot, to whom I am under certain obligations; he ordered me to serve and obey you in everything."
"That good Bouillot," said the Count. "Very well, my friend, I shall not be ungrateful. I do not want you anymore at present."
The gaoler put some logs on the fire, lit the lamp, and withdrew.
"Well," said the Count, with a laugh, "Heaven forgive me! I believe that, though a prisoner in appearance, I am as much master of this castle as the governor, and that I can leave it without opposition on any day I like. What would the Cardinal think if he knew how his orders were executed?"
He sat down to table, unfolded his napkin, and began dining with a good appetite.
Things went on thus, in the way agreed on between the Governor and his prisoner.
The arrival of Count de Barmont at the fortress had been a windfall for the Major, who, since he had received from the royal munificence the command of this castle as retiring pension, had not once before had an opportunity to derive any profit from the position that had been given him. Hence he promised to make a gold mine of his solitary prisoner; for the Isle of St. Marguerite, as we have already remarked, had not yet acquired the reputation which it merited at a later date as a State prison.
The Count's room was furnished as well as it could be; everything he demanded in the shape of books was procured him, though he had to pay dearly for them, and he was even allowed to walk on the towers.
The Count was happy—so far, at least, as the circumstances in which he found himself allowed him to be so: no one would have supposed, on seeing him work so assiduously at mathematics and navigation, for he applied himself most seriously to the completion of his maritime education, that this man nourished in his heart a thought of implacable vengeance, and that this thought was ever present to him.
At the first blush, the resolution formed by the Count to allow himself to be incarcerated, while it was easy for him to remain free, may seem strange: but the Count was one of those men of granite whose thoughts are immutable, and who, when they have once formed a resolution, after calculating with the utmost coolness all the chances for and against, follow the road they have laid down for themselves, ever marching in a straight line without caring for the obstacles that arise at each step on their path and surmounting them, because they decided from the first that they would do so—characters that grow and are perfected in the struggle, and sooner or later reach the goal they have designed.
The Count understood that any resistance to the Cardinal would result in his own utter ruin; and there was no lack of proofs to support this reasoning: by escaping from the guards who were taking him to prison, he would remain at liberty, it is true, but he would be exiled, obliged to quit France, and wander about in foreign parts alone, isolated, without resources, ever on the watch, forced to hide himself, and reduced to the impossibility of asking, that is to say, of obtaining the necessary information he required to avenge himself on the man who, by robbing him of the wife he loved, had at the same blow not only destroyed his career and fortune, but also eternally ruined his happiness.
He was young, and could wait; vengeance is eaten cold, say the southerners—and the Count came from Languedoc. Besides, as he had said to Bouillot, in a moment of expansiveness, he wished to suffer, in order to kill within him every human feeling that still existed, and to find himself one day armed cap-à-pie to face his enemy.
Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII. were both seriously ill. Their death would not fail to produce a change of reign in two, three, or four years at the most, and that catastrophe would arrive, one of whose consequences it is to produce a reaction, and consequently, to open to all the prisoners of the defunct Cardinal the dungeons to which he had condemned them.
The Count was twenty-five years of age: hence time was his own, and the more so because, when restored to liberty, he would enter on all his rights, and as an enemy of Richelieu, be favourably regarded at Court, and, through the temporary credit he would enjoy, be in a condition to regain all the advantage he had lost as concerned his foe.
Only energetically endowed men, who are sure of themselves, are capable of making such calculations, and obstinately pursuing a line of conduct so opposed to all logical combinations; but these men who thus resolutely enlist chance on their side, and reckon on it as a partner, always succeed in what they purpose doing, unless death suddenly cuts them short.
Through the intercession of La Grenade, and the tacit connivance of the Governor, who closed his eyes with a charming inattention, the Count was not only cognizant with all that was going on outside, but also received letters from his friends, which he answered.
One day, after reading a letter which la Grenade had given him when bringing in breakfast, a letter from the Duc de Bellegarde, which had reached him through Michael, for the worthy sailor had refused to leave his Commandant, and had turned fisherman at Antibes, with Bowline as his assistant, the Count sent a message to the Governor, requesting a few minutes' conversation with him.
The Major knew that every visit he paid his prisoner was a profit to him, hence he hastened to his room.
"Have you heard the news, sir?" the Count said at once on seeing him.
"What news, my lord?" the Major asked, in amazement, for he knew nothing.
In fact, placed as he was at the extreme frontier of the kingdom, news, no matter its importance, only reached him, so to speak, by accident.
"The Cardinal Minister is dead, sir. I have just learned it from a sure hand."
"Oh!" said the Major, clasping his hands, for this death might cause him the loss of his place.
"And," the Count added, coldly, "His Majesty King Louis XIII. is at death's door."
"Great heaven, what a misfortune!" exclaimed the Governor.
"This misfortune may be fortunate for you, sir," the Count resumed.
"Fortunate! When I am menaced with the loss of my command! Alas, my lord, what will become of me if I am turned out of here?"
"That might easily, happen," said the Count. "You have, sir, always been a great friend of the defunct Cardinal, and known as such."
"That is, unhappily, too true," the Major muttered, quite out of countenance, and recognizing the truth of this affirmation.
"There is, I think, an advantageous mode of arranging matters."
"What is it, my lord? Speak, I implore you!"
"It is this: listen to me carefully—what I am going to say is very serious for you."
"I am listening, my lord."
"Here is a letter all ready written for the Duc de Bellegarde. You will start at once for Paris, passing through Toulon, where you will cash this draft for 2000 livres, to cover your expenses. The Duke is sincerely attached to me. For my sake he will receive you kindly: you will come to an understanding with him, and obey him in everything he orders."
"Yes, yes, my lord."
"And if within a month from this time at the latest—"
"From this time at the latest—" the Governor repeated, panting with impatience.
"You bring me here my full and entire—pardon, signed by H. M. Louis XIII.—"
"What?" the Governor exclaimed, with a start of surprise.
"I will at once pay you," the Count continued, coldly, "the sum of 50,000 livres, to indemnify you for the loss my liberation must entail on you."
"Fifty thousand livres!" the Major exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with greed.
"Fifty thousand! yes, sir," the Count replied. "And, besides, I pledge myself, if you wish it, to get you confirmed in your command. Is this matter settled?"
"But, my lord, how am I to manage at Paris?"
"Follow the instructions the Duc de Bellegarde will give you."
"What you ask of me is very difficult."
"Not so difficult as you pretend to believe, sir; however, if this mission does not suit you—"
"I did not say that, sir."
"In a word, you can take it or leave it."
"I take it, my lord—I take it. Great heaven!—fifty thousand livres!"
"And you start?"
"Tomorrow."
"No, tonight."
"Very good—tonight."
"All right! Here are the letter and the draft. Oh! by the way, try to put yourself in communication with a fisherman at Antibes of the name of Michael."
"I know him," the Major said, with a smile.
"Indeed!" said the Count. "There would be no harm, either, in your trying to find the exempt who brought me here, one François Bouillot."
"I know where to find him," the Major replied, with the same meaning smile.
"Very good! in that case, my dear Governor, I have nothing more to add, or any recommendations to make to you, beyond wishing you a pleasant journey."
"It will be so, my lord, I pledge you my word."
"It is true that it is a round sum—fifty thousand livres!"
"I shall not forget the amount."
After saying this the Major took leave of his prisoner, and retired, with a profusion of bows.
"I believe that I am going to be free this time!" the Count exclaimed, so soon as he was alone—"Ah! my lord Duke, we are now about to fight with equal weapons!"