University of Virginia Library

18. CHAPTER XVIII.

The Helen.

After the second attempt on my life, devised
and frustrated as I have related it above, the two
armies remained inactive for several days. During
this time I more than once observed a movement,
which I had at first some difficulty in comprehending,
in front of Lorraine's position. On his extreme
left lay a large tract of forest land, running
back for many miles, so dense of underwood, and
so swampy of soil, as to be an admirable cover to
his flank. In advance of his lines the continuous
woods broke off into clumps of straggling trees,
with here and there a marshy spot, or open glade
of velvet turf. In one of these glades or grassy
meadows—for they were large enough to merit
that title—I had discovered some days before a

large building of gray stone, surrounded by a
courtyard, wall, and fosse; I had supposed it the
chateau of some proprietor, deserted by the owner,
and perhaps occupied as a depôt or hospital by
the enemy. To this building I observed that a
small party of horsemen were in the constant
habit of resorting early in the morning, or late in
the evening, while the shadows lay long and heavy
on the forest, and the gray light of the gloaming
was insufficient to penetrate its deep recesses.
Gradually, for want of better occupation, I began
to watch the recurrence of these visits, to wonder
what they could portend, and finally to determine
on the discovery of their object. This, with the
aid of a powerful glass, and an advanced place of
observation, I soon accomplished. The leader of
the party was De Chateaufort. A ray of hope
shot into my bosom. The building was evidently
of monastic form; the thin smoke curling from its
chimneys, and the unshuttered casements, proved,
to a closer inspection, that it was not deserted;
although I could not account for the absence
of the matin or vesper chimes, which I was certain
had not reached my ears. Was it possible
that this then was the prison-house of Isabel, and
that I had been for a week's space within a cannon-shot
of her abode and knew it not?

“But I will know it!” I muttered to myself,
“and that, too, right speedily. Lydford—what
ho! saddle me Bayard, and detail a score of
troopers—I go to reconnoitre on the outposts; and
hark ye! let them carry their petronels; last time
we were wellnigh expended for the want of
them.”

Evening was already closing rapidly around
when I put my foot in the stirrup, yet it wanted a
full hour of the time when he should pay his next
accustomed visit. Cautiously I wheeled my men
around the verge of the camp, and, gaining the
cover of some fields of tall yellow mustard,
through which ran a deep sandy lane, rode towards
the building on a smart trot, secure that my
motions could not be discovered from the camp of
the enemy, and little fearful of interruption from
their foragers, whom we had so often and so invariably
beaten that they hardly dared show themselves
against us, except in the proportion of three
to one. As I rode along the lane, I suddenly observed
that the hound Hector had accompanied
the horses, and was trotting lazily along by my
stirrup. I almost hailed the trivial accident as an
omen!

“How comes it, Martin Lydford,” I cried, “that
you unchained the dog? We may have fighting,

and I would not for my life the faithful brute were
injured.”

“Injured!” he replied, with a smile, “he will be
a right stout and a cunning soldier who shall hurt
old Hector! But, in truth, the beast was so uneasy
as I was saddling Bayard, and whined so
piteously as I led him out caparisoned, that I could
not resist his dumb language. So I deemed it
slight wrong to loose his collar; but if you think
otherwise, I can return with him even now.”

“It matters not—it matters not, good Martin,”
I replied; “and see, here is the convent; a most
defensible tenement, by St. George! We will on,
and reconnoitre it more closely.”

Twice I rode around the walls, without discovering
any human being. Some casements of
the main building were open, but even these were
strongly secured by bars of crossed iron; while
in the outer walls—which were not, however,
above seven or eight feet in height—there was no
opening save a single massive gateway in the front,
bolted and barred with jealous care, and a small
postern leading into a walled orchard and thence
into the forest on the rear. At both these gates I
thundered for a time in vain; but was at last answered
by the croaking voice of an aged female,
the porteress of the Carmelite nunnery, for such I

speedily learned was the establishment. She dared
not, she said, and would not, draw a bolt, while
armies were contending in their peaceful fields;
the superior could not be seen; they had no novices
within the walls; and when I spoke of prisoners,
she uttered an exclamation of disgust, and
I could obtain no further answer. By forcing my
horse alongside the wall, and standing erect on the
saddle, I was enabled to overlook the court; but
I gained nothing by the survey, and was compelled
to abandon my search for the present almost in
despair. I was, however, determined that, as I
might not again find so apt a chance, I would reconnoitre
the forest up to the enemy's flank; for it
struck me that by occupying the court and orchard
of the nunnery with a body of musketeers, and, if
needs were, with a few falconets and culverins,
and by passing a column of attack through the
woodlands, the position of the duke might be
turned. As I cantered round for the last time to
the rear of the building, I thought—in passing a
large turret, which projected at an angle of the
building nearly to the outer wall—I thought I heard
a whisper; but, though I raised my eyes quick as
the lightning, I could only see a lattice pulled hastily
together, and hear a smothered cry and a slight
bustle within. My suspicions at once returned in
all their force. I felt a conviction, amounting
almost to a certainty, that Isabel was within those
gloomy walls; still I could do nothing. I resolved,
however, that for the moment I would proceed
according to my previous intention, and, if possible,
occupy the nunnery on the morrow, as if for
some military end, thus hoping to gain evidence
which might enable me to act promptly and with
decision.

