The Knight of Malta Part 3

Thanks to his experience, and his habit of comparing cause and effect, no one knew better than himself how to predict the beginning, the duration, and the end of the storms which prevailed on the coast.

He announced the calm and the tempest, the disastrous hurricanes of the _mistraon_, as the northwester was named in Provence, the gentle, fruitful rains of the _miegion_, or south wind, and the violent tornado of the _labechades_, or wind from the southwest; in fact, the form of the clouds, the soft or brilliant azure of the sky, the various colours of the sea, and all those vague, deep, and undefined noises which occasionally spring up in the midst of the silence of the elements were for him so many evident signs, from which he deduced the most infallible conclusions.

Never a captain of a merchantman, never a c.o.c.kswain of a bark, put to sea without having consulted Master Peyrou.

Men ordinarily surround with a sort of superst.i.tious reverence and halo those who live apart from the rest of the world.

Peyrou was no exception to the rule.

As his predictions about the weather were almost invariably realised, the inhabitants of La Ciotat and the environs soon persuaded themselves that a man who knew so much of the things in the sky could not be ignorant of the things on the earth.

Without pa.s.sing exactly as a sorcerer, the hermit of the cape of L'Aigle, consulted in so many important circ.u.mstances, became the depositary of many secrets.

A dishonest man would have cruelly abused this power, but Peyrou took advantage of it to encourage, sustain, and defend the good, and to accuse, confound, and intimidate the wicked.

A practical philosopher, he felt that his opinion, his predictions, and his threats would lose much if their authority was not supported by a certain cabalistic display; hence, although he did so with reluctance, he accompanied each opinion with a mysterious formula.

The excellent spy-gla.s.s was a marvellous aid to his power of divination.

Not only did he turn it to the horizon in order to discover the chebecs and piratical vessels of Barbary, but he directed it to the little town of La Ciotat,--on the houses, the fields, and the beach,--and thus surprised many secrets and mysteries, and by this means increased the reverence he inspired.

Peyrou, however, was altogether above the vulgar sorcerer by his entire disinterestedness. Had he some honest poverty to befriend, he ordered one of his wealthier clients to put a moderate offering in some secret spot which he indicated; the poor client, informed by Peyrou, went to the spot and found the mysterious alms.

Instigated by a blind zeal, the priests of the diocese of Ma.r.s.eilles wished to criminate the mysterious life of Peyrou, but the surrounding population immediately a.s.sumed such a menacing att.i.tude, and the town council bore such testimony to the excellence of the watchman's character, that he was permitted to live his solitary life in peace.

His only companion in this profound retreat was a female eagle which, two years before, had come to lay her eggs in one of the hollows of the inaccessible rocks which bordered the coast. The male bird had no doubt been killed, as the watchman never saw him.

Peyrou gave food to the young eagles; by degrees the mother grew accustomed to the sight of him, and the year after, she returned in perfect confidence to lay in the nest which Peyrou had prepared for her in a neighbouring rock.

Often the eagle perched on the branches of the tall pine which shaded the watchman's house, and sometimes walked with a heavy and awkward step on the little platform.

Upon that day, Brilliant, for so the watchman had named the n.o.ble bird, seduced him from his reverie. She tumbled down from the topmost branch of the pine, and with half-open wings ran up to her friend with the ungraceful, waddling gait of a bird, of prey. Her plumage, black and brown on the wings, was ash-coloured and spotted with white on the body and neck; her formidable talons, covered with thick and s.h.i.+ning scales, terminated in three claws and a sharp spur of smooth, black horn.

Brilliant looked up at the watchman, lifting high her flat, gray head, where glittered two bold round eyes, whose iris dilated in a transparent cornea, the colour of topaz.

Her beak, strong and bluish like burnished steel, disclosed, when it opened, a slender tongue of pale red.

To attract the watchman's attention, the eagle gently bit the end of his shoe, made of fawn leather.

Peyrou stooped and caressed Brilliant, who ruffled her feathers and uttered a discordant and broken cry.

But suddenly, hearing a step in the narrow foot-path which led to the cabin, the eagle lifted herself, uttered a long barking cry, stretched her powerful wings, hovered a moment over the colossal pine, and like an arrow shot into s.p.a.ce. Soon nothing could be seen but a black spot on the deep blue sky.

CHAPTER IV. STEPHANETTE.

A young girl with light complexion, black eyes, white teeth, and a bright and mischievous smile, appeared, and stopped a moment on the last step of the stair of rocks which led to the house of the watchman.

She wore the graceful and picturesque costume of the girls of Provence: a brown petticoat and red waist, with wide basques and tight sleeves.

Her little felt hat left visible the beautiful nape of her neck and long tresses of black hair rolled under a scarlet silk net.

Orphan and foster-sister to Mlle. Reine des Anbiez, Stephanette served her in the duties of a companion, and was treated more as a friend than a servant.

Stephanette's heart was good, true, and grateful, her conduct irreproachable. Her only fault was a mischievous village coquetry, which was the despair of the fishers and captains of small craft in the gulf of La Ciotat, nor will we except from the number of these interesting victims her betrothed, Captain Luquin Trinquetaille, captain of the polacre, _Holy Terror to the Moors, by the Grace of G.o.d_,--a long and significant appellation, inscribed at full length on the stern of Captain Trinque-taille's boat.

