La Dame de Monsoreau (32 page)

The brother porter and the monk passed within four paces of him, and he could see through the grating the light of the taper reflected on their robes.

" Unless the very devil 's in it," thought Chicot, u that brother porter and the little monk and yon three monks won't stay here forever. When they 're out, I '11 pile the chairs on the benches, like Pelion on Ossa, as M. Konsard would say, and I '11 make my way out through the window."

" Ah, yes, through the window," continued Chicot, answering a question he had put to himself, " but when I 'in through the window I shall find myself in the yard, and the yard is not the street. I think, after all, it may be better for me to spend the night in. the confessional. G-orenflot's robe is warm ; it will not be as pagan a night as many I have passed, and so that much, at least, is gained for my salvation."

" Put out the lamps," said the chorister, " so that those outside may see the conference is at an end."

The brother porter, with the help of an immense extinguisher, immediately extinguished the light of the two lamps in the nave, plunging it into funeral darkness. Next he did the same to the one in the choir.

The church was now in total obscurity, except for the pale rays of a wintry moon that barely succeeded in piercing the stained-glass windows.

Then, with the cessation of the light, came utter silence.

The bell rang out twelve times.

" Venire de biche ! " said Chicot, " midnight in a church ! If my son Harry were in my place, would n't he be in a flutter ! Luckily we are so constituted that shadows don't frighten us. So good-night, friend Chicot, and a good rest to you! "

And, with this comforting wish addressed to himself, Chicot settled down with as much ease as he could in the confessional, shoved in the little bolt on the inside, to be more private, and shut his eyes.

He was in this situation about ten minutes, and his mind, assailed by the first misty visions of slumber, was half conscious of a crowd of indefinite forms floating in that mysterious atmosphere which forms the twilight of thought, when three loud strokes on a copper gong pealed through the church, and then died away in its recesses.

" Odzookens ! " mumbled Chicot, opening his eyes and pricking up his ears, " now, what may this mean ? "

At the same moment the lamp in the choir was relit, burning with a bluish flame, and in its reflection appeared the same three monks, seated in the same place and as motionless as ever.

Chicot was not entirely exempt from superstition. Brave as our Gascon was, he belonged to his age, and it was an age of weird traditions and terrible legends.

He crossed himself gently and murmured :

" Vfide retro, Satanas ! "

But as the light did not go out in obedience to the sign of our redemption, as it would most assuredly have done if it had been of an infernal character, and as the three monks stood their ground in spite of the " vade retro" the Gascon began to believe that the light might be natural, and the monks, if not real monks, at least beings of flesh and blood.

Still, what between his sudden awakening and his real alarm, Chicot was not himself for a time. And, at this very moment, a flagstone in the choir slowly rose until it stood on end, and a gray cowl appeared in the dark opening, and next, an entire monk stepped out on the floor, while the flagstone sank into its place behind him.

At this spectacle Chicot lost all confidence in himself. He no longer had any faith in the exorcism he had used before. He was simply frightened out of his wits, and for a moment

he dreaded that all the priors, abbots, and deans of St. Genevieve, from Optaf, who died in 533, to Pierre Boudin, the predecessor of the present superior, were about to leave their tombs in the crypt which formerly contained the relics of Sainte Genevieve, and, following the example already given them, to raise with their bony skulls the flagstones of the choir.

But this state of mind was not to last long. . " Brother Monsoreau," said one of the three monks to the individual who had made his appearance in such singular fashion, " has the person we are waiting for come ? "

" Yes, messeigneurs," replied the monk spoken to, " he is outside."

" Open the door and let him enter."

" Aha," said Chicot, " so the comedy has two acts, and I only saw the first. Two acts ! I hope to see a third."

But though Chicot tried to keep up his courage by joking with himself, he did not feel at all easy, and a cold shiver now and then darted through his veins.

