Won By the Sword : a tale of the Thirty Years' War Page 6

  CHAPTER VI: A CHANGE OF SCENE

  Hector gained great credit from the report of the manner in which theforce had been enabled to draw off without loss from the enemy's guns,owing to his forethought in bringing with him the means of spiking them,and also for his success in checking the advance of the enemy along theramparts.

  "You see, messieurs," Turenne said to the members of his staff, who,with the exception of Hector, were together on the day after his returnto Susa, "how important it is for officers, before setting out on anexpedition, to think seriously over every contingency that may happen.Now the vast proportion of officers consider that all the thinking hasto be done by the general, and that they only have to obey orders. Nodoubt that is essential, but there may be numerous little matters inwhich an officer may render great service. This young captain of oursdid not content himself with leading the company to which I appointedhim through the gateway. Before leaving Susa he must have thought overevery incident likely to occur. As the leading company he would knowthat it would be his business to clear the ramparts, to check anyparties of the enemy coming along that way, and it would be only naturalfor him to determine to use the enemy's cannon to keep them at bay.

  "This would probably have occurred to most officers placed as he was.But he did not stop there--he must have thought over the events thatwould probably follow the entry. He knew, of course, that our feintat the other end of the town would draw off the greater portion of thegarrison, but would be sure also that as soon as the attack began, andit became evident that our real object was to revictual the citadel,they would come pouring back again. He would have said to himself, 'Weshall be able to keep them at bay until our work is done, then we shallhave to fall back. What then? The enemy will mount the ramparts, andwhile their main force pours out in pursuit, their guns on the wallswill play havoc with us. To prevent this I must silence them before mycompany retires.'

  "It is all very simple when we look at it after it is done, and yetprobably it did not occur to a single officer of that force except toCaptain Campbell. I admit that it did not occur to myself. Had it doneso, I should have ordered that some of the artillerymen should carryspikes and hammers, and that upon entering the town they shouldimmediately take steps, by rendering the guns harmless, to enable theforce to draw off without heavy loss. In the same way he showed a cooland calculating brain when he carried out that most dangerous service ofbearing the news that we should speedily bring aid to the citadel. Itis difficult to imagine a better laid plan. He thought of everything--ofhis disguise, of the manner in which it would alone be possible toapproach closely to the wall.

  "I think that few of us would have thought of making our way up througha house a hundred yards away, working along the roofs and descendinginto the lane by the wall itself. I asked him how he got the rope downwhich it was necessary for him to use four or five times afterwards,and he showed me the plan by which he contrived to free the hook; itwas most ingenious. It did not seem to me that it would have acted ashe told me, and I asked him to have another one made so that I mightunderstand how it was worked, for such a contrivance would be extremelyuseful in escalades, when the troops, after descending into a deepfosse, need the rope for climbing a wall or bastion. There it is,gentlemen, and as you see, by pulling this thin cord the hook is liftedfrom its hold, and the slightest shake will bring it down.

  "The contrivance is an excellent one. The line he took was well chosen.He accomplished the most dangerous part first, and made his way outby the side where the watch was most likely to be careless, as anyoneleaving or entering the town there would have to swim the river. Thefeat shows that he has not only abundance of courage of the very highestorder, but that he has a head to plan and leaves nothing to chance. Youwill see, gentlemen, that if this young officer lives he is likelyto gain the highest rank and position. Already I have every reason tocongratulate myself upon having, almost as it were by chance, taken himunder my protection."

  The winter passed quietly, but as soon as spring set in and the roadswere sufficiently good for the passage of wagons, d'Harcourt prepared toattempt to raise the siege of Casale, before which Leganez with twentythousand men had intrenched himself. The roads were still, however, fartoo heavy for cannon, and as the garrison were becoming hardly pressedhe left his guns behind him and started at the end of April with seventhousand foot and three thousand horse. The position occupied by theSpaniards was a strong one, and their general did not for a momentthink that the French, with a force half the strength of his own, wouldventure to attack him. D'Harcourt, however, resolved upon doing so. Hedivided his force into three parts; two of these were composed of Frenchsoldiers, the third comprised the forces of the Duchess of Savoy. Theattack was successful on all sides--although d'Harcourt for a time couldmake no way, and Turenne was repulsed three times before he entered theintrenchments--the Spaniards were completely defeated, and lost theirguns, ammunition, and baggage, three thousand killed, two thousandprisoners, and great numbers were drowned in endeavouring to cross theriver.

