Of late he had made the cause of Michel de la Foret
and Angele Aubert his own. For this he had been
raked upon the coals by De Carteret of St. Ouen’s
and his following, who taunted him with the saying:
“Save a thief from hanging and he’ll cut
your throat.” Not that there was ill feeling
against De la Foret in person. He had won most
hearts by a frank yet still manner, and his story
and love for Angele had touched the women folk where
their hearts were softest. But the island was
not true to itself or its history if it did not divide
itself into factions, headed by the Seigneurs, and
there had been no ground for good division for five
years till De la Foret came.
Short of actual battle, this new strife was the keenest
ever known, for Sir Hugh Pawlett was ranged on the
side of the Seigneur of Rozel. Kinsman of the
Comtesse de Montgomery, of Queen Elizabeth’s
own Protestant religion, and admiring De la Foret,
he had given every countenance to the Camisard refugee.
He had even besought the Royal Court of Jersey to grant
a pardon to Buonespoir the pirate, on condition that
he should never commit a depredation upon an inhabitant
of the island—this he was to swear to by
the little finger of St. Peter. Should he break
his word, he was to be banished the island for ten
years, under penalty of death if he returned.
When the hour had come for Buonespoir to take the oath,
he failed to appear; and the next morning the Seigneur
of St. Ouen’s discovered that during the night
his cellar had been raided of two kegs of canary,
many flagons of muscadella, pots of anchovies and boxes
of candied “eringo,” kept solely for the
visit which the Queen had promised the island.
There was no doubt of the misdemeanant, for Buonespoir
returned to De Carteret from St. Brieuc the gabardine
of one of his retainers, in which he had carried off
the stolen delicacies.
This aggravated the feud between the partisans of
St. Ouen’s and Rozel, for Lempriere of Rozel
had laughed loudly when he heard of the robbery, and
said “’Tis like St. Ouen’s to hoard
for a Queen and glut a pirate. We feed as we
get at Rozel, and will feed the Court well too when
it comes, or I’m no butler to Elizabeth.”
But trouble was at hand for Michel and for his protector.
The spies of Catherine de Medici, mother of the King
of France, were everywhere. These had sent word
that De la Foret was now attached to the meagre suite
of the widow of the great Camisard Montgomery, near
the Castle of Mont Orgueil. The Medici, having
treacherously slain the chief, became mad with desire
to slay the lieutenant. She was set to have the
man, either through diplomacy with England, or to
end him by assassination through her spies. Having
determined upon his death, with relentless soul she
pursued the cause as closely as though this exiled
soldier were a powerful enemy at the head of an army
in France.
