第87章 'LA FEMME DISPOSE.'(1)

The moment the equerry's foot touched the uppermost stair Iadvanced upon him.'Where is your mistress,man?'I said.

'Where is Mademoiselle de la Vire?Be quick,tell me what you have done with her.'

His face fell amazingly.'Where is she?'he answered,faltering between surprise and alarm at my sudden onslaught.'Here,she should be.I left her here not an hour ago.Mon Dieu!Is she not here now?'

His alarm increased mine tenfold.'No!'I retorted,'she is not!She is gone!And you--what business had you,in the fiend's name,to leave her here,alone and unprotected?Tell me that!'

He leaned against the balustrade,making no attempt to defend himself,and seemed,in his sudden terror,anything but the bold,alert fellow who had ascended the stairs two minutes before.'Iwas a fool,'he groaned.'I saw your man Simon here;and Fanchette,who is as good as a man,was with her mistress.And Iwent to stable the horses.I thought no evil.And now--My God!'

he added,suddenly straightening himself,while his face.grew hard and grim,'I am undone!My master will never forgive me!'

'Did you come straight here?'I said,considering that,after all,he was no more in fault than I had been on a former occasion.

'We went first to M.de Rosny's lodging,'he answered,'where we found your message telling us to come here.We came on without dismounting.'

'Mademoiselle may have gone back,and be there,'I said.'It is possible.Do you stay here and keep a good look-out,and I will go and see.Let one of your men come with me.'

He uttered a brief assent;being a man as ready to take as to give orders,and thankful now for any suggestion which held out a hope of mademoiselle's safety.Followed by the servant he selected,I ran down the stairs,and in a moment was hurrying along the Rue St.Denys.The day was waning.The narrow streets and alleys were already dark,but the air of excitement which Ihad noticed in the morning still marked the townsfolk,of whom a great number were strolling abroad,or standing in doorways talking to their gossips.Feverishly anxious as I was,Iremarked the gloom which dwelt on all faces;but as I set it down.to the king's approaching departure,and besides was intent on seeing that those we sought did not by any chance pass us in the crowd,I thought little of it.Five minutes'walking brought us to M.de Rosny's lodging.There I knocked at the door;impatiently,I confess,and with little hope of success.

But,to my surprise,barely an instant elapsed before the door opened,and I saw before me Simon Fleix!

Discovering who it was,he cowered back,with a terrified face,and retreated to the wall with his arm raised.

'You scoundrel!'I exclaimed,restraining myself with difficulty.'Tell me this moment where Mademoiselle de la Vire is!Or,by Heaven,I shall forget what my mother owed to you,and do you a mischief!'

For an instant he glared at me viciously,with all his teeth exposed,as though he meant to refuse--and more.Then he thought better of it,and,raising his hand,pointed sulkily upwards.

'Go before me and knock at the door,'I said,tapping the hilt of my dagger with meaning.

Cowed by my manner,he obeyed,and led the way to the room in which M.de Rambouillet had surprised us on a former occasion.

Here he stopped at the door and knocked gently;on which a sharp voice inside bade us enter.I raised the latch and did so,closing the door behind me.

Mademoiselle,still wearing her riding-coat,sat in a chair before the hearth,on which a newly kindled fire sputtered and smoked.She had her back to me,and did not turn on my entrance,but continued to toy in an absent manner with the strings of the mask which lay in her lap.Fanchette stood bolt upright behind her,with her elbows squared and her hands clasped;in such an attitude that I guessed the maid had been expressing her strong dissatisfaction with this latest whim of her mistress,and particularly with mademoiselle's imprudence in wantonly exposing herself,with so inadequate a guard as Simon,in a place where she had already suffered so much.I was confirmed in this notion on seeing the woman's harsh countenance clear at sight of me;though the churlish nod,which was all the greeting she bestowed on me,seemed to betoken anything but favour or good-will.She touched her mistress on the shoulder,however,and said,'M.de Marsac is here.'

Mademoiselle turned her head and looked at me languidly,without stirring in her chair or removing the foot she,was warming.

'Good evening,'she said.

The greeting seemed so brief and so commonplace,ignoring,as it did,both the pains and anxiety to which she had just put me and the great purpose for which we were here--to say nothing of that ambiguous parting which she must surely remember as well as I--that the words I had prepared died on my lips,and I looked at her in honest confusion.All her small face was pale except her lips.Her brow was dark,her eyes were hard as well as weary.

And not words only failed me as I looked at her,but anger;having mounted the stairs hot foot to chide,I felt on a sudden --despite my new cloak and scabbard,my appointment,and the same I had made at Court--the same consciousness of age;and shabbiness and poverty which had possessed me in her presence from the beginning.I muttered,'Good evening,mademoiselle,'

and that was all I could say--I who had frightened the burly Maignan a few minutes before!

Seeing,I have no doubt,the effect she produced on me,she maintained for some time an embarrassing silence.At length she said,frigidly,'Perhaps M.de Marsac will sit,Fanchette.Place a chair for him.I am afraid,however,that after his successes at Court he may find our reception somewhat cold.But we are only from the country,'she added,looking at me askance,with a gleam of anger in her eyes.