The House of the Wolf: A Romance

ht before an action. I have heard him say himself that it was so before the fight at Arques. Croisette partook of this nature too, being high-strung and apt to be easily over-wrought

each after his manner. While Croisette turned pale and trembled, and hid his eyes, I stood dazed, looking from the desolate house to the face stiffening in the sunshine, and back again; wondering, though I h

tle at home, the green fields about the brook, and the grey hills rising from them; and the terrace, and Kit coming to meet us, Kit

turned round, not quickly or in surprise or fear. Rather in the same dull wonder. The upper part o

a second glance, she nodded to me in a stealthy fashion. I drew a step nearer, listlessly. "Pst! Pst!" she whispered.

said, me

ken?" she

?" I asked

looked gay and handsome, if you'll believe me, as he came from the king's court yester even! As bonny a sight in hi

d! How my heart awoke from its stupor, and leapt up with a new joy and a new-

y I!-kept the door manfully while the gentleman got on the roof, and ran right down the street on the tops of the houses,

he es

en shivering and shaking up stairs with my husband-he is in bed, good man, and the safest place for him-the saints have mercy upon us! But I heard

o was it, da

erhaps you are friends of h

d of this, by the shoulder. "There is a chance that he has escaped!" I cried

nergy and decision spring to life in every nerve and muscle of his face, "Then there is hope?" he cried, gr

unning after Croisette, who had not waited for our answer, as fast as young limbs could carry us down the street. The exhaustion we had felt a moment before when all seemed lost be it remembered

, all sparkling in the sunshine. But we swept to the right, thinking little of THAT sight, and checked our speed on finding ourselves on the skirts of the crowd. Before us was a bridge-the Pont au Change, I think-and at its head on our side of the water stood the CHATELET, with its

o know so well-the flying and pursuing, the random blows, the shrieks and curses and batterings on doors, the tipsy yells, had reassured us. But the relief was short-lived. The people before us were under control. A tighter grip seeme

horsemen, who kept riding up and down, belabouring the bolder spirits with the flat of their swords, and so preserving a line. At each extremity of this-more noticeably on our left where the line curved round the angle of the buildings-stood a handful of riders, seven in a group perhaps.

ows, were all in his colours and armed to the teeth. The order and discipline were of his making: the revenge of his seeking. A grasp as of steel had settled upon our friend, and I

In the ground floors of the houses there were no windows and no doors; by reason, I learned afterwards, of the frequent flooding of the river. But a long wooden gallery raised on struts ran along the front, rather more than the height of a man from the ground, and access to this was gained by a wooden staircase at each end. Above this first gallery was a second, and above that a line of windows set between the gables.

ough the crowd and a murmur arose, which once or twice swelled to a savage roar such as earlier had made me tremble. When this happened the impulse came, it seemed to me, from the farther end of the line. There the rougher elements

au! Hug

ace aux P

amongst the Protestants. But in the Huguenot ve

we do? Nothing. We were too late. Too late again! And yet how dreadful it was to stand still among the cruel, thoughtless mob and see our friend, the touch of whose hand we knew so well, done to death for their

e Huguenots, say I! It is Lorraine is the fine man! But after all yon is a bonny fellow and a proper, Margot!

," the other answere

to give that big man the slip to-day,"

hen in a fierce whisper, with inarticulate threats, she told a story of him, which made me sh

that poor fellow lying dead on Pavannes' doorstep for one, and from others besides. As the Vidame in his pacing to and fro turned towards us, I gazed at

e resting upon us, and seeming to forbid us to move, he gave some orders. The colour fled from my face. To escape

e rearmost-"stoop down. He may no

rst with a lordly air. I, following him, saw that his lips were firmly compressed and that there was an eager light in his eyes. As we emerged, the crowd in our wake broke the l

emed what we least expected, for he only scowled at us now, a grim mockery on his lip, and cried,

he dare to harm us? Would even the Vidame dare to murder a Caylus'

trides reached the Vidame's stirrup, and was clasping his knee when I turned. I could not hear at the distance at which I

ou speak to me again, M. St. Croix-I think that is your name, boy-I will-no, I will not kill you. That might please you, yo

ransfiguring it. Croisette came back to us slowly, white-lipped and q

ng on this morning. Words had ceased to please and annoy, for what are words to the sheep in the shambles? One man's life and one woman's happiness outside ourselves we though

ntly Marie touched me. He was gazing intently at the sentry on the roof of the third house fro

im!" Marie

ng the silence, rang along the front of the mob like a rolling volley of firearms. What was it? A man posted at a wi

and toss to and fro. Then a hundred hands went up, and confused angry cries rose with them. The troopers struck about them, giving back slowly as they did so. But their efforts were in vain. With a scream of triumph a wild torrent of people broke through betwe

dropping the bridle recklessly; and bounding up three steps at a time, he ran along the gallery. Half-a-dozen of the troopers