Meanwhile Brother Monsoreau descended one of the stairs that led from the nave to the choir, and opened the bronze door between the two staircases by which the crypt was entered.

At the same time, the monk sitting between the two others lowered his hood, and showed the great scar, that noble sign by which the Catholics so enthusiastically used to recognize their hero, who was soon to become their martyr.

" The great Henri de Guise in person, the very individual his Most Besotted Majesty believes busy with the siege of La Charite ! Ah, now I understand it all ! " said Chicot ; " the man on the right, who blessed the assembly, is the Cardinal de Lorraine, and the one on the left, who spoke to that brat of a chorister, is my friend Monseigneur de Mayenne. But where in the mischief is Maitre Nicolas David ? "

As if to give immediate proof of the soundness of Chicot's conclusions, the monks on the right and left lowered their cowls, and disclosed to view the intellectual features, broad forehead, and piercing eyes of the famous cardinal and the very commonplace visage of the Due de Mayenne.

" Ha! Now I recognize you." said Chicot, — "a trinity rather unholy, but perfectly visible, and I am all eyes and ears, to see what you are going to do and hear what you are going to say."

*210 LA DAME DE MONSOREAU.

At this moment M. de Monsoreau reached the iron door of the crypt, which gave way before him.

" Did you think he would come ? " said the Balafre to his brother the cardinal.

" Not only did I think it, but I was so sure of it," said the latter, "that I have under my robe the very thing that is needed to take the place of the ampulla/'

And Chicot, who was near enough the trinity, as he called, them, to hear and see everything, perceived by the feeble light of the choir lamp a silver gilt, richly chased casket.

"Why, upon my faith," muttered Chicot, "it looks as if some one were going to be crowned. Now, as I have always longed to see a coronation, this will suit me exactly ! "

Meanwhile, about a score of monks, with their heads buried in their enormous cowls, had entered by the door of the crypt and taken their stations in the nave.

They were followed by another monk, attended by M. de Monsoreau, who went up the choir staircase and occupied a position on the right of the Guises, standing on one of the steps of a stall.

The young chorister reappeared, went to the monk on the right, received his orders with an air of great respect, and then vanished.

The Due de Guise's eyes wandered over this assembly, not one-sixth as numerous as the first, and, therefore, very likely to be a select body. Perceiving that they were not only attentive, but eager to hear him, he said:

" My friends, time is precious, and so I will go straight to the point. As I presume you all formed part of the first assembly, you must have heard the complaints of some members of the Catholic League, who accuse several of our leaders of coldness and even of ill-will, among others, the prince who is nearest to the throne. The moment has come to render to this prince the respect and justice we owe him. You will hear himself speak, and then those of you who have at heart the attainment of the principal object of the holy League can judge whether your chiefs deserve the imputation of coldness and apathy made by Brother Gorenflot, a member of our Union, but whom we have not deemed it prudent to admit into our secret."

When from his confessional Chicot heard the name of the warlike Genevievan uttered by the Due de Guise in a tone

that denoted anything but friendliness, he could not help giving way to an inward fit of laughter, which, although silent, was certainly out of place, considering the great personages who were its object.

" Brothers," continued the duke, " the prince whose cooperation had been promised us, the prince whose aid, nay, whose mere assent, we scarcely dared to hope for, the prince, my brothers, is here."

All eyes were turned inquisitively on the monk to the right of the three Lorraine princes, who were all standing on the step of the stall.

" Monseigneur," said the Due de Guise, addressing the personage who had now become the object of general attention, "the will of God seems to me manifest, for the fact that you have consented to join us proves that we are right in doing what we are doing. And now let me beseech your Highness to lower your hood, that your faithful followers may see with their own eyes you keep the promise we have given in your name, a promise so welcome that they hardly dared to hope for it."

