[CHAPTER XXXI.]
The convalescence of Laura de Villardin proceeded rapidly, and she was soon able to take the air in the huge lumbering coach of those times, which was a very different sort of machine from the gay and gilded equipages of the present day. I was always selected to carry her from her couch to the carriage; and no one suspecting that our feelings would ever become dangerous to our own peace, our childish partiality only excited a smile on the part of Monsieur de Villardin, and was the source of no small pleasure to ourselves. As she acquired strength, it was decided by her physician that exercise on horseback would complete her recovery; and I sought and obtained the task both of breaking a horse for her service and teaching her to ride. She was then as sweet a girl as ever I beheld, and each day was adding new graces to her person and to her mind. Her heart was as gentle and as kind as that of Madame de Villardin, and she had a degree of the same graceful playfulness, which I had observed in her mother when first I saw her, mingled with the deeper and more intense feelings, which--misguided and abused--had been the cause of misery in her father's bosom.
The hours fled in great happiness for nearly three months, but at length the time for renewing the military operations against the Spaniards approached, and messengers from the Court warned Monsieur Villardin that his presence was required at head-quarters.
It was necessary, of course, to obey the summons, and all our preparations were speedily concluded. Laura and the whole household were removed to the Prés Vallée before our departure, in order that masters might be obtained from Rennes to instruct Mademoiselle de Villardin in all those accomplishments which were required in society, from a person of her rank; and as my little page, Clement de la Marke, was too young to accompany me to the tented field, I left him under the care of Father Ferdinand, in order that he might derive every advantage from the same facility of procuring instruction.
Before we quitted Dumont, however, Monsieur de Villardin, who never left any service I did him unrequited, proposed to give me in exchange for the very uncertain pension which the government had bestowed upon me, a farm which lay contiguous to Juvigny, and which certainly rendered my baronial lands of a very respectable extent. I pointed out to the Duke that the present rents of the farm were far more than the amount of the pension, and that it was likely to yield still more; but he insisted upon the arrangement; and T clearly saw that he wished to recompense the assistance I had afforded him at the Hôtel de Ville, without rendering his gift burdensome, by bestowing it in the shape of a reward.
As I knew well that fully one half of his income remained unemployed, and had long learned to look upon him as a father, his benefits had nothing galling in them to any of the weaknesses of my nature; and I willingly accepted his offer. The necessary papers were drawn up and signed, ere we set out for the army; and I need hardly say that the benefit conferred did not excite the less gratitude in my bosom, because the donation was delicately veiled under the semblance of an exchange.
It will be unnecessary to follow the armies of France through the campaign that ensued, or to trace my own individual career in the service, which was simply that of a young officer, possessed of considerable interest, who rose more by fortunate circumstances, and the exertions of a few indefatigable friends, than by any particular credit of his own. It is true that I was active and vigilant, and did not want courage; but at the same time, I cannot but acknowledge that both Monsieur de Villardin and Monsieur de Turenne made more of those qualities in my person than they deserved. After having followed the royal army through all its marches and countermarches, after having done what I could to distinguish myself at the siege of Rhetel and of Mouson, and after having taken part in the deliverance of Rocroy, I returned to Brittany with Monsieur de Villardin, at the end of the campaign, considerably richer in honour than I had set out.
Everything at the Prés Vallée was as we left it, or so nearly so, that it seemed as if that part of the world had stood still, while we had been hurried through so many different scenes and events. Father Ferdinand appeared hardly changed in the least; and though Laura had grown taller, she was still a girl. My little page, indeed, had greatly improved; and in the couple of months that we spent at the château, wound himself not only round my heart, but also round that of Monsieur de Villardin himself; and when at our departure he petitioned earnestly to be taken with us, I thought that the Duke himself seemed inclined to second his request.
Judging it better for himself, however, I left him for another year, and proceeded with Monsieur de Villardin to attend the coronation of the young king, a summons to which ceremony had curtailed our stay in Brittany.
During the festivities that succeeded, Monsieur de Villardin became first acquainted with the Count de Laval, of whom I shall have more to speak hereafter. He was, as every one knows, wealthy and powerful; and though he was cold, and somewhat haughty, yet he was, I believe, a man of generous feelings, and a noble disposition, of which I had ultimately an extraordinary proof. He paid considerable attention to Monsieur Villardin; and it struck me from the first that he had some motive with which I was not aware, in the advances that he made towards the Duke.