HUGUES OF LASCY (addressing his companion who has just entered the room)--"Montfort now rests somewhat more easily. One of his equerries, who just left the patient's room, told me that the count was sleeping and that his fever seems to have gone down."

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"So much the better, because I have just notified Alyx of Montmorency that she should no longer count upon the physician whom she expected from Lavaur."

HUGUES OF LASCY--"Who is he?"

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"Seeing this morning that Montfort was a prey to a high fever and to a painful oppression of the chest that her own surgeon equerry was unable to relieve, the countess remembered having heard one of our prisoners say that the most famous physician of this country, a fanatical heretic, was at the Castle of Lavaur. The countess ordered the prisoner to be brought to her, and offered to set him free upon condition that he would convey to the physician a letter in which a safe conduct was promised him if he consented to come and attend to Montfort, after which the celebrated Esculapius was to be free to return to the beleaguered city."

HUGUES OF LASCY--"What an imprudence! How can the countess entrust so precious a life to the care of a heretic?"

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"Dismiss your fears. The scamp immediately left on his errand, and at the solicitation of the countess I waited for the physician at our advanced posts. I waited until now to bring him here.

But night set in; he has not appeared; we need no longer expect him.

Nevertheless, I left orders for him to be brought hither in case that he should still present himself at the camp, which is highly improbable."

HUGUES OF LASCY--"The countess has lost her wits. How could she think of entrusting Montfort's life to an enemy!"

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"I raised the objection to Alyx of Montmorency. Her answer was that seeing the physician in question is one of those whom these d.a.m.ned heretics call 'Perfects', the man would certainly carry his hypocrisy to the point of not betraying the trust reposed in him. She thinks so because the affectation of honesty on the part of these wretches goes beyond all bounds. It is the sublimity of knavery."

HUGUES OF LASCY--"No doubt these fanatics are capable of the most wicked affectation, in order to give themselves the semblance of virtue."

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"There is one thing, however, that is no false semblance, and that is the inveterate resistance offered by these people of Lavaur. Do you know that they defend themselves like lions? Blood of Christ, it looks like a dream! The siege of this accursed town, that has already cost us many captains and soldiers, has now lasted nearly a month, while Cha.s.seneuil, Beziers and Carca.s.sonne were taken almost without striking a blow. These fellows of Lavaur are rude customers!"

HUGUES OF LASCY--"Their determined and also unexpected resistance, not hitherto encountered by us since our invasion of Albigeois, is attributed to the enthusiasm that certain furiously savage poems are said to have kindled among the people, and which are being sung from place to place by Mylio the Trouvere, the same whom we knew in northern Gaul."

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"That Mylio must be among the besieged. No doubt it is he who is p.r.i.c.king the Lady of Lavaur, one of the most embittered heretics of the country, to offer the desperate resistance that we meet."

HUGUES OF LASCY (with a cruel smile)--"Patience! Patience! This is not a Court of Love where warriors bow down before the authority of women.

Blood of Christ! When we shall have seized this infernal castle, a terrible court of justice will be held within its walls, and the Lady of Lavaur will be proclaimed Queen of the Pyre."

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"And after the execution of the she-cat we shall salute you 'Seigneur of Lavaur;' happy Lascy! Montfort has promised the seigniory to you; it is one of the most valuable of Albigeois; and he never fails in his word toward the faithful."

HUGUES OF LASCY--"Will you envy me the gift? Has not Montfort, who is now the master and conqueror of the region, bestowed several of the seigniories upon chiefs of our Crusade? He may bestow one upon you also!"

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"May heaven keep me from entertaining any jealousy towards you! As to me, my part is done. And to speak truly, the good bags of gold and the fine silver vessel that I captured at the sack of Beziers, and which are safely kept in my baggage, are, to my mind, preferable to all the domains of Albigeois. One can not carry home with him either lands or castles, and the chances of war are risky. But I hope that I shall have nothing more to fear from that quarter after the 10th of this month."

HUGUES OF LASCY--"What does that date signify?"

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"The day after that date the forty days will have expired that are all a Crusader owes to a holy war. The forty days begin from the moment he sets foot upon the heretical land. After that he can ride with his men back to his own manor. And that is what I purpose to do--"

The confidential unbosoming on the part of the ex-Conservator of the High Privileges of Love is at this point interrupted by one of the equerries of the Count of Montfort, who comes running out of the neighboring chamber.

HUGUES OF LASCY--"Where are you running to in that way? What pressing business have you in hand?"

