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D.W.] + + + + + +CINQ MARS + +By ALFRED DE VIGNY + + + +BOOK 5. + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE SECRET + +De Thou had reached home with his friend; his doors were carefully shut, +and orders given to admit no one, and to excuse him to the refugees for +allowing them to depart without seeing them again; and as yet the two +friends had not spoken to each other. + +The counsellor had thrown himself into his armchair in deep meditation. +Cinq-Mars, leaning against the lofty chimneypiece, awaited with a serious +and sorrowful air the termination of this silence. At length De Thou, +looking fixedly at him and crossing his arms, said in a hollow and +melancholy voice: + +"This, then, is the goal you have reached! These, the consequences of +your ambition! You are are about to banish, perhaps slay, a man, and to +bring then, a foreign army into France; I am, then, to see you an +assassin and a traitor to your country! By what tortuous paths have you +arrived thus far? By what stages have you descended so low?" + +"Any other than yourself would not speak thus to me twice," said Cinq- +Mars, coldly; "but I know you, and I like this explanation. I desired +it, and sought it. You shall see my entire soul. I had at first another +thought, a better one perhaps, more worthy of our friendship, more worthy +of friendship--friendship, the second thing upon earth." + +He raised his eyes to heaven as he spoke, as if he there sought the +divinity. + +"Yes, it would have been better. I intended to have said nothing to you +on the subject. It was a painful task to keep silence; but hitherto I +have succeeded. I wished to have conducted the whole enterprise without +you; to show you only the finished work. I wished to keep you beyond the +circle of my danger; but shall I confess my weakness? I feared to die, +if I have to die, misjudged by you. I can well sustain the idea of the +world's malediction, but not of yours; but this has decided me upon +avowing all to you." + +"What! and but for this thought, you would have had the courage to +conceal yourself forever from me? Ah, dear Henri, what have I done that +you should take this care of my life? By what fault have I deserved to +survive you, if you die? You have had the strength of mind to hoodwink +me for two whole years; you have never shown me aught of your life but +its flowers; you have never entered my solitude but with a joyous +countenance, and each time with a fresh favor. Ah, you must be very +guilty or very virtuous!" + +"Do not seek in my soul more than therein lies. Yes, I have deceived +you; and that fact was the only peace and joy I had in the world. +Forgive me for having stolen these moments from my destiny, so brilliant, +alas! I was happy in the happiness you supposed me to enjoy; I made you +happy in that dream, and I am only guilty in that I am now about to +destroy it, and to show myself as I was and am. Listen: I shall not +detain you long; the story of an impassioned heart is ever simple. Once +before, I remember, in my tent when I was wounded, my secret nearly +escaped me; it would have been happy, perhaps, had it done so. Yet what +would counsel have availed me? I should not have followed it. In a +word, 'tis Marie de Mantua whom I love." + +"How! she who is to be Queen of Poland?" + +"If she is ever queen, it can only be after my death. But listen: for +her I became a courtier; for her I have almost reigned in France; for her +I am about to fall--perhaps to die." + +"Die! fall! when I have been reproaching your triumph! when I have +wept over the sadness of your victory!" + +"Ah! you know me but ill, if you suppose that I shall be the dupe of +Fortune, when she smiles upon me; if you suppose that I have not pierced +to the bottom of my destiny! I struggle against it, but 'tis the +stronger I feel it. I have undertaken a task beyond human power; and I +shall fail in it." + +"Why, then, not stop? What is the use of intellect in the business of +the world?" + +"None; unless, indeed, it be to tell us the cause of our fall, and to +enable us to foresee the day on which we shall fall. I can not now +recede. When a man is confronted with such an enemy as Richelieu, he +must overcome him or be crushed by him. Tomorrow I shall strike the last +blow; did I not just now, in your presence, engage to do so?" + +"And it is that very engagement that I would oppose. What confidence +have you in those to whom you thus abandon your life? Have you not read +their secret thoughts?" + +"I know them all; I have read their hopes through their feigned rage; +I know that they tremble while they threaten. I know that even now they +are ready to make their peace by giving me up; but it is my part to +sustain them and to decide the King. I must do it, for Marie is my +betrothed, and my death is written at Narbonne. It is voluntarily, it is +with full knowledge of my fate, that I have thus placed myself between +the block and supreme happiness. That happiness I must tear from the +hands of Fortune, or die on that scaffold. At this instant I experience +the joy of having broken down all doubt. What! blush you not at having +thought me ambitious from a base egoism, like this Cardinal--ambitious +from a puerile desire for a power which is never satisfied? I am +ambitious, but it is because I love. Yes, I love; in that word all is +comprised. But I accuse you unjustly. You have embellished my secret +intentions; you have imparted to me noble designs (I remember them), high +political conceptions. They are brilliant, they are grand, doubtless; +but--shall I say it to you?--such vague projects for the perfecting of +corrupt societies seem to me to crawl far below the devotion of love. +When the whole soul vibrates with that one thought, it has no room for +the nice calculation of general interests; the topmost heights of earth +are far beneath heaven." + +De Thou shook his head. + +"What can I answer?" he said. "I do not understand you; your reasoning +unreasons you. You hunt a shadow." + +"Nay," continued Cinq-Mars; "far from destroying my strength, this inward +fire has developed it. I have calculated everything. Slow steps have +led me to the end which I am about to attain. Marie drew me by the hand; +could I retreat? I would not have done it though a world faced me. +Hitherto, all has gone well; but an invisible barrier arrests me. This +barrier must be broken; it is Richelieu. But now in your presence I +undertook to do this; but perhaps I was too hasty. I now think I was so. +Let him rejoice; he expected me. Doubtless he foresaw that it would be +the youngest whose patience would first fail. If he played on this +calculation, he played well. Yet but for the love that has urged me on, +I should have been stronger than he, and by just means." + +Then a sudden change came over the face of Cinq-Mars. He turned pale and +red twice; and the veins of his forehead rose like blue lines drawn by an +invisible hand. + +"Yes," he added, rising, and clasping together his hands with a force +which indicated the violent despair concentred in his heart, "all the +torments with which love can tear its victims I have felt in my breast. +This timid girl, for whom I would shake empires, for whom I have suffered +all, even the favor of a prince, who perhaps has not felt all I have done +for her, can not yet be mine. She is mine before God, yet I am estranged +from her; nay, I must hear daily discussed before me which of the thrones +of Europe will best suit her, in conversations wherein I may not even +raise my voice to give an opinion, and in which they scorn as mate for +her princes of the blood royal, who yet have precedence far before me. +I must conceal myself like a culprit to hear through a grating the voice +of her who is my wife; in public I must bow before her--her husband, +yet her servant! 'Tis too much; I can not live thus. I must take the +last step, whether it elevate me or hurl me down." + +"And for your personal happiness you would overthrow a State?" + +"The happiness of the State is one with mine. I secure that undoubtedly +in destroying the tyrant of the King. The horror with which this man +inspires me has passed into my very blood. When I was first on my way to +him, I encountered in my journey his greatest crime. He is the genius of +evil for the unhappy King! I will exorcise him. I might have become the +genius of good for Louis XIII. It was one of the thoughts of Marie, her +most cherished thought. But I do not think I shall triumph in the uneasy +soul of the Prince." + +"Upon what do you rely, then?" said De Thou. + +"Upon the cast of a die. If his will can but once last for a few hours, +I have gained. 'Tis a last calculation on which my destiny hangs." + +"And that of your Marie!" + +"Could you suppose it?" said Cinq-Mars, impetuously. "No, no! If he +abandons me, I sign the treaty with Spain, and then-war!" + +"Ah, horror!" exclaimed the counsellor. "What, a war! a civil war, and +a foreign alliance!" + +"Ay, 'tis a crime," said Cinq-Mars, coldly; "but have I asked you to +participate in it?" + +"Cruel, ungrateful man!" replied his friend; "can you speak to me thus? +Know you not, have I not proved to you, that friendship holds the place +of every passion in my heart? Can I survive the least of your +misfortunes, far less your death. Still, let me influence you not to +strike France. Oh, my friend! my only friend! I implore you on my +knees, let us not thus be parricides; let us not assassinate our country! +I say us, because I will never separate myself from your actions. +Preserve to me my self-esteem, for which I have labored so long; sully +not my life and my death, which are both yours." + +De Thou had fallen at the feet of his friend, who, unable to preserve his +affected coldness, threw himself into his arms, as he raised him, and, +pressing him to his heart, said in a stifled voice: + +"Why love me thus? What have you done, friend? Why love me? You who +are wise, pure, and virtuous; you who are not led away by an insensate +passion and the desire for vengeance; you whose soul is nourished only by +religion and science--why love me? What has my friendship given you but +anxiety and pain? Must it now heap dangers on you? Separate yourself +from me; we are no longer of the same nature. You see courts have +corrupted me. I have no longer openness, no longer goodness. I meditate +the ruin of a man; I can deceive a friend. Forget me, scorn me. I am +not worthy of one of your thoughts; how should I be worthy of your +perils?" + +"By swearing to me not to betray the King and France," answered De Thou. +"Know you that the preservation of your country is at stake; that if you +yield to Spain our fortifications, she will never return them to us; that +your name will be a byword with posterity; that French mothers will curse +it when they shall be forced to teach their children a foreign language-- +know you all this? Come." + +And he drew him toward the bust of Louis XIII. + +"Swear before him (he is your friend also), swear never to sign this +infamous treaty." + +Cinq-Mars lowered his eyes, but with dogged tenacity answered, although +blushing as he did so: + +"I have said it; if they force me to it, I will sign." + +De Thou turned pale, and let fall his hand. He took two turns in his +room, his arms crossed, in inexpressible anguish. At last he advanced +solemnly toward the bust of his father, and opened a large book standing +at its foot; he turned to a page already marked, and read aloud: + +"I think, therefore, that M. de Ligneboeuf was justly condemned to death +by the Parliament of Rouen, for not having revealed the conspiracy of +Catteville against the State." + +Then keeping the book respectfully opened in his hand, and contemplating +the image of the President de Thou, whose Memoirs he held, he continued: + +"Yes, my father, you thought well.... I shall be a criminal, I shall +merit death; but can I do otherwise? I will not denounce this traitor, +because that also would be treason; and he is my friend, and he is +unhappy." + +Then, advancing toward Cinq-Mars, and again taking his hand, he said: + +"I do much for you in acting thus; but expect nothing further from me, +Monsieur, if you sign this treaty." + +Cinq-Mars was moved to the heart's core by this scene, for he felt all +that his friend must suffer in casting him off. Checking, however, the +tears which were rising to his smarting lids, and embracing De Thou +tenderly, he exclaimed: + +"Ah, De Thou, I find you still perfect. Yes, you do me a service in +alienating yourself from me, for if your lot had been linked to mine, +I should not have dared to dispose of my life. I should have hesitated +to sacrifice it in case of need; but now I shall assuredly do so. And I +repeat to you, if they force me, I shall sign the treaty with Spain." