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Cinq-Mars found himself in this +condition of mind, which always results from a morbid sensibility in the +organic constitution and a perpetual agitation of the heart. Weary of +continually turning over in his mind a combination of the events which he +desired, and of those which he dreaded; weary of calculating his chances +to the best of his power; of summoning to his assistance all that his +education had taught him concerning the lives of illustrious men, in +order to compare it with his present situation; oppressed by his regrets, +his dreams, predictions, fancies, and all that imaginary world in which +he had lived during his solitary journey-he breathed freely upon finding +himself thrown into a real world almost as full of agitation; and the +realizing of two actual dangers restored circulation to his blood, and +youth to his whole being. + +Since the nocturnal scene at the inn near Loudun, he had not been able to +resume sufficient empire over his mind to occupy himself with anything +save his cherished though sad reflections; and consumption was already +threatening him, when happily he arrived at the camp of Perpignan, and +happily also had the opportunity of accepting the proposition of the Abbe +de Gondi--for the reader has no doubt recognized Cinq-Mars in the person +of that young stranger in mourning, so careless and so melancholy, whom +the duellist in the cassock invited to be his second. + +He had ordered his tent to be pitched as a volunteer in the street of the +camp assigned to the young noblemen who were to be presented to the King +and were to serve as aides-de-camp to the Generals; he soon repaired +thither, and was quickly armed, horsed, and cuirassed, according to the +custom of the time, and set out alone for the Spanish bastion, the place +of rendezvous. He was the first arrival, and found that a small plot of +turf, hidden among the works of the besieged place, had been well chosen +by the little Abbe for his homicidal purposes; for besides the +probability that no one would have suspected officers of engaging in a +duel immediately beneath the town which they were attacking, the body of +the bastion separated them from the French camp, and would conceal them +like an immense screen. It was wise to take these precautions, for at +that time it cost a man his head to give himself the satisfaction of +risking his body. + +While waiting for his friends and his adversaries, Cinq-Mars had time to +examine the southern side of Perpignan, before which he stood. He had +heard that these works were not those which were to be attacked, and he +tried in vain to account for the besieger's projects. Between this +southern face of the town, the mountains of Albere, and the Col du +Perthus, there might have been advantageous lines of attack, and redoubts +against the accessible point; but not a single soldier was stationed +there. All the forces seemed directed upon the north of Perpignan, upon +the most difficult side, against a brick fort called the Castillet, which +surmounted the gate of Notre-Dame. He discovered that a piece of ground, +apparently marshy, but in reality very solid, led up to the very foot of +the Spanish bastion; that this post was guarded with true Castilian +negligence, although its sole strength lay entirely in its defenders; +for its battlements, almost in ruin, were furnished with four pieces of +cannon of enormous calibre, embedded in the turf, and thus rendered +immovable, and impossible to be directed against a troop advancing +rapidly to the foot of the wall. + +It was easy to see that these enormous pieces had discouraged the +besiegers from attacking this point, and had kept the besieged from any +idea of addition to its means of defence. Thus, on the one side, the +vedettes and advanced posts were at a distance, and on the other, the +sentinels were few and ill supported. A young Spaniard, carrying a long +gun, with its rest suspended at his side and the burning match in his +right hand, who was walking with nonchalance upon the rampart, stopped to +look at Cinq-Mars, who was riding about the ditches and moats. + +"Senor caballero," he cried, "are you going to take the bastion by +yourself on horseback, like Don Quixote--Quixada de la Mancha?" + +At the same time he detached from his side the iron rest, planted it in +the ground, and supported upon it the barrel of his gun in order to take +aim, when a grave and older Spaniard, enveloped in a dirty brown cloak, +said to him in his own tongue: + +"'Ambrosio de demonio', do you not know that it is forbidden to throw +away powder uselessly, before sallies or attacks are made, merely to have +the pleasure of killing a boy not worth your match? It was in this very +place that Charles the Fifth threw the sleeping sentinel into the ditch +and drowned him. Do your duty, or I shall follow his example." + +Ambrosio replaced the gun upon his shoulder, the rest at his side, and +continued his walk upon the rampart. + +Cinq-Mars had been little alarmed at this menacing gesture, contenting +himself with tightening the reins of his horse and bringing the spurs +close to his sides, knowing that with a single leap of the nimble animal +he should be carried behind the wall of a hut which stood near by, and +should thus be sheltered from the Spanish fusil before the operation of +the fork and match could be completed. He knew, too, that a tacit +convention between the two armies prohibited marksmen from firing upon +the sentinels; each party would have regarded it as assassination. The +soldier who had thus prepared to attack Cinq-Mars must have been ignorant +of this understanding. Young D'Effiat, therefore, made no visible +movement; and when the sentinel had resumed his walk upon the rampart, +he again betook himself to his ride upon the turf, and presently saw five +cavaliers directing their course toward him. The first two, who came on +at full gallop, did not salute him, but, stopping close to him, leaped to +the ground, and he found himself in the arms of the Counsellor de Thou, +who embraced him tenderly, while the little Abbe de Gondi, laughing +heartily, cried: + +"Behold another Orestes recovering his Pylades, and at the moment of +immolating a rascal who is not of the family of the King of kings, I +assure you." + +"What! is it you, my dear Cinq-Mars?" cried De Thou; "and I knew not of +your arrival in the camp! Yes, it is indeed you; I recognize you, +although you are very pale. Have you been ill, my dear friend? I have +often written to you; for my boyish friendship has always remained in my +heart." + +"And I," answered Henri d'Effiat, "I have been very culpable toward you; +but I will relate to you all the causes of my neglect. I can speak of +them, but I was ashamed to write them. But how good you are! Your +friendship has never relaxed." + +"I knew you too well," replied De Thou; "I knew that there could be no +real coldness between us, and that my soul had its echo in yours." + +With these words they embraced once more, their eyes moist with those +sweet tears which so seldom flow in one's life, but with which it seems, +nevertheless, the heart is always charged, so much relief do they give in +flowing. + +This moment was short; and during these few words, Gondi had been pulling +them by their cloaks, saying: + +"To horse! to horse, gentlemen! Pardieu! you will have time enough to +embrace, if you are so affectionate; but do not delay. Let our first +thought be to have done with our good friends who will soon arrive. We +are in a fine position, with those three villains there before us, the +archers close by, and the Spaniards up yonder! We shall be under three +fires." + +He was still speaking, when De Launay, finding himself at about sixty +paces from his opponents, with his seconds, who were chosen from his own +friends rather than from among the partisans of the Cardinal, put his +horse to a canter, advanced gracefully toward his young adversaries, and +gravely saluted them. + +"Gentlemen, I think that we shall do well to select our men, and to take +the field; for there is talk of attacking the lines, and I must be at my +post." + +"We are ready, Monsieur," said Cinq-Mars; "and as for selecting +opponents, I shall be very glad to become yours, for I have not forgotten +the Marechal de Bassompierre and the wood of Chaumont. You know my +opinion concerning your insolent visit to my mother." + +"You are very young, Monsieur. In regard to Madame, your mother, +I fulfilled the duties of a man of the world; toward the Marechal, +those of a captain of the guard; here, those of a gentleman toward +Monsieur l'Abbe, who has challenged me; afterward I shall have that honor +with you." + +"If I permit you," said the Abbe, who was already on horseback. + +They took sixty paces of ground--all that was afforded them by the extent +of the meadow that enclosed them. The Abbe de Gondi was stationed +between De Thou and his friend, who sat nearest the ramparts, upon which +two Spanish officers and a score of soldiers stood, as in a balcony, to +witness this duel of six persons--a spectacle common enough to them. +They showed the same signs of joy as at their bullfights, and laughed +with that savage and bitter laugh which their temperament derives from +their admixture of Arab blood. + +At a sign from Gondi, the six horses set off at full gallop, and met, +without coming in contact, in the middle of the arena; at that instant, +six pistol-shots were heard almost together, and the smoke covered the +combatants. + +When it dispersed, of the six cavaliers and six horses but three men and +three animals were on their legs. Cinq-Mars was on horseback, giving his +hand to his adversary, as calm as himself; at the other end of the field, +De Thou stood by his opponent, whose horse he had killed, and whom he was +helping to rise. As for Gondi and De Launay, neither was to be seen. +Cinq-Mars, looking about for them anxiously, perceived the Abbe's horse, +which, caracoling and curvetting, was dragging after him the future +cardinal, whose foot was caught in the stirrup, and who was swearing as +if he had never studied anything but the language of the camp. His nose +and hands were stained and bloody with his fall and with his efforts to +seize the grass; and he was regarding with considerable dissatisfaction +his horse, which in spite of himself he irritated with his spurs, making +its way to the trench, filled with water, which surrounded the bastion, +when, happily, Cinq-Mars, passing between the edge of the swamp and the +animal, seized its bridle and stopped its career. + +"Well, my dear Abbe, I see that no great harm has come to you, for you +speak with decided energy." + +"Corbleu!" cried Gondi, wiping the dust out of his eyes, "to fire a +pistol in the face of that giant I had to lean forward and rise in my +stirrups, and thus I lost my balance; but I fancy that he is down, too." + +"You are right, sir," said De Thou, coming up; "there is his horse +swimming in the ditch with its master, whose brains are blown out. We +must think now of escaping." + +"Escaping! That, gentlemen, will be rather difficult," said the +adversary of Cinq-Mars, approaching. "Hark! there is the cannon-shot, +the signal for the attack. I did not expect it would have been given so +soon. If we return we shall meet the Swiss and the foot-soldiers, who +are marching in this direction." + +"Monsieur de Fontrailles says well," said De Thou; "but if we do not +return, here are these Spaniards, who are running to arms, and whose +balls we shall presently have whistling about our heads." + +"Well, let us hold a council," said Gondi; "summon Monsieur de Montresor, +who is uselessly occupied in searching for the body of poor De Launay. +You have not wounded him, Monsieur De Thou?" + +"No, Monsieur l'Abbe; not every one has so good an aim as you," said +Montresor, bitterly, limping from his fall. "We shall not have time to +continue with the sword." + +"As to continuing, I will not consent to it, gentlemen," said +Fontrailles; "Monsieur de Cinq-Mars has behaved too nobly toward me. +My pistol went off too soon, and his was at my very cheek--I feel the +coldness of it now--but he had the generosity to withdraw it and fire in +the air. I shall not forget it; and I am his in life and in death." + +"We must think of other things now," interrupted Cinq-Mars; "a ball has +just whistled past my ear. The attack has begun on all sides; and we are +surrounded by friends and by enemies." + +In fact, the cannonading was general; the citadel, the town, and the army +were covered with smoke. The bastion before them as yet was unassailed, +and its guards seemed less eager to defend it than to observe the fate of +the other fortifications. + +"I believe that the enemy has made a sally," said Montresor, "for the +smoke has cleared from the plain, and I see masses of cavalry charging +under the protection of the battery." + +"Gentlemen," said Cinq-Mars, who had not ceased to observe the walls, +"there is a very decided part which we could take, an important share in +this--we might enter this ill-guarded bastion." + +"An excellent idea, Monsieur," said Fontrailles; "but we are but five +against at least thirty, and are in plain sight and easily counted." + +"Faith, the idea is not bad," said Gondi; "it is better to be shot up +there than hanged down here, as we shall be if we are found, for De +Launay must be already missed by his company, and all the court knows of +our quarrel." + +"Parbleu! gentlemen," said Montresor, "help is coming to us." + +A numerous troop of horse, in great disorder, advanced toward them at +full gallop; their red uniform made them visible from afar. It seemed to +be their intention to halt on the very ground on which were our +embarrassed duellists, for hardly had the first cavalier reached it when +cries of "Halt!" were repeated and prolonged by the voices of the chiefs +who were mingled with their cavaliers. + +"Let us go to them; these are the men-at-arms of the King's guard," said +Fontrailles. "I recognize them by their black cockades. I see also many +of the light-horse with them; let us mingle in the disorder, for I fancy +they are 'ramenes'." + +This is a polite phrase signifying in military language "put to rout." +All five advanced toward the noisy and animated troops, and found that +this conjecture was right. But instead of the consternation which one +might expect in such a case, they found nothing but a youthful and +rattling gayety, and heard only bursts of laughter from the two +companies. + +"Ah, pardieu! Cahuzac," said one, "your horse runs better than mine; I +suppose you have exercised it in the King's hunts!" + +"Ah, I see, 'twas that we might be the sooner rallied that you arrived +here first," answered the other. + +"I think the Marquis de Coislin must be mad, to make four hundred of us +charge eight Spanish regiments." + +"Ha! ha! Locmaria, your plume is a fine ornament; it looks like a +weeping willow. If we follow that, it will be to our burial." + +"Gentlemen, I said to you before," angrily replied the young officer, +"that I was sure that Capuchin Joseph, who meddles in everything, was +mistaken in telling us to charge, upon the part of the Cardinal. But +would you have been satisfied if those who have the honor of commanding +you had refused to charge?" + +"No, no, no!" answered all the young men, at the same time forming +themselves quickly into ranks. + +"I said," interposed the old Marquis de Coislin, who, despite his white +head, had all the fire of youth in his eyes, "that if you were commanded +to mount to the assault on horseback, you would do it." + +"Bravo! bravo!" cried all the men-at-arms, clapping their hands. + +"Well, Monsieur le Marquis," said Cinq-Mars, approaching, "here is an +opportunity to execute what you have promised. I am only a volunteer; +but an instant ago these gentlemen and I examined this bastion, and I +believe that it is possible to take it." + +"Monsieur, we must first examine the ditch to see--" + +At this moment a ball from the rampart of which they were speaking struck +in the head the horse of the old captain, laying it low. + +"Locmaria, De Mouy, take the command, and to the assault!" cried the two +noble companies, believing their leader dead. + +"Stop a moment, gentlemen," said old Coislin, rising, "I will lead you, +if you please. Guide us, Monsieur volunteer, for the Spaniards invite us +to this ball, and we must reply politely." + +Hardly had the old man mounted another horse, which one of his men +brought him, and drawn his sword, when, without awaiting his order, all +these ardent youths, preceded by Cinq-Mars and his friends, whose horses +were urged on by the squadrons behind, had thrown themselves into the +morass, wherein, to their great astonishment and to that of the +Spaniards, who had counted too much upon its depth, the horses were in +the water only up to their hams; and in spite of a discharge of grape- +shot from the two largest pieces, all reached pell-mell a strip of land +at the foot of the half-ruined ramparts. In the ardor of the rush, Cinq- +Mars and Fontrailles, with the young Locmaria, forced their horses upon +the rampart itself; but a brisk fusillade killed the three animals, which +rolled over their masters. + +"Dismount all, gentlemen!" cried old Coislin; "forward with pistol and +sword! Abandon your horses!" + +All obeyed instantly, and threw themselves in a mass upon the breach. + +Meantime, De Thou, whose coolness never quitted him any more than his +friendship, had not lost sight of the young Henri, and had received him +in his arms when his horse fell. He helped him to rise, restored to him +his sword, which he had dropped, and said to him, with the greatest +calmness, notwithstanding the balls which rained on all sides: + +"My friend, do I not appear very ridiculous amid all this skirmish, in my +costume of Counsellor in Parliament?" + +"Parbleu!" said Montresor, advancing, "here's the Abbe, who quite +justifies you." + +And, in fact, little Gondi, pushing on among the light horsemen, was +shouting, at the top of his voice: "Three duels and an assault. I hope +to get rid of my cassock at last!" + +Saying this, he cut and thrust at a tall Spaniard. + +The defence was not long. The Castilian soldiers were no match for the +French officers, and not one of them had time or courage to recharge his +carbine. + +"Gentlemen, we will relate this to our mistresses in Paris," said +Locmaria, throwing his hat into the air; and Cinq-Mars, De Thou, Coislin, +De Mouy, Londigny, officers of the red companies, and all the young +noblemen, with swords in their right hands and pistols in their left, +dashing, pushing, and doing each other by their eagerness as much harm as +they did the enemy, finally rushed upon the platform of the bastion, as +water poured from a vase, of which the opening is too small, leaps out in +interrupted gushes. + +Disdaining to occupy themselves with the vanquished soldiers, who cast +themselves at their feet, they left them to look about the fort, without +even disarming them, and began to examine their conquest, like schoolboys +in vacation, laughing with all their hearts, as if they were at a +pleasure-party. + +A Spanish officer, enveloped in his brown cloak, watched them with a +sombre air. + +"What demons are these, Ambrosio?" said he to a soldier. "I never have +met with any such before in France. If Louis XIII has an entire army +thus composed, it is very good of him not to conquer all Europe." + +"Oh, I do not believe they are very numerous; they must be some poor +adventurers, who have nothing to lose and all to gain by pillage." + +"You are right," said the officer; "I will try to persuade one of them to +let me escape." + +And slowly approaching, he accosted a young light-horseman, of about +eighteen, who was sitting apart from his comrades upon the parapet. He +had the pink-and-white complexion of a young girl; his delicate hand held +an embroidered handkerchief, with which he wiped his forehead and his +golden locks He was consulting a large, round watch set with rubies, +suspended from his girdle by a knot of ribbons. + +The astonished Spaniard paused. Had he not seen this youth overthrow his +soldiers, he would not have believed him capable of anything beyond +singing a romance, reclined upon a couch. But, filled with the +suggestion of Ambrosio, he thought that he might have stolen these +objects of luxury in the pillage of the apartments of a woman; so, going +abruptly up to him, he said: + +"Hombre! I am an officer; will you restore me to liberty, that I may +once more see my country?" + +The young Frenchman looked at him with the gentle expression of his age, +and, thinking of his own family, he said: + +"Monsieur, I will present you to the Marquis de Coislin, who will, I +doubt not, grant your request; is your family of Castile or of Aragon?" + +"Your Coislin will ask the permission of somebody else, and will make me +wait a year. I will give you four thousand ducats if you will let me +escape." + +That gentle face, those girlish features, became infused with the purple +of fury; those blue eyes shot forth lightning; and, exclaiming, "Money to +me! away, fool!" the young man gave the Spaniard a ringing box on the +ear. The latter, without hesitating, drew a long poniard from his +breast, and, seizing the arm of the Frenchman, thought to plunge it +easily into his heart; but, nimble and vigorous, the youth caught him by +the right arm, and, lifting it with force above his head, sent it back +with the weapon it held upon the head of the Spaniard, who was furious +with rage. + +"Eh! eh! Softly, Olivier!" cried his comrades, running from all +directions; "there are Spaniards enough on the ground already." + +And they disarmed the hostile officer. + +"What shall we do with this lunatic?" said one. + +"I should not like to have him for my valet-dechambre," returned +another. + +"He deserves to be hanged," said a third; "but, faith, gentlemen, we +don't know how to hang. Let us send him to that battalion of Swiss which +is now passing across the plain." + +And the calm and sombre Spaniard, enveloping himself anew in his cloak, +began the march of his own accord, followed by Ambrosio, to join the +battalion, pushed by the shoulders and urged on by five or six of these +young madcaps. + +Meantime, the first troop of the besiegers, astonished at their success, +had followed it out to the end; Cinq-Mars, so advised by the aged +Coislin, had made with him the circuit of the bastion, and found to their +vexation that it was completely separated from the city, and that they +could not follow up their advantage. They, therefore, returned slowly to +the platform, talking by the way, to rejoin De Thou and the Abbe de +Gondi, whom they found laughing with the young light-horsemen. + +"We have Religion and justice with us, gentlemen; we could not fail to +triumph." + +"No doubt, for they fought as hard as we." + +There was silence at the approach of Cinq-Mars, and they remained for an +instant whispering and asking his name; then all surrounded him, and took +his hand with delight. + +"Gentlemen, you are right," said their old captain; "he is, as our +fathers used to say, the best doer of the day. He is a volunteer, who is +to be presented today to the King by the Cardinal." + +"By the Cardinal! We will present him ourselves. Ah, do not let him be +a Cardinalist; he is too good a fellow for that!" exclaimed all the +young men, with vivacity. + +"Monsieur, I will undertake to disgust you with him," said Olivier +d'Entraigues, approaching Cinq-Mars, "for I have been his page. Rather +serve in the red companies; come, you will have good comrades there." + +The old Marquis saved Cinq-Mars the embarrassment of replying, by +ordering the trumpets to sound and rally his brilliant companies. +The cannon was no longer heard, and a soldier announced that the King and +the Cardinal were traversing the lines to examine the results of the day. +He made all the horses pass through the breach, which was tolerably wide, +and ranged the two companies of cavalry in battle array, upon a spot +where it seemed impossible that any but infantry could penetrate. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RECOMPENSE + +Cardinal Richelieu had said to himself, "To soften the first paroxysm of +the royal grief, to open a source of emotions which shall turn from its +sorrow this wavering soul, let this city be besieged; I consent. Let +Louis go; I will allow him to strike a few poor soldiers with the blows +which he wishes, but dares not, to inflict upon me. Let his anger drown +itself in this obscure blood; I agree. But this caprice of glory shall +not derange my fixed designs; this city shall not fall yet. It shall not +become French forever until two years have past; it shall come into my +nets only on the day upon which I have fixed in my own mind. Thunder, +bombs, and cannons; meditate upon your operations, skilful captains; +hasten, young warriors. I shall silence your noise, I shall dissipate +your projects, and make your efforts abortive; all shall end in vain +smoke, for I shall conduct in order to mislead you." + +This is the substance of what passed in the bald head of the Cardinal +before the attack of which we have witnessed a part. He was stationed on +horseback, upon one of the mountains of Salces, north of the city; from +this point he could see the plain of Roussillon before him, sloping to +the Mediterranean. Perpignan, with its ramparts of brick, its bastions, +its citadel, and its spire, formed upon this plain an oval and sombre +mass on its broad and verdant meadows; the vast mountains surrounded it, +and the valley, like an enormous bow curved from north to south, while, +stretching its white line in the east, the sea looked like its silver +cord. On his right rose that immense mountain called the Canigou, whose +sides send forth two rivers into the plain below. The French line +extended to the foot of this western barrier. A crowd of generals and of +great lords were on horseback behind the minister, but at twenty paces' +distance and profoundly silent. + +Cardinal Richelieu had at first followed slowly the line of operations, +but had later returned and stationed himself upon this height, whence his +eye and his thought hovered over the destinies of besiegers and besieged. +The whole army had its eyes upon him, and could see him from every point. +All looked upon him as their immediate chief, and awaited his gesture +before they acted. France had bent beneath his yoke a long time; and +admiration of him shielded all his actions to which another would have +been often subjected. At this moment, for instance, no one thought of +smiling, or even of feeling surprised, that the cuirass should clothe the +priest; and the severity of his character and aspect suppressed every +thought of ironical comparisons or injurious conjectures. This day the +Cardinal appeared in a costume entirely martial: he wore a reddish-brown +coat, embroidered with gold, a water-colored cuirass, a sword at his +side, pistols at his saddle-bow, and he had a plumed hat; but this he +seldom put on his head, which was still covered with the red cap. Two +pages were behind him; one carried his gauntlets, the other his casque, +and the captain of his guards was at his side. + +As the King had recently named him generalissimo of his troops, it was to +him that the generals sent for their orders; but he, knowing only too +well the secret motives of his master's present anger, affected to refer +to that Prince all who sought a decision from his own mouth. It happened +as he had foreseen; for he regulated and calculated the movements of that +heart as those of a watch, and could have told with precision through +what sensations it had passed. Louis XIII came and placed himself at his +side; but he came as a pupil, forced to acknowledge that his master is in +the right. His air was haughty and dissatisfied, his language brusque +and dry. The Cardinal remained impassible. It was remarked that the +King, in consulting him, employed the words of command, thus reconciling +his weakness and his power of place, his irresolution and his pride, his +ignorance and his pretensions, while his minister dictated laws to him in +a tone of the most profound obedience. + +"I will have them attack immediately, Cardinal," said the Prince on +coming up; "that is to say," he added, with a careless air, "when all +your preparations are made, and you have fixed upon the hour with our +generals." + +"Sire, if I might venture to express my judgment, I should be glad did +your Majesty think proper to begin the attack in a quarter of an hour, +for that will give time enough to advance the third line." + +"Yes, yes; you are right, Monsieur le Cardinal! I think so, too. I will +go and give my orders myself; I wish to do everything myself. Schomberg, +Schomberg! in a quarter of an hour I wish to hear the signal-gun; I +command it." + +And Schomberg, taking the command of the right wing, gave the order, and +the signal was made. + +The batteries, arranged long since by the Marechal de la Meilleraie, +began to batter a breach, but slowly, because the artillerymen felt that +they had been directed to attack two impregnable points; and because, +with their experience, and above all with the common sense and quick +perception of French soldiers, any one of them could at once have +indicated the point against which the attack should have been directed. +The King was surprised at the slowness of the firing. + +"La Meilleraie," said he, impatiently, "these batteries do not play well; +your cannoneers are asleep." + +The principal artillery officers were present as well as the Marechal; +but no one answered a syllable. They had looked toward the Cardinal, who +remained as immovable as an equestrian statue, and they imitated his +example. The answer must have been that the fault was