Vingt ans après. English Read online

  4. Anne of Austria at the Age of Forty-six.

  When left alone with Bernouin, Mazarin was for some minutes lost inthought. He had gained much information, but not enough. Mazarin was acheat at the card-table. This is a detail preserved to us by Brienne. Hecalled it using his advantages. He now determined not to begin the gamewith D'Artagnan till he knew completely all his adversary's cards.

  "My lord, have you any commands?" asked Bernouin.

  "Yes, yes," replied Mazarin. "Light me; I am going to the queen."

  Bernouin took up a candlestick and led the way.

  There was a secret communication between the cardinal's apartments andthose of the queen; and through this corridor* Mazarin passed wheneverhe wished to visit Anne of Austria.

  _*This secret passage is still to be seen in the Palais Royal._

  In the bedroom in which this passage ended, Bernouin encountered Madamede Beauvais, like himself intrusted with the secret of thesesubterranean love affairs; and Madame de Beauvais undertook to prepareAnne of Austria, who was in her oratory with the young king, Louis XIV.,to receive the cardinal.

  Anne, reclining in a large easy-chair, her head supported by her hand,her elbow resting on a table, was looking at her son, who was turningover the leaves of a large book filled with pictures. This celebratedwoman fully understood the art of being dull with dignity. It was herpractice to pass hours either in her oratory or in her room, withouteither reading or praying.

  When Madame de Beauvais appeared at the door and announced the cardinal,the child, who had been absorbed in the pages of Quintus Curtius,enlivened as they were by engravings of Alexander's feats of arms,frowned and looked at his mother.

  "Why," he said, "does he enter without first asking for an audience?"

  Anne colored slightly.

  "The prime minister," she said, "is obliged in these unsettled days toinform the queen of all that is happening from time to time, withoutexciting the curiosity or remarks of the court."

  "But Richelieu never came in this manner," said the pertinacious boy.

  "How can you remember what Monsieur de Richelieu did? You were too youngto know about such things."

  "I do not remember what he did, but I have inquired and I have been toldall about it."

  "And who told you about it?" asked Anne of Austria, with a movement ofimpatience.

  "I know that I ought never to name the persons who answer my questions,"answered the child, "for if I do I shall learn nothing further."

  At this very moment Mazarin entered. The king rose immediately, took hisbook, closed it and went to lay it down on the table, near which hecontinued standing, in order that Mazarin might be obliged to standalso.

  Mazarin contemplated these proceedings with a thoughtful glance. Theyexplained what had occurred that evening.

  He bowed respectfully to the king, who gave him a somewhat cavalierreception, but a look from his mother reproved him for the hatred which,from his infancy, Louis XIV. had entertained toward Mazarin, and heendeavored to receive the minister's homage with civility.

  Anne of Austria sought to read in Mazarin's face the occasion of thisunexpected visit, since the cardinal usually came to her apartment onlyafter every one had retired.

  The minister made a slight sign with his head, whereupon the queen saidto Madame Beauvais:

  "It is time for the king to go to bed; call Laporte."

  The queen had several times already told her son that he ought to go tobed, and several times Louis had coaxingly insisted on staying where hewas; but now he made no reply, but turned pale and bit his lips withanger.

  In a few minutes Laporte came into the room. The child went directly tohim without kissing his mother.

  "Well, Louis," said Anne, "why do you not kiss me?"

  "I thought you were angry with me, madame; you sent me away."

  "I do not send you away, but you have had the small-pox and I am afraidthat sitting up late may tire you."

  "You had no fears of my being tired when you ordered me to go to thepalace to-day to pass the odious decrees which have raised the people torebellion."

  "Sire!" interposed Laporte, in order to turn the subject, "to whom doesyour majesty wish me to give the candle?"

  "To any one, Laporte," the child said; and then added in a loud voice,"to any one except Mancini."

  Now Mancini was a nephew of Mazarin's and was as much hated by Louis asthe cardinal himself, although placed near his person by the minister.

  And the king went out of the room without either embracing his mother oreven bowing to the cardinal.

