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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cinq-Mars, Complete, by Alfred de Vigny
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cinq-Mars, Complete
+
+Author: Alfred de Vigny
+
+Release Date: October 5, 2006 [EBook #3953]
+Last Updated: March 16, 2023
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CINQ-MARS, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+CINQ-MARS
+
+By Alfred De Vigny
+
+
+With a Prefaces by CHARLES DE MAZADE, and GASTON BOISSIER of the French
+Academy.
+
+
+
+
+ALFRED DE VIGNY
+
+The reputation of Alfred de Vigny has endured extraordinary vicissitudes
+in France. First he was lauded as the precursor of French romantic
+poetry and stately prose; then he sank in semi-oblivion, became the
+curiosity of criticism, died in retirement, and was neglected for a long
+time, until the last ten years or so produced a marked revolution
+of taste in France. The supremacy of Victor Hugo has been, if not
+questioned, at least mitigated; other poets have recovered from their
+obscurity. Lamartine shines now like a lamp relighted; and the pure,
+brilliant, and profoundly original genius of Alfred de Vigny now takes,
+for the first time, its proper place as one of the main illuminating
+forces of the nineteenth century.
+
+It was not until one hundred years after this poet’s birth that it
+became clearly recognized that he is one of the most important of
+all the great writers of France, and he is distinguished not only in
+fiction, but also in poetry and the drama. He is a follower of Andre
+Chenier, Lamartine, and Victor Hugo, a lyric sun, a philosophic poet,
+later, perhaps in consequence of the Revolution of 1830, becoming a
+“Symbolist.” He has been held to occupy a middle ground between De
+Musset and Chenier, but he has also something suggestive of Madame de
+Stael, and, artistically, he has much in common with Chateaubriand,
+though he is more coldly impersonal and probably much more sincere in
+his philosophy. If Sainte-Beuve, however, calls the poet in his Nouveaux
+Lundis a “beautiful angel, who has been drinking vinegar,” then the
+modern reader needs a strong caution against malice and raillery, if not
+jealousy and perfidy, although the article on De Vigny abounds otherwise
+with excessive critical cleverness.
+
+At times, indeed, under the cruel deceptions of love, he seemed to lose
+faith in his idealism; his pessimism, nevertheless, always remained
+noble, restrained, sympathetic, manifesting itself not in appeals for
+condolence, but in pitying care for all who were near and dear to him.
+Yet his lofty prose and poetry, interpenetrated with the stern despair
+of pessimistic idealism, will always be unintelligible to the many. As a
+poet, De Vigny appeals to the chosen few alone. In his dramas his genius
+is more emancipated from himself, in his novels most of all. It is by
+these that he is most widely known, and by these that he exercised the
+greatest influence on the literary life of his generation.
+
+ Alfred-Victor, Count de Vigny, was born in Loches, Touraine, March 27,
+1797. His father was an army officer, wounded in the Seven Years’ War.
+Alfred, after having been well educated, also selected a military career
+and received a commission in the “Mousquetaires Rouges,” in 1814, when
+barely seventeen. He served until 1827, “twelve long years of peace,”
+ then resigned. Already in 1822 appeared a volume of ‘Poemes’ which was
+hardly noticed, although containing poetry since become important to
+the evolution of French verse: ‘La Neige, le Coy, le Deluge, Elva, la
+Frigate’, etc., again collected in ‘Poemes antiques et modernes’ (1826).
+Other poems were published after his death in ‘Les Destinies’ (1864).
+
+Under the influence of Walter Scott, he wrote a historical romance in
+1826, ‘Cinq-Mars, ou une Conjuration sans Louis XIII’. It met with
+the most brilliant and decided success and was crowned by the Academy.
+Cinq-Mars will always be remembered as the earliest romantic novel
+in France and the greatest and most dramatic picture of Richelieu now
+extant. De Vigny was a convinced Anglophile, well acquainted with the
+writings of Shakespeare and Milton, Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley, Matthew
+Arnold, and Leopardi. He also married an English lady in 1825--Lydia
+Bunbury.
+
+Other prose works are ‘Stello’ (1832), in the manner of Sterne and
+Diderot, and ‘Servitude et Grandeur militaire’ (1835), the language
+of which is as caustic as that of Merimee. As a dramatist, De Vigny
+produced a translation of ‘Othello--Le More de Venice’ (1829); also ‘La
+Marechale d’Ancre’ (1832); both met with moderate success only. But a
+decided “hit” was ‘Chatterton’ (1835), an adaption from his prose-work
+‘Stello, ou les Diables bleus’; it at once established his reputation
+on the stage; the applause was most prodigious, and in the annals of
+the French theatre can only be compared with that of ‘Le Cid’. It was a
+great victory for the Romantic School, and the type of Chatterton, the
+slighted poet, “the marvellous boy, the sleepless soul that perished in
+his pride,” became contagious as erstwhile did the type of Werther.
+
+For twenty years before his death Alfred de Vigny wrote nothing. He
+lived in retirement, almost a recluse, in La Charente, rarely visiting
+Paris. Admitted into L’Academie Francaise in 1845, he describes in his
+‘Journal d’un Poete’ his academic visits and the reception held out to
+him by the members of L’Institut. This work appeared posthumously in
+1867.
+
+He died in Paris, September 17, 1863.
+
+                  CHARLES DE MAZADE
+                de l’Academie Francaise.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Considering Alfred de Vigny first as a writer, it is evident that he
+wished the public to regard him as different from the other romanticists
+of his day; in fact, in many respects, his method presents a striking
+contrast to theirs. To their brilliant facility, their prodigious
+abundance, and the dazzling luxury of color in their pictures of life
+he opposes a style always simple, pure, clear, with delicacy of touch,
+careful drawing of character, correct locution, and absolute chastity.
+Yet, even though he had this marked regard for purity in literary style,
+no writer had more dislike of mere pedantry. His high ideal in literary
+art and his self-respect inspired him with an invincible repugnance
+toward the artificialities of style of that period, which the
+romanticists--above all, Chateaubriand, their master--had so much
+abused.
+
+Every one knows of the singular declaration made by Chateaubriand to
+Joubert, while relating the details of a nocturnal voyage: “The moon
+shone upon me in a slender crescent, and that prevented me from writing
+an untruth, for I feel sure that had not the moon been there I should
+have said in my letter that it was shining, and then you would have
+convicted me of an error in my almanac!”
+
+This habit of sacrificing truth and exactitude of impression, for the
+sake of producing a harmonious phrase or a picturesque suggestion,
+disgusted Alfred de Vigny. “The worst thing about writers is that they
+care very little whether what they write is true, so long as they only
+write,” we read on one page of his Journal. He adds, “They should seek
+words only in their own consciences.” On another page he says: “The most
+serious lack in literary work is sincerity. Perceiving clearly that the
+combination of technical labor and research for effective expression, in
+producing literary work, often leads us to a paradox, I have resolved to
+sacrifice all to conviction and truth, so that this precious element of
+sincerity, complete and profound, shall dominate my books and give to
+them the sacred character which the divine presence of truth always
+gives.”
+
+Besides sincerity, De Vigny possessed, in a high degree, a gift which
+was not less rare in that age--good taste. He had taste in the art of
+writing, a fine literary tact, a sense of proportion, a perception of
+delicate shades of expression, an instinct that told him what to say and
+what to suppress, to insinuate, or to be left to the understanding. Even
+in his innovations in form, in his boldness of style, he showed a
+rare discretion; never did he do violence to the genius of the French
+language, and one may apply to him without reserve the eulogy that
+Quintilian pronounced upon Horace: ‘Verbis felicissime audax’.
+
+He cherished also a fixed principle that art implied selection. He was
+neither idealist nor realist, in the exclusive and opposing sense in
+which we understand these terms; he recommended a scrupulous observance
+of nature, and that every writer should draw as close to it as possible,
+but only in order to interpret it, to reveal it with a true feeling,
+yet without a too intimate analysis, and that no one should attempt to
+portray it exactly or servilely copy it. “Of what use is art,” he says,
+“if it is only a reduplication of existence? We see around us only too
+much of the sadness and disenchantment of reality.” The three novels
+that compose the volume ‘Servitude et Grandeur militaire’ are, in this
+respect, models of romantic composition that never will be surpassed,
+bearing witness to the truth of the formula followed by De Vigny in all
+his literary work: “Art is the chosen truth.”
+
+If, as a versifier, Alfred de Vigny does not equal the great poets of
+his time, if they are his superiors in distinction and brilliancy, in
+richness of vocabulary, freedom of movement, and variety of rhythm, the
+cause is to be ascribed less to any lack of poetic genius than to the
+nature of his inspiration, even to the laws of poesy, and to the secret
+and irreducible antinomy that exists between art and thought. When,
+for example, Theophile Gautier reproached him with being too little
+impressed with the exigencies of rhyme, his criticism was not well
+grounded, for richness of rhyme, though indispensable in works of
+descriptive imagination, has no ‘raison d’etre’ in poems dominated by
+sentiment and thought. But, having said that, we must recognize in his
+poetry an element, serious, strong, and impressive, characteristic
+of itself alone, and admire, in the strophes of ‘Mozse’, in the
+imprecations of ‘Samson’, and in the ‘Destinees’, the majestic
+simplicity of the most beautiful Hebraic verse.
+
+Moreover, the true originality of De Vigny does not lie in the manner
+of composition; it was primarily in the role of precursor that he played
+his part on the stage of literature. Let us imagine ourselves at the
+period about the beginning of the year 1822. Of the three poets who,
+in making their literary debuts, had just published the ‘Meditations,
+Poemes antiques et modernes, and Odes’, only one had, at that time, the
+instinct of renewal in the spirit of French poesy, and a sense of
+the manner in which this must be accomplished; and that one was not
+Lamartine, and certainly it was not Victor Hugo.
+
+Sainte-Beuve has said, with authority, that in Lamartine there is
+something suggestive of Millevoye, of Voltaire (he of the charming
+epistles), and of Fontanes; and Victor Hugo wrote with very little
+variation from the technical form of his predecessors. “But with Alfred
+de Vigny,” he says, “we seek in vain for a resemblance to any French
+poetry preceding his work. For example, where can we find anything
+resembling ‘Moise, Eloa, Doloeida’? Where did he find his inspiration
+for style and composition in these poems? If the poets of the Pleiades
+of the Restoration seem to have found their inspiration within
+themselves, showing no trace of connection with the literature of the
+past, thus throwing into confusion old habits of taste and of routine,
+certain it is that among them Alfred de Vigny should be ranked first.”
+
+Even in the collection that bears the date of 1822, some years before
+the future author of Legende des Siecles had taken up romanticism,
+Alfred de Vigny had already conceived the idea of setting forth, in a
+series of little epics, the migrations of the human soul throughout the
+ages. “One feels,” said he in his Preface, “a keen intellectual delight
+in transporting one’s self, by mere force of thought, to a period of
+antiquity; it resembles the pleasure an old man feels in recalling first
+his early youth, and then the whole course of his life. In the age of
+simplicity, poetry was devoted entirely to the beauties of the physical
+forms of nature and of man; each step in advance that it has made since
+then toward our own day of civilization and of sadness, seems to have
+blended it more and more with our arts, and even with the sufferings of
+our souls. At present, with all the serious solemnity of Religion and of
+Destiny, it lends to them their chief beauty. Never discouraged, Poetry
+has followed Man in his long journey through the ages, like a sweet and
+beautiful companion. I have attempted, in our language, to show some of
+her beauties, in following her progress toward the present day.”
+
+The arrangement of the poems announced in this Preface is tripartite,
+like that of the ‘Legende des Siecles: Poemes antiques, poemes
+judaiques, poemes modernes.--Livre mystique, livre antique, livre
+moderne’. But the name of precursor would be a vain title if all that
+were necessary to merit it was the fact that one had been the first to
+perceive a new path to literary glory, to salute it from a distance, yet
+never attempt to make a nearer approach.
+
+In one direction at least, Alfred de Vigny was a true innovator, in the
+broadest and most meritorious sense of the word: he was the creator of
+philosophic poetry in France. Until Jocelyn appeared, in 1836, the form
+of poetic expression was confined chiefly to the ode, the ballad, and
+the elegy; and no poet, with the exception of the author of ‘Moise’ and
+‘Eloa’, ever dreamed that abstract ideas and themes dealing with the
+moralities could be expressed in the melody of verse.
+
+To this priority, of which he knew the full value, Alfred de Vigny laid
+insistent claim. “The only merit,” he says in one of his prefaces, “that
+any one ever has disputed with me in this sort of composition is the
+honor of having promulgated in France all works of the kind in which
+philosophic thought is presented in either epic or dramatic form.”
+
+But it was not alone priority in the sense of time that gave him
+right of way over his contemporaries; he was the most distinguished
+representative of poetic philosophy of his generation. If the phrases of
+Lamartine seem richer, if his flight is more majestic, De Vigny’s range
+is surer and more powerful. While the philosophy of the creator of
+‘Les Harmonies’ is uncertain and inconsistent, that of the poet of ‘Les
+Destinees’ is strong and substantial, for the reason that the former
+inspires more sentiment than ideas, while the latter, soaring far
+above the narrow sphere of personal emotion, writes of everything that
+occupies the intellect of man.
+
+Thus, by his vigor and breadth of thought, by his profound understanding
+of life, by the intensity of his dreams, Alfred de Vigny is superior to
+Victor Hugo, whose genius was quite different, in his power to portray
+picturesque scenes, in his remarkable fecundity of imagination, and in
+his sovereign mastery of technique.
+
+But nowhere in De Vigny’s work is that superiority of poetic thought so
+clearly shown as in those productions wherein the point of departure was
+farthest from the domain of intellect, and better than any other has he
+understood that truth proclaimed by Hegel: “The passions of the soul and
+the affections of the heart are matter for poetic expression only in so
+far as they are general, solid, and eternal.”
+
+De Vigny was also the only one among our poets that had a lofty ideal
+of woman and of love. And in order to convince one’s self of this it
+is sufficient to reread successively the four great love-poems of that
+period: ‘Le Lac, La Tristesse d’Olympio, Le Souvenir, and La Colere de
+Samson’.
+
+Lamartine’s conception of love was a sort of mild ecstasy, the sacred
+rapture in which the senses play no part, and noble emotions that cause
+neither trouble nor remorse. He ever regarded love as a kind of sublime
+and passionate religion, of which ‘Le Lac’ was the most beautiful hymn,
+but in which the image of woman is so vague that she almost seems to be
+absent.
+
+On the other hand, what is ‘La Tristesse d’Olympio’ if not an admirable
+but common poetic rapture, a magnificent summary of the sufferings of
+the heart--a bit of lyric writing equal to the most beautiful canzoni of
+the Italian masters, but wherein we find no idea of love, because all
+is artificial and studied; no cry from the soul is heard,--no trace of
+passion appears.
+
+After another fashion the same criticism applies to Le Souvenir; it was
+written under a stress of emotion resulting from too recent events;
+and the imagination of the author, subservient to a memory relentlessly
+faithful, as is often the case with those to whom passion is the chief
+principle of inspiration, was far from fulfilling the duties of his high
+vocation, which is to purify the passions of the poet from individual
+and accidental characteristics in order to leave unhampered whatever his
+work may contain that is powerful and imperishable.
+
+Alfred de Vigny alone, of the poets of his day, in his ‘Colere de
+Samson’, has risen to a just appreciation of woman and of love; his
+ideal is grand and tragic, it is true, and reminds one of that gloomy
+passage in Ecclesiastes which says: “Woman is more bitter than death,
+and her arms are like chains.”
+
+It is by this character of universality, of which all his writings show
+striking evidence, that Alfred de Vigny is assured of immortality. A
+heedless generation neglected him because it preferred to seek subjects
+in strong contrast to life of its own time. But that which was not
+appreciated by his contemporaries will be welcomed by posterity. And
+when, in French literature, there shall remain of true romanticism only
+a slight trace and the memory of a few great names, the author of the
+‘Destinees’ will still find an echo in all hearts.
+
+No writer, no matter how gifted, immortalizes himself unless he has
+crystallized into expressive and original phrase the eternal sentiments
+and yearnings of the human heart. “A man does not deserve the name of
+poet unless he can express personal feeling and emotion, and only that
+man is worthy to be called a poet who knows how to assimilate the varied
+emotions of mankind.” If this fine phrase of Goethe’s is true, if true
+poetry is only that which implies a mastery of spiritual things as well
+as of human emotion, Alfred de Vigny is assuredly one of our greatest
+poets, for none so well as he has realized a complete vision of the
+universe, no one has brought before the world with more boldness the
+problem of the soul and that of humanity. Under the title of poet he
+belongs not only to our national literature, but occupies a distinctive
+place in the world of intellect, with Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe,
+among those inspired beings who transmit throughout succeeding centuries
+the light of reason and the traditions of the loftiest poetic thought.
+
+Alfred de Vigny was elected to a chair in the French Academy in 1846 and
+died at Paris, September 17, 1863.
+
+                  GASTON BOISSIER
+          Secretaire Perpetuel de l’Academie Francaise.
+
+
+
+
+TRUTH IN ART
+
+The study of social progress is to-day not less needed in literature
+than is the analysis of the human heart. We live in an age of universal
+investigation, and of exploration of the sources of all movements.
+France, for example, loves at the same time history and the drama,
+because the one explores the vast destinies of humanity, and the other
+the individual lot of man. These embrace the whole of life. But it is
+the province of religion, of philosophy, of pure poetry only, to go
+beyond life, beyond time, into eternity.
+
+Of late years (perhaps as a result of our political changes) art has
+borrowed from history more than ever. All of us have our eyes fixed on
+our chronicles, as though, having reached manhood while going on toward
+greater things, we had stopped a moment to cast up the account of our
+youth and its errors. We have had to double the interest by adding to it
+recollection.
+
+As France has carried farther than other nations this love of facts, and
+as I had chosen a recent and well-remembered epoch, it seemed to me that
+I ought not to imitate those foreigners who in their pictures barely
+show in the horizon the men who dominate their history. I placed ours in
+the foreground of the scene; I made them leading actors in this tragedy,
+wherever I endeavored to represent the three kinds of ambition by which
+we are influenced, and with them the beauty of self-sacrifice to a noble
+ideal. A treatise on the fall of the feudal system; on the position,
+at home and abroad, of France in the seventeenth century; on foreign
+alliances; on the justice of parliaments or of secret commissions, or
+on accusations of sorcery, would not perhaps have been read. But the
+romance was read.
+
+I do not mean to defend this last form of historical composition, being
+convinced that the real greatness of a work lies in the substance of
+the author’s ideas and sentiments, and not in the literary form in which
+they are dressed. The choice of a certain epoch necessitates a certain
+treatment--to another epoch it would be unsuitable; these are mere
+secrets of the workshop of thought which there is no need of disclosing.
+What is the use of theorizing as to wherein lies the charm that moves
+us? We hear the tones of the harp, but its graceful form conceals from
+us its frame of iron. Nevertheless, since I have been convinced
+that this book possesses vitality, I can not help throwing out some
+reflections on the liberty which the imagination should employ in
+weaving into its tapestry all the leading figures of an age, and, to
+give more consistency to their acts, in making the reality of fact
+give way to the idea which each of them should represent in the eyes of
+posterity; in short, on the difference which I find between Truth in art
+and the True in fact.
+
+Just as we descend into our consciences to judge of actions which our
+minds can not weigh, can we not also search in ourselves for the feeling
+which gives birth to forms of thought, always vague and cloudy? We shall
+find in our troubled hearts, where discord reigns, two needs which seem
+at variance, but which merge, as I think, in a common source--the love
+of the true, and the love of the fabulous.
+
+On the day when man told the story of his life to man, history was born.
+Of what use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example
+of good or of evil? But the examples which the slow train of events
+presents to us are scattered and incomplete. They lack always a tangible
+and visible coherence leading straight on to a moral conclusion. The
+acts of the human race on the world’s stage have doubtless a coherent
+unity, but the meaning of the vast tragedy enacted will be visible only
+to the eye of God, until the end, which will reveal it perhaps to the
+last man. All systems of philosophy have sought in vain to explain it,
+ceaselessly rolling up their rock, which, never reaching the top, falls
+back upon them--each raising its frail structure on the ruins of the
+others, only to see it fall in its turn.
+
+I think, then, that man, after having satisfied his first longing for
+facts, wanted something fuller--some grouping, some adaptation to his
+capacity and experience, of the links of this vast chain of events
+which his sight could not take in. Thus he hoped to find in the historic
+recital examples which might support the moral truths of which he was
+conscious. Few single careers could satisfy this longing, being only
+incomplete parts of the elusive whole of the history of the world; one
+was a quarter, as it were, the other a half of the proof; imagination
+did the rest and completed them. From this, without doubt, sprang the
+fable. Man created it thus, because it was not given him to see more
+than himself and nature, which surrounds him; but he created it true
+with a truth all its own.
+
+This Truth, so beautiful, so intellectual, which I feel, I see, and long
+to define, the name of which I here venture to distinguish from that of
+the True, that I may the better make myself understood, is the soul of
+all the arts. It is the selection of the characteristic token in all the
+beauties and the grandeurs of the visible True; but it is not the
+thing itself, it is something better: it is an ideal combination of its
+principal forms, a luminous tint made up of its brightest colors, an
+intoxicating balm of its purest perfumes, a delicious elixir of its
+best juices, a perfect harmony of its sweetest sounds--in short, it is
+a concentration of all its good qualities. For this Truth, and nothing
+else, should strive those works of art which are a moral representation
+of life-dramatic works. To attain it, the first step is undoubtedly to
+learn all that is true in fact of every period, to become deeply imbued
+with its general character and with its details; this involves only a
+cheap tribute of attention, of patience, and of memory: But then one
+must fix upon some chosen centre, and group everything around it; this
+is the work of imagination, and of that sublime common-sense which is
+genius itself.
+
+Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the
+imitation of life? Good heavens! we see only too clearly about us the
+sad and disenchanting reality--the insupportable lukewarmness of feeble
+characters, of shallow virtues and vices, of irresolute loves, of
+tempered hates, of wavering friendships, of unsettled beliefs, of
+constancy which has its height and its depth, of opinions which
+evaporate. Let us dream that once upon a time have lived men stronger
+and greater, who were more determined for good or for evil; that does
+us good. If the paleness of your True is to follow us into art, we shall
+close at once the theatre and the book, to avoid meeting it a second
+time. What is wanted of works which revive the ghosts of human beings
+is, I repeat, the philosophical spectacle of man deeply wrought upon
+by the passions of his character and of his epoch; it is, in short, the
+artistic Truth of that man and that epoch, but both raised to a higher
+and ideal power, which concentrates all their forces. You recognize this
+Truth in works of the imagination just as you cry out at the resemblance
+of a portrait of which you have never seen the original; for true talent
+paints life rather than the living.
+
+To banish finally the scruples on this point of the consciences of some
+persons, timorous in literary matters, whom I have seen affected with
+a personal sorrow on viewing the rashness with which the imagination
+sports with the most weighty characters of history, I will hazard the
+assertion that, not throughout this work, I dare not say that, but in
+many of these pages, and those perhaps not of the least merit, history
+is a romance of which the people are the authors. The human mind, I
+believe, cares for the True only in the general character of an epoch.
+What it values most of all is the sum total of events and the advance of
+civilization, which carries individuals along with it; but, indifferent
+to details, it cares less to have them real than noble or, rather, grand
+and complete.
+
+Examine closely the origin of certain deeds, of certain heroic
+expressions, which are born one knows not how; you will see them leap
+out ready-made from hearsay and the murmurs of the crowd, without having
+in themselves more than a shadow of truth, and, nevertheless, they will
+remain historical forever. As if by way of pleasantry, and to put a joke
+upon posterity, the public voice invents sublime utterances to mark,
+during their lives and under their very eyes, men who, confused, avow
+themselves as best they may, as not deserving of so much glory and as
+not being able to support so high renown.
+
+   [In our time has not a Russian General denied the fire of Moscow,
+   which we have made heroic, and which will remain so? Has not a
+   French General denied that utterance on the field of Waterloo which
+   will immortalize it? And if I were not withheld by my respect for a
+   sacred event, I might recall that a priest has felt it to be his
+   duty to disavow in public a sublime speech which will remain the
+   noblest that has ever been pronounced on a scaffold: “Son of Saint
+   Louis, rise to heaven!” When I learned not long ago its real
+   author, I was overcome by the destruction of my illusion, but before
+   long I was consoled by a thought that does honor to humanity in my
+   eyes. I feel that France has consecrated this speech, because she
+   felt the need of reestablishing herself in her own eyes, of blinding
+   herself to her awful error, and of believing that then and there an
+   honest man was found who dared to speak aloud.]
+
+In vain; their disclaimers are not received. Let them cry out, let them
+write, let them print, let them sign--they are not listened to. These
+utterances are inscribed in bronze; the poor fellows remain historical
+and sublime in spite of themselves. And I do not find that all this is
+done in the ages of barbarism alone; it is still going on, and it
+molds the history of yesterday to the taste of public opinion--a Muse
+tyrannical and capricious, which preserves the general purport and
+scorns detail.
+
+Which of you knows not of such transformation? Do you not see with your
+own eyes the chrysalis fact assume by degrees the wings of fiction? Half
+formed by the necessities of the time, a fact is hidden in the ground
+obscure and incomplete, rough, misshapen, like a block of marble not yet
+rough-hewn. The first who unearth it, and take it in hand, would wish
+it differently shaped, and pass it, already a little rounded, into other
+hands; others polish it as they pass it along; in a short time it is
+exhibited transformed into an immortal statue. We disclaim it; witnesses
+who have seen and heard pile refutations upon explanations; the learned
+investigate, pore over books, and write. No one listens to them any more
+than to the humble heroes who disown it; the torrent rolls on and bears
+with it the whole thing under the form which it has pleased it to
+give to these individual actions. What was needed for all this work? A
+nothing, a word; sometimes the caprice of a journalist out of work. And
+are we the losers by it? No. The adopted fact is always better composed
+than the real one, and it is even adopted only because it is better. The
+human race feels a need that its destinies should afford it a series of
+lessons; more careless than we think of the reality of facts, it strives
+to perfect the event in order to give it a great moral significance,
+feeling sure that the succession of scenes which it plays upon earth is
+not a comedy, and that since it advances, it marches toward an end, of
+which the explanation must be sought beyond what is visible.
+
+For my part, I acknowledge my gratitude to the voice of the people
+for this achievement; for often in the finest life are found strange
+blemishes and inconsistencies which pain me when I see them. If a man
+seems to me a perfect model of a grand and noble character, and if
+some one comes and tells me of a mean trait which disfigures him, I am
+saddened by it, even though I do not know him, as by a misfortune which
+affects me in person; and I could almost wish that he had died before
+the change in his character.
+
+Thus, when the Muse (and I give that name to art as a whole, to
+everything which belongs to the domain of imagination, almost in the
+same way as the ancients gave the name of Music to all education), when
+the Muse has related, in her impassioned manner, the adventures of
+a character whom I know to have lived; and when she reshapes his
+experiences into conformity with the strongest idea of vice or
+virtue which can be conceived of him--filling the gaps, veiling the
+incongruities of his life, and giving him that perfect unity of conduct
+which we like to see represented even in evil--if, in addition to this,
+she preserves the only thing essential to the instruction of the world,
+the spirit of the epoch, I know no reason why we should be more exacting
+with her than with this voice of the people which every day makes every
+fact undergo so great changes.
+
+The ancients carried this liberty even into history; they wanted to
+see in it only the general march, and broad movements of peoples and
+nations; and on these great movements, brought to view in courses very
+distinct and very clear, they placed a few colossal figures--symbols of
+noble character and of lofty purpose.
+
+One might almost reckon mathematically that, having undergone the double
+composition of public opinion and of the author, their history reaches
+us at third hand and is thus separated by two stages from the original
+fact.
+
+It is because in their eyes history too was a work of art; and in
+consequence of not having realized that such is its real nature, the
+whole Christian world still lacks an historical monument like those
+which dominate antiquity and consecrate the memory of its destinies--as
+its pyramids, its obelisks, its pylons, and its porticos still dominate
+the earth which was known to them, and thereby commemorate the grandeur
+of antiquity.
+
+If, then, we find everywhere evidence of this inclination to desert the
+positive, to bring the ideal even into historic annals, I believe that
+with greater reason we should be completely indifferent to historical
+reality in judging the dramatic works, whether poems, romances, or
+tragedies, which borrow from history celebrated characters. Art ought
+never to be considered except in its relations with its ideal beauty.
+Let it be said that what is true in fact is secondary merely; it is only
+an illusion the more with which it adorns itself--one of our prejudices
+which it respects. It can do without it, for the Truth by which it must
+live is the truth of observation of human nature, and not authenticity
+of fact. The names of the characters have nothing to do with the matter.
+The idea is everything; the proper name is only the example and the
+proof of the idea.
+
+So much the better for the memory of those who are chosen to represent
+philosophical or moral ideas; but, once again, that is not the question.
+The imagination can produce just as fine things without them; it is
+a power wholly creative; the imaginary beings which it animates are
+endowed with life as truly as the real beings which it brings to life
+again. We believe in Othello as we do in Richard III., whose tomb is
+in Westminster; in Lovelace and Clarissa as in Paul and Virginia, whose
+tombs are in the Isle of France. It is with the same eye that we must
+watch the performance of its characters, and demand of the Muse only her
+artistic Truth, more lofty than the True--whether collecting the traits
+of a character dispersed among a thousand entire individuals, she
+composes from them a type whose name alone is imaginary; or whether she
+goes to their tomb to seek and to touch with her galvanic current the
+dead whose great deeds are known, forces them to arise again, and drags
+them dazzled to the light of day, where, in the circle which this fairy
+has traced, they re-assume unwillingly their passions of other days, and
+begin again in the sight of their descendants the sad drama of life.
+
+ALFRED DE VIGNY.
+
+1827.
+
+
+
+
+CINQ-MARS
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE ADIEU
+
+     Fare thee well! and if forever,
+     Still forever fare thee well!
+
+                       LORD BYRON.
+
+Do you know that charming part of our country which has been called the
+garden of France--that spot where, amid verdant plains watered by wide
+streams, one inhales the purest air of heaven?
+
+If you have travelled through fair Touraine in summer, you have no doubt
+followed with enchantment the peaceful Loire; you have regretted the
+impossibility of determining upon which of its banks you would choose to
+dwell with your beloved. On its right bank one sees valleys dotted with
+white houses surrounded by woods, hills yellow with vines or white
+with the blossoms of the cherry-tree, walls covered with honeysuckles,
+rose-gardens, from which pointed roofs rise suddenly. Everything reminds
+the traveller either of the fertility of the land or of the antiquity
+of its monuments; and everything interests him in the work of its busy
+inhabitants.
+
+Nothing has proved useless to them; it seems as if in their love for
+so beautiful a country--the only province of France never occupied by
+foreigners--they have determined not to lose the least part of its soil,
+the smallest grain of its sand. Do you fancy that this ruined tower is
+inhabited only by hideous night-birds? No; at the sound of your horse’s
+hoofs, the smiling face of a young girl peeps out from the ivy, whitened
+with the dust from the road. If you climb a hillside covered with vines,
+a light column of smoke shows you that there is a chimney at your feet;
+for the very rock is inhabited, and families of vine-dressers breathe
+in its caverns, sheltered at night by the kindly earth which they
+laboriously cultivate during the day. The good people of Touraine are as
+simple as their life, gentle as the air they breathe, and strong as the
+powerful earth they dig. Their countenances, like their characters,
+have something of the frankness of the true people of St. Louis; their
+chestnut locks are still long and curve around their ears, as in the
+stone statues of our old kings; their language is the purest French,
+with neither slowness, haste, nor accent--the cradle of the language is
+there, close to the cradle of the monarchy.
+
+But the left bank of the stream has a more serious aspect; in the
+distance you see Chambord, which, with its blue domes and little
+cupolas, appears like some great city of the Orient; there is
+Chanteloup, raising its graceful pagoda in the air. Near these a simpler
+building attracts the eyes of the traveller by its magnificent situation
+and imposing size; it is the chateau of Chaumont. Built upon the highest
+hill of the shore, it frames the broad summit with its lofty walls and
+its enormous towers; high slate steeples increase their loftiness, and
+give to the building that conventual air, that religious form of all
+our old chateaux, which casts an aspect of gravity over the landscape
+of most of our provinces. Black and tufted trees surround this ancient
+mansion, resembling from afar the plumes that encircled the hat of King
+Henry. At the foot of the hill, connected with the chateau by a narrow
+path, lies a pretty village, whose white houses seem to have sprung
+from the golden sand; a chapel stands halfway up the hill; the lords
+descended and the villagers ascended to its altar-the region of
+equality, situated like a neutral spot between poverty and riches, which
+have been too often opposed to each other in bitter conflict.
+
+Here, one morning in the month of June, 1639, the bell of the chateau
+having, as usual, rung at midday, the dinner-hour of the family,
+occurrences of an unusual kind were passing in this ancient dwelling.
+The numerous domestics observed that in repeating the morning prayers
+before the assembled household, the Marechale d’Effiat had spoken with a
+broken voice and with tears in her eyes, and that she had appeared in a
+deeper mourning than was customary. The people of the household and the
+Italians of the Duchesse de Mantua, who had at that time retired for a
+while to Chaumont, saw with surprise that sudden preparations were being
+made for departure. The old domestic of the Marechal d’Effiat (who had
+been dead six months) had taken again to his travelling-boots, which he
+had sworn to abandon forever. This brave fellow, named Grandchamp, had
+followed the chief of the family everywhere in the wars, and in his
+financial work; he had been his equerry in the former, and his secretary
+in the latter. He had recently returned from Germany, to inform the
+mother and the children of the death of the Marechal, whose last sighs
+he had heard at Luzzelstein. He was one of those faithful servants who
+are become too rare in France; who suffer with the misfortunes of the
+family, and rejoice with their joys; who approve of early marriages,
+that they may have young masters to educate; who scold the children and
+often the fathers; who risk death for them; who serve without wages in
+revolutions; who toil for their support; and who in prosperous times
+follow them everywhere, or exclaim at their return, “Behold our
+vines!” He had a severe and remarkable face, a coppery complexion, and
+silver-gray hair, in which, however, some few locks, black as his heavy
+eyebrows, made him appear harsh at first; but a gentle countenance
+softened this first impression. At present his voice was loud. He busied
+himself much that day in hastening the dinner, and ordered about all the
+servants, who were in mourning like himself.
+
+“Come,” said he, “make haste to serve the dinner, while Germain, Louis,
+and Etienne saddle their horses; Monsieur Henri and I must be far away
+by eight o’clock this evening. And you, gentlemen, Italians, have you
+warned your young Princess? I wager that she is gone to read with her
+ladies at the end of the park, or on the banks of the lake. She always
+comes in after the first course, and makes every one rise from the
+table.”
+
+“Ah, my good Grandchamp,” said in a low voice a young maid servant who
+was passing, “do not speak of the Duchess; she is very sorrowful, and I
+believe that she will remain in her apartment. Santa Maria! what a shame
+to travel to-day! to depart on a Friday, the thirteenth of the month,
+and the day of Saint Gervais and of Saint-Protais--the day of two
+martyrs! I have been telling my beads all the morning for Monsieur
+de Cinq-Mars; and I could not help thinking of these things. And my
+mistress thinks of them too, although she is a great lady; so you need
+not laugh!”
+
+With these words the young Italian glided like a bird across the large
+dining-room, and disappeared down a corridor, startled at seeing the
+great doors of the salon opened.
+
+Grandchamp had hardly heard what she had said, and seemed to have
+been occupied only with the preparations for dinner; he fulfilled the
+important duties of major-domo, and cast severe looks at the domestics
+to see whether they were all at their posts, placing himself behind the
+chair of the eldest son of the house. Then all the inhabitants of the
+mansion entered the salon. Eleven persons seated themselves at table.
+The Marechale came in last, giving her arm to a handsome old man,
+magnificently dressed, whom she placed upon her left hand. She seated
+herself in a large gilded arm-chair at the middle of one side of the
+table, which was oblong in form. Another seat, rather more ornamented,
+was at her right, but it remained empty. The young Marquis d’Effiat,
+seated in front of his mother, was to assist her in doing the honors of
+the table. He was not more than twenty years old, and his countenance
+was insignificant; much gravity and distinguished manners proclaimed,
+however, a social nature, but nothing more. His young sister of
+fourteen, two gentlemen of the province, three young Italian noblemen of
+the suite of Marie de Gonzaga (Duchesse de Mantua), a lady-in-waiting,
+the governess of the young daughter of the Marechale, and an abbe of the
+neighborhood, old and very deaf, composed the assembly. A seat at the
+right of the elder son still remained vacant.
+
+The Marechale, before seating herself, made the sign of the cross,
+and repeated the Benedicite aloud; every one responded by making the
+complete sign, or upon the breast alone. This custom was preserved
+in many families in France up to the Revolution of 1789; some still
+practise it, but more in the provinces than in Paris, and not without
+some hesitation and some preliminary words upon the weather, accompanied
+by a deprecatory smile when a stranger is present--for it is too true
+that virtue also has its blush.
+
+The Marechale possessed an imposing figure, and her large blue eyes
+were remarkably beautiful. She did not appear to have yet attained her
+forty-fifth year; but, oppressed with sorrow, she walked slowly and
+spoke with difficulty, closing her eyes, and allowing her head to droop
+for a moment upon her breast, after she had been obliged to raise her
+voice. At such efforts her hand pressed to her bosom showed that she
+experienced sharp pain. She saw therefore with satisfaction that the
+person who was seated at her left, having at the beginning engrossed
+the conversation, without having been requested by any one to talk,
+persisted with an imperturbable coolness in engrossing it to the end of
+the dinner. This was the old Marechal de Bassompierre; he had preserved
+with his white locks an air of youth and vivacity curious to see. His
+noble and polished manners showed a certain gallantry, antiquated like
+his costume--for he wore a ruff in the fashion of Henri IV, and the
+slashed sleeves fashionable in the former reign, an absurdity which was
+unpardonable in the eyes of the beaux of the court. This would not have
+appeared more singular than anything else at present; but it is admitted
+that in every age we laugh at the costume of our fathers, and, except
+the Orientals, I know of no people who have not this fault.
+
+One of the Italian gentlemen had hardly finished asking the Marechal
+what he thought of the way in which the Cardinal treated the daughter of
+the Duc de Mantua, when he exclaimed, in his familiar language:
+
+“Heavens, man! what are you talking about? what do I comprehend of this
+new system under which France is living? We old companions-in-arms
+of his late Majesty can ill understand the language spoken by the new
+court, and that in its turn does not comprehend ours. But what do I say?
+We speak no language in this sad country, for all the world is silent
+before the Cardinal; this haughty little, vassal looks upon us as merely
+old family portraits, which occasionally he shortens by the head; but
+happily the motto always remains. Is it not true, my dear Puy-Laurens?”
+
+This guest was about the same age as the Marechal, but, being more grave
+and cautious, he answered in vague and few words, and made a sign to his
+contemporary in order to induce him to observe the unpleasant emotions
+which he had caused the mistress of the house by reminding her of the
+recent death of her husband and in speaking thus of the minister, his
+friend. But it was in vain, for Bassompierre, pleased with the sign of
+half-approval, emptied at one draught a great goblet of wine--a remedy
+which he lauds in his Memoirs as infallible against the plague and
+against reserve; and leaning back to receive another glass from his
+esquire, he settled himself more firmly than ever upon his chair, and in
+his favorite ideas.
+
+“Yes, we are in the way here; I said so the other day to my dear Duc
+de Guise, whom they have ruined. They count the minutes that we have to
+live, and shake the hour-glass to hasten the descent of its sands. When
+Monsieur le Cardinal-Duc observes in a corner three or four of our tall
+figures, who never quitted the side of the late King, he feels that he
+is unable to move those statues of iron, and that to do it would require
+the hand of a great man; he passes quickly by, and dares not meddle with
+us, who fear him not. He believes that we are always conspiring; and
+they say at this very moment that there is talk of putting me in the
+Bastille.”
+
+“Eh! Monsieur le Marechal, why do you delay your departure?” said
+the Italian. “I know of no place, except Flanders, where you can find
+shelter.”
+
+“Ah, Monsieur! you do not know me. So far from flying, I sought out the
+King before his departure, and told him that I did so in order to save
+people the trouble of looking for me; and that if I knew when he wished
+to send me, I would go myself without being taken. He was as kind as I
+expected him to be, and said to me, ‘What, my old friend, could you
+have thought that I desired to send you there? You know well that I love
+you.’”
+
+“Ah, my dear Marechal, let me compliment you,” said Madame d’Effiat, in
+a soft voice. “I recognize the benevolence of the King in these words;
+he remembers the affection which the King, his father, had toward you.
+It appears to me that he always accorded to you all that you desired for
+your friends,” she added, with animation, in order to put him into the
+track of praise, and to beguile him from the discontent which he had so
+loudly declared.
+
+“Assuredly, Madame,” answered he; “no one is more willing to recognize
+his virtues than Francois de Bassompierre. I shall be faithful to him
+to the end, because I gave myself, body and fortune, to his father at
+a ball; and I swear that, with my consent at least, none of my family
+shall ever fail in their duties toward the King of France. Although the
+Besteins are foreigners and Lorrains, a shake of the hand from Henri IV
+gained us forever. My greatest grief has been to see my brother die in
+the service of Spain; and I have just written to my nephew to say that
+I shall disinherit him if he has passed over to the Emperor, as report
+says he has.”
+
+One of the gentlemen guests who had as yet been silent, and who was
+remarkable for the profusion of knots, ribbons, and tags which covered
+his dress, and for the black cordon of the Order of St. Michael which
+decorated his neck, bowed, observing that it was thus all faithful
+subjects ought to speak.
+
+“I’ faith, Monsieur de Launay, you deceive yourself very much,” said
+the Marechal, to whom the recollection of his ancestors now occurred;
+“persons of our blood are subjects only at our own pleasure, for God has
+caused us to be born as much lords of our lands as the King is of his.
+When I came to France, I came at my ease, accompanied by my gentlemen
+and pages. I perceive, however, that the farther we go, the more we lose
+sight of this idea, especially at the court. But here is a young man who
+arrives very opportunely to hear me.”
+
+The door indeed opened, and a young man of fine form entered. He was
+pale; his hair was brown, his eyes were black, his expression was sad
+and reckless. This was Henri d’Effiat, Marquis de Cinq-Mars (a name
+taken from an estate of his family). His dress and his short cloak were
+black; a collar of lace fell from his neck halfway down his breast; his
+stout, small, and very wide-spurred boots made so much noise upon the
+flags of the salon that his approach was heard at a distance. He walked
+directly toward the Marechale, bowed low, and kissed her hand.
+
+“Well, Henri,” she said, “are your horses ready? At what hour do you
+depart?”
+
+“Immediately after dinner, Madame, if you will allow me,” said he to his
+mother, with the ceremonious respect of the times; and passing behind
+her, he saluted M. de Bassompierre before seating himself at the left of
+his eldest brother.
+
+“Well,” said the Marechal, continuing to eat with an excellent appetite,
+“you are about to depart, my son; you are going to the court--a slippery
+place nowadays. I am sorry for your sake that it is not now what it used
+to be. In former times, the court was simply the drawing-room of the
+King, in which he received his natural friends: nobles of great family,
+his peers, who visited him to show their devotion and their friendship,
+lost their money with him, and accompanied him in his pleasure parties,
+but never received anything from him, except permission to bring their
+vassals with them, to break their heads in his service. The honors a man
+of quality received did not enrich him, for he paid for them out of
+his purse. I sold an estate for every grade I received; the title of
+colonel-general of the Swiss cost me four hundred thousand crowns, and
+at the baptism of the present King I had to buy a costume that cost me a
+hundred thousand francs.”
+
+“Ah!” said the mistress of the house, smiling, “you must acknowledge
+for once that you were not obliged to do that. We have all heard of your
+splendid dress of pearls; but I should be much vexed were it still the
+custom to wear such.”
+
+“Oh, Madame la Marquise, do not fear, those times of magnificence
+never will return. We committed follies, no doubt, but they proved our
+independence; it is clear that it would then have been hard to convert
+from their allegiance to the King adherents who were attached to him
+by love alone, and whose coronets contained as many diamonds as his own
+locked-up crown. It is also certain that ambition could not then attack
+all classes, since such expenses could come only from rich hands, and
+since gold comes only from mines. Those great houses, which are being
+so furiously assailed, were not ambitious, and frequently, desiring
+no employment from the Government, maintained their places at court by
+their own weight, existed upon their own foundation, and might say, as
+one of them did say, ‘The Prince condescends not; I am Rohan.’ It was
+the same with every noble family, to which its own nobility sufficed;
+the King himself expressed it in writing to one of my friends: ‘Money is
+not a common thing between gentlemen like you and me.’”
+
+“But, Monsieur le Marechal,” coldly, and with extreme politeness,
+interrupted M. de Launay, who perhaps intended to anger him, “this
+independence has produced as many civil wars and revolts as those of
+Monsieur de Montmorency.”
+
+“Monsieur! I can not consent to hear these things spoken,” said the
+fiery Marechal, leaping up in his armchair. “Those revolts and wars had
+nothing to do with the fundamental laws of the State, and could no more
+have overturned the throne than a duel could have done so. Of all
+the great party-chiefs, there was not one who would not have laid his
+victory at the feet of the King, had he succeeded, knowing well that all
+the other lords who were as great as himself would have abandoned the
+enemy of the legitimate sovereign. Arms were taken against a faction,
+and not against the sovereign authority; and, this destroyed, everything
+went on again in the old way. But what have you done in crushing us?
+You have crushed the arm of the throne, and have not put anything in
+its place. Yes, I no longer doubt that the Cardinal-Duke will wholly
+accomplish his design; the great nobility will leave and lose their
+lands, and, ceasing to be great proprietors, they will cease to be a
+great power. The court is already no more than a palace where people
+beg; by and by it will become an antechamber, when it will be composed
+only of those who constitute the suite of the King. Great names will
+begin by ennobling vile offices; but, by a terrible reaction, those
+offices will end by rendering great names vile. Estranged from their
+homes, the nobility will be dependent upon the employments which they
+shall have received; and if the people, over whom they will no longer
+have any influence, choose to revolt--”
+
+“How gloomy you are to-day, Marechal!” interrupted the Marquise; “I
+hope that neither I nor my children will ever see that time. I no longer
+perceive your cheerful disposition, now that you talk like a politician.
+I expected to hear you give advice to my son. Henri, what troubles you?
+You seem very absent.”
+
+Cinq-Mars, with eyes fixed upon the great bay window of the
+dining-room, looked sorrowfully upon the magnificent landscape. The sun
+shone in full splendor, and colored the sands of the Loire, the trees,
+and the lawns with gold and emerald. The sky was azure, the waves were
+of a transparent yellow, the islets of a vivid green; behind their
+rounded outlines rose the great sails of the merchant-vessels, like a
+fleet in ambuscade.
+
+“O Nature, Nature!” he mused; “beautiful Nature, farewell! Soon will my
+heart cease to be of simplicity enough to feel your charm, soon you
+wall no longer please my eyes. This heart is already burned by a deep
+passion; and the mention of the interests of men stirs it with hitherto
+unknown agitation. I must, however, enter this labyrinth; I may,
+perchance, lose myself there, but for Marie--”
+
+At this moment, aroused by the words of his mother, and fearing to
+exhibit a childish regret at leaving his beautiful country and his
+family, he said:
+
+“I am thinking, Madame, of the road which I shall take to Perpignan, and
+also of that which shall bring me back to you.”
+
+“Do not forget to take that of Poitiers, and to go to Loudun to see your
+old tutor, our good Abbe Quillet; he will give you useful advice about
+the court. He is on very good terms with the Duc de Bouillon; and
+besides, though he may not be very necessary to you, it is a mark of
+deference which you owe him.”
+
+“Is it, then, to the siege of Perpignan that you are going, my boy?”
+ asked the old Marechal, who began to think that he had been silent a
+long time. “Ah! it is well for you. Plague upon it! a siege! ‘tis an
+excellent opening. I would have given much had I been able to assist the
+late King at a siege, upon my arrival in his court; it would have been
+better to be disembowelled then than at a tourney, as I was. But we were
+at peace; and I was compelled to go and shoot the Turks with the Rosworm
+of the Hungarians, in order that I might not afflict my family by my
+idleness. For the rest, may his Majesty receive you as kindly as his
+father received me! It is true that the King is good and brave; but they
+have unfortunately taught him that cold Spanish etiquette which arrests
+all the impulses of the heart. He restrains himself and others by an
+immovable presence and an icy look; as for me, I confess that I am
+always waiting for the moment of thaw, but in vain. We were accustomed
+to other manners from the witty and simple-hearted Henri; and we were at
+least free to tell him that we loved him.”
+
+Cinq-Mars, with eyes fixed upon those of Bassompierre, as if to force
+himself to attend to his discourse, asked him what was the manner of the
+late king in conversation.
+
+“Lively and frank,” said he. “Some time after my arrival in France, I
+played with him and with the Duchesse de Beaufort at Fontainebleau; for
+he wished, he said, to win my gold-pieces, my fine Portugal money. He
+asked me the reason why I came into this country. ‘Truly, Sire,’ said I,
+frankly, ‘I came with no intention of enlisting myself in your service,
+but only to pass some time at your court, and afterward at that of
+Spain; but you have charmed me so much that, instead of going farther,
+if you desire my service, I will devote myself to you till death.’ Then
+he embraced me, and assured me that I could not find a better master, or
+one who would love me more. Alas! I have found it so. And for my part, I
+sacrificed everything to him, even my love; and I would have done
+more, had it been possible to do more than renounce Mademoiselle de
+Montmorency.”
+
+The good Marechal had tears in his eyes; but the young Marquis d’Effiat
+and the Italians, looking at one another, could not help smiling to
+think that at present the Princesse de Conde was far from young and
+pretty. Cinq-Mars noticed this interchange of glances, and smiled also,
+but bitterly.
+
+“Is it true then,” he thought, “that the affections meet the same fate
+as the fashions, and that the lapse of a few years can throw the same
+ridicule upon a costume and upon love? Happy is he who does not outlive
+his youth and his illusions, and who carries his treasures with him to
+the grave!”
+
+But--again, with effort breaking the melancholy course of his thoughts,
+and wishing that the good Marechal should read nothing unpleasant upon
+the countenances of his hosts, he said:
+
+“People spoke, then, with much freedom to King Henri? Possibly, however,
+he found it necessary to assume that tone at the beginning of his reign;
+but when he was master did he change it?”
+
+“Never! no, never, to his last day, did our great King cease to be the
+same. He did not blush to be a man, and he spoke to men with force and
+sensibility. Ah! I fancy I see him now, embracing the Duc de Guise in
+his carriage, on the very day of his death; he had just made one of his
+lively pleasantries to me, and the Duke said to him, ‘You are, in
+my opinion, one of the most agreeable men in the world, and destiny
+ordained us for each other. For, had you been but an ordinary man,
+I should have taken you into my service at whatever price; but since
+heaven ordained that you should be born a great King, it is inevitable
+that I belong to you.’ Oh, great man!” cried Bassompierre, with tears
+in his eyes, and perhaps a little excited by the frequent bumpers he had
+drunk, “you said well, ‘When you have lost me you will learn my value.’”
+
+During this interlude, the guests at the table had assumed various
+attitudes, according to their position in public affairs. One of the
+Italians pretended to chat and laugh in a subdued manner with the young
+daughter of the Marechale; the other talked to the deaf old Abbe, who,
+with one hand behind his ear that he might hear, was the only one
+who appeared attentive. Cinq-Mars had sunk back into his melancholy
+abstraction, after throwing a glance at the Marechal, as one looks aside
+after throwing a tennis-ball until its return; his elder brother did
+the honors of the table with the same calm. Puy-Laurens observed
+the mistress of the house with attention; he was devoted to the Duc
+d’Orleans, and feared the Cardinal. As for the Marechale, she had an
+anxious and afflicted air. Careless words had often recalled the death
+of her husband or the departure of her son; and, oftener still, she had
+feared lest Bassompierre should compromise himself. She had touched him
+many times, glancing at the same time toward M. de Launay, of whom she
+knew little, and whom she had reason to believe devoted to the prime
+minister; but to a man of his character, such warnings were useless.
+He appeared not to notice them; but, on the contrary, crushing that
+gentleman with his bold glance and the sound of his voice, he affected
+to turn himself toward him, and to direct all his conversation to him.
+M. de Launay assumed an air of indifference and of assenting politeness,
+which he preserved until the moment when the folding-doors opened, and
+“Mademoiselle la Duchesse de Mantua” was announced.
+
+The conversation which we have transcribed so lengthily passed, in
+reality, with rapidity; and the repast was only half over when the
+arrival of Marie de Gonzaga caused the company to rise. She was small,
+but very well made, and although her eyes and hair were black, her
+complexion was as dazzling as the beauty of her skin. The Marechale
+arose to acknowledge her rank, and kissed her on the forehead, in
+recognition of her goodness and her charming age.
+
+“We have waited a long time for you to-day, dear Marie,” she said,
+placing the Duchess beside her; “fortunately, you remain with me to
+replace one of my children, who is about to depart.”
+
+The young Duchess blushed, lowered her head and her eyes, in order that
+no one might see their redness, and said, timidly:
+
+“Madame, that may well be, since you have taken toward me the place of
+a mother;” and a glance thrown at Cinq-Mars, at the other end of the
+table, made him turn pale.
+
+This arrival changed the conversation; it ceased to be general, and each
+guest conversed in a low voice with his neighbor. The Marechal alone
+continued to utter a few sentences concerning the magnificence of the
+old court, his wars in Turkey, the tournaments, and the avarice of the
+new court; but, to his great regret, no one made any reply, and the
+company were about to leave the table, when, as the clock struck two,
+five horses appeared in the courtyard. Four were mounted by servants,
+cloaked and armed; the other horse, black and spirited, was held by old
+Grandchamp--it was his master’s steed.
+
+“Ah!” exclaimed Bassompierre; “see, our battlehorses are saddled and
+bridled. Come, young man, we must say, with our old Marot:
+
+          ‘Adieu la cour, adieu les dames!
+          Adieu les filles et les femmes!
+          Adieu vous dy pour quelque temps;
+          Adieu vos plaisans parse-temps!
+          Adieu le bal, adieu la dance;
+          Adieu mesure, adieu cadance,
+          Tabourins, Hautbois, Violons,
+          Puisqu’à la guerre nous allons!’”
+
+These old verses and the air of the Marechal made all the guests laugh,
+except three persons.
+
+“Heavens!” he continued, “it seems to me as if, like him, I were only
+seventeen years old; he will return to us covered with embroidery.
+Madame, we must keep his chair vacant for him.”
+
+The Marechale suddenly grew pale, and left the table in tears; every one
+rose with her; she took only two steps, and sank into another chair. Her
+sons and her daughter and the young Duchess gathered anxiously around
+her, and heard her say, amid the sighs and tears which she strove to
+restrain:
+
+“Pardon, my friends! it is foolish of me--childish; but I am weak at
+present, and am not mistress of myself. We were thirteen at table; and
+you, my dear Duchess, were the cause of it. But it is very wrong of me
+to show so much weakness before him. Farewell, my child; give me your
+forehead to kiss, and may God conduct you! Be worthy of your name and of
+your father.”
+
+Then, as Homer says, “smiling under tears,” she raised herself, pushed
+her son from her, and said:
+
+“Come, let me see you on horseback, fair sir!”
+
+The silent traveller kissed the hands of his mother, and made a low bow
+to her; he bowed also to the Duchess, without raising his eyes. Then,
+embracing his elder brother, pressing the hand of the Marechal, and
+kissing the forehead of his young sister almost simultaneously, he went
+forth, and was on horseback in an instant. Every one went to the windows
+which overlooked the court, except Madame d’Effiat, who was still seated
+and suffering.
+
+“He sets off at full gallop. That is a good sign,” said the Marechal,
+laughing.
+
+“Oh, heavens!” cried the young Princess, retiring from the bay-window.
+
+“What is the matter?” said the mother.
+
+“Nothing, nothing!” said M. de Launay. “Your son’s horse stumbled under
+the gateway; but he soon pulled him up. See, he salutes us from the
+road.”
+
+“Another ominous presage!” said the Marquise, upon retiring to her
+apartments.
+
+Every one imitated her by being silent or speaking low.
+
+The day was sad, and in the evening the supper was silent at the chateau
+of Chaumont.
+
+At ten o’clock that evening, the old Marechal, conducted by his valet,
+retired to the northern tower near the gateway, and opposite the river.
+The heat was extreme; he opened the window, and, enveloping himself
+in his great silk robe, placed a heavy candlestick upon the table and
+desired to be left alone. His window looked out upon the plain, which
+the moon, in her first quarter, indistinctly lighted; the sky was
+charged with thick clouds, and all things disposed the mind to
+melancholy. Although Bassompierre had nothing of the dreamer in his
+character, the tone which the conversation had taken at dinner returned
+to his memory, and he reconsidered his life, the sad changes which the
+new reign had wrought in it, a reign which seemed to have breathed
+upon him a wind of misfortune--the death of a cherished sister; the
+irregularities of the heir of his name; the loss of his lands and of
+his favor; the recent fate of his friend, the Marechal d’Effiat,
+whose chambers he now occupied. All these thoughts drew from him an
+involuntary sigh, and he went to the window to breathe.
+
+At that moment he fancied he heard the tramp of a troop of horse at the
+side of the wood; but the wind rising made him think that he had been
+mistaken, and, as the noise suddenly ceased, he forgot it. He still
+watched for some time all the lights of the chateau, which were
+successively extinguished, after winding among the windows of the
+staircases and rambling about the courtyards and the stables. Then,
+leaning back in his great tapestried armchair, his elbow resting on the
+table, he abandoned himself to his reflections. After a while, drawing
+from his breast a medallion which hung concealed, suspended by a black
+ribbon, he said:
+
+“Come, my good old master, talk with me as you have so often talked;
+come, great King, forget your court for the smile of a true friend;
+come, great man, consult me concerning ambitious Austria; come,
+inconstant chevalier, speak to me of the lightness of thy love, and of
+the fidelity of thine inconstancy; come, heroic soldier, complain to me
+again that I obscure you in combat. Ah, had I only done it in Paris!
+Had I only received thy wound? With thy blood the world has lost the
+benefits of thine interrupted reign--”
+
+The tears of the Marechal obscured the glass that covered the large
+medallion, and he was effacing them with respectful kisses, when, his
+door being roughly opened, he quickly drew his sword.
+
+“Who goes there?” he cried, in his surprise, which was much increased
+when he saw M. de Launay, who, hat in hand, advanced toward him, and
+said to him, with embarrassment:
+
+“Monsieur, it is with a heart pierced with grief that I am forced to
+tell you that the King has commanded me to arrest you. A carriage awaits
+you at the gate, attended by thirty of the Cardinal-Duke’s musketeers.”
+
+Bassompierre had not risen: and he still held the medallion in his right
+hand, and the sword in the other. He tendered it disdainfully to this
+man, saying:
+
+“Monsieur, I know that I have lived too long, and it is that of which
+I was thinking; in the name of the great Henri, I restore this sword
+peacefully to his son. Follow me.”
+
+He accompanied these words with a look so firm that De Launay was
+depressed, and followed him with drooping head, as if he had himself
+been arrested by the noble old man, who, seizing a flambeau, issued
+from the court and found all the doors opened by horse-guards, who
+had terrified the people of the chateau in the name of the King,
+and commanded silence. The carriage was ready, and departed rapidly,
+followed by many horses. The Marechal, seated beside M. de Launay, was
+about to fall asleep, rocked by the movement of the vehicle, when a
+voice cried to the driver, “Stop!” and, as he continued, a pistol-shot
+followed. The horses stopped.
+
+“I declare, Monsieur, that this is done without my participation,” said
+Bassompierre. Then, putting his head out at the door, he saw that they
+were in a little wood, and that the road was too narrow to allow the
+horses to pass to either the right or the left of the carriage--a great
+advantage for the aggressors, since the musketeers could not advance.
+He tried to see what was going on when a cavalier, having in his hand a
+long sword, with which he parried the strokes of the guard, approached
+the door, crying:
+
+“Come, come, Monsieur le Marechal!”
+
+“What! is that you, you madcap, Henri, who are playing these pranks?
+Gentlemen, let him alone; he is a mere boy.”
+
+And, as De Launay called to the musketeers to cease, Bassompierre
+recognized the cavalier.
+
+“And how the devil came you here?” cried Bassompierre. “I thought you
+were at Tours, or even farther, if you had done your duty; but here you
+are returned to make a fool of yourself.”
+
+“Truly, it was not for you I returned, but for a secret affair,” said
+Cinq-Mars, in a lower tone; “but, as I take it, they are about to
+introduce you to the Bastille, and I am sure you will not betray me, for
+that delightful edifice is the very Temple of Discretion. Yet had you
+thought fit,” he continued, aloud, “I should have released you from
+these gentlemen in the wood here, which is so dense that their horses
+would not have been able to stir. A peasant informed me of the insult
+passed upon us, more than upon you, by this violation of my father’s
+house.”
+
+“It is the King’s order, my boy, and we must respect his will; reserve
+your ardor for his service, though I thank you with all my heart. Now
+farewell, and let me proceed on my agreeable journey.”
+
+De Launay interposed, “I may inform you, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars, that I
+have been desired by the King himself to assure Monsieur le Marechal,
+that he is deeply afflicted at the step he has found it necessary
+to take, and that it is solely from an apprehension that Monsieur le
+Marechal may be led into evil that his Majesty requests him to remain
+for a few days in the Bastille.”--[He remained there twelve years.]
+
+Bassompierre turned his head toward Cinq-Mars with a hearty laugh. “You
+see, my friend, how we young men are placed under guardianship; so take
+care of yourself.”
+
+“I will go, then,” said Henri; “this is the last time I shall play the
+knight-errant for any one against his will;” and, reentering the wood
+as the carriage dashed off at full speed, he proceeded by narrow paths
+toward the castle, followed at a short distance by Grandchamp and his
+small escort.
+
+On arriving at the foot of the western tower, he reined in his horse. He
+did not alight, but, approaching so near the wall that he could rest his
+foot upon an abutment, he stood up, and raised the blind of a window
+on the ground-floor, made in the form of a portcullis, such as is still
+seen on some ancient buildings.
+
+It was now past midnight, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds. No
+one but a member of the family could have found his way through darkness
+so profound. The towers and the roof formed one dark mass, which stood
+out in indistinct relief against the sky, hardly less dark; no light
+shone throughout the chateau, wherein all inmates seemed buried in
+slumber. Cinq-Mars, enveloped in a large cloak, his face hidden under
+the broad brim of his hat, awaited in suspense a reply to his signal.
+
+It came; a soft voice was heard from within:
+
+“Is that you, Monsieur Cinq-Mars?”
+
+“Alas, who else should it be? Who else would return like a criminal to
+his paternal house, without entering it, without bidding one more adieu
+to his mother? Who else would return to complain of the present, without
+a hope for the future, but I?”
+
+The gentle voice replied, but its tones were agitated, and evidently
+accompanied with tears: “Alas! Henri, of what do you complain? Have I
+not already done more, far more than I ought? It is not my fault, but my
+misfortune, that my father was a sovereign prince. Can one choose
+one’s birthplace or one’s rank, and say for example, ‘I will be a
+shepherdess?’ How unhappy is the lot of princesses! From the cradle,
+the sentiments of the heart are prohibited to them; and when they have
+advanced beyond childhood, they are ceded like a town, and must not even
+weep. Since I have known you, what have I not done to bring my future
+life within the reach of happiness, in removing it far from a throne?
+For two years I have struggled in vain, at once against my evil fortune,
+that separates me from you, and against you, who estrange me from the
+duty I owe to my family. I have sought to spread a belief that I was
+dead; I have almost longed for revolutions. I should have blessed a
+change which deprived me of my rank, as I thanked Heaven when my father
+was dethroned; but the court wonders at my absence; the Queen requires
+me to attend her. Our dreams are at an end, Henri; we have already
+slumbered too long. Let us awake, be courageous, and think no more of
+those dear two years--forget all in the one recollection of our great
+resolve. Have but one thought; be ambitious for--be ambitious--for my
+sake.”
+
+“Must we, then, indeed, forget all, Marie?” murmured Cinq-Mars.
+
+She hesitated.
+
+“Yes, forget all--that I myself have forgotten.” Then, after a moment’s
+pause, she continued with earnestness: “Yes, forget our happy days
+together, our long evenings, even our walks by the lake and through
+the wood; but keep the future ever in mind. Go, Henri; your father was
+Marechal. Be you more; be you Constable, Prince. Go; you are young,
+noble, rich, brave, beloved--”
+
+“Beloved forever?” said Henri.
+
+“Forever; for life and for eternity.”
+
+Cinq-Mars, tremulously extending his hand to the window, exclaimed:
+
+“I swear, Marie, by the Virgin, whose name you bear, that you shall be
+mine, or my head shall fall on the scaffold!”
+
+“Oh, Heaven! what is it you say?” she cried, seizing his hand in her
+own. “Swear to me that you will share in no guilty deeds; that you will
+never forget that the King of France is your master. Love him above
+all, next to her who will sacrifice all for you, who will await you amid
+suffering and sorrow. Take this little gold cross and wear it upon your
+heart; it has often been wet with my tears, and those tears will flow
+still more bitterly if ever you are faithless to the King. Give me the
+ring I see on your finger. Oh, heavens, my hand and yours are red with
+blood!”
+
+“Oh, only a scratch. Did you hear nothing, an hour ago?”
+
+“No; but listen. Do you hear anything now?”
+
+“No, Marie, nothing but some bird of night on the tower.”
+
+“I heard whispering near us, I am sure. But whence comes this blood?
+Tell me, and then depart.”
+
+“Yes, I will go, while the clouds are still dark above us. Farewell,
+sweet soul; in my hour of danger I will invoke thee as a guardian angel.
+Love has infused the burning poison of ambition into my soul, and
+for the first time I feel that ambition may be ennobled by its aim.
+Farewell! I go to accomplish my destiny.”
+
+“And forget not mine.”
+
+“Can they ever be separated?”
+
+“Never!” exclaimed Marie, “but by death.”
+
+“I fear absence still more,” said Cinq-Mars.
+
+“Farewell! I tremble; farewell!” repeated the beloved voice, and the
+window was slowly drawn down, the clasped hands not parting till the
+last moment.
+
+The black horse had all the while been pawing the earth, tossing his
+head with impatience, and whinnying. Cinq-Mars, as agitated and restless
+as his steed, gave it the rein; and the whole party was soon near the
+city of Tours, which the bells of St. Gatien had announced from afar.
+To the disappointment of old Grandchamp, Cinq-Mars would not enter the
+town, but proceeded on his way, and five days later he entered, with his
+escort, the old city of Loudun in Poitou, after an uneventful journey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE STREET
+
+     Je m’avancais d’un pas pénible et mal assuré vers le but
+     de ce convoi tragique.--NODIER, _Smarra_.
+
+The reign of which we are about to paint a few years--a reign of
+feebleness, which was like an eclipse of the crown between the splendors
+of Henri IV and those of Louis le Grand--afflicts the eyes which
+contemplate it with dark stains of blood, and these were not all the
+work of one man, but were caused by great and grave bodies. It is
+melancholy to observe that in this age, still full of disorder, the
+clergy, like a nation, had its populace, as it had its nobility, its
+ignorant and its criminal prelates, as well as those who were learned
+and virtuous. Since that time, its remnant of barbarism has been refined
+away by the long reign of Louis XIV, and its corruptions have been
+washed out in the blood of the martyrs whom it offered up to the
+revolution of 1793.
+
+We felt it necessary to pause for a moment to express this reflection
+before entering upon the recital of the facts presented by the history
+of this period, and to intimate that, notwithstanding this consolatory
+reflection, we have found it incumbent upon us to pass over many details
+too odious to occupy a place in our pages, sighing in spirit at those
+guilty acts which it was necessary to record, as in relating the life
+of a virtuous old man, we should lament over the impetuosities of his
+passionate youth, or over the corrupt tendencies of his riper age.
+
+When the cavalcade entered the narrow streets of Loudun, they heard
+strange noises all around them. The streets were filled with agitated
+masses; the bells of the church and of the convent were ringing
+furiously, as if the town was in flames; and the whole population,
+without paying any attention to the travellers, was pressing
+tumultuously toward a large edifice that adjoined the church. Here and
+there dense crowds were collected, listening in silence to some voice
+that seemed raised in exhortation, or engaged in emphatic reading; then,
+furious cries, mingled with pious exclamations, arose from the crowd,
+which, dispersing, showed the travellers that the orator was some
+Capuchin or Franciscan friar, who, holding a wooden crucifix in one
+hand, pointed with the other to the large building which was attracting
+such universal interest.
+
+“Jesu Maria!” exclaimed an old woman, “who would ever have thought that
+the Evil Spirit would choose our old town for his abode?”
+
+“Ay, or that the pious Ursulines should be possessed?” said another.
+
+“They say that the demon who torments the Superior is called Legion,”
+ cried a third:
+
+“One demon, say you?” interrupted a nun; “there were seven in her poor
+body, whereunto, doubtless, she had attached too much importance, by
+reason of its great beauty, though now ‘tis but the receptacle of evil
+spirits. The prior of the Carmelites yesterday expelled the demon Eazas
+through her mouth; and the reverend Father Lactantius has driven out in
+like manner the demon Beherit. But the other five will not depart, and
+when the holy exorcists (whom Heaven support!) summoned them in Latin to
+withdraw, they replied insolently that they would not go till they
+had proved their power, to the conviction even of the Huguenots and
+heretics, who, misbelieving wretches! seem to doubt it. The demon Elimi,
+the worst of them all, as you know, has threatened to take off Monsieur
+de Laubardemont’s skull-cap to-day, and to dangle it in the air at
+Miserere.”
+
+“Holy Virgin!” rejoined the first speaker, “I’m all of a tremble! And to
+think that many times I have got this magician Urbain to say masses for
+me!”
+
+“For myself,” exclaimed a girl, crossing herself; “I too confessed to
+him ten months ago! No doubt I should have been possessed myself, but
+for the relic of Saint-Genevieve I luckily had about me, and--”
+
+“Luckily, indeed, Martine,” interposed a fat gossip; “for--no
+offence!--you, as I remember, were long enough with the handsome
+sorcerer.”
+
+“Pshaw!” said a young soldier, who had joined the group, smoking his
+pipe, “don’t you know that pretty Martine was dispossessed a month ago.”
+
+The girl blushed, and drew the hood of her black cloak over her face.
+The elder gossips cast a glance of indignation at the reckless trooper,
+and finding themselves now close to the door of the building, and thus
+sure of making their way in among the first when it should be thrown
+open, sat down upon the stone bench at the side, and, talking of the
+latest wonders, raised the expectations of all as to the delight they
+were about to have in being spectators of something marvellous--an
+apparition, perhaps, but at the very least, an administration of the
+torture.
+
+“Is it true, aunt,” asked Martine of the eldest gossip, “that you have
+heard the demons speak?”
+
+“Yes, child, true as I see you; many and many can say the same; and it
+was to convince you of it I brought you with me here, that you may see
+the power of the Evil One.”
+
+“What kind of voice has he?” continued the girl, glad to encourage
+a conversation which diverted from herself the invidious attention
+procured her by the soldier’s raillery.
+
+“Oh, he speaks with a voice like that of the Superior herself, to whom
+Our Lady be gracious! Poor young woman! I was with her yesterday a long
+time; it was sad to see her tearing her breast, turning her arms and her
+legs first one way and then another, and then, all of a sudden,
+twisting them together behind her back. When the holy Father Lactantius
+pronounced the name of Urbain Grandier, foam came out of her mouth, and
+she talked Latin for all the world as if she were reading the Bible. Of
+course, I did not understand what she said, and all I can remember of it
+now is, ‘Urbanus Magicus rosas diabolica,’ which they tell me means
+that the magician Urbain had bewitched her with some roses the Devil had
+given him; and so it must have been, for while Father Lactantius spoke,
+out of her ears and neck came a quantity of flame-colored roses, all
+smelling of sulphur so strongly that the judge-Advocate called out for
+every one present to stop their noses and eyes, for that the demons were
+about to come out.”
+
+“Ah, look there now!” exclaimed with shrill voices and a triumphant air
+the whole bevy of assembled women, turning toward the crowd, and more
+particularly toward a group of men attired in black, among whom
+was standing the young soldier who had cut his joke just before so
+unceremoniously.
+
+“Listen to the noisy old idiots!” exclaimed the soldier. “They think
+they’re at the witches’ Sabbath, but I don’t see their broomsticks.”
+
+“Young man, young man!” said a citizen, with a sad air, “jest not upon
+such subjects in the open air, or, in such a time as this, the wind may
+become gushing flames and destroy you.”
+
+“Pooh! I laugh at your exorcists!” returned the soldier; “my name is
+Grand-Ferre, and I’ve got here a better exorciser than any of you can
+show.”
+
+And significantly grasping the handle of his rapier in one hand, with
+the other he twisted up his blond moustache, as he looked fiercely
+around; but meeting no glance which returned the defiance of his own, he
+slowly withdrew, left foot foremost, and strolled along the dark, narrow
+streets with all the reckless nonchalance of a young soldier who has
+just donned his uniform, and a profound contempt for all who wear not a
+military coat.
+
+In the meantime eight or ten of the more substantial and rational
+inhabitants traversed in a body, slowly and silently, the agitated
+throng; they seemed overwhelmed with amazement and distress at the
+agitation and excitement they witnessed everywhere, and as each new
+instance of the popular frenzy appeared, they exchanged glances of
+wonder and apprehension. Their mute depression communicated itself to
+the working-people, and to the peasants who had flocked in from the
+adjacent country, and who, all sought a guide for their opinions in the
+faces of the principal townsmen, also for the most part proprietors of
+the surrounding districts. They saw that something calamitous was on
+foot, and resorted accordingly to the only remedy open to the ignorant
+and the beguiled--apathetic resignation.
+
+Yet, in the character of the French peasant is a certain scoffing
+finesse of which he makes effective use, sometimes with his equals,
+and almost invariably with his superiors. He puts questions to power as
+embarrassing as are those which infancy puts to mature age. He affects
+excessive humility, in order to confuse him whom he addresses with the
+very height of his isolated elevation. He exaggerates the awkwardness
+of his manner and the rudeness of his speech, as a means of covering his
+real thoughts under the appearance of mere uncouthness; yet, despite
+all his self-command, there is something in his air, certain fierce
+expressions which betray him to the close observer, who discerns in his
+sardonic smile, and in the marked emphasis with which he leans on his
+long staff, the hopes that secretly nourish his soul, and the aid upon
+which he ultimately relies.
+
+One of the oldest of the peasants whom we have indicated came on
+vigorously, followed by ten or twelve young men, his sons and nephews,
+all wearing the broad-brimmed hat and the blue frock or blouse of the
+ancient Gauls, which the peasants of France still wear over their
+other garments, as peculiarly adapted to their humid climate and their
+laborious habits.
+
+When the old man had reached the group of personages of whom we have
+just spoken, he took off his hat--an example immediately followed by his
+whole family--and showed a face tanned with exposure to the weather, a
+forehead bald and wrinkled with age, and long, white hair. His shoulders
+were bent with years and labor, but he was still a hale and sturdy man.
+He was received with an air of welcome, and even of respect, by one
+of the gravest of the grave group he had approached, who, without
+uncovering, however, extended to him his hand.
+
+“What! good Father Guillaume Leroux!” said he, “and have you, too, left
+our farm of La Chenaie to visit the town, when it’s not market-day?
+Why, ‘tis as if your oxen were to unharness themselves and go hunting,
+leaving their work to see a poor rabbit run down!”
+
+“Faith, Monsieur le Comte du Lude,” replied the farmer, “for that
+matter, sometimes the rabbit runs across our path of itself; but, in
+truth, I’ve a notion that some of the people here want to make fools of
+us, and so I’ve come to see about it.”
+
+“Enough of that, my friend,” returned the Count; “here is Monsieur
+Fournier, the Advocate, who assuredly will not deceive you, for he
+resigned his office of Attorney-General last night, that he might
+henceforth devote his eloquence to the service of his own noble
+thoughts. You will hear him, perhaps, to-day, though truly, I dread
+his appearing for his own sake as much as I desire it for that of the
+accused.”
+
+“I care not for myself,” said Fournier; “truth is with me a passion, and
+I would have it taught in all times and all places.”
+
+He that spoke was a young man, whose face, pallid in the extreme, was
+full of the noblest expression. His blond hair, his light-blue eyes,
+his thinness, the delicacy of his frame, made him at first sight
+seem younger than he was; but his thoughtful and earnest countenance
+indicated that mental superiority and that precocious maturity of soul
+which are developed by deep study in youth, combined with natural energy
+of character. He was attired wholly in black, with a short cloak in the
+fashion of the day, and carried under his left arm a roll of documents,
+which, when speaking, he would take in the right hand and grasp
+convulsively, as a warrior in his anger grasps the pommel of his sword.
+At one moment it seemed as if he were about to unfurl the scroll, and
+from it hurl lightning upon those whom he pursued with looks of fiery
+indignation--three Capuchins and a Franciscan, who had just passed.
+
+“Pere Guillaume,” pursued M. du Lude, “how is it you have brought with
+you only your sons, and they armed with their staves?”
+
+“Faith, Monsieur, I have no desire that our girls should learn to dance
+of the nuns; and, moreover, just now the lads with their staves may
+bestir themselves to better purpose than their sisters would.”
+
+“Take my advice, my old friend,” said the Count, “and don’t bestir
+yourselves at all; rather stand quietly aside to view the procession
+which you see approaching, and remember that you are seventy years old.”
+
+“Ah!” murmured the old man, drawing up his twelve sons in double
+military rank, “I fought under good King Henriot, and can play at sword
+and pistol as well as the worthy ‘ligueurs’;” and shaking his head he
+leaned against a post, his knotty staff between his crossed legs, his
+hands clasped on its thick butt-end, and his white, bearded chin
+resting on his hands. Then, half closing his eyes, he appeared lost in
+recollections of his youth.
+
+The bystanders observed with interest his dress, slashed in the fashion
+of Henri IV, and his resemblance to the Bearnese monarch in the latter
+years of his life, though the King’s hair had been prevented by the
+assassin’s blade from acquiring the whiteness which that of the old
+peasant had peacefully attained. A furious pealing of the bells,
+however, attracted the general attention to the end of the great
+street, down which was seen filing a long procession, whose banners and
+glittering pikes rose above the heads of the crowd, which successively
+and in silence opened a way for the at once absurd and terrible train.
+
+First, two and two, came a body of archers, with pointed beards and
+large plumed hats, armed with long halberds, who, ranging in a single
+file on each side of the middle of the street, formed an avenue along
+which marched in solemn order a procession of Gray Penitents--men
+attired in long, gray robes, the hoods of which entirely covered their
+heads; masks of the same stuff terminated below their chins in points,
+like beards, each having three holes for the eyes and nose. Even at the
+present day we see these costumes at funerals, more especially in the
+Pyrenees. The Penitents of Loudun carried enormous wax candles, and
+their slow, uniform movement, and their eyes, which seemed to glitter
+under their masks, gave them the appearance of phantoms.
+
+The people expressed their various feelings in an undertone:
+
+“There’s many a rascal hidden under those masks,” said a citizen.
+
+“Ay, and with a face uglier than the mask itself,” added a young man.
+
+“They make me afraid,” tremulously exclaimed a girl.
+
+“I’m only afraid for my purse,” said the first speaker.
+
+“Ah, heaven! there are our holy brethren, the Penitents,” cried an old
+woman, throwing back her hood, the better to look at them. “See the
+banner they bear! Ah, neighbors, ‘tis a joyful thing to have it among
+us! Beyond a doubt it will save us; see, it shows the devil in flames,
+and a monk fastening a chain round his neck, to keep him in hell. Ah,
+here come the judges--noble gentlemen! dear gentlemen! Look at their red
+robes; how beautiful! Blessed be the Virgin, they’ve been well chosen!”
+
+“Every man of them is a personal enemy of the Cure,” whispered the Count
+du Lude to the advocate Fournier, who took a note of the information.
+
+“Don’t you know them, neighbors?” pursued the shrill, sharp voice of the
+old woman, as she elbowed one and pinched another of those near her to
+attract their attention to the objects of her admiration; “see, there’s
+excellent Monsieur Mignon, whispering to Messieurs the Counsellors of
+the Court of Poitiers; Heaven bless them all, say I!”
+
+“Yes, there are Roatin, Richard, and Chevalier--the very men who tried
+to have him dismissed a year ago,” continued M. du Lude, in undertones,
+to the young advocate, who, surrounded and hidden from public
+observation by the group of dark-clad citizens, was writing down his
+observations in a note-book under his cloak.
+
+“Here; look, look!” screamed the woman. “Make way! here’s Monsieur
+Barre, the Cure of Saint-Jacques at Chinon.”
+
+“A saint!” murmured one bystander.
+
+“A hypocrite!” exclaimed a manly voice.
+
+“See how thin he is with fasting!”
+
+“See how pale he is with remorse!”
+
+“He’s the man to drive away devils!”
+
+“Yes, but not till he’s done with them for his own purposes.”
+
+The dialogue was interrupted by the general exclamation, “How beautiful
+she is!”
+
+The Superior of the Ursulines advanced, followed by all her nuns. Her
+white veil was raised; in order that the people might see the features
+of the possessed ones, it had been ordered that it should be thus with
+her and six of the sisterhood. Her attire had no distinguishing feature,
+except a large rosary extending from her neck nearly to her feet, from
+which hung a gold cross; but the dazzling pallor of her face, rendered
+still more conspicuous by the dark hue of her capuchon, at once fixed
+the general gaze upon her. Her brilliant, dark eyes, which bore the
+impress of some deep and burning passion, were crowned with eyebrows so
+perfectly arched that Nature herself seemed to have taken as much pains
+to form them as the Circassian women to pencil theirs artistically; but
+between them a slight fold revealed the powerful agitation within. In
+her movements, however, and throughout her whole bearing, she affected
+perfect calm; her steps were slow and measured, and her beautiful hands
+were crossed on her bosom, as white and motionless as those of the
+marble statues joined in eternal prayer.
+
+“See, aunt,” ejaculated Martine, “see how Sister Agnes and Sister Claire
+are weeping, next to the Superior!”
+
+“Ay, niece, they weep because they are the prey of the demon.”
+
+“Or rather,” interposed the same manly voice that spoke before, “because
+they repent of having mocked Heaven.”
+
+A deep silence now pervaded the multitude; not a word was heard, not
+a movement, hardly a breath. Every one seemed paralyzed by some sudden
+enchantment, when, following the nuns, among four Penitents who held him
+in chains, appeared the Cure of the Church of Ste. Croix, attired in his
+pastor’s robe. His was a noble, fine face, with grandeur in its whole
+expression, and gentleness in every feature. Affecting no scornful
+indifference to his position, he looked calmly and kindly around, as if
+he sought on his dark path the affectionate glances of those who loved
+him. Nor did he seek in vain; here and there he encountered those
+glances, and joyfully returned them. He even heard sobs, and he saw
+hands extended toward him, many of which grasped weapons. But no gesture
+of his encouraged these mute offers of aid; he lowered his eyes and went
+on, careful not to compromise those who so trusted in him, or to involve
+them in his own misfortunes. This was Urbain Grandier.
+
+Suddenly the procession stopped, at a sign from the man who walked
+apart, and who seemed to command its progress. He was tall, thin,
+sallow; he wore a long black robe, with a cap of the same material
+and color; he had the face of a Don Basilio, with the eye of Nero.
+He motioned the guards to surround him more closely, when he saw with
+affright the dark group we have mentioned, and the strong-limbed and
+resolute peasants who seemed in attendance upon them. Then, advancing
+somewhat before the Canons and Capuchins who were with him, he
+pronounced, in a shrill voice, this singular decree:
+
+   “We, Sieur de Laubardemont, referendary, being delegated and
+   invested with discretionary power in the matter of the trial of the
+   magician Urbain Grandier, upon the various articles of accusation
+   brought against him, assisted by the reverend Fathers Mignon, canon,
+   Barre, cure of St. Jacques at Chinon, Father Lactantius, and all the
+   other judges appointed to try the said magician, have decreed as
+   follows:
+
+   “Primo: the factitious assembly of proprietors, noble citizens of
+   this town and its environs, is dissolved, as tending to popular
+   sedition; its proceedings are declared null, and its letter to the
+   King, against us, the judges, which has been intercepted, shall be
+   publicly burned in the marketplace as calumniating the good
+   Ursulines and the reverend fathers and judges.
+
+   “Secundo: it is forbidden to say, publicly or in private, that the
+   said nuns are not possessed by the Evil Spirit, or to doubt of the
+   power of the exorcists, under pain of a fine of twenty thousand
+   livres, and corporal punishment.
+
+   “Let the bailiffs and sheriffs obey this. Given the eighteenth of
+   June, in the year of grace 1639.”
+
+Before he had well finished reading the decree, the discordant blare of
+trumpets, bursting forth at a prearranged signal, drowned, to a
+certain extent, the murmurs that followed its proclamation, amid which
+Laubardemont urged forward the procession, which entered the great
+building already referred to--an ancient convent, whose interior had
+crumbled away, its walls now forming one vast hall, well adapted for the
+purpose to which it was about to be applied. Laubardemont did not deem
+himself safe until he was within the building and had heard the heavy,
+double doors creak on their hinges as, closing, they excluded the
+furious crowd without.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE GOOD PRIEST
+
+     L’homme de paix me parla ainsi.--VICAIRE SAVOYARD.
+
+Now that the diabolical procession is in the arena destined for its
+spectacle, and is arranging its sanguinary representation, let us see
+what Cinq-Mars had been doing amid the agitated throng. He was naturally
+endowed with great tact, and he felt that it would be no easy matter
+for him to attain his object of seeing the Abbe Quillet, at a time when
+public excitement was at its height. He therefore remained on horseback
+with his four servants in a small, dark street that led into the main
+thoroughfare, whence he could see all that passed. No one at first paid
+any attention to him; but when public curiosity had no other aliment, he
+became an object of general interest. Weary of so many strange scenes,
+the inhabitants looked upon him with some exasperation, and whispered to
+one another, asking whether this was another exorcist come among them.
+Feeling that it was time to take a decided course, he advanced with
+his attendants, hat in hand, toward the group in black of whom we
+have spoken, and addressing him who appeared its chief member, said,
+“Monsieur, where can I find Monsieur l’Abbe Quillet?”
+
+At this name, all regarded him with an air of terror, as if he had
+pronounced that of Lucifer. Yet no anger was shown; on the contrary, it
+seemed that the question had favorably changed for him the minds of all
+who heard him. Moreover, chance had served him well in his choice; the
+Comte du Lude came up to his horse, and saluting him, said, “Dismount,
+Monsieur, and I will give you some useful information concerning him.”
+
+After speaking a while in whispers, the two gentlemen separated with
+all the ceremonious courtesy of the time. Cinq-Mars remounted his black
+horse, and passing through numerous narrow streets, was soon out of the
+crowd with his retinue.
+
+“How happy I am!” he soliloquized, as he went his way; “I shall, at all
+events, for a moment see the good and kind clergyman who brought me
+up; even now I recall his features, his calm air, his voice so full of
+gentleness.”
+
+As these tender thoughts filled his mind, he found himself in the small,
+dark street which had been indicated to him; it was so narrow that the
+knee-pieces of his boots touched the wall on each side. At the end of
+the street he came to a one-storied wooden house, and in his eagerness
+knocked at the door with repeated strokes.
+
+“Who is there?” cried a furious voice within; and at the same moment,
+the door opening revealed a little short, fat man, with a very red
+face, dressed in black, with a large white ruff, and riding-boots which
+engulfed his short legs in their vast depths. In his hands were a pair
+of horse-pistols.
+
+“I will sell my life dearly!” he cried; “and--”
+
+“Softly, Abbe, softly,” said his pupil, taking his arm; “we are
+friends.”
+
+“Ah, my son, is it you?” said the good man, letting fall his pistols,
+which were picked up by a domestic, also armed to the teeth. “What do
+you here? The abomination has entered the town, and I only await the
+night to depart. Make haste within, my dear boy, with your people. I
+took you for the archers of Laubardemont, and, faith, I intended to
+take a part somewhat out of my line. You see the horses in the courtyard
+there; they will convey me to Italy, where I shall rejoin our friend,
+the Duc de Bouillon. Jean! Jean! hasten and close the great gate after
+Monsieur’s domestics, and recommend them not to make too much noise,
+although for that matter we have no habitation near us.”
+
+Grandchamp obeyed the intrepid little Abbe, who then embraced Cinq-Mars
+four consecutive times, raising himself on the points of his boots, so
+as to attain the middle of his pupil’s breast. He then hurried him into
+a small room, which looked like a deserted granary; and seating him
+beside himself upon a black leather trunk, he said, warmly:
+
+“Well, my son, whither go you? How came Madame la Marechale to allow you
+to come here? Do you not see what they are doing against an unhappy man,
+whose death alone will content them? Alas, merciful Heaven! is this
+the first spectacle my dear pupil is to see? And you at that delightful
+period of life when friendship, love, confidence, should alone encompass
+you; when all around you should give you a favorable opinion of your
+species, at your very entry into the great world! How unfortunate! alas,
+why did you come?”
+
+When the good Abbe had followed up this lamentation by pressing
+affectionately both hands of the young traveller in his own, so red and
+wrinkled, the latter answered:
+
+“Can you not guess, my dear Abbe, that I came to Loudun because you
+are here? As to the spectacle you speak of, it appears to me simply
+ridiculous; and I swear that I do not a whit the less on its account
+love that human race of which your virtues and your good lessons have
+given me an excellent idea. As to the five or six mad women who--”
+
+“Let us not lose time; I will explain to you all that matter; but answer
+me, whither go you, and for what?”
+
+“I am going to Perpignan, where the Cardinal-Duke is to present me to
+the King.”
+
+At this the worthy but hasty Abbe rose from his box, and walked, or
+rather ran, to and fro, stamping. “The Cardinal! the Cardinal!” he
+repeated, almost choking, his face becoming scarlet, and the tears
+rising to his eyes; “My poor child! they will destroy him! Ah, mon Dieu!
+what part would they have him play there? What would they do with
+him? Ah, who will protect thee, my son, in that dangerous place?” he
+continued, reseating himself, and again taking his pupil’s hands in his
+own with a paternal solicitude, as he endeavored to read his thoughts in
+his countenance.
+
+“Why, I do not exactly know,” said Cinq-Mars, looking up at the ceiling;
+“but I suppose it will be the Cardinal de Richelieu, who was the friend
+of my father.”
+
+“Ah, my dear Henri, you make me tremble; he will ruin you unless you
+become his docile instrument. Alas, why can not I go with you? Why must
+I act the young man of twenty in this unfortunate affair? Alas, I should
+be perilous to you; I must, on the contrary, conceal myself. But you
+will have Monsieur de Thou near you, my son, will you not?” said he,
+trying to reassure himself; “he was your friend in childhood, though
+somewhat older than yourself. Heed his counsels, my child, he is a wise
+young man of mature reflection and solid ideas.”
+
+“Oh, yes, my dear Abbe, you may depend upon my tender attachment for
+him; I never have ceased to love him.”
+
+“But you have ceased to write to him, have you not?” asked the good
+Abbe, half smilingly.
+
+“I beg your pardon, my dear Abbe, I wrote to him once, and again
+yesterday, to inform him that the Cardinal has invited me to court.”
+
+“How! has he himself desired your presence?”
+
+Cinq-Mars hereupon showed the letter of the Cardinal-Duke to his mother,
+and his old preceptor grew gradually calmer.
+
+“Ah, well!” said he to himself, “this is not so bad, perhaps, after
+all. It looks promising; a captain of the guards at twenty--that sounds
+well!” and the worthy Abbe’s face became all smiles.
+
+The young man, delighted to see these smiles, which so harmonized with
+his own thoughts, fell upon the neck of the Abbe and embraced him, as if
+the good man had thus assured to him a futurity of pleasure, glory, and
+love.
+
+But the good Abbe, with difficulty disengaging himself from this warm
+embrace, resumed his walk, his reflections, and his gravity. He coughed
+often and shook his head; and Cinq-Mars, not venturing to pursue the
+conversation, watched him, and became sad as he saw him become serious.
+
+The old man at last sat down, and in a mournful tone addressed his
+pupil:
+
+“My friend, my son, I have for a moment yielded like a father to your
+hopes; but I must tell you, and it is not to afflict you, that they
+appear to me excessive and unnatural. If the Cardinal’s sole aim were
+to show attachment and gratitude toward your family, he would not have
+carried his favors so far; no, the extreme probability is that he has
+designs upon you. From what has been told him, he thinks you adapted to
+play some part, as yet impossible for us to divine, but which he himself
+has traced out in the deepest recesses of his mind. He wishes to educate
+you for this; he wishes to drill you into it. Allow me the expression in
+consideration of its accuracy, and think seriously of it when the time
+shall come. But I am inclined to believe that, as matters are, you would
+do well to follow up this vein in the great mine of State; in this way
+high fortunes have begun. You must only take heed not to be blinded
+and led at will. Let not favors dazzle you, my poor child, and let not
+elevation turn your head. Be not so indignant at the suggestion; the
+thing has happened to older men than yourself. Write to me often, as
+well as to your mother; see Monsieur de Thou, and together we will try
+to keep you in good counsel. Now, my son, be kind enough to close that
+window through which the wind comes upon my head, and I will tell you
+what has been going on here.”
+
+Henri, trusting that the moral part of the discourse was over, and
+anticipating nothing in the second part but a narrative more or less
+interesting, closed the old casement, festooned with cobwebs, and
+resumed his seat without speaking.
+
+“Now that I reflect further,” continued the Abbe, “I think it will
+not perhaps be unprofitable for you to have passed through this place,
+although it be a sad experience you shall have acquired; but it will
+supply what I may not have formerly told you of the wickedness of men.
+I hope, moreover, that the result will not be fatal, and that the letter
+we have written to the King will arrive in time.”
+
+“I heard that it had been intercepted,” interposed Cinq-Mars.
+
+“Then all is over,” said the Abbe Quillet; “the Cure is lost. But
+listen. God forbid, my son, that I, your old tutor, should seek to
+assail my own work, and attempt to weaken your faith! Preserve ever and
+everywhere that simple creed of which your noble family has given you
+the example, which our fathers possessed in a still higher degree than
+we, and of which the greatest captains of our time are not ashamed.
+Always, while you wear a sword, remember that you hold it for the
+service of God. But at the same time, when you are among men, avoid
+being deceived by the hypocrite. He will encompass you, my son; he will
+assail you on the vulnerable side of your ingenuous heart, in addressing
+your religion; and seeing the extravagance of his affected zeal, you
+will fancy yourself lukewarm as compared with him. You will think that
+your conscience cries out against you; but it will not be the voice of
+conscience that you hear. And what cries would not that conscience send
+forth, how fiercely would it not rise upon you, did you contribute
+to the destruction of innocence by invoking Heaven itself as a false
+witness against it?”
+
+“Oh, my father! can such things be possible?” exclaimed Henri d’Effiat,
+clasping his hands.
+
+“It is but too true,” continued the Abbe; “you saw a partial execution
+of it this morning. God grant you may not witness still greater horrors!
+But listen! whatever you may see, whatever crime they dare to commit, I
+conjure you, in the name of your mother and of all that you hold
+dear, say not a word; make not a gesture that may indicate any opinion
+whatever. I know the impetuous character that you derive from
+the Marechal, your father; curb it, or you are lost. These little
+ebullitions of passion give but slight satisfaction, and bring about
+great misfortunes. I have observed you give way to them too much. Oh,
+did you but know the advantage that a calm temper gives one over men!
+The ancients stamped it on the forehead of the divinity as his finest
+attribute, since it shows that he is superior to our fears and to our
+hopes, to our pleasures and to our pains. Therefore, my dear child,
+remain passive in the scenes you are about to witness; but see them
+you must. Be present at this sad trial; for me, I must suffer the
+consequences of my schoolboy folly. I will relate it to you; it will
+prove to you that with a bald head one may be as much a child as with
+your fine chestnut curls.”
+
+And the excellent old Abbe, taking his pupil’s head affectionately
+between his hands, continued:
+
+“Like other people, my dear son, I was curious to see the devils of the
+Ursulines; and knowing that they professed to speak all languages, I was
+so imprudent as to cease speaking Latin and to question them in Greek.
+The Superior is very pretty, but she does not know Greek! Duncan, the
+physician, observed aloud that it was surprising that the demon, who
+knew everything, should commit barbarisms and solecisms in Latin, and
+not be able to answer in Greek. The young Superior, who was then upon
+her bed, turned toward the wall to weep, and said in an undertone to
+Father Barre, ‘I can not go on with this, father.’ I repeated her words
+aloud, and infuriated all the exorcists; they cried out that I ought to
+know that there are demons more ignorant than peasants, and said that as
+to their power and physical strength, it could not be doubted, since the
+spirits named Gresil des Trones, Aman des Puissance, and Asmodeus, had
+promised to carry off the calotte of Monsieur de Laubardemont. They were
+preparing for this, when the physician Duncan, a learned and upright
+man, but somewhat of a scoffer, took it into his head to pull a cord he
+discovered fastened to a column like a bell-rope, and which hung down
+just close to the referendary’s head; whereupon they called him a
+Huguenot, and I am satisfied that if Marechal de Breze were not his
+protector, it would have gone ill with him. The Comte du Lude then came
+forward with his customary ‘sang-froid’, and begged the exorcists to
+perform before him. Father Lactantius, the Capuchin with the dark visage
+and hard look, proceeded with Sister Agnes and Sister Claire; he raised
+both his hands, looking at them as a serpent would look at two dogs, and
+cried in a terrible voice, ‘Quis to misit, Diabole?’ and the two sisters
+answered, as with one voice, ‘Urbanus.’ He was about to continue, when
+Monsieur du Lude, taking out of his pocket, with an air of veneration,
+a small gold box, said that he had in it a relic left by his ancestors,
+and that though not doubting the fact of the possession, he wished to
+test it. Father Lactantius seized the box with delight, and hardly had
+he touched the foreheads of the two sisters with it when they made great
+leaps and twisted about their hands and feet. Lactantius shouted forth
+his exorcisms; Barre threw himself upon his knees with all the old
+women; and Mignon and the judges applauded. The impassible Laubardemont
+made the sign of the cross, without being struck dead for it! When
+Monsieur du Lude took back his box the nuns became still. ‘I think,’
+said Lactantius, insolently, ‘that--you will not question your relics
+now.’ ‘No more than I do the possession,’ answered Monsieur du Lude,
+opening his box and showing that it was empty. ‘Monsieur, you mock us,’
+said Lactantius. I was indignant at these mummeries, and said to him,
+‘Yes, Monsieur, as you mock God and men.’ And this, my dear friend, is
+the reason why you see me in my seven-league boots, so heavy that they
+hurt my legs, and with pistols; for our friend Laubardemont has ordered
+my person to be seized, and I don’t choose it to be seized, old as it
+is.”
+
+“What, is he so powerful, then?” cried Cinq-Mars.
+
+“More so than is supposed--more so than could be believed. I know that
+the possessed Abbess is his niece, and that he is provided with an order
+in council directing him to judge, without being deterred by any appeals
+lodged in Parliament, the Cardinal having prohibited the latter from
+taking cognizance of the matter of Urbain Grandier.”
+
+“And what are his offences?” asked the young man, already deeply
+interested.
+
+“Those of a strong mind and of a great genius, an inflexible will which
+has irritated power against him, and a profound passion which has driven
+his heart and him to commit the only mortal sin with which I believe
+he can be reproached; and it was only by violating the sanctity of his
+private papers, which they tore from Jeanne d’Estievre, his mother, an
+old woman of eighty, that they discovered his love for the beautiful
+Madeleine de Brou. This girl had refused to marry, and wished to take
+the veil. May that veil have concealed from her the spectacle of this
+day! The eloquence of Grandier and his angelic beauty drove the women
+half mad; they came miles and miles to hear him. I have seen them swoon
+during his sermons; they declared him an angel, and touched his garment
+and kissed his hands when he descended from the pulpit. It is certain
+that, unless it be his beauty, nothing could equal the sublimity of
+his discourses, ever full of inspiration. The pure honey of the gospel
+combined on his lips with the flashing flame of the prophecies; and one
+recognized in the sound of his voice a heart overflowing with holy pity
+for the evils to which mankind are subject, and filled with tears, ready
+to flow for us.”
+
+The good priest paused, for his own voice and eyes were filled with
+tears; his round and naturally Joyous face was more touching than a
+graver one under the same circumstances, for it seemed as if it bade
+defiance to sadness. Cinq-Mars, even more moved, pressed his hand
+without speaking, fearful of interrupting him. The Abbe took out a red
+handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and continued:
+
+“This is the second attack upon Urbain by his combined enemies. He
+had already been accused of bewitching the nuns; but, examined by holy
+prelates, by enlightened magistrates, and learned physicians, he was
+immediately acquitted, and the judges indignantly imposed silence upon
+these devils in human form. The good and pious Archbishop of Bordeaux,
+who had himself chosen the examiners of these pretended exorcists,
+drove the prophets away and shut up their hell. But, humiliated by the
+publicity of the result, annoyed at seeing Grandier kindly received by
+our good King when he threw himself at his feet at Paris, they saw that
+if he triumphed they were lost, and would be universally regarded as
+impostors. Already the convent of the Ursulines was looked upon only as
+a theatre for disgraceful comedies, and the nuns themselves as shameless
+actresses. More than a hundred persons, furious against the Cure,
+had compromised themselves in the hope of destroying him. Their plot,
+instead of being abandoned, has gained strength by its first check; and
+here are the means that have been set to work by his implacable enemies.
+
+“Do you know a man called ‘L’Eminence Grise’, that formidable Capuchin
+whom the Cardinal employs in all things, consults upon some, and
+always despises? It was to him that the Capuchins of Loudun addressed
+themselves. A woman of this place, of low birth, named Hamon, having
+been so fortunate as to please the Queen when she passed through Loudun,
+was taken into her service. You know the hatred that separates her court
+from that of the Cardinal; you know that Anne of Austria and Monsieur de
+Richelieu have for some time disputed for the King’s favor, and that,
+of her two suns, France never knew in the evening which would rise next
+morning. During a temporary eclipse of the Cardinal, a satire appeared,
+issuing from the planetary system of the Queen; it was called, ‘La
+cordonniere de la seine-mere’. Its tone and language were vulgar; but it
+contained things so insulting about the birth and person of the Cardinal
+that the enemies of the minister took it up and gave it a publicity
+which irritated him. It revealed, it is said, many intrigues and
+mysteries which he had deemed impenetrable. He read this anonymous
+work, and desired to know its author. It was just at this time that
+the Capuchins of this town wrote to Father Joseph that a constant
+correspondence between Grandier and La Hamon left no doubt in their
+minds as to his being the author of this diatribe. It was in vain that
+he had previously published religious books, prayers, and meditations,
+the style of which alone ought to have absolved him from having put
+his hand to a libel written in the language of the marketplace; the
+Cardinal, long since prejudiced against Urbain, was determined to fix
+upon him as the culprit. He remembered that when he was only prior of
+Coussay, Grandier disputed precedence with him and gained it; I fear
+this achievement of precedence in life will make poor Grandier precede
+the Cardinal in death also.”
+
+A melancholy smile played upon the lips of the good Abbe as he uttered
+this involuntary pun.
+
+“What! do you think this matter will go so far as death?”
+
+“Ay, my son, even to death; they have already taken away all the
+documents connected with his former absolution that might have served
+for his defence, despite the opposition of his poor mother, who
+preserved them as her son’s license to live. Even now they affect to
+regard a work against the celibacy of priests, found among his papers,
+as destined to propagate schism. It is a culpable production, doubtless,
+and the love which dictated it, however pure it may be, is an enormous
+sin in a man consecrated to God alone; but this poor priest was far from
+wishing to encourage heresy, and it was simply, they say, to appease
+the remorse of Mademoiselle de Brou that he composed the work. It was so
+evident that his real faults would not suffice to condemn him to death
+that they have revived the accusation of sorcery, long since disposed
+of; but, feigning to believe this, the Cardinal has established a new
+tribunal in this town, and has placed Laubardemont at its head, a sure
+sign of death. Heaven grant that you never become acquainted with what
+the corruption of governments call coups-d’etat!”
+
+At this moment a terrible shriek sounded from beyond the wall of the
+courtyard; the Abbe arose in terror, as did Cinq-Mars.
+
+“It is the cry of a woman,” said the old man.
+
+“‘Tis heartrending!” exclaimed Cinq-Mars. “What is it?” he asked his
+people, who had all rushed out into the courtyard.
+
+They answered that they heard nothing further.
+
+“Well, well,” said the Abbe, “make no noise.” He then shut the window,
+and put his hands before his eyes.
+
+“Ah, what a cry was that, my son!” he said, with his face of an ashy
+paleness--“what a cry! It pierced my very soul; some calamity has
+happened. Ah, holy Virgin! it has so agitated me that I can talk with
+you no more. Why did I hear it, just as I was speaking to you of your
+future career? My dear child, may God bless you! Kneel!”
+
+Cinq-Mars did as he was desired, and knew by a kiss upon his head that
+he had been blessed by the old man, who then raised him, saying:
+
+“Go, my son, the time is advancing; they might find you with me. Go,
+leave your people and horses here; wrap yourself in a cloak, and go; I
+have much to write ere the hour when darkness shall allow me to depart
+for Italy.”
+
+They embraced once more, promising to write to each other, and Henri
+quitted the house. The Abby, still following him with his eyes from the
+window, cried:
+
+“Be prudent, whatever may happen,” and sent him with his hands one more
+paternal blessing, saying, “Poor child! poor child!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE TRIAL
+
+        Oh, vendetta di Dio, quanto to dei
+        Esser temuta da ciascun che legge
+        Cio, che fu manifesto agli occhi miei.--DANTE.
+
+Notwithstanding the custom of having secret trials, freely countenanced
+by Richelieu, the judges of the Cure of Loudun had resolved that the
+court should be open to the public; but they soon repented this measure.
+They were all interested in the destruction of Urbain Grandier; but
+they desired that the indignation of the country should in some degree
+sanction the sentence of death they had received orders to pass and to
+carry into effect.
+
+Laubardemont was a kind of bird of prey, whom the Cardinal always let
+loose when he required a prompt and sure agent for his vengeance; and on
+this occasion he fully justified the choice that had been made of him.
+He committed but one error--that of allowing a public trial, contrary
+to the usual custom; his object had been to intimidate and to dismay. He
+dismayed, indeed, but he created also a feeling of indignant horror.
+
+The throng without the gates had waited there two hours, during which
+time the sound of hammers indicated that within the great hall they were
+hastily completing their mysterious preparations. At length the archers
+laboriously turned upon their hinges the heavy gates opening into the
+street, and the crowd eagerly rushed in. The young Cinq-Mars was carried
+along with the second enormous wave, and, placed behind a thick column,
+stood there, so as to be able to see without being seen. He observed
+with vexation that the group of dark-clad citizens was near him; but the
+great gates, closing, left the part of the court where the people stood
+in such darkness that there was no likelihood of his being recognized.
+Although it was only midday, the hall was lighted with torches; but they
+were nearly all placed at the farther end, where rose the judges’ bench
+behind a long table. The chairs, tables, and steps were all covered with
+black cloth, and cast a livid hue over the faces of those near them.
+A seat reserved for the prisoner was placed upon the left, and on the
+crape robe which covered him flames were represented in gold embroidery
+to indicate the nature of the offence. Here sat the accused, surrounded
+by archers, with his hands still bound in chains, held by two monks,
+who, with simulated terror, affected to start from him at his slightest
+motion, as if they held a tiger or enraged wolf, or as if the flames
+depicted on his robe could communicate themselves to their clothing.
+They also carefully kept his face from being seen in the least degree by
+the people.
+
+The impassible countenance of M. de Laubardemont was there to dominate
+the judges of his choice; almost a head taller than any of them, he
+sat upon a seat higher than theirs, and each of his glassy and uneasy
+glances seemed to convey a command. He wore a long, full scarlet robe,
+and a black cap covered his head; he seemed occupied in arranging
+papers, which he then passed to the judges. The accusers, all
+ecclesiastics, sat upon the right hand of the judges; they wore their
+albs and stoles. Father Lactantius was distinguishable among them by
+his simple Capuchin habit, his tonsure, and the extreme hardness of
+his features. In a side gallery sat the Bishop of Poitiers, hidden from
+view; other galleries were filled with veiled women. Below the bench of
+judges a group of men and women, the dregs of the populace, stood behind
+six young Ursuline nuns, who seemed full of disgust at their proximity;
+these were the witnesses.
+
+The rest of the hall was filled with an enormous crowd, gloomy and
+silent, clinging to the arches, the gates, and the beams, and full of
+a terror which communicated itself to the judges, for it arose from an
+interest in the accused. Numerous archers, armed with long pikes, formed
+an appropriate frame for this lugubrious picture.
+
+At a sign from the President, the witnesses withdrew through a narrow
+door opened for them by an usher. As the Superior of the Ursulines
+passed M. de Laubardemont she was heard to say to him, “You have
+deceived me, Monsieur.” He remained immovable, and she went on. A
+profound silence reigned throughout the whole assembly.
+
+Rising with all the gravity he could assume, but still with visible
+agitation, one of the judges, named Houmain, judge-Advocate of Orleans,
+read a sort of indictment in a voice so low and hoarse that it was
+impossible to follow it. He made himself heard only when what he had to
+say was intended to impose upon the minds of the people. He divided
+the evidence into two classes: one, the depositions of seventy-two
+witnesses; the other, more convincing, that resulting from “the
+exorcisms of the reverend fathers here present,” said he, crossing
+himself.
+
+Fathers Lactantius, Barre, and Mignon bowed low, repeating the sacred
+sign.
+
+“Yes, my lords,” said Houmain, addressing the judges, “this bouquet of
+white roses and this manuscript, signed with the blood of the magician,
+a counterpart of the contract he has made with Lucifer, and which he
+was obliged to carry about him in order to preserve his power, have
+been recognized and brought before you. We read with horror these words
+written at the bottom of the parchment: ‘The original is in hell, in
+Lucifer’s private cabinet.’”
+
+A roar of laughter, which seemed to come from stentorian lungs, was
+heard in the throng. The president reddened, and made a sign to
+the archers, who in vain endeavored to discover the disturber. The
+judge-Advocate continued:
+
+“The demons have been forced to declare their names by the mouths of
+their victims. Their names and deeds are deposited upon this table. They
+are called Astaroth, of the order of Seraphim; Eazas, Celsus, Acaos,
+Cedron, Asmodeus, of the order of Thrones; Alex, Zebulon, Cham, Uriel,
+and Achas, of the order of Principalities, and so on, for their number
+is infinite. For their actions, who among us has not been a witness of
+them?”
+
+A prolonged murmur arose from the gathering, but, upon some halberdiers
+advancing, all became silent.
+
+“We have seen, with grief, the young and respectable Superior of the
+Ursulines tear her bosom with her own hands and grovel in the dust;
+we have seen the sisters, Agnes, Claire, and others, deviate from the
+modesty of their sex by impassioned gestures and unseemly laughter. When
+impious men have inclined to doubt the presence of the demons, and we
+ourselves felt our convictions shaken, because they refused to answer
+to unknown questions in Greek or Arabic, the reverend fathers have, to
+establish our belief, deigned to explain to us that the malignity of
+evil spirits being extreme, it was not surprising that they should feign
+this ignorance in order that they might be less pressed with questions;
+and that in their answers they had committed various solecisms and other
+grammatical faults in order to bring contempt upon themselves, so that
+out of this disdain the holy doctors might leave them in quiet. Their
+hatred is so inveterate that just before performing one of their
+miraculous feats, they suspended a rope from a beam in order to involve
+the reverend personages in a suspicion of fraud, whereas it has been
+deposed on oath by credible people that there never had been a cord in
+that place.
+
+“But, my lords, while Heaven was thus miraculously explaining itself by
+the mouths of its holy interpreters, another light has just been
+thrown upon us. At the very time the judges were absorbed in profound
+meditation, a loud cry was heard near the hall of council; and upon
+going to the spot, we found the body of a young lady of high birth. She
+had just exhaled her last breath in the public street, in the arms of
+the reverend Father Mignon, Canon; and we learned from the said father
+here present, and from several other grave personages, that, suspecting
+the young lady to be possessed, by reason of the current rumor for some
+time past of the admiration Urbain Grandier had for her, an idea of
+testing it happily occurred to the Canon, who suddenly said, approaching
+her, ‘Grandier has just been put to death,’ whereat she uttered one loud
+scream and fell dead, deprived by the demon of the time necessary for
+giving her the assistance of our holy Mother, the Catholic Church.”
+
+A murmur of indignation arose from the crowd, among whom the word
+“Assassin” was loudly reechoed; the halberdiers commanded silence with
+a loud voice, but it was obtained rather by the judge resuming his
+address, the general curiosity triumphing.
+
+“Oh, infamy!” he continued, seeking to fortify himself by exclamations;
+“upon her person was found this work, written by the hand of Urbain
+Grandier,” and he took from among his papers a book bound in parchment.
+
+“Heavens!” cried Urbain from his seat.
+
+“Look to your prisoner!” cried the judge to the archers who surrounded
+him.
+
+“No doubt the demon is about to manifest himself,” said Father
+Lactantius, in a sombre voice; “tighten his bonds.” He was obeyed.
+
+The judge-Advocate continued, “Her name was Madeleine de Brou, aged
+nineteen.”
+
+“O God! this is too much!” cried the accused, as he fell fainting on the
+ground.
+
+The assembly was deeply agitated; for a moment there was an absolute
+tumult.
+
+“Poor fellow! he loved her,” said some.
+
+“So good a lady!” cried the women.
+
+Pity began to predominate. Cold water was thrown upon Grandier, without
+his being taken from the court, and he was tied to his seat. The
+Judge-Advocate went on:
+
+“We are directed to read the beginning of this book to the court,” and
+he read as follows:
+
+   “‘It is for thee, dear and gentle Madeleine, in order to set at rest
+   thy troubled conscience, that I have described in this book one
+   thought of my soul. All those thoughts tend to thee, celestial
+   creature, because in thee they return to the aim and object of my
+   whole existence; but the thought I send thee, as ‘twere a flower,
+   comes from thee, exists only in thee, and returns to thee alone.
+
+   “‘Be not sad because thou lovest me; be not afflicted because I
+   adore thee. The angels of heaven, what is it that they do? The
+   souls of the blessed, what is it that is promised them? Are we less
+   pure than the angels? Are our souls less separated from the earth
+   than they will be after death? Oh, Madeleine, what is there in us
+   wherewith the Lord can be displeased? Can it be that we pray
+   together, that with faces prostrate in the dust before His altars,
+   we ask for early death to take us while yet youth and love are ours?
+   Or that, musing together beneath the funereal trees of the
+   churchyard, we yearned for one grave, smiling at the idea of death,
+   and weeping at life? Or that, when thou kneelest before me at the
+   tribunal of penitence, and, speaking in the presence of God, canst
+   find naught of evil to reveal to me, so wholly have I kept thy soul
+   in the pure regions of heaven? What, then, could offend our
+   Creator? Perhaps--yes! perhaps some spirit of heaven may have
+   envied me my happiness when on Easter morn I saw thee kneeling
+   before me, purified by long austerities from the slight stain which
+   original sin had left in thee! Beautiful, indeed, wert thou! Thy
+   glance sought thy God in heaven, and my trembling hand held His
+   image to thy pure lips, which human lip had never dared to breathe
+   upon. Angelic being! I alone participated in the secret of the
+   Lord, in the one secret of the entire purity of thy soul; I it was
+   that united thee to thy Creator, who at that moment descended also
+   into my bosom. Ineffable espousals, of which the Eternal himself
+   was the priest, you alone were permitted between the virgin and her
+   pastor! the sole joy of each was to see eternal happiness beginning
+   for the other, to inhale together the perfumes of heaven, to drink
+   in already the harmony of the spheres, and to feel assured that our
+   souls, unveiled to God and to ourselves alone, were worthy together
+   to adore Him.
+
+   “‘What scruple still weighs upon thy soul, O my sister? Dost thou
+   think I have offered too high a worship to thy virtue? Fearest thou
+   so pure an admiration should deter me from that of the Lord?’”
+
+Houmain had reached this point when the door through which the witnesses
+had withdrawn suddenly opened. The judges anxiously whispered together.
+Laubardemont, uncertain as to the meaning of this, signed to the fathers
+to let him know whether this was some scene executed by their orders;
+but, seated at some distance from him, and themselves taken by surprise,
+they could not make him understand that they had not prepared this
+interruption. Besides, ere they could exchange looks, to the amazement
+of the assembly, three women, ‘en chemise’, with naked feet, each with
+a cord round her neck and a wax taper in her hand, came through the door
+and advanced to the middle of the platform. It was the Superior of the
+Ursulines, followed by Sisters Agnes and Claire. Both the latter were
+weeping; the Superior was very pale, but her bearing was firm, and her
+eyes were fixed and tearless. She knelt; her companions followed
+her example. Everything was in such confusion that no one thought of
+checking them; and in a clear, firm voice she pronounced these words,
+which resounded in every corner of the hall:
+
+“In the name of the Holy Trinity, I, Jeanne de Belfiel, daughter of the
+Baron de Cose, I, the unworthy Superior of the Convent of the Ursulines
+of Loudun, ask pardon of God and man for the crime I have committed in
+accusing the innocent Urbain Grandier. My possession was feigned, my
+words were dictated; remorse overwhelms me.”
+
+“Bravo!” cried the spectators, clapping their hands. The judges arose;
+the archers, in doubt, looked at the president; he shook in every limb,
+but did not change countenance.
+
+“Let all be silent,” he said, in a sharp voice; “archers, do your duty.”
+
+This man felt himself supported by so strong a hand that nothing could
+affright him--for no thought of Heaven ever visited him.
+
+“What think you, my fathers?” said he, making a sign to the monks.
+
+“That the demon seeks to save his friend. Obmutesce, Satanas!” cried
+Father Lactantius, in a terrible voice, affecting to exorcise the
+Superior.
+
+Never did fire applied to gunpowder produce an effect more instantaneous
+than did these two words. Jeanne de Belfiel started up in all the beauty
+of twenty, which her awful nudity served to augment; she seemed a soul
+escaped from hell appearing to, her seducer. With her dark eyes she cast
+fierce glances upon the monks; Lactantius lowered his beneath that look.
+She took two steps toward him with her bare feet, beneath which the
+scaffolding rung, so energetic was her movement; the taper seemed, in
+her hand, the sword of the avenging angel.
+
+“Silence, impostor!” she cried, with warmth; “the demon who possessed me
+was yourself. You deceived me; you said he was not to be tried. To-day,
+for the first time, I know that he is to be tried; to-day, for the first
+time, I know that he is to be murdered. And I will speak!”
+
+“Woman, the demon bewilders thee.”
+
+“Say, rather, that repentance enlightens me. Daughters, miserable as
+myself, arise; is he not innocent?”
+
+“We swear he is,” said the two young lay sisters, still kneeling and
+weeping, for they were not animated with so strong a resolution as that
+of the Superior.
+
+Agnes, indeed, had hardly uttered these words when turning toward the
+people, she cried, “Help me! they will punish me; they will kill me!”
+ And hurrying away her companion, she drew her into the crowd, who
+affectionately received them. A thousand voices swore to protect them.
+Imprecations arose; the men struck their staves against the floor; the
+officials dared not prevent the people from passing the sisters on from
+one to another into the street.
+
+During this strange scene the amazed and panic-struck judges whispered;
+M. Laubardemont looked at the archers, indicating to them the points
+they were especially to watch, among which, more particularly, was that
+occupied by the group in black. The accusers looked toward the gallery
+of the Bishop of Poitiers, but discovered no expression in his dull
+countenance. He was one of those old men of whom death appears to take
+possession ten years before all motion entirely ceases in them. His eyes
+seemed veiled by a half sleep; his gaping mouth mumbled a few vague
+and habitual words of prayer without meaning or application; the entire
+amount of intelligence he retained was the ability to distinguish the
+man who had most power, and him he obeyed, regardless at what price. He
+had accordingly signed the sentence of the doctors of the Sorbonne
+which declared the nuns possessed, without even deducing thence the
+consequence of the death of Urbain; the rest seemed to him one of those
+more or less lengthy ceremonies, to which he paid not the slightest
+attention--accustomed as he was to see and live among them, himself an
+indispensable part and parcel of them. He therefore gave no sign of life
+on this occasion, merely preserving an air at once perfectly noble and
+expressionless.
+
+Meanwhile, Father Lactantius, having had a moment to recover from the
+sudden attack made upon him, turned toward the president and said:
+
+“Here is a clear proof, sent us by Heaven, of the possession, for the
+Superior never before has forgotten the modesty and severity of her
+order.”
+
+“Would that all the world were here to see me!” said Jeanne de Belfiel,
+firm as ever. “I can not be sufficiently humiliated upon earth, and
+Heaven will reject me, for I have been your accomplice.”
+
+Perspiration appeared upon the forehead of Laubardemont, but he tried
+to recover his composure. “What absurd tale is this, Sister; what has
+influenced you herein?”
+
+The voice of the girl became sepulchral; she collected all her strength,
+pressed her hand upon her heart as if she desired to stay its throbbing,
+and, looking at Urbain Grandier, answered, “Love.”
+
+A shudder ran through the assembly. Urbain, who since he had fainted had
+remained with his head hanging down as if dead, slowly raised his
+eyes toward her, and returned entirely to life only to undergo a fresh
+sorrow. The young penitent continued:
+
+“Yes, the love which he rejected, which he never fully knew, which
+I have breathed in his discourses, which my eyes drew in from his
+celestial countenance, which his very counsels against it have
+increased.
+
+“Yes, Urbain is pure as an angel, but good as a man who has loved. I
+knew not that he had loved! It is you,” she said more energetically,
+pointing to Lactantius, Barre, and Mignon, and changing her passionate
+accents for those of indignation--“it is you who told me that he loved;
+you, who this morning have too cruelly avenged me by killing my rival
+with a word. Alas, I only sought to separate them! It was a crime; but,
+by my mother, I am an Italian! I burned with love, with jealousy; you
+allowed me to see Urbain, to have him as a friend, to see him daily.”
+ She was silent for a moment, then exclaimed, “People, he is innocent!
+Martyr, pardon me, I embrace thy feet!”
+
+She prostrated herself before Urbain and burst into a torrent of tears.
+
+Urbain raised his closely bound hands, and giving her his benediction,
+said, gently:
+
+“Go, Sister; I pardon thee in the name of Him whom I shall soon see. I
+have before said to you, and you now see, that the passions work much
+evil, unless we seek to turn them toward heaven.”
+
+The blood rose a second time to Laubardemont’s forehead. “Miscreant!” he
+exclaimed, “darest thou pronounce the words of the Church?”
+
+“I have not quitted her bosom,” said Urbain.
+
+“Remove the girl,” said the President.
+
+When the archers went to obey, they found that she had tightened the
+cord round her neck with such force that she was of a livid hue and
+almost lifeless. Fear had driven all the women from the assembly; many
+had been carried out fainting, but the hall was no less crowded. The
+ranks thickened, for the men out of the streets poured in.
+
+The judges arose in terror, and the president attempted to have the
+hall cleared; but the people, putting on their hats, stood in alarming
+immobility. The archers were not numerous enough to repel them. It
+became necessary to yield; and accordingly Laubardemont in an agitated
+voice announced that the council would retire for half an hour. He broke
+up the sitting; the people remained gloomily, each man fixed firmly to
+his place.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE MARTYRDOM
+
+     ‘La torture interroge, et la douleur repond.’
+               RAYNOURARD, Les Templiers.
+
+The continuous interest of this half-trial, its preparations, its
+interruptions, all had held the minds of the people in such attention
+that no private conversations had taken place. Some irrepressible cries
+had been uttered, but simultaneously, so that no man could accuse his
+neighbor. But when the people were left to themselves, there was an
+explosion of clamorous sentences.
+
+There was at this period enough of primitive simplicity among the
+lower classes for them to be persuaded by the mysterious tales of the
+political agents who were deluding them; so that a large portion of the
+throng in the hall of trial, not venturing to change their judgment,
+though upon the manifest evidence just given them, awaited in painful
+suspense the return of the judges, interchanging with an air of mystery
+and inane importance the usual remarks prompted by imbecility on such
+occasions.
+
+“One does not know what to think, Monsieur?”
+
+“Truly, Madame, most extraordinary things have happened.”
+
+“We live in strange times!”
+
+“I suspected this; but, i’ faith, it is not wise to say what one
+thinks.”
+
+“We shall see what we shall see,” and so on--the unmeaning chatter of
+the crowd, which merely serves to show that it is at the command of the
+first who chooses to sway it. Stronger words were heard from the group
+in black.
+
+“What! shall we let them do as they please, in this manner? What! dare
+to burn our letter to the King!”
+
+“If the King knew it!”
+
+“The barbarian impostors! how skilfully is their plot contrived! What!
+shall murder be committed under our very eyes? Shall we be afraid of
+these archers?”
+
+“No, no, no!” rang out in trumpet-like tones.
+
+Attention was turned toward the young advocate, who, standing on a
+branch, began tearing to pieces a roll of paper; then he cried:
+
+“Yes, I tear and scatter to the winds the defence I had prepared for the
+accused. They have suppressed discussion; I am not allowed to speak for
+him. I can only speak to you, people; I rejoice that I can do so. You
+heard these infamous judges. Which of them can hear the truth? Which of
+them is worthy to listen to an honest man? Which of them will dare to
+meet his gaze? But what do I say? They all know the truth. They carry
+it in their guilty breasts; it stings their hearts like a serpent. They
+tremble in their lair, where doubtless they are devouring their victim;
+they tremble because they have heard the cries of three deluded women.
+What was I about to do? I was about to speak in behalf of Urbain
+Grandier! But what eloquence could equal that of those unfortunates?
+What words could better have shown you his innocence? Heaven has taken
+up arms for him in bringing them to repentance and to devotion; Heaven
+will finish its work--”
+
+“Vade retro, Satanas,” was heard through a high window in the hall.
+
+Fournier stopped for a moment, then said:
+
+“You hear these voices parodying the divine language? If I mistake not,
+these instruments of an infernal power are, by this song, preparing some
+new spell.”
+
+“But,” cried those who surrounded him, “what shall we do? What have they
+done with him?”
+
+“Remain here; be immovable, be silent,” replied the young advocate. “The
+inertia of a people is all-powerful; that is its true wisdom, that its
+strength. Observe them closely, and in silence; and you will make them
+tremble.”
+
+“They surely will not dare to appear here again,” said the Comte du
+Lude.
+
+“I should like to look once more at the tall scoundrel in red,” said
+Grand-Ferre, who had lost nothing of what had occurred.
+
+“And that good gentleman, the Cure,” murmured old Father Guillaume
+Leroux, looking at all his indignant parishioners, who were talking
+together in a low tone, measuring and counting the archers, ridiculing
+their dress, and beginning to point them out to the observation of the
+other spectators.
+
+Cinq-Mars, still leaning against the pillar behind which he had first
+placed himself, still wrapped in his black cloak, eagerly watched all
+that passed, lost not a word of what was said, and filled his heart with
+hate and bitterness. Violent desires for slaughter and revenge, a vague
+desire to strike, took possession of him, despite himself; this is the
+first impression which evil produces on the soul of a young man. Later,
+sadness takes the place of fury, then indifference and scorn, later
+still, a calculating admiration for great villains who have been
+successful; but this is only when, of the two elements which constitute
+man, earth triumphs over spirit.
+
+Meanwhile, on the right of the hall near the judges’ platform, a group
+of women were watching attentively a child about eight years old, who
+had taken it into his head to climb up to a cornice by the aid of his
+sister Martine, whom we have seen the subject of jest with the young
+soldier, Grand-Ferre. The child, having nothing to look at after the
+court had left the hall, had climbed to a small window which admitted a
+faint light, and which he imagined to contain a swallow’s nest or some
+other treasure for a boy; but after he was well established on the
+cornice, his hands grasping the bars of an old shrine of Jerome, he
+wished himself anywhere else, and cried out:
+
+“Oh, sister, sister, lend me your hand to get down!”
+
+“What do you see there?” asked Martine.
+
+“Oh, I dare not tell; but I want to get down,” and he began to cry.
+
+“Stay there, my child; stay there!” said all the women. “Don’t be
+afraid; tell us all that you see.”
+
+“Well, then, they’ve put the Cure between two great boards that squeeze
+his legs, and there are cords round the boards.”
+
+“Ah! that is the rack,” said one of the townsmen. “Look again, my little
+friend, what do you see now?”
+
+The child, more confident, looked again through the window, and then,
+withdrawing his head, said:
+
+“I can not see the Cure now, because all the judges stand round him, and
+are looking at him, and their great robes prevent me from seeing. There
+are also some Capuchins, stooping down to whisper to him.”
+
+Curiosity attracted more people to the boy’s perch; every one was
+silent, waiting anxiously to catch his words, as if their lives depended
+on them.
+
+“I see,” he went on, “the executioner driving four little pieces of
+wood between the cords, after the Capuchins have blessed the hammer and
+nails. Ah, heavens! Sister, how enraged they seem with him, because he
+will not speak. Mother! mother! give me your hand, I want to come down!”
+
+Instead of his mother, the child, upon turning round, saw only men’s
+faces, looking up at him with a mournful eagerness, and signing him
+to go on. He dared not descend, and looked again through the window,
+trembling.
+
+“Oh! I see Father Lactantius and Father Barre themselves forcing in more
+pieces of wood, which squeeze his legs. Oh, how pale he is! he seems
+praying. There, his head falls back, as if he were dying! Oh, take me
+away!”
+
+And he fell into the arms of the young Advocate, of M. du Lude, and of
+Cinq-Mars, who had come to support him.
+
+“Deus stetit in synagoga deorum: in medio autem Deus dijudicat--”
+ chanted strong, nasal voices, issuing from the small window, which
+continued in full chorus one of the psalms, interrupted by blows of the
+hammer--an infernal deed beating time to celestial songs. One might have
+supposed himself near a smithy, except that the blows were dull, and
+manifested to the ear that the anvil was a man’s body.
+
+“Silence!” said Fournier, “He speaks. The chanting and the blows stop.”
+
+A weak voice within said, with difficulty, “Oh, my fathers, mitigate the
+rigor of your torments, for you will reduce my soul to despair, and I
+might seek to destroy myself!”
+
+At this the fury of the people burst forth like an explosion, echoing
+along the vaulted roofs; the men sprang fiercely upon the platform,
+thrust aside the surprised and hesitating archers; the unarmed crowd
+drove them back, pressed them, almost suffocated them against the walls,
+and held them fast, then dashed against the doors which led to the
+torture chamber, and, making them shake beneath their blows, threatened
+to drive them in; imprecations resounded from a thousand menacing voices
+and terrified the judges within.
+
+“They are gone; they have taken him away!” cried a man who had climbed
+to the little window.
+
+The multitude at once stopped short, and changing the direction of their
+steps, fled from this detestable place and spread rapidly through the
+streets, where an extraordinary confusion prevailed.
+
+Night had come on during the long sitting, and the rain was pouring in
+torrents. The darkness was terrifying. The cries of women slipping on
+the pavement or driven back by the horses of the guards; the shouts
+of the furious men; the ceaseless tolling of the bells which had been
+keeping time with the strokes of the question; the roll of distant
+thunder--all combined to increase the disorder.
+
+   [Torture [‘Question’) was regulated in scrupulous detail by Holy
+   Mother The Church: The ordinary question was regulated for minor
+   infractions and used for interrogating women and children. For more
+   serious crimes the suspect (and sometimes the witnesses) were put to
+   the extraordinary question by the officiating priests. D.W.]
+
+If the ear was astonished, the eyes were no less so. A few dismal
+torches lighted up the corners of the streets; their flickering gleams
+showed soldiers, armed and mounted, dashing along, regardless of the
+crowd, to assemble in the Place de St. Pierre; tiles were sometimes
+thrown at them on their way, but, missing the distant culprit, fell upon
+some unoffending neighbor. The confusion was bewildering, and became
+still more so, when, hurrying through all the streets toward the Place
+de St. Pierre, the people found it barricaded on all sides, and filled
+with mounted guards and archers. Carts, fastened to the posts at each
+corner, closed each entrance, and sentinels, armed with arquebuses, were
+stationed close to the carts. In the centre of the Place rose a pile
+composed of enormous beams placed crosswise upon one another, so as
+to form a perfect square; these were covered with a whiter and lighter
+wood; an enormous stake arose from the centre of the scaffold. A man
+clothed in red and holding a lowered torch stood near this sort of mast,
+which was visible from a long distance. A huge chafing-dish, covered on
+account of the rain, was at his feet.
+
+At this spectacle, terror inspired everywhere a profound silence; for
+an instant nothing was heard but the sound of the rain, which fell in
+floods, and of the thunder, which came nearer and nearer.
+
+Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, accompanied by MM. du Lude and Fournier and all
+the more important personages of the town, had sought refuge from the
+storm under the peristyle of the church of Ste.-Croix, raised upon
+twenty stone steps. The pile was in front, and from this height they
+could see the whole of the square. The centre was entirely clear, large
+streams of water alone traversed it; but all the windows of the houses
+were gradually lighted up, and showed the heads of the men and women who
+thronged them.
+
+The young D’Effiat sorrowfully contemplated this menacing preparation.
+Brought up in sentiments of honor, and far removed from the black
+thoughts which hatred and ambition arouse in the heart of man, he could
+not conceive that such wrong could be done without some powerful and
+secret motive. The audacity of such a condemnation seemed to him so
+enormous that its very cruelty began to justify it in his eyes; a secret
+horror crept into his soul, the same that silenced the people. He almost
+forgot the interest with which the unhappy Urbain had inspired him, in
+thinking whether it were not possible that some secret correspondence
+with the infernal powers had justly provoked such excessive severity;
+and the public revelations of the nuns, and the statement of his
+respected tutor, faded from his memory, so powerful is success, even
+in the eyes of superior men! so strongly does force impose upon men,
+despite the voice of conscience!
+
+The young traveller was asking himself whether it were not probable that
+the torture had forced some monstrous confession from the accused, when
+the obscurity which surrounded the church suddenly ceased. Its two
+great doors were thrown open; and by the light of an infinite number
+of flambeaux, appeared all the judges and ecclesiastics, surrounded by
+guards. Among them was Urbain, supported, or rather carried, by six men
+clothed as Black Penitents--for his limbs, bound with bandages saturated
+with blood, seemed broken and incapable of supporting him. It was at
+most two hours since Cinq-Mars had seen him, and yet he could hardly
+recognize the face he had so closely observed at the trial. All color,
+all roundness of form had disappeared from it; a livid pallor covered
+a skin yellow and shining like ivory; the blood seemed to have left his
+veins; all the life that remained within him shone from his dark eyes,
+which appeared to have grown twice as large as before, as he looked
+languidly around him; his long, chestnut hair hung loosely down his neck
+and over a white shirt, which entirely covered him--or rather a sort
+of robe with large sleeves, and of a yellowish tint, with an odor of
+sulphur about it; a long, thick cord encircled his neck and fell upon
+his breast. He looked like an apparition; but it was the apparition of a
+martyr.
+
+Urbain stopped, or, rather, was set down upon the peristyle of the
+church; the Capuchin Lactantius placed a lighted torch in his right
+hand, and held it there, as he said to him, with his hard inflexibility:
+
+“Do penance, and ask pardon of God for thy crime of magic.”
+
+The unhappy man raised his voice with great difficulty, and with his
+eyes to heaven said:
+
+“In the name of the living God, I cite thee, Laubardemont, false judge,
+to appear before Him in three years. They have taken away my confessor,
+and I have been fain to pour out my sins into the bosom of God Himself,
+for my enemies surround me. I call that God of mercy to witness I never
+have dealt in magic. I have known no mysteries but those of the Catholic
+religion, apostolic and Roman, in which I die; I have sinned much
+against myself, but never against God and our Lord--”
+
+“Cease!” cried the Capuchin, affecting to close his mouth ere he could
+pronounce the name of the Saviour. “Obdurate wretch, return to the demon
+who sent thee!”
+
+He signed to four priests, who, approaching with sprinklers in their
+hands, exorcised with holy water the air the magician breathed, the
+earth he touched, the wood that was to burn him. During this ceremony,
+the judge-Advocate hastily read the decree, dated the 18th of August,
+1639, declaring Urbain Grandier duly attainted and convicted of the
+crime of sorcery, witchcraft, and possession, in the persons of sundry
+Ursuline nuns of Loudun, and others, laymen, etc.
+
+The reader, dazzled by a flash of lightning, stopped for an instant,
+and, turning to M. de Laubardemont, asked whether, considering the awful
+weather, the execution could not be deferred till the next day.
+
+“The decree,” coldly answered Laubardemont, “commands execution within
+twenty-four hours. Fear not the incredulous people; they will soon be
+convinced.”
+
+All the most important persons of the town and many strangers were under
+the peristyle, and now advanced, Cinq-Mars among them.
+
+“The magician never has been able to pronounce the name of the Saviour,
+and repels his image.”
+
+Lactantius at this moment issued from the midst of the Penitents, with
+an enormous iron crucifix in his hand, which he seemed to hold with
+precaution and respect; he extended it to the lips of the sufferer,
+who indeed threw back his head, and collecting all his strength, made
+a gesture with his arm, which threw the cross from the hands of the
+Capuchin.
+
+“You see,” cried the latter, “he has thrown down the cross!”
+
+A murmur arose, the meaning of which was doubtful.
+
+“Profanation!” cried the priests.
+
+The procession moved toward the pile.
+
+Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, gliding behind a pillar, had eagerly watched all
+that passed; he saw with astonishment that the cross, in falling upon
+the steps, which were more exposed to the rain than the platform, smoked
+and made a noise like molten lead when thrown into water. While the
+public attention was elsewhere engaged, he advanced and touched it
+lightly with his bare hand, which was immediately scorched. Seized with
+indignation, with all the fury of a true heart, he took up the cross
+with the folds of his cloak, stepped up to Laubardemont, and, striking
+him with it on the forehead, cried:
+
+“Villain, I brand thee with the mark of this red-hot iron!”
+
+The crowd heard these words and rushed forward.
+
+“Arrest this madman!” cried the unworthy magistrate.
+
+He was himself seized by the hands of men who cried, “Justice! justice,
+in the name of the King!”
+
+“We are lost!” said Lactantius; “to the pile, to the pile!”
+
+The Penitents dragged Urbain toward the Place, while the judges and
+archers reentered the church, struggling with the furious citizens; the
+executioner, having no time to tie up the victim, hastened to lay him
+on the wood, and to set fire to it. But the rain still fell in torrents,
+and each piece of wood had no sooner caught the flame than it became
+extinguished. In vain did Lactantius and the other canons themselves
+seek to stir up the fire; nothing could overcome the water which fell
+from heaven.
+
+Meanwhile, the tumult which had begun in the peristyle of the church
+extended throughout the square. The cry of “Justice!” was repeated
+and circulated, with the information of what had been discovered; two
+barricades were forced, and despite three volleys of musketry, the
+archers were gradually driven back toward the centre of the square. In
+vain they spurred their horses against the crowd; it overwhelmed them
+with its swelling waves. Half an hour passed in this struggle, the
+guards still receding toward the pile, which they concealed as they
+pressed closer upon it.
+
+“On! on!” cried a man; “we will deliver him; do not strike the soldiers,
+but let them fall back. See, Heaven will not permit him to die! The
+fire is out; now, friend, one effort more! That is well! Throw down that
+horse! Forward! On!”
+
+The guard was broken and dispersed on all sides. The crowd rushed to
+the pile, but no more light was there: all had disappeared, even the
+executioner. They tore up and threw aside the beams; one of them
+was still burning, and its light showed under a mass of ashes and
+ensanguined mire a blackened hand, preserved from the fire by a large
+iron bracelet and chain. A woman had the courage to open it; the fingers
+clasped a small ivory cross and an image of St. Magdalen.
+
+“These are his remains,” she said, weeping.
+
+“Say, the relics of a martyr!” exclaimed a citizen, baring his head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE DREAM
+
+Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, amid the excitement which his outbreak had
+provoked, felt his left arm seized by a hand as hard as iron, which,
+drawing him from the crowd to the foot of the steps, pushed him behind
+the wall of the church, and he then saw the dark face of old Grandchamp,
+who said to him in a sharp voice:
+
+“Sir, your attack upon thirty musketeers in a wood at Chaumont was
+nothing, because we were near you, though you knew it not, and,
+moreover, you had to do with men of honor; but here ‘tis different. Your
+horses and people are at the end of the street; I request you to mount
+and leave the town, or to send me back to Madame la Marechale, for I am
+responsible for your limbs, which you expose so freely.”
+
+Cinq-Mars was somewhat astonished at this rough mode of having a service
+done him, was not sorry to extricate himself thus from the affair,
+having had time to reflect how very awkward it might be for him to be
+recognized, after striking the head of the judicial authority, the agent
+of the very Cardinal who was to present him to the King. He observed
+also that around him was assembled a crowd of the lowest class of
+people, among whom he blushed to find himself. He therefore followed
+his old domestic without argument, and found the other three servants
+waiting for him. Despite the rain and wind he mounted, and was soon upon
+the highroad with his escort, having put his horse to a gallop to avoid
+pursuit.
+
+He had, however, hardly left Loudun when the sandy road, furrowed by
+deep ruts completely filled with water, obliged him to slacken his pace.
+The rain continued to fall heavily, and his cloak was almost saturated.
+He felt a thicker one thrown over his shoulders; it was his old valet,
+who had approached him, and thus exhibited toward him a maternal
+solicitude.
+
+“Well, Grandchamp,” said Cinq-Mars, “now that we are clear of the riot,
+tell me how you came to be there when I had ordered you to remain at the
+Abbe’s.”
+
+“Parbleu, Monsieur!” answered the old servant, in a grumbling tone,
+“do you suppose that I should obey you any more than I did Monsieur le
+Marechal? When my late master, after telling me to remain in his tent,
+found me behind him in the cannon’s smoke, he made no complaint, because
+he had a fresh horse ready when his own was killed, and he only scolded
+me for a moment in his thoughts; but, truly, during the forty years I
+served him, I never saw him act as you have in the fortnight I have been
+with you. Ah!” he added with a sigh, “things are going strangely; and if
+we continue thus, there’s no knowing what will be the end of it.”
+
+“But knowest thou, Grandchamp, that these scoundrels had made the
+crucifix red hot?--a thing at which no honest man would have been less
+enraged than I.”
+
+“Except Monsieur le Marechal, your father, who would not have done at
+all what you have done, Monsieur.”
+
+“What, then, would he have done?”
+
+“He would very quietly have let this cure be burned by the other cures,
+and would have said to me, ‘Grandchamp, see that my horses have oats,
+and let no one steal them’; or, ‘Grandchamp, take care that the rain
+does not rust my sword or wet the priming of my pistols’; for Monsieur
+le Marechal thought of everything, and never interfered in what did not
+concern him. That was his great principle; and as he was, thank Heaven,
+alike good soldier and good general, he was always as careful of his
+arms as a recruit, and would not have stood up against thirty young
+gallants with a dress rapier.”
+
+Cinq-Mars felt the force of the worthy servitor’s epigrammatic scolding,
+and feared that he had followed him beyond the wood of Chaumont; but
+he would not ask, lest he should have to give explanations or to tell
+a falsehood or to command silence, which would at once have been taking
+him into confidence on the subject. As the only alternative, he spurred
+his horse and rode ahead of his old domestic; but the latter had not yet
+had his say, and instead of keeping behind his master, he rode up to his
+left and continued the conversation.
+
+“Do you suppose, Monsieur, that I should allow you to go where you
+please? No, Monsieur, I am too deeply impressed with the respect I
+owe to Madame la Marquise, to give her an opportunity of saying to me:
+‘Grandchamp, my son has been killed with a shot or with a sword; why
+were you not before him?’ Or, ‘He has received a stab from the stiletto
+of an Italian, because he went at night beneath the window of a great
+princess; why did you not seize the assassin?’ This would be very
+disagreeable to me, Monsieur, for I never have been reproached with
+anything of the kind. Once Monsieur le Marechal lent me to his nephew,
+Monsieur le Comte, to make a campaign in the Netherlands, because I know
+Spanish. I fulfilled the duty with honor, as I always do. When Monsieur
+le Comte received a bullet in his heart, I myself brought back his
+horses, his mules, his tent, and all his equipment, without so much as
+a pocket-handkerchief being missed; and I can assure you that the horses
+were as well dressed and harnessed when we reentered Chaumont as if
+Monsieur le Comte had been about to go a-hunting. And, accordingly, I
+received nothing but compliments and agreeable things from the whole
+family, just in the way I like.”
+
+“Well, well, my friend,” said Henri d’Effiat, “I may some day, perhaps,
+have these horses to take back; but in the mean time take this great
+purse of gold, which I have well-nigh lost two or three times, and thou
+shalt pay for me everywhere. The money wearies me.”
+
+“Monsieur le Marechal did not so, Monsieur. He had been superintendent
+of finances, and he counted every farthing he paid out of his own hand.
+I do not think your estates would have been in such good condition, or
+that you would have had so much money to count yourself, had he done
+otherwise; have the goodness, therefore, to keep your purse, whose
+contents, I dare swear, you do not know.”
+
+“Faith, not I.”
+
+Grandchamp sent forth a profound sigh at his master’s disdainful
+exclamation.
+
+“Ah, Monsieur le Marquis! Monsieur le Marquis! When I think that the
+great King Henri, before my eyes, put his chamois gloves into his pocket
+to keep the rain from spoiling them; when I think that Monsieur de Rosni
+refused him money when he had spent too much; when I think--”
+
+“When thou dost think, thou art egregiously tedious, my old friend,”
+ interrupted his master; “and thou wilt do better in telling me what that
+black figure is that I think I see walking in the mire behind us.”
+
+“It looks like some poor peasant woman who, perhaps, wants alms of us.
+She can easily follow us, for we do not go at much of a pace in this
+sand, wherein our horses sink up to the hams. We shall go to the Landes
+perhaps some day, Monsieur, and you will see a country all the same as
+this sandy road, and great, black firs all the way along. It looks
+like a churchyard; this is an exact specimen of it. Look, the rain has
+ceased, and we can see a little ahead; there is nothing but furze-bushes
+on this great plain, without a village or a house. I don’t know where we
+can pass the night; but if you will take my advice, you will let us cut
+some boughs and bivouac where we are. You shall see how, with a little
+earth, I can make a hut as warm as a bed.”
+
+“I would rather go on to the light I see in the horizon,” said
+Cinq-Mars; “for I fancy I feel rather feverish, and I am thirsty. But
+fall back, I would ride alone; rejoin the others and follow.”
+
+Grandchamp obeyed; he consoled himself by giving Germain, Louis, and
+Etienne lessons in the art of reconnoitring a country by night.
+
+Meanwhile, his young master was overcome with fatigue. The violent
+emotions of the day had profoundly affected his mind; and the
+long journey on horseback, the last two days passed almost without
+nourishment, owing to the hurried pressure of events, the heat of the
+sun by day, the icy coldness of the night, all contributed to increase
+his indisposition and to weary his delicate frame. For three hours he
+rode in silence before his people, yet the light he had seen in the
+horizon seemed no nearer; at last he ceased to follow it with his eyes,
+and his head, feeling heavier and heavier, sank upon his breast. He
+gave the reins to his tired horse, which of its own accord followed the
+high-road, and, crossing his arms, allowed himself to be rocked by the
+monotonous motion of his fellow-traveller, which frequently stumbled
+against the large stones that strewed the road. The rain had ceased, as
+had the voices of his domestics, whose horses followed in the track of
+their master’s. The young man abandoned himself to the bitterness of his
+thoughts; he asked himself whether the bright object of his hopes would
+not flee from him day by day, as that phosphoric light fled from him
+in the horizon, step by step. Was it probable that the young Princess,
+almost forcibly recalled to the gallant court of Anne of Austria, would
+always refuse the hands, perhaps royal ones, that would be offered to
+her? What chance that she would resign herself to renounce a present
+throne, in order to wait till some caprice of fortune should realize
+romantic hopes, or take a youth almost in the lowest rank of the army
+and lift him to the elevation she spoke of, till the age of love should
+be passed? How could he be certain that even the vows of Marie de
+Gonzaga were sincere?
+
+“Alas!” he said, “perhaps she has blinded herself as to her own
+sentiments; the solitude of the country had prepared her soul to receive
+deep impressions. I came; she thought I was he of whom she had dreamed.
+Our age and my love did the rest. But when at court, she, the companion
+of the Queen, has learned to contemplate from an exalted position the
+greatness to which I aspire, and which I as yet see only from a
+very humble distance; when she shall suddenly find herself in actual
+possession of the future she aims at, and measures with a more correct
+eye the long road I have to travel; when she shall hear around her vows
+like mine, pronounced by lips which could undo me with a word, with a
+word destroy him whom she awaits as her husband, her lord--oh, madman
+that I have been!--she will see all her folly, and will be incensed at
+mine.”
+
+Thus did doubt, the greatest misery of love, begin to torture his
+unhappy heart; he felt his hot blood rush to his head and oppress it.
+Ever and anon he fell forward upon the neck of his horse, and a half
+sleep weighed down his eyes; the dark firs that bordered the road seemed
+to him gigantic corpses travelling beside him. He saw, or thought
+he saw, the same woman clothed in black, whom he had pointed out to
+Grandchamp, approach so near as to touch his horse’s mane, pull his
+cloak, and then run off with a jeering laugh; the sand of the road
+seemed to him a river running beneath him, with opposing current, back
+toward its source. This strange sight dazzled his worn eyes; he closed
+them and fell asleep on his horse.
+
+Presently, he felt himself stopped, but he was numbed with cold and
+could not move. He saw peasants, lights, a house, a great room into
+which they carried him, a wide bed, whose heavy curtains were closed by
+Grandchamp; and he fell asleep again, stunned by the fever that whirred
+in his ears.
+
+Dreams that followed one another more rapidly than grains of sand before
+the wind rushed through his brain; he could not catch them, and moved
+restlessly on his bed. Urbain Grandier on the rack, his mother in tears,
+his tutor armed, Bassompierre loaded with chains, passed before him,
+making signs of farewell; at last, as he slept, he instinctively put his
+hand to his head to stay the passing dream, which then seemed to unfold
+itself before his eyes like pictures in shifting sands.
+
+He saw a public square crowded with a foreign people, a northern people,
+who uttered cries of joy, but they were savage cries; there was a line
+of guards, ferocious soldiers--these were Frenchmen. “Come with me,”
+ said the soft voice of Marie de Gonzaga, who took his hand. “See, I wear
+a diadem; here is thy throne, come with me.” And she hurried him on, the
+people still shouting. He went on, a long way. “Why are you sad, if you
+are a queen?” he said, trembling. But she was pale, and smiled and spoke
+not. She ascended, step after step, up to a throne, and seated herself.
+“Mount!” said she, forcibly pulling his hand. But, at every movement,
+the massive stairs crumbled beneath his feet, so that he could not
+ascend. “Give thanks to love,” she continued; and her hand, now more
+powerful, raised him to the throne. The people still shouted. He bowed
+low to kiss that helping hand, that adored hand; it was the hand of the
+executioner!
+
+“Oh, heavens!” exclaimed Cinq-Mars, as, heaving a deep sigh, he opened
+his eyes. A flickering lamp lighted the ruinous chamber of the inn; he
+again closed his eyes, for he had seen, seated on his bed, a woman,
+a nun, young and beautiful! He thought he was still dreaming, but she
+grasped his hand firmly. He opened his burning eyes, and fixed them upon
+her.
+
+“Is it you, Jeannede Belfiel? The rain has drenched your veil and your
+black hair! Why are you here, unhappy woman?”
+
+“Hark! awake not my Urbain; he sleeps there in the next room. Ay, my
+hair is indeed wet, and my feet--see, my feet that were once so white,
+see how the mud has soiled them. But I have made a vow--I will not wash
+them till I have seen the King, and until he has granted me Urbain’s
+pardon. I am going to the army to find him; I will speak to him as
+Grandier taught me to speak, and he will pardon him. And listen, I
+will also ask thy pardon, for I read it in thy face that thou, too, art
+condemned to death. Poor youth! thou art too young to die, thy curling
+hair is beautiful; but yet thou art condemned, for thou hast on thy brow
+a line that never deceives. The man thou hast struck will kill thee.
+Thou hast made too much use of the cross; it is that which will bring
+evil upon thee. Thou hast struck with it, and thou wearest it round
+thy neck by a hair chain. Nay, hide not thy face; have I said aught
+to afflict thee, or is it that thou lovest, young man? Ah, reassure
+thyself, I will not tell all this to thy love. I am mad, but I am
+gentle, very gentle; and three days ago I was beautiful. Is she also
+beautiful? Ah! she will weep some day! Yet, if she can weep, she will be
+happy!”
+
+And then suddenly Jeanne began to recite the service for the dead in a
+monotonous voice, but with incredible rapidity, still seated on the bed,
+and turning the beads of a long rosary.
+
+Suddenly the door opened; she looked up, and fled through another door
+in the partition.
+
+“What the devil’s that-an imp or an angel, saying the funeral service
+over you, and you under the clothes, as if you were in a shroud?”
+
+This abrupt exclamation came from the rough voice of Grandchamp, who was
+so astonished at what he had seen that he dropped the glass of lemonade
+he was bringing in. Finding that his master did not answer, he became
+still more alarmed, and raised the bedclothes. Cinq-Mars’s face was
+crimson, and he seemed asleep, but his old domestic saw that the blood
+rushing to his head had almost suffocated him; and, seizing a jug full
+of cold water, he dashed the whole of it in his face. This military
+remedy rarely fails to effect its purpose, and Cinq-Mars returned to
+himself with a start.
+
+“Ah! it is thou, Grandchamp; what frightful dreams I have had!”
+
+“Peste! Monsieur le Marquis, your dreams, on the contrary, are very
+pretty ones. I saw the tail of the last as I came in; your choice is not
+bad.”
+
+“What dost mean, blockhead?”
+
+“Nay, not a blockhead, Monsieur; I have good eyes, and I have seen what
+I have seen. But, really ill as you are, Monsieur le Marechal would
+never--”
+
+“Thou art utterly doting, my friend; give me some drink, I am parched
+with thirst. Oh, heavens! what a night! I still see all those women.”
+
+“All those women, Monsieur? Why, how many are here?”
+
+“I am speaking to thee of a dream, blockhead. Why standest there like a
+post, instead of giving me some drink?”
+
+“Enough, Monsieur; I will get more lemonade.” And going to the door, he
+called over the staircase, “Germain! Etienne! Louis!”
+
+The innkeeper answered from below: “Coming, Monsieur, coming; they have
+been helping me to catch the madwoman.”
+
+“What mad-woman?” said Cinq-Mars, rising in bed.
+
+The host entered, and, taking off his cotton cap, said, respectfully:
+“Oh, nothing, Monsieur le Marquis, only a madwoman that came here last
+night on foot, and whom we put in the next room; but she has escaped,
+and we have not been able to catch her.”
+
+“Ah!” exclaimed Cinq-Mars, returning to himself and putting his hand to
+his eyes, “it was not a dream, then. And my mother, where is she? and
+the Marechal, and--Ah! and yet it is but a fearful dream! Leave me.”
+
+As he said this, he turned toward the wall, and again pulled the clothes
+over his head.
+
+The innkeeper, in amazement, touched his forehead three times with his
+finger, looking at Grandchamp as if to ask him whether his master were
+also mad.
+
+Grandchamp motioned him away in silence, and in order to watch the
+rest of the night by the side of Cinq-Mars, who was in a deep sleep, he
+seated himself in a large armchair, covered with tapestry, and began to
+squeeze lemons into a glass of water with an air as grave and severe as
+Archimedes calculating the condensing power of his mirrors.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE CABINET
+
+   Men have rarely the courage to be wholly good or wholly bad.
+                         MACHIAVELLI.
+
+Let us leave our young traveller sleeping; he will soon pursue a long
+and beautiful route. Since we are at liberty to turn to all points of
+the map, we will fix our eyes upon the city of Narbonne.
+
+Behold the Mediterranean, not far distant, washing with its blue waters
+the sandy shores. Penetrate into that city resembling Athens; and to
+find him who reigns there, follow that dark and irregular street, mount
+the steps of the old archiepiscopal palace, and enter the first and
+largest of its apartments.
+
+This was a very long salon, lighted by a series of high lancet windows,
+of which the upper part only retained the blue, yellow, and red panes
+that shed a mysterious light through the apartment. A large round table
+occupied its entire breadth, near the great fireplace; around this
+table, covered with a colored cloth and scattered with papers and
+portfolios, were seated, bending over their pens, eight secretaries
+copying letters which were handed to them from a smaller table. Other
+men quietly arranged the completed papers in the shelves of a bookcase,
+partly filled with books bound in black.
+
+Notwithstanding the number of persons assembled in the room, one might
+have heard the movements of the wings of a fly. The only interruption
+to the silence was the sound of pens rapidly gliding over paper, and a
+shrill voice dictating, stopping every now and then to cough. This
+voice proceeded from a great armchair placed beside the fire, which was
+blazing, notwithstanding the heat of the season and of the country. It
+was one of those armchairs that you still see in old castles, and which
+seem made to read one’s self to sleep in, so easy is every part of it.
+The sitter sinks into a circular cushion of down; if the head leans
+back, the cheeks rest upon pillows covered with silk, and the seat
+juts out so far beyond the elbows that one may believe the provident
+upholsterers of our forefathers sought to provide that the book should
+make no noise in falling so as to awaken the sleeper.
+
+But we will quit this digression, and speak of the man who occupied
+the chair, and who was very far from sleeping. He had a broad forehead,
+bordered with thin white hair, large, mild eyes, a wan face, to which
+a small, pointed, white beard gave that air of subtlety and finesse
+noticeable in all the portraits of the period of Louis XIII. His mouth
+was almost without lips, which Lavater deems an indubitable sign of an
+evil mind, and it was framed in a pair of slight gray moustaches and a
+‘royale’--an ornament then in fashion, which somewhat resembled a comma
+in form. The old man wore a close red cap, a large ‘robe-dechambre’, and
+purple silk stockings; he was no less a personage than Armand Duplessis,
+Cardinal de Richelieu.
+
+Near him, around the small table, sat four youths from fifteen to twenty
+years of age; these were pages, or domestics, according to the term then
+in use, which signified familiars, friends of the house. This custom
+was a relic of feudal patronage, which still existed in our manners. The
+younger members of high families received wages from the great lords,
+and were devoted to their service in all things, challenging the first
+comer at the wish of their patron. The pages wrote letters from the
+outline previously given them by the Cardinal, and after their master
+had glanced at them, passed them to the secretaries, who made fair
+copies. The Duke, for his part, wrote on his knee private notes upon
+small slips of paper, inserting them in almost all the packets before
+sealing them, which he did with his own hand.
+
+He had been writing a short time, when, in a mirror before him, he saw
+the youngest of his pages writing something on a sheet of paper much
+smaller than the official sheet. He hastily wrote a few words, and
+then slipped the paper under the large sheet which, much against his
+inclination, he had to fill; but, seated behind the Cardinal, he hoped
+that the difficulty with which the latter turned would prevent him
+from seeing the little manoeuvre he had tried to exercise with much
+dexterity. Suddenly Richelieu said to him, dryly, “Come here, Monsieur
+Olivier.”
+
+These words came like a thunder-clap on the poor boy, who seemed about
+sixteen. He rose at once, however, and stood before the minister, his
+arms hanging at his side and his head lowered.
+
+The other pages and the secretaries stirred no more than soldiers when
+a comrade is struck down by a ball, so accustomed were they to this kind
+of summons. The present one, however, was more energetic than usual.
+
+“What were you writing?”
+
+“My lord, what your Eminence dictated.”
+
+“What!”
+
+“My lord, the letter to Don Juan de Braganza.”
+
+“No evasions, Monsieur; you were writing something else.”
+
+“My lord,” said the page, with tears in his eyes, “it was a letter to
+one of my cousins.”
+
+“Let me see it.”
+
+The page trembled in every limb and was obliged to lean against the
+chimney-piece, as he said, in a hardly audible tone, “It is impossible.”
+
+“Monsieur le Vicomte Olivier d’Entraigues,” said the minister, without
+showing the least emotion, “you are no longer in my service.” The page
+withdrew. He knew that there was no reply; so, slipping his letter into
+his pocket, and opening the folding-doors just wide enough to allow his
+exit, he glided out like a bird escaped from the cage.
+
+The minister went on writing the note upon his knee.
+
+The secretaries redoubled their silent zeal, when suddenly the two wings
+of the door were thrown back and showed, standing in the opening, a
+Capuchin, who, bowing, with his arms crossed over his breast, seemed
+waiting for alms or for an order to retire. He had a dark complexion,
+and was deeply pitted with smallpox; his eyes, mild, but somewhat
+squinting, were almost hidden by his thick eyebrows, which met in the
+middle of his forehead; on his mouth played a crafty, mischievous, and
+sinister smile; his beard was straight and red, and his costume was that
+of the order of St. Francis in all its repulsiveness, with sandals on
+his bare feet, that looked altogether unfit to tread upon carpet.
+
+Such as he was, however, this personage appeared to create a great
+sensation throughout the room; for, without finishing the phrase, the
+line, or even the word begun, every person rose and went out by the door
+where he was still standing--some saluting him as they passed, others
+turning away their heads, and the young pages holding their fingers to
+their noses, but not till they were behind him, for they seemed to have
+a secret fear of him. When they had all passed out, he entered, making a
+profound reverence, because the door was still open; but, as soon as
+it was shut, unceremoniously advancing, he seated himself near the
+Cardinal, who, having recognized him by the general movement he created,
+saluted him with a dry and silent inclination of the head, regarding
+him fixedly, as if awaiting some news and unable to avoid knitting his
+brows, as at the aspect of a spider or some other disagreeable creature.
+
+The Cardinal could not resist this movement of displeasure, because
+he felt himself obliged, by the presence of his agent, to resume those
+profound and painful conversations from which he had for some days
+been free, in a country whose pure air, favorable to him, had somewhat
+soothed the pain of his malady; that malady had changed to a slow fever,
+but its intervals were long enough to enable him to forget during its
+absence that it must return. Giving, therefore, a little rest to his
+hitherto indefatigable mind, he had been awaiting, for the first time in
+his life perhaps, without impatience, the return of the couriers he had
+sent in all directions, like the rays of a sun which alone gave life and
+movement to France. He had not expected the visit he now received,
+and the sight of one of those men, whom, to use his own expression, he
+“steeped in crime,” rendered all the habitual disquietudes of his
+life more present to him, without entirely dissipating the cloud of
+melancholy which at that time obscured his thoughts.
+
+The beginning of his conversation was tinged with the gloomy hue of his
+late reveries; but he soon became more animated and vigorous than ever,
+when his powerful mind had reentered the real world.
+
+His confidant, seeing that he was expected to break the silence, did so
+in this abrupt fashion:
+
+“Well, my lord, of what are you thinking?”
+
+“Alas, Joseph, of what should we all think, but of our future happiness
+in a better life? For many days I have been reflecting that human
+interests have too much diverted me from this great thought; and I
+repent me of having spent some moments of my leisure in profane works,
+such as my tragedies, ‘Europe’ and ‘Mirame,’ despite the glory they have
+already gained me among our brightest minds--a glory which will extend
+unto futurity.”
+
+Father Joseph, full of what he had to say, was at first surprised at
+this opening; but he knew his master too well to betray his feelings,
+and, well skilled in changing the course of his ideas, replied:
+
+“Yes, their merit is very great, and France will regret that these
+immortal works are not followed by similar productions.”
+
+“Yes, my dear Joseph; but it is in vain that such men as Boisrobert,
+Claveret, Colletet, Corneille, and, above all, the celebrated Mairet,
+have proclaimed these tragedies the finest that the present or any past
+age has produced. I reproach myself for them, I swear to you, as for a
+mortal sin, and I now, in my hours of repose, occupy myself only with my
+‘Methode des Controverses’, and my book on the ‘Perfection du Chretien.’
+I remember that I am fifty-six years old, and that I have an incurable
+malady.”
+
+“These are calculations which your enemies make as precisely as
+your Eminence,” said the priest, who began to be annoyed with this
+conversation, and was eager to talk of other matters.
+
+The blood mounted to the Cardinal’s face.
+
+“I know it! I know it well!” he said; “I know all their black villainy,
+and I am prepared for it. But what news is there?”
+
+“According to our arrangement, my lord, we have removed Mademoiselle
+d’Hautefort, as we removed Mademoiselle de la Fayette before her. So far
+it is well; but her place is not filled, and the King--”
+
+“Well!”
+
+“The King has ideas which he never had before.”
+
+“Ha! and which come not from me? ‘Tis well, truly,” said the minister,
+with an ironic sneer.
+
+“What, my lord, leave the place of the favorite vacant for six whole
+days? It is not prudent; pardon me for saying so.”
+
+“He has ideas--ideas!” repeated Richelieu, with a kind of terror; “and
+what are they?”
+
+“He talks of recalling the Queen-mother,” said the Capuchin, in a low
+voice; “of recalling her from Cologne.”
+
+“Marie de Medicis!” cried the Cardinal, striking the arms of his chair
+with his hands. “No, by Heaven, she shall not again set her foot upon
+the soil of France, whence I drove her, step by step! England has not
+dared to receive her, exiled by me; Holland fears to be crushed by
+her; and my kingdom to receive her! No, no, such an idea could not have
+originated with himself! To recall my enemy! to recall his mother! What
+perfidy! He would not have dared to think of it.”
+
+Then, having mused for a moment, he added, fixing a penetrating look
+still full of burning anger upon Father Joseph:
+
+“But in what terms did he express this desire? Tell me his precise
+words.”
+
+“He said publicly; and in the presence of Monsieur: ‘I feel that one of
+the first duties of a Christian is to be a good son, and I will resist
+no longer the murmurs of my conscience.’”
+
+“Christian! conscience! these are not his expressions. It is Father
+Caussin--it is his confessor who is betraying me,” cried the Cardinal.
+“Perfidious Jesuit! I pardoned thee thy intrigue with La Fayette; but
+I will not pass over thy secret counsels. I will have this confessor
+dismissed, Joseph; he is an enemy to the State, I see it clearly. But
+I myself have acted with negligence for some days past; I have not
+sufficiently hastened the arrival of the young d’Effiat, who will
+doubtless succeed. He is handsome and intellectual, they say. What a
+blunder! I myself merit disgrace. To leave that fox of a Jesuit with
+the King, without having given him my secret instructions, without a
+hostage, a pledge, or his fidelity to my orders! What neglect! Joseph,
+take a pen, and write what I shall dictate for the other confessor, whom
+we will choose better. I think of Father Sirmond.”
+
+Father Joseph sat down at the large table, ready to write, and the
+Cardinal dictated to him those duties, of a new kind, which shortly
+afterward he dared to have given to the King, who received them,
+respected them, and learned them by heart as the commandments of the
+Church. They have come down to us, a terrible monument of the empire
+that a man may seize upon by means of circumstances, intrigues, and
+audacity:
+
+   “I. A prince should have a prime minister, and that minister three
+   qualities: (1) He should have no passion but for his prince; (2) He
+   should be able and faithful; (3) He should be an ecclesiastic.
+
+   “II. A prince ought perfectly to love his prime minister.
+
+   “III. Ought never to change his prime minister.
+
+   “IV. Ought to tell him all things.
+
+   “V. To give him free access to his person.
+
+   “VI. To give him sovereign authority over his people.
+
+   “VII. Great honors and large possessions.
+
+   “VIII. A prince has no treasure more precious than his prime
+   minister.
+
+   “IX. A prince should not put faith in what people say against his
+   prime minister, nor listen to any such slanders.
+
+   “X. A prince should reveal to his prime minister all that is said
+   against him, even though he has been bound to keep it secret.
+
+   “XI. A prince should prefer not only the well-being of the State,
+   but also his prime minister, to all his relations.”
+
+Such were the commandments of the god of France, less astonishing in
+themselves than the terrible naivete which made him bequeath them to
+posterity, as if posterity also must believe in him.
+
+While he dictated his instructions, reading them from a small piece of
+paper, written with his own hand, a deep melancholy seemed to possess
+him more and more at each word; and when he had ended, he fell back in
+his chair, his arms crossed, and his head sunk on his breast.
+
+Father Joseph, dropping his pen, arose and was inquiring whether he were
+ill, when he heard issue from the depths of his chest these mournful and
+memorable words:
+
+“What utter weariness! what endless trouble! If the ambitious man
+could see me, he would flee to a desert. What is my power? A miserable
+reflection of the royal power; and what labors to fix upon my star
+that incessantly wavering ray! For twenty years I have been in vain
+attempting it. I can not comprehend that man. He dare not flee me; but
+they take him from me--he glides through my fingers. What things could
+I not have done with his hereditary rights, had I possessed them? But,
+employing such infinite calculation in merely keeping one’s balance,
+what of genius remains for high enterprises? I hold Europe in my hand,
+yet I myself am suspended by a trembling hair. What is it to me that
+I can cast my eyes confidently over the map of Europe, when all my
+interests are concentrated in his narrow cabinet, and its few feet of
+space give me more trouble to govern than the whole country besides?
+See, then, what it is to be a prime minister! Envy me, my guards, if you
+can.”
+
+His features were so distorted as to give reason to fear some accident;
+and at the same moment he was seized with a long and violent fit of
+coughing, which ended in a slight hemorrhage. He saw that Father Joseph,
+alarmed, was about to seize a gold bell that stood on the table, and,
+suddenly rising with all the vivacity of a young man, he stopped him,
+saying:
+
+“‘Tis nothing, Joseph; I sometimes yield to these fits of depression;
+but they do not last long, and I leave them stronger than before. As for
+my health, I know my condition perfectly; but that is not the business
+in hand. What have you done at Paris? I am glad to know the King has
+arrived in Bearn, as I wished; we shall be able to keep a closer watch
+upon him. How did you induce him to come away?”
+
+“A battle at Perpignan.”
+
+“That is not bad. Well, we can arrange it for him; that occupation will
+do as well as another just now. But the young Queen, what says she?”
+
+“She is still furious against you; her correspondence discovered, the
+questioning to which you had subjected her--”
+
+“Bah! a madrigal and a momentary submission on my part will make her
+forget that I have separated her from her house of Austria and from the
+country of her Buckingham. But how does she occupy herself?”
+
+“In machinations with Monsieur. But as we have his entire confidence,
+here are the daily accounts of their interviews.”
+
+“I shall not trouble myself to read them; while the Duc de Bouillon
+remains in Italy I have nothing to fear in that quarter. She may have
+as many petty plots with Gaston in the chimney-corner as she pleases; he
+never got beyond his excellent intentions, forsooth! He carries nothing
+into effect but his withdrawal from the kingdom. He has had his third
+dismissal; I will manage a fourth for him whenever he pleases; he is not
+worth the pistol-shot you had the Comte de Soissons settled with, and
+yet the poor Comte had scarce more energy than he.”
+
+And the Cardinal, reseating himself in his chair, began to laugh gayly
+enough for a statesman.
+
+“I always laugh when I think of their expedition to Amiens. They had me
+between them, Each had fully five hundred gentlemen with him, armed to
+the teeth, and all going to despatch me, like Concini; but the great
+Vitry was not there. They very quietly let me talk for an hour with them
+about the hunt and the Fete Dieu, and neither of them dared make a sign
+to their cut-throats. I have since learned from Chavigny that for two
+long months they had been waiting that happy moment. For myself,
+indeed, I observed nothing, except that little villain, the Abbe de
+Gondi,--[Afterward Cardinal de Retz.]--who prowled near me, and seemed
+to have something hidden under his sleeve; it was he that made me get
+into the coach.”
+
+“Apropos of the Abbe, my lord, the Queen insists upon making him
+coadjutor.”
+
+“She is mad! he will ruin her if she connects herself with him; he’s a
+musketeer in canonicals, the devil in a cassock. Read his ‘Histoire de
+Fiesque’; you may see himself in it. He will be nothing while I live.”
+
+“How is it that with a judgment like yours you bring another ambitious
+man of his age to court?”
+
+“That is an entirely different matter. This young Cinq-Mars, my friend,
+will be a mere puppet. He will think of nothing but his ruff and his
+shoulder-knots; his handsome figure assures me of this. I know that he
+is gentle and weak; it was for this reason I preferred him to his elder
+brother. He will do whatever we wish.”
+
+“Ah, my lord,” said the monk, with an expression of doubt, “I never
+place much reliance on people whose exterior is so calm; the hidden
+flame is often all the more dangerous. Recollect the Marechal d’Effiat,
+his father.”
+
+“But I tell you he is a boy, and I shall bring him up; while Gondi is
+already an accomplished conspirator, an ambitious knave who sticks at
+nothing. He has dared to dispute Madame de la Meilleraie with me. Can
+you conceive it? He dispute with me! A petty priestling, who has
+no other merit than a little lively small-talk and a cavalier air.
+Fortunately, the husband himself took care to get rid of him.”
+
+Father Joseph, who listened with equal impatience to his master when
+he spoke of his ‘bonnes fortunes’ or of his verses, made, however, a
+grimace which he meant to be very sly and insinuating, but which was
+simply ugly and awkward; he fancied that the expression of his mouth,
+twisted about like a monkey’s, conveyed, “Ah! who can resist your
+Eminence?” But his Eminence only read there, “I am a clown who knows
+nothing of the great world”; and, without changing his voice, he
+suddenly said, taking up a despatch from the table:
+
+“The Duc de Rohan is dead, that is good news; the Huguenots are ruined.
+He is a lucky man. I had him condemned by the Parliament of Toulouse
+to be torn in pieces by four horses, and here he dies quietly on the
+battlefield of Rheinfeld. But what matters? The result is the same.
+Another great head is laid low! How they have fallen since that of
+Montmorency! I now see hardly any that do not bow before me. We have
+already punished almost all our dupes of Versailles; assuredly they have
+nothing with which to reproach me. I simply exercise against them the
+law of retaliation, treating them as they would have treated me in the
+council of the Queen-mother. The old dotard Bassompierre shall be doomed
+for perpetual imprisonment, and so shall the assassin Marechal de
+Vitry, for that was the punishment they voted me. As for Marillac, who
+counselled death, I reserve death for him at the first false step he
+makes, and I beg thee, Joseph, to remind me of him; we must be just to
+all. The Duc de Bouillon still keeps up his head proudly on account
+of his Sedan, but I shall make him yield. Their blindness is truly
+marvellous! They think themselves all free to conspire, not perceiving
+that they are merely fluttering at the ends of the threads that I hold
+in my hand, and which I lengthen now and then to give them air and
+space. Did the Huguenots cry out as one man at the death of their dear
+duke?”
+
+“Less so than at the affair of Loudun, which is happily concluded.”
+
+“What! Happily? I hope that Grandier is dead?”
+
+“Yes; that is what I meant. Your Eminence may be fully satisfied. All
+was settled in twenty-four hours. He is no longer thought of. Only
+Laubardemont committed a slight blunder in making the trial public. This
+caused a little tumult; but we have a description of the rioters, and
+measures have been taken to seek them out.”
+
+“This is well, very well. Urbain was too superior a man to be left
+there; he was turning Protestant. I would wager that he would have ended
+by abjuring. His work against the celibacy of priests made me conjecture
+this; and in cases of doubt, remember, Joseph, it is always best to cut
+the tree before the fruit is gathered. These Huguenots, you see, form
+a regular republic in the State. If once they had a majority in France,
+the monarchy would be lost, and they would establish some popular
+government which might be durable.”
+
+“And what deep pain do they daily cause our holy Father the Pope!” said
+Joseph.
+
+“Ah,” interrupted the Cardinal, “I see; thou wouldst remind me of his
+obstinacy in not giving thee the hat. Be tranquil; I will speak to-day
+on the subject to the new ambassador we are sending, the Marechal
+d’Estrees, and he will, on his arrival, doubtless obtain that which
+has been in train these two years--thy nomination to the cardinalate.
+I myself begin to think that the purple would become thee well, for it
+does not show blood-stains.”
+
+And both burst into laughter--the one as a master, overwhelming the
+assassin whom he pays with his utter scorn; the other as a slave,
+resigned to all the humiliation by which he rises.
+
+The laughter which the ferocious pleasantry of the old minister had
+excited had hardly subsided, when the door opened, and a page announced
+several couriers who had arrived simultaneously from different points.
+Father Joseph arose, and, leaning against the wall like an Egyptian
+mummy, allowed nothing to appear upon his face but an expression of
+stolid contemplation. Twelve messengers entered successively, attired in
+various disguises; one appeared to be a Swiss soldier, another a sutler,
+a third a master-mason. They had been introduced into the palace by a
+secret stairway and corridor, and left the cabinet by a door opposite
+that at which they had entered, without any opportunity of meeting one
+another or communicating the contents of their despatches. Each laid a
+rolled or folded packet of papers on the large table, spoke for a moment
+with the Cardinal in the embrasure of a window and withdrew. Richelieu
+had risen on the entrance of the first messenger, and, careful to do all
+himself, had received them all, listened to all, and with his own hand
+had closed the door upon all. When the last was gone, he signed to
+Father Joseph, and, without speaking, both proceeded to unfold, or,
+rather, to tear open, the packets of despatches, and in a few words
+communicated to each other the substance of the letters.
+
+“The Due de Weimar pursues his advantage; the Duc Charles is defeated.
+Our General is in good spirits; here are some of his lively remarks at
+table. Good!”
+
+“Monseigneur le Vicomte de Turenne has retaken the towns of Lorraine;
+and here are his private conversations--”
+
+“Oh! pass over them; they can not be dangerous. He is ever a good and
+honest man, in no way mixing himself up with politics; so that some one
+gives him a little army to play at chess with, no matter against whom,
+he is content. We shall always be good friends.”
+
+“The Long Parliament still endures in England. The Commons pursue
+their project; there are massacres in Ireland. The Earl of Strafford is
+condemned to death.”
+
+“To death! Horrible!”
+
+“I will read: ‘His Majesty Charles I has not had the courage to sign the
+sentence, but he has appointed four commissioners.’”
+
+“Weak king, I abandon thee! Thou shalt have no more of our money. Fall,
+since thou art ungrateful! Unhappy Wentworth!”
+
+A tear rose in the eyes of Richelieu as he said this; the man who had
+but now played with the lives of so many others wept for a minister
+abandoned by his prince. The similarity between that position and his
+own affected him, and it was his own case he deplored in the person of
+the foreign minister. He ceased to read aloud the despatches that
+he opened, and his confidant followed his example. He examined with
+scrupulous attention the detailed accounts of the most minute and
+secret actions of each person of any importance-accounts which he always
+required to be added to the official despatches made by his able spies.
+All the despatches to the King passed through his hands, and were
+carefully revised so as to reach the King amended to the state in which
+he wished him to read them. The private notes were all carefully burned
+by the monk after the Cardinal had ascertained their contents. The
+latter, however, seemed by no means satisfied, and he was walking
+quickly to and fro with gestures expressive of anxiety, when the door
+opened, and a thirteenth courier entered. This one seemed a boy hardly
+fourteen years old; he held under his arm a packet sealed with black
+for the King, and gave to the Cardinal only a small letter, of which
+a stolen glance from Joseph could collect but four words. The Cardinal
+started, tore the billet into a thousand pieces, and, bending down to
+the ear of the boy, spoke to him for a long time; all that Joseph heard
+was, as the messenger went out:
+
+“Take good heed to this; not until twelve hours from this time.”
+
+During this aside of the Cardinal, Joseph was occupied in concealing an
+infinite number of libels from Flanders and Germany, which the minister
+always insisted upon seeing, however bitter they might be to him. In
+this respect, he affected a philosophy which he was far from possessing,
+and to deceive those around him he would sometimes pretend that his
+enemies were not wholly wrong, and would outwardly laugh at their
+pleasantries; but those who knew his character better detected bitter
+rage lurking under this apparent moderation, and knew that he was never
+satisfied until he had got the hostile book condemned by the parliament
+to be burned in the Place de Greve, as “injurious to the King, in the
+person of his minister, the most illustrious Cardinal,” as we read in
+the decrees of the time, and that his only regret was that the author
+was not in the place of his book--a satisfaction he gave himself
+whenever he could, as in the case of Urbain Grandier.
+
+It was his colossal pride which he thus avenged, without avowing it even
+to himself--nay, laboring for a length of time, sometimes for a whole
+twelvemonth together, to persuade himself that the interest of the State
+was concerned in the matter. Ingenious in connecting his private affairs
+with the affairs of France, he had convinced himself that she bled
+from the wounds which he received. Joseph, careful not to irritate
+his ill-temper at this moment, put aside and concealed a book entitled
+‘Mystres Politiques du Cardinal de la Rochelle’; also another,
+attributed to a monk of Munich, entitled ‘Questions quolibetiques,
+ajustees au temps present, et Impiete Sanglante du dieu Mars’. The
+worthy advocate Aubery, who has given us one of the most faithful
+histories of the most eminent Cardinal, is transported with rage at the
+mere title of the first of these books, and exclaims that “the great
+minister had good reason to glorify himself that his enemies, inspired
+against their will with the same enthusiasm which conferred the gift of
+rendering oracles upon the ass of Balaam, upon Caiaphas and others,
+who seemed most unworthy of the gift of prophecy, called him with good
+reason Cardinal de la Rochelle, since three years after their writing
+he reduced that town; thus Scipio was called Africanus for having
+subjugated that PROVINCE!” Very little was wanting to make Father
+Joseph, who had necessarily the same feelings, express his indignation
+in the same terms; for he remembered with bitterness the ridiculous part
+he had played in the siege of Rochelle, which, though not a province
+like Africa, had ventured to resist the most eminent Cardinal, and into
+which Father Joseph, piquing himself on his military skill, had proposed
+to introduce the troops through a sewer. However, he restrained himself,
+and had time to conceal the libel in the pocket of his brown robe ere
+the minister had dismissed his young courier and returned to the table.
+
+“And now to depart, Joseph,” he said. “Open the doors to all that
+court which besieges me, and let us go to the King, who awaits me at
+Perpignan; this time I have him for good.”
+
+The Capuchin drew back, and immediately the pages, throwing open the
+gilded doors, announced in succession the greatest lords of the period,
+who had obtained permission from the King to come and salute the
+minister. Some, even, under the pretext of illness or business, had
+departed secretly, in order not to be among the last at Richelieu’s
+reception; and the unhappy monarch found himself almost as alone as
+other kings find themselves on their deathbeds. But with him, the throne
+seemed, in the eyes of the court, his dying couch, his reign a continual
+last agony, and his minister a threatening successor.
+
+Two pages, of the first families of France, stood at the door, where the
+ushers announced each of the persons whom Father Joseph had found in the
+ante room. The Cardinal, still seated in his great arm chair, remained
+motionless as the common couriers entered, inclined his head to the more
+distinguished, and to princes alone put his hands on the elbows of his
+chair and slightly rose; each person, having profoundly saluted him,
+stood before him near the fireplace, waited till he had spoken to him,
+and then, at a wave of his hand, completed the circuit of the room, and
+went out by the same door at which he had entered, paused for a moment
+to salute Father Joseph, who aped his master, and who for that reason
+had been named “his Gray Eminence,” and at last quitted the palace,
+unless, indeed, he remained standing behind the chair, if the minister
+had signified that he should, which was considered a token of very great
+favor.
+
+He allowed to pass several insignificant persons, and many whose merits
+were useless to him; the first whom he stopped in the procession was the
+Marechal d’Estrees, who, about to set out on an embassy to Rome, came
+to make his adieux; those behind him stopped short. This circumstance
+warned the courtiers in the anteroom that a longer conversation than
+usual was on foot, and Father Joseph, advancing to the threshold,
+exchanged with the Cardinal a glance which seemed to say, on the one
+side, “Remember the promise you have just made me,” on the other, “Set
+your mind at rest.” At the same time, the expert Capuchin let his master
+see that he held upon his arm one of his victims, whom he was forming
+into a docile instrument; this was a young gentleman who wore a very
+short green cloak, a pourpoint of the same color, close-fitting red
+breeches, with glittering gold garters below the knee-the costume of the
+pages of Monsieur. Father Joseph, indeed, spoke to him secretly, but not
+in the way the Cardinal imagined; for he contemplated being his equal,
+and was preparing other connections, in case of defection on the part of
+the prime minister.
+
+“Tell Monsieur not to trust in appearances, and that he has no servant
+more faithful than I. The Cardinal is on the decline, and my conscience
+tells me to warn against his faults him who may inherit the royal power
+during the minority. To give your great Prince a proof of my faith, tell
+him that it is intended to arrest his friend, Puy-Laurens, and that he
+had better be kept out of the way, or the Cardinal will put him in the
+Bastille.”
+
+While the servant was thus betraying his master, the master, not to
+be behindhand with him, betrayed his servant. His self-love, and some
+remnant of respect to the Church, made him shudder at the idea of seeing
+a contemptible agent invested with the same hat which he himself wore
+as a crown, and seated as high as himself, except as to the precarious
+position of minister. Speaking, therefore, in an undertone to the
+Marechal d’Estrees, he said:
+
+“It is not necessary to importune Urbain VIII any further in favor of
+the Capuchin you see yonder; it is enough that his Majesty has deigned
+to name him for the cardinalate. One can readily conceive the repugnance
+of his Holiness to clothe this mendicant in the Roman purple.”
+
+Then, passing on to general matters, he continued:
+
+“Truly, I know not what can have cooled the Holy Father toward us; what
+have we done that was not for the glory of our Holy Mother, the Catholic
+Church?”
+
+“I myself said the first mass at Rochelle, and you see for yourself,
+Monsieur le Marechal, that our habit is everywhere; and even in your
+armies, the Cardinal de la Vallette has commanded gloriously in the
+palatinate.”
+
+“And has just made a very fine retreat,” said the Marechal, laying a
+slight emphasis upon the word.
+
+The minister continued, without noticing this little outburst of
+professional jealousy, and raising his voice, said:
+
+“God has shown that He did not scorn to send the spirit of victory upon
+his Levites, for the Duc de Weimar did not more powerfully aid in the
+conquest of Lorraine than did this pious Cardinal, and never was a naval
+army better commanded than by our Archbishop of Bordeaux at Rochelle.”
+
+It was well known that at this very time the minister was incensed
+against this prelate, whose haughtiness was so overbearing, and whose
+impertinent ebullitions were so frequent as to have involved him in
+two very disagreeable affairs at Bordeaux. Four years before, the Duc
+d’Epernon, then governor of Guyenne, followed by all his train and by
+his troops, meeting him among his clergy in a procession, had called
+him an insolent fellow, and given him two smart blows with his cane;
+whereupon the Archbishop had excommunicated him. And again, recently,
+despite this lesson, he had quarrelled with the Marechal de Vitry,
+from whom he had received “twenty blows with a cane or stick, which you
+please,” wrote the Cardinal Duke to the Cardinal de la Vallette, “and
+I think he would like to excommunicate all France.” In fact, he did
+excommunicate the Marechal’s baton, remembering that in the former case
+the Pope had obliged the Duc d’Epernon to ask his pardon; but M. Vitry,
+who had caused the Marechal d’Ancre to be assassinated, stood too high
+at court for that, and the Archbishop, in addition to his beating, got
+well scolded by the minister.
+
+M. d’Estrees thought, therefore, sagely that there might be some irony
+in the Cardinal’s manner of referring to the warlike talents of the
+Archbishop, and he answered, with perfect sang-froid:
+
+“It is true, my lord, no one can say that it was upon the sea he was
+beaten.”
+
+His Eminence could not restrain a smile at this; but seeing that the
+electrical effect of that smile had created others in the hall, as well
+as whisperings and conjectures, he immediately resumed his gravity, and
+familiarly taking the Marechal’s arm, said:
+
+“Come, Monsieur l’Ambassadeur, you are ready at repartee. With you I
+should not fear Cardinal Albornos, or all the Borgias in the world--no,
+nor all the efforts of their Spain with the Holy Father.”
+
+Then, raising his voice, and looking around, as if addressing himself to
+the silent, and, so to speak, captive assembly, he continued:
+
+“I hope that we shall no more be reproached, as formerly, for having
+formed an alliance with one of the greatest men of our day; but as
+Gustavus Adolphus is dead, the Catholic King will no longer have any
+pretext for soliciting the excommunication of the most Christian King.
+How say you, my dear lord?” addressing himself to the Cardinal de la
+Vallette, who now approached, fortunately without having heard the late
+allusion to himself. “Monsieur d’Estrees, remain near our chair; we have
+still many things to say to you, and you are not one too many in our
+conversations, for we have no secrets. Our policy is frank and open to
+all men; the interest of his Majesty and of the State--nothing more.”
+
+The Marechal made a profound bow, fell back behind the chair of
+the minister, and gave place to the Cardinal de la Vallette, who,
+incessantly bowing and flattering and swearing devotion and entire
+obedience to the Cardinal, as if to expiate the obduracy of his father,
+the Duc d’Epernon, received in return a few vague words, to no meaning
+or purpose, the Cardinal all the while looking toward the door, to
+see who should follow. He had even the mortification to find himself
+abruptly interrupted by the minister, who cried at the most flattering
+period of his honeyed discourse:
+
+“Ah! is that you at last, my dear Fabert? How I have longed to see you,
+to talk of the siege!”
+
+The General, with a brusque and awkward manner, saluted the
+Cardinal-Generalissimo, and presented to him the officers who had come
+from the camp with him. He talked some time of the operations of the
+siege, and the Cardinal seemed to be paying him court now, in order
+to prepare him afterward for receiving his orders even on the field of
+battle; he spoke to the officers who accompanied him, calling them by
+their names, and questioning them about the camp.
+
+They all stood aside to make way for the Duc d’Angouleme--that Valois,
+who, having struggled against Henri IV, now prostrated himself before
+Richelieu. He solicited a command, having been only third in rank at
+the siege of Rochelle. After him came young Mazarin, ever supple and
+insinuating, but already confident in his fortune.
+
+The Duc d’Halluin came after them; the Cardinal broke off the
+compliments he was addressing to the others, to utter, in a loud voice:
+
+“Monsieur le Duc, I inform you with pleasure that the King has made you
+a marshal of France; you will sign yourself Schomberg, will you not, at
+Leucate, delivered, as we hope, by you? But pardon me, here is Monsieur
+de Montauron, who has doubtless something important to communicate.”
+
+“Oh, no, my lord, I would only say that the poor young man whom you
+deigned to consider in your service is dying of hunger.”
+
+“Pshaw! at such a moment to speak of things like this! Your little
+Corneille will not write anything good; we have only seen ‘Le Cid’ and
+‘Les Horaces’ as yet. Let him work, let him work! it is known that he
+is in my service, and that is disagreeable. However, since you interest
+yourself in the matter, I give him a pension of five hundred crowns on
+my privy purse.”
+
+The Chancellor of the Exchequer retired, charmed with the liberality
+of the minister, and went home to receive with great affability the
+dedication of Cinna, wherein the great Corneille compares his soul
+to that of Augustus, and thanks him for having given alms ‘a quelques
+Muses’.
+
+The Cardinal, annoyed by this importunity, rose, observing that the day
+was advancing, and that it was time to set out to visit the King.
+
+At this moment, and as the greatest noblemen present were offering their
+arms to aid him in walking, a man in the robe of a referendary advanced
+toward him, saluting him with a complacent and confident smile which
+astonished all the people there, accustomed to the great world, seeming
+to say: “We have secret affairs together; you shall see how agreeable he
+makes himself to me. I am at home in his cabinet.” His heavy and awkward
+manner, however, betrayed a very inferior being; it was Laubardemont.
+
+Richelieu knit his brows when he saw him, and cast a glance at Joseph;
+then, turning toward those who surrounded him, he said, with bitter
+scorn:
+
+“Is there some criminal about us to be apprehended?”
+
+Then, turning his back upon the discomfited Laubardemont, the Cardinal
+left him redder than his robe, and, preceded by the crowd of personages
+who were to escort him in carriages or on horseback, he descended the
+great staircase of the palace.
+
+All the people and the authorities of Narbonne viewed this royal
+departure with amazement.
+
+The Cardinal entered alone a spacious square litter, in which he was
+to travel to Perpignan, his infirmities not permitting him to go in
+a coach, or to perform the journey on horseback. This kind of moving
+chamber contained a bed, a table, and a small chair for the page who
+wrote or read for him. This machine, covered with purple damask, was
+carried by eighteen men, who were relieved at intervals of a league;
+they were selected among his guards, and always performed this service
+of honor with uncovered heads, however hot or wet the weather might be.
+The Duc d’Angouleme, the Marechals de Schomberg and d’Estrees, Fabert,
+and other dignitaries were on horseback beside the litter; after them,
+among the most prominent were the Cardinal de la Vallette and Mazarin,
+with Chavigny, and the Marechal de Vitry, anxious to avoid the Bastille,
+with which it was said he was threatened.
+
+Two coaches followed for the Cardinal’s secretaries, physicians, and
+confessor; then eight others, each with four horses, for his gentlemen,
+and twenty-four mules for his luggage. Two hundred musketeers on foot
+marched close behind him, and his company of men-at-arms of the guard
+and his light-horse, all gentlemen, rode before and behind him on
+splendid horses.
+
+Such was the equipage in which the prime minister proceeded to
+Perpignan; the size of the litter often made it necessary to enlarge the
+roads, and knock down the walls of some of the towns and villages on the
+way, into which it could not otherwise enter, “so that,” say the authors
+and manuscripts of the time, full of a sincere admiration for all this
+luxury--“so that he seemed a conqueror entering by the breach.” We have
+sought in vain with great care in these documents, for any account of
+proprietors or inhabitants of these dwellings so making room for his
+passage who shared in this admiration; but we have been unable to find
+any mention of such.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. THE INTERVIEW
+
+The pompous cortege of the Cardinal halted at the beginning of the camp.
+All the armed troops were drawn up in the finest order; and amid the
+sound of cannon and the music of each regiment the litter traversed a
+long line of cavalry and infantry, formed from the outermost tent to
+that of the minister, pitched at some distance from the royal quarters,
+and which its purple covering distinguished at a distance. Each general
+of division obtained a nod or a word from the Cardinal, who at length
+reaching his tent and, dismissing his train, shut himself in, waiting
+for the time to present himself to the King. But, before him, every
+person of his escort had repaired thither individually, and, without
+entering the royal abode, had remained in the long galleries covered
+with striped stuff, and arranged as became avenues leading to the
+Prince. The courtiers walking in groups, saluted one another and shook
+hands, regarding each other haughtily, according to their connections or
+the lords to whom they belonged. Others whispered together, and showed
+signs of astonishment, pleasure, or anger, which showed that something
+extraordinary had taken place. Among a thousand others, one singular
+dialogue occurred in a corner of the principal gallery.
+
+“May I ask, Monsieur l’Abbe, why you look at me so fixedly?”
+
+“Parbleu! Monsieur de Launay, it is because I’m curious to see what you
+will do. All the world abandons your Cardinal-Duke since your journey
+into Touraine; if you do not believe it, go and ask the people of
+Monsieur or of the Queen. You are behind-hand ten minutes by the
+watch with the Cardinal de la Vallette, who has just shaken hands with
+Rochefort and the gentlemen of the late Comte de Soissons, whom I shall
+regret as long as I live.”
+
+“Monsieur de Gondi, I understand you; is it a challenge with which you
+honor me?”
+
+“Yes, Monsieur le Comte,” answered the young Abbe, saluting him with all
+the gravity of the time; “I sought an occasion to challenge you in the
+name of Monsieur d’Attichi, my friend, with whom you had something to do
+at Paris.”
+
+“Monsieur l’Abbe, I am at your command. I will seek my seconds; do you
+the same.”
+
+“On horseback, with sword and pistol, I suppose?” added Gondi, with the
+air of a man arranging a party of pleasure, lightly brushing the sleeve
+of his cassock.
+
+“If you please,” replied the other. And they separated for a time,
+saluting one another with the greatest politeness, and with profound
+bows.
+
+A brilliant crowd of gentlemen circulated around them in the gallery.
+They mingled with it to procure friends for the occasion. All the
+elegance of the costumes of the day was displayed by the court that
+morning-small cloaks of every color, in velvet or in satin, embroidered
+with gold or silver; crosses of St. Michael and of the Holy Ghost; the
+ruffs, the sweeping hat-plumes, the gold shoulder-knots, the chains
+by which the long swords hung: all glittered and sparkled, yet not so
+brilliantly as did the fiery glances of those warlike youths, or
+their sprightly conversation, or their intellectual laughter. Amid the
+assembly grave personages and great lords passed on, followed by their
+numerous gentlemen.
+
+The little Abbe de Gondi, who was very shortsighted, made his way
+through the crowd, knitting his brows and half shutting his eyes, that
+he might see the better, and twisting his moustache, for ecclesiastics
+wore them in those days. He looked closely at every one in order to
+recognize his friends, and at last stopped before a young man, very tall
+and dressed in black from head to foot; his sword, even, was of quite
+dark, bronzed steel. He was talking with a captain of the guards, when
+the Abbe de Gondi took him aside.
+
+“Monsieur de Thou,” said he, “I need you as my second in an hour, on
+horseback, with sword and pistol, if you will do me that honor.”
+
+“Monsieur, you know I am entirely at your service on all occasions.
+Where shall we meet?”
+
+“In front of the Spanish bastion, if you please.”
+
+“Pardon me for returning to a conversation that greatly interests me. I
+will be punctual at the rendezvous.”
+
+And De Thou quitted him to rejoin the Captain. He had said all this in
+the gentlest of voices with unalterable coolness, and even with somewhat
+of an abstracted manner.
+
+The little Abbe squeezed his hand with warm satisfaction, and continued
+his search.
+
+He did not so easily effect an agreement with the young lords to whom he
+addressed himself; for they knew him better than did De Thou, and when
+they saw him coming they tried to avoid him, or laughed at him openly,
+and would not promise to serve him.
+
+“Ah, Abbe! there you are hunting again; I’ll swear it’s a second you
+want,” said the Duc de Beaufort.
+
+“And I wager,” added M. de la Rochefoucauld, “that it’s against one of
+the Cardinal-Duke’s people.”
+
+“You are both right, gentlemen; but since when have you laughed at
+affairs of honor?”
+
+“The saints forbid I should,” said M. de Beaufort. “Men of the sword
+like us ever reverence tierce, quarte, and octave; but as for the folds
+of the cassock, I know nothing of them.”
+
+“Pardieu! Monsieur, you know well enough that it does not embarrass
+my wrist, as I will prove to him who chooses; as to the gown itself, I
+should like to throw it into the gutter.”
+
+“Is it to tear it that you fight so often?” asked La Rochefoucauld. “But
+remember, my dear Abbe, that you yourself are within it.”
+
+Gondi turned to look at the clock, wishing to lose no more time in such
+sorry jests; but he had no better success elsewhere. Having stopped
+two gentlemen in the service of the young Queen, whom he thought
+ill-affected toward the Cardinal, and consequently glad to measure
+weapons with his creatures, one of them said to him very gravely:
+
+“Monsieur de Gondi, you know what has just happened; the King has said
+aloud, ‘Whether our imperious Cardinal wishes it or not, the widow of
+Henri le Grand shall no longer remain in exile.’ Imperious! the King
+never before said anything so strong as that, Monsieur l’Abbe, mark
+that. Imperious! it is open disgrace. Certainly no one will dare to
+speak to him; no doubt he will quit the court this very day.”
+
+“I have heard this, Monsieur, but I have an affair--”
+
+“It is lucky for you he stopped short in the middle of your career.”
+
+“An affair of honor--”
+
+“Whereas Mazarin is quite a friend of yours.”
+
+“But will you, or will you not, listen to me?”
+
+“Yes, a friend indeed! your adventures are always uppermost in his
+thoughts. Your fine duel with Monsieur de Coutenan about the pretty
+little pin-maker,--he even spoke of it to the King. Adieu, my dear Abbe,
+we are in great haste; adieu, adieu!” And, taking his friend’s arm, the
+young mocker, without listening to another word, walked rapidly down the
+gallery and disappeared in the throng.
+
+The poor Abbe was much mortified at being able to get only one second,
+and was watching sadly the passing of the hour and of the crowd, when
+he perceived a young gentleman whom he did not know, seated at a
+table, leaning on his elbow with a pensive air; he wore mourning which
+indicated no connection with any great house or party, and appeared to
+await, without any impatience, the time for attending the King, looking
+with a heedless air at those who surrounded him, and seeming not to
+notice or to know any of them.
+
+Gondi looked at him a moment, and accosted him without hesitation:
+
+“Monsieur, I have not the honor of your acquaintance, but a
+fencing-party can never be unpleasant to a man of honor; and if you will
+be my second, in a quarter of an hour we shall be on the ground. I am
+Paul de Gondi; and I have challenged Monsieur de Launay, one of the
+Cardinal’s clique, but in other respects a very gallant fellow.”
+
+The unknown, apparently not at all surprised at this address, replied,
+without changing his attitude: “And who are his seconds?”
+
+“Faith, I don’t know; but what matters it who serves him? We stand no
+worse with our friends for having exchanged a thrust with them.”
+
+The stranger smiled nonchalantly, paused for an instant to pass his hand
+through his long chestnut hair, and then said, looking idly at a large,
+round watch which hung at his waist:
+
+“Well, Monsieur, as I have nothing better to do, and as I have no
+friends here, I am with you; it will pass the time as well as anything
+else.”
+
+And, taking his large, black-plumed hat from the table, he followed the
+warlike Abbe, who went quickly before him, often running back to hasten
+him on, like a child running before his father, or a puppy that goes
+backward and forward twenty times before it gets to the end of a street.
+
+Meanwhile, two ushers, attired in the royal livery, opened the great
+curtains which separated the gallery from the King’s tent, and silence
+reigned. The courtiers began to enter slowly, and in succession, the
+temporary dwelling of the Prince. He received them all gracefully, and
+was the first to meet the view of each person introduced.
+
+Before a very small table surrounded with gilt armchairs stood Louis
+XIII, encircled by the great officers of the crown. His dress was very
+elegant: a kind of fawn-colored vest, with open sleeves, ornamented with
+shoulder-knots and blue ribbons, covered him down to the waist. Wide
+breeches reached to the knee, and the yellow-and-red striped stuff
+of which they were made was ornamented below with blue ribbons. His
+riding-boots, reaching hardly more than three inches above the ankle,
+were turned over, showing so lavish a lining of lace that they seemed to
+hold it as a vase holds flowers. A small mantle of blue velvet, on which
+was embroidered the cross of the Holy Ghost, covered the King’s left
+arm, which rested on the hilt of his sword.
+
+His head was uncovered, and his pale and noble face was distinctly
+visible, lighted by the sun, which penetrated through the top of the
+tent. The small, pointed beard then worn augmented the appearance of
+thinness in his face, while it added to its melancholy expression. By
+his lofty brow, his classic profile, his aquiline nose, he was at once
+recognized as a prince of the great race of Bourbon. He had all the
+characteristic traits of his ancestors except their penetrating
+glance; his eyes seemed red from weeping, and veiled with a perpetual
+drowsiness; and the weakness of his vision gave him a somewhat vacant
+look.
+
+He called around him, and was attentive to, the greatest enemies of the
+Cardinal, whom he expected every moment; and, balancing himself with
+one foot over the other, an hereditary habit of his family, he spoke
+quickly, but pausing from time to time to make a gracious inclination of
+the head, or a gesture of the hand, to those who passed before him with
+low reverences.
+
+The court had been thus paying its respects to the King for two hours
+before the Cardinal appeared; the whole court stood in close ranks
+behind the Prince, and in the long galleries which extended from
+his tent. Already longer intervals elapsed between the names of the
+courtiers who were announced.
+
+“Shall we not see our cousin the Cardinal?” said the King, turning, and
+looking at Montresor, one of Monsieur’s gentlemen, as if to encourage
+him to answer.
+
+“He is said to be very ill just now, Sire,” was the answer.
+
+“And yet I do not see how any but your Majesty can cure him,” said the
+Duc de Beaufort.
+
+“We cure nothing but the king’s evil,” replied Louis; “and the
+complaints of the Cardinal are always so mysterious that we own we can
+not understand them.”
+
+The Prince thus essayed to brave his minister, gaining strength in
+jests, the better to break his yoke, insupportable, but so difficult to
+remove. He almost thought he had succeeded in this, and, sustained
+by the joyous air surrounding him, he already privately congratulated
+himself on having been able to assume the supreme empire, and for the
+moment enjoyed all the power of which he fancied himself possessed. An
+involuntary agitation in the depth of his heart had warned him indeed
+that, the hour passed, all the burden of the State would fall upon
+himself alone; but he talked in order to divert the troublesome thought,
+and, concealing from himself the doubt he had of his own inability
+to reign, he set his imagination to work upon the result of his
+enterprises, thus forcing himself to forget the tedious roads which had
+led to them. Rapid phrases succeeded one another on his lips.
+
+“We shall soon take Perpignan,” he said to Fabert, who stood at some
+distance.
+
+“Well, Cardinal, Lorraine is ours,” he added to La Vallette. Then,
+touching Mazarin’s arm:
+
+“It is not so difficult to manage a State as is supposed, eh?”
+
+The Italian, who was not so sure of the Cardinal’s disgrace as most of
+the courtiers, answered, without compromising himself:
+
+“Ah, Sire, the late successes of your Majesty at home and abroad prove
+your sagacity in choosing your instruments and in directing them, and--”
+
+But the Duc de Beaufort, interrupting him with that self-confidence,
+that loud voice and overbearing air, which subsequently procured him the
+surname of Important, cried out, vehemently:
+
+“Pardieu! Sire, it needs only to will. A nation is driven like a horse,
+with spur and bridle; and as we are all good horsemen, your Majesty has
+only to choose among us.”
+
+This fine sally had not time to take effect, for two ushers cried,
+simultaneously, “His Eminence!”
+
+The King’s face flushed involuntarily, as if he had been surprised en
+flagrant delit. But immediately gaining confidence, he assumed an air of
+resolute haughtiness, which was not lost upon the minister.
+
+The latter, attired in all the pomp of a cardinal, leaning upon two
+young pages, and followed by his captain of the guards and more than
+five hundred gentlemen attached to his house, advanced toward the King
+slowly and pausing at each step, as if forced to it by his sufferings,
+but in reality to observe the faces before him. A glance sufficed.
+
+His suite remained at the entrance of the royal tent; of all those
+within it, not one was bold enough to salute him, or to look toward
+him. Even La Vallette feigned to be occupied in a conversation with
+Montresor; and the King, who desired to give him an unfavorable
+reception, greeted him lightly and continued a private conversation in a
+low voice with the Duc de Beaufort.
+
+The Cardinal was therefore forced, after the first salute, to stop and
+pass to the side of the crowd of courtiers, as if he wished to mingle
+with them, but in reality to test them more closely; they all recoiled
+as at the sight of a leper. Fabert alone advanced toward him with the
+frank, brusque air habitual with him, and, making use of the terms
+belonging to his profession, said:
+
+“Well, my lord, you make a breach in the midst of them like a
+cannon-ball; I ask pardon in their name.”
+
+“And you stand firm before me as before the enemy,” said the Cardinal;
+“you will have no cause to regret it in the end, my dear Fabert.”
+
+Mazarin also approached the Cardinal, but with caution, and, giving to
+his mobile features an expression of profound sadness, made him five
+or six very low bows, turning his back to the group gathered around the
+King, so that in the latter quarter they might be taken for those cold
+and hasty salutations which are made to a person one desires to be rid
+of, and, on the part of the Duke, for tokens of respect, blended with a
+discreet and silent sorrow.
+
+The minister, ever calm, smiled disdainfully; and, assuming that firm
+look and that air of grandeur which he always wore in the hour of
+danger, he again leaned upon his pages, and, without waiting for a word
+or a glance from his sovereign, he suddenly resolved upon his line of
+conduct, and walked directly toward him, traversing the whole length
+of the tent. No one had lost sight of him, although all affected not to
+observe him. Every one now became silent, even those who were conversing
+with the King. All the courtiers bent forward to see and to hear.
+
+Louis XIII turned toward him in astonishment, and, all presence of
+mind totally failing him, remained motionless and waited with an icy
+glance-his sole force, but a force very effectual in a prince.
+
+The Cardinal, on coming close to the monarch, did not bow; and, without
+changing his attitude, with his eyes lowered and his hands placed on the
+shoulders of the two boys half bending, he said:
+
+“Sire, I come to implore your Majesty at length to grant me the
+retirement for which I have long sighed. My health is failing; I feel
+that my life will soon be ended. Eternity approaches me, and before
+rendering an account to the eternal King, I would render one to my
+earthly sovereign. It is eighteen years, Sire, since you placed in
+my hands a weak and divided kingdom; I return it to you united and
+powerful. Your enemies are overthrown and humiliated. My work is
+accomplished. I ask your Majesty’s permission to retire to Citeaux, of
+which I am abbot, and where I may end my days in prayer and meditation.”
+
+The King, irritated by some haughty expressions in this address, showed
+none of the signs of weakness which the Cardinal had expected, and
+which he had always seen in him when he had threatened to resign the
+management of affairs. On the contrary, feeling that he had the eyes of
+the whole court upon him, Louis looked upon him with the air of a king,
+and coldly replied:
+
+“We thank you, then, for your services, Monsieur le Cardinal, and wish
+you the repose you desire.”
+
+Richelieu was deeply moved, but no indication of his anger appeared upon
+his countenance. “Such was the coldness with which you left Montmorency
+to die,” he said to himself; “but you shall not escape me thus.” He then
+continued aloud, bowing at the same time:
+
+“The only recompense I ask for my services is that your Majesty will
+deign to accept from me, as a gift, the Palais-Cardinal I have erected
+at my own expense in Paris.”
+
+The King, astonished, bowed his assent. A murmur of surprise for a
+moment agitated the attentive court.
+
+“I also throw myself at your Majesty’s feet, to beg that you will grant
+me the revocation of an act of rigor, which I solicited (I publicly
+confess it), and which I perhaps regarded too hastily beneficial to the
+repose of the State. Yes, when I was of this world, I was too forgetful
+of my early sentiments of personal respect and attachment, in my
+eagerness for the public welfare; but now that I already enjoy the
+enlightenment of solitude, I see that I have done wrong, and I repent.”
+
+The attention of the spectators was redoubled, and the uneasiness of the
+King became visible.
+
+“Yes, there is one person, Sire, whom I have always loved, despite her
+wrong toward you, and the banishment which the affairs of the kingdom
+forced me to bring about for her; a person to whom I have owed much,
+and who should be very dear to you, notwithstanding her armed attempts
+against you; a person, in a word, whom I implore you to recall from
+exile--the Queen Marie de Medicis, your mother!”
+
+The King uttered an involuntary exclamation, so little did he expect to
+hear that name. A repressed agitation suddenly appeared upon every face.
+All waited in silence the King’s reply. Louis XIII looked for a long
+time at his old minister without speaking, and this look decided the
+fate of France; in that instant he called to mind all the indefatigable
+services of Richelieu, his unbounded devotion, his wonderful capacity,
+and was surprised at himself for having wished to part with him. He felt
+deeply affected at this request, which had probed for the exact cause of
+his anger at the bottom of his heart, and uprooted it, thus taking from
+his hands the only weapon he had against his old servant. Filial love
+brought words of pardon to his lips and tears into his eyes. Rejoicing
+to grant what he desired most of all things in the world, he extended
+his hands to the Duke with all the nobleness and kindliness of a
+Bourbon. The Cardinal bowed and respectfully kissed it; and his heart,
+which should have burst with remorse, only swelled in the joy of a
+haughty triumph.
+
+The King, deeply touched, abandoning his hand to him, turned gracefully
+toward his court and said, with a trembling voice:
+
+“We often deceive ourselves, gentlemen, and especially in our knowledge
+of so great a politician as this.”
+
+“I hope he will never leave us, since his heart is as good as his head.”
+
+Cardinal de la Vallette instantly seized the sleeve of the King’s
+mantle, and kissed it with all the ardor of a lover, and the young
+Mazarin did much the same with Richelieu himself, assuming, with
+admirable Italian suppleness, an expression radiant with joy and
+tenderness. Two streams of flatterers hastened, one toward the King, the
+other toward the minister; the former group, not less adroit than the
+second, although less direct, addressed to the Prince thanks which could
+be heard by the minister, and burned at the feet of the one incense
+which was intended for the other. As for Richelieu, bowing and smiling
+to right and left, he stepped forward and stood at the right hand of
+the King as his natural place. A stranger entering would rather have
+thought, indeed, that it was the King who was on the Cardinal’s left
+hand. The Marechal d’Estrees, all the ambassadors, the Duc d’Angouleme,
+the Due d’Halluin (Schomberg), the Marechal de Chatillon, and all the
+great officers of the crown surrounded him, each waiting impatiently for
+the compliments of the others to be finished, in order to pay his own,
+fearing lest some one else should anticipate him with the flattering
+epigram he had just improvised, or the phrase of adulation he was
+inventing.
+
+As for Fabert, he had retired to a corner of the tent, and seemed to
+have paid no particular attention to the scene. He was chatting with
+Montresor and the gentlemen of Monsieur, all sworn enemies of the
+Cardinal, because, out of the throng he avoided, he had found none but
+these to speak to. This conduct would have seemed extremely tactless in
+one less known; but although he lived in the midst of the court, he was
+ever ignorant of its intrigues. It was said of him that he returned from
+a battle he had gained, like the King’s hunting-horse, leaving the dogs
+to caress their master and divide the quarry, without seeking even to
+remember the part he had had in the triumph.
+
+The storm, then, seemed entirely appeased, and to the violent agitations
+of the morning succeeded a gentle calm. A respectful murmur, varied
+with pleasant laughter and protestations of attachment, was all that was
+heard in the tent. The voice of the Cardinal arose from time to time:
+“The poor Queen! We shall, then, soon again see her! I never had dared
+to hope for such happiness while I lived!” The King listened to him with
+full confidence, and made no attempt to conceal his satisfaction. “It
+was assuredly an idea sent to him from on high,” he said; “this good
+Cardinal, against whom they had so incensed me, was thinking only of
+the union of my family. Since the birth of the Dauphin I have not tasted
+greater joy than at this moment. The protection of the Holy Virgin is
+manifested over our kingdom.”
+
+At this moment, a captain of the guards came up and whispered in the
+King’s ear.
+
+“A courier from Cologne?” said the King; “let him wait in my cabinet.”
+
+Then, unable to restrain his impatience, “I will go! I will go!” he
+said, and entered alone a small, square tent attached to the larger one.
+In it he saw a young courier holding a black portfolio, and the curtains
+closed upon the King.
+
+The Cardinal, left sole master of the court, concentrated all its
+homage; but it was observed that he no longer received it with his
+former presence of mind. He inquired frequently what time it was, and
+exhibited an anxiety which was not assumed; his hard, unquiet glances
+turned toward the smaller tent. It suddenly opened; the King appeared
+alone, and stopped on the threshold. He was paler than usual, and
+trembled in every limb; he held in his hand a large letter with five
+black seals.
+
+“Gentlemen,” said he, in a loud but broken voice, “the Queen has just
+died at Cologne; and I perhaps am not the first to hear of it,” he
+added, casting a severe look toward the impassible Cardinal, “but God
+knows all! To horse in an hour, and attack the lines! Marechals, follow
+me.” And he turned his back abruptly, and reentered his cabinet with
+them.
+
+The court retired after the minister, who, without giving any sign of
+sorrow or annoyance, went forth as gravely as he had entered, but now a
+victor.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE SIEGE
+
+There are moments in our life when we long ardently for strong
+excitement to drown our petty griefs--times when the soul, like the lion
+in the fable, wearied with the continual attacks of the gnat, earnestly
+desires a mightier enemy and real danger. Cinq-Mars found himself in
+this condition of mind, which always results from a morbid sensibility
+in the organic constitution and a perpetual agitation of the heart.
+Weary of continually turning over in his mind a combination of the
+events which he desired, and of those which he dreaded; weary of
+calculating his chances to the best of his power; of summoning to his
+assistance all that his education had taught him concerning the lives
+of illustrious men, in order to compare it with his present situation;
+oppressed by his regrets, his dreams, predictions, fancies, and all that
+imaginary world in which he had lived during his solitary journey-he
+breathed freely upon finding himself thrown into a real world almost
+as full of agitation; and the realizing of two actual dangers restored
+circulation to his blood, and youth to his whole being.
+
+Since the nocturnal scene at the inn near Loudun, he had not been
+able to resume sufficient empire over his mind to occupy himself with
+anything save his cherished though sad reflections; and consumption
+was already threatening him, when happily he arrived at the camp
+of Perpignan, and happily also had the opportunity of accepting the
+proposition of the Abbe de Gondi--for the reader has no doubt recognized
+Cinq-Mars in the person of that young stranger in mourning, so careless
+and so melancholy, whom the duellist in the cassock invited to be his
+second.
+
+He had ordered his tent to be pitched as a volunteer in the street of
+the camp assigned to the young noblemen who were to be presented to
+the King and were to serve as aides-de-camp to the Generals; he
+soon repaired thither, and was quickly armed, horsed, and cuirassed,
+according to the custom of the time, and set out alone for the Spanish
+bastion, the place of rendezvous. He was the first arrival, and found
+that a small plot of turf, hidden among the works of the besieged place,
+had been well chosen by the little Abbe for his homicidal purposes; for
+besides the probability that no one would have suspected officers
+of engaging in a duel immediately beneath the town which they were
+attacking, the body of the bastion separated them from the French camp,
+and would conceal them like an immense screen. It was wise to take these
+precautions, for at that time it cost a man his head to give himself the
+satisfaction of risking his body.
+
+While waiting for his friends and his adversaries, Cinq-Mars had time
+to examine the southern side of Perpignan, before which he stood. He had
+heard that these works were not those which were to be attacked, and
+he tried in vain to account for the besieger’s projects. Between this
+southern face of the town, the mountains of Albere, and the Col du
+Perthus, there might have been advantageous lines of attack, and
+redoubts against the accessible point; but not a single soldier was
+stationed there. All the forces seemed directed upon the north of
+Perpignan, upon the most difficult side, against a brick fort called the
+Castillet, which surmounted the gate of Notre-Dame. He discovered that a
+piece of ground, apparently marshy, but in reality very solid, led up
+to the very foot of the Spanish bastion; that this post was guarded with
+true Castilian negligence, although its sole strength lay entirely in
+its defenders; for its battlements, almost in ruin, were furnished with
+four pieces of cannon of enormous calibre, embedded in the turf, and
+thus rendered immovable, and impossible to be directed against a troop
+advancing rapidly to the foot of the wall.
+
+It was easy to see that these enormous pieces had discouraged the
+besiegers from attacking this point, and had kept the besieged from any
+idea of addition to its means of defence. Thus, on the one side, the
+vedettes and advanced posts were at a distance, and on the other, the
+sentinels were few and ill supported. A young Spaniard, carrying a long
+gun, with its rest suspended at his side and the burning match in his
+right hand, who was walking with nonchalance upon the rampart, stopped
+to look at Cinq-Mars, who was riding about the ditches and moats.
+
+“Senor caballero,” he cried, “are you going to take the bastion by
+yourself on horseback, like Don Quixote--Quixada de la Mancha?”
+
+At the same time he detached from his side the iron rest, planted it in
+the ground, and supported upon it the barrel of his gun in order to take
+aim, when a grave and older Spaniard, enveloped in a dirty brown cloak,
+said to him in his own tongue:
+
+“‘Ambrosio de demonio’, do you not know that it is forbidden to throw
+away powder uselessly, before sallies or attacks are made, merely to
+have the pleasure of killing a boy not worth your match? It was in this
+very place that Charles the Fifth threw the sleeping sentinel into the
+ditch and drowned him. Do your duty, or I shall follow his example.”
+
+Ambrosio replaced the gun upon his shoulder, the rest at his side, and
+continued his walk upon the rampart.
+
+Cinq-Mars had been little alarmed at this menacing gesture, contenting
+himself with tightening the reins of his horse and bringing the spurs
+close to his sides, knowing that with a single leap of the nimble animal
+he should be carried behind the wall of a hut which stood near by, and
+should thus be sheltered from the Spanish fusil before the operation
+of the fork and match could be completed. He knew, too, that a tacit
+convention between the two armies prohibited marksmen from firing upon
+the sentinels; each party would have regarded it as assassination.
+The soldier who had thus prepared to attack Cinq-Mars must have been
+ignorant of this understanding. Young D’Effiat, therefore, made no
+visible movement; and when the sentinel had resumed his walk upon
+the rampart, he again betook himself to his ride upon the turf, and
+presently saw five cavaliers directing their course toward him. The
+first two, who came on at full gallop, did not salute him, but, stopping
+close to him, leaped to the ground, and he found himself in the arms of
+the Counsellor de Thou, who embraced him tenderly, while the little Abbe
+de Gondi, laughing heartily, cried:
+
+“Behold another Orestes recovering his Pylades, and at the moment of
+immolating a rascal who is not of the family of the King of kings, I
+assure you.”
+
+“What! is it you, my dear Cinq-Mars?” cried De Thou; “and I knew not
+of your arrival in the camp! Yes, it is indeed you; I recognize you,
+although you are very pale. Have you been ill, my dear friend? I have
+often written to you; for my boyish friendship has always remained in my
+heart.”
+
+“And I,” answered Henri d’Effiat, “I have been very culpable toward you;
+but I will relate to you all the causes of my neglect. I can speak
+of them, but I was ashamed to write them. But how good you are! Your
+friendship has never relaxed.”
+
+“I knew you too well,” replied De Thou; “I knew that there could be no
+real coldness between us, and that my soul had its echo in yours.”
+
+With these words they embraced once more, their eyes moist with those
+sweet tears which so seldom flow in one’s life, but with which it seems,
+nevertheless, the heart is always charged, so much relief do they give
+in flowing.
+
+This moment was short; and during these few words, Gondi had been
+pulling them by their cloaks, saying:
+
+“To horse! to horse, gentlemen! Pardieu! you will have time enough to
+embrace, if you are so affectionate; but do not delay. Let our first
+thought be to have done with our good friends who will soon arrive. We
+are in a fine position, with those three villains there before us, the
+archers close by, and the Spaniards up yonder! We shall be under three
+fires.”
+
+He was still speaking, when De Launay, finding himself at about sixty
+paces from his opponents, with his seconds, who were chosen from his own
+friends rather than from among the partisans of the Cardinal, put his
+horse to a canter, advanced gracefully toward his young adversaries, and
+gravely saluted them.
+
+“Gentlemen, I think that we shall do well to select our men, and to take
+the field; for there is talk of attacking the lines, and I must be at my
+post.”
+
+“We are ready, Monsieur,” said Cinq-Mars; “and as for selecting
+opponents, I shall be very glad to become yours, for I have not
+forgotten the Marechal de Bassompierre and the wood of Chaumont. You
+know my opinion concerning your insolent visit to my mother.”
+
+“You are very young, Monsieur. In regard to Madame, your mother, I
+fulfilled the duties of a man of the world; toward the Marechal, those
+of a captain of the guard; here, those of a gentleman toward Monsieur
+l’Abbe, who has challenged me; afterward I shall have that honor with
+you.”
+
+“If I permit you,” said the Abbe, who was already on horseback.
+
+They took sixty paces of ground--all that was afforded them by the
+extent of the meadow that enclosed them. The Abbe de Gondi was stationed
+between De Thou and his friend, who sat nearest the ramparts, upon which
+two Spanish officers and a score of soldiers stood, as in a balcony,
+to witness this duel of six persons--a spectacle common enough to them.
+They showed the same signs of joy as at their bullfights, and laughed
+with that savage and bitter laugh which their temperament derives from
+their admixture of Arab blood.
+
+At a sign from Gondi, the six horses set off at full gallop, and met,
+without coming in contact, in the middle of the arena; at that instant,
+six pistol-shots were heard almost together, and the smoke covered the
+combatants.
+
+When it dispersed, of the six cavaliers and six horses but three men and
+three animals were on their legs. Cinq-Mars was on horseback, giving
+his hand to his adversary, as calm as himself; at the other end of the
+field, De Thou stood by his opponent, whose horse he had killed, and
+whom he was helping to rise. As for Gondi and De Launay, neither was
+to be seen. Cinq-Mars, looking about for them anxiously, perceived the
+Abbe’s horse, which, caracoling and curvetting, was dragging after him
+the future cardinal, whose foot was caught in the stirrup, and who was
+swearing as if he had never studied anything but the language of the
+camp. His nose and hands were stained and bloody with his fall and with
+his efforts to seize the grass; and he was regarding with considerable
+dissatisfaction his horse, which in spite of himself he irritated
+with his spurs, making its way to the trench, filled with water, which
+surrounded the bastion, when, happily, Cinq-Mars, passing between the
+edge of the swamp and the animal, seized its bridle and stopped its
+career.
+
+“Well, my dear Abbe, I see that no great harm has come to you, for you
+speak with decided energy.”
+
+“Corbleu!” cried Gondi, wiping the dust out of his eyes, “to fire a
+pistol in the face of that giant I had to lean forward and rise in my
+stirrups, and thus I lost my balance; but I fancy that he is down, too.”
+
+“You are right, sir,” said De Thou, coming up; “there is his horse
+swimming in the ditch with its master, whose brains are blown out. We
+must think now of escaping.”
+
+“Escaping! That, gentlemen, will be rather difficult,” said the
+adversary of Cinq-Mars, approaching. “Hark! there is the cannon-shot,
+the signal for the attack. I did not expect it would have been given so
+soon. If we return we shall meet the Swiss and the foot-soldiers, who
+are marching in this direction.”
+
+“Monsieur de Fontrailles says well,” said De Thou; “but if we do not
+return, here are these Spaniards, who are running to arms, and whose
+balls we shall presently have whistling about our heads.”
+
+“Well, let us hold a council,” said Gondi; “summon Monsieur de
+Montresor, who is uselessly occupied in searching for the body of poor
+De Launay. You have not wounded him, Monsieur De Thou?”
+
+“No, Monsieur l’Abbe; not every one has so good an aim as you,” said
+Montresor, bitterly, limping from his fall. “We shall not have time to
+continue with the sword.”
+
+“As to continuing, I will not consent to it, gentlemen,” said
+Fontrailles; “Monsieur de Cinq-Mars has behaved too nobly toward me.
+My pistol went off too soon, and his was at my very cheek--I feel the
+coldness of it now--but he had the generosity to withdraw it and fire in
+the air. I shall not forget it; and I am his in life and in death.”
+
+“We must think of other things now,” interrupted Cinq-Mars; “a ball has
+just whistled past my ear. The attack has begun on all sides; and we are
+surrounded by friends and by enemies.”
+
+In fact, the cannonading was general; the citadel, the town, and
+the army were covered with smoke. The bastion before them as yet was
+unassailed, and its guards seemed less eager to defend it than to
+observe the fate of the other fortifications.
+
+“I believe that the enemy has made a sally,” said Montresor, “for the
+smoke has cleared from the plain, and I see masses of cavalry charging
+under the protection of the battery.”
+
+“Gentlemen,” said Cinq-Mars, who had not ceased to observe the walls,
+“there is a very decided part which we could take, an important share in
+this--we might enter this ill-guarded bastion.”
+
+“An excellent idea, Monsieur,” said Fontrailles; “but we are but five
+against at least thirty, and are in plain sight and easily counted.”
+
+“Faith, the idea is not bad,” said Gondi; “it is better to be shot up
+there than hanged down here, as we shall be if we are found, for De
+Launay must be already missed by his company, and all the court knows of
+our quarrel.”
+
+“Parbleu! gentlemen,” said Montresor, “help is coming to us.”
+
+A numerous troop of horse, in great disorder, advanced toward them at
+full gallop; their red uniform made them visible from afar. It seemed
+to be their intention to halt on the very ground on which were our
+embarrassed duellists, for hardly had the first cavalier reached it when
+cries of “Halt!” were repeated and prolonged by the voices of the chiefs
+who were mingled with their cavaliers.
+
+“Let us go to them; these are the men-at-arms of the King’s guard,” said
+Fontrailles. “I recognize them by their black cockades. I see also many
+of the light-horse with them; let us mingle in the disorder, for I fancy
+they are ‘ramenes’.”
+
+This is a polite phrase signifying in military language “put to rout.”
+ All five advanced toward the noisy and animated troops, and found that
+this conjecture was right. But instead of the consternation which one
+might expect in such a case, they found nothing but a youthful and
+rattling gayety, and heard only bursts of laughter from the two
+companies.
+
+“Ah, pardieu! Cahuzac,” said one, “your horse runs better than mine; I
+suppose you have exercised it in the King’s hunts!”
+
+“Ah, I see, ‘twas that we might be the sooner rallied that you arrived
+here first,” answered the other.
+
+“I think the Marquis de Coislin must be mad, to make four hundred of us
+charge eight Spanish regiments.”
+
+“Ha! ha! Locmaria, your plume is a fine ornament; it looks like a
+weeping willow. If we follow that, it will be to our burial.”
+
+“Gentlemen, I said to you before,” angrily replied the young officer,
+“that I was sure that Capuchin Joseph, who meddles in everything, was
+mistaken in telling us to charge, upon the part of the Cardinal. But
+would you have been satisfied if those who have the honor of commanding
+you had refused to charge?”
+
+“No, no, no!” answered all the young men, at the same time forming
+themselves quickly into ranks.
+
+“I said,” interposed the old Marquis de Coislin, who, despite his white
+head, had all the fire of youth in his eyes, “that if you were commanded
+to mount to the assault on horseback, you would do it.”
+
+“Bravo! bravo!” cried all the men-at-arms, clapping their hands.
+
+“Well, Monsieur le Marquis,” said Cinq-Mars, approaching, “here is an
+opportunity to execute what you have promised. I am only a volunteer;
+but an instant ago these gentlemen and I examined this bastion, and I
+believe that it is possible to take it.”
+
+“Monsieur, we must first examine the ditch to see--”
+
+At this moment a ball from the rampart of which they were speaking
+struck in the head the horse of the old captain, laying it low.
+
+“Locmaria, De Mouy, take the command, and to the assault!” cried the two
+noble companies, believing their leader dead.
+
+“Stop a moment, gentlemen,” said old Coislin, rising, “I will lead you,
+if you please. Guide us, Monsieur volunteer, for the Spaniards invite us
+to this ball, and we must reply politely.”
+
+Hardly had the old man mounted another horse, which one of his men
+brought him, and drawn his sword, when, without awaiting his order, all
+these ardent youths, preceded by Cinq-Mars and his friends, whose horses
+were urged on by the squadrons behind, had thrown themselves into
+the morass, wherein, to their great astonishment and to that of the
+Spaniards, who had counted too much upon its depth, the horses were
+in the water only up to their hams; and in spite of a discharge of
+grape-shot from the two largest pieces, all reached pell-mell a strip of
+land at the foot of the half-ruined ramparts. In the ardor of the rush,
+Cinq-Mars and Fontrailles, with the young Locmaria, forced their horses
+upon the rampart itself; but a brisk fusillade killed the three animals,
+which rolled over their masters.
