Memoirs of a Physician (24 page)
“Yours? It is a personal enemy of yours, my dear count ? ” asked Richelieu, feigning surprise.
” Yes ; he was my adversary in that affair of the relay, you know.”
” Indeed ! What a strange sympathy. I did not know that, and yet I refused all his demands; only if I had known, I should not only have refused him, but kicked him out. But do not be uneasy, count, I have now this worthy bully under my thumb, and he shall find it out to his cost.”
” Yes, you can cure him of his taste for attacking people on the highway. For in fact ha ! by the bye, I have not yet congratulated you.”
” Why, yes, count ; it seems the affair is definitely settled.”
” Oh ! it is all completed. Will you permit me to embrace you ? “
” With all my heart.”
” Faith, there was some trouble ; but tlie trouble is nothing when you succeed. You are satisfied, are you not ? “
” Shall I speak frankly ? Yes ; but I think I can be use-ful.”
” No doubt of that. But it is a bold stroke; there will be some growling.”
” Am I not liked by the public ? “
MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 179
” You ? Why, there is no question of you, either one way or the other; it is he who is execrated.”
” He ? ” said Richelieu, with surprise ; ” who ? he ? “
” Of course ‘ interupted Jean. ” Oh ! the parliament will revolt, it will be a second edition of the flagellation of Louis XIV. They are whipped, duke, they are whipped.”
” Explain.”
“Why, it explains itself. The parliament, of course, hate the author of their persecutions.”
” Ah ! you think that ? “
” I am certain of it, as all France is. No matter, duke, it was a capital stroke of you to send for him that way, just at the very heat of the affair.”
” Whom ? Whom, duke ? I am on thorns I do not understand one word of what you say.”
” Why, I speak of Monsieur d’Aiguillon, your nephew.”
“Well, what then?”
” Well, I say it was well advised of you to send for him.”
”’ Ah ! very good, very good. You mean to say he will assist me ? “
” He will assist us all. Do you know he is on the best terms with little Jeanne ? “
“Oh! indeed?”
” On the best terms. They have already had a chat together, and understand each other perfectly, as it seems to me.”
“You know that?”
” Why, I saw D’Aiguillon’s carriage leave Luciennes late yesterday evening, and as he only arrived yesterday morning in Paris, it seems to me that he must be a great favorite with Jeanne to obtain an audience so early.”
” Yes, yes,” said Richelieu, rubbing his hands ; ” he must have supped there. Bravo, D’Aiguillon ! “
” And so there you are all three, like Orestes and Pylades, with the addition of another Pylades.”
At this moment, and as the marshal was rubbing his hands with great glee, D’Aiguillon entered the saloon.
The nephew saluted his uncle with an air of condolence which was sufficient to enable Richelieu, without under-
180 MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
standing the whole truth, at least to guess the greatest part of it.
He turned pale as though he had received a mortal wound. It flashed across his mind that at court there ex-ists neither friends nor relatives, and that every one seeks only his own aggrandizement.
“I was a great fool!” thought he. “Well, D’Aiguillon ? ” continued he aloud, repressing a deep sigh.
“Well, marshal?”
” It is a heavy blow to the parliament,” said Richelieu, repeating Jean’s words.
D’Aiguillon blushed.
” You know it ? ” said he.
” The countess has told me all,” replied Richelieu ; ” even your late stay at Luciennes last night. Your appointment is a triumph for my family.”
” Be assured, marshal, of my extreme regret.”
” What the devil does he mean by that ? ” said Jean, folding his arms.
” Oh, we understand each other,” interrupted Richelieu ; ” we understand each other.”
” That is a different affair ; but for my part I do not understand you. Regret ! Ah ! yes, because he will not be recognized as minister immediately yes, yes, I see.”
” Oh ! there will be an interim ? ” said the marshal, feeling a ray of hope that constant guest in the heart of the ambitious man and the lover once more dawn in his breast.
” Yes, marshal, an interim.”
“But, in the meantime,” cried Jean, “he is tolerably well paid; the finest command in Versailles.”
” Ah ! a command ? ” said Richelieu, pierced by a new wound.
