"You seem very silent, Mademoiselle," said the old gentleman, at length; "I am afraid some misfortune has happened to you."
"I have lost a kind and generous friend in this last battle," cried Helen de la Tremblade, "and have no heart to speak."
"Ah! poor thing," said the old man. "You are not a soldier to bear these things lightly. We learn to weep for a friend one half hour, and to laugh the next. When a man holds life by the tenure of a straw, he soon gets to look upon the loss of it by others, as a matter of little moment. Yet here I am, have reached seventy years of age, and have been in twelve stricken battles, with at least a skirmish every week for this last thirty years, and never got but one scratch upon the face: yet I have seen many a blooming boy swept away in his very first fight."
Thus he continued talking on, during the whole way, till they reached the woods, which, at that time, skirted the banks of the Seine; and, giving his men orders to halt at one of the neighbouring villages, he rode on with Helen and her two companions, followed by a small party of his own attendants, towards the Château of Rosni, in which they found that the King had taken up his abode.
It was the bustle of a camp, rather than that of a court, that Helen now found. Tents were pitched in the meadows; baggage-waggons encumbered the ground, bodies of soldiers were moving here and there, and parties of armed men with their steel caps laid aside, were seen supping on the damp ground under the trees, by the light of the fires which they kindled to keep off the exhalations of the night, now drawing in around them. The great doors of the château were wide open, the hall filled with people, and though the Count de Ligones acted as her spokesman, and inquired of several whom they met, if they could tell where Monsieur de Chasseron was to be found, whether in the château, or in the village, she could get no satisfactory answer of any kind; and, indeed, so busy did every one seem with his own thoughts, or his own business, that very often no reply was returned at all.
As every one seemed at liberty to come and go, however, the old Count, more accustomed to such scenes than she, led her up the great staircase into the corridor at the top. But, as they were turning to the right, more at a venture than by choice, a guard placed himself before them, saying,--"You cannot pass, Sir, without an order. These are the King's apartments."
"Call a valet or an equerry," said Monsieur de Ligones.
The man obeyed; and, in a moment after, out came a tall good-looking man, in military attire, who exclaimed at once, "Ah! Ligones, is that you? You are to quarter your men at the farther end of the village. There are two houses marked for you; but, good faith, you must make them sleep as close as pigs in a sty. We only give them house room at all, because we know that there is not a man under seventy amongst them, and so take care of their old bones."
"Thanks, Aubigné, thanks," replied the Count; "but I want to see the King, and--"
"You cannot see him just now," answered Aubigné, "for he has got D' O and other vermin with him, and has for once lost his patience. I heard him swearing like a Reiter, with all the language of Babylon come back upon him in full force. I believe he will frighten them into disgorging something; but whether or not sufficient to carry us to Paris, I doubt. However, if you will wait half an hour, the fit of blasphemy and finance, will have left him. May I ask what are your commands, Madam? If your business be with the King, I must report it; for he is always much more accessible to ladies than to gentlemen."