"In the mean time, I will do my best to lead the troop as you have done, and trust we shall have plenty of plunder to give an account of when you come back again. The enemy are not so successful at that work as we are, and you will be glad to hear that all the baggage is quite safe. I have taken the chest to the admiral, as you commanded; and have distributed the thousand crowns among the men, who are very grateful; and I send you the thousand that you require for yourself, together with the admiral's receipt for the remainder, amounting to three thousand seven hundred and sixty crowns of the sun, with two livres tournois, six sous, and two derniers. I am sorry to tell you that we have lost no less than thirteen men, of whom nine were killed or disabled before you quitted us on the hill. Poor Moriton we got off, but he died last night, having been shot very funnily by two arquebus balls at the same moment, which must have touched each other, for they made a long wound just like a keyhole. I have kept his cuirass, poor fellow, for one may live many a day without seeing such a thing as that. I myself have lost the tip of my right ear, which is no great loss after all, for it only makes that one match the left, the end of which was shot off some years ago by a mad fellow called Chicot. I send you below a list of our killed and wounded, and am, Your devoted servant,
"Moric Endem."
With this curious epistle was a brief note from the admiral, acknowledging the receipt of the money, and telling me that though, of course, it was necessary to arrange the liberation of the elder and more experienced officers in the first instance, he would not forget me when it came to my turn. The words were words of course, and I certainly did not expect that the admiral would think of the matter much more, as in fact he did not do.
Towards night the Duke of Montpensier himself came back to Jarnac, and I saw that he was a good deal mortified, annoyed, and thoughtful. After supper he somewhat recovered himself, and I then found, from what he said, that the efforts of the Catholics upon Cognac had been repelled successfully at every point, and the army obliged to withdraw. Shortly after this, the duke entered my chamber one morning early, saying, "Monsieur de Cerons, I come to take leave of you for a time. The army is about to march, the surgeon thinks it not fit that you should advance as rapidly as we do, and it is therefore my wish that you should proceed by slow stages to my house at Champigny, where a part of my attendants are about to go. You will there find every convenience; I have written to prepare my people for your reception, and I consider you still, you must remember, upon parole."
"It must be, my lord," I replied, "of course, as you think fit: but I trust it will not be long before you kindly name my ransom, and set me at liberty."
The duke turned to me with a kindly expression of countenance, and replied, "Believe me, Monsieur de Cerons, I have your interests nearly at heart. Neither I nor my son are persons whose affections are given by halves. I have consulted with him and with one or two other gentlemen, for whose opinion I have a respect, and they all think with me, that I had better act as I have undoubtedly a right to do, and detain you as a prisoner; though assuredly a prisoner in no very strict sense of the word, than, by permitting you to go on in the course with which you have begun--glorious in a military point of view, as it may be--see you make yourself remarkable by determined rebellion and opposition to the royal authority, and thus exclude yourself for ever from the royal protection. There is my hand. Monsieur de Cerons. Believe me, I wish you well."
I took his hand respectfully, I may say affectionately, and replied, "Your good opinion is, indeed, most deeply valuable to me, my lord; but yet, pardon me for detaining you to hear one word more. In your calculations for my benefit, there are things that you do not know. Are you aware, my lord, that the whole fortune I possess on earth is my sword; that it is an absolute necessity for me to distinguish myself, and make myself a high name by military exertion? It is, of course, impossible for me to fight against those who maintain the same religious opinions as myself, and, consequently, the only field that is open to me is in arms in the Protestant cause."
"But the estate of Cerons?" said the duke, inquiringly. "I remember it a very fair property in the hands of, I think, your father?"
"Alas! sir," I replied, "The estate of Cerons has never been mine. My father, by the necessities of the times in which he lived, was obliged to part with the whole estate, except one rood of land, to preserve the name to his son. It was bought by his more fortunate cousin, the Baron de Blancford, with whom it still remains. Thus, therefore, my lord, if you keep me still a prisoner, though your motives may be most kind ones, you cut me off from every opportunity of advancing my own fortunes and renown; and, let me add in one word, that I have the strongest of all possible motives for seeking to urge my way forward as fast as possible."
"What, love?" said the Duke of Montpensier, laying his hand upon my shoulder, and gazing in my face with a smile. "Nay, never conceal it. I can feel for you well, Monsieur de Cerons. But let me consider for a moment." And he fell into a fit of musing which lasted for several minutes.