Part 23 (2/2)
”'Did the judges tremble?' said Urbain Grandier to me. 'Did they tremble at deceiving themselves?' They work the work of the just. The question!
They bind his limbs with ropes to make him speak. His skin cracks, tears away, and rolls up like a parchment; his nerves are naked, red, and glittering; his bones crack; the marrow spurts out. But the judges sleep! they dream of flowers and spring. 'How hot the grand chamber is!'
says one, awaking; 'this man has not chosen to speak! Is the torture finished?' And pitiful at last, he dooms him to death--death, the sole fear of the living! death, the unknown world! He sends before him a furious soul which will wait for him. Oh! has he never seen the vision of vengeance? Has he never seen before falling asleep the flayed prevaricator?”
Already weakened by fever, fatigue, and grief, the Cardinal, seized with horror and pity, exclaimed:
”Ah, for the love of G.o.d, let this terrible scene have an end! Take away this woman; she is mad!”
The frantic creature turned, and suddenly uttering loud cries, ”Ah, the judge! the judge! the judge!” she said, recognizing Laubardemont.
The latter, clasping his hands and trembling before the Cardinal, said with terror:
”Alas, Monseigneur, pardon me! she is my niece, who has lost her reason.
I was not aware of this misfortune, or she would have been shut up long ago. Jeanne! Jeanne! come, Madame, to your knees! ask forgiveness of Monseigneur the Cardinal-duc.”
”It is Richelieu!” she cried; and astonishment seemed wholly to paralyze this young and unhappy beauty. The flush which had animated her at first gave place to a deadly pallor, her cries to a motionless silence, her wandering looks to a frightful fixedness of her large eyes, which constantly followed the agitated minister.
”Take away this unfortunate child quickly,” said he; ”she is dying, and so am I. So many horrors pursue me since that sentence that I believe all h.e.l.l is loosed upon me.”
He rose as he spoke; Jeanne de Belfiel, still silent and stupefied, with haggard eyes, open mouth, and head bent forward, yet remained beneath the shock of her double surprise, which seemed to have extinguished the rest of her reason and her strength. At the movement of the Cardinal, she shuddered to find herself between him and Laubardemont, looked by turns at one and the other, let the knife which she held fall from her hand, and retired slowly toward the opening of the tent, covering herself completely with her veil, and looking wildly and with terror behind her upon her uncle who followed, like an affrighted lamb, which already feels at its back the burning breath of the wolf about to seize it.
Thus they both went forth; and hardly had they reached the open air, when the furious judge caught the hands of his victim, tied them with a handkerchief, and easily led her, for she uttered no cry, not even a sigh, but followed him with her head still drooping upon her bosom, and as if plunged in profound somnambulism.
CHAPTER XIII. THE SPANIARD
Meantime, a scene of different nature was pa.s.sing in the tent of Cinq-Mars; the words of the King, the first balm to his wounds, had been followed by the anxious care of the surgeons of the court. A spent ball, easily extracted, had been the only cause of his accident. He was allowed to travel and all was ready. The invalid had received up to midnight friendly or interested visits; among the first were those of little Gondi and of Fontrailles, who were also preparing to quit Perpignan for Paris. The ex-page, Olivier d'Entraigues, joined with them in complimenting the fortunate volunteer, whom the King seemed to have distinguished. The habitual coldness of the Prince toward all who surrounded him having caused those who knew of them to regard the few words he had spoken as a.s.sured signs of high favor, all came to congratulate him.
At length, released from visitors, he lay upon his camp-bed. De Thou sat by his side, holding his hand, and Grandchamp at his feet, still grumbling at the numerous interruptions that had fatigued his wounded master. Cinq-Mars himself tasted one of those moments of calm and hope, which so refresh the soul as well as the body. His free hand secretly pressed the gold cross that hung next to his heart, the beloved donor of which he was so soon to behold. Outwardly, he listened with kindly looks to the counsels of the young magistrate; but his inward thoughts were all turned toward the object of his journey--the object, also, of his life. The grave De Thou went on in a calm, gentle voice:
”I shall soon follow you to Paris. I am happier than you at seeing the King take you there with him. You are right in looking upon it as the beginning of a friends.h.i.+p which must be turned to profit. I have reflected deeply on the secret causes of your ambition, and I think I have divined your heart. Yes; that feeling of love for France, which made it beat in your earliest youth, must have gained greater strength.
You would be near the King in order to serve your country, in order to put in action those golden dreams of your early years. The thought is a vast one, and worthy of you! I admire you; I bow before you. To approach the monarch with the chivalrous devotion of our fathers, with a heart full of candor, and prepared for any sacrifice; to receive the confidences of his soul; to pour into his those of his subjects; to soften the sorrows of the King by telling him the confidence his people have in him; to cure the wounds of the people by laying them open to its master, and by the intervention of your favor thus to reestablish that intercourse of love between the father and his children which for eighteen years has been interrupted by a man whose heart is marble; for this n.o.ble enterprise, to expose yourself to all the horrors of his vengeance and, what is even worse, to brave all the perfidious calumnies which pursue the favorite to the very steps of the throne--this dream was worthy of you.
”Pursue it, my friend,” De Thou continued. ”Never become discouraged.
Speak loudly to the King of the merit and misfortunes of his most ill.u.s.trious friends who are trampled on. Tell him fearlessly that his old n.o.bility have never conspired against him; and that from the young Montmorency to the amiable Comte de Soissons, all have opposed the minister, and never the monarch. Tell him that the old families of France were born with his race; that in striking them he affects the whole nation; and that, should he destroy them, his own race will suffer, that it will stand alone exposed to the blast of time and events, as an old oak trembling and exposed to the wind of the plain, when the forest which surrounded and supported it has been destroyed.
Yes!” cried De Thou, growing animated, ”this aim is a fine and n.o.ble one. Go on in your course with a resolute step; expel even that secret shame, that shyness, which a n.o.ble soul experiences before it can resolve upon flattering--upon paying what the world calls its court.
Alas, kings are accustomed to these continual expressions of false admiration for them! Look upon them as a new language which must be learned--a language hitherto foreign to your lips, but which, believe me, may be n.o.bly spoken, and which may express high and generous thoughts.”
During this warm discourse of his friend, Cinq-Mars could not refrain from a sudden blush; and he turned his head on his pillow toward the tent, so that his face might not be seen. De Thou stopped:
”What is the matter, Henri? You do not answer. Am I deceived?”
Cinq-Mars gave a deep sigh and remained silent.
”Is not your heart affected by these ideas which I thought would have transported it?”
The wounded man looked more calmly at his friend and said:
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