Count Hannibal: Chapter 13

Chapter 13

DIPLOMACY.

Where the old wall of Paris, of which no vestige remains, ran down on the
east to the north bank of the river, the space in the angle between the
Seine and the ramparts beyond the Rue St. Pol wore at this date an aspect
typical of the troubles of the time. Along the waterside the gloomy old
Palace of St. Pol, once the residence of the mad King Charles the
Sixth--and his wife, the abandoned Isabeau de Baviere--sprawled its maze
of mouldering courts and ruined galleries; a dreary monument of the
Gothic days which were passing from France. Its spacious curtilage and
dark pleasaunces covered all the ground between the river and the Rue St.
Antoine; and north of this, under the shadow of the eight great towers of
the Bastille, which looked, four outward to check the stranger, four
inward to bridle the town, a second palace, beginning where St. Pol
ended, carried the realm of decay to the city wall.

This second palace was the Hotel des Tournelles, a fantastic medley of
turrets, spires, and gables, that equally with its neighbour recalled the
days of the English domination; it had been the abode of the Regent
Bedford. From his time it had remained for a hundred years the town
residence of the kings of France; but the death of Henry II., slain in
its lists by the lance of the same Montgomery who was this day fleeing
for his life before Guise, had given his widow a distaste for it.
Catherine de Medicis, her sons, and the Court had abandoned it; already
its gardens lay a tangled wilderness, its roofs let in the rain, rats
played where kings had slept; and in "our palace of the Tournelles"
reigned only silence and decay. Unless, indeed, as was whispered abroad,
the grim shade of the eleventh Louis sometimes walked in its desolate
precincts.

In the innermost angle between the ramparts and the river, shut off from
the rest of Paris by the decaying courts and enceintes of these forsaken
palaces, stood the Arsenal. Destroyed in great part by the explosion of
a powder-mill a few years earlier, it was in the main new; and by reason
of its river frontage, which terminated at the ruined tower of Billy, and
its proximity to the Bastille, it was esteemed one of the keys of Paris.
It was the appanage of the Master of the Ordnance, and within its walls
M. de Biron, a Huguenot in politics, if not in creed, who held the office
at this time, had secured himself on the first alarm. During the day he
had admitted a number of refugees, whose courage or good luck had led
them to his gate; and as night fell--on such a carnage as the hapless
city had not beheld since the great slaughter of the Armagnacs, one
hundred and fifty-four years earlier--the glow of his matches through the
dusk, and the sullen tramp of his watchmen as they paced the walls,
indicated that there was still one place in Paris where the King's will
did not run.

In comparison of the disorder which prevailed in the city, a deadly quiet
reigned here; a stillness so chill that a timid man must have stood and
hesitated to approach. But a stranger who about nightfall rode down the
street towards the entrance, a single footman running at his stirrup,
only nodded a stern approval of the preparations. As he drew nearer he
cast an attentive eye this way and that; nor stayed until a hoarse
challenge brought him up when he had come within six horses' lengths of
the Arsenal gate. He reined up then, and raising his voice, asked in
clear tones for M. de Biron.

"Go," he continued boldly, "tell the Grand Master that one from the King
is here, and would speak with him."

"From the King of France?" the officer on the gate asked.

"Surely! Is there more than one king in France?"

A curse and a bitter cry of "King? King Herod!" were followed by a
muttered discussion that, in the ears of one of the two who waited in the
gloom below, boded little good. The two could descry figures moving to
and fro before the faint red light of the smouldering matches; and
presently a man on the gate kindled a torch, and held it so as to fling
its light downward. The stranger's attendant cowered behind the horse.

"Have a care, my lord!" he whispered. "They are aiming at us!"

If so the rider's bold front and unmoved demeanour gave them pause.
Presently, "I will send for the Grand Master" the man who had spoken
before announced. "In whose name, monsieur?"

"No matter," the stranger answered. "Say, one from the King."

"You are alone?"

"I shall enter alone."

The assurance seemed to be satisfactory, for the man answered "Good!" and
after a brief delay a wicket in the gate was opened, the portcullis
creaked upward, and a plank was thrust across the ditch. The horseman
waited until the preparations were complete; then he slid to the ground,
threw his rein to the servant, and boldly walked across. In an instant
he left behind him the dark street, the river, and the sounds of outrage,
which the night breeze bore from the farther bank, and found himself
within the vaulted gateway, in a bright glare of light, the centre of a
ring of gleaming eyes and angry faces.

