Memoirs of a Physician (15 page)
” But how shall we proceed ? “
” His name, countess his name ? “
” He has two.”
” Proceed according to order the first ? “
” The Count de Fenix.”
” What ! the man you pointed out to me on the day of your presentation ? “
” Yes ; the Prussian officer.”
” Oh ! I have no longer any faith in him. All the sorcerers I have ever known had names ending in i or o.”
” That exactly suits, duke ; for his second name is Joseph Balsamo.”
” But have you no means of finding him out ? “
” I shall task my brain, duke. I think I know some one who knows him.”
” Good ! But make haste, countess. It is now a qnar-ter to one.”
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” I am ready. My carriage, there ! ‘*
Ten minutes afterward Mine. Dubarry and M. de Richelien were seated side by side, and driving rapidly on their way to the hunting-party.
CHAPTER XV.
THE SORCERER CHASE.
A LONG train of carriages filled the avenues of the forest of Marly where the king was hunting. It was what was called the afternoon chase.
In the latter part of his life, Louis XV. neither shot at nor rode after the game ; he was content with watching the progress of the chase.
Those of our readers who have read Plutarch,will perhaps remember that cook of Mark Antony who put a boar on the spit every hour, so that among the six or seven boars which were roasting there might always be one ready whenever Mark Antony wished to dine.
The reason of this was that Mark Antony, as governor of Asia Minor, was overwhelmed with business ; he was the dispenser of justice, and as the Sicilians are great thieves (the fact is confirmed by Juvenal), Mark Antony had abundance of work on his hands’. He had therefore always five or six roasts in various degrees of progress on the spit, waiting for the moment when his functions as judge would permit him to snatch a hasty morsel.
Louis XV. acted in a similar manner. For the afternoon chase there were three or four stags started at different hours, and accordingly as the king felt disposed he chose a nearer or more distant view halloo.
On this day his majesty had signified his intention of hunting until four o’clock. A stag was therefore chosen which had been started at twelve, and-which might consequently be expected to run until that hour.
Mme.
Dubarry, on her side, intended to follow the king as faithfully as the king intended to follow the stag. But
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hunters propose and fate disposes. A combination of circumstances frustrated this happy project of
Mme.
Dubarry, and the countess found in fate an adversary al-most as capricious as herself.
While the countess, talking politics with M. de Richelieu, drove rapidly after the king, who in his turn drove rapidly after the stag, and while the duke and she returned in part the bows which greeted them as they passed, they all at once perceived, about fifty paces from the road, beneath a magnificent canopy of verdure, an unfortunate calech’e revolving its wheels in the air, while the two black horses which should have drawn it were peaceably munching, the one the bark of a beech-tree, the other the moss growing at his feet.
Mme.
Dubarry ‘s horses, a magnificent pair presented to her by the king, had outstripped all the other carriages, and were the first to arrive in sight of the broken carriage.
” Ha ! an accident ! ” said the countess, calmly.
” Faith, yes ! ” said the Duke de Eichelieu, with equal coolness, for sensibility is little in fashion at court ; ” the carriage is broken in pieces.”
” Is that a corpse upon the grass ? ” asked the countess. ” Look, dnke.”
” I think not ; it moves.”
” Is it a man or a woman ? “
” I don’t know. I cannot see well.”
” Ha ! it bows to us.”
” Then it cannot be dead.”
And Richelieu at all hazards took off his hat.
” But, countess ‘ said he, ” it seems to me “
” And to me also “
” That it is his eminence, Prince Louis.”
” The Cardinal de Rohan in person.”
” What the deuce is he doing there ? ” asked the duke.
” Let us go and see,” replied the countess. ” Champagne, drive on to the broken carriage.”
The coachman immediately left the high-road and dashed in among the lofty trees.
” Faith, yes, it is my lord cardinal,” said Richelieu.
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It was in truth his eminence who was lying stretched upon the grass waiting until some of his friends should pass.
Seeing
Mme.
Dubarry approach, he rose.
” A thousand compliments to the countess I” said he.