” Monsieur Dubarry perhaps exaggerates a little,” said the Duke d’Aignillon.
” But, in one word, what is this command ? “
” The king’s light horse.”
Richelieu again felt his furrowed cheeks grow pale.
” Oh ! yes,” said he, with a smile which it would be impossible to describe; “yes, it is indeed a trifling ap-
MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 181
pointment for such a charming man. But what can you expect, duke the loveliest woman in the world, were she even the king’s favorite, can only give what she has.”
It was now D’Aiguillon’s turn to grow pale.
Jean was scrutinizing the beautiful Murillos which adorned Eichelieu’s walls.
Eichelieu slapped his nephew on the shoulder.
” Luckily,” said he, ” you have the promise of approaching advancement. Accept my congratulations, duke my sincere compliments. Your address, your cleverness in negotiations, is only equaled by your good fortune. Adieu; I have some business to transact. Do not forget me in the distribution of your favors, my dear minister.”
D’Aiguillon only replied:
” Your interests and mine, my lord marshal, are henceforth one and the same.”
And, saluting his uncle, he left the room with the dignity which was natural to him, thus escaping from one of the most embarrassing positions he had ever experienced in a life strewn with so many difficulties.
” An admirable trait in D’Aiguillon’s character,” said Richelieu, the moment the former had disappeared, to Jean, who was rather at a loss to know what to think of this exchange of politeness between the nephew and uncle ” and one that I admire particularly, is his artlessness. He is at once frank and high-spirited ; he knows the court, and is withal as simple-minded as a girl.”
” And then he loves you so well ! ” said Jean.
” Like a lamb.”
” Oh,” said Jean, ” he is more like your son than Mon-eieur de Fronsac.”
” By my faith, yes, count by my faith, yes.”
While replying thus, Eichelieu kept walking round his chair in great agitation ; he sought but could not find.
“Ah, countess,” he muttered, “you shall pay me for this!”
” Marshal,” said Jean, with a cunning look, ” we four will realize that famous fagot of antiquity; you know, the one that could not be broken.”
182 MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
” We four, my dear Monsieur Jean ; how do you understand that ? “
” My sister as power, D’Aiguillon as authority, you as advice, and I as vigilance.”
” Very good ! very good ! “
” And now let them attack my sister. I defy them all ! “
“Pardieu!” said Eichelieu, whose brain was boiling.
” Let them set up rivals now ! ” exclaimed Jean, in ecstasies with his plans and his visions of triumph.
” Oh ! ” said Richelieu, striking his forehead.
” Well, my dear marshal, what is the matter ? “
” Xothing ; I think your idea of a league admirable.”
“Is it not?”
“And I enter body and soul into your plans.”
” Bravo ! “
” Does Taverney live at Trianon with his daughter ? “
” Jfo ; he lives in Paris.”
” The girl is very handsome, my dear count.”
” If she were as beautiful as Cleopatra or my sister, I do not fear her, now that we are leagued together.”
“You said Taverney lives in Paris; in the Rue St. Honore, I think.”
“I did not say the Rue St. Honore ; it is the Rue Coq Heron in which he lives. Have you any plan of chastis-ing these Taverneys, that you ask ? “
” Yes, count ; I think I have found a capital plan.”
” You are an incomparable man. But I must leave you now ; I wish to see what they say in town.”
“Adieu, then, count. Apropos, you have not told me who the new ministers are.”
” Oh, mere birds of passage ; Terray, Bertin, and I know not who else. Mere counters in the hands of D’Aiguillon the real minister, though his appointment is deferred for a short time.”
” Perhaps indefinitely adjourned,” thought the marshal, directing his most gracious smile to Jean, as an affectionate adieu.
Jean retired, Rafte entered. He had heard all, and knew how to conduct himself ; all his suspicions were now realized. He did not utter a word to his master, he knew
MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 183
him too well. He did not even call the valet de chamhre ; he assisted him with his own hands to undress, and conducted him to his bed, in which the old marshal, shivering with fever, immediately buried himself, after taking a pill which his secretary made him swallow.
Rafte drew the curtains and retired. The antechamber was thronged with eager, listening valets. Rafte took the head valet aside.
