it was the morning after the guardsman had returned to his duties. eight o’clock had struck on the great clock of versailles, and it was almost time for the monarch to rise. through all the long corridors and frescoed passages of the monster palace there was a subdued hum and rustle, with a low muffled stir of preparation, for the rising of the king was a great state function in which many had a part to play. a servant with a steaming silver saucer hurried past, bearing it to monsieur de st. quentin, the state barber. others, with clothes thrown over their arms, bustled down the passage which led to the ante-chamber. the knot of guardsmen in their gorgeous blue and silver coats straightened themselves up and brought their halberds to attention, while the young officer, who had been looking wistfully out of the window at some courtiers who were laughing and chatting on the terraces, turned sharply upon his heel, and strode over to the white and gold door of the royal bedroom.
he had hardly taken his stand there before the handle was very gently turned from within, the door revolved noiselessly upon its hinges, and a man slid silently through the aperture, closing it again behind him.
“hush!” said he, with his finger to his thin, precise lips, while his whole clean-shaven face and high-arched brows were an entreaty and a warning. “the king still sleeps.”
the words were whispered from one to another among the group who had assembled outside the door. the speaker, who was monsieur bontems, head valet de chambre, gave a sign to the officer of the guard, and led him into the window alcove from which he had lately come.
“good-morning, captain de catinat,” said he, with a mixture of familiarity and respect in his manner.
“good-morning, bontems. how has the king slept?”
“admirably.”
“but it is his time.”
“hardly.”
“you will not rouse him yet?”
“in seven and a half minutes.” the valet pulled out the little round watch which gave the law to the man who was the law to twenty millions of people.
“who commands at the main guard?”
“major de brissac.”
“and you will be here?”
“for four hours i attend the king.”
“very good. he gave me some instructions for the officer of the guard, when he was alone last night after the petit coucher. he bade me to say that monsieur de vivonne was not to be admitted to the grand lever. you are to tell him so.”
“i shall do so.”
“then, should a note come from her—you understand me, the new one—”
“madame de maintenon?”
“precisely. but it is more discreet not to mention names. should she send a note, you will take it and deliver it quietly when the king gives you an opportunity.”
“it shall be done.”
“but if the other should come, as is possible enough—the other, you understand me, the former—”
“madame de montespan.”
“ah, that soldierly tongue of yours, captain! should she come, i say, you will gently bar her way, with courteous words, you understand, but on no account is she to be permitted to enter the royal room.”
“very good, bontems.”
“and now we have but three minutes.”
he strode through the rapidly increasing group of people in the corridor with an air of proud humility as befitted a man who, if he was a valet, was at least the king of valets, by being the valet of the king. close by the door stood a line of footmen, resplendent in their powdered wigs, red plush coats, and silver shoulder knots.
“is the officer of the oven here?” asked bontems.
“yes, sir,” replied a functionary who bore in front of him an enamelled tray heaped with pine shavings.
“the opener of the shutters?”
“here, sir.”
“the remover of the taper?”
“here, sir.”
“be ready for the word.” he turned the handle once more, and slipped into the darkened room.
it was a large square apartment, with two high windows upon the further side, curtained across with priceless velvet hangings. through the chinks the morning sun shot a few little gleams, which widened as they crossed the room to break in bright blurs of light upon the primrose-tinted wall. a large arm-chair stood by the side of the burnt-out fire, shadowed over by the huge marble mantel-piece, the back of which was carried up twining and curving into a thousand arabesque and armorial devices until it blended with the richly painted ceiling. in one corner a narrow couch with a rug thrown across it showed where the faithful bontems had spent the night.
in the very centre of the chamber there stood a large four-post bed, with curtains of gobelin tapestry looped back from the pillow. a square of polished rails surrounded it, leaving a space some five feet in width all round between the enclosure and the bedside. within this enclosure, or ruelle, stood a small round table, covered over with a white napkin, upon which lay a silver platter and an enamelled cup, the one containing a little frontiniac wine and water, the other bearing three slices of the breast of a chicken, in case the king should hunger during the night.
as bontems passed noiselessly across the room, his feet sinking into the moss-like carpet, there was the heavy close smell of sleep in the air, and he could near the long thin breathing of the sleeper. he passed through the opening in the rails, and stood, watch in hand, waiting for the exact instant when the iron routine of the court demanded that the monarch should be roused. beneath him, from under the costly green coverlet of oriental silk, half buried in the fluffy valenciennes lace which edged the pillow, there protruded a round black bristle of close-cropped hair, with the profile of a curving nose and petulant lip outlined against the white background. the valet snapped his watch, and bent over the sleeper.
