Catherine De Medici

III

MARIE TOUCHET

The little house of Madame de Belleville, where Charles IX. had deposited his prisoners, was the last but one in the rue de l’Autruche on the side of the rue Saint-Honore.  The street gate, flanked by two little brick pavilions, seemed very simple in those days, when gates and their accessories were so elaborately treated.  It had two pilasters of stone cut in facets, and the coping represented a reclining woman holding a cornucopia.  The gate itself, closed by enormous locks, had a wicket through which to examine those who asked admittance.  In each pavilion lived a porter; for the king’s extremely capricious pleasure required a porter by day and by night.  The house had a little courtyard, paved like those of Venice.  At this period, before carriages were invented, ladies went about on horseback, or in litters, so that courtyards could be made magnificent without fear of injury from horses or carriages.  This fact is always to be remembered as an explanation of the narrowness of streets, the small size of courtyards, and certain other details of the private dwellings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The house, of one story only above the ground-floor, was capped by a sculptured frieze, above which rose a roof with four sides, the peak being flattened to form a platform.  Dormer windows were cut in this roof, with casings and pediments which the chisel of some great artist had covered with arabesques and dentils; each of the three windows on the main floor were equally beautiful in stone embroidery, which the brick of the walls showed off to great advantage.  On the ground-floor, a double portico, very delicately decorated, led to the entrance door, which was covered with bosses cut with facets in the Venetian manner, —­a style of decoration which was further carried on round the windows placed to right and left of the door.

A garden, carefully laid out in the fashion of the times and filled with choice flowers, occupied a space behind the house equal to that of the courtyard in front.  A grape-vine draped its walls.  In the centre of a grass plot rose a silver fir-tree.  The flower-borders were separated from the grass by meandering paths which led to an arbor of clipped yews at the farther end of the little garden.  The walls were covered with a mosaic of variously colored pebbles, coarse in design, it is true, but pleasing to the eye from the harmony of its tints with those of the flower-beds.  The house had a carved balcony on the garden side, above the door, and also on the front toward the courtyard, and around the middle windows.  On both sides of the house the ornamentation of the principal window, which projected some feet from the wall, rose to the frieze; so that it formed a little pavilion, hung there like a lantern.  The casings of the other windows were inlaid on the stone with precious marbles.

In spite of the exquisite taste displayed in the little house, there was an air of melancholy about it.  It was darkened by the buildings that surrounded it and by the roofs of the hotel d’Alencon which threw a heavy shadow over both court and garden; moreover, a deep silence reigned there.  But this silence, these half-lights, this solitude, soothed a royal soul, which could there surrender itself to a single emotion, as in a cloister where men pray, or in some sheltered home wherein they love.

It is easy now to imagine the interior charm and choiceness of this haven, the sole spot in his kingdom where this dying Valois could pour out his soul, reveal his sufferings, exercise his taste for art, and give himself up to the poesy he loved,—­pleasures denied him by the cares of a cruel royalty.  Here, alone, were his great soul and his high intrinsic worth appreciated; here he could give himself up, for a few brief months, the last of his life, to the joys of fatherhood, —­pleasures into which he flung himself with the frenzy that a sense of his coming and dreadful death impressed on all his actions.

In the afternoon of the day succeeding the night-scene we have just described, Marie Touchet was finishing her toilet in the oratory, which was the boudoir of those days.  She was arranging the long curls of her beautiful black hair, blending them with the velvet of a new coif, and gazing intently into her mirror.

“It is nearly four o’clock; that interminable council must surely be over,” she thought to herself.  “Jacob has returned from the Louvre; he says that everybody he saw was excited about the number of the councillors summoned and the length of the session.  What can have happened?  Is it some misfortune?  Good God! surely he knows how suspense wears out the soul!  Perhaps he has gone a-hunting?  If he is happy and amused, it is all right.  When I see him gay, I forget all I have suffered.”

She drew her hands round her slender waist as if to smooth some trifling wrinkle in her gown, turning sideways to see if its folds fell properly, and as she did so, she caught sight of the king on the couch behind her.  The carpet had so muffled the sound of his steps that he had slipped in softly without being heard.

“You frightened me!” she said, with a cry of surprise, which was quickly repressed.

“Were you thinking of me?” said the king.

“When do I not think of you?” she answered, sitting down beside him.

She took off his cap and cloak, passing her hands through his hair as though she combed it with her fingers.  Charles let her do as she pleased, but made no answer.  Surprised at this, Marie knelt down to study the pale face of her royal master, and then saw the signs of a dreadful weariness and a more consummate melancholy than any she had yet consoled.  She repressed her tears and kept silence, that she might not irritate by mistaken words the sorrow which, as yet, she did not understand.  In this she did as tender women do under like circumstances.  She kissed that forehead, seamed with untimely wrinkles, and those livid cheeks, trying to convey to the worn-out soul the freshness of hers,—­pouring her spirit into the sweet caresses which met with no response.  Presently she raised her head to the level of the king’s, clasping him softly in her arms; then she lay still, her face hidden on that suffering breast, watching for the opportune moment to question his dejected mind.