” Attend to the marshal carefully,” said he, ” he is ill. He has had a serious vexation this morning; he was obliged to disobey the king.”
” Disobey the king ! ” exclaimed the alarmed valet.
” Yes ; his majesty sent a portfolio to my lord, but as he was aware that he owed it to the solicitations of the Dubarry, he refused. Oh! it was a noble resolve, and the Parisians ought to build him a triumphal arch; but the shock was great, and our master is ill. Look to him carefully.”
After these words, whose circulating power he knew beforehand, Rafte returned to his closet.
A quarter of an hour afterward, all Versailles was informed of the noble conduct and lofty patriotism of the marshal, who in the meantime slept soundly upon the popularity his secretary had gained for him.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE DAUPHIN’S FAMILY REPAST.
THE same day, about three o’clock, Mile. Taverney left her apartment to attend upon the dauphiness, who was in the habit of being read to for a short time before dinner, i
The abbe who had held the post of first reader to her royal highness no longer exercised his functions, as for some time previous, ever since certain diplomatic intrigues in which he had displayed a very great talent for business, he had employed himself entirely in important political affairs.
184 MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
Mile. Taverney therefore set out, dressed as well as circumstances would permit, to fulfil her office. Like all the guests at Trianon, she still suffered considerable inconvenience from the rather sudden installation in her new abode, and had not yet been able to arrange her furniture, or make the necessary provisions for establishing her modest household. She had therefore on the present occasion been assisted in her toilet by one of the femmes de chambre of
Mme.
de Xoailles, that starched lady of honor whom the dauphiness nicknamed
Mme.
Etiquette.
Andre was dressed in a blue silk robe, with long waist, which fitted admirably to her slender figure. This robe opened in front, and displayed a muslin skirt relieved with three falls of embroidery. Short sleeves, also of muslin, embroidered in the same manner as her dress, and festooned and tapering to the shoulder, were admirably in keeping with a habit shirt, worked a la paysanne, which modestly concealed her neck and shoulders.’ Her beautiful hair, which fell in long and luxuriant ringlets upon her shoulders, was simply tied with a ribbon of the same color as her dress, a mode of arrangement which harmonized infinitely better with the noble yet modest and retiring air of the lovely young girl, and with her pure and transparent complexion never yet sullied by the touch of rouge, than the feathers, ornaments, and laces which were then in vogue.
As she walked, Andre drew on a pair of white silk mittens upon the slenderest and roundest fingers in the world, while the tiny points of her high-heeled shoes of pale blue satin left their traces on the gravel of the garden-walk.
When she reached the pavilion of Trianon, she was informed that the dauphiness was taking a turn in the grounds with her architect and her head-gardener. In the apartments of the first story overhead, she could hear the noise of a turning-lathe with which the dauphin was mak-ing a safety lock for a coffer which he valued very highly.
In order to rejoin the dauphiness, Andre had to cross the parterre, where, notwithstanding the advanced period of the season, flowers carefully covered through the night,
MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 185
raised their pale heads to bask in the setting rays of a sun even paler than themselves. And as the evening was already closing in, for in that season it was dark at six o’clock, the gardener’s apprentices were employed in placing the bell-glasses over the most delicate plants in each bed.
While traversing a winding alley of evergreens clipped into the form of a hedge, bordered on each side by beds of Bengal roses, and opening on a beautiful lawn, Andre all at once perceived one of these gardeners, who, when he saw her, raised himself upon his spade, and bowed with a more refined and studied politeness than was usual in one of his station.
She looked, and in this workman recognized Gilbert, whose hands, notwithstanding his labor, were yet white enough to excite the envy of M. de Taverney.
Andre blushed in spite of herself; it seemed to her that Gilbert’s presence in this place was too remarkable a coincidence to be the result of chance.
Gilbert repeated his bow, and Andre returned it, but without slackening her pace.
She was too upright and too courageous, however, to resist the promptings of her heart, and leave the question of her restless soul unanswered. She turned back, and Gilbert, whose cheeks had already become as pale as death, and whose dark eyes followed her retreating steps with a somber look, felt as if suddenly restored to life, and bounded forward to meet her.