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE HUNTING PARTY + +Meanwhile the illness of Louis XIII threw France into the apprehension +which unsettled States ever feel on the approach of the death of princes. +Although Richelieu was the hub of the monarchy, he reigned only in the +name of Louis, though enveloped with the splendor of the name which he +had assumed. Absolute as he was over his master, Richelieu still feared +him; and this fear reassured the nation against his ambitious desires, +to which the King himself was the fixed barrier. But this prince dead, +what would the imperious minister do? Where would a man stop who had +already dared so much? Accustomed to wield the sceptre, who would prevent +him from still holding it, and from subscribing his name alone to laws +which he alone would dictate? These fears agitated all minds. The +people in vain looked throughout the kingdom for those pillars of the +nobility, at the feet of whom they had been wont to find shelter in +political storms. They now only saw their recent tombs. Parliament was +dumb; and men felt that nothing could be opposed to the monstrous growth +of the Cardinal's usurping power. No one was entirely deceived by the +affected sufferings of the minister. None was touched with that feigned +agony which had too often deceived the public hope; and distance nowhere +prevented the weight of the dreaded 'parvenu' from being felt. + +The love of the people soon revived toward the son of Henri IV. They +hastened to the churches; they prayed, and even wept. Unfortunate +princes are always loved. The melancholy of Louis, and his mysterious +sorrow interested all France; still living, they already regretted him, +as if each man desired to be the depositary of his troubles ere he +carried away with him the grand mystery of what is suffered by men placed +so high that they can see nothing before them but their tomb. + +The King, wishing to reassure the whole nation, announced the temporary +reestablishment of his health, and ordered the court to prepare for a +grand hunting party to be given at Chambord--a royal domain, whither his +brother, the Duc d'Orleans, prayed him to return. + +This beautiful abode was the favorite retreat of Louis, doubtless +because, in harmony with his feelings, it combined grandeur with sadness. +He often passed whole months there, without seeing any one whatsoever, +incessantly reading and re-reading mysterious papers, writing unknown +documents, which he locked up in an iron coffer, of which he alone had +the key. He sometimes delighted in being served by a single domestic, +and thus so to forget himself by the absence of his suite as to live for +many days together like a poor man or an exiled citizen, loving to figure +to himself misery or persecution, in order the better to enjoy royalty +afterward. Another time he would be in a more entire solitude; and +having forbidden any human creature to approach him, clothed in the habit +of a monk, he would shut himself up in the vaulted chapel. There, +reading the life of Charles V, he would imagine himself at St. Just, and +chant over himself that mass for the dead which brought death upon the +head of the Spanish monarch. + +But in the midst of these very chants and meditations his feeble mind was +pursued and distracted by contrary images. Never did life and the world +appear to him more fair than in such times of solitude among the tombs. +Between his eyes and the page which he endeavored to read passed +brilliant processions, victorious armies, or nations transported with +love. He saw himself powerful, combating, triumphant, adored; and if a +ray of the sun through the large windows fell upon him, suddenly rising +from the foot of the altar, he felt himself carried away by a thirst for +daylight and the open air, which led him from his gloomy retreat. But +returned to real life, he found there once more disgust and ennui, for +the first men he met recalled his power to his recollection by their +homage. + +It was then that he believed in friendship, and summoned it to his side; +but scarcely was he certain of its possession than unconquerable scruples +suddenly seized upon his soul-scruples concerning a too powerful +attachment to the creature, turning him from the Creator, and frequently +inward reproaches for removing himself too much from the affairs of the +State. The object of his momentary affection then seemed to him a +despotic being, whose power drew him from his duties; but, unfortunately +for his favorites, he had not the strength of mind outwardly to manifest +toward them the resentment he felt, and thus to warn them of their +danger, but, continuing to caress them, he added by this constraint fuel +to the secret fire of his heart, and was impelled to an absolute hatred +of them. There were moments when he was capable of taking any measures +against them. + +Cinq-Mars knew perfectly the weakness of that mind, which could not keep +firmly in any path, and the weakness of a heart which could neither +wholly love nor wholly hate. Thus, the position of favorite, the envy of +all France, the object of jealousy even on the part of the great +minister, was so precarious and so painful that, but for his love, he +would have burst his golden chains with greater joy than a galley-slave +feels when he sees the last ring that for two long years he has been +filing with a steel spring concealed in his mouth, fall to the earth. +This impatience to meet the fate he saw so near hastened the explosion of +that patiently prepared mine, as he had declared to his friend; but his +situation was that of a man who, placed by the side of the book of life, +should see hovering over it the hand which is to indite his damnation or +his salvation. He set out with Louis to Chambord, resolved to take the +first opportunity favorable to his design. It soon presented itself. + +The very morning of the day appointed for the chase, the King sent word +to him that he was waiting for him on the Escalier du Lys. It may not, +perhaps, be out of place to speak of this astonishing construction. + +Four leagues from Blois, and one league from the Loire, in a small and +deep valley, between marshy swamps and a forest of large holm-oaks, +far from any highroad, the traveller suddenly comes upon a royal, nay, +a magic castle. It might be said that, compelled by some wonderful lamp, +a genie of the East had carried it off during one of the "thousand and +one nights," and had brought it from the country of the sun to hide it in +the land of fogs and mist, for the dwelling of the mistress of a handsome +prince. + +Hidden like a treasure; with its blue domes, its elegant minarets rising +from thick walls or shooting into the air, its long terraces overlooking +the wood, its light spires bending with the wind, its terraces everywhere +rising over its colonnades, one might there imagine one's self in the +kingdom of Bagdad or of Cashmir, did not the blackened walls, with their +covering of moss and ivy, and the pallid and melancholy hue of the sky, +denote a rainy climate. It was indeed a genius who raised this building; +but he came from Italy, and his name was Primaticcio. It was indeed a +handsome prince whose amours were concealed in it; but he was a king, and +he bore the name of Francois I. His salamander still spouts fire +everywhere about it. It sparkles in a thousand places on the arched +roofs, and multiplies the flames there like the stars of heaven; it +supports the capitals with burning crowns; it colors the windows with its +fires; it meanders up and down the secret staircases, and everywhere +seems to devour with its flaming glances the triple crescent of a +mysterious Diane--that Diane de Poitiers, twice a goddess and twice +adored in these voluptuous woods. + +The base of this strange monument is like the monument itself, full of +elegance and mystery; there is a double staircase, which rises in two +interwoven spirals from the most remote foundations of the edifice up to +the highest points, and ends in a lantern or small lattice-work cabinet, +surmounted by a colossal fleur-de-lys, visible from a great distance. +Two men may ascend it at the same moment, without seeing each other. + +This staircase alone seems like a little isolated temple. Like our +churches, it is sustained and protected by the arcades of its thin, +light, transparent, openwork wings. One would think the docile stone had +given itself to the finger of the architect; it seems, so to speak, +kneaded according to the slightest caprice of his imagination. One can +hardly conceive how the plans were traced, in what terms the orders were +explained to the workmen. The whole thing appears a transient thought, +a brilliant revery that at once assumed a durable form---the realization +of a dream. + +Cinq-Mars was slowly ascending the broad stairs which led him to the +King's presence, and stopping longer at each step, in proportion as he +approached him, either from disgust at the idea of seeing the Prince +whose daily complaints he had to hear, or thinking of what he was about +to do, when the sound of a guitar struck his ear. He recognized the +beloved instrument of Louis and his sad, feeble, and trembling voice +faintly reechoing from the vaulted ceiling. Louis seemed trying one of +those romances which he was wont to compose, and several times repeated +an incomplete strain with a trembling hand. The words could scarcely be +distinguished; all that Cinq-Mars heard were a few such as 'Abandon, +ennui de monde, et belle flamme. + +The young favorite shrugged his shoulders as he listened. + +"What new chagrin moves thee?" he said. "Come, let me again attempt to +read that chilled heart which thinks it needs something." + +He entered the narrow cabinet. + +Clothed in black, half reclining on a couch, his elbows resting upon +pillows, the Prince was languidly touching the chords of his guitar; he +ceased this when he saw the grand ecuyer enter, and, raising his large +eyes to him with an air of reproach, swayed his head to and fro for a +long time without speaking. Then in a plaintive but emphatic tone, he +said: + +"What do I hear, Cinq-Mars? What do I hear of your conduct? How much +you do pain me by forgetting all my counsels! You have formed a guilty +intrigue; was it from you I was to expect such things--you whom I so +loved for your piety and virtue?" + +Full of his political projects, Cinq-Mars thought himself discovered, and +could not help a momentary anxiety; but, perfectly master of himself, he +answered without hesitation: + +"Yes, Sire; and I was about to declare it to you, for I am accustomed to +open my soul to you." + +"Declare it to me!" exclaimed the King, turning red and white, as under +the shivering of a fever; "and you dare to contaminate my ears with these +horrible avowals, Monsieur, and to speak so calmly of your disorder! Go! +you deserve to be condemned to the galley, like Rondin; it is a crime of +high treason you have committed in your want of faith toward me. I had +rather you were a coiner, like the Marquis de Coucy, or at the head of +the Croquants, than do as you have done; you dishonor your family, and +the memory of the marechal your father." + +Cinq-Mars, deeming himself wholly lost, put the best face he could upon +the matter, and said with an air of resignation: + +"Well, then, Sire, send me to be judged and put to death; but spare me +your reproaches." + +"Do you insult me, you petty country-squire?" answered Louis. "I know +very well that you have not incurred the penalty of death in the eyes of +men; but it is at the tribunal of God, Monsieur, that you will be +judged." + +"Heavens, Sire!" replied the impetuous young man, whom the insulting +phrase of the King had offended, "why do you not allow me to return to +the province you so much despise, as I have sought to do a hundred times? +I will go there. I can not support the life I lead with you; an angel +could not bear it. Once more, let me be judged if I am guilty, or allow +me to return to Touraine. It is you who have ruined me in attaching me +to your person. If you have caused me to conceive lofty hopes, which you +afterward overthrew, is that my fault? Wherefore have you made me grand +ecuyer, if I was not to rise higher? In a word, am I your friend or not? +and, if I am, why may I not be duke, peer, or even constable, as well as +Monsieur de Luynes, whom you loved so much because he trained falcons for +you? Why am I not admitted to the council? I could speak as well as any +of the old ruffs there; I have new ideas, and a better arm to serve you. +It is your Cardinal who has prevented you from summoning me there. And +it is because he keeps you from me that I detest him," continued Cinq- +Mars, clinching his fist, as if Richelieu stood before him; "yes, I would +kill him with my own hand, if need were." + +D'Effiat's eyes were inflamed with anger; he stamped his foot as he +spoke, and turned his back to the King, like a sulky child, leaning +against one of the columns of the cupola. + +Louis, who recoiled before all resolution, and who was always terrified +by the irreparable, took his hand. + +O weakness of power! O caprices of the human heart! it was by this +childish impetuosity, these very defects of his age, that this young man +governed the King of France as effectually as did the first politician of +the time. This Prince believed, and with some show of reason, that a +character so hasty must be sincere; and even his fiery rage did not anger +him. It did not apply to the real subject of his reproaches, and he +could well pardon him for hating the Cardinal. The very idea of his +favorite's jealousy of the minister pleased him, because it indicated +attachment; and all he dreaded was his indifference. Cinq-Mars knew +this, and had desired to make it a means of escape, preparing the King to +regard all that he had done as child's play, as the consequence of his +friendship for him; but the danger was not so great, and he breathed +freely when the Prince said to him: + +"The Cardinal is not in question here. I love him no more than you do; +but it is with your scandalous conduct I reproach you, and which I shall +have much difficulty to pardon in you. What, Monsieur! I learn that +instead of devoting yourself to the pious exercises to which I have +accustomed you, when I fancy you are at your Salut or your Angelus--you +are off from Saint Germain, and go to pass a portion of the night--with +whom? Dare I speak of it without sin? With a woman lost in reputation, +who can have no relations with you but such as are pernicious to the +safety of your soul, and who receives free-thinkers at her house--in a +word, Marion de Lorme. What have you to say? Speak." + +Leaving his hand in that of the King, but still leaning against the +column, Cinq-Mars answered: + +"Is it then so culpable to leave grave occupations for others more +serious still? If I go to the house of Marion de Lorme, it is to hear +the conversation of the learned men who assemble there. Nothing is more +harmless than these meetings. Readings are given there which, it is +true, sometimes extend far into the night, but which commonly tend to +exalt the soul, so far from corrupting it. Besides, you have never +commanded me to account to you for all that I do; I should have informed +you of this long ago if you had desired it." + +"Ah, Cinq-Mars, Cinq-Mars! where is your confidence? Do you feel no need +of it? It is the first condition of a perfect friendship, such as ours +ought to be, such as my heart requires." + +The voice of Louis became more affectionate, and the favorite, looking at +him over his shoulder, assumed an air less angry, but still simply +ennuye, and resigned to listening to him. + +"How often have you deceived me!" continued the King; "can I trust +myself to you? Are they not fops and gallants whom you meet at the house +of this woman? Do not courtesans go there?" + +"Heavens! no, Sire; I often go there with one of my friends--a gentleman +of Touraine, named Rene Descartes." + +"Descartes! I know that name! Yes, he is an officer who distinguished +himself at the siege of Rochelle, and who dabbles in writing; he has a +good reputation for piety, but he is connected with Desbarreaux, who is a +free-thinker. I am sure that you must mix with many persons who are not +fit company for you, many young men without family, without birth. Come, +tell me whom saw you last there?" + +"Truly, I can scarcely remember their names," said Cinq-Mars, looking at +the ceiling; "sometimes I do not even ask them. There was, in the first +place, a certain Monsieur--Monsieur Groot, or Grotius, a Hollander." + +"I know him, a friend of Barnevelt; I pay him a pension. I liked him +well enough; but the Card--but I was told that he was a high Calvinist." + +"I also saw an Englishman, named John Milton; he is a young man just come +from Italy, and is returning to London. He scarcely speaks at all." + +"I don't know him--not at all; but I'm sure he's some other Calvinist. +And the Frenchmen, who were they?" + +"The young man who wrote Cinna, and who has been thrice rejected at the +Academie Francaise; he was angry that Du