not with the +soldiers, but with him who had ordered this false disposition of the +batteries; and this was Richelieu himself, who, pretending to believe +them more useful in that position, had stopped the remarks of the chiefs. + +The King, astonished at this silence, and, fearing that he had committed +some gross military blunder by his question, blushed slightly, and, +approaching the group of princes who had accompanied him, said, in order +to reassure himself: + +"D'Angouleme, Beaufort, this is very tiresome, is it not? We stand here +like mummies." + +Charles de Valois drew near and said: + +"It seems to me, Sire, that they are not employing here the machines of +the engineer Pompee-Targon." + +"Parbleu!" said the Duc de Beaufort, regarding Richelieu fixedly, "that +is because we were more eager to take Rochelle than Perpignan at the time +that Italian came. Here we have not an engine ready, not a mine, not a +petard beneath these walls; and the Marechal de la Meilleraie told me +this morning that he had proposed to bring some with which to open the +breach. It was neither the Castillet, nor the six great bastions which +surround it, nor the half-moon, we should have attacked. If we go on in +this way, the great stone arm of the citadel will show us its fist a long +time yet." + +The Cardinal, still motionless, said not a single word; he only made a +sign to Fabert, who left the group in attendance, and ranged his horse +behind that of Richelieu, close to the captain of his guards. + +The Duc de la Rochefoucauld, drawing near the King, said: + +"I believe, Sire, that our inactivity makes the enemy insolent, for look! +here is a numerous sally, directing itself straight toward your Majesty; +and the regiments of Biron and De Ponts fall back after firing." + +"Well!" said the King, drawing his sword, "let us charge and force those +villains back again. Bring on the cavalry with me, D'Angouleme. Where +is it, Cardinal?" + +"Behind that hill, Sire, there are in column six regiments of dragoons, +and the carabineers of La Roque; below you are my men-at-arms and my +light horse, whom I pray your Majesty to employ, for those of your +Majesty's guard are ill guided by the Marquis de Coislin, who is ever too +zealous. Joseph, go tell him to return." + +He whispered to the Capuchin, who had accompanied him, huddled up in +military attire, which he wore awkwardly, and who immediately advanced +into the plain. + +In the mean time, the compact columns of the old Spanish infantry issued +from the gate of Notre-Dame like a dark and moving forest, while from +another gate proceeded the heavy cavalry, which drew up on the plain. +The French army, in battle array at the foot of the hill where the King +stood, behind fortifications of earth, behind redoubts and fascines of +turf, perceived with alarm the men-at-arms and the light horse pressed +between these two forces, ten times their superior in numbers. + +"Sound the charge!" cried Louis XIII; "or my old Coislin is lost." + +And he descended the hill, with all his suite as ardent as himself; but +before he reached the plain and was at the head of his musketeers, the +two companies had taken their course, dashing off with the rapidity of +lightning, and to the cry of "Vive le Roi!" They fell upon the long +column of the enemy's cavalry like two vultures upon a serpent; and, +making a large and bloody gap, they passed beyond, and rallied behind the +Spanish bastion, leaving the enemy's cavalry so astonished that they +thought only of re-forming their own ranks, and not of pursuing. + +The French army uttered a burst of applause; the King paused in +amazement. He looked around him, and saw a burning desire for attack in +all eyes; the valor of his race shone in his own. He paused yet another +instant in suspense, listening, intoxicated, to the roar of the cannon, +inhaling the odor of the powder; he seemed to receive another life, and +to become once more a Bourbon. All-who looked on him felt as if they +were commanded by another man, when, raising his sword and his eyes +toward the sun, he cried: + +"Follow me, brave friends! here I am King of France!" + +His cavalry, deploying, dashed off with an ardor which devoured space, +and, raising billows of dust from the ground, which trembled beneath +them, they were in an instant mingled with the Spanish cavalry, and both +were swallowed up in an immense and fluctuating cloud. + +"Now! now!" cried the Cardinal, in a voice of thunder, from his +elevation, "now remove the guns from their useless position! Fabert, +give your orders; let them be all directed upon the infantry which slowly +approaches to surround the King. Haste! save the King!" + +Immediately the Cardinal's suite, until then sitting erect as so many +statues, were in motion. The generals gave their orders; the aides-de- +camp galloped off into the plain, where, leaping over the ditches, +barriers, and palisades, they arrived at their destination as soon as the +thought that directed them and the glance that followed them. + +Suddenly the few and interrupted flashes which had shone from the +discouraged batteries became a continual and immense flame, leaving no +room for the smoke, which rose to the sky in an infinite number of light +and floating wreaths; the volleys of cannon, which had seemed like far +and feeble echoes, changed into a formidable thunder whose roll was as +rapid as that of drums beating the charge; while from three opposite +points large red flashes from fiery mouths fell upon the dark columns +which issued from the besieged city. + +Meantime, without changing his position, but with ardent eyes and +imperative gestures, Richelieu ceased not to multiply his orders, casting +upon those who received them a look which implied a sentence of death if +he was not instantly obeyed. + +"The King has overthrown the cavalry; but the foot still resist. Our +batteries have only killed, they have not conquered. Forward with three +regiments of infantry instantly, Gassion, La Meilleraie, and +Lesdiguieres! Take the enemy's columns in flank. Order the rest of the +army to cease from the attack, and to remain motionless throughout the +whole line. Bring paper! I will write myself to Schomberg." + +A page alighted and advanced, holding a pencil and paper. The minister, +supported by four men of his suite, also alighted, but with difficulty, +uttering a cry, wrested from him by pain; but he conquered it by an +effort, and seated himself upon the carriage of a cannon. The page +presented his shoulder as a desk; and the Cardinal hastily penned that +order which contemporary manuscripts have transmitted to us, and which +might well be imitated by the diplomatists of our day, who are, it seems, +more desirous to maintain themselves in perfect balance between two ideas +than to seek those combinations which decide the destinies of the world, +regarding the clear and obvious dictates of true genius as beneath their +profound subtlety. + + "M. le Marechal, do not risk anything, and reflect before you + attack. When you are thus told that the King desires you not to + risk anything, you are not to understand that his Majesty forbids + you to fight at all; but his intention is that you do not engage in + a general battle unless it be with a notable hope of gain from the + advantage which a favorable situation may present, the + responsibility of the battle naturally falling upon you." + +These orders given, the old minister, still seated upon the gun-carriage, +his arms resting upon the touch-hole, and his chin upon his arms, in the +attitude of one who adjusts and points a cannon, continued in silence to +watch the battle, like an old wolf, which, sated with victims and torpid +with age, contemplates in the plain the ravages of a lion among a herd of +cattle, which he himself dares not attack. From time to time his eye +brightens; the smell of blood rejoices him, and he laps his burning +tongue over his toothless jaw. + +On that day, it was remarked by his servants--or, in other words, by all +surrounding him--that from the time of his rising until night he took no +nourishment, and so fixed all the application of his soul on the events +which he had to conduct that he triumphed over his physical pains, +seeming, by forgetting, to have destroyed them. It was this power of +attention, this continual presence of mind, that raised him almost to +genius. He would have attained it quite, had he not lacked native +elevation of soul and generous sensibility of heart. + +Everything happened upon the field of battle as he had wished, fortune +attending him there as well as in the cabinet. Louis XIII claimed with +eager hand the victory which his minister had procured for him; he had +contributed himself, however, only that grandeur which consists in +personal valor. + +The cannon had ceased to roar when the broken columns of infantry fell +back into Perpignan; the remainder had met the same fate, was already +within the walls, and on the plain no living man was to be seen, save the +glittering squadrons of the King, who followed him, forming ranks as they +went. + +He returned at a slow walk, and contemplated with satisfaction the +battlefield swept clear of enemies; he passed haughtily under the very +fire of the Spanish guns, which, whether from lack of skill, or by a +secret agreement with the Prime Minister, or from very shame to kill a +king of France, only sent after him a few balls, which, passing two feet +above his head, fell in front of the lines, and merely served to increase +the royal reputation for courage. + +At every step, however, that he took toward the spot where Richelieu +awaited him, the King's countenance changed and visibly fell; he lost all +the flush of combat; the noble sweat of triumph dried upon his brow. As +he approached, his usual pallor returned to his face, as if having the +right to sit alone on a royal head; his look lost its fleeting fire, and +at last, when he joined the Cardinal, a profound melancholy entirely +possessed him. He found the minister as he had left him, on horseback; +the latter, still coldly respectful, bowed, and after a few words of +compliment, placed himself near Louis to traverse the lines and examine +the results of the day, while the princes and great lords, riding at some +distance before and behind, formed a crowd around them. + +The wily minister was careful not to say a word or to make a gesture that +could suggest the idea that he had had the slightest share in the events +of the day; and it was remarkable that of all those who came to hand in +their reports, there was not one who did not seem to divine his thoughts, +and exercise care not to compromise his occult power by open obedience. +All reports were made to the King. The Cardinal then traversed, by the +side of the Prince, the right of the camp, which had not been under his +view from the height where he had remained; and he saw with satisfaction +that Schomberg, who knew him well, had acted precisely as his master had +directed, bringing into action only a few of the light troops, and +fighting just enough not to incur reproach for inaction, and not enough +to obtain any distinct result. This line of conduct charmed the +minister, and did not displease the King, whose vanity cherished the idea +of having been the sole conqueror that day. He even wished to persuade +himself, and to have it supposed, that all the efforts of Schomberg had +been fruitless, saying to him that he was not angry with him, that he had +himself just had proof that the enemy before him was less despicable than +had been supposed. + +"To show you that you have lost nothing in our estimation," he added, "we +name you a knight of our order, and we give you public and private access +to our person." + +The Cardinal affectionately pressed his hand as he passed him, and the +Marechal, astonished at this deluge of favors, followed the Prince with +his bent head, like a culprit, recalling, to console himself, all the +brilliant actions of his career which had remained unnoticed, and +mentally attributing to them these unmerited rewards to reconcile them to +his conscience. + +The King was about to retrace his steps, when the Due de Beaufort, with +an astonished air, exclaimed: + +"But, Sire, have I still the powder in my eyes, or have I been sun- +struck? It appears to me that I see upon yonder bastion several +cavaliers in red uniforms who greatly resemble your light horse whom we +thought to be killed." + +The Cardinal knitted his brows. + +"Impossible, Monsieur," he said; "the imprudence of Monsieur de Coislin +has destroyed his Majesty's men-at-arms and those cavaliers. It is for +that reason I ventured just now to say to the King that if the useless +corps were suppressed, it might be very advantageous from a military +point of view." + +"Pardieu! your Eminence will pardon me," answered the Duc de Beaufort; +"but I do not deceive myself, and there are seven or eight of them +driving prisoners before them." + +"Well! let us go to the point," said the King; "if I find my old Coislin +there I shall be very glad." + +With great caution, the horses of the King and his suite passed across +the marsh, and with infinite astonishment their riders saw on the +ramparts the two red companies in battle array as on parade. + +"Vive Dieu!" cried Louis; "I think that not one of them is missing! +Well, Marquis, you keep your word--you take walls on horseback." + +"In my opinion, this point was ill chosen," said Richelieu, with disdain; +"it in no way advances the taking of Perpignan, and must have cost many +lives." + +"Faith, you are right," said the King, for the first time since the +intelligence of the Queen's death addressing the Cardinal without +dryness; "I regret the blood which must have been spilled here." + +"Only two of own young men have been wounded in the attack, Sire," said +old Coislin; "and we have gained new companions-in-arms, in the +volunteers who guided us." + +"Who are they?" said the Prince. + +"Three of them have modestly retired, Sire; but the youngest, whom you +see, was the first who proposed the assault, and the first to venture his +person in making it. The two companies claim the honor of presenting him +to your Majesty." + +Cinq-Mars, who was on horseback behind the old captain, took off his hat +and showed his pale face, his large, dark eyes, and his long, chestnut +hair. + +"Those features remind me of some one," said the King; "what say you, +Cardinal?" + +The latter, who had already cast a penetrating glance at the newcomer, +replied: + +"Unless I am mistaken, this young man is--" + +"Henri d'Effiat," said the volunteer, bowing. + +"Sire, it is the same whom I had announced to your Majesty, and who was +to have been presented to you by me; the second son of the Marechal." + +"Ah!" said Louis, warmly," I am glad to see the son of my old friend +presented by this bastion. It is a suitable introduction, my boy, for +one bearing your name. You will follow us to the camp, where