  A council of war was held, and Turenne's advice that Turin should bebesieged was after much debate accepted, although it seemed a desperateenterprise for an army of ten thousand men to besiege a town garrisonedby twelve thousand, while the Spaniards, after recovering from theirdefeat and drawing men from their various garrisons, could marchto relieve the town with eighteen thousand men. No time was lost incarrying Turenne's advice into effect. The army marched upon Turin,seized the positions round the town, threw up lines facing the city toprevent sorties being made by the enemy, and surrounded themselves bysimilar lines to enable them to resist attack by the Spaniards, whowere not long in approaching them. Thus there were now four bodiesof combatants--the garrison of the citadel, which was surrounded andbesieged by that of the town; the town was besieged by Turenne, andhe himself was surrounded by the Spaniards. Each relied rather uponstarving the others out than upon storming their positions, but Leganezmanaged to send a messenger into Turin telling Prince Thomas that heintended to attack the French and calling upon him to fall upon themwith his troops at the same time.

  In pursuance of this design he retired some distance up the Po, andproceeded to cross the river at Moncalieri. D'Harcourt despatchedTurenne to oppose the passage, but before he could arrive there somefive thousand men had crossed the bridge. Without hesitating a moment,although his force was a much smaller one than that of the Spaniards,Turenne attacked them at once, carried the intrenchments they had begunto throw up, killed a large number, and drove the rest into the river,where hundreds were drowned. Then he set fire to the bridge, which wasof wood, and intrenched himself on the banks of the river, occupied allthe fords higher up, and completely checked any advance of the Spaniardsin that direction. He was, however, wounded in the shoulder, and wasobliged to leave the army and to be carried to Pinerolo. While he wasaway Leganez attacked the French line from without, and Prince Thomasfrom within, and the former succeeded in passing twelve hundred horseand one thousand foot into the town.

  The French were now closely beleaguered, and began to suffer severelyfrom famine. In the meantime fresh troops had arrived from France, andalthough not yet recovered from his wounds, Turenne took the command,and escorted a great convoy of provisions into the camp in spite of theenemy's efforts to prevent him. The townspeople were suffering even moreseverely. Sorties were made in great force, but were always repulsed,as were the attacks made by Leganez, and on the 17th of September thegarrison surrendered, being allowed to march out with their arms. TheCount d'Harcourt returned to France, and Turenne again assumed thecommand of the army for the winter.

  Hector conducted himself to the satisfaction of his general throughoutthe campaign, but was severely wounded in the last sortie made by thebesieged, having been thrown down in a charge of Prince Thomas's cavalryand trampled upon by the horses, and being taken up for dead when theenemy fell back.

  Directly he heard the news Turenne sent his surgeon to examine him. Hereported that he still brea
thed, but that several of his ribs and hisleft arm were broken. He mended but slowly, and Turenne, a month afterthe surrender of the town, came in one day to see him, and said, "Thesurgeon tells me that it will be some months before you are fit forservice again, and that you will need a period of perfect rest torecover your health. There is a convoy of invalids returning to Francetomorrow, and I think it were best that you should accompany them. Thereis no rest to be obtained here, and I know that you will be fretting atbeing unable to ride, and at your forced inactivity. I shall give ordersthat you are conveyed in a horse litter to Sedan, where my brother, theDuc de Bouillon, will gladly entertain you for my sake, and you mustremain there until entirely restored to strength.

  "I do not think that there will be much doing on this side of the Alpsin the next campaign. Unhappily France has troubles of her own, and willfind it difficult to spare more troops in this direction, and withoutreinforcements we can but act on the defensive. Though we may capturea few towns, there is small chance of any great operations. Indeed,methinks that it is by no means unlikely that Prince Thomas, seeing thathis effort to rule Savoy in place of his sister-in-law, the duchess, islikely to end in discredit and loss to himself, will before long opennegotiations with her. Therefore you will be losing nothing by going.It is to the duchess that I shall commend you rather than to my brother,who is unfortunately occupied by public matters, and is at presentalmost at war with Richelieu.

