One of them was the master of the horses which the Abbé had hired, and he was found not at all unwilling to enter into any arrangement that the Count chose to propose. Marie de Clairvaut was placed in the carriage, the horsemen surrounded it, and Charles himself was about to mount his horse, when he perceived that the boy Ignati had not followed him, but remained kneeling by the side of the Abbé de Boisguerin. Turning quickly back, to his utter surprise he found the youth weeping bitterly; and when he urged him to rise and come with the carriage, Ignati shook his head saying, "No, no! I cannot leave him like dead carrion for the hawks and ravens.--He was my father! Go on, my Lord Count, and God speed you!--I must see him buried, and masses said for his soul!"
The Count was moved, but he could not remain; and giving the boy some money, he said, "Spend that upon his funeral, Ignati; and then follow me with all speed to Lyons. I grieve for you, my boy, though I understand not how this can be."
Only one more difficulty existed, which was, to pass through that part of the town leading to the bridge over the Loire. But the servants who had made their escape from the castle, and brought round their fellows to his assistance, assured the Count that the news of the Duke of Guise's murder had already spread through the city, and that every thing was in such a state of confusion and dismay, he might pass with the greatest security.
Such he found to be the case; all the guard of the King was within the walls of the château; the gates of the bridges, and of the town itself, were in the hands of the faction of the League; and no questions were asked of one who was known to have been the dear and intimate friend of the murdered Duke.
Taking his way through a part of the country devoted to the League, Charles of Montsoreau and his fair companion found no difficulty in reaching Lyons, where the history of all that had taken place was soon told to the Duke of Mayenne, and the last lines which the hand of Henry of Guise ever traced were shown to him, who was destined thenceforth to be the great head of the League.
Had the words and the wishes of his brother not been sufficient for Mayenne, the necessity of binding to his cause for ever one whose aid was so important as that of Charles of Montsoreau, would have been enough to decide the Duke's conduct towards him: and as soon as possible, after all the anguish, difficulty, and danger, which they had undergone together, the fate of the young Count of Logères and Marie de Clairvaut was united for ever.
In regard to them it need only be said that they loved each other to the last hours of life.
The boy Ignati followed the young Count to Lyons, but he would not remain with the man who had taken his father's life. He subsequently devoted himself to the church, and in the end rose high, by the great interest that was exercised on his behalf.
The wars of the League succeeded: but the feelings of Charles of Montsoreau were greatly changed by the death of the Duke of Guise; and though he waged war, as zealously as any body could possibly do, against the murderer of his lost friend, yet, when Henry III. himself fell under the blow of an assassin, the young Count of Logères would no longer contend against a monarch so generous, so noble, and so chivalrous, as the King who next ascended the throne.
He sheathed the sword then, after the accession of Henri Quatre, and the rest of his days passed in peace and calm retirement, in the society of her whom he loved ever, and loved alone.