Ten Years Later Read online

  Whilst the unknown was viewing these lights with interest, and lendingan ear to the various noises, Master Cropole entered his apartment,followed by two attendants, who laid the cloth for his meal.

  The stranger did not pay them the least attention; but Cropoleapproaching him respectfully, whispered "Monsieur, the diamond has beenvalued."

  "Ah!" said the traveler. "Well?"

  "Well, monsieur, the jeweler of S. A. R. gives two hundred and eightypistoles for it."

  "Have you them?"

  "I thought it best to take them, monsieur; nevertheless, I made it acondition of the bargain, that if monsieur wished to keep his diamond,it should be held till monsieur was again in funds."

  "Oh, no, not at all; I told you to sell it."

  "Then I have obeyed, or nearly so, since, without having definitely soldit, I have touched the money."

  "Pay yourself," added the unknown.

  "I will do so, monsieur, since you so positively require it."

  A sad smile passed over the lips of the gentleman.

  "Place the money on that trunk," said he, turning round and pointing tothe piece of furniture.

  Cropole deposited a tolerably large bag as directed, after having takenfrom it the amount of his reckoning.

  "Now," said he, "I hope monsieur will not give me the pain of not takingany supper. Dinner has already been refused; this is affronting to thehouse of les Medici. Look, monsieur, the supper is on the table, and Iventure to say that it is not a bad one."

  The unknown asked for a glass of wine, broke off a morsel of bread, anddid not stir from the window whilst he ate and drank.

  Shortly after was heard a loud flourish of trumpets; cries arose in thedistance, a confused buzzing filled the lower part of the city, and thefirst distinct sound that struck the ears of the stranger was the trampof advancing horses.

  "The king! the king!" repeated a noisy and eager crowd.

  "The king!" cried Cropole, abandoning his guest and his ideas ofdelicacy, to satisfy his curiosity.

  With Cropole were mingled, and jostled, on the staircase, MadameCropole, Pittrino, and the waiters and scullions.

  The cortege advanced slowly, lighted by a thousand flambeaux, in thestreets and from the windows.

  After a company of musketeers, a closely ranked troop of gentlemen, camethe litter of monsieur le cardinal, drawn like a carriage by four blackhorses. The pages and people of the cardinal marched behind.

  Next came the carriage of the queen-mother, with her maids of honor atthe doors, her gentlemen on horseback at both sides.

  The king then appeared, mounted upon a splendid horse of Saxon breed,with a flowing mane. The young prince exhibited, when bowing to somewindows from which issued the most animated acclamations, a noble andhandsome countenance, illumined by the flambeaux of his pages.

  By the side of the king, though a little in the rear, the Prince deConde, M. Dangeau, and twenty other courtiers, followed by their peopleand their baggage, closed this veritably triumphant march. The pomp wasof a military character.

  Some of the courtiers--the elder ones, for instance--wore travelingdresses; but all the rest were clothed in warlike panoply. Many wore thegorges and buff coat of the times of Henry IV. and Louis XIII.

  When the king passed before him, the unknown, who had leant forward overthe balcony to obtain a better view, and who had concealed his faceby leaning on his arm, felt his heart swell and overflow with a bitterjealousy.

  The noise of the trumpets excited him--the popular acclamations deafenedhim: for a moment he allowed his reason to be absorbed in this flood oflights, tumult and brilliant images.

  "He is a king!" murmured he, in an accent of despair.

  Then, before he had recovered from his sombre reverie all the noise, allthe splendor, had passed away. At the angle of the street there remainednothing beneath the stranger but a few hoarse, discordant voices,shouting at intervals, "Vive le Roi!"

  There remained likewise the six candles held by the inhabitants of thehostelry des Medici; that is to say, two for Cropole, two for Pittrino,and one for each scullion. Cropole never ceased repeating, "Howgood-looking the king is! How strongly he resembles his illustriousfather!"

  "A handsome likeness!" said Pittrino.

  "And what a lofty carriage he has!" added Madame Cropole, already inpromiscuous commentary with her neighbors of both sexes.

  Cropole was feeding their gossip with his own personal remarks, withoutobserving that an old man on foot, but leading a small Irish horse bythe bridle, was endeavoring to penetrate the crowd of men and womenwhich blocked up the entrance to the Medici. But at that moment thevoice of the stranger was heard from the window.

  "Make way, monsieur l'hotelier, to the entrance of your house!"

  Cropole turned around, and, on seeing the old man, cleared a passage forhim.

  The window was instantly closed.

  Pittrino pointed out the way to the newly-arrived guest, who enteredwithout uttering a word.

  The stranger waited for him on the landing; he opened his arms to theold man and led him to a seat.

  "Oh, no, no, my lord!" said he. "Sit down in your presence?--never!"

  "Parry," cried the gentleman, "I beg you will; you come fromEngland--you come so far. Ah! it is not for your age to undergo thefatigues my service requires. Rest yourself."

  "I have my reply to give your lordship, in the first place."

  "Parry, I conjure you to tell me nothing; for if your news had beengood, you would not have begun in such a manner; you go about, whichproves that the news is bad."

