A Gentleman of France | Page 6

I could, and seeing there was
no help for it, took my leave of him, and slowly and sorrowfully
withdrew from the room.
Alas! to escape I had to face the outside world, for which his kind
words were an ill preparation. I had to run the gauntlet of the

antechamber. The moment I appeared, or rather the moment the door
closed behind me, I was hailed with a shout of derision. While one
cried, 'Way! way for the gentleman who has seen the king!' another
hailed me uproariously as Governor of Guyenne, and a third requested
a commission in my regiment.
I heard these taunts with a heart full almost to bursting. It seemed to me
an unworthy thing that, merely by reason of my poverty, I should be
derided by youths who had still all their battles before them; but to stop
or reproach them would only, as I well knew, make matters worse, and,
moreover, I was so sore stricken that I had little spirit left even to speak.
Accordingly, I made my way through them with what speed I might,
my head bent, and my countenance heavy with shame and depression.
In this way--I wonder there were not among them some generous
enough to pity me--I had nearly gained the door, and was beginning to
breathe, when I found my path stopped by that particular young lady of
the Court whom I have described above. Something had for the
moment diverted her attention from me, and it required a word from her
companions to apprise her of my near neighbourhood. She turned then,
as one taken by surprise, and finding me so close to her that my feet all
but touched her gown, she stepped quickly aside, and with a glance as
cruel as her act, drew her skirts away from contact with me.
The insult stung me, I know not why, more than all the gibes which
were being flung at me from every side, and moved by a sudden
impulse I stopped, and in the bitterness of my heart spoke to her.
'Mademoiselle,' I said, bowing low--for, as I have stated, she was small,
and more like a fairy than a woman, though her face expressed both
pride and self-will--'Mademoiselle,' I said sternly, 'such as I am, I have
fought for France! Some day you may learn that there are viler things in
the world--and have to bear them--than a poor gentleman!'
The words were scarcely out of my mouth before I repented of them,
for Mathurine, the fool, who was at my elbow, was quick to turn them
into ridicule. Raising her hands above our heads, as in act to bless us,
she cried out that Monsieur, having gained so rich an office, desired a
bride to grace it; and this, bringing down upon us a coarse shout of

laughter and some coarser gibes, I saw the young girl's face flush hotly.
The next moment a voice in the crowd cried roughly 'Out upon his
wedding suit!' and with that a sweetmeat struck me in the face. Another
and another followed, covering me with flour and comfits. This was the
last straw. For a moment, forgetting where I was, I turned upon them,
red and furious, every hair in my moustachios bristling. The next, the
full sense of my impotence and of the folly of resentment prevailed
with me, and, dropping my head upon my breast, I rushed from the
room.
I believe that the younger among them followed me, and that the cry of
'Old Clothes!' pursued me even to the door of my lodgings in the Rue
de la Coutellerie. But in the misery of the moment, and my strong
desire to be within doors and alone, I barely noticed this, and am not
certain whether it was so or not.
CHAPTER II.
THE KING OF NAVARRE.
I have already referred to the danger with which the alliance between
Henry the Third and the League menaced us, an alliance whereof the
news, it was said, had blanched the King of Navarre's moustache in a
single night. Notwithstanding this, the Court had never shown itself
more frolicsome or more free from care than at the time of which I am
speaking; even the lack of money seemed for the moment forgotten.
One amusement followed another, and though, without doubt,
something was doing under the surface for the wiser of his foes held
our prince in particular dread when he seemed most deeply sunk in
pleasure--to the outward eye St. Jean d'Angely appeared to be given
over to enjoyment from one end to the other.
The stir and bustle of the Court reached me even in my garret, and
contributed to make that Christmas, which fell on a Sunday, a trial
almost beyond sufferance. All