Royer occupied his place there. +He is called Corneille." + +"Well," said the King, folding his arms, and looking at him with an air +of triumph and reproach, "I ask you who are these people? Is it in such +a circle that you ought to be seen?" + +Cinq-Mars was confounded at this observation, which hurt his self-pride, +and, approaching the King, he said: + +"You are right, Sire; but there can be no harm in passing an hour or two +in listening to good conversation. Besides, many courtiers go there, +such as the Duc de Bouillon, Monsieur d'Aubijoux, the Comte de Brion, the +Cardinal de la Vallette, Messieurs de Montresor, Fontrailles; men +illustrious in the sciences, as Mairet, Colletet, Desmarets, author of +Araine; Faret, Doujat, Charpentier, who wrote the Cyropedie; Giry, +Besons, and Baro, the continuer of Astree--all academicians." + +"Ah! now, indeed, here are men of real merit," said Louis; "there is +nothing to be said against them. One can not but gain from their +society. Theirs are settled reputations; they're men of weight. Come, +let us make up; shake hands, child. I permit you to go there sometimes, +but do not deceive me any more; you see I know all. Look at this." + +So saying, the King took from a great iron chest set against the wall +enormous packets of paper scribbled over with very fine writing. +Upon one was written, Baradas, upon another, D'Hautefort, upon a third, +La Fayette, and finally, Cinq-Mars. He stopped at the latter, and +continued: + +"See how many times you have deceived me! These are the continual faults +of which I have myself kept a register during the two years I have known +you; I have written out our conversations day by day. Sit down." + +Cinq-Mars obeyed with a sigh, and had the patience for two long hours to +listen to a summary of what his master had had the patience to write +during the course of two years. He yawned many times during the reading, +as no doubt we should all do, were it needful to report this dialogue, +which was found in perfect order, with his will, at the death of the +King. We shall only say that he finished thus: + +"In fine, hear what you did on the seventh of December, three days ago. +I was speaking to you of the flight of the hawk, and of the knowledge of +hunting, in which you are deficient. I said to you, on the authority of +La Chasse Royale, a work of King Charles IX, that after the hunter has +accustomed his dog to follow a beast, he must consider him as of himself +desirous of returning to the wood, and the dog must not be rebuked or +struck in order to make him follow the track well; and that in order to +teach a dog to set well, creatures that are not game must not be allowed +to pass or run, nor must any scents be missed, without putting his nose +to them. + +"Hear what you replied to me (and in a tone of ill-humor--mind that!) 'Ma +foi! Sire, give me rather regiments to conduct than birds and dogs. I +am sure that people would laugh at you and me if they knew how we occupy +ourselves.' And on the eighth--wait, yes, on the eighth--while we were +singing vespers together in my chambers, you threw your book angrily into +the fire, which was an impiety; and afterward you told me that you had +let it drop--a sin, a mortal sin. See, I have written below, lie, +underlined. People never deceive me, I assure you." + +"But, Sire--" + +"Wait a moment! wait a moment! In the evening you told me the Cardinal +had burned a man unjustly, and out of personal hatred." + +"And I repeat it, and maintain it, and will prove it, Sire. It is the +greatest crime of all of that man whom you hesitate to disgrace, and who +renders you unhappy. I myself saw all, heard, all, at Loudun. Urbain +Grandier was assassinated, rather than tried. Hold, Sire, since you have +there all those memoranda in your own hand, merely reperuse the proofs +which I then gave you of it." + +Louis, seeking the page indicated, and going back to the journey from +Perpignan to Paris, read the whole narrative with attention, exclaiming: + +"What horrors! How is it that I have forgotten all this? This man +fascinates me; that's certain. You are my true friend, Cinq-Mars. What +horrors! My reign will be stained by them. What! he prevented the +letters of all the nobility and notables of the district from reaching +me! Burn, burn alive! without proofs! for revenge! A man, a people +have invoked my name in vain; a family curses me! Oh, how unhappy are +kings!" + +And the Prince, as he concluded, threw aside his papers and wept. + +"Ah, Sire, those are blessed tears that you weep!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars, +with sincere admiration. "Would that all France were here with me! She +would be astonished at this spectacle, and would scarcely believe it." + +"Astonished! France, then, does not know me?" + +"No, Sire," said D'Effiat, frankly; "no one knows you. And I myself, +with the rest of the world, at times accuse you of coldness and +indifference." + +"Of coldness, when I am dying with sorrow! Of coldness, when I have +immolated myself to their interests! Ungrateful nation! I have +sacrificed all to it, even pride, even the happiness of guiding it +myself, because I feared on its account for my fluctuating life. I have +given my sceptre to be borne by a man I hate, because I believed his hand +to be stronger than my own. I have endured the ill he has done to +myself, thinking that he did good to my people. I have hidden my own +tears to dry theirs; and I see that my sacrifice has been even greater +than I thought it, for they have not perceived it. They have believed me +incapable because I was kind, and without power because I mistrusted my +own. But, no matter! God sees and knows me!" + +"Ah, Sire, show yourself to France such as you are; reassume your usurped +power. France will do for your love what she would never do from fear. +Return to life, and reascend the throne." + +"No, no; my life is well-nigh finished, my dear friend. I am no longer +capable of the labor of supreme command.'" + +"Ah, Sire, this persuasion alone destroys your vigor. It is time that +men should cease to confound power with crime, and call this union genius. +Let your voice be heard proclaiming to the world that the reign of virtue +is about to begin with your own; and hence forth those enemies whom vice +has so much difficulty in suppressing will fall before a word uttered from +your heart. No one has as yet calculated all that the good faith of a king +of France may do for his people--that people who are drawn so +instantaneously to ward all that is good and beautiful, by their +imagination and warmth of soul, and who are always ready with every kind +of devotion. The King, your father, led us with a smile. What would not +one of your tears do?" + +During this address the King, very much surprised, frequently reddened, +hemmed, and gave signs of great embarrassment, as always happened when +any attempt was made to bring him to a decision. He also felt the +approach of a conversation of too high an order, which the timidity of +his soul forbade him to venture upon; and repeatedly putting his hand to +his chest, knitting his brows as if suffering violent pain, he endeavored +to relieve himself by the apparent attack of illness from the +embarrassment of answering. But, either from passion, or from a +resolution to strike the crowning blow, Cinq-Mars went on calmly and with +a solemnity that awed Louis, who, forced into his last intrenchments, at +length said: + +"But, Cinq-Mars, how can I rid myself of a minister who for eighteen +years past has surrounded me with his creatures?" + +"He is not so very powerful," replied the grand ecuyer; "and his friends +will be his most sure enemies if you but make a sign of your head. The +ancient league of the princes of peace still exists, Sire, and it is only +the respect due to the choice of your Majesty that prevents it from +manifesting itself." + +"Ah, mon Dieu! thou mayst tell them not to stop on my account. I would +not restrain them; they surely do not accuse me of being a Cardinalist. +If my brother will give me the means of replacing Richelieu, I will adopt +them with all my heart." + +"I believe, Sire, that he will to-day speak to you of Monsieur le Duc de +Bouillon. All the Royalists demand him." + +"I don't dislike him," said the King, arranging his pillows; "I don't +dislike him at all, although he is somewhat factious. We are relatives. +Knowest thou, chez ami"--and he placed on this favorite expression more +emphasis than usual--"knowest thou that he is descended in direct line +from Saint Louis, by Charlotte de Bourbon, daughter of the Duc de +Montpensier? Knowest thou that seven princes of the blood royal have +been united to his house; and eight daughters of his family, one of whom +was a queen, have been married to princes of the blood royal? Oh, I +don't at all dislike him! I have never said so, never!" + +"Well, Sire," said Cinq-Mars, with confidence, "Monsieur and he will +explain to you during the hunt how all is prepared, who are the men that +may be put in the place of his creatures, who the field-marshals and the +colonels who may be depended upon against Fabert and the Cardinalists of +Perpignan. You will see that the minister has very few for him. + +"The Queen, Monsieur, the nobility, and the parliaments are on our side; +and the thing is done from the moment that your Majesty is not opposed to +it. It has been proposed to get rid of the Cardinal as the Marechal +d'Ancre was got rid of, who deserved it less than he." + +"As Concini?" said the King. "Oh, no, it must not be. I positively +can not consent to it. He is a priest and a cardinal. We shall be +excommunicated. But if there be any other means, I am very willing. + +Thou mayest speak of it to thy friends; and I on my side will think of +the matter." + +The word once spoken, the King gave himself up to his resentment, as if +he had satisfied it, as if the blow were already struck. Cinq-Mars was +vexed to see this, for he feared that his anger thus vented might not be +of long duration. However, he put faith in his last words, especially +when, after numberless complaints, Louis added: + +"And would you believe that though now for two years I have mourned my +mother, ever since that day when he so cruelly mocked me before my whole +court by asking for her recall when he knew she was dead--ever since that +day I have been trying in vain to get them to bury her in France with my +fathers? He has exiled even her ashes." + +At this moment Cinq-Mars thought he heard a sound on the staircase; the +King reddened. + +"Go," he said; "go! Make haste and prepare for the hunt! Thou wilt ride +next to my carriage. Go quickly! I desire it; go!" + +And he himself pushed Cinq-Mars toward the entrance by which he had come. + +The favorite went out; but his master's anxiety had not escaped him. + +He slowly descended, and tried to divine the cause of it in his mind, +when he thought he heard the sound of feet ascending the other staircase. +He stopped; they stopped. He re-ascended; they seemed to him to descend. +He knew that nothing could be seen between the interstices of the +architecture; and he quitted the place, impatient and very uneasy, and +determined to remain at the door of the entrance to see who should come +out. But he had scarcely raised the tapestry which veiled the entrance +to the guardroom than he was surrounded by a crowd of courtiers who had +been awaiting him, and was fain to proceed to the work of issuing the +orders connected with his post, or to receive respects, communications, +solicitations, presentations, recommendations, embraces--to observe that +infinitude of relations which surround a favorite, and which require +constant and sustained attention, for any absence of mind might cause +great misfortunes. He thus almost forgot the trifling circumstance which +had made him uneasy, and which he thought might after all have only been +a freak of the imagination. Giving himself up to the sweets of a kind of +continual apotheosis, he mounted his horse in the great courtyard, +attended by noble pages, and surrounded by brilliant gentlemen. + +Monsieur soon arrived, followed by his people; and in an hour the King +appeared, pale, languishing, and supported by four men. Cinq-Mars, +dismounting, assisted him into a kind of small and very low carriage, +called a brouette, and the horses of which, very docile and quiet ones, +the King himself drove. The prickers on foot at the doors held the dogs +in leash; and at the sound of the horn scores of young nobles mounted, +and all set out to the place of meeting. + +It was a farm called L'Ormage that the King had fixed upon; and the +court, accustomed to his ways, followed the many roads of the park, while +the King slowly followed an isolated path, having at his side the grand +ecuyer and four persons whom he had signed to approach him. + +The aspect of this pleasure party was sinister. The approach of winter +had stripped well-nigh all the leaves from the great oaks in the park, +whose dark branches now stood up against a gray sky, like branches of +funereal candelabra. A light fog seemed to indicate rain; through the +melancholy boughs of the thinned wood the heavy carriages of the court +were seen slowly passing on, filled with women, uniformly dressed in +black, and obliged to await the result of a chase which they did not +witness. The distant hounds gave tongue, and the horn was sometimes +faintly heard like a sigh. A cold, cutting wind compelled every man to +don cloaks, and some of the women, putting over their faces a veil or +mask of black velvet to keep themselves from the air which the curtains +of their carriages did not intercept (for there were no glasses at that +time), seemed to wear what is called a domino. All was languishing and +sad. The only relief was that ever and anon groups of young men in the +excitement of the chase flew down the avenue like the wind, cheering on +the dogs or sounding their horns. Then all again became silent, as after +the discharge of fireworks the sky appears darker than before. + +In a path, parallel with that followed by the King, were several +courtiers enveloped in their cloaks. Appearing little intent upon the +stag, they rode step for step with the King's brouette, and never lost +sight of him. They conversed in low tones. + +"Excellent! Fontrailles, excellent! victory! The King takes his arm +every moment. See how he smiles upon him! See! Monsieur le Grand +dismounts and gets into the brouette by his side. Come, come, the old +fox is done at last!" + +"Ah, that's nothing! Did you not see how the King shook hands with +Monsieur? He's made a sign to you, Montresor. Look, Gondi!" + +"Look, indeed! That's very easy to say; but I don't see with my own +eyes. I have only those of faith, and yours. Well, what are they doing +now? I wish to Heaven I were not so near-sighted! Tell me, what are +they doing?" + +Montresor answered, "The King bends his ear toward the Duc de Bouillon, +who is speaking