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Updated: June 5, 2025
He led me away to a quiet, secluded place by the riverside, out of sight of the chateau, that we might talk the matter over in safety. And first he asked me what I knew of the disposition and habits of the Count de Lavardin. I told him as much as the innkeeper had told me. "Hum!" said he, reflectively; "it agrees with what I have heard. I have been pumping people a little, in a harmless way.
It was panelled in oak and hung with arms, boars' heads, and other trophies. At the upper end of a long table, the one leaning forward from a chair at the head, the other from the bench at the side, lounged two men, whom I recognized instantly from the descriptions of the innkeeper as if from painted portraits. They were the Count de Lavardin and Captain Ferragant.
Lavardin and Givry came to the rescue, but a panic seized their followers as the rumour flew that the king was mortally wounded was already dead so that they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back the Leaguers. Givry's horse was soon killed under him, and his own thigh crushed; Lavardin was himself dangerously wounded.
After a moment, the Countess again turned to me, still perplexed, agitated, unpersuaded. "Madame," said I, "when one considers how soon the Count de Lavardin must surely suffer for crimes of which you know nothing, your death at his hands seems the more grievous a fate. Do you know that he is a traitor? that his treason will soon be known to the King's ministers?
The necessary ceremonies having been observed, the King at length took his place upon the Bed of Justice, having the Queen upon his right hand; while below their Majesties were seated the Prince de Conti, the Comte d'Enghien, who represented his father, M. de Soissons, the Duc de Guise, the Duc de Montmorency, the Duc d'Epernon, the Duc de Sully, all peers of France, and the Maréchaux de Brissac, de Lavardin, and de Bois-Dauphin; while the other dignitaries of the State and Church were arranged upon either hand of the young monarch, and the body of the hall was occupied by the members of the several Courts.
And yet somehow I should have to get into the chateau, and obtain private speech with the Countess, for it must be she who had summoned Monsieur de Merri. "In that case," said I, "they must have no visitors at all. But I recall meeting a young gentleman the other day, who was acquainted with some great family near Montoire, and, from certain things, I think it must be this very Lavardin family.
He then flung the dead creature to a corner of the yard, and looked at me with a smile half vaunting, half amused, as if to say, "That is how I can treat those who thwart my will," and to ridicule my wonder at his fury and strength. I turned with a look of pity toward the victim of his anger. At that moment the Count de Lavardin entered the court-yard, and his glance followed mine.
Lavardin and Givry came to the rescue, but a panic seized their followers as the rumour flew that the king was mortally wounded was already dead so that they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back the Leaguers. Givry's horse was soon killed under him, and his own thigh crushed; Lavardin was himself dangerously wounded.
I saw that my horse had been properly cared for in my absence, and was glad to be on its back again, the more because I should thus leave no further scent for bloodhounds to follow. I rode out of the archway and turned my horse toward the road for Les Roches and Paris. As I crossed the square, I could not help glancing over my right shoulder toward the Lavardin road.
Lavardin and Givry came to the rescue, but a panic seized their followers as the rumour flew that the king was mortally wounded was already dead so that they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back the Leaguers. Givry's horse was soon killed under him, and his own thigh crushed; Lavardin was himself dangerously wounded.
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