means of showing devotion to thee also? Thou shalt have the broad and rich province of Champagne; and its vineyards shall pour their abundance into they convent. I had promised the province to my brother Charles; but he, thou knowest, is dead – poisoned by that wicked Abbe of Saint John d'Angely, whom, if I live, I will punish! – I promised this once before, but this time I will keep my word. – If I had any knowledge of the crime, believe, dearest patroness, it was because I knew no better method of quieting the discontents of my kingdom. O, do not reckon that old debt to my account to-day; but be, as thou hast ever been, kind, benignant, and easy to be entreated! Sweetest Lady, work with thy child, that he will pardon all past sins, and one – one little deed which I must do this night – nay, it is no sin, dearest Lady of Clery – no sin, but an act of justice privately administered; for the villain is the greatest impostor that ever poured falsehood into a Prince's ear, and leans besides to the filthy heresy of the Greeks. He is not deserving of thy protection; leave him to my care; and hold it as good service that I rid the world of him, for the man is a necromancer and wizard, that is not worth thy thought and care – a dog, the extinction of whose life ought to be of as little consequence in thine eyes, as the treading out a spark that drops from a lamp, or springs from a fire. Think not of this little matter, gentlest, kindest Lady, but only consider how thou canst best aid me in my troubles! and I here bind my royal signet to thy effigy, in token that I will keep my word concerning the county of Champagne, and that this shall be the last time I will trouble thee in affairs of blood, knowing thou art so kind, so gentle, and so tender-hearted.'
After this extraordinary contract with the object of his adoration, Louis recited, apparently with deep devotion, the seven penitential psalms in Latin, and several aves and prayers especially belonging to the service of the Virgin. He then arose, satisfied that he had secured the intercession of the Saint to whom he had prayed, the rather, as he craftily reflected, that most of the sins for which he had requested her mediation on former occasions had been of a differnt character, and that, therefore, the Lady of Clery was less likely to consider him as a hardened and habitual shedder of blood, than the other saints whom he had more frequently made confidants of his crimes in that respect[50].
When he had thus cleared his conscience, or rather whited it over like a sepulchre, the King thrust his head out at the door of the hall, and summoned Le Balafre into his apartment. 'My good soldier,' he said, 'thou hast served me long, and hast had little promotion. We are here in a case where I may either live or die; but I would not willingly die an ungrateful man, or leave, so far as the saints may place it in my power, either a friend or an enemy unrecompensed. Now, I have a friend to be rewarded, that is thyself – an enemy to be punished according to his deserts, and that is the base, treacherous villain, Martius Galeotti, who, by his impostures and specious falsehoods, has trained me hither into the power of my mortal enemy, with as firm a purpose of my destruction, as ever butcher had of slaying the beast which he drove to the shambles.'
'I will challenge him on that quarrel, since they say he is a fighting blade, though he looks somewhat unwieldy,' said Le Balafre. 'I doubt not but the Duke of Burgundy is so much a friend to men of the sword, that he will allow us a fair field within some reasonable space; and if your Majesty live so long, and enjoy so much freedom, you shall behold me do battle in your right, and take as proper a vengeance on this philosopher as your heart could desire.'
'I commend your bravery and your devotion to my service,' said the King. 'But this treacherous villain is a stout man-at-arms, and I would not willingly risk thy life, my brave soldier.'
'I were no brave soldier, if it please your Majesty,' said Balafre, 'if I dared not face a better man than he. A fine thing it would be for me, who can neither read nor write, to be afraid of a fat lurdane, who has done little else all his life!'
'Nevertheless,' said the King, 'it is not our pleasure so to put thee in venture, Balafre. This traitor comes hither, summoned by our command. We would have thee, so soon as thou canst find occasion, close up with him, and smite him under the fifth rib – Dost thou understand me?'
'Truly I do,' answered Le Balafre; but, if it please your Majesty, this is a matter entirely out of my course of practice. I could not kill you a dog, unless it were in hot assault, or pursuit, or upon defiance given, or such like.'
