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The Touchstone of Fortune written by Charles Major

C >> Charles Major >> The Touchstone of Fortune




"Don't you really know?"

The Abbe turned his face toward me, and when I caught a glimpse of his
eyes without spectacles, I recognized George Hamilton, and almost choked
myself in smothering a cry.

Frances turned to me, asking indignantly, "Why did not you tell me?"

"Because I did not know," I answered, hardly able to believe the truth.

But we had important business before us, and I knew that we should
prepare for it before Lilly came in. So George, Bettina, Frances, and
I went to a window at the far end of the room to hold a consultation.

"Since I did not recognize you, perhaps Lilly will not," I suggested. "I
trust the Doctor, but perhaps we had better leave him under the
impression that you are Monsieur l'Abbe du Boise and give no intimation
of the truth."

"I had not hoped that my disguise would deceive you, Baron Ned," said
George, "but since it has, it is just as well that we leave Lilly in the
dark if we can."

"But he will know. The stars will tell him," suggested Bettina, opening
her eyes very wide.

"The stars will tell him what he is paid to hear," I remarked. Then
turning to Frances, I asked, "How is it that you were able to recognize
him?"

"By his eyes!" exclaimed Frances and Bettina in concert.

"That gives me a valuable hint," said George, hastily adjusting his
colored spectacles. "Now, how about it?"

"I still should know you," answered Frances.

"Not I!" exclaimed Bettina.

Presently Lilly came in, and I presented him to Monsieur l'Abbe du Boise
and explained the presence of Frances and Bettina by saying:--

"A friend of ours in France has asked Mistress Jennings to render what
aid she can to Monsieur l'Abbe, and she is here at my request to receive
his commands."

"It is good!" exclaimed Lilly. "She has the king's ear if any one has,
and the ear is very close to the mind. What may I do to serve Monsieur
l'Abbe?"

"If I may see you privately---the baron and me--I shall tell you how you
may serve me," answered the Abbe.

The Abbe and I excused ourselves to Frances and Bettina, and went with
the Doctor to the room which he called his observatory, where we came to
the point very quickly:--

"I want to buy Dunkirk for my master for the sum of one hundred thousand
pounds," said the Abbe, by way of starting the consultation.

"But London has already offered that sum," returned Lilly, "and stands
ready to pay more."

"In payments," suggested the Abbe.

"Yes," returned Lilly. "But I see no way of bringing the king to accept
the sum you offer unless--unless Mistress Jennings can persuade him."

"She may be able to do so," answered the Abbe, shrugging his shoulders.
He spoke very bad English throughout the consultation. "But the stars,
too, may be very persuasive with King Charles. To be plain, he will
probably consult you, and if--"

"I am to see him to-night. That is why your visit was postponed until
to-morrow," interrupted Lilly.

"That is as I supposed," remarked the Abbe. "Now, if I buy Dunkirk for
one hundred thousand pounds, you shall receive two thousand pounds within
ten days after signing the treaty, and Baron Clyde will be my surety."

"Two thousand pounds?" mused Lilly. "That is rather a small sum in so
great a transaction."

"I doubt not the purchase may be made without the help of the stars if
you feel that two thousand pounds is too small a sum to be considered,"
returned the Abbe.

"No, no," said Lilly. "I understand that you wish me to set a figure and
work out the solution of this affair, and if I learn from the stars that
it is to King Charles's interest to accept your offer of one hundred
thousand pounds for the city of Dunkirk, I am to receive--"

"If King Charles accepts!" interrupted the Abbe.

"Ah, I see! Yes, yes, of course," returned Lilly. "I shall go to work
immediately and set my figure. Of course I do not know what I shall
learn, but I shall be glad to learn from the stars that which will enable
me to advise the king according to your wishes. Two thousand pounds are
two thousand pounds, and the word of a king is but a breath."

"What will the king give you for setting the figure and working it out?
What does he usually pay you in important affairs?" asked the Abbe.

"Ah--eh--I--I--In truth," returned Lilly, stammering, "the king, who is
so liberal with his lady friends, is--what shall I say?--close with me,
save in promises. He buys folly at the rate of hundreds of thousands of
pounds a year, while he pays for knowledge with large promises, and now
ten shillings and again five. On one occasion I assured him that he would
not fail if he attempted to put through a much-cherished plan of carrying
a lady to the country against her will. He was much pleased and gave me a
guinea, but borrowed it a week afterward, and--and still owes it."