“i have the honour to inform your majesty that it is half-past eight,” said he.
“ah!” the king slowly opened his large dark-brown eyes, made the sign of the cross, and kissed a little dark reliquary which he drew from under his night-dress. then he sat up in bed, and blinked about him with the air of a man who is collecting his thoughts.
“did you give my orders to the officer of the guard, bontems?” he asked.
“yes, sire.”
“who is on duty?”
“major de brissac at the main guard, and captain de catinat in the corridor.”
“de catinat! ah, the young man who stopped my horse at fontainebleau. i remember him. you may give the signal, bontems.”
the chief valet walked swiftly across to the door and threw it open. in rushed the officer of the ovens and the four red-coated, white-wigged footmen, ready-handed, silent-footed, each intent upon his own duties. the one seized upon bontem’s rug and couch, and in an instant had whipped them off into an ante-chamber, another had carried away the en cas meal and the silver taper-stand; while a third drew back the great curtains of stamped velvet and let a flood of light into the apartment. then, as the flames were already flickering among the pine shavings in the fireplace, the officer of the ovens placed two round logs crosswise above them, for the morning air was chilly, and withdrew with his fellow-servants.
they were hardly gone before a more august group entered the bed-chamber. two walked together in front, the one a youth little over twenty years of age, middle-sized, inclining to stoutness, with a slow, pompous bearing, a well-turned leg, and a face which was comely enough in a mask-like fashion, but which was devoid of any shadow of expression, except perhaps of an occasional lurking gleam of mischievous humour. he was richly clad in plum-coloured velvet, with a broad band of blue silk; across his breast, and the glittering edge of the order of st. louis protruding from under it. his companion was a man of forty, swarthy, dignified, and solemn, in a plain but rich dress of black silk, with slashes of gold at the neck and sleeves. as the pair faced the king there was sufficient resemblance between the three faces to show that they were of one blood, and to enable a stranger to guess that the older was monsieur, the younger brother of the king, while the other was louis the dauphin, his only legitimate child, and heir to a throne to which in the strange workings of providence neither he nor his sons were destined to ascend.
strong as was the likeness between the three faces, each with the curving bourbon nose, the large full eye, and the thick hapsburg under-lip, their common heritage from anne of austria, there was still a vast difference of temperament and character stamped upon their features. the king was now in his six-and-fortieth year, and the cropped black head was already thinning a little on the top, and shading away to gray over the temples. he still, however, retained much of the beauty of his youth, tempered by the dignity and sternness which increased with his years. his dark eyes were full of expression, and his clear-cut features were the delight of the sculptor and the painter. his firm and yet sensitive mouth and his thick, well-arched brows gave an air of authority and power to his face, while the more subdued expression which was habitual to his brother marked the man whose whole life had been spent in one long exercise of deference and self-effacement. the dauphin, on the other hand, with a more regular face than his father, had none of that quick play of feature when excited, or that kingly serenity when composed, which had made a shrewd observer say that louis, if he were not the greatest monarch that ever lived, was at least the best fitted to act the part.
behind the king’s son and the king’s brother there entered a little group of notables and of officials whom duty had called to this daily ceremony. there was the grand master of the robes, the first lord of the bed-chamber, the duc du maine, a pale youth clad in black velvet, limping heavily with his left leg, and his little brother, the young comte de toulouse, both of them the illegitimate sons of madame de montespan and the king. behind them, again, was the first valet of the wardrobe, followed by fagon, the first physician, telier, the head surgeon, and three pages in scarlet and gold who bore the royal clothes. such were the partakers in the family entry, the highest honour which the court of france could aspire to.