+
+“Dismount all, gentlemen!” cried old Coislin; “forward with pistol and
+sword! Abandon your horses!”
+
+All obeyed instantly, and threw themselves in a mass upon the breach.
+
+Meantime, De Thou, whose coolness never quitted him any more than his
+friendship, had not lost sight of the young Henri, and had received him
+in his arms when his horse fell. He helped him to rise, restored to
+him his sword, which he had dropped, and said to him, with the greatest
+calmness, notwithstanding the balls which rained on all sides:
+
+“My friend, do I not appear very ridiculous amid all this skirmish, in
+my costume of Counsellor in Parliament?”
+
+“Parbleu!” said Montresor, advancing, “here’s the Abbe, who quite
+justifies you.”
+
+And, in fact, little Gondi, pushing on among the light horsemen, was
+shouting, at the top of his voice: “Three duels and an assault. I hope
+to get rid of my cassock at last!”
+
+Saying this, he cut and thrust at a tall Spaniard.
+
+The defence was not long. The Castilian soldiers were no match for the
+French officers, and not one of them had time or courage to recharge his
+carbine.
+
+“Gentlemen, we will relate this to our mistresses in Paris,” said
+Locmaria, throwing his hat into the air; and Cinq-Mars, De Thou,
+Coislin, De Mouy, Londigny, officers of the red companies, and all the
+young noblemen, with swords in their right hands and pistols in their
+left, dashing, pushing, and doing each other by their eagerness as much
+harm as they did the enemy, finally rushed upon the platform of the
+bastion, as water poured from a vase, of which the opening is too small,
+leaps out in interrupted gushes.
+
+Disdaining to occupy themselves with the vanquished soldiers, who cast
+themselves at their feet, they left them to look about the fort,
+without even disarming them, and began to examine their conquest, like
+schoolboys in vacation, laughing with all their hearts, as if they were
+at a pleasure-party.
+
+A Spanish officer, enveloped in his brown cloak, watched them with a
+sombre air.
+
+“What demons are these, Ambrosio?” said he to a soldier. “I never have
+met with any such before in France. If Louis XIII has an entire army
+thus composed, it is very good of him not to conquer all Europe.”
+
+“Oh, I do not believe they are very numerous; they must be some poor
+adventurers, who have nothing to lose and all to gain by pillage.”
+
+“You are right,” said the officer; “I will try to persuade one of them
+to let me escape.”
+
+And slowly approaching, he accosted a young light-horseman, of about
+eighteen, who was sitting apart from his comrades upon the parapet. He
+had the pink-and-white complexion of a young girl; his delicate hand
+held an embroidered handkerchief, with which he wiped his forehead and
+his golden locks He was consulting a large, round watch set with rubies,
+suspended from his girdle by a knot of ribbons.
+
+The astonished Spaniard paused. Had he not seen this youth overthrow
+his soldiers, he would not have believed him capable of anything
+beyond singing a romance, reclined upon a couch. But, filled with the
+suggestion of Ambrosio, he thought that he might have stolen these
+objects of luxury in the pillage of the apartments of a woman; so, going
+abruptly up to him, he said:
+
+“Hombre! I am an officer; will you restore me to liberty, that I may
+once more see my country?”
+
+The young Frenchman looked at him with the gentle expression of his age,
+and, thinking of his own family, he said:
+
+“Monsieur, I will present you to the Marquis de Coislin, who will, I
+doubt not, grant your request; is your family of Castile or of Aragon?”
+
+“Your Coislin will ask the permission of somebody else, and will make
+me wait a year. I will give you four thousand ducats if you will let me
+escape.”
+
+That gentle face, those girlish features, became infused with the purple
+of fury; those blue eyes shot forth lightning; and, exclaiming, “Money
+to me! away, fool!” the young man gave the Spaniard a ringing box on
+the ear. The latter, without hesitating, drew a long poniard from his
+breast, and, seizing the arm of the Frenchman, thought to plunge it
+easily into his heart; but, nimble and vigorous, the youth caught him by
+the right arm, and, lifting it with force above his head, sent it back
+with the weapon it held upon the head of the Spaniard, who was furious
+with rage.
+
+“Eh! eh! Softly, Olivier!” cried his comrades, running from all
+directions; “there are Spaniards enough on the ground already.”
+
+And they disarmed the hostile officer.
+
+“What shall we do with this lunatic?” said one.
+
+“I should not like to have him for my valet-dechambre,” returned
+another.
+
+“He deserves to be hanged,” said a third; “but, faith, gentlemen, we
+don’t know how to hang. Let us send him to that battalion of Swiss which
+is now passing across the plain.”
+
+And the calm and sombre Spaniard, enveloping himself anew in his cloak,
+began the march of his own accord, followed by Ambrosio, to join the
+battalion, pushed by the shoulders and urged on by five or six of these
+young madcaps.
+
+Meantime, the first troop of the besiegers, astonished at their success,
+had followed it out to the end; Cinq-Mars, so advised by the aged
+Coislin, had made with him the circuit of the bastion, and found to
+their vexation that it was completely separated from the city, and that
+they could not follow up their advantage. They, therefore, returned
+slowly to the platform, talking by the way, to rejoin De Thou and the
+Abbe de Gondi, whom they found laughing with the young light-horsemen.
+
+“We have Religion and justice with us, gentlemen; we could not fail to
+triumph.”
+
+“No doubt, for they fought as hard as we.”
+
+There was silence at the approach of Cinq-Mars, and they remained for
+an instant whispering and asking his name; then all surrounded him, and
+took his hand with delight.
+
+“Gentlemen, you are right,” said their old captain; “he is, as our
+fathers used to say, the best doer of the day. He is a volunteer, who is
+to be presented today to the King by the Cardinal.”
+
+“By the Cardinal! We will present him ourselves. Ah, do not let him be a
+Cardinalist; he is too good a fellow for that!” exclaimed all the young
+men, with vivacity.
+
+“Monsieur, I will undertake to disgust you with him,” said Olivier
+d’Entraigues, approaching Cinq-Mars, “for I have been his page. Rather
+serve in the red companies; come, you will have good comrades there.”
+
+The old Marquis saved Cinq-Mars the embarrassment of replying, by
+ordering the trumpets to sound and rally his brilliant companies. The
+cannon was no longer heard, and a soldier announced that the King and
+the Cardinal were traversing the lines to examine the results of the
+day. He made all the horses pass through the breach, which was tolerably
+wide, and ranged the two companies of cavalry in battle array, upon a
+spot where it seemed impossible that any but infantry could penetrate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE RECOMPENSE
+
+Cardinal Richelieu had said to himself, “To soften the first paroxysm of
+the royal grief, to open a source of emotions which shall turn from its
+sorrow this wavering soul, let this city be besieged; I consent. Let
+Louis go; I will allow him to strike a few poor soldiers with the blows
+which he wishes, but dares not, to inflict upon me. Let his anger drown
+itself in this obscure blood; I agree. But this caprice of glory shall
+not derange my fixed designs; this city shall not fall yet. It shall not
+become French forever until two years have past; it shall come into my
+nets only on the day upon which I have fixed in my own mind. Thunder,
+bombs, and cannons; meditate upon your operations, skilful captains;
+hasten, young warriors. I shall silence your noise, I shall dissipate
+your projects, and make your efforts abortive; all shall end in vain
+smoke, for I shall conduct in order to mislead you.”
+
+This is the substance of what passed in the bald head of the Cardinal
+before the attack of which we have witnessed a part. He was stationed on
+horseback, upon one of the mountains of Salces, north of the city; from
+this point he could see the plain of Roussillon before him, sloping to
+the Mediterranean. Perpignan, with its ramparts of brick, its bastions,
+its citadel, and its spire, formed upon this plain an oval and sombre
+mass on its broad and verdant meadows; the vast mountains surrounded it,
+and the valley, like an enormous bow curved from north to south, while,
+stretching its white line in the east, the sea looked like its silver
+cord. On his right rose that immense mountain called the Canigou,
+whose sides send forth two rivers into the plain below. The French line
+extended to the foot of this western barrier. A crowd of generals and of
+great lords were on horseback behind the minister, but at twenty paces’
+distance and profoundly silent.
+
+Cardinal Richelieu had at first followed slowly the line of operations,
+but had later returned and stationed himself upon this height, whence
+his eye and his thought hovered over the destinies of besiegers and
+besieged. The whole army had its eyes upon him, and could see him from
+every point. All looked upon him as their immediate chief, and awaited
+his gesture before they acted. France had bent beneath his yoke a long
+time; and admiration of him shielded all his actions to which another
+would have been often subjected. At this moment, for instance, no one
+thought of smiling, or even of feeling surprised, that the cuirass
+should clothe the priest; and the severity of his character and
+aspect suppressed every thought of ironical comparisons or injurious
+conjectures. This day the Cardinal appeared in a costume entirely
+martial: he wore a reddish-brown coat, embroidered with gold, a
+water-colored cuirass, a sword at his side, pistols at his saddle-bow,
+and he had a plumed hat; but this he seldom put on his head, which was
+still covered with the red cap. Two pages were behind him; one carried
+his gauntlets, the other his casque, and the captain of his guards was
+at his side.
+
+As the King had recently named him generalissimo of his troops, it was
+to him that the generals sent for their orders; but he, knowing only too
+well the secret motives of his master’s present anger, affected to refer
+to that Prince all who sought a decision from his own mouth. It happened
+as he had foreseen; for he regulated and calculated the movements of
+that heart as those of a watch, and could have told with precision
+through what sensations it had passed. Louis XIII came and placed
+himself at his side; but he came as a pupil, forced to acknowledge that
+his master is in the right. His air was haughty and dissatisfied, his
+language brusque and dry. The Cardinal remained impassible. It was
+remarked that the King, in consulting him, employed the words of
+command, thus reconciling his weakness and his power of place, his
+irresolution and his pride, his ignorance and his pretensions, while his
+minister dictated laws to him in a tone of the most profound obedience.
+
+“I will have them attack immediately, Cardinal,” said the Prince on
+coming up; “that is to say,” he added, with a careless air, “when all
+your preparations are made, and you have fixed upon the hour with our
+generals.”
+
+“Sire, if I might venture to express my judgment, I should be glad did
+your Majesty think proper to begin the attack in a quarter of an hour,
+for that will give time enough to advance the third line.”
+
+“Yes, yes; you are right, Monsieur le Cardinal! I think so, too. I will
+go and give my orders myself; I wish to do everything myself. Schomberg,
+Schomberg! in a quarter of an hour I wish to hear the signal-gun; I
+command it.”
+
+And Schomberg, taking the command of the right wing, gave the order, and
+the signal was made.
+
+The batteries, arranged long since by the Marechal de la Meilleraie,
+began to batter a breach, but slowly, because the artillerymen felt that
+they had been directed to attack two impregnable points; and because,
+with their experience, and above all with the common sense and quick
+perception of French soldiers, any one of them could at once have
+indicated the point against which the attack should have been directed.
+The King was surprised at the slowness of the firing.
+
+“La Meilleraie,” said he, impatiently, “these batteries do not play
+well; your cannoneers are asleep.”
+
+The principal artillery officers were present as well as the Marechal;
+but no one answered a syllable. They had looked toward the Cardinal,
+who remained as immovable as an equestrian statue, and they imitated
+his example. The answer must have been that the fault was not with the
+soldiers, but with him who had ordered this false disposition of the
+batteries; and this was Richelieu himself, who, pretending to believe
+them more useful in that position, had stopped the remarks of the
+chiefs.
+
+The King, astonished at this silence, and, fearing that he had committed
+some gross military blunder by his question, blushed slightly, and,
+approaching the group of princes who had accompanied him, said, in order
+to reassure himself:
+
+“D’Angouleme, Beaufort, this is very tiresome, is it not? We stand here
+like mummies.”
+
+Charles de Valois drew near and said:
+
+“It seems to me, Sire, that they are not employing here the machines of
+the engineer Pompee-Targon.”
+
+“Parbleu!” said the Duc de Beaufort, regarding Richelieu fixedly, “that
+is because we were more eager to take Rochelle than Perpignan at the
+time that Italian came. Here we have not an engine ready, not a mine,
+not a petard beneath these walls; and the Marechal de la Meilleraie told
+me this morning that he had proposed to bring some with which to open
+the breach. It was neither the Castillet, nor the six great bastions
+which surround it, nor the half-moon, we should have attacked. If we go
+on in this way, the great stone arm of the citadel will show us its fist
+a long time yet.”
+
+The Cardinal, still motionless, said not a single word; he only made a
+sign to Fabert, who left the group in attendance, and ranged his horse
+behind that of Richelieu, close to the captain of his guards.
+
+The Duc de la Rochefoucauld, drawing near the King, said:
+
+“I believe, Sire, that our inactivity makes the enemy insolent, for
+look! here is a numerous sally, directing itself straight toward
+your Majesty; and the regiments of Biron and De Ponts fall back after
+firing.”
+
+“Well!” said the King, drawing his sword, “let us charge and force those
+villains back again. Bring on the cavalry with me, D’Angouleme. Where is
+it, Cardinal?”
+
+“Behind that hill, Sire, there are in column six regiments of dragoons,
+and the carabineers of La Roque; below you are my men-at-arms and my
+light horse, whom I pray your Majesty to employ, for those of your
+Majesty’s guard are ill guided by the Marquis de Coislin, who is ever
+too zealous. Joseph, go tell him to return.”
+
+He whispered to the Capuchin, who had accompanied him, huddled up in
+military attire, which he wore awkwardly, and who immediately advanced
+into the plain.
+
+In the mean time, the compact columns of the old Spanish infantry issued
+from the gate of Notre-Dame like a dark and moving forest, while from
+another gate proceeded the heavy cavalry, which drew up on the plain.
+The French army, in battle array at the foot of the hill where the King
+stood, behind fortifications of earth, behind redoubts and fascines of
+turf, perceived with alarm the men-at-arms and the light horse pressed
+between these two forces, ten times their superior in numbers.
+
+“Sound the charge!” cried Louis XIII; “or my old Coislin is lost.”
+
+And he descended the hill, with all his suite as ardent as himself; but
+before he reached the plain and was at the head of his musketeers, the
+two companies had taken their course, dashing off with the rapidity
+of lightning, and to the cry of “Vive le Roi!” They fell upon the long
+column of the enemy’s cavalry like two vultures upon a serpent; and,
+making a large and bloody gap, they passed beyond, and rallied behind
+the Spanish bastion, leaving the enemy’s cavalry so astonished that they
+thought only of re-forming their own ranks, and not of pursuing.
+
+The French army uttered a burst of applause; the King paused in
+amazement. He looked around him, and saw a burning desire for attack in
+all eyes; the valor of his race shone in his own. He paused yet another
+instant in suspense, listening, intoxicated, to the roar of the cannon,
+inhaling the odor of the powder; he seemed to receive another life, and
+to become once more a Bourbon. All-who looked on him felt as if they
+were commanded by another man, when, raising his sword and his eyes
+toward the sun, he cried:
+
+“Follow me, brave friends! here I am King of France!”
+
+His cavalry, deploying, dashed off with an ardor which devoured space,
+and, raising billows of dust from the ground, which trembled beneath
+them, they were in an instant mingled with the Spanish cavalry, and both
+were swallowed up in an immense and fluctuating cloud.
+
+“Now! now!” cried the Cardinal, in a voice of thunder, from his
+elevation, “now remove the guns from their useless position! Fabert,
+give your orders; let them be all directed upon the infantry which
+slowly approaches to surround the King. Haste! save the King!”
+
+Immediately the Cardinal’s suite, until then sitting erect as so
+many statues, were in motion. The generals gave their orders; the
+aides-de-camp galloped off into the plain, where, leaping over the
+ditches, barriers, and palisades, they arrived at their destination
+as soon as the thought that directed them and the glance that followed
+them.
+
+Suddenly the few and interrupted flashes which had shone from the
+discouraged batteries became a continual and immense flame, leaving no
+room for the smoke, which rose to the sky in an infinite number of light
+and floating wreaths; the volleys of cannon, which had seemed like far
+and feeble echoes, changed into a formidable thunder whose roll was as
+rapid as that of drums beating the charge; while from three opposite
+points large red flashes from fiery mouths fell upon the dark columns
+which issued from the besieged city.
+
+Meantime, without changing his position, but with ardent eyes and
+imperative gestures, Richelieu ceased not to multiply his orders,
+casting upon those who received them a look which implied a sentence of
+death if he was not instantly obeyed.
+
+“The King has overthrown the cavalry; but the foot still resist. Our
+batteries have only killed, they have not conquered. Forward with
+three regiments of infantry instantly, Gassion, La Meilleraie, and
+Lesdiguieres! Take the enemy’s columns in flank. Order the rest of the
+army to cease from the attack, and to remain motionless throughout the
+whole line. Bring paper! I will write myself to Schomberg.”
+
+A page alighted and advanced, holding a pencil and paper. The minister,
+supported by four men of his suite, also alighted, but with difficulty,
+uttering a cry, wrested from him by pain; but he conquered it by an
+effort, and seated himself upon the carriage of a cannon. The page
+presented his shoulder as a desk; and the Cardinal hastily penned that
+order which contemporary manuscripts have transmitted to us, and which
+might well be imitated by the diplomatists of our day, who are, it
+seems, more desirous to maintain themselves in perfect balance between
+two ideas than to seek those combinations which decide the destinies of
+the world, regarding the clear and obvious dictates of true genius as
+beneath their profound subtlety.
+
+   “M. le Marechal, do not risk anything, and reflect before you
+   attack. When you are thus told that the King desires you not to
+   risk anything, you are not to understand that his Majesty forbids
+   you to fight at all; but his intention is that you do not engage in
+   a general battle unless it be with a notable hope of gain from the
+   advantage which a favorable situation may present, the
+   responsibility of the battle naturally falling upon you.”
+
+These orders given, the old minister, still seated upon the
+gun-carriage, his arms resting upon the touch-hole, and his chin upon
+his arms, in the attitude of one who adjusts and points a cannon,
+continued in silence to watch the battle, like an old wolf, which, sated
+with victims and torpid with age, contemplates in the plain the ravages
+of a lion among a herd of cattle, which he himself dares not attack.
+From time to time his eye brightens; the smell of blood rejoices him,
+and he laps his burning tongue over his toothless jaw.
+
+On that day, it was remarked by his servants--or, in other words, by all
+surrounding him--that from the time of his rising until night he took no
+nourishment, and so fixed all the application of his soul on the events
+which he had to conduct that he triumphed over his physical pains,
+seeming, by forgetting, to have destroyed them. It was this power of
+attention, this continual presence of mind, that raised him almost
+to genius. He would have attained it quite, had he not lacked native
+elevation of soul and generous sensibility of heart.
+
+Everything happened upon the field of battle as he had wished, fortune
+attending him there as well as in the cabinet. Louis XIII claimed with
+eager hand the victory which his minister had procured for him; he
+had contributed himself, however, only that grandeur which consists in
+personal valor.
+
+The cannon had ceased to roar when the broken columns of infantry fell
+back into Perpignan; the remainder had met the same fate, was already
+within the walls, and on the plain no living man was to be seen, save
+the glittering squadrons of the King, who followed him, forming ranks as
+they went.
+
+He returned at a slow walk, and contemplated with satisfaction the
+battlefield swept clear of enemies; he passed haughtily under the very
+fire of the Spanish guns, which, whether from lack of skill, or by a
+secret agreement with the Prime Minister, or from very shame to kill a
+king of France, only sent after him a few balls, which, passing two
+feet above his head, fell in front of the lines, and merely served to
+increase the royal reputation for courage.
+
+At every step, however, that he took toward the spot where Richelieu
+awaited him, the King’s countenance changed and visibly fell; he lost
+all the flush of combat; the noble sweat of triumph dried upon his brow.
+As he approached, his usual pallor returned to his face, as if having
+the right to sit alone on a royal head; his look lost its fleeting fire,
+and at last, when he joined the Cardinal, a profound melancholy entirely
+possessed him. He found the minister as he had left him, on horseback;
+the latter, still coldly respectful, bowed, and after a few words of
+compliment, placed himself near Louis to traverse the lines and examine
+the results of the day, while the princes and great lords, riding at
+some distance before and behind, formed a crowd around them.
+
+The wily minister was careful not to say a word or to make a gesture
+that could suggest the idea that he had had the slightest share in the
+events of the day; and it was remarkable that of all those who came to
+hand in their reports, there was not one who did not seem to divine his
+thoughts, and exercise care not to compromise his occult power by
+open obedience. All reports were made to the King. The Cardinal then
+traversed, by the side of the Prince, the right of the camp, which had
+not been under his view from the height where he had remained; and
+he saw with satisfaction that Schomberg, who knew him well, had acted
+precisely as his master had directed, bringing into action only a few
+of the light troops, and fighting just enough not to incur reproach for
+inaction, and not enough to obtain any distinct result. This line of
+conduct charmed the minister, and did not displease the King, whose
+vanity cherished the idea of having been the sole conqueror that day. He
+even wished to persuade himself, and to have it supposed, that all the
+efforts of Schomberg had been fruitless, saying to him that he was not
+angry with him, that he had himself just had proof that the enemy before
+him was less despicable than had been supposed.
+
+“To show you that you have lost nothing in our estimation,” he added,
+“we name you a knight of our order, and we give you public and private
+access to our person.”
+
+The Cardinal affectionately pressed his hand as he passed him, and the
+Marechal, astonished at this deluge of favors, followed the Prince with
+his bent head, like a culprit, recalling, to console himself, all
+the brilliant actions of his career which had remained unnoticed, and
+mentally attributing to them these unmerited rewards to reconcile them
+to his conscience.
+
+The King was about to retrace his steps, when the Due de Beaufort, with
+an astonished air, exclaimed:
+
+“But, Sire, have I still the powder in my eyes, or have I been
+sun-struck? It appears to me that I see upon yonder bastion several
+cavaliers in red uniforms who greatly resemble your light horse whom we
+thought to be killed.”
+
+The Cardinal knitted his brows.
+
+“Impossible, Monsieur,” he said; “the imprudence of Monsieur de Coislin
+has destroyed his Majesty’s men-at-arms and those cavaliers. It is for
+that reason I ventured just now to say to the King that if the useless
+corps were suppressed, it might be very advantageous from a military
+point of view.”
+
+“Pardieu! your Eminence will pardon me,” answered the Duc de Beaufort;
+“but I do not deceive myself, and there are seven or eight of them
+driving prisoners before them.”
+
+“Well! let us go to the point,” said the King; “if I find my old Coislin
+there I shall be very glad.”
+
+With great caution, the horses of the King and his suite passed across
+the marsh, and with infinite astonishment their riders saw on the
+ramparts the two red companies in battle array as on parade.
+
+“Vive Dieu!” cried Louis; “I think that not one of them is missing!
+Well, Marquis, you keep your word--you take walls on horseback.”
+
+“In my opinion, this point was ill chosen,” said Richelieu, with
+disdain; “it in no way advances the taking of Perpignan, and must have
+cost many lives.”
+
+“Faith, you are right,” said the King, for the first time since the
+intelligence of the Queen’s death addressing the Cardinal without
+dryness; “I regret the blood which must have been spilled here.”
+
+“Only two of own young men have been wounded in the attack, Sire,”
+ said old Coislin; “and we have gained new companions-in-arms, in the
+volunteers who guided us.”
+
+“Who are they?” said the Prince.
+
+“Three of them have modestly retired, Sire; but the youngest, whom you
+see, was the first who proposed the assault, and the first to venture
+his person in making it. The two companies claim the honor of presenting
+him to your Majesty.”
+
+Cinq-Mars, who was on horseback behind the old captain, took off his hat
+and showed his pale face, his large, dark eyes, and his long, chestnut
+hair.
+
+“Those features remind me of some one,” said the King; “what say you,
+Cardinal?”
+
+The latter, who had already cast a penetrating glance at the newcomer,
+replied:
+
+“Unless I am mistaken, this young man is--”
+
+“Henri d’Effiat,” said the volunteer, bowing.
+
+“Sire, it is the same whom I had announced to your Majesty, and who was
+to have been presented to you by me; the second son of the Marechal.”
+
+“Ah!” said Louis, warmly, “I am glad to see the son of my old friend
+presented by this bastion. It is a suitable introduction, my boy, for
+one bearing your name. You will follow us to the camp, where we have
+much to say to you. But what! you here, Monsieur de Thou? Whom have you
+come to judge?”
+
+“Sire,” answered Coislin, “he has condemned to death, without judging,
+sundry Spaniards, for he was the second to enter the place.”
+
+“I struck no one, Monsieur,” interrupted De Thou reddening; “it is not
+my business. Herein I have no merit; I merely accompanied my friend,
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars.”
+
+“We approve your modesty as well as your bravery, and we shall not
+forget this. Cardinal, is there not some presidency vacant?”
+
+Richelieu did not like De Thou. And as the sources of his dislike
+were always mysterious, it was difficult to guess the cause of this
+animosity; it revealed itself in a cruel word that escaped him. The
+motive was a passage in the history of the President De Thou--the father
+of the young man now in question--wherein he stigmatized, in the eyes of
+posterity, a granduncle of the Cardinal, an apostate monk, sullied with
+every human vice.
+
+Richelieu, bending to Joseph’s ear, whispered:
+
+“You see that man; his father put my name into his history. Well, I
+will put his into mine.” And, truly enough, he subsequently wrote it in
+blood. At this moment, to avoid answering the King, he feigned not
+to have heard his question, and to be wholly intent upon the merit of
+Cinq-Mars and the desire to see him well placed at court.
+
+“I promised you beforehand to make him a captain in my guards,” said the
+Prince; “let him be nominated to-morrow. I would know more of him, and
+raise him to a higher fortune, if he pleases me. Let us now retire; the
+sun has set, and we are far from our army. Tell my two good companies to
+follow us.”
+
+The minister, after repeating the order, omitting the implied praise,
+placed himself on the King’s right hand, and the whole court quitted
+the bastion, now confided to the care of the Swiss, and returned to the
+camp.
+
+The two red companies defiled slowly through the breach which they
+had effected with such promptitude; their countenances were grave and
+silent.
+
+Cinq-Mars went up to his friend.
+
+“These are heroes but ill recompensed,” said he; “not a favor, not a
+compliment.”
+
+“I, on the other hand,” said the simple De Thou “I, who came here
+against my will--receive one. Such are courts, such is life; but above
+us is the true judge, whom men can not blind.”
+
+“This will not prevent us from meeting death tomorrow, if necessary,”
+ said the young Olivier, laughing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. THE BLUNDERS
+
+In order to appear before the King, Cinq-Mars had been compelled to
+mount the charger of one of the light horse, wounded in the affair,
+having lost his own at the foot of the rampart. As the two companies
+were marching out, he felt some one touch his shoulder, and, turning
+round, saw old Grandchamp leading a very beautiful gray horse.
+
+“Will Monsieur le Marquis mount a horse of his own?” said he. “I have
+put on the saddle and housings of velvet embroidered in gold that
+remained in the trench. Alas, when I think that a Spaniard might have
+taken it, or even a Frenchman! For just now there are so many people who
+take all they find, as if it were their own; and then, as the proverb
+says, ‘What falls in the ditch is for the soldier.’ They might also have
+taken the four hundred gold crowns that Monsieur le Marquis, be it said
+without reproach, forgot to take out of the holsters. And the pistols!
+Oh, what pistols! I bought them in Germany; and here they are as good as
+ever, and with their locks perfect. It was quite enough to kill the poor
+little black horse, that was born in England as sure as I was at Tours
+in Touraine, without also exposing these valuables to pass into the
+hands of the enemy.”
+
+While making this lamentation, the worthy man finished saddling the gray
+horse. The column was long enough filing out to give him time to pay
+scrupulous attention to the length of the stirrups and of the bands, all
+the while continuing his harangue.
+
+“I beg your pardon, Monsieur, for being somewhat slow about this; but I
+sprained my arm slightly in lifting Monsieur de Thou, who himself raised
+Monsieur le Marquis during the grand scuffle.”
+
+“How camest thou there at all, stupid?” said Cinq-Mars. “That is not thy
+business. I told thee to remain in the camp.”
+
+“Oh, as to remaining in the camp, that is out of the question. I can’t
+stay there; when I hear a musket-shot, I should be ill did I not see the
+flash. As for my business, that is to take care of your horses, and you
+are on them. Monsieur, think you I should not have saved, had I been
+able, the life of the poor black horse down there in the trench? Ah, how
+I loved him!--a horse that gained three races in his time--a time too
+short for those who loved him as I loved him! He never would take his
+corn but from his dear Grandchamp; and then he would caress me with
+his head. The end of my left ear that he carried away one day--poor
+fellow!--proves it, for it was not out of ill-will he bit it off; quite
+the contrary. You should have heard how he neighed with rage when any
+one else came near him; that was the reason why he broke Jean’s leg.
+Good creature, I loved him so!
+
+“When he fell I held him on one side with one hand and M. de Locmaria
+with the other. I thought at first that both he and that gentleman would
+recover; but unhappily only one of them returned to life, and that was
+he whom I least knew. You seem to be laughing at what I say about your
+horse, Monsieur; you forget that in times of war the horse is the
+soul of the cavalier. Yes, Monsieur, his soul; for what is it that
+intimidates the infantry? It is the horse! It certainly is not the man,
+who, once seated, is little more than a bundle of hay. Who is it that
+performs the fine deeds that men admire? The horse. There are times when
+his master, who a moment before would rather have been far away, finds
+himself victorious and rewarded for his horse’s valor, while the poor
+beast gets nothing but blows. Who is it gains the prize in the race? The
+horse, that sups hardly better than usual, while the master pockets the
+gold, and is envied by his friends and admired by all the lords as if he
+had run himself. Who is it that hunts the roebuck, yet puts but a morsel
+in his own mouth? Again, the horse; sometimes the horse is even
+eaten himself, poor animal! I remember in a campaign with Monsieur le
+Marechal, it happened that--But what is the matter, Monsieur, you grow
+pale?”
+
+“Bind up my leg with something--a handkerchief, a strap, or what you
+will. I feel a burning pain there; I know not what.”
+
+“Your boot is cut, Monsieur. It may be some ball; however, lead is the
+friend of man.”
+
+“It is no friend of mine, at all events.”
+
+“Ah, who loves, chastens! Lead must not be ill spoken of! What is
+that--”
+
+While occupied in binding his master’s leg below the knee, the worthy
+Grandchamp was about to hold forth in praise of lead as absurdly as he
+had in praise of the horse, when he was forced, as well as Cinq-Mars,
+to hear a warm and clamorous dispute among some Swiss soldiers who
+had remained behind the other troops. They were talking with much
+gesticulation, and seemed busied with two men among a group of about
+thirty soldiers.
+
+D’Effiat, still holding out his leg to his servant, and leaning on the
+saddle of his horse, tried, by listening attentively, to understand the
+subject of the colloquy; but he knew nothing of German, and could not
+comprehend the dispute. Grandchamp, who, still holding the boot, had
+also been listening very seriously, suddenly burst into loud laughter,
+holding his sides in a manner not usual with him.
+
+“Ha, ha, ha! Monsieur, here are two sergeants disputing which they ought
+to hang of the two Spaniards there; for your red comrades did not take
+the trouble to tell them. One of the Swiss says that it’s the officer,
+the other that it’s the soldier; a third has just made a proposition for
+meeting the difficulty.”
+
+“And what does he say?”
+
+“He suggests that they hang them both.”
+
+“Stop! stop!” cried Cinq-Mars to the soldiers, attempting to walk; but
+his leg would not support him.
+
+“Put me on my horse, Grandchamp.”
+
+“Monsieur, you forget your wound.”
+
+“Do as I command, and then mount thyself.”
+
+The old servant grumblingly obeyed, and then galloped off, in fulfilment
+of another imperative order, to stop the Swiss, who were just about to
+hang their two prisoners to a tree, or to let them hang themselves; for
+the officer, with the sang-froid of his nation, had himself passed the
+running noose of a rope around his own neck, and, without being told,
+had ascended a small ladder placed against the tree, in order to tie the
+other end of the rope to one of its branches. The soldier, with the same
+calm indifference, was looking on at the Swiss disputing around him,
+while holding the ladder.
+
+Cinq-Mars arrived in time to save them, gave his name to the Swiss
+sergeant, and, employing Grandchamp as interpreter, said that the two
+prisoners were his, and that he would take them to his tent; that he was
+a captain in the guards, and would be responsible for them. The German,
+ever exact in discipline, made no reply; the only resistance was on
+the part of the prisoner. The officer, still on the top of the ladder,
+turned round, and speaking thence as from a pulpit, said, with a
+sardonic laugh:
+
+“I should much like to know what you do here? Who told you I wished to
+live?”
+
+“I do not ask to know anything about that,” said Cinq-Mars; “it matters
+not to me what becomes of you afterward. All I propose now is to
+prevent an act which seems to me unjust and cruel. You may kill yourself
+afterward, if you like.”
+
+“Well said,” returned the ferocious Spaniard; “you please me. I thought
+at first you meant to affect the generous in order to oblige me to be
+grateful, which is a thing I detest. Well, I consent to come down; but I
+shall hate you as much as ever, for you are a Frenchman. Nor do I thank
+you, for you only discharge a debt you owe me, since it was I who this
+morning kept you from being shot by this young soldier while he was
+taking aim at you; and he is a man who never missed a chamois in the
+mountains of Leon.”
+
+“Be it as you will,” said Cinq-Mars; “come down.”
+
+It was his character ever to assume with others the mien they wore
+toward him; and the rudeness of the Spaniard made him as hard as iron
+toward him.
+
+“A proud rascal that, Monsieur,” said Grandchamp; “in your place
+Monsieur le Marechal would certainly have left him on his ladder.
+Come, Louis, Etienne, Germain, escort Monsieur’s prisoners--a fine
+acquisition, truly! If they bring you any luck, I shall be very much
+surprised.”
+
+Cinq-Mars, suffering from the motion of his horse, rode only at the pace
+of his prisoners on foot, and was accordingly at a distance behind the
+red companies, who followed close upon the King. He meditated on his way
+what it could be that the Prince desired to say to him. A ray of hope
+presented to his mind the figure of Marie de Mantua in the distance; and
+for a moment his thoughts were calmed. But all his future lay in that
+brief sentence--“to please the King”; and he began to reflect upon all
+the bitterness in which his task might involve him.
+
+At that moment he saw approaching his friend, De Thou, who, anxious at
+his remaining behind, had sought him in the plain, eager to aid him if
+necessary.
+
+“It is late, my friend; night approaches. You have delayed long; I
+feared for you. Whom have you here? What has detained you? The King will
+soon be asking for you.”
+
+Such were the rapid inquiries of the young counsellor, whose anxiety,
+more than the battle itself, had made him lose his accustomed serenity.
+
+“I was slightly wounded; I bring a prisoner, and I was thinking of the
+King. What can he want me for, my friend? What must I do if he
+proposes to place me about his person? I must please him; and at this
+thought--shall I own it?--I am tempted to fly. But I trust that I shall
+not have that fatal honor. ‘To please,’ how humiliating the word!
+‘to obey’ quite the opposite! A soldier runs the chance of death,
+and there’s an end. But in what base compliances, what sacrifices of
+himself, what compositions with his conscience, what degradation of his
+own thought, may not a courtier be involved! Ah, De Thou, my dear De
+Thou! I am not made for the court; I feel it, though I have seen it but
+for a moment. There is in my temperament a certain savageness, which
+education has polished only on the surface. At a distance, I thought
+myself adapted to live in this all-powerful world; I even desired it,
+led by a cherished hope of my heart. But I shuddered at the first step;
+I shuddered at the mere sight of the Cardinal. The recollection of the
+last of his crimes, at which I was present, kept me from addressing him.
+He horrifies me; I never can endure to be near him. The King’s favor,
+too, has that about it which dismays me, as if I knew it would be fatal
+to me.”
+
+“I am glad to perceive this apprehension in you; it may be most
+salutary,” said De Thou, as they rode on. “You are about to enter into
+contact with power. Before, you did not even conceive it; now you will
+touch it with your very hand. You will see what it is, and what hand
+hurls the lightning. Heaven grant that that lightning may never strike
+you! You will probably be present in those councils which regulate the
+destiny of nations; you will see, you will perchance originate, those
+caprices whence are born sanguinary wars, conquests, and treaties;
+you will hold in your hand the drop of water which swells into mighty
+torrents. It is only from high places that men can judge of human
+affairs; you must look from the mountaintop ere you can appreciate the
+littleness of those things which from below appear to us great.”
+
+“Ah, were I on those heights, I should at least learn the lesson
+you speak of; but this Cardinal, this man to whom I must be under
+obligation, this man whom I know too well by his works--what will he be
+to me?”
+
+“A friend, a protector, no doubt,” answered De Thou.
+
+“Death were a thousand times preferable to his friendship! I hate his
+whole being, even his very name; he spills the blood of men with the
+cross of the Redeemer!”
+
+“What horrors are you saying, my friend? You will ruin yourself if you
+reveal your sentiments respecting the Cardinal to the King.”
+
+“Never mind; in the midst of these tortuous ways, I desire to take a new
+one, the right line. My whole opinion, the opinion of a just man, shall
+be unveiled to the King himself, if he interrogate me, even should it
+cost me my head. I have at last seen this King, who has been described
+to me as so weak; I have seen him, and his aspect has touched me to the
+heart in spite of myself. Certainly, he is very unfortunate, but he can
+not be cruel; he will listen to the truth.”
+
+“Yes; but he will not dare to make it triumph,” answered the sage De
+Thou. “Beware of this warmth of heart, which often draws you by sudden
+and dangerous movements. Do not attack a colossus like Richelieu without
+having measured him.”
+
+“That is just like my tutor, the Abbe Quillet. My dear and prudent
+friend, neither the one nor the other of you know me; you do not know
+how weary I am of myself, and whither I have cast my gaze. I must mount
+or die.”
+
+“What! already ambitious?” exclaimed De Thou, with extreme surprise.
+
+His friend inclined his head upon his hands, abandoning the reins of his
+horse, and did not answer.
+
+“What! has this selfish passion of a riper age obtained possession of
+you at twenty, Henri? Ambition is the saddest of all hopes.”
+
+“And yet it possesses me entirely at present, for I see only by means of
+it, and by it my whole heart is penetrated.”
+
+“Ah, Cinq-Mars, I no longer recognize you! how different you were
+formerly! I do not conceal from you that you appear to me to have
+degenerated. In those walks of our childhood, when the life, and, above
+all, the death of Socrates, caused tears of admiration and envy to
+flow from our eyes; when, raising ourselves to the ideal of the
+highest virtue, we wished that those illustrious sorrows, those sublime
+misfortunes, which create great men, might in the future come upon us;
+when we constructed for ourselves imaginary occasions of sacrifices
+and devotion--if the voice of a man had pronounced, between us two, the
+single world, ‘ambition,’ we should have believed that we were touching
+a serpent.”
+
+De Thou spoke with the heat of enthusiasm and of reproach. Cinq-Mars
+went on without answering, and still with his face in his hands. After
+an instant of silence he removed them, and allowed his eyes to be seen,
+full of generous tears. He pressed the hand of his friend warmly, and
+said to him, with a penetrating accent:
+
+“Monsieur de Thou, you have recalled to me the most beautiful thoughts
+of my earliest youth. Do not believe that I have fallen; I am consumed
+by a secret hope which I can not confide even to you. I despise, as much
+as you, the ambition which will seem to possess me. All the world will
+believe in it; but what do I care for the world? As for you, noble
+friend, promise me that you will not cease to esteem me, whatever you
+may see me do. I swear that my thoughts are as pure as heaven itself!”
+
+“Well,” said De Thou, “I swear by heaven that I believe you blindly; you
+give me back my life!”
+
+They shook hands again with effusion of heart, and then perceived that
+they had arrived almost before the tent of the King.
+
+Day was nearly over; but one might have believed that a softer day
+was rising, for the moon issued from the sea in all her splendor. The
+transparent sky of the south showed not a single cloud, and it seemed
+like a veil of pale blue sown with silver spangles; the air, still hot,
+was agitated only by the rare passage of breezes from the Mediterranean;
+and all sounds had ceased upon the earth. The fatigued army reposed
+beneath their tents, the line of which was marked by the fires, and the
+besieged city seemed oppressed by the same slumber; upon its ramparts
+nothing was to be seen but the arms of the sentinels, which shone in the
+rays of the moon, or the wandering fire of the night-rounds. Nothing was
+to be heard but the gloomy and prolonged cries of its guards, who warned
+one another not to sleep.
+
+It was only around the King that all things waked, but at a great
+distance from him. This Prince had dismissed all his suite; he walked
+alone before his tent, and, pausing sometimes to contemplate the beauty
+of the heavens, he appeared plunged in melancholy meditation. No one
+dared to interrupt him; and those of the nobility who had remained in
+the royal quarters had gathered about the Cardinal, who, at twenty paces
+from the King, was seated upon a little hillock of turf, fashioned into
+a seat by the soldiers. There he wiped his pale forehead, fatigued
+with the cares of the day and with the unaccustomed weight of a suit of
+armor; he bade adieu, in a few hurried but always attentive and polite
+words, to those who came to salute him as they retired. No one was near
+him now except Joseph, who was talking with Laubardemont. The Cardinal
+was looking at the King, to see whether, before reentering, this Prince
+would not speak to him, when the sound of the horses of Cinq-Mars was
+heard. The Cardinal’s guards questioned him, and allowed him to advance
+without followers, and only with De Thou.
+
+“You are come too late, young man, to speak with the King,” said the
+Cardinal-Duke with a sharp voice. “One can not make his Majesty wait.”
+
+The two friends were about to retire, when the voice of Louis XIII
+himself made itself heard. This Prince was at that moment in one of
+those false positions which constituted the misfortune of his whole
+life. Profoundly irritated against his minister, but not concealing from
+himself that he owed the success of the day to him, desiring, moreover,
+to announce to him his intention to quit the army and to raise the siege
+of Perpignan, he was torn between the desire of speaking to the Cardinal
+and the fear lest his anger might be weakened. The minister, upon
+his part, dared not be the first to speak, being uncertain as to the
+thoughts which occupied his master, and fearing to choose his time
+ill, but yet not able to decide upon retiring. Both found themselves
+precisely in the position of two lovers who have quarrelled and desire
+to have an explanation, when the King, seized with joy the first
+opportunity of extricating himself. The chance was fatal to the
+minister. See upon what trifles depend those destinies which are called
+great.
+
+“Is it not Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?” said the King, in a loud voice. “Let
+him approach; I am waiting for him.”
+
+Young D’Effiat approached on horseback, and at some paces from the King
+desired to set foot to earth; but hardly had his leg touched the ground
+when he dropped upon his knees.
+
+“Pardon, Sire!” said he, “I believe that I am wounded;” and the blood
+issued violently from his boot.
+
+De Thou had seen him fall, and had approached to sustain him. Richelieu
+seized this opportunity of advancing also, with dissembled eagerness.
+
+“Remove this spectacle from the eyes of the King,” said he. “You see
+very well that this young man is dying.”
+
+“Not at all,” said Louis, himself supporting him; “a king of France
+knows how to see a man die, and has no fear of the blood which flows for
+him. This young man interests me. Let him be carried into my tent, and
+let my doctors attend him. If his wound is not serious, he shall come
+with me to Paris, for the siege is suspended, Monsieur le Cardinal. Such
+is my desire; other affairs call me to the centre of the kingdom. I will
+leave you here to command in my absence. This is what I desired to say
+to you.”
+
+With these words the King went abruptly into his tent, preceded by his
+pages and his officers, carrying flambeaux.
+
+The royal pavilion was closed, and Cinq-Mars was borne in by De Thou and
+his people, while the Duc de Richelieu, motionless and stupefied,
+still regarded the spot where this scene had passed. He appeared
+thunder-struck, and incapable of seeing or hearing those who observed
+him.
+
+Laubardemont, still intimidated by his ill reception of the preceding
+day, dared not speak a word to him, and Joseph hardly recognized in him
+his former master. For an instant he regretted having given himself to
+him, and fancied that his star was waning; but, reflecting that he was
+hated by all men and had no resource save in Richelieu, he seized him
+by the arm, and, shaking him roughly, said to him in a low voice, but
+harshly:
+
+“Come, come, Monseigneur, you are chickenhearted; come with us.”
+
+And, appearing to sustain him by the elbow, but in fact drawing him in
+spite of himself, with the aid of Laubardemont, he made him enter his
+tent, as a schoolmaster forces a schoolboy to rest, fearing the effects
+of the evening mist upon him.
+
+The prematurely aged man slowly obeyed the wishes of his two parasites,
+and the purple of the pavilion dropped upon him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE NIGHT-WATCH
+
+        O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
+        The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight,
+        Cold, fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
+        What do I fear? Myself?
+        I love myself!
+             SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Hardly was the Cardinal in his tent before he dropped, armed and
+cuirassed, into a great armchair; and there, holding his handkerchief to
+his mouth with a fixed gaze, he remained in this attitude, letting
+his two dark confidants wonder whether contemplation or annihilation
+maintained him in it. He was deadly pale, and a cold sweat streamed upon
+his brow. In wiping it with a sudden movement, he threw behind him his
+red cap, the only ecclesiastical sign which remained upon him, and again
+rested with his mouth upon his hands. The Capuchin on one side, and the
+sombre magistrate on the other, considered him in silence, and seemed,
+with their brown and black costumes like the priest and the notary of a
+dying man.
+
+The friar, drawing from the depth of his chest a voice that seemed
+better suited to repeat the service of the dead than to administer
+consolation, spoke first:
+
+“If Monseigneur will recall my counsels given at Narbonne, he will
+confess that I had a just presentiment of the troubles which this young
+man would one day cause him.”
+
+The magistrate continued:
+
+“I have learned from the old deaf abbe who dined at the house of
+the Marechale d’Effiat, and who heard all, that this young Cinq-Mars
+exhibited more energy than one would have imagined, and that he
+attempted to rescue the Marechal de Bassompierre. I have still by me
+the detailed report of the deaf man, who played his part very well. His
+Eminence the Cardinal must be sufficiently convinced by it.”
+
+“I have told Monseigneur,” resumed Joseph--for these two ferocious Seyds
+alternated their discourse like the shepherds of Virgil--“I have told
+him that it would be well to get rid of this young D’Effiat, and that I
+would charge myself with the business, if such were his good pleasure.
+It would be easy to destroy him in the opinion of the King.”
+
+“It would be safer to make him die of his wound,” answered Laubardemont;
+“if his Eminence would have the goodness to command me, I know
+intimately the assistant-physician, who cured me of a blow on the
+forehead, and is now attending to him. He is a prudent man, entirely
+devoted to Monseigneur the Cardinal-Duke, and whose affairs have been
+somewhat embarrassed by gambling.”
+
+“I believe,” replied Joseph, with an air of modesty, mingled with a
+touch of bitterness, “that if his Excellency proposed to employ any one
+in this useful project, it should be his accustomed negotiator, who has
+had some success in the past.”
+
+“I fancy that I could enumerate some signal instances,” answered
+Laubardemont, “and very recent ones, of which the difficulty was great.”
+
+“Ah, no doubt,” said the father, with a bow and an air of consideration
+and politeness, “your most bold and skilfully executed commission
+was the trial of Urbain Grandier, the magician. But, with Heaven’s
+assistance, one may be enabled to do things quite as worthy and bold. It
+is not without merit, for instance,” added he, dropping his eyes like a
+young girl, “to have extirpated vigorously a royal Bourbon branch.”
+
+“It was not very difficult,” answered the magistrate, with bitterness,
+“to select a soldier from the guards to kill the Comte de Soissons; but
+to preside, to judge--”
+
+“And to execute one’s self,” interrupted the heated Capuchin, “is
+certainly less difficult than to educate a man from infancy in the
+thought of accomplishing great things with discretion, and to bear all
+tortures, if necessary, for the love of heaven, rather than reveal
+the name of those who have armed him with their justice, or to die
+courageously upon the body of him that he has struck, as did one who
+was commissioned by me. He uttered no cry at the blow of the sword of
+Riquemont, the equerry of the Prince. He died like a saint; he was my
+pupil.”
+
+“To give orders is somewhat different from running risk one’s self.”
+
+“And did I risk nothing at the siege of Rochelle?”
+
+“Of being drowned in a sewer, no doubt,” said Laubardemont.
+
+“And you,” said Joseph, “has your danger been that of catching your
+fingers in instruments of torture? And all this because the Abbess of
+the Ursulines is your niece.”
+
+“It was a good thing for your brothers of Saint Francis, who held the
+hammers; but I--I was struck in the forehead by this same Cinq-Mars, who
+was leading an enraged multitude.”
+
+“Are you quite sure of that?” cried Joseph, delighted. “Did he dare to
+act thus against the commands of the King?” The joy which this discovery
+gave him made him forget his anger.
+
+“Fools!” exclaimed the Cardinal, suddenly breaking his long silence,
+and taking from his lips his handkerchief stained with blood. “I would
+punish your angry dispute had it not taught me many secrets of infamy
+on your part. You have exceeded my orders; I commanded no torture,
+Laubardemont. That is your second fault. You cause me to be hated for
+nothing; that was useless. But you, Joseph, do not neglect the details
+of this disturbance in which Cinq-Mars was engaged; it may be of use in
+the end.”
+
+“I have all the names and descriptions,” said the secret judge, eagerly,
+bending his tall form and thin, olive-colored visage, wrinkled with a
+servile smile, down to the armchair.
+
+“It is well! it is well!” said the minister, pushing him back; “but
+that is not the question yet. You, Joseph, be in Paris before this young
+upstart, who will become a favorite, I am certain. Become his friend;
+make him of my party or destroy him. Let him serve me or fall. But,
+above all, send me every day safe persons to give me verbal accounts. I
+will have no more writing for the future. I am much displeased with
+you, Joseph. What a miserable courier you chose to send from Cologne! He
+could not understand me. He saw the King too soon, and here we are still
+in disgrace in consequence. You have just missed ruining me entirely. Go
+and observe what is about to be done in Paris. A conspiracy will soon be
+hatched against me; but it will be the last. I remain here in order
+to let them all act more freely. Go, both of you, and send me my valet
+after the lapse of two hours; I wish now to be alone.”
+
+The steps of the two men were still to be heard as Richelieu, with eyes
+fixed upon the entrance to the tent, pursued them with his irritated
+glance.
+
+“Wretches!” he exclaimed, when he was alone, “go and accomplish some
+more secret work, and afterward I will crush you, in pure instruments
+of my power. The King will soon succumb beneath the slow malady which
+consumes him. I shall then be regent; I shall be King of France myself;
+I shall no longer have to dread the caprices of his weakness. I will
+destroy the haughty races of this country. I will be alone above them
+all. Europe shall tremble.”
+
+Here the blood, which again filled his mouth, obliged him to apply his
+handkerchief to it once more.
+
+“Ah, what do I say? Unhappy victim that I am! Here am I, death-stricken!
+My dissolution is near; my blood flows, and my spirit desires to labor
+still. Why? For whom? Is it for glory? That is an empty word. Is it for
+men? I despise them. For whom, then, since I shall die, perhaps, in two
+or three years? Is it for God? What a name! I have not walked with Him!
+He has seen all--”
+
+Here he let his head fall upon his breast, and his eyes met the great
+cross of gold which was suspended from his neck. He could not help
+throwing himself back in his chair; but it followed him. He took it; and
+considering it with fixed and devouring looks, he said in a low voice:
+
+“Terrible sign! thou followest me! Shall I find thee elsewhere--divinity
+and suffering? What am I? What have I done?”
+
+For the first time a singular and unknown terror penetrated him. He
+trembled, at once frozen and scorched by an invincible shudder. He dared
+not lift his eyes, fearing to meet some terrible vision. He dared not
+call, fearing to hear the sound of his own voice. He remained profoundly
+plunged in meditations on eternity, so terrible for him, and he murmured
+the following kind of prayer:
+
+“Great God, if Thou hearest me, judge me then, but do not isolate me
+in judging me! Look upon me, surrounded by the men of my generation;
+consider the immense work I had undertaken! Was not an enormous lever
+wanted to bestir those masses; and if this lever in falling crushes some
+useless wretches, am I very culpable? I seem wicked to men; but Thou,
+Supreme judge, dost thou regard me thus?
+
+“No; Thou knowest it is boundless power which makes creature culpable
+against creature. It is not Armand de Richelieu who destroys; it is the
+Prime-Minister. It is not for his personal injuries; it is to carry out
+a system. But a system--what is this word? Is it permitted me to play
+thus with men, to regard them as numbers for working out a thought,
+which perhaps is false? I overturn the framework of the throne. What if,
+without knowing it, I sap its foundations and hasten its fall! Yes, my
+borrowed power has seduced me. O labyrinth! O weakness of human thought!
+Simple faith, why did I quit thy path? Why am I not a simple priest? If
+I dared to break with man and give myself to God, the ladder of Jacob
+would again descend in my dreams.”
+
+At this moment his ear was struck by a great noise outside--laughter of
+soldiers, ferocious shouts and oaths, mingled with words which were a
+long time sustained by a weak yet clear voice; one would have said it
+was the voice of an angel interrupted by the laughter of demons. He
+rose and opened a sort of linen window, worked in the side of his square
+tent. A singular spectacle presented itself to his view; he remained
+some instants contemplating it, attentive to the conversation which was
+going on.
+
+“Listen, listen, La Valeur!” said one soldier to another. “See, she
+begins again to speak and to sing!”
+
+“Put her in the middle of the circle, between us and the fire.”
+
+“You do not know her! You do not know her!” said another. “But here is
+Grand-Ferre, who says that he knows her.”
+
+“Yes, I tell you I know her; and, by Saint Peter of Loudun, I will swear
+that I have seen her in my village, when I had leave of absence; and it
+was upon an occasion at which one shuddered, but concerning which one
+dares not talk, especially to a Cardinalist like you.”
+
+“Eh! and pray why dare not one speak of it, you great simpleton?” said
+an old soldier, twisting up his moustache.
+
+“It is not spoken of because it burns the tongue. Do you understand
+that?”
+
+“No, I don’t understand it.”
+
+“Well, nor I neither; but certain citizens told it to me.”
+
+Here a general laugh interrupted him.
+
+“Ha, ha, ha! is he a fool?” said one. “He listens to what the townsfolk
+tell him.”
+
+“Ah, well! if you listen to their gabble, you have time to lose,” said
+another.
+
+“You do not know, then, what my mother said, greenhorn?” said the
+eldest, gravely dropping his eyes with a solemn air, to compel
+attention.
+
+“Eh! how can you think that I know it, La Pipe? Your mother must have
+died of old age before my grandfather came into the world.”
+
+“Well, greenhorn, I will tell you! You shall know, first of all, that my
+mother was a respectable Bohemian, as much attached to the regiment of
+carabineers of La Roque as my dog Canon there. She carried brandy round
+her neck in a barrel, and drank better than the best of us. She had
+fourteen husbands, all soldiers, who died upon the field of battle.”
+
+“Ha! that was a woman!” interrupted the soldiers, full of respect.
+
+“And never once in her life did she speak to a townsman, unless it was
+to say to him on coming to her lodging, ‘Light my candle and warm my
+soup.’”
+
+“Well, and what was it that your mother said to you?”
+
+“If you are in such a hurry, you shall not know, greenhorn. She said
+habitually in her talk, ‘A soldier is better than a dog; but a dog is
+better than a bourgeois.’”
+
+“Bravo! bravo! that was well said!” cried the soldier, filled with
+enthusiasm at these fine words.
+
+“That,” said Grand-Ferre, “does not prove that the citizens who made the
+remark to me that it burned the tongue were in the right; besides, they
+were not altogether citizens, for they had swords, and they were grieved
+at a cure being burned, and so was I.”
+
+“Eh! what was it to you that they burned your cure, great simpleton?”
+ said a sergeant, leaning upon the fork of his arquebus; “after him
+another would come. You might have taken one of our generals in his
+stead, who are all cures at present; for me, I am a Royalist, and I say
+it frankly.”
+
+“Hold your tongue!” cried La Pipe; “let the girl speak. It is these dogs
+of Royalists who always disturb us in our amusements.”
+
+“What say you?” answered Grand-Ferre. “Do you even know what it is to be
+a Royalist?”
+
+“Yes,” said La Pipe; “I know you all very well. Go, you are for the old
+self-called princes of the peace, together with the wranglers against
+the Cardinal and the gabelle. Am I right or not?”
+
+“No, old red-stocking. A Royalist is one who is for the King; that’s
+what it is. And as my father was the King’s valet, I am for the King,
+you see; and I have no liking for the red-stockings, I can tell you.”
+
+“Ah, you call me red-stocking, eh?” answered the old soldier. “You
+shall give me satisfaction to-morrow morning. If you had made war in
+the Valteline, you would not talk like that; and if you had seen his
+Eminence marching upon the dike at Rochelle, with the old Marquis de
+Spinola, while volleys of cannonshot were sent after him, you would have
+nothing to say about red-stockings.”
+
+“Come, let us amuse ourselves, instead of quarrelling,” said the other
+soldiers.
+
+The men who conversed thus were standing round a great fire, which
+illuminated them more than the moon, beautiful as it was; and in the
+centre of the group was the object of their gathering and their cries.
+The Cardinal perceived a young woman arrayed in black and covered with
+a long, white veil. Her feet were bare; a thick cord clasped her elegant
+figure; a long rosary fell from her neck almost to her feet, and her
+hands, delicate and white as ivory, turned its beads and made them pass
+rapidly beneath her fingers. The soldiers, with a barbarous joy, amused
+themselves with laying little brands in her way to burn her naked feet.
+The oldest took the smoking match of his arquebus, and, approaching it
+to the edge of her robe, said in a hoarse voice:
+
+“Come, madcap, tell me your history, or I will fill you with powder and
+blow you up like a mine; take care, for I have already played that trick
+to others besides you, in the old wars of the Huguenots. Come, sing.”
+
+The young woman, looking at him gravely, made no reply, but lowered her
+veil.
+
+“You don’t manage her well,” said Grand-Ferre, with a drunken laugh;
+“you will make her cry. You don’t know the fine language of the court;
+let me speak to her.” And, touching her on the chin, “My little heart,”
+ he said, “if you will please, my sweet, to resume the little story you
+told just now to these gentlemen, I will pray you to travel with me upon
+the river Du Tendre, as the great ladies of Paris say, and to take a
+glass of brandy with your faithful chevalier, who met you formerly at
+Loudun, when you played a comedy in order to burn a poor devil.”
+
+The young woman crossed her arms, and, looking around her with an
+imperious air, cried:
+
+“Withdraw, in the name of the God of armies; withdraw, impious men!
+There is nothing in common between us. I do not understand your tongue,
+nor you mine. Go, sell your blood to the princes of the earth at so many
+oboles a day, and leave me to accomplish my mission! Conduct me to the
+Cardinal.”
+
+A coarse laugh interrupted her.
+
+“Do you think,” said a carabineer of Maurevert, “that his Eminence the
+Generalissimo will receive you with your feet naked? Go and wash them.”
+
+“The Lord has said, ‘Jerusalem, lift thy robe, and pass the rivers of
+water,’” she answered, her arms still crossed. “Let me be conducted to
+the Cardinal.”
+
+Richelieu cried in a loud voice, “Bring the woman to me, and let her
+alone!”
+
+All were silent; they conducted her to the minister.
+
+“Why,” said she, beholding him--“why bring me before an armed man?”
+
+They left her alone with him without answering.
+
+The Cardinal looked at her with a suspicious air. “Madame,” said he,
+“what are you doing in the camp at this hour? And if your mind is not
+disordered, why these naked feet?”
+
+“It is a vow; it is a vow,” answered the young woman, with an air of
+impatience, seating herself beside him abruptly. “I have also made a vow
+not to eat until I have found the man I seek.”
+
+“My sister,” said the Cardinal, astonished and softened, looking
+closely at her, “God does not exact such rigors from a weak body, and
+particularly from one of your age, for you seem very young.”
+
+“Young! oh, yes, I was very young a few days ago; but I have since
+passed two existences at least, so much have I thought and suffered.
+Look on my countenance.”
+
+And she discovered a face of perfect beauty. Black and very regular
+eyes gave life to it; but in their absence one might have thought her
+features were those of a phantom, she was so pale. Her lips were blue
+and quivering; and a strong shudder made her teeth chatter.
+
+“You are ill, my sister,” said the minister, touched, taking her hand,
+which he felt to be burning hot. A sort of habit of inquiring concerning
+his own health, and that of others, made him touch the pulse of her
+emaciated arm; he felt that the arteries were swollen by the beatings of
+a terrible fever.
+
+“Alas!” he continued, with more of interest, “you have killed yourself
+with rigors beyond human strength! I have always blamed them, and
+especially at a tender age. What, then, has induced you to do this? Is
+it to confide it to me that you are come? Speak calmly, and be sure of
+succor.”
+
+“Confide in men!” answered the young woman; “oh, no, never! All have
+deceived me. I will confide myself to no one, not even to Monsieur
+Cinq-Mars, although he must soon die.”
+
+“What!” said Richelieu, contracting his brows, but with a bitter
+laugh,--“what! do you know this young man? Has he been the cause of your
+misfortune?”
+
+“Oh, no! He is very good, and hates wickedness; that is what will ruin
+him. Besides,” said she, suddenly assuming a harsh and savage air, “men
+are weak, and there are things which women must accomplish. When there
+were no more valiant men in Israel, Deborah arose.”
+
+“Ah! how came you with all this fine learning?” continued the Cardinal,
+still holding her hand.
+
+“Oh, I can’t explain that!” answered she, with a touching air of naivete
+and a very gentle voice; “you would not understand me. It is the Devil
+who has taught me all, and who has destroyed me.”
+
+“Ah, my child! it is always he who destroys us; but he instructs
+us ill,” said Richelieu, with an air of paternal protection and an
+increasing pity. “What have been your faults? Tell them to me; I am very
+powerful.”
+
+“Ah,” said she, with a look of doubt, “you have much influence over
+warriors, brave men and generals! Beneath your cuirass must beat a noble
+heart; you are an old General who knows nothing of the tricks of crime.”
+
+Richelieu smiled; this mistake flattered him.
+
+“I heard you ask for the Cardinal; do you desire to see him? Did you
+come here to seek him?”
+
+The girl drew back and placed a finger upon her forehead.
+
+“I had forgotten it,” said she; “you have talked to me too much. I had
+overlooked this idea, and yet it is an important one; it is for that
+that I have condemned myself to the hunger which is killing me. I must
+accomplish it, or I shall die first. Ah,” said she, putting her hand
+beneath her robe in her bosom, whence she appeared to take something,
+“behold it! this idea--”
+
+She suddenly blushed, and her eyes widened extraordinarily. She
+continued, bending to the ear of the Cardinal:
+
+“I will tell you; listen! Urbain Grandier, my lover Urbain, told me this
+night that it was Richelieu who had been the cause of his death. I took
+a knife from an inn, and I come here to kill him; tell me where he is.”
+
+The Cardinal, surprised and terrified, recoiled with horror. He
+dared not call his guards, fearing the cries of this woman and her
+accusations; nevertheless, a transport of this madness might be fatal to
+him.
+
+“This frightful history will pursue me everywhere!” cried he, looking
+fixedly at her, and thinking within himself of the course he should
+take.
+
+They remained in silence, face to face, in the same attitude, like
+two wrestlers who contemplate before attacking each other, or like the
+pointer and his victim petrified by the power of a look.
+
+In the mean time, Laubardemont and Joseph had gone forth together; and
+ere separating they talked for a moment before the tent of the Cardinal,
+because they were eager mutually to deceive each other. Their hatred
+had acquired new force by their recent quarrel; and each had resolved
+to ruin his rival in the mind of his master. The judge then began the
+dialogue, which each of them had prepared, taking the arm of the other
+as by one and the same movement.
+
+“Ah, reverend father! how you have afflicted me by seeming to take in
+ill part the trifling pleasantries which I said to you just now.”
+
+“Heavens, no! my dear Monsieur, I am far from that. Charity, where would
+be charity? I have sometimes a holy warmth in conversation, for the good
+of the State and of Monseigneur, to whom I am entirely devoted.”
+
+“Ah, who knows it better than I, reverend father? But render me justice;
+you also know how completely I am attached to his Eminence the Cardinal,
+to whom I owe all. Alas! I have employed too much zeal in serving him,
+since he reproaches me with it.”
+
+“Reassure yourself,” said Joseph; “he bears no ill-will toward you. I
+know him well; he can appreciate one’s actions in favor of one’s family.
+He, too, is a very good relative.”
+
+“Yes, there it is,” answered Laubardemont; “consider my condition.
+My niece would have been totally ruined at her convent had Urbain
+triumphed; you feel that as well as I do, particularly as she did not
+quite comprehend us, and acted the child when she was compelled to
+appear.”
+
+“Is it possible? In full audience! What you tell me indeed makes me feel
+for you. How painful it must have been!”
+
+“More so than you can imagine. She forgot, in her madness, all that she
+had been told, committed a thousand blunders in Latin, which we patched
+up as well as we could; and she even caused an unpleasant scene on the
+day of the trial, very unpleasant for me and the judges--there were
+swoons and shrieks. Ah, I swear that I would have scolded her well had I
+not been forced to quit precipitately that, little town of Loudun.
+But, you see, it is natural enough that I am attached to her. She is my
+nearest relative; for my son has turned out ill, and no one knows what
+has become of him during the last four years. Poor little Jeanne de
+Belfiel! I made her a nun, and then abbess, in order to preserve all for
+that scamp. Had I foreseen his conduct, I should have retained her for
+the world.”
+
+“She is said to have great beauty,” answered Joseph; “that is a precious
+gift for a family. She might have been presented at court, and the
+King--Ah! ah! Mademoiselle de la Fayette--eh! eh!--Mademoiselle
+d’Hautefort--you understand; it may be even possible to think of it
+yet.”
+
+“Ah, that is like you, Monseigneur! for we know that you have been
+nominated to the cardinalate; how good you are to remember the most
+devoted of your friends!”
+
+Laubardemont was yet talking to Joseph when they found themselves at the
+end of the line of the camp, which led to the quarter of the volunteers.
+
+“May God and his Holy Mother protect you during my absence!” said
+Joseph, stopping. “To-morrow I depart for Paris; and as I shall have
+frequent business with this young Cinq-Mars, I shall first go to see
+him, and learn news of his wound.”
+
+“Had I been listened to,” said Laubardemont, “you would not now have had
+this trouble.”
+
+“Alas, you are right!” answered Joseph, with a profound sigh, and
+raising his eyes to heaven; “but the Cardinal is no longer the same man.
+He will not take advantage of good ideas; he will ruin us if he goes on
+thus.”
+
+And, making a low bow to the judge, the Capuchin took the road which he
+had indicated to him.
+
+Laubardemont followed him for some time with his eyes, and, when he was
+quite sure of the route which he had taken, he returned, or, rather, ran
+back to the tent of the minister. “The Cardinal dismisses him, he tells
+me; that shows that he is tired of him. I know secrets which will ruin
+him. I will add that he is gone to pay court to the future favorite.
+I will replace this monk in the favor of the minister. The moment is
+propitious. It is midnight; he will be alone for an hour and a half yet.
+Let me run.”
+
+He arrived at the tent of the guards, which was before the pavilion.
+
+“Monseigneur gives audience to some one,” said the captain, hesitating;
+“you can not enter.”
+
+“Never mind; you saw me leave an hour ago, and things are passing of
+which I must give an account.”
+
+“Come in, Laubardemont,” cried the minister; “come in quickly, and
+alone.”
+
+He entered. The Cardinal, still seated, held the two hands of the nun
+in one of his, and with the other he imposed silence upon his stupefied
+agent, who remained motionless, not yet seeing the face of this woman.
+She spoke volubly, and the strange things she said contrasted horribly
+with the sweetness of her voice. Richelieu seemed moved.
+
+“Yes, I will stab him with a knife. It is the knife which the demon
+Behirith gave me at the inn; but it is the nail of Sisera. It has
+a handle of ivory, you see; and I have wept much over it. Is it not
+singular, my good General? I will turn it in the throat of him who
+killed my friend, as he himself told me to do; and afterward I will burn
+the body. There is like for like, the punishment which God permitted
+to Adam. You have an astonished air, my brave general; but you would be
+much more so, were I to repeat to you his song--the song which he
+sang to me again last night, at the hour of the funeral-pyre--you
+understand?--the hour when it rains, the hour when my hand burns as now.
+He said to me: ‘They are much deceived, the magistrates, the red judges.
+I have eleven demons at my command; and I shall come to see you when the
+clock strikes, under a canopy of purple velvet, with torches--torches of
+resin to give us light--’ Ah, that is beautiful! Listen, listen to what
+he sings!”
+
+And she sang to the air of De Profundis.
+
+“Is it not singular, my good General?” said she, when she had finished;
+“and I--I answer him every evening.”
+
+“Then he speaks as spirits and prophets speak. He says: ‘Woe, woe to him
+who has shed blood! Are the judges of the earth gods? No, they are men
+who grow old and suffer, and yet they dare to say aloud, Let that man
+die! The penalty of death, the pain of death--who has given to man
+the right of imposing it on man? Is the number two? One would be an
+assassin, look you! But count well, one, two, three. Behold, they are
+wise and just, these grave and salaried criminals! O crime, the horror
+of Heaven! If you looked upon them from above as I look upon them, you
+would be yet paler than I am. Flesh destroys flesh! That which lives
+by blood sheds blood coldly and without anger, like a God with power to
+create!’”
+
+The cries which the unhappy girl uttered, as she rapidly spoke these
+words, terrified Richelieu and Laubardemont so much that they still
+remained motionless. The delirium and the fever continued to transport
+her.
+
+“‘Did the judges tremble?’ said Urbain Grandier to me. ‘Did they tremble
+at deceiving themselves?’ They work the work of the just. The question!
+They bind his limbs with ropes to make him speak. His skin cracks, tears
+away, and rolls up like a parchment; his nerves are naked, red, and
+glittering; his bones crack; the marrow spurts out. But the judges
+sleep! they dream of flowers and spring. ‘How hot the grand chamber is!’
+says one, awaking; ‘this man has not chosen to speak! Is the torture
+finished?’ And pitiful at last, he dooms him to death--death, the sole
+fear of the living! death, the unknown world! He sends before him a
+furious soul which will wait for him. Oh! has he never seen the vision
+of vengeance? Has he never seen before falling asleep the flayed
+prevaricator?”
+
+Already weakened by fever, fatigue, and grief, the Cardinal, seized with
+horror and pity, exclaimed:
+
+“Ah, for the love of God, let this terrible scene have an end! Take away
+this woman; she is mad!”
+
+The frantic creature turned, and suddenly uttering loud cries, “Ah, the
+judge! the judge! the judge!” she said, recognizing Laubardemont.
+
+The latter, clasping his hands and trembling before the Cardinal, said
+with terror:
+
+“Alas, Monseigneur, pardon me! she is my niece, who has lost her reason.
+I was not aware of this misfortune, or she would have been shut up long
+ago. Jeanne! Jeanne! come, Madame, to your knees! ask forgiveness of
+Monseigneur the Cardinal-duc.”
+
+“It is Richelieu!” she cried; and astonishment seemed wholly to paralyze
+this young and unhappy beauty. The flush which had animated her at first
+gave place to a deadly pallor, her cries to a motionless silence,
+her wandering looks to a frightful fixedness of her large eyes, which
+constantly followed the agitated minister.
+
+“Take away this unfortunate child quickly,” said he; “she is dying, and
+so am I. So many horrors pursue me since that sentence that I believe
+all hell is loosed upon me.”
+
+He rose as he spoke; Jeanne de Belfiel, still silent and stupefied, with
+haggard eyes, open mouth, and head bent forward, yet remained beneath
+the shock of her double surprise, which seemed to have extinguished the
+rest of her reason and her strength. At the movement of the Cardinal,
+she shuddered to find herself between him and Laubardemont, looked by
+turns at one and the other, let the knife which she held fall from
+her hand, and retired slowly toward the opening of the tent, covering
+herself completely with her veil, and looking wildly and with terror
+behind her upon her uncle who followed, like an affrighted lamb, which
+already feels at its back the burning breath of the wolf about to seize
+it.
+
+Thus they both went forth; and hardly had they reached the open air,
+when the furious judge caught the hands of his victim, tied them with
+a handkerchief, and easily led her, for she uttered no cry, not even a
+sigh, but followed him with her head still drooping upon her bosom, and
+as if plunged in profound somnambulism.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. THE SPANIARD
+
+Meantime, a scene of different nature was passing in the tent of
+Cinq-Mars; the words of the King, the first balm to his wounds, had been
+followed by the anxious care of the surgeons of the court. A spent
+ball, easily extracted, had been the only cause of his accident. He
+was allowed to travel and all was ready. The invalid had received up to
+midnight friendly or interested visits; among the first were those
+of little Gondi and of Fontrailles, who were also preparing to quit
+Perpignan for Paris. The ex-page, Olivier d’Entraigues, joined with them
+in complimenting the fortunate volunteer, whom the King seemed to
+have distinguished. The habitual coldness of the Prince toward all who
+surrounded him having caused those who knew of them to regard the
+few words he had spoken as assured signs of high favor, all came to
+congratulate him.
+
+At length, released from visitors, he lay upon his camp-bed. De Thou
+sat by his side, holding his hand, and Grandchamp at his feet, still
+grumbling at the numerous interruptions that had fatigued his wounded
+master. Cinq-Mars himself tasted one of those moments of calm and hope,
+which so refresh the soul as well as the body. His free hand secretly
+pressed the gold cross that hung next to his heart, the beloved donor of
+which he was so soon to behold. Outwardly, he listened with kindly looks
+to the counsels of the young magistrate; but his inward thoughts were
+all turned toward the object of his journey--the object, also, of his
+life. The grave De Thou went on in a calm, gentle voice:
+
+“I shall soon follow you to Paris. I am happier than you at seeing the
+King take you there with him. You are right in looking upon it as
+the beginning of a friendship which must be turned to profit. I have
+reflected deeply on the secret causes of your ambition, and I think I
+have divined your heart. Yes; that feeling of love for France, which
+made it beat in your earliest youth, must have gained greater strength.
+You would be near the King in order to serve your country, in order to
+put in action those golden dreams of your early years. The thought is a
+vast one, and worthy of you! I admire you; I bow before you. To approach
+the monarch with the chivalrous devotion of our fathers, with a
+heart full of candor, and prepared for any sacrifice; to receive the
+confidences of his soul; to pour into his those of his subjects; to
+soften the sorrows of the King by telling him the confidence his people
+have in him; to cure the wounds of the people by laying them open to its
+master, and by the intervention of your favor thus to reestablish
+that intercourse of love between the father and his children which for
+eighteen years has been interrupted by a man whose heart is marble;
+for this noble enterprise, to expose yourself to all the horrors of his
+vengeance and, what is even worse, to brave all the perfidious calumnies
+which pursue the favorite to the very steps of the throne--this dream
+was worthy of you.
+
+“Pursue it, my friend,” De Thou continued. “Never become discouraged.
+Speak loudly to the King of the merit and misfortunes of his most
+illustrious friends who are trampled on. Tell him fearlessly that his
+old nobility have never conspired against him; and that from the young
+Montmorency to the amiable Comte de Soissons, all have opposed the
+minister, and never the monarch. Tell him that the old families of
+France were born with his race; that in striking them he affects the
+whole nation; and that, should he destroy them, his own race will
+suffer, that it will stand alone exposed to the blast of time and
+events, as an old oak trembling and exposed to the wind of the plain,
+when the forest which surrounded and supported it has been destroyed.
+Yes!” cried De Thou, growing animated, “this aim is a fine and noble
+one. Go on in your course with a resolute step; expel even that secret
+shame, that shyness, which a noble soul experiences before it can
+resolve upon flattering--upon paying what the world calls its court.
+Alas, kings are accustomed to these continual expressions of false
+admiration for them! Look upon them as a new language which must be
+learned--a language hitherto foreign to your lips, but which, believe
+me, may be nobly spoken, and which may express high and generous
+thoughts.”
+
+During this warm discourse of his friend, Cinq-Mars could not refrain
+from a sudden blush; and he turned his head on his pillow toward the
+tent, so that his face might not be seen. De Thou stopped:
+
+“What is the matter, Henri? You do not answer. Am I deceived?”
+
+Cinq-Mars gave a deep sigh and remained silent.
+
+“Is not your heart affected by these ideas which I thought would have
+transported it?”
+
+The wounded man looked more calmly at his friend and said:
+
+“I thought, my dear De Thou, that you would not interrogate me further,
+and that you were willing to repose a blind confidence in me. What evil
+genius has moved you thus to sound my soul? I am not a stranger to these
+ideas which possess you. Who told you that I had not conceived them? Who
+told you that I had not formed the firm resolution of prosecuting them
+infinitely farther in action than you have put them in words? Love for
+France, virtuous hatred of the ambition which oppresses and shatters her
+ancient institutions with the axe of the executioner, the firm belief
+that virtue may be as skilful as crime,--these are my gods as much as
+yours. But when you see a man kneeling in a church, do you ask him what
+saint or what angel protects him and receives his prayer? What matters
+it to you, provided that he pray at the foot of the altars that you
+adore--provided that, if called upon, he fall a martyr at the foot of
+those ‘altars? When our forefathers journeyed with naked feet toward the
+Holy Sepulchre, with pilgrims’ staves in their hands, did men inquire
+the secret vow which led them to the Holy Land? They struck, they died;
+and men, perhaps God himself, asked no more. The pious captain who
+led them never stripped their bodies to see whether the red cross
+and haircloth concealed any other mysterious symbol; and in heaven,
+doubtless, they were not judged with any greater rigor for having aided
+the strength of their resolutions upon earth by some hope permitted to
+a Christian--some second and secret thought, more human, and nearer the
+mortal heart.”
+
+De Thou smiled and slightly blushed, lowering his eyes.
+
+“My friend,” he answered, gravely; “this excitement may be injurious to
+you. Let us not continue this subject; let us not mingle God and heaven
+in our discourse. It is not well; and draw the coverings over your
+shoulder, for the night is cold. I promise you,” he added, covering his
+young invalid with a maternal care--“I promise not to offend you again
+with my counsels.”
+
+“And I,” cried Cinq-Mars, despite the interdiction to speak, “swear to
+you by this gold cross you see, and by the Holy Mary, to die rather than
+renounce the plan that you first traced out! You may one day, perhaps,
+be forced to pray me to stop; but then it will be too late.”
+
+“Very well!” repeated the counsellor, “now sleep; if you do not stop, I
+will go on with you, wherever you lead me.”
+
+And, taking a prayer-book from his pocket, he began to read attentively;
+in a short time he looked at Cinq-Mars, who was still awake. He made a
+sign to Grandchamp to put the lamp out of sight of the invalid; but
+this new care succeeded no better. The latter, with his eyes still open,
+tossed restlessly on his narrow bed.
+
+“Come, you are not calm,” said De Thou, smiling; “I will read to you
+some pious passage which will put your mind in repose. Ah, my friend, it
+is here that true repose is to be found; it is in this consolatory book,
+for, open it where you will, you will always see, on the one hand,
+man in the only condition that suits his weakness--prayer, and the
+uncertainty as to his destiny--and, on the other, God himself speaking
+to him of his infirmities! What a glorious and heavenly spectacle! What
+a sublime bond between heaven and earth! Life, death, and eternity are
+there; open it at random.”
+
+“Yes!” said Cinq-Mars, rising with a vivacity which had something boyish
+in it; “you shall read to me, but let me open the book. You know the old
+superstition of our country--when the mass-book is opened with a sword,
+the first page on the left contains the destiny of him who reads, and
+the first person who enters after he has read is powerfully to influence
+the reader’s future fate.”
+
+“What childishness! But be it as you will. Here is your sword; insert
+the point. Let us see.”
+
+“Let me read myself,” said Cinq-Mars, taking one side of the book. Old
+Grandchamp gravely advanced his tawny face and his gray hair to the foot
+of the bed to listen. His master read, stopped at the first phrase, but
+with a smile, perhaps slightly forced, he went on to the end.
+
+“I. Now it was in the city of Milan that they appeared.
+
+“II. The high-priest said to them, ‘Bow down and adore the gods.’
+
+“III. And the people were silent, looking at their faces, which appeared
+as the faces of angels.
+
+“IV. But Gervais, taking the hand of Protais, cried, looking to heaven,
+and filled with the Holy Ghost:
+
+“V. Oh, my brother! I see the Son of man smiling upon us; let me die
+first.
+
+“VI. For if I see thy blood, I fear I shall shed tears unworthy of the
+Lord our God.
+
+“VII. Then Protais answered him in these words:
+
+“VIII. My brother, it is just that I should perish after thee, for I am
+older, and have more strength to see thee suffer.
+
+“IX. But the senators and people ground their teeth at them.
+
+“X. And the soldiers having struck them, their heads fell together on
+the same stone.
+
+“XI. Now it was in this same place that the blessed Saint Ambroise found
+the ashes of the two martyrs which gave sight to the blind.”
+
+“Well,” said Cinq-Mars, looking at his friend when he had finished,
+“what do you say to that?”
+
+“God’s will be done! but we should not scrutinize it.”
+
+“Nor put off our designs for a child’s play,” said D’Effiat impatiently,
+and wrapping himself in a cloak which was thrown over him. “Remember
+the lines we formerly so frequently quoted, ‘Justum et tenacem Propositi
+viruna’; these iron words are stamped upon my brain. Yes; let the
+universe crumble around me, its wreck shall carry me away still
+resolute.”
+
+“Let us not compare the thoughts of man with those of Heaven; and let us
+be submissive,” said De Thou, gravely.
+
+“Amen!” said old Grandchamp, whose eyes had filled with tears, which he
+hastily brushed away.
+
+“What hast thou to do with it, old soldier? Thou weepest,” said his
+master.
+
+“Amen!” said a voice, in a nasal tone, at the entrance of the tent.
+
+“Parbleu, Monsieur! rather put that question to his Gray Eminence, who
+comes to visit you,” answered the faithful servant, pointing to Joseph,
+who advanced with his arms crossed, making a salutation with a frowning
+air.
+
+“Ah, it will be he, then!” murmured Cinq-Mars.
+
+“Perhaps I come inopportunely,” said Joseph, soothingly.
+
+“Perhaps very opportunely,” said Henri d’Effiat, smiling, with a glance
+at De Thou. “What can bring you here, Father, at one o’clock in the
+morning? It should be some good work.”
+
+Joseph saw he was ill-received; and as he had always sundry reproaches
+to make himself with reference to all persons whom he addressed, and as
+many resources in his mind for getting out of the difficulty, he fancied
+that they had discovered the object of his visit, and felt that he
+should not select a moment of ill humor for preparing the way to
+friendship. Therefore, seating himself near the bed, he said, coldly:
+
+“I come, Monsieur, to speak to you on the part of the
+Cardinal-Generalissimo, of the two Spanish prisoners you have made; he
+desires to have information concerning them as soon as possible. I am
+to see and question them. But I did not suppose you were still awake; I
+merely wished to receive them from your people.”
+
+After a forced interchange of politeness, they ordered into the tent the
+two prisoners, whom Cinq-Mars had almost forgotten.
+
+They appeared--the one, young and displaying an animated and rather wild
+countenance, was the soldier; the other, concealing his form under a
+brown cloak, and his gloomy features, which had something ambiguous in
+their expression, under his broad-brimmed hat, which he did not remove,
+was the officer. He spoke first:
+
+“Why do you make me leave my straw and my sleep? Is it to deliver me or
+hang me?”
+
+“Neither,” said Joseph.
+
+“What have I to do with thee, man with the long beard? I did not see
+thee at the breach.”
+
+It took some time after this amiable exordium to make the stranger
+understand the right a Capuchin had to interrogate him.
+
+“Well,” he said, “what dost thou want?”
+
+“I would know your name and your country.”
+
+“I shall not tell my name; and as for my country, I have the air of a
+Spaniard, but perhaps am not one, for a Spaniard never acknowledges his
+country.”
+
+Father Joseph, turning toward the two friends, said: “Unless I deceive
+myself, I have heard his voice somewhere. This man speaks French without
+an accent; but it seems he wishes to give us enigmas, as in the East.”
+
+“The East? that is it,” said the prisoner. “A Spaniard is a man from the
+East; he is a Catholic Turk; his blood either flags or boils; he is lazy
+or indefatigable; indolence makes him a slave, ardor a tyrant; immovable
+in his ignorance, ingenious in his superstition, he needs only a
+religious book and a tyrannical master; he obeys the law of the pyre;
+he commands by that of the poniard. At night he falls asleep in his
+bloodthirsty misery, nurses fanaticism, and awakes to crime. Who is this
+gentleman? Is it the Spaniard or the Turk? Guess! Ah! you seem to think
+that I have wit, because I light upon analogy.”
+
+“Truly, gentlemen, you do me honor; and yet the idea may be carried much
+further, if desired. If I pass to the physical order, for example, may
+I not say to you, This man has long and serious features, a black and
+almond-shaped eye, rugged brows, a sad and mobile mouth, tawny, meagre,
+and wrinkled cheeks; his head is shaved, and he covers it with a black
+handkerchief in the form of a turban; he passes the whole day lying or
+standing under a burning sun, without motion, without utterance, smoking
+a pipe that intoxicates him. Is this a Turk or a Spaniard? Are you
+satisfied, gentlemen? Truly, it would seem so; you laugh, and at what do
+you laugh? I, who have presented this idea to you--I have not laughed;
+see, my countenance is sad. Ah! perhaps it is because the gloomy
+prisoner has suddenly become a gossip, and talks rapidly. That is
+nothing! I might tell you other things, and render you some service, my
+worthy friends.
+
+“If I should relate anecdotes, for example; if I told you I knew a
+priest who ordered the death of some heretics before saying mass,
+and who, furious at being interrupted at the altar during the holy
+sacrifice, cried to those who asked for his orders, ‘Kill them all! kill
+them all!’--should you all laugh, gentlemen? No, not all! This gentleman
+here, for instance, would bite his lips and his beard. Oh! it is true he
+might answer that he did wisely, and that they were wrong to interrupt
+his unsullied prayer. But if I added that he concealed himself for an
+hour behind the curtain of your tent, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars, to listen
+while you talked, and that he came to betray you, and not to get me,
+what would he say? Now, gentlemen, are you satisfied? May I retire after
+this display?”
+
+The prisoner had uttered this with the rapidity of a quack vending his
+wares, and in so loud a voice that Joseph was quite confounded. He arose
+indignantly at last, and, addressing himself to Cinq-Mars, said:
+
+“How can you suffer a prisoner who should have been hanged to speak to
+you thus, Monsieur?”
+
+The Spaniard, without deigning to notice him any further, leaned toward
+D’Effiat, and whispered in his ear:
+
+“I can be of no further use to you; give me my liberty. I might ere this
+have taken it; but I would not do so without your consent. Give it me,
+or have me killed.”
+
+“Go, if you will!” said Cinq-Mars to him. “I assure you I shall be very
+glad;” and he told his people to retire with the soldier, whom he wished
+to keep in his service.
+
+This was the affair of a moment. No one remained any longer in the tent
+with the two friends, except the abashed Joseph and the Spaniard. The
+latter, taking off his hat, showed a French but savage countenance. He
+laughed, and seemed to respire more air into his broad chest.
+
+“Yes, I am a Frenchman,” he said to Joseph. “But I hate France, because
+she gave birth to my father, who is a monster, and to me, who have
+become one, and who once struck him. I hate her inhabitants, because
+they have robbed me of my whole fortune at play, and because I have
+robbed them and killed them. I have been two years in Spain in order to
+kill more Frenchmen; but now I hate Spain still more. No one will know
+the reason why. Adieu! I must live henceforth without a nation; all men
+are my enemies. Go on, Joseph, and you will soon be as good as I. Yes,
+you have seen me once before,” he continued, violently striking him in
+the breast and throwing him down. “I am Jacques de Laubardemont, the son
+of your worthy friend.”
+
+With these words, quickly leaving the tent, he disappeared like an
+apparition. De Thou and the servants, who ran to the entrance, saw him,
+with two bounds, spring over a surprised and disarmed soldier, and
+run toward the mountains with the swiftness of a deer, despite various
+musket-shots. Joseph took advantage of the disorder to slip away,
+stammering a few words of politeness, and left the two friends laughing
+at his adventure and his disappointment, as two schoolboys laugh at
+seeing the spectacles of their pedagogue fall off. At last they prepared
+to seek a rest of which they both stood in need, and which they soon
+found-=the wounded man in his bed, and the young counsellor in his
+chair.
+
+As for the Capuchin, he walked toward his tent, meditating how he should
+turn all this so as to take the greatest possible revenge, when he
+met Laubardemont dragging the young mad-woman by her two hands. They
+recounted to each other their mutual and horrible adventures.
+
+Joseph had no small pleasure in turning the poniard in the wound of his
+friend’s heart, by telling him of the fate of his son.
+
+“You are not exactly happy in your domestic relations,” he added. “I
+advise you to shut up your niece and hang your son, if you are fortunate
+enough to find him.”
+
+Laubardemont replied with a hideous laugh:
+
+“As for this idiot here, I am going to give her to an ex-secret judge,
+at present a smuggler in the Pyrenees at Oleron. He can do what he
+pleases with her--make her a servant in his posada, for instance. I care
+not, so that my lord never hears of her.”
+
+Jeanne de Belfiel, her head hanging down, gave no sign of sensibility.
+Every glimmer of reason was extinguished in her; one word alone remained
+upon her lips, and this she continually pronounced.
+
+“The judge! the judge! the judge!” she murmured, and was silent.
+
+Her uncle and Joseph threw her, almost like a sack of corn, on one
+of the horses which were led up by two servants. Laubardemont mounted
+another, and prepared to leave the camp, wishing to get into the
+mountains before day.
+
+“A good journey to you!” he said to Joseph. “Execute your business well
+in Paris. I commend to you Orestes and Pylades.”
+
+“A good journey to you!” answered the other. “I commend to you Cassandra
+and OEdipus.”
+
+“Oh! he has neither killed his father nor married his mother.”
+
+“But he is on the high-road to those little pleasantries.”
+
+“Adieu, my reverend Father!”
+
+“Adieu, my venerable friend!”
+
+Then each added aloud, but in suppressed tones:
+
+“Adieu, assassin of the gray robe! During thy absence I shall have the
+ear of the Cardinal.”
+
+“Adieu, villain in the red robe! Go thyself and destroy thy cursed
+family. Finish shedding that portion of thy blood that is in others’
+veins. That share which remains in thee, I will take charge of. Ha! a
+well-employed night!”
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 4.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. THE RIOT
+
+       “Thus with imagin’d wing our swift scene flies,
+        In motion of no less celerity
+        Than that of thought,”
+
+exclaims the immortal Shakespeare in the chorus of one of his tragedies.
+
+       “Suppose that you have seen
+        The well-appointed king
+        Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet
+        With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning.
+       ......
+       ... behold,
+        And follow.”
+
+With this poetic movement he traverses time and space, and transports at
+will the attentive assembly to the theatre of his sublime scenes.
+
+We shall avail ourselves of the same privilege, though without the same
+genius. No more than he shall we seat ourselves upon the tripod of the
+unities, but merely casting our eyes upon Paris and the old dark palace
+of the Louvre, we will at once pass over the space of two hundred
+leagues and the period of two years.
+
+Two years! what changes may they not have upon men, upon their families,
+and, above all, in that great and so troublous family of nations, whose
+long alliances a single day suffices to destroy, whose wars are ended
+by a birth, whose peace is broken by a death! We ourselves have beheld
+kings returning to their dwelling on a spring day; that same day a
+vessel sailed for a voyage of two years. The navigator returned. The
+kings were seated upon their thrones; nothing seemed to have taken place
+in his absence, and yet God had deprived those kings of a hundred days
+of their reign.
+
+But nothing was changed for France in 1642, the epoch to which we turn,
+except her fears and her hopes. The future alone had changed its aspect.
+Before again beholding our personages, we must contemplate at large the
+state of the kingdom.
+
+The powerful unity of the monarchy was rendered still more imposing by
+the misfortunes of the neighboring States. The revolutions in England,
+and those in Spain and Portugal, rendered the peace which France enjoyed
+still more admired. Strafford and Olivares, overthrown or defeated,
+aggrandized the immovable Richelieu.
+
+Six formidable armies, reposing upon their triumphant weapons, served as
+a rampart to the kingdom. Those of the north, in league with Sweden, had
+put the Imperialists to flight, still pursued by the spirit of Gustavus
+Adolphus, those on the frontiers of Italy had in Piedmont received the
+keys of the towns which had been defended by Prince Thomas; and those
+which strengthened the chain of the Pyrenees held in check revolted
+Catalonia, and chafed before Perpignan, which they were not allowed
+to take. The interior was not happy, but tranquil. An invisible genius
+seemed to have maintained this calm, for the King, mortally sick,
+languished at St. Germain with a young favorite; and the Cardinal was,
+they said, dying at Narbonne. Some deaths, however, betrayed that he yet
+lived; and at intervals, men falling as if struck by a poisonous blast
+recalled to mind the invisible power.
+
+St.-Preuil, one of Richelieu’s enemies, had just laid his “iron head”
+ upon the scaffold without shame or fear, as he himself said on mounting
+it.
+
+Meantime, France seemed to govern herself, for the prince and the
+minister had been separated a long time; and of these two sick men, who
+hated each other, one never had held the reins of State, the other no
+longer showed his power--he was no longer named in the public acts; he
+appeared no longer in the government, and seemed effaced everywhere; he
+slept, like the spider surrounded by his webs.
+
+If some events and some revolutions had taken place during these two
+years, it must have been in hearts; it must have been some of those
+occult changes from which, in monarchies without firm foundation,
+terrible overthrows and long and bloody dissensions arise.
+
+To enlighten ourselves, let us glance at the old black building of the
+unfinished Louvre, and listen to the conversation of those who inhabited
+it and those who surrounded it.
+
+It was the month of December; a rigorous winter had afflicted Paris,
+where the misery and inquietude of the people were extreme. However,
+curiosity was still alive, and they were eager for the spectacles given
+by the court. Their poverty weighed less heavily upon them while they
+contemplated the agitations of the rich. Their tears were less bitter
+on beholding the struggles of power; and the blood of the nobles which
+reddened their streets, and seemed the only blood worthy of being shed,
+made them bless their own obscurity. Already had tumultuous scenes and
+conspicuous assassinations proved the monarch’s weakness, the absence
+and approaching end of the minister, and, as a kind of prologue to the
+bloody comedy of the Fronde, sharpened the malice and even fired the
+passions of the Parisians. This confusion was not displeasing to them.
+Indifferent to the causes of the quarrels which were abstruse for them,
+they were not so with regard to individuals, and already began to
+regard the party chiefs with affection or hatred, not on account of the
+interest which they supposed them to take in the welfare of their class,
+but simply because as actors they pleased or displeased.
+
+One night, especially, pistol and gun-shots had been heard frequently in
+the city; the numerous patrols of the Swiss and the body-guards had even
+been attacked, and had met with some barricades in the tortuous streets
+of the Ile Notre-Dame; carts chained to the posts, and laden with
+barrels, prevented the cavaliers from advancing, and some musket-shots
+had wounded several men and horses. However, the town still slept,
+except the quarter which surrounded the Louvre, which was at this
+time inhabited by the Queen and M. le Duc d’Orleans. There everything
+announced a nocturnal expedition of a very serious nature.
+
+It was two o’clock in the morning. It was freezing, and the darkness
+was intense, when a numerous assemblage stopped upon the quay, which was
+then hardly paved, and slowly and by degrees occupied the sandy ground
+that sloped down to the Seine. This troop was composed of about two
+hundred men; they were wrapped in large cloaks, raised by the long
+Spanish swords which they wore. Walking to and fro without preserving
+any order, they seemed to wait for events rather than to seek them. Many
+seated themselves, with their arms folded, upon the loose stones of the
+newly begun parapet; they preserved perfect silence. However, after a
+few minutes passed in this manner, a man, who appeared to come out of
+one of the vaulted doors of the Louvre, approached slowly, holding a
+dark-lantern, the light from which he turned upon the features of each
+individual, and which he blew out after finding the man he sought among
+them. He spoke to him in a whisper, taking him by the hand:
+
+“Well, Olivier, what did Monsieur le Grand say to you?
+
+   [The master of the horse, Cinq-Mars, was thus named by abbreviation.
+   This name will often occur in the course of the recital.]
+
+Does all go well?”
+
+“Yes, I saw him yesterday at Saint-Germain. The old cat is very ill
+at Narbonne; he is going ‘ad patres’. But we must manage our affairs
+shrewdly, for it is not the first time that he has played the torpid.
+Have you people enough for this evening, my dear Fontrailles?”
+
+“Be easy; Montresor is coming with a hundred of Monsieur’s gentlemen.
+You will recognize him; he will be disguised as a master-mason, with a
+rule in his hand. But, above all, do not forget the passwords. Do you
+know them all well, you and your friends?”
+
+“Yes, all except the Abbe de Gondi, who has not yet arrived; but ‘Dieu
+me pardonne’, I think he is there himself! Who the devil would have
+known him?”
+
+And here a little man without a cassock, dressed as a soldier of the
+French guards, and wearing a very black false moustache, slipped between
+them. He danced about with a joyous air, and rubbed his hands.
+
+“Vive Dieu! all goes on well, my friend. Fiesco could not do better;”
+ and rising upon his toes to tap Olivier upon the shoulder, he continued:
+
+“Do you know that for a man who has just quitted the rank of pages, you
+don’t manage badly, Sire Olivier d’Entraigues? and you will be among our
+illustrious men if we find a Plutarch. All is well organized; you arrive
+at the very moment, neither too soon nor too late, like a true party
+chief. Fontrailles, this young man will get on, I prophesy. But we must
+make haste; in two hours we shall have some of the archbishops of Paris,
+my uncle’s parishioners. I have instructed them well; and they
+will cry, ‘Long live Monsieur! Long live the Regency! No more of the
+Cardinal!’ like madmen. They are good devotees, thanks to me, who have
+stirred them up. The King is very ill. Oh, all goes well, very well! I
+come from Saint-Germain. I have seen our friend Cinq-Mars; he is good,
+very good, still firm as a rock. Ah, that is what I call a man! How he
+has played with them with his careless and melancholy air! He is master
+of the court at present. The King, they say, is going to make him duke
+and peer. It is much talked of; but he still hesitates. We must decide
+that by our movement this evening. The will of the people! He must do
+the will of the people; we will make him hear it. It will be the death
+of Richelieu, you’ll see. It is, above all, hatred of him which is to
+predominate in the cries, for that is the essential thing. That will at
+last decide our Gaston, who is still uncertain, is he not?”
+
+“And how can he be anything else?” said Fontrailles. “If he were to take
+a resolution to-day in our favor it would be unfortunate.”
+
+“Why so?”
+
+“Because we should be sure that to-morrow morning he would be against
+us.”
+
+“Never mind,” replied the Abbe; “the Queen is firm.”
+
+“And she has heart also,” said Olivier; “that gives me some hope for
+Cinq-Mars, who, it seems to me, has sometimes dared to frown when he
+looked at her.”
+
+“Child that you are, how little do you yet know of the court! Nothing
+can sustain him but the hand of the King, who loves him as a son; and
+as for the Queen, if her heart beats, it is for the past and not for the
+future. But these trifles are not to the purpose. Tell me, dear friend,
+are you sure of your young Advocate whom I see roaming about there? Is
+he all right?”
+
+“Perfectly; he is an excellent Royalist. He would throw the Cardinal
+into the river in an instant. Besides, it is Fournier of Loudun; that is
+saying everything.”
+
+“Well, well, this is the kind of men we like. But take care of
+yourselves, Messieurs; some one comes from the Rue Saint-Honore.”
+
+“Who goes there?” cried the foremost of the troop to some men who were
+advancing. “Royalists or Cardinalists?”
+
+“Gaston and Le Grand,” replied the newcomers, in low tones.
+
+“It is Montresor and Monsieur’s people,” said Fontrailles. “We may soon
+begin.”
+
+“Yes, ‘par la corbleu’!” said the newcomer, “for the Cardinalists will
+pass at three o’clock. Some one told us so just now.”
+
+“Where are they going?” said Fontrailles.
+
+“There are more than two hundred of them to escort Monsieur de Chavigny,
+who is going to see the old cat at Narbonne, they say. They thought it
+safer to pass by the Louvre.”
+
+“Well, we will give him a velvet paw!” said the Abbe.
+
+As he finished saying this, a noise of carriages and horses was heard.
+Several men in cloaks rolled an enormous stone into the middle of the
+street. The foremost cavaliers passed rapidly through the crowd,
+pistols in hand, suspecting that something unusual was going on; but
+the postilion, who drove the horses of the first carriage, ran upon the
+stone and fell.
+
+“Whose carriage is this which thus crushes foot-passengers?” cried the
+cloakmen, all at once. “It is tyrannical. It can be no other than a
+friend of the Cardinal de la Rochelle.”
+
+   [During the long siege of La Rochelle, this name was given to
+   Cardinal Richelieu, to ridicule his obstinacy in commanding as
+   General-in-Chief, and claiming for himself the merit of taking that
+   town.]
+
+“It is one who fears not the friends of the little Le Grand,” exclaimed
+a voice from the open door, from which a man threw himself upon a horse.
+
+“Drive these Cardinalists into the river!” cried a shrill, piercing
+voice.
+
+This was a signal for the pistol-shots which were furiously exchanged on
+every side, and which lighted up this tumultuous and sombre scene. The
+clashing of swords and trampling of horses did not prevent the cries
+from being heard on one side: “Down with the minister! Long live
+the King! Long live Monsieur and Monsieur le Grand! Down with the
+red-stockings!” On the other: “Long live his Eminence! Long live the
+great Cardinal! Death to the factious! Long live the King!” For the name
+of the King presided over every hatred, as over every affection, at this
+strange time.
+
+The men on foot had succeeded, however, in placing the two carriages
+across the quay so as to make a rampart against Chavigny’s horses,
+and from this, between the wheels, through the doors and springs,
+overwhelmed them with pistol-shots, and dismounted many. The tumult was
+frightful, but suddenly the gates of the Louvre were thrown open, and
+two squadrons of the body-guard came out at a trot. Most of them carried
+torches in their hands to light themselves and those they were about
+to attack. The scene changed. As the guards reached each of the men on
+foot, the latter was seen to stop, remove his hat, make himself known,
+and name himself; and the guards withdrew, sometimes saluting him, and
+sometimes shaking him by the hand. This succor to Chavigny’s carriages
+was then almost useless, and only served to augment the confusion. The
+body-guards, as if to satisfy their consciences, rushed through the
+throng of duellists, saying:
+
+“Gentlemen, gentlemen, be moderate!”
+
+But when two gentlemen had decidedly crossed swords, and were in active
+conflict, the guard who beheld them stopped to judge the fight, and
+sometimes even to favor the one who he thought was of his opinion, for
+this body, like all France, had their Royalists and their Cardinalists.
+
+The windows of the Louvre were lighted one after another, and many
+women’s heads were seen behind the little lozenge-shaped panes,
+attentively watching the combat.
+
+Numerous Swiss patrols came out with flambeaux.
+
+These soldiers were easily distinguished by an odd uniform. The right
+sleeve was striped blue and red, and the silk stocking of the right leg
+was red; the left side was striped with blue, red, and white, and the
+stocking was white and red. It had, no doubt, been hoped in the royal
+chateau that this foreign troop would disperse the crowd, but they were
+mistaken. These impassible soldiers coldly and exactly executed, without
+going beyond, the orders they had received, circulating symmetrically
+among the armed groups, which they divided for a moment, returning
+before the gate with perfect precision, and resuming their ranks as on
+parade, without informing themselves whether the enemies among whom they
+had passed had rejoined or not.
+
+But the noise, for a moment appeased, became general by reason
+of personal disputes. In every direction challenges, insults, and
+imprecations were heard. It seemed as if nothing but the destruction of
+one of the two parties could put an end to the combat, when loud cries,
+or rather frightful howls, raised the tumult to its highest pitch.
+The Abbe de Gondi, dragging a cavalier by his cloak to pull him down,
+exclaimed:
+
+“Here are my people! Fontrailles, now you will see something worth
+while! Look! look already who they run! It is really charming.”
+
+And he abandoned his hold, and mounted upon a stone to contemplate the
+manoeuvres of his troops, crossing his arms with the importance of a
+General of an army. Day was beginning to break, and from the end of the
+Ile St.-Louis a crowd of men, women, and children of the lowest dregs
+of the people was seen rapidly advancing, casting toward heaven and
+the Louvre strange vociferations. Girls carried long swords; children
+dragged great halberds and pikes of the time of the League; old women in
+rags pulled by cords old carts full of rusty and broken arms; workmen
+of every trade, the greater number drunk, followed, armed with clubs,
+forks, lances, shovels, torches, stakes, crooks, levers, sabres, and
+spits. They sang and howled alternately, counterfeiting with atrocious
+yells the cries of a cat, and carrying as a flag one of these animals
+suspended from a pole and wrapped in a red rag, thus representing the
+Cardinal, whose taste for cats was generally known. Public criers rushed
+about, red and breathless, throwing on the pavement and sticking up
+on the parapets, the posts, the walls of the houses, and even on the
+palace, long satires in short stanzas upon the personages of the time.
+Butcher-boys and scullions, carrying large cutlasses, beat the charge
+upon saucepans, and dragged in the mud a newly slaughtered pig, with the
+red cap of a chorister on its head. Young and vigorous men, dressed
+as women, and painted with a coarse vermilion, were yelling, “We are
+mothers of families ruined by Richelieu! Death to the Cardinal!” They
+carried in their arms figures of straw that looked like children, which
+they threw into the river.
+
+When this disgusting mob overran the quays with its thousands of imps,
+it produced a strange effect upon the combatants, and entirely contrary
+to that expected by their patron. The enemies on both sides lowered
+their arms and separated. Those of Monsieur and Cinq-Mars were revolted
+at seeing themselves succored by such auxiliaries, and, themselves
+aiding the Cardinal’s gentlemen to remount their horses and to gain
+their carriages, and their valets to convey the wounded to them, gave
+their adversaries personal rendezvous to terminate their quarrel upon a
+ground more secret and more worthy of them. Ashamed of the superiority
+of numbers and the ignoble troops which they seemed to command,
+foreseeing, perhaps, for the first time the fearful consequences of
+their political machinations, and what was the scum they were stirring
+up, they withdrew, drawing their large hats over their eyes, throwing
+their cloaks over their shoulders, and avoiding the daylight.
+
+“You have spoiled all, my dear Abbe, with this mob,” said Fontrailles,
+stamping his foot, to Gondi, who was already sufficiently nonplussed;
+“your good uncle has fine parishioners!”
+
+“It is not my fault,” replied Gondi, in a sullen tone; “these idiots
+came an hour too late. Had they arrived in the night, they would not
+have been seen, which spoils the effect somewhat, to speak the truth
+(for I grant that daylight is detrimental to them), and we would only
+have heard the voice of the people ‘Vox populi, vox Dei’. Nevertheless,
+no great harm has been done. They will by their numbers give us the
+means of escaping without being known, and, after all, our task is
+ended; we did not wish the death of the sinner. Chavigny and his men are
+worthy fellows, whom I love; if he is only slightly wounded, so much the
+better. Adieu; I am going to see Monsieur de Bouillon, who has arrived
+from Italy.”
+
+“Olivier,” said Fontrailles, “go at once to Saint-Germain with
+Fournier and Ambrosio; I will go and give an account to Monsieur, with
+Montresor.”
+
+All separated, and disgust accomplished, with these highborn men, what
+force could not bring about.
+
+Thus ended this fray, likely to bring forth great misfortunes. No one
+was killed in it. The cavaliers, having gained a few scratches and lost
+a few purses, resumed their route by the side of the carriages along the
+by-streets; the others escaped, one by one, through the populace they
+had attracted. The miserable wretches who composed it, deprived of the
+chief of the troops, still remained two hours, yelling and screaming
+until the effect of their wine was gone, and the cold had extinguished
+at once the fire of their blood and that of their enthusiasm. At the
+windows of the houses, on the quay of the city, and along the walls, the
+thoughtful and genuine people of Paris watched with a sorrowful air and
+in mournful silence these preludes of disorder; while the various bodies
+of merchants, dressed in black and preceded by their provosts, walked
+slowly and courageously through the populace toward the Palais de
+justice, where the parliament was to assemble, to make complaint of
+these terrible nocturnal scenes.
+
+The apartments of Gaston d’Orleans were in great confusion. This Prince
+occupied the wing of the Louvre parallel with the Tuileries; and his
+windows looked into the court on one side, and on the other over a mass
+of little houses and narrow streets which almost entirely covered the
+place. He had risen precipitately, awakened suddenly by the report of
+the firearms, had thrust his feet into large square-toed slippers with
+high heels, and, wrapped in a large silk dressing-gown, covered with
+golden ornaments embroidered in relief, walked to and fro in his
+bedroom, sending every minute a fresh lackey to see what was going on,
+and ordering them immediately to go for the Abbe de la Riviere, his
+general counsellor; but he was unfortunately out of Paris. At every
+pistol-shot this timid Prince rushed to the windows, without seeing
+anything but some flambeaux, which were carried quickly along. It was in
+vain he was told that the cries he heard were in his favor; he did not
+cease to walk up and down the apartments, in the greatest disorder-his
+long black hair dishevelled, and his blue eyes open and enlarged by
+disquiet and terror. He was still thus when Montresor and Fontrailles
+at length arrived and found him beating his breast, and repeating a
+thousand times, “Mea culpa, mea culpa!”
+
+“You have come at last!” he exclaimed from a distance, running to meet
+them. “Come! quick! What is going on? What are they doing there? Who are
+these assassins? What are these cries?”
+
+“They cry, ‘Long live Monsieur!’”
+
+Gaston, without appearing to hear, and holding the door of his chamber
+open for an instant, that his voice might reach the galleries in
+which were the people of his household, continued to cry with all his
+strength, gesticulating violently:
+
+“I know nothing of all this, and I have authorized nothing. I will not
+hear anything! I will not know anything! I will never enter into any
+project! These are rioters who make all this noise; do not speak to me
+of them, if you wish to be well received here. I am the enemy of no man;
+I detest such scenes!”
+
+Fontrailles, who knew the man with whom he had to deal, said nothing,
+but entered with his friend, that Monsieur might have time to discharge
+his first fury; and when all was said, and the door carefully shut, he
+began to speak:
+
+“Monseigneur,” said he, “we come to ask you a thousand pardons for the
+impertinence of these people, who will persist in crying out that they
+desire the death of your enemy, and that they would even wish to make
+you regent should we have the misfortune to lose his Majesty. Yes, the
+people are always frank in their discourse; but they are so numerous
+that all our efforts could not restrain them. It was truly a cry from
+the heart--an explosion of love, which reason could not restrain, and
+which escaped all bounds.”
+
+“But what has happened, then?” interrupted Gaston, somewhat calmed.
+“What have they been doing these four hours that I have heard them?”
+
+“That love,” said Montresor, coldly, “as Monsieur de Fontrailles had the
+honor of telling you, so escaped all rule and bounds that we ourselves
+were carried away by it, and felt seized with that enthusiasm which
+always transports us at the mere name of Monsieur, and which leads us on
+to things which we had not premeditated.”
+
+“But what, then, have you done?” said the Prince.
+
+“Those things,” replied Fontrailles, “of which Monsieur de Montresor had
+the honor to speak to Monsieur are precisely those which I foresaw here
+yesterday evening, when I had the honor of conversing with you.”
+
+“That is not the question,” interrupted Gaston. “You cannot say that
+I have ordered or authorized anything. I meddle with nothing; I know
+nothing of government.”
+
+“I admit,” continued Fontrailles, “that your Highness ordered nothing,
+but you permitted me to tell you that I foresaw that this night would
+be a troubled one about two o’clock, and I hoped that your astonishment
+would not have been too great.”
+
+The Prince, recovering himself little by little, and seeing that he did
+not alarm the two champions, having also upon his conscience and reading
+in their eyes the recollection of the consent which he had given them
+the evening before, sat down upon the side of his bed, crossed his arms,
+and, looking at them with the air of a judge, again said in a commanding
+tone:
+
+“But what, then, have you done?”
+
+“Why, hardly anything, Monseigneur,” said Fontrailles. “Chance led us to
+meet in the crowd some of our friends who had a quarrel with Monsieur de
+Chavigny’s coachman, who was driving over them. A few hot words ensued
+and rough gestures, and a few scratches, which kept Monsieur de Chavigny
+waiting, and that is all.”
+
+“Absolutely all,” repeated Montresor.
+
+“What, all?” exclaimed Gaston, much moved, and tramping about the
+chamber. “And is it, then, nothing to stop the carriage of a friend of
+the Cardinal-Duke? I do not like such scenes. I have already told you
+so. I do not hate the Cardinal; he is certainly a great politician, a
+very great politician. You have compromised me horribly; it is known
+that Montresor is with me. If he has been recognized, they will say that
+I sent him.”
+
+“Chance,” said Montresor, “threw in my way this peasant’s dress, which
+Monsieur may see under my cloak, and which, for that reason, I preferred
+to any other.”
+
+Gaston breathed again.
+
+“You are sure, then, that you have not been recognized. You understand,
+my dear friend, how painful it would be to me. You must admit
+yourself--”
+
+“Sure of it!” exclaimed the Prince’s gentleman. “I would stake my head
+and my share in Paradise that no one has seen my features or called my
+by my name.”
+
+“Well,” continued Gaston, again seating himself on his bed, and assuming
+a calmer air, in which even a slight satisfaction was visible, “tell me,
+then, what has happened.”
+
+Fontrailles took upon himself the recital, in which, as we may suppose,
+the populace played a great part and Monsieur’s people none, and in his
+peroration he said:
+
+“From our windows even, Monseigneur, respectable mothers of families
+might have been seen, driven by despair, throwing their children into
+the Seine, cursing Richelieu.”
+
+“Ah, it is dreadful!” exclaimed the Prince, indignant, or feigning to be
+so, and to believe in these excesses. “Is it, then, true that he is so
+generally detested? But we must allow that he deserves it. What! his
+ambition and avarice have, then, reduced to this extremity the good
+inhabitants of Paris, whom I love so much.”
+
+“Yes, Monseigneur,” replied the orator. “And it is not Paris alone, it
+is all France, which, with us, entreats you to decide upon delivering
+her from this tyrant. All is ready; nothing is wanting but a sign from
+your august head to annihilate this pygmy, who has attempted to assault
+the royal house itself.”
+
+“Alas! Heaven is my witness that I myself forgive him!” answered Gaston,
+raising up his eyes. “But I can no longer bear the cries of the people.
+Yes, I will help them; that is to say,” continued the Prince, “so that
+my dignity is not compromised, and that my name does not appear in the
+matter.”
+
+“Well, but it is precisely that which we want,” exclaimed Fontrailles, a
+little more at his ease.
+
+“See, Monseigneur, there are already some names to put after yours, who
+will not fear to sign. I will tell you them immediately, if you wish
+it.”
+
+“But--but,” said the Duc d’Orleans, timidly, “do you know that it is a
+conspiracy which you propose to me so coolly?”
+
+“Fie, Monseigneur, men of honor like us! a conspiracy! Oh! not at all;
+a league at the utmost, a slight combination to give a direction to the
+unanimous wish of the nation and the court--that is all.”
+
+“But that is not so clear, for, after all, this affair will be neither
+general nor public; therefore, it is a conspiracy. You will not avow
+that you are concerned in it.”
+
+“I, Monseigneur! Excuse me to all the world, since the kingdom is
+already in it, and I am of the kingdom. And who would not sign his name
+after that of Messieurs de Bouillon and Cinq-Mars?”
+
+“After, perhaps, not before,” said Gaston, fixing his eyes upon
+Fontrailles more keenly than he had expected.
+
+The latter hesitated a moment.
+
+“Well, then, what would Monseigneur do should I tell him the names after
+which he could sign his?”
+
+“Ha! ha! this is amusing,” answered the Prince, laughing; “know you not
+that above mine there are not many? I see but one.”
+
+“And if there be one, will Monseigneur promise to sign that of Gaston
+beneath it?”
+
+“Ah, parbleu! with all my heart. I risk nothing there, for I see none
+but that of the King, who surely is not of the party.”
+
+“Well, from this moment permit us,” said Montresor, “to take you at
+your word, and deign at present to consent to two things only: to see
+Monsieur de Bouillon in the Queen’s apartments, and Monsieur the master
+of the horse at the King’s palace.”
+
+“Agreed!” said Monsieur, gayly, tapping Montresor on the shoulder. “I
+will to-day wait on my sister-in-law at her toilette, and I will invite
+my brother to hunt the stag with me at Chambord.”
+
+The two friends asked nothing further, and were themselves surprised
+at their work. They never had seen so much resolution in their chief.
+Accordingly, fearing to lead him to a topic which might divert him from
+the path he had adopted, they hastened to turn the conversation upon
+other subjects, and retired in delight, leaving as their last words in
+his ear that they relied upon his keeping his promise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. THE ALCOVE
+
+While a prince was thus reassured with difficulty by those who
+surrounded him, and allowed them to see a terror which might have proved
+contagious, a princess more exposed to accidents, more isolated by the
+indifference of her husband, weaker by nature and by the timidity which
+is the result of the absence of happiness, on her side set the example
+of the calmest courage and the most pious resignation, and tranquillized
+her terrified suite; this was the Queen. Having slept hardly an hour,
+she heard shrill cries behind the doors and the thick tapestries of her
+chamber. She ordered her women to open the door, and the Duchesse de
+Chevreuse, in her night attire, and wrapped in a great cloak, fell,
+nearly fainting, at the foot of her bed, followed by four of her
+ladies-in-waiting and three of the women of the bed-chamber. Her
+delicate feet were bare, and bleeding from a wound she had received in
+running.
+
+She cried, weeping like a child, that a pistol-shot had broken her
+shutters and her window-panes, and had wounded her; she entreated the
+Queen to send her into exile, where she would be more tranquil than in a
+country where they wished to assassinate her because she was the friend
+of her Majesty.
+
+Her hair was in great disorder, and fell to her feet. It was her chief
+beauty; and the young Queen thought that this toilette was less the
+result of chance than might have been imagined.
+
+“Well, my dear, what has happened?” she said to her with sang-froid.
+“You look like a Magdalen, but in her youth, and before she repented.
+It is probable that if they wish to harm any one here it is I; calm
+yourself.”
+
+“No, Madame! save me, protect me! it is Richelieu who pursues me, I am
+sure!”
+
+The sound of pistols, which was then heard more distinctly, convinced
+the Queen that the terrors of Madame de Chevreuse were not vain.
+
+“Come and dress me, Madame de Motteville!” cried she. But that lady had
+completely lost her self-possession, and, opening one of those immense
+ebony coffers which then answered the purpose of wardrobes, took from
+it a casket of the Princess’s diamonds to save it, and did not listen
+to her. The other women had seen on a window the reflection of torches,
+and, imagining that the palace was on fire, threw jewels, laces, golden
+vases, and even the china, into sheets which they intended to lower into
+the street. At this moment Madame de Guemenee arrived, a little more
+dressed than the Duchesse de Chevreuse, but taking events still more
+tragically. Her terror inspired the Queen with a slight degree of
+fear, because of the ceremonious and placid character she was known to
+possess. She entered without curtseying, pale as a spectre, and said
+with volubility:
+
+“Madame, it is time to make our confession. The Louvre is attacked, and
+all the populace are arriving from the city, I have been told.”
+
+Terror silenced and rendered motionless all the persons present.
+
+“We shall die!” exclaimed the Duchesse de Chevreuse, still on her knees.
+“Ah, my God! why did I leave England? Yes, let us confess. I confess
+aloud. I have loved--I have been loved by--”
+
+“Well,” said the Queen, “I do not undertake to hear your confession to
+the end. That would not perhaps be the least of my dangers, of which,
+however, you think little.”
+
+The coolness of Anne of Austria, and this last severe observation,
+however, restored a little calm to this beautiful personage, who rose
+in confusion, and perceiving the disordered state of her toilet, went to
+repair it as she best could in a closet near by.
+
+“Dona Stefania,” said the Queen to one of her women, the only Spaniard
+whom she had retained, “go seek the captain of the guards. It is time
+that I should see men at last, and hear something reasonable.”
+
+She said this in Spanish, and the mystery of this order, spoken in
+a tongue which the ladies did not understand, restored those in the
+chamber to their senses.
+
+The waiting-woman was telling her beads, but she rose from the corner
+of the alcove in which she had sought refuge, and hastened to obey her
+mistress.
+
+The signs of revolt and the evidences of terror became meantime more
+distinct. In the great court of the Louvre was heard the trampling of
+the horses of the guards, the orders of the chiefs, the rolling of the
+Queen’s carriages, which were being prepared, should it be necessary to
+fly. The rattling of the iron chains dragged along the pavement to form
+barricades in case of an attack, hurried steps in the corridor, the
+clash of arms, the confused cries of the people, which rose and fell,
+went and came again, like the noise of the waves and the winds. The door
+once more opened, and this time it was to admit a very charming person.
+
+“I expected you, dear Marie,” said the Queen, extending her arms to the
+Duchesse de Mantua. “You have been more courageous than any of us; you
+are attired fit to be seen by all the court.”
+
+“I was not in bed, fortunately,” replied the young Princesse de Gonzaga,
+casting down her eyes. “I saw all these people from the windows. O
+Madame, Madame, fly! I implore you to escape by the secret stairway, and
+let us remain in your place. They might take one of us for the Queen.”
+ And she added, with tears, “I have heard cries of death. Fly, Madame! I
+have no throne to lose. You are the daughter, the wife, and the mother
+of kings. Save yourself, and leave us here!”
+
+“You have more to lose than I, ‘m’amaie’, in beauty, youth, and, I hope,
+in happiness,” said the Queen, with a gracious smile, giving the Duchess
+her beautiful hands to kiss. “Remain in my alcove and welcome; but we
+will both remain there. The only service I accept from you, my sweet
+child, is to bring to my bed that little golden casket which my poor
+Motteville has left on the ground, and which contains all that I hold
+most precious.”
+
+Then, as she took it, she whispered in Marie’s ear:
+
+“Should any misfortune happen to me, swear that you will throw it into
+the Seine.”
+
+“I will obey you, Madame, as my benefactress and my second mother,”
+ Marie answered, weeping.
+
+The sound of the conflict redoubled on the quays, and the windows
+reflected the flash of the firearms, of which they heard the explosion.
+The captain of the guards and the captain of the Swiss sent for orders
+from the Queen through Dona Stefania.
+
+“I permit them to enter,” said the Queen. “Stand aside, ladies. I am
+a man in a moment like this; and I ought to be so.” Then, raising the
+bed-curtains, she continued, addressing the two officers:
+
+“Gentlemen, first remember that you answer with your heads for the life
+of the princes, my children. You know that, Monsieur de Guitaut?”
+
+“I sleep across their doorway, Madame; but this disturbance does not
+threaten either them or your Majesty.”
+
+“Very well; do not think of me until after them,” interrupted the Queen,
+“and protect indiscriminately all who are threatened. You also hear me,
+Monsieur de Bassompierre; you are a gentleman. Forget that your uncle is
+yet in the Bastille, and do your duty by the grandsons of the dead King,
+his friend.”
+
+He was a young man, with a frank, open countenance.
+
+“Your Majesty,” said he, with a slight German accent, “may see that I
+have forgotten my family, and not yours.” And he displayed his left hand
+despoiled of two fingers, which had just been cut off. “I have still
+another hand,” said he, bowing and withdrawing with Guitaut.
+
+The Queen, much moved, rose immediately, and, despite the prayers of the
+Princesse de Guemenee, the tears of Marie de Gonzaga, and the cries of
+Madame de Chevreuse, insisted upon placing herself at the window, and
+half opened it, leaning upon the shoulder of the Duchesse de Mantua.
+
+“What do I hear?” she said. “They are crying, ‘Long live the King! Long
+live the Queen!’”
+
+The people, imagining they recognized her, redoubled their cries at this
+moment, and shouted louder than ever, “Down with the Cardinal! Long live
+Monsieur le Grand!”
+
+Marie shuddered.
+
+“What is the matter with you?” said the Queen, observing her. But as
+she did not answer, and trembled in every limb, this good and gentle
+Princess appeared not to perceive it; and, paying the greatest attention
+to the cries and movements of the populace, she even exaggerated an
+inquietude which she had not felt since the first name had reached
+her ear. An hour later, when they came to tell her that the crowd only
+awaited a sign from her hand to withdraw, she waved it graciously, and
+with an air of satisfaction. But this joy was far from being complete,
+for her heart was still troubled by many things, and, above all, by
+the presentiment of the regency. The more she leaned forward to show
+herself, the more she beheld the revolting scenes which the increasing
+light revealed. Terror took possession of her soul as it became
+necessary to appear calm and confiding; and her heart was saddened at
+the very gayety of her words and countenance. Exposed to all eyes, she
+felt herself a mere woman, and shuddered in looking at that people whom
+she would soon perhaps be called upon to govern, and who already took
+upon themselves to demand the death of ministers, and to call upon their
+Queen to appear before them.
+
+She saluted them.
+
+A hundred and fifty years later that salute was repeated by another
+princess, like herself of Austrian blood, and Queen of France. The
+monarchy without foundation, such as Richelieu made it, was born and
+died between these two salutes.
+
+The Princess at last closed her windows, and hastened to dismiss her
+timid suite. The thick curtains fell again over the barred windows; and
+the room was no longer lighted by a day which was odious to her. Large
+white wax flambeaux burned in candelabra, in the form of golden arms,
+which stand out from the framed and flowered tapestries with which the
+walls were hung. She remained alone with Marie de Mantua; and reentering
+with her the enclosure which was formed by the royal balustrade, she
+fell upon her bed, fatigued by her courage and her smiles, and burst
+into tears, leaning her head upon her pillow. Marie, on her knees upon a
+velvet footstool, held one of her hands in both hers, and without daring
+to speak first, leaned her head tremblingly upon it; for until that
+moment, tears never had been seen in the Queen’s eyes.
+
+They remained thus for some minutes. The Princess, then raising herself
+up by a painful effort, spoke:
+
+“Do not afflict yourself, my child; let me weep. It is such a relief
+to one who reigns! If you pray to God for me, ask Him to grant me
+sufficient strength not to hate the enemy who pursues me everywhere,
+and who will destroy the royal family of France and the monarchy by his
+boundless ambition. I recognize him in all that has taken place; I see
+him in this tumultuous revolt.”
+
+“What, Madame! is he not at Narbonne?--for it is the Cardinal of whom
+you speak, no doubt; and have you not heard that these cries were for
+you, and against him?”
+
+“Yes, ‘m’amie’, he is three hundred leagues away from us, but his fatal
+genius keeps guard at the door. If these cries have been heard, it is
+because he has allowed them; if these men were assembled, it is because
+they have not yet reached the hour which he has destined for their
+destruction. Believe me, I know him; and I have dearly paid for the
+knowledge of that dark soul. It has cost me all the power of my rank,
+the pleasures of my age, the affection of my family and even the heart
+of my husband. He has isolated me from the whole world. He now confines
+me within a barrier of honors and respect; and formerly he dared, to
+the scandal of all France, to bring an accusation against myself. They
+examined my papers, they interrogated me, they made me sign myself
+guilty, and ask the King’s pardon for a fault of which I was ignorant;
+and I owed to the devotion, and the perhaps eternal imprisonment of a
+faithful servant, the preservation of this casket which you have saved
+for me. I read in your looks that you think me too fearful; but do not
+deceive yourself, as all the court now does. Be sure, my dear child,
+that this man is everywhere, and that he knows even our thoughts.”
+
+   [His name was Laporte. Neither the fear of torture nor the hope of
+   the Cardinal’s reward could draw from him one word of the Queen’s
+   secrets.]
+
+“What, Madame! does he know all that these men have cried under your
+windows, and the names of those who sent them?”
+
+“Yes; no doubt he knows it, or has foreseen it. He permits it; he
+authorizes it, to compromise me in the King’s eyes, and keep him forever
+separated from me. He would complete my humiliation.”
+
+“But the King has not loved him for two years; he loves another.”
+
+The Queen smiled; she gazed some time in silence upon the pure and open
+features of the beautiful Marie, and her look, full of candor, which
+was languidly raised toward her. She smoothed back the black curls which
+shaded her noble forehead, and seemed to rest her eyes and her soul in
+looking at the charming innocence displayed upon so lovely a face. She
+kissed her cheek, and resumed:
+
+“You do not suspect, my poor child, a sad truth. It is that the King
+loves no one, and that those who appear the most in favor will be the
+soonest abandoned by him, and thrown to him who engulfs and devours
+all.”
+
+“Ah, mon Dieu! what is this you tell me?”
+
+“Do you know how many he has destroyed?” continued the Queen, in a low
+voice, and looking into her eyes as if to read in them all her thoughts,
+and to make her own penetrate there. “Do you know the end of his
+favorites? Have you been told of the exile of Baradas; of that of
+Saint-Simon; of the convent of Mademoiselle de la Fayette, the shame of
+Madame d’Hautfort, the death of Chalais? All have fallen before an order
+from Richelieu to his master. Without this favor, which you mistake
+for friendship, their lives would have been peaceful. But this favor is
+mortal; it is a poison. Look at this tapestry, which represents Semele.
+The favorites of Louis XIII resemble that woman; his attachment devours
+like this fire, which dazzles and consumes her.”
+
+But the young Duchess was no longer in a condition to listen to the
+Queen. She continued to fix her large, dark eyes upon her, dimmed by a
+veil of tears; her hands trembled in those of Anne of Austria, and her
+lips quivered with convulsive agitation.
+
+“I am very cruel, am I not, Marie?” continued the Queen, in an extremely
+sweet voice, and caressing her like a child from whom one would draw an
+avowal. “Oh, yes; no doubt I am very wicked! Your heart is full; you can
+not bear it, my child. Come, tell me; how do matters stand with you and
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?”
+
+At this word grief found a vent, and, still on her knees at the Queen’s
+feet, Marie in her turn shed upon the bosom of the good Princess a
+deluge of tears, with childish sobs and so violent an agitation of her
+head and her beautiful shoulders that it seemed as if her heart would
+break. The Queen waited a long time for the end of this first emotion,
+rocking her in her arms as if to appease her grief, frequently
+repeating, “My child, my child, do not afflict yourself thus!”
+
+“Ah, Madame!” she exclaimed, “I have been guilty toward you; but I did
+not reckon upon that heart. I have done wrong, and I shall perhaps be
+punished severely for it. But, alas! how shall I venture to confess
+to you, Madame? It was not so much to open my heart to you that was
+difficult; it was to avow to you that I had need to read there myself.”
+
+The Queen reflected a moment, laying her finger upon her lips. “You are
+right,” she then replied; “you are quite right. Marie, it is always the
+first word which is the most difficult to say; and that difficulty often
+destroys us. But it must be so; and without this rule one would be often
+wanting in dignity. Ah, how difficult it is to reign! To-day I would
+descend into your heart, but I come too late to do you good.”
+
+Marie de Mantua hung her head without making any reply.
+
+“Must I encourage you to speak?” said the Queen. “Must I remind you that
+I have almost adopted you for my eldest daughter? that after seeking
+to unite you with the King’s brother, I prepared for you the throne of
+Poland? Must I do more, Marie? Yes, I must, I will. If afterward you do
+not open your whole heart to me, I have misjudged you. Open this golden
+casket; here is the key. Open it fearlessly; do not tremble as I do.”
+
+The Duchesse de Mantua obeyed with hesitation, and beheld in this little
+chased coffer a knife of rude form, the handle of which was of iron, and
+the blade very rusty. It lay upon some letters carefully folded, upon
+which was the name of Buckingham. She would have lifted them; Anne of
+Austria stopped her.
+
+“Seek nothing further,” she said; “that is all the treasure of the
+Queen. And it is a treasure; for it is the blood of a man who lives no
+longer, but who lived for me. He was the most beautiful, the bravest,
+the most illustrious of the nobles of Europe. He covered himself with
+the diamonds of the English crown to please me. He raised up a fierce
+war and armed fleets, which he himself commanded, that he might have the
+happiness of once fighting him who was my husband. He traversed the seas
+to gather a flower upon which I had trodden, and ran the risk of death
+to kiss and bathe with his tears the foot of this bed in the presence
+of two of my ladies-in-waiting. Shall I say more? Yes, I will say it to
+you--I loved him! I love him still in the past more than I could love
+him in the present. He never knew it, never divined it. This face, these
+eyes, were marble toward him, while my heart burned and was breaking
+with grief; but I was the Queen of France!” Here Anne of Austria
+forcibly grasped Marie’s arm. “Dare now to complain,” she continued, “if
+you have not yet ventured to speak to me of your love, and dare now to
+be silent when I have told you these things!”
+
+“Ah, yes, Madame, I shall dare to confide my grief to you, since you are
+to me--”
+
+“A friend, a woman!” interrupted the Queen. “I was a woman in my terror,
+which put you in possession of a secret unknown to the whole world. I am
+a woman by a love which survives the man I loved. Speak; tell me! It is
+now time.”
+
+“It is too late, on the contrary,” replied Marie, with a forced smile.
+“Monsieur de Cinq-Mars and I are united forever.”
+
+“Forever!” exclaimed the Queen. “Can you mean it? And your rank, your
+name, your future--is all lost? Do you reserve this despair for your
+brother, the Duc de Bethel, and all the Gonzagas?”
+
+“For more than four years I have thought of it. I am resolved; and for
+ten days we have been affianced.”
+
+“Affianced!” exclaimed the Queen, clasping her hands. “You have been
+deceived, Marie. Who would have dared this without the King’s order? It
+is an intrigue which I will know. I am sure that you have been misled
+and deceived.”
+
+Marie hesitated a moment, and then said:
+
+“Nothing is more simple, Madame, than our attachment. I inhabited, you
+know, the old chateau of Chaumont, with the Marechale d’Effiat, the
+mother of Monsieur de Cinq-Mars. I had retired there to mourn the death
+of my father; and it soon happened that Monsieur de Cinq-Mars had to
+deplore the loss of his. In this numerous afflicted family, I saw his
+grief only, which was as profound as mine. All that he said, I had
+already thought, and when we spoke of our afflictions we found them
+wholly alike. As I had been the first to suffer, I was better acquainted
+with sorrow than he; and I endeavored to console him by telling him all
+that I had suffered, so that in pitying me he forgot himself. This was
+the beginning of our love, which, as you see, had its birth, as it were,
+between two tombs.”
+
+“God grant, my sweet, that it may have a happy termination!” said the
+Queen.
+
+“I hope so, Madame, since you pray for me,” continued Marie. “Besides,
+everything now smiles upon me; but at that time I was very miserable.
+The news arrived one day at the chateau that the Cardinal had called
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars to the army. It seemed to me that I was again
+deprived of one of my relatives; and yet we were strangers. But Monsieur
+de Bassompierre spoke without ceasing of battles and death. I retired
+every evening in grief, and I wept during the night. I thought at first
+that my tears flowed for the past, but I soon perceived that it was for
+the future; and I felt that they could not be the same tears, since
+I wished to conceal them. Some time passed in the expectation of his
+departure. I saw him every day; and I pitied him for having to depart,
+because he repeated to me every instant that he would have wished to
+live eternally as he then did, in his own country and with us. He was
+thus without ambition until the day of his departure, because he knew
+not whether he was--whether he was--I dare not say it to your Majesty--”
+
+Marie blushed, cast down her humid eyes, and smiled.
+
+“Well!” said the Queen, “whether he was beloved,--is it not so?”
+
+“And in the evening, Madame, he left, ambitious.”
+
+“That is evident, certainly. He left,” said Anne of Austria, somewhat
+relieved; “but he has been back two years, and you have seen him?”
+
+“Seldom, Madame,” said the young Duchess, proudly; “and always in the
+presence of the priest, before whom I have promised to be the wife of no
+other than Cinq-Mars.”
+
+“Is it really, then, a marriage? Have you dared to do it? I shall
+inquire. But, Heaven, what faults! how many faults in the few words I
+have heard! Let me reflect upon them.”
+
+And, speaking aloud to herself, the Queen continued, her eyes and head
+bent in the attitude of reflection:
+
+“Reproaches are useless and cruel if the evil is done. The past is no
+longer ours; let us think of the future. Cinq-Mars is brave, able, and
+even profound in his ideas. I have observed that he has done much in two
+years, and I now see that it was for Marie. He comports himself well; he
+is worthy of her in my eyes, but not so in the eyes of Europe. He must
+rise yet higher. The Princesse de Mantua can not, may not, marry less
+than a prince. He must become one. By myself I can do nothing; I am
+not the Queen, I am the neglected wife of the King. There is only the
+Cardinal, the eternal Cardinal, and he is his enemy; and perhaps this
+disturbance--”
+
+“Alas! it is the beginning of war between them. I saw it at once.”
+
+“He is lost then!” exclaimed the Queen, embracing Marie. “Pardon me, my
+child, for thus afflicting you; but in times like these we must see
+all and say all. Yes, he is lost if he does not himself overthrow this
+wicked man--for the King will not renounce him; force alone--”
+
+“He will overthrow him, Madame. He will do it, if you will assist him.
+You are the divinity of France. Oh, I conjure you, protect the angel
+against the demon! It is your cause, that of your royal family, that of
+all your nation.”
+
+The Queen smiled.
+
+“It is, above all, your cause, my child; and it is as such that I will
+embrace it to the utmost extent of my power. That is not great, as I
+have told you; but such as it is, I lend it to you entirely, provided,
+however, that this angel does not stoop to commit mortal sins,” added
+she, with a meaning look. “I heard his name pronounced this night by
+voices most unworthy of him.”
+
+“Oh, Madame, I would swear that he knows nothing of it!”
+
+“Ah, my child, do not speak of State affairs. You are not yet learned
+enough in them. Let me sleep, if I can, before the hour of my toilette.
+My eyes are burning, and yours also, perhaps.”
+
+Saying these words, the amiable Queen laid her head upon the pillow
+which covered the casket, and soon Marie saw her fall asleep through
+sheer fatigue. She then rose, and, seating herself in a great,
+tapestried, square armchair, clasped her hands upon her knees, and began
+to reflect upon her painful situation. Consoled by the aspect of her
+gentle protectress, she often raised her eyes to watch her slumber, and
+sent her in secret all the blessings which love showers upon those who
+protect it, sometimes kissing the curls of her blond hair, as if by this
+kiss she could convey to her soul all the ideas favorable to the thought
+ever present to her mind.
+
+The Queen’s slumber was prolonged, while Marie thought and wept.
+However, she remembered that at ten o’clock she must appear at the royal
+toilette before all the court. She resolved to cast aside reflection,
+to dry her tears, and she took a thick folio volume placed upon a table
+inlaid with enamel and medallions; it was the ‘Astree’ of M. d’Urfe--a
+work ‘de belle galanterie’ adored by the fair prudes of the court. The
+unsophisticated and straightforward mind of Marie could not enter into
+these pastoral loves. She was too simple to understand the ‘bergeres
+du Lignon’, too clever to be pleased at their discourse, and too
+impassioned to feel their tenderness. However, the great popularity of
+the romance so far influenced her that she sought to compel herself to
+take an interest in it; and, accusing herself internally every time that
+she felt the ennui which exhaled from the pages of the book, she ran
+through it with impatience to find something to please and transport
+her. An engraving arrested her attention. It represented the shepherdess
+Astree with high-heeled shoes, a corset, and an immense farthingale,
+standing on tiptoe to watch floating down the river the tender Celadon,
+drowning himself in despair at having, been somewhat coldly received in
+the morning. Without explaining to herself the reason of the taste and
+accumulated fallacies of this picture, she sought, in turning over
+the pages, something which could fix her attention; she saw the word
+“Druid.”
+
+“Ah! here is a great character,” said she. “I shall no doubt read of
+one of those mysterious sacrificers of whom Britain, I am told, still
+preserves the monuments; but I shall see him sacrificing men. That would
+be a spectacle of horror; however, let us read it.”
+
+Saying this, Marie read with repugnance, knitting her brows, and nearly
+trembling, the following:
+
+   “The Druid Adamas delicately called the shepherds Pimandre,
+   Ligdamont, and Clidamant, newly arrived from Calais. ‘This
+   adventure can not terminate,’ said he, ‘but by the extremity of
+   love. The soul, when it loves, transforms itself into the object
+   beloved; it is to represent this that my agreeable enchantments will
+   show you in this fountain the nymph Sylvia, whom you all three love.
+   The high-priest Amasis is about to come from Montbrison, and will
+   explain to you the delicacy of this idea. Go, then, gentle
+   shepherds! If your desires are well regulated, they will not cause
+   you any torments; and if they are not so, you will be punished by
+   swoonings similar to those of Celadon, and the shepherdess Galatea,
+   whom the inconstant Hercules abandoned in the mountains of Auvergne,
+   and who gave her name to the tender country of the Gauls; or you
+   will be stoned by the shepherdesses of Lignon, as was the ferocious
+   Amidor. The great nymph of this cave has made an enchantment.’”
+
+The enchantment of the great nymph was complete on the Princess, who had
+hardly sufficient strength to find out with a trembling hand, toward
+the end of the book, that the Druid Adamas was an ingenious allegory,
+representing the Lieutenant-General of Montbrison, of the family of the
+Papons. Her weary eyes closed, and the great book slipped from her lap
+to the cushion of velvet upon which her feet were placed, and where
+the beautiful Astree and the gallant Celadon reposed luxuriously, less
+immovable than Marie de Mantua, vanquished by them and by profound
+slumber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. THE CONFUSION
+
+This same morning, the various events of which we have seen in the
+apartments of Gaston d’Orleans and of the Queen, the calm and silence
+of study reigned in a modest cabinet of a large house near the Palais
+de justice. A bronze lamp, of a gothic shape, struggling with the coming
+day, threw its red light upon a mass of papers and books which covered
+a large table; it lighted the bust of L’Hopital, that of Montaigne the
+essayist, the President de Thou, and of King Louis XIII.
+
+A fireplace sufficiently large for a man to enter and sit there was
+occupied by a large fire burning upon enormous andirons. Upon one of
+these was placed the foot of the studious De Thou, who, already risen,
+examined with attention the new works of Descartes and Grotius. He
+was writing upon his knee his notes upon these books of philosophy and
+politics, which were then the general subjects of conversation; but at
+this moment the ‘Meditations Metaphysiques’ absorbed all his attention.
+The philosopher of Touraine enchanted the young counsellor. Often, in
+his enthusiasm, he struck the book, uttering exclamations of admiration;
+sometimes he took a sphere placed near him, and, turning it with his
+fingers, abandoned himself to the most profound reveries of science;
+then, led by them to a still greater elevation of mind, he would
+suddenly throw himself upon his knees before a crucifix, placed upon the
+chimney-piece, because at the limits of the human mind he had found
+God. At other times he buried himself in his great armchair, so as to be
+nearly sitting upon his shoulders, and, placing his two hands upon his
+eyes, followed in his head the trace of the reasoning of Rene Descartes,
+from this idea of the first meditation:
+
+   “Suppose that we are asleep, and that all these particularities--
+   that is, that we open our eyes, move our heads, spread our arms--are
+   nothing but false illusions.”
+
+to this sublime conclusion of the third:
+
+   “Only one thing remains to be said; it is that like the idea of
+   myself, that of God is born and produced with me from the time I was
+   created. And certainly it should not be thought strange that God,
+   in creating me, should have implanted in me this idea, to be, as it
+   were, the mark of the workman impressed upon his work.”
+
+These thoughts entirely occupied the mind of the young counsellor, when
+a loud noise was heard under the windows. He thought that some house on
+fire excited these prolonged cries, and hastened to look toward the wing
+of the building occupied by his mother and sisters; but all appeared
+to sleep there, and the chimneys did not even send forth any smoke, to
+attest that its inhabitants were even awake. He blessed Heaven for it;
+and, running to another window, he saw the people, whose exploits we
+have witnessed, hastening toward the narrow streets which led to the
+quay.
+
+After examining this rabble of women and children, the ridiculous flag
+which led them, and the rude disguises of the men: “It is some popular
+fete or some carnival comedy,” said he; and again returning to the
+corner of the fire, he placed a large almanac upon the table, and
+carefully sought in it what saint was honored that day. He looked in the
+column of the month of December; and, finding at the fourth day of this
+month the name of Ste.-Barbe, he remembered that he had seen several
+small cannons and barrels pass, and, perfectly satisfied with the
+explanation which he had given himself, he hastened to drive away the
+interruption which had called off his attention, and resumed his quiet
+studies, rising only to take a book from the shelves of his library,
+and, after reading in it a phrase, a line, or only a word, he threw it
+from him upon his table or on the floor, covered in this way with books
+or papers which he would not trouble himself to return to their places,
+lest he should break the thread of his reveries.
+
+Suddenly the door was hastily opened, and a name was announced which
+he had distinguished among those at the bar--a man whom his connections
+with the magistracy had made personally known to him.
+
+“And by what chance, at five o’clock in the morning, do I see Monsieur
+Fournier?” he cried. “Are there some unfortunates to defend, some
+families to be supported by the fruits of his talent, some error to
+dissipate in us, some virtue to awaken in our hearts? for these are
+of his accustomed works. You come, perhaps, to inform me of some fresh
+humiliation of our parliament. Alas! the secret chambers of the Arsenal
+are more powerful than the ancient magistracy of Clovis. The parliament
+is on its knees; all is lost, unless it is soon filled with men like
+yourself.”
+
+“Monsieur, I do not merit your praise,” said the Advocate, entering,
+accompanied by a grave and aged man, enveloped like himself in a large
+cloak. “I deserve, on the contrary, your censure; and I am almost a
+penitent, as is Monsieur le Comte du Lude, whom you see here. We come to
+ask an asylum for the day.”
+
+“An asylum! and against whom?” said De Thou, making them sit down.
+
+“Against the lowest people in Paris, who wish to have us for chiefs, and
+from whom we fly. It is odious; the sight, the smell, the ear, and the
+touch, above all, are too severely wounded by it,” said M. du Lude, with
+a comical gravity. “It is too much!”
+
+“Ah! too much, you say?” said De Thou, very much astonished, but not
+willing to show it.
+
+“Yes,” answered the Advocate; “really, between ourselves, Monsieur le
+Grand goes too far.”
+
+“Yes, he pushes things too fast. He will render all our projects
+abortive,” added his companion.
+
+“Ah! and you say he goes too far?” replied M. de Thou, rubbing his chin,
+more and more surprised.
+
+Three months had passed since his friend Cinq-Mars had been to see him;
+and he, without feeling much disquieted about it--knowing that he was at
+St.-Germain in high favor, and never quitting the King--was far removed
+from the news of the court. Absorbed in his grave studies, he never
+heard of public events till they were forced upon his attention. He
+knew nothing of current life until the last moment, and often amused
+his intimate friends by his naive astonishment--the more so that from a
+little worldly vanity he desired to have it appear as if he were fully
+acquainted with the course of events, and tried to conceal the
+surprise he experienced at every fresh intelligence. He was now in this
+situation, and to this vanity was added the feeling of friendship; he
+would not have it supposed that Cinq-Mars had been negligent toward
+him, and, for his friend’s honor even, would appear to be aware of his
+projects.
+
+“You know very well how we stand now,” continued the Advocate.
+
+“Yes, of course. Well?”
+
+“Intimate as you are with him, you can not be ignorant that all has been
+organizing for a year past.”
+
+“Certainly, all has been organizing; but proceed.”
+
+“You will admit with us that Monsieur le Grand is wrong?”
+
+“Ah, that is as it may be; but explain yourself. I shall see.”
+
+“Well, you know upon what we had agreed at the last conference of which
+he informed you?”
+
+“Ah! that is to say--pardon me, I perceive it almost; but set me a
+little upon the track.”
+
+“It is useless; you no doubt remember what he himself recommended us to
+do at Marion de Lorme’s?”
+
+“To add no one to our list,” said M. du Lude.
+
+“Ah, yes, yes! I understand,” said De Thou; “that appears reasonable,
+very reasonable, truly.”
+
+“Well,” continued Fournier, “he himself has infringed this agreement;
+for this morning, besides the ragamuffins whom that ferret the Abbe de
+Gondi brought to us, there was some vagabond captain, who during the
+night struck with sword and poniard gentlemen of both parties, crying
+out at the top of his voice, ‘A moi, D’Aubijoux! You gained three
+thousand ducats from me; here are three sword-thrusts for you. ‘A moi’,
+La Chapelle! I will have ten drops of your blood in exchange for my ten
+pistoles!’ and I myself saw him attack these gentlemen and many more of
+both sides, loyally enough, it is true--for he struck them only in front
+and on their guard--but with great success, and with a most revolting
+impartiality.”
+
+“Yes, Monsieur, and I was about to tell him my opinion,” interposed De
+Lude, “when I saw him escape through the crowd like a squirrel, laughing
+greatly with some suspicious looking men with dark, swarthy faces; I
+do not doubt, however, that Monsieur de Cinq-Mars sent him, for he gave
+orders to that Ambrosio whom you must know--that Spanish prisoner, that
+rascal whom he has taken for a servant. In faith, I am disgusted with
+all this; and I was not born to mingle with this canaille.”
+
+“This, Monsieur,” replied Fournier, “is very different from the affair
+at Loudun. There the people only rose, without actually revolting; it
+was the sensible and estimable part of the populace, indignant at an
+assassination, and not heated by wine and money. It was a cry raised
+against an executioner--a cry of which one could honorably be the
+organ--and not these howlings of factious hypocrisy, of a mass of
+unknown people, the dregs of the mud and sewers of Paris. I confess that
+I am very tired of what I see; and I have come to entreat you to speak
+about it to Monsieur le Grand.”
+
+De Thou was very much embarrassed during this conversation, and sought
+in vain to understand what Cinq-Mars could have to do with the people,
+who appeared to him merely merrymaking; on the other hand, he persisted
+in not owning his ignorance. It was, however, complete; for the last
+time he had seen his friend, he had spoken only of the King’s horses and
+stables, of hawking, and of the importance of the King’s huntsmen in the
+affairs of the State, which did not seem to announce vast projects in
+which the people could take a part. He at last timidly ventured to say:
+
+“Messieurs, I promise to do your commission; meanwhile, I offer you
+my table and beds as long as you please. But to give my advice in
+this matter is very difficult. By the way, it was not the fete of
+Sainte-Barbe I saw this morning?”
+
+“The Sainte-Barbe!” said Fournier.
+
+“The Sainte-Barbe!” echoed Du Lude. “They burned powder.”
+
+“Oh, yes, yes! that is what Monsieur de Thou means,” said Fournier,
+laughing; “very good, very good indeed! Yes, I think to-day is
+Sainte-Barbe.”
+
+De Thou was now altogether confused and reduced to silence; as for the
+others, seeing that they did not understand him, nor he them, they had
+recourse to silence.
+
+They were sitting thus mute, when the door opened to admit the old tutor
+of Cinq-Mars, the Abbe Quillet, who entered, limping slightly. He looked
+very gloomy, retaining none of his former gayety in his air or language;
+but his look was still animated, and his speech energetic.
+
+“Pardon me, my dear De Thou, that I so early disturb you in your
+occupations; it is strange, is it not, in a gouty invalid? Ah, time
+advances; two years ago I did not limp. I was, on the contrary, nimble
+enough at the time of my journey to Italy; but then fear gives legs as
+well as wings.”
+
+Then, retiring into the recess of a window, he signed De Thou to come to
+him.
+
+“I need hardly remind you, my friend, who are in their secrets, that I
+affianced them a fortnight ago, as they have told you.”
+
+“Ah, indeed! Whom?” exclaimed poor De Thou, fallen from the Charybdis
+into the Scylla of astonishment.
+
+“Come, come, don’t affect surprise; you know very well whom,” continued
+the Abbe. “But, faith, I fear I have been too complaisant with them,
+though these two children are really interesting in their love. I fear
+for him more than for her; I doubt not he is acting very foolishly,
+judging from the disturbance this morning. We must consult together
+about it.”
+
+“But,” said De Thou, very gravely, “upon my honor, I do not know what
+you mean. Who is acting foolishly?”
+
+“Now, my dear Monsieur, will you still play the mysterious with me? It
+is really insulting,” said the worthy man, beginning to be angry.
+
+“No, indeed, I mean it not; whom have you affianced?”
+
+“Again! fie, Monsieur!”
+
+“And what was the disturbance this morning?”
+
+“You are laughing at me! I take my leave,” said the Abbe, rising.
+
+“I vow that I understand not a word of all that has been told me to-day.
+Do you mean Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?”
+
+“Very well, Monsieur, very well! you treat me as a Cardinalist; very
+well, we part,” said the Abbe Quillet, now altogether furious. And he
+snatched up his crutch and quitted the room hastily, without listening
+to De Thou, who followed him to his carriage, seeking to pacify him,
+but without effect, because he did not wish to name his friend upon the
+stairs in the hearing of his servants, and could not explain the matter
+otherwise. He had the annoyance of seeing the old Abbe depart, still in
+a passion; he called out to him amicably, “Tomorrow,” as the coachman
+drove off, but got no answer.
+
+It was, however, not uselessly that he had descended to the foot of the
+stairs, for he saw thence hideous groups of the mob returning from the
+Louvre, and was thus better able to judge of the importance of their
+movements in the morning; he heard rude voices exclaiming, as in
+triumph:
+
+“She showed herself, however, the little Queen!” “Long live the good
+Duc de Bouillon, who is coming to us! He has a hundred thousand men with
+him, all on rafts on the Seine. The old Cardinal de la Rochelle is dead!
+Long live the King! Long live Monsieur le Grand!”
+
+The cries redoubled at the arrival of a carriage and four, with the
+royal livery, which stopped at the counsellor’s door, and in which De
+Thou recognized the equipage of Cinq-Mars; Ambrosio alighted to open the
+ample curtains, which the carriages of that period had for doors. The
+people threw themselves between the carriage-steps and the door of the
+house, so that Cinq-Mars had an absolute struggle ere he could get out
+and disengage himself from the market-women, who sought to embrace him,
+crying:
+
+“Here you are, then, my sweet, my dear! Here you are, my pet! Ah, how
+handsome he is, the love, with his big collar! Isn’t he worth more than
+the other fellow with the white moustache? Come, my son, bring us out
+some good wine this morning.”
+
+Henri d’Effiat pressed, blushing deeply the while, his friend’s
+hand,--who hastened to have his doors closed.
+
+“This popular favor is a cup one must drink,” said he, as they ascended
+the stairs.
+
+“It appears to me,” replied De Thou, gravely, “that you drink it even to
+the very dregs.”
+
+“I will explain all this clamorous affair to you,” answered Cinq-Mars,
+somewhat embarrassed. “At present, if you love me, dress yourself to
+accompany me to the Queen’s toilette.”
+
+“I promised you blind adherence,” said the counsellor; “but truly I can
+not keep my eyes shut much longer if--”
+
+“Once again, I will give you a full explanation as we return from the
+Queen. But make haste; it is nearly ten o’clock.”
+
+“Well, I will go with you,” replied De Thou, conducting him into his
+cabinet, where were the Comte du Lude and Fournier, while he himself
+passed into his dressing-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. TOILETTE
+
+The carriage of the Grand Equerry was rolling rapidly toward the Louvre,
+when, closing the curtain, he took his friend’s hand, and said to him
+with emotion:
+
+“Dear De Thou, I have kept great secrets in my heart, and, believe
+me, they have weighed heavily there; but two fears impelled me to
+silence--that of your danger, and--shall I say it?--that of your
+counsels.”
+
+“Yet well you know,” replied De Thou, “that I despise the first; and I
+deemed that you did not despise the second.”
+
+“No, but I feared, and still fear them. I would not be stopped. Do not
+speak, my friend; not a word, I conjure you, before you have heard and
+seen all that is about to take place. I will return with you to your
+house on quitting the Louvre; there I will listen to you, and thence I
+shall depart to continue my work, for nothing will shake my resolve, I
+warn you. I have just said so to the gentlemen at your house.”
+
+In his accent Cinq-Mars had nothing of the brusqueness which clothed
+his words. His voice was conciliatory, his look gentle, amiable,
+affectionate, his air as tranquil as it was determined. There was no
+indication of the slightest effort at control. De Thou remarked it, and
+sighed.
+
+Alighting from the carriage with him, De Thou followed him up the
+great staircase of the Louvre. When they entered the Queen’s apartment,
+announced by two ushers dressed in black and bearing ebony rods, she
+was seated at her toilette. This was a table of black wood, inlaid with
+tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, and brass, in an infinity of designs of
+very bad taste, but which give to all furniture an air of grandeur which
+we still admire in it. A mirror, rounded at the top, which the ladies of
+our time would consider small and insignificant, stood in the middle of
+the table, whereon were scattered jewels and necklaces.
+
+Anne of Austria, seated before it in a large armchair of crimson velvet,
+with long gold fringe, was as motionless and grave as on her throne,
+while Dona Stefania and Madame de Motteville, on either side, lightly
+touched her beautiful blond hair with a comb, as if finishing the
+Queen’s coiffure, which, however, was already perfectly arranged and
+decorated with pearls. Her long tresses, though light, were exquisitely
+glossy, manifesting that to the touch they must be fine and soft as
+silk. The daylight fell without a shade upon her forehead, which had no
+reason to dread the test, itself reflecting an almost equal light from
+its surpassing fairness, which the Queen was pleased thus to display.
+Her blue eyes, blended with green, were large and regular, and her
+vermilion mouth had that underlip of the princesses of Austria, somewhat
+prominent and slightly cleft, in the form of a cherry, which may still
+be marked in all the female portraits of this time, whose painters
+seemed to have aimed at imitating the Queen’s mouth, in order to please
+the women of her suite, whose desire was, no doubt, to resemble her.
+
+The black dress then adopted by the court, and of which the form was
+even fixed by an edict, set off the ivory of her arms, bare to the
+elbow, and ornamented with a profusion of lace, which flowed from her
+loose sleeves. Large pearls hung in her ears and from her girdle. Such
+was the appearance of the Queen at this moment. At her feet, upon two
+velvet cushions, a boy of four years old was playing with a little
+cannon, which he was assiduously breaking in pieces. This was the
+Dauphin, afterward Louis XIV. The Duchesse Marie de Mantua was seated on
+her right hand upon a stool. The Princesse de Guemenee, the Duchesse de
+Chevreuse, and Mademoiselle de Montbazon, Mesdemoiselles de Guise, de
+Rohan, and de Vendome, all beautiful and brilliant with youth, were
+behind her, standing. In the recess of a window, Monsieur, his hat under
+his arm, was talking in a low voice with a man, stout, with a red face
+and a steady and daring eye. This was the Duc de Bouillon. An officer
+about twenty-five years of age, well-formed, and of agreeable presence,
+had just given several papers to the Prince, which the Duc de Bouillon
+appeared to be explaining to him.
+
+De Thou, after having saluted the Queen, who said a few words to him,
+approached the Princesse de Guemenee, and conversed with her in an
+undertone, with an air of affectionate intimacy, but all the while
+intent upon his friend’s interest. Secretly trembling lest he should
+have confided his destiny to a being less worthy of him than he wished,
+he examined the Princess Marie with the scrupulous attention, the
+scrutinizing eye of a mother examining the woman whom her son has
+selected for his bride--for he thought that Marie could not be
+altogether a stranger to the enterprise of Cinq-Mars. He saw with
+dissatisfaction that her dress, which was extremely elegant, appeared
+to inspire her with more vanity than became her on such an occasion. She
+was incessantly rearranging upon her forehead and her hair the rubies
+which ornamented her head, and which scarcely equalled the brilliancy
+and animated color of her complexion. She looked frequently at
+Cinq-Mars; but it was rather the look of coquetry than that of love, and
+her eyes often glanced toward the mirror on the toilette, in which she
+watched the symmetry of her beauty. These observations of the counsellor
+began to persuade him that he was mistaken in suspecting her to be
+the aim of Cinq-Mars, especially when he saw that she seemed to have
+a pleasure in sitting at the Queen’s side, while the duchesses stood
+behind her, and that she often looked haughtily at them.
+
+“In that heart of nineteen,” said he, “love, were there love, would
+reign alone and above all to-day. It is not she!”
+
+The Queen made an almost imperceptible movement of the head to Madame
+de Guemenee. After the two friends had spoken a moment with each person
+present, and at this sign, all the ladies, except Marie de Mantua,
+making profound courtesies, quitted the apartment without speaking, as
+if by previous arrangement. The Queen, then herself turning her chair,
+said to Monsieur:
+
+“My brother, I beg you will come and sit down by me. We will consult
+upon what I have already told you. The Princesse Marie will not be in
+the way. I begged her to remain. We have no interruption to fear.”
+
+The Queen seemed more at ease in her manner and language; and no longer
+preserving her severe and ceremonious immobility, she signed to the
+other persons present to approach her.
+
+Gaston d’Orleans, somewhat alarmed at this solemn opening, came
+carelessly, sat down on her right hand, and said with a half-smile and
+a negligent air, playing with his ruff and the chain of the Saint Esprit
+which hung from his neck:
+
+“I think, Madame, that we shall fatigue the ears of so young a personage
+by a long conference. She would rather hear us speak of dances, and of
+marriage, of an elector, or of the King of Poland, for example.”
+
+Marie assumed a disdainful air; Cinq-Mars frowned.
+
+“Pardon me,” replied the Queen, looking at her; “I assure you the
+politics of the present time interest her much. Do not seek to escape
+us, my brother,” added she, smiling. “I have you to-day! It is the least
+we can do to listen to Monsieur de Bouillon.”
+
+The latter approached, holding by the hand the young officer of whom we
+have spoken.
+
+“I must first,” said he, “present to your Majesty the Baron de Beauvau,
+who has just arrived from Spain.”
+
+“From Spain?” said the Queen, with emotion. “There is courage in that;
+you have seen my family?”
+
+“He will speak to you of them, and of the Count-Duke of Olivares. As
+to courage, it is not the first time he has shown it. He commanded the
+cuirassiers of the Comte de Soissons.”
+
+“How? so young, sir! You must be fond of political wars.”
+
+“On the contrary, your Majesty will pardon me,” replied he, “for I
+served with the princes of the peace.”
+
+Anne of Austria smiled at this jeu-de-mot. The Duc de Bouillon, seizing
+the moment to bring forward the grand question he had in view, quitted
+Cinq-Mars, to whom he had just given his hand with an air of the
+most zealous friendship, and approaching the Queen with him, “It is
+miraculous, Madame,” said he, “that this period still contains in its
+bosom some noble characters, such as these;” and he pointed to the
+master of the horse, to young Beauvau, and to De Thou. “It is only in
+them that we can place our hope for the future. Such men are indeed very
+rare now, for the great leveller has swung a long scythe over France.”
+
+“Is it of Time you speak,” said the Queen, “or of a real personage?”
+
+“Too real, too living, too long living, Madame!” replied the Duke,
+becoming more animated; “but his measureless ambition, his colossal
+selfishness can no longer be endured. All those who have noble hearts
+are indignant at this yoke; and at this moment, more than ever, we see
+misfortunes threatening us in the future. It must be said, Madame--yes,
+it is no longer time to blind ourselves to the truth, or to conceal
+it--the King’s illness is serious. The moment for thinking and resolving
+has arrived, for the time to act is not far distant.”
+
+The severe and abrupt tone of M. de Bouillon did not surprise Anne of
+Austria; but she had always seen him more calm, and was, therefore,
+somewhat alarmed by the disquietude he betrayed. Quitting accordingly
+the tone of pleasantry which she had at first adopted, she said:
+
+“How! what fear you, and what would you do?”
+
+“I fear nothing for myself, Madame, for the army of Italy or Sedan
+will always secure my safety; but I fear for you, and perhaps for the
+princes, your sons.”
+
+“For my children, Monsieur le Duc, for the sons of France? Do you hear
+him, my brother, and do you not appear astonished?”
+
+The Queen was deeply agitated.
+
+“No, Madame,” said Gaston d’Orleans, calmly; “you know that I am
+accustomed to persecution. I am prepared to expect anything from that
+man. He is master; we must be resigned.”
+
+“He master!” exclaimed the Queen. “And from whom does he derive his
+powers, if not from the King? And after the King, what hand will sustain
+him? Can you tell me? Who will prevent him from again returning to
+nothing? Will it be you or I?”
+
+“It will be himself,” interrupted M. de Bouillon, “for he seeks to be
+named regent; and I know that at this moment he contemplates taking your
+children from you, and requiring the King to confide them to his care.”
+
+“Take them from me!” cried the mother, involuntarily seizing the
+Dauphin, and taking him in her arms.
+
+The child, standing between the Queen’s knees, looked at the men who
+surrounded him with a gravity very singular for his age, and, seeing his
+mother in tears, placed his hand upon the little sword he wore.
+
+“Ah, Monseigneur,” said the Duc de Bouillon, bending half down to
+address to him what he intended for the Princess, “it is not against us
+that you must draw your sword, but against him who is undermining
+your throne. He prepares an empire for you, no doubt. You will have an
+absolute sceptre; but he has scattered the fasces which indicated it.
+Those fasces were your ancient nobility, whom he has decimated. When
+you are king, you will be a great king. I foresee it; but you will
+have subjects only, and no friends, for friendship exists only in
+independence and a kind of equality which takes its rise in force. Your
+ancestors had their peers; you will not have yours. May God aid you
+then, Monseigneur, for man may not do it without institutions! Be great;
+but above all, around you, a great man, let there be others as strong,
+so that if the one stumbles, the whole monarchy may not fall.”
+
+The Duc de Bouillon had a warmth of expression and a confidence of
+manner which captivated those who heard him. His valor, his keen
+perception in the field, the profundity of his political views,
+his knowledge of the affairs of Europe, his reflective and decided
+character, all rendered him one of the most capable and imposing men of
+his time-the only one, indeed, whom the Cardinal-Duc really feared. The
+Queen always listened to him with confidence, and allowed him to acquire
+a sort of empire over her. She was now more deeply moved than ever.
+
+“Ah, would to God,” she exclaimed, “that my son’s mind was ripe for your
+counsels, and his arm strong enough to profit by them! Until that time,
+however, I will listen, I will act for him. It is I who should be, and
+it is I who shall be, regent. I will not resign this right save with
+life. If we must make war, we will make it; for I will do everything but
+submit to the shame and terror of yielding up the future Louis XIV to
+this crowned subject. Yes,” she went on, coloring and closely pressing
+the young Dauphin’s arm, “yes, my brother, and you gentlemen, counsel
+me! Speak! how do we stand? Must I depart? Speak openly. As a woman, as
+a wife, I could have wept over so mournful a position; but now see, as
+a mother, I do not weep. I am ready to give you orders if it is
+necessary.”
+
+Never had Anne of Austria looked so beautiful as at this moment; and the
+enthusiasm she manifested electrified all those present, who needed but
+a word from her mouth to speak. The Duc de Bouillon cast a glance at
+Monsieur, which decided him.
+
+“Ma foi!” said he, with deliberation, “if you give orders, my sister, I
+will be the captain of your guards, on my honor, for I too am weary of
+the vexations occasioned me by this knave. He continues to persecute
+me, seeks to break off my marriage, and still keeps my friends in the
+Bastille, or has them assassinated from time to time; and besides, I
+am indignant,” said he, recollecting himself and assuming a more solemn
+air, “I am indignant at the misery of the people.”
+
+“My brother,” returned the Princess, energetically, “I take you at your
+word, for with you, one must do so; and I hope that together we shall be
+strong enough for the purpose. Do only as Monsieur le Comte de Soissons
+did, but survive your victory. Side with me, as you did with Monsieur de
+Montmorency, but leap the ditch.”
+
+Gaston felt the point of this. He called to mind the well-known incident
+when the unfortunate rebel of Castelnaudary leaped almost alone a large
+ditch, and found on the other side seventeen wounds, a prison, and death
+in the sight of Monsieur, who remained motionless with his army. In the
+rapidity of the Queen’s enunciation he had not time to examine
+whether she had employed this expression proverbially or with a direct
+reference; but at all events, he decided not to notice it, and was
+indeed prevented from doing so by the Queen, who continued, looking at
+Cinq-Mars:
+
+“But, above all, no panic-terror! Let us know exactly where we are,
+Monsieur le Grand. You have just left the King. Is there fear with you?”
+
+D’Effiat had not ceased to observe Marie de Mantua, whose expressive
+countenance exhibited to him all her ideas far more rapidly and more
+surely than words. He read there the desire that he should speak--the
+desire that he should confirm the Prince and the Queen. An impatient
+movement of her foot conveyed to him her will that the thing should be
+accomplished, the conspiracy arranged. His face became pale and more
+pensive; he pondered for a moment, realizing that his destiny was
+contained in that hour. De Thou looked at him and trembled, for he knew
+him well. He would fain have said one word to him, only one word; but
+Cinq-Mars had already raised his head. He spoke:
+
+“I do not think, Madame, that the King is so ill as you suppose. God
+will long preserve to us this Prince. I hope so; I am even sure of it.
+He suffers, it is true, suffers much; but it is his soul more peculiarly
+that is sick, and of an evil which nothing can cure--of an evil which
+one would not wish to one’s greatest enemy, and which would gain him the
+pity of the whole world if it were known. The end of his misery--that
+is to say, of his life--will not be granted him for a long time. His
+languor is entirely moral. There is in his heart a great revolution
+going on; he would accomplish it, and can not.
+
+“The King has felt for many long years growing within him the seeds of a
+just hatred against a man to whom he thinks he owes gratitude, and it
+is this internal combat between his natural goodness and his anger that
+devours him. Every year that has passed has deposited at his feet, on
+one side, the great works of this man, and on the other, his crimes. It
+is the last which now weigh down the balance. The King sees them and is
+indignant; he would punish, but all at once he stops and weeps. If you
+could witness him thus, Madame, you would pity him. I have seen him
+seize the pen which was to sign his exile, dip it into the ink with a
+bold hand, and use it--for what?--to congratulate him on some recent
+success. He at once applauds himself for his goodness as a Christian,
+curses himself for his weakness as a sovereign judge, despises himself
+as a king. He seeks refuge in prayer, and plunges into meditation upon
+the future; then he rises terrified because he has seen in thought the
+tortures which this man merits, and how deeply no one knows better than
+he. You should hear him in these moments accuse himself of criminal
+weakness, and exclaim that he himself should be punished for not having
+known how to punish. One would say that there are spirits which order
+him to strike, for his arms are raised as he sleeps. In a word,
+Madame, the storm murmurs in his heart, but burns none but himself. The
+thunderbolts are chained.”
+
+“Well, then, let us loose them!” exclaimed the Duc de Bouillon.
+
+“He who touches them may die of the contact,” said Monsieur.
+
+“But what a noble devotion!” cried the Queen.
+
+“How I should admire the hero!” said Marie, in a half-whisper.
+
+“I will do it,” answered Cinq-Mars.
+
+“We will do it,” said M. de Thou, in his ear.
+
+Young Beauvau had approached the Duc de Bouillon.
+
+“Monsieur,” said he, “do you forget what follows?”
+
+“No, ‘pardieu’! I do not forget it,” replied the latter, in a low voice;
+then, addressing the Queen, “Madame,” said he, “accept the offer of
+Monsieur le Grand. He is more in a position to sway the King than either
+you or I; but hold yourself prepared, for the Cardinal is too wary to be
+caught sleeping. I do not believe in his illness. I have no faith in the
+silence and immobility of which he has sought to persuade us these two
+years past. I would not believe in his death even, unless I had myself
+thrown his head into the sea, like that of the giant in Ariosto. Hold
+yourself ready to meet all contingencies, and let us, meanwhile, hasten
+our operations. I have shown my plans to Monsieur just now; I will give
+you a summary of them. I offer you Sedan, Madame, for yourself, and for
+Messeigneurs, your sons. The army of Italy is mine; I will recall it if
+necessary. Monsieur le Grand is master of half the camp of Perpignan.
+All the old Huguenots of La Rochelle and the South are ready to come
+to him at the first nod. All has been organized for a year past, by my
+care, to meet events.”
+
+“I should not hesitate,” said the Queen, “to place myself in your hands,
+to save my children, if any misfortune should happen to the King. But in
+this general plan you forget Paris.”
+
+“It is ours on every side; the people by the archbishop, without his
+suspecting it, and by Monsieur de Beaufort, who is its king; the troops
+by your guards and those of Monsieur, who shall be chief in command, if
+he please.”
+
+“I! I! oh, that positively can not be! I have not enough people, and I
+must have a retreat stronger than Sedan,” said Gaston.
+
+“It suffices for the Queen,” replied M. de Bouillon.
+
+“Ah, that may be! but my sister does not risk so much as a man who draws
+the sword. Do you know that these are bold measures you propose?”
+
+“What, even if we have the King on our side?” asked Anne of Austria.
+
+“Yes, Madame, yes; we do not know how long that may last. We must make
+ourselves sure; and I do nothing without the treaty with Spain.”
+
+“Do nothing, then,” said the Queen, coloring deeply; “for certainly I
+will never hear that spoken of.”
+
+“And yet, Madame, it were more prudent, and Monsieur is right,” said the
+Duc de Bouillon; “for the Count-Duke of San Lucra offers us seventeen
+thousand men, tried troops, and five hundred thousand crowns in ready
+money.”
+
+“What!” exclaimed the Queen, with astonishment, “have you dared to
+proceed so far without my consent? already treaties with foreigners!”
+
+“Foreigners, my sister! could we imagine that a princess of Spain would
+use that word?” said Gaston.
+
+Anne of Austria rose, taking the Dauphin by the hand; and, leaning
+upon Marie: “Yes, sir,” she said, “I am a Spaniard; but I am the
+grand-daughter of Charles V, and I know that a queen’s country is
+where her throne is. I leave you, gentlemen; proceed without me. I know
+nothing of the matter for the future.”
+
+She advanced some steps, but seeing Marie pale and bathed in tears, she
+returned.
+
+“I will, however, solemnly promise you inviolable secrecy; but nothing
+more.”
+
+All were mentally disconcerted, except the Duc de Bouillon, who, not
+willing to lose the advantages he had gained, said to the Queen, bowing
+respectfully:
+
+“We are grateful for this promise, Madame, and we ask no more, persuaded
+that after the first success you will be entirely with us.”
+
+Not wishing to engage in a war of words, the Queen courtesied somewhat
+less coldly, and quitted the apartment with Marie, who cast upon
+Cinq-Mars one of those looks which comprehend at once all the emotions
+of the soul. He seemed to read in her beautiful eyes the eternal and
+mournful devotion of a woman who has given herself up forever; and he
+felt that if he had once thought of withdrawing from his enterprise, he
+should now have considered himself the basest of men.
+
+As soon as the two princesses had disappeared, “There, there! I told you
+so, Bouillon, you offended the Queen,” said Monsieur; “you went too far.
+You can not certainly accuse me of having been hesitating this morning.
+I have, on the contrary, shown more resolution than I ought to have
+done.”
+
+“I am full of joy and gratitude toward her Majesty,” said M. de
+Bouillon, with a triumphant air; “we are sure of the future. What will
+you do now, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?”
+
+“I have told you, Monsieur; I draw not back, whatever the consequences.
+I will see the King; I will run every risk to obtain his assent.”
+
+“And the treaty with Spain?”
+
+“Yes, I--”
+
+De Thou seized Cinq-Mars by the arm, and, advancing suddenly, said, with
+a solemn air:
+
+“We have decided that it shall be only signed after the interview with
+the King; for should his Majesty’s just severity toward the Cardinal
+dispense with it, we have thought it better not to expose ourselves to
+the discovery of so dangerous a treaty.”
+
+M. de Bouillon frowned.
+
+“If I did not know Monsieur de Thou,” said he, “I should have regarded
+this as a defection; but from him--”
+
+“Monsieur,” replied the counsellor, “I think I may engage myself, on my
+honor, to do all that Monsieur le Grand does; we are inseparable.”
+
+Cinq-Mars looked at his friend, and was astonished to see upon his mild
+countenance the expression of sombre despair; he was so struck with it
+that he had not the courage to gainsay him.
+
+“He is right, gentlemen,” he said with a cold but kindly smile; “the
+King will perhaps spare us much trouble. We may do good things with
+him. For the rest, Monseigneur, and you, Monsieur le Duc,” he added with
+immovable firmness, “fear not that I shall ever draw back. I have burned
+all the bridges behind me. I must advance; the Cardinal’s power shall
+fall, or my head.”
+
+“It is strange, very strange!” said Monsieur; “I see that every one here
+is farther advanced in the conspiracy than I imagined.”
+
+“Not so, Monsieur,” said the Duc de Bouillon; “we prepared only that
+which you might please to accept. Observe that there is nothing in
+writing. You have but to speak, and nothing exists or ever has existed;
+according to your order, the whole thing shall be a dream or a volcano.”
+
+“Well, well, I am content, if it must be so,” said Gaston; “let us
+occupy ourselves with more agreeable topics. Thank God, we have a little
+time before us! I confess I wish that it were all over. I am not fitted
+for violent emotions; they affect my health,” he added, taking M. de
+Beauvau’s arm. “Tell us if the Spanish women are still pretty, young
+man. It is said you are a great gallant among them. ‘Tudieu’! I’m
+sure you’ve got yourself talked of there. They tell me the women wear
+enormous petticoats. Well, I am not at all against that; they make the
+foot look smaller and prettier. I’m sure the wife of Don Louis de Haro
+is not handsomer than Madame de Guemenee, is she? Come, be frank; I’m
+told she looks like a nun. Ah! you do not answer; you are embarrassed.
+She has then taken your fancy; or you fear to offend our friend Monsieur
+de Thou in comparing her with the beautiful Guemenee. Well, let’s talk
+of the customs; the King has a charming dwarf I’m told, and they put
+him in a pie. He is a fortunate man, that King of Spain! I don’t know
+another equally so. And the Queen, she is still served on bended knee,
+is she not? Ah! that is a good custom; we have lost it. It is very
+unfortunate--more unfortunate than may be supposed.”
+
+And Gaston d’Orleans had the confidence to speak in this tone nearly
+half an hour, with a young man whose serious character was not at
+all adapted to such conversation, and who, still occupied with the
+importance of the scene he had just witnessed and the great interests
+which had been discussed, made no answer to this torrent of idle words.
+He looked at the Duc de Bouillon with an astonished air, as if to ask
+him whether this was really the man whom they were going to place at the
+head of the most audacious enterprise that had ever been launched; while
+the Prince, without appearing to perceive that he remained unanswered,
+replied to himself, speaking with volubility, as he drew him gradually
+out of the room. He feared that one of the gentlemen present might
+recommence the terrible conversation about the treaty; but none desired
+to do so, unless it were the Duc de Bouillon, who, however, preserved an
+angry silence. As for Cinq-Mars, he had been led away by De Thou, under
+cover of the chattering of Monsieur, who took care not to appear to
+notice their departure.
+
+
+
+
+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,
+Cumae-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.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 6
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. THE STORM
+
+          ‘Blow, blow, thou winter wind;
+          Thou art not so unkind
+          As man’s ingratitude.
+          Thy tooth is not so keen,
+          Because thou art not seen,
+          Although thy breath be rude.
+     Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly.
+     Most friendship is feigning; most loving mere folly.’
+
+                       SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Amid that long and superb chain of the Pyrenees which forms the
+embattled isthmus of the peninsula, in the centre of those blue
+pyramids, covered in gradation with snow, forests, and downs, there
+opens a narrow defile, a path cut in the dried-up bed of a perpendicular
+torrent; it circulates among rocks, glides under bridges of frozen snow,
+twines along the edges of inundated precipices to scale the adjacent
+mountains of Urdoz and Oleron, and at last rising over their unequal
+ridges, turns their nebulous peak into a new country which has also its
+mountains and its depths, and, quitting France, descends into Spain.
+Never has the hoof of the mule left its trace in these windings; man
+himself can with difficulty stand upright there, even with the hempen
+boots which can not slip, and the hook of the pikestaff to force into
+the crevices of the rocks.
+
+In the fine summer months the ‘pastour’, in his brown cape, and his
+black long-bearded ram lead hither flocks, whose flowing wool sweeps the
+turf. Nothing is heard in these rugged places but the sound of the
+large bells which the sheep carry, and whose irregular tinklings produce
+unexpected harmonies, casual gamuts, which astonish the traveller and
+delight the savage and silent shepherd. But when the long month of
+September comes, a shroud of snow spreads itself from the peak of the
+mountains down to their base, respecting only this deeply excavated
+path, a few gorges open by torrents, and some rocks of granite, which
+stretch out their fantastical forms, like the bones of a buried world.
+
+It is then that light troops of chamois make their appearance, with
+their twisted horns extending over their backs, spring from rock to
+rock as if driven before the wind, and take possession of their aerial
+desert. Flights of ravens and crows incessantly wheel round and round
+in the gulfs and natural wells which they transform into dark dovecots,
+while the brown bear, followed by her shaggy family, who sport and
+tumble around her in the snow, slowly descends from their retreat
+invaded by the frost. But these are neither the most savage nor the most
+cruel inhabitants that winter brings into these mountains; the daring
+smuggler raises for himself a dwelling of wood on the very boundary of
+nature and of politics. There unknown treaties, secret exchanges, are
+made between the two Navarres, amid fogs and winds.
+
+It was in this narrow path on the frontiers of France that, about two
+months after the scenes we have witnessed in Paris, two travellers,
+coming from Spain, stopped at midnight, fatigued and dismayed. They
+heard musket-shots in the mountain.
+
+“The scoundrels! how they have pursued us!” said one of them. “I can go
+no farther; but for you I should have been taken.”
+
+“And you will be taken still, as well as that infernal paper, if you
+lose your time in words; there is another volley on the rock of Saint
+Pierre-de-L’Aigle. Up there, they suppose we have gone in the direction
+of the Limacon; but, below, they will see the contrary. Descend; it is
+doubtless a patrol hunting smugglers. Descend.”
+
+“But how? I can not see.”
+
+“Never mind, descend. Take my arm.”
+
+“Hold me; my boots slip,” said the first traveller, stamping on the edge
+of the rock to make sure of the solidity of the ground before trusting
+himself upon it.
+
+“Go on; go on!” said the other, pushing him. “There’s one of the rascals
+passing over our heads.”
+
+And, in fact, the shadow of a man, armed with a long gun, was reflected
+on the snow. The two adventurers stood motionless. The man passed on.
+They continued their descent.
+
+“They will take us,” said the one who was supporting the other. “They
+have turned us. Give me your confounded parchment. I wear the dress of
+a smuggler, and I can pass for one seeking an asylum among them; but you
+would have no resource with your laced dress.”
+
+“You are right,” said his companion; and, resting his foot against the
+edge of the rock, and reclining on the slope, he gave him a roll of
+hollow wood.
+
+A gun was fired, and a ball buried itself, hissing, in the snow at their
+feet.
+
+“Marked!” said the first. “Roll down. If you are not dead when you get
+to the bottom, take the road you see before you. On the left of the
+hollow is Santa Maria. But turn to the right; cross Oleron; and you are
+on the road to Pau and are saved. Go; roll down.”
+
+As he spoke, he pushed his comrade, and without condescending to look
+after him, and himself neither ascending nor descending, followed the
+flank of the mountain horizontally, hanging on by rocks, branches, and
+even by plants, with the strength and energy of a wild-cat, and soon
+found himself on firm ground before a small wooden hut, through which a
+light was visible. The adventurer went all around it, like a hungry
+wolf round a sheepfold, and, applying his eye to one of the openings,
+apparently saw what determined him, for without further hesitation he
+pushed the tottering door, which was not even fastened by a latch. The
+whole but shook with the blow he had given it. He then saw that it was
+divided into two cabins by a partition. A large flambeau of yellow wax
+lighted the first. There, a young girl, pale and fearfully thin, was
+crouched in a corner on the damp floor, just where the melted snow ran
+under the planks of the cottage. Very long black hair, entangled and
+covered with dust, fell in disorder over her coarse brown dress; the red
+hood of the Pyrenees covered her head and shoulders. Her eyes were cast
+down; and she was spinning with a small distaff attached to her waist.
+The entry of a man did not appear to move her in the least.
+
+“Ha! La moza,--[girl]--get up and give me something to drink. I am tired
+and thirsty.”
+
+The young girl did not answer, and, without raising her eyes, continued
+to spin assiduously.
+
+“Dost hear?” said the stranger, thrusting her with his foot. “Go and
+tell thy master that a friend wishes to see him; but first give me some
+drink. I shall sleep here.”
+
+She answered, in a hoarse voice, still spinning:
+
+“I drink the snow that melts on the rock, or the green scum that floats
+on the water of the swamp. But when I have spun well, they give me water
+from the iron spring. When I sleep, the cold lizards crawl over my face;
+but when I have well cleaned a mule, they throw me hay. The hay is warm;
+the hay is good and warm. I put it under my marble feet.”
+
+“What tale art thou telling me?” said Jacques. “I spoke not of thee.”
+
+She continued:
+
+“They make me hold a man while they kill him. Oh, what blood I have had
+on my hands! God forgive them!--if that be possible. They make me hold
+his head, and the bucket filled with crimson water. O Heaven!--I, who
+was the bride of God! They throw their bodies into the abyss of snow;
+but the vulture finds them; he lines his nest with their hair. I now see
+thee full of life; I shall see thee bloody, pale, and dead.”
+
+The adventurer, shrugging his shoulders, began to whistle as he passed
+the second door. Within he found the man he had seen through the chinks
+of the cabin. He wore the blue berret cap of the Basques on one side,
+and, enveloped in an ample cloak, seated on the pack-saddle of a mule,
+and bending over a large brazier, smoked a cigar, and from time to time
+drank from a leather bottle at his side. The light of the brazier showed
+his full yellow face, as well as the chamber, in which mule-saddles were
+ranged round the byasero as seats. He raised his head without altering
+his position.
+
+“Oh, oh! is it thou, Jacques?” he said. “Is it thou? Although ‘tis four
+years since I saw thee, I recognize thee. Thou art not changed, brigand!
+There ‘tis still, thy great knave’s face. Sit down there, and take a
+drink.”
+
+“Yes, here I am. But how the devil camest thou here? I thought thou wert
+a judge, Houmain!”
+
+“And I thought thou wert a Spanish captain, Jacques!”
+
+“Ah! I was so for a time, and then a prisoner. But I got out of the
+thing very snugly, and have taken again to the old trade, the free life,
+the good smuggling work.”
+
+“Viva! viva! Jaleo!”--[A common Spanish oath.]--cried Houmain. “We
+brave fellows can turn our hands to everything. Thou camest by the other
+passes, I suppose, for I have not seen thee since I returned to the
+trade.”
+
+“Yes, yes; I have passed where thou wilt never pass,” said Jacques.
+
+“And what hast got?”
+
+“A new merchandise. My mules will come tomorrow.”
+
+“Silk sashes, cigars, or linen?”
+
+“Thou wilt know in time, amigo,” said the ruffian. “Give me the skin.
+I’m thirsty.”
+
+“Here, drink. It’s true Valdepenas! We’re so jolly here, we bandoleros!
+Ay! jaleo! jaleo! come, drink; our friends are coming.”
+
+“What friends?” said Jacques, dropping the horn.
+
+“Don’t be uneasy, but drink. I’ll tell thee all about it presently, and
+then we’ll sing the Andalusian Tirana.”--[A kind of ballad.]
+
+The adventurer took the horn, and assumed an appearance of ease.
+
+“And who’s that great she-devil I saw out there?” he said. “She seems
+half dead.”
+
+“Oh, no! she’s only mad. Drink; I’ll tell thee all about her.”
+
+And taking from his red sash a long poniard denticulated on each side
+like a saw, Houmain used it to stir up the fire, and said with vast
+gravity:
+
+“Thou must know first, if thou dost not know it already, that down below
+there [he pointed toward France] the old wolf Richelieu carries all
+before him.”
+
+“Ah, ah!” said Jacques.
+
+“Yes; they call him the king of the King. Thou knowest? There is,
+however, a young man almost as strong as he, and whom they call Monsieur
+le Grand. This young fellow commands almost the whole army of Perpignan
+at this moment. He arrived there a month ago; but the old fox is still
+at Narbonne--a very cunning fox, indeed. As to the King, he is sometimes
+this, sometimes that [as he spoke, Houmain turned his hand outward and
+inward], between zist and zest; but while he is determining, I am for
+zist--that is to say, I’m a Cardinalist. I’ve been regularly doing
+business for my lord since the first job he gave me, three years ago.
+I’ll tell thee about it. He wanted some men of firmness and spirit for a
+little expedition, and sent for me to be judge-Advocate.”
+
+“Ah! a very pretty post, I’ve heard.”
+
+“Yes, ‘tis a trade like ours, where they sell cord instead of thread;
+but it is less honest, for they kill men oftener. But ‘tis also more
+profitable; everything has its price.”
+
+“Very properly so,” said Jacques.
+
+“Behold me, then, in a red robe. I helped to give a yellow one and
+brimstone to a fine fellow, who was cure at Loudun, and who had got into
+a convent of nuns, like a wolf in a fold; and a fine thing he made of
+it.”
+
+“Ha, ha, ha! That’s very droll!” laughed Jacques. “Drink,” said Houmain.
+“Yes, Jago, I saw him after the affair, reduced to a little black heap
+like this charcoal. See, this charcoal at the end of my poniard. What
+things we are! That’s just what we shall all come to when we go to the
+Devil.”
+
+“Oh, none of these pleasantries!” said the other, very gravely. “You
+know that I am religious.”
+
+“Well, I don’t say no; it may be so,” said Houmain, in the same tone.
+“There’s Richelieu, a Cardinal! But, no matter. Thou must know, then, as
+I was Advocate-General, I advocated--”
+
+“Ah, thou art quite a wit!”
+
+“Yes, a little. But, as I was saying, I advocated into my own pocket
+five hundred piastres, for Armand Duplessis pays his people well, and
+there’s nothing to be said against that, except that the money’s not his
+own; but that’s the way with us all. I determined to invest this money
+in our old trade; and I returned here. Business goes on well. There is
+sentence of death out against us; and our goods, of course, sell for
+half as much again as before.”
+
+“What’s that?” exclaimed Jacques; “lightning at this time of year?”
+
+“Yes, the storms are beginning; we’ve had two already. We are in the
+clouds. Dost hear the roll of the thunder? But this is nothing; come,
+drink. ‘Tis almost one in the morning; we’ll finish the skin and the
+night together. As I was telling thee, I made acquaintance with our
+president--a great scoundrel called Laubardemont. Dost know him?”
+
+“Yes, a little,” said Jacques; “he’s a regular miser. But never mind
+that; go on.”
+
+“Well, as we had nothing to conceal from one another, I told him of my
+little commercial plans, and asked him, when any good jobs presented
+themselves, to think of his judicial comrade; and I’ve had no cause to
+complain of him.”
+
+“Ah!” said Jacques, “and what has he done?”
+
+“Why, first, two years ago, he himself brought, me, on horseback behind
+him, his niece that thou’st seen out there.”
+
+“His niece!” cried Jacques, rising; “and thou treat’st her like a slave!
+Demonio!”
+
+“Drink,” said Houmain, quietly stirring the brazier with his poniard;
+“he himself desired it should be so. Sit down.”
+
+Jacques did so.
+
+“I don’t think,” continued the smuggler, “that he’d even be sorry to
+know that she was--dost understand?--to hear she was under the snow
+rather than above it; but he would not put her there himself, because
+he’s a good relative, as he himself said.”
+
+“And as I know,” said Jacques; “but go on.”
+
+“Thou mayst suppose that a man like him, who lives at court, does not
+like to have a mad niece in his house. The thing is self-evident; if I’d
+continued to play my part of the man of the robe, I should have done the
+same in a similar case. But here, as you perceive, we don’t care much
+for appearances; and I’ve taken her for a servant. She has shown more
+good sense than I expected, although she has rarely ever spoken more
+than a single word, and at first came the delicate over us. Now she rubs
+down a mule like a groom. She has had a slight fever for the last few
+days; but ‘twill pass off one way or the other. But, I say, don’t tell
+Laubardemont that she still lives; he’d think ‘twas for the sake of
+economy I’ve kept her for a servant.”
+
+“How! is he here?” cried Jacques.
+
+“Drink!” replied the phlegmatic Houmain, who himself set the example
+most assiduously, and began to half shut his eyes with a languishing
+air. “‘Tis the second transaction I’ve had with this Laubardemont--or
+demon, or whatever the name is; but ‘tis a good devil of a demon, at all
+events. I love him as I do my eyes; and I will drink his health out of
+this bottle of Jurangon here. ‘Tis the wine of a jolly fellow, the late
+King Henry. How happy we are here!--Spain on the right hand, France
+on the left; the wine-skin on one side, the bottle on the other! The
+bottle! I’ve left all for the bottle!”
+
+As he spoke, he knocked off the neck of a bottle of white wine. After
+taking a long draught, he continued, while the stranger closely watched
+him:
+
+“Yes, he’s here; and his feet must be rather cold, for he’s been waiting
+about the mountains ever since sunset, with his guards and our comrades.
+Thou knowest our bandoleros, the true contrabandistas?”
+
+“Ah! and what do they hunt?” said Jacques.
+
+“Ah, that’s the joke!” answered the drunkard. “‘Tis to arrest two
+rascals, who want to bring here sixty thousand Spanish soldiers in paper
+in their pocket. You don’t, perhaps, quite understand me, ‘croquant’.
+Well, ‘tis as I tell thee--in their own pockets.”
+
+“Ay, ay! I understand,” said Jacques, loosening his poniard in his sash,
+and looking at the door.
+
+“Very well, devil’s-skin, let’s sing the Tirana. Take the bottle, throw
+away the cigar, and sing.”
+
+With these words the drunken host began to sing in Spanish, interrupting
+his song with bumpers, which he threw down his throat, leaning back for
+the greater ease, while Jacques, still seated, looked at him gloomily by
+the light of the brazier, and meditated what he should do.
+
+A flash of lightning entered the small window, and filled the room with
+a sulphurous odor. A fearful clap immediately followed; the cabin shook;
+and a beam fell outside.
+
+“Hallo, the house!” cried the drunken man; “the Devil’s among us; and
+our friends are not come!”
+
+“Sing!” said Jacques, drawing the pack upon which he was close to that
+of Houmain.
+
+The latter drank to encourage himself, and then continued to sing.
+
+As he ended, he felt his seat totter, and fell backward; Jacques, thus
+freed from him, sprang toward the door, when it opened, and his head
+struck against the cold, pale face of the mad-woman. He recoiled.
+
+“The judge!” she said, as she entered; and she fell prostrate on the
+cold ground.
+
+Jacques had already passed one foot over her; but another face appeared,
+livid and surprised-that of a very tall man, enveloped in a cloak
+covered with snow. He again recoiled, and laughed a laugh of terror and
+rage. It was Laubardemont, followed by armed men; they looked at one
+another.
+
+“Ah, com-r-a-d-e, yo-a ra-a-scal!” hiccuped Houmain, rising with
+difficulty; “thou’rt a Royalist.”
+
+But when he saw these two men, who seemed petrified by each other, he
+became silent, as conscious of his intoxication; and he reeled forward
+to raise up the madwoman, who was still lying between the judge and the
+Captain. The former spoke first.
+
+“Are you not he we have been pursuing?”
+
+“It is he!” said the armed men, with one voice; “the other has escaped.”
+
+Jacques receded to the split planks that formed the tottering wall of
+the hut; enveloping himself in his cloak, like a bear forced against
+a tree by the hounds, and, wishing to gain a moment’s respite for
+reflection, he said, firmly:
+
+“The first who passes that brazier and the body of that girl is a dead
+man.”
+
+And he drew a long poniard from his cloak. At this moment Houmain,
+kneeling, turned the head of the girl. Her eyes were closed; he drew her
+toward the brazier, which lighted up her face.
+
+“Ah, heavens!” cried Laubardemont, forgetting himself in his fright;
+“Jeanne again!”
+
+“Be calm, my lo-lord,” said Houmain, trying to open the eyelids, which
+closed again, and to raise her head, which fell back again like wet
+linen; “be, be--calm! Do-n’t ex-cite yourself; she’s dead, decidedly.”
+
+Jacques put his foot on the body as on a barrier, and, looking with a
+ferocious laugh in the face of Laubardemont, said to him in a low voice:
+
+“Let me pass, and I will not compromise thee, courtier; I will not tell
+that she was thy niece, and that I am thy son.”
+
+Laubardemont collected himself, looked at his men, who pressed around
+him with advanced carabines; and, signing them to retire a few steps, he
+answered in a very low voice:
+
+“Give me the treaty, and thou shalt pass.”
+
+“Here it is, in my girdle; touch it, and I will call you my father
+aloud. What will thy master say?”
+
+“Give it me, and I will spare thy life.”
+
+“Let me pass, and I will pardon thy having given me that life.”
+
+“Still the same, brigand?”
+
+“Ay, assassin.”
+
+“What matters to thee that boy conspirator?” asked the judge.
+
+“What matters to thee that old man who reigns?” answered the other.
+
+“Give me that paper; I’ve sworn to have it.”
+
+“Leave it with me; I’ve sworn to carry it back.”
+
+“What can be thy oath and thy God?” demanded Laubardemont.
+
+“And thine?” replied Jacques. “Is’t the crucifix of red-hot iron?”
+
+Here Houmain, rising between them, laughing and staggering, said to the
+judge, slapping him on the shoulder.
+
+“You are a long time coming to an understanding, friend; do-on’t you
+know him of old? He’s a very good fellow.”
+
+“I? no!” cried Laubardemont, aloud; “I never saw him before.”
+
+At this moment, Jacques, who was protected by the drunkard and the
+smallness of the crowded chamber, sprang violently against the weak
+planks that formed the wall, and by a blow of his heel knocked two of
+them out, and passed through the space thus created. The whole side of
+the cabin was broken; it tottered, and the wind rushed in.
+
+“Hallo! Demonio! Santo Demonio! where art going?” cried the smuggler;
+“thou art breaking my house down, and on the side of the ravine, too.”
+
+All cautiously approached, tore away the planks that remained, and
+leaned over the abyss. They contemplated a strange spectacle. The storm
+raged in all its fury; and it was a storm of the Pyrenees. Enormous
+flashes of lightning came all at once from all parts of the horizon,
+and their fires succeeded so quickly that there seemed no interval; they
+appeared to be a continuous flash. It was but rarely the flaming vault
+would suddenly become obscure; and it then instantly resumed its
+glare. It was not the light that seemed strange on this night, but the
+darkness.
+
+The tall thin peaks and whitened rocks stood out from the red background
+like blocks of marble on a cupola of burning brass, and resembled, amid
+the snows, the wonders of a volcano; the waters gushed from them like
+flames; the snow poured down like dazzling lava.
+
+In this moving mass a man was seen struggling, whose efforts only
+involved him deeper and deeper in the whirling and liquid gulf; his
+knees were already buried. In vain he clasped his arms round an enormous
+pyramidal and transparent icicle, which reflected the lightning like a
+rock of crystal; the icicle itself was melting at its base, and slowly
+bending over the declivity of the rock. Under the covering of snow,
+masses of granite were heard striking against each other, as they
+descended into the vast depths below. Yet they could still save him; a
+space of scarcely four feet separated him from Laubardemont.
+
+“I sink!” he cried; “hold out to me something, and thou shalt have the
+treaty.”
+
+“Give it me, and I will reach thee this musket,” said the judge.
+
+“There it is,” replied the ruffian, “since the Devil is for Richelieu!”
+ and taking one hand from the hold of his slippery support, he threw a
+roll of wood into the cabin. Laubardemont rushed back upon the treaty
+like a wolf on his prey. Jacques in vain held out his arm; he slowly
+glided away with the enormous thawing block turned upon him, and was
+silently buried in the snow.
+
+“Ah, villain,” were his last words, “thou hast deceived me! but thou
+didst not take the treaty from me. I gave it thee, Father!” and he
+disappeared wholly under the thick white bed of snow. Nothing was seen
+in his place but the glittering flakes which the lightning had ploughed
+up, as it became extinguished in them; nothing was--heard but the
+rolling of the thunder and the dash of the water against the rocks, for
+the men in the half-ruined cabin, grouped round a corpse and a villain,
+were silent, tongue-tied with horror, and fearing lest God himself
+should send a thunderbolt upon them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. ABSENCE
+
+          L’absence est le plus grand des maux,
+          Non pas pour vous, cruelle!
+
+                       LA FONTAINE.
+
+Who has not found a charm in watching the clouds of heaven as they float
+along? Who has not envied them the freedom of their journeyings through
+the air, whether rolled in great masses by the wind, and colored by the
+sun, they advance peacefully, like fleets of dark ships with gilt prows,
+or sprinkled in light groups, they glide quickly on, airy and elongated,
+like birds of passage, transparent as vast opals detached from the
+treasury of the heavens, or glittering with whiteness, like snows from
+the mountains carried on the wings of the winds? Man is a slow traveller
+who envies those rapid journeyers; less rapid than his imagination, they
+have yet seen in a single day all the places he loves, in remembrance
+or in hope,--those that have witnessed his happiness or his misery,
+and those so beautiful countries unknown to us, where we expect to find
+everything at once. Doubtless there is not a spot on the whole earth, a
+wild rock, an arid plain, over which we pass with indifference, that has
+not been consecrated in the life of some man, and is not painted in
+his remembrance; for, like battered vessels, before meeting inevitable
+wreck, we leave some fragment of ourselves on every rock.
+
+Whither go the dark-blue clouds of that storm of the Pyrenees? It is
+the wind of Africa which drives them before it with a fiery breath.
+They fly; they roll over one another, growlingly throwing out lightning
+before them, as their torches, and leaving suspended behind them a long
+train of rain, like a vaporous robe. Freed by an effort from the rocky
+defiles that for a moment had arrested their course, they irrigate, in
+Bearn, the picturesque patrimony of Henri IV; in Guienne, the conquests
+of Charles VII; in Saintogne, Poitou, and Touraine, those of Charles V
+and of Philip Augustus; and at last, slackening their pace above the old
+domain of Hugh Capet, halt murmuring on the towers of St. Germain.
+
+“O Madame!” exclaimed Marie de Mantua to the Queen, “do you see this
+storm coming up from the south?”
+
+“You often look in that direction, ‘ma chere’,” answered Anne of
+Austria, leaning on the balcony.
+
+“It is the direction of the sun, Madame.”
+
+“And of tempests, you see,” said the Queen. “Trust in my friendship, my
+child; these clouds can bring no happiness to you. I would rather
+see you turn your eyes toward Poland. See the fine people you might
+command.”
+
+At this moment, to avoid the rain, which began to fall, the
+Prince-Palatine passed rapidly under the windows of the Queen, with a
+numerous suite of young Poles on horseback. Their Turkish vests, with
+buttons of diamonds, emeralds, and rubies; their green and gray cloaks;
+the lofty plumes of their horses, and their adventurous air-gave them
+a singular eclat to which the court had easily become accustomed. They
+paused for a moment, and the Prince made two salutes, while the light
+animal he rode passed gracefully sideways, keeping his front toward
+the princesses; prancing and snorting, he shook his mane, and seemed to
+salute by putting his head between his legs. The whole suite repeated
+the evolution as they passed. The Princesse Marie had at first shrunk
+back, lest they should see her tears; but the brilliant and flattering
+spectacle made her return to the balcony, and she could not help
+exclaiming:
+
+“How gracefully the Palatine rides that beautiful horse! he seems scarce
+conscious of it.”
+
+The Queen smiled, and said:
+
+“He is conscious about her who might be his queen tomorrow, if she would
+but make a sign of the head, and let but one glance from her great black
+almond-shaped eyes be turned on that throne, instead of always receiving
+these poor foreigners with poutings, as now.”
+
+And Anne of Austria kissed the cheek of Marie, who could not refrain
+from smiling also; but she instantly sunk her head, reproaching herself,
+and resumed her sadness, which seemed gliding from her. She even needed
+once more to contemplate the great clouds that hung over the chateau.
+
+“Poor child,” continued the Queen, “thou dost all thou canst to be very
+faithful, and to keep thyself in the melancholy of thy romance. Thou art
+making thyself ill with weeping when thou shouldst be asleep, and with
+not eating. Thou passest the night in revery and in writing; but I warn
+thee, thou wilt get nothing by it, except making thyself thin and less
+beautiful, and the not being a queen. Thy Cinq-Mars is an ambitious
+youth, who has lost himself.”
+
+Seeing Marie conceal her head in her handkerchief to weep, Anne of
+Austria for a moment reentered her chamber, leaving Marie in the
+balcony, and feigned to be looking for some jewels at her toilet-table;
+she soon returned, slowly and gravely, to the window. Marie was more
+calm, and was gazing sorrowfully at the landscape before her, the hills
+in the distance, and the storm gradually spreading itself.
+
+The Queen resumed in a more serious tone:
+
+“God has been more merciful to you than your imprudence perhaps
+deserved, Marie. He has saved you from great danger. You were willing to
+make great sacrifices, but fortunately they have not been accomplished
+as you expected. Innocence has saved you from love. You are as one who,
+thinking she has swallowed a deadly poison, has in reality drunk only
+pure and harmless water.”
+
+“Ah, Madame, what mean you? Am I not unhappy enough already?”
+
+“Do not interrupt me,” said the Queen; “you will, ere long, see
+your present position with different eyes. I will not accuse you of
+ingratitude toward the Cardinal; I have too many reasons for not liking
+him. I myself witnessed the rise of the conspiracy. Still, you should
+remember, ‘ma chere’, that he was the only person in France who, against
+the opinion of the Queen-mother and of the court, insisted upon war with
+the duchy of Mantua, which he recovered from the empire and from Spain,
+and returned to the Duc de Nevers, your father. Here, in this very
+chateau of Saint-Germain, was signed the treaty which deposed the Duke
+of Guastalla.--[The 19th of May, 1632.]--You were then very young; they
+must, however, have told you of it. Yet here, through love alone (I
+am willing to believe, with yourself, that it is so), a young man of
+two-and-twenty is ready to get him assassinated.”
+
+“O Madame, he is incapable of such a deed. I swear to you that he has
+refused to adopt it.”
+
+“I have begged you, Marie, to let me speak. I know that he is generous
+and loyal. I am willing to believe that, contrary to the custom of
+our times, he would not go so far as to kill an old man, as did the
+Chevalier de Guise. But can he prevent his assassination, if his troops
+make him prisoner? This we can not say, any more than he. God alone
+knows the future. It is, at all events, certain that it is for you
+he attacks him, and, to overthrow him, is preparing civil war, which
+perhaps is bursting forth at the very moment that we speak--a war
+without success. Whichever way it turns, it can only effect evil, for
+Monsieur is going to abandon the conspiracy.”
+
+“How, Madame?”
+
+“Listen to me. I tell you I am certain of it; I need not explain
+myself further. What will the grand ecuyer do? The King, as he rightly
+anticipated, has gone to consult the Cardinal. To consult him is to
+yield to him; but the treaty of Spain is signed. If it be discovered,
+what can Monsieur de Cinq-Mars do? Do not tremble thus. We will save
+him; we will save his life, I promise you. There is yet time, I hope.”
+
+“Ah, Madame, you hope! I am lost!” cried Marie, half fainting.
+
+“Let us sit down,” said the Queen; and, placing herself near Marie, at
+the entrance to the chamber, she continued:
+
+“Doubtless Monsieur will treat for all the conspirators in treating
+for himself; but exile will be the least punishment, perpetual exile.
+Behold, then, the Duchesse de Nevers and Mantua, the Princesse Marie
+de Gonzaga, the wife of Monsieur Henri d’Effiat, Marquis de Cinq-Mars,
+exiled!”
+
+“Well, Madame, I will follow him into exile. It is my duty; I am
+his wife!” exclaimed Marie, sobbing. “I would I knew he were already
+banished and in safety.”
+
+“Dreams of eighteen!” said the Queen, supporting Marie. “Awake, child,
+awake! you must. I deny not the good qualities of Monsieur de Cinq-Mars.
+He has a lofty character, a vast mind, and great courage; but he may no
+longer be aught for you, and, fortunately, you are not his wife, or even
+his betrothed.”
+
+“I am his, Madame-his alone.”
+
+“But without the benediction,” replied Anne of Austria; “in a word,
+without marriage. No priest would have dared--not even your own; he told
+me so. Be silent!” she added, putting her two beautiful hands on Marie’s
+lips. “Be silent! You would say that God heard your vow; that you can
+not live without him; that your destinies are inseparable from his; that
+death alone can break your union? The phrases of your age, delicious
+chimeras of a moment, at which one day you will smile, happy at not
+having to lament them all your life. Of the many and brilliant women
+you see around me at court, there is not one but at your age had some
+beautiful dream of love, like this of yours, who did not form those
+ties, which they believed indissoluble, and who did not in secret take
+eternal oaths. Well, these dreams are vanished, these knots broken,
+these oaths forgotten; and yet you see them happy women and mothers.
+Surrounded by the honors of their rank, they laugh and dance every
+night. I again divine what you would say--they loved not as you love,
+eh? You deceive yourself, my dear child; they loved as much, and wept no
+less.
+
+“And here I must make you acquainted with that great mystery which
+constitutes your despair, since you are ignorant of the malady that
+devours you. We have a twofold existence, ‘m’amie’: our internal life,
+that of our feelings powerfully works within us, while the external
+life dominates despite ourselves. We are never independent of men,
+more especially in an elevated condition. Alone, we think ourselves
+mistresses of our destiny; but the entrance of two or three people
+fastens on all our chains, by recalling our rank and our retinue.
+Nay; shut yourself up and abandon yourself to all the daring and
+extraordinary resolutions that the passions may raise up in you, to
+the marvellous sacrifices they may suggest to you. A lackey coming and
+asking your orders will at once break the charm and bring you back
+to your real life. It is this contest between your projects and your
+position which destroys you. You are invariably angry with yourself; you
+bitterly reproach yourself.”
+
+Marie turned away her head.
+
+“Yes, you believe yourself criminal. Pardon yourself, Marie; all men
+are beings so relative and so dependent one upon another that I know not
+whether the great retreats of the world that we sometimes see are not
+made for the world itself. Despair has its pursuits, and solitude its
+coquetry. It is said that the gloomiest hermits can not refrain
+from inquiring what men say of them. This need of public opinion is
+beneficial, in that it combats, almost always victoriously, that which
+is irregular in our imagination, and comes to the aid of duties which
+we too easily forget. One experiences (you will feel it, I hope) in
+returning to one’s proper lot, after the sacrifice of that which had
+diverted the reason, the satisfaction of an exile returning to his
+family, of a sick person at sight of the sun after a night afflicted
+with frightful dreams.
+
+“It is this feeling of a being returned, as it were, to its natural
+state that creates the calm which you see in many eyes that have also
+had their tears-for there are few women who have not known tears such as
+yours. You would think yourself perjured if you renounced Cinq-Mars! But
+nothing binds you; you have more than acquitted yourself toward him by
+refusing for more than two years past the royal hands offered you. And,
+after all, what has he done, this impassioned lover? He has elevated
+himself to reach you; but may not the ambition which here seems to you
+to have aided love have made use of that love? This young man seems to
+me too profound, too calm in his political stratagems, too independent
+in his vast resolutions, in his colossal enterprises, for me to believe
+him solely occupied by his tenderness. If you have been but a means
+instead of an end, what would you say?”
+
+“I would still love him,” answered Marie. “While he lives, I am his.”
+
+“And while I live,” said the Queen, with firmness, “I will oppose the
+alliance.”
+
+At these last words the rain and hail fell violently on the balcony. The
+Queen took advantage of the circumstance abruptly to leave the room
+and pass into that where the Duchesse de Chevreuse, Mazarin, Madame
+de Guemenee, and the Prince-Palatine had been awaiting her for a short
+time. The Queen walked up to them. Marie placed herself in the shade of
+a curtain in order to conceal the redness of her eyes. She was at first
+unwilling to take part in the sprightly conversation; but some words of
+it attracted her attention. The Queen was showing to the Princesse de
+Guemenee diamonds she had just received from Paris.
+
+“As for this crown, it does not belong to me. The King had it prepared
+for the future Queen of Poland. Who that is to be, we know not.” Then
+turning toward the Prince-Palatine, “We saw you pass, Prince. Whom were
+you going to visit?”
+
+“Mademoiselle la Duchesse de Rohan,” answered the Pole.
+
+The insinuating Mazarin, who availed himself of every opportunity to
+worm out secrets, and to make himself necessary by forced confidences,
+said, approaching the Queen:
+
+“That comes very apropos, just as we were speaking of the crown of
+Poland.”
+
+Marie, who was listening, could not hear this, and said to Madame de
+Guemenee, who was at her side:
+
+“Is Monsieur de Chabot, then, King of Poland?”
+
+The Queen heard that, and was delighted at this touch of pride. In
+order to develop its germ, she affected an approving attention to the
+conversation that ensued.
+
+The Princesse de Guemenee exclaimed:
+
+“Can you conceive such a marriage? We really can’t get it out of our
+heads. This same Mademoiselle de Rohan, whom we have seen so haughty,
+after having refused the Comte de Soissons, the Duc de Weimar, and the
+Duc de Nemours, to marry Monsieur de Chabot, a simple gentleman! ‘Tis
+really a sad pity! What are we coming to? ‘Tis impossible to say what it
+will all end in.”
+
+“What! can it be true? Love at court! a real love affair! Can it be
+believed?”
+
+All this time the Queen continued opening and shutting and playing with
+the new crown.
+
+“Diamonds suit only black hair,” she said. “Let us see. Let me put it on
+you, Marie. Why, it suits her to admiration!”
+
+“One would suppose it had been made for Madame la Princesse,” said the
+Cardinal.
+
+“I would give the last drop of my blood for it to remain on that brow,”
+ said the Prince-Palatine.
+
+Marie, through the tears that were still on her cheek, gave an infantine
+and involuntary smile, like a ray of sunshine through rain. Then,
+suddenly blushing deeply, she hastily took refuge in her apartments.
+
+All present laughed. The Queen followed her with her eyes, smiled,
+presented her hand for the Polish ambassador to kiss, and retired to
+write a letter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. THE WORK
+
+One night, before Perpignan, a very unusual event took place. It was ten
+o’clock; and all were asleep. The slow and almost suspended operations
+of the siege had rendered the camp and the town inactive. The Spaniards
+troubled themselves little about the French, all communication toward
+Catalonia being open as in time of peace; and in the French army men’s
+minds were agitated with that secret anxiety which precedes great
+events.
+
+Yet all was calm; no sound was heard but that of the measured tread of
+the sentries. Nothing was seen in the dark night but the red light of
+the matches of their guns, always smoking, when suddenly the trumpets
+of the musketeers, of the light-horse, and of the men-at-arms sounded
+almost simultaneously, “boot and saddle,” and “to horse.” All the
+sentinels cried to arms; and the sergeants, with flambeaux, went from
+tent to tent, along pike in their hands, to waken the soldiers, range
+them in lines, and count them. Some files marched in gloomy silence
+along the streets of the camp, and took their position in battle array.
+The sound of the mounted squadrons announced that the heavy cavalry were
+making the same dispositions. After half an hour of movement the noise
+ceased, the torches were extinguished, and all again became calm, but
+the army was on foot.
+
+One of the last tents of the camp shone within as a star with flambeaux.
+On approaching this little white and transparent pyramid, we might have
+distinguished the shadows of two men reflected on the canvas as they
+walked to and fro within. Outside several men on horseback were in
+attendance; inside were De Thou and Cinq-Mars.
+
+To see the pious and wise De Thou thus up and armed at this hour, you
+might have taken him for one of the chiefs of the revolt. But a
+closer examination of his serious countenance and mournful expression
+immediately showed that he blamed it, and allowed himself to be led into
+it and endangered by it from an extraordinary resolution which aided
+him to surmount the horror he had of the enterprise itself. From the day
+when Henri d’Effiat had opened his heart and confided to him its whole
+secret, he had seen clearly that all remonstrance was vain with a young
+man so powerfully resolved.
+
+De Thou had even understood what M. de Cinq-Mars had not told him, and
+had seen in the secret union of his friend with the Princesse Marie, one
+of those ties of love whose mysterious and frequent faults, voluptuous
+and involuntary derelictions, could not be too soon purified by public
+benediction. He had comprehended that punishment, impossible to be
+supported long by a lover, the adored master of that young girl, and
+who was condemned daily to appear before her as a stranger, to receive
+political disclosures of marriages they were preparing for her. The day
+when he received his entire confession, he had done all in his power to
+prevent Cinq-Mars going so far in his projects as the foreign alliance.
+He had evoked the gravest recollections and the best feelings, without
+any other result than rendering the invincible resolution of his friend
+more rude toward him. Cinq-Mars, it will be recollected, had said to him
+harshly, “Well, did I ask you to take part in this conspiracy?” And he
+had desired only to promise not to denounce it; and he had collected all
+his power against friendship to say, “Expect nothing further from me if
+you sign this treaty.” Yet Cinq-Mars had signed the treaty; and De Thou
+was still there with him.
+
+The habit of familiarly discussing the projects of his friend had
+perhaps rendered them less odious to him. His contempt for the vices of
+the Prime-Minister; his indignation at the servitude of the parliaments
+to which his family belonged, and at the corruption of justice; the
+powerful names, and more especially the noble characters of the men who
+directed the enterprise--all had contributed to soften down his first
+painful impression. Having once promised secrecy to M. de Cinq-Mars,
+he considered himself as in a position to accept in detail all the
+secondary disclosures; and since the fortuitous event which had
+compromised him with the conspirators at the house of Marion de Lorme,
+he considered himself united to them by honor, and engaged to an
+inviolable secrecy. Since that time he had seen Monsieur, the Duc de
+Bouillon, and Fontrailles; they had become accustomed to speak before
+him without constraint, and he to hear them.
+
+The dangers which threatened his friend now drew him into their vortex
+like an invincible magnet. His conscience accused him; but he followed
+Cinq-Mars wherever he went without even, from excess of delicacy,
+hazarding a single expression which might resemble a personal fear. He
+had tacitly given up his life, and would have deemed it unworthy of both
+to manifest a desire to regain it.
+
+The master of the horse was in his cuirass; he was armed, and wore large
+boots. An enormous pistol, with a lighted match, was placed upon his
+table between two flambeaux. A heavy watch in a brass case lay near the
+pistol. De Thou, wrapped in a black cloak, sat motionless with folded
+arms. Cinq-Mars paced backward and forward, his arms crossed behind his
+back, from time to time looking at the hand of the watch, too sluggish
+in his eyes. He opened the tent, looked up to the heavens, and returned.
+
+“I do not see my star there,” said he; “but no matter. She is here in my
+heart.”
+
+“The night is dark,” said De Thou.
+
+“Say rather that the time draws nigh. It advances, my friend; it
+advances. Twenty minutes more, and all will be accomplished. The army
+only waits the report of this pistol to begin.”
+
+De Thou held in his hand an ivory crucifix, and looking first at the
+cross, and then toward heaven, “Now,” said he, “is the hour to complete
+the sacrifice. I repent not; but oh, how bitter is the cup of sin to my
+lips! I had vowed my days to innocence and to the works of the soul, and
+here I am about to commit a crime, and to draw the sword.”
+
+But forcibly seizing the hand of Cinq-Mars, “It is for you, for you!” he
+added with the enthusiasm of a blindly devoted heart. “I rejoice in my
+errors if they turn to your glory. I see but your happiness in my fault.
+Forgive me if I have returned for a moment to the habitual thought of my
+whole life.”
+
+Cinq-Mars looked steadfastly at him; and a tear stole slowly down his
+cheek.
+
+“Virtuous friend,” said he, “may your fault fall only on my head! But
+let us hope that God, who pardons those who love, will be for us; for we
+are criminal--I through love, you through friendship.”
+
+Then suddenly looking at the watch, he took the long pistol in his hand,
+and gazed at the smoking match with a fierce air. His long hair fell
+over his face like the mane of a young lion.
+
+“Do not consume,” said he; “burn slowly. Thou art about to light a flame
+which the waves of ocean can not extinguish. The flame will soon light
+half Europe; it may perhaps reach the wood of thrones. Burn slowly,
+precious flame! The winds which fan thee are violent and fearful; they
+are love and hatred. Reserve thyself! Thy explosion will be heard afar,
+and will find echoes in the peasant’s but and the king’s palace.
+
+“Burn, burn, poor flame! Thou art to me a sceptre and a thunderbolt!”
+
+De Thou, still holding his ivory crucifix in his hand, said in a low
+voice:
+
+“Lord, pardon us the blood that will be shed! We combat the wicked and
+the impious.” Then, raising his voice, “My friend, the cause of virtue
+will triumph,” he said; “it alone will triumph. God has ordained that
+the guilty treaty should not reach us; that which constituted the
+crime is no doubt destroyed. We shall fight without the foreigners,
+and perhaps we shall not fight at all. God will change the heart of the
+king.”
+
+“‘Tis the hour! ‘tis the hour!” exclaimed Cinq-Mars, his eyes fixed
+upon the watch with a kind of savage joy; “four minutes more, and the
+Cardinalists in the camp will be crushed! We shall march upon Narbonne!
+He is there! Give me the pistol!”
+
+At these words he hastily opened the tent, and took up the match.
+
+“A courier from Paris! an express from court!” cried a voice outside, as
+a man, heated with hard riding and overcome with fatigue, threw himself
+from his horse, entered, and presented a letter to Cinq-Mars.
+
+“From the Queen, Monseigneur,” he said. Cinq-Mars turned pale, and read
+as follows:
+
+   M. DE CINQ-MARS: I write this letter to entreat and conjure you to
+   restore to her duties our well-beloved adopted daughter and friend,
+   the Princesse Marie de Gonzaga, whom your affection alone turns from
+   the throne of Poland, which has been offered to her. I have sounded
+   her heart. She is very young, and I have good reason to believe
+   that she would accept the crown with less effort and less grief than
+   you may perhaps imagine.
+
+   It is for her you have undertaken a war which will put to fire and
+   sword my beautiful and beloved France. I supplicate and implore you
+   to act as a gentleman, and nobly to release the Duchesse de Mantua
+   from the promises she may have made you. Thus restore repose to her
+   soul, and peace to our beloved country.
+
+   The Queen, who will throw herself at your feet if need be,
+
+                         ANNE.
+
+Cinq-Mars calmly replaced the pistol upon the table; his first impulse
+had been to turn its muzzle upon himself. However, he laid it down, and
+snatching a pencil, wrote on the back of the letter;
+
+   MADAME: Marie de Gonzaga, being my wife, can not be Queen of Poland
+   until after my death. I die.
+
+                         CINQ-MARS.
+
+Then, as if he would not allow himself time for a moment’s reflection,
+he forced the letter into the hands of the courier.
+
+“To horse! to horse!” cried he, in a furious tone. “If you remain
+another instant, you are a dead man!”
+
+He saw him gallop off, and reentered the tent. Alone with his friend, he
+remained an instant standing, but pale, his eyes fixed, and looking on
+the ground like a madman. He felt himself totter.
+
+“De Thou!” he cried.
+
+“What would you, my friend, my dear friend? I am with you. You have
+acted grandly, most grandly, sublimely!”
+
+“De Thou!” he cried again, in a hollow voice, and fell with his face to
+the ground, like an uprooted tree.
+
+Violent tempests assume different aspects, according to the climates in
+which they take place. Those which have spread over a terrible space
+in northern countries assemble into one single cloud under the torrid
+zone--the more formidable, that they leave the horizon in all its
+purity, and that the furious waves still reflect the azure of heaven
+while tinged with the blood of man. It is the same with great passions.
+They assume strange aspects according to our characters; but how
+terrible are they in vigorous hearts, which have preserved their force
+under the veil of social forms? When youth and despair embrace, we know
+not to what fury they may rise, or what may be their sudden resignation;
+we know not whether the volcano will burst the mountain or become
+suddenly extinguished within its entrails.
+
+De Thou, in alarm, raised his friend. The blood gushed from his nostrils
+and ears; he would have thought him dead, but for the torrents of tears
+which flowed from his eyes. They were the only sign of life. Suddenly
+he opened his lids, looked around him, and by an extraordinary energy
+resumed his senses and the power of his will.
+
+“I am in the presence of men,” said he; “I must finish with them. My
+friend, it is half-past eleven; the hour for the signal has passed.
+Give, in my name, the order to return to quarters. It was a false alarm,
+which I will myself explain this evening.”
+
+De Thou had already perceived the importance of this order; he went out
+and returned immediately.
+
+He found Cinq-Mars seated, calm, and endeavoring to cleanse the blood
+from his face.
+
+“De Thou,” said he, looking fixedly at him, “retire; you disturb me.”
+
+“I leave you not,” answered the latter.
+
+“Fly, I tell you! the Pyrenees are not far distant. I can not speak much
+longer, even to you; but if you remain with me, you will die. I give you
+warning.”
+
+“I remain,” repeated De Thou.
+
+“May God preserve you, then!” answered Cinq-Mars, “for I can do nothing
+more; the moment has passed. I leave you here. Call Fontrailles and all
+the confederates: distribute these passports among them. Let them fly
+immediately; tell them all has failed, but that I thank them. For you,
+once again I say, fly with them, I entreat you; but whatever you do,
+follow me not--follow me not, for your life! I swear to you not to do
+violence to myself!”
+
+With these words, shaking his friend’s hand without looking at him, he
+rushed from the tent.
+
+Meantime, some leagues thence another conversation was taking place.
+At Narbonne, in the same cabinet in which we formerly beheld Richelieu
+regulating with Joseph the interests of the State, were still seated the
+same men, nearly as we have described them. The minister, however, had
+grown much older in three years of suffering; and the Capuchin was as
+much terrified with the result of his expedition as his master appeared
+tranquil.
+
+The Cardinal, seated in his armchair, his legs bound and encased
+with furs and warm clothing, had upon his knees three kittens, which
+gambolled upon his scarlet robe. Every now and then he took one of them
+and placed it upon the others, to continue their sport. He smiled as
+he watched them. On his feet lay their mother, looking like an enormous
+animated muff.
+
+Joseph, seated near him, was going over the account of all he had heard
+in the confessional. Pale even now, at the danger he had run of being
+discovered, or of being murdered by Jacques, he concluded thus:
+
+“In short, your Eminence, I can not help feeling agitated to my heart’s
+core when I reflect upon the dangers which have, and still do, threaten
+you. Assassins offer themselves to poniard you. I beheld in France
+the whole court against you, one half of the army, and two provinces.
+Abroad, Spain and Portugal are ready to furnish troops. Everywhere there
+are snares or battles, poniards or cannon.”
+
+The Cardinal yawned three times, without discontinuing his amusement,
+and then said:
+
+“A cat is a very fine animal. It is a drawing-room tiger. What
+suppleness, what extraordinary finesse! Here is this little yellow one
+pretending to sleep, in order that the tortoise-shell one may not notice
+it, but fall upon its brother; and this one, how it tears the other! See
+how it sticks its claws into its side! It would kill and eat it, I
+fully believe, if it were the stronger. It is very amusing. What pretty
+animals!”
+
+He coughed and sneezed for some time; then he continued:
+
+“Messire Joseph, I sent word to you not to speak to me of business until
+after my supper... I have an appetite now, and it is not yet my hour.
+Chicot, my doctor, recommends regularity, and I feel my usual pain in my
+side. This is how I shall spend the evening,” he added, looking at the
+clock. “At nine, we will settle the affairs of Monsieur le Grand. At
+ten, I shall be carried round the garden to take the air by moonlight.
+Then I shall sleep for an hour or two. At midnight the King will be
+here; and at four o’clock you may return to receive the various orders
+for arrests, condemnations, or any others I may have to give you, for
+the provinces, Paris, or the armies of his Majesty.”
+
+Richelieu said all this in the same tone of voice, with a uniform
+enunciation, affected only by the weakness of his chest and the loss of
+several teeth.
+
+It was seven in the evening. The Capuchin withdrew. The Cardinal supped
+with the greatest tranquillity; and when the clock struck half-past
+eight, he sent for Joseph, and said to him, when he was seated:
+
+“This, then, is all they have been able to do against me during more
+than two years. They are poor creatures, truly! The Duc de Bouillon,
+whom I thought possessed some ability, has forfeited all claim to my
+opinion. I have watched him closely; and I ask you, has he taken one
+step worthy of a true statesman? The King, Monsieur, and the rest,
+have only shown their teeth against me, and without depriving me of one
+single man. The young Cinq-Mars is the only man among them who has
+any consecutiveness of ideas. All that he has done has been done
+surprisingly well. I must do him justice; he had good qualities.
+I should have made him my pupil, had it not been for his obstinate
+character. But he has here charged me ‘a l’outrance, and must take the
+consequences. I am sorry for him. I have left them to float about in
+open water for the last two years. I shall now draw the net.”
+
+“It is time, Monseigneur,” said Joseph, who often trembled involuntarily
+as he spoke. “Do you bear in mind that from Perpignan to Narbonne the
+way is short? Do you know that if your army here is powerful, your own
+troops are weak and uncertain; that the young nobles are furious; and
+that the King is not sure?”
+
+The Cardinal looked at the clock.
+
+“It is only half-past eight, Joseph. I have already told you that I
+will not talk about this affair until nine. Meantime, as justice must be
+done, you will write what I shall dictate, for my memory serves me well.
+There are still some objectionable persons left, I see by my notes--four
+of the judges of Urbain Grandier. He was a rare genius, that Urbain
+Grandier,” he added, with a malicious expression. Joseph bit his lips.
+“All the other judges have died miserably. As to Houmain, he shall be
+hanged as a smuggler by and by. We may leave him alone for the present.
+But there is that horrible Lactantius, who lives peacefully, Barre, and
+Mignon. Take a pen, and write to the Bishop of Poitiers,
+
+   “MONSEIGNEUR: It is his Majesty’s pleasure that Fathers Mignon and
+   Barre be superseded in their cures, and sent with the shortest
+   possible delay to the town of Lyons, with Father Lactantius,
+   Capuchin, to be tried before a special tribunal, charged with
+   criminal intentions against the State.”
+
+Joseph wrote as coolly as a Turk strikes off a head at a sign from his
+master. The Cardinal said to him, while signing the letter:
+
+“I will let you know how I wish them to disappear, for it is important
+to efface all traces of that affair. Providence has served me well.
+In removing these men, I complete its work. That is all that posterity
+shall know of the affair.”
+
+And he read to the Capuchin that page of his memoirs in which he
+recounts the possession and sorceries of the magician.--[Collect. des
+Memoires xxviii. 189.]--During this slow process, Joseph could not help
+looking at the clock.
+
+“You are anxious to come to Monsieur le Grand,” said the Cardinal at
+last. “Well, then, to please you, let us begin.”
+
+“Do you think I have not my reasons for being tranquil? You think that
+I have allowed these poor conspirators to go too far. No, no! Here are
+some little papers that would reassure you, did you know their contents.
+First, in this hollow stick is the treaty with Spain, seized at Oleron.
+I am well satisfied with Laubardemont; he is an able man.”
+
+The fire of ferocious jealousy sparkled under the thick eyebrows of the
+monk.
+
+“Ah, Monseigneur,” said he, “you know not from whom he seized it. He
+certainly suffered him to die, and in that respect we can not complain,
+for he was the agent of the conspiracy; but it was his son.”
