for the first time in years the great hall of the château d'aumenier was brightly lighted. the ancient house stood in the midst of a wooded park adjacent to the village, overlooking one of the little lakes whose outlets flowed into the morin. in former days it had been the scene of much hospitality, and, even after the revolution in the period of the consulate and the early empire, representatives of the ancient house had resided there, albeit quietly and in greatly diminished style. the old marquis henri, as uncompromising a royalist soldier as ever lived, had fled to england and had remained there. his younger brother, robert, compromising his dignity and his principles alike, had finally made his submission to napoleon and received back the estates, or what had not been sequestrated. but he had lived there quietly, had sought no preferment of the government—even rejecting many offers—and had confined his recognition to as narrow limits as possible. he had married and there had been born to him a daughter, whom he had named after the ancient dames of his honorable house, laure.
the count d'aumenier, living thus retired, had fallen into rather careless habits after the death of his wife, and the little demoiselle had been brought up indifferently indeed. dark, brown-eyed, black-haired, she had given promise of beauty to come. left to her own devices she had acquired accomplishments most unusual in that day and by no means feminine. she could ride, shoot, swim, run, fence, much better than she could dance the old courtly minuet, or the new and popular waltz, just beginning to make its appearance. a love of reading and an ancient library in which she had a free range had initiated her into many things which the well-brought-up french girl was not supposed to know, and which, indeed, many of them went to their graves without ever finding out. the count had a well-stored mind, and on occasion he gave the child the benefit of it, while leaving her mainly to her own devices.
few of the ancient nobility had come back to the neighborhood. their original holdings had been portioned out among the new creations of the imperial wizard, and with them the count held little intercourse. laure d'aumenier had not reached the marriageable age, else some of the newly made gentry would undoubtedly have paid court to her. she found companions among the retainers of her father's estate. the devotion of some of them had survived the passionate hatreds of the revolution and, failing the marquis, who was the head of the house, they loyally served his brother, and with pride and admiration gave something like feudal worship and devotion to the little lady.
the marquis, an old man now, had never forgiven his brother, the count, for his compromise with principle and for his recognition of the "usurper," as he was pleased to characterize napoleon. he had refused even to accept that portion of the greatly diminished revenue of the estate which the younger brother had regularly remitted to the marquis' bankers in london. the whole amount lay there untouched and accumulating, although, as were many other emigrés, the marquis frequently was hard pressed for the bare necessities of life. with every year, as bonaparte—for that was the only name by which he thought of him—seemed to be more and more thoroughly established on the throne, the resentment of the marquis had grown. latterly he had refused to hold any communication with his brother.
the year before the battle of the nations, or just before napoleon set forth on his ill-fated russian adventure, count robert d'aumenier died. with an idea of amendment, which showed how his conscience had smitten him for his compromise, he left everything he possessed to his brother, the marquis, including his daughter, laure, who had just reached her sixteenth year. with the will was a letter, begging the marquis to take the young demoiselle under his charge, to complete that ill-begun and worse-conducted education, the deficiencies of which the father too late realized, in a manner befitting her station, and to provide for her marriage with a proper portion, as if she had been his own daughter. the marquis had never married himself, lacking the means to support his rank, and it was probable that he never would marry.
the marquis was at first minded to refuse the bequest and to disregard the appeal, but an old retainer of the family, none other than jean marteau, the elder, complying with count robert's dying wish, had taken the young countess laure across the channel, and had quietly left her in her uncle's care, he himself coming back to act as steward or agent for the remaining acres of the shrunken aumenier domain; for the marquis, having chosen a course and walked in it for so many years, was not minded even for the sake of being once more the lord of aumenier to go back to france, since the return involved the recognition of the powers that were.
old jean marteau lived in his modest house between the village and the château. and the château had been closed for the intervening time. young jean marteau, plodding along the familiar way, after a day full of striking adventure and fraught with important news, instantly noticed the light coming through the half moons in the shutters over the windows of the château, as he came around a brow of the hill and overlooked the village, the lake and the castle in the clearing. the village was as dark as the château was light.