bontems had poured on the king’s hands a few drops of spirits of wine, catching them again in a silver dish; and the first lord of the bedchamber had presented the bowl of holy water with which he made the sign of the cross, muttering to himself the short office of the holy ghost. then, with a nod to his brother and a short word of greeting to the dauphin and to the due du maine, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat in his long silken night-dress, his little white feet dangling from beneath it—a perilous position for any man to assume, were it not that he had so heart-felt a sense of his own dignity that he could not realise that under any circumstances it might be compromised in the eyes of others. so he sat, the master of france, yet the slave to every puff of wind, for a wandering draught had set him shivering and shaking. monsieur de st. quentin, the noble barber, flung a purple dressing-gown over the royal shoulders, and placed a long many-curled court wig upon his head, while bontems drew on his red stockings and laid before him his slippers of embroidered velvet. the monarch thrust his feet into them, tied his dressing-gown, and passed out to the fireplace, where he settled himself down in his easy-chair, holding out his thin delicate hands towards the blazing logs, while the others stood round in a semicircle, waiting for the grand lever which was to follow.
“how is this, messieurs?” the king asked suddenly, glancing round him with a petulant face. “i am conscious of a smell of scent. surely none of you would venture to bring perfume into the presence, knowing, as you must all do, how offensive it is to me.”
the little group glanced from one to the other with protestations of innocence. the faithful bontems, however, with his stealthy step, had passed along behind them, and had detected the offender.
“my lord of toulouse, the smell comes from you,” he said.
the comte de toulouse, a little ruddy-cheeked lad, flushed up at the detection.
“if you please, sire, it is possible that mademoiselle de grammont may have wet my coat with her casting-bottle when we all played together at marly yesterday,” he stammered. “i had not observed it, but if it offends your majesty—”
“take it away! take it away!” cried the king. “pah! it chokes and stifles me! open the lower casement, bontems. no; never heed, now that he is gone. monsieur de st. quentin, is not this our shaving morning?”
“yes, sire; all is ready.”
“then why not proceed? it is three minutes after the accustomed time. to work, sir; and you, bontems, give word for the grand lever.”
it was obvious that the king was not in a very good humour that morning. he darted little quick questioning glances at his brother and at his sons, but whatever complaint or sarcasm may have trembled upon his lips, was effectually stifled by de st. quentin’s ministrations. with the nonchalance born of long custom, the official covered the royal chin with soap, drew the razor swiftly round it, and sponged over the surface with spirits of wine. a nobleman then helped to draw on the king’s black velvet haut-dechausses, a second assisted in arranging them, while a third drew the night-gown over the shoulders, and handed the royal shirt, which had been warming before the fire. his diamond-buckled shoes, his gaiters, and his scarlet inner vest were successively fastened by noble courtiers, each keenly jealous of his own privilege, and over the vest was placed the blue ribbon with the cross of the holy ghost in diamonds, and that of st. louis tied with red. to one to whom the sight was new, it might have seemed strange to see the little man, listless, passive, with his eyes fixed thoughtfully on the burning logs, while this group of men, each with a historic name, bustled round him, adding a touch here and a touch there, like a knot of children with a favourite doll. the black undercoat was drawn on, the cravat of rich lace adjusted, the loose overcoat secured, two handkerchiefs of costly point carried forward upon an enamelled saucer, and thrust by separate officials into each side pocket, the silver and ebony cane laid to hand, and the monarch was ready for the labours of the day.