The light blinded him for a few seconds; but the guards, on their side,
were in no better case. For the stranger was masked; and in their
ignorance who it was looked at them through the slits in the black velvet
they stared, disconcerted, and at a loss. There were some there with
naked weapons in their hands who would have struck him through had they
known who he was; and more who would have stood aside while the deed was
done. But the uncertainty--that and the masked man's tone paralyzed
them. For they reflected that he might be anyone. Conde, indeed, stood
too small, but Navarre, if he lived, might fill that cloak; or Guise, or
Anjou, or the King himself. And while some would not have scrupled to
strike the blood royal, more would have been quick to protect and avenge
it. And so before the dark uncertainty of the mask, before the riddle of
the smiling eyes which glittered through the slits, they stared
irresolute; until a hand, the hand of one bolder than his fellows, was
raised to pluck away the screen.

The unknown dealt the fellow a buffet with his fist. "Down, rascal!" he
said hoarsely. "And you"--to the officer--"show me instantly to M. de
Biron!"

But the lieutenant, who stood in fear of his men, looked at him
doubtfully.

"Nay," he said, "not so fast!" And one of the others, taking the lead,
cried, "No! We may have no need of M. de Biron. Your name, monsieur,
first."

With a quick movement the stranger gripped the officer's wrist.

"Tell your master," he said, "that he who clasped his wrist _thus_ on the
night of Pentecost is here, and would speak with him! And say, mark you,
that I will come to him, not he to me!"

The sign and the tone imposed upon the boldest. Two-thirds of the watch
were Huguenots, who burned to avenge the blood of their fellows; and
these, overriding their officer, had agreed to deal with the intruder, if
a Papegot, without recourse to the Grand Master, whose moderation they
dreaded. A knife-thrust in the ribs, and another body in the ditch--why
not, when such things were done outside? But even these doubted now; and
M. Peridol, the lieutenant, reading in the eyes of his men the suspicions
which he had himself conceived, was only anxious to obey, if they would
let him. So gravely was he impressed, indeed, by the bearing of the
unknown that he turned when he had withdrawn, and came back to assure
himself that the men meditated no harm in his absence; nor until he had
exchanged a whisper with one of them would he leave them and go.

While he was gone on his errand the envoy leaned against the wall of the
gateway, and, with his chin sunk on his breast and his mind fallen into
reverie, seemed unconscious of the dark glances of which he was the
target. He remained in this position until the officer came back,
followed by a man with a lanthorn. Their coming roused the unknown, who,
invited to follow Peridol, traversed two courts without remark, and in
the same silence entered a building in the extreme eastern corner of the
enceinte abutting on the ruined Tour de Billy. Here, in an upper floor,
the Governor of the Arsenal had established his temporary lodging.

The chamber into which the stranger was introduced betrayed the haste in
which it had been prepared for its occupant. Two silver lamps which hung
from the beams of the unceiled roof shed light on a medley of arms and
inlaid armour, of parchments, books and steel caskets, which encumbered
not the tables only, but the stools and chests that, after the fashion of
that day, stood formally along the arras. In the midst of the disorder,
on the bare floor, walked the man who, more than any other, had been
instrumental in drawing the Huguenots to Paris--and to their doom. It
was no marvel that the events of the day, the surprise and horror, still
rode his mind; nor wonderful that even he, who passed for a model of
stiffness and reticence, betrayed for once the indignation which filled
his breast. Until the officer had withdrawn and closed the door he did,
indeed, keep silence; standing beside the table and eyeing his visitor
with a lofty porte and a stern glance. But the moment he was assured
that they were alone he spoke.

"Your Highness may unmask now," he said, making no effort to hide his
contempt. "Yet were you well advised to take the precaution, since you
had hardly come at me in safety without it. Had those who keep the gate
seen you, I would not have answered for your Highness's life. The more
shame," he continued vehemently, "on the deeds of this day which have
compelled the brother of a king of France to hide his face in his own
capital and in his own fortress. For I dare to say, Monsieur, what no
other will say, now the Admiral is dead. You have brought back the days
of the Armagnacs. You have brought bloody days and an evil name on
France, and I pray God that you may not pay in your turn what you have
exacted. But if you continue to be advised by M. de Guise, this I will
say, Monsieur"--and his voice fell low and stern. "Burgundy slew
Orleans, indeed; but he came in his turn to the Bridge of Montereau."

"You take me for Monsieur?" the unknown asked. And it was plain that he
smiled under his mask.

Biron's face altered. "I take you," he answered sharply, "for him whose
sign you sent me."

"The wisest are sometimes astray," the other answered with a low laugh.
And he took off his mask.

The Grand Master started back, his eyes sparkling with anger.

"M. de Tavannes?" he cried, and for a moment he was silent in sheer
astonishment. Then, striking his hand on the table, "What means this
trickery?" he asked.

"It is of the simplest," Tavannes answered coolly. "And yet, as you just
now said, I had hardly come at you without it. And I had to come at you.
No, M. de Biron," he added quickly, as Biron in a rage laid his hand on a
bell which stood beside him on the table, "you cannot that way undo what
is done."