marteau was ineffably weary. he had been without sleep for thirty-six hours, he had ridden twenty leagues and walked—heaven only knew how many miles in addition. he had extricated himself from desperate situations only by his courage, daring, and, in one or two cases, by downright fighting, rendered necessary by his determination to acquire accurate information for the emperor. he had profited, not only by his instruction in the military school, but by his campaigning, and he now carried in his mind a disposition of the russian forces which would be of the utmost value to the emperor.
the need of some rest, however, was absolute. marmont's troops, starting out at the same time he had taken his departure, would barely have reached sézanne by this time, so much more slowly did an army move than a single person. the emperor, who had intimated that he would remain at nogent until the next day, would scarcely undertake the march before morning. aumenier lay off to the northwest of sézanne, distant a few miles. if the young aide could find something to eat and get a few hours' sleep, he could be at sézanne before the emperor arrived and his information would be ready in the very nick of time. with that thought, after staring hard at the château in some little wonderment, he turned aside from the road that led to its entrance and made for the village.
his mother had died the year before; his father and his sister, with one or two attendants, lived alone. there was no noble blood in marteau's veins, as noble blood is counted, but his family had been followers and dependents of the aumeniers for as many generations as that family had been domiciled in france. young jean marteau had not only been laure d'aumenier's playmate, but he had been her devoted slave as well. to what extent that devotion had possessed him he had not known until returning from the military school he had found her gone.
the intercourse between the young people had been of the frankest and pleasantest character, but, in spite of the sturdy respectability of the family and the new principles of equality born of the revolution, young marteau realized—and if he had failed to do so his father had enlightened him—that there was no more chance of his becoming a suitor, a welcome suitor, that is, for the hand of laure d'aumenier than there was of his becoming a marshal of france.
indeed, as in the case of many another soldier, that last was not an impossibility. men infinitely more humble than he in origin and with less natural ability and greatly inferior education had attained that high degree. if napoleon lived long enough and the wars continued and he had the opportunity, he, too, might achieve that coveted distinction. but not even that would make him acceptable to count robert, no matter what his career had been; and even if count robert could have been persuaded the old marquis henri would be doubly impossible.
so, on the whole, jean marteau had been glad that laure d'aumenier had gone out of his life. he resolved to put her out of his heart in the same way, and he plunged with splendid energy into the german campaign of 1813, with its singular alternations of success and failure, of victory and defeat, of glory and shame. he had been lucky enough to win his captain's commission, and now, as a major, with a position on the staff of the emperor, he could look forward to rapid advancement so long as the emperor lasted. with the bright optimism of youth, even though affairs were now so utterly hopeless that the wise old marshals despaired, marteau felt that his foot was on the first rung of the ladder of fame and prosperity, and, in spite of himself, as he had approached his native village, he had begun to dream again, almost to hope.
there was something ominous, however, in the appearance of the village in that dark gray evening hour. there were no barking dogs, no clucking hens, no lowing cattle, no sounds of childish laughter, no sturdy-voiced men or softer-spoken women exchanging greetings. the stables and sheds were strangely silent.
the village was a small one. he turned into it, entered the first house, stumbled over a corpse! the silence was of death. with a beating heart and with a strength he did not know he possessed, he turned aside and ran straight to his father's house.
standing by itself it was a larger, better and more inviting house than the others. the gate of the surrounding stone wall was battered off the hinges, the front door of the house was open, the garden was trampled. the house had been half destroyed. a dead dog lay in front of the door. he could see all that in the half light. he ran down the path and burst into the wrecked and plundered living room. a few feeble embers still glowed in the broad hearth. from them he lighted a candle standing on the mantel shelf.
the first sight that greeted him was the body of his sister, her torn clothing in frightful disarray, a look of agony and horror upon her white set face under its dishevelled hair. she was stone dead. he knelt down and touched her. she was stone cold, too. he stared at her, a groan bursting from his lips. the groan brought forth another sound. was it an echo? lifting the candle, he looked about him. in a far corner lay a huddled human body. he ran to it and bent over it. it was his father. knowing the house like a book, he ran and fetched some water. there were a few mouthfuls of spirits left in a flask of vodka he had found in the russian's overcoat. he bathed his father's face, forced a few drops of the strong spirit down his throat, and the old man opened his eyes. in the flickering light he caught sight of the green cap and coat.
"curse you," he whispered.
"my father!" cried the young officer. "it is i."
"my son!"
"what has happened?"
