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Bram Stoker - "The Jewel of Seven Stars"

Won by the Sword

G >> G.A. Henty >> Won by the Sword




Daylight was breaking when they crossed the bridge of boats. Hector
halted a mile from the river, keeping Paolo with him, and telling
the others to pass at intervals of a quarter of an hour apart.

"You will go first, Macpherson. You will ride south for an hour,
and then wait till the rest of us join you. It is like enough
that as soon as they find out that we have left they will send men
off in all directions to find out which way we followed, though
doubtless the chief pursuit will be directed towards Calais. I am
afraid that it will not be very long before they find we have left
the hotel, for the landlord, however well he may wish us, will
not dare mislead any person of consequence that Beaufort may send."

They had, however, a much longer start than Hector expected, for
early the next morning ten of the cardinal's guards appeared at the
hotel. The officer in command of them told the innkeeper that, in
consequence of the tumult before his doors, in which, as he heard,
some of those lodging there had been concerned, he had orders
to post his men round the house, and to allow no one to enter or
leave under any pretence whatever until the cardinal himself had
examined into the affair. These orders were delivered in a loud
voice before the servants of the inn, but the officer privately
assured the innkeeper afterwards that he would be well paid for
his loss of custom, and that it was probable that the guard would
be removed in a day or two. Thus Beaufort's emissaries were not
able to obtain news of what was passing within, and did nothing
until past noon, when it occurred to them that the cardinal had
taken this strange step of closing the inn in order to prevent
its being known that Hector and his followers had left Paris.

Men were at once sent off to the different gates of the city, and
one of these returning with the news that the north gate had been
opened at one o'clock in the morning and that six men bearing a
pass from the cardinal had ridden out, a party of twenty horsemen
started out in pursuit, while others were ordered to ride by all
the different routes to Poitou, in case, as was likely enough,
Hector had ridden to his castle. The fugitive, however, and his
followers were all well mounted, and had fourteen hours' start.
They separated at Le Mans. Hector here wrote a long letter to the
Baronne de Blenfoix, and a shorter one to MacIntosh. The latter he
told only that his fief had again reverted to the crown, and gave
instructions that the steward should be ordered to return, from
the moneys he had in hand, three months' rent to every tenant, to
hand the balance to MacIntosh himself, and to hold possession of
the chateau and estate until he received orders from the cardinal
himself.

MacIntosh was then, with Paolo, two troopers, and his own two
sergeants, to escort the baroness and her daughter to Nantes,
if she decided to go there. All arrangements were to be completed
within twelve hours of Paolo's arrival there. To the baroness he
related briefly what had passed.

"Therefore, as you see," he said, "there is no course open for me
but to fly for England or Ireland, where I intend to settle. I
trust, madam, that you and your daughter will accompany me. Putting
aside my respect and, I may say, my affection for yourself, you will
have understood from what I said to you when last at la Villar,
that I hope some day to make your daughter Norah my wife, if I should
be so fortunate as to obtain her affections. How this may be I
cannot say, but at any rate I trust that you will return to England,
and as I have ample funds you may be assured that my first care
will be to provide for your future."

On arriving at Nantes Hector at once rode to the governor, and
presented the cardinal's letter to him.

"You may be assured, Colonel Campbell, that I shall carry out his
eminence's instructions," he said, after perusing the cardinal's
letter. "I will send an officer down to the port with you to aid you
in obtaining passage, should there be a ship leaving for England,
or to take up a ship for your service."

"I would rather the latter," Hector said. "I may have ladies with
me, and so should wish to have plenty of accommodation."

"I am also instructed," the governor said, "to close the gate, in
case any party, followers of the Dukes of Vendome or Beaufort, or
of any families connected with them, arrive before you leave, and
to grant them no admittance until a messenger from the mouth of
the river informs me that you are fairly out at sea."

"I am indeed obliged to his eminence for that order, sir; he did
not mention to me that he was giving it, but it will certainly
save me from much anxiety."

As Hector was not disposed to haggle about terms, he had no difficulty
in hiring a vessel to carry them across the Channel. Twenty-four
hours after his arrival the party from the chateau rode in, and
but half an hour later fifty horsemen wearing the cognizance of
Vendome galloped up to the gate. They were headed by four or five
gentlemen, one of whom demanded angrily why the gates were shut.

"They are closed by order of the governor," the officer in charge
replied.

"Tell the governor that the Count d'Erlon, with a party of gentlemen,
retainers of the Duke of Vendome, are here, and demand instant
admittance."