  "My lord," said the old man, "do not hasten to alarm yourself, allis not lost, I hope. You must employ energy, but more particularlyresignation."

  "Parry," said the young man, "I have reached this place through athousand snares and after a thousand difficulties; can you doubtmy energy? I have meditated this journey ten years, in spite of allcounsels and all obstacles--have you faith in my perseverance? I havethis evening sold the last of my father's diamonds; for I had nothingwherewith to pay for my lodging and my host was about to turn me out."

  Parry made a gesture of indignation, to which the young man replied by apressure of the hand and a smile.

  "I have still two hundred and seventy-four pistoles left, and I feelmyself rich. I do not despair, Parry; have you faith in my resignation?"

  The old man raised his trembling hands towards heaven.

  "Let me know," said the stranger,--"disguise nothing from me--what hashappened?"

  "My recital will be short, my lord, but in the name of Heaven do nottremble so."

  "It is impatience, Parry. Come, what did the general say to you?"

  "At first the general would not receive me."

  "He took you for a spy?"

  "Yes, my lord, but I wrote him a letter."

  "Well?"

  "He read it, and received me, my lord."

  "Did that letter thoroughly explain my position and my views?"

  "Oh, yes!" said Parry, with a sad smile; "it painted your very thoughtsfaithfully."

  "Well--then, Parry?"

  "Then the general sent me back the letter by an aide-de-camp, informingme that if I were found the next day within the circumscription of hiscommand, he would have me arrested."

  "Arrested!" murmured the young man. "What! arrest you, my most faithfulservant?"

  "Yes, my lord."

  "And notwithstanding you had signed the name Parry?"

  "To all my letters, my lord; and the aide-de-camp had known me at St.James's and at Whitehall, too," added the old man with a sigh.

  The young man leaned forward, thoughtful and sad.

  "Ay, that's what he did before his people," said he, endeavoring tocheat himself with hopes. "But, privately--between you and him--what didhe do? Answer!"

  "Alas! my lord, he sent to me four cavaliers, who gave me the horse withwhich you just now saw me come back. These cavaliers conducted me, ingreat haste, to the little port of Tenby, threw m
e, rather than embarkedme, into a fishing-boat, about to sail for Brittany, and here I am."

  "Oh!" sighed the young man, clasping his neck convulsively with hishand, and with a sob. "Parry, is that all?--is that all?"

  "Yes, my lord; that is all."

  After this brief reply ensued a long interval of silence, broken only bythe convulsive beating of the heel of the young man on the floor.

  The old man endeavored to change the conversation; it was leading tothoughts much too sinister.

  "My lord," said he, "what is the meaning of all the noise which precededme? What are these people crying 'Vive le Roi!' for? What king do theymean? and what are all these lights for?"

  "Ah! Parry," replied the young man ironically, "don't you know thatthis is the King of France visiting his good city of Blois? All thosetrumpets are his, all those gilded housings are his, all those gentlemenwear swords that are his. His mother precedes him in a carriagemagnificently encrusted with silver and gold. Happy mother! His ministerheaps up millions, and conducts him to a rich bride. Then all thesepeople rejoice, they love their king, they hail him with theiracclamations, and they cry, 'Vive le Roi! Vive le Roi!'"

  "Well, well, my lord," said Parry, more uneasy at the turn theconversation had taken than at the other.

  "You know," resumed the unknown, "that my mother and my sister, whilstall this is going on in honor of the King of France, have neither moneynor bread; you know that I myself shall be poor and degraded within afortnight, when all Europe will become acquainted with what you havetold me. Parry, are there not examples in which a man of my conditionshould himself----"

  "My lord, in the name of Heaven----"

  "You are right, Parry, I am a coward, and if I do nothing for myself,what will God do? No, no, I have two arms, Parry, and I have a sword."And he struck his arm violently with his hand and took down his sword,which hung against the wall.

  "What are you going to do, my lord?"

  "What am I going to do, Parry? What every one in my family does. Mymother lives on public charity, my sister begs for my mother; I have,somewhere or other, brothers who equally beg for themselves; and I, theeldest, will go and do as all the rest do--I will go and ask charity!"

  And at these words, which he finished sharply with a nervous andterrible laugh, the young man girded on his sword, took his hat from thetrunk, fastened to his shoulder a black cloak, which he had worn duringall his journey, and pressing the two hands of the old man, who watchedhis proceedings with a look of anxiety,--

  "My good Parry," said he, "order a fire, drink, eat, sleep, and behappy; let us both be happy, my faithful friend, my only friend. We arerich, as rich as kings!"

  He struck the bag of pistoles with his clenched hand as he spoke, andit fell heavily to the ground. He resumed that dismal laugh that had soalarmed Parry; and whilst the whole household was screaming, singing,and preparing to install the travelers who had been preceded by theirlackeys, he glided out by the principal entrance into the street, wherethe old man, who had gone to the window, lost sight of him in a moment.

  CHAPTER 8. What his Majesty King Louis XIV. was at the Age of Twenty-Two