George turned quickly to me, but, remembering that he was the Abbe du
Boise, said nothing. But I caught his meaning and, turning to Lilly,
asked:--

"Do you refer to the occasion of a certain kidnapping in which Hamilton
and I consulted you?"

"Yes," returned Lilly.

"And you allowed it to be carried out without telling us?" I asked
indignantly.

"I did not know who the lady was till you came to me for help," he
answered.

"And you were able to put us on the right track to find her because of
knowledge gained from the stars?" I asked, with a sharp note of sarcasm.

"No, no," he replied coolly. "Why trouble the stars for information that
may be had as easily and more definitely elsewhere?"

"Then why did you not tell us the true source of your knowledge?" I asked
warmly.

"Because I had neither right nor desire to betray the person most
actively engaged in the affair. To have done so might have cost me my
life. I gave you the information you asked, and you saved the lady
through my help, without which you would not have known where to turn.
You would have been helpless. You paid me ten guineas. Were my services
worth the fee?"

"Ah, richly," I returned, beginning to see the whole matter of astrology
in a new light.

"Then why do you complain?" he asked. "A man, naturally, wants to know
where his meat comes from, but knowledge, like a diamond, is good found
anywhere."

"I beg your pardon, Doctor Lilly," I answered, waving my hand as a
substitute for hauling down my colors. "I turn you over to Monsieur
l'Abbe once more."

"I think we understand each other," remarked the Abbe. "You say the king
has employed you to set a figure, and that you are to take the solution
to him to-night?"

"Monsieur l'Abbe is correct," returned Lilly.

"I hope the stars may see fit to advise the king to accept my first
offer, for it will be the last," said the Abbe. "Possibly the stars may
show that in case King Charles sells Dunkirk to London even for a much
larger sum than I shall offer, he may be compelled to spend the money and
a great deal more in defending the city."

"True, true," agreed Lilly.

"Possibly the stars may indicate that King Louis loves war," continued
the Abbe. "They may show that if King Charles refuses my master's offer,
England may be compelled to give up Dunkirk for nothing, or spend a vast
deal of money and blood in defending it. If the French king lays siege to
Dunkirk, the English people will force King Charles to take one of two
courses--defence or abdication. In the latter case he might lose his
head, as his father did before him. Furthermore, if King Charles refuses
my first offer, my master will withdraw, in which case London also will
withdraw. Is it not possible that the stars may tell you all this?"

"The conditions you suggest are so probable that one hardly need ask
confirmation of the stars, and so reasonably to be expected are the
events you predict that, beyond question, stellar revelation will be in
accord with your desires. But the stars will say what they will say, and
I shall give King Charles the truth from whatever source it comes," said
Lilly, lifting his head in righteousness and posing as the embodiment of
truth.

"That is all I can ask," returned the Abbe, rising to close the
interview.

"All exceedingly reasonable--reasonable," answered Lilly, bowing.

We returned to the parlor, where we found Frances and Bettina awaiting
us, not patiently, if I could judge by their looks. I asked Lilly to
allow us to occupy the room undisturbed for an hour while the Abbe gave
certain instructions to Frances, but the Doctor did better for us. He
took us to a room enclosed in glass on the roof of his house, where we
could be by ourselves with the sun and the sky overhead, and all London
beneath us.

To this day I am not sure that Lilly did not know Hamilton, but if he
did, he concealed his knowledge completely, feeling, doubtless, that it
would be a dangerous bit of information to himself and of no benefit to
any one else. If George should be discovered by the king, Lilly could
honestly disclaim knowing him. If affairs turned to our desire, the
Doctor could lose nothing by his ignorance whether pretended or real. So
I doubt not he thanked us for the imposture, if he discovered it.

It is needless to say that Bettina, Frances, George, and I were very
pleased to be together once more. We spent a delightful hour in Lilly's
observatory, where we made our plans for the following day, which will
unfold in the order of their occurrence. A great deal of the time we were
all talking at once, but for some strange reason we were all silent when
George said laughingly, though nervously, that the French king had sent
word to Frances that we would pay her ten thousand pounds if George's
mission proved successful.

