The Honour of Savelli: A Romance
service, and called D'Alegres and Trevulzio, under whose banners I had
served, to witness if they had ever known me sully my honour.
"It is known, M. di Savelli, that you are hard put for money," said
Tremouille.
I admitted the fact, and also admitted that at the time I stood there
I owed money lost at play; but that the sum did not amount to more
than fifty crowns, and there was twice that amount due to me from the
military chest. I then went on to point out how unlikely it was that,
even if I had stolen the jewels, I should have hoarded them up and not
turned them into money, for which I allowed I was pressed, and wound
up by saying I was the victim of a conspiracy, and that I was prepared
to assert my honour, man to man, against D'Entrangues, or any other
who would take up his cause.
"What say you, my lord of Bayard?" and Tremouille turned to the
stranger who sat beside him. Even whilst waiting for his answer, and
on the cross with anxiety as I was, I could not help looking with the
greatest interest at the man. This then was the celebrated Pierre du
Terrail, the noblest knight in Christendom. Vague rumours that he was
about to join the army of Tremouille, with a high command, had
reached us. But we had merely looked upon them as rumours. And now he
had come, apparently suddenly, and without warning. I felt sure that
he brought war with him, but had no more time to think, for he
answered--"A fair offer--M. d'Entrangues can do no less than accept."
But Trevulzio then cut in, pointing out, that practically the case was
proved. That to allow me the ordeal by combat would upset all the
course of military discipline, under which he thought the matter
should be decided. Even if the ordeal of battle was allowed, and I
won, it would not prove my innocence in the face of the damning
evidence against me.
"If there is any shadow of doubt, your excellency," and D'Entrangues
advanced to the table, "this will clear it up. Messer Vieri, kindly
hand that package to the duke."
The man whom he addressed, who was no other than he whom I had
remarked, on entering the justice room as D'Entrangues' companion,
stepped forward and placed the packet before Tremouille, who opened it
amidst a dead silence.
"Messer Vieri, how did you obtain this?" asked Tremouille.
"The matter is simple, excellency," replied the banker, "but first may
I ask if madame the duchess recognises the trinket?"
The circlet was handed to the duchess, who said in a low voice--
"It is mine: it was stolen from me a month ago--on the seventh of
March."
"On the eighth of March a packet was delivered to me at my house of
business by one Tarbes, calling himself servant to the Cavaliere di
Savelli. He did not know the contents of the parcel; but it was sent
to me for safe keeping by his master, so he said. I gave him a receipt
for it. I myself did not know what the nature of the packet was until
to-day; but hearing the charges preferred against the cavaliere, I
opened the case and at once recognised madame's circlet, which I have
the pleasure to restore."
"How did you come to hear these charges against the Cavaliere di
Savelli?" asked Bayard.
"I was informed of them by the knight, Messer d'Entrangues."
"That is to say, M. d'Entrangues must have known that the jewels were
pledged to you. Is this not odd?"
It was a straw of hope that floated to me, and I could scarcely
breathe. D'Entrangues, however, replied boldly, "I was told of the
matter by one Tarbes, a servant to M. di Savelli."
"You forget to add," I burst out, "that he was a creature of yours,
whom I employed on your recommendation."
D'Entrangues made no reply, and Bayard said, "M. d'Entrangues appears
to have usurped the functions of the provost and played catchpole.
Could we not see this Tarbes?"
"Call Tarbes," said the duke.
Braccio came forward and explained that he had been dealt with
summarily, under the orders of the lieutenant-general.
"Mine!" said D'Alegres in astonishment.
"Yes, excellency, he was the prisoner whom your excellency ordered me
to hang last night."
"A pity," remarked the duke, and Trevulzio, between whom and D'Alegres
there was little love, smiled.
"I suppose you have nothing to say to this?" said Tremouille to me.
"I was not in the camp on the seventh."
"Where were you?"
But this question I could not answer for I caught Madame d'Entrangues'
eye imploring me to silence. I looked back at the duke, and as I did
so felt that Bayard had followed my glance, and that his eyes were
resting on madame's face. He glanced down almost as soon as I did and
turned to me, and there was a grave encouragement in his look from
which I took heart. To me it was a great thing to show I was not at or
near the camp on the seventh; and yet if I did so I would ruin a
woman's name. It had been a harmless frolic, I swear this, as I know I
will come to judgment before a higher tribunal than that of man; and
yet had I spoken there would have been but one construction. I hated
D'Entrangues, too, and this would have struck at a vital part. For a
second I hesitated, and looked up once more at madame. She was pale as
death.
I looked at Bayard, and his glance seemed to penetrate my thoughts.
"I cannot say!"
There was a sound of a gasping sigh, and a heavy fall. The peacock fan
fluttered slowly down from the gallery to my feet, and lay there with
its hundred eyes staring at me.
"This ruins you," exclaimed D'Alegres.
"Think again before you reply," said the duke: "I will give you time."
"I thank your excellency; but I have no further answer."