  "He is a man of noble impulses, generous in the extreme, and the soul ofhonour, but he knows not how to conceal his feelings; and in these daysno man, even the most powerful, can venture to rail in public againstone who has offended him, when that man happens to be the cardinal. Ilove my brother dearly, but I have mixed myself up in no way with hisaffairs. I am an officer of the king, and as such I stand aloof from allparties in the state. The cardinal is his minister; doubtless he has hisfaults, but he is the greatest man in France, and the wisest. He livesand works for the country. It may be true that he is ambitious forhimself, but the glory of France is his chief care. It is for thatpurpose that we have entered upon this war, for he sees that if Germanybecomes united under an emperor who is by blood a Spaniard, Francemust eventually be crushed, and Spain become absolutely predominant inEurope. If he is opposed, Richelieu strikes hard, because he deems thosewho oppose him as not only his own enemies but as enemies of France.

  "As a prince of the church it must have been bitter for him to have toally himself with the Protestant princes of Germany, with ProtestantHolland, and Protestant England, but he has done so. It is true that hehas captured La Rochelle, and broken the power of the Huguenot lords ofthe south, but these new alliances show that he is ready to sacrificehis own prejudices for the good of France when France is endangered,and that it is on account of the danger of civil broils to the country,rather than from a hatred of the Huguenots, that he warred against them.Here am I, whom he deigns to honour with his patronage, a Huguenot; mybrother, Bouillon, was also a Huguenot, and strangely enough the quarrelbetween him and the cardinal did not break out until my brother hadchanged his religion.

  "He was more rigorously brought up than I was, and was taught to lookupon the Catholics with abhorrence; but he married, not from policy butfrom love, a Catholic lady, who is in all respects worthy of him, forshe is as high spirited and as generous as he is, and at the same timeis gentle, loving, and patient. Though deeply pious, she is free frombigotry, and it was because my brother came to see that the tales hehad been taught of the bigotry and superstition of the Catholicswere untrue, at least in many instances, that he revolted against theintolerance of the doctrines in which he had been brought up, renouncedthem, and became an adherent of his wife's religion.

  "Nigh four years ago the Duke of Soissons, a prince of the blood,incurred the enmity of Richelieu by refusing, with scorn, his proposalthat he should marry the Countess of Cobalet, Richelieu's niece. Therefusal, and still more the language in which he refused, excited thedeep enmity of the cardinal. Soissons had joined the party against him,but as usual Richelieu had the king's ear. Soissons was ordered toleave the court, and went to Sedan, where he was heartily received bymy brother, who had a warm affection for him. Bouillon wrote to the kinghoping that he would not be displeased at his offering a retreat to aprince of the blood, and the king wrote permitting the count to stayat Sedan. After a time Richelieu again endeavoured to bring about themarriage upon which he had set his heart, but was again refused, and,being greatly exasperated, insisted on Bouillon obliging the count toleave Sedan. My brother naturally replied that the king having at firstapproved of his receiving Soissons, he could not violate the laws ofhospitality to a prince of the blood.

  "Richelieu then persuaded the king to refuse further payments to thegarrisons at Sedan, although the latter had confirmed the agreemententered into by his father, whereupon my brother openly declared againstRichelieu, and still further excited the cardinal's anger by furnishingan asylum to the Archbishop of Rheims, second son of Charles ofLorraine, who had also quarrelled with Richelieu. So matters standat present. What will come of it, I know not. I doubt not that thecardinal's hostility to Bouillon does not arise solely from the Soissonsaffair, which but serves him as a pretext. You see his object for thepast four years has been to strengthen France by extending her frontiersto the east by the conquest of Lorraine. He has already carried them tothe Upper Rhine, and by obtaining from the Duke of Savoy Pinerolo andits dependencies has brought them up to the foot of the Alps.