+
+“Say you the truth?” cried the Cardinal, in a severe tone. “Yes, for you
+dare not lie to me. How knew you this?”
+
+“From his attendants, Monsiegneur. Here are their reports. They will
+testify to them.”
+
+The Cardinal having examined these papers, said:
+
+“We will employ him once more to try our conspirators, and then you
+shall do as you like with him. I give him to you.”
+
+Joseph joyfully pocketed his precious denunciations, and continued:
+
+“Your Eminence speaks of trying men who are still armed and on
+horseback.”
+
+“They are not all so. Read this letter from Monsieur to Chavigny. He
+asks for pardon. He dared not address me the first day, and his prayers
+rose no higher than the knees of one of my servants.
+
+   To M. de Chavigny:
+
+   M. DE CHAVIGNY: Although I believe that you are little satisfied
+   with me (and in truth you have reason to be dissatisfied), I do not
+   the less entreat you to endeavor my reconciliation with his
+   Eminence, and rely for this upon the true love you bear me, and
+   which, I believe, is greater than your anger. You know how much I
+   require to be relieved from the danger I am in. You have already
+   twice stood my friend with his Eminence. I swear to you this shall
+   be the last time I give you such an employment.
+                       GASTON D’ORLEANS.
+
+“But the next day he took courage, and sent this to myself,
+
+   To his Excellency the Cardinal-Duc:
+
+   MY COUSIN: This ungrateful M. le Grand is the most guilty man in the
+   world to have displeased you. The favors he received from his
+   Majesty have always made me doubtful of him and his artifices. For
+   you, my cousin, I retain my whole esteem. I am truly repentant at
+   having again been wanting in the fidelity I owe to my Lord the King,
+   and I call God to witness the sincerity with which I shall be for
+   the rest of my life your most faithful friend, with the same
+   devotion that I am, my cousin, your affectionate cousin,
+                              GASTON.
+
+and the third to the King. His project choked him; he could not keep
+it down. But I am not so easily satisfied. I must have a free and full
+confession, or I will expel him from the kingdom. I have written to him
+this morning.
+
+   [MONSIEUR: Since God wills that men should have recourse to a frank
+   and entire confession to be absolved of their faults in this world,
+   I indicate to you the steps you must take to be delivered from this
+   danger. Your Highness has commenced well; you must continue. This
+   is all I can say to you.]
+
+“As to the magnificent and powerful Due de Bouillon, sovereign lord
+of Sedan and general-in-chief of the armies in Italy, he has just been
+arrested by his officers in the midst of his soldiers, concealed in a
+truss of straw. There remain, therefore, only our two young neighbors.
+They imagine they have the camp wholly at their orders, while they
+really have only the red troops. All the rest, being Monsieur’s men,
+will not act, and my troops will arrest them. However, I have permitted
+them to appear to obey. If they give the signal at half-past eleven,
+they will be arrested at the first step. If not, the King will give them
+up to me this evening. Do not open your eyes so wide. He will give them
+up to me, I repeat, this night, between midnight and one o’clock. You
+see that all has been done without you, Joseph. We can dispense with you
+very well; and truly, all this time, I do not see that we have received
+any great service from you. You grow negligent.”
+
+“Ah, Monseigneur! did you but know the trouble I have had to discover
+the route of the bearers of the treaty! I only learned it by risking my
+life between these young people.”
+
+The Cardinal laughed contemptuously, leaning back in his chair.
+
+“Thou must have been very ridiculous and very fearful in that box,
+Joseph; I dare say it was the first time in thy life thou ever heardst
+love spoken of. Dost thou like the language, Father Joseph? Tell me,
+dost thou clearly understand it? I doubt whether thou hast formed a very
+refined idea of it.”
+
+Richelieu, his arms crossed, looked at his discomfited Capuchin with
+infinite delight, and continued in the scornfully familiar tone of
+a grand seigneur, which he sometimes assumed, pleasing himself with
+putting forth the noblest expressions through the most impure lips:
+
+“Come, now, Joseph, give me a definition of love according to thy idea.
+What can it be--for thou seest it exists out of romances. This worthy
+youngster undertook these little conspiracies through love. Thou heardst
+it thyself with throe unworthy ears. Come, what is love? For my part, I
+know nothing about it.”
+
+The monk was astounded, and looked upon the ground with the stupid eye
+of some base animal. After long consideration, he replied in a drawling
+and nasal voice:
+
+“It must be a kind of malignant fever which leads the brain astray; but
+in truth, Monseigneur, I have never reflected on it until this moment. I
+have always been embarrassed in speaking to a woman. I wish women could
+be omitted from society altogether; for I do not see what use they are,
+unless it be to disclose secrets, like the little Duchess or Marion
+de Lorme, whom I can not too strongly recommend to your Eminence. She
+thought of everything, and herself threw our little prophecy among the
+conspirators with great address. We have not been without the marvellous
+this time. As in the siege of Hesdin, all we have to do is to find a
+window through which you may pass on the day of the execution.”
+
+   [In 1638, Prince Thomas having raised the siege of Hesdin, the
+   Cardinal was much vexed at it. A nun of the convent of Mount
+   Calvary had said that the victory would be to the King and Father
+   Joseph, thus wishing it to be believed that Heaven protected the
+   minister.--Memoires pour l’histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu.]
+
+“This is another of your absurdities, sir,” said the Cardinal; “you will
+make me as ridiculous as yourself, if you go on so; I am too powerful
+to need the assistance of Heaven. Do not let that happen again. Occupy
+yourself only with the people I consign to you. I traced your part
+before. When the master of the horse is taken, you will see him tried
+and executed at Lyons. I will not be known in this. This affair is
+beneath me; it is a stone under my feet, upon which I ought not to have
+bestowed so much attention.”
+
+Joseph was silent; he could not understand this man, who, surrounded on
+every side by armed enemies, spoke of the future as of a present over
+which he had the entire control, and of the present as a past which he
+no longer feared. He knew not whether to look upon him as a madman or a
+prophet, above or below the standard of human nature.
+
+His astonishment was redoubled when Chavigny hastily entered, and nearly
+falling, in his heavy boots, over the Cardinal’s footstool, exclaimed in
+great agitation:
+
+“Sir, one of your servants has just arrived from Perpignan; and he has
+beheld the camp in an uproar, and your enemies in the saddle.”
+
+“They will soon dismount, sir,” replied Richelieu, replacing his
+footstool. “You appear to have lost your equanimity.”
+
+“But--but, Monseigneur, must we not warn Monsieur de Fabert?”
+
+“Let him sleep, and go to bed yourself; and you also, Joseph.”
+
+“Monseigneur, another strange event has occurred--the King has arrived.”
+
+“Indeed, that is extraordinary,” said the minister, looking at his
+watch. “I did not expect him these two hours. Retire, both of you.”
+
+A heavy trampling and the clattering of arms announced the arrival
+of the Prince; the folding-doors were thrown open; the guards in the
+Cardinal’s service struck the ground thrice with their pikes; and the
+King appeared.
+
+He entered, supporting himself with a cane on one side, and on the
+other leaning upon the shoulder of his confessor, Father Sirmond,
+who withdrew, and left him with the Cardinal; the latter rose with
+difficulty, but could not advance a step to meet the King, because his
+legs were bandaged and enveloped. He made a sign that they should assist
+the King to a seat near the fire, facing himself. Louis XIII fell into
+an armchair furnished with pillows, asked for and drank a glass of
+cordial, prepared to strengthen him against the frequent fainting-fits
+caused by his malady of languor, signed to all to leave the room, and,
+alone with Richelieu, he said in a languid voice:
+
+“I am departing, my dear Cardinal; I feel that I shall soon return
+to God. I become weaker from day to day; neither the summer nor the
+southern air has restored my strength.”
+
+“I shall precede your Majesty,” replied the minister. “You see that
+death has already conquered my limbs; but while I have a head to think
+and a hand to write, I shall be at the service of your Majesty.”
+
+“And I am sure it was your intention to add, ‘a heart to love me.’”
+
+“Can your Majesty doubt it?” answered the Cardinal, frowning, and biting
+his lips impatiently at this speech.
+
+“Sometimes I doubt it,” replied the King. “Listen: I wish to speak
+openly to you, and to complain of you to yourself. There are two things
+which have been upon my conscience these three years. I have never
+mentioned them to you; but I reproached you secretly; and could anything
+have induced me to consent to any proposals contrary to your interest,
+it would be this recollection.”
+
+There was in this speech that frankness natural to weak minds, who seek
+by thus making their ruler uneasy, to compensate for the harm they dare
+not do him, and revenge their subjection by a childish controversy.
+
+Richelieu perceived by these words that he had run a great risk; but he
+saw at the same time the necessity of venting all his spleen, and, to
+facilitate the explosion of these important avowals, he accumulated all
+the professions he thought most calculated to provoke the King.
+
+“No, no!” his Majesty at length exclaimed, “I shall believe nothing
+until you have explained those two things, which are always in my
+thoughts, which were lately mentioned to me, and which I can justify by
+no reasoning. I mean the trial of Urbain Grandier, of which I was never
+well informed, and the reason for the hatred you bore to my unfortunate
+mother, even to her very ashes.”
+
+“Is this all, Sire?” said Richelieu. “Are these my only faults? They
+are easily explained. The first it was necessary to conceal from your
+Majesty because of its horrible and disgusting details of scandal. There
+was certainly an art employed, which can not be looked upon as guilty,
+in concealing, under the title of ‘magic,’ crimes the very names of
+which are revolting to modesty, the recital of which would have revealed
+dangerous mysteries to the innocent; this was a holy deceit practised to
+hide these impurities from the eyes of the people.”
+
+“Enough, enough, Cardinal,” said Louis XIII, turning away his head, and
+looking downward, while a blush covered his face; “I can not hear more.
+I understand you; these explanations would disgust me. I approve your
+motives; ‘tis well. I had not been told that; they had concealed these
+dreadful vices from me. Are you assured of the proofs of these crimes?”
+
+“I have them all in my possession, Sire; and as to the glorious Queen,
+Marie de Medicis, I am surprised that your Majesty can forget how much I
+was attached to her. Yes, I do not fear to acknowledge it; it is to her
+I owe my elevation. She was the first who deigned to notice the Bishop
+of Luton, then only twenty-two years of age, to place me near her.
+What have I not suffered when she compelled me to oppose her in your
+Majesty’s interest! But this sacrifice was made for you. I never had,
+and never shall have, to regret it.”
+
+“‘Tis well for you, but for me!” said the King, bitterly.
+
+“Ah, Sire,” exclaimed the Cardinal, “did not the Son of God himself set
+you an example? It is by the model of every perfection that we regulate
+our counsels; and if the monument due to the precious remains of your
+mother is not yet raised, Heaven is my witness that the works were
+retarded through the fear of afflicting your heart by bringing back the
+recollection of her death. But blessed be the day in which I have been
+permitted to speak to you on the subject! I myself shall say the
+first mass at Saint-Denis, when we shall see her deposited there, if
+Providence allows me the strength.”
+
+The countenance of the King assumed a more affable yet still cold
+expression; and the Cardinal, thinking that he could go no farther that
+evening in persuasion, suddenly resolved to make a more powerful move,
+and to attack the enemy in front. Still keeping his eyes firmly fixed
+upon the King, he said, coldly:
+
+“And was it for this you consented to my death?”
+
+“Me!” said the King. “You have been deceived; I have indeed heard of a
+conspiracy, and I wished to speak to you about it; but I have commanded
+nothing against you.”
+
+“‘The conspirators do not say so, Sire; but I am bound to believe your
+Majesty, and I am glad for your sake that men were deceived. But what
+advice were you about to condescend to give me?”
+
+“I--I wished to tell you frankly, and between ourselves, that you will
+do well to beware of Monsieur--”
+
+“Ah, Sire, I can not now heed it; for here is a letter which he has
+just sent to me for you. He seems to have been guilty even toward your
+Majesty.”
+
+The King read in astonishment:
+
+   MONSEIGNEUR: I am much grieved at having once more failed in the
+   fidelity which I owe to your Majesty. I humbly entreat you to allow
+   me to ask a thousand pardons, with the assurances of my submission
+   and repentance.
+        Your very humble servant,
+                    GASTON.
+
+“What does this mean?” cried Louis; “dare they arm against me also?”
+
+“Also!” muttered the Cardinal, biting his lips; “yes, Sire, also;
+and this makes me believe, to a certain degree, this little packet of
+papers.”
+
+While speaking, he drew a roll of parchment from a piece of hollowed
+elder, and opened it before the eyes of the King.
+
+“This is simply a treaty with Spain, which I think does not bear the
+signature of your Majesty. You may see the twenty articles all in due
+form. Everything is here arranged--the place of safety, the number of
+troops, the supplies of men and money.”
+
+“The traitors!” cried the King, in great agitation; “they must be
+seized. My brother renounces them and repents; but do not fail to arrest
+the Duc de Bouillon.”
+
+“It shall be done, Sire.”
+
+“That will be difficult, in the middle of the army in Italy.”
+
+“I will answer with my head for his arrest, Sire; but is there not
+another name to be added?”
+
+“Who--what--Cinq-Mars?” inquired the King, hesitating.
+
+“Exactly so, Sire,” answered the Cardinal.
+
+“I see--but--I think--we might--”
+
+“Hear me!” exclaimed Richelieu, in a voice of thunder; “all must be
+settled to-day. Your favorite is mounted at the head of his party;
+choose between him and me. Yield up the boy to the man, or the man to
+the boy; there is no alternative.”
+
+“And what will you do if I consent?” said the King.
+
+“I will have his head and that of his friend.”
+
+“Never! it is impossible!” replied the King, with horror, as he relapsed
+into the same state of irresolution he evinced when with Cinq-Mars
+against Richelieu. “He is my friend as well as you; my heart bleeds at
+the idea of his death. Why can you not both agree? Why this division?
+It is that which has led him to this. You have between you brought me to
+the brink of despair; you have made me the most miserable of men.”
+
+Louis hid his head in his hands while speaking, and perhaps he shed
+tears; but the inflexible minister kept his eyes upon him as if
+watching his prey, and without remorse, without giving the King time
+for reflection--on the contrary, profiting by this emotion to speak yet
+longer.
+
+“And is it thus,” he continued, in a harsh and cold voice, “that you
+remember the commandments of God communicated to you by the mouth of
+your confessor? You told me one day that the Church expressly commanded
+you to reveal to your prime minister all that you might hear against
+him; yet I have never heard from you of my intended death! It was
+necessary that more faithful friends should apprise me of this
+conspiracy; that the guilty themselves through the mercy of Providence
+should themselves make the avowal of their fault. One only, the most
+guilty, yet the least of all, still resists, and it is he who has
+conducted the whole; it is he who would deliver France into the power of
+the foreigner, who would overthrow in one single day my labors of twenty
+years. He would call up the Huguenots of the south, invite to arms all
+orders of the State, revive crushed pretensions, and, in fact, renew
+the League which was put down by your father. It is that--do not deceive
+yourself--it is that which raises so many heads against you. Are you
+prepared for the combat? If so, where are your arms?”
+
+The King, quite overwhelmed, made no reply; he still covered his
+face with his hands. The stony-hearted Cardinal crossed his arms and
+continued:
+
+“I fear that you imagine it is for myself I speak. Do you really think
+that I do not know my own powers, and that I fear such an adversary?
+Really, I know not what prevents me from letting you act for
+yourself--from transferring the immense burden of State affairs to the
+shoulders of this youth. You may imagine that during the twenty years
+I have been acquainted with your court, I have not forgotten to assure
+myself a retreat where, in spite of you, I could now go to live the
+six months which perhaps remain to me of life. It would be a curious
+employment for me to watch the progress of such a reign. What answer
+would you return, for instance, when all the inferior potentates,
+regaining their station, no longer kept in subjection by me, shall come
+in your brother’s name to say to you, as they dared to say to Henri
+IV on his throne: ‘Divide with us all the hereditary governments
+and sovereignties, and we shall be content.’--[Memoires de Sully,
+1595.]--You will doubtless accede to their request; and it is the least
+you can do for those who will have delivered you from Richelieu. It
+will, perhaps, be fortunate, for to govern the Ile-de-France, which they
+will no doubt allow you as the original domain, your new minister will
+not require many secretaries.”
+
+While speaking thus, he furiously pushed the huge table, which nearly
+filled the room, and was laden with papers and numerous portfolios.
+
+Louis was aroused from his apathetic meditation by the excessive
+audacity of this discourse. He raised his head, and seemed to have
+instantly formed one resolution for fear he should adopt another.
+
+“Well, sir,” said he, “my answer is that I will reign alone.”
+
+“Be it so!” replied Richelieu. “But I ought to give you notice that
+affairs are at present somewhat complicated. This is the hour when I
+generally commence my ordinary avocations.”
+
+“I will act in your place,” said Louis. “I will open the portfolios and
+issue my commands.”
+
+“Try, then,” said Richelieu. “I shall retire; and if anything causes you
+to hesitate, you can send for me.”
+
+He rang a bell. In the same instant, and as if they had awaited the
+signal, four vigorous footmen entered, and carried him and his chair
+into another apartment, for we have before remarked that he was unable
+to walk. While passing through the chambers where the secretaries were
+at work, he called out in a loud voice:
+
+“You will receive his Majesty’s commands.”
+
+The King remained alone, strong in his new resolution, and, proud in
+having once resisted, he became anxious immediately to plunge into
+political business. He walked around the immense table, and beheld as
+many portfolios as they then counted empires, kingdoms, and States in
+Europe. He opened one and found it divided into sections equalling in
+number the subdivisions of the country to which it related. All was in
+order, but in alarming order for him, because each note only referred to
+the very essence of the business it alluded to, and related only to
+the exact point of its then relations with France. These laconic notes
+proved as enigmatic to Louis, as did the letters in cipher which
+covered the table. Here all was confusion. An edict of banishment and
+expropriation of the Huguenots of La Rochelle was mingled with treaties
+with Gustavus Adolphus and the Huguenots of the north against the
+empire. Notes on General Bannier and Wallenstein, the Duc de Weimar,
+and Jean de Witt were mingled with extracts from letters taken from
+the casket of the Queen, the list of the necklaces and jewels they
+contained, and the double interpretation which might be put upon
+every phrase of her notes. Upon the margin of one of these letters was
+written: “For four lines in a man’s handwriting he might be criminally
+tried.” Farther on were scattered denunciations against the Huguenots;
+the republican plans they had drawn up; the division of France into
+departments under the annual dictatorship of a chief. The seal of this
+projected State was affixed to it, representing an angel leaning upon a
+cross, and holding in his hand a Bible, which he raised to his forehead.
+By the side was a document which contained a list of those cardinals
+the pope had selected the same day as the Bishop of Lurgon (Richelieu).
+Among them was to be found the Marquis de Bedemar, ambassador and
+conspirator at Venice.
+
+Louis XIII exhausted his powers in vain over the details of another
+period, seeking unsuccessfully for any documents which might allude to
+the present conspiracy, to enable him to perceive its true meaning, and
+all that had been attempted against him, when a diminutive man, of an
+olive complexion, who stooped much, entered the cabinet with a measured
+step. This was a Secretary of State named Desnoyers. He advanced,
+bowing.
+
+“May I be permitted to address your Majesty on the affairs of Portugal?”
+ said he.
+
+“And consequently of Spain?” said Louis. “Portugal is a province of
+Spain.”
+
+“Of Portugal,” reiterated Desnoyers. “Here is the manifesto we have this
+moment received.” And he read, “Don John, by the grace of God, King of
+Portugal and of Algarves, kingdoms on this side of Africa, lord over
+Guinea, by conquest, navigation, and trade with Arabia, Persia, and the
+Indies--”
+
+“What is all that?” said the King. “Who talks in this manner?”
+
+“The Duke of Braganza, King of Portugal, crowned already some time by
+a man whom they call Pinto. Scarcely has he ascended the throne than he
+offers assistance to the revolted Catalonians.”
+
+“Has Catalonia also revolted? The King, Philip IV, no longer has the
+Count-Duke for his Prime-Minister?”
+
+“Just the contrary, Sire. It is on this very account. Here is the
+declaration of the States-General of Catalonia to his Catholic Majesty,
+signifying that the whole country will take up arms against his
+sacrilegious and excommunicated troops. The King of Portugal--”
+
+“Say the Duke of Braganza!” replied Louis. “I recognize no rebels.”
+
+“The Duke of Braganza, then,” coldly repeated the Secretary of State,
+“sends his nephew, Don Ignacio de Mascarenas, to the principality of
+Catalonia, to seize the protection (and it may be the sovereignty) of
+that country, which he would add to that he has just reconquered. Your
+Majesty’s troops are before Perpignan--”
+
+“Well, and what of that?” said Louis.
+
+“The Catalonians are more disposed toward France than toward Portugal,
+and there is still time to deprive the King of-the Duke of Portugal, I
+should say--of this protectorship.”
+
+“What! I assist rebels! You dare--”
+
+“Such was the intention of his Eminence,” continued the Secretary of
+State. “Spain and France are nearly at open war, and Monsieur d’Olivares
+has not hesitated to offer the assistance of his Catholic Majesty to the
+Huguenots.”
+
+“Very good. I will consider it,” said the King. “Leave me.”
+
+“Sire, the States-General of Catalonia are in a dilemma. The troops from
+Aragon march against them.”
+
+“We shall see. I will come to a decision in a quarter of an hour,”
+ answered Louis XIII.
+
+The little Secretary of State left the apartment discontented and
+discouraged. In his place Chavigny immediately appeared, holding a
+portfolio, on which were emblazoned the arms of England. “Sire,” said
+he, “I have to request your Majesty’s commands upon the affairs of
+England. The Parliamentarians, commanded by the Earl of Essex, have
+raised the siege of Gloucester. Prince Rupert has at Newbury fought a
+disastrous battle, and of little profit to his Britannic Majesty. The
+Parliament is prolonged. All the principal cities take part with it,
+together with all the seaports and the Presbyterian population. King
+Charles I implores assistance, which the Queen can no longer obtain from
+Holland.”
+
+“Troops must be sent to my brother of England,” said Louis; but he
+wanted to look over the preceding papers, and casting his eyes over the
+notes of the Cardinal, he found that under a former request of the King
+of England he had written with his own hand:
+
+“We must consider some time and wait. The Commons are strong. King
+Charles reckons upon the Scots; they will sell him.
+
+“We must be cautious. A warlike man has been over to see Vincennes,
+and he has said that ‘princes ought never to be struck, except on the
+head.’”
+
+The Cardinal had added “remarkable,” but he had erased this word and
+substituted “formidable.” Again, beneath:
+
+“This man rules Fairfax. He plays an inspired part. He will be a great
+man--assistance refused--money lost.”
+
+The King then said, “No, no! do nothing hastily. I shall wait.”
+
+“But, Sire,” said Chavigny, “events pass rapidly. If the courier be
+delayed, the King’s destruction may happen a year sooner.”
+
+“Have they advanced so far?” asked Louis.
+
+“In the camp of the Independents they preach up the republic with
+the Bible in their hands. In that of the Royalists, they dispute for
+precedency, and amuse themselves.”
+
+“But one turn of good fortune may save everything?”
+
+“The Stuarts are not fortunate, Sire,” answered Chavigny, respectfully,
+but in a tone which left ample room for consideration.
+
+“Leave me,” said the King, with some displeasure.
+
+The State-Secretary slowly retired.
+
+It was then that Louis XIII beheld himself as he really was, and was
+terrified at the nothingness he found in himself. He at first stared at
+the mass of papers which surrounded him, passing from one to the other,
+finding dangers on every side, and finding them still greater with the
+remedies he invented. He rose; and changing his place, he bent over, or
+rather threw himself upon, a geographical map of Europe. There he found
+all his fears concentrated. In the north, the south, the very centre
+of the kingdom, revolutions appeared to him like so many Eumenides.
+In every country he thought he saw a volcano ready to burst forth. He
+imagined he heard cries of distress from kings, who appealed to him for
+help, and the furious shouts of the populace. He fancied he felt the
+territory of France trembling and crumbling beneath his feet. His feeble
+and fatigued sight failed him. His weak head was attacked by vertigo,
+which threw all his blood back upon his heart.
+
+“Richelieu!” he cried, in a stifled voice, while he rang a bell; “summon
+the Cardinal immediately.”
+
+And he swooned in an armchair.
+
+When the King opened his eyes, revived by salts and potent essences
+which had been applied to his lips and temples, he for one instant
+beheld himself surrounded by pages, who withdrew as soon as he opened
+his eyes, and he was once more left alone with the Cardinal. The
+impassible minister had had his chair placed by that of the King, as a
+physician would seat himself by the bedside of his patient, and fixed
+his sparkling and scrutinizing eyes upon the pale countenance of Louis.
+As soon as his victim could hear him, he renewed his fearful discourse
+in a hollow voice:
+
+“You have recalled me. What would you with me?”
+
+Louis, who was reclining on the pillow, half opened his eyes, fixed them
+upon Richelieu, and hastily closed them again. That bony head, armed
+with two flaming eyes, and terminating in a pointed and grizzly beard,
+the cap and vestments of the color of blood and flames,--all appeared to
+him like an infernal spirit.
+
+“You must reign,” he said, in a languid voice.
+
+“But will you give me up Cinq-Mars and De Thou?” again urged the
+implacable minister, bending forward to read in the dull eyes of the
+Prince, as an avaricious heir follows up, even to the tomb, the last
+glimpses of the will of a dying relative.
+
+“You must reign,” repeated the King, turning away his head.
+
+“Sign then,” said Richelieu; “the contents of this are, ‘This is my
+command--to take them, dead or alive.’”
+
+Louis, whose head still reclined on the raised back of the chair,
+suffered his hand to fall upon the fatal paper, and signed it. “For
+pity’s sake, leave me; I am dying!” he said.
+
+“That is not yet all,” continued he whom men call the great politician.
+“I place no reliance on you; I must first have some guarantee and
+assurance. Sign this paper, and I will leave you:
+
+   “When the King shall go to visit the Cardinal, the guards of the
+   latter shall remain under arms; and when the Cardinal shall visit
+   the King, the guards of the Cardinal shall share the same post with
+   those of his Majesty.
+
+“Again:
+
+   “His Majesty undertakes to place the two princes, his sons, in the
+   Cardinal’s hands, as hostages of the good faith of his attachment.”
+
+“My children!” exclaimed Louis, raising his head, “dare you?”
+
+“Would you rather that I should retire?” said Richelieu.
+
+The King again signed.
+
+“Is all finished now?” he inquired, with a deep sigh.
+
+All was not finished; one other grief was still in reserve for him. The
+door was suddenly opened, and Cinq-Mars entered. It was the Cardinal who
+trembled now.
+
+“What would you here, sir?” said he, seizing the bell to ring for
+assistance.
+
+The master of the horse was as pale as the King, and without
+condescending to answer Richelieu, he advanced steadily toward Louis
+XIII, who looked at him with the air of a man who has just received a
+sentence of death.
+
+“You would, Sire, find it difficult to have me arrested, for I have
+twenty thousand men under my command,” said Henri d’Effiat, in a sweet
+and subdued voice.
+
+“Alas, Cinq-Mars!” replied the King, sadly; “is it thou who hast been
+guilty of these crimes?”
+
+“Yes, Sire; and I also bring you my sword, for no doubt you came here to
+surrender me,” said he, unbuckling his sword, and laying it at the feet
+of the King, who fixed his eyes upon the floor without making any reply.
+
+Cinq-Mars smiled sadly, but not bitterly, for he no longer belonged
+to this earth. Then, looking contemptuously at Richelieu, “I surrender
+because I wish to die, but I am not conquered.”
+
+The Cardinal clenched his fist with passion; but he restrained his fury.
+“Who are your accomplices?” he demanded. Cinq-Mars looked steadfastly at
+Louis, and half opened his lips to speak. The King bent down his head,
+and felt at that moment a torture unknown to all other men.
+
+“I have none,” said Cinq-Mars, pitying the King; and he slowly left the
+apartment. He stopped in the first gallery. Fabert and all the gentlemen
+rose on seeing him. He walked up to the commander, and said:
+
+“Sir, order these gentlemen to arrest me!”
+
+They looked at each other, without daring to approach him.
+
+“Yes, sir, I am your prisoner; yes, gentlemen, I am without my sword,
+and I repeat to you that I am the King’s prisoner.”
+
+“I do not understand what I see,” said the General; “there are two of
+you who surrender, and I have no instruction to arrest any one.”
+
+“Two!” said Cinq-Mars; “the other is doubtless De Thou. Alas! I
+recognize him by this devotion.”
+
+“And had I not also guessed your intention?” exclaimed the latter,
+coming forward, and throwing himself into his arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV. THE PRISONERS
+
+Amoung those old chateaux of which France is every year deprived
+regretfully, as of flowers from her, crown, there was one of a grim and
+savage appearance upon the left bank of the Saline. It looked like a
+formidable sentinel placed at one of the gates of Lyons, and derived its
+name from an enormous rock, known as Pierre-Encise, which terminates in
+a peak--a sort of natural pyramid, the summit of which overhanging the
+river in former times, they say, joined the rocks which may still be
+seen on the opposite bank, forming the natural arch of a bridge; but
+time, the waters, and the hand of man have left nothing standing but the
+ancient mass of granite which formed the pedestal of the now destroyed
+fortress.
+
+The archbishops of Lyons, as the temporal lords of the city, had built
+and formerly resided in this castle. It afterward became a fortress, and
+during the reign of Louis XIII a State prison. One colossal tower,
+where the daylight could only penetrate through three long loopholes,
+commanded the edifice, and some irregular buildings surrounded it with
+their massive walls, whose lines and angles followed the form of the
+immense and perpendicular rock.
+
+It was here that the Cardinal, jealous of his prey, determined to
+imprison his young enemies, and to conduct them himself.
+
+Allowing Louis to precede him to Paris, he removed his captives from
+Narbonne, dragging them in his train to ornament his last triumph, and
+embarking on the Rhone at Tarascon, nearly, at the mouth of the river,
+as if to prolong the pleasure of revenge which men have dared to call
+that of the gods, displayed to the eyes of the spectators on both sides
+of the river the luxury of his hatred; he slowly proceeded on his course
+up the river in barges with gilded oars and emblazoned with his armorial
+bearings, reclining in the first and followed by his two victims in the
+second, which was fastened to his own by a long chain.
+
+Often in the evening, when the heat of the day was passed, the awnings
+of the two boats were removed, and in the one Richelieu might be seen,
+pale, and seated in the stern; in that which followed, the two young
+prisoners, calm and collected, supported each other, watching the
+passage of the rapid stream. Formerly the soldiers of Caesar, who
+encamped on the same shores, would have thought they beheld the
+inflexible boatman of the infernal regions conducting the friendly
+shades of Castor and Pollux. Christians dared not even reflect, or see
+a priest leading his two enemies to the scaffold; it was the first
+minister who passed.
+
+Thus he went on his way until he left his victims under guard at the
+identical city in which the late conspirators had doomed him to perish.
+Thus he loved to defy Fate herself, and to plant a trophy on the very
+spot which had been selected for his tomb.
+
+   “He was borne,” says an ancient manuscript journal of this year,
+   “along the river Rhone in a boat in which a wooden chamber had been
+   constructed, lined with crimson fluted velvet, the flooring of which
+   was of gold. The same boat contained an antechamber decorated in
+   the same manner. The prow and stern of the boat were occupied by
+   soldiers and guards, wearing scarlet coats embroidered with gold,
+   silver, and silk; and many lords of note. His Eminence occupied a
+   bed hung with purple taffetas. Monseigneur the Cardinal Bigni, and
+   Messeigneurs the Bishops of Nantes and Chartres, were there, with
+   many abbes and gentlemen in other boats. Preceding his vessel, a
+   boat sounded the passages, and another boat followed, filled with
+   arquebusiers and officers to command them. When they approached any
+   isle, they sent soldiers to inspect it, to discover whether it was
+   occupied by any suspicious persons; and, not meeting any, they
+   guarded the shore until two boats which followed had passed. They
+   were filled with the nobility and well-armed soldiers.
+
+   “Afterward came the boat of his Eminence, to the stern of which was
+   attached a little boat, which conveyed MM. de Thou and Cinq-Mars,
+   guarded by an officer of the King’s guard and twelve guards from the
+   regiment of his Eminence. Three vessels, containing the clothes and
+   plate of his Eminence, with several gentlemen and soldiers, followed
+   the boats.
+
+   “Two companies of light-horsemen followed the banks of the Rhone in
+   Dauphin, and as many on the Languedoc and Vivarais side, and a noble
+   regiment of foot, who preceded his Eminence in the towns which he
+   was to enter, or in which he was to sleep. It was pleasant to
+   listen to the trumpets, which, played in Dauphine, were answered by
+   those in Vivarais, and repeated by the echoes of our rocks. It
+   seemed as if all were trying which could play best.”--[See Notes.]
+
+In the middle of a night of the month of September, while everything
+appeared to slumber in the impregnable tower which contained the
+prisoners, the door of their outer chamber turned noiselessly on its
+hinges, and a man appeared on the threshold, clad in a brown robe
+confined round his waist by a cord. His feet were encased in sandals,
+and his hand grasped a large bunch of keys; it was Joseph. He looked
+cautiously round without advancing, and contemplated in silence the
+apartment occupied by the master of the horse. Thick carpets covered
+the floor, and large and splendid hangings concealed the walls of the
+prison; a bed hung with red damask was prepared, but it was unoccupied.
+Seated near a high chimney in a large armchair, attired in a long gray
+robe, similar in form to that of a priest, his head bent down, and his
+eyes fixed upon a little cross of gold by the flickering light of a
+lamp, he was absorbed in so deep a meditation that the Capuchin had
+leisure to approach him closely, and confront the prisoner before
+he perceived him. Suddenly, however, Cinq-Mars raised his head and
+exclaimed, “Wretch, what do you here?”
+
+“Young man, you are violent,” answered the mysterious intruder, in a low
+voice. “Two months’ imprisonment ought to have been enough to calm you.
+I come to tell you things of great importance. Listen to me! I have
+thought much of you; and I do not hate you so much as you imagine. The
+moments are precious. I will tell you all in a few words: in two hours
+you will be interrogated, tried, and condemned to death with your
+friend. It can not be otherwise, for all will be finished the same day.”
+
+“I know it,” answered Cinq-Mars; “and I am prepared.”
+
+“Well, then, I can still release you from this affair. I have reflected
+deeply, as I told you; and I am here to make a proposal which can but
+give you satisfaction. The Cardinal has but six months to live. Let us
+not be mysterious; we must speak openly. You see where I have brought
+you to serve him; and you can judge by that the point to which I would
+conduct him to serve you. If you wish it, we can cut short the six
+months of his life which still remain. The King loves you, and will
+recall you with joy when he finds you still live. You may long live, and
+be powerful and happy, if you will protect me, and make me cardinal.”
+
+Astonishment deprived the young prisoner of speech. He could not
+understand such language, and seemed to be unable to descend to it from
+his higher meditations. All that he could say was:
+
+“Your benefactor, Richelieu?”
+
+The Capuchin smiled, and, drawing nearer, continued in an undertone:
+
+“Policy admits of no benefits; it contains nothing but interest. A man
+employed by a minister is no more bound to be grateful than a horse
+whose rider prefers him to others. My pace has been convenient to him;
+so much the better. Now it is my interest to throw him from the saddle.
+Yes, this man loves none but himself. I now see that he has deceived
+me by continually retarding my elevation; but once again, I possess
+the sure means for your escape in silence. I am the master here. I will
+remove the men in whom he trusts, and replace them by others whom he
+has condemned to die, and who are near at hand confined in the northern
+tower--the Tour des Oubliettes, which overhangs the river. His creatures
+will occupy their places. I will recommend a physician--an empyric who
+is devoted to me--to the illustrious Cardinal, who has been given over
+by the most scientific in Paris. If you will unite with me, he shall
+convey to him a universal and eternal remedy.”
+
+“Away!” exclaimed Cinq-Mars. “Leave me, thou infernal monk! No, thou
+art like no other man! Thou glidest with a noiseless and furtive step
+through the darkness; thou traversest the walls to preside at secret
+crimes; thou placest thyself between the hearts of lovers to separate
+them eternally. Who art thou? Thou resemblest a tormented spirit of the
+damned!”
+
+“Romantic boy!” answered Joseph; “you would have possessed high
+attainments had it not been for your false notions. There is perhaps
+neither damnation nor soul. If the dead returned to complain of their
+fate, I should have a thousand around me; and I have never seen any,
+even in my dreams.”
+
+“Monster!” muttered Cinq-Mars.
+
+“Words again!” said Joseph; “there is neither monster nor virtuous man.
+You and De Thou, who pride yourselves on what you call virtue--you have
+failed in causing the death of perhaps a hundred thousand men--at once
+and in the broad daylight--for no end, while Richelieu and I have caused
+the death of far fewer, one by one, and by night, to found a great
+power. Would you remain pure and virtuous, you must not interfere with
+other men; or, rather, it is more reasonable to see that which is, and
+to say with me, it is possible that there is no such thing as a soul.
+We are the sons of chance; but relative to other men, we have passions
+which we must satisfy.”
+
+“I breathe again!” exclaimed Cinq-Mars; “he believes not in God!”
+
+Joseph continued:
+
+“Richelieu, you, and I were born ambitious; it followed, then, that
+everything must be sacrificed to this idea.”
+
+“Wretched man, do not compare me to thyself!”
+
+“It is the plain truth, nevertheless,” replied the Capuchin’; “only you
+now see that our system was better than yours.”
+
+“Miserable wretch, it was for love--”
+
+“No, no! it was not that; here are mere words again. You have perhaps
+imagined it was so; but it was for your own advancement. I have heard
+you speak to the young girl. You thought but of yourselves; you do not
+love each other. She thought but of her rank, and you of your ambition.
+One loves in order to hear one’s self called perfect, and to be adored;
+it is still the same egoism.”
+
+“Cruel serpent!” cried Cinq-Mars; “is it not enough that thou hast
+caused our deaths? Why dost thou come here to cast thy venom upon the
+life thou hast taken from us? What demon has suggested to thee thy
+horrible analysis of hearts?”
+
+“Hatred of everything which is superior to myself,” replied Joseph, with
+a low and hollow laugh, “and the desire to crush those I hate under my
+feet, have made me ambitious and ingenious in finding the weakness of
+your dreams.”
+
+“Just Heaven, dost thou hear him?” exclaimed Cinq-Mars, rising and
+extending his arms upward.
+
+The solitude of his prison; the pious conversations of his friend; and,
+above all, the presence of death, which, like the light of an unknown
+star, paints in other colors the objects we are accustomed to see;
+meditations on eternity; and (shall we say it?) the great efforts he
+had made to change his heartrending regrets into immortal hopes, and
+to direct to God all that power of love which had led him astray upon
+earth-all this combined had worked a strange revolution in him; and like
+those ears of corn which ripen suddenly on receiving one ray from the
+sun, his soul had acquired light, exalted by the mysterious influence of
+death.
+
+“Just Heaven!” he repeated, “if this wretch and his master are human,
+can I also be a man? Behold, O God, behold two distinct ambitions--the
+one egoistical and bloody, the other devoted and unstained; theirs
+roused by hatred, and ours inspired by love. Look down, O Lord, judge,
+and pardon! Pardon, for we have greatly erred in walking but for a
+single day in the same paths which, on earth, possess but one name to
+whatever end it may tend!”
+
+Joseph interrupted him harshly, stamping his foot on the ground:
+
+“When you have finished your prayer,” said he, “you will perhaps inform
+me whether you will assist me; and I will instantly--”
+
+“Never, impure wretch, never!” said Henri d’Effiat. “I will never unite
+with you in an assassination. I refused to do so when powerful, and upon
+yourself.”
+
+“You were wrong; you would have been master now.”
+
+“And what happiness should I find in my power when shared as it must be
+by a woman who does not understand me; who loved me feebly, and prefers
+a crown?”
+
+“Inconceivable folly!” said the Capuchin, laughing.
+
+“All with her; nothing without her--that was my desire.”
+
+“It is from obstinacy and vanity that you persist; it is impossible,”
+ replied Joseph. “It is not in nature.”
+
+“Thou who wouldst deny the spirit of self-sacrifice,” answered
+Cinq-Mars; “dost thou understand that of my friend?”
+
+“It does not exist; he follows you because--”
+
+Here the Capuchin, slightly embarrassed, reflected an instant.
+
+“Because--because--he has formed you; you are his work; he is attached
+to you by the self-love of an author. He was accustomed to lecture you;
+and he felt that he should not find another pupil so docile to listen
+to and applaud him. Constant habit has persuaded him that his life was
+bound to yours; it is something of that kind. He will accompany you
+mechanically. Besides, all is not yet finished; we shall see the end
+and the examination. He will certainly deny all knowledge of the
+conspiracy.”
+
+“He will not deny it!” exclaimed Cinq-Mars, impetuously.
+
+“He knew it, then? You confess it,” said Joseph, triumphantly; “you have
+not said as much before.”
+
+“O Heaven, what have I done!” gasped Cinq-Mars, hiding his face.
+
+“Calm yourself; he is saved, notwithstanding this avowal, if you accept
+my offer.”
+
+D’Effiat remained silent for a short time.
+
+The Capuchin continued:
+
+“Save your friend. The King’s favor awaits you, and perhaps the love
+which has erred for a moment.”
+
+“Man, or whatever else thou art, if thou hast in thee anything
+resembling a heart,” answered the prisoner, “save him! He is the purest
+of created beings; but convey him far away while yet he sleeps, for
+should he awake, thy endeavors would be vain.”
+
+“What good will that do me?” said the Capuchin, laughing. “It is you and
+your favor that I want.”
+
+The impetuous Cinq-Mars rose, and, seizing Joseph by the arm, eying him
+with a terrible look, said:
+
+“I degraded him in interceding with thee for him.” He continued, raising
+the tapestry which separated his apartment from that of his friend,
+“Come, and doubt, if thou canst, devotion and the immortality of the
+soul. Compare the uneasiness and misery of thy triumph with the calmness
+of our defeat, the meanness of thy reign with the grandeur of our
+captivity, thy sanguinary vigils to the slumbers of the just.”
+
+A solitary lamp threw its light on De Thou. The young man was kneeling
+on a cushion, surmounted by a large ebony crucifix. He seemed to have
+fallen asleep while praying. His head, inclining backward, was still
+raised toward the cross. His pale lips wore a calm and divine smile.
+
+“Holy Father, how he sleeps!” exclaimed the astonished Capuchin,
+thoughtlessly uniting to his frightful discourse the sacred name he
+every day pronounced. He suddenly retired some paces, as if dazzled by a
+heavenly vision.
+
+“Nonsense, nonsense!” he said, shaking his head, and passing his hand
+rapidly over his face. “All this is childishness. It would overcome me
+if I reflected on it. These ideas may serve as opium to produce a calm.
+But that is not the question; say yes or no.”
+
+“No,” said Cinq-Mars, pushing him to the door by the shoulder. “I will
+not accept life; and I do not regret having compromised De Thou, for
+he would not have bought his life at the price of an assassination. And
+when he yielded at Narbonne, it was not that he might escape at Lyons.”
+
+“Then wake him, for here come the judges,” said the furious Capuchin, in
+a sharp, piercing voice.
+
+Lighted by flambeaux, and preceded by a detachment of the Scotch guards,
+fourteen judges entered, wrapped in long robes, and whose features were
+not easily distinguished. They seated themselves in silence on the right
+and left of the huge chamber. They were the judges delegated by the
+Cardinal to judge this sad and solemn affair--all true men to the
+Cardinal Richelieu, and in his confidence, who from Tarascon had chosen
+and instructed them. He had the Chancellor Seguier brought to Lyons, to
+avoid, as he stated in the instructions he sent by Chavigny to the King
+Louis XIII--“to avoid all the delays which would take place if he were
+not present. M. de Mayillac,” he adds, “was at Nantes for the trial of
+Chulais, M. de Chateau-Neuf at Toulouse, superintending the death of M.
+de Montmorency, and M. de Bellievre at Paris, conducting the trial of M.
+de Biron. The authority and intelligence of these gentlemen in forms of
+justice are indispensable.”
+
+The Chancellor arrived with all speed. But at this moment he was
+informed that he was not to appear, for fear that he might be influenced
+by the memory of his ancient friendship for the prisoner, whom he
+only saw tete-a-tete. The commissioners and himself had previously
+and rapidly received the cowardly depositions of the Duc d’Orleans, at
+Villefranche, in Beaujolais, and then at Vivey,--[House which belonged
+to an Abbe d’Esnay, brother of M. de Villeroy, called Montresor.] two
+miles from Lyons, where this wretched prince had received orders to
+go, begging forgiveness, and trembling, although surrounded by his
+followers, whom from very pity he had been allowed to retain, carefully
+watched, however, by the French and Swiss guards. The Cardinal had
+dictated to him his part and answers word for word; and in consideration
+of this docility, they had exempted him in form from the painful task
+of confronting MM. de Cinq-Mars and De Thou. The chancellor and
+commissioners had also prepared M. de Bouillon, and, strong with their
+preliminary work, they visited in all their strength the two young
+criminals whom they had determined not to save.
+
+History has only handed down to us the names of the State counsellors
+who accompanied Pierre Seguier, but not those of the other
+commissioners, of whom it is only mentioned that there were six from the
+parliament of Grenoble, and two presidents. The counsellor, or reporter
+of the State, Laubardemont, who had directed them in all, was at their
+head. Joseph often whispered to them with the most studied politeness,
+glancing at Laubardemont with a ferocious sneer.
+
+It was arranged that an armchair should serve as a bar; and all were
+silent in expectation of the prisoner’s answer.
+
+He spoke in a soft and clear voice:
+
+“Say to Monsieur le Chancelier that I have the right of appeal to the
+parliament of Paris, and to object to my judges, because two of them are
+my declared enemies, and at their head one of my friends, Monsieur de
+Seguier himself, whom I maintained in his charge.
+
+“But I will spare you much trouble, gentlemen, by pleading guilty to the
+whole charge of conspiracy, arranged and conducted by myself alone. It
+is my wish to die. I have nothing to add for myself; but if you would be
+just, you will not harm the life of him whom the King has pronounced to
+be the most honest man in France, and who dies for my sake alone.”
+
+“Summon him,” said Laubardemont.
+
+Two guards entered the apartment of De Thou, and led him forth. He
+advanced, and bowed gravely, while an angelical smile played upon his
+lips. Embracing Cinq-Mars, “Here at last is our day of glory,” said he.
+“We are about to gain heaven and eternal happiness.”
+
+“We understand,” said Laubardemont, “we have been given to understand
+by Monsieur de Cinq-Mars himself, that you were acquainted with this
+conspiracy?”
+
+De Thou answered instantly, and without hesitation. A half-smile was
+still on his lips, and his eyes cast down.
+
+“Gentlemen, I have passed my life in studying human laws, and I know
+that the testimony of one accused person can not condemn another. I can
+also repeat what I said before, that I should not have been believed had
+I denounced the King’s brother without proof. You perceive, then, that
+my life and death entirely rest with myself. I have, however, well
+weighed the one and the other. I have clearly foreseen that whatever
+life I may hereafter lead, it could not but be most unhappy after the
+loss of Monsieur de Cinq-Mars. I therefore acknowledge and confess that
+I was aware of his conspiracy. I did my utmost to prevent it, to deter
+him from it. He believed me to be his only and faithful friend, and I
+would not betray him. Therefore, I condemn myself by the very laws which
+were set forth by my father, who, I hope, forgives me.”
+
+At these words, the two friends precipitated themselves into each
+other’s arms.
+
+Cinq-Mars exclaimed:
+
+“My friend, my friend, how bitterly I regret that I have caused your
+death! Twice I have betrayed you; but you shall know in what manner.”
+
+But De Thou, embracing and consoling his friend, answered, raising his
+eyes from the ground:
+
+“Ah, happy are we to end our days in this manner! Humanly speaking, I
+might complain of you; but God knows how much I love you. What have
+we done to merit the grace of martyrdom, and the happiness of dying
+together?”
+
+The judges were not prepared for this mildness, and looked at each other
+with surprise.
+
+“If they would only give me a good partisan,” muttered a hoarse voice
+(it was Grandchamp, who had crept into the room, and whose eyes were
+red with fury), “I would soon rid Monseigneur of all these black-looking
+fellows.” Two men with halberds immediately placed themselves silently
+at his side. He said no more, and to compose himself retired to a window
+which overlooked the river, whose tranquil waters the sun had not yet
+lighted with its beams, and appeared to pay no attention to what was
+passing in the room.
+
+However, Laubardemont, fearing that the judges might be touched with
+compassion, said in a loud voice:
+
+“In pursuance of the order of Monseigneur the Cardinal, these two
+men will be put to the rack; that is to say, to the ordinary and
+extraordinary question.”
+
+Indignation forced Cinq-Mars again to assume his natural character;
+crossing his arms, he made two steps toward Laubardemont and Joseph,
+which alarmed them. The former involuntarily placed his hand to his
+forehead.
+
+“Are we at Loudun?” exclaimed the prisoner; but De Thou, advancing, took
+his hand and held it. Cinq-Mars was silent, then continued in a calm
+voice, looking steadfastly at the judges:
+
+“Messieurs, this measure appears to me rather harsh; a man of my age and
+rank ought not to be subjected to these formalities. I have confessed
+all, and I will confess it all again. I willingly and gladly accept
+death; it is not from souls like ours that secrets can be wrung by
+bodily suffering. We are prisoners by our own free will, and at the time
+chosen by us. We have confessed enough for you to condemn us to death;
+you shall know nothing more. We have obtained what we wanted.”
+
+“What are you doing, my friend?” interrupted De Thou. “He is mistaken,
+gentlemen, we do not refuse this martyrdom which God offers us; we
+demand it.”
+
+“But,” said Cinq-Mars, “do you need such infamous tortures to obtain
+salvation--you who are already a martyr, a voluntary martyr to
+friendship? Gentlemen, it is I alone who possess important secrets; it
+is the chief of a conspiracy who knows all. Put me alone to the torture
+if we must be treated like the worst of malefactors.”
+
+“For the sake of charity,” added De Thou, “deprive me not of equal
+suffering with my friend; I have not followed him so far, to abandon him
+at this dreadful moment, and not to use every effort to accompany him to
+heaven.”
+
+During this debate, another was going forward between Laubardemont and
+Joseph. The latter, fearing that torments would induce him to disclose
+the secret of his recent proposition, advised that they should not
+be resorted to; the other, not thinking his triumph complete by death
+alone, absolutely insisted on their being applied. The judges surrounded
+and listened to these secret agents of the Prime-Minister; however, many
+circumstances having caused them to suspect that the influence of the
+Capuchin was more powerful than that of the judge, they took part with
+him, and decided for mercy, when he finished by these words uttered in a
+low voice:
+
+“I know their secrets. There is no necessity to force them from their
+lips, because they are useless, and relate to too high circumstances.
+Monsieur le Grand has no one to denounce but the King, and the other the
+Queen. It is better that we should remain ignorant. Besides, they will
+not confess. I know them; they will be silent--the one from pride, the
+other through piety. Let them alone. The torture will wound them;
+they will be disfigured and unable to walk. That will spoil the whole
+ceremony; they must be kept to appear.”
+
+This last observation prevailed. The judges retired to deliberate with
+the chancellor. While departing, Joseph whispered to Laubardemont:
+
+“I have provided you with enough pleasure here; you will still have that
+of deliberating, and then you shall go and examine three men who are
+confined in the northern tower.”
+
+These were the three judges who had condemned Urbain Grandier.
+
+As he spoke, he laughed heartily, and was the last to leave the room,
+pushing the astonished master of requests before him.
+
+The sombre tribunal had scarcely disappeared when Grandchamp, relieved
+from his two guards, hastened toward his master, and, seizing his hand,
+said:
+
+“In the name of Heaven, come to the terrace, Monseigneur! I have
+something to show you; in the name of your mother, come!”
+
+But at that moment the chamber door was opened, and the old Abbe Quillet
+appeared.
+
+“My children! my dear children!” exclaimed the old man, weeping
+bitterly. “Alas! why was I only permitted to enter to-day? Dear Henri,
+your mother, your brother, your sister, are concealed here.”
+
+“Be quiet, Monsieur l’Abbe!” said Grandchamp; “do come to the terrace,
+Monseigneur.”
+
+But the old priest still detained and embraced his pupil.
+
+“We hope,” said he; “we hope for mercy.”
+
+“I shall refuse it,” said Cinq-Mars.
+
+“We hope for nothing but the mercy of God,” added De Thou.
+
+“Silence!” said Grandchamp, “the judges are returning.”
+
+And the door opened again to admit the dismal procession, from which
+Joseph and Laubardemont were missing.
+
+“Gentlemen,” exclaimed the good Abbe, addressing the commissioners, “I
+am happy to tell you that I have just arrived from Paris, and that no
+one doubts but that all the conspirators will be pardoned. I have had an
+interview at her Majesty’s apartments with Monsieur himself; and as to
+the Duc de Bouillon, his examination is not unfav--”
+
+“Silence!” cried M. de Seyton, the lieutenant of the Scotch guards;
+and the commissioners entered and again arranged themselves in the
+apartment.
+
+M. de Thou, hearing them summon the criminal recorder of the presidial
+of Lyons to pronounce the sentence, involuntarily launched out in one of
+those transports of religious joy which are never displayed but by the
+martyrs and saints at the approach of death; and, advancing toward this
+man, he exclaimed:
+
+“Quam speciosi pedes evangelizantium pacem, evangelizantium bona!”
+
+Then, taking the hand of Cinq-Mars, he knelt down bareheaded to receive
+the sentence, as was the custom. D’Effiat remained standing; and they
+dared not compel him to kneel. The sentence was pronounced in these
+words:
+
+   “The Attorney-General, prosecutor on the part of the State, on a
+   charge of high treason; and Messire Henri d’Effiat de Cinq-Mars,
+   master of the horse, aged twenty-two, and Francois Auguste de Thou,
+   aged thirty-five, of the King’s privy council, prisoners in the
+   chateau of Pierre-Encise, at Lyons, accused and defendants on the
+   other part:
+
+   “Considered, the special trial commenced by the aforesaid attorney-
+   general against the said D’Efiiat and De Thou; informations,
+   interrogations, confessions, denegations, and confrontations, and
+   authenticated copies of the treaty with Spain, it is considered in
+   the delegated chamber:
+
+   “That he who conspires against the person of the ministers of
+   princes is considered by the ancient laws and constitutions of the
+   emperors to be guilty of high treason; (2) that the third ordinance
+   of the King Louis XI renders any one liable to the punishment of
+   death who does not reveal a conspiracy against the State.
+
+   “The commissioners deputed by his Majesty have declared the said
+   D’Effiat and De Thou guilty and convicted of the crime of high
+   treason:
+
+   “The said D’Effiat, for the conspiracies and enterprises, league,
+   and treaties, formed by him with the foreigner against the State;
+
+   “And the said De Thou, for having a thorough knowledge of this
+   conspiracy.
+
+   “In reparation of which crimes they have deprived them of all honors
+   and dignities, and condemned them to be deprived of their heads on a
+   scaffold, which is for this purpose erected in the Place des
+   Terreaux, in this city.
+
+   “It is further declared that all and each of their possessions, real
+   and personal, be confiscated to the King, and that those which they
+   hold from the crown do pass immediately to it again of the aforesaid
+   goods, sixty thousand livres being devoted to pious uses.”
+
+After the sentence was pronounced, M. de Thou exclaimed in a loud voice:
+
+“God be blessed! God be praised!”
+
+“I have never feared death,” said Cinq-Mars, coldly.
+
+Then, according to the forms prescribed, M. Seyton, the lieutenant of
+the Scotch guards, an old man upward of sixty years of age, declared
+with emotion that he placed the prisoners in the hands of the Sieur
+Thome, provost of the merchants of Lyons; he then took leave of them,
+followed by the whole of the body-guard, silently, and in tears.
+
+“Weep not,” said Cinq-Mars; “tears are useless. Rather pray for us; and
+be assured that I do not fear death.”
+
+He shook them by the hand, and De Thou embraced them; after which they
+left the apartment, their eyes filled with tears, and hiding their faces
+in their cloaks.
+
+“Barbarians!” exclaimed the Abbe Quillet; “to find arms against them,
+one must search the whole arsenal of tyrants. Why did they admit me at
+this moment?”
+
+“As a confessor, Monsieur,” whispered one of the commissioners; “for no
+stranger has entered this place these two months.”
+
+As soon as the huge gates of the prison were closed, and the outside
+gratings lowered, “To the terrace, in the name of Heaven!” again
+exclaimed Grandchamp. And he drew his master and De Thou thither.
+
+The old preceptor followed them, weeping.
+
+“What do you want with us in a moment like this?” said Cinq-Mars, with
+indulgent gravity.
+
+“Look at the chains of the town,” said the faithful servant.
+
+The rising sun had hardly tinged the sky. In the horizon a line of vivid
+yellow was visible, upon which the mountain’s rough blue outlines were
+boldly traced; the waves of the Saline, and the chains of the town
+hanging from one bank to the other, were still veiled by a light vapor,
+which also rose from Lyons and concealed the roofs of the houses from
+the eye of the spectator. The first tints of the morning light had as
+yet colored only the most elevated points of the magnificent landscape.
+In the city the steeples of the Hotel de Ville and St. Nizier, and on
+the surrounding hills the monasteries of the Carmelites and Ste.-Marie,
+and the entire fortress of Pierre-Encise were gilded with the fires
+of the coming day. The joyful peals from the churches were heard, the
+peaceful matins from the convent and village bells. The walls of the
+prison were alone silent.
+
+“Well,” said Cinq-Mars, “what are we to see the beauty of the plains,
+the richness of the city, or the calm peacefulness of these villages?
+Ah, my friend, in every place there are to be found passions and griefs,
+like those which have brought us here.”
+
+The old Abbe and Grandchamp leaned over the parapet, watching the bank
+of the river.
+
+“The fog is so thick, we can see nothing yet,” said the Abbe.
+
+“How slowly our last sun appears!” said De Thou.
+
+“Do you not see low down there, at the foot of the rocks, on the
+opposite bank, a small white house, between the Halincourt gate and the
+Boulevard Saint Jean?” asked the Abbe.
+
+“I see nothing,” answered Cinq-Mars, “but a mass of dreary wall.”
+
+“Hark!” said the Abbe; “some one speaks near us!”
+
+In fact, a confused, low, and inexplicable murmur was heard in a little
+turret, the back of which rested upon the platform of the terrace. As it
+was scarcely larger than a pigeon-house, the prisoners had not until now
+observed it.
+
+“Are they already coming to fetch us?” said Cinq-Mars.
+
+“Bah! bah!” answered Grandchamp, “do not make yourself uneasy; it is the
+Tour des Oubliettes. I have prowled round the fort for two months, and
+I have seen men fall from there into the water at least once a week. Let
+us think of our affair. I see a light down there.”
+
+An invincible curiosity, however, led the two prisoners to look at the
+turret, in spite of the horror of their own situation. It advanced to
+the extremity of the rock, over a gulf of foaming green water of great
+depth. A wheel of a mill long deserted was seen turning with great
+rapidity. Three distinct sounds were now heard, like those of a
+drawbridge suddenly lowered and raised to its former position by a
+recoil or spring striking against the stone walls; and three times a
+black substance was seen to fall into the water with a splash.
+
+“Mercy! can these be men?” exclaimed the Abbe, crossing himself.
+
+“I thought I saw brown robes turning in the air,” said Grandchamp; “they
+are the Cardinal’s friends.”
+
+A horrible cry was heard from the tower, accompanied by an impious oath.
+The heavy trap groaned for the fourth time. The green water received
+with a loud noise a burden which cracked the enormous wheel of the mill;
+one of its large spokes was torn away, and a man entangled in its beams
+appeared above the foam, which he colored with his blood. He rose twice,
+and sank beneath the waters, shrieking violently; it was Laubardemont.
+
+Cinq-Mars drew back in horror.
+
+“There is a Providence,” said Grandchamp; “Urbain Grandier summoned
+him in three years. But come, come! the time is precious! Do not remain
+motionless. Be it he, I am not surprised, for those wretches devour each
+other. But let us endeavor to deprive them of their choicest morsel.
+Vive Dieu! I see the signal! We are saved! All is ready; run to this
+side, Monsieur l’Abbe! See the white handkerchief at the window! our
+friends are prepared.”
+
+The Abbe seized the hands of both his friends, and drew them to that
+side of the terrace toward which they had at first looked. “Listen to
+me, both of you,” said he. “You must know that none of the conspirators
+has profited by the retreat you secured for them. They have all
+hastened to Lyons, disguised, and in great number; they have distributed
+sufficient gold in the city to secure them from being betrayed; they are
+resolved to make an attempt to deliver you. The time chosen is that when
+they are conducting you to the scaffold; the signal is your hat, which
+you will place on your head when they are to commence.”
+
+The worthy Abbe, half weeping, half smiling hopefully, related that
+upon the arrest of his pupil he had hastened to Paris; that such secrecy
+enveloped all the Cardinal’s actions that none there knew the place
+in which the master of the horse was detained. Many said that he was
+banished; and when the reconciliation between Monsieur and the Duc de
+Bouillon and the King was known, men no longer doubted that the life of
+the other was assured, and ceased to speak of this affair, which, not
+having been executed, compromised few persons. They had even in some
+measure rejoiced in Paris to see the town of Sedan and its territory
+added to the kingdom in exchange for the letters of abolition granted
+to the Duke, acknowledged innocent in common with Monsieur; so that
+the result of all the arrangements had been to excite admiration of the
+Cardinal’s ability, and of his clemency toward the conspirators, who, it
+was said, had contemplated his death. They even spread the report
+that he had facilitated the escape of Cinq-Mars and De Thou, occupying
+himself generously with their retreat to a foreign land, after
+having bravely caused them to be arrested in the midst of the camp of
+Perpignan.
+
+At this part of the narrative, Cinq-Mars could not avoid forgetting his
+resignation, and clasping his friend’s hand, “Arrested!” he exclaimed.
+“Must we renounce even the honor of having voluntarily surrendered
+ourselves? Must we sacrifice all, even the opinion of posterity?”
+
+“There is vanity again,” replied De Thou, placing his fingers on his
+lips. “But hush! let us hear the Abbe to the end.”
+
+The tutor, not doubting that the calmness which these two young men
+exhibited arose from the joy they felt in finding their escape assured,
+and seeing that the sun had hardly yet dispersed the morning mists,
+yielded himself without restraint to the involuntary pleasure which old
+men always feel in recounting new events, even though they afflict the
+hearers. He related all his fruitless endeavors to discover his pupil’s
+retreat, unknown to the court and the town, where none, indeed, dared to
+pronounce the name of Cinq-Mars in the most secret asylums. He had only
+heard of the imprisonment at Pierre-Encise from the Queen herself, who
+had deigned to send for him, and charge him to inform the Marechale
+d’Effiat and all the conspirators that they might make a desperate
+effort to deliver their young chief. Anne of Austria had even ventured
+to send many of the gentlemen of Auvergne and Touraine to Lyons to
+assist in their last attempt.
+
+“The good Queen!” said he; “she wept greatly when I saw her, and said
+that she would give all she possessed to save you. She reproached
+herself deeply for some letter, I know not what. She spoke of the
+welfare of France, but did not explain herself. She said that she
+admired you, and conjured you to save yourself, if it were only through
+pity for her, whom you would otherwise consign to everlasting remorse.”
+
+“Said she nothing else?” interrupted De Thou, supporting Cinq-Mars, who
+grew visibly paler.
+
+“Nothing more,” said the old man.
+
+“And no one else spoke of me?” inquired the master of the horse.
+
+“No one,” said the Abbe.
+
+“If she had but written to me!” murmured Henri.
+
+“Remember, my father, that you were sent here as a confessor,” said De
+Thou.
+
+Here old Grandchamp, who had been kneeling before Cinq-Mars, and
+dragging him by his clothes to the other side of the terrace, exclaimed
+in a broken voice:
+
+“Monseigneur--my master--my good master--do you see them? Look
+there--‘tis they! ‘tis they--all of them!”
+
+“Who, my old friend?” asked his master.
+
+“Who? Great Heaven! look at that window! Do you not recognize them? Your
+mother, your sisters, and your brother.”
+
+And the day, now fairly broken, showed him in the distance several women
+waving their handkerchiefs; and there, dressed all in black, stretching
+out her arms toward the prison, sustained by those about her, Cinq-Mars
+recognized his mother, with his family, and his strength failed him for
+a moment. He leaned his head upon his friend’s breast and wept.
+
+“How many times must I, then, die?” he murmured; then, with a gesture,
+returning from the top of the tower the salutations of his family, “Let
+us descend quickly, my father!” he said to the old Abbe. “You will tell
+me at the tribunal of penitence, and before God, whether the remainder
+of my life is worth my shedding more blood to preserve it.”
+
+It was there that Cinq-Mars confessed to God what he alone and Marie
+de Mantua knew of their secret and unfortunate love. “He gave to his
+confessor,” says Father Daniel, “a portrait of a noble lady, set in
+diamonds, which were to be sold, and the money employed in pious works.”
+
+M. de Thou, after having confessed, wrote a letter;--[See the copy of
+this letter to Madame la Princesse de Guemenee, in the notes at the
+end of the volume.]--after which (according to the account given by his
+confessor) he said, “This is the last thought I will bestow upon this
+world; let us depart for heaven!” and walking up and down the room with
+long strides, he recited aloud the psalm, ‘Miserere mei, Deus’, with an
+incredible ardor of spirit, his whole frame trembling so violently it
+seemed as if he did not touch the earth, and that the soul was about
+to make its exit from his body. The guards were mute at this spectacle,
+which made them all shudder with respect and horror.
+
+Meanwhile, all was calm in the city of Lyons, when to the great
+astonishment of its inhabitants, they beheld the entrance through
+all its gates of troops of infantry and cavalry, which they knew were
+encamped at a great distance. The French and the Swiss guards,
+the regiment of Pompadours, the men-at-arms of Maurevert, and the
+carabineers of La Roque, all defiled in silence. The cavalry, with their
+muskets on the pommel of the saddle, silently drew up round the chateau
+of Pierre-Encise; the infantry formed a line upon the banks of the Saone
+from the gate of the fortress to the Place des Terreaux. It was the
+usual spot for execution.
+
+   “Four companies of the bourgeois of Lyons, called ‘pennonage’, of
+   which about eleven or twelve hundred men, were ranged [says the
+   journal of Montresor] in the midst of the Place des Terreaux, so as
+   to enclose a space of about eighty paces each way, into which they
+   admitted no one but those who were absolutely necessary.
+
+   “In the centre of this space was raised a scaffold about seven feet
+   high and nine feet square, in the midst of which, somewhat forward,
+   was placed a stake three feet in height, in front of which was a
+   block half a foot high, so that the principal face of the scaffold
+   looked toward the shambles of the Terreaux, by the side of the
+   Saone. Against the scaffold was placed a short ladder of eight
+   rounds, in the direction of the Dames de St. Pierre.”
+
+Nothing had transpired in the town as to the name of the prisoners. The
+inaccessible walls of the fortress let none enter or leave but at night,
+and the deep dungeons had sometimes confined father and son for years
+together, four feet apart from each other, without their even being
+aware of the vicinity. The surprise was extreme at these striking
+preparations, and the crowd collected, not knowing whether for a fete or
+for an execution.
+
+This same secrecy which the agents of the minister had strictly
+preserved was also carefully adhered to by the conspirators, for their
+heads depended on it.
+
+Montresor, Fontrailles, the Baron de Beauvau, Olivier d’Entraigues,
+Gondi, the Comte du Lude, and the Advocate Fournier, disguised as
+soldiers, workmen, and morris-dancers, armed with poniards under their
+clothes, had dispersed amid the crowd more than five hundred gentlemen
+and domestics, disguised like themselves. Horses were ready on the road
+to Italy, and boats upon the Rhone had been previously engaged. The
+young Marquis d’Effiat, elder brother of Cinq-Mars, dressed as a
+Carthusian, traversed the crowd, without ceasing, between the Place
+des Terreaux and the little house in which his mother and sister were
+concealed with the Presidente de Pontac, the sister of the unfortunate
+De Thou. He reassured them, gave them from time to time a ray of hope,
+and returned to the conspirators to satisfy himself that each was
+prepared for action.
+
+Each soldier forming the line had at his side a man ready to poniard
+him.
+
+The vast crowd, heaped together behind the line of guards, pushed them
+forward, passed their lines, and made them lose ground. Ambrosio,
+the Spanish servant whom Cinq-Mars had saved, had taken charge of the
+captain of the pikemen, and, disguised as a Catalonian musician, had
+commenced a dispute with him, pretending to be determined not to cease
+playing the hurdy-gurdy.
+
+Every one was at his post.
+
+The Abbe de Gondi, Olivier d’Entraigues, and the Marquis d’Effiat were
+in the midst of a group of fish-women and oyster-wenches, who were
+disputing and bawling, abusing one of their number younger and more
+timid than her masculine companions. The brother of Cinq-Mars approached
+to listen to their quarrel.
+
+“And why,” said she to the others, “would you have Jean le Roux, who
+is an honest man, cut off the heads of two Christians, because he is
+a butcher by trade? So long as I am his wife, I’ll not allow it. I’d
+rather--”
+
+“Well, you are wrong!” replied her companions. “What is’t to thee
+whether the meat he cuts is eaten or not eaten? Why, thou’lt have a
+hundred crowns to dress thy three children all in new clothes. Thou’rt
+lucky to be the wife of a butcher. Profit, then, ‘ma mignonne’, by what
+God sends thee by the favor of his Eminence.”
+
+“Let me alone!” answered the first speaker. “I’ll not accept it. I’ve
+seen these fine young gentlemen at the windows. They look as mild as
+lambs.”
+
+“Well! and are not thy lambs and calves killed?” said Femme le Bon.
+“What fortune falls to this little woman! What a pity! especially when
+it is from the reverend Capuchin!”
+
+“How horrible is the gayety of the people!” said Olivier d’Entraigues,
+unguardedly. All the women heard him, and began to murmur against him.
+
+“Of the people!” said they; “and whence comes this little bricklayer
+with his plastered clothes?”
+
+“Ah!” interrupted another, “dost not see that ‘tis some gentleman in
+disguise? Look at his white hands! He never worked a square; ‘tis some
+little dandy conspirator. I’ve a great mind to go and fetch the captain
+of the watch to arrest him.”
+
+The Abbe de Gondi felt all the danger of this situation, and throwing
+himself with an air of anger upon Olivier, and assuming the manners of
+a joiner, whose costume and apron he had adopted, he exclaimed, seizing
+him by the collar:
+
+“You’re just right. ‘Tis a little rascal that never works! These two
+years that my father’s apprenticed him, he has done nothing but comb his
+hair to please the girls. Come, get home with you!”
+
+And, striking him with his rule, he drove him through the crowd, and
+returned to place himself on another part of the line. After having well
+reprimanded the thoughtless page, he asked him for the letter which
+he said he had to give to M. de Cinq-Mars when he should have escaped.
+Olivier had carried it in his pocket for two months. He gave it him. “It
+is from one prisoner to another,” said he, “for the Chevalier de jars,
+on leaving the Bastille, sent it me from one of his companions in
+captivity.”
+
+“Ma foi!” said Gondi, “there may be some important secret in it for our
+friends. I’ll open it. You ought to have thought of it before. Ah, bah!
+it is from old Bassompierre. Let us read it.
+
+   MY DEAR CHILD: I learn from the depths of the Bastille, where I
+   still remain, that you are conspiring against the tyrant Richelieu,
+   who does not cease to humiliate our good old nobility and the
+   parliaments, and to sap the foundations of the edifice upon which
+   the State reposes. I hear that the nobles are taxed and condemned
+   by petty judges, contrary to the privileges of their condition,
+   forced to the arriere-ban, despite the ancient customs.”
+
+“Ah! the old dotard!” interrupted the page, laughing immoderately.
+
+“Not so foolish as you imagine, only he is a little behindhand for our
+affair.”
+
+   “I can not but approve this generous project, and I pray you give me
+   to wot all your proceedings--”
+
+“Ah! the old language of the last reign!” said Olivier. “He can’t say
+‘Make me acquainted with your proceedings,’ as we now say.”
+
+“Let me read, for Heaven’s sake!” said the Abbe; “a hundred years hence
+they’ll laugh at our phrases.” He continued:
+
+   “I can counsel you, notwithstanding my great age, in relating to you
+   what happened to me in 1560.”
+
+“Ah, faith! I’ve not time to waste in reading it all. Let us see the
+end.
+
+   “When I remember my dining at the house of Madame la Marechale
+   d’Effiat, your mother, and ask myself what has become of all the
+   guests, I am really afflicted. My poor Puy-Laurens has died at
+   Vincennes, of grief at being forgotten by Monsieur in his prison;
+   De Launay killed in a duel, and I am grieved at it, for although I
+   was little satisfied with my arrest, he did it with courtesy, and I
+   have always thought him a gentleman. As for me, I am under lock and
+   key until the death of M. le Cardinal. Ah, my child! we were
+   thirteen at table. We must not laugh at old superstitions. Thank
+   God that you are the only one to whom evil has not arrived!”
+
+“There again!” said Olivier, laughing heartily; and this time the Abbe
+de Gondi could not maintain his gravity, despite all his efforts.
+
+They tore the useless letter to pieces, that it might not prolong the
+detention of the old marechal, should it be found, and drew near the
+Place des Terreaux and the line of guards, whom they were to attack when
+the signal of the hat should be given by the young prisoner.
+
+They beheld with satisfaction all their friends at their posts, and
+ready “to play with their knives,” to use their own expression. The
+people, pressing around them, favored them without being aware of it.
+There came near the Abbe a troop of young ladies dressed in white and
+veiled. They were going to church to communicate; and the nuns who
+conducted them, thinking, like most of the people, that the preparations
+were intended to do honor to some great personage, allowed them to mount
+upon some large hewn stones, collected behind the soldiers. There they
+grouped themselves with the grace natural to their age, like twenty
+beautiful statues upon a single pedestal. One would have taken them
+for those vestals whom antiquity invited to the sanguinary shows of the
+gladiators. They whispered to each other, looking around them, laughing
+and blushing together like children.
+
+The Abbe de Gondi saw with impatience that Olivier was again forgetting
+his character of conspirator and his costume of a bricklayer in ogling
+these girls, and assuming a mien too elegant, an attitude too refined,
+for the position in life he was supposed to occupy. He already began to
+approach them, turning his hair with his fingers, when Fontrailles and
+Montresor fortunately arrived in the dress of Swiss soldiers. A group of
+gentlemen, disguised as sailors, followed them with iron-shod staves
+in their hands. There was a paleness on their faces which announced no
+good.
+
+“Stop here!” said one of them to his suite; “this is the place.”
+
+The sombre air and the silence of these spectators contrasted with the
+gay and anxious looks of the girls, and their childish exclamations.
+
+“Ah, the fine procession!” they cried; “there are at least five hundred
+men with cuirasses and red uniforms, upon fine horses. They’ve got
+yellow feathers in their large hats.”
+
+“They are strangers--Catalonians,” said a French guard.
+
+“Whom are they conducting here? Ah, here is a fine gilt coach! but
+there’s no one in it.”
+
+“Ah! I see three men on foot; where are they going?”
+
+“To death!” said Fontrailles, in a deep, stern voice which silenced
+all around. Nothing was heard but the slow tramp of the horses,
+which suddenly stopped, from one of those delays that happen in all
+processions. They then beheld a painful and singular spectacle. An old
+man with a tonsured head walked with difficulty, sobbing violently,
+supported by two young men of interesting and engaging appearance, who
+held one of each other’s hands behind his bent shoulders, while with
+the other each held one of his arms. The one on the left was dressed
+in black; he was grave, and his eyes were cast down. The other, much
+younger, was attired in a striking dress. A pourpoint of Holland cloth,
+adorned with broad gold lace, and with large embroidered sleeves,
+covered him from the neck to the waist, somewhat in the fashion of
+a woman’s corset; the rest of his vestments were in black velvet,
+embroidered with silver palms. Gray boots with red heels, to which were
+attached golden spurs; a scarlet cloak with gold buttons--all set off to
+advantage his elegant and graceful figure. He bowed right and left with
+a melancholy smile.
+
+An old servant, with white moustache, and beard, followed with his head
+bent down, leading two chargers, richly comparisoned. The young ladies
+were silent; but they could not restrain their sobs.
+
+“It is, then, that poor old man whom they are leading to the scaffold,”
+ they exclaimed; “and his children are supporting him.”
+
+“Upon your knees, ladies,” said a man, “and pray for him!”
+
+“On your knees,” cried Gondi, “and let us pray that God will deliver
+him!”
+
+All the conspirators repeated, “On your knees! on your knees!” and set
+the example to the people, who imitated them in silence.
+
+“We can see his movements better now,” said Gondi, in a whisper to
+Montresor. “Stand up; what is he doing?”
+
+“He has stopped, and is speaking on our side, saluting us; I think he
+has recognized us.”
+
+Every house, window, wall, roof, and raised platform that looked upon
+the place was filled with persons of every age and condition.
+
+The most profound silence prevailed throughout the immense multitude.
+One might have heard the wings of a gnat, the breath of the slightest
+wind, the passage of the grains of dust which it raised; yet the air was
+calm, the sun brilliant, the sky blue. The people listened attentively.
+They were close to the Place des Terreaux; they heard the blows of the
+hammer upon the planks, then the voice of Cinq-Mars.
+
+A young Carthusian thrust his pale face between two guards. All the
+conspirators rose above the kneeling people. Every one put his hand to
+his belt or in his bosom, approaching close to the soldier whom he was
+to poniard.
+
+“What is he doing?” asked the Carthusian. “Has he his hat upon his
+head?”
+
+“He throws his hat upon the ground far from him,” calmly answered the
+arquebusier.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI. THE FETE
+
+          “Mon Dieu! quest-ce que ce monde!”
+
+                  Dernieres paroles de M. Cinq-Mars
+
+The same day that the melancholy procession took place at Lyons, and
+during the scenes we have just witnessed, a magnificent fete was given
+at Paris with all the luxury and bad taste of the time. The powerful
+Cardinal had determined to fill the first two towns in France with his
+pomp. The Cardinal’s return was the occasion on which this fete was
+announced, as given to the King and all his court.
+
+Master of the French empire by force, the Cardinal desired to be master
+of French opinion by seduction; and, weary of dominating, hoped
+to please. The tragedy of “Mirame” was to be represented in a hall
+constructed expressly for this great day, which raised the expenses of
+this entertainment, says Pelisson, to three hundred thousand crowns.
+
+The entire guard of the Prime-Minister were under arms; his four
+companies of musketeers and gens d’armes were ranged in a line upon
+the vast staircases and at the entrance of the long galleries of the
+Palais-Cardinal. This brilliant pandemonium, where the mortal sins have
+a temple on each floor, belonged that day to pride alone, which occupied
+it from top to bottom. Upon each step was placed one of the arquebusiers
+of the Cardinal’s guard, holding a torch in one hand and a long carbine
+in the other. The crowd of his gentlemen circulated between these
+living candelabra, while in the large garden, surrounded by huge
+chestnut-trees, now replaced by a range of archers, two companies of
+mounted light-horse, their muskets in their hands, were ready to obey
+the first order or the first fear of their master.
+
+The Cardinal, carried and followed by his thirty-eight pages, took his
+seat in his box hung with purple, facing that in which the King was half
+reclining behind the green curtains which preserved him from the glare
+of the flambeaux. The whole court filled the boxes, and rose when the
+King appeared. The orchestra commenced a brilliant overture, and the pit
+was thrown open to all the men of the town and the army who presented
+themselves. Three impetuous waves of spectators rushed in and filled it
+in an instant. They were standing, and so thickly pressed together that
+the movement of a single arm sufficed to cause in the crowd a movement
+similar to the waving of a field of corn. There was one man whose head
+thus described a large circle, as that of a compass, without his feet
+quitting the spot to which they were fixed; and some young men were
+carried out fainting.
+
+The minister, contrary to custom, advanced his skeleton head out of
+his box, and saluted the assembly with an air which was meant to be
+gracious. This grimace obtained an acknowledgment only from the boxes;
+the pit was silent. Richelieu had wished to show that he did not fear
+the public judgment upon his work, and had given orders to admit without
+distinction all who should present themselves. He began to repent
+of this, but too late. The impartial assembly was as cold at the
+tragedie-pastorale itself. In vain did the theatrical bergeres, covered
+with jewels, raised upon red heels, with crooks ornamented with ribbons
+and garlands of flowers upon their robes, which were stuck out with
+farthingale’s, die of love in tirades of two hundred verses; in vain
+did the ‘amants parfaits’ starve themselves in solitary caves, deploring
+their death in emphatic tones, and fastening to their hair ribbons of
+the favorite color of their mistress; in vain did the ladies of the
+court exhibit signs of perfect ecstasy, leaning over the edges of their
+boxes, and even attempt a few fainting-fits--the silent pit gave no
+other sign of life than the perpetual shaking of black heads with long
+hair.
+
+The Cardinal bit his lips and played the abstracted during the first
+and second acts; the silence in which the third and fourth passed off
+so wounded his paternal heart that he had himself raised half out of the
+balcony, and in this uncomfortable and ridiculous position signed to
+the court to remark the finest passages, and himself gave the signal for
+applause. It was acted upon from some of the boxes, but the impassible
+pit was more silent than ever; leaving the affair entirely between
+the stage and the upper regions, they obstinately remained neuter. The
+master of Europe and France then cast a furious look at this handful of
+men who dared not to admire his work, feeling in his heart the wish of
+Nero, and thought for a moment how happy he should be if all those men
+had but one head.
+
+Suddenly this black and before silent mass became animated, and endless
+rounds of applause burst forth, to the great astonishment of the boxes,
+and above all, of the minister. He bent forward and bowed gratefully,
+but drew back on perceiving that the clapping of hands interrupted the
+actors every time they wished to proceed. The King had the curtains
+of his box, until then closed, opened, to see what excited so much
+enthusiasm. The whole court leaned forward from their boxes, and
+perceived among the spectators on the stage a young man, humbly dressed,
+who had just seated himself there with difficulty. Every look was fixed
+upon him. He appeared utterly embarrassed by this, and sought to cover
+himself with his little black cloak-far too short for the purpose. “Le
+Cid! le Cid!” cried the pit, incessantly applauding.
+
+“Terrified, Corneille escaped behind the scenes, and all was again
+silent. The Cardinal, beside himself with fury, had his curtain closed,
+and was carried into his galleries, where was performed another
+scene, prepared long before by the care of Joseph, who had tutored
+the attendants upon the point before quitting Paris. Cardinal Mazarin
+exclaimed that it would be quicker to pass his Eminence through a long
+glazed window, which was only two feet from the ground, and led from his
+box to the apartments; and it opened and the page passed his
+armchair through it. Hereupon a hundred voices rose to proclaim the
+accomplishment of the grand prophecy of Nostradamus. They said:
+
+“The bonnet rouge!-that’s Monseigneur; ‘quarante onces!’--that’s
+Cinq-Mars; ‘tout finira!’--that’s De Thou. What a providential incident!
+His Eminence reigns over the future as over the present.”
+
+He advanced thus upon his ambulatory throne through the long and
+splendid galleries, listening to this delicious murmur of a new
+flattery; but insensible to the hum of voices which deified his genius,
+he would have given all their praises for one word, one single gesture
+of that immovable and inflexible public, even had that word been a
+cry of hatred; for clamor can be stifled, but how avenge one’s self on
+silence? The people can be prevented from striking, but who can prevent
+their waiting? Pursued by the troublesome phantom of public opinion,
+the gloomy minister only thought himself in safety when he reached the
+interior of his palace amid his flattering courtiers, whose adorations
+soon made him forget that a miserable pit had dared not to admire him.
+He had himself placed like a king in the midst of his vast apartments,
+and, looking around him, attentively counted the powerful and submissive
+men who surrounded him.
+
+Counting them, he admired himself. The chiefs of the great families,
+the princes of the Church, the presidents of all the parliaments, the
+governors of the provinces, the marshals and generals-in-chief of the
+armies, the nuncio, the ambassadors of all the kingdoms, the deputies
+and senators of the republics, were motionless, submissive, and ranged
+around him, as if awaiting his orders. There was no longer a look to
+brave his look, no longer a word to raise itself against his will, not a
+project that men dared to form in the most secret recesses of the heart,
+not a thought which did not proceed from his. Mute Europe listened to
+him by its representatives. From time to time he raise an imperious
+voice, and threw a self-satisfied word to this pompous circle, as a
+man who throws a copper coin among a crowd of beggars. Then might be
+distinguished, by the pride which lit up his looks and the joy visible
+in his countenance, the prince who had received such a favor.
+
+Transformed into another man, he seemed to have made a step in the
+hierarchy of power, so surrounded with unlooked-for adorations and
+sudden caresses was the fortunate courtier, whose obscure happiness
+the Cardinal did not even perceive. The King’s brother and the Duc
+de Bouillon stood in the crowd, whence the minister did not deign to
+withdraw them. Only he ostentatiously said that it would be well
+to dismantle a few fortresses, spoke at length of the necessity of
+pavements and quays at Paris, and said in two words to Turenne that
+he might perhaps be sent to the army in Italy, to seek his baton as
+marechal from Prince Thomas.
+
+While Richelieu thus played with the great and small things of Europe,
+amid his noisy fete, the Queen was informed at the Louvre that the time
+was come for her to proceed to the Cardinal’s palace, where the King
+awaited her after the tragedy. The serious Anne of Austria did not
+witness any play; but she could not refuse her presence at the fete of
+the Prime-Minister. She was in her oratory, ready to depart, and covered
+with pearls, her favorite ornament; standing opposite a large glass with
+Marie de Mantua, she was arranging more to her satisfaction one or two
+details of the young Duchess’s toilette, who, dressed in a long pink
+robe, was herself contemplating with attention, though with somewhat of
+ennui and a little sullenness, the ensemble of her appearance.
+
+She saw her own work in Marie, and, more troubled, thought with deep
+apprehension of the moment when this transient calm would cease, despite
+the profound knowledge she had of the feeling but frivolous character of
+Marie. Since the conversation at St.-Germain (the fatal letter), she had
+not quitted the young Princess, and had bestowed all her care to lead
+her mind to the path which she had traced out for her, for the most
+decided feature in the character of Anne of Austria was an invincible
+obstinacy in her calculations, to which she would fain have subjected
+all events and all passions with a geometrical exactitude. There is no
+doubt that to this positive and immovable mind we must attribute all the
+misfortunes of her regency. The sombre reply of Cinq-Mars; his arrest;
+his trial--all had been concealed from the Princesse Marie, whose first
+fault, it is true, had been a movement of self-love and a momentary
+forgetfulness.
+
+However, the Queen by nature was good-hearted, and had bitterly repented
+her precipitation in writing words so decisive, and whose consequences
+had been so serious; and all her endeavors had been applied to mitigate
+the results. In reflecting upon her conduct in reference to the
+happiness of France, she applauded herself for having thus, at one
+stroke, stifled the germ of a civil war which would have shaken the
+State to its very foundations. But when she approached her young friend
+and gazed on that charming being whose happiness she was thus destroying
+in its bloom, and reflected that an old man upon a throne, even, would
+not recompense her for the eternal loss she was about to sustain; when
+she thought of the entire devotion, the total abnegation of himself, she
+had witnessed in a young man of twenty-two, of so lofty a character,
+and almost master of the kingdom--she pitied Marie, and admired from her
+very soul the man whom she had judged so ill.
+
+She would at least have desired to explain his worth to her whom he had
+loved so deeply, and who as yet knew him not; but she still hoped that
+the conspirators assembled at Lyons would be able to save him, and
+once knowing him to be in a foreign land she could tell all to her dear
+Marie.
+
+As to the latter, she had at first feared war. But surrounded by the
+Queen’s people, who had let nothing reach her ear but news dictated by
+this Princess, she knew, or thought she knew, that the conspiracy had
+not taken place; that the King and the Cardinal had returned to Paris
+nearly at the same time; that Monsieur, relapsed for a while, had
+reappeared at court; that the Duc de Bouillon, on ceding Sedan, had
+also been restored to favor; and that if the ‘grand ecuyer’ had not
+yet appeared, the reason was the more decided animosity of the Cardinal
+toward him, and the greater part he had taken in the conspiracy. But
+common sense and natural justice clearly said that having acted under
+the order of the King’s brother, his pardon ought to follow that of this
+Prince.
+
+All then, had calmed the first uneasiness of her heart, while nothing
+had softened the kind of proud resentment she felt against Cinq-Mars, so
+indifferent as not to inform her of the place of his retreat, known
+to the Queen and the whole court, while, she said to herself, she had
+thought but of him. Besides, for two months the balls and fetes had
+so rapidly succeeded each other, and so many mysterious duties had
+commanded her presence, that she had for reflection and regret scarce
+more than the time of her toilette, at which she was generally almost
+alone. Every evening she regularly commenced the general reflection upon
+the ingratitude and inconstancy of men--a profound and novel thought,
+which never fails to occupy the head of a young person in the time of
+first love--but sleep never permitted her to finish the reflection; and
+the fatigue of dancing closed her large black eyes ere her ideas had
+found time to classify themselves in her memory, or to present her with
+any distinct images of the past.
+
+In the morning she was always surrounded by the young princesses of the
+court, and ere she well had time to dress had to present herself in
+the Queen’s apartment, where awaited her the eternal, but now less
+disagreeable homage of the Prince-Palatine. The Poles had had time to
+learn at the court of France that mysterious reserve, that eloquent
+silence which so pleases the women, because it enhances the importance
+of things always secret, and elevates those whom they respect, so as to
+preclude the idea of exhibiting suffering in their presence. Marie was
+regarded as promised to King Uladislas; and she herself--we must confess
+it--had so well accustomed herself to this idea that the throne of
+Poland occupied by another queen would have appeared to her a monstrous
+thing. She did not look forward with pleasure to the period of ascending
+it, but had, however, taken possession of the homage which was rendered
+her beforehand. Thus, without avowing it even to herself, she greatly
+exaggerated the supposed offences of Cinq-Mars, which the Queen had
+expounded to her at St. Germain.
+
+“You are as fresh as the roses in this bouquet,” said the Queen. “Come,
+‘ma chere’, are you ready? What means this pouting air? Come, let me
+fasten this earring. Do you not like these toys, eh? Will you have
+another set of ornaments?”
+
+“Oh, no, Madame. I think that I ought not to decorate myself at all, for
+no one knows better than yourself how unhappy I am. Men are very cruel
+toward us!
+
+“I have reflected on what you said, and all is now clear to me. Yes, it
+is quite true that he did not love me, for had he loved me he would have
+renounced an enterprise that gave me so much uneasiness. I told him, I
+remember, indeed, which was very decided,” she added, with an important
+and even solemn air, “that he would be a rebel--yes, Madame, a rebel. I
+told him so at Saint-Eustache. But I see that your Majesty was right.
+I am very unfortunate! He had more ambition than love.” Here a tear of
+pique escaped from her eyes, and rolled quickly down her cheek, as a
+pearl upon a rose.
+
+“Yes, it is certain,” she continued, fastening her bracelets; “and
+the greatest proof is that in the two months he has renounced his
+enterprise--you told me that you had saved him--he has not let me know
+the place of his retreat, while I during that time have been weeping,
+have been imploring all your power in his favor; have sought but a word
+that might inform me of his proceedings. I have thought but of him;
+and even now I refuse every day the throne of Poland, because I wish to
+prove to the end that I am constant, that you yourself can not make me
+disloyal to my attachment, far more serious than his, and that we are of
+higher worth than the men. But, however, I think I may attend this fete,
+since it is not a ball.”
+
+“Yes, yes, my dear child! come, come!” said the Queen, desirous of
+putting an end to this childish talk, which afflicted her all the more
+that it was herself who had encouraged it. “Come, you will see the union
+that prevails between the princes and the Cardinal, and we shall perhaps
+hear some good news.” They departed.
+
+When the two princesses entered the long galleries of the
+Palais-Cardinal, they were received and coldly saluted by the King and
+the minister, who, closely surrounded by silent courtiers, were playing
+at chess upon a small low table. All the ladies who entered with the
+Queen or followed her, spread through the apartments; and soon soft
+music sounded in one of the saloons--a gentle accompaniment to the
+thousand private conversations carried on round the play tables.
+
+Near the Queen passed, saluting her, a young newly married couple--the
+happy Chabot and the beautiful Duchesse de Rohan. They seemed to
+shun the crowd, and to seek apart a moment to speak to each other of
+themselves. Every one received them with a smile and looked after them
+with envy. Their happiness was expressed as strongly in the countenances
+of others as in their own.
+
+Marie followed them with her eyes. “Still they are happy,” she whispered
+to the Queen, remembering the censure which in her hearing had been
+thrown upon the match.
+
+But without answering, Anne of Austria, fearful that in the crowd some
+inconsiderate expression might inform her young friend of the mournful
+event so interesting to her, placed herself with Marie behind the King.
+Monsieur, the Prince-Palatine, and the Duc de Bouillon came to speak to
+her with a gay and lively air. The second, however, casting upon Marie a
+severe and scrutinizing glance, said to her:
+
+“Madame la Princesse, you are most surprisingly beautiful and gay this
+evening.”
+
+She was confused at these words, and at seeing the speaker walk away
+with a sombre air. She addressed herself to the Duc d’Orleans, who did
+not answer, and seemed not to hear her. Marie looked at the Queen, and
+thought she remarked paleness and disquiet on her features. Meantime, no
+one ventured to approach the minister, who was deliberately meditating
+his moves. Mazarin alone, leaning over his chair, followed all the
+strokes with a servile attention, giving gestures of admiration every
+time that the Cardinal played. Application to the game seemed to have
+dissipated for a moment the cloud that usually shaded the minister’s
+brow. He had just advanced a tower, which placed Louis’s king in that
+false position which is called “stalemate,”--a situation in which the
+ebony king, without being personally attacked, can neither advance nor
+retire in any direction. The Cardinal, raising his eyes, looked at his
+adversary and smiled with one corner of his mouth, not being able
+to avoid a secret analogy. Then, observing the dim eyes and dying
+countenance of the Prince, he whispered to Mazarin:
+
+“Faith, I think he’ll go before me. He is greatly changed.”
+
+At the same time he himself was seized with a long and violent cough,
+accompanied internally with the sharp, deep pain he so often felt in the
+side. At the sinister warning he put a handkerchief to his mouth, which
+he withdrew covered with blood. To hide it, he threw it under the table,
+and looked around him with a stern smile, as if to forbid observation.
+Louis XIII, perfectly insensible, did not make the least movement,
+beyond arranging his men for another game with a skeleton and trembling
+hand. There two dying men seemed to be throwing lots which should depart
+first.
+
+At this moment a clock struck the hour of midnight. The King raised his
+head.
+
+“Ah, ah!” he said; “this morning at twelve Monsieur le Grand had a
+disagreeable time of it.”
+
+A piercing shriek was uttered behind him. He shuddered, and threw
+himself forward, upsetting the table. Marie de Mantua lay senseless in
+the arms of the Queen, who, weeping bitterly, said in the King’s ear:
+
+“Ah, Sire, your axe has a double edge.”
+
+She then bestowed all her cares and maternal kisses upon the young
+Princess, who, surrounded by all the ladies of the court, only came
+to herself to burst into a torrent of tears. As soon as she opened her
+eyes, “Alas! yes, my child,” said Anne of Austria. “My poor girl, you
+are Queen of Poland.”
+
+It has often happened that the same event which causes tears to flow in
+the palace of kings has spread joy without, for the people ever suppose
+that happiness reigns at festivals. There were five days’ rejoicings for
+the return of the minister, and every evening under the windows of the
+Palais-Cardinal and those of the Louvre pressed the people of Paris.
+The late disturbances had given them a taste for public movements. They
+rushed from one street to another with a curiosity at times insulting
+and hostile, sometimes walking in silent procession, sometimes sending
+forth loud peals of laughter or prolonged yells, of which no one
+understood the meaning. Bands of young men fought in the streets and
+danced in rounds in the squares, as if manifesting some secret hope of
+pleasure and some insensate joy, grievous to the upright heart.
+
+It was remarkable that profound silence prevailed exactly in those
+places where the minister had ordered rejoicings, and that the people
+passed disdainfully before the illuminated facade of his palace. If some
+voices were raised, it was to read aloud in a sneering tone the legends
+and inscriptions with which the idiot flattery of some obscure writers
+had surrounded the portraits of the minister. One of these pictures was
+guarded by arquebusiers, who, however, could not preserve it from the
+stones which were thrown at it from a distance by unseen hands. It
+represented the Cardinal-Generalissimo wearing a casque surrounded by
+laurels. Above it was inscribed:
+
+     “Grand Duc: c’est justement que la France t’honore;
+     Ainsi que le dieu Mars dans Paris on t’adore.”
+
+These fine phrases did not persuade the people that they were happy.
+They no more adored the Cardinal than they did the god Mars, but they
+accepted his fetes because they served as a covering for disorder. All
+Paris was in an uproar. Men with long beards, carrying torches, measures
+of wine, and two drinking-cups, which they knocked together with a great
+noise, went along, arm in arm, shouting in chorus with rude voices an
+old round of the League:
+
+            “Reprenons la danse;
+             Allons, c’est assez.
+             Le printemps commence;
+             Les rois sont passes.
+
+            “Prenons quelque treve;
+             Nous sommes lasses.
+             Les rois de la feve
+             Nous ont harasses.
+
+            “Allons, Jean du Mayne,
+             Les rois sont passes.
+
+            “Les rois de la feve
+             Nous ont harasses.
+             Allons, Jean du Mayne,
+             Les rois sont passes.”
+
+The frightful bands who howled forth these words traversed the Quais and
+the Pont-Neuf, squeezing against the high houses, which then covered the
+latter, the peaceful citizens who were led there by simple curiosity.
+Two young men, wrapped in cloaks, thus thrown one against the other,
+recognized each other by the light of a torch placed at the foot of the
+statue of Henri IV, which had been lately raised.
+
+“What! still at Paris?” said Corneille to Milton. “I thought you were in
+London.”
+
+“Hear you the people, Monsieur? Do you hear them? What is this ominous
+chorus,
+
+     ‘Les rois sont passes’?”
+
+“That is nothing, Monsieur. Listen to their conversation.”
+
+“The parliament is dead,” said one of the men; “the nobles are dead.
+Let us dance; we are the masters. The old Cardinal is dying. There is no
+longer any but the King and ourselves.”
+
+“Do you hear that drunken wretch, Monsieur?” asked Corneille. “All our
+epoch is in those words of his.”
+
+“What! is this the work of the minister who is called great among you,
+and even by other nations? I do not understand him.”
+
+“I will explain the matter to you presently,” answered Corneille. “But
+first listen to the concluding part of this letter, which I received
+to-day. Draw near this light under the statue of the late King. We are
+alone. The crowd has passed. Listen!
+
+   “It was by one of those unforeseen circumstances which prevent the
+   accomplishment of the noblest enterprises that we were not able to
+   save MM. de Cinq-Mars and De Thou. We might have foreseen that,
+   prepared for death by long meditation, they would themselves refuse
+   our aid; but this idea did not occur to any of us. In the
+   precipitation of our measures, we also committed the fault of
+   dispersing ourselves too much in the crowd, so that we could not
+   take a sudden resolution. I was unfortunately stationed near the
+   scaffold; and I saw our unfortunate friends advance to the foot of
+   it, supporting the poor Abbe Quillet, who was destined to behold the
+   death of the pupil whose birth he had witnessed. He sobbed aloud,
+   and had strength enough only to kiss the hands of the two friends.
+   We all advanced, ready to throw ourselves upon the guards at the
+   announced signal; but I saw with grief M. de Cinq-Mars cast his hat
+   from him with an air of disdain. Our movement had been observed,
+   and the Catalonian guard was doubled round the scaffold. I could
+   see no more; but I heard much weeping around me. After the three
+   usual blasts of the trumpet, the recorder of Lyons, on horseback at
+   a little distance from the scaffold, read the sentence of death, to
+   which neither of the prisoners listened. M. de Thou said to M. de
+   Cinq-Mars:
+
+   “‘Well, dear friend, which shall die first? Do you remember Saint-
+   Gervais and Saint-Protais?’
+
+   “‘Which you think best,’ answered Cinq-Mars.
+
+   “The second confessor, addressing M. de Thou, said, ‘You are the
+   elder.’
+
+   “‘True,’ said M. de Thou; and, turning to M. le Grand, ‘You are the
+   most generous; you will show me the way to the glory of heaven.’
+
+   “‘Alas!’ said Cinq-Mars; ‘I have opened to you that of the
+   precipice; but let us meet death nobly, and we shall revel in the
+   glory and happiness of heaven!’
+
+   “Hereupon he embraced him, and ascended the scaffold with surprising
+   address and agility. He walked round the scaffold, and contemplated
+   the whole of the great assembly with a calm countenance, which
+   betrayed no sign of fear, and a serious and graceful manner. He
+   then went round once more, saluting the people on every side,
+   without appearing to recognize any of us, with a majestic and
+   charming expression of face; he then knelt down, raising his eyes to
+   heaven, adoring God, and recommending himself to Him. As he
+   embraced the crucifix, the father confessor called to the people to
+   pray for him; and M. le Grand, opening his arms, still holding his
+   crucifix, made the same request to the people. Then he readily
+   knelt before the block, holding the stake, placed his neck upon it,
+   and asked the confessor, ‘Father, is this right?’ Then, while they
+   were cutting off his hair, he raised his eyes to heaven, and said,
+   sighing:
+
+   “‘My God, what is this world? My God, I offer thee my death as a
+   satisfaction for my sins!’
+
+   “‘What are you waiting for? What are you doing there?’ he said to
+   the executioner, who had not yet taken his axe from an old bag he
+   had brought with him. His confessor, approaching, gave him a
+   medallion; and he, with an incredible tranquillity of mind, begged
+   the father to hold the crucifix before his eyes, which he would not
+   allow to be bound. I saw the two trembling hands of the Abbe
+   Quillet, who raised the crucifix. At this moment a voice, as clear
+   and pure as that of an angel, commenced the ‘Ave, maris stella’.
+   In the universal silence I recognized the voice of M. de Thou, who
+   was at the foot of the scaffold; the people repeated the sacred
+   strain. M. de Cinq-Mars clung more tightly to the stake; and I saw
+   a raised axe, made like the English axes. A terrible cry of the
+   people from the Place, the windows, and the towers told me that it
+   had fallen, and that the head had rolled to the ground. I had
+   happily strength enough left to think of his soul, and to commence a
+   prayer for him.
+
+   “I mingled it with that which I heard pronounced aloud by our
+   unfortunate and pious friend De Thou. I rose and saw him spring
+   upon the scaffold with such promptitude that he might almost have
+   been said to fly. The father and he recited a psalm; he uttered it
+   with the ardor of a seraphim, as if his soul had borne his body to
+   heaven. Then, kneeling down, he kissed the blood of Cinq-Mars as
+   that of a martyr, and became himself a greater martyr. I do not
+   know whether God was pleased to grant him this last favor; but I saw
+   with horror that the executioner, terrified no doubt at the first
+   blow he had given, struck him upon the top of his head, whither the
+   unfortunate young man raised his hand; the people sent forth a long
+   groan, and advanced against the executioner. The poor wretch,
+   terrified still more, struck him another blow, which only cut the
+   skin and threw him upon the scaffold, where the executioner rolled
+   upon him to despatch him. A strange event terrified the people as
+   much as the horrible spectacle. M. de Cinq-Mars’ old servant held
+   his horse as at a military funeral; he had stopped at the foot of
+   the scaffold, and like a man paralyzed, watched his master to the
+   end, then suddenly, as if struck by the same axe, fell dead under
+   the blow which had taken off his master’s head.
+
+   “I write these sad details in haste, on board a Genoese galley, into
+   which Fontrailles, Gondi, Entraigues, Beauvau, Du Lude, myself, and
+   others of the chief conspirators have retired. We are going to
+   England to await until time shall deliver France from the tyrant
+   whom we could not destroy. I abandon forever the service of the
+   base Prince who betrayed us.
+
+                       “MONTRESOR”
+
+“Such,” continued Corneille, “has been the fate of these two young men
+whom you lately saw so powerful. Their last sigh was that of the ancient
+monarchy. Nothing more than a court can reign here henceforth; the
+nobles and the senates are destroyed.”
+
+“And this is your pretended great man!” said Milton. “What has he
+sought to do? He would, then, create republics for future ages, since he
+destroys the basis of your monarchy?”
+
+“Look not so far,” answered Corneille; “he only seeks to reign until the
+end of his life. He has worked for the present and not for the future;
+he has continued the work of Louis XI; and neither one nor the other
+knew what they were doing.”
+
+The Englishman smiled.
+
+“I thought,” he said, “that true genius followed another path. This man
+has shaken all that he ought to have supported, and they admire him! I
+pity your nation.”
+
+“Pity it not!” exclaimed Corneille, warmly; “a man passes away, but a
+people is renewed. This people, Monsieur, is gifted with an immortal
+energy, which nothing can destroy; its imagination often leads it
+astray, but superior reason will ever ultimately master its disorders.”
+
+The two young and already great men walked, as they conversed, upon the
+space which separates the statue of Henri IV from the Place Dauphine;
+they stopped a moment in the centre of this Place.
+
+“Yes, Monsieur,” continued Corneille, “I see every evening with what
+rapidity a noble thought finds its echo in French hearts; and every
+evening I retire happy at the sight. Gratitude prostrates the poor
+people before this statue of a good king! Who knows what other monument
+another passion may raise near this? Who can say how far the love of
+glory will lead our people? Who knows that in the place where we now
+are, there may not be raised a pyramid taken from the East?”
+
+“These are the secrets of the future,” said Milton. “I, like yourself,
+admire your impassioned nation; but I fear them for themselves. I do
+not well understand them; and I do not recognize their wisdom when I see
+them lavishing their admiration upon men such as he who now rules you.
+The love of power is very puerile; and this man is devoured by it,
+without having force enough to seize it wholly. By an utter absurdity,
+he is a tyrant under a master. Thus has this colossus, never firmly
+balanced, been all but overthrown by the finger of a boy. Does that
+indicate genius? No, no! when genius condescends to quit the lofty
+regions of its true home for a human passion, at least, it should grasp
+that passion in its entirety. Since Richelieu only aimed at power, why
+did he not, if he was a genius, make himself absolute master of power?
+I am going to see a man who is not yet known, and whom I see swayed by
+this miserable ambition; but I think that he will go farther. His name
+is Cromwell!”
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cinq-Mars, Complete, by Alfred de Vigny
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+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Cinq-Mars, by Alfred de Vigny</title>
+
+<style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
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+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    pre     { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cinq-Mars, Complete, by Alfred de Vigny
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cinq-Mars, Complete
+
+Author: Alfred de Vigny
+
+
+Release Date: October 5, 2006 [EBook #3953]
+Last Updated: March 16, 2023
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CINQ-MARS, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <h1>
+      CINQ-MARS
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By Alfred De Vigny
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      With a Prefaces by CHARLES DE MAZADE, <br />and GASTON BOISSIER of the
+      French Academy.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> ALFRED DE VIGNY </a><br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0003">
+        TRUTH IN ART </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> <b>CINQ-MARS</b>
+        </a><br /><br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> <b>BOOK 1.</b> </a> <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. </a>THE ADIEU <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. </a>THE STREET <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. </a>THE GOOD PRIEST <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. </a>THE TRIAL <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2H_4_0010"> <b>BOOK 2.</b> </a> <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. </a>THE MARTYRDOM <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. </a>THE DREAM <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a>THE CABINET <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. </a>THE INTERVIEW <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2H_4_0015"> <b>BOOK 3.</b> </a> <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. </a>THE SIEGE <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. </a>THE RECOMPENSE <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. </a>THE BLUNDERS <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. </a>THE NIGHT-WATCH <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII. </a>THE SPANIARD <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2H_4_0021"> <b>BOOK 4.</b> </a> <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV. </a>THE RIOT <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV. </a>THE ALCOVE <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI. </a>THE CONFUSION <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII. </a>TOILETTE <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2H_4_0026"> <b>BOOK 5.</b> </a> <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII. </a>THE SECRET <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX. </a>THE HUNTING PARTY <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX. </a>THE READING <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI. </a>THE CONFESSIONAL <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2H_4_0031"> <b>BOOK 6.</b> </a> <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII. </a>THE STORM <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII. </a>ABSENCE <br /><br />
+        <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV. </a>THE WORK <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV. </a>THE PRISONERS <br /><br /> <a
+        href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER XXVI. </a>THE FETE <br /><br />
+      </p>
+
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      ALFRED DE VIGNY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The reputation of Alfred de Vigny has endured extraordinary vicissitudes
+      in France. First he was lauded as the precursor of French romantic poetry
+      and stately prose; then he sank in semi-oblivion, became the curiosity of
+      criticism, died in retirement, and was neglected for a long time, until
+      the last ten years or so produced a marked revolution of taste in France.
+      The supremacy of Victor Hugo has been, if not questioned, at least
+      mitigated; other poets have recovered from their obscurity. Lamartine
+      shines now like a lamp relighted; and the pure, brilliant, and profoundly
+      original genius of Alfred de Vigny now takes, for the first time, its
+      proper place as one of the main illuminating forces of the nineteenth
+      century.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not until one hundred years after this poet&rsquo;s birth that it
+      became clearly recognized that he is one of the most important of all the
+      great writers of France, and he is distinguished not only in fiction, but
+      also in poetry and the drama. He is a follower of Andre Chenier,
+      Lamartine, and Victor Hugo, a lyric sun, a philosophic poet, later,
+      perhaps in consequence of the Revolution of 1830, becoming a &ldquo;Symbolist.&rdquo;
+      He has been held to occupy a middle ground between De Musset and Chenier,
+      but he has also something suggestive of Madame de Stael, and,
+      artistically, he has much in common with Chateaubriand, though he is more
+      coldly impersonal and probably much more sincere in his philosophy. If
+      Sainte-Beuve, however, calls the poet in his Nouveaux Lundis a &ldquo;beautiful
+      angel, who has been drinking vinegar,&rdquo; then the modern reader needs
+      a strong caution against malice and raillery, if not jealousy and perfidy,
+      although the article on De Vigny abounds otherwise with excessive critical
+      cleverness.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+At times, indeed, under the cruel deceptions of love, he seemed to lose
+faith in his idealism; his pessimism, nevertheless, always remained
+noble, restrained, sympathetic, manifesting itself not in appeals for
+condolence, but in pitying care for all who were near and dear to him.
+Yet his lofty prose and poetry, interpenetrated with the stern despair
+of pessimistic idealism, will always be unintelligible to the many. As a
+poet, De Vigny appeals to the chosen few alone. In his dramas his genius
+is more emancipated from himself, in his novels most of all. It is by
+these that he is most widely known, and by these that he exercised the
+greatest influence on the literary life of his generation.
+
+ Alfred-Victor, Count de Vigny, was born in Loches, Touraine, March 27,
+1797. His father was an army officer, wounded in the Seven Years&rsquo; War.
+Alfred, after having been well educated, also selected a military career
+and received a commission in the &ldquo;Mousquetaires Rouges,&rdquo; in 1814, when
+barely seventeen. He served until 1827, &ldquo;twelve long years of peace,&rdquo;
+ then resigned. Already in 1822 appeared a volume of &lsquo;Poemes&rsquo; which was
+hardly noticed, although containing poetry since become important to
+the evolution of French verse: &lsquo;La Neige, le Coy, le Deluge, Elva, la
+Frigate&rsquo;, etc., again collected in &lsquo;Poemes antiques et modernes&rsquo; (1826).
+Other poems were published after his death in &lsquo;Les Destinies&rsquo; (1864).
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Under the influence of Walter Scott, he wrote a historical romance in
+      1826, &lsquo;Cinq-Mars, ou une Conjuration sans Louis XIII&rsquo;. It met
+      with the most brilliant and decided success and was crowned by the
+      Academy. Cinq-Mars will always be remembered as the earliest romantic
+      novel in France and the greatest and most dramatic picture of Richelieu
+      now extant. De Vigny was a convinced Anglophile, well acquainted with the
+      writings of Shakespeare and Milton, Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley, Matthew
+      Arnold, and Leopardi. He also married an English lady in 1825&mdash;Lydia
+      Bunbury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Other prose works are &lsquo;Stello&rsquo; (1832), in the manner of Sterne
+      and Diderot, and &lsquo;Servitude et Grandeur militaire&rsquo; (1835), the
+      language of which is as caustic as that of Merimee. As a dramatist, De
+      Vigny produced a translation of &lsquo;Othello&mdash;Le More de Venice&rsquo;
+      (1829); also &lsquo;La Marechale d&rsquo;Ancre&rsquo; (1832); both met
+      with moderate success only. But a decided &ldquo;hit&rdquo; was &lsquo;Chatterton&rsquo;
+      (1835), an adaption from his prose-work &lsquo;Stello, ou les Diables
+      bleus&rsquo;; it at once established his reputation on the stage; the
+      applause was most prodigious, and in the annals of the French theatre can
+      only be compared with that of &lsquo;Le Cid&rsquo;. It was a great victory
+      for the Romantic School, and the type of Chatterton, the slighted poet,
+      &ldquo;the marvellous boy, the sleepless soul that perished in his pride,&rdquo;
+      became contagious as erstwhile did the type of Werther.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For twenty years before his death Alfred de Vigny wrote nothing. He lived
+      in retirement, almost a recluse, in La Charente, rarely visiting Paris.
+      Admitted into L&rsquo;Academie Francaise in 1845, he describes in his
+      &lsquo;Journal d&rsquo;un Poete&rsquo; his academic visits and the
+      reception held out to him by the members of L&rsquo;Institut. This work
+      appeared posthumously in 1867.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He died in Paris, September 17, 1863.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                  CHARLES DE MAZADE
+                de l&rsquo;Academie Francaise.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PREFACE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Considering Alfred de Vigny first as a writer, it is evident that he
+      wished the public to regard him as different from the other romanticists
+      of his day; in fact, in many respects, his method presents a striking
+      contrast to theirs. To their brilliant facility, their prodigious
+      abundance, and the dazzling luxury of color in their pictures of life he
+      opposes a style always simple, pure, clear, with delicacy of touch,
+      careful drawing of character, correct locution, and absolute chastity.
+      Yet, even though he had this marked regard for purity in literary style,
+      no writer had more dislike of mere pedantry. His high ideal in literary
+      art and his self-respect inspired him with an invincible repugnance toward
+      the artificialities of style of that period, which the romanticists&mdash;above
+      all, Chateaubriand, their master&mdash;had so much abused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one knows of the singular declaration made by Chateaubriand to
+      Joubert, while relating the details of a nocturnal voyage: &ldquo;The moon
+      shone upon me in a slender crescent, and that prevented me from writing an
+      untruth, for I feel sure that had not the moon been there I should have
+      said in my letter that it was shining, and then you would have convicted
+      me of an error in my almanac!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This habit of sacrificing truth and exactitude of impression, for the sake
+      of producing a harmonious phrase or a picturesque suggestion, disgusted
+      Alfred de Vigny. &ldquo;The worst thing about writers is that they care
+      very little whether what they write is true, so long as they only write,&rdquo;
+      we read on one page of his Journal. He adds, &ldquo;They should seek words
+      only in their own consciences.&rdquo; On another page he says: &ldquo;The
+      most serious lack in literary work is sincerity. Perceiving clearly that
+      the combination of technical labor and research for effective expression,
+      in producing literary work, often leads us to a paradox, I have resolved
+      to sacrifice all to conviction and truth, so that this precious element of
+      sincerity, complete and profound, shall dominate my books and give to them
+      the sacred character which the divine presence of truth always gives.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Besides sincerity, De Vigny possessed, in a high degree, a gift which was
+      not less rare in that age&mdash;good taste. He had taste in the art of
+      writing, a fine literary tact, a sense of proportion, a perception of
+      delicate shades of expression, an instinct that told him what to say and
+      what to suppress, to insinuate, or to be left to the understanding. Even
+      in his innovations in form, in his boldness of style, he showed a rare
+      discretion; never did he do violence to the genius of the French language,
+      and one may apply to him without reserve the eulogy that Quintilian
+      pronounced upon Horace: &lsquo;Verbis felicissime audax&rsquo;.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He cherished also a fixed principle that art implied selection. He was
+      neither idealist nor realist, in the exclusive and opposing sense in which
+      we understand these terms; he recommended a scrupulous observance of
+      nature, and that every writer should draw as close to it as possible, but
+      only in order to interpret it, to reveal it with a true feeling, yet
+      without a too intimate analysis, and that no one should attempt to portray
+      it exactly or servilely copy it. &ldquo;Of what use is art,&rdquo; he
+      says, &ldquo;if it is only a reduplication of existence? We see around us
+      only too much of the sadness and disenchantment of reality.&rdquo; The
+      three novels that compose the volume &lsquo;Servitude et Grandeur
+      militaire&rsquo; are, in this respect, models of romantic composition that
+      never will be surpassed, bearing witness to the truth of the formula
+      followed by De Vigny in all his literary work: &ldquo;Art is the chosen
+      truth.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If, as a versifier, Alfred de Vigny does not equal the great poets of his
+      time, if they are his superiors in distinction and brilliancy, in richness
+      of vocabulary, freedom of movement, and variety of rhythm, the cause is to
+      be ascribed less to any lack of poetic genius than to the nature of his
+      inspiration, even to the laws of poesy, and to the secret and irreducible
+      antinomy that exists between art and thought. When, for example, Theophile
+      Gautier reproached him with being too little impressed with the exigencies
+      of rhyme, his criticism was not well grounded, for richness of rhyme,
+      though indispensable in works of descriptive imagination, has no &lsquo;raison
+      d&rsquo;etre&rsquo; in poems dominated by sentiment and thought. But,
+      having said that, we must recognize in his poetry an element, serious,
+      strong, and impressive, characteristic of itself alone, and admire, in the
+      strophes of &lsquo;Mozse&rsquo;, in the imprecations of &lsquo;Samson&rsquo;,
+      and in the &lsquo;Destinees&rsquo;, the majestic simplicity of the most
+      beautiful Hebraic verse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Moreover, the true originality of De Vigny does not lie in the manner of
+      composition; it was primarily in the role of precursor that he played his
+      part on the stage of literature. Let us imagine ourselves at the period
+      about the beginning of the year 1822. Of the three poets who, in making
+      their literary debuts, had just published the &lsquo;Meditations, Poemes
+      antiques et modernes, and Odes&rsquo;, only one had, at that time, the
+      instinct of renewal in the spirit of French poesy, and a sense of the
+      manner in which this must be accomplished; and that one was not Lamartine,
+      and certainly it was not Victor Hugo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sainte-Beuve has said, with authority, that in Lamartine there is
+      something suggestive of Millevoye, of Voltaire (he of the charming
+      epistles), and of Fontanes; and Victor Hugo wrote with very little
+      variation from the technical form of his predecessors. &ldquo;But with
+      Alfred de Vigny,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;we seek in vain for a resemblance
+      to any French poetry preceding his work. For example, where can we find
+      anything resembling &lsquo;Moise, Eloa, Doloeida&rsquo;? Where did he find
+      his inspiration for style and composition in these poems? If the poets of
+      the Pleiades of the Restoration seem to have found their inspiration
+      within themselves, showing no trace of connection with the literature of
+      the past, thus throwing into confusion old habits of taste and of routine,
+      certain it is that among them Alfred de Vigny should be ranked first.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even in the collection that bears the date of 1822, some years before the
+      future author of Legende des Siecles had taken up romanticism, Alfred de
+      Vigny had already conceived the idea of setting forth, in a series of
+      little epics, the migrations of the human soul throughout the ages.
+      &ldquo;One feels,&rdquo; said he in his Preface, &ldquo;a keen
+      intellectual delight in transporting one&rsquo;s self, by mere force of
+      thought, to a period of antiquity; it resembles the pleasure an old man
+      feels in recalling first his early youth, and then the whole course of his
+      life. In the age of simplicity, poetry was devoted entirely to the
+      beauties of the physical forms of nature and of man; each step in advance
+      that it has made since then toward our own day of civilization and of
+      sadness, seems to have blended it more and more with our arts, and even
+      with the sufferings of our souls. At present, with all the serious
+      solemnity of Religion and of Destiny, it lends to them their chief beauty.
+      Never discouraged, Poetry has followed Man in his long journey through the
+      ages, like a sweet and beautiful companion. I have attempted, in our
+      language, to show some of her beauties, in following her progress toward
+      the present day.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The arrangement of the poems announced in this Preface is tripartite, like
+      that of the &lsquo;Legende des Siecles: Poemes antiques, poemes judaiques,
+      poemes modernes.&mdash;Livre mystique, livre antique, livre moderne&rsquo;.
+      But the name of precursor would be a vain title if all that were necessary
+      to merit it was the fact that one had been the first to perceive a new
+      path to literary glory, to salute it from a distance, yet never attempt to
+      make a nearer approach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In one direction at least, Alfred de Vigny was a true innovator, in the
+      broadest and most meritorious sense of the word: he was the creator of
+      philosophic poetry in France. Until Jocelyn appeared, in 1836, the form of
+      poetic expression was confined chiefly to the ode, the ballad, and the
+      elegy; and no poet, with the exception of the author of &lsquo;Moise&rsquo;
+      and &lsquo;Eloa&rsquo;, ever dreamed that abstract ideas and themes
+      dealing with the moralities could be expressed in the melody of verse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this priority, of which he knew the full value, Alfred de Vigny laid
+      insistent claim. &ldquo;The only merit,&rdquo; he says in one of his
+      prefaces, &ldquo;that any one ever has disputed with me in this sort of
+      composition is the honor of having promulgated in France all works of the
+      kind in which philosophic thought is presented in either epic or dramatic
+      form.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was not alone priority in the sense of time that gave him right of
+      way over his contemporaries; he was the most distinguished representative
+      of poetic philosophy of his generation. If the phrases of Lamartine seem
+      richer, if his flight is more majestic, De Vigny&rsquo;s range is surer
+      and more powerful. While the philosophy of the creator of &lsquo;Les
+      Harmonies&rsquo; is uncertain and inconsistent, that of the poet of
+      &lsquo;Les Destinees&rsquo; is strong and substantial, for the reason that
+      the former inspires more sentiment than ideas, while the latter, soaring
+      far above the narrow sphere of personal emotion, writes of everything that
+      occupies the intellect of man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus, by his vigor and breadth of thought, by his profound understanding
+      of life, by the intensity of his dreams, Alfred de Vigny is superior to
+      Victor Hugo, whose genius was quite different, in his power to portray
+      picturesque scenes, in his remarkable fecundity of imagination, and in his
+      sovereign mastery of technique.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But nowhere in De Vigny&rsquo;s work is that superiority of poetic thought
+      so clearly shown as in those productions wherein the point of departure
+      was farthest from the domain of intellect, and better than any other has
+      he understood that truth proclaimed by Hegel: &ldquo;The passions of the
+      soul and the affections of the heart are matter for poetic expression only
+      in so far as they are general, solid, and eternal.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Vigny was also the only one among our poets that had a lofty ideal of
+      woman and of love. And in order to convince one&rsquo;s self of this it is
+      sufficient to reread successively the four great love-poems of that
+      period: &lsquo;Le Lac, La Tristesse d&rsquo;Olympio, Le Souvenir, and La
+      Colere de Samson&rsquo;.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lamartine&rsquo;s conception of love was a sort of mild ecstasy, the
+      sacred rapture in which the senses play no part, and noble emotions that
+      cause neither trouble nor remorse. He ever regarded love as a kind of
+      sublime and passionate religion, of which &lsquo;Le Lac&rsquo; was the
+      most beautiful hymn, but in which the image of woman is so vague that she
+      almost seems to be absent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the other hand, what is &lsquo;La Tristesse d&rsquo;Olympio&rsquo; if
+      not an admirable but common poetic rapture, a magnificent summary of the
+      sufferings of the heart&mdash;a bit of lyric writing equal to the most
+      beautiful canzoni of the Italian masters, but wherein we find no idea of
+      love, because all is artificial and studied; no cry from the soul is
+      heard,&mdash;no trace of passion appears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After another fashion the same criticism applies to Le Souvenir; it was
+      written under a stress of emotion resulting from too recent events; and
+      the imagination of the author, subservient to a memory relentlessly
+      faithful, as is often the case with those to whom passion is the chief
+      principle of inspiration, was far from fulfilling the duties of his high
+      vocation, which is to purify the passions of the poet from individual and
+      accidental characteristics in order to leave unhampered whatever his work
+      may contain that is powerful and imperishable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Alfred de Vigny alone, of the poets of his day, in his &lsquo;Colere de
+      Samson&rsquo;, has risen to a just appreciation of woman and of love; his
+      ideal is grand and tragic, it is true, and reminds one of that gloomy
+      passage in Ecclesiastes which says: &ldquo;Woman is more bitter than
+      death, and her arms are like chains.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is by this character of universality, of which all his writings show
+      striking evidence, that Alfred de Vigny is assured of immortality. A
+      heedless generation neglected him because it preferred to seek subjects in
+      strong contrast to life of its own time. But that which was not
+      appreciated by his contemporaries will be welcomed by posterity. And when,
+      in French literature, there shall remain of true romanticism only a slight
+      trace and the memory of a few great names, the author of the &lsquo;Destinees&rsquo;
+      will still find an echo in all hearts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No writer, no matter how gifted, immortalizes himself unless he has
+      crystallized into expressive and original phrase the eternal sentiments
+      and yearnings of the human heart. &ldquo;A man does not deserve the name
+      of poet unless he can express personal feeling and emotion, and only that
+      man is worthy to be called a poet who knows how to assimilate the varied
+      emotions of mankind.&rdquo; If this fine phrase of Goethe&rsquo;s is true,
+      if true poetry is only that which implies a mastery of spiritual things as
+      well as of human emotion, Alfred de Vigny is assuredly one of our greatest
+      poets, for none so well as he has realized a complete vision of the
+      universe, no one has brought before the world with more boldness the
+      problem of the soul and that of humanity. Under the title of poet he
+      belongs not only to our national literature, but occupies a distinctive
+      place in the world of intellect, with Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe, among
+      those inspired beings who transmit throughout succeeding centuries the
+      light of reason and the traditions of the loftiest poetic thought.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Alfred de Vigny was elected to a chair in the French Academy in 1846 and
+      died at Paris, September 17, 1863.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                  GASTON BOISSIER
+          Secretaire Perpetuel de l&rsquo;Academie Francaise.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      TRUTH IN ART
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The study of social progress is to-day not less needed in literature than
+      is the analysis of the human heart. We live in an age of universal
+      investigation, and of exploration of the sources of all movements. France,
+      for example, loves at the same time history and the drama, because the one
+      explores the vast destinies of humanity, and the other the individual lot
+      of man. These embrace the whole of life. But it is the province of
+      religion, of philosophy, of pure poetry only, to go beyond life, beyond
+      time, into eternity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of late years (perhaps as a result of our political changes) art has
+      borrowed from history more than ever. All of us have our eyes fixed on our
+      chronicles, as though, having reached manhood while going on toward
+      greater things, we had stopped a moment to cast up the account of our
+      youth and its errors. We have had to double the interest by adding to it
+      recollection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As France has carried farther than other nations this love of facts, and
+      as I had chosen a recent and well-remembered epoch, it seemed to me that I
+      ought not to imitate those foreigners who in their pictures barely show in
+      the horizon the men who dominate their history. I placed ours in the
+      foreground of the scene; I made them leading actors in this tragedy,
+      wherever I endeavored to represent the three kinds of ambition by which we
+      are influenced, and with them the beauty of self-sacrifice to a noble
+      ideal. A treatise on the fall of the feudal system; on the position, at
+      home and abroad, of France in the seventeenth century; on foreign
+      alliances; on the justice of parliaments or of secret commissions, or on
+      accusations of sorcery, would not perhaps have been read. But the romance
+      was read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I do not mean to defend this last form of historical composition, being
+      convinced that the real greatness of a work lies in the substance of the
+      author&rsquo;s ideas and sentiments, and not in the literary form in which
+      they are dressed. The choice of a certain epoch necessitates a certain
+      treatment&mdash;to another epoch it would be unsuitable; these are mere
+      secrets of the workshop of thought which there is no need of disclosing.
+      What is the use of theorizing as to wherein lies the charm that moves us?
+      We hear the tones of the harp, but its graceful form conceals from us its
+      frame of iron. Nevertheless, since I have been convinced that this book
+      possesses vitality, I can not help throwing out some reflections on the
+      liberty which the imagination should employ in weaving into its tapestry
+      all the leading figures of an age, and, to give more consistency to their
+      acts, in making the reality of fact give way to the idea which each of
+      them should represent in the eyes of posterity; in short, on the
+      difference which I find between Truth in art and the True in fact.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as we descend into our consciences to judge of actions which our
+      minds can not weigh, can we not also search in ourselves for the feeling
+      which gives birth to forms of thought, always vague and cloudy? We shall
+      find in our troubled hearts, where discord reigns, two needs which seem at
+      variance, but which merge, as I think, in a common source&mdash;the love
+      of the true, and the love of the fabulous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the day when man told the story of his life to man, history was born.
+      Of what use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example of good
+      or of evil? But the examples which the slow train of events presents to us
+      are scattered and incomplete. They lack always a tangible and visible
+      coherence leading straight on to a moral conclusion. The acts of the human
+      race on the world&rsquo;s stage have doubtless a coherent unity, but the
+      meaning of the vast tragedy enacted will be visible only to the eye of
+      God, until the end, which will reveal it perhaps to the last man. All
+      systems of philosophy have sought in vain to explain it, ceaselessly
+      rolling up their rock, which, never reaching the top, falls back upon them&mdash;each
+      raising its frail structure on the ruins of the others, only to see it
+      fall in its turn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I think, then, that man, after having satisfied his first longing for
+      facts, wanted something fuller&mdash;some grouping, some adaptation to his
+      capacity and experience, of the links of this vast chain of events which
+      his sight could not take in. Thus he hoped to find in the historic recital
+      examples which might support the moral truths of which he was conscious.
+      Few single careers could satisfy this longing, being only incomplete parts
+      of the elusive whole of the history of the world; one was a quarter, as it
+      were, the other a half of the proof; imagination did the rest and
+      completed them. From this, without doubt, sprang the fable. Man created it
+      thus, because it was not given him to see more than himself and nature,
+      which surrounds him; but he created it true with a truth all its own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This Truth, so beautiful, so intellectual, which I feel, I see, and long
+      to define, the name of which I here venture to distinguish from that of
+      the True, that I may the better make myself understood, is the soul of all
+      the arts. It is the selection of the characteristic token in all the
+      beauties and the grandeurs of the visible True; but it is not the thing
+      itself, it is something better: it is an ideal combination of its
+      principal forms, a luminous tint made up of its brightest colors, an
+      intoxicating balm of its purest perfumes, a delicious elixir of its best
+      juices, a perfect harmony of its sweetest sounds&mdash;in short, it is a
+      concentration of all its good qualities. For this Truth, and nothing else,
+      should strive those works of art which are a moral representation of
+      life-dramatic works. To attain it, the first step is undoubtedly to learn
+      all that is true in fact of every period, to become deeply imbued with its
+      general character and with its details; this involves only a cheap tribute
+      of attention, of patience, and of memory: But then one must fix upon some
+      chosen centre, and group everything around it; this is the work of
+      imagination, and of that sublime common-sense which is genius itself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the
+      imitation of life? Good heavens! we see only too clearly about us the sad
+      and disenchanting reality&mdash;the insupportable lukewarmness of feeble
+      characters, of shallow virtues and vices, of irresolute loves, of tempered
+      hates, of wavering friendships, of unsettled beliefs, of constancy which
+      has its height and its depth, of opinions which evaporate. Let us dream
+      that once upon a time have lived men stronger and greater, who were more
+      determined for good or for evil; that does us good. If the paleness of
+      your True is to follow us into art, we shall close at once the theatre and
+      the book, to avoid meeting it a second time. What is wanted of works which
+      revive the ghosts of human beings is, I repeat, the philosophical
+      spectacle of man deeply wrought upon by the passions of his character and
+      of his epoch; it is, in short, the artistic Truth of that man and that
+      epoch, but both raised to a higher and ideal power, which concentrates all
+      their forces. You recognize this Truth in works of the imagination just as
+      you cry out at the resemblance of a portrait of which you have never seen
+      the original; for true talent paints life rather than the living.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To banish finally the scruples on this point of the consciences of some
+      persons, timorous in literary matters, whom I have seen affected with a
+      personal sorrow on viewing the rashness with which the imagination sports
+      with the most weighty characters of history, I will hazard the assertion
+      that, not throughout this work, I dare not say that, but in many of these
+      pages, and those perhaps not of the least merit, history is a romance of
+      which the people are the authors. The human mind, I believe, cares for the
+      True only in the general character of an epoch. What it values most of all
+      is the sum total of events and the advance of civilization, which carries
+      individuals along with it; but, indifferent to details, it cares less to
+      have them real than noble or, rather, grand and complete.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Examine closely the origin of certain deeds, of certain heroic
+      expressions, which are born one knows not how; you will see them leap out
+      ready-made from hearsay and the murmurs of the crowd, without having in
+      themselves more than a shadow of truth, and, nevertheless, they will
+      remain historical forever. As if by way of pleasantry, and to put a joke
+      upon posterity, the public voice invents sublime utterances to mark,
+      during their lives and under their very eyes, men who, confused, avow
+      themselves as best they may, as not deserving of so much glory and as not
+      being able to support so high renown.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [In our time has not a Russian General denied the fire of Moscow,
+   which we have made heroic, and which will remain so? Has not a
+   French General denied that utterance on the field of Waterloo which
+   will immortalize it? And if I were not withheld by my respect for a
+   sacred event, I might recall that a priest has felt it to be his
+   duty to disavow in public a sublime speech which will remain the
+   noblest that has ever been pronounced on a scaffold: &ldquo;Son of Saint
+   Louis, rise to heaven!&rdquo; When I learned not long ago its real
+   author, I was overcome by the destruction of my illusion, but before
+   long I was consoled by a thought that does honor to humanity in my
+   eyes. I feel that France has consecrated this speech, because she
+   felt the need of reestablishing herself in her own eyes, of blinding
+   herself to her awful error, and of believing that then and there an
+   honest man was found who dared to speak aloud.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In vain; their disclaimers are not received. Let them cry out, let them
+      write, let them print, let them sign&mdash;they are not listened to. These
+      utterances are inscribed in bronze; the poor fellows remain historical and
+      sublime in spite of themselves. And I do not find that all this is done in
+      the ages of barbarism alone; it is still going on, and it molds the
+      history of yesterday to the taste of public opinion&mdash;a Muse
+      tyrannical and capricious, which preserves the general purport and scorns
+      detail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Which of you knows not of such transformation? Do you not see with your
+      own eyes the chrysalis fact assume by degrees the wings of fiction? Half
+      formed by the necessities of the time, a fact is hidden in the ground
+      obscure and incomplete, rough, misshapen, like a block of marble not yet
+      rough-hewn. The first who unearth it, and take it in hand, would wish it
+      differently shaped, and pass it, already a little rounded, into other
+      hands; others polish it as they pass it along; in a short time it is
+      exhibited transformed into an immortal statue. We disclaim it; witnesses
+      who have seen and heard pile refutations upon explanations; the learned
+      investigate, pore over books, and write. No one listens to them any more
+      than to the humble heroes who disown it; the torrent rolls on and bears
+      with it the whole thing under the form which it has pleased it to give to
+      these individual actions. What was needed for all this work? A nothing, a
+      word; sometimes the caprice of a journalist out of work. And are we the
+      losers by it? No. The adopted fact is always better composed than the real
+      one, and it is even adopted only because it is better. The human race
+      feels a need that its destinies should afford it a series of lessons; more
+      careless than we think of the reality of facts, it strives to perfect the
+      event in order to give it a great moral significance, feeling sure that
+      the succession of scenes which it plays upon earth is not a comedy, and
+      that since it advances, it marches toward an end, of which the explanation
+      must be sought beyond what is visible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For my part, I acknowledge my gratitude to the voice of the people for
+      this achievement; for often in the finest life are found strange blemishes
+      and inconsistencies which pain me when I see them. If a man seems to me a
+      perfect model of a grand and noble character, and if some one comes and
+      tells me of a mean trait which disfigures him, I am saddened by it, even
+      though I do not know him, as by a misfortune which affects me in person;
+      and I could almost wish that he had died before the change in his
+      character.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus, when the Muse (and I give that name to art as a whole, to everything
+      which belongs to the domain of imagination, almost in the same way as the
+      ancients gave the name of Music to all education), when the Muse has
+      related, in her impassioned manner, the adventures of a character whom I
+      know to have lived; and when she reshapes his experiences into conformity
+      with the strongest idea of vice or virtue which can be conceived of him&mdash;filling
+      the gaps, veiling the incongruities of his life, and giving him that
+      perfect unity of conduct which we like to see represented even in evil&mdash;if,
+      in addition to this, she preserves the only thing essential to the
+      instruction of the world, the spirit of the epoch, I know no reason why we
+      should be more exacting with her than with this voice of the people which
+      every day makes every fact undergo so great changes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ancients carried this liberty even into history; they wanted to see in
+      it only the general march, and broad movements of peoples and nations; and
+      on these great movements, brought to view in courses very distinct and
+      very clear, they placed a few colossal figures&mdash;symbols of noble
+      character and of lofty purpose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One might almost reckon mathematically that, having undergone the double
+      composition of public opinion and of the author, their history reaches us
+      at third hand and is thus separated by two stages from the original fact.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is because in their eyes history too was a work of art; and in
+      consequence of not having realized that such is its real nature, the whole
+      Christian world still lacks an historical monument like those which
+      dominate antiquity and consecrate the memory of its destinies&mdash;as its
+      pyramids, its obelisks, its pylons, and its porticos still dominate the
+      earth which was known to them, and thereby commemorate the grandeur of
+      antiquity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If, then, we find everywhere evidence of this inclination to desert the
+      positive, to bring the ideal even into historic annals, I believe that
+      with greater reason we should be completely indifferent to historical
+      reality in judging the dramatic works, whether poems, romances, or
+      tragedies, which borrow from history celebrated characters. Art ought
+      never to be considered except in its relations with its ideal beauty. Let
+      it be said that what is true in fact is secondary merely; it is only an
+      illusion the more with which it adorns itself&mdash;one of our prejudices
+      which it respects. It can do without it, for the Truth by which it must
+      live is the truth of observation of human nature, and not authenticity of
+      fact. The names of the characters have nothing to do with the matter. The
+      idea is everything; the proper name is only the example and the proof of
+      the idea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So much the better for the memory of those who are chosen to represent
+      philosophical or moral ideas; but, once again, that is not the question.
+      The imagination can produce just as fine things without them; it is a
+      power wholly creative; the imaginary beings which it animates are endowed
+      with life as truly as the real beings which it brings to life again. We
+      believe in Othello as we do in Richard III., whose tomb is in Westminster;
+      in Lovelace and Clarissa as in Paul and Virginia, whose tombs are in the
+      Isle of France. It is with the same eye that we must watch the performance
+      of its characters, and demand of the Muse only her artistic Truth, more
+      lofty than the True&mdash;whether collecting the traits of a character
+      dispersed among a thousand entire individuals, she composes from them a
+      type whose name alone is imaginary; or whether she goes to their tomb to
+      seek and to touch with her galvanic current the dead whose great deeds are
+      known, forces them to arise again, and drags them dazzled to the light of
+      day, where, in the circle which this fairy has traced, they re-assume
+      unwillingly their passions of other days, and begin again in the sight of
+      their descendants the sad drama of life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      ALFRED DE VIGNY. 1827. <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CINQ-MARS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK 1.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I. THE ADIEU
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Fare thee well! and if forever,
+     Still forever fare thee well!
+
+                       LORD BYRON.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Do you know that charming part of our country which has been called the
+      garden of France&mdash;that spot where, amid verdant plains watered by
+      wide streams, one inhales the purest air of heaven?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you have travelled through fair Touraine in summer, you have no doubt
+      followed with enchantment the peaceful Loire; you have regretted the
+      impossibility of determining upon which of its banks you would choose to
+      dwell with your beloved. On its right bank one sees valleys dotted with
+      white houses surrounded by woods, hills yellow with vines or white with
+      the blossoms of the cherry-tree, walls covered with honeysuckles,
+      rose-gardens, from which pointed roofs rise suddenly. Everything reminds
+      the traveller either of the fertility of the land or of the antiquity of
+      its monuments; and everything interests him in the work of its busy
+      inhabitants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing has proved useless to them; it seems as if in their love for so
+      beautiful a country&mdash;the only province of France never occupied by
+      foreigners&mdash;they have determined not to lose the least part of its
+      soil, the smallest grain of its sand. Do you fancy that this ruined tower
+      is inhabited only by hideous night-birds? No; at the sound of your horse&rsquo;s
+      hoofs, the smiling face of a young girl peeps out from the ivy, whitened
+      with the dust from the road. If you climb a hillside covered with vines, a
+      light column of smoke shows you that there is a chimney at your feet; for
+      the very rock is inhabited, and families of vine-dressers breathe in its
+      caverns, sheltered at night by the kindly earth which they laboriously
+      cultivate during the day. The good people of Touraine are as simple as
+      their life, gentle as the air they breathe, and strong as the powerful
+      earth they dig. Their countenances, like their characters, have something
+      of the frankness of the true people of St. Louis; their chestnut locks are
+      still long and curve around their ears, as in the stone statues of our old
+      kings; their language is the purest French, with neither slowness, haste,
+      nor accent&mdash;the cradle of the language is there, close to the cradle
+      of the monarchy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the left bank of the stream has a more serious aspect; in the distance
+      you see Chambord, which, with its blue domes and little cupolas, appears
+      like some great city of the Orient; there is Chanteloup, raising its
+      graceful pagoda in the air. Near these a simpler building attracts the
+      eyes of the traveller by its magnificent situation and imposing size; it
+      is the chateau of Chaumont. Built upon the highest hill of the shore, it
+      frames the broad summit with its lofty walls and its enormous towers; high
+      slate steeples increase their loftiness, and give to the building that
+      conventual air, that religious form of all our old chateaux, which casts
+      an aspect of gravity over the landscape of most of our provinces. Black
+      and tufted trees surround this ancient mansion, resembling from afar the
+      plumes that encircled the hat of King Henry. At the foot of the hill,
+      connected with the chateau by a narrow path, lies a pretty village, whose
+      white houses seem to have sprung from the golden sand; a chapel stands
+      halfway up the hill; the lords descended and the villagers ascended to its
+      altar-the region of equality, situated like a neutral spot between poverty
+      and riches, which have been too often opposed to each other in bitter
+      conflict.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, one morning in the month of June, 1639, the bell of the chateau
+      having, as usual, rung at midday, the dinner-hour of the family,
+      occurrences of an unusual kind were passing in this ancient dwelling. The
+      numerous domestics observed that in repeating the morning prayers before
+      the assembled household, the Marechale d&rsquo;Effiat had spoken with a
+      broken voice and with tears in her eyes, and that she had appeared in a
+      deeper mourning than was customary. The people of the household and the
+      Italians of the Duchesse de Mantua, who had at that time retired for a
+      while to Chaumont, saw with surprise that sudden preparations were being
+      made for departure. The old domestic of the Marechal d&rsquo;Effiat (who
+      had been dead six months) had taken again to his travelling-boots, which
+      he had sworn to abandon forever. This brave fellow, named Grandchamp, had
+      followed the chief of the family everywhere in the wars, and in his
+      financial work; he had been his equerry in the former, and his secretary
+      in the latter. He had recently returned from Germany, to inform the mother
+      and the children of the death of the Marechal, whose last sighs he had
+      heard at Luzzelstein. He was one of those faithful servants who are become
+      too rare in France; who suffer with the misfortunes of the family, and
+      rejoice with their joys; who approve of early marriages, that they may
+      have young masters to educate; who scold the children and often the
+      fathers; who risk death for them; who serve without wages in revolutions;
+      who toil for their support; and who in prosperous times follow them
+      everywhere, or exclaim at their return, &ldquo;Behold our vines!&rdquo; He
+      had a severe and remarkable face, a coppery complexion, and silver-gray
+      hair, in which, however, some few locks, black as his heavy eyebrows, made
+      him appear harsh at first; but a gentle countenance softened this first
+      impression. At present his voice was loud. He busied himself much that day
+      in hastening the dinner, and ordered about all the servants, who were in
+      mourning like himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;make haste to serve the dinner, while
+      Germain, Louis, and Etienne saddle their horses; Monsieur Henri and I must
+      be far away by eight o&rsquo;clock this evening. And you, gentlemen,
+      Italians, have you warned your young Princess? I wager that she is gone to
+      read with her ladies at the end of the park, or on the banks of the lake.
+      She always comes in after the first course, and makes every one rise from
+      the table.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my good Grandchamp,&rdquo; said in a low voice a young maid
+      servant who was passing, &ldquo;do not speak of the Duchess; she is very
+      sorrowful, and I believe that she will remain in her apartment. Santa
+      Maria! what a shame to travel to-day! to depart on a Friday, the
+      thirteenth of the month, and the day of Saint Gervais and of Saint-Protais&mdash;the
+      day of two martyrs! I have been telling my beads all the morning for
+      Monsieur de Cinq-Mars; and I could not help thinking of these things. And
+      my mistress thinks of them too, although she is a great lady; so you need
+      not laugh!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With these words the young Italian glided like a bird across the large
+      dining-room, and disappeared down a corridor, startled at seeing the great
+      doors of the salon opened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Grandchamp had hardly heard what she had said, and seemed to have been
+      occupied only with the preparations for dinner; he fulfilled the important
+      duties of major-domo, and cast severe looks at the domestics to see
+      whether they were all at their posts, placing himself behind the chair of
+      the eldest son of the house. Then all the inhabitants of the mansion
+      entered the salon. Eleven persons seated themselves at table. The
+      Marechale came in last, giving her arm to a handsome old man,
+      magnificently dressed, whom she placed upon her left hand. She seated
+      herself in a large gilded arm-chair at the middle of one side of the
+      table, which was oblong in form. Another seat, rather more ornamented, was
+      at her right, but it remained empty. The young Marquis d&rsquo;Effiat,
+      seated in front of his mother, was to assist her in doing the honors of
+      the table. He was not more than twenty years old, and his countenance was
+      insignificant; much gravity and distinguished manners proclaimed, however,
+      a social nature, but nothing more. His young sister of fourteen, two
+      gentlemen of the province, three young Italian noblemen of the suite of
+      Marie de Gonzaga (Duchesse de Mantua), a lady-in-waiting, the governess of
+      the young daughter of the Marechale, and an abbe of the neighborhood, old
+      and very deaf, composed the assembly. A seat at the right of the elder son
+      still remained vacant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Marechale, before seating herself, made the sign of the cross, and
+      repeated the Benedicite aloud; every one responded by making the complete
+      sign, or upon the breast alone. This custom was preserved in many families
+      in France up to the Revolution of 1789; some still practise it, but more
+      in the provinces than in Paris, and not without some hesitation and some
+      preliminary words upon the weather, accompanied by a deprecatory smile
+      when a stranger is present&mdash;for it is too true that virtue also has
+      its blush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Marechale possessed an imposing figure, and her large blue eyes were
+      remarkably beautiful. She did not appear to have yet attained her
+      forty-fifth year; but, oppressed with sorrow, she walked slowly and spoke
+      with difficulty, closing her eyes, and allowing her head to droop for a
+      moment upon her breast, after she had been obliged to raise her voice. At
+      such efforts her hand pressed to her bosom showed that she experienced
+      sharp pain. She saw therefore with satisfaction that the person who was
+      seated at her left, having at the beginning engrossed the conversation,
+      without having been requested by any one to talk, persisted with an
+      imperturbable coolness in engrossing it to the end of the dinner. This was
+      the old Marechal de Bassompierre; he had preserved with his white locks an
+      air of youth and vivacity curious to see. His noble and polished manners
+      showed a certain gallantry, antiquated like his costume&mdash;for he wore
+      a ruff in the fashion of Henri IV, and the slashed sleeves fashionable in
+      the former reign, an absurdity which was unpardonable in the eyes of the
+      beaux of the court. This would not have appeared more singular than
+      anything else at present; but it is admitted that in every age we laugh at
+      the costume of our fathers, and, except the Orientals, I know of no people
+      who have not this fault.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the Italian gentlemen had hardly finished asking the Marechal what
+      he thought of the way in which the Cardinal treated the daughter of the
+      Duc de Mantua, when he exclaimed, in his familiar language:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens, man! what are you talking about? what do I comprehend of
+      this new system under which France is living? We old companions-in-arms of
+      his late Majesty can ill understand the language spoken by the new court,
+      and that in its turn does not comprehend ours. But what do I say? We speak
+      no language in this sad country, for all the world is silent before the
+      Cardinal; this haughty little, vassal looks upon us as merely old family
+      portraits, which occasionally he shortens by the head; but happily the
+      motto always remains. Is it not true, my dear Puy-Laurens?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This guest was about the same age as the Marechal, but, being more grave
+      and cautious, he answered in vague and few words, and made a sign to his
+      contemporary in order to induce him to observe the unpleasant emotions
+      which he had caused the mistress of the house by reminding her of the
+      recent death of her husband and in speaking thus of the minister, his
+      friend. But it was in vain, for Bassompierre, pleased with the sign of
+      half-approval, emptied at one draught a great goblet of wine&mdash;a
+      remedy which he lauds in his Memoirs as infallible against the plague and
+      against reserve; and leaning back to receive another glass from his
+      esquire, he settled himself more firmly than ever upon his chair, and in
+      his favorite ideas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, we are in the way here; I said so the other day to my dear Duc
+      de Guise, whom they have ruined. They count the minutes that we have to
+      live, and shake the hour-glass to hasten the descent of its sands. When
+      Monsieur le Cardinal-Duc observes in a corner three or four of our tall
+      figures, who never quitted the side of the late King, he feels that he is
+      unable to move those statues of iron, and that to do it would require the
+      hand of a great man; he passes quickly by, and dares not meddle with us,
+      who fear him not. He believes that we are always conspiring; and they say
+      at this very moment that there is talk of putting me in the Bastille.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh! Monsieur le Marechal, why do you delay your departure?&rdquo;
+      said the Italian. &ldquo;I know of no place, except Flanders, where you
+      can find shelter.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Monsieur! you do not know me. So far from flying, I sought out
+      the King before his departure, and told him that I did so in order to save
+      people the trouble of looking for me; and that if I knew when he wished to
+      send me, I would go myself without being taken. He was as kind as I
+      expected him to be, and said to me, &lsquo;What, my old friend, could you
+      have thought that I desired to send you there? You know well that I love
+      you.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my dear Marechal, let me compliment you,&rdquo; said Madame d&rsquo;Effiat,
+      in a soft voice. &ldquo;I recognize the benevolence of the King in these
+      words; he remembers the affection which the King, his father, had toward
+      you. It appears to me that he always accorded to you all that you desired
+      for your friends,&rdquo; she added, with animation, in order to put him
+      into the track of praise, and to beguile him from the discontent which he
+      had so loudly declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Assuredly, Madame,&rdquo; answered he; &ldquo;no one is more
+      willing to recognize his virtues than Francois de Bassompierre. I shall be
+      faithful to him to the end, because I gave myself, body and fortune, to
+      his father at a ball; and I swear that, with my consent at least, none of
+      my family shall ever fail in their duties toward the King of France.
+      Although the Besteins are foreigners and Lorrains, a shake of the hand
+      from Henri IV gained us forever. My greatest grief has been to see my
+      brother die in the service of Spain; and I have just written to my nephew
+      to say that I shall disinherit him if he has passed over to the Emperor,
+      as report says he has.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the gentlemen guests who had as yet been silent, and who was
+      remarkable for the profusion of knots, ribbons, and tags which covered his
+      dress, and for the black cordon of the Order of St. Michael which
+      decorated his neck, bowed, observing that it was thus all faithful
+      subjects ought to speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo; faith, Monsieur de Launay, you deceive yourself very much,&rdquo;
+      said the Marechal, to whom the recollection of his ancestors now occurred;
+      &ldquo;persons of our blood are subjects only at our own pleasure, for God
+      has caused us to be born as much lords of our lands as the King is of his.
+      When I came to France, I came at my ease, accompanied by my gentlemen and
+      pages. I perceive, however, that the farther we go, the more we lose sight
+      of this idea, especially at the court. But here is a young man who arrives
+      very opportunely to hear me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door indeed opened, and a young man of fine form entered. He was pale;
+      his hair was brown, his eyes were black, his expression was sad and
+      reckless. This was Henri d&rsquo;Effiat, Marquis de Cinq-Mars (a name
+      taken from an estate of his family). His dress and his short cloak were
+      black; a collar of lace fell from his neck halfway down his breast; his
+      stout, small, and very wide-spurred boots made so much noise upon the
+      flags of the salon that his approach was heard at a distance. He walked
+      directly toward the Marechale, bowed low, and kissed her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Henri,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;are your horses ready? At what
+      hour do you depart?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Immediately after dinner, Madame, if you will allow me,&rdquo; said
+      he to his mother, with the ceremonious respect of the times; and passing
+      behind her, he saluted M. de Bassompierre before seating himself at the
+      left of his eldest brother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the Marechal, continuing to eat with an excellent
+      appetite, &ldquo;you are about to depart, my son; you are going to the
+      court&mdash;a slippery place nowadays. I am sorry for your sake that it is
+      not now what it used to be. In former times, the court was simply the
+      drawing-room of the King, in which he received his natural friends: nobles
+      of great family, his peers, who visited him to show their devotion and
+      their friendship, lost their money with him, and accompanied him in his
+      pleasure parties, but never received anything from him, except permission
+      to bring their vassals with them, to break their heads in his service. The
+      honors a man of quality received did not enrich him, for he paid for them
+      out of his purse. I sold an estate for every grade I received; the title
+      of colonel-general of the Swiss cost me four hundred thousand crowns, and
+      at the baptism of the present King I had to buy a costume that cost me a
+      hundred thousand francs.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said the mistress of the house, smiling, &ldquo;you must
+      acknowledge for once that you were not obliged to do that. We have all
+      heard of your splendid dress of pearls; but I should be much vexed were it
+      still the custom to wear such.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame la Marquise, do not fear, those times of magnificence
+      never will return. We committed follies, no doubt, but they proved our
+      independence; it is clear that it would then have been hard to convert
+      from their allegiance to the King adherents who were attached to him by
+      love alone, and whose coronets contained as many diamonds as his own
+      locked-up crown. It is also certain that ambition could not then attack
+      all classes, since such expenses could come only from rich hands, and
+      since gold comes only from mines. Those great houses, which are being so
+      furiously assailed, were not ambitious, and frequently, desiring no
+      employment from the Government, maintained their places at court by their
+      own weight, existed upon their own foundation, and might say, as one of
+      them did say, &lsquo;The Prince condescends not; I am Rohan.&rsquo; It was
+      the same with every noble family, to which its own nobility sufficed; the
+      King himself expressed it in writing to one of my friends: &lsquo;Money is
+      not a common thing between gentlemen like you and me.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Monsieur le Marechal,&rdquo; coldly, and with extreme
+      politeness, interrupted M. de Launay, who perhaps intended to anger him,
+      &ldquo;this independence has produced as many civil wars and revolts as
+      those of Monsieur de Montmorency.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur! I can not consent to hear these things spoken,&rdquo;
+      said the fiery Marechal, leaping up in his armchair. &ldquo;Those revolts
+      and wars had nothing to do with the fundamental laws of the State, and
+      could no more have overturned the throne than a duel could have done so.
+      Of all the great party-chiefs, there was not one who would not have laid
+      his victory at the feet of the King, had he succeeded, knowing well that
+      all the other lords who were as great as himself would have abandoned the
+      enemy of the legitimate sovereign. Arms were taken against a faction, and
+      not against the sovereign authority; and, this destroyed, everything went
+      on again in the old way. But what have you done in crushing us? You have
+      crushed the arm of the throne, and have not put anything in its place.
+      Yes, I no longer doubt that the Cardinal-Duke will wholly accomplish his
+      design; the great nobility will leave and lose their lands, and, ceasing
+      to be great proprietors, they will cease to be a great power. The court is
+      already no more than a palace where people beg; by and by it will become
+      an antechamber, when it will be composed only of those who constitute the
+      suite of the King. Great names will begin by ennobling vile offices; but,
+      by a terrible reaction, those offices will end by rendering great names
+      vile. Estranged from their homes, the nobility will be dependent upon the
+      employments which they shall have received; and if the people, over whom
+      they will no longer have any influence, choose to revolt&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How gloomy you are to-day, Marechal!&rdquo; interrupted the
+      Marquise; &ldquo;I hope that neither I nor my children will ever see that
+      time. I no longer perceive your cheerful disposition, now that you talk
+      like a politician. I expected to hear you give advice to my son. Henri,
+      what troubles you? You seem very absent.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars, with eyes fixed upon the great bay window of the dining-room,
+      looked sorrowfully upon the magnificent landscape. The sun shone in full
+      splendor, and colored the sands of the Loire, the trees, and the lawns
+      with gold and emerald. The sky was azure, the waves were of a transparent
+      yellow, the islets of a vivid green; behind their rounded outlines rose
+      the great sails of the merchant-vessels, like a fleet in ambuscade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Nature, Nature!&rdquo; he mused; &ldquo;beautiful Nature,
+      farewell! Soon will my heart cease to be of simplicity enough to feel your
+      charm, soon you wall no longer please my eyes. This heart is already
+      burned by a deep passion; and the mention of the interests of men stirs it
+      with hitherto unknown agitation. I must, however, enter this labyrinth; I
+      may, perchance, lose myself there, but for Marie&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment, aroused by the words of his mother, and fearing to exhibit
+      a childish regret at leaving his beautiful country and his family, he
+      said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am thinking, Madame, of the road which I shall take to Perpignan,
+      and also of that which shall bring me back to you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not forget to take that of Poitiers, and to go to Loudun to see
+      your old tutor, our good Abbe Quillet; he will give you useful advice
+      about the court. He is on very good terms with the Duc de Bouillon; and
+      besides, though he may not be very necessary to you, it is a mark of
+      deference which you owe him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it, then, to the siege of Perpignan that you are going, my boy?&rdquo;
+      asked the old Marechal, who began to think that he had been silent a long
+      time. &ldquo;Ah! it is well for you. Plague upon it! a siege! &lsquo;tis
+      an excellent opening. I would have given much had I been able to assist
+      the late King at a siege, upon my arrival in his court; it would have been
+      better to be disembowelled then than at a tourney, as I was. But we were
+      at peace; and I was compelled to go and shoot the Turks with the Rosworm
+      of the Hungarians, in order that I might not afflict my family by my
+      idleness. For the rest, may his Majesty receive you as kindly as his
+      father received me! It is true that the King is good and brave; but they
+      have unfortunately taught him that cold Spanish etiquette which arrests
+      all the impulses of the heart. He restrains himself and others by an
+      immovable presence and an icy look; as for me, I confess that I am always
+      waiting for the moment of thaw, but in vain. We were accustomed to other
+      manners from the witty and simple-hearted Henri; and we were at least free
+      to tell him that we loved him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars, with eyes fixed upon those of Bassompierre, as if to force
+      himself to attend to his discourse, asked him what was the manner of the
+      late king in conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lively and frank,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;Some time after my arrival
+      in France, I played with him and with the Duchesse de Beaufort at
+      Fontainebleau; for he wished, he said, to win my gold-pieces, my fine
+      Portugal money. He asked me the reason why I came into this country.
+      &lsquo;Truly, Sire,&rsquo; said I, frankly, &lsquo;I came with no
+      intention of enlisting myself in your service, but only to pass some time
+      at your court, and afterward at that of Spain; but you have charmed me so
+      much that, instead of going farther, if you desire my service, I will
+      devote myself to you till death.&rsquo; Then he embraced me, and assured
+      me that I could not find a better master, or one who would love me more.
+      Alas! I have found it so. And for my part, I sacrificed everything to him,
+      even my love; and I would have done more, had it been possible to do more
+      than renounce Mademoiselle de Montmorency.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The good Marechal had tears in his eyes; but the young Marquis d&rsquo;Effiat
+      and the Italians, looking at one another, could not help smiling to think
+      that at present the Princesse de Conde was far from young and pretty.
+      Cinq-Mars noticed this interchange of glances, and smiled also, but
+      bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it true then,&rdquo; he thought, &ldquo;that the affections meet
+      the same fate as the fashions, and that the lapse of a few years can throw
+      the same ridicule upon a costume and upon love? Happy is he who does not
+      outlive his youth and his illusions, and who carries his treasures with
+      him to the grave!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But&mdash;again, with effort breaking the melancholy course of his
+      thoughts, and wishing that the good Marechal should read nothing
+      unpleasant upon the countenances of his hosts, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;People spoke, then, with much freedom to King Henri? Possibly,
+      however, he found it necessary to assume that tone at the beginning of his
+      reign; but when he was master did he change it?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never! no, never, to his last day, did our great King cease to be
+      the same. He did not blush to be a man, and he spoke to men with force and
+      sensibility. Ah! I fancy I see him now, embracing the Duc de Guise in his
+      carriage, on the very day of his death; he had just made one of his lively
+      pleasantries to me, and the Duke said to him, &lsquo;You are, in my
+      opinion, one of the most agreeable men in the world, and destiny ordained
+      us for each other. For, had you been but an ordinary man, I should have
+      taken you into my service at whatever price; but since heaven ordained
+      that you should be born a great King, it is inevitable that I belong to
+      you.&rsquo; Oh, great man!&rdquo; cried Bassompierre, with tears in his
+      eyes, and perhaps a little excited by the frequent bumpers he had drunk,
+      &ldquo;you said well, &lsquo;When you have lost me you will learn my
+      value.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this interlude, the guests at the table had assumed various
+      attitudes, according to their position in public affairs. One of the
+      Italians pretended to chat and laugh in a subdued manner with the young
+      daughter of the Marechale; the other talked to the deaf old Abbe, who,
+      with one hand behind his ear that he might hear, was the only one who
+      appeared attentive. Cinq-Mars had sunk back into his melancholy
+      abstraction, after throwing a glance at the Marechal, as one looks aside
+      after throwing a tennis-ball until its return; his elder brother did the
+      honors of the table with the same calm. Puy-Laurens observed the mistress
+      of the house with attention; he was devoted to the Duc d&rsquo;Orleans,
+      and feared the Cardinal. As for the Marechale, she had an anxious and
+      afflicted air. Careless words had often recalled the death of her husband
+      or the departure of her son; and, oftener still, she had feared lest
+      Bassompierre should compromise himself. She had touched him many times,
+      glancing at the same time toward M. de Launay, of whom she knew little,
+      and whom she had reason to believe devoted to the prime minister; but to a
+      man of his character, such warnings were useless. He appeared not to
+      notice them; but, on the contrary, crushing that gentleman with his bold
+      glance and the sound of his voice, he affected to turn himself toward him,
+      and to direct all his conversation to him. M. de Launay assumed an air of
+      indifference and of assenting politeness, which he preserved until the
+      moment when the folding-doors opened, and &ldquo;Mademoiselle la Duchesse
+      de Mantua&rdquo; was announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The conversation which we have transcribed so lengthily passed, in
+      reality, with rapidity; and the repast was only half over when the arrival
+      of Marie de Gonzaga caused the company to rise. She was small, but very
+      well made, and although her eyes and hair were black, her complexion was
+      as dazzling as the beauty of her skin. The Marechale arose to acknowledge
+      her rank, and kissed her on the forehead, in recognition of her goodness
+      and her charming age.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have waited a long time for you to-day, dear Marie,&rdquo; she
+      said, placing the Duchess beside her; &ldquo;fortunately, you remain with
+      me to replace one of my children, who is about to depart.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young Duchess blushed, lowered her head and her eyes, in order that no
+      one might see their redness, and said, timidly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame, that may well be, since you have taken toward me the place
+      of a mother;&rdquo; and a glance thrown at Cinq-Mars, at the other end of
+      the table, made him turn pale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This arrival changed the conversation; it ceased to be general, and each
+      guest conversed in a low voice with his neighbor. The Marechal alone
+      continued to utter a few sentences concerning the magnificence of the old
+      court, his wars in Turkey, the tournaments, and the avarice of the new
+      court; but, to his great regret, no one made any reply, and the company
+      were about to leave the table, when, as the clock struck two, five horses
+      appeared in the courtyard. Four were mounted by servants, cloaked and
+      armed; the other horse, black and spirited, was held by old Grandchamp&mdash;it
+      was his master&rsquo;s steed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; exclaimed Bassompierre; &ldquo;see, our battlehorses are
+      saddled and bridled. Come, young man, we must say, with our old Marot:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+          &lsquo;Adieu la cour, adieu les dames!
+          Adieu les filles et les femmes!
+          Adieu vous dy pour quelque temps;
+          Adieu vos plaisans parse-temps!
+          Adieu le bal, adieu la dance;
+          Adieu mesure, adieu cadance,
+          Tabourins, Hautbois, Violons,
+          Puisqu&rsquo;à la guerre nous allons!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      These old verses and the air of the Marechal made all the guests laugh,
+      except three persons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens!&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;it seems to me as if, like
+      him, I were only seventeen years old; he will return to us covered with
+      embroidery. Madame, we must keep his chair vacant for him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Marechale suddenly grew pale, and left the table in tears; every one
+      rose with her; she took only two steps, and sank into another chair. Her
+      sons and her daughter and the young Duchess gathered anxiously around her,
+      and heard her say, amid the sighs and tears which she strove to restrain:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon, my friends! it is foolish of me&mdash;childish; but I am
+      weak at present, and am not mistress of myself. We were thirteen at table;
+      and you, my dear Duchess, were the cause of it. But it is very wrong of me
+      to show so much weakness before him. Farewell, my child; give me your
+      forehead to kiss, and may God conduct you! Be worthy of your name and of
+      your father.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, as Homer says, &ldquo;smiling under tears,&rdquo; she raised
+      herself, pushed her son from her, and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, let me see you on horseback, fair sir!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The silent traveller kissed the hands of his mother, and made a low bow to
+      her; he bowed also to the Duchess, without raising his eyes. Then,
+      embracing his elder brother, pressing the hand of the Marechal, and
+      kissing the forehead of his young sister almost simultaneously, he went
+      forth, and was on horseback in an instant. Every one went to the windows
+      which overlooked the court, except Madame d&rsquo;Effiat, who was still
+      seated and suffering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He sets off at full gallop. That is a good sign,&rdquo; said the
+      Marechal, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, heavens!&rdquo; cried the young Princess, retiring from the
+      bay-window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter?&rdquo; said the mother.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, nothing!&rdquo; said M. de Launay. &ldquo;Your son&rsquo;s
+      horse stumbled under the gateway; but he soon pulled him up. See, he
+      salutes us from the road.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Another ominous presage!&rdquo; said the Marquise, upon retiring to
+      her apartments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one imitated her by being silent or speaking low.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The day was sad, and in the evening the supper was silent at the chateau
+      of Chaumont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At ten o&rsquo;clock that evening, the old Marechal, conducted by his
+      valet, retired to the northern tower near the gateway, and opposite the
+      river. The heat was extreme; he opened the window, and, enveloping himself
+      in his great silk robe, placed a heavy candlestick upon the table and
+      desired to be left alone. His window looked out upon the plain, which the
+      moon, in her first quarter, indistinctly lighted; the sky was charged with
+      thick clouds, and all things disposed the mind to melancholy. Although
+      Bassompierre had nothing of the dreamer in his character, the tone which
+      the conversation had taken at dinner returned to his memory, and he
+      reconsidered his life, the sad changes which the new reign had wrought in
+      it, a reign which seemed to have breathed upon him a wind of misfortune&mdash;the
+      death of a cherished sister; the irregularities of the heir of his name;
+      the loss of his lands and of his favor; the recent fate of his friend, the
+      Marechal d&rsquo;Effiat, whose chambers he now occupied. All these
+      thoughts drew from him an involuntary sigh, and he went to the window to
+      breathe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment he fancied he heard the tramp of a troop of horse at the
+      side of the wood; but the wind rising made him think that he had been
+      mistaken, and, as the noise suddenly ceased, he forgot it. He still
+      watched for some time all the lights of the chateau, which were
+      successively extinguished, after winding among the windows of the
+      staircases and rambling about the courtyards and the stables. Then,
+      leaning back in his great tapestried armchair, his elbow resting on the
+      table, he abandoned himself to his reflections. After a while, drawing
+      from his breast a medallion which hung concealed, suspended by a black
+      ribbon, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, my good old master, talk with me as you have so often talked;
+      come, great King, forget your court for the smile of a true friend; come,
+      great man, consult me concerning ambitious Austria; come, inconstant
+      chevalier, speak to me of the lightness of thy love, and of the fidelity
+      of thine inconstancy; come, heroic soldier, complain to me again that I
+      obscure you in combat. Ah, had I only done it in Paris! Had I only
+      received thy wound? With thy blood the world has lost the benefits of
+      thine interrupted reign&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tears of the Marechal obscured the glass that covered the large
+      medallion, and he was effacing them with respectful kisses, when, his door
+      being roughly opened, he quickly drew his sword.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who goes there?&rdquo; he cried, in his surprise, which was much
+      increased when he saw M. de Launay, who, hat in hand, advanced toward him,
+      and said to him, with embarrassment:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, it is with a heart pierced with grief that I am forced to
+      tell you that the King has commanded me to arrest you. A carriage awaits
+      you at the gate, attended by thirty of the Cardinal-Duke&rsquo;s
+      musketeers.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bassompierre had not risen: and he still held the medallion in his right
+      hand, and the sword in the other. He tendered it disdainfully to this man,
+      saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, I know that I have lived too long, and it is that of
+      which I was thinking; in the name of the great Henri, I restore this sword
+      peacefully to his son. Follow me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He accompanied these words with a look so firm that De Launay was
+      depressed, and followed him with drooping head, as if he had himself been
+      arrested by the noble old man, who, seizing a flambeau, issued from the
+      court and found all the doors opened by horse-guards, who had terrified
+      the people of the chateau in the name of the King, and commanded silence.
+      The carriage was ready, and departed rapidly, followed by many horses. The
+      Marechal, seated beside M. de Launay, was about to fall asleep, rocked by
+      the movement of the vehicle, when a voice cried to the driver, &ldquo;Stop!&rdquo;
+      and, as he continued, a pistol-shot followed. The horses stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I declare, Monsieur, that this is done without my participation,&rdquo;
+      said Bassompierre. Then, putting his head out at the door, he saw that
+      they were in a little wood, and that the road was too narrow to allow the
+      horses to pass to either the right or the left of the carriage&mdash;a
+      great advantage for the aggressors, since the musketeers could not
+      advance. He tried to see what was going on when a cavalier, having in his
+      hand a long sword, with which he parried the strokes of the guard,
+      approached the door, crying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, come, Monsieur le Marechal!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! is that you, you madcap, Henri, who are playing these pranks?
+      Gentlemen, let him alone; he is a mere boy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, as De Launay called to the musketeers to cease, Bassompierre
+      recognized the cavalier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how the devil came you here?&rdquo; cried Bassompierre. &ldquo;I
+      thought you were at Tours, or even farther, if you had done your duty; but
+      here you are returned to make a fool of yourself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Truly, it was not for you I returned, but for a secret affair,&rdquo;
+      said Cinq-Mars, in a lower tone; &ldquo;but, as I take it, they are about
+      to introduce you to the Bastille, and I am sure you will not betray me,
+      for that delightful edifice is the very Temple of Discretion. Yet had you
+      thought fit,&rdquo; he continued, aloud, &ldquo;I should have released you
+      from these gentlemen in the wood here, which is so dense that their horses
+      would not have been able to stir. A peasant informed me of the insult
+      passed upon us, more than upon you, by this violation of my father&rsquo;s
+      house.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the King&rsquo;s order, my boy, and we must respect his will;
+      reserve your ardor for his service, though I thank you with all my heart.
+      Now farewell, and let me proceed on my agreeable journey.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Launay interposed, &ldquo;I may inform you, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars, that
+      I have been desired by the King himself to assure Monsieur le Marechal,
+      that he is deeply afflicted at the step he has found it necessary to take,
+      and that it is solely from an apprehension that Monsieur le Marechal may
+      be led into evil that his Majesty requests him to remain for a few days in
+      the Bastille.&rdquo;&mdash;[He remained there twelve years.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bassompierre turned his head toward Cinq-Mars with a hearty laugh. &ldquo;You
+      see, my friend, how we young men are placed under guardianship; so take
+      care of yourself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will go, then,&rdquo; said Henri; &ldquo;this is the last time I
+      shall play the knight-errant for any one against his will;&rdquo; and,
+      reentering the wood as the carriage dashed off at full speed, he proceeded
+      by narrow paths toward the castle, followed at a short distance by
+      Grandchamp and his small escort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On arriving at the foot of the western tower, he reined in his horse. He
+      did not alight, but, approaching so near the wall that he could rest his
+      foot upon an abutment, he stood up, and raised the blind of a window on
+      the ground-floor, made in the form of a portcullis, such as is still seen
+      on some ancient buildings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now past midnight, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds. No
+      one but a member of the family could have found his way through darkness
+      so profound. The towers and the roof formed one dark mass, which stood out
+      in indistinct relief against the sky, hardly less dark; no light shone
+      throughout the chateau, wherein all inmates seemed buried in slumber.
+      Cinq-Mars, enveloped in a large cloak, his face hidden under the broad
+      brim of his hat, awaited in suspense a reply to his signal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It came; a soft voice was heard from within:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that you, Monsieur Cinq-Mars?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, who else should it be? Who else would return like a criminal
+      to his paternal house, without entering it, without bidding one more adieu
+      to his mother? Who else would return to complain of the present, without a
+      hope for the future, but I?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gentle voice replied, but its tones were agitated, and evidently
+      accompanied with tears: &ldquo;Alas! Henri, of what do you complain? Have
+      I not already done more, far more than I ought? It is not my fault, but my
+      misfortune, that my father was a sovereign prince. Can one choose one&rsquo;s
+      birthplace or one&rsquo;s rank, and say for example, &lsquo;I will be a
+      shepherdess?&rsquo; How unhappy is the lot of princesses! From the cradle,
+      the sentiments of the heart are prohibited to them; and when they have
+      advanced beyond childhood, they are ceded like a town, and must not even
+      weep. Since I have known you, what have I not done to bring my future life
+      within the reach of happiness, in removing it far from a throne? For two
+      years I have struggled in vain, at once against my evil fortune, that
+      separates me from you, and against you, who estrange me from the duty I
+      owe to my family. I have sought to spread a belief that I was dead; I have
+      almost longed for revolutions. I should have blessed a change which
+      deprived me of my rank, as I thanked Heaven when my father was dethroned;
+      but the court wonders at my absence; the Queen requires me to attend her.
+      Our dreams are at an end, Henri; we have already slumbered too long. Let
+      us awake, be courageous, and think no more of those dear two years&mdash;forget
+      all in the one recollection of our great resolve. Have but one thought; be
+      ambitious for&mdash;be ambitious&mdash;for my sake.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must we, then, indeed, forget all, Marie?&rdquo; murmured
+      Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, forget all&mdash;that I myself have forgotten.&rdquo; Then,
+      after a moment&rsquo;s pause, she continued with earnestness: &ldquo;Yes,
+      forget our happy days together, our long evenings, even our walks by the
+      lake and through the wood; but keep the future ever in mind. Go, Henri;
+      your father was Marechal. Be you more; be you Constable, Prince. Go; you
+      are young, noble, rich, brave, beloved&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beloved forever?&rdquo; said Henri.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forever; for life and for eternity.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars, tremulously extending his hand to the window, exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I swear, Marie, by the Virgin, whose name you bear, that you shall
+      be mine, or my head shall fall on the scaffold!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Heaven! what is it you say?&rdquo; she cried, seizing his hand
+      in her own. &ldquo;Swear to me that you will share in no guilty deeds;
+      that you will never forget that the King of France is your master. Love
+      him above all, next to her who will sacrifice all for you, who will await
+      you amid suffering and sorrow. Take this little gold cross and wear it
+      upon your heart; it has often been wet with my tears, and those tears will
+      flow still more bitterly if ever you are faithless to the King. Give me
+      the ring I see on your finger. Oh, heavens, my hand and yours are red with
+      blood!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, only a scratch. Did you hear nothing, an hour ago?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; but listen. Do you hear anything now?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Marie, nothing but some bird of night on the tower.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard whispering near us, I am sure. But whence comes this blood?
+      Tell me, and then depart.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I will go, while the clouds are still dark above us. Farewell,
+      sweet soul; in my hour of danger I will invoke thee as a guardian angel.
+      Love has infused the burning poison of ambition into my soul, and for the
+      first time I feel that ambition may be ennobled by its aim. Farewell! I go
+      to accomplish my destiny.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And forget not mine.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can they ever be separated?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never!&rdquo; exclaimed Marie, &ldquo;but by death.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear absence still more,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Farewell! I tremble; farewell!&rdquo; repeated the beloved voice,
+      and the window was slowly drawn down, the clasped hands not parting till
+      the last moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The black horse had all the while been pawing the earth, tossing his head
+      with impatience, and whinnying. Cinq-Mars, as agitated and restless as his
+      steed, gave it the rein; and the whole party was soon near the city of
+      Tours, which the bells of St. Gatien had announced from afar. To the
+      disappointment of old Grandchamp, Cinq-Mars would not enter the town, but
+      proceeded on his way, and five days later he entered, with his escort, the
+      old city of Loudun in Poitou, after an uneventful journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II. THE STREET
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Je m&rsquo;avancais d&rsquo;un pas pénible et mal assuré vers le but
+     de ce convoi tragique.&mdash;NODIER, <i>Smarra</i>.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The reign of which we are about to paint a few years&mdash;a reign of
+      feebleness, which was like an eclipse of the crown between the splendors
+      of Henri IV and those of Louis le Grand&mdash;afflicts the eyes which
+      contemplate it with dark stains of blood, and these were not all the work
+      of one man, but were caused by great and grave bodies. It is melancholy to
+      observe that in this age, still full of disorder, the clergy, like a
+      nation, had its populace, as it had its nobility, its ignorant and its
+      criminal prelates, as well as those who were learned and virtuous. Since
+      that time, its remnant of barbarism has been refined away by the long
+      reign of Louis XIV, and its corruptions have been washed out in the blood
+      of the martyrs whom it offered up to the revolution of 1793.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We felt it necessary to pause for a moment to express this reflection
+      before entering upon the recital of the facts presented by the history of
+      this period, and to intimate that, notwithstanding this consolatory
+      reflection, we have found it incumbent upon us to pass over many details
+      too odious to occupy a place in our pages, sighing in spirit at those
+      guilty acts which it was necessary to record, as in relating the life of a
+      virtuous old man, we should lament over the impetuosities of his
+      passionate youth, or over the corrupt tendencies of his riper age.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the cavalcade entered the narrow streets of Loudun, they heard
+      strange noises all around them. The streets were filled with agitated
+      masses; the bells of the church and of the convent were ringing furiously,
+      as if the town was in flames; and the whole population, without paying any
+      attention to the travellers, was pressing tumultuously toward a large
+      edifice that adjoined the church. Here and there dense crowds were
+      collected, listening in silence to some voice that seemed raised in
+      exhortation, or engaged in emphatic reading; then, furious cries, mingled
+      with pious exclamations, arose from the crowd, which, dispersing, showed
+      the travellers that the orator was some Capuchin or Franciscan friar, who,
+      holding a wooden crucifix in one hand, pointed with the other to the large
+      building which was attracting such universal interest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jesu Maria!&rdquo; exclaimed an old woman, &ldquo;who would ever
+      have thought that the Evil Spirit would choose our old town for his abode?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, or that the pious Ursulines should be possessed?&rdquo; said
+      another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They say that the demon who torments the Superior is called Legion,&rdquo;
+      cried a third:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One demon, say you?&rdquo; interrupted a nun; &ldquo;there were
+      seven in her poor body, whereunto, doubtless, she had attached too much
+      importance, by reason of its great beauty, though now &lsquo;tis but the
+      receptacle of evil spirits. The prior of the Carmelites yesterday expelled
+      the demon Eazas through her mouth; and the reverend Father Lactantius has
+      driven out in like manner the demon Beherit. But the other five will not
+      depart, and when the holy exorcists (whom Heaven support!) summoned them
+      in Latin to withdraw, they replied insolently that they would not go till
+      they had proved their power, to the conviction even of the Huguenots and
+      heretics, who, misbelieving wretches! seem to doubt it. The demon Elimi,
+      the worst of them all, as you know, has threatened to take off Monsieur de
+      Laubardemont&rsquo;s skull-cap to-day, and to dangle it in the air at
+      Miserere.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Holy Virgin!&rdquo; rejoined the first speaker, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m
+      all of a tremble! And to think that many times I have got this magician
+      Urbain to say masses for me!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For myself,&rdquo; exclaimed a girl, crossing herself; &ldquo;I too
+      confessed to him ten months ago! No doubt I should have been possessed
+      myself, but for the relic of Saint-Genevieve I luckily had about me, and&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Luckily, indeed, Martine,&rdquo; interposed a fat gossip; &ldquo;for&mdash;no
+      offence!&mdash;you, as I remember, were long enough with the handsome
+      sorcerer.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pshaw!&rdquo; said a young soldier, who had joined the group,
+      smoking his pipe, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t you know that pretty Martine was
+      dispossessed a month ago.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl blushed, and drew the hood of her black cloak over her face. The
+      elder gossips cast a glance of indignation at the reckless trooper, and
+      finding themselves now close to the door of the building, and thus sure of
+      making their way in among the first when it should be thrown open, sat
+      down upon the stone bench at the side, and, talking of the latest wonders,
+      raised the expectations of all as to the delight they were about to have
+      in being spectators of something marvellous&mdash;an apparition, perhaps,
+      but at the very least, an administration of the torture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it true, aunt,&rdquo; asked Martine of the eldest gossip,
+      &ldquo;that you have heard the demons speak?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, child, true as I see you; many and many can say the same; and
+      it was to convince you of it I brought you with me here, that you may see
+      the power of the Evil One.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What kind of voice has he?&rdquo; continued the girl, glad to
+      encourage a conversation which diverted from herself the invidious
+      attention procured her by the soldier&rsquo;s raillery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he speaks with a voice like that of the Superior herself, to
+      whom Our Lady be gracious! Poor young woman! I was with her yesterday a
+      long time; it was sad to see her tearing her breast, turning her arms and
+      her legs first one way and then another, and then, all of a sudden,
+      twisting them together behind her back. When the holy Father Lactantius
+      pronounced the name of Urbain Grandier, foam came out of her mouth, and
+      she talked Latin for all the world as if she were reading the Bible. Of
+      course, I did not understand what she said, and all I can remember of it
+      now is, &lsquo;Urbanus Magicus rosas diabolica,&rsquo; which they tell me
+      means that the magician Urbain had bewitched her with some roses the Devil
+      had given him; and so it must have been, for while Father Lactantius
+      spoke, out of her ears and neck came a quantity of flame-colored roses,
+      all smelling of sulphur so strongly that the judge-Advocate called out for
+      every one present to stop their noses and eyes, for that the demons were
+      about to come out.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, look there now!&rdquo; exclaimed with shrill voices and a
+      triumphant air the whole bevy of assembled women, turning toward the
+      crowd, and more particularly toward a group of men attired in black, among
+      whom was standing the young soldier who had cut his joke just before so
+      unceremoniously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen to the noisy old idiots!&rdquo; exclaimed the soldier.
+      &ldquo;They think they&rsquo;re at the witches&rsquo; Sabbath, but I don&rsquo;t
+      see their broomsticks.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Young man, young man!&rdquo; said a citizen, with a sad air,
+      &ldquo;jest not upon such subjects in the open air, or, in such a time as
+      this, the wind may become gushing flames and destroy you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pooh! I laugh at your exorcists!&rdquo; returned the soldier;
+      &ldquo;my name is Grand-Ferre, and I&rsquo;ve got here a better exorciser
+      than any of you can show.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And significantly grasping the handle of his rapier in one hand, with the
+      other he twisted up his blond moustache, as he looked fiercely around; but
+      meeting no glance which returned the defiance of his own, he slowly
+      withdrew, left foot foremost, and strolled along the dark, narrow streets
+      with all the reckless nonchalance of a young soldier who has just donned
+      his uniform, and a profound contempt for all who wear not a military coat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime eight or ten of the more substantial and rational
+      inhabitants traversed in a body, slowly and silently, the agitated throng;
+      they seemed overwhelmed with amazement and distress at the agitation and
+      excitement they witnessed everywhere, and as each new instance of the
+      popular frenzy appeared, they exchanged glances of wonder and
+      apprehension. Their mute depression communicated itself to the
+      working-people, and to the peasants who had flocked in from the adjacent
+      country, and who, all sought a guide for their opinions in the faces of
+      the principal townsmen, also for the most part proprietors of the
+      surrounding districts. They saw that something calamitous was on foot, and
+      resorted accordingly to the only remedy open to the ignorant and the
+      beguiled&mdash;apathetic resignation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet, in the character of the French peasant is a certain scoffing finesse
+      of which he makes effective use, sometimes with his equals, and almost
+      invariably with his superiors. He puts questions to power as embarrassing
+      as are those which infancy puts to mature age. He affects excessive
+      humility, in order to confuse him whom he addresses with the very height
+      of his isolated elevation. He exaggerates the awkwardness of his manner
+      and the rudeness of his speech, as a means of covering his real thoughts
+      under the appearance of mere uncouthness; yet, despite all his
+      self-command, there is something in his air, certain fierce expressions
+      which betray him to the close observer, who discerns in his sardonic
+      smile, and in the marked emphasis with which he leans on his long staff,
+      the hopes that secretly nourish his soul, and the aid upon which he
+      ultimately relies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the oldest of the peasants whom we have indicated came on
+      vigorously, followed by ten or twelve young men, his sons and nephews, all
+      wearing the broad-brimmed hat and the blue frock or blouse of the ancient
+      Gauls, which the peasants of France still wear over their other garments,
+      as peculiarly adapted to their humid climate and their laborious habits.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the old man had reached the group of personages of whom we have just
+      spoken, he took off his hat&mdash;an example immediately followed by his
+      whole family&mdash;and showed a face tanned with exposure to the weather,
+      a forehead bald and wrinkled with age, and long, white hair. His shoulders
+      were bent with years and labor, but he was still a hale and sturdy man. He
+      was received with an air of welcome, and even of respect, by one of the
+      gravest of the grave group he had approached, who, without uncovering,
+      however, extended to him his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! good Father Guillaume Leroux!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and have
+      you, too, left our farm of La Chenaie to visit the town, when it&rsquo;s
+      not market-day? Why, &lsquo;tis as if your oxen were to unharness
+      themselves and go hunting, leaving their work to see a poor rabbit run
+      down!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Faith, Monsieur le Comte du Lude,&rdquo; replied the farmer,
+      &ldquo;for that matter, sometimes the rabbit runs across our path of
+      itself; but, in truth, I&rsquo;ve a notion that some of the people here
+      want to make fools of us, and so I&rsquo;ve come to see about it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough of that, my friend,&rdquo; returned the Count; &ldquo;here
+      is Monsieur Fournier, the Advocate, who assuredly will not deceive you,
+      for he resigned his office of Attorney-General last night, that he might
+      henceforth devote his eloquence to the service of his own noble thoughts.
+      You will hear him, perhaps, to-day, though truly, I dread his appearing
+      for his own sake as much as I desire it for that of the accused.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I care not for myself,&rdquo; said Fournier; &ldquo;truth is with
+      me a passion, and I would have it taught in all times and all places.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He that spoke was a young man, whose face, pallid in the extreme, was full
+      of the noblest expression. His blond hair, his light-blue eyes, his
+      thinness, the delicacy of his frame, made him at first sight seem younger
+      than he was; but his thoughtful and earnest countenance indicated that
+      mental superiority and that precocious maturity of soul which are
+      developed by deep study in youth, combined with natural energy of
+      character. He was attired wholly in black, with a short cloak in the
+      fashion of the day, and carried under his left arm a roll of documents,
+      which, when speaking, he would take in the right hand and grasp
+      convulsively, as a warrior in his anger grasps the pommel of his sword. At
+      one moment it seemed as if he were about to unfurl the scroll, and from it
+      hurl lightning upon those whom he pursued with looks of fiery indignation&mdash;three
+      Capuchins and a Franciscan, who had just passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pere Guillaume,&rdquo; pursued M. du Lude, &ldquo;how is it you
+      have brought with you only your sons, and they armed with their staves?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Faith, Monsieur, I have no desire that our girls should learn to
+      dance of the nuns; and, moreover, just now the lads with their staves may
+      bestir themselves to better purpose than their sisters would.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take my advice, my old friend,&rdquo; said the Count, &ldquo;and
+      don&rsquo;t bestir yourselves at all; rather stand quietly aside to view
+      the procession which you see approaching, and remember that you are
+      seventy years old.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; murmured the old man, drawing up his twelve sons in
+      double military rank, &ldquo;I fought under good King Henriot, and can
+      play at sword and pistol as well as the worthy &lsquo;ligueurs&rsquo;;&rdquo;
+      and shaking his head he leaned against a post, his knotty staff between
+      his crossed legs, his hands clasped on its thick butt-end, and his white,
+      bearded chin resting on his hands. Then, half closing his eyes, he
+      appeared lost in recollections of his youth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bystanders observed with interest his dress, slashed in the fashion of
+      Henri IV, and his resemblance to the Bearnese monarch in the latter years
+      of his life, though the King&rsquo;s hair had been prevented by the
+      assassin&rsquo;s blade from acquiring the whiteness which that of the old
+      peasant had peacefully attained. A furious pealing of the bells, however,
+      attracted the general attention to the end of the great street, down which
+      was seen filing a long procession, whose banners and glittering pikes rose
+      above the heads of the crowd, which successively and in silence opened a
+      way for the at once absurd and terrible train.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First, two and two, came a body of archers, with pointed beards and large
+      plumed hats, armed with long halberds, who, ranging in a single file on
+      each side of the middle of the street, formed an avenue along which
+      marched in solemn order a procession of Gray Penitents&mdash;men attired
+      in long, gray robes, the hoods of which entirely covered their heads;
+      masks of the same stuff terminated below their chins in points, like
+      beards, each having three holes for the eyes and nose. Even at the present
+      day we see these costumes at funerals, more especially in the Pyrenees.
+      The Penitents of Loudun carried enormous wax candles, and their slow,
+      uniform movement, and their eyes, which seemed to glitter under their
+      masks, gave them the appearance of phantoms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The people expressed their various feelings in an undertone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There&rsquo;s many a rascal hidden under those masks,&rdquo; said a
+      citizen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, and with a face uglier than the mask itself,&rdquo; added a
+      young man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They make me afraid,&rdquo; tremulously exclaimed a girl.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;m only afraid for my purse,&rdquo; said the first speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, heaven! there are our holy brethren, the Penitents,&rdquo;
+      cried an old woman, throwing back her hood, the better to look at them.
+      &ldquo;See the banner they bear! Ah, neighbors, &lsquo;tis a joyful thing
+      to have it among us! Beyond a doubt it will save us; see, it shows the
+      devil in flames, and a monk fastening a chain round his neck, to keep him
+      in hell. Ah, here come the judges&mdash;noble gentlemen! dear gentlemen!
+      Look at their red robes; how beautiful! Blessed be the Virgin, they&rsquo;ve
+      been well chosen!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every man of them is a personal enemy of the Cure,&rdquo; whispered
+      the Count du Lude to the advocate Fournier, who took a note of the
+      information.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you know them, neighbors?&rdquo; pursued the shrill,
+      sharp voice of the old woman, as she elbowed one and pinched another of
+      those near her to attract their attention to the objects of her
+      admiration; &ldquo;see, there&rsquo;s excellent Monsieur Mignon,
+      whispering to Messieurs the Counsellors of the Court of Poitiers; Heaven
+      bless them all, say I!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, there are Roatin, Richard, and Chevalier&mdash;the very men
+      who tried to have him dismissed a year ago,&rdquo; continued M. du Lude,
+      in undertones, to the young advocate, who, surrounded and hidden from
+      public observation by the group of dark-clad citizens, was writing down
+      his observations in a note-book under his cloak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here; look, look!&rdquo; screamed the woman. &ldquo;Make way! here&rsquo;s
+      Monsieur Barre, the Cure of Saint-Jacques at Chinon.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A saint!&rdquo; murmured one bystander.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A hypocrite!&rdquo; exclaimed a manly voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See how thin he is with fasting!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See how pale he is with remorse!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the man to drive away devils!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but not till he&rsquo;s done with them for his own purposes.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dialogue was interrupted by the general exclamation, &ldquo;How
+      beautiful she is!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Superior of the Ursulines advanced, followed by all her nuns. Her
+      white veil was raised; in order that the people might see the features of
+      the possessed ones, it had been ordered that it should be thus with her
+      and six of the sisterhood. Her attire had no distinguishing feature,
+      except a large rosary extending from her neck nearly to her feet, from
+      which hung a gold cross; but the dazzling pallor of her face, rendered
+      still more conspicuous by the dark hue of her capuchon, at once fixed the
+      general gaze upon her. Her brilliant, dark eyes, which bore the impress of
+      some deep and burning passion, were crowned with eyebrows so perfectly
+      arched that Nature herself seemed to have taken as much pains to form them
+      as the Circassian women to pencil theirs artistically; but between them a
+      slight fold revealed the powerful agitation within. In her movements,
+      however, and throughout her whole bearing, she affected perfect calm; her
+      steps were slow and measured, and her beautiful hands were crossed on her
+      bosom, as white and motionless as those of the marble statues joined in
+      eternal prayer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See, aunt,&rdquo; ejaculated Martine, &ldquo;see how Sister Agnes
+      and Sister Claire are weeping, next to the Superior!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, niece, they weep because they are the prey of the demon.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or rather,&rdquo; interposed the same manly voice that spoke
+      before, &ldquo;because they repent of having mocked Heaven.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A deep silence now pervaded the multitude; not a word was heard, not a
+      movement, hardly a breath. Every one seemed paralyzed by some sudden
+      enchantment, when, following the nuns, among four Penitents who held him
+      in chains, appeared the Cure of the Church of Ste. Croix, attired in his
+      pastor&rsquo;s robe. His was a noble, fine face, with grandeur in its
+      whole expression, and gentleness in every feature. Affecting no scornful
+      indifference to his position, he looked calmly and kindly around, as if he
+      sought on his dark path the affectionate glances of those who loved him.
+      Nor did he seek in vain; here and there he encountered those glances, and
+      joyfully returned them. He even heard sobs, and he saw hands extended
+      toward him, many of which grasped weapons. But no gesture of his
+      encouraged these mute offers of aid; he lowered his eyes and went on,
+      careful not to compromise those who so trusted in him, or to involve them
+      in his own misfortunes. This was Urbain Grandier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the procession stopped, at a sign from the man who walked apart,
+      and who seemed to command its progress. He was tall, thin, sallow; he wore
+      a long black robe, with a cap of the same material and color; he had the
+      face of a Don Basilio, with the eye of Nero. He motioned the guards to
+      surround him more closely, when he saw with affright the dark group we
+      have mentioned, and the strong-limbed and resolute peasants who seemed in
+      attendance upon them. Then, advancing somewhat before the Canons and
+      Capuchins who were with him, he pronounced, in a shrill voice, this
+      singular decree:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;We, Sieur de Laubardemont, referendary, being delegated and
+   invested with discretionary power in the matter of the trial of the
+   magician Urbain Grandier, upon the various articles of accusation
+   brought against him, assisted by the reverend Fathers Mignon, canon,
+   Barre, cure of St. Jacques at Chinon, Father Lactantius, and all the
+   other judges appointed to try the said magician, have decreed as
+   follows:
+
+   &ldquo;Primo: the factitious assembly of proprietors, noble citizens of
+   this town and its environs, is dissolved, as tending to popular
+   sedition; its proceedings are declared null, and its letter to the
+   King, against us, the judges, which has been intercepted, shall be
+   publicly burned in the marketplace as calumniating the good
+   Ursulines and the reverend fathers and judges.
+
+   &ldquo;Secundo: it is forbidden to say, publicly or in private, that the
+   said nuns are not possessed by the Evil Spirit, or to doubt of the
+   power of the exorcists, under pain of a fine of twenty thousand
+   livres, and corporal punishment.
+
+   &ldquo;Let the bailiffs and sheriffs obey this. Given the eighteenth of
+   June, in the year of grace 1639.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Before he had well finished reading the decree, the discordant blare of
+      trumpets, bursting forth at a prearranged signal, drowned, to a certain
+      extent, the murmurs that followed its proclamation, amid which
+      Laubardemont urged forward the procession, which entered the great
+      building already referred to&mdash;an ancient convent, whose interior had
+      crumbled away, its walls now forming one vast hall, well adapted for the
+      purpose to which it was about to be applied. Laubardemont did not deem
+      himself safe until he was within the building and had heard the heavy,
+      double doors creak on their hinges as, closing, they excluded the furious
+      crowd without.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III. THE GOOD PRIEST
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     L&rsquo;homme de paix me parla ainsi.&mdash;VICAIRE SAVOYARD.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Now that the diabolical procession is in the arena destined for its
+      spectacle, and is arranging its sanguinary representation, let us see what
+      Cinq-Mars had been doing amid the agitated throng. He was naturally
+      endowed with great tact, and he felt that it would be no easy matter for
+      him to attain his object of seeing the Abbe Quillet, at a time when public
+      excitement was at its height. He therefore remained on horseback with his
+      four servants in a small, dark street that led into the main thoroughfare,
+      whence he could see all that passed. No one at first paid any attention to
+      him; but when public curiosity had no other aliment, he became an object
+      of general interest. Weary of so many strange scenes, the inhabitants
+      looked upon him with some exasperation, and whispered to one another,
+      asking whether this was another exorcist come among them. Feeling that it
+      was time to take a decided course, he advanced with his attendants, hat in
+      hand, toward the group in black of whom we have spoken, and addressing him
+      who appeared its chief member, said, &ldquo;Monsieur, where can I find
+      Monsieur l&rsquo;Abbe Quillet?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this name, all regarded him with an air of terror, as if he had
+      pronounced that of Lucifer. Yet no anger was shown; on the contrary, it
+      seemed that the question had favorably changed for him the minds of all
+      who heard him. Moreover, chance had served him well in his choice; the
+      Comte du Lude came up to his horse, and saluting him, said, &ldquo;Dismount,
+      Monsieur, and I will give you some useful information concerning him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After speaking a while in whispers, the two gentlemen separated with all
+      the ceremonious courtesy of the time. Cinq-Mars remounted his black horse,
+      and passing through numerous narrow streets, was soon out of the crowd
+      with his retinue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How happy I am!&rdquo; he soliloquized, as he went his way; &ldquo;I
+      shall, at all events, for a moment see the good and kind clergyman who
+      brought me up; even now I recall his features, his calm air, his voice so
+      full of gentleness.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As these tender thoughts filled his mind, he found himself in the small,
+      dark street which had been indicated to him; it was so narrow that the
+      knee-pieces of his boots touched the wall on each side. At the end of the
+      street he came to a one-storied wooden house, and in his eagerness knocked
+      at the door with repeated strokes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is there?&rdquo; cried a furious voice within; and at the same
+      moment, the door opening revealed a little short, fat man, with a very red
+      face, dressed in black, with a large white ruff, and riding-boots which
+      engulfed his short legs in their vast depths. In his hands were a pair of
+      horse-pistols.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will sell my life dearly!&rdquo; he cried; &ldquo;and&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Softly, Abbe, softly,&rdquo; said his pupil, taking his arm;
+      &ldquo;we are friends.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my son, is it you?&rdquo; said the good man, letting fall his
+      pistols, which were picked up by a domestic, also armed to the teeth.
+      &ldquo;What do you here? The abomination has entered the town, and I only
+      await the night to depart. Make haste within, my dear boy, with your
+      people. I took you for the archers of Laubardemont, and, faith, I intended
+      to take a part somewhat out of my line. You see the horses in the
+      courtyard there; they will convey me to Italy, where I shall rejoin our
+      friend, the Duc de Bouillon. Jean! Jean! hasten and close the great gate
+      after Monsieur&rsquo;s domestics, and recommend them not to make too much
+      noise, although for that matter we have no habitation near us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Grandchamp obeyed the intrepid little Abbe, who then embraced Cinq-Mars
+      four consecutive times, raising himself on the points of his boots, so as
+      to attain the middle of his pupil&rsquo;s breast. He then hurried him into
+      a small room, which looked like a deserted granary; and seating him beside
+      himself upon a black leather trunk, he said, warmly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my son, whither go you? How came Madame la Marechale to allow
+      you to come here? Do you not see what they are doing against an unhappy
+      man, whose death alone will content them? Alas, merciful Heaven! is this
+      the first spectacle my dear pupil is to see? And you at that delightful
+      period of life when friendship, love, confidence, should alone encompass
+      you; when all around you should give you a favorable opinion of your
+      species, at your very entry into the great world! How unfortunate! alas,
+      why did you come?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the good Abbe had followed up this lamentation by pressing
+      affectionately both hands of the young traveller in his own, so red and
+      wrinkled, the latter answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you not guess, my dear Abbe, that I came to Loudun because you
+      are here? As to the spectacle you speak of, it appears to me simply
+      ridiculous; and I swear that I do not a whit the less on its account love
+      that human race of which your virtues and your good lessons have given me
+      an excellent idea. As to the five or six mad women who&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us not lose time; I will explain to you all that matter; but
+      answer me, whither go you, and for what?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to Perpignan, where the Cardinal-Duke is to present me
+      to the King.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this the worthy but hasty Abbe rose from his box, and walked, or rather
+      ran, to and fro, stamping. &ldquo;The Cardinal! the Cardinal!&rdquo; he
+      repeated, almost choking, his face becoming scarlet, and the tears rising
+      to his eyes; &ldquo;My poor child! they will destroy him! Ah, mon Dieu!
+      what part would they have him play there? What would they do with him? Ah,
+      who will protect thee, my son, in that dangerous place?&rdquo; he
+      continued, reseating himself, and again taking his pupil&rsquo;s hands in
+      his own with a paternal solicitude, as he endeavored to read his thoughts
+      in his countenance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, I do not exactly know,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, looking up at
+      the ceiling; &ldquo;but I suppose it will be the Cardinal de Richelieu,
+      who was the friend of my father.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my dear Henri, you make me tremble; he will ruin you unless you
+      become his docile instrument. Alas, why can not I go with you? Why must I
+      act the young man of twenty in this unfortunate affair? Alas, I should be
+      perilous to you; I must, on the contrary, conceal myself. But you will
+      have Monsieur de Thou near you, my son, will you not?&rdquo; said he,
+      trying to reassure himself; &ldquo;he was your friend in childhood, though
+      somewhat older than yourself. Heed his counsels, my child, he is a wise
+      young man of mature reflection and solid ideas.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, my dear Abbe, you may depend upon my tender attachment for
+      him; I never have ceased to love him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you have ceased to write to him, have you not?&rdquo; asked the
+      good Abbe, half smilingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon, my dear Abbe, I wrote to him once, and again
+      yesterday, to inform him that the Cardinal has invited me to court.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! has he himself desired your presence?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars hereupon showed the letter of the Cardinal-Duke to his mother,
+      and his old preceptor grew gradually calmer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, well!&rdquo; said he to himself, &ldquo;this is not so bad,
+      perhaps, after all. It looks promising; a captain of the guards at twenty&mdash;that
+      sounds well!&rdquo; and the worthy Abbe&rsquo;s face became all smiles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young man, delighted to see these smiles, which so harmonized with his
+      own thoughts, fell upon the neck of the Abbe and embraced him, as if the
+      good man had thus assured to him a futurity of pleasure, glory, and love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the good Abbe, with difficulty disengaging himself from this warm
+      embrace, resumed his walk, his reflections, and his gravity. He coughed
+      often and shook his head; and Cinq-Mars, not venturing to pursue the
+      conversation, watched him, and became sad as he saw him become serious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man at last sat down, and in a mournful tone addressed his pupil:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friend, my son, I have for a moment yielded like a father to
+      your hopes; but I must tell you, and it is not to afflict you, that they
+      appear to me excessive and unnatural. If the Cardinal&rsquo;s sole aim
+      were to show attachment and gratitude toward your family, he would not
+      have carried his favors so far; no, the extreme probability is that he has
+      designs upon you. From what has been told him, he thinks you adapted to
+      play some part, as yet impossible for us to divine, but which he himself
+      has traced out in the deepest recesses of his mind. He wishes to educate
+      you for this; he wishes to drill you into it. Allow me the expression in
+      consideration of its accuracy, and think seriously of it when the time
+      shall come. But I am inclined to believe that, as matters are, you would
+      do well to follow up this vein in the great mine of State; in this way
+      high fortunes have begun. You must only take heed not to be blinded and
+      led at will. Let not favors dazzle you, my poor child, and let not
+      elevation turn your head. Be not so indignant at the suggestion; the thing
+      has happened to older men than yourself. Write to me often, as well as to
+      your mother; see Monsieur de Thou, and together we will try to keep you in
+      good counsel. Now, my son, be kind enough to close that window through
+      which the wind comes upon my head, and I will tell you what has been going
+      on here.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henri, trusting that the moral part of the discourse was over, and
+      anticipating nothing in the second part but a narrative more or less
+      interesting, closed the old casement, festooned with cobwebs, and resumed
+      his seat without speaking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now that I reflect further,&rdquo; continued the Abbe, &ldquo;I
+      think it will not perhaps be unprofitable for you to have passed through
+      this place, although it be a sad experience you shall have acquired; but
+      it will supply what I may not have formerly told you of the wickedness of
+      men. I hope, moreover, that the result will not be fatal, and that the
+      letter we have written to the King will arrive in time.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard that it had been intercepted,&rdquo; interposed Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then all is over,&rdquo; said the Abbe Quillet; &ldquo;the Cure is
+      lost. But listen. God forbid, my son, that I, your old tutor, should seek
+      to assail my own work, and attempt to weaken your faith! Preserve ever and
+      everywhere that simple creed of which your noble family has given you the
+      example, which our fathers possessed in a still higher degree than we, and
+      of which the greatest captains of our time are not ashamed. Always, while
+      you wear a sword, remember that you hold it for the service of God. But at
+      the same time, when you are among men, avoid being deceived by the
+      hypocrite. He will encompass you, my son; he will assail you on the
+      vulnerable side of your ingenuous heart, in addressing your religion; and
+      seeing the extravagance of his affected zeal, you will fancy yourself
+      lukewarm as compared with him. You will think that your conscience cries
+      out against you; but it will not be the voice of conscience that you hear.
+      And what cries would not that conscience send forth, how fiercely would it
+      not rise upon you, did you contribute to the destruction of innocence by
+      invoking Heaven itself as a false witness against it?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my father! can such things be possible?&rdquo; exclaimed Henri
+      d&rsquo;Effiat, clasping his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is but too true,&rdquo; continued the Abbe; &ldquo;you saw a
+      partial execution of it this morning. God grant you may not witness still
+      greater horrors! But listen! whatever you may see, whatever crime they
+      dare to commit, I conjure you, in the name of your mother and of all that
+      you hold dear, say not a word; make not a gesture that may indicate any
+      opinion whatever. I know the impetuous character that you derive from the
+      Marechal, your father; curb it, or you are lost. These little ebullitions
+      of passion give but slight satisfaction, and bring about great
+      misfortunes. I have observed you give way to them too much. Oh, did you
+      but know the advantage that a calm temper gives one over men! The ancients
+      stamped it on the forehead of the divinity as his finest attribute, since
+      it shows that he is superior to our fears and to our hopes, to our
+      pleasures and to our pains. Therefore, my dear child, remain passive in
+      the scenes you are about to witness; but see them you must. Be present at
+      this sad trial; for me, I must suffer the consequences of my schoolboy
+      folly. I will relate it to you; it will prove to you that with a bald head
+      one may be as much a child as with your fine chestnut curls.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And the excellent old Abbe, taking his pupil&rsquo;s head affectionately
+      between his hands, continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Like other people, my dear son, I was curious to see the devils of
+      the Ursulines; and knowing that they professed to speak all languages, I
+      was so imprudent as to cease speaking Latin and to question them in Greek.
+      The Superior is very pretty, but she does not know Greek! Duncan, the
+      physician, observed aloud that it was surprising that the demon, who knew
+      everything, should commit barbarisms and solecisms in Latin, and not be
+      able to answer in Greek. The young Superior, who was then upon her bed,
+      turned toward the wall to weep, and said in an undertone to Father Barre,
+      &lsquo;I can not go on with this, father.&rsquo; I repeated her words
+      aloud, and infuriated all the exorcists; they cried out that I ought to
+      know that there are demons more ignorant than peasants, and said that as
+      to their power and physical strength, it could not be doubted, since the
+      spirits named Gresil des Trones, Aman des Puissance, and Asmodeus, had
+      promised to carry off the calotte of Monsieur de Laubardemont. They were
+      preparing for this, when the physician Duncan, a learned and upright man,
+      but somewhat of a scoffer, took it into his head to pull a cord he
+      discovered fastened to a column like a bell-rope, and which hung down just
+      close to the referendary&rsquo;s head; whereupon they called him a
+      Huguenot, and I am satisfied that if Marechal de Breze were not his
+      protector, it would have gone ill with him. The Comte du Lude then came
+      forward with his customary &lsquo;sang-froid&rsquo;, and begged the
+      exorcists to perform before him. Father Lactantius, the Capuchin with the
+      dark visage and hard look, proceeded with Sister Agnes and Sister Claire;
+      he raised both his hands, looking at them as a serpent would look at two
+      dogs, and cried in a terrible voice, &lsquo;Quis to misit, Diabole?&rsquo;
+      and the two sisters answered, as with one voice, &lsquo;Urbanus.&rsquo; He
+      was about to continue, when Monsieur du Lude, taking out of his pocket,
+      with an air of veneration, a small gold box, said that he had in it a
+      relic left by his ancestors, and that though not doubting the fact of the
+      possession, he wished to test it. Father Lactantius seized the box with
+      delight, and hardly had he touched the foreheads of the two sisters with
+      it when they made great leaps and twisted about their hands and feet.
+      Lactantius shouted forth his exorcisms; Barre threw himself upon his knees
+      with all the old women; and Mignon and the judges applauded. The
+      impassible Laubardemont made the sign of the cross, without being struck
+      dead for it! When Monsieur du Lude took back his box the nuns became
+      still. &lsquo;I think,&rsquo; said Lactantius, insolently, &lsquo;that&mdash;you
+      will not question your relics now.&rsquo; &lsquo;No more than I do the
+      possession,&rsquo; answered Monsieur du Lude, opening his box and showing
+      that it was empty. &lsquo;Monsieur, you mock us,&rsquo; said Lactantius. I
+      was indignant at these mummeries, and said to him, &lsquo;Yes, Monsieur,
+      as you mock God and men.&rsquo; And this, my dear friend, is the reason
+      why you see me in my seven-league boots, so heavy that they hurt my legs,
+      and with pistols; for our friend Laubardemont has ordered my person to be
+      seized, and I don&rsquo;t choose it to be seized, old as it is.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, is he so powerful, then?&rdquo; cried Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More so than is supposed&mdash;more so than could be believed. I
+      know that the possessed Abbess is his niece, and that he is provided with
+      an order in council directing him to judge, without being deterred by any
+      appeals lodged in Parliament, the Cardinal having prohibited the latter
+      from taking cognizance of the matter of Urbain Grandier.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what are his offences?&rdquo; asked the young man, already
+      deeply interested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those of a strong mind and of a great genius, an inflexible will
+      which has irritated power against him, and a profound passion which has
+      driven his heart and him to commit the only mortal sin with which I
+      believe he can be reproached; and it was only by violating the sanctity of
+      his private papers, which they tore from Jeanne d&rsquo;Estievre, his
+      mother, an old woman of eighty, that they discovered his love for the
+      beautiful Madeleine de Brou. This girl had refused to marry, and wished to
+      take the veil. May that veil have concealed from her the spectacle of this
+      day! The eloquence of Grandier and his angelic beauty drove the women half
+      mad; they came miles and miles to hear him. I have seen them swoon during
+      his sermons; they declared him an angel, and touched his garment and
+      kissed his hands when he descended from the pulpit. It is certain that,
+      unless it be his beauty, nothing could equal the sublimity of his
+      discourses, ever full of inspiration. The pure honey of the gospel
+      combined on his lips with the flashing flame of the prophecies; and one
+      recognized in the sound of his voice a heart overflowing with holy pity
+      for the evils to which mankind are subject, and filled with tears, ready
+      to flow for us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The good priest paused, for his own voice and eyes were filled with tears;
+      his round and naturally Joyous face was more touching than a graver one
+      under the same circumstances, for it seemed as if it bade defiance to
+      sadness. Cinq-Mars, even more moved, pressed his hand without speaking,
+      fearful of interrupting him. The Abbe took out a red handkerchief, wiped
+      his eyes, and continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the second attack upon Urbain by his combined enemies. He
+      had already been accused of bewitching the nuns; but, examined by holy
+      prelates, by enlightened magistrates, and learned physicians, he was
+      immediately acquitted, and the judges indignantly imposed silence upon
+      these devils in human form. The good and pious Archbishop of Bordeaux, who
+      had himself chosen the examiners of these pretended exorcists, drove the
+      prophets away and shut up their hell. But, humiliated by the publicity of
+      the result, annoyed at seeing Grandier kindly received by our good King
+      when he threw himself at his feet at Paris, they saw that if he triumphed
+      they were lost, and would be universally regarded as impostors. Already
+      the convent of the Ursulines was looked upon only as a theatre for
+      disgraceful comedies, and the nuns themselves as shameless actresses. More
+      than a hundred persons, furious against the Cure, had compromised
+      themselves in the hope of destroying him. Their plot, instead of being
+      abandoned, has gained strength by its first check; and here are the means
+      that have been set to work by his implacable enemies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know a man called &lsquo;L&rsquo;Eminence Grise&rsquo;, that
+      formidable Capuchin whom the Cardinal employs in all things, consults upon
+      some, and always despises? It was to him that the Capuchins of Loudun
+      addressed themselves. A woman of this place, of low birth, named Hamon,
+      having been so fortunate as to please the Queen when she passed through
+      Loudun, was taken into her service. You know the hatred that separates her
+      court from that of the Cardinal; you know that Anne of Austria and
+      Monsieur de Richelieu have for some time disputed for the King&rsquo;s
+      favor, and that, of her two suns, France never knew in the evening which
+      would rise next morning. During a temporary eclipse of the Cardinal, a
+      satire appeared, issuing from the planetary system of the Queen; it was
+      called, &lsquo;La cordonniere de la seine-mere&rsquo;. Its tone and
+      language were vulgar; but it contained things so insulting about the birth
+      and person of the Cardinal that the enemies of the minister took it up and
+      gave it a publicity which irritated him. It revealed, it is said, many
+      intrigues and mysteries which he had deemed impenetrable. He read this
+      anonymous work, and desired to know its author. It was just at this time
+      that the Capuchins of this town wrote to Father Joseph that a constant
+      correspondence between Grandier and La Hamon left no doubt in their minds
+      as to his being the author of this diatribe. It was in vain that he had
+      previously published religious books, prayers, and meditations, the style
+      of which alone ought to have absolved him from having put his hand to a
+      libel written in the language of the marketplace; the Cardinal, long since
+      prejudiced against Urbain, was determined to fix upon him as the culprit.
+      He remembered that when he was only prior of Coussay, Grandier disputed
+      precedence with him and gained it; I fear this achievement of precedence
+      in life will make poor Grandier precede the Cardinal in death also.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A melancholy smile played upon the lips of the good Abbe as he uttered
+      this involuntary pun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! do you think this matter will go so far as death?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, my son, even to death; they have already taken away all the
+      documents connected with his former absolution that might have served for
+      his defence, despite the opposition of his poor mother, who preserved them
+      as her son&rsquo;s license to live. Even now they affect to regard a work
+      against the celibacy of priests, found among his papers, as destined to
+      propagate schism. It is a culpable production, doubtless, and the love
+      which dictated it, however pure it may be, is an enormous sin in a man
+      consecrated to God alone; but this poor priest was far from wishing to
+      encourage heresy, and it was simply, they say, to appease the remorse of
+      Mademoiselle de Brou that he composed the work. It was so evident that his
+      real faults would not suffice to condemn him to death that they have
+      revived the accusation of sorcery, long since disposed of; but, feigning
+      to believe this, the Cardinal has established a new tribunal in this town,
+      and has placed Laubardemont at its head, a sure sign of death. Heaven
+      grant that you never become acquainted with what the corruption of
+      governments call coups-d&rsquo;etat!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment a terrible shriek sounded from beyond the wall of the
+      courtyard; the Abbe arose in terror, as did Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the cry of a woman,&rdquo; said the old man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Tis heartrending!&rdquo; exclaimed Cinq-Mars. &ldquo;What is
+      it?&rdquo; he asked his people, who had all rushed out into the courtyard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They answered that they heard nothing further.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; said the Abbe, &ldquo;make no noise.&rdquo; He
+      then shut the window, and put his hands before his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, what a cry was that, my son!&rdquo; he said, with his face of
+      an ashy paleness&mdash;&ldquo;what a cry! It pierced my very soul; some
+      calamity has happened. Ah, holy Virgin! it has so agitated me that I can
+      talk with you no more. Why did I hear it, just as I was speaking to you of
+      your future career? My dear child, may God bless you! Kneel!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars did as he was desired, and knew by a kiss upon his head that he
+      had been blessed by the old man, who then raised him, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go, my son, the time is advancing; they might find you with me. Go,
+      leave your people and horses here; wrap yourself in a cloak, and go; I
+      have much to write ere the hour when darkness shall allow me to depart for
+      Italy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They embraced once more, promising to write to each other, and Henri
+      quitted the house. The Abby, still following him with his eyes from the
+      window, cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be prudent, whatever may happen,&rdquo; and sent him with his hands
+      one more paternal blessing, saying, &ldquo;Poor child! poor child!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV. THE TRIAL
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        Oh, vendetta di Dio, quanto to dei
+        Esser temuta da ciascun che legge
+        Cio, che fu manifesto agli occhi miei.&mdash;DANTE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Notwithstanding the custom of having secret trials, freely countenanced by
+      Richelieu, the judges of the Cure of Loudun had resolved that the court
+      should be open to the public; but they soon repented this measure. They
+      were all interested in the destruction of Urbain Grandier; but they
+      desired that the indignation of the country should in some degree sanction
+      the sentence of death they had received orders to pass and to carry into
+      effect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laubardemont was a kind of bird of prey, whom the Cardinal always let
+      loose when he required a prompt and sure agent for his vengeance; and on
+      this occasion he fully justified the choice that had been made of him. He
+      committed but one error&mdash;that of allowing a public trial, contrary to
+      the usual custom; his object had been to intimidate and to dismay. He
+      dismayed, indeed, but he created also a feeling of indignant horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The throng without the gates had waited there two hours, during which time
+      the sound of hammers indicated that within the great hall they were
+      hastily completing their mysterious preparations. At length the archers
+      laboriously turned upon their hinges the heavy gates opening into the
+      street, and the crowd eagerly rushed in. The young Cinq-Mars was carried
+      along with the second enormous wave, and, placed behind a thick column,
+      stood there, so as to be able to see without being seen. He observed with
+      vexation that the group of dark-clad citizens was near him; but the great
+      gates, closing, left the part of the court where the people stood in such
+      darkness that there was no likelihood of his being recognized. Although it
+      was only midday, the hall was lighted with torches; but they were nearly
+      all placed at the farther end, where rose the judges&rsquo; bench behind a
+      long table. The chairs, tables, and steps were all covered with black
+      cloth, and cast a livid hue over the faces of those near them. A seat
+      reserved for the prisoner was placed upon the left, and on the crape robe
+      which covered him flames were represented in gold embroidery to indicate
+      the nature of the offence. Here sat the accused, surrounded by archers,
+      with his hands still bound in chains, held by two monks, who, with
+      simulated terror, affected to start from him at his slightest motion, as
+      if they held a tiger or enraged wolf, or as if the flames depicted on his
+      robe could communicate themselves to their clothing. They also carefully
+      kept his face from being seen in the least degree by the people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The impassible countenance of M. de Laubardemont was there to dominate the
+      judges of his choice; almost a head taller than any of them, he sat upon a
+      seat higher than theirs, and each of his glassy and uneasy glances seemed
+      to convey a command. He wore a long, full scarlet robe, and a black cap
+      covered his head; he seemed occupied in arranging papers, which he then
+      passed to the judges. The accusers, all ecclesiastics, sat upon the right
+      hand of the judges; they wore their albs and stoles. Father Lactantius was
+      distinguishable among them by his simple Capuchin habit, his tonsure, and
+      the extreme hardness of his features. In a side gallery sat the Bishop of
+      Poitiers, hidden from view; other galleries were filled with veiled women.
+      Below the bench of judges a group of men and women, the dregs of the
+      populace, stood behind six young Ursuline nuns, who seemed full of disgust
+      at their proximity; these were the witnesses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rest of the hall was filled with an enormous crowd, gloomy and silent,
+      clinging to the arches, the gates, and the beams, and full of a terror
+      which communicated itself to the judges, for it arose from an interest in
+      the accused. Numerous archers, armed with long pikes, formed an
+      appropriate frame for this lugubrious picture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At a sign from the President, the witnesses withdrew through a narrow door
+      opened for them by an usher. As the Superior of the Ursulines passed M. de
+      Laubardemont she was heard to say to him, &ldquo;You have deceived me,
+      Monsieur.&rdquo; He remained immovable, and she went on. A profound
+      silence reigned throughout the whole assembly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rising with all the gravity he could assume, but still with visible
+      agitation, one of the judges, named Houmain, judge-Advocate of Orleans,
+      read a sort of indictment in a voice so low and hoarse that it was
+      impossible to follow it. He made himself heard only when what he had to
+      say was intended to impose upon the minds of the people. He divided the
+      evidence into two classes: one, the depositions of seventy-two witnesses;
+      the other, more convincing, that resulting from &ldquo;the exorcisms of
+      the reverend fathers here present,&rdquo; said he, crossing himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fathers Lactantius, Barre, and Mignon bowed low, repeating the sacred
+      sign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, my lords,&rdquo; said Houmain, addressing the judges, &ldquo;this
+      bouquet of white roses and this manuscript, signed with the blood of the
+      magician, a counterpart of the contract he has made with Lucifer, and
+      which he was obliged to carry about him in order to preserve his power,
+      have been recognized and brought before you. We read with horror these
+      words written at the bottom of the parchment: &lsquo;The original is in
+      hell, in Lucifer&rsquo;s private cabinet.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A roar of laughter, which seemed to come from stentorian lungs, was heard
+      in the throng. The president reddened, and made a sign to the archers, who
+      in vain endeavored to discover the disturber. The judge-Advocate
+      continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The demons have been forced to declare their names by the mouths of
+      their victims. Their names and deeds are deposited upon this table. They
+      are called Astaroth, of the order of Seraphim; Eazas, Celsus, Acaos,
+      Cedron, Asmodeus, of the order of Thrones; Alex, Zebulon, Cham, Uriel, and
+      Achas, of the order of Principalities, and so on, for their number is
+      infinite. For their actions, who among us has not been a witness of them?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A prolonged murmur arose from the gathering, but, upon some halberdiers
+      advancing, all became silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have seen, with grief, the young and respectable Superior of the
+      Ursulines tear her bosom with her own hands and grovel in the dust; we
+      have seen the sisters, Agnes, Claire, and others, deviate from the modesty
+      of their sex by impassioned gestures and unseemly laughter. When impious
+      men have inclined to doubt the presence of the demons, and we ourselves
+      felt our convictions shaken, because they refused to answer to unknown
+      questions in Greek or Arabic, the reverend fathers have, to establish our
+      belief, deigned to explain to us that the malignity of evil spirits being
+      extreme, it was not surprising that they should feign this ignorance in
+      order that they might be less pressed with questions; and that in their
+      answers they had committed various solecisms and other grammatical faults
+      in order to bring contempt upon themselves, so that out of this disdain
+      the holy doctors might leave them in quiet. Their hatred is so inveterate
+      that just before performing one of their miraculous feats, they suspended
+      a rope from a beam in order to involve the reverend personages in a
+      suspicion of fraud, whereas it has been deposed on oath by credible people
+      that there never had been a cord in that place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my lords, while Heaven was thus miraculously explaining itself
+      by the mouths of its holy interpreters, another light has just been thrown
+      upon us. At the very time the judges were absorbed in profound meditation,
+      a loud cry was heard near the hall of council; and upon going to the spot,
+      we found the body of a young lady of high birth. She had just exhaled her
+      last breath in the public street, in the arms of the reverend Father
+      Mignon, Canon; and we learned from the said father here present, and from
+      several other grave personages, that, suspecting the young lady to be
+      possessed, by reason of the current rumor for some time past of the
+      admiration Urbain Grandier had for her, an idea of testing it happily
+      occurred to the Canon, who suddenly said, approaching her, &lsquo;Grandier
+      has just been put to death,&rsquo; whereat she uttered one loud scream and
+      fell dead, deprived by the demon of the time necessary for giving her the
+      assistance of our holy Mother, the Catholic Church.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A murmur of indignation arose from the crowd, among whom the word &ldquo;Assassin&rdquo;
+      was loudly reechoed; the halberdiers commanded silence with a loud voice,
+      but it was obtained rather by the judge resuming his address, the general
+      curiosity triumphing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, infamy!&rdquo; he continued, seeking to fortify himself by
+      exclamations; &ldquo;upon her person was found this work, written by the
+      hand of Urbain Grandier,&rdquo; and he took from among his papers a book
+      bound in parchment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens!&rdquo; cried Urbain from his seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look to your prisoner!&rdquo; cried the judge to the archers who
+      surrounded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt the demon is about to manifest himself,&rdquo; said Father
+      Lactantius, in a sombre voice; &ldquo;tighten his bonds.&rdquo; He was
+      obeyed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The judge-Advocate continued, &ldquo;Her name was Madeleine de Brou, aged
+      nineteen.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O God! this is too much!&rdquo; cried the accused, as he fell
+      fainting on the ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The assembly was deeply agitated; for a moment there was an absolute
+      tumult.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor fellow! he loved her,&rdquo; said some.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So good a lady!&rdquo; cried the women.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pity began to predominate. Cold water was thrown upon Grandier, without
+      his being taken from the court, and he was tied to his seat. The
+      Judge-Advocate went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are directed to read the beginning of this book to the court,&rdquo;
+      and he read as follows:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;&lsquo;It is for thee, dear and gentle Madeleine, in order to set at rest
+   thy troubled conscience, that I have described in this book one
+   thought of my soul. All those thoughts tend to thee, celestial
+   creature, because in thee they return to the aim and object of my
+   whole existence; but the thought I send thee, as &lsquo;twere a flower,
+   comes from thee, exists only in thee, and returns to thee alone.
+
+   &ldquo;&lsquo;Be not sad because thou lovest me; be not afflicted because I
+   adore thee. The angels of heaven, what is it that they do? The
+   souls of the blessed, what is it that is promised them? Are we less
+   pure than the angels? Are our souls less separated from the earth
+   than they will be after death? Oh, Madeleine, what is there in us
+   wherewith the Lord can be displeased? Can it be that we pray
+   together, that with faces prostrate in the dust before His altars,
+   we ask for early death to take us while yet youth and love are ours?
+   Or that, musing together beneath the funereal trees of the
+   churchyard, we yearned for one grave, smiling at the idea of death,
+   and weeping at life? Or that, when thou kneelest before me at the
+   tribunal of penitence, and, speaking in the presence of God, canst
+   find naught of evil to reveal to me, so wholly have I kept thy soul
+   in the pure regions of heaven? What, then, could offend our
+   Creator? Perhaps&mdash;yes! perhaps some spirit of heaven may have
+   envied me my happiness when on Easter morn I saw thee kneeling
+   before me, purified by long austerities from the slight stain which
+   original sin had left in thee! Beautiful, indeed, wert thou! Thy
+   glance sought thy God in heaven, and my trembling hand held His
+   image to thy pure lips, which human lip had never dared to breathe
+   upon. Angelic being! I alone participated in the secret of the
+   Lord, in the one secret of the entire purity of thy soul; I it was
+   that united thee to thy Creator, who at that moment descended also
+   into my bosom. Ineffable espousals, of which the Eternal himself
+   was the priest, you alone were permitted between the virgin and her
+   pastor! the sole joy of each was to see eternal happiness beginning
+   for the other, to inhale together the perfumes of heaven, to drink
+   in already the harmony of the spheres, and to feel assured that our
+   souls, unveiled to God and to ourselves alone, were worthy together
+   to adore Him.
+
+   &ldquo;&lsquo;What scruple still weighs upon thy soul, O my sister? Dost thou
+   think I have offered too high a worship to thy virtue? Fearest thou
+   so pure an admiration should deter me from that of the Lord?&rsquo;&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Houmain had reached this point when the door through which the witnesses
+      had withdrawn suddenly opened. The judges anxiously whispered together.
+      Laubardemont, uncertain as to the meaning of this, signed to the fathers
+      to let him know whether this was some scene executed by their orders; but,
+      seated at some distance from him, and themselves taken by surprise, they
+      could not make him understand that they had not prepared this
+      interruption. Besides, ere they could exchange looks, to the amazement of
+      the assembly, three women, &lsquo;en chemise&rsquo;, with naked feet, each
+      with a cord round her neck and a wax taper in her hand, came through the
+      door and advanced to the middle of the platform. It was the Superior of
+      the Ursulines, followed by Sisters Agnes and Claire. Both the latter were
+      weeping; the Superior was very pale, but her bearing was firm, and her
+      eyes were fixed and tearless. She knelt; her companions followed her
+      example. Everything was in such confusion that no one thought of checking
+      them; and in a clear, firm voice she pronounced these words, which
+      resounded in every corner of the hall:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the name of the Holy Trinity, I, Jeanne de Belfiel, daughter of
+      the Baron de Cose, I, the unworthy Superior of the Convent of the
+      Ursulines of Loudun, ask pardon of God and man for the crime I have
+      committed in accusing the innocent Urbain Grandier. My possession was
+      feigned, my words were dictated; remorse overwhelms me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bravo!&rdquo; cried the spectators, clapping their hands. The
+      judges arose; the archers, in doubt, looked at the president; he shook in
+      every limb, but did not change countenance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let all be silent,&rdquo; he said, in a sharp voice; &ldquo;archers,
+      do your duty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This man felt himself supported by so strong a hand that nothing could
+      affright him&mdash;for no thought of Heaven ever visited him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What think you, my fathers?&rdquo; said he, making a sign to the
+      monks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That the demon seeks to save his friend. Obmutesce, Satanas!&rdquo;
+      cried Father Lactantius, in a terrible voice, affecting to exorcise the
+      Superior.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Never did fire applied to gunpowder produce an effect more instantaneous
+      than did these two words. Jeanne de Belfiel started up in all the beauty
+      of twenty, which her awful nudity served to augment; she seemed a soul
+      escaped from hell appearing to, her seducer. With her dark eyes she cast
+      fierce glances upon the monks; Lactantius lowered his beneath that look.
