Memoirs of a Physician (31 page)

” Listen, Eafte,” said D’Aiguillon, who had become more gloomy during this mysterious reply; “you are my uncle’s conscience, and I trust you will answer me as an honest man. I am played upon, am I not, and the marshal does not wish to see me ? Do not interrupt me, Eafte, you have been a valuable counselor to me, and I might have been, and can yet be, a good friend to you; must I return to Versailles ? “

” My lord duke, I assure you, upon my honor, you will receive a visit at your own house from the marshal in less than an hour.”

” Then I can as well wait here, since he will come this way.”

” I have had the honor of informing you that he will probably not be alone.”

” I understand. I have your word, Eafte ? “

At these words the duke retired deep in thought, but-with an air as noble and graceful as the marshal’s was the reverse, when after his nephew’s departure, he emerged from a closet through the glass door of which he had been peeping.

The marshal smiled like one of those hideous demons which Callot has introduced in his ” Temptations.”

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” He suspects nothing, Kaf te ? ” said he.

” Nothing, my lord.”

” What hour is it ? “

” The hour has nothing to do with the matter, my lord. You must wait until our little procureur of the Chatelet makes his appearance. The commissioners are still at the printer’s.”

Rafte had scarcely finished, when a footman opened a secret door, and introduced a personage, very ugly, very greasy, very black one of these living pens for which M. Dubarry professed such a profound antipathy.

Rafte pushed the marshal into a closet, and hastened, smiling, to me&t this man.

“Ah! it is you, Monsieur Flageot?” said he; “I am delighted to see y*>u.”

” Your servant, Monsieur Rafte. “Well, the business is done.”

“Is it printed?”

” Five thousand are struck off. The first proofs are already scattered over the town, the others are drying.”

” What a misfortune, my dear Monsieur Flageot ! What a blow to the marshal’s family ! “

M. Flageot, to avoid the necessity of answering that is, of telling a lie drew a large silver box from his pocket and slowly inhaled a pinch of Scotch snuff.

” Well, what is to be done now ? ” asked Rafte.

” The forms, my dear sir, the forms ! The commissioners, now that they are sure of the printing and the distribution, will immediately enter their carriages, which are waiting at the door of the printing-office, and proceed to make known the decree to Monsieur the Duke d’Aiguillon, who happens, luckily I mean unfortunately, Monsieur Rafte to be in his hotel in Paris, where they can have an interview with him in person.”

Rafte hastily seized an enormous bag of legal documents from a shelf, which he gave to M. Flageot, saying :

“These are the suits which I mentioned to you, sir; the marshal has the greatest confidence in your ability, and leaves this affair, which ought to prove most remuner-ative, entirely in your hands. I have to thank you for your

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good offices in this deplorable conflict of Monsieur d’Aiguillon with the all-powerful parliament of Paris, and also you for your very valuable advice.”

And he gently, but with some haste, pushed M. Flageot, delighted with the weight of his burden, toward the door of the antechamber. Then releasing the marshal from his prison :

” Quick, my lord, to your carriage ! You have no time to lose if you wish to be present at the scene. Take care that your horses go more quickly than those of the commissioners ‘

CHAPTEE XXX.

IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT THE PATH OF A MINISTER IS NOT ALWAYS STREWN WITH ROSES.

THE Marshal de Richelieu’s horses did go more quickly than those of the commissioners, for the marshal entered first into the courtyard of the Hotel d’Aiguillon.

The duke did not expect his uncle, and was preparing to return to Luciennes to inform
Mme.
Dubarry that the enemy had been unmasked, when the announcement of the marshal’s arrival roused his discouraged mind from its torpor.

The duke-hastened to meet his uncle, and took both his hands in his with a warmth of affection proportionate to the fear he had experienced. The marshal was as affectionate as the duke ; the tableau was touching. The Duke d’Aiguillon, however, was manifestly endeavoring to hasten the period of explanation, while the marshal, on the contrary, delayed it as much as possible, by looking at the pictures, the bronzes, or the tapestry, and complain-ing of dreadful fatigue.

The duke cut off the marshal’s retreat, imprisoned him in an armchair, as M. de Villars imprisoned the Prince Eugene in Marchiennes, and commenced, the attack.