“My Charlot,” she said at last, “will you not tell your poor, distressed Marie the troubles that cloud that precious brow, and whiten those beautiful red lips?”

“Except Charlemagne,” he said in a hollow voice, “all the kings of France named Charles have ended miserably.”

“Pooh!” she said, “look at Charles VIII.”

“That poor prince!” exclaimed the king.  “In the flower of his age he struck his head against a low door at the chateau of Amboise, which he was having decorated, and died in horrible agony.  It was his death which gave the crown to our family.”

“Charles VII. reconquered his kingdom.”

“Darling, he died” (the king lowered his voice) “of hunger; for he feared being poisoned by the dauphin, who had already caused the death of his beautiful Agnes.  The father feared his son; to-day the son dreads his mother!”

“Why drag up the past?” she said hastily, remembering the dreadful life of Charles VI.

“Ah! sweetest, kings have no need to go to sorcerers to discover their coming fate; they need only turn to history.  I am at this moment endeavoring to escape the fate of Charles the Simple, who was robbed of his crown, and died in prison after seven years’ captivity.”

“Charles V. conquered the English,” she cried triumphantly.

“No, not he, but du Guesclin.  He himself, poisoned by Charles de Navarre, dragged out a wretched existence.”

“Well, Charles IV., then?”

“He married three times to obtain an heir, in spite of the masculine beauty of the children of Philippe le Bel.  The first house of Valois ended with him, and the second is about to end in the same way.  The queen has given me only a daughter, and I shall die without leaving her pregnant; for a long minority would be the greatest curse I could bequeath to the kingdom.  Besides, if I had a son, would he live?  The name of Charles is fatal; Charlemagne exhausted the luck of it.  If I left a son I would tremble at the thought that he would be Charles X.”

“Who is it that wants to seize your crown?”

“My brother d’Alencon conspires against it.  Enemies are all about me.”

“Monsieur,” said Marie, with a charming little pout, “do tell me something gayer.”

“Ah! my little jewel, my treasure, don’t call me ‘monsieur,’ even in jest; you remind me of my mother, who stabs me incessantly with that title, by which she seems to snatch away my crown.  She says ‘my son’ to the Duc d’Anjou—­I mean the king of Poland.”

“Sire,” exclaimed Marie, clasping her hands as though she were praying, “there is a kingdom where you are worshipped.  Your Majesty fills it with his glory, his power; and there the word ‘monsieur,’ means ‘my beloved lord.’”

She unclasped her hands, and with a pretty gesture pointed to her heart.  The words were so musiques (to use a word of the times which depicted the melodies of love) that Charles IX. caught her round the waist with the nervous force that characterized him, and seated her on his knee, rubbing his forehead gently against the pretty curls so coquettishly arranged.  Marie thought the moment favorable; she ventured a few kisses, which Charles allowed rather than accepted, then she said softly:—­

“If my servants were not mistaken you were out all night in the streets, as in the days when you played the pranks of a younger son.”

“Yes,” replied the king, still lost in his own thoughts.

“Did you fight the watchman and frighten some of the burghers?  Who are the men you brought here and locked up?  They must be very criminal, as you won’t allow any communication with them.  No girl was ever locked in as carefully, and they have not had a mouthful to eat since they came.  The Germans whom Solern left to guard them won’t let any one go near the room.  Is it a joke you are playing; or is it something serious?”

“Yes, you are right,” said the king, coming out of his reverie, “last night I did scour the roofs with Tavannes and the Gondis.  I wanted to try my old follies with the old companions; but my legs were not what they once were; I did not dare leap the streets; though we did jump two alleys from one roof to the next.  At the second, however, Tavannes and I, holding on to a chimney, agreed that we couldn’t do it again.  If either of us had been alone we couldn’t have done it then.”

“I’ll wager that you sprang first.”  The king smiled.  “I know why you risk your life in that way.”

“And why, you little witch?”

“You are tired of life.”

“Ah, sorceress!  But I am being hunted down by sorcery,” said the king, resuming his anxious look.

“My sorcery is love,” she replied, smiling.  “Since the happy day when you first loved me, have I not always divined your thoughts?  And—­if you will let me speak the truth—­the thoughts which torture you to-day are not worthy of a king.”

“Am I a king?” he said bitterly.