+      She took two steps toward him with her bare feet, beneath which the
+      scaffolding rung, so energetic was her movement; the taper seemed, in her
+      hand, the sword of the avenging angel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence, impostor!&rdquo; she cried, with warmth; &ldquo;the demon
+      who possessed me was yourself. You deceived me; you said he was not to be
+      tried. To-day, for the first time, I know that he is to be tried; to-day,
+      for the first time, I know that he is to be murdered. And I will speak!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Woman, the demon bewilders thee.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say, rather, that repentance enlightens me. Daughters, miserable as
+      myself, arise; is he not innocent?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We swear he is,&rdquo; said the two young lay sisters, still
+      kneeling and weeping, for they were not animated with so strong a
+      resolution as that of the Superior.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Agnes, indeed, had hardly uttered these words when turning toward the
+      people, she cried, &ldquo;Help me! they will punish me; they will kill me!&rdquo;
+      And hurrying away her companion, she drew her into the crowd, who
+      affectionately received them. A thousand voices swore to protect them.
+      Imprecations arose; the men struck their staves against the floor; the
+      officials dared not prevent the people from passing the sisters on from
+      one to another into the street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this strange scene the amazed and panic-struck judges whispered; M.
+      Laubardemont looked at the archers, indicating to them the points they
+      were especially to watch, among which, more particularly, was that
+      occupied by the group in black. The accusers looked toward the gallery of
+      the Bishop of Poitiers, but discovered no expression in his dull
+      countenance. He was one of those old men of whom death appears to take
+      possession ten years before all motion entirely ceases in them. His eyes
+      seemed veiled by a half sleep; his gaping mouth mumbled a few vague and
+      habitual words of prayer without meaning or application; the entire amount
+      of intelligence he retained was the ability to distinguish the man who had
+      most power, and him he obeyed, regardless at what price. He had
+      accordingly signed the sentence of the doctors of the Sorbonne which
+      declared the nuns possessed, without even deducing thence the consequence
+      of the death of Urbain; the rest seemed to him one of those more or less
+      lengthy ceremonies, to which he paid not the slightest attention&mdash;accustomed
+      as he was to see and live among them, himself an indispensable part and
+      parcel of them. He therefore gave no sign of life on this occasion, merely
+      preserving an air at once perfectly noble and expressionless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, Father Lactantius, having had a moment to recover from the
+      sudden attack made upon him, turned toward the president and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here is a clear proof, sent us by Heaven, of the possession, for
+      the Superior never before has forgotten the modesty and severity of her
+      order.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would that all the world were here to see me!&rdquo; said Jeanne de
+      Belfiel, firm as ever. &ldquo;I can not be sufficiently humiliated upon
+      earth, and Heaven will reject me, for I have been your accomplice.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Perspiration appeared upon the forehead of Laubardemont, but he tried to
+      recover his composure. &ldquo;What absurd tale is this, Sister; what has
+      influenced you herein?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The voice of the girl became sepulchral; she collected all her strength,
+      pressed her hand upon her heart as if she desired to stay its throbbing,
+      and, looking at Urbain Grandier, answered, &ldquo;Love.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A shudder ran through the assembly. Urbain, who since he had fainted had
+      remained with his head hanging down as if dead, slowly raised his eyes
+      toward her, and returned entirely to life only to undergo a fresh sorrow.
+      The young penitent continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, the love which he rejected, which he never fully knew, which I
+      have breathed in his discourses, which my eyes drew in from his celestial
+      countenance, which his very counsels against it have increased.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Urbain is pure as an angel, but good as a man who has loved. I
+      knew not that he had loved! It is you,&rdquo; she said more energetically,
+      pointing to Lactantius, Barre, and Mignon, and changing her passionate
+      accents for those of indignation&mdash;&ldquo;it is you who told me that
+      he loved; you, who this morning have too cruelly avenged me by killing my
+      rival with a word. Alas, I only sought to separate them! It was a crime;
+      but, by my mother, I am an Italian! I burned with love, with jealousy; you
+      allowed me to see Urbain, to have him as a friend, to see him daily.&rdquo;
+      She was silent for a moment, then exclaimed, &ldquo;People, he is
+      innocent! Martyr, pardon me, I embrace thy feet!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She prostrated herself before Urbain and burst into a torrent of tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Urbain raised his closely bound hands, and giving her his benediction,
+      said, gently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go, Sister; I pardon thee in the name of Him whom I shall soon see.
+      I have before said to you, and you now see, that the passions work much
+      evil, unless we seek to turn them toward heaven.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The blood rose a second time to Laubardemont&rsquo;s forehead. &ldquo;Miscreant!&rdquo;
+      he exclaimed, &ldquo;darest thou pronounce the words of the Church?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not quitted her bosom,&rdquo; said Urbain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remove the girl,&rdquo; said the President.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the archers went to obey, they found that she had tightened the cord
+      round her neck with such force that she was of a livid hue and almost
+      lifeless. Fear had driven all the women from the assembly; many had been
+      carried out fainting, but the hall was no less crowded. The ranks
+      thickened, for the men out of the streets poured in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The judges arose in terror, and the president attempted to have the hall
+      cleared; but the people, putting on their hats, stood in alarming
+      immobility. The archers were not numerous enough to repel them. It became
+      necessary to yield; and accordingly Laubardemont in an agitated voice
+      announced that the council would retire for half an hour. He broke up the
+      sitting; the people remained gloomily, each man fixed firmly to his place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK 2.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V. THE MARTYRDOM
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &lsquo;La torture interroge, et la douleur repond.&rsquo;
+               RAYNOURARD, Les Templiers.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The continuous interest of this half-trial, its preparations, its
+      interruptions, all had held the minds of the people in such attention that
+      no private conversations had taken place. Some irrepressible cries had
+      been uttered, but simultaneously, so that no man could accuse his
+      neighbor. But when the people were left to themselves, there was an
+      explosion of clamorous sentences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was at this period enough of primitive simplicity among the lower
+      classes for them to be persuaded by the mysterious tales of the political
+      agents who were deluding them; so that a large portion of the throng in
+      the hall of trial, not venturing to change their judgment, though upon the
+      manifest evidence just given them, awaited in painful suspense the return
+      of the judges, interchanging with an air of mystery and inane importance
+      the usual remarks prompted by imbecility on such occasions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One does not know what to think, Monsieur?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Truly, Madame, most extraordinary things have happened.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We live in strange times!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suspected this; but, i&rsquo; faith, it is not wise to say what
+      one thinks.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall see what we shall see,&rdquo; and so on&mdash;the
+      unmeaning chatter of the crowd, which merely serves to show that it is at
+      the command of the first who chooses to sway it. Stronger words were heard
+      from the group in black.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! shall we let them do as they please, in this manner? What!
+      dare to burn our letter to the King!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If the King knew it!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The barbarian impostors! how skilfully is their plot contrived!
+      What! shall murder be committed under our very eyes? Shall we be afraid of
+      these archers?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, no!&rdquo; rang out in trumpet-like tones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Attention was turned toward the young advocate, who, standing on a branch,
+      began tearing to pieces a roll of paper; then he cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I tear and scatter to the winds the defence I had prepared for
+      the accused. They have suppressed discussion; I am not allowed to speak
+      for him. I can only speak to you, people; I rejoice that I can do so. You
+      heard these infamous judges. Which of them can hear the truth? Which of
+      them is worthy to listen to an honest man? Which of them will dare to meet
+      his gaze? But what do I say? They all know the truth. They carry it in
+      their guilty breasts; it stings their hearts like a serpent. They tremble
+      in their lair, where doubtless they are devouring their victim; they
+      tremble because they have heard the cries of three deluded women. What was
+      I about to do? I was about to speak in behalf of Urbain Grandier! But what
+      eloquence could equal that of those unfortunates? What words could better
+      have shown you his innocence? Heaven has taken up arms for him in bringing
+      them to repentance and to devotion; Heaven will finish its work&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Vade retro, Satanas,&rdquo; was heard through a high window in the
+      hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fournier stopped for a moment, then said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You hear these voices parodying the divine language? If I mistake
+      not, these instruments of an infernal power are, by this song, preparing
+      some new spell.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; cried those who surrounded him, &ldquo;what shall we
+      do? What have they done with him?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remain here; be immovable, be silent,&rdquo; replied the young
+      advocate. &ldquo;The inertia of a people is all-powerful; that is its true
+      wisdom, that its strength. Observe them closely, and in silence; and you
+      will make them tremble.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They surely will not dare to appear here again,&rdquo; said the
+      Comte du Lude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to look once more at the tall scoundrel in red,&rdquo;
+      said Grand-Ferre, who had lost nothing of what had occurred.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that good gentleman, the Cure,&rdquo; murmured old Father
+      Guillaume Leroux, looking at all his indignant parishioners, who were
+      talking together in a low tone, measuring and counting the archers,
+      ridiculing their dress, and beginning to point them out to the observation
+      of the other spectators.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars, still leaning against the pillar behind which he had first
+      placed himself, still wrapped in his black cloak, eagerly watched all that
+      passed, lost not a word of what was said, and filled his heart with hate
+      and bitterness. Violent desires for slaughter and revenge, a vague desire
+      to strike, took possession of him, despite himself; this is the first
+      impression which evil produces on the soul of a young man. Later, sadness
+      takes the place of fury, then indifference and scorn, later still, a
+      calculating admiration for great villains who have been successful; but
+      this is only when, of the two elements which constitute man, earth
+      triumphs over spirit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, on the right of the hall near the judges&rsquo; platform, a
+      group of women were watching attentively a child about eight years old,
+      who had taken it into his head to climb up to a cornice by the aid of his
+      sister Martine, whom we have seen the subject of jest with the young
+      soldier, Grand-Ferre. The child, having nothing to look at after the court
+      had left the hall, had climbed to a small window which admitted a faint
+      light, and which he imagined to contain a swallow&rsquo;s nest or some
+      other treasure for a boy; but after he was well established on the
+      cornice, his hands grasping the bars of an old shrine of Jerome, he wished
+      himself anywhere else, and cried out:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, sister, sister, lend me your hand to get down!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you see there?&rdquo; asked Martine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I dare not tell; but I want to get down,&rdquo; and he began to
+      cry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stay there, my child; stay there!&rdquo; said all the women.
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be afraid; tell us all that you see.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, they&rsquo;ve put the Cure between two great boards
+      that squeeze his legs, and there are cords round the boards.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! that is the rack,&rdquo; said one of the townsmen. &ldquo;Look
+      again, my little friend, what do you see now?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The child, more confident, looked again through the window, and then,
+      withdrawing his head, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can not see the Cure now, because all the judges stand round him,
+      and are looking at him, and their great robes prevent me from seeing.
+      There are also some Capuchins, stooping down to whisper to him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Curiosity attracted more people to the boy&rsquo;s perch; every one was
+      silent, waiting anxiously to catch his words, as if their lives depended
+      on them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;the executioner driving four
+      little pieces of wood between the cords, after the Capuchins have blessed
+      the hammer and nails. Ah, heavens! Sister, how enraged they seem with him,
+      because he will not speak. Mother! mother! give me your hand, I want to
+      come down!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Instead of his mother, the child, upon turning round, saw only men&rsquo;s
+      faces, looking up at him with a mournful eagerness, and signing him to go
+      on. He dared not descend, and looked again through the window, trembling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! I see Father Lactantius and Father Barre themselves forcing in
+      more pieces of wood, which squeeze his legs. Oh, how pale he is! he seems
+      praying. There, his head falls back, as if he were dying! Oh, take me
+      away!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he fell into the arms of the young Advocate, of M. du Lude, and of
+      Cinq-Mars, who had come to support him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Deus stetit in synagoga deorum: in medio autem Deus dijudicat&mdash;&rdquo;
+      chanted strong, nasal voices, issuing from the small window, which
+      continued in full chorus one of the psalms, interrupted by blows of the
+      hammer&mdash;an infernal deed beating time to celestial songs. One might
+      have supposed himself near a smithy, except that the blows were dull, and
+      manifested to the ear that the anvil was a man&rsquo;s body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence!&rdquo; said Fournier, &ldquo;He speaks. The chanting and
+      the blows stop.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A weak voice within said, with difficulty, &ldquo;Oh, my fathers, mitigate
+      the rigor of your torments, for you will reduce my soul to despair, and I
+      might seek to destroy myself!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this the fury of the people burst forth like an explosion, echoing
+      along the vaulted roofs; the men sprang fiercely upon the platform, thrust
+      aside the surprised and hesitating archers; the unarmed crowd drove them
+      back, pressed them, almost suffocated them against the walls, and held
+      them fast, then dashed against the doors which led to the torture chamber,
+      and, making them shake beneath their blows, threatened to drive them in;
+      imprecations resounded from a thousand menacing voices and terrified the
+      judges within.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are gone; they have taken him away!&rdquo; cried a man who had
+      climbed to the little window.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The multitude at once stopped short, and changing the direction of their
+      steps, fled from this detestable place and spread rapidly through the
+      streets, where an extraordinary confusion prevailed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Night had come on during the long sitting, and the rain was pouring in
+      torrents. The darkness was terrifying. The cries of women slipping on the
+      pavement or driven back by the horses of the guards; the shouts of the
+      furious men; the ceaseless tolling of the bells which had been keeping
+      time with the strokes of the question; the roll of distant thunder&mdash;all
+      combined to increase the disorder.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [Torture (&lsquo;Question&rsquo;) was regulated in scrupulous detail by Holy
+   Mother The Church: The ordinary question was regulated for minor
+   infractions and used for interrogating women and children. For more
+   serious crimes the suspect (and sometimes the witnesses) were put to
+   the extraordinary question by the officiating priests. D.W.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      If the ear was astonished, the eyes were no less so. A few dismal torches
+      lighted up the corners of the streets; their flickering gleams showed
+      soldiers, armed and mounted, dashing along, regardless of the crowd, to
+      assemble in the Place de St. Pierre; tiles were sometimes thrown at them
+      on their way, but, missing the distant culprit, fell upon some unoffending
+      neighbor. The confusion was bewildering, and became still more so, when,
+      hurrying through all the streets toward the Place de St. Pierre, the
+      people found it barricaded on all sides, and filled with mounted guards
+      and archers. Carts, fastened to the posts at each corner, closed each
+      entrance, and sentinels, armed with arquebuses, were stationed close to
+      the carts. In the centre of the Place rose a pile composed of enormous
+      beams placed crosswise upon one another, so as to form a perfect square;
+      these were covered with a whiter and lighter wood; an enormous stake arose
+      from the centre of the scaffold. A man clothed in red and holding a
+      lowered torch stood near this sort of mast, which was visible from a long
+      distance. A huge chafing-dish, covered on account of the rain, was at his
+      feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this spectacle, terror inspired everywhere a profound silence; for an
+      instant nothing was heard but the sound of the rain, which fell in floods,
+      and of the thunder, which came nearer and nearer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, accompanied by MM. du Lude and Fournier and all the
+      more important personages of the town, had sought refuge from the storm
+      under the peristyle of the church of Ste.-Croix, raised upon twenty stone
+      steps. The pile was in front, and from this height they could see the
+      whole of the square. The centre was entirely clear, large streams of water
+      alone traversed it; but all the windows of the houses were gradually
+      lighted up, and showed the heads of the men and women who thronged them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young D&rsquo;Effiat sorrowfully contemplated this menacing
+      preparation. Brought up in sentiments of honor, and far removed from the
+      black thoughts which hatred and ambition arouse in the heart of man, he
+      could not conceive that such wrong could be done without some powerful and
+      secret motive. The audacity of such a condemnation seemed to him so
+      enormous that its very cruelty began to justify it in his eyes; a secret
+      horror crept into his soul, the same that silenced the people. He almost
+      forgot the interest with which the unhappy Urbain had inspired him, in
+      thinking whether it were not possible that some secret correspondence with
+      the infernal powers had justly provoked such excessive severity; and the
+      public revelations of the nuns, and the statement of his respected tutor,
+      faded from his memory, so powerful is success, even in the eyes of
+      superior men! so strongly does force impose upon men, despite the voice of
+      conscience!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young traveller was asking himself whether it were not probable that
+      the torture had forced some monstrous confession from the accused, when
+      the obscurity which surrounded the church suddenly ceased. Its two great
+      doors were thrown open; and by the light of an infinite number of
+      flambeaux, appeared all the judges and ecclesiastics, surrounded by
+      guards. Among them was Urbain, supported, or rather carried, by six men
+      clothed as Black Penitents&mdash;for his limbs, bound with bandages
+      saturated with blood, seemed broken and incapable of supporting him. It
+      was at most two hours since Cinq-Mars had seen him, and yet he could
+      hardly recognize the face he had so closely observed at the trial. All
+      color, all roundness of form had disappeared from it; a livid pallor
+      covered a skin yellow and shining like ivory; the blood seemed to have
+      left his veins; all the life that remained within him shone from his dark
+      eyes, which appeared to have grown twice as large as before, as he looked
+      languidly around him; his long, chestnut hair hung loosely down his neck
+      and over a white shirt, which entirely covered him&mdash;or rather a sort
+      of robe with large sleeves, and of a yellowish tint, with an odor of
+      sulphur about it; a long, thick cord encircled his neck and fell upon his
+      breast. He looked like an apparition; but it was the apparition of a
+      martyr.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Urbain stopped, or, rather, was set down upon the peristyle of the church;
+      the Capuchin Lactantius placed a lighted torch in his right hand, and held
+      it there, as he said to him, with his hard inflexibility:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do penance, and ask pardon of God for thy crime of magic.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The unhappy man raised his voice with great difficulty, and with his eyes
+      to heaven said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the name of the living God, I cite thee, Laubardemont, false
+      judge, to appear before Him in three years. They have taken away my
+      confessor, and I have been fain to pour out my sins into the bosom of God
+      Himself, for my enemies surround me. I call that God of mercy to witness I
+      never have dealt in magic. I have known no mysteries but those of the
+      Catholic religion, apostolic and Roman, in which I die; I have sinned much
+      against myself, but never against God and our Lord&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cease!&rdquo; cried the Capuchin, affecting to close his mouth ere
+      he could pronounce the name of the Saviour. &ldquo;Obdurate wretch, return
+      to the demon who sent thee!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He signed to four priests, who, approaching with sprinklers in their
+      hands, exorcised with holy water the air the magician breathed, the earth
+      he touched, the wood that was to burn him. During this ceremony, the
+      judge-Advocate hastily read the decree, dated the 18th of August, 1639,
+      declaring Urbain Grandier duly attainted and convicted of the crime of
+      sorcery, witchcraft, and possession, in the persons of sundry Ursuline
+      nuns of Loudun, and others, laymen, etc.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reader, dazzled by a flash of lightning, stopped for an instant, and,
+      turning to M. de Laubardemont, asked whether, considering the awful
+      weather, the execution could not be deferred till the next day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The decree,&rdquo; coldly answered Laubardemont, &ldquo;commands
+      execution within twenty-four hours. Fear not the incredulous people; they
+      will soon be convinced.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the most important persons of the town and many strangers were under
+      the peristyle, and now advanced, Cinq-Mars among them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The magician never has been able to pronounce the name of the
+      Saviour, and repels his image.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lactantius at this moment issued from the midst of the Penitents, with an
+      enormous iron crucifix in his hand, which he seemed to hold with
+      precaution and respect; he extended it to the lips of the sufferer, who
+      indeed threw back his head, and collecting all his strength, made a
+      gesture with his arm, which threw the cross from the hands of the
+      Capuchin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; cried the latter, &ldquo;he has thrown down the
+      cross!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A murmur arose, the meaning of which was doubtful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Profanation!&rdquo; cried the priests.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The procession moved toward the pile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, gliding behind a pillar, had eagerly watched all
+      that passed; he saw with astonishment that the cross, in falling upon the
+      steps, which were more exposed to the rain than the platform, smoked and
+      made a noise like molten lead when thrown into water. While the public
+      attention was elsewhere engaged, he advanced and touched it lightly with
+      his bare hand, which was immediately scorched. Seized with indignation,
+      with all the fury of a true heart, he took up the cross with the folds of
+      his cloak, stepped up to Laubardemont, and, striking him with it on the
+      forehead, cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Villain, I brand thee with the mark of this red-hot iron!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The crowd heard these words and rushed forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Arrest this madman!&rdquo; cried the unworthy magistrate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was himself seized by the hands of men who cried, &ldquo;Justice!
+      justice, in the name of the King!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are lost!&rdquo; said Lactantius; &ldquo;to the pile, to the
+      pile!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Penitents dragged Urbain toward the Place, while the judges and
+      archers reentered the church, struggling with the furious citizens; the
+      executioner, having no time to tie up the victim, hastened to lay him on
+      the wood, and to set fire to it. But the rain still fell in torrents, and
+      each piece of wood had no sooner caught the flame than it became
+      extinguished. In vain did Lactantius and the other canons themselves seek
+      to stir up the fire; nothing could overcome the water which fell from
+      heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, the tumult which had begun in the peristyle of the church
+      extended throughout the square. The cry of &ldquo;Justice!&rdquo; was
+      repeated and circulated, with the information of what had been discovered;
+      two barricades were forced, and despite three volleys of musketry, the
+      archers were gradually driven back toward the centre of the square. In
+      vain they spurred their horses against the crowd; it overwhelmed them with
+      its swelling waves. Half an hour passed in this struggle, the guards still
+      receding toward the pile, which they concealed as they pressed closer upon
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On! on!&rdquo; cried a man; &ldquo;we will deliver him; do not
+      strike the soldiers, but let them fall back. See, Heaven will not permit
+      him to die! The fire is out; now, friend, one effort more! That is well!
+      Throw down that horse! Forward! On!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The guard was broken and dispersed on all sides. The crowd rushed to the
+      pile, but no more light was there: all had disappeared, even the
+      executioner. They tore up and threw aside the beams; one of them was still
+      burning, and its light showed under a mass of ashes and ensanguined mire a
+      blackened hand, preserved from the fire by a large iron bracelet and
+      chain. A woman had the courage to open it; the fingers clasped a small
+      ivory cross and an image of St. Magdalen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These are his remains,&rdquo; she said, weeping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say, the relics of a martyr!&rdquo; exclaimed a citizen, baring his
+      head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI. THE DREAM
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, amid the excitement which his outbreak had provoked,
+      felt his left arm seized by a hand as hard as iron, which, drawing him
+      from the crowd to the foot of the steps, pushed him behind the wall of the
+      church, and he then saw the dark face of old Grandchamp, who said to him
+      in a sharp voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir, your attack upon thirty musketeers in a wood at Chaumont was
+      nothing, because we were near you, though you knew it not, and, moreover,
+      you had to do with men of honor; but here &lsquo;tis different. Your
+      horses and people are at the end of the street; I request you to mount and
+      leave the town, or to send me back to Madame la Marechale, for I am
+      responsible for your limbs, which you expose so freely.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars was somewhat astonished at this rough mode of having a service
+      done him, was not sorry to extricate himself thus from the affair, having
+      had time to reflect how very awkward it might be for him to be recognized,
+      after striking the head of the judicial authority, the agent of the very
+      Cardinal who was to present him to the King. He observed also that around
+      him was assembled a crowd of the lowest class of people, among whom he
+      blushed to find himself. He therefore followed his old domestic without
+      argument, and found the other three servants waiting for him. Despite the
+      rain and wind he mounted, and was soon upon the highroad with his escort,
+      having put his horse to a gallop to avoid pursuit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had, however, hardly left Loudun when the sandy road, furrowed by deep
+      ruts completely filled with water, obliged him to slacken his pace. The
+      rain continued to fall heavily, and his cloak was almost saturated. He
+      felt a thicker one thrown over his shoulders; it was his old valet, who
+      had approached him, and thus exhibited toward him a maternal solicitude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Grandchamp,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;now that we are
+      clear of the riot, tell me how you came to be there when I had ordered you
+      to remain at the Abbe&rsquo;s.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Parbleu, Monsieur!&rdquo; answered the old servant, in a grumbling
+      tone, &ldquo;do you suppose that I should obey you any more than I did
+      Monsieur le Marechal? When my late master, after telling me to remain in
+      his tent, found me behind him in the cannon&rsquo;s smoke, he made no
+      complaint, because he had a fresh horse ready when his own was killed, and
+      he only scolded me for a moment in his thoughts; but, truly, during the
+      forty years I served him, I never saw him act as you have in the fortnight
+      I have been with you. Ah!&rdquo; he added with a sigh, &ldquo;things are
+      going strangely; and if we continue thus, there&rsquo;s no knowing what
+      will be the end of it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But knowest thou, Grandchamp, that these scoundrels had made the
+      crucifix red hot?&mdash;a thing at which no honest man would have been
+      less enraged than I.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Except Monsieur le Marechal, your father, who would not have done
+      at all what you have done, Monsieur.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, then, would he have done?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He would very quietly have let this cure be burned by the other
+      cures, and would have said to me, &lsquo;Grandchamp, see that my horses
+      have oats, and let no one steal them&rsquo;; or, &lsquo;Grandchamp, take
+      care that the rain does not rust my sword or wet the priming of my pistols&rsquo;;
+      for Monsieur le Marechal thought of everything, and never interfered in
+      what did not concern him. That was his great principle; and as he was,
+      thank Heaven, alike good soldier and good general, he was always as
+      careful of his arms as a recruit, and would not have stood up against
+      thirty young gallants with a dress rapier.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars felt the force of the worthy servitor&rsquo;s epigrammatic
+      scolding, and feared that he had followed him beyond the wood of Chaumont;
+      but he would not ask, lest he should have to give explanations or to tell
+      a falsehood or to command silence, which would at once have been taking
+      him into confidence on the subject. As the only alternative, he spurred
+      his horse and rode ahead of his old domestic; but the latter had not yet
+      had his say, and instead of keeping behind his master, he rode up to his
+      left and continued the conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you suppose, Monsieur, that I should allow you to go where you
+      please? No, Monsieur, I am too deeply impressed with the respect I owe to
+      Madame la Marquise, to give her an opportunity of saying to me: &lsquo;Grandchamp,
+      my son has been killed with a shot or with a sword; why were you not
+      before him?&rsquo; Or, &lsquo;He has received a stab from the stiletto of
+      an Italian, because he went at night beneath the window of a great
+      princess; why did you not seize the assassin?&rsquo; This would be very
+      disagreeable to me, Monsieur, for I never have been reproached with
+      anything of the kind. Once Monsieur le Marechal lent me to his nephew,
+      Monsieur le Comte, to make a campaign in the Netherlands, because I know
+      Spanish. I fulfilled the duty with honor, as I always do. When Monsieur le
+      Comte received a bullet in his heart, I myself brought back his horses,
+      his mules, his tent, and all his equipment, without so much as a
+      pocket-handkerchief being missed; and I can assure you that the horses
+      were as well dressed and harnessed when we reentered Chaumont as if
+      Monsieur le Comte had been about to go a-hunting. And, accordingly, I
+      received nothing but compliments and agreeable things from the whole
+      family, just in the way I like.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, my friend,&rdquo; said Henri d&rsquo;Effiat, &ldquo;I
+      may some day, perhaps, have these horses to take back; but in the mean
+      time take this great purse of gold, which I have well-nigh lost two or
+      three times, and thou shalt pay for me everywhere. The money wearies me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur le Marechal did not so, Monsieur. He had been
+      superintendent of finances, and he counted every farthing he paid out of
+      his own hand. I do not think your estates would have been in such good
+      condition, or that you would have had so much money to count yourself, had
+      he done otherwise; have the goodness, therefore, to keep your purse, whose
+      contents, I dare swear, you do not know.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Faith, not I.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Grandchamp sent forth a profound sigh at his master&rsquo;s disdainful
+      exclamation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Monsieur le Marquis! Monsieur le Marquis! When I think that the
+      great King Henri, before my eyes, put his chamois gloves into his pocket
+      to keep the rain from spoiling them; when I think that Monsieur de Rosni
+      refused him money when he had spent too much; when I think&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When thou dost think, thou art egregiously tedious, my old friend,&rdquo;
+      interrupted his master; &ldquo;and thou wilt do better in telling me what
+      that black figure is that I think I see walking in the mire behind us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It looks like some poor peasant woman who, perhaps, wants alms of
+      us. She can easily follow us, for we do not go at much of a pace in this
+      sand, wherein our horses sink up to the hams. We shall go to the Landes
+      perhaps some day, Monsieur, and you will see a country all the same as
+      this sandy road, and great, black firs all the way along. It looks like a
+      churchyard; this is an exact specimen of it. Look, the rain has ceased,
+      and we can see a little ahead; there is nothing but furze-bushes on this
+      great plain, without a village or a house. I don&rsquo;t know where we can
+      pass the night; but if you will take my advice, you will let us cut some
+      boughs and bivouac where we are. You shall see how, with a little earth, I
+      can make a hut as warm as a bed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would rather go on to the light I see in the horizon,&rdquo; said
+      Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;for I fancy I feel rather feverish, and I am thirsty.
+      But fall back, I would ride alone; rejoin the others and follow.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Grandchamp obeyed; he consoled himself by giving Germain, Louis, and
+      Etienne lessons in the art of reconnoitring a country by night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, his young master was overcome with fatigue. The violent
+      emotions of the day had profoundly affected his mind; and the long journey
+      on horseback, the last two days passed almost without nourishment, owing
+      to the hurried pressure of events, the heat of the sun by day, the icy
+      coldness of the night, all contributed to increase his indisposition and
+      to weary his delicate frame. For three hours he rode in silence before his
+      people, yet the light he had seen in the horizon seemed no nearer; at last
+      he ceased to follow it with his eyes, and his head, feeling heavier and
+      heavier, sank upon his breast. He gave the reins to his tired horse, which
+      of its own accord followed the high-road, and, crossing his arms, allowed
+      himself to be rocked by the monotonous motion of his fellow-traveller,
+      which frequently stumbled against the large stones that strewed the road.
+      The rain had ceased, as had the voices of his domestics, whose horses
+      followed in the track of their master&rsquo;s. The young man abandoned
+      himself to the bitterness of his thoughts; he asked himself whether the
+      bright object of his hopes would not flee from him day by day, as that
+      phosphoric light fled from him in the horizon, step by step. Was it
+      probable that the young Princess, almost forcibly recalled to the gallant
+      court of Anne of Austria, would always refuse the hands, perhaps royal
+      ones, that would be offered to her? What chance that she would resign
+      herself to renounce a present throne, in order to wait till some caprice
+      of fortune should realize romantic hopes, or take a youth almost in the
+      lowest rank of the army and lift him to the elevation she spoke of, till
+      the age of love should be passed? How could he be certain that even the
+      vows of Marie de Gonzaga were sincere?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;perhaps she has blinded herself as to
+      her own sentiments; the solitude of the country had prepared her soul to
+      receive deep impressions. I came; she thought I was he of whom she had
+      dreamed. Our age and my love did the rest. But when at court, she, the
+      companion of the Queen, has learned to contemplate from an exalted
+      position the greatness to which I aspire, and which I as yet see only from
+      a very humble distance; when she shall suddenly find herself in actual
+      possession of the future she aims at, and measures with a more correct eye
+      the long road I have to travel; when she shall hear around her vows like
+      mine, pronounced by lips which could undo me with a word, with a word
+      destroy him whom she awaits as her husband, her lord&mdash;oh, madman that
+      I have been!&mdash;she will see all her folly, and will be incensed at
+      mine.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus did doubt, the greatest misery of love, begin to torture his unhappy
+      heart; he felt his hot blood rush to his head and oppress it. Ever and
+      anon he fell forward upon the neck of his horse, and a half sleep weighed
+      down his eyes; the dark firs that bordered the road seemed to him gigantic
+      corpses travelling beside him. He saw, or thought he saw, the same woman
+      clothed in black, whom he had pointed out to Grandchamp, approach so near
+      as to touch his horse&rsquo;s mane, pull his cloak, and then run off with
+      a jeering laugh; the sand of the road seemed to him a river running
+      beneath him, with opposing current, back toward its source. This strange
+      sight dazzled his worn eyes; he closed them and fell asleep on his horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently, he felt himself stopped, but he was numbed with cold and could
+      not move. He saw peasants, lights, a house, a great room into which they
+      carried him, a wide bed, whose heavy curtains were closed by Grandchamp;
+      and he fell asleep again, stunned by the fever that whirred in his ears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dreams that followed one another more rapidly than grains of sand before
+      the wind rushed through his brain; he could not catch them, and moved
+      restlessly on his bed. Urbain Grandier on the rack, his mother in tears,
+      his tutor armed, Bassompierre loaded with chains, passed before him,
+      making signs of farewell; at last, as he slept, he instinctively put his
+      hand to his head to stay the passing dream, which then seemed to unfold
+      itself before his eyes like pictures in shifting sands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw a public square crowded with a foreign people, a northern people,
+      who uttered cries of joy, but they were savage cries; there was a line of
+      guards, ferocious soldiers&mdash;these were Frenchmen. &ldquo;Come with
+      me,&rdquo; said the soft voice of Marie de Gonzaga, who took his hand.
+      &ldquo;See, I wear a diadem; here is thy throne, come with me.&rdquo; And
+      she hurried him on, the people still shouting. He went on, a long way.
+      &ldquo;Why are you sad, if you are a queen?&rdquo; he said, trembling. But
+      she was pale, and smiled and spoke not. She ascended, step after step, up
+      to a throne, and seated herself. &ldquo;Mount!&rdquo; said she, forcibly
+      pulling his hand. But, at every movement, the massive stairs crumbled
+      beneath his feet, so that he could not ascend. &ldquo;Give thanks to love,&rdquo;
+      she continued; and her hand, now more powerful, raised him to the throne.
+      The people still shouted. He bowed low to kiss that helping hand, that
+      adored hand; it was the hand of the executioner!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, heavens!&rdquo; exclaimed Cinq-Mars, as, heaving a deep sigh,
+      he opened his eyes. A flickering lamp lighted the ruinous chamber of the
+      inn; he again closed his eyes, for he had seen, seated on his bed, a
+      woman, a nun, young and beautiful! He thought he was still dreaming, but
+      she grasped his hand firmly. He opened his burning eyes, and fixed them
+      upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it you, Jeannede Belfiel? The rain has drenched your veil and
+      your black hair! Why are you here, unhappy woman?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hark! awake not my Urbain; he sleeps there in the next room. Ay, my
+      hair is indeed wet, and my feet&mdash;see, my feet that were once so
+      white, see how the mud has soiled them. But I have made a vow&mdash;I will
+      not wash them till I have seen the King, and until he has granted me
+      Urbain&rsquo;s pardon. I am going to the army to find him; I will speak to
+      him as Grandier taught me to speak, and he will pardon him. And listen, I
+      will also ask thy pardon, for I read it in thy face that thou, too, art
+      condemned to death. Poor youth! thou art too young to die, thy curling
+      hair is beautiful; but yet thou art condemned, for thou hast on thy brow a
+      line that never deceives. The man thou hast struck will kill thee. Thou
+      hast made too much use of the cross; it is that which will bring evil upon
+      thee. Thou hast struck with it, and thou wearest it round thy neck by a
+      hair chain. Nay, hide not thy face; have I said aught to afflict thee, or
+      is it that thou lovest, young man? Ah, reassure thyself, I will not tell
+      all this to thy love. I am mad, but I am gentle, very gentle; and three
+      days ago I was beautiful. Is she also beautiful? Ah! she will weep some
+      day! Yet, if she can weep, she will be happy!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then suddenly Jeanne began to recite the service for the dead in a
+      monotonous voice, but with incredible rapidity, still seated on the bed,
+      and turning the beads of a long rosary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the door opened; she looked up, and fled through another door in
+      the partition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What the devil&rsquo;s that-an imp or an angel, saying the funeral
+      service over you, and you under the clothes, as if you were in a shroud?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This abrupt exclamation came from the rough voice of Grandchamp, who was
+      so astonished at what he had seen that he dropped the glass of lemonade he
+      was bringing in. Finding that his master did not answer, he became still
+      more alarmed, and raised the bedclothes. Cinq-Mars&rsquo;s face was
+      crimson, and he seemed asleep, but his old domestic saw that the blood
+      rushing to his head had almost suffocated him; and, seizing a jug full of
+      cold water, he dashed the whole of it in his face. This military remedy
+      rarely fails to effect its purpose, and Cinq-Mars returned to himself with
+      a start.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! it is thou, Grandchamp; what frightful dreams I have had!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Peste! Monsieur le Marquis, your dreams, on the contrary, are very
+      pretty ones. I saw the tail of the last as I came in; your choice is not
+      bad.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What dost mean, blockhead?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay, not a blockhead, Monsieur; I have good eyes, and I have seen
+      what I have seen. But, really ill as you are, Monsieur le Marechal would
+      never&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thou art utterly doting, my friend; give me some drink, I am
+      parched with thirst. Oh, heavens! what a night! I still see all those
+      women.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All those women, Monsieur? Why, how many are here?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am speaking to thee of a dream, blockhead. Why standest there
+      like a post, instead of giving me some drink?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough, Monsieur; I will get more lemonade.&rdquo; And going to the
+      door, he called over the staircase, &ldquo;Germain! Etienne! Louis!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The innkeeper answered from below: &ldquo;Coming, Monsieur, coming; they
+      have been helping me to catch the madwoman.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What mad-woman?&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, rising in bed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The host entered, and, taking off his cotton cap, said, respectfully:
+      &ldquo;Oh, nothing, Monsieur le Marquis, only a madwoman that came here
+      last night on foot, and whom we put in the next room; but she has escaped,
+      and we have not been able to catch her.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; exclaimed Cinq-Mars, returning to himself and putting
+      his hand to his eyes, &ldquo;it was not a dream, then. And my mother,
+      where is she? and the Marechal, and&mdash;Ah! and yet it is but a fearful
+      dream! Leave me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he said this, he turned toward the wall, and again pulled the clothes
+      over his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The innkeeper, in amazement, touched his forehead three times with his
+      finger, looking at Grandchamp as if to ask him whether his master were
+      also mad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Grandchamp motioned him away in silence, and in order to watch the rest of
+      the night by the side of Cinq-Mars, who was in a deep sleep, he seated
+      himself in a large armchair, covered with tapestry, and began to squeeze
+      lemons into a glass of water with an air as grave and severe as Archimedes
+      calculating the condensing power of his mirrors.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII. THE CABINET
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   Men have rarely the courage to be wholly good or wholly bad.
+                         MACHIAVELLI.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Let us leave our young traveller sleeping; he will soon pursue a long and
+      beautiful route. Since we are at liberty to turn to all points of the map,
+      we will fix our eyes upon the city of Narbonne.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Behold the Mediterranean, not far distant, washing with its blue waters
+      the sandy shores. Penetrate into that city resembling Athens; and to find
+      him who reigns there, follow that dark and irregular street, mount the
+      steps of the old archiepiscopal palace, and enter the first and largest of
+      its apartments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was a very long salon, lighted by a series of high lancet windows, of
+      which the upper part only retained the blue, yellow, and red panes that
+      shed a mysterious light through the apartment. A large round table
+      occupied its entire breadth, near the great fireplace; around this table,
+      covered with a colored cloth and scattered with papers and portfolios,
+      were seated, bending over their pens, eight secretaries copying letters
+      which were handed to them from a smaller table. Other men quietly arranged
+      the completed papers in the shelves of a bookcase, partly filled with
+      books bound in black.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Notwithstanding the number of persons assembled in the room, one might
+      have heard the movements of the wings of a fly. The only interruption to
+      the silence was the sound of pens rapidly gliding over paper, and a shrill
+      voice dictating, stopping every now and then to cough. This voice
+      proceeded from a great armchair placed beside the fire, which was blazing,
+      notwithstanding the heat of the season and of the country. It was one of
+      those armchairs that you still see in old castles, and which seem made to
+      read one&rsquo;s self to sleep in, so easy is every part of it. The sitter
+      sinks into a circular cushion of down; if the head leans back, the cheeks
+      rest upon pillows covered with silk, and the seat juts out so far beyond
+      the elbows that one may believe the provident upholsterers of our
+      forefathers sought to provide that the book should make no noise in
+      falling so as to awaken the sleeper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But we will quit this digression, and speak of the man who occupied the
+      chair, and who was very far from sleeping. He had a broad forehead,
+      bordered with thin white hair, large, mild eyes, a wan face, to which a
+      small, pointed, white beard gave that air of subtlety and finesse
+      noticeable in all the portraits of the period of Louis XIII. His mouth was
+      almost without lips, which Lavater deems an indubitable sign of an evil
+      mind, and it was framed in a pair of slight gray moustaches and a &lsquo;royale&rsquo;&mdash;an
+      ornament then in fashion, which somewhat resembled a comma in form. The
+      old man wore a close red cap, a large &lsquo;robe-dechambre&rsquo;, and
+      purple silk stockings; he was no less a personage than Armand Duplessis,
+      Cardinal de Richelieu.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Near him, around the small table, sat four youths from fifteen to twenty
+      years of age; these were pages, or domestics, according to the term then
+      in use, which signified familiars, friends of the house. This custom was a
+      relic of feudal patronage, which still existed in our manners. The younger
+      members of high families received wages from the great lords, and were
+      devoted to their service in all things, challenging the first comer at the
+      wish of their patron. The pages wrote letters from the outline previously
+      given them by the Cardinal, and after their master had glanced at them,
+      passed them to the secretaries, who made fair copies. The Duke, for his
+      part, wrote on his knee private notes upon small slips of paper, inserting
+      them in almost all the packets before sealing them, which he did with his
+      own hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had been writing a short time, when, in a mirror before him, he saw the
+      youngest of his pages writing something on a sheet of paper much smaller
+      than the official sheet. He hastily wrote a few words, and then slipped
+      the paper under the large sheet which, much against his inclination, he
+      had to fill; but, seated behind the Cardinal, he hoped that the difficulty
+      with which the latter turned would prevent him from seeing the little
+      manoeuvre he had tried to exercise with much dexterity. Suddenly Richelieu
+      said to him, dryly, &ldquo;Come here, Monsieur Olivier.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These words came like a thunder-clap on the poor boy, who seemed about
+      sixteen. He rose at once, however, and stood before the minister, his arms
+      hanging at his side and his head lowered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The other pages and the secretaries stirred no more than soldiers when a
+      comrade is struck down by a ball, so accustomed were they to this kind of
+      summons. The present one, however, was more energetic than usual.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What were you writing?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My lord, what your Eminence dictated.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My lord, the letter to Don Juan de Braganza.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No evasions, Monsieur; you were writing something else.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My lord,&rdquo; said the page, with tears in his eyes, &ldquo;it
+      was a letter to one of my cousins.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me see it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The page trembled in every limb and was obliged to lean against the
+      chimney-piece, as he said, in a hardly audible tone, &ldquo;It is
+      impossible.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur le Vicomte Olivier d&rsquo;Entraigues,&rdquo; said the
+      minister, without showing the least emotion, &ldquo;you are no longer in
+      my service.&rdquo; The page withdrew. He knew that there was no reply; so,
+      slipping his letter into his pocket, and opening the folding-doors just
+      wide enough to allow his exit, he glided out like a bird escaped from the
+      cage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The minister went on writing the note upon his knee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The secretaries redoubled their silent zeal, when suddenly the two wings
+      of the door were thrown back and showed, standing in the opening, a
+      Capuchin, who, bowing, with his arms crossed over his breast, seemed
+      waiting for alms or for an order to retire. He had a dark complexion, and
+      was deeply pitted with smallpox; his eyes, mild, but somewhat squinting,
+      were almost hidden by his thick eyebrows, which met in the middle of his
+      forehead; on his mouth played a crafty, mischievous, and sinister smile;
+      his beard was straight and red, and his costume was that of the order of
+      St. Francis in all its repulsiveness, with sandals on his bare feet, that
+      looked altogether unfit to tread upon carpet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such as he was, however, this personage appeared to create a great
+      sensation throughout the room; for, without finishing the phrase, the
+      line, or even the word begun, every person rose and went out by the door
+      where he was still standing&mdash;some saluting him as they passed, others
+      turning away their heads, and the young pages holding their fingers to
+      their noses, but not till they were behind him, for they seemed to have a
+      secret fear of him. When they had all passed out, he entered, making a
+      profound reverence, because the door was still open; but, as soon as it
+      was shut, unceremoniously advancing, he seated himself near the Cardinal,
+      who, having recognized him by the general movement he created, saluted him
+      with a dry and silent inclination of the head, regarding him fixedly, as
+      if awaiting some news and unable to avoid knitting his brows, as at the
+      aspect of a spider or some other disagreeable creature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal could not resist this movement of displeasure, because he
+      felt himself obliged, by the presence of his agent, to resume those
+      profound and painful conversations from which he had for some days been
+      free, in a country whose pure air, favorable to him, had somewhat soothed
+      the pain of his malady; that malady had changed to a slow fever, but its
+      intervals were long enough to enable him to forget during its absence that
+      it must return. Giving, therefore, a little rest to his hitherto
+      indefatigable mind, he had been awaiting, for the first time in his life
+      perhaps, without impatience, the return of the couriers he had sent in all
+      directions, like the rays of a sun which alone gave life and movement to
+      France. He had not expected the visit he now received, and the sight of
+      one of those men, whom, to use his own expression, he &ldquo;steeped in
+      crime,&rdquo; rendered all the habitual disquietudes of his life more
+      present to him, without entirely dissipating the cloud of melancholy which
+      at that time obscured his thoughts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The beginning of his conversation was tinged with the gloomy hue of his
+      late reveries; but he soon became more animated and vigorous than ever,
+      when his powerful mind had reentered the real world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His confidant, seeing that he was expected to break the silence, did so in
+      this abrupt fashion:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my lord, of what are you thinking?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, Joseph, of what should we all think, but of our future
+      happiness in a better life? For many days I have been reflecting that
+      human interests have too much diverted me from this great thought; and I
+      repent me of having spent some moments of my leisure in profane works,
+      such as my tragedies, &lsquo;Europe&rsquo; and &lsquo;Mirame,&rsquo;
+      despite the glory they have already gained me among our brightest minds&mdash;a
+      glory which will extend unto futurity.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Father Joseph, full of what he had to say, was at first surprised at this
+      opening; but he knew his master too well to betray his feelings, and, well
+      skilled in changing the course of his ideas, replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, their merit is very great, and France will regret that these
+      immortal works are not followed by similar productions.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, my dear Joseph; but it is in vain that such men as Boisrobert,
+      Claveret, Colletet, Corneille, and, above all, the celebrated Mairet, have
+      proclaimed these tragedies the finest that the present or any past age has
+      produced. I reproach myself for them, I swear to you, as for a mortal sin,
+      and I now, in my hours of repose, occupy myself only with my &lsquo;Methode
+      des Controverses&rsquo;, and my book on the &lsquo;Perfection du Chretien.&rsquo;
+      I remember that I am fifty-six years old, and that I have an incurable
+      malady.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These are calculations which your enemies make as precisely as your
+      Eminence,&rdquo; said the priest, who began to be annoyed with this
+      conversation, and was eager to talk of other matters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The blood mounted to the Cardinal&rsquo;s face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it! I know it well!&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;I know all their
+      black villainy, and I am prepared for it. But what news is there?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;According to our arrangement, my lord, we have removed Mademoiselle
+      d&rsquo;Hautefort, as we removed Mademoiselle de la Fayette before her. So
+      far it is well; but her place is not filled, and the King&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The King has ideas which he never had before.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! and which come not from me? &lsquo;Tis well, truly,&rdquo; said
+      the minister, with an ironic sneer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, my lord, leave the place of the favorite vacant for six whole
+      days? It is not prudent; pardon me for saying so.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has ideas&mdash;ideas!&rdquo; repeated Richelieu, with a kind of
+      terror; &ldquo;and what are they?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He talks of recalling the Queen-mother,&rdquo; said the Capuchin,
+      in a low voice; &ldquo;of recalling her from Cologne.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Marie de Medicis!&rdquo; cried the Cardinal, striking the arms of
+      his chair with his hands. &ldquo;No, by Heaven, she shall not again set
+      her foot upon the soil of France, whence I drove her, step by step!
+      England has not dared to receive her, exiled by me; Holland fears to be
+      crushed by her; and my kingdom to receive her! No, no, such an idea could
+      not have originated with himself! To recall my enemy! to recall his
+      mother! What perfidy! He would not have dared to think of it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, having mused for a moment, he added, fixing a penetrating look still
+      full of burning anger upon Father Joseph:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But in what terms did he express this desire? Tell me his precise
+      words.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He said publicly; and in the presence of Monsieur: &lsquo;I feel
+      that one of the first duties of a Christian is to be a good son, and I
+      will resist no longer the murmurs of my conscience.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Christian! conscience! these are not his expressions. It is Father
+      Caussin&mdash;it is his confessor who is betraying me,&rdquo; cried the
+      Cardinal. &ldquo;Perfidious Jesuit! I pardoned thee thy intrigue with La
+      Fayette; but I will not pass over thy secret counsels. I will have this
+      confessor dismissed, Joseph; he is an enemy to the State, I see it
+      clearly. But I myself have acted with negligence for some days past; I
+      have not sufficiently hastened the arrival of the young d&rsquo;Effiat,
+      who will doubtless succeed. He is handsome and intellectual, they say.
+      What a blunder! I myself merit disgrace. To leave that fox of a Jesuit
+      with the King, without having given him my secret instructions, without a
+      hostage, a pledge, or his fidelity to my orders! What neglect! Joseph,
+      take a pen, and write what I shall dictate for the other confessor, whom
+      we will choose better. I think of Father Sirmond.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Father Joseph sat down at the large table, ready to write, and the
+      Cardinal dictated to him those duties, of a new kind, which shortly
+      afterward he dared to have given to the King, who received them, respected
+      them, and learned them by heart as the commandments of the Church. They
+      have come down to us, a terrible monument of the empire that a man may
+      seize upon by means of circumstances, intrigues, and audacity:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;I. A prince should have a prime minister, and that minister three
+   qualities: (1) He should have no passion but for his prince; (2) He
+   should be able and faithful; (3) He should be an ecclesiastic.
+
+   &ldquo;II. A prince ought perfectly to love his prime minister.
+
+   &ldquo;III. Ought never to change his prime minister.
+
+   &ldquo;IV. Ought to tell him all things.
+
+   &ldquo;V. To give him free access to his person.
+
+   &ldquo;VI. To give him sovereign authority over his people.
+
+   &ldquo;VII. Great honors and large possessions.
+
+   &ldquo;VIII. A prince has no treasure more precious than his prime
+   minister.
+
+   &ldquo;IX. A prince should not put faith in what people say against his
+   prime minister, nor listen to any such slanders.
+
+   &ldquo;X. A prince should reveal to his prime minister all that is said
+   against him, even though he has been bound to keep it secret.
+
+   &ldquo;XI. A prince should prefer not only the well-being of the State,
+   but also his prime minister, to all his relations.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Such were the commandments of the god of France, less astonishing in
+      themselves than the terrible naivete which made him bequeath them to
+      posterity, as if posterity also must believe in him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While he dictated his instructions, reading them from a small piece of
+      paper, written with his own hand, a deep melancholy seemed to possess him
+      more and more at each word; and when he had ended, he fell back in his
+      chair, his arms crossed, and his head sunk on his breast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Father Joseph, dropping his pen, arose and was inquiring whether he were
+      ill, when he heard issue from the depths of his chest these mournful and
+      memorable words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What utter weariness! what endless trouble! If the ambitious man
+      could see me, he would flee to a desert. What is my power? A miserable
+      reflection of the royal power; and what labors to fix upon my star that
+      incessantly wavering ray! For twenty years I have been in vain attempting
+      it. I can not comprehend that man. He dare not flee me; but they take him
+      from me&mdash;he glides through my fingers. What things could I not have
+      done with his hereditary rights, had I possessed them? But, employing such
+      infinite calculation in merely keeping one&rsquo;s balance, what of genius
+      remains for high enterprises? I hold Europe in my hand, yet I myself am
+      suspended by a trembling hair. What is it to me that I can cast my eyes
+      confidently over the map of Europe, when all my interests are concentrated
+      in his narrow cabinet, and its few feet of space give me more trouble to
+      govern than the whole country besides? See, then, what it is to be a prime
+      minister! Envy me, my guards, if you can.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His features were so distorted as to give reason to fear some accident;
+      and at the same moment he was seized with a long and violent fit of
+      coughing, which ended in a slight hemorrhage. He saw that Father Joseph,
+      alarmed, was about to seize a gold bell that stood on the table, and,
+      suddenly rising with all the vivacity of a young man, he stopped him,
+      saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Tis nothing, Joseph; I sometimes yield to these fits of
+      depression; but they do not last long, and I leave them stronger than
+      before. As for my health, I know my condition perfectly; but that is not
+      the business in hand. What have you done at Paris? I am glad to know the
+      King has arrived in Bearn, as I wished; we shall be able to keep a closer
+      watch upon him. How did you induce him to come away?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A battle at Perpignan.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is not bad. Well, we can arrange it for him; that occupation
+      will do as well as another just now. But the young Queen, what says she?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is still furious against you; her correspondence discovered,
+      the questioning to which you had subjected her&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bah! a madrigal and a momentary submission on my part will make her
+      forget that I have separated her from her house of Austria and from the
+      country of her Buckingham. But how does she occupy herself?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In machinations with Monsieur. But as we have his entire
+      confidence, here are the daily accounts of their interviews.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not trouble myself to read them; while the Duc de Bouillon
+      remains in Italy I have nothing to fear in that quarter. She may have as
+      many petty plots with Gaston in the chimney-corner as she pleases; he
+      never got beyond his excellent intentions, forsooth! He carries nothing
+      into effect but his withdrawal from the kingdom. He has had his third
+      dismissal; I will manage a fourth for him whenever he pleases; he is not
+      worth the pistol-shot you had the Comte de Soissons settled with, and yet
+      the poor Comte had scarce more energy than he.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And the Cardinal, reseating himself in his chair, began to laugh gayly
+      enough for a statesman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I always laugh when I think of their expedition to Amiens. They had
+      me between them, Each had fully five hundred gentlemen with him, armed to
+      the teeth, and all going to despatch me, like Concini; but the great Vitry
+      was not there. They very quietly let me talk for an hour with them about
+      the hunt and the Fete Dieu, and neither of them dared make a sign to their
+      cut-throats. I have since learned from Chavigny that for two long months
+      they had been waiting that happy moment. For myself, indeed, I observed
+      nothing, except that little villain, the Abbe de Gondi,&mdash;[Afterward
+      Cardinal de Retz.]&mdash;who prowled near me, and seemed to have something
+      hidden under his sleeve; it was he that made me get into the coach.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Apropos of the Abbe, my lord, the Queen insists upon making him
+      coadjutor.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is mad! he will ruin her if she connects herself with him; he&rsquo;s
+      a musketeer in canonicals, the devil in a cassock. Read his &lsquo;Histoire
+      de Fiesque&rsquo;; you may see himself in it. He will be nothing while I
+      live.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How is it that with a judgment like yours you bring another
+      ambitious man of his age to court?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is an entirely different matter. This young Cinq-Mars, my
+      friend, will be a mere puppet. He will think of nothing but his ruff and
+      his shoulder-knots; his handsome figure assures me of this. I know that he
+      is gentle and weak; it was for this reason I preferred him to his elder
+      brother. He will do whatever we wish.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my lord,&rdquo; said the monk, with an expression of doubt,
+      &ldquo;I never place much reliance on people whose exterior is so calm;
+      the hidden flame is often all the more dangerous. Recollect the Marechal d&rsquo;Effiat,
+      his father.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I tell you he is a boy, and I shall bring him up; while Gondi
+      is already an accomplished conspirator, an ambitious knave who sticks at
+      nothing. He has dared to dispute Madame de la Meilleraie with me. Can you
+      conceive it? He dispute with me! A petty priestling, who has no other
+      merit than a little lively small-talk and a cavalier air. Fortunately, the
+      husband himself took care to get rid of him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Father Joseph, who listened with equal impatience to his master when he
+      spoke of his &lsquo;bonnes fortunes&rsquo; or of his verses, made,
+      however, a grimace which he meant to be very sly and insinuating, but
+      which was simply ugly and awkward; he fancied that the expression of his
+      mouth, twisted about like a monkey&rsquo;s, conveyed, &ldquo;Ah! who can
+      resist your Eminence?&rdquo; But his Eminence only read there, &ldquo;I am
+      a clown who knows nothing of the great world&rdquo;; and, without changing
+      his voice, he suddenly said, taking up a despatch from the table:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Duc de Rohan is dead, that is good news; the Huguenots are
+      ruined. He is a lucky man. I had him condemned by the Parliament of
+      Toulouse to be torn in pieces by four horses, and here he dies quietly on
+      the battlefield of Rheinfeld. But what matters? The result is the same.
+      Another great head is laid low! How they have fallen since that of
+      Montmorency! I now see hardly any that do not bow before me. We have
+      already punished almost all our dupes of Versailles; assuredly they have
+      nothing with which to reproach me. I simply exercise against them the law
+      of retaliation, treating them as they would have treated me in the council
+      of the Queen-mother. The old dotard Bassompierre shall be doomed for
+      perpetual imprisonment, and so shall the assassin Marechal de Vitry, for
+      that was the punishment they voted me. As for Marillac, who counselled
+      death, I reserve death for him at the first false step he makes, and I beg
+      thee, Joseph, to remind me of him; we must be just to all. The Duc de
+      Bouillon still keeps up his head proudly on account of his Sedan, but I
+      shall make him yield. Their blindness is truly marvellous! They think
+      themselves all free to conspire, not perceiving that they are merely
+      fluttering at the ends of the threads that I hold in my hand, and which I
+      lengthen now and then to give them air and space. Did the Huguenots cry
+      out as one man at the death of their dear duke?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Less so than at the affair of Loudun, which is happily concluded.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! Happily? I hope that Grandier is dead?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; that is what I meant. Your Eminence may be fully satisfied.
+      All was settled in twenty-four hours. He is no longer thought of. Only
+      Laubardemont committed a slight blunder in making the trial public. This
+      caused a little tumult; but we have a description of the rioters, and
+      measures have been taken to seek them out.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is well, very well. Urbain was too superior a man to be left
+      there; he was turning Protestant. I would wager that he would have ended
+      by abjuring. His work against the celibacy of priests made me conjecture
+      this; and in cases of doubt, remember, Joseph, it is always best to cut
+      the tree before the fruit is gathered. These Huguenots, you see, form a
+      regular republic in the State. If once they had a majority in France, the
+      monarchy would be lost, and they would establish some popular government
+      which might be durable.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what deep pain do they daily cause our holy Father the Pope!&rdquo;
+      said Joseph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; interrupted the Cardinal, &ldquo;I see; thou wouldst
+      remind me of his obstinacy in not giving thee the hat. Be tranquil; I will
+      speak to-day on the subject to the new ambassador we are sending, the
+      Marechal d&rsquo;Estrees, and he will, on his arrival, doubtless obtain
+      that which has been in train these two years&mdash;thy nomination to the
+      cardinalate. I myself begin to think that the purple would become thee
+      well, for it does not show blood-stains.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And both burst into laughter&mdash;the one as a master, overwhelming the
+      assassin whom he pays with his utter scorn; the other as a slave, resigned
+      to all the humiliation by which he rises.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The laughter which the ferocious pleasantry of the old minister had
+      excited had hardly subsided, when the door opened, and a page announced
+      several couriers who had arrived simultaneously from different points.
+      Father Joseph arose, and, leaning against the wall like an Egyptian mummy,
+      allowed nothing to appear upon his face but an expression of stolid
+      contemplation. Twelve messengers entered successively, attired in various
+      disguises; one appeared to be a Swiss soldier, another a sutler, a third a
+      master-mason. They had been introduced into the palace by a secret
+      stairway and corridor, and left the cabinet by a door opposite that at
+      which they had entered, without any opportunity of meeting one another or
+      communicating the contents of their despatches. Each laid a rolled or
+      folded packet of papers on the large table, spoke for a moment with the
+      Cardinal in the embrasure of a window and withdrew. Richelieu had risen on
+      the entrance of the first messenger, and, careful to do all himself, had
+      received them all, listened to all, and with his own hand had closed the
+      door upon all. When the last was gone, he signed to Father Joseph, and,
+      without speaking, both proceeded to unfold, or, rather, to tear open, the
+      packets of despatches, and in a few words communicated to each other the
+      substance of the letters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Due de Weimar pursues his advantage; the Duc Charles is
+      defeated. Our General is in good spirits; here are some of his lively
+      remarks at table. Good!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monseigneur le Vicomte de Turenne has retaken the towns of
+      Lorraine; and here are his private conversations&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! pass over them; they can not be dangerous. He is ever a good
+      and honest man, in no way mixing himself up with politics; so that some
+      one gives him a little army to play at chess with, no matter against whom,
+      he is content. We shall always be good friends.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Long Parliament still endures in England. The Commons pursue
+      their project; there are massacres in Ireland. The Earl of Strafford is
+      condemned to death.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To death! Horrible!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will read: &lsquo;His Majesty Charles I has not had the courage
+      to sign the sentence, but he has appointed four commissioners.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Weak king, I abandon thee! Thou shalt have no more of our money.
+      Fall, since thou art ungrateful! Unhappy Wentworth!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A tear rose in the eyes of Richelieu as he said this; the man who had but
+      now played with the lives of so many others wept for a minister abandoned
+      by his prince. The similarity between that position and his own affected
+      him, and it was his own case he deplored in the person of the foreign
+      minister. He ceased to read aloud the despatches that he opened, and his
+      confidant followed his example. He examined with scrupulous attention the
+      detailed accounts of the most minute and secret actions of each person of
+      any importance-accounts which he always required to be added to the
+      official despatches made by his able spies. All the despatches to the King
+      passed through his hands, and were carefully revised so as to reach the
+      King amended to the state in which he wished him to read them. The private
+      notes were all carefully burned by the monk after the Cardinal had
+      ascertained their contents. The latter, however, seemed by no means
+      satisfied, and he was walking quickly to and fro with gestures expressive
+      of anxiety, when the door opened, and a thirteenth courier entered. This
+      one seemed a boy hardly fourteen years old; he held under his arm a packet
+      sealed with black for the King, and gave to the Cardinal only a small
+      letter, of which a stolen glance from Joseph could collect but four words.
+      The Cardinal started, tore the billet into a thousand pieces, and, bending
+      down to the ear of the boy, spoke to him for a long time; all that Joseph
+      heard was, as the messenger went out:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take good heed to this; not until twelve hours from this time.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this aside of the Cardinal, Joseph was occupied in concealing an
+      infinite number of libels from Flanders and Germany, which the minister
+      always insisted upon seeing, however bitter they might be to him. In this
+      respect, he affected a philosophy which he was far from possessing, and to
+      deceive those around him he would sometimes pretend that his enemies were
+      not wholly wrong, and would outwardly laugh at their pleasantries; but
+      those who knew his character better detected bitter rage lurking under
+      this apparent moderation, and knew that he was never satisfied until he
+      had got the hostile book condemned by the parliament to be burned in the
+      Place de Greve, as &ldquo;injurious to the King, in the person of his
+      minister, the most illustrious Cardinal,&rdquo; as we read in the decrees
+      of the time, and that his only regret was that the author was not in the
+      place of his book&mdash;a satisfaction he gave himself whenever he could,
+      as in the case of Urbain Grandier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was his colossal pride which he thus avenged, without avowing it even
+      to himself&mdash;nay, laboring for a length of time, sometimes for a whole
+      twelvemonth together, to persuade himself that the interest of the State
+      was concerned in the matter. Ingenious in connecting his private affairs
+      with the affairs of France, he had convinced himself that she bled from
+      the wounds which he received. Joseph, careful not to irritate his
+      ill-temper at this moment, put aside and concealed a book entitled &lsquo;Mystres
+      Politiques du Cardinal de la Rochelle&rsquo;; also another, attributed to
+      a monk of Munich, entitled &lsquo;Questions quolibetiques, ajustees au
+      temps present, et Impiete Sanglante du dieu Mars&rsquo;. The worthy
+      advocate Aubery, who has given us one of the most faithful histories of
+      the most eminent Cardinal, is transported with rage at the mere title of
+      the first of these books, and exclaims that &ldquo;the great minister had
+      good reason to glorify himself that his enemies, inspired against their
+      will with the same enthusiasm which conferred the gift of rendering
+      oracles upon the ass of Balaam, upon Caiaphas and others, who seemed most
+      unworthy of the gift of prophecy, called him with good reason Cardinal de
+      la Rochelle, since three years after their writing he reduced that town;
+      thus Scipio was called Africanus for having subjugated that PROVINCE!&rdquo;
+      Very little was wanting to make Father Joseph, who had necessarily the
+      same feelings, express his indignation in the same terms; for he
+      remembered with bitterness the ridiculous part he had played in the siege
+      of Rochelle, which, though not a province like Africa, had ventured to
+      resist the most eminent Cardinal, and into which Father Joseph, piquing
+      himself on his military skill, had proposed to introduce the troops
+      through a sewer. However, he restrained himself, and had time to conceal
+      the libel in the pocket of his brown robe ere the minister had dismissed
+      his young courier and returned to the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And now to depart, Joseph,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Open the doors to
+      all that court which besieges me, and let us go to the King, who awaits me
+      at Perpignan; this time I have him for good.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Capuchin drew back, and immediately the pages, throwing open the
+      gilded doors, announced in succession the greatest lords of the period,
+      who had obtained permission from the King to come and salute the minister.
+      Some, even, under the pretext of illness or business, had departed
+      secretly, in order not to be among the last at Richelieu&rsquo;s
+      reception; and the unhappy monarch found himself almost as alone as other
+      kings find themselves on their deathbeds. But with him, the throne seemed,
+      in the eyes of the court, his dying couch, his reign a continual last
+      agony, and his minister a threatening successor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two pages, of the first families of France, stood at the door, where the
+      ushers announced each of the persons whom Father Joseph had found in the
+      ante room. The Cardinal, still seated in his great arm chair, remained
+      motionless as the common couriers entered, inclined his head to the more
+      distinguished, and to princes alone put his hands on the elbows of his
+      chair and slightly rose; each person, having profoundly saluted him, stood
+      before him near the fireplace, waited till he had spoken to him, and then,
+      at a wave of his hand, completed the circuit of the room, and went out by
+      the same door at which he had entered, paused for a moment to salute
+      Father Joseph, who aped his master, and who for that reason had been named
+      &ldquo;his Gray Eminence,&rdquo; and at last quitted the palace, unless,
+      indeed, he remained standing behind the chair, if the minister had
+      signified that he should, which was considered a token of very great
+      favor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He allowed to pass several insignificant persons, and many whose merits
+      were useless to him; the first whom he stopped in the procession was the
+      Marechal d&rsquo;Estrees, who, about to set out on an embassy to Rome,
+      came to make his adieux; those behind him stopped short. This circumstance
+      warned the courtiers in the anteroom that a longer conversation than usual
+      was on foot, and Father Joseph, advancing to the threshold, exchanged with
+      the Cardinal a glance which seemed to say, on the one side, &ldquo;Remember
+      the promise you have just made me,&rdquo; on the other, &ldquo;Set your
+      mind at rest.&rdquo; At the same time, the expert Capuchin let his master
+      see that he held upon his arm one of his victims, whom he was forming into
+      a docile instrument; this was a young gentleman who wore a very short
+      green cloak, a pourpoint of the same color, close-fitting red breeches,
+      with glittering gold garters below the knee-the costume of the pages of
+      Monsieur. Father Joseph, indeed, spoke to him secretly, but not in the way
+      the Cardinal imagined; for he contemplated being his equal, and was
+      preparing other connections, in case of defection on the part of the prime
+      minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell Monsieur not to trust in appearances, and that he has no
+      servant more faithful than I. The Cardinal is on the decline, and my
+      conscience tells me to warn against his faults him who may inherit the
+      royal power during the minority. To give your great Prince a proof of my
+      faith, tell him that it is intended to arrest his friend, Puy-Laurens, and
+      that he had better be kept out of the way, or the Cardinal will put him in
+      the Bastille.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While the servant was thus betraying his master, the master, not to be
+      behindhand with him, betrayed his servant. His self-love, and some remnant
+      of respect to the Church, made him shudder at the idea of seeing a
+      contemptible agent invested with the same hat which he himself wore as a
+      crown, and seated as high as himself, except as to the precarious position
+      of minister. Speaking, therefore, in an undertone to the Marechal d&rsquo;Estrees,
+      he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not necessary to importune Urbain VIII any further in favor
+      of the Capuchin you see yonder; it is enough that his Majesty has deigned
+      to name him for the cardinalate. One can readily conceive the repugnance
+      of his Holiness to clothe this mendicant in the Roman purple.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, passing on to general matters, he continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Truly, I know not what can have cooled the Holy Father toward us;
+      what have we done that was not for the glory of our Holy Mother, the
+      Catholic Church?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I myself said the first mass at Rochelle, and you see for yourself,
+      Monsieur le Marechal, that our habit is everywhere; and even in your
+      armies, the Cardinal de la Vallette has commanded gloriously in the
+      palatinate.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And has just made a very fine retreat,&rdquo; said the Marechal,
+      laying a slight emphasis upon the word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The minister continued, without noticing this little outburst of
+      professional jealousy, and raising his voice, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God has shown that He did not scorn to send the spirit of victory
+      upon his Levites, for the Duc de Weimar did not more powerfully aid in the
+      conquest of Lorraine than did this pious Cardinal, and never was a naval
+      army better commanded than by our Archbishop of Bordeaux at Rochelle.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was well known that at this very time the minister was incensed against
+      this prelate, whose haughtiness was so overbearing, and whose impertinent
+      ebullitions were so frequent as to have involved him in two very
+      disagreeable affairs at Bordeaux. Four years before, the Duc d&rsquo;Epernon,
+      then governor of Guyenne, followed by all his train and by his troops,
+      meeting him among his clergy in a procession, had called him an insolent
+      fellow, and given him two smart blows with his cane; whereupon the
+      Archbishop had excommunicated him. And again, recently, despite this
+      lesson, he had quarrelled with the Marechal de Vitry, from whom he had
+      received &ldquo;twenty blows with a cane or stick, which you please,&rdquo;
+      wrote the Cardinal Duke to the Cardinal de la Vallette, &ldquo;and I think
+      he would like to excommunicate all France.&rdquo; In fact, he did
+      excommunicate the Marechal&rsquo;s baton, remembering that in the former
+      case the Pope had obliged the Duc d&rsquo;Epernon to ask his pardon; but
+      M. Vitry, who had caused the Marechal d&rsquo;Ancre to be assassinated,
+      stood too high at court for that, and the Archbishop, in addition to his
+      beating, got well scolded by the minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      M. d&rsquo;Estrees thought, therefore, sagely that there might be some
+      irony in the Cardinal&rsquo;s manner of referring to the warlike talents
+      of the Archbishop, and he answered, with perfect sang-froid:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true, my lord, no one can say that it was upon the sea he was
+      beaten.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His Eminence could not restrain a smile at this; but seeing that the
+      electrical effect of that smile had created others in the hall, as well as
+      whisperings and conjectures, he immediately resumed his gravity, and
+      familiarly taking the Marechal&rsquo;s arm, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Monsieur l&rsquo;Ambassadeur, you are ready at repartee. With
+      you I should not fear Cardinal Albornos, or all the Borgias in the world&mdash;no,
+      nor all the efforts of their Spain with the Holy Father.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, raising his voice, and looking around, as if addressing himself to
+      the silent, and, so to speak, captive assembly, he continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope that we shall no more be reproached, as formerly, for having
+      formed an alliance with one of the greatest men of our day; but as
+      Gustavus Adolphus is dead, the Catholic King will no longer have any
+      pretext for soliciting the excommunication of the most Christian King. How
+      say you, my dear lord?&rdquo; addressing himself to the Cardinal de la
+      Vallette, who now approached, fortunately without having heard the late
+      allusion to himself. &ldquo;Monsieur d&rsquo;Estrees, remain near our
+      chair; we have still many things to say to you, and you are not one too
+      many in our conversations, for we have no secrets. Our policy is frank and
+      open to all men; the interest of his Majesty and of the State&mdash;nothing
+      more.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Marechal made a profound bow, fell back behind the chair of the
+      minister, and gave place to the Cardinal de la Vallette, who, incessantly
+      bowing and flattering and swearing devotion and entire obedience to the
+      Cardinal, as if to expiate the obduracy of his father, the Duc d&rsquo;Epernon,
+      received in return a few vague words, to no meaning or purpose, the
+      Cardinal all the while looking toward the door, to see who should follow.
+      He had even the mortification to find himself abruptly interrupted by the
+      minister, who cried at the most flattering period of his honeyed
+      discourse:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! is that you at last, my dear Fabert? How I have longed to see
+      you, to talk of the siege!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The General, with a brusque and awkward manner, saluted the
+      Cardinal-Generalissimo, and presented to him the officers who had come
+      from the camp with him. He talked some time of the operations of the
+      siege, and the Cardinal seemed to be paying him court now, in order to
+      prepare him afterward for receiving his orders even on the field of
+      battle; he spoke to the officers who accompanied him, calling them by
+      their names, and questioning them about the camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They all stood aside to make way for the Duc d&rsquo;Angouleme&mdash;that
+      Valois, who, having struggled against Henri IV, now prostrated himself
+      before Richelieu. He solicited a command, having been only third in rank
+      at the siege of Rochelle. After him came young Mazarin, ever supple and
+      insinuating, but already confident in his fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duc d&rsquo;Halluin came after them; the Cardinal broke off the
+      compliments he was addressing to the others, to utter, in a loud voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur le Duc, I inform you with pleasure that the King has made
+      you a marshal of France; you will sign yourself Schomberg, will you not,
+      at Leucate, delivered, as we hope, by you? But pardon me, here is Monsieur
+      de Montauron, who has doubtless something important to communicate.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no, my lord, I would only say that the poor young man whom you
+      deigned to consider in your service is dying of hunger.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pshaw! at such a moment to speak of things like this! Your little
+      Corneille will not write anything good; we have only seen &lsquo;Le Cid&rsquo;
+      and &lsquo;Les Horaces&rsquo; as yet. Let him work, let him work! it is
+      known that he is in my service, and that is disagreeable. However, since
+      you interest yourself in the matter, I give him a pension of five hundred
+      crowns on my privy purse.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Chancellor of the Exchequer retired, charmed with the liberality of
+      the minister, and went home to receive with great affability the
+      dedication of Cinna, wherein the great Corneille compares his soul to that
+      of Augustus, and thanks him for having given alms &lsquo;a quelques Muses&rsquo;.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal, annoyed by this importunity, rose, observing that the day
+      was advancing, and that it was time to set out to visit the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment, and as the greatest noblemen present were offering their
+      arms to aid him in walking, a man in the robe of a referendary advanced
+      toward him, saluting him with a complacent and confident smile which
+      astonished all the people there, accustomed to the great world, seeming to
+      say: &ldquo;We have secret affairs together; you shall see how agreeable
+      he makes himself to me. I am at home in his cabinet.&rdquo; His heavy and
+      awkward manner, however, betrayed a very inferior being; it was
+      Laubardemont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richelieu knit his brows when he saw him, and cast a glance at Joseph;
+      then, turning toward those who surrounded him, he said, with bitter scorn:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is there some criminal about us to be apprehended?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, turning his back upon the discomfited Laubardemont, the Cardinal
+      left him redder than his robe, and, preceded by the crowd of personages
+      who were to escort him in carriages or on horseback, he descended the
+      great staircase of the palace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the people and the authorities of Narbonne viewed this royal departure
+      with amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal entered alone a spacious square litter, in which he was to
+      travel to Perpignan, his infirmities not permitting him to go in a coach,
+      or to perform the journey on horseback. This kind of moving chamber
+      contained a bed, a table, and a small chair for the page who wrote or read
+      for him. This machine, covered with purple damask, was carried by eighteen
+      men, who were relieved at intervals of a league; they were selected among
+      his guards, and always performed this service of honor with uncovered
+      heads, however hot or wet the weather might be. The Duc d&rsquo;Angouleme,
+      the Marechals de Schomberg and d&rsquo;Estrees, Fabert, and other
+      dignitaries were on horseback beside the litter; after them, among the
+      most prominent were the Cardinal de la Vallette and Mazarin, with
+      Chavigny, and the Marechal de Vitry, anxious to avoid the Bastille, with
+      which it was said he was threatened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two coaches followed for the Cardinal&rsquo;s secretaries, physicians, and
+      confessor; then eight others, each with four horses, for his gentlemen,
+      and twenty-four mules for his luggage. Two hundred musketeers on foot
+      marched close behind him, and his company of men-at-arms of the guard and
+      his light-horse, all gentlemen, rode before and behind him on splendid
+      horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such was the equipage in which the prime minister proceeded to Perpignan;
+      the size of the litter often made it necessary to enlarge the roads, and
+      knock down the walls of some of the towns and villages on the way, into
+      which it could not otherwise enter, &ldquo;so that,&rdquo; say the authors
+      and manuscripts of the time, full of a sincere admiration for all this
+      luxury&mdash;&ldquo;so that he seemed a conqueror entering by the breach.&rdquo;
+      We have sought in vain with great care in these documents, for any account
+      of proprietors or inhabitants of these dwellings so making room for his
+      passage who shared in this admiration; but we have been unable to find any
+      mention of such.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII. THE INTERVIEW
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The pompous cortege of the Cardinal halted at the beginning of the camp.
+      All the armed troops were drawn up in the finest order; and amid the sound
+      of cannon and the music of each regiment the litter traversed a long line
+      of cavalry and infantry, formed from the outermost tent to that of the
+      minister, pitched at some distance from the royal quarters, and which its
+      purple covering distinguished at a distance. Each general of division
+      obtained a nod or a word from the Cardinal, who at length reaching his
+      tent and, dismissing his train, shut himself in, waiting for the time to
+      present himself to the King. But, before him, every person of his escort
+      had repaired thither individually, and, without entering the royal abode,
+      had remained in the long galleries covered with striped stuff, and
+      arranged as became avenues leading to the Prince. The courtiers walking in
+      groups, saluted one another and shook hands, regarding each other
+      haughtily, according to their connections or the lords to whom they
+      belonged. Others whispered together, and showed signs of astonishment,
+      pleasure, or anger, which showed that something extraordinary had taken
+      place. Among a thousand others, one singular dialogue occurred in a corner
+      of the principal gallery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I ask, Monsieur l&rsquo;Abbe, why you look at me so fixedly?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Parbleu! Monsieur de Launay, it is because I&rsquo;m curious to see
+      what you will do. All the world abandons your Cardinal-Duke since your
+      journey into Touraine; if you do not believe it, go and ask the people of
+      Monsieur or of the Queen. You are behind-hand ten minutes by the watch
+      with the Cardinal de la Vallette, who has just shaken hands with Rochefort
+      and the gentlemen of the late Comte de Soissons, whom I shall regret as
+      long as I live.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur de Gondi, I understand you; is it a challenge with which
+      you honor me?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Monsieur le Comte,&rdquo; answered the young Abbe, saluting
+      him with all the gravity of the time; &ldquo;I sought an occasion to
+      challenge you in the name of Monsieur d&rsquo;Attichi, my friend, with
+      whom you had something to do at Paris.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur l&rsquo;Abbe, I am at your command. I will seek my
+      seconds; do you the same.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On horseback, with sword and pistol, I suppose?&rdquo; added Gondi,
+      with the air of a man arranging a party of pleasure, lightly brushing the
+      sleeve of his cassock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you please,&rdquo; replied the other. And they separated for a
+      time, saluting one another with the greatest politeness, and with profound
+      bows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A brilliant crowd of gentlemen circulated around them in the gallery. They
+      mingled with it to procure friends for the occasion. All the elegance of
+      the costumes of the day was displayed by the court that morning-small
+      cloaks of every color, in velvet or in satin, embroidered with gold or
+      silver; crosses of St. Michael and of the Holy Ghost; the ruffs, the
+      sweeping hat-plumes, the gold shoulder-knots, the chains by which the long
+      swords hung: all glittered and sparkled, yet not so brilliantly as did the
+      fiery glances of those warlike youths, or their sprightly conversation, or
+      their intellectual laughter. Amid the assembly grave personages and great
+      lords passed on, followed by their numerous gentlemen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The little Abbe de Gondi, who was very shortsighted, made his way through
+      the crowd, knitting his brows and half shutting his eyes, that he might
+      see the better, and twisting his moustache, for ecclesiastics wore them in
+      those days. He looked closely at every one in order to recognize his
+      friends, and at last stopped before a young man, very tall and dressed in
+      black from head to foot; his sword, even, was of quite dark, bronzed
+      steel. He was talking with a captain of the guards, when the Abbe de Gondi
+      took him aside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur de Thou,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I need you as my second in
+      an hour, on horseback, with sword and pistol, if you will do me that
+      honor.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, you know I am entirely at your service on all occasions.
+      Where shall we meet?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In front of the Spanish bastion, if you please.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me for returning to a conversation that greatly interests
+      me. I will be punctual at the rendezvous.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And De Thou quitted him to rejoin the Captain. He had said all this in the
+      gentlest of voices with unalterable coolness, and even with somewhat of an
+      abstracted manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The little Abbe squeezed his hand with warm satisfaction, and continued
+      his search.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He did not so easily effect an agreement with the young lords to whom he
+      addressed himself; for they knew him better than did De Thou, and when
+      they saw him coming they tried to avoid him, or laughed at him openly, and
+      would not promise to serve him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Abbe! there you are hunting again; I&rsquo;ll swear it&rsquo;s
+      a second you want,&rdquo; said the Duc de Beaufort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I wager,&rdquo; added M. de la Rochefoucauld, &ldquo;that it&rsquo;s
+      against one of the Cardinal-Duke&rsquo;s people.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are both right, gentlemen; but since when have you laughed at
+      affairs of honor?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The saints forbid I should,&rdquo; said M. de Beaufort. &ldquo;Men
+      of the sword like us ever reverence tierce, quarte, and octave; but as for
+      the folds of the cassock, I know nothing of them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardieu! Monsieur, you know well enough that it does not embarrass
+      my wrist, as I will prove to him who chooses; as to the gown itself, I
+      should like to throw it into the gutter.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it to tear it that you fight so often?&rdquo; asked La
+      Rochefoucauld. &ldquo;But remember, my dear Abbe, that you yourself are
+      within it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gondi turned to look at the clock, wishing to lose no more time in such
+      sorry jests; but he had no better success elsewhere. Having stopped two
+      gentlemen in the service of the young Queen, whom he thought ill-affected
+      toward the Cardinal, and consequently glad to measure weapons with his
+      creatures, one of them said to him very gravely:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur de Gondi, you know what has just happened; the King has
+      said aloud, &lsquo;Whether our imperious Cardinal wishes it or not, the
+      widow of Henri le Grand shall no longer remain in exile.&rsquo; Imperious!
+      the King never before said anything so strong as that, Monsieur l&rsquo;Abbe,
+      mark that. Imperious! it is open disgrace. Certainly no one will dare to
+      speak to him; no doubt he will quit the court this very day.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have heard this, Monsieur, but I have an affair&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is lucky for you he stopped short in the middle of your career.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An affair of honor&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whereas Mazarin is quite a friend of yours.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But will you, or will you not, listen to me?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a friend indeed! your adventures are always uppermost in his
+      thoughts. Your fine duel with Monsieur de Coutenan about the pretty little
+      pin-maker,&mdash;he even spoke of it to the King. Adieu, my dear Abbe, we
+      are in great haste; adieu, adieu!&rdquo; And, taking his friend&rsquo;s
+      arm, the young mocker, without listening to another word, walked rapidly
+      down the gallery and disappeared in the throng.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The poor Abbe was much mortified at being able to get only one second, and
+      was watching sadly the passing of the hour and of the crowd, when he
+      perceived a young gentleman whom he did not know, seated at a table,
+      leaning on his elbow with a pensive air; he wore mourning which indicated
+      no connection with any great house or party, and appeared to await,
+      without any impatience, the time for attending the King, looking with a
+      heedless air at those who surrounded him, and seeming not to notice or to
+      know any of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gondi looked at him a moment, and accosted him without hesitation:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, I have not the honor of your acquaintance, but a
+      fencing-party can never be unpleasant to a man of honor; and if you will
+      be my second, in a quarter of an hour we shall be on the ground. I am Paul
+      de Gondi; and I have challenged Monsieur de Launay, one of the Cardinal&rsquo;s
+      clique, but in other respects a very gallant fellow.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The unknown, apparently not at all surprised at this address, replied,
+      without changing his attitude: &ldquo;And who are his seconds?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Faith, I don&rsquo;t know; but what matters it who serves him? We
+      stand no worse with our friends for having exchanged a thrust with them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stranger smiled nonchalantly, paused for an instant to pass his hand
+      through his long chestnut hair, and then said, looking idly at a large,
+      round watch which hung at his waist:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Monsieur, as I have nothing better to do, and as I have no
+      friends here, I am with you; it will pass the time as well as anything
+      else.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, taking his large, black-plumed hat from the table, he followed the
+      warlike Abbe, who went quickly before him, often running back to hasten
+      him on, like a child running before his father, or a puppy that goes
+      backward and forward twenty times before it gets to the end of a street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, two ushers, attired in the royal livery, opened the great
+      curtains which separated the gallery from the King&rsquo;s tent, and
+      silence reigned. The courtiers began to enter slowly, and in succession,
+      the temporary dwelling of the Prince. He received them all gracefully, and
+      was the first to meet the view of each person introduced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Before a very small table surrounded with gilt armchairs stood Louis XIII,
+      encircled by the great officers of the crown. His dress was very elegant:
+      a kind of fawn-colored vest, with open sleeves, ornamented with
+      shoulder-knots and blue ribbons, covered him down to the waist. Wide
+      breeches reached to the knee, and the yellow-and-red striped stuff of
+      which they were made was ornamented below with blue ribbons. His
+      riding-boots, reaching hardly more than three inches above the ankle, were
+      turned over, showing so lavish a lining of lace that they seemed to hold
+      it as a vase holds flowers. A small mantle of blue velvet, on which was
+      embroidered the cross of the Holy Ghost, covered the King&rsquo;s left
+      arm, which rested on the hilt of his sword.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His head was uncovered, and his pale and noble face was distinctly
+      visible, lighted by the sun, which penetrated through the top of the tent.
+      The small, pointed beard then worn augmented the appearance of thinness in
+      his face, while it added to its melancholy expression. By his lofty brow,
+      his classic profile, his aquiline nose, he was at once recognized as a
+      prince of the great race of Bourbon. He had all the characteristic traits
+      of his ancestors except their penetrating glance; his eyes seemed red from
+      weeping, and veiled with a perpetual drowsiness; and the weakness of his
+      vision gave him a somewhat vacant look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He called around him, and was attentive to, the greatest enemies of the
+      Cardinal, whom he expected every moment; and, balancing himself with one
+      foot over the other, an hereditary habit of his family, he spoke quickly,
+      but pausing from time to time to make a gracious inclination of the head,
+      or a gesture of the hand, to those who passed before him with low
+      reverences.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The court had been thus paying its respects to the King for two hours
+      before the Cardinal appeared; the whole court stood in close ranks behind
+      the Prince, and in the long galleries which extended from his tent.
+      Already longer intervals elapsed between the names of the courtiers who
+      were announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall we not see our cousin the Cardinal?&rdquo; said the King,
+      turning, and looking at Montresor, one of Monsieur&rsquo;s gentlemen, as
+      if to encourage him to answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is said to be very ill just now, Sire,&rdquo; was the answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet I do not see how any but your Majesty can cure him,&rdquo;
+      said the Duc de Beaufort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We cure nothing but the king&rsquo;s evil,&rdquo; replied Louis;
+      &ldquo;and the complaints of the Cardinal are always so mysterious that we
+      own we can not understand them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prince thus essayed to brave his minister, gaining strength in jests,
+      the better to break his yoke, insupportable, but so difficult to remove.
+      He almost thought he had succeeded in this, and, sustained by the joyous
+      air surrounding him, he already privately congratulated himself on having
+      been able to assume the supreme empire, and for the moment enjoyed all the
+      power of which he fancied himself possessed. An involuntary agitation in
+      the depth of his heart had warned him indeed that, the hour passed, all
+      the burden of the State would fall upon himself alone; but he talked in
+      order to divert the troublesome thought, and, concealing from himself the
+      doubt he had of his own inability to reign, he set his imagination to work
+      upon the result of his enterprises, thus forcing himself to forget the
+      tedious roads which had led to them. Rapid phrases succeeded one another
+      on his lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall soon take Perpignan,&rdquo; he said to Fabert, who stood
+      at some distance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Cardinal, Lorraine is ours,&rdquo; he added to La Vallette.
+      Then, touching Mazarin&rsquo;s arm:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not so difficult to manage a State as is supposed, eh?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Italian, who was not so sure of the Cardinal&rsquo;s disgrace as most
+      of the courtiers, answered, without compromising himself:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Sire, the late successes of your Majesty at home and abroad
+      prove your sagacity in choosing your instruments and in directing them,
+      and&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Duc de Beaufort, interrupting him with that self-confidence, that
+      loud voice and overbearing air, which subsequently procured him the
+      surname of Important, cried out, vehemently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardieu! Sire, it needs only to will. A nation is driven like a
+      horse, with spur and bridle; and as we are all good horsemen, your Majesty
+      has only to choose among us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This fine sally had not time to take effect, for two ushers cried,
+      simultaneously, &ldquo;His Eminence!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King&rsquo;s face flushed involuntarily, as if he had been surprised
+      en flagrant delit. But immediately gaining confidence, he assumed an air
+      of resolute haughtiness, which was not lost upon the minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter, attired in all the pomp of a cardinal, leaning upon two young
+      pages, and followed by his captain of the guards and more than five
+      hundred gentlemen attached to his house, advanced toward the King slowly
+      and pausing at each step, as if forced to it by his sufferings, but in
+      reality to observe the faces before him. A glance sufficed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His suite remained at the entrance of the royal tent; of all those within
+      it, not one was bold enough to salute him, or to look toward him. Even La
+      Vallette feigned to be occupied in a conversation with Montresor; and the
+      King, who desired to give him an unfavorable reception, greeted him
+      lightly and continued a private conversation in a low voice with the Duc
+      de Beaufort.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal was therefore forced, after the first salute, to stop and
+      pass to the side of the crowd of courtiers, as if he wished to mingle with
+      them, but in reality to test them more closely; they all recoiled as at
+      the sight of a leper. Fabert alone advanced toward him with the frank,
+      brusque air habitual with him, and, making use of the terms belonging to
+      his profession, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my lord, you make a breach in the midst of them like a
+      cannon-ball; I ask pardon in their name.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you stand firm before me as before the enemy,&rdquo; said the
+      Cardinal; &ldquo;you will have no cause to regret it in the end, my dear
+      Fabert.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mazarin also approached the Cardinal, but with caution, and, giving to his
+      mobile features an expression of profound sadness, made him five or six
+      very low bows, turning his back to the group gathered around the King, so
+      that in the latter quarter they might be taken for those cold and hasty
+      salutations which are made to a person one desires to be rid of, and, on
+      the part of the Duke, for tokens of respect, blended with a discreet and
+      silent sorrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The minister, ever calm, smiled disdainfully; and, assuming that firm look
+      and that air of grandeur which he always wore in the hour of danger, he
+      again leaned upon his pages, and, without waiting for a word or a glance
+      from his sovereign, he suddenly resolved upon his line of conduct, and
+      walked directly toward him, traversing the whole length of the tent. No
+      one had lost sight of him, although all affected not to observe him. Every
+      one now became silent, even those who were conversing with the King. All
+      the courtiers bent forward to see and to hear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louis XIII turned toward him in astonishment, and, all presence of mind
+      totally failing him, remained motionless and waited with an icy glance-his
+      sole force, but a force very effectual in a prince.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal, on coming close to the monarch, did not bow; and, without
+      changing his attitude, with his eyes lowered and his hands placed on the
+      shoulders of the two boys half bending, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sire, I come to implore your Majesty at length to grant me the
+      retirement for which I have long sighed. My health is failing; I feel that
+      my life will soon be ended. Eternity approaches me, and before rendering
+      an account to the eternal King, I would render one to my earthly
+      sovereign. It is eighteen years, Sire, since you placed in my hands a weak
+      and divided kingdom; I return it to you united and powerful. Your enemies
+      are overthrown and humiliated. My work is accomplished. I ask your Majesty&rsquo;s
+      permission to retire to Citeaux, of which I am abbot, and where I may end
+      my days in prayer and meditation.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King, irritated by some haughty expressions in this address, showed
+      none of the signs of weakness which the Cardinal had expected, and which
+      he had always seen in him when he had threatened to resign the management
+      of affairs. On the contrary, feeling that he had the eyes of the whole
+      court upon him, Louis looked upon him with the air of a king, and coldly
+      replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We thank you, then, for your services, Monsieur le Cardinal, and
+      wish you the repose you desire.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richelieu was deeply moved, but no indication of his anger appeared upon
+      his countenance. &ldquo;Such was the coldness with which you left
+      Montmorency to die,&rdquo; he said to himself; &ldquo;but you shall not
+      escape me thus.&rdquo; He then continued aloud, bowing at the same time:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The only recompense I ask for my services is that your Majesty will
+      deign to accept from me, as a gift, the Palais-Cardinal I have erected at
+      my own expense in Paris.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King, astonished, bowed his assent. A murmur of surprise for a moment
+      agitated the attentive court.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I also throw myself at your Majesty&rsquo;s feet, to beg that you
+      will grant me the revocation of an act of rigor, which I solicited (I
+      publicly confess it), and which I perhaps regarded too hastily beneficial
+      to the repose of the State. Yes, when I was of this world, I was too
+      forgetful of my early sentiments of personal respect and attachment, in my
+      eagerness for the public welfare; but now that I already enjoy the
+      enlightenment of solitude, I see that I have done wrong, and I repent.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The attention of the spectators was redoubled, and the uneasiness of the
+      King became visible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, there is one person, Sire, whom I have always loved, despite
+      her wrong toward you, and the banishment which the affairs of the kingdom
+      forced me to bring about for her; a person to whom I have owed much, and
+      who should be very dear to you, notwithstanding her armed attempts against
+      you; a person, in a word, whom I implore you to recall from exile&mdash;the
+      Queen Marie de Medicis, your mother!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King uttered an involuntary exclamation, so little did he expect to
+      hear that name. A repressed agitation suddenly appeared upon every face.
+      All waited in silence the King&rsquo;s reply. Louis XIII looked for a long
+      time at his old minister without speaking, and this look decided the fate
+      of France; in that instant he called to mind all the indefatigable
+      services of Richelieu, his unbounded devotion, his wonderful capacity, and
+      was surprised at himself for having wished to part with him. He felt
+      deeply affected at this request, which had probed for the exact cause of
+      his anger at the bottom of his heart, and uprooted it, thus taking from
+      his hands the only weapon he had against his old servant. Filial love
+      brought words of pardon to his lips and tears into his eyes. Rejoicing to
+      grant what he desired most of all things in the world, he extended his
+      hands to the Duke with all the nobleness and kindliness of a Bourbon. The
+      Cardinal bowed and respectfully kissed it; and his heart, which should
+      have burst with remorse, only swelled in the joy of a haughty triumph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King, deeply touched, abandoning his hand to him, turned gracefully
+      toward his court and said, with a trembling voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We often deceive ourselves, gentlemen, and especially in our
+      knowledge of so great a politician as this.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope he will never leave us, since his heart is as good as his
+      head.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cardinal de la Vallette instantly seized the sleeve of the King&rsquo;s
+      mantle, and kissed it with all the ardor of a lover, and the young Mazarin
+      did much the same with Richelieu himself, assuming, with admirable Italian
+      suppleness, an expression radiant with joy and tenderness. Two streams of
+      flatterers hastened, one toward the King, the other toward the minister;
+      the former group, not less adroit than the second, although less direct,
+      addressed to the Prince thanks which could be heard by the minister, and
+      burned at the feet of the one incense which was intended for the other. As
+      for Richelieu, bowing and smiling to right and left, he stepped forward
+      and stood at the right hand of the King as his natural place. A stranger
+      entering would rather have thought, indeed, that it was the King who was
+      on the Cardinal&rsquo;s left hand. The Marechal d&rsquo;Estrees, all the
+      ambassadors, the Duc d&rsquo;Angouleme, the Due d&rsquo;Halluin
+      (Schomberg), the Marechal de Chatillon, and all the great officers of the
+      crown surrounded him, each waiting impatiently for the compliments of the
+      others to be finished, in order to pay his own, fearing lest some one else
+      should anticipate him with the flattering epigram he had just improvised,
+      or the phrase of adulation he was inventing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As for Fabert, he had retired to a corner of the tent, and seemed to have
+      paid no particular attention to the scene. He was chatting with Montresor
+      and the gentlemen of Monsieur, all sworn enemies of the Cardinal, because,
+      out of the throng he avoided, he had found none but these to speak to.
+      This conduct would have seemed extremely tactless in one less known; but
+      although he lived in the midst of the court, he was ever ignorant of its
+      intrigues. It was said of him that he returned from a battle he had
+      gained, like the King&rsquo;s hunting-horse, leaving the dogs to caress
+      their master and divide the quarry, without seeking even to remember the
+      part he had had in the triumph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The storm, then, seemed entirely appeased, and to the violent agitations
+      of the morning succeeded a gentle calm. A respectful murmur, varied with
+      pleasant laughter and protestations of attachment, was all that was heard
+      in the tent. The voice of the Cardinal arose from time to time: &ldquo;The
+      poor Queen! We shall, then, soon again see her! I never had dared to hope
+      for such happiness while I lived!&rdquo; The King listened to him with
+      full confidence, and made no attempt to conceal his satisfaction. &ldquo;It
+      was assuredly an idea sent to him from on high,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;this
+      good Cardinal, against whom they had so incensed me, was thinking only of
+      the union of my family. Since the birth of the Dauphin I have not tasted
+      greater joy than at this moment. The protection of the Holy Virgin is
+      manifested over our kingdom.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment, a captain of the guards came up and whispered in the King&rsquo;s
+      ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A courier from Cologne?&rdquo; said the King; &ldquo;let him wait
+      in my cabinet.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, unable to restrain his impatience, &ldquo;I will go! I will go!&rdquo;
+      he said, and entered alone a small, square tent attached to the larger
+      one. In it he saw a young courier holding a black portfolio, and the
+      curtains closed upon the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal, left sole master of the court, concentrated all its homage;
+      but it was observed that he no longer received it with his former presence
+      of mind. He inquired frequently what time it was, and exhibited an anxiety
+      which was not assumed; his hard, unquiet glances turned toward the smaller
+      tent. It suddenly opened; the King appeared alone, and stopped on the
+      threshold. He was paler than usual, and trembled in every limb; he held in
+      his hand a large letter with five black seals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; said he, in a loud but broken voice, &ldquo;the
+      Queen has just died at Cologne; and I perhaps am not the first to hear of
+      it,&rdquo; he added, casting a severe look toward the impassible Cardinal,
+      &ldquo;but God knows all! To horse in an hour, and attack the lines!
+      Marechals, follow me.&rdquo; And he turned his back abruptly, and
+      reentered his cabinet with them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The court retired after the minister, who, without giving any sign of
+      sorrow or annoyance, went forth as gravely as he had entered, but now a
+      victor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK 3.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX. THE SIEGE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      There are moments in our life when we long ardently for strong excitement
+      to drown our petty griefs&mdash;times when the soul, like the lion in the
+      fable, wearied with the continual attacks of the gnat, earnestly desires a
+      mightier enemy and real danger. Cinq-Mars found himself in this condition
+      of mind, which always results from a morbid sensibility in the organic
+      constitution and a perpetual agitation of the heart. Weary of continually
+      turning over in his mind a combination of the events which he desired, and
+      of those which he dreaded; weary of calculating his chances to the best of
+      his power; of summoning to his assistance all that his education had
+      taught him concerning the lives of illustrious men, in order to compare it
+      with his present situation; oppressed by his regrets, his dreams,
+      predictions, fancies, and all that imaginary world in which he had lived
+      during his solitary journey-he breathed freely upon finding himself thrown
+      into a real world almost as full of agitation; and the realizing of two
+      actual dangers restored circulation to his blood, and youth to his whole
+      being.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Since the nocturnal scene at the inn near Loudun, he had not been able to
+      resume sufficient empire over his mind to occupy himself with anything
+      save his cherished though sad reflections; and consumption was already
+      threatening him, when happily he arrived at the camp of Perpignan, and
+      happily also had the opportunity of accepting the proposition of the Abbe
+      de Gondi&mdash;for the reader has no doubt recognized Cinq-Mars in the
+      person of that young stranger in mourning, so careless and so melancholy,
+      whom the duellist in the cassock invited to be his second.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had ordered his tent to be pitched as a volunteer in the street of the
+      camp assigned to the young noblemen who were to be presented to the King
+      and were to serve as aides-de-camp to the Generals; he soon repaired
+      thither, and was quickly armed, horsed, and cuirassed, according to the
+      custom of the time, and set out alone for the Spanish bastion, the place
+      of rendezvous. He was the first arrival, and found that a small plot of
+      turf, hidden among the works of the besieged place, had been well chosen
+      by the little Abbe for his homicidal purposes; for besides the probability
+      that no one would have suspected officers of engaging in a duel
+      immediately beneath the town which they were attacking, the body of the
+      bastion separated them from the French camp, and would conceal them like
+      an immense screen. It was wise to take these precautions, for at that time
+      it cost a man his head to give himself the satisfaction of risking his
+      body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While waiting for his friends and his adversaries, Cinq-Mars had time to
+      examine the southern side of Perpignan, before which he stood. He had
+      heard that these works were not those which were to be attacked, and he
+      tried in vain to account for the besieger&rsquo;s projects. Between this
+      southern face of the town, the mountains of Albere, and the Col du
+      Perthus, there might have been advantageous lines of attack, and redoubts
+      against the accessible point; but not a single soldier was stationed
+      there. All the forces seemed directed upon the north of Perpignan, upon
+      the most difficult side, against a brick fort called the Castillet, which
+      surmounted the gate of Notre-Dame. He discovered that a piece of ground,
+      apparently marshy, but in reality very solid, led up to the very foot of
+      the Spanish bastion; that this post was guarded with true Castilian
+      negligence, although its sole strength lay entirely in its defenders; for
+      its battlements, almost in ruin, were furnished with four pieces of cannon
+      of enormous calibre, embedded in the turf, and thus rendered immovable,
+      and impossible to be directed against a troop advancing rapidly to the
+      foot of the wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was easy to see that these enormous pieces had discouraged the
+      besiegers from attacking this point, and had kept the besieged from any
+      idea of addition to its means of defence. Thus, on the one side, the
+      vedettes and advanced posts were at a distance, and on the other, the
+      sentinels were few and ill supported. A young Spaniard, carrying a long
+      gun, with its rest suspended at his side and the burning match in his
+      right hand, who was walking with nonchalance upon the rampart, stopped to
+      look at Cinq-Mars, who was riding about the ditches and moats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Senor caballero,&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;are you going to take the
+      bastion by yourself on horseback, like Don Quixote&mdash;Quixada de la
+      Mancha?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same time he detached from his side the iron rest, planted it in
+      the ground, and supported upon it the barrel of his gun in order to take
+      aim, when a grave and older Spaniard, enveloped in a dirty brown cloak,
+      said to him in his own tongue:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Ambrosio de demonio&rsquo;, do you not know that it is
+      forbidden to throw away powder uselessly, before sallies or attacks are
+      made, merely to have the pleasure of killing a boy not worth your match?
+      It was in this very place that Charles the Fifth threw the sleeping
+      sentinel into the ditch and drowned him. Do your duty, or I shall follow
+      his example.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ambrosio replaced the gun upon his shoulder, the rest at his side, and
+      continued his walk upon the rampart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars had been little alarmed at this menacing gesture, contenting
+      himself with tightening the reins of his horse and bringing the spurs
+      close to his sides, knowing that with a single leap of the nimble animal
+      he should be carried behind the wall of a hut which stood near by, and
+      should thus be sheltered from the Spanish fusil before the operation of
+      the fork and match could be completed. He knew, too, that a tacit
+      convention between the two armies prohibited marksmen from firing upon the
+      sentinels; each party would have regarded it as assassination. The soldier
+      who had thus prepared to attack Cinq-Mars must have been ignorant of this
+      understanding. Young D&rsquo;Effiat, therefore, made no visible movement;
+      and when the sentinel had resumed his walk upon the rampart, he again
+      betook himself to his ride upon the turf, and presently saw five cavaliers
+      directing their course toward him. The first two, who came on at full
+      gallop, did not salute him, but, stopping close to him, leaped to the
+      ground, and he found himself in the arms of the Counsellor de Thou, who
+      embraced him tenderly, while the little Abbe de Gondi, laughing heartily,
+      cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Behold another Orestes recovering his Pylades, and at the moment of
+      immolating a rascal who is not of the family of the King of kings, I
+      assure you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! is it you, my dear Cinq-Mars?&rdquo; cried De Thou; &ldquo;and
+      I knew not of your arrival in the camp! Yes, it is indeed you; I recognize
+      you, although you are very pale. Have you been ill, my dear friend? I have
+      often written to you; for my boyish friendship has always remained in my
+      heart.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I,&rdquo; answered Henri d&rsquo;Effiat, &ldquo;I have been
+      very culpable toward you; but I will relate to you all the causes of my
+      neglect. I can speak of them, but I was ashamed to write them. But how
+      good you are! Your friendship has never relaxed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew you too well,&rdquo; replied De Thou; &ldquo;I knew that
+      there could be no real coldness between us, and that my soul had its echo
+      in yours.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With these words they embraced once more, their eyes moist with those
+      sweet tears which so seldom flow in one&rsquo;s life, but with which it
+      seems, nevertheless, the heart is always charged, so much relief do they
+      give in flowing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This moment was short; and during these few words, Gondi had been pulling
+      them by their cloaks, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To horse! to horse, gentlemen! Pardieu! you will have time enough
+      to embrace, if you are so affectionate; but do not delay. Let our first
+      thought be to have done with our good friends who will soon arrive. We are
+      in a fine position, with those three villains there before us, the archers
+      close by, and the Spaniards up yonder! We shall be under three fires.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was still speaking, when De Launay, finding himself at about sixty
+      paces from his opponents, with his seconds, who were chosen from his own
+      friends rather than from among the partisans of the Cardinal, put his
+      horse to a canter, advanced gracefully toward his young adversaries, and
+      gravely saluted them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen, I think that we shall do well to select our men, and to
+      take the field; for there is talk of attacking the lines, and I must be at
+      my post.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are ready, Monsieur,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;and as for
+      selecting opponents, I shall be very glad to become yours, for I have not
+      forgotten the Marechal de Bassompierre and the wood of Chaumont. You know
+      my opinion concerning your insolent visit to my mother.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very young, Monsieur. In regard to Madame, your mother, I
+      fulfilled the duties of a man of the world; toward the Marechal, those of
+      a captain of the guard; here, those of a gentleman toward Monsieur l&rsquo;Abbe,
+      who has challenged me; afterward I shall have that honor with you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I permit you,&rdquo; said the Abbe, who was already on
+      horseback.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They took sixty paces of ground&mdash;all that was afforded them by the
+      extent of the meadow that enclosed them. The Abbe de Gondi was stationed
+      between De Thou and his friend, who sat nearest the ramparts, upon which
+      two Spanish officers and a score of soldiers stood, as in a balcony, to
+      witness this duel of six persons&mdash;a spectacle common enough to them.
+      They showed the same signs of joy as at their bullfights, and laughed with
+      that savage and bitter laugh which their temperament derives from their
+      admixture of Arab blood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At a sign from Gondi, the six horses set off at full gallop, and met,
+      without coming in contact, in the middle of the arena; at that instant,
+      six pistol-shots were heard almost together, and the smoke covered the
+      combatants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When it dispersed, of the six cavaliers and six horses but three men and
+      three animals were on their legs. Cinq-Mars was on horseback, giving his
+      hand to his adversary, as calm as himself; at the other end of the field,
+      De Thou stood by his opponent, whose horse he had killed, and whom he was
+      helping to rise. As for Gondi and De Launay, neither was to be seen.
+      Cinq-Mars, looking about for them anxiously, perceived the Abbe&rsquo;s
+      horse, which, caracoling and curvetting, was dragging after him the future
+      cardinal, whose foot was caught in the stirrup, and who was swearing as if
+      he had never studied anything but the language of the camp. His nose and
+      hands were stained and bloody with his fall and with his efforts to seize
+      the grass; and he was regarding with considerable dissatisfaction his
+      horse, which in spite of himself he irritated with his spurs, making its
+      way to the trench, filled with water, which surrounded the bastion, when,
+      happily, Cinq-Mars, passing between the edge of the swamp and the animal,
+      seized its bridle and stopped its career.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my dear Abbe, I see that no great harm has come to you, for
+      you speak with decided energy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Corbleu!&rdquo; cried Gondi, wiping the dust out of his eyes,
+      &ldquo;to fire a pistol in the face of that giant I had to lean forward
+      and rise in my stirrups, and thus I lost my balance; but I fancy that he
+      is down, too.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right, sir,&rdquo; said De Thou, coming up; &ldquo;there is
+      his horse swimming in the ditch with its master, whose brains are blown
+      out. We must think now of escaping.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Escaping! That, gentlemen, will be rather difficult,&rdquo; said
+      the adversary of Cinq-Mars, approaching. &ldquo;Hark! there is the
+      cannon-shot, the signal for the attack. I did not expect it would have
+      been given so soon. If we return we shall meet the Swiss and the
+      foot-soldiers, who are marching in this direction.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur de Fontrailles says well,&rdquo; said De Thou; &ldquo;but
+      if we do not return, here are these Spaniards, who are running to arms,
+      and whose balls we shall presently have whistling about our heads.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, let us hold a council,&rdquo; said Gondi; &ldquo;summon
+      Monsieur de Montresor, who is uselessly occupied in searching for the body
+      of poor De Launay. You have not wounded him, Monsieur De Thou?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Monsieur l&rsquo;Abbe; not every one has so good an aim as you,&rdquo;
+      said Montresor, bitterly, limping from his fall. &ldquo;We shall not have
+      time to continue with the sword.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to continuing, I will not consent to it, gentlemen,&rdquo; said
+      Fontrailles; &ldquo;Monsieur de Cinq-Mars has behaved too nobly toward me.
+      My pistol went off too soon, and his was at my very cheek&mdash;I feel the
+      coldness of it now&mdash;but he had the generosity to withdraw it and fire
+      in the air. I shall not forget it; and I am his in life and in death.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must think of other things now,&rdquo; interrupted Cinq-Mars;
+      &ldquo;a ball has just whistled past my ear. The attack has begun on all
+      sides; and we are surrounded by friends and by enemies.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, the cannonading was general; the citadel, the town, and the army
+      were covered with smoke. The bastion before them as yet was unassailed,
+      and its guards seemed less eager to defend it than to observe the fate of
+      the other fortifications.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that the enemy has made a sally,&rdquo; said Montresor,
+      &ldquo;for the smoke has cleared from the plain, and I see masses of
+      cavalry charging under the protection of the battery.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, who had not ceased to observe the
+      walls, &ldquo;there is a very decided part which we could take, an
+      important share in this&mdash;we might enter this ill-guarded bastion.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An excellent idea, Monsieur,&rdquo; said Fontrailles; &ldquo;but we
+      are but five against at least thirty, and are in plain sight and easily
+      counted.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Faith, the idea is not bad,&rdquo; said Gondi; &ldquo;it is better
+      to be shot up there than hanged down here, as we shall be if we are found,
+      for De Launay must be already missed by his company, and all the court
+      knows of our quarrel.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Parbleu! gentlemen,&rdquo; said Montresor, &ldquo;help is coming to
+      us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A numerous troop of horse, in great disorder, advanced toward them at full
+      gallop; their red uniform made them visible from afar. It seemed to be
+      their intention to halt on the very ground on which were our embarrassed
+      duellists, for hardly had the first cavalier reached it when cries of
+      &ldquo;Halt!&rdquo; were repeated and prolonged by the voices of the
+      chiefs who were mingled with their cavaliers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us go to them; these are the men-at-arms of the King&rsquo;s
+      guard,&rdquo; said Fontrailles. &ldquo;I recognize them by their black
+      cockades. I see also many of the light-horse with them; let us mingle in
+      the disorder, for I fancy they are &lsquo;ramenes&rsquo;.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is a polite phrase signifying in military language &ldquo;put to
+      rout.&rdquo; All five advanced toward the noisy and animated troops, and
+      found that this conjecture was right. But instead of the consternation
+      which one might expect in such a case, they found nothing but a youthful
+      and rattling gayety, and heard only bursts of laughter from the two
+      companies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, pardieu! Cahuzac,&rdquo; said one, &ldquo;your horse runs
+      better than mine; I suppose you have exercised it in the King&rsquo;s
+      hunts!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, I see, &lsquo;twas that we might be the sooner rallied that you
+      arrived here first,&rdquo; answered the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think the Marquis de Coislin must be mad, to make four hundred of
+      us charge eight Spanish regiments.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! ha! Locmaria, your plume is a fine ornament; it looks like a
+      weeping willow. If we follow that, it will be to our burial.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen, I said to you before,&rdquo; angrily replied the young
+      officer, &ldquo;that I was sure that Capuchin Joseph, who meddles in
+      everything, was mistaken in telling us to charge, upon the part of the
+      Cardinal. But would you have been satisfied if those who have the honor of
+      commanding you had refused to charge?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no, no!&rdquo; answered all the young men, at the same time
+      forming themselves quickly into ranks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I said,&rdquo; interposed the old Marquis de Coislin, who, despite
+      his white head, had all the fire of youth in his eyes, &ldquo;that if you
+      were commanded to mount to the assault on horseback, you would do it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bravo! bravo!&rdquo; cried all the men-at-arms, clapping their
+      hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Monsieur le Marquis,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, approaching,
+      &ldquo;here is an opportunity to execute what you have promised. I am only
+      a volunteer; but an instant ago these gentlemen and I examined this
+      bastion, and I believe that it is possible to take it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, we must first examine the ditch to see&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment a ball from the rampart of which they were speaking struck
+      in the head the horse of the old captain, laying it low.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Locmaria, De Mouy, take the command, and to the assault!&rdquo;
+      cried the two noble companies, believing their leader dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop a moment, gentlemen,&rdquo; said old Coislin, rising, &ldquo;I
+      will lead you, if you please. Guide us, Monsieur volunteer, for the
+      Spaniards invite us to this ball, and we must reply politely.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hardly had the old man mounted another horse, which one of his men brought
+      him, and drawn his sword, when, without awaiting his order, all these
+      ardent youths, preceded by Cinq-Mars and his friends, whose horses were
+      urged on by the squadrons behind, had thrown themselves into the morass,
+      wherein, to their great astonishment and to that of the Spaniards, who had
+      counted too much upon its depth, the horses were in the water only up to
+      their hams; and in spite of a discharge of grape-shot from the two largest
+      pieces, all reached pell-mell a strip of land at the foot of the
+      half-ruined ramparts. In the ardor of the rush, Cinq-Mars and Fontrailles,
+      with the young Locmaria, forced their horses upon the rampart itself; but
+      a brisk fusillade killed the three animals, which rolled over their
+      masters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dismount all, gentlemen!&rdquo; cried old Coislin; &ldquo;forward
+      with pistol and sword! Abandon your horses!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All obeyed instantly, and threw themselves in a mass upon the breach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meantime, De Thou, whose coolness never quitted him any more than his
+      friendship, had not lost sight of the young Henri, and had received him in
+      his arms when his horse fell. He helped him to rise, restored to him his
+      sword, which he had dropped, and said to him, with the greatest calmness,
+      notwithstanding the balls which rained on all sides:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friend, do I not appear very ridiculous amid all this skirmish,
+      in my costume of Counsellor in Parliament?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Parbleu!&rdquo; said Montresor, advancing, &ldquo;here&rsquo;s the
+      Abbe, who quite justifies you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, in fact, little Gondi, pushing on among the light horsemen, was
+      shouting, at the top of his voice: &ldquo;Three duels and an assault. I
+      hope to get rid of my cassock at last!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saying this, he cut and thrust at a tall Spaniard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The defence was not long. The Castilian soldiers were no match for the
+      French officers, and not one of them had time or courage to recharge his
+      carbine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen, we will relate this to our mistresses in Paris,&rdquo;
+      said Locmaria, throwing his hat into the air; and Cinq-Mars, De Thou,
+      Coislin, De Mouy, Londigny, officers of the red companies, and all the
+      young noblemen, with swords in their right hands and pistols in their
+      left, dashing, pushing, and doing each other by their eagerness as much
+      harm as they did the enemy, finally rushed upon the platform of the
+      bastion, as water poured from a vase, of which the opening is too small,
+      leaps out in interrupted gushes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Disdaining to occupy themselves with the vanquished soldiers, who cast
+      themselves at their feet, they left them to look about the fort, without
+      even disarming them, and began to examine their conquest, like schoolboys
+      in vacation, laughing with all their hearts, as if they were at a
+      pleasure-party.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A Spanish officer, enveloped in his brown cloak, watched them with a
+      sombre air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What demons are these, Ambrosio?&rdquo; said he to a soldier.
+      &ldquo;I never have met with any such before in France. If Louis XIII has
+      an entire army thus composed, it is very good of him not to conquer all
+      Europe.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I do not believe they are very numerous; they must be some poor
+      adventurers, who have nothing to lose and all to gain by pillage.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; said the officer; &ldquo;I will try to
+      persuade one of them to let me escape.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And slowly approaching, he accosted a young light-horseman, of about
+      eighteen, who was sitting apart from his comrades upon the parapet. He had
+      the pink-and-white complexion of a young girl; his delicate hand held an
+      embroidered handkerchief, with which he wiped his forehead and his golden
+      locks He was consulting a large, round watch set with rubies, suspended
+      from his girdle by a knot of ribbons.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The astonished Spaniard paused. Had he not seen this youth overthrow his
+      soldiers, he would not have believed him capable of anything beyond
+      singing a romance, reclined upon a couch. But, filled with the suggestion
+      of Ambrosio, he thought that he might have stolen these objects of luxury
+      in the pillage of the apartments of a woman; so, going abruptly up to him,
+      he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hombre! I am an officer; will you restore me to liberty, that I may
+      once more see my country?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young Frenchman looked at him with the gentle expression of his age,
+      and, thinking of his own family, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, I will present you to the Marquis de Coislin, who will, I
+      doubt not, grant your request; is your family of Castile or of Aragon?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your Coislin will ask the permission of somebody else, and will
+      make me wait a year. I will give you four thousand ducats if you will let
+      me escape.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That gentle face, those girlish features, became infused with the purple
+      of fury; those blue eyes shot forth lightning; and, exclaiming, &ldquo;Money
+      to me! away, fool!&rdquo; the young man gave the Spaniard a ringing box on
+      the ear. The latter, without hesitating, drew a long poniard from his
+      breast, and, seizing the arm of the Frenchman, thought to plunge it easily
+      into his heart; but, nimble and vigorous, the youth caught him by the
+      right arm, and, lifting it with force above his head, sent it back with
+      the weapon it held upon the head of the Spaniard, who was furious with
+      rage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh! eh! Softly, Olivier!&rdquo; cried his comrades, running from
+      all directions; &ldquo;there are Spaniards enough on the ground already.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And they disarmed the hostile officer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall we do with this lunatic?&rdquo; said one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should not like to have him for my valet-dechambre,&rdquo;
+      returned another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He deserves to be hanged,&rdquo; said a third; &ldquo;but, faith,
+      gentlemen, we don&rsquo;t know how to hang. Let us send him to that
+      battalion of Swiss which is now passing across the plain.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And the calm and sombre Spaniard, enveloping himself anew in his cloak,
+      began the march of his own accord, followed by Ambrosio, to join the
+      battalion, pushed by the shoulders and urged on by five or six of these
+      young madcaps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meantime, the first troop of the besiegers, astonished at their success,
+      had followed it out to the end; Cinq-Mars, so advised by the aged Coislin,
+      had made with him the circuit of the bastion, and found to their vexation
+      that it was completely separated from the city, and that they could not
+      follow up their advantage. They, therefore, returned slowly to the
+      platform, talking by the way, to rejoin De Thou and the Abbe de Gondi,
+      whom they found laughing with the young light-horsemen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have Religion and justice with us, gentlemen; we could not fail
+      to triumph.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt, for they fought as hard as we.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was silence at the approach of Cinq-Mars, and they remained for an
+      instant whispering and asking his name; then all surrounded him, and took
+      his hand with delight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen, you are right,&rdquo; said their old captain; &ldquo;he
+      is, as our fathers used to say, the best doer of the day. He is a
+      volunteer, who is to be presented today to the King by the Cardinal.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By the Cardinal! We will present him ourselves. Ah, do not let him
+      be a Cardinalist; he is too good a fellow for that!&rdquo; exclaimed all
+      the young men, with vivacity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, I will undertake to disgust you with him,&rdquo; said
+      Olivier d&rsquo;Entraigues, approaching Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;for I have been
+      his page. Rather serve in the red companies; come, you will have good
+      comrades there.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old Marquis saved Cinq-Mars the embarrassment of replying, by ordering
+      the trumpets to sound and rally his brilliant companies. The cannon was no
+      longer heard, and a soldier announced that the King and the Cardinal were
+      traversing the lines to examine the results of the day. He made all the
+      horses pass through the breach, which was tolerably wide, and ranged the
+      two companies of cavalry in battle array, upon a spot where it seemed
+      impossible that any but infantry could penetrate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X. THE RECOMPENSE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Cardinal Richelieu had said to himself, &ldquo;To soften the first
+      paroxysm of the royal grief, to open a source of emotions which shall turn
+      from its sorrow this wavering soul, let this city be besieged; I consent.
+      Let Louis go; I will allow him to strike a few poor soldiers with the
+      blows which he wishes, but dares not, to inflict upon me. Let his anger
+      drown itself in this obscure blood; I agree. But this caprice of glory
+      shall not derange my fixed designs; this city shall not fall yet. It shall
+      not become French forever until two years have past; it shall come into my
+      nets only on the day upon which I have fixed in my own mind. Thunder,
+      bombs, and cannons; meditate upon your operations, skilful captains;
+      hasten, young warriors. I shall silence your noise, I shall dissipate your
+      projects, and make your efforts abortive; all shall end in vain smoke, for
+      I shall conduct in order to mislead you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This is the substance of what passed in the bald head of the Cardinal
+      before the attack of which we have witnessed a part. He was stationed on
+      horseback, upon one of the mountains of Salces, north of the city; from
+      this point he could see the plain of Roussillon before him, sloping to the
+      Mediterranean. Perpignan, with its ramparts of brick, its bastions, its
+      citadel, and its spire, formed upon this plain an oval and sombre mass on
+      its broad and verdant meadows; the vast mountains surrounded it, and the
+      valley, like an enormous bow curved from north to south, while, stretching
+      its white line in the east, the sea looked like its silver cord. On his
+      right rose that immense mountain called the Canigou, whose sides send
+      forth two rivers into the plain below. The French line extended to the
+      foot of this western barrier. A crowd of generals and of great lords were
+      on horseback behind the minister, but at twenty paces&rsquo; distance and
+      profoundly silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cardinal Richelieu had at first followed slowly the line of operations,
+      but had later returned and stationed himself upon this height, whence his
+      eye and his thought hovered over the destinies of besiegers and besieged.
+      The whole army had its eyes upon him, and could see him from every point.
+      All looked upon him as their immediate chief, and awaited his gesture
+      before they acted. France had bent beneath his yoke a long time; and
+      admiration of him shielded all his actions to which another would have
+      been often subjected. At this moment, for instance, no one thought of
+      smiling, or even of feeling surprised, that the cuirass should clothe the
+      priest; and the severity of his character and aspect suppressed every
+      thought of ironical comparisons or injurious conjectures. This day the
+      Cardinal appeared in a costume entirely martial: he wore a reddish-brown
+      coat, embroidered with gold, a water-colored cuirass, a sword at his side,
+      pistols at his saddle-bow, and he had a plumed hat; but this he seldom put
+      on his head, which was still covered with the red cap. Two pages were
+      behind him; one carried his gauntlets, the other his casque, and the
+      captain of his guards was at his side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the King had recently named him generalissimo of his troops, it was to
+      him that the generals sent for their orders; but he, knowing only too well
+      the secret motives of his master&rsquo;s present anger, affected to refer
+      to that Prince all who sought a decision from his own mouth. It happened
+      as he had foreseen; for he regulated and calculated the movements of that
+      heart as those of a watch, and could have told with precision through what
+      sensations it had passed. Louis XIII came and placed himself at his side;
+      but he came as a pupil, forced to acknowledge that his master is in the
+      right. His air was haughty and dissatisfied, his language brusque and dry.
+      The Cardinal remained impassible. It was remarked that the King, in
+      consulting him, employed the words of command, thus reconciling his
+      weakness and his power of place, his irresolution and his pride, his
+      ignorance and his pretensions, while his minister dictated laws to him in
+      a tone of the most profound obedience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will have them attack immediately, Cardinal,&rdquo; said the
+      Prince on coming up; &ldquo;that is to say,&rdquo; he added, with a
+      careless air, &ldquo;when all your preparations are made, and you have
+      fixed upon the hour with our generals.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sire, if I might venture to express my judgment, I should be glad
+      did your Majesty think proper to begin the attack in a quarter of an hour,
+      for that will give time enough to advance the third line.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes; you are right, Monsieur le Cardinal! I think so, too. I
+      will go and give my orders myself; I wish to do everything myself.
+      Schomberg, Schomberg! in a quarter of an hour I wish to hear the
+      signal-gun; I command it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And Schomberg, taking the command of the right wing, gave the order, and
+      the signal was made.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The batteries, arranged long since by the Marechal de la Meilleraie, began
+      to batter a breach, but slowly, because the artillerymen felt that they
+      had been directed to attack two impregnable points; and because, with
+      their experience, and above all with the common sense and quick perception
+      of French soldiers, any one of them could at once have indicated the point
+      against which the attack should have been directed. The King was surprised
+      at the slowness of the firing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;La Meilleraie,&rdquo; said he, impatiently, &ldquo;these batteries
+      do not play well; your cannoneers are asleep.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The principal artillery officers were present as well as the Marechal; but
+      no one answered a syllable. They had looked toward the Cardinal, who
+      remained as immovable as an equestrian statue, and they imitated his
+      example. The answer must have been that the fault was not with the
+      soldiers, but with him who had ordered this false disposition of the
+      batteries; and this was Richelieu himself, who, pretending to believe them
+      more useful in that position, had stopped the remarks of the chiefs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King, astonished at this silence, and, fearing that he had committed
+      some gross military blunder by his question, blushed slightly, and,
+      approaching the group of princes who had accompanied him, said, in order
+      to reassure himself:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;D&rsquo;Angouleme, Beaufort, this is very tiresome, is it not? We
+      stand here like mummies.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Charles de Valois drew near and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me, Sire, that they are not employing here the machines
+      of the engineer Pompee-Targon.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Parbleu!&rdquo; said the Duc de Beaufort, regarding Richelieu
+      fixedly, &ldquo;that is because we were more eager to take Rochelle than
+      Perpignan at the time that Italian came. Here we have not an engine ready,
+      not a mine, not a petard beneath these walls; and the Marechal de la
+      Meilleraie told me this morning that he had proposed to bring some with
+      which to open the breach. It was neither the Castillet, nor the six great
+      bastions which surround it, nor the half-moon, we should have attacked. If
+      we go on in this way, the great stone arm of the citadel will show us its
+      fist a long time yet.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal, still motionless, said not a single word; he only made a
+      sign to Fabert, who left the group in attendance, and ranged his horse
+      behind that of Richelieu, close to the captain of his guards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duc de la Rochefoucauld, drawing near the King, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe, Sire, that our inactivity makes the enemy insolent, for
+      look! here is a numerous sally, directing itself straight toward your
+      Majesty; and the regiments of Biron and De Ponts fall back after firing.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well!&rdquo; said the King, drawing his sword, &ldquo;let us charge
+      and force those villains back again. Bring on the cavalry with me, D&rsquo;Angouleme.
+      Where is it, Cardinal?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Behind that hill, Sire, there are in column six regiments of
+      dragoons, and the carabineers of La Roque; below you are my men-at-arms
+      and my light horse, whom I pray your Majesty to employ, for those of your
+      Majesty&rsquo;s guard are ill guided by the Marquis de Coislin, who is
+      ever too zealous. Joseph, go tell him to return.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He whispered to the Capuchin, who had accompanied him, huddled up in
+      military attire, which he wore awkwardly, and who immediately advanced
+      into the plain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the mean time, the compact columns of the old Spanish infantry issued
+      from the gate of Notre-Dame like a dark and moving forest, while from
+      another gate proceeded the heavy cavalry, which drew up on the plain. The
+      French army, in battle array at the foot of the hill where the King stood,
+      behind fortifications of earth, behind redoubts and fascines of turf,
+      perceived with alarm the men-at-arms and the light horse pressed between
+      these two forces, ten times their superior in numbers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sound the charge!&rdquo; cried Louis XIII; &ldquo;or my old Coislin
+      is lost.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he descended the hill, with all his suite as ardent as himself; but
+      before he reached the plain and was at the head of his musketeers, the two
+      companies had taken their course, dashing off with the rapidity of
+      lightning, and to the cry of &ldquo;Vive le Roi!&rdquo; They fell upon the
+      long column of the enemy&rsquo;s cavalry like two vultures upon a serpent;
+      and, making a large and bloody gap, they passed beyond, and rallied behind
+      the Spanish bastion, leaving the enemy&rsquo;s cavalry so astonished that
+      they thought only of re-forming their own ranks, and not of pursuing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The French army uttered a burst of applause; the King paused in amazement.
+      He looked around him, and saw a burning desire for attack in all eyes; the
+      valor of his race shone in his own. He paused yet another instant in
+      suspense, listening, intoxicated, to the roar of the cannon, inhaling the
+      odor of the powder; he seemed to receive another life, and to become once
+      more a Bourbon. All-who looked on him felt as if they were commanded by
+      another man, when, raising his sword and his eyes toward the sun, he
+      cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Follow me, brave friends! here I am King of France!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His cavalry, deploying, dashed off with an ardor which devoured space,
+      and, raising billows of dust from the ground, which trembled beneath them,
+      they were in an instant mingled with the Spanish cavalry, and both were
+      swallowed up in an immense and fluctuating cloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now! now!&rdquo; cried the Cardinal, in a voice of thunder, from
+      his elevation, &ldquo;now remove the guns from their useless position!
+      Fabert, give your orders; let them be all directed upon the infantry which
+      slowly approaches to surround the King. Haste! save the King!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately the Cardinal&rsquo;s suite, until then sitting erect as so
+      many statues, were in motion. The generals gave their orders; the
+      aides-de-camp galloped off into the plain, where, leaping over the
+      ditches, barriers, and palisades, they arrived at their destination as
+      soon as the thought that directed them and the glance that followed them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the few and interrupted flashes which had shone from the
+      discouraged batteries became a continual and immense flame, leaving no
+      room for the smoke, which rose to the sky in an infinite number of light
+      and floating wreaths; the volleys of cannon, which had seemed like far and
+      feeble echoes, changed into a formidable thunder whose roll was as rapid
+      as that of drums beating the charge; while from three opposite points
+      large red flashes from fiery mouths fell upon the dark columns which
+      issued from the besieged city.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meantime, without changing his position, but with ardent eyes and
+      imperative gestures, Richelieu ceased not to multiply his orders, casting
+      upon those who received them a look which implied a sentence of death if
+      he was not instantly obeyed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The King has overthrown the cavalry; but the foot still resist. Our
+      batteries have only killed, they have not conquered. Forward with three
+      regiments of infantry instantly, Gassion, La Meilleraie, and Lesdiguieres!
+      Take the enemy&rsquo;s columns in flank. Order the rest of the army to
+      cease from the attack, and to remain motionless throughout the whole line.
+      Bring paper! I will write myself to Schomberg.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A page alighted and advanced, holding a pencil and paper. The minister,
+      supported by four men of his suite, also alighted, but with difficulty,
+      uttering a cry, wrested from him by pain; but he conquered it by an
+      effort, and seated himself upon the carriage of a cannon. The page
+      presented his shoulder as a desk; and the Cardinal hastily penned that
+      order which contemporary manuscripts have transmitted to us, and which
+      might well be imitated by the diplomatists of our day, who are, it seems,
+      more desirous to maintain themselves in perfect balance between two ideas
+      than to seek those combinations which decide the destinies of the world,
+      regarding the clear and obvious dictates of true genius as beneath their
+      profound subtlety.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;M. le Marechal, do not risk anything, and reflect before you
+   attack. When you are thus told that the King desires you not to
+   risk anything, you are not to understand that his Majesty forbids
+   you to fight at all; but his intention is that you do not engage in
+   a general battle unless it be with a notable hope of gain from the
+   advantage which a favorable situation may present, the
+   responsibility of the battle naturally falling upon you.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      These orders given, the old minister, still seated upon the gun-carriage,
+      his arms resting upon the touch-hole, and his chin upon his arms, in the
+      attitude of one who adjusts and points a cannon, continued in silence to
+      watch the battle, like an old wolf, which, sated with victims and torpid
+      with age, contemplates in the plain the ravages of a lion among a herd of
+      cattle, which he himself dares not attack. From time to time his eye
+      brightens; the smell of blood rejoices him, and he laps his burning tongue
+      over his toothless jaw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On that day, it was remarked by his servants&mdash;or, in other words, by
+      all surrounding him&mdash;that from the time of his rising until night he
+      took no nourishment, and so fixed all the application of his soul on the
+      events which he had to conduct that he triumphed over his physical pains,
+      seeming, by forgetting, to have destroyed them. It was this power of
+      attention, this continual presence of mind, that raised him almost to
+      genius. He would have attained it quite, had he not lacked native
+      elevation of soul and generous sensibility of heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everything happened upon the field of battle as he had wished, fortune
+      attending him there as well as in the cabinet. Louis XIII claimed with
+      eager hand the victory which his minister had procured for him; he had
+      contributed himself, however, only that grandeur which consists in
+      personal valor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cannon had ceased to roar when the broken columns of infantry fell
+      back into Perpignan; the remainder had met the same fate, was already
+      within the walls, and on the plain no living man was to be seen, save the
+      glittering squadrons of the King, who followed him, forming ranks as they
+      went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned at a slow walk, and contemplated with satisfaction the
+      battlefield swept clear of enemies; he passed haughtily under the very
+      fire of the Spanish guns, which, whether from lack of skill, or by a
+      secret agreement with the Prime Minister, or from very shame to kill a
+      king of France, only sent after him a few balls, which, passing two feet
+      above his head, fell in front of the lines, and merely served to increase
+      the royal reputation for courage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At every step, however, that he took toward the spot where Richelieu
+      awaited him, the King&rsquo;s countenance changed and visibly fell; he
+      lost all the flush of combat; the noble sweat of triumph dried upon his
+      brow. As he approached, his usual pallor returned to his face, as if
+      having the right to sit alone on a royal head; his look lost its fleeting
+      fire, and at last, when he joined the Cardinal, a profound melancholy
+      entirely possessed him. He found the minister as he had left him, on
+      horseback; the latter, still coldly respectful, bowed, and after a few
+      words of compliment, placed himself near Louis to traverse the lines and
+      examine the results of the day, while the princes and great lords, riding
+      at some distance before and behind, formed a crowd around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wily minister was careful not to say a word or to make a gesture that
+      could suggest the idea that he had had the slightest share in the events
+      of the day; and it was remarkable that of all those who came to hand in
+      their reports, there was not one who did not seem to divine his thoughts,
+      and exercise care not to compromise his occult power by open obedience.
+      All reports were made to the King. The Cardinal then traversed, by the
+      side of the Prince, the right of the camp, which had not been under his
+      view from the height where he had remained; and he saw with satisfaction
+      that Schomberg, who knew him well, had acted precisely as his master had
+      directed, bringing into action only a few of the light troops, and
+      fighting just enough not to incur reproach for inaction, and not enough to
+      obtain any distinct result. This line of conduct charmed the minister, and
+      did not displease the King, whose vanity cherished the idea of having been
+      the sole conqueror that day. He even wished to persuade himself, and to
+      have it supposed, that all the efforts of Schomberg had been fruitless,
+      saying to him that he was not angry with him, that he had himself just had
+      proof that the enemy before him was less despicable than had been
+      supposed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To show you that you have lost nothing in our estimation,&rdquo; he
+      added, &ldquo;we name you a knight of our order, and we give you public
+      and private access to our person.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal affectionately pressed his hand as he passed him, and the
+      Marechal, astonished at this deluge of favors, followed the Prince with
+      his bent head, like a culprit, recalling, to console himself, all the
+      brilliant actions of his career which had remained unnoticed, and mentally
+      attributing to them these unmerited rewards to reconcile them to his
+      conscience.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King was about to retrace his steps, when the Due de Beaufort, with an
+      astonished air, exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Sire, have I still the powder in my eyes, or have I been
+      sun-struck? It appears to me that I see upon yonder bastion several
+      cavaliers in red uniforms who greatly resemble your light horse whom we
+      thought to be killed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal knitted his brows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impossible, Monsieur,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;the imprudence of
+      Monsieur de Coislin has destroyed his Majesty&rsquo;s men-at-arms and
+      those cavaliers. It is for that reason I ventured just now to say to the
+      King that if the useless corps were suppressed, it might be very
+      advantageous from a military point of view.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardieu! your Eminence will pardon me,&rdquo; answered the Duc de
+      Beaufort; &ldquo;but I do not deceive myself, and there are seven or eight
+      of them driving prisoners before them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well! let us go to the point,&rdquo; said the King; &ldquo;if I
+      find my old Coislin there I shall be very glad.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With great caution, the horses of the King and his suite passed across the
+      marsh, and with infinite astonishment their riders saw on the ramparts the
+      two red companies in battle array as on parade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Vive Dieu!&rdquo; cried Louis; &ldquo;I think that not one of them
+      is missing! Well, Marquis, you keep your word&mdash;you take walls on
+      horseback.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In my opinion, this point was ill chosen,&rdquo; said Richelieu,
+      with disdain; &ldquo;it in no way advances the taking of Perpignan, and
+      must have cost many lives.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Faith, you are right,&rdquo; said the King, for the first time
+      since the intelligence of the Queen&rsquo;s death addressing the Cardinal
+      without dryness; &ldquo;I regret the blood which must have been spilled
+      here.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only two of own young men have been wounded in the attack, Sire,&rdquo;
+      said old Coislin; &ldquo;and we have gained new companions-in-arms, in the
+      volunteers who guided us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who are they?&rdquo; said the Prince.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Three of them have modestly retired, Sire; but the youngest, whom
+      you see, was the first who proposed the assault, and the first to venture
+      his person in making it. The two companies claim the honor of presenting
+      him to your Majesty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars, who was on horseback behind the old captain, took off his hat
+      and showed his pale face, his large, dark eyes, and his long, chestnut
+      hair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those features remind me of some one,&rdquo; said the King; &ldquo;what
+      say you, Cardinal?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter, who had already cast a penetrating glance at the newcomer,
+      replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Unless I am mistaken, this young man is&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henri d&rsquo;Effiat,&rdquo; said the volunteer, bowing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sire, it is the same whom I had announced to your Majesty, and who
+      was to have been presented to you by me; the second son of the Marechal.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Louis, warmly, &ldquo;I am glad to see the son of
+      my old friend presented by this bastion. It is a suitable introduction, my
+      boy, for one bearing your name. You will follow us to the camp, where we
+      have much to say to you. But what! you here, Monsieur de Thou? Whom have
+      you come to judge?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sire,&rdquo; answered Coislin, &ldquo;he has condemned to death,
+      without judging, sundry Spaniards, for he was the second to enter the
+      place.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I struck no one, Monsieur,&rdquo; interrupted De Thou reddening;
+      &ldquo;it is not my business. Herein I have no merit; I merely accompanied
+      my friend, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We approve your modesty as well as your bravery, and we shall not
+      forget this. Cardinal, is there not some presidency vacant?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richelieu did not like De Thou. And as the sources of his dislike were
+      always mysterious, it was difficult to guess the cause of this animosity;
+      it revealed itself in a cruel word that escaped him. The motive was a
+      passage in the history of the President De Thou&mdash;the father of the
+      young man now in question&mdash;wherein he stigmatized, in the eyes of
+      posterity, a granduncle of the Cardinal, an apostate monk, sullied with
+      every human vice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richelieu, bending to Joseph&rsquo;s ear, whispered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see that man; his father put my name into his history. Well, I
+      will put his into mine.&rdquo; And, truly enough, he subsequently wrote it
+      in blood. At this moment, to avoid answering the King, he feigned not to
+      have heard his question, and to be wholly intent upon the merit of
+      Cinq-Mars and the desire to see him well placed at court.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I promised you beforehand to make him a captain in my guards,&rdquo;
+      said the Prince; &ldquo;let him be nominated to-morrow. I would know more
+      of him, and raise him to a higher fortune, if he pleases me. Let us now
+      retire; the sun has set, and we are far from our army. Tell my two good
+      companies to follow us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The minister, after repeating the order, omitting the implied praise,
+      placed himself on the King&rsquo;s right hand, and the whole court quitted
+      the bastion, now confided to the care of the Swiss, and returned to the
+      camp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two red companies defiled slowly through the breach which they had
+      effected with such promptitude; their countenances were grave and silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars went up to his friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These are heroes but ill recompensed,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;not a
+      favor, not a compliment.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I, on the other hand,&rdquo; said the simple De Thou &ldquo;I, who
+      came here against my will&mdash;receive one. Such are courts, such is
+      life; but above us is the true judge, whom men can not blind.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This will not prevent us from meeting death tomorrow, if necessary,&rdquo;
+      said the young Olivier, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI. THE BLUNDERS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In order to appear before the King, Cinq-Mars had been compelled to mount
+      the charger of one of the light horse, wounded in the affair, having lost
+      his own at the foot of the rampart. As the two companies were marching
+      out, he felt some one touch his shoulder, and, turning round, saw old
+      Grandchamp leading a very beautiful gray horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will Monsieur le Marquis mount a horse of his own?&rdquo; said he.
+      &ldquo;I have put on the saddle and housings of velvet embroidered in gold
+      that remained in the trench. Alas, when I think that a Spaniard might have
+      taken it, or even a Frenchman! For just now there are so many people who
+      take all they find, as if it were their own; and then, as the proverb
+      says, &lsquo;What falls in the ditch is for the soldier.&rsquo; They might
+      also have taken the four hundred gold crowns that Monsieur le Marquis, be
+      it said without reproach, forgot to take out of the holsters. And the
+      pistols! Oh, what pistols! I bought them in Germany; and here they are as
+      good as ever, and with their locks perfect. It was quite enough to kill
+      the poor little black horse, that was born in England as sure as I was at
+      Tours in Touraine, without also exposing these valuables to pass into the
+      hands of the enemy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While making this lamentation, the worthy man finished saddling the gray
+      horse. The column was long enough filing out to give him time to pay
+      scrupulous attention to the length of the stirrups and of the bands, all
+      the while continuing his harangue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your pardon, Monsieur, for being somewhat slow about this;
+      but I sprained my arm slightly in lifting Monsieur de Thou, who himself
+      raised Monsieur le Marquis during the grand scuffle.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How camest thou there at all, stupid?&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars.
+      &ldquo;That is not thy business. I told thee to remain in the camp.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, as to remaining in the camp, that is out of the question. I can&rsquo;t
+      stay there; when I hear a musket-shot, I should be ill did I not see the
+      flash. As for my business, that is to take care of your horses, and you
+      are on them. Monsieur, think you I should not have saved, had I been able,
+      the life of the poor black horse down there in the trench? Ah, how I loved
+      him!&mdash;a horse that gained three races in his time&mdash;a time too
+      short for those who loved him as I loved him! He never would take his corn
+      but from his dear Grandchamp; and then he would caress me with his head.
+      The end of my left ear that he carried away one day&mdash;poor fellow!&mdash;proves
+      it, for it was not out of ill-will he bit it off; quite the contrary. You
+      should have heard how he neighed with rage when any one else came near
+      him; that was the reason why he broke Jean&rsquo;s leg. Good creature, I
+      loved him so!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When he fell I held him on one side with one hand and M. de
+      Locmaria with the other. I thought at first that both he and that
+      gentleman would recover; but unhappily only one of them returned to life,
+      and that was he whom I least knew. You seem to be laughing at what I say
+      about your horse, Monsieur; you forget that in times of war the horse is
+      the soul of the cavalier. Yes, Monsieur, his soul; for what is it that
+      intimidates the infantry? It is the horse! It certainly is not the man,
+      who, once seated, is little more than a bundle of hay. Who is it that
+      performs the fine deeds that men admire? The horse. There are times when
+      his master, who a moment before would rather have been far away, finds
+      himself victorious and rewarded for his horse&rsquo;s valor, while the
+      poor beast gets nothing but blows. Who is it gains the prize in the race?
+      The horse, that sups hardly better than usual, while the master pockets
+      the gold, and is envied by his friends and admired by all the lords as if
+      he had run himself. Who is it that hunts the roebuck, yet puts but a
+      morsel in his own mouth? Again, the horse; sometimes the horse is even
+      eaten himself, poor animal! I remember in a campaign with Monsieur le
+      Marechal, it happened that&mdash;But what is the matter, Monsieur, you
+      grow pale?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bind up my leg with something&mdash;a handkerchief, a strap, or
+      what you will. I feel a burning pain there; I know not what.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your boot is cut, Monsieur. It may be some ball; however, lead is
+      the friend of man.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is no friend of mine, at all events.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, who loves, chastens! Lead must not be ill spoken of! What is
+      that&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While occupied in binding his master&rsquo;s leg below the knee, the
+      worthy Grandchamp was about to hold forth in praise of lead as absurdly as
+      he had in praise of the horse, when he was forced, as well as Cinq-Mars,
+      to hear a warm and clamorous dispute among some Swiss soldiers who had
+      remained behind the other troops. They were talking with much
+      gesticulation, and seemed busied with two men among a group of about
+      thirty soldiers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      D&rsquo;Effiat, still holding out his leg to his servant, and leaning on
+      the saddle of his horse, tried, by listening attentively, to understand
+      the subject of the colloquy; but he knew nothing of German, and could not
+      comprehend the dispute. Grandchamp, who, still holding the boot, had also
+      been listening very seriously, suddenly burst into loud laughter, holding
+      his sides in a manner not usual with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha, ha, ha! Monsieur, here are two sergeants disputing which they
+      ought to hang of the two Spaniards there; for your red comrades did not
+      take the trouble to tell them. One of the Swiss says that it&rsquo;s the
+      officer, the other that it&rsquo;s the soldier; a third has just made a
+      proposition for meeting the difficulty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what does he say?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He suggests that they hang them both.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop! stop!&rdquo; cried Cinq-Mars to the soldiers, attempting to
+      walk; but his leg would not support him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Put me on my horse, Grandchamp.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, you forget your wound.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do as I command, and then mount thyself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old servant grumblingly obeyed, and then galloped off, in fulfilment
+      of another imperative order, to stop the Swiss, who were just about to
+      hang their two prisoners to a tree, or to let them hang themselves; for
+      the officer, with the sang-froid of his nation, had himself passed the
+      running noose of a rope around his own neck, and, without being told, had
+      ascended a small ladder placed against the tree, in order to tie the other
+      end of the rope to one of its branches. The soldier, with the same calm
+      indifference, was looking on at the Swiss disputing around him, while
+      holding the ladder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars arrived in time to save them, gave his name to the Swiss
+      sergeant, and, employing Grandchamp as interpreter, said that the two
+      prisoners were his, and that he would take them to his tent; that he was a
+      captain in the guards, and would be responsible for them. The German, ever
+      exact in discipline, made no reply; the only resistance was on the part of
+      the prisoner. The officer, still on the top of the ladder, turned round,
+      and speaking thence as from a pulpit, said, with a sardonic laugh:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should much like to know what you do here? Who told you I wished
+      to live?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not ask to know anything about that,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars;
+      &ldquo;it matters not to me what becomes of you afterward. All I propose
+      now is to prevent an act which seems to me unjust and cruel. You may kill
+      yourself afterward, if you like.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well said,&rdquo; returned the ferocious Spaniard; &ldquo;you
+      please me. I thought at first you meant to affect the generous in order to
+      oblige me to be grateful, which is a thing I detest. Well, I consent to
+      come down; but I shall hate you as much as ever, for you are a Frenchman.
+      Nor do I thank you, for you only discharge a debt you owe me, since it was
+      I who this morning kept you from being shot by this young soldier while he
+      was taking aim at you; and he is a man who never missed a chamois in the
+      mountains of Leon.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be it as you will,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;come down.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was his character ever to assume with others the mien they wore toward
+      him; and the rudeness of the Spaniard made him as hard as iron toward him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A proud rascal that, Monsieur,&rdquo; said Grandchamp; &ldquo;in
+      your place Monsieur le Marechal would certainly have left him on his
+      ladder. Come, Louis, Etienne, Germain, escort Monsieur&rsquo;s prisoners&mdash;a
+      fine acquisition, truly! If they bring you any luck, I shall be very much
+      surprised.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars, suffering from the motion of his horse, rode only at the pace
+      of his prisoners on foot, and was accordingly at a distance behind the red
+      companies, who followed close upon the King. He meditated on his way what
+      it could be that the Prince desired to say to him. A ray of hope presented
+      to his mind the figure of Marie de Mantua in the distance; and for a
+      moment his thoughts were calmed. But all his future lay in that brief
+      sentence&mdash;&ldquo;to please the King&rdquo;; and he began to reflect
+      upon all the bitterness in which his task might involve him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment he saw approaching his friend, De Thou, who, anxious at his
+      remaining behind, had sought him in the plain, eager to aid him if
+      necessary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is late, my friend; night approaches. You have delayed long; I
+      feared for you. Whom have you here? What has detained you? The King will
+      soon be asking for you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Such were the rapid inquiries of the young counsellor, whose anxiety, more
+      than the battle itself, had made him lose his accustomed serenity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was slightly wounded; I bring a prisoner, and I was thinking of
+      the King. What can he want me for, my friend? What must I do if he
+      proposes to place me about his person? I must please him; and at this
+      thought&mdash;shall I own it?&mdash;I am tempted to fly. But I trust that
+      I shall not have that fatal honor. &lsquo;To please,&rsquo; how
+      humiliating the word! &lsquo;to obey&rsquo; quite the opposite! A soldier
+      runs the chance of death, and there&rsquo;s an end. But in what base
+      compliances, what sacrifices of himself, what compositions with his
+      conscience, what degradation of his own thought, may not a courtier be
+      involved! Ah, De Thou, my dear De Thou! I am not made for the court; I
+      feel it, though I have seen it but for a moment. There is in my
+      temperament a certain savageness, which education has polished only on the
+      surface. At a distance, I thought myself adapted to live in this
+      all-powerful world; I even desired it, led by a cherished hope of my
+      heart. But I shuddered at the first step; I shuddered at the mere sight of
+      the Cardinal. The recollection of the last of his crimes, at which I was
+      present, kept me from addressing him. He horrifies me; I never can endure
+      to be near him. The King&rsquo;s favor, too, has that about it which
+      dismays me, as if I knew it would be fatal to me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad to perceive this apprehension in you; it may be most
+      salutary,&rdquo; said De Thou, as they rode on. &ldquo;You are about to
+      enter into contact with power. Before, you did not even conceive it; now
+      you will touch it with your very hand. You will see what it is, and what
+      hand hurls the lightning. Heaven grant that that lightning may never
+      strike you! You will probably be present in those councils which regulate
+      the destiny of nations; you will see, you will perchance originate, those
+      caprices whence are born sanguinary wars, conquests, and treaties; you
+      will hold in your hand the drop of water which swells into mighty
+      torrents. It is only from high places that men can judge of human affairs;
+      you must look from the mountaintop ere you can appreciate the littleness
+      of those things which from below appear to us great.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, were I on those heights, I should at least learn the lesson you
+      speak of; but this Cardinal, this man to whom I must be under obligation,
+      this man whom I know too well by his works&mdash;what will he be to me?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A friend, a protector, no doubt,&rdquo; answered De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Death were a thousand times preferable to his friendship! I hate
+      his whole being, even his very name; he spills the blood of men with the
+      cross of the Redeemer!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What horrors are you saying, my friend? You will ruin yourself if
+      you reveal your sentiments respecting the Cardinal to the King.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind; in the midst of these tortuous ways, I desire to take a
+      new one, the right line. My whole opinion, the opinion of a just man,
+      shall be unveiled to the King himself, if he interrogate me, even should
+      it cost me my head. I have at last seen this King, who has been described
+      to me as so weak; I have seen him, and his aspect has touched me to the
+      heart in spite of myself. Certainly, he is very unfortunate, but he can
+      not be cruel; he will listen to the truth.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; but he will not dare to make it triumph,&rdquo; answered the
+      sage De Thou. &ldquo;Beware of this warmth of heart, which often draws you
+      by sudden and dangerous movements. Do not attack a colossus like Richelieu
+      without having measured him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is just like my tutor, the Abbe Quillet. My dear and prudent
+      friend, neither the one nor the other of you know me; you do not know how
+      weary I am of myself, and whither I have cast my gaze. I must mount or
+      die.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! already ambitious?&rdquo; exclaimed De Thou, with extreme
+      surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His friend inclined his head upon his hands, abandoning the reins of his
+      horse, and did not answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! has this selfish passion of a riper age obtained possession
+      of you at twenty, Henri? Ambition is the saddest of all hopes.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet it possesses me entirely at present, for I see only by
+      means of it, and by it my whole heart is penetrated.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Cinq-Mars, I no longer recognize you! how different you were
+      formerly! I do not conceal from you that you appear to me to have
+      degenerated. In those walks of our childhood, when the life, and, above
+      all, the death of Socrates, caused tears of admiration and envy to flow
+      from our eyes; when, raising ourselves to the ideal of the highest virtue,
+      we wished that those illustrious sorrows, those sublime misfortunes, which
+      create great men, might in the future come upon us; when we constructed
+      for ourselves imaginary occasions of sacrifices and devotion&mdash;if the
+      voice of a man had pronounced, between us two, the single world, &lsquo;ambition,&rsquo;
+      we should have believed that we were touching a serpent.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou spoke with the heat of enthusiasm and of reproach. Cinq-Mars went
+      on without answering, and still with his face in his hands. After an
+      instant of silence he removed them, and allowed his eyes to be seen, full
+      of generous tears. He pressed the hand of his friend warmly, and said to
+      him, with a penetrating accent:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur de Thou, you have recalled to me the most beautiful
+      thoughts of my earliest youth. Do not believe that I have fallen; I am
+      consumed by a secret hope which I can not confide even to you. I despise,
+      as much as you, the ambition which will seem to possess me. All the world
+      will believe in it; but what do I care for the world? As for you, noble
+      friend, promise me that you will not cease to esteem me, whatever you may
+      see me do. I swear that my thoughts are as pure as heaven itself!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said De Thou, &ldquo;I swear by heaven that I believe
+      you blindly; you give me back my life!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They shook hands again with effusion of heart, and then perceived that
+      they had arrived almost before the tent of the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Day was nearly over; but one might have believed that a softer day was
+      rising, for the moon issued from the sea in all her splendor. The
+      transparent sky of the south showed not a single cloud, and it seemed like
+      a veil of pale blue sown with silver spangles; the air, still hot, was
+      agitated only by the rare passage of breezes from the Mediterranean; and
+      all sounds had ceased upon the earth. The fatigued army reposed beneath
+      their tents, the line of which was marked by the fires, and the besieged
+      city seemed oppressed by the same slumber; upon its ramparts nothing was
+      to be seen but the arms of the sentinels, which shone in the rays of the
+      moon, or the wandering fire of the night-rounds. Nothing was to be heard
+      but the gloomy and prolonged cries of its guards, who warned one another
+      not to sleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was only around the King that all things waked, but at a great distance
+      from him. This Prince had dismissed all his suite; he walked alone before
+      his tent, and, pausing sometimes to contemplate the beauty of the heavens,
+      he appeared plunged in melancholy meditation. No one dared to interrupt
+      him; and those of the nobility who had remained in the royal quarters had
+      gathered about the Cardinal, who, at twenty paces from the King, was
+      seated upon a little hillock of turf, fashioned into a seat by the
+      soldiers. There he wiped his pale forehead, fatigued with the cares of the
+      day and with the unaccustomed weight of a suit of armor; he bade adieu, in
+      a few hurried but always attentive and polite words, to those who came to
+      salute him as they retired. No one was near him now except Joseph, who was
+      talking with Laubardemont. The Cardinal was looking at the King, to see
+      whether, before reentering, this Prince would not speak to him, when the
+      sound of the horses of Cinq-Mars was heard. The Cardinal&rsquo;s guards
+      questioned him, and allowed him to advance without followers, and only
+      with De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are come too late, young man, to speak with the King,&rdquo;
+      said the Cardinal-Duke with a sharp voice. &ldquo;One can not make his
+      Majesty wait.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two friends were about to retire, when the voice of Louis XIII himself
+      made itself heard. This Prince was at that moment in one of those false
+      positions which constituted the misfortune of his whole life. Profoundly
+      irritated against his minister, but not concealing from himself that he
+      owed the success of the day to him, desiring, moreover, to announce to him
+      his intention to quit the army and to raise the siege of Perpignan, he was
+      torn between the desire of speaking to the Cardinal and the fear lest his
+      anger might be weakened. The minister, upon his part, dared not be the
+      first to speak, being uncertain as to the thoughts which occupied his
+      master, and fearing to choose his time ill, but yet not able to decide
+      upon retiring. Both found themselves precisely in the position of two
+      lovers who have quarrelled and desire to have an explanation, when the
+      King, seized with joy the first opportunity of extricating himself. The
+      chance was fatal to the minister. See upon what trifles depend those
+      destinies which are called great.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it not Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?&rdquo; said the King, in a loud
+      voice. &ldquo;Let him approach; I am waiting for him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Young D&rsquo;Effiat approached on horseback, and at some paces from the
+      King desired to set foot to earth; but hardly had his leg touched the
+      ground when he dropped upon his knees.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon, Sire!&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I believe that I am wounded;&rdquo;
+      and the blood issued violently from his boot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou had seen him fall, and had approached to sustain him. Richelieu
+      seized this opportunity of advancing also, with dissembled eagerness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remove this spectacle from the eyes of the King,&rdquo; said he.
+      &ldquo;You see very well that this young man is dying.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at all,&rdquo; said Louis, himself supporting him; &ldquo;a
+      king of France knows how to see a man die, and has no fear of the blood
+      which flows for him. This young man interests me. Let him be carried into
+      my tent, and let my doctors attend him. If his wound is not serious, he
+      shall come with me to Paris, for the siege is suspended, Monsieur le
+      Cardinal. Such is my desire; other affairs call me to the centre of the
+      kingdom. I will leave you here to command in my absence. This is what I
+      desired to say to you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With these words the King went abruptly into his tent, preceded by his
+      pages and his officers, carrying flambeaux.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The royal pavilion was closed, and Cinq-Mars was borne in by De Thou and
+      his people, while the Duc de Richelieu, motionless and stupefied, still
+      regarded the spot where this scene had passed. He appeared thunder-struck,
+      and incapable of seeing or hearing those who observed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laubardemont, still intimidated by his ill reception of the preceding day,
+      dared not speak a word to him, and Joseph hardly recognized in him his
+      former master. For an instant he regretted having given himself to him,
+      and fancied that his star was waning; but, reflecting that he was hated by
+      all men and had no resource save in Richelieu, he seized him by the arm,
+      and, shaking him roughly, said to him in a low voice, but harshly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, come, Monseigneur, you are chickenhearted; come with us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, appearing to sustain him by the elbow, but in fact drawing him in
+      spite of himself, with the aid of Laubardemont, he made him enter his
+      tent, as a schoolmaster forces a schoolboy to rest, fearing the effects of
+      the evening mist upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The prematurely aged man slowly obeyed the wishes of his two parasites,
+      and the purple of the pavilion dropped upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII. THE NIGHT-WATCH
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
+        The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight,
+        Cold, fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
+        What do I fear? Myself?
+        I love myself!
+             SHAKESPEARE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Hardly was the Cardinal in his tent before he dropped, armed and
+      cuirassed, into a great armchair; and there, holding his handkerchief to
+      his mouth with a fixed gaze, he remained in this attitude, letting his two
+      dark confidants wonder whether contemplation or annihilation maintained
+      him in it. He was deadly pale, and a cold sweat streamed upon his brow. In
+      wiping it with a sudden movement, he threw behind him his red cap, the
+      only ecclesiastical sign which remained upon him, and again rested with
+      his mouth upon his hands. The Capuchin on one side, and the sombre
+      magistrate on the other, considered him in silence, and seemed, with their
+      brown and black costumes like the priest and the notary of a dying man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The friar, drawing from the depth of his chest a voice that seemed better
+      suited to repeat the service of the dead than to administer consolation,
+      spoke first:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If Monseigneur will recall my counsels given at Narbonne, he will
+      confess that I had a just presentiment of the troubles which this young
+      man would one day cause him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The magistrate continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have learned from the old deaf abbe who dined at the house of the
+      Marechale d&rsquo;Effiat, and who heard all, that this young Cinq-Mars
+      exhibited more energy than one would have imagined, and that he attempted
+      to rescue the Marechal de Bassompierre. I have still by me the detailed
+      report of the deaf man, who played his part very well. His Eminence the
+      Cardinal must be sufficiently convinced by it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told Monseigneur,&rdquo; resumed Joseph&mdash;for these two
+      ferocious Seyds alternated their discourse like the shepherds of Virgil&mdash;&ldquo;I
+      have told him that it would be well to get rid of this young D&rsquo;Effiat,
+      and that I would charge myself with the business, if such were his good
+      pleasure. It would be easy to destroy him in the opinion of the King.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be safer to make him die of his wound,&rdquo; answered
+      Laubardemont; &ldquo;if his Eminence would have the goodness to command
+      me, I know intimately the assistant-physician, who cured me of a blow on
+      the forehead, and is now attending to him. He is a prudent man, entirely
+      devoted to Monseigneur the Cardinal-Duke, and whose affairs have been
+      somewhat embarrassed by gambling.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; replied Joseph, with an air of modesty, mingled
+      with a touch of bitterness, &ldquo;that if his Excellency proposed to
+      employ any one in this useful project, it should be his accustomed
+      negotiator, who has had some success in the past.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fancy that I could enumerate some signal instances,&rdquo;
+      answered Laubardemont, &ldquo;and very recent ones, of which the
+      difficulty was great.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, no doubt,&rdquo; said the father, with a bow and an air of
+      consideration and politeness, &ldquo;your most bold and skilfully executed
+      commission was the trial of Urbain Grandier, the magician. But, with
+      Heaven&rsquo;s assistance, one may be enabled to do things quite as worthy
+      and bold. It is not without merit, for instance,&rdquo; added he, dropping
+      his eyes like a young girl, &ldquo;to have extirpated vigorously a royal
+      Bourbon branch.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was not very difficult,&rdquo; answered the magistrate, with
+      bitterness, &ldquo;to select a soldier from the guards to kill the Comte
+      de Soissons; but to preside, to judge&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And to execute one&rsquo;s self,&rdquo; interrupted the heated
+      Capuchin, &ldquo;is certainly less difficult than to educate a man from
+      infancy in the thought of accomplishing great things with discretion, and
+      to bear all tortures, if necessary, for the love of heaven, rather than
+      reveal the name of those who have armed him with their justice, or to die
+      courageously upon the body of him that he has struck, as did one who was
+      commissioned by me. He uttered no cry at the blow of the sword of
+      Riquemont, the equerry of the Prince. He died like a saint; he was my
+      pupil.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To give orders is somewhat different from running risk one&rsquo;s
+      self.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And did I risk nothing at the siege of Rochelle?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of being drowned in a sewer, no doubt,&rdquo; said Laubardemont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you,&rdquo; said Joseph, &ldquo;has your danger been that of
+      catching your fingers in instruments of torture? And all this because the
+      Abbess of the Ursulines is your niece.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a good thing for your brothers of Saint Francis, who held
+      the hammers; but I&mdash;I was struck in the forehead by this same
+      Cinq-Mars, who was leading an enraged multitude.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you quite sure of that?&rdquo; cried Joseph, delighted. &ldquo;Did
+      he dare to act thus against the commands of the King?&rdquo; The joy which
+      this discovery gave him made him forget his anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fools!&rdquo; exclaimed the Cardinal, suddenly breaking his long
+      silence, and taking from his lips his handkerchief stained with blood.
+      &ldquo;I would punish your angry dispute had it not taught me many secrets
+      of infamy on your part. You have exceeded my orders; I commanded no
+      torture, Laubardemont. That is your second fault. You cause me to be hated
+      for nothing; that was useless. But you, Joseph, do not neglect the details
+      of this disturbance in which Cinq-Mars was engaged; it may be of use in
+      the end.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have all the names and descriptions,&rdquo; said the secret
+      judge, eagerly, bending his tall form and thin, olive-colored visage,
+      wrinkled with a servile smile, down to the armchair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is well! it is well!&rdquo; said the minister, pushing him back;
+      &ldquo;but that is not the question yet. You, Joseph, be in Paris before
+      this young upstart, who will become a favorite, I am certain. Become his
+      friend; make him of my party or destroy him. Let him serve me or fall.
+      But, above all, send me every day safe persons to give me verbal accounts.
+      I will have no more writing for the future. I am much displeased with you,
+      Joseph. What a miserable courier you chose to send from Cologne! He could
+      not understand me. He saw the King too soon, and here we are still in
+      disgrace in consequence. You have just missed ruining me entirely. Go and
+      observe what is about to be done in Paris. A conspiracy will soon be
+      hatched against me; but it will be the last. I remain here in order to let
+      them all act more freely. Go, both of you, and send me my valet after the
+      lapse of two hours; I wish now to be alone.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The steps of the two men were still to be heard as Richelieu, with eyes
+      fixed upon the entrance to the tent, pursued them with his irritated
+      glance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wretches!&rdquo; he exclaimed, when he was alone, &ldquo;go and
+      accomplish some more secret work, and afterward I will crush you, in pure
+      instruments of my power. The King will soon succumb beneath the slow
+      malady which consumes him. I shall then be regent; I shall be King of
+      France myself; I shall no longer have to dread the caprices of his
+      weakness. I will destroy the haughty races of this country. I will be
+      alone above them all. Europe shall tremble.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the blood, which again filled his mouth, obliged him to apply his
+      handkerchief to it once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, what do I say? Unhappy victim that I am! Here am I,
+      death-stricken! My dissolution is near; my blood flows, and my spirit
+      desires to labor still. Why? For whom? Is it for glory? That is an empty
+      word. Is it for men? I despise them. For whom, then, since I shall die,
+      perhaps, in two or three years? Is it for God? What a name! I have not
+      walked with Him! He has seen all&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here he let his head fall upon his breast, and his eyes met the great
+      cross of gold which was suspended from his neck. He could not help
+      throwing himself back in his chair; but it followed him. He took it; and
+      considering it with fixed and devouring looks, he said in a low voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Terrible sign! thou followest me! Shall I find thee elsewhere&mdash;divinity
+      and suffering? What am I? What have I done?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the first time a singular and unknown terror penetrated him. He
+      trembled, at once frozen and scorched by an invincible shudder. He dared
+      not lift his eyes, fearing to meet some terrible vision. He dared not
+      call, fearing to hear the sound of his own voice. He remained profoundly
+      plunged in meditations on eternity, so terrible for him, and he murmured
+      the following kind of prayer:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Great God, if Thou hearest me, judge me then, but do not isolate me
+      in judging me! Look upon me, surrounded by the men of my generation;
+      consider the immense work I had undertaken! Was not an enormous lever
+      wanted to bestir those masses; and if this lever in falling crushes some
+      useless wretches, am I very culpable? I seem wicked to men; but Thou,
+      Supreme judge, dost thou regard me thus?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No; Thou knowest it is boundless power which makes creature
+      culpable against creature. It is not Armand de Richelieu who destroys; it
+      is the Prime-Minister. It is not for his personal injuries; it is to carry
+      out a system. But a system&mdash;what is this word? Is it permitted me to
+      play thus with men, to regard them as numbers for working out a thought,
+      which perhaps is false? I overturn the framework of the throne. What if,
+      without knowing it, I sap its foundations and hasten its fall! Yes, my
+      borrowed power has seduced me. O labyrinth! O weakness of human thought!
+      Simple faith, why did I quit thy path? Why am I not a simple priest? If I
+      dared to break with man and give myself to God, the ladder of Jacob would
+      again descend in my dreams.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment his ear was struck by a great noise outside&mdash;laughter
+      of soldiers, ferocious shouts and oaths, mingled with words which were a
+      long time sustained by a weak yet clear voice; one would have said it was
+      the voice of an angel interrupted by the laughter of demons. He rose and
+      opened a sort of linen window, worked in the side of his square tent. A
+      singular spectacle presented itself to his view; he remained some instants
+      contemplating it, attentive to the conversation which was going on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen, listen, La Valeur!&rdquo; said one soldier to another.
+      &ldquo;See, she begins again to speak and to sing!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Put her in the middle of the circle, between us and the fire.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do not know her! You do not know her!&rdquo; said another.
+      &ldquo;But here is Grand-Ferre, who says that he knows her.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I tell you I know her; and, by Saint Peter of Loudun, I will
+      swear that I have seen her in my village, when I had leave of absence; and
+      it was upon an occasion at which one shuddered, but concerning which one
+      dares not talk, especially to a Cardinalist like you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh! and pray why dare not one speak of it, you great simpleton?&rdquo;
+      said an old soldier, twisting up his moustache.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not spoken of because it burns the tongue. Do you understand
+      that?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t understand it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, nor I neither; but certain citizens told it to me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here a general laugh interrupted him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha, ha, ha! is he a fool?&rdquo; said one. &ldquo;He listens to
+      what the townsfolk tell him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, well! if you listen to their gabble, you have time to lose,&rdquo;
+      said another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do not know, then, what my mother said, greenhorn?&rdquo; said
+      the eldest, gravely dropping his eyes with a solemn air, to compel
+      attention.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh! how can you think that I know it, La Pipe? Your mother must
+      have died of old age before my grandfather came into the world.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, greenhorn, I will tell you! You shall know, first of all,
+      that my mother was a respectable Bohemian, as much attached to the
+      regiment of carabineers of La Roque as my dog Canon there. She carried
+      brandy round her neck in a barrel, and drank better than the best of us.
+      She had fourteen husbands, all soldiers, who died upon the field of
+      battle.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! that was a woman!&rdquo; interrupted the soldiers, full of
+      respect.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And never once in her life did she speak to a townsman, unless it
+      was to say to him on coming to her lodging, &lsquo;Light my candle and
+      warm my soup.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, and what was it that your mother said to you?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you are in such a hurry, you shall not know, greenhorn. She said
+      habitually in her talk, &lsquo;A soldier is better than a dog; but a dog
+      is better than a bourgeois.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bravo! bravo! that was well said!&rdquo; cried the soldier, filled
+      with enthusiasm at these fine words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That,&rdquo; said Grand-Ferre, &ldquo;does not prove that the
+      citizens who made the remark to me that it burned the tongue were in the
+      right; besides, they were not altogether citizens, for they had swords,
+      and they were grieved at a cure being burned, and so was I.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh! what was it to you that they burned your cure, great simpleton?&rdquo;
+      said a sergeant, leaning upon the fork of his arquebus; &ldquo;after him
+      another would come. You might have taken one of our generals in his stead,
+      who are all cures at present; for me, I am a Royalist, and I say it
+      frankly.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold your tongue!&rdquo; cried La Pipe; &ldquo;let the girl speak.
+      It is these dogs of Royalists who always disturb us in our amusements.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What say you?&rdquo; answered Grand-Ferre. &ldquo;Do you even know
+      what it is to be a Royalist?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; said La Pipe; &ldquo;I know you all very well. Go, you
+      are for the old self-called princes of the peace, together with the
+      wranglers against the Cardinal and the gabelle. Am I right or not?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, old red-stocking. A Royalist is one who is for the King; that&rsquo;s
+      what it is. And as my father was the King&rsquo;s valet, I am for the
+      King, you see; and I have no liking for the red-stockings, I can tell you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, you call me red-stocking, eh?&rdquo; answered the old soldier.
+      &ldquo;You shall give me satisfaction to-morrow morning. If you had made
+      war in the Valteline, you would not talk like that; and if you had seen
+      his Eminence marching upon the dike at Rochelle, with the old Marquis de
+      Spinola, while volleys of cannonshot were sent after him, you would have
+      nothing to say about red-stockings.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, let us amuse ourselves, instead of quarrelling,&rdquo; said
+      the other soldiers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The men who conversed thus were standing round a great fire, which
+      illuminated them more than the moon, beautiful as it was; and in the
+      centre of the group was the object of their gathering and their cries. The
+      Cardinal perceived a young woman arrayed in black and covered with a long,
+      white veil. Her feet were bare; a thick cord clasped her elegant figure; a
+      long rosary fell from her neck almost to her feet, and her hands, delicate
+      and white as ivory, turned its beads and made them pass rapidly beneath
+      her fingers. The soldiers, with a barbarous joy, amused themselves with
+      laying little brands in her way to burn her naked feet. The oldest took
+      the smoking match of his arquebus, and, approaching it to the edge of her
+      robe, said in a hoarse voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, madcap, tell me your history, or I will fill you with powder
+      and blow you up like a mine; take care, for I have already played that
+      trick to others besides you, in the old wars of the Huguenots. Come, sing.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young woman, looking at him gravely, made no reply, but lowered her
+      veil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t manage her well,&rdquo; said Grand-Ferre, with a
+      drunken laugh; &ldquo;you will make her cry. You don&rsquo;t know the fine
+      language of the court; let me speak to her.&rdquo; And, touching her on
+      the chin, &ldquo;My little heart,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;if you will
+      please, my sweet, to resume the little story you told just now to these
+      gentlemen, I will pray you to travel with me upon the river Du Tendre, as
+      the great ladies of Paris say, and to take a glass of brandy with your
+      faithful chevalier, who met you formerly at Loudun, when you played a
+      comedy in order to burn a poor devil.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young woman crossed her arms, and, looking around her with an
+      imperious air, cried:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Withdraw, in the name of the God of armies; withdraw, impious men!
+      There is nothing in common between us. I do not understand your tongue,
+      nor you mine. Go, sell your blood to the princes of the earth at so many
+      oboles a day, and leave me to accomplish my mission! Conduct me to the
+      Cardinal.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A coarse laugh interrupted her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think,&rdquo; said a carabineer of Maurevert, &ldquo;that
+      his Eminence the Generalissimo will receive you with your feet naked? Go
+      and wash them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Lord has said, &lsquo;Jerusalem, lift thy robe, and pass the
+      rivers of water,&rsquo;&rdquo; she answered, her arms still crossed.
+      &ldquo;Let me be conducted to the Cardinal.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richelieu cried in a loud voice, &ldquo;Bring the woman to me, and let her
+      alone!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All were silent; they conducted her to the minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why,&rdquo; said she, beholding him&mdash;&ldquo;why bring me
+      before an armed man?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They left her alone with him without answering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal looked at her with a suspicious air. &ldquo;Madame,&rdquo;
+      said he, &ldquo;what are you doing in the camp at this hour? And if your
+      mind is not disordered, why these naked feet?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a vow; it is a vow,&rdquo; answered the young woman, with an
+      air of impatience, seating herself beside him abruptly. &ldquo;I have also
+      made a vow not to eat until I have found the man I seek.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My sister,&rdquo; said the Cardinal, astonished and softened,
+      looking closely at her, &ldquo;God does not exact such rigors from a weak
+      body, and particularly from one of your age, for you seem very young.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Young! oh, yes, I was very young a few days ago; but I have since
+      passed two existences at least, so much have I thought and suffered. Look
+      on my countenance.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And she discovered a face of perfect beauty. Black and very regular eyes
+      gave life to it; but in their absence one might have thought her features
+      were those of a phantom, she was so pale. Her lips were blue and
+      quivering; and a strong shudder made her teeth chatter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are ill, my sister,&rdquo; said the minister, touched, taking
+      her hand, which he felt to be burning hot. A sort of habit of inquiring
+      concerning his own health, and that of others, made him touch the pulse of
+      her emaciated arm; he felt that the arteries were swollen by the beatings
+      of a terrible fever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; he continued, with more of interest, &ldquo;you have
+      killed yourself with rigors beyond human strength! I have always blamed
+      them, and especially at a tender age. What, then, has induced you to do
+      this? Is it to confide it to me that you are come? Speak calmly, and be
+      sure of succor.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Confide in men!&rdquo; answered the young woman; &ldquo;oh, no,
+      never! All have deceived me. I will confide myself to no one, not even to
+      Monsieur Cinq-Mars, although he must soon die.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; said Richelieu, contracting his brows, but with a
+      bitter laugh,&mdash;&ldquo;what! do you know this young man? Has he been
+      the cause of your misfortune?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no! He is very good, and hates wickedness; that is what will
+      ruin him. Besides,&rdquo; said she, suddenly assuming a harsh and savage
+      air, &ldquo;men are weak, and there are things which women must
+      accomplish. When there were no more valiant men in Israel, Deborah arose.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! how came you with all this fine learning?&rdquo; continued the
+      Cardinal, still holding her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I can&rsquo;t explain that!&rdquo; answered she, with a
+      touching air of naivete and a very gentle voice; &ldquo;you would not
+      understand me. It is the Devil who has taught me all, and who has
+      destroyed me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my child! it is always he who destroys us; but he instructs us
+      ill,&rdquo; said Richelieu, with an air of paternal protection and an
+      increasing pity. &ldquo;What have been your faults? Tell them to me; I am
+      very powerful.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah,&rdquo; said she, with a look of doubt, &ldquo;you have much
+      influence over warriors, brave men and generals! Beneath your cuirass must
+      beat a noble heart; you are an old General who knows nothing of the tricks
+      of crime.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richelieu smiled; this mistake flattered him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard you ask for the Cardinal; do you desire to see him? Did you
+      come here to seek him?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl drew back and placed a finger upon her forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had forgotten it,&rdquo; said she; &ldquo;you have talked to me
+      too much. I had overlooked this idea, and yet it is an important one; it
+      is for that that I have condemned myself to the hunger which is killing
+      me. I must accomplish it, or I shall die first. Ah,&rdquo; said she,
+      putting her hand beneath her robe in her bosom, whence she appeared to
+      take something, &ldquo;behold it! this idea&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She suddenly blushed, and her eyes widened extraordinarily. She continued,
+      bending to the ear of the Cardinal:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will tell you; listen! Urbain Grandier, my lover Urbain, told me
+      this night that it was Richelieu who had been the cause of his death. I
+      took a knife from an inn, and I come here to kill him; tell me where he
+      is.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal, surprised and terrified, recoiled with horror. He dared not
+      call his guards, fearing the cries of this woman and her accusations;
+      nevertheless, a transport of this madness might be fatal to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This frightful history will pursue me everywhere!&rdquo; cried he,
+      looking fixedly at her, and thinking within himself of the course he
+      should take.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They remained in silence, face to face, in the same attitude, like two
+      wrestlers who contemplate before attacking each other, or like the pointer
+      and his victim petrified by the power of a look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the mean time, Laubardemont and Joseph had gone forth together; and ere
+      separating they talked for a moment before the tent of the Cardinal,
+      because they were eager mutually to deceive each other. Their hatred had
+      acquired new force by their recent quarrel; and each had resolved to ruin
+      his rival in the mind of his master. The judge then began the dialogue,
+      which each of them had prepared, taking the arm of the other as by one and
+      the same movement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, reverend father! how you have afflicted me by seeming to take
+      in ill part the trifling pleasantries which I said to you just now.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens, no! my dear Monsieur, I am far from that. Charity, where
+      would be charity? I have sometimes a holy warmth in conversation, for the
+      good of the State and of Monseigneur, to whom I am entirely devoted.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, who knows it better than I, reverend father? But render me
+      justice; you also know how completely I am attached to his Eminence the
+      Cardinal, to whom I owe all. Alas! I have employed too much zeal in
+      serving him, since he reproaches me with it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Reassure yourself,&rdquo; said Joseph; &ldquo;he bears no ill-will
+      toward you. I know him well; he can appreciate one&rsquo;s actions in
+      favor of one&rsquo;s family. He, too, is a very good relative.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, there it is,&rdquo; answered Laubardemont; &ldquo;consider my
+      condition. My niece would have been totally ruined at her convent had
+      Urbain triumphed; you feel that as well as I do, particularly as she did
+      not quite comprehend us, and acted the child when she was compelled to
+      appear.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it possible? In full audience! What you tell me indeed makes me
+      feel for you. How painful it must have been!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More so than you can imagine. She forgot, in her madness, all that
+      she had been told, committed a thousand blunders in Latin, which we
+      patched up as well as we could; and she even caused an unpleasant scene on
+      the day of the trial, very unpleasant for me and the judges&mdash;there
+      were swoons and shrieks. Ah, I swear that I would have scolded her well
+      had I not been forced to quit precipitately that, little town of Loudun.
+      But, you see, it is natural enough that I am attached to her. She is my
+      nearest relative; for my son has turned out ill, and no one knows what has
+      become of him during the last four years. Poor little Jeanne de Belfiel! I
+      made her a nun, and then abbess, in order to preserve all for that scamp.
+      Had I foreseen his conduct, I should have retained her for the world.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is said to have great beauty,&rdquo; answered Joseph; &ldquo;that
+      is a precious gift for a family. She might have been presented at court,
+      and the King&mdash;Ah! ah! Mademoiselle de la Fayette&mdash;eh! eh!&mdash;Mademoiselle
+      d&rsquo;Hautefort&mdash;you understand; it may be even possible to think
+      of it yet.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that is like you, Monseigneur! for we know that you have been
+      nominated to the cardinalate; how good you are to remember the most
+      devoted of your friends!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laubardemont was yet talking to Joseph when they found themselves at the
+      end of the line of the camp, which led to the quarter of the volunteers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May God and his Holy Mother protect you during my absence!&rdquo;
+      said Joseph, stopping. &ldquo;To-morrow I depart for Paris; and as I shall
+      have frequent business with this young Cinq-Mars, I shall first go to see
+      him, and learn news of his wound.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Had I been listened to,&rdquo; said Laubardemont, &ldquo;you would
+      not now have had this trouble.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, you are right!&rdquo; answered Joseph, with a profound sigh,
+      and raising his eyes to heaven; &ldquo;but the Cardinal is no longer the
+      same man. He will not take advantage of good ideas; he will ruin us if he
+      goes on thus.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, making a low bow to the judge, the Capuchin took the road which he
+      had indicated to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laubardemont followed him for some time with his eyes, and, when he was
+      quite sure of the route which he had taken, he returned, or, rather, ran
+      back to the tent of the minister. &ldquo;The Cardinal dismisses him, he
+      tells me; that shows that he is tired of him. I know secrets which will
+      ruin him. I will add that he is gone to pay court to the future favorite.
+      I will replace this monk in the favor of the minister. The moment is
+      propitious. It is midnight; he will be alone for an hour and a half yet.
+      Let me run.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He arrived at the tent of the guards, which was before the pavilion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monseigneur gives audience to some one,&rdquo; said the captain,
+      hesitating; &ldquo;you can not enter.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind; you saw me leave an hour ago, and things are passing of
+      which I must give an account.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in, Laubardemont,&rdquo; cried the minister; &ldquo;come in
+      quickly, and alone.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He entered. The Cardinal, still seated, held the two hands of the nun in
+      one of his, and with the other he imposed silence upon his stupefied
+      agent, who remained motionless, not yet seeing the face of this woman. She
+      spoke volubly, and the strange things she said contrasted horribly with
+      the sweetness of her voice. Richelieu seemed moved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I will stab him with a knife. It is the knife which the demon
+      Behirith gave me at the inn; but it is the nail of Sisera. It has a handle
+      of ivory, you see; and I have wept much over it. Is it not singular, my
+      good General? I will turn it in the throat of him who killed my friend, as
+      he himself told me to do; and afterward I will burn the body. There is
+      like for like, the punishment which God permitted to Adam. You have an
+      astonished air, my brave general; but you would be much more so, were I to
+      repeat to you his song&mdash;the song which he sang to me again last
+      night, at the hour of the funeral-pyre&mdash;you understand?&mdash;the
+      hour when it rains, the hour when my hand burns as now. He said to me:
+      &lsquo;They are much deceived, the magistrates, the red judges. I have
+      eleven demons at my command; and I shall come to see you when the clock
+      strikes, under a canopy of purple velvet, with torches&mdash;torches of
+      resin to give us light&mdash;&rsquo; Ah, that is beautiful! Listen, listen
+      to what he sings!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And she sang to the air of De Profundis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it not singular, my good General?&rdquo; said she, when she had
+      finished; &ldquo;and I&mdash;I answer him every evening.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then he speaks as spirits and prophets speak. He says: &lsquo;Woe,
+      woe to him who has shed blood! Are the judges of the earth gods? No, they
+      are men who grow old and suffer, and yet they dare to say aloud, Let that
+      man die! The penalty of death, the pain of death&mdash;who has given to
+      man the right of imposing it on man? Is the number two? One would be an
+      assassin, look you! But count well, one, two, three. Behold, they are wise
+      and just, these grave and salaried criminals! O crime, the horror of
+      Heaven! If you looked upon them from above as I look upon them, you would
+      be yet paler than I am. Flesh destroys flesh! That which lives by blood
+      sheds blood coldly and without anger, like a God with power to create!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cries which the unhappy girl uttered, as she rapidly spoke these
+      words, terrified Richelieu and Laubardemont so much that they still
+      remained motionless. The delirium and the fever continued to transport
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Did the judges tremble?&rsquo; said Urbain Grandier to me.
+      &lsquo;Did they tremble at deceiving themselves?&rsquo; They work the work
+      of the just. The question! They bind his limbs with ropes to make him
+      speak. His skin cracks, tears away, and rolls up like a parchment; his
+      nerves are naked, red, and glittering; his bones crack; the marrow spurts
+      out. But the judges sleep! they dream of flowers and spring. &lsquo;How
+      hot the grand chamber is!&rsquo; says one, awaking; &lsquo;this man has
+      not chosen to speak! Is the torture finished?&rsquo; And pitiful at last,
+      he dooms him to death&mdash;death, the sole fear of the living! death, the
+      unknown world! He sends before him a furious soul which will wait for him.
+      Oh! has he never seen the vision of vengeance? Has he never seen before
+      falling asleep the flayed prevaricator?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Already weakened by fever, fatigue, and grief, the Cardinal, seized with
+      horror and pity, exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, for the love of God, let this terrible scene have an end! Take
+      away this woman; she is mad!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The frantic creature turned, and suddenly uttering loud cries, &ldquo;Ah,
+      the judge! the judge! the judge!&rdquo; she said, recognizing
+      Laubardemont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter, clasping his hands and trembling before the Cardinal, said
+      with terror:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, Monseigneur, pardon me! she is my niece, who has lost her
+      reason. I was not aware of this misfortune, or she would have been shut up
+      long ago. Jeanne! Jeanne! come, Madame, to your knees! ask forgiveness of
+      Monseigneur the Cardinal-duc.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is Richelieu!&rdquo; she cried; and astonishment seemed wholly
+      to paralyze this young and unhappy beauty. The flush which had animated
+      her at first gave place to a deadly pallor, her cries to a motionless
+      silence, her wandering looks to a frightful fixedness of her large eyes,
+      which constantly followed the agitated minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take away this unfortunate child quickly,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;she
+      is dying, and so am I. So many horrors pursue me since that sentence that
+      I believe all hell is loosed upon me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose as he spoke; Jeanne de Belfiel, still silent and stupefied, with
+      haggard eyes, open mouth, and head bent forward, yet remained beneath the
+      shock of her double surprise, which seemed to have extinguished the rest
+      of her reason and her strength. At the movement of the Cardinal, she
+      shuddered to find herself between him and Laubardemont, looked by turns at
+      one and the other, let the knife which she held fall from her hand, and
+      retired slowly toward the opening of the tent, covering herself completely
+      with her veil, and looking wildly and with terror behind her upon her
+      uncle who followed, like an affrighted lamb, which already feels at its
+      back the burning breath of the wolf about to seize it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus they both went forth; and hardly had they reached the open air, when
+      the furious judge caught the hands of his victim, tied them with a
+      handkerchief, and easily led her, for she uttered no cry, not even a sigh,
+      but followed him with her head still drooping upon her bosom, and as if
+      plunged in profound somnambulism.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII. THE SPANIARD
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Meantime, a scene of different nature was passing in the tent of
+      Cinq-Mars; the words of the King, the first balm to his wounds, had been
+      followed by the anxious care of the surgeons of the court. A spent ball,
+      easily extracted, had been the only cause of his accident. He was allowed
+      to travel and all was ready. The invalid had received up to midnight
+      friendly or interested visits; among the first were those of little Gondi
+      and of Fontrailles, who were also preparing to quit Perpignan for Paris.
+      The ex-page, Olivier d&rsquo;Entraigues, joined with them in complimenting
+      the fortunate volunteer, whom the King seemed to have distinguished. The
+      habitual coldness of the Prince toward all who surrounded him having
+      caused those who knew of them to regard the few words he had spoken as
+      assured signs of high favor, all came to congratulate him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length, released from visitors, he lay upon his camp-bed. De Thou sat
+      by his side, holding his hand, and Grandchamp at his feet, still grumbling
+      at the numerous interruptions that had fatigued his wounded master.
+      Cinq-Mars himself tasted one of those moments of calm and hope, which so
+      refresh the soul as well as the body. His free hand secretly pressed the
+      gold cross that hung next to his heart, the beloved donor of which he was
+      so soon to behold. Outwardly, he listened with kindly looks to the
+      counsels of the young magistrate; but his inward thoughts were all turned
+      toward the object of his journey&mdash;the object, also, of his life. The
+      grave De Thou went on in a calm, gentle voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall soon follow you to Paris. I am happier than you at seeing
+      the King take you there with him. You are right in looking upon it as the
+      beginning of a friendship which must be turned to profit. I have reflected
+      deeply on the secret causes of your ambition, and I think I have divined
+      your heart. Yes; that feeling of love for France, which made it beat in
+      your earliest youth, must have gained greater strength. You would be near
+      the King in order to serve your country, in order to put in action those
+      golden dreams of your early years. The thought is a vast one, and worthy
+      of you! I admire you; I bow before you. To approach the monarch with the
+      chivalrous devotion of our fathers, with a heart full of candor, and
+      prepared for any sacrifice; to receive the confidences of his soul; to
+      pour into his those of his subjects; to soften the sorrows of the King by
+      telling him the confidence his people have in him; to cure the wounds of
+      the people by laying them open to its master, and by the intervention of
+      your favor thus to reestablish that intercourse of love between the father
+      and his children which for eighteen years has been interrupted by a man
+      whose heart is marble; for this noble enterprise, to expose yourself to
+      all the horrors of his vengeance and, what is even worse, to brave all the
+      perfidious calumnies which pursue the favorite to the very steps of the
+      throne&mdash;this dream was worthy of you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pursue it, my friend,&rdquo; De Thou continued. &ldquo;Never become
+      discouraged. Speak loudly to the King of the merit and misfortunes of his
+      most illustrious friends who are trampled on. Tell him fearlessly that his
+      old nobility have never conspired against him; and that from the young
+      Montmorency to the amiable Comte de Soissons, all have opposed the
+      minister, and never the monarch. Tell him that the old families of France
+      were born with his race; that in striking them he affects the whole
+      nation; and that, should he destroy them, his own race will suffer, that
+      it will stand alone exposed to the blast of time and events, as an old oak
+      trembling and exposed to the wind of the plain, when the forest which
+      surrounded and supported it has been destroyed. Yes!&rdquo; cried De Thou,
+      growing animated, &ldquo;this aim is a fine and noble one. Go on in your
+      course with a resolute step; expel even that secret shame, that shyness,
+      which a noble soul experiences before it can resolve upon flattering&mdash;upon
+      paying what the world calls its court. Alas, kings are accustomed to these
+      continual expressions of false admiration for them! Look upon them as a
+      new language which must be learned&mdash;a language hitherto foreign to
+      your lips, but which, believe me, may be nobly spoken, and which may
+      express high and generous thoughts.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this warm discourse of his friend, Cinq-Mars could not refrain from
+      a sudden blush; and he turned his head on his pillow toward the tent, so
+      that his face might not be seen. De Thou stopped:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter, Henri? You do not answer. Am I deceived?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars gave a deep sigh and remained silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is not your heart affected by these ideas which I thought would
+      have transported it?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The wounded man looked more calmly at his friend and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought, my dear De Thou, that you would not interrogate me
+      further, and that you were willing to repose a blind confidence in me.
+      What evil genius has moved you thus to sound my soul? I am not a stranger
+      to these ideas which possess you. Who told you that I had not conceived
+      them? Who told you that I had not formed the firm resolution of
+      prosecuting them infinitely farther in action than you have put them in
+      words? Love for France, virtuous hatred of the ambition which oppresses
+      and shatters her ancient institutions with the axe of the executioner, the
+      firm belief that virtue may be as skilful as crime,&mdash;these are my
+      gods as much as yours. But when you see a man kneeling in a church, do you
+      ask him what saint or what angel protects him and receives his prayer?
+      What matters it to you, provided that he pray at the foot of the altars
+      that you adore&mdash;provided that, if called upon, he fall a martyr at
+      the foot of those &lsquo;altars? When our forefathers journeyed with naked
+      feet toward the Holy Sepulchre, with pilgrims&rsquo; staves in their
+      hands, did men inquire the secret vow which led them to the Holy Land?
+      They struck, they died; and men, perhaps God himself, asked no more. The
+      pious captain who led them never stripped their bodies to see whether the
+      red cross and haircloth concealed any other mysterious symbol; and in
+      heaven, doubtless, they were not judged with any greater rigor for having
+      aided the strength of their resolutions upon earth by some hope permitted
+      to a Christian&mdash;some second and secret thought, more human, and
+      nearer the mortal heart.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou smiled and slightly blushed, lowering his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friend,&rdquo; he answered, gravely; &ldquo;this excitement may
+      be injurious to you. Let us not continue this subject; let us not mingle
+      God and heaven in our discourse. It is not well; and draw the coverings
+      over your shoulder, for the night is cold. I promise you,&rdquo; he added,
+      covering his young invalid with a maternal care&mdash;&ldquo;I promise not
+      to offend you again with my counsels.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I,&rdquo; cried Cinq-Mars, despite the interdiction to speak,
+      &ldquo;swear to you by this gold cross you see, and by the Holy Mary, to
+      die rather than renounce the plan that you first traced out! You may one
+      day, perhaps, be forced to pray me to stop; but then it will be too late.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well!&rdquo; repeated the counsellor, &ldquo;now sleep; if you
+      do not stop, I will go on with you, wherever you lead me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, taking a prayer-book from his pocket, he began to read attentively;
+      in a short time he looked at Cinq-Mars, who was still awake. He made a
+      sign to Grandchamp to put the lamp out of sight of the invalid; but this
+      new care succeeded no better. The latter, with his eyes still open, tossed
+      restlessly on his narrow bed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, you are not calm,&rdquo; said De Thou, smiling; &ldquo;I will
+      read to you some pious passage which will put your mind in repose. Ah, my
+      friend, it is here that true repose is to be found; it is in this
+      consolatory book, for, open it where you will, you will always see, on the
+      one hand, man in the only condition that suits his weakness&mdash;prayer,
+      and the uncertainty as to his destiny&mdash;and, on the other, God himself
+      speaking to him of his infirmities! What a glorious and heavenly
+      spectacle! What a sublime bond between heaven and earth! Life, death, and
+      eternity are there; open it at random.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, rising with a vivacity which had
+      something boyish in it; &ldquo;you shall read to me, but let me open the
+      book. You know the old superstition of our country&mdash;when the
+      mass-book is opened with a sword, the first page on the left contains the
+      destiny of him who reads, and the first person who enters after he has
+      read is powerfully to influence the reader&rsquo;s future fate.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What childishness! But be it as you will. Here is your sword;
+      insert the point. Let us see.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me read myself,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, taking one side of the
+      book. Old Grandchamp gravely advanced his tawny face and his gray hair to
+      the foot of the bed to listen. His master read, stopped at the first
+      phrase, but with a smile, perhaps slightly forced, he went on to the end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I. Now it was in the city of Milan that they appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;II. The high-priest said to them, &lsquo;Bow down and adore the
+      gods.&rsquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;III. And the people were silent, looking at their faces, which
+      appeared as the faces of angels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;IV. But Gervais, taking the hand of Protais, cried, looking to
+      heaven, and filled with the Holy Ghost:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;V. Oh, my brother! I see the Son of man smiling upon us; let me die
+      first.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;VI. For if I see thy blood, I fear I shall shed tears unworthy of
+      the Lord our God.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;VII. Then Protais answered him in these words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;VIII. My brother, it is just that I should perish after thee, for I
+      am older, and have more strength to see thee suffer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;IX. But the senators and people ground their teeth at them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;X. And the soldiers having struck them, their heads fell together
+      on the same stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;XI. Now it was in this same place that the blessed Saint Ambroise
+      found the ashes of the two martyrs which gave sight to the blind.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, looking at his friend when he had
+      finished, &ldquo;what do you say to that?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God&rsquo;s will be done! but we should not scrutinize it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor put off our designs for a child&rsquo;s play,&rdquo; said D&rsquo;Effiat
+      impatiently, and wrapping himself in a cloak which was thrown over him.
+      &ldquo;Remember the lines we formerly so frequently quoted, &lsquo;Justum
+      et tenacem Propositi viruna&rsquo;; these iron words are stamped upon my
+      brain. Yes; let the universe crumble around me, its wreck shall carry me
+      away still resolute.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us not compare the thoughts of man with those of Heaven; and
+      let us be submissive,&rdquo; said De Thou, gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amen!&rdquo; said old Grandchamp, whose eyes had filled with tears,
+      which he hastily brushed away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What hast thou to do with it, old soldier? Thou weepest,&rdquo;
+      said his master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amen!&rdquo; said a voice, in a nasal tone, at the entrance of the
+      tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Parbleu, Monsieur! rather put that question to his Gray Eminence,
+      who comes to visit you,&rdquo; answered the faithful servant, pointing to
+      Joseph, who advanced with his arms crossed, making a salutation with a
+      frowning air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, it will be he, then!&rdquo; murmured Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I come inopportunely,&rdquo; said Joseph, soothingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps very opportunely,&rdquo; said Henri d&rsquo;Effiat,
+      smiling, with a glance at De Thou. &ldquo;What can bring you here, Father,
+      at one o&rsquo;clock in the morning? It should be some good work.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joseph saw he was ill-received; and as he had always sundry reproaches to
+      make himself with reference to all persons whom he addressed, and as many
+      resources in his mind for getting out of the difficulty, he fancied that
+      they had discovered the object of his visit, and felt that he should not
+      select a moment of ill humor for preparing the way to friendship.
+      Therefore, seating himself near the bed, he said, coldly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I come, Monsieur, to speak to you on the part of the
+      Cardinal-Generalissimo, of the two Spanish prisoners you have made; he
+      desires to have information concerning them as soon as possible. I am to
+      see and question them. But I did not suppose you were still awake; I
+      merely wished to receive them from your people.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a forced interchange of politeness, they ordered into the tent the
+      two prisoners, whom Cinq-Mars had almost forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They appeared&mdash;the one, young and displaying an animated and rather
+      wild countenance, was the soldier; the other, concealing his form under a
+      brown cloak, and his gloomy features, which had something ambiguous in
+      their expression, under his broad-brimmed hat, which he did not remove,
+      was the officer. He spoke first:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why do you make me leave my straw and my sleep? Is it to deliver me
+      or hang me?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither,&rdquo; said Joseph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What have I to do with thee, man with the long beard? I did not see
+      thee at the breach.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It took some time after this amiable exordium to make the stranger
+      understand the right a Capuchin had to interrogate him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;what dost thou want?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would know your name and your country.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall not tell my name; and as for my country, I have the air of
+      a Spaniard, but perhaps am not one, for a Spaniard never acknowledges his
+      country.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Father Joseph, turning toward the two friends, said: &ldquo;Unless I
+      deceive myself, I have heard his voice somewhere. This man speaks French
+      without an accent; but it seems he wishes to give us enigmas, as in the
+      East.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The East? that is it,&rdquo; said the prisoner. &ldquo;A Spaniard
+      is a man from the East; he is a Catholic Turk; his blood either flags or
+      boils; he is lazy or indefatigable; indolence makes him a slave, ardor a
+      tyrant; immovable in his ignorance, ingenious in his superstition, he
+      needs only a religious book and a tyrannical master; he obeys the law of
+      the pyre; he commands by that of the poniard. At night he falls asleep in
+      his bloodthirsty misery, nurses fanaticism, and awakes to crime. Who is
+      this gentleman? Is it the Spaniard or the Turk? Guess! Ah! you seem to
+      think that I have wit, because I light upon analogy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Truly, gentlemen, you do me honor; and yet the idea may be carried
+      much further, if desired. If I pass to the physical order, for example,
+      may I not say to you, This man has long and serious features, a black and
+      almond-shaped eye, rugged brows, a sad and mobile mouth, tawny, meagre,
+      and wrinkled cheeks; his head is shaved, and he covers it with a black
+      handkerchief in the form of a turban; he passes the whole day lying or
+      standing under a burning sun, without motion, without utterance, smoking a
+      pipe that intoxicates him. Is this a Turk or a Spaniard? Are you
+      satisfied, gentlemen? Truly, it would seem so; you laugh, and at what do
+      you laugh? I, who have presented this idea to you&mdash;I have not
+      laughed; see, my countenance is sad. Ah! perhaps it is because the gloomy
+      prisoner has suddenly become a gossip, and talks rapidly. That is nothing!
+      I might tell you other things, and render you some service, my worthy
+      friends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I should relate anecdotes, for example; if I told you I knew a
+      priest who ordered the death of some heretics before saying mass, and who,
+      furious at being interrupted at the altar during the holy sacrifice, cried
+      to those who asked for his orders, &lsquo;Kill them all! kill them all!&rsquo;&mdash;should
+      you all laugh, gentlemen? No, not all! This gentleman here, for instance,
+      would bite his lips and his beard. Oh! it is true he might answer that he
+      did wisely, and that they were wrong to interrupt his unsullied prayer.
+      But if I added that he concealed himself for an hour behind the curtain of
+      your tent, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars, to listen while you talked, and that he
+      came to betray you, and not to get me, what would he say? Now, gentlemen,
+      are you satisfied? May I retire after this display?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The prisoner had uttered this with the rapidity of a quack vending his
+      wares, and in so loud a voice that Joseph was quite confounded. He arose
+      indignantly at last, and, addressing himself to Cinq-Mars, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How can you suffer a prisoner who should have been hanged to speak
+      to you thus, Monsieur?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Spaniard, without deigning to notice him any further, leaned toward D&rsquo;Effiat,
+      and whispered in his ear:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can be of no further use to you; give me my liberty. I might ere
+      this have taken it; but I would not do so without your consent. Give it
+      me, or have me killed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go, if you will!&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars to him. &ldquo;I assure you
+      I shall be very glad;&rdquo; and he told his people to retire with the
+      soldier, whom he wished to keep in his service.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the affair of a moment. No one remained any longer in the tent
+      with the two friends, except the abashed Joseph and the Spaniard. The
+      latter, taking off his hat, showed a French but savage countenance. He
+      laughed, and seemed to respire more air into his broad chest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I am a Frenchman,&rdquo; he said to Joseph. &ldquo;But I hate
+      France, because she gave birth to my father, who is a monster, and to me,
+      who have become one, and who once struck him. I hate her inhabitants,
+      because they have robbed me of my whole fortune at play, and because I
+      have robbed them and killed them. I have been two years in Spain in order
+      to kill more Frenchmen; but now I hate Spain still more. No one will know
+      the reason why. Adieu! I must live henceforth without a nation; all men
+      are my enemies. Go on, Joseph, and you will soon be as good as I. Yes, you
+      have seen me once before,&rdquo; he continued, violently striking him in
+      the breast and throwing him down. &ldquo;I am Jacques de Laubardemont, the
+      son of your worthy friend.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With these words, quickly leaving the tent, he disappeared like an
+      apparition. De Thou and the servants, who ran to the entrance, saw him,
+      with two bounds, spring over a surprised and disarmed soldier, and run
+      toward the mountains with the swiftness of a deer, despite various
+      musket-shots. Joseph took advantage of the disorder to slip away,
+      stammering a few words of politeness, and left the two friends laughing at
+      his adventure and his disappointment, as two schoolboys laugh at seeing
+      the spectacles of their pedagogue fall off. At last they prepared to seek
+      a rest of which they both stood in need, and which they soon found-=the
+      wounded man in his bed, and the young counsellor in his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As for the Capuchin, he walked toward his tent, meditating how he should
+      turn all this so as to take the greatest possible revenge, when he met
+      Laubardemont dragging the young mad-woman by her two hands. They recounted
+      to each other their mutual and horrible adventures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joseph had no small pleasure in turning the poniard in the wound of his
+      friend&rsquo;s heart, by telling him of the fate of his son.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not exactly happy in your domestic relations,&rdquo; he
+      added. &ldquo;I advise you to shut up your niece and hang your son, if you
+      are fortunate enough to find him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laubardemont replied with a hideous laugh:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As for this idiot here, I am going to give her to an ex-secret
+      judge, at present a smuggler in the Pyrenees at Oleron. He can do what he
+      pleases with her&mdash;make her a servant in his posada, for instance. I
+      care not, so that my lord never hears of her.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jeanne de Belfiel, her head hanging down, gave no sign of sensibility.
+      Every glimmer of reason was extinguished in her; one word alone remained
+      upon her lips, and this she continually pronounced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The judge! the judge! the judge!&rdquo; she murmured, and was
+      silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her uncle and Joseph threw her, almost like a sack of corn, on one of the
+      horses which were led up by two servants. Laubardemont mounted another,
+      and prepared to leave the camp, wishing to get into the mountains before
+      day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A good journey to you!&rdquo; he said to Joseph. &ldquo;Execute
+      your business well in Paris. I commend to you Orestes and Pylades.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A good journey to you!&rdquo; answered the other. &ldquo;I commend
+      to you Cassandra and OEdipus.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! he has neither killed his father nor married his mother.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he is on the high-road to those little pleasantries.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Adieu, my reverend Father!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Adieu, my venerable friend!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then each added aloud, but in suppressed tones:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Adieu, assassin of the gray robe! During thy absence I shall have
+      the ear of the Cardinal.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Adieu, villain in the red robe! Go thyself and destroy thy cursed
+      family. Finish shedding that portion of thy blood that is in others&rsquo;
+      veins. That share which remains in thee, I will take charge of. Ha! a
+      well-employed night!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK 4.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV. THE RIOT
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+       &ldquo;Thus with imagin&rsquo;d wing our swift scene flies,
+        In motion of no less celerity
+        Than that of thought,&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      exclaims the immortal Shakespeare in the chorus of one of his tragedies.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+       &ldquo;Suppose that you have seen
+        The well-appointed king
+        Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet
+        With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning.
+       ......
+       ... behold,
+        And follow.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      With this poetic movement he traverses time and space, and transports at
+      will the attentive assembly to the theatre of his sublime scenes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We shall avail ourselves of the same privilege, though without the same
+      genius. No more than he shall we seat ourselves upon the tripod of the
+      unities, but merely casting our eyes upon Paris and the old dark palace of
+      the Louvre, we will at once pass over the space of two hundred leagues and
+      the period of two years.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two years! what changes may they not have upon men, upon their families,
+      and, above all, in that great and so troublous family of nations, whose
+      long alliances a single day suffices to destroy, whose wars are ended by a
+      birth, whose peace is broken by a death! We ourselves have beheld kings
+      returning to their dwelling on a spring day; that same day a vessel sailed
+      for a voyage of two years. The navigator returned. The kings were seated
+      upon their thrones; nothing seemed to have taken place in his absence, and
+      yet God had deprived those kings of a hundred days of their reign.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But nothing was changed for France in 1642, the epoch to which we turn,
+      except her fears and her hopes. The future alone had changed its aspect.
+      Before again beholding our personages, we must contemplate at large the
+      state of the kingdom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The powerful unity of the monarchy was rendered still more imposing by the
+      misfortunes of the neighboring States. The revolutions in England, and
+      those in Spain and Portugal, rendered the peace which France enjoyed still
+      more admired. Strafford and Olivares, overthrown or defeated, aggrandized
+      the immovable Richelieu.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Six formidable armies, reposing upon their triumphant weapons, served as a
+      rampart to the kingdom. Those of the north, in league with Sweden, had put
+      the Imperialists to flight, still pursued by the spirit of Gustavus
+      Adolphus, those on the frontiers of Italy had in Piedmont received the
+      keys of the towns which had been defended by Prince Thomas; and those
+      which strengthened the chain of the Pyrenees held in check revolted
+      Catalonia, and chafed before Perpignan, which they were not allowed to
+      take. The interior was not happy, but tranquil. An invisible genius seemed
+      to have maintained this calm, for the King, mortally sick, languished at
+      St. Germain with a young favorite; and the Cardinal was, they said, dying
+      at Narbonne. Some deaths, however, betrayed that he yet lived; and at
+      intervals, men falling as if struck by a poisonous blast recalled to mind
+      the invisible power.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      St.-Preuil, one of Richelieu&rsquo;s enemies, had just laid his &ldquo;iron
+      head&rdquo; upon the scaffold without shame or fear, as he himself said on
+      mounting it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meantime, France seemed to govern herself, for the prince and the minister
+      had been separated a long time; and of these two sick men, who hated each
+      other, one never had held the reins of State, the other no longer showed
+      his power&mdash;he was no longer named in the public acts; he appeared no
+      longer in the government, and seemed effaced everywhere; he slept, like
+      the spider surrounded by his webs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If some events and some revolutions had taken place during these two
+      years, it must have been in hearts; it must have been some of those occult
+      changes from which, in monarchies without firm foundation, terrible
+      overthrows and long and bloody dissensions arise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To enlighten ourselves, let us glance at the old black building of the
+      unfinished Louvre, and listen to the conversation of those who inhabited
+      it and those who surrounded it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the month of December; a rigorous winter had afflicted Paris, where
+      the misery and inquietude of the people were extreme. However, curiosity
+      was still alive, and they were eager for the spectacles given by the
+      court. Their poverty weighed less heavily upon them while they
+      contemplated the agitations of the rich. Their tears were less bitter on
+      beholding the struggles of power; and the blood of the nobles which
+      reddened their streets, and seemed the only blood worthy of being shed,
+      made them bless their own obscurity. Already had tumultuous scenes and
+      conspicuous assassinations proved the monarch&rsquo;s weakness, the
+      absence and approaching end of the minister, and, as a kind of prologue to
+      the bloody comedy of the Fronde, sharpened the malice and even fired the
+      passions of the Parisians. This confusion was not displeasing to them.
+      Indifferent to the causes of the quarrels which were abstruse for them,
+      they were not so with regard to individuals, and already began to regard
+      the party chiefs with affection or hatred, not on account of the interest
+      which they supposed them to take in the welfare of their class, but simply
+      because as actors they pleased or displeased.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One night, especially, pistol and gun-shots had been heard frequently in
+      the city; the numerous patrols of the Swiss and the body-guards had even
+      been attacked, and had met with some barricades in the tortuous streets of
+      the Ile Notre-Dame; carts chained to the posts, and laden with barrels,
+      prevented the cavaliers from advancing, and some musket-shots had wounded
+      several men and horses. However, the town still slept, except the quarter
+      which surrounded the Louvre, which was at this time inhabited by the Queen
+      and M. le Duc d&rsquo;Orleans. There everything announced a nocturnal
+      expedition of a very serious nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was two o&rsquo;clock in the morning. It was freezing, and the darkness
+      was intense, when a numerous assemblage stopped upon the quay, which was
+      then hardly paved, and slowly and by degrees occupied the sandy ground
+      that sloped down to the Seine. This troop was composed of about two
+      hundred men; they were wrapped in large cloaks, raised by the long Spanish
+      swords which they wore. Walking to and fro without preserving any order,
+      they seemed to wait for events rather than to seek them. Many seated
+      themselves, with their arms folded, upon the loose stones of the newly
+      begun parapet; they preserved perfect silence. However, after a few
+      minutes passed in this manner, a man, who appeared to come out of one of
+      the vaulted doors of the Louvre, approached slowly, holding a
+      dark-lantern, the light from which he turned upon the features of each
+      individual, and which he blew out after finding the man he sought among
+      them. He spoke to him in a whisper, taking him by the hand:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Olivier, what did Monsieur le Grand say to you?
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [The master of the horse, Cinq-Mars, was thus named by abbreviation.
+   This name will often occur in the course of the recital.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Does all go well?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I saw him yesterday at Saint-Germain. The old cat is very ill
+      at Narbonne; he is going &lsquo;ad patres&rsquo;. But we must manage our
+      affairs shrewdly, for it is not the first time that he has played the
+      torpid. Have you people enough for this evening, my dear Fontrailles?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be easy; Montresor is coming with a hundred of Monsieur&rsquo;s
+      gentlemen. You will recognize him; he will be disguised as a master-mason,
+      with a rule in his hand. But, above all, do not forget the passwords. Do
+      you know them all well, you and your friends?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, all except the Abbe de Gondi, who has not yet arrived; but
+      &lsquo;Dieu me pardonne&rsquo;, I think he is there himself! Who the devil
+      would have known him?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And here a little man without a cassock, dressed as a soldier of the
+      French guards, and wearing a very black false moustache, slipped between
+      them. He danced about with a joyous air, and rubbed his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Vive Dieu! all goes on well, my friend. Fiesco could not do better;&rdquo;
+      and rising upon his toes to tap Olivier upon the shoulder, he continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know that for a man who has just quitted the rank of pages,
+      you don&rsquo;t manage badly, Sire Olivier d&rsquo;Entraigues? and you
+      will be among our illustrious men if we find a Plutarch. All is well
+      organized; you arrive at the very moment, neither too soon nor too late,
+      like a true party chief. Fontrailles, this young man will get on, I
+      prophesy. But we must make haste; in two hours we shall have some of the
+      archbishops of Paris, my uncle&rsquo;s parishioners. I have instructed
+      them well; and they will cry, &lsquo;Long live Monsieur! Long live the
+      Regency! No more of the Cardinal!&rsquo; like madmen. They are good
+      devotees, thanks to me, who have stirred them up. The King is very ill.
+      Oh, all goes well, very well! I come from Saint-Germain. I have seen our
+      friend Cinq-Mars; he is good, very good, still firm as a rock. Ah, that is
+      what I call a man! How he has played with them with his careless and
+      melancholy air! He is master of the court at present. The King, they say,
+      is going to make him duke and peer. It is much talked of; but he still
+      hesitates. We must decide that by our movement this evening. The will of
+      the people! He must do the will of the people; we will make him hear it.
+      It will be the death of Richelieu, you&rsquo;ll see. It is, above all,
+      hatred of him which is to predominate in the cries, for that is the
+      essential thing. That will at last decide our Gaston, who is still
+      uncertain, is he not?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And how can he be anything else?&rdquo; said Fontrailles. &ldquo;If
+      he were to take a resolution to-day in our favor it would be unfortunate.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why so?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because we should be sure that to-morrow morning he would be
+      against us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind,&rdquo; replied the Abbe; &ldquo;the Queen is firm.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And she has heart also,&rdquo; said Olivier; &ldquo;that gives me
+      some hope for Cinq-Mars, who, it seems to me, has sometimes dared to frown
+      when he looked at her.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Child that you are, how little do you yet know of the court!
+      Nothing can sustain him but the hand of the King, who loves him as a son;
+      and as for the Queen, if her heart beats, it is for the past and not for
+      the future. But these trifles are not to the purpose. Tell me, dear
+      friend, are you sure of your young Advocate whom I see roaming about
+      there? Is he all right?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly; he is an excellent Royalist. He would throw the Cardinal
+      into the river in an instant. Besides, it is Fournier of Loudun; that is
+      saying everything.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, this is the kind of men we like. But take care of
+      yourselves, Messieurs; some one comes from the Rue Saint-Honore.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who goes there?&rdquo; cried the foremost of the troop to some men
+      who were advancing. &ldquo;Royalists or Cardinalists?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gaston and Le Grand,&rdquo; replied the newcomers, in low tones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is Montresor and Monsieur&rsquo;s people,&rdquo; said
+      Fontrailles. &ldquo;We may soon begin.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, &lsquo;par la corbleu&rsquo;!&rdquo; said the newcomer,
+      &ldquo;for the Cardinalists will pass at three o&rsquo;clock. Some one
+      told us so just now.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are they going?&rdquo; said Fontrailles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are more than two hundred of them to escort Monsieur de
+      Chavigny, who is going to see the old cat at Narbonne, they say. They
+      thought it safer to pass by the Louvre.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we will give him a velvet paw!&rdquo; said the Abbe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he finished saying this, a noise of carriages and horses was heard.
+      Several men in cloaks rolled an enormous stone into the middle of the
+      street. The foremost cavaliers passed rapidly through the crowd, pistols
+      in hand, suspecting that something unusual was going on; but the
+      postilion, who drove the horses of the first carriage, ran upon the stone
+      and fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whose carriage is this which thus crushes foot-passengers?&rdquo;
+      cried the cloakmen, all at once. &ldquo;It is tyrannical. It can be no
+      other than a friend of the Cardinal de la Rochelle.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [During the long siege of La Rochelle, this name was given to
+   Cardinal Richelieu, to ridicule his obstinacy in commanding as
+   General-in-Chief, and claiming for himself the merit of taking that
+   town.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is one who fears not the friends of the little Le Grand,&rdquo;
+      exclaimed a voice from the open door, from which a man threw himself upon
+      a horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drive these Cardinalists into the river!&rdquo; cried a shrill,
+      piercing voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was a signal for the pistol-shots which were furiously exchanged on
+      every side, and which lighted up this tumultuous and sombre scene. The
+      clashing of swords and trampling of horses did not prevent the cries from
+      being heard on one side: &ldquo;Down with the minister! Long live the
+      King! Long live Monsieur and Monsieur le Grand! Down with the
+      red-stockings!&rdquo; On the other: &ldquo;Long live his Eminence! Long
+      live the great Cardinal! Death to the factious! Long live the King!&rdquo;
+      For the name of the King presided over every hatred, as over every
+      affection, at this strange time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The men on foot had succeeded, however, in placing the two carriages
+      across the quay so as to make a rampart against Chavigny&rsquo;s horses,
+      and from this, between the wheels, through the doors and springs,
+      overwhelmed them with pistol-shots, and dismounted many. The tumult was
+      frightful, but suddenly the gates of the Louvre were thrown open, and two
+      squadrons of the body-guard came out at a trot. Most of them carried
+      torches in their hands to light themselves and those they were about to
+      attack. The scene changed. As the guards reached each of the men on foot,
+      the latter was seen to stop, remove his hat, make himself known, and name
+      himself; and the guards withdrew, sometimes saluting him, and sometimes
+      shaking him by the hand. This succor to Chavigny&rsquo;s carriages was
+      then almost useless, and only served to augment the confusion. The
+      body-guards, as if to satisfy their consciences, rushed through the throng
+      of duellists, saying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen, gentlemen, be moderate!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when two gentlemen had decidedly crossed swords, and were in active
+      conflict, the guard who beheld them stopped to judge the fight, and
+      sometimes even to favor the one who he thought was of his opinion, for
+      this body, like all France, had their Royalists and their Cardinalists.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The windows of the Louvre were lighted one after another, and many women&rsquo;s
+      heads were seen behind the little lozenge-shaped panes, attentively
+      watching the combat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Numerous Swiss patrols came out with flambeaux.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These soldiers were easily distinguished by an odd uniform. The right
+      sleeve was striped blue and red, and the silk stocking of the right leg
+      was red; the left side was striped with blue, red, and white, and the
+      stocking was white and red. It had, no doubt, been hoped in the royal
+      chateau that this foreign troop would disperse the crowd, but they were
+      mistaken. These impassible soldiers coldly and exactly executed, without
+      going beyond, the orders they had received, circulating symmetrically
+      among the armed groups, which they divided for a moment, returning before
+      the gate with perfect precision, and resuming their ranks as on parade,
+      without informing themselves whether the enemies among whom they had
+      passed had rejoined or not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the noise, for a moment appeased, became general by reason of personal
+      disputes. In every direction challenges, insults, and imprecations were
+      heard. It seemed as if nothing but the destruction of one of the two
+      parties could put an end to the combat, when loud cries, or rather
+      frightful howls, raised the tumult to its highest pitch. The Abbe de
+      Gondi, dragging a cavalier by his cloak to pull him down, exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here are my people! Fontrailles, now you will see something worth
+      while! Look! look already who they run! It is really charming.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he abandoned his hold, and mounted upon a stone to contemplate the
+      manoeuvres of his troops, crossing his arms with the importance of a
+      General of an army. Day was beginning to break, and from the end of the
+      Ile St.-Louis a crowd of men, women, and children of the lowest dregs of
+      the people was seen rapidly advancing, casting toward heaven and the
+      Louvre strange vociferations. Girls carried long swords; children dragged
+      great halberds and pikes of the time of the League; old women in rags
+      pulled by cords old carts full of rusty and broken arms; workmen of every
+      trade, the greater number drunk, followed, armed with clubs, forks,
+      lances, shovels, torches, stakes, crooks, levers, sabres, and spits. They
+      sang and howled alternately, counterfeiting with atrocious yells the cries
+      of a cat, and carrying as a flag one of these animals suspended from a
+      pole and wrapped in a red rag, thus representing the Cardinal, whose taste
+      for cats was generally known. Public criers rushed about, red and
+      breathless, throwing on the pavement and sticking up on the parapets, the
+      posts, the walls of the houses, and even on the palace, long satires in
+      short stanzas upon the personages of the time. Butcher-boys and scullions,
+      carrying large cutlasses, beat the charge upon saucepans, and dragged in
+      the mud a newly slaughtered pig, with the red cap of a chorister on its
+      head. Young and vigorous men, dressed as women, and painted with a coarse
+      vermilion, were yelling, &ldquo;We are mothers of families ruined by
+      Richelieu! Death to the Cardinal!&rdquo; They carried in their arms
+      figures of straw that looked like children, which they threw into the
+      river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this disgusting mob overran the quays with its thousands of imps, it
+      produced a strange effect upon the combatants, and entirely contrary to
+      that expected by their patron. The enemies on both sides lowered their
+      arms and separated. Those of Monsieur and Cinq-Mars were revolted at
+      seeing themselves succored by such auxiliaries, and, themselves aiding the
+      Cardinal&rsquo;s gentlemen to remount their horses and to gain their
+      carriages, and their valets to convey the wounded to them, gave their
+      adversaries personal rendezvous to terminate their quarrel upon a ground
+      more secret and more worthy of them. Ashamed of the superiority of numbers
+      and the ignoble troops which they seemed to command, foreseeing, perhaps,
+      for the first time the fearful consequences of their political
+      machinations, and what was the scum they were stirring up, they withdrew,
+      drawing their large hats over their eyes, throwing their cloaks over their
+      shoulders, and avoiding the daylight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have spoiled all, my dear Abbe, with this mob,&rdquo; said
+      Fontrailles, stamping his foot, to Gondi, who was already sufficiently
+      nonplussed; &ldquo;your good uncle has fine parishioners!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not my fault,&rdquo; replied Gondi, in a sullen tone; &ldquo;these
+      idiots came an hour too late. Had they arrived in the night, they would
+      not have been seen, which spoils the effect somewhat, to speak the truth
+      (for I grant that daylight is detrimental to them), and we would only have
+      heard the voice of the people &lsquo;Vox populi, vox Dei&rsquo;.
+      Nevertheless, no great harm has been done. They will by their numbers give
+      us the means of escaping without being known, and, after all, our task is
+      ended; we did not wish the death of the sinner. Chavigny and his men are
+      worthy fellows, whom I love; if he is only slightly wounded, so much the
+      better. Adieu; I am going to see Monsieur de Bouillon, who has arrived
+      from Italy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Olivier,&rdquo; said Fontrailles, &ldquo;go at once to
+      Saint-Germain with Fournier and Ambrosio; I will go and give an account to
+      Monsieur, with Montresor.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All separated, and disgust accomplished, with these highborn men, what
+      force could not bring about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus ended this fray, likely to bring forth great misfortunes. No one was
+      killed in it. The cavaliers, having gained a few scratches and lost a few
+      purses, resumed their route by the side of the carriages along the
+      by-streets; the others escaped, one by one, through the populace they had
+      attracted. The miserable wretches who composed it, deprived of the chief
+      of the troops, still remained two hours, yelling and screaming until the
+      effect of their wine was gone, and the cold had extinguished at once the
+      fire of their blood and that of their enthusiasm. At the windows of the
+      houses, on the quay of the city, and along the walls, the thoughtful and
+      genuine people of Paris watched with a sorrowful air and in mournful
+      silence these preludes of disorder; while the various bodies of merchants,
+      dressed in black and preceded by their provosts, walked slowly and
+      courageously through the populace toward the Palais de justice, where the
+      parliament was to assemble, to make complaint of these terrible nocturnal
+      scenes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The apartments of Gaston d&rsquo;Orleans were in great confusion. This
+      Prince occupied the wing of the Louvre parallel with the Tuileries; and
+      his windows looked into the court on one side, and on the other over a
+      mass of little houses and narrow streets which almost entirely covered the
+      place. He had risen precipitately, awakened suddenly by the report of the
+      firearms, had thrust his feet into large square-toed slippers with high
+      heels, and, wrapped in a large silk dressing-gown, covered with golden
+      ornaments embroidered in relief, walked to and fro in his bedroom, sending
+      every minute a fresh lackey to see what was going on, and ordering them
+      immediately to go for the Abbe de la Riviere, his general counsellor; but
+      he was unfortunately out of Paris. At every pistol-shot this timid Prince
+      rushed to the windows, without seeing anything but some flambeaux, which
+      were carried quickly along. It was in vain he was told that the cries he
+      heard were in his favor; he did not cease to walk up and down the
+      apartments, in the greatest disorder-his long black hair dishevelled, and
+      his blue eyes open and enlarged by disquiet and terror. He was still thus
+      when Montresor and Fontrailles at length arrived and found him beating his
+      breast, and repeating a thousand times, &ldquo;Mea culpa, mea culpa!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have come at last!&rdquo; he exclaimed from a distance, running
+      to meet them. &ldquo;Come! quick! What is going on? What are they doing
+      there? Who are these assassins? What are these cries?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They cry, &lsquo;Long live Monsieur!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gaston, without appearing to hear, and holding the door of his chamber
+      open for an instant, that his voice might reach the galleries in which
+      were the people of his household, continued to cry with all his strength,
+      gesticulating violently:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know nothing of all this, and I have authorized nothing. I will
+      not hear anything! I will not know anything! I will never enter into any
+      project! These are rioters who make all this noise; do not speak to me of
+      them, if you wish to be well received here. I am the enemy of no man; I
+      detest such scenes!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fontrailles, who knew the man with whom he had to deal, said nothing, but
+      entered with his friend, that Monsieur might have time to discharge his
+      first fury; and when all was said, and the door carefully shut, he began
+      to speak:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monseigneur,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;we come to ask you a thousand
+      pardons for the impertinence of these people, who will persist in crying
+      out that they desire the death of your enemy, and that they would even
+      wish to make you regent should we have the misfortune to lose his Majesty.
+      Yes, the people are always frank in their discourse; but they are so
+      numerous that all our efforts could not restrain them. It was truly a cry
+      from the heart&mdash;an explosion of love, which reason could not
+      restrain, and which escaped all bounds.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what has happened, then?&rdquo; interrupted Gaston, somewhat
+      calmed. &ldquo;What have they been doing these four hours that I have
+      heard them?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That love,&rdquo; said Montresor, coldly, &ldquo;as Monsieur de
+      Fontrailles had the honor of telling you, so escaped all rule and bounds
+      that we ourselves were carried away by it, and felt seized with that
+      enthusiasm which always transports us at the mere name of Monsieur, and
+      which leads us on to things which we had not premeditated.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what, then, have you done?&rdquo; said the Prince.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those things,&rdquo; replied Fontrailles, &ldquo;of which Monsieur
+      de Montresor had the honor to speak to Monsieur are precisely those which
+      I foresaw here yesterday evening, when I had the honor of conversing with
+      you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is not the question,&rdquo; interrupted Gaston. &ldquo;You
+      cannot say that I have ordered or authorized anything. I meddle with
+      nothing; I know nothing of government.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I admit,&rdquo; continued Fontrailles, &ldquo;that your Highness
+      ordered nothing, but you permitted me to tell you that I foresaw that this
+      night would be a troubled one about two o&rsquo;clock, and I hoped that
+      your astonishment would not have been too great.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Prince, recovering himself little by little, and seeing that he did
+      not alarm the two champions, having also upon his conscience and reading
+      in their eyes the recollection of the consent which he had given them the
+      evening before, sat down upon the side of his bed, crossed his arms, and,
+      looking at them with the air of a judge, again said in a commanding tone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what, then, have you done?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, hardly anything, Monseigneur,&rdquo; said Fontrailles. &ldquo;Chance
+      led us to meet in the crowd some of our friends who had a quarrel with
+      Monsieur de Chavigny&rsquo;s coachman, who was driving over them. A few
+      hot words ensued and rough gestures, and a few scratches, which kept
+      Monsieur de Chavigny waiting, and that is all.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Absolutely all,&rdquo; repeated Montresor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, all?&rdquo; exclaimed Gaston, much moved, and tramping about
+      the chamber. &ldquo;And is it, then, nothing to stop the carriage of a
+      friend of the Cardinal-Duke? I do not like such scenes. I have already
+      told you so. I do not hate the Cardinal; he is certainly a great
+      politician, a very great politician. You have compromised me horribly; it
+      is known that Montresor is with me. If he has been recognized, they will
+      say that I sent him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Chance,&rdquo; said Montresor, &ldquo;threw in my way this peasant&rsquo;s
+      dress, which Monsieur may see under my cloak, and which, for that reason,
+      I preferred to any other.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gaston breathed again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are sure, then, that you have not been recognized. You
+      understand, my dear friend, how painful it would be to me. You must admit
+      yourself&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sure of it!&rdquo; exclaimed the Prince&rsquo;s gentleman. &ldquo;I
+      would stake my head and my share in Paradise that no one has seen my
+      features or called my by my name.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; continued Gaston, again seating himself on his bed,
+      and assuming a calmer air, in which even a slight satisfaction was
+      visible, &ldquo;tell me, then, what has happened.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fontrailles took upon himself the recital, in which, as we may suppose,
+      the populace played a great part and Monsieur&rsquo;s people none, and in
+      his peroration he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From our windows even, Monseigneur, respectable mothers of families
+      might have been seen, driven by despair, throwing their children into the
+      Seine, cursing Richelieu.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, it is dreadful!&rdquo; exclaimed the Prince, indignant, or
+      feigning to be so, and to believe in these excesses. &ldquo;Is it, then,
+      true that he is so generally detested? But we must allow that he deserves
+      it. What! his ambition and avarice have, then, reduced to this extremity
+      the good inhabitants of Paris, whom I love so much.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Monseigneur,&rdquo; replied the orator. &ldquo;And it is not
+      Paris alone, it is all France, which, with us, entreats you to decide upon
+      delivering her from this tyrant. All is ready; nothing is wanting but a
+      sign from your august head to annihilate this pygmy, who has attempted to
+      assault the royal house itself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas! Heaven is my witness that I myself forgive him!&rdquo;
+      answered Gaston, raising up his eyes. &ldquo;But I can no longer bear the
+      cries of the people. Yes, I will help them; that is to say,&rdquo;
+      continued the Prince, &ldquo;so that my dignity is not compromised, and
+      that my name does not appear in the matter.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, but it is precisely that which we want,&rdquo; exclaimed
+      Fontrailles, a little more at his ease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See, Monseigneur, there are already some names to put after yours,
+      who will not fear to sign. I will tell you them immediately, if you wish
+      it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But&mdash;but,&rdquo; said the Duc d&rsquo;Orleans, timidly,
+      &ldquo;do you know that it is a conspiracy which you propose to me so
+      coolly?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fie, Monseigneur, men of honor like us! a conspiracy! Oh! not at
+      all; a league at the utmost, a slight combination to give a direction to
+      the unanimous wish of the nation and the court&mdash;that is all.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that is not so clear, for, after all, this affair will be
+      neither general nor public; therefore, it is a conspiracy. You will not
+      avow that you are concerned in it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I, Monseigneur! Excuse me to all the world, since the kingdom is
+      already in it, and I am of the kingdom. And who would not sign his name
+      after that of Messieurs de Bouillon and Cinq-Mars?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;After, perhaps, not before,&rdquo; said Gaston, fixing his eyes
+      upon Fontrailles more keenly than he had expected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter hesitated a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, what would Monseigneur do should I tell him the names
+      after which he could sign his?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! ha! this is amusing,&rdquo; answered the Prince, laughing;
+      &ldquo;know you not that above mine there are not many? I see but one.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if there be one, will Monseigneur promise to sign that of
+      Gaston beneath it?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, parbleu! with all my heart. I risk nothing there, for I see
+      none but that of the King, who surely is not of the party.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, from this moment permit us,&rdquo; said Montresor, &ldquo;to
+      take you at your word, and deign at present to consent to two things only:
+      to see Monsieur de Bouillon in the Queen&rsquo;s apartments, and Monsieur
+      the master of the horse at the King&rsquo;s palace.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Agreed!&rdquo; said Monsieur, gayly, tapping Montresor on the
+      shoulder. &ldquo;I will to-day wait on my sister-in-law at her toilette,
+      and I will invite my brother to hunt the stag with me at Chambord.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two friends asked nothing further, and were themselves surprised at
+      their work. They never had seen so much resolution in their chief.
