Although this was a sad and bitter disappointment to me, yet I could not help still entertaining a hope that I had made my situation sufficiently known to Gourville to urge him at least towards farther inquiries; and with that thought I consoled myself for the rest of the evening. No one came, however; and, when the next day rose and set without the appearance of my acquaintance, I began again to give myself up to despair, the more dark for the ray of light that had broken in upon me for a time.
The sun rose and set, I have said; and, sitting down upon the straw which had been given me for my bed, I covered my eyes with my hands, and could have wept; but the very fountain of tears seemed dried up; and I could only brood over my situation with a sort of gloomy horror, which I do believe would have ended in depriving me of my faculties: but, about an hour after nightfall, the bolts and bars of the dungeon began to move, and I started up with joy; for the hour was not one at which the gaoler ever visited the cell: and the slightest change in the usual current of events seemed to speak of hope. As soon as the door was opened, a light broke in from the turnkey's lantern, and his own face was the first thing I beheld; but the moment after, I perceived another figure behind; and, to my inexpressible satisfaction, saw, as soon as my eyes were a little more accustomed to the light, that it was Gourville himself.
He embraced me most kindly; and, ordering the gaoler to leave us, in a tone of authority which was instantly obeyed, he surveyed me from head to foot by the light of the lantern, which the man had set down on the floor of the dungeon ere he departed. My imprisonment and all its consequences had not improved my appearance particularly; and I saw a slight smile pass over Gourville's countenance as he made his examination, and contrasted, I dare say, in his mind, the object that now met his eyes with the gay lad who had visited him in Paris several years before. He suppressed all signs of merriment, however, for fear of giving me pain; and then made me recount all the adventures which had brought me into that situation. In my narrative, I certainly did not spare Gaspard de Belleville: but Gourville shook his head, saying, that my enemy enjoyed a considerable share of favour with the Prince de Condé.
"Nevertheless," he continued, "beyond all doubt your liberation must and will take place as soon as it is communicated to the Prince. Sorry I am that I have not the power of ordering you to be set free at once; but as I depart for Paris early to-morrow, I will take care that his Highness shall immediately know the treatment you have received. In the meanwhile that treatment shall instantly be changed in some degree, for I have authority enough for that at least, and you shall have every comfort that ever exists in a prison. A little money, too, is not a useless thing in any situation. Here, take my purse, my young friend, you can pay me when we meet again."
I assured him that if I were permitted to write to Monsieur de Villardin I should soon receive sufficient supplies, and, therefore, that I needed not to take advantage of his liberal offer, if he could obtain for me that permission. He replied, that he would take care that no obstruction should thenceforward be thrown in the way of my writing to whom I liked; but at the same time he pressed the loan of his purse upon me, saying, that I might want it before I could receive any reply to my letters. After some farther conversation, which he, who well knew what imprisonment is, took care to make as cheerful as possible, he summoned the gaoler, and after rebuking him sternly for the treatment he had shown to an officer of the King, he ordered him to let me have everything which could make me comfortable, consistent with my safe custody, and especially both to furnish me with materials for writing, and to give the letters which I did write to the post with his own hands. By the gaoler's humble tone it was very evident that he well knew the influence which Gourville possessed with the Prince de Condé; and as soon as my kind friend had left me, he made a thousand excuses for his former harshness, telling me that he had but obeyed the orders of those who brought me thither.