Gallantly armed with six swivel-guns, it was the business of the polacre to escort vessels from La Ciotat which, forced by their commerce to have free intercourse with the coasts of Italy, dreaded the attacks of pirates.

Stephanette shared the veneration that the watchman on the cape of l'Aigle inspired among the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. She trembled as she approached him with downcast eyes.

"May G.o.d keep you, my child!" said Peyrou, affectionately, for he loved her as he loved all who belonged to the family of his old captain, the Commander des Anbiez.

"May St. Magnus and St. Elzear aid you, Master Peyrou!" replied Stephanette, with her most beautiful curtsey.

"Thank you for your good wishes, Stephanette. How are monseigneur and Mlle. Reine, your young and beautiful mistress? Has she recovered from her fright of the other day?"

"Yes, Master Peyrou; mademoiselle is better, although she is still quite pale. But was ever such a miscreant seen? To dare kiss mademoiselle! and that, too, in the presence of monseigneur and her betrothed! But people say these Muscovites are barbarians. They are more savage and more of Antichrist than the Turks themselves, are they not, Master Peyrou? They will be d.a.m.ned twice in a doubly hot fire."

Without replying to Stephanette's theological argument, the watchman said to her: "Does not monseigneur resent this breach of good manners?"

"He! Why, Master Peyrou, as true as Rosseline is a saint in Paradise, the same day that monseigneur came so near falling into the chasm of Ollioules, he supped as merrily as if he had just returned from a patronal feast. Indeed, it is so,--and he drank two cups of Spanish wine to the health of the young miscreant! And would you believe it, Master Peyrou, he is never tired of boasting of the courage and agility of the Muscovite! Yes, he said: 'Manjour! instead of stealing the pin and kiss like a thief, why did he not ask for them,--my daughter Reine would have given him a kiss, and with a good heart too!' And ever since that day monseigneur is constantly saying, 'Really, these Muscovites are strange companions.' But for all that, M. Honorat de Berrol turns red with indignation whenever he hears this impudent fellow, who stole a kiss from his betrothed, mentioned. And another strange thing, Master Peyrou, is that monseigneur is not willing to get rid of that wicked little horse, Mistraon, that has been the cause of all the mischief; he rides it in preference to any other. Now say, Master Peyrou, don't you think that is tempting Providence?"

"Have these strangers departed from Ma.r.s.eilles?" asked the watchman, without replying to Stephanette.

"Yes, Master Peyrou, they say they have taken the route to Languedoc, after having made a visit to the Marshal of Vitry. They say, too, that this wicked duke is quite worthy of being acquainted with such rascals.

Ah, if monseigneur had his way, the marshal would not be governor of Provence very long. The baron cannot hear him mentioned without flying into a pa.s.sion,--such a pa.s.sion! you have no idea of it, Master Peyrou." "Yes, my child, I have seen the baron, at the time of the revolt of the Cascabeoux, act as his father did at the time of the revolt of the Razats, under Henry III., and again at the time of the rebellion of the Gascons against the Duke d'Epemon, under the last reign. Yes, yes; I know that Raimond V. hates his enemies as much as he loves his friends."

"You are right, Master Peyrou, and monseigneur's anger against the governor has increased since this recorder of the admiralty of Toulon, Master Isnard, who they say is so wicked, has been visiting the castles of the diocese by order of his Eminence, the cardinal. Monseigneur says these visits are an outrage upon the n.o.bility, and that the Marshal of Vitry is a scoundrel. Between us, I am of the same opinion, since he protects shameless Muscovites who have the insolence to kiss young girls when they are not expecting it."

"My opinion is, Stephanette, that you are very severe upon young men who kiss young girls," said the old man with mock gravity, "which proves that you are naturally ferocious,--but what do you want of me?"

"Master Peyrou," said the girl, with an air of embarra.s.sment, "I want to know if the weather promises a good pa.s.sage to Nice, and if one could leave this port with safety."

"You wish, then, to go to Nice, my child?"

"No, not I exactly, but a brave and honest sailor who--who--"

"Ah, I understand, I understand," said the watchman, interrupting Stephanette's stammering; "you mean young Bernard, patron of the tartan, the _Sacred Balm_."

"No, no, Master Peyrou, I a.s.sure you I do not mean him," said the girl, turning as red as a cherry.

"Come, come, you need not blush like that," and the watchman added, in a lower tone: "Was the beautiful bouquet of green thyme, that he tied three days ago to your window bar with rose coloured ribbon, to your taste?"

"A bouquet of green thyme! What bouquet are you talking about, Master Peyrou?"

The watchman held up a threatening finger to Stephanette and said: "What! last Thursday, at daybreak, did not the patron Bernard carry a bouquet to your window?"

"Wait,--let me see, Master Peyrou," said the young girl, with an air of recalling something to her memory; "was it then yesterday that, in opening my cas.e.m.e.nt, I found something like a bundle of dried herbs?"