The Women's War by Alexandre Dumas

Author:Alexandre Dumas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2006-12-11T05:00:00+00:00

XI

The same day as that on which Canolles was arrested in Jaulnay in front of Madame de Cambes, she herself left with Pompée to join the princess, who was within sight of Coutras.

The worthy steward’s first consideration was to prove to his mistress that if Cauvignac’s band did not demand any ransom or commit any violence against the beautiful traveller, she owed this good fortune to his own resolute manner and military experience. It is true that Madame de Cambes, who was less easy to persuade than Pompée had originally hoped, pointed out to him that for almost an hour he had disappeared entirely, but Pompée explained that during this time he had been hiding in a corridor, where, with the help of a ladder, he had prepared a secure escape route for the viscountess. However, he had had to ward off two frenetic soldiers who tried to get the ladder away from him, and had done so, as one might imagine, with his usual invincible courage.

This conversation naturally led Pompée to a word in praise of the soldiers of his own time, savage in fighting the enemy, as they had proved at the siege of Montauban and the Battle of Corbie,22 but mild and well-mannered towards their compatriots – all of them qualities, it had to be said, which, nowadays, soldiers did not pride themselves on.

The fact is that, without realizing it, Pompée had just avoided an immense danger: that of being press-ganged. As he was accustomed to walk along with shining eyes, his chest puffed out in a warlike manner and with the bearing of a Nimrod, he attracted Cauvignac’s attention from the start. But subsequent events had changed the captain’s mind. After all, he had received two hundred pistoles from Nanon to look after the Baron de Canolles; then there was the philosophical reflection that jealousy is the most magnificent of passions and one that you should make the most of when you come across it. So the dear brother had left Pompée alone and allowed Madame de Cambes to continue on her way to Bordeaux – actually, in Nanon’s view, Bordeaux was still very close to Canolles. She would have preferred the viscountess to be in Peru, or India, or Greenland.

On the other hand, when Nanon considered that from now on she had her dear Canolles to herself between four solid walls, and that excellent fortifications, very hard for the king’s men to breach, would also be keeping Madame de Cambes a prisoner, she felt herself swell with those infinite joys that only children and lovers can know on this earth.

We have seen how her dream was realized and how Canolles and Nanon met again on the Ile Saint-Georges.

So, Madame de Cambes, on her side, was travelling along, sad and anxious. Pompée was far from reassuring her, despite his boasting, and when, on the evening of the day that she left Jaulnay, she saw quite a large troop of horsemen approaching down a side road, she felt an acute sense of fear.

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