” How ! Cardinal, is it you ?”
” Myself, madame.”
” On foot ? “
” No, sitting.”
” Are you wounded ? “
” Not in the least.”
” And how in all the world do you happen to be in this position ? “
” Do not speak of it, madame ; that brute of a coachman, a man whom I sent for to England, when I told him to cut across the wood in order to join the chase, turned so suddenly that he upset me and broke my best carriage.”
” You must not complain, cardinal,” said the countess ; ” a French coachman would have broken your neck, or at least your ribs.”
” Very possibly.”
” Therefore, be consoled.”
” Oh ‘! I am a little of a philosopher, countess ; only I shall have to wait, and that is fatal.”
” How ! Prince, to wait ? A Eohan wait ?”
” There is no resource.”
” Oh, no I I would rather alight and leave you my carriage.”
” In truth, madame, your kindness makes me blush.”
” Come, jump in, prince jump in.”
” No, thank you, madame, I am waiting for Soubise, who is at the chase, and who cannot fail to pass in a few minutes.”
” Bnt if he should have taken another road ? “
” Oh ! it is of no consequence.”
” My lord, I entreat you will.”
” No, thank yon.”
” But why not ? “
” I am unwilling to incommode you.”
” Cardinal, if you refuse to enter, I shall order one of
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my footmen to carry my train, and I shall roam through the woods like a Dryad.”
The cardinal smiled, and thinking that a longer resistance might be interpreted unfavorably by the countess, he consented to enter the carriage. The duke had already given up his place, and taken a seat upon the bench in front. The cardinal entreated him to resume his former position, but the duke was inflexible.
The countess’s splendid horses soon made up for the time which had thus been lost.
16 Excuse me, my lord,” said the countess, addressing the cardinal, ” has your eminence been reconciled to the chase?”
“How so?”
” Because this is the first time I have had the pleasure of seeing you join in that amusement.”
” By no means, countess. I had come to Versailles to have the honor of paying my respects to his majesty, when I was told he was at the chase. I had to speak to him on some important business, and therefore followed, hoping to overtake him ; but thanks to this cursed coachman, I shall not only lose his majesty’s ear, but also my assignation in town.”
” You see, madame,” said the duke, laughing, ” monseigneur makes a free confession he has an assignation.”
‘ ‘ In which I shall fail, I repeat,” replied the cardinal.
” Does a Rohan, a prince, a cardinal, ever fail in anything ? ” said the countess.
“Dame ! ” said the prince, “unless a miracle comes to my assistance.”
The duke and the countess looked at each other ; this word recalled their recent conversation.
” Faith ! prince,” said the countess, ” speaking of miracles, I will confess frankly that I am very happy to meet a dignitary of the church, to know if he believes in them.”
” In what, madame ? “
” Parbleu ! in miracles,” said the duke.
” The Scriptures give them as an article of faith, madame,” said the cardinal, trying to look devout.
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“Oh! I do not mean those miracles,” replied the countess.
” And of what other miracles do you speak, madame ? “
” Of modern miracles.”
” Those indeed, I confess, are rather more rare,” said the cardinal. ” But still “
“But still, what ?”
” Faith ! I have seen things, which if they were not miraculous, were at least very incredible.”
” You have seen such things, prince ? “
” On my honor.”
” But you know, madame,” said Eichelieu, laughing, ” that his eminence is said to be in communication with spirits, which, perhaps, is not very orthodox.”
“No, but which must be very convenient,” said the countess. ” And what have yon seen, prince ? “
” I have sworn not to reveal it.”
” Oh ! that begins to look serious.”
” It is a fact, madame.”
” But if you have promised to observe secrecy respecting the sorcery, perhaps you have not done so as regards the sorcerer ? “
“No.”
” “Well, then, prince, I must tell you that the duke and myself came out to-day with the intention of seeking some magician.”
“Indeed ?”
” Upon my honor.”
” Take mine.”
“I desire no better.”
” He is at your disposal, countess.”
” And at mine also, prince ? “
“And at yours also, duke.”
” What is his name ?”