"the cossacks—i fought for the honor of your sister. where——" the old man's voice faltered.
"she is dead yonder," answered the son.
"thank god," came the faint whisper from the father. "mademoiselle laure—she—the wagon-train—the castle——"
his voice died away, his eyes closed. frantically the young man recalled his father to his senses again.
"it's no use," whispered the old man, "a ball in the breast. i am going. what do you here?"
"on the service of the emperor," answered the young officer. "father, speak to me!"
"alas—poor—france," came the words slowly, one by one, and then—silence.
marteau had seen death too many times not to know it now. he laid the old man's head gently down, he straightened his limbs, he went over to the form of the poor girl. to what horrors she had been subjected—like every other woman in the village—before she died! like his father, he thanked god that she was dead. he lifted her up tenderly and laid her down on a huge settle by the fireplace. he stood a moment, looking from one to the other. the irreligion of the age had not seized him. he knelt down and made a prayer. having discharged that duty, he lifted his hands to heaven and his lips moved. was he invoking a curse upon these enemies? he turned quickly and went out into the night, drawing the door behind him, fastening it as tight as he could.
he forgot that he was hungry, that he was thirsty, that he was tired, that he was cold. for the moment he almost forgot his duty toward his emperor and france, as he walked rapidly through the trees toward the great house. but as he walked that stern obligation came back to him. his sister was dead, his father murdered. well, the first cossack he came upon should pay. meanwhile there was his duty. what had his father said?
"the cossacks—the wagon-train—the countess laure."
what did it mean? part of it was plain enough. the cossacks had raided the village, his father had been stricken down defending his daughter, his sister had died. that was easy, but the wagon-train, the castle, the countess laure? could she have come back? was that the occasion for the lights in the château? that body of cavalry that he had seen leaving sacken's men that morning with the civilians—was she that woman? the mystery would be solved at the château. and it was there he had arranged to meet his comrade, anyway.
he stopped and looked back at the devastated village. already a light was blazing in one of the houses. it would soon be afire. he could do nothing then. the château called him. he broke into a run again, heavy-footed and tired out though he was. around the château in the courtyard were dozens of wagons. his experienced glance told him that they were army wagons, containing provisions, arms, ammunition. some of the covers had been raised to expose the contents. there was not a living man present, and scarcely a living horse. there had been some sort of a battle evidently, for the wagons were in all sorts of confusion and there were dead men and horses everywhere. he did not stop to examine them save to make sure that the dead men were french, proving that the convoy had come from paris. he threaded his way among the wagons and finally reached the steps that led to the broad terrace upon which rose the château.
the main door was open. there were no soldiers about, which struck him as peculiar, almost terrifying. he went up the steps and across the terrace, and stopped before the building, almost stumbling over the bodies of two men whose uniforms were plainly russian! he inspected them briefly and stepped toward the door of the entrance hall. it was open but dimly lighted, and the light wavered fitfully. the faint illumination came into the hall from a big broad open door upon the right, giving entrance to what had been the great room. still keeping within the shadow, he moved carefully and noiselessly into the hall, until he could get a view of the room beyond.
a huge fire was burning in the enormous fireplace. the many tables with which the room had been furnished had been pushed together in the center, several tall candles pulled from the candelabra and fastened there by their own melted wax stood upon these tables and added their illumination to the fire-light. several men in uniforms, two of them rough-coated cossacks, and two whose dress showed clearly that they belonged to the russian imperial guard, lay on the floor, bound and helpless. a stout, elderly man, in civilian garb, with a very red face and an angry look, his wig awry, was lashed to a chair. between two ruffianly looking men, who held her firmly, stood a woman.
there were perhaps two dozen other men in the room, unkempt, savage, brutal, armed with all sorts of nondescript weapons from ancient pistols to fowling pieces, clubs and scythes. they were all in a state of great excitement, shouting and gesturing madly.
the woman standing between the two soldiers was in the full light. so soon as he caught sight of her marteau recognized her. it was laure d'aumenier. she had grown taller and more beautiful than when he had seen her last as a young girl. she had been handled roughly, her clothes were torn, her hair partially unbound. her captors held her with an iron grasp upon her arms, but she did not flinch or murmur. she held herself as erect and looked as imperious as if she had been on a throne.
