From the Memoirs of a Minister of FranceWeyman, Stanley John
General
From the Memoirs of a Minister of France
Weyman, Stanley John
Biographical fiction; France -- Kings and rulers -- Fiction; Henry IV, King of France, 1553-1610 -- Fiction
"Very well," I said. "Then let us sup, gentlemen. Come, M. de
Bareilles, your place is at the head of the table. Parabere, sit here.
Gentlemen, I have not the honour of knowing you, but here are places."
And we supped; but not all with the same appetite. Bareilles, silent,
despairing, a prey to the bitterest remorse, sat low in his chair, and,
if I read his face aright, had no thought but of vengeance. But,
assured that by forcing him to that which must for ever render him
odious--and particularly among his inferiors--I had sapped his
authority at the root, I took care only that he should not leave us. I
directed Colet to unsaddle and bivouac in the garden, and myself lay
all night with Parabere and Bareilles in the room in which we had
supped, Boisrueil and La Font taking turns to keep the door.
To have betrayed too much haste to be gone might have proved as
dangerous as a long delay; and our horses needed rest. But an hour
before noon next day I gave the order and we mounted in the square, in
the presence of a mixed mob of soldiers and townsfolk, whom it needed
but a spark to kindle. I took care that that spark should be wanting,
however; and to that end I compelled Bareilles to mount and ride with
us as far as Saury. Here, where I found the inn burned and the woman
murdered, I should have done no more than justice had I hung him as
well; and I think that he half expected it. But reflecting that he had
a score of relations in Poitou who might give trouble, and, besides
that, his position called for some degree of consideration, I parted
with him gravely, and hastened to put as many leagues between us as
possible. That night we slept at Crozant, and the next at St. Gaultier.
It was chiefly in consequence of the observations I made during this
journey that Henry, in the following October, marched into the Limousin
with a considerable force and received the submission of the governors.
The details of that expedition, in the course of which he put to death
ten or twelve of the more disorderly, will be found in another place.
It remains for me only to add here that Bareilles was not of them. He
escaped a fate he richly deserved by flying betimes with Bassignac to
Sedan. Of his ultimate fate I know nothing; but a week after my return
to the Arsenal, a man called on me who turned out to be the astrologer.
I gave him fifty crowns.
VIII.
THE OPEN SHUTTER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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