  "Good," said Mazarin, "I am glad to see that his majesty has beenbrought up with a hatred of dissimulation."

  "Why do you say that?" asked the queen, almost timidly.

  "Why, it seems to me that the way in which he left us needs noexplanation. Besides, his majesty takes no pains to conceal how littleaffection he has for me. That, however, does not hinder me from beingentirely devoted to his service, as I am to that of your majesty."

  "I ask your pardon for him, cardinal," said the queen; "he is a child,not yet able to understand his obligations to you."

  The cardinal smiled.

  "But," continued the queen, "you have doubtless come for some importantpurpose. What is it, then?"

  Mazarin sank into a chair with the deepest melancholy painted on hiscountenance.

  "It is likely," he replied, "that we shall soon be obliged to separate,unless you love me well enough to follow me to Italy."

  "Why," cried the queen; "how is that?"

  "Because, as they say in the opera of 'Thisbe,' 'The whole worldconspires to break our bonds.'"

  "You jest, sir!" answered the queen, endeavoring to assume something ofher former dignity.

  "Alas! I do not, madame," rejoined Mazarin. "Mark well what I say. Thewhole world conspires to break our bonds. Now as you are one of thewhole world, I mean to say that you also are deserting me."

  "Cardinal!"

  "Heavens! did I not see you the other day smile on the Duke of Orleans?or rather at what he said?"

  "And what was he saying?"

  "He said this, madame: 'Mazarin is a stumbling-block. Send him away andall will then be well.'"

  "What do you wish me to do?"

  "Oh, madame! you are the queen!"

  "Queen, forsooth! when I am at the mercy of every scribbler in thePalais Royal who covers waste paper with nonsense, or of every countrysquire in the kingdom."

  "Nevertheless, you have still the power of banishing from your presencethose whom you do not like!"

  "That is to say, whom you do not like," returned the queen.

  "I! persons whom I do not like!"

  "Yes, indeed. Who sent away Madame de Chevreuse after she had beenpersecuted twelve years under the last reign?"

  "A woman of intrigue, who wanted to keep up against me the spirit ofcabal she had raised against M. de Richelieu."

  "Who dismissed Madame de Hautefort, that friend so loyal that sherefused the favor of the king that she might remain in mine?"

  "A prude, who told you every night, as she undressed you, that it was asin to love a priest, just as if one were a priest because one happensto be a cardinal."

  "Who ordered Monsieur de Beaufort to be arrested?"

  "An incendiary the burden of whose song was his intention to assassinateme."

  "You see, cardinal," replied the queen, "that your enemies are mine."

  "That is not enough madame, it is necessary that your friends should bealso mine."

  "My friends, monsieur?" The queen shook her head. "Alas, I have them nolonger!"

  "How is it that you have no friends in your prosperity when you had manyin adversity?"

  "It is because in my prosperity I forgot those old friends, monsieur;because I have acted like Queen Marie de Medicis, who, returning fromher first exile, treated with contempt all those who had suffered forher and, being proscribed a second time, died at Cologne abandoned byevery one, even by her
own son."

  "Well, let us see," said Mazarin; "isn't there still time to repair theevil? Search among your friends, your oldest friends."

  "What do you mean, monsieur?"

  "Nothing else than I say--search."

  "Alas, I look around me in vain! I have no influence with any one.Monsieur is, as usual, led by his favorite; yesterday it was Choisy,to-day it is La Riviere, to-morrow it will be some one else. Monsieur lePrince is led by the coadjutor, who is led by Madame de Guemenee."

  "Therefore, madame, I ask you to look, not among your friends of to-day,but among those of other times."

  "Among my friends of other times?" said the queen.

  "Yes, among your friends of other times; among those who aided you tocontend against the Duc de Richelieu and even to conquer him."

  "What is he aiming at?" murmured the queen, looking uneasily at thecardinal.

  "Yes," continued his eminence; "under certain circumstances, with thatstrong and shrewd mind your majesty possesses, aided by your friends,you were able to repel the attacks of that adversary."

