Paul Meurice

“ Gabriel, amid all the clashing and clanging, never stirred from his place, nor did he once lay his hand upon his sword; he simply stood gazing at the mad blows which were raining about him, as if he had been the image of France among her foes.
The Protestants, inferior in numbers and in discipline, began to falter.
La Renaudie in the tumult found himself face to face with Pardaillan once more.
"Engage with me!" he cried; "let me at least die by your hand."
"Ah!" said Pardaillan, "the one of us two who slays the other will be the more generous."
They crossed swords with much vigor. ”

“ There was a long pause when Gabriel had finished his gloomy story. Then Diane tried to speak, but could not, for her tongue refused to perform its office. Gabriel seemed to feel a dreadful species of pleasure as he observed her anguish and her terror. At last, she succeeded in ejaculating,—
"Mercy for the king!"
"Ah!" cried Gabriel, "do you ask for mercy for him? Then you, too, must judge him guilty! Mercy? Ah, your very appeal is a condemnation! Mercy? He deserves death, does he not?" ”

“ Tell me, Prince," said he to Monsieur de Condé, "are not you moved by it?"
"Oh, ho!" sneered the cardinal; "the prince is a soldier, accustomed to see death in all forms."
"Yes, on the battle-field," replied the prince, courageously; "but upon the scaffold, and in cold blood,—that's quite another matter!"
"Has a prince of the blood so much pity for rebels, pray?" It was again the sneering voice of Charles de Lorraine which asked the question.
"I have unlimited pity and sympathy," retorted the prince, "for gallant officers who have always worthily served their king and country." ”

“ Not a word?"
"Not one single word, Madame," said Gabriel, shaking his head.
"And quite right, too!" cried Mary Stuart, as if carried away by an irresistible impulse. "Noble and grand this silence is! It is the course of a gentleman who does not even choose to repel suspicion for fear that suspicion may fall upon him. I say, for my part, that this very refusal to speak is the most eloquent and convincing of justifications!"
During this outburst the old queen was gazing at the younger one with a stern and angry expression. ”

“ Instead of avoiding a familiar face whenever he saw it approaching, as he had been in the habit of doing, Gabriel accosted the baron.
The two men seemed made to appreciate each other; they were much alike in more than one respect,—notably in steadfastness and energy of character. Both were born for action, and were passionately devoted to every just cause.
After exchanging salutations, La Renaudie said confidently,—
"Well, I have seen Master Ambroise Paré. You are one of us, are you not?"
"In heart, yes; but in appearance, no," Gabriel replied. ”

“ You can see that Monsieur le Connétable is protected by something stronger than glory or renown,—by some person more powerful than the king himself! You can see that my services can never equal those of Madame Diane de Poitiers, whom may the lightning wither!"
"Oh, that God might listen to you!" muttered Gabriel.
"What has that woman done to the king, in Heaven's name?" continued the duke. "Are the people really in the right when they speak of philters and charms? For my part, I believe that they are bound together by some stronger tie than love. ”

“ So she anticipated the king, who would probably have gone on to confirm his confidential impulse by some formal promise, and was the first to speak.
"In any event, Sire, before you have a minister, your mother has, not a favor to ask at your hands, but a demand to make."
"Say, then, a command, Madame," replied François. "Speak, I beg you."
"Well, then, my son," Catherine continued, "I refer to a woman who has done me much harm, but has injured France even more. It is not for us to censure the failings of one who is more than ever sacred in our eyes now. ”

“ I have nothing so much at heart as to withdraw to my place of exile, Monsieur, at the earliest possible moment, never fear!"
"Everything turns out for the best, then," replied the Duc de Guise, carelessly playing with the knots of his velvet cloak. "But, Madame," he added more gravely, and imparting to his words the significant accent of an order, "your Château d'Anet, which you owe to the benevolence of the late king, is something too worldly, too exposed, and too frivolous a retreat for a desolate recluse like yourself. ”