+      Accordingly, fearing to lead him to a topic which might divert him from
+      the path he had adopted, they hastened to turn the conversation upon other
+      subjects, and retired in delight, leaving as their last words in his ear
+      that they relied upon his keeping his promise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV. THE ALCOVE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      While a prince was thus reassured with difficulty by those who surrounded
+      him, and allowed them to see a terror which might have proved contagious,
+      a princess more exposed to accidents, more isolated by the indifference of
+      her husband, weaker by nature and by the timidity which is the result of
+      the absence of happiness, on her side set the example of the calmest
+      courage and the most pious resignation, and tranquillized her terrified
+      suite; this was the Queen. Having slept hardly an hour, she heard shrill
+      cries behind the doors and the thick tapestries of her chamber. She
+      ordered her women to open the door, and the Duchesse de Chevreuse, in her
+      night attire, and wrapped in a great cloak, fell, nearly fainting, at the
+      foot of her bed, followed by four of her ladies-in-waiting and three of
+      the women of the bed-chamber. Her delicate feet were bare, and bleeding
+      from a wound she had received in running.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She cried, weeping like a child, that a pistol-shot had broken her
+      shutters and her window-panes, and had wounded her; she entreated the
+      Queen to send her into exile, where she would be more tranquil than in a
+      country where they wished to assassinate her because she was the friend of
+      her Majesty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her hair was in great disorder, and fell to her feet. It was her chief
+      beauty; and the young Queen thought that this toilette was less the result
+      of chance than might have been imagined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my dear, what has happened?&rdquo; she said to her with
+      sang-froid. &ldquo;You look like a Magdalen, but in her youth, and before
+      she repented. It is probable that if they wish to harm any one here it is
+      I; calm yourself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Madame! save me, protect me! it is Richelieu who pursues me, I
+      am sure!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of pistols, which was then heard more distinctly, convinced the
+      Queen that the terrors of Madame de Chevreuse were not vain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come and dress me, Madame de Motteville!&rdquo; cried she. But that
+      lady had completely lost her self-possession, and, opening one of those
+      immense ebony coffers which then answered the purpose of wardrobes, took
+      from it a casket of the Princess&rsquo;s diamonds to save it, and did not
+      listen to her. The other women had seen on a window the reflection of
+      torches, and, imagining that the palace was on fire, threw jewels, laces,
+      golden vases, and even the china, into sheets which they intended to lower
+      into the street. At this moment Madame de Guemenee arrived, a little more
+      dressed than the Duchesse de Chevreuse, but taking events still more
+      tragically. Her terror inspired the Queen with a slight degree of fear,
+      because of the ceremonious and placid character she was known to possess.
+      She entered without curtseying, pale as a spectre, and said with
+      volubility:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame, it is time to make our confession. The Louvre is attacked,
+      and all the populace are arriving from the city, I have been told.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Terror silenced and rendered motionless all the persons present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall die!&rdquo; exclaimed the Duchesse de Chevreuse, still on
+      her knees. &ldquo;Ah, my God! why did I leave England? Yes, let us
+      confess. I confess aloud. I have loved&mdash;I have been loved by&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the Queen, &ldquo;I do not undertake to hear your
+      confession to the end. That would not perhaps be the least of my dangers,
+      of which, however, you think little.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The coolness of Anne of Austria, and this last severe observation,
+      however, restored a little calm to this beautiful personage, who rose in
+      confusion, and perceiving the disordered state of her toilet, went to
+      repair it as she best could in a closet near by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dona Stefania,&rdquo; said the Queen to one of her women, the only
+      Spaniard whom she had retained, &ldquo;go seek the captain of the guards.
+      It is time that I should see men at last, and hear something reasonable.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She said this in Spanish, and the mystery of this order, spoken in a
+      tongue which the ladies did not understand, restored those in the chamber
+      to their senses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The waiting-woman was telling her beads, but she rose from the corner of
+      the alcove in which she had sought refuge, and hastened to obey her
+      mistress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The signs of revolt and the evidences of terror became meantime more
+      distinct. In the great court of the Louvre was heard the trampling of the
+      horses of the guards, the orders of the chiefs, the rolling of the Queen&rsquo;s
+      carriages, which were being prepared, should it be necessary to fly. The
+      rattling of the iron chains dragged along the pavement to form barricades
+      in case of an attack, hurried steps in the corridor, the clash of arms,
+      the confused cries of the people, which rose and fell, went and came
+      again, like the noise of the waves and the winds. The door once more
+      opened, and this time it was to admit a very charming person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expected you, dear Marie,&rdquo; said the Queen, extending her
+      arms to the Duchesse de Mantua. &ldquo;You have been more courageous than
+      any of us; you are attired fit to be seen by all the court.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was not in bed, fortunately,&rdquo; replied the young Princesse
+      de Gonzaga, casting down her eyes. &ldquo;I saw all these people from the
+      windows. O Madame, Madame, fly! I implore you to escape by the secret
+      stairway, and let us remain in your place. They might take one of us for
+      the Queen.&rdquo; And she added, with tears, &ldquo;I have heard cries of
+      death. Fly, Madame! I have no throne to lose. You are the daughter, the
+      wife, and the mother of kings. Save yourself, and leave us here!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have more to lose than I, &lsquo;m&rsquo;amaie&rsquo;, in
+      beauty, youth, and, I hope, in happiness,&rdquo; said the Queen, with a
+      gracious smile, giving the Duchess her beautiful hands to kiss. &ldquo;Remain
+      in my alcove and welcome; but we will both remain there. The only service
+      I accept from you, my sweet child, is to bring to my bed that little
+      golden casket which my poor Motteville has left on the ground, and which
+      contains all that I hold most precious.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, as she took it, she whispered in Marie&rsquo;s ear:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Should any misfortune happen to me, swear that you will throw it
+      into the Seine.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will obey you, Madame, as my benefactress and my second mother,&rdquo;
+      Marie answered, weeping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of the conflict redoubled on the quays, and the windows
+      reflected the flash of the firearms, of which they heard the explosion.
+      The captain of the guards and the captain of the Swiss sent for orders
+      from the Queen through Dona Stefania.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I permit them to enter,&rdquo; said the Queen. &ldquo;Stand aside,
+      ladies. I am a man in a moment like this; and I ought to be so.&rdquo;
+      Then, raising the bed-curtains, she continued, addressing the two
+      officers:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen, first remember that you answer with your heads for the
+      life of the princes, my children. You know that, Monsieur de Guitaut?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sleep across their doorway, Madame; but this disturbance does not
+      threaten either them or your Majesty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well; do not think of me until after them,&rdquo; interrupted
+      the Queen, &ldquo;and protect indiscriminately all who are threatened. You
+      also hear me, Monsieur de Bassompierre; you are a gentleman. Forget that
+      your uncle is yet in the Bastille, and do your duty by the grandsons of
+      the dead King, his friend.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was a young man, with a frank, open countenance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your Majesty,&rdquo; said he, with a slight German accent, &ldquo;may
+      see that I have forgotten my family, and not yours.&rdquo; And he
+      displayed his left hand despoiled of two fingers, which had just been cut
+      off. &ldquo;I have still another hand,&rdquo; said he, bowing and
+      withdrawing with Guitaut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen, much moved, rose immediately, and, despite the prayers of the
+      Princesse de Guemenee, the tears of Marie de Gonzaga, and the cries of
+      Madame de Chevreuse, insisted upon placing herself at the window, and half
+      opened it, leaning upon the shoulder of the Duchesse de Mantua.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do I hear?&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;They are crying, &lsquo;Long
+      live the King! Long live the Queen!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The people, imagining they recognized her, redoubled their cries at this
+      moment, and shouted louder than ever, &ldquo;Down with the Cardinal! Long
+      live Monsieur le Grand!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie shuddered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is the matter with you?&rdquo; said the Queen, observing her.
+      But as she did not answer, and trembled in every limb, this good and
+      gentle Princess appeared not to perceive it; and, paying the greatest
+      attention to the cries and movements of the populace, she even exaggerated
+      an inquietude which she had not felt since the first name had reached her
+      ear. An hour later, when they came to tell her that the crowd only awaited
+      a sign from her hand to withdraw, she waved it graciously, and with an air
+      of satisfaction. But this joy was far from being complete, for her heart
+      was still troubled by many things, and, above all, by the presentiment of
+      the regency. The more she leaned forward to show herself, the more she
+      beheld the revolting scenes which the increasing light revealed. Terror
+      took possession of her soul as it became necessary to appear calm and
+      confiding; and her heart was saddened at the very gayety of her words and
+      countenance. Exposed to all eyes, she felt herself a mere woman, and
+      shuddered in looking at that people whom she would soon perhaps be called
+      upon to govern, and who already took upon themselves to demand the death
+      of ministers, and to call upon their Queen to appear before them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She saluted them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A hundred and fifty years later that salute was repeated by another
+      princess, like herself of Austrian blood, and Queen of France. The
+      monarchy without foundation, such as Richelieu made it, was born and died
+      between these two salutes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Princess at last closed her windows, and hastened to dismiss her timid
+      suite. The thick curtains fell again over the barred windows; and the room
+      was no longer lighted by a day which was odious to her. Large white wax
+      flambeaux burned in candelabra, in the form of golden arms, which stand
+      out from the framed and flowered tapestries with which the walls were
+      hung. She remained alone with Marie de Mantua; and reentering with her the
+      enclosure which was formed by the royal balustrade, she fell upon her bed,
+      fatigued by her courage and her smiles, and burst into tears, leaning her
+      head upon her pillow. Marie, on her knees upon a velvet footstool, held
+      one of her hands in both hers, and without daring to speak first, leaned
+      her head tremblingly upon it; for until that moment, tears never had been
+      seen in the Queen&rsquo;s eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They remained thus for some minutes. The Princess, then raising herself up
+      by a painful effort, spoke:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not afflict yourself, my child; let me weep. It is such a relief
+      to one who reigns! If you pray to God for me, ask Him to grant me
+      sufficient strength not to hate the enemy who pursues me everywhere, and
+      who will destroy the royal family of France and the monarchy by his
+      boundless ambition. I recognize him in all that has taken place; I see him
+      in this tumultuous revolt.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, Madame! is he not at Narbonne?&mdash;for it is the Cardinal
+      of whom you speak, no doubt; and have you not heard that these cries were
+      for you, and against him?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, &lsquo;m&rsquo;amie&rsquo;, he is three hundred leagues away
+      from us, but his fatal genius keeps guard at the door. If these cries have
+      been heard, it is because he has allowed them; if these men were
+      assembled, it is because they have not yet reached the hour which he has
+      destined for their destruction. Believe me, I know him; and I have dearly
+      paid for the knowledge of that dark soul. It has cost me all the power of
+      my rank, the pleasures of my age, the affection of my family and even the
+      heart of my husband. He has isolated me from the whole world. He now
+      confines me within a barrier of honors and respect; and formerly he dared,
+      to the scandal of all France, to bring an accusation against myself. They
+      examined my papers, they interrogated me, they made me sign myself guilty,
+      and ask the King&rsquo;s pardon for a fault of which I was ignorant; and I
+      owed to the devotion, and the perhaps eternal imprisonment of a faithful
+      servant, the preservation of this casket which you have saved for me. I
+      read in your looks that you think me too fearful; but do not deceive
+      yourself, as all the court now does. Be sure, my dear child, that this man
+      is everywhere, and that he knows even our thoughts.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [His name was Laporte. Neither the fear of torture nor the hope of
+   the Cardinal&rsquo;s reward could draw from him one word of the Queen&rsquo;s
+   secrets.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, Madame! does he know all that these men have cried under your
+      windows, and the names of those who sent them?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; no doubt he knows it, or has foreseen it. He permits it; he
+      authorizes it, to compromise me in the King&rsquo;s eyes, and keep him
+      forever separated from me. He would complete my humiliation.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the King has not loved him for two years; he loves another.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen smiled; she gazed some time in silence upon the pure and open
+      features of the beautiful Marie, and her look, full of candor, which was
+      languidly raised toward her. She smoothed back the black curls which
+      shaded her noble forehead, and seemed to rest her eyes and her soul in
+      looking at the charming innocence displayed upon so lovely a face. She
+      kissed her cheek, and resumed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You do not suspect, my poor child, a sad truth. It is that the King
+      loves no one, and that those who appear the most in favor will be the
+      soonest abandoned by him, and thrown to him who engulfs and devours all.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, mon Dieu! what is this you tell me?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know how many he has destroyed?&rdquo; continued the Queen,
+      in a low voice, and looking into her eyes as if to read in them all her
+      thoughts, and to make her own penetrate there. &ldquo;Do you know the end
+      of his favorites? Have you been told of the exile of Baradas; of that of
+      Saint-Simon; of the convent of Mademoiselle de la Fayette, the shame of
+      Madame d&rsquo;Hautfort, the death of Chalais? All have fallen before an
+      order from Richelieu to his master. Without this favor, which you mistake
+      for friendship, their lives would have been peaceful. But this favor is
+      mortal; it is a poison. Look at this tapestry, which represents Semele.
+      The favorites of Louis XIII resemble that woman; his attachment devours
+      like this fire, which dazzles and consumes her.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the young Duchess was no longer in a condition to listen to the Queen.
+      She continued to fix her large, dark eyes upon her, dimmed by a veil of
+      tears; her hands trembled in those of Anne of Austria, and her lips
+      quivered with convulsive agitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very cruel, am I not, Marie?&rdquo; continued the Queen, in an
+      extremely sweet voice, and caressing her like a child from whom one would
+      draw an avowal. &ldquo;Oh, yes; no doubt I am very wicked! Your heart is
+      full; you can not bear it, my child. Come, tell me; how do matters stand
+      with you and Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this word grief found a vent, and, still on her knees at the Queen&rsquo;s
+      feet, Marie in her turn shed upon the bosom of the good Princess a deluge
+      of tears, with childish sobs and so violent an agitation of her head and
+      her beautiful shoulders that it seemed as if her heart would break. The
+      Queen waited a long time for the end of this first emotion, rocking her in
+      her arms as if to appease her grief, frequently repeating, &ldquo;My
+      child, my child, do not afflict yourself thus!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Madame!&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;I have been guilty toward
+      you; but I did not reckon upon that heart. I have done wrong, and I shall
+      perhaps be punished severely for it. But, alas! how shall I venture to
+      confess to you, Madame? It was not so much to open my heart to you that
+      was difficult; it was to avow to you that I had need to read there myself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen reflected a moment, laying her finger upon her lips. &ldquo;You
+      are right,&rdquo; she then replied; &ldquo;you are quite right. Marie, it
+      is always the first word which is the most difficult to say; and that
+      difficulty often destroys us. But it must be so; and without this rule one
+      would be often wanting in dignity. Ah, how difficult it is to reign!
+      To-day I would descend into your heart, but I come too late to do you
+      good.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie de Mantua hung her head without making any reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Must I encourage you to speak?&rdquo; said the Queen. &ldquo;Must I
+      remind you that I have almost adopted you for my eldest daughter? that
+      after seeking to unite you with the King&rsquo;s brother, I prepared for
+      you the throne of Poland? Must I do more, Marie? Yes, I must, I will. If
+      afterward you do not open your whole heart to me, I have misjudged you.
+      Open this golden casket; here is the key. Open it fearlessly; do not
+      tremble as I do.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duchesse de Mantua obeyed with hesitation, and beheld in this little
+      chased coffer a knife of rude form, the handle of which was of iron, and
+      the blade very rusty. It lay upon some letters carefully folded, upon
+      which was the name of Buckingham. She would have lifted them; Anne of
+      Austria stopped her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seek nothing further,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;that is all the
+      treasure of the Queen. And it is a treasure; for it is the blood of a man
+      who lives no longer, but who lived for me. He was the most beautiful, the
+      bravest, the most illustrious of the nobles of Europe. He covered himself
+      with the diamonds of the English crown to please me. He raised up a fierce
+      war and armed fleets, which he himself commanded, that he might have the
+      happiness of once fighting him who was my husband. He traversed the seas
+      to gather a flower upon which I had trodden, and ran the risk of death to
+      kiss and bathe with his tears the foot of this bed in the presence of two
+      of my ladies-in-waiting. Shall I say more? Yes, I will say it to you&mdash;I
+      loved him! I love him still in the past more than I could love him in the
+      present. He never knew it, never divined it. This face, these eyes, were
+      marble toward him, while my heart burned and was breaking with grief; but
+      I was the Queen of France!&rdquo; Here Anne of Austria forcibly grasped
+      Marie&rsquo;s arm. &ldquo;Dare now to complain,&rdquo; she continued,
+      &ldquo;if you have not yet ventured to speak to me of your love, and dare
+      now to be silent when I have told you these things!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, yes, Madame, I shall dare to confide my grief to you, since you
+      are to me&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A friend, a woman!&rdquo; interrupted the Queen. &ldquo;I was a
+      woman in my terror, which put you in possession of a secret unknown to the
+      whole world. I am a woman by a love which survives the man I loved. Speak;
+      tell me! It is now time.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is too late, on the contrary,&rdquo; replied Marie, with a
+      forced smile. &ldquo;Monsieur de Cinq-Mars and I are united forever.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forever!&rdquo; exclaimed the Queen. &ldquo;Can you mean it? And
+      your rank, your name, your future&mdash;is all lost? Do you reserve this
+      despair for your brother, the Duc de Bethel, and all the Gonzagas?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For more than four years I have thought of it. I am resolved; and
+      for ten days we have been affianced.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Affianced!&rdquo; exclaimed the Queen, clasping her hands. &ldquo;You
+      have been deceived, Marie. Who would have dared this without the King&rsquo;s
+      order? It is an intrigue which I will know. I am sure that you have been
+      misled and deceived.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie hesitated a moment, and then said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing is more simple, Madame, than our attachment. I inhabited,
+      you know, the old chateau of Chaumont, with the Marechale d&rsquo;Effiat,
+      the mother of Monsieur de Cinq-Mars. I had retired there to mourn the
+      death of my father; and it soon happened that Monsieur de Cinq-Mars had to
+      deplore the loss of his. In this numerous afflicted family, I saw his
+      grief only, which was as profound as mine. All that he said, I had already
+      thought, and when we spoke of our afflictions we found them wholly alike.
+      As I had been the first to suffer, I was better acquainted with sorrow
+      than he; and I endeavored to console him by telling him all that I had
+      suffered, so that in pitying me he forgot himself. This was the beginning
+      of our love, which, as you see, had its birth, as it were, between two
+      tombs.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God grant, my sweet, that it may have a happy termination!&rdquo;
+      said the Queen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope so, Madame, since you pray for me,&rdquo; continued Marie.
+      &ldquo;Besides, everything now smiles upon me; but at that time I was very
+      miserable. The news arrived one day at the chateau that the Cardinal had
+      called Monsieur de Cinq-Mars to the army. It seemed to me that I was again
+      deprived of one of my relatives; and yet we were strangers. But Monsieur
+      de Bassompierre spoke without ceasing of battles and death. I retired
+      every evening in grief, and I wept during the night. I thought at first
+      that my tears flowed for the past, but I soon perceived that it was for
+      the future; and I felt that they could not be the same tears, since I
+      wished to conceal them. Some time passed in the expectation of his
+      departure. I saw him every day; and I pitied him for having to depart,
+      because he repeated to me every instant that he would have wished to live
+      eternally as he then did, in his own country and with us. He was thus
+      without ambition until the day of his departure, because he knew not
+      whether he was&mdash;whether he was&mdash;I dare not say it to your
+      Majesty&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie blushed, cast down her humid eyes, and smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well!&rdquo; said the Queen, &ldquo;whether he was beloved,&mdash;is
+      it not so?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And in the evening, Madame, he left, ambitious.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is evident, certainly. He left,&rdquo; said Anne of Austria,
+      somewhat relieved; &ldquo;but he has been back two years, and you have
+      seen him?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seldom, Madame,&rdquo; said the young Duchess, proudly; &ldquo;and
+      always in the presence of the priest, before whom I have promised to be
+      the wife of no other than Cinq-Mars.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it really, then, a marriage? Have you dared to do it? I shall
+      inquire. But, Heaven, what faults! how many faults in the few words I have
+      heard! Let me reflect upon them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, speaking aloud to herself, the Queen continued, her eyes and head
+      bent in the attitude of reflection:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Reproaches are useless and cruel if the evil is done. The past is
+      no longer ours; let us think of the future. Cinq-Mars is brave, able, and
+      even profound in his ideas. I have observed that he has done much in two
+      years, and I now see that it was for Marie. He comports himself well; he
+      is worthy of her in my eyes, but not so in the eyes of Europe. He must
+      rise yet higher. The Princesse de Mantua can not, may not, marry less than
+      a prince. He must become one. By myself I can do nothing; I am not the
+      Queen, I am the neglected wife of the King. There is only the Cardinal,
+      the eternal Cardinal, and he is his enemy; and perhaps this disturbance&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas! it is the beginning of war between them. I saw it at once.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is lost then!&rdquo; exclaimed the Queen, embracing Marie.
+      &ldquo;Pardon me, my child, for thus afflicting you; but in times like
+      these we must see all and say all. Yes, he is lost if he does not himself
+      overthrow this wicked man&mdash;for the King will not renounce him; force
+      alone&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will overthrow him, Madame. He will do it, if you will assist
+      him. You are the divinity of France. Oh, I conjure you, protect the angel
+      against the demon! It is your cause, that of your royal family, that of
+      all your nation.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is, above all, your cause, my child; and it is as such that I
+      will embrace it to the utmost extent of my power. That is not great, as I
+      have told you; but such as it is, I lend it to you entirely, provided,
+      however, that this angel does not stoop to commit mortal sins,&rdquo;
+      added she, with a meaning look. &ldquo;I heard his name pronounced this
+      night by voices most unworthy of him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, Madame, I would swear that he knows nothing of it!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, my child, do not speak of State affairs. You are not yet
+      learned enough in them. Let me sleep, if I can, before the hour of my
+      toilette. My eyes are burning, and yours also, perhaps.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saying these words, the amiable Queen laid her head upon the pillow which
+      covered the casket, and soon Marie saw her fall asleep through sheer
+      fatigue. She then rose, and, seating herself in a great, tapestried,
+      square armchair, clasped her hands upon her knees, and began to reflect
+      upon her painful situation. Consoled by the aspect of her gentle
+      protectress, she often raised her eyes to watch her slumber, and sent her
+      in secret all the blessings which love showers upon those who protect it,
+      sometimes kissing the curls of her blond hair, as if by this kiss she
+      could convey to her soul all the ideas favorable to the thought ever
+      present to her mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen&rsquo;s slumber was prolonged, while Marie thought and wept.
+      However, she remembered that at ten o&rsquo;clock she must appear at the
+      royal toilette before all the court. She resolved to cast aside
+      reflection, to dry her tears, and she took a thick folio volume placed
+      upon a table inlaid with enamel and medallions; it was the &lsquo;Astree&rsquo;
+      of M. d&rsquo;Urfe&mdash;a work &lsquo;de belle galanterie&rsquo; adored
+      by the fair prudes of the court. The unsophisticated and straightforward
+      mind of Marie could not enter into these pastoral loves. She was too
+      simple to understand the &lsquo;bergeres du Lignon&rsquo;, too clever to
+      be pleased at their discourse, and too impassioned to feel their
+      tenderness. However, the great popularity of the romance so far influenced
+      her that she sought to compel herself to take an interest in it; and,
+      accusing herself internally every time that she felt the ennui which
+      exhaled from the pages of the book, she ran through it with impatience to
+      find something to please and transport her. An engraving arrested her
+      attention. It represented the shepherdess Astree with high-heeled shoes, a
+      corset, and an immense farthingale, standing on tiptoe to watch floating
+      down the river the tender Celadon, drowning himself in despair at having,
+      been somewhat coldly received in the morning. Without explaining to
+      herself the reason of the taste and accumulated fallacies of this picture,
+      she sought, in turning over the pages, something which could fix her
+      attention; she saw the word &ldquo;Druid.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! here is a great character,&rdquo; said she. &ldquo;I shall no
+      doubt read of one of those mysterious sacrificers of whom Britain, I am
+      told, still preserves the monuments; but I shall see him sacrificing men.
+      That would be a spectacle of horror; however, let us read it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Saying this, Marie read with repugnance, knitting her brows, and nearly
+      trembling, the following:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;The Druid Adamas delicately called the shepherds Pimandre,
+   Ligdamont, and Clidamant, newly arrived from Calais. &lsquo;This
+   adventure can not terminate,&rsquo; said he, &lsquo;but by the extremity of
+   love. The soul, when it loves, transforms itself into the object
+   beloved; it is to represent this that my agreeable enchantments will
+   show you in this fountain the nymph Sylvia, whom you all three love.
+   The high-priest Amasis is about to come from Montbrison, and will
+   explain to you the delicacy of this idea. Go, then, gentle
+   shepherds! If your desires are well regulated, they will not cause
+   you any torments; and if they are not so, you will be punished by
+   swoonings similar to those of Celadon, and the shepherdess Galatea,
+   whom the inconstant Hercules abandoned in the mountains of Auvergne,
+   and who gave her name to the tender country of the Gauls; or you
+   will be stoned by the shepherdesses of Lignon, as was the ferocious
+   Amidor. The great nymph of this cave has made an enchantment.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      The enchantment of the great nymph was complete on the Princess, who had
+      hardly sufficient strength to find out with a trembling hand, toward the
+      end of the book, that the Druid Adamas was an ingenious allegory,
+      representing the Lieutenant-General of Montbrison, of the family of the
+      Papons. Her weary eyes closed, and the great book slipped from her lap to
+      the cushion of velvet upon which her feet were placed, and where the
+      beautiful Astree and the gallant Celadon reposed luxuriously, less
+      immovable than Marie de Mantua, vanquished by them and by profound
+      slumber.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI. THE CONFUSION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      This same morning, the various events of which we have seen in the
+      apartments of Gaston d&rsquo;Orleans and of the Queen, the calm and
+      silence of study reigned in a modest cabinet of a large house near the
+      Palais de justice. A bronze lamp, of a gothic shape, struggling with the
+      coming day, threw its red light upon a mass of papers and books which
+      covered a large table; it lighted the bust of L&rsquo;Hopital, that of
+      Montaigne the essayist, the President de Thou, and of King Louis XIII.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A fireplace sufficiently large for a man to enter and sit there was
+      occupied by a large fire burning upon enormous andirons. Upon one of these
+      was placed the foot of the studious De Thou, who, already risen, examined
+      with attention the new works of Descartes and Grotius. He was writing upon
+      his knee his notes upon these books of philosophy and politics, which were
+      then the general subjects of conversation; but at this moment the &lsquo;Meditations
+      Metaphysiques&rsquo; absorbed all his attention. The philosopher of
+      Touraine enchanted the young counsellor. Often, in his enthusiasm, he
+      struck the book, uttering exclamations of admiration; sometimes he took a
+      sphere placed near him, and, turning it with his fingers, abandoned
+      himself to the most profound reveries of science; then, led by them to a
+      still greater elevation of mind, he would suddenly throw himself upon his
+      knees before a crucifix, placed upon the chimney-piece, because at the
+      limits of the human mind he had found God. At other times he buried
+      himself in his great armchair, so as to be nearly sitting upon his
+      shoulders, and, placing his two hands upon his eyes, followed in his head
+      the trace of the reasoning of Rene Descartes, from this idea of the first
+      meditation:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;Suppose that we are asleep, and that all these particularities&mdash;
+   that is, that we open our eyes, move our heads, spread our arms&mdash;are
+   nothing but false illusions.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      to this sublime conclusion of the third:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;Only one thing remains to be said; it is that like the idea of
+   myself, that of God is born and produced with me from the time I was
+   created. And certainly it should not be thought strange that God,
+   in creating me, should have implanted in me this idea, to be, as it
+   were, the mark of the workman impressed upon his work.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      These thoughts entirely occupied the mind of the young counsellor, when a
+      loud noise was heard under the windows. He thought that some house on fire
+      excited these prolonged cries, and hastened to look toward the wing of the
+      building occupied by his mother and sisters; but all appeared to sleep
+      there, and the chimneys did not even send forth any smoke, to attest that
+      its inhabitants were even awake. He blessed Heaven for it; and, running to
+      another window, he saw the people, whose exploits we have witnessed,
+      hastening toward the narrow streets which led to the quay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After examining this rabble of women and children, the ridiculous flag
+      which led them, and the rude disguises of the men: &ldquo;It is some
+      popular fete or some carnival comedy,&rdquo; said he; and again returning
+      to the corner of the fire, he placed a large almanac upon the table, and
+      carefully sought in it what saint was honored that day. He looked in the
+      column of the month of December; and, finding at the fourth day of this
+      month the name of Ste.-Barbe, he remembered that he had seen several small
+      cannons and barrels pass, and, perfectly satisfied with the explanation
+      which he had given himself, he hastened to drive away the interruption
+      which had called off his attention, and resumed his quiet studies, rising
+      only to take a book from the shelves of his library, and, after reading in
+      it a phrase, a line, or only a word, he threw it from him upon his table
+      or on the floor, covered in this way with books or papers which he would
+      not trouble himself to return to their places, lest he should break the
+      thread of his reveries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly the door was hastily opened, and a name was announced which he
+      had distinguished among those at the bar&mdash;a man whom his connections
+      with the magistracy had made personally known to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And by what chance, at five o&rsquo;clock in the morning, do I see
+      Monsieur Fournier?&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Are there some unfortunates to
+      defend, some families to be supported by the fruits of his talent, some
+      error to dissipate in us, some virtue to awaken in our hearts? for these
+      are of his accustomed works. You come, perhaps, to inform me of some fresh
+      humiliation of our parliament. Alas! the secret chambers of the Arsenal
+      are more powerful than the ancient magistracy of Clovis. The parliament is
+      on its knees; all is lost, unless it is soon filled with men like
+      yourself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, I do not merit your praise,&rdquo; said the Advocate,
+      entering, accompanied by a grave and aged man, enveloped like himself in a
+      large cloak. &ldquo;I deserve, on the contrary, your censure; and I am
+      almost a penitent, as is Monsieur le Comte du Lude, whom you see here. We
+      come to ask an asylum for the day.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An asylum! and against whom?&rdquo; said De Thou, making them sit
+      down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Against the lowest people in Paris, who wish to have us for chiefs,
+      and from whom we fly. It is odious; the sight, the smell, the ear, and the
+      touch, above all, are too severely wounded by it,&rdquo; said M. du Lude,
+      with a comical gravity. &ldquo;It is too much!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! too much, you say?&rdquo; said De Thou, very much astonished,
+      but not willing to show it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered the Advocate; &ldquo;really, between
+      ourselves, Monsieur le Grand goes too far.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, he pushes things too fast. He will render all our projects
+      abortive,&rdquo; added his companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! and you say he goes too far?&rdquo; replied M. de Thou, rubbing
+      his chin, more and more surprised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three months had passed since his friend Cinq-Mars had been to see him;
+      and he, without feeling much disquieted about it&mdash;knowing that he was
+      at St.-Germain in high favor, and never quitting the King&mdash;was far
+      removed from the news of the court. Absorbed in his grave studies, he
+      never heard of public events till they were forced upon his attention. He
+      knew nothing of current life until the last moment, and often amused his
+      intimate friends by his naive astonishment&mdash;the more so that from a
+      little worldly vanity he desired to have it appear as if he were fully
+      acquainted with the course of events, and tried to conceal the surprise he
+      experienced at every fresh intelligence. He was now in this situation, and
+      to this vanity was added the feeling of friendship; he would not have it
+      supposed that Cinq-Mars had been negligent toward him, and, for his friend&rsquo;s
+      honor even, would appear to be aware of his projects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know very well how we stand now,&rdquo; continued the Advocate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, of course. Well?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Intimate as you are with him, you can not be ignorant that all has
+      been organizing for a year past.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, all has been organizing; but proceed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will admit with us that Monsieur le Grand is wrong?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that is as it may be; but explain yourself. I shall see.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you know upon what we had agreed at the last conference of
+      which he informed you?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! that is to say&mdash;pardon me, I perceive it almost; but set
+      me a little upon the track.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is useless; you no doubt remember what he himself recommended us
+      to do at Marion de Lorme&rsquo;s?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To add no one to our list,&rdquo; said M. du Lude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, yes, yes! I understand,&rdquo; said De Thou; &ldquo;that
+      appears reasonable, very reasonable, truly.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; continued Fournier, &ldquo;he himself has infringed
+      this agreement; for this morning, besides the ragamuffins whom that ferret
+      the Abbe de Gondi brought to us, there was some vagabond captain, who
+      during the night struck with sword and poniard gentlemen of both parties,
+      crying out at the top of his voice, &lsquo;A moi, D&rsquo;Aubijoux! You
+      gained three thousand ducats from me; here are three sword-thrusts for
+      you. &lsquo;A moi&rsquo;, La Chapelle! I will have ten drops of your blood
+      in exchange for my ten pistoles!&rsquo; and I myself saw him attack these
+      gentlemen and many more of both sides, loyally enough, it is true&mdash;for
+      he struck them only in front and on their guard&mdash;but with great
+      success, and with a most revolting impartiality.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Monsieur, and I was about to tell him my opinion,&rdquo;
+      interposed De Lude, &ldquo;when I saw him escape through the crowd like a
+      squirrel, laughing greatly with some suspicious looking men with dark,
+      swarthy faces; I do not doubt, however, that Monsieur de Cinq-Mars sent
+      him, for he gave orders to that Ambrosio whom you must know&mdash;that
+      Spanish prisoner, that rascal whom he has taken for a servant. In faith, I
+      am disgusted with all this; and I was not born to mingle with this
+      canaille.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This, Monsieur,&rdquo; replied Fournier, &ldquo;is very different
+      from the affair at Loudun. There the people only rose, without actually
+      revolting; it was the sensible and estimable part of the populace,
+      indignant at an assassination, and not heated by wine and money. It was a
+      cry raised against an executioner&mdash;a cry of which one could honorably
+      be the organ&mdash;and not these howlings of factious hypocrisy, of a mass
+      of unknown people, the dregs of the mud and sewers of Paris. I confess
+      that I am very tired of what I see; and I have come to entreat you to
+      speak about it to Monsieur le Grand.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou was very much embarrassed during this conversation, and sought in
+      vain to understand what Cinq-Mars could have to do with the people, who
+      appeared to him merely merrymaking; on the other hand, he persisted in not
+      owning his ignorance. It was, however, complete; for the last time he had
+      seen his friend, he had spoken only of the King&rsquo;s horses and
+      stables, of hawking, and of the importance of the King&rsquo;s huntsmen in
+      the affairs of the State, which did not seem to announce vast projects in
+      which the people could take a part. He at last timidly ventured to say:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Messieurs, I promise to do your commission; meanwhile, I offer you
+      my table and beds as long as you please. But to give my advice in this
+      matter is very difficult. By the way, it was not the fete of Sainte-Barbe
+      I saw this morning?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Sainte-Barbe!&rdquo; said Fournier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Sainte-Barbe!&rdquo; echoed Du Lude. &ldquo;They burned powder.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, yes, yes! that is what Monsieur de Thou means,&rdquo; said
+      Fournier, laughing; &ldquo;very good, very good indeed! Yes, I think
+      to-day is Sainte-Barbe.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou was now altogether confused and reduced to silence; as for the
+      others, seeing that they did not understand him, nor he them, they had
+      recourse to silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were sitting thus mute, when the door opened to admit the old tutor
+      of Cinq-Mars, the Abbe Quillet, who entered, limping slightly. He looked
+      very gloomy, retaining none of his former gayety in his air or language;
+      but his look was still animated, and his speech energetic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me, my dear De Thou, that I so early disturb you in your
+      occupations; it is strange, is it not, in a gouty invalid? Ah, time
+      advances; two years ago I did not limp. I was, on the contrary, nimble
+      enough at the time of my journey to Italy; but then fear gives legs as
+      well as wings.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, retiring into the recess of a window, he signed De Thou to come to
+      him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I need hardly remind you, my friend, who are in their secrets, that
+      I affianced them a fortnight ago, as they have told you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, indeed! Whom?&rdquo; exclaimed poor De Thou, fallen from the
+      Charybdis into the Scylla of astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, come, don&rsquo;t affect surprise; you know very well whom,&rdquo;
+      continued the Abbe. &ldquo;But, faith, I fear I have been too complaisant
+      with them, though these two children are really interesting in their love.
+      I fear for him more than for her; I doubt not he is acting very foolishly,
+      judging from the disturbance this morning. We must consult together about
+      it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; said De Thou, very gravely, &ldquo;upon my honor, I do
+      not know what you mean. Who is acting foolishly?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, my dear Monsieur, will you still play the mysterious with me?
+      It is really insulting,&rdquo; said the worthy man, beginning to be angry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, indeed, I mean it not; whom have you affianced?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Again! fie, Monsieur!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what was the disturbance this morning?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are laughing at me! I take my leave,&rdquo; said the Abbe,
+      rising.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I vow that I understand not a word of all that has been told me
+      to-day. Do you mean Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, Monsieur, very well! you treat me as a Cardinalist; very
+      well, we part,&rdquo; said the Abbe Quillet, now altogether furious. And
+      he snatched up his crutch and quitted the room hastily, without listening
+      to De Thou, who followed him to his carriage, seeking to pacify him, but
+      without effect, because he did not wish to name his friend upon the stairs
+      in the hearing of his servants, and could not explain the matter
+      otherwise. He had the annoyance of seeing the old Abbe depart, still in a
+      passion; he called out to him amicably, &ldquo;Tomorrow,&rdquo; as the
+      coachman drove off, but got no answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was, however, not uselessly that he had descended to the foot of the
+      stairs, for he saw thence hideous groups of the mob returning from the
+      Louvre, and was thus better able to judge of the importance of their
+      movements in the morning; he heard rude voices exclaiming, as in triumph:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She showed herself, however, the little Queen!&rdquo; &ldquo;Long
+      live the good Duc de Bouillon, who is coming to us! He has a hundred
+      thousand men with him, all on rafts on the Seine. The old Cardinal de la
+      Rochelle is dead! Long live the King! Long live Monsieur le Grand!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cries redoubled at the arrival of a carriage and four, with the royal
+      livery, which stopped at the counsellor&rsquo;s door, and in which De Thou
+      recognized the equipage of Cinq-Mars; Ambrosio alighted to open the ample
+      curtains, which the carriages of that period had for doors. The people
+      threw themselves between the carriage-steps and the door of the house, so
+      that Cinq-Mars had an absolute struggle ere he could get out and disengage
+      himself from the market-women, who sought to embrace him, crying:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here you are, then, my sweet, my dear! Here you are, my pet! Ah,
+      how handsome he is, the love, with his big collar! Isn&rsquo;t he worth
+      more than the other fellow with the white moustache? Come, my son, bring
+      us out some good wine this morning.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Henri d&rsquo;Effiat pressed, blushing deeply the while, his friend&rsquo;s
+      hand,&mdash;who hastened to have his doors closed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This popular favor is a cup one must drink,&rdquo; said he, as they
+      ascended the stairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It appears to me,&rdquo; replied De Thou, gravely, &ldquo;that you
+      drink it even to the very dregs.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will explain all this clamorous affair to you,&rdquo; answered
+      Cinq-Mars, somewhat embarrassed. &ldquo;At present, if you love me, dress
+      yourself to accompany me to the Queen&rsquo;s toilette.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I promised you blind adherence,&rdquo; said the counsellor; &ldquo;but
+      truly I can not keep my eyes shut much longer if&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Once again, I will give you a full explanation as we return from
+      the Queen. But make haste; it is nearly ten o&rsquo;clock.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I will go with you,&rdquo; replied De Thou, conducting him
+      into his cabinet, where were the Comte du Lude and Fournier, while he
+      himself passed into his dressing-room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII. TOILETTE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The carriage of the Grand Equerry was rolling rapidly toward the Louvre,
+      when, closing the curtain, he took his friend&rsquo;s hand, and said to
+      him with emotion:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear De Thou, I have kept great secrets in my heart, and, believe
+      me, they have weighed heavily there; but two fears impelled me to silence&mdash;that
+      of your danger, and&mdash;shall I say it?&mdash;that of your counsels.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet well you know,&rdquo; replied De Thou, &ldquo;that I despise
+      the first; and I deemed that you did not despise the second.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, but I feared, and still fear them. I would not be stopped. Do
+      not speak, my friend; not a word, I conjure you, before you have heard and
+      seen all that is about to take place. I will return with you to your house
+      on quitting the Louvre; there I will listen to you, and thence I shall
+      depart to continue my work, for nothing will shake my resolve, I warn you.
+      I have just said so to the gentlemen at your house.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In his accent Cinq-Mars had nothing of the brusqueness which clothed his
+      words. His voice was conciliatory, his look gentle, amiable, affectionate,
+      his air as tranquil as it was determined. There was no indication of the
+      slightest effort at control. De Thou remarked it, and sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Alighting from the carriage with him, De Thou followed him up the great
+      staircase of the Louvre. When they entered the Queen&rsquo;s apartment,
+      announced by two ushers dressed in black and bearing ebony rods, she was
+      seated at her toilette. This was a table of black wood, inlaid with
+      tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, and brass, in an infinity of designs of
+      very bad taste, but which give to all furniture an air of grandeur which
+      we still admire in it. A mirror, rounded at the top, which the ladies of
+      our time would consider small and insignificant, stood in the middle of
+      the table, whereon were scattered jewels and necklaces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Anne of Austria, seated before it in a large armchair of crimson velvet,
+      with long gold fringe, was as motionless and grave as on her throne, while
+      Dona Stefania and Madame de Motteville, on either side, lightly touched
+      her beautiful blond hair with a comb, as if finishing the Queen&rsquo;s
+      coiffure, which, however, was already perfectly arranged and decorated
+      with pearls. Her long tresses, though light, were exquisitely glossy,
+      manifesting that to the touch they must be fine and soft as silk. The
+      daylight fell without a shade upon her forehead, which had no reason to
+      dread the test, itself reflecting an almost equal light from its
+      surpassing fairness, which the Queen was pleased thus to display. Her blue
+      eyes, blended with green, were large and regular, and her vermilion mouth
+      had that underlip of the princesses of Austria, somewhat prominent and
+      slightly cleft, in the form of a cherry, which may still be marked in all
+      the female portraits of this time, whose painters seemed to have aimed at
+      imitating the Queen&rsquo;s mouth, in order to please the women of her
+      suite, whose desire was, no doubt, to resemble her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The black dress then adopted by the court, and of which the form was even
+      fixed by an edict, set off the ivory of her arms, bare to the elbow, and
+      ornamented with a profusion of lace, which flowed from her loose sleeves.
+      Large pearls hung in her ears and from her girdle. Such was the appearance
+      of the Queen at this moment. At her feet, upon two velvet cushions, a boy
+      of four years old was playing with a little cannon, which he was
+      assiduously breaking in pieces. This was the Dauphin, afterward Louis XIV.
+      The Duchesse Marie de Mantua was seated on her right hand upon a stool.
+      The Princesse de Guemenee, the Duchesse de Chevreuse, and Mademoiselle de
+      Montbazon, Mesdemoiselles de Guise, de Rohan, and de Vendome, all
+      beautiful and brilliant with youth, were behind her, standing. In the
+      recess of a window, Monsieur, his hat under his arm, was talking in a low
+      voice with a man, stout, with a red face and a steady and daring eye. This
+      was the Duc de Bouillon. An officer about twenty-five years of age,
+      well-formed, and of agreeable presence, had just given several papers to
+      the Prince, which the Duc de Bouillon appeared to be explaining to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou, after having saluted the Queen, who said a few words to him,
+      approached the Princesse de Guemenee, and conversed with her in an
+      undertone, with an air of affectionate intimacy, but all the while intent
+      upon his friend&rsquo;s interest. Secretly trembling lest he should have
+      confided his destiny to a being less worthy of him than he wished, he
+      examined the Princess Marie with the scrupulous attention, the
+      scrutinizing eye of a mother examining the woman whom her son has selected
+      for his bride&mdash;for he thought that Marie could not be altogether a
+      stranger to the enterprise of Cinq-Mars. He saw with dissatisfaction that
+      her dress, which was extremely elegant, appeared to inspire her with more
+      vanity than became her on such an occasion. She was incessantly
+      rearranging upon her forehead and her hair the rubies which ornamented her
+      head, and which scarcely equalled the brilliancy and animated color of her
+      complexion. She looked frequently at Cinq-Mars; but it was rather the look
+      of coquetry than that of love, and her eyes often glanced toward the
+      mirror on the toilette, in which she watched the symmetry of her beauty.
+      These observations of the counsellor began to persuade him that he was
+      mistaken in suspecting her to be the aim of Cinq-Mars, especially when he
+      saw that she seemed to have a pleasure in sitting at the Queen&rsquo;s
+      side, while the duchesses stood behind her, and that she often looked
+      haughtily at them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that heart of nineteen,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;love, were there
+      love, would reign alone and above all to-day. It is not she!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen made an almost imperceptible movement of the head to Madame de
+      Guemenee. After the two friends had spoken a moment with each person
+      present, and at this sign, all the ladies, except Marie de Mantua, making
+      profound courtesies, quitted the apartment without speaking, as if by
+      previous arrangement. The Queen, then herself turning her chair, said to
+      Monsieur:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My brother, I beg you will come and sit down by me. We will consult
+      upon what I have already told you. The Princesse Marie will not be in the
+      way. I begged her to remain. We have no interruption to fear.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen seemed more at ease in her manner and language; and no longer
+      preserving her severe and ceremonious immobility, she signed to the other
+      persons present to approach her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gaston d&rsquo;Orleans, somewhat alarmed at this solemn opening, came
+      carelessly, sat down on her right hand, and said with a half-smile and a
+      negligent air, playing with his ruff and the chain of the Saint Esprit
+      which hung from his neck:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Madame, that we shall fatigue the ears of so young a
+      personage by a long conference. She would rather hear us speak of dances,
+      and of marriage, of an elector, or of the King of Poland, for example.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie assumed a disdainful air; Cinq-Mars frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pardon me,&rdquo; replied the Queen, looking at her; &ldquo;I
+      assure you the politics of the present time interest her much. Do not seek
+      to escape us, my brother,&rdquo; added she, smiling. &ldquo;I have you
+      to-day! It is the least we can do to listen to Monsieur de Bouillon.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter approached, holding by the hand the young officer of whom we
+      have spoken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must first,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;present to your Majesty the
+      Baron de Beauvau, who has just arrived from Spain.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From Spain?&rdquo; said the Queen, with emotion. &ldquo;There is
+      courage in that; you have seen my family?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will speak to you of them, and of the Count-Duke of Olivares. As
+      to courage, it is not the first time he has shown it. He commanded the
+      cuirassiers of the Comte de Soissons.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How? so young, sir! You must be fond of political wars.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary, your Majesty will pardon me,&rdquo; replied he,
+      &ldquo;for I served with the princes of the peace.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Anne of Austria smiled at this jeu-de-mot. The Duc de Bouillon, seizing
+      the moment to bring forward the grand question he had in view, quitted
+      Cinq-Mars, to whom he had just given his hand with an air of the most
+      zealous friendship, and approaching the Queen with him, &ldquo;It is
+      miraculous, Madame,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;that this period still contains
+      in its bosom some noble characters, such as these;&rdquo; and he pointed
+      to the master of the horse, to young Beauvau, and to De Thou. &ldquo;It is
+      only in them that we can place our hope for the future. Such men are
+      indeed very rare now, for the great leveller has swung a long scythe over
+      France.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it of Time you speak,&rdquo; said the Queen, &ldquo;or of a real
+      personage?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too real, too living, too long living, Madame!&rdquo; replied the
+      Duke, becoming more animated; &ldquo;but his measureless ambition, his
+      colossal selfishness can no longer be endured. All those who have noble
+      hearts are indignant at this yoke; and at this moment, more than ever, we
+      see misfortunes threatening us in the future. It must be said, Madame&mdash;yes,
+      it is no longer time to blind ourselves to the truth, or to conceal it&mdash;the
+      King&rsquo;s illness is serious. The moment for thinking and resolving has
+      arrived, for the time to act is not far distant.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The severe and abrupt tone of M. de Bouillon did not surprise Anne of
+      Austria; but she had always seen him more calm, and was, therefore,
+      somewhat alarmed by the disquietude he betrayed. Quitting accordingly the
+      tone of pleasantry which she had at first adopted, she said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! what fear you, and what would you do?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear nothing for myself, Madame, for the army of Italy or Sedan
+      will always secure my safety; but I fear for you, and perhaps for the
+      princes, your sons.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For my children, Monsieur le Duc, for the sons of France? Do you
+      hear him, my brother, and do you not appear astonished?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen was deeply agitated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Madame,&rdquo; said Gaston d&rsquo;Orleans, calmly; &ldquo;you
+      know that I am accustomed to persecution. I am prepared to expect anything
+      from that man. He is master; we must be resigned.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He master!&rdquo; exclaimed the Queen. &ldquo;And from whom does he
+      derive his powers, if not from the King? And after the King, what hand
+      will sustain him? Can you tell me? Who will prevent him from again
+      returning to nothing? Will it be you or I?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be himself,&rdquo; interrupted M. de Bouillon, &ldquo;for
+      he seeks to be named regent; and I know that at this moment he
+      contemplates taking your children from you, and requiring the King to
+      confide them to his care.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take them from me!&rdquo; cried the mother, involuntarily seizing
+      the Dauphin, and taking him in her arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The child, standing between the Queen&rsquo;s knees, looked at the men who
+      surrounded him with a gravity very singular for his age, and, seeing his
+      mother in tears, placed his hand upon the little sword he wore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Monseigneur,&rdquo; said the Duc de Bouillon, bending half down
+      to address to him what he intended for the Princess, &ldquo;it is not
+      against us that you must draw your sword, but against him who is
+      undermining your throne. He prepares an empire for you, no doubt. You will
+      have an absolute sceptre; but he has scattered the fasces which indicated
+      it. Those fasces were your ancient nobility, whom he has decimated. When
+      you are king, you will be a great king. I foresee it; but you will have
+      subjects only, and no friends, for friendship exists only in independence
+      and a kind of equality which takes its rise in force. Your ancestors had
+      their peers; you will not have yours. May God aid you then, Monseigneur,
+      for man may not do it without institutions! Be great; but above all,
+      around you, a great man, let there be others as strong, so that if the one
+      stumbles, the whole monarchy may not fall.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Duc de Bouillon had a warmth of expression and a confidence of manner
+      which captivated those who heard him. His valor, his keen perception in
+      the field, the profundity of his political views, his knowledge of the
+      affairs of Europe, his reflective and decided character, all rendered him
+      one of the most capable and imposing men of his time-the only one, indeed,
+      whom the Cardinal-Duc really feared. The Queen always listened to him with
+      confidence, and allowed him to acquire a sort of empire over her. She was
+      now more deeply moved than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, would to God,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;that my son&rsquo;s
+      mind was ripe for your counsels, and his arm strong enough to profit by
+      them! Until that time, however, I will listen, I will act for him. It is I
+      who should be, and it is I who shall be, regent. I will not resign this
+      right save with life. If we must make war, we will make it; for I will do
+      everything but submit to the shame and terror of yielding up the future
+      Louis XIV to this crowned subject. Yes,&rdquo; she went on, coloring and
+      closely pressing the young Dauphin&rsquo;s arm, &ldquo;yes, my brother,
+      and you gentlemen, counsel me! Speak! how do we stand? Must I depart?
+      Speak openly. As a woman, as a wife, I could have wept over so mournful a
+      position; but now see, as a mother, I do not weep. I am ready to give you
+      orders if it is necessary.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Never had Anne of Austria looked so beautiful as at this moment; and the
+      enthusiasm she manifested electrified all those present, who needed but a
+      word from her mouth to speak. The Duc de Bouillon cast a glance at
+      Monsieur, which decided him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ma foi!&rdquo; said he, with deliberation, &ldquo;if you give
+      orders, my sister, I will be the captain of your guards, on my honor, for
+      I too am weary of the vexations occasioned me by this knave. He continues
+      to persecute me, seeks to break off my marriage, and still keeps my
+      friends in the Bastille, or has them assassinated from time to time; and
+      besides, I am indignant,&rdquo; said he, recollecting himself and assuming
+      a more solemn air, &ldquo;I am indignant at the misery of the people.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My brother,&rdquo; returned the Princess, energetically, &ldquo;I
+      take you at your word, for with you, one must do so; and I hope that
+      together we shall be strong enough for the purpose. Do only as Monsieur le
+      Comte de Soissons did, but survive your victory. Side with me, as you did
+      with Monsieur de Montmorency, but leap the ditch.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gaston felt the point of this. He called to mind the well-known incident
+      when the unfortunate rebel of Castelnaudary leaped almost alone a large
+      ditch, and found on the other side seventeen wounds, a prison, and death
+      in the sight of Monsieur, who remained motionless with his army. In the
+      rapidity of the Queen&rsquo;s enunciation he had not time to examine
+      whether she had employed this expression proverbially or with a direct
+      reference; but at all events, he decided not to notice it, and was indeed
+      prevented from doing so by the Queen, who continued, looking at Cinq-Mars:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, above all, no panic-terror! Let us know exactly where we are,
+      Monsieur le Grand. You have just left the King. Is there fear with you?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      D&rsquo;Effiat had not ceased to observe Marie de Mantua, whose expressive
+      countenance exhibited to him all her ideas far more rapidly and more
+      surely than words. He read there the desire that he should speak&mdash;the
+      desire that he should confirm the Prince and the Queen. An impatient
+      movement of her foot conveyed to him her will that the thing should be
+      accomplished, the conspiracy arranged. His face became pale and more
+      pensive; he pondered for a moment, realizing that his destiny was
+      contained in that hour. De Thou looked at him and trembled, for he knew
+      him well. He would fain have said one word to him, only one word; but
+      Cinq-Mars had already raised his head. He spoke:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not think, Madame, that the King is so ill as you suppose. God
+      will long preserve to us this Prince. I hope so; I am even sure of it. He
+      suffers, it is true, suffers much; but it is his soul more peculiarly that
+      is sick, and of an evil which nothing can cure&mdash;of an evil which one
+      would not wish to one&rsquo;s greatest enemy, and which would gain him the
+      pity of the whole world if it were known. The end of his misery&mdash;that
+      is to say, of his life&mdash;will not be granted him for a long time. His
+      languor is entirely moral. There is in his heart a great revolution going
+      on; he would accomplish it, and can not.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The King has felt for many long years growing within him the seeds
+      of a just hatred against a man to whom he thinks he owes gratitude, and it
+      is this internal combat between his natural goodness and his anger that
+      devours him. Every year that has passed has deposited at his feet, on one
+      side, the great works of this man, and on the other, his crimes. It is the
+      last which now weigh down the balance. The King sees them and is
+      indignant; he would punish, but all at once he stops and weeps. If you
+      could witness him thus, Madame, you would pity him. I have seen him seize
+      the pen which was to sign his exile, dip it into the ink with a bold hand,
+      and use it&mdash;for what?&mdash;to congratulate him on some recent
+      success. He at once applauds himself for his goodness as a Christian,
+      curses himself for his weakness as a sovereign judge, despises himself as
+      a king. He seeks refuge in prayer, and plunges into meditation upon the
+      future; then he rises terrified because he has seen in thought the
+      tortures which this man merits, and how deeply no one knows better than
+      he. You should hear him in these moments accuse himself of criminal
+      weakness, and exclaim that he himself should be punished for not having
+      known how to punish. One would say that there are spirits which order him
+      to strike, for his arms are raised as he sleeps. In a word, Madame, the
+      storm murmurs in his heart, but burns none but himself. The thunderbolts
+      are chained.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, let us loose them!&rdquo; exclaimed the Duc de
+      Bouillon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He who touches them may die of the contact,&rdquo; said Monsieur.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what a noble devotion!&rdquo; cried the Queen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How I should admire the hero!&rdquo; said Marie, in a half-whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will do it,&rdquo; answered Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will do it,&rdquo; said M. de Thou, in his ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Young Beauvau had approached the Duc de Bouillon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;do you forget what follows?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, &lsquo;pardieu&rsquo;! I do not forget it,&rdquo; replied the
+      latter, in a low voice; then, addressing the Queen, &ldquo;Madame,&rdquo;
+      said he, &ldquo;accept the offer of Monsieur le Grand. He is more in a
+      position to sway the King than either you or I; but hold yourself
+      prepared, for the Cardinal is too wary to be caught sleeping. I do not
+      believe in his illness. I have no faith in the silence and immobility of
+      which he has sought to persuade us these two years past. I would not
+      believe in his death even, unless I had myself thrown his head into the
+      sea, like that of the giant in Ariosto. Hold yourself ready to meet all
+      contingencies, and let us, meanwhile, hasten our operations. I have shown
+      my plans to Monsieur just now; I will give you a summary of them. I offer
+      you Sedan, Madame, for yourself, and for Messeigneurs, your sons. The army
+      of Italy is mine; I will recall it if necessary. Monsieur le Grand is
+      master of half the camp of Perpignan. All the old Huguenots of La Rochelle
+      and the South are ready to come to him at the first nod. All has been
+      organized for a year past, by my care, to meet events.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should not hesitate,&rdquo; said the Queen, &ldquo;to place
+      myself in your hands, to save my children, if any misfortune should happen
+      to the King. But in this general plan you forget Paris.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is ours on every side; the people by the archbishop, without his
+      suspecting it, and by Monsieur de Beaufort, who is its king; the troops by
+      your guards and those of Monsieur, who shall be chief in command, if he
+      please.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I! I! oh, that positively can not be! I have not enough people, and
+      I must have a retreat stronger than Sedan,&rdquo; said Gaston.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It suffices for the Queen,&rdquo; replied M. de Bouillon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that may be! but my sister does not risk so much as a man who
+      draws the sword. Do you know that these are bold measures you propose?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What, even if we have the King on our side?&rdquo; asked Anne of
+      Austria.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Madame, yes; we do not know how long that may last. We must
+      make ourselves sure; and I do nothing without the treaty with Spain.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do nothing, then,&rdquo; said the Queen, coloring deeply; &ldquo;for
+      certainly I will never hear that spoken of.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet, Madame, it were more prudent, and Monsieur is right,&rdquo;
+      said the Duc de Bouillon; &ldquo;for the Count-Duke of San Lucra offers us
+      seventeen thousand men, tried troops, and five hundred thousand crowns in
+      ready money.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; exclaimed the Queen, with astonishment, &ldquo;have
+      you dared to proceed so far without my consent? already treaties with
+      foreigners!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Foreigners, my sister! could we imagine that a princess of Spain
+      would use that word?&rdquo; said Gaston.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Anne of Austria rose, taking the Dauphin by the hand; and, leaning upon
+      Marie: &ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I am a Spaniard; but I am
+      the grand-daughter of Charles V, and I know that a queen&rsquo;s country
+      is where her throne is. I leave you, gentlemen; proceed without me. I know
+      nothing of the matter for the future.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She advanced some steps, but seeing Marie pale and bathed in tears, she
+      returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will, however, solemnly promise you inviolable secrecy; but
+      nothing more.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All were mentally disconcerted, except the Duc de Bouillon, who, not
+      willing to lose the advantages he had gained, said to the Queen, bowing
+      respectfully:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are grateful for this promise, Madame, and we ask no more,
+      persuaded that after the first success you will be entirely with us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not wishing to engage in a war of words, the Queen courtesied somewhat
+      less coldly, and quitted the apartment with Marie, who cast upon Cinq-Mars
+      one of those looks which comprehend at once all the emotions of the soul.
+      He seemed to read in her beautiful eyes the eternal and mournful devotion
+      of a woman who has given herself up forever; and he felt that if he had
+      once thought of withdrawing from his enterprise, he should now have
+      considered himself the basest of men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the two princesses had disappeared, &ldquo;There, there! I told
+      you so, Bouillon, you offended the Queen,&rdquo; said Monsieur; &ldquo;you
+      went too far. You can not certainly accuse me of having been hesitating
+      this morning. I have, on the contrary, shown more resolution than I ought
+      to have done.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am full of joy and gratitude toward her Majesty,&rdquo; said M.
+      de Bouillon, with a triumphant air; &ldquo;we are sure of the future. What
+      will you do now, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have told you, Monsieur; I draw not back, whatever the
+      consequences. I will see the King; I will run every risk to obtain his
+      assent.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the treaty with Spain?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou seized Cinq-Mars by the arm, and, advancing suddenly, said, with a
+      solemn air:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have decided that it shall be only signed after the interview
+      with the King; for should his Majesty&rsquo;s just severity toward the
+      Cardinal dispense with it, we have thought it better not to expose
+      ourselves to the discovery of so dangerous a treaty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      M. de Bouillon frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I did not know Monsieur de Thou,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;I should
+      have regarded this as a defection; but from him&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur,&rdquo; replied the counsellor, &ldquo;I think I may
+      engage myself, on my honor, to do all that Monsieur le Grand does; we are
+      inseparable.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars looked at his friend, and was astonished to see upon his mild
+      countenance the expression of sombre despair; he was so struck with it
+      that he had not the courage to gainsay him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is right, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said with a cold but kindly
+      smile; &ldquo;the King will perhaps spare us much trouble. We may do good
+      things with him. For the rest, Monseigneur, and you, Monsieur le Duc,&rdquo;
+      he added with immovable firmness, &ldquo;fear not that I shall ever draw
+      back. I have burned all the bridges behind me. I must advance; the
+      Cardinal&rsquo;s power shall fall, or my head.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is strange, very strange!&rdquo; said Monsieur; &ldquo;I see
+      that every one here is farther advanced in the conspiracy than I imagined.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so, Monsieur,&rdquo; said the Duc de Bouillon; &ldquo;we
+      prepared only that which you might please to accept. Observe that there is
+      nothing in writing. You have but to speak, and nothing exists or ever has
+      existed; according to your order, the whole thing shall be a dream or a
+      volcano.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, I am content, if it must be so,&rdquo; said Gaston;
+      &ldquo;let us occupy ourselves with more agreeable topics. Thank God, we
+      have a little time before us! I confess I wish that it were all over. I am
+      not fitted for violent emotions; they affect my health,&rdquo; he added,
+      taking M. de Beauvau&rsquo;s arm. &ldquo;Tell us if the Spanish women are
+      still pretty, young man. It is said you are a great gallant among them.
+      &lsquo;Tudieu&rsquo;! I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;ve got yourself talked of
+      there. They tell me the women wear enormous petticoats. Well, I am not at
+      all against that; they make the foot look smaller and prettier. I&rsquo;m
+      sure the wife of Don Louis de Haro is not handsomer than Madame de
+      Guemenee, is she? Come, be frank; I&rsquo;m told she looks like a nun. Ah!
+      you do not answer; you are embarrassed. She has then taken your fancy; or
+      you fear to offend our friend Monsieur de Thou in comparing her with the
+      beautiful Guemenee. Well, let&rsquo;s talk of the customs; the King has a
+      charming dwarf I&rsquo;m told, and they put him in a pie. He is a
+      fortunate man, that King of Spain! I don&rsquo;t know another equally so.
+      And the Queen, she is still served on bended knee, is she not? Ah! that is
+      a good custom; we have lost it. It is very unfortunate&mdash;more
+      unfortunate than may be supposed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And Gaston d&rsquo;Orleans had the confidence to speak in this tone nearly
+      half an hour, with a young man whose serious character was not at all
+      adapted to such conversation, and who, still occupied with the importance
+      of the scene he had just witnessed and the great interests which had been
+      discussed, made no answer to this torrent of idle words. He looked at the
+      Duc de Bouillon with an astonished air, as if to ask him whether this was
+      really the man whom they were going to place at the head of the most
+      audacious enterprise that had ever been launched; while the Prince,
+      without appearing to perceive that he remained unanswered, replied to
+      himself, speaking with volubility, as he drew him gradually out of the
+      room. He feared that one of the gentlemen present might recommence the
+      terrible conversation about the treaty; but none desired to do so, unless
+      it were the Duc de Bouillon, who, however, preserved an angry silence. As
+      for Cinq-Mars, he had been led away by De Thou, under cover of the
+      chattering of Monsieur, who took care not to appear to notice their
+      departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK 5.
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII. THE SECRET
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any other than yourself would not speak thus to me twice,&rdquo;
+      said Cinq-Mars, coldly; &ldquo;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&mdash;friendship, the second thing
+      upon earth.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his eyes to heaven as he spoke, as if he there sought the
+      divinity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&rsquo;s
+      malediction, but not of yours; but this has decided me upon avowing all to
+      you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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, &lsquo;tis Marie de Mantua
+      whom I love.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! she who is to be Queen of Poland?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;perhaps to die.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Die! fall! when I have been reproaching your triumph! when I have
+      wept over the sadness of your victory!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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 &lsquo;tis the
+      stronger I feel it. I have undertaken a task beyond human power; and I
+      shall fail in it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, then, not stop? What is the use of intellect in the business
+      of the world?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;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&mdash;shall
+      I say it to you?&mdash;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can I answer?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I do not understand you;
+      your reasoning unreasons you. You hunt a shadow.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; continued Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he added, rising, and clasping together his hands with
+      a force which indicated the violent despair concentred in his heart,
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;her
+      husband, yet her servant! &lsquo;Tis too much; I can not live thus. I must
+      take the last step, whether it elevate me or hurl me down.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And for your personal happiness you would overthrow a State?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon what do you rely, then?&rdquo; said De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon the cast of a die. If his will can but once last for a few
+      hours, I have gained. &lsquo;Tis a last calculation on which my destiny
+      hangs.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that of your Marie!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you suppose it?&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, impetuously. &ldquo;No,
+      no! If he abandons me, I sign the treaty with Spain, and then-war!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, horror!&rdquo; exclaimed the counsellor. &ldquo;What, a war! a
+      civil war, and a foreign alliance!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, &lsquo;tis a crime,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, coldly; &ldquo;but
+      have I asked you to participate in it?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cruel, ungrateful man!&rdquo; replied his friend; &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By swearing to me not to betray the King and France,&rdquo;
+      answered De Thou. &ldquo;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&mdash;know you all this? Come.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he drew him toward the bust of Louis XIII.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Swear before him (he is your friend also), swear never to sign this
+      infamous treaty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars lowered his eyes, but with dogged tenacity answered, although
+      blushing as he did so:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have said it; if they force me to it, I will sign.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then keeping the book respectfully opened in his hand, and contemplating
+      the image of the President de Thou, whose Memoirs he held, he continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, advancing toward Cinq-Mars, and again taking his hand, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do much for you in acting thus; but expect nothing further from
+      me, Monsieur, if you sign this treaty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars was moved to the heart&rsquo;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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX. THE HUNTING PARTY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo;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 &lsquo;parvenu&rsquo; from being felt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&mdash;a royal domain, whither
+      his brother, the Duc d&rsquo;Orleans, prayed him to return.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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 &ldquo;thousand and one
+      nights,&rdquo; 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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo;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&mdash;that
+      Diane de Poitiers, twice a goddess and twice adored in these voluptuous
+      woods.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&mdash;-the
+      realization of a dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars was slowly ascending the broad stairs which led him to the King&rsquo;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 &lsquo;Abandon, ennui de monde, et
+      belle flamme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young favorite shrugged his shoulders as he listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What new chagrin moves thee?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Come, let me
+      again attempt to read that chilled heart which thinks it needs something.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He entered the narrow cabinet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;you whom I so
+      loved for your piety and virtue?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Sire; and I was about to declare it to you, for I am
+      accustomed to open my soul to you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Declare it to me!&rdquo; exclaimed the King, turning red and white,
+      as under the shivering of a fever; &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars, deeming himself wholly lost, put the best face he could upon
+      the matter, and said with an air of resignation:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, Sire, send me to be judged and put to death; but spare
+      me your reproaches.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you insult me, you petty country-squire?&rdquo; answered Louis.
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens, Sire!&rdquo; replied the impetuous young man, whom the
+      insulting phrase of the King had offended, &ldquo;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,&rdquo; continued Cinq-Mars, clinching his fist, as if Richelieu stood
+      before him; &ldquo;yes, I would kill him with my own hand, if need were.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      D&rsquo;Effiat&rsquo;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louis, who recoiled before all resolution, and who was always terrified by
+      the irreparable, took his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo;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&rsquo;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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;you
+      are off from Saint Germain, and go to pass a portion of the night&mdash;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&mdash;in a word,
+      Marion de Lorme. What have you to say? Speak.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaving his hand in that of the King, but still leaning against the
+      column, Cinq-Mars answered:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How often have you deceived me!&rdquo; continued the King; &ldquo;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Heavens! no, Sire; I often go there with one of my friends&mdash;a
+      gentleman of Touraine, named Rene Descartes.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Truly, I can scarcely remember their names,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars,
+      looking at the ceiling; &ldquo;sometimes I do not even ask them. There
+      was, in the first place, a certain Monsieur&mdash;Monsieur Groot, or
+      Grotius, a Hollander.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know him, a friend of Barnevelt; I pay him a pension. I liked him
+      well enough; but the Card&mdash;but I was told that he was a high
+      Calvinist.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know him&mdash;not at all; but I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;s
+      some other Calvinist. And the Frenchmen, who were they?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said the King, folding his arms, and looking at him
+      with an air of triumph and reproach, &ldquo;I ask you who are these
+      people? Is it in such a circle that you ought to be seen?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars was confounded at this observation, which hurt his self-pride,
+      and, approaching the King, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&rsquo;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&mdash;all academicians.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! now, indeed, here are men of real merit,&rdquo; said Louis;
+      &ldquo;there is nothing to be said against them. One can not but gain from
+      their society. Theirs are settled reputations; they&rsquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo;Hautefort, upon a third, La
+      Fayette, and finally, Cinq-Mars. He stopped at the latter, and continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear what you replied to me (and in a tone of ill-humor&mdash;mind
+      that!) &lsquo;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.&rsquo; And on the eighth&mdash;wait, yes, on the
+      eighth&mdash;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&mdash;a sin, a mortal sin. See, I
+      have written below, lie, underlined. People never deceive me, I assure
+      you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Sire&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait a moment! wait a moment! In the evening you told me the
+      Cardinal had burned a man unjustly, and out of personal hatred.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louis, seeking the page indicated, and going back to the journey from
+      Perpignan to Paris, read the whole narrative with attention, exclaiming:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What horrors! How is it that I have forgotten all this? This man
+      fascinates me; that&rsquo;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!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And the Prince, as he concluded, threw aside his papers and wept.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Sire, those are blessed tears that you weep!&rdquo; exclaimed
+      Cinq-Mars, with sincere admiration. &ldquo;Would that all France were here
+      with me! She would be astonished at this spectacle, and would scarcely
+      believe it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Astonished! France, then, does not know me?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, Sire,&rdquo; said D&rsquo;Effiat, frankly; &ldquo;no one knows
+      you. And I myself, with the rest of the world, at times accuse you of
+      coldness and indifference.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no; my life is well-nigh finished, my dear friend. I am no
+      longer capable of the labor of supreme command.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Cinq-Mars, how can I rid myself of a minister who for eighteen
+      years past has surrounded me with his creatures?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is not so very powerful,&rdquo; replied the grand ecuyer;
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe, Sire, that he will to-day speak to you of Monsieur le
+      Duc de Bouillon. All the Royalists demand him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t dislike him,&rdquo; said the King, arranging his
+      pillows; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t dislike him at all, although he is somewhat
+      factious. We are relatives. Knowest thou, chez ami&rdquo;&mdash;and he
+      placed on this favorite expression more emphasis than usual&mdash;&ldquo;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&rsquo;t at all dislike him! I have
+      never said so, never!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Sire,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, with confidence, &ldquo;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&rsquo;Ancre was got rid of, who deserved it less than he.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As Concini?&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment Cinq-Mars thought he heard a sound on the staircase; the
+      King reddened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;go! Make haste and prepare for the hunt!
+      Thou wilt ride next to my carriage. Go quickly! I desire it; go!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he himself pushed Cinq-Mars toward the entrance by which he had come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The favorite went out; but his master&rsquo;s anxiety had not escaped him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&mdash;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a farm called L&rsquo;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo;s brouette, and never lost sight of
+      him. They conversed in low tones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that&rsquo;s nothing! Did you not see how the King shook hands
+      with Monsieur? He&rsquo;s made a sign to you, Montresor. Look, Gondi!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look, indeed! That&rsquo;s very easy to say; but I don&rsquo;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Montresor answered, &ldquo;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&rsquo;ll be minister!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will be minister!&rdquo; said Fontrailles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will be minister!&rdquo; echoed the Comte du Lude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no doubt of it!&rdquo; said Montresor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope he&rsquo;ll give me a regiment, and I&rsquo;ll marry my
+      cousin,&rdquo; cried Olivier d&rsquo;Entraigues, with boyish vivacity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Abbe de Gondi sneered, and, looking up at the sky, began to sing to a
+      hunting tune.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+       &ldquo;Les etourneaux ont le vent bon,
+        Ton ton, ton ton, ton taine, ton ton&mdash;&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Montresor and the rest were too attentive to every gesture of the Prince
+      to answer him; and they continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See, Monsieur le Grand takes the reins, and is driving.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Abbe replied with the same air:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+       &ldquo;Si vous conduisez ma brouette,
+        Ne versez pas, beau postillon,
+        Ton ton, ton ton, ton taine, ton ton.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Abbe, your songs will drive me mad!&rdquo; said Fontrailles.
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got airs ready for every event in life.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will also find you events which shall go to all the airs,&rdquo;
+      answered Gondi.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Faith, the air of these pleases me!&rdquo; said Fontrailles, in an
+      under voice. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! Ha!&rdquo; cried Montresor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! Ha!&rdquo; said Olivier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, what is the matter with you? ah, ah!&rdquo; asked Gondi.
+      &ldquo;What have you discovered that is so great?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, the King has again shaken hands with Monsieur. Thank Heaven,
+      gentlemen, we&rsquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s too good for him,&rdquo; said Olivier; &ldquo;he must
+      be tried.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly,&rdquo; said the Abbe; &ldquo;and we sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t
+      want for charges against an insolent fellow who has dared to discharge a
+      page, shall we?&rdquo; 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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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. &lsquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;Aubijoux, Montmort?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo;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&mdash;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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 &ldquo;barbarian and
+      Scythian,&rdquo; 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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In truth, Madame, these gentlemen have an odor about them that
+      makes one quite ill.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It will be desirable to strengthen your nerves and accustom
+      yourself to it,&rdquo; answered Anne of Austria, somewhat dryly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, fearing she had hurt her feelings, she continued gayly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo;Effiat; each sought to give the other hopes which
+      neither felt, and sought to deceive each other out of love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame, I congratulate you; Monsieur le Grand is seated with the
+      King. Never has he been so highly distinguished,&rdquo; said Marie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then she was silent for a long time, and the carriage rolled mournfully
+      over the dead, dry leaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I see it with joy; the King is so good!&rdquo; answered the
+      Marechale.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And she sighed deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The King asks for Monsieur le Grand,&rdquo; was repeated about;
+      &ldquo;where can Monsieur le Grand Ecuyer be gone to?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A voice, passing near, said, &ldquo;He has just lost himself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you Royalists or Cardinalists? Cry, &lsquo;Vive le Grand!&rsquo;
+      or you are dead men!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Scoundrels,&rdquo; answered the first cavalier, trying to open the
+      holsters of his pistols, &ldquo;I will have you hanged for abusing my
+      name.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dios es el Senor!&rdquo; cried the same voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Amigo, do you not recognize me? &lsquo;Tis but a joke of Jacques,
+      the Spanish captain.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Fontrailles approached, and said in a low voice to the grand ecuyer:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur, this is an enterprising fellow; I would advise you to
+      employ him. We must neglect no chance.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen to me,&rdquo; said Jacques de Laubardemont, &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What service?&rdquo; asked Cinq-Mars. &ldquo;We will see.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I commence by a piece of information. This morning while you
+      descended the King&rsquo;s staircase on one side, Father Joseph ascended
+      the other.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well! is that all? Do you say nothing? You know I have an old
+      account to settle with the Capuchin.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that to me?&rdquo; and he hung down his head, absorbed
+      in a profound revery.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Leave me; I will use no poniards,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! I understand you,&rdquo; replied Jacques. &ldquo;You are right;
+      you would prefer our despatching him with the sword. This is just. He is
+      worth it; &lsquo;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&rsquo;s merit
+      in one&rsquo;s profession. I must not touch the Cardinal; he&rsquo;s a
+      morsel for a king!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor any others,&rdquo; said the grand ecuyer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, let us have the Capuchin!&rdquo; said Captain Jacques,
+      urgently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are wrong if you refuse this office,&rdquo; said Fontrailles;
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not torment him,&rdquo; said Jacques, abruptly; &ldquo;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.&rdquo; Then,
+      turning toward Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;Listen: when men conspire, they seek the
+      death or at least the downfall of some one, eh?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now in that case, we are out with God, and in with the Devil, eh?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Secundo, as they say at the Sorbonne; it&rsquo;s no worse when one
+      is damned, to be so for much than for little, eh?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ergo, it is indifferent whether a thousand or one be killed. I defy
+      you to answer that.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing could be better argued, Doctor-dagger,&rdquo; said
+      Fontrailles, half-laughing, &ldquo;I see you will be a good
+      travelling-companion. You shall go with me to Spain if you like.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know you are going to take the treaty there,&rdquo; answered
+      Jacques; &ldquo;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,&rdquo; he continued with an air of
+      pious earnestness, &ldquo;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&mdash;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go, go!&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, in a voice thick with rage; &ldquo;I
+      have other things to think of.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of what more important?&rdquo; said Fontrailles; &ldquo;this might
+      be a great weight in the balance of our destinies.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am thinking how much the heart of a king weighs in it,&rdquo;
+      said Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You terrify me,&rdquo; replied the gentleman; &ldquo;we can not go
+      so far as that!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor do I think what you suppose, Monsieur,&rdquo; continued D&rsquo;Effiat,
+      in a severe tone. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he took Fontrailles a few steps aside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&rsquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, advancing toward the adventurer, who awaited him, he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For you, brave fellow, since you desire to aid me, I charge you
+      with escorting this gentleman to Madrid; you will be largely recompensed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacques, twisting his moustache, replied:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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 &lsquo;Lion of the North,&rsquo;
+      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. &lsquo;Par exemple&rsquo;, 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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Adieu, then, noble Monsieur,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;go!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After having pressed the hand of Fontrailles, he sighed and disappeared in
+      the wood, on his return to the chateau of Chambord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX. THE READING
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here he is at last!&rdquo; cried a young and rich voice. &ldquo;He
+      has made us wait long enough for him, the dear Desbarreaux. Come, take a
+      seat! place yourself at this table and read.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo;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&mdash;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 &lsquo;valet-de-chambre
+      tapissier du roi&rsquo;. The foreigner was Milton; the young man was
+      Moliere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo;s hands with affectionate
+      compliments and infinite allusions to their works.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, here you are, illustrious Baro!&rdquo; cried the newcomer.
+      &ldquo;I have read your last sixain. Ah, what a sixain! how full of the
+      gallant and the tendre?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is that you say of the tendre?&rdquo; interrupted Marion de
+      Lorme; &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the finest piece of Clelie,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This
+      chart is generally found very gallant; but &lsquo;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,
+      Cumae-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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! how very pretty!&rdquo; interposed Desbarreaux. &ldquo;See the
+      villages marked out; here is Petits-Soins, Billet-Galant, then
+      Billet-Doux!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh! &lsquo;tis ingenious in the highest degree!&rdquo; cried
+      Vaugelas, Colletet, and the rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And observe,&rdquo; continued the author, inflated with this
+      success, &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Delicious! delicious! &lsquo;gallant au supreme!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+      cried the auditors; &ldquo;never was greater genius!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Madame,&rdquo; resumed Scudery, &ldquo;I now declare it in
+      your house: this work, printed under my name, is by my sister&mdash;she
+      who translated &lsquo;Sappho&rsquo; so agreeably.&rdquo; And without being
+      asked, he recited in a declamatory tone verses ending thus:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+          L&rsquo;Amour est un mal agreable
+          Don&rsquo;t mon coeur ne saurait guerir;
+          Mais quand il serait guerissable,
+          Il est bien plus doux d&rsquo;en mourir.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! had that Greek so much wit? I can not believe it,&rdquo;
+      exclaimed Marion de Lorme; &ldquo;how superior Mademoiselle de Scudery is
+      to her! That idea is wholly hers; she must unquestionably put these
+      charming verses into &lsquo;Clelie&rsquo;. They will figure well in that
+      Roman history.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Admirable, perfect!&rdquo; cried all the savans; &ldquo;Horatius,
+      Aruns, and the amiable Porsenna are such gallant lovers.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were all bending over the &ldquo;carte de Tendre,&rdquo; 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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The only reply he got was a general look of contempt; he consoled himself
+      by meditating, &lsquo;Les Precieuses Ridicules&rsquo;.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;I
+      don&rsquo;t know what; but he&rsquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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. &ldquo;Art thou,&rdquo;
+      he said, &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here a lackey in a loud voice announced MM. de Montresor and d&rsquo;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&mdash;a double advantage. Some voices
+      even pronounced the word &ldquo;profanation.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would advise you to change the picture; your hearers are not on a
+      level with this.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The officer pressed the hand of the English poet and said to him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I admire you with all my soul.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The astonished Englishman looked at him, and saw an intellectual,
+      impassioned, and sickly countenance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t stand this!&rdquo; cried Desbarreaux. &ldquo;It is of
+      an insipidity to make one sick.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what absence of grace, gallantry, and the belle flamme!&rdquo;
+      said Scudery, coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, how different from our immortal D&rsquo;Urfe!&rdquo; said Baro,
+      the continuator.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is the &lsquo;Ariane,&rsquo; where the &lsquo;Astrea?&rsquo;&rdquo;
+      cried, with a groan, Godeau, the annotator.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Corneille said to him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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 &lsquo;Polyeuctes&rsquo;; but
+      I shall cut down this subject, abridge it of the heavens, and it shall be
+      only a tragedy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What matters to me the glory of the moment?&rdquo; answered Milton.
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I admire them before they are written,&rdquo; said the young
+      officer. &ldquo;I see in them the God whose innate image I have found in
+      my heart.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is it speaks thus kindly to me?&rdquo; asked the poet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am Rene Descartes,&rdquo; replied the soldier, gently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How, sir!&rdquo; cried De Thou. &ldquo;Are you so happy as to be
+      related to the author of the Princeps?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am the author of that work,&rdquo; replied Rene.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, sir!&mdash;but&mdash;still&mdash;pardon me&mdash;but&mdash;are
+      you not a military man?&rdquo; stammered out the counsellor, in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou smiled with pleasure at the simple language of this superior man&mdash;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Adieu, gentlemen!&rdquo; said De Thou. &ldquo;I make way for
+      Mademoiselle de l&rsquo;Enclos and her musketeers.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, gentlemen,&rdquo; said the youthful Ninon, &ldquo;we seem
+      to frighten you. Have I disturbed you? You have all the air of
+      conspirators.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are perhaps more so than these gentlemen, although we dance,&rdquo;
+      said Olivier d&rsquo;Entraigues, who led her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! your conspiracy is against me, Monsieur le Page!&rdquo; 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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, it seems so. When the dancing begins, the reading is done.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The reading, yes; but the oaths?&rdquo; said the Abbe, in a low
+      voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What oaths?&rdquo; asked De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is not Monsieur le Grand come?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expected to see him; but I suppose he has not come, or else he
+      has gone.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no! come with me,&rdquo; said the bare-brained Abbe. &ldquo;You
+      are one of us. Parbleu! it is impossible to do without you; come!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you here?&rdquo; he said, in a stifled voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who brought you here? What would you with me? You are lost if you
+      enter.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you yourself here? What do I see in this house?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The consequences of that you wot of. Go; this air is poisoned for
+      all who are here.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&rsquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here, again glancing around him, he saw increasing confidence in the looks
+      and attitudes of his accomplices.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How!&rdquo; he continued, crossing his arms, and yet restraining
+      with an effort his own emotion; &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Long live the King! long live the Union! the new Union, the Holy
+      League!&rdquo; cried the assembly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has come, then!&rdquo; cried Cinq-Mars, with enthusiasm; &ldquo;it
+      has come&mdash;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A fresh outburst of joy had followed these words, when an old man with a
+      white beard stood forward from the throng.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bah!&rdquo; said Gondi, in a low voice, &ldquo;here&rsquo;s the old
+      Chevalier de Guise going to dote, and damp us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And truly enough, the old man, pressing the hand of Cinq-Mars, said slowly
+      and with difficulty, having placed himself near him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You may say by two,&rdquo; interrupted Gondi, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is, however, of great importance,&rdquo; continued old Guise,
+      amid the tumultuous young men, &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, the War of the King,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, the War of the King!&rdquo; cried Gondi and all the young men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Moreover,&rdquo; continued the old seigneur, &ldquo;it is essential
+      to gain the approval of the theological faculty of the Sorbonne, which
+      heretofore sanctioned even the &lsquo;hautgourdiers&rsquo; and the &lsquo;sorgueurs&rsquo;,&mdash;[Names
+      of the leaguers.]&mdash;and to put in force its second proposition&mdash;that
+      it is permitted to the people to disobey the magistrates, and to hang
+      them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eh, Chevalier!&rdquo; exclaimed Gondi; &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a laugh, and Cinq-Mars went on:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&rsquo;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&rsquo;Effiat, and whence will march two thousand seigneurs, with their
+      vassals?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&rsquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This noise caused a momentary diversion and a smile in the younger portion
+      of the assembly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars profited by this; and raising his eyes, &ldquo;Pleasures of
+      youth,&rdquo; he cried&mdash;&ldquo;love, music, joyous dances&mdash;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!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he continued; &ldquo;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&mdash;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The presidents and councils of sovereign courts have been
+      imprisoned, banished, suspended&mdash;a thing before unheard of&mdash;because
+      they have raised their voices for the king or for the public.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a schismatic! a monster!&rdquo; cried several voices.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&mdash;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. &lsquo;Le roi et la paix!&rsquo;
+      shall be our cry. The rest must be left to Providence.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Among those who came forward to press the hand of the young party leader,
+      the Abbe de Gondi jumped about like a kid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have already enrolled my regiment!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;I have
+      some superb fellows!&rdquo; Then, addressing Marion de Lorme, &ldquo;Parbleu!
+      Mademoiselle, I will wear your colors&mdash;your gray ribbon, and your
+      order of the Allumette. The device is charming&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &lsquo;Nous ne brullons que pour bruller les autres.&rsquo;
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      And I wish you could see all the fine things we shall do if we are
+      fortunate enough to come to blows.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fair Marion, who did not like him, began to talk over his head to M.
+      de Thou&mdash;a mortification which always exasperated the little Abbe,
+      who abruptly left her, walking as tall as he could, and scornfully
+      twisting his moustache.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here is my name wrongly written,&rdquo; he said coldly.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+               &ldquo;A CINQ MARCS,
+
+            CENTURIE DE NOSTRADAMUS.
+
+       Quand bonnet rouge passera par la fenetre,
+          A quarante onces on coupera tete,
+              Et tout finira.&rdquo;
+
+   [This punning prediction was made public three months before the,
+   conspiracy.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is a traitor among us, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, throwing
+      away the paper. &ldquo;But no matter. We are not men to be frightened by
+      his sanguinary jests.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must find the traitor out, and throw him through the window,&rdquo;
+      said the young men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&rsquo; 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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Gondi pointed this out to Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hark ye!&rdquo; he said in a low voice. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The grand ecuyer approved of the suggestion, and advancing toward those
+      whom he knew to be most deeply compromised, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not one would hear of this proposition; and the movement it occasioned
+      produced a renewal of the oaths of hatred against the minister.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monsieur le Grand Ecuyer, my retreat is the archbishopric of Paris
+      and L&rsquo;Ile Notre-Dame. I&rsquo;ll make it a place strong enough to
+      keep me from being taken.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yours?&rdquo; he said to De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At your side,&rdquo; murmured De Thou, lowering his eyes, unwilling
+      to give importance to his resolution by the directness of his look.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will have it so? Well, I accept,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;and
+      my sacrifice herein, dear friend, is greater than yours.&rdquo; Then
+      turning toward the assembly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Cardinal shall pay the fiddlers,&rdquo; added Gondi.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young men applauded with a laugh; and all reascended to the ballroom
+      as lightly as they would have gone to the battlefield.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI. THE CONFESSIONAL
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was eight o&rsquo;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Santa Maria! what villainous countries are these of the North!&rdquo;
+      said a woman&rsquo;s voice, trembling. &ldquo;Ah, the duchy of Mantua!
+      would I were back there again, Grandchamp!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pshaw! don&rsquo;t speak so loud,&rdquo; said the old domestic,
+      abruptly. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes; she has gone in.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be silent,&rdquo; said Grandchamp. &ldquo;The sound of the clock is
+      cracked. That&rsquo;s a bad sign.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That clock has sounded the hour of a rendezvous.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For me, it sounds like a passing-bell. But be silent, Laure; here
+      are three cloaks passing.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They allowed three men to pass. Grandchamp followed them, made sure of the
+      road they took, and returned to his seat, sighing deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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&rsquo;s making
+      love. It&rsquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has your master arrived long, &lsquo;caro amico&rsquo;?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, Italian, wheel about, I tell thee. Let me hear no more of thy
+      musical tongue.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Santa Maria! What a harsh voice, dear Grandchamp! You were much
+      more amiable at Chaumont, in Turena, when you talked to me of &lsquo;miei
+      occhi neri.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold thy tongue, prattler! Once more, thy Italian is only good for
+      buffoons and rope-dancers, or to accompany the learned dogs.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And she began to hum:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+        Lieti fiori a felici, e ben nate erbe
+        Che Madonna pensando premer sole;
+        Piaggia ch&rsquo;ascolti su dolci parole
+        E del bel piede alcun vestigio serbe.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pretty enough, &lsquo;mordieu!&rsquo; 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&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+       &ldquo;Ombrose selve, ove&rsquo;percote il sole
+        Che vi fa co&rsquo;suoi raggi alte a superbe.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hum!&rdquo; said the worthy old soldier, grumbling. &ldquo;I have
+      my feet in the snow, and a gutter runs down on my head, and there&rsquo;s
+      death at my heart; and you sing to me of violets, of the sun, and of
+      grass, and of love. Be silent!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&mdash;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&mdash;the
+      darkest of them&mdash;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&rsquo;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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&mdash;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, heavens! how I tremble, Henri!&rdquo; she said as she entered
+      the confessional; &ldquo;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, &lsquo;tis with her severe air that you
+      know, and which always makes me weep. Oh, I am terribly afraid!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was silent; Cinq-Mars replied only with a deep sigh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! you do not speak to me!&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are these, then, all your terrors?&rdquo; asked Cinq-Mars,
+      bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can I have greater? Oh, &lsquo;mon ami&rsquo;, in what a tone, with
+      what a voice, do you address me! Are you angry because I came too late?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Too soon, Madame, much too soon, for the things you are to hear&mdash;for
+      I see you are far from prepared for them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie, affected at the gloomy and bitter tone of his voice, began to weep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, what have I done,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that you should
+      call me Madame, and treat me thus harshly?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be tranquil,&rdquo; replied Cinq-Mars, but with irony in his tone.
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Tis not, indeed, you who are guilty; but I&mdash;I alone;
+      not toward you, but for you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;are you as nothing in my
+      designs? Did I misconstrue your thoughts when you looked at me in the
+      Queen&rsquo;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?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie burst into tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You still speak to me with bitterness,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Touching and invincible constraint to make you accept a throne,&rdquo;
+      said Cinq-Mars, bitterly. &ldquo;I well conceive you must need some
+      efforts to resist such seductions; but first, Madame, I must release you
+      from your vows.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, great Heaven! what is there, then, against us?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is God above us, and against us,&rdquo; replied Henri, in a
+      severe tone; &ldquo;the King has deceived me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was an agitated movement on the part of the Abbe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie exclaimed, &ldquo;I foresaw it; this is the misfortune I dreamed and
+      dreamed of! It is I who caused it?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He deceived me, as he pressed my hand,&rdquo; continued Cinq-Mars;
+      &ldquo;he betrayed me by the villain Joseph, whom an offer has been made
+      to me to poniard.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Abbe gave a start of horror which half opened the door of the
+      confessional.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O father, fear nothing,&rdquo; said Henri d&rsquo;Effiat; &ldquo;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&mdash;a
+      sacred duty&mdash;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Restore this nuptial ring to the Duchesse de Mantua,&rdquo; said
+      Cinq-Mars, in a tone less firm; &ldquo;I can not keep it unless she give
+      it me a second time, for I am not the same whom she promised to espouse.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The priest hastily seized the ring, and passed it through the opposite
+      grating; this mark of indifference astonished Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! Father,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;are you also changed?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has betrayed me, I tell you,&rdquo; answered Cinq-Mars. &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What means?&rdquo; said Marie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The treaty with Spain was in my hand; I signed it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, heavens! destroy it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is gone.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who bears it?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fontrailles.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Recall him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will, ere this, have passed the defiles of Oleron,&rdquo; said
+      Cinq-Mars, rising up. &ldquo;All is ready at Madrid, all at Sedan. Armies
+      await me, Marie&mdash;armies! Richelieu is in the midst of them. He
+      totters; it needs but one blow to overthrow him, and you are mine forever&mdash;forever
+      the wife of the triumphant Cinq-Mars.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of Cinq-Mars the rebel,&rdquo; she said, sighing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, have it so, the rebel; but no longer the favorite. Rebel,
+      criminal, worthy of the scaffold, I know it,&rdquo; cried the impassioned
+      youth, falling on his knees; &ldquo;but a rebel for love, a rebel for you,
+      whom my sword will at last achieve for me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, a sword imbrued in the blood of your country! Is it not a
+      poniard?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can not,&rdquo; she said; &ldquo;for I am your wife, whatever you
+      be.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You hear her, father!&rdquo; exclaimed Cinq-Mars, transported with
+      happiness; &ldquo;bless this second union, the work of devotion, even more
+      beautiful than that of love. Let her be mine while I live.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are you going? What is the matter?&rdquo; he cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But no one answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not call out, in the name of Heaven!&rdquo; said Marie, &ldquo;or
+      I am lost; he has doubtless heard some one in the church.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But D&rsquo;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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now let him go,&rdquo; said a voice at the corner of the street;
+      and at the same moment was heard the galloping of horses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Grandchamp, wilt thou answer?&rdquo; cried Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Help, Henri, my dear boy!&rdquo; exclaimed the voice of the Abbe
+      Quillet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whence come you? You endanger me,&rdquo; said the grand ecuyer,
+      approaching him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he saw that his poor tutor, without a hat in the falling snow, was in
+      a most deplorable condition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They stopped me, and they robbed me,&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;The
+      villains, the assassins! they prevented me from calling out; they stopped
+      my mouth with a handkerchief.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      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.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;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.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! just now?&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;and why did you quit
+      us?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quit you! why, they have kept me there two hours.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two hours!&rdquo; cried Henri, terrified.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, miserable old man that I am!&rdquo; said Grandchamp; &ldquo;I
+      have slept while my master was in danger. It is the first time.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were not with us, then, in the confessional?&rdquo; continued
+      Cinq-Mars, anxiously, while Marie tremblingly pressed against his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What!&rdquo; said the Abbe, &ldquo;did you not see the rascal to
+      whom they gave my key?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No! whom?&rdquo; cried all at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Father Joseph,&rdquo; answered the good priest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fly! you are lost!&rdquo; cried Marie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      BOOK 6
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII. THE STORM
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+          &lsquo;Blow, blow, thou winter wind;
+          Thou art not so unkind
+          As man&rsquo;s ingratitude.
+          Thy tooth is not so keen,
+          Because thou art not seen,
+          Although thy breath be rude.
+     Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly.
+     Most friendship is feigning; most loving mere folly.&rsquo;
+
+                       SHAKESPEARE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Amid that long and superb chain of the Pyrenees which forms the embattled
+      isthmus of the peninsula, in the centre of those blue pyramids, covered in
+      gradation with snow, forests, and downs, there opens a narrow defile, a
+      path cut in the dried-up bed of a perpendicular torrent; it circulates
+      among rocks, glides under bridges of frozen snow, twines along the edges
+      of inundated precipices to scale the adjacent mountains of Urdoz and
+      Oleron, and at last rising over their unequal ridges, turns their nebulous
+      peak into a new country which has also its mountains and its depths, and,
+      quitting France, descends into Spain. Never has the hoof of the mule left
+      its trace in these windings; man himself can with difficulty stand upright
+      there, even with the hempen boots which can not slip, and the hook of the
+      pikestaff to force into the crevices of the rocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the fine summer months the &lsquo;pastour&rsquo;, in his brown cape,
+      and his black long-bearded ram lead hither flocks, whose flowing wool
+      sweeps the turf. Nothing is heard in these rugged places but the sound of
+      the large bells which the sheep carry, and whose irregular tinklings
+      produce unexpected harmonies, casual gamuts, which astonish the traveller
+      and delight the savage and silent shepherd. But when the long month of
+      September comes, a shroud of snow spreads itself from the peak of the
+      mountains down to their base, respecting only this deeply excavated path,
+      a few gorges open by torrents, and some rocks of granite, which stretch
+      out their fantastical forms, like the bones of a buried world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is then that light troops of chamois make their appearance, with their
+      twisted horns extending over their backs, spring from rock to rock as if
+      driven before the wind, and take possession of their aerial desert.
+      Flights of ravens and crows incessantly wheel round and round in the gulfs
+      and natural wells which they transform into dark dovecots, while the brown
+      bear, followed by her shaggy family, who sport and tumble around her in
+      the snow, slowly descends from their retreat invaded by the frost. But
+      these are neither the most savage nor the most cruel inhabitants that
+      winter brings into these mountains; the daring smuggler raises for himself
+      a dwelling of wood on the very boundary of nature and of politics. There
+      unknown treaties, secret exchanges, are made between the two Navarres,
+      amid fogs and winds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was in this narrow path on the frontiers of France that, about two
+      months after the scenes we have witnessed in Paris, two travellers, coming
+      from Spain, stopped at midnight, fatigued and dismayed. They heard
+      musket-shots in the mountain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The scoundrels! how they have pursued us!&rdquo; said one of them.
+      &ldquo;I can go no farther; but for you I should have been taken.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you will be taken still, as well as that infernal paper, if you
+      lose your time in words; there is another volley on the rock of Saint
+      Pierre-de-L&rsquo;Aigle. Up there, they suppose we have gone in the
+      direction of the Limacon; but, below, they will see the contrary. Descend;
+      it is doubtless a patrol hunting smugglers. Descend.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how? I can not see.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never mind, descend. Take my arm.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hold me; my boots slip,&rdquo; said the first traveller, stamping
+      on the edge of the rock to make sure of the solidity of the ground before
+      trusting himself upon it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on; go on!&rdquo; said the other, pushing him. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s
+      one of the rascals passing over our heads.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, in fact, the shadow of a man, armed with a long gun, was reflected on
+      the snow. The two adventurers stood motionless. The man passed on. They
+      continued their descent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They will take us,&rdquo; said the one who was supporting the
+      other. &ldquo;They have turned us. Give me your confounded parchment. I
+      wear the dress of a smuggler, and I can pass for one seeking an asylum
+      among them; but you would have no resource with your laced dress.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; said his companion; and, resting his foot
+      against the edge of the rock, and reclining on the slope, he gave him a
+      roll of hollow wood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A gun was fired, and a ball buried itself, hissing, in the snow at their
+      feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Marked!&rdquo; said the first. &ldquo;Roll down. If you are not
+      dead when you get to the bottom, take the road you see before you. On the
+      left of the hollow is Santa Maria. But turn to the right; cross Oleron;
+      and you are on the road to Pau and are saved. Go; roll down.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke, he pushed his comrade, and without condescending to look
+      after him, and himself neither ascending nor descending, followed the
+      flank of the mountain horizontally, hanging on by rocks, branches, and
+      even by plants, with the strength and energy of a wild-cat, and soon found
+      himself on firm ground before a small wooden hut, through which a light
+      was visible. The adventurer went all around it, like a hungry wolf round a
+      sheepfold, and, applying his eye to one of the openings, apparently saw
+      what determined him, for without further hesitation he pushed the
+      tottering door, which was not even fastened by a latch. The whole but
+      shook with the blow he had given it. He then saw that it was divided into
+      two cabins by a partition. A large flambeau of yellow wax lighted the
+      first. There, a young girl, pale and fearfully thin, was crouched in a
+      corner on the damp floor, just where the melted snow ran under the planks
+      of the cottage. Very long black hair, entangled and covered with dust,
+      fell in disorder over her coarse brown dress; the red hood of the Pyrenees
+      covered her head and shoulders. Her eyes were cast down; and she was
+      spinning with a small distaff attached to her waist. The entry of a man
+      did not appear to move her in the least.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha! La moza,&mdash;[girl]&mdash;get up and give me something to
+      drink. I am tired and thirsty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young girl did not answer, and, without raising her eyes, continued to
+      spin assiduously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dost hear?&rdquo; said the stranger, thrusting her with his foot.
+      &ldquo;Go and tell thy master that a friend wishes to see him; but first
+      give me some drink. I shall sleep here.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She answered, in a hoarse voice, still spinning:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I drink the snow that melts on the rock, or the green scum that
+      floats on the water of the swamp. But when I have spun well, they give me
+      water from the iron spring. When I sleep, the cold lizards crawl over my
+      face; but when I have well cleaned a mule, they throw me hay. The hay is
+      warm; the hay is good and warm. I put it under my marble feet.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What tale art thou telling me?&rdquo; said Jacques. &ldquo;I spoke
+      not of thee.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They make me hold a man while they kill him. Oh, what blood I have
+      had on my hands! God forgive them!&mdash;if that be possible. They make me
+      hold his head, and the bucket filled with crimson water. O Heaven!&mdash;I,
+      who was the bride of God! They throw their bodies into the abyss of snow;
+      but the vulture finds them; he lines his nest with their hair. I now see
+      thee full of life; I shall see thee bloody, pale, and dead.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The adventurer, shrugging his shoulders, began to whistle as he passed the
+      second door. Within he found the man he had seen through the chinks of the
+      cabin. He wore the blue berret cap of the Basques on one side, and,
+      enveloped in an ample cloak, seated on the pack-saddle of a mule, and
+      bending over a large brazier, smoked a cigar, and from time to time drank
+      from a leather bottle at his side. The light of the brazier showed his
+      full yellow face, as well as the chamber, in which mule-saddles were
+      ranged round the byasero as seats. He raised his head without altering his
+      position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, oh! is it thou, Jacques?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Is it thou?
+      Although &lsquo;tis four years since I saw thee, I recognize thee. Thou
+      art not changed, brigand! There &lsquo;tis still, thy great knave&rsquo;s
+      face. Sit down there, and take a drink.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, here I am. But how the devil camest thou here? I thought thou
+      wert a judge, Houmain!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I thought thou wert a Spanish captain, Jacques!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! I was so for a time, and then a prisoner. But I got out of the
+      thing very snugly, and have taken again to the old trade, the free life,
+      the good smuggling work.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Viva! viva! Jaleo!&rdquo;&mdash;[A common Spanish oath.]&mdash;cried
+      Houmain. &ldquo;We brave fellows can turn our hands to everything. Thou
+      camest by the other passes, I suppose, for I have not seen thee since I
+      returned to the trade.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes; I have passed where thou wilt never pass,&rdquo; said
+      Jacques.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what hast got?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A new merchandise. My mules will come tomorrow.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silk sashes, cigars, or linen?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thou wilt know in time, amigo,&rdquo; said the ruffian. &ldquo;Give
+      me the skin. I&rsquo;m thirsty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here, drink. It&rsquo;s true Valdepenas! We&rsquo;re so jolly here,
+      we bandoleros! Ay! jaleo! jaleo! come, drink; our friends are coming.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What friends?&rdquo; said Jacques, dropping the horn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be uneasy, but drink. I&rsquo;ll tell thee all about it
+      presently, and then we&rsquo;ll sing the Andalusian Tirana.&rdquo;&mdash;[A
+      kind of ballad.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The adventurer took the horn, and assumed an appearance of ease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And who&rsquo;s that great she-devil I saw out there?&rdquo; he
+      said. &ldquo;She seems half dead.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no! she&rsquo;s only mad. Drink; I&rsquo;ll tell thee all about
+      her.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And taking from his red sash a long poniard denticulated on each side like
+      a saw, Houmain used it to stir up the fire, and said with vast gravity:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thou must know first, if thou dost not know it already, that down
+      below there [he pointed toward France] the old wolf Richelieu carries all
+      before him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, ah!&rdquo; said Jacques.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes; they call him the king of the King. Thou knowest? There is,
+      however, a young man almost as strong as he, and whom they call Monsieur
+      le Grand. This young fellow commands almost the whole army of Perpignan at
+      this moment. He arrived there a month ago; but the old fox is still at
+      Narbonne&mdash;a very cunning fox, indeed. As to the King, he is sometimes
+      this, sometimes that [as he spoke, Houmain turned his hand outward and
+      inward], between zist and zest; but while he is determining, I am for zist&mdash;that
+      is to say, I&rsquo;m a Cardinalist. I&rsquo;ve been regularly doing
+      business for my lord since the first job he gave me, three years ago. I&rsquo;ll
+      tell thee about it. He wanted some men of firmness and spirit for a little
+      expedition, and sent for me to be judge-Advocate.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! a very pretty post, I&rsquo;ve heard.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, &lsquo;tis a trade like ours, where they sell cord instead of
+      thread; but it is less honest, for they kill men oftener. But &lsquo;tis
+      also more profitable; everything has its price.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very properly so,&rdquo; said Jacques.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Behold me, then, in a red robe. I helped to give a yellow one and
+      brimstone to a fine fellow, who was cure at Loudun, and who had got into a
+      convent of nuns, like a wolf in a fold; and a fine thing he made of it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ha, ha, ha! That&rsquo;s very droll!&rdquo; laughed Jacques.
+      &ldquo;Drink,&rdquo; said Houmain. &ldquo;Yes, Jago, I saw him after the
+      affair, reduced to a little black heap like this charcoal. See, this
+      charcoal at the end of my poniard. What things we are! That&rsquo;s just
+      what we shall all come to when we go to the Devil.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, none of these pleasantries!&rdquo; said the other, very
+      gravely. &ldquo;You know that I am religious.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t say no; it may be so,&rdquo; said Houmain, in
+      the same tone. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s Richelieu, a Cardinal! But, no matter.
+      Thou must know, then, as I was Advocate-General, I advocated&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, thou art quite a wit!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a little. But, as I was saying, I advocated into my own pocket
+      five hundred piastres, for Armand Duplessis pays his people well, and
+      there&rsquo;s nothing to be said against that, except that the money&rsquo;s
+      not his own; but that&rsquo;s the way with us all. I determined to invest
+      this money in our old trade; and I returned here. Business goes on well.
+      There is sentence of death out against us; and our goods, of course, sell
+      for half as much again as before.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s that?&rdquo; exclaimed Jacques; &ldquo;lightning at
+      this time of year?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, the storms are beginning; we&rsquo;ve had two already. We are
+      in the clouds. Dost hear the roll of the thunder? But this is nothing;
+      come, drink. &lsquo;Tis almost one in the morning; we&rsquo;ll finish the
+      skin and the night together. As I was telling thee, I made acquaintance
+      with our president&mdash;a great scoundrel called Laubardemont. Dost know
+      him?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, a little,&rdquo; said Jacques; &ldquo;he&rsquo;s a regular
+      miser. But never mind that; go on.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, as we had nothing to conceal from one another, I told him of
+      my little commercial plans, and asked him, when any good jobs presented
+      themselves, to think of his judicial comrade; and I&rsquo;ve had no cause
+      to complain of him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Jacques, &ldquo;and what has he done?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, first, two years ago, he himself brought, me, on horseback
+      behind him, his niece that thou&rsquo;st seen out there.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His niece!&rdquo; cried Jacques, rising; &ldquo;and thou treat&rsquo;st
+      her like a slave! Demonio!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drink,&rdquo; said Houmain, quietly stirring the brazier with his
+      poniard; &ldquo;he himself desired it should be so. Sit down.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacques did so.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think,&rdquo; continued the smuggler, &ldquo;that he&rsquo;d
+      even be sorry to know that she was&mdash;dost understand?&mdash;to hear
+      she was under the snow rather than above it; but he would not put her
+      there himself, because he&rsquo;s a good relative, as he himself said.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And as I know,&rdquo; said Jacques; &ldquo;but go on.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thou mayst suppose that a man like him, who lives at court, does
+      not like to have a mad niece in his house. The thing is self-evident; if I&rsquo;d
+      continued to play my part of the man of the robe, I should have done the
+      same in a similar case. But here, as you perceive, we don&rsquo;t care
+      much for appearances; and I&rsquo;ve taken her for a servant. She has
+      shown more good sense than I expected, although she has rarely ever spoken
+      more than a single word, and at first came the delicate over us. Now she
+      rubs down a mule like a groom. She has had a slight fever for the last few
+      days; but &lsquo;twill pass off one way or the other. But, I say, don&rsquo;t
+      tell Laubardemont that she still lives; he&rsquo;d think &lsquo;twas for
+      the sake of economy I&rsquo;ve kept her for a servant.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How! is he here?&rdquo; cried Jacques.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drink!&rdquo; replied the phlegmatic Houmain, who himself set the
+      example most assiduously, and began to half shut his eyes with a
+      languishing air. &ldquo;&lsquo;Tis the second transaction I&rsquo;ve had
+      with this Laubardemont&mdash;or demon, or whatever the name is; but
+      &lsquo;tis a good devil of a demon, at all events. I love him as I do my
+      eyes; and I will drink his health out of this bottle of Jurangon here.
+      &lsquo;Tis the wine of a jolly fellow, the late King Henry. How happy we
+      are here!&mdash;Spain on the right hand, France on the left; the wine-skin
+      on one side, the bottle on the other! The bottle! I&rsquo;ve left all for
+      the bottle!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke, he knocked off the neck of a bottle of white wine. After
+      taking a long draught, he continued, while the stranger closely watched
+      him:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, he&rsquo;s here; and his feet must be rather cold, for he&rsquo;s
+      been waiting about the mountains ever since sunset, with his guards and
+      our comrades. Thou knowest our bandoleros, the true contrabandistas?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! and what do they hunt?&rdquo; said Jacques.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, that&rsquo;s the joke!&rdquo; answered the drunkard. &ldquo;&lsquo;Tis
+      to arrest two rascals, who want to bring here sixty thousand Spanish
+      soldiers in paper in their pocket. You don&rsquo;t, perhaps, quite
+      understand me, &lsquo;croquant&rsquo;. Well, &lsquo;tis as I tell thee&mdash;in
+      their own pockets.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, ay! I understand,&rdquo; said Jacques, loosening his poniard in
+      his sash, and looking at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, devil&rsquo;s-skin, let&rsquo;s sing the Tirana. Take
+      the bottle, throw away the cigar, and sing.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With these words the drunken host began to sing in Spanish, interrupting
+      his song with bumpers, which he threw down his throat, leaning back for
+      the greater ease, while Jacques, still seated, looked at him gloomily by
+      the light of the brazier, and meditated what he should do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A flash of lightning entered the small window, and filled the room with a
+      sulphurous odor. A fearful clap immediately followed; the cabin shook; and
+      a beam fell outside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hallo, the house!&rdquo; cried the drunken man; &ldquo;the Devil&rsquo;s
+      among us; and our friends are not come!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sing!&rdquo; said Jacques, drawing the pack upon which he was close
+      to that of Houmain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter drank to encourage himself, and then continued to sing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he ended, he felt his seat totter, and fell backward; Jacques, thus
+      freed from him, sprang toward the door, when it opened, and his head
+      struck against the cold, pale face of the mad-woman. He recoiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The judge!&rdquo; she said, as she entered; and she fell prostrate
+      on the cold ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacques had already passed one foot over her; but another face appeared,
+      livid and surprised-that of a very tall man, enveloped in a cloak covered
+      with snow. He again recoiled, and laughed a laugh of terror and rage. It
+      was Laubardemont, followed by armed men; they looked at one another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, com-r-a-d-e, yo-a ra-a-scal!&rdquo; hiccuped Houmain, rising
+      with difficulty; &ldquo;thou&rsquo;rt a Royalist.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when he saw these two men, who seemed petrified by each other, he
+      became silent, as conscious of his intoxication; and he reeled forward to
+      raise up the madwoman, who was still lying between the judge and the
+      Captain. The former spoke first.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you not he we have been pursuing?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is he!&rdquo; said the armed men, with one voice; &ldquo;the
+      other has escaped.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacques receded to the split planks that formed the tottering wall of the
+      hut; enveloping himself in his cloak, like a bear forced against a tree by
+      the hounds, and, wishing to gain a moment&rsquo;s respite for reflection,
+      he said, firmly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The first who passes that brazier and the body of that girl is a
+      dead man.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he drew a long poniard from his cloak. At this moment Houmain,
+      kneeling, turned the head of the girl. Her eyes were closed; he drew her
+      toward the brazier, which lighted up her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, heavens!&rdquo; cried Laubardemont, forgetting himself in his
+      fright; &ldquo;Jeanne again!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be calm, my lo-lord,&rdquo; said Houmain, trying to open the
+      eyelids, which closed again, and to raise her head, which fell back again
+      like wet linen; &ldquo;be, be&mdash;calm! Do-n&rsquo;t ex-cite yourself;
+      she&rsquo;s dead, decidedly.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jacques put his foot on the body as on a barrier, and, looking with a
+      ferocious laugh in the face of Laubardemont, said to him in a low voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me pass, and I will not compromise thee, courtier; I will not
+      tell that she was thy niece, and that I am thy son.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Laubardemont collected himself, looked at his men, who pressed around him
+      with advanced carabines; and, signing them to retire a few steps, he
+      answered in a very low voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me the treaty, and thou shalt pass.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here it is, in my girdle; touch it, and I will call you my father
+      aloud. What will thy master say?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give it me, and I will spare thy life.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me pass, and I will pardon thy having given me that life.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still the same, brigand?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ay, assassin.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What matters to thee that boy conspirator?&rdquo; asked the judge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What matters to thee that old man who reigns?&rdquo; answered the
+      other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give me that paper; I&rsquo;ve sworn to have it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Leave it with me; I&rsquo;ve sworn to carry it back.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What can be thy oath and thy God?&rdquo; demanded Laubardemont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And thine?&rdquo; replied Jacques. &ldquo;Is&rsquo;t the crucifix
+      of red-hot iron?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here Houmain, rising between them, laughing and staggering, said to the
+      judge, slapping him on the shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a long time coming to an understanding, friend; do-on&rsquo;t
+      you know him of old? He&rsquo;s a very good fellow.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I? no!&rdquo; cried Laubardemont, aloud; &ldquo;I never saw him
+      before.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment, Jacques, who was protected by the drunkard and the
+      smallness of the crowded chamber, sprang violently against the weak planks
+      that formed the wall, and by a blow of his heel knocked two of them out,
+      and passed through the space thus created. The whole side of the cabin was
+      broken; it tottered, and the wind rushed in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hallo! Demonio! Santo Demonio! where art going?&rdquo; cried the
+      smuggler; &ldquo;thou art breaking my house down, and on the side of the
+      ravine, too.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All cautiously approached, tore away the planks that remained, and leaned
+      over the abyss. They contemplated a strange spectacle. The storm raged in
+      all its fury; and it was a storm of the Pyrenees. Enormous flashes of
+      lightning came all at once from all parts of the horizon, and their fires
+      succeeded so quickly that there seemed no interval; they appeared to be a
+      continuous flash. It was but rarely the flaming vault would suddenly
+      become obscure; and it then instantly resumed its glare. It was not the
+      light that seemed strange on this night, but the darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tall thin peaks and whitened rocks stood out from the red background
+      like blocks of marble on a cupola of burning brass, and resembled, amid
+      the snows, the wonders of a volcano; the waters gushed from them like
+      flames; the snow poured down like dazzling lava.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this moving mass a man was seen struggling, whose efforts only involved
+      him deeper and deeper in the whirling and liquid gulf; his knees were
+      already buried. In vain he clasped his arms round an enormous pyramidal
+      and transparent icicle, which reflected the lightning like a rock of
+      crystal; the icicle itself was melting at its base, and slowly bending
+      over the declivity of the rock. Under the covering of snow, masses of
+      granite were heard striking against each other, as they descended into the
+      vast depths below. Yet they could still save him; a space of scarcely four
+      feet separated him from Laubardemont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sink!&rdquo; he cried; &ldquo;hold out to me something, and thou
+      shalt have the treaty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give it me, and I will reach thee this musket,&rdquo; said the
+      judge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There it is,&rdquo; replied the ruffian, &ldquo;since the Devil is
+      for Richelieu!&rdquo; and taking one hand from the hold of his slippery
+      support, he threw a roll of wood into the cabin. Laubardemont rushed back
+      upon the treaty like a wolf on his prey. Jacques in vain held out his arm;
+      he slowly glided away with the enormous thawing block turned upon him, and
+      was silently buried in the snow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, villain,&rdquo; were his last words, &ldquo;thou hast deceived
+      me! but thou didst not take the treaty from me. I gave it thee, Father!&rdquo;
+      and he disappeared wholly under the thick white bed of snow. Nothing was
+      seen in his place but the glittering flakes which the lightning had
+      ploughed up, as it became extinguished in them; nothing was&mdash;heard
+      but the rolling of the thunder and the dash of the water against the
+      rocks, for the men in the half-ruined cabin, grouped round a corpse and a
+      villain, were silent, tongue-tied with horror, and fearing lest God
+      himself should send a thunderbolt upon them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII. ABSENCE
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+          L&rsquo;absence est le plus grand des maux,
+          Non pas pour vous, cruelle!
+
+                       LA FONTAINE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Who has not found a charm in watching the clouds of heaven as they float
+      along? Who has not envied them the freedom of their journeyings through
+      the air, whether rolled in great masses by the wind, and colored by the
+      sun, they advance peacefully, like fleets of dark ships with gilt prows,
+      or sprinkled in light groups, they glide quickly on, airy and elongated,
+      like birds of passage, transparent as vast opals detached from the
+      treasury of the heavens, or glittering with whiteness, like snows from the
+      mountains carried on the wings of the winds? Man is a slow traveller who
+      envies those rapid journeyers; less rapid than his imagination, they have
+      yet seen in a single day all the places he loves, in remembrance or in
+      hope,&mdash;those that have witnessed his happiness or his misery, and
+      those so beautiful countries unknown to us, where we expect to find
+      everything at once. Doubtless there is not a spot on the whole earth, a
+      wild rock, an arid plain, over which we pass with indifference, that has
+      not been consecrated in the life of some man, and is not painted in his
+      remembrance; for, like battered vessels, before meeting inevitable wreck,
+      we leave some fragment of ourselves on every rock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whither go the dark-blue clouds of that storm of the Pyrenees? It is the
+      wind of Africa which drives them before it with a fiery breath. They fly;
+      they roll over one another, growlingly throwing out lightning before them,
+      as their torches, and leaving suspended behind them a long train of rain,
+      like a vaporous robe. Freed by an effort from the rocky defiles that for a
+      moment had arrested their course, they irrigate, in Bearn, the picturesque
+      patrimony of Henri IV; in Guienne, the conquests of Charles VII; in
+      Saintogne, Poitou, and Touraine, those of Charles V and of Philip
+      Augustus; and at last, slackening their pace above the old domain of Hugh
+      Capet, halt murmuring on the towers of St. Germain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Madame!&rdquo; exclaimed Marie de Mantua to the Queen, &ldquo;do
+      you see this storm coming up from the south?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You often look in that direction, &lsquo;ma chere&rsquo;,&rdquo;
+      answered Anne of Austria, leaning on the balcony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the direction of the sun, Madame.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And of tempests, you see,&rdquo; said the Queen. &ldquo;Trust in my
+      friendship, my child; these clouds can bring no happiness to you. I would
+      rather see you turn your eyes toward Poland. See the fine people you might
+      command.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment, to avoid the rain, which began to fall, the
+      Prince-Palatine passed rapidly under the windows of the Queen, with a
+      numerous suite of young Poles on horseback. Their Turkish vests, with
+      buttons of diamonds, emeralds, and rubies; their green and gray cloaks;
+      the lofty plumes of their horses, and their adventurous air-gave them a
+      singular eclat to which the court had easily become accustomed. They
+      paused for a moment, and the Prince made two salutes, while the light
+      animal he rode passed gracefully sideways, keeping his front toward the
+      princesses; prancing and snorting, he shook his mane, and seemed to salute
+      by putting his head between his legs. The whole suite repeated the
+      evolution as they passed. The Princesse Marie had at first shrunk back,
+      lest they should see her tears; but the brilliant and flattering spectacle
+      made her return to the balcony, and she could not help exclaiming:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How gracefully the Palatine rides that beautiful horse! he seems
+      scarce conscious of it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen smiled, and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is conscious about her who might be his queen tomorrow, if she
+      would but make a sign of the head, and let but one glance from her great
+      black almond-shaped eyes be turned on that throne, instead of always
+      receiving these poor foreigners with poutings, as now.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And Anne of Austria kissed the cheek of Marie, who could not refrain from
+      smiling also; but she instantly sunk her head, reproaching herself, and
+      resumed her sadness, which seemed gliding from her. She even needed once
+      more to contemplate the great clouds that hung over the chateau.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor child,&rdquo; continued the Queen, &ldquo;thou dost all thou
+      canst to be very faithful, and to keep thyself in the melancholy of thy
+      romance. Thou art making thyself ill with weeping when thou shouldst be
+      asleep, and with not eating. Thou passest the night in revery and in
+      writing; but I warn thee, thou wilt get nothing by it, except making
+      thyself thin and less beautiful, and the not being a queen. Thy Cinq-Mars
+      is an ambitious youth, who has lost himself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Seeing Marie conceal her head in her handkerchief to weep, Anne of Austria
+      for a moment reentered her chamber, leaving Marie in the balcony, and
+      feigned to be looking for some jewels at her toilet-table; she soon
+      returned, slowly and gravely, to the window. Marie was more calm, and was
+      gazing sorrowfully at the landscape before her, the hills in the distance,
+      and the storm gradually spreading itself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen resumed in a more serious tone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God has been more merciful to you than your imprudence perhaps
+      deserved, Marie. He has saved you from great danger. You were willing to
+      make great sacrifices, but fortunately they have not been accomplished as
+      you expected. Innocence has saved you from love. You are as one who,
+      thinking she has swallowed a deadly poison, has in reality drunk only pure
+      and harmless water.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Madame, what mean you? Am I not unhappy enough already?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not interrupt me,&rdquo; said the Queen; &ldquo;you will, ere
+      long, see your present position with different eyes. I will not accuse you
+      of ingratitude toward the Cardinal; I have too many reasons for not liking
+      him. I myself witnessed the rise of the conspiracy. Still, you should
+      remember, &lsquo;ma chere&rsquo;, that he was the only person in France
+      who, against the opinion of the Queen-mother and of the court, insisted
+      upon war with the duchy of Mantua, which he recovered from the empire and
+      from Spain, and returned to the Duc de Nevers, your father. Here, in this
+      very chateau of Saint-Germain, was signed the treaty which deposed the
+      Duke of Guastalla.&mdash;[The 19th of May, 1632.]&mdash;You were then very
+      young; they must, however, have told you of it. Yet here, through love
+      alone (I am willing to believe, with yourself, that it is so), a young man
+      of two-and-twenty is ready to get him assassinated.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Madame, he is incapable of such a deed. I swear to you that he
+      has refused to adopt it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have begged you, Marie, to let me speak. I know that he is
+      generous and loyal. I am willing to believe that, contrary to the custom
+      of our times, he would not go so far as to kill an old man, as did the
+      Chevalier de Guise. But can he prevent his assassination, if his troops
+      make him prisoner? This we can not say, any more than he. God alone knows
+      the future. It is, at all events, certain that it is for you he attacks
+      him, and, to overthrow him, is preparing civil war, which perhaps is
+      bursting forth at the very moment that we speak&mdash;a war without
+      success. Whichever way it turns, it can only effect evil, for Monsieur is
+      going to abandon the conspiracy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How, Madame?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen to me. I tell you I am certain of it; I need not explain
+      myself further. What will the grand ecuyer do? The King, as he rightly
+      anticipated, has gone to consult the Cardinal. To consult him is to yield
+      to him; but the treaty of Spain is signed. If it be discovered, what can
+      Monsieur de Cinq-Mars do? Do not tremble thus. We will save him; we will
+      save his life, I promise you. There is yet time, I hope.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Madame, you hope! I am lost!&rdquo; cried Marie, half fainting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us sit down,&rdquo; said the Queen; and, placing herself near
+      Marie, at the entrance to the chamber, she continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doubtless Monsieur will treat for all the conspirators in treating
+      for himself; but exile will be the least punishment, perpetual exile.
+      Behold, then, the Duchesse de Nevers and Mantua, the Princesse Marie de
+      Gonzaga, the wife of Monsieur Henri d&rsquo;Effiat, Marquis de Cinq-Mars,
+      exiled!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Madame, I will follow him into exile. It is my duty; I am his
+      wife!&rdquo; exclaimed Marie, sobbing. &ldquo;I would I knew he were
+      already banished and in safety.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreams of eighteen!&rdquo; said the Queen, supporting Marie.
+      &ldquo;Awake, child, awake! you must. I deny not the good qualities of
+      Monsieur de Cinq-Mars. He has a lofty character, a vast mind, and great
+      courage; but he may no longer be aught for you, and, fortunately, you are
+      not his wife, or even his betrothed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am his, Madame-his alone.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But without the benediction,&rdquo; replied Anne of Austria;
+      &ldquo;in a word, without marriage. No priest would have dared&mdash;not
+      even your own; he told me so. Be silent!&rdquo; she added, putting her two
+      beautiful hands on Marie&rsquo;s lips. &ldquo;Be silent! You would say
+      that God heard your vow; that you can not live without him; that your
+      destinies are inseparable from his; that death alone can break your union?
+      The phrases of your age, delicious chimeras of a moment, at which one day
+      you will smile, happy at not having to lament them all your life. Of the
+      many and brilliant women you see around me at court, there is not one but
+      at your age had some beautiful dream of love, like this of yours, who did
+      not form those ties, which they believed indissoluble, and who did not in
+      secret take eternal oaths. Well, these dreams are vanished, these knots
+      broken, these oaths forgotten; and yet you see them happy women and
+      mothers. Surrounded by the honors of their rank, they laugh and dance
+      every night. I again divine what you would say&mdash;they loved not as you
+      love, eh? You deceive yourself, my dear child; they loved as much, and
+      wept no less.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And here I must make you acquainted with that great mystery which
+      constitutes your despair, since you are ignorant of the malady that
+      devours you. We have a twofold existence, &lsquo;m&rsquo;amie&rsquo;: our
+      internal life, that of our feelings powerfully works within us, while the
+      external life dominates despite ourselves. We are never independent of
+      men, more especially in an elevated condition. Alone, we think ourselves
+      mistresses of our destiny; but the entrance of two or three people fastens
+      on all our chains, by recalling our rank and our retinue. Nay; shut
+      yourself up and abandon yourself to all the daring and extraordinary
+      resolutions that the passions may raise up in you, to the marvellous
+      sacrifices they may suggest to you. A lackey coming and asking your orders
+      will at once break the charm and bring you back to your real life. It is
+      this contest between your projects and your position which destroys you.
+      You are invariably angry with yourself; you bitterly reproach yourself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie turned away her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, you believe yourself criminal. Pardon yourself, Marie; all men
+      are beings so relative and so dependent one upon another that I know not
+      whether the great retreats of the world that we sometimes see are not made
+      for the world itself. Despair has its pursuits, and solitude its coquetry.
+      It is said that the gloomiest hermits can not refrain from inquiring what
+      men say of them. This need of public opinion is beneficial, in that it
+      combats, almost always victoriously, that which is irregular in our
+      imagination, and comes to the aid of duties which we too easily forget.
+      One experiences (you will feel it, I hope) in returning to one&rsquo;s
+      proper lot, after the sacrifice of that which had diverted the reason, the
+      satisfaction of an exile returning to his family, of a sick person at
+      sight of the sun after a night afflicted with frightful dreams.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is this feeling of a being returned, as it were, to its natural
+      state that creates the calm which you see in many eyes that have also had
+      their tears-for there are few women who have not known tears such as
+      yours. You would think yourself perjured if you renounced Cinq-Mars! But
+      nothing binds you; you have more than acquitted yourself toward him by
+      refusing for more than two years past the royal hands offered you. And,
+      after all, what has he done, this impassioned lover? He has elevated
+      himself to reach you; but may not the ambition which here seems to you to
+      have aided love have made use of that love? This young man seems to me too
+      profound, too calm in his political stratagems, too independent in his
+      vast resolutions, in his colossal enterprises, for me to believe him
+      solely occupied by his tenderness. If you have been but a means instead of
+      an end, what would you say?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would still love him,&rdquo; answered Marie. &ldquo;While he
+      lives, I am his.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And while I live,&rdquo; said the Queen, with firmness, &ldquo;I
+      will oppose the alliance.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At these last words the rain and hail fell violently on the balcony. The
+      Queen took advantage of the circumstance abruptly to leave the room and
+      pass into that where the Duchesse de Chevreuse, Mazarin, Madame de
+      Guemenee, and the Prince-Palatine had been awaiting her for a short time.
+      The Queen walked up to them. Marie placed herself in the shade of a
+      curtain in order to conceal the redness of her eyes. She was at first
+      unwilling to take part in the sprightly conversation; but some words of it
+      attracted her attention. The Queen was showing to the Princesse de
+      Guemenee diamonds she had just received from Paris.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As for this crown, it does not belong to me. The King had it
+      prepared for the future Queen of Poland. Who that is to be, we know not.&rdquo;
+      Then turning toward the Prince-Palatine, &ldquo;We saw you pass, Prince.
+      Whom were you going to visit?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mademoiselle la Duchesse de Rohan,&rdquo; answered the Pole.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The insinuating Mazarin, who availed himself of every opportunity to worm
+      out secrets, and to make himself necessary by forced confidences, said,
+      approaching the Queen:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That comes very apropos, just as we were speaking of the crown of
+      Poland.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie, who was listening, could not hear this, and said to Madame de
+      Guemenee, who was at her side:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is Monsieur de Chabot, then, King of Poland?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Queen heard that, and was delighted at this touch of pride. In order
+      to develop its germ, she affected an approving attention to the
+      conversation that ensued.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Princesse de Guemenee exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you conceive such a marriage? We really can&rsquo;t get it out
+      of our heads. This same Mademoiselle de Rohan, whom we have seen so
+      haughty, after having refused the Comte de Soissons, the Duc de Weimar,
+      and the Duc de Nemours, to marry Monsieur de Chabot, a simple gentleman!
+      &lsquo;Tis really a sad pity! What are we coming to? &lsquo;Tis impossible
+      to say what it will all end in.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! can it be true? Love at court! a real love affair! Can it be
+      believed?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All this time the Queen continued opening and shutting and playing with
+      the new crown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Diamonds suit only black hair,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Let us see.
+      Let me put it on you, Marie. Why, it suits her to admiration!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One would suppose it had been made for Madame la Princesse,&rdquo;
+      said the Cardinal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would give the last drop of my blood for it to remain on that
+      brow,&rdquo; said the Prince-Palatine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie, through the tears that were still on her cheek, gave an infantine
+      and involuntary smile, like a ray of sunshine through rain. Then, suddenly
+      blushing deeply, she hastily took refuge in her apartments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All present laughed. The Queen followed her with her eyes, smiled,
+      presented her hand for the Polish ambassador to kiss, and retired to write
+      a letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV. THE WORK
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      One night, before Perpignan, a very unusual event took place. It was ten o&rsquo;clock;
+      and all were asleep. The slow and almost suspended operations of the siege
+      had rendered the camp and the town inactive. The Spaniards troubled
+      themselves little about the French, all communication toward Catalonia
+      being open as in time of peace; and in the French army men&rsquo;s minds
+      were agitated with that secret anxiety which precedes great events.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet all was calm; no sound was heard but that of the measured tread of the
+      sentries. Nothing was seen in the dark night but the red light of the
+      matches of their guns, always smoking, when suddenly the trumpets of the
+      musketeers, of the light-horse, and of the men-at-arms sounded almost
+      simultaneously, &ldquo;boot and saddle,&rdquo; and &ldquo;to horse.&rdquo;
+      All the sentinels cried to arms; and the sergeants, with flambeaux, went
+      from tent to tent, along pike in their hands, to waken the soldiers, range
+      them in lines, and count them. Some files marched in gloomy silence along
+      the streets of the camp, and took their position in battle array. The
+      sound of the mounted squadrons announced that the heavy cavalry were
+      making the same dispositions. After half an hour of movement the noise
+      ceased, the torches were extinguished, and all again became calm, but the
+      army was on foot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the last tents of the camp shone within as a star with flambeaux.
+      On approaching this little white and transparent pyramid, we might have
+      distinguished the shadows of two men reflected on the canvas as they
+      walked to and fro within. Outside several men on horseback were in
+      attendance; inside were De Thou and Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To see the pious and wise De Thou thus up and armed at this hour, you
+      might have taken him for one of the chiefs of the revolt. But a closer
+      examination of his serious countenance and mournful expression immediately
+      showed that he blamed it, and allowed himself to be led into it and
+      endangered by it from an extraordinary resolution which aided him to
+      surmount the horror he had of the enterprise itself. From the day when
+      Henri d&rsquo;Effiat had opened his heart and confided to him its whole
+      secret, he had seen clearly that all remonstrance was vain with a young
+      man so powerfully resolved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou had even understood what M. de Cinq-Mars had not told him, and had
+      seen in the secret union of his friend with the Princesse Marie, one of
+      those ties of love whose mysterious and frequent faults, voluptuous and
+      involuntary derelictions, could not be too soon purified by public
+      benediction. He had comprehended that punishment, impossible to be
+      supported long by a lover, the adored master of that young girl, and who
+      was condemned daily to appear before her as a stranger, to receive
+      political disclosures of marriages they were preparing for her. The day
+      when he received his entire confession, he had done all in his power to
+      prevent Cinq-Mars going so far in his projects as the foreign alliance. He
+      had evoked the gravest recollections and the best feelings, without any
+      other result than rendering the invincible resolution of his friend more
+      rude toward him. Cinq-Mars, it will be recollected, had said to him
+      harshly, &ldquo;Well, did I ask you to take part in this conspiracy?&rdquo;
+      And he had desired only to promise not to denounce it; and he had
+      collected all his power against friendship to say, &ldquo;Expect nothing
+      further from me if you sign this treaty.&rdquo; Yet Cinq-Mars had signed
+      the treaty; and De Thou was still there with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The habit of familiarly discussing the projects of his friend had perhaps
+      rendered them less odious to him. His contempt for the vices of the
+      Prime-Minister; his indignation at the servitude of the parliaments to
+      which his family belonged, and at the corruption of justice; the powerful
+      names, and more especially the noble characters of the men who directed
+      the enterprise&mdash;all had contributed to soften down his first painful
+      impression. Having once promised secrecy to M. de Cinq-Mars, he considered
+      himself as in a position to accept in detail all the secondary
+      disclosures; and since the fortuitous event which had compromised him with
+      the conspirators at the house of Marion de Lorme, he considered himself
+      united to them by honor, and engaged to an inviolable secrecy. Since that
+      time he had seen Monsieur, the Duc de Bouillon, and Fontrailles; they had
+      become accustomed to speak before him without constraint, and he to hear
+      them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dangers which threatened his friend now drew him into their vortex
+      like an invincible magnet. His conscience accused him; but he followed
+      Cinq-Mars wherever he went without even, from excess of delicacy,
+      hazarding a single expression which might resemble a personal fear. He had
+      tacitly given up his life, and would have deemed it unworthy of both to
+      manifest a desire to regain it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The master of the horse was in his cuirass; he was armed, and wore large
+      boots. An enormous pistol, with a lighted match, was placed upon his table
+      between two flambeaux. A heavy watch in a brass case lay near the pistol.
+      De Thou, wrapped in a black cloak, sat motionless with folded arms.
+      Cinq-Mars paced backward and forward, his arms crossed behind his back,
+      from time to time looking at the hand of the watch, too sluggish in his
+      eyes. He opened the tent, looked up to the heavens, and returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not see my star there,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;but no matter.
+      She is here in my heart.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The night is dark,&rdquo; said De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say rather that the time draws nigh. It advances, my friend; it
+      advances. Twenty minutes more, and all will be accomplished. The army only
+      waits the report of this pistol to begin.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou held in his hand an ivory crucifix, and looking first at the
+      cross, and then toward heaven, &ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;is the
+      hour to complete the sacrifice. I repent not; but oh, how bitter is the
+      cup of sin to my lips! I had vowed my days to innocence and to the works
+      of the soul, and here I am about to commit a crime, and to draw the sword.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But forcibly seizing the hand of Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;It is for you, for you!&rdquo;
+      he added with the enthusiasm of a blindly devoted heart. &ldquo;I rejoice
+      in my errors if they turn to your glory. I see but your happiness in my
+      fault. Forgive me if I have returned for a moment to the habitual thought
+      of my whole life.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars looked steadfastly at him; and a tear stole slowly down his
+      cheek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Virtuous friend,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;may your fault fall only on
+      my head! But let us hope that God, who pardons those who love, will be for
+      us; for we are criminal&mdash;I through love, you through friendship.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then suddenly looking at the watch, he took the long pistol in his hand,
+      and gazed at the smoking match with a fierce air. His long hair fell over
+      his face like the mane of a young lion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not consume,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;burn slowly. Thou art about
+      to light a flame which the waves of ocean can not extinguish. The flame
+      will soon light half Europe; it may perhaps reach the wood of thrones.
+      Burn slowly, precious flame! The winds which fan thee are violent and
+      fearful; they are love and hatred. Reserve thyself! Thy explosion will be
+      heard afar, and will find echoes in the peasant&rsquo;s but and the king&rsquo;s
+      palace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Burn, burn, poor flame! Thou art to me a sceptre and a thunderbolt!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou, still holding his ivory crucifix in his hand, said in a low
+      voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lord, pardon us the blood that will be shed! We combat the wicked
+      and the impious.&rdquo; Then, raising his voice, &ldquo;My friend, the
+      cause of virtue will triumph,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;it alone will
+      triumph. God has ordained that the guilty treaty should not reach us; that
+      which constituted the crime is no doubt destroyed. We shall fight without
+      the foreigners, and perhaps we shall not fight at all. God will change the
+      heart of the king.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Tis the hour! &lsquo;tis the hour!&rdquo; exclaimed
+      Cinq-Mars, his eyes fixed upon the watch with a kind of savage joy;
+      &ldquo;four minutes more, and the Cardinalists in the camp will be
+      crushed! We shall march upon Narbonne! He is there! Give me the pistol!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words he hastily opened the tent, and took up the match.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A courier from Paris! an express from court!&rdquo; cried a voice
+      outside, as a man, heated with hard riding and overcome with fatigue,
+      threw himself from his horse, entered, and presented a letter to
+      Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the Queen, Monseigneur,&rdquo; he said. Cinq-Mars turned pale,
+      and read as follows:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   M. DE CINQ-MARS: I write this letter to entreat and conjure you to
+   restore to her duties our well-beloved adopted daughter and friend,
+   the Princesse Marie de Gonzaga, whom your affection alone turns from
+   the throne of Poland, which has been offered to her. I have sounded
+   her heart. She is very young, and I have good reason to believe
+   that she would accept the crown with less effort and less grief than
+   you may perhaps imagine.
+
+   It is for her you have undertaken a war which will put to fire and
+   sword my beautiful and beloved France. I supplicate and implore you
+   to act as a gentleman, and nobly to release the Duchesse de Mantua
+   from the promises she may have made you. Thus restore repose to her
+   soul, and peace to our beloved country.
+
+   The Queen, who will throw herself at your feet if need be,
+
+                         ANNE.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars calmly replaced the pistol upon the table; his first impulse had
+      been to turn its muzzle upon himself. However, he laid it down, and
+      snatching a pencil, wrote on the back of the letter;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   MADAME: Marie de Gonzaga, being my wife, can not be Queen of Poland
+   until after my death. I die.
+
+                         CINQ-MARS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Then, as if he would not allow himself time for a moment&rsquo;s
+      reflection, he forced the letter into the hands of the courier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To horse! to horse!&rdquo; cried he, in a furious tone. &ldquo;If
+      you remain another instant, you are a dead man!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw him gallop off, and reentered the tent. Alone with his friend, he
+      remained an instant standing, but pale, his eyes fixed, and looking on the
+      ground like a madman. He felt himself totter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;De Thou!&rdquo; he cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What would you, my friend, my dear friend? I am with you. You have
+      acted grandly, most grandly, sublimely!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;De Thou!&rdquo; he cried again, in a hollow voice, and fell with
+      his face to the ground, like an uprooted tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Violent tempests assume different aspects, according to the climates in
+      which they take place. Those which have spread over a terrible space in
+      northern countries assemble into one single cloud under the torrid zone&mdash;the
+      more formidable, that they leave the horizon in all its purity, and that
+      the furious waves still reflect the azure of heaven while tinged with the
+      blood of man. It is the same with great passions. They assume strange
+      aspects according to our characters; but how terrible are they in vigorous
+      hearts, which have preserved their force under the veil of social forms?
+      When youth and despair embrace, we know not to what fury they may rise, or
+      what may be their sudden resignation; we know not whether the volcano will
+      burst the mountain or become suddenly extinguished within its entrails.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou, in alarm, raised his friend. The blood gushed from his nostrils
+      and ears; he would have thought him dead, but for the torrents of tears
+      which flowed from his eyes. They were the only sign of life. Suddenly he
+      opened his lids, looked around him, and by an extraordinary energy resumed
+      his senses and the power of his will.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am in the presence of men,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;I must finish
+      with them. My friend, it is half-past eleven; the hour for the signal has
+      passed. Give, in my name, the order to return to quarters. It was a false
+      alarm, which I will myself explain this evening.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou had already perceived the importance of this order; he went out
+      and returned immediately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He found Cinq-Mars seated, calm, and endeavoring to cleanse the blood from
+      his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;De Thou,&rdquo; said he, looking fixedly at him, &ldquo;retire; you
+      disturb me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I leave you not,&rdquo; answered the latter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fly, I tell you! the Pyrenees are not far distant. I can not speak
+      much longer, even to you; but if you remain with me, you will die. I give
+      you warning.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remain,&rdquo; repeated De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May God preserve you, then!&rdquo; answered Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;for I
+      can do nothing more; the moment has passed. I leave you here. Call
+      Fontrailles and all the confederates: distribute these passports among
+      them. Let them fly immediately; tell them all has failed, but that I thank
+      them. For you, once again I say, fly with them, I entreat you; but
+      whatever you do, follow me not&mdash;follow me not, for your life! I swear
+      to you not to do violence to myself!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With these words, shaking his friend&rsquo;s hand without looking at him,
+      he rushed from the tent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meantime, some leagues thence another conversation was taking place. At
+      Narbonne, in the same cabinet in which we formerly beheld Richelieu
+      regulating with Joseph the interests of the State, were still seated the
+      same men, nearly as we have described them. The minister, however, had
+      grown much older in three years of suffering; and the Capuchin was as much
+      terrified with the result of his expedition as his master appeared
+      tranquil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal, seated in his armchair, his legs bound and encased with furs
+      and warm clothing, had upon his knees three kittens, which gambolled upon
+      his scarlet robe. Every now and then he took one of them and placed it
+      upon the others, to continue their sport. He smiled as he watched them. On
+      his feet lay their mother, looking like an enormous animated muff.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joseph, seated near him, was going over the account of all he had heard in
+      the confessional. Pale even now, at the danger he had run of being
+      discovered, or of being murdered by Jacques, he concluded thus:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In short, your Eminence, I can not help feeling agitated to my
+      heart&rsquo;s core when I reflect upon the dangers which have, and still
+      do, threaten you. Assassins offer themselves to poniard you. I beheld in
+      France the whole court against you, one half of the army, and two
+      provinces. Abroad, Spain and Portugal are ready to furnish troops.
+      Everywhere there are snares or battles, poniards or cannon.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal yawned three times, without discontinuing his amusement, and
+      then said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A cat is a very fine animal. It is a drawing-room tiger. What
+      suppleness, what extraordinary finesse! Here is this little yellow one
+      pretending to sleep, in order that the tortoise-shell one may not notice
+      it, but fall upon its brother; and this one, how it tears the other! See
+      how it sticks its claws into its side! It would kill and eat it, I fully
+      believe, if it were the stronger. It is very amusing. What pretty animals!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He coughed and sneezed for some time; then he continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Messire Joseph, I sent word to you not to speak to me of business
+      until after my supper... I have an appetite now, and it is not yet my
+      hour. Chicot, my doctor, recommends regularity, and I feel my usual pain
+      in my side. This is how I shall spend the evening,&rdquo; he added,
+      looking at the clock. &ldquo;At nine, we will settle the affairs of
+      Monsieur le Grand. At ten, I shall be carried round the garden to take the
+      air by moonlight. Then I shall sleep for an hour or two. At midnight the
+      King will be here; and at four o&rsquo;clock you may return to receive the
+      various orders for arrests, condemnations, or any others I may have to
+      give you, for the provinces, Paris, or the armies of his Majesty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richelieu said all this in the same tone of voice, with a uniform
+      enunciation, affected only by the weakness of his chest and the loss of
+      several teeth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was seven in the evening. The Capuchin withdrew. The Cardinal supped
+      with the greatest tranquillity; and when the clock struck half-past eight,
+      he sent for Joseph, and said to him, when he was seated:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This, then, is all they have been able to do against me during more
+      than two years. They are poor creatures, truly! The Duc de Bouillon, whom
+      I thought possessed some ability, has forfeited all claim to my opinion. I
+      have watched him closely; and I ask you, has he taken one step worthy of a
+      true statesman? The King, Monsieur, and the rest, have only shown their
+      teeth against me, and without depriving me of one single man. The young
+      Cinq-Mars is the only man among them who has any consecutiveness of ideas.
+      All that he has done has been done surprisingly well. I must do him
+      justice; he had good qualities. I should have made him my pupil, had it
+      not been for his obstinate character. But he has here charged me &lsquo;a
+      l&rsquo;outrance, and must take the consequences. I am sorry for him. I
+      have left them to float about in open water for the last two years. I
+      shall now draw the net.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is time, Monseigneur,&rdquo; said Joseph, who often trembled
+      involuntarily as he spoke. &ldquo;Do you bear in mind that from Perpignan
+      to Narbonne the way is short? Do you know that if your army here is
+      powerful, your own troops are weak and uncertain; that the young nobles
+      are furious; and that the King is not sure?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal looked at the clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is only half-past eight, Joseph. I have already told you that I
+      will not talk about this affair until nine. Meantime, as justice must be
+      done, you will write what I shall dictate, for my memory serves me well.
+      There are still some objectionable persons left, I see by my notes&mdash;four
+      of the judges of Urbain Grandier. He was a rare genius, that Urbain
+      Grandier,&rdquo; he added, with a malicious expression. Joseph bit his
+      lips. &ldquo;All the other judges have died miserably. As to Houmain, he
+      shall be hanged as a smuggler by and by. We may leave him alone for the
+      present. But there is that horrible Lactantius, who lives peacefully,
+      Barre, and Mignon. Take a pen, and write to the Bishop of Poitiers,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;MONSEIGNEUR: It is his Majesty&rsquo;s pleasure that Fathers Mignon and
+   Barre be superseded in their cures, and sent with the shortest
+   possible delay to the town of Lyons, with Father Lactantius,
+   Capuchin, to be tried before a special tribunal, charged with
+   criminal intentions against the State.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Joseph wrote as coolly as a Turk strikes off a head at a sign from his
+      master. The Cardinal said to him, while signing the letter:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will let you know how I wish them to disappear, for it is
+      important to efface all traces of that affair. Providence has served me
+      well. In removing these men, I complete its work. That is all that
+      posterity shall know of the affair.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he read to the Capuchin that page of his memoirs in which he recounts
+      the possession and sorceries of the magician.&mdash;[Collect. des Memoires
+      xxviii. 189.]&mdash;During this slow process, Joseph could not help
+      looking at the clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are anxious to come to Monsieur le Grand,&rdquo; said the
+      Cardinal at last. &ldquo;Well, then, to please you, let us begin.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think I have not my reasons for being tranquil? You think
+      that I have allowed these poor conspirators to go too far. No, no! Here
+      are some little papers that would reassure you, did you know their
+      contents. First, in this hollow stick is the treaty with Spain, seized at
+      Oleron. I am well satisfied with Laubardemont; he is an able man.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The fire of ferocious jealousy sparkled under the thick eyebrows of the
+      monk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Monseigneur,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you know not from whom he
+      seized it. He certainly suffered him to die, and in that respect we can
+      not complain, for he was the agent of the conspiracy; but it was his son.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say you the truth?&rdquo; cried the Cardinal, in a severe tone.
+      &ldquo;Yes, for you dare not lie to me. How knew you this?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From his attendants, Monsiegneur. Here are their reports. They will
+      testify to them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal having examined these papers, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will employ him once more to try our conspirators, and then you
+      shall do as you like with him. I give him to you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joseph joyfully pocketed his precious denunciations, and continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your Eminence speaks of trying men who are still armed and on
+      horseback.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are not all so. Read this letter from Monsieur to Chavigny. He
+      asks for pardon. He dared not address me the first day, and his prayers
+      rose no higher than the knees of one of my servants.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   To M. de Chavigny:
+
+   M. DE CHAVIGNY: Although I believe that you are little satisfied
+   with me (and in truth you have reason to be dissatisfied), I do not
+   the less entreat you to endeavor my reconciliation with his
+   Eminence, and rely for this upon the true love you bear me, and
+   which, I believe, is greater than your anger. You know how much I
+   require to be relieved from the danger I am in. You have already
+   twice stood my friend with his Eminence. I swear to you this shall
+   be the last time I give you such an employment.
+                       GASTON D&rsquo;ORLEANS.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But the next day he took courage, and sent this to myself,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   To his Excellency the Cardinal-Duc:
+
+   MY COUSIN: This ungrateful M. le Grand is the most guilty man in the
+   world to have displeased you. The favors he received from his
+   Majesty have always made me doubtful of him and his artifices. For
+   you, my cousin, I retain my whole esteem. I am truly repentant at
+   having again been wanting in the fidelity I owe to my Lord the King,
+   and I call God to witness the sincerity with which I shall be for
+   the rest of my life your most faithful friend, with the same
+   devotion that I am, my cousin, your affectionate cousin,
+                              GASTON.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      and the third to the King. His project choked him; he could not keep it
+      down. But I am not so easily satisfied. I must have a free and full
+      confession, or I will expel him from the kingdom. I have written to him
+      this morning.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [MONSIEUR: Since God wills that men should have recourse to a frank
+   and entire confession to be absolved of their faults in this world,
+   I indicate to you the steps you must take to be delivered from this
+   danger. Your Highness has commenced well; you must continue. This
+   is all I can say to you.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As to the magnificent and powerful Due de Bouillon, sovereign lord
+      of Sedan and general-in-chief of the armies in Italy, he has just been
+      arrested by his officers in the midst of his soldiers, concealed in a
+      truss of straw. There remain, therefore, only our two young neighbors.
+      They imagine they have the camp wholly at their orders, while they really
+      have only the red troops. All the rest, being Monsieur&rsquo;s men, will
+      not act, and my troops will arrest them. However, I have permitted them to
+      appear to obey. If they give the signal at half-past eleven, they will be
+      arrested at the first step. If not, the King will give them up to me this
+      evening. Do not open your eyes so wide. He will give them up to me, I
+      repeat, this night, between midnight and one o&rsquo;clock. You see that
+      all has been done without you, Joseph. We can dispense with you very well;
+      and truly, all this time, I do not see that we have received any great
+      service from you. You grow negligent.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Monseigneur! did you but know the trouble I have had to
+      discover the route of the bearers of the treaty! I only learned it by
+      risking my life between these young people.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal laughed contemptuously, leaning back in his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thou must have been very ridiculous and very fearful in that box,
+      Joseph; I dare say it was the first time in thy life thou ever heardst
+      love spoken of. Dost thou like the language, Father Joseph? Tell me, dost
+      thou clearly understand it? I doubt whether thou hast formed a very
+      refined idea of it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richelieu, his arms crossed, looked at his discomfited Capuchin with
+      infinite delight, and continued in the scornfully familiar tone of a grand
+      seigneur, which he sometimes assumed, pleasing himself with putting forth
+      the noblest expressions through the most impure lips:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, now, Joseph, give me a definition of love according to thy
+      idea. What can it be&mdash;for thou seest it exists out of romances. This
+      worthy youngster undertook these little conspiracies through love. Thou
+      heardst it thyself with throe unworthy ears. Come, what is love? For my
+      part, I know nothing about it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The monk was astounded, and looked upon the ground with the stupid eye of
+      some base animal. After long consideration, he replied in a drawling and
+      nasal voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must be a kind of malignant fever which leads the brain astray;
+      but in truth, Monseigneur, I have never reflected on it until this moment.
+      I have always been embarrassed in speaking to a woman. I wish women could
+      be omitted from society altogether; for I do not see what use they are,
+      unless it be to disclose secrets, like the little Duchess or Marion de
+      Lorme, whom I can not too strongly recommend to your Eminence. She thought
+      of everything, and herself threw our little prophecy among the
+      conspirators with great address. We have not been without the marvellous
+      this time. As in the siege of Hesdin, all we have to do is to find a
+      window through which you may pass on the day of the execution.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   [In 1638, Prince Thomas having raised the siege of Hesdin, the
+   Cardinal was much vexed at it. A nun of the convent of Mount
+   Calvary had said that the victory would be to the King and Father
+   Joseph, thus wishing it to be believed that Heaven protected the
+   minister.&mdash;Memoires pour l&rsquo;histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is another of your absurdities, sir,&rdquo; said the Cardinal;
+      &ldquo;you will make me as ridiculous as yourself, if you go on so; I am
+      too powerful to need the assistance of Heaven. Do not let that happen
+      again. Occupy yourself only with the people I consign to you. I traced
+      your part before. When the master of the horse is taken, you will see him
+      tried and executed at Lyons. I will not be known in this. This affair is
+      beneath me; it is a stone under my feet, upon which I ought not to have
+      bestowed so much attention.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joseph was silent; he could not understand this man, who, surrounded on
+      every side by armed enemies, spoke of the future as of a present over
+      which he had the entire control, and of the present as a past which he no
+      longer feared. He knew not whether to look upon him as a madman or a
+      prophet, above or below the standard of human nature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His astonishment was redoubled when Chavigny hastily entered, and nearly
+      falling, in his heavy boots, over the Cardinal&rsquo;s footstool,
+      exclaimed in great agitation:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir, one of your servants has just arrived from Perpignan; and he
+      has beheld the camp in an uproar, and your enemies in the saddle.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They will soon dismount, sir,&rdquo; replied Richelieu, replacing
+      his footstool. &ldquo;You appear to have lost your equanimity.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But&mdash;but, Monseigneur, must we not warn Monsieur de Fabert?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let him sleep, and go to bed yourself; and you also, Joseph.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monseigneur, another strange event has occurred&mdash;the King has
+      arrived.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed, that is extraordinary,&rdquo; said the minister, looking at
+      his watch. &ldquo;I did not expect him these two hours. Retire, both of
+      you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A heavy trampling and the clattering of arms announced the arrival of the
+      Prince; the folding-doors were thrown open; the guards in the Cardinal&rsquo;s
+      service struck the ground thrice with their pikes; and the King appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He entered, supporting himself with a cane on one side, and on the other
+      leaning upon the shoulder of his confessor, Father Sirmond, who withdrew,
+      and left him with the Cardinal; the latter rose with difficulty, but could
+      not advance a step to meet the King, because his legs were bandaged and
+      enveloped. He made a sign that they should assist the King to a seat near
+      the fire, facing himself. Louis XIII fell into an armchair furnished with
+      pillows, asked for and drank a glass of cordial, prepared to strengthen
+      him against the frequent fainting-fits caused by his malady of languor,
+      signed to all to leave the room, and, alone with Richelieu, he said in a
+      languid voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am departing, my dear Cardinal; I feel that I shall soon return
+      to God. I become weaker from day to day; neither the summer nor the
+      southern air has restored my strength.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall precede your Majesty,&rdquo; replied the minister. &ldquo;You
+      see that death has already conquered my limbs; but while I have a head to
+      think and a hand to write, I shall be at the service of your Majesty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I am sure it was your intention to add, &lsquo;a heart to love
+      me.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can your Majesty doubt it?&rdquo; answered the Cardinal, frowning,
+      and biting his lips impatiently at this speech.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes I doubt it,&rdquo; replied the King. &ldquo;Listen: I
+      wish to speak openly to you, and to complain of you to yourself. There are
+      two things which have been upon my conscience these three years. I have
+      never mentioned them to you; but I reproached you secretly; and could
+      anything have induced me to consent to any proposals contrary to your
+      interest, it would be this recollection.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was in this speech that frankness natural to weak minds, who seek by
+      thus making their ruler uneasy, to compensate for the harm they dare not
+      do him, and revenge their subjection by a childish controversy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richelieu perceived by these words that he had run a great risk; but he
+      saw at the same time the necessity of venting all his spleen, and, to
+      facilitate the explosion of these important avowals, he accumulated all
+      the professions he thought most calculated to provoke the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no!&rdquo; his Majesty at length exclaimed, &ldquo;I shall
+      believe nothing until you have explained those two things, which are
+      always in my thoughts, which were lately mentioned to me, and which I can
+      justify by no reasoning. I mean the trial of Urbain Grandier, of which I
+      was never well informed, and the reason for the hatred you bore to my
+      unfortunate mother, even to her very ashes.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this all, Sire?&rdquo; said Richelieu. &ldquo;Are these my only
+      faults? They are easily explained. The first it was necessary to conceal
+      from your Majesty because of its horrible and disgusting details of
+      scandal. There was certainly an art employed, which can not be looked upon
+      as guilty, in concealing, under the title of &lsquo;magic,&rsquo; crimes
+      the very names of which are revolting to modesty, the recital of which
+      would have revealed dangerous mysteries to the innocent; this was a holy
+      deceit practised to hide these impurities from the eyes of the people.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Enough, enough, Cardinal,&rdquo; said Louis XIII, turning away his
+      head, and looking downward, while a blush covered his face; &ldquo;I can
+      not hear more. I understand you; these explanations would disgust me. I
+      approve your motives; &lsquo;tis well. I had not been told that; they had
+      concealed these dreadful vices from me. Are you assured of the proofs of
+      these crimes?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have them all in my possession, Sire; and as to the glorious
+      Queen, Marie de Medicis, I am surprised that your Majesty can forget how
+      much I was attached to her. Yes, I do not fear to acknowledge it; it is to
+      her I owe my elevation. She was the first who deigned to notice the Bishop
+      of Luton, then only twenty-two years of age, to place me near her. What
+      have I not suffered when she compelled me to oppose her in your Majesty&rsquo;s
+      interest! But this sacrifice was made for you. I never had, and never
+      shall have, to regret it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;Tis well for you, but for me!&rdquo; said the King,
+      bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Sire,&rdquo; exclaimed the Cardinal, &ldquo;did not the Son of
+      God himself set you an example? It is by the model of every perfection
+      that we regulate our counsels; and if the monument due to the precious
+      remains of your mother is not yet raised, Heaven is my witness that the
+      works were retarded through the fear of afflicting your heart by bringing
+      back the recollection of her death. But blessed be the day in which I have
+      been permitted to speak to you on the subject! I myself shall say the
+      first mass at Saint-Denis, when we shall see her deposited there, if
+      Providence allows me the strength.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The countenance of the King assumed a more affable yet still cold
+      expression; and the Cardinal, thinking that he could go no farther that
+      evening in persuasion, suddenly resolved to make a more powerful move, and
+      to attack the enemy in front. Still keeping his eyes firmly fixed upon the
+      King, he said, coldly:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And was it for this you consented to my death?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me!&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;You have been deceived; I have
+      indeed heard of a conspiracy, and I wished to speak to you about it; but I
+      have commanded nothing against you.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;&lsquo;The conspirators do not say so, Sire; but I am bound to
+      believe your Majesty, and I am glad for your sake that men were deceived.
+      But what advice were you about to condescend to give me?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&mdash;I wished to tell you frankly, and between ourselves, that
+      you will do well to beware of Monsieur&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Sire, I can not now heed it; for here is a letter which he has
+      just sent to me for you. He seems to have been guilty even toward your
+      Majesty.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King read in astonishment:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   MONSEIGNEUR: I am much grieved at having once more failed in the
+   fidelity which I owe to your Majesty. I humbly entreat you to allow
+   me to ask a thousand pardons, with the assurances of my submission
+   and repentance.
+        Your very humble servant,
+                    GASTON.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does this mean?&rdquo; cried Louis; &ldquo;dare they arm
+      against me also?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Also!&rdquo; muttered the Cardinal, biting his lips; &ldquo;yes,
+      Sire, also; and this makes me believe, to a certain degree, this little
+      packet of papers.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While speaking, he drew a roll of parchment from a piece of hollowed
+      elder, and opened it before the eyes of the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is simply a treaty with Spain, which I think does not bear the
+      signature of your Majesty. You may see the twenty articles all in due
+      form. Everything is here arranged&mdash;the place of safety, the number of
+      troops, the supplies of men and money.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The traitors!&rdquo; cried the King, in great agitation; &ldquo;they
+      must be seized. My brother renounces them and repents; but do not fail to
+      arrest the Duc de Bouillon.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It shall be done, Sire.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That will be difficult, in the middle of the army in Italy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will answer with my head for his arrest, Sire; but is there not
+      another name to be added?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who&mdash;what&mdash;Cinq-Mars?&rdquo; inquired the King,
+      hesitating.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly so, Sire,&rdquo; answered the Cardinal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see&mdash;but&mdash;I think&mdash;we might&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear me!&rdquo; exclaimed Richelieu, in a voice of thunder; &ldquo;all
+      must be settled to-day. Your favorite is mounted at the head of his party;
+      choose between him and me. Yield up the boy to the man, or the man to the
+      boy; there is no alternative.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what will you do if I consent?&rdquo; said the King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will have his head and that of his friend.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never! it is impossible!&rdquo; replied the King, with horror, as
+      he relapsed into the same state of irresolution he evinced when with
+      Cinq-Mars against Richelieu. &ldquo;He is my friend as well as you; my
+      heart bleeds at the idea of his death. Why can you not both agree? Why
+      this division? It is that which has led him to this. You have between you
+      brought me to the brink of despair; you have made me the most miserable of
+      men.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louis hid his head in his hands while speaking, and perhaps he shed tears;
+      but the inflexible minister kept his eyes upon him as if watching his
+      prey, and without remorse, without giving the King time for reflection&mdash;on
+      the contrary, profiting by this emotion to speak yet longer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And is it thus,&rdquo; he continued, in a harsh and cold voice,
+      &ldquo;that you remember the commandments of God communicated to you by
+      the mouth of your confessor? You told me one day that the Church expressly
+      commanded you to reveal to your prime minister all that you might hear
+      against him; yet I have never heard from you of my intended death! It was
+      necessary that more faithful friends should apprise me of this conspiracy;
+      that the guilty themselves through the mercy of Providence should
+      themselves make the avowal of their fault. One only, the most guilty, yet
+      the least of all, still resists, and it is he who has conducted the whole;
+      it is he who would deliver France into the power of the foreigner, who
+      would overthrow in one single day my labors of twenty years. He would call
+      up the Huguenots of the south, invite to arms all orders of the State,
+      revive crushed pretensions, and, in fact, renew the League which was put
+      down by your father. It is that&mdash;do not deceive yourself&mdash;it is
+      that which raises so many heads against you. Are you prepared for the
+      combat? If so, where are your arms?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King, quite overwhelmed, made no reply; he still covered his face with
+      his hands. The stony-hearted Cardinal crossed his arms and continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I fear that you imagine it is for myself I speak. Do you really
+      think that I do not know my own powers, and that I fear such an adversary?
+      Really, I know not what prevents me from letting you act for yourself&mdash;from
+      transferring the immense burden of State affairs to the shoulders of this
+      youth. You may imagine that during the twenty years I have been acquainted
+      with your court, I have not forgotten to assure myself a retreat where, in
+      spite of you, I could now go to live the six months which perhaps remain
+      to me of life. It would be a curious employment for me to watch the
+      progress of such a reign. What answer would you return, for instance, when
+      all the inferior potentates, regaining their station, no longer kept in
+      subjection by me, shall come in your brother&rsquo;s name to say to you,
+      as they dared to say to Henri IV on his throne: &lsquo;Divide with us all
+      the hereditary governments and sovereignties, and we shall be content.&rsquo;&mdash;[Memoires
+      de Sully, 1595.]&mdash;You will doubtless accede to their request; and it
+      is the least you can do for those who will have delivered you from
+      Richelieu. It will, perhaps, be fortunate, for to govern the
+      Ile-de-France, which they will no doubt allow you as the original domain,
+      your new minister will not require many secretaries.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While speaking thus, he furiously pushed the huge table, which nearly
+      filled the room, and was laden with papers and numerous portfolios.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louis was aroused from his apathetic meditation by the excessive audacity
+      of this discourse. He raised his head, and seemed to have instantly formed
+      one resolution for fear he should adopt another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, sir,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;my answer is that I will reign
+      alone.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be it so!&rdquo; replied Richelieu. &ldquo;But I ought to give you
+      notice that affairs are at present somewhat complicated. This is the hour
+      when I generally commence my ordinary avocations.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will act in your place,&rdquo; said Louis. &ldquo;I will open the
+      portfolios and issue my commands.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Try, then,&rdquo; said Richelieu. &ldquo;I shall retire; and if
+      anything causes you to hesitate, you can send for me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He rang a bell. In the same instant, and as if they had awaited the
+      signal, four vigorous footmen entered, and carried him and his chair into
+      another apartment, for we have before remarked that he was unable to walk.
+      While passing through the chambers where the secretaries were at work, he
+      called out in a loud voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will receive his Majesty&rsquo;s commands.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King remained alone, strong in his new resolution, and, proud in
+      having once resisted, he became anxious immediately to plunge into
+      political business. He walked around the immense table, and beheld as many
+      portfolios as they then counted empires, kingdoms, and States in Europe.
+      He opened one and found it divided into sections equalling in number the
+      subdivisions of the country to which it related. All was in order, but in
+      alarming order for him, because each note only referred to the very
+      essence of the business it alluded to, and related only to the exact point
+      of its then relations with France. These laconic notes proved as enigmatic
+      to Louis, as did the letters in cipher which covered the table. Here all
+      was confusion. An edict of banishment and expropriation of the Huguenots
+      of La Rochelle was mingled with treaties with Gustavus Adolphus and the
+      Huguenots of the north against the empire. Notes on General Bannier and
+      Wallenstein, the Duc de Weimar, and Jean de Witt were mingled with
+      extracts from letters taken from the casket of the Queen, the list of the
+      necklaces and jewels they contained, and the double interpretation which
+      might be put upon every phrase of her notes. Upon the margin of one of
+      these letters was written: &ldquo;For four lines in a man&rsquo;s
+      handwriting he might be criminally tried.&rdquo; Farther on were scattered
+      denunciations against the Huguenots; the republican plans they had drawn
+      up; the division of France into departments under the annual dictatorship
+      of a chief. The seal of this projected State was affixed to it,
+      representing an angel leaning upon a cross, and holding in his hand a
+      Bible, which he raised to his forehead. By the side was a document which
+      contained a list of those cardinals the pope had selected the same day as
+      the Bishop of Lurgon (Richelieu). Among them was to be found the Marquis
+      de Bedemar, ambassador and conspirator at Venice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louis XIII exhausted his powers in vain over the details of another
+      period, seeking unsuccessfully for any documents which might allude to the
+      present conspiracy, to enable him to perceive its true meaning, and all
+      that had been attempted against him, when a diminutive man, of an olive
+      complexion, who stooped much, entered the cabinet with a measured step.
+      This was a Secretary of State named Desnoyers. He advanced, bowing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I be permitted to address your Majesty on the affairs of
+      Portugal?&rdquo; said he.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And consequently of Spain?&rdquo; said Louis. &ldquo;Portugal is a
+      province of Spain.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of Portugal,&rdquo; reiterated Desnoyers. &ldquo;Here is the
+      manifesto we have this moment received.&rdquo; And he read, &ldquo;Don
+      John, by the grace of God, King of Portugal and of Algarves, kingdoms on
+      this side of Africa, lord over Guinea, by conquest, navigation, and trade
+      with Arabia, Persia, and the Indies&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is all that?&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;Who talks in this
+      manner?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Duke of Braganza, King of Portugal, crowned already some time
+      by a man whom they call Pinto. Scarcely has he ascended the throne than he
+      offers assistance to the revolted Catalonians.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has Catalonia also revolted? The King, Philip IV, no longer has the
+      Count-Duke for his Prime-Minister?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just the contrary, Sire. It is on this very account. Here is the
+      declaration of the States-General of Catalonia to his Catholic Majesty,
+      signifying that the whole country will take up arms against his
+      sacrilegious and excommunicated troops. The King of Portugal&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say the Duke of Braganza!&rdquo; replied Louis. &ldquo;I recognize
+      no rebels.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Duke of Braganza, then,&rdquo; coldly repeated the Secretary of
+      State, &ldquo;sends his nephew, Don Ignacio de Mascarenas, to the
+      principality of Catalonia, to seize the protection (and it may be the
+      sovereignty) of that country, which he would add to that he has just
+      reconquered. Your Majesty&rsquo;s troops are before Perpignan&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, and what of that?&rdquo; said Louis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Catalonians are more disposed toward France than toward
+      Portugal, and there is still time to deprive the King of-the Duke of
+      Portugal, I should say&mdash;of this protectorship.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! I assist rebels! You dare&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such was the intention of his Eminence,&rdquo; continued the
+      Secretary of State. &ldquo;Spain and France are nearly at open war, and
+      Monsieur d&rsquo;Olivares has not hesitated to offer the assistance of his
+      Catholic Majesty to the Huguenots.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good. I will consider it,&rdquo; said the King. &ldquo;Leave
+      me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sire, the States-General of Catalonia are in a dilemma. The troops
+      from Aragon march against them.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall see. I will come to a decision in a quarter of an hour,&rdquo;
+      answered Louis XIII.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The little Secretary of State left the apartment discontented and
+      discouraged. In his place Chavigny immediately appeared, holding a
+      portfolio, on which were emblazoned the arms of England. &ldquo;Sire,&rdquo;
+      said he, &ldquo;I have to request your Majesty&rsquo;s commands upon the
+      affairs of England. The Parliamentarians, commanded by the Earl of Essex,
+      have raised the siege of Gloucester. Prince Rupert has at Newbury fought a
+      disastrous battle, and of little profit to his Britannic Majesty. The
+      Parliament is prolonged. All the principal cities take part with it,
+      together with all the seaports and the Presbyterian population. King
+      Charles I implores assistance, which the Queen can no longer obtain from
+      Holland.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Troops must be sent to my brother of England,&rdquo; said Louis;
+      but he wanted to look over the preceding papers, and casting his eyes over
+      the notes of the Cardinal, he found that under a former request of the
+      King of England he had written with his own hand:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must consider some time and wait. The Commons are strong. King
+      Charles reckons upon the Scots; they will sell him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must be cautious. A warlike man has been over to see Vincennes,
+      and he has said that &lsquo;princes ought never to be struck, except on
+      the head.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal had added &ldquo;remarkable,&rdquo; but he had erased this
+      word and substituted &ldquo;formidable.&rdquo; Again, beneath:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This man rules Fairfax. He plays an inspired part. He will be a
+      great man&mdash;assistance refused&mdash;money lost.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King then said, &ldquo;No, no! do nothing hastily. I shall wait.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Sire,&rdquo; said Chavigny, &ldquo;events pass rapidly. If the
+      courier be delayed, the King&rsquo;s destruction may happen a year sooner.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have they advanced so far?&rdquo; asked Louis.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the camp of the Independents they preach up the republic with
+      the Bible in their hands. In that of the Royalists, they dispute for
+      precedency, and amuse themselves.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But one turn of good fortune may save everything?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Stuarts are not fortunate, Sire,&rdquo; answered Chavigny,
+      respectfully, but in a tone which left ample room for consideration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Leave me,&rdquo; said the King, with some displeasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The State-Secretary slowly retired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was then that Louis XIII beheld himself as he really was, and was
+      terrified at the nothingness he found in himself. He at first stared at
+      the mass of papers which surrounded him, passing from one to the other,
+      finding dangers on every side, and finding them still greater with the
+      remedies he invented. He rose; and changing his place, he bent over, or
+      rather threw himself upon, a geographical map of Europe. There he found
+      all his fears concentrated. In the north, the south, the very centre of
+      the kingdom, revolutions appeared to him like so many Eumenides. In every
+      country he thought he saw a volcano ready to burst forth. He imagined he
+      heard cries of distress from kings, who appealed to him for help, and the
+      furious shouts of the populace. He fancied he felt the territory of France
+      trembling and crumbling beneath his feet. His feeble and fatigued sight
+      failed him. His weak head was attacked by vertigo, which threw all his
+      blood back upon his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richelieu!&rdquo; he cried, in a stifled voice, while he rang a
+      bell; &ldquo;summon the Cardinal immediately.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he swooned in an armchair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the King opened his eyes, revived by salts and potent essences which
+      had been applied to his lips and temples, he for one instant beheld
+      himself surrounded by pages, who withdrew as soon as he opened his eyes,
+      and he was once more left alone with the Cardinal. The impassible minister
+      had had his chair placed by that of the King, as a physician would seat
+      himself by the bedside of his patient, and fixed his sparkling and
+      scrutinizing eyes upon the pale countenance of Louis. As soon as his
+      victim could hear him, he renewed his fearful discourse in a hollow voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have recalled me. What would you with me?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louis, who was reclining on the pillow, half opened his eyes, fixed them
+      upon Richelieu, and hastily closed them again. That bony head, armed with
+      two flaming eyes, and terminating in a pointed and grizzly beard, the cap
+      and vestments of the color of blood and flames,&mdash;all appeared to him
+      like an infernal spirit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must reign,&rdquo; he said, in a languid voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But will you give me up Cinq-Mars and De Thou?&rdquo; again urged
+      the implacable minister, bending forward to read in the dull eyes of the
+      Prince, as an avaricious heir follows up, even to the tomb, the last
+      glimpses of the will of a dying relative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must reign,&rdquo; repeated the King, turning away his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sign then,&rdquo; said Richelieu; &ldquo;the contents of this are,
+      &lsquo;This is my command&mdash;to take them, dead or alive.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Louis, whose head still reclined on the raised back of the chair, suffered
+      his hand to fall upon the fatal paper, and signed it. &ldquo;For pity&rsquo;s
+      sake, leave me; I am dying!&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is not yet all,&rdquo; continued he whom men call the great
+      politician. &ldquo;I place no reliance on you; I must first have some
+      guarantee and assurance. Sign this paper, and I will leave you:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;When the King shall go to visit the Cardinal, the guards of the
+   latter shall remain under arms; and when the Cardinal shall visit
+   the King, the guards of the Cardinal shall share the same post with
+   those of his Majesty.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Again:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;His Majesty undertakes to place the two princes, his sons, in the
+   Cardinal&rsquo;s hands, as hostages of the good faith of his attachment.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My children!&rdquo; exclaimed Louis, raising his head, &ldquo;dare
+      you?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you rather that I should retire?&rdquo; said Richelieu.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The King again signed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is all finished now?&rdquo; he inquired, with a deep sigh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All was not finished; one other grief was still in reserve for him. The
+      door was suddenly opened, and Cinq-Mars entered. It was the Cardinal who
+      trembled now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What would you here, sir?&rdquo; said he, seizing the bell to ring
+      for assistance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The master of the horse was as pale as the King, and without condescending
+      to answer Richelieu, he advanced steadily toward Louis XIII, who looked at
+      him with the air of a man who has just received a sentence of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would, Sire, find it difficult to have me arrested, for I have
+      twenty thousand men under my command,&rdquo; said Henri d&rsquo;Effiat, in
+      a sweet and subdued voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas, Cinq-Mars!&rdquo; replied the King, sadly; &ldquo;is it thou
+      who hast been guilty of these crimes?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Sire; and I also bring you my sword, for no doubt you came
+      here to surrender me,&rdquo; said he, unbuckling his sword, and laying it
+      at the feet of the King, who fixed his eyes upon the floor without making
+      any reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars smiled sadly, but not bitterly, for he no longer belonged to
+      this earth. Then, looking contemptuously at Richelieu, &ldquo;I surrender
+      because I wish to die, but I am not conquered.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal clenched his fist with passion; but he restrained his fury.
+      &ldquo;Who are your accomplices?&rdquo; he demanded. Cinq-Mars looked
+      steadfastly at Louis, and half opened his lips to speak. The King bent
+      down his head, and felt at that moment a torture unknown to all other men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have none,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, pitying the King; and he slowly
+      left the apartment. He stopped in the first gallery. Fabert and all the
+      gentlemen rose on seeing him. He walked up to the commander, and said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir, order these gentlemen to arrest me!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They looked at each other, without daring to approach him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, I am your prisoner; yes, gentlemen, I am without my
+      sword, and I repeat to you that I am the King&rsquo;s prisoner.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not understand what I see,&rdquo; said the General; &ldquo;there
+      are two of you who surrender, and I have no instruction to arrest any one.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two!&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;the other is doubtless De Thou.
+      Alas! I recognize him by this devotion.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And had I not also guessed your intention?&rdquo; exclaimed the
+      latter, coming forward, and throwing himself into his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXV. THE PRISONERS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Amoung those old chateaux of which France is every year deprived
+      regretfully, as of flowers from her, crown, there was one of a grim and
+      savage appearance upon the left bank of the Saline. It looked like a
+      formidable sentinel placed at one of the gates of Lyons, and derived its
+      name from an enormous rock, known as Pierre-Encise, which terminates in a
+      peak&mdash;a sort of natural pyramid, the summit of which overhanging the
+      river in former times, they say, joined the rocks which may still be seen
+      on the opposite bank, forming the natural arch of a bridge; but time, the
+      waters, and the hand of man have left nothing standing but the ancient
+      mass of granite which formed the pedestal of the now destroyed fortress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The archbishops of Lyons, as the temporal lords of the city, had built and
+      formerly resided in this castle. It afterward became a fortress, and
+      during the reign of Louis XIII a State prison. One colossal tower, where
+      the daylight could only penetrate through three long loopholes, commanded
+      the edifice, and some irregular buildings surrounded it with their massive
+      walls, whose lines and angles followed the form of the immense and
+      perpendicular rock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was here that the Cardinal, jealous of his prey, determined to imprison
+      his young enemies, and to conduct them himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Allowing Louis to precede him to Paris, he removed his captives from
+      Narbonne, dragging them in his train to ornament his last triumph, and
+      embarking on the Rhone at Tarascon, nearly, at the mouth of the river, as
+      if to prolong the pleasure of revenge which men have dared to call that of
+      the gods, displayed to the eyes of the spectators on both sides of the
+      river the luxury of his hatred; he slowly proceeded on his course up the
+      river in barges with gilded oars and emblazoned with his armorial
+      bearings, reclining in the first and followed by his two victims in the
+      second, which was fastened to his own by a long chain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Often in the evening, when the heat of the day was passed, the awnings of
+      the two boats were removed, and in the one Richelieu might be seen, pale,
+      and seated in the stern; in that which followed, the two young prisoners,
+      calm and collected, supported each other, watching the passage of the
+      rapid stream. Formerly the soldiers of Caesar, who encamped on the same
+      shores, would have thought they beheld the inflexible boatman of the
+      infernal regions conducting the friendly shades of Castor and Pollux.
+      Christians dared not even reflect, or see a priest leading his two enemies
+      to the scaffold; it was the first minister who passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Thus he went on his way until he left his victims under guard at the
+      identical city in which the late conspirators had doomed him to perish.
+      Thus he loved to defy Fate herself, and to plant a trophy on the very spot
+      which had been selected for his tomb.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;He was borne,&rdquo; says an ancient manuscript journal of this year,
+   &ldquo;along the river Rhone in a boat in which a wooden chamber had been
+   constructed, lined with crimson fluted velvet, the flooring of which
+   was of gold. The same boat contained an antechamber decorated in
+   the same manner. The prow and stern of the boat were occupied by
+   soldiers and guards, wearing scarlet coats embroidered with gold,
+   silver, and silk; and many lords of note. His Eminence occupied a
+   bed hung with purple taffetas. Monseigneur the Cardinal Bigni, and
+   Messeigneurs the Bishops of Nantes and Chartres, were there, with
+   many abbes and gentlemen in other boats. Preceding his vessel, a
+   boat sounded the passages, and another boat followed, filled with
+   arquebusiers and officers to command them. When they approached any
+   isle, they sent soldiers to inspect it, to discover whether it was
+   occupied by any suspicious persons; and, not meeting any, they
+   guarded the shore until two boats which followed had passed. They
+   were filled with the nobility and well-armed soldiers.
+
+   &ldquo;Afterward came the boat of his Eminence, to the stern of which was
+   attached a little boat, which conveyed MM. de Thou and Cinq-Mars,
+   guarded by an officer of the King&rsquo;s guard and twelve guards from the
+   regiment of his Eminence. Three vessels, containing the clothes and
+   plate of his Eminence, with several gentlemen and soldiers, followed
+   the boats.
+
+   &ldquo;Two companies of light-horsemen followed the banks of the Rhone in
+   Dauphin, and as many on the Languedoc and Vivarais side, and a noble
+   regiment of foot, who preceded his Eminence in the towns which he
+   was to enter, or in which he was to sleep. It was pleasant to
+   listen to the trumpets, which, played in Dauphine, were answered by
+   those in Vivarais, and repeated by the echoes of our rocks. It
+   seemed as if all were trying which could play best.&rdquo;&mdash;[See Notes.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In the middle of a night of the month of September, while everything
+      appeared to slumber in the impregnable tower which contained the
+      prisoners, the door of their outer chamber turned noiselessly on its
+      hinges, and a man appeared on the threshold, clad in a brown robe confined
+      round his waist by a cord. His feet were encased in sandals, and his hand
+      grasped a large bunch of keys; it was Joseph. He looked cautiously round
+      without advancing, and contemplated in silence the apartment occupied by
+      the master of the horse. Thick carpets covered the floor, and large and
+      splendid hangings concealed the walls of the prison; a bed hung with red
+      damask was prepared, but it was unoccupied. Seated near a high chimney in
+      a large armchair, attired in a long gray robe, similar in form to that of
+      a priest, his head bent down, and his eyes fixed upon a little cross of
+      gold by the flickering light of a lamp, he was absorbed in so deep a
+      meditation that the Capuchin had leisure to approach him closely, and
+      confront the prisoner before he perceived him. Suddenly, however,
+      Cinq-Mars raised his head and exclaimed, &ldquo;Wretch, what do you here?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Young man, you are violent,&rdquo; answered the mysterious
+      intruder, in a low voice. &ldquo;Two months&rsquo; imprisonment ought to
+      have been enough to calm you. I come to tell you things of great
+      importance. Listen to me! I have thought much of you; and I do not hate
+      you so much as you imagine. The moments are precious. I will tell you all
+      in a few words: in two hours you will be interrogated, tried, and
+      condemned to death with your friend. It can not be otherwise, for all will
+      be finished the same day.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it,&rdquo; answered Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;and I am prepared.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, then, I can still release you from this affair. I have
+      reflected deeply, as I told you; and I am here to make a proposal which
+      can but give you satisfaction. The Cardinal has but six months to live.
+      Let us not be mysterious; we must speak openly. You see where I have
+      brought you to serve him; and you can judge by that the point to which I
+      would conduct him to serve you. If you wish it, we can cut short the six
+      months of his life which still remain. The King loves you, and will recall
+      you with joy when he finds you still live. You may long live, and be
+      powerful and happy, if you will protect me, and make me cardinal.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Astonishment deprived the young prisoner of speech. He could not
+      understand such language, and seemed to be unable to descend to it from
+      his higher meditations. All that he could say was:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your benefactor, Richelieu?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Capuchin smiled, and, drawing nearer, continued in an undertone:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Policy admits of no benefits; it contains nothing but interest. A
+      man employed by a minister is no more bound to be grateful than a horse
+      whose rider prefers him to others. My pace has been convenient to him; so
+      much the better. Now it is my interest to throw him from the saddle. Yes,
+      this man loves none but himself. I now see that he has deceived me by
+      continually retarding my elevation; but once again, I possess the sure
+      means for your escape in silence. I am the master here. I will remove the
+      men in whom he trusts, and replace them by others whom he has condemned to
+      die, and who are near at hand confined in the northern tower&mdash;the
+      Tour des Oubliettes, which overhangs the river. His creatures will occupy
+      their places. I will recommend a physician&mdash;an empyric who is devoted
+      to me&mdash;to the illustrious Cardinal, who has been given over by the
+      most scientific in Paris. If you will unite with me, he shall convey to
+      him a universal and eternal remedy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Away!&rdquo; exclaimed Cinq-Mars. &ldquo;Leave me, thou infernal
+      monk! No, thou art like no other man! Thou glidest with a noiseless and
+      furtive step through the darkness; thou traversest the walls to preside at
+      secret crimes; thou placest thyself between the hearts of lovers to
+      separate them eternally. Who art thou? Thou resemblest a tormented spirit
+      of the damned!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Romantic boy!&rdquo; answered Joseph; &ldquo;you would have
+      possessed high attainments had it not been for your false notions. There
+      is perhaps neither damnation nor soul. If the dead returned to complain of
+      their fate, I should have a thousand around me; and I have never seen any,
+      even in my dreams.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monster!&rdquo; muttered Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Words again!&rdquo; said Joseph; &ldquo;there is neither monster
+      nor virtuous man. You and De Thou, who pride yourselves on what you call
+      virtue&mdash;you have failed in causing the death of perhaps a hundred
+      thousand men&mdash;at once and in the broad daylight&mdash;for no end,
+      while Richelieu and I have caused the death of far fewer, one by one, and
+      by night, to found a great power. Would you remain pure and virtuous, you
+      must not interfere with other men; or, rather, it is more reasonable to
+      see that which is, and to say with me, it is possible that there is no
+      such thing as a soul. We are the sons of chance; but relative to other
+      men, we have passions which we must satisfy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I breathe again!&rdquo; exclaimed Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;he believes not
+      in God!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joseph continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richelieu, you, and I were born ambitious; it followed, then, that
+      everything must be sacrificed to this idea.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wretched man, do not compare me to thyself!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the plain truth, nevertheless,&rdquo; replied the Capuchin&rsquo;;
+      &ldquo;only you now see that our system was better than yours.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Miserable wretch, it was for love&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no! it was not that; here are mere words again. You have
+      perhaps imagined it was so; but it was for your own advancement. I have
+      heard you speak to the young girl. You thought but of yourselves; you do
+      not love each other. She thought but of her rank, and you of your
+      ambition. One loves in order to hear one&rsquo;s self called perfect, and
+      to be adored; it is still the same egoism.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cruel serpent!&rdquo; cried Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;is it not enough that
+      thou hast caused our deaths? Why dost thou come here to cast thy venom
+      upon the life thou hast taken from us? What demon has suggested to thee
+      thy horrible analysis of hearts?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hatred of everything which is superior to myself,&rdquo; replied
+      Joseph, with a low and hollow laugh, &ldquo;and the desire to crush those
+      I hate under my feet, have made me ambitious and ingenious in finding the
+      weakness of your dreams.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just Heaven, dost thou hear him?&rdquo; exclaimed Cinq-Mars, rising
+      and extending his arms upward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The solitude of his prison; the pious conversations of his friend; and,
+      above all, the presence of death, which, like the light of an unknown
+      star, paints in other colors the objects we are accustomed to see;
+      meditations on eternity; and (shall we say it?) the great efforts he had
+      made to change his heartrending regrets into immortal hopes, and to direct
+      to God all that power of love which had led him astray upon earth-all this
+      combined had worked a strange revolution in him; and like those ears of
+      corn which ripen suddenly on receiving one ray from the sun, his soul had
+      acquired light, exalted by the mysterious influence of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just Heaven!&rdquo; he repeated, &ldquo;if this wretch and his
+      master are human, can I also be a man? Behold, O God, behold two distinct
+      ambitions&mdash;the one egoistical and bloody, the other devoted and
+      unstained; theirs roused by hatred, and ours inspired by love. Look down,
+      O Lord, judge, and pardon! Pardon, for we have greatly erred in walking
+      but for a single day in the same paths which, on earth, possess but one
+      name to whatever end it may tend!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joseph interrupted him harshly, stamping his foot on the ground:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you have finished your prayer,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you will
+      perhaps inform me whether you will assist me; and I will instantly&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never, impure wretch, never!&rdquo; said Henri d&rsquo;Effiat.
+      &ldquo;I will never unite with you in an assassination. I refused to do so
+      when powerful, and upon yourself.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were wrong; you would have been master now.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what happiness should I find in my power when shared as it must
+      be by a woman who does not understand me; who loved me feebly, and prefers
+      a crown?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Inconceivable folly!&rdquo; said the Capuchin, laughing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All with her; nothing without her&mdash;that was my desire.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is from obstinacy and vanity that you persist; it is impossible,&rdquo;
+      replied Joseph. &ldquo;It is not in nature.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thou who wouldst deny the spirit of self-sacrifice,&rdquo; answered
+      Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;dost thou understand that of my friend?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It does not exist; he follows you because&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here the Capuchin, slightly embarrassed, reflected an instant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because&mdash;because&mdash;he has formed you; you are his work; he
+      is attached to you by the self-love of an author. He was accustomed to
+      lecture you; and he felt that he should not find another pupil so docile
+      to listen to and applaud him. Constant habit has persuaded him that his
+      life was bound to yours; it is something of that kind. He will accompany
+      you mechanically. Besides, all is not yet finished; we shall see the end
+      and the examination. He will certainly deny all knowledge of the
+      conspiracy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will not deny it!&rdquo; exclaimed Cinq-Mars, impetuously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He knew it, then? You confess it,&rdquo; said Joseph, triumphantly;
+      &ldquo;you have not said as much before.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;O Heaven, what have I done!&rdquo; gasped Cinq-Mars, hiding his
+      face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Calm yourself; he is saved, notwithstanding this avowal, if you
+      accept my offer.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      D&rsquo;Effiat remained silent for a short time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Capuchin continued:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Save your friend. The King&rsquo;s favor awaits you, and perhaps
+      the love which has erred for a moment.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Man, or whatever else thou art, if thou hast in thee anything
+      resembling a heart,&rdquo; answered the prisoner, &ldquo;save him! He is
+      the purest of created beings; but convey him far away while yet he sleeps,
+      for should he awake, thy endeavors would be vain.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What good will that do me?&rdquo; said the Capuchin, laughing.
+      &ldquo;It is you and your favor that I want.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The impetuous Cinq-Mars rose, and, seizing Joseph by the arm, eying him
+      with a terrible look, said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I degraded him in interceding with thee for him.&rdquo; He
+      continued, raising the tapestry which separated his apartment from that of
+      his friend, &ldquo;Come, and doubt, if thou canst, devotion and the
+      immortality of the soul. Compare the uneasiness and misery of thy triumph
+      with the calmness of our defeat, the meanness of thy reign with the
+      grandeur of our captivity, thy sanguinary vigils to the slumbers of the
+      just.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A solitary lamp threw its light on De Thou. The young man was kneeling on
+      a cushion, surmounted by a large ebony crucifix. He seemed to have fallen
+      asleep while praying. His head, inclining backward, was still raised
+      toward the cross. His pale lips wore a calm and divine smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Holy Father, how he sleeps!&rdquo; exclaimed the astonished
+      Capuchin, thoughtlessly uniting to his frightful discourse the sacred name
+      he every day pronounced. He suddenly retired some paces, as if dazzled by
+      a heavenly vision.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nonsense, nonsense!&rdquo; he said, shaking his head, and passing
+      his hand rapidly over his face. &ldquo;All this is childishness. It would
+      overcome me if I reflected on it. These ideas may serve as opium to
+      produce a calm. But that is not the question; say yes or no.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, pushing him to the door by the shoulder.
+      &ldquo;I will not accept life; and I do not regret having compromised De
+      Thou, for he would not have bought his life at the price of an
+      assassination. And when he yielded at Narbonne, it was not that he might
+      escape at Lyons.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then wake him, for here come the judges,&rdquo; said the furious
+      Capuchin, in a sharp, piercing voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lighted by flambeaux, and preceded by a detachment of the Scotch guards,
+      fourteen judges entered, wrapped in long robes, and whose features were
+      not easily distinguished. They seated themselves in silence on the right
+      and left of the huge chamber. They were the judges delegated by the
+      Cardinal to judge this sad and solemn affair&mdash;all true men to the
+      Cardinal Richelieu, and in his confidence, who from Tarascon had chosen
+      and instructed them. He had the Chancellor Seguier brought to Lyons, to
+      avoid, as he stated in the instructions he sent by Chavigny to the King
+      Louis XIII&mdash;&ldquo;to avoid all the delays which would take place if
+      he were not present. M. de Mayillac,&rdquo; he adds, &ldquo;was at Nantes
+      for the trial of Chulais, M. de Chateau-Neuf at Toulouse, superintending
+      the death of M. de Montmorency, and M. de Bellievre at Paris, conducting
+      the trial of M. de Biron. The authority and intelligence of these
+      gentlemen in forms of justice are indispensable.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Chancellor arrived with all speed. But at this moment he was informed
+      that he was not to appear, for fear that he might be influenced by the
+      memory of his ancient friendship for the prisoner, whom he only saw
+      tete-a-tete. The commissioners and himself had previously and rapidly
+      received the cowardly depositions of the Duc d&rsquo;Orleans, at
+      Villefranche, in Beaujolais, and then at Vivey,&mdash;[House which
+      belonged to an Abbe d&rsquo;Esnay, brother of M. de Villeroy, called
+      Montresor.] two miles from Lyons, where this wretched prince had received
+      orders to go, begging forgiveness, and trembling, although surrounded by
+      his followers, whom from very pity he had been allowed to retain,
+      carefully watched, however, by the French and Swiss guards. The Cardinal
+      had dictated to him his part and answers word for word; and in
+      consideration of this docility, they had exempted him in form from the
+      painful task of confronting MM. de Cinq-Mars and De Thou. The chancellor
+      and commissioners had also prepared M. de Bouillon, and, strong with their
+      preliminary work, they visited in all their strength the two young
+      criminals whom they had determined not to save.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      History has only handed down to us the names of the State counsellors who
+      accompanied Pierre Seguier, but not those of the other commissioners, of
+      whom it is only mentioned that there were six from the parliament of
+      Grenoble, and two presidents. The counsellor, or reporter of the State,
+      Laubardemont, who had directed them in all, was at their head. Joseph
+      often whispered to them with the most studied politeness, glancing at
+      Laubardemont with a ferocious sneer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was arranged that an armchair should serve as a bar; and all were
+      silent in expectation of the prisoner&rsquo;s answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He spoke in a soft and clear voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Say to Monsieur le Chancelier that I have the right of appeal to
+      the parliament of Paris, and to object to my judges, because two of them
+      are my declared enemies, and at their head one of my friends, Monsieur de
+      Seguier himself, whom I maintained in his charge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I will spare you much trouble, gentlemen, by pleading guilty to
+      the whole charge of conspiracy, arranged and conducted by myself alone. It
+      is my wish to die. I have nothing to add for myself; but if you would be
+      just, you will not harm the life of him whom the King has pronounced to be
+      the most honest man in France, and who dies for my sake alone.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Summon him,&rdquo; said Laubardemont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two guards entered the apartment of De Thou, and led him forth. He
+      advanced, and bowed gravely, while an angelical smile played upon his
+      lips. Embracing Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;Here at last is our day of glory,&rdquo;
+      said he. &ldquo;We are about to gain heaven and eternal happiness.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We understand,&rdquo; said Laubardemont, &ldquo;we have been given
+      to understand by Monsieur de Cinq-Mars himself, that you were acquainted
+      with this conspiracy?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      De Thou answered instantly, and without hesitation. A half-smile was still
+      on his lips, and his eyes cast down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen, I have passed my life in studying human laws, and I know
+      that the testimony of one accused person can not condemn another. I can
+      also repeat what I said before, that I should not have been believed had I
+      denounced the King&rsquo;s brother without proof. You perceive, then, that
+      my life and death entirely rest with myself. I have, however, well weighed
+      the one and the other. I have clearly foreseen that whatever life I may
+      hereafter lead, it could not but be most unhappy after the loss of
+      Monsieur de Cinq-Mars. I therefore acknowledge and confess that I was
+      aware of his conspiracy. I did my utmost to prevent it, to deter him from
+      it. He believed me to be his only and faithful friend, and I would not
+      betray him. Therefore, I condemn myself by the very laws which were set
+      forth by my father, who, I hope, forgives me.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words, the two friends precipitated themselves into each other&rsquo;s
+      arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My friend, my friend, how bitterly I regret that I have caused your
+      death! Twice I have betrayed you; but you shall know in what manner.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But De Thou, embracing and consoling his friend, answered, raising his
+      eyes from the ground:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, happy are we to end our days in this manner! Humanly speaking,
+      I might complain of you; but God knows how much I love you. What have we
+      done to merit the grace of martyrdom, and the happiness of dying together?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The judges were not prepared for this mildness, and looked at each other
+      with surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If they would only give me a good partisan,&rdquo; muttered a
+      hoarse voice (it was Grandchamp, who had crept into the room, and whose
+      eyes were red with fury), &ldquo;I would soon rid Monseigneur of all these
+      black-looking fellows.&rdquo; Two men with halberds immediately placed
+      themselves silently at his side. He said no more, and to compose himself
+      retired to a window which overlooked the river, whose tranquil waters the
+      sun had not yet lighted with its beams, and appeared to pay no attention
+      to what was passing in the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, Laubardemont, fearing that the judges might be touched with
+      compassion, said in a loud voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In pursuance of the order of Monseigneur the Cardinal, these two
+      men will be put to the rack; that is to say, to the ordinary and
+      extraordinary question.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indignation forced Cinq-Mars again to assume his natural character;
+      crossing his arms, he made two steps toward Laubardemont and Joseph, which
+      alarmed them. The former involuntarily placed his hand to his forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are we at Loudun?&rdquo; exclaimed the prisoner; but De Thou,
+      advancing, took his hand and held it. Cinq-Mars was silent, then continued
+      in a calm voice, looking steadfastly at the judges:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Messieurs, this measure appears to me rather harsh; a man of my age
+      and rank ought not to be subjected to these formalities. I have confessed
+      all, and I will confess it all again. I willingly and gladly accept death;
+      it is not from souls like ours that secrets can be wrung by bodily
+      suffering. We are prisoners by our own free will, and at the time chosen
+      by us. We have confessed enough for you to condemn us to death; you shall
+      know nothing more. We have obtained what we wanted.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are you doing, my friend?&rdquo; interrupted De Thou. &ldquo;He
+      is mistaken, gentlemen, we do not refuse this martyrdom which God offers
+      us; we demand it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;do you need such infamous
+      tortures to obtain salvation&mdash;you who are already a martyr, a
+      voluntary martyr to friendship? Gentlemen, it is I alone who possess
+      important secrets; it is the chief of a conspiracy who knows all. Put me
+      alone to the torture if we must be treated like the worst of malefactors.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the sake of charity,&rdquo; added De Thou, &ldquo;deprive me
+      not of equal suffering with my friend; I have not followed him so far, to
+      abandon him at this dreadful moment, and not to use every effort to
+      accompany him to heaven.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this debate, another was going forward between Laubardemont and
+      Joseph. The latter, fearing that torments would induce him to disclose the
+      secret of his recent proposition, advised that they should not be resorted
+      to; the other, not thinking his triumph complete by death alone,
+      absolutely insisted on their being applied. The judges surrounded and
+      listened to these secret agents of the Prime-Minister; however, many
+      circumstances having caused them to suspect that the influence of the
+      Capuchin was more powerful than that of the judge, they took part with
+      him, and decided for mercy, when he finished by these words uttered in a
+      low voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know their secrets. There is no necessity to force them from
+      their lips, because they are useless, and relate to too high
+      circumstances. Monsieur le Grand has no one to denounce but the King, and
+      the other the Queen. It is better that we should remain ignorant. Besides,
+      they will not confess. I know them; they will be silent&mdash;the one from
+      pride, the other through piety. Let them alone. The torture will wound
+      them; they will be disfigured and unable to walk. That will spoil the
+      whole ceremony; they must be kept to appear.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This last observation prevailed. The judges retired to deliberate with the
+      chancellor. While departing, Joseph whispered to Laubardemont:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have provided you with enough pleasure here; you will still have
+      that of deliberating, and then you shall go and examine three men who are
+      confined in the northern tower.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These were the three judges who had condemned Urbain Grandier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he spoke, he laughed heartily, and was the last to leave the room,
+      pushing the astonished master of requests before him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sombre tribunal had scarcely disappeared when Grandchamp, relieved
+      from his two guards, hastened toward his master, and, seizing his hand,
+      said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the name of Heaven, come to the terrace, Monseigneur! I have
+      something to show you; in the name of your mother, come!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But at that moment the chamber door was opened, and the old Abbe Quillet
+      appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My children! my dear children!&rdquo; exclaimed the old man,
+      weeping bitterly. &ldquo;Alas! why was I only permitted to enter to-day?
+      Dear Henri, your mother, your brother, your sister, are concealed here.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be quiet, Monsieur l&rsquo;Abbe!&rdquo; said Grandchamp; &ldquo;do
+      come to the terrace, Monseigneur.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the old priest still detained and embraced his pupil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We hope,&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;we hope for mercy.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall refuse it,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We hope for nothing but the mercy of God,&rdquo; added De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence!&rdquo; said Grandchamp, &ldquo;the judges are returning.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And the door opened again to admit the dismal procession, from which
+      Joseph and Laubardemont were missing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; exclaimed the good Abbe, addressing the
+      commissioners, &ldquo;I am happy to tell you that I have just arrived from
+      Paris, and that no one doubts but that all the conspirators will be
+      pardoned. I have had an interview at her Majesty&rsquo;s apartments with
+      Monsieur himself; and as to the Duc de Bouillon, his examination is not
+      unfav&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Silence!&rdquo; cried M. de Seyton, the lieutenant of the Scotch
+      guards; and the commissioners entered and again arranged themselves in the
+      apartment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      M. de Thou, hearing them summon the criminal recorder of the presidial of
+      Lyons to pronounce the sentence, involuntarily launched out in one of
+      those transports of religious joy which are never displayed but by the
+      martyrs and saints at the approach of death; and, advancing toward this
+      man, he exclaimed:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quam speciosi pedes evangelizantium pacem, evangelizantium bona!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, taking the hand of Cinq-Mars, he knelt down bareheaded to receive
+      the sentence, as was the custom. D&rsquo;Effiat remained standing; and
+      they dared not compel him to kneel. The sentence was pronounced in these
+      words:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;The Attorney-General, prosecutor on the part of the State, on a
+   charge of high treason; and Messire Henri d&rsquo;Effiat de Cinq-Mars,
+   master of the horse, aged twenty-two, and Francois Auguste de Thou,
+   aged thirty-five, of the King&rsquo;s privy council, prisoners in the
+   chateau of Pierre-Encise, at Lyons, accused and defendants on the
+   other part:
+
+   &ldquo;Considered, the special trial commenced by the aforesaid attorney-
+   general against the said D&rsquo;Efiiat and De Thou; informations,
+   interrogations, confessions, denegations, and confrontations, and
+   authenticated copies of the treaty with Spain, it is considered in
+   the delegated chamber:
+
+   &ldquo;That he who conspires against the person of the ministers of
+   princes is considered by the ancient laws and constitutions of the
+   emperors to be guilty of high treason; (2) that the third ordinance
+   of the King Louis XI renders any one liable to the punishment of
+   death who does not reveal a conspiracy against the State.
+
+   &ldquo;The commissioners deputed by his Majesty have declared the said
+   D&rsquo;Effiat and De Thou guilty and convicted of the crime of high
+   treason:
+
+   &ldquo;The said D&rsquo;Effiat, for the conspiracies and enterprises, league,
+   and treaties, formed by him with the foreigner against the State;
+
+   &ldquo;And the said De Thou, for having a thorough knowledge of this
+   conspiracy.
+
+   &ldquo;In reparation of which crimes they have deprived them of all honors
+   and dignities, and condemned them to be deprived of their heads on a
+   scaffold, which is for this purpose erected in the Place des
+   Terreaux, in this city.
+
+   &ldquo;It is further declared that all and each of their possessions, real
+   and personal, be confiscated to the King, and that those which they
+   hold from the crown do pass immediately to it again of the aforesaid
+   goods, sixty thousand livres being devoted to pious uses.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      After the sentence was pronounced, M. de Thou exclaimed in a loud voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God be blessed! God be praised!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have never feared death,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, according to the forms prescribed, M. Seyton, the lieutenant of the
+      Scotch guards, an old man upward of sixty years of age, declared with
+      emotion that he placed the prisoners in the hands of the Sieur Thome,
+      provost of the merchants of Lyons; he then took leave of them, followed by
+      the whole of the body-guard, silently, and in tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Weep not,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars; &ldquo;tears are useless. Rather
+      pray for us; and be assured that I do not fear death.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook them by the hand, and De Thou embraced them; after which they
+      left the apartment, their eyes filled with tears, and hiding their faces
+      in their cloaks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Barbarians!&rdquo; exclaimed the Abbe Quillet; &ldquo;to find arms
+      against them, one must search the whole arsenal of tyrants. Why did they
+      admit me at this moment?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a confessor, Monsieur,&rdquo; whispered one of the
+      commissioners; &ldquo;for no stranger has entered this place these two
+      months.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the huge gates of the prison were closed, and the outside
+      gratings lowered, &ldquo;To the terrace, in the name of Heaven!&rdquo;
+      again exclaimed Grandchamp. And he drew his master and De Thou thither.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old preceptor followed them, weeping.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you want with us in a moment like this?&rdquo; said
+      Cinq-Mars, with indulgent gravity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look at the chains of the town,&rdquo; said the faithful servant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rising sun had hardly tinged the sky. In the horizon a line of vivid
+      yellow was visible, upon which the mountain&rsquo;s rough blue outlines
+      were boldly traced; the waves of the Saline, and the chains of the town
+      hanging from one bank to the other, were still veiled by a light vapor,
+      which also rose from Lyons and concealed the roofs of the houses from the
+      eye of the spectator. The first tints of the morning light had as yet
+      colored only the most elevated points of the magnificent landscape. In the
+      city the steeples of the Hotel de Ville and St. Nizier, and on the
+      surrounding hills the monasteries of the Carmelites and Ste.-Marie, and
+      the entire fortress of Pierre-Encise were gilded with the fires of the
+      coming day. The joyful peals from the churches were heard, the peaceful
+      matins from the convent and village bells. The walls of the prison were
+      alone silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;what are we to see the beauty
+      of the plains, the richness of the city, or the calm peacefulness of these
+      villages? Ah, my friend, in every place there are to be found passions and
+      griefs, like those which have brought us here.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old Abbe and Grandchamp leaned over the parapet, watching the bank of
+      the river.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fog is so thick, we can see nothing yet,&rdquo; said the Abbe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How slowly our last sun appears!&rdquo; said De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you not see low down there, at the foot of the rocks, on the
+      opposite bank, a small white house, between the Halincourt gate and the
+      Boulevard Saint Jean?&rdquo; asked the Abbe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see nothing,&rdquo; answered Cinq-Mars, &ldquo;but a mass of
+      dreary wall.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hark!&rdquo; said the Abbe; &ldquo;some one speaks near us!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In fact, a confused, low, and inexplicable murmur was heard in a little
+      turret, the back of which rested upon the platform of the terrace. As it
+      was scarcely larger than a pigeon-house, the prisoners had not until now
+      observed it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are they already coming to fetch us?&rdquo; said Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bah! bah!&rdquo; answered Grandchamp, &ldquo;do not make yourself
+      uneasy; it is the Tour des Oubliettes. I have prowled round the fort for
+      two months, and I have seen men fall from there into the water at least
+      once a week. Let us think of our affair. I see a light down there.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An invincible curiosity, however, led the two prisoners to look at the
+      turret, in spite of the horror of their own situation. It advanced to the
+      extremity of the rock, over a gulf of foaming green water of great depth.
+      A wheel of a mill long deserted was seen turning with great rapidity.
+      Three distinct sounds were now heard, like those of a drawbridge suddenly
+      lowered and raised to its former position by a recoil or spring striking
+      against the stone walls; and three times a black substance was seen to
+      fall into the water with a splash.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mercy! can these be men?&rdquo; exclaimed the Abbe, crossing
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought I saw brown robes turning in the air,&rdquo; said
+      Grandchamp; &ldquo;they are the Cardinal&rsquo;s friends.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A horrible cry was heard from the tower, accompanied by an impious oath.
+      The heavy trap groaned for the fourth time. The green water received with
+      a loud noise a burden which cracked the enormous wheel of the mill; one of
+      its large spokes was torn away, and a man entangled in its beams appeared
+      above the foam, which he colored with his blood. He rose twice, and sank
+      beneath the waters, shrieking violently; it was Laubardemont.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cinq-Mars drew back in horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is a Providence,&rdquo; said Grandchamp; &ldquo;Urbain
+      Grandier summoned him in three years. But come, come! the time is
+      precious! Do not remain motionless. Be it he, I am not surprised, for
+      those wretches devour each other. But let us endeavor to deprive them of
+      their choicest morsel. Vive Dieu! I see the signal! We are saved! All is
+      ready; run to this side, Monsieur l&rsquo;Abbe! See the white handkerchief
+      at the window! our friends are prepared.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Abbe seized the hands of both his friends, and drew them to that side
+      of the terrace toward which they had at first looked. &ldquo;Listen to me,
+      both of you,&rdquo; said he. &ldquo;You must know that none of the
+      conspirators has profited by the retreat you secured for them. They have
+      all hastened to Lyons, disguised, and in great number; they have
+      distributed sufficient gold in the city to secure them from being
+      betrayed; they are resolved to make an attempt to deliver you. The time
+      chosen is that when they are conducting you to the scaffold; the signal is
+      your hat, which you will place on your head when they are to commence.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The worthy Abbe, half weeping, half smiling hopefully, related that upon
+      the arrest of his pupil he had hastened to Paris; that such secrecy
+      enveloped all the Cardinal&rsquo;s actions that none there knew the place
+      in which the master of the horse was detained. Many said that he was
+      banished; and when the reconciliation between Monsieur and the Duc de
+      Bouillon and the King was known, men no longer doubted that the life of
+      the other was assured, and ceased to speak of this affair, which, not
+      having been executed, compromised few persons. They had even in some
+      measure rejoiced in Paris to see the town of Sedan and its territory added
+      to the kingdom in exchange for the letters of abolition granted to the
+      Duke, acknowledged innocent in common with Monsieur; so that the result of
+      all the arrangements had been to excite admiration of the Cardinal&rsquo;s
+      ability, and of his clemency toward the conspirators, who, it was said,
+      had contemplated his death. They even spread the report that he had
+      facilitated the escape of Cinq-Mars and De Thou, occupying himself
+      generously with their retreat to a foreign land, after having bravely
+      caused them to be arrested in the midst of the camp of Perpignan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this part of the narrative, Cinq-Mars could not avoid forgetting his
+      resignation, and clasping his friend&rsquo;s hand, &ldquo;Arrested!&rdquo;
+      he exclaimed. &ldquo;Must we renounce even the honor of having voluntarily
+      surrendered ourselves? Must we sacrifice all, even the opinion of
+      posterity?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is vanity again,&rdquo; replied De Thou, placing his fingers
+      on his lips. &ldquo;But hush! let us hear the Abbe to the end.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The tutor, not doubting that the calmness which these two young men
+      exhibited arose from the joy they felt in finding their escape assured,
+      and seeing that the sun had hardly yet dispersed the morning mists,
+      yielded himself without restraint to the involuntary pleasure which old
+      men always feel in recounting new events, even though they afflict the
+      hearers. He related all his fruitless endeavors to discover his pupil&rsquo;s
+      retreat, unknown to the court and the town, where none, indeed, dared to
+      pronounce the name of Cinq-Mars in the most secret asylums. He had only
+      heard of the imprisonment at Pierre-Encise from the Queen herself, who had
+      deigned to send for him, and charge him to inform the Marechale d&rsquo;Effiat
+      and all the conspirators that they might make a desperate effort to
+      deliver their young chief. Anne of Austria had even ventured to send many
+      of the gentlemen of Auvergne and Touraine to Lyons to assist in their last
+      attempt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The good Queen!&rdquo; said he; &ldquo;she wept greatly when I saw
+      her, and said that she would give all she possessed to save you. She
+      reproached herself deeply for some letter, I know not what. She spoke of
+      the welfare of France, but did not explain herself. She said that she
+      admired you, and conjured you to save yourself, if it were only through
+      pity for her, whom you would otherwise consign to everlasting remorse.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Said she nothing else?&rdquo; interrupted De Thou, supporting
+      Cinq-Mars, who grew visibly paler.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing more,&rdquo; said the old man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And no one else spoke of me?&rdquo; inquired the master of the
+      horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one,&rdquo; said the Abbe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If she had but written to me!&rdquo; murmured Henri.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remember, my father, that you were sent here as a confessor,&rdquo;
+      said De Thou.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here old Grandchamp, who had been kneeling before Cinq-Mars, and dragging
+      him by his clothes to the other side of the terrace, exclaimed in a broken
+      voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Monseigneur&mdash;my master&mdash;my good master&mdash;do you see
+      them? Look there&mdash;&lsquo;tis they! &lsquo;tis they&mdash;all of them!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who, my old friend?&rdquo; asked his master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who? Great Heaven! look at that window! Do you not recognize them?
+      Your mother, your sisters, and your brother.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And the day, now fairly broken, showed him in the distance several women
+      waving their handkerchiefs; and there, dressed all in black, stretching
+      out her arms toward the prison, sustained by those about her, Cinq-Mars
+      recognized his mother, with his family, and his strength failed him for a
+      moment. He leaned his head upon his friend&rsquo;s breast and wept.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How many times must I, then, die?&rdquo; he murmured; then, with a
+      gesture, returning from the top of the tower the salutations of his
+      family, &ldquo;Let us descend quickly, my father!&rdquo; he said to the
+      old Abbe. &ldquo;You will tell me at the tribunal of penitence, and before
+      God, whether the remainder of my life is worth my shedding more blood to
+      preserve it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was there that Cinq-Mars confessed to God what he alone and Marie de
+      Mantua knew of their secret and unfortunate love. &ldquo;He gave to his
+      confessor,&rdquo; says Father Daniel, &ldquo;a portrait of a noble lady,
+      set in diamonds, which were to be sold, and the money employed in pious
+      works.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      M. de Thou, after having confessed, wrote a letter;&mdash;[See the copy of
+      this letter to Madame la Princesse de Guemenee, in the notes at the end of
+      the volume.]&mdash;after which (according to the account given by his
+      confessor) he said, &ldquo;This is the last thought I will bestow upon
+      this world; let us depart for heaven!&rdquo; and walking up and down the
+      room with long strides, he recited aloud the psalm, &lsquo;Miserere mei,
+      Deus&rsquo;, with an incredible ardor of spirit, his whole frame trembling
+      so violently it seemed as if he did not touch the earth, and that the soul
+      was about to make its exit from his body. The guards were mute at this
+      spectacle, which made them all shudder with respect and horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile, all was calm in the city of Lyons, when to the great
+      astonishment of its inhabitants, they beheld the entrance through all its
+      gates of troops of infantry and cavalry, which they knew were encamped at
+      a great distance. The French and the Swiss guards, the regiment of
+      Pompadours, the men-at-arms of Maurevert, and the carabineers of La Roque,
+      all defiled in silence. The cavalry, with their muskets on the pommel of
+      the saddle, silently drew up round the chateau of Pierre-Encise; the
+      infantry formed a line upon the banks of the Saone from the gate of the
+      fortress to the Place des Terreaux. It was the usual spot for execution.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;Four companies of the bourgeois of Lyons, called &lsquo;pennonage&rsquo;, of
+   which about eleven or twelve hundred men, were ranged [says the
+   journal of Montresor] in the midst of the Place des Terreaux, so as
+   to enclose a space of about eighty paces each way, into which they
+   admitted no one but those who were absolutely necessary.
+
+   &ldquo;In the centre of this space was raised a scaffold about seven feet
+   high and nine feet square, in the midst of which, somewhat forward,
+   was placed a stake three feet in height, in front of which was a
+   block half a foot high, so that the principal face of the scaffold
+   looked toward the shambles of the Terreaux, by the side of the
+   Saone. Against the scaffold was placed a short ladder of eight
+   rounds, in the direction of the Dames de St. Pierre.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      Nothing had transpired in the town as to the name of the prisoners. The
+      inaccessible walls of the fortress let none enter or leave but at night,
+      and the deep dungeons had sometimes confined father and son for years
+      together, four feet apart from each other, without their even being aware
+      of the vicinity. The surprise was extreme at these striking preparations,
+      and the crowd collected, not knowing whether for a fete or for an
+      execution.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This same secrecy which the agents of the minister had strictly preserved
+      was also carefully adhered to by the conspirators, for their heads
+      depended on it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Montresor, Fontrailles, the Baron de Beauvau, Olivier d&rsquo;Entraigues,
+      Gondi, the Comte du Lude, and the Advocate Fournier, disguised as
+      soldiers, workmen, and morris-dancers, armed with poniards under their
+      clothes, had dispersed amid the crowd more than five hundred gentlemen and
+      domestics, disguised like themselves. Horses were ready on the road to
+      Italy, and boats upon the Rhone had been previously engaged. The young
+      Marquis d&rsquo;Effiat, elder brother of Cinq-Mars, dressed as a
+      Carthusian, traversed the crowd, without ceasing, between the Place des
+      Terreaux and the little house in which his mother and sister were
+      concealed with the Presidente de Pontac, the sister of the unfortunate De
+      Thou. He reassured them, gave them from time to time a ray of hope, and
+      returned to the conspirators to satisfy himself that each was prepared for
+      action.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Each soldier forming the line had at his side a man ready to poniard him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The vast crowd, heaped together behind the line of guards, pushed them
+      forward, passed their lines, and made them lose ground. Ambrosio, the
+      Spanish servant whom Cinq-Mars had saved, had taken charge of the captain
+      of the pikemen, and, disguised as a Catalonian musician, had commenced a
+      dispute with him, pretending to be determined not to cease playing the
+      hurdy-gurdy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every one was at his post.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Abbe de Gondi, Olivier d&rsquo;Entraigues, and the Marquis d&rsquo;Effiat
+      were in the midst of a group of fish-women and oyster-wenches, who were
+      disputing and bawling, abusing one of their number younger and more timid
+      than her masculine companions. The brother of Cinq-Mars approached to
+      listen to their quarrel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why,&rdquo; said she to the others, &ldquo;would you have Jean
+      le Roux, who is an honest man, cut off the heads of two Christians,
+      because he is a butcher by trade? So long as I am his wife, I&rsquo;ll not
+      allow it. I&rsquo;d rather&mdash;&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you are wrong!&rdquo; replied her companions. &ldquo;What is&rsquo;t
+      to thee whether the meat he cuts is eaten or not eaten? Why, thou&rsquo;lt
+      have a hundred crowns to dress thy three children all in new clothes. Thou&rsquo;rt
+      lucky to be the wife of a butcher. Profit, then, &lsquo;ma mignonne&rsquo;,
+      by what God sends thee by the favor of his Eminence.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me alone!&rdquo; answered the first speaker. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll
+      not accept it. I&rsquo;ve seen these fine young gentlemen at the windows.
+      They look as mild as lambs.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well! and are not thy lambs and calves killed?&rdquo; said Femme le
+      Bon. &ldquo;What fortune falls to this little woman! What a pity!
+      especially when it is from the reverend Capuchin!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How horrible is the gayety of the people!&rdquo; said Olivier d&rsquo;Entraigues,
+      unguardedly. All the women heard him, and began to murmur against him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of the people!&rdquo; said they; &ldquo;and whence comes this
+      little bricklayer with his plastered clothes?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; interrupted another, &ldquo;dost not see that &lsquo;tis
+      some gentleman in disguise? Look at his white hands! He never worked a
+      square; &lsquo;tis some little dandy conspirator. I&rsquo;ve a great mind
+      to go and fetch the captain of the watch to arrest him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Abbe de Gondi felt all the danger of this situation, and throwing
+      himself with an air of anger upon Olivier, and assuming the manners of a
+      joiner, whose costume and apron he had adopted, he exclaimed, seizing him
+      by the collar:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;re just right. &lsquo;Tis a little rascal that never
+      works! These two years that my father&rsquo;s apprenticed him, he has done
+      nothing but comb his hair to please the girls. Come, get home with you!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, striking him with his rule, he drove him through the crowd, and
+      returned to place himself on another part of the line. After having well
+      reprimanded the thoughtless page, he asked him for the letter which he
+      said he had to give to M. de Cinq-Mars when he should have escaped.
+      Olivier had carried it in his pocket for two months. He gave it him.
+      &ldquo;It is from one prisoner to another,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;for the
+      Chevalier de jars, on leaving the Bastille, sent it me from one of his
+      companions in captivity.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ma foi!&rdquo; said Gondi, &ldquo;there may be some important
+      secret in it for our friends. I&rsquo;ll open it. You ought to have
+      thought of it before. Ah, bah! it is from old Bassompierre. Let us read
+      it.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   MY DEAR CHILD: I learn from the depths of the Bastille, where I
+   still remain, that you are conspiring against the tyrant Richelieu,
+   who does not cease to humiliate our good old nobility and the
+   parliaments, and to sap the foundations of the edifice upon which
+   the State reposes. I hear that the nobles are taxed and condemned
+   by petty judges, contrary to the privileges of their condition,
+   forced to the arriere-ban, despite the ancient customs.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! the old dotard!&rdquo; interrupted the page, laughing
+      immoderately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so foolish as you imagine, only he is a little behindhand for
+      our affair.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;I can not but approve this generous project, and I pray you give me
+   to wot all your proceedings&mdash;&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! the old language of the last reign!&rdquo; said Olivier.
+      &ldquo;He can&rsquo;t say &lsquo;Make me acquainted with your proceedings,&rsquo;
+      as we now say.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me read, for Heaven&rsquo;s sake!&rdquo; said the Abbe; &ldquo;a
+      hundred years hence they&rsquo;ll laugh at our phrases.&rdquo; He
+      continued:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;I can counsel you, notwithstanding my great age, in relating to you
+   what happened to me in 1560.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, faith! I&rsquo;ve not time to waste in reading it all. Let us
+      see the end.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;When I remember my dining at the house of Madame la Marechale
+   d&rsquo;Effiat, your mother, and ask myself what has become of all the
+   guests, I am really afflicted. My poor Puy-Laurens has died at
+   Vincennes, of grief at being forgotten by Monsieur in his prison;
+   De Launay killed in a duel, and I am grieved at it, for although I
+   was little satisfied with my arrest, he did it with courtesy, and I
+   have always thought him a gentleman. As for me, I am under lock and
+   key until the death of M. le Cardinal. Ah, my child! we were
+   thirteen at table. We must not laugh at old superstitions. Thank
+   God that you are the only one to whom evil has not arrived!&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There again!&rdquo; said Olivier, laughing heartily; and this time
+      the Abbe de Gondi could not maintain his gravity, despite all his efforts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They tore the useless letter to pieces, that it might not prolong the
+      detention of the old marechal, should it be found, and drew near the Place
+      des Terreaux and the line of guards, whom they were to attack when the
+      signal of the hat should be given by the young prisoner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They beheld with satisfaction all their friends at their posts, and ready
+      &ldquo;to play with their knives,&rdquo; to use their own expression. The
+      people, pressing around them, favored them without being aware of it.
+      There came near the Abbe a troop of young ladies dressed in white and
+      veiled. They were going to church to communicate; and the nuns who
+      conducted them, thinking, like most of the people, that the preparations
+      were intended to do honor to some great personage, allowed them to mount
+      upon some large hewn stones, collected behind the soldiers. There they
+      grouped themselves with the grace natural to their age, like twenty
+      beautiful statues upon a single pedestal. One would have taken them for
+      those vestals whom antiquity invited to the sanguinary shows of the
+      gladiators. They whispered to each other, looking around them, laughing
+      and blushing together like children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Abbe de Gondi saw with impatience that Olivier was again forgetting
+      his character of conspirator and his costume of a bricklayer in ogling
+      these girls, and assuming a mien too elegant, an attitude too refined, for
+      the position in life he was supposed to occupy. He already began to
+      approach them, turning his hair with his fingers, when Fontrailles and
+      Montresor fortunately arrived in the dress of Swiss soldiers. A group of
+      gentlemen, disguised as sailors, followed them with iron-shod staves in
+      their hands. There was a paleness on their faces which announced no good.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stop here!&rdquo; said one of them to his suite; &ldquo;this is the
+      place.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sombre air and the silence of these spectators contrasted with the gay
+      and anxious looks of the girls, and their childish exclamations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, the fine procession!&rdquo; they cried; &ldquo;there are at
+      least five hundred men with cuirasses and red uniforms, upon fine horses.
+      They&rsquo;ve got yellow feathers in their large hats.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are strangers&mdash;Catalonians,&rdquo; said a French guard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whom are they conducting here? Ah, here is a fine gilt coach! but
+      there&rsquo;s no one in it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah! I see three men on foot; where are they going?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To death!&rdquo; said Fontrailles, in a deep, stern voice which
+      silenced all around. Nothing was heard but the slow tramp of the horses,
+      which suddenly stopped, from one of those delays that happen in all
+      processions. They then beheld a painful and singular spectacle. An old man
+      with a tonsured head walked with difficulty, sobbing violently, supported
+      by two young men of interesting and engaging appearance, who held one of
+      each other&rsquo;s hands behind his bent shoulders, while with the other
+      each held one of his arms. The one on the left was dressed in black; he
+      was grave, and his eyes were cast down. The other, much younger, was
+      attired in a striking dress. A pourpoint of Holland cloth, adorned with
+      broad gold lace, and with large embroidered sleeves, covered him from the
+      neck to the waist, somewhat in the fashion of a woman&rsquo;s corset; the
+      rest of his vestments were in black velvet, embroidered with silver palms.
+      Gray boots with red heels, to which were attached golden spurs; a scarlet
+      cloak with gold buttons&mdash;all set off to advantage his elegant and
+      graceful figure. He bowed right and left with a melancholy smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An old servant, with white moustache, and beard, followed with his head
+      bent down, leading two chargers, richly comparisoned. The young ladies
+      were silent; but they could not restrain their sobs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is, then, that poor old man whom they are leading to the
+      scaffold,&rdquo; they exclaimed; &ldquo;and his children are supporting
+      him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon your knees, ladies,&rdquo; said a man, &ldquo;and pray for
+      him!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On your knees,&rdquo; cried Gondi, &ldquo;and let us pray that God
+      will deliver him!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the conspirators repeated, &ldquo;On your knees! on your knees!&rdquo;
+      and set the example to the people, who imitated them in silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can see his movements better now,&rdquo; said Gondi, in a
+      whisper to Montresor. &ldquo;Stand up; what is he doing?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He has stopped, and is speaking on our side, saluting us; I think
+      he has recognized us.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every house, window, wall, roof, and raised platform that looked upon the
+      place was filled with persons of every age and condition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The most profound silence prevailed throughout the immense multitude. One
+      might have heard the wings of a gnat, the breath of the slightest wind,
+      the passage of the grains of dust which it raised; yet the air was calm,
+      the sun brilliant, the sky blue. The people listened attentively. They
+      were close to the Place des Terreaux; they heard the blows of the hammer
+      upon the planks, then the voice of Cinq-Mars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A young Carthusian thrust his pale face between two guards. All the
+      conspirators rose above the kneeling people. Every one put his hand to his
+      belt or in his bosom, approaching close to the soldier whom he was to
+      poniard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is he doing?&rdquo; asked the Carthusian. &ldquo;Has he his
+      hat upon his head?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He throws his hat upon the ground far from him,&rdquo; calmly
+      answered the arquebusier.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026">
+       <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVI. THE FETE
+    </h2>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+          &ldquo;Mon Dieu! quest-ce que ce monde!&rdquo;
+
+                  Dernieres paroles de M. Cinq-Mars
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      The same day that the melancholy procession took place at Lyons, and
+      during the scenes we have just witnessed, a magnificent fete was given at
+      Paris with all the luxury and bad taste of the time. The powerful Cardinal
+      had determined to fill the first two towns in France with his pomp. The
+      Cardinal&rsquo;s return was the occasion on which this fete was announced,
+      as given to the King and all his court.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Master of the French empire by force, the Cardinal desired to be master of
+      French opinion by seduction; and, weary of dominating, hoped to please.