  "I!" said the queen. "I suffered, that is all."

  "Yes," said Mazarin, "as women suffer in avenging themselves. Come, letus come to the point. Do you know Monsieur de Rochefort?"

  "One of my bitterest enemies--the faithful friend of CardinalRichelieu."

  "I know that, and we sent him to the Bastile," said Mazarin.

  "Is he at liberty?" asked the queen.

  "No; still there, but I only speak of him in order that I may introducethe name of another man. Do you know Monsieur d'Artagnan?" he added,looking steadfastly at the queen.

  Anne of Austria received the blow with a beating heart.

  "Has the Gascon been indiscreet?" she murmured to herself, then saidaloud:

  "D'Artagnan! stop an instant, the name seems certainly familiar.D'Artagnan! there was a musketeer who was in love with one of my women.Poor young creature! she was poisoned on my account."

  "That's all you know of him?" asked Mazarin.

  The queen looked at him, surprised.

  "You seem, sir," she remarked, "to be making me undergo a course ofcross-examination."

  "Which you answer according to your fancy," replied Mazarin.

  "Tell me your wishes and I will comply with them."

  The queen spoke with some impatience.

  "Well, madame," said Mazarin, bowing, "I desire that you give me a sharein your friends, as I have shared with you the little industry andtalent that Heaven has given me. The circumstances are grave and it willbe necessary to act promptly."

  "Still!" said the queen. "I thought that we were finally quit ofMonsieur de Beaufort."

  "Yes, you saw only the torrent that threatened to overturn everythingand you gave no attention to the still water. There is, however, aproverb current in France relating to water which is quiet."

  "Continue," said the queen.

  "Well, then, madame, not a day passes in which I do not suffer affrontsfrom your princes and your lordly servants, all of them automata who donot perceive that I wind up the spring that makes them move, nor do theysee that beneath my quiet demeanor lies the still scorn of an injured,irritated man, who has sworn to himself to master them one of thesedays. We have arrested Monsieur de Beaufort, but he is the leastdangerous among them. There is the Prince de Conde----"

  "The hero of Rocroy. Do you think of him?"

  "Yes, madame, often and often, but pazienza, as we say in Italy; next,after Monsieur de Conde, comes the Duke of Orleans."

  "What are you saying? The first prince of the blood, the king's uncle!"

  "No! not the first prince of the blood, not the king's uncle, but thebase conspirator, the soul of every cabal, who pretends to lead thebrave people who are weak enough to believe in the honor of a prince ofthe blood--not the prince nearest to the throne, not the king's uncle, Irepeat, but the murderer of Chalais, of Montmorency and of Cinq-Mars,who is playing now the same game he played long ago and who thinks thathe will win the game because he has a new adversary--instead of a manwho threatened, a man who smiles. But he is mistaken; I shall not leaveso near the queen that source of discord with which the deceasedcardinal so often caused the anger of the king to rage above the boilingpoint."

  Anne blushed and buried her face in her hands.

  "What am I to do?" she said, bowed down beneath the voice of her tyrant.

  "Endeavor to remember the names of those faithful servants who crossedthe Channel, in spite of Monsieur de Richelieu, tracking the roads alongwhich they passed by their blood, to bring back to your majesty certainjewels given by you to Buckingham."

  Anne arose, full of majesty, and as if touched by a spring, and lookingat the cardinal with the haughty dignity which in the days of her youthhad made her so powerful: "You are insulting me!" she said.

  "I wish," continued Mazarin, finishing, as it were, the speech thissudden movement of the queen had cut; "I wish, in fact, that you shouldnow do for your husband what you formerly did for your lover."

  "Again that accusation!" cried the queen. "I thought that calumny wasstifled or extinct; you have spared me till now, but since you speak ofit, once for all, I tell you----"

  "Madame, I do not ask you to tell me," said Mazarin, astounded by thisreturning courage.

  "I will tell you all," replied Anne. "Listen: there were in truth, atthat epoch, four devoted hearts, four loyal spirits, four faithfulswords, who saved more than my life--my honor----"

  "Ah! you confess it!" exclaimed Mazarin.

