Le collier de la reine. English Page 14

  CHAPTER XII.

  M. DE CHARNY.

  M. de Suffren had requested his nephew to wait his return, and hetherefore remained in the group as before.

  The queen, speaking low to Andree, and glancing towards him, said: "Itis he, there is no doubt."

  "Mon Dieu! yes, madame, it is he indeed."

  At this moment the door opened, and a gentleman dressed in the robes ofa cardinal, and followed by a long train of officers and prelates,entered the room.

  The queen immediately recognized M. de Rohan, and turned away her head,without taking the trouble to hide the frown which overspread her face.

  He crossed the room without stopping to speak to any one, and, comingstraight up to her, bowed to her more as a man of the world bows to alady than as a subject to a queen, and then addressed some ratherhigh-flown compliments to her; but she scarcely looked at him, and,after murmuring a few cold words in reply, began to talk to Madame deLamballe.

  The cardinal did not seem to notice this chilling reception, but bowedagain, and retired without appearing in the least disconcerted.

  He then turned to the king's aunts, from whom he met with a reception ascordial as the queen's had been the reverse. The Cardinal Louis de Rohanwas a man in the prime of life, and of an imposing figure and noblebearing; his eyes shone with intelligence, his mouth was well cut andhandsome, and his hands were beautiful. A premature baldness indicatedeither a man of pleasure or a studious one--and he was both. He was aman no little sought after by the ladies, and was noted for hismagnificent style of living; indeed, he had found the way to feelhimself poor with an income of 1,600,000 francs.

  The king liked him for his learning, but the queen hated him. Thereasons for this hate were twofold: first, when ambassador to Vienna, hehad written to Louis XV. letters so full of sarcasm on Maria Theresa,that her daughter had never forgiven him; and he had also writtenletters opposing her marriage, which had been read aloud by Louis XV. ata supper at Madame Dubarry's. The embassy at Vienna had been taken fromM. de Breteuil and given to M. de Rohan; the former gentleman, notstrong enough to revenge himself alone, had procured copies of theseletters, which he had laid before the dauphiness, thus making her theeternal enemy of M. de Rohan.

  This hatred rendered the cardinal's position at court not a littleuncomfortable. Every time he presented himself before the queen, he metwith the same discouraging reception. In spite of this, he neglected nooccasion of being near her, for which he had frequent opportunities, ashe was chaplain to the court; and he never complained of the treatmenthe received. A circle of friends, among whom the Baron de Planta was themost intimate, helped to console him for these royal rebuffs; not tospeak of the ladies of the court, who by no means imitated the severityof the queen towards him.

  When he was gone, Marie Antoinette recovered her serenity, and said toMadame de Lamballe:

  "Do you not think that this action of the nephew of M. de Suffren is oneof the most remarkable of the war? What is his name, by the bye?"

  "M. de Charny, I believe," replied the princess. "Was it not?" she said,turning to Andree.

  "Yes, your highness."

  "M. de Charny shall describe it to us himself," said the queen. "Is hestill here? Let him be sought for."

  An officer who stood near hastened to obey her, and immediately returnedwith M. de Charny, and the circle round the queen made way for him toapproach.

  He was a young man, about eight-and-twenty, tall and well made; hisface, animated and yet sweet, took a character of singular energy whenhe spoke, and dilated his large blue eyes; and he was, strange to say,for one who had been fighting in India, as fair as Philippe was dark.

  When he had approached the place where the queen sat, with Madlle. deTaverney standing near her, he did not betray his surprise in any way,although it must have been great, in recognizing the ladies of theevening before. He did not look up until she addressed him, saying:

  "M. de Charny, these ladies experience the natural desire, which I sharewith them, to hear from yourself all the details of this action of yourship."

  "Madame," replied the young officer, "I beg your majesty to spare me therecital, not from modesty, but from humanity. What I did as lieutenant,a dozen other officers doubtless wished to do, only I was the first toput it in execution; and it is not worthy being made the subject of anarration to your majesty. Besides, the captain of _La Severe_ is abrave officer, who on that day lost his presence of mind. Alas, madame,we all know that the most courageous are not always equally brave. Hewanted but ten minutes to recover himself; my determination not tosurrender gave him the breathing time, his natural courage returned tohim, and he showed himself the bravest of us all. Therefore I beg yourmajesty not to exaggerate the merit of my action, and thereby crush thisdeserving officer, who deplores incessantly the failing of a fewmoments."

  "Right!" said the queen, touched by these generous words; "you are atrue gentleman, M. de Charny, and such I already know you to be."

  The young man colored crimson, and looked almost frightened at Andree,fearing what the queen's rash generosity might lead her to say.

  "For," continued the intrepid queen, "I must tell you all, that this isnot the first time I have heard of M. de Charny, who deserves to beknown and admired by all ladies; and to show you that he is as indulgentto our sex as he is merciless to his enemies, I will relate a littlehistory of him which does him the greatest honor."

  "Oh, madame!" stammered the young man, who felt as if he would havegiven a year of his life to be back in the West Indies.

  "This, then, is it," continued the queen, to her eager listeners: "twoladies, whom I know, were detained out late and became embarrassed in acrowd; they ran a great risk, a real danger awaited them; M. de Charnyhappily passed by at the moment: he dispersed the crowd, and, althoughthey were unknown to him, and it was impossible to recognize their rank,took them under his protection, and escorted them a long way, ten milesfrom Paris, I believe."

  "Oh! your majesty exaggerates," said M. de Charny, laughing, and nowquite reassured.

  "Well, we will call it five," said the Count d'Artois, suddenly joiningin the conversation.

  "Let it be five, then, brother," said the queen; "but the most admirablepart of the story is, that M. de Charny did not seek even to know thenames of these ladies whom he had served, but left them at the placewhere they wished to stop, and went away without even looking back, sothat they escaped from his protection without even a moment'sdisquietude."

  All expressed their admiration.

  "A knight of the round table could not have acted better," her majestywent on; "and so, M. de Charny, as the king will doubtless take uponhimself to reward M. de Suffren, I, for my part, wish to do somethingfor the nephew of this great man."

  As she spoke, she held out her hand to him, and Charny, pale with joy,pressed his lips to this beautiful hand, while Philippe looked on froman obscure corner, pale with an opposite emotion.

  The voice of M. d'Artois interrupted this scene, saying loudly, "Ah,Provence! you come too late! you have missed a fine sight, the receptionof M. de Suffren. Really, it was one that a Frenchman can never forget.How the devil did it happen that you were not here--you who aregenerally the punctual man par excellence?"

  M. de Provence bit his lips with vexation, and whispered to M. deFavras, his captain of the guards, "How does it come to pass that he ishere?"

  "Ah! monseigneur, I have been asking myself that question for the lasthour, and have not yet found an answer."