to him; he speaks again! he gesticulates! he does not +cease! Oh, he'll be minister!" + +"He will be minister!" said Fontrailles. + +"He will be minister!" echoed the Comte du Lude. + +"Oh, no doubt of it!" said Montresor. + +"I hope he'll give me a regiment, and I'll marry my cousin," cried +Olivier d'Entraigues, with boyish vivacity. + +The Abbe de Gondi sneered, and, looking up at the sky, began to sing to a +hunting tune. + + "Les etourneaux ont le vent bon, + Ton ton, ton ton, ton taine, ton ton--" + +"I think, gentlemen, you are more short-sighted than I, or else miracles +will come to pass in the year of grace 1642; for Monsieur de Bouillon is +no nearer being Prime-Minister, though the King do embrace him, than I. +He has good qualities, but he will not do; his qualities are not various +enough. However, I have much respect for his great and singularly +foolish town of Sedan, which is a fine shelter in case of need." + +Montresor and the rest were too attentive to every gesture of the Prince +to answer him; and they continued: + +"See, Monsieur le Grand takes the reins, and is driving." + +The Abbe replied with the same air: + + "Si vous conduisez ma brouette, + Ne versez pas, beau postillon, + Ton ton, ton ton, ton taine, ton ton." + +"Ah, Abbe, your songs will drive me mad!" said Fontrailles. "You've +got airs ready for every event in life." + +"I will also find you events which shall go to all the airs," answered +Gondi. + +"Faith, the air of these pleases me!" said Fontrailles, in an under +voice. "I shall not be obliged by Monsieur to carry his confounded +treaty to Madrid, and I am not sorry for it; it is a somewhat touchy +commission. The Pyrenees are not so easily passed as may be supposed; +the Cardinal is on the road." + +"Ha! Ha!" cried Montresor. + +"Ha! Ha!" said Olivier. + +"Well, what is the matter with you? ah, ah!" asked Gondi. "What have +you discovered that is so great?" + +"Why, the King has again shaken hands with Monsieur. Thank Heaven, +gentlemen, we're rid of the Cardinal! The old boar is hunted down. Who +will stick the knife into him? He must be thrown into the sea." + +"That's too good for him," said Olivier; "he must be tried." + +"Certainly," said the Abbe; "and we sha'n't want for charges against an +insolent fellow who has dared to discharge a page, shall we?" Then, +curbing his horse, and letting Olivier and Montresor pass on, he leaned +toward M. du Lude, who was talking with two other serious personages, and +said: + +"In truth, I am tempted to let my valet-de-chambre into the secret; never +was a conspiracy treated so lightly. Great enterprises require mystery. +This would be an admirable one if some trouble were taken with it. 'Tis +in itself a finer one than I have ever read of in history. There is +stuff enough in it to upset three kingdoms, if necessary, and the +blockheads will spoil all. It is really a pity. I should be very sorry. +I've a taste for affairs of this kind; and in this one in particular I +feel a special interest. There is grandeur about it, as can not be +denied. Do you not think so, D'Aubijoux, Montmort?" + +While he was speaking, several large and heavy carriages, with six and +four horses, followed the same path at two hundred paces behind these +gentlemen; the curtains were open on the left side through which to see +the King. In the first was the Queen; she was alone at the back, clothed +in black and veiled. On the box was the Marechale d'Effiat; and at the +feet of the Queen was the Princesse Marie. Seated on one side on a +stool, her robe and her feet hung out of the carriage, and were supported +by a gilt step--for, as we have already observed, there were then no +doors to the coaches. She also tried to see through the trees the +movements of the King, and often leaned back, annoyed by the passing of +the Prince-Palatine and his suite. + +This northern Prince was sent by the King of Poland, apparently on a +political negotiation, but in reality, to induce the Duchesse de Mantua +to espouse the old King Uladislas VI; and he displayed at the court of +France all the luxury of his own, then called at Paris "barbarian and +Scythian," and so far justified these names by strange eastern costumes. +The Palatine of Posnania was very handsome, and wore, in common with the +people of his suite, a long, thick beard. His head, shaved like that of +a Turk, was covered with a furred cap. He had a short vest, enriched +with diamonds and rubies; his horse was painted red, and amply plumed. +He was attended by a company of Polish guards in red and yellow uniforms, +wearing large cloaks with long sleeves, which hung negligently from the +shoulder. The Polish lords who escorted him were dressed in gold and +silver brocade; and behind their shaved heads floated a single lock of +hair, which gave them an Asiatic and Tartar aspect, as unknown at the +court of Louis XIII as that of the Moscovites. The women thought all +this rather savage and alarming. + +Marie de Mantua was importuned with the profound salutations and Oriental +elegancies of this foreigner and his suite. Whenever he passed before +her, he thought himself called upon to address a compliment to her in +broken French, awkwardly made up of a few words about hope and royalty. +She found no other means to rid herself of him than by repeatedly putting +her handkerchief to her nose, and saying aloud to the Queen: + +"In truth, Madame, these gentlemen have an odor about them that makes one +quite ill." + +"It will be desirable to strengthen your nerves and accustom yourself to +it," answered Anne of Austria, somewhat dryly. + +Then, fearing she had hurt her feelings, she continued gayly: + +"You will become used to them, as we have done; and you know that in +respect to odors I am rather fastidious. Monsieur Mazarin told me, the +other day, that my punishment in purgatory will consist in breathing ill +scents and sleeping in Russian cloth." + +Yet the Queen was very grave, and soon subsided into silence. Burying +herself in her carriage, enveloped in her mantle, and apparently taking +no interest in what was passing around her, she yielded to the motion of +the carriage. Marie, still occupied with the King, talked in a low voice +with the Marechale d'Effiat; each sought to give the other hopes which +neither felt, and sought to deceive each other out of love. + +"Madame, I congratulate you; Monsieur le Grand is seated with the King. +Never has he been so highly distinguished," said Marie. + +Then she was silent for a long time, and the carriage rolled mournfully +over the dead, dry leaves. + +"Yes, I see it with joy; the King is so good!" answered the Marechale. + +And she sighed deeply. + +A long and sad silence again followed; each looked at the other and +mutually found their eyes full of tears. They dared not speak again; and +Marie, drooping her head, saw nothing but the brown, damp earth scattered +by the wheels. A melancholy revery occupied her mind; and although she +had before her the spectacle of the first court of Europe at the feet of +him she loved, everything inspired her with fear, and dark presentiments +involuntarily agitated her. + +Suddenly a horse passed by her like the wind; she raised her eyes, and +had just time to see the features of Cinq-Mars. He did not look at her; +he was pale as a corpse, and his eyes were hidden under his knitted brows +and the shadows of his lowered hat. She followed him with trembling +eyes; she saw him stop in the midst of the group of cavaliers who +preceded the carriages, and who received him with their hats off. + +A moment after he went into the wood with one of them, looking at her +from the distance, and following her with his eyes until the carriage had +passed; then he seemed to give the man a roll of papers, and disappeared. +The mist which was falling prevented her from seeing him any more. It +was, indeed, one of those fogs so frequent on the banks of the Loire. + +The sun looked at first like a small blood-red moon, enveloped in a +tattered shroud, and within half an hour was concealed under so thick a +cloud that Marie could scarcely distinguish the foremost horses of the +carriage, while the men who passed at the distance of a few paces looked +like grizzly shadows. This icy vapor turned to a penetrating rain and at +the same time a cloud of fetid odor. The Queen made the beautiful +Princess sit beside her; and they turned toward Chambord quickly and in +silence. They soon heard the horns recalling the scattered hounds; the +huntsmen passed rapidly by the carriage, seeking their way through the +fog, and calling to each other. Marie saw only now and then the head of +a horse, or a dark body half issuing from the gloomy vapor of the woods, +and tried in vain to distinguish any words. At length her heart beat; +there was a call for M. de Cinq-Mars. + +"The King asks for Monsieur le Grand," was repeated about; "where can +Monsieur le Grand Ecuyer be gone to?" + +A voice, passing near, said, "He has just lost himself." + +These simple words made her shudder, for her afflicted spirit gave them +the most sinister meaning. The terrible thought pursued her to the +chateau and into her apartments, wherein she hastened to shut herself. +She soon heard the noise of the entry of the King and of Monsieur, then, +in the forest, some shots whose flash was unseen. She in vain looked at +the narrow windows; they seemed covered on the outside with a white cloth +that shut out the light. + +Meanwhile, at the extremity of the forest, toward Montfrault, there had +lost themselves two cavaliers, wearied with seeking the way to the +chateau in the monotonous similarity of the trees and paths; they were +about to stop near a pond, when eight or nine men, springing from the +thickets, rushed upon them, and before they had time to draw, hung to +their legs and arms and to the bridles of their horses in such a manner +as to hold them fixed. At the same time a hoarse voice cried in the fog: + +"Are you Royalists or Cardinalists? Cry, 'Vive le Grand!' or you are +dead men!" + +"Scoundrels," answered the first cavalier, trying to open the holsters of +his pistols, "I will have you hanged for abusing my name." + +"Dios es el Senor!" cried the same voice. + +All the men immediately released their hold, and ran into the wood; a +burst of savage laughter was heard, and a man approached Cinq-Mars. + +"Amigo, do you not recognize me? 'Tis but a joke of Jacques, the Spanish +captain." + +Fontrailles approached, and said in a low voice to the grand ecuyer: + +"Monsieur, this is an enterprising fellow; I would advise you to employ +him. We must neglect no chance." + +"Listen to me," said Jacques de Laubardemont, "and answer at once. I am +not a phrase-maker, like my father. I bear in mind that you have done me +some good offices; and lately again, you have been useful to me, as you +always are, without knowing it, for I have somewhat repaired my fortune +in your little insurrections. If you will, I can render you an important +service; I command a few brave men." + +"What service?" asked Cinq-Mars. "We will see." + +"I commence by a piece of information. This morning while you descended +the King's staircase on one side, Father Joseph ascended the other." + +"Ha! this, then, is the secret of his sudden and inexplicable change! +Can it be? A king of France! and to allow us to confide all our secrets +to him." + +"Well! is that all? Do you say nothing? You know I have an old account +to settle with the Capuchin." + +"What's that to me?" and he hung down his head, absorbed in a profound +revery. + +"It matters a great deal to you, since you have only to speak the word, +and I will rid you of him before thirty-six hours from this time, though +he is now very near Paris. We might even add the Cardinal, if you wish." + +"Leave me; I will use no poniards," said Cinq-Mars. + +"Ah! I understand you," replied Jacques. "You are right; you would +prefer our despatching him with the sword. This is just. He is worth +it; 'tis a distinction due to him. It were undoubtedly more suitable for +great lords to take charge of the Cardinal; and that he who despatches +his Eminence should be in a fair way to be a marechal. For myself, I am +not proud; one must not be proud, whatever one's merit in one's +profession. I must not touch the Cardinal; he's a morsel for a king!" + +"Nor any others," said the grand ecuyer. + +"Oh, let us have the Capuchin!" said Captain Jacques, urgently. + +"You are wrong if you refuse this office," said Fontrailles; "such things +occur every day. Vitry began with Concini; and he was made a marechal. +You see men extremely well at court who have killed their enemies with +their own hands in the streets of Paris, and you hesitate to rid yourself +of a villain! Richelieu has his agents; you must have yours. I can not +understand your scruples." + +"Do not torment him," said Jacques, abruptly; "I understand it. +I thought as he does when I was a boy, before reason came. I would not +have killed even a monk; but let me speak to him." Then, turning toward +Cinq-Mars, "Listen: when men conspire, they seek the death or at least +the downfall of some one, eh?" + +And he paused. + +"Now in that case, we are out with God, and in with the Devil, eh?" + +"Secundo, as they say at the Sorbonne; it's no worse when one is damned, +to be so for much than for little, eh?" + +"Ergo, it is indifferent whether a thousand or one be killed. I defy you +to answer that." + +"Nothing could be better argued, Doctor-dagger," said Fontrailles, half- +laughing, "I see you will be a good travelling-companion. You shall go +with me to Spain if you like." + +"I know you are going to take the treaty there," answered Jacques; "and I +will guide you through the Pyrenees by roads unknown to man. But I shall +be horribly vexed to go away without having wrung the neck of that old +he-goat, whom we leave behind, like a knight in the midst of a game of +chess. Once more Monsieur," he continued with an air of pious +earnestness, "if you have any religion in you, refuse no longer; +recollect the words of our theological fathers, Hurtado de Mendoza and +Sanchez, who have proved that a man may secretly kill his enemies, since +by this means he avoids two sins--that of exposing his life, and that of +fighting a duel. It is in accordance with this grand consolatory +principle that I have always acted." + +"Go, go!" said Cinq-Mars, in a voice thick with rage; "I have other +things to think of." + +"Of what more important?" said Fontrailles; "this might be a great +weight in the balance of our destinies." + +"I am thinking how much the heart of a king weighs in it," said Cinq- +Mars. + +"You terrify me," replied the gentleman; "we can not go so far as that!" + +"Nor do I think what you suppose, Monsieur," continued D'Effiat, in a +severe tone. "I was merely reflecting how kings complain when a subject +betrays them. Well, war! war! civil war, foreign war, let your fires +be kindled! since I hold the match, I will apply it to the mine. Perish +the State! perish twenty kingdoms, if necessary! No ordinary calamities +suffice when the King betrays the subject. Listen to me." + +And he took Fontrailles a few steps aside. + +"I only charged you to prepare our retreat and succors, in case of +abandonment on the part of the King. Just now I foresaw this abandonment +in his forced manifestation of friendship; and I decided upon your +setting out when he finished his conversation by announcing his departure +for Perpignan. I feared Narbonne; I now see that he is going there to +deliver himself up a prisoner to the Cardinal. Go at once. I add to the +letters I have given you the treaty here; it is in fictitious names, but +here is the counterpart, signed by Monsieur, by the Duc de Bouillon, and +by me. The Count-Duke of Olivares desires nothing further. There are +blanks for the Duc d'Orleans, which you will fill up as you please. Go; +in a month I shall expect you at Perpignan. I will have Sedan opened to +the seventeen thousand Spaniards from Flanders." + +Then, advancing toward the adventurer, who awaited him, he said: + +"For you, brave fellow, since you desire to aid me, I charge you with +escorting this gentleman to Madrid; you will be largely recompensed." + +Jacques, twisting his moustache, replied: + +"Ah, you do not then scorn to employ me! you exhibit your judgment and +taste. Do you know that the great Queen Christina of Sweden has asked +for me, and wished to have me with her as her confidential man. She was +brought up to the sound of the cannon by the 'Lion of the North,' +Gustavus Adolphus, her father. She loves the smell of powder and brave +men; but I would not serve her, because she is a Huguenot, and I have +fixed principles, from which I never swerve. 