Twenty minutes later the governor himself arrived at the gate. "I
am sorry, gentlemen," he said, "that I am compelled to keep the
gates closed. I have an order from Cardinal Mazarin to that effect,
and that, coming from the first minister of France, I dare not
disregard even if the duke himself were with you. It would cost me
my place, and possibly gain me a cell in the Bastille; and, grieved
as I am to refuse admittance to such honourable gentlemen, still
I must do so."

"And for how long is this monstrous edict to remain in force?" the
leader of the party asked.

"That I am unable to say precisely, but I believe that I can open
them tomorrow morning."

"You see, we were right, count," another of the horsemen said. "The
description of the man who rode along here with two attendants
tallies with that of this Scot, and doubtless this order was
brought by him from Mazarin to enable him to get either by water
away abroad or to his chateau of la Villar."

"Well, gentlemen, at any rate we have done our best, and though we
must have slain the fellow if we had overtaken him, I cannot say
that I am altogether grieved that he has escaped. His name is well
known to everyone. He did brave service to France under Turenne
and Conde. We learned from the messenger who brought the letter
from Beaufort that he killed de Beauvais in fair fight, wounded de
Vipont, and disarmed the Comte de Marplat, that at night he and
five of his followers, though attacked by some thirty ruffians
from the faubourgs under Beaufort himself, killed twelve of them
outright, and that he himself seriously wounded the duke. Well,
there is nothing for us but to ride back to the village we last
passed through and wait there until tomorrow."

So saying, he mounted his horse and galloped off with his party.

"Who could have thought when we parted last, Colonel Campbell, that
we should meet again under such greatly changed circumstances!"
Madame de Blenfoix exclaimed as Hector met the party as they alighted
before the principal inn of Nantes.

"It is a change, indeed," he replied; "so great that I myself
can hardly realize it, and am not sure whether I am sorry or the
reverse at what has taken place."

"I am very glad to hear you say so, as I feared that it would be
a terrible blow to you to give up the army."

"I have hardly had time to think of it," he said, "I have had so
much else to occupy my thoughts. Now, I pray you, enter the inn
for a few minutes; I have warned them to get a meal ready to be
served at the shortest notice, for I am anxious that no time shall
be lost; everything is ready for our embarkation."

"Had we not best go aboard at once?" she said. "Your enemies might
arrive at any moment by what Paolo tells us."

"The matter is not so pressing as I thought, madam, for the cardinal
sent orders to the governor that he is not to open the gates to
any armed party of friends of Beaufort or Vendome until I am fairly
at sea."

He went with the ladies to a private room he had secured.

"I must leave you for a few minutes," he said, "while I have a talk
with MacIntosh and the others."

"Well, old friend," he said as he went out to where the little
party of Scotchmen were standing in a group, "what are your plans
and wishes? 'Tis a pity now that I persuaded you to leave Paris
and go down to la Villar, but I did it for the best. I thought of
you much as I rode hither."

"Do not trouble about me, colonel, I am by no means sorry at the
change. I was getting tired of the cabaret, and should soon have
given it up even had you not come to offer me the wardenship of your
chateau. I have chatted matters over with my two friends, and we
have not yet agreed whether to return to Scotland or to remain in
France. At any rate we shall go to Paris first; my money is there
all in good keeping, together with the two years' payment for the
cabaret. Are you thinking of going to Scotland yourself, colonel?"

"Certainly not to Scotland, I have no friends there, and from all
that I have heard the people are so hard and bigoted, so full of
their religious differences, that I should feel sorely out of place
with them.

"Well, MacIntosh, as soon as I am settled in England I will have a
letter conveyed to you in some way at the address of The Scottish
Soldier. Wherever I am, there will be a home always open to you,
and glad indeed I shall be to have you near me. My four troopers
are going to accompany me. I have talked the matter over with
them, and have promised that I will find a house with a small farm
for them on any estate I may purchase, where they can do such
an amount of work as pleases them, or that they can remain in my
service on the present conditions. You can make the same offer in
my name to your two comrades. After all, things are not so settled
across the water that I can dispense with old friends on whom I can
rely. Paolo, of course, goes with me, and will be my right hand."

"I will think it all over, Hector, and maybe one of these days
I and the other two may knock at your door. It is hard if seven
old fellow soldiers could not end their days happily and quietly
together."

As soon as the meal had been eaten Hector went to say goodbye to the
governor, and heard how Vendome's men had been refused entrance.
After thanking him for the courtesy that he had shown him, he
returned to the inn. As the party would require horses on landing,
and there was plenty of room on board the vessel that he had engaged,
Hector shipped the three horses that Conde had given him, and four
others for the use of his men, and after a hearty farewell to
MacIntosh on his part and that of the ladies, they went on board,
and a few minutes later the sails were set and the vessel started
down the river. The wind was favourable, and they made a fast
voyage down to the sea. Before they reached the mouth of the river,
however, Hector had ascertained to his satisfaction that Norah
O'More returned the feeling that he felt for her.