during the half-hour or so which had been occupied in this manner there had been a constant opening and closing of the chamber door, and a muttering of names from the captain of the guard to the attendant in charge, and from the attendant in charge to the first gentleman of the chamber, ending always in the admission of some new visitor. each as he entered bowed profoundly three times, as a salute to majesty, and then attached himself to his own little clique or coterie, to gossip in a low voice over the news, the weather, and the plans of the day. gradually the numbers increased, until by the time the king’s frugal first breakfast of bread and twice watered wine had been carried in, the large square chamber was quite filled with a throng of men many of whom had helped to make the epoch the most illustrious of french history. here, close by the king, was the harsh but energetic louvois, all-powerful now since the death of his rival colbert, discussing a question of military organisation with two officers, the one a tall and stately soldier, the other a strange little figure, undersized and misshapen, but bearing the insignia of a marshal of france, and owning a name which was of evil omen over the dutch frontier, for luxembourg was looked upon already as the successor of conde, even as his companion vauban was of turenne. beside them, a small white-haired clerical with a kindly face, pere la chaise, confessor to the king, was whispering his views upon jansenism to the portly bossuet, the eloquent bishop of meaux, and to the tall thin young abbe de fenelon, who listened with a clouded brow, for it was suspected that his own opinions were tainted with the heresy in question. there, too, was le brun, the painter, discussing art in a small circle which contained his fellow-workers verrio and laguerre, the architects blondel and le notre, and sculptors girardon, puget, desjardins, and coysevox, whose works had done so much to beautify the new palace of the king. close to the door, racine, with his handsome face wreathed in smiles, was chatting with the poet boileau and the architect mansard, the three laughing and jesting with the freedom which was natural to the favourite servants of the king, the only subjects who might walk unannounced and without ceremony into and out of his chamber.
“what is amiss with him this morning?” asked boileau in a whisper, nodding his head in the direction of the royal group. “i fear that his sleep has not improved his temper.”
“he becomes harder and harder to amuse,” said racine, shaking his head. “i am to be at madame de maintenon’s room at three to see whether a page or two of the phedre may not work a change.”
“my friend,” said the architect, “do you not think that madame herself might be a better consoler than your phedre?”
“madame is a wonderful woman. she has brains, she has heart, she has tact—she is admirable.”
“and yet she has one gift too many.”
“and that is?”
“age.”
“pooh! what matter her years when she can carry them like thirty? what an eye! what an arm! and besides, my friends, he is not himself a boy any longer.”
“ah, but that is another thing.”
“a man’s age is an incident, a woman’s a calamity.”
“very true. but a young man consults his eye, and an older man his ear. over forty, it is the clever tongue which wins; under it, the pretty face.”
“ah, you rascal! then you have made up your mind that five-and-forty years with tact will hold the field against nine-and-thirty with beauty. well, when your lady has won, she will doubtless remember who were the first to pay court to her.”
“but i think that you are wrong, racine.”
“well, we shall see.”
“and if you are wrong—”
“well, what then?”
“then it may be a little serious for you.”
“and why?”
“the marquise de montespan has a memory.”
“her influence may soon be nothing more.”
“do not rely too much upon it, my friend. when the fontanges came up from provence, with her blue eyes and her copper hair, it was in every man’s mouth that montespan had had her day. yet fontanges is six feet under a church crypt, and the marquise spent two hours with the king last week. she has won once, and may again.”
“ah, but this is a very different rival. this is no slip of a country girl, but the cleverest woman in france.”
“pshaw, racine, you know our good master well, or you should, for you seem to have been at his elbow since the days of the fronde. is he a man, think you, to be amused forever by sermons, or to spend his days at the feet of a lady of that age, watching her at her tapestry-work, and fondling her poodle, when all the fairest faces and brightest eyes of france are as thick in his salons as the tulips in a dutch flower-bed? no, no, it will be the montespan, or if not she, some younger beauty.”
“my dear boileau, i say again that her sun is setting. have you not heard the news?”
“not a word.”
“her brother, monsieur de vivonne, has been refused the entre.”
“impossible!”
“but it is a fact.”
“and when?”
“this very morning.”
“from whom had you it?”
“from de catinat, the captain of the guard. he had his orders to bar the way to him.”
“ha! then the king does indeed mean mischief. that is why his brow is so cloudy this morning, then. by my faith, if the marquise has the spirit with which folk credit her, he may find that it was easier to win her than to slight her.”
“ay; the mortemarts are no easy race to handle.”