'Par exemple', I swear to +you by Saint Jacques to guide Monsieur through the passes of the Pyrenees +to Oleron as surely as through these woods, and to defend him against the +Devil, if need be, as well as your papers, which we will bring you back +without blot or tear. As for recompense, I want none. I always find it +in the action itself. Besides, I do not receive money, for I am a +gentleman. The Laubardemonts are a very ancient and very good family." + +"Adieu, then, noble Monsieur," said Cinq-Mars; go!" + +After having pressed the hand of Fontrailles, he sighed and disappeared +in the wood, on his return to the chateau of Chambord. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE READING + +Shortly after the events just narrated, at the corner of the Palais- +Royal, at a small and pretty house, numerous carriages were seen to draw +up, and a door, reached by three steps, frequently to open. The +neighbors often came to their windows to complain of the noise made at so +late an hour of the night, despite the fear of robbers; and the patrol +often stopped in surprise, and passed on only when they saw at each +carriage ten or twelve footmen, armed with staves and carrying torches. +A young gentleman, followed by three lackeys, entered and asked for +Mademoiselle de Lorme. He wore a long rapier, ornamented with pink +ribbon. Enormous bows of the same color on his high-heeled shoes almost +entirely concealed his feet, which after the fashion of the day he turned +very much out. He frequently twisted a small curling moustache, and +before entering combed his small pointed beard. There was but one +exclamation when he was announced. + +"Here he is at last!" cried a young and rich voice. "He has made us +wait long enough for him, the dear Desbarreaux. Come, take a seat! +place yourself at this table and read." + +The speaker was a woman of about four-and-twenty, tall and handsome, +notwithstanding her somewhat woolly black hair and her dark olive +complexion. There was something masculine in her manner, which she +seemed to derive from her circle, composed entirely of men. She took +their arm unceremoniously, as she spoke to them, with a freedom which she +communicated to them. Her conversation was animated rather than joyous. +It often excited laughter around her; but it was by dint of intellect +that she created gayety (if we may so express it), for her countenance, +impassioned as it was, seemed incapable of bending into a smile, and her +large blue eyes, under her jet-black hair, gave her at first rather a +strange appearance. + +Desbarreaux kissed her hand with a gallant and chivalrous air. He then, +talking to her all the time, walked round the large room, where were +assembled nearly thirty persons-some seated in the large arm chairs, +others standing in the vast chimney-place, others conversing in the +embrasures of the windows under the heavy curtains. Some of them were +obscure men, now illustrious; others illustrious men, now obscure for +posterity. Thus, among the latter, he profoundly saluted MM. d'Aubijoux, +de Brion, de Montmort, and other very brilliant gentlemen, who were there +as judges; tenderly, and with an air of esteem, pressed the hands of MM. +Monteruel, de Sirmond, de Malleville, Baro, Gombauld, and other learned +men, almost all called great men in the annals of the Academy of which +they were the founders--itself called sometimes the Academic des Beaux +Esprits, but really the Academic Francaise. But M. Desbarreaux gave but +a mere patronizing nod to young Corneille, who was talking in a corner +with a foreigner, and with a young man whom he presented to the mistress +of the house by the name of M. Poquelin, son of the 'valet-de-chambre +tapissier du roi'. The foreigner was Milton; the young man was Moliere. + +Before the reading expected from the young Sybarite, a great contest +arose between him and other poets and prose writers of the time. They +spoke to each other with great volubility and animation a language +incomprehensible to any one who should suddenly have come among them +without being initiated, eagerly pressing each other's hands with +affectionate compliments and infinite allusions to their works. + +"Ah, here you are, illustrious Baro!" cried the newcomer. "I have read +your last sixain. Ah, what a sixain! how full of the gallant and the +tendre?" + +"What is that you say of the tendre?" interrupted Marion de Lorme; "have +you ever seen that country? You stopped at the village of Grand-Esprit, +and at that of Jolis-Vers, but you have been no farther. If Monsieur le +Gouverneur de Notre Dame de la Garde will please to show us his new +chart, I will tell you where you are." + +Scudery arose with a vainglorious and pedantic air; and, unrolling upon +the table a sort of geographical chart tied with blue ribbons, he himself +showed the lines of red ink which he had traced upon it. + +"This is the finest piece of Clelie," he said. "This chart is generally +found very gallant; but 'tis merely a slight ebullition of playful wit, +to please our little literary cabale. However, as there are strange +people in the world, it is possible that all who see it may not have +minds sufficiently well turned to understand it. This is the road which +must be followed to go from Nouvelle-Amitie to Tendre; and observe, +gentlemen, that as we say Cumae-on-the-Ionian-Sea, Cuma;-on-the-Tyrrhean- +Sea, we shall say Tendre-sur-Inclination, Tendre-sur-Estime, and Tendre- +sur-Reconnaissance. We must begin by inhabiting the village of Grand- +Coeur, Generosity, Exactitude, and Petits-Soins." + +"Ah! how very pretty!" interposed Desbarreaux. "See the villages +marked out; here is Petits-Soins, Billet-Galant, then Billet-Doux!" + +"Oh! 'tis ingenious in the highest degree!" cried Vaugelas, Colletet, +and the rest. + +"And observe," continued the author, inflated with this success, "that it +is necessary to pass through Complaisance and Sensibility; and that if we +do not take this road, we run the risk of losing our way to Tiedeur, +Oubli, and of falling into the Lake of Indifference." + +"Delicious! delicious! 'gallant au supreme!'" cried the auditors; +"never was greater genius!" + +"Well, Madame," resumed Scudery, "I now declare it in your house: this +work, printed under my name, is by my sister--she who translated 'Sappho' +so agreeably." And without being asked, he recited in a declamatory tone +verses ending thus: + + L'Amour est un mal agreable + Don't mon coeur ne saurait guerir; + Mais quand il serait guerissable, + Il est bien plus doux d'en mourir. + +"How! had that Greek so much wit? I can not believe it," exclaimed +Marion de Lorme; "how superior Mademoiselle de Scudery is to her! That +idea is wholly hers; she must unquestionably put these charming verses +into 'Clelie'. They will figure well in that Roman history." + +"Admirable, perfect!" cried all the savans; "Horatius, Aruns, and the +amiable Porsenna are such gallant lovers." + +They were all bending over the "carte de Tendre," and their fingers +crossed in following the windings of the amorous rivers. The young +Poquelin ventured to raise a timid voice and his melancholy but acute +glance, and said: + +"What purpose does this serve? Is it to give happiness or pleasure? +Monsieur seems to me not singularly happy, and I do not feel very gay." + +The only reply he got was a general look of contempt; he consoled himself +by meditating, 'Les Precieuses Ridicules'. + +Desbarreaux prepared to read a pious sonnet, which he was penitent for +having composed in an illness; he seemed to be ashamed of having thought +for a moment upon God at the sight of his lightning, and blushed at the +weakness. The mistress of the house stopped him. + +"It is not yet time to read your beautiful verses; you would be +interrupted. We expect Monsieur le Grand Ecuyer and other gentlemen; it +would be actual murder to allow a great mind to speak during this noise +and confusion. But here is a young Englishman who has just come from +Italy, and is on his return to London. They tell me he has composed a +poem--I don't know what; but he'll repeat some verses of it. Many of you +gentlemen of the Academy know English; and for the rest he has had the +passages he is going to read translated by an ex-secretary of the Duke of +Buckingham, and here are copies in French on this table." + +So saying, she took them and distributed them among her erudite visitors. +The company seated themselves, and were silent. It took some time to +persuade the young foreigner to speak or to quit the recess of the +window, where he seemed to have come to a very good understanding with +Corneille. He at last advanced to an armchair placed near the table; +he seemed of feeble health, and fell into, rather than seated himself in, +the chair. He rested his elbow on the table, and with his hand covered +his large and beautiful eyes, which were half closed, and reddened with +nightwatches or tears. He repeated his fragments from memory. His +doubting auditors looked at him haughtily, or at least patronizingly; +others carelessly glanced over the translation of his verses. + +His voice, at first suppressed, grew clearer by the very flow of his +harmonious recital; the breath of poetic inspiration soon elevated him to +himself; and his look, raised to heaven, became sublime as that of the +young evangelist, conceived by Raffaello, for the light still shone on +it. He narrated in his verses the first disobedience of man, and invoked +the Holy Spirit, who prefers before all other temples a pure and simple +heart, who knows all, and who was present at the birth of time. + +This opening was received with a profound silence; and a slight murmur +arose after the enunciation of the last idea. He heard not; he saw only +through a cloud; he was in the world of his own creation. He continued. + +He spoke of the infernal spirit, bound in avenging fire by adamantine +chains, lying vanquished nine times the space that measures night and day +to mortal men; of the darkness visible of the eternal prisons and the +burning ocean where the fallen angels float. Then, his voice, now +powerful, began the address of the fallen angel. "Art thou," he said, +"he who in the happy realms of light, clothed with transcendent +brightness, didst outshine myriads? From what height fallen? What +though the field be lost, all is not lost! Unconquerable will and study +of revenge, immortal hate and courage never to submit nor yield-what is +else not to be overcome." + +Here a lackey in a loud voice announced MM. de Montresor and +d'Entraigues. They saluted, exchanged a few words, deranged the chairs, +and then settled down. The auditors availed themselves of the +interruption to institute a dozen private conversations; scarcely +anything was heard but expressions of censure, and imputations of bad +taste. Even some men of merit, dulled by a particular habit of thinking, +cried out that they did not understand it; that it was above their +comprehension (not thinking how truly they spoke); and from this feigned +humility gained themselves a compliment, and for the poet an impertinent +remark--a double advantage. Some voices even pronounced the word +"profanation." + +The poet, interrupted, put his head between his hands and his elbows on +the table, that he might not hear the noise either of praise or censure. +Three men only approached him, an officer, Poquelin, and Corneille; the +latter whispered to Milton: + +"I would advise you to change the picture; your hearers are not on a +level with this." + +The officer pressed the hand of the English poet and said to him: + +"I admire you with all my soul." + +The astonished Englishman looked at him, and saw an intellectual, +impassioned, and sickly countenance. + +He bowed, and collected himself, in order to proceed. His voice took a +gentle tone and a soft accent; he spoke of the chaste happiness of the +two first of human beings. He described their majestic nakedness, the +ingenuous command of their looks, their walk among lions and tigers, +which gambolled at their feet; he spoke of the purity of their morning +prayer, of their enchanting smile, the playful tenderness of their youth, +and their enamored conversation, so painful to the Prince of Darkness. + +Gentle tears quite involuntarily made humid the eyes of the beautiful +Marion de Lorme. Nature had taken possession of her heart, despite her +head; poetry filled it with grave and religious thoughts, from which the +intoxication of pleasure had ever diverted her. The idea of virtuous +love appeared to her for the first time in all its beauty; and she seemed +as if struck with a magic wand, and changed into a pale and beautiful +statue. + +Corneille, his young friend, and the officer, were full of a silent +admiration which they dared not express, for raised voices drowned that +of the surprised poet. + +"I can't stand this!" cried Desbarreaux. "It is of an insipidity to +make one sick." + +"And what absence of grace, gallantry, and the belle flamme!" said +Scudery, coldly. + +"Ah, how different from our immortal D'Urfe!" said Baro, the +continuator. + +"Where is the 'Ariane,' where the 'Astrea?'" cried, with a groan, Godeau, +the annotator. + +The whole assembly well-nigh made these obliging remarks, though uttered +so as only