



Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by
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Transcriber's Notes:

   1. Page scan source:
      http://books.google.com/books?id=8tYMAAAAYAAJ

   2.  The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]






                         THE ABBESS OF VLAYE






                         By STANLEY J. WEYMAN

                              *   *   *

THE HOUSE OF THE WOLF. A Romance. With Frontispiece and Vignette.
Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.25.

THE STORY OF FRANCIS CLUDDE. A Romance. With four Illustrations. Crown
8vo, $1.25.

A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE. Being the Memoirs of Gaston de Bonne, Sieur de
Marsac. With Frontispiece and Vignette. Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.25.

UNDER THE RED ROBE. With twelve full-page Illustrations. Crown 8vo,
cloth, $1.25.

MY LADY ROTHA. A Romance of the Thirty Years' War. With eight
Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.25.

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF A MINISTER OF FRANCE. With thirty-six
Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, $1.25.

THE MAN IN BLACK. With twelve Illustrations. Crown 8vo, $1.00.

SHREWSBURY. A Romance. With twenty-four Illustrations. Crown 8vo,
$1.50.

THE RED COCKADE. A Novel. With forty-eight Illustrations by R. Caton
Woodville. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

THE CASTLE INN. A Novel. With six full-page Illustrations by Walter
Appleton Clark. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

SOPHIA. A Romance. With twelve full-page Illustrations. Crown 8vo,
$1.50.

COUNT HANNIBAL. A Romance of the Court of France. With Frontispiece.
Crown 8vo $1.50.

IN KINGS' BYWAYS. With Frontispiece. Crown 8vo, $1.50.

                              *   *   *

                  New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.






[Illustration: "HE HAD DISMOUNTED, AND HAD HIS HAT IN HIS HAND"]
                                                    [_Page_ 113]






                              THE ABBESS
                               OF VLAYE




                                  BY

                          STANLEY J. WEYMAN

      _Author of "Under the Red Robe," "A Gentleman of France,"
              "My Lady Rotha," "The Red Cockade," "Count
                  Hannibal," "The Castle Inn," etc_.





                       LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
                   91 and 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
                          LONDON AND BOMBAY
                                 1904






                         Copyright, 1903, by
                          STANLEY J. WEYMAN.

                              *   *   *

                         Copyright, 1904, by
                          STANLEY J. WEYMAN.

                              *   *   *

                        _All rights reserved_.





                 ROBERT DRUMMOND, PRINTER, NEW YORK.






                                  TO

                         HUGH STOWELL SCOTT,

          IN REMEMBRANCE OF LONG SUMMER DAYS SPENT WITH HIM

                 AMID THE SCENES WHICH SUGGESTED IT,

                            THIS STORY IS

               AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY HIS FRIEND.






                              CONTENTS.


   CHAP.

            INTRODUCTION--A King in Council.

         I. Villeneuve-l'Abbesse.

        II. The Tower Chamber.

       III. Still Waters Troubled.

        IV. The Dilemma.

         V. The Captain of Vlaye.

        VI. In the Hay-field.

       VII. A Soldiers' Frolic.

      VIII. Father Angel.

        IX. Speedy Justice.

         X. Midnight Alarms.

        XI. The Chapel by the Ford.

       XII. The Peasants' Camp.

      XIII. Hostages.

       XIV. Saint and Sinner.

        XV. Fears.

       XVI. To Do or Not to Do?

      XVII. The Heart of Cain.

     XVIII. Two in the Mill.

       XIX. The Captain of Vlaye's Condition.

        XX. The Abbess Moves.

       XXI. The Castle Of Vlaye.

      XXII. A Night by the River.

     XXIII. The Bride's Dot.

      XXIV. Fors l'Amour.

       XXV. His Last Ride.






                         THE ABBESS OF VLAYE.




                            INTRODUCTION.

                          A KING IN COUNCIL.


Monsieur des Ageaux was a man of whom his best friends could not say
that he shone, or tried to shine, in the pursuit of the fair sex. He
was of an age, something over thirty, when experience renders more
formidable the remaining charms of youth; and former conquests whet
the sword for new emprises. And the time in which he lived and
governed the province of Perigord for the King was a time in which the
favour of ladies, and the good things to be gained thereby, stood for
much, and morality for little. So that for the ambitious the path of
dalliance presented almost as many chances of advancement as the more
strenuous road of war.

Yet des Ageaux, though he was an ambitious man and one whose appetite
success--and in his degree he had been very successful--had but
sharpened, showed no inclination to take that path, or to rise by
trifling. Nay, he turned from it; he shunned if he did not dislike the
other sex. Whether he doubted his powers--he was a taciturn, grave
man--or he had energy only for the one pursuit he loved, the
government of men, the thing was certain. Yet he was not unpopular
even at Court, the lax Court of Henry the Fourth. But he was known for
a thoughtful, dry man, older than his years and no favourite with
great ladies; of whom some dubbed him shy, and some a clown, and
all--a piece of furniture.

None the less, where men were concerned, he passed for a man more
useful than most; or, for certain, seeing that he boasted no great
claims, and belonged to no great family, he had not been Governor of a
province. Governors of provinces in those days were of the highest;
cousins of the King, when these could be trusted, which was rare;
peers and Marshals of France, great Dukes with vast hereditary
possessions, old landed Vicomtes, and the like. Only at the tail of
the list came some half-dozen men whom discretion and service, or the
playfulness of fortune had--_mirabile dictum_--raised to office. And
at the tail of all came des Ageaux; for Perigord, his province, land
of the pie and the goose liver, was part of the King's demesne, the
King was his own Governor in it, and des Ageaux bore only the title of
"Lieutenant for the King in the country of Perigord."

Yet was it a wonderful post for such a man, and many a personage, many
a lord well seen at Court, coveted it. All the same the burden was
heavy; a thing not to be dismissed in a moment. The King found him no
money, or little; no men, or few. Where greater Governors used their
own resources he had to use--economy. And to make matters worse the
man was just; it was part of his nature, it was part of his passion,
to be just. So where they taxed not legally only, but illegally, he
scrupled, he held his hand. And, therefore, though his dignity was
almost as high as office could make