“well, heaven send him a safe way out of it! but who is this gentleman? his face is somewhat grimmer than those to which the court is accustomed. ha! the king catches sight of him, and louvois beckons to him to advance. by my faith, he is one who would be more at his ease in a tent than under a painted ceiling.”
the stranger who had attracted racine’s attention was a tall thin man, with a high aquiline nose, stern fierce gray eyes, peeping out from under tufted brows, and a countenance so lined and marked by age, care, and stress of weather that it stood out amid the prim courtier faces which surrounded it as an old hawk might in a cage of birds of gay plumage. he was clad in a sombre-coloured suit which had become usual at court since the king had put aside frivolity and fontanges, but the sword which hung from his waist was no fancy rapier, but a good brass-hilted blade in a stained leather-sheath, which showed every sign of having seen hard service. he had been standing near the door, his black-feathered beaver in his hand, glancing with a half-amused, half-disdainful expression at the groups of gossips around him, but at the sign from the minister of war he began to elbow his way forward, pushing aside in no very ceremonious fashion all who barred his passage.
louis possessed in a high degree the royal faculty of recognition. “it is years since i have seen him, but i remember his face well,” said he, turning to his minister. “it is the comte de frontenac, is it not?”
“yes, sire,” answered louvois; “it is indeed louis de buade, comte de frontenac, and formerly governor of canada.”
“we are glad to see you once more at our lever,” said the monarch, as the old nobleman stooped his head, and kissed the white hand which was extended to him. “i hope that the cold of canada has not chilled the warmth of your loyalty.”
“only death itself, sire, would be cold enough for that.”
“then i trust that it may remain to us for many long years. we would thank you for the care and pains which you have spent upon our province, and if we have recalled you, it is chiefly that we would fain hear from your own lips how all things go there. and first, as the affairs of god take precedence of those of france, how does the conversion of the heathen prosper?”
“we cannot complain, sire. the good fathers, both jesuits and recollets, have done their best, though indeed they are both rather ready to abandon the affairs of the next world in order to meddle with those of this.”
“what say you to that, father?” asked louis, glancing, with a twinkle of the eyes, at his jesuit confessor.
“i say, sire, that when the affairs of this world have a bearing upon those of the next, it is indeed the duty of a good priest, as of every other good catholic, to guide them right.”
“that is very true, sire,” said de frontenac, with an angry flush upon his swarthy cheek; “but as long as your majesty did me the honour to intrust those affairs no my own guidance, i would brook no interference in the performance of my duties, whether the meddler were clad in coat or cassock.”
“enough, sir, enough!” said louis sharply. “i had asked you about the missions.”
“they prosper, sire. there are iroquois at the sault and the mountain, hurons at lorette, and algonquins along the whole river cotes from tadousac in the east to sault la marie, and even the great plains of the dakotas, who have all taken the cross as their token. marquette has passed down the river of the west to preach among the illinois, and jesuits have carried the gospel to the warriors of the long house in their wigwams at onondaga.”
“i may add, your majesty,” said pere la chaise, “that in leaving the truth there, they have too often left their lives with it.”
“yes, sire, it is very true,” cried de frontenac cordially. “your majesty has many brave men within your domains, but none braver than these. they have come back up the richelieu river from the iroquois villages with their nails gone, their fingers torn out, a cinder where their eye should be, and the scars of the pine splinters as thick upon their bodies as the fleurs-delis on yonder curtain. yet, with a month of nursing from the good ursulines, they have used their remaining eye to guide them back to the indian country once more, where even the dogs have been frightened at their haggled faces and twisted limbs.”
“and you have suffered this?” cried louis hotly. “you allow these infamous assassins to live?”
“i have asked for troops, sire.”
“and i have sent some.”
“one regiment.”
“the carignan–saliere. i have no better in my service.
“but more is needed, sire.”