” The Count de Fenix.”
The countess and the duke looked at each other and turned.
” That is strange,” said they both together.
” Do you know him ? ” asked the prince.
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” No. And you think him a sorcerer ? “
“I am positive of it.”
” You have spoken to him, then ? “
“Of course,”
” And you found him “
* Perfect.”
” On what occasion, may I ask ? “
The cardinal hesitated.
” On the occasion of his foretelling my fortune ‘
” Correctly ? “
” He told me things of the other world ‘
” Has he no other name then the Count de Fenix ?”
” I think I have heard him called “
” Speak, sir,” said the countess, impatiently.
“Joseph Balsamo, madame.”
“Is the devil very black ? ” asked
Mme.
Dubarry all at once.
“The devil, countess ? I have not seen him.”
” What are you thinking of, countess ? ” cried Eichelieu. ” Pardieu ! that would be respectable company for the cardinal.”
” And did he tell you your fortune without showing you the devil?”
“Oh ! certainly,” said the cardinal, ” they only show the devil to people of no consideration ; we can dispense with him.”
” But say what you will, prince ‘ continued
Mme.
Dubarry, ” there must be a little deviltry at the bottom of it.”
” Dame ! I think so.”
”Blue fire, specters, infernal caldrons, which smell horribly while they burn, eh ? “
” Oh, no ! my sorcerer is most polite and well-bred ; he is a very gallant man, and receives his visitors in good style.”
” Will you not have your horoscope drawn by this man, countess ? ” said Eichelieu.
” I long to do so, I confess.”
” Do so, then, madame.”
” But where is all this accomplished ? ” asked
Mme.
MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 115
Dubarry, hoping that the cardinal would give her the wished-for address.
” In a very handsome room, fashionably furnished.”
The countess could scarcely conceal her impatience.
“Very well,” said she, ” but the house ?”
” A very fine house, though in a singular style of architecture.” “
The countess stamped with rage at being so ill understood. Eichelieu cariie to her assistance.
” But do you not see, my lord,” said he, ” that madam e is dying to know where your sorcerer lives ? “
” Where he lives, you say ? Oh ! well,” replied the cardinal, ” eh ! faith wait a moment no yes no. It is in the Marais, near the corner of” the boulevard Eue St. Franqois St. Anastasie no. However, it is the name of some saint.”
” But what saint ? You must surely know them all ?”
” No, faith. I know very little about them ‘ said the cardinal ; ” but stay my fool of a footman must remember.”
” Oh ! very fortunately he got up behind,” said the duke. ” Stop, Champagne, stop.”
And the duke pulled the cord which was attached to the coachman’s little finger, who suddenly reigned in the foam-ing horses, throwing them on their sinewy haunches.
“Olive,” said the cardinal, “are you there, you scoundrel ? “
” Yes, my lord.”
“Where did I stop one evening in the Marais a long way off ? “
The lackey had overheard the whole conversation, but took care not to appear as if he had done so.
” In the Marais ? ” said he, seeming to search his mem-ory.
” Yes, near the boulevards.”
” What day, my lord ? “
” One day when I was returning from St. Denis. The carriage, I think, waited for me in the boulevards.”
” Oh, yes, my lord,” said Olive, ” 1 remember now. A
116 MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
man came and threw a very heavy parcel into the carriage ; I remember it perfectly.”
” Very possibly,” replied the cardinal. ” But who asked you about that, you scoundrel ? “
” What does your eminence wish, then ? “
” To know the name of the street.”
“Bue St. Claude, my lord.”
” Claude, that is it !” cried the cardinal. “I would have laid any wager it was the name of a saint.”
” Eue St. Claude!” repeated the countess, darting such an expressive glance at Richelieu, that the marshal, fearing to let any one guess his secrets, above all when it concerned a conspiracy, interrupted
Mme.
Dubarry by these words :
” Ha ! countess the king ! “
” Where ? “
“Yonder.”
‘ ‘ The king ! the king ! ” exclaimed the countess. ” To the left, Champagne, to the left, that his majesty may not see us.”