” Uncle,” said he, ” is it true that you, the most discriminating man in France, have judged so ill of me as to think that my self-seeking did not extend to us both ? “

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There was no longer room for retreat ; Richelieu decided on his plan of action.

” What do you mean by that ? ” replied he, ” and in what do you perceive that I judged unfavorably of you or the reverse, my dear nephew ? “

” Uncle, you are offended with me.”

“But for what, and how?”

” Oh ! these loop-holes, my lord marshal, will not serve you; in one word, you avoid me when I need your assistance.”

” Upon my honor, I do not understand you.”

” I will explain, then. The king refused to nominate you for his minister, and because I, on my part, accepted the command of the light horse, you imagine that I have deserted and betrayed you. That dear countess, too, who loves you so well.”

Here Richelieu listened eagerly, but not to his nephew’s words alone.

” You say she loves me well, this dear countess ? ” he added.

” And I can prove it.”

” But, my dear fellow, I never doubted it. I send for you to assist me to push the wheel; you are younger, and therefore stronger than I am; you succeed, I fail. That is in the natural course of things, and, on my faith, I can-not imagine why you have all these scruples. If you have acted for my interest you will be a hundred-fold repaid, if against me well ! I shall only return the fisticuff. Does that require explanation ? “

” In truth, uncle “

” You are a child, duke. Your position is magnificent ; a peer of France, a duke, commander of the light horse, minister in six weeks you ought to be beyond the influence of all futile intrigues. Success absolves, my dear child. Suppose I like apologues suppose that we are the two mules in the fable. But what noise is that ? “

” Nothing, my dear uncle ; proceed.”

“There is something; I hear a carriage in the courtyard.”

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” Do not let it interrupt } r on, uncle, pray ; your conversation interests me extremely. I like apologues too.”

” Well, my friend, I was going to say that when you are prosperous, you will never meet with reproaches, nor need you fear the spite of the envious; but if you limp, if you fall diable ! you must take care then it is that the wolf will attack you. But you see I was right, there is a noise in the antechamber; it is the portfolio which they are bringing you, no doubt. The little countess must have exerted herself for you.”

The usher entered.

” Messieurs the Commissioners of the parliament ! ” said he, uneasily.

“Ha!” exclaimed Eichelieu.

” The Commissioners of parliament here ? What do they want with me ? ” replied the duke, not at all reassured by his uncle’s smile.

” In the king’s name ! ” cried a sonorous voice at the end of the antechamber.

” Oh, ho ! ” cried Eichelieu.

M. d’Aiguillon turned very pale; he rose, however, and advanced to the threshold of the apartment to introduce the two commissioners, behind whom were stationed two motionless ushers, and in the distance a host of alarmed footmen.

“What is your errand here?” asked the duke, in a trembling voice.

” Have we the honor of speaking to the Duke d’Aiguillon ? ” said one of the commissioners.

” I am the Duke d’Aiguillon, gentlemen.”

The commissioner, bowing profound!}^ drew from his belt the act in proper form, and read it in a loud and distinct voice.

It was the decree, detailed, complete, and circumstantial, which declared D’Aiguillon gravely arraigned and prejudiced by suspicions even regarding matters which affected his honor, and suspended him from his functions as peer of the realm.

The duke listened to the reading like a man thunderstruck. He stood motionless as a statue on its pedestal,

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and did not even hold out his hand to take the copy of the decree which the commissioners of the parliament offered him.

It was the marshal who, also standing, but alert and nimble, took the paper, read it, and returned the bow of Messieurs the Commissioners. They were already at some distance from the mansion, before the Duke d’Aiguillon recovered from his stupor.

” This is a severe blow,” said Richelieu ; ” you are no longer a peer of France; it is humiliating.”

The duke turned to his uncle as if he had only at that moment recovered the power of life and thought.

” You did not expect it ? ” asked Richelieu, in the same tone.

” And you, uncle ? ” rejoined D’Aiguillon.

” How do you imagine any one could suspect that the parliament would strike so bold a blow at the favored courtier of the king and his favorite ; these people will ruin themselves.”

The duke sat down, and leaned his burning cheek on his hand.