+      The tragedy of &ldquo;Mirame&rdquo; was to be represented in a hall
+      constructed expressly for this great day, which raised the expenses of
+      this entertainment, says Pelisson, to three hundred thousand crowns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The entire guard of the Prime-Minister were under arms; his four companies
+      of musketeers and gens d&rsquo;armes were ranged in a line upon the vast
+      staircases and at the entrance of the long galleries of the
+      Palais-Cardinal. This brilliant pandemonium, where the mortal sins have a
+      temple on each floor, belonged that day to pride alone, which occupied it
+      from top to bottom. Upon each step was placed one of the arquebusiers of
+      the Cardinal&rsquo;s guard, holding a torch in one hand and a long carbine
+      in the other. The crowd of his gentlemen circulated between these living
+      candelabra, while in the large garden, surrounded by huge chestnut-trees,
+      now replaced by a range of archers, two companies of mounted light-horse,
+      their muskets in their hands, were ready to obey the first order or the
+      first fear of their master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal, carried and followed by his thirty-eight pages, took his
+      seat in his box hung with purple, facing that in which the King was half
+      reclining behind the green curtains which preserved him from the glare of
+      the flambeaux. The whole court filled the boxes, and rose when the King
+      appeared. The orchestra commenced a brilliant overture, and the pit was
+      thrown open to all the men of the town and the army who presented
+      themselves. Three impetuous waves of spectators rushed in and filled it in
+      an instant. They were standing, and so thickly pressed together that the
+      movement of a single arm sufficed to cause in the crowd a movement similar
+      to the waving of a field of corn. There was one man whose head thus
+      described a large circle, as that of a compass, without his feet quitting
+      the spot to which they were fixed; and some young men were carried out
+      fainting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The minister, contrary to custom, advanced his skeleton head out of his
+      box, and saluted the assembly with an air which was meant to be gracious.
+      This grimace obtained an acknowledgment only from the boxes; the pit was
+      silent. Richelieu had wished to show that he did not fear the public
+      judgment upon his work, and had given orders to admit without distinction
+      all who should present themselves. He began to repent of this, but too
+      late. The impartial assembly was as cold at the tragedie-pastorale itself.
+      In vain did the theatrical bergeres, covered with jewels, raised upon red
+      heels, with crooks ornamented with ribbons and garlands of flowers upon
+      their robes, which were stuck out with farthingale&rsquo;s, die of love in
+      tirades of two hundred verses; in vain did the &lsquo;amants parfaits&rsquo;
+      starve themselves in solitary caves, deploring their death in emphatic
+      tones, and fastening to their hair ribbons of the favorite color of their
+      mistress; in vain did the ladies of the court exhibit signs of perfect
+      ecstasy, leaning over the edges of their boxes, and even attempt a few
+      fainting-fits&mdash;the silent pit gave no other sign of life than the
+      perpetual shaking of black heads with long hair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Cardinal bit his lips and played the abstracted during the first and
+      second acts; the silence in which the third and fourth passed off so
+      wounded his paternal heart that he had himself raised half out of the
+      balcony, and in this uncomfortable and ridiculous position signed to the
+      court to remark the finest passages, and himself gave the signal for
+      applause. It was acted upon from some of the boxes, but the impassible pit
+      was more silent than ever; leaving the affair entirely between the stage
+      and the upper regions, they obstinately remained neuter. The master of
+      Europe and France then cast a furious look at this handful of men who
+      dared not to admire his work, feeling in his heart the wish of Nero, and
+      thought for a moment how happy he should be if all those men had but one
+      head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly this black and before silent mass became animated, and endless
+      rounds of applause burst forth, to the great astonishment of the boxes,
+      and above all, of the minister. He bent forward and bowed gratefully, but
+      drew back on perceiving that the clapping of hands interrupted the actors
+      every time they wished to proceed. The King had the curtains of his box,
+      until then closed, opened, to see what excited so much enthusiasm. The
+      whole court leaned forward from their boxes, and perceived among the
+      spectators on the stage a young man, humbly dressed, who had just seated
+      himself there with difficulty. Every look was fixed upon him. He appeared
+      utterly embarrassed by this, and sought to cover himself with his little
+      black cloak-far too short for the purpose. &ldquo;Le Cid! le Cid!&rdquo;
+      cried the pit, incessantly applauding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Terrified, Corneille escaped behind the scenes, and all was again
+      silent. The Cardinal, beside himself with fury, had his curtain closed,
+      and was carried into his galleries, where was performed another scene,
+      prepared long before by the care of Joseph, who had tutored the attendants
+      upon the point before quitting Paris. Cardinal Mazarin exclaimed that it
+      would be quicker to pass his Eminence through a long glazed window, which
+      was only two feet from the ground, and led from his box to the apartments;
+      and it opened and the page passed his armchair through it. Hereupon a
+      hundred voices rose to proclaim the accomplishment of the grand prophecy
+      of Nostradamus. They said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The bonnet rouge!-that&rsquo;s Monseigneur; &lsquo;quarante onces!&rsquo;&mdash;that&rsquo;s
+      Cinq-Mars; &lsquo;tout finira!&rsquo;&mdash;that&rsquo;s De Thou. What a
+      providential incident! His Eminence reigns over the future as over the
+      present.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He advanced thus upon his ambulatory throne through the long and splendid
+      galleries, listening to this delicious murmur of a new flattery; but
+      insensible to the hum of voices which deified his genius, he would have
+      given all their praises for one word, one single gesture of that immovable
+      and inflexible public, even had that word been a cry of hatred; for clamor
+      can be stifled, but how avenge one&rsquo;s self on silence? The people can
+      be prevented from striking, but who can prevent their waiting? Pursued by
+      the troublesome phantom of public opinion, the gloomy minister only
+      thought himself in safety when he reached the interior of his palace amid
+      his flattering courtiers, whose adorations soon made him forget that a
+      miserable pit had dared not to admire him. He had himself placed like a
+      king in the midst of his vast apartments, and, looking around him,
+      attentively counted the powerful and submissive men who surrounded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Counting them, he admired himself. The chiefs of the great families, the
+      princes of the Church, the presidents of all the parliaments, the
+      governors of the provinces, the marshals and generals-in-chief of the
+      armies, the nuncio, the ambassadors of all the kingdoms, the deputies and
+      senators of the republics, were motionless, submissive, and ranged around
+      him, as if awaiting his orders. There was no longer a look to brave his
+      look, no longer a word to raise itself against his will, not a project
+      that men dared to form in the most secret recesses of the heart, not a
+      thought which did not proceed from his. Mute Europe listened to him by its
+      representatives. From time to time he raise an imperious voice, and threw
+      a self-satisfied word to this pompous circle, as a man who throws a copper
+      coin among a crowd of beggars. Then might be distinguished, by the pride
+      which lit up his looks and the joy visible in his countenance, the prince
+      who had received such a favor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Transformed into another man, he seemed to have made a step in the
+      hierarchy of power, so surrounded with unlooked-for adorations and sudden
+      caresses was the fortunate courtier, whose obscure happiness the Cardinal
+      did not even perceive. The King&rsquo;s brother and the Duc de Bouillon
+      stood in the crowd, whence the minister did not deign to withdraw them.
+      Only he ostentatiously said that it would be well to dismantle a few
+      fortresses, spoke at length of the necessity of pavements and quays at
+      Paris, and said in two words to Turenne that he might perhaps be sent to
+      the army in Italy, to seek his baton as marechal from Prince Thomas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While Richelieu thus played with the great and small things of Europe,
+      amid his noisy fete, the Queen was informed at the Louvre that the time
+      was come for her to proceed to the Cardinal&rsquo;s palace, where the King
+      awaited her after the tragedy. The serious Anne of Austria did not witness
+      any play; but she could not refuse her presence at the fete of the
+      Prime-Minister. She was in her oratory, ready to depart, and covered with
+      pearls, her favorite ornament; standing opposite a large glass with Marie
+      de Mantua, she was arranging more to her satisfaction one or two details
+      of the young Duchess&rsquo;s toilette, who, dressed in a long pink robe,
+      was herself contemplating with attention, though with somewhat of ennui
+      and a little sullenness, the ensemble of her appearance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She saw her own work in Marie, and, more troubled, thought with deep
+      apprehension of the moment when this transient calm would cease, despite
+      the profound knowledge she had of the feeling but frivolous character of
+      Marie. Since the conversation at St.-Germain (the fatal letter), she had
+      not quitted the young Princess, and had bestowed all her care to lead her
+      mind to the path which she had traced out for her, for the most decided
+      feature in the character of Anne of Austria was an invincible obstinacy in
+      her calculations, to which she would fain have subjected all events and
+      all passions with a geometrical exactitude. There is no doubt that to this
+      positive and immovable mind we must attribute all the misfortunes of her
+      regency. The sombre reply of Cinq-Mars; his arrest; his trial&mdash;all
+      had been concealed from the Princesse Marie, whose first fault, it is
+      true, had been a movement of self-love and a momentary forgetfulness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      However, the Queen by nature was good-hearted, and had bitterly repented
+      her precipitation in writing words so decisive, and whose consequences had
+      been so serious; and all her endeavors had been applied to mitigate the
+      results. In reflecting upon her conduct in reference to the happiness of
+      France, she applauded herself for having thus, at one stroke, stifled the
+      germ of a civil war which would have shaken the State to its very
+      foundations. But when she approached her young friend and gazed on that
+      charming being whose happiness she was thus destroying in its bloom, and
+      reflected that an old man upon a throne, even, would not recompense her
+      for the eternal loss she was about to sustain; when she thought of the
+      entire devotion, the total abnegation of himself, she had witnessed in a
+      young man of twenty-two, of so lofty a character, and almost master of the
+      kingdom&mdash;she pitied Marie, and admired from her very soul the man
+      whom she had judged so ill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She would at least have desired to explain his worth to her whom he had
+      loved so deeply, and who as yet knew him not; but she still hoped that the
+      conspirators assembled at Lyons would be able to save him, and once
+      knowing him to be in a foreign land she could tell all to her dear Marie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As to the latter, she had at first feared war. But surrounded by the Queen&rsquo;s
+      people, who had let nothing reach her ear but news dictated by this
+      Princess, she knew, or thought she knew, that the conspiracy had not taken
+      place; that the King and the Cardinal had returned to Paris nearly at the
+      same time; that Monsieur, relapsed for a while, had reappeared at court;
+      that the Duc de Bouillon, on ceding Sedan, had also been restored to
+      favor; and that if the &lsquo;grand ecuyer&rsquo; had not yet appeared,
+      the reason was the more decided animosity of the Cardinal toward him, and
+      the greater part he had taken in the conspiracy. But common sense and
+      natural justice clearly said that having acted under the order of the King&rsquo;s
+      brother, his pardon ought to follow that of this Prince.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All then, had calmed the first uneasiness of her heart, while nothing had
+      softened the kind of proud resentment she felt against Cinq-Mars, so
+      indifferent as not to inform her of the place of his retreat, known to the
+      Queen and the whole court, while, she said to herself, she had thought but
+      of him. Besides, for two months the balls and fetes had so rapidly
+      succeeded each other, and so many mysterious duties had commanded her
+      presence, that she had for reflection and regret scarce more than the time
+      of her toilette, at which she was generally almost alone. Every evening
+      she regularly commenced the general reflection upon the ingratitude and
+      inconstancy of men&mdash;a profound and novel thought, which never fails
+      to occupy the head of a young person in the time of first love&mdash;but
+      sleep never permitted her to finish the reflection; and the fatigue of
+      dancing closed her large black eyes ere her ideas had found time to
+      classify themselves in her memory, or to present her with any distinct
+      images of the past.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the morning she was always surrounded by the young princesses of the
+      court, and ere she well had time to dress had to present herself in the
+      Queen&rsquo;s apartment, where awaited her the eternal, but now less
+      disagreeable homage of the Prince-Palatine. The Poles had had time to
+      learn at the court of France that mysterious reserve, that eloquent
+      silence which so pleases the women, because it enhances the importance of
+      things always secret, and elevates those whom they respect, so as to
+      preclude the idea of exhibiting suffering in their presence. Marie was
+      regarded as promised to King Uladislas; and she herself&mdash;we must
+      confess it&mdash;had so well accustomed herself to this idea that the
+      throne of Poland occupied by another queen would have appeared to her a
+      monstrous thing. She did not look forward with pleasure to the period of
+      ascending it, but had, however, taken possession of the homage which was
+      rendered her beforehand. Thus, without avowing it even to herself, she
+      greatly exaggerated the supposed offences of Cinq-Mars, which the Queen
+      had expounded to her at St. Germain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are as fresh as the roses in this bouquet,&rdquo; said the
+      Queen. &ldquo;Come, &lsquo;ma chere&rsquo;, are you ready? What means this
+      pouting air? Come, let me fasten this earring. Do you not like these toys,
+      eh? Will you have another set of ornaments?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, no, Madame. I think that I ought not to decorate myself at all,
+      for no one knows better than yourself how unhappy I am. Men are very cruel
+      toward us!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have reflected on what you said, and all is now clear to me. Yes,
+      it is quite true that he did not love me, for had he loved me he would
+      have renounced an enterprise that gave me so much uneasiness. I told him,
+      I remember, indeed, which was very decided,&rdquo; she added, with an
+      important and even solemn air, &ldquo;that he would be a rebel&mdash;yes,
+      Madame, a rebel. I told him so at Saint-Eustache. But I see that your
+      Majesty was right. I am very unfortunate! He had more ambition than love.&rdquo;
+      Here a tear of pique escaped from her eyes, and rolled quickly down her
+      cheek, as a pearl upon a rose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, it is certain,&rdquo; she continued, fastening her bracelets;
+      &ldquo;and the greatest proof is that in the two months he has renounced
+      his enterprise&mdash;you told me that you had saved him&mdash;he has not
+      let me know the place of his retreat, while I during that time have been
+      weeping, have been imploring all your power in his favor; have sought but
+      a word that might inform me of his proceedings. I have thought but of him;
+      and even now I refuse every day the throne of Poland, because I wish to
+      prove to the end that I am constant, that you yourself can not make me
+      disloyal to my attachment, far more serious than his, and that we are of
+      higher worth than the men. But, however, I think I may attend this fete,
+      since it is not a ball.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, yes, my dear child! come, come!&rdquo; said the Queen,
+      desirous of putting an end to this childish talk, which afflicted her all
+      the more that it was herself who had encouraged it. &ldquo;Come, you will
+      see the union that prevails between the princes and the Cardinal, and we
+      shall perhaps hear some good news.&rdquo; They departed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the two princesses entered the long galleries of the Palais-Cardinal,
+      they were received and coldly saluted by the King and the minister, who,
+      closely surrounded by silent courtiers, were playing at chess upon a small
+      low table. All the ladies who entered with the Queen or followed her,
+      spread through the apartments; and soon soft music sounded in one of the
+      saloons&mdash;a gentle accompaniment to the thousand private conversations
+      carried on round the play tables.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Near the Queen passed, saluting her, a young newly married couple&mdash;the
+      happy Chabot and the beautiful Duchesse de Rohan. They seemed to shun the
+      crowd, and to seek apart a moment to speak to each other of themselves.
+      Every one received them with a smile and looked after them with envy.
+      Their happiness was expressed as strongly in the countenances of others as
+      in their own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Marie followed them with her eyes. &ldquo;Still they are happy,&rdquo; she
+      whispered to the Queen, remembering the censure which in her hearing had
+      been thrown upon the match.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But without answering, Anne of Austria, fearful that in the crowd some
+      inconsiderate expression might inform her young friend of the mournful
+      event so interesting to her, placed herself with Marie behind the King.
+      Monsieur, the Prince-Palatine, and the Duc de Bouillon came to speak to
+      her with a gay and lively air. The second, however, casting upon Marie a
+      severe and scrutinizing glance, said to her:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madame la Princesse, you are most surprisingly beautiful and gay
+      this evening.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was confused at these words, and at seeing the speaker walk away with
+      a sombre air. She addressed herself to the Duc d&rsquo;Orleans, who did
+      not answer, and seemed not to hear her. Marie looked at the Queen, and
+      thought she remarked paleness and disquiet on her features. Meantime, no
+      one ventured to approach the minister, who was deliberately meditating his
+      moves. Mazarin alone, leaning over his chair, followed all the strokes
+      with a servile attention, giving gestures of admiration every time that
+      the Cardinal played. Application to the game seemed to have dissipated for
+      a moment the cloud that usually shaded the minister&rsquo;s brow. He had
+      just advanced a tower, which placed Louis&rsquo;s king in that false
+      position which is called &ldquo;stalemate,&rdquo;&mdash;a situation in
+      which the ebony king, without being personally attacked, can neither
+      advance nor retire in any direction. The Cardinal, raising his eyes,
+      looked at his adversary and smiled with one corner of his mouth, not being
+      able to avoid a secret analogy. Then, observing the dim eyes and dying
+      countenance of the Prince, he whispered to Mazarin:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Faith, I think he&rsquo;ll go before me. He is greatly changed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the same time he himself was seized with a long and violent cough,
+      accompanied internally with the sharp, deep pain he so often felt in the
+      side. At the sinister warning he put a handkerchief to his mouth, which he
+      withdrew covered with blood. To hide it, he threw it under the table, and
+      looked around him with a stern smile, as if to forbid observation. Louis
+      XIII, perfectly insensible, did not make the least movement, beyond
+      arranging his men for another game with a skeleton and trembling hand.
+      There two dying men seemed to be throwing lots which should depart first.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment a clock struck the hour of midnight. The King raised his
+      head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, ah!&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;this morning at twelve Monsieur le
+      Grand had a disagreeable time of it.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A piercing shriek was uttered behind him. He shuddered, and threw himself
+      forward, upsetting the table. Marie de Mantua lay senseless in the arms of
+      the Queen, who, weeping bitterly, said in the King&rsquo;s ear:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, Sire, your axe has a double edge.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She then bestowed all her cares and maternal kisses upon the young
+      Princess, who, surrounded by all the ladies of the court, only came to
+      herself to burst into a torrent of tears. As soon as she opened her eyes,
+      &ldquo;Alas! yes, my child,&rdquo; said Anne of Austria. &ldquo;My poor
+      girl, you are Queen of Poland.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It has often happened that the same event which causes tears to flow in
+      the palace of kings has spread joy without, for the people ever suppose
+      that happiness reigns at festivals. There were five days&rsquo; rejoicings
+      for the return of the minister, and every evening under the windows of the
+      Palais-Cardinal and those of the Louvre pressed the people of Paris. The
+      late disturbances had given them a taste for public movements. They rushed
+      from one street to another with a curiosity at times insulting and
+      hostile, sometimes walking in silent procession, sometimes sending forth
+      loud peals of laughter or prolonged yells, of which no one understood the
+      meaning. Bands of young men fought in the streets and danced in rounds in
+      the squares, as if manifesting some secret hope of pleasure and some
+      insensate joy, grievous to the upright heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was remarkable that profound silence prevailed exactly in those places
+      where the minister had ordered rejoicings, and that the people passed
+      disdainfully before the illuminated facade of his palace. If some voices
+      were raised, it was to read aloud in a sneering tone the legends and
+      inscriptions with which the idiot flattery of some obscure writers had
+      surrounded the portraits of the minister. One of these pictures was
+      guarded by arquebusiers, who, however, could not preserve it from the
+      stones which were thrown at it from a distance by unseen hands. It
+      represented the Cardinal-Generalissimo wearing a casque surrounded by
+      laurels. Above it was inscribed:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &ldquo;Grand Duc: c&rsquo;est justement que la France t&rsquo;honore;
+     Ainsi que le dieu Mars dans Paris on t&rsquo;adore.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      These fine phrases did not persuade the people that they were happy. They
+      no more adored the Cardinal than they did the god Mars, but they accepted
+      his fetes because they served as a covering for disorder. All Paris was in
+      an uproar. Men with long beards, carrying torches, measures of wine, and
+      two drinking-cups, which they knocked together with a great noise, went
+      along, arm in arm, shouting in chorus with rude voices an old round of the
+      League:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+            &ldquo;Reprenons la danse;
+             Allons, c&rsquo;est assez.
+             Le printemps commence;
+             Les rois sont passes.
+
+            &ldquo;Prenons quelque treve;
+             Nous sommes lasses.
+             Les rois de la feve
+             Nous ont harasses.
+
+            &ldquo;Allons, Jean du Mayne,
+             Les rois sont passes.
+
+            &ldquo;Les rois de la feve
+             Nous ont harasses.
+             Allons, Jean du Mayne,
+             Les rois sont passes.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      The frightful bands who howled forth these words traversed the Quais and
+      the Pont-Neuf, squeezing against the high houses, which then covered the
+      latter, the peaceful citizens who were led there by simple curiosity. Two
+      young men, wrapped in cloaks, thus thrown one against the other,
+      recognized each other by the light of a torch placed at the foot of the
+      statue of Henri IV, which had been lately raised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! still at Paris?&rdquo; said Corneille to Milton. &ldquo;I
+      thought you were in London.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hear you the people, Monsieur? Do you hear them? What is this
+      ominous chorus,
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     &lsquo;Les rois sont passes&rsquo;?&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is nothing, Monsieur. Listen to their conversation.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The parliament is dead,&rdquo; said one of the men; &ldquo;the
+      nobles are dead. Let us dance; we are the masters. The old Cardinal is
+      dying. There is no longer any but the King and ourselves.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you hear that drunken wretch, Monsieur?&rdquo; asked Corneille.
+      &ldquo;All our epoch is in those words of his.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What! is this the work of the minister who is called great among
+      you, and even by other nations? I do not understand him.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will explain the matter to you presently,&rdquo; answered
+      Corneille. &ldquo;But first listen to the concluding part of this letter,
+      which I received to-day. Draw near this light under the statue of the late
+      King. We are alone. The crowd has passed. Listen!
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+   &ldquo;It was by one of those unforeseen circumstances which prevent the
+   accomplishment of the noblest enterprises that we were not able to
+   save MM. de Cinq-Mars and De Thou. We might have foreseen that,
+   prepared for death by long meditation, they would themselves refuse
+   our aid; but this idea did not occur to any of us. In the
+   precipitation of our measures, we also committed the fault of
+   dispersing ourselves too much in the crowd, so that we could not
+   take a sudden resolution. I was unfortunately stationed near the
+   scaffold; and I saw our unfortunate friends advance to the foot of
+   it, supporting the poor Abbe Quillet, who was destined to behold the
+   death of the pupil whose birth he had witnessed. He sobbed aloud,
+   and had strength enough only to kiss the hands of the two friends.
+   We all advanced, ready to throw ourselves upon the guards at the
+   announced signal; but I saw with grief M. de Cinq-Mars cast his hat
+   from him with an air of disdain. Our movement had been observed,
+   and the Catalonian guard was doubled round the scaffold. I could
+   see no more; but I heard much weeping around me. After the three
+   usual blasts of the trumpet, the recorder of Lyons, on horseback at
+   a little distance from the scaffold, read the sentence of death, to
+   which neither of the prisoners listened. M. de Thou said to M. de
+   Cinq-Mars:
+
+   &ldquo;&lsquo;Well, dear friend, which shall die first? Do you remember Saint-
+   Gervais and Saint-Protais?&rsquo;
+
+   &ldquo;&lsquo;Which you think best,&rsquo; answered Cinq-Mars.
+
+   &ldquo;The second confessor, addressing M. de Thou, said, &lsquo;You are the
+   elder.&rsquo;
+
+   &ldquo;&lsquo;True,&rsquo; said M. de Thou; and, turning to M. le Grand, &lsquo;You are the
+   most generous; you will show me the way to the glory of heaven.&rsquo;
+
+   &ldquo;&lsquo;Alas!&rsquo; said Cinq-Mars; &lsquo;I have opened to you that of the
+   precipice; but let us meet death nobly, and we shall revel in the
+   glory and happiness of heaven!&rsquo;
+
+   &ldquo;Hereupon he embraced him, and ascended the scaffold with surprising
+   address and agility. He walked round the scaffold, and contemplated
+   the whole of the great assembly with a calm countenance, which
+   betrayed no sign of fear, and a serious and graceful manner. He
+   then went round once more, saluting the people on every side,
+   without appearing to recognize any of us, with a majestic and
+   charming expression of face; he then knelt down, raising his eyes to
+   heaven, adoring God, and recommending himself to Him. As he
+   embraced the crucifix, the father confessor called to the people to
+   pray for him; and M. le Grand, opening his arms, still holding his
+   crucifix, made the same request to the people. Then he readily
+   knelt before the block, holding the stake, placed his neck upon it,
+   and asked the confessor, &lsquo;Father, is this right?&rsquo; Then, while they
+   were cutting off his hair, he raised his eyes to heaven, and said,
+   sighing:
+
+   &ldquo;&lsquo;My God, what is this world? My God, I offer thee my death as a
+   satisfaction for my sins!&rsquo;
+
+   &ldquo;&lsquo;What are you waiting for? What are you doing there?&rsquo; he said to
+   the executioner, who had not yet taken his axe from an old bag he
+   had brought with him. His confessor, approaching, gave him a
+   medallion; and he, with an incredible tranquillity of mind, begged
+   the father to hold the crucifix before his eyes, which he would not
+   allow to be bound. I saw the two trembling hands of the Abbe
+   Quillet, who raised the crucifix. At this moment a voice, as clear
+   and pure as that of an angel, commenced the &lsquo;Ave, maris stella&rsquo;.
+   In the universal silence I recognized the voice of M. de Thou, who
+   was at the foot of the scaffold; the people repeated the sacred
+   strain. M. de Cinq-Mars clung more tightly to the stake; and I saw
+   a raised axe, made like the English axes. A terrible cry of the
+   people from the Place, the windows, and the towers told me that it
+   had fallen, and that the head had rolled to the ground. I had
+   happily strength enough left to think of his soul, and to commence a
+   prayer for him.
+
+   &ldquo;I mingled it with that which I heard pronounced aloud by our
+   unfortunate and pious friend De Thou. I rose and saw him spring
+   upon the scaffold with such promptitude that he might almost have
+   been said to fly. The father and he recited a psalm; he uttered it
+   with the ardor of a seraphim, as if his soul had borne his body to
+   heaven. Then, kneeling down, he kissed the blood of Cinq-Mars as
+   that of a martyr, and became himself a greater martyr. I do not
+   know whether God was pleased to grant him this last favor; but I saw
+   with horror that the executioner, terrified no doubt at the first
+   blow he had given, struck him upon the top of his head, whither the
+   unfortunate young man raised his hand; the people sent forth a long
+   groan, and advanced against the executioner. The poor wretch,
+   terrified still more, struck him another blow, which only cut the
+   skin and threw him upon the scaffold, where the executioner rolled
+   upon him to despatch him. A strange event terrified the people as
+   much as the horrible spectacle. M. de Cinq-Mars&rsquo; old servant held
+   his horse as at a military funeral; he had stopped at the foot of
+   the scaffold, and like a man paralyzed, watched his master to the
+   end, then suddenly, as if struck by the same axe, fell dead under
+   the blow which had taken off his master&rsquo;s head.
+
+   &ldquo;I write these sad details in haste, on board a Genoese galley, into
+   which Fontrailles, Gondi, Entraigues, Beauvau, Du Lude, myself, and
+   others of the chief conspirators have retired. We are going to
+   England to await until time shall deliver France from the tyrant
+   whom we could not destroy. I abandon forever the service of the
+   base Prince who betrayed us.
+
+                       &ldquo;MONTRESOR&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such,&rdquo; continued Corneille, &ldquo;has been the fate of these
+      two young men whom you lately saw so powerful. Their last sigh was that of
+      the ancient monarchy. Nothing more than a court can reign here henceforth;
+      the nobles and the senates are destroyed.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And this is your pretended great man!&rdquo; said Milton. &ldquo;What
+      has he sought to do? He would, then, create republics for future ages,
+      since he destroys the basis of your monarchy?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look not so far,&rdquo; answered Corneille; &ldquo;he only seeks to
+      reign until the end of his life. He has worked for the present and not for
+      the future; he has continued the work of Louis XI; and neither one nor the
+      other knew what they were doing.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Englishman smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that true genius followed another
+      path. This man has shaken all that he ought to have supported, and they
+      admire him! I pity your nation.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pity it not!&rdquo; exclaimed Corneille, warmly; &ldquo;a man
+      passes away, but a people is renewed. This people, Monsieur, is gifted
+      with an immortal energy, which nothing can destroy; its imagination often
+      leads it astray, but superior reason will ever ultimately master its
+      disorders.&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two young and already great men walked, as they conversed, upon the
+      space which separates the statue of Henri IV from the Place Dauphine; they
+      stopped a moment in the centre of this Place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, Monsieur,&rdquo; continued Corneille, &ldquo;I see every
+      evening with what rapidity a noble thought finds its echo in French
+      hearts; and every evening I retire happy at the sight. Gratitude
+      prostrates the poor people before this statue of a good king! Who knows
+      what other monument another passion may raise near this? Who can say how
+      far the love of glory will lead our people? Who knows that in the place
+      where we now are, there may not be raised a pyramid taken from the East?&rdquo;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These are the secrets of the future,&rdquo; said Milton. &ldquo;I,
+      like yourself, admire your impassioned nation; but I fear them for
+      themselves. I do not well understand them; and I do not recognize their
+      wisdom when I see them lavishing their admiration upon men such as he who
+      now rules you. The love of power is very puerile; and this man is devoured
+      by it, without having force enough to seize it wholly. By an utter
+      absurdity, he is a tyrant under a master. Thus has this colossus, never
+      firmly balanced, been all but overthrown by the finger of a boy. Does that
+      indicate genius? No, no! when genius condescends to quit the lofty regions
+      of its true home for a human passion, at least, it should grasp that
+      passion in its entirety. Since Richelieu only aimed at power, why did he
+      not, if he was a genius, make himself absolute master of power? I am going
+      to see a man who is not yet known, and whom I see swayed by this miserable
+      ambition; but I think that he will go farther. His name is Cromwell!&rdquo;
+    </p>
+
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cinq Mars, Complete, by Alfred de Vigny
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Cinq Mars, Complete
+
+Author: Alfred de Vigny
+
+Last Updated: March 3, 2009
+Release Date: October 5, 2006 [EBook #3953]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CINQ MARS, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+CINQ MARS
+
+By Alfred De Vigny
+
+
+With a Prefaces by CHARLES DE MAZADE, and GASTON BOISSIER of the French
+Academy.
+
+
+
+
+ALFRED DE VIGNY
+
+The reputation of Alfred de Vigny has endured extraordinary vicissitudes
+in France. First he was lauded as the precursor of French romantic
+poetry and stately prose; then he sank in semi-oblivion, became the
+curiosity of criticism, died in retirement, and was neglected for a long
+time, until the last ten years or so produced a marked revolution
+of taste in France. The supremacy of Victor Hugo has been, if not
+questioned, at least mitigated; other poets have recovered from their
+obscurity. Lamartine shines now like a lamp relighted; and the pure,
+brilliant, and profoundly original genius of Alfred de Vigny now takes,
+for the first time, its proper place as one of the main illuminating
+forces of the nineteenth century.
+
+It was not until one hundred years after this poet's birth that it
+became clearly recognized that he is one of the most important of
+all the great writers of France, and he is distinguished not only in
+fiction, but also in poetry and the drama. He is a follower of Andre
+Chenier, Lamartine, and Victor Hugo, a lyric sun, a philosophic poet,
+later, perhaps in consequence of the Revolution of 1830, becoming a
+"Symbolist." He has been held to occupy a middle ground between De
+Musset and Chenier, but he has also something suggestive of Madame de
+Stael, and, artistically, he has much in common with Chateaubriand,
+though he is more coldly impersonal and probably much more sincere in
+his philosophy. If Sainte-Beuve, however, calls the poet in his Nouveaux
+Lundis a "beautiful angel, who has been drinking vinegar," then the
+modern reader needs a strong caution against malice and raillery, if not
+jealousy and perfidy, although the article on De Vigny abounds otherwise
+with excessive critical cleverness.
+
+At times, indeed, under the cruel deceptions of love, he seemed to lose
+faith in his idealism; his pessimism, nevertheless, always remained
+noble, restrained, sympathetic, manifesting itself not in appeals for
+condolence, but in pitying care for all who were near and dear to him.
+Yet his lofty prose and poetry, interpenetrated with the stern despair
+of pessimistic idealism, will always be unintelligible to the many. As a
+poet, De Vigny appeals to the chosen few alone. In his dramas his genius
+is more emancipated from himself, in his novels most of all. It is by
+these that he is most widely known, and by these that he exercised the
+greatest influence on the literary life of his generation.
+
+ Alfred-Victor, Count de Vigny, was born in Loches, Touraine, March 27,
+1797. His father was an army officer, wounded in the Seven Years' War.
+Alfred, after having been well educated, also selected a military career
+and received a commission in the "Mousquetaires Rouges," in 1814, when
+barely seventeen. He served until 1827, "twelve long years of peace,"
+then resigned. Already in 1822 appeared a volume of 'Poemes' which was
+hardly noticed, although containing poetry since become important to
+the evolution of French verse: 'La Neige, le Coy, le Deluge, Elva, la
+Frigate', etc., again collected in 'Poemes antiques et modernes' (1826).
+Other poems were published after his death in 'Les Destinies' (1864).
+
+Under the influence of Walter Scott, he wrote a historical romance in
+1826, 'Cinq-Mars, ou une Conjuration sans Louis XIII'. It met with
+the most brilliant and decided success and was crowned by the Academy.
+Cinq-Mars will always be remembered as the earliest romantic novel
+in France and the greatest and most dramatic picture of Richelieu now
+extant. De Vigny was a convinced Anglophile, well acquainted with the
+writings of Shakespeare and Milton, Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley, Matthew
+Arnold, and Leopardi. He also married an English lady in 1825--Lydia
+Bunbury.
+
+Other prose works are 'Stello' (1832), in the manner of Sterne and
+Diderot, and 'Servitude et Grandeur militaire' (1835), the language
+of which is as caustic as that of Merimee. As a dramatist, De Vigny
+produced a translation of 'Othello--Le More de Venice' (1829); also 'La
+Marechale d'Ancre' (1832); both met with moderate success only. But a
+decided "hit" was 'Chatterton' (1835), an adaption from his prose-work
+'Stello, ou les Diables bleus'; it at once established his reputation
+on the stage; the applause was most prodigious, and in the annals of
+the French theatre can only be compared with that of 'Le Cid'. It was a
+great victory for the Romantic School, and the type of Chatterton, the
+slighted poet, "the marvellous boy, the sleepless soul that perished in
+his pride," became contagious as erstwhile did the type of Werther.
+
+For twenty years before his death Alfred de Vigny wrote nothing. He
+lived in retirement, almost a recluse, in La Charente, rarely visiting
+Paris. Admitted into L'Academie Francaise in 1845, he describes in his
+'Journal d'un Poete' his academic visits and the reception held out to
+him by the members of L'Institut. This work appeared posthumously in
+1867.
+
+He died in Paris, September 17, 1863.
+
+                  CHARLES DE MAZADE
+                de l'Academie Francaise.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Considering Alfred de Vigny first as a writer, it is evident that he
+wished the public to regard him as different from the other romanticists
+of his day; in fact, in many respects, his method presents a striking
+contrast to theirs. To their brilliant facility, their prodigious
+abundance, and the dazzling luxury of color in their pictures of life
+he opposes a style always simple, pure, clear, with delicacy of touch,
+careful drawing of character, correct locution, and absolute chastity.
+Yet, even though he had this marked regard for purity in literary style,
+no writer had more dislike of mere pedantry. His high ideal in literary
+art and his self-respect inspired him with an invincible repugnance
+toward the artificialities of style of that period, which the
+romanticists--above all, Chateaubriand, their master--had so much
+abused.
+
+Every one knows of the singular declaration made by Chateaubriand to
+Joubert, while relating the details of a nocturnal voyage: "The moon
+shone upon me in a slender crescent, and that prevented me from writing
+an untruth, for I feel sure that had not the moon been there I should
+have said in my letter that it was shining, and then you would have
+convicted me of an error in my almanac!"
+
+This habit of sacrificing truth and exactitude of impression, for the
+sake of producing a harmonious phrase or a picturesque suggestion,
+disgusted Alfred de Vigny. "The worst thing about writers is that they
+care very little whether what they write is true, so long as they only
+write," we read on one page of his Journal. He adds, "They should seek
+words only in their own consciences." On another page he says: "The most
+serious lack in literary work is sincerity. Perceiving clearly that the
+combination of technical labor and research for effective expression, in
+producing literary work, often leads us to a paradox, I have resolved to
+sacrifice all to conviction and truth, so that this precious element of
+sincerity, complete and profound, shall dominate my books and give to
+them the sacred character which the divine presence of truth always
+gives."
+
+Besides sincerity, De Vigny possessed, in a high degree, a gift which
+was not less rare in that age--good taste. He had taste in the art of
+writing, a fine literary tact, a sense of proportion, a perception of
+delicate shades of expression, an instinct that told him what to say and
+what to suppress, to insinuate, or to be left to the understanding. Even
+in his innovations in form, in his boldness of style, he showed a
+rare discretion; never did he do violence to the genius of the French
+language, and one may apply to him without reserve the eulogy that
+Quintilian pronounced upon Horace: 'Verbis felicissime audax'.
+
+He cherished also a fixed principle that art implied selection. He was
+neither idealist nor realist, in the exclusive and opposing sense in
+which we understand these terms; he recommended a scrupulous observance
+of nature, and that every writer should draw as close to it as possible,
+but only in order to interpret it, to reveal it with a true feeling,
+yet without a too intimate analysis, and that no one should attempt to
+portray it exactly or servilely copy it. "Of what use is art," he says,
+"if it is only a reduplication of existence? We see around us only too
+much of the sadness and disenchantment of reality." The three novels
+that compose the volume 'Servitude et Grandeur militaire' are, in this
+respect, models of romantic composition that never will be surpassed,
+bearing witness to the truth of the formula followed by De Vigny in all
+his literary work: "Art is the chosen truth."
+
+If, as a versifier, Alfred de Vigny does not equal the great poets of
+his time, if they are his superiors in distinction and brilliancy, in
+richness of vocabulary, freedom of movement, and variety of rhythm, the
+cause is to be ascribed less to any lack of poetic genius than to the
+nature of his inspiration, even to the laws of poesy, and to the secret
+and irreducible antinomy that exists between art and thought. When,
+for example, Theophile Gautier reproached him with being too little
+impressed with the exigencies of rhyme, his criticism was not well
+grounded, for richness of rhyme, though indispensable in works of
+descriptive imagination, has no 'raison d'etre' in poems dominated by
+sentiment and thought. But, having said that, we must recognize in his
+poetry an element, serious, strong, and impressive, characteristic
+of itself alone, and admire, in the strophes of 'Mozse', in the
+imprecations of 'Samson', and in the 'Destinees', the majestic
+simplicity of the most beautiful Hebraic verse.
+
+Moreover, the true originality of De Vigny does not lie in the manner
+of composition; it was primarily in the role of precursor that he played
+his part on the stage of literature. Let us imagine ourselves at the
+period about the beginning of the year 1822. Of the three poets who,
+in making their literary debuts, had just published the 'Meditations,
+Poemes antiques et modernes, and Odes', only one had, at that time, the
+instinct of renewal in the spirit of French poesy, and a sense of
+the manner in which this must be accomplished; and that one was not
+Lamartine, and certainly it was not Victor Hugo.
+
+Sainte-Beuve has said, with authority, that in Lamartine there is
+something suggestive of Millevoye, of Voltaire (he of the charming
+epistles), and of Fontanes; and Victor Hugo wrote with very little
+variation from the technical form of his predecessors. "But with Alfred
+de Vigny," he says, "we seek in vain for a resemblance to any French
+poetry preceding his work. For example, where can we find anything
+resembling 'Moise, Eloa, Doloeida'? Where did he find his inspiration
+for style and composition in these poems? If the poets of the Pleiades
+of the Restoration seem to have found their inspiration within
+themselves, showing no trace of connection with the literature of the
+past, thus throwing into confusion old habits of taste and of routine,
+certain it is that among them Alfred de Vigny should be ranked first."
+
+Even in the collection that bears the date of 1822, some years before
+the future author of Legende des Siecles had taken up romanticism,
+Alfred de Vigny had already conceived the idea of setting forth, in a
+series of little epics, the migrations of the human soul throughout the
+ages. "One feels," said he in his Preface, "a keen intellectual delight
+in transporting one's self, by mere force of thought, to a period of
+antiquity; it resembles the pleasure an old man feels in recalling first
+his early youth, and then the whole course of his life. In the age of
+simplicity, poetry was devoted entirely to the beauties of the physical
+forms of nature and of man; each step in advance that it has made since
+then toward our own day of civilization and of sadness, seems to have
+blended it more and more with our arts, and even with the sufferings of
+our souls. At present, with all the serious solemnity of Religion and of
+Destiny, it lends to them their chief beauty. Never discouraged, Poetry
+has followed Man in his long journey through the ages, like a sweet and
+beautiful companion. I have attempted, in our language, to show some of
+her beauties, in following her progress toward the present day."
+
+The arrangement of the poems announced in this Preface is tripartite,
+like that of the 'Legende des Siecles: Poemes antiques, poemes
+judaiques, poemes modernes.--Livre mystique, livre antique, livre
+moderne'. But the name of precursor would be a vain title if all that
+were necessary to merit it was the fact that one had been the first to
+perceive a new path to literary glory, to salute it from a distance, yet
+never attempt to make a nearer approach.
+
+In one direction at least, Alfred de Vigny was a true innovator, in the
+broadest and most meritorious sense of the word: he was the creator of
+philosophic poetry in France. Until Jocelyn appeared, in 1836, the form
+of poetic expression was confined chiefly to the ode, the ballad, and
+the elegy; and no poet, with the exception of the author of 'Moise' and
+'Eloa', ever dreamed that abstract ideas and themes dealing with the
+moralities could be expressed in the melody of verse.
+
+To this priority, of which he knew the full value, Alfred de Vigny laid
+insistent claim. "The only merit," he says in one of his prefaces, "that
+any one ever has disputed with me in this sort of composition is the
+honor of having promulgated in France all works of the kind in which
+philosophic thought is presented in either epic or dramatic form."
+
+But it was not alone priority in the sense of time that gave him
+right of way over his contemporaries; he was the most distinguished
+representative of poetic philosophy of his generation. If the phrases of
+Lamartine seem richer, if his flight is more majestic, De Vigny's range
+is surer and more powerful. While the philosophy of the creator of
+'Les Harmonies' is uncertain and inconsistent, that of the poet of 'Les
+Destinees' is strong and substantial, for the reason that the former
+inspires more sentiment than ideas, while the latter, soaring far
+above the narrow sphere of personal emotion, writes of everything that
+occupies the intellect of man.
+
+Thus, by his vigor and breadth of thought, by his profound understanding
+of life, by the intensity of his dreams, Alfred de Vigny is superior to
+Victor Hugo, whose genius was quite different, in his power to portray
+picturesque scenes, in his remarkable fecundity of imagination, and in
+his sovereign mastery of technique.
+
+But nowhere in De Vigny's work is that superiority of poetic thought so
+clearly shown as in those productions wherein the point of departure was
+farthest from the domain of intellect, and better than any other has he
+understood that truth proclaimed by Hegel: "The passions of the soul and
+the affections of the heart are matter for poetic expression only in so
+far as they are general, solid, and eternal."
+
+De Vigny was also the only one among our poets that had a lofty ideal
+of woman and of love. And in order to convince one's self of this it
+is sufficient to reread successively the four great love-poems of that
+period: 'Le Lac, La Tristesse d'Olympio, Le Souvenir, and La Colere de
+Samson'.
+
+Lamartine's conception of love was a sort of mild ecstasy, the sacred
+rapture in which the senses play no part, and noble emotions that cause
+neither trouble nor remorse. He ever regarded love as a kind of sublime
+and passionate religion, of which 'Le Lac' was the most beautiful hymn,
+but in which the image of woman is so vague that she almost seems to be
+absent.
+
+On the other hand, what is 'La Tristesse d'Olympio' if not an admirable
+but common poetic rapture, a magnificent summary of the sufferings of
+the heart--a bit of lyric writing equal to the most beautiful canzoni of
+the Italian masters, but wherein we find no idea of love, because all
+is artificial and studied; no cry from the soul is heard,--no trace of
+passion appears.
+
+After another fashion the same criticism applies to Le Souvenir; it was
+written under a stress of emotion resulting from too recent events;
+and the imagination of the author, subservient to a memory relentlessly
+faithful, as is often the case with those to whom passion is the chief
+principle of inspiration, was far from fulfilling the duties of his high
+vocation, which is to purify the passions of the poet from individual
+and accidental characteristics in order to leave unhampered whatever his
+work may contain that is powerful and imperishable.
+
+Alfred de Vigny alone, of the poets of his day, in his 'Colere de
+Samson', has risen to a just appreciation of woman and of love; his
+ideal is grand and tragic, it is true, and reminds one of that gloomy
+passage in Ecclesiastes which says: "Woman is more bitter than death,
+and her arms are like chains."
+
+It is by this character of universality, of which all his writings show
+striking evidence, that Alfred de Vigny is assured of immortality. A
+heedless generation neglected him because it preferred to seek subjects
+in strong contrast to life of its own time. But that which was not
+appreciated by his contemporaries will be welcomed by posterity. And
+when, in French literature, there shall remain of true romanticism only
+a slight trace and the memory of a few great names, the author of the
+'Destinees' will still find an echo in all hearts.
+
+No writer, no matter how gifted, immortalizes himself unless he has
+crystallized into expressive and original phrase the eternal sentiments
+and yearnings of the human heart. "A man does not deserve the name of
+poet unless he can express personal feeling and emotion, and only that
+man is worthy to be called a poet who knows how to assimilate the varied
+emotions of mankind." If this fine phrase of Goethe's is true, if true
+poetry is only that which implies a mastery of spiritual things as well
+as of human emotion, Alfred de Vigny is assuredly one of our greatest
+poets, for none so well as he has realized a complete vision of the
+universe, no one has brought before the world with more boldness the
+problem of the soul and that of humanity. Under the title of poet he
+belongs not only to our national literature, but occupies a distinctive
+place in the world of intellect, with Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe,
+among those inspired beings who transmit throughout succeeding centuries
+the light of reason and the traditions of the loftiest poetic thought.
+
+Alfred de Vigny was elected to a chair in the French Academy in 1846 and
+died at Paris, September 17, 1863.
+
+                  GASTON BOISSIER
+          Secretaire Perpetuel de l'Academie Francaise.
+
+
+
+
+TRUTH IN ART
+
+The study of social progress is to-day not less needed in literature
+than is the analysis of the human heart. We live in an age of universal
+investigation, and of exploration of the sources of all movements.
+France, for example, loves at the same time history and the drama,
+because the one explores the vast destinies of humanity, and the other
+the individual lot of man. These embrace the whole of life. But it is
+the province of religion, of philosophy, of pure poetry only, to go
+beyond life, beyond time, into eternity.
+
+Of late years (perhaps as a result of our political changes) art has
+borrowed from history more than ever. All of us have our eyes fixed on
+our chronicles, as though, having reached manhood while going on toward
+greater things, we had stopped a moment to cast up the account of our
+youth and its errors. We have had to double the interest by adding to it
+recollection.
+
+As France has carried farther than other nations this love of facts, and
+as I had chosen a recent and well-remembered epoch, it seemed to me that
+I ought not to imitate those foreigners who in their pictures barely
+show in the horizon the men who dominate their history. I placed ours in
+the foreground of the scene; I made them leading actors in this tragedy,
+wherever I endeavored to represent the three kinds of ambition by which
+we are influenced, and with them the beauty of self-sacrifice to a noble
+ideal. A treatise on the fall of the feudal system; on the position,
+at home and abroad, of France in the seventeenth century; on foreign
+alliances; on the justice of parliaments or of secret commissions, or
+on accusations of sorcery, would not perhaps have been read. But the
+romance was read.
+
+I do not mean to defend this last form of historical composition, being
+convinced that the real greatness of a work lies in the substance of
+the author's ideas and sentiments, and not in the literary form in which
+they are dressed. The choice of a certain epoch necessitates a certain
+treatment--to another epoch it would be unsuitable; these are mere
+secrets of the workshop of thought which there is no need of disclosing.
+What is the use of theorizing as to wherein lies the charm that moves
+us? We hear the tones of the harp, but its graceful form conceals from
+us its frame of iron. Nevertheless, since I have been convinced
+that this book possesses vitality, I can not help throwing out some
+reflections on the liberty which the imagination should employ in
+weaving into its tapestry all the leading figures of an age, and, to
+give more consistency to their acts, in making the reality of fact
+give way to the idea which each of them should represent in the eyes of
+posterity; in short, on the difference which I find between Truth in art
+and the True in fact.
+
+Just as we descend into our consciences to judge of actions which our
+minds can not weigh, can we not also search in ourselves for the feeling
+which gives birth to forms of thought, always vague and cloudy? We shall
+find in our troubled hearts, where discord reigns, two needs which seem
+at variance, but which merge, as I think, in a common source--the love
+of the true, and the love of the fabulous.
+
+On the day when man told the story of his life to man, history was born.
+Of what use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example
+of good or of evil? But the examples which the slow train of events
+presents to us are scattered and incomplete. They lack always a tangible
+and visible coherence leading straight on to a moral conclusion. The
+acts of the human race on the world's stage have doubtless a coherent
+unity, but the meaning of the vast tragedy enacted will be visible only
+to the eye of God, until the end, which will reveal it perhaps to the
+last man. All systems of philosophy have sought in vain to explain it,
+ceaselessly rolling up their rock, which, never reaching the top, falls
+back upon them--each raising its frail structure on the ruins of the
+others, only to see it fall in its turn.
+
+I think, then, that man, after having satisfied his first longing for
+facts, wanted something fuller--some grouping, some adaptation to his
+capacity and experience, of the links of this vast chain of events
+which his sight could not take in. Thus he hoped to find in the historic
+recital examples which might support the moral truths of which he was
+conscious. Few single careers could satisfy this longing, being only
+incomplete parts of the elusive whole of the history of the world; one
+was a quarter, as it were, the other a half of the proof; imagination
+did the rest and completed them. From this, without doubt, sprang the
+fable. Man created it thus, because it was not given him to see more
+than himself and nature, which surrounds him; but he created it true
+with a truth all its own.
+
+This Truth, so beautiful, so intellectual, which I feel, I see, and long
+to define, the name of which I here venture to distinguish from that of
+the True, that I may the better make myself understood, is the soul of
+all the arts. It is the selection of the characteristic token in all the
+beauties and the grandeurs of the visible True; but it is not the
+thing itself, it is something better: it is an ideal combination of its
+principal forms, a luminous tint made up of its brightest colors, an
+intoxicating balm of its purest perfumes, a delicious elixir of its
+best juices, a perfect harmony of its sweetest sounds--in short, it is
+a concentration of all its good qualities. For this Truth, and nothing
+else, should strive those works of art which are a moral representation
+of life-dramatic works. To attain it, the first step is undoubtedly to
+learn all that is true in fact of every period, to become deeply imbued
+with its general character and with its details; this involves only a
+cheap tribute of attention, of patience, and of memory: But then one
+must fix upon some chosen centre, and group everything around it; this
+is the work of imagination, and of that sublime common-sense which is
+genius itself.
+
+Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the
+imitation of life? Good heavens! we see only too clearly about us the
+sad and disenchanting reality--the insupportable lukewarmness of feeble
+characters, of shallow virtues and vices, of irresolute loves, of
+tempered hates, of wavering friendships, of unsettled beliefs, of
+constancy which has its height and its depth, of opinions which
+evaporate. Let us dream that once upon a time have lived men stronger
+and greater, who were more determined for good or for evil; that does
+us good. If the paleness of your True is to follow us into art, we shall
+close at once the theatre and the book, to avoid meeting it a second
+time. What is wanted of works which revive the ghosts of human beings
+is, I repeat, the philosophical spectacle of man deeply wrought upon
+by the passions of his character and of his epoch; it is, in short, the
+artistic Truth of that man and that epoch, but both raised to a higher
+and ideal power, which concentrates all their forces. You recognize this
+Truth in works of the imagination just as you cry out at the resemblance
+of a portrait of which you have never seen the original; for true talent
+paints life rather than the living.
+
+To banish finally the scruples on this point of the consciences of some
+persons, timorous in literary matters, whom I have seen affected with
+a personal sorrow on viewing the rashness with which the imagination
+sports with the most weighty characters of history, I will hazard the
+assertion that, not throughout this work, I dare not say that, but in
+many of these pages, and those perhaps not of the least merit, history
+is a romance of which the people are the authors. The human mind, I
+believe, cares for the True only in the general character of an epoch.
+What it values most of all is the sum total of events and the advance of
+civilization, which carries individuals along with it; but, indifferent
+to details, it cares less to have them real than noble or, rather, grand
+and complete.
+
+Examine closely the origin of certain deeds, of certain heroic
+expressions, which are born one knows not how; you will see them leap
+out ready-made from hearsay and the murmurs of the crowd, without having
+in themselves more than a shadow of truth, and, nevertheless, they will
+remain historical forever. As if by way of pleasantry, and to put a joke
+upon posterity, the public voice invents sublime utterances to mark,
+during their lives and under their very eyes, men who, confused, avow
+themselves as best they may, as not deserving of so much glory and as
+not being able to support so high renown.
+
+   [In our time has not a Russian General denied the fire of Moscow,
+   which we have made heroic, and which will remain so? Has not a
+   French General denied that utterance on the field of Waterloo which
+   will immortalize it? And if I were not withheld by my respect for a
+   sacred event, I might recall that a priest has felt it to be his
+   duty to disavow in public a sublime speech which will remain the
+   noblest that has ever been pronounced on a scaffold: "Son of Saint
+   Louis, rise to heaven!" When I learned not long ago its real
+   author, I was overcome by the destruction of my illusion, but before
+   long I was consoled by a thought that does honor to humanity in my
+   eyes. I feel that France has consecrated this speech, because she
+   felt the need of reestablishing herself in her own eyes, of blinding
+   herself to her awful error, and of believing that then and there an
+   honest man was found who dared to speak aloud.]
+
+In vain; their disclaimers are not received. Let them cry out, let them
+write, let them print, let them sign--they are not listened to. These
+utterances are inscribed in bronze; the poor fellows remain historical
+and sublime in spite of themselves. And I do not find that all this is
+done in the ages of barbarism alone; it is still going on, and it
+molds the history of yesterday to the taste of public opinion--a Muse
+tyrannical and capricious, which preserves the general purport and
+scorns detail.
+
+Which of you knows not of such transformation? Do you not see with your
+own eyes the chrysalis fact assume by degrees the wings of fiction? Half
+formed by the necessities of the time, a fact is hidden in the ground
+obscure and incomplete, rough, misshapen, like a block of marble not yet
+rough-hewn. The first who unearth it, and take it in hand, would wish
+it differently shaped, and pass it, already a little rounded, into other
+hands; others polish it as they pass it along; in a short time it is
+exhibited transformed into an immortal statue. We disclaim it; witnesses
+who have seen and heard pile refutations upon explanations; the learned
+investigate, pore over books, and write. No one listens to them any more
+than to the humble heroes who disown it; the torrent rolls on and bears
+with it the whole thing under the form which it has pleased it to
+give to these individual actions. What was needed for all this work? A
+nothing, a word; sometimes the caprice of a journalist out of work. And
+are we the losers by it? No. The adopted fact is always better composed
+than the real one, and it is even adopted only because it is better. The
+human race feels a need that its destinies should afford it a series of
+lessons; more careless than we think of the reality of facts, it strives
+to perfect the event in order to give it a great moral significance,
+feeling sure that the succession of scenes which it plays upon earth is
+not a comedy, and that since it advances, it marches toward an end, of
+which the explanation must be sought beyond what is visible.
+
+For my part, I acknowledge my gratitude to the voice of the people
+for this achievement; for often in the finest life are found strange
+blemishes and inconsistencies which pain me when I see them. If a man
+seems to me a perfect model of a grand and noble character, and if
+some one comes and tells me of a mean trait which disfigures him, I am
+saddened by it, even though I do not know him, as by a misfortune which
+affects me in person; and I could almost wish that he had died before
+the change in his character.
+
+Thus, when the Muse (and I give that name to art as a whole, to
+everything which belongs to the domain of imagination, almost in the
+same way as the ancients gave the name of Music to all education), when
+the Muse has related, in her impassioned manner, the adventures of
+a character whom I know to have lived; and when she reshapes his
+experiences into conformity with the strongest idea of vice or
+virtue which can be conceived of him--filling the gaps, veiling the
+incongruities of his life, and giving him that perfect unity of conduct
+which we like to see represented even in evil--if, in addition to this,
+she preserves the only thing essential to the instruction of the world,
+the spirit of the epoch, I know no reason why we should be more exacting
+with her than with this voice of the people which every day makes every
+fact undergo so great changes.
+
+The ancients carried this liberty even into history; they wanted to
+see in it only the general march, and broad movements of peoples and
+nations; and on these great movements, brought to view in courses very
+distinct and very clear, they placed a few colossal figures--symbols of
+noble character and of lofty purpose.
+
+One might almost reckon mathematically that, having undergone the double
+composition of public opinion and of the author, their history reaches
+us at third hand and is thus separated by two stages from the original
+fact.
+
+It is because in their eyes history too was a work of art; and in
+consequence of not having realized that such is its real nature, the
+whole Christian world still lacks an historical monument like those
+which dominate antiquity and consecrate the memory of its destinies--as
+its pyramids, its obelisks, its pylons, and its porticos still dominate
+the earth which was known to them, and thereby commemorate the grandeur
+of antiquity.
+
+If, then, we find everywhere evidence of this inclination to desert the
+positive, to bring the ideal even into historic annals, I believe that
+with greater reason we should be completely indifferent to historical
+reality in judging the dramatic works, whether poems, romances, or
+tragedies, which borrow from history celebrated characters. Art ought
+never to be considered except in its relations with its ideal beauty.
+Let it be said that what is true in fact is secondary merely; it is only
+an illusion the more with which it adorns itself--one of our prejudices
+which it respects. It can do without it, for the Truth by which it must
+live is the truth of observation of human nature, and not authenticity
+of fact. The names of the characters have nothing to do with the matter.
+The idea is everything; the proper name is only the example and the
+proof of the idea.
+
+So much the better for the memory of those who are chosen to represent
+philosophical or moral ideas; but, once again, that is not the question.
+The imagination can produce just as fine things without them; it is
+a power wholly creative; the imaginary beings which it animates are
+endowed with life as truly as the real beings which it brings to life
+again. We believe in Othello as we do in Richard III., whose tomb is
+in Westminster; in Lovelace and Clarissa as in Paul and Virginia, whose
+tombs are in the Isle of France. It is with the same eye that we must
+watch the performance of its characters, and demand of the Muse only her
+artistic Truth, more lofty than the True--whether collecting the traits
+of a character dispersed among a thousand entire individuals, she
+composes from them a type whose name alone is imaginary; or whether she
+goes to their tomb to seek and to touch with her galvanic current the
+dead whose great deeds are known, forces them to arise again, and drags
+them dazzled to the light of day, where, in the circle which this fairy
+has traced, they re-assume unwillingly their passions of other days, and
+begin again in the sight of their descendants the sad drama of life.
+
+ALFRED DE VIGNY.
+
+1827.
+
+
+
+
+CINQ-MARS
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE ADIEU
+
+     Fare thee well! and if forever,
+     Still forever fare thee well!
+
+                       LORD BYRON.
+
+Do you know that charming part of our country which has been called the
+garden of France--that spot where, amid verdant plains watered by wide
+streams, one inhales the purest air of heaven?
+
+If you have travelled through fair Touraine in summer, you have no doubt
+followed with enchantment the peaceful Loire; you have regretted the
+impossibility of determining upon which of its banks you would choose to
+dwell with your beloved. On its right bank one sees valleys dotted with
+white houses surrounded by woods, hills yellow with vines or white
+with the blossoms of the cherry-tree, walls covered with honeysuckles,
+rose-gardens, from which pointed roofs rise suddenly. Everything reminds
+the traveller either of the fertility of the land or of the antiquity
+of its monuments; and everything interests him in the work of its busy
+inhabitants.
+
+Nothing has proved useless to them; it seems as if in their love for
+so beautiful a country--the only province of France never occupied by
+foreigners--they have determined not to lose the least part of its soil,
+the smallest grain of its sand. Do you fancy that this ruined tower is
+inhabited only by hideous night-birds? No; at the sound of your horse's
+hoofs, the smiling face of a young girl peeps out from the ivy, whitened
+with the dust from the road. If you climb a hillside covered with vines,
+a light column of smoke shows you that there is a chimney at your feet;
+for the very rock is inhabited, and families of vine-dressers breathe
+in its caverns, sheltered at night by the kindly earth which they
+laboriously cultivate during the day. The good people of Touraine are as
+simple as their life, gentle as the air they breathe, and strong as the
+powerful earth they dig. Their countenances, like their characters,
+have something of the frankness of the true people of St. Louis; their
+chestnut locks are still long and curve around their ears, as in the
+stone statues of our old kings; their language is the purest French,
+with neither slowness, haste, nor accent--the cradle of the language is
+there, close to the cradle of the monarchy.
+
+But the left bank of the stream has a more serious aspect; in the
+distance you see Chambord, which, with its blue domes and little
+cupolas, appears like some great city of the Orient; there is
+Chanteloup, raising its graceful pagoda in the air. Near these a simpler
+building attracts the eyes of the traveller by its magnificent situation
+and imposing size; it is the chateau of Chaumont. Built upon the highest
+hill of the shore, it frames the broad summit with its lofty walls and
+its enormous towers; high slate steeples increase their loftiness, and
+give to the building that conventual air, that religious form of all
+our old chateaux, which casts an aspect of gravity over the landscape
+of most of our provinces. Black and tufted trees surround this ancient
+mansion, resembling from afar the plumes that encircled the hat of King
+Henry. At the foot of the hill, connected with the chateau by a narrow
+path, lies a pretty village, whose white houses seem to have sprung
+from the golden sand; a chapel stands halfway up the hill; the lords
+descended and the villagers ascended to its altar-the region of
+equality, situated like a neutral spot between poverty and riches, which
+have been too often opposed to each other in bitter conflict.
+
+Here, one morning in the month of June, 1639, the bell of the chateau
+having, as usual, rung at midday, the dinner-hour of the family,
+occurrences of an unusual kind were passing in this ancient dwelling.
+The numerous domestics observed that in repeating the morning prayers
+before the assembled household, the Marechale d'Effiat had spoken with a
+broken voice and with tears in her eyes, and that she had appeared in a
+deeper mourning than was customary. The people of the household and the
+Italians of the Duchesse de Mantua, who had at that time retired for a
+while to Chaumont, saw with surprise that sudden preparations were being
+made for departure. The old domestic of the Marechal d'Effiat (who had
+been dead six months) had taken again to his travelling-boots, which he
+had sworn to abandon forever. This brave fellow, named Grandchamp, had
+followed the chief of the family everywhere in the wars, and in his
+financial work; he had been his equerry in the former, and his secretary
+in the latter. He had recently returned from Germany, to inform the
+mother and the children of the death of the Marechal, whose last sighs
+he had heard at Luzzelstein. He was one of those faithful servants who
+are become too rare in France; who suffer with the misfortunes of the
+family, and rejoice with their joys; who approve of early marriages,
+that they may have young masters to educate; who scold the children and
+often the fathers; who risk death for them; who serve without wages in
+revolutions; who toil for their support; and who in prosperous times
+follow them everywhere, or exclaim at their return, "Behold our
+vines!" He had a severe and remarkable face, a coppery complexion, and
+silver-gray hair, in which, however, some few locks, black as his heavy
+eyebrows, made him appear harsh at first; but a gentle countenance
+softened this first impression. At present his voice was loud. He busied
+himself much that day in hastening the dinner, and ordered about all the
+servants, who were in mourning like himself.
+
+"Come," said he, "make haste to serve the dinner, while Germain, Louis,
+and Etienne saddle their horses; Monsieur Henri and I must be far away
+by eight o'clock this evening. And you, gentlemen, Italians, have you
+warned your young Princess? I wager that she is gone to read with her
+ladies at the end of the park, or on the banks of the lake. She always
+comes in after the first course, and makes every one rise from the
+table."
+
+"Ah, my good Grandchamp," said in a low voice a young maid servant who
+was passing, "do not speak of the Duchess; she is very sorrowful, and I
+believe that she will remain in her apartment. Santa Maria! what a shame
+to travel to-day! to depart on a Friday, the thirteenth of the month,
+and the day of Saint Gervais and of Saint-Protais--the day of two
+martyrs! I have been telling my beads all the morning for Monsieur
+de Cinq-Mars; and I could not help thinking of these things. And my
+mistress thinks of them too, although she is a great lady; so you need
+not laugh!"
+
+With these words the young Italian glided like a bird across the large
+dining-room, and disappeared down a corridor, startled at seeing the
+great doors of the salon opened.
+
+Grandchamp had hardly heard what she had said, and seemed to have
+been occupied only with the preparations for dinner; he fulfilled the
+important duties of major-domo, and cast severe looks at the domestics
+to see whether they were all at their posts, placing himself behind the
+chair of the eldest son of the house. Then all the inhabitants of the
+mansion entered the salon. Eleven persons seated themselves at table.
+The Marechale came in last, giving her arm to a handsome old man,
+magnificently dressed, whom she placed upon her left hand. She seated
+herself in a large gilded arm-chair at the middle of one side of the
+table, which was oblong in form. Another seat, rather more ornamented,
+was at her right, but it remained empty. The young Marquis d'Effiat,
+seated in front of his mother, was to assist her in doing the honors of
+the table. He was not more than twenty years old, and his countenance
+was insignificant; much gravity and distinguished manners proclaimed,
+however, a social nature, but nothing more. His young sister of
+fourteen, two gentlemen of the province, three young Italian noblemen of
+the suite of Marie de Gonzaga (Duchesse de Mantua), a lady-in-waiting,
+the governess of the young daughter of the Marechale, and an abbe of the
+neighborhood, old and very deaf, composed the assembly. A seat at the
+right of the elder son still remained vacant.
+
+The Marechale, before seating herself, made the sign of the cross,
+and repeated the Benedicite aloud; every one responded by making the
+complete sign, or upon the breast alone. This custom was preserved
+in many families in France up to the Revolution of 1789; some still
+practise it, but more in the provinces than in Paris, and not without
+some hesitation and some preliminary words upon the weather, accompanied
+by a deprecatory smile when a stranger is present--for it is too true
+that virtue also has its blush.
+
+The Marechale possessed an imposing figure, and her large blue eyes
+were remarkably beautiful. She did not appear to have yet attained her
+forty-fifth year; but, oppressed with sorrow, she walked slowly and
+spoke with difficulty, closing her eyes, and allowing her head to droop
+for a moment upon her breast, after she had been obliged to raise her
+voice. At such efforts her hand pressed to her bosom showed that she
+experienced sharp pain. She saw therefore with satisfaction that the
+person who was seated at her left, having at the beginning engrossed
+the conversation, without having been requested by any one to talk,
+persisted with an imperturbable coolness in engrossing it to the end of
+the dinner. This was the old Marechal de Bassompierre; he had preserved
+with his white locks an air of youth and vivacity curious to see. His
+noble and polished manners showed a certain gallantry, antiquated like
+his costume--for he wore a ruff in the fashion of Henri IV, and the
+slashed sleeves fashionable in the former reign, an absurdity which was
+unpardonable in the eyes of the beaux of the court. This would not have
+appeared more singular than anything else at present; but it is admitted
+that in every age we laugh at the costume of our fathers, and, except
+the Orientals, I know of no people who have not this fault.
+
+One of the Italian gentlemen had hardly finished asking the Marechal
+what he thought of the way in which the Cardinal treated the daughter of
+the Duc de Mantua, when he exclaimed, in his familiar language:
+
+"Heavens, man! what are you talking about? what do I comprehend of this
+new system under which France is living? We old companions-in-arms
+of his late Majesty can ill understand the language spoken by the new
+court, and that in its turn does not comprehend ours. But what do I say?
+We speak no language in this sad country, for all the world is silent
+before the Cardinal; this haughty little, vassal looks upon us as merely
+old family portraits, which occasionally he shortens by the head; but
+happily the motto always remains. Is it not true, my dear Puy-Laurens?"
+
+This guest was about the same age as the Marechal, but, being more grave
+and cautious, he answered in vague and few words, and made a sign to his
+contemporary in order to induce him to observe the unpleasant emotions
+which he had caused the mistress of the house by reminding her of the
+recent death of her husband and in speaking thus of the minister, his
+friend. But it was in vain, for Bassompierre, pleased with the sign of
+half-approval, emptied at one draught a great goblet of wine--a remedy
+which he lauds in his Memoirs as infallible against the plague and
+against reserve; and leaning back to receive another glass from his
+esquire, he settled himself more firmly than ever upon his chair, and in
+his favorite ideas.
+
+"Yes, we are in the way here; I said so the other day to my dear Duc
+de Guise, whom they have ruined. They count the minutes that we have to
+live, and shake the hour-glass to hasten the descent of its sands. When
+Monsieur le Cardinal-Duc observes in a corner three or four of our tall
+figures, who never quitted the side of the late King, he feels that he
+is unable to move those statues of iron, and that to do it would require
+the hand of a great man; he passes quickly by, and dares not meddle with
+us, who fear him not. He believes that we are always conspiring; and
+they say at this very moment that there is talk of putting me in the
+Bastille."
+
+"Eh! Monsieur le Marechal, why do you delay your departure?" said
+the Italian. "I know of no place, except Flanders, where you can find
+shelter."
+
+"Ah, Monsieur! you do not know me. So far from flying, I sought out the
+King before his departure, and told him that I did so in order to save
+people the trouble of looking for me; and that if I knew when he wished
+to send me, I would go myself without being taken. He was as kind as I
+expected him to be, and said to me, 'What, my old friend, could you
+have thought that I desired to send you there? You know well that I love
+you.'"
+
+"Ah, my dear Marechal, let me compliment you," said Madame d'Effiat, in
+a soft voice. "I recognize the benevolence of the King in these words;
+he remembers the affection which the King, his father, had toward you.
+It appears to me that he always accorded to you all that you desired for
+your friends," she added, with animation, in order to put him into the
+track of praise, and to beguile him from the discontent which he had so
+loudly declared.
+
+"Assuredly, Madame," answered he; "no one is more willing to recognize
+his virtues than Francois de Bassompierre. I shall be faithful to him
+to the end, because I gave myself, body and fortune, to his father at
+a ball; and I swear that, with my consent at least, none of my family
+shall ever fail in their duties toward the King of France. Although the
+Besteins are foreigners and Lorrains, a shake of the hand from Henri IV
+gained us forever. My greatest grief has been to see my brother die in
+the service of Spain; and I have just written to my nephew to say that
+I shall disinherit him if he has passed over to the Emperor, as report
+says he has."
+
+One of the gentlemen guests who had as yet been silent, and who was
+remarkable for the profusion of knots, ribbons, and tags which covered
+his dress, and for the black cordon of the Order of St. Michael which
+decorated his neck, bowed, observing that it was thus all faithful
+subjects ought to speak.
+
+"I' faith, Monsieur de Launay, you deceive yourself very much," said
+the Marechal, to whom the recollection of his ancestors now occurred;
+"persons of our blood are subjects only at our own pleasure, for God has
+caused us to be born as much lords of our lands as the King is of his.
+When I came to France, I came at my ease, accompanied by my gentlemen
+and pages. I perceive, however, that the farther we go, the more we lose
+sight of this idea, especially at the court. But here is a young man who
+arrives very opportunely to hear me."
+
+The door indeed opened, and a young man of fine form entered. He was
+pale; his hair was brown, his eyes were black, his expression was sad
+and reckless. This was Henri d'Effiat, Marquis de Cinq-Mars (a name
+taken from an estate of his family). His dress and his short cloak were
+black; a collar of lace fell from his neck halfway down his breast; his
+stout, small, and very wide-spurred boots made so much noise upon the
+flags of the salon that his approach was heard at a distance. He walked
+directly toward the Marechale, bowed low, and kissed her hand.
+
+"Well, Henri," she said, "are your horses ready? At what hour do you
+depart?"
+
+"Immediately after dinner, Madame, if you will allow me," said he to his
+mother, with the ceremonious respect of the times; and passing behind
+her, he saluted M. de Bassompierre before seating himself at the left of
+his eldest brother.
+
+"Well," said the Marechal, continuing to eat with an excellent appetite,
+"you are about to depart, my son; you are going to the court--a slippery
+place nowadays. I am sorry for your sake that it is not now what it used
+to be. In former times, the court was simply the drawing-room of the
+King, in which he received his natural friends: nobles of great family,
+his peers, who visited him to show their devotion and their friendship,
+lost their money with him, and accompanied him in his pleasure parties,
+but never received anything from him, except permission to bring their
+vassals with them, to break their heads in his service. The honors a man
+of quality received did not enrich him, for he paid for them out of
+his purse. I sold an estate for every grade I received; the title of
+colonel-general of the Swiss cost me four hundred thousand crowns, and
+at the baptism of the present King I had to buy a costume that cost me a
+hundred thousand francs."
+
+"Ah!" said the mistress of the house, smiling, "you must acknowledge
+for once that you were not obliged to do that. We have all heard of your
+splendid dress of pearls; but I should be much vexed were it still the
+custom to wear such."
+
+"Oh, Madame la Marquise, do not fear, those times of magnificence
+never will return. We committed follies, no doubt, but they proved our
+independence; it is clear that it would then have been hard to convert
+from their allegiance to the King adherents who were attached to him
+by love alone, and whose coronets contained as many diamonds as his own
+locked-up crown. It is also certain that ambition could not then attack
+all classes, since such expenses could come only from rich hands, and
+since gold comes only from mines. Those great houses, which are being
+so furiously assailed, were not ambitious, and frequently, desiring
+no employment from the Government, maintained their places at court by
+their own weight, existed upon their own foundation, and might say, as
+one of them did say, 'The Prince condescends not; I am Rohan.' It was
+the same with every noble family, to which its own nobility sufficed;
+the King himself expressed it in writing to one of my friends: 'Money is
+not a common thing between gentlemen like you and me.'"
+
+"But, Monsieur le Marechal," coldly, and with extreme politeness,
+interrupted M. de Launay, who perhaps intended to anger him, "this
+independence has produced as many civil wars and revolts as those of
+Monsieur de Montmorency."
+
+"Monsieur! I can not consent to hear these things spoken," said the
+fiery Marechal, leaping up in his armchair. "Those revolts and wars had
+nothing to do with the fundamental laws of the State, and could no more
+have overturned the throne than a duel could have done so. Of all
+the great party-chiefs, there was not one who would not have laid his
+victory at the feet of the King, had he succeeded, knowing well that all
+the other lords who were as great as himself would have abandoned the
+enemy of the legitimate sovereign. Arms were taken against a faction,
+and not against the sovereign authority; and, this destroyed, everything
+went on again in the old way. But what have you done in crushing us?
+You have crushed the arm of the throne, and have not put anything in
+its place. Yes, I no longer doubt that the Cardinal-Duke will wholly
+accomplish his design; the great nobility will leave and lose their
+lands, and, ceasing to be great proprietors, they will cease to be a
+great power. The court is already no more than a palace where people
+beg; by and by it will become an antechamber, when it will be composed
+only of those who constitute the suite of the King. Great names will
+begin by ennobling vile offices; but, by a terrible reaction, those
+offices will end by rendering great names vile. Estranged from their
+homes, the nobility will be dependent upon the employments which they
+shall have received; and if the people, over whom they will no longer
+have any influence, choose to revolt--"
+
+"How gloomy you are to-day, Marechal!" interrupted the Marquise; "I
+hope that neither I nor my children will ever see that time. I no longer
+perceive your cheerful disposition, now that you talk like a politician.
+I expected to hear you give advice to my son. Henri, what troubles you?
+You seem very absent."
+
+Cinq-Mars, with eyes fixed upon the great bay window of the
+dining-room, looked sorrowfully upon the magnificent landscape. The sun
+shone in full splendor, and colored the sands of the Loire, the trees,
+and the lawns with gold and emerald. The sky was azure, the waves were
+of a transparent yellow, the islets of a vivid green; behind their
+rounded outlines rose the great sails of the merchant-vessels, like a
+fleet in ambuscade.
+
+"O Nature, Nature!" he mused; "beautiful Nature, farewell! Soon will my
+heart cease to be of simplicity enough to feel your charm, soon you
+wall no longer please my eyes. This heart is already burned by a deep
+passion; and the mention of the interests of men stirs it with hitherto
+unknown agitation. I must, however, enter this labyrinth; I may,
+perchance, lose myself there, but for Marie--"
+
+At this moment, aroused by the words of his mother, and fearing to
+exhibit a childish regret at leaving his beautiful country and his
+family, he said:
+
+"I am thinking, Madame, of the road which I shall take to Perpignan, and
+also of that which shall bring me back to you."
+
+"Do not forget to take that of Poitiers, and to go to Loudun to see your
+old tutor, our good Abbe Quillet; he will give you useful advice about
+the court. He is on very good terms with the Duc de Bouillon; and
+besides, though he may not be very necessary to you, it is a mark of
+deference which you owe him."
+
+"Is it, then, to the siege of Perpignan that you are going, my boy?"
+asked the old Marechal, who began to think that he had been silent a
+long time. "Ah! it is well for you. Plague upon it! a siege! 'tis an
+excellent opening. I would have given much had I been able to assist the
+late King at a siege, upon my arrival in his court; it would have been
+better to be disembowelled then than at a tourney, as I was. But we were
+at peace; and I was compelled to go and shoot the Turks with the Rosworm
+of the Hungarians, in order that I might not afflict my family by my
+idleness. For the rest, may his Majesty receive you as kindly as his
+father received me! It is true that the King is good and brave; but they
+have unfortunately taught him that cold Spanish etiquette which arrests
+all the impulses of the heart. He restrains himself and others by an
+immovable presence and an icy look; as for me, I confess that I am
+always waiting for the moment of thaw, but in vain. We were accustomed
+to other manners from the witty and simple-hearted Henri; and we were at
+least free to tell him that we loved him."
+
+Cinq-Mars, with eyes fixed upon those of Bassompierre, as if to force
+himself to attend to his discourse, asked him what was the manner of the
+late king in conversation.
+
+"Lively and frank," said he. "Some time after my arrival in France, I
+played with him and with the Duchesse de Beaufort at Fontainebleau; for
+he wished, he said, to win my gold-pieces, my fine Portugal money. He
+asked me the reason why I came into this country. 'Truly, Sire,' said I,
+frankly, 'I came with no intention of enlisting myself in your service,
+but only to pass some time at your court, and afterward at that of
+Spain; but you have charmed me so much that, instead of going farther,
+if you desire my service, I will devote myself to you till death.' Then
+he embraced me, and assured me that I could not find a better master, or
+one who would love me more. Alas! I have found it so. And for my part, I
+sacrificed everything to him, even my love; and I would have done
+more, had it been possible to do more than renounce Mademoiselle de
+Montmorency."
+
+The good Marechal had tears in his eyes; but the young Marquis d'Effiat
+and the Italians, looking at one another, could not help smiling to
+think that at present the Princesse de Conde was far from young and
+pretty. Cinq-Mars noticed this interchange of glances, and smiled also,
+but bitterly.
+
+"Is it true then," he thought, "that the affections meet the same fate
+as the fashions, and that the lapse of a few years can throw the same
+ridicule upon a costume and upon love? Happy is he who does not outlive
+his youth and his illusions, and who carries his treasures with him to
+the grave!"
+
+But--again, with effort breaking the melancholy course of his thoughts,
+and wishing that the good Marechal should read nothing unpleasant upon
+the countenances of his hosts, he said:
+
+"People spoke, then, with much freedom to King Henri? Possibly, however,
+he found it necessary to assume that tone at the beginning of his reign;
+but when he was master did he change it?"
+
+"Never! no, never, to his last day, did our great King cease to be the
+same. He did not blush to be a man, and he spoke to men with force and
+sensibility. Ah! I fancy I see him now, embracing the Duc de Guise in
+his carriage, on the very day of his death; he had just made one of his
+lively pleasantries to me, and the Duke said to him, 'You are, in
+my opinion, one of the most agreeable men in the world, and destiny
+ordained us for each other. For, had you been but an ordinary man,
+I should have taken you into my service at whatever price; but since
+heaven ordained that you should be born a great King, it is inevitable
+that I belong to you.' Oh, great man!" cried Bassompierre, with tears
+in his eyes, and perhaps a little excited by the frequent bumpers he had
+drunk, "you said well, 'When you have lost me you will learn my value.'"
+
+During this interlude, the guests at the table had assumed various
+attitudes, according to their position in public affairs. One of the
+Italians pretended to chat and laugh in a subdued manner with the young
+daughter of the Marechale; the other talked to the deaf old Abbe, who,
+with one hand behind his ear that he might hear, was the only one
+who appeared attentive. Cinq-Mars had sunk back into his melancholy
+abstraction, after throwing a glance at the Marechal, as one looks aside
+after throwing a tennis-ball until its return; his elder brother did
+the honors of the table with the same calm. Puy-Laurens observed
+the mistress of the house with attention; he was devoted to the Duc
+d'Orleans, and feared the Cardinal. As for the Marechale, she had an
+anxious and afflicted air. Careless words had often recalled the death
+of her husband or the departure of her son; and, oftener still, she had
+feared lest Bassompierre should compromise himself. She had touched him
+many times, glancing at the same time toward M. de Launay, of whom she
+knew little, and whom she had reason to believe devoted to the prime
+minister; but to a man of his character, such warnings were useless.
+He appeared not to notice them; but, on the contrary, crushing that
+gentleman with his bold glance and the sound of his voice, he affected
+to turn himself toward him, and to direct all his conversation to him.
+M. de Launay assumed an air of indifference and of assenting politeness,
+which he preserved until the moment when the folding-doors opened, and
+"Mademoiselle la Duchesse de Mantua" was announced.
+
+The conversation which we have transcribed so lengthily passed, in
+reality, with rapidity; and the repast was only half over when the
+arrival of Marie de Gonzaga caused the company to rise. She was small,
+but very well made, and although her eyes and hair were black, her
+complexion was as dazzling as the beauty of her skin. The Marechale
+arose to acknowledge her rank, and kissed her on the forehead, in
+recognition of her goodness and her charming age.
+
+"We have waited a long time for you to-day, dear Marie," she said,
+placing the Duchess beside her; "fortunately, you remain with me to
+replace one of my children, who is about to depart."
+
+The young Duchess blushed, lowered her head and her eyes, in order that
+no one might see their redness, and said, timidly:
+
+"Madame, that may well be, since you have taken toward me the place of
+a mother;" and a glance thrown at Cinq-Mars, at the other end of the
+table, made him turn pale.
+
+This arrival changed the conversation; it ceased to be general, and each
+guest conversed in a low voice with his neighbor. The Marechal alone
+continued to utter a few sentences concerning the magnificence of the
+old court, his wars in Turkey, the tournaments, and the avarice of the
+new court; but, to his great regret, no one made any reply, and the
+company were about to leave the table, when, as the clock struck two,
+five horses appeared in the courtyard. Four were mounted by servants,
+cloaked and armed; the other horse, black and spirited, was held by old
+Grandchamp--it was his master's steed.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Bassompierre; "see, our battlehorses are saddled and
+bridled. Come, young man, we must say, with our old Marot:
+
+          'Adieu la cour, adieu les dames!
+          Adieu les filles et les femmes!
+          Adieu vous dy pour quelque temps;
+          Adieu vos plaisans parse-temps!
+          Adieu le bal, adieu la dance;
+          Adieu mesure, adieu cadance,
+          Tabourins, Hautbois, Violons,
+          Puisqu'a la guerre nous allons!'"
+
+These old verses and the air of the Marechal made all the guests laugh,
+except three persons.
+
+"Heavens!" he continued, "it seems to me as if, like him, I were only
+seventeen years old; he will return to us covered with embroidery.
+Madame, we must keep his chair vacant for him."
+
+The Marechale suddenly grew pale, and left the table in tears; every one
+rose with her; she took only two steps, and sank into another chair. Her
+sons and her daughter and the young Duchess gathered anxiously around
+her, and heard her say, amid the sighs and tears which she strove to
+restrain:
+
+"Pardon, my friends! it is foolish of me--childish; but I am weak at
+present, and am not mistress of myself. We were thirteen at table; and
+you, my dear Duchess, were the cause of it. But it is very wrong of me
+to show so much weakness before him. Farewell, my child; give me your
+forehead to kiss, and may God conduct you! Be worthy of your name and of
+your father."
+
+Then, as Homer says, "smiling under tears," she raised herself, pushed
+her son from her, and said:
+
+"Come, let me see you on horseback, fair sir!"
+
+The silent traveller kissed the hands of his mother, and made a low bow
+to her; he bowed also to the Duchess, without raising his eyes. Then,
+embracing his elder brother, pressing the hand of the Marechal, and
+kissing the forehead of his young sister almost simultaneously, he went
+forth, and was on horseback in an instant. Every one went to the windows
+which overlooked the court, except Madame d'Effiat, who was still seated
+and suffering.
+
+"He sets off at full gallop. That is a good sign," said the Marechal,
+laughing.
+
+"Oh, heavens!" cried the young Princess, retiring from the bay-window.
+
+"What is the matter?" said the mother.
+
+"Nothing, nothing!" said M. de Launay. "Your son's horse stumbled under
+the gateway; but he soon pulled him up. See, he salutes us from the
+road."
+
+"Another ominous presage!" said the Marquise, upon retiring to her
+apartments.
+
+Every one imitated her by being silent or speaking low.
+
+The day was sad, and in the evening the supper was silent at the chateau
+of Chaumont.
+
+At ten o'clock that evening, the old Marechal, conducted by his valet,
+retired to the northern tower near the gateway, and opposite the river.
+The heat was extreme; he opened the window, and, enveloping himself
+in his great silk robe, placed a heavy candlestick upon the table and
+desired to be left alone. His window looked out upon the plain, which
+the moon, in her first quarter, indistinctly lighted; the sky was
+charged with thick clouds, and all things disposed the mind to
+melancholy. Although Bassompierre had nothing of the dreamer in his
+character, the tone which the conversation had taken at dinner returned
+to his memory, and he reconsidered his life, the sad changes which the
+new reign had wrought in it, a reign which seemed to have breathed
+upon him a wind of misfortune--the death of a cherished sister; the
+irregularities of the heir of his name; the loss of his lands and of
+his favor; the recent fate of his friend, the Marechal d'Effiat,
+whose chambers he now occupied. All these thoughts drew from him an
+involuntary sigh, and he went to the window to breathe.
+
+At that moment he fancied he heard the tramp of a troop of horse at the
+side of the wood; but the wind rising made him think that he had been
+mistaken, and, as the noise suddenly ceased, he forgot it. He still
+watched for some time all the lights of the chateau, which were
+successively extinguished, after winding among the windows of the
+staircases and rambling about the courtyards and the stables. Then,
+leaning back in his great tapestried armchair, his elbow resting on the
+table, he abandoned himself to his reflections. After a while, drawing
+from his breast a medallion which hung concealed, suspended by a black
+ribbon, he said:
+
+"Come, my good old master, talk with me as you have so often talked;
+come, great King, forget your court for the smile of a true friend;
+come, great man, consult me concerning ambitious Austria; come,
+inconstant chevalier, speak to me of the lightness of thy love, and of
+the fidelity of thine inconstancy; come, heroic soldier, complain to me
+again that I obscure you in combat. Ah, had I only done it in Paris!
+Had I only received thy wound? With thy blood the world has lost the
+benefits of thine interrupted reign--"
+
+The tears of the Marechal obscured the glass that covered the large
+medallion, and he was effacing them with respectful kisses, when, his
+door being roughly opened, he quickly drew his sword.
+
+"Who goes there?" he cried, in his surprise, which was much increased
+when he saw M. de Launay, who, hat in hand, advanced toward him, and
+said to him, with embarrassment:
+
+"Monsieur, it is with a heart pierced with grief that I am forced to
+tell you that the King has commanded me to arrest you. A carriage awaits
+you at the gate, attended by thirty of the Cardinal-Duke's musketeers."
+
+Bassompierre had not risen: and he still held the medallion in his right
+hand, and the sword in the other. He tendered it disdainfully to this
+man, saying:
+
+"Monsieur, I know that I have lived too long, and it is that of which
+I was thinking; in the name of the great Henri, I restore this sword
+peacefully to his son. Follow me."
+
+He accompanied these words with a look so firm that De Launay was
+depressed, and followed him with drooping head, as if he had himself
+been arrested by the noble old man, who, seizing a flambeau, issued
+from the court and found all the doors opened by horse-guards, who
+had terrified the people of the chateau in the name of the King,
+and commanded silence. The carriage was ready, and departed rapidly,
+followed by many horses. The Marechal, seated beside M. de Launay, was
+about to fall asleep, rocked by the movement of the vehicle, when a
+voice cried to the driver, "Stop!" and, as he continued, a pistol-shot
+followed. The horses stopped.
+
+"I declare, Monsieur, that this is done without my participation," said
+Bassompierre. Then, putting his head out at the door, he saw that they
+were in a little wood, and that the road was too narrow to allow the
+horses to pass to either the right or the left of the carriage--a great
+advantage for the aggressors, since the musketeers could not advance.
+He tried to see what was going on when a cavalier, having in his hand a
+long sword, with which he parried the strokes of the guard, approached
+the door, crying:
+
+"Come, come, Monsieur le Marechal!"
+
+"What! is that you, you madcap, Henri, who are playing these pranks?
+Gentlemen, let him alone; he is a mere boy."
+
+And, as De Launay called to the musketeers to cease, Bassompierre
+recognized the cavalier.
+
+"And how the devil came you here?" cried Bassompierre. "I thought you
+were at Tours, or even farther, if you had done your duty; but here you
+are returned to make a fool of yourself."
+
+"Truly, it was not for you I returned, but for a secret affair," said
+Cinq-Mars, in a lower tone; "but, as I take it, they are about to
+introduce you to the Bastille, and I am sure you will not betray me, for
+that delightful edifice is the very Temple of Discretion. Yet had you
+thought fit," he continued, aloud, "I should have released you from
+these gentlemen in the wood here, which is so dense that their horses
+would not have been able to stir. A peasant informed me of the insult
+passed upon us, more than upon you, by this violation of my father's
+house."
+
+"It is the King's order, my boy, and we must respect his will; reserve
+your ardor for his service, though I thank you with all my heart. Now
+farewell, and let me proceed on my agreeable journey."
+
+De Launay interposed, "I may inform you, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars, that I
+have been desired by the King himself to assure Monsieur le Marechal,
+that he is deeply afflicted at the step he has found it necessary
+to take, and that it is solely from an apprehension that Monsieur le
+Marechal may be led into evil that his Majesty requests him to remain
+for a few days in the Bastille."--[He remained there twelve years.]
+
+Bassompierre turned his head toward Cinq-Mars with a hearty laugh. "You
+see, my friend, how we young men are placed under guardianship; so take
+care of yourself."
+
+"I will go, then," said Henri; "this is the last time I shall play the
+knight-errant for any one against his will;" and, reentering the wood
+as the carriage dashed off at full speed, he proceeded by narrow paths
+toward the castle, followed at a short distance by Grandchamp and his
+small escort.
+
+On arriving at the foot of the western tower, he reined in his horse. He
+did not alight, but, approaching so near the wall that he could rest his
+foot upon an abutment, he stood up, and raised the blind of a window
+on the ground-floor, made in the form of a portcullis, such as is still
+seen on some ancient buildings.
+
+It was now past midnight, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds. No
+one but a member of the family could have found his way through darkness
+so profound. The towers and the roof formed one dark mass, which stood
+out in indistinct relief against the sky, hardly less dark; no light
+shone throughout the chateau, wherein all inmates seemed buried in
+slumber. Cinq-Mars, enveloped in a large cloak, his face hidden under
+the broad brim of his hat, awaited in suspense a reply to his signal.
+
+It came; a soft voice was heard from within:
+
+"Is that you, Monsieur Cinq-Mars?"
+
+"Alas, who else should it be? Who else would return like a criminal to
+his paternal house, without entering it, without bidding one more adieu
+to his mother? Who else would return to complain of the present, without
+a hope for the future, but I?"
+
+The gentle voice replied, but its tones were agitated, and evidently
+accompanied with tears: "Alas! Henri, of what do you complain? Have I
+not already done more, far more than I ought? It is not my fault, but my
+misfortune, that my father was a sovereign prince. Can one choose
+one's birthplace or one's rank, and say for example, 'I will be a
+shepherdess?' How unhappy is the lot of princesses! From the cradle,
+the sentiments of the heart are prohibited to them; and when they have
+advanced beyond childhood, they are ceded like a town, and must not even
+weep. Since I have known you, what have I not done to bring my future
+life within the reach of happiness, in removing it far from a throne?
+For two years I have struggled in vain, at once against my evil fortune,
+that separates me from you, and against you, who estrange me from the
+duty I owe to my family. I have sought to spread a belief that I was
+dead; I have almost longed for revolutions. I should have blessed a
+change which deprived me of my rank, as I thanked Heaven when my father
+was dethroned; but the court wonders at my absence; the Queen requires
+me to attend her. Our dreams are at an end, Henri; we have already
+slumbered too long. Let us awake, be courageous, and think no more of
+those dear two years--forget all in the one recollection of our great
+resolve. Have but one thought; be ambitious for--be ambitious--for my
+sake."
+
+"Must we, then, indeed, forget all, Marie?" murmured Cinq-Mars.
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"Yes, forget all--that I myself have forgotten." Then, after a moment's
+pause, she continued with earnestness: "Yes, forget our happy days
+together, our long evenings, even our walks by the lake and through
+the wood; but keep the future ever in mind. Go, Henri; your father was
+Marechal. Be you more; be you Constable, Prince. Go; you are young,
+noble, rich, brave, beloved--"
+
+"Beloved forever?" said Henri.
+
+"Forever; for life and for eternity."
+
+Cinq-Mars, tremulously extending his hand to the window, exclaimed:
+
+"I swear, Marie, by the Virgin, whose name you bear, that you shall be
+mine, or my head shall fall on the scaffold!"
+
+"Oh, Heaven! what is it you say?" she cried, seizing his hand in her
+own. "Swear to me that you will share in no guilty deeds; that you will
+never forget that the King of France is your master. Love him above
+all, next to her who will sacrifice all for you, who will await you amid
+suffering and sorrow. Take this little gold cross and wear it upon your
+heart; it has often been wet with my tears, and those tears will flow
+still more bitterly if ever you are faithless to the King. Give me the
+ring I see on your finger. Oh, heavens, my hand and yours are red with
+blood!"
+
+"Oh, only a scratch. Did you hear nothing, an hour ago?"
+
+"No; but listen. Do you hear anything now?"
+
+"No, Marie, nothing but some bird of night on the tower."
+
+"I heard whispering near us, I am sure. But whence comes this blood?
+Tell me, and then depart."
+
+"Yes, I will go, while the clouds are still dark above us. Farewell,
+sweet soul; in my hour of danger I will invoke thee as a guardian angel.
+Love has infused the burning poison of ambition into my soul, and
+for the first time I feel that ambition may be ennobled by its aim.
+Farewell! I go to accomplish my destiny."
+
+"And forget not mine."
+
+"Can they ever be separated?"
+
+"Never!" exclaimed Marie, "but by death."
+
+"I fear absence still more," said Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Farewell! I tremble; farewell!" repeated the beloved voice, and the
+window was slowly drawn down, the clasped hands not parting till the
+last moment.
+
+The black horse had all the while been pawing the earth, tossing his
+head with impatience, and whinnying. Cinq-Mars, as agitated and restless
+as his steed, gave it the rein; and the whole party was soon near the
+city of Tours, which the bells of St. Gatien had announced from afar.
+To the disappointment of old Grandchamp, Cinq-Mars would not enter the
+town, but proceeded on his way, and five days later he entered, with his
+escort, the old city of Loudun in Poitou, after an uneventful journey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE STREET
+
+     Je m'avancais d'un pas penible et mal assure vers le but
+     de ce convoi tragique.--NODIER, 'Smarra'.
+
+The reign of which we are about to paint a few years--a reign of
+feebleness, which was like an eclipse of the crown between the splendors
+of Henri IV and those of Louis le Grand--afflicts the eyes which
+contemplate it with dark stains of blood, and these were not all the
+work of one man, but were caused by great and grave bodies. It is
+melancholy to observe that in this age, still full of disorder, the
+clergy, like a nation, had its populace, as it had its nobility, its
+ignorant and its criminal prelates, as well as those who were learned
+and virtuous. Since that time, its remnant of barbarism has been refined
+away by the long reign of Louis XIV, and its corruptions have been
+washed out in the blood of the martyrs whom it offered up to the
+revolution of 1793.
+
+We felt it necessary to pause for a moment to express this reflection
+before entering upon the recital of the facts presented by the history
+of this period, and to intimate that, notwithstanding this consolatory
+reflection, we have found it incumbent upon us to pass over many details
+too odious to occupy a place in our pages, sighing in spirit at those
+guilty acts which it was necessary to record, as in relating the life
+of a virtuous old man, we should lament over the impetuosities of his
+passionate youth, or over the corrupt tendencies of his riper age.
+
+When the cavalcade entered the narrow streets of Loudun, they heard
+strange noises all around them. The streets were filled with agitated
+masses; the bells of the church and of the convent were ringing
+furiously, as if the town was in flames; and the whole population,
+without paying any attention to the travellers, was pressing
+tumultuously toward a large edifice that adjoined the church. Here and
+there dense crowds were collected, listening in silence to some voice
+that seemed raised in exhortation, or engaged in emphatic reading; then,
+furious cries, mingled with pious exclamations, arose from the crowd,
+which, dispersing, showed the travellers that the orator was some
+Capuchin or Franciscan friar, who, holding a wooden crucifix in one
+hand, pointed with the other to the large building which was attracting
+such universal interest.
+
+"Jesu Maria!" exclaimed an old woman, "who would ever have thought that
+the Evil Spirit would choose our old town for his abode?"
+
+"Ay, or that the pious Ursulines should be possessed?" said another.
+
+"They say that the demon who torments the Superior is called Legion,"
+cried a third:
+
+"One demon, say you?" interrupted a nun; "there were seven in her poor
+body, whereunto, doubtless, she had attached too much importance, by
+reason of its great beauty, though now 'tis but the receptacle of evil
+spirits. The prior of the Carmelites yesterday expelled the demon Eazas
+through her mouth; and the reverend Father Lactantius has driven out in
+like manner the demon Beherit. But the other five will not depart, and
+when the holy exorcists (whom Heaven support!) summoned them in Latin to
+withdraw, they replied insolently that they would not go till they
+had proved their power, to the conviction even of the Huguenots and
+heretics, who, misbelieving wretches! seem to doubt it. The demon Elimi,
+the worst of them all, as you know, has threatened to take off Monsieur
+de Laubardemont's skull-cap to-day, and to dangle it in the air at
+Miserere."
+
+"Holy Virgin!" rejoined the first speaker, "I'm all of a tremble! And to
+think that many times I have got this magician Urbain to say masses for
+me!"
+
+"For myself," exclaimed a girl, crossing herself; "I too confessed to
+him ten months ago! No doubt I should have been possessed myself, but
+for the relic of Saint-Genevieve I luckily had about me, and--"
+
+"Luckily, indeed, Martine," interposed a fat gossip; "for--no
+offence!--you, as I remember, were long enough with the handsome
+sorcerer."
+
+"Pshaw!" said a young soldier, who had joined the group, smoking his
+pipe, "don't you know that pretty Martine was dispossessed a month ago."
+
+The girl blushed, and drew the hood of her black cloak over her face.
+The elder gossips cast a glance of indignation at the reckless trooper,
+and finding themselves now close to the door of the building, and thus
+sure of making their way in among the first when it should be thrown
+open, sat down upon the stone bench at the side, and, talking of the
+latest wonders, raised the expectations of all as to the delight they
+were about to have in being spectators of something marvellous--an
+apparition, perhaps, but at the very least, an administration of the
+torture.
+
+"Is it true, aunt," asked Martine of the eldest gossip, "that you have
+heard the demons speak?"
+
+"Yes, child, true as I see you; many and many can say the same; and it
+was to convince you of it I brought you with me here, that you may see
+the power of the Evil One."
+
+"What kind of voice has he?" continued the girl, glad to encourage
+a conversation which diverted from herself the invidious attention
+procured her by the soldier's raillery.
+
+"Oh, he speaks with a voice like that of the Superior herself, to whom
+Our Lady be gracious! Poor young woman! I was with her yesterday a long
+time; it was sad to see her tearing her breast, turning her arms and her
+legs first one way and then another, and then, all of a sudden,
+twisting them together behind her back. When the holy Father Lactantius
+pronounced the name of Urbain Grandier, foam came out of her mouth, and
+she talked Latin for all the world as if she were reading the Bible. Of
+course, I did not understand what she said, and all I can remember of it
+now is, 'Urbanus Magicus rosas diabolica,' which they tell me means
+that the magician Urbain had bewitched her with some roses the Devil had
+given him; and so it must have been, for while Father Lactantius spoke,
+out of her ears and neck came a quantity of flame-colored roses, all
+smelling of sulphur so strongly that the judge-Advocate called out for
+every one present to stop their noses and eyes, for that the demons were
+about to come out."
+
+"Ah, look there now!" exclaimed with shrill voices and a triumphant air
+the whole bevy of assembled women, turning toward the crowd, and more
+particularly toward a group of men attired in black, among whom
+was standing the young soldier who had cut his joke just before so
+unceremoniously.
+
+"Listen to the noisy old idiots!" exclaimed the soldier. "They think
+they're at the witches' Sabbath, but I don't see their broomsticks."
+
+"Young man, young man!" said a citizen, with a sad air, "jest not upon
+such subjects in the open air, or, in such a time as this, the wind may
+become gushing flames and destroy you."
+
+"Pooh! I laugh at your exorcists!" returned the soldier; "my name is
+Grand-Ferre, and I've got here a better exorciser than any of you can
+show."
+
+And significantly grasping the handle of his rapier in one hand, with
+the other he twisted up his blond moustache, as he looked fiercely
+around; but meeting no glance which returned the defiance of his own, he
+slowly withdrew, left foot foremost, and strolled along the dark, narrow
+streets with all the reckless nonchalance of a young soldier who has
+just donned his uniform, and a profound contempt for all who wear not a
+military coat.
+
+In the meantime eight or ten of the more substantial and rational
+inhabitants traversed in a body, slowly and silently, the agitated
+throng; they seemed overwhelmed with amazement and distress at the
+agitation and excitement they witnessed everywhere, and as each new
+instance of the popular frenzy appeared, they exchanged glances of
+wonder and apprehension. Their mute depression communicated itself to
+the working-people, and to the peasants who had flocked in from the
+adjacent country, and who, all sought a guide for their opinions in the
+faces of the principal townsmen, also for the most part proprietors of
+the surrounding districts. They saw that something calamitous was on
+foot, and resorted accordingly to the only remedy open to the ignorant
+and the beguiled--apathetic resignation.
+
+Yet, in the character of the French peasant is a certain scoffing
+finesse of which he makes effective use, sometimes with his equals,
+and almost invariably with his superiors. He puts questions to power as
+embarrassing as are those which infancy puts to mature age. He affects
+excessive humility, in order to confuse him whom he addresses with the
+very height of his isolated elevation. He exaggerates the awkwardness
+of his manner and the rudeness of his speech, as a means of covering his
+real thoughts under the appearance of mere uncouthness; yet, despite
+all his self-command, there is something in his air, certain fierce
+expressions which betray him to the close observer, who discerns in his
+sardonic smile, and in the marked emphasis with which he leans on his
+long staff, the hopes that secretly nourish his soul, and the aid upon
+which he ultimately relies.
+
+One of the oldest of the peasants whom we have indicated came on
+vigorously, followed by ten or twelve young men, his sons and nephews,
+all wearing the broad-brimmed hat and the blue frock or blouse of the
+ancient Gauls, which the peasants of France still wear over their
+other garments, as peculiarly adapted to their humid climate and their
+laborious habits.
+
+When the old man had reached the group of personages of whom we have
+just spoken, he took off his hat--an example immediately followed by his
+whole family--and showed a face tanned with exposure to the weather, a
+forehead bald and wrinkled with age, and long, white hair. His shoulders
+were bent with years and labor, but he was still a hale and sturdy man.
+He was received with an air of welcome, and even of respect, by one
+of the gravest of the grave group he had approached, who, without
+uncovering, however, extended to him his hand.
+
+"What! good Father Guillaume Leroux!" said he, "and have you, too, left
+our farm of La Chenaie to visit the town, when it's not market-day?
+Why, 'tis as if your oxen were to unharness themselves and go hunting,
+leaving their work to see a poor rabbit run down!"
+
+"Faith, Monsieur le Comte du Lude," replied the farmer, "for that
+matter, sometimes the rabbit runs across our path of itself; but, in
+truth, I've a notion that some of the people here want to make fools of
+us, and so I've come to see about it."
+
+"Enough of that, my friend," returned the Count; "here is Monsieur
+Fournier, the Advocate, who assuredly will not deceive you, for he
+resigned his office of Attorney-General last night, that he might
+henceforth devote his eloquence to the service of his own noble
+thoughts. You will hear him, perhaps, to-day, though truly, I dread
+his appearing for his own sake as much as I desire it for that of the
+accused."
+
+"I care not for myself," said Fournier; "truth is with me a passion, and
+I would have it taught in all times and all places."
+
+He that spoke was a young man, whose face, pallid in the extreme, was
+full of the noblest expression. His blond hair, his light-blue eyes,
+his thinness, the delicacy of his frame, made him at first sight
+seem younger than he was; but his thoughtful and earnest countenance
+indicated that mental superiority and that precocious maturity of soul
+which are developed by deep study in youth, combined with natural energy
+of character. He was attired wholly in black, with a short cloak in the
+fashion of the day, and carried under his left arm a roll of documents,
+which, when speaking, he would take in the right hand and grasp
+convulsively, as a warrior in his anger grasps the pommel of his sword.
+At one moment it seemed as if he were about to unfurl the scroll, and
+from it hurl lightning upon those whom he pursued with looks of fiery
+indignation--three Capuchins and a Franciscan, who had just passed.
+
+"Pere Guillaume," pursued M. du Lude, "how is it you have brought with
+you only your sons, and they armed with their staves?"
+
+"Faith, Monsieur, I have no desire that our girls should learn to dance
+of the nuns; and, moreover, just now the lads with their staves may
+bestir themselves to better purpose than their sisters would."
+
+"Take my advice, my old friend," said the Count, "and don't bestir
+yourselves at all; rather stand quietly aside to view the procession
+which you see approaching, and remember that you are seventy years old."
+
+"Ah!" murmured the old man, drawing up his twelve sons in double
+military rank, "I fought under good King Henriot, and can play at sword
+and pistol as well as the worthy 'ligueurs';" and shaking his head he
+leaned against a post, his knotty staff between his crossed legs, his
+hands clasped on its thick butt-end, and his white, bearded chin
+resting on his hands. Then, half closing his eyes, he appeared lost in
+recollections of his youth.
+
+The bystanders observed with interest his dress, slashed in the fashion
+of Henri IV, and his resemblance to the Bearnese monarch in the latter
+years of his life, though the King's hair had been prevented by the
+assassin's blade from acquiring the whiteness which that of the old
+peasant had peacefully attained. A furious pealing of the bells,
+however, attracted the general attention to the end of the great
+street, down which was seen filing a long procession, whose banners and
+glittering pikes rose above the heads of the crowd, which successively
+and in silence opened a way for the at once absurd and terrible train.
+
+First, two and two, came a body of archers, with pointed beards and
+large plumed hats, armed with long halberds, who, ranging in a single
+file on each side of the middle of the street, formed an avenue along
+which marched in solemn order a procession of Gray Penitents--men
+attired in long, gray robes, the hoods of which entirely covered their
+heads; masks of the same stuff terminated below their chins in points,
+like beards, each having three holes for the eyes and nose. Even at the
+present day we see these costumes at funerals, more especially in the
+Pyrenees. The Penitents of Loudun carried enormous wax candles, and
+their slow, uniform movement, and their eyes, which seemed to glitter
+under their masks, gave them the appearance of phantoms.
+
+The people expressed their various feelings in an undertone:
+
+"There's many a rascal hidden under those masks," said a citizen.
+
+"Ay, and with a face uglier than the mask itself," added a young man.
+
+"They make me afraid," tremulously exclaimed a girl.
+
+"I'm only afraid for my purse," said the first speaker.
+
+"Ah, heaven! there are our holy brethren, the Penitents," cried an old
+woman, throwing back her hood, the better to look at them. "See the
+banner they bear! Ah, neighbors, 'tis a joyful thing to have it among
+us! Beyond a doubt it will save us; see, it shows the devil in flames,
+and a monk fastening a chain round his neck, to keep him in hell. Ah,
+here come the judges--noble gentlemen! dear gentlemen! Look at their red
+robes; how beautiful! Blessed be the Virgin, they've been well chosen!"
+
+"Every man of them is a personal enemy of the Cure," whispered the Count
+du Lude to the advocate Fournier, who took a note of the information.
+
+"Don't you know them, neighbors?" pursued the shrill, sharp voice of the
+old woman, as she elbowed one and pinched another of those near her to
+attract their attention to the objects of her admiration; "see, there's
+excellent Monsieur Mignon, whispering to Messieurs the Counsellors of
+the Court of Poitiers; Heaven bless them all, say I!"
+
+"Yes, there are Roatin, Richard, and Chevalier--the very men who tried
+to have him dismissed a year ago," continued M. du Lude, in undertones,
+to the young advocate, who, surrounded and hidden from public
+observation by the group of dark-clad citizens, was writing down his
+observations in a note-book under his cloak.
+
+"Here; look, look!" screamed the woman. "Make way! here's Monsieur
+Barre, the Cure of Saint-Jacques at Chinon."
+
+"A saint!" murmured one bystander.
+
+"A hypocrite!" exclaimed a manly voice.
+
+"See how thin he is with fasting!"
+
+"See how pale he is with remorse!"
+
+"He's the man to drive away devils!"
+
+"Yes, but not till he's done with them for his own purposes."
+
+The dialogue was interrupted by the general exclamation, "How beautiful
+she is!"
+
+The Superior of the Ursulines advanced, followed by all her nuns. Her
+white veil was raised; in order that the people might see the features
+of the possessed ones, it had been ordered that it should be thus with
+her and six of the sisterhood. Her attire had no distinguishing feature,
+except a large rosary extending from her neck nearly to her feet, from
+which hung a gold cross; but the dazzling pallor of her face, rendered
+still more conspicuous by the dark hue of her capuchon, at once fixed
+the general gaze upon her. Her brilliant, dark eyes, which bore the
+impress of some deep and burning passion, were crowned with eyebrows so
+perfectly arched that Nature herself seemed to have taken as much pains
+to form them as the Circassian women to pencil theirs artistically; but
+between them a slight fold revealed the powerful agitation within. In
+her movements, however, and throughout her whole bearing, she affected
+perfect calm; her steps were slow and measured, and her beautiful hands
+were crossed on her bosom, as white and motionless as those of the
+marble statues joined in eternal prayer.
+
+"See, aunt," ejaculated Martine, "see how Sister Agnes and Sister Claire
+are weeping, next to the Superior!"
+
+"Ay, niece, they weep because they are the prey of the demon."
+
+"Or rather," interposed the same manly voice that spoke before, "because
+they repent of having mocked Heaven."
+
+A deep silence now pervaded the multitude; not a word was heard, not
+a movement, hardly a breath. Every one seemed paralyzed by some sudden
+enchantment, when, following the nuns, among four Penitents who held him
+in chains, appeared the Cure of the Church of Ste. Croix, attired in his
+pastor's robe. His was a noble, fine face, with grandeur in its whole
+expression, and gentleness in every feature. Affecting no scornful
+indifference to his position, he looked calmly and kindly around, as if
+he sought on his dark path the affectionate glances of those who loved
+him. Nor did he seek in vain; here and there he encountered those
+glances, and joyfully returned them. He even heard sobs, and he saw
+hands extended toward him, many of which grasped weapons. But no gesture
+of his encouraged these mute offers of aid; he lowered his eyes and went
+on, careful not to compromise those who so trusted in him, or to involve
+them in his own misfortunes. This was Urbain Grandier.
+
+Suddenly the procession stopped, at a sign from the man who walked
+apart, and who seemed to command its progress. He was tall, thin,
+sallow; he wore a long black robe, with a cap of the same material
+and color; he had the face of a Don Basilio, with the eye of Nero.
+He motioned the guards to surround him more closely, when he saw with
+affright the dark group we have mentioned, and the strong-limbed and
+resolute peasants who seemed in attendance upon them. Then, advancing
+somewhat before the Canons and Capuchins who were with him, he
+pronounced, in a shrill voice, this singular decree:
+
+   "We, Sieur de Laubardemont, referendary, being delegated and
+   invested with discretionary power in the matter of the trial of the
+   magician Urbain Grandier, upon the various articles of accusation
+   brought against him, assisted by the reverend Fathers Mignon, canon,
+   Barre, cure of St. Jacques at Chinon, Father Lactantius, and all the
+   other judges appointed to try the said magician, have decreed as
+   follows:
+
+   "Primo: the factitious assembly of proprietors, noble citizens of
+   this town and its environs, is dissolved, as tending to popular
+   sedition; its proceedings are declared null, and its letter to the
+   King, against us, the judges, which has been intercepted, shall be
+   publicly burned in the marketplace as calumniating the good
+   Ursulines and the reverend fathers and judges.
+
+   "Secundo: it is forbidden to say, publicly or in private, that the
+   said nuns are not possessed by the Evil Spirit, or to doubt of the
+   power of the exorcists, under pain of a fine of twenty thousand
+   livres, and corporal punishment.
+
+   "Let the bailiffs and sheriffs obey this. Given the eighteenth of
+   June, in the year of grace 1639."
+
+Before he had well finished reading the decree, the discordant blare of
+trumpets, bursting forth at a prearranged signal, drowned, to a
+certain extent, the murmurs that followed its proclamation, amid which
+Laubardemont urged forward the procession, which entered the great
+building already referred to--an ancient convent, whose interior had
+crumbled away, its walls now forming one vast hall, well adapted for the
+purpose to which it was about to be applied. Laubardemont did not deem
+himself safe until he was within the building and had heard the heavy,
+double doors creak on their hinges as, closing, they excluded the
+furious crowd without.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE GOOD PRIEST
+
+     L'homme de paix me parla ainsi.--VICAIRE SAVOYARD.
+
+Now that the diabolical procession is in the arena destined for its
+spectacle, and is arranging its sanguinary representation, let us see
+what Cinq-Mars had been doing amid the agitated throng. He was naturally
+endowed with great tact, and he felt that it would be no easy matter
+for him to attain his object of seeing the Abbe Quillet, at a time when
+public excitement was at its height. He therefore remained on horseback
+with his four servants in a small, dark street that led into the main
+thoroughfare, whence he could see all that passed. No one at first paid
+any attention to him; but when public curiosity had no other aliment, he
+became an object of general interest. Weary of so many strange scenes,
+the inhabitants looked upon him with some exasperation, and whispered to
+one another, asking whether this was another exorcist come among them.
+Feeling that it was time to take a decided course, he advanced with
+his attendants, hat in hand, toward the group in black of whom we
+have spoken, and addressing him who appeared its chief member, said,
+"Monsieur, where can I find Monsieur l'Abbe Quillet?"
+
+At this name, all regarded him with an air of terror, as if he had
+pronounced that of Lucifer. Yet no anger was shown; on the contrary, it
+seemed that the question had favorably changed for him the minds of all
+who heard him. Moreover, chance had served him well in his choice; the
+Comte du Lude came up to his horse, and saluting him, said, "Dismount,
+Monsieur, and I will give you some useful information concerning him."
+
+After speaking a while in whispers, the two gentlemen separated with
+all the ceremonious courtesy of the time. Cinq-Mars remounted his black
+horse, and passing through numerous narrow streets, was soon out of the
+crowd with his retinue.
+
+"How happy I am!" he soliloquized, as he went his way; "I shall, at all
+events, for a moment see the good and kind clergyman who brought me
+up; even now I recall his features, his calm air, his voice so full of
+gentleness."
+
+As these tender thoughts filled his mind, he found himself in the small,
+dark street which had been indicated to him; it was so narrow that the
+knee-pieces of his boots touched the wall on each side. At the end of
+the street he came to a one-storied wooden house, and in his eagerness
+knocked at the door with repeated strokes.
+
+"Who is there?" cried a furious voice within; and at the same moment,
+the door opening revealed a little short, fat man, with a very red
+face, dressed in black, with a large white ruff, and riding-boots which
+engulfed his short legs in their vast depths. In his hands were a pair
+of horse-pistols.
+
+"I will sell my life dearly!" he cried; "and--"
+
+"Softly, Abbe, softly," said his pupil, taking his arm; "we are
+friends."
+
+"Ah, my son, is it you?" said the good man, letting fall his pistols,
+which were picked up by a domestic, also armed to the teeth. "What do
+you here? The abomination has entered the town, and I only await the
+night to depart. Make haste within, my dear boy, with your people. I
+took you for the archers of Laubardemont, and, faith, I intended to
+take a part somewhat out of my line. You see the horses in the courtyard
+there; they will convey me to Italy, where I shall rejoin our friend,
+the Duc de Bouillon. Jean! Jean! hasten and close the great gate after
+Monsieur's domestics, and recommend them not to make too much noise,
+although for that matter we have no habitation near us."
+
+Grandchamp obeyed the intrepid little Abbe, who then embraced Cinq-Mars
+four consecutive times, raising himself on the points of his boots, so
+as to attain the middle of his pupil's breast. He then hurried him into
+a small room, which looked like a deserted granary; and seating him
+beside himself upon a black leather trunk, he said, warmly:
+
+"Well, my son, whither go you? How came Madame la Marechale to allow you
+to come here? Do you not see what they are doing against an unhappy man,
+whose death alone will content them? Alas, merciful Heaven! is this
+the first spectacle my dear pupil is to see? And you at that delightful
+period of life when friendship, love, confidence, should alone encompass
+you; when all around you should give you a favorable opinion of your
+species, at your very entry into the great world! How unfortunate! alas,
+why did you come?"
+
+When the good Abbe had followed up this lamentation by pressing
+affectionately both hands of the young traveller in his own, so red and
+wrinkled, the latter answered:
+
+"Can you not guess, my dear Abbe, that I came to Loudun because you
+are here? As to the spectacle you speak of, it appears to me simply
+ridiculous; and I swear that I do not a whit the less on its account
+love that human race of which your virtues and your good lessons have
+given me an excellent idea. As to the five or six mad women who--"
+
+"Let us not lose time; I will explain to you all that matter; but answer
+me, whither go you, and for what?"
+
+"I am going to Perpignan, where the Cardinal-Duke is to present me to
+the King."
+
+At this the worthy but hasty Abbe rose from his box, and walked, or
+rather ran, to and fro, stamping. "The Cardinal! the Cardinal!" he
+repeated, almost choking, his face becoming scarlet, and the tears
+rising to his eyes; "My poor child! they will destroy him! Ah, mon Dieu!
+what part would they have him play there? What would they do with
+him? Ah, who will protect thee, my son, in that dangerous place?" he
+continued, reseating himself, and again taking his pupil's hands in his
+own with a paternal solicitude, as he endeavored to read his thoughts in
+his countenance.
+
+"Why, I do not exactly know," said Cinq-Mars, looking up at the ceiling;
+"but I suppose it will be the Cardinal de Richelieu, who was the friend
+of my father."
+
+"Ah, my dear Henri, you make me tremble; he will ruin you unless you
+become his docile instrument. Alas, why can not I go with you? Why must
+I act the young man of twenty in this unfortunate affair? Alas, I should
+be perilous to you; I must, on the contrary, conceal myself. But you
+will have Monsieur de Thou near you, my son, will you not?" said he,
+trying to reassure himself; "he was your friend in childhood, though
+somewhat older than yourself. Heed his counsels, my child, he is a wise
+young man of mature reflection and solid ideas."
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear Abbe, you may depend upon my tender attachment for
+him; I never have ceased to love him."
+
+"But you have ceased to write to him, have you not?" asked the good
+Abbe, half smilingly.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear Abbe, I wrote to him once, and again
+yesterday, to inform him that the Cardinal has invited me to court."
+
+"How! has he himself desired your presence?"
+
+Cinq-Mars hereupon showed the letter of the Cardinal-Duke to his mother,
+and his old preceptor grew gradually calmer.
+
+"Ah, well!" said he to himself, "this is not so bad, perhaps, after
+all. It looks promising; a captain of the guards at twenty--that sounds
+well!" and the worthy Abbe's face became all smiles.
+
+The young man, delighted to see these smiles, which so harmonized with
+his own thoughts, fell upon the neck of the Abbe and embraced him, as if
+the good man had thus assured to him a futurity of pleasure, glory, and
+love.
+
+But the good Abbe, with difficulty disengaging himself from this warm
+embrace, resumed his walk, his reflections, and his gravity. He coughed
+often and shook his head; and Cinq-Mars, not venturing to pursue the
+conversation, watched him, and became sad as he saw him become serious.
+
+The old man at last sat down, and in a mournful tone addressed his
+pupil:
+
+"My friend, my son, I have for a moment yielded like a father to your
+hopes; but I must tell you, and it is not to afflict you, that they
+appear to me excessive and unnatural. If the Cardinal's sole aim were
+to show attachment and gratitude toward your family, he would not have
+carried his favors so far; no, the extreme probability is that he has
+designs upon you. From what has been told him, he thinks you adapted to
+play some part, as yet impossible for us to divine, but which he himself
+has traced out in the deepest recesses of his mind. He wishes to educate
+you for this; he wishes to drill you into it. Allow me the expression in
+consideration of its accuracy, and think seriously of it when the time
+shall come. But I am inclined to believe that, as matters are, you would
+do well to follow up this vein in the great mine of State; in this way
+high fortunes have begun. You must only take heed not to be blinded
+and led at will. Let not favors dazzle you, my poor child, and let not
+elevation turn your head. Be not so indignant at the suggestion; the
+thing has happened to older men than yourself. Write to me often, as
+well as to your mother; see Monsieur de Thou, and together we will try
+to keep you in good counsel. Now, my son, be kind enough to close that
+window through which the wind comes upon my head, and I will tell you
+what has been going on here."
+
+Henri, trusting that the moral part of the discourse was over, and
+anticipating nothing in the second part but a narrative more or less
+interesting, closed the old casement, festooned with cobwebs, and
+resumed his seat without speaking.
+
+"Now that I reflect further," continued the Abbe, "I think it will
+not perhaps be unprofitable for you to have passed through this place,
+although it be a sad experience you shall have acquired; but it will
+supply what I may not have formerly told you of the wickedness of men.
+I hope, moreover, that the result will not be fatal, and that the letter
+we have written to the King will arrive in time."
+
+"I heard that it had been intercepted," interposed Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Then all is over," said the Abbe Quillet; "the Cure is lost. But
+listen. God forbid, my son, that I, your old tutor, should seek to
+assail my own work, and attempt to weaken your faith! Preserve ever and
+everywhere that simple creed of which your noble family has given you
+the example, which our fathers possessed in a still higher degree than
+we, and of which the greatest captains of our time are not ashamed.
+Always, while you wear a sword, remember that you hold it for the
+service of God. But at the same time, when you are among men, avoid
+being deceived by the hypocrite. He will encompass you, my son; he will
+assail you on the vulnerable side of your ingenuous heart, in addressing
+your religion; and seeing the extravagance of his affected zeal, you
+will fancy yourself lukewarm as compared with him. You will think that
+your conscience cries out against you; but it will not be the voice of
+conscience that you hear. And what cries would not that conscience send
+forth, how fiercely would it not rise upon you, did you contribute
+to the destruction of innocence by invoking Heaven itself as a false
+witness against it?"
+
+"Oh, my father! can such things be possible?" exclaimed Henri d'Effiat,
+clasping his hands.
+
+"It is but too true," continued the Abbe; "you saw a partial execution
+of it this morning. God grant you may not witness still greater horrors!
+But listen! whatever you may see, whatever crime they dare to commit, I
+conjure you, in the name of your mother and of all that you hold
+dear, say not a word; make not a gesture that may indicate any opinion
+whatever. I know the impetuous character that you derive from
+the Marechal, your father; curb it, or you are lost. These little
+ebullitions of passion give but slight satisfaction, and bring about
+great misfortunes. I have observed you give way to them too much. Oh,
+did you but know the advantage that a calm temper gives one over men!
+The ancients stamped it on the forehead of the divinity as his finest
+attribute, since it shows that he is superior to our fears and to our
+hopes, to our pleasures and to our pains. Therefore, my dear child,
+remain passive in the scenes you are about to witness; but see them
+you must. Be present at this sad trial; for me, I must suffer the
+consequences of my schoolboy folly. I will relate it to you; it will
+prove to you that with a bald head one may be as much a child as with
+your fine chestnut curls."
+
+And the excellent old Abbe, taking his pupil's head affectionately
+between his hands, continued:
+
+"Like other people, my dear son, I was curious to see the devils of the
+Ursulines; and knowing that they professed to speak all languages, I was
+so imprudent as to cease speaking Latin and to question them in Greek.
+The Superior is very pretty, but she does not know Greek! Duncan, the
+physician, observed aloud that it was surprising that the demon, who
+knew everything, should commit barbarisms and solecisms in Latin, and
+not be able to answer in Greek. The young Superior, who was then upon
+her bed, turned toward the wall to weep, and said in an undertone to
+Father Barre, 'I can not go on with this, father.' I repeated her words
+aloud, and infuriated all the exorcists; they cried out that I ought to
+know that there are demons more ignorant than peasants, and said that as
+to their power and physical strength, it could not be doubted, since the
+spirits named Gresil des Trones, Aman des Puissance, and Asmodeus, had
+promised to carry off the calotte of Monsieur de Laubardemont. They were
+preparing for this, when the physician Duncan, a learned and upright
+man, but somewhat of a scoffer, took it into his head to pull a cord he
+discovered fastened to a column like a bell-rope, and which hung down
+just close to the referendary's head; whereupon they called him a
+Huguenot, and I am satisfied that if Marechal de Breze were not his
+protector, it would have gone ill with him. The Comte du Lude then came
+forward with his customary 'sang-froid', and begged the exorcists to
+perform before him. Father Lactantius, the Capuchin with the dark visage
+and hard look, proceeded with Sister Agnes and Sister Claire; he raised
+both his hands, looking at them as a serpent would look at two dogs, and
+cried in a terrible voice, 'Quis to misit, Diabole?' and the two sisters
+answered, as with one voice, 'Urbanus.' He was about to continue, when
+Monsieur du Lude, taking out of his pocket, with an air of veneration,
+a small gold box, said that he had in it a relic left by his ancestors,
+and that though not doubting the fact of the possession, he wished to
+test it. Father Lactantius seized the box with delight, and hardly had
+he touched the foreheads of the two sisters with it when they made great
+leaps and twisted about their hands and feet. Lactantius shouted forth
+his exorcisms; Barre threw himself upon his knees with all the old
+women; and Mignon and the judges applauded. The impassible Laubardemont
+made the sign of the cross, without being struck dead for it! When
+Monsieur du Lude took back his box the nuns became still. 'I think,'
+said Lactantius, insolently, 'that--you will not question your relics
+now.' 'No more than I do the possession,' answered Monsieur du Lude,
+opening his box and showing that it was empty. 'Monsieur, you mock us,'
+said Lactantius. I was indignant at these mummeries, and said to him,
+'Yes, Monsieur, as you mock God and men.' And this, my dear friend, is
+the reason why you see me in my seven-league boots, so heavy that they
+hurt my legs, and with pistols; for our friend Laubardemont has ordered
+my person to be seized, and I don't choose it to be seized, old as it
+is."
+
+"What, is he so powerful, then?" cried Cinq-Mars.
+
+"More so than is supposed--more so than could be believed. I know that
+the possessed Abbess is his niece, and that he is provided with an order
+in council directing him to judge, without being deterred by any appeals
+lodged in Parliament, the Cardinal having prohibited the latter from
+taking cognizance of the matter of Urbain Grandier."
+
+"And what are his offences?" asked the young man, already deeply
+interested.
+
+"Those of a strong mind and of a great genius, an inflexible will which
+has irritated power against him, and a profound passion which has driven
+his heart and him to commit the only mortal sin with which I believe
+he can be reproached; and it was only by violating the sanctity of his
+private papers, which they tore from Jeanne d'Estievre, his mother, an
+old woman of eighty, that they discovered his love for the beautiful
+Madeleine de Brou. This girl had refused to marry, and wished to take
+the veil. May that veil have concealed from her the spectacle of this
+day! The eloquence of Grandier and his angelic beauty drove the women
+half mad; they came miles and miles to hear him. I have seen them swoon
+during his sermons; they declared him an angel, and touched his garment
+and kissed his hands when he descended from the pulpit. It is certain
+that, unless it be his beauty, nothing could equal the sublimity of
+his discourses, ever full of inspiration. The pure honey of the gospel
+combined on his lips with the flashing flame of the prophecies; and one
+recognized in the sound of his voice a heart overflowing with holy pity
+for the evils to which mankind are subject, and filled with tears, ready
+to flow for us."
+
+The good priest paused, for his own voice and eyes were filled with
+tears; his round and naturally Joyous face was more touching than a
+graver one under the same circumstances, for it seemed as if it bade
+defiance to sadness. Cinq-Mars, even more moved, pressed his hand
+without speaking, fearful of interrupting him. The Abbe took out a red
+handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and continued:
+
+"This is the second attack upon Urbain by his combined enemies. He
+had already been accused of bewitching the nuns; but, examined by holy
+prelates, by enlightened magistrates, and learned physicians, he was
+immediately acquitted, and the judges indignantly imposed silence upon
+these devils in human form. The good and pious Archbishop of Bordeaux,
+who had himself chosen the examiners of these pretended exorcists,
+drove the prophets away and shut up their hell. But, humiliated by the
+publicity of the result, annoyed at seeing Grandier kindly received by
+our good King when he threw himself at his feet at Paris, they saw that
+if he triumphed they were lost, and would be universally regarded as
+impostors. Already the convent of the Ursulines was looked upon only as
+a theatre for disgraceful comedies, and the nuns themselves as shameless
+actresses. More than a hundred persons, furious against the Cure,
+had compromised themselves in the hope of destroying him. Their plot,
+instead of being abandoned, has gained strength by its first check; and
+here are the means that have been set to work by his implacable enemies.
+
+"Do you know a man called 'L'Eminence Grise', that formidable Capuchin
+whom the Cardinal employs in all things, consults upon some, and
+always despises? It was to him that the Capuchins of Loudun addressed
+themselves. A woman of this place, of low birth, named Hamon, having
+been so fortunate as to please the Queen when she passed through Loudun,
+was taken into her service. You know the hatred that separates her court
+from that of the Cardinal; you know that Anne of Austria and Monsieur de
+Richelieu have for some time disputed for the King's favor, and that,
+of her two suns, France never knew in the evening which would rise next
+morning. During a temporary eclipse of the Cardinal, a satire appeared,
+issuing from the planetary system of the Queen; it was called, 'La
+cordonniere de la seine-mere'. Its tone and language were vulgar; but it
+contained things so insulting about the birth and person of the Cardinal
+that the enemies of the minister took it up and gave it a publicity
+which irritated him. It revealed, it is said, many intrigues and
+mysteries which he had deemed impenetrable. He read this anonymous
+work, and desired to know its author. It was just at this time that
+the Capuchins of this town wrote to Father Joseph that a constant
+correspondence between Grandier and La Hamon left no doubt in their
+minds as to his being the author of this diatribe. It was in vain that
+he had previously published religious books, prayers, and meditations,
+the style of which alone ought to have absolved him from having put
+his hand to a libel written in the language of the marketplace; the
+Cardinal, long since prejudiced against Urbain, was determined to fix
+upon him as the culprit. He remembered that when he was only prior of
+Coussay, Grandier disputed precedence with him and gained it; I fear
+this achievement of precedence in life will make poor Grandier precede
+the Cardinal in death also."
+
+A melancholy smile played upon the lips of the good Abbe as he uttered
+this involuntary pun.
+
+"What! do you think this matter will go so far as death?"
+
+"Ay, my son, even to death; they have already taken away all the
+documents connected with his former absolution that might have served
+for his defence, despite the opposition of his poor mother, who
+preserved them as her son's license to live. Even now they affect to
+regard a work against the celibacy of priests, found among his papers,
+as destined to propagate schism. It is a culpable production, doubtless,
+and the love which dictated it, however pure it may be, is an enormous
+sin in a man consecrated to God alone; but this poor priest was far from
+wishing to encourage heresy, and it was simply, they say, to appease
+the remorse of Mademoiselle de Brou that he composed the work. It was so
+evident that his real faults would not suffice to condemn him to death
+that they have revived the accusation of sorcery, long since disposed
+of; but, feigning to believe this, the Cardinal has established a new
+tribunal in this town, and has placed Laubardemont at its head, a sure
+sign of death. Heaven grant that you never become acquainted with what
+the corruption of governments call coups-d'etat!"
+
+At this moment a terrible shriek sounded from beyond the wall of the
+courtyard; the Abbe arose in terror, as did Cinq-Mars.
+
+"It is the cry of a woman," said the old man.
+
+"'Tis heartrending!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars. "What is it?" he asked his
+people, who had all rushed out into the courtyard.
+
+They answered that they heard nothing further.
+
+"Well, well," said the Abbe, "make no noise." He then shut the window,
+and put his hands before his eyes.
+
+"Ah, what a cry was that, my son!" he said, with his face of an ashy
+paleness--"what a cry! It pierced my very soul; some calamity has
+happened. Ah, holy Virgin! it has so agitated me that I can talk with
+you no more. Why did I hear it, just as I was speaking to you of your
+future career? My dear child, may God bless you! Kneel!"
+
+Cinq-Mars did as he was desired, and knew by a kiss upon his head that
+he had been blessed by the old man, who then raised him, saying:
+
+"Go, my son, the time is advancing; they might find you with me. Go,
+leave your people and horses here; wrap yourself in a cloak, and go; I
+have much to write ere the hour when darkness shall allow me to depart
+for Italy."
+
+They embraced once more, promising to write to each other, and Henri
+quitted the house. The Abby, still following him with his eyes from the
+window, cried:
+
+"Be prudent, whatever may happen," and sent him with his hands one more
+paternal blessing, saying, "Poor child! poor child!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE TRIAL
+
+        Oh, vendetta di Dio, quanto to dei
+        Esser temuta da ciascun che legge
+        Cio, che fu manifesto agli occhi miei.--DANTE.
+
+Notwithstanding the custom of having secret trials, freely countenanced
+by Richelieu, the judges of the Cure of Loudun had resolved that the
+court should be open to the public; but they soon repented this measure.
+They were all interested in the destruction of Urbain Grandier; but
+they desired that the indignation of the country should in some degree
+sanction the sentence of death they had received orders to pass and to
+carry into effect.
+
+Laubardemont was a kind of bird of prey, whom the Cardinal always let
+loose when he required a prompt and sure agent for his vengeance; and on
+this occasion he fully justified the choice that had been made of him.
+He committed but one error--that of allowing a public trial, contrary
+to the usual custom; his object had been to intimidate and to dismay. He
+dismayed, indeed, but he created also a feeling of indignant horror.
+
+The throng without the gates had waited there two hours, during which
+time the sound of hammers indicated that within the great hall they were
+hastily completing their mysterious preparations. At length the archers
+laboriously turned upon their hinges the heavy gates opening into the
+street, and the crowd eagerly rushed in. The young Cinq-Mars was carried
+along with the second enormous wave, and, placed behind a thick column,
+stood there, so as to be able to see without being seen. He observed
+with vexation that the group of dark-clad citizens was near him; but the
+great gates, closing, left the part of the court where the people stood
+in such darkness that there was no likelihood of his being recognized.
+Although it was only midday, the hall was lighted with torches; but they
+were nearly all placed at the farther end, where rose the judges' bench
+behind a long table. The chairs, tables, and steps were all covered with
+black cloth, and cast a livid hue over the faces of those near them.
+A seat reserved for the prisoner was placed upon the left, and on the
+crape robe which covered him flames were represented in gold embroidery
+to indicate the nature of the offence. Here sat the accused, surrounded
+by archers, with his hands still bound in chains, held by two monks,
+who, with simulated terror, affected to start from him at his slightest
+motion, as if they held a tiger or enraged wolf, or as if the flames
+depicted on his robe could communicate themselves to their clothing.
+They also carefully kept his face from being seen in the least degree by
+the people.
+
+The impassible countenance of M. de Laubardemont was there to dominate
+the judges of his choice; almost a head taller than any of them, he
+sat upon a seat higher than theirs, and each of his glassy and uneasy
+glances seemed to convey a command. He wore a long, full scarlet robe,
+and a black cap covered his head; he seemed occupied in arranging
+papers, which he then passed to the judges. The accusers, all
+ecclesiastics, sat upon the right hand of the judges; they wore their
+albs and stoles. Father Lactantius was distinguishable among them by
+his simple Capuchin habit, his tonsure, and the extreme hardness of
+his features. In a side gallery sat the Bishop of Poitiers, hidden from
+view; other galleries were filled with veiled women. Below the bench of
+judges a group of men and women, the dregs of the populace, stood behind
+six young Ursuline nuns, who seemed full of disgust at their proximity;
+these were the witnesses.
+
+The rest of the hall was filled with an enormous crowd, gloomy and
+silent, clinging to the arches, the gates, and the beams, and full of
+a terror which communicated itself to the judges, for it arose from an
+interest in the accused. Numerous archers, armed with long pikes, formed
+an appropriate frame for this lugubrious picture.
+
+At a sign from the President, the witnesses withdrew through a narrow
+door opened for them by an usher. As the Superior of the Ursulines
+passed M. de Laubardemont she was heard to say to him, "You have
+deceived me, Monsieur." He remained immovable, and she went on. A
+profound silence reigned throughout the whole assembly.
+
+Rising with all the gravity he could assume, but still with visible
+agitation, one of the judges, named Houmain, judge-Advocate of Orleans,
+read a sort of indictment in a voice so low and hoarse that it was
+impossible to follow it. He made himself heard only when what he had to
+say was intended to impose upon the minds of the people. He divided
+the evidence into two classes: one, the depositions of seventy-two
+witnesses; the other, more convincing, that resulting from "the
+exorcisms of the reverend fathers here present," said he, crossing
+himself.
+
+Fathers Lactantius, Barre, and Mignon bowed low, repeating the sacred
+sign.
+
+"Yes, my lords," said Houmain, addressing the judges, "this bouquet of
+white roses and this manuscript, signed with the blood of the magician,
+a counterpart of the contract he has made with Lucifer, and which he
+was obliged to carry about him in order to preserve his power, have
+been recognized and brought before you. We read with horror these words
+written at the bottom of the parchment: 'The original is in hell, in
+Lucifer's private cabinet.'"
+
+A roar of laughter, which seemed to come from stentorian lungs, was
+heard in the throng. The president reddened, and made a sign to
+the archers, who in vain endeavored to discover the disturber. The
+judge-Advocate continued:
+
+"The demons have been forced to declare their names by the mouths of
+their victims. Their names and deeds are deposited upon this table. They
+are called Astaroth, of the order of Seraphim; Eazas, Celsus, Acaos,
+Cedron, Asmodeus, of the order of Thrones; Alex, Zebulon, Cham, Uriel,
+and Achas, of the order of Principalities, and so on, for their number
+is infinite. For their actions, who among us has not been a witness of
+them?"
+
+A prolonged murmur arose from the gathering, but, upon some halberdiers
+advancing, all became silent.
+
+"We have seen, with grief, the young and respectable Superior of the
+Ursulines tear her bosom with her own hands and grovel in the dust;
+we have seen the sisters, Agnes, Claire, and others, deviate from the
+modesty of their sex by impassioned gestures and unseemly laughter. When
+impious men have inclined to doubt the presence of the demons, and we
+ourselves felt our convictions shaken, because they refused to answer
+to unknown questions in Greek or Arabic, the reverend fathers have, to
+establish our belief, deigned to explain to us that the malignity of
+evil spirits being extreme, it was not surprising that they should feign
+this ignorance in order that they might be less pressed with questions;
+and that in their answers they had committed various solecisms and other
+grammatical faults in order to bring contempt upon themselves, so that
+out of this disdain the holy doctors might leave them in quiet. Their
+hatred is so inveterate that just before performing one of their
+miraculous feats, they suspended a rope from a beam in order to involve
+the reverend personages in a suspicion of fraud, whereas it has been
+deposed on oath by credible people that there never had been a cord in
+that place.
+
+"But, my lords, while Heaven was thus miraculously explaining itself by
+the mouths of its holy interpreters, another light has just been
+thrown upon us. At the very time the judges were absorbed in profound
+meditation, a loud cry was heard near the hall of council; and upon
+going to the spot, we found the body of a young lady of high birth. She
+had just exhaled her last breath in the public street, in the arms of
+the reverend Father Mignon, Canon; and we learned from the said father
+here present, and from several other grave personages, that, suspecting
+the young lady to be possessed, by reason of the current rumor for some
+time past of the admiration Urbain Grandier had for her, an idea of
+testing it happily occurred to the Canon, who suddenly said, approaching
+her, 'Grandier has just been put to death,' whereat she uttered one loud
+scream and fell dead, deprived by the demon of the time necessary for
+giving her the assistance of our holy Mother, the Catholic Church."
+
+A murmur of indignation arose from the crowd, among whom the word
+"Assassin" was loudly reechoed; the halberdiers commanded silence with
+a loud voice, but it was obtained rather by the judge resuming his
+address, the general curiosity triumphing.
+
+"Oh, infamy!" he continued, seeking to fortify himself by exclamations;
+"upon her person was found this work, written by the hand of Urbain
+Grandier," and he took from among his papers a book bound in parchment.
+
+"Heavens!" cried Urbain from his seat.
+
+"Look to your prisoner!" cried the judge to the archers who surrounded
+him.
+
+"No doubt the demon is about to manifest himself," said Father
+Lactantius, in a sombre voice; "tighten his bonds." He was obeyed.
+
+The judge-Advocate continued, "Her name was Madeleine de Brou, aged
+nineteen."
+
+"O God! this is too much!" cried the accused, as he fell fainting on the
+ground.
+
+The assembly was deeply agitated; for a moment there was an absolute
+tumult.
+
+"Poor fellow! he loved her," said some.
+
+"So good a lady!" cried the women.
+
+Pity began to predominate. Cold water was thrown upon Grandier, without
+his being taken from the court, and he was tied to his seat. The
+Judge-Advocate went on:
+
+"We are directed to read the beginning of this book to the court," and
+he read as follows:
+
+   "'It is for thee, dear and gentle Madeleine, in order to set at rest
+   thy troubled conscience, that I have described in this book one
+   thought of my soul. All those thoughts tend to thee, celestial
+   creature, because in thee they return to the aim and object of my
+   whole existence; but the thought I send thee, as 'twere a flower,
+   comes from thee, exists only in thee, and returns to thee alone.
+
+   "'Be not sad because thou lovest me; be not afflicted because I
+   adore thee. The angels of heaven, what is it that they do? The
+   souls of the blessed, what is it that is promised them? Are we less
+   pure than the angels? Are our souls less separated from the earth
+   than they will be after death? Oh, Madeleine, what is there in us
+   wherewith the Lord can be displeased? Can it be that we pray
+   together, that with faces prostrate in the dust before His altars,
+   we ask for early death to take us while yet youth and love are ours?
+   Or that, musing together beneath the funereal trees of the
+   churchyard, we yearned for one grave, smiling at the idea of death,
+   and weeping at life? Or that, when thou kneelest before me at the
+   tribunal of penitence, and, speaking in the presence of God, canst
+   find naught of evil to reveal to me, so wholly have I kept thy soul
+   in the pure regions of heaven? What, then, could offend our
+   Creator? Perhaps--yes! perhaps some spirit of heaven may have
+   envied me my happiness when on Easter morn I saw thee kneeling
+   before me, purified by long austerities from the slight stain which
+   original sin had left in thee! Beautiful, indeed, wert thou! Thy
+   glance sought thy God in heaven, and my trembling hand held His
+   image to thy pure lips, which human lip had never dared to breathe
+   upon. Angelic being! I alone participated in the secret of the
+   Lord, in the one secret of the entire purity of thy soul; I it was
+   that united thee to thy Creator, who at that moment descended also
+   into my bosom. Ineffable espousals, of which the Eternal himself
+   was the priest, you alone were permitted between the virgin and her
+   pastor! the sole joy of each was to see eternal happiness beginning
+   for the other, to inhale together the perfumes of heaven, to drink
+   in already the harmony of the spheres, and to feel assured that our
+   souls, unveiled to God and to ourselves alone, were worthy together
+   to adore Him.
+
+   "'What scruple still weighs upon thy soul, O my sister? Dost thou
+   think I have offered too high a worship to thy virtue? Fearest thou
+   so pure an admiration should deter me from that of the Lord?'"
+
+Houmain had reached this point when the door through which the witnesses
+had withdrawn suddenly opened. The judges anxiously whispered together.
+Laubardemont, uncertain as to the meaning of this, signed to the fathers
+to let him know whether this was some scene executed by their orders;
+but, seated at some distance from him, and themselves taken by surprise,
+they could not make him understand that they had not prepared this
+interruption. Besides, ere they could exchange looks, to the amazement
+of the assembly, three women, 'en chemise', with naked feet, each with
+a cord round her neck and a wax taper in her hand, came through the door
+and advanced to the middle of the platform. It was the Superior of the
+Ursulines, followed by Sisters Agnes and Claire. Both the latter were
+weeping; the Superior was very pale, but her bearing was firm, and her
+eyes were fixed and tearless. She knelt; her companions followed
+her example. Everything was in such confusion that no one thought of
+checking them; and in a clear, firm voice she pronounced these words,
+which resounded in every corner of the hall:
+
+"In the name of the Holy Trinity, I, Jeanne de Belfiel, daughter of the
+Baron de Cose, I, the unworthy Superior of the Convent of the Ursulines
+of Loudun, ask pardon of God and man for the crime I have committed in
+accusing the innocent Urbain Grandier. My possession was feigned, my
+words were dictated; remorse overwhelms me."
+
+"Bravo!" cried the spectators, clapping their hands. The judges arose;
+the archers, in doubt, looked at the president; he shook in every limb,
+but did not change countenance.
+
+"Let all be silent," he said, in a sharp voice; "archers, do your duty."
+
+This man felt himself supported by so strong a hand that nothing could
+affright him--for no thought of Heaven ever visited him.
+
+"What think you, my fathers?" said he, making a sign to the monks.
+
+"That the demon seeks to save his friend. Obmutesce, Satanas!" cried
+Father Lactantius, in a terrible voice, affecting to exorcise the
+Superior.
+
+Never did fire applied to gunpowder produce an effect more instantaneous
+than did these two words. Jeanne de Belfiel started up in all the beauty
+of twenty, which her awful nudity served to augment; she seemed a soul
+escaped from hell appearing to, her seducer. With her dark eyes she cast
+fierce glances upon the monks; Lactantius lowered his beneath that look.
+She took two steps toward him with her bare feet, beneath which the
+scaffolding rung, so energetic was her movement; the taper seemed, in
+her hand, the sword of the avenging angel.
+
+"Silence, impostor!" she cried, with warmth; "the demon who possessed me
+was yourself. You deceived me; you said he was not to be tried. To-day,
+for the first time, I know that he is to be tried; to-day, for the first
+time, I know that he is to be murdered. And I will speak!"
+
+"Woman, the demon bewilders thee."
+
+"Say, rather, that repentance enlightens me. Daughters, miserable as
+myself, arise; is he not innocent?"
+
+"We swear he is," said the two young lay sisters, still kneeling and
+weeping, for they were not animated with so strong a resolution as that
+of the Superior.
+
+Agnes, indeed, had hardly uttered these words when turning toward the
+people, she cried, "Help me! they will punish me; they will kill me!"
+And hurrying away her companion, she drew her into the crowd, who
+affectionately received them. A thousand voices swore to protect them.
+Imprecations arose; the men struck their staves against the floor; the
+officials dared not prevent the people from passing the sisters on from
+one to another into the street.
+
+During this strange scene the amazed and panic-struck judges whispered;
+M. Laubardemont looked at the archers, indicating to them the points
+they were especially to watch, among which, more particularly, was that
+occupied by the group in black. The accusers looked toward the gallery
+of the Bishop of Poitiers, but discovered no expression in his dull
+countenance. He was one of those old men of whom death appears to take
+possession ten years before all motion entirely ceases in them. His eyes
+seemed veiled by a half sleep; his gaping mouth mumbled a few vague
+and habitual words of prayer without meaning or application; the entire
+amount of intelligence he retained was the ability to distinguish the
+man who had most power, and him he obeyed, regardless at what price. He
+had accordingly signed the sentence of the doctors of the Sorbonne
+which declared the nuns possessed, without even deducing thence the
+consequence of the death of Urbain; the rest seemed to him one of those
+more or less lengthy ceremonies, to which he paid not the slightest
+attention--accustomed as he was to see and live among them, himself an
+indispensable part and parcel of them. He therefore gave no sign of life
+on this occasion, merely preserving an air at once perfectly noble and
+expressionless.
+
+Meanwhile, Father Lactantius, having had a moment to recover from the
+sudden attack made upon him, turned toward the president and said:
+
+"Here is a clear proof, sent us by Heaven, of the possession, for the
+Superior never before has forgotten the modesty and severity of her
+order."
+
+"Would that all the world were here to see me!" said Jeanne de Belfiel,
+firm as ever. "I can not be sufficiently humiliated upon earth, and
+Heaven will reject me, for I have been your accomplice."
+
+Perspiration appeared upon the forehead of Laubardemont, but he tried
+to recover his composure. "What absurd tale is this, Sister; what has
+influenced you herein?"
+
+The voice of the girl became sepulchral; she collected all her strength,
+pressed her hand upon her heart as if she desired to stay its throbbing,
+and, looking at Urbain Grandier, answered, "Love."
+
+A shudder ran through the assembly. Urbain, who since he had fainted had
+remained with his head hanging down as if dead, slowly raised his
+eyes toward her, and returned entirely to life only to undergo a fresh
+sorrow. The young penitent continued:
+
+"Yes, the love which he rejected, which he never fully knew, which
+I have breathed in his discourses, which my eyes drew in from his
+celestial countenance, which his very counsels against it have
+increased.
+
+"Yes, Urbain is pure as an angel, but good as a man who has loved. I
+knew not that he had loved! It is you," she said more energetically,
+pointing to Lactantius, Barre, and Mignon, and changing her passionate
+accents for those of indignation--"it is you who told me that he loved;
+you, who this morning have too cruelly avenged me by killing my rival
+with a word. Alas, I only sought to separate them! It was a crime; but,
+by my mother, I am an Italian! I burned with love, with jealousy; you
+allowed me to see Urbain, to have him as a friend, to see him daily."
+She was silent for a moment, then exclaimed, "People, he is innocent!
+Martyr, pardon me, I embrace thy feet!"
+
+She prostrated herself before Urbain and burst into a torrent of tears.
+
+Urbain raised his closely bound hands, and giving her his benediction,
+said, gently:
+
+"Go, Sister; I pardon thee in the name of Him whom I shall soon see. I
+have before said to you, and you now see, that the passions work much
+evil, unless we seek to turn them toward heaven."
+
+The blood rose a second time to Laubardemont's forehead. "Miscreant!" he
+exclaimed, "darest thou pronounce the words of the Church?"
+
+"I have not quitted her bosom," said Urbain.
+
+"Remove the girl," said the President.
+
+When the archers went to obey, they found that she had tightened the
+cord round her neck with such force that she was of a livid hue and
+almost lifeless. Fear had driven all the women from the assembly; many
+had been carried out fainting, but the hall was no less crowded. The
+ranks thickened, for the men out of the streets poured in.
+
+The judges arose in terror, and the president attempted to have the
+hall cleared; but the people, putting on their hats, stood in alarming
+immobility. The archers were not numerous enough to repel them. It
+became necessary to yield; and accordingly Laubardemont in an agitated
+voice announced that the council would retire for half an hour. He broke
+up the sitting; the people remained gloomily, each man fixed firmly to
+his place.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE MARTYRDOM
+
+     'La torture interroge, et la douleur repond.'
+               RAYNOURARD, Les Templiers.
+
+The continuous interest of this half-trial, its preparations, its
+interruptions, all had held the minds of the people in such attention
+that no private conversations had taken place. Some irrepressible cries
+had been uttered, but simultaneously, so that no man could accuse his
+neighbor. But when the people were left to themselves, there was an
+explosion of clamorous sentences.
+
+There was at this period enough of primitive simplicity among the
+lower classes for them to be persuaded by the mysterious tales of the
+political agents who were deluding them; so that a large portion of the
+throng in the hall of trial, not venturing to change their judgment,
+though upon the manifest evidence just given them, awaited in painful
+suspense the return of the judges, interchanging with an air of mystery
+and inane importance the usual remarks prompted by imbecility on such
+occasions.
+
+"One does not know what to think, Monsieur?"
+
+"Truly, Madame, most extraordinary things have happened."
+
+"We live in strange times!"
+
+"I suspected this; but, i' faith, it is not wise to say what one
+thinks."
+
+"We shall see what we shall see," and so on--the unmeaning chatter of
+the crowd, which merely serves to show that it is at the command of the
+first who chooses to sway it. Stronger words were heard from the group
+in black.
+
+"What! shall we let them do as they please, in this manner? What! dare
+to burn our letter to the King!"
+
+"If the King knew it!"
+
+"The barbarian impostors! how skilfully is their plot contrived! What!
+shall murder be committed under our very eyes? Shall we be afraid of
+these archers?"
+
+"No, no, no!" rang out in trumpet-like tones.
+
+Attention was turned toward the young advocate, who, standing on a
+branch, began tearing to pieces a roll of paper; then he cried:
+
+"Yes, I tear and scatter to the winds the defence I had prepared for the
+accused. They have suppressed discussion; I am not allowed to speak for
+him. I can only speak to you, people; I rejoice that I can do so. You
+heard these infamous judges. Which of them can hear the truth? Which of
+them is worthy to listen to an honest man? Which of them will dare to
+meet his gaze? But what do I say? They all know the truth. They carry
+it in their guilty breasts; it stings their hearts like a serpent. They
+tremble in their lair, where doubtless they are devouring their victim;
+they tremble because they have heard the cries of three deluded women.
+What was I about to do? I was about to speak in behalf of Urbain
+Grandier! But what eloquence could equal that of those unfortunates?
+What words could better have shown you his innocence? Heaven has taken
+up arms for him in bringing them to repentance and to devotion; Heaven
+will finish its work--"
+
+"Vade retro, Satanas," was heard through a high window in the hall.
+
+Fournier stopped for a moment, then said:
+
+"You hear these voices parodying the divine language? If I mistake not,
+these instruments of an infernal power are, by this song, preparing some
+new spell."
+
+"But," cried those who surrounded him, "what shall we do? What have they
+done with him?"
+
+"Remain here; be immovable, be silent," replied the young advocate. "The
+inertia of a people is all-powerful; that is its true wisdom, that its
+strength. Observe them closely, and in silence; and you will make them
+tremble."
+
+"They surely will not dare to appear here again," said the Comte du
+Lude.
+
+"I should like to look once more at the tall scoundrel in red," said
+Grand-Ferre, who had lost nothing of what had occurred.
+
+"And that good gentleman, the Cure," murmured old Father Guillaume
+Leroux, looking at all his indignant parishioners, who were talking
+together in a low tone, measuring and counting the archers, ridiculing
+their dress, and beginning to point them out to the observation of the
+other spectators.
+
+Cinq-Mars, still leaning against the pillar behind which he had first
+placed himself, still wrapped in his black cloak, eagerly watched all
+that passed, lost not a word of what was said, and filled his heart with
+hate and bitterness. Violent desires for slaughter and revenge, a vague
+desire to strike, took possession of him, despite himself; this is the
+first impression which evil produces on the soul of a young man. Later,
+sadness takes the place of fury, then indifference and scorn, later
+still, a calculating admiration for great villains who have been
+successful; but this is only when, of the two elements which constitute
+man, earth triumphs over spirit.
+
+Meanwhile, on the right of the hall near the judges' platform, a group
+of women were watching attentively a child about eight years old, who
+had taken it into his head to climb up to a cornice by the aid of his
+sister Martine, whom we have seen the subject of jest with the young
+soldier, Grand-Ferre. The child, having nothing to look at after the
+court had left the hall, had climbed to a small window which admitted a
+faint light, and which he imagined to contain a swallow's nest or some
+other treasure for a boy; but after he was well established on the
+cornice, his hands grasping the bars of an old shrine of Jerome, he
+wished himself anywhere else, and cried out:
+
+"Oh, sister, sister, lend me your hand to get down!"
+
+"What do you see there?" asked Martine.
+
+"Oh, I dare not tell; but I want to get down," and he began to cry.
+
+"Stay there, my child; stay there!" said all the women. "Don't be
+afraid; tell us all that you see."
+
+"Well, then, they've put the Cure between two great boards that squeeze
+his legs, and there are cords round the boards."
+
+"Ah! that is the rack," said one of the townsmen. "Look again, my little
+friend, what do you see now?"
+
+The child, more confident, looked again through the window, and then,
+withdrawing his head, said:
+
+"I can not see the Cure now, because all the judges stand round him, and
+are looking at him, and their great robes prevent me from seeing. There
+are also some Capuchins, stooping down to whisper to him."
+
+Curiosity attracted more people to the boy's perch; every one was
+silent, waiting anxiously to catch his words, as if their lives depended
+on them.
+
+"I see," he went on, "the executioner driving four little pieces of
+wood between the cords, after the Capuchins have blessed the hammer and
+nails. Ah, heavens! Sister, how enraged they seem with him, because he
+will not speak. Mother! mother! give me your hand, I want to come down!"
+
+Instead of his mother, the child, upon turning round, saw only men's
+faces, looking up at him with a mournful eagerness, and signing him
+to go on. He dared not descend, and looked again through the window,
+trembling.
+
+"Oh! I see Father Lactantius and Father Barre themselves forcing in more
+pieces of wood, which squeeze his legs. Oh, how pale he is! he seems
+praying. There, his head falls back, as if he were dying! Oh, take me
+away!"
+
+And he fell into the arms of the young Advocate, of M. du Lude, and of
+Cinq-Mars, who had come to support him.
+
+"Deus stetit in synagoga deorum: in medio autem Deus dijudicat--"
+chanted strong, nasal voices, issuing from the small window, which
+continued in full chorus one of the psalms, interrupted by blows of the
+hammer--an infernal deed beating time to celestial songs. One might have
+supposed himself near a smithy, except that the blows were dull, and
+manifested to the ear that the anvil was a man's body.
+
+"Silence!" said Fournier, "He speaks. The chanting and the blows stop."
+
+A weak voice within said, with difficulty, "Oh, my fathers, mitigate the
+rigor of your torments, for you will reduce my soul to despair, and I
+might seek to destroy myself!"
+
+At this the fury of the people burst forth like an explosion, echoing
+along the vaulted roofs; the men sprang fiercely upon the platform,
+thrust aside the surprised and hesitating archers; the unarmed crowd
+drove them back, pressed them, almost suffocated them against the walls,
+and held them fast, then dashed against the doors which led to the
+torture chamber, and, making them shake beneath their blows, threatened
+to drive them in; imprecations resounded from a thousand menacing voices
+and terrified the judges within.
+
+"They are gone; they have taken him away!" cried a man who had climbed
+to the little window.
+
+The multitude at once stopped short, and changing the direction of their
+steps, fled from this detestable place and spread rapidly through the
+streets, where an extraordinary confusion prevailed.
+
+Night had come on during the long sitting, and the rain was pouring in
+torrents. The darkness was terrifying. The cries of women slipping on
+the pavement or driven back by the horses of the guards; the shouts
+of the furious men; the ceaseless tolling of the bells which had been
+keeping time with the strokes of the question; the roll of distant
+thunder--all combined to increase the disorder.
+
+   [Torture ('Question') was regulated in scrupulous detail by Holy
+   Mother The Church: The ordinary question was regulated for minor
+   infractions and used for interrogating women and children. For more
+   serious crimes the suspect (and sometimes the witnesses) were put to
+   the extraordinary question by the officiating priests. D.W.]
+
+If the ear was astonished, the eyes were no less so. A few dismal
+torches lighted up the corners of the streets; their flickering gleams
+showed soldiers, armed and mounted, dashing along, regardless of the
+crowd, to assemble in the Place de St. Pierre; tiles were sometimes
+thrown at them on their way, but, missing the distant culprit, fell upon
+some unoffending neighbor. The confusion was bewildering, and became
+still more so, when, hurrying through all the streets toward the Place
+de St. Pierre, the people found it barricaded on all sides, and filled
+with mounted guards and archers. Carts, fastened to the posts at each
+corner, closed each entrance, and sentinels, armed with arquebuses, were
+stationed close to the carts. In the centre of the Place rose a pile
+composed of enormous beams placed crosswise upon one another, so as
+to form a perfect square; these were covered with a whiter and lighter
+wood; an enormous stake arose from the centre of the scaffold. A man
+clothed in red and holding a lowered torch stood near this sort of mast,
+which was visible from a long distance. A huge chafing-dish, covered on
+account of the rain, was at his feet.
+
+At this spectacle, terror inspired everywhere a profound silence; for
+an instant nothing was heard but the sound of the rain, which fell in
+floods, and of the thunder, which came nearer and nearer.
+
+Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, accompanied by MM. du Lude and Fournier and all
+the more important personages of the town, had sought refuge from the
+storm under the peristyle of the church of Ste.-Croix, raised upon
+twenty stone steps. The pile was in front, and from this height they
+could see the whole of the square. The centre was entirely clear, large
+streams of water alone traversed it; but all the windows of the houses
+were gradually lighted up, and showed the heads of the men and women who
+thronged them.
+
+The young D'Effiat sorrowfully contemplated this menacing preparation.
+Brought up in sentiments of honor, and far removed from the black
+thoughts which hatred and ambition arouse in the heart of man, he could
+not conceive that such wrong could be done without some powerful and
+secret motive. The audacity of such a condemnation seemed to him so
+enormous that its very cruelty began to justify it in his eyes; a secret
+horror crept into his soul, the same that silenced the people. He almost
+forgot the interest with which the unhappy Urbain had inspired him, in
+thinking whether it were not possible that some secret correspondence
+with the infernal powers had justly provoked such excessive severity;
+and the public revelations of the nuns, and the statement of his
+respected tutor, faded from his memory, so powerful is success, even
+in the eyes of superior men! so strongly does force impose upon men,
+despite the voice of conscience!
+
+The young traveller was asking himself whether it were not probable that
+the torture had forced some monstrous confession from the accused, when
+the obscurity which surrounded the church suddenly ceased. Its two
+great doors were thrown open; and by the light of an infinite number
+of flambeaux, appeared all the judges and ecclesiastics, surrounded by
+guards. Among them was Urbain, supported, or rather carried, by six men
+clothed as Black Penitents--for his limbs, bound with bandages saturated
+with blood, seemed broken and incapable of supporting him. It was at
+most two hours since Cinq-Mars had seen him, and yet he could hardly
+recognize the face he had so closely observed at the trial. All color,
+all roundness of form had disappeared from it; a livid pallor covered
+a skin yellow and shining like ivory; the blood seemed to have left his
+veins; all the life that remained within him shone from his dark eyes,
+which appeared to have grown twice as large as before, as he looked
+languidly around him; his long, chestnut hair hung loosely down his neck
+and over a white shirt, which entirely covered him--or rather a sort
+of robe with large sleeves, and of a yellowish tint, with an odor of
+sulphur about it; a long, thick cord encircled his neck and fell upon
+his breast. He looked like an apparition; but it was the apparition of a
+martyr.
+
+Urbain stopped, or, rather, was set down upon the peristyle of the
+church; the Capuchin Lactantius placed a lighted torch in his right
+hand, and held it there, as he said to him, with his hard inflexibility:
+
+"Do penance, and ask pardon of God for thy crime of magic."
+
+The unhappy man raised his voice with great difficulty, and with his
+eyes to heaven said:
+
+"In the name of the living God, I cite thee, Laubardemont, false judge,
+to appear before Him in three years. They have taken away my confessor,
+and I have been fain to pour out my sins into the bosom of God Himself,
+for my enemies surround me. I call that God of mercy to witness I never
+have dealt in magic. I have known no mysteries but those of the Catholic
+religion, apostolic and Roman, in which I die; I have sinned much
+against myself, but never against God and our Lord--"
+
+"Cease!" cried the Capuchin, affecting to close his mouth ere he could
+pronounce the name of the Saviour. "Obdurate wretch, return to the demon
+who sent thee!"
+
+He signed to four priests, who, approaching with sprinklers in their
+hands, exorcised with holy water the air the magician breathed, the
+earth he touched, the wood that was to burn him. During this ceremony,
+the judge-Advocate hastily read the decree, dated the 18th of August,
+1639, declaring Urbain Grandier duly attainted and convicted of the
+crime of sorcery, witchcraft, and possession, in the persons of sundry
+Ursuline nuns of Loudun, and others, laymen, etc.
+
+The reader, dazzled by a flash of lightning, stopped for an instant,
+and, turning to M. de Laubardemont, asked whether, considering the awful
+weather, the execution could not be deferred till the next day.
+
+"The decree," coldly answered Laubardemont, "commands execution within
+twenty-four hours. Fear not the incredulous people; they will soon be
+convinced."
+
+All the most important persons of the town and many strangers were under
+the peristyle, and now advanced, Cinq-Mars among them.
+
+"The magician never has been able to pronounce the name of the Saviour,
+and repels his image."
+
+Lactantius at this moment issued from the midst of the Penitents, with
+an enormous iron crucifix in his hand, which he seemed to hold with
+precaution and respect; he extended it to the lips of the sufferer,
+who indeed threw back his head, and collecting all his strength, made
+a gesture with his arm, which threw the cross from the hands of the
+Capuchin.
+
+"You see," cried the latter, "he has thrown down the cross!"
+
+A murmur arose, the meaning of which was doubtful.
+
+"Profanation!" cried the priests.
+
+The procession moved toward the pile.
+
+Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, gliding behind a pillar, had eagerly watched all
+that passed; he saw with astonishment that the cross, in falling upon
+the steps, which were more exposed to the rain than the platform, smoked
+and made a noise like molten lead when thrown into water. While the
+public attention was elsewhere engaged, he advanced and touched it
+lightly with his bare hand, which was immediately scorched. Seized with
+indignation, with all the fury of a true heart, he took up the cross
+with the folds of his cloak, stepped up to Laubardemont, and, striking
+him with it on the forehead, cried:
+
+"Villain, I brand thee with the mark of this red-hot iron!"
+
+The crowd heard these words and rushed forward.
+
+"Arrest this madman!" cried the unworthy magistrate.
+
+He was himself seized by the hands of men who cried, "Justice! justice,
+in the name of the King!"
+
+"We are lost!" said Lactantius; "to the pile, to the pile!"
+
+The Penitents dragged Urbain toward the Place, while the judges and
+archers reentered the church, struggling with the furious citizens; the
+executioner, having no time to tie up the victim, hastened to lay him
+on the wood, and to set fire to it. But the rain still fell in torrents,
+and each piece of wood had no sooner caught the flame than it became
+extinguished. In vain did Lactantius and the other canons themselves
+seek to stir up the fire; nothing could overcome the water which fell
+from heaven.
+
+Meanwhile, the tumult which had begun in the peristyle of the church
+extended throughout the square. The cry of "Justice!" was repeated
+and circulated, with the information of what had been discovered; two
+barricades were forced, and despite three volleys of musketry, the
+archers were gradually driven back toward the centre of the square. In
+vain they spurred their horses against the crowd; it overwhelmed them
+with its swelling waves. Half an hour passed in this struggle, the
+guards still receding toward the pile, which they concealed as they
+pressed closer upon it.
+
+"On! on!" cried a man; "we will deliver him; do not strike the soldiers,
+but let them fall back. See, Heaven will not permit him to die! The
+fire is out; now, friend, one effort more! That is well! Throw down that
+horse! Forward! On!"
+
+The guard was broken and dispersed on all sides. The crowd rushed to
+the pile, but no more light was there: all had disappeared, even the
+executioner. They tore up and threw aside the beams; one of them
+was still burning, and its light showed under a mass of ashes and
+ensanguined mire a blackened hand, preserved from the fire by a large
+iron bracelet and chain. A woman had the courage to open it; the fingers
+clasped a small ivory cross and an image of St. Magdalen.
+
+"These are his remains," she said, weeping.
+
+"Say, the relics of a martyr!" exclaimed a citizen, baring his head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE DREAM
+
+Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, amid the excitement which his outbreak had
+provoked, felt his left arm seized by a hand as hard as iron, which,
+drawing him from the crowd to the foot of the steps, pushed him behind
+the wall of the church, and he then saw the dark face of old Grandchamp,
+who said to him in a sharp voice:
+
+"Sir, your attack upon thirty musketeers in a wood at Chaumont was
+nothing, because we were near you, though you knew it not, and,
+moreover, you had to do with men of honor; but here 'tis different. Your
+horses and people are at the end of the street; I request you to mount
+and leave the town, or to send me back to Madame la Marechale, for I am
+responsible for your limbs, which you expose so freely."
+
+Cinq-Mars was somewhat astonished at this rough mode of having a service
+done him, was not sorry to extricate himself thus from the affair,
+having had time to reflect how very awkward it might be for him to be
+recognized, after striking the head of the judicial authority, the agent
+of the very Cardinal who was to present him to the King. He observed
+also that around him was assembled a crowd of the lowest class of
+people, among whom he blushed to find himself. He therefore followed
+his old domestic without argument, and found the other three servants
+waiting for him. Despite the rain and wind he mounted, and was soon upon
+the highroad with his escort, having put his horse to a gallop to avoid
+pursuit.
+
+He had, however, hardly left Loudun when the sandy road, furrowed by
+deep ruts completely filled with water, obliged him to slacken his pace.
+The rain continued to fall heavily, and his cloak was almost saturated.
+He felt a thicker one thrown over his shoulders; it was his old valet,
+who had approached him, and thus exhibited toward him a maternal
+solicitude.
+
+"Well, Grandchamp," said Cinq-Mars, "now that we are clear of the riot,
+tell me how you came to be there when I had ordered you to remain at the
+Abbe's."
+
+"Parbleu, Monsieur!" answered the old servant, in a grumbling tone,
+"do you suppose that I should obey you any more than I did Monsieur le
+Marechal? When my late master, after telling me to remain in his tent,
+found me behind him in the cannon's smoke, he made no complaint, because
+he had a fresh horse ready when his own was killed, and he only scolded
+me for a moment in his thoughts; but, truly, during the forty years I
+served him, I never saw him act as you have in the fortnight I have been
+with you. Ah!" he added with a sigh, "things are going strangely; and if
+we continue thus, there's no knowing what will be the end of it."
+
+"But knowest thou, Grandchamp, that these scoundrels had made the
+crucifix red hot?--a thing at which no honest man would have been less
+enraged than I."
+
+"Except Monsieur le Marechal, your father, who would not have done at
+all what you have done, Monsieur."
+
+"What, then, would he have done?"
+
+"He would very quietly have let this cure be burned by the other cures,
+and would have said to me, 'Grandchamp, see that my horses have oats,
+and let no one steal them'; or, 'Grandchamp, take care that the rain
+does not rust my sword or wet the priming of my pistols'; for Monsieur
+le Marechal thought of everything, and never interfered in what did not
+concern him. That was his great principle; and as he was, thank Heaven,
+alike good soldier and good general, he was always as careful of his
+arms as a recruit, and would not have stood up against thirty young
+gallants with a dress rapier."
+
+Cinq-Mars felt the force of the worthy servitor's epigrammatic scolding,
+and feared that he had followed him beyond the wood of Chaumont; but
+he would not ask, lest he should have to give explanations or to tell
+a falsehood or to command silence, which would at once have been taking
+him into confidence on the subject. As the only alternative, he spurred
+his horse and rode ahead of his old domestic; but the latter had not yet
+had his say, and instead of keeping behind his master, he rode up to his
+left and continued the conversation.
+
+"Do you suppose, Monsieur, that I should allow you to go where you
+please? No, Monsieur, I am too deeply impressed with the respect I
+owe to Madame la Marquise, to give her an opportunity of saying to me:
+'Grandchamp, my son has been killed with a shot or with a sword; why
+were you not before him?' Or, 'He has received a stab from the stiletto
+of an Italian, because he went at night beneath the window of a great
+princess; why did you not seize the assassin?' This would be very
+disagreeable to me, Monsieur, for I never have been reproached with
+anything of the kind. Once Monsieur le Marechal lent me to his nephew,
+Monsieur le Comte, to make a campaign in the Netherlands, because I know
+Spanish. I fulfilled the duty with honor, as I always do. When Monsieur
+le Comte received a bullet in his heart, I myself brought back his
+horses, his mules, his tent, and all his equipment, without so much as
+a pocket-handkerchief being missed; and I can assure you that the horses
+were as well dressed and harnessed when we reentered Chaumont as if
+Monsieur le Comte had been about to go a-hunting. And, accordingly, I
+received nothing but compliments and agreeable things from the whole
+family, just in the way I like."
+
+"Well, well, my friend," said Henri d'Effiat, "I may some day, perhaps,
+have these horses to take back; but in the mean time take this great
+purse of gold, which I have well-nigh lost two or three times, and thou
+shalt pay for me everywhere. The money wearies me."
+
+"Monsieur le Marechal did not so, Monsieur. He had been superintendent
+of finances, and he counted every farthing he paid out of his own hand.
+I do not think your estates would have been in such good condition, or
+that you would have had so much money to count yourself, had he done
+otherwise; have the goodness, therefore, to keep your purse, whose
+contents, I dare swear, you do not know."
+
+"Faith, not I."
+
+Grandchamp sent forth a profound sigh at his master's disdainful
+exclamation.
+
+"Ah, Monsieur le Marquis! Monsieur le Marquis! When I think that the
+great King Henri, before my eyes, put his chamois gloves into his pocket
+to keep the rain from spoiling them; when I think that Monsieur de Rosni
+refused him money when he had spent too much; when I think--"
+
+"When thou dost think, thou art egregiously tedious, my old friend,"
+interrupted his master; "and thou wilt do better in telling me what that
+black figure is that I think I see walking in the mire behind us."
+
+"It looks like some poor peasant woman who, perhaps, wants alms of us.
+She can easily follow us, for we do not go at much of a pace in this
+sand, wherein our horses sink up to the hams. We shall go to the Landes
+perhaps some day, Monsieur, and you will see a country all the same as
+this sandy road, and great, black firs all the way along. It looks
+like a churchyard; this is an exact specimen of it. Look, the rain has
+ceased, and we can see a little ahead; there is nothing but furze-bushes
+on this great plain, without a village or a house. I don't know where we
+can pass the night; but if you will take my advice, you will let us cut
+some boughs and bivouac where we are. You shall see how, with a little
+earth, I can make a hut as warm as a bed."
+
+"I would rather go on to the light I see in the horizon," said
+Cinq-Mars; "for I fancy I feel rather feverish, and I am thirsty. But
+fall back, I would ride alone; rejoin the others and follow."
+
+Grandchamp obeyed; he consoled himself by giving Germain, Louis, and
+Etienne lessons in the art of reconnoitring a country by night.
+
+Meanwhile, his young master was overcome with fatigue. The violent
+emotions of the day had profoundly affected his mind; and the
+long journey on horseback, the last two days passed almost without
+nourishment, owing to the hurried pressure of events, the heat of the
+sun by day, the icy coldness of the night, all contributed to increase
+his indisposition and to weary his delicate frame. For three hours he
+rode in silence before his people, yet the light he had seen in the
+horizon seemed no nearer; at last he ceased to follow it with his eyes,
+and his head, feeling heavier and heavier, sank upon his breast. He
+gave the reins to his tired horse, which of its own accord followed the
+high-road, and, crossing his arms, allowed himself to be rocked by the
+monotonous motion of his fellow-traveller, which frequently stumbled
+against the large stones that strewed the road. The rain had ceased, as
+had the voices of his domestics, whose horses followed in the track of
+their master's. The young man abandoned himself to the bitterness of his
+thoughts; he asked himself whether the bright object of his hopes would
+not flee from him day by day, as that phosphoric light fled from him
+in the horizon, step by step. Was it probable that the young Princess,
+almost forcibly recalled to the gallant court of Anne of Austria, would
+always refuse the hands, perhaps royal ones, that would be offered to
+her? What chance that she would resign herself to renounce a present
+throne, in order to wait till some caprice of fortune should realize
+romantic hopes, or take a youth almost in the lowest rank of the army
+and lift him to the elevation she spoke of, till the age of love should
+be passed? How could he be certain that even the vows of Marie de
+Gonzaga were sincere?
+
+"Alas!" he said, "perhaps she has blinded herself as to her own
+sentiments; the solitude of the country had prepared her soul to receive
+deep impressions. I came; she thought I was he of whom she had dreamed.
+Our age and my love did the rest. But when at court, she, the companion
+of the Queen, has learned to contemplate from an exalted position the
+greatness to which I aspire, and which I as yet see only from a
+very humble distance; when she shall suddenly find herself in actual
+possession of the future she aims at, and measures with a more correct
+eye the long road I have to travel; when she shall hear around her vows
+like mine, pronounced by lips which could undo me with a word, with a
+word destroy him whom she awaits as her husband, her lord--oh, madman
+that I have been!--she will see all her folly, and will be incensed at
+mine."
+
+Thus did doubt, the greatest misery of love, begin to torture his
+unhappy heart; he felt his hot blood rush to his head and oppress it.
+Ever and anon he fell forward upon the neck of his horse, and a half
+sleep weighed down his eyes; the dark firs that bordered the road seemed
+to him gigantic corpses travelling beside him. He saw, or thought
+he saw, the same woman clothed in black, whom he had pointed out to
+Grandchamp, approach so near as to touch his horse's mane, pull his
+cloak, and then run off with a jeering laugh; the sand of the road
+seemed to him a river running beneath him, with opposing current, back
+toward its source. This strange sight dazzled his worn eyes; he closed
+them and fell asleep on his horse.
+
+Presently, he felt himself stopped, but he was numbed with cold and
+could not move. He saw peasants, lights, a house, a great room into
+which they carried him, a wide bed, whose heavy curtains were closed by
+Grandchamp; and he fell asleep again, stunned by the fever that whirred
+in his ears.
+
+Dreams that followed one another more rapidly than grains of sand before
+the wind rushed through his brain; he could not catch them, and moved
+restlessly on his bed. Urbain Grandier on the rack, his mother in tears,
+his tutor armed, Bassompierre loaded with chains, passed before him,
+making signs of farewell; at last, as he slept, he instinctively put his
+hand to his head to stay the passing dream, which then seemed to unfold
+itself before his eyes like pictures in shifting sands.
+
+He saw a public square crowded with a foreign people, a northern people,
+who uttered cries of joy, but they were savage cries; there was a line
+of guards, ferocious soldiers--these were Frenchmen. "Come with me,"
+said the soft voice of Marie de Gonzaga, who took his hand. "See, I wear
+a diadem; here is thy throne, come with me." And she hurried him on, the
+people still shouting. He went on, a long way. "Why are you sad, if you
+are a queen?" he said, trembling. But she was pale, and smiled and spoke
+not. She ascended, step after step, up to a throne, and seated herself.
+"Mount!" said she, forcibly pulling his hand. But, at every movement,
+the massive stairs crumbled beneath his feet, so that he could not
+ascend. "Give thanks to love," she continued; and her hand, now more
+powerful, raised him to the throne. The people still shouted. He bowed
+low to kiss that helping hand, that adored hand; it was the hand of the
+executioner!
+
+"Oh, heavens!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars, as, heaving a deep sigh, he opened
+his eyes. A flickering lamp lighted the ruinous chamber of the inn; he
+again closed his eyes, for he had seen, seated on his bed, a woman,
+a nun, young and beautiful! He thought he was still dreaming, but she
+grasped his hand firmly. He opened his burning eyes, and fixed them upon
+her.
+
+"Is it you, Jeannede Belfiel? The rain has drenched your veil and your
+black hair! Why are you here, unhappy woman?"
+
+"Hark! awake not my Urbain; he sleeps there in the next room. Ay, my
+hair is indeed wet, and my feet--see, my feet that were once so white,
+see how the mud has soiled them. But I have made a vow--I will not wash
+them till I have seen the King, and until he has granted me Urbain's
+pardon. I am going to the army to find him; I will speak to him as
+Grandier taught me to speak, and he will pardon him. And listen, I
+will also ask thy pardon, for I read it in thy face that thou, too, art
+condemned to death. Poor youth! thou art too young to die, thy curling
+hair is beautiful; but yet thou art condemned, for thou hast on thy brow
+a line that never deceives. The man thou hast struck will kill thee.
+Thou hast made too much use of the cross; it is that which will bring
+evil upon thee. Thou hast struck with it, and thou wearest it round
+thy neck by a hair chain. Nay, hide not thy face; have I said aught
+to afflict thee, or is it that thou lovest, young man? Ah, reassure
+thyself, I will not tell all this to thy love. I am mad, but I am
+gentle, very gentle; and three days ago I was beautiful. Is she also
+beautiful? Ah! she will weep some day! Yet, if she can weep, she will be
+happy!"
+
+And then suddenly Jeanne began to recite the service for the dead in a
+monotonous voice, but with incredible rapidity, still seated on the bed,
+and turning the beads of a long rosary.
+
+Suddenly the door opened; she looked up, and fled through another door
+in the partition.
+
+"What the devil's that-an imp or an angel, saying the funeral service
+over you, and you under the clothes, as if you were in a shroud?"
+
+This abrupt exclamation came from the rough voice of Grandchamp, who was
+so astonished at what he had seen that he dropped the glass of lemonade
+he was bringing in. Finding that his master did not answer, he became
+still more alarmed, and raised the bedclothes. Cinq-Mars's face was
+crimson, and he seemed asleep, but his old domestic saw that the blood
+rushing to his head had almost suffocated him; and, seizing a jug full
+of cold water, he dashed the whole of it in his face. This military
+remedy rarely fails to effect its purpose, and Cinq-Mars returned to
+himself with a start.
+
+"Ah! it is thou, Grandchamp; what frightful dreams I have had!"
+
+"Peste! Monsieur le Marquis, your dreams, on the contrary, are very
+pretty ones. I saw the tail of the last as I came in; your choice is not
+bad."
+
+"What dost mean, blockhead?"
+
+"Nay, not a blockhead, Monsieur; I have good eyes, and I have seen what
+I have seen. But, really ill as you are, Monsieur le Marechal would
+never--"
+
+"Thou art utterly doting, my friend; give me some drink, I am parched
+with thirst. Oh, heavens! what a night! I still see all those women."
+
+"All those women, Monsieur? Why, how many are here?"
+
+"I am speaking to thee of a dream, blockhead. Why standest there like a
+post, instead of giving me some drink?"
+
+"Enough, Monsieur; I will get more lemonade." And going to the door, he
+called over the staircase, "Germain! Etienne! Louis!"
+
+The innkeeper answered from below: "Coming, Monsieur, coming; they have
+been helping me to catch the madwoman."
+
+"What mad-woman?" said Cinq-Mars, rising in bed.
+
+The host entered, and, taking off his cotton cap, said, respectfully:
+"Oh, nothing, Monsieur le Marquis, only a madwoman that came here last
+night on foot, and whom we put in the next room; but she has escaped,
+and we have not been able to catch her."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars, returning to himself and putting his hand to
+his eyes, "it was not a dream, then. And my mother, where is she? and
+the Marechal, and--Ah! and yet it is but a fearful dream! Leave me."
+
+As he said this, he turned toward the wall, and again pulled the clothes
+over his head.
+
+The innkeeper, in amazement, touched his forehead three times with his
+finger, looking at Grandchamp as if to ask him whether his master were
+also mad.
+
+Grandchamp motioned him away in silence, and in order to watch the
+rest of the night by the side of Cinq-Mars, who was in a deep sleep, he
+seated himself in a large armchair, covered with tapestry, and began to
+squeeze lemons into a glass of water with an air as grave and severe as
+Archimedes calculating the condensing power of his mirrors.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE CABINET
+
+   Men have rarely the courage to be wholly good or wholly bad.
+                         MACHIAVELLI.
+
+Let us leave our young traveller sleeping; he will soon pursue a long
+and beautiful route. Since we are at liberty to turn to all points of
+the map, we will fix our eyes upon the city of Narbonne.
+
+Behold the Mediterranean, not far distant, washing with its blue waters
+the sandy shores. Penetrate into that city resembling Athens; and to
+find him who reigns there, follow that dark and irregular street, mount
+the steps of the old archiepiscopal palace, and enter the first and
+largest of its apartments.
+
+This was a very long salon, lighted by a series of high lancet windows,
+of which the upper part only retained the blue, yellow, and red panes
+that shed a mysterious light through the apartment. A large round table
+occupied its entire breadth, near the great fireplace; around this
+table, covered with a colored cloth and scattered with papers and
+portfolios, were seated, bending over their pens, eight secretaries
+copying letters which were handed to them from a smaller table. Other
+men quietly arranged the completed papers in the shelves of a bookcase,
+partly filled with books bound in black.
+
+Notwithstanding the number of persons assembled in the room, one might
+have heard the movements of the wings of a fly. The only interruption
+to the silence was the sound of pens rapidly gliding over paper, and a
+shrill voice dictating, stopping every now and then to cough. This
+voice proceeded from a great armchair placed beside the fire, which was
+blazing, notwithstanding the heat of the season and of the country. It
+was one of those armchairs that you still see in old castles, and which
+seem made to read one's self to sleep in, so easy is every part of it.
+The sitter sinks into a circular cushion of down; if the head leans
+back, the cheeks rest upon pillows covered with silk, and the seat
+juts out so far beyond the elbows that one may believe the provident
+upholsterers of our forefathers sought to provide that the book should
+make no noise in falling so as to awaken the sleeper.
+
+But we will quit this digression, and speak of the man who occupied
+the chair, and who was very far from sleeping. He had a broad forehead,
+bordered with thin white hair, large, mild eyes, a wan face, to which
+a small, pointed, white beard gave that air of subtlety and finesse
+noticeable in all the portraits of the period of Louis XIII. His mouth
+was almost without lips, which Lavater deems an indubitable sign of an
+evil mind, and it was framed in a pair of slight gray moustaches and a
+'royale'--an ornament then in fashion, which somewhat resembled a comma
+in form. The old man wore a close red cap, a large 'robe-dechambre', and
+purple silk stockings; he was no less a personage than Armand Duplessis,
+Cardinal de Richelieu.
+
+Near him, around the small table, sat four youths from fifteen to twenty
+years of age; these were pages, or domestics, according to the term then
+in use, which signified familiars, friends of the house. This custom
+was a relic of feudal patronage, which still existed in our manners. The
+younger members of high families received wages from the great lords,
+and were devoted to their service in all things, challenging the first
+comer at the wish of their patron. The pages wrote letters from the
+outline previously given them by the Cardinal, and after their master
+had glanced at them, passed them to the secretaries, who made fair
+copies. The Duke, for his part, wrote on his knee private notes upon
+small slips of paper, inserting them in almost all the packets before
+sealing them, which he did with his own hand.
+
+He had been writing a short time, when, in a mirror before him, he saw
+the youngest of his pages writing something on a sheet of paper much
+smaller than the official sheet. He hastily wrote a few words, and
+then slipped the paper under the large sheet which, much against his
+inclination, he had to fill; but, seated behind the Cardinal, he hoped
+that the difficulty with which the latter turned would prevent him
+from seeing the little manoeuvre he had tried to exercise with much
+dexterity. Suddenly Richelieu said to him, dryly, "Come here, Monsieur
+Olivier."
+
+These words came like a thunder-clap on the poor boy, who seemed about
+sixteen. He rose at once, however, and stood before the minister, his
+arms hanging at his side and his head lowered.
+
+The other pages and the secretaries stirred no more than soldiers when
+a comrade is struck down by a ball, so accustomed were they to this kind
+of summons. The present one, however, was more energetic than usual.
+
+"What were you writing?"
+
+"My lord, what your Eminence dictated."
+
+"What!"
+
+"My lord, the letter to Don Juan de Braganza."
+
+"No evasions, Monsieur; you were writing something else."
+
+"My lord," said the page, with tears in his eyes, "it was a letter to
+one of my cousins."
+
+"Let me see it."
+
+The page trembled in every limb and was obliged to lean against the
+chimney-piece, as he said, in a hardly audible tone, "It is impossible."
+
+"Monsieur le Vicomte Olivier d'Entraigues," said the minister, without
+showing the least emotion, "you are no longer in my service." The page
+withdrew. He knew that there was no reply; so, slipping his letter into
+his pocket, and opening the folding-doors just wide enough to allow his
+exit, he glided out like a bird escaped from the cage.
+
+The minister went on writing the note upon his knee.
+
+The secretaries redoubled their silent zeal, when suddenly the two wings
+of the door were thrown back and showed, standing in the opening, a
+Capuchin, who, bowing, with his arms crossed over his breast, seemed
+waiting for alms or for an order to retire. He had a dark complexion,
+and was deeply pitted with smallpox; his eyes, mild, but somewhat
+squinting, were almost hidden by his thick eyebrows, which met in the
+middle of his forehead; on his mouth played a crafty, mischievous, and
+sinister smile; his beard was straight and red, and his costume was that
+of the order of St. Francis in all its repulsiveness, with sandals on
+his bare feet, that looked altogether unfit to tread upon carpet.
+
+Such as he was, however, this personage appeared to create a great
+sensation throughout the room; for, without finishing the phrase, the
+line, or even the word begun, every person rose and went out by the door
+where he was still standing--some saluting him as they passed, others
+turning away their heads, and the young pages holding their fingers to
+their noses, but not till they were behind him, for they seemed to have
+a secret fear of him. When they had all passed out, he entered, making a
+profound reverence, because the door was still open; but, as soon as
+it was shut, unceremoniously advancing, he seated himself near the
+Cardinal, who, having recognized him by the general movement he created,
+saluted him with a dry and silent inclination of the head, regarding
+him fixedly, as if awaiting some news and unable to avoid knitting his
+brows, as at the aspect of a spider or some other disagreeable creature.
+
+The Cardinal could not resist this movement of displeasure, because
+he felt himself obliged, by the presence of his agent, to resume those
+profound and painful conversations from which he had for some days
+been free, in a country whose pure air, favorable to him, had somewhat
+soothed the pain of his malady; that malady had changed to a slow fever,
+but its intervals were long enough to enable him to forget during its
+absence that it must return. Giving, therefore, a little rest to his
+hitherto indefatigable mind, he had been awaiting, for the first time in
+his life perhaps, without impatience, the return of the couriers he had
+sent in all directions, like the rays of a sun which alone gave life and
+movement to France. He had not expected the visit he now received,
+and the sight of one of those men, whom, to use his own expression, he
+"steeped in crime," rendered all the habitual disquietudes of his
+life more present to him, without entirely dissipating the cloud of
+melancholy which at that time obscured his thoughts.
+
+The beginning of his conversation was tinged with the gloomy hue of his
+late reveries; but he soon became more animated and vigorous than ever,
+when his powerful mind had reentered the real world.
+
+His confidant, seeing that he was expected to break the silence, did so
+in this abrupt fashion:
+
+"Well, my lord, of what are you thinking?"
+
+"Alas, Joseph, of what should we all think, but of our future happiness
+in a better life? For many days I have been reflecting that human
+interests have too much diverted me from this great thought; and I
+repent me of having spent some moments of my leisure in profane works,
+such as my tragedies, 'Europe' and 'Mirame,' despite the glory they have
+already gained me among our brightest minds--a glory which will extend
+unto futurity."
+
+Father Joseph, full of what he had to say, was at first surprised at
+this opening; but he knew his master too well to betray his feelings,
+and, well skilled in changing the course of his ideas, replied:
+
+"Yes, their merit is very great, and France will regret that these
+immortal works are not followed by similar productions."
+
+"Yes, my dear Joseph; but it is in vain that such men as Boisrobert,
+Claveret, Colletet, Corneille, and, above all, the celebrated Mairet,
+have proclaimed these tragedies the finest that the present or any past
+age has produced. I reproach myself for them, I swear to you, as for a
+mortal sin, and I now, in my hours of repose, occupy myself only with my
+'Methode des Controverses', and my book on the 'Perfection du Chretien.'
+I remember that I am fifty-six years old, and that I have an incurable
+malady."
+
+"These are calculations which your enemies make as precisely as
+your Eminence," said the priest, who began to be annoyed with this
+conversation, and was eager to talk of other matters.
+
+The blood mounted to the Cardinal's face.
+
+"I know it! I know it well!" he said; "I know all their black villainy,
+and I am prepared for it. But what news is there?"
+
+"According to our arrangement, my lord, we have removed Mademoiselle
+d'Hautefort, as we removed Mademoiselle de la Fayette before her. So far
+it is well; but her place is not filled, and the King--"
+
+"Well!"
+
+"The King has ideas which he never had before."
+
+"Ha! and which come not from me? 'Tis well, truly," said the minister,
+with an ironic sneer.
+
+"What, my lord, leave the place of the favorite vacant for six whole
+days? It is not prudent; pardon me for saying so."
+
+"He has ideas--ideas!" repeated Richelieu, with a kind of terror; "and
+what are they?"
+
+"He talks of recalling the Queen-mother," said the Capuchin, in a low
+voice; "of recalling her from Cologne."
+
+"Marie de Medicis!" cried the Cardinal, striking the arms of his chair
+with his hands. "No, by Heaven, she shall not again set her foot upon
+the soil of France, whence I drove her, step by step! England has not
+dared to receive her, exiled by me; Holland fears to be crushed by
+her; and my kingdom to receive her! No, no, such an idea could not have
+originated with himself! To recall my enemy! to recall his mother! What
+perfidy! He would not have dared to think of it."
+
+Then, having mused for a moment, he added, fixing a penetrating look
+still full of burning anger upon Father Joseph:
+
+"But in what terms did he express this desire? Tell me his precise
+words."
+
+"He said publicly; and in the presence of Monsieur: 'I feel that one of
+the first duties of a Christian is to be a good son, and I will resist
+no longer the murmurs of my conscience.'"
+
+"Christian! conscience! these are not his expressions. It is Father
+Caussin--it is his confessor who is betraying me," cried the Cardinal.
+"Perfidious Jesuit! I pardoned thee thy intrigue with La Fayette; but
+I will not pass over thy secret counsels. I will have this confessor
+dismissed, Joseph; he is an enemy to the State, I see it clearly. But
+I myself have acted with negligence for some days past; I have not
+sufficiently hastened the arrival of the young d'Effiat, who will
+doubtless succeed. He is handsome and intellectual, they say. What a
+blunder! I myself merit disgrace. To leave that fox of a Jesuit with
+the King, without having given him my secret instructions, without a
+hostage, a pledge, or his fidelity to my orders! What neglect! Joseph,
+take a pen, and write what I shall dictate for the other confessor, whom
+we will choose better. I think of Father Sirmond."
+
+Father Joseph sat down at the large table, ready to write, and the
+Cardinal dictated to him those duties, of a new kind, which shortly
+afterward he dared to have given to the King, who received them,
+respected them, and learned them by heart as the commandments of the
+Church. They have come down to us, a terrible monument of the empire
+that a man may seize upon by means of circumstances, intrigues, and
+audacity:
+
+   "I. A prince should have a prime minister, and that minister three
+   qualities: (1) He should have no passion but for his prince; (2) He
+   should be able and faithful; (3) He should be an ecclesiastic.
+
+   "II. A prince ought perfectly to love his prime minister.
+
+   "III. Ought never to change his prime minister.
+
+   "IV. Ought to tell him all things.
+
+   "V. To give him free access to his person.
+
+   "VI. To give him sovereign authority over his people.
+
+   "VII. Great honors and large possessions.
+
+   "VIII. A prince has no treasure more precious than his prime
+   minister.
+
+   "IX. A prince should not put faith in what people say against his
+   prime minister, nor listen to any such slanders.
+
+   "X. A prince should reveal to his prime minister all that is said
+   against him, even though he has been bound to keep it secret.
+
+   "XI. A prince should prefer not only the well-being of the State,
+   but also his prime minister, to all his relations."
+
+Such were the commandments of the god of France, less astonishing in
+themselves than the terrible naivete which made him bequeath them to
+posterity, as if posterity also must believe in him.
+
+While he dictated his instructions, reading them from a small piece of
+paper, written with his own hand, a deep melancholy seemed to possess
+him more and more at each word; and when he had ended, he fell back in
+his chair, his arms crossed, and his head sunk on his breast.
+
+Father Joseph, dropping his pen, arose and was inquiring whether he were
+ill, when he heard issue from the depths of his chest these mournful and
+memorable words:
+
+"What utter weariness! what endless trouble! If the ambitious man
+could see me, he would flee to a desert. What is my power? A miserable
+reflection of the royal power; and what labors to fix upon my star
+that incessantly wavering ray! For twenty years I have been in vain
+attempting it. I can not comprehend that man. He dare not flee me; but
+they take him from me--he glides through my fingers. What things could
+I not have done with his hereditary rights, had I possessed them? But,
+employing such infinite calculation in merely keeping one's balance,
+what of genius remains for high enterprises? I hold Europe in my hand,
+yet I myself am suspended by a trembling hair. What is it to me that
+I can cast my eyes confidently over the map of Europe, when all my
+interests are concentrated in his narrow cabinet, and its few feet of
+space give me more trouble to govern than the whole country besides?
+See, then, what it is to be a prime minister! Envy me, my guards, if you
+can."
+
+His features were so distorted as to give reason to fear some accident;
+and at the same moment he was seized with a long and violent fit of
+coughing, which ended in a slight hemorrhage. He saw that Father Joseph,
+alarmed, was about to seize a gold bell that stood on the table, and,
+suddenly rising with all the vivacity of a young man, he stopped him,
+saying:
+
+"'Tis nothing, Joseph; I sometimes yield to these fits of depression;
+but they do not last long, and I leave them stronger than before. As for
+my health, I know my condition perfectly; but that is not the business
+in hand. What have you done at Paris? I am glad to know the King has
+arrived in Bearn, as I wished; we shall be able to keep a closer watch
+upon him. How did you induce him to come away?"
+
+"A battle at Perpignan."
+
+"That is not bad. Well, we can arrange it for him; that occupation will
+do as well as another just now. But the young Queen, what says she?"
+
+"She is still furious against you; her correspondence discovered, the
+questioning to which you had subjected her--"
+
+"Bah! a madrigal and a momentary submission on my part will make her
+forget that I have separated her from her house of Austria and from the
+country of her Buckingham. But how does she occupy herself?"
+
+"In machinations with Monsieur. But as we have his entire confidence,
+here are the daily accounts of their interviews."
+
+"I shall not trouble myself to read them; while the Duc de Bouillon
+remains in Italy I have nothing to fear in that quarter. She may have
+as many petty plots with Gaston in the chimney-corner as she pleases; he
+never got beyond his excellent intentions, forsooth! He carries nothing
+into effect but his withdrawal from the kingdom. He has had his third
+dismissal; I will manage a fourth for him whenever he pleases; he is not
+worth the pistol-shot you had the Comte de Soissons settled with, and
+yet the poor Comte had scarce more energy than he."
+
+And the Cardinal, reseating himself in his chair, began to laugh gayly
+enough for a statesman.
+
+"I always laugh when I think of their expedition to Amiens. They had me
+between them, Each had fully five hundred gentlemen with him, armed to
+the teeth, and all going to despatch me, like Concini; but the great
+Vitry was not there. They very quietly let me talk for an hour with them
+about the hunt and the Fete Dieu, and neither of them dared make a sign
+to their cut-throats. I have since learned from Chavigny that for two
+long months they had been waiting that happy moment. For myself,
+indeed, I observed nothing, except that little villain, the Abbe de
+Gondi,--[Afterward Cardinal de Retz.]--who prowled near me, and seemed
+to have something hidden under his sleeve; it was he that made me get
+into the coach."
+
+"Apropos of the Abbe, my lord, the Queen insists upon making him
+coadjutor."
+
+"She is mad! he will ruin her if she connects herself with him; he's a
+musketeer in canonicals, the devil in a cassock. Read his 'Histoire de
+Fiesque'; you may see himself in it. He will be nothing while I live."
+
+"How is it that with a judgment like yours you bring another ambitious
+man of his age to court?"
+
+"That is an entirely different matter. This young Cinq-Mars, my friend,
+will be a mere puppet. He will think of nothing but his ruff and his
+shoulder-knots; his handsome figure assures me of this. I know that he
+is gentle and weak; it was for this reason I preferred him to his elder
+brother. He will do whatever we wish."
+
+"Ah, my lord," said the monk, with an expression of doubt, "I never
+place much reliance on people whose exterior is so calm; the hidden
+flame is often all the more dangerous. Recollect the Marechal d'Effiat,
+his father."
+
+"But I tell you he is a boy, and I shall bring him up; while Gondi is
+already an accomplished conspirator, an ambitious knave who sticks at
+nothing. He has dared to dispute Madame de la Meilleraie with me. Can
+you conceive it? He dispute with me! A petty priestling, who has
+no other merit than a little lively small-talk and a cavalier air.
+Fortunately, the husband himself took care to get rid of him."
+
+Father Joseph, who listened with equal impatience to his master when
+he spoke of his 'bonnes fortunes' or of his verses, made, however, a
+grimace which he meant to be very sly and insinuating, but which was
+simply ugly and awkward; he fancied that the expression of his mouth,
+twisted about like a monkey's, conveyed, "Ah! who can resist your
+Eminence?" But his Eminence only read there, "I am a clown who knows
+nothing of the great world"; and, without changing his voice, he
+suddenly said, taking up a despatch from the table:
+
+"The Duc de Rohan is dead, that is good news; the Huguenots are ruined.
+He is a lucky man. I had him condemned by the Parliament of Toulouse
+to be torn in pieces by four horses, and here he dies quietly on the
+battlefield of Rheinfeld. But what matters? The result is the same.
+Another great head is laid low! How they have fallen since that of
+Montmorency! I now see hardly any that do not bow before me. We have
+already punished almost all our dupes of Versailles; assuredly they have
+nothing with which to reproach me. I simply exercise against them the
+law of retaliation, treating them as they would have treated me in the
+council of the Queen-mother. The old dotard Bassompierre shall be doomed
+for perpetual imprisonment, and so shall the assassin Marechal de
+Vitry, for that was the punishment they voted me. As for Marillac, who
+counselled death, I reserve death for him at the first false step he
+makes, and I beg thee, Joseph, to remind me of him; we must be just to
+all. The Duc de Bouillon still keeps up his head proudly on account
+of his Sedan, but I shall make him yield. Their blindness is truly
+marvellous! They think themselves all free to conspire, not perceiving
+that they are merely fluttering at the ends of the threads that I hold
+in my hand, and which I lengthen now and then to give them air and
+space. Did the Huguenots cry out as one man at the death of their dear
+duke?"
+
+"Less so than at the affair of Loudun, which is happily concluded."
+
+"What! Happily? I hope that Grandier is dead?"
+
+"Yes; that is what I meant. Your Eminence may be fully satisfied. All
+was settled in twenty-four hours. He is no longer thought of. Only
+Laubardemont committed a slight blunder in making the trial public. This
+caused a little tumult; but we have a description of the rioters, and
+measures have been taken to seek them out."
+
+"This is well, very well. Urbain was too superior a man to be left
+there; he was turning Protestant. I would wager that he would have ended
+by abjuring. His work against the celibacy of priests made me conjecture
+this; and in cases of doubt, remember, Joseph, it is always best to cut
+the tree before the fruit is gathered. These Huguenots, you see, form
+a regular republic in the State. If once they had a majority in France,
+the monarchy would be lost, and they would establish some popular
+government which might be durable."
+
+"And what deep pain do they daily cause our holy Father the Pope!" said
+Joseph.
+
+"Ah," interrupted the Cardinal, "I see; thou wouldst remind me of his
+obstinacy in not giving thee the hat. Be tranquil; I will speak to-day
+on the subject to the new ambassador we are sending, the Marechal
+d'Estrees, and he will, on his arrival, doubtless obtain that which
+has been in train these two years--thy nomination to the cardinalate.
+I myself begin to think that the purple would become thee well, for it
+does not show blood-stains."
+
+And both burst into laughter--the one as a master, overwhelming the
+assassin whom he pays with his utter scorn; the other as a slave,
+resigned to all the humiliation by which he rises.
+
+The laughter which the ferocious pleasantry of the old minister had
+excited had hardly subsided, when the door opened, and a page announced
+several couriers who had arrived simultaneously from different points.
+Father Joseph arose, and, leaning against the wall like an Egyptian
+mummy, allowed nothing to appear upon his face but an expression of
+stolid contemplation. Twelve messengers entered successively, attired in
+various disguises; one appeared to be a Swiss soldier, another a sutler,
+a third a master-mason. They had been introduced into the palace by a
+secret stairway and corridor, and left the cabinet by a door opposite
+that at which they had entered, without any opportunity of meeting one
+another or communicating the contents of their despatches. Each laid a
+rolled or folded packet of papers on the large table, spoke for a moment
+with the Cardinal in the embrasure of a window and withdrew. Richelieu
+had risen on the entrance of the first messenger, and, careful to do all
+himself, had received them all, listened to all, and with his own hand
+had closed the door upon all. When the last was gone, he signed to
+Father Joseph, and, without speaking, both proceeded to unfold, or,
+rather, to tear open, the packets of despatches, and in a few words
+communicated to each other the substance of the letters.
+
+"The Due de Weimar pursues his advantage; the Duc Charles is defeated.
+Our General is in good spirits; here are some of his lively remarks at
+table. Good!"
+
+"Monseigneur le Vicomte de Turenne has retaken the towns of Lorraine;
+and here are his private conversations--"
+
+"Oh! pass over them; they can not be dangerous. He is ever a good and
+honest man, in no way mixing himself up with politics; so that some one
+gives him a little army to play at chess with, no matter against whom,
+he is content. We shall always be good friends."
+
+"The Long Parliament still endures in England. The Commons pursue
+their project; there are massacres in Ireland. The Earl of Strafford is
+condemned to death."
+
+"To death! Horrible!"
+
+"I will read: 'His Majesty Charles I has not had the courage to sign the
+sentence, but he has appointed four commissioners.'"
+
+"Weak king, I abandon thee! Thou shalt have no more of our money. Fall,
+since thou art ungrateful! Unhappy Wentworth!"
+
+A tear rose in the eyes of Richelieu as he said this; the man who had
+but now played with the lives of so many others wept for a minister
+abandoned by his prince. The similarity between that position and his
+own affected him, and it was his own case he deplored in the person of
+the foreign minister. He ceased to read aloud the despatches that
+he opened, and his confidant followed his example. He examined with
+scrupulous attention the detailed accounts of the most minute and
+secret actions of each person of any importance-accounts which he always
+required to be added to the official despatches made by his able spies.
+All the despatches to the King passed through his hands, and were
+carefully revised so as to reach the King amended to the state in which
+he wished him to read them. The private notes were all carefully burned
+by the monk after the Cardinal had ascertained their contents. The
+latter, however, seemed by no means satisfied, and he was walking
+quickly to and fro with gestures expressive of anxiety, when the door
+opened, and a thirteenth courier entered. This one seemed a boy hardly
+fourteen years old; he held under his arm a packet sealed with black
+for the King, and gave to the Cardinal only a small letter, of which
+a stolen glance from Joseph could collect but four words. The Cardinal
+started, tore the billet into a thousand pieces, and, bending down to
+the ear of the boy, spoke to him for a long time; all that Joseph heard
+was, as the messenger went out:
+
+"Take good heed to this; not until twelve hours from this time."
+
+During this aside of the Cardinal, Joseph was occupied in concealing an
+infinite number of libels from Flanders and Germany, which the minister
+always insisted upon seeing, however bitter they might be to him. In
+this respect, he affected a philosophy which he was far from possessing,
+and to deceive those around him he would sometimes pretend that his
+enemies were not wholly wrong, and would outwardly laugh at their
+pleasantries; but those who knew his character better detected bitter
+rage lurking under this apparent moderation, and knew that he was never
+satisfied until he had got the hostile book condemned by the parliament
+to be burned in the Place de Greve, as "injurious to the King, in the
+person of his minister, the most illustrious Cardinal," as we read in
+the decrees of the time, and that his only regret was that the author
+was not in the place of his book--a satisfaction he gave himself
+whenever he could, as in the case of Urbain Grandier.
+
+It was his colossal pride which he thus avenged, without avowing it even
+to himself--nay, laboring for a length of time, sometimes for a whole
+twelvemonth together, to persuade himself that the interest of the State
+was concerned in the matter. Ingenious in connecting his private affairs
+with the affairs of France, he had convinced himself that she bled
+from the wounds which he received. Joseph, careful not to irritate
+his ill-temper at this moment, put aside and concealed a book entitled
+'Mystres Politiques du Cardinal de la Rochelle'; also another,
+attributed to a monk of Munich, entitled 'Questions quolibetiques,
+ajustees au temps present, et Impiete Sanglante du dieu Mars'. The
+worthy advocate Aubery, who has given us one of the most faithful
+histories of the most eminent Cardinal, is transported with rage at the
+mere title of the first of these books, and exclaims that "the great
+minister had good reason to glorify himself that his enemies, inspired
+against their will with the same enthusiasm which conferred the gift of
+rendering oracles upon the ass of Balaam, upon Caiaphas and others,
+who seemed most unworthy of the gift of prophecy, called him with good
+reason Cardinal de la Rochelle, since three years after their writing
+he reduced that town; thus Scipio was called Africanus for having
+subjugated that PROVINCE!" Very little was wanting to make Father
+Joseph, who had necessarily the same feelings, express his indignation
+in the same terms; for he remembered with bitterness the ridiculous part
+he had played in the siege of Rochelle, which, though not a province
+like Africa, had ventured to resist the most eminent Cardinal, and into
+which Father Joseph, piquing himself on his military skill, had proposed
+to introduce the troops through a sewer. However, he restrained himself,
+and had time to conceal the libel in the pocket of his brown robe ere
+the minister had dismissed his young courier and returned to the table.
+
+"And now to depart, Joseph," he said. "Open the doors to all that
+court which besieges me, and let us go to the King, who awaits me at
+Perpignan; this time I have him for good."
+
+The Capuchin drew back, and immediately the pages, throwing open the
+gilded doors, announced in succession the greatest lords of the period,
+who had obtained permission from the King to come and salute the
+minister. Some, even, under the pretext of illness or business, had
+departed secretly, in order not to be among the last at Richelieu's
+reception; and the unhappy monarch found himself almost as alone as
+other kings find themselves on their deathbeds. But with him, the throne
+seemed, in the eyes of the court, his dying couch, his reign a continual
+last agony, and his minister a threatening successor.
+
+Two pages, of the first families of France, stood at the door, where the
+ushers announced each of the persons whom Father Joseph had found in the
+ante room. The Cardinal, still seated in his great arm chair, remained
+motionless as the common couriers entered, inclined his head to the more
+distinguished, and to princes alone put his hands on the elbows of his
+chair and slightly rose; each person, having profoundly saluted him,
+stood before him near the fireplace, waited till he had spoken to him,
+and then, at a wave of his hand, completed the circuit of the room, and
+went out by the same door at which he had entered, paused for a moment
+to salute Father Joseph, who aped his master, and who for that reason
+had been named "his Gray Eminence," and at last quitted the palace,
+unless, indeed, he remained standing behind the chair, if the minister
+had signified that he should, which was considered a token of very great
+favor.
+
+He allowed to pass several insignificant persons, and many whose merits
+were useless to him; the first whom he stopped in the procession was the
+Marechal d'Estrees, who, about to set out on an embassy to Rome, came
+to make his adieux; those behind him stopped short. This circumstance
+warned the courtiers in the anteroom that a longer conversation than
+usual was on foot, and Father Joseph, advancing to the threshold,
+exchanged with the Cardinal a glance which seemed to say, on the one
+side, "Remember the promise you have just made me," on the other, "Set
+your mind at rest." At the same time, the expert Capuchin let his master
+see that he held upon his arm one of his victims, whom he was forming
+into a docile instrument; this was a young gentleman who wore a very
+short green cloak, a pourpoint of the same color, close-fitting red
+breeches, with glittering gold garters below the knee-the costume of the
+pages of Monsieur. Father Joseph, indeed, spoke to him secretly, but not
+in the way the Cardinal imagined; for he contemplated being his equal,
+and was preparing other connections, in case of defection on the part of
+the prime minister.
+
+"Tell Monsieur not to trust in appearances, and that he has no servant
+more faithful than I. The Cardinal is on the decline, and my conscience
+tells me to warn against his faults him who may inherit the royal power
+during the minority. To give your great Prince a proof of my faith, tell
+him that it is intended to arrest his friend, Puy-Laurens, and that he
+had better be kept out of the way, or the Cardinal will put him in the
+Bastille."
+
+While the servant was thus betraying his master, the master, not to
+be behindhand with him, betrayed his servant. His self-love, and some
+remnant of respect to the Church, made him shudder at the idea of seeing
+a contemptible agent invested with the same hat which he himself wore
+as a crown, and seated as high as himself, except as to the precarious
+position of minister. Speaking, therefore, in an undertone to the
+Marechal d'Estrees, he said:
+
+"It is not necessary to importune Urbain VIII any further in favor of
+the Capuchin you see yonder; it is enough that his Majesty has deigned
+to name him for the cardinalate. One can readily conceive the repugnance
+of his Holiness to clothe this mendicant in the Roman purple."
+
+Then, passing on to general matters, he continued:
+
+"Truly, I know not what can have cooled the Holy Father toward us; what
+have we done that was not for the glory of our Holy Mother, the Catholic
+Church?"
+
+"I myself said the first mass at Rochelle, and you see for yourself,
+Monsieur le Marechal, that our habit is everywhere; and even in your
+armies, the Cardinal de la Vallette has commanded gloriously in the
+palatinate."
+
+"And has just made a very fine retreat," said the Marechal, laying a
+slight emphasis upon the word.
+
+The minister continued, without noticing this little outburst of
+professional jealousy, and raising his voice, said:
+
+"God has shown that He did not scorn to send the spirit of victory upon
+his Levites, for the Duc de Weimar did not more powerfully aid in the
+conquest of Lorraine than did this pious Cardinal, and never was a naval
+army better commanded than by our Archbishop of Bordeaux at Rochelle."
+
+It was well known that at this very time the minister was incensed
+against this prelate, whose haughtiness was so overbearing, and whose
+impertinent ebullitions were so frequent as to have involved him in
+two very disagreeable affairs at Bordeaux. Four years before, the Duc
+d'Epernon, then governor of Guyenne, followed by all his train and by
+his troops, meeting him among his clergy in a procession, had called
+him an insolent fellow, and given him two smart blows with his cane;
+whereupon the Archbishop had excommunicated him. And again, recently,
+despite this lesson, he had quarrelled with the Marechal de Vitry,
+from whom he had received "twenty blows with a cane or stick, which you
+please," wrote the Cardinal Duke to the Cardinal de la Vallette, "and
+I think he would like to excommunicate all France." In fact, he did
+excommunicate the Marechal's baton, remembering that in the former case
+the Pope had obliged the Duc d'Epernon to ask his pardon; but M. Vitry,
+who had caused the Marechal d'Ancre to be assassinated, stood too high
+at court for that, and the Archbishop, in addition to his beating, got
+well scolded by the minister.
+
+M. d'Estrees thought, therefore, sagely that there might be some irony
+in the Cardinal's manner of referring to the warlike talents of the
+Archbishop, and he answered, with perfect sang-froid:
+
+"It is true, my lord, no one can say that it was upon the sea he was
+beaten."
+
+His Eminence could not restrain a smile at this; but seeing that the
+electrical effect of that smile had created others in the hall, as well
+as whisperings and conjectures, he immediately resumed his gravity, and
+familiarly taking the Marechal's arm, said:
+
+"Come, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, you are ready at repartee. With you I
+should not fear Cardinal Albornos, or all the Borgias in the world--no,
+nor all the efforts of their Spain with the Holy Father."
+
+Then, raising his voice, and looking around, as if addressing himself to
+the silent, and, so to speak, captive assembly, he continued:
+
+"I hope that we shall no more be reproached, as formerly, for having
+formed an alliance with one of the greatest men of our day; but as
+Gustavus Adolphus is dead, the Catholic King will no longer have any
+pretext for soliciting the excommunication of the most Christian King.
+How say you, my dear lord?" addressing himself to the Cardinal de la
+Vallette, who now approached, fortunately without having heard the late
+allusion to himself. "Monsieur d'Estrees, remain near our chair; we have
+still many things to say to you, and you are not one too many in our
+conversations, for we have no secrets. Our policy is frank and open to
+all men; the interest of his Majesty and of the State--nothing more."
+
+The Marechal made a profound bow, fell back behind the chair of
+the minister, and gave place to the Cardinal de la Vallette, who,
+incessantly bowing and flattering and swearing devotion and entire
+obedience to the Cardinal, as if to expiate the obduracy of his father,
+the Duc d'Epernon, received in return a few vague words, to no meaning
+or purpose, the Cardinal all the while looking toward the door, to
+see who should follow. He had even the mortification to find himself
+abruptly interrupted by the minister, who cried at the most flattering
+period of his honeyed discourse:
+
+"Ah! is that you at last, my dear Fabert? How I have longed to see you,
+to talk of the siege!"
+
+The General, with a brusque and awkward manner, saluted the
+Cardinal-Generalissimo, and presented to him the officers who had come
+from the camp with him. He talked some time of the operations of the
+siege, and the Cardinal seemed to be paying him court now, in order
+to prepare him afterward for receiving his orders even on the field of
+battle; he spoke to the officers who accompanied him, calling them by
+their names, and questioning them about the camp.
+
+They all stood aside to make way for the Duc d'Angouleme--that Valois,
+who, having struggled against Henri IV, now prostrated himself before
+Richelieu. He solicited a command, having been only third in rank at
+the siege of Rochelle. After him came young Mazarin, ever supple and
+insinuating, but already confident in his fortune.
+
+The Duc d'Halluin came after them; the Cardinal broke off the
+compliments he was addressing to the others, to utter, in a loud voice:
+
+"Monsieur le Duc, I inform you with pleasure that the King has made you
+a marshal of France; you will sign yourself Schomberg, will you not, at
+Leucate, delivered, as we hope, by you? But pardon me, here is Monsieur
+de Montauron, who has doubtless something important to communicate."
+
+"Oh, no, my lord, I would only say that the poor young man whom you
+deigned to consider in your service is dying of hunger."
+
+"Pshaw! at such a moment to speak of things like this! Your little
+Corneille will not write anything good; we have only seen 'Le Cid' and
+'Les Horaces' as yet. Let him work, let him work! it is known that he
+is in my service, and that is disagreeable. However, since you interest
+yourself in the matter, I give him a pension of five hundred crowns on
+my privy purse."
+
+The Chancellor of the Exchequer retired, charmed with the liberality
+of the minister, and went home to receive with great affability the
+dedication of Cinna, wherein the great Corneille compares his soul
+to that of Augustus, and thanks him for having given alms 'a quelques
+Muses'.
+
+The Cardinal, annoyed by this importunity, rose, observing that the day
+was advancing, and that it was time to set out to visit the King.
+
+At this moment, and as the greatest noblemen present were offering their
+arms to aid him in walking, a man in the robe of a referendary advanced
+toward him, saluting him with a complacent and confident smile which
+astonished all the people there, accustomed to the great world, seeming
+to say: "We have secret affairs together; you shall see how agreeable he
+makes himself to me. I am at home in his cabinet." His heavy and awkward
+manner, however, betrayed a very inferior being; it was Laubardemont.
+
+Richelieu knit his brows when he saw him, and cast a glance at Joseph;
+then, turning toward those who surrounded him, he said, with bitter
+scorn:
+
+"Is there some criminal about us to be apprehended?"
+
+Then, turning his back upon the discomfited Laubardemont, the Cardinal
+left him redder than his robe, and, preceded by the crowd of personages
+who were to escort him in carriages or on horseback, he descended the
+great staircase of the palace.
+
+All the people and the authorities of Narbonne viewed this royal
+departure with amazement.
+
+The Cardinal entered alone a spacious square litter, in which he was
+to travel to Perpignan, his infirmities not permitting him to go in
+a coach, or to perform the journey on horseback. This kind of moving
+chamber contained a bed, a table, and a small chair for the page who
+wrote or read for him. This machine, covered with purple damask, was
+carried by eighteen men, who were relieved at intervals of a league;
+they were selected among his guards, and always performed this service
+of honor with uncovered heads, however hot or wet the weather might be.
+The Duc d'Angouleme, the Marechals de Schomberg and d'Estrees, Fabert,
+and other dignitaries were on horseback beside the litter; after them,
+among the most prominent were the Cardinal de la Vallette and Mazarin,
+with Chavigny, and the Marechal de Vitry, anxious to avoid the Bastille,
+with which it was said he was threatened.
+
+Two coaches followed for the Cardinal's secretaries, physicians, and
+confessor; then eight others, each with four horses, for his gentlemen,
+and twenty-four mules for his luggage. Two hundred musketeers on foot
+marched close behind him, and his company of men-at-arms of the guard
+and his light-horse, all gentlemen, rode before and behind him on
+splendid horses.
+
+Such was the equipage in which the prime minister proceeded to
+Perpignan; the size of the litter often made it necessary to enlarge the
+roads, and knock down the walls of some of the towns and villages on the
+way, into which it could not otherwise enter, "so that," say the authors
+and manuscripts of the time, full of a sincere admiration for all this
+luxury--"so that he seemed a conqueror entering by the breach." We have
+sought in vain with great care in these documents, for any account of
+proprietors or inhabitants of these dwellings so making room for his
+passage who shared in this admiration; but we have been unable to find
+any mention of such.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. THE INTERVIEW
+
+The pompous cortege of the Cardinal halted at the beginning of the camp.
+All the armed troops were drawn up in the finest order; and amid the
+sound of cannon and the music of each regiment the litter traversed a
+long line of cavalry and infantry, formed from the outermost tent to
+that of the minister, pitched at some distance from the royal quarters,
+and which its purple covering distinguished at a distance. Each general
+of division obtained a nod or a word from the Cardinal, who at length
+reaching his tent and, dismissing his train, shut himself in, waiting
+for the time to present himself to the King. But, before him, every
+person of his escort had repaired thither individually, and, without
+entering the royal abode, had remained in the long galleries covered
+with striped stuff, and arranged as became avenues leading to the
+Prince. The courtiers walking in groups, saluted one another and shook
+hands, regarding each other haughtily, according to their connections or
+the lords to whom they belonged. Others whispered together, and showed
+signs of astonishment, pleasure, or anger, which showed that something
+extraordinary had taken place. Among a thousand others, one singular
+dialogue occurred in a corner of the principal gallery.
+
+"May I ask, Monsieur l'Abbe, why you look at me so fixedly?"
+
+"Parbleu! Monsieur de Launay, it is because I'm curious to see what you
+will do. All the world abandons your Cardinal-Duke since your journey
+into Touraine; if you do not believe it, go and ask the people of
+Monsieur or of the Queen. You are behind-hand ten minutes by the
+watch with the Cardinal de la Vallette, who has just shaken hands with
+Rochefort and the gentlemen of the late Comte de Soissons, whom I shall
+regret as long as I live."
+
+"Monsieur de Gondi, I understand you; is it a challenge with which you
+honor me?"
+
+"Yes, Monsieur le Comte," answered the young Abbe, saluting him with all
+the gravity of the time; "I sought an occasion to challenge you in the
+name of Monsieur d'Attichi, my friend, with whom you had something to do
+at Paris."
+
+"Monsieur l'Abbe, I am at your command. I will seek my seconds; do you
+the same."
+
+"On horseback, with sword and pistol, I suppose?" added Gondi, with the
+air of a man arranging a party of pleasure, lightly brushing the sleeve
+of his cassock.
+
+"If you please," replied the other. And they separated for a time,
+saluting one another with the greatest politeness, and with profound
+bows.
+
+A brilliant crowd of gentlemen circulated around them in the gallery.
+They mingled with it to procure friends for the occasion. All the
+elegance of the costumes of the day was displayed by the court that
+morning-small cloaks of every color, in velvet or in satin, embroidered
+with gold or silver; crosses of St. Michael and of the Holy Ghost; the
+ruffs, the sweeping hat-plumes, the gold shoulder-knots, the chains
+by which the long swords hung: all glittered and sparkled, yet not so
+brilliantly as did the fiery glances of those warlike youths, or
+their sprightly conversation, or their intellectual laughter. Amid the
+assembly grave personages and great lords passed on, followed by their
+numerous gentlemen.
+
+The little Abbe de Gondi, who was very shortsighted, made his way
+through the crowd, knitting his brows and half shutting his eyes, that
+he might see the better, and twisting his moustache, for ecclesiastics
+wore them in those days. He looked closely at every one in order to
+recognize his friends, and at last stopped before a young man, very tall
+and dressed in black from head to foot; his sword, even, was of quite
+dark, bronzed steel. He was talking with a captain of the guards, when
+the Abbe de Gondi took him aside.
+
+"Monsieur de Thou," said he, "I need you as my second in an hour, on
+horseback, with sword and pistol, if you will do me that honor."
+
+"Monsieur, you know I am entirely at your service on all occasions.
+Where shall we meet?"
+
+"In front of the Spanish bastion, if you please."
+
+"Pardon me for returning to a conversation that greatly interests me. I
+will be punctual at the rendezvous."
+
+And De Thou quitted him to rejoin the Captain. He had said all this in
+the gentlest of voices with unalterable coolness, and even with somewhat
+of an abstracted manner.
+
+The little Abbe squeezed his hand with warm satisfaction, and continued
+his search.
+
+He did not so easily effect an agreement with the young lords to whom he
+addressed himself; for they knew him better than did De Thou, and when
+they saw him coming they tried to avoid him, or laughed at him openly,
+and would not promise to serve him.
+
+"Ah, Abbe! there you are hunting again; I'll swear it's a second you
+want," said the Duc de Beaufort.
+
+"And I wager," added M. de la Rochefoucauld, "that it's against one of
+the Cardinal-Duke's people."
+
+"You are both right, gentlemen; but since when have you laughed at
+affairs of honor?"
+
+"The saints forbid I should," said M. de Beaufort. "Men of the sword
+like us ever reverence tierce, quarte, and octave; but as for the folds
+of the cassock, I know nothing of them."
+
+"Pardieu! Monsieur, you know well enough that it does not embarrass
+my wrist, as I will prove to him who chooses; as to the gown itself, I
+should like to throw it into the gutter."
+
+"Is it to tear it that you fight so often?" asked La Rochefoucauld. "But
+remember, my dear Abbe, that you yourself are within it."
+
+Gondi turned to look at the clock, wishing to lose no more time in such
+sorry jests; but he had no better success elsewhere. Having stopped
+two gentlemen in the service of the young Queen, whom he thought
+ill-affected toward the Cardinal, and consequently glad to measure
+weapons with his creatures, one of them said to him very gravely:
+
+"Monsieur de Gondi, you know what has just happened; the King has said
+aloud, 'Whether our imperious Cardinal wishes it or not, the widow of
+Henri le Grand shall no longer remain in exile.' Imperious! the King
+never before said anything so strong as that, Monsieur l'Abbe, mark
+that. Imperious! it is open disgrace. Certainly no one will dare to
+speak to him; no doubt he will quit the court this very day."
+
+"I have heard this, Monsieur, but I have an affair--"
+
+"It is lucky for you he stopped short in the middle of your career."
+
+"An affair of honor--"
+
+"Whereas Mazarin is quite a friend of yours."
+
+"But will you, or will you not, listen to me?"
+
+"Yes, a friend indeed! your adventures are always uppermost in his
+thoughts. Your fine duel with Monsieur de Coutenan about the pretty
+little pin-maker,--he even spoke of it to the King. Adieu, my dear Abbe,
+we are in great haste; adieu, adieu!" And, taking his friend's arm, the
+young mocker, without listening to another word, walked rapidly down the
+gallery and disappeared in the throng.
+
+The poor Abbe was much mortified at being able to get only one second,
+and was watching sadly the passing of the hour and of the crowd, when
+he perceived a young gentleman whom he did not know, seated at a
+table, leaning on his elbow with a pensive air; he wore mourning which
+indicated no connection with any great house or party, and appeared to
+await, without any impatience, the time for attending the King, looking
+with a heedless air at those who surrounded him, and seeming not to
+notice or to know any of them.
+
+Gondi looked at him a moment, and accosted him without hesitation:
+
+"Monsieur, I have not the honor of your acquaintance, but a
+fencing-party can never be unpleasant to a man of honor; and if you will
+be my second, in a quarter of an hour we shall be on the ground. I am
+Paul de Gondi; and I have challenged Monsieur de Launay, one of the
+Cardinal's clique, but in other respects a very gallant fellow."
+
+The unknown, apparently not at all surprised at this address, replied,
+without changing his attitude: "And who are his seconds?"
+
+"Faith, I don't know; but what matters it who serves him? We stand no
+worse with our friends for having exchanged a thrust with them."
+
+The stranger smiled nonchalantly, paused for an instant to pass his hand
+through his long chestnut hair, and then said, looking idly at a large,
+round watch which hung at his waist:
+
+"Well, Monsieur, as I have nothing better to do, and as I have no
+friends here, I am with you; it will pass the time as well as anything
+else."
+
+And, taking his large, black-plumed hat from the table, he followed the
+warlike Abbe, who went quickly before him, often running back to hasten
+him on, like a child running before his father, or a puppy that goes
+backward and forward twenty times before it gets to the end of a street.
+
+Meanwhile, two ushers, attired in the royal livery, opened the great
+curtains which separated the gallery from the King's tent, and silence
+reigned. The courtiers began to enter slowly, and in succession, the
+temporary dwelling of the Prince. He received them all gracefully, and
+was the first to meet the view of each person introduced.
