CHAPTER XXIII.

THE ROYAL LOCKSMITH.

As the King had undertaken a very important piece of locksmith work, he

sent his valet Hue to beg General Lafayette to come into his smithy.

It was on the second floor above his bedroom, with inner and outer

stairs.

Since morning he had been hammering away at the work for which Master

Gamain gave him praise and so much regret that the politicians should

take him away from it to trouble about foreign countries.

Perhaps he wanted to show the Commander of the National Guard that

however weak as a monarch, he was mighty as a Tubal Cain.

On the road Count Louis had time to meditate; and he concluded that the

Queen knew nothing of his errand. He would have to study the King’s

reception and see if he did not give some sign of better understanding

what brought him to Paris than his cousin the marquis.

The valet did not know Bouille so that he only announced the general.

“Ah, it is you, marquis,” said the King, turning. “I must ask pardon for

calling you up here, but the smith assures you that you are welcome in

his forge. A charcoal-burner once said to my ancestor Henry IV.: ‘Jack

is king in his own castle.’ But you are master in the smithy as in the

palace.”

Louis spoke much in the same way as Marie Antoinette.

“Sire, under whatever circumstances I present myself to your Majesty,”

said Lafayette, “and whatever costume your Majesty is in, the King will

be ever the sovereign and I the faithful subject and devoted servant.”

“I do not doubt that, my lord; but you are not alone. Have you changed

your aid-de-camp?”

“This young officer, Sire, whom I ask leave to introduce, is my cousin,

Count Louis Bouille, captain in the Provence Dragoons.”

“Oh, son of Marquis Bouille, commander of Metz?” said the King, with a

slight start not escaping the young man.

“The same, Sire,” he spoke up quickly.

“Excuse me not knowing you, but I have short sight. Have you been long

in town?”

“I left Metz five days ago; and being here without official furlough but

under special permission from my father, I solicited my kinsman the

marquis for the honor of presentation to your Majesty.”

“You were very right, my lord, for nobody could so well present you at

any hour, and from no one could the introduction come more agreeably.”

The words “at any hour” meant that Lafayette had the public and private

entry to the King. The few words from the sovereign put the young count

on his guard. The question about his coming signified that he wanted to

know if Charny had seen his father.

Meanwhile Lafayette was looking round curiously where few penetrated; he

admired the regularity with which the tools were laid out. He blew the

bellows as the apprentice.

“So your Majesty has undertaken an important work, eh?” queried

Lafayette, embarrassed how to talk to a King who was in a smutty apron,

with tucked up sleeves and had a file in his hand.

“Yes, general, I have set to making our magnus opus a lock. I tell you

just what I am doing or we shall have Surgeon Marat saying that I am

forging the fetters of France. Tell him it is not so, if you lay hold of

him. I suppose you are not a smith, Bouille?”

“At least I was bound apprentice, and to a locksmith, too.”

“I remember, your nurse’s husband was a smith and your father, although

not much of a student of Rousseau acted on his advice in ‘Emile’ that

everybody should learn a craft, and bound you to the workbench.”

“Exactly; so that if your Majesty wanted a boy----“

“An apprentice would not be so useful to me as a master,” returned the

King. “I am afraid I have ventured on too hard a job. Oh, that I had my

teacher Gamain, who used to say he was a crafts-master above the

masters.”

“Is he dead, my lord?”

“No,” replied the King, giving the young gentleman a glance for him to

be heedful; “he lives in Versailles, but the dear fellow does not dare

come and see me at the Tuileries for fear he will get an ill name. All

my friends have gone away, to London, Turin or Coblentz. Still, my dear

general, if you do not see any inconvenience in the old fellow coming

with one of his boys to lend me a hand, I might ask him to drop in some

day.”

“Your Majesty ought to know perfectly that he can see and send for

anybody.”

“Yes, on condition that you sentries search them as the revenue officers

do those suspected of smuggling; poor Gamain will believe he is to be

hanged, drawn and quartered if they found his bag of tools on him and

took his three-cornered file for a stiletto!”

“Sire, I do not know how to excuse myself to your Majesty, but I am

answerable for your person to the Powers of Europe, and I cannot take

too many precautions for that precious life to be protected. As for the

honest fellow of whom we are speaking, the King can give what orders he

pleases.”

“Very well; thank you, marquis; I might want him in a week or ten

days--him and his ’prentice,” he added, with a glance at Bouille; “I

could notify him by my valet Durey, who is a friend of his.”

“He has only to call to be shown up to the King; his name will suffice.

Lord preserve me from getting the title of your jailer, Sire; never was

the monarch more free; and I have even desired your Majesty to resume

hunting and riding out.”

“Thank you, but no more hunts for me! Besides, you see I have something

to keep me in doors, in my head. As for traveling, that is another

matter; the last trip from Versailles to Paris cured me of the desire to

travel, in such a large party at all events.”

He threw a glance to Bouille who ventured to blink to show that he

understood.

“Are you soon going back to your father?” inquired the King of the

latter.

“Sire, I am leaving Paris in a couple of days to pay a visit to my

grandmother, living in Versailles; I am bound to pay my respects. Then I

am charged by my father to attend to a rather important family matter,

for which I expect to see the person who will give me the directions in

about a week. So I shall hardly be with my father before the first week

in December, unless the King has particular reasons for me to see him

sooner.”

“No, my lord, take your time; go to Versailles and transact your

business and when done, go and tell the marquis, that I do not forget

him as one of my faithful lieges, and that I will speak of him one of

these days to General Lafayette for him to advance him.”

Lafayette smiled faintly at this allusion to his omnipotence.

“Sire,” he said, “I should have long ago recommended Marquis Bouille to

your Majesty had he not been my kinsman. The fear of raising the cry

that I am looking after my family alone prevented me doing him this

justice.”

“This chimes in nicely, then; we will speak of this matter again.”

“The King will kindly allow me to say that my father would consider any

change of a post a disgrace that robbed him of the chance to serve your

Majesty particularly.”

“Oh, that is fully understood, count,” responded Louis the King, “and

Marquis Bouille shall not be moved without it being according to his

desires and mine. Let General Lafayette and I manage this, and you run

to your pleasure-making without altogether forgetting business. Good

bye, gentlemen!”

He dismissed them with a majestic manner in singular contrast with the

vulgar attire.

“Come, come,” he said to himself, when the door was shut. “I believe the

young blade has comprehended me, and that in a week or so we shall have

Master Gamain coming to aid me, _with his ’prentice_.”