  "Is it only the guilty whose honor is at the sport of others, sir? andcannot women be dishonored by appearances? Yes, appearances were againstme and I was about to suffer dishonor. However, I swear I was notguilty, I swear it by----"

  The queen looked around her for some sacred object by which she couldswear, and taking out of a cupboard hidden in the tapestry, a smallcoffer of rosewood set in silver, and laying it on the altar:

  "I swear," she said, "by these sacred relics that Buckingham was not mylover."

  "What relics are those by which you swear?" asked Mazarin, smiling. "Iam incredulous."

  The queen untied from around her throat a small golden key which hungthere, and presented it to the cardinal.

  "Open, sir," she said, "and look for yourself."

  Mazarin opened the coffer; a knife, covered with rust, and two letters,one of which was stained with blood, alone met his gaze.

  "What are these things?" he asked.

  "What are these things?" replied Anne, with queen-like dignity,extending toward the open coffer an arm, despite the lapse of years,still beautiful. "These two letters are the only ones I ever wrote tohim. This knife is the knife with which Felton stabbed him. Read theletters and see if I have lied or spoken the truth."

  But Mazarin, notwithstanding this permission, instead of reading theletters, took the knife which the dying Buckingham had snatched out ofthe wound and sent by Laporte to the queen. The blade was red, for theblood had become rust; after a momentary examination during which thequeen became as white as the cloth which covered the altar on which shewas leaning, he put it back into the coffer with an involuntary shudder.

  "It is well, madame, I believe your oath."

  "No, no, read," exclaimed the queen, indignantly; "read, I command you,for I am resolved that everything shall be finished to-night and neverwill I recur to this subject again. Do you think," she said, with aghastly smile, "that I shall be inclined to reopen this coffer to answerany future accusations?"

  Mazarin, overcome by this determination, read the two letters. In onethe queen asked for the ornaments back again. This letter had beenconveyed by D'Artagnan and had arrived in time. The other was that whichLaporte had placed in the hands of the Duke of Buckingham, warning himthat he was about to be assassinated; that communication had arrived toolate.

  "It is well, madame," said Mazarin; "nothing can gainsay suchtestimony."

  "Sir," replied the queen, closing the coffer and leaning her
hand uponit, "if there is anything to be said, it is that I have always beenungrateful to the brave men who saved me--that I have given nothing tothat gallant officer, D'Artagnan, you were speaking of just now, but myhand to kiss and this diamond."

  As she spoke she extended her beautiful hand to the cardinal and showedhim a superb diamond which sparkled on her finger.

  "It appears," she resumed, "that he sold it---he sold it in order tosave me another time--to be able to send a messenger to the duke to warnhim of his danger--he sold it to Monsieur des Essarts, on whose finger Iremarked it. I bought it from him, but it belongs to D'Artagnan. Give itback to him, sir, and since you have such a man in your service, makehim useful."

  "Thank you, madame," said Mazarin. "I will profit by the advice."

  "And now," added the queen, her voice broken by her emotion, "have youany other question to ask me?"

  "Nothing,"--the cardinal spoke in his most conciliatory manner--"exceptto beg of you to forgive my unworthy suspicions. I love you so tenderlythat I cannot help being jealous, even of the past."

  A smile, which was indefinable, passed over the lips of the queen.

  "Since you have no further interrogations to make, leave me, I beseechyou," she said. "I wish, after such a scene, to be alone."

  Mazarin bent low before her.

  "I will retire, madame. Do you permit me to return?"

  "Yes, to-morrow."

  The cardinal took the queen's hand and pressed it with an air ofgallantry to his lips.

  Scarcely had he left her when the queen went into her son's room, andinquired from Laporte if the king was in bed. Laporte pointed to thechild, who was asleep.

  Anne ascended the steps side of the bed and softly kissed the placidforehead of her son; then she retired as silently as she had come,merely saying to Laporte:

  "Try, my dear Laporte, to make the king more courteous to Monsieur leCardinal, to whom both he and I are under such important obligations."