This was surprising;but a second glance explained it,for then Isaw that he was the Jacobin monk who had haunted my mother's dying hours.And,amazed as much at this strange RENCONTRE as at the man's boldness,I sprang up and strode forwards,forgetting,in an impulse of righteous anger,the office he came to do.And this the more as his face,still turned to me,seemed instinct to my eyes with triumphant malice.As I moved towards him,however,with a fierce exclamation on my lips,he suddenly dropped his eyes and knelt.Immediately M.Francois cried 'Hush!'and the men turned to me with scandalised faces.I fell back.Yet even then,whispering on his knees by the dying man,the knave was thinking,I felt sure,of me,glorying at once in his immunity and the power it gave him to tantalise me without fear.
I determined,whatever the result,to intercept him when all was over;and on the man dying a few minutes later,I walked resolutely to the open side of the shed,thinking it likely he might try to slip away as mysteriously as he had come.He stood a moment speaking to M.Francois,however,and then,accompanied by him,advanced boldly to meet me,a lean smile on his face.
'Father Antoine,'M.d'Agen said politely,'tells me that he knows you,M.de Marsac,and desires to speak to you,MAL-A-PROPOS as is the occasion.'
'And I to him,'I answered,trembling with rage,and only restraining by an effort the impulse which would have had me dash my hand in the priest's pale,smirking face.'I have waited long for this moment,'I continued,eyeing him steadily,as M.
Francois withdrew out of hearing,'and had you tried to avoid me,I would have dragged you back,though all your tribe were here to protect you.'
His presence so maddened me that I scarcely knew what I said.Ifelt my breath come quickly,I felt the blood surge to my head,and it was with difficulty I restrained myself when he answered with well-affected sanctity,'Like mother,like son,I fear,sir.
Huguenots both.'
I choked with rage.What!'I said,'you dare to threaten me as you threatened my mother?Fool!know that only to-day for the purpose of discovering and punishing you I took the rooms in which my mother died.'
'I know it,'he answered quietly.And then in a second,as by magic,he altered his demeanour completely,raising his head and looking me in the face.'That,and so much besides,I know,'he continued,giving me,to my astonishment,frown for frown,'that if you will listen to me for a moment,M.de Marsac,and listen quietly,I will convince you that the folly is not on my side.'
Amazed at his new manner,in which there was none of the madness that had marked him at our first meeting,but a strange air of authority,unlike anything I had associated with him before,Isigned to him to proceed.
'You think that I am in your power?'he said,smiling.
'I think,'I retorted swiftly,'that,escaping me now,you will have at your heels henceforth a worse enemy than even your own sins.'
'Just so,'he answered,nodding.'Well,I am going to show you that the reverse is the case;and that you are as completely in my hands,to spare or to break,as this straw.In the first place,you are here in Blois,a Huguenot!'
'Chut!'I exclaimed contemptuously,affecting a confidence I was far from feeling.'A little while back that might have availed you.But we are in Blois,not Paris.It is not far to the Loire,and you have to deal with a man now,not with a woman.It is you who have cause to tremble,not I.'
'You think to be protected,'he answered with a sour smile,'even on this side of the Loire,I see.But one word to the Pope's Legate,or to the Duke of Nevers,and you would see the inside of a dungeon,if not worse.For the king--'
'King or no king!'I answered,interrupting him with more assurance than I felt,seeing that I remembered only too well Henry's remark that Rosny must not look to him for protection,'Ifear you not a whit!And that reminds me.I have heard you talk treason--rank,black treason,priest,as ever sent man to rope,and I will give you up.By heaven I will!'I cried,my rage increasing,as I discerned,more and more clearly,the dangerous hold he had over me.'You have threatened me!One word,and Iwill send you to the gallows!'