to be heard by the poet as a murmur of uncertain import. He +understood, however, that he produced no enthusiasm, and collected +himself to touch another chord of his lyre. + +At this moment the Counsellor de Thou was announced, who, modestly +saluting the company, glided silently behind the author near Corneille, +Poquelin, and the young officer. Milton resumed his strain. + +He recounted the arrival of a celestial guest in the garden of Eden, like +a second Aurora in mid-day, shaking the plumes of his divine wings, that +filled the air with heavenly fragrance, who recounted to man the history +of heaven, the revolt of Lucifer, clothed in an armor of diamonds, raised +on a car brilliant as the sun, guarded by glittering cherubim, and +marching against the Eternal. But Emmanuel appears on the living chariot +of the Lord; and his two thousand thunderbolts hurled down to hell, with +awful noise, the accursed army confounded. + +At this the company arose; and all was interrupted, for religious +scruples became leagued with false taste. Nothing was heard but +exclamations which obliged the mistress of the house to rise also, +and endeavor to conceal them from the author. This was not difficult, +for he was entirely absorbed in the elevation of his thoughts. His +genius at this moment had nothing in common with the earth; and when he +once more opened his eyes on those who surrounded him, he saw near him +four admirers, whose voices were better heard than those of the assembly. + +Corneille said to him: + +"Listen. If you aim at present glory, do not expect it from so fine a +work. Pure poetry is appreciated by but few souls. For the common run +of men, it must be closely allied with the almost physical interest of +the drama. I had been tempted to make a poem of ' Polyeuctes'; but I +shall cut down this subject, abridge it of the heavens, and it shall be +only a tragedy." + +"What matters to me the glory of the moment?" answered Milton. "I think +not of success. I sing because I feel myself a poet. I go whither +inspiration leads me. Its path is ever the right one. If these verses +were not to be read till a century after my death, I should write them +just the same." + +"I admire them before they are written," said the young officer. "I see +in them the God whose innate image I have found in my heart." + +"Who is it speaks thus kindly to me?" asked the poet. + +"I am Rene Descartes," replied the soldier, gently. + +"How, sir!" cried De Thou. "Are you so happy as to be related to the +author of the Princeps?" + +"I am the author of that work," replied Rene. + +"You, sir!--but--still--pardon me--but--are you not a military man?" +stammered out the counsellor, in amazement. + +"Well, what has the habit of the body to do with the thought? Yes, I +wear the sword. I was at the siege of Rochelle. I love the profession +of arms because it keeps the soul in a region of noble ideas by the +continual feeling of the sacrifice of life; yet it does not occupy the +whole man. He can not always apply his thoughts to it. Peace lulls +them. Moreover, one has also to fear seeing them suddenly interrupted by +an obscure blow or an absurd and untimely accident. And if a man be +killed in the execution of his plan, posterity preserves an idea of the +plan which he himself had not, and which may be wholly preposterous; and +this is the evil side of the profession for a man of letters." + +De Thou smiled with pleasure at the simple language of this superior man +--this man whom he so admired, and in his admiration loved. He pressed +the hand of the young sage of Touraine, and drew him into an adjoining +cabinet with Corneille, Milton, and Moliere, and with them enjoyed one of +those conversations which make us regard as lost the time which precedes +them and the time which is to follow them. + +For two hours they had enchanted one another with their discourse, when +the sound of music, of guitars and flutes playing minuets, sarabands, +allemandes, and the Spanish dances which the young Queen had brought into +fashion, the continual passing of groups of young ladies and their joyous +laughter, all announced that the ball had commenced. A very young and +beautiful person, holding a large fan as it were a sceptre, and +surrounded by ten young men, entered their retired chamber with her +brilliant court, which she ruled like a queen, and entirely put to the +rout the studious conversers. + +"Adieu, gentlemen!" said De Thou. "I make way for Mademoiselle de +l'Enclos and her musketeers." + +"Really, gentlemen," said the youthful Ninon, "we seem to frighten you. +Have I disturbed you? You have all the air of conspirators." + +"We are perhaps more so than these gentlemen, although we dance," said +Olivier d'Entraigues, who led her. + +"Ah! your conspiracy is against me, Monsieur le Page!" said Ninon, +looking the while at another light-horseman, and abandoning her remaining +arm to a third, the other gallants seeking to place themselves in the way +of her flying ceillades, for she distributed her glances brilliant as the +rays of the sun dancing over the moving waters. + +De Thou stole away without any one thinking of stopping him, and was +descending the great staircase, when he met the little Abbe de Gondi, +red, hot, and out of breath, who stopped him with an animated and joyous +air. + +"How now! whither go you? Let the foreigners and savans go. You are +one of us. I am somewhat late; but our beautiful Aspasia will pardon me. +Why are you going? Is it all over?" + +"Why, it seems so. When the dancing begins, the reading is done." + +"The reading, yes; but the oaths?" said the Abbe, in a low voice. + +"What oaths?" asked De Thou. + +"Is not Monsieur le Grand come?" + +"I expected to see him; but I suppose he has not come, or else he has +gone." + +"No, no! come with me," said the bare-brained Abbe. "You are one of us. +Parbleu! it is impossible to do without you; come!" + +De Thou, unwilling to refuse, and thus appear to disown his friends, even +for parties of pleasure which annoyed him, followed De Gondi, who passed +through two cabinets, and descended a small private staircase. At each +step he took, he heard more distinctly the voices of an assemblage of +men. Gondi opened the door. An unexpected spectacle met his view. + +The chamber he was entering, lighted by a mysterious glimmer, seemed the +asylum of the most voluptuous rendezvous. On one side was a gilt bed, +with a canopy of tapestry ornamented with feathers, and covered with lace +and ornaments. The furniture, shining with gold, was of grayish silk, +richly embroidered. Velvet cushions were at the foot of each armchair, +upon a thick carpet. Small mirrors, connected with one another by +ornaments of silver, seemed an entire glass, itself a perfection then +unknown, and everywhere multiplied their glittering faces. No sound from +without could penetrate this throne of delight; but the persons assembled +there seemed far remote from the thoughts which it was calculated to give +rise to. A number of men, whom he recognized as courtiers, or soldiers +of rank, crowded the entrance of this chamber and an adjoining apartment +of larger dimensions. All were intent upon that which was passing in the +centre of the first room. Here, ten young men, standing, and holding in +their hands their drawn swords, the points of which were lowered toward +the ground, were ranged round a table. Their faces, turned to Cinq-Mars, +announced that they had just taken an oath to him. The grand ecuyer +stood by himself before the fireplace, his arms folded with an air of +all-absorbing reflection. Standing near him, Marion de Lorme, grave and +collected, seemed to have presented these gentlemen to him. + +When Cinq-Mars perceived his friend, he rushed toward the door, casting a +terrible glance at Gondi, and seizing De Thou by both arms, stopped him +on the last step. + +"What do you here?" he said, in a stifled voice. + +"Who brought you here? What would you with me? You are lost if you +enter." + +"What do you yourself here? What do I see in this house?" + +"The consequences of that you wot of. Go; this air is poisoned for all +who are here." + +"It is too late; they have seen me. What would they say if I were to +withdraw? I should discourage them; you would be lost." + +This dialogue had passed in low and hurried tones; at the last word, +De Thou, pushing aside his friend, entered, and with a firm step crossed +the apartment to the fireplace. + +Cinq-Mars, trembling with rage, resumed his place, hung his head, +collected himself, and soon raising a more calm countenance, continued a +discourse which the entrance of his friend had interrupted: + +"Be then with us, gentlemen; there is no longer any need for so much +mystery. Remember that when a strong mind embraces an idea, it must +follow it to all its consequences. Your courage will have a wider field +than that of a court intrigue. Thank me; instead of a conspiracy, I give +you a war. Monsieur de Bouillon has departed to place himself at the +head of his army of Italy; in two days, and before the king, I quit Paris +for Perpignan. Come all of you thither; the Royalists of the army await +us." + +Here he threw around him calm and confident looks; he saw gleams of joy +and enthusiasm in the eyes of all who surrounded him. Before allowing +his own heart to be possessed by the contagious emotion which precedes +great enterprises, he desired still more firmly to assure himself of +them, and said with a grave air: + +"Yes, war, gentlemen; think of it, open war. Rochelle and Navarre are +arousing their Protestants; the army of Italy will enter on one side; the +king's brother will join us on the other. The man we combat will be +surrounded, vanquished, crushed. The parliaments will march in our rear, +bearing their petitions to the King, a weapon as powerful as our swords; +and after the victory we will throw ourselves at the feet of Louis XIII, +our master, that he may pardon us for having delivered him from a cruel +and ambitious man, and hastened his own resolution." + +Here, again glancing around him, he saw increasing confidence in the +looks and attitudes of his accomplices. + +"How!" he continued, crossing his arms, and yet restraining with an +effort his own emotion; "you do not recoil before this resolution, which +would appear a revolt to any other men! Do you not think that I have +abused the powers you have vested in me? I have carried matters very +far; but there are times when kings would be served, as it were in spite +of themselves. All is arranged, as you know. Sedan will open its gates +to us; and we are sure of Spain. Twelve thousand veteran troops will +enter Paris with us. No place, however, will be given up to the +foreigner; they will all have a French garrison, and be taken in the name +of the King." + +"Long live the King! long live the Union! the new Union, the Holy +League!" cried the assembly. + +"It has come, then!" cried Cinq-Mars, with enthusiasm; "it has come--the +most glorious day of my life. Oh, youth, youth, from century to century +called frivolous and improvident! of what will men now accuse thee, when +they behold conceived, ripened, and ready for execution, under a chief of +twenty-two, the most vast, the most just, the most beneficial of +enterprises? My friends, what is a great life but a thought of youth +executed by mature age? Youth looks fixedly into the future with its +eagle glance, traces there a broad plan, lays the foundation stone; and +all that our entire existence afterward can do is to approximate to that +first design. Oh, when can great projects arise, if not when the heart +beats vigorously in the breast? The mind is not sufficient; it is but an +instrument." + +A fresh outburst of joy had followed these words, when an old man with a +white beard stood forward from the throng. + +"Bah!" said Gondi, in a low voice, "here's the old Chevalier de Guise +going to dote, and damp us." + +And truly enough, the old man, pressing the hand of Cinq-Mars, said +slowly and with difficulty, having placed himself near him: + +"Yes, my son, and you, my children, I see with joy that my old friend +Bassompierre is about to be delivered by you, and that you are about to +avenge the Comte de Soissons and the young Montmorency. But it is +expedient for youth, all ardent as it is, to listen to those who have +seen much. I have witnessed the League, my children, and I tell you that +you can not now, as then, take the title of the Holy League, the Holy +Union, the Protectors of Saint Peter, or Pillars of the Church, because I +see that you reckon on the support of the Huguenots; nor can you put upon +your great seal of green wax an empty throne, since it is occupied by a +king." + +"You may say by two," interrupted Gondi, laughing. + +"It is, however, of great importance," continued old Guise, amid the +tumultuous young men, "to take a name to which the people may attach +themselves; that of War for the Public Welfare has been made use of; +Princes of Peace only lately. It is necessary to find one." + +"Well, the War of the King," said Cinq-Mars. + +"Ay, the War of the King!" cried Gondi and all the young men. + +"Moreover," continued the old seigneur, "it is essential to gain the +approval of the theological faculty of the Sorbonne, which heretofore +sanctioned even the 'hautgourdiers' and the 'sorgueurs',--[Names of the +leaguers.]