“ Confront me with your other prisoner, and when we stand beside one another dare to choose between us,—dare to distinguish Arnauld du Thill from Martin-Guerre, the culprit from the innocent! As if there had not already been confusion enough in this cause, you must needs add to it. Your conscience will prevent your coming to any such conclusion. I will persist to the end, and in spite of everything, in crying, 'I am Martin-Guerre!' and I defy the whole world to give me the lie or to produce facts to contradict me. ”

“ While Lignières was on his way to the rostrum the baron whispered to Gabriel,—
"That is a dangerous instrument to make use of Lignières is a fanatic,—whether in good or bad faith I know not,—who urges everything to extremes, and is always more repellent than attractive. But no matter! We must know at any price what we have to rely upon, must we not?"
"Yes," said Gabriel, "so that all these closed hearts may open to emit the truth."
"Lignières and his doctrines hot from Geneva will wake them up, never fear," rejoined La Renaudie. ”

“ You dread my vengeance for the culprit; and since you appreciate the justice of it, you are keeping me here to warn him of possible reprisals on my part, which, though they might terrify and afflict you, would not astonish you,—which would, on the other hand, seem quite natural to you. Am I not right?"
Diane was startled, so truly had the blow struck home. Nevertheless, collecting all her force, she said,—
"Oh, Gabriel, how can you believe that I could conceive such thoughts of you? You, my own Gabriel, a murderer! you deal a blow from behind at one who could not defend himself! ”

“ That would be a crime! —a crime to which I, having been converted since yesterday, do not propose to be accessory. You are not the sister of Monsieur le Comte, but are really the daughter of King Henri II., whom Monsieur le Comte so unfortunately slew in that fatal tournament."
"Oh, horror!" cried Sister Bénie, hiding her face in her hands.
"You lie, Madame!" said Gabriel, vehemently. "It must be that you lie! Where is your proof that you speak the truth?" ”

“ I shall set out in an hour for Blois, to warn Messieurs de Guise. The cardinal will be somewhat alarmed at first, but Le Balafré is with him to encourage him; and when he comes to think it over, he will be in an ecstasy of delight. It is for those two to assemble in a fortnight around the king, without disturbance, all the forces they have available. Meanwhile, our Huguenots will have nothing to startle them; they will fall in a body, or one by one, into the trap we have laid, the blind fools, and they will be at our mercy. ”

“ Le Balafré, in great agitation, led the queen-mother into the embrasure of a window, and said in an undertone, with clinched teeth,—
"Madame, hearken to me! You wish that your son should die, and the Prince de Condé should live! You are in accord with the Bourbons and the Montmorencys! The bargain is made, and the spoils divided in advance! I know everything! Take care! I know everything, I tell you!"
But Catherine de Médicis was not one of those who are easily intimidated; and the Duc de Guise made a serious mistake. ”

“ Without judge or crime or proof! There's no great merit in hanging only those who are really guilty."
"But what an outcry of rage there will be against us then!" said Monsieur de Braguelonne.
"Ah! that is what I expected you would say," rejoined Démocharès, triumphantly. "That is the very corner-stone of my whole system, Monsieur. For what does this rage of which you speak lead to? Conspiracy. What is the outcome of conspiracy? Revolution. And what is the principal result of revolution? Why, to make your office and mine of very great importance and utility." ”

“ But there is a skilful man, learned and famous,—a man who preserved my uncle's life at Calais—"
"Master Ambroise Paré?" suggested the cardinal.
"Master Ambroise Paré!" Mary repeated. "They say that this man ought not to have the king's life in his hands, and would himself prefer not to; that he is a heretic and accursed; and that even if he would accept the responsibility of such a case, it ought not to be intrusted to him."
"That is very certain," said the queen-mother, scornfully.
"What! if I intrust it to him myself?" cried Mary. "Can a man of genius be a traitor! ”