'Why sure thou dost not pretend to tenderness of heart?' said the King; 'thou who hast been first in storm and siege, and most eager, as men tell me, on the pleasures and advantages which are gained on such occasions by the rough heart and the bloody hand?'
'My lord,' answered Le Balafre, 'I have neither feared nor spared your enemies, sword in hand. And an assault is a desperate matter, under risks which raise a man's blood so, that, by Saint Andrew, it will not settle for an hour or two, – which I call a fair license for plundering after a storm. And God pity us poor soldiers, who are first driven mad with danger, and then madder with victory. I have heard of a legion consisting entirely of saints; and methinks it would take them all to pray and intercede for the rest of the army, and for all who wear plumes and corslets, buff-coats and broadswords. But what your Majesty purposes is out of my course of practice, though I will never deny that it has been wide enough. As for the astrologer, if he be a traitor, let him e'en die a traitor's death – I will neither meddle nor make with it. Your Majesty has your Provost, and two of his Marshal's-men without, who are more fit for dealing with him than a Scottish gentleman of my family and standing in the service.'
'You say well,' said the King; 'but, at least, it belongs to thy duty to prevent interruption, and to guard the execution of my most just sentence.'
'I will do so against all Peronne,' said Le Balafre. 'Your Majesty need not doubt my fealty in that which I can reconcile to my conscience, which, for mine own convenience and the service of your royal Majesty, I can vouch to be a pretty large one – at least, I know I have done some deeds for your Majesty, which I would rather have eaten a handful of my own dagger than I would have done for any else.'
'Let that rest,' said the King; 'and hear you – when Galeotti is admitted, and the door shut on him, do you stand to your weapon, and guard the entrance on the inside of the apartment. Let no one intrude – that is all I require of you. Go hence, and send the Provost-Marshal to me.'
Balafre left the apartment accordingly, and in a minute afterwards Tristan l'Hermite entered from the hall.
'Welcome, gossip,' said the King; 'what thinkest thou of our situation?'
'As of men sentenced to death,' said the Provost-Marshal, 'unless there come a reprieve from the Duke.'
'Reprieved or not, he that decoyed us into this snare shall go our fourrier to the next world, to take up lodgings for us,' said the King, with a grisly and ferocious smile. 'Tristan, thou hast done many an act of brave justice – finis – I should have said funis – coronat opus. Thou must stand by me to the end.'
'I will, my liege,' said Tristan; 'I am but a plain fellow, but I am grateful. I will do my duty within these walls, or elsewhere; and while I live, your Majesty's breath shall pour as potential a note of condemnation, and your sentence be as literally executed, as when you sat on your own throne. They may deal with me the next hour for it if they will – I care not.'
'It is even what I expected of thee, my loving gossip,' said Louis; 'but hast thou good assistance? – the traitor is strong and able-bodied, and will doubtless be clamorous for aid. The Scot will do nought but keep the door; and well that he can be brought to that, by flattery and humouring. Then Oliver is good for nothing but lying, flattering, and suggesting dangerous counsels; and, Ventre Saint-dieu! I think is more like one day to deserve the halter himself, than to use it to another. Have you men, think you, and means, to make sharp and sure work?'
'I have Trois-Eschelles and Petit-Andre with me,' said he – 'men so expert in their office, that out of three men, they would hang up one ere his two companions were aware. And we have all resolved to live or die with your Majesty, knowing we shall have as short breath to draw when you are gone, as ever fell to the lot of any of our patients. – But what is to be our present subject, an it please your Majesty? I love to be sure of my man; for, as your Majesty is pleased sometimes to remind me, I have now and then mistaken the criminal, and strung up in his place an honest labourer, who had given your Majesty no offence.'
'Most true,' said the other. 'Know then, Tristan, that the condemned person is Martius Galeotti. – You start, but it is even as I say. The villain hath trained us all hither by false and treacherous representations, that he might put us into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy without defence.'
'But not without vengeance!' said Tristan; 'were it the last act of my life, I would sting him home like an expiring wasp, should I be crushed to pieces on the next instant!'
'I know thy trusty spirit,' said the King, 'and the pleasure which, like other good men, thou dost find in the
