Читать книгу The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon - Александр Дюма, Alexandre Dumas - Страница 20

“MADEMOISELLE DE FARGAS and Coster Saint-Victor happened to meet by chance just below the village of La Guerche, about three leagues from where Cadoudal was camped.

“Coster Saint-Victor, one of the most elegant men of the time, a rival of the First Consul Bonaparte for the favors of one of the most beautiful actresses of the day, spotted the lovely woman in the open carriage. When the carriage was forced move more slowly on an upgrade, he was able to draw near easily since he was on horseback.

“At first Diana tried to remain coldly distant with the stranger, but he greeted her so politely, and his speech and compliments were so gentlemanly, that she remained aloof no longer than was appropriate for people who meet while traveling. Then, too, the region was completely new to her, and danger could be waiting anywhere. This traveler apparently knew the country very well, so he could prove to be useful to her, perhaps even telling her where Cadoudal could be found.

“Both of them had assumed a false identity. Coster Saint-Victor had told her that his name was d’Argentan and that he was a government tax officer in Dinan. Diana had introduced herself as Mademoiselle de Rotrou, the postmistress in Vitré. From statement to statement they shared false information, but eventually they both spoke something true. To each other both divulged that they were looking for Cadoudal.

“‘Are you acquainted with him?’ Saint-Victor, or d’Argentan, had asked.

“‘I’ve never set eyes on him,’ Diana answered.

“‘Well, then, mademoiselle, I shall be pleased to offer my services,’ said d’Argentan. ‘Cadoudal is a close friend of mine, and we are getting so near the place where we shall meet him that I can with no risk, I believe, admit that I am not really a government tax agent but rather an officer in Cadoudal’s ranks. If you need a reference to be able to see him, mademoiselle, I shall be doubly pleased that chance—in this case I will say Providence—has placed you on my path.’

“‘Since we are making admissions, I am no more postmistress in Vitré than you are a tax officer in Dinan. I am the last of a well-known Royalist family and I’ve a vow of vengeance to fulfill. I am seeking to serve with him.’

“‘In what capacity?’ d’Argentan asked.

“‘As a volunteer,’ said Diana.

“Coster looked at her in surprise, and then said, ‘Well, yes, in the end that should be possible. Dumouriez after all had as aides-de-camp the two Fernig girls. We live in such strange times that we have to get used to everything, even to those things that seem unbelievable.’ At that, they let the matter drop.

“In La Guerche they had met and passed a detachment of Republican soldiers on its way to Vitré. At the bottom of the hill below La Guerche they came upon some logs barricading the road. ‘By Jove!’ said Coster, ‘I would not be at all surprised if Cadoudal were behind this barricade.’

“He came to a halt and motioned to Diana’s carriage to stop. He imitated the hoot first of a screech owl, then of a barn owl, and was answered by the cry of a crow. ‘We’ve identified each other as friends,’ he told Diana. ‘Even so, it’s best if you wait here. I’ll come back to get you.’

“Two men appeared and opened up a path through the barricade. Diana watched as her traveling companion threw himself into the arms of a man whom she assumed to be the elusive Cadoudal himself.

“Soon the man crossed the barricade and walked toward Diana. As he neared the carriage, he took off his felt hat. ‘Mademoiselle,’ he said, ‘either you continue on your way or you do me the honor of asking for hospitality. I can only ask you to decide quickly. In less than an hour the Republicans will be here, and as you can see’—he motioned to the barricades—‘we are ready to welcome them. Not to mention,’ he went on, ‘the fifteen hundred men hidden in the Scotch broom who will soon begin to make music the likes of which you have never heard.’

“‘Monsieur,’ said Diana, ‘I have come to request your hospitality, and I am thankful that chance allows me the opportunity to witness a spectacle I have always wanted to see: a battle.’

“Cadoudal bowed and motioned to his men, who made a passageway just large enough for the carriage. Once Diana found herself on the other side of the barricade, she discovered, in addition to the fifteen hundred Cadoudal had said were in the broom, a thousand more lying prone with their rifles ready. And hidden back in the underbrush were about fifty horsemen, their horses’ bridles in hand.

“‘Mademoiselle,’ Cadoudal said to Diana, ‘please don’t think ill of me for attending to my military duties. As soon as I’ve taken care of them, I shall return.’

“‘Please, gentlemen, don’t worry about me,’ said Diana. ‘If only there were a horse.…’

“‘But I’ve got two,’ said d’Argentan. ‘I shall put the smaller at your disposal. Unfortunately it is saddled for battle and for a man.’

“‘Which is exactly what I need,’ said Diana. And when she saw the young man taking his saddlebag off the horse, she said with a laugh, ‘Thank you, Sir Government Tax Officer from Dinan!’ And then she closed the carriage door.