--and to put in force its second proposition--that it is +permitted to the people to disobey the magistrates, and to hang them." + +"Eh, Chevalier!" exclaimed Gondi; "this is not the question. Let +Monsieur le Grand speak; we are thinking no more of the Sorbonne at +present than of your Saint Jacques Clement." + +There was a laugh, and Cinq-Mars went on: + +"I wished, gentlemen, to conceal nothing from you as to the projects of +Monsieur, those of the Duke de Bouillon, or my own, for it is just that +a man who stakes his life should know at what game; but I have placed +before you the least fortunate chances, and I have not detailed our +strength, for there is not one of you but knows the secret of it. Is it +to you, Messieurs de Montresor and de Saint-Thibal, I need tell the +treasures that Monsieur places at our disposal? Is it to you, Monsieur +d'Aignou, Monsieur de Mouy, that I need tell how many gentlemen are eager +to join your companies of men-at-arms and light-horse, to fight the +Cardinalists; how many in Touraine and in Auvergne, where lay the lands +of the House of D'Effiat, and whence will march two thousand seigneurs, +with their vassals? + +"Baron de Beauvau, shall I recall the zeal and valor of the cuirassiers +whom you brought to the unhappy Comte de Soissons, whose cause was ours, +and whom you saw assassinated in the midst of his triumph by him whom +with you he had defeated? Shall I tell these gentlemen of the joy of the +Count-Duke of Olivares at the news of our intentions, and the letters of +the Cardinal-Infanta to the Duke de Bouillon? Shall I speak of Paris to +the Abbe de Gondi, to D'Entraigues, and to you, gentlemen, who are daily +witnesses of her misery, of her indignation, and her desire to break +forth? While all foreign nations demand peace, which the Cardinal de +Richelieu still destroys by his want of faith (as he has done in +violating the treaty of Ratisbon), all orders of the State groan under +his violence, and dread that colossal ambition which aspires to no less +than the temporal and even spiritual throne of France." + +A murmur of approbation interrupted Cinq-Mars. There was then silence +for a moment; and they heard the sound of wind instruments, and the +measured tread of the dancers. + +This noise caused a momentary diversion and a smile in the younger +portion of the assembly. + +Cinq-Mars profited by this; and raising his eyes, "Pleasures of youth," +he cried--"love, music, joyous dances--why do you not alone occupy our +leisure hours? Why are not you our sole ambition? What resentment may +we not justly feel that we have to make our cries of indignation heard +above our bursts of joy, our formidable secrets in the asylum of love, +and our oaths of war and death amid the intoxication of and of life!" + +"Curses on him who saddens the youth of a people! When wrinkles furrow +the brow of the young men, we may confidently say that the finger of a +tyrant has hollowed them out. The other troubles of youth give it +despair and not consternation. Watch those sad and mournful students +pass day after day with pale foreheads, slow steps, and half-suppressed +voices. One would think they fear to live or to advance a step toward +the future. What is there then in France? A man too many." + +"Yes," he continued; "for two years I have watched the insidious and +profound progress of his ambition. His strange practices, his secret +commissions, his judicial assassinations are known to you. Princes, +peers, marechals--all have been crushed by him. There is not a family in +France but can show some sad trace of his passage. If he regards us all +as enemies to his authority, it is because he would have in France none +but his own house, which twenty years ago held only one of the smallest +fiefs of Poitou. + +"The humiliated parliament has no longer any voice. The presidents of +Nismes, Novion, and Bellievre have revealed to you their courageous but +fruitless resistance to the condemnation to death of the Duke de la +Vallette. + +"The presidents and councils of sovereign courts have been imprisoned, +banished, suspended--a thing before unheard of--because they have raised +their voices for the king or for the public. + +"The highest offices of justice, who fill them? Infamous and corrupt +men, who suck the blood and gold of the country. Paris and the maritime +towns taxed; the rural districts ruined and laid waste by the soldiers +and other agents of the Cardinal; the peasants reduced to feed on animals +killed by the plague or famine, or saving themselves by self-banishment-- +such is the work of this new justice. His worthy agents have even coined +money with the effigy of the Cardinal-Duke. Here are some of his royal +pieces." + +The grand ecuyey threw upon the table a score of gold doubloons whereon +Richelieu was represented. A fresh murmur of hatred toward the Cardinal +arose in the apartment. + +"And think you the clergy are less trampled on and less discontented? +No. Bishops have been tried against the laws of the State and in +contempt of the respect due to their sacred persons. We have seen, in +consequence, Algerine corsairs commanded by an archbishop. Men of the +lowest condition have been elevated to the cardinalate. The minister +himself, devouring the most sacred things, has had himself elected +general of the orders of Citeaux, Cluny, and Premontre, throwing into +prison the monks who refused him their votes. Jesuits, Carmelites, +Cordeliers, Augustins, Dominicans, have been forced to elect general +vicars in France, in order no longer to communicate at Rome with their +true superiors, because he would be patriarch in France, and head of the +Gallican Church." + +"He's a schismatic! a monster!" cried several voices. + +"His progress, then, is apparent, gentlemen. He is ready to seize both +temporal and spiritual power. He has little by little fortified himself +against the King in the strongest towns of France--seized the mouths of +the principal rivers, the best ports of the ocean, the salt-pits, and all +the securities of the kingdom. It is the King, then, whom we must +deliver from this oppression. 'Le roi et la paix!' shall be our cry. +The rest must be left to Providence." + +Cinq-Mars greatly astonished the assembly, and De Thou himself, by this +address. No one had ever before heard him speak so long together, not +even in fireside conversation; and he had never by a single word shown +the least aptitude for understanding public affairs. He had, on the +contrary, affected the greatest indifference on the subject, even in the +eyes of those whom he was molding to his projects, merely manifesting a +virtuous indignation at the violence of the minister, but affecting not +to put forward any of his own ideas, in order not to suggest personal +ambition as the aim of his labors. The confidence given to him rested on +his favor with the king and his personal bravery. The surprise of all +present was therefore such as to cause a momentary silence. It was soon +broken by all the transports of Frenchmen, young or old, when fighting of +whatever kind is held out to them. + +Among those who came forward to press the hand of the young party leader, +the Abbe de Gondi jumped about like a kid. + +"I have already enrolled my regiment!" he cried. "I have some superb +fellows!" Then, addressing Marion de Lorme, "Parbleu! Mademoiselle, I +will wear your colors--your gray ribbon, and your order of the Allumette. +The device is charming-- + + 'Nous ne brullons que pour bruller les autres.' + +And I wish you could see all the fine things we shall do if we are +fortunate enough to come to blows." + +The fair Marion, who did not like him, began to talk over his head to M. +de Thou--a mortification which always exasperated the little Abbe, who +abruptly left her, walking as tall as he could, and scornfully twisting +his moustache. + +All at once a sudden silence took possession of the assembly. A rolled +paper had struck the ceiling and fallen at the feet of Cinq-Mars. He +picked it up and unrolled it, after having looked eagerly around him. He +sought in vain to divine whence it came; all those who advanced had only +astonishment and intense curiosity depicted in their faces. + +"Here is my name wrongly written," he said coldly. + + "A CINQ MARCS, + + CENTURIE DE NOSTRADAMUS. + + Quand bonnet rouge passera par la fenetre, + A quarante onces on coupera tete, + Et tout finira." + + [This punning prediction was made public three months before the, + conspiracy.] + +"There is a traitor among us, gentlemen," he said, throwing away the +paper. "But no matter. We are not men to be frightened by his +sanguinary jests." + +"We must find the traitor out, and throw him through the window," said +the young men. + +Still, a disagreeable sensation had come over the assembly. They now +only spoke in whispers, and each regarded his neighbor with distrust. +Some withdrew; the meeting grew thinner. Marion de Lorme repeated to +every one that she would dismiss her servants, who alone could be +suspected. Despite her efforts a coldness reigned throughout the +apartment. The first sentences of Cinq-Mars' address, too, had left some +uncertainty as to the intentions of the King; and this untimely candor +had somewhat shaken a few of the less determined conspirators. + +Gondi pointed this out to Cinq-Mars. + +"Hark ye!" he said in a low voice. "Believe me, I have carefully +studied conspiracies and assemblages; there are certain purely mechanical +means which it is necessary to adopt. Follow my advice here; I know a +good deal of this sort of thing. They want something more. Give them a +little contradiction; that always succeeds in France. You will quite +make them alive again. Seem not to wish to retain them against their +will, and they will remain." + +The grand ecuyer approved of the suggestion, and advancing toward those +whom he knew to be most deeply compromised, said: + +"For the rest, gentlemen, I do not wish to force any one to follow me. +Plenty of brave men await us at Perpignan, and all France is with us. +If any one desires to secure himself a retreat, let him speak. We will +give him the means of placing himself in safety at once." + +Not one would hear of this proposition; and the movement it occasioned +produced a renewal of the oaths of hatred against the minister. + +Cinq-Mars, however, proceeded to put the question individually to some of +the persons present, in the election of whom he showed much judgment; for +he ended with Montresor, who cried that he would pass his sword through +his body if he had for a moment entertained such an idea, and with Gondi, +who, rising fiercely on his heels, exclaimed: + +"Monsieur le Grand Ecuyer, my retreat is the archbishopric of Paris and +L'Ile Notre-Dame. I'll make it a place strong enough to keep me from +being taken." + +"And yours?" he said to De Thou. + +"At your side," murmured De Thou, lowering his eyes, unwilling to give +importance to his resolution by the directness of his look. + +"You will have it so? Well, I accept," said Cinq-Mars; "and my sacrifice +herein, dear friend, is greater than yours." Then turning toward the +assembly: + +"Gentlemen, I see in you the last men of France, for after the +Montmorencys and the Soissons, you alone dare lift a head free and worthy +of our old liberty. If Richelieu triumph, the ancient bases of the +monarchy will crumble with us. The court will reign alone, in the place +of the parliaments, the old barriers, and at the same time the powerful +supports of the royal authority. Let us be conquerors, and France will +owe to us the preservation of her ancient manners and her time-honored +guarantees. And now, gentlemen, it were a pity to spoil the ball on this +account. You hear the music. The ladies await you. Let us go and +dance." + +"The Cardinal shall pay the fiddlers," added Gondi. + +The young men applauded with a laugh; and all reascended to the ballroom +as lightly as they would have gone to the battlefield. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE CONFESSIONAL + +It was on the day following the assembly that had taken place in the +house of Marion de Lorme. A thick snow covered the roofs of Paris and +settled in its large gutters and streets, where it arose in gray heaps, +furrowed by the wheels of carriages. + +It was eight o'clock, and the night was dark. The tumult of the city was +silent on account of the thick carpet the winter had spread for it, and +which deadened the sound of the wheels over the stones, and of the feet +of men and horses. In a narrow street that winds round the old church of +St. Eustache, a man, enveloped in his cloak, slowly walked up and down, +constantly watching for the appearance of some one. He often seated +himself upon one of the posts of the church, sheltering himself from the +falling snow under one of the statues of saints which jutted out from the +roof of the building, stretching over the narrow path like birds of prey, +which, about to make a stoop, have folded their wings. Often, too, the +old man, opening his cloak, beat his arms against his breast to warm +himself, or blew upon his fingers, ill protected from the cold by a pair +of buff gloves reaching nearly to the elbow. At last he saw a slight +shadow gliding along the wall. + +"Ah, Santa Maria! what villainous countries are these of the North!" +said a woman's voice, trembling. "Ah, the duchy of Mantua! would I were +back there again, Grandchamp!" + +"Pshaw! don't speak so loud," said the old domestic, abruptly. "The +walls of Paris have Cardinalist ears, and more especially the walls of +the churches. Has your mistress entered? My master awaits her at the +door." + +"Yes, yes; she has gone in." + +"Be silent," said Grandchamp. "The sound of the clock is cracked. +That's a bad sign." + +"That clock has sounded the hour of a rendezvous." + +"For me, it sounds like a passing-bell. But be silent, Laure; here are +three cloaks passing." + +They allowed three men to pass. Grandchamp followed them, made sure of +the road they took, and returned to his seat, sighing deeply. + +"The snow is cold, Laure, and I am old. Monsieur le Grand might have +chosen another of his men to keep watch for him while he's making love. +It's all very well for you to carry love-letters and ribbons and +portraits and such trash, but for me, I ought to be treated with more +consideration. Monsieur le Marechal would not have done so. Old +domestics give respectability to a house, and should be themselves +respected." + +"Has your master arrived long, 'caro amico'?" + +"Eh, cara, cayo! leave me in peace. We had both been freezing for an +hour when you came. I should have had time to smoke three Turkish pipes. +Attend to your business, and go and look to the other doors of the +church, and see that no suspicious person is prowling about. Since there +are but two vedettes, they must beat about well." + +"Ah, what a thing it is to have no one to whom to say a friendly word +when it is so cold! and my poor mistress! to come on foot all the way +from the Hotel de Nevers. Ah, amore! qui regna amore!" + +"Come, Italian, wheel about, I tell thee. Let me hear no more of thy +musical tongue." + +"Ah, Santa Maria! What a harsh voice, dear Grandchamp! You were much +more amiable at Chaumont, in Turena, when you talked to me of 'miei occhi +neri." + +"Hold thy tongue, prattler! Once more, thy Italian is only good for +buffoons and rope-dancers, or to accompany the learned dogs." + +"Ah, Italia mia! Grandchamp, listen to me, and you shall hear the +language of the gods. If you were a gallant man, like him who wrote this +for a Laure like me!" + +And she began to hum: + + Lieti fiori a felici, e ben nate erbe + Che Madonna pensando premer sole; + Piaggia ch'ascolti su dolci parole + E del bel piede alcun vestigio serbe. + +The old soldier was but little used to the voice of a young girl; and in +general when a woman spoke to him, the tone he assumed in answering +always fluctuated between an awkward compliment and an ebullition of +temper. But on this occasion he appeared moved by the Italian song, and +twisted his moustache, which was always with him a sign of embarrassment +and distress. He even omitted a rough sound something like a laugh, and +said: + +"Pretty enough, 'mordieu!' that recalls to my mind the siege of Casal; +but be silent, little one. I have not yet heard the Abbe Quillet come. +This troubles me. He ought to have been here before our two young +people; and for some time past--" + +Laure, who was afraid of being sent alone to the Place St. Eustache, +answered that she was quite sure he had gone in, and continued: + + "Ombrose selve, ove'percote il