第22章 THE ROAD TO BLOIS.(4)

The monk,too,telling the story as if he had seen the events with his own eyes,omitted nothing which might impress his hearers.He told us how the duke received warning after warning,and answered in the very antechamber,'He dare not!'How his blood,mysteriously advised of coming dissolution,grew chill,and his eye,wounded at Chateau Thierry,began to run,so that he had to send for the handkerchief he had forgotten to bring.He told us,even,how the duke drew his assassins up and down the chamber,how he cried for mercy,and how he died at last at the foot of the king's bed,and how the king,who had never dared to face him living,came and spurned him dead!

There were pale faces round the fire when he ceased,and bent brows and lips hard pressed together.Then he stood and cursed the King of France--cursing him openly by the name of Henry of Valois,a thing I had never looked to hear in France--though no one said 'Amen,'and all glanced over their shoulders,and our host pattered from the room as if he had seen a ghost,it seemed to be no man's duty to gainsay him.

For myself,I was full of thoughts which it would have been unsafe to utter in that company or so near the Loire.I looked back sixteen years.Who but Henry of Guise had spurned the corpse of Coligny?And who but Henry of Valois had backed him in the act?Who but Henry of Guise had drenched Paris with blood,and who but Henry of Valois had ridden by his side?One 23rd of the month--a day never to be erased from France's annals--had purchased for him a term of greatness.A second 23rd saw him,pay the price--saw his ashes cast secretly and by night no man knows where!

Moved by such thoughts,and observing that the priest was going the round of the company collecting money for masses for the duke's soul,to which object I could neither give with a good conscience nor refuse without exciting suspicion,I slipped out;and finding a man of decent appearance talking with the landlord in a small room beside the kitchen,I called for a flask of the best wine,and by means of that introduction obtained my supper in their company.

The stranger was a Norman horsedealer,returning home,after disposing of his string.He seemed to be in a large way of business,and being of a bluff,independent spirit,as many of those Norman townsmen are,was inclined at first to treat me with more familiarity than respect;the fact of my nag,for which he would have chaffered,excelling my coat in quality,leading him to set me down as a steward or intendant.The pursuit of his trade,however,had brought him into connection with all classes of men and he quickly perceived his mistake;and as he knew the provinces between the Seine and Loire to perfection,and made it part of his business to foresee the chances of peace and war,Iobtained a great amount of information from him,and indeed conceived no little liking for him.He believed that the assassination of M.de Guise would alienate so much of France from the king that his majesty would have little left save the towns on the Loire,and some other places lying within easy reach of his court at Blois.

'But,'I said,'things seem quiet now.Here,for instance.'

'It is the calm before the storm,'he answered.'There is a monk in there.Have you heard him?'

I nodded.

'He is only one among a hundred--a thousand,'the horsedealer continued,looking at me and nodding with meaning.He was a brown-haired man with shrewd grey eyes,such as many Normans have.'They will get their way too,you will see,'he went on.

'Well,horses will go up,so I have no cause to grumble;but,if I were on my way to Blois with women or gear of that kind,Ishould not choose this time for picking posies on the road.Ishould see the inside of the gates as soon as possible.'

I thought there was much in what he said;and when he went on to maintain that the king would find himself between the hammer and the anvil--between the League holding all the north and the Huguenots holding all the south--and must needs in time come to terms with the latter seeing that the former would rest content with nothing short of his deposition,I began to agree with him that we should shortly see great changes and very stirring times.

'Still if they depose the king,'I said,'the King of Navarre must succeed him.He is the heir of France.'

'Bah!'my companion replied somewhat contemptuously.'The League will see to that.He goes with the other.'

'Then the kings are in one cry,and you are right,'I said with conviction.'They must unite.'

'So they will.It is only a question of time,'he said.

In the morning,having only one man with him,and,as I guessed,a considerable sum of money,he volunteered to join our party as far as Blois.I assented gladly,and he did so,this addition to our numbers ridding me at once of the greater part of my fears.

I did not expect any opposition on the part of mademoiselle,who would gain in consequence as well as in safety.Nor did she offer any.She was content,I think,to welcome any addition to our party which would save her from the necessity of riding in the company of my old cloak.