"Your morning drink!" answered the trusty equerry; and turning from his master: "Monsieur Lanoue, I entreat you; join me in making the Admiral listen to reason. He knows that his surgeon, Monsieur Ambroise Pare, strongly recommended to him chicory water when in the field, because the Admiral often is twelve and fifteen hours at a stretch on horseback, without once taking off his boots. Well, he refuses to follow the orders of his physician."

"You hear the complaint of your worthy servant, Monsieur Admiral,"

remarked Lanoue smiling. "I agree with him; he is right. You should follow the orders of Master Ambroise Pare."

"Come, come--it shall be as Monsieur Nicholas wishes," said Coligny, taking the bowl from the table. He looked at the greenish color of the decoction with visible repugnance, and carried the bowl to his lips.

At that very instant Odelin Lebrenn rushed into the chamber, dashed the earthen vessel from Coligny's hands and crushed it under his feet, crying:

"Thank G.o.d! I arrived in time!"

Lanoue, Nicholas Mouche and Coligny were stupefied. Breathless with excitement and winded from a long and rapid run, Odelin Lebrenn leaned with one hand against the table. He made a sign that he wished to speak but could not yet. Finally he stammered out:

"A second later--and Monsieur Coligny would have been poisoned--by the potion--he was about--to drink!"

"Great G.o.d!" cried Lanoue, growing pale, while Nicholas Mouche trembled like an aspen leaf as he looked at his master.

"Explain yourself, Monsieur Lebrenn!" commanded the Admiral.

"This morning, when you were away from the room with your servants at prayer, I came in to bring back your casque. I found Dominic here."

"That is so," said Nicholas Mouche; "he did not go to prayer with the rest."

"Without being surprised at finding Dominic in his master's room,"

Odelin proceeded, "I noticed, notwithstanding, that he was pale and confused. Later, G.o.d be blessed, I recalled the circ.u.mstance that, as I came in, I saw him quickly step away from the table on which stood the vessel which, as Nicholas afterwards told me, held the drink you take every morning, Monsieur Admiral. Into that drink, into that chicory water, Dominic dropped the poison."

"He!" exclaimed Coligny, horrified. "Impossible! A servant raised under my own roof since his early childhood!"

"Oh, the wretch!" cried Nicholas Mouche. "This morning, seeing me prepare the potion, Dominic asked me to let him attend to the matter. I saw in that only a warning to be careful."

"My G.o.d!" put in Lanoue, who had remained dumb with horror and indignation. "Providence can allow such crimes, only to inspire the world with execration for their perpetrators. Can such wickedness be, Monsieur Lebrenn?"

"Dominic has confessed all. The instigators of the murder are the Duke of Anjou and the Count of La Riviere, a captain of the Duke's guards.

The temptation of a vast sum decided the a.s.sa.s.sin to undertake the deed."

"Oh, Catherine De Medici, your children approve themselves worthy of you! They emulate the example you have set them!" exclaimed Lanoue.

"But how did you discover the crime, Monsieur Lebrenn? Tell us."

"What I noticed this morning would have awakened my suspicions on the spot, were it not for the hurried arrival of my son and the tidings he brought me. I followed him in a great hurry. As we were pa.s.sing by the inn that lies not far from my place and where the horses of Monsieur Coligny are stabled, I saw Dominic come out, riding bareback. His nag bore evidence of having been bridled in great haste. Dominic departed at a gallop. The man's frightened looks and his hurry to get off revived my first suspicions. I ran after him calling out: 'Hold him!' 'Hold him!'

My uncle, the Franc-Taupin, together with some others of his men, happened to be in the wretch's way. They jumped at the bridle of his horse, and held him fast. As I caught up with them I shouted to him point-blank: 'You poisoned the Admiral!' Surprise, fear and remorse immediately drew from him a full confession of his crime. 'It is true,'

he answered. 'I repent it. The Duke of Anjou offered me a large sum to poison my master--I yielded--the poison was handed to me--and I returned to camp in order to commit the murder.' The instant I heard this, I ran hither, leaving Dominic in the care of my son."

"Monsieur Lebrenn," said Coligny, grasping Odelin's hands with warmth, "It is thirty and odd years ago that I met your worthy father at one of the first councils of the reformers on Montmartre. I was then quite young, while your father, an artisan employed at the printing establishment of Robert Estienne already had rendered valiant services to the cause. It is sweet to me to owe my life to you--to you, his worthy son."

"The cannon!" suddenly called out Lanoue, listening to a m.u.f.fled and rumbling sound that came from afar, carried into the room by the early morning breeze, "It is the rumbling sound of approaching cannon wheels.

The detonations succeed each other rapidly."

"Nicholas," said Coligny, without indicating any surprise, "look at my pocket-watch. It must now be nearly ten o'clock."

"Yes, monsieur," answered the equerry after consulting the watch; "it is nearly ten."

"La Rochefoucauld has executed my orders punctually. It shall not be long before we shall see one of his officers arrive. Lanoue, let us be ready to jump on horseback." And turning to his equerry: "Order the horses brought to the door of the priory. Monsieur Lebrenn, I count upon having your son at my side, as usual in action, to carry my orders."

"Here he is, monsieur," answered Odelin as Antonicq entered. "Where is the wretch, my son?"

