"So I must die!" he said to himself, gazing at the turf-covered mounds, like furrows in a field, which covered the graves of those obscure villagers; "die, it may be, penniless and without power, like the wretched serfs who have not left even a name to be inscribed on these little crosses of rotten wood! Neither influence nor renown in this world! Wrath, disappointment, useless labors, useless efforts—crimes, perhaps!—and all to reach the threshold of eternity, having never been able to forward the glory of the church in this life, and having failed to earn my pardon in the other!"
By dint of thinking about destiny, he persuaded himself that it was the influence of the devil that had ruined his.
He thought for an instant of confessing to this priest, whose eyes had seemed to him to glow with intelligence; but he was afraid to confide to any person the secrets which were consuming his life and his repose.
Engrossed by these black thoughts, he saw Monsieur Poulain enter the cemetery at last, and, coming toward him, salute him deferentially.
The acquaintance was soon made. With the first words they exchanged, the two men felt that they were equally ambitious.
The rector invited D'Alvimar to breakfast with him.
"I can offer you only a very scanty repast," he said; "my cuisine does not resemble that at the château. I have neither vassals nor valets at my beck and call to serve as purveyors for my table. So that my frugal fare will enable you to retain sufficient appetite to do honor to the marquis's, whose bell will not ring for two or three hours to come."
There was, in this exordium, an undercurrent of jealous resentment against the château which did not escape the Spaniard. He made haste to accept the rector's invitation, feeling certain that he should learn from him all that he had reason to hope or fear from the marquis's hospitality.
[11]This ornament, common in the time of Henri IV., may have come to France with Marie de Médicis, as an allusion to the arms of her family, which are, as everyone knows, seven little balls, literally pellets, in memory of the profession of the founder of the family.
[12]Salt-smuggling nobleman.