  "But my brother's dukedom stands in the way of his grand project, forit is a gate through which an enemy from beyond the Rhine might invadeFrance; and, moreover, the close family relationship between us and thePrince of Holland would add to the danger should Holland, at present ourally, fall out with France. Thus the possession of Bouillon's dukedom,or at any rate its military occupation for a time, is a consideration ofvital importance to the kingdom. Such, you see, is the situation. Were Inot an officer in the French army doubtless my feelings would be on theside of my brother. As it is, I am a faithful servant of the king andhis minister, and should deem it the height of dishonour were I to usemy influence against what I perceive is the cause of France. I tell youthis in order that you may understand the various matters which mightsurprise you at Sedan.

  "You go there as a patient to be nursed by the duchess, mysister-in-law, and having no influence, and at present not even thestrength to use your sword, there is little fear that any will seek toinvolve you in these party turmoils. I shall write to my brother thatyou are a soldier of France and that you have done her good service,that you are a protege of mine, and being of Scottish blood belong to noparty save my party, and that I entreat that he will not allow anyone toset you against the cardinal, or to try and attach you to any party, forthat I want you back again with me as soon as you are thoroughly cured."

  Hector would much rather have remained to be cured in Italy, but he didnot think of raising the slightest objection to Turenne's plans for him,and the next day he started for Sedan, taking, of course, Paolo withhim. The convoy traveled by easy stages over the passes into France,and then, escorted by a sergeant and eight troopers, Hector was carriednorth to Sedan. Though still very weak, he was able to alight at theentrance of the duke's residence, and sent in Turenne's letters to himand the duchess. Three minutes later the duke himself came down.

  "Captain Campbell," he said heartily, "my brother has done well insending you here to be taken care of and nursed. In his letters to mehe has spoken of you more than once, especially with reference to themanner in which you carried a message for him to the citadel of Turin.I shall be glad to do anything that I can for so brave a young officer,but I fear that for the present you will have to be under the charge ofthe duchess rather than mine."

  The duke was a tall, handsome man with a frank and open face, a merrylaugh, and a ready jest. He was extremely popular, not only in his owndominions, but among the Parisians. His fault was that he was led tooeasily. Himself the soul of honour, he beli
eved others to be equallyhonourable, and so suffered himself to become mixed up in plots andconspiracies, and to be drawn on into an enterprise wholly foreign tohis nature.

  "I will take you at once to the duchess, but I see that you are quiteunfit to walk. Sit down, I beg you, until I get a chair for you."

  Three or four minutes later four lackeys came with a carrying chair, andHector was taken upstairs to the duchess's apartments.

  "This is the gentleman of whom Turenne has written to me, and doubtless,as I see by that letter upon the table, to you also. He has been a gooddeal damaged, having been ridden over by a squadron of Prince Thomas'shorsemen, and needs quiet and rest."

  "Turenne has told me all about it," the duchess said. "I welcome youvery heartily, monsieur. My brother says that he has great affection foryou, and believes you will some day become a master in the art of war.He says you have rendered him most valuable services, which is strangeindeed, seeing that you are as yet very young."

  "I was sixteen the other day, madam."

  "Only sixteen, and already a captain!" she exclaimed.

  "I was made a captain nine months ago," he said, "for a little servicethat I performed to his satisfaction."

  "Turenne would not have promoted you unless it had been an importantservice, I am sure," she said with a smile. "He does great thingshimself, and expects great things from others."

  "It was the affair of carrying the message to the garrison of thecitadel of Turin urging them to hold out, as he would come to theirrelief soon," the duke said. "Do you not remember that he wrote us anaccount of it?"

  "I remember it perfectly. Turenne said a young officer, but I did notimagine that it could have been but a lad. However, Captain Campbell, Iwill not detain you here talking, or you will begin by considering me tobe a very bad nurse. Directly I received the letter I ordered a chamberto be prepared for you. By this time all will be in readiness, and alackey ready to disrobe you and assist you to bed."

  "I do not need," he began, but she held up her finger.

