Memoirs of a Physician (32 page)
MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 237
secretary scrutinized and weighed this letter with such an appearance of anxiety, that his emotion quickly communicated itself to his master.
” What is the matter now ? ” asked the marshal.
” Something not very agreeable, I presume, my lord, and which is inclosed in this letter.”
” Why do you imagine so ? “
” Because the letter is from the Duke d’Aiguillon.”
” Ha ! ” said the duke, ” from my nephew ? “
” Yes, my lord marshal ; after the .king’s council broke up, an usher of the chamber called on me and handed me this paper for you. I have been turning it over and over for the last ten minutes, and I cannot help suspecting that it contains some evil tidings.”
The duke held out his hand.
” Give it me,” said he, ” I am brave.”
” I warn you,” interrupted Eaf te, ” that when the usher gave me the paper he chuckled outrageously.”
” Diable ! that bodes ill,” replied the marshal ; ” but give it me, nevertheless.”
” And he added : ‘ Monsieur d’Aiguillon wishes the marshal to have this immediately.’ “
” Pain ? thou shalt not make me say that thou art an evil,” said the marshal, breaking the seal with a firm hand.
And he read it.
” Ha ! you change countenance,” said Eafte, standing with his hands crossed behind him, in an attitude of observation.
” Is it possible ! ” exclaimed Richelieu, continuing to read.
” It seems, then, that it is serious ? “
” You look quite delighted.”
” Of course I see that I was not mistaken.”
The marshal read on.
” The king is good,” said he, after a moment’s pause.
” He appoints Monsieur d’Aiguillon minister ? “
” Better than that.”
“Oh! What, then?”
” Eead and ponder.”
Eafte, in his turn, read the note. It was in the hand-
238 MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
writing of D’Aiguillon, and was couched in the following terms :
” MY DEAR UNCLE, Your good advice has borne its fruit ; I confided my wrongs to that excellent friend of our house, the Countess Dubarry, who has deigned to lay them at his majesty’s feet. The king is indignant at the violence with which the gentlemen of the parliament pursue me, and in consideration of the services I have so faithfully rendered him, his majesty, in this morning’s council, has annulled the decree of parliament, and has commanded me to continue my functions as peer of France.
” Knowing the pleasure this news will cause you, my dear uncle, I send you the tenor of the decision, which his majesty in council came to to-day. I have had it copied by a secretary, and you have the announcement before any one else.
” Deign to believe in my affectionate respect, my dear uncle, and continue to bestow on me your good will and advice.
(Signed) ” DUKE D’AIGTTILLON ‘
” He mocks at me intc the bargain ! ” cried Richelieu.
“Faith, I think so, my lord.”
” The king throws himself into the hornets’ nest ! “
” You would not believe me yesterday when I told you so.”
” I did not say he would not throw himself into it, Eafte ; I said he would contrive to get out of it ! Now you see he does get out of it.”
” The fact is, the parliament is beaten.”
” And I also.”
” For the present yes.”
” Forever. Yesterday I foresaw it, and you consoled me so well, that some misfortune could not fail to ensue.”
” My lord, you despair a little too soon, I think.”
” Master Rafte, you are a fool. -I am beaten, and I must pay the stake. You do fully comprehend, perhaps, how disagreeable it is to me to be the laughing-stock of Luciennes; at this moment, the duke is mocking me in company with Madame Dubarry; Mademoiselle Chon and Monsieur
MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 239
Jean are roaring themselves hoarse at my expense, while the little negro ceases to stuff himself with sweetmeats to make game of me. Parbleu ! I have a tolerably good temper, but all this makes me furious ! “
” Furious, my lord ? “
” I have said it furious ! “
” Then you have done what JOM should not have done ‘ said Rafte, philosophically.
” You urged me on, Master Secretary.”
” I ? “
” Yes, you.”
” Why, what is it to me whether Monsieur d’Aiguillon is a peer of France or not I ask you, my lord? Your nephew does me no injury, I think.”
” Master Rafte, you are impertinent.”
” You have been telling me so for the last forty-nine years, my lord.”
” Well, I shall repeat it again.”
” Not for forty-nine years more, that is one comfort.”
