THE SWORD OF A GASCON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10629, 18 December 1897, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE SWOR D OF A GASCON.

AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE, BY AMISDEE ACHARD. CHAPTER XXV. ONE AGAINST ONE. HunuES had seen no more of St. Ellix since tho unhoped for aid which he had received from him in the trap set for him in the Rue des Arcis, His first care, on tho day following that on which he had left the lady with the black mask in the neighbourhood of the Luxembourg, was to run to the address which the marquis had given him.

He found him about to leave his hotel, and linking arms, they passed into the street, Hugues at once requesting that St. Ellix accompany him to Coligny's. This being agreeable, St. Ellix at once plunged into a recital of his love affairs, to which Hugues gave a patient ear. Whilo talking, they arrived at Coligny's, whom they found, his head on his bands, before that same table loaded with maps and plans where once already Montestruc had surprised him. Presented by Hugues, St. Ellix was received by the count like an old acquaintance. He made them both a sign to sit down near him. "All!" said he, "you see me in a horribly perplexed state of mind. lb is impossible that you have not heard of that demand for aid which tho Emperor Leopold has recently addressed to the king *" "For aiding him to combat the Turks who again threaten Vienna," said St. Ellix. " Yes, assuredly." "Then you know perhaps thai) ib has been decided in the king's councils that an army should be promptly sent to Hungary for repulsing this invasion." "I have heard of ib," replied St. Ellix, " but I acknowledge that a certain princess with coral lips" " He sticks to comparisons," murmured Hugues. " Occupies my mind more than tho grand Turk." " Well I" continued Coligny, who smiled, " ib is the desire of having the command of this expedition and carrying ib to a happy end which leads me to examine these maps with such sustained attention ; but it will not be easy to triumph over my rivals." "Does that nob depend on the king?" said St. Ellix. " Certes yes I" " Well 1 are you nob on good terms with tho king? I have proof of it, it seems to me," pursued Hugues. " I do nob deny id, bub by the side of the king there are certain secret influences." " Yes, those pretty influences which were called Egeria, at Rome, with Numa, and Gabrielle, at Paris, with Henry IV." "And to-day Mademoiselle de La Valliere or Olympe de Mancini, at the Louvro, with Louis XIV." " And Mademoiselle do La Valliere, they say, protects the Duke Fenillade." " Without counting that I have against me the Prince Conde and his cabal."

" Hum! the favourite and a prince of the blood— is much." r ;

" Oh I the prince of the blood would scarcely disturb me, if he was alone. The king doss nob love him. The reoollections of tho Fronde are between them, bub it) is Olympe de Mancini whom it will be necessary to have. If 1 had her, I should have everything," "Why do you not go and find her? Why do you nob say to her: Madame, a great empire is in peril, more than that evenChristianity, and his majesty the king is the eldest son of the Church. He gives his soldiers for conquering the infidels and assuring tho repose of Europe. This army which is going to be collected has need of a brave, devoted, resolute chief, who consecrates his life to the triumph of the good cause. See to ib, madame, that the honour of commanding this army is confided to me, and I swear that I shall employ all that I possess of courage, vigilance, and ardour, to surround with a new glory his majesty's crown. I will find victory or death over yonder. And I shall bless the hands from whom I hold my sword,'' " Bravo, friend Montestruc, bravo I" exclaimed Colipny, clapping his hands," but for holding similar language to a favourite, it would be necessary to have your good countenance, that fiery glance, those enthusiasts gestures, that vibrating voice whose accent goes straight to the heart, that air of assurance, in short the youth which belongs to you ! Then, perhaps, if I had all this, I should attempt the adventure and perhaps I should succeed; bub with this forehead ravaged by the fatigues of war, this face on which cares and years have lefb their imprint, this moustache and this hair thick-sown with silver threads- what hope can I entertain that the brilliant Countess Soissonß will interesb herself in me l"| .-, ■ "Zounds exclaimed Montestruc, "this famous i countess, who .: has, they say, - the grace of an angel and the wib of a demon, does nob live in the solitary tower of an enchanted chateau. She is nob chained in a cavern under the guard of a dragon. She has, if I am nob deceived, functions which attach her ~ to ," the . court. r. Ib is possible then to meot her, to know her, to speak to her.; 1 , ..!. ...

