'I came,sire,'she said proudly,addressing herself to the king,and ignoring me,'out of no love to M.de Marsac,but as any person bearing a message to him might come.Nor can you,sire,'she added with spirit,'feel half as much surprise at seeing me here,as I at seeing your Majesty.'
'I can believe that,'the king answered drily.'I would you had not seen me.'
'The King of France is seen only when he chooses,'she replied,curtseying to the ground.
'Good,'he answered.'Let it be so,and you will oblige the King of France,madame.But enough,'he continued,turning from her to me;'since this is not the lady I came to see,M.de Marsac,where is she?'
'In the inner room,sire,I opine,'I said,advancing to Fanchette with more misgiving at heart than my manner evinced.
'Your mistress is here,is she not?'I continued,addressing the woman sharply.
'Ay,and will not come out,'she rejoined,sturdily keeping her place.
'Nonsense!'I said.'Tell her--'
'You may tell her what you please,'she replied,refusing to budge an inch.'She can hear.'
'But,woman!'I cried impatiently,'you do not understand.IMUST speak with her.I must speak with her at once!On business of the highest importance.'
'As you please,'she said rudely,still keeping her seat.'Ihave told you you can speak.'
Perhaps I felt as foolish on this occasion as ever in my life;and surely never was man placed in a more ridiculous position.
After overcoming numberless obstacles,and escaping as many perils,I had brought the king here,a feat beyond my highest hopes--only to be baffled and defeated by a waiting-woman!Istood irresolute;witless and confused;while the king waited half angry and half amused,and madame kept her place by the entrance,to which she had retreated.
I was delivered from my dilemma by the curiosity which is,providentially perhaps,a part of woman's character,and which led mademoiselle to interfere herself.Keenly on the watch inside,she had heard part of what passed between us,and been rendered inquisitive by the sound of a strange man's voice,and by the deference which she could discern I paid to the visitor.
At this moment,she cried out,accordingly,to know who was there;and Fanchette,seeming to take this as a command,rose and dragged her stool aside,saying peevishly and without any increase of respect,'There,I told you she could hear.'
'Who is it?'mademoiselle asked again,in a raised voice.
I was about to answer when the king signed to me to stand back,and,advancing himself,knocked gently on the door.'Open,Ipray you,mademoiselle,'he said courteously.
'Who is there?'she cried again,her voice trembling.
'It is I,the king,'he answered softly;but in that tone of majesty which belongs not to the man,but to the descendant,and seems to be the outcome of centuries of command.
She uttered an exclamation and slowly,and with seeming reluctance,turned the key in the lock.It grated,and the door opened.I caught a glimpse for an instant of her pale face and bright eyes,and then his Majesty,removing his hat,passed in and closed the door;and I withdrew to the farther end of the room,where madame continued to stand by the entrance.
I entertained a suspicion,I remember,and not unnaturally,that she had come to my lodging as her husband's spy;but her first words when I joined her dispelled this.'Quick!'she said with an imperious gesture.'Hear me and let me go!I have waited long enough for you,and suffered enough through you.As for that,woman in there,she is mad,and her servant too!Now,listen to me.You spoke to me honestly to-day,and I have come to repay you.You have an appointment with my husband to-morrow at Chaverny.Is it not so?'she added impatiently.
I replied that it was so.
'You are to go with one friend,'she went on,tearing the glove she had taken off,to strips in her excitement,'He is to meet you with one also?'
'Yes,'I assented reluctantly,'at the bridge,madame.'
'Then do not go,'she rejoined emphatically.'Shame on me that Ishould betray my husband;but it were worse to send an innocent man to his death.He will meet you with one sword only,according to his challenge,but there will be those under the bridge who will make certain work.There,I have betrayed him now!'she continued bitterly.'It is done.Let me go!'
'Nay,but,madame,'I said,feeling more concerned for her,on whom from the first moment of meeting her I had brought nothing but misfortune,than surprised by this new treachery on his part,'will you not run some risk in returning to him?Is there nothing I can do for you--no step I can take for your protection?'
'None!'she said repellently and almost rudely,'except to speed my going.'
'But you will not pass through the streets alone?'
She laughed so bitterly my heart ached for her.'The unhappy are always safe,'she said.
Remembering how short a time it was since I had surprised her in the first happiness of wedded love,I felt for her all the pity it was natural I should feel.But the responsibility under which his Majesty's presence and the charge of mademoiselle laid me forbade me to indulge in the luxury of evincing my gratitude.
Gladly would I have escorted her back to her home--even if Icould not make that home again what it had been,or restore her husband to the pinnacle from which I had dashed him--but I dared not do this.I was forced to content myself with less,and was about to offer to send one of my men with her,when a hurried knocking at the outer door arrested the words on my lips.
