第56章 M.DE RAMBOUILLET.(3)

'They might tell us at the Bleeding Heart,'he answered.But Idoubt it.I was a fool,sir,to put my neck into Mendoza's halter,and that is a fact.But here is Maignan.What is it,man?'he continued eagerly.

'The watcher is gone,my lord,'the equerry answered.

'And has left no one?'

'No one that I can see.'

We both went into the next room and looked from the windows.The man was certainly not where we had seen him before.But the rain was falling heavily,the eaves were dripping,the street was a dark cavern with only here and there a spark of light,and the fellow might be lurking elsewhere.Maignan,being questioned,however,believed he had gone off of set purpose.

'Which may be read half a dozen ways,'I remarked.

'At any rate,we are fasting,'M.de Rosny answered.Give me a full man in a fight.Let us sit down and eat.It is no good jumping in the dark,or meeting troubles half way.'

We were not through our meal,however,Simon Fleix waiting on us with a pale face,when Maignan came in again from the dark room.

'My lord,'he said quietly,'three men have appeared.Two of them remain twenty paces away.The third has come to the door.'

As he spoke we heard a cautious summons below,Maignan was for going down,but his master bade him stand.Let the woman of the house go,'he said.

I remarked and long remembered M.de Rosny's SANG-FROID on this occasion.His pistols he had already laid on a chair beside him throwing his cloak over them;and now,while we waited,listening in breathless silence,I saw him hand a large slice of bread-and-meat to his equerry,who,standing behind his chair,began eating it with the same coolness.Simon Fleix,on the other hand,stood gazing at the door,trembling in every limb,and with so much of excitement and surprise in his attitude that I took the precaution of bidding him,in a low voice,do nothing without orders.At the same moment it occurred to me to extinguish two of the four candles which had been lighted;and I did so,M.de Rosny nodding assent,just as the muttered conversation which was being carried on below ceased,and a man's tread sounded on the stairs.

It was followed immediately by a knock on the outside of our door.Obeying my companion's look,I cried,'Enter!'

A slender man of middle height,booted and wrapped up,with his face almost entirely hidden by a fold of his cloak,came in quickly,and closing the door behind him,advanced towards the table.'Which is M.de Rosny?'he said.

Rosny had carefully turned his face from the light,but at the sound of the other's voice he sprang up with a cry of relief.He was about to speak,when the newcomer,raising his hand peremptorily,continued,'No names,I beg.Yours,I suppose,is known here.Mine is not,nor do I desire it should be.I want speech of you,that is all.'

'I am greatly honoured,'M.de Rosny replied,gazing at him eagerly.'Yet,who told you I was here?'

'I saw you pass under a lamp in the street,'the stranger answered.'I knew your horse first,and you afterwards,and bade a groom follow you.Believe me,'he added,with a gesture of the hand,'you have nothing to fear from me.'

'I accept the assurance in the spirit in which it is offered,'my companion answered with a graceful bow,'and think myself fortunate in being recognised'--he paused a moment and then continued--'by a Frenchman and a man of honour.'

The stranger shrugged his shoulders.'Your pardon,then,'he said,'if I seem abrupt.My time is short.I want to do the best with it I can.Will you favour me?'

I was for withdrawing,but M.de Rosny ordered Maignan to place lights in the next room,and,apologising to me very graciously,retired thither with the stranger,leaving me relieved indeed by these peaceful appearances,but full of wonder and conjectures who this might be,and what the visit portended.At one moment Iwas inclined to identify the stranger with M.de Rosny's brother;at another with the English ambassador;and then,again,a wild idea that he might be M.de Bruhl occurred to me.The two remained together about a quarter of an hour and then came out,the stranger leading the way,and saluting me politely as he passed through the room.At the door he turned to say,'At nine o'clock,then?'

'At nine o'clock,'M.de Rosny replied,holding the door open.

'You will excuse me if I do not descend,Marquis?'

'Yes,go back,my friend,'the stranger answered.And,lighted by Maignan,whose face on such occasions could assume the most stolid air in the world,he disappeared down the stairs,and Iheard him go out.

M.de Rosny turned to me,his eyes sparkling with joy,his face and mien full of animation.'The King of Navarre is better,'he said.'He is said to be out of danger.What do you think of that,my friend?'

'That is the best news I have heard for many a day,'I answered.

And I hastened to add,that France and the Religion had reason to thank God for His mercy.

'Amen to that,'my patron replied reverently.'But that is not all--that is not all.'And he began to walk up and down the room humming the 118th Psalm a little above his breath--La voici l'heureuse journee Que Dieu a faite a plein desir;Par nous soit joie demenee,Et prenons en elle plaisir.