第97章 A ROYAL PERIL.(4)

'What would you do?'she cried,her face full of terror.'Do you not hear?He is there.'

'Who is there?'I said,startled more by her manner than her words.

'Who?'she answered;'who should be there?My husband!I hear his voice,I tell you!He has tracked me here!He has found me,and will kill me!'

'God forbid!'I said,doubting if she had really heard his voice.To make sure,I asked Simon if he had seen him;and my heart sank when I heard from him too that Bruhl was of the party.

For the first time I became fully sensible of the danger which threatened us.For the first time,looking round the ill-lit room on the women's terrified faces,and the king's masked figure instinct with ill-repressed nervousness,I recognised how hopelessly we were enmeshed.Fortune had served Bruhl so well that,whether he knew it or not,he had us all trapped--alike the king whom he desired to compromise,and his wife whom he hated,mademoiselle who had once escaped him,and me who had twice thwarted him.It was little to be wondered at if my courage sank as I looked from one to another,and listened to the ominous creaking of the door,as the stout panels complained under the blows rained upon them.For my first duty,and that which took the PAS of all others,was to the king--to save him harmless.

How,then,was I to be answerable for mademoiselle,how protect Madame de Bruhl?--how,in a word,redeem all those pledges in which my honour was concerned?

It was the thought of the Provost-Marshal which at this moment rallied my failing spirits.I remembered that until the mystery of his presence here in alliance with Bruhl was explained there was no need to despair;and turning briskly to the king I begged him to favour me by standing with the women in a corner which was not visible from the door.He complied mechanically,and in a manner which I did not like;but lacking time to weigh trifles,Iturned to the grille and opened it without more ado.

The appearance of my face at the trap was greeted with a savage cry of recognition,which subsided as quickly into silence.It was followed by a momentary pushing to and fro among the crowd outside,which in its turn ended in the Provost-Marshal coming to the front.'In the king's name!'he said fussily.

'What is it?'I replied,eyeing rather the flushed,eager faces which scowled over his shoulders than himself.The light of two links,borne by some of the party,shone ruddily on the heads of the halberds,and,flaring up from time to time,filled all the place with wavering,smoky light.'What do you want?'Icontinued,'rousing my lodging at this time of night?'

'I hold a warrant for your arrest,'he replied bluntly.

'Resistance will be vain.If you do not surrender I shall send for a ram to break in the door.'

'Where is your order?'I said sharply.'The one you held this morning was cancelled by the king himself.'

'Suspended only,'he answered.'Suspended only.It was given out to me again this evening for instant execution.And I am here in pursuance of it,and call on you to surrender.'

'Who delivered it to you?'I retorted.

'M.de Villequier,'he answered readily.'And here it is.Now,come,sir,'he continued,'you are only making matters worse.

Open to us.'

'Before I do so,'I said drily,'I should like to know what part in the pageant my friend M.de Bruhl,whom I see on the stairs yonder,proposes to play.And there is my old friend Fresnoy,'Iadded.'And I see one or two others whom I know,M.Provost.

Before I surrender I must know among other things what M.de Bruhl's business is here.'

'It is the business of every loyal man to execute the king's warrant,'the Provost answered evasively.'It is yours to surrender,and mine to lodge you in the Castle.'But I am loth to have a disturbance.I will give you until that torch goes out,if you like,to make up your mind.At the end of that time,if you do not surrender,I shall batter down the door.'

'You will give the torch fair play?'I said,noting its condition.

He assented;and thanking him sternly for this indulgence,Iclosed the grille.