EQUERRY--"Oh, sire, the count is in great danger. He lies in the agony of death!"

HUGUES OF LASCY--"But only a short while ago he was resting calmly, and the fever had abated? What change has come over him?"

EQUERRY--"The count just woke up and is almost suffocated. I am running after Abbot Reynier by order of the countess. She wishes him to administer the extreme unction to the seigneur, and open for him the gates of paradise."

The equerry runs off on his errand, and is barely away when a soldier enters and says to Lambert of Limoux:

"Seigneur, I have brought to you the heretic of Lavaur, whom I was ordered to wait for at our advanced posts. He asks to be allowed to enter."

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"Let him in!--Let him in--He could arrive at no more opportune moment."

HUGUES OF LASCY--"Do you insist on trusting Montfort's life to that d.a.m.ned heretic? You are a.s.suming a grave responsibility."

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX--"I shall take him to Alyx of Montmorency.--It will be for her to decide in this grave emergency."

The soldier enters with Karvel the Perfect. The latter's physiognomy is stamped with his habitual serenity. He holds a little casket in one hand and salutes the knights in the chamber.

LAMBERT OF LIMOUX (to Karvel)--"Follow me. I shall take you to Alyx of Montmorency, the worthy spouse of the Count of Montfort."

CHAPTER XI.

MONTFORT AND THE PERFECT.

Simon, Count of Leicester and of Montfort-L'Amaury lies on a bed in great agony. Alyx of Montmorency, a woman barely thirty years old, is on her knees near her husband's couch.

Lambert of Limoux introduces Karvel the Perfect to Alyx and withdraws, leaving him in the chamber.

ALYX OF MONTMORENCY (crossing herself, addresses the physician in a feeble voice)--"You have been long in coming. It may now be too late!"

KARVEL--"We have many wounded in Lavaur. My first a.s.sistance was due to them. You have summoned me in the name of humanity. I have come, madam, to fill a sacred duty."

ALYX OF MONTMORENCY--"At times it pleases the Lord to avail Himself of the most perverse instruments in behalf of His elect!"

KARVEL (smiles at the singular reception and approaches the couch of Simon whose haggard face and fixed eyes seem to give no sign of intelligence. After a long and attentive examination of the patient, after placing his hand on the count's forehead, slightly touching his parched lips with his fingers and consulting his pulse, addresses the countess)--"Your husband must be quickly bled, madam. (Saying this he draws from his pocket a reticule that contains a red cloth band and lancets; he picks out one of these and adds) Kindly draw this table and candle nearer, madam; I shall then want your a.s.sistance to support your husband's arm. The silver basin that I see on yonder shelf will serve to receive the blood in. I recommend to you, madam, not to allow the count to bend his arm when I p.r.i.c.k it. There is an artery that my lancet might cut, if the arm is not held steady--and that would prove mortal."

ALYX OF MONTMORENCY (impa.s.sible)--"My husband can die. He is in the state of grace."

For an instant stupefied by such frigid insensibility, Karvel stays his hand, but his professional instinct resumes the ascendency, and he boldly and dexterously lances the vein, from which a jet of thick black blood immediately issues and falls steaming into the silver basin.

KARVEL--"What black blood! The bleeding will, I hope, save your husband, madam!"

ALYX OF MONTMORENCY--"The will of G.o.d be done! May His name be glorified."

The patient's blood continues to flow into the silver vessel. Only the m.u.f.fled and continued sound of the trickling blood interrupts the otherwise profound silence of the chamber. The Perfect attentively watches the count's face and notices the gradual manifestations of the beneficent effect produced by the blood letting. The patient's skin, until then parched and burning, is gradually suffused with a copious perspiration. His chest is relieved. His fixed eyes are soon covered by their lids. Karvel again consults the count's pulse, and cries delighted: "He is saved!"

ALYX OF MONTMORENCY (raising her eyes to the ceiling)--"Lord, since it pleases You to leave my husband in this valley of tears and misery--may Your will be done! May Your holy name be glorified!"

Karvel stops the flow of the blood with the red bandage, which he rolls around the count's arm. He then steps to the casket that he brought with him and which he placed upon a table, takes from it several vials and prepares a potion. Montfort's condition improves as if by enchantment.

He gradually recovers from his lethargy, and heaves a sigh of profound relief. The Perfect finishes the preparation of the potion, steps back to the couch and says to the countess:

"Please raise your husband's head, madam, and help me to make him drink this potion that will restore his strength. All danger of death is now removed."