"I can at least deliver you," the Grand Master answered, in heat, "to
those who will deal with you as you have dealt with us and ours."

"It will avail you nothing," Count Hannibal replied soberly. "For see
here, Grand Master, I come from the King. If you are at war with him,
and hold his fortress in his teeth, I am his ambassador and sacrosanct.
If you are at peace with him and hold it at his will, I am his servant,
and safe also."

"At peace and safe?" Biron cried, his voice trembling with indignation.
"And are those safe or at peace who came here trusting to _his_ word, who
lay in his palace and slept in his beds? Where are they, and how have
they fared, that you dare appeal to the law of nations, or he to the
loyalty of Biron? And for you to beard me, whose brother to-day hounded
the dogs of this vile city on the noblest in France, who have leagued
yourself with a crew of foreigners to do a deed which will make our
country stink in the nostrils of the world when we are dust! You, to
come here and talk of peace and safety! M. de Tavannes"--and he struck
his hand on the table--"you are a bold man. I know why the King had a
will to send you, but I know not why you had the will to come."

"That I will tell you later," Count Hannibal answered coolly. "For the
King, first. My message is brief, M. de Biron. Have you a mind to hold
the scales in France?"

"Between?" Biron asked contemptuously.

"Between the Lorrainers and the Huguenots."

The Grand Master scowled fiercely. "I have played the go-between once
too often," he growled.

"It is no question of going between, it is a question of holding
between," Tavannes answered coolly. "It is a question--but, in a word,
have you a mind, M. de Biron, to be Governor of Rochelle? The King,
having dealt the blow that has been struck to-day, looks to follow up
severity, as a wise ruler should, with indulgence. And to quiet the
minds of the Rochellois he would set over them a ruler at once acceptable
to them--or war must come of it--and faithful to his Majesty. Such a
man, M. de Biron, will in such a post be Master of the Kingdom; for he
will hold the doors of Janus, and as he bridles his sea-dogs, or unchains
them, there will be peace or war in France."

"Is all that from the King's mouth?" Biron asked with sarcasm. But his
passion had died down. He was grown thoughtful, suspicious; he eyed the
other intently as if he would read his heart.

"The offer is his, and the reflections are mine," Tavannes answered
dryly. "Let me add one more. The Admiral is dead. The King of Navarre
and the Prince of Conde are prisoners. Who is now to balance the
Italians and the Guises? The Grand Master--if he be wise and content to
give the law to France from the citadel of Rochelle."

Biron stared at the speaker in astonishment at his frankness.

"You are a bold man," he cried at last. "But _timeo Danaos et dona
ferentes_," he continued bitterly. "You offer, sir, too much."

"The offer is the King's."

"And the conditions? The price?"

"That you remain quiet, M. de Biron."

"In the Arsenal?"

"In the Arsenal. And do not too openly counteract the King's will. That
is all."

The Grand Master looked puzzled. "I will give up no one," he said. "No
one! Let that be understood."

"The King requires no one."

A pause. Then, "Does M. de Guise know of the offer?" Biron inquired; and
his eye grew bright. He hated the Guises and was hated by them. It was
_there_ he was a Huguenot.

"He has gone far to-day," Count Hannibal answered dryly. "And if no
worse come of it should be content. Madame Catherine knows of it."

The Grand Master was aware that Marshal Tavannes depended on the Queen-
mother; and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Ay, 'tis like her policy," he muttered. "'Tis like her!" And pointing
his guest to a cushioned chest which stood against the wall, he sat down
in a chair beside the table and thought awhile, his brow wrinkled, his
eyes dreaming. By-and-by he laughed sourly. "You have lighted the
fire," he said, "and would fain I put it out."

"We would have you hinder it spreading."

"You have done the deed and are loth to pay the blood-money. That is it,
is it?

"We prefer to pay it to M. de Biron," Count Hannibal answered civilly.

Again the Grand Master was silent awhile. At length he looked up and
fixed Tavannes with eyes keen as steel.

"What is behind?" he growled. "Say, man, what is it? What is behind?"

"If there be aught behind, I do not know it," Tavannes answered
steadfastly.

M. de Biron relaxed the fixity of his gaze. "But you said that you had
an object?" he returned.

"I had--in being the bearer of the message."

"What was it?"

"My object? To learn two things."

"The first, if it please you?" The Grand Master's chin stuck out a
little, as he spoke.

"Have you in the Arsenal a M. de Tignonville, a gentleman of Poitou?"

"I have not," Biron answered curtly. "The second?"

"Have you here a Huguenot minister?"

"I have not. And if I had I should not give him up," he added firmly.

Tavannes shrugged his shoulders. "I have a use for one," he said
carelessly. "But it need not harm him."