” But if,” continued the old marshal, forcing the dagger deeper into the wound, ” if the parliament degrades you from the peerage because you are nominated to the command of the light horse, they will decree j r ou a prisoner and condemn you to the stake, when you are appointed minister. These people hate you, D’Aiguillon; do not trust them.”

The duke bore this cruel irony with the fortitude of a hero; his misfortune raised and strengthened his mind. Richelieu thought this fortitude was only* insensibility, or want of comprehension, perhaps, and that the wound had not been deep enough.

” Being no longer a peer,” said he, ” you will be less exposed to the hatred of these lawyers. Take refuge in a few years of obscurity. Besides, look you, this obscurity, which will be your safeguard, will come without your seeking it. Deprived of your functions of peer, you will have more difficulty in reaching the ministry, and may perhaps escape the business altogether. But if you will struggle,

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my dear fellow, why, you have Madame Dubarry on your side ; she loves you, and she is a powerful support.”

M. d’Aiguillon rose. He did not even cast an angry look upon the marshal in return for all the suffering the old man had inflicted upon him.

” You are right, uncle,” he replied, calmly, ” and your wisdom is shown in this last advice. The Countess Dubarry, whom you had the goodness to present to me, and to whom you spoke so favorably of me, and with so much zeal, that every one at Luciennes can bear witness to it, Madame Dubarry will defend me. Thanks to Heaven, she likes me; she is brave, and exerts an all-powerful influence over the mind of the king. Thanks, uncle, for your advice; I fly thither as to a haven of safety. My horses! Bourgignon to Luciennes ! “

The marshal remained in the middle of an unfinished smile. M. d’Aiguillon bowed respectfully to his uncle and quitted the apartment, leaving the marshal very much perplexed, and, above all, very much confused at the eagerness with which he had attacked this noble and feeling victim.

There was some consolation for the old marshal in the mad joy of the Parisians when they read in the evening the ten thousand copies of the decree which was scrambled for in the streets. But he could not help sighing when Eafte asked for an account of the evening. Nevertheless, he told it without concealing anything.

” Then the blow is parried ? ” said the secretary.

” Yes and no, Eafte ; but the wound is not mortal, and we have at Trianon something better which I reproach myself for not having made my sole care. We have started two hares, Eafte; it was very foolish.”

” Why if you seized the best ? ” replied Eafte.

” Oh, my friend, remember that the best is always the one we have not taken, and we would invariably give the one we hold for the one which has escaped.”

Eafte shrugged his shoulders, and yet M. de Eichelieu was in the right.

“You think,” said he, “that Monsieur d’Aiguillon will escape? Do you think the king will, simpleton?”

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“Oh! the king finds an opening everywhere; but this matter does not concern the king, that I know of.”

” Where the king can pass, Madame Dubarry will pass, as she holds fast by his skirts ; where Madame Dubarry has passed, D’Aiguillon will pass also but you understand nothing of politics, Eafte.”

” My lord, Monsieur Flageot is not of your opinion.”

” Well, what does this Monsieur Flageot say ? But the first of all, tell me what he is.”

” He is a procureur, sir.”

“Well?”’

” Well ! Monsieur Flageot thinks that the king cannot get out of this matter.”

” Oh, ho ! and who will stop the lion ? “

” Faith, sir, the rat ! “

*’ And you believe him ? “

” I always believe a procureur who promises to do evil ‘

” We shall see what means Monsieur Flageot means to employ, Eafte.”

” That is what I say, my lord.”

” Come to supper, then, that I may get to bed. It has quite upset me to see that my poor nephew is no longer a peer of France, and will not be minister. I am an uncle, Eafte, after all.”

M. de Eichelieu sighed, and then commenced to laugh.

” You have every quality, however, requisite for a minister,” replied Eafte.

CHAPTEE XXXI. M. D’AIGUILLON” TAKES HIS REVENGE.

THE morning succeeding the day on which the terrible decree had thrown Paris and Versailles into an uproar, when every one was anxiously awaiting the result of this decree, the Duke de Eichelieu, who had returned to Versailles, and had resumed his regularly irregular life, saw Eafte enter his apartment with a letter in his hand. The