"If it is only a question of presenting you," said Sir Ellix, "I am at your service." "You, my dear marquis ?" . , r < " I who speak to you." "How will you go about it!" " is very simple. , There is a slight reiship between my family and that of thetountSoissons, the beautiful Olympe's husband; something like an alliance between cousins. I have not abused this relationship, I place it at your disposal." "Accept," said Coligny. "She is a woman, and has proved i: well i Who knows!""Good!" exclaimed St. Ellix, "I fly to my cousin, and I carry the presentation by assault." "Do not believe that it is so easy. To enter the home of a favourite is more difficult than to enter that of a queen. Her antechambers are encumbered." "I shall triumph, I toll you, but on one condition— is that my friend Hugues and your servant shall belong to the expedition." " Reassure yourself! if it is necessary to go even to Bulgaria to exterminate those rascally Turks, I will take you along with me." Two days after this conversation, Hugues, being on service at Fontaineblau, saw pass in a gallery which led to the apartments of the Countess Soissons, a smilo, a glance, a face, a form which went with an air so light and so graceful that he could not keep from looking at this whirlwind of silk carried away on two nimble feet. The woman to whom this form, this glance, this face, this smile belonged, instinctively turned round. " But, God pardon me, it is Brisquette I" exclaimed Hugues. " But it is indeed he, it is Hugues I" exclaimed Brisquette at the same time. And enveloping him with a glance which shone like a diamond: "My dear Hugues in that beautiful uniform !" continued she. " What a surprise!" " My pretty Brisquette in that beautiful attire!" replied he; "what an adventure 1" Some courtiers appeared. " The place is not propitious for talking," said she, " too many eyes and too many ears ; but in an hour descend—you will find me in the Prince's Hall ; do not stop there, but follow me without having the air of knowing me; we will gain the gardens, and I know a grove where we can explain ourselves at liberty." And suddenly, like a lark which flies away, she disappeared after having sent him a kiss with the tips of her fingers. Hugues waited with an extreme impatience for the inomonD which Brisquette had fixed on; he even descended into the Prince's Hall before the hour. Hugues began to walk backward and forward, seeking the sombre corners and feigning to study the architecture in order not to attract attention.

" If she is Into about appearing, it is that she is detained," he said to himself; " but by what? or by whom?" This was exactly what he wished to know. By what adventure did the armourer's daughter find herself in the palace of Fountaineblau, and not as a stranger, but as a person perfectly at home there, and who lives there? Hugues was at this point in his reflections when a rustling of silk on the steps of the stairway which led into the court made him turn his head. He had before him BrUquette, slightly nub of breath through the ardour of her walk. She had that same laughing air which he had seen her possess in the gallery just now. She made him a sign with the eyes and plunged into on obscure passage, from which she hastily gained the gardens; arrived there, Brisquette quickly passed her arm under his and drew him into the discreet exilo of a clump oftrees where they could talk without much risk of being disturbed. " You have a thousand questions to ask me, have you not?" she said to him, "and 1 a thousand to address you. They come in a crowd to my lips, and I do not know by which to begin. How long have you been at court? How have you entered there? Why? What did you hope for ? Are you pleased ? lam delighted to have found you again? I have often thought of you. Come, embrace me."

And without waiting for his kiss, Brisquette foil upon his neck. " One feels well there," added she, resting upon his heart for a inomenb, "Ah! I loved you well, my dear Hugues, when we were in Armagnac." "And now?" "Now?" said she, raising her head with a pretty bird-like movement, "only have need of me, and you will sea if I have nob still the same heart which I had for you in the past !" She smiled and, without drawing back much, said: " I chatter, and that is why you do not answer. Tell me everything." Hugues informed her as to his situation, all the while keeping a prudent silence upon certain details which ib did not seem to him useful to reveal. He had made his narrative with an air so di liberate and an accent so lively that Brisquette complimented him on it. "Then," she pursued, "you are perfectly happy ?" "Happy! Is one ever completely so?" "Then there is still something which you desire?" " \'es, and my happiness will have reached its climax when I shall have obtained from the Countess Soissons what I have to ask of her." "You have something to ask of the mistress of the queen's household ?" . " Oh ! a trifle—the command of the army which is going to be sent to Hungary for one of my friends whom I have undertaken to serve." ''Is that all? And by what means do you flatter yourself that you shall reach her?" " A person whom you know, and who is also from Armagnac, St. Ellis, has charged himself with opening her door to me." Brisquette appeared to reflect u minute. " Does it please you for me to occupy myself with this affair ?" ■ " You ?" " Yes, me. There are many circumstances when a woman is worth a marquis." " What are you here ? What position do you occupy ? What do you do here ?" A flood of questions burst from Montestruc's lips. Brisquette stopped this overflow of words by placing her pretty hand upon the lieutenant's lips.