  "Please to remember, sir, that I am head nurse here. You will go tobed at once, and will take a light repast and a glass of generous wine.After that our surgeon will examine you, and remove your bandages, whichhave been, I doubt not, somewhat disarranged on your journey; then hewill say whether it will be advisable that you should keep your bed fora time, which will, I think, be far the best for you, for you will bemuch more comfortable so than on a couch, which, however good to be satupon by those in health, affords but poor comfort to an invalid. Haveyou brought a servant with you?"

  "Yes, madam. He is a very faithful lad, and accompanied me on thatenterprise that you have been speaking of. He is a merry fellow, andhas proved himself a good and careful nurse. He sat up with me for manynights when I was first hurt, and has ever since slept on the floor inmy room."

  "I will give him in charge of my majordomo, who will see that he is welltaken care of, and we can have a pallet laid for him at night on thefloor of your room."

  She herself led the way to a very comfortable apartment where a fire wasburning on the hearth; a lackey was already in waiting, and after a fewkind words she left him.

  "I have fallen into good hands indeed," Hector said to himself. "Whatwould Sergeant MacIntosh say if he knew that I was lodged in a ducalpalace, and that the duke and duchess had both spoken to me and seenafter my comfort as if I had been a relation of their own?"

  In spite of the care and attention that he received, Hector's recoverywas slow, and even when spring came the surgeon said that he was unfitfor severe work. However, the letters that he received from time to timefrom de Lisle and Chavigny consoled him, for not only had the winterpassed without any incident save the capture of three or four townsby Turenne, but it was not at all likely that any events of greatimportance would take place. All accounts represented the Spaniards asbeing engaged in adding to the strength of three or four towns inthe duchy of Milan, so that evidently they intended to stand upon thedefensive.

  The palace of Sedan was the centre of a formidable conspiracy againstRichelieu. Messengers came and went, and Bouillon, Soissons, and theArchbishop of Rheims were constantly closeted together. They had variousallies at court, and believed that they should be able to overthrow theminister who had so long ruled over France in the name of the king.

  As Hector was now able to move about, and was acquainted with all themembers of the duke's household, he learned much of what was going on;and from a conversation that he accidentally overheard, he could seethat the position was an extremely serious one, as a treaty had beensigned with Ferdinand, son of the King of Spain, and the ArchdukeLeopold-William, son of the Emperor of Austria, by which each agreed toassist the duke and his friends with a large sum of money for raisingsoldiers, and with seven thousand men. In order to justify themselves,the heads of the movement issued a manifesto, in which they styledthemselves Princes of Peace. In this they rehearsed the cardinal'svarious acts of tyranny and cruelty towards his rivals, the arbitrarymanner in which he carried on the government, and declared that theywere leagued solely to overthrow the power that overshadowed that ofthe king, plunged France into wars, and scourged the people with heavytaxation.

  As soon as this manifesto was published in Sedan, Hector went to theduke.

  "My lord duke," he said, "I cannot sufficiently thank you for thehospitality and kindness with which you and the duchess have treated me.Nevertheless, I must ask you to allow me to leave at once."

  "Why this sudden determination, Captain Campbell?"

  "If, sir, I were but a private person I should have no hesitation,after the kindness that you have shown me, in requesting you to give meemployment in the force that you are raising; but I am an officer of theking, and what is of far greater importance at the present moment, anaide-de-camp of the Viscount Turenne, your brother. Were it reportedthat I was with your army, or even indeed that I was here, the cardinalwould at once conclude that I was representing the viscount, and wasperhaps the intermediary through whom communications between youand your brother were being carried on. Therefore I should not onlycompromise myself, which is of no importance, but I might excitesuspicion in Richelieu's mind against your brother, which might resultin his recall from the position in which he has so distinguishedhimself, and grievously injure his prospects. The viscount himselfwarned me against mixing myself with any party, saying that a soldiershould hold himself free from all entanglement, bent only on serving, tothe utmost of his power, the king and France."