Having anticipated the possible necessity for quick action at the proper
time, George had brought with him two copies of a treaty, written in
Latin. He brought also plenary authority from the French king, under
the great Seal of France, authorizing Monsieur l'Abbe du Boise to sign,
execute, and deliver the treaty on the part of France and to receive
in return the treaty to be executed by the English king. He also bore
authority to make and deliver to King Charles a bill of exchange on
Backwell, the goldsmith, for the purchase money of Dunkirk. Thus all
would be ready for immediate conclusion the moment King Charles accepted
the French king's offer.

That night near the hour of one o'clock, Lilly called by appointment to
see me at De Grammont's house, coming from Whitehall, where he had been
closeted with the king for three or four hours, explaining to his Majesty
the message of the stars as read by the light of two thousand pounds.

"I explained to his Majesty," said Lilly, "that in all my calculations
and observations, Mars intruded with alarming persistency in conjunction
with King Louis's star. I tried to show him that the recurrences of this
untoward conjunction were so rapid and constant as to denote war at a
very early date if conditions were not affected at once by the
intervention of the messenger, Mercury, whose sign fortunately
accompanied each unfortuitous conjunction. The king, though pretending
to be learned in the noble art of astrology, asked me to translate my
solution, and I did so, almost in the words of Monsieur l'Abbe this
afternoon."

"Thank you," remarked George.

"No, no, do not thank me," said Lilly, disclaiming all credit. "What
Monsieur said was so reasonable and fitted so aptly to the probable
conditions of the future, read in the terrestrial light of the present,
sound reason, that it was hardly necessary to ask the stars. But in
compliance with the king's request, I set my figure and found, as usual,
that the revelations of the stars coincided with the dictates of reason.
It is true the stars sometimes forecast events which seem almost
impossible in view of present conditions, but the questioner of the
heavens who does not use his reason to help his interpretation of the
stars is, to say the least, far from wise."

"Yes," interrupted the Abbe. "But come to the point! What did the king
say?"

"He did not entirely accept the message of the stars," returned Lilly.
"He does not seem to object to war. He says there is no time when it is
as easy to raise money from the people as in times of war. I suggested
that money in the nation's treasury was not in the privy purse, where the
king most wants it. But he said it was only a short journey from the
treasury to the privy purse, and--well, I agreed with him. If you want to
convert a vain, stubborn fool to your way of thinking, don't let him know
what your way is."

"So the stars have failed?" asked the Abbe.

"No," returned Lilly, "they have put the king to thinking, but more, they
have sowed the seeds of fear, a plant which grows rapidly in a coward's
heart by night."

"But not rapidly enough to suit our purposes, I fear," returned the Abbe.

"Yes," insisted Lilly. "If the king's inclination can be changed, fear
will sweep aside all other considerations in a moment, and he will accept
the one hundred thousand pounds which you will offer to-morrow morning.
But in case the king does conclude to accept the French king's offer, the
iron will at once take on a white heat, and--well, iron remains at white
heat only a short time. You must be ready to act quickly when the proper
moment comes, or London will spring between you and the king."

"I shall be ready," returned the Abbe. "The king shall be inclined to our
proposition before another day is past."

"Shall I tell you what the stars predict concerning the signing of the
treaty?" asked Lilly.

"Yes, yes," I answered eagerly.

"I have found Venus in conjunction with--" began Lilly.

"Oh, damn the stars!" cried the Abbe, most uncanonically. "Tell me what
you think about it!"

"The stars tell me that the treaty will be signed to-morrow night--that
is, to-night, this being the early morning," answered the Doctor,
persistently maintaining his attitude of stellar interpreter.

"Very well. Good night, Doctor," said the Abbe. "And may the shadow of
your discretion never grow less."

A moment later I conducted Lilly to the door, and when I returned to De
Grammont, who had not spoken a word during the entire interview, he
shrugged his shoulders and said:--

"Sacrament! What a wise man a fool may be! It is to admire!"

"I doubt if any man is beneficially wise unless he be in part a fool,"
said the Abbe, and I closed the symposium by remarking:--

"Folly tinctures wisdom with common sense, illumines it with imagination,
and gives it everyday usefulness. But best of all, it helps a man to
understand the motives of other fools who constitute the bulk of
mankind."

"Ah, baron," said De Grammont, yawning. "It is all doubtless true. Who
would have expected to find so much cynical wisdom in an Englishman? But
let us to bed!"