The mysterious individual addressed by Henri de Guise raised his hand and flung his cowl back on his shoulders, and Chicot, who had expected to discover under a monk's frock some Lorraine prince hitherto unknown to him, was amazed on seeing the Due d'Anjou, with a face so pale that, by the dim light of the sepulchral lamp, it looked as if it belonged to a marble statue.

" Oho ! " said Chicot to himself, " our brother Anjou ! So he will never have done staking the heads of others for a throne! "

" Long live Monseigneur le Due d'Anjou !" shouted the assembly.

Francois became even paler than he was before.

" Do not be alarmed, monseigneur," said Henri de Guise, " our chapel is deaf and its doors are well closed."

" A lucky precaution," thought Chicot.

" My brothers," said the Comte de Monsoreau, " his Highness wishes to address a few words to the meeting."

" Yes, yes, let him speak," cried every voice; " we are listening."

The three Lorraine princes turned round and bowed to the Due d'Anjou. The Due d'Anjou leaned against one of the arms of the stall; he seemed to be almost fainting.

" Gentlemen," said he, in a hollow voice that trembled to such a degree that his first words could barely be heard, " gentlemen, I believe that God, who often appears insensible and deaf to the affairs of this world, has, on the contrary, his piercing eyes always riveted on us and remains apparently dumb and careless, that he may remedy one day by some mighty stroke the disorders occasioned by the insane ambitions of men."

The beginning of the duke's speech was, like his character, somewhat obscure ; so his hearers waited for a little light to descend on his Highness' thoughts before condemning or applauding them.

The duke resumed, in a somewhat firmer voice :

" I, too, have cast my eyes on this world, and being able to embrace but a small portion of its surface in my limited survey, I have concentrated my gaze on France. And what, pray, have I beheld in this kingdom ? The holy religion of Christ shaken on its august foundations, and the true servants of God scattered and proscribed. Next, I have sounded the depths of the abyss opened for the last twenty years by heresies that undermine the faith under the pretence of getting nearer to God, and my soul, like that of the prophet, has been flooded with sorrows."

A murmur of approval ran through the assembly. The prince had manifested his sympathy for the sufferings of the Church; it was almost a declaration of war against those who made the Church suffer.

" In the midst of my profound affliction," went on the duke, " the news was brought me that several pious and noble gentlemen, devoted to the customs of our ancestors, were trying to steady the tottering altar. It seemed to me, as I looked around, that I was already present at the last judgment, and that God had separated the reprobate and the elect. On one side were the former, and I recoiled from them with horror ; on the other were the elect, and I have come to throw myself into their arms. My brothers, I am here."

" Amen ! " said Chicot, but in a tone not above a whisper.

However, Chicot's caution was unnecessary ; he might have answered in his loudest tones, and his voice would not have been heard amid the applause and the bravos that shook the vaults of the chapel.

The three Lorraine princes, who had given the signal for the

acclamations, waited until they ceased ; then the cardinal, who was nearest the duke, advanced a step toward him and said :

" You have come amongst us of your own free will, prince ? "

" Of my own free will, monsieur."

" Who instructed you in the holy mystery ? "

" My friend the Comte de Moiisoreau, a man zealous for religion."

" And now," said the Due de Guise in his turn, " now that your Highness is one of us, deign, m on seigneur, to tell us what you intend doing for the good of the holy League."

" 1 intend to serve the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion in everything in which she needs my services," was the neophyte's answer.

" Venire de biche ! " thought Chicot, " these, upon my soul, are very asinine folk to think they must say things like that in the dark ! Why don't they lay their proposals before King Henri III., my illustrious master ? Why, all this would suit him to a shade. Processions, flagellations, extirpations of heresy, as in Rome, fagots and autos-da-fe, as in Flanders and Spain, — why, he looks on them all as the only means of giving him children, does our good prince. Corbceuf! I should n't mind getting out of my confessional and making a speech myself, so deeply have I been touched by that dear Due d'Anj oil's twaddle. Continue, worthy brother of his Majesty ; noble fool, go on! "