With this intent I galloped forward for a space;
till, finding that the woodlands continued open up
to the very lines of the enemy, I determined on
withdrawing for the moment, that I might strike
securely on the morrow. It was now almost dark,
and, without perceiving it, I had come within the
range of the enemy's pickets. If I had been in
leading of a sufficient force, I might at once have
beat up the duke's head-quarters; but now there
was nothing for it but to decamp immediately, and
with every precaution against alarm. All, however,
would not do. As we passed the last outpost,
at a hundred paces distant, a charger snorted and
neighed; the sentry challenged, fired his arquebuse,
and ran in. With the speed of light the alarm
spread; but my resolution was taken on the moment—to
charge, and capture or kill, the whole of
the picket which had discovere us, and to retreat

before assistance could arrive. This I did, not
wantonly—for I have ever deemed it a grievous
sin to shed one drop of blood, even in the fiercest
strife, that is not absolutely necessary to victory—
but to prevent, if possible, the number and the
nature of our force from being ascertained.

It was done in an instant. We cut down two or
three, captured the rest, before they could untether
and mount their horses—for they were cavalry—
and, compelling them to accompany us at the gallop,
were soon beyond the reach of pursuit or discovery;
though, for an hour after I had reached
my own quarters, I could perceive, by the rolling
of the drums, the wild sounds of the bugles, and
the occasional shots of the sentinels at whatever
object their fears might construe into an enemy,
that the encampment of the duke was fully on the
alert.

It was unlucky, most unlucky, that we had been
discovered. For, although our numbers and the
direction of our attack were still unknown, the
enemy could not be ignorant that we had been
within their very lines, and that we had penetrated
them under covert of the forest, which I now
shrewdly feared they would occupy with the early
daylight. In this, however, I resolved to be beforehand
with them; and having communicated to

D'Harcourt that I had discovered a pass by which
I was confident of turning the enemy's left flank,
I received immediate orders to march at daybreak
with my whole division, for that purpose, with a
promise that he would himself second me by a reconnoissance
en masse, and, if opportunity should
offer, by a direct attack on the front of the duke's
position. Having made all the arrangements which
were deemed necessary, I returned, somewhat
fatigued, and exceedingly anxious and excited, to
my tent.

Scarcely had I entered it, when I saw, by the
faint light of the lamp suspended from the tent-poles,
that the old hound—whose manner I had
observed during the whole evening to be peculiar,
although I had neither felt the inclination nor had
the leisure to seek for the cause—was bearing
something in his mouth with unwonted care. As
I threw myself on the pallet-bed, which was my
only resting-place, he stalked up to me with that
singular demeanour by which a sagacious dog will
often indicate his consciousness of bearing an important
trust, reared himself on his hinder-legs, and
placing his forefeet on my knee, dropped into my
lap a glove. It was of chamois leather wrought
with arabesques of silver—it was the glove of
Isabel! My first idea was that he had found the

same which had been given me by Le Vasseur,
and which I had since preserved with the most
jealous care. I sprang from the couch, snatched
up the small valise which served me at once for
garde robe and escritoire, unlocked its most secret
compartment, and there lay the other. They were
then a pair—the dog must have received his charge
during that very night.

My heart throbbed so fiercely, that I could hear
its beating. I seized the newly-gained token of
her presence; the mouth was secured by a silken
thread; it contained something bulky—a note—a
brief but all-sufficient note!—

My mind had devoured the contents before my
eye had perused a tenth part of the letter. God
of my fathers, what were then my sensations!
my gratitude to thee—my hopes—my maddening
anxiety!

“Be it at the banquet of your monarch, or the
altar of your God—leave either, and leave ALL!”
I repeated the stirring words aloud. I sprang to
my feet, buckled my rapier to my side, inspected
my good weapons, with a deep and joyous satisfaction.
I rushed out into the nightly camp. It was
already long past midnight—so long a time had I
passed in consultation with the general. It lacked
scarce an hour of the time appointed for the movement
of the troops. They were already stirring.
I hurried to the quarters of D'Erlach; commanded
him to hasten his arrangements. I passed among
the men with a word of encouragement—a word of
heart-stirring praise—to each and all. My very
being was set upon the cast, and, win or die, it
should be played for nobly!

Not a torch was kindled, not a trumpet blown;
the orderlies of the arquebusiers alone bore darkened
lanterns, whence to distribute fire for the
matchlocks when the time should arrive. Silently,
steadily, but cheerily withal, did the men meet
and muster. The very horses seemed to trample

with less sound than usual on the bruised and
broken turf, as if they too were conscious that
there was need of caution!

For the last time before I mounted I returned to
my quarters. I steeped my burning brow in the
pure element. I threw aside my doublet, and
bathed my strong arms shoulder-deep, till they
were wellnigh numbed with cold; for I felt that,
contrary to my wont, my nerves were shaken, and
I was resolved that nothing should be left to chance
which might be secured by care. I renewed the
flints in the newly-invented locks of my best pistols;
I passed my poniard, ay, and my rapier, once
and again across the hissing whetstone; I bound
a strong spiked collar on the neck of the stanch
bloodhound, and, in the ardour of my feelings, I
apostrophized the noble brute. I conversed with
him as though he were a rational and thoughtful
being; I told him that he should follow me to the
field—that he should fight in the strife of men for
his master's bride!—and, by the heaven that is
above me! I believe he marked and understood my
words. His full bright eye read my features as I
spoke; and, as I ended, he feathered his long stern,
stooped his nose to the ground, as though he were
tracking the game, and then, throwing his head
aloft, uttered a deep full-mouthed bay, longer and

louder than I had heard him give when hard upon
the haunches of the wounded stag.

“Silence! Ha! silence!” I cried, “forward,
old hound, but silence!” And not again, though
he led our advance running straight and hard towards
the nunnery, did he so much as whine
throughout that night.

I despatched an officer to D'Harcourt as I left
the camp, requesting him to allow me a full hour's
space wherein to reach my ground; and then, with
all the noise and demonstration possible, to charge
in column on the centre of Lorraine. I waited not
his reply. For his own fame and honour I doubted
not he would advance, and my own duty admitted
no delay.