Author: Alexandre Dumas
Category: Adventure
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CHAPTER XVII.
HOW HENRI III. TRAVELED, AND HOW LONG IT TOOK HIM TO GET FROMPARIS TO FONTAINEBLEAU.
The sun, which shone four or five hours after the events whichwe have just recorded had taken place, saw, by his pale light,Henri III. set off for Fontainebleau, where a grand chase wasprojected. A crowd of gentlemen, mounted on good horses and wrappedin their fur cloaks, then a number of pages, after them lackey,and then Swiss, followed the royal litter. This litter, drawnby eight mules richly caparisoned, was a large machine, aboutfifteen feet long and eight wide, on four wheels, furnished insidewith cushions and curtains of silk brocade. In difficult placesthey substituted for the mules an indefinite number of oxen.
This machine contained Henri III., his doctor, and his chaplain,Chicot, four of the king's favorites, a pair of large dogs, anda basket of little ones, which the king held on his knees, andwhich was suspended from his neck by a golden chain. From theroof hung a gilded cage containing turtle doves, quite white,with a black ring round their necks. Sometimes the collectionwas completed by the presence of two or three apes. Thus thislitter was commonly termed the Noah's Ark.
Quelus and Maugiron employed themselves with plaiting ribbons,a favorite diversion of that time; and Chicot amused himselfby making anagrams on the names of all the courtiers. Just asthey passed the Place Maubert, Chicot rushed out of the litter,and went to kneel down before a house of good appearance.
"Oh!" cried the king, "if you kneel, let it be before the crucifixin the middle of the street, and not before the house. What doyou mean by it?"
But Chicot, without attending, cried out in a loud voice:
"Mon Dieu! I recognize it, I shall always recognize it--the housewhere I suffered! I have never prayed for vengeance on M. deMayenne, author of my martyrdom, nor on Nicholas David, hisinstrument. No; Chicot is patient, Chicot can wait, althoughit is now six years that this debt has been running on, and inseven years the interest is doubled. May, then, my patience lastanother year, so that instead of fifty blows of a stirrup-leatherwhich I received in this house by the orders of this assassinof a Lorraine prince, and which drew a pint of blood, I may owea hundred blows and two pints of blood! Amen, so be it!"
"Amen!" said the king.
Chicot then returned to the litter, amidst the wondering looksof the spectators.
"Why, Chicot, what does all this mean?" said the king.
"Sire, it means that Chicot is like the fox--that he licks thestones where his blood fell, until against those very stoneshe crushes the heads of those who spilt it."
"Explain yourself."
"Sire, in that house lived a girl whom Chicot loved, a good andcharming creature, and a lady. One evening when he went to seeher, a certain prince, who had also fallen in love with her,had him seized and beaten, so that Chicot was forced to jumpout of window; and as it was a miracle that he was not killed,each time he passes the house he kneels down and thanks God forhis escape."
"You were, then, well beaten, my poor Chicot?"
"Yes, sire, and yet not as much as I wished."
"Why--for your sins?"
"No, for those of M. de Mayenne."
"Oh! I understand; your intention is to render to Caesar----"
"Not to Caesar, sire--Caesar is the great general, the valiantwarrior, the eldest brother, who wishes to be king of France.No, you must settle with him; pay your debts, and I will paymine."
Henri did not like to hear his cousin of Guise spoken of, andthis made him serious. It was three o'clock in the afternoonwhen they arrived at Juvisy and the great hotel of the "Cour deFrance."
Chicot, looking out of the litter, saw at the door of the hotelseveral men wrapped in cloaks. In the midst of them was a short,stout person, whose large hat almost covered his face. They wentin quickly on seeing the litter, but not before the look of thisperson had had time to excite Chicot's attention. Therefore hejumped out, and asking a page for his horse, which was beingled, let the royal litter go on to Essones, where the king wasto sleep, while he remained behind, and, cautiously peeping inthrough a window, saw the men whom he had noticed sitting inside.He then entered the hotel, went into the opposite room, askedfor a bottle of wine, and placed himself so that, although hecould not be seen, no one could pass by without his seeing them.
"Ah!" said he to himself, "shall I be forced to make my paymentsooner than I expected?"
Soon Chicot found that by keeping the door open he could bothsee into the room and hear what was said.
"Gentlemen," said the short fat man to his companions, "I thinkit is time to set out; the last lackey of the cortege is outof sight, and I believe now that the road is safe."
"Perfectly so, monseigneur," replied a voice which made Chicottremble, and which came from the mouth of a person as tall asthe other was short, as pale as he was red, and as obsequiousas he was arrogant.
"Ah! M. Nicolas," said Chicot, "tu quoque, that is good. It willbe odd if I let you slip this time!"
Then the short man came out, paid the bill, and, followed bythe others, took the road to Paris. Chicot followed them at adistance. They entered by the Porte St. Antoine, and enteredthe Hotel Guise. Chicot waited outside a full hour, in spiteof cold and hunger. At last the door reopened, but, instead ofseven cavaliers wrapped in their cloaks, seven monks came out,with their hoods over their faces, and carrying immense rosaries.
"Oh!" said Chicot, "is, then, the Hotel Guise so embalmed insanctity that wolves change into lambs only by entering it? Thisbecomes more and more interesting."
And he followed the monks as he had followed the cavaliers, forhe believed them to be the same. The monks passed over the bridgeof Notre Dame, crossed the city and the petit pont, and went upthe Rue St. Genevieve.
"Oh!" said Chicot, as he passed the house where he had kneeledin the morning, "are we returning to Fontainebleau? In that caseI have made a round."
However, the monks stopped at the door of the Abbey of St. Genevieve,in the porch of which stood another monk, who examined everyone'shand.
"Why," said Chicot, "it seems that to be admitted to night intothe abbey one must have clean hands!"
Then he saw, with astonishment, monks appear from every streetleading to the abbey, some alone, some walking in pairs, butall coming to the abbey.
"Ah!" said Chicot, "is there a general chapter at the abbey to-night?I have never seen one, and I should like it much."
The monks entered, showing their hands, or something in them,and passed on.
"I should like to go also," thought Chicot; "but for that I wanttwo things--a monk's robe, for I see no layman here, and then thismysterious thing which they show to the porter, for certainlythey show something. Ah, Brother Gorenflot, if you were here!"
The monks continued to arrive, till it seemed as if half Parishad taken the frock.
"There must be something extraordinary to-night," thought Chicot."I will go and find Gorenflot at the Corne d'Abondance; he willbe at supper."