Madame Serpent (17 page)

Madalenna was not sure what it was about her mistress that so frightened

her. It might have been because of what lay beneath her smiles and fine

manners, her humility with those about her; yes beneath that correct and smiling façade there was, for one thing, a passionate love for the Dauphin, and for another, a delight in discovering what was not meant for her eyes and ears; there was craft instead of guile; there was fierce pride instead of humility. And because Madalenna knew that there was much else besides, she was afraid. She remembered how her mistress’s eyes had glistened after that sojourn of

Madalenna’s in the
Sénéchale’s
cupboard; her eyes glittering, her lips tightly pressed together, the Dauphine had insisted on hearing each indelicate detail, as though begging for what must have been torture, to go on and on. It was

uncanny, thought Madalenna; and often when her thoughts turned to her

mistress, she would cross herself.

She was glad now that the Dauphin was away from court.

―――――――

Henry was at Piedmont. The French had invaded Artois and had enjoyed a

successful campaign; but restlessness quickly overtook the King, and no sooner did he find himself among his soldiers than he longed for the comfort and luxury of the court, the intellectual conversation and the voluptuous charm of his mistress. So he had called off the war, disbanded his army with the exception of a garrison which he left in the town of Piedmont under Montmorency and

Dauphin Henry, and returned to Paris where the court was
en fête
to welcome him.

Summer came and Fontainebleau was beautiful in summer. Francis, as

restless as ever, found some peace in this palace among his statue and paintings.

He would spend much time, between bouts of feasting and love-making,

marvelling at his Italian pictures― Leonardo’s
Gioconda
, Michelangelo’s
Leda
, and Titian’s
Magdalen
among them. Then he would tire of his masterpieces temporarily, and there would be a spate of comedies and mosques, balls and feastings; or he would ride out in the forest and spend days with his
Petite
Bande.

Catherine was no more at peace than was the King, though none would have

guessed it. When he rode out to the chase, she was often beside him. He liked to show her his masterpieces and discuss them with her, since many of them were her countrymen. It was one of his pleasures to hear her speak of Florence; and they would often chat in Italian.

But the love of her husband meant so much to Catherine that she would have gladly bartered the friendship of the King for it. She dreamed of Henry, longed for him, and although she was delighted that, being in Piedmont, he was not seeing Diane, she longed for his return.

Madalenna brought the news to Catherine. It was the sort of news, Catherine thought grimly, that she would be the last to hear.

‘The Dauphin, Madame
la Dauphine
, is enamoured, they are saying, of a young Italian girl― a merchant’s daughter of Piedmont. She is very young and they say very beautiful, he visits her so often that― that―’

Catherine gripped the girl’s wrist; there was in her eyes that fierceness which mention of Henry always put there. ‘Come, come, Madalenna, that

what
?’

‘They say, that there is to be a child― and that the Dauphin and the lady are very happy about it.’

Catherine let the girl’s arm drop. She walked to the wind and looked out.

She did not want Madalenna to see the tears which had come to her eyes.

Madalenna must think of her strong― cruel if necessary, but always strong. So he had fallen in love! And the court was whispering of it, delighting in this fresh scandal which was wounding further Catherine de’ Medici’s already tortured heart. He had escaped at last from his aged charmer― but not to his wife, who loved him fiercely that when she thought of him she lost all her control. Oh, the humiliation! Was she to be humiliated forever? That it should be a girl of her own race― a young girl, younger than herself! A merchant’s daughter of

Piedmont, and Catherine his wife, was a Medici of Florence― a Medici and a Queen-to-be; yet he could not love
her
, and
she
could not have his child!

She closed her eyes, forcing back the tears.

Madalenna stammered: ‘I― I thought you would― wish to know. I hope I

did no wrong.’

‘Have I not told you that all the news you gather must be brought to me?

Now, Madalenna, tell me everything. What is the court saying concerning my husband and his newest mistress?’

‘I― I do not know.’

‘You need not be afraid, Madalenna. The only time when you need be afraid of me is when you hold anything back.’

