Part 5 (1/2)
”But that is not all. In the gay, red days, when Lorgnac here and I had all the world before us, we were of the College of Cambrai. It is true we entered as you left; but we knew you, and when all Paris was full of your name Lorgnac and I, and others whom you knew not, aped the fall of your cloak, the droop of your plume, the tilt of your sword.
Those days are gone, and until last night you, I thought, were gone with them.”
”Monsieur!”
”Listen! There is more yet. I but told the Queen of the arms you bore. She recognised them at once.”
”That is not strange; the Vidame d'Orrain is in Paris!”
”True! But she remembered your history--every detail of it. It was long ago, and many things have happened, and the Seine there has rolled much water under its bridges since then, but she had forgotten nothing.
My friend, they who say the Medicis ever forgets are fools--blind in their folly. And so, for the sake of last night, and a little for the days that have gone, we will see pretty things yet, G.o.d willing! Eh, De Lorgnac?”
”I for one look forward to the day when a brave man will come to his own,” replied the other, and their kindness touched me to the quick.
I am not one gifted with the power of speech--indeed, I hold that the greater the tongue the smaller the heart--but I found words to thank these gallant gentlemen, and De Lorgnac said:
”Monsieur, it is enough thanks to hold us in your esteem, and we will say no more about it. I have, however, some information that may be useful. Your brother the Vidame left Paris this evening for the South, it is said. Thus one danger is at any rate removed from your path.”
It was something to know that Simon was gone. I thanked De Lorgnac, and added:
”Now, messieurs, for my news. I know not if I have come forth from that chamber”--and I pointed behind me--”a made man or not. This much I know, I am the bearer of a letter, the delivery of which must not be delayed, and I must leave Paris with the dawn, or before--horse or no horse.”
”The horses I said were my care,” De Lorgnac said. And then turning to Le Brusquet: ”Await me on the steps that lead to the eastern gallery; I am relieved in less than an hour. We will then take monsieur here to my house, where there are two horses in the stables at his disposal, and the rest concerns himself.”
Le Brusquet and I went back as we came, his constant companion, the ape, with us. Pa.s.sing through the open arch I have already mentioned we halted on the steps that lead from the balcony to the eastern wing, and here we awaited De Lorgnac.
For a little there was a silence. Perhaps we were both impressed by the scene. In front lay the river, a band of silver, with here and there the twinkling, swaying lights of a crossing boat upon it. All around was the great city, and from the distance there came a murmuring hum of voices, like waves lapping upon a far-off sh.o.r.e. Around us, towering above and ringing us in with its immense strength, rose the Louvre, its vast outlines looking, if possible, larger and more gigantic in the enchanted light.
After a s.p.a.ce Le Brusquet began to speak of the Vidame, my brother, and so we pa.s.sed the time in converse until De Lorgnac came. He bade us haste if we wished to quit the Louvre ere the pontlevis were raised, and hurrying after him we made our way to the southern gate, the only one open. As we went onwards the desolation that marked the entrance to the Queen's apartments was no longer visible. Ever and again we were stopped and challenged by sentries.
”_Hein_!” exclaimed Le Brusquet, ”the Scots archers keep good ward.”
”Quick! Hurry!” was De Lorgnac's answer. ”There goes the first signal for closing the gates!”
And as he spoke a clarion rang out shrilly. We had reached the outer court by this, and were hurrying for the bridge that led to the pontlevis when we saw a tall man, his cuira.s.s glittering like silver in the moonlight, step out of the shadow and signal to a trumpeter, who stood at his side.
”A moment, De Lorges. Stay!” And Lorgnac ran up to him. ”Faith! but your time is punctual.”
Montgomery de Lorges laughed as he laid a restraining hand on his trumpeter. ”I have more than half a mind to give the signal,” he said.
”There is a rare flagon of Arbois in my apartment, and you would have been forced to share it. Come, change your mind and stay.”
”Thanks; but I cannot. We are bound to my house, where you are very welcome if you care to come.”
”And leave my post? No, no!”
”Au revoir, then.”
”Au revoir.”
And we pa.s.sed over the bridge. Almost had we freed it when the trumpet sounded again, and with a rattling of chains the huge pontlevis rose.
”Faith! 'twas a narrow thing. Had we been but a minute later the Scot would have barred all egress.” And Le Brusquet looked back at the gate through which we had pa.s.sed. It lay on the other side of the pontlevis--the fosse between us--and was of angular shape, surmounted by a statue of Charles V. of France, and, as De Lorgnac said, was already doomed to destruction to make way for the improvements contemplated by the King.