One in a Thousand; or, The Days of Henri Quatre

by G. P. R. James

As St. Real was about to reply, an attendant again appeared, and announced that Mayenne was, for a few moments, free from those weighty affairs with which the situation of his party overwhelmed him. The young Marquis rose to obey the summons: but Madame de Montpensier was not at all inclined to abandon her unconcluded schemes to the chances of a private interview between her more candid brother and the object of her wiles. That which had at first been the mere desire of gaining a powerful acquisition to her party, and of depriving the Royalists of a strong support, had now become, under the opposition and difficulties she had met with, the eager struggle of compromised vanity. Her reputation for skill and policy were even dearer to her, at that moment, than her reputation for beauty and wit had ever been; and, at the mere apprehension of missing her stroke in a matter where she had risked so much, and employed such means, she called up before the eyes of imagination the calm, half-sneering smile with which Mayenne would mark her failure, and the galling compassion with which all her dear friends and favourite counsellors would commiserate her disappointment.

"I have a petition too to present to my all-powerful brother," she said, rising at the same time; "and, therefore, with your good leave, Monsieur de St. Real, I will accompany you to his high and mighty presence." St. Real, perhaps, would have preferred to see Mayenne alone, but no choice was left him; and, offering his hand, he led her through the long galleries and corridors of the Hotel de Guise to the audience-chamber of the lieutenant-general.

CHAPTER XIII.

Oh entering the cabinet of the Duke of Mayenne, Madame de Montpensier and her companion found him still engaged in listening to the reports of several military men. He instantly made a sign, however, for the purpose of enjoining silence as his sister approached; and turning to St. Real, he pointed to a seat. "The Marquis de St. Real, I presume?" he said, with an air of plain and unaffected dignity. "Your mourning habit, sir, reminds me that I should condole with you on the death of one of the noblest gentlemen that France has ever known. He would not, it is true, take part with those who wished him well; but, even had he drawn his sword against us, I should have lamented his death as a star gone out that may never be lighted again."

There was a brief pause--for St. Real would not trust his voice with a reply--and the Duke, after having dismissed the officers by whom he had been surrounded, proceeded: "I trust, Monsieur de St. Real, that you know enough of him who speaks to you to believe, even without my saying it, that Charles of Mayenne is utterly incapable of such an act as that by which my safe-conduct was violated in your instance. For my own part, the persons who captured you allege, in their excuse, some dispositions of your troops, which gave cause to suspect an inclination to support our adversary, the young Duke of Longueville; but I--judging your sentiments by my own--absolve you from all such suspicion."

"You do me justice, my lord," replied St. Real; "I am incapable of taking advantage of your pass in order to injure you; and, though in the first heat of anger at my arrest, I might cast the blame on you, I have since learned to judge better, and to know that it was the purpose of those who detained me to keep you in ignorance of my imprisonment. At least, I conclude so from the fact that, on my desiring one of the lookers-on, as I was carried through the streets, to bear the tidings to you, the commander, as he seemed, of the reitters threatened to cut the man's ears off if he obeyed. How the news was at length brought to you I know not, and would willingly hear."

"'Twas a little misshapen dwarf," replied Mayenne, "whom I remember well about the court some years ago, that brought the tidings, and bellowed them forth just as I was mounting my horse to ride out this morning."

"'Tis one of my own pages, doubtless," replied St. Real. "I fancied that the little pigmy could ill bear the fatigues of our long march, and I sent him on hither in a chariot, with another young lad, to prepare a lodging for me while in Paris."

"I knew not, sir Marquis," replied Mayenne, "that you, who affect so much retirement in the provinces, took such pains to follow the modes of the court. What! you have dwarfs for pages, too, have you? And doubtless, in such a household as yours, you equal this Henry of Valois, and have the tailleur aux nains, as well as the dwarf's valet."

A fear crossed the mind of Madame de Montpensier, lest her brother should be pressing St. Real somewhat too hard for his own interests; and she accordingly joined in the conversation at once. "No, no!" she exclaimed; "depend upon it, Charles, Monsieur de St. Real has obtained this dwarf through some accident. I am a better judge of nature than you, Mayenne; and I will answer for it that St. Real is not one to ape the follies of a vicious court, and have his dozen or two of dwarfs and buffoons."