Volume I Part 45 (1/2)
”The fact is that I am quite as willing to sit down as to stumble at every step on these horrible roads.--What an infernal way for Leodgard to make us take!--I say, Comte de Marvejols, where are you? I want to congratulate you!--Where in the devil is my valet Bruno? Let him bring a torch here, and we will have another game.”
”Your esquire is ahead; he walked on.”
”I must call him.--Messieurs, messieurs, you fellows who are still on your legs, have the kindness to call my esquire, my page, my varlet--that rascal who is going off with the lanterns yonder, without taking the trouble to see if his master is following him.”
These words were addressed to three other young gentlemen who had halted a few yards away. Among them was Leodgard de Marvejols, whose features were far from denoting hilarity, and who did not seem, like some of his friends, to have left his reason at the bottom of his gla.s.s.
The servant, being recalled, came back and placed a lighted lantern on the ground, near the two gentlemen who were already seated on the gra.s.s.
The others decided to join them; but Leodgard remained a little behind, leaning thoughtfully against a solitary tree.
”Do you propose to stay here, my fine fellows?” he asked.
”Yes; the fresh air has finished us, we cannot stand on our legs any longer.”
”It is a fact that the supper was delicious and the wines exquisite.
Montrevert did things very handsomely; his _pet.i.te maison_ is a delightful place.”
”Speaking of Montrevert, did he not say that he was coming with us?”
”Yes; he said: 'Go on, and I will overtake you.'”
”Well, he does not seem to have overtaken us, and we are a good quarter of a league from his house.”
”That is true, and it is an additional reason why we should rest here and wait for him.”
”Bah! he won't come; he has probably remained with his infanta. She is a very pretty girl, that Herminie!”
”But I tell you, messieurs, that Montrevert will come; he cannot stay at his _pet.i.te maison_, for he must be in Paris to-morrow for the king's _lever_. He has hopes of being admitted to the company of Gray Mousquetaires, which his majesty has just organized; it is a bodyguard that is to attend him everywhere, even to the hunt.--Vive Dieu!
messieurs, but it is a fine corps! Such a coquettish uniform--red, trimmed with gold. Ah! what conquests those fellows will make with that uniform!”
”Look you, I too have some hope of entering this corps of mousquetaires,” said the young Marquis de Senange, trying to straighten up and maintain a sitting posture on the gra.s.s. ”I too ought to be at the king's _lever_ to-morrow--or rather, this morning. But I think that I shall not be there! I am too dizzy--deuce take it! Youth is the age of folly and pleasure.--Ah! I wish I could find someone who would sit back to back with me; we would support each other.--Monclair, sit behind me.”
”No; I am very comfortable, I refuse to stir.”
”What a selfish beast that little Monclair is!--Come, La Valteline, and you, Beausseilly--come and sit down with us.”
The two young men who were still standing decided to seat themselves on the gra.s.s near their companions. But he who was called La Valteline turned toward Leodgard and shouted:
”Well! Comte de Marvejols, aren't you going to join us? What the deuce are you doing there, all alone, with your eyes fixed on the sky? are you going into astrology? Beware! you know that a commission is sitting at the a.r.s.enal, in the Poison Chamber, for the express purpose of trying persons accused of magic! And astrologers are very closely related to sorcerers!”
”Messieurs,” said the Sire de Beausseilly, lowering his voice, ”poor Leodgard is in no laughing mood, and you must understand why: he was very unlucky at cards to-night, he lost all that he possessed to Montrevert, and, I believe, a hundred pistoles more on credit.”
”He is always unlucky with Montrevert, he ought never to play with him; for that charming _pet.i.te maison_ where we supped, which is decorated so suggestively, used to belong to Marvejols; he staked it against heaven knows what sum with Montrevert! And now that delicious resort no longer belongs to him! To be sure, Montrevert often invites him there.”
”If he does it in order to win his money, as he has done to-night, it is not very amusing for Leodgard. I have noticed that fortune has been very adverse to him for some time past. He always loses, poor fellow!”
”And I believe he is in debt; he owes everybody!”