‘They are laughing at― the
Sénéchale
.’

Catherine burst into loud laughter which she suppressed almost

immediately. ‘Yes? Yes?’

‘Though some say she never was his mistress, and that she but mothered

him, tutored him― and since she is but his great friend and adviser, this matter will not change their relationship.’

Catherine put her face close to that of the girl. ‘But
we
do not say that, eh, Madalenna? Those who say it have no sly little maid to hide in cupboards and spy on those two in their tender moments.’

Madalenna flushed and drew back. This was another of her mistress’s traits which frightened her― the loud laughter, the sudden coarseness of one who to the world outside her apartment was so demure, one might almost say, prudish.

‘I should not have done it, Madame, but for your orders.,’ said Madalenna.

‘But you remember, Madalenna, that when you obey orders you work for

yourself. If you were found― shall we say in a cupboard?― you would

doubtless have some story to tell.. There will be need, I doubt not, when the Dauphin returns from Piedmont, for you to hide in yet another cupboard.’

Catherine laughed again. She pinched the girl’s check. ‘Have no fear, my

child. You will work well. And I shall reward you by keeping you beside me.

You would not wish to return to Florence, Madalenna. Life is very cruel in Florence. You never saw my kinsman Alessandro. Any, Madalenna, who would

leave Paris for Florence would not be in their right senses. And who would go back to Italy when they might stay in France? Do not fret. You shall stay. Now tell me what was said about me.’

Madalenna looked at the floor. ‘They say it is odd that he can get this

humble girl with child― and wife.’

‘What else?’

‘They say he has a fondness for Italian―’

‘For tradesmen, eh? Do they not say their merchant Dauphine has given him a taste for trade?’

Madalenna nodded.

‘But it is not at their Dauphine they mock, is it, Madalenna? It is at Madame Diane, is it not?’

‘Madame
d’Etampes
is delighted. There is to be a great ball in honour of the King,’ she added quickly, hoping to divert Catherine’s attention.

‘In honour of the Piedmontese!’ said Catherine, laughing again.

But when she dismissed Madalenna, she wept a little, sitting upright that she might more easily hold back her tears. The girl’s name was Filippa; she had heard it mentioned without knowing why people discussed her. Filippa, the Piedmontese. She tried to see those prim lips kissing the imagined face which must be very beautiful― dark, soft, Italian beauty; Italian love that was quick and passionate, as fiercely demanding as her own.

How cruel was life! It seemed more cruel that it should have been an Italian girl, and so young.
Where do I fail?
she asked herself again and again.
Why
should he love an unlettered girl of my own race, and despise his noble wife?

But when she joined the masque and overheard the whisperings, the sly

jests, the allusions, she was happier, because she believed this to be Diane’s tragedy rather more than her own.

―――――――

Henry was coming back to Paris, and Catherine was filled with eager

anticipation that alternately soared to hope and down to despair.

She spent much time at the secluded house that backed the river. Special

perfumes were made for her; she had become practised in the art of using

cosmetics. Henry, she was determined, should find a different Catherine on his return.

He was seducible; the little Piedmontese had proved that.

She would win from the girl as the girl had won him from Diane.

She was pretty now; she smelt deliciously of the strange perfume which the Ruggieri brothers had made especially for her; she felt her spirits rise when she heard the trumpets and horns of Henry and his company as they rode through the streets of the capital.

With a madly beating heart, she went down to the court of the Bastille where the King would ceremoniously receive his son.

The walls were hung with the loveliest of French tapestry for this occasion, and the hall was illumined by a thousand torches. There was to be a banquet, followed by a ball.

Francis, who loved such occasions, looked younger than he had for some

weeks and his magnificence outshone that of all others.

Henry came into the court on a flourish of trumpets; he went at once to the King, who embraced him warmly and kissed him on both cheeks. Then Henry

received the Queen’s embrace.

‘And here,’ said Francis, putting an arm about Catherine and bringing her forward, ‘is our dear daughter and your beloved wife, who‚ I need not tell you, has been living for this day since you left her side.’