we have +much to say to you. But what! you here, Monsieur de Thou? Whom have +you come to judge?" + +"Sire," answered Coislin, "he has condemned to death, without judging, +sundry Spaniards, for he was the second to enter the place." + +"I struck no one, Monsieur," interrupted De Thou reddening; "it is not my +business. Herein I have no merit; I merely accompanied my friend, +Monsieur de Cinq-Mars." + +"We approve your modesty as well as your bravery, and we shall not forget +this. Cardinal, is there not some presidency vacant?" + +Richelieu did not like De Thou. And as the sources of his dislike were +always mysterious, it was difficult to guess the cause of this animosity; +it revealed itself in a cruel word that escaped him. The motive was a +passage in the history of the President De Thou--the father of the young +man now in question--wherein he stigmatized, in the eyes of posterity, a +granduncle of the Cardinal, an apostate monk, sullied with every human +vice. + +Richelieu, bending to Joseph's ear, whispered: + +"You see that man; his father put my name into his history. Well, I will +put his into mine." And, truly enough, he subsequently wrote it in +blood. At this moment, to avoid answering the King, he feigned not to +have heard his question, and to be wholly intent upon the merit of Cinq- +Mars and the desire to see him well placed at court. + +"I promised you beforehand to make him a captain in my guards," said the +Prince; "let him be nominated to-morrow. I would know more of him, and +raise him to a higher fortune, if he pleases me. Let us now retire; the +sun has set, and we are far from our army. Tell my two good companies to +follow us." + +The minister, after repeating the order, omitting the implied praise, +placed himself on the King's right hand, and the whole court quitted the +bastion, now confided to the care of the Swiss, and returned to the camp. + +The two red companies defiled slowly through the breach which they had +effected with such promptitude; their countenances were grave and silent. + +Cinq-Mars went up to his friend. + +"These are heroes but ill recompensed," said he; "not a favor, not a +compliment." + +"I, on the other hand," said the simple De Thou "I, who came here against +my will--receive one. Such are courts, such is life; but above us is the +true judge, whom men can not blind." + +"This will not prevent us from meeting death tomorrow, if necessary," +said the young Olivier, laughing. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE BLUNDERS + +In order to appear before the King, Cinq-Mars had been compelled to mount +the charger of one of the light horse, wounded in the affair, having lost +his own at the foot of the rampart. As the two companies were marching +out, he felt some one touch his shoulder, and, turning round, saw old +Grandchamp leading a very beautiful gray horse. + +"Will Monsieur le Marquis mount a horse of his own?" said he. "I have +put on the saddle and housings of velvet embroidered in gold that +remained in the trench. Alas, when I think that a Spaniard might have +taken it, or even a Frenchman! For just now there are so many people who +take all they find, as if it were their own; and then, as the proverb +says, 'What falls in the ditch is for the soldier.' They might also have +taken the four hundred gold crowns that Monsieur le Marquis, be it said +without reproach, forgot to take out of the holsters. And the pistols! +Oh, what pistols! I bought them in Germany; and here they are as good as +ever, and with their locks perfect. It was quite enough to kill the poor +little black horse, that was born in England as sure as I was at Tours in +Touraine, without also exposing these valuables to pass into the hands of +the enemy." + +While making this lamentation, the worthy man finished saddling the gray +horse. The column was long enough filing out to give him time to pay +scrupulous attention to the length of the stirrups and of the bands, all +the while continuing his harangue. + +"I beg your pardon, Monsieur, for being somewhat slow about this; but I +sprained my arm slightly in lifting Monsieur de Thou, who himself raised +Monsieur le Marquis during the grand scuffle." + +"How camest thou there at all, stupid?" said Cinq-Mars. "That is not +thy business. I told thee to remain in the camp." + +"Oh, as to remaining in the camp, that is out of the question. I can't +stay there; when I hear a musket-shot, I should be ill did I not see the +flash. As for my business, that is to take care of your horses, and you +are on them. Monsieur, think you I should not have saved, had I been +able, the life of the poor black horse down there in the trench? Ah, how +I loved him!--a horse that gained three races in his time--a time too +short for those who loved him as I loved him! He never would take his +corn but from his dear Grandchamp; and then he would caress me with his +head. The end of my left ear that he carried away one day--poor fellow! +--proves it, for it was not out of ill-will he bit it off; quite the +contrary. You should have heard how he neighed with rage when any one +else came near him; that was the reason why he broke Jean's leg. Good +creature, I loved him so! + +"When he fell I held him on one side with one hand and M. de Locmaria +with the other. I thought at first that both he and that gentleman would +recover; but unhappily only one of them returned to life, and that was he +whom I least knew. You seem to be laughing at what I say about your +horse, Monsieur; you forget that in times of war the horse is the soul of +the cavalier. Yes, Monsieur, his soul; for what is it that intimidates +the infantry? It is the horse! It certainly is not the man, who, once +seated, is little more than a bundle of hay. Who is it that performs the +fine deeds that men admire? The horse. There are times when his master, +who a moment before would rather have been far away, finds himself +victorious and rewarded for his horse's valor, while the poor beast gets +nothing but blows. Who is it gains the prize in the race? The horse, +that sups hardly better than usual, while the master pockets the gold, +and is envied by his friends and admired by all the lords as if he had +run himself. Who is it that hunts the roebuck, yet puts but a morsel in +his own mouth? Again, the horse; sometimes the horse is even eaten +himself, poor animal! I remember in a campaign with Monsieur le +Marechal, it happened that-- But what is the matter, Monsieur, you grow +pale?" + +"Bind up my leg with something--a handkerchief, a strap, or what you +will. I feel a burning pain there; I know not what." + +"Your boot is cut, Monsieur. It may be some ball; however, lead is the +friend of man." + +"It is no friend of mine, at all events." + +"Ah, who loves, chastens! Lead must not be ill spoken of! +What is that--" + +While occupied in binding his master's leg below the knee, the worthy +Grandchamp was about to hold forth in praise of lead as absurdly as he +had in praise of the horse, when he was forced, as well as Cinq-Mars, to +hear a warm and clamorous dispute among some Swiss soldiers who had +remained behind the other troops. They were talking with much +gesticulation, and seemed busied with two men among a group of about +thirty soldiers. + +D'Effiat, still holding out his leg to his servant, and leaning on the +saddle of his horse, tried, by listening attentively, to understand the +subject of the colloquy; but he knew nothing of German, and could not +comprehend the dispute. Grandchamp, who, still holding the boot, had +also been listening very seriously, suddenly burst into loud laughter, +holding his sides in a manner not usual with him. + +"Ha, ha, ha! Monsieur, here are two sergeants disputing which they ought +to hang of the two Spaniards there; for your red comrades did not take +the trouble to tell them. One of the Swiss says that it's the officer, +the other that it's the soldier; a third has just made a proposition for +meeting the difficulty." + +"And what does he say?" + +"He suggests that they hang them both." + +"Stop! stop!" cried Cinq-Mars to the soldiers, attempting to walk; but +his leg would not support him. + +"Put me on my horse, Grandchamp." + +"Monsieur, you forget your wound." + +"Do as I command, and then mount thyself." + +The old servant grumblingly obeyed, and then galloped off, in fulfilment +of another imperative order, to stop the Swiss, who were just about to +hang their two prisoners to a tree, or to let them hang themselves; for +the officer, with the sang-froid of his nation, had himself passed the +running noose of a rope around his own neck, and, without being told, had +ascended a small ladder placed against the tree, in order to tie the +other end of the rope to one of its branches. The soldier, with the same +calm indifference, was looking on at the Swiss disputing around him, +while holding the ladder. + +Cinq-Mars arrived in time to save them, gave his name to the Swiss +sergeant, and, employing Grandchamp as interpreter, said that the two +prisoners were his, and that he would take them to his tent; that he was +a captain in the guards, and would be responsible for them. The German, +ever exact in discipline, made no reply; the only resistance was on the +part of the prisoner. The officer, still on the top of the ladder, +turned round, and speaking thence as from a pulpit, said, with a sardonic +laugh: + +"I should much like to know what you do here? Who told you I wished to +live?" + +"I do not ask to know anything about that," said Cinq-Mars; "it matters +not to me what becomes of you afterward. All I propose now is to prevent +an act which seems to me unjust and cruel. You may kill yourself +afterward, if you like." + +"Well said," returned the ferocious Spaniard; "you please me. I thought +at first you meant to affect the generous in order to oblige me to be +grateful, which is a thing I detest. Well, I consent to come down; but I +shall hate you as much as ever, for you are a Frenchman. Nor do I thank +you, for you only discharge a debt you owe me, since it was I who this +morning kept you from being shot by this young soldier while he was +taking aim at you; and he is a man who never missed a chamois in the +mountains of Leon." + +"Be it as you will," said Cinq-Mars; "come down." + +It was his character ever to assume with others the mien they wore toward +him; and the rudeness of the Spaniard made him as hard as iron toward +him. + +"A proud rascal that, Monsieur," said Grandchamp; "in your place Monsieur +le Marechal would certainly have left him on his ladder. Come, Louis, +Etienne, Germain, escort Monsieur's prisoners--a fine acquisition, truly! +If they bring you any luck, I shall be very much surprised." + +Cinq-Mars, suffering from the motion of his horse, rode only at the pace +of his prisoners on foot, and was accordingly at a distance behind the +red companies, who followed close upon the King. He meditated on his way +what it could be that the Prince desired to say to him. A ray of hope +presented to his mind the figure of Marie de Mantua in the distance; and +for a moment his thoughts were calmed. But all his future lay in that +brief sentence--"to please the King"; and he began to reflect upon all +the bitterness in which his task might involve him. + +At that moment he saw approaching his friend, De Thou, who, anxious at +his remaining behind, had sought him in the plain, eager to aid him if +necessary. + +"It is late, my friend; night approaches. You have delayed long; I +feared for you. Whom have you here? What has detained you? The King +will soon be asking for you." + +Such were the rapid inquiries of the young counsellor, whose anxiety, +more than the battle itself, had made him lose his accustomed serenity. + +"I was slightly wounded; I bring a prisoner, and I was thinking of the +King. What can he want me for, my friend? What must I do if he proposes +to place me about his person? I must please him; and at this thought-- +shall I own it?--I am tempted to fly. But I trust that I shall not have +that fatal honor. 'To please,' how humiliating the word! 'to obey' +quite the opposite! A soldier runs the chance of death, and there's an +end. But in what base compliances, what sacrifices of himself, what +compositions with his conscience, what degradation of his own thought, +may not a courtier be involved! Ah, De Thou, my dear De Thou! I am not +made for the court; I feel it, though I have seen it but for a moment. +There is in my temperament a certain savageness, which education has +polished only on the surface. At a distance, I thought myself adapted to +live in this all-powerful world; I even desired it, led by a cherished +hope of my heart. But I shuddered at the first step; I shuddered at the +mere sight of the Cardinal. The recollection of the last of his crimes, +at which I was present, kept me from addressing him. He horrifies me; +I never can endure to be near him. The King's favor, too, has that about +it which dismays me, as if I knew it would be fatal to me." + +"I am glad to perceive this apprehension in you; it may be most +salutary," said De Thou, as they rode on. "You are about to enter into +contact with power. Before, you did not even conceive it; now you will +touch it with your very hand. You will see what it is, and what hand +hurls the lightning. Heaven grant that that lightning may never strike +you! You will probably be present in those councils which regulate the +destiny of nations; you will see, you will perchance originate, those +caprices whence are born sanguinary wars, conquests, and treaties; you +will hold in your hand the drop of water which swells into mighty +torrents. It is only from high places that men can judge of human +affairs; you must look from the mountaintop ere you can appreciate the +littleness of those things which from below appear to us great." + +"Ah, were I on those heights, I should at least learn the lesson you +speak of; but this Cardinal, this man to whom I must be under obligation, +this man whom I know too well by his works--what will he be to me?" + +"A friend, a protector, no doubt," answered De Thou. + +"Death were a thousand times preferable to his friendship! I hate his +whole being, even his very name; he spills the blood of men with the +cross of the Redeemer!" + +"What horrors are you saying, my friend? You will ruin yourself if you +reveal your sentiments respecting the Cardinal to the King." + +"Never mind; in the midst of these tortuous ways, I desire to take a new +one, the right line. My whole opinion, the opinion of a just man, shall +be unveiled to the King himself, if he interrogate me, even should it +cost me my head. I have at last seen this King, who has been described +to me as so weak; I have seen him, and his aspect has touched me to the +heart in spite of myself. Certainly, he is very unfortunate, but he can +not be cruel; he will listen to the truth." + +"Yes; but he will not dare to make it triumph," answered the sage De +Thou. "Beware