The Grey Cloak - Page 77/256

"You, Monsieur?" said the sailor. "The only cabin-room left is next to

mine, and expensive."

"I will pay you in advance. I must go to Quebec. I can not wait."

"Very well, Monsieur."

The vicomte went to the door of the private assembly and knocked

boldly. Victor answered the summons.

"D'Halluys?" cried Victor, stepping back.

"Yes, Monsieur. Pardon the intrusion, but I have something to say to

Monsieur le Chevalier."

He bared his head, looked serenely into Victor's doubting eyes, and

turned to the Chevalier, whose face was without any sign of welcome or

displeasure. "Monsieur," the vicomte began, "it is very

embarrassing--Patience, Monsieur de Saumaise!" for Victor had laid his

hand upon his sword; "my errand is purely pacific. It is very

embarrassing, then, to approach a man so deeply in trouble as yourself.

I know not what madness seized you to-night. I am not here to offer

you sympathy; sympathy is cheap consolation. I am here to say that no

man shall in my presence speak lightly of your misfortune. Let me be

frank with you. I have often envied your success in Paris; and there

were times when this envy was not unmixed with hate. But a catastrophe

like that to-night wipes out such petty things as envy and hate."

"Take care, Monsieur," said Victor haughtily. He believed that he

caught an undercurrent of raillery.

"Why, Monsieur, what have I said?" looking from one to the other.

"Proceed, Vicomte," said the Chevalier, motioning Victor to be quiet.

He was curious to learn what the vicomte had to say.

"To continue, then: you are a man of extraordinary courage, and I have

always admired you even while I envied you. To-night I lost to you

some fifty pistoles. Give me the happiness of crossing out this

trifling debt," and the vicomte counted out fifty golden pistoles which

he laid on the table. There was no particle of offense in his actions.

"To prove to you my entire good will, I will place my life into your

keeping, Monsieur le Chevalier. Doubtless Saumaise has told you that

at present Paris is uninhabitable both to himself and to me. The

shadows of the Bastille and the block cast their gloom upon us. We

have conspired against the head of the state, which is Mazarin. There

is a certain paper, which, if seen by the cardinal, will cause the

signing of our death warrants. Monsieur de Saumaise, have you any idea

who stole your cloak?"

"It was not my cloak, Monsieur," said Victor, with a frown; "it was

loaned to me by Monsieur le Chevalier."

"Yours?" cried the vicomte, turning to the Chevalier.

"Yes." The Chevalier thoughtfully fingered the golden coin. One

slipped through his fingers and went jangling along the stone of the

floor.

"I was wondering where I had seen it before. Hang me, but this is all

pretty well muddled up. There was a traitor somewhere, or a coward.

What think you, Saumaise; does not this look like Gaston of Orléans?"