The Rising Storm

'Indeed, Madame!' he protested, his overwhelming relief at having escaped scot free filling his mind to the exclusion of all else. 'Your enemy I could never be. I pray you only to command me and I will prove my words; even if it means the risking of my life—'tis little less that I owe you.'

A faint smile came to her pale lips. 'Then if you have spoken rashly the fault is yours; for I have a mind to seize this opportunity and request a service of you.'

'Speak, Madame. I am all attention.'

She hesitated a second, before saying: 'This afternoon I sent the Senorita d'Aranda to find out what she could about you. She reported to me that you have a great love of travel and no commitments for the next six months. Is that correct?'

'It is, Your Majesty.'

'The Senorita also repeated to me all that you had told her of your youth and upbringing in England. What you said confirmed the statement of M. de la Tour d'Auvergne, that you are no common adventurer but an honourable gentleman in whom trust can be placed without fear of betrayal. At this moment I am in urgent need of such a friend.'

At the inference that she was now prepared to regard him as a trusted friend Roger could hardly believe his ears, but he said boldly:

'Madame. I cannot credit that Your Majesty has not about your person a score of gentlemen who would willingly sacrifice their lives rather than betray you; but if you need another I am your man.'

'I like your forthrightness, Monsieur,' she remarked, now smiling full upon him, 'and you are right; but I will make myself more plain. I am indeed fortunate in having a number of gentlemen who, I feel confident, would serve me to the peril of their lives, but every one of them is known by my enemies to be my friend. They are marked men, Monsieur, whereas you are not.'

Roger now saw the way her mind had been running, and the intuition which had often served him so well on previous occasions told him in advance what was coming next.

From the drawer of the table she drew the thick packet that he had spitted on his sword-point as she was handing it to de Roubec two afternoons before, and said:

'You will recognize this packet with which I propose to entrust you, but first I request you to listen carefully to what I am about to say; for I do not wish to engage you in this matter without informing you of its importance to me and possible danger to yourself.'

She went on with the frankness that characterized her when speaking to people that she liked, and which was only too often abused. 'You cannot fail to be aware of the present troubled state of France. Many of the ills of which the people complain are, alas, attributed to myself. It is true that in my early years as Queen I was sometimes thoughtless and extravagant, but I cannot believe that I ever did any great harm to anyone; and in more recent years I have done everything in my power to atone, and to help the King in his projects to economize. Yet the people hate me and call me 'the Austrian woman'. And a certain section of the nobility bear me a hatred yet greater still.'

The tears came to her blue eyes, but she brushed them aside and continued: 'These last would stop at nothing to bring about my ruin, and even in the Palace I know there to be spies who endeavour to report my every action. That is why I dare not send this packet by the hand of anyone who is known to be my friend. Should its contents be suspected they would be set upon and robbed of it before they had traversed a score of miles.

'It was in this dilemma that I thought to send it by a stranger, the man de Roubec. He was recommended to me by the Marquis de St. Huruge, whom I now judge to be one of the many traitors that infest the Court. It is yourself I have to thank for having saved me from that, and I now feel that I should have sent last night to let you know that I had not forgotten it. For I do assure you, Monsieur, that even had I not learned the truth I should have counted your service to me as going a long way to mitigate any sentence that His Majesty proposed to inflict upon you.'

Roger smiled. 'I thank you, Madame; although, knowing de Roubec, it was an act I would have performed to protect the interests of any lady.'

'Nevertheless, Monsieur, I happened to be that lady, and you served me well. But now about yourself. I sent Monsieur de Besenval for you with his guards deliberately tonight, and gave him orders to march you through die gallery outside my ante-room, then downstairs to a closed carriage, just as my reception was breaking up. Having witnessed your departure in such circumstances the whole Court will now believe you to be in the Bastille, and even if you are seen at liberty later my enemies will never believe you to be any friend of mine. In this way I have sought to give you immunity from their attentions, and I trust you will be able to convey this despatch to its destination without encountering any opposition.'

As she handed the packet to him he saw that it bore no super­scription, so he asked: 'To whom am I to bear it, Madame ?'

'To my younger brother, the Grand Duke of Tuscany,' she replied. 'For some time past reports from Vienna have informed me that my elder brother, the Emperor, has been seriously ill, so he has no longer been in a state to take his former interest in my affairs. It is on that account that the Grand Duke Leopold is showing additional concern for me. He wrote recently asking that I should furnish him with full particulars of the crisis with which we are faced, and my own personal views as to what course events are likely to take. This despatch contains all the information he has requested of me, including my private opinions of Monsieur Necker and the other Ministers in whose hands His Majesty has now placed himself. Some of those opinions are by no means favourable, so I need hardly stress how vital it is that this document should not fall into the hands of my enemies. If it did it would certainly prove my ruin.'

'Have no fear, Madame,' Roger said firmly. 'No one shall take it from me while I live, and His Highness the Grand Duke shall know your views as swiftly as strong horses can carry me to Florence.'

'I thank you from my heart, Monsieur,' sighed the Queen, and once more there were tears in her eyes. Then she drew a fine diamond ring from her finger and added: 'Take this and sell it to cover the expenses of your journey; or, if you prefer, keep it as a souvenir of an unhappy woman.'

Roger took the ring and, kneeling, kissed the beautiful white hand that she extended to him.

As he rose and backed towards the door, she raised her voice and called: 'Isabella! Isabella, my child! Pray conduct Monsieur le Chevalier back to the carriage.'

At her call the Senorita opened the door behind him and led the way out down the steps of the little pavilion into the semi-darkness of the shrubbery.

“You have accepted Her Majesty's mission, Monsieur?' she asked in her soft voice.

“Willingly, Senorita,' he replied. 'And it would not surprise me overmuch if it was yourself who proposed me for this honour.'

'Her Majesty was at her wits' end for a messenger who would not be suspected by her enemies,' murmured the Senorita, 'and I had the happy thought that you did not seem the type of man to bear a grudge, so might be willing to serve her in this emergency.' Then she added quickly:

'The carriage will take you the first stage of your journey south during the night. In it you will find your valise with all your things. Monsieur de Vaudreuil packed them for you and brought them here himself. It remains, Monsieur, only for me to wish you a safe and pleasant journey.'

They had traversed the short path while they were speaking, and already come out into the open, where the carriage waited some ten yards away. As they halted he turned to face her for a moment in the moonlight. In it her olive complexion no longer looked near-sallow, and her black eyebrows no longer seemed to overpower her long oval face. It suddenly came to Roger that in her own strange way she wasbeautiful.

He said in a low voice: 'Directly my mission is accomplished I shall return to Versailles. May I hope, Senorita, that you will permit me to wait upon you there; for I should much like to develop our acquaintance.'

She shook her head. 'I fear that is not to be, Monsieur; and that our . . . yes, let us say friendship, in view of the secret that we share, must end here. When the Court moves tomorrow I leave it to quit France and return to my parents, so 'tis most unlikely that we shall ever meet again.'

But the Fates had interwoven the destinies of these two, and while they thought they were making a final parting it was decreed that they were to cross one another's paths again quite soon. And, by the weaving of those same Fates, Queen Marie Antoinette, who be­lieved that she might yet enjoy many happy years with her husband and children, was never to witness the setting of another sun at Fontainebleau.

CHAPTER FIVE