of this warmth of heart, which often draws you by sudden +and dangerous movements. Do not attack a colossus like Richelieu without +having measured him." + +"That is just like my tutor, the Abbe Quillet. My dear and prudent +friend, neither the one nor the other of you know me; you do not know how +weary I am of myself, and whither I have cast my gaze. I must mount or +die." + +"What! already ambitious?" exclaimed De Thou, with extreme surprise. + +His friend inclined his head upon his hands, abandoning the reins of his +horse, and did not answer. + +"What! has this selfish passion of a riper age obtained possession of you +at twenty, Henri? Ambition is the saddest of all hopes." + +"And yet it possesses me entirely at present, for I see only by means of +it, and by it my whole heart is penetrated." + +"Ah, Cinq-Mars, I no longer recognize you! how different you were +formerly! I do not conceal from you that you appear to me to have +degenerated. In those walks of our childhood, when the life, and, above +all, the death of Socrates, caused tears of admiration and envy to flow +from our eyes; when, raising ourselves to the ideal of the highest +virtue, we wished that those illustrious sorrows, those sublime +misfortunes, which create great men, might in the future come upon us; +when we constructed for ourselves imaginary occasions of sacrifices and +devotion--if the voice of a man had pronounced, between us two, the +single world, 'ambition,' we should have believed that we were touching a +serpent." + +De Thou spoke with the heat of enthusiasm and of reproach. Cinq-Mars +went on without answering, and still with his face in his hands. After +an instant of silence he removed them, and allowed his eyes to be seen, +full of generous tears. He pressed the hand of his friend warmly, and +said to him, with a penetrating accent: + +"Monsieur de Thou, you have recalled to me the most beautiful thoughts of +my earliest youth. Do not believe that I have fallen; I am consumed by a +secret hope which I can not confide even to you. I despise, as much as +you, the ambition which will seem to possess me. All the world will +believe in it; but what do I care for the world? As for you, noble +friend, promise me that you will not cease to esteem me, whatever you may +see me do. I swear that my thoughts are as pure as heaven itself!" + +"Well," said De Thou, "I swear by heaven that I believe you blindly; you +give me back my life!" + +They shook hands again with effusion of heart, and then perceived that +they had arrived almost before the tent of the King. + +Day was nearly over; but one might have believed that a softer day was +rising, for the moon issued from the sea in all her splendor. The +transparent sky of the south showed not a single cloud, and it seemed +like a veil of pale blue sown with silver spangles; the air, still hot, +was agitated only by the rare passage of breezes from the Mediterranean; +and all sounds had ceased upon the earth. The fatigued army reposed +beneath their tents, the line of which was marked by the fires, and the +besieged city seemed oppressed by the same slumber; upon its ramparts +nothing was to be seen but the arms of the sentinels, which shone in the +rays of the moon, or the wandering fire of the night-rounds. Nothing was +to be heard but the gloomy and prolonged cries of its guards, who warned +one another not to sleep. + +It was only around the King that all things waked, but at a great +distance from him. This Prince had dismissed all his suite; he walked +alone before his tent, and, pausing sometimes to contemplate the beauty +of the heavens, he appeared plunged in melancholy meditation. No one +dared to interrupt him; and those of the nobility who had remained in the +royal quarters had gathered about the Cardinal, who, at twenty paces from +the King, was seated upon a little hillock of turf, fashioned into a seat +by the soldiers. There he wiped his pale forehead, fatigued with the +cares of the day and with the unaccustomed weight of a suit of armor; he +bade adieu, in a few hurried but always attentive and polite words, to +those who came to salute him as they retired. No one was near him now +except Joseph, who was talking with Laubardemont. The Cardinal was +looking at the King, to see whether, before reentering, this Prince would +not speak to him, when the sound of the horses of Cinq-Mars was heard. +The Cardinal's guards questioned him, and allowed him to advance without +followers, and only with De Thou. + +"You are come too late, young man, to speak with the King," said the +Cardinal-Duke with a sharp voice. "One can not make his Majesty wait." + +The two friends were about to retire, when the voice of Louis XIII +himself made itself heard. This Prince was at that moment in one of +those false positions which constituted the misfortune of his whole life. +Profoundly irritated against his minister, but not concealing from +himself that he owed the success of the day to him, desiring, moreover, +to announce to him his intention to quit the army and to raise the siege +of Perpignan, he was torn between the desire of speaking to the Cardinal +and the fear lest his anger might be weakened. The minister, upon his +part, dared not be the first to speak, being uncertain as to the thoughts +which occupied his master, and fearing to choose his time ill, but yet +not able to decide upon retiring. Both found themselves precisely in the +position of two lovers who have quarrelled and desire to have an +explanation, when the King, seized with joy the first opportunity of +extricating himself. The chance was fatal to the minister. See upon +what trifles depend those destinies which are called great. + +"Is it not Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?" said the King, in a loud voice. +"Let him approach; I am waiting for him." + +Young D'Effiat approached on horseback, and at some paces from the King +desired to set foot to earth; but hardly had his leg touched the ground +when he dropped upon his knees. + +"Pardon, Sire!" said he, "I believe that I am wounded;" and the blood +issued violently from his boot. + +De Thou had seen him fall, and had approached to sustain him. Richelieu +seized this opportunity of advancing also, with dissembled eagerness. + +"Remove this spectacle from the eyes of the King," said he. "You see +very well that this young man is dying." + +"Not at all," said Louis, himself supporting him; "a king of France knows +how to see a man die, and has no fear of the blood which flows for him. +This young man interests me. Let him be carried into my tent, and let my +doctors attend him. If his wound is not serious, he shall come with me +to Paris, for the siege is suspended, Monsieur le Cardinal. Such is my +desire; other affairs call me to the centre of the kingdom. I will leave +you here to command in my absence. This is what I desired to say to +you." + +With these words the King went abruptly into his tent, preceded by his +pages and his officers, carrying flambeaux. + +The royal pavilion was closed, and Cinq-Mars was borne in by De Thou and +his people, while the Duc de Richelieu, motionless and stupefied, still +regarded the spot where this scene had passed. He appeared thunder- +struck, and incapable of seeing or hearing those who observed him. + +Laubardemont, still intimidated by his ill reception of the preceding +day, dared not speak a word to him, and Joseph hardly recognized in him +his former master. For an instant he regretted having given himself to +him, and fancied that his star was waning; but, reflecting that he was +hated by all men and had no resource save in Richelieu, he seized him by +the arm, and, shaking him roughly, said to him in a low voice, but +harshly: + +"Come, come, Monseigneur, you are chickenhearted; come with us." + +And, appearing to sustain him by the elbow, but in fact drawing him in +spite of himself, with the aid of Laubardemont, he made him enter his +tent, as a schoolmaster forces a schoolboy to rest, fearing the effects +of the evening mist upon him. + +The prematurely aged man slowly obeyed the wishes of his two parasites, +and the purple of the pavilion dropped upon him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE NIGHT-WATCH + + O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me! + The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight, + Cold, fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. + What do I fear? Myself? + I love myself! + SHAKESPEARE. + +Hardly was the Cardinal in his tent before he dropped, armed and +cuirassed, into a great armchair; and there, holding his handkerchief to +his mouth with a fixed gaze, he remained in this attitude, letting his +two dark confidants wonder whether contemplation or annihilation +maintained him in it. He was deadly pale, and a cold sweat streamed upon +his brow. In wiping it with a sudden movement, he threw behind him his +red cap, the only ecclesiastical sign which remained upon him, and again +rested with his mouth upon his hands. The Capuchin on one side, and the +sombre magistrate on the other, considered him in silence, and seemed, +with their brown and black costumes like the priest and the notary of a +dying man. + +The friar, drawing from the depth of his chest a voice that seemed better +suited to repeat the service of the dead than to administer consolation, +spoke first: + +"If Monseigneur will recall my counsels given at Narbonne, he will +confess that I had a just presentiment of the troubles which this young +man would one day cause him." + +The magistrate continued: + +"I have learned from the old deaf abbe who dined at the house of the +Marechale d'Effiat, and who heard all, that this young Cinq-Mars +exhibited more energy than one would have imagined, and that he attempted +to rescue the Marechal de Bassompierre. I have still by me the detailed +report of the deaf man, who played his part very well. His Eminence the +Cardinal must be sufficiently convinced by it." + +"I have told Monseigneur," resumed Joseph--for these two ferocious Seyds +alternated their discourse like the shepherds of Virgil--"I have told him +that it would be well to get rid of this young D'Effiat, and that I would +charge myself with the business, if such were his good pleasure. +It would be easy to destroy him in the opinion of the King." + +"It would be safer to make him die of his wound," answered Laubardemont; +"if his Eminence would have the goodness to command me, I know intimately +the assistant-physician, who cured me of a blow on the forehead, and is +now attending to him. He is a prudent man, entirely devoted to +Monseigneur the Cardinal-Duke, and whose affairs have been somewhat +embarrassed by gambling." + +"I believe," replied Joseph, with an air of modesty, mingled with a touch +of bitterness, "that if his Excellency proposed to employ any one in this +useful project, it should be his accustomed negotiator, who has had some +success in the past." + +"I fancy that I could enumerate some signal instances," answered +Laubardemont, "and very recent ones, of which the difficulty was great." + +"Ah, no doubt," said the father, with a bow and an air of consideration +and politeness, "your most bold and skilfully executed commission was the +trial of Urbain Grandier, the magician. But, with Heaven's assistance, +one may be enabled to do things quite as worthy and bold. It is not +without merit, for instance," added he, dropping his eyes like a young +girl, "to have extirpated vigorously a royal Bourbon branch." + +"It was not very difficult," answered the magistrate, with bitterness, +"to select a soldier from the guards to kill the Comte de Soissons; but +to preside, to judge--" + +"And to execute one's self," interrupted the heated Capuchin, "is +certainly less difficult than to educate a man from infancy in the +thought of accomplishing great things with discretion, and to bear all +tortures, if necessary, for the love of heaven, rather than reveal the +name of those who have armed him with their justice, or to die +courageously upon the body of him that he has struck, as did one who was +commissioned by me. He uttered no cry at the blow of the sword of +Riquemont, the equerry of the Prince. He died like a saint; he was my +pupil." + +"To give orders is somewhat different from running risk one's self." + +"And did I risk nothing at the siege of Rochelle?" + +"Of being drowned in a sewer, no doubt," said Laubardemont. + +"And you," said Joseph, "has your danger been that of catching your +fingers in instruments of torture? And all this because the Abbess of +the Ursulines is your niece." + +"It was a good thing for your brothers of Saint Francis, who held the +hammers; but I--I was struck in the forehead by this same Cinq-Mars, who +was leading an enraged multitude." + +"Are you quite sure of that?" cried Joseph, delighted. "Did he dare to +act thus against the commands of the King?" The joy which this discovery +gave him made him forget his anger. + +"Fools!" exclaimed the Cardinal, suddenly breaking his long silence, and +taking from his lips his handkerchief stained with blood. "I would +punish your angry dispute had it not taught me many secrets of infamy on +your part. You have exceeded my orders; I commanded no torture, +Laubardemont. That is your second fault. You cause me to be hated for +nothing; that was useless. But you, Joseph, do not neglect the details +of this disturbance in which Cinq-Mars was engaged; it may be of use in +the end." + +"I have all the names and descriptions," said the secret judge, eagerly, +bending his tall form and thin, olive-colored visage, wrinkled with a +servile smile, down to the armchair. + +"It is well! it is well!" said the minister, pushing him back; +"but that is not the question yet. You, Joseph, be in Paris before this +young upstart, who will become a favorite, I am certain. Become his +friend; make him of my party or destroy him. Let him serve me or fall. +But, above all, send me every day safe persons to give me verbal +accounts. I will have no more writing for the future. I am much +displeased with you, Joseph. What a miserable courier you chose to send +from Cologne! He could not understand me. He saw the King too soon, +and here we are still in disgrace in consequence. You have just missed +ruining me entirely. Go and observe what is about to be done in Paris. +A conspiracy will soon be hatched against me; but it will be the last. +I remain here in order to let them all act more freely. Go, both of you, +and send me my valet after the lapse of two hours; I wish now to be +alone." + +The steps of the two men were still to be heard as Richelieu, with eyes +fixed upon the entrance to the tent, pursued them with his irritated +glance. + +"Wretches!" he exclaimed, when he was alone, "go and accomplish some +more secret work, and afterward I will crush you, in pure instruments of +my power. The King will soon succumb beneath the slow malady which +consumes him. I shall then be regent; I shall be