Catherine, her heart hammering under her elaborate corsage, lifted her eyes shyly to her husband’s face. He embraced her formally. She saw in him no

delight at seeing her again. She told herself that he was hiding his pleasure, that he was ashamed‚ because of the scandal which he would know to court. Yet she knew that she was deceiving herself.

‘Henry,’ she whispered, so softly that none but he could have heard.

He stepped back, prepared to greet others who came forward to kneel and

kiss the hand of their future ruler.

Soon it would be the turn of the
Grande Sénéchale
to kneel to the Dauphin; and not only was Catherine watching, but she knew that, all about her, sly eyes would be turned towards those two, that jewelled fingers would preparing to nudge silk-clad ribs; the whole court, not the King and Madame
d’Etampes
, would be waiting to see the greeting between these two.

And now― Diane. To Catherine, she had never seemed so beautiful as she

did at this moment. Her black-and-white gown was decorated with pearls; there were pearls in her raven-black hair. Serene, and completely sure of herself, she did not betray for a moment that she was aware of the interest she was creating, although, of course, she knew that everyone in the hall was watching her.

If Diane was capable of hiding her feelings, the Dauphin was not. He

flushed and his eyes shone, so that it seemed to those close observers that he was no less in love with her than before. But into his eyes had crept a certain misery, a wretchedness and shame. There was a faint titter, which the King’s sharp glance immediately suppressed, though he himself was laughing inwardly.

Henry looked like a remorseful husband, he thought.

Diane rose, smiling; she said her words of welcome as everyone else had,

and then she turned and gave her attention to the eldest son of the Duke of Guise. The Dauphin’s miserable eyes followed her.

The King commanded his son to sit beside him as he had much to say to him concerning military affairs.

The comedy was ended.

At the banquet which followed, Henry must, for courtesy’s sake, sit next to his wife, while Diane took her place with the Queen’s ladies. But everyone―

and Catherine more than any― noticed that his eyes kept straying towards that regal figure in black and white, and that Diane seemed very happy talking to the Queen and her ladies of the charitable schemes they intended to carry out.

After the banquet Diane seemed to avoid the Dauphin, and kept at her side those redoubtable allies of hers, the young de Guises.

Catherine took an opportunity to slip away from the festivities. She called Madalenna to her. The girl’s eyes were round with fear; she had been dreading the return of the Dauphin; she knew, before she was told, what would be

expected of her.

‘Go,’ said Catherine, her eyes glittering in her pale face, ‘go to the

apartments of the
Sénéchale
. Make sure that you are hidden. I wish to know everything that takes place between them.’

―――――――

When Diane retired to her apartments, Henry followed her after a short

interval.

Diane was smiling serenely while her women asked her if they should help

her disrobe.

‘Not yet, Marie. I think I may have a visitor.’

She had hardly spoken when there was a tap on the door.

‘Marie,’ she said, ‘should it be the Dauphin, tell him I will see him. Bring him in and leave us.’

Henry came shyly into the room, and she was reminded vividly of the boy

whom she had met in the gardens on the first occasion they talked of horses.

Diane, smiling graciously, held out both her hands. Her women went out

discreetly and shut the door.

‘I am so happy that you are returned,’ said Diane.

‘And I― am wretched,’ he answered.

‘Henry, that must not be. Please do not kneel to me. Why, it is I who should kneel to you. Come, sit beside me, as you used to do, and tell me what it is that makes you so wretched.’

‘You know, Diane.’

‘You mean the young Italian girl at Piedmont?’

He burst out: ‘It is true, Diane. All they say is true. I cannot understand myself. It was as though some devil possessed me.’

‘Please, do not distress yourself, Henry. You love this girl?’

‘Love? There is only one I love, only one I shall ever love in my life. I knew that all the time. But I was lonely, longing for you so much. Her hair was raven black, and it grew like yours, in ripples. You were not there, Diane, and I tried to grasp at what seemed like your shadow.’