sole + Che vi fa co'suoi raggi alte a superbe." + +"Hum!" said the worthy old soldier, grumbling. "I have my feet in the +snow, and a gutter runs down on my head, and there's death at my heart; +and you sing to me of violets, of the sun, and of grass, and of love. +Be silent!" + +And, retiring farther in the recess of the church, he leaned his gray +head upon his hands, pensive and motionless. Laure dared not again speak +to him. + +While her waiting-woman had gone to find Grandchamp, the young and +trembling Marie with a timid hand had pushed open the folding-door of the +church. + +She there found Cinq-Mars standing, disguised, and anxiously awaiting +her. As soon as she recognized him, she advanced with rapid steps into +the church, holding her velvet mask over her face, and hastened to take +refuge in a confessional, while Henri carefully closed the door of the +church by which she had entered. He made sure that it could not be +opened on the outside, and then followed his betrothed to kneel within +the place of penitence. Arrived an hour before her, with his old valet, +he had found this open--a certain and understood sign that the Abbe +Quillet, his tutor, awaited him at the accustomed place. His care to +prevent any surprise had made him remain himself to guard the entrance +until the arrival of Marie. Delighted as he was at the punctuality of +the good Abbe, he would still scarcely leave his post to thank him. He +was a second father to him in all but authority; and he acted toward the +good priest without much ceremony. + +The old parish church of St. Eustache was dark. Besides the perpetual +lamp, there were only four flambeaux of yellow wax, which, attached above +the fonts against the principal pillars, cast a red glimmer upon the blue +and black marble of the empty church. The light scarcely penetrated the +deep niches of the aisles of the sacred building. In one of the chapels +--the darkest of them--was the confessional, of which we have before +spoken, whose high iron grating and thick double planks left visible only +the small dome and the wooden cross. Here, on either side, knelt Cinq- +Mars and Marie de Mantua. They could scarcely see each other, but found +that the Abbe Quillet, seated between them, was there awaiting them. +They could see through the little grating the shadow of his hood. Henri +d'Effiat approached slowly; he was regulating, as it were, the remainder +of his destiny. It was not before his king that he was about to appear, +but before a more powerful sovereign, before her for whom he had +undertaken his immense work. He was about to test her faith; and he +trembled. + +He trembled still more when his young betrothed knelt opposite to him; +he trembled, because at the sight of this angel he could not help feeling +all the happiness he might lose. He dared not speak first, and remained +for an instant contemplating her head in the shade, that young head upon +which rested all his hopes. Despite his love, whenever he looked upon +her he could not refrain from a kind of dread at having undertaken so +much for a girl, whose passion was but a feeble reflection of his own, +and who perhaps would not appreciate all the sacrifices he had made for +her--bending the firm character of his mind to the compliances of a +courtier, condemning it to the intrigues and sufferings of ambition, +abandoning it to profound combinations, to criminal meditations, to the +gloomy labors of a conspirator. + +Hitherto, in their secret interviews, she had always received each fresh +intelligence of his progress with the transports of pleasure of a child, +but without appreciating the labors of each of these so arduous steps +that lead to honors, and always asking him with naivete when he would be +Constable, and when they should marry, as if she were asking him when he +would come to the Caroussel, or whether the weather was fine. Hitherto, +he had smiled at these questions and this ignorance, pardonable at +eighteen, in a girl born to a throne and accustomed to a grandeur natural +to her, which she found around her on her entrance into life; but now he +made more serious reflections upon this character. And when, but just +quitting the imposing assembly of conspirators, representatives of all +the orders of the kingdom, his ear, wherein still resounded the masculine +voices that had sworn to undertake a vast war, was struck with the first +words of her for whom that war was commenced, he feared for the first +time lest this naivete should be in reality simple levity, not coming +from the heart. He resolved to sound it. + +"Oh, heavens! how I tremble, Henri!" she said as she entered the +confessional; "you make me come without guards, without a coach. I +always tremble lest I should be seen by my people coming out of the Hotel +de Nevers. How much longer must I yet conceal myself like a criminal? +The Queen was very angry when I avowed the matter to her; and whenever +she speaks to me of it, 'tis with her severe air that you know, and which +always makes me weep. Oh, I am terribly afraid!" + +She was silent; Cinq-Mars replied only with a deep sigh. + +"How! you do not speak to me!" she said. + +"Are these, then, all your terrors?" asked Cinq-Mars, bitterly. + +"Can I have greater? Oh, 'mon ami', in what a tone, with what a voice, +do you address me! Are you angry because I came too late?" + +"Too soon, Madame, much too soon, for the things you are to hear--for I +see you are far from prepared for them." + +Marie, affected at the gloomy and bitter tone of his voice, began to +weep. + +"Alas, what have I done," she said, "that you should call me Madame, and +treat me thus harshly?" + +"Be tranquil," replied Cinq-Mars, but with irony in his tone. "'Tis not, +indeed, you who are guilty; but I--I alone; not toward you, but for you." + +"Have you done wrong, then? Have you ordered the death of any one? Oh, +no, I am sure you have not, you are so good!" + +"What!" said Cinq-Mars, "are you as nothing in my designs? Did I +misconstrue your thoughts when you looked at me in the Queen's boudoir? +Can I no longer read in your eyes? Was the fire which animated them that +of a love for Richelieu? That admiration which you promised to him who +should dare to say all to the King, where is it? Is it all a falsehood?" + +Marie burst into tears. + +"You still speak to me with bitterness," she said; "I have not deserved +it. Do you suppose, because I speak not of this fearful conspiracy, that +I have forgotten it? Do you not see me miserable at the thought? Must +you see my tears? Behold them; I shed enough in secret. Henri, believe +that if I have avoided this terrible subject in our last interviews, it +is from the fear of learning too much. Have I any other thought that +that of your dangers? Do I not know that it is for me you incur them? +Alas! if you fight for me, have I not also to sustain attacks no less +cruel? Happier than I, you have only to combat hatred, while I struggle +against friendship. The Cardinal will oppose to you men and weapons; but +the Queen, the gentle Anne of Austria, employs only tender advice, +caresses, sometimes tears." + +"Touching and invincible constraint to make you accept a throne," said +Cinq-Mars, bitterly. "I well conceive you must need some efforts to +resist such seductions; but first, Madame, I must release you from your +vows." + +"Alas, great Heaven! what is there, then, against us?" + +"There is God above us, and against us," replied Henri, in a severe tone; +"the King has deceived me." + +There was an agitated movement on the part of the Abbe. + +Marie exclaimed, "I foresaw it; this is the misfortune I dreamed and +dreamed of! It is I who caused it?" + +"He deceived me, as he pressed my hand," continued Cinq-Mars; "he +betrayed me by the villain Joseph, whom an offer has been made to me to +poniard." + +The Abbe gave a start of horror which half opened the door of the +confessional. + +"O father, fear nothing," said Henri d'Effiat; "your pupil will never +strike such blows. Those I prepare will be heard from afar, and the +broad day will light them up; but there remains a duty--a sacred duty-- +for me to fulfil. Behold your son sacrifice himself before you! Alas! +I have not lived long in the sight of happiness, and I am about, perhaps, +to destroy it by your hand, that consecrated it." + +As he spoke, he opened the light grating which separated him from his old +tutor; the latter, still observing an extraordinary silence, passed his +hood over his forehead. + +"Restore this nuptial ring to the Duchesse de Mantua," said Cinq-Mars, +in a tone less firm; "I can not keep it unless she give it me a second +time, for I am not the same whom she promised to espouse." + +The priest hastily seized the ring, and passed it through the opposite +grating; this mark of indifference astonished Cinq-Mars. + +"What! Father," he said, "are you also changed?" + +Marie wept no longer; but, raising her angelic voice, which awakened a +faint echo along the aisles of the church, as the softest sigh of the +organ, she said, returning the ring to Cinq-Mars: + +"O dearest, be not angry! I comprehend you not. Can we break asunder +what God has just united, and can I leave you, when I know you are +unhappy? If the King no longer loves you, at least you may be assured he +will not harm you, since he has not harmed the Cardinal, whom he never +loved. Do you think yourself undone, because he is perhaps unwilling to +separate from his old servant? Well, let us await the return of his +friendship; forget these conspirators, who affright me. If they give up +hope, I shall thank Heaven, for then I shall no longer tremble for you. +Why needlessly afflict ourselves? The Queen loves us, and we are both +very young; let us wait. The future is beautiful, since we are united +and sure of ourselves. Tell me what the King said to you at Chambord. +I followed you long with my eyes. Heavens! how sad to me was that +hunting party!" + +"He has betrayed me, I tell you," answered Cinq-Mars. "Yet who could +have believed it, that saw him press our hands, turning from his brother +to me, and to the Duc de Bouillon, making himself acquainted with the +minutest details of the conspiracy, of the very day on which Richelieu +was to be arrested at Lyons, fixing himself the place of his exile (our +party desired his death, but the recollection of my father made me ask +his life). The King said that he himself would direct the whole affair +at Perpignan; yet just before, Joseph, that foul spy, had issued from out +of the cabinet du Lys. O Marie! shall I own it? at the moment I heard +this, my very soul was tossed. I doubted everything; it seemed to me +that the centre of the world was unhinged when I found truth quit the +heart of the King. I saw our whole edifice crumble to the ground; +another hour, and the conspiracy would vanish away, and I should lose you +forever. One means remained; I employed it." + +"What means?" said Marie. + +"The treaty with Spain was in my hand; I signed it." + +"Ah, heavens! destroy it." + +"It is gone." + +"Who bears it?" + +"Fontrailles." + +"Recall him." + +"He will, ere this, have passed the defiles of Oleron," said Cinq-Mars, +rising up. "All is ready at Madrid, all at Sedan. Armies await me, +Marie--armies! Richelieu is in the midst of them. He totters; it needs +but one blow to overthrow him, and you are mine forever--forever the wife +of the triumphant Cinq-Mars." + +"Of Cinq-Mars the rebel," she said, sighing. + +"Well, have it so, the rebel; but no longer the favorite. Rebel, +criminal, worthy of the scaffold, I know it," cried the impassioned +youth, falling on his knees; "but a rebel for love, a rebel for you, +whom my sword will at last achieve for me." + +"Alas, a sword imbrued in the blood of your country! Is it not a +poniard?" + +"Pause! for pity, pause, Marie! Let kings abandon me, let warriors +forsake me, I shall only be the more firm; but a word from you will +vanquish me, and once again the time for reflection will be passed from +me. Yes, I am a criminal; and that is why I still hesitate to think +myself worthy of you. Abandon me, Marie; take back the ring." + +"I can not," she said; "for I am your wife, whatever you be." + +"You hear her, father!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars, transported with happiness; +"bless this second union, the work of devotion, even more beautiful than +that of love. Let her be mine while I live." + +Without answering, the Abbe opened the door of the confessional and had +quitted the church ere Cinq-Mars had time to rise and follow him. + +"Where are you going? What is the matter?" he cried. + +But no one answered. + +"Do not call out, in the name of Heaven!" said Marie, "or I am lost; he +has doubtless heard some one in the church." + +But D'Effiat, agitated, and without answering her, rushed forth, and +sought his late tutor through the church, but in vain. Drawing his +sword, he proceeded to the entrance which Grandchamp had to guard; he +called him and listened. + +"Now let him go," said a voice at the corner of the street; and at the +same moment was heard the galloping of horses. + +"Grandchamp, wilt thou answer?" cried Cinq-Mars. + +"Help, Henri, my dear boy!" exclaimed the voice of the Abbe Quillet. + +"Whence come you? You endanger me," said the grand ecuyer, approaching +him. + +But he saw that his poor tutor, without a hat in the falling snow, was in +a most deplorable condition. + +"They stopped me, and they robbed me," he cried. "The villains, the +assassins! they prevented me from calling out; they stopped my mouth +with a handkerchief." + +At this noise, Grandchamp at length came, rubbing his eyes, like one just +awakened. Laure, terrified, ran into the church to her mistress; all +hastily followed her to reassure Marie, and then surrounded the old Abbe. + +"The villains! they bound my hands, as you see. There were more than +twenty of them; they took from me the key of the side door of the +church." + +"How! just now?" said Cinq-Mars; "and why did you quit us?" + +"Quit you! why, they have kept me there two hours." + +"Two hours!" cried Henri, terrified. + +"Ah, miserable old man that I am!" said Grandchamp; "I have slept while +my master was in danger. It is the first time." + +"You were not with us, then, in the confessional?" continued Cinq-Mars, +anxiously, while Marie tremblingly pressed against his arm. + +"What!" said the Abbe, "did you not see the rascal to whom they gave my +key?" + +"No! whom?" cried all at once. + +"Father Joseph," answered the good priest. + +"Fly! you are lost!" cried Marie. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +They have believed me incapable because I was kind +They tremble while they threaten + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, v5 +by Alfred de Vigny + diff --git a/3951.zip b/3951.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5e0c821 --- /dev/null +++ b/3951.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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