King of France myself; +I shall no longer have to dread the caprices of his weakness. I will +destroy the haughty races of this country. I will be alone above them +all. Europe shall tremble." + +Here the blood, which again filled his mouth, obliged him to apply his +handkerchief to it once more. + +"Ah, what do I say? Unhappy victim that I am! Here am I, death- +stricken! My dissolution is near; my blood flows, and my spirit desires +to labor still. Why? For whom? Is it for glory? That is an empty +word. Is it for men? I despise them. For whom, then, since I shall +die, perhaps, in two or three years? Is it for God? What a name! +I have not walked with Him! He has seen all--" + +Here he let his head fall upon his breast, and his eyes met the great +cross of gold which was suspended from his neck. He could not help +throwing himself back in his chair; but it followed him. He took it; and +considering it with fixed arid devouring looks, he said in a low voice: + +"Terrible sign! thou followest me! Shall I find thee elsewhere-- +divinity and suffering? What am I? What have I done?" + +For the first time a singular and unknown terror penetrated him. He +trembled, at once frozen and scorched by an invincible shudder. He dared +not lift his eyes, fearing to meet some terrible vision. He dared not +call, fearing to hear the sound of his own voice. He remained profoundly +plunged in meditations on eternity, so terrible for him, and he murmured +the following kind of prayer: + +"Great God, if Thou hearest me, judge me then, but do not isolate me +in judging me! Look upon me, surrounded by the men of my generation; +consider the immense work I had undertaken!, Was not an enormous lever +wanted to bestir those masses; and if this lever in falling crushes some +useless wretches, am I very culpable? I seem wicked to men; but Thou, +Supreme judge, dost thou regard me thus? + +"No; Thou knowest it is boundless power which makes creature culpable +against creature. It is not Armand de Richelieu who destroys; it is the +Prime-Minister. It is not for his personal injuries; it is to carry out +a system. But a system--what is this word? Is it permitted me to play +thus with men, to regard them as numbers for working out a thought, which +perhaps is false? I overturn the framework of the throne. What if, +without knowing it, I sap its foundations and hasten its fall! Yes, my +borrowed power has seduced me. O labyrinth! O weakness of human +thought! Simple faith, why did I quit thy path? Why am I not a simple +priest? If I dared to break with man and give myself to God, the ladder +of Jacob would again descend in my dreams." + +At this moment his ear was struck by a great noise outside--laughter of +soldiers, ferocious shouts and oaths, mingled with words which were a +long time sustained by a weak yet clear voice; one would have said it was +the voice of an angel interrupted by the laughter of demons. He rose and +opened a sort of linen window, worked in the side of his square tent. +A singular spectacle presented itself to his view; he remained some +instants contemplating it, attentive to the conversation which was going +on. + +"Listen, listen, La Valeur!" said one soldier to another. "See, she +begins again to speak and to sing!" + +"Put her in the middle of the circle, between us and the fire." + +"You do not know her! You do not know her!" said another. "But here is +Grand-Ferre, who says that he knows her." + +"Yes, I tell you I know her; and, by Saint Peter of Loudun, I will swear +that I have seen her in my village, when I had leave of absence; and it +was upon an occasion at which one shuddered, but concerning which one +dares not talk, especially to a Cardinalist like you." + +"Eh! and pray why dare not one speak of it, you great simpleton?" said +an old soldier, twisting up his moustache. + +"It is not spoken of because it burns the tongue. Do you understand +that?" + +"No, I don't understand it." + +"Well, nor I neither; but certain citizens told it to me." + +Here a general laugh interrupted him. + +"Ha, ha, ha! is he a fool?" said one. "He listens to what the +townsfolk tell him." + +"Ah, well! if you listen to their gabble, you have time to lose," said +another. + +"You do not know, then, what my mother said, greenhorn?" said the +eldest, gravely dropping his eyes with a solemn air, to compel +attention. + +"Eh! how can you think that I know it, La Pipe? Your mother must have +died of old age before my grandfather came into the world." + +"Well, greenhorn, I will tell you! You shall know, first of all, that my +mother was a respectable Bohemian, as much attached to the regiment of +carabineers of La Roque as my dog Canon there. She carried brandy round +her neck in a barrel, and drank better than the best of us. She had +fourteen husbands, all soldiers, who died upon the field of battle." + +"Ha! that was a woman!" interrupted the soldiers, full of respect. + +"And never once in her life did she speak to a townsman, unless it was to +say to him on coming to her lodging, 'Light my candle and warm my soup.'" + +"Well, and what was it that your mother said to you?" + +"If you are in such a hurry, you shall not know, greenhorn. She said +habitually in her talk, 'A soldier is better than a dog; but a dog is +better than a bourgeois.'" + +"Bravo! bravo! that was well said!" cried the soldier, filled with +enthusiasm at these fine words. + +"That," said Grand-Ferre, "does not prove that the citizens who made the +remark to me that it burned the tongue were in the right; besides, they +were not altogether citizens, for they had swords, and they were grieved +at a cure being burned, and so was I." + +"Eh! what was it to you that they burned your cure, great simpleton?" +said a sergeant, leaning upon the fork of his arquebus; "after him +another would come. You might have taken one of our generals in his +stead, who are all cures at present; for me, I am a Royalist, and I say +it frankly." + +"Hold your tongue!" cried La Pipe; "let the girl speak. It is these +dogs of Royalists who always disturb us in our amusements." + +"What say you?" answered Grand-Ferre. "Do you even know what it is to +be a Royalist?" + +"Yes," said La Pipe; "I know you all very well. Go, you are for the old +self-called princes of the peace, together with the wranglers against the +Cardinal and the gabelle. Am I right or not?" + +"No, old red-stocking. A Royalist is one who is for the King; that's +what it is. And as my father was the King's valet, I am for the King, +you see; and I have no liking for the red-stockings, I can tell you." + +"Ah, you call me red-stocking, eh?" answered the old soldier. "You +shall give me satisfaction to-morrow morning. If you had made war in the +Valteline, you would not talk like that; and if you had seen his Eminence +marching upon the dike at Rochelle, with the old Marquis de Spinola, +while volleys of cannonshot were sent after him, you would have nothing +to say about red-stockings." + +"Come, let us amuse ourselves, instead of quarrelling," said the other +soldiers. + +The men who conversed thus were standing round a great fire, which +illuminated them more than the moon, beautiful as it was; and in the +centre of the group was the object of their gathering and their cries. +The Cardinal perceived a young woman arrayed in black and covered with a +long, white veil. Her feet were bare; a thick cord clasped her elegant +figure; a long rosary fell from her neck almost to her feet, and her +hands, delicate and white as ivory, turned its beads and made them pass +rapidly beneath her fingers. The soldiers, with a barbarous joy, amused +themselves with laying little brands in her way to burn her naked feet. +The oldest took the smoking match of his arquebus, and, approaching it to +the edge of her robe, said in a hoarse voice: + +"Come, madcap, tell me your history, or I will fill you with powder and +blow you up like a mine; take care, for I have already played that trick +to others besides you, in the old wars of the Huguenots. Come, sing." + +The young woman, looking at him gravely, made no reply, but lowered her +veil. + +"You don't manage her well," said Grand-Ferre, with a drunken laugh; "you +will make her cry. You don't know the fine language of the court; let me +speak to her." And, touching her on the chin, "My little heart," he +said, "if you will please, my sweet, to resume the little story you told +just now to these gentlemen, I will pray you to travel with me upon the +river Du Tendre, as the great ladies of Paris say, and to take a glass of +brandy with your faithful chevalier, who met you formerly at Loudun, when +you played a comedy in order to burn a poor devil." + +The young woman crossed her arms, and, looking around her with an +imperious air, cried: + +"Withdraw, in the name of the God of armies; withdraw, impious men! +There is nothing in common between us. I do not understand your tongue, +nor you mine. Go, sell your blood to the princes of the earth at so many +oboles a day, and leave me to accomplish my mission! Conduct me to the +Cardinal." + +A coarse laugh interrupted her. + +"Do you think," said a carabineer of Maurevert, "that his Eminence the +Generalissimo will receive you with your feet naked? Go and wash them." + +"The Lord has said, 'Jerusalem, lift thy robe, and pass the rivers of +water,'" she answered, her arms still crossed. "Let me be conducted to +the Cardinal." + +Richelieu cried in a loud voice, "Bring the woman to me, and let her +alone!" + +All were silent; they conducted her to the minister. + +"Why," said she, beholding him--"why bring me before an armed man?" + +They left her alone with him without answering. + +The Cardinal looked at her with a suspicious air. "Madame," said he, +"what are you doing in the camp at this hour? And if your mind is not +disordered, why these naked feet?" + +"It is a vow; it is a vow," answered the young woman, with an air of +impatience, seating herself beside him abruptly. "I have also made a vow +not to eat until I have found the man I seek." + +"My sister," said the Cardinal, astonished and softened, looking closely +at her, "God does not exact such rigors from a weak body, and +particularly from one of your age, for you seem very young." + +"Young! oh, yes, I was very young a few days ago; but I have since +passed two existences at least, so much have I thought and suffered. +Look on my countenance." + +And she discovered a face of perfect beauty. Black and very regular eyes +gave life to it; but in their absence one might have thought her features +were those of a phantom, she was so pale. Her lips were blue and +quivering; and a strong shudder made her teeth chatter. + +"You are ill, my sister," said the minister, touched, taking her hand, +which he felt to be burning hot. A sort of habit of inquiring concerning +his own health, and that of others, made him touch the pulse of her +emaciated arm; he felt that the arteries were swollen by the beatings of +a terrible fever. + +"Alas!" he continued, with more of interest, "you have killed yourself +with rigors beyond human strength! I have always blamed them, and +especially at a tender age. What, then, has induced you to do this? Is +it to confide it to me that you are come? Speak calmly, and be sure of +succor." + +"Confide in men!" answered the young woman; "oh, no, never! All have +deceived me. I will confide myself to no one, not even to Monsieur Cinq- +Mars, although he must soon die." + +"What!" said Richelieu, contracting his brows, but with a bitter laugh, +--"what! do you know this young man? Has he been the cause of your +misfortune?" + +"Oh, no! He is very good, and hates wickedness; that is what will ruin +him. Besides," said she, suddenly assuming a harsh and savage air, "men +are weak, and there are things which women must accomplish. When there +were no more valiant men in Israel, Deborah arose." + +"Ah! how came you with all this fine learning?" continued the Cardinal, +still holding her hand. + +"Oh, I can't explain that!" answered she, with a touching air of naivete +and a very gentle voice; "you would not understand me. It is the Devil +who has taught me all, and who has destroyed me." + +"Ah, my child! it is always he who destroys us; but he instructs us +ill," said Richelieu, with an air of paternal protection and an +increasing pity. "What have been your faults? Tell them to me; I am +very powerful." + +"Ah," said she, with a look of doubt, "you have much influence over +warriors, brave men and generals! Beneath your cuirass must beat a noble +heart; you are an old General who knows nothing of the tricks of crime." + +Richelieu smiled; this mistake flattered him. + +"I heard you ask for the Cardinal; do you desire to see him? Did you +come here to seek him?" + +The girl drew back and placed a finger upon her forehead. + +"I had forgotten it," said she; "you have talked to me too much. I had +overlooked this idea, and yet it is an important one; it is for that that +I have condemned myself to the hunger which is killing me. I must +accomplish it, or I shall die first. Ah," said she, putting her hand +beneath her robe in her bosom, whence she appeared to take something, +"behold it! this idea--" + +She suddenly blushed, and her eyes widened extraordinarily. She +continued, bending to the ear of the Cardinal: + +"I will tell you; listen! Urbain Grandier, my lover Urbain, told me this +night that it was Richelieu who had been the cause of his death. I took +a knife from an inn, and I come here to kill him; tell me where he is." + +The Cardinal, surprised and terrified, recoiled with horror. He dared +not call his guards, fearing the cries of this woman and her accusations; +nevertheless, a transport of this madness might be fatal to him. + +"This frightful history will pursue me everywhere!" cried he, looking +fixedly at her, and thinking within himself of the course he should take. + +They remained in silence, face to face, in the same attitude, like two +wrestlers who contemplate before attacking each other, or like the +pointer and his victim petrified by the power of a look. + +In the mean time, Laubardemont and Joseph had gone forth together; and +ere separating they talked for a moment before the tent of the Cardinal, +because they were eager mutually to deceive each other. Their hatred had +acquired new force by their recent quarrel; and each had resolved to ruin +his rival in the mind of his master. The judge then began the dialogue, +which each of them had prepared, taking the arm of the other as by one +and the same movement. + +"Ah, reverend father! how you have afflicted me by seeming to take in +ill part the trifling pleasantries which I said to you just now." + +"Heavens, no! my dear Monsieur, I am far from that. Charity, where +would be charity? I have sometimes a holy warmth in conversation, for +the good of the State and of Monseigneur, to whom I am entirely devoted." + +"Ah, who knows it better than I, reverend father? But render me justice; +you also know how completely I am attached to his Eminence the Cardinal, +to whom I owe all. Alas! I have employed too much zeal in serving him, +since he reproaches me with it." + +"Reassure yourself," said Joseph; "he bears no ill-will toward you. I +know him well; he can appreciate one's actions in favor of one's family. +He, too, is a very good relative." + +"Yes, there it is," answered Laubardemont; "consider my condition. My +niece would have been totally ruined at her convent had Urbain triumphed; +you feel that as well as I do, particularly as she did not quite +comprehend us, and acted the child when she was compelled to appear." + +"Is it possible? In full audience! What you tell me indeed makes me +feel for you. How painful it must have been!" + +"More so than you can imagine. She forgot, in her madness, all that she +had been told, committed a thousand blunders in Latin, which we patched +up as well as we could; and she even caused an unpleasant scene on the +day of the trial, very unpleasant for me and the judges--there were +swoons and shrieks. Ah, I swear that I would have scolded her well had I +not been forced to quit precipitately that, little town of Loudun. But, +you see, it is natural enough that I am attached to her. She is my +nearest relative; for my son has turned out ill, and no one knows what +has become of him during the last four years. Poor little Jeanne de +Belfiel! I made her a nun, and then abbess, in order to preserve all for +that scamp. Had I foreseen his conduct, I should have retained her for +the world." + +"She is said to have great beauty," answered Joseph; "that is a precious +gift for a family. She might have been presented at court, and the King +--Ah! ah! Mademoiselle de la Fayette--eh! eh!