“Cannot you be one?  What did Charles VII. do?  He listened to his mistress, monseigneur, and he reconquered his kingdom, invaded by the English as yours is now by the enemies of our religion.  Your last coup d’Etat showed you the course you have to follow.  Exterminate heresy.”

“You blamed the Saint-Bartholomew,” said Charles, “and now you—­”

“That is over,” she said; “besides, I agree with Madame Catherine that it was better to do it yourselves than let the Guises do it.”

“Charles VII. had only men to fight; I am face to face with ideas,” resumed the king.  “We can kill men, but we can’t kill words!  The Emperor Charles V. gave up the attempt; his son Philip has spent his strength upon it; we shall all perish, we kings, in that struggle.  On whom can I rely?  To right, among the Catholics, I find the Guises, who are my enemies; to left, the Calvinists, who will never forgive me the death of my poor old Coligny, nor that bloody day in August; besides, they want to suppress the throne; and in front of me what have I?—­my mother!”

“Arrest her; reign alone,” said Marie in a low voice, whispering in his ear.

“I meant to do so yesterday; to-day I no longer intend it.  You speak of it rather coolly.”

“Between the daughter of an apothecary and that of a doctor there is no great difference,” replied Touchet, always ready to laugh at the false origin attributed to her.

The king frowned.

“Marie, don’t take such liberties.  Catherine de’ Medici is my mother, and you ought to tremble lest—­”

“What is it you fear?”

“Poison!” cried the king, beside himself.

“Poor child!” cried Marie, restraining her tears; for the sight of such strength united to such weakness touched her deeply.  “Ah!” she continued, “you make me hate Madame Catherine, who has been so good to me; her kindness now seems perfidy.  Why is she so kind to me, and bad to you?  During my stay in Dauphine I heard many things about the beginning of your reign which you concealed from me; it seems to me that the queen, your mother, is the real cause of all your troubles.”

“In what way?” cried the king, deeply interested.

“Women whose souls and whose intentions are pure use virtue wherewith to rule the men they love; but women who do not seek good rule men through their evil instincts.  Now, the queen made vices out of certain of your noblest qualities, and she taught you to believe that your worst inclinations were virtues.  Was that the part of a mother?  Be a tyrant like Louis XI.; inspire terror; imitate Philip II.; banish the Italians; drive out the Guises; confiscate the lands of the Calvinists.  Out of this solitude you will rise a king; you will save the throne.  The moment is propitious; your brother is in Poland.”

“We are two children at statecraft,” said Charles, bitterly; “we know nothing except how to love.  Alas! my treasure, yesterday I, too, thought all these things; I dreamed of accomplishing great deeds—­bah! my mother blew down my house of cards!  From a distance we see great questions outlined like the summits of mountains, and it is easy to say:  ’I’ll make an end of Calvinism; I’ll bring those Guises to task; I’ll separate from the Court of Rome; I’ll rely upon my people, upon the burghers—­’ ah! yes, from afar it all seems simple enough! but try to climb those mountains and the higher you go the more the difficulties appear.  Calvinism, in itself, is the last thing the leaders of that party care for; and the Guises, those rabid Catholics, would be sorry indeed to see the Calvinists put down.  Each side considers its own interests exclusively, and religious opinions are but a cloak for insatiable ambition.  The party of Charles IX. is the feeblest of all.  That of the king of Navarre, that of the king of Poland, that of the Duc d’Alencon, that of the Condes, that of the Guises, that of my mother, are all intriguing one against another, but they take no account of me, not even in my own council.  My mother, in the midst of so many contending elements, is, nevertheless, the strongest among them; she has just proved to me the inanity of my plans.  We are surrounded by rebellious subjects who defy the law.  The axe of Louis XI. of which you speak, is lacking to us.  Parliament would not condemn the Guises, nor the king of Navarre, nor the Condes, nor my brother.  No! the courage to assassinate is needed; the throne will be forced to strike down those insolent men who suppress both law and justice; but where can we find the faithful arm?  The council I held this morning has disgusted me with everything; treason everywhere; contending interests all about me.  I am tired with the burden of my crown.  I only want to die in peace.”

He dropped into a sort of gloomy somnolence.

“Disgusted with everything!” repeated Marie Touchet, sadly; but she did not disturb the black torpor of her lover.

Charles was the victim of a complete prostration of mind and body, produced by three things,—­the exhaustion of all his faculties, aggravated by the disheartenment of realizing the extent of an evil; the recognized impossibility of surmounting his weakness; and the aspect of difficulties so great that genius itself would dread them.  The king’s depression was in proportion to the courage and the loftiness of ideas to which he had risen during the last few months.  In addition to this, an attack of nervous melancholy, caused by his malady, had seized him as he left the protracted council which had taken place in his private cabinet.  Marie saw that he was in one of those crises when the least word, even of love, would be importunate and painful; so she remained kneeling quietly beside him, her head on his knee, the king’s hand buried in her hair, and he himself motionless, without a word, without a sigh, as still as Marie herself, —­Charles IX. in the lethargy of impotence, Marie in the stupor of despair which comes to a loving woman when she perceives the boundaries at which love ends.

