A Maker of History Part 36

He broke off in the middle of his sentence. Simultaneously he abandoned his carefully chosen att.i.tude of studied languor. He was leaning forward in his chair watching a carriage which had just come into sight along the straight wide road which led from the outside world to the chateau.

"The devil!" he exclaimed. "My respected uncle! Jacques!"

A man-servant stepped out upon the terrace.

"Monsieur!"

"Remove the absinthe, Jacques. Monsieur le Duc arrives!"

Guy, who also had been watching the carriage, gave utterance to a little exclamation. He pointed to two figures on horseback who rode behind the carriage.

"The gendarmes!" he exclaimed. "They have come for me at last!"

His face was no longer ruddy. The pallor of fear had crept to his cheeks. A note of despair rang in his voice.

His companion only laughed.

"Gendarmes, perhaps," he answered, "but not for you, my young friend.

Have I not told you that you are in sanctuary here? A guest of the Duc de Bergillac evades all suspicion. Ah, I understand well those gendarmes. Let their presence cause you no anxiety, _cher monsieur_.

They are a guard of honor for my reverend uncle and the personage who rides with him."

Guy resumed his chair, and sat with his head buried in his hands in an att.i.tude of depression. His companion leaned over the stone bal.u.s.trade of the terrace and waved his hand to the occupants of the carriage below. They pulled up at the bottom of the steps and commenced slowly to ascend. In obedience to an imperious gesture from his uncle, Henri advanced to meet them. He greeted his uncle with graceful affection.

Before the other man, although his appearance was homely and his dress almost untidy, he bowed very low indeed, and accepted his proffered hand as a mark of favor.

The Duc de Bergillac was tall, sallow, with black moustache and imperial. He possessed all the personal essentials of the aristocrat, and he had the air of one accustomed to command.

"Henri," he said, "your young friend is with you?"

"But certainly," his nephew answered with a sigh. "Am I not always obedient? He has scarcely been out of my sight since we arrived."

"Very good! You saw us arrive just now. Did you mention the name of Monsieur Grisson?" the Duke asked.

"But certainly not!" Henri answered.

The Duke nodded.

"You have discretion," he said. "Monsieur Grisson is here incognito. He wishes to hear your young friend's story from his own lips."

The Duke's companion nodded silently. He had the air of a silent man. He was short, inclined to be stout, and his dress and bearing were almost bourgeois. His features were large and not particularly intelligent, his cheeks were puffy, and his gray beard ill-humored. He had the double neck of the Frenchman of the lower cla.s.s who has not denied himself the joys of the cuisine, and his appearance would have been hopelessly commonplace but for the deep-set brilliant black eyes which lit up his whole face and gave it an aspect of power.

"After _dejeuner_, you understand," he said. "It is well that your young friend should not understand that I came here for no other reason. I will see first your ma.n.u.scripts, Monsieur le Duc."

The Duke waved his hand courteously to Guy as the two men pa.s.sed along on their way to the library. Henri resumed his seat with a little shrug of the shoulders.

"My respected uncle will bring such strange people here to see his ma.n.u.scripts and collection of missals," he remarked. "For myself it is a hobby which wearies me. And you, _mon cher_ Guy?"

"I know nothing about them," he answered. "But the gendarmes, Henri? Why did they ride with your uncle's carriage?"

Henri smiled rea.s.suringly.

"The old gentleman," he said, "has something to do with the Government, and they were in attendance upon him. You can realize, my friend," he added, "that you are indeed in a republican country. Such people must have the _entree_ to our houses, even to our table. I presume that you will have the pleasure of taking luncheon with him even."

A man-servant came out upon the terrace.

"Monsieur le Duc desires me to say that luncheon is served," he announced.

Henri pa.s.sed his arm through his friend's.

"Come," he said, "let us go and see if we can amuse ourselves with my uncle's venerable friend. I do not suppose that he speaks English, but I will interpret for you."

CHAPTER II

AN OLD STORY

Guy moved uneasily upon his chair. The color mounted almost to his forehead. It was a humiliation this, upon which he had not counted.

Monsieur Grisson was sitting within a few feet of him. A serviette was tucked carefully underneath his collar, and his face was a little flushed with the exercise of eating. His eyes, however, were undimmed, and his manners, although a little brusque, had certainly not merited the epithet of bourgeois.

"It isn't much of a story," Guy began, making a desperate effort. "It was my first visit to Paris, and I lost my head a bit. I drank too much wine and quarrelled with a fellow who certainly insulted me. They all told me that I must fight him, so----"

"Stop, Monsieur Poynton!"

Guy raised his head in surprise. The exclamation had come from the Duc de Bergillac. Monsieur Grisson was looking towards him as though for an explanation.

"My dear young friend," the Duke remarked with a smile, "it is my stupidity which is to blame. I had forgotten the little matter to which you are alluding, and--between ourselves--it is one which is very much better not related to Monsieur Grisson. I was alluding to your other adventure--up in the Pozen forest."

Guy for a moment was too astonished for words. Then he recovered himself with a little laugh and raised his head. There was nothing terrible in the other affair.

"I will tell Monsieur Grisson about that with pleasure," he said, "if it is likely to interest him. I was in the North of Germany on a walking-tour, and I had rather a stupid fancy to go as far as the Russian frontier, and then return by Vienna to Paris. I was quite alone, and had no one's plans but my own to consult, so I started off from Steritz, I think the place was called. Well, we were within about forty miles of a place called Renzan when our train was stopped and shunted.

We were told that some specials were to go by. I should think we must have waited there for an hour or more. Anyhow I got sick of it, and pa.s.sed through the cars on to the rear platform, and down on to the line. I spoke to the guard, and I understood him to say that we should not be starting for at least half an hour. I strolled along the line a little way and stopped to light a pipe. Suddenly I heard a whistle, and when I turned round the rear light of the train was moving away. I shouted and ran as hard as I could, but it was no use. In less than two minutes the train was out of my sight, and I was left alone."

The Duke pushed a small atlas across the table.

"I wonder," he said, "if you could put your finger on about the spot where you were? Here, you see, is the railway line."

Guy studied it for a few moments carefully, and looked at the scale.

Then he pointed to a certain spot.

"As near as I could say," he declared, "about there."

The Duke and Monsieur Grisson exchanged quick glances. Guy was beginning to feel a little mystified.

"Proceed, if you please," the Duke said courteously. "I am sure that Monsieur Grisson finds your story most interesting. Permit me."

Guy sipped the _fin champagne_ from the gla.s.s which the Duke had carefully filled, and took a cigarette from the box at his elbow.