A great change in my situation was the first result of Gourville's visit: I was removed to a warm and dry chamber, from which I could see over the whole country round. Good food, books, and writing materials were allowed me; and my gaoler, now become civil and complacent enough, purchased for me, with part of the money which Gourville had lent, various articles of clothing, of which I had long stood in need, and for which he did not charge me much more than double the value. My first care was to write to Monsieur de Villardin, and the gaoler undertook to see the epistle despatched; but certain it is the letter never reached its destination; and whether it remained for ever within the walls of the prison at Stenay, or lost itself when it got out into the wide world, I cannot tell. It mattered but little, however; for, eight days after Gourville had left me, I was visited by one of the officers of the garrison, who informed me that he had received orders from the Prince de Condé to conduct me to Paris, and that if I had no objection, he proposed setting out the next day. I assured him that nothing on earth would give me greater pleasure; and a little after day-break I had to thank God for seeing the gates of that accursed prison thrown open to give me egress. The officer and his party were waiting me in the street, with one led horse for myself, and another for my baggage; but as all the clothes I had were those which the gaoler had purchased for me, they were easily so arranged as to go on the horse that carried myself, and the other was consequently sent back. During the last week I had been permitted to walk every day in the court of the prison, and had, in consequence, regained, in a great degree, the use of my limbs; but still I was very much fatigued when I arrived at the end of our first day's journey. The officer who conducted or guarded me was a very quiet, civil personage, and as we rode along, he told me that he was ordered to require my parole not to attempt an escape, and then to give me every sort of liberty.
My parole was, of course, willingly given, and after a slow, and, as it appeared to me, a tedious march, we arrived in Paris just three days after the battle of the Faubourg St. Antoine. We had nearly, it is true, been cut off by a body of royalist cavalry, who passed us in the neighbourhood of Charonne; but it is probable that, never dreaming a party attached to the Prince de Condé would show itself on that side of the town so immediately after his defeat, they took us for some of their own partisans. At all events, they passed within a hundred yards of our little troop; and their commander even shouted a good morrow to the officer at our head, which, on his part, was returned with great courtesy. Such was the method in which war was carried on in those days.
On our entrance into Paris we found the whole town in one universal gabble concerning the battle of St. Antoine. Distiches, sarcasms, and epigrams were flying in every direction; and the gay tone and witty repartee of each Parisian, from whom we even inquired our way, would but little have led a stranger to conclude that within three days an engagement had taken place at the very gates of the town, in which 4000 or 5000 men had been killed, and some of the noblest and bravest gentlemen of France had left their bodies on the field. Still less, indeed, did the gaiety and good humour, which were observable amongst the people, indicate, in any degree, the fierce and sanguinary passions which were soon to be called into action; and we rode on through the streets, amidst a crowd of as merry faces as ever I remember to have seen.
Although we inquired repeatedly, no one could tell us anything certain concerning the Prince de Condé. Some said that he was even then in the town; some said he was with his army, encamped without the walls, just beyond the Faubourg St. Victor; some said that he had gone to effect his junction with the Spanish force; and the officer, whose orders were merely to join him, thought it best to proceed to the Hôtel de Ville, in order to gain further information. It is not impossible, indeed, that the vicinity of a famous sutling-house, known to every bon vivant in the army, at the corner of the Rue de la Mortellerie might be an inducement to my conductor, and, at all events, certain it is that he directed his steps to the sutler's in the very first instance.
Here, however, he learned that the Prince was, at that very moment, in the Hôtel de Ville itself; and, after taking care to refresh his men and himself with the choicest stores of the sutler's larder, he left me at the house on the strength of my parole, and proceeded to seek the Prince for the purpose of obtaining further orders. As I remained in the high room in which we had dined, and had nothing else to occupy my attention, I amused myself by gazing out of the window upon the various groups that were now thronging into the open space before the Town-house. It was a hot, sultry day in July; and all the crowds of Parisians, who, like butterflies, come forth whenever the sun shines, were filling the streets, and all seemed to me pouring on in one direction. The masses in the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville became every moment more and more dense, so that it was difficult at length for those whose business called them to the Town-house, to make their way thither. A number of petty affrays took place, in consequence of the endeavours made by several individuals to force their passage through the crowd; and a spirit of riot began to manifest itself, which it was not difficult to divine would end in more serious disorders. I remarked about this time, that almost every one I saw in the crowd had one or two wheat straws stuck into his hat or cap; the greater part also appeared armed, and I could not help anticipating very unpleasant results from the assemblage of such a number of the lower classes at a moment of general excitement and licence. After a time, however, the people seemed to become more quiet; and, before long, I saw the Prince de Condé, with a number of other noblemen and gentlemen, come out of the Hôtel de Ville, and ride away amidst the acclamations of the populace.