“Ten minutes later, the first shots rang out on the hilltop about a quarter of a mile from the barricade, and the battle was under way. At the same time, the carriage door opened and a young man in an elegant Chouan costume stepped down. He was wearing a velvet vest. Two double-barreled pistols protruded from his white belt, a white feather waved from his felt hat, and at his side hung a light saber. On the horse that Coster Saint-Victor’s servant gave to him, he galloped off with an ease that betrayed an excellent horseman. He took his place among the ranks of the cavalry serving under the Breton leader.

“I shall not recount the battle,” Hector went on, “except to tell you that the Blues were totally defeated; after displaying prodigious courage, they retreated and rallied around their leader, Colonel Hulot, in the village of La Guerche.

“Although the day had not brought great material gains to Cadoudal and his men, the moral effect was immense. For Cadoudal, his twenty-five hundred men not only had stood up to four or five thousand veteran soldiers hardened by five years of fighting, but had also pushed them back into the town from which they had tried to sally, and he ‘d cost the Blues four or five hundred men. Thus the insurrection in Brittany, following on the heels of the insurrection in the Vendée, got under way with a victory.

“Diana had fought in the front ranks, had often shot with her rifle, and three or four times, in close battle, had had occasion to use her pistols. As for Coster Saint-Victor, he came back, his Chouan jacket over his shoulder, with a bayonet wound in his arm.

“‘Monsieur,’ the girl said to Cadoudal, who had been hidden in the smoke while fighting in the front rows throughout the whole battle, ‘before the battle, you said that once it was over, you would attend to my purposes in coming to join you. Now that the combat is indeed over, I would hope you’d allow me a place among your troops.’

“‘In what capacity?’ Cadoudal asked.

“‘As a volunteer. For have I not just proven to you that noise and smoke do not frighten me?’

“Cadoudal scowled; his face became stern. ‘Madame,’ he said, ‘your proposal is more serious than it first appears. I am going to tell you something strange. I was first called to become a churchman, and I willingly took all the vows one normally takes when entering orders, nor did I ever break any of them. Now, I have no doubt that you would be a charming aide-de-camp, brave in the face of all. And I believe that women are as good as men. For centuries—from the time of Epicharis, who, while being tortured at Nero’s orders, bit off her tongue so she would not be able to betray her accomplices, up until the time of Charlotte Corday, who rid the earth of a monster before whom men trembled—we have seen constant proof of women’s courage. But in our regions where religion is important, especially in our old Brittany, there are prejudices that can harm a military reputation just as they can force a military leader to operate contrary to his beliefs. Still, in their camps, some of my colleagues have welcomed sisters and daughters of Royalists who had been killed. Did we not owe them the help and protection they requested?’

“‘And who says, monsieur,’ cried Diana, ‘that I myself am not the daughter or sister of a murdered Royalist, perhaps both, and that I do not have the same claim to the protection you speak of?’

“‘In that case,’ said the supposed d’Argentan with a smile, ‘how is it that you are carrying a passport signed by Barras and made out to the postmistress of Vitré?’

“‘Would you be so kind as to show me your own passport?’ Diana riposted.

“‘Ah! What a good answer,’ said Cadoudal, intrigued by Diana’s strong will and cool demeanor.

“‘And then you will explain how, since you are General Cadoudal’s friend, almost his right arm, you have the right to circulate, as the tax officer in Dinan, throughout the territory of the Republic?’

“‘Go ahead, speak,’ said Cadoudal. ‘Explain to the lady how you are a tax officer in Dinan.’

“‘And then she can explain how she is postmistress in Vitré?’ d’Argentan responded.

“‘Oh, that is a secret that I would never dare reveal to our modest friend Cadoudal. However, if you push me, I can tell you, at the risk of making him blush, that in Paris, hidden on Rue des Colonnes near the Feydeau Theatre, there is a young woman named Aurélie de Saint-Amour to whom Citizen Barras can refuse nothing. Nor can she refuse anything to me.’

“‘Well, then,’ said Cadoudal, ‘the name d’Argentan on my friend’s passport hides a name he uses as a pass among all those bands of Chouans, Vendeans, and Royalists wearing the white cockade in France and abroad. Your traveling companion, mademoiselle, who no longer has anything to hide now that he has nothing more to fear, is not a tax collector for the Republican government in Dinan, but rather the intermediary between General Tête-Ronde and the Companions of Jehu.’ Diana winced almost imperceptibly when she heard that word.

“‘And I must say,’ offered the counterfeit d’Argentan, ‘that I was witness to a horrible execution when I was last among the Companions. The Vicomte de Fargas, who had betrayed the association, was stabbed in my presence.’