--Mademoiselle +d'Hautefort--you understand; it may be even possible to think of it yet." + +"Ah, that is like you, Monseigneur! for we know that you have been +nominated to the cardinalate; how good you are to remember the most +devoted of your friends!" + +Laubardemont was yet talking to Joseph when they found themselves at the +end of the line of the camp, which led to the quarter of the volunteers. + +"May God and his Holy Mother protect you during my absence!" said +Joseph, stopping. "To-morrow I depart for Paris; and as I shall have +frequent business with this young Cinq-Mars, I shall first go to see him, +and learn news of his wound." + +"Had I been listened to," said Laubardemont, "you would not now have had +this trouble." + +"Alas, you are right!" answered Joseph, with a profound sigh, and +raising his eyes to heaven; "but the Cardinal is no longer the same man. +He will not take advantage of good ideas; he will ruin us if he goes on +thus." + +And, making a low bow to the judge, the Capuchin took the road which he +had indicated to him. + +Laubardemont followed him for some time with his eyes, and, when he was +quite sure of the route which he had taken, he returned, or, rather, ran +back to the tent of the minister. "The Cardinal dismisses him, he tells +me; that shows that he is tired of him. I know secrets which will ruin +him. I will add that he is gone to pay court to the future favorite. +I will replace this monk in the favor of the minister. The moment is +propitious. It is midnight; he will be alone for an hour and a half yet. +Let me run." + +He arrived at the tent of the guards, which was before the pavilion. + +"Monseigneur gives audience to some one," said the captain, hesitating; +"you can not enter." + +"Never mind; you saw me leave an hour ago, and things are passing of +which I must give an account." + +"Come in, Laubardemont," cried the minister; "come in quickly, and +alone." + +He entered. The Cardinal, still seated, held the two hands of the nun in +one of his, and with the other he imposed silence upon his stupefied +agent, who remained motionless, not yet seeing the face of this woman. +She spoke volubly, and the strange things she said contrasted horribly +with the sweetness of her voice. Richelieu seemed moved. + +"Yes, I will stab him with a knife. It is the knife which the demon +Behirith gave me at the inn; but it is the nail of Sisera. It has a +handle of ivory, you see; and I have wept much over it. Is it not +singular, my good General? I will turn it in the throat of him who +killed my friend, as he himself told me to do; and afterward I will burn +the body. There is like for like, the punishment which God permitted to +Adam. You have an astonished air, my brave general; but you would be +much more so, were I to repeat to you his song--the song which he sang to +me again last night, at the hour of the funeral-pyre--you understand?-- +the hour when it rains, the hour when my hand burns as now. He said to +me: 'They are much deceived, the magistrates, the red judges. I have +eleven demons at my command; and I shall come to see you when the clock +strikes, under a canopy of purple velvet, with torches--torches of resin +to give us light--' Ah, that is beautiful! Listen, listen to what he +sings!" + +And she sang to the air of De Profundis. + +"Is it not singular, my good General?" said she, when she had finished; +"and I--I answer him every evening." + +"Then he speaks as spirits and prophets speak. He says: 'Woe, woe to him +who has shed blood! Are the judges of the earth gods? No, they are men +who grow old and suffer, and yet they dare to say aloud, Let that man +die! The penalty of death, the pain of death--who has given to man the +right of imposing it on man? Is the number two? One would be an +assassin, look you! But count well, one, two, three. Behold, they are +wise and just, these grave and salaried criminals! O crime, the horror +of Heaven! If you looked upon them from above as I look upon them, you +would be yet paler than I am. Flesh destroys flesh! That which lives by +blood sheds blood coldly and without anger, like a God with power to +create!'" + +The cries which the unhappy girl uttered, as she rapidly spoke these +words, terrified Richelieu and Laubardemont so much that they still +remained motionless. The delirium and the fever continued to transport +her. + +"'Did the judges tremble?' said Urbain Grandier to me. 'Did they tremble +at deceiving themselves?' They work the work of the just. The question! +They bind his limbs with ropes to make him speak. His skin cracks, tears +away, and rolls up like a parchment; his nerves are naked, red, and +glittering; his bones crack; the marrow spurts out. But the judges +sleep! they dream of flowers and spring. 'How hot the grand chamber +is!' says one, awaking; 'this man has not chosen to speak! Is the +torture finished?' And pitiful at last, he dooms him to death--death, the +sole fear of the living! death, the unknown world! He sends before him +a furious soul which will wait for him. Oh! has he never seen the +vision of vengeance? Has he never seen before falling asleep the flayed +prevaricator?" + +Already weakened by fever, fatigue, and grief, the Cardinal, seized with +horror and pity, exclaimed: + +"Ah, for the love of God, let this terrible scene have an end! Take away +this woman; she is mad!" + +The frantic creature turned, and suddenly uttering loud cries, "Ah, the +judge! the judge! the judge!" she said, recognizing Laubardemont. + +The latter, clasping his hands and trembling before the Cardinal, said +with terror: + +"Alas, Monseigneur, pardon me! she is my niece, who has lost her reason. +I was not aware of this misfortune, or she would have been shut up long +ago. Jeanne! Jeanne! come, Madame, to your knees! ask forgiveness of +Monseigneur the Cardinal-duc." + +"It is Richelieu!" she cried; and astonishment seemed wholly to paralyze +this young and unhappy beauty. The flush which had animated her at first +gave place to a deadly pallor, her cries to a motionless silence, her +wandering looks to a frightful fixedness of her large eyes, which +constantly followed the agitated minister. + +"Take away this unfortunate child quickly," said he; "she is dying, and +so am I. So many horrors pursue me since that sentence that I believe +all hell is loosed upon me." + +He rose as he spoke; Jeanne de Belfiel, still silent and stupefied, with +haggard eyes, open mouth, and head bent forward, yet remained beneath the +shock of her double surprise, which seemed to have extinguished the rest +of her reason and her strength. At the movement of the Cardinal, she +shuddered to find herself between him and Laubardemont, looked by turns +at one and the other, let the knife which she held fall from her hand, +and retired slowly toward the opening of the tent, covering herself +completely with her veil, and looking wildly and with terror behind her +upon her uncle who followed, like an affrighted lamb, which already feels +at its back the burning breath of the wolf about to seize it. + +Thus they both went forth; and hardly had they reached the open air, when +the furious judge caught the hands of his victim, tied them with a +handkerchief, and easily led her, for she uttered no cry, not even a +sigh, but followed him with her head still drooping upon her bosom, and +as if plunged in profound somnambulism. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE SPANIARD + +Meantime, a scene of different nature was passing in the tent of Cinq- +Mars; the words of the King, the first balm to his wounds, had been +followed by the anxious care of the surgeons of the court. A spent ball, +easily extracted, had been the only cause of his accident. He was +allowed to travel and all was ready. The invalid had received up to +midnight friendly or interested visits; among the first were those of +little Gondi and of Fontrailles, who were also preparing to quit +Perpignan for Paris. The ex-page, Olivier d'Entraigues, joined with them +in complimenting the fortunate volunteer, whom the King seemed to have +distinguished. The habitual coldness of the Prince toward all who +surrounded him having caused those who knew of them to regard the few +words he had spoken as assured signs of high favor, all came to +congratulate him. + +At length, released from visitors, he lay upon his camp-bed. De Thou sat +by his side, holding his hand, and Grandchamp at his feet, still +grumbling at the numerous interruptions that had fatigued his wounded +master. Cinq-Mars himself tasted one of those moments of calm and hope, +which so refresh the soul as well as the body. His free hand secretly +pressed the gold cross that hung next to his heart, the beloved donor of +which he was so soon to behold. Outwardly, he listened with kindly looks +to the counsels of the young magistrate; but his inward thoughts were all +turned toward the object of his journey--the object, also, of his life. +The grave De Thou went on in a calm, gentle voice: + +"I shall soon follow you to Paris. I am happier than you at seeing the +King take you there with him. You are right in looking upon it as the +beginning of a friendship which must be turned to profit. I have +reflected deeply on the secret causes of your ambition, and I think I +have divined your heart. Yes; that feeling of love for France, which +made it beat in your earliest youth, must have gained greater strength. +You would be near the King in order to serve your country, in order to +put in action those golden dreams of your early years. The thought is a +vast one, and worthy of you! I admire you; I bow before you. To +approach the monarch with the chivalrous devotion of our fathers, with a +heart full of candor, and prepared for any sacrifice; to receive the +confidences of his soul; to pour into his those of his subjects; to +soften the, sorrows of the King by telling him the confidence his people +have in him; to cure the wounds of the people by laying them open to its +master, and by the intervention of your favor thus to reestablish that +intercourse of love between the father and his children which for +eighteen years has been interrupted by a man whose heart is marble; for +this noble enterprise, to expose yourself to all the horrors of his +vengeance and, what is even worse, to brave all the perfidious calumnies +which pursue the favorite to the very steps of the throne--this dream was +worthy of you. + +"Pursue it, my friend," De Thou continued. "Never become discouraged. +Speak loudly to the King of the merit and misfortunes of his most +illustrious friends who are trampled on. Tell him fearlessly that his +old nobility have never conspired against him; and that from the young +Montmorency to the amiable Comte de Soissons, all have opposed the +minister, and never the monarch. Tell him that the old families of +France were born with his race; that in striking them he affects the +whole nation; and that, should he destroy them, his own race will suffer, +that it will stand alone exposed to the blast of time and events, as an +old oak trembling and exposed to the wind of the plain, when the forest +which surrounded and supported it has been destroyed. Yes!" cried De +Thou, growing animated, "this aim is a fine and noble one. Go on in your +course with a resolute step; expel even that secret shame, that shyness, +which a noble soul experiences before it can resolve upon flattering-- +upon paying what the world calls its court. Alas, kings are accustomed +to these continual expressions of false admiration for them! Look upon +them as a new language which must be learned--a language hitherto foreign +to your lips, but which, believe me, may be nobly spoken, and which may +express high and generous thoughts." + +During this warm discourse of his friend, Cinq-Mars could not refrain +from a sudden blush; and he turned his head on his pillow toward the +tent, so that his face might not be seen. De Thou stopped: + +"What is the matter, Henri? You do not answer. Am I deceived?" + +Cinq-Mars gave a deep sigh and remained silent. + +"Is not your heart affected by these ideas which I thought would have +transported it?" + +The wounded man looked more calmly at his friend and said: + +"I thought, my dear De Thou, that you would not interrogate me further, +and that you were willing to repose a blind confidence in me. What evil +genius has moved you thus to sound my soul? I am not a stranger to these +ideas which possess you. Who told you that I had not conceived them? +Who told you that I had not formed the firm resolution of prosecuting +them infinitely farther in action than you have put them in words? Love +for France, virtuous hatred of the ambition which oppresses and shatters +her ancient institutions with the axe of the executioner, the firm belief +that virtue may be as skilful as crime,--these are my gods as much as +yours. But when you see a man kneeling in a church, do you ask him what +saint or what angel protects him and receives his prayer? What matters +it to you, provided that he pray at the foot of the altars that you +adore--provided that, if called upon, he fall a martyr at the foot of +those 'altars? When our forefathers journeyed with naked feet toward the +Holy Sepulchre, with