+
+Before a very small table surrounded with gilt armchairs stood Louis
+XIII, encircled by the great officers of the crown. His dress was very
+elegant: a kind of fawn-colored vest, with open sleeves, ornamented with
+shoulder-knots and blue ribbons, covered him down to the waist. Wide
+breeches reached to the knee, and the yellow-and-red striped stuff
+of which they were made was ornamented below with blue ribbons. His
+riding-boots, reaching hardly more than three inches above the ankle,
+were turned over, showing so lavish a lining of lace that they seemed to
+hold it as a vase holds flowers. A small mantle of blue velvet, on which
+was embroidered the cross of the Holy Ghost, covered the King's left
+arm, which rested on the hilt of his sword.
+
+His head was uncovered, and his pale and noble face was distinctly
+visible, lighted by the sun, which penetrated through the top of the
+tent. The small, pointed beard then worn augmented the appearance of
+thinness in his face, while it added to its melancholy expression. By
+his lofty brow, his classic profile, his aquiline nose, he was at once
+recognized as a prince of the great race of Bourbon. He had all the
+characteristic traits of his ancestors except their penetrating
+glance; his eyes seemed red from weeping, and veiled with a perpetual
+drowsiness; and the weakness of his vision gave him a somewhat vacant
+look.
+
+He called around him, and was attentive to, the greatest enemies of the
+Cardinal, whom he expected every moment; and, balancing himself with
+one foot over the other, an hereditary habit of his family, he spoke
+quickly, but pausing from time to time to make a gracious inclination of
+the head, or a gesture of the hand, to those who passed before him with
+low reverences.
+
+The court had been thus paying its respects to the King for two hours
+before the Cardinal appeared; the whole court stood in close ranks
+behind the Prince, and in the long galleries which extended from
+his tent. Already longer intervals elapsed between the names of the
+courtiers who were announced.
+
+"Shall we not see our cousin the Cardinal?" said the King, turning, and
+looking at Montresor, one of Monsieur's gentlemen, as if to encourage
+him to answer.
+
+"He is said to be very ill just now, Sire," was the answer.
+
+"And yet I do not see how any but your Majesty can cure him," said the
+Duc de Beaufort.
+
+"We cure nothing but the king's evil," replied Louis; "and the
+complaints of the Cardinal are always so mysterious that we own we can
+not understand them."
+
+The Prince thus essayed to brave his minister, gaining strength in
+jests, the better to break his yoke, insupportable, but so difficult to
+remove. He almost thought he had succeeded in this, and, sustained
+by the joyous air surrounding him, he already privately congratulated
+himself on having been able to assume the supreme empire, and for the
+moment enjoyed all the power of which he fancied himself possessed. An
+involuntary agitation in the depth of his heart had warned him indeed
+that, the hour passed, all the burden of the State would fall upon
+himself alone; but he talked in order to divert the troublesome thought,
+and, concealing from himself the doubt he had of his own inability
+to reign, he set his imagination to work upon the result of his
+enterprises, thus forcing himself to forget the tedious roads which had
+led to them. Rapid phrases succeeded one another on his lips.
+
+"We shall soon take Perpignan," he said to Fabert, who stood at some
+distance.
+
+"Well, Cardinal, Lorraine is ours," he added to La Vallette. Then,
+touching Mazarin's arm:
+
+"It is not so difficult to manage a State as is supposed, eh?"
+
+The Italian, who was not so sure of the Cardinal's disgrace as most of
+the courtiers, answered, without compromising himself:
+
+"Ah, Sire, the late successes of your Majesty at home and abroad prove
+your sagacity in choosing your instruments and in directing them, and--"
+
+But the Duc de Beaufort, interrupting him with that self-confidence,
+that loud voice and overbearing air, which subsequently procured him the
+surname of Important, cried out, vehemently:
+
+"Pardieu! Sire, it needs only to will. A nation is driven like a horse,
+with spur and bridle; and as we are all good horsemen, your Majesty has
+only to choose among us."
+
+This fine sally had not time to take effect, for two ushers cried,
+simultaneously, "His Eminence!"
+
+The King's face flushed involuntarily, as if he had been surprised en
+flagrant delit. But immediately gaining confidence, he assumed an air of
+resolute haughtiness, which was not lost upon the minister.
+
+The latter, attired in all the pomp of a cardinal, leaning upon two
+young pages, and followed by his captain of the guards and more than
+five hundred gentlemen attached to his house, advanced toward the King
+slowly and pausing at each step, as if forced to it by his sufferings,
+but in reality to observe the faces before him. A glance sufficed.
+
+His suite remained at the entrance of the royal tent; of all those
+within it, not one was bold enough to salute him, or to look toward
+him. Even La Vallette feigned to be occupied in a conversation with
+Montresor; and the King, who desired to give him an unfavorable
+reception, greeted him lightly and continued a private conversation in a
+low voice with the Duc de Beaufort.
+
+The Cardinal was therefore forced, after the first salute, to stop and
+pass to the side of the crowd of courtiers, as if he wished to mingle
+with them, but in reality to test them more closely; they all recoiled
+as at the sight of a leper. Fabert alone advanced toward him with the
+frank, brusque air habitual with him, and, making use of the terms
+belonging to his profession, said:
+
+"Well, my lord, you make a breach in the midst of them like a
+cannon-ball; I ask pardon in their name."
+
+"And you stand firm before me as before the enemy," said the Cardinal;
+"you will have no cause to regret it in the end, my dear Fabert."
+
+Mazarin also approached the Cardinal, but with caution, and, giving to
+his mobile features an expression of profound sadness, made him five
+or six very low bows, turning his back to the group gathered around the
+King, so that in the latter quarter they might be taken for those cold
+and hasty salutations which are made to a person one desires to be rid
+of, and, on the part of the Duke, for tokens of respect, blended with a
+discreet and silent sorrow.
+
+The minister, ever calm, smiled disdainfully; and, assuming that firm
+look and that air of grandeur which he always wore in the hour of
+danger, he again leaned upon his pages, and, without waiting for a word
+or a glance from his sovereign, he suddenly resolved upon his line of
+conduct, and walked directly toward him, traversing the whole length
+of the tent. No one had lost sight of him, although all affected not to
+observe him. Every one now became silent, even those who were conversing
+with the King. All the courtiers bent forward to see and to hear.
+
+Louis XIII turned toward him in astonishment, and, all presence of
+mind totally failing him, remained motionless and waited with an icy
+glance-his sole force, but a force very effectual in a prince.
+
+The Cardinal, on coming close to the monarch, did not bow; and, without
+changing his attitude, with his eyes lowered and his hands placed on the
+shoulders of the two boys half bending, he said:
+
+"Sire, I come to implore your Majesty at length to grant me the
+retirement for which I have long sighed. My health is failing; I feel
+that my life will soon be ended. Eternity approaches me, and before
+rendering an account to the eternal King, I would render one to my
+earthly sovereign. It is eighteen years, Sire, since you placed in
+my hands a weak and divided kingdom; I return it to you united and
+powerful. Your enemies are overthrown and humiliated. My work is
+accomplished. I ask your Majesty's permission to retire to Citeaux, of
+which I am abbot, and where I may end my days in prayer and meditation."
+
+The King, irritated by some haughty expressions in this address, showed
+none of the signs of weakness which the Cardinal had expected, and
+which he had always seen in him when he had threatened to resign the
+management of affairs. On the contrary, feeling that he had the eyes of
+the whole court upon him, Louis looked upon him with the air of a king,
+and coldly replied:
+
+"We thank you, then, for your services, Monsieur le Cardinal, and wish
+you the repose you desire."
+
+Richelieu was deeply moved, but no indication of his anger appeared upon
+his countenance. "Such was the coldness with which you left Montmorency
+to die," he said to himself; "but you shall not escape me thus." He then
+continued aloud, bowing at the same time:
+
+"The only recompense I ask for my services is that your Majesty will
+deign to accept from me, as a gift, the Palais-Cardinal I have erected
+at my own expense in Paris."
+
+The King, astonished, bowed his assent. A murmur of surprise for a
+moment agitated the attentive court.
+
+"I also throw myself at your Majesty's feet, to beg that you will grant
+me the revocation of an act of rigor, which I solicited (I publicly
+confess it), and which I perhaps regarded too hastily beneficial to the
+repose of the State. Yes, when I was of this world, I was too forgetful
+of my early sentiments of personal respect and attachment, in my
+eagerness for the public welfare; but now that I already enjoy the
+enlightenment of solitude, I see that I have done wrong, and I repent."
+
+The attention of the spectators was redoubled, and the uneasiness of the
+King became visible.
+
+"Yes, there is one person, Sire, whom I have always loved, despite her
+wrong toward you, and the banishment which the affairs of the kingdom
+forced me to bring about for her; a person to whom I have owed much,
+and who should be very dear to you, notwithstanding her armed attempts
+against you; a person, in a word, whom I implore you to recall from
+exile--the Queen Marie de Medicis, your mother!"
+
+The King uttered an involuntary exclamation, so little did he expect to
+hear that name. A repressed agitation suddenly appeared upon every face.
+All waited in silence the King's reply. Louis XIII looked for a long
+time at his old minister without speaking, and this look decided the
+fate of France; in that instant he called to mind all the indefatigable
+services of Richelieu, his unbounded devotion, his wonderful capacity,
+and was surprised at himself for having wished to part with him. He felt
+deeply affected at this request, which had probed for the exact cause of
+his anger at the bottom of his heart, and uprooted it, thus taking from
+his hands the only weapon he had against his old servant. Filial love
+brought words of pardon to his lips and tears into his eyes. Rejoicing
+to grant what he desired most of all things in the world, he extended
+his hands to the Duke with all the nobleness and kindliness of a
+Bourbon. The Cardinal bowed and respectfully kissed it; and his heart,
+which should have burst with remorse, only swelled in the joy of a
+haughty triumph.
+
+The King, deeply touched, abandoning his hand to him, turned gracefully
+toward his court and said, with a trembling voice:
+
+"We often deceive ourselves, gentlemen, and especially in our knowledge
+of so great a politician as this."
+
+"I hope he will never leave us, since his heart is as good as his head."
+
+Cardinal de la Vallette instantly seized the sleeve of the King's
+mantle, and kissed it with all the ardor of a lover, and the young
+Mazarin did much the same with Richelieu himself, assuming, with
+admirable Italian suppleness, an expression radiant with joy and
+tenderness. Two streams of flatterers hastened, one toward the King, the
+other toward the minister; the former group, not less adroit than the
+second, although less direct, addressed to the Prince thanks which could
+be heard by the minister, and burned at the feet of the one incense
+which was intended for the other. As for Richelieu, bowing and smiling
+to right and left, he stepped forward and stood at the right hand of
+the King as his natural place. A stranger entering would rather have
+thought, indeed, that it was the King who was on the Cardinal's left
+hand. The Marechal d'Estrees, all the ambassadors, the Duc d'Angouleme,
+the Due d'Halluin (Schomberg), the Marechal de Chatillon, and all the
+great officers of the crown surrounded him, each waiting impatiently for
+the compliments of the others to be finished, in order to pay his own,
+fearing lest some one else should anticipate him with the flattering
+epigram he had just improvised, or the phrase of adulation he was
+inventing.
+
+As for Fabert, he had retired to a corner of the tent, and seemed to
+have paid no particular attention to the scene. He was chatting with
+Montresor and the gentlemen of Monsieur, all sworn enemies of the
+Cardinal, because, out of the throng he avoided, he had found none but
+these to speak to. This conduct would have seemed extremely tactless in
+one less known; but although he lived in the midst of the court, he was
+ever ignorant of its intrigues. It was said of him that he returned from
+a battle he had gained, like the King's hunting-horse, leaving the dogs
+to caress their master and divide the quarry, without seeking even to
+remember the part he had had in the triumph.
+
+The storm, then, seemed entirely appeased, and to the violent agitations
+of the morning succeeded a gentle calm. A respectful murmur, varied
+with pleasant laughter and protestations of attachment, was all that was
+heard in the tent. The voice of the Cardinal arose from time to time:
+"The poor Queen! We shall, then, soon again see her! I never had dared
+to hope for such happiness while I lived!" The King listened to him with
+full confidence, and made no attempt to conceal his satisfaction. "It
+was assuredly an idea sent to him from on high," he said; "this good
+Cardinal, against whom they had so incensed me, was thinking only of
+the union of my family. Since the birth of the Dauphin I have not tasted
+greater joy than at this moment. The protection of the Holy Virgin is
+manifested over our kingdom."
+
+At this moment, a captain of the guards came up and whispered in the
+King's ear.
+
+"A courier from Cologne?" said the King; "let him wait in my cabinet."
+
+Then, unable to restrain his impatience, "I will go! I will go!" he
+said, and entered alone a small, square tent attached to the larger one.
+In it he saw a young courier holding a black portfolio, and the curtains
+closed upon the King.
+
+The Cardinal, left sole master of the court, concentrated all its
+homage; but it was observed that he no longer received it with his
+former presence of mind. He inquired frequently what time it was, and
+exhibited an anxiety which was not assumed; his hard, unquiet glances
+turned toward the smaller tent. It suddenly opened; the King appeared
+alone, and stopped on the threshold. He was paler than usual, and
+trembled in every limb; he held in his hand a large letter with five
+black seals.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, in a loud but broken voice, "the Queen has just
+died at Cologne; and I perhaps am not the first to hear of it," he
+added, casting a severe look toward the impassible Cardinal, "but God
+knows all! To horse in an hour, and attack the lines! Marechals, follow
+me." And he turned his back abruptly, and reentered his cabinet with
+them.
+
+The court retired after the minister, who, without giving any sign of
+sorrow or annoyance, went forth as gravely as he had entered, but now a
+victor.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE SIEGE
+
+There are moments in our life when we long ardently for strong
+excitement to drown our petty griefs--times when the soul, like the lion
+in the fable, wearied with the continual attacks of the gnat, earnestly
+desires a mightier enemy and real danger. Cinq-Mars found himself in
+this condition of mind, which always results from a morbid sensibility
+in the organic constitution and a perpetual agitation of the heart.
+Weary of continually turning over in his mind a combination of the
+events which he desired, and of those which he dreaded; weary of
+calculating his chances to the best of his power; of summoning to his
+assistance all that his education had taught him concerning the lives
+of illustrious men, in order to compare it with his present situation;
+oppressed by his regrets, his dreams, predictions, fancies, and all that
+imaginary world in which he had lived during his solitary journey-he
+breathed freely upon finding himself thrown into a real world almost
+as full of agitation; and the realizing of two actual dangers restored
+circulation to his blood, and youth to his whole being.
+
+Since the nocturnal scene at the inn near Loudun, he had not been
+able to resume sufficient empire over his mind to occupy himself with
+anything save his cherished though sad reflections; and consumption
+was already threatening him, when happily he arrived at the camp
+of Perpignan, and happily also had the opportunity of accepting the
+proposition of the Abbe de Gondi--for the reader has no doubt recognized
+Cinq-Mars in the person of that young stranger in mourning, so careless
+and so melancholy, whom the duellist in the cassock invited to be his
+second.
+
+He had ordered his tent to be pitched as a volunteer in the street of
+the camp assigned to the young noblemen who were to be presented to
+the King and were to serve as aides-de-camp to the Generals; he
+soon repaired thither, and was quickly armed, horsed, and cuirassed,
+according to the custom of the time, and set out alone for the Spanish
+bastion, the place of rendezvous. He was the first arrival, and found
+that a small plot of turf, hidden among the works of the besieged place,
+had been well chosen by the little Abbe for his homicidal purposes; for
+besides the probability that no one would have suspected officers
+of engaging in a duel immediately beneath the town which they were
+attacking, the body of the bastion separated them from the French camp,
+and would conceal them like an immense screen. It was wise to take these
+precautions, for at that time it cost a man his head to give himself the
+satisfaction of risking his body.
+
+While waiting for his friends and his adversaries, Cinq-Mars had time
+to examine the southern side of Perpignan, before which he stood. He had
+heard that these works were not those which were to be attacked, and
+he tried in vain to account for the besieger's projects. Between this
+southern face of the town, the mountains of Albere, and the Col du
+Perthus, there might have been advantageous lines of attack, and
+redoubts against the accessible point; but not a single soldier was
+stationed there. All the forces seemed directed upon the north of
+Perpignan, upon the most difficult side, against a brick fort called the
+Castillet, which surmounted the gate of Notre-Dame. He discovered that a
+piece of ground, apparently marshy, but in reality very solid, led up
+to the very foot of the Spanish bastion; that this post was guarded with
+true Castilian negligence, although its sole strength lay entirely in
+its defenders; for its battlements, almost in ruin, were furnished with
+four pieces of cannon of enormous calibre, embedded in the turf, and
+thus rendered immovable, and impossible to be directed against a troop
+advancing rapidly to the foot of the wall.
+
+It was easy to see that these enormous pieces had discouraged the
+besiegers from attacking this point, and had kept the besieged from any
+idea of addition to its means of defence. Thus, on the one side, the
+vedettes and advanced posts were at a distance, and on the other, the
+sentinels were few and ill supported. A young Spaniard, carrying a long
+gun, with its rest suspended at his side and the burning match in his
+right hand, who was walking with nonchalance upon the rampart, stopped
+to look at Cinq-Mars, who was riding about the ditches and moats.
+
+"Senor caballero," he cried, "are you going to take the bastion by
+yourself on horseback, like Don Quixote--Quixada de la Mancha?"
+
+At the same time he detached from his side the iron rest, planted it in
+the ground, and supported upon it the barrel of his gun in order to take
+aim, when a grave and older Spaniard, enveloped in a dirty brown cloak,
+said to him in his own tongue:
+
+"'Ambrosio de demonio', do you not know that it is forbidden to throw
+away powder uselessly, before sallies or attacks are made, merely to
+have the pleasure of killing a boy not worth your match? It was in this
+very place that Charles the Fifth threw the sleeping sentinel into the
+ditch and drowned him. Do your duty, or I shall follow his example."
+
+Ambrosio replaced the gun upon his shoulder, the rest at his side, and
+continued his walk upon the rampart.
+
+Cinq-Mars had been little alarmed at this menacing gesture, contenting
+himself with tightening the reins of his horse and bringing the spurs
+close to his sides, knowing that with a single leap of the nimble animal
+he should be carried behind the wall of a hut which stood near by, and
+should thus be sheltered from the Spanish fusil before the operation
+of the fork and match could be completed. He knew, too, that a tacit
+convention between the two armies prohibited marksmen from firing upon
+the sentinels; each party would have regarded it as assassination.
+The soldier who had thus prepared to attack Cinq-Mars must have been
+ignorant of this understanding. Young D'Effiat, therefore, made no
+visible movement; and when the sentinel had resumed his walk upon
+the rampart, he again betook himself to his ride upon the turf, and
+presently saw five cavaliers directing their course toward him. The
+first two, who came on at full gallop, did not salute him, but, stopping
+close to him, leaped to the ground, and he found himself in the arms of
+the Counsellor de Thou, who embraced him tenderly, while the little Abbe
+de Gondi, laughing heartily, cried:
+
+"Behold another Orestes recovering his Pylades, and at the moment of
+immolating a rascal who is not of the family of the King of kings, I
+assure you."
+
+"What! is it you, my dear Cinq-Mars?" cried De Thou; "and I knew not
+of your arrival in the camp! Yes, it is indeed you; I recognize you,
+although you are very pale. Have you been ill, my dear friend? I have
+often written to you; for my boyish friendship has always remained in my
+heart."
+
+"And I," answered Henri d'Effiat, "I have been very culpable toward you;
+but I will relate to you all the causes of my neglect. I can speak
+of them, but I was ashamed to write them. But how good you are! Your
+friendship has never relaxed."
+
+"I knew you too well," replied De Thou; "I knew that there could be no
+real coldness between us, and that my soul had its echo in yours."
+
+With these words they embraced once more, their eyes moist with those
+sweet tears which so seldom flow in one's life, but with which it seems,
+nevertheless, the heart is always charged, so much relief do they give
+in flowing.
+
+This moment was short; and during these few words, Gondi had been
+pulling them by their cloaks, saying:
+
+"To horse! to horse, gentlemen! Pardieu! you will have time enough to
+embrace, if you are so affectionate; but do not delay. Let our first
+thought be to have done with our good friends who will soon arrive. We
+are in a fine position, with those three villains there before us, the
+archers close by, and the Spaniards up yonder! We shall be under three
+fires."
+
+He was still speaking, when De Launay, finding himself at about sixty
+paces from his opponents, with his seconds, who were chosen from his own
+friends rather than from among the partisans of the Cardinal, put his
+horse to a canter, advanced gracefully toward his young adversaries, and
+gravely saluted them.
+
+"Gentlemen, I think that we shall do well to select our men, and to take
+the field; for there is talk of attacking the lines, and I must be at my
+post."
+
+"We are ready, Monsieur," said Cinq-Mars; "and as for selecting
+opponents, I shall be very glad to become yours, for I have not
+forgotten the Marechal de Bassompierre and the wood of Chaumont. You
+know my opinion concerning your insolent visit to my mother."
+
+"You are very young, Monsieur. In regard to Madame, your mother, I
+fulfilled the duties of a man of the world; toward the Marechal, those
+of a captain of the guard; here, those of a gentleman toward Monsieur
+l'Abbe, who has challenged me; afterward I shall have that honor with
+you."
+
+"If I permit you," said the Abbe, who was already on horseback.
+
+They took sixty paces of ground--all that was afforded them by the
+extent of the meadow that enclosed them. The Abbe de Gondi was stationed
+between De Thou and his friend, who sat nearest the ramparts, upon which
+two Spanish officers and a score of soldiers stood, as in a balcony,
+to witness this duel of six persons--a spectacle common enough to them.
+They showed the same signs of joy as at their bullfights, and laughed
+with that savage and bitter laugh which their temperament derives from
+their admixture of Arab blood.
+
+At a sign from Gondi, the six horses set off at full gallop, and met,
+without coming in contact, in the middle of the arena; at that instant,
+six pistol-shots were heard almost together, and the smoke covered the
+combatants.
+
+When it dispersed, of the six cavaliers and six horses but three men and
+three animals were on their legs. Cinq-Mars was on horseback, giving
+his hand to his adversary, as calm as himself; at the other end of the
+field, De Thou stood by his opponent, whose horse he had killed, and
+whom he was helping to rise. As for Gondi and De Launay, neither was
+to be seen. Cinq-Mars, looking about for them anxiously, perceived the
+Abbe's horse, which, caracoling and curvetting, was dragging after him
+the future cardinal, whose foot was caught in the stirrup, and who was
+swearing as if he had never studied anything but the language of the
+camp. His nose and hands were stained and bloody with his fall and with
+his efforts to seize the grass; and he was regarding with considerable
+dissatisfaction his horse, which in spite of himself he irritated
+with his spurs, making its way to the trench, filled with water, which
+surrounded the bastion, when, happily, Cinq-Mars, passing between the
+edge of the swamp and the animal, seized its bridle and stopped its
+career.
+
+"Well, my dear Abbe, I see that no great harm has come to you, for you
+speak with decided energy."
+
+"Corbleu!" cried Gondi, wiping the dust out of his eyes, "to fire a
+pistol in the face of that giant I had to lean forward and rise in my
+stirrups, and thus I lost my balance; but I fancy that he is down, too."
+
+"You are right, sir," said De Thou, coming up; "there is his horse
+swimming in the ditch with its master, whose brains are blown out. We
+must think now of escaping."
+
+"Escaping! That, gentlemen, will be rather difficult," said the
+adversary of Cinq-Mars, approaching. "Hark! there is the cannon-shot,
+the signal for the attack. I did not expect it would have been given so
+soon. If we return we shall meet the Swiss and the foot-soldiers, who
+are marching in this direction."
+
+"Monsieur de Fontrailles says well," said De Thou; "but if we do not
+return, here are these Spaniards, who are running to arms, and whose
+balls we shall presently have whistling about our heads."
+
+"Well, let us hold a council," said Gondi; "summon Monsieur de
+Montresor, who is uselessly occupied in searching for the body of poor
+De Launay. You have not wounded him, Monsieur De Thou?"
+
+"No, Monsieur l'Abbe; not every one has so good an aim as you," said
+Montresor, bitterly, limping from his fall. "We shall not have time to
+continue with the sword."
+
+"As to continuing, I will not consent to it, gentlemen," said
+Fontrailles; "Monsieur de Cinq-Mars has behaved too nobly toward me.
+My pistol went off too soon, and his was at my very cheek--I feel the
+coldness of it now--but he had the generosity to withdraw it and fire in
+the air. I shall not forget it; and I am his in life and in death."
+
+"We must think of other things now," interrupted Cinq-Mars; "a ball has
+just whistled past my ear. The attack has begun on all sides; and we are
+surrounded by friends and by enemies."
+
+In fact, the cannonading was general; the citadel, the town, and
+the army were covered with smoke. The bastion before them as yet was
+unassailed, and its guards seemed less eager to defend it than to
+observe the fate of the other fortifications.
+
+"I believe that the enemy has made a sally," said Montresor, "for the
+smoke has cleared from the plain, and I see masses of cavalry charging
+under the protection of the battery."
+
+"Gentlemen," said Cinq-Mars, who had not ceased to observe the walls,
+"there is a very decided part which we could take, an important share in
+this--we might enter this ill-guarded bastion."
+
+"An excellent idea, Monsieur," said Fontrailles; "but we are but five
+against at least thirty, and are in plain sight and easily counted."
+
+"Faith, the idea is not bad," said Gondi; "it is better to be shot up
+there than hanged down here, as we shall be if we are found, for De
+Launay must be already missed by his company, and all the court knows of
+our quarrel."
+
+"Parbleu! gentlemen," said Montresor, "help is coming to us."
+
+A numerous troop of horse, in great disorder, advanced toward them at
+full gallop; their red uniform made them visible from afar. It seemed
+to be their intention to halt on the very ground on which were our
+embarrassed duellists, for hardly had the first cavalier reached it when
+cries of "Halt!" were repeated and prolonged by the voices of the chiefs
+who were mingled with their cavaliers.
+
+"Let us go to them; these are the men-at-arms of the King's guard," said
+Fontrailles. "I recognize them by their black cockades. I see also many
+of the light-horse with them; let us mingle in the disorder, for I fancy
+they are 'ramenes'."
+
+This is a polite phrase signifying in military language "put to rout."
+All five advanced toward the noisy and animated troops, and found that
+this conjecture was right. But instead of the consternation which one
+might expect in such a case, they found nothing but a youthful and
+rattling gayety, and heard only bursts of laughter from the two
+companies.
+
+"Ah, pardieu! Cahuzac," said one, "your horse runs better than mine; I
+suppose you have exercised it in the King's hunts!"
+
+"Ah, I see, 'twas that we might be the sooner rallied that you arrived
+here first," answered the other.
+
+"I think the Marquis de Coislin must be mad, to make four hundred of us
+charge eight Spanish regiments."
+
+"Ha! ha! Locmaria, your plume is a fine ornament; it looks like a
+weeping willow. If we follow that, it will be to our burial."
+
+"Gentlemen, I said to you before," angrily replied the young officer,
+"that I was sure that Capuchin Joseph, who meddles in everything, was
+mistaken in telling us to charge, upon the part of the Cardinal. But
+would you have been satisfied if those who have the honor of commanding
+you had refused to charge?"
+
+"No, no, no!" answered all the young men, at the same time forming
+themselves quickly into ranks.
+
+"I said," interposed the old Marquis de Coislin, who, despite his white
+head, had all the fire of youth in his eyes, "that if you were commanded
+to mount to the assault on horseback, you would do it."
+
+"Bravo! bravo!" cried all the men-at-arms, clapping their hands.
+
+"Well, Monsieur le Marquis," said Cinq-Mars, approaching, "here is an
+opportunity to execute what you have promised. I am only a volunteer;
+but an instant ago these gentlemen and I examined this bastion, and I
+believe that it is possible to take it."
+
+"Monsieur, we must first examine the ditch to see--"
+
+At this moment a ball from the rampart of which they were speaking
+struck in the head the horse of the old captain, laying it low.
+
+"Locmaria, De Mouy, take the command, and to the assault!" cried the two
+noble companies, believing their leader dead.
+
+"Stop a moment, gentlemen," said old Coislin, rising, "I will lead you,
+if you please. Guide us, Monsieur volunteer, for the Spaniards invite us
+to this ball, and we must reply politely."
+
+Hardly had the old man mounted another horse, which one of his men
+brought him, and drawn his sword, when, without awaiting his order, all
+these ardent youths, preceded by Cinq-Mars and his friends, whose horses
+were urged on by the squadrons behind, had thrown themselves into
+the morass, wherein, to their great astonishment and to that of the
+Spaniards, who had counted too much upon its depth, the horses were
+in the water only up to their hams; and in spite of a discharge of
+grape-shot from the two largest pieces, all reached pell-mell a strip of
+land at the foot of the half-ruined ramparts. In the ardor of the rush,
+Cinq-Mars and Fontrailles, with the young Locmaria, forced their horses
+upon the rampart itself; but a brisk fusillade killed the three animals,
+which rolled over their masters.
+
+"Dismount all, gentlemen!" cried old Coislin; "forward with pistol and
+sword! Abandon your horses!"
+
+All obeyed instantly, and threw themselves in a mass upon the breach.
+
+Meantime, De Thou, whose coolness never quitted him any more than his
+friendship, had not lost sight of the young Henri, and had received him
+in his arms when his horse fell. He helped him to rise, restored to
+him his sword, which he had dropped, and said to him, with the greatest
+calmness, notwithstanding the balls which rained on all sides:
+
+"My friend, do I not appear very ridiculous amid all this skirmish, in
+my costume of Counsellor in Parliament?"
+
+"Parbleu!" said Montresor, advancing, "here's the Abbe, who quite
+justifies you."
+
+And, in fact, little Gondi, pushing on among the light horsemen, was
+shouting, at the top of his voice: "Three duels and an assault. I hope
+to get rid of my cassock at last!"
+
+Saying this, he cut and thrust at a tall Spaniard.
+
+The defence was not long. The Castilian soldiers were no match for the
+French officers, and not one of them had time or courage to recharge his
+carbine.
+
+"Gentlemen, we will relate this to our mistresses in Paris," said
+Locmaria, throwing his hat into the air; and Cinq-Mars, De Thou,
+Coislin, De Mouy, Londigny, officers of the red companies, and all the
+young noblemen, with swords in their right hands and pistols in their
+left, dashing, pushing, and doing each other by their eagerness as much
+harm as they did the enemy, finally rushed upon the platform of the
+bastion, as water poured from a vase, of which the opening is too small,
+leaps out in interrupted gushes.
+
+Disdaining to occupy themselves with the vanquished soldiers, who cast
+themselves at their feet, they left them to look about the fort,
+without even disarming them, and began to examine their conquest, like
+schoolboys in vacation, laughing with all their hearts, as if they were
+at a pleasure-party.
+
+A Spanish officer, enveloped in his brown cloak, watched them with a
+sombre air.
+
+"What demons are these, Ambrosio?" said he to a soldier. "I never have
+met with any such before in France. If Louis XIII has an entire army
+thus composed, it is very good of him not to conquer all Europe."
+
+"Oh, I do not believe they are very numerous; they must be some poor
+adventurers, who have nothing to lose and all to gain by pillage."
+
+"You are right," said the officer; "I will try to persuade one of them
+to let me escape."
+
+And slowly approaching, he accosted a young light-horseman, of about
+eighteen, who was sitting apart from his comrades upon the parapet. He
+had the pink-and-white complexion of a young girl; his delicate hand
+held an embroidered handkerchief, with which he wiped his forehead and
+his golden locks He was consulting a large, round watch set with rubies,
+suspended from his girdle by a knot of ribbons.
+
+The astonished Spaniard paused. Had he not seen this youth overthrow
+his soldiers, he would not have believed him capable of anything
+beyond singing a romance, reclined upon a couch. But, filled with the
+suggestion of Ambrosio, he thought that he might have stolen these
+objects of luxury in the pillage of the apartments of a woman; so, going
+abruptly up to him, he said:
+
+"Hombre! I am an officer; will you restore me to liberty, that I may
+once more see my country?"
+
+The young Frenchman looked at him with the gentle expression of his age,
+and, thinking of his own family, he said:
+
+"Monsieur, I will present you to the Marquis de Coislin, who will, I
+doubt not, grant your request; is your family of Castile or of Aragon?"
+
+"Your Coislin will ask the permission of somebody else, and will make
+me wait a year. I will give you four thousand ducats if you will let me
+escape."
+
+That gentle face, those girlish features, became infused with the purple
+of fury; those blue eyes shot forth lightning; and, exclaiming, "Money
+to me! away, fool!" the young man gave the Spaniard a ringing box on
+the ear. The latter, without hesitating, drew a long poniard from his
+breast, and, seizing the arm of the Frenchman, thought to plunge it
+easily into his heart; but, nimble and vigorous, the youth caught him by
+the right arm, and, lifting it with force above his head, sent it back
+with the weapon it held upon the head of the Spaniard, who was furious
+with rage.
+
+"Eh! eh! Softly, Olivier!" cried his comrades, running from all
+directions; "there are Spaniards enough on the ground already."
+
+And they disarmed the hostile officer.
+
+"What shall we do with this lunatic?" said one.
+
+"I should not like to have him for my valet-dechambre," returned
+another.
+
+"He deserves to be hanged," said a third; "but, faith, gentlemen, we
+don't know how to hang. Let us send him to that battalion of Swiss which
+is now passing across the plain."
+
+And the calm and sombre Spaniard, enveloping himself anew in his cloak,
+began the march of his own accord, followed by Ambrosio, to join the
+battalion, pushed by the shoulders and urged on by five or six of these
+young madcaps.
+
+Meantime, the first troop of the besiegers, astonished at their success,
+had followed it out to the end; Cinq-Mars, so advised by the aged
+Coislin, had made with him the circuit of the bastion, and found to
+their vexation that it was completely separated from the city, and that
+they could not follow up their advantage. They, therefore, returned
+slowly to the platform, talking by the way, to rejoin De Thou and the
+Abbe de Gondi, whom they found laughing with the young light-horsemen.
+
+"We have Religion and justice with us, gentlemen; we could not fail to
+triumph."
+
+"No doubt, for they fought as hard as we."
+
+There was silence at the approach of Cinq-Mars, and they remained for
+an instant whispering and asking his name; then all surrounded him, and
+took his hand with delight.
+
+"Gentlemen, you are right," said their old captain; "he is, as our
+fathers used to say, the best doer of the day. He is a volunteer, who is
+to be presented today to the King by the Cardinal."
+
+"By the Cardinal! We will present him ourselves. Ah, do not let him be a
+Cardinalist; he is too good a fellow for that!" exclaimed all the young
+men, with vivacity.
+
+"Monsieur, I will undertake to disgust you with him," said Olivier
+d'Entraigues, approaching Cinq-Mars, "for I have been his page. Rather
+serve in the red companies; come, you will have good comrades there."
+
+The old Marquis saved Cinq-Mars the embarrassment of replying, by
+ordering the trumpets to sound and rally his brilliant companies. The
+cannon was no longer heard, and a soldier announced that the King and
+the Cardinal were traversing the lines to examine the results of the
+day. He made all the horses pass through the breach, which was tolerably
+wide, and ranged the two companies of cavalry in battle array, upon a
+spot where it seemed impossible that any but infantry could penetrate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE RECOMPENSE
+
+Cardinal Richelieu had said to himself, "To soften the first paroxysm of
+the royal grief, to open a source of emotions which shall turn from its
+sorrow this wavering soul, let this city be besieged; I consent. Let
+Louis go; I will allow him to strike a few poor soldiers with the blows
+which he wishes, but dares not, to inflict upon me. Let his anger drown
+itself in this obscure blood; I agree. But this caprice of glory shall
+not derange my fixed designs; this city shall not fall yet. It shall not
+become French forever until two years have past; it shall come into my
+nets only on the day upon which I have fixed in my own mind. Thunder,
+bombs, and cannons; meditate upon your operations, skilful captains;
+hasten, young warriors. I shall silence your noise, I shall dissipate
+your projects, and make your efforts abortive; all shall end in vain
+smoke, for I shall conduct in order to mislead you."
+
+This is the substance of what passed in the bald head of the Cardinal
+before the attack of which we have witnessed a part. He was stationed on
+horseback, upon one of the mountains of Salces, north of the city; from
+this point he could see the plain of Roussillon before him, sloping to
+the Mediterranean. Perpignan, with its ramparts of brick, its bastions,
+its citadel, and its spire, formed upon this plain an oval and sombre
+mass on its broad and verdant meadows; the vast mountains surrounded it,
+and the valley, like an enormous bow curved from north to south, while,
+stretching its white line in the east, the sea looked like its silver
+cord. On his right rose that immense mountain called the Canigou,
+whose sides send forth two rivers into the plain below. The French line
+extended to the foot of this western barrier. A crowd of generals and of
+great lords were on horseback behind the minister, but at twenty paces'
+distance and profoundly silent.
+
+Cardinal Richelieu had at first followed slowly the line of operations,
+but had later returned and stationed himself upon this height, whence
+his eye and his thought hovered over the destinies of besiegers and
+besieged. The whole army had its eyes upon him, and could see him from
+every point. All looked upon him as their immediate chief, and awaited
+his gesture before they acted. France had bent beneath his yoke a long
+time; and admiration of him shielded all his actions to which another
+would have been often subjected. At this moment, for instance, no one
+thought of smiling, or even of feeling surprised, that the cuirass
+should clothe the priest; and the severity of his character and
+aspect suppressed every thought of ironical comparisons or injurious
+conjectures. This day the Cardinal appeared in a costume entirely
+martial: he wore a reddish-brown coat, embroidered with gold, a
+water-colored cuirass, a sword at his side, pistols at his saddle-bow,
+and he had a plumed hat; but this he seldom put on his head, which was
+still covered with the red cap. Two pages were behind him; one carried
+his gauntlets, the other his casque, and the captain of his guards was
+at his side.
+
+As the King had recently named him generalissimo of his troops, it was
+to him that the generals sent for their orders; but he, knowing only too
+well the secret motives of his master's present anger, affected to refer
+to that Prince all who sought a decision from his own mouth. It happened
+as he had foreseen; for he regulated and calculated the movements of
+that heart as those of a watch, and could have told with precision
+through what sensations it had passed. Louis XIII came and placed
+himself at his side; but he came as a pupil, forced to acknowledge that
+his master is in the right. His air was haughty and dissatisfied, his
+language brusque and dry. The Cardinal remained impassible. It was
+remarked that the King, in consulting him, employed the words of
+command, thus reconciling his weakness and his power of place, his
+irresolution and his pride, his ignorance and his pretensions, while his
+minister dictated laws to him in a tone of the most profound obedience.
+
+"I will have them attack immediately, Cardinal," said the Prince on
+coming up; "that is to say," he added, with a careless air, "when all
+your preparations are made, and you have fixed upon the hour with our
+generals."
+
+"Sire, if I might venture to express my judgment, I should be glad did
+your Majesty think proper to begin the attack in a quarter of an hour,
+for that will give time enough to advance the third line."
+
+"Yes, yes; you are right, Monsieur le Cardinal! I think so, too. I will
+go and give my orders myself; I wish to do everything myself. Schomberg,
+Schomberg! in a quarter of an hour I wish to hear the signal-gun; I
+command it."
+
+And Schomberg, taking the command of the right wing, gave the order, and
+the signal was made.
+
+The batteries, arranged long since by the Marechal de la Meilleraie,
+began to batter a breach, but slowly, because the artillerymen felt that
+they had been directed to attack two impregnable points; and because,
+with their experience, and above all with the common sense and quick
+perception of French soldiers, any one of them could at once have
+indicated the point against which the attack should have been directed.
+The King was surprised at the slowness of the firing.
+
+"La Meilleraie," said he, impatiently, "these batteries do not play
+well; your cannoneers are asleep."
+
+The principal artillery officers were present as well as the Marechal;
+but no one answered a syllable. They had looked toward the Cardinal,
+who remained as immovable as an equestrian statue, and they imitated
+his example. The answer must have been that the fault was not with the
+soldiers, but with him who had ordered this false disposition of the
+batteries; and this was Richelieu himself, who, pretending to believe
+them more useful in that position, had stopped the remarks of the
+chiefs.
+
+The King, astonished at this silence, and, fearing that he had committed
+some gross military blunder by his question, blushed slightly, and,
+approaching the group of princes who had accompanied him, said, in order
+to reassure himself:
+
+"D'Angouleme, Beaufort, this is very tiresome, is it not? We stand here
+like mummies."
+
+Charles de Valois drew near and said:
+
+"It seems to me, Sire, that they are not employing here the machines of
+the engineer Pompee-Targon."
+
+"Parbleu!" said the Duc de Beaufort, regarding Richelieu fixedly, "that
+is because we were more eager to take Rochelle than Perpignan at the
+time that Italian came. Here we have not an engine ready, not a mine,
+not a petard beneath these walls; and the Marechal de la Meilleraie told
+me this morning that he had proposed to bring some with which to open
+the breach. It was neither the Castillet, nor the six great bastions
+which surround it, nor the half-moon, we should have attacked. If we go
+on in this way, the great stone arm of the citadel will show us its fist
+a long time yet."
+
+The Cardinal, still motionless, said not a single word; he only made a
+sign to Fabert, who left the group in attendance, and ranged his horse
+behind that of Richelieu, close to the captain of his guards.
+
+The Duc de la Rochefoucauld, drawing near the King, said:
+
+"I believe, Sire, that our inactivity makes the enemy insolent, for
+look! here is a numerous sally, directing itself straight toward
+your Majesty; and the regiments of Biron and De Ponts fall back after
+firing."
+
+"Well!" said the King, drawing his sword, "let us charge and force those
+villains back again. Bring on the cavalry with me, D'Angouleme. Where is
+it, Cardinal?"
+
+"Behind that hill, Sire, there are in column six regiments of dragoons,
+and the carabineers of La Roque; below you are my men-at-arms and my
+light horse, whom I pray your Majesty to employ, for those of your
+Majesty's guard are ill guided by the Marquis de Coislin, who is ever
+too zealous. Joseph, go tell him to return."
+
+He whispered to the Capuchin, who had accompanied him, huddled up in
+military attire, which he wore awkwardly, and who immediately advanced
+into the plain.
+
+In the mean time, the compact columns of the old Spanish infantry issued
+from the gate of Notre-Dame like a dark and moving forest, while from
+another gate proceeded the heavy cavalry, which drew up on the plain.
+The French army, in battle array at the foot of the hill where the King
+stood, behind fortifications of earth, behind redoubts and fascines of
+turf, perceived with alarm the men-at-arms and the light horse pressed
+between these two forces, ten times their superior in numbers.
+
+"Sound the charge!" cried Louis XIII; "or my old Coislin is lost."
+
+And he descended the hill, with all his suite as ardent as himself; but
+before he reached the plain and was at the head of his musketeers, the
+two companies had taken their course, dashing off with the rapidity
+of lightning, and to the cry of "Vive le Roi!" They fell upon the long
+column of the enemy's cavalry like two vultures upon a serpent; and,
+making a large and bloody gap, they passed beyond, and rallied behind
+the Spanish bastion, leaving the enemy's cavalry so astonished that they
+thought only of re-forming their own ranks, and not of pursuing.
+
+The French army uttered a burst of applause; the King paused in
+amazement. He looked around him, and saw a burning desire for attack in
+all eyes; the valor of his race shone in his own. He paused yet another
+instant in suspense, listening, intoxicated, to the roar of the cannon,
+inhaling the odor of the powder; he seemed to receive another life, and
+to become once more a Bourbon. All-who looked on him felt as if they
+were commanded by another man, when, raising his sword and his eyes
+toward the sun, he cried:
+
+"Follow me, brave friends! here I am King of France!"
+
+His cavalry, deploying, dashed off with an ardor which devoured space,
+and, raising billows of dust from the ground, which trembled beneath
+them, they were in an instant mingled with the Spanish cavalry, and both
+were swallowed up in an immense and fluctuating cloud.
+
+"Now! now!" cried the Cardinal, in a voice of thunder, from his
+elevation, "now remove the guns from their useless position! Fabert,
+give your orders; let them be all directed upon the infantry which
+slowly approaches to surround the King. Haste! save the King!"
+
+Immediately the Cardinal's suite, until then sitting erect as so
+many statues, were in motion. The generals gave their orders; the
+aides-de-camp galloped off into the plain, where, leaping over the
+ditches, barriers, and palisades, they arrived at their destination
+as soon as the thought that directed them and the glance that followed
+them.
+
+Suddenly the few and interrupted flashes which had shone from the
+discouraged batteries became a continual and immense flame, leaving no
+room for the smoke, which rose to the sky in an infinite number of light
+and floating wreaths; the volleys of cannon, which had seemed like far
+and feeble echoes, changed into a formidable thunder whose roll was as
+rapid as that of drums beating the charge; while from three opposite
+points large red flashes from fiery mouths fell upon the dark columns
+which issued from the besieged city.
+
+Meantime, without changing his position, but with ardent eyes and
+imperative gestures, Richelieu ceased not to multiply his orders,
+casting upon those who received them a look which implied a sentence of
+death if he was not instantly obeyed.
+
+"The King has overthrown the cavalry; but the foot still resist. Our
+batteries have only killed, they have not conquered. Forward with
+three regiments of infantry instantly, Gassion, La Meilleraie, and
+Lesdiguieres! Take the enemy's columns in flank. Order the rest of the
+army to cease from the attack, and to remain motionless throughout the
+whole line. Bring paper! I will write myself to Schomberg."
+
+A page alighted and advanced, holding a pencil and paper. The minister,
+supported by four men of his suite, also alighted, but with difficulty,
+uttering a cry, wrested from him by pain; but he conquered it by an
+effort, and seated himself upon the carriage of a cannon. The page
+presented his shoulder as a desk; and the Cardinal hastily penned that
+order which contemporary manuscripts have transmitted to us, and which
+might well be imitated by the diplomatists of our day, who are, it
+seems, more desirous to maintain themselves in perfect balance between
+two ideas than to seek those combinations which decide the destinies of
+the world, regarding the clear and obvious dictates of true genius as
+beneath their profound subtlety.
+
+   "M. le Marechal, do not risk anything, and reflect before you
+   attack. When you are thus told that the King desires you not to
+   risk anything, you are not to understand that his Majesty forbids
+   you to fight at all; but his intention is that you do not engage in
+   a general battle unless it be with a notable hope of gain from the
+   advantage which a favorable situation may present, the
+   responsibility of the battle naturally falling upon you."
+
+These orders given, the old minister, still seated upon the
+gun-carriage, his arms resting upon the touch-hole, and his chin upon
+his arms, in the attitude of one who adjusts and points a cannon,
+continued in silence to watch the battle, like an old wolf, which, sated
+with victims and torpid with age, contemplates in the plain the ravages
+of a lion among a herd of cattle, which he himself dares not attack.
+From time to time his eye brightens; the smell of blood rejoices him,
+and he laps his burning tongue over his toothless jaw.
+
+On that day, it was remarked by his servants--or, in other words, by all
+surrounding him--that from the time of his rising until night he took no
+nourishment, and so fixed all the application of his soul on the events
+which he had to conduct that he triumphed over his physical pains,
+seeming, by forgetting, to have destroyed them. It was this power of
+attention, this continual presence of mind, that raised him almost
+to genius. He would have attained it quite, had he not lacked native
+elevation of soul and generous sensibility of heart.
+
+Everything happened upon the field of battle as he had wished, fortune
+attending him there as well as in the cabinet. Louis XIII claimed with
+eager hand the victory which his minister had procured for him; he
+had contributed himself, however, only that grandeur which consists in
+personal valor.
+
+The cannon had ceased to roar when the broken columns of infantry fell
+back into Perpignan; the remainder had met the same fate, was already
+within the walls, and on the plain no living man was to be seen, save
+the glittering squadrons of the King, who followed him, forming ranks as
+they went.
+
+He returned at a slow walk, and contemplated with satisfaction the
+battlefield swept clear of enemies; he passed haughtily under the very
+fire of the Spanish guns, which, whether from lack of skill, or by a
+secret agreement with the Prime Minister, or from very shame to kill a
+king of France, only sent after him a few balls, which, passing two
+feet above his head, fell in front of the lines, and merely served to
+increase the royal reputation for courage.
+
+At every step, however, that he took toward the spot where Richelieu
+awaited him, the King's countenance changed and visibly fell; he lost
+all the flush of combat; the noble sweat of triumph dried upon his brow.
+As he approached, his usual pallor returned to his face, as if having
+the right to sit alone on a royal head; his look lost its fleeting fire,
+and at last, when he joined the Cardinal, a profound melancholy entirely
+possessed him. He found the minister as he had left him, on horseback;
+the latter, still coldly respectful, bowed, and after a few words of
+compliment, placed himself near Louis to traverse the lines and examine
+the results of the day, while the princes and great lords, riding at
+some distance before and behind, formed a crowd around them.
+
+The wily minister was careful not to say a word or to make a gesture
+that could suggest the idea that he had had the slightest share in the
+events of the day; and it was remarkable that of all those who came to
+hand in their reports, there was not one who did not seem to divine his
+thoughts, and exercise care not to compromise his occult power by
+open obedience. All reports were made to the King. The Cardinal then
+traversed, by the side of the Prince, the right of the camp, which had
+not been under his view from the height where he had remained; and
+he saw with satisfaction that Schomberg, who knew him well, had acted
+precisely as his master had directed, bringing into action only a few
+of the light troops, and fighting just enough not to incur reproach for
+inaction, and not enough to obtain any distinct result. This line of
+conduct charmed the minister, and did not displease the King, whose
+vanity cherished the idea of having been the sole conqueror that day. He
+even wished to persuade himself, and to have it supposed, that all the
+efforts of Schomberg had been fruitless, saying to him that he was not
+angry with him, that he had himself just had proof that the enemy before
+him was less despicable than had been supposed.
+
+"To show you that you have lost nothing in our estimation," he added,
+"we name you a knight of our order, and we give you public and private
+access to our person."
+
+The Cardinal affectionately pressed his hand as he passed him, and the
+Marechal, astonished at this deluge of favors, followed the Prince with
+his bent head, like a culprit, recalling, to console himself, all
+the brilliant actions of his career which had remained unnoticed, and
+mentally attributing to them these unmerited rewards to reconcile them
+to his conscience.
+
+The King was about to retrace his steps, when the Due de Beaufort, with
+an astonished air, exclaimed:
+
+"But, Sire, have I still the powder in my eyes, or have I been
+sun-struck? It appears to me that I see upon yonder bastion several
+cavaliers in red uniforms who greatly resemble your light horse whom we
+thought to be killed."
+
+The Cardinal knitted his brows.
+
+"Impossible, Monsieur," he said; "the imprudence of Monsieur de Coislin
+has destroyed his Majesty's men-at-arms and those cavaliers. It is for
+that reason I ventured just now to say to the King that if the useless
+corps were suppressed, it might be very advantageous from a military
+point of view."
+
+"Pardieu! your Eminence will pardon me," answered the Duc de Beaufort;
+"but I do not deceive myself, and there are seven or eight of them
+driving prisoners before them."
+
+"Well! let us go to the point," said the King; "if I find my old Coislin
+there I shall be very glad."
+
+With great caution, the horses of the King and his suite passed across
+the marsh, and with infinite astonishment their riders saw on the
+ramparts the two red companies in battle array as on parade.
+
+"Vive Dieu!" cried Louis; "I think that not one of them is missing!
+Well, Marquis, you keep your word--you take walls on horseback."
+
+"In my opinion, this point was ill chosen," said Richelieu, with
+disdain; "it in no way advances the taking of Perpignan, and must have
+cost many lives."
+
+"Faith, you are right," said the King, for the first time since the
+intelligence of the Queen's death addressing the Cardinal without
+dryness; "I regret the blood which must have been spilled here."
+
+"Only two of own young men have been wounded in the attack, Sire,"
+said old Coislin; "and we have gained new companions-in-arms, in the
+volunteers who guided us."
+
+"Who are they?" said the Prince.
+
+"Three of them have modestly retired, Sire; but the youngest, whom you
+see, was the first who proposed the assault, and the first to venture
+his person in making it. The two companies claim the honor of presenting
+him to your Majesty."
+
+Cinq-Mars, who was on horseback behind the old captain, took off his hat
+and showed his pale face, his large, dark eyes, and his long, chestnut
+hair.
+
+"Those features remind me of some one," said the King; "what say you,
+Cardinal?"
+
+The latter, who had already cast a penetrating glance at the newcomer,
+replied:
+
+"Unless I am mistaken, this young man is--"
+
+"Henri d'Effiat," said the volunteer, bowing.
+
+"Sire, it is the same whom I had announced to your Majesty, and who was
+to have been presented to you by me; the second son of the Marechal."
+
+"Ah!" said Louis, warmly, "I am glad to see the son of my old friend
+presented by this bastion. It is a suitable introduction, my boy, for
+one bearing your name. You will follow us to the camp, where we have
+much to say to you. But what! you here, Monsieur de Thou? Whom have you
+come to judge?"
+
+"Sire," answered Coislin, "he has condemned to death, without judging,
+sundry Spaniards, for he was the second to enter the place."
+
+"I struck no one, Monsieur," interrupted De Thou reddening; "it is not
+my business. Herein I have no merit; I merely accompanied my friend,
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars."
+
+"We approve your modesty as well as your bravery, and we shall not
+forget this. Cardinal, is there not some presidency vacant?"
+
+Richelieu did not like De Thou. And as the sources of his dislike
+were always mysterious, it was difficult to guess the cause of this
+animosity; it revealed itself in a cruel word that escaped him. The
+motive was a passage in the history of the President De Thou--the father
+of the young man now in question--wherein he stigmatized, in the eyes of
+posterity, a granduncle of the Cardinal, an apostate monk, sullied with
+every human vice.
+
+Richelieu, bending to Joseph's ear, whispered:
+
+"You see that man; his father put my name into his history. Well, I
+will put his into mine." And, truly enough, he subsequently wrote it in
+blood. At this moment, to avoid answering the King, he feigned not
+to have heard his question, and to be wholly intent upon the merit of
+Cinq-Mars and the desire to see him well placed at court.
+
+"I promised you beforehand to make him a captain in my guards," said the
+Prince; "let him be nominated to-morrow. I would know more of him, and
+raise him to a higher fortune, if he pleases me. Let us now retire; the
+sun has set, and we are far from our army. Tell my two good companies to
+follow us."
+
+The minister, after repeating the order, omitting the implied praise,
+placed himself on the King's right hand, and the whole court quitted
+the bastion, now confided to the care of the Swiss, and returned to the
+camp.
+
+The two red companies defiled slowly through the breach which they
+had effected with such promptitude; their countenances were grave and
+silent.
+
+Cinq-Mars went up to his friend.
+
+"These are heroes but ill recompensed," said he; "not a favor, not a
+compliment."
+
+"I, on the other hand," said the simple De Thou "I, who came here
+against my will--receive one. Such are courts, such is life; but above
+us is the true judge, whom men can not blind."
+
+"This will not prevent us from meeting death tomorrow, if necessary,"
+said the young Olivier, laughing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. THE BLUNDERS
+
+In order to appear before the King, Cinq-Mars had been compelled to
+mount the charger of one of the light horse, wounded in the affair,
+having lost his own at the foot of the rampart. As the two companies
+were marching out, he felt some one touch his shoulder, and, turning
+round, saw old Grandchamp leading a very beautiful gray horse.
+
+"Will Monsieur le Marquis mount a horse of his own?" said he. "I have
+put on the saddle and housings of velvet embroidered in gold that
+remained in the trench. Alas, when I think that a Spaniard might have
+taken it, or even a Frenchman! For just now there are so many people who
+take all they find, as if it were their own; and then, as the proverb
+says, 'What falls in the ditch is for the soldier.' They might also have
+taken the four hundred gold crowns that Monsieur le Marquis, be it said
+without reproach, forgot to take out of the holsters. And the pistols!
+Oh, what pistols! I bought them in Germany; and here they are as good as
+ever, and with their locks perfect. It was quite enough to kill the poor
+little black horse, that was born in England as sure as I was at Tours
+in Touraine, without also exposing these valuables to pass into the
+hands of the enemy."
+
+While making this lamentation, the worthy man finished saddling the gray
+horse. The column was long enough filing out to give him time to pay
+scrupulous attention to the length of the stirrups and of the bands, all
+the while continuing his harangue.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Monsieur, for being somewhat slow about this; but I
+sprained my arm slightly in lifting Monsieur de Thou, who himself raised
+Monsieur le Marquis during the grand scuffle."
+
+"How camest thou there at all, stupid?" said Cinq-Mars. "That is not thy
+business. I told thee to remain in the camp."
+
+"Oh, as to remaining in the camp, that is out of the question. I can't
+stay there; when I hear a musket-shot, I should be ill did I not see the
+flash. As for my business, that is to take care of your horses, and you
+are on them. Monsieur, think you I should not have saved, had I been
+able, the life of the poor black horse down there in the trench? Ah, how
+I loved him!--a horse that gained three races in his time--a time too
+short for those who loved him as I loved him! He never would take his
+corn but from his dear Grandchamp; and then he would caress me with
+his head. The end of my left ear that he carried away one day--poor
+fellow!--proves it, for it was not out of ill-will he bit it off; quite
+the contrary. You should have heard how he neighed with rage when any
+one else came near him; that was the reason why he broke Jean's leg.
+Good creature, I loved him so!
+
+"When he fell I held him on one side with one hand and M. de Locmaria
+with the other. I thought at first that both he and that gentleman would
+recover; but unhappily only one of them returned to life, and that was
+he whom I least knew. You seem to be laughing at what I say about your
+horse, Monsieur; you forget that in times of war the horse is the
+soul of the cavalier. Yes, Monsieur, his soul; for what is it that
+intimidates the infantry? It is the horse! It certainly is not the man,
+who, once seated, is little more than a bundle of hay. Who is it that
+performs the fine deeds that men admire? The horse. There are times when
+his master, who a moment before would rather have been far away, finds
+himself victorious and rewarded for his horse's valor, while the poor
+beast gets nothing but blows. Who is it gains the prize in the race? The
+horse, that sups hardly better than usual, while the master pockets the
+gold, and is envied by his friends and admired by all the lords as if he
+had run himself. Who is it that hunts the roebuck, yet puts but a morsel
+in his own mouth? Again, the horse; sometimes the horse is even
+eaten himself, poor animal! I remember in a campaign with Monsieur le
+Marechal, it happened that--But what is the matter, Monsieur, you grow
+pale?"
+
+"Bind up my leg with something--a handkerchief, a strap, or what you
+will. I feel a burning pain there; I know not what."
+
+"Your boot is cut, Monsieur. It may be some ball; however, lead is the
+friend of man."
+
+"It is no friend of mine, at all events."
+
+"Ah, who loves, chastens! Lead must not be ill spoken of! What is
+that--"
+
+While occupied in binding his master's leg below the knee, the worthy
+Grandchamp was about to hold forth in praise of lead as absurdly as he
+had in praise of the horse, when he was forced, as well as Cinq-Mars,
+to hear a warm and clamorous dispute among some Swiss soldiers who
+had remained behind the other troops. They were talking with much
+gesticulation, and seemed busied with two men among a group of about
+thirty soldiers.
+
+D'Effiat, still holding out his leg to his servant, and leaning on the
+saddle of his horse, tried, by listening attentively, to understand the
+subject of the colloquy; but he knew nothing of German, and could not
+comprehend the dispute. Grandchamp, who, still holding the boot, had
+also been listening very seriously, suddenly burst into loud laughter,
+holding his sides in a manner not usual with him.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! Monsieur, here are two sergeants disputing which they ought
+to hang of the two Spaniards there; for your red comrades did not take
+the trouble to tell them. One of the Swiss says that it's the officer,
+the other that it's the soldier; a third has just made a proposition for
+meeting the difficulty."
+
+"And what does he say?"
+
+"He suggests that they hang them both."
+
+"Stop! stop!" cried Cinq-Mars to the soldiers, attempting to walk; but
+his leg would not support him.
+
+"Put me on my horse, Grandchamp."
+
+"Monsieur, you forget your wound."
+
+"Do as I command, and then mount thyself."
+
+The old servant grumblingly obeyed, and then galloped off, in fulfilment
+of another imperative order, to stop the Swiss, who were just about to
+hang their two prisoners to a tree, or to let them hang themselves; for
+the officer, with the sang-froid of his nation, had himself passed the
+running noose of a rope around his own neck, and, without being told,
+had ascended a small ladder placed against the tree, in order to tie the
+other end of the rope to one of its branches. The soldier, with the same
+calm indifference, was looking on at the Swiss disputing around him,
+while holding the ladder.
+
+Cinq-Mars arrived in time to save them, gave his name to the Swiss
+sergeant, and, employing Grandchamp as interpreter, said that the two
+prisoners were his, and that he would take them to his tent; that he was
+a captain in the guards, and would be responsible for them. The German,
+ever exact in discipline, made no reply; the only resistance was on
+the part of the prisoner. The officer, still on the top of the ladder,
+turned round, and speaking thence as from a pulpit, said, with a
+sardonic laugh:
+
+"I should much like to know what you do here? Who told you I wished to
+live?"
+
+"I do not ask to know anything about that," said Cinq-Mars; "it matters
+not to me what becomes of you afterward. All I propose now is to
+prevent an act which seems to me unjust and cruel. You may kill yourself
+afterward, if you like."
+
+"Well said," returned the ferocious Spaniard; "you please me. I thought
+at first you meant to affect the generous in order to oblige me to be
+grateful, which is a thing I detest. Well, I consent to come down; but I
+shall hate you as much as ever, for you are a Frenchman. Nor do I thank
+you, for you only discharge a debt you owe me, since it was I who this
+morning kept you from being shot by this young soldier while he was
+taking aim at you; and he is a man who never missed a chamois in the
+mountains of Leon."
+
+"Be it as you will," said Cinq-Mars; "come down."
+
+It was his character ever to assume with others the mien they wore
+toward him; and the rudeness of the Spaniard made him as hard as iron
+toward him.
+
+"A proud rascal that, Monsieur," said Grandchamp; "in your place
+Monsieur le Marechal would certainly have left him on his ladder.
+Come, Louis, Etienne, Germain, escort Monsieur's prisoners--a fine
+acquisition, truly! If they bring you any luck, I shall be very much
+surprised."
+
+Cinq-Mars, suffering from the motion of his horse, rode only at the pace
+of his prisoners on foot, and was accordingly at a distance behind the
+red companies, who followed close upon the King. He meditated on his way
+what it could be that the Prince desired to say to him. A ray of hope
+presented to his mind the figure of Marie de Mantua in the distance; and
+for a moment his thoughts were calmed. But all his future lay in that
+brief sentence--"to please the King"; and he began to reflect upon all
+the bitterness in which his task might involve him.
+
+At that moment he saw approaching his friend, De Thou, who, anxious at
+his remaining behind, had sought him in the plain, eager to aid him if
+necessary.
+
+"It is late, my friend; night approaches. You have delayed long; I
+feared for you. Whom have you here? What has detained you? The King will
+soon be asking for you."
+
+Such were the rapid inquiries of the young counsellor, whose anxiety,
+more than the battle itself, had made him lose his accustomed serenity.
+
+"I was slightly wounded; I bring a prisoner, and I was thinking of the
+King. What can he want me for, my friend? What must I do if he
+proposes to place me about his person? I must please him; and at this
+thought--shall I own it?--I am tempted to fly. But I trust that I shall
+not have that fatal honor. 'To please,' how humiliating the word!
+'to obey' quite the opposite! A soldier runs the chance of death,
+and there's an end. But in what base compliances, what sacrifices of
+himself, what compositions with his conscience, what degradation of his
+own thought, may not a courtier be involved! Ah, De Thou, my dear De
+Thou! I am not made for the court; I feel it, though I have seen it but
+for a moment. There is in my temperament a certain savageness, which
+education has polished only on the surface. At a distance, I thought
+myself adapted to live in this all-powerful world; I even desired it,
+led by a cherished hope of my heart. But I shuddered at the first step;
+I shuddered at the mere sight of the Cardinal. The recollection of the
+last of his crimes, at which I was present, kept me from addressing him.
+He horrifies me; I never can endure to be near him. The King's favor,
+too, has that about it which dismays me, as if I knew it would be fatal
+to me."
+
+"I am glad to perceive this apprehension in you; it may be most
+salutary," said De Thou, as they rode on. "You are about to enter into
+contact with power. Before, you did not even conceive it; now you will
+touch it with your very hand. You will see what it is, and what hand
+hurls the lightning. Heaven grant that that lightning may never strike
+you! You will probably be present in those councils which regulate the
+destiny of nations; you will see, you will perchance originate, those
+caprices whence are born sanguinary wars, conquests, and treaties;
+you will hold in your hand the drop of water which swells into mighty
+torrents. It is only from high places that men can judge of human
+affairs; you must look from the mountaintop ere you can appreciate the
+littleness of those things which from below appear to us great."
+
+"Ah, were I on those heights, I should at least learn the lesson
+you speak of; but this Cardinal, this man to whom I must be under
+obligation, this man whom I know too well by his works--what will he be
+to me?"
+
+"A friend, a protector, no doubt," answered De Thou.
+
+"Death were a thousand times preferable to his friendship! I hate his
+whole being, even his very name; he spills the blood of men with the
+cross of the Redeemer!"
+
+"What horrors are you saying, my friend? You will ruin yourself if you
+reveal your sentiments respecting the Cardinal to the King."
+
+"Never mind; in the midst of these tortuous ways, I desire to take a new
+one, the right line. My whole opinion, the opinion of a just man, shall
+be unveiled to the King himself, if he interrogate me, even should it
+cost me my head. I have at last seen this King, who has been described
+to me as so weak; I have seen him, and his aspect has touched me to the
+heart in spite of myself. Certainly, he is very unfortunate, but he can
+not be cruel; he will listen to the truth."
+
+"Yes; but he will not dare to make it triumph," answered the sage De
+Thou. "Beware of this warmth of heart, which often draws you by sudden
+and dangerous movements. Do not attack a colossus like Richelieu without
+having measured him."
+
+"That is just like my tutor, the Abbe Quillet. My dear and prudent
+friend, neither the one nor the other of you know me; you do not know
+how weary I am of myself, and whither I have cast my gaze. I must mount
+or die."
+
+"What! already ambitious?" exclaimed De Thou, with extreme surprise.
+
+His friend inclined his head upon his hands, abandoning the reins of his
+horse, and did not answer.
+
+"What! has this selfish passion of a riper age obtained possession of
+you at twenty, Henri? Ambition is the saddest of all hopes."
+
+"And yet it possesses me entirely at present, for I see only by means of
+it, and by it my whole heart is penetrated."
+
+"Ah, Cinq-Mars, I no longer recognize you! how different you were
+formerly! I do not conceal from you that you appear to me to have
+degenerated. In those walks of our childhood, when the life, and, above
+all, the death of Socrates, caused tears of admiration and envy to
+flow from our eyes; when, raising ourselves to the ideal of the
+highest virtue, we wished that those illustrious sorrows, those sublime
+misfortunes, which create great men, might in the future come upon us;
+when we constructed for ourselves imaginary occasions of sacrifices
+and devotion--if the voice of a man had pronounced, between us two, the
+single world, 'ambition,' we should have believed that we were touching
+a serpent."
+
+De Thou spoke with the heat of enthusiasm and of reproach. Cinq-Mars
+went on without answering, and still with his face in his hands. After
+an instant of silence he removed them, and allowed his eyes to be seen,
+full of generous tears. He pressed the hand of his friend warmly, and
+said to him, with a penetrating accent:
+
+"Monsieur de Thou, you have recalled to me the most beautiful thoughts
+of my earliest youth. Do not believe that I have fallen; I am consumed
+by a secret hope which I can not confide even to you. I despise, as much
+as you, the ambition which will seem to possess me. All the world will
+believe in it; but what do I care for the world? As for you, noble
+friend, promise me that you will not cease to esteem me, whatever you
+may see me do. I swear that my thoughts are as pure as heaven itself!"
+
+"Well," said De Thou, "I swear by heaven that I believe you blindly; you
+give me back my life!"
+
+They shook hands again with effusion of heart, and then perceived that
+they had arrived almost before the tent of the King.
+
+Day was nearly over; but one might have believed that a softer day
+was rising, for the moon issued from the sea in all her splendor. The
+transparent sky of the south showed not a single cloud, and it seemed
+like a veil of pale blue sown with silver spangles; the air, still hot,
+was agitated only by the rare passage of breezes from the Mediterranean;
+and all sounds had ceased upon the earth. The fatigued army reposed
+beneath their tents, the line of which was marked by the fires, and the
+besieged city seemed oppressed by the same slumber; upon its ramparts
+nothing was to be seen but the arms of the sentinels, which shone in the
+rays of the moon, or the wandering fire of the night-rounds. Nothing was
+to be heard but the gloomy and prolonged cries of its guards, who warned
+one another not to sleep.
+
+It was only around the King that all things waked, but at a great
+distance from him. This Prince had dismissed all his suite; he walked
+alone before his tent, and, pausing sometimes to contemplate the beauty
+of the heavens, he appeared plunged in melancholy meditation. No one
+dared to interrupt him; and those of the nobility who had remained in
+the royal quarters had gathered about the Cardinal, who, at twenty paces
+from the King, was seated upon a little hillock of turf, fashioned into
+a seat by the soldiers. There he wiped his pale forehead, fatigued
+with the cares of the day and with the unaccustomed weight of a suit of
+armor; he bade adieu, in a few hurried but always attentive and polite
+words, to those who came to salute him as they retired. No one was near
+him now except Joseph, who was talking with Laubardemont. The Cardinal
+was looking at the King, to see whether, before reentering, this Prince
+would not speak to him, when the sound of the horses of Cinq-Mars was
+heard. The Cardinal's guards questioned him, and allowed him to advance
+without followers, and only with De Thou.
+
+"You are come too late, young man, to speak with the King," said the
+Cardinal-Duke with a sharp voice. "One can not make his Majesty wait."
+
+The two friends were about to retire, when the voice of Louis XIII
+himself made itself heard. This Prince was at that moment in one of
+those false positions which constituted the misfortune of his whole
+life. Profoundly irritated against his minister, but not concealing from
+himself that he owed the success of the day to him, desiring, moreover,
+to announce to him his intention to quit the army and to raise the siege
+of Perpignan, he was torn between the desire of speaking to the Cardinal
+and the fear lest his anger might be weakened. The minister, upon
+his part, dared not be the first to speak, being uncertain as to the
+thoughts which occupied his master, and fearing to choose his time
+ill, but yet not able to decide upon retiring. Both found themselves
+precisely in the position of two lovers who have quarrelled and desire
+to have an explanation, when the King, seized with joy the first
+opportunity of extricating himself. The chance was fatal to the
+minister. See upon what trifles depend those destinies which are called
+great.
+
+"Is it not Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?" said the King, in a loud voice. "Let
+him approach; I am waiting for him."
+
+Young D'Effiat approached on horseback, and at some paces from the King
+desired to set foot to earth; but hardly had his leg touched the ground
+when he dropped upon his knees.
+
+"Pardon, Sire!" said he, "I believe that I am wounded;" and the blood
+issued violently from his boot.
+
+De Thou had seen him fall, and had approached to sustain him. Richelieu
+seized this opportunity of advancing also, with dissembled eagerness.
+
+"Remove this spectacle from the eyes of the King," said he. "You see
+very well that this young man is dying."
+
+"Not at all," said Louis, himself supporting him; "a king of France
+knows how to see a man die, and has no fear of the blood which flows for
+him. This young man interests me. Let him be carried into my tent, and
+let my doctors attend him. If his wound is not serious, he shall come
+with me to Paris, for the siege is suspended, Monsieur le Cardinal. Such
+is my desire; other affairs call me to the centre of the kingdom. I will
+leave you here to command in my absence. This is what I desired to say
+to you."
+
+With these words the King went abruptly into his tent, preceded by his
+pages and his officers, carrying flambeaux.
+
+The royal pavilion was closed, and Cinq-Mars was borne in by De Thou and
+his people, while the Duc de Richelieu, motionless and stupefied,
+still regarded the spot where this scene had passed. He appeared
+thunder-struck, and incapable of seeing or hearing those who observed
+him.
+
+Laubardemont, still intimidated by his ill reception of the preceding
+day, dared not speak a word to him, and Joseph hardly recognized in him
+his former master. For an instant he regretted having given himself to
+him, and fancied that his star was waning; but, reflecting that he was
+hated by all men and had no resource save in Richelieu, he seized him
+by the arm, and, shaking him roughly, said to him in a low voice, but
+harshly:
+
+"Come, come, Monseigneur, you are chickenhearted; come with us."
+
+And, appearing to sustain him by the elbow, but in fact drawing him in
+spite of himself, with the aid of Laubardemont, he made him enter his
+tent, as a schoolmaster forces a schoolboy to rest, fearing the effects
+of the evening mist upon him.
+
+The prematurely aged man slowly obeyed the wishes of his two parasites,
+and the purple of the pavilion dropped upon him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE NIGHT-WATCH
+
+        O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
+        The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight,
+        Cold, fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
+        What do I fear? Myself?
+        I love myself!
+             SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Hardly was the Cardinal in his tent before he dropped, armed and
+cuirassed, into a great armchair; and there, holding his handkerchief to
+his mouth with a fixed gaze, he remained in this attitude, letting
+his two dark confidants wonder whether contemplation or annihilation
+maintained him in it. He was deadly pale, and a cold sweat streamed upon
+his brow. In wiping it with a sudden movement, he threw behind him his
+red cap, the only ecclesiastical sign which remained upon him, and again
+rested with his mouth upon his hands. The Capuchin on one side, and the
+sombre magistrate on the other, considered him in silence, and seemed,
+with their brown and black costumes like the priest and the notary of a
+dying man.
+
+The friar, drawing from the depth of his chest a voice that seemed
+better suited to repeat the service of the dead than to administer
+consolation, spoke first:
+
+"If Monseigneur will recall my counsels given at Narbonne, he will
+confess that I had a just presentiment of the troubles which this young
+man would one day cause him."
+
+The magistrate continued:
+
+"I have learned from the old deaf abbe who dined at the house of
+the Marechale d'Effiat, and who heard all, that this young Cinq-Mars
+exhibited more energy than one would have imagined, and that he
+attempted to rescue the Marechal de Bassompierre. I have still by me
+the detailed report of the deaf man, who played his part very well. His
+Eminence the Cardinal must be sufficiently convinced by it."
+
+"I have told Monseigneur," resumed Joseph--for these two ferocious Seyds
+alternated their discourse like the shepherds of Virgil--"I have told
+him that it would be well to get rid of this young D'Effiat, and that I
+would charge myself with the business, if such were his good pleasure.
+It would be easy to destroy him in the opinion of the King."
+
+"It would be safer to make him die of his wound," answered Laubardemont;
+"if his Eminence would have the goodness to command me, I know
+intimately the assistant-physician, who cured me of a blow on the
+forehead, and is now attending to him. He is a prudent man, entirely
+devoted to Monseigneur the Cardinal-Duke, and whose affairs have been
+somewhat embarrassed by gambling."
+
+"I believe," replied Joseph, with an air of modesty, mingled with a
+touch of bitterness, "that if his Excellency proposed to employ any one
+in this useful project, it should be his accustomed negotiator, who has
+had some success in the past."
+
+"I fancy that I could enumerate some signal instances," answered
+Laubardemont, "and very recent ones, of which the difficulty was great."
+
+"Ah, no doubt," said the father, with a bow and an air of consideration
+and politeness, "your most bold and skilfully executed commission
+was the trial of Urbain Grandier, the magician. But, with Heaven's
+assistance, one may be enabled to do things quite as worthy and bold. It
+is not without merit, for instance," added he, dropping his eyes like a
+young girl, "to have extirpated vigorously a royal Bourbon branch."
+
+"It was not very difficult," answered the magistrate, with bitterness,
+"to select a soldier from the guards to kill the Comte de Soissons; but
+to preside, to judge--"
+
+"And to execute one's self," interrupted the heated Capuchin, "is
+certainly less difficult than to educate a man from infancy in the
+thought of accomplishing great things with discretion, and to bear all
+tortures, if necessary, for the love of heaven, rather than reveal
+the name of those who have armed him with their justice, or to die
+courageously upon the body of him that he has struck, as did one who
+was commissioned by me. He uttered no cry at the blow of the sword of
+Riquemont, the equerry of the Prince. He died like a saint; he was my
+pupil."
+
+"To give orders is somewhat different from running risk one's self."
+
+"And did I risk nothing at the siege of Rochelle?"
+
+"Of being drowned in a sewer, no doubt," said Laubardemont.
+
+"And you," said Joseph, "has your danger been that of catching your
+fingers in instruments of torture? And all this because the Abbess of
+the Ursulines is your niece."
+
+"It was a good thing for your brothers of Saint Francis, who held the
+hammers; but I--I was struck in the forehead by this same Cinq-Mars, who
+was leading an enraged multitude."
+
+"Are you quite sure of that?" cried Joseph, delighted. "Did he dare to
+act thus against the commands of the King?" The joy which this discovery
+gave him made him forget his anger.
+
+"Fools!" exclaimed the Cardinal, suddenly breaking his long silence,
+and taking from his lips his handkerchief stained with blood. "I would
+punish your angry dispute had it not taught me many secrets of infamy
+on your part. You have exceeded my orders; I commanded no torture,
+Laubardemont. That is your second fault. You cause me to be hated for
+nothing; that was useless. But you, Joseph, do not neglect the details
+of this disturbance in which Cinq-Mars was engaged; it may be of use in
+the end."
+
+"I have all the names and descriptions," said the secret judge, eagerly,
+bending his tall form and thin, olive-colored visage, wrinkled with a
+servile smile, down to the armchair.
+
+"It is well! it is well!" said the minister, pushing him back; "but
+that is not the question yet. You, Joseph, be in Paris before this young
+upstart, who will become a favorite, I am certain. Become his friend;
+make him of my party or destroy him. Let him serve me or fall. But,
+above all, send me every day safe persons to give me verbal accounts. I
+will have no more writing for the future. I am much displeased with
+you, Joseph. What a miserable courier you chose to send from Cologne! He
+could not understand me. He saw the King too soon, and here we are still
+in disgrace in consequence. You have just missed ruining me entirely. Go
+and observe what is about to be done in Paris. A conspiracy will soon be
+hatched against me; but it will be the last. I remain here in order
+to let them all act more freely. Go, both of you, and send me my valet
+after the lapse of two hours; I wish now to be alone."
+
+The steps of the two men were still to be heard as Richelieu, with eyes
+fixed upon the entrance to the tent, pursued them with his irritated
+glance.
+
+"Wretches!" he exclaimed, when he was alone, "go and accomplish some
+more secret work, and afterward I will crush you, in pure instruments
+of my power. The King will soon succumb beneath the slow malady which
+consumes him. I shall then be regent; I shall be King of France myself;
+I shall no longer have to dread the caprices of his weakness. I will
+destroy the haughty races of this country. I will be alone above them
+all. Europe shall tremble."
+
+Here the blood, which again filled his mouth, obliged him to apply his
+handkerchief to it once more.
+
+"Ah, what do I say? Unhappy victim that I am! Here am I, death-stricken!
+My dissolution is near; my blood flows, and my spirit desires to labor
+still. Why? For whom? Is it for glory? That is an empty word. Is it for
+men? I despise them. For whom, then, since I shall die, perhaps, in two
+or three years? Is it for God? What a name! I have not walked with Him!
+He has seen all--"
+
+Here he let his head fall upon his breast, and his eyes met the great
+cross of gold which was suspended from his neck. He could not help
+throwing himself back in his chair; but it followed him. He took it; and
+considering it with fixed and devouring looks, he said in a low voice:
+
+"Terrible sign! thou followest me! Shall I find thee elsewhere--divinity
+and suffering? What am I? What have I done?"
+
+For the first time a singular and unknown terror penetrated him. He
+trembled, at once frozen and scorched by an invincible shudder. He dared
+not lift his eyes, fearing to meet some terrible vision. He dared not
+call, fearing to hear the sound of his own voice. He remained profoundly
+plunged in meditations on eternity, so terrible for him, and he murmured
+the following kind of prayer:
+
+"Great God, if Thou hearest me, judge me then, but do not isolate me
+in judging me! Look upon me, surrounded by the men of my generation;
+consider the immense work I had undertaken! Was not an enormous lever
+wanted to bestir those masses; and if this lever in falling crushes some
+useless wretches, am I very culpable? I seem wicked to men; but Thou,
+Supreme judge, dost thou regard me thus?
+
+"No; Thou knowest it is boundless power which makes creature culpable
+against creature. It is not Armand de Richelieu who destroys; it is the
+Prime-Minister. It is not for his personal injuries; it is to carry out
+a system. But a system--what is this word? Is it permitted me to play
+thus with men, to regard them as numbers for working out a thought,
+which perhaps is false? I overturn the framework of the throne. What if,
+without knowing it, I sap its foundations and hasten its fall! Yes, my
+borrowed power has seduced me. O labyrinth! O weakness of human thought!
+Simple faith, why did I quit thy path? Why am I not a simple priest? If
+I dared to break with man and give myself to God, the ladder of Jacob
+would again descend in my dreams."
+
+At this moment his ear was struck by a great noise outside--laughter of
+soldiers, ferocious shouts and oaths, mingled with words which were a
+long time sustained by a weak yet clear voice; one would have said it
+was the voice of an angel interrupted by the laughter of demons. He
+rose and opened a sort of linen window, worked in the side of his square
+tent. A singular spectacle presented itself to his view; he remained
+some instants contemplating it, attentive to the conversation which was
+going on.
+
+"Listen, listen, La Valeur!" said one soldier to another. "See, she
+begins again to speak and to sing!"
+
+"Put her in the middle of the circle, between us and the fire."
+
+"You do not know her! You do not know her!" said another. "But here is
+Grand-Ferre, who says that he knows her."
+
+"Yes, I tell you I know her; and, by Saint Peter of Loudun, I will swear
+that I have seen her in my village, when I had leave of absence; and it
+was upon an occasion at which one shuddered, but concerning which one
+dares not talk, especially to a Cardinalist like you."
+
+"Eh! and pray why dare not one speak of it, you great simpleton?" said
+an old soldier, twisting up his moustache.
+
+"It is not spoken of because it burns the tongue. Do you understand
+that?"
+
+"No, I don't understand it."
+
+"Well, nor I neither; but certain citizens told it to me."
+
+Here a general laugh interrupted him.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! is he a fool?" said one. "He listens to what the townsfolk
+tell him."
+
+"Ah, well! if you listen to their gabble, you have time to lose," said
+another.
+
+"You do not know, then, what my mother said, greenhorn?" said the
+eldest, gravely dropping his eyes with a solemn air, to compel
+attention.
+
+"Eh! how can you think that I know it, La Pipe? Your mother must have
+died of old age before my grandfather came into the world."
+
+"Well, greenhorn, I will tell you! You shall know, first of all, that my
+mother was a respectable Bohemian, as much attached to the regiment of
+carabineers of La Roque as my dog Canon there. She carried brandy round
+her neck in a barrel, and drank better than the best of us. She had
+fourteen husbands, all soldiers, who died upon the field of battle."
+
+"Ha! that was a woman!" interrupted the soldiers, full of respect.
+
+"And never once in her life did she speak to a townsman, unless it was
+to say to him on coming to her lodging, 'Light my candle and warm my
+soup.'"
+
+"Well, and what was it that your mother said to you?"
+
+"If you are in such a hurry, you shall not know, greenhorn. She said
+habitually in her talk, 'A soldier is better than a dog; but a dog is
+better than a bourgeois.'"
+
+"Bravo! bravo! that was well said!" cried the soldier, filled with
+enthusiasm at these fine words.
+
+"That," said Grand-Ferre, "does not prove that the citizens who made the
+remark to me that it burned the tongue were in the right; besides, they
+were not altogether citizens, for they had swords, and they were grieved
+at a cure being burned, and so was I."
+
+"Eh! what was it to you that they burned your cure, great simpleton?"
+said a sergeant, leaning upon the fork of his arquebus; "after him
+another would come. You might have taken one of our generals in his
+stead, who are all cures at present; for me, I am a Royalist, and I say
+it frankly."
+
+"Hold your tongue!" cried La Pipe; "let the girl speak. It is these dogs
+of Royalists who always disturb us in our amusements."
+
+"What say you?" answered Grand-Ferre. "Do you even know what it is to be
+a Royalist?"
+
+"Yes," said La Pipe; "I know you all very well. Go, you are for the old
+self-called princes of the peace, together with the wranglers against
+the Cardinal and the gabelle. Am I right or not?"
+
+"No, old red-stocking. A Royalist is one who is for the King; that's
+what it is. And as my father was the King's valet, I am for the King,
+you see; and I have no liking for the red-stockings, I can tell you."
+
+"Ah, you call me red-stocking, eh?" answered the old soldier. "You
+shall give me satisfaction to-morrow morning. If you had made war in
+the Valteline, you would not talk like that; and if you had seen his
+Eminence marching upon the dike at Rochelle, with the old Marquis de
+Spinola, while volleys of cannonshot were sent after him, you would have
+nothing to say about red-stockings."
+
+"Come, let us amuse ourselves, instead of quarrelling," said the other
+soldiers.
+
+The men who conversed thus were standing round a great fire, which
+illuminated them more than the moon, beautiful as it was; and in the
+centre of the group was the object of their gathering and their cries.
+The Cardinal perceived a young woman arrayed in black and covered with
+a long, white veil. Her feet were bare; a thick cord clasped her elegant
+figure; a long rosary fell from her neck almost to her feet, and her
+hands, delicate and white as ivory, turned its beads and made them pass
+rapidly beneath her fingers. The soldiers, with a barbarous joy, amused
+themselves with laying little brands in her way to burn her naked feet.
+The oldest took the smoking match of his arquebus, and, approaching it
+to the edge of her robe, said in a hoarse voice:
+
+"Come, madcap, tell me your history, or I will fill you with powder and
+blow you up like a mine; take care, for I have already played that trick
+to others besides you, in the old wars of the Huguenots. Come, sing."
+
+The young woman, looking at him gravely, made no reply, but lowered her
+veil.
+
+"You don't manage her well," said Grand-Ferre, with a drunken laugh;
+"you will make her cry. You don't know the fine language of the court;
+let me speak to her." And, touching her on the chin, "My little heart,"
+he said, "if you will please, my sweet, to resume the little story you
+told just now to these gentlemen, I will pray you to travel with me upon
+the river Du Tendre, as the great ladies of Paris say, and to take a
+glass of brandy with your faithful chevalier, who met you formerly at
+Loudun, when you played a comedy in order to burn a poor devil."
+
+The young woman crossed her arms, and, looking around her with an
+imperious air, cried:
+
+"Withdraw, in the name of the God of armies; withdraw, impious men!
+There is nothing in common between us. I do not understand your tongue,
+nor you mine. Go, sell your blood to the princes of the earth at so many
+oboles a day, and leave me to accomplish my mission! Conduct me to the
+Cardinal."
+
+A coarse laugh interrupted her.
+
+"Do you think," said a carabineer of Maurevert, "that his Eminence the
+Generalissimo will receive you with your feet naked? Go and wash them."
+
+"The Lord has said, 'Jerusalem, lift thy robe, and pass the rivers of
+water,'" she answered, her arms still crossed. "Let me be conducted to
+the Cardinal."
+
+Richelieu cried in a loud voice, "Bring the woman to me, and let her
+alone!"
+
+All were silent; they conducted her to the minister.
+
+"Why," said she, beholding him--"why bring me before an armed man?"
+
+They left her alone with him without answering.
+
+The Cardinal looked at her with a suspicious air. "Madame," said he,
+"what are you doing in the camp at this hour? And if your mind is not
+disordered, why these naked feet?"
+
+"It is a vow; it is a vow," answered the young woman, with an air of
+impatience, seating herself beside him abruptly. "I have also made a vow
+not to eat until I have found the man I seek."
+
+"My sister," said the Cardinal, astonished and softened, looking
+closely at her, "God does not exact such rigors from a weak body, and
+particularly from one of your age, for you seem very young."
+
+"Young! oh, yes, I was very young a few days ago; but I have since
+passed two existences at least, so much have I thought and suffered.
+Look on my countenance."
+
+And she discovered a face of perfect beauty. Black and very regular
+eyes gave life to it; but in their absence one might have thought her
+features were those of a phantom, she was so pale. Her lips were blue
+and quivering; and a strong shudder made her teeth chatter.
+
+"You are ill, my sister," said the minister, touched, taking her hand,
+which he felt to be burning hot. A sort of habit of inquiring concerning
+his own health, and that of others, made him touch the pulse of her
+emaciated arm; he felt that the arteries were swollen by the beatings of
+a terrible fever.
+
+"Alas!" he continued, with more of interest, "you have killed yourself
+with rigors beyond human strength! I have always blamed them, and
+especially at a tender age. What, then, has induced you to do this? Is
+it to confide it to me that you are come? Speak calmly, and be sure of
+succor."
+
+"Confide in men!" answered the young woman; "oh, no, never! All have
+deceived me. I will confide myself to no one, not even to Monsieur
+Cinq-Mars, although he must soon die."
+
+"What!" said Richelieu, contracting his brows, but with a bitter
+laugh,--"what! do you know this young man? Has he been the cause of your
+misfortune?"
+
+"Oh, no! He is very good, and hates wickedness; that is what will ruin
+him. Besides," said she, suddenly assuming a harsh and savage air, "men
+are weak, and there are things which women must accomplish. When there
+were no more valiant men in Israel, Deborah arose."
+
+"Ah! how came you with all this fine learning?" continued the Cardinal,
+still holding her hand.
+
+"Oh, I can't explain that!" answered she, with a touching air of naivete
+and a very gentle voice; "you would not understand me. It is the Devil
+who has taught me all, and who has destroyed me."
+
+"Ah, my child! it is always he who destroys us; but he instructs
+us ill," said Richelieu, with an air of paternal protection and an
+increasing pity. "What have been your faults? Tell them to me; I am very
+powerful."
+
+"Ah," said she, with a look of doubt, "you have much influence over
+warriors, brave men and generals! Beneath your cuirass must beat a noble
+heart; you are an old General who knows nothing of the tricks of crime."
+
+Richelieu smiled; this mistake flattered him.
+
+"I heard you ask for the Cardinal; do you desire to see him? Did you
+come here to seek him?"
+
+The girl drew back and placed a finger upon her forehead.
+
+"I had forgotten it," said she; "you have talked to me too much. I had
+overlooked this idea, and yet it is an important one; it is for that
+that I have condemned myself to the hunger which is killing me. I must
+accomplish it, or I shall die first. Ah," said she, putting her hand
+beneath her robe in her bosom, whence she appeared to take something,
+"behold it! this idea--"
+
+She suddenly blushed, and her eyes widened extraordinarily. She
+continued, bending to the ear of the Cardinal:
+
+"I will tell you; listen! Urbain Grandier, my lover Urbain, told me this
+night that it was Richelieu who had been the cause of his death. I took
+a knife from an inn, and I come here to kill him; tell me where he is."
+
+The Cardinal, surprised and terrified, recoiled with horror. He
+dared not call his guards, fearing the cries of this woman and her
+accusations; nevertheless, a transport of this madness might be fatal to
+him.
+
+"This frightful history will pursue me everywhere!" cried he, looking
+fixedly at her, and thinking within himself of the course he should
+take.
+
+They remained in silence, face to face, in the same attitude, like
+two wrestlers who contemplate before attacking each other, or like the
+pointer and his victim petrified by the power of a look.
+
+In the mean time, Laubardemont and Joseph had gone forth together; and
+ere separating they talked for a moment before the tent of the Cardinal,
+because they were eager mutually to deceive each other. Their hatred
+had acquired new force by their recent quarrel; and each had resolved
+to ruin his rival in the mind of his master. The judge then began the
+dialogue, which each of them had prepared, taking the arm of the other
+as by one and the same movement.
+
+"Ah, reverend father! how you have afflicted me by seeming to take in
+ill part the trifling pleasantries which I said to you just now."
+
+"Heavens, no! my dear Monsieur, I am far from that. Charity, where would
+be charity? I have sometimes a holy warmth in conversation, for the good
+of the State and of Monseigneur, to whom I am entirely devoted."
+
+"Ah, who knows it better than I, reverend father? But render me justice;
+you also know how completely I am attached to his Eminence the Cardinal,
+to whom I owe all. Alas! I have employed too much zeal in serving him,
+since he reproaches me with it."
+
+"Reassure yourself," said Joseph; "he bears no ill-will toward you. I
+know him well; he can appreciate one's actions in favor of one's family.
+He, too, is a very good relative."
+
+"Yes, there it is," answered Laubardemont; "consider my condition.
+My niece would have been totally ruined at her convent had Urbain
+triumphed; you feel that as well as I do, particularly as she did not
+quite comprehend us, and acted the child when she was compelled to
+appear."
+
+"Is it possible? In full audience! What you tell me indeed makes me feel
+for you. How painful it must have been!"
+
+"More so than you can imagine. She forgot, in her madness, all that she
+had been told, committed a thousand blunders in Latin, which we patched
+up as well as we could; and she even caused an unpleasant scene on the
+day of the trial, very unpleasant for me and the judges--there were
+swoons and shrieks. Ah, I swear that I would have scolded her well had I
+not been forced to quit precipitately that, little town of Loudun.
+But, you see, it is natural enough that I am attached to her. She is my
+nearest relative; for my son has turned out ill, and no one knows what
+has become of him during the last four years. Poor little Jeanne de
+Belfiel! I made her a nun, and then abbess, in order to preserve all for
+that scamp. Had I foreseen his conduct, I should have retained her for
+the world."
+
+"She is said to have great beauty," answered Joseph; "that is a precious
+gift for a family. She might have been presented at court, and the
+King--Ah! ah! Mademoiselle de la Fayette--eh! eh!--Mademoiselle
+d'Hautefort--you understand; it may be even possible to think of it
+yet."
+
+"Ah, that is like you, Monseigneur! for we know that you have been
+nominated to the cardinalate; how good you are to remember the most
+devoted of your friends!"
+
+Laubardemont was yet talking to Joseph when they found themselves at the
+end of the line of the camp, which led to the quarter of the volunteers.
+
+"May God and his Holy Mother protect you during my absence!" said
+Joseph, stopping. "To-morrow I depart for Paris; and as I shall have
+frequent business with this young Cinq-Mars, I shall first go to see
+him, and learn news of his wound."
+
+"Had I been listened to," said Laubardemont, "you would not now have had
+this trouble."
+
+"Alas, you are right!" answered Joseph, with a profound sigh, and
+raising his eyes to heaven; "but the Cardinal is no longer the same man.
+He will not take advantage of good ideas; he will ruin us if he goes on
+thus."
+
+And, making a low bow to the judge, the Capuchin took the road which he
+had indicated to him.
+
+Laubardemont followed him for some time with his eyes, and, when he was
+quite sure of the route which he had taken, he returned, or, rather, ran
+back to the tent of the minister. "The Cardinal dismisses him, he tells
+me; that shows that he is tired of him. I know secrets which will ruin
+him. I will add that he is gone to pay court to the future favorite.
+I will replace this monk in the favor of the minister. The moment is
+propitious. It is midnight; he will be alone for an hour and a half yet.
+Let me run."
+
+He arrived at the tent of the guards, which was before the pavilion.
+
+"Monseigneur gives audience to some one," said the captain, hesitating;
+"you can not enter."
+
+"Never mind; you saw me leave an hour ago, and things are passing of
+which I must give an account."
+
+"Come in, Laubardemont," cried the minister; "come in quickly, and
+alone."
+
+He entered. The Cardinal, still seated, held the two hands of the nun
+in one of his, and with the other he imposed silence upon his stupefied
+agent, who remained motionless, not yet seeing the face of this woman.
+She spoke volubly, and the strange things she said contrasted horribly
+with the sweetness of her voice. Richelieu seemed moved.
+
+"Yes, I will stab him with a knife. It is the knife which the demon
+Behirith gave me at the inn; but it is the nail of Sisera. It has
+a handle of ivory, you see; and I have wept much over it. Is it not
+singular, my good General? I will turn it in the throat of him who
+killed my friend, as he himself told me to do; and afterward I will burn
+the body. There is like for like, the punishment which God permitted
+to Adam. You have an astonished air, my brave general; but you would be
+much more so, were I to repeat to you his song--the song which he
+sang to me again last night, at the hour of the funeral-pyre--you
+understand?--the hour when it rains, the hour when my hand burns as now.
+He said to me: 'They are much deceived, the magistrates, the red judges.
+I have eleven demons at my command; and I shall come to see you when the
+clock strikes, under a canopy of purple velvet, with torches--torches of
+resin to give us light--' Ah, that is beautiful! Listen, listen to what
+he sings!"
+
+And she sang to the air of De Profundis.
+
+"Is it not singular, my good General?" said she, when she had finished;
+"and I--I answer him every evening."
+
+"Then he speaks as spirits and prophets speak. He says: 'Woe, woe to him
+who has shed blood! Are the judges of the earth gods? No, they are men
+who grow old and suffer, and yet they dare to say aloud, Let that man
+die! The penalty of death, the pain of death--who has given to man
+the right of imposing it on man? Is the number two? One would be an
+assassin, look you! But count well, one, two, three. Behold, they are
+wise and just, these grave and salaried criminals! O crime, the horror
+of Heaven! If you looked upon them from above as I look upon them, you
+would be yet paler than I am. Flesh destroys flesh! That which lives
+by blood sheds blood coldly and without anger, like a God with power to
+create!'"
+
+The cries which the unhappy girl uttered, as she rapidly spoke these
+words, terrified Richelieu and Laubardemont so much that they still
+remained motionless. The delirium and the fever continued to transport
+her.
+
+"'Did the judges tremble?' said Urbain Grandier to me. 'Did they tremble
+at deceiving themselves?' They work the work of the just. The question!
+They bind his limbs with ropes to make him speak. His skin cracks, tears
+away, and rolls up like a parchment; his nerves are naked, red, and
+glittering; his bones crack; the marrow spurts out. But the judges
+sleep! they dream of flowers and spring. 'How hot the grand chamber is!'
+says one, awaking; 'this man has not chosen to speak! Is the torture
+finished?' And pitiful at last, he dooms him to death--death, the sole
+fear of the living! death, the unknown world! He sends before him a
+furious soul which will wait for him. Oh! has he never seen the vision
+of vengeance? Has he never seen before falling asleep the flayed
+prevaricator?"
+
+Already weakened by fever, fatigue, and grief, the Cardinal, seized with
+horror and pity, exclaimed:
+
+"Ah, for the love of God, let this terrible scene have an end! Take away
+this woman; she is mad!"
+
+The frantic creature turned, and suddenly uttering loud cries, "Ah, the
+judge! the judge! the judge!" she said, recognizing Laubardemont.
+
+The latter, clasping his hands and trembling before the Cardinal, said
+with terror:
+
+"Alas, Monseigneur, pardon me! she is my niece, who has lost her reason.
+I was not aware of this misfortune, or she would have been shut up long
+ago. Jeanne! Jeanne! come, Madame, to your knees! ask forgiveness of
+Monseigneur the Cardinal-duc."
+
+"It is Richelieu!" she cried; and astonishment seemed wholly to paralyze
+this young and unhappy beauty. The flush which had animated her at first
+gave place to a deadly pallor, her cries to a motionless silence,
+her wandering looks to a frightful fixedness of her large eyes, which
+constantly followed the agitated minister.
+
+"Take away this unfortunate child quickly," said he; "she is dying, and
+so am I. So many horrors pursue me since that sentence that I believe
+all hell is loosed upon me."
+
+He rose as he spoke; Jeanne de Belfiel, still silent and stupefied, with
+haggard eyes, open mouth, and head bent forward, yet remained beneath
+the shock of her double surprise, which seemed to have extinguished the
+rest of her reason and her strength. At the movement of the Cardinal,
+she shuddered to find herself between him and Laubardemont, looked by
+turns at one and the other, let the knife which she held fall from
+her hand, and retired slowly toward the opening of the tent, covering
+herself completely with her veil, and looking wildly and with terror
+behind her upon her uncle who followed, like an affrighted lamb, which
+already feels at its back the burning breath of the wolf about to seize
+it.
+
+Thus they both went forth; and hardly had they reached the open air,
+when the furious judge caught the hands of his victim, tied them with
+a handkerchief, and easily led her, for she uttered no cry, not even a
+sigh, but followed him with her head still drooping upon her bosom, and
+as if plunged in profound somnambulism.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. THE SPANIARD
+
+Meantime, a scene of different nature was passing in the tent of
+Cinq-Mars; the words of the King, the first balm to his wounds, had been
+followed by the anxious care of the surgeons of the court. A spent
+ball, easily extracted, had been the only cause of his accident. He
+was allowed to travel and all was ready. The invalid had received up to
+midnight friendly or interested visits; among the first were those
+of little Gondi and of Fontrailles, who were also preparing to quit
+Perpignan for Paris. The ex-page, Olivier d'Entraigues, joined with them
+in complimenting the fortunate volunteer, whom the King seemed to
+have distinguished. The habitual coldness of the Prince toward all who
+surrounded him having caused those who knew of them to regard the
+few words he had spoken as assured signs of high favor, all came to
+congratulate him.
+
+At length, released from visitors, he lay upon his camp-bed. De Thou
+sat by his side, holding his hand, and Grandchamp at his feet, still
+grumbling at the numerous interruptions that had fatigued his wounded
+master. Cinq-Mars himself tasted one of those moments of calm and hope,
+which so refresh the soul as well as the body. His free hand secretly
+pressed the gold cross that hung next to his heart, the beloved donor of
+which he was so soon to behold. Outwardly, he listened with kindly looks
+to the counsels of the young magistrate; but his inward thoughts were
+all turned toward the object of his journey--the object, also, of his
+life. The grave De Thou went on in a calm, gentle voice:
+
+"I shall soon follow you to Paris. I am happier than you at seeing the
+King take you there with him. You are right in looking upon it as
+the beginning of a friendship which must be turned to profit. I have
+reflected deeply on the secret causes of your ambition, and I think I
+have divined your heart. Yes; that feeling of love for France, which
+made it beat in your earliest youth, must have gained greater strength.
+You would be near the King in order to serve your country, in order to
+put in action those golden dreams of your early years. The thought is a
+vast one, and worthy of you! I admire you; I bow before you. To approach
+the monarch with the chivalrous devotion of our fathers, with a
+heart full of candor, and prepared for any sacrifice; to receive the
+confidences of his soul; to pour into his those of his subjects; to
+soften the sorrows of the King by telling him the confidence his people
+have in him; to cure the wounds of the people by laying them open to its
+master, and by the intervention of your favor thus to reestablish
+that intercourse of love between the father and his children which for
+eighteen years has been interrupted by a man whose heart is marble;
+for this noble enterprise, to expose yourself to all the horrors of his
+vengeance and, what is even worse, to brave all the perfidious calumnies
+which pursue the favorite to the very steps of the throne--this dream
+was worthy of you.
+
+"Pursue it, my friend," De Thou continued. "Never become discouraged.
+Speak loudly to the King of the merit and misfortunes of his most
+illustrious friends who are trampled on. Tell him fearlessly that his
+old nobility have never conspired against him; and that from the young
+Montmorency to the amiable Comte de Soissons, all have opposed the
+minister, and never the monarch. Tell him that the old families of
+France were born with his race; that in striking them he affects the
+whole nation; and that, should he destroy them, his own race will
+suffer, that it will stand alone exposed to the blast of time and
+events, as an old oak trembling and exposed to the wind of the plain,
+when the forest which surrounded and supported it has been destroyed.
+Yes!" cried De Thou, growing animated, "this aim is a fine and noble
+one. Go on in your course with a resolute step; expel even that secret
+shame, that shyness, which a noble soul experiences before it can
+resolve upon flattering--upon paying what the world calls its court.
+Alas, kings are accustomed to these continual expressions of false
+admiration for them! Look upon them as a new language which must be
+learned--a language hitherto foreign to your lips, but which, believe
+me, may be nobly spoken, and which may express high and generous
+thoughts."
+
+During this warm discourse of his friend, Cinq-Mars could not refrain
+from a sudden blush; and he turned his head on his pillow toward the
+tent, so that his face might not be seen. De Thou stopped:
+
+"What is the matter, Henri? You do not answer. Am I deceived?"
+
+Cinq-Mars gave a deep sigh and remained silent.
+
+"Is not your heart affected by these ideas which I thought would have
+transported it?"
+
+The wounded man looked more calmly at his friend and said:
+
+"I thought, my dear De Thou, that you would not interrogate me further,
+and that you were willing to repose a blind confidence in me. What evil
+genius has moved you thus to sound my soul? I am not a stranger to these
+ideas which possess you. Who told you that I had not conceived them? Who
+told you that I had not formed the firm resolution of prosecuting them
+infinitely farther in action than you have put them in words? Love for
+France, virtuous hatred of the ambition which oppresses and shatters her
+ancient institutions with the axe of the executioner, the firm belief
+that virtue may be as skilful as crime,--these are my gods as much as
+yours. But when you see a man kneeling in a church, do you ask him what
+saint or what angel protects him and receives his prayer? What matters
+it to you, provided that he pray at the foot of the altars that you
+adore--provided that, if called upon, he fall a martyr at the foot of
+those 'altars? When our forefathers journeyed with naked feet toward the
+Holy Sepulchre, with pilgrims' staves in their hands, did men inquire
+the secret vow which led them to the Holy Land? They struck, they died;
+and men, perhaps God himself, asked no more. The pious captain who
+led them never stripped their bodies to see whether the red cross
+and haircloth concealed any other mysterious symbol; and in heaven,
+doubtless, they were not judged with any greater rigor for having aided
+the strength of their resolutions upon earth by some hope permitted to
+a Christian--some second and secret thought, more human, and nearer the
+mortal heart."
+
+De Thou smiled and slightly blushed, lowering his eyes.
+
+"My friend," he answered, gravely; "this excitement may be injurious to
+you. Let us not continue this subject; let us not mingle God and heaven
+in our discourse. It is not well; and draw the coverings over your
+shoulder, for the night is cold. I promise you," he added, covering his
+young invalid with a maternal care--"I promise not to offend you again
+with my counsels."
+
+"And I," cried Cinq-Mars, despite the interdiction to speak, "swear to
+you by this gold cross you see, and by the Holy Mary, to die rather than
+renounce the plan that you first traced out! You may one day, perhaps,
+be forced to pray me to stop; but then it will be too late."
+
+"Very well!" repeated the counsellor, "now sleep; if you do not stop, I
+will go on with you, wherever you lead me."
+
+And, taking a prayer-book from his pocket, he began to read attentively;
+in a short time he looked at Cinq-Mars, who was still awake. He made a
+sign to Grandchamp to put the lamp out of sight of the invalid; but
+this new care succeeded no better. The latter, with his eyes still open,
+tossed restlessly on his narrow bed.
+
+"Come, you are not calm," said De Thou, smiling; "I will read to you
+some pious passage which will put your mind in repose. Ah, my friend, it
+is here that true repose is to be found; it is in this consolatory book,
+for, open it where you will, you will always see, on the one hand,
+man in the only condition that suits his weakness--prayer, and the
+uncertainty as to his destiny--and, on the other, God himself speaking
+to him of his infirmities! What a glorious and heavenly spectacle! What
+a sublime bond between heaven and earth! Life, death, and eternity are
+there; open it at random."
+
+"Yes!" said Cinq-Mars, rising with a vivacity which had something boyish
+in it; "you shall read to me, but let me open the book. You know the old
+superstition of our country--when the mass-book is opened with a sword,
+the first page on the left contains the destiny of him who reads, and
+the first person who enters after he has read is powerfully to influence
+the reader's future fate."
+
+"What childishness! But be it as you will. Here is your sword; insert
+the point. Let us see."
+
+"Let me read myself," said Cinq-Mars, taking one side of the book. Old
+Grandchamp gravely advanced his tawny face and his gray hair to the foot
+of the bed to listen. His master read, stopped at the first phrase, but
+with a smile, perhaps slightly forced, he went on to the end.
+
+"I. Now it was in the city of Milan that they appeared.
+
+"II. The high-priest said to them, 'Bow down and adore the gods.'
+
+"III. And the people were silent, looking at their faces, which appeared
+as the faces of angels.
+
+"IV. But Gervais, taking the hand of Protais, cried, looking to heaven,
+and filled with the Holy Ghost:
+
+"V. Oh, my brother! I see the Son of man smiling upon us; let me die
+first.
+
+"VI. For if I see thy blood, I fear I shall shed tears unworthy of the
+Lord our God.
+
+"VII. Then Protais answered him in these words:
+
+"VIII. My brother, it is just that I should perish after thee, for I am
+older, and have more strength to see thee suffer.
+
+"IX. But the senators and people ground their teeth at them.
+
+"X. And the soldiers having struck them, their heads fell together on
+the same stone.
+
+"XI. Now it was in this same place that the blessed Saint Ambroise found
+the ashes of the two martyrs which gave sight to the blind."
+
+"Well," said Cinq-Mars, looking at his friend when he had finished,
+"what do you say to that?"
+
+"God's will be done! but we should not scrutinize it."
+
+"Nor put off our designs for a child's play," said D'Effiat impatiently,
+and wrapping himself in a cloak which was thrown over him. "Remember
+the lines we formerly so frequently quoted, 'Justum et tenacem Propositi
+viruna'; these iron words are stamped upon my brain. Yes; let the
+universe crumble around me, its wreck shall carry me away still
+resolute."
+
+"Let us not compare the thoughts of man with those of Heaven; and let us
+be submissive," said De Thou, gravely.
+
+"Amen!" said old Grandchamp, whose eyes had filled with tears, which he
+hastily brushed away.
+
+"What hast thou to do with it, old soldier? Thou weepest," said his
+master.
+
+"Amen!" said a voice, in a nasal tone, at the entrance of the tent.
+
+"Parbleu, Monsieur! rather put that question to his Gray Eminence, who
+comes to visit you," answered the faithful servant, pointing to Joseph,
+who advanced with his arms crossed, making a salutation with a frowning
+air.
+
+"Ah, it will be he, then!" murmured Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Perhaps I come inopportunely," said Joseph, soothingly.
+
+"Perhaps very opportunely," said Henri d'Effiat, smiling, with a glance
+at De Thou. "What can bring you here, Father, at one o'clock in the
+morning? It should be some good work."
+
+Joseph saw he was ill-received; and as he had always sundry reproaches
+to make himself with reference to all persons whom he addressed, and as
+many resources in his mind for getting out of the difficulty, he fancied
+that they had discovered the object of his visit, and felt that he
+should not select a moment of ill humor for preparing the way to
+friendship. Therefore, seating himself near the bed, he said, coldly:
+
+"I come, Monsieur, to speak to you on the part of the
+Cardinal-Generalissimo, of the two Spanish prisoners you have made; he
+desires to have information concerning them as soon as possible. I am
+to see and question them. But I did not suppose you were still awake; I
+merely wished to receive them from your people."
+
+After a forced interchange of politeness, they ordered into the tent the
+two prisoners, whom Cinq-Mars had almost forgotten.
+
+They appeared--the one, young and displaying an animated and rather wild
+countenance, was the soldier; the other, concealing his form under a
+brown cloak, and his gloomy features, which had something ambiguous in
+their expression, under his broad-brimmed hat, which he did not remove,
+was the officer. He spoke first:
+
+"Why do you make me leave my straw and my sleep? Is it to deliver me or
+hang me?"
+
+"Neither," said Joseph.
+
+"What have I to do with thee, man with the long beard? I did not see
+thee at the breach."
+
+It took some time after this amiable exordium to make the stranger
+understand the right a Capuchin had to interrogate him.
+
+"Well," he said, "what dost thou want?"
+
+"I would know your name and your country."
+
+"I shall not tell my name; and as for my country, I have the air of a
+Spaniard, but perhaps am not one, for a Spaniard never acknowledges his
+country."
+
+Father Joseph, turning toward the two friends, said: "Unless I deceive
+myself, I have heard his voice somewhere. This man speaks French without
+an accent; but it seems he wishes to give us enigmas, as in the East."
+
+"The East? that is it," said the prisoner. "A Spaniard is a man from the
+East; he is a Catholic Turk; his blood either flags or boils; he is lazy
+or indefatigable; indolence makes him a slave, ardor a tyrant; immovable
+in his ignorance, ingenious in his superstition, he needs only a
+religious book and a tyrannical master; he obeys the law of the pyre;
+he commands by that of the poniard. At night he falls asleep in his
+bloodthirsty misery, nurses fanaticism, and awakes to crime. Who is this
+gentleman? Is it the Spaniard or the Turk? Guess! Ah! you seem to think
+that I have wit, because I light upon analogy."
+
+"Truly, gentlemen, you do me honor; and yet the idea may be carried much
+further, if desired. If I pass to the physical order, for example, may
+I not say to you, This man has long and serious features, a black and
+almond-shaped eye, rugged brows, a sad and mobile mouth, tawny, meagre,
+and wrinkled cheeks; his head is shaved, and he covers it with a black
+handkerchief in the form of a turban; he passes the whole day lying or
+standing under a burning sun, without motion, without utterance, smoking
+a pipe that intoxicates him. Is this a Turk or a Spaniard? Are you
+satisfied, gentlemen? Truly, it would seem so; you laugh, and at what do
+you laugh? I, who have presented this idea to you--I have not laughed;
+see, my countenance is sad. Ah! perhaps it is because the gloomy
+prisoner has suddenly become a gossip, and talks rapidly. That is
+nothing! I might tell you other things, and render you some service, my
+worthy friends.
+
+"If I should relate anecdotes, for example; if I told you I knew a
+priest who ordered the death of some heretics before saying mass,
+and who, furious at being interrupted at the altar during the holy
+sacrifice, cried to those who asked for his orders, 'Kill them all! kill
+them all!'--should you all laugh, gentlemen? No, not all! This gentleman
+here, for instance, would bite his lips and his beard. Oh! it is true he
+might answer that he did wisely, and that they were wrong to interrupt
+his unsullied prayer. But if I added that he concealed himself for an
+hour behind the curtain of your tent, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars, to listen
+while you talked, and that he came to betray you, and not to get me,
+what would he say? Now, gentlemen, are you satisfied? May I retire after
+this display?"
+
+The prisoner had uttered this with the rapidity of a quack vending his
+wares, and in so loud a voice that Joseph was quite confounded. He arose
+indignantly at last, and, addressing himself to Cinq-Mars, said:
+
+"How can you suffer a prisoner who should have been hanged to speak to
+you thus, Monsieur?"
+
+The Spaniard, without deigning to notice him any further, leaned toward
+D'Effiat, and whispered in his ear:
+
+"I can be of no further use to you; give me my liberty. I might ere this
+have taken it; but I would not do so without your consent. Give it me,
+or have me killed."
+
+"Go, if you will!" said Cinq-Mars to him. "I assure you I shall be very
+glad;" and he told his people to retire with the soldier, whom he wished
+to keep in his service.
+
+This was the affair of a moment. No one remained any longer in the tent
+with the two friends, except the abashed Joseph and the Spaniard. The
+latter, taking off his hat, showed a French but savage countenance. He
+laughed, and seemed to respire more air into his broad chest.
+
+"Yes, I am a Frenchman," he said to Joseph. "But I hate France, because
+she gave birth to my father, who is a monster, and to me, who have
+become one, and who once struck him. I hate her inhabitants, because
+they have robbed me of my whole fortune at play, and because I have
+robbed them and killed them. I have been two years in Spain in order to
+kill more Frenchmen; but now I hate Spain still more. No one will know
+the reason why. Adieu! I must live henceforth without a nation; all men
+are my enemies. Go on, Joseph, and you will soon be as good as I. Yes,
+you have seen me once before," he continued, violently striking him in
+the breast and throwing him down. "I am Jacques de Laubardemont, the son
+of your worthy friend."
+
+With these words, quickly leaving the tent, he disappeared like an
+apparition. De Thou and the servants, who ran to the entrance, saw him,
+with two bounds, spring over a surprised and disarmed soldier, and
+run toward the mountains with the swiftness of a deer, despite various
+musket-shots. Joseph took advantage of the disorder to slip away,
+stammering a few words of politeness, and left the two friends laughing
+at his adventure and his disappointment, as two schoolboys laugh at
+seeing the spectacles of their pedagogue fall off. At last they prepared
+to seek a rest of which they both stood in need, and which they soon
+found-=the wounded man in his bed, and the young counsellor in his
+chair.
+
+As for the Capuchin, he walked toward his tent, meditating how he should
+turn all this so as to take the greatest possible revenge, when he
+met Laubardemont dragging the young mad-woman by her two hands. They
+recounted to each other their mutual and horrible adventures.
+
+Joseph had no small pleasure in turning the poniard in the wound of his
+friend's heart, by telling him of the fate of his son.
+
+"You are not exactly happy in your domestic relations," he added. "I
+advise you to shut up your niece and hang your son, if you are fortunate
+enough to find him."
+
+Laubardemont replied with a hideous laugh:
+
+"As for this idiot here, I am going to give her to an ex-secret judge,
+at present a smuggler in the Pyrenees at Oleron. He can do what he
+pleases with her--make her a servant in his posada, for instance. I care
+not, so that my lord never hears of her."
+
+Jeanne de Belfiel, her head hanging down, gave no sign of sensibility.
+Every glimmer of reason was extinguished in her; one word alone remained
+upon her lips, and this she continually pronounced.
+
+"The judge! the judge! the judge!" she murmured, and was silent.
+
+Her uncle and Joseph threw her, almost like a sack of corn, on one
+of the horses which were led up by two servants. Laubardemont mounted
+another, and prepared to leave the camp, wishing to get into the
+mountains before day.
+
+"A good journey to you!" he said to Joseph. "Execute your business well
+in Paris. I commend to you Orestes and Pylades."
+
+"A good journey to you!" answered the other. "I commend to you Cassandra
+and OEdipus."
+
+"Oh! he has neither killed his father nor married his mother."
+
+"But he is on the high-road to those little pleasantries."
+
+"Adieu, my reverend Father!"
+
+"Adieu, my venerable friend!"
+
+Then each added aloud, but in suppressed tones:
+
+"Adieu, assassin of the gray robe! During thy absence I shall have the
+ear of the Cardinal."
+
+"Adieu, villain in the red robe! Go thyself and destroy thy cursed
+family. Finish shedding that portion of thy blood that is in others'
+veins. That share which remains in thee, I will take charge of. Ha! a
+well-employed night!"
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 4.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. THE RIOT
+
+       "Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies,
+        In motion of no less celerity
+        Than that of thought,"
+
+exclaims the immortal Shakespeare in the chorus of one of his tragedies.
+
+       "Suppose that you have seen
+        The well-appointed king
+        Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet
+        With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning.
+       ......
+       ... behold,
+        And follow."
+
+With this poetic movement he traverses time and space, and transports at
+will the attentive assembly to the theatre of his sublime scenes.
+
+We shall avail ourselves of the same privilege, though without the same
+genius. No more than he shall we seat ourselves upon the tripod of the
+unities, but merely casting our eyes upon Paris and the old dark palace
+of the Louvre, we will at once pass over the space of two hundred
+leagues and the period of two years.
+
+Two years! what changes may they not have upon men, upon their families,
+and, above all, in that great and so troublous family of nations, whose
+long alliances a single day suffices to destroy, whose wars are ended
+by a birth, whose peace is broken by a death! We ourselves have beheld
+kings returning to their dwelling on a spring day; that same day a
+vessel sailed for a voyage of two years. The navigator returned. The
+kings were seated upon their thrones; nothing seemed to have taken place
+in his absence, and yet God had deprived those kings of a hundred days
+of their reign.
+
+But nothing was changed for France in 1642, the epoch to which we turn,
+except her fears and her hopes. The future alone had changed its aspect.
+Before again beholding our personages, we must contemplate at large the
+state of the kingdom.
+
+The powerful unity of the monarchy was rendered still more imposing by
+the misfortunes of the neighboring States. The revolutions in England,
+and those in Spain and Portugal, rendered the peace which France enjoyed
+still more admired. Strafford and Olivares, overthrown or defeated,
+aggrandized the immovable Richelieu.
+
+Six formidable armies, reposing upon their triumphant weapons, served as
+a rampart to the kingdom. Those of the north, in league with Sweden, had
+put the Imperialists to flight, still pursued by the spirit of Gustavus
+Adolphus, those on the frontiers of Italy had in Piedmont received the
+keys of the towns which had been defended by Prince Thomas; and those
+which strengthened the chain of the Pyrenees held in check revolted
+Catalonia, and chafed before Perpignan, which they were not allowed
+to take. The interior was not happy, but tranquil. An invisible genius
+seemed to have maintained this calm, for the King, mortally sick,
+languished at St. Germain with a young favorite; and the Cardinal was,
+they said, dying at Narbonne. Some deaths, however, betrayed that he yet
+lived; and at intervals, men falling as if struck by a poisonous blast
+recalled to mind the invisible power.
+
+St.-Preuil, one of Richelieu's enemies, had just laid his "iron head"
+upon the scaffold without shame or fear, as he himself said on mounting
+it.
+
+Meantime, France seemed to govern herself, for the prince and the
+minister had been separated a long time; and of these two sick men, who
+hated each other, one never had held the reins of State, the other no
+longer showed his power--he was no longer named in the public acts; he
+appeared no longer in the government, and seemed effaced everywhere; he
+slept, like the spider surrounded by his webs.
+
+If some events and some revolutions had taken place during these two
+years, it must have been in hearts; it must have been some of those
+occult changes from which, in monarchies without firm foundation,
+terrible overthrows and long and bloody dissensions arise.
+
+To enlighten ourselves, let us glance at the old black building of the
+unfinished Louvre, and listen to the conversation of those who inhabited
+it and those who surrounded it.
+
+It was the month of December; a rigorous winter had afflicted Paris,
+where the misery and inquietude of the people were extreme. However,
+curiosity was still alive, and they were eager for the spectacles given
+by the court. Their poverty weighed less heavily upon them while they
+contemplated the agitations of the rich. Their tears were less bitter
+on beholding the struggles of power; and the blood of the nobles which
+reddened their streets, and seemed the only blood worthy of being shed,
+made them bless their own obscurity. Already had tumultuous scenes and
+conspicuous assassinations proved the monarch's weakness, the absence
+and approaching end of the minister, and, as a kind of prologue to the
+bloody comedy of the Fronde, sharpened the malice and even fired the
+passions of the Parisians. This confusion was not displeasing to them.
+Indifferent to the causes of the quarrels which were abstruse for them,
+they were not so with regard to individuals, and already began to
+regard the party chiefs with affection or hatred, not on account of the
+interest which they supposed them to take in the welfare of their class,
+but simply because as actors they pleased or displeased.
+
+One night, especially, pistol and gun-shots had been heard frequently in
+the city; the numerous patrols of the Swiss and the body-guards had even
+been attacked, and had met with some barricades in the tortuous streets
+of the Ile Notre-Dame; carts chained to the posts, and laden with
+barrels, prevented the cavaliers from advancing, and some musket-shots
+had wounded several men and horses. However, the town still slept,
+except the quarter which surrounded the Louvre, which was at this
+time inhabited by the Queen and M. le Duc d'Orleans. There everything
+announced a nocturnal expedition of a very serious nature.
+
+It was two o'clock in the morning. It was freezing, and the darkness
+was intense, when a numerous assemblage stopped upon the quay, which was
+then hardly paved, and slowly and by degrees occupied the sandy ground
+that sloped down to the Seine. This troop was composed of about two
+hundred men; they were wrapped in large cloaks, raised by the long
+Spanish swords which they wore. Walking to and fro without preserving
+any order, they seemed to wait for events rather than to seek them. Many
+seated themselves, with their arms folded, upon the loose stones of the
+newly begun parapet; they preserved perfect silence. However, after a
+few minutes passed in this manner, a man, who appeared to come out of
+one of the vaulted doors of the Louvre, approached slowly, holding a
+dark-lantern, the light from which he turned upon the features of each
+individual, and which he blew out after finding the man he sought among
+them. He spoke to him in a whisper, taking him by the hand:
+
+"Well, Olivier, what did Monsieur le Grand say to you?
+
+   [The master of the horse, Cinq-Mars, was thus named by abbreviation.
+   This name will often occur in the course of the recital.]
+
+Does all go well?"
+
+"Yes, I saw him yesterday at Saint-Germain. The old cat is very ill
+at Narbonne; he is going 'ad patres'. But we must manage our affairs
+shrewdly, for it is not the first time that he has played the torpid.
+Have you people enough for this evening, my dear Fontrailles?"
+
+"Be easy; Montresor is coming with a hundred of Monsieur's gentlemen.
+You will recognize him; he will be disguised as a master-mason, with a
+rule in his hand. But, above all, do not forget the passwords. Do you
+know them all well, you and your friends?"
+
+"Yes, all except the Abbe de Gondi, who has not yet arrived; but 'Dieu
+me pardonne', I think he is there himself! Who the devil would have
+known him?"
+
+And here a little man without a cassock, dressed as a soldier of the
+French guards, and wearing a very black false moustache, slipped between
+them. He danced about with a joyous air, and rubbed his hands.
+
+"Vive Dieu! all goes on well, my friend. Fiesco could not do better;"
+and rising upon his toes to tap Olivier upon the shoulder, he continued:
+
+"Do you know that for a man who has just quitted the rank of pages, you
+don't manage badly, Sire Olivier d'Entraigues? and you will be among our
+illustrious men if we find a Plutarch. All is well organized; you arrive
+at the very moment, neither too soon nor too late, like a true party
+chief. Fontrailles, this young man will get on, I prophesy. But we must
+make haste; in two hours we shall have some of the archbishops of Paris,
+my uncle's parishioners. I have instructed them well; and they
+will cry, 'Long live Monsieur! Long live the Regency! No more of the
+Cardinal!' like madmen. They are good devotees, thanks to me, who have
+stirred them up. The King is very ill. Oh, all goes well, very well! I
+come from Saint-Germain. I have seen our friend Cinq-Mars; he is good,
+very good, still firm as a rock. Ah, that is what I call a man! How he
+has played with them with his careless and melancholy air! He is master
+of the court at present. The King, they say, is going to make him duke
+and peer. It is much talked of; but he still hesitates. We must decide
+that by our movement this evening. The will of the people! He must do
+the will of the people; we will make him hear it. It will be the death
+of Richelieu, you'll see. It is, above all, hatred of him which is to
+predominate in the cries, for that is the essential thing. That will at
+last decide our Gaston, who is still uncertain, is he not?"
+
+"And how can he be anything else?" said Fontrailles. "If he were to take
+a resolution to-day in our favor it would be unfortunate."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because we should be sure that to-morrow morning he would be against
+us."
+
+"Never mind," replied the Abbe; "the Queen is firm."
+
+"And she has heart also," said Olivier; "that gives me some hope for
+Cinq-Mars, who, it seems to me, has sometimes dared to frown when he
+looked at her."
+
+"Child that you are, how little do you yet know of the court! Nothing
+can sustain him but the hand of the King, who loves him as a son; and
+as for the Queen, if her heart beats, it is for the past and not for the
+future. But these trifles are not to the purpose. Tell me, dear friend,
+are you sure of your young Advocate whom I see roaming about there? Is
+he all right?"
+
+"Perfectly; he is an excellent Royalist. He would throw the Cardinal
+into the river in an instant. Besides, it is Fournier of Loudun; that is
+saying everything."
+
+"Well, well, this is the kind of men we like. But take care of
+yourselves, Messieurs; some one comes from the Rue Saint-Honore."
+
+"Who goes there?" cried the foremost of the troop to some men who were
+advancing. "Royalists or Cardinalists?"
+
+"Gaston and Le Grand," replied the newcomers, in low tones.
+
+"It is Montresor and Monsieur's people," said Fontrailles. "We may soon
+begin."
+
+"Yes, 'par la corbleu'!" said the newcomer, "for the Cardinalists will
+pass at three o'clock. Some one told us so just now."
+
+"Where are they going?" said Fontrailles.
+
+"There are more than two hundred of them to escort Monsieur de Chavigny,
+who is going to see the old cat at Narbonne, they say. They thought it
+safer to pass by the Louvre."
+
+"Well, we will give him a velvet paw!" said the Abbe.
+
+As he finished saying this, a noise of carriages and horses was heard.
+Several men in cloaks rolled an enormous stone into the middle of the
+street. The foremost cavaliers passed rapidly through the crowd,
+pistols in hand, suspecting that something unusual was going on; but
+the postilion, who drove the horses of the first carriage, ran upon the
+stone and fell.
+
+"Whose carriage is this which thus crushes foot-passengers?" cried the
+cloakmen, all at once. "It is tyrannical. It can be no other than a
+friend of the Cardinal de la Rochelle."
+
+   [During the long siege of La Rochelle, this name was given to
+   Cardinal Richelieu, to ridicule his obstinacy in commanding as
+   General-in-Chief, and claiming for himself the merit of taking that
+   town.]
+
+"It is one who fears not the friends of the little Le Grand," exclaimed
+a voice from the open door, from which a man threw himself upon a horse.
+
+"Drive these Cardinalists into the river!" cried a shrill, piercing
+voice.
+
+This was a signal for the pistol-shots which were furiously exchanged on
+every side, and which lighted up this tumultuous and sombre scene. The
+clashing of swords and trampling of horses did not prevent the cries
+from being heard on one side: "Down with the minister! Long live
+the King! Long live Monsieur and Monsieur le Grand! Down with the
+red-stockings!" On the other: "Long live his Eminence! Long live the
+great Cardinal! Death to the factious! Long live the King!" For the name
+of the King presided over every hatred, as over every affection, at this
+strange time.
+
+The men on foot had succeeded, however, in placing the two carriages
+across the quay so as to make a rampart against Chavigny's horses,
+and from this, between the wheels, through the doors and springs,
+overwhelmed them with pistol-shots, and dismounted many. The tumult was
+frightful, but suddenly the gates of the Louvre were thrown open, and
+two squadrons of the body-guard came out at a trot. Most of them carried
+torches in their hands to light themselves and those they were about
+to attack. The scene changed. As the guards reached each of the men on
+foot, the latter was seen to stop, remove his hat, make himself known,
+and name himself; and the guards withdrew, sometimes saluting him, and
+sometimes shaking him by the hand. This succor to Chavigny's carriages
+was then almost useless, and only served to augment the confusion. The
+body-guards, as if to satisfy their consciences, rushed through the
+throng of duellists, saying:
+
+"Gentlemen, gentlemen, be moderate!"
+
+But when two gentlemen had decidedly crossed swords, and were in active
+conflict, the guard who beheld them stopped to judge the fight, and
+sometimes even to favor the one who he thought was of his opinion, for
+this body, like all France, had their Royalists and their Cardinalists.
+
+The windows of the Louvre were lighted one after another, and many
+women's heads were seen behind the little lozenge-shaped panes,
+attentively watching the combat.
+
+Numerous Swiss patrols came out with flambeaux.
+
+These soldiers were easily distinguished by an odd uniform. The right
+sleeve was striped blue and red, and the silk stocking of the right leg
+was red; the left side was striped with blue, red, and white, and the
+stocking was white and red. It had, no doubt, been hoped in the royal
+chateau that this foreign troop would disperse the crowd, but they were
+mistaken. These impassible soldiers coldly and exactly executed, without
+going beyond, the orders they had received, circulating symmetrically
+among the armed groups, which they divided for a moment, returning
+before the gate with perfect precision, and resuming their ranks as on
+parade, without informing themselves whether the enemies among whom they
+had passed had rejoined or not.
+
+But the noise, for a moment appeased, became general by reason
+of personal disputes. In every direction challenges, insults, and
+imprecations were heard. It seemed as if nothing but the destruction of
+one of the two parties could put an end to the combat, when loud cries,
+or rather frightful howls, raised the tumult to its highest pitch.
+The Abbe de Gondi, dragging a cavalier by his cloak to pull him down,
+exclaimed:
+
+"Here are my people! Fontrailles, now you will see something worth
+while! Look! look already who they run! It is really charming."
+
+And he abandoned his hold, and mounted upon a stone to contemplate the
+manoeuvres of his troops, crossing his arms with the importance of a
+General of an army. Day was beginning to break, and from the end of the
+Ile St.-Louis a crowd of men, women, and children of the lowest dregs
+of the people was seen rapidly advancing, casting toward heaven and
+the Louvre strange vociferations. Girls carried long swords; children
+dragged great halberds and pikes of the time of the League; old women in
+rags pulled by cords old carts full of rusty and broken arms; workmen
+of every trade, the greater number drunk, followed, armed with clubs,
+forks, lances, shovels, torches, stakes, crooks, levers, sabres, and
+spits. They sang and howled alternately, counterfeiting with atrocious
+yells the cries of a cat, and carrying as a flag one of these animals
+suspended from a pole and wrapped in a red rag, thus representing the
+Cardinal, whose taste for cats was generally known. Public criers rushed
+about, red and breathless, throwing on the pavement and sticking up
+on the parapets, the posts, the walls of the houses, and even on the
+palace, long satires in short stanzas upon the personages of the time.
+Butcher-boys and scullions, carrying large cutlasses, beat the charge
+upon saucepans, and dragged in the mud a newly slaughtered pig, with the
+red cap of a chorister on its head. Young and vigorous men, dressed
+as women, and painted with a coarse vermilion, were yelling, "We are
+mothers of families ruined by Richelieu! Death to the Cardinal!" They
+carried in their arms figures of straw that looked like children, which
+they threw into the river.
+
+When this disgusting mob overran the quays with its thousands of imps,
+it produced a strange effect upon the combatants, and entirely contrary
+to that expected by their patron. The enemies on both sides lowered
+their arms and separated. Those of Monsieur and Cinq-Mars were revolted
+at seeing themselves succored by such auxiliaries, and, themselves
+aiding the Cardinal's gentlemen to remount their horses and to gain
+their carriages, and their valets to convey the wounded to them, gave
+their adversaries personal rendezvous to terminate their quarrel upon a
+ground more secret and more worthy of them. Ashamed of the superiority
+of numbers and the ignoble troops which they seemed to command,
+foreseeing, perhaps, for the first time the fearful consequences of
+their political machinations, and what was the scum they were stirring
+up, they withdrew, drawing their large hats over their eyes, throwing
+their cloaks over their shoulders, and avoiding the daylight.
+
+"You have spoiled all, my dear Abbe, with this mob," said Fontrailles,
+stamping his foot, to Gondi, who was already sufficiently nonplussed;
+"your good uncle has fine parishioners!"
+
+"It is not my fault," replied Gondi, in a sullen tone; "these idiots
+came an hour too late. Had they arrived in the night, they would not
+have been seen, which spoils the effect somewhat, to speak the truth
+(for I grant that daylight is detrimental to them), and we would only
+have heard the voice of the people 'Vox populi, vox Dei'. Nevertheless,
+no great harm has been done. They will by their numbers give us the
+means of escaping without being known, and, after all, our task is
+ended; we did not wish the death of the sinner. Chavigny and his men are
+worthy fellows, whom I love; if he is only slightly wounded, so much the
+better. Adieu; I am going to see Monsieur de Bouillon, who has arrived
+from Italy."
+
+"Olivier," said Fontrailles, "go at once to Saint-Germain with
+Fournier and Ambrosio; I will go and give an account to Monsieur, with
+Montresor."
+
+All separated, and disgust accomplished, with these highborn men, what
+force could not bring about.
+
+Thus ended this fray, likely to bring forth great misfortunes. No one
+was killed in it. The cavaliers, having gained a few scratches and lost
+a few purses, resumed their route by the side of the carriages along the
+by-streets; the others escaped, one by one, through the populace they
+had attracted. The miserable wretches who composed it, deprived of the
+chief of the troops, still remained two hours, yelling and screaming
+until the effect of their wine was gone, and the cold had extinguished
+at once the fire of their blood and that of their enthusiasm. At the
+windows of the houses, on the quay of the city, and along the walls, the
+thoughtful and genuine people of Paris watched with a sorrowful air and
+in mournful silence these preludes of disorder; while the various bodies
+of merchants, dressed in black and preceded by their provosts, walked
+slowly and courageously through the populace toward the Palais de
+justice, where the parliament was to assemble, to make complaint of
+these terrible nocturnal scenes.
+
+The apartments of Gaston d'Orleans were in great confusion. This Prince
+occupied the wing of the Louvre parallel with the Tuileries; and his
+windows looked into the court on one side, and on the other over a mass
+of little houses and narrow streets which almost entirely covered the
+place. He had risen precipitately, awakened suddenly by the report of
+the firearms, had thrust his feet into large square-toed slippers with
+high heels, and, wrapped in a large silk dressing-gown, covered with
+golden ornaments embroidered in relief, walked to and fro in his
+bedroom, sending every minute a fresh lackey to see what was going on,
+and ordering them immediately to go for the Abbe de la Riviere, his
+general counsellor; but he was unfortunately out of Paris. At every
+pistol-shot this timid Prince rushed to the windows, without seeing
+anything but some flambeaux, which were carried quickly along. It was in
+vain he was told that the cries he heard were in his favor; he did not
+cease to walk up and down the apartments, in the greatest disorder-his
+long black hair dishevelled, and his blue eyes open and enlarged by
+disquiet and terror. He was still thus when Montresor and Fontrailles
+at length arrived and found him beating his breast, and repeating a
+thousand times, "Mea culpa, mea culpa!"
+
+"You have come at last!" he exclaimed from a distance, running to meet
+them. "Come! quick! What is going on? What are they doing there? Who are
+these assassins? What are these cries?"
+
+"They cry, 'Long live Monsieur!'"
+
+Gaston, without appearing to hear, and holding the door of his chamber
+open for an instant, that his voice might reach the galleries in
+which were the people of his household, continued to cry with all his
+strength, gesticulating violently:
+
+"I know nothing of all this, and I have authorized nothing. I will not
+hear anything! I will not know anything! I will never enter into any
+project! These are rioters who make all this noise; do not speak to me
+of them, if you wish to be well received here. I am the enemy of no man;
+I detest such scenes!"
+
+Fontrailles, who knew the man with whom he had to deal, said nothing,
+but entered with his friend, that Monsieur might have time to discharge
+his first fury; and when all was said, and the door carefully shut, he
+began to speak:
+
+"Monseigneur," said he, "we come to ask you a thousand pardons for the
+impertinence of these people, who will persist in crying out that they
+desire the death of your enemy, and that they would even wish to make
+you regent should we have the misfortune to lose his Majesty. Yes, the
+people are always frank in their discourse; but they are so numerous
+that all our efforts could not restrain them. It was truly a cry from
+the heart--an explosion of love, which reason could not restrain, and
+which escaped all bounds."
+
+"But what has happened, then?" interrupted Gaston, somewhat calmed.
+"What have they been doing these four hours that I have heard them?"
+
+"That love," said Montresor, coldly, "as Monsieur de Fontrailles had the
+honor of telling you, so escaped all rule and bounds that we ourselves
+were carried away by it, and felt seized with that enthusiasm which
+always transports us at the mere name of Monsieur, and which leads us on
+to things which we had not premeditated."
+
+"But what, then, have you done?" said the Prince.
+
+"Those things," replied Fontrailles, "of which Monsieur de Montresor had
+the honor to speak to Monsieur are precisely those which I foresaw here
+yesterday evening, when I had the honor of conversing with you."
+
+"That is not the question," interrupted Gaston. "You cannot say that
+I have ordered or authorized anything. I meddle with nothing; I know
+nothing of government."
+
+"I admit," continued Fontrailles, "that your Highness ordered nothing,
+but you permitted me to tell you that I foresaw that this night would
+be a troubled one about two o'clock, and I hoped that your astonishment
+would not have been too great."
+
+The Prince, recovering himself little by little, and seeing that he did
+not alarm the two champions, having also upon his conscience and reading
+in their eyes the recollection of the consent which he had given them
+the evening before, sat down upon the side of his bed, crossed his arms,
+and, looking at them with the air of a judge, again said in a commanding
+tone:
+
+"But what, then, have you done?"
+
+"Why, hardly anything, Monseigneur," said Fontrailles. "Chance led us to
+meet in the crowd some of our friends who had a quarrel with Monsieur de
+Chavigny's coachman, who was driving over them. A few hot words ensued
+and rough gestures, and a few scratches, which kept Monsieur de Chavigny
+waiting, and that is all."
+
+"Absolutely all," repeated Montresor.
+
+"What, all?" exclaimed Gaston, much moved, and tramping about the
+chamber. "And is it, then, nothing to stop the carriage of a friend of
+the Cardinal-Duke? I do not like such scenes. I have already told you
+so. I do not hate the Cardinal; he is certainly a great politician, a
+very great politician. You have compromised me horribly; it is known
+that Montresor is with me. If he has been recognized, they will say that
+I sent him."
+
+"Chance," said Montresor, "threw in my way this peasant's dress, which
+Monsieur may see under my cloak, and which, for that reason, I preferred
+to any other."
+
+Gaston breathed again.
+
+"You are sure, then, that you have not been recognized. You understand,
+my dear friend, how painful it would be to me. You must admit
+yourself--"
+
+"Sure of it!" exclaimed the Prince's gentleman. "I would stake my head
+and my share in Paradise that no one has seen my features or called my
+by my name."
+
+"Well," continued Gaston, again seating himself on his bed, and assuming
+a calmer air, in which even a slight satisfaction was visible, "tell me,
+then, what has happened."
+
+Fontrailles took upon himself the recital, in which, as we may suppose,
+the populace played a great part and Monsieur's people none, and in his
+peroration he said:
+
+"From our windows even, Monseigneur, respectable mothers of families
+might have been seen, driven by despair, throwing their children into
+the Seine, cursing Richelieu."
+
+"Ah, it is dreadful!" exclaimed the Prince, indignant, or feigning to be
+so, and to believe in these excesses. "Is it, then, true that he is so
+generally detested? But we must allow that he deserves it. What! his
+ambition and avarice have, then, reduced to this extremity the good
+inhabitants of Paris, whom I love so much."
+
+"Yes, Monseigneur," replied the orator. "And it is not Paris alone, it
+is all France, which, with us, entreats you to decide upon delivering
+her from this tyrant. All is ready; nothing is wanting but a sign from
+your august head to annihilate this pygmy, who has attempted to assault
+the royal house itself."
+
+"Alas! Heaven is my witness that I myself forgive him!" answered Gaston,
+raising up his eyes. "But I can no longer bear the cries of the people.
+Yes, I will help them; that is to say," continued the Prince, "so that
+my dignity is not compromised, and that my name does not appear in the
+matter."
+
+"Well, but it is precisely that which we want," exclaimed Fontrailles, a
+little more at his ease.
+
+"See, Monseigneur, there are already some names to put after yours, who
+will not fear to sign. I will tell you them immediately, if you wish
+it."
+
+"But--but," said the Duc d'Orleans, timidly, "do you know that it is a
+conspiracy which you propose to me so coolly?"
+
+"Fie, Monseigneur, men of honor like us! a conspiracy! Oh! not at all;
+a league at the utmost, a slight combination to give a direction to the
+unanimous wish of the nation and the court--that is all."
+
+"But that is not so clear, for, after all, this affair will be neither
+general nor public; therefore, it is a conspiracy. You will not avow
+that you are concerned in it."
+
+"I, Monseigneur! Excuse me to all the world, since the kingdom is
+already in it, and I am of the kingdom. And who would not sign his name
+after that of Messieurs de Bouillon and Cinq-Mars?"
+
+"After, perhaps, not before," said Gaston, fixing his eyes upon
+Fontrailles more keenly than he had expected.
+
+The latter hesitated a moment.
+
+"Well, then, what would Monseigneur do should I tell him the names after
+which he could sign his?"
+
+"Ha! ha! this is amusing," answered the Prince, laughing; "know you not
+that above mine there are not many? I see but one."
+
+"And if there be one, will Monseigneur promise to sign that of Gaston
+beneath it?"
+
+"Ah, parbleu! with all my heart. I risk nothing there, for I see none
+but that of the King, who surely is not of the party."
+
+"Well, from this moment permit us," said Montresor, "to take you at
+your word, and deign at present to consent to two things only: to see
+Monsieur de Bouillon in the Queen's apartments, and Monsieur the master
+of the horse at the King's palace."
+
+"Agreed!" said Monsieur, gayly, tapping Montresor on the shoulder. "I
+will to-day wait on my sister-in-law at her toilette, and I will invite
+my brother to hunt the stag with me at Chambord."
+
+The two friends asked nothing further, and were themselves surprised
+at their work. They never had seen so much resolution in their chief.
+Accordingly, fearing to lead him to a topic which might divert him from
+the path he had adopted, they hastened to turn the conversation upon
+other subjects, and retired in delight, leaving as their last words in
+his ear that they relied upon his keeping his promise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. THE ALCOVE
+
+While a prince was thus reassured with difficulty by those who
+surrounded him, and allowed them to see a terror which might have proved
+contagious, a princess more exposed to accidents, more isolated by the
+indifference of her husband, weaker by nature and by the timidity which
+is the result of the absence of happiness, on her side set the example
+of the calmest courage and the most pious resignation, and tranquillized
+her terrified suite; this was the Queen. Having slept hardly an hour,
+she heard shrill cries behind the doors and the thick tapestries of her
+chamber. She ordered her women to open the door, and the Duchesse de
+Chevreuse, in her night attire, and wrapped in a great cloak, fell,
+nearly fainting, at the foot of her bed, followed by four of her
+ladies-in-waiting and three of the women of the bed-chamber. Her
+delicate feet were bare, and bleeding from a wound she had received in
+running.
+
+She cried, weeping like a child, that a pistol-shot had broken her
+shutters and her window-panes, and had wounded her; she entreated the
+Queen to send her into exile, where she would be more tranquil than in a
+country where they wished to assassinate her because she was the friend
+of her Majesty.
+
+Her hair was in great disorder, and fell to her feet. It was her chief
+beauty; and the young Queen thought that this toilette was less the
+result of chance than might have been imagined.
+
+"Well, my dear, what has happened?" she said to her with sang-froid.
+"You look like a Magdalen, but in her youth, and before she repented.
+It is probable that if they wish to harm any one here it is I; calm
+yourself."
+
+"No, Madame! save me, protect me! it is Richelieu who pursues me, I am
+sure!"
+
+The sound of pistols, which was then heard more distinctly, convinced
+the Queen that the terrors of Madame de Chevreuse were not vain.
+
+"Come and dress me, Madame de Motteville!" cried she. But that lady had
+completely lost her self-possession, and, opening one of those immense
+ebony coffers which then answered the purpose of wardrobes, took from
+it a casket of the Princess's diamonds to save it, and did not listen
+to her. The other women had seen on a window the reflection of torches,
+and, imagining that the palace was on fire, threw jewels, laces, golden
+vases, and even the china, into sheets which they intended to lower into
+the street. At this moment Madame de Guemenee arrived, a little more
+dressed than the Duchesse de Chevreuse, but taking events still more
+tragically. Her terror inspired the Queen with a slight degree of
+fear, because of the ceremonious and placid character she was known to
+possess. She entered without curtseying, pale as a spectre, and said
+with volubility:
+
+"Madame, it is time to make our confession. The Louvre is attacked, and
+all the populace are arriving from the city, I have been told."
+
+Terror silenced and rendered motionless all the persons present.
+
+"We shall die!" exclaimed the Duchesse de Chevreuse, still on her knees.
+"Ah, my God! why did I leave England? Yes, let us confess. I confess
+aloud. I have loved--I have been loved by--"
+
+"Well," said the Queen, "I do not undertake to hear your confession to
+the end. That would not perhaps be the least of my dangers, of which,
+however, you think little."
+
+The coolness of Anne of Austria, and this last severe observation,
+however, restored a little calm to this beautiful personage, who rose
+in confusion, and perceiving the disordered state of her toilet, went to
+repair it as she best could in a closet near by.
+
+"Dona Stefania," said the Queen to one of her women, the only Spaniard
+whom she had retained, "go seek the captain of the guards. It is time
+that I should see men at last, and hear something reasonable."
+
+She said this in Spanish, and the mystery of this order, spoken in
+a tongue which the ladies did not understand, restored those in the
+chamber to their senses.
+
+The waiting-woman was telling her beads, but she rose from the corner
+of the alcove in which she had sought refuge, and hastened to obey her
+mistress.
+
+The signs of revolt and the evidences of terror became meantime more
+distinct. In the great court of the Louvre was heard the trampling of
+the horses of the guards, the orders of the chiefs, the rolling of the
+Queen's carriages, which were being prepared, should it be necessary to
+fly. The rattling of the iron chains dragged along the pavement to form
+barricades in case of an attack, hurried steps in the corridor, the
+clash of arms, the confused cries of the people, which rose and fell,
+went and came again, like the noise of the waves and the winds. The door
+once more opened, and this time it was to admit a very charming person.
+
+"I expected you, dear Marie," said the Queen, extending her arms to the
+Duchesse de Mantua. "You have been more courageous than any of us; you
+are attired fit to be seen by all the court."
+
+"I was not in bed, fortunately," replied the young Princesse de Gonzaga,
+casting down her eyes. "I saw all these people from the windows. O
+Madame, Madame, fly! I implore you to escape by the secret stairway, and
+let us remain in your place. They might take one of us for the Queen."
+And she added, with tears, "I have heard cries of death. Fly, Madame! I
+have no throne to lose. You are the daughter, the wife, and the mother
+of kings. Save yourself, and leave us here!"
+
+"You have more to lose than I, 'm'amaie', in beauty, youth, and, I hope,
+in happiness," said the Queen, with a gracious smile, giving the Duchess
+her beautiful hands to kiss. "Remain in my alcove and welcome; but we
+will both remain there. The only service I accept from you, my sweet
+child, is to bring to my bed that little golden casket which my poor
+Motteville has left on the ground, and which contains all that I hold
+most precious."
+
+Then, as she took it, she whispered in Marie's ear:
+
+"Should any misfortune happen to me, swear that you will throw it into
+the Seine."
+
+"I will obey you, Madame, as my benefactress and my second mother,"
+Marie answered, weeping.
+
+The sound of the conflict redoubled on the quays, and the windows
+reflected the flash of the firearms, of which they heard the explosion.
+The captain of the guards and the captain of the Swiss sent for orders
+from the Queen through Dona Stefania.
+
+"I permit them to enter," said the Queen. "Stand aside, ladies. I am
+a man in a moment like this; and I ought to be so." Then, raising the
+bed-curtains, she continued, addressing the two officers:
+
+"Gentlemen, first remember that you answer with your heads for the life
+of the princes, my children. You know that, Monsieur de Guitaut?"
+
+"I sleep across their doorway, Madame; but this disturbance does not
+threaten either them or your Majesty."
+
+"Very well; do not think of me until after them," interrupted the Queen,
+"and protect indiscriminately all who are threatened. You also hear me,
+Monsieur de Bassompierre; you are a gentleman. Forget that your uncle is
+yet in the Bastille, and do your duty by the grandsons of the dead King,
+his friend."
+
+He was a young man, with a frank, open countenance.
+
+"Your Majesty," said he, with a slight German accent, "may see that I
+have forgotten my family, and not yours." And he displayed his left hand
+despoiled of two fingers, which had just been cut off. "I have still
+another hand," said he, bowing and withdrawing with Guitaut.
+
+The Queen, much moved, rose immediately, and, despite the prayers of the
+Princesse de Guemenee, the tears of Marie de Gonzaga, and the cries of
+Madame de Chevreuse, insisted upon placing herself at the window, and
+half opened it, leaning upon the shoulder of the Duchesse de Mantua.
+
+"What do I hear?" she said. "They are crying, 'Long live the King! Long
+live the Queen!'"
+
+The people, imagining they recognized her, redoubled their cries at this
+moment, and shouted louder than ever, "Down with the Cardinal! Long live
+Monsieur le Grand!"
+
+Marie shuddered.
+
+"What is the matter with you?" said the Queen, observing her. But as
+she did not answer, and trembled in every limb, this good and gentle
+Princess appeared not to perceive it; and, paying the greatest attention
+to the cries and movements of the populace, she even exaggerated an
+inquietude which she had not felt since the first name had reached
+her ear. An hour later, when they came to tell her that the crowd only
+awaited a sign from her hand to withdraw, she waved it graciously, and
+with an air of satisfaction. But this joy was far from being complete,
+for her heart was still troubled by many things, and, above all, by
+the presentiment of the regency. The more she leaned forward to show
+herself, the more she beheld the revolting scenes which the increasing
+light revealed. Terror took possession of her soul as it became
+necessary to appear calm and confiding; and her heart was saddened at
+the very gayety of her words and countenance. Exposed to all eyes, she
+felt herself a mere woman, and shuddered in looking at that people whom
+she would soon perhaps be called upon to govern, and who already took
+upon themselves to demand the death of ministers, and to call upon their
+Queen to appear before them.
+
+She saluted them.
+
+A hundred and fifty years later that salute was repeated by another
+princess, like herself of Austrian blood, and Queen of France. The
+monarchy without foundation, such as Richelieu made it, was born and
+died between these two salutes.
+
+The Princess at last closed her windows, and hastened to dismiss her
+timid suite. The thick curtains fell again over the barred windows; and
+the room was no longer lighted by a day which was odious to her. Large
+white wax flambeaux burned in candelabra, in the form of golden arms,
+which stand out from the framed and flowered tapestries with which the
+walls were hung. She remained alone with Marie de Mantua; and reentering
+with her the enclosure which was formed by the royal balustrade, she
+fell upon her bed, fatigued by her courage and her smiles, and burst
+into tears, leaning her head upon her pillow. Marie, on her knees upon a
+velvet footstool, held one of her hands in both hers, and without daring
+to speak first, leaned her head tremblingly upon it; for until that
+moment, tears never had been seen in the Queen's eyes.
+
+They remained thus for some minutes. The Princess, then raising herself
+up by a painful effort, spoke:
+
+"Do not afflict yourself, my child; let me weep. It is such a relief
+to one who reigns! If you pray to God for me, ask Him to grant me
+sufficient strength not to hate the enemy who pursues me everywhere,
+and who will destroy the royal family of France and the monarchy by his
+boundless ambition. I recognize him in all that has taken place; I see
+him in this tumultuous revolt."
+
+"What, Madame! is he not at Narbonne?--for it is the Cardinal of whom
+you speak, no doubt; and have you not heard that these cries were for
+you, and against him?"
+
+"Yes, 'm'amie', he is three hundred leagues away from us, but his fatal
+genius keeps guard at the door. If these cries have been heard, it is
+because he has allowed them; if these men were assembled, it is because
+they have not yet reached the hour which he has destined for their
+destruction. Believe me, I know him; and I have dearly paid for the
+knowledge of that dark soul. It has cost me all the power of my rank,
+the pleasures of my age, the affection of my family and even the heart
+of my husband. He has isolated me from the whole world. He now confines
+me within a barrier of honors and respect; and formerly he dared, to
+the scandal of all France, to bring an accusation against myself. They
+examined my papers, they interrogated me, they made me sign myself
+guilty, and ask the King's pardon for a fault of which I was ignorant;
+and I owed to the devotion, and the perhaps eternal imprisonment of a
+faithful servant, the preservation of this casket which you have saved
+for me. I read in your looks that you think me too fearful; but do not
+deceive yourself, as all the court now does. Be sure, my dear child,
+that this man is everywhere, and that he knows even our thoughts."
+
+   [His name was Laporte. Neither the fear of torture nor the hope of
+   the Cardinal's reward could draw from him one word of the Queen's
+   secrets.]
+
+"What, Madame! does he know all that these men have cried under your
+windows, and the names of those who sent them?"
+
+"Yes; no doubt he knows it, or has foreseen it. He permits it; he
+authorizes it, to compromise me in the King's eyes, and keep him forever
+separated from me. He would complete my humiliation."
+
+"But the King has not loved him for two years; he loves another."
+
+The Queen smiled; she gazed some time in silence upon the pure and open
+features of the beautiful Marie, and her look, full of candor, which
+was languidly raised toward her. She smoothed back the black curls which
+shaded her noble forehead, and seemed to rest her eyes and her soul in
+looking at the charming innocence displayed upon so lovely a face. She
+kissed her cheek, and resumed:
+
+"You do not suspect, my poor child, a sad truth. It is that the King
+loves no one, and that those who appear the most in favor will be the
+soonest abandoned by him, and thrown to him who engulfs and devours
+all."
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu! what is this you tell me?"
+
+"Do you know how many he has destroyed?" continued the Queen, in a low
+voice, and looking into her eyes as if to read in them all her thoughts,
+and to make her own penetrate there. "Do you know the end of his
+favorites? Have you been told of the exile of Baradas; of that of
+Saint-Simon; of the convent of Mademoiselle de la Fayette, the shame of
+Madame d'Hautfort, the death of Chalais? All have fallen before an order
+from Richelieu to his master. Without this favor, which you mistake
+for friendship, their lives would have been peaceful. But this favor is
+mortal; it is a poison. Look at this tapestry, which represents Semele.
+The favorites of Louis XIII resemble that woman; his attachment devours
+like this fire, which dazzles and consumes her."
+
+But the young Duchess was no longer in a condition to listen to the
+Queen. She continued to fix her large, dark eyes upon her, dimmed by a
+veil of tears; her hands trembled in those of Anne of Austria, and her
+lips quivered with convulsive agitation.
+
+"I am very cruel, am I not, Marie?" continued the Queen, in an extremely
+sweet voice, and caressing her like a child from whom one would draw an
+avowal. "Oh, yes; no doubt I am very wicked! Your heart is full; you can
+not bear it, my child. Come, tell me; how do matters stand with you and
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?"
+
+At this word grief found a vent, and, still on her knees at the Queen's
+feet, Marie in her turn shed upon the bosom of the good Princess a
+deluge of tears, with childish sobs and so violent an agitation of her
+head and her beautiful shoulders that it seemed as if her heart would
+break. The Queen waited a long time for the end of this first emotion,
+rocking her in her arms as if to appease her grief, frequently
+repeating, "My child, my child, do not afflict yourself thus!"
+
+"Ah, Madame!" she exclaimed, "I have been guilty toward you; but I did
+not reckon upon that heart. I have done wrong, and I shall perhaps be
+punished severely for it. But, alas! how shall I venture to confess
+to you, Madame? It was not so much to open my heart to you that was
+difficult; it was to avow to you that I had need to read there myself."
+
+The Queen reflected a moment, laying her finger upon her lips. "You are
+right," she then replied; "you are quite right. Marie, it is always the
+first word which is the most difficult to say; and that difficulty often
+destroys us. But it must be so; and without this rule one would be often
+wanting in dignity. Ah, how difficult it is to reign! To-day I would
+descend into your heart, but I come too late to do you good."
+
+Marie de Mantua hung her head without making any reply.
+
+"Must I encourage you to speak?" said the Queen. "Must I remind you that
+I have almost adopted you for my eldest daughter? that after seeking
+to unite you with the King's brother, I prepared for you the throne of
+Poland? Must I do more, Marie? Yes, I must, I will. If afterward you do
+not open your whole heart to me, I have misjudged you. Open this golden
+casket; here is the key. Open it fearlessly; do not tremble as I do."
+
+The Duchesse de Mantua obeyed with hesitation, and beheld in this little
+chased coffer a knife of rude form, the handle of which was of iron, and
+the blade very rusty. It lay upon some letters carefully folded, upon
+which was the name of Buckingham. She would have lifted them; Anne of
+Austria stopped her.
+
+"Seek nothing further," she said; "that is all the treasure of the
+Queen. And it is a treasure; for it is the blood of a man who lives no
+longer, but who lived for me. He was the most beautiful, the bravest,
+the most illustrious of the nobles of Europe. He covered himself with
+the diamonds of the English crown to please me. He raised up a fierce
+war and armed fleets, which he himself commanded, that he might have the
+happiness of once fighting him who was my husband. He traversed the seas
+to gather a flower upon which I had trodden, and ran the risk of death
+to kiss and bathe with his tears the foot of this bed in the presence
+of two of my ladies-in-waiting. Shall I say more? Yes, I will say it to
+you--I loved him! I love him still in the past more than I could love
+him in the present. He never knew it, never divined it. This face, these
+eyes, were marble toward him, while my heart burned and was breaking
+with grief; but I was the Queen of France!" Here Anne of Austria
+forcibly grasped Marie's arm. "Dare now to complain," she continued, "if
+you have not yet ventured to speak to me of your love, and dare now to
+be silent when I have told you these things!"
+
+"Ah, yes, Madame, I shall dare to confide my grief to you, since you are
+to me--"
+
+"A friend, a woman!" interrupted the Queen. "I was a woman in my terror,
+which put you in possession of a secret unknown to the whole world. I am
+a woman by a love which survives the man I loved. Speak; tell me! It is
+now time."
+
+"It is too late, on the contrary," replied Marie, with a forced smile.
+"Monsieur de Cinq-Mars and I are united forever."
+
+"Forever!" exclaimed the Queen. "Can you mean it? And your rank, your
+name, your future--is all lost? Do you reserve this despair for your
+brother, the Duc de Bethel, and all the Gonzagas?"
+
+"For more than four years I have thought of it. I am resolved; and for
+ten days we have been affianced."
+
+"Affianced!" exclaimed the Queen, clasping her hands. "You have been
+deceived, Marie. Who would have dared this without the King's order? It
+is an intrigue which I will know. I am sure that you have been misled
+and deceived."
+
+Marie hesitated a moment, and then said:
+
+"Nothing is more simple, Madame, than our attachment. I inhabited, you
+know, the old chateau of Chaumont, with the Marechale d'Effiat, the
+mother of Monsieur de Cinq-Mars. I had retired there to mourn the death
+of my father; and it soon happened that Monsieur de Cinq-Mars had to
+deplore the loss of his. In this numerous afflicted family, I saw his
+grief only, which was as profound as mine. All that he said, I had
+already thought, and when we spoke of our afflictions we found them
+wholly alike. As I had been the first to suffer, I was better acquainted
+with sorrow than he; and I endeavored to console him by telling him all
+that I had suffered, so that in pitying me he forgot himself. This was
+the beginning of our love, which, as you see, had its birth, as it were,
+between two tombs."
+
+"God grant, my sweet, that it may have a happy termination!" said the
+Queen.
+
+"I hope so, Madame, since you pray for me," continued Marie. "Besides,
+everything now smiles upon me; but at that time I was very miserable.
+The news arrived one day at the chateau that the Cardinal had called
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars to the army. It seemed to me that I was again
+deprived of one of my relatives; and yet we were strangers. But Monsieur
+de Bassompierre spoke without ceasing of battles and death. I retired
+every evening in grief, and I wept during the night. I thought at first
+that my tears flowed for the past, but I soon perceived that it was for
+the future; and I felt that they could not be the same tears, since
+I wished to conceal them. Some time passed in the expectation of his
+departure. I saw him every day; and I pitied him for having to depart,
+because he repeated to me every instant that he would have wished to
+live eternally as he then did, in his own country and with us. He was
+thus without ambition until the day of his departure, because he knew
+not whether he was--whether he was--I dare not say it to your Majesty--"
+
+Marie blushed, cast down her humid eyes, and smiled.
+
+"Well!" said the Queen, "whether he was beloved,--is it not so?"
+
+"And in the evening, Madame, he left, ambitious."
+
+"That is evident, certainly. He left," said Anne of Austria, somewhat
+relieved; "but he has been back two years, and you have seen him?"
+
+"Seldom, Madame," said the young Duchess, proudly; "and always in the
+presence of the priest, before whom I have promised to be the wife of no
+other than Cinq-Mars."
+
+"Is it really, then, a marriage? Have you dared to do it? I shall
+inquire. But, Heaven, what faults! how many faults in the few words I
+have heard! Let me reflect upon them."
+
+And, speaking aloud to herself, the Queen continued, her eyes and head
+bent in the attitude of reflection:
+
+"Reproaches are useless and cruel if the evil is done. The past is no
+longer ours; let us think of the future. Cinq-Mars is brave, able, and
+even profound in his ideas. I have observed that he has done much in two
+years, and I now see that it was for Marie. He comports himself well; he
+is worthy of her in my eyes, but not so in the eyes of Europe. He must
+rise yet higher. The Princesse de Mantua can not, may not, marry less
+than a prince. He must become one. By myself I can do nothing; I am
+not the Queen, I am the neglected wife of the King. There is only the
+Cardinal, the eternal Cardinal, and he is his enemy; and perhaps this
+disturbance--"
+
+"Alas! it is the beginning of war between them. I saw it at once."
+
+"He is lost then!" exclaimed the Queen, embracing Marie. "Pardon me, my
+child, for thus afflicting you; but in times like these we must see
+all and say all. Yes, he is lost if he does not himself overthrow this
+wicked man--for the King will not renounce him; force alone--"
+
+"He will overthrow him, Madame. He will do it, if you will assist him.
+You are the divinity of France. Oh, I conjure you, protect the angel
+against the demon! It is your cause, that of your royal family, that of
+all your nation."
+
+The Queen smiled.
+
+"It is, above all, your cause, my child; and it is as such that I will
+embrace it to the utmost extent of my power. That is not great, as I
+have told you; but such as it is, I lend it to you entirely, provided,
+however, that this angel does not stoop to commit mortal sins," added
+she, with a meaning look. "I heard his name pronounced this night by
+voices most unworthy of him."
+
+"Oh, Madame, I would swear that he knows nothing of it!"
+
+"Ah, my child, do not speak of State affairs. You are not yet learned
+enough in them. Let me sleep, if I can, before the hour of my toilette.
+My eyes are burning, and yours also, perhaps."
+
+Saying these words, the amiable Queen laid her head upon the pillow
+which covered the casket, and soon Marie saw her fall asleep through
+sheer fatigue. She then rose, and, seating herself in a great,
+tapestried, square armchair, clasped her hands upon her knees, and began
+to reflect upon her painful situation. Consoled by the aspect of her
+gentle protectress, she often raised her eyes to watch her slumber, and
+sent her in secret all the blessings which love showers upon those who
+protect it, sometimes kissing the curls of her blond hair, as if by this
+kiss she could convey to her soul all the ideas favorable to the thought
+ever present to her mind.
+
+The Queen's slumber was prolonged, while Marie thought and wept.
+However, she remembered that at ten o'clock she must appear at the royal
+toilette before all the court. She resolved to cast aside reflection,
+to dry her tears, and she took a thick folio volume placed upon a table
+inlaid with enamel and medallions; it was the 'Astree' of M. d'Urfe--a
+work 'de belle galanterie' adored by the fair prudes of the court. The
+unsophisticated and straightforward mind of Marie could not enter into
+these pastoral loves. She was too simple to understand the 'bergeres
+du Lignon', too clever to be pleased at their discourse, and too
+impassioned to feel their tenderness. However, the great popularity of
+the romance so far influenced her that she sought to compel herself to
+take an interest in it; and, accusing herself internally every time that
+she felt the ennui which exhaled from the pages of the book, she ran
+through it with impatience to find something to please and transport
+her. An engraving arrested her attention. It represented the shepherdess
+Astree with high-heeled shoes, a corset, and an immense farthingale,
+standing on tiptoe to watch floating down the river the tender Celadon,
+drowning himself in despair at having, been somewhat coldly received in
+the morning. Without explaining to herself the reason of the taste and
+accumulated fallacies of this picture, she sought, in turning over
+the pages, something which could fix her attention; she saw the word
+"Druid."
+
+"Ah! here is a great character," said she. "I shall no doubt read of
+one of those mysterious sacrificers of whom Britain, I am told, still
+preserves the monuments; but I shall see him sacrificing men. That would
+be a spectacle of horror; however, let us read it."
+
+Saying this, Marie read with repugnance, knitting her brows, and nearly
+trembling, the following:
+
+   "The Druid Adamas delicately called the shepherds Pimandre,
+   Ligdamont, and Clidamant, newly arrived from Calais. 'This
+   adventure can not terminate,' said he, 'but by the extremity of
+   love. The soul, when it loves, transforms itself into the object
+   beloved; it is to represent this that my agreeable enchantments will
+   show you in this fountain the nymph Sylvia, whom you all three love.
+   The high-priest Amasis is about to come from Montbrison, and will
+   explain to you the delicacy of this idea. Go, then, gentle
+   shepherds! If your desires are well regulated, they will not cause
+   you any torments; and if they are not so, you will be punished by
+   swoonings similar to those of Celadon, and the shepherdess Galatea,
+   whom the inconstant Hercules abandoned in the mountains of Auvergne,
+   and who gave her name to the tender country of the Gauls; or you
+   will be stoned by the shepherdesses of Lignon, as was the ferocious
+   Amidor. The great nymph of this cave has made an enchantment.'"
+
+The enchantment of the great nymph was complete on the Princess, who had
+hardly sufficient strength to find out with a trembling hand, toward
+the end of the book, that the Druid Adamas was an ingenious allegory,
+representing the Lieutenant-General of Montbrison, of the family of the
+Papons. Her weary eyes closed, and the great book slipped from her lap
+to the cushion of velvet upon which her feet were placed, and where
+the beautiful Astree and the gallant Celadon reposed luxuriously, less
+immovable than Marie de Mantua, vanquished by them and by profound
+slumber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. THE CONFUSION
+
+This same morning, the various events of which we have seen in the
+apartments of Gaston d'Orleans and of the Queen, the calm and silence
+of study reigned in a modest cabinet of a large house near the Palais
+de justice. A bronze lamp, of a gothic shape, struggling with the coming
+day, threw its red light upon a mass of papers and books which covered
+a large table; it lighted the bust of L'Hopital, that of Montaigne the
+essayist, the President de Thou, and of King Louis XIII.
+
+A fireplace sufficiently large for a man to enter and sit there was
+occupied by a large fire burning upon enormous andirons. Upon one of
+these was placed the foot of the studious De Thou, who, already risen,
+examined with attention the new works of Descartes and Grotius. He
+was writing upon his knee his notes upon these books of philosophy and
+politics, which were then the general subjects of conversation; but at
+this moment the 'Meditations Metaphysiques' absorbed all his attention.
+The philosopher of Touraine enchanted the young counsellor. Often, in
+his enthusiasm, he struck the book, uttering exclamations of admiration;
+sometimes he took a sphere placed near him, and, turning it with his
+fingers, abandoned himself to the most profound reveries of science;
+then, led by them to a still greater elevation of mind, he would
+suddenly throw himself upon his knees before a crucifix, placed upon the
+chimney-piece, because at the limits of the human mind he had found
+God. At other times he buried himself in his great armchair, so as to be
+nearly sitting upon his shoulders, and, placing his two hands upon his
+eyes, followed in his head the trace of the reasoning of Rene Descartes,
+from this idea of the first meditation:
+
+   "Suppose that we are asleep, and that all these particularities--
+   that is, that we open our eyes, move our heads, spread our arms--are
+   nothing but false illusions."
+
+to this sublime conclusion of the third:
+
+   "Only one thing remains to be said; it is that like the idea of
+   myself, that of God is born and produced with me from the time I was
+   created. And certainly it should not be thought strange that God,
+   in creating me, should have implanted in me this idea, to be, as it
+   were, the mark of the workman impressed upon his work."
+
+These thoughts entirely occupied the mind of the young counsellor, when
+a loud noise was heard under the windows. He thought that some house on
+fire excited these prolonged cries, and hastened to look toward the wing
+of the building occupied by his mother and sisters; but all appeared
+to sleep there, and the chimneys did not even send forth any smoke, to
+attest that its inhabitants were even awake. He blessed Heaven for it;
+and, running to another window, he saw the people, whose exploits we
+have witnessed, hastening toward the narrow streets which led to the
+quay.
+
+After examining this rabble of women and children, the ridiculous flag
+which led them, and the rude disguises of the men: "It is some popular
+fete or some carnival comedy," said he; and again returning to the
+corner of the fire, he placed a large almanac upon the table, and
+carefully sought in it what saint was honored that day. He looked in the
+column of the month of December; and, finding at the fourth day of this
+month the name of Ste.-Barbe, he remembered that he had seen several
+small cannons and barrels pass, and, perfectly satisfied with the
+explanation which he had given himself, he hastened to drive away the
+interruption which had called off his attention, and resumed his quiet
+studies, rising only to take a book from the shelves of his library,
+and, after reading in it a phrase, a line, or only a word, he threw it
+from him upon his table or on the floor, covered in this way with books
+or papers which he would not trouble himself to return to their places,
+lest he should break the thread of his reveries.
+
+Suddenly the door was hastily opened, and a name was announced which
+he had distinguished among those at the bar--a man whom his connections
+with the magistracy had made personally known to him.
+
+"And by what chance, at five o'clock in the morning, do I see Monsieur
+Fournier?" he cried. "Are there some unfortunates to defend, some
+families to be supported by the fruits of his talent, some error to
+dissipate in us, some virtue to awaken in our hearts? for these are
+of his accustomed works. You come, perhaps, to inform me of some fresh
+humiliation of our parliament. Alas! the secret chambers of the Arsenal
+are more powerful than the ancient magistracy of Clovis. The parliament
+is on its knees; all is lost, unless it is soon filled with men like
+yourself."
+
+"Monsieur, I do not merit your praise," said the Advocate, entering,
+accompanied by a grave and aged man, enveloped like himself in a large
+cloak. "I deserve, on the contrary, your censure; and I am almost a
+penitent, as is Monsieur le Comte du Lude, whom you see here. We come to
+ask an asylum for the day."
+
+"An asylum! and against whom?" said De Thou, making them sit down.
+
+"Against the lowest people in Paris, who wish to have us for chiefs, and
+from whom we fly. It is odious; the sight, the smell, the ear, and the
+touch, above all, are too severely wounded by it," said M. du Lude, with
+a comical gravity. "It is too much!"
+
+"Ah! too much, you say?" said De Thou, very much astonished, but not
+willing to show it.
+
+"Yes," answered the Advocate; "really, between ourselves, Monsieur le
+Grand goes too far."
+
+"Yes, he pushes things too fast. He will render all our projects
+abortive," added his companion.
+
+"Ah! and you say he goes too far?" replied M. de Thou, rubbing his chin,
+more and more surprised.
+
+Three months had passed since his friend Cinq-Mars had been to see him;
+and he, without feeling much disquieted about it--knowing that he was at
+St.-Germain in high favor, and never quitting the King--was far removed
+from the news of the court. Absorbed in his grave studies, he never
+heard of public events till they were forced upon his attention. He
+knew nothing of current life until the last moment, and often amused
+his intimate friends by his naive astonishment--the more so that from a
+little worldly vanity he desired to have it appear as if he were fully
+acquainted with the course of events, and tried to conceal the
+surprise he experienced at every fresh intelligence. He was now in this
+situation, and to this vanity was added the feeling of friendship; he
+would not have it supposed that Cinq-Mars had been negligent toward
+him, and, for his friend's honor even, would appear to be aware of his
+projects.
+
+"You know very well how we stand now," continued the Advocate.
+
+"Yes, of course. Well?"
+
+"Intimate as you are with him, you can not be ignorant that all has been
+organizing for a year past."
+
+"Certainly, all has been organizing; but proceed."
+
+"You will admit with us that Monsieur le Grand is wrong?"
+
+"Ah, that is as it may be; but explain yourself. I shall see."
+
+"Well, you know upon what we had agreed at the last conference of which
+he informed you?"
+
+"Ah! that is to say--pardon me, I perceive it almost; but set me a
+little upon the track."
+
+"It is useless; you no doubt remember what he himself recommended us to
+do at Marion de Lorme's?"
+
+"To add no one to our list," said M. du Lude.
+
+"Ah, yes, yes! I understand," said De Thou; "that appears reasonable,
+very reasonable, truly."
+
+"Well," continued Fournier, "he himself has infringed this agreement;
+for this morning, besides the ragamuffins whom that ferret the Abbe de
+Gondi brought to us, there was some vagabond captain, who during the
+night struck with sword and poniard gentlemen of both parties, crying
+out at the top of his voice, 'A moi, D'Aubijoux! You gained three
+thousand ducats from me; here are three sword-thrusts for you. 'A moi',
+La Chapelle! I will have ten drops of your blood in exchange for my ten
+pistoles!' and I myself saw him attack these gentlemen and many more of
+both sides, loyally enough, it is true--for he struck them only in front
+and on their guard--but with great success, and with a most revolting
+impartiality."
+
+"Yes, Monsieur, and I was about to tell him my opinion," interposed De
+Lude, "when I saw him escape through the crowd like a squirrel, laughing
+greatly with some suspicious looking men with dark, swarthy faces; I
+do not doubt, however, that Monsieur de Cinq-Mars sent him, for he gave
+orders to that Ambrosio whom you must know--that Spanish prisoner, that
+rascal whom he has taken for a servant. In faith, I am disgusted with
+all this; and I was not born to mingle with this canaille."
+
+"This, Monsieur," replied Fournier, "is very different from the affair
+at Loudun. There the people only rose, without actually revolting; it
+was the sensible and estimable part of the populace, indignant at an
+assassination, and not heated by wine and money. It was a cry raised
+against an executioner--a cry of which one could honorably be the
+organ--and not these howlings of factious hypocrisy, of a mass of
+unknown people, the dregs of the mud and sewers of Paris. I confess that
+I am very tired of what I see; and I have come to entreat you to speak
+about it to Monsieur le Grand."
+
+De Thou was very much embarrassed during this conversation, and sought
+in vain to understand what Cinq-Mars could have to do with the people,
+who appeared to him merely merrymaking; on the other hand, he persisted
+in not owning his ignorance. It was, however, complete; for the last
+time he had seen his friend, he had spoken only of the King's horses and
+stables, of hawking, and of the importance of the King's huntsmen in the
+affairs of the State, which did not seem to announce vast projects in
+which the people could take a part. He at last timidly ventured to say:
+
+"Messieurs, I promise to do your commission; meanwhile, I offer you
+my table and beds as long as you please. But to give my advice in
+this matter is very difficult. By the way, it was not the fete of
+Sainte-Barbe I saw this morning?"
+
+"The Sainte-Barbe!" said Fournier.
+
+"The Sainte-Barbe!" echoed Du Lude. "They burned powder."
+
+"Oh, yes, yes! that is what Monsieur de Thou means," said Fournier,
+laughing; "very good, very good indeed! Yes, I think to-day is
+Sainte-Barbe."
+
+De Thou was now altogether confused and reduced to silence; as for the
+others, seeing that they did not understand him, nor he them, they had
+recourse to silence.
+
+They were sitting thus mute, when the door opened to admit the old tutor
+of Cinq-Mars, the Abbe Quillet, who entered, limping slightly. He looked
+very gloomy, retaining none of his former gayety in his air or language;
+but his look was still animated, and his speech energetic.
+
+"Pardon me, my dear De Thou, that I so early disturb you in your
+occupations; it is strange, is it not, in a gouty invalid? Ah, time
+advances; two years ago I did not limp. I was, on the contrary, nimble
+enough at the time of my journey to Italy; but then fear gives legs as
+well as wings."
+
+Then, retiring into the recess of a window, he signed De Thou to come to
+him.
+
+"I need hardly remind you, my friend, who are in their secrets, that I
+affianced them a fortnight ago, as they have told you."
+
+"Ah, indeed! Whom?" exclaimed poor De Thou, fallen from the Charybdis
+into the Scylla of astonishment.
+
+"Come, come, don't affect surprise; you know very well whom," continued
+the Abbe. "But, faith, I fear I have been too complaisant with them,
+though these two children are really interesting in their love. I fear
+for him more than for her; I doubt not he is acting very foolishly,
+judging from the disturbance this morning. We must consult together
+about it."
+
+"But," said De Thou, very gravely, "upon my honor, I do not know what
+you mean. Who is acting foolishly?"
+
+"Now, my dear Monsieur, will you still play the mysterious with me? It
+is really insulting," said the worthy man, beginning to be angry.
+
+"No, indeed, I mean it not; whom have you affianced?"
+
+"Again! fie, Monsieur!"
+
+"And what was the disturbance this morning?"
+
+"You are laughing at me! I take my leave," said the Abbe, rising.
+
+"I vow that I understand not a word of all that has been told me to-day.
+Do you mean Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?"
+
+"Very well, Monsieur, very well! you treat me as a Cardinalist; very
+well, we part," said the Abbe Quillet, now altogether furious. And he
+snatched up his crutch and quitted the room hastily, without listening
+to De Thou, who followed him to his carriage, seeking to pacify him,
+but without effect, because he did not wish to name his friend upon the
+stairs in the hearing of his servants, and could not explain the matter
+otherwise. He had the annoyance of seeing the old Abbe depart, still in
+a passion; he called out to him amicably, "Tomorrow," as the coachman
+drove off, but got no answer.
+
+It was, however, not uselessly that he had descended to the foot of the
+stairs, for he saw thence hideous groups of the mob returning from the
+Louvre, and was thus better able to judge of the importance of their
+movements in the morning; he heard rude voices exclaiming, as in
+triumph:
+
+"She showed herself, however, the little Queen!" "Long live the good
+Duc de Bouillon, who is coming to us! He has a hundred thousand men with
+him, all on rafts on the Seine. The old Cardinal de la Rochelle is dead!
+Long live the King! Long live Monsieur le Grand!"
+
+The cries redoubled at the arrival of a carriage and four, with the
+royal livery, which stopped at the counsellor's door, and in which De
+Thou recognized the equipage of Cinq-Mars; Ambrosio alighted to open the
+ample curtains, which the carriages of that period had for doors. The
+people threw themselves between the carriage-steps and the door of the
+house, so that Cinq-Mars had an absolute struggle ere he could get out
+and disengage himself from the market-women, who sought to embrace him,
+crying:
+
+"Here you are, then, my sweet, my dear! Here you are, my pet! Ah, how
+handsome he is, the love, with his big collar! Isn't he worth more than
+the other fellow with the white moustache? Come, my son, bring us out
+some good wine this morning."
+
+Henri d'Effiat pressed, blushing deeply the while, his friend's
+hand,--who hastened to have his doors closed.
+
+"This popular favor is a cup one must drink," said he, as they ascended
+the stairs.
+
+"It appears to me," replied De Thou, gravely, "that you drink it even to
+the very dregs."
+
+"I will explain all this clamorous affair to you," answered Cinq-Mars,
+somewhat embarrassed. "At present, if you love me, dress yourself to
+accompany me to the Queen's toilette."
+
+"I promised you blind adherence," said the counsellor; "but truly I can
+not keep my eyes shut much longer if--"
+
+"Once again, I will give you a full explanation as we return from the
+Queen. But make haste; it is nearly ten o'clock."
+
+"Well, I will go with you," replied De Thou, conducting him into his
+cabinet, where were the Comte du Lude and Fournier, while he himself
+passed into his dressing-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. TOILETTE
+
+The carriage of the Grand Equerry was rolling rapidly toward the Louvre,
+when, closing the curtain, he took his friend's hand, and said to him
+with emotion:
+
+"Dear De Thou, I have kept great secrets in my heart, and, believe
+me, they have weighed heavily there; but two fears impelled me to
+silence--that of your danger, and--shall I say it?--that of your
+counsels."
+
+"Yet well you know," replied De Thou, "that I despise the first; and I
+deemed that you did not despise the second."
+
+"No, but I feared, and still fear them. I would not be stopped. Do not
+speak, my friend; not a word, I conjure you, before you have heard and
+seen all that is about to take place. I will return with you to your
+house on quitting the Louvre; there I will listen to you, and thence I
+shall depart to continue my work, for nothing will shake my resolve, I
+warn you. I have just said so to the gentlemen at your house."
+
+In his accent Cinq-Mars had nothing of the brusqueness which clothed
+his words. His voice was conciliatory, his look gentle, amiable,
+affectionate, his air as tranquil as it was determined. There was no
+indication of the slightest effort at control. De Thou remarked it, and
+sighed.
+
+Alighting from the carriage with him, De Thou followed him up the
+great staircase of the Louvre. When they entered the Queen's apartment,
+announced by two ushers dressed in black and bearing ebony rods, she
+was seated at her toilette. This was a table of black wood, inlaid with
+tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, and brass, in an infinity of designs of
+very bad taste, but which give to all furniture an air of grandeur which
+we still admire in it. A mirror, rounded at the top, which the ladies of
+our time would consider small and insignificant, stood in the middle of
+the table, whereon were scattered jewels and necklaces.
+
+Anne of Austria, seated before it in a large armchair of crimson velvet,
+with long gold fringe, was as motionless and grave as on her throne,
+while Dona Stefania and Madame de Motteville, on either side, lightly
+touched her beautiful blond hair with a comb, as if finishing the
+Queen's coiffure, which, however, was already perfectly arranged and
+decorated with pearls. Her long tresses, though light, were exquisitely
+glossy, manifesting that to the touch they must be fine and soft as
+silk. The daylight fell without a shade upon her forehead, which had no
+reason to dread the test, itself reflecting an almost equal light from
+its surpassing fairness, which the Queen was pleased thus to display.
+Her blue eyes, blended with green, were large and regular, and her
+vermilion mouth had that underlip of the princesses of Austria, somewhat
+prominent and slightly cleft, in the form of a cherry, which may still
+be marked in all the female portraits of this time, whose painters
+seemed to have aimed at imitating the Queen's mouth, in order to please
+the women of her suite, whose desire was, no doubt, to resemble her.
+
+The black dress then adopted by the court, and of which the form was
+even fixed by an edict, set off the ivory of her arms, bare to the
+elbow, and ornamented with a profusion of lace, which flowed from her
+loose sleeves. Large pearls hung in her ears and from her girdle. Such
+was the appearance of the Queen at this moment. At her feet, upon two
+velvet cushions, a boy of four years old was playing with a little
+cannon, which he was assiduously breaking in pieces. This was the
+Dauphin, afterward Louis XIV. The Duchesse Marie de Mantua was seated on
+her right hand upon a stool. The Princesse de Guemenee, the Duchesse de
+Chevreuse, and Mademoiselle de Montbazon, Mesdemoiselles de Guise, de
+Rohan, and de Vendome, all beautiful and brilliant with youth, were
+behind her, standing. In the recess of a window, Monsieur, his hat under
+his arm, was talking in a low voice with a man, stout, with a red face
+and a steady and daring eye. This was the Duc de Bouillon. An officer
+about twenty-five years of age, well-formed, and of agreeable presence,
+had just given several papers to the Prince, which the Duc de Bouillon
+appeared to be explaining to him.
+
+De Thou, after having saluted the Queen, who said a few words to him,
+approached the Princesse de Guemenee, and conversed with her in an
+undertone, with an air of affectionate intimacy, but all the while
+intent upon his friend's interest. Secretly trembling lest he should
+have confided his destiny to a being less worthy of him than he wished,
+he examined the Princess Marie with the scrupulous attention, the
+scrutinizing eye of a mother examining the woman whom her son has
+selected for his bride--for he thought that Marie could not be
+altogether a stranger to the enterprise of Cinq-Mars. He saw with
+dissatisfaction that her dress, which was extremely elegant, appeared
+to inspire her with more vanity than became her on such an occasion. She
+was incessantly rearranging upon her forehead and her hair the rubies
+which ornamented her head, and which scarcely equalled the brilliancy
+and animated color of her complexion. She looked frequently at
+Cinq-Mars; but it was rather the look of coquetry than that of love, and
+her eyes often glanced toward the mirror on the toilette, in which she
+watched the symmetry of her beauty. These observations of the counsellor
+began to persuade him that he was mistaken in suspecting her to be
+the aim of Cinq-Mars, especially when he saw that she seemed to have
+a pleasure in sitting at the Queen's side, while the duchesses stood
+behind her, and that she often looked haughtily at them.
+
+"In that heart of nineteen," said he, "love, were there love, would
+reign alone and above all to-day. It is not she!"
+
+The Queen made an almost imperceptible movement of the head to Madame
+de Guemenee. After the two friends had spoken a moment with each person
+present, and at this sign, all the ladies, except Marie de Mantua,
+making profound courtesies, quitted the apartment without speaking, as
+if by previous arrangement. The Queen, then herself turning her chair,
+said to Monsieur:
+
+"My brother, I beg you will come and sit down by me. We will consult
+upon what I have already told you. The Princesse Marie will not be in
+the way. I begged her to remain. We have no interruption to fear."
+
+The Queen seemed more at ease in her manner and language; and no longer
+preserving her severe and ceremonious immobility, she signed to the
+other persons present to approach her.
+
+Gaston d'Orleans, somewhat alarmed at this solemn opening, came
+carelessly, sat down on her right hand, and said with a half-smile and
+a negligent air, playing with his ruff and the chain of the Saint Esprit
+which hung from his neck:
+
+"I think, Madame, that we shall fatigue the ears of so young a personage
+by a long conference. She would rather hear us speak of dances, and of
+marriage, of an elector, or of the King of Poland, for example."
+
+Marie assumed a disdainful air; Cinq-Mars frowned.
+
+"Pardon me," replied the Queen, looking at her; "I assure you the
+politics of the present time interest her much. Do not seek to escape
+us, my brother," added she, smiling. "I have you to-day! It is the least
+we can do to listen to Monsieur de Bouillon."
+
+The latter approached, holding by the hand the young officer of whom we
+have spoken.
+
+"I must first," said he, "present to your Majesty the Baron de Beauvau,
+who has just arrived from Spain."
+
+"From Spain?" said the Queen, with emotion. "There is courage in that;
+you have seen my family?"
+
+"He will speak to you of them, and of the Count-Duke of Olivares. As
+to courage, it is not the first time he has shown it. He commanded the
+cuirassiers of the Comte de Soissons."
+
+"How? so young, sir! You must be fond of political wars."
+
+"On the contrary, your Majesty will pardon me," replied he, "for I
+served with the princes of the peace."
+
+Anne of Austria smiled at this jeu-de-mot. The Duc de Bouillon, seizing
+the moment to bring forward the grand question he had in view, quitted
+Cinq-Mars, to whom he had just given his hand with an air of the
+most zealous friendship, and approaching the Queen with him, "It is
+miraculous, Madame," said he, "that this period still contains in its
+bosom some noble characters, such as these;" and he pointed to the
+master of the horse, to young Beauvau, and to De Thou. "It is only in
+them that we can place our hope for the future. Such men are indeed very
+rare now, for the great leveller has swung a long scythe over France."
+
+"Is it of Time you speak," said the Queen, "or of a real personage?"
+
+"Too real, too living, too long living, Madame!" replied the Duke,
+becoming more animated; "but his measureless ambition, his colossal
+selfishness can no longer be endured. All those who have noble hearts
+are indignant at this yoke; and at this moment, more than ever, we see
+misfortunes threatening us in the future. It must be said, Madame--yes,
+it is no longer time to blind ourselves to the truth, or to conceal
+it--the King's illness is serious. The moment for thinking and resolving
+has arrived, for the time to act is not far distant."
+
+The severe and abrupt tone of M. de Bouillon did not surprise Anne of
+Austria; but she had always seen him more calm, and was, therefore,
+somewhat alarmed by the disquietude he betrayed. Quitting accordingly
+the tone of pleasantry which she had at first adopted, she said:
+
+"How! what fear you, and what would you do?"
+
+"I fear nothing for myself, Madame, for the army of Italy or Sedan
+will always secure my safety; but I fear for you, and perhaps for the
+princes, your sons."
+
+"For my children, Monsieur le Duc, for the sons of France? Do you hear
+him, my brother, and do you not appear astonished?"
+
+The Queen was deeply agitated.
+
+"No, Madame," said Gaston d'Orleans, calmly; "you know that I am
+accustomed to persecution. I am prepared to expect anything from that
+man. He is master; we must be resigned."
+
+"He master!" exclaimed the Queen. "And from whom does he derive his
+powers, if not from the King? And after the King, what hand will sustain
+him? Can you tell me? Who will prevent him from again returning to
+nothing? Will it be you or I?"
+
+"It will be himself," interrupted M. de Bouillon, "for he seeks to be
+named regent; and I know that at this moment he contemplates taking your
+children from you, and requiring the King to confide them to his care."
+
+"Take them from me!" cried the mother, involuntarily seizing the
+Dauphin, and taking him in her arms.
+
+The child, standing between the Queen's knees, looked at the men who
+surrounded him with a gravity very singular for his age, and, seeing his
+mother in tears, placed his hand upon the little sword he wore.
+
+"Ah, Monseigneur," said the Duc de Bouillon, bending half down to
+address to him what he intended for the Princess, "it is not against us
+that you must draw your sword, but against him who is undermining
+your throne. He prepares an empire for you, no doubt. You will have an
+absolute sceptre; but he has scattered the fasces which indicated it.
+Those fasces were your ancient nobility, whom he has decimated. When
+you are king, you will be a great king. I foresee it; but you will
+have subjects only, and no friends, for friendship exists only in
+independence and a kind of equality which takes its rise in force. Your
+ancestors had their peers; you will not have yours. May God aid you
+then, Monseigneur, for man may not do it without institutions! Be great;
+but above all, around you, a great man, let there be others as strong,
+so that if the one stumbles, the whole monarchy may not fall."
+
+The Duc de Bouillon had a warmth of expression and a confidence of
+manner which captivated those who heard him. His valor, his keen
+perception in the field, the profundity of his political views,
+his knowledge of the affairs of Europe, his reflective and decided
+character, all rendered him one of the most capable and imposing men of
+his time-the only one, indeed, whom the Cardinal-Duc really feared. The
+Queen always listened to him with confidence, and allowed him to acquire
+a sort of empire over her. She was now more deeply moved than ever.
+
+"Ah, would to God," she exclaimed, "that my son's mind was ripe for your
+counsels, and his arm strong enough to profit by them! Until that time,
+however, I will listen, I will act for him. It is I who should be, and
+it is I who shall be, regent. I will not resign this right save with
+life. If we must make war, we will make it; for I will do everything but
+submit to the shame and terror of yielding up the future Louis XIV to
+this crowned subject. Yes," she went on, coloring and closely pressing
+the young Dauphin's arm, "yes, my brother, and you gentlemen, counsel
+me! Speak! how do we stand? Must I depart? Speak openly. As a woman, as
+a wife, I could have wept over so mournful a position; but now see, as
+a mother, I do not weep. I am ready to give you orders if it is
+necessary."
+
+Never had Anne of Austria looked so beautiful as at this moment; and the
+enthusiasm she manifested electrified all those present, who needed but
+a word from her mouth to speak. The Duc de Bouillon cast a glance at
+Monsieur, which decided him.
+
+"Ma foi!" said he, with deliberation, "if you give orders, my sister, I
+will be the captain of your guards, on my honor, for I too am weary of
+the vexations occasioned me by this knave. He continues to persecute
+me, seeks to break off my marriage, and still keeps my friends in the
+Bastille, or has them assassinated from time to time; and besides, I
+am indignant," said he, recollecting himself and assuming a more solemn
+air, "I am indignant at the misery of the people."
+
+"My brother," returned the Princess, energetically, "I take you at your
+word, for with you, one must do so; and I hope that together we shall be
+strong enough for the purpose. Do only as Monsieur le Comte de Soissons
+did, but survive your victory. Side with me, as you did with Monsieur de
+Montmorency, but leap the ditch."
+
+Gaston felt the point of this. He called to mind the well-known incident
+when the unfortunate rebel of Castelnaudary leaped almost alone a large
+ditch, and found on the other side seventeen wounds, a prison, and death
+in the sight of Monsieur, who remained motionless with his army. In the
+rapidity of the Queen's enunciation he had not time to examine
+whether she had employed this expression proverbially or with a direct
+reference; but at all events, he decided not to notice it, and was
+indeed prevented from doing so by the Queen, who continued, looking at
+Cinq-Mars:
+
+"But, above all, no panic-terror! Let us know exactly where we are,
+Monsieur le Grand. You have just left the King. Is there fear with you?"
+
+D'Effiat had not ceased to observe Marie de Mantua, whose expressive
+countenance exhibited to him all her ideas far more rapidly and more
+surely than words. He read there the desire that he should speak--the
+desire that he should confirm the Prince and the Queen. An impatient
+movement of her foot conveyed to him her will that the thing should be
+accomplished, the conspiracy arranged. His face became pale and more
+pensive; he pondered for a moment, realizing that his destiny was
+contained in that hour. De Thou looked at him and trembled, for he knew
+him well. He would fain have said one word to him, only one word; but
+Cinq-Mars had already raised his head. He spoke:
+
+"I do not think, Madame, that the King is so ill as you suppose. God
+will long preserve to us this Prince. I hope so; I am even sure of it.
+He suffers, it is true, suffers much; but it is his soul more peculiarly
+that is sick, and of an evil which nothing can cure--of an evil which
+one would not wish to one's greatest enemy, and which would gain him the
+pity of the whole world if it were known. The end of his misery--that
+is to say, of his life--will not be granted him for a long time. His
+languor is entirely moral. There is in his heart a great revolution
+going on; he would accomplish it, and can not.
+
+"The King has felt for many long years growing within him the seeds of a
+just hatred against a man to whom he thinks he owes gratitude, and it
+is this internal combat between his natural goodness and his anger that
+devours him. Every year that has passed has deposited at his feet, on
+one side, the great works of this man, and on the other, his crimes. It
+is the last which now weigh down the balance. The King sees them and is
+indignant; he would punish, but all at once he stops and weeps. If you
+could witness him thus, Madame, you would pity him. I have seen him
+seize the pen which was to sign his exile, dip it into the ink with a
+bold hand, and use it--for what?--to congratulate him on some recent
+success. He at once applauds himself for his goodness as a Christian,
+curses himself for his weakness as a sovereign judge, despises himself
+as a king. He seeks refuge in prayer, and plunges into meditation upon
+the future; then he rises terrified because he has seen in thought the
+tortures which this man merits, and how deeply no one knows better than
+he. You should hear him in these moments accuse himself of criminal
+weakness, and exclaim that he himself should be punished for not having
+known how to punish. One would say that there are spirits which order
+him to strike, for his arms are raised as he sleeps. In a word,
+Madame, the storm murmurs in his heart, but burns none but himself. The
+thunderbolts are chained."
+
+"Well, then, let us loose them!" exclaimed the Duc de Bouillon.
+
+"He who touches them may die of the contact," said Monsieur.
+
+"But what a noble devotion!" cried the Queen.
+
+"How I should admire the hero!" said Marie, in a half-whisper.
+
+"I will do it," answered Cinq-Mars.
+
+"We will do it," said M. de Thou, in his ear.
+
+Young Beauvau had approached the Duc de Bouillon.
+
+"Monsieur," said he, "do you forget what follows?"
+
+"No, 'pardieu'! I do not forget it," replied the latter, in a low voice;
+then, addressing the Queen, "Madame," said he, "accept the offer of
+Monsieur le Grand. He is more in a position to sway the King than either
+you or I; but hold yourself prepared, for the Cardinal is too wary to be
+caught sleeping. I do not believe in his illness. I have no faith in the
+silence and immobility of which he has sought to persuade us these two
+years past. I would not believe in his death even, unless I had myself
+thrown his head into the sea, like that of the giant in Ariosto. Hold
+yourself ready to meet all contingencies, and let us, meanwhile, hasten
+our operations. I have shown my plans to Monsieur just now; I will give
+you a summary of them. I offer you Sedan, Madame, for yourself, and for
+Messeigneurs, your sons. The army of Italy is mine; I will recall it if
+necessary. Monsieur le Grand is master of half the camp of Perpignan.
+All the old Huguenots of La Rochelle and the South are ready to come
+to him at the first nod. All has been organized for a year past, by my
+care, to meet events."
+
+"I should not hesitate," said the Queen, "to place myself in your hands,
+to save my children, if any misfortune should happen to the King. But in
+this general plan you forget Paris."
+
+"It is ours on every side; the people by the archbishop, without his
+suspecting it, and by Monsieur de Beaufort, who is its king; the troops
+by your guards and those of Monsieur, who shall be chief in command, if
+he please."
+
+"I! I! oh, that positively can not be! I have not enough people, and I
+must have a retreat stronger than Sedan," said Gaston.
+
+"It suffices for the Queen," replied M. de Bouillon.
+
+"Ah, that may be! but my sister does not risk so much as a man who draws
+the sword. Do you know that these are bold measures you propose?"
+
+"What, even if we have the King on our side?" asked Anne of Austria.
+
+"Yes, Madame, yes; we do not know how long that may last. We must make
+ourselves sure; and I do nothing without the treaty with Spain."
+
+"Do nothing, then," said the Queen, coloring deeply; "for certainly I
+will never hear that spoken of."
+
+"And yet, Madame, it were more prudent, and Monsieur is right," said the
+Duc de Bouillon; "for the Count-Duke of San Lucra offers us seventeen
+thousand men, tried troops, and five hundred thousand crowns in ready
+money."
+
+"What!" exclaimed the Queen, with astonishment, "have you dared to
+proceed so far without my consent? already treaties with foreigners!"
+
+"Foreigners, my sister! could we imagine that a princess of Spain would
+use that word?" said Gaston.
+
+Anne of Austria rose, taking the Dauphin by the hand; and, leaning
+upon Marie: "Yes, sir," she said, "I am a Spaniard; but I am the
+grand-daughter of Charles V, and I know that a queen's country is
+where her throne is. I leave you, gentlemen; proceed without me. I know
+nothing of the matter for the future."
+
+She advanced some steps, but seeing Marie pale and bathed in tears, she
+returned.
+
+"I will, however, solemnly promise you inviolable secrecy; but nothing
+more."
+
+All were mentally disconcerted, except the Duc de Bouillon, who, not
+willing to lose the advantages he had gained, said to the Queen, bowing
+respectfully:
+
+"We are grateful for this promise, Madame, and we ask no more, persuaded
+that after the first success you will be entirely with us."
+
+Not wishing to engage in a war of words, the Queen courtesied somewhat
+less coldly, and quitted the apartment with Marie, who cast upon
+Cinq-Mars one of those looks which comprehend at once all the emotions
+of the soul. He seemed to read in her beautiful eyes the eternal and
+mournful devotion of a woman who has given herself up forever; and he
+felt that if he had once thought of withdrawing from his enterprise, he
+should now have considered himself the basest of men.
+
+As soon as the two princesses had disappeared, "There, there! I told you
+so, Bouillon, you offended the Queen," said Monsieur; "you went too far.
+You can not certainly accuse me of having been hesitating this morning.
+I have, on the contrary, shown more resolution than I ought to have
+done."
+
+"I am full of joy and gratitude toward her Majesty," said M. de
+Bouillon, with a triumphant air; "we are sure of the future. What will
+you do now, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?"
+
+"I have told you, Monsieur; I draw not back, whatever the consequences.
+I will see the King; I will run every risk to obtain his assent."
+
+"And the treaty with Spain?"
+
+"Yes, I--"
+
+De Thou seized Cinq-Mars by the arm, and, advancing suddenly, said, with
+a solemn air:
+
+"We have decided that it shall be only signed after the interview with
+the King; for should his Majesty's just severity toward the Cardinal
+dispense with it, we have thought it better not to expose ourselves to
+the discovery of so dangerous a treaty."
+
+M. de Bouillon frowned.
+
+"If I did not know Monsieur de Thou," said he, "I should have regarded
+this as a defection; but from him--"
+
+"Monsieur," replied the counsellor, "I think I may engage myself, on my
+honor, to do all that Monsieur le Grand does; we are inseparable."
+
+Cinq-Mars looked at his friend, and was astonished to see upon his mild
+countenance the expression of sombre despair; he was so struck with it
+that he had not the courage to gainsay him.
+
+"He is right, gentlemen," he said with a cold but kindly smile; "the
+King will perhaps spare us much trouble. We may do good things with
+him. For the rest, Monseigneur, and you, Monsieur le Duc," he added with
+immovable firmness, "fear not that I shall ever draw back. I have burned
+all the bridges behind me. I must advance; the Cardinal's power shall
+fall, or my head."
+
+"It is strange, very strange!" said Monsieur; "I see that every one here
+is farther advanced in the conspiracy than I imagined."
+
+"Not so, Monsieur," said the Duc de Bouillon; "we prepared only that
+which you might please to accept. Observe that there is nothing in
+writing. You have but to speak, and nothing exists or ever has existed;
+according to your order, the whole thing shall be a dream or a volcano."
+
+"Well, well, I am content, if it must be so," said Gaston; "let us
+occupy ourselves with more agreeable topics. Thank God, we have a little
+time before us! I confess I wish that it were all over. I am not fitted
+for violent emotions; they affect my health," he added, taking M. de
+Beauvau's arm. "Tell us if the Spanish women are still pretty, young
+man. It is said you are a great gallant among them. 'Tudieu'! I'm
+sure you've got yourself talked of there. They tell me the women wear
+enormous petticoats. Well, I am not at all against that; they make the
+foot look smaller and prettier. I'm sure the wife of Don Louis de Haro
+is not handsomer than Madame de Guemenee, is she? Come, be frank; I'm
+told she looks like a nun. Ah! you do not answer; you are embarrassed.
+She has then taken your fancy; or you fear to offend our friend Monsieur
+de Thou in comparing her with the beautiful Guemenee. Well, let's talk
+of the customs; the King has a charming dwarf I'm told, and they put
+him in a pie. He is a fortunate man, that King of Spain! I don't know
+another equally so. And the Queen, she is still served on bended knee,
+is she not? Ah! that is a good custom; we have lost it. It is very
+unfortunate--more unfortunate than may be supposed."
+
+And Gaston d'Orleans had the confidence to speak in this tone nearly
+half an hour, with a young man whose serious character was not at
+all adapted to such conversation, and who, still occupied with the
+importance of the scene he had just witnessed and the great interests
+which had been discussed, made no answer to this torrent of idle words.
+He looked at the Duc de Bouillon with an astonished air, as if to ask
+him whether this was really the man whom they were going to place at the
+head of the most audacious enterprise that had ever been launched; while
+the Prince, without appearing to perceive that he remained unanswered,
+replied to himself, speaking with volubility, as he drew him gradually
+out of the room. He feared that one of the gentlemen present might
+recommence the terrible conversation about the treaty; but none desired
+to do so, unless it were the Duc de Bouillon, who, however, preserved an
+angry silence. As for Cinq-Mars, he had been led away by De Thou, under
+cover of the chattering of Monsieur, who took care not to appear to
+notice their departure.
+
+
+
+
+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,
+Cumae-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.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 6
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. THE STORM
+
+          'Blow, blow, thou winter wind;
+          Thou art not so unkind
+          As man's ingratitude.
+          Thy tooth is not so keen,
+          Because thou art not seen,
+          Although thy breath be rude.
+     Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly.
+     Most friendship is feigning; most loving mere folly.'
+
+                       SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Amid that long and superb chain of the Pyrenees which forms the
+embattled isthmus of the peninsula, in the centre of those blue
+pyramids, covered in gradation with snow, forests, and downs, there
+opens a narrow defile, a path cut in the dried-up bed of a perpendicular
+torrent; it circulates among rocks, glides under bridges of frozen snow,
+twines along the edges of inundated precipices to scale the adjacent
+mountains of Urdoz and Oleron, and at last rising over their unequal
+ridges, turns their nebulous peak into a new country which has also its
+mountains and its depths, and, quitting France, descends into Spain.
+Never has the hoof of the mule left its trace in these windings; man
+himself can with difficulty stand upright there, even with the hempen
+boots which can not slip, and the hook of the pikestaff to force into
+the crevices of the rocks.
+
+In the fine summer months the 'pastour', in his brown cape, and his
+black long-bearded ram lead hither flocks, whose flowing wool sweeps the
+turf. Nothing is heard in these rugged places but the sound of the
+large bells which the sheep carry, and whose irregular tinklings produce
+unexpected harmonies, casual gamuts, which astonish the traveller and
+delight the savage and silent shepherd. But when the long month of
+September comes, a shroud of snow spreads itself from the peak of the
+mountains down to their base, respecting only this deeply excavated
+path, a few gorges open by torrents, and some rocks of granite, which
+stretch out their fantastical forms, like the bones of a buried world.
+
+It is then that light troops of chamois make their appearance, with
+their twisted horns extending over their backs, spring from rock to
+rock as if driven before the wind, and take possession of their aerial
+desert. Flights of ravens and crows incessantly wheel round and round
+in the gulfs and natural wells which they transform into dark dovecots,
+while the brown bear, followed by her shaggy family, who sport and
+tumble around her in the snow, slowly descends from their retreat
+invaded by the frost. But these are neither the most savage nor the most
+cruel inhabitants that winter brings into these mountains; the daring
+smuggler raises for himself a dwelling of wood on the very boundary of
+nature and of politics. There unknown treaties, secret exchanges, are
+made between the two Navarres, amid fogs and winds.
+
+It was in this narrow path on the frontiers of France that, about two
+months after the scenes we have witnessed in Paris, two travellers,
+coming from Spain, stopped at midnight, fatigued and dismayed. They
+heard musket-shots in the mountain.
+
+"The scoundrels! how they have pursued us!" said one of them. "I can go
+no farther; but for you I should have been taken."
+
+"And you will be taken still, as well as that infernal paper, if you
+lose your time in words; there is another volley on the rock of Saint
+Pierre-de-L'Aigle. Up there, they suppose we have gone in the direction
+of the Limacon; but, below, they will see the contrary. Descend; it is
+doubtless a patrol hunting smugglers. Descend."
+
+"But how? I can not see."
+
+"Never mind, descend. Take my arm."
+
+"Hold me; my boots slip," said the first traveller, stamping on the edge
+of the rock to make sure of the solidity of the ground before trusting
+himself upon it.
+
+"Go on; go on!" said the other, pushing him. "There's one of the rascals
+passing over our heads."
+
+And, in fact, the shadow of a man, armed with a long gun, was reflected
+on the snow. The two adventurers stood motionless. The man passed on.
+They continued their descent.
+
+"They will take us," said the one who was supporting the other. "They
+have turned us. Give me your confounded parchment. I wear the dress of
+a smuggler, and I can pass for one seeking an asylum among them; but you
+would have no resource with your laced dress."
+
+"You are right," said his companion; and, resting his foot against the
+edge of the rock, and reclining on the slope, he gave him a roll of
+hollow wood.
+
+A gun was fired, and a ball buried itself, hissing, in the snow at their
+feet.
+
+"Marked!" said the first. "Roll down. If you are not dead when you get
+to the bottom, take the road you see before you. On the left of the
+hollow is Santa Maria. But turn to the right; cross Oleron; and you are
+on the road to Pau and are saved. Go; roll down."
+
+As he spoke, he pushed his comrade, and without condescending to look
+after him, and himself neither ascending nor descending, followed the
+flank of the mountain horizontally, hanging on by rocks, branches, and
+even by plants, with the strength and energy of a wild-cat, and soon
+found himself on firm ground before a small wooden hut, through which a
+light was visible. The adventurer went all around it, like a hungry
+wolf round a sheepfold, and, applying his eye to one of the openings,
+apparently saw what determined him, for without further hesitation he
+pushed the tottering door, which was not even fastened by a latch. The
+whole but shook with the blow he had given it. He then saw that it was
+divided into two cabins by a partition. A large flambeau of yellow wax
+lighted the first. There, a young girl, pale and fearfully thin, was
+crouched in a corner on the damp floor, just where the melted snow ran
+under the planks of the cottage. Very long black hair, entangled and
+covered with dust, fell in disorder over her coarse brown dress; the red
+hood of the Pyrenees covered her head and shoulders. Her eyes were cast
+down; and she was spinning with a small distaff attached to her waist.
+The entry of a man did not appear to move her in the least.
+
+"Ha! La moza,--[girl]--get up and give me something to drink. I am tired
+and thirsty."
+
+The young girl did not answer, and, without raising her eyes, continued
+to spin assiduously.
+
+"Dost hear?" said the stranger, thrusting her with his foot. "Go and
+tell thy master that a friend wishes to see him; but first give me some
+drink. I shall sleep here."
+
+She answered, in a hoarse voice, still spinning:
+
+"I drink the snow that melts on the rock, or the green scum that floats
+on the water of the swamp. But when I have spun well, they give me water
+from the iron spring. When I sleep, the cold lizards crawl over my face;
+but when I have well cleaned a mule, they throw me hay. The hay is warm;
+the hay is good and warm. I put it under my marble feet."
+
+"What tale art thou telling me?" said Jacques. "I spoke not of thee."
+
+She continued:
+
+"They make me hold a man while they kill him. Oh, what blood I have had
+on my hands! God forgive them!--if that be possible. They make me hold
+his head, and the bucket filled with crimson water. O Heaven!--I, who
+was the bride of God! They throw their bodies into the abyss of snow;
+but the vulture finds them; he lines his nest with their hair. I now see
+thee full of life; I shall see thee bloody, pale, and dead."
+
+The adventurer, shrugging his shoulders, began to whistle as he passed
+the second door. Within he found the man he had seen through the chinks
+of the cabin. He wore the blue berret cap of the Basques on one side,
+and, enveloped in an ample cloak, seated on the pack-saddle of a mule,
+and bending over a large brazier, smoked a cigar, and from time to time
+drank from a leather bottle at his side. The light of the brazier showed
+his full yellow face, as well as the chamber, in which mule-saddles were
+ranged round the byasero as seats. He raised his head without altering
+his position.
+
+"Oh, oh! is it thou, Jacques?" he said. "Is it thou? Although 'tis four
+years since I saw thee, I recognize thee. Thou art not changed, brigand!
+There 'tis still, thy great knave's face. Sit down there, and take a
+drink."
+
+"Yes, here I am. But how the devil camest thou here? I thought thou wert
+a judge, Houmain!"
+
+"And I thought thou wert a Spanish captain, Jacques!"
+
+"Ah! I was so for a time, and then a prisoner. But I got out of the
+thing very snugly, and have taken again to the old trade, the free life,
+the good smuggling work."
+
+"Viva! viva! Jaleo!"--[A common Spanish oath.]--cried Houmain. "We
+brave fellows can turn our hands to everything. Thou camest by the other
+passes, I suppose, for I have not seen thee since I returned to the
+trade."
+
+"Yes, yes; I have passed where thou wilt never pass," said Jacques.
+
+"And what hast got?"
+
+"A new merchandise. My mules will come tomorrow."
+
+"Silk sashes, cigars, or linen?"
+
+"Thou wilt know in time, amigo," said the ruffian. "Give me the skin.
+I'm thirsty."
+
+"Here, drink. It's true Valdepenas! We're so jolly here, we bandoleros!
+Ay! jaleo! jaleo! come, drink; our friends are coming."
+
+"What friends?" said Jacques, dropping the horn.
+
+"Don't be uneasy, but drink. I'll tell thee all about it presently, and
+then we'll sing the Andalusian Tirana."--[A kind of ballad.]
+
+The adventurer took the horn, and assumed an appearance of ease.
+
+"And who's that great she-devil I saw out there?" he said. "She seems
+half dead."
+
+"Oh, no! she's only mad. Drink; I'll tell thee all about her."
+
+And taking from his red sash a long poniard denticulated on each side
+like a saw, Houmain used it to stir up the fire, and said with vast
+gravity:
+
+"Thou must know first, if thou dost not know it already, that down below
+there [he pointed toward France] the old wolf Richelieu carries all
+before him."
+
+"Ah, ah!" said Jacques.
+
+"Yes; they call him the king of the King. Thou knowest? There is,
+however, a young man almost as strong as he, and whom they call Monsieur
+le Grand. This young fellow commands almost the whole army of Perpignan
+at this moment. He arrived there a month ago; but the old fox is still
+at Narbonne--a very cunning fox, indeed. As to the King, he is sometimes
+this, sometimes that [as he spoke, Houmain turned his hand outward and
+inward], between zist and zest; but while he is determining, I am for
+zist--that is to say, I'm a Cardinalist. I've been regularly doing
+business for my lord since the first job he gave me, three years ago.
+I'll tell thee about it. He wanted some men of firmness and spirit for a
+little expedition, and sent for me to be judge-Advocate."
+
+"Ah! a very pretty post, I've heard."
+
+"Yes, 'tis a trade like ours, where they sell cord instead of thread;
+but it is less honest, for they kill men oftener. But 'tis also more
+profitable; everything has its price."
+
+"Very properly so," said Jacques.
+
+"Behold me, then, in a red robe. I helped to give a yellow one and
+brimstone to a fine fellow, who was cure at Loudun, and who had got into
+a convent of nuns, like a wolf in a fold; and a fine thing he made of
+it."
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! That's very droll!" laughed Jacques. "Drink," said Houmain.
+"Yes, Jago, I saw him after the affair, reduced to a little black heap
+like this charcoal. See, this charcoal at the end of my poniard. What
+things we are! That's just what we shall all come to when we go to the
+Devil."
+
+"Oh, none of these pleasantries!" said the other, very gravely. "You
+know that I am religious."
+
+"Well, I don't say no; it may be so," said Houmain, in the same tone.
+"There's Richelieu, a Cardinal! But, no matter. Thou must know, then, as
+I was Advocate-General, I advocated--"
+
+"Ah, thou art quite a wit!"
+
+"Yes, a little. But, as I was saying, I advocated into my own pocket
+five hundred piastres, for Armand Duplessis pays his people well, and
+there's nothing to be said against that, except that the money's not his
+own; but that's the way with us all. I determined to invest this money
+in our old trade; and I returned here. Business goes on well. There is
+sentence of death out against us; and our goods, of course, sell for
+half as much again as before."
+
+"What's that?" exclaimed Jacques; "lightning at this time of year?"
+
+"Yes, the storms are beginning; we've had two already. We are in the
+clouds. Dost hear the roll of the thunder? But this is nothing; come,
+drink. 'Tis almost one in the morning; we'll finish the skin and the
+night together. As I was telling thee, I made acquaintance with our
+president--a great scoundrel called Laubardemont. Dost know him?"
+
+"Yes, a little," said Jacques; "he's a regular miser. But never mind
+that; go on."
+
+"Well, as we had nothing to conceal from one another, I told him of my
+little commercial plans, and asked him, when any good jobs presented
+themselves, to think of his judicial comrade; and I've had no cause to
+complain of him."
+
+"Ah!" said Jacques, "and what has he done?"
+
+"Why, first, two years ago, he himself brought, me, on horseback behind
+him, his niece that thou'st seen out there."
+
+"His niece!" cried Jacques, rising; "and thou treat'st her like a slave!
+Demonio!"
+
+"Drink," said Houmain, quietly stirring the brazier with his poniard;
+"he himself desired it should be so. Sit down."
+
+Jacques did so.
+
+"I don't think," continued the smuggler, "that he'd even be sorry to
+know that she was--dost understand?--to hear she was under the snow
+rather than above it; but he would not put her there himself, because
+he's a good relative, as he himself said."
+
+"And as I know," said Jacques; "but go on."
+
+"Thou mayst suppose that a man like him, who lives at court, does not
+like to have a mad niece in his house. The thing is self-evident; if I'd
+continued to play my part of the man of the robe, I should have done the
+same in a similar case. But here, as you perceive, we don't care much
+for appearances; and I've taken her for a servant. She has shown more
+good sense than I expected, although she has rarely ever spoken more
+than a single word, and at first came the delicate over us. Now she rubs
+down a mule like a groom. She has had a slight fever for the last few
+days; but 'twill pass off one way or the other. But, I say, don't tell
+Laubardemont that she still lives; he'd think 'twas for the sake of
+economy I've kept her for a servant."
+
+"How! is he here?" cried Jacques.
+
+"Drink!" replied the phlegmatic Houmain, who himself set the example
+most assiduously, and began to half shut his eyes with a languishing
+air. "'Tis the second transaction I've had with this Laubardemont--or
+demon, or whatever the name is; but 'tis a good devil of a demon, at all
+events. I love him as I do my eyes; and I will drink his health out of
+this bottle of Jurangon here. 'Tis the wine of a jolly fellow, the late
+King Henry. How happy we are here!--Spain on the right hand, France
+on the left; the wine-skin on one side, the bottle on the other! The
+bottle! I've left all for the bottle!"
+
+As he spoke, he knocked off the neck of a bottle of white wine. After
+taking a long draught, he continued, while the stranger closely watched
+him:
+
+"Yes, he's here; and his feet must be rather cold, for he's been waiting
+about the mountains ever since sunset, with his guards and our comrades.
+Thou knowest our bandoleros, the true contrabandistas?"
+
+"Ah! and what do they hunt?" said Jacques.
+
+"Ah, that's the joke!" answered the drunkard. "'Tis to arrest two
+rascals, who want to bring here sixty thousand Spanish soldiers in paper
+in their pocket. You don't, perhaps, quite understand me, 'croquant'.
+Well, 'tis as I tell thee--in their own pockets."
+
+"Ay, ay! I understand," said Jacques, loosening his poniard in his sash,
+and looking at the door.
+
+"Very well, devil's-skin, let's sing the Tirana. Take the bottle, throw
+away the cigar, and sing."
+
+With these words the drunken host began to sing in Spanish, interrupting
+his song with bumpers, which he threw down his throat, leaning back for
+the greater ease, while Jacques, still seated, looked at him gloomily by
+the light of the brazier, and meditated what he should do.
+
+A flash of lightning entered the small window, and filled the room with
+a sulphurous odor. A fearful clap immediately followed; the cabin shook;
+and a beam fell outside.
+
+"Hallo, the house!" cried the drunken man; "the Devil's among us; and
+our friends are not come!"
+
+"Sing!" said Jacques, drawing the pack upon which he was close to that
+of Houmain.
+
+The latter drank to encourage himself, and then continued to sing.
+
+As he ended, he felt his seat totter, and fell backward; Jacques, thus
+freed from him, sprang toward the door, when it opened, and his head
+struck against the cold, pale face of the mad-woman. He recoiled.
+
+"The judge!" she said, as she entered; and she fell prostrate on the
+cold ground.
+
+Jacques had already passed one foot over her; but another face appeared,
+livid and surprised-that of a very tall man, enveloped in a cloak
+covered with snow. He again recoiled, and laughed a laugh of terror and
+rage. It was Laubardemont, followed by armed men; they looked at one
+another.
+
+"Ah, com-r-a-d-e, yo-a ra-a-scal!" hiccuped Houmain, rising with
+difficulty; "thou'rt a Royalist."
+
+But when he saw these two men, who seemed petrified by each other, he
+became silent, as conscious of his intoxication; and he reeled forward
+to raise up the madwoman, who was still lying between the judge and the
+Captain. The former spoke first.
+
+"Are you not he we have been pursuing?"
+
+"It is he!" said the armed men, with one voice; "the other has escaped."
+
+Jacques receded to the split planks that formed the tottering wall of
+the hut; enveloping himself in his cloak, like a bear forced against
+a tree by the hounds, and, wishing to gain a moment's respite for
+reflection, he said, firmly:
+
+"The first who passes that brazier and the body of that girl is a dead
+man."
+
+And he drew a long poniard from his cloak. At this moment Houmain,
+kneeling, turned the head of the girl. Her eyes were closed; he drew her
+toward the brazier, which lighted up her face.
+
+"Ah, heavens!" cried Laubardemont, forgetting himself in his fright;
+"Jeanne again!"
+
+"Be calm, my lo-lord," said Houmain, trying to open the eyelids, which
+closed again, and to raise her head, which fell back again like wet
+linen; "be, be--calm! Do-n't ex-cite yourself; she's dead, decidedly."
+
+Jacques put his foot on the body as on a barrier, and, looking with a
+ferocious laugh in the face of Laubardemont, said to him in a low voice:
+
+"Let me pass, and I will not compromise thee, courtier; I will not tell
+that she was thy niece, and that I am thy son."
+
+Laubardemont collected himself, looked at his men, who pressed around
+him with advanced carabines; and, signing them to retire a few steps, he
+answered in a very low voice:
+
+"Give me the treaty, and thou shalt pass."
+
+"Here it is, in my girdle; touch it, and I will call you my father
+aloud. What will thy master say?"
+
+"Give it me, and I will spare thy life."
+
+"Let me pass, and I will pardon thy having given me that life."
+
+"Still the same, brigand?"
+
+"Ay, assassin."
+
+"What matters to thee that boy conspirator?" asked the judge.
+
+"What matters to thee that old man who reigns?" answered the other.
+
+"Give me that paper; I've sworn to have it."
+
+"Leave it with me; I've sworn to carry it back."
+
+"What can be thy oath and thy God?" demanded Laubardemont.
+
+"And thine?" replied Jacques. "Is't the crucifix of red-hot iron?"
+
+Here Houmain, rising between them, laughing and staggering, said to the
+judge, slapping him on the shoulder.
+
+"You are a long time coming to an understanding, friend; do-on't you
+know him of old? He's a very good fellow."
+
+"I? no!" cried Laubardemont, aloud; "I never saw him before."
+
+At this moment, Jacques, who was protected by the drunkard and the
+smallness of the crowded chamber, sprang violently against the weak
+planks that formed the wall, and by a blow of his heel knocked two of
+them out, and passed through the space thus created. The whole side of
+the cabin was broken; it tottered, and the wind rushed in.
+
+"Hallo! Demonio! Santo Demonio! where art going?" cried the smuggler;
+"thou art breaking my house down, and on the side of the ravine, too."
+
+All cautiously approached, tore away the planks that remained, and
+leaned over the abyss. They contemplated a strange spectacle. The storm
+raged in all its fury; and it was a storm of the Pyrenees. Enormous
+flashes of lightning came all at once from all parts of the horizon,
+and their fires succeeded so quickly that there seemed no interval; they
+appeared to be a continuous flash. It was but rarely the flaming vault
+would suddenly become obscure; and it then instantly resumed its
+glare. It was not the light that seemed strange on this night, but the
+darkness.
+
+The tall thin peaks and whitened rocks stood out from the red background
+like blocks of marble on a cupola of burning brass, and resembled, amid
+the snows, the wonders of a volcano; the waters gushed from them like
+flames; the snow poured down like dazzling lava.
+
+In this moving mass a man was seen struggling, whose efforts only
+involved him deeper and deeper in the whirling and liquid gulf; his
+knees were already buried. In vain he clasped his arms round an enormous
+pyramidal and transparent icicle, which reflected the lightning like a
+rock of crystal; the icicle itself was melting at its base, and slowly
+bending over the declivity of the rock. Under the covering of snow,
+masses of granite were heard striking against each other, as they
+descended into the vast depths below. Yet they could still save him; a
+space of scarcely four feet separated him from Laubardemont.
+
+"I sink!" he cried; "hold out to me something, and thou shalt have the
+treaty."
+
+"Give it me, and I will reach thee this musket," said the judge.
+
+"There it is," replied the ruffian, "since the Devil is for Richelieu!"
+and taking one hand from the hold of his slippery support, he threw a
+roll of wood into the cabin. Laubardemont rushed back upon the treaty
+like a wolf on his prey. Jacques in vain held out his arm; he slowly
+glided away with the enormous thawing block turned upon him, and was
+silently buried in the snow.
+
+"Ah, villain," were his last words, "thou hast deceived me! but thou
+didst not take the treaty from me. I gave it thee, Father!" and he
+disappeared wholly under the thick white bed of snow. Nothing was seen
+in his place but the glittering flakes which the lightning had ploughed
+up, as it became extinguished in them; nothing was--heard but the
+rolling of the thunder and the dash of the water against the rocks, for
+the men in the half-ruined cabin, grouped round a corpse and a villain,
+were silent, tongue-tied with horror, and fearing lest God himself
+should send a thunderbolt upon them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII. ABSENCE
+
+          L'absence est le plus grand des maux,
+          Non pas pour vous, cruelle!
+
+                       LA FONTAINE.
+
+Who has not found a charm in watching the clouds of heaven as they float
+along? Who has not envied them the freedom of their journeyings through
+the air, whether rolled in great masses by the wind, and colored by the
+sun, they advance peacefully, like fleets of dark ships with gilt prows,
+or sprinkled in light groups, they glide quickly on, airy and elongated,
+like birds of passage, transparent as vast opals detached from the
+treasury of the heavens, or glittering with whiteness, like snows from
+the mountains carried on the wings of the winds? Man is a slow traveller
+who envies those rapid journeyers; less rapid than his imagination, they
+have yet seen in a single day all the places he loves, in remembrance
+or in hope,--those that have witnessed his happiness or his misery,
+and those so beautiful countries unknown to us, where we expect to find
+everything at once. Doubtless there is not a spot on the whole earth, a
+wild rock, an arid plain, over which we pass with indifference, that has
+not been consecrated in the life of some man, and is not painted in
+his remembrance; for, like battered vessels, before meeting inevitable
+wreck, we leave some fragment of ourselves on every rock.
+
+Whither go the dark-blue clouds of that storm of the Pyrenees? It is
+the wind of Africa which drives them before it with a fiery breath.
+They fly; they roll over one another, growlingly throwing out lightning
+before them, as their torches, and leaving suspended behind them a long
+train of rain, like a vaporous robe. Freed by an effort from the rocky
+defiles that for a moment had arrested their course, they irrigate, in
+Bearn, the picturesque patrimony of Henri IV; in Guienne, the conquests
+of Charles VII; in Saintogne, Poitou, and Touraine, those of Charles V
+and of Philip Augustus; and at last, slackening their pace above the old
+domain of Hugh Capet, halt murmuring on the towers of St. Germain.
+
+"O Madame!" exclaimed Marie de Mantua to the Queen, "do you see this
+storm coming up from the south?"
+
+"You often look in that direction, 'ma chere'," answered Anne of
+Austria, leaning on the balcony.
+
+"It is the direction of the sun, Madame."
+
+"And of tempests, you see," said the Queen. "Trust in my friendship, my
+child; these clouds can bring no happiness to you. I would rather
+see you turn your eyes toward Poland. See the fine people you might
+command."
+
+At this moment, to avoid the rain, which began to fall, the
+Prince-Palatine passed rapidly under the windows of the Queen, with a
+numerous suite of young Poles on horseback. Their Turkish vests, with
+buttons of diamonds, emeralds, and rubies; their green and gray cloaks;
+the lofty plumes of their horses, and their adventurous air-gave them
+a singular eclat to which the court had easily become accustomed. They
+paused for a moment, and the Prince made two salutes, while the light
+animal he rode passed gracefully sideways, keeping his front toward
+the princesses; prancing and snorting, he shook his mane, and seemed to
+salute by putting his head between his legs. The whole suite repeated
+the evolution as they passed. The Princesse Marie had at first shrunk
+back, lest they should see her tears; but the brilliant and flattering
+spectacle made her return to the balcony, and she could not help
+exclaiming:
+
+"How gracefully the Palatine rides that beautiful horse! he seems scarce
+conscious of it."
+
+The Queen smiled, and said:
+
+"He is conscious about her who might be his queen tomorrow, if she would
+but make a sign of the head, and let but one glance from her great black
+almond-shaped eyes be turned on that throne, instead of always receiving
+these poor foreigners with poutings, as now."
+
+And Anne of Austria kissed the cheek of Marie, who could not refrain
+from smiling also; but she instantly sunk her head, reproaching herself,
+and resumed her sadness, which seemed gliding from her. She even needed
+once more to contemplate the great clouds that hung over the chateau.
+
+"Poor child," continued the Queen, "thou dost all thou canst to be very
+faithful, and to keep thyself in the melancholy of thy romance. Thou art
+making thyself ill with weeping when thou shouldst be asleep, and with
+not eating. Thou passest the night in revery and in writing; but I warn
+thee, thou wilt get nothing by it, except making thyself thin and less
+beautiful, and the not being a queen. Thy Cinq-Mars is an ambitious
+youth, who has lost himself."
