we must now go back to the chateau de viteau, and see what has happened there since the departure of louis for his new home. of course, the boy was greatly missed by his mother and brother, but raymond soon found himself so busy that he had not time enough to grieve very much over the absence of his old playmate. in order to prepare himself for the school at paris he was obliged to study diligently, and in order that he might make a good appearance at the house of his cousin, with whom he was to live, bernard insisted on his employing nearly all his leisure time in out-door exercises and knightly accomplishments. hawking was postponed for the present, for, after the loss of raymond's falcon was discovered, bernard declared that he had not the heart to train another one immediately, even if a good bird could be easily obtained, which was not the case.
very little was said about the disappearance of the falcon. raymond, his mother, and the squire each had a suspicion that louis had had something to do with it; but no one of them mentioned it to either of the others. each hoped the suspicion was unfounded, and therefore said nothing about it.
while raymond was busy with his studies and his manly exercises, the mind of bernard, even while giving the boy the benefit of his knowledge of the management of horses and the use of arms, was occupied with a very serious matter.
as has been said before, the countess of viteau was one of the very few ladies in france who was fairly educated, and who took an interest in acquiring knowledge from books. this disposition, so unusual at that time, together with her well-known efforts to have her sons educated, even giving a helping hand herself whenever she found that she was qualified to do so, had attracted attention to her, and many people began to talk about her, as a woman who gave a great deal of time to useless pursuits. why should a lady of her rank—these people said—wish to read books and study out the meaning of old manuscripts, as if she were of no higher station than a poor monk? if there were anything in the books and parchments which she ought to know, the priests would tell her all about it.
but the countess thought differently, and she kept on with her reading, which was almost entirely confined to religious works, and in this way she gradually formed some ideas about religious matters which were somewhat different from those taught at that time by the church of rome, or, at least, from those taught by the priests about her. she saw no harm in her opinions, and did not hesitate to speak of them to the priests who came to the chateau from a neighboring monastery, and even to argue in favor of them.
the priests, however, did see harm in the ideas of the countess, simply because, in those days, people had very narrow and bigoted ways of thinking in regard to religious affairs, and it was generally thought that any person having an opinion differing, even very little, from what was taught by the monks and priests, was doing a wicked thing to persist in such an opinion after he had been told it was wrong.
for this reason, when the priests who had charge of the religious services at viteau found that their arguments made no impression on the countess, who was able to answer them back in such a way that they could find nothing more to say on their side of the question, they reported the state of affairs to some of the higher officers of the church, and, in due time, a man was sent to viteau to find out exactly what its mistress did think, and why she was so wicked as to think it.
the person who was sent was the dominican monk, brother anselmo, who was met by the two boys and bernard, on the occasion when we first made their acquaintance. brother anselmo was a quiet-spoken man, making no pretensions to authority or to superior knowledge; and the countess talked with him and answered his questions freely and unsuspectingly. she knew he was a dominican, and she knew he had come to the neighborhood of viteau on purpose to talk with her on certain religious subjects; but this did not surprise her, as she supposed all good people were just as much interested in these subjects as she was; but she had no idea that he was connected with the inquisition at toulouse.
bernard, the squire, however, knew well who he was, and it troubled him greatly to know it.
some weeks after the dominican had begun to make his almost daily visits to viteau, he came, one day, accompanied by another monk, who did not enter the grounds, but who remained outside the little gate, waiting for his companion to return.
bernard noticed the monk waiting outside, and thinking that this unusual occurrence had something suspicious about it, he followed brother anselmo when he left the chateau, and, as he rejoined his fellow monk, the squire slipped quietly up to the wall and listened to what they said to each other. in this case, bernard did not consider that he was doing a very improper thing. he feared that danger threatened the household of viteau, and that these two monks were the persons through whom the evil would come. therefore, he believed that it was his duty to employ every possible means of averting this danger; and he listened with all his ears.
what he heard was very little. the two monks stood silent a few moments, and then the one who had been waiting said something in a low voice, which bernard could not hear. to this brother anselmo answered: "we have done all we can. i think it is a case for the holy inquisition."
and then the two walked off together.
bernard now knew that his fears were correct. his beloved mistress, on account of some of her religious opinions, was in danger of being carried a prisoner to toulouse, there to be tried before the officers of the inquisition. he had no doubt that her opinions, whatever they were, were entirely correct, for he had a great respect for her religious knowledge, and he felt sure she knew more than the monks who came to the chateau, but he well understood that, if she should be put on trial, and if the doctrines she believed to be true were found to differ, in the least point, from those taught by the priests, she would be considered guilty of heresy, and perhaps be put to death.
the squire went away from the wall a very sad man. he was certain that no one at the chateau but himself knew of the danger of its mistress, and he felt that it rested on him to take some immediate steps to save her, if that were possible.
as he approached the house, bernard met raymond, who was coming to take some lessons from him in the use of the long sword. the good squire never threw so much energy and good-will into his lessons as he did that day.
"if he has to fight for his mother," he said to himself, "i want him to fight well."
bernard teaching raymond the use of the long sword.