Tremouille shrugged his shoulders with a disappointed air, and dropped
his chin between his clasped hands, his elbows resting on the table, a
favourite position of his. Whilst he was thus considering, Bayard was
whispering earnestly to Trevulzio, and the old soldier seemed to
assent, and his hard face almost softened as he looked at me. They
then turned their gaze on D'Entrangues, and Trevulzio, with a shake of
his head, noted something briefly on a slip of paper and passed it on
to D'Alegres. The lieutenant-general looked surprised; but after a
moment nodded assent, and in his turn passed the paper on to the duke,
saying "I agree." Tremouille read the paper slowly, and then they
consulted together in low tones.
And now, in a few brief words I heard my sentence, and it was carried
out at once. Braccio himself hacked off my spurs, my sword was brought
in and solemnly broken, and I was warned to leave the camp within an
hour, on pain of being hanged as a thief. Such property as I had was
declared confiscate, and the men of my _condotta_ were to be enrolled,
by force if necessary, under another banner. How I went through it all
I do not know. I cannot say how I passed down that great hall with the
eyes of all fixed on me, a dishonoured man, an outcast, and a leper.
One thing, however, did happen. Whilst the sentence was being carried
out, Tremouille sat apparently absorbed in thought. When the provost
broke my sword he rose to leave the room, and as he passed
D'Entrangues the duke stopped.
"Monsieur," he said, "you have mistaken your vocation. His majesty
does not desire his officers to be thief-hunters. For such talents as
yours you will doubtless find room elsewhere, and I have to tell you
that the king--my master--regrets he has no further need of your
services."
CHAPTER III.
MADAME D'ENTRANGUES.
When I left the door of the justice room I had to pass through the
main court-yard, and run the gauntlet of open scorn and contempt,
bestowed upon me by all assembled there. It was a great thing for
them, for those whom the French call _canaille_--we have no such
appropriate word in our own tongue--to see a noble dragged in the dust
and covered with infamy. And they did not spare me, taunt and jeer
passed from mouth to mouth. Some even would have gone so far as to
strike at me, had not their officers prevented them.
"Ah, _Croque-mort!_" exclaimed an arquebusier, "you should hang;" but
the man stepped back a half-pace at my look, and, gaining the outer
gate, I pressed on, hardly knowing whither my steps led me. I soon
found out I was going in the direction of Arezzo itself, and as that
was as good as any other place for me at present, I made no alteration
in my course; but anxious to get on as fast as possible, quickened my
pace almost to a run, until I was tired out, and perforce compelled to
go slower.
This happened when I had covered about a mile, and was beginning the
ascent leading to the town; and here I heard behind me the clatter of
horses' hoofs, and looking back beheld a party riding in my direction.
I turned aside, and, concealing myself behind the stem of a locust
tree, waited until the riders should pass. This they did in a few
moments, and I saw it was Tremouille and his staff returning to the
town. By the side of the duchess, who was riding with her husband, was
Bayard, mounted on a bay English horse, which he managed with infinite
grace and dexterity.
Madame de la Tremouille was in the best of humours, most probably at
the recovery of her circlet, for she was laughing gaily as she said
something; but they went by too rapidly for me to catch the words. I
waited until the troop was lost in the yellow dust which rose behind
them, and then, stepping forth from my hiding-place, became aware that
I was not alone; but that a body was hanging from a branch of the tree
close to where I was standing, and this I had not noticed in my
eagerness to escape observation. It needed but a glance to recognise
Tarbes, my scoundrel, who had paid so long a price for his treachery;
he was swinging there dead enough, overreached and destroyed by the
master-villain.
The sight of my dead knave brought up an angry wave of hatred in my
heart towards D'Entrangues, and I prayed that I might not die until I
was even with him. So great was the uprising of my anger, that at the
time I bitterly regretted not having seized the opportunity to wound
him, by plainly answering Tremouille's last question. With my rage
against D'Entrangues, there came an almost similar feeling towards
Madame, and I began to accuse her in my heart of being the original
cause of my misfortunes, and of conspiring, by her silence, to set the
seal of my ruin. I did not stop to think that I was ruined already,
and that it mattered little whether Madame allowed me to be silent or
not. I only felt that she had made me pay too great a price for her
reputation, and that she had sacrificed me mercilessly.
When I hastened from the scene of my condemnation, I had no other
idea but of death, of self-destruction rather than life as it would be
now to me; but I put aside all these thoughts for I had to live for
revenge. That would be my first object, and until it was achieved I
would not rest. With this in my mind I gained the St. Clement Gate of
Arezzo, passing through without notice.
Walking down the Via San Dominico, I turned to the right by the
Borgo di San Vito, and here I was recognised and hooted. Pressing
hurriedly forwards, and aided opportunely by the passage of a body of
men-at-arms, coming through the street in a direction opposite to that
of my followers, I succeeded in shaking off my tormentors, and turning
again to the right up a narrow street, entered a barber's shop to have
my beard removed in order to disguise myself as far as possible. The
barber, a fussy little fellow, placed me before a mirror of polished
steel, and as he set to work stropping a razor on the palm of his
hand, I removed my cap, and for the first time observed that the hair
of my head was thickly streaked with grey.
"Your excellency has doubtless come to join the army," said the barber