Hamilton and I were up by five o'clock the next morning, in consultation.
He was for dropping the matter in so far as it involved Frances, but I
insisted that while it was a disagreeable task for her, she was wise with
a woman's wisdom, calm with a woman's calmness, and bold with a woman's
boldness, which knows no equal when the motive springs from the heart
rather than the head.

We discussed the matter in all its phases, and then I went to the palace
to see Frances. When she arose, I was waiting to tell her that the Abbe
would see the king at ten o'clock and to ask her to wait in the anteroom
of the duchess's parlor. If Charles accepted the French king's offer, I
should pass by her wearing my hat, and she would know that her help would
not be needed. If the king refused, I should carry my hat in my hand, and
she could take her own course with Charles.

"Do you fear?" I asked, being myself very much afraid, for we were
dealing with an absolute monarch, devoid of conscience, devoid of caution
save when prompted by cowardice, but plenteously imbued with venom in his
heart and all things evil in his soul.

"I fear?" cried Frances, tossing her head defiantly.

I thought surely no woman ever was as beautiful as this one, in whose
heart there was no fear, no doubt of self, no faltering in the face of
danger. I asked her to tell me of her plans, and she answered:--

"I have no plan save to see the king. Then the plans will come of
themselves."




CHAPTER XIII

FRANCES DELIVERS THE TREATY


George went to the Shield Gallery in Whitehall at ten o'clock the next
morning, where he found his Majesty, the Lord Chancellor, and a half
score of the king's creatures, including Berkeley, Wentworth, Crofts,
Jermyn, and others of like quality.

These were the men with whom George had to deal. He was known intimately
to each of them, and was hated most heartily by all save the Chancellor.

When George entered the Gallery, the king took his seat in a great chair
of state on a dais at one end of the room, while his counsellors ranged
themselves on either side. I, with a dozen other gentlemen, had been
commanded to be present, not as advisers, but as attendants on the king
to give dignity to the occasion.

George, having been sent to England secretly, had brought no retinue,
since it was desired by every one connected with the affair that his
presence should attract as little attention as possible and thus avoid
alarming London. When George went to Whitehall, he was accompanied only
by De Grammont and a gentleman of the count's household.

While George knelt before his Majesty, asking leave to speak for the
French king, his master, I could not help thinking of the strange
contiguity of antagonisms so frequently observed in one's journey through
this life, nor could I help wondering what would be the fate of the bold
man kneeling before the king if his Majesty could but see through the
Abbe's disguise.

But I had little time for reflection, since George was not one who
allowed matters to drag. On receiving permission to speak, he rose
and went to the point at once in badly broken English, which I shall
not try to reproduce.

"I shall not take up your Majesty's time with idle words," said the
Abbe, glancing at a written memorandum which he held in his hand. "My
master, King Louis, sends greeting to his royal brother, and hopes that
no cause of difference may ever arise to darken the blue sky of peace
that now hangs over two kings, potent as are your Majesty and my master,
and two nations, happy, rich, and powerful as are the noble realms of
France and England. Believing the possession by either monarch of cities
or territory within the other's realm to be a constant menace to this
much-desired peace and amity, my master, the king of France, sends me,
his humble ambassador, with plenary authority, the instrument of which
now lies with your Majesty's noble Lord Chancellor, to make offer to your
Majesty of the great sum of one hundred thousand pounds for the good city
of Dunkirk, which is on territory contiguous to my master's domain."

"The great sum of one hundred thousand pounds!" demanded Charles,
contemptuously. "Does your master consider one hundred thousand pounds a
great sum to pay for so great a city as Dunkirk?"

"It is a great sum to pay, your Majesty," returned the Abbe, with
meekness in his manner, but boldness in his words, "when it is considered
that the king of France might have the city of Dunkirk for the mere
taking, did he not love your Majesty."

"Might have it for the mere taking, say you?" cried Charles, with a flash
of imitation fire. "Odds fish, man! What do you suppose we should be
doing while he was taking it?"

"Sending ships across the Channel at a great cost in money and life to
your people, your Majesty," coolly, though meekly, answered the Abbe.

"Of that my people will not complain," answered Charles, still burning a
pinch of red powder. "Their blood and their gold will be given gladly to
defend my possessions abroad. My people are brave and do not fear death
for the sake of their king, I would have you to know, Sir Abbe."