"Ah ! you are curious," said she, laughing; "you shall know all this later. The only important thing now, the only one which ought to occupy us, is your interview with Madame Soissons — that • interview from which you expect wonders. If I intercede, I have an idea that ib will promptly be accorded you. What do you say?" Brisquette's air of assurance struck Hugues. " Do so I" said he, " and how shall I know that you have succeeded ?" ■ " Be here to-morrow at the same hour." "What, to-morrow?" " Why should I make you wait ?" " You have then a fairy's magic wand ?" " Almost." Brisquette quitted him upon this last word, and Hugues took care nob to speak to Coligny of what had taken place between him and a pretty girl from Aucb encountered in a gallery of Fountaineblau. Ho had great confidence in Brisquette's intelligence, and he feared that this confidence for which he would nob have been able to give an explanation might be laughed at. Shortly before the hour impatience made him descend into the gardens, where he hoped to meet Brisquette. Soon she came to meob him. "Ibisdone!" said she. " What! at the first stroke! But this is wonderful I" • " Does it astonish you ? Ib is always the way when I take part in an affair. But first, before informing you as to the means which I have employed to arrive at my object, a prayer. Ib inconveniences me to say you, my dear Hugues—do • you permit me to say thou 5" ' ' ■ ■■.<■ ■ "Certainly." .. i * . "Well my friend, St. Ellix had presented you badly, which was the same as if he bad not presented you at all." ,'.'Whab had be said ?":;■.(• ' " He had sworn to the countess that she had dazzled you by her rare beauty and that you would certainly die if she did not accord you the favour of admiring her closer," :•." Not so bad 1" -)•.';' o •> ■*■;-..: : "Stupid, my poor Hugues, stupid! She is tired of it. \\ Does she nob know that she is a star and that the rays of her eyes burn poor mortals \i All the poets have sworn ib in superb rhymes. ■ Do yon know whab she' I said to me this morning!"'■•:!■'' "•'»' "■'■■ ■•'' '! !;-;.!!Toyouj!U<;;>-,i ,;i.-;.^- ;>•-.?:■■■ •--; >\

"Tome.'! .. .. ~ . :..« r| ">That is pleasant 1" >>• ■'■ ■•< ''".'*.vf " Listen first, be astonished after 1- An I my dear,' she said to me, ' what ennui and what fatigue! A cousin of mine from Armagnac wishes by all means to present one of his provincial friends to me. hat must I do}"' ) '"..' " And you have answered ?" " 'lb is necessary to pass him by, madams —a provincial! ■Wo have already too many of them" "What!" "And with an indifferent air I have added : ' What is this provincial's name, madams f "'Montestruc, I believe,' she has answered. '"Ah! madame,' I have exclaimed, joining my hand?, ' may heaven preserve you from ever receiving him! A man of the worst species, a lover whoso life 19 passed in sighing and making sonnets for his sweetheart!' " ' Bah !' she has said. "And 1 insisting always: 'A chovalier of the Bound Table, madame, a hero of fidelity.' "' What are you telling me, Brisquettoi' she has exclaimed. "The truth, madame, the pure truth; princesses, empresses might assail him with their sweetest smiles and ho would only answer by impertinences." "' A Tristan, then, a Tancrodo!' " ' Almost. All !it is not ho who would deceive her whom ho loves! Ho would believe that he committed a treason if he only addressed a poor complimont to another woman.' And is the name of the woman ha loves known!' she asked me. "' It is barely suspected—a great mystery 1 Duchesses, Madame Crequi, Madame St, Albans, Madame Ferte, Madame Chaulues, Madame Souibse— prettiest have tried to carry him away from his divinity. All in vain.'' (To be continued on Wednesday next),