“Diana could feel her blood draining from her face. If she had told them her real name, or if she now revealed it, she would not be able to meet the objectives of her journey. To the sister of the Vicomte de Fargas, who had been judged and sentenced by the Companions of Jehu, never would Cadoudal or d’Argentan reveal the executioners’ names or their whereabouts. So she said nothing, as if she were waiting for d’Argentan to finish his thought.

“Cadoudal continued: ‘His name is not d’Argentan, but rather Coster Saint-Victor, and even he had given no other guarantee of his loyalty to our holy cause than the wound he has just suffered.’

“‘Unless it’s a wound merely to prove his devotion,’ said Diana coldly. ‘That would be easy.’

“‘What do you mean?’

“‘Watch!’

“Diana pulled from her belt the sharp dagger that had killed her brother and struck her arm at the same place where Coster had been wounded. She struck with such force that the blade went into one side of her arm and out the other. Then, holding her wounded arm, with the dagger still in it, out toward Cadoudal, she said, ‘Would you like to see if I am of noble birth? Look! My blood is no less blue, I trust, than Monsieur Coster Saint-Victor’s. Would you like to know how I can claim your trust? This dagger proves that I am affiliated with the Companions of Jehu. Would you like to know my name? I am the goddaughter of that Roman woman who, to give her husband courage, pierced her own arm with a knife. My name is Portia!’

“Coster Saint-Victor gave a start, and while Cadoudal was looking admiringly at the avenging heroine, he said, ‘I can attest that the blade with which this girl has just struck herself is indeed a dagger belonging to the Companions of Jehu. The proof is that I have here one just like it that the company’s leader gave to me on the day of my initiation.’ And he pulled from his cloak a dagger in every way identical to the one in her arm.

“Cadoudal extended his hand to Diana. ‘From this moment on, mademoiselle,’ he said, ‘if you no longer have a father, I am your father. If you no longer have a brother, you are now my sister. Since we are living at a time when everyone is forced to hide his true name under another, your name, like the worthy Roman you are, shall be Portia. From now on, you are part of our army, mademoiselle, and as your first action has earned you a rank of leader, once our surgeon has bandaged your wound, you will attend the council I shall be holding.’

“‘Thank you, General,’ said Diana. ‘As for the surgeon, he’s not needed for me any more than he’s needed for Monsieur Coster Saint-Victor. My wound is no more serious than his.’ Pulling the dagger from the wound in which it had until then remained, she rolled up her sleeve and displayed her lovely arm. Then, turning to Coster Saint-Victor, she said, ‘Comrade,’ she said, ‘please be so good as to lend me your tie.’

“For two years Diana remained with the army of Brittany without anyone ever learning her real name. For two years she participated in every battle Cadoudal waged and shared with the general all the dangers and his fatigue, her devotion to him apparently complete. For two years she swallowed her hatred for the Companions of Jehu and vaunted their exploits, glorified their names: Morgan, d’Assas, Adler, and Montbar. For two years, the handsome Coster de Saint-Victor, who had never met a woman insensible to his charms, besieged the woman named Portia with his love, but in vain. Finally, after two years, her long perseverance was rewarded.

“The 18th Brumaire burst on the scene in France. Immediately the new dictator’s thoughts turned to the Vendée and Brittany. Cadoudal realized that serious war was about to break out in France. He realized, too, that to wage war he needed money. And that only the Companions of Jehu would be able to furnish it.

“Coster Saint-Victor had just taken a bullet in the thigh, so this time he could not be expected to assume his tax collector’s role. Cadoudal thought of Portia. Again and again she had proved her devotion and courage, and with Coster Saint-Victor unavailable, Cadoudal could think of no one better to complete the delicate mission: Dressed like a woman, she could travel anywhere in France undisturbed, and if she traveled by carriage, she could carry considerable sums of money. He consulted the wounded man, who agreed with him completely. Diana was summoned to the general’s bedside, where he laid out his plan. He wanted her to establish contact, by using letters from Cadoudal and Coster Saint-Victor, with the Companions of Jehu, then return to him with the money that was now more necessary than ever, what with hostilities about to break out even more fiercely than before.

“Diana’s heart leaped with joy as he spoke, but not a flicker of emotion on her face betrayed what was happening in her heart. ‘Although the task will be difficult,’ she said, ‘I ask for nothing more than the opportunity to complete it. In addition to letters from the general and Monsieur Coster Saint-Victor, however, I shall need all the topographical information, as well as all the watchwords and passwords, necessary for reaching the secret site of their meetings.’

“Coster Saint-Victor gave her everything she needed. She left with a smile on her face and vengeance in her heart.”