"Noble praise, your Majesty, and beautiful in the mouth of a king who
stands ready to march at the head of his own army, and to help fight the
good fight of his own cause," returned the Abbe, bowing with deep
humility.

"Sir, your words are bold and are in no way mitigated by your humble
mien!" exclaimed the king. "If you have no other offer to make, the
audience will end, at least for the present."

"May I crave one moment more?" asked the Abbe.

"Yes, but be brief," returned the king.

"My instructions, your Majesty, are to leave London not later than
sunrise on the day after making my king's offer. That will be to-morrow
morning, when I shall hasten back to Paris, whence no other messenger
will come. Twenty thousand troops are now within three hours' march of
Dunkirk. Your Majesty's ships cannot reach the city in time to save it. I
beg to say that I have delivered the entire message intrusted to me by my
august master, and therefore crave your royal permission to withdraw."

The king lifted his right hand in assent, and the Abbe moved backward,
bowing himself from the room. De Grammont, who had come with him, met him
at the door, and immediately they went to the count's house. When they
were gone, the king dismissed all save his counsellors, and I being at
liberty to leave, hastened to her Grace's anteroom. As I passed the door,
my hat in my hand, I bowed to Frances, who was watching me intently. She
smiled, glanced significantly toward my hat, nodded her head to let me
know that she understood, and I passed by, glad that she had the courage
which I so sadly lacked.

Evidently Frances lost no time in doing her part with the king, for two
hours later a page came to me in the Wardrobe, saying that the king
wished to see me immediately. I made all possible haste, and when I
entered the king's closet, he said:--

"Close the door, Clyde," but seemed unable for the moment to say more.

He could not hide his excitement, and presently began telling me in a
peremptory manner that he had a very delicate piece of business for my
hands. He did not seem to feel sure of his ground, and spoke with a
bravado altogether unnecessary, as though he would say I should do
his will whether it suited me or not, rather than in words of respectful
command. I could see easily that his bravado was assumed for the purpose
of forestalling any objection on my part. Of course he did not suspect
for one moment that I surmised what he wanted, or his words would have
been: "Odds fish! To the Tower with him!"

After several stammering efforts, he began: "I want you to see Du Boise,
whom you will find at De Grammont's house, and tell him that I accept
the offer he made this morning. I understand he brings the treaties
from France already written. At eight o'clock this evening they are to
be placed in the hands of your cousin, Mistress Jennings, together with
the bill drawn on Backwell of Lombard Street, for the sum of one hundred
thousand pounds. Deliver my message immediately and secretly. Let no
one know that I have spoken to you on the subject. After you have
seen Du Boise, go to Mistress Jennings and give her word from the Abbe
designating where and at what hour she is to receive the documents. I
suggest eight o'clock, that they may not be in her possession too long.
But wait a moment!"

He went to a writing desk standing near the river window, beckoned to me,
and continued excitedly, "Sit here and write at my dictation."

I sat down before the desk, took a quill, and awaited the king's
pleasure. After a moment's thought he dictated as follows:--

"To MONSIEUR L'ABBE DU BOISE,

"Ambassador Extraordinary from his Majesty,
King Louis of France:

"Out of love for my royal brother, King Louis, and for the purpose of
maintaining the peace and amity now existing between the glorious realms
of England and France, I accept his Majesty's offer to purchase the
city of Dunkirk, communicated to me at this morning's audience. You will
therefore place in the hands of the bearer, Baron Clyde, two copies of a
treaty consummating this transaction which I understand you have already
written out. With said copies you will also place a bill drawn in the
sum of one hundred thousand pounds on one, Edward Backwell, goldsmith,
Lombard Street, with whom I am told the funds lie, and for which this
writing shall be your full acquittance.

"The treaties shall be fully executed by you on the part of your master,
in accordance with the terms of your instrument of authority now resting
with my Lord Chancellor. When said treaties and said bill come to me, the
treaties will be signed, and the copy intended for your master will be
returned to you this evening so that you may carry out your instructions
by leaving at dawn tomorrow morning. To the which I give my reluctant
consent and request that you leave England without further ceremony,
believing that your duty to your master mounts superior to the mere
observation of courtly usage in formal leave-taking.

"Signed by the king's own hand,

"CHARLES R."

"You will see your cousin immediately after your consultation with Du
Boise, and arrange to deliver the documents to her hands privately at the
hour of eight o'clock."