” Rafte, is this the way you care for my interests “
” The interests of your little passions ? No, my lord duke, never ! Man of genius as you are, you sometimes commit follies which I could not forgive even in an understrapper like myself.”
” Explain yourself, Rafte, and if I am wrong, I will confess it.”
“Yesterday you thirsted for vengeance, did you not? You wished to behold the humiliation of your nephew; you wished, as it were, to be the bearer of the decree of parliament ; and gloat over the tremblings and palpitations of your victim, as Monsieur Crebillon the younger says. Well, my lord marshal, such sights as these must be well paid for; such pleasures cost dear. You are rich pay, pay, my lord marshal ! “
” What would you have done in my place, then, oh, most skilful of tacficians? Come, let me see.”
” Nothing. I would have waited without giving any sign of life. But you itched to oppose the parliament to the Dubarry, from the moment she found that Monsieur d’Aiguillon was a younger man than yourself.”
240 MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
A grcan was the marshal’s only reply.
“Well!” continued Rafte, “the pailiament was tolerably well prompted by you before it did what it has done. The decree once passed, you should have offered your services to your nephew, who would have suspected nothing.”
“That is all well and good, and I admit that I did wrong; but you shoiild have warned me.”
” I hinder any evil ! You take me for some one else, my lord marshal; you repeat to every one that comes that I am your creature, that you have trained me, and yet you would have me not delighted when I see a folly committed or a misfortune approaching ! Fy, fy ! “
” Then a misfortune will happen, Master Sorcerer ? “
” Certainly ”
“What misfortune?”
” You will quarrel, and Monsieur d’Aiguillon will be-come the link between the parliament and Madame Dubarry; then he will be minister, and you exiled, or at the Bastile.”
The marshal in his anger upset the contents of his snuff-box upon the carpet.
“In the Bastile!” said he. shrugging his shoulders; is Louis XV., think you, Louis XIV.?”
” Xo, but Madame Dubarry, supported by Monsieur d’Aiguillon, is quite equal to Madame Maintenon. Take care; I do not know any princess in the present day who would bring you bonbons and eggs ‘
” These are melancholy prognostics,” replied the marshal, after a long silence. ” You read the future ; but what of the present, if you please? “
” My lord marshal is too wise for me to give him advice.”
” Come, Master Witty-pate, are you, too, not mocking me? “
“I beg you to remark, my lord marshal, that you confound dates; a man is never called a witty-pate after forty; now I am sixty-seven.”
” No matter, assist me out of this scrape and quickly, too quickly.”
“By an advice?”
MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 241
” By anything you please.”
” The time has not come yet.”
” Now you are certainly jesting.”
“Would to Heaven I were! When I jest the subject shall be a jesting matter and unfortunately this is not.”
” What do you mean by saying that it is not time ? “
” No, my lord, it is not time. If the announcement of the king’s decree were known in Paris beforehand, I would not say, Shall we send a courier to the president, D’Aligre?”
” That they may laugh at us all the sooner ? “
“What ridiculous self-love, my lord marshal! You would make a saint lose patience. Stay, let me finish my plan of a descent on England, and you can finish drowning yourself in your portfolio intrigue, since the business is already half done.”
The marshal was accustomed to these sullen humors of his secretary. He know that when his melancholy had once declared itself, he was dangerous to touch un-gloved fingers.
” Come,” said he, ” do not pout at me, and if I did not understand, explain yourself.”
” Then my lord wishes me to trace out a line of conduct for him ? “
” Certainly, since you think I cannot conduct myself.”
” Well, then, listen.”
” I am all attention.”
” You must send by a trusty messenger to Monsieur d’Aligre,” said Rafte, abruptly, ” the Duke d’Aiguillon’s letter, and also the decree of the king in council. You must then wait till the parliament has met and deliberated upon it, which will take place immediately; whereupon you must order your carriage, and pay a little visit to your procureur, Monsieur Flageot.”
” Eh ? ” said Richelieu, whom this name made start as it had done on the previous day ; ” Monsieur Flageot again ! What the deuce has Monsieur Flageot to do with all this, and what am I to do at his house ? “
” I have had the honor of telling you, my lord, that Monsieur Flageot is your procureur.”
11 DUJIAS VOL. VII.
242 MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
“Well! what, then?”