"For what, then, do you need him?"

"To marry me."

The other stared. "But you are a Catholic," he said.

"But she is a Huguenot," Tavannes answered.

The Grand Master did not attempt to hide his astonishment.

"And she sticks on that?" he exclaimed. "To-day?"

"She sticks on that. To-day."

"To-day? _Nom de Dieu_! To-day! Well," brushing the matter aside after
a pause of bewilderment, "any way, I cannot help her. I have no minister
here. If there be aught else I can do for her--"

"Nothing, I thank you," Tavannes answered. "Then it only remains for me
to take your answer to the King?" And he rose politely, and taking his
mask from the table prepared to assume it.

M. de Biron gazed at him a moment without speaking, as if he pondered on
the answer he should give. At length he nodded, and rang the bell which
stood beside him.

"The mask!" he muttered in a low voice as footsteps sounded without. And,
obedient to the hint, Tavannes disguised himself. A second later the
officer who had introduced him opened the door and entered.

"Peridol," M. de Biron said--he had risen to his feet--"I have received a
message which needs confirmation; and to obtain this I must leave the
Arsenal. I am going to the house--you will remember this--of Marshal
Tavannes, who will be responsible for my person; in the mean time this
gentleman will remain under strict guard in the south chamber upstairs.
You will treat him as a hostage, with all respect, and will allow him to
preserve his _incognito_. But if I do not return by noon to-morrow, you
will deliver him to the men below, who will know how to deal with him."

Count Hannibal made no attempt to interrupt him, nor did he betray the
discomfiture which he undoubtedly felt. But as the Grand Master paused--

"M. de Biron," he said, in a voice harsh and low, "you will answer to me
for this!" And his eyes glittered through the slits in the mask.

"Possibly, but not to-day or to-morrow!" Biron replied, shrugging his
shoulders contemptuously. "Peridol! see the gentleman bestowed as I have
ordered, and then return to me. Monsieur," with a bow, half courteous,
half ironical, "let me commend to you the advantages of silence and your
mask." And he waved his hand in the direction of the door.

A moment Count Hannibal hesitated. He was in the heart of a hostile
fortress where the resistance of a single man armed to the teeth must
have been futile; and he was unarmed, save for a poniard. Nevertheless,
for a moment the impulse to spring on Biron, and with the dagger at his
throat to make his life the price of a safe passage, was strong. Then--for
with the warp of a harsh and passionate character were interwrought an
odd shrewdness and some things little suspected--he resigned himself.
Bowing gravely, he turned with dignity, and in silence followed the
officer from the room.

Peridol had two men in waiting at the door. From one of these the
lieutenant took a lanthorn, and, with an air at once sullen and
deferential, led the way up the stone staircase to the floor over that in
which M. de Biron had his lodging. Tavannes followed; the two guards
came last, carrying a second lanthorn. At the head of the staircase,
whence a bare passage ran, north and south, the procession turned right-
handed, and, passing two doors, halted before the third and last, which
faced them at the end of the passage. The lieutenant unlocked it with a
key which he took from a hook beside the doorpost. Then, holding up his
light, he invited his charge to enter.

The room was not small, but it was low in the roof, and prison-like, it
had bare walls and smoke-marks on the ceiling. The window, set in a deep
recess, the floor of which rose a foot above that of the room, was
unglazed; and through the gloomy orifice the night wind blew in, laden
even on that August evening with the dank mist of the river flats. A
table, two stools, and a truckle bed without straw or covering made up
the furniture; but Peridol, after glancing round, ordered one of the men
to fetch a truss of straw and the other to bring up a pitcher of wine.
While they were gone Tavannes and he stood silently waiting, until,
observing that the captive's eyes sought the window, the lieutenant
laughed.

"No bars?" he said. "No, Monsieur, and no need of them. You will not go
by that road, bars or no bars."

"What is below?" Count Hannibal asked carelessly. "The river?"

"Yes, Monsieur," with a grin; "but not water. Mud, and six feet of it,
soft as Christmas porridge, but not so sweet. I've known two puppies
thrown in under this window that did not weigh more than a fat pullet
apiece. One was gone before you could count fifty, and the other did not
live thrice as long--nor would have lasted that time, but that it fell on
the first and clung to it."

Tavannes dismissed the matter with a shrug, and, drawing his cloak about
him, set a stool against the wall and sat down. The men who brought in
the wine and the bundle of straw were inquisitive, and would have
loitered, scanning him stealthily; but Peridol hurried them away. The
lieutenant himself stayed only to cast a glance round the room, and to
mutter that he would return when his lord returned; then, with a "Good
night" which said more for his manners than his good will, he followed
them out. A moment later the grating of the key in the lock and the
sound of the bolts as they sped home told Tavannes that he was a
prisoner.

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