  "You are right," the duke said heartily. "Turenne has no grievancesagainst king or cardinal, and has acted wisely in holding himself alooffrom any party; and badly as I am affected towards Richelieu, I willown that he has never allowed my brother's relationship towards me toprevent his employing him in posts of honour. I have never sought toinfluence him in the slightest, and am far too proud of the credit andhonour he has gained to do aught that would in any way cause a breachbetween him and the cardinal. What you have said is very right and true.Doubtless Richelieu has spies in this town, as he has elsewhere, and mayhave learned that a young officer on my brother's staff was brought herelast autumn grievously wounded. But it is certainly well that now, asthe time for action is at hand, you should retire. You are not thinking,I hope, of returning at once, for it was but a day or two ago that thesurgeon assured me that it would need another three or four months ofquiet before you would be fit to resume your duties."

  "I feel that myself, my lord, and moreover I think that it would be aswell that I should not join the viscount at present, for it might wellbe supposed that I was the bearer of some important news from you tohim; therefore I propose to go to Geneva, and remain there until I havecompletely recruited my strength. In the Swiss republic I should passunnoticed, even by the cardinal's agents. And the fact that, althoughbeing but a comparatively short distance from Piedmont, I abstained fromjoining the general, would, if they inquired, show that I could not havebeen entrusted with any private communication from you to h
im."

  "It could not be better," the duke said. "When you leave here youshould no longer wear that military scarf. Of course, when you enterSwitzerland there is no reason why you should disguise the fact that youare a French officer, and having been severely wounded, have come thereto repair your health. Doubtless many others have done so; and, dressedas a private person, you would excite no attention. But the Swiss, whostrive to hold themselves neutral and to avoid giving offence, mightraise objections to a French officer wearing military attire stayingamong them."

  That evening Hector bade his adieu to the duchess and to the friends hehad made during his stay, and the next morning, attended by Paolo, hestarted for Geneva.

  "I am glad indeed that we are off, master," the latter said. "In truth,had I stayed here much longer I should have become useless from fat andidleness, for I have had nothing whatever to do but to eat and sleep."

  "I am glad to be off, too, Paolo. I am convinced myself, in spite ofwhat the surgeon says, that actual exercise will do more for me than thedoctor's potions and rich food. I am stiff still, but it is from doingnothing, and were it not that coming from here my presence might beinconvenient for Turenne, I would journey straight to his camp. You sawthe prince's manifesto?"

  Paolo nodded. "I did, master. Not being able to read or write, I couldmake nothing of it myself, but a burgher coming along read it aloud, andit made me shake in my shoes with fright. I made my way as quickly as Icould from so dangerous a spot, for it seemed nothing short of treasonto have heard such words read against the cardinal."

  "I fear that the duke has made a terrible mistake, Paolo. Hitherto allwho have ventured to measure their strength with the cardinal havebeen worsted, and many have lost everything and are now fugitives fromFrance. Some have lost their lives as well as honours and estates.Bouillon is an independent prince, and so was Lorraine, and althoughthe latter could put ten men in the field to every one the duke couldmuster, he has been driven from his principality. Soissons could nothelp him except with his name, nor can the Archbishop of Rheims. Not afew of the great nobles would join the duke did they think that he had aprospect of success. None have so far done so, though possibly some havegiven him secret pledges, which will count for nothing unless it seemsthat he is likely to triumph.

  "It is rumoured, as you know, that he has made an alliance with Spainand Austria. Both will use him as an arm against France, but will throwhim over and leave him to his fate whenever it suits them. Moreover,their alliance would assuredly deter any, who might otherwise rangethemselves with him, from taking up arms. No Huguenot would fight bythe side of a Spaniard; and although the Guises and the Catholic noblesallied themselves with Spain against Henri of Navarre, it was in amatter in which they deemed their religion in danger, while this is buta quarrel between Bouillon and the cardinal; and with Spain fightingagainst France in the Netherlands, they would not risk their lands andtitles. Bouillon had better have stood alone than have called in theSpaniards and Austrians. We know whose doing that is, the Archbishop ofRheims, who is a Guise, and, methinks, from what I have seen of him, acrafty one.