“there are the canadians themselves. have you not a militia? could you not raise force enough to punish these rascally murderers of god’s priests? i had always understood that you were a soldier.”
de frontenac’s eyes flashed, and a quick answer seemed for an instant to tremble upon his lips, but with an effort the fiery old man restrained himself. “your majesty will learn best whether i am a soldier or not,” said he, “by asking those who have seen me at seneffe, mulhausen, salzbach, and half a score of other places where i had the honour of upholding your majesty’s cause.”
“your services have not been forgotten.”
“it is just because i am a soldier and have seen something of war that i know how hard it is to penetrate into a country much larger than the lowlands, all thick with forest and bog, with a savage lurking behind every tree, who, if he has not learned to step in time or to form line, can at least bring down the running caribou at two hundred paces, and travel three leagues to your one. and then when you have at last reached their villages, and burned their empty wigwams and a few acres of maize fields, what the better are you then? you can but travel back again to your own land with a cloud of unseen men lurking behind you, and a scalp-yell for every straggler. you are a soldier yourself, sire. i ask you if such a war is an easy task for a handful of soldiers, with a few censitaires straight from the plough, and a troop of coureurs-debois whose hearts are all the time are with their traps and their beaver-skins.”
“no, no; i am sorry if i spoke too hastily,” said louis. “we shall look into the matter at our council.”
“then it warms my heart to hear you say so,” cried the old governor. “there will be joy down the long st. lawrence, in white hearts and in red, when it is known that their great father over the waters has turned his mind towards them.”
“and yet you must not look for too much, for canada has been a heavy cost to us, and we have many calls in europe.”
“ah, sire, i would that you could see that great land. when your majesty has won a campaign over here, what may come of it? glory, a few miles of land luxembourg, strassburg, one more city in the kingdom; but over there, with a tenth of the cost and a hundredth part of the force, there is a world ready to your hand. it is so vast, sire, so rich, so beautiful! where are there such hills, such forests, such rivers? and it is all for us if we will but take it. who is there to stand in our way? a few nations of scattered indians and a thin strip of english farmers and fishermen. turn your thoughts there, sire, and in a few years you would be able to stand upon your citadel at quebec, and to say there is one great empire here from the snows of the north to the warm southern gulf, and from the waves of the ocean to the great plains beyond marquette’s river, and the name of this empire is france, and her king is louis, and her flag is the fleurs-delis.”
louis’s cheek had flushed at this ambitious picture, and he had leaned forward in his chair, with flashing eyes, but he sank back again as the governor concluded.
“on my word, count,” said he, “you have caught something of this gift of indian eloquence of which we have heard. but about these english folk. they are huguenots, are they not?”
“for the most part. especially in the north.”
“then it might be a service to holy church to send them packing. they have a city there, i am told. new—new—how do they call it?”
“new york, sire. they took it from the dutch.”
“ah, new york. and have i not heard of another? bos—bos—”
“boston, sire.”
“that is the name. the harbours might be of service to us. tell me, now, frontenac,” lowering his voice so that his words might be audible only to the count, louvois, and the royal circle, “what force would you need to clear these people out? one regiment, two regiments, and perhaps a frigate or two?”
but the exgovernor shook his grizzled head. “you do not know them, sire,” said he. “they are stern folk, these. we in canada, with all your gracious help, have found it hard to hold our own. yet these men have had no help, but only hindrance, with cold and disease, and barren lands, and indian wars, but they have thriven and multiplied until the woods thin away in front of them like ice in the sun, and their church bells are heard where but yesterday the wolves were howling. they are peaceful folk, and slow to war, but when they have set their hands to it, though they may be slack to begin, they are slacker still to cease. to put new england into your majesty’s hands, i would ask fifteen thousand of your best troops and twenty ships of the line.”
louis sprang impatiently from his chair, and caught up his cane. “i wish,” said he, “that you would imitate these people who seem to you to be so formidable, in their excellent habit of doing things for themselves. the matter may stand until our council. reverend father, it has struck the hour of chapel, and all else may wait until we have paid out duties to heaven.” taking a missal from the hands of an attendant, he walked as fast as his very high heels would permit him, towards the door, the court forming a lane through which he might pass, and then closing up behind to follow him in order of precedence.