pilgrims' staves in their hands, did men inquire the +secret vow which led them to the Holy Land? They struck, they died; and +men, perhaps God himself, asked no more. The pious captain who led them +never stripped their bodies to see whether the red cross and haircloth +concealed any other mysterious symbol; and in heaven, doubtless, they +were not judged with any greater rigor for having aided the strength of +their resolutions upon earth by some hope permitted to a Christian--some +second and secret thought, more human, and nearer the mortal heart." + +De Thou smiled and slightly blushed, lowering his eyes. + +"My friend," he answered, gravely; "this excitement may be injurious to +you. Let us not continue this subject; let us not mingle God and heaven +in our discourse. It is not well; and draw the coverings over your +shoulder, for the night is cold. I promise you," he added, covering his +young invalid with a maternal care--"I promise not to offend you again +with my counsels." + +"And I," cried Cinq-Mars, despite the interdiction to speak, "swear to +you by this gold cross you see, and by the Holy Mary, to die rather than +renounce the plan that you first traced out! You may one day, perhaps, +be forced to pray me to stop; but then it will be too late." + +"Very well!" repeated the counsellor, "now sleep; if you do not stop, I +will go on with you, wherever you lead me." + +And, taking a prayer-book from his pocket, he began to read attentively; +in a short time he looked at Cinq-Mars, who was still awake. He made a +sign to Grandchamp to put the lamp out of sight of the invalid; but this +new care succeeded no better. The latter, with his eyes still open, +tossed restlessly on his narrow bed. + +"Come, you are not calm," said De Thou, smiling; "I will read to you some +pious passage which will put your mind in repose. Ah, my friend, it is +here that true repose is to be found; it is in this consolatory book, +for, open it where you will, you will always see, on the one hand, man in +the only condition that suits his weakness--prayer, and the uncertainty +as to his destiny--and, on the other, God himself speaking to him of his +infirmities! What a glorious and heavenly spectacle! What a sublime +bond between heaven and earth! Life, death, and eternity are there; open +it at random." + +"Yes!" said Cinq-Mars, rising with a vivacity which had something boyish +in it; "you shall read to me, but let me open the book. You know the old +superstition of our country--when the mass-book is opened with a sword, +the first page on the left contains the destiny of him who reads, and the +first person who enters after he has read is powerfully to influence the +reader's future fate." + +"What childishness! But be it as you will. Here is your sword; insert +the point. Let us see." + +"Let me read myself," said Cinq-Mars, taking one side of the book. Old +Grandchamp gravely advanced his tawny face and his gray hair to the foot +of the bed to listen. His master read, stopped at the first phrase, but +with a smile, perhaps slightly forced, he went on to the end. + +"I. Now it was in the city of Milan that they appeared. + +"II. The high-priest said to them, 'Bow down and adore the gods.' + +"III. And the people were silent, looking at their faces, which appeared +as the faces of angels. + +"IV. But Gervais, taking the hand of Protais, cried, looking to heaven, +and filled with the Holy Ghost: + +"V. Oh, my brother! I see the Son of man smiling upon us; let me die +first. + +"VI. For if I see thy blood, I fear I shall shed tears unworthy of the +Lord our God. + +"VII. Then Protais answered him in these words: + +"VIII. My brother, it is just that I should perish after thee, for I am +older, and have more strength to see thee suffer. + +"IX. But the senators and people ground their teeth at them. + +"X. And the soldiers having struck them, their heads fell together on +the same stone. + +"XI. Now it was in this same place that the blessed Saint Ambroise found +the ashes of the two martyrs which gave sight to the blind." + +"Well," said Cinq-Mars, looking at his friend when he had finished, "what +do you say to that?" + +"God's will be done! but we should not scrutinize it." + +"Nor put off our designs for a child's play," said D'Effiat impatiently, +and wrapping himself in a cloak which was thrown over him. "Remember the +lines we formerly so frequently quoted, 'Justum et tenacem Propositi +viruna'; these iron words are stamped upon my brain. Yes; let the +universe crumble around me, its wreck shall carry me away still +resolute." + +"Let us not compare the thoughts of man with those of Heaven; and let us +be submissive," said De Thou, gravely. + +"Amen!" said old Grandchamp, whose eyes had filled with tears, which he +hastily brushed away. + +"What hast thou to do with it, old soldier? Thou weepest," said his +master. + +"Amen!" said a voice, in a nasal tone, at the entrance of the tent. + +"Parbleu, Monsieur! rather put that question to his Gray Eminence, who +comes to visit you," answered the faithful servant, pointing to Joseph, +who advanced with his arms crossed, making a salutation with a frowning +air. + +"Ah, it will be he, then!" murmured Cinq-Mars. + +"Perhaps I come inopportunely," said Joseph, soothingly. + +"Perhaps very opportunely," said Henri d'Effiat, smiling, with a glance +at De Thou. "What can bring you here, Father, at one o'clock in the +morning? It should be some good work." + +Joseph saw he was ill-received; and as he had always sundry reproaches to +make himself with reference to all persons whom he addressed, and as many +resources in his mind for getting out of the difficulty, he fancied that +they had discovered the object of his visit, and felt that he should not +select a moment of ill humor for preparing the way to friendship. +Therefore, seating himself near the bed, he said, coldly: + +"I come, Monsieur, to speak to you on the part of the Cardinal- +Generalissimo, of the two Spanish prisoners you have made; he desires to +have information concerning them as soon as possible. I am to see and +question them. But I did not suppose you were still awake; I merely +wished to receive them from your people." + +After a forced interchange of politeness, they ordered into the tent the +two prisoners, whom Cinq-Mars had almost forgotten. + +They appeared--the one, young and displaying an animated and rather wild +countenance, was the soldier; the other, concealing his form under a +brown cloak, and his gloomy features, which had something ambiguous in +their expression, under his broad-brimmed hat, which he did not remove, +was the officer. He spoke first: + +"Why do you make me leave my straw and my sleep? Is it to deliver me or +hang me?" + +"Neither," said Joseph. + +"What have I to do with thee, man with the long beard? I did not see +thee at the breach." + +It took some time after this amiable exordium to make the stranger +understand the right a Capuchin had to interrogate him. + +"Well," he said, "what dost thou want?" + +"I would know your name and your country." + +"I shall not tell my name; and as for my country, I have the air of a +Spaniard, but perhaps am not one, for a Spaniard never acknowledges his +country." + +Father Joseph, turning toward the two friends, said: "Unless I deceive +myself, I have heard his voice somewhere. This man speaks French without +an accent; but it seems he wishes to give us enigmas, as in the East." + +"The East? that is it," said the prisoner. "A Spaniard is a man from +the East; he is a Catholic Turk; his blood either flags or boils; he is +lazy or indefatigable; indolence makes him a slave, ardor a tyrant; +immovable in his ignorance, ingenious in his superstition, he needs only +a religious book and a tyrannical master; he obeys the law of the pyre; +he commands by that of the poniard. At night he falls asleep in his +bloodthirsty misery, nurses fanaticism, and awakes to crime. Who is this +gentleman? Is it the Spaniard or the Turk? Guess! Ah! you seem to +think that I have wit, because I light upon analogy." + +"Truly, gentlemen, you do me honor; and yet the idea may be carried much +further, if desired. If I pass to the physical order, for example, may I +not say to you, This man has long and serious features, a black and +almond-shaped eye, rugged brows, a sad and mobile mouth, tawny, meagre, +and wrinkled cheeks; his head is shaved, and he covers it with a black +handkerchief in the form of a turban; he passes the whole day lying or +standing under a burning sun, without motion, without utterance, smoking +a pipe that intoxicates him. Is this a Turk or a Spaniard? Are you +satisfied, gentlemen? Truly, it would seem so; you laugh, and at what do +you laugh? I, who have presented this idea to you--I have not laughed; +see, my countenance is sad. Ah! perhaps it is because the gloomy +prisoner has suddenly become a gossip, and talks rapidly. That is +nothing! I might tell you other things, and render you some service, my +worthy friends. + +"If I should relate anecdotes, for example; if I told you I knew a priest +who ordered the death of some heretics before saying mass, and who, +furious at being interrupted at the altar during the holy sacrifice, +cried to those who asked for his orders, 'Kill them all! kill them +all!'--should you all laugh, gentlemen? No, not all! This gentleman +here, for instance, would bite his lips and his beard. Oh! it is true +he might answer that he did wisely, and that they were wrong to interrupt +his unsullied prayer. But if I added that he concealed himself for an +hour behind the curtain of your tent, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars, to listen +while you talked, and that he came to betray you, and not to get me, what +would he say? Now, gentlemen, are you satisfied? May I retire after +this display?" + +The prisoner had uttered this with the rapidity of a quack vending his +wares, and in so loud a voice that Joseph was quite confounded. He arose +indignantly at last, and, addressing himself to Cinq-Mars, said: + +"How can you suffer a prisoner who should have been hanged to speak to +you thus, Monsieur?" + +The Spaniard, without deigning to notice him any further, leaned toward +D'Effiat, and whispered in his ear: + +"I can be of no further use to you; give me my liberty. I might ere this +have taken it; but I would not do so without your consent. Give it me, +or have me killed." + +"Go, if you will!" said Cinq-Mars to him. "I assure you I shall be very +glad;" and he told his people to retire with the soldier, whom he wished +to keep in his service. + +This was the affair of a moment. No one remained any longer in the tent +with the two friends, except the abashed Joseph and the Spaniard. The +latter, taking off his hat, showed a French but savage countenance. He +laughed, and seemed to respire more air into his broad chest. + +"Yes, I am a Frenchman," he said to Joseph. "But I hate France, because +she gave birth to my father, who is a monster, and to me, who have become +one, and who once struck him. I hate her inhabitants, because they have +robbed me of my whole fortune at play, and because I have robbed them and +killed them. I have been two years in Spain in order to kill more +Frenchmen; but now I hate Spain still more. No one will know the reason +why. Adieu! I must live henceforth without a nation; all men are my +enemies. Go on, Joseph, and you will soon be as good as I. Yes, you +have seen me once before," he continued, violently striking him in the +breast and throwing him down. "I am Jacques de Laubardemont, the son of +your worthy friend." + +With these words, quickly leaving the tent, he disappeared like an +apparition. De Thou and the servants, who ran to the entrance, saw him, +with two bounds, spring over a surprised and disarmed soldier, and run +toward the mountains with the swiftness of a deer, despite various +musket-shots. Joseph took advantage of the disorder to slip away, +stammering a few words of politeness, and left the two friends laughing +at his adventure and his disappointment, as two schoolboys laugh at +seeing the spectacles of their pedagogue fall off. At last they prepared +to seek a rest of which they both stood in need, and which they soon +found-=the wounded man in his bed, and the young counsellor in his chair. + +As for the Capuchin, he walked toward his tent, meditating how he should +turn all this so as to take the greatest possible revenge, when he met +Laubardemont dragging the young mad-woman by her two hands. They +recounted to each other their mutual and horrible adventures. + +Joseph had no small pleasure in turning the poniard in the wound of his +friend's heart, by telling him of the fate of his son. + +"You are not exactly happy in your domestic relations," he added. "I +advise you to shut up your niece and hang your son, if you are fortunate +enough to find him." + +Laubardemont replied with a hideous laugh: + +"As for this idiot here, I am going to give her to an ex-secret judge, at +present a smuggler in the Pyrenees at Oleron. He can do what he pleases +with her--make her a servant in his posada, for instance. I care not, so +that my lord never hears of her." + +Jeanne de Belfiel, her head hanging down, gave no sign of sensibility. +Every glimmer of reason was extinguished in her; one word alone remained +upon her lips, and this she continually pronounced. + +"The judge! the judge! the judge!" she murmured, and was silent. + +Her uncle and Joseph threw her, almost like a sack of corn, on one of the +horses which were led up by two servants. Laubardemont mounted another, +and prepared to leave the camp, wishing to get into the mountains before +day. + +"A good journey to you!" he said to Joseph. "Execute your business well +in Paris. I commend to you Orestes and Pylades." + +"A good journey to you!" answered the other. "I commend to you +Cassandra and OEdipus." + +"Oh! he has neither killed his father nor married his mother." + +"But he is on the high-road to those little pleasantries." + +"Adieu, my reverend Father!" + +"Adieu, my venerable friend!" + +Then each added aloud, but in suppressed tones: + +"Adieu, assassin of the gray robe! During thy absence I shall have the +ear of the Cardinal." + +"Adieu, villain in the red robe! Go thyself and destroy thy cursed +family. Finish shedding that portion of thy blood that is in others' +veins. That share which remains in thee, I will take charge of. Ha! +a well-employed night!" + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Ambition is the saddest of all hopes +Assume with others the mien they wore toward him +Men are weak, and there are things which women must accomplish + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, v3 +by Alfred de Vigny + diff --git a/3949.zip b/3949.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..045e9c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/3949.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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