Quentin Durward
Sir Walter Scott
CHAPTER XXV: THE UNBIDDEN GUEST Page 2
"As you may guess," answered D'Hymbercourt, "talked much of faith to be observed, and little of advantage to be obtained by such a visit, while it was manifest they thought almost entirely of the last, and were only anxious to find some way to reconcile it with the necessary preservation of appearances."
"And what said the Duke?" continued the Count of Crevecoeur.
"Spoke brief and bold as usual," replied Comines. "'Which of you was it,' he asked, 'who witnessed the meeting of my cousin Louis and me after the battle of Montl'hery, when I was so thoughtless as to accompany him back within the intrenchments of Paris with half a score of attendants, and so put my person at the King's mercy?' I replied, that most of us had been present, and none could ever forget the alarm which it had been his pleasure to give us. 'Well,' said the Duke, 'you blamed me for my folly, and I confessed to you that I had acted like a giddy pated boy, and I am aware, too, that my father of happy memory being then alive, my kinsman, Louis, would have had less advantage by seizing on my person than I might now have by securing his. But, nevertheless, if my royal kinsman comes hither on the present occasion, in the same singleness of heart under which I then acted, he shall be royally welcome. -- If it is meant by this appearance of confidence to circumvent and to blind me, till he execute some of his politic schemes, by Saint George of Burgundy, let him to look to it!' And so, having turned up his mustaches and stamped on the ground, he ordered us all to get on our horses, and receive so extraordinary a guest."
"And you met the King accordingly?" replied the Count of Crevecoeur. "Miracles have not ceased -- How was he accompanied?"
"As slightly as might be," answered D'Hymbercourt, "only a score or two of the Scottish Guard, and a few knights and gentlemen of his household among whom his astrologer, Galeotti, made the gayest figure."
"There are Monsieur of Orleans, and Dunois," replied Comines.
"I will have a rouse with Dunois," said Crevecoeur, "wag the world as it will. But we heard that both he and the Duke had fallen into disgrace, and were in prison."
"Why, God ha' mercy!" exclaimed Crevecoeur, "this is not only not being content with venturing into the lion's den, but thrusting his head into his very jaws. -- Nothing less than the very bottom of the rat trap would serve the crafty old politician!"
"Nay," said Comines, "D'Hymbercourt hath not told you the speech of Le Glorieux (the jester of Charles of Burgundy of whom more hereafter. S.) -- which, in my mind, was the shrewdest opinion that was given."
"And what said his most illustrious wisdom?" asked the Count.
"As the Duke," replied Comines, "was hastily ordering some vessels and ornaments of plate and the like, to be prepared as presents for the King and his retinue, by way of welcome on his arrival:
"'Trouble not thy small brain about it, my friend Charles,' said Le Glorieux, 'I will give thy cousin Louis a nobler and a fitter gift than thou canst, and that is my cap and bells, and my bauble to boot, for, by the mass, he is a greater fool than I am, for putting himself in thy power.'
"'But if I give him no reason to repent it, sirrah, how thou?' said the Duke.
"'Then, truly, Charles, thou shalt have cap and bauble thyself, as the greatest fool of the three of us.'
"I promise you this knavish quip touched the Duke closely -- I saw him change colour and bite his lip. And now, our news are told, noble Crevecoeur, and what think you they resemble?"
"A mine full charged with gunpowder," answered Crevecoeur, "to which, I fear, it is my fate to bring the kindled linstock. Your news and mine are like flax and fire, which cannot meet without bursting into flame, or like certain chemical substances which cannot be mingled without an explosion. Friends -- gentlemen -- ride close by my rein, and I tell you what has chanced in the bishopric of Liege, I think you will be of opinion that King Louis might as safely have undertaken a pilgrimage to the infernal regions as this ill timed visit to Peronne."
The two nobles drew up close on either hand of the Count, and listened, with half suppressed exclamations, and gestures of the deepest wonder and interest, to his account of the transactions at Liege and Schonwaldt. Quentin was then called forward, and examined and re-examined on the particulars of the Bishop's death, until at length he refused to answer any farther interrogatories, not knowing wherefore they were asked, or what use might be made of his replies.
They now reached the rich and level banks of the Somme, and the ancient walls of the little town of Peronne la Pucelle, and the deep green meadows adjoining, now whitened with the numerous tents of the Duke of Burgundy's army, amounting to about fifteen thousand men.