"Father, he repeated his confession, again accusing the Duke of Anjou and the captain of the Duke's guards with having driven him to the commission of the crime, which he seemed deeply to repent. The exasperated soldiers executed instant justice upon the poisoner. They hanged him. His corpse is now swinging from the branch of an oak."[70]

At this moment a Huguenot officer covered with dust appeared at the threshold of the door. Monsieur Coligny said to him:

"I was waiting for you. Is the skirmish opened? Are all doing their duty well?"

"Yes, monsieur. A few companies of the royal army answered our attack, and have crossed the stream that covered their front."

"Monsieur La Rochefoucauld must have feigned a retreat towards the hill of Haut Moulin, behind which are ma.s.sed the twenty cavalry squadrons of the Prince of Gerolstein. Have all my orders been executed?"

"Yes, monsieur. At the very moment that he despatched me to you, Monsieur La Rochefoucauld was executing the retreat. The Prince was in command of his cavalry. All the forces are in line of battle."

"All goes well," observed Coligny to Lanoue; "I ordered the Prince's squadrons not to dismask and charge until the royal troops, drawn into disorder by their pursuit of our men, shall have arrived at the foot of the hill. We may expect a good result."

"Monsieur La Rochefoucauld also ordered me to make an important communication to you. From some royalist prisoners we learned this morning that the Queen and the Cardinal arrived in the camp of the Duke of Anjou."

Upon hearing of Catherine De Medici's arrival, the Admiral reflected for an instant, then drew near the table, dashed a few words down on a sheet of paper and handed it to the officer, saying:

"Monsieur, return at your fastest, and deliver this order to Monsieur La Rochefoucauld." And addressing Lanoue as the officer left on the wings of the wind on his errand: "The presence of the Queen in the royal camp may suggest to Marshal Tavannes the idea of engaging in a decisive action. Come, my friend," he added, leaving the chamber, "I wish to consult with the Princes of Orange and Na.s.sau before taking horse."

CHAPTER V.

FAMILY FLOTSAM.

Almost immediately upon the arrival of Monsieur La Rochefoucauld's aide at the Admiral's quarters, Odelin Lebrenn and Antonicq hastened to reach their lodgings, where Anna Bell awaited them. The meeting between father and daughter was delayed through the discovery of the crime that Coligny was to be the victim of.

Odelin Lebrenn had set up his armorer's establishment on the ground floor of a house in St. Yrieix which the inhabitants had abandoned.

Franz of Gerolstein, together with several n.o.blemen of his suite and their pages, occupied a set of rooms on the floor above, below them being also the quarters of Odelin, his son and the Franc-Taupin. A straw couch, large enough to accommodate the three, stood at the rear of the apartment. Near a wide, open fireplace lay the hammers, the anvil and the portable forge requisite for the armorer's work. Day was now far advanced. Since morning Anna Bell had not left the lodging. Seated on a wooden bench, and her head reclined upon her hands, she expectantly turned her ears from time to time toward the street. The recent agonizing bustle of the camp was now followed by solitude and silence.

All the troops, a few companies excepted that were left in charge of the baggage, had marched out beyond the burg and its entrenchments, in order to form in battle array about one league from the Admiral's headquarters, he having prepared for a possible general engagement.

Odelin Lebrenn's first interview with Anna Bell was both tender and painful. The father found again his daughter, once dearly beloved and long wept as lost. But he found her soiled with the t.i.tle of maid of honor of Catherine De Medici! With distressing frankness the wretched girl confessed to her father the disorders of her past life. Anna Bell was just finishing her narrative when the general call to arms resounded. Antonicq went to his post beside Monsieur Coligny, after listening to the revelations of his sister; a few minutes later Odelin also, yielding to the imperious voice of duty, left his weeping daughter, to join the cavalry squadron in which he served as volunteer.

Left alone, Anna Bell fell a prey to cruel anxieties. Her father, her brother and Franz of Gerolstein were about to run the dangers of a battle. The confession wrung from her lips by a terrific necessity seemed to render all the more profound, all the more grievous the love of the young girl for the Prince. Now less than ever did she expect her affection to be returned. Still she experienced a sort of bitter consolation in the thought that Franz of Gerolstein was no longer ignorant of her pa.s.sionate devotion, and that, in order to save him from poison, she risked her own life. The chaos of distressing thoughts, now rendered all the more painful by her uneasiness for those whom she loved, plunged Anna Bell into inexpressible agony. She counted the hours with increasing anxiety. Toward night the roll of drums and blare of trumpets resounded from afar. The young girl trembled and listened.

Presently she could distinguish the approaching tramp of horses' hoofs, and not long thereafter she heard them stop before the lodging. Running to the door, she opened it in the hope of seeing her brother and father.

Instead, she saw a page in the livery of the Prince of Gerolstein holding a second horse by the reins.

"Monsieur," asked Anna Bell anxiously of the lad, "what news of the battle?"

"There was no battle, mademoiselle, only a lively engagement of outposts. The royalists were worsted," and swallowing a sigh, while tears appeared in his eyes, he added, "but unfortunately my poor comrade Wilhelm, one of the Prince of Gerolstein's pages, was killed in the skirmish. I am leading back his horse."