“ The door of the cell opened, and Arnauld, entirely bewildered and somewhat alarmed, saw the president of the tribunal and two of the judges, standing grave and motionless on the threshold.
"What does this mean?" asked Arnauld, turning toward Gabriel.
"It means," replied Monsieur de Montgommery, "that I suspected my poor Martin-Guerre's timidity, and wished that his judges, without his knowledge, should hear the unanswerable speech they have just heard."
"Wonderfully well done!" rejoined Arnauld, breathing freely once more. "I am a thousand times obliged to you, Monseigneur." ”

“ At last, as eight o'clock struck, the king moved, then opened his eyes, and called, "Mary! are you there, Mary?"
"Always at your side," replied the queen.
Charles de Lorraine rushed forward with the paper in his hand. Perhaps there was time even yet; a scaffold is soon erected.
But at that instant Catherine de Médicis re-entered the royal apartments by the door leading to her own.
"Too late!" muttered the cardinal. "Ah, fortune turns her back upon us! Now, if Ambroise does not save the king's life, we are lost indeed!" ”

“ At your service, Sire, at yours, Madame and Monseigneur, so long as you live, I place the existence of which you have made me a gift, so to speak. I was not born a villain, and your kindness touches me deeply. I was born to be devoted to somebody, to sacrifice myself, and to serve as the instrument of noble ideas and great men,—sometimes a happy, but at others a fatal instrument, alas! as God, in His wrath, knows only too well! ”

“ If we had been forced to raise the siege of Calais, if the English still had the gateways of France in their hands,—in short, if defeat at all points had demonstrated the insufficiency or incompetency of our forces, and the impossibility of continuing an unequal conflict, we could not have been asked to sign a more unfavorable and dishonorable treaty than that of Cateau-Cambrésis."
"That is true, Monseigneur," Gabriel remarked; "and every one grieves to think that such a magnificent harvest yielded so little fruit." ”

“ It cannot be passion alone which thus indissolubly connects them; it must be fellowship in crime. I would swear that remorse has a place among their souvenirs of the past, and that they are more than lovers,—they are accomplices!"
The Comte de Montgommery shivered from head to foot.
"Do you not agree with me, Gabriel?" Le Balafré asked him.
"I do, indeed, Monseigneur," replied Gabriel, in a hollow voice. ”

“ I dare not say opportunities to die, for fear that I may seem ungrateful."
"Do not talk so, Gabriel," replied Le Balafré. "Just say that when the king shall call upon you for assistance against his foes, you will respond to the summons without delay."
"I will, Monseigneur, wherever I am, or may be required to go."
"It is well," said the Duc de Guise; "I ask no more than that of you."
"For my part," said François II., "I thank you for your promise, and you may rely upon me to see that you do not repent having redeemed it." ”

“ Otherwise, great God! would I not have told you everything?"
"Very true," said Henri, stopping once more; "but what did you mean to say, then, Diane?"
"I meant to say simply that I thought it would be well for your Majesty to avoid as far as possible these vexatious encounters where an offended subject is enabled to show his forgetfulness of the respect due to his king. But a regicide's failure to show respect is a very different matter. Sire, would it be worthy of you to try to remedy one unjust act by another equally iniquitous?" ”

“ Gabriel, however, remained motionless between the red and the white, the Royalists and the rebels. He scarcely even drew his horse aside, but sustained the fire of both parties.
At the first volley the plume of his helmet was cut through by a ball, and his horse killed under him.
He extricated his feet from the stirrups and stood in the same spot without a tremor, and like one dreaming in the midst of that terrible affray.
The supply of powder was soon exhausted; and the two little bands rushed forward, and continued the combat with their swords. ”

“ Not long since he had risked his life a hundred times to save or to avenge, it might be his father or his beloved Diane,—oh, memories forever bleeding in that wounded heart!—and now, in default of those cherished beings, he would have been glad to struggle in defence of sacred ideas,—
His country in his father's place; his religion in place of his love.
Alas, alas! it is in vain to talk, for it is not the same thing; and enthusiasm for abstract principles can never equal, either in its suffering or its delight, the enthusiasm of fondness for our fellow-creatures. ”