The Man-at-Arms; or, Henry De Cerons. Volumes I and II

by G. P. R. James

There were lights and a blazing fire on the right hand, and I entered that room, when I saw before me a tall, powerful man sitting in the window-seat, with a page busily taking off the various pieces of his armour. He turned round his head as I entered, though bestowing no very soft benediction on the page for pinching his leg with the genouillère, and exclaimed, "Welcome, welcome, De Cerons; so I find you, as I hoped to find you, changed from little David the shepherd's boy into a mighty man of war. And who shall say what will come of it next?"

The face that was turned towards me was that of my first military friend and counsellor, Stuart; and with equal joy and gratitude I grasped his hand, and welcomed him to the army.

"I have expected to see you long," I said, "but certainly did not expect to see you this night, and in my own quarters."

"Why, it so happens," replied Stuart, "That they are mine too; for the house, and yard, and stables were to be shared between us. Heaven knows how we should have managed if I had brought on my band. But I left the greater number of them some way back, for men and horses were absolutely exhausted by hard riding and starvation. Though the prince would very willingly have kept me at Jarnac, to sup with him to-night and dine with him to-morrow, yet I came on with two or three of my servants only, to see what was doing out here at the advance guard; for I have a strange notion that we sha'n't be four-and-twenty hours without a battle. I wanted to see you, too, and have got a good supper ready for you, as there wants no food for men's mouths here, though all the forage I could get was a bushel of oats and a handful of straw for six horses."

I followed Stuart's example as soon as possible in disencumbering myself of my armour, for I never had the casque off my head for more than twenty hours, nor had anything passed my lips but a cup of cold water during the whole of that time; so that the sight of a huge piece of roasted pork, and a dish of pig's ears and feet strewed with crayfish, was, I must acknowledge, one of the pleasantest prospects that my eyes had lighted upon for some time. For my poor men's sakes, too, I was glad to hear that provisions were to be had in abundance, and, before I ate myself, I took care to send out the means to purchase everything that was necessary, although my expeditions had been so successful as to leave the purses of my troop better stored than those of any other in the army.

During supper, Stuart and I talked over all that had happened to us both since we parted in Bordeaux; and, although my first intercourse with him had been but of a few hours' duration, yet, when we met, we felt as if we had been old and intimate friends for many years. He told me all that had befallen him to delay his journey to join the army, the difficulty in getting his Scotch companions over from his native country, or raising others fitted for his band: the necessity which then presented itself of joining his forces to those of De Pile, and of labouring with that commander to induce the Protestant noblemen of Higher and Lower Gascony to come forward in arms, and risk something for the common cause; then the obstacles which the Catholics had thrown in his way, to prevent his junction with the Protestant army; and he ended by telling me that he had at length been obliged to leave De Pile behind with the greater part of the troops, and, with only sixty helmets, to make his way on to join the Prince de Condé, having a sort of presentiment in his mind, which, he said, had never failed him hitherto, that a battle was on the eve of taking place between the two contending parties.

To me he put a thousand questions concerning my state and prospects, although it was evident enough that he had heard news of me from time to time, and was not a little proud of his military neophyte. I told him all the military part of my history, as I have told it here, and met his approbation of all my proceedings.

In pursuing these subjects, however, the conversation naturally turned to good Martin Vern, his journey to Bordeaux, and the redemption of my dagger; and, as soon as the subject was mentioned, he exclaimed, "Oh! by-the-way, it is true I did what was, perhaps, not very justifiable on my part, and made good Solomon Ahar do what was not quite right upon his. But, having seen how much you regretted the loss of your weapon; and also having received an unexpected sum, which gave me a few crowns to spare, I went and insisted upon redeeming it, thinking that in a day or two I should join you. I have been forced to wander far enough since," he continued, "but your dagger is quite safe, and with my baggage at Jarnac. One thing, however, I must tell you of, which happened in the redemption of it, and which made me very glad that I had got it out of the Jew's hands, who has now moved from Bordeaux to Paris, as I dare say you have heard."

"No," I replied, "I did not hear of his removal. But I can easily conceive that he was not much to your taste. Yet tell me, what was this circumstance which made you glad?"

"Doubtless you know the fact yourself already," replied Stuart, "but I discovered it from the Jew. When, much against his will, I had driven him to give it up, good Solomon said, 'Ha! do you know it is hollow, Seigneur Stuart?' And he then showed me, by weighing it against another dagger, with a smaller hilt than it had, that the haft is hollow, and, through a hole where one of the old jewels had fallen out, we clearly saw some folded parchment within. It may be a matter of some consequence, or of none to you, for aught I know. Were you aware of the fact?"