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What an ado there was next day in Blois, when the news came that the troopers had installed themselves at the Chateau de Canaples and that the Chevalier had been arrested for treason by order of the Lord Cardinal, and that he would be taken to Paris, and probably the scaffold.
We seated ourselves on the grass by the edge of the gurgling waters, and he began: "It is now two months since we came to Blois: I, to pay my court to the wealthy Mademoiselle de Canaples; you, to watch over and protect me nay, you need not interrupt me. Michelot has told me what St. Auban sought here, and the true motives of your journey to St. Sulpice.
First went Montresor and two of his men; next came the Chevalier with Mademoiselle, and on either side of them a trooper; whilst I, in head-piece and back and breast of steel, went last with Mathurin, the sergeant who warmly praised the plan I had devised for the conveyance of M. de Canaples to Paris without further loss of time.
The coach came to a standstill, and through the window I beheld the shadowy forms of several mounted men, and the feeble glare of a lantern. "Who travels in the carriage, knave?" came the voice again. "Mademoiselle de Canaples," answered Michelot; then, like a fool, he must needs add: "Have a care whom you knave, my master, if you would grow old."
That satisfaction, however, endured not long; for presently I bethought me of how heavily the punishment would fall upon Yvonne and yet, of how she would be left to the mercy of St. Auban, whose warrant from Mazarin would invest with almost any and every power at Canaples.
Moreover, there is in steel a subtle magnetism which is the index of one's antagonist; and from the moment that our blades slithered one against the other I make no doubt but that Canaples grew aware of the confident, almost exultant mood in which I met him, and which told him that I was his master.
Doubt appeared in her eyes, and it may have entered her mind that perchance her judgment had been over-hasty. "Do you mean, sir, that you provoked a duel?" "Alas, Madame! It had become necessary. You see, M. de Canaples " "Who?" Her voice rang sharp as the crack of a pistol. "Eh? M. de Canaples." "Was it he whom you killed?"
Auban and I were of much the same build and stature, and so methought with confidence that he would have shrewd eyes, indeed, who could infer from my appearance that I was other than the same masked gentleman who had that very day ridden into Canaples at the head of a troop of his Eminence's guards. I made my way swiftly back along the path that St.
To please Andrea was, however, of chief importance in his plans, and to that motive I owe it that he pressed me to remain a guest at the chateau. I declined the honour with the best grace I could command, determined that whilst Andrea remained at Canaples I would lodge at the Lys de France in Blois, independent and free to come or go as my fancy bade me.
I burned to revile Canaples aloud, but Abdon's was not the ear into which I might pour the hot words that welled up to my lips. Yet if silent, the curses that I heaped upon the Chevalier's crassness were none the less fervent, and to myself I thought with grim relish of how soon and how dearly he would pay for the affront he had put upon me.
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