  "I am sure that neither the duke nor Soissons would, unless won overby the archbishop, have ever consented to such a plan, for both arehonourable gentlemen, and Soissons at least is a Frenchman, whichcan hardly be said of Bouillon, whose ancestors have been independentprinces here for centuries. However, I fear that he will rue the dayhe championed the cause of Soissons. It was no affair of his, and it iscarrying hospitality too far to endanger life and kingdom rather thantell two guests that they must seek a refuge elsewhere. All Europe wasopen to them. As a Guise the archbishop would have been welcome whereverSpain had power. With Spain, Italy, and Austria open to him, why shouldhe thus bring danger and misfortune upon the petty dukedom of Sedan?The same may be said of Soissons; however reluctant Bouillon might be topart with so dear a friend, Soissons himself should have insisted upongoing and taking up his abode elsewhere. Could he still have brought alarge force into the field, and have thus risked as much as Bouillon,the case would be different, but his estates are confiscated, or, at anyrate, he has no longer power to summon his vassals to the field, andhe therefore risks nothing in case of defeat, while Bouillon is riskingeverything."

  "I daresay that that is all true, master, though in faith I know nothingabout the matter. For myself, it seems to me that when one is a noble,and has everything that a man can want, he must be a fool to mix himselfup in troubles. I know that if the King of France were to give me a bigestate, and anyone came to me and asked me to take part in a plot, Iwould, if I had the power of life and death, have him hung up over thegate of my castle."

  "That would be a short way, no doubt, Paolo, but it might not keep youout of trouble," Hector said, smiling. "If the person who came to youwere also a noble, his family and friends would rise in arms to avengehis death, and instead of avoiding trouble you would bring it at onceupon your head."

  "I suppose that would be so, master," Paolo said thoughtfully; "so Ithink that it would be best for me that the king should not take it intohis head to give me that estate. And so we are going to Geneva, master?"

  "Yes."

  "That pleases me not," the other one said, "for I have heard of it asa terribly serious place, where a man dares not so much as smile, andwhere he has to listen to sermons and exhortations lasting half a day.My father was a Huguenot, and I suppose that I am, too, though I neverinquired very closely into the matter; but as for exhortations of fourhours in length, methinks I would rather swim those moats again, master,and to go all day without smiling would be a worse penance than thestrictest father confessor could lay upon me."

  "I own that I am somewhat of your opinion, Paolo. My father brought meup a Protestant like yourself, and when I was quite young I had a verydreary time of it while he was away, living as I did in the house of aHuguenot pastor. After that I attended the Protestant services in thebarracks, for all the officers and almost all the men are Protestants,and, of course, were allowed to have their own services; but theminister, who was a Scotchman, knew better than to make his discoursestoo lengthy; for if he did, there was a shuffling of jackboots on thestone floor and a clanking of sabres that warned him that the patienceof the soldiers was exhausted. In our own glen my father has told methat the ministers are as long winded as those of Geneva; but, as hesaid, soldiers are a restless people, and it is one thing for men whoregard their Sunday gathering as the chief event in the week to listento lengthy discourses, but quite another for soldiers, either in thefield or a city like Paris, to do so. However, if we do not find Genevato our taste, there is no reason why we should tarry there, as Zurichlies on the other end of the lake, and Zurich is Catholic, or at anyrate largely so, and Calvinist doctrines have never flourished there.But, on the other hand, the sympathies of Geneva have generally beenwith France, while those of Zurich are with Austria; therefore I thinkthat if we like not Geneva we will go to Lyons, where, as an officer ofViscount Turenne's, I am sure to be well received."

  "Why not go there at once, master?"

  "Because I think that the fresh air of the lake will brace me up, andmaybe if I find the people too sober minded for me we will go up intothe mountains and lodge there in some quiet village. I think that wouldsuit both of us."

  "It would suit me assuredly," Paolo said joyfully. "I love themountains."

  Such was indeed the course eventually taken. The strict Calvinism ofGeneva suited neither of them; and after a fortnight's stay there theywent up among the hills, and in the clear brisk air Hector found hisblood begin to run more rapidly through his veins, and his strength andenergy fast returning. Sometimes he rode, but soon found more pleasurein climbing the hills around on foot, for the mountain paths were sorough that it was seldom indeed that his horse could break into a trot.