+
+Seeing Marie conceal her head in her handkerchief to weep, Anne of
+Austria for a moment reentered her chamber, leaving Marie in the
+balcony, and feigned to be looking for some jewels at her toilet-table;
+she soon returned, slowly and gravely, to the window. Marie was more
+calm, and was gazing sorrowfully at the landscape before her, the hills
+in the distance, and the storm gradually spreading itself.
+
+The Queen resumed in a more serious tone:
+
+"God has been more merciful to you than your imprudence perhaps
+deserved, Marie. He has saved you from great danger. You were willing to
+make great sacrifices, but fortunately they have not been accomplished
+as you expected. Innocence has saved you from love. You are as one who,
+thinking she has swallowed a deadly poison, has in reality drunk only
+pure and harmless water."
+
+"Ah, Madame, what mean you? Am I not unhappy enough already?"
+
+"Do not interrupt me," said the Queen; "you will, ere long, see
+your present position with different eyes. I will not accuse you of
+ingratitude toward the Cardinal; I have too many reasons for not liking
+him. I myself witnessed the rise of the conspiracy. Still, you should
+remember, 'ma chere', that he was the only person in France who, against
+the opinion of the Queen-mother and of the court, insisted upon war with
+the duchy of Mantua, which he recovered from the empire and from Spain,
+and returned to the Duc de Nevers, your father. Here, in this very
+chateau of Saint-Germain, was signed the treaty which deposed the Duke
+of Guastalla.--[The 19th of May, 1632.]--You were then very young; they
+must, however, have told you of it. Yet here, through love alone (I
+am willing to believe, with yourself, that it is so), a young man of
+two-and-twenty is ready to get him assassinated."
+
+"O Madame, he is incapable of such a deed. I swear to you that he has
+refused to adopt it."
+
+"I have begged you, Marie, to let me speak. I know that he is generous
+and loyal. I am willing to believe that, contrary to the custom of
+our times, he would not go so far as to kill an old man, as did the
+Chevalier de Guise. But can he prevent his assassination, if his troops
+make him prisoner? This we can not say, any more than he. God alone
+knows the future. It is, at all events, certain that it is for you
+he attacks him, and, to overthrow him, is preparing civil war, which
+perhaps is bursting forth at the very moment that we speak--a war
+without success. Whichever way it turns, it can only effect evil, for
+Monsieur is going to abandon the conspiracy."
+
+"How, Madame?"
+
+"Listen to me. I tell you I am certain of it; I need not explain
+myself further. What will the grand ecuyer do? The King, as he rightly
+anticipated, has gone to consult the Cardinal. To consult him is to
+yield to him; but the treaty of Spain is signed. If it be discovered,
+what can Monsieur de Cinq-Mars do? Do not tremble thus. We will save
+him; we will save his life, I promise you. There is yet time, I hope."
+
+"Ah, Madame, you hope! I am lost!" cried Marie, half fainting.
+
+"Let us sit down," said the Queen; and, placing herself near Marie, at
+the entrance to the chamber, she continued:
+
+"Doubtless Monsieur will treat for all the conspirators in treating
+for himself; but exile will be the least punishment, perpetual exile.
+Behold, then, the Duchesse de Nevers and Mantua, the Princesse Marie
+de Gonzaga, the wife of Monsieur Henri d'Effiat, Marquis de Cinq-Mars,
+exiled!"
+
+"Well, Madame, I will follow him into exile. It is my duty; I am
+his wife!" exclaimed Marie, sobbing. "I would I knew he were already
+banished and in safety."
+
+"Dreams of eighteen!" said the Queen, supporting Marie. "Awake, child,
+awake! you must. I deny not the good qualities of Monsieur de Cinq-Mars.
+He has a lofty character, a vast mind, and great courage; but he may no
+longer be aught for you, and, fortunately, you are not his wife, or even
+his betrothed."
+
+"I am his, Madame-his alone."
+
+"But without the benediction," replied Anne of Austria; "in a word,
+without marriage. No priest would have dared--not even your own; he told
+me so. Be silent!" she added, putting her two beautiful hands on Marie's
+lips. "Be silent! You would say that God heard your vow; that you can
+not live without him; that your destinies are inseparable from his; that
+death alone can break your union? The phrases of your age, delicious
+chimeras of a moment, at which one day you will smile, happy at not
+having to lament them all your life. Of the many and brilliant women
+you see around me at court, there is not one but at your age had some
+beautiful dream of love, like this of yours, who did not form those
+ties, which they believed indissoluble, and who did not in secret take
+eternal oaths. Well, these dreams are vanished, these knots broken,
+these oaths forgotten; and yet you see them happy women and mothers.
+Surrounded by the honors of their rank, they laugh and dance every
+night. I again divine what you would say--they loved not as you love,
+eh? You deceive yourself, my dear child; they loved as much, and wept no
+less.
+
+"And here I must make you acquainted with that great mystery which
+constitutes your despair, since you are ignorant of the malady that
+devours you. We have a twofold existence, 'm'amie': our internal life,
+that of our feelings powerfully works within us, while the external
+life dominates despite ourselves. We are never independent of men,
+more especially in an elevated condition. Alone, we think ourselves
+mistresses of our destiny; but the entrance of two or three people
+fastens on all our chains, by recalling our rank and our retinue.
+Nay; shut yourself up and abandon yourself to all the daring and
+extraordinary resolutions that the passions may raise up in you, to
+the marvellous sacrifices they may suggest to you. A lackey coming and
+asking your orders will at once break the charm and bring you back
+to your real life. It is this contest between your projects and your
+position which destroys you. You are invariably angry with yourself; you
+bitterly reproach yourself."
+
+Marie turned away her head.
+
+"Yes, you believe yourself criminal. Pardon yourself, Marie; all men
+are beings so relative and so dependent one upon another that I know not
+whether the great retreats of the world that we sometimes see are not
+made for the world itself. Despair has its pursuits, and solitude its
+coquetry. It is said that the gloomiest hermits can not refrain
+from inquiring what men say of them. This need of public opinion is
+beneficial, in that it combats, almost always victoriously, that which
+is irregular in our imagination, and comes to the aid of duties which
+we too easily forget. One experiences (you will feel it, I hope) in
+returning to one's proper lot, after the sacrifice of that which had
+diverted the reason, the satisfaction of an exile returning to his
+family, of a sick person at sight of the sun after a night afflicted
+with frightful dreams.
+
+"It is this feeling of a being returned, as it were, to its natural
+state that creates the calm which you see in many eyes that have also
+had their tears-for there are few women who have not known tears such as
+yours. You would think yourself perjured if you renounced Cinq-Mars! But
+nothing binds you; you have more than acquitted yourself toward him by
+refusing for more than two years past the royal hands offered you. And,
+after all, what has he done, this impassioned lover? He has elevated
+himself to reach you; but may not the ambition which here seems to you
+to have aided love have made use of that love? This young man seems to
+me too profound, too calm in his political stratagems, too independent
+in his vast resolutions, in his colossal enterprises, for me to believe
+him solely occupied by his tenderness. If you have been but a means
+instead of an end, what would you say?"
+
+"I would still love him," answered Marie. "While he lives, I am his."
+
+"And while I live," said the Queen, with firmness, "I will oppose the
+alliance."
+
+At these last words the rain and hail fell violently on the balcony. The
+Queen took advantage of the circumstance abruptly to leave the room
+and pass into that where the Duchesse de Chevreuse, Mazarin, Madame
+de Guemenee, and the Prince-Palatine had been awaiting her for a short
+time. The Queen walked up to them. Marie placed herself in the shade of
+a curtain in order to conceal the redness of her eyes. She was at first
+unwilling to take part in the sprightly conversation; but some words of
+it attracted her attention. The Queen was showing to the Princesse de
+Guemenee diamonds she had just received from Paris.
+
+"As for this crown, it does not belong to me. The King had it prepared
+for the future Queen of Poland. Who that is to be, we know not." Then
+turning toward the Prince-Palatine, "We saw you pass, Prince. Whom were
+you going to visit?"
+
+"Mademoiselle la Duchesse de Rohan," answered the Pole.
+
+The insinuating Mazarin, who availed himself of every opportunity to
+worm out secrets, and to make himself necessary by forced confidences,
+said, approaching the Queen:
+
+"That comes very apropos, just as we were speaking of the crown of
+Poland."
+
+Marie, who was listening, could not hear this, and said to Madame de
+Guemenee, who was at her side:
+
+"Is Monsieur de Chabot, then, King of Poland?"
+
+The Queen heard that, and was delighted at this touch of pride. In
+order to develop its germ, she affected an approving attention to the
+conversation that ensued.
+
+The Princesse de Guemenee exclaimed:
+
+"Can you conceive such a marriage? We really can't get it out of our
+heads. This same Mademoiselle de Rohan, whom we have seen so haughty,
+after having refused the Comte de Soissons, the Duc de Weimar, and the
+Duc de Nemours, to marry Monsieur de Chabot, a simple gentleman! 'Tis
+really a sad pity! What are we coming to? 'Tis impossible to say what it
+will all end in."
+
+"What! can it be true? Love at court! a real love affair! Can it be
+believed?"
+
+All this time the Queen continued opening and shutting and playing with
+the new crown.
+
+"Diamonds suit only black hair," she said. "Let us see. Let me put it on
+you, Marie. Why, it suits her to admiration!"
+
+"One would suppose it had been made for Madame la Princesse," said the
+Cardinal.
+
+"I would give the last drop of my blood for it to remain on that brow,"
+said the Prince-Palatine.
+
+Marie, through the tears that were still on her cheek, gave an infantine
+and involuntary smile, like a ray of sunshine through rain. Then,
+suddenly blushing deeply, she hastily took refuge in her apartments.
+
+All present laughed. The Queen followed her with her eyes, smiled,
+presented her hand for the Polish ambassador to kiss, and retired to
+write a letter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV. THE WORK
+
+One night, before Perpignan, a very unusual event took place. It was ten
+o'clock; and all were asleep. The slow and almost suspended operations
+of the siege had rendered the camp and the town inactive. The Spaniards
+troubled themselves little about the French, all communication toward
+Catalonia being open as in time of peace; and in the French army men's
+minds were agitated with that secret anxiety which precedes great
+events.
+
+Yet all was calm; no sound was heard but that of the measured tread of
+the sentries. Nothing was seen in the dark night but the red light of
+the matches of their guns, always smoking, when suddenly the trumpets
+of the musketeers, of the light-horse, and of the men-at-arms sounded
+almost simultaneously, "boot and saddle," and "to horse." All the
+sentinels cried to arms; and the sergeants, with flambeaux, went from
+tent to tent, along pike in their hands, to waken the soldiers, range
+them in lines, and count them. Some files marched in gloomy silence
+along the streets of the camp, and took their position in battle array.
+The sound of the mounted squadrons announced that the heavy cavalry were
+making the same dispositions. After half an hour of movement the noise
+ceased, the torches were extinguished, and all again became calm, but
+the army was on foot.
+
+One of the last tents of the camp shone within as a star with flambeaux.
+On approaching this little white and transparent pyramid, we might have
+distinguished the shadows of two men reflected on the canvas as they
+walked to and fro within. Outside several men on horseback were in
+attendance; inside were De Thou and Cinq-Mars.
+
+To see the pious and wise De Thou thus up and armed at this hour, you
+might have taken him for one of the chiefs of the revolt. But a
+closer examination of his serious countenance and mournful expression
+immediately showed that he blamed it, and allowed himself to be led into
+it and endangered by it from an extraordinary resolution which aided
+him to surmount the horror he had of the enterprise itself. From the day
+when Henri d'Effiat had opened his heart and confided to him its whole
+secret, he had seen clearly that all remonstrance was vain with a young
+man so powerfully resolved.
+
+De Thou had even understood what M. de Cinq-Mars had not told him, and
+had seen in the secret union of his friend with the Princesse Marie, one
+of those ties of love whose mysterious and frequent faults, voluptuous
+and involuntary derelictions, could not be too soon purified by public
+benediction. He had comprehended that punishment, impossible to be
+supported long by a lover, the adored master of that young girl, and
+who was condemned daily to appear before her as a stranger, to receive
+political disclosures of marriages they were preparing for her. The day
+when he received his entire confession, he had done all in his power to
+prevent Cinq-Mars going so far in his projects as the foreign alliance.
+He had evoked the gravest recollections and the best feelings, without
+any other result than rendering the invincible resolution of his friend
+more rude toward him. Cinq-Mars, it will be recollected, had said to him
+harshly, "Well, did I ask you to take part in this conspiracy?" And he
+had desired only to promise not to denounce it; and he had collected all
+his power against friendship to say, "Expect nothing further from me if
+you sign this treaty." Yet Cinq-Mars had signed the treaty; and De Thou
+was still there with him.
+
+The habit of familiarly discussing the projects of his friend had
+perhaps rendered them less odious to him. His contempt for the vices of
+the Prime-Minister; his indignation at the servitude of the parliaments
+to which his family belonged, and at the corruption of justice; the
+powerful names, and more especially the noble characters of the men who
+directed the enterprise--all had contributed to soften down his first
+painful impression. Having once promised secrecy to M. de Cinq-Mars,
+he considered himself as in a position to accept in detail all the
+secondary disclosures; and since the fortuitous event which had
+compromised him with the conspirators at the house of Marion de Lorme,
+he considered himself united to them by honor, and engaged to an
+inviolable secrecy. Since that time he had seen Monsieur, the Duc de
+Bouillon, and Fontrailles; they had become accustomed to speak before
+him without constraint, and he to hear them.
+
+The dangers which threatened his friend now drew him into their vortex
+like an invincible magnet. His conscience accused him; but he followed
+Cinq-Mars wherever he went without even, from excess of delicacy,
+hazarding a single expression which might resemble a personal fear. He
+had tacitly given up his life, and would have deemed it unworthy of both
+to manifest a desire to regain it.
+
+The master of the horse was in his cuirass; he was armed, and wore large
+boots. An enormous pistol, with a lighted match, was placed upon his
+table between two flambeaux. A heavy watch in a brass case lay near the
+pistol. De Thou, wrapped in a black cloak, sat motionless with folded
+arms. Cinq-Mars paced backward and forward, his arms crossed behind his
+back, from time to time looking at the hand of the watch, too sluggish
+in his eyes. He opened the tent, looked up to the heavens, and returned.
+
+"I do not see my star there," said he; "but no matter. She is here in my
+heart."
+
+"The night is dark," said De Thou.
+
+"Say rather that the time draws nigh. It advances, my friend; it
+advances. Twenty minutes more, and all will be accomplished. The army
+only waits the report of this pistol to begin."
+
+De Thou held in his hand an ivory crucifix, and looking first at the
+cross, and then toward heaven, "Now," said he, "is the hour to complete
+the sacrifice. I repent not; but oh, how bitter is the cup of sin to my
+lips! I had vowed my days to innocence and to the works of the soul, and
+here I am about to commit a crime, and to draw the sword."
+
+But forcibly seizing the hand of Cinq-Mars, "It is for you, for you!" he
+added with the enthusiasm of a blindly devoted heart. "I rejoice in my
+errors if they turn to your glory. I see but your happiness in my fault.
+Forgive me if I have returned for a moment to the habitual thought of my
+whole life."
+
+Cinq-Mars looked steadfastly at him; and a tear stole slowly down his
+cheek.
+
+"Virtuous friend," said he, "may your fault fall only on my head! But
+let us hope that God, who pardons those who love, will be for us; for we
+are criminal--I through love, you through friendship."
+
+Then suddenly looking at the watch, he took the long pistol in his hand,
+and gazed at the smoking match with a fierce air. His long hair fell
+over his face like the mane of a young lion.
+
+"Do not consume," said he; "burn slowly. Thou art about to light a flame
+which the waves of ocean can not extinguish. The flame will soon light
+half Europe; it may perhaps reach the wood of thrones. Burn slowly,
+precious flame! The winds which fan thee are violent and fearful; they
+are love and hatred. Reserve thyself! Thy explosion will be heard afar,
+and will find echoes in the peasant's but and the king's palace.
+
+"Burn, burn, poor flame! Thou art to me a sceptre and a thunderbolt!"
+
+De Thou, still holding his ivory crucifix in his hand, said in a low
+voice:
+
+"Lord, pardon us the blood that will be shed! We combat the wicked and
+the impious." Then, raising his voice, "My friend, the cause of virtue
+will triumph," he said; "it alone will triumph. God has ordained that
+the guilty treaty should not reach us; that which constituted the
+crime is no doubt destroyed. We shall fight without the foreigners,
+and perhaps we shall not fight at all. God will change the heart of the
+king."
+
+"'Tis the hour! 'tis the hour!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars, his eyes fixed
+upon the watch with a kind of savage joy; "four minutes more, and the
+Cardinalists in the camp will be crushed! We shall march upon Narbonne!
+He is there! Give me the pistol!"
+
+At these words he hastily opened the tent, and took up the match.
+
+"A courier from Paris! an express from court!" cried a voice outside, as
+a man, heated with hard riding and overcome with fatigue, threw himself
+from his horse, entered, and presented a letter to Cinq-Mars.
+
+"From the Queen, Monseigneur," he said. Cinq-Mars turned pale, and read
+as follows:
+
+   M. DE CINQ-MARS: I write this letter to entreat and conjure you to
+   restore to her duties our well-beloved adopted daughter and friend,
+   the Princesse Marie de Gonzaga, whom your affection alone turns from
+   the throne of Poland, which has been offered to her. I have sounded
+   her heart. She is very young, and I have good reason to believe
+   that she would accept the crown with less effort and less grief than
+   you may perhaps imagine.
+
+   It is for her you have undertaken a war which will put to fire and
+   sword my beautiful and beloved France. I supplicate and implore you
+   to act as a gentleman, and nobly to release the Duchesse de Mantua
+   from the promises she may have made you. Thus restore repose to her
+   soul, and peace to our beloved country.
+
+   The Queen, who will throw herself at your feet if need be,
+
+                         ANNE.
+
+Cinq-Mars calmly replaced the pistol upon the table; his first impulse
+had been to turn its muzzle upon himself. However, he laid it down, and
+snatching a pencil, wrote on the back of the letter;
+
+   MADAME: Marie de Gonzaga, being my wife, can not be Queen of Poland
+   until after my death. I die.
+
+                         CINQ-MARS.
+
+Then, as if he would not allow himself time for a moment's reflection,
+he forced the letter into the hands of the courier.
+
+"To horse! to horse!" cried he, in a furious tone. "If you remain
+another instant, you are a dead man!"
+
+He saw him gallop off, and reentered the tent. Alone with his friend, he
+remained an instant standing, but pale, his eyes fixed, and looking on
+the ground like a madman. He felt himself totter.
+
+"De Thou!" he cried.
+
+"What would you, my friend, my dear friend? I am with you. You have
+acted grandly, most grandly, sublimely!"
+
+"De Thou!" he cried again, in a hollow voice, and fell with his face to
+the ground, like an uprooted tree.
+
+Violent tempests assume different aspects, according to the climates in
+which they take place. Those which have spread over a terrible space
+in northern countries assemble into one single cloud under the torrid
+zone--the more formidable, that they leave the horizon in all its
+purity, and that the furious waves still reflect the azure of heaven
+while tinged with the blood of man. It is the same with great passions.
+They assume strange aspects according to our characters; but how
+terrible are they in vigorous hearts, which have preserved their force
+under the veil of social forms? When youth and despair embrace, we know
+not to what fury they may rise, or what may be their sudden resignation;
+we know not whether the volcano will burst the mountain or become
+suddenly extinguished within its entrails.
+
+De Thou, in alarm, raised his friend. The blood gushed from his nostrils
+and ears; he would have thought him dead, but for the torrents of tears
+which flowed from his eyes. They were the only sign of life. Suddenly
+he opened his lids, looked around him, and by an extraordinary energy
+resumed his senses and the power of his will.
+
+"I am in the presence of men," said he; "I must finish with them. My
+friend, it is half-past eleven; the hour for the signal has passed.
+Give, in my name, the order to return to quarters. It was a false alarm,
+which I will myself explain this evening."
+
+De Thou had already perceived the importance of this order; he went out
+and returned immediately.
+
+He found Cinq-Mars seated, calm, and endeavoring to cleanse the blood
+from his face.
+
+"De Thou," said he, looking fixedly at him, "retire; you disturb me."
+
+"I leave you not," answered the latter.
+
+"Fly, I tell you! the Pyrenees are not far distant. I can not speak much
+longer, even to you; but if you remain with me, you will die. I give you
+warning."
+
+"I remain," repeated De Thou.
+
+"May God preserve you, then!" answered Cinq-Mars, "for I can do nothing
+more; the moment has passed. I leave you here. Call Fontrailles and all
+the confederates: distribute these passports among them. Let them fly
+immediately; tell them all has failed, but that I thank them. For you,
+once again I say, fly with them, I entreat you; but whatever you do,
+follow me not--follow me not, for your life! I swear to you not to do
+violence to myself!"
+
+With these words, shaking his friend's hand without looking at him, he
+rushed from the tent.
+
+Meantime, some leagues thence another conversation was taking place.
+At Narbonne, in the same cabinet in which we formerly beheld Richelieu
+regulating with Joseph the interests of the State, were still seated the
+same men, nearly as we have described them. The minister, however, had
+grown much older in three years of suffering; and the Capuchin was as
+much terrified with the result of his expedition as his master appeared
+tranquil.
+
+The Cardinal, seated in his armchair, his legs bound and encased
+with furs and warm clothing, had upon his knees three kittens, which
+gambolled upon his scarlet robe. Every now and then he took one of them
+and placed it upon the others, to continue their sport. He smiled as
+he watched them. On his feet lay their mother, looking like an enormous
+animated muff.
+
+Joseph, seated near him, was going over the account of all he had heard
+in the confessional. Pale even now, at the danger he had run of being
+discovered, or of being murdered by Jacques, he concluded thus:
+
+"In short, your Eminence, I can not help feeling agitated to my heart's
+core when I reflect upon the dangers which have, and still do, threaten
+you. Assassins offer themselves to poniard you. I beheld in France
+the whole court against you, one half of the army, and two provinces.
+Abroad, Spain and Portugal are ready to furnish troops. Everywhere there
+are snares or battles, poniards or cannon."
+
+The Cardinal yawned three times, without discontinuing his amusement,
+and then said:
+
+"A cat is a very fine animal. It is a drawing-room tiger. What
+suppleness, what extraordinary finesse! Here is this little yellow one
+pretending to sleep, in order that the tortoise-shell one may not notice
+it, but fall upon its brother; and this one, how it tears the other! See
+how it sticks its claws into its side! It would kill and eat it, I
+fully believe, if it were the stronger. It is very amusing. What pretty
+animals!"
+
+He coughed and sneezed for some time; then he continued:
+
+"Messire Joseph, I sent word to you not to speak to me of business until
+after my supper... I have an appetite now, and it is not yet my hour.
+Chicot, my doctor, recommends regularity, and I feel my usual pain in my
+side. This is how I shall spend the evening," he added, looking at the
+clock. "At nine, we will settle the affairs of Monsieur le Grand. At
+ten, I shall be carried round the garden to take the air by moonlight.
+Then I shall sleep for an hour or two. At midnight the King will be
+here; and at four o'clock you may return to receive the various orders
+for arrests, condemnations, or any others I may have to give you, for
+the provinces, Paris, or the armies of his Majesty."
+
+Richelieu said all this in the same tone of voice, with a uniform
+enunciation, affected only by the weakness of his chest and the loss of
+several teeth.
+
+It was seven in the evening. The Capuchin withdrew. The Cardinal supped
+with the greatest tranquillity; and when the clock struck half-past
+eight, he sent for Joseph, and said to him, when he was seated:
+
+"This, then, is all they have been able to do against me during more
+than two years. They are poor creatures, truly! The Duc de Bouillon,
+whom I thought possessed some ability, has forfeited all claim to my
+opinion. I have watched him closely; and I ask you, has he taken one
+step worthy of a true statesman? The King, Monsieur, and the rest,
+have only shown their teeth against me, and without depriving me of one
+single man. The young Cinq-Mars is the only man among them who has
+any consecutiveness of ideas. All that he has done has been done
+surprisingly well. I must do him justice; he had good qualities.
+I should have made him my pupil, had it not been for his obstinate
+character. But he has here charged me 'a l'outrance, and must take the
+consequences. I am sorry for him. I have left them to float about in
+open water for the last two years. I shall now draw the net."
+
+"It is time, Monseigneur," said Joseph, who often trembled involuntarily
+as he spoke. "Do you bear in mind that from Perpignan to Narbonne the
+way is short? Do you know that if your army here is powerful, your own
+troops are weak and uncertain; that the young nobles are furious; and
+that the King is not sure?"
+
+The Cardinal looked at the clock.
+
+"It is only half-past eight, Joseph. I have already told you that I
+will not talk about this affair until nine. Meantime, as justice must be
+done, you will write what I shall dictate, for my memory serves me well.
+There are still some objectionable persons left, I see by my notes--four
+of the judges of Urbain Grandier. He was a rare genius, that Urbain
+Grandier," he added, with a malicious expression. Joseph bit his lips.
+"All the other judges have died miserably. As to Houmain, he shall be
+hanged as a smuggler by and by. We may leave him alone for the present.
+But there is that horrible Lactantius, who lives peacefully, Barre, and
+Mignon. Take a pen, and write to the Bishop of Poitiers,
+
+   "MONSEIGNEUR: It is his Majesty's pleasure that Fathers Mignon and
+   Barre be superseded in their cures, and sent with the shortest
+   possible delay to the town of Lyons, with Father Lactantius,
+   Capuchin, to be tried before a special tribunal, charged with
+   criminal intentions against the State."
+
+Joseph wrote as coolly as a Turk strikes off a head at a sign from his
+master. The Cardinal said to him, while signing the letter:
+
+"I will let you know how I wish them to disappear, for it is important
+to efface all traces of that affair. Providence has served me well.
+In removing these men, I complete its work. That is all that posterity
+shall know of the affair."
+
+And he read to the Capuchin that page of his memoirs in which he
+recounts the possession and sorceries of the magician.--[Collect. des
+Memoires xxviii. 189.]--During this slow process, Joseph could not help
+looking at the clock.
+
+"You are anxious to come to Monsieur le Grand," said the Cardinal at
+last. "Well, then, to please you, let us begin."
+
+"Do you think I have not my reasons for being tranquil? You think that
+I have allowed these poor conspirators to go too far. No, no! Here are
+some little papers that would reassure you, did you know their contents.
+First, in this hollow stick is the treaty with Spain, seized at Oleron.
+I am well satisfied with Laubardemont; he is an able man."
+
+The fire of ferocious jealousy sparkled under the thick eyebrows of the
+monk.
+
+"Ah, Monseigneur," said he, "you know not from whom he seized it. He
+certainly suffered him to die, and in that respect we can not complain,
+for he was the agent of the conspiracy; but it was his son."
+
+"Say you the truth?" cried the Cardinal, in a severe tone. "Yes, for you
+dare not lie to me. How knew you this?"
+
+"From his attendants, Monsiegneur. Here are their reports. They will
+testify to them."
+
+The Cardinal having examined these papers, said:
+
+"We will employ him once more to try our conspirators, and then you
+shall do as you like with him. I give him to you."
+
+Joseph joyfully pocketed his precious denunciations, and continued:
+
+"Your Eminence speaks of trying men who are still armed and on
+horseback."
+
+"They are not all so. Read this letter from Monsieur to Chavigny. He
+asks for pardon. He dared not address me the first day, and his prayers
+rose no higher than the knees of one of my servants.
+
+   To M. de Chavigny:
+
+   M. DE CHAVIGNY: Although I believe that you are little satisfied
+   with me (and in truth you have reason to be dissatisfied), I do not
+   the less entreat you to endeavor my reconciliation with his
+   Eminence, and rely for this upon the true love you bear me, and
+   which, I believe, is greater than your anger. You know how much I
+   require to be relieved from the danger I am in. You have already
+   twice stood my friend with his Eminence. I swear to you this shall
+   be the last time I give you such an employment.
+                       GASTON D'ORLEANS.
+
+"But the next day he took courage, and sent this to myself,
+
+   To his Excellency the Cardinal-Duc:
+
+   MY COUSIN: This ungrateful M. le Grand is the most guilty man in the
+   world to have displeased you. The favors he received from his
+   Majesty have always made me doubtful of him and his artifices. For
+   you, my cousin, I retain my whole esteem. I am truly repentant at
+   having again been wanting in the fidelity I owe to my Lord the King,
+   and I call God to witness the sincerity with which I shall be for
+   the rest of my life your most faithful friend, with the same
+   devotion that I am, my cousin, your affectionate cousin,
+                              GASTON.
+
+and the third to the King. His project choked him; he could not keep
+it down. But I am not so easily satisfied. I must have a free and full
+confession, or I will expel him from the kingdom. I have written to him
+this morning.
+
+   [MONSIEUR: Since God wills that men should have recourse to a frank
+   and entire confession to be absolved of their faults in this world,
+   I indicate to you the steps you must take to be delivered from this
+   danger. Your Highness has commenced well; you must continue. This
+   is all I can say to you.]
+
+"As to the magnificent and powerful Due de Bouillon, sovereign lord
+of Sedan and general-in-chief of the armies in Italy, he has just been
+arrested by his officers in the midst of his soldiers, concealed in a
+truss of straw. There remain, therefore, only our two young neighbors.
+They imagine they have the camp wholly at their orders, while they
+really have only the red troops. All the rest, being Monsieur's men,
+will not act, and my troops will arrest them. However, I have permitted
+them to appear to obey. If they give the signal at half-past eleven,
+they will be arrested at the first step. If not, the King will give them
+up to me this evening. Do not open your eyes so wide. He will give them
+up to me, I repeat, this night, between midnight and one o'clock. You
+see that all has been done without you, Joseph. We can dispense with you
+very well; and truly, all this time, I do not see that we have received
+any great service from you. You grow negligent."
+
+"Ah, Monseigneur! did you but know the trouble I have had to discover
+the route of the bearers of the treaty! I only learned it by risking my
+life between these young people."
+
+The Cardinal laughed contemptuously, leaning back in his chair.
+
+"Thou must have been very ridiculous and very fearful in that box,
+Joseph; I dare say it was the first time in thy life thou ever heardst
+love spoken of. Dost thou like the language, Father Joseph? Tell me,
+dost thou clearly understand it? I doubt whether thou hast formed a very
+refined idea of it."
+
+Richelieu, his arms crossed, looked at his discomfited Capuchin with
+infinite delight, and continued in the scornfully familiar tone of
+a grand seigneur, which he sometimes assumed, pleasing himself with
+putting forth the noblest expressions through the most impure lips:
+
+"Come, now, Joseph, give me a definition of love according to thy idea.
+What can it be--for thou seest it exists out of romances. This worthy
+youngster undertook these little conspiracies through love. Thou heardst
+it thyself with throe unworthy ears. Come, what is love? For my part, I
+know nothing about it."
+
+The monk was astounded, and looked upon the ground with the stupid eye
+of some base animal. After long consideration, he replied in a drawling
+and nasal voice:
+
+"It must be a kind of malignant fever which leads the brain astray; but
+in truth, Monseigneur, I have never reflected on it until this moment. I
+have always been embarrassed in speaking to a woman. I wish women could
+be omitted from society altogether; for I do not see what use they are,
+unless it be to disclose secrets, like the little Duchess or Marion
+de Lorme, whom I can not too strongly recommend to your Eminence. She
+thought of everything, and herself threw our little prophecy among the
+conspirators with great address. We have not been without the marvellous
+this time. As in the siege of Hesdin, all we have to do is to find a
+window through which you may pass on the day of the execution."
+
+   [In 1638, Prince Thomas having raised the siege of Hesdin, the
+   Cardinal was much vexed at it. A nun of the convent of Mount
+   Calvary had said that the victory would be to the King and Father
+   Joseph, thus wishing it to be believed that Heaven protected the
+   minister.--Memoires pour l'histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu.]
+
+"This is another of your absurdities, sir," said the Cardinal; "you will
+make me as ridiculous as yourself, if you go on so; I am too powerful
+to need the assistance of Heaven. Do not let that happen again. Occupy
+yourself only with the people I consign to you. I traced your part
+before. When the master of the horse is taken, you will see him tried
+and executed at Lyons. I will not be known in this. This affair is
+beneath me; it is a stone under my feet, upon which I ought not to have
+bestowed so much attention."
+
+Joseph was silent; he could not understand this man, who, surrounded on
+every side by armed enemies, spoke of the future as of a present over
+which he had the entire control, and of the present as a past which he
+no longer feared. He knew not whether to look upon him as a madman or a
+prophet, above or below the standard of human nature.
+
+His astonishment was redoubled when Chavigny hastily entered, and nearly
+falling, in his heavy boots, over the Cardinal's footstool, exclaimed in
+great agitation:
+
+"Sir, one of your servants has just arrived from Perpignan; and he has
+beheld the camp in an uproar, and your enemies in the saddle."
+
+"They will soon dismount, sir," replied Richelieu, replacing his
+footstool. "You appear to have lost your equanimity."
+
+"But--but, Monseigneur, must we not warn Monsieur de Fabert?"
+
+"Let him sleep, and go to bed yourself; and you also, Joseph."
+
+"Monseigneur, another strange event has occurred--the King has arrived."
+
+"Indeed, that is extraordinary," said the minister, looking at his
+watch. "I did not expect him these two hours. Retire, both of you."
+
+A heavy trampling and the clattering of arms announced the arrival
+of the Prince; the folding-doors were thrown open; the guards in the
+Cardinal's service struck the ground thrice with their pikes; and the
+King appeared.
+
+He entered, supporting himself with a cane on one side, and on the
+other leaning upon the shoulder of his confessor, Father Sirmond,
+who withdrew, and left him with the Cardinal; the latter rose with
+difficulty, but could not advance a step to meet the King, because his
+legs were bandaged and enveloped. He made a sign that they should assist
+the King to a seat near the fire, facing himself. Louis XIII fell into
+an armchair furnished with pillows, asked for and drank a glass of
+cordial, prepared to strengthen him against the frequent fainting-fits
+caused by his malady of languor, signed to all to leave the room, and,
+alone with Richelieu, he said in a languid voice:
+
+"I am departing, my dear Cardinal; I feel that I shall soon return
+to God. I become weaker from day to day; neither the summer nor the
+southern air has restored my strength."
+
+"I shall precede your Majesty," replied the minister. "You see that
+death has already conquered my limbs; but while I have a head to think
+and a hand to write, I shall be at the service of your Majesty."
+
+"And I am sure it was your intention to add, 'a heart to love me.'"
+
+"Can your Majesty doubt it?" answered the Cardinal, frowning, and biting
+his lips impatiently at this speech.
+
+"Sometimes I doubt it," replied the King. "Listen: I wish to speak
+openly to you, and to complain of you to yourself. There are two things
+which have been upon my conscience these three years. I have never
+mentioned them to you; but I reproached you secretly; and could anything
+have induced me to consent to any proposals contrary to your interest,
+it would be this recollection."
+
+There was in this speech that frankness natural to weak minds, who seek
+by thus making their ruler uneasy, to compensate for the harm they dare
+not do him, and revenge their subjection by a childish controversy.
+
+Richelieu perceived by these words that he had run a great risk; but he
+saw at the same time the necessity of venting all his spleen, and, to
+facilitate the explosion of these important avowals, he accumulated all
+the professions he thought most calculated to provoke the King.
+
+"No, no!" his Majesty at length exclaimed, "I shall believe nothing
+until you have explained those two things, which are always in my
+thoughts, which were lately mentioned to me, and which I can justify by
+no reasoning. I mean the trial of Urbain Grandier, of which I was never
+well informed, and the reason for the hatred you bore to my unfortunate
+mother, even to her very ashes."
+
+"Is this all, Sire?" said Richelieu. "Are these my only faults? They
+are easily explained. The first it was necessary to conceal from your
+Majesty because of its horrible and disgusting details of scandal. There
+was certainly an art employed, which can not be looked upon as guilty,
+in concealing, under the title of 'magic,' crimes the very names of
+which are revolting to modesty, the recital of which would have revealed
+dangerous mysteries to the innocent; this was a holy deceit practised to
+hide these impurities from the eyes of the people."
+
+"Enough, enough, Cardinal," said Louis XIII, turning away his head, and
+looking downward, while a blush covered his face; "I can not hear more.
+I understand you; these explanations would disgust me. I approve your
+motives; 'tis well. I had not been told that; they had concealed these
+dreadful vices from me. Are you assured of the proofs of these crimes?"
+
+"I have them all in my possession, Sire; and as to the glorious Queen,
+Marie de Medicis, I am surprised that your Majesty can forget how much I
+was attached to her. Yes, I do not fear to acknowledge it; it is to her
+I owe my elevation. She was the first who deigned to notice the Bishop
+of Luton, then only twenty-two years of age, to place me near her.
+What have I not suffered when she compelled me to oppose her in your
+Majesty's interest! But this sacrifice was made for you. I never had,
+and never shall have, to regret it."
+
+"'Tis well for you, but for me!" said the King, bitterly.
+
+"Ah, Sire," exclaimed the Cardinal, "did not the Son of God himself set
+you an example? It is by the model of every perfection that we regulate
+our counsels; and if the monument due to the precious remains of your
+mother is not yet raised, Heaven is my witness that the works were
+retarded through the fear of afflicting your heart by bringing back the
+recollection of her death. But blessed be the day in which I have been
+permitted to speak to you on the subject! I myself shall say the
+first mass at Saint-Denis, when we shall see her deposited there, if
+Providence allows me the strength."
+
+The countenance of the King assumed a more affable yet still cold
+expression; and the Cardinal, thinking that he could go no farther that
+evening in persuasion, suddenly resolved to make a more powerful move,
+and to attack the enemy in front. Still keeping his eyes firmly fixed
+upon the King, he said, coldly:
+
+"And was it for this you consented to my death?"
+
+"Me!" said the King. "You have been deceived; I have indeed heard of a
+conspiracy, and I wished to speak to you about it; but I have commanded
+nothing against you."
+
+"'The conspirators do not say so, Sire; but I am bound to believe your
+Majesty, and I am glad for your sake that men were deceived. But what
+advice were you about to condescend to give me?"
+
+"I--I wished to tell you frankly, and between ourselves, that you will
+do well to beware of Monsieur--"
+
+"Ah, Sire, I can not now heed it; for here is a letter which he has
+just sent to me for you. He seems to have been guilty even toward your
+Majesty."
+
+The King read in astonishment:
+
+   MONSEIGNEUR: I am much grieved at having once more failed in the
+   fidelity which I owe to your Majesty. I humbly entreat you to allow
+   me to ask a thousand pardons, with the assurances of my submission
+   and repentance.
+        Your very humble servant,
+                    GASTON.
+
+"What does this mean?" cried Louis; "dare they arm against me also?"
+
+"Also!" muttered the Cardinal, biting his lips; "yes, Sire, also;
+and this makes me believe, to a certain degree, this little packet of
+papers."
+
+While speaking, he drew a roll of parchment from a piece of hollowed
+elder, and opened it before the eyes of the King.
+
+"This is simply a treaty with Spain, which I think does not bear the
+signature of your Majesty. You may see the twenty articles all in due
+form. Everything is here arranged--the place of safety, the number of
+troops, the supplies of men and money."
+
+"The traitors!" cried the King, in great agitation; "they must be
+seized. My brother renounces them and repents; but do not fail to arrest
+the Duc de Bouillon."
+
+"It shall be done, Sire."
+
+"That will be difficult, in the middle of the army in Italy."
+
+"I will answer with my head for his arrest, Sire; but is there not
+another name to be added?"
+
+"Who--what--Cinq-Mars?" inquired the King, hesitating.
+
+"Exactly so, Sire," answered the Cardinal.
+
+"I see--but--I think--we might--"
+
+"Hear me!" exclaimed Richelieu, in a voice of thunder; "all must be
+settled to-day. Your favorite is mounted at the head of his party;
+choose between him and me. Yield up the boy to the man, or the man to
+the boy; there is no alternative."
+
+"And what will you do if I consent?" said the King.
+
+"I will have his head and that of his friend."
+
+"Never! it is impossible!" replied the King, with horror, as he relapsed
+into the same state of irresolution he evinced when with Cinq-Mars
+against Richelieu. "He is my friend as well as you; my heart bleeds at
+the idea of his death. Why can you not both agree? Why this division?
+It is that which has led him to this. You have between you brought me to
+the brink of despair; you have made me the most miserable of men."
+
+Louis hid his head in his hands while speaking, and perhaps he shed
+tears; but the inflexible minister kept his eyes upon him as if
+watching his prey, and without remorse, without giving the King time
+for reflection--on the contrary, profiting by this emotion to speak yet
+longer.
+
+"And is it thus," he continued, in a harsh and cold voice, "that you
+remember the commandments of God communicated to you by the mouth of
+your confessor? You told me one day that the Church expressly commanded
+you to reveal to your prime minister all that you might hear against
+him; yet I have never heard from you of my intended death! It was
+necessary that more faithful friends should apprise me of this
+conspiracy; that the guilty themselves through the mercy of Providence
+should themselves make the avowal of their fault. One only, the most
+guilty, yet the least of all, still resists, and it is he who has
+conducted the whole; it is he who would deliver France into the power of
+the foreigner, who would overthrow in one single day my labors of twenty
+years. He would call up the Huguenots of the south, invite to arms all
+orders of the State, revive crushed pretensions, and, in fact, renew
+the League which was put down by your father. It is that--do not deceive
+yourself--it is that which raises so many heads against you. Are you
+prepared for the combat? If so, where are your arms?"
+
+The King, quite overwhelmed, made no reply; he still covered his
+face with his hands. The stony-hearted Cardinal crossed his arms and
+continued:
+
+"I fear that you imagine it is for myself I speak. Do you really think
+that I do not know my own powers, and that I fear such an adversary?
+Really, I know not what prevents me from letting you act for
+yourself--from transferring the immense burden of State affairs to the
+shoulders of this youth. You may imagine that during the twenty years
+I have been acquainted with your court, I have not forgotten to assure
+myself a retreat where, in spite of you, I could now go to live the
+six months which perhaps remain to me of life. It would be a curious
+employment for me to watch the progress of such a reign. What answer
+would you return, for instance, when all the inferior potentates,
+regaining their station, no longer kept in subjection by me, shall come
+in your brother's name to say to you, as they dared to say to Henri
+IV on his throne: 'Divide with us all the hereditary governments
+and sovereignties, and we shall be content.'--[Memoires de Sully,
+1595.]--You will doubtless accede to their request; and it is the least
+you can do for those who will have delivered you from Richelieu. It
+will, perhaps, be fortunate, for to govern the Ile-de-France, which they
+will no doubt allow you as the original domain, your new minister will
+not require many secretaries."
+
+While speaking thus, he furiously pushed the huge table, which nearly
+filled the room, and was laden with papers and numerous portfolios.
+
+Louis was aroused from his apathetic meditation by the excessive
+audacity of this discourse. He raised his head, and seemed to have
+instantly formed one resolution for fear he should adopt another.
+
+"Well, sir," said he, "my answer is that I will reign alone."
+
+"Be it so!" replied Richelieu. "But I ought to give you notice that
+affairs are at present somewhat complicated. This is the hour when I
+generally commence my ordinary avocations."
+
+"I will act in your place," said Louis. "I will open the portfolios and
+issue my commands."
+
+"Try, then," said Richelieu. "I shall retire; and if anything causes you
+to hesitate, you can send for me."
+
+He rang a bell. In the same instant, and as if they had awaited the
+signal, four vigorous footmen entered, and carried him and his chair
+into another apartment, for we have before remarked that he was unable
+to walk. While passing through the chambers where the secretaries were
+at work, he called out in a loud voice:
+
+"You will receive his Majesty's commands."
+
+The King remained alone, strong in his new resolution, and, proud in
+having once resisted, he became anxious immediately to plunge into
+political business. He walked around the immense table, and beheld as
+many portfolios as they then counted empires, kingdoms, and States in
+Europe. He opened one and found it divided into sections equalling in
+number the subdivisions of the country to which it related. All was in
+order, but in alarming order for him, because each note only referred to
+the very essence of the business it alluded to, and related only to
+the exact point of its then relations with France. These laconic notes
+proved as enigmatic to Louis, as did the letters in cipher which
+covered the table. Here all was confusion. An edict of banishment and
+expropriation of the Huguenots of La Rochelle was mingled with treaties
+with Gustavus Adolphus and the Huguenots of the north against the
+empire. Notes on General Bannier and Wallenstein, the Duc de Weimar,
+and Jean de Witt were mingled with extracts from letters taken from
+the casket of the Queen, the list of the necklaces and jewels they
+contained, and the double interpretation which might be put upon
+every phrase of her notes. Upon the margin of one of these letters was
+written: "For four lines in a man's handwriting he might be criminally
+tried." Farther on were scattered denunciations against the Huguenots;
+the republican plans they had drawn up; the division of France into
+departments under the annual dictatorship of a chief. The seal of this
+projected State was affixed to it, representing an angel leaning upon a
+cross, and holding in his hand a Bible, which he raised to his forehead.
+By the side was a document which contained a list of those cardinals
+the pope had selected the same day as the Bishop of Lurgon (Richelieu).
+Among them was to be found the Marquis de Bedemar, ambassador and
+conspirator at Venice.
+
+Louis XIII exhausted his powers in vain over the details of another
+period, seeking unsuccessfully for any documents which might allude to
+the present conspiracy, to enable him to perceive its true meaning, and
+all that had been attempted against him, when a diminutive man, of an
+olive complexion, who stooped much, entered the cabinet with a measured
+step. This was a Secretary of State named Desnoyers. He advanced,
+bowing.
+
+"May I be permitted to address your Majesty on the affairs of Portugal?"
+said he.
+
+"And consequently of Spain?" said Louis. "Portugal is a province of
+Spain."
+
+"Of Portugal," reiterated Desnoyers. "Here is the manifesto we have this
+moment received." And he read, "Don John, by the grace of God, King of
+Portugal and of Algarves, kingdoms on this side of Africa, lord over
+Guinea, by conquest, navigation, and trade with Arabia, Persia, and the
+Indies--"
+
+"What is all that?" said the King. "Who talks in this manner?"
+
+"The Duke of Braganza, King of Portugal, crowned already some time by
+a man whom they call Pinto. Scarcely has he ascended the throne than he
+offers assistance to the revolted Catalonians."
+
+"Has Catalonia also revolted? The King, Philip IV, no longer has the
+Count-Duke for his Prime-Minister?"
+
+"Just the contrary, Sire. It is on this very account. Here is the
+declaration of the States-General of Catalonia to his Catholic Majesty,
+signifying that the whole country will take up arms against his
+sacrilegious and excommunicated troops. The King of Portugal--"
+
+"Say the Duke of Braganza!" replied Louis. "I recognize no rebels."
+
+"The Duke of Braganza, then," coldly repeated the Secretary of State,
+"sends his nephew, Don Ignacio de Mascarenas, to the principality of
+Catalonia, to seize the protection (and it may be the sovereignty) of
+that country, which he would add to that he has just reconquered. Your
+Majesty's troops are before Perpignan--"
+
+"Well, and what of that?" said Louis.
+
+"The Catalonians are more disposed toward France than toward Portugal,
+and there is still time to deprive the King of-the Duke of Portugal, I
+should say--of this protectorship."
+
+"What! I assist rebels! You dare--"
+
+"Such was the intention of his Eminence," continued the Secretary of
+State. "Spain and France are nearly at open war, and Monsieur d'Olivares
+has not hesitated to offer the assistance of his Catholic Majesty to the
+Huguenots."
+
+"Very good. I will consider it," said the King. "Leave me."
+
+"Sire, the States-General of Catalonia are in a dilemma. The troops from
+Aragon march against them."
+
+"We shall see. I will come to a decision in a quarter of an hour,"
+answered Louis XIII.
+
+The little Secretary of State left the apartment discontented and
+discouraged. In his place Chavigny immediately appeared, holding a
+portfolio, on which were emblazoned the arms of England. "Sire," said
+he, "I have to request your Majesty's commands upon the affairs of
+England. The Parliamentarians, commanded by the Earl of Essex, have
+raised the siege of Gloucester. Prince Rupert has at Newbury fought a
+disastrous battle, and of little profit to his Britannic Majesty. The
+Parliament is prolonged. All the principal cities take part with it,
+together with all the seaports and the Presbyterian population. King
+Charles I implores assistance, which the Queen can no longer obtain from
+Holland."
+
+"Troops must be sent to my brother of England," said Louis; but he
+wanted to look over the preceding papers, and casting his eyes over the
+notes of the Cardinal, he found that under a former request of the King
+of England he had written with his own hand:
+
+"We must consider some time and wait. The Commons are strong. King
+Charles reckons upon the Scots; they will sell him.
+
+"We must be cautious. A warlike man has been over to see Vincennes,
+and he has said that 'princes ought never to be struck, except on the
+head.'"
+
+The Cardinal had added "remarkable," but he had erased this word and
+substituted "formidable." Again, beneath:
+
+"This man rules Fairfax. He plays an inspired part. He will be a great
+man--assistance refused--money lost."
+
+The King then said, "No, no! do nothing hastily. I shall wait."
+
+"But, Sire," said Chavigny, "events pass rapidly. If the courier be
+delayed, the King's destruction may happen a year sooner."
+
+"Have they advanced so far?" asked Louis.
+
+"In the camp of the Independents they preach up the republic with
+the Bible in their hands. In that of the Royalists, they dispute for
+precedency, and amuse themselves."
+
+"But one turn of good fortune may save everything?"
+
+"The Stuarts are not fortunate, Sire," answered Chavigny, respectfully,
+but in a tone which left ample room for consideration.
+
+"Leave me," said the King, with some displeasure.
+
+The State-Secretary slowly retired.
+
+It was then that Louis XIII beheld himself as he really was, and was
+terrified at the nothingness he found in himself. He at first stared at
+the mass of papers which surrounded him, passing from one to the other,
+finding dangers on every side, and finding them still greater with the
+remedies he invented. He rose; and changing his place, he bent over, or
+rather threw himself upon, a geographical map of Europe. There he found
+all his fears concentrated. In the north, the south, the very centre
+of the kingdom, revolutions appeared to him like so many Eumenides.
+In every country he thought he saw a volcano ready to burst forth. He
+imagined he heard cries of distress from kings, who appealed to him for
+help, and the furious shouts of the populace. He fancied he felt the
+territory of France trembling and crumbling beneath his feet. His feeble
+and fatigued sight failed him. His weak head was attacked by vertigo,
+which threw all his blood back upon his heart.
+
+"Richelieu!" he cried, in a stifled voice, while he rang a bell; "summon
+the Cardinal immediately."
+
+And he swooned in an armchair.
+
+When the King opened his eyes, revived by salts and potent essences
+which had been applied to his lips and temples, he for one instant
+beheld himself surrounded by pages, who withdrew as soon as he opened
+his eyes, and he was once more left alone with the Cardinal. The
+impassible minister had had his chair placed by that of the King, as a
+physician would seat himself by the bedside of his patient, and fixed
+his sparkling and scrutinizing eyes upon the pale countenance of Louis.
+As soon as his victim could hear him, he renewed his fearful discourse
+in a hollow voice:
+
+"You have recalled me. What would you with me?"
+
+Louis, who was reclining on the pillow, half opened his eyes, fixed them
+upon Richelieu, and hastily closed them again. That bony head, armed
+with two flaming eyes, and terminating in a pointed and grizzly beard,
+the cap and vestments of the color of blood and flames,--all appeared to
+him like an infernal spirit.
+
+"You must reign," he said, in a languid voice.
+
+"But will you give me up Cinq-Mars and De Thou?" again urged the
+implacable minister, bending forward to read in the dull eyes of the
+Prince, as an avaricious heir follows up, even to the tomb, the last
+glimpses of the will of a dying relative.
+
+"You must reign," repeated the King, turning away his head.
+
+"Sign then," said Richelieu; "the contents of this are, 'This is my
+command--to take them, dead or alive.'"
+
+Louis, whose head still reclined on the raised back of the chair,
+suffered his hand to fall upon the fatal paper, and signed it. "For
+pity's sake, leave me; I am dying!" he said.
+
+"That is not yet all," continued he whom men call the great politician.
+"I place no reliance on you; I must first have some guarantee and
+assurance. Sign this paper, and I will leave you:
+
+   "When the King shall go to visit the Cardinal, the guards of the
+   latter shall remain under arms; and when the Cardinal shall visit
+   the King, the guards of the Cardinal shall share the same post with
+   those of his Majesty.
+
+"Again:
+
+   "His Majesty undertakes to place the two princes, his sons, in the
+   Cardinal's hands, as hostages of the good faith of his attachment."
+
+"My children!" exclaimed Louis, raising his head, "dare you?"
+
+"Would you rather that I should retire?" said Richelieu.
+
+The King again signed.
+
+"Is all finished now?" he inquired, with a deep sigh.
+
+All was not finished; one other grief was still in reserve for him. The
+door was suddenly opened, and Cinq-Mars entered. It was the Cardinal who
+trembled now.
+
+"What would you here, sir?" said he, seizing the bell to ring for
+assistance.
+
+The master of the horse was as pale as the King, and without
+condescending to answer Richelieu, he advanced steadily toward Louis
+XIII, who looked at him with the air of a man who has just received a
+sentence of death.
+
+"You would, Sire, find it difficult to have me arrested, for I have
+twenty thousand men under my command," said Henri d'Effiat, in a sweet
+and subdued voice.
+
+"Alas, Cinq-Mars!" replied the King, sadly; "is it thou who hast been
+guilty of these crimes?"
+
+"Yes, Sire; and I also bring you my sword, for no doubt you came here to
+surrender me," said he, unbuckling his sword, and laying it at the feet
+of the King, who fixed his eyes upon the floor without making any reply.
+
+Cinq-Mars smiled sadly, but not bitterly, for he no longer belonged
+to this earth. Then, looking contemptuously at Richelieu, "I surrender
+because I wish to die, but I am not conquered."
+
+The Cardinal clenched his fist with passion; but he restrained his fury.
+"Who are your accomplices?" he demanded. Cinq-Mars looked steadfastly at
+Louis, and half opened his lips to speak. The King bent down his head,
+and felt at that moment a torture unknown to all other men.
+
+"I have none," said Cinq-Mars, pitying the King; and he slowly left the
+apartment. He stopped in the first gallery. Fabert and all the gentlemen
+rose on seeing him. He walked up to the commander, and said:
+
+"Sir, order these gentlemen to arrest me!"
+
+They looked at each other, without daring to approach him.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am your prisoner; yes, gentlemen, I am without my sword,
+and I repeat to you that I am the King's prisoner."
+
+"I do not understand what I see," said the General; "there are two of
+you who surrender, and I have no instruction to arrest any one."
+
+"Two!" said Cinq-Mars; "the other is doubtless De Thou. Alas! I
+recognize him by this devotion."
+
+"And had I not also guessed your intention?" exclaimed the latter,
+coming forward, and throwing himself into his arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV. THE PRISONERS
+
+Amoung those old chateaux of which France is every year deprived
+regretfully, as of flowers from her, crown, there was one of a grim and
+savage appearance upon the left bank of the Saline. It looked like a
+formidable sentinel placed at one of the gates of Lyons, and derived its
+name from an enormous rock, known as Pierre-Encise, which terminates in
+a peak--a sort of natural pyramid, the summit of which overhanging the
+river in former times, they say, joined the rocks which may still be
+seen on the opposite bank, forming the natural arch of a bridge; but
+time, the waters, and the hand of man have left nothing standing but the
+ancient mass of granite which formed the pedestal of the now destroyed
+fortress.
+
+The archbishops of Lyons, as the temporal lords of the city, had built
+and formerly resided in this castle. It afterward became a fortress, and
+during the reign of Louis XIII a State prison. One colossal tower,
+where the daylight could only penetrate through three long loopholes,
+commanded the edifice, and some irregular buildings surrounded it with
+their massive walls, whose lines and angles followed the form of the
+immense and perpendicular rock.
+
+It was here that the Cardinal, jealous of his prey, determined to
+imprison his young enemies, and to conduct them himself.
+
+Allowing Louis to precede him to Paris, he removed his captives from
+Narbonne, dragging them in his train to ornament his last triumph, and
+embarking on the Rhone at Tarascon, nearly, at the mouth of the river,
+as if to prolong the pleasure of revenge which men have dared to call
+that of the gods, displayed to the eyes of the spectators on both sides
+of the river the luxury of his hatred; he slowly proceeded on his course
+up the river in barges with gilded oars and emblazoned with his armorial
+bearings, reclining in the first and followed by his two victims in the
+second, which was fastened to his own by a long chain.
+
+Often in the evening, when the heat of the day was passed, the awnings
+of the two boats were removed, and in the one Richelieu might be seen,
+pale, and seated in the stern; in that which followed, the two young
+prisoners, calm and collected, supported each other, watching the
+passage of the rapid stream. Formerly the soldiers of Caesar, who
+encamped on the same shores, would have thought they beheld the
+inflexible boatman of the infernal regions conducting the friendly
+shades of Castor and Pollux. Christians dared not even reflect, or see
+a priest leading his two enemies to the scaffold; it was the first
+minister who passed.
+
+Thus he went on his way until he left his victims under guard at the
+identical city in which the late conspirators had doomed him to perish.
+Thus he loved to defy Fate herself, and to plant a trophy on the very
+spot which had been selected for his tomb.
+
+   "He was borne," says an ancient manuscript journal of this year,
+   "along the river Rhone in a boat in which a wooden chamber had been
+   constructed, lined with crimson fluted velvet, the flooring of which
+   was of gold. The same boat contained an antechamber decorated in
+   the same manner. The prow and stern of the boat were occupied by
+   soldiers and guards, wearing scarlet coats embroidered with gold,
+   silver, and silk; and many lords of note. His Eminence occupied a
+   bed hung with purple taffetas. Monseigneur the Cardinal Bigni, and
+   Messeigneurs the Bishops of Nantes and Chartres, were there, with
+   many abbes and gentlemen in other boats. Preceding his vessel, a
+   boat sounded the passages, and another boat followed, filled with
+   arquebusiers and officers to command them. When they approached any
+   isle, they sent soldiers to inspect it, to discover whether it was
+   occupied by any suspicious persons; and, not meeting any, they
+   guarded the shore until two boats which followed had passed. They
+   were filled with the nobility and well-armed soldiers.
+
+   "Afterward came the boat of his Eminence, to the stern of which was
+   attached a little boat, which conveyed MM. de Thou and Cinq-Mars,
+   guarded by an officer of the King's guard and twelve guards from the
+   regiment of his Eminence. Three vessels, containing the clothes and
+   plate of his Eminence, with several gentlemen and soldiers, followed
+   the boats.
+
+   "Two companies of light-horsemen followed the banks of the Rhone in
+   Dauphin, and as many on the Languedoc and Vivarais side, and a noble
+   regiment of foot, who preceded his Eminence in the towns which he
+   was to enter, or in which he was to sleep. It was pleasant to
+   listen to the trumpets, which, played in Dauphine, were answered by
+   those in Vivarais, and repeated by the echoes of our rocks. It
+   seemed as if all were trying which could play best."--[See Notes.]
+
+In the middle of a night of the month of September, while everything
+appeared to slumber in the impregnable tower which contained the
+prisoners, the door of their outer chamber turned noiselessly on its
+hinges, and a man appeared on the threshold, clad in a brown robe
+confined round his waist by a cord. His feet were encased in sandals,
+and his hand grasped a large bunch of keys; it was Joseph. He looked
+cautiously round without advancing, and contemplated in silence the
+apartment occupied by the master of the horse. Thick carpets covered
+the floor, and large and splendid hangings concealed the walls of the
+prison; a bed hung with red damask was prepared, but it was unoccupied.
+Seated near a high chimney in a large armchair, attired in a long gray
+robe, similar in form to that of a priest, his head bent down, and his
+eyes fixed upon a little cross of gold by the flickering light of a
+lamp, he was absorbed in so deep a meditation that the Capuchin had
+leisure to approach him closely, and confront the prisoner before
+he perceived him. Suddenly, however, Cinq-Mars raised his head and
+exclaimed, "Wretch, what do you here?"
+
+"Young man, you are violent," answered the mysterious intruder, in a low
+voice. "Two months' imprisonment ought to have been enough to calm you.
+I come to tell you things of great importance. Listen to me! I have
+thought much of you; and I do not hate you so much as you imagine. The
+moments are precious. I will tell you all in a few words: in two hours
+you will be interrogated, tried, and condemned to death with your
+friend. It can not be otherwise, for all will be finished the same day."
+
+"I know it," answered Cinq-Mars; "and I am prepared."
+
+"Well, then, I can still release you from this affair. I have reflected
+deeply, as I told you; and I am here to make a proposal which can but
+give you satisfaction. The Cardinal has but six months to live. Let us
+not be mysterious; we must speak openly. You see where I have brought
+you to serve him; and you can judge by that the point to which I would
+conduct him to serve you. If you wish it, we can cut short the six
+months of his life which still remain. The King loves you, and will
+recall you with joy when he finds you still live. You may long live, and
+be powerful and happy, if you will protect me, and make me cardinal."
+
+Astonishment deprived the young prisoner of speech. He could not
+understand such language, and seemed to be unable to descend to it from
+his higher meditations. All that he could say was:
+
+"Your benefactor, Richelieu?"
+
+The Capuchin smiled, and, drawing nearer, continued in an undertone:
+
+"Policy admits of no benefits; it contains nothing but interest. A man
+employed by a minister is no more bound to be grateful than a horse
+whose rider prefers him to others. My pace has been convenient to him;
+so much the better. Now it is my interest to throw him from the saddle.
+Yes, this man loves none but himself. I now see that he has deceived
+me by continually retarding my elevation; but once again, I possess
+the sure means for your escape in silence. I am the master here. I will
+remove the men in whom he trusts, and replace them by others whom he
+has condemned to die, and who are near at hand confined in the northern
+tower--the Tour des Oubliettes, which overhangs the river. His creatures
+will occupy their places. I will recommend a physician--an empyric who
+is devoted to me--to the illustrious Cardinal, who has been given over
+by the most scientific in Paris. If you will unite with me, he shall
+convey to him a universal and eternal remedy."
+
+"Away!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars. "Leave me, thou infernal monk! No, thou
+art like no other man! Thou glidest with a noiseless and furtive step
+through the darkness; thou traversest the walls to preside at secret
+crimes; thou placest thyself between the hearts of lovers to separate
+them eternally. Who art thou? Thou resemblest a tormented spirit of the
+damned!"
+
+"Romantic boy!" answered Joseph; "you would have possessed high
+attainments had it not been for your false notions. There is perhaps
+neither damnation nor soul. If the dead returned to complain of their
+fate, I should have a thousand around me; and I have never seen any,
+even in my dreams."
+
+"Monster!" muttered Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Words again!" said Joseph; "there is neither monster nor virtuous man.
+You and De Thou, who pride yourselves on what you call virtue--you have
+failed in causing the death of perhaps a hundred thousand men--at once
+and in the broad daylight--for no end, while Richelieu and I have caused
+the death of far fewer, one by one, and by night, to found a great
+power. Would you remain pure and virtuous, you must not interfere with
+other men; or, rather, it is more reasonable to see that which is, and
+to say with me, it is possible that there is no such thing as a soul.
+We are the sons of chance; but relative to other men, we have passions
+which we must satisfy."
+
+"I breathe again!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars; "he believes not in God!"
+
+Joseph continued:
+
+"Richelieu, you, and I were born ambitious; it followed, then, that
+everything must be sacrificed to this idea."
+
+"Wretched man, do not compare me to thyself!"
+
+"It is the plain truth, nevertheless," replied the Capuchin'; "only you
+now see that our system was better than yours."
+
+"Miserable wretch, it was for love--"
+
+"No, no! it was not that; here are mere words again. You have perhaps
+imagined it was so; but it was for your own advancement. I have heard
+you speak to the young girl. You thought but of yourselves; you do not
+love each other. She thought but of her rank, and you of your ambition.
+One loves in order to hear one's self called perfect, and to be adored;
+it is still the same egoism."
+
+"Cruel serpent!" cried Cinq-Mars; "is it not enough that thou hast
+caused our deaths? Why dost thou come here to cast thy venom upon the
+life thou hast taken from us? What demon has suggested to thee thy
+horrible analysis of hearts?"
+
+"Hatred of everything which is superior to myself," replied Joseph, with
+a low and hollow laugh, "and the desire to crush those I hate under my
+feet, have made me ambitious and ingenious in finding the weakness of
+your dreams."
+
+"Just Heaven, dost thou hear him?" exclaimed Cinq-Mars, rising and
+extending his arms upward.
+
+The solitude of his prison; the pious conversations of his friend; and,
+above all, the presence of death, which, like the light of an unknown
+star, paints in other colors the objects we are accustomed to see;
+meditations on eternity; and (shall we say it?) the great efforts he
+had made to change his heartrending regrets into immortal hopes, and
+to direct to God all that power of love which had led him astray upon
+earth-all this combined had worked a strange revolution in him; and like
+those ears of corn which ripen suddenly on receiving one ray from the
+sun, his soul had acquired light, exalted by the mysterious influence of
+death.
+
+"Just Heaven!" he repeated, "if this wretch and his master are human,
+can I also be a man? Behold, O God, behold two distinct ambitions--the
+one egoistical and bloody, the other devoted and unstained; theirs
+roused by hatred, and ours inspired by love. Look down, O Lord, judge,
+and pardon! Pardon, for we have greatly erred in walking but for a
+single day in the same paths which, on earth, possess but one name to
+whatever end it may tend!"
+
+Joseph interrupted him harshly, stamping his foot on the ground:
+
+"When you have finished your prayer," said he, "you will perhaps inform
+me whether you will assist me; and I will instantly--"
+
+"Never, impure wretch, never!" said Henri d'Effiat. "I will never unite
+with you in an assassination. I refused to do so when powerful, and upon
+yourself."
+
+"You were wrong; you would have been master now."
+
+"And what happiness should I find in my power when shared as it must be
+by a woman who does not understand me; who loved me feebly, and prefers
+a crown?"
+
+"Inconceivable folly!" said the Capuchin, laughing.
+
+"All with her; nothing without her--that was my desire."
+
+"It is from obstinacy and vanity that you persist; it is impossible,"
+replied Joseph. "It is not in nature."
+
+"Thou who wouldst deny the spirit of self-sacrifice," answered
+Cinq-Mars; "dost thou understand that of my friend?"
+
+"It does not exist; he follows you because--"
+
+Here the Capuchin, slightly embarrassed, reflected an instant.
+
+"Because--because--he has formed you; you are his work; he is attached
+to you by the self-love of an author. He was accustomed to lecture you;
+and he felt that he should not find another pupil so docile to listen
+to and applaud him. Constant habit has persuaded him that his life was
+bound to yours; it is something of that kind. He will accompany you
+mechanically. Besides, all is not yet finished; we shall see the end
+and the examination. He will certainly deny all knowledge of the
+conspiracy."
+
+"He will not deny it!" exclaimed Cinq-Mars, impetuously.
+
+"He knew it, then? You confess it," said Joseph, triumphantly; "you have
+not said as much before."
+
+"O Heaven, what have I done!" gasped Cinq-Mars, hiding his face.
+
+"Calm yourself; he is saved, notwithstanding this avowal, if you accept
+my offer."
+
+D'Effiat remained silent for a short time.
+
+The Capuchin continued:
+
+"Save your friend. The King's favor awaits you, and perhaps the love
+which has erred for a moment."
+
+"Man, or whatever else thou art, if thou hast in thee anything
+resembling a heart," answered the prisoner, "save him! He is the purest
+of created beings; but convey him far away while yet he sleeps, for
+should he awake, thy endeavors would be vain."
+
+"What good will that do me?" said the Capuchin, laughing. "It is you and
+your favor that I want."
+
+The impetuous Cinq-Mars rose, and, seizing Joseph by the arm, eying him
+with a terrible look, said:
+
+"I degraded him in interceding with thee for him." He continued, raising
+the tapestry which separated his apartment from that of his friend,
+"Come, and doubt, if thou canst, devotion and the immortality of the
+soul. Compare the uneasiness and misery of thy triumph with the calmness
+of our defeat, the meanness of thy reign with the grandeur of our
+captivity, thy sanguinary vigils to the slumbers of the just."
+
+A solitary lamp threw its light on De Thou. The young man was kneeling
+on a cushion, surmounted by a large ebony crucifix. He seemed to have
+fallen asleep while praying. His head, inclining backward, was still
+raised toward the cross. His pale lips wore a calm and divine smile.
+
+"Holy Father, how he sleeps!" exclaimed the astonished Capuchin,
+thoughtlessly uniting to his frightful discourse the sacred name he
+every day pronounced. He suddenly retired some paces, as if dazzled by a
+heavenly vision.
+
+"Nonsense, nonsense!" he said, shaking his head, and passing his hand
+rapidly over his face. "All this is childishness. It would overcome me
+if I reflected on it. These ideas may serve as opium to produce a calm.
+But that is not the question; say yes or no."
+
+"No," said Cinq-Mars, pushing him to the door by the shoulder. "I will
+not accept life; and I do not regret having compromised De Thou, for
+he would not have bought his life at the price of an assassination. And
+when he yielded at Narbonne, it was not that he might escape at Lyons."
+
+"Then wake him, for here come the judges," said the furious Capuchin, in
+a sharp, piercing voice.
+
+Lighted by flambeaux, and preceded by a detachment of the Scotch guards,
+fourteen judges entered, wrapped in long robes, and whose features were
+not easily distinguished. They seated themselves in silence on the right
+and left of the huge chamber. They were the judges delegated by the
+Cardinal to judge this sad and solemn affair--all true men to the
+Cardinal Richelieu, and in his confidence, who from Tarascon had chosen
+and instructed them. He had the Chancellor Seguier brought to Lyons, to
+avoid, as he stated in the instructions he sent by Chavigny to the King
+Louis XIII--"to avoid all the delays which would take place if he were
+not present. M. de Mayillac," he adds, "was at Nantes for the trial of
+Chulais, M. de Chateau-Neuf at Toulouse, superintending the death of M.
+de Montmorency, and M. de Bellievre at Paris, conducting the trial of M.
+de Biron. The authority and intelligence of these gentlemen in forms of
+justice are indispensable."
+
+The Chancellor arrived with all speed. But at this moment he was
+informed that he was not to appear, for fear that he might be influenced
+by the memory of his ancient friendship for the prisoner, whom he
+only saw tete-a-tete. The commissioners and himself had previously
+and rapidly received the cowardly depositions of the Duc d'Orleans, at
+Villefranche, in Beaujolais, and then at Vivey,--[House which belonged
+to an Abbe d'Esnay, brother of M. de Villeroy, called Montresor.] two
+miles from Lyons, where this wretched prince had received orders to
+go, begging forgiveness, and trembling, although surrounded by his
+followers, whom from very pity he had been allowed to retain, carefully
+watched, however, by the French and Swiss guards. The Cardinal had
+dictated to him his part and answers word for word; and in consideration
+of this docility, they had exempted him in form from the painful task
+of confronting MM. de Cinq-Mars and De Thou. The chancellor and
+commissioners had also prepared M. de Bouillon, and, strong with their
+preliminary work, they visited in all their strength the two young
+criminals whom they had determined not to save.
+
+History has only handed down to us the names of the State counsellors
+who accompanied Pierre Seguier, but not those of the other
+commissioners, of whom it is only mentioned that there were six from the
+parliament of Grenoble, and two presidents. The counsellor, or reporter
+of the State, Laubardemont, who had directed them in all, was at their
+head. Joseph often whispered to them with the most studied politeness,
+glancing at Laubardemont with a ferocious sneer.
+
+It was arranged that an armchair should serve as a bar; and all were
+silent in expectation of the prisoner's answer.
+
+He spoke in a soft and clear voice:
+
+"Say to Monsieur le Chancelier that I have the right of appeal to the
+parliament of Paris, and to object to my judges, because two of them are
+my declared enemies, and at their head one of my friends, Monsieur de
+Seguier himself, whom I maintained in his charge.
+
+"But I will spare you much trouble, gentlemen, by pleading guilty to the
+whole charge of conspiracy, arranged and conducted by myself alone. It
+is my wish to die. I have nothing to add for myself; but if you would be
+just, you will not harm the life of him whom the King has pronounced to
+be the most honest man in France, and who dies for my sake alone."
+
+"Summon him," said Laubardemont.
+
+Two guards entered the apartment of De Thou, and led him forth. He
+advanced, and bowed gravely, while an angelical smile played upon his
+lips. Embracing Cinq-Mars, "Here at last is our day of glory," said he.
+"We are about to gain heaven and eternal happiness."
+
+"We understand," said Laubardemont, "we have been given to understand
+by Monsieur de Cinq-Mars himself, that you were acquainted with this
+conspiracy?"
+
+De Thou answered instantly, and without hesitation. A half-smile was
+still on his lips, and his eyes cast down.
+
+"Gentlemen, I have passed my life in studying human laws, and I know
+that the testimony of one accused person can not condemn another. I can
+also repeat what I said before, that I should not have been believed had
+I denounced the King's brother without proof. You perceive, then, that
+my life and death entirely rest with myself. I have, however, well
+weighed the one and the other. I have clearly foreseen that whatever
+life I may hereafter lead, it could not but be most unhappy after the
+loss of Monsieur de Cinq-Mars. I therefore acknowledge and confess that
+I was aware of his conspiracy. I did my utmost to prevent it, to deter
+him from it. He believed me to be his only and faithful friend, and I
+would not betray him. Therefore, I condemn myself by the very laws which
+were set forth by my father, who, I hope, forgives me."
+
+At these words, the two friends precipitated themselves into each
+other's arms.
+
+Cinq-Mars exclaimed:
+
+"My friend, my friend, how bitterly I regret that I have caused your
+death! Twice I have betrayed you; but you shall know in what manner."
+
+But De Thou, embracing and consoling his friend, answered, raising his
+eyes from the ground:
+
+"Ah, happy are we to end our days in this manner! Humanly speaking, I
+might complain of you; but God knows how much I love you. What have
+we done to merit the grace of martyrdom, and the happiness of dying
+together?"
+
+The judges were not prepared for this mildness, and looked at each other
+with surprise.
+
+"If they would only give me a good partisan," muttered a hoarse voice
+(it was Grandchamp, who had crept into the room, and whose eyes were
+red with fury), "I would soon rid Monseigneur of all these black-looking
+fellows." Two men with halberds immediately placed themselves silently
+at his side. He said no more, and to compose himself retired to a window
+which overlooked the river, whose tranquil waters the sun had not yet
+lighted with its beams, and appeared to pay no attention to what was
+passing in the room.
+
+However, Laubardemont, fearing that the judges might be touched with
+compassion, said in a loud voice:
+
+"In pursuance of the order of Monseigneur the Cardinal, these two
+men will be put to the rack; that is to say, to the ordinary and
+extraordinary question."
+
+Indignation forced Cinq-Mars again to assume his natural character;
+crossing his arms, he made two steps toward Laubardemont and Joseph,
+which alarmed them. The former involuntarily placed his hand to his
+forehead.
+
+"Are we at Loudun?" exclaimed the prisoner; but De Thou, advancing, took
+his hand and held it. Cinq-Mars was silent, then continued in a calm
+voice, looking steadfastly at the judges:
+
+"Messieurs, this measure appears to me rather harsh; a man of my age and
+rank ought not to be subjected to these formalities. I have confessed
+all, and I will confess it all again. I willingly and gladly accept
+death; it is not from souls like ours that secrets can be wrung by
+bodily suffering. We are prisoners by our own free will, and at the time
+chosen by us. We have confessed enough for you to condemn us to death;
+you shall know nothing more. We have obtained what we wanted."
+
+"What are you doing, my friend?" interrupted De Thou. "He is mistaken,
+gentlemen, we do not refuse this martyrdom which God offers us; we
+demand it."
+
+"But," said Cinq-Mars, "do you need such infamous tortures to obtain
+salvation--you who are already a martyr, a voluntary martyr to
+friendship? Gentlemen, it is I alone who possess important secrets; it
+is the chief of a conspiracy who knows all. Put me alone to the torture
+if we must be treated like the worst of malefactors."
+
+"For the sake of charity," added De Thou, "deprive me not of equal
+suffering with my friend; I have not followed him so far, to abandon him
+at this dreadful moment, and not to use every effort to accompany him to
+heaven."
+
+During this debate, another was going forward between Laubardemont and
+Joseph. The latter, fearing that torments would induce him to disclose
+the secret of his recent proposition, advised that they should not
+be resorted to; the other, not thinking his triumph complete by death
+alone, absolutely insisted on their being applied. The judges surrounded
+and listened to these secret agents of the Prime-Minister; however, many
+circumstances having caused them to suspect that the influence of the
+Capuchin was more powerful than that of the judge, they took part with
+him, and decided for mercy, when he finished by these words uttered in a
+low voice:
+
+"I know their secrets. There is no necessity to force them from their
+lips, because they are useless, and relate to too high circumstances.
+Monsieur le Grand has no one to denounce but the King, and the other the
+Queen. It is better that we should remain ignorant. Besides, they will
+not confess. I know them; they will be silent--the one from pride, the
+other through piety. Let them alone. The torture will wound them;
+they will be disfigured and unable to walk. That will spoil the whole
+ceremony; they must be kept to appear."
+
+This last observation prevailed. The judges retired to deliberate with
+the chancellor. While departing, Joseph whispered to Laubardemont:
+
+"I have provided you with enough pleasure here; you will still have that
+of deliberating, and then you shall go and examine three men who are
+confined in the northern tower."
+
+These were the three judges who had condemned Urbain Grandier.
+
+As he spoke, he laughed heartily, and was the last to leave the room,
+pushing the astonished master of requests before him.
+
+The sombre tribunal had scarcely disappeared when Grandchamp, relieved
+from his two guards, hastened toward his master, and, seizing his hand,
+said:
+
+"In the name of Heaven, come to the terrace, Monseigneur! I have
+something to show you; in the name of your mother, come!"
+
+But at that moment the chamber door was opened, and the old Abbe Quillet
+appeared.
+
+"My children! my dear children!" exclaimed the old man, weeping
+bitterly. "Alas! why was I only permitted to enter to-day? Dear Henri,
+your mother, your brother, your sister, are concealed here."
+
+"Be quiet, Monsieur l'Abbe!" said Grandchamp; "do come to the terrace,
+Monseigneur."
+
+But the old priest still detained and embraced his pupil.
+
+"We hope," said he; "we hope for mercy."
+
+"I shall refuse it," said Cinq-Mars.
+
+"We hope for nothing but the mercy of God," added De Thou.
+
+"Silence!" said Grandchamp, "the judges are returning."
+
+And the door opened again to admit the dismal procession, from which
+Joseph and Laubardemont were missing.
+
+"Gentlemen," exclaimed the good Abbe, addressing the commissioners, "I
+am happy to tell you that I have just arrived from Paris, and that no
+one doubts but that all the conspirators will be pardoned. I have had an
+interview at her Majesty's apartments with Monsieur himself; and as to
+the Duc de Bouillon, his examination is not unfav--"
+
+"Silence!" cried M. de Seyton, the lieutenant of the Scotch guards;
+and the commissioners entered and again arranged themselves in the
+apartment.
+
+M. de Thou, hearing them summon the criminal recorder of the presidial
+of Lyons to pronounce the sentence, involuntarily launched out in one of
+those transports of religious joy which are never displayed but by the
+martyrs and saints at the approach of death; and, advancing toward this
+man, he exclaimed:
+
+"Quam speciosi pedes evangelizantium pacem, evangelizantium bona!"
+
+Then, taking the hand of Cinq-Mars, he knelt down bareheaded to receive
+the sentence, as was the custom. D'Effiat remained standing; and they
+dared not compel him to kneel. The sentence was pronounced in these
+words:
+
+   "The Attorney-General, prosecutor on the part of the State, on a
+   charge of high treason; and Messire Henri d'Effiat de Cinq-Mars,
+   master of the horse, aged twenty-two, and Francois Auguste de Thou,
+   aged thirty-five, of the King's privy council, prisoners in the
+   chateau of Pierre-Encise, at Lyons, accused and defendants on the
+   other part:
+
+   "Considered, the special trial commenced by the aforesaid attorney-
+   general against the said D'Efiiat and De Thou; informations,
+   interrogations, confessions, denegations, and confrontations, and
+   authenticated copies of the treaty with Spain, it is considered in
+   the delegated chamber:
+
+   "That he who conspires against the person of the ministers of
+   princes is considered by the ancient laws and constitutions of the
+   emperors to be guilty of high treason; (2) that the third ordinance
+   of the King Louis XI renders any one liable to the punishment of
+   death who does not reveal a conspiracy against the State.
+
+   "The commissioners deputed by his Majesty have declared the said
+   D'Effiat and De Thou guilty and convicted of the crime of high
+   treason:
+
+   "The said D'Effiat, for the conspiracies and enterprises, league,
+   and treaties, formed by him with the foreigner against the State;
+
+   "And the said De Thou, for having a thorough knowledge of this
+   conspiracy.
+
+   "In reparation of which crimes they have deprived them of all honors
+   and dignities, and condemned them to be deprived of their heads on a
+   scaffold, which is for this purpose erected in the Place des
+   Terreaux, in this city.
+
+   "It is further declared that all and each of their possessions, real
+   and personal, be confiscated to the King, and that those which they
+   hold from the crown do pass immediately to it again of the aforesaid
+   goods, sixty thousand livres being devoted to pious uses."
+
+After the sentence was pronounced, M. de Thou exclaimed in a loud voice:
+
+"God be blessed! God be praised!"
+
+"I have never feared death," said Cinq-Mars, coldly.
+
+Then, according to the forms prescribed, M. Seyton, the lieutenant of
+the Scotch guards, an old man upward of sixty years of age, declared
+with emotion that he placed the prisoners in the hands of the Sieur
+Thome, provost of the merchants of Lyons; he then took leave of them,
+followed by the whole of the body-guard, silently, and in tears.
+
+"Weep not," said Cinq-Mars; "tears are useless. Rather pray for us; and
+be assured that I do not fear death."
+
+He shook them by the hand, and De Thou embraced them; after which they
+left the apartment, their eyes filled with tears, and hiding their faces
+in their cloaks.
+
+"Barbarians!" exclaimed the Abbe Quillet; "to find arms against them,
+one must search the whole arsenal of tyrants. Why did they admit me at
+this moment?"
+
+"As a confessor, Monsieur," whispered one of the commissioners; "for no
+stranger has entered this place these two months."
+
+As soon as the huge gates of the prison were closed, and the outside
+gratings lowered, "To the terrace, in the name of Heaven!" again
+exclaimed Grandchamp. And he drew his master and De Thou thither.
+
+The old preceptor followed them, weeping.
+
+"What do you want with us in a moment like this?" said Cinq-Mars, with
+indulgent gravity.
+
+"Look at the chains of the town," said the faithful servant.
+
+The rising sun had hardly tinged the sky. In the horizon a line of vivid
+yellow was visible, upon which the mountain's rough blue outlines were
+boldly traced; the waves of the Saline, and the chains of the town
+hanging from one bank to the other, were still veiled by a light vapor,
+which also rose from Lyons and concealed the roofs of the houses from
+the eye of the spectator. The first tints of the morning light had as
+yet colored only the most elevated points of the magnificent landscape.
+In the city the steeples of the Hotel de Ville and St. Nizier, and on
+the surrounding hills the monasteries of the Carmelites and Ste.-Marie,
+and the entire fortress of Pierre-Encise were gilded with the fires
+of the coming day. The joyful peals from the churches were heard, the
+peaceful matins from the convent and village bells. The walls of the
+prison were alone silent.
+
+"Well," said Cinq-Mars, "what are we to see the beauty of the plains,
+the richness of the city, or the calm peacefulness of these villages?
+Ah, my friend, in every place there are to be found passions and griefs,
+like those which have brought us here."
+
+The old Abbe and Grandchamp leaned over the parapet, watching the bank
+of the river.
+
+"The fog is so thick, we can see nothing yet," said the Abbe.
+
+"How slowly our last sun appears!" said De Thou.
+
+"Do you not see low down there, at the foot of the rocks, on the
+opposite bank, a small white house, between the Halincourt gate and the
+Boulevard Saint Jean?" asked the Abbe.
+
+"I see nothing," answered Cinq-Mars, "but a mass of dreary wall."
+
+"Hark!" said the Abbe; "some one speaks near us!"
+
+In fact, a confused, low, and inexplicable murmur was heard in a little
+turret, the back of which rested upon the platform of the terrace. As it
+was scarcely larger than a pigeon-house, the prisoners had not until now
+observed it.
+
+"Are they already coming to fetch us?" said Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Bah! bah!" answered Grandchamp, "do not make yourself uneasy; it is the
+Tour des Oubliettes. I have prowled round the fort for two months, and
+I have seen men fall from there into the water at least once a week. Let
+us think of our affair. I see a light down there."
+
+An invincible curiosity, however, led the two prisoners to look at the
+turret, in spite of the horror of their own situation. It advanced to
+the extremity of the rock, over a gulf of foaming green water of great
+depth. A wheel of a mill long deserted was seen turning with great
+rapidity. Three distinct sounds were now heard, like those of a
+drawbridge suddenly lowered and raised to its former position by a
+recoil or spring striking against the stone walls; and three times a
+black substance was seen to fall into the water with a splash.
+
+"Mercy! can these be men?" exclaimed the Abbe, crossing himself.
+
+"I thought I saw brown robes turning in the air," said Grandchamp; "they
+are the Cardinal's friends."
+
+A horrible cry was heard from the tower, accompanied by an impious oath.
+The heavy trap groaned for the fourth time. The green water received
+with a loud noise a burden which cracked the enormous wheel of the mill;
+one of its large spokes was torn away, and a man entangled in its beams
+appeared above the foam, which he colored with his blood. He rose twice,
+and sank beneath the waters, shrieking violently; it was Laubardemont.
+
+Cinq-Mars drew back in horror.
+
+"There is a Providence," said Grandchamp; "Urbain Grandier summoned
+him in three years. But come, come! the time is precious! Do not remain
+motionless. Be it he, I am not surprised, for those wretches devour each
+other. But let us endeavor to deprive them of their choicest morsel.
+Vive Dieu! I see the signal! We are saved! All is ready; run to this
+side, Monsieur l'Abbe! See the white handkerchief at the window! our
+friends are prepared."
+
+The Abbe seized the hands of both his friends, and drew them to that
+side of the terrace toward which they had at first looked. "Listen to
+me, both of you," said he. "You must know that none of the conspirators
+has profited by the retreat you secured for them. They have all
+hastened to Lyons, disguised, and in great number; they have distributed
+sufficient gold in the city to secure them from being betrayed; they are
+resolved to make an attempt to deliver you. The time chosen is that when
+they are conducting you to the scaffold; the signal is your hat, which
+you will place on your head when they are to commence."
+
+The worthy Abbe, half weeping, half smiling hopefully, related that
+upon the arrest of his pupil he had hastened to Paris; that such secrecy
+enveloped all the Cardinal's actions that none there knew the place
+in which the master of the horse was detained. Many said that he was
+banished; and when the reconciliation between Monsieur and the Duc de
+Bouillon and the King was known, men no longer doubted that the life of
+the other was assured, and ceased to speak of this affair, which, not
+having been executed, compromised few persons. They had even in some
+measure rejoiced in Paris to see the town of Sedan and its territory
+added to the kingdom in exchange for the letters of abolition granted
+to the Duke, acknowledged innocent in common with Monsieur; so that
+the result of all the arrangements had been to excite admiration of the
+Cardinal's ability, and of his clemency toward the conspirators, who, it
+was said, had contemplated his death. They even spread the report
+that he had facilitated the escape of Cinq-Mars and De Thou, occupying
+himself generously with their retreat to a foreign land, after
+having bravely caused them to be arrested in the midst of the camp of
+Perpignan.
+
+At this part of the narrative, Cinq-Mars could not avoid forgetting his
+resignation, and clasping his friend's hand, "Arrested!" he exclaimed.
+"Must we renounce even the honor of having voluntarily surrendered
+ourselves? Must we sacrifice all, even the opinion of posterity?"
+
+"There is vanity again," replied De Thou, placing his fingers on his
+lips. "But hush! let us hear the Abbe to the end."
+
+The tutor, not doubting that the calmness which these two young men
+exhibited arose from the joy they felt in finding their escape assured,
+and seeing that the sun had hardly yet dispersed the morning mists,
+yielded himself without restraint to the involuntary pleasure which old
+men always feel in recounting new events, even though they afflict the
+hearers. He related all his fruitless endeavors to discover his pupil's
+retreat, unknown to the court and the town, where none, indeed, dared to
+pronounce the name of Cinq-Mars in the most secret asylums. He had only
+heard of the imprisonment at Pierre-Encise from the Queen herself, who
+had deigned to send for him, and charge him to inform the Marechale
+d'Effiat and all the conspirators that they might make a desperate
+effort to deliver their young chief. Anne of Austria had even ventured
+to send many of the gentlemen of Auvergne and Touraine to Lyons to
+assist in their last attempt.
+
+"The good Queen!" said he; "she wept greatly when I saw her, and said
+that she would give all she possessed to save you. She reproached
+herself deeply for some letter, I know not what. She spoke of the
+welfare of France, but did not explain herself. She said that she
+admired you, and conjured you to save yourself, if it were only through
+pity for her, whom you would otherwise consign to everlasting remorse."
+
+"Said she nothing else?" interrupted De Thou, supporting Cinq-Mars, who
+grew visibly paler.
+
+"Nothing more," said the old man.
+
+"And no one else spoke of me?" inquired the master of the horse.
+
+"No one," said the Abbe.
+
+"If she had but written to me!" murmured Henri.
+
+"Remember, my father, that you were sent here as a confessor," said De
+Thou.
+
+Here old Grandchamp, who had been kneeling before Cinq-Mars, and
+dragging him by his clothes to the other side of the terrace, exclaimed
+in a broken voice:
+
+"Monseigneur--my master--my good master--do you see them? Look
+there--'tis they! 'tis they--all of them!"
+
+"Who, my old friend?" asked his master.
+
+"Who? Great Heaven! look at that window! Do you not recognize them? Your
+mother, your sisters, and your brother."
+
+And the day, now fairly broken, showed him in the distance several women
+waving their handkerchiefs; and there, dressed all in black, stretching
+out her arms toward the prison, sustained by those about her, Cinq-Mars
+recognized his mother, with his family, and his strength failed him for
+a moment. He leaned his head upon his friend's breast and wept.
+
+"How many times must I, then, die?" he murmured; then, with a gesture,
+returning from the top of the tower the salutations of his family, "Let
+us descend quickly, my father!" he said to the old Abbe. "You will tell
+me at the tribunal of penitence, and before God, whether the remainder
+of my life is worth my shedding more blood to preserve it."
+
+It was there that Cinq-Mars confessed to God what he alone and Marie
+de Mantua knew of their secret and unfortunate love. "He gave to his
+confessor," says Father Daniel, "a portrait of a noble lady, set in
+diamonds, which were to be sold, and the money employed in pious works."
+
+M. de Thou, after having confessed, wrote a letter;--[See the copy of
+this letter to Madame la Princesse de Guemenee, in the notes at the
+end of the volume.]--after which (according to the account given by his
+confessor) he said, "This is the last thought I will bestow upon this
+world; let us depart for heaven!" and walking up and down the room with
+long strides, he recited aloud the psalm, 'Miserere mei, Deus', with an
+incredible ardor of spirit, his whole frame trembling so violently it
+seemed as if he did not touch the earth, and that the soul was about
+to make its exit from his body. The guards were mute at this spectacle,
+which made them all shudder with respect and horror.
+
+Meanwhile, all was calm in the city of Lyons, when to the great
+astonishment of its inhabitants, they beheld the entrance through
+all its gates of troops of infantry and cavalry, which they knew were
+encamped at a great distance. The French and the Swiss guards,
+the regiment of Pompadours, the men-at-arms of Maurevert, and the
+carabineers of La Roque, all defiled in silence. The cavalry, with their
+muskets on the pommel of the saddle, silently drew up round the chateau
+of Pierre-Encise; the infantry formed a line upon the banks of the Saone
+from the gate of the fortress to the Place des Terreaux. It was the
+usual spot for execution.
+
+   "Four companies of the bourgeois of Lyons, called 'pennonage', of
+   which about eleven or twelve hundred men, were ranged [says the
+   journal of Montresor] in the midst of the Place des Terreaux, so as
+   to enclose a space of about eighty paces each way, into which they
+   admitted no one but those who were absolutely necessary.
+
+   "In the centre of this space was raised a scaffold about seven feet
+   high and nine feet square, in the midst of which, somewhat forward,
+   was placed a stake three feet in height, in front of which was a
+   block half a foot high, so that the principal face of the scaffold
+   looked toward the shambles of the Terreaux, by the side of the
+   Saone. Against the scaffold was placed a short ladder of eight
+   rounds, in the direction of the Dames de St. Pierre."
+
+Nothing had transpired in the town as to the name of the prisoners. The
+inaccessible walls of the fortress let none enter or leave but at night,
+and the deep dungeons had sometimes confined father and son for years
+together, four feet apart from each other, without their even being
+aware of the vicinity. The surprise was extreme at these striking
+preparations, and the crowd collected, not knowing whether for a fete or
+for an execution.
+
+This same secrecy which the agents of the minister had strictly
+preserved was also carefully adhered to by the conspirators, for their
+heads depended on it.
+
+Montresor, Fontrailles, the Baron de Beauvau, Olivier d'Entraigues,
+Gondi, the Comte du Lude, and the Advocate Fournier, disguised as
+soldiers, workmen, and morris-dancers, armed with poniards under their
+clothes, had dispersed amid the crowd more than five hundred gentlemen
+and domestics, disguised like themselves. Horses were ready on the road
+to Italy, and boats upon the Rhone had been previously engaged. The
+young Marquis d'Effiat, elder brother of Cinq-Mars, dressed as a
+Carthusian, traversed the crowd, without ceasing, between the Place
+des Terreaux and the little house in which his mother and sister were
+concealed with the Presidente de Pontac, the sister of the unfortunate
+De Thou. He reassured them, gave them from time to time a ray of hope,
+and returned to the conspirators to satisfy himself that each was
+prepared for action.
+
+Each soldier forming the line had at his side a man ready to poniard
+him.
+
+The vast crowd, heaped together behind the line of guards, pushed them
+forward, passed their lines, and made them lose ground. Ambrosio,
+the Spanish servant whom Cinq-Mars had saved, had taken charge of the
+captain of the pikemen, and, disguised as a Catalonian musician, had
+commenced a dispute with him, pretending to be determined not to cease
+playing the hurdy-gurdy.
+
+Every one was at his post.
+
+The Abbe de Gondi, Olivier d'Entraigues, and the Marquis d'Effiat were
+in the midst of a group of fish-women and oyster-wenches, who were
+disputing and bawling, abusing one of their number younger and more
+timid than her masculine companions. The brother of Cinq-Mars approached
+to listen to their quarrel.
+
+"And why," said she to the others, "would you have Jean le Roux, who
+is an honest man, cut off the heads of two Christians, because he is
+a butcher by trade? So long as I am his wife, I'll not allow it. I'd
+rather--"
+
+"Well, you are wrong!" replied her companions. "What is't to thee
+whether the meat he cuts is eaten or not eaten? Why, thou'lt have a
+hundred crowns to dress thy three children all in new clothes. Thou'rt
+lucky to be the wife of a butcher. Profit, then, 'ma mignonne', by what
+God sends thee by the favor of his Eminence."
+
+"Let me alone!" answered the first speaker. "I'll not accept it. I've
+seen these fine young gentlemen at the windows. They look as mild as
+lambs."
+
+"Well! and are not thy lambs and calves killed?" said Femme le Bon.
+"What fortune falls to this little woman! What a pity! especially when
+it is from the reverend Capuchin!"
+
+"How horrible is the gayety of the people!" said Olivier d'Entraigues,
+unguardedly. All the women heard him, and began to murmur against him.
+
+"Of the people!" said they; "and whence comes this little bricklayer
+with his plastered clothes?"
+
+"Ah!" interrupted another, "dost not see that 'tis some gentleman in
+disguise? Look at his white hands! He never worked a square; 'tis some
+little dandy conspirator. I've a great mind to go and fetch the captain
+of the watch to arrest him."
+
+The Abbe de Gondi felt all the danger of this situation, and throwing
+himself with an air of anger upon Olivier, and assuming the manners of
+a joiner, whose costume and apron he had adopted, he exclaimed, seizing
+him by the collar:
+
+"You're just right. 'Tis a little rascal that never works! These two
+years that my father's apprenticed him, he has done nothing but comb his
+hair to please the girls. Come, get home with you!"
+
+And, striking him with his rule, he drove him through the crowd, and
+returned to place himself on another part of the line. After having well
+reprimanded the thoughtless page, he asked him for the letter which
+he said he had to give to M. de Cinq-Mars when he should have escaped.
+Olivier had carried it in his pocket for two months. He gave it him. "It
+is from one prisoner to another," said he, "for the Chevalier de jars,
+on leaving the Bastille, sent it me from one of his companions in
+captivity."
+
+"Ma foi!" said Gondi, "there may be some important secret in it for our
+friends. I'll open it. You ought to have thought of it before. Ah, bah!
+it is from old Bassompierre. Let us read it.
+
+   MY DEAR CHILD: I learn from the depths of the Bastille, where I
+   still remain, that you are conspiring against the tyrant Richelieu,
+   who does not cease to humiliate our good old nobility and the
+   parliaments, and to sap the foundations of the edifice upon which
+   the State reposes. I hear that the nobles are taxed and condemned
+   by petty judges, contrary to the privileges of their condition,
+   forced to the arriere-ban, despite the ancient customs."
+
+"Ah! the old dotard!" interrupted the page, laughing immoderately.
+
+"Not so foolish as you imagine, only he is a little behindhand for our
+affair."
+
+   "I can not but approve this generous project, and I pray you give me
+   to wot all your proceedings--"
+
+"Ah! the old language of the last reign!" said Olivier. "He can't say
+'Make me acquainted with your proceedings,' as we now say."
+
+"Let me read, for Heaven's sake!" said the Abbe; "a hundred years hence
+they'll laugh at our phrases." He continued:
+
+   "I can counsel you, notwithstanding my great age, in relating to you
+   what happened to me in 1560."
+
+"Ah, faith! I've not time to waste in reading it all. Let us see the
+end.
+
+   "When I remember my dining at the house of Madame la Marechale
+   d'Effiat, your mother, and ask myself what has become of all the
+   guests, I am really afflicted. My poor Puy-Laurens has died at
+   Vincennes, of grief at being forgotten by Monsieur in his prison;
+   De Launay killed in a duel, and I am grieved at it, for although I
+   was little satisfied with my arrest, he did it with courtesy, and I
+   have always thought him a gentleman. As for me, I am under lock and
+   key until the death of M. le Cardinal. Ah, my child! we were
+   thirteen at table. We must not laugh at old superstitions. Thank
+   God that you are the only one to whom evil has not arrived!"
+
+"There again!" said Olivier, laughing heartily; and this time the Abbe
+de Gondi could not maintain his gravity, despite all his efforts.
+
+They tore the useless letter to pieces, that it might not prolong the
+detention of the old marechal, should it be found, and drew near the
+Place des Terreaux and the line of guards, whom they were to attack when
+the signal of the hat should be given by the young prisoner.
+
+They beheld with satisfaction all their friends at their posts, and
+ready "to play with their knives," to use their own expression. The
+people, pressing around them, favored them without being aware of it.
+There came near the Abbe a troop of young ladies dressed in white and
+veiled. They were going to church to communicate; and the nuns who
+conducted them, thinking, like most of the people, that the preparations
+were intended to do honor to some great personage, allowed them to mount
+upon some large hewn stones, collected behind the soldiers. There they
+grouped themselves with the grace natural to their age, like twenty
+beautiful statues upon a single pedestal. One would have taken them
+for those vestals whom antiquity invited to the sanguinary shows of the
+gladiators. They whispered to each other, looking around them, laughing
+and blushing together like children.
+
+The Abbe de Gondi saw with impatience that Olivier was again forgetting
+his character of conspirator and his costume of a bricklayer in ogling
+these girls, and assuming a mien too elegant, an attitude too refined,
+for the position in life he was supposed to occupy. He already began to
+approach them, turning his hair with his fingers, when Fontrailles and
+Montresor fortunately arrived in the dress of Swiss soldiers. A group of
+gentlemen, disguised as sailors, followed them with iron-shod staves
+in their hands. There was a paleness on their faces which announced no
+good.
+
+"Stop here!" said one of them to his suite; "this is the place."
+
+The sombre air and the silence of these spectators contrasted with the
+gay and anxious looks of the girls, and their childish exclamations.
+
+"Ah, the fine procession!" they cried; "there are at least five hundred
+men with cuirasses and red uniforms, upon fine horses. They've got
+yellow feathers in their large hats."
+
+"They are strangers--Catalonians," said a French guard.
+
+"Whom are they conducting here? Ah, here is a fine gilt coach! but
+there's no one in it."
+
+"Ah! I see three men on foot; where are they going?"
+
+"To death!" said Fontrailles, in a deep, stern voice which silenced
+all around. Nothing was heard but the slow tramp of the horses,
+which suddenly stopped, from one of those delays that happen in all
+processions. They then beheld a painful and singular spectacle. An old
+man with a tonsured head walked with difficulty, sobbing violently,
+supported by two young men of interesting and engaging appearance, who
+held one of each other's hands behind his bent shoulders, while with
+the other each held one of his arms. The one on the left was dressed
+in black; he was grave, and his eyes were cast down. The other, much
+younger, was attired in a striking dress. A pourpoint of Holland cloth,
+adorned with broad gold lace, and with large embroidered sleeves,
+covered him from the neck to the waist, somewhat in the fashion of
+a woman's corset; the rest of his vestments were in black velvet,
+embroidered with silver palms. Gray boots with red heels, to which were
+attached golden spurs; a scarlet cloak with gold buttons--all set off to
+advantage his elegant and graceful figure. He bowed right and left with
+a melancholy smile.
+
+An old servant, with white moustache, and beard, followed with his head
+bent down, leading two chargers, richly comparisoned. The young ladies
+were silent; but they could not restrain their sobs.
+
+"It is, then, that poor old man whom they are leading to the scaffold,"
+they exclaimed; "and his children are supporting him."
+
+"Upon your knees, ladies," said a man, "and pray for him!"
+
+"On your knees," cried Gondi, "and let us pray that God will deliver
+him!"
+
+All the conspirators repeated, "On your knees! on your knees!" and set
+the example to the people, who imitated them in silence.
+
+"We can see his movements better now," said Gondi, in a whisper to
+Montresor. "Stand up; what is he doing?"
+
+"He has stopped, and is speaking on our side, saluting us; I think he
+has recognized us."
+
+Every house, window, wall, roof, and raised platform that looked upon
+the place was filled with persons of every age and condition.
+
+The most profound silence prevailed throughout the immense multitude.
+One might have heard the wings of a gnat, the breath of the slightest
+wind, the passage of the grains of dust which it raised; yet the air was
+calm, the sun brilliant, the sky blue. The people listened attentively.
+They were close to the Place des Terreaux; they heard the blows of the
+hammer upon the planks, then the voice of Cinq-Mars.
+
+A young Carthusian thrust his pale face between two guards. All the
+conspirators rose above the kneeling people. Every one put his hand to
+his belt or in his bosom, approaching close to the soldier whom he was
+to poniard.
+
+"What is he doing?" asked the Carthusian. "Has he his hat upon his
+head?"
+
+"He throws his hat upon the ground far from him," calmly answered the
+arquebusier.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI. THE FETE
+
+          "Mon Dieu! quest-ce que ce monde!"
+
+                  Dernieres paroles de M. Cinq-Mars
+
+The same day that the melancholy procession took place at Lyons, and
+during the scenes we have just witnessed, a magnificent fete was given
+at Paris with all the luxury and bad taste of the time. The powerful
+Cardinal had determined to fill the first two towns in France with his
+pomp. The Cardinal's return was the occasion on which this fete was
+announced, as given to the King and all his court.
+
+Master of the French empire by force, the Cardinal desired to be master
+of French opinion by seduction; and, weary of dominating, hoped
+to please. The tragedy of "Mirame" was to be represented in a hall
+constructed expressly for this great day, which raised the expenses of
+this entertainment, says Pelisson, to three hundred thousand crowns.
+
+The entire guard of the Prime-Minister were under arms; his four
+companies of musketeers and gens d'armes were ranged in a line upon
+the vast staircases and at the entrance of the long galleries of the
+Palais-Cardinal. This brilliant pandemonium, where the mortal sins have
+a temple on each floor, belonged that day to pride alone, which occupied
+it from top to bottom. Upon each step was placed one of the arquebusiers
+of the Cardinal's guard, holding a torch in one hand and a long carbine
+in the other. The crowd of his gentlemen circulated between these
+living candelabra, while in the large garden, surrounded by huge
+chestnut-trees, now replaced by a range of archers, two companies of
+mounted light-horse, their muskets in their hands, were ready to obey
+the first order or the first fear of their master.
+
+The Cardinal, carried and followed by his thirty-eight pages, took his
+seat in his box hung with purple, facing that in which the King was half
+reclining behind the green curtains which preserved him from the glare
+of the flambeaux. The whole court filled the boxes, and rose when the
+King appeared. The orchestra commenced a brilliant overture, and the pit
+was thrown open to all the men of the town and the army who presented
+themselves. Three impetuous waves of spectators rushed in and filled it
+in an instant. They were standing, and so thickly pressed together that
+the movement of a single arm sufficed to cause in the crowd a movement
+similar to the waving of a field of corn. There was one man whose head
+thus described a large circle, as that of a compass, without his feet
+quitting the spot to which they were fixed; and some young men were
+carried out fainting.
+
+The minister, contrary to custom, advanced his skeleton head out of
+his box, and saluted the assembly with an air which was meant to be
+gracious. This grimace obtained an acknowledgment only from the boxes;
+the pit was silent. Richelieu had wished to show that he did not fear
+the public judgment upon his work, and had given orders to admit without
+distinction all who should present themselves. He began to repent
+of this, but too late. The impartial assembly was as cold at the
+tragedie-pastorale itself. In vain did the theatrical bergeres, covered
+with jewels, raised upon red heels, with crooks ornamented with ribbons
+and garlands of flowers upon their robes, which were stuck out with
+farthingale's, die of love in tirades of two hundred verses; in vain
+did the 'amants parfaits' starve themselves in solitary caves, deploring
+their death in emphatic tones, and fastening to their hair ribbons of
+the favorite color of their mistress; in vain did the ladies of the
+court exhibit signs of perfect ecstasy, leaning over the edges of their
+boxes, and even attempt a few fainting-fits--the silent pit gave no
+other sign of life than the perpetual shaking of black heads with long
+hair.
+
+The Cardinal bit his lips and played the abstracted during the first
+and second acts; the silence in which the third and fourth passed off
+so wounded his paternal heart that he had himself raised half out of the
+balcony, and in this uncomfortable and ridiculous position signed to
+the court to remark the finest passages, and himself gave the signal for
+applause. It was acted upon from some of the boxes, but the impassible
+pit was more silent than ever; leaving the affair entirely between
+the stage and the upper regions, they obstinately remained neuter. The
+master of Europe and France then cast a furious look at this handful of
+men who dared not to admire his work, feeling in his heart the wish of
+Nero, and thought for a moment how happy he should be if all those men
+had but one head.
+
+Suddenly this black and before silent mass became animated, and endless
+rounds of applause burst forth, to the great astonishment of the boxes,
+and above all, of the minister. He bent forward and bowed gratefully,
+but drew back on perceiving that the clapping of hands interrupted the
+actors every time they wished to proceed. The King had the curtains
+of his box, until then closed, opened, to see what excited so much
+enthusiasm. The whole court leaned forward from their boxes, and
+perceived among the spectators on the stage a young man, humbly dressed,
+who had just seated himself there with difficulty. Every look was fixed
+upon him. He appeared utterly embarrassed by this, and sought to cover
+himself with his little black cloak-far too short for the purpose. "Le
+Cid! le Cid!" cried the pit, incessantly applauding.
+
+"Terrified, Corneille escaped behind the scenes, and all was again
+silent. The Cardinal, beside himself with fury, had his curtain closed,
+and was carried into his galleries, where was performed another
+scene, prepared long before by the care of Joseph, who had tutored
+the attendants upon the point before quitting Paris. Cardinal Mazarin
+exclaimed that it would be quicker to pass his Eminence through a long
+glazed window, which was only two feet from the ground, and led from his
+box to the apartments; and it opened and the page passed his
+armchair through it. Hereupon a hundred voices rose to proclaim the
+accomplishment of the grand prophecy of Nostradamus. They said:
+
+"The bonnet rouge!-that's Monseigneur; 'quarante onces!'--that's
+Cinq-Mars; 'tout finira!'--that's De Thou. What a providential incident!
+His Eminence reigns over the future as over the present."
+
+He advanced thus upon his ambulatory throne through the long and
+splendid galleries, listening to this delicious murmur of a new
+flattery; but insensible to the hum of voices which deified his genius,
+he would have given all their praises for one word, one single gesture
+of that immovable and inflexible public, even had that word been a
+cry of hatred; for clamor can be stifled, but how avenge one's self on
+silence? The people can be prevented from striking, but who can prevent
+their waiting? Pursued by the troublesome phantom of public opinion,
+the gloomy minister only thought himself in safety when he reached the
+interior of his palace amid his flattering courtiers, whose adorations
+soon made him forget that a miserable pit had dared not to admire him.
+He had himself placed like a king in the midst of his vast apartments,
+and, looking around him, attentively counted the powerful and submissive
+men who surrounded him.
+
+Counting them, he admired himself. The chiefs of the great families,
+the princes of the Church, the presidents of all the parliaments, the
+governors of the provinces, the marshals and generals-in-chief of the
+armies, the nuncio, the ambassadors of all the kingdoms, the deputies
+and senators of the republics, were motionless, submissive, and ranged
+around him, as if awaiting his orders. There was no longer a look to
+brave his look, no longer a word to raise itself against his will, not a
+project that men dared to form in the most secret recesses of the heart,
+not a thought which did not proceed from his. Mute Europe listened to
+him by its representatives. From time to time he raise an imperious
+voice, and threw a self-satisfied word to this pompous circle, as a
+man who throws a copper coin among a crowd of beggars. Then might be
+distinguished, by the pride which lit up his looks and the joy visible
+in his countenance, the prince who had received such a favor.
+
+Transformed into another man, he seemed to have made a step in the
+hierarchy of power, so surrounded with unlooked-for adorations and
+sudden caresses was the fortunate courtier, whose obscure happiness
+the Cardinal did not even perceive. The King's brother and the Duc
+de Bouillon stood in the crowd, whence the minister did not deign to
+withdraw them. Only he ostentatiously said that it would be well
+to dismantle a few fortresses, spoke at length of the necessity of
+pavements and quays at Paris, and said in two words to Turenne that
+he might perhaps be sent to the army in Italy, to seek his baton as
+marechal from Prince Thomas.
+
+While Richelieu thus played with the great and small things of Europe,
+amid his noisy fete, the Queen was informed at the Louvre that the time
+was come for her to proceed to the Cardinal's palace, where the King
+awaited her after the tragedy. The serious Anne of Austria did not
+witness any play; but she could not refuse her presence at the fete of
+the Prime-Minister. She was in her oratory, ready to depart, and covered
+with pearls, her favorite ornament; standing opposite a large glass with
+Marie de Mantua, she was arranging more to her satisfaction one or two
+details of the young Duchess's toilette, who, dressed in a long pink
+robe, was herself contemplating with attention, though with somewhat of
+ennui and a little sullenness, the ensemble of her appearance.
+
+She saw her own work in Marie, and, more troubled, thought with deep
+apprehension of the moment when this transient calm would cease, despite
+the profound knowledge she had of the feeling but frivolous character of
+Marie. Since the conversation at St.-Germain (the fatal letter), she had
+not quitted the young Princess, and had bestowed all her care to lead
+her mind to the path which she had traced out for her, for the most
+decided feature in the character of Anne of Austria was an invincible
+obstinacy in her calculations, to which she would fain have subjected
+all events and all passions with a geometrical exactitude. There is no
+doubt that to this positive and immovable mind we must attribute all the
+misfortunes of her regency. The sombre reply of Cinq-Mars; his arrest;
+his trial--all had been concealed from the Princesse Marie, whose first
+fault, it is true, had been a movement of self-love and a momentary
+forgetfulness.
+
+However, the Queen by nature was good-hearted, and had bitterly repented
+her precipitation in writing words so decisive, and whose consequences
+had been so serious; and all her endeavors had been applied to mitigate
+the results. In reflecting upon her conduct in reference to the
+happiness of France, she applauded herself for having thus, at one
+stroke, stifled the germ of a civil war which would have shaken the
+State to its very foundations. But when she approached her young friend
+and gazed on that charming being whose happiness she was thus destroying
+in its bloom, and reflected that an old man upon a throne, even, would
+not recompense her for the eternal loss she was about to sustain; when
+she thought of the entire devotion, the total abnegation of himself, she
+had witnessed in a young man of twenty-two, of so lofty a character,
+and almost master of the kingdom--she pitied Marie, and admired from her
+very soul the man whom she had judged so ill.
+
+She would at least have desired to explain his worth to her whom he had
+loved so deeply, and who as yet knew him not; but she still hoped that
+the conspirators assembled at Lyons would be able to save him, and
+once knowing him to be in a foreign land she could tell all to her dear
+Marie.
+
+As to the latter, she had at first feared war. But surrounded by the
+Queen's people, who had let nothing reach her ear but news dictated by
+this Princess, she knew, or thought she knew, that the conspiracy had
+not taken place; that the King and the Cardinal had returned to Paris
+nearly at the same time; that Monsieur, relapsed for a while, had
+reappeared at court; that the Duc de Bouillon, on ceding Sedan, had
+also been restored to favor; and that if the 'grand ecuyer' had not
+yet appeared, the reason was the more decided animosity of the Cardinal
+toward him, and the greater part he had taken in the conspiracy. But
+common sense and natural justice clearly said that having acted under
+the order of the King's brother, his pardon ought to follow that of this
+Prince.
+
+All then, had calmed the first uneasiness of her heart, while nothing
+had softened the kind of proud resentment she felt against Cinq-Mars, so
+indifferent as not to inform her of the place of his retreat, known
+to the Queen and the whole court, while, she said to herself, she had
+thought but of him. Besides, for two months the balls and fetes had
+so rapidly succeeded each other, and so many mysterious duties had
+commanded her presence, that she had for reflection and regret scarce
+more than the time of her toilette, at which she was generally almost
+alone. Every evening she regularly commenced the general reflection upon
+the ingratitude and inconstancy of men--a profound and novel thought,
+which never fails to occupy the head of a young person in the time of
+first love--but sleep never permitted her to finish the reflection; and
+the fatigue of dancing closed her large black eyes ere her ideas had
+found time to classify themselves in her memory, or to present her with
+any distinct images of the past.
+
+In the morning she was always surrounded by the young princesses of the
+court, and ere she well had time to dress had to present herself in
+the Queen's apartment, where awaited her the eternal, but now less
+disagreeable homage of the Prince-Palatine. The Poles had had time to
+learn at the court of France that mysterious reserve, that eloquent
+silence which so pleases the women, because it enhances the importance
+of things always secret, and elevates those whom they respect, so as to
+preclude the idea of exhibiting suffering in their presence. Marie was
+regarded as promised to King Uladislas; and she herself--we must confess
+it--had so well accustomed herself to this idea that the throne of
+Poland occupied by another queen would have appeared to her a monstrous
+thing. She did not look forward with pleasure to the period of ascending
+it, but had, however, taken possession of the homage which was rendered
+her beforehand. Thus, without avowing it even to herself, she greatly
+exaggerated the supposed offences of Cinq-Mars, which the Queen had
+expounded to her at St. Germain.
+
+"You are as fresh as the roses in this bouquet," said the Queen. "Come,
+'ma chere', are you ready? What means this pouting air? Come, let me
+fasten this earring. Do you not like these toys, eh? Will you have
+another set of ornaments?"
+
+"Oh, no, Madame. I think that I ought not to decorate myself at all, for
+no one knows better than yourself how unhappy I am. Men are very cruel
+toward us!
+
+"I have reflected on what you said, and all is now clear to me. Yes, it
+is quite true that he did not love me, for had he loved me he would have
+renounced an enterprise that gave me so much uneasiness. I told him, I
+remember, indeed, which was very decided," she added, with an important
+and even solemn air, "that he would be a rebel--yes, Madame, a rebel. I
+told him so at Saint-Eustache. But I see that your Majesty was right.
+I am very unfortunate! He had more ambition than love." Here a tear of
+pique escaped from her eyes, and rolled quickly down her cheek, as a
+pearl upon a rose.
+
+"Yes, it is certain," she continued, fastening her bracelets; "and
+the greatest proof is that in the two months he has renounced his
+enterprise--you told me that you had saved him--he has not let me know
+the place of his retreat, while I during that time have been weeping,
+have been imploring all your power in his favor; have sought but a word
+that might inform me of his proceedings. I have thought but of him;
+and even now I refuse every day the throne of Poland, because I wish to
+prove to the end that I am constant, that you yourself can not make me
+disloyal to my attachment, far more serious than his, and that we are of
+higher worth than the men. But, however, I think I may attend this fete,
+since it is not a ball."
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear child! come, come!" said the Queen, desirous of
+putting an end to this childish talk, which afflicted her all the more
+that it was herself who had encouraged it. "Come, you will see the union
+that prevails between the princes and the Cardinal, and we shall perhaps
+hear some good news." They departed.
+
+When the two princesses entered the long galleries of the
+Palais-Cardinal, they were received and coldly saluted by the King and
+the minister, who, closely surrounded by silent courtiers, were playing
+at chess upon a small low table. All the ladies who entered with the
+Queen or followed her, spread through the apartments; and soon soft
+music sounded in one of the saloons--a gentle accompaniment to the
+thousand private conversations carried on round the play tables.
+
+Near the Queen passed, saluting her, a young newly married couple--the
+happy Chabot and the beautiful Duchesse de Rohan. They seemed to
+shun the crowd, and to seek apart a moment to speak to each other of
+themselves. Every one received them with a smile and looked after them
+with envy. Their happiness was expressed as strongly in the countenances
+of others as in their own.
+
+Marie followed them with her eyes. "Still they are happy," she whispered
+to the Queen, remembering the censure which in her hearing had been
+thrown upon the match.
+
+But without answering, Anne of Austria, fearful that in the crowd some
+inconsiderate expression might inform her young friend of the mournful
+event so interesting to her, placed herself with Marie behind the King.
+Monsieur, the Prince-Palatine, and the Duc de Bouillon came to speak to
+her with a gay and lively air. The second, however, casting upon Marie a
+severe and scrutinizing glance, said to her:
+
+"Madame la Princesse, you are most surprisingly beautiful and gay this
+evening."
+
+She was confused at these words, and at seeing the speaker walk away
+with a sombre air. She addressed herself to the Duc d'Orleans, who did
+not answer, and seemed not to hear her. Marie looked at the Queen, and
+thought she remarked paleness and disquiet on her features. Meantime, no
+one ventured to approach the minister, who was deliberately meditating
+his moves. Mazarin alone, leaning over his chair, followed all the
+strokes with a servile attention, giving gestures of admiration every
+time that the Cardinal played. Application to the game seemed to have
+dissipated for a moment the cloud that usually shaded the minister's
+brow. He had just advanced a tower, which placed Louis's king in that
+false position which is called "stalemate,"--a situation in which the
+ebony king, without being personally attacked, can neither advance nor
+retire in any direction. The Cardinal, raising his eyes, looked at his
+adversary and smiled with one corner of his mouth, not being able
+to avoid a secret analogy. Then, observing the dim eyes and dying
+countenance of the Prince, he whispered to Mazarin:
+
+"Faith, I think he'll go before me. He is greatly changed."
+
+At the same time he himself was seized with a long and violent cough,
+accompanied internally with the sharp, deep pain he so often felt in the
+side. At the sinister warning he put a handkerchief to his mouth, which
+he withdrew covered with blood. To hide it, he threw it under the table,
+and looked around him with a stern smile, as if to forbid observation.
+Louis XIII, perfectly insensible, did not make the least movement,
+beyond arranging his men for another game with a skeleton and trembling
+hand. There two dying men seemed to be throwing lots which should depart
+first.
+
+At this moment a clock struck the hour of midnight. The King raised his
+head.
+
+"Ah, ah!" he said; "this morning at twelve Monsieur le Grand had a
+disagreeable time of it."
+
+A piercing shriek was uttered behind him. He shuddered, and threw
+himself forward, upsetting the table. Marie de Mantua lay senseless in
+the arms of the Queen, who, weeping bitterly, said in the King's ear:
+
+"Ah, Sire, your axe has a double edge."
+
+She then bestowed all her cares and maternal kisses upon the young
+Princess, who, surrounded by all the ladies of the court, only came
+to herself to burst into a torrent of tears. As soon as she opened her
+eyes, "Alas! yes, my child," said Anne of Austria. "My poor girl, you
+are Queen of Poland."
+
+It has often happened that the same event which causes tears to flow in
+the palace of kings has spread joy without, for the people ever suppose
+that happiness reigns at festivals. There were five days' rejoicings for
+the return of the minister, and every evening under the windows of the
+Palais-Cardinal and those of the Louvre pressed the people of Paris.
+The late disturbances had given them a taste for public movements. They
+rushed from one street to another with a curiosity at times insulting
+and hostile, sometimes walking in silent procession, sometimes sending
+forth loud peals of laughter or prolonged yells, of which no one
+understood the meaning. Bands of young men fought in the streets and
+danced in rounds in the squares, as if manifesting some secret hope of
+pleasure and some insensate joy, grievous to the upright heart.
+
+It was remarkable that profound silence prevailed exactly in those
+places where the minister had ordered rejoicings, and that the people
+passed disdainfully before the illuminated facade of his palace. If some
+voices were raised, it was to read aloud in a sneering tone the legends
+and inscriptions with which the idiot flattery of some obscure writers
+had surrounded the portraits of the minister. One of these pictures was
+guarded by arquebusiers, who, however, could not preserve it from the
+stones which were thrown at it from a distance by unseen hands. It
+represented the Cardinal-Generalissimo wearing a casque surrounded by
+laurels. Above it was inscribed:
+
+     "Grand Duc: c'est justement que la France t'honore;
+     Ainsi que le dieu Mars dans Paris on t'adore."
+
+These fine phrases did not persuade the people that they were happy.
+They no more adored the Cardinal than they did the god Mars, but they
+accepted his fetes because they served as a covering for disorder. All
+Paris was in an uproar. Men with long beards, carrying torches, measures
+of wine, and two drinking-cups, which they knocked together with a great
+noise, went along, arm in arm, shouting in chorus with rude voices an
+old round of the League:
+
+            "Reprenons la danse;
+             Allons, c'est assez.
+             Le printemps commence;
+             Les rois sont passes.
+
+            "Prenons quelque treve;
+             Nous sommes lasses.
+             Les rois de la feve
+             Nous ont harasses.
+
+            "Allons, Jean du Mayne,
+             Les rois sont passes.
+
+            "Les rois de la feve
+             Nous ont harasses.
+             Allons, Jean du Mayne,
+             Les rois sont passes."
+
+The frightful bands who howled forth these words traversed the Quais and
+the Pont-Neuf, squeezing against the high houses, which then covered the
+latter, the peaceful citizens who were led there by simple curiosity.
+Two young men, wrapped in cloaks, thus thrown one against the other,
+recognized each other by the light of a torch placed at the foot of the
+statue of Henri IV, which had been lately raised.
+
+"What! still at Paris?" said Corneille to Milton. "I thought you were in
+London."
+
+"Hear you the people, Monsieur? Do you hear them? What is this ominous
+chorus,
+
+     'Les rois sont passes'?"
+
+"That is nothing, Monsieur. Listen to their conversation."
+
+"The parliament is dead," said one of the men; "the nobles are dead.
+Let us dance; we are the masters. The old Cardinal is dying. There is no
+longer any but the King and ourselves."
+
+"Do you hear that drunken wretch, Monsieur?" asked Corneille. "All our
+epoch is in those words of his."
+
+"What! is this the work of the minister who is called great among you,
+and even by other nations? I do not understand him."
+
+"I will explain the matter to you presently," answered Corneille. "But
+first listen to the concluding part of this letter, which I received
+to-day. Draw near this light under the statue of the late King. We are
+alone. The crowd has passed. Listen!
+
+   "It was by one of those unforeseen circumstances which prevent the
+   accomplishment of the noblest enterprises that we were not able to
+   save MM. de Cinq-Mars and De Thou. We might have foreseen that,
+   prepared for death by long meditation, they would themselves refuse
+   our aid; but this idea did not occur to any of us. In the
+   precipitation of our measures, we also committed the fault of
+   dispersing ourselves too much in the crowd, so that we could not
+   take a sudden resolution. I was unfortunately stationed near the
+   scaffold; and I saw our unfortunate friends advance to the foot of
+   it, supporting the poor Abbe Quillet, who was destined to behold the
+   death of the pupil whose birth he had witnessed. He sobbed aloud,
+   and had strength enough only to kiss the hands of the two friends.
+   We all advanced, ready to throw ourselves upon the guards at the
+   announced signal; but I saw with grief M. de Cinq-Mars cast his hat
+   from him with an air of disdain. Our movement had been observed,
+   and the Catalonian guard was doubled round the scaffold. I could
+   see no more; but I heard much weeping around me. After the three
+   usual blasts of the trumpet, the recorder of Lyons, on horseback at
+   a little distance from the scaffold, read the sentence of death, to
+   which neither of the prisoners listened. M. de Thou said to M. de
+   Cinq-Mars:
+
+   "'Well, dear friend, which shall die first? Do you remember Saint-
+   Gervais and Saint-Protais?'
+
+   "'Which you think best,' answered Cinq-Mars.
+
+   "The second confessor, addressing M. de Thou, said, 'You are the
+   elder.'
+
+   "'True,' said M. de Thou; and, turning to M. le Grand, 'You are the
+   most generous; you will show me the way to the glory of heaven.'
+
+   "'Alas!' said Cinq-Mars; 'I have opened to you that of the
+   precipice; but let us meet death nobly, and we shall revel in the
+   glory and happiness of heaven!'
+
+   "Hereupon he embraced him, and ascended the scaffold with surprising
+   address and agility. He walked round the scaffold, and contemplated
+   the whole of the great assembly with a calm countenance, which
+   betrayed no sign of fear, and a serious and graceful manner. He
+   then went round once more, saluting the people on every side,
+   without appearing to recognize any of us, with a majestic and
+   charming expression of face; he then knelt down, raising his eyes to
+   heaven, adoring God, and recommending himself to Him. As he
+   embraced the crucifix, the father confessor called to the people to
+   pray for him; and M. le Grand, opening his arms, still holding his
+   crucifix, made the same request to the people. Then he readily
+   knelt before the block, holding the stake, placed his neck upon it,
+   and asked the confessor, 'Father, is this right?' Then, while they
+   were cutting off his hair, he raised his eyes to heaven, and said,
+   sighing:
+
+   "'My God, what is this world? My God, I offer thee my death as a
+   satisfaction for my sins!'
+
+   "'What are you waiting for? What are you doing there?' he said to
+   the executioner, who had not yet taken his axe from an old bag he
+   had brought with him. His confessor, approaching, gave him a
+   medallion; and he, with an incredible tranquillity of mind, begged
+   the father to hold the crucifix before his eyes, which he would not
+   allow to be bound. I saw the two trembling hands of the Abbe
+   Quillet, who raised the crucifix. At this moment a voice, as clear
+   and pure as that of an angel, commenced the 'Ave, maris stella'.
+   In the universal silence I recognized the voice of M. de Thou, who
+   was at the foot of the scaffold; the people repeated the sacred
+   strain. M. de Cinq-Mars clung more tightly to the stake; and I saw
+   a raised axe, made like the English axes. A terrible cry of the
+   people from the Place, the windows, and the towers told me that it
+   had fallen, and that the head had rolled to the ground. I had
+   happily strength enough left to think of his soul, and to commence a
+   prayer for him.
+
+   "I mingled it with that which I heard pronounced aloud by our
+   unfortunate and pious friend De Thou. I rose and saw him spring
+   upon the scaffold with such promptitude that he might almost have
+   been said to fly. The father and he recited a psalm; he uttered it
+   with the ardor of a seraphim, as if his soul had borne his body to
+   heaven. Then, kneeling down, he kissed the blood of Cinq-Mars as
+   that of a martyr, and became himself a greater martyr. I do not
+   know whether God was pleased to grant him this last favor; but I saw
+   with horror that the executioner, terrified no doubt at the first
+   blow he had given, struck him upon the top of his head, whither the
+   unfortunate young man raised his hand; the people sent forth a long
+   groan, and advanced against the executioner. The poor wretch,
+   terrified still more, struck him another blow, which only cut the
+   skin and threw him upon the scaffold, where the executioner rolled
+   upon him to despatch him. A strange event terrified the people as
+   much as the horrible spectacle. M. de Cinq-Mars' old servant held
+   his horse as at a military funeral; he had stopped at the foot of
+   the scaffold, and like a man paralyzed, watched his master to the
+   end, then suddenly, as if struck by the same axe, fell dead under
+   the blow which had taken off his master's head.
+
+   "I write these sad details in haste, on board a Genoese galley, into
+   which Fontrailles, Gondi, Entraigues, Beauvau, Du Lude, myself, and
+   others of the chief conspirators have retired. We are going to
+   England to await until time shall deliver France from the tyrant
+   whom we could not destroy. I abandon forever the service of the
+   base Prince who betrayed us.
+
+                       "MONTRESOR"
+
+"Such," continued Corneille, "has been the fate of these two young men
+whom you lately saw so powerful. Their last sigh was that of the ancient
+monarchy. Nothing more than a court can reign here henceforth; the
+nobles and the senates are destroyed."
+
+"And this is your pretended great man!" said Milton. "What has he
+sought to do? He would, then, create republics for future ages, since he
+destroys the basis of your monarchy?"
+
+"Look not so far," answered Corneille; "he only seeks to reign until the
+end of his life. He has worked for the present and not for the future;
+he has continued the work of Louis XI; and neither one nor the other
+knew what they were doing."
+
+The Englishman smiled.
+
+"I thought," he said, "that true genius followed another path. This man
+has shaken all that he ought to have supported, and they admire him! I
+pity your nation."
+
+"Pity it not!" exclaimed Corneille, warmly; "a man passes away, but a
+people is renewed. This people, Monsieur, is gifted with an immortal
+energy, which nothing can destroy; its imagination often leads it
+astray, but superior reason will ever ultimately master its disorders."
+
+The two young and already great men walked, as they conversed, upon the
+space which separates the statue of Henri IV from the Place Dauphine;
+they stopped a moment in the centre of this Place.
+
+"Yes, Monsieur," continued Corneille, "I see every evening with what
+rapidity a noble thought finds its echo in French hearts; and every
+evening I retire happy at the sight. Gratitude prostrates the poor
+people before this statue of a good king! Who knows what other monument
+another passion may raise near this? Who can say how far the love of
+glory will lead our people? Who knows that in the place where we now
+are, there may not be raised a pyramid taken from the East?"
+
+"These are the secrets of the future," said Milton. "I, like yourself,
+admire your impassioned nation; but I fear them for themselves. I do
+not well understand them; and I do not recognize their wisdom when I see
+them lavishing their admiration upon men such as he who now rules you.
+The love of power is very puerile; and this man is devoured by it,
+without having force enough to seize it wholly. By an utter absurdity,
+he is a tyrant under a master. Thus has this colossus, never firmly
+balanced, been all but overthrown by the finger of a boy. Does that
+indicate genius? No, no! when genius condescends to quit the lofty
+regions of its true home for a human passion, at least, it should grasp
+that passion in its entirety. Since Richelieu only aimed at power, why
+did he not, if he was a genius, make himself absolute master of power?
+I am going to see a man who is not yet known, and whom I see swayed by
+this miserable ambition; but I think that he will go farther. His name
+is Cromwell!"
+
+
+     ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+     A cat is a very fine animal. It is a drawing-room tiger
+     A queen's country is where her throne is
+     Adopted fact is always better composed than the real one
+     Advantage that a calm temper gives one over men
+     All that he said, I had already thought
+     Always the first word which is the most difficult to say
+     Ambition is the saddest of all hopes
+     Art is the chosen truth
+     Artificialities of style of that period
+     Artistic Truth, more lofty than the True
+     As Homer says, "smiling under tears"
+     Assume with others the mien they wore toward him
+     But how avenge one's self on silence?
+     Dare now to be silent when I have told you these things
+     Daylight is detrimental to them
+     Deny the spirit of self-sacrifice
+     Difference which I find between Truth in art and the True in fac
+     Doubt, the greatest misery of love
+     Friendship exists only in independence and a kind of equality
+     Happy is he who does not outlive his youth
+     Hatred of everything which is superior to myself
+     He did not blush to be a man, and he spoke to men with force
+     Hermits can not refrain from inquiring what men say of them
+     History too was a work of art
+     I have burned all the bridges behind me
+     In pitying me he forgot himself
+     In every age we laugh at the costume of our fathers
+     In times like these we must see all and say all
+     It is not now what it used to be
+     It is too true that virtue also has its blush
+     Lofty ideal of woman and of love
+     Men are weak, and there are things which women must accomplish
+     Money is not a common thing between gentlemen like you and me
+     Monsieur, I know that I have lived too long
+     Neither idealist nor realist
+     Never interfered in what did not concern him
+     No writer had more dislike of mere pedantry
+     Offices will end by rendering great names vile
+     Princes ought never to be struck, except on the head
+     Princesses ceded like a town, and must not even weep
+     Principle that art implied selection
+     Recommended a scrupulous observance of nature
+     Remedy infallible against the plague and against reserve
+     Reproaches are useless and cruel if the evil is done
+     Should be punished for not having known how to punish
+     So strongly does force impose upon men
+     Tears for the future
+     The great leveller has swung a long scythe over France
+     The most in favor will be the soonest abandoned by him
+     The usual remarks prompted by imbecility on such occasions
+     These ideas may serve as opium to produce a calm
+     They tremble while they threaten
+     They have believed me incapable because I was kind
+     They loved not as you love, eh?
+     This popular favor is a cup one must drink
+     This was the Dauphin, afterward Louis XIV
+     True talent paints life rather than the living
+     Truth, I here venture to distinguish from that of the True
+     Urbain Grandier
+     What use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example
+     Woman is more bitter than death, and her arms are like chains
+     Yes, we are in the way here
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cinq Mars, Complete, by Alfred de Vigny
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, by Alfred de Vigny, entire
+#40 in our series The French Immortals Crowned by the French Academy
+#7 in our series by Octave Feuillet
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+Title: Cinq Mars, entire
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+Author: Alfred de Vigny
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+Release Date: April, 2003  [Etext #3953]
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+entire meal of them.  D.W.]
+
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+
+
+
+CINQ MARS
+
+By ALFRED DE VIGNY
+
+
+With a Prefaces by CHARLES DE MAZADE, and GASTON BOISSIER of the French
+Academy.
+
+
+
+
+ALFRED DE VIGNY
+
+The reputation of Alfred de Vigny has endured extraordinary vicissitudes
+in France.  First he was lauded as the precursor of French romantic
+poetry and stately prose; then he sank in semi-oblivion, became the
+curiosity of criticism, died in retirement, and was neglected for a long
+time, until the last ten years or so produced a marked revolution of
+taste in France.  The supremacy of Victor Hugo has been, if not
+questioned, at least mitigated; other poets have recovered from their
+obscurity.  Lamartine shines now like a lamp relighted; and the pure,
+brilliant, and profoundly original genius of Alfred de Vigny now takes,
+for the first time, its proper place as one of the main illuminating
+forces of the nineteenth century.
+
+It was not until one hundred years after this poet's birth that it became
+clearly recognized that he is one of the most important of all the great
+writers of France, and he is distinguished not only in fiction, but also
+in poetry and the drama.  He is a follower of Andre Chenier, Lamartine,
+and Victor Hugo, a lyric sun, a philosophic poet, later, perhaps in
+consequence of the Revolution of 1830, becoming a "Symbolist."  He has
+been held to occupy a middle ground between De Musset and Chenier, but he
+has also something suggestive of Madame de Stael, and, artistically, he
+has much in common with Chateaubriand, though he is more coldly
+impersonal and probably much more sincere in his philosophy.  If Sainte-
+Beuve, however, calls the poet in his Nouveaux Lundis a "beautiful angel,
+who has been drinking vinegar," then the modern reader needs a strong
+caution against malice and raillery, if not jealousy and perfidy,
+although the article on De Vigny abounds otherwise with excessive
+critical cleverness.
+
+At times, indeed, under the cruel deceptions of love, he seemed to lose
+faith in his idealism; his pessimism, nevertheless, always remained
+noble, restrained, sympathetic, manifesting itself not in appeals for
+condolence, but in pitying care for all who were near and dear to him.
+Yet his lofty prose and poetry, interpenetrated with the stern despair of
+pessimistic idealism, will always be unintelligible to the many.  As a
+poet, De Vigny appeals to the chosen few alone.  In his dramas his genius
+is more emancipated from himself, in his novels most of all.  It is by
+these that he is most widely known, and by these that he exercised the
+greatest influence on the literary life of his generation.
+
+ Alfred-Victor, Count de Vigny, was born in Loches, Touraine, March 27,
+1797.  His father was an army officer, wounded in the Seven Years' War.
+Alfred, after having been well educated, also selected a military career
+and received a commission in the "Mousquetaires Rouges," in 1814, when
+barely seventeen.  He served until 1827, "twelve long years of peace,"
+then resigned.  Already in 1822 appeared a volume of 'Poemes' which was
+hardly noticed, although containing poetry since become important to the
+evolution of French verse: 'La Neige, le Coy, le Deluge, Elva, la
+Frigate', etc., again collected in 'Poemes antiques et modernes' (1826).
+Other poems were published after his death in 'Les Destinies' (1864).
+
+Under the influence of Walter Scott, he wrote a historical romance in
+1826, 'Cinq-Mars, ou une Conjuration sans Louis XIII'.  It met with the
+most brilliant and decided success and was crowned by the Academy.  Cinq-
+Mars will always be remembered as the earliest romantic novel in France
+and the greatest and most dramatic picture of Richelieu now extant.  De
+Vigny was a convinced Anglophile, well acquainted with the writings of
+Shakespeare and Milton, Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley, Matthew Arnold, and
+Leopardi.  He also married an English lady in 1825--Lydia Bunbury.
+
+Other prose works are 'Stello' (1832), in the manner of Sterne and
+Diderot, and 'Servitude et Grandeur militaire' (1835), the language of
+which is as caustic as that of Merimee.  As a dramatist, De Vigny
+produced a translation of 'Othello--Le More de Venice' (1829); also  'La
+Marechale d'Ancre' (1832); both met with moderate success only.  But a
+decided "hit" was 'Chatterton' (1835), an adaption from his prose-work
+'Stello, ou les Diables bleus'; it at once established his reputation on
+the stage; the applause was most prodigious, and in the annals of the
+French theatre can only be compared with that of 'Le Cid'.  It was a
+great victory for the Romantic School, and the type of Chatterton, the
+slighted poet, "the marvellous boy, the sleepless soul that perished in
+his pride," became contagious as erstwhile did the type of Werther.
+
+For twenty years before his death Alfred de Vigny wrote nothing.  He
+lived in retirement, almost a recluse, in La Charente, rarely visiting
+Paris.  Admitted into L'Academie Francaise in 1845, he describes in his
+'Journal d'un Poete' his academic visits and the reception held out to
+him by the members of L'Institut.  This work appeared posthumously in
+1867.
+
+He died in Paris, September 17, 1863.
+
+                                   CHARLES DE MAZADE
+                                de l'Academie Francaise.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+Considering Alfred de Vigny first as a writer, it is evident that he
+wished the public to regard him as different from the other romanticists
+of his day; in fact, in many respects, his method presents a striking
+contrast to theirs.  To their brilliant facility, their prodigious
+abundance, and the dazzling luxury of color in their pictures of life he
+opposes a style always simple, pure, clear, with delicacy of touch,
+careful drawing of character, correct locution, and absolute chastity.
+Yet, even though he had this marked regard for purity in literary style,
+no writer had more dislike of mere pedantry.  His high ideal in literary
+art and his self-respect inspired him with an invincible repugnance
+toward the artificialities of style of that period, which the
+romanticists--above all, Chateaubriand, their master--had so much abused.
+
+Every one knows of the singular declaration made by Chateaubriand to
+Joubert, while relating the details of a nocturnal voyage: "The moon
+shone upon me in a slender crescent, and that prevented me from writing
+an untruth, for I feel sure that had not the moon been there I should
+have said in my letter that it was shining, and then you would have
+convicted me of an error in my almanac!"
+
+This habit of sacrificing truth and exactitude of impression, for the
+sake of producing a harmonious phrase or a picturesque suggestion,
+disgusted Alfred de Vigny.  "The worst thing about writers is that they
+care very little whether what they write is true, so long as they only
+write," we read on one page of his Journal.  He adds, "They should seek
+words only in their own consciences."  On another page he says: "The most
+serious lack in literary work is sincerity.  Perceiving clearly that the
+combination of technical labor and research for effective expression, in
+producing literary work, often leads us to a paradox, I have resolved to
+sacrifice all to conviction and truth, so that this precious element of
+sincerity, complete and profound, shall dominate my books and give to
+them the sacred character which the divine presence of truth always
+gives."
+
+Besides sincerity, De Vigny possessed, in a high degree, a gift which was
+not less rare in that age--good taste.  He had taste in the art of
+writing, a fine literary tact, a sense of proportion, a perception of
+delicate shades of expression, an instinct that told him what to say and
+what to suppress, to insinuate, or to be left to the understanding.  Even
+in his innovations in form, in his boldness of style, he showed a rare
+discretion; never did he do violence to the genius of the French
+language, and one may apply to him without reserve the eulogy that
+Quintilian pronounced upon Horace: 'Verbis felicissime audax'.
+
+He cherished also a fixed principle that art implied selection.  He was
+neither idealist nor realist, in the exclusive and opposing sense in
+which we understand these terms; he recommended a scrupulous observance
+of nature, and that every writer should draw as close to it as possible,
+but only in order to interpret it, to reveal it with a true feeling, yet
+without a too intimate analysis, and that no one should attempt to
+portray it exactly or servilely copy it.  "Of what use is art," he says,
+"if it is only a reduplication of existence?  We see around us only too
+much of the sadness and disenchantment of reality."  The three novels
+that compose the volume 'Servitude et Grandeur militaire' are, in this
+respect, models of romantic composition that never will be surpassed,
+bearing witness to the truth of the formula followed by De Vigny in all
+his literary work: "Art is the chosen truth."
+
+If, as a versifier, Alfred de Vigny does not equal the great poets of his
+time, if they are his superiors in distinction and brilliancy, in
+richness of vocabulary, freedom of movement, and variety of rhythm, the
+cause is to be ascribed less to any lack of poetic genius than to the
+nature of his inspiration, even to the laws of poesy, and to the secret
+and irreducible antinomy that exists between art and thought.  When, for
+example, Theophile Gautier reproached him with being too little impressed
+with the exigencies of rhyme, his criticism was not well grounded, for
+richness of rhyme, though indispensable in works of descriptive
+imagination, has no 'raison d'etre' in poems dominated by sentiment and
+thought.  But, having said that, we must recognize in his poetry an
+element, serious, strong, and impressive, characteristic of itself alone,
+and admire, in the strophes of 'Mozse', in the imprecations of 'Samson',
+and in the 'Destinees', the majestic simplicity of the most beautiful
+Hebraic verse.
+
+Moreover, the true originality of De Vigny does not lie in the manner of
+composition; it was primarily in the role of precursor that he played his
+part on the stage of literature.  Let us imagine ourselves at the period
+about the beginning of the year 1822.  Of the three poets who, in making
+their literary debuts, had just published the 'Meditations, Poemes
+antiques et modernes, and Odes', only one had, at that time, the instinct
+of renewal in the spirit of French poesy, and a sense of the manner in
+which this must be accomplished; and that one was not Lamartine, and
+certainly it was not Victor Hugo.
+
+Sainte-Beuve has said, with authority, that in Lamartine there is
+something suggestive of Millevoye, of Voltaire (he of the charming
+epistles), and of Fontanes; and Victor Hugo wrote with very little
+variation from the technical form of his predecessors.  "But with Alfred
+de Vigny," he says, "we seek in vain for a resemblance to any French
+poetry preceding his work.  For example, where can we find anything
+resembling 'Moise, Eloa, Doloeida'?  Where did he find his inspiration
+for style and composition in these poems?  If the poets of the Pleiades
+of the Restoration seem to have found their inspiration within
+themselves, showing no trace of connection with the literature of the
+past, thus throwing into confusion old habits of taste and of routine,
+certain it is that among them Alfred de Vigny should be ranked first."
+
+Even in the collection that bears the date of 1822, some years before the
+future author of Legende des Siecles had taken up romanticism, Alfred de
+Vigny had already conceived the idea of setting forth, in a series of
+little epics, the migrations of the human soul throughout the ages.  "One
+feels," said he in his Preface, "a keen intellectual delight in
+transporting one's self, by mere force of thought, to a period of
+antiquity; it resembles the pleasure an old man feels in recalling first
+his early youth, and then the whole course of his life.  In the age of
+simplicity, poetry was devoted entirely to the beauties of the physical
+forms of nature and of man; each step in advance that it has made since
+then toward our own day of civilization and of sadness, seems to have
+blended it more and more with our arts, and even with the sufferings of
+our souls.  At present, with all the serious solemnity of Religion and of
+Destiny, it lends to them their chief beauty.  Never discouraged, Poetry
+has followed Man in his long journey through the ages, like a sweet and
+beautiful companion.  I have attempted, in our language, to show some of
+her beauties, in following her progress toward the present day."
+
+The arrangement of the poems announced in this Preface is tripartite,
+like that of the 'Legende des Siecles: Poemes antiques, poemes judaiques,
+poemes modernes.--Livre mystique, livre antique, livre moderne'.  But the
+name of precursor would be a vain title if all that were necessary to
+merit it was the fact that one had been the first to perceive a new path
+to literary glory, to salute it from a distance, yet never attempt to
+make a nearer approach.
+
+In one direction at least, Alfred de Vigny was a true innovator, in the
+broadest and most meritorious sense of the word: he was the creator of
+philosophic poetry in France.  Until Jocelyn appeared, in 1836, the form
+of poetic expression was confined chiefly to the ode, the ballad, and the
+elegy; and no poet, with the exception of the author of 'Moise' and
+'Eloa', ever dreamed that abstract ideas and themes dealing with the
+moralities could be expressed in the melody of verse.
+
+To this priority, of which he knew the full value, Alfred de Vigny laid
+insistent claim.  "The only merit," he says in one of his prefaces, "that
+any one ever has disputed with me in this sort of composition is the
+honor of having promulgated in France all works of the kind in which
+philosophic thought is presented in either epic or dramatic form."
+
+But it was not alone priority in the sense of time that gave him right of
+way over his contemporaries; he was the most distinguished representative
+of poetic philosophy of his generation.  If the phrases of Lamartine seem
+richer, if his flight is more majestic, De Vigny's range is surer and
+more powerful.  While the philosophy of the creator of 'Les Harmonies' is
+uncertain and inconsistent, that of the poet of 'Les Destinees' is strong
+and substantial, for the reason that the former inspires more sentiment
+than ideas, while the latter, soaring far above the narrow sphere of
+personal emotion, writes of everything that occupies the intellect of
+man.
+
+Thus, by his vigor and breadth of thought, by his profound understanding
+of life, by the intensity of his dreams, Alfred de Vigny is superior to
+Victor Hugo, whose genius was quite different, in his power to portray
+picturesque scenes, in his remarkable fecundity of imagination, and in
+his sovereign mastery of technique.
+
+But nowhere in De Vigny's work is that superiority of poetic thought so
+clearly shown as in those productions wherein the point of departure was
+farthest from the domain of intellect, and better than any other has he
+understood that truth proclaimed by Hegel: "The passions of the soul and
+the affections of the heart are matter for poetic expression only in so
+far as they are general, solid, and eternal."
+
+De Vigny was also the only one among our poets that had a lofty ideal of
+woman and of love.  And in order to convince one's self of this it is
+sufficient to reread successively the four great love-poems of that
+period: 'Le Lac, La Tristesse d'Olympio, Le Souvenir, and La Colere de
+Samson'.
+
+Lamartine's conception of love was a sort of mild ecstasy, the sacred
+rapture in which the senses play no part, and noble emotions that cause
+neither trouble nor remorse.  He ever regarded love as a kind of sublime
+and passionate religion, of which 'Le Lac' was the most beautiful hymn,
+but in which the image of woman is so vague that she almost seems to be
+absent.
+
+On the other hand, what is 'La Tristesse d'Olympio' if not an admirable
+but common poetic rapture, a magnificent summary of the sufferings of the
+heart--a bit of lyric writing equal to the most beautiful canzoni of the
+Italian masters, but wherein we find no idea of love, because all is
+artificial and studied; no cry from the soul is heard,--no trace of
+passion appears.
+
+After another fashion the same criticism applies to Le Souvenir; it was
+written under a stress of emotion resulting from too recent events; and
+the imagination of the author, subservient to a memory relentlessly
+faithful, as is often the case with those to whom passion is the chief
+principle of inspiration, was far from fulfilling the duties of his high
+vocation, which is to purify the passions of the poet from individual and
+accidental characteristics in order to leave unhampered whatever his work
+may contain that is powerful and imperishable.
+
+Alfred de Vigny alone, of the poets of his day, in his 'Colere de
+Samson', has risen to a just appreciation of woman and of love; his ideal
+is grand and tragic, it is true, and reminds one of that gloomy passage
+in Ecclesiastes which says: "Woman is more bitter than death, and her
+arms are like chains."
+
+It is by this character of universality, of which all his writings show
+striking evidence, that Alfred de Vigny is assured of immortality.  A
+heedless generation neglected him because it preferred to seek subjects
+in strong contrast to life of its own time.  But that which was not
+appreciated by his contemporaries will be welcomed by posterity.  And
+when, in French literature, there shall remain of true romanticism only a
+slight trace and the memory of a few great names, the author of the
+'Destinees' will still find an echo in all hearts.
+
+No writer, no matter how gifted, immortalizes himself unless he has
+crystallized into expressive and original phrase the eternal sentiments
+and yearnings of the human heart.  "A man does not deserve the name of
+poet unless he can express personal feeling and emotion, and only that
+man is worthy to be called a poet who knows how to assimilate the varied
+emotions of mankind."  If this fine phrase of Goethe's is true, if true
+poetry is only that which implies a mastery of spiritual things as well
+as of human emotion, Alfred de Vigny is assuredly one of our greatest
+poets, for none so well as he has realized a complete vision of the
+universe, no one has brought before the world with more boldness the
+problem of the soul and that of humanity.  Under the title of poet he
+belongs not only to our national literature, but occupies a distinctive
+place in the world of intellect, with Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe, among
+those inspired beings who transmit throughout succeeding centuries the
+light of reason and the traditions of the loftiest poetic thought.
+
+Alfred de Vigny was elected to a chair in the French Academy in 1846 and
+died at Paris, September 17, 1863.
+
+                                   GASTON BOISSIER
+                    Secretaire Perpetuel de l'Academie Francaise.
+
+
+
+
+
+TRUTH IN ART
+
+The study of social progress is to-day not less needed in literature than
+is the analysis of the human heart.  We live in an age of universal
+investigation, and of exploration of the sources of all movements.
+France, for example, loves at the same time history and the drama,
+because the one explores the vast destinies of humanity, and the other
+the individual lot of man.  These embrace the whole of life.  But it is
+the province of religion, of philosophy, of pure poetry only, to go
+beyond life, beyond time, into eternity.
+
+Of late years (perhaps as a result of our political changes) art has
+borrowed from history more than ever.  All of us have our eyes fixed on
+our chronicles, as though, having reached manhood while going on toward
+greater things, we had stopped a moment to cast up the account of our
+youth and its errors.  We have had to double the interest by adding to it
+recollection.
+
+As France has carried farther than other nations this love of facts, and
+as I had chosen a recent and well-remembered epoch, it seemed to me that
+I ought not to imitate those foreigners who in their pictures barely show
+in the horizon the men who dominate their history.  I placed ours in the
+foreground of the scene; I made them leading actors in this tragedy,
+wherever I endeavored to represent the three kinds of ambition by which
+we are influenced, and with them the beauty of self-sacrifice to a noble
+ideal.  A treatise on the fall of the feudal system; on the position, at
+home and abroad, of France in the seventeenth century; on foreign
+alliances; on the justice of parliaments or of secret commissions, or on
+accusations of sorcery, would not perhaps have been read.  But the
+romance was read.
+
+I do not mean to defend this last form of historical composition, being
+convinced that the real greatness of a work lies in the substance of the
+author's ideas and sentiments, and not in the literary form in which they
+are dressed.  The choice of a certain epoch necessitates a certain
+treatment--to another epoch it would be unsuitable; these are mere
+secrets of the workshop of thought which there is no need of disclosing.
+What is the use of theorizing as to wherein lies the charm that moves us?
+We hear the tones of the harp, but its graceful form conceals from us its
+frame of iron.  Nevertheless, since I have been convinced that this book
+possesses vitality, I can not help throwing out some reflections on the
+liberty which the imagination should employ in weaving into its tapestry
+all the leading figures of an age, and, to give more consistency to their
+acts, in making the reality of fact give way to the idea which each of
+them should represent in the eyes of posterity; in short, on the
+difference which I find between Truth in art and the True in fact.
+
+Just as we descend into our consciences to judge of actions which our
+minds can not weigh, can we not also search in ourselves for the feeling
+which gives birth to forms of thought, always vague and cloudy?  We shall
+find in our troubled hearts, where discord reigns, two needs which seem
+at variance, but which merge, as I think, in a common source--the love of
+the true, and the love of the fabulous.
+
+On the day when man told the story of his life to man, history was born.
+Of what use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example of good
+or of evil?  But the examples which the slow train of events presents to
+us are scattered and incomplete.  They lack always a tangible and visible
+coherence leading straight on to a moral conclusion.  The acts of the
+human race on the world's stage have doubtless a coherent unity, but the
+meaning of the vast tragedy enacted will be visible only to the eye of
+God, until the end, which will reveal it perhaps to the last man.  All
+systems of philosophy have sought in vain to explain it, ceaselessly
+rolling up their rock, which, never reaching the top, falls back upon
+them--each raising its frail structure on the ruins of the others, only
+to see it fall in its turn.
+
+I think, then, that man, after having satisfied his first longing for
+facts, wanted something fuller--some grouping, some adaptation to his
+capacity and experience, of the links of this vast chain of events which
+his sight could not take in.  Thus he hoped to find in the historic
+recital examples which might support the moral truths of which he was
+conscious.  Few single careers could satisfy this longing, being only
+incomplete parts of the elusive whole of the history of the world; one
+was a quarter, as it were, the other a half of the proof; imagination did
+the rest and completed them.  From this, without doubt, sprang the fable.
+Man created it thus, because it was not given him to see more than
+himself and nature, which surrounds him; but he created it true with a
+truth all its own.
+
+This Truth, so beautiful, so intellectual, which I feel, I see, and long
+to define, the name of which I here venture to distinguish from that of
+the True, that I may the better make myself understood, is the soul of
+all the arts.  It is the selection of the characteristic token in all the
+beauties and the grandeurs of the visible True; but it is not the thing
+itself, it is something better: it is an ideal combination of its
+principal forms, a luminous tint made up of its brightest colors, an
+intoxicating balm of its purest perfumes, a delicious elixir of its best
+juices, a perfect harmony of its sweetest sounds--in short, it is a
+concentration of all its good qualities.  For this Truth, and nothing
+else, should strive those works of art which are a moral representation
+of life-dramatic works.  To attain it, the first step is undoubtedly to
+learn all that is true in fact of every period, to become deeply imbued
+with its general character and with its details; this involves only a
+cheap tribute of attention, of patience, and of memory: But then one must
+fix upon some chosen centre, and group everything around it; this is the
+work of imagination, and of that sublime common-sense which is genius
+itself.
+
+Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the
+imitation of life?  Good heavens!  we see only too clearly about us the
+sad and disenchanting reality--the insupportable lukewarmness of feeble
+characters, of shallow virtues and vices, of irresolute loves, of
+tempered hates, of wavering friendships, of unsettled beliefs, of
+constancy which has its height and its depth, of opinions which
+evaporate.  Let us dream that once upon a time have lived men stronger
+and greater, who were more determined for good or for evil; that does us
+good.  If the paleness of your True is to follow us into art, we shall
+close at once the theatre and the book, to avoid meeting it a second
+time.  What is wanted of works which revive the ghosts of human beings
+is, I repeat, the philosophical spectacle of man deeply wrought upon by
+the passions of his character and of his epoch; it is, in short, the
+artistic Truth of that man and that epoch, but both raised to a higher
+and ideal power, which concentrates all their forces.  You recognize this
+Truth in works of the imagination just as you cry out at the resemblance
+of a portrait of which you have never seen the original; for true talent
+paints life rather than the living.
+
+To banish finally the scruples on this point of the consciences of some
+persons, timorous in literary matters, whom I have seen affected with a
+personal sorrow on viewing the rashness with which the imagination sports
+with the most weighty characters of history, I will hazard the assertion
+that, not throughout this work, I dare not say that, but in many of these
+pages, and those perhaps not of the least merit, history is a romance of
+which the people are the authors.  The human mind, I believe, cares for
+the True only in the general character of an epoch.  What it values most
+of all is the sum total of events and the advance of civilization, which
+carries individuals along with it; but, indifferent to details, it cares
+less to have them real than noble or, rather, grand and complete.
+
+Examine closely the origin of certain deeds, of certain heroic
+expressions, which are born one knows not how; you will see them leap out
+ready-made from hearsay and the murmurs of the crowd, without having in
+themselves more than a shadow of truth, and, nevertheless, they will
+remain historical forever.  As if by way of pleasantry, and to put a joke
+upon posterity, the public voice invents sublime utterances to mark,
+during their lives and under their very eyes, men who, confused, avow
+themselves as best they may, as not deserving of so much glory--
+
+     [In our time has not a Russian General denied the fire of Moscow,
+     which we have made heroic, and which will remain so?  Has not a
+     French General denied that utterance on the field of Waterloo which
+     will immortalize it?  And if I were not withheld by my respect for a
+     sacred event, I might recall that a priest has felt it to be his
+     duty to disavow in public a sublime speech which will remain the
+     noblest that has ever been pronounced on a scaffold: "Son of Saint
+     Louis, rise to heaven!"  When I learned not long ago its real
+     author, I was overcome by the destruction of my illusion, but before
+     long I was consoled by a thought that does honor to humanity in my
+     eyes.  I feel that France has consecrated this speech, because she
+     felt the need of reestablishing herself in her own eyes, of blinding
+     herself to her awful error, and of believing that then and there an
+     honest man was found who dared to speak aloud.]
+
+and as not being able to support so high renown.  In vain; their
+disclaimers are not received.  Let them cry out, let them write, let them
+print, let them sign--they are not listened to.  These utterances are
+inscribed in bronze; the poor fellows remain historical and sublime in
+spite of themselves.  And I do not find that all this is done in the ages
+of barbarism alone; it is still going on, and it molds the history of
+yesterday to the taste of public opinion--a Muse tyrannical and
+capricious, which preserves the general purport and scorns detail.
+
+Which of you knows not of such transformation?  Do you not see with your
+own eyes the chrysalis fact assume by degrees the wings of fiction?  Half
+formed by the necessities of the time, a fact is hidden in the ground
+obscure and incomplete, rough, misshapen, like a block of marble not yet
+rough-hewn.  The first who unearth it, and take it in hand, would wish it
+differently shaped, and pass it, already a little rounded, into other
+hands; others polish it as they pass it along; in a short time it is
+exhibited transformed into an immortal statue.  We disclaim it; witnesses
+who have seen and heard pile refutations upon explanations; the learned
+investigate, pore over books, and write.  No one listens to them any more
+than to the humble heroes who disown it; the torrent rolls on and bears
+with it the whole thing under the form which it has pleased it to give to
+these individual actions.  What was needed for all this work?  A nothing,
+a word; sometimes the caprice of a journalist out of work.  And are we
+the losers by it?  No.  The adopted fact is always better composed than
+the real one, and it is even adopted only because it is better.  The
+human race feels a need that its destinies should afford it a series of
+lessons; more careless than we think of the reality of facts, it strives
+to perfect the event in order to give it a great moral significance,
+feeling sure that the succession of scenes which it plays upon earth is
+not a comedy, and that since it advances, it marches toward an end, of
+which the explanation must be sought beyond what is visible.
+
+For my part, I acknowledge my gratitude to the voice of the people for
+this achievement; for often in the finest life are found strange
+blemishes and inconsistencies which pain me when I see them.  If a man
+seems to me a perfect model of a grand and noble character, and if some
+one comes and tells me of a mean trait which disfigures him, I am
+saddened by it, even though I do not know him, as by a misfortune which
+affects me in person; and I could almost wish that he had died before the
+change in his character.
+
+Thus, when the Muse (and I give that name to art as a whole, to
+everything which belongs to the domain of imagination, almost in the same
+way as the ancients gave the name of Music to all education), when the
+Muse has related, in her impassioned manner, the adventures of a
+character whom I know to have lived; and when she reshapes his
+experiences into conformity with the strongest idea of vice or virtue
+which can be conceived of him--filling the gaps, veiling the
+incongruities of his life, and giving him that perfect unity of conduct
+which we like to see represented even in evil--if, in addition to this,
+she preserves the only thing essential to the instruction of the world,
+the spirit of the epoch, I know no reason why we should be more exacting
+with her than with this voice of the people which every day makes every
+fact undergo so great changes.
+
+The ancients carried this liberty even into history; they wanted to see
+in it only the general march, and broad movements of peoples and nations;
+and on these great movements, brought to view in courses very distinct
+and very clear, they placed a few colossal figures--symbols of noble
+character and of lofty purpose.
+
+One might almost reckon mathematically that, having undergone the double
+composition of public opinion and of the author, their history reaches us
+at third hand and is thus separated by two stages from the original fact.
+
+It is because in their eyes history too was a work of art; and in
+consequence of not having realized that such is its real nature, the
+whole Christian world still lacks an historical monument like those which
+dominate antiquity and consecrate the memory of its destinies--as its
+pyramids, its obelisks, its pylons, and its porticos still dominate the
+earth which was known to them, and thereby commemorate the grandeur of
+antiquity.
+
+If, then, we find everywhere evidence of this inclination to desert the
+positive, to bring the ideal even into historic annals, I believe that
+with greater reason we should be completely indifferent to historical
+reality in judging the dramatic works, whether poems, romances, or
+tragedies, which borrow from history celebrated characters.  Art ought
+never to be considered except in its relations with its ideal beauty.
+Let it be said that what is true in fact is secondary merely; it is only
+an illusion the more with which it adorns itself--one of our prejudices
+which it respects.  It can do without it, for the Truth by which it must
+live is the truth of observation of human nature, and not authenticity of
+fact.  The names of the characters have nothing to do with the matter.
+The idea is everything; the proper name is only the example and the proof
+of the idea.
+
+So much the better for the memory of those who are chosen to represent
+philosophical or moral ideas; but, once again, that is not the question.
+The imagination can produce just as fine things without them; it is a
+power wholly creative; the imaginary beings which it animates are endowed
+with life as truly as the real beings which it brings to life again.  We
+believe in Othello as we do in Richard III., whose tomb is in
+Westminster; in Lovelace and Clarissa as in Paul and Virginia, whose
+tombs are in the Isle of France.  It is with the same eye that we must
+watch the performance of its characters, and demand of the Muse only her
+artistic Truth, more lofty than the True--whether collecting the traits
+of a character dispersed among a thousand entire individuals, she
+composes from them a type whose name alone is imaginary; or whether she
+goes to their tomb to seek and to touch with her galvanic current the
+dead whose great deeds are known, forces them to arise again, and drags
+them dazzled to the light of day, where, in the circle which this fairy
+has traced, they re-assume unwillingly their passions of other days, and
+begin again in the sight of their descendants the sad drama of life.
+
+ALFRED DE VIGNY.
+
+1827.
+
+
+
+
+
+CINQ-MARS
+
+
+BOOK 1.
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ADIEU
+
+          Fare thee well!  and if forever,
+          Still forever fare thee well!
+
+                                             LORD BYRON.
+
+Do you know that charming part of our country which has been called the
+garden of France--that spot where, amid verdant plains watered by wide
+streams, one inhales the purest air of heaven?
+
+If you have travelled through fair Touraine in summer, you have no doubt
+followed with enchantment the peaceful Loire; you have regretted the
+impossibility of determining upon which of its banks you would choose to
+dwell with your beloved.  On its right bank one sees valleys dotted with
+white houses surrounded by woods, hills yellow with vines or white with
+the blossoms of the cherry-tree, walls covered with honeysuckles, rose-
+gardens, from which pointed roofs rise suddenly.  Everything reminds the
+traveller either of the fertility of the land or of the antiquity of its
+monuments; and everything interests him in the work of its busy
+inhabitants.
+
+Nothing has proved useless to them; it seems as if in their love for so
+beautiful a country--the only province of France never occupied by
+foreigners--they have determined not to lose the least part of its soil,
+the smallest grain of its sand.  Do you fancy that this ruined tower is
+inhabited only by hideous night-birds?  No; at the sound of your horse's
+hoofs, the smiling face of a young girl peeps out from the ivy, whitened
+with the dust from the road.  If you climb a hillside covered with vines,
+a light column of smoke shows you that there is a chimney at your feet;
+for the very rock is inhabited, and families of vine-dressers breathe in
+its caverns, sheltered at night by the kindly earth which they
+laboriously cultivate during the day.  The good people of Touraine are as
+simple as their life, gentle as the air they breathe, and strong as the
+powerful earth they dig.  Their countenances, like their characters, have
+something of the frankness of the true people of St. Louis; their
+chestnut locks are still long and curve around their ears, as in the
+stone statues of our old kings; their language is the purest French, with
+neither slowness, haste, nor accent--the cradle of the language is there,
+close to the cradle of the monarchy.
+
+But the left bank of the stream has a more serious aspect; in the
+distance you see Chambord, which, with its blue domes and little cupolas,
+appears like some great city of the Orient; there is Chanteloup, raising
+its graceful pagoda in the air.  Near these a simpler building attracts
+the eyes of the traveller by its magnificent situation and imposing size;
+it is the chateau of Chaumont.  Built upon the highest hill of the shore,
+it frames the broad summit with its lofty walls and its enormous towers;
+high slate steeples increase their loftiness, and give to the building
+that conventual air, that religious form of all our old chateaux, which
+casts an aspect of gravity over the landscape of most of our provinces.
+Black and tufted trees surround this ancient mansion, resembling from
+afar the plumes that encircled the hat of King Henry.  At the foot of the
+hill, connected with the chateau by a narrow path, lies a pretty village,
+whose white houses seem to have sprung from the golden sand; a chapel
+stands halfway up the hill; the lords descended and the villagers
+ascended to its altar-the region of equality, situated like a neutral
+spot between poverty and riches, which have been too often opposed to
+each other in bitter conflict.
+
+Here, one morning in the month of June, 1639, the bell of the chateau
+having, as usual, rung at midday, the dinner-hour of the family,
+occurrences of an unusual kind were passing in this ancient dwelling.
+The numerous domestics observed that in repeating the morning prayers
+before the assembled household, the Marechale d'Effiat had spoken with a
+broken voice and with tears in her eyes, and that she had appeared in a
+deeper mourning than was customary.  The people of the household and the
+Italians of the Duchesse de Mantua, who had at that time retired for a
+while to Chaumont, saw with surprise that sudden preparations were being
+made for departure.  The old domestic of the Marechal d'Effiat (who had
+been dead six months) had taken again to his travelling-boots, which he
+had sworn to abandon forever.  This brave fellow, named Grandchamp, had
+followed the chief of the family everywhere in the wars, and in his
+financial work; he had been his equerry in the former, and his secretary
+in the latter.  He had recently returned from Germany, to inform the
+mother and the children of the death of the Marechal, whose last sighs he
+had heard at Luzzelstein.  He was one of those faithful servants who are
+become too rare in France; who suffer with the misfortunes of the family,
+and rejoice with their joys; who approve of early marriages, that they
+may have young masters to educate; who scold the children and often the
+fathers; who risk death for them; who serve without wages in revolutions;
+who toil for their support; and who in prosperous times follow them
+everywhere, or exclaim at their return, "Behold our vines!"  He had a
+severe and remarkable face, a coppery complexion, and silver-gray hair,
+in which, however, some few locks, black as his heavy eyebrows, made him
+appear harsh at first; but a gentle countenance softened this first
+impression.  At present his voice was loud.  He busied himself much that
+day in hastening the dinner, and ordered about all the servants, who were
+in mourning like himself.
+
+"Come," said he, "make haste to serve the dinner, while Germain, Louis,
+and Etienne saddle their horses; Monsieur Henri and I must be far away by
+eight o'clock this evening.  And you, gentlemen, Italians, have you
+warned your young Princess?  I wager that she is gone to read with her
+ladies at the end of the park, or on the banks of the lake.  She always
+comes in after the first course, and makes every one rise from the
+table."
+
+"Ah, my good Grandchamp," said in a low voice a young maid servant who
+was passing, "do not speak of the Duchess; she is very sorrowful, and
+I believe that she will remain in her apartment.  Santa Maria!  what a
+shame to travel to-day!  to depart on a Friday, the thirteenth of the
+month, and the day of Saint Gervais and of Saint-Protais--the day of two
+martyrs!  I have been telling my beads all the morning for Monsieur de
+Cinq-Mars; and I could not help thinking of these things.  And my
+mistress thinks of them too, although she is a great lady; so you need
+not laugh!"
+
+With these words the young Italian glided like a bird across the large
+dining-room, and disappeared down a corridor, startled at seeing the
+great doors of the salon opened.
+
+Grandchamp had hardly heard what she had said, and seemed to have been
+occupied only with the preparations for dinner; he fulfilled the
+important duties of major-domo, and cast severe looks at the domestics to
+see whether they were all at their posts, placing himself behind the
+chair of the eldest son of the house.  Then all the inhabitants of the
+mansion entered the salon.  Eleven persons seated themselves at table.
+The Marechale came in last, giving her arm to a handsome old man,
+magnificently dressed, whom she placed upon her left hand.  She seated
+herself in a large gilded arm-chair at the middle of one side of the
+table, which was oblong in form.  Another seat, rather more ornamented,
+was at her right, but it remained empty.  The young Marquis d'Effiat,
+seated in front of his mother, was to assist her in doing the honors of
+the table.  He was not more than twenty years old, and his countenance
+was insignificant; much gravity and distinguished manners proclaimed,
+however, a social nature, but nothing more.  His young sister of
+fourteen, two gentlemen of the province, three young Italian noblemen of
+the suite of Marie de Gonzaga (Duchesse de Mantua), a lady-in-waiting,
+the governess of the young daughter of the Marechale, and an abbe of the
+neighborhood, old and very deaf, composed the assembly.  A seat at the
+right of the elder son still remained vacant.
+
+The Marechale, before seating herself, made the sign of the cross, and
+repeated the Benedicite aloud; every one responded by making the complete
+sign, or upon the breast alone.  This custom was preserved in many
+families in France up to the Revolution of 1789; some still practise it,
+but more in the provinces than in Paris, and not without some hesitation
+and some preliminary words upon the weather, accompanied by a deprecatory
+smile when a stranger is present--for it is too true that virtue also has
+its blush.
+
+The Marechale possessed an imposing figure, and her large blue eyes were
+remarkably beautiful.  She did not appear to have yet attained her forty-
+fifth year; but, oppressed with sorrow, she walked slowly and spoke with
+difficulty, closing her eyes, and allowing her head to droop for a moment
+upon her breast, after she had been obliged to raise her voice.  At such
+efforts her hand pressed to her bosom showed that she experienced sharp
+pain.  She saw therefore with satisfaction that the person who was seated
+at her left, having at the beginning engrossed the conversation, without
+having been requested by any one to talk, persisted with an imperturbable
+coolness in engrossing it to the end of the dinner.  This was the old
+Marechal de Bassompierre; he had preserved with his white locks an air of
+youth and vivacity curious to see.  His noble and polished manners showed
+a certain gallantry, antiquated like his costume--for he wore a ruff in
+the fashion of Henri IV, and the slashed sleeves fashionable in the
+former reign, an absurdity which was unpardonable in the eyes of the
+beaux of the court.  This would not have appeared more singular than
+anything else at present; but it is admitted that in every age we laugh
+at the costume of our fathers, and, except the Orientals, I know of no
+people who have not this fault.
+
+One of the Italian gentlemen had hardly finished asking the Marechal what
+he thought of the way in which the Cardinal treated the daughter of the
+Duc de Mantua, when he exclaimed, in his familiar language:
+
+"Heavens, man!  what are you talking about?  what do I comprehend of this
+new system under which France is living?  We old companions-in-arms of
+his late Majesty can ill understand the language spoken by the new court,
+and that in its turn does not comprehend ours.  But what do I say?  We
+speak no language in this sad country, for all the world is silent before
+the Cardinal; this haughty little, vassal looks upon us as merely old
+family portraits, which occasionally he shortens by the head; but happily
+the motto always remains.  Is it not true, my dear Puy-Laurens?"
+
+This guest was about the same age as the Marechal, but, being more grave
+and cautious, he answered in vague and few words, and made a sign to his
+contemporary in order to induce him to observe the unpleasant emotions
+which he had caused the mistress of the house by reminding her of the
+recent death of her husband and in speaking thus of the minister, his
+friend.  But it was in vain, for Bassompierre, pleased with the sign of
+half-approval, emptied at one draught a great goblet of wine--a remedy
+which he lauds in his Memoirs as infallible against the plague and
+against reserve; and leaning back to receive another glass from his
+esquire, he settled himself more firmly than ever upon his chair, and in
+his favorite ideas.
+
+"Yes, we are in the way here; I said so the other day to my dear Duc de
+Guise, whom they have ruined.  They count the minutes that we have to
+live, and shake the hour-glass to hasten the descent of its sands.  When
+Monsieur le Cardinal-Duc observes in a corner three or four of our tall
+figures, who never quitted the side of the late King, he feels that he is
+unable to move those statues of iron, and that to do it would require the
+hand of a great man; he passes quickly by, and dares not meddle with us,
+who fear him not.  He believes that we are always conspiring; and they
+say at this very moment that there is talk of putting me in the
+Bastille."
+
+"Eh!  Monsieur le Marechal, why do you delay your departure?"  said the
+Italian.  "I know of no place, except Flanders, where you can find
+shelter."
+
+"Ah, Monsieur!  you do not know me.  So far from flying, I sought out the
+King before his departure, and told him that I did so in order to save
+people the trouble of looking for me; and that if I knew when he wished
+to send me, I would go myself without being taken.  He was as kind as I
+expected him to be, and said to me, 'What, my old friend, could you have
+thought that I desired to send you there?  You know well that I love
+you.'"
+
+"Ah, my dear Marechal, let me compliment you," said Madame d'Effiat, in a
+soft voice.  "I recognize the benevolence of the King in these words; he
+remembers the affection which the King, his father, had toward you.  It
+appears to me that he always accorded to you all that you desired for
+your friends," she added, with animation, in order to put him into the
+track of praise, and to beguile him from the discontent which he had so
+loudly declared.
+
+"Assuredly, Madame," answered he; "no one is more willing to recognize
+his virtues than Francois de Bassompierre.  I shall be faithful to him to
+the end, because I gave myself, body and fortune, to his father at a
+ball; and I swear that, with my consent at least, none of my family shall
+ever fail in their duties toward the King of France.  Although the
+Besteins are foreigners and Lorrains, a shake of the hand from Henri IV
+gained us forever.  My greatest grief has been to see my brother die in
+the service of Spain; and I have just written to my nephew to say that I
+shall disinherit him if he has passed over to the Emperor, as report says
+he has."
+
+One of the gentlemen guests who had as yet been silent, and who was
+remarkable for the profusion of knots, ribbons, and tags which covered
+his dress, and for the black cordon of the Order of St. Michael which
+decorated his neck, bowed, observing that it was thus all faithful
+subjects ought to speak.
+
+"I' faith, Monsieur de Launay, you deceive yourself very much," said the
+Marechal, to whom the recollection of his ancestors now occurred;
+"persons of our blood are subjects only at our own pleasure, for God has
+caused us to be born as much lords of our lands as the King is of his.
+When I came to France, I came at my ease, accompanied by my gentlemen and
+pages.  I perceive, however, that the farther we go, the more we lose
+sight of this idea, especially at the court.  But here is a young man who
+arrives very opportunely to hear me."
+
+The door indeed opened, and a young man of fine form entered.  He was
+pale; his hair was brown, his eyes were black, his expression was sad and
+reckless.  This was Henri d'Effiat, Marquis de Cinq-Mars (a name taken
+from an estate of his family).  His dress and his short cloak were black;
+a collar of lace fell from his neck halfway down his breast; his stout,
+small, and very wide-spurred boots made so much noise upon the flags of
+the salon that his approach was heard at a distance.  He walked directly
+toward the Marechale, bowed low, and kissed her hand.
+
+"Well, Henri," she said, "are your horses ready?  At what hour do you
+depart?"
+
+"Immediately after dinner, Madame, if you will allow me," said he to his
+mother, with the ceremonious respect of the times; and passing behind
+her, he saluted M. de Bassompierre before seating himself at the left of
+his eldest brother.
+
+"Well," said the Marechal, continuing to eat with an excellent appetite,
+"you are about to depart, my son; you are going to the court--a slippery
+place nowadays.  I am sorry for your sake that it is not now what it used
+to be.  In former times, the court was simply the drawing-room of the
+King, in which he received his natural friends: nobles of great family,
+his peers, who visited him to show their devotion and their friendship,
+lost their money with him, and accompanied him in his pleasure parties,
+but never received anything from him, except permission to bring their
+vassals with them, to break their heads in his service.  The honors a man
+of quality received did not enrich him, for he paid for them out of his
+purse.  I sold an estate for every grade I received; the title of
+colonel-general of the Swiss cost me four hundred thousand crowns,
+and at the baptism of the present King I had to buy a costume that
+cost me a hundred thousand francs."
+
+"Ah!"  said the mistress of the house, smiling, "you must acknowledge for
+once that you were not obliged to do that.  We have all heard of your
+splendid dress of pearls; but I should be much vexed were it still the
+custom to wear such."
+
+"Oh, Madame la Marquise, do not fear, those times of magnificence never
+will return.  We committed follies, no doubt, but they proved our
+independence; it is clear that it would then have been hard to convert
+from their allegiance to the King adherents who were attached to him by
+love alone, and whose coronets contained as many diamonds as his own
+locked-up crown.  It is also certain that ambition could not then attack
+all classes, since such expenses could come only from rich hands, and
+since gold comes only from mines.  Those great houses, which are being so
+furiously assailed, were not ambitious, and frequently, desiring no
+employment from the Government, maintained their places at court by their
+own weight, existed upon their own foundation, and might say, as one of
+them did say, 'The Prince condescends not; I am Rohan.'  It was the same
+with every noble family, to which its own nobility sufficed; the King
+himself expressed it in writing to one of my friends: 'Money is not a
+common thing between gentlemen like you and me.'"
+
+"But, Monsieur le Marechal," coldly, and with extreme politeness,
+interrupted M. de Launay, who perhaps intended to anger him, "this
+independence has produced as many civil wars and revolts as those of
+Monsieur de Montmorency."
+
+"Monsieur!  I can not consent to hear these things spoken," said the
+fiery Marechal, leaping up in his armchair.  "Those revolts and wars had
+nothing to do with the fundamental laws of the State, and could no more
+have overturned the throne than a duel could have done so.  Of all the
+great party-chiefs, there was not one who would not have laid his victory
+at the feet of the King, had he succeeded, knowing well that all the
+other lords who were as great as himself would have abandoned the enemy
+of the legitimate sovereign.  Arms were taken against a faction, and not
+against the sovereign authority; and, this destroyed, everything went on
+again in the old way.  But what have you done in crushing us?  You have
+crushed the arm of the throne, and have not put anything in its place.
+Yes, I no longer doubt that the Cardinal-Duke will wholly accomplish his
+design; the great nobility will leave and lose their lands, and, ceasing
+to be great proprietors, they will cease to be a great power.  The court
+is already no more than a palace where people beg; by and by it will
+become an antechamber, when it will be composed only of those who
+constitute the suite of the King.  Great names will begin by ennobling
+vile offices; but, by a terrible reaction, those offices will end by
+rendering great names vile.  Estranged from their homes, the nobility
+will be dependent upon the employments which they shall have received;
+and if the people, over whom they will no longer have any influence,
+choose to revolt--"
+
+"How gloomy you are to-day, Marechal!" interrupted the Marquise; "I hope
+that neither I nor my children will ever see that time.  I no longer
+perceive your cheerful disposition, now that you talk like a politician.
+I expected to hear you give advice to my son.  Henri, what troubles you?
+You seem very absent."
+
+Cinq-Mars, with eyes fixed upon the, great bay window of the dining-room,
+looked sorrowfully upon the magnificent landscape.  The sun shone in full
+splendor, and colored the sands of the Loire, the trees, and the lawns
+with gold and emerald.  The sky was azure, the waves were of a
+transparent yellow, the islets of a vivid green; behind their rounded
+outlines rose the great sails of the merchant-vessels, like a fleet in
+ambuscade.
+
+"O Nature, Nature!"  he mused; "beautiful Nature, farewell!  Soon will my
+heart cease to be of simplicity enough to feel your charm, soon you wall
+no longer please my eyes.  This heart is already burned by a deep
+passion; and the mention of the interests of men stirs it with hitherto
+unknown agitation.  I must, however, enter this labyrinth; I may,
+perchance, lose myself there, but for Marie--"
+
+At this moment, aroused by the words of his mother, and fearing to
+exhibit a childish regret at leaving his beautiful country and his
+family, he said:
+
+"I am thinking, Madame, of the road which I shall take to Perpignan, and
+also of that which shall bring me back to you."
+
+"Do not forget to take that of Poitiers, and to go to Loudun to see your
+old tutor, our good Abbe Quillet; he will give you useful advice about
+the court.  He is on very good terms with the Duc de Bouillon; and
+besides, though he may not be very necessary to you, it is a mark of
+deference which you owe him."
+
+"Is it, then, to the siege of Perpignan that you are going, my boy?"
+asked the old Marechal, who began to think that he had been silent a long
+time.  "Ah! it is well for you.  Plague upon it!  a siege!  'tis an
+excellent opening.  I would have given much had I been able to assist the
+late King at a siege, upon my arrival in his court; it would have been
+better to be disembowelled then than at a tourney, as I was.  But we were
+at peace; and I was compelled to go and shoot the Turks with the Rosworm
+of the Hungarians, in order that I might not afflict my family by my
+idleness.  For the rest, may his Majesty receive you as kindly as his
+father received me!  It is true that the King is good and brave; but they
+have unfortunately taught him that cold Spanish etiquette which arrests
+all the impulses of the heart.  He restrains himself and others by an
+immovable presence and an icy look; as for me, I confess that I am always
+waiting for the moment of thaw, but in vain.  We were accustomed to other
+manners from the witty and simple-hearted Henri; and we were at least
+free to tell him that we loved him."
+
+Cinq-Mars, with eyes fixed upon those of Bassompierre, as if to force
+himself to attend to his discourse, asked him what was the manner of the
+late king in conversation.
+
+"Lively and frank," said he.  "Some time after my arrival in France, I
+played with him and with the Duchesse de Beaufort at Fontainebleau; for
+he wished, he said, to win my gold-pieces, my fine Portugal money.  He
+asked me the reason why I came into this country.  'Truly, Sire,' said I,
+frankly, 'I came with no intention of enlisting myself in your service,
+but only to pass some time at your court, and afterward at that of
+Spain; but you have charmed me so much that, instead of going farther, if
+you desire my service, I will devote myself to you till death.' Then he
+embraced me, and assured me that I could not find a better master, or one
+who would love me more.  Alas!  I have found it so.  And for my part, I
+sacrificed everything to him, even my love; and I would have done more,
+had it been possible to do more than renounce Mademoiselle de
+Montmorency."
+
+The good Marechal had tears in his eyes; but the young Marquis d'Effiat
+and the Italians, looking at one another, could not help smiling to think
+that at present the Princesse de Conde was far from young and pretty.
+Cinq-Mars noticed this interchange of glances, and smiled also, but
+bitterly.
+
+"Is it true then," he thought, "that the affections meet the same fate as
+the fashions, and that the lapse of a few years can throw the same
+ridicule upon a costume and upon love?  Happy is he who does not outlive
+his youth and his illusions, and who carries his treasures with him to
+the grave!"
+
+But--again, with effort breaking the melancholy course of his thoughts,
+and wishing that the good Marechal should read nothing unpleasant upon
+the countenances of his hosts, he said:
+
+"People spoke, then, with much freedom to King Henri?  Possibly, however,
+he found it necessary to assume that tone at the beginning of his reign;
+but when he was master did he change it?"
+
+"Never!  no, never, to his last day, did our great King cease to be the
+same.  He did not blush to be a man, and he spoke to men with force and
+sensibility.  Ah!  I fancy I see him now, embracing the Duc de Guise in
+his carriage, on the very day of his death; he had just made one of his
+lively pleasantries to me, and the Duke said to him, 'You are, in my
+opinion, one of the most agreeable men in the world, and destiny ordained
+us for each other.  For, had you been but an ordinary man, I should have
+taken you into my service at whatever price; but since heaven ordained
+that you should be born a great King, it is inevitable that I belong to
+you.' Oh, great man!"  cried Bassompierre, with tears in his eyes, and
+perhaps a little excited by the frequent bumpers he had drunk, "you said
+well, 'When you have lost me you will learn my value.'"
+
+During this interlude, the guests at the table had assumed various
+attitudes, according to their position in public affairs.  One of the
+Italians pretended to chat and laugh in a subdued manner with the young
+daughter of the Marechale; the other talked to the deaf old Abbe, who,
+with one hand behind his ear that he might hear, was the only one who
+appeared attentive.  Cinq-Mars had sunk back into his melancholy
+abstraction, after throwing a glance at the Marechal, as one looks aside
+after throwing a tennis-ball until its return; his elder brother did the
+honors of the table with the same calm.  Puy-Laurens observed the
+mistress of the house with attention; he was devoted to the Duc
+d'Orleans, and feared the Cardinal.  As for the Marechale, she had an
+anxious and afflicted air.  Careless words had often recalled the death
+of her husband or the departure of her son; and, oftener still, she had
+feared lest Bassompierre should compromise himself.  She had touched him
+many times, glancing at the same time toward M. de Launay, of whom she
+knew little, and whom she had reason to believe devoted to the prime
+minister; but to a man of his character, such warnings were useless.
+He appeared not to notice them; but, on the contrary, crushing that
+gentleman with his bold glance and the sound of his voice, he affected
+to turn himself toward him, and to direct all his conversation to him.
+M. de Launay assumed an air of indifference and of assenting politeness,
+which he preserved until the moment when the folding-doors opened, and
+"Mademoiselle la Duchesse de Mantua" was announced.
+
+The conversation which we have transcribed so lengthily passed, in
+reality, with rapidity; and the repast was only half over when the
+arrival of Marie de Gonzaga caused the company to rise.  She was small,
+but very well made, and although her eyes and hair were black, her
+complexion was as dazzling as the beauty of her skin.  The Marechale
+arose to acknowledge her rank, and kissed her on the forehead, in
+recognition of her goodness and her charming age.
+
+"We have waited a long time for you to-day, dear Marie," she said,
+placing the Duchess beside her; "fortunately, you remain with me to
+replace one of my children, who is about to depart."
+
+The young Duchess blushed, lowered her head and her eyes, in order that
+no one might see their redness, and said, timidly:
+
+"Madame, that may well be, since you have taken toward me the place of a
+mother;" and a glance thrown at Cinq-Mars, at the other end of the table,
+made him turn pale.
+
+This arrival changed the conversation; it ceased to be general, and each
+guest conversed in a low voice with his neighbor.  The Marechal alone
+continued to utter a few sentences concerning the magnificence of the old
+court, his wars in Turkey, the tournaments, and the avarice of the new
+court; but, to his great regret, no one made any reply, and the company
+were about to leave the table, when, as the clock struck two, five horses
+appeared in the courtyard.  Four were mounted by servants, cloaked and
+armed; the other horse, black and spirited, was held by old Grandchamp--
+it was his master's steed.
+
+"Ah!"  exclaimed Bassompierre; "see, our battlehorses are saddled and
+bridled.  Come, young man, we must say, with our old Marot:
+
+                   'Adieu la cour, adieu les dames!
+                    Adieu les filles et les femmes!
+                    Adieu vous dy pour quelque temps;
+                    Adieu vos plaisans parse-temps!
+                    Adieu le bal, adieu la dance;
+                    Adieu mesure, adieu cadance,
+                    Tabourins, Hautbois, Violons,
+                    Puisqu'a la guerre nous allons!'"
+
+These old verses and the air of the Marechal made all the guests laugh,
+except three persons.
+
+"Heavens!"  he continued, "it seems to me as if, like him, I were only
+seventeen years old; he will return to us covered with embroidery.
+Madame, we must keep his chair vacant for him."
+
+The Marechale suddenly grew pale, and left the table in tears; every one
+rose with her; she took only two steps, and sank into another chair.  Her
+sons and her daughter and the young Duchess gathered anxiously around
+her, and heard her say, amid the sighs and tears which she strove to
+restrain:
+
+"Pardon, my friends!  it is foolish of me--childish; but I am weak at
+present, and am not mistress of myself.  We were thirteen at table; and
+you, my dear Duchess, were the cause of it.  But it is very wrong of me
+to show so much weakness before him.  Farewell, my child; give me your
+forehead to kiss, and may God conduct you!  Be worthy of your name and of
+your father."
+
+Then, as Homer says, "smiling under tears," she raised herself, pushed
+her son from her, and said:
+
+"Come, let me see you on horseback, fair sir!"
+
+The silent traveller kissed the hands of his mother, and made a low bow
+to her; he bowed also to the Duchess, without raising his eyes.  Then,
+embracing his elder brother, pressing the hand of the Marechal, and
+kissing the forehead of his young sister almost simultaneously, he went
+forth, and was on horseback in an instant.  Every one went to the windows
+which overlooked the court, except Madame d'Effiat, who was still seated
+and suffering.
+
+"He sets off at full gallop.  That is a good sign," said the Marechal,
+laughing.
+
+"Oh, heavens!"  cried the young Princess, retiring from the bay-window.
+
+"What is the matter?"  said the mother.
+
+"Nothing, nothing!"  said M. de Launay.  "Your son's horse stumbled under
+the gateway; but he soon pulled him up.  See, he salutes us from the
+road."
+
+"Another ominous presage!"  said the Marquise, upon retiring to her
+apartments.
+
+Every one imitated her by being silent or speaking low.
+
+The day was sad, and in the evening the supper was silent at the chateau
+of Chaumont.
+
+At ten o'clock that evening, the old Marechal, conducted by his valet,
+retired to the northern tower near the gateway, and opposite the river.
+The heat was extreme; he opened the window, and, enveloping himself in
+his great silk robe, placed a heavy candlestick upon the table and
+desired to be left alone.  His window looked out upon the plain, which
+the moon, in her first quarter, indistinctly lighted; the sky was charged
+with thick clouds, and all things disposed the mind to melancholy.
+Although Bassompierre had nothing of the dreamer in his character, the
+tone which the conversation had taken at dinner returned to his memory,
+and he reconsidered his life, the sad changes which the new reign had
+wrought in it, a reign which seemed to have breathed upon him a wind of
+misfortune--the death of a cherished sister; the irregularities of the
+heir of his name; the loss of his lands and of his favor; the recent fate
+of his friend, the Marechal d'Effiat, whose chambers he now occupied.
+All these thoughts drew from him an involuntary sigh, and he went to the
+window to breathe.
+
+At that moment he fancied he heard the tramp of a troop of horse at the
+side of the wood; but the wind rising made him think that he had been
+mistaken, and, as the noise suddenly ceased, he forgot it.  He still
+watched for some time all the lights of the chateau, which were
+successively extinguished, after winding among the windows of the
+staircases and rambling about the courtyards and the stables.  Then,
+leaning back in his great tapestried armchair, his elbow resting on the
+table, he abandoned himself to his reflections.  After a while, drawing
+from his breast a medallion which hung concealed, suspended by a black
+ribbon, he said:
+
+"Come, my good old master, talk with me as you have so often talked;
+come, great King, forget your court for the smile of a true friend;
+come, great man, consult me concerning ambitious Austria; come,
+inconstant chevalier, speak to me of the lightness of thy love, and of
+the fidelity of thine inconstancy; come, heroic soldier, complain to me
+again that I obscure you in combat.  Ah, had I only done it in Paris!
+Had I only received thy wound?  With thy blood the world has lost the
+benefits of thine interrupted reign--"
+
+The tears of the Marechal obscured the glass that covered the large
+medallion, and he was effacing them with respectful kisses, when, his
+door being roughly opened, he quickly drew his sword.
+
+"Who goes there?"  he cried, in his surprise, which was much increased
+when he saw M. de Launay, who, hat in hand, advanced toward him, and said
+to him, with embarrassment:
+
+"Monsieur, it is with a heart pierced with grief that I am forced to tell
+you that the King has commanded me to arrest you.  A carriage awaits you
+at the gate, attended by thirty of the Cardinal-Duke's musketeers."
+
+Bassompierre had not risen: and he still held the medallion in his right
+hand, and the sword in the other.  He tendered it disdainfully to this
+man, saying:
+
+"Monsieur, I know that I have lived too long, and it is that of which I
+was thinking; in the name of the great Henri, I restore this sword
+peacefully to his son.  Follow me."
+
+He accompanied these words with a look so firm that De Launay was
+depressed, and followed him with drooping head, as if he had himself been
+arrested by the noble old man, who, seizing a flambeau, issued from the
+court and found all the doors opened by horse-guards, who had terrified
+the people of the chateau in the name of the King, and commanded silence.
+The carriage was ready, and departed rapidly, followed by many horses.
+The Marechal, seated beside M. de Launay, was about to fall asleep,
+rocked by the movement of the vehicle, when a voice cried to the driver,
+"Stop!"  and, as he continued, a pistol-shot followed.  The horses
+stopped.
+
+"I declare, Monsieur, that this is done without my participation," said
+Bassompierre.  Then, putting his head out at the door, he saw that they
+were in a little wood, and that the road was too narrow to allow the,
+horses to pass to either the right or the left of the carriage--a great
+advantage for the aggressors, since the musketeers could not advance.  He
+tried to see what was going on when a cavalier, having in his hand a long
+sword, with which he parried the strokes of the guard, approached the
+door, crying:
+
+"Come, come, Monsieur le Marechal!"
+
+"What!  is that you, you madcap, Henri, who are playing these pranks?
+Gentlemen, let him alone; he is a mere boy."
+
+And, as De Launay called to the musketeers to cease, Bassompierre
+recognized the cavalier.
+
+"And how the devil came you here?"  cried Bassompierre.  "I thought you
+were at Tours, or even farther, if you had done your duty; but here you
+are returned to make a fool of yourself."
+
+"Truly, it was not for you I returned, but for a secret affair," said
+Cinq-Mars, in a lower tone; "but, as I take it, they are about to
+introduce you to the Bastille, and I am sure you will not betray me, for
+that delightful edifice is the very Temple of Discretion.  Yet had you
+thought fit," he continued, aloud, "I should have released you from these
+gentlemen in the wood here, which is so dense that their horses would not
+have been able to stir.  A peasant informed me of the insult passed upon
+us, more than upon you, by this violation of my father's house."
+
+"It is the King's order, my boy, and we must respect his will; reserve
+your ardor for his service, though I thank you with all my heart.  Now
+farewell, and let me proceed on my agreeable journey."
+
+De Launay interposed, "I may inform you, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars, that I
+have been desired by the King himself to assure Monsieur le Marechal,
+that he is deeply afflicted at the step he has found it necessary to
+take, and that it is solely from an apprehension that Monsieur
+le Marechal may be led into evil that his Majesty requests him to
+remain for a few days in the Bastille."--[He remained there twelve
+years.]
+
+Bassompierre turned his head toward Cinq-Mars with a hearty laugh.  "You
+see, my friend, how we young men are placed under guardianship; so take
+care of yourself."
+
+"I will go, then," said Henri; "this is the last time I shall play the
+knight-errant for any one against his will;" and, reentering the wood as
+the carriage dashed off at full speed, he proceeded by narrow paths
+toward the castle, followed at a short distance by Grandchamp and his
+small escort.
+
+On arriving at the foot of the western tower, he reined in his horse.
+He did not alight, but, approaching so near the wall that he could rest
+his foot upon an abutment, he stood up, and raised the blind of a window
+on the ground-floor, made in the form of a portcullis, such as is still
+seen on some ancient buildings.
+
+It was now past midnight, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds.  No
+one but a member of the family could have found his way through darkness
+so profound.  The towers and the roof formed one dark mass, which stood
+out in indistinct relief against the sky, hardly less dark; no light
+shone throughout the chateau, wherein all inmates seemed buried in
+slumber.  Cinq-Mars, enveloped in a large cloak, his face hidden under
+the broad brim of his hat, awaited in suspense a reply to his signal.
+
+It came; a soft voice was heard from within:
+
+"Is that you, Monsieur Cinq-Mars?"
+
+"Alas, who else should it be?  Who else would return like a criminal to
+his paternal house, without entering it, without bidding one more adieu
+to his mother?  Who else would return to complain of the present, without
+a hope for the future, but I?"
+
+The gentle voice replied, but its tones were agitated, and evidently
+accompanied with tears: "Alas!  Henri, of what do you complain?  Have I
+not already done more, far more than I ought?  It is not my fault, but my
+misfortune, that my father was a sovereign prince.  Can one choose one's
+birthplace or one's rank, and say for example, 'I will be a shepherdess?'
+How unhappy is the lot of princesses!  From the cradle, the sentiments of
+the heart are prohibited to them; and when they have advanced beyond
+childhood, they are ceded like a town, and must not even weep.  Since I
+have known you, what have I not done to bring my future life within the
+reach of happiness, in removing it far from a throne?  For two years I
+have struggled in vain, at once against my evil fortune, that separates
+me from you, and against you, who estrange me from the duty I owe to my
+family.  I have sought to spread a belief that I was dead; I have almost
+longed for revolutions.  I should have blessed a change which deprived me
+of my rank, as I thanked Heaven when my father was dethroned; but the
+court wonders at my absence; the Queen requires me to attend her.  Our
+dreams are at an end, Henri; we have already slumbered too long.  Let us
+awake, be courageous, and think no more of those dear two years--forget
+all in the one recollection of our great resolve.  Have but one thought;
+be ambitious for--be ambitious--for my sake."
+
+"Must we, then, indeed, forget all, Marie?"  murmured Cinq-Mars.
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"Yes, forget all--that I myself have forgotten."  Then, after a moment's
+pause, she continued with earnestness: "Yes, forget our happy days
+together, our long evenings, even our walks by the lake and through the
+wood; but keep the future ever in mind.  Go, Henri; your father was
+Marechal.  Be you more; be you Constable, Prince.  Go; you are young,
+noble, rich, brave, beloved--"
+
+"Beloved forever?"  said Henri.
+
+"Forever; for life and for eternity."
+
+Cinq-Mars, tremulously extending his hand to the window, exclaimed:
+
+"I swear, Marie, by the Virgin, whose name you bear, that you shall be
+mine, or my head shall fall on the scaffold!"
+
+"Oh, Heaven!  what is it you say?"  she cried, seizing his hand in her
+own.  "Swear to me that you will share in no guilty deeds; that you will
+never forget that the King of France is your master.  Love him above all,
+next to her who will sacrifice all for you, who will await you amid
+suffering and sorrow.  Take this little gold cross and wear it upon your
+heart; it has often been wet with my tears, and those tears will flow
+still more bitterly if ever you are faithless to the King.  Give me the
+ring I see on your finger.  Oh, heavens, my hand and yours are red with
+blood!"
+
+"Oh, only a scratch.  Did you hear nothing, an hour ago?"
+
+"No; but listen.  Do you hear anything now?"
+
+"No, Marie, nothing but some bird of night on the tower."
+
+"I heard whispering near us, I am sure.  But whence comes this blood?
+Tell me, and then depart."
+
+"Yes, I will go, while the clouds are still dark above us.  Farewell,
+sweet soul; in my hour of danger I will invoke thee as a guardian angel.
+Love has infused the burning poison of ambition into my soul, and for the
+first time I feel that ambition may be ennobled by its aim.  Farewell!
+I go to accomplish my destiny."
+
+"And forget not mine."
+
+"Can they ever be separated?"
+
+"Never!"  exclaimed Marie, "but by death."
+
+"I fear absence still more," said Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Farewell!  I tremble; farewell!"  repeated the beloved voice, and the
+window was slowly drawn down, the clasped hands not parting till the last
+moment.
+
+The black horse had all the while been pawing the earth, tossing his head
+with impatience, and whinnying.  Cinq-Mars, as agitated and restless as
+his steed, gave it the rein; and the whole party was soon near the city
+of Tours, which the bells of St. Gatien had announced from afar.  To the
+disappointment of old Grandchamp, Cinq-Mars would not enter the town, but
+proceeded on his way, and five days later he entered, with his escort,
+the old city of Loudun in Poitou, after an uneventful journey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE STREET
+
+          Je m'avancais d'un pas penible et mal assure vers le but
+          de ce convoi tragique.--NODIER, 'Smarra'.
+
+The reign of which we are about to paint a few years--a reign of
+feebleness, which was like an eclipse of the crown between the splendors
+of Henri IV and those of Louis le Grand--afflicts the eyes which
+contemplate it with dark stains of blood, and these were not all the work
+of one man, but were caused by great and grave bodies.  It is melancholy
+to observe that in this age, still full of disorder, the clergy, like a
+nation, had its populace, as it had its nobility, its ignorant and its
+criminal prelates, as well as those who were learned and virtuous.  Since
+that time, its remnant of barbarism has been refined away by the long
+reign of Louis XIV, and its corruptions have been washed out in the blood
+of the martyrs whom it offered up to the revolution of 1793.
+
+We felt it necessary to pause for a moment to express this reflection
+before entering upon the recital of the facts presented by the history of
+this period, and to intimate that, notwithstanding this consolatory
+reflection, we have found it incumbent upon us to pass over many details
+too odious to occupy a place in our pages, sighing in spirit at those
+guilty acts which it was necessary to record, as in relating the life of
+a virtuous old man, we should lament over the impetuosities of his
+passionate youth, or over the corrupt tendencies of his riper age.
+
+When the cavalcade entered the narrow streets of Loudun, they heard
+strange noises all around them.  The streets were filled with agitated
+masses; the bells of the church and of the convent were ringing
+furiously, as if the town was in flames; and the whole population,
+without paying any attention to the travellers, was pressing tumultuously
+toward a large edifice that adjoined the church.  Here and there dense
+crowds were collected, listening in silence to some voice that seemed
+raised in exhortation, or engaged in emphatic reading; then, furious
+cries, mingled with pious exclamations, arose from the crowd, which,
+dispersing, showed the travellers that the orator was some Capuchin or
+Franciscan friar, who, holding a wooden crucifix in one hand, pointed
+with the other to the large building which was attracting such universal
+interest.
+
+"Jesu Maria!"  exclaimed an old woman, "who would ever have thought that
+the Evil Spirit would choose our old town for his abode?"
+
+"Ay, or that the pious Ursulines should be possessed?"  said another.
+
+"They say that the demon who torments the Superior is called Legion,"
+cried a third:
+
+"One demon, say you?"  interrupted a nun; "there were seven in her poor
+body, whereunto, doubtless, she had attached too much importance, by
+reason of its great beauty, though now 'tis but the receptacle of evil
+spirits.  The prior of the Carmelites yesterday expelled the demon Eazas
+through her mouth; and the reverend Father Lactantius has driven out in
+like manner the demon Beherit.  But the other five will not depart, and
+when the holy exorcists (whom Heaven support!) summoned them in Latin to
+withdraw, they replied insolently that they would not go till they had
+proved their power, to the conviction even of the Huguenots and heretics,
+who, misbelieving wretches!  seem to doubt it.  The demon Elimi, the
+worst of them all, as you know, has threatened to take off Monsieur de
+Laubardemont's skull-cap to-day, and to dangle it in the air at
+Miserere."
+
+"Holy Virgin!"  rejoined the first speaker, "I'm all of a tremble!  And
+to think that many times I have got this magician Urbain to say masses
+for me!"
+
+"For myself," exclaimed a girl, crossing herself; "I too confessed to him
+ten months ago!  No doubt I should have been possessed myself, but for
+the relic of Saint-Genevieve I luckily had about me, and--"
+
+"Luckily, indeed, Martine," interposed a fat gossip; "for--no offence!--
+you, as I remember, were long enough with the handsome sorcerer."
+
+"Pshaw!"  said a young soldier, who had joined the group, smoking his
+pipe, "don't you know that pretty Martine was dispossessed a month ago."
+
+The girl blushed, and drew the hood of her black cloak over her face.
+The elder gossips cast a glance of indignation at the reckless trooper,
+and finding themselves now close to the door of the building, and thus
+sure of making their way in among the first when it should be thrown
+open, sat down upon the stone bench at the side, and, talking of the
+latest wonders, raised the expectations of all as to the delight they
+were about to have in being spectators of something marvellous--an
+apparition, perhaps, but at the very least, an administration of the
+torture.
+
+"Is it true, aunt," asked Martine of the eldest gossip, "that you have
+heard the demons speak?"
+
+"Yes, child, true as I see you; many and many can say the same; and it
+was to convince you of it I brought you with me here, that you may see
+the power of the Evil One."
+
+"What kind of voice has he?"  continued the girl, glad to encourage a
+conversation which diverted from herself the invidious attention procured
+her by the soldier's raillery.
+
+"Oh, he speaks with a voice like that of the Superior herself, to whom
+Our Lady be gracious!  Poor young woman!  I was with her yesterday a long
+time; it was sad to see her tearing her breast, turning her arms and her
+legs first one way and then another, and then, all of a sudden, twisting
+them together behind her back.  When the holy Father Lactantius
+pronounced the name of Urbain Grandier, foam came out of her mouth, and
+she talked Latin for all the world as if she were reading the Bible.  Of
+course, I did not understand what she said, and all I can remember of it
+now is, 'Urbanus Magicus rosas diabolica,' which they tell me means that
+the magician Urbain had bewitched her with some roses the Devil had given
+him; and so it must have been, for while Father Lactantius spoke, out of
+her ears and neck came a quantity of flame-colored roses, all smelling of
+sulphur so strongly that the judge-Advocate called out for every one
+present to stop their noses and eyes, for that the demons were about to
+come out."
+
+"Ah, look there now!"  exclaimed with shrill voices and a triumphant air
+the whole bevy of assembled women, turning toward the crowd, and more
+particularly toward a group of men attired in black, among whom was
+standing the young soldier who had cut his joke just before so
+unceremoniously.
+
+"Listen to the noisy old idiots!"  exclaimed the soldier.  "They think
+they're at the witches' Sabbath, but I don't see their broomsticks."
+
+"Young man, young man!"  said a citizen, with a sad air, "jest not upon
+such subjects in the open air, or, in such a time as this, the wind may
+become gushing flames and destroy you."
+
+"Pooh!  I laugh at your exorcists!"  returned the soldier; "my name is
+Grand-Ferre, and I've got here a better exorciser than any of you can
+show."
+
+And significantly grasping the handle of his rapier in one hand, with the
+other he twisted up his blond moustache, as he looked fiercely around;
+but meeting no glance which returned the defiance of his own, he slowly
+withdrew, left foot foremost, and strolled along the dark, narrow streets
+with all the reckless nonchalance of a young soldier who has just donned
+his uniform, and a profound contempt for all who wear not a military
+coat.
+
+In the meantime eight or ten of the more substantial and rational
+inhabitants traversed in a body, slowly and silently, the agitated
+throng; they seemed overwhelmed with amazement and distress at the
+agitation and excitement they witnessed everywhere, and as each new
+instance of the popular frenzy appeared, they exchanged glances of wonder
+and apprehension.  Their mute depression communicated itself to the
+working-people, and to the peasants who had flocked in from the adjacent
+country, and who, all sought a guide for their opinions in the faces of
+the principal townsmen, also for the most part proprietors of the
+surrounding districts.  They saw that something calamitous was on foot,
+and resorted accordingly to the only remedy open to the ignorant and the
+beguiled--apathetic resignation.
+
+Yet, in the character of the French peasant is a certain scoffing finesse
+of which he makes effective use, sometimes with his equals, and almost
+invariably with his superiors.  He puts questions to power as
+embarrassing as are those which infancy puts to mature age.  He affects
+excessive humility, in order to confuse him whom he addresses with the
+very height of his isolated elevation.  He exaggerates the awkwardness of
+his manner and the rudeness of his speech, as a means of covering his
+real thoughts under the appearance of mere uncouthness; yet, despite all
+his self-command, there is something in his air, certain fierce
+expressions which betray him to the close observer, who discerns in his
+sardonic smile, and in the marked emphasis with which he leans on his
+long staff, the hopes that secretly nourish his soul, and the aid upon
+which he ultimately relies.
+
+One of the oldest of the peasants whom we have indicated came on
+vigorously, followed by ten or twelve young men, his sons and nephews,
+all wearing the broad-brimmed hat and the blue frock or blouse of the
+ancient Gauls, which the peasants of France still wear over their other
+garments, as peculiarly adapted to their humid climate and their
+laborious habits.
+
+When the old man had reached the group of personages of whom we have just
+spoken, he took off his hat--an example immediately followed by his whole
+family--and showed a face tanned with exposure to the weather, a forehead
+bald and wrinkled with age, and long, white hair.  His shoulders were
+bent with years and labor, but he was still a hale and sturdy man.  He
+was received with an air of welcome, and even of respect, by one of the
+gravest of the grave group he had approached, who, without uncovering,
+however, extended to him his hand.
+
+"What!  good Father Guillaume Leroux!" said he, "and have you, too, left
+our farm of La Chenaie to visit the town, when it's not market-day?  Why,
+'tis as if your oxen were to unharness themselves and go hunting, leaving
+their work to see a poor rabbit run down!"
+
+"Faith, Monsieur le Comte du Lude," replied the farmer, "for that matter,
+sometimes the rabbit runs across our path of itself; but, in truth, I've
+a notion that some of the people here want to make fools of us, and so
+I've come to see about it."
+
+"Enough of that, my friend," returned the Count; "here is Monsieur
+Fournier, the Advocate, who assuredly will not deceive you, for he
+resigned his office of Attorney-General last night, that he might
+henceforth devote his eloquence to the service of his own noble thoughts.
+You will hear him, perhaps, to-day, though truly, I dread his appearing
+for his own sake as much as I desire it for that of the accused."
+
+"I care not for myself," said Fournier; "truth is with me a passion, and
+I would have it taught in all times and all places."
+
+He that spoke was a young man, whose face, pallid in the extreme, was
+full of the noblest expression.  His blond hair, his light-blue eyes, his
+thinness, the delicacy of his frame, made him at first sight seem younger
+than he was; but his thoughtful and earnest countenance indicated that
+mental superiority and that precocious maturity of soul which are
+developed by deep study in youth, combined with natural energy of
+character.  He was attired wholly in black, with a short cloak in the
+fashion of the day, and carried under his left arm a roll of documents,
+which, when speaking, he would take in the right hand and grasp
+convulsively, as a warrior in his anger grasps the pommel of his sword.
+At one moment it seemed as if he were about to unfurl the scroll, and
+from it hurl lightning upon those whom he pursued with looks of fiery
+indignation--three Capuchins and a Franciscan, who had just passed.
+
+"Pere Guillaume," pursued M. du Lude, "how is it you have brought with
+you only your sons, and they armed with their staves?"
+
+"Faith, Monsieur, I have no desire that our girls should learn to dance
+of the nuns; and, moreover, just now the lads with their staves may
+bestir themselves to better purpose than their sisters would."
+
+"Take my advice, my old friend," said the Count, "and don't bestir
+yourselves at all; rather stand quietly aside to view the procession
+which you see approaching, and remember that you are seventy years old."
+
+"Ah!"  murmured the old man, drawing up his twelve sons in double
+military rank, "I fought under good King Henriot, and can play at sword
+and pistol as well as the worthy 'ligueurs';" and shaking his head he
+leaned against a post, his knotty staff between his crossed legs, his
+hands clasped on its thick butt-end, and his white, bearded chin resting
+on his hands.  Then, half closing his eyes, he appeared lost in
+recollections of his youth.
+
+The bystanders observed with interest his dress, slashed in the fashion
+of Henri IV, and his resemblance to the Bearnese monarch in the latter
+years of his life, though the King's hair had been prevented by the
+assassin's blade from acquiring the whiteness which that of the old
+peasant had peacefully attained.  A furious pealing of the bells,
+however, attracted the general attention to the end of the great street,
+down which was seen filing a long procession, whose banners and
+glittering pikes rose above the heads of the crowd, which successively
+and in silence opened a way for the at once absurd and terrible train.
+
+First, two and two, came a body of archers, with pointed beards and large
+plumed hats, armed with long halberds, who, ranging in a single file on
+each side of the middle of the street, formed an avenue along which
+marched in solemn order a procession of Gray Penitents--men attired in
+long, gray robes, the hoods of which entirely covered their heads; masks
+of the same stuff terminated below their chins in points, like beards,
+each having three holes for the eyes and nose.  Even at the present day
+we see these costumes at funerals, more especially in the Pyrenees.  The
+Penitents of Loudun carried enormous wax candles, and their slow, uniform
+movement, and their eyes, which seemed to glitter under their masks, gave
+them the appearance of phantoms.
+
+The people expressed their various feelings in an undertone:
+
+"There's many a rascal hidden under those masks," said a citizen.
+
+"Ay, and with a face uglier than the mask itself," added a young man.
+
+"They make me afraid," tremulously exclaimed a girl.
+
+"I'm only afraid for my purse," said the first speaker.
+
+"Ah, heaven!  there are our holy brethren, the Penitents," cried an old
+woman, throwing back her hood, the better to look at them.  "See the
+banner they bear!  Ah, neighbors, 'tis a joyful thing to have it among
+us!  Beyond a doubt it will save us; see, it shows the devil in flames,
+and a monk fastening a chain round his neck, to keep him in hell.  Ah,
+here come the judges--noble gentlemen!  dear gentlemen!  Look at their
+red robes; how beautiful!  Blessed be the Virgin, they've been well
+chosen!"
+
+"Every man of them is a personal enemy of the Cure," whispered the Count
+du Lude to the advocate Fournier, who took a note of the information.
+
+"Don't you know them, neighbors?"  pursued the shrill, sharp voice of the
+old woman, as she elbowed one and pinched another of those near her to
+attract their attention to the objects of her admiration; "see, there's
+excellent Monsieur Mignon, whispering to Messieurs the Counsellors of the
+Court of Poitiers; Heaven bless them all, say I!"
+
+"Yes, there are Roatin, Richard, and Chevalier--the very men who tried to
+have him dismissed a year ago," continued M. du Lude, in undertones, to
+the young advocate, who, surrounded and hidden from public observation by
+the group of dark-clad citizens, was writing down his observations in a
+note-book under his cloak.
+
+"Here; look, look!"  screamed the woman.  "Make way!  here's Monsieur
+Barre, the Cure of Saint-Jacques at Chinon."
+
+"A saint!"  murmured one bystander.
+
+"A hypocrite!"  exclaimed a manly voice.
+
+"See how thin he is with fasting!"
+
+"See how pale he is with remorse!"
+
+"He's the man to drive away devils!"
+
+"Yes, but not till he's done with them for his own purposes."
+
+The dialogue was interrupted by the general exclamation, "How beautiful
+she is!"
+
+The Superior of the Ursulines advanced, followed by all her nuns.  Her
+white veil was raised; in order that the people might see the features of
+the possessed ones, it had been ordered that it should be thus with her
+and six of the sisterhood.  Her attire had no distinguishing feature,
+except a large rosary extending from her neck nearly to her feet, from
+which hung a gold cross; but the dazzling pallor of her face, rendered
+still more conspicuous by the dark hue of her capuchon, at once fixed the
+general gaze upon her.  Her brilliant, dark eyes, which bore the impress
+of some deep and burning passion, were crowned with eyebrows so perfectly
+arched that Nature herself seemed to have taken as much pains to form
+them as the Circassian women to pencil theirs artistically; but between
+them a slight fold revealed the powerful agitation within.  In her
+movements, however, and throughout her whole bearing, she affected
+perfect calm; her steps were slow and measured, and her beautiful hands
+were crossed on her bosom, as white and motionless as those of the marble
+statues joined in eternal prayer.
+
+"See, aunt," ejaculated Martine, "see how Sister Agnes and Sister Claire
+are weeping, next to the Superior!"
+
+"Ay, niece, they weep because they are the prey of the demon."
+
+"Or rather," interposed the same manly voice that spoke before, "because
+they repent of having mocked Heaven."
+
+A deep silence now pervaded the multitude; not a word was heard, not a
+movement, hardly a breath.  Every one seemed paralyzed by some sudden
+enchantment, when, following the nuns, among four Penitents who held him
+in chains, appeared the Cure of the Church of Ste. Croix, attired in his
+pastor's robe.  His was a noble, fine face, with grandeur in its whole
+expression, and gentleness in every feature.  Affecting no scornful
+indifference to his position, he looked calmly and kindly around, as if
+he sought on his dark path the affectionate glances of those who loved
+him.  Nor did he seek in vain; here and there he encountered those
+glances, and joyfully returned them.  He even heard sobs, and he saw
+hands extended toward him, many of which grasped weapons.  But no gesture
+of his encouraged these mute offers of aid; he lowered his eyes and went
+on, careful not to compromise those who so trusted in him, or to involve
+them in his own misfortunes.  This was Urbain Grandier.
+
+Suddenly the procession stopped, at a sign from the man who walked apart,
+and who seemed to command its progress.  He was tall, thin, sallow; he
+wore a long black robe, with a cap of the same material and color; he had
+the face of a Don Basilio, with the eye of Nero.  He motioned the guards
+to surround him more closely, when he saw with affright the dark group we
+have mentioned, and the strong-limbed and resolute peasants who seemed in
+attendance upon them.  Then, advancing somewhat before the Canons and
+Capuchins who were with him, he pronounced, in a shrill voice, this
+singular decree:
+
+     "We, Sieur de Laubardemont, referendary, being delegated and
+     invested with discretionary power in the matter of the trial of the
+     magician Urbain Grandier, upon the various articles of accusation
+     brought against him, assisted by the reverend Fathers Mignon, canon,
+     Barre, cure of St. Jacques at Chinon, Father Lactantius, and all the
+     other judges appointed to try the said magician, have decreed as
+     follows:
+
+     "Primo: the factitious assembly of proprietors, noble citizens of
+     this town and its environs, is dissolved, as tending to popular
+     sedition; its proceedings are declared null, and its letter to the
+     King, against us, the judges, which has been intercepted, shall be
+     publicly burned in the marketplace as calumniating the good
+     Ursulines and the reverend fathers and judges.
+
+     "Secundo: it is forbidden to say, publicly or in private, that the
+     said nuns are not possessed by the Evil Spirit, or to doubt of the
+     power of the exorcists, under pain of a fine of twenty thousand
+     livres, and corporal punishment.
+
+     "Let the bailiffs and sheriffs obey this.  Given the eighteenth of
+     June, in the year of grace 1639."
+
+
+Before he had well finished reading the decree, the discordant blare of
+trumpets, bursting forth at a prearranged signal, drowned, to a certain
+extent, the murmurs that followed its proclamation, amid which
+Laubardemont urged forward the procession, which entered the great
+building already referred to--an ancient convent, whose interior had
+crumbled away, its walls now forming one vast hall, well adapted for the
+purpose to which it was about to be applied.  Laubardemont did not deem
+himself safe until he was within the building and had heard the heavy,
+double doors creak on their hinges as, closing, they excluded the furious
+crowd without.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE GOOD PRIEST
+
+          L'homme de paix me parla ainsi.--VICAIRE SAVOYARD.
+
+Now that the diabolical procession is in the arena destined for its
+spectacle, and is arranging its sanguinary representation, let us see
+what Cinq-Mars had been doing amid the agitated throng.  He was naturally
+endowed with great tact, and he felt that it would be no easy matter for
+him to attain his object of seeing the Abbe Quillet, at a time when
+public excitement was at its height.  He therefore remained on horseback
+with his four servants in a small, dark street that led into the main
+thoroughfare, whence he could see all that passed.  No one at first paid
+any attention to him; but when public curiosity had no other aliment,
+he became an object of general interest.  Weary of so many strange
+scenes, the inhabitants looked upon him with some exasperation, and
+whispered to one another, asking whether this was another exorcist come
+among them.  Feeling that it was time to take a decided course, he
+advanced with his attendants, hat in hand, toward the group in black of
+whom we have spoken, and addressing him who appeared its chief member,
+said, "Monsieur, where can I find Monsieur l'Abbe Quillet?"
+
+At this name, all regarded him with an air of terror, as if he had
+pronounced that of Lucifer.  Yet no anger was shown; on the contrary, it
+seemed that the question had favorably changed for him the minds of all
+who heard him.  Moreover, chance had served him well in his choice; the
+Comte du Lude came up to his horse, and saluting him, said, "Dismount,
+Monsieur, and I will give you some useful information concerning him."
+
+After speaking a while in whispers, the two gentlemen separated with all
+the ceremonious courtesy of the time.  Cinq-Mars remounted his black
+horse, and passing through numerous narrow streets, was soon out of the
+crowd with his retinue.
+
+"How happy I am!"  he soliloquized, as he went his way; "I shall, at all
+events, for a moment see the good and kind clergyman who brought me up;
+even now I recall his features, his calm air, his voice so full of
+gentleness."
+
+As these tender thoughts filled his mind, he found himself in the small,
+dark street which had been indicated to him; it was so narrow that the
+knee-pieces of his boots touched the wall on each side.  At the end of
+the street he came to a one-storied wooden house, and in his eagerness
+knocked at the door with repeated strokes.
+
+"Who is there?"  cried a furious voice within; and at the same moment,
+the door opening revealed a little short, fat man, with a very red face,
+dressed in black, with a large white ruff, and riding-boots which
+engulfed his short legs in their vast depths.  In his hands were a pair
+of horse-pistols.
+
+"I will sell my life dearly!"  he cried; "and--"
+
+"Softly, Abbe, softly," said his pupil, taking his arm; "we are friends."
+
+"Ah, my son, is it you?"  said the good man, letting fall his pistols,
+which were picked up by a domestic, also armed to the teeth.  "What do
+you here?  The abomination has entered the town, and I only await the
+night to depart.  Make haste within, my dear boy, with your people.  I
+took you for the archers of Laubardemont, and, faith, I intended to take
+a part somewhat out of my line.  You see the horses in the courtyard
+there; they will convey me to Italy, where I shall rejoin our friend, the
+Duc de Bouillon.  Jean!  Jean!  hasten and close the great gate after
+Monsieur's domestics, and recommend them not to make too much noise,
+although for that matter we have no habitation near us."
+
+Grandchamp obeyed the intrepid little Abbe, who then embraced Cinq-Mars
+four consecutive times, raising himself on the points of his boots, so as
+to attain the middle of his pupil's breast.  He then hurried him into a
+small room, which looked like a deserted granary; and seating him beside
+himself upon a black leather trunk, he said, warmly:
+
+"Well, my son, whither go you?  How came Madame la Marechale to allow you
+to come here?  Do you not see what they are doing against an unhappy man,
+whose death alone will content them?  Alas, merciful Heaven!  is this the
+first spectacle my dear pupil is to see?  And you at that delightful
+period of life when friendship, love, confidence, should alone encompass
+you; when all around you should give you a favorable opinion of your
+species, at your very entry into the great world!  How unfortunate!
+alas, why did you come?"
+
+When the good Abbe had followed up this lamentation by pressing
+affectionately both hands of the young traveller in his own, so red and
+wrinkled, the latter answered:
+
+"Can you not guess, my dear Abbe, that I came to Loudun because you are
+here?  As to the spectacle you speak of, it appears to me simply
+ridiculous; and I swear that I do not a whit the less on its account love
+that human race of which your virtues and your good lessons have given me
+an excellent idea.  As to the five or six mad women who--"
+
+"Let us not lose time; I will explain to you all that matter; but answer
+me, whither go you, and for what?"
+
+"I am going to Perpignan, where the Cardinal-Duke is to present me to the
+King."
+
+At this the worthy but hasty Abbe rose from his box, and walked, or
+rather ran, to and fro, stamping.  "The Cardinal!  the Cardinal!"  he
+repeated, almost choking, his face becoming scarlet, and the tears rising
+to his eyes; "My poor child!  they will destroy him!  Ah, mon Dieu!  what
+part would they have him play there?  What would they do with him?  Ah,
+who will protect thee, my son, in that dangerous place?"  he continued,
+reseating himself, and again taking his pupil's hands in his own with a
+paternal solicitude, as he endeavored to read his thoughts in his
+countenance.
+
+"Why, I do not exactly know," said Cinq-Mars, looking up at the ceiling;
+"but I suppose it will be the Cardinal de Richelieu, who was the friend
+of my father."
+
+"Ah, my dear Henri, you make me tremble; he will ruin you unless you
+become his docile instrument.  Alas, why can not I go with you?  Why must
+I act the young man of twenty in this unfortunate affair?  Alas, I should
+be perilous to you; I must, on the contrary, conceal myself.  But you
+will have Monsieur de Thou near you, my son, will you not?"  said he,
+trying to reassure himself; "he was your friend in childhood, though
+somewhat older than yourself.  Heed his counsels, my child, he is a wise
+young man of mature reflection and solid ideas."
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear Abbe, you may depend upon my tender attachment for him;
+I never have ceased to love him."
+
+"But you have ceased to write to him, have you not?"  asked the good
+Abbe, half smilingly.
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear Abbe, I wrote to him once, and again
+yesterday, to inform him that the Cardinal has invited me to court."
+
+"How! has he himself desired your presence?"
+
+Cinq-Mars hereupon showed the letter of the Cardinal-Duke to his mother,
+and his old preceptor grew gradually calmer.
+
+"Ah, well!"  said he to himself, "this is not so bad, perhaps, after all.
+It looks promising; a captain of the guards at twenty--that sounds well!"
+and the worthy Abbe's face became all smiles.
+
+The young man, delighted to see these smiles, which so harmonized with
+his own thoughts, fell upon the neck of the Abbe and embraced him, as if
+the good man had thus assured to him a futurity of pleasure, glory, and
+love.
+
+But the good Abbe, with difficulty disengaging himself from this warm
+embrace, resumed his walk, his reflections, and his gravity.  He coughed
+often and shook his head; and Cinq-Mars, not venturing to pursue the
+conversation, watched him, and became sad as he saw him become serious.
+
+The old man at last sat down, and in a mournful tone addressed his pupil:
+
+"My friend, my son, I have for a moment yielded like a father to your
+hopes; but I must tell you, and it is not to afflict you, that they
+appear to me excessive and unnatural.  If the Cardinal's sole aim were
+to show attachment and gratitude toward your family, he would not have
+carried his favors so far; no, the extreme probability is that he has
+designs upon you.  From what has been told him, he thinks you adapted to
+play some part, as yet impossible for us to divine, but which he himself
+has traced out in the deepest recesses of his mind.  He wishes to educate
+you for this; he wishes to drill you into it.  Allow me the expression in
+consideration of its accuracy, and think seriously of it when the time
+shall come.  But I am inclined to believe that, as matters are, you would
+do well to follow up this vein in the great mine of State; in this way
+high fortunes have begun.  You must only take heed not to be blinded and
+led at will.  Let not favors dazzle you, my poor child, and let not
+elevation turn your head.  Be not so indignant at the suggestion; the
+thing has happened to older men than yourself.  Write to me often, as
+well as to your mother; see Monsieur de Thou, and together we will try to
+keep you in good counsel.  Now, my son, be kind enough to close that
+window through which the wind comes upon my head, and I will tell you
+what has been going on here."
+
+Henri, trusting that the moral part of the discourse was over, and
+anticipating nothing in the second part but a narrative more or less
+interesting, closed the old casement, festooned with cobwebs, and resumed
+his seat without speaking.
+
+"Now that I reflect further," continued the Abbe, "I think it will not
+perhaps be unprofitable for you to have passed through this place,
+although it be a sad experience you shall have acquired; but it will
+supply what I may not have formerly told you of the wickedness of men.
+I hope, moreover, that the result will not be fatal, and that the letter
+we have written to the King will arrive in time."
+
+"I heard that it had been intercepted," interposed Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Then all is over," said the Abbe Quillet; "the Cure is lost.  But
+listen.  God forbid, my son, that I, your old tutor, should seek to
+assail my own work, and attempt to weaken your faith!  Preserve ever and
+everywhere that simple creed of which your noble family has given you the
+example, which our fathers possessed in a still higher degree than we,
+and of which the greatest captains of our time are not ashamed.  Always,
+while you wear a sword, remember that you hold it for the service of God.
+But at the same time, when you are among men, avoid being deceived by the
+hypocrite.  He will encompass you, my son; he will assail you on the
+vulnerable side of your ingenuous heart, in addressing your religion; and
+seeing the extravagance of his affected zeal, you will fancy yourself
+lukewarm as compared with him.  You will think that your conscience cries
+out against you; but it will not be the voice of conscience that you
+hear.  And what cries would not that conscience send forth, how fiercely
+would it not rise upon you, did you contribute to the destruction of
+innocence by invoking Heaven itself as a false witness against it?"
+
+"Oh, my father!  can such things be possible?"  exclaimed Henri d'Effiat,
+clasping his hands.
+
+"It is but too true," continued the Abbe; "you saw a partial execution of
+it this morning.  God grant you may not witness still greater horrors!
+But listen!  whatever you may see, whatever crime they dare to commit,
+I conjure you, in the name of your mother and of all that you hold dear,
+say not a word; make not a gesture that may indicate any opinion
+whatever.  I know the impetuous character that you derive from the
+Marechal, your father; curb it, or you are lost.  These little
+ebullitions of passion give but slight satisfaction, and bring about
+great misfortunes.  I have observed you give way to them too much.
+Oh, did you but know the advantage that a calm temper gives one over men!
+The ancients stamped it on the forehead of the divinity as his finest
+attribute, since it shows that he is superior to our fears and to our
+hopes, to our pleasures and to our pains.  Therefore, my dear child,
+remain passive in the scenes you are about to witness; but see them you
+must.  Be present at this sad trial; for me, I must suffer the
+consequences of my schoolboy folly.  I will relate it to you; it will
+prove to you that with a bald head one may be as much a child as with
+your fine chestnut curls."
+
+And the excellent old Abbe, taking his pupil's head affectionately
+between his hands, continued:
+
+"Like