” Well, if he is your procureur, he has certain bags of yours certain lawsuits on hand ; you must go and ask him about them.” “To-morrow?”
” Yes, my lord marshal, to-morrow.” ” But all this is your affair, Monsieur Eafte.” ” By no means ! by no means ! When Monsieur Flageot was a simple scribbling drudge, then I could treat with him as an equal ; but as, dating from to-morrow, Monsieur Flageot is an Attila, a scourge of kings neither more nor less it is not asking too much of a duke, a peer, a marshal of France, to converse with this all-powerful man.” ” Is this serious, or are we acting a farce ? ” ” You will see to-morrow if it is serious, my lord.” ” But tell me what will be the result of my visit to your Monsieur Flageot?”
” I should be very sorry to do so ; you would endeavor to prove to me to-morrow that you had guessed it beforehand. Good night, my lord marshal. Eemember; a courier to Monsieur d’Aligre immediately a visit to Monsieur Flageot to-morrow. Oh! the address? The coachman knows it; he has driven me there frequently during the last week.”
CHAPTER XXXII.
IN WHICH THE READER WILL ONCE MORE MEET AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE WHOM HE THOUGHT LOST,, AND WHOM PERHAPS HE DID NOT REGRET.
THE reader will no doubt ask why M. Flageot is about to play so majestic a part in our story, was called procureur instead of avocat; and as the reader is quite right, we shall satisfy his curiosity.
The vacations had, for some time, been so frequent in the parliament, and the lawyers spoke so seldom, that their speeches were not worth speaking of. Master Flageot, foreseeing the time when there would be no pleading
MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 243
at all, made certain arrangements with Master Guildou, the procureur, in virtue of which the latter yielded him up office and clients in consideration of the sum of twenty-five thousand livres paid down. That is how Master Flageot became a procureur. But if we are asked how he managed to pay the twenty-five thousand livres, we reply, by marrying
Mme.
Marguerite, to whom this sum was left as an inheritance about the end of the year 1770 three months before M. de Choiseul’s exile.
Master Flageot had been long distinguished for his persevering adherence to the opposition party. Once a procureur, he redoubled his violence; and by this violence succeeded in gaining some celebrity. It was this celebrity, together with the publication of an incendiary pamphlet on the subject of the conflict between-M. d’Aiguillon and M. de la Chalotais, which attracted the attention of M. Rafte, who had occasion to keep himself well informed concerning the affairs of parliament.
But, notwithstanding his new dignity and his increasing importance, Master Flageot did not leave the Rue du Petit Lion St. Sauveur. It would have been too cruel a blow for
Mme.
Marguerite not to have heard the neighbors call her
Mme.
Flageot, and not to have inspired respect in the breast of M. Guildou’s clerks, who had entered the service of the new procureur.
The reader may readily imagine what M. de Richelieu suffered in traversing Paris the filthy Paris of that region to reach the disgusting hole which the Parisian magistrature dignified with the name of street.
In front of M. Flageot’s door M. de Richelieu’s carriage was stopped by another carriage which pulled up at the same moment. The marshal perceived a woman’s headdress protruding from the window of this carriage, and as his sixty-five years of age had not quenched the ardor of his gallantry, he hastily jumped out on the muddy pavement, and proceeded to offer his hand to the lady, who was unac-companied. V.
But this day the marshal’s evil star was in the ascendant. A long, withered leg, which was stretched out to reach the step, betrayed the old woman. A wrinkled face, adorned
2M MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
with a dark streak of rouge, proved further that the old woman was not only old but decrepit.
Nevertheless, there was no room for retreat ; the marshal had made the movement, and the movement had been seen. Besides, M. de Eichelieu himself was no longer young. In the meantime, the litigant for what woman with a carriage would have entered that street had she not been a litigant? the litigant, we say, did not imitate the duke’s hesitation ; with a ghastly smile she placed her hand in Richelieu’s.
” I have seen that face somewhere before,” thought Richelieu; then he added:
” Does madame also intend to visit Monsieur Flageot ? “
” Yes, duke,” replied the old lady.
” Oh, I have the. honor to be known to you, madame! ” exclaimed the duke, disagreeably surprised, and stopping on the threshold of the dark passage.