of the mob. The latter had the shorter way to go. But on the narrow steps they were carried off their feet by the press behind them, and fell o

d the people, and in the confusion Pavannes might yet escape. Hope awoke in the turmoil. Above the yells of the crowd a score of deep voices about me

stly weapons, his skirts were tucked up, and his head was bare. So much my first glance showed me. It was at the second look it was when I saw the blood forsake his pale lowering face and leave it whiter than ever, when horror sprang along

o pause, while all, even that yelling crowd below, held their breath. The next moment, glaring askance at one another like two dogs unevenly coupled, he and Bezers shot shoulder to shoulder into the doorway, and in another jot of time would have been out of sight. But then, in that instant, I saw something happen. The Vidame's hand flashed up above the pr

d them back pell-mell along the gallery. The throng below had no firearms, and could give no aid at the moment; the stage was narrow; in two minutes the Vidame's people had swept it clear of the crowd and were in possession of it. A tall fellow took up the pries

flanks. But the mob had no leaders, and no plan of operations. They seized indeed two or three of the scattered troopers, and tearing them from their horses, wreaked their passion upon them horribly. But most of the Switzers escaped, thanks to the attention the mob paid to the houses and what was goin

pearance of the Vidame. Bigoted beyond belief were the mob of Paris of that day, cruel, vengeful, and always athirst for blood; and this man had killed not only their leader but a priest. H

wn unblenching, a figure of scorn, on the men who were literally agape for his life. The calm defiance of his steadfast look fascinated even me. Wonder and admiration for the time took the place of dislike. I could scarcely believe that there was not s

t. His fair, curling hair-scarce darker than Croisette's-hung dank, bedabbled with blood which flowed from a wound in his head. His sword was gone; his dress was torn and disordered and covered with dust. His lips moved. But he held up his head, he bore himself bravely with it all; so bravely, that I choked, and my heart seemed bursting as I looked at him

s raise his hand in a peculiar fashion. Simultaneously a cry rang sharply out above the tumult, and down in headlong charge towards the farther steps came the band of horsemen, who had got clear of the crowd on that side. They were but ten or twelve, but under his eye they charged, a

undling down the steps, their eyes aglow with the war-fire, and got horses as they could. Among them I lost sight of Louis, but perceived him presently, pale and bewildered, mounted behind a trooper. A man sprang up before each of us too, greeting

d his horse, a splendid grey, as powerful as his master's, alongside of Croisette, threw his arm round the lad, and dragged him dexterously on to his own crupper. I did not understand the action,

ere and there of a fringe of white scowling faces and tossing arms. Once, a lane opening, I saw the Vidame's charger-he was in the van-stumble and fall among the crowd and heard a great sh

ut stiffly and the crowd flying before the sudden impact of the horses must have passed over her, even if she had escaped the iron hoofs which followed. Still in the fleeting glance I had of her as my horse bounded aside, I saw no wound or disfigurement. Her one arm was cast about the priest's br

ndeed had overtaken him. He had died by the sword he had drawn-died, a priest, by violence! The cross he had renounced had crushed him. And all his schemes and thoughts, and no doubt th

wing her? And not knowing her, how much less? For the present I

ct if that were so. Before I thought of an alternative, a gateway flanked by huge round towers appeared before us, and we pulled up suddenly, a confused jostling mass in the narrow way; while some words passed between the Vidame and the

by a hundred ruts and tracks, and fringed with disorderly cabins and make-shift booths. And beyond

lungs, I threw up my sheathed sword and caught it again in a frenzy of delight, while the gloomy men about me smiled at my enthusiasm. I felt the horse beneath me move once more like a thing of life. No enchanter with his wand,

he jangle of the bells. Country-folk were congregated at the cross-roads, and in the villages, listening and gazing; asking timid questions of the more good-natured among us, and showing that the rumour of the dreadful work doing in the town had somehow spread abroad. And this though I learned afterwa

was to blame. A something besides Queen Catharine de' Medici had been brought from Italy forty years before, a something invisible but very powerful; a spirit of cruelty and treachery. In Italy it had done small harm. But grafted on French daring and recklessness, and the rougher and more soldierly manners of the north, this spirit of intrigue proved capable of very drea

nobles, ready for any wild brawl, without forethought or prudence. Of the four Frenchmen who it is thought took the leading parts, one, the king, was twenty-two; Monsieur, his brother, was only twenty; the Duke of Guise was twenty-one. Only

ed. Horses were brought out to fill the places of those lost or left behind, and Bure had food ser

s he looked at us a flicker of kindliness lit up his stern and cruel gloom; I could almost have sworn he smiled with a curious sadness. As for Louis, riding with a squad who stood in a different part of the yard, he did not see us; had not yet seen us at all. His side face, turned towards me, was pale and sad, his manner preoccupied, his mien ra