The lovers thus remained, in the deepest silence, during one of those terrible hours when all reflection wounds, when the clouds of an inward tempest veil even the memory of happiness.  Marie believed that she herself was partly the cause of this frightful dejection.  She asked herself, not without horror, if the excessive joys and the violent love which she had never yet found strength to resist, did not contribute to weaken the mind and body of the king.  As she raised her eyes, bathed in tears, toward her lover, she saw the slow tears rolling down his pallid cheeks.  This mark of the sympathy that united them so moved the king that he rushed from his depression like a spurred horse.  He took Marie in his arms and placed her on the sofa.

“I will no longer be a king,” he cried.  “I will be your lover, your lover only, wholly given up to that happiness.  I will die happy, and not consumed by the cares and miseries of a throne.”

The tone of these words, the fire that shone in the half-extinct eyes of the king, gave Marie a terrible shock instead of happiness; she blamed her love as an accomplice in the malady of which the king was dying.

“Meanwhile you forget your prisoners,” she said, rising abruptly.

“Hey! what care I for them?  I give them leave to kill me.”

“What! are they murderers?”

“Oh, don’t be frightened, little one; we hold them fast.  Don’t think of them, but of me.  Do you love me?”

“Sire!” she cried.

“Sire!” he repeated, sparks darting from his eyes, so violent was the rush of his anger at the untimely respect of his mistress.  “You are in league with my mother.”

“O God!” cried Marie, looking at the picture above her prie-dieu and turning toward it to say her prayer, “grant that he comprehend me!”

“Ah!” said the king suspiciously, “you have some wrong to me upon your conscience!” Then looking at her from between his arms, he plunged his eyes into hers.  “I have heard some talk of the mad passion of a certain Entragues,” he went on wildly.  “Ever since their grandfather, the soldier Balzac, married a viscontessa at Milan that family hold their heads too high.”

Marie looked at the king with so proud an air that he was ashamed.  At that instant the cries of little Charles de Valois, who had just awakened, were heard in the next room.  Marie ran to the door.

“Come in, Bourguignonne!” she said, taking the child from its nurse and carrying it to the king.  “You are more of a child than he,” she cried, half angry, half appeased.

“He is beautiful!” said Charles IX., taking his son in his arms.

“I alone know how like he is to you,” said Marie; “already he has your smile and your gestures.”

“So tiny as that!” said the king, laughing at her.

“Oh, I know men don’t believe such things; but watch him, my Charlot, play with him.  Look there!  See!  Am I not right?”

“True!” exclaimed the king, astonished by a motion of the child which seemed the very miniature of a gesture of his own.

“Ah, the pretty flower!” cried the mother.  “Never shall he leave us! He will never cause me grief.”

The king frolicked with his son; he tossed him in his arms, and kissed him passionately, talking the foolish, unmeaning talk, the pretty, baby language invented by nurses and mothers.  His voice grew child-like.  At last his forehead cleared, joy returned to his saddened face, and then, as Marie saw that he had forgotten his troubles, she laid her head upon his shoulder and whispered in his ear:—­

“Won’t you tell me, Charlot, why you have made me keep murderers in my house?  Who are these men, and what do you mean to do with them?  In short, I want to know what you were doing on the roofs.  I hope there was no woman in the business?”

“Then you love me as much as ever!” cried the king, meeting the clear, interrogatory glance that women know so well how to cast upon occasion.

“You doubted me,” she replied, as a tear shone on her beautiful eyelashes.

“There are women in my adventure,” said the king; “but they are sorceresses.  How far had I told you?”

“You were on the roofs near by—­what street was it?”

“Rue Saint-Honore, sweetest,” said the king, who seemed to have recovered himself.  Collecting this thoughts, he began to explain to his mistress what had happened, as if to prepare her for a scene that was presently to take place in her presence.

“As I was passing through the street last night on a frolic,” he said, “I chanced to see a bright light from the dormer window of the house occupied by Rene, my mother’s glover and perfumer, and once yours.  I have strong doubts about that man and what goes on in his house.  If I am poisoned, the drug will come from there.”

“I shall dismiss him to-morrow.”

“Ah! so you kept him after I had given him up?” cried the king.  “I thought my life was safe with you,” he added gloomily; “but no doubt death is following me even here.”

“But, my dearest, I have only just returned from Dauphine with our dauphin,” she said, smiling, “and Rene has supplied me with nothing since the death of the Queen of Navarre.  Go on; you climbed to the roof of Rene’s house?”