She wandered east, she wandered west,
She wandered out and in;
And at last into the very swine's stythe
The queen brought forth a son.--Fause Foodrage
The morrow was Sunday, and in the old refectory, in the late
afternoon, a few Huguenots, warned by messages from the farm, met
to profit by one of their scanty secret opportunities for public
worship.
The hum of the prayer, and discourse of the pastor, rose
up through the broken vaulting to Eustacie, still lying on her bed;
for she had been much shaken by the fatigues of the day and alarm
of the night, and bitterly grieved, too, by a message which Nanon
conveyed to her, that poor Martin was in no state to come for her
in the next day; but he and his wife having been seized upon by
Narcisse and his men, and so savagely beaten in order to force from
them a confession of her hiding-place, that both were lying
helpless on their bed; and could only send an entreaty by the
trustworthy fool, that Rotrou would find means of conveying Madame
into Chollet in some cart of hay or corn, in which she could be
taken past the barriers.
But this was not to be. Good Nanon had sacrificed the sermon to
creep up to Eustacie, and when the congregation were dispersing in
the dusk, she stole down the stairs to her husband; and a few
seconds after he was hurrying as fast as detours would allow him
to Blaise's farm. An hour and a half later, Dame Perrine, closely
blindfolded for the last mile, was dragged up the spiral staircase,
and ere the bandage was removed heard Eustacie's voice, with a
certain cheeriness, say, 'Oh! nurse; my son will soon come!'
The full moon gave her light, and the woman durst not have any
other, save from the wood-fire that Nanon had cautiously lighted
and screened. The moonshine was still supreme, when some time
later a certain ominous silence and half-whisper between the two
women at the hearth made Eustacie, with a low cry of terror,
exclaim, 'Nurse, nurse, what means this? Oh! He lives! I know he
lives! Perrine, I command you tell me!'
'Living! Oh, yes, my love, my Lady,' answered Perrine, returning
towards her; 'fair and perfect as the day. Be not disquieted for a
moment.'
'I will--I will disquiet myself,' panted Eustacie, 'unless you tell
me what is amiss.'
'Nothing amiss,' said Nanon, gruffly. 'Madame will give thanks for
this fair gift of a daughter.'
It must be owned the words felt chill. She had never thought of
this! It was as if the being for whom she had dared and suffered
so much, in the trust that he would be Berenger's representative
and avenger, had failed her and disappointed her. No defender, no
paladin, no so to be proud of! Her heart and courage sank down in
her weakness as they had never done before; and, without speaking,
she turned her head away towards the darkness, feeling as if had
been for nothing, and she might as well sink away in her
exhaustion. Mere Perrine was more angry with Nanon than conscious
of her Lady's weakness.