"I have loved you," she said, "from the moment when you came to us
as our saviour from death on the summit of the turret; and though
as time went on I did not venture to think that you, who had so
fair a future before you, would ever think of the girl who with
her mother you had so nobly entertained and treated, I should
never have loved any other man to the end of my life."

The voyage was without incident, and five days after leaving Nantes
they arrived at Plymouth. Here Hector hired a house, and when the
ladies were comfortably settled he left them in charge of Paolo
and two of the men, and rode to London accompanied by the others.
Here he called upon the banker whose address Mazarin had given
him, and on sending in his name was shown into the room in which
private business was transacted.

"You have certain moneys of mine in your hands, Mr. Wilson?"

"I have had fifty thousand crowns for the past three years and have
put them out on good security, so that the sum stands at present
in my books at sixty-four thousand crowns. Three days ago I received
from Cardinal Mazarin bills to the amount of one hundred and fifty
thousand crowns, being, he said, due to you for the surrender of
the fief of la Villar, and for other services rendered to him. The
cardinal is a good paymaster," he added with a slight smile at
seeing Hector's surprise at the news, "but it was plain from his
letter to me that he considered that the value of your services
was greatly in excess of the sum, large as it is, that he sent,
especially as they had brought great misfortunes upon you, and had
forced you to abandon France, and give up your profession, in
which, he said, your prospects of gaining the highest rank were
of the brightest. Now, sir, if there are any services that I can
render you I am at your disposal. You will naturally wish to invest
your money in some way, and, though I say it myself, I know of no
one who could lay it out to better advantage."

"You may help me assuredly," Hector said, "for I am an entire
stranger in England. I wish to purchase an estate, but have no
idea how to set about it, while, doubtless, you are acquainted with
many such domains at present for sale. I may say that I will on no
account purchase an estate which has been confiscated by parliament
on account of its owner being loyal to the crown. Charles II may,
and I believe will, return and mount the throne, and these estates
will then beyond doubt be restored to their former owners, therefore
I will have nought to do with such property."

"You could not choose a better time for laying out your money in
land," the banker said. "Great numbers of the nobles and gentlemen
of England have been killed or are in exile; many, again, who still
hold their land are well nigh ruined by the moneys they spent in
the king's service, and would gladly sell now could they obtain
anything like a fair value for their estates. I know of a score at
least of such properties which are so deeply mortgaged that the
owners can scarce afford to live in their own homes, and would gladly
take a sum that would suffice to pay off the mortgage and give
them the wherewithal to live upon, either abroad or in Virginia,
to which colony many loyal gentlemen have already gone to settle.
If you will call tomorrow I will give you a list of such estates,
with their size, the amount of their revenues, and the price at
which their owners would, I know, be glad to sell, for I and some
of my friends have been approached by them with that view."

Hector spent the next three weeks in visiting eight of the estates
that seemed suitable and were all situated in counties near London.
Finally he settled upon one in Berkshire, which was of considerable
size and with a stately house in a fair position. This he purchased,
and then, returning to Plymouth, his marriage with Norah was
celebrated there, and he, with his wife and Madame de Blenfoix and
his five followers, rode down into Berkshire and took possession
of the estate, with which all were delighted. The troopers, instead
of accepting the house he offered them, preferred to remain in his
service, and Paolo was installed as majordomo of the household.
Six months later MacIntosh and his two comrades came over.

The former declined Hector's offer to take up his abode at the
house.

"No, colonel, I have an abundance for myself and my two comrades,
and would rather be near you, where we can live in our own fashion,
and give trouble to no one."

"Well, if you will not come here, MacIntosh, there is a house a
quarter of a mile away which will, I think, suit you well. It is
not a large place, but is a comfortable one, and has been used as
the house of the steward of the estate. As I shall be my own steward
it is vacant, and will, I think, suit you well. It is furnished,
so that you and your comrades can move in when you like, though
the longer you stay with us the better we shall be pleased."

A fortnight later MacIntosh and his comrades moved in, and there,
when not occupied with their duties, one or other of the troopers
was generally to be found. Hector often dropped in, and one day
laughingly said that the house ought to be renamed The Scottish
Soldier.

Until the Restoration Hector kept aloof from London, but when
Charles II mounted the throne of his fathers he went up, and was
presented at court by one of the many English gentlemen whom he
had known in France, where they had sought refuge with the queen
when the royal cause was lost in England. He did not, however,
repeat the visit very often. He was perfectly happy in his country
life, and never once regretted the chain of events that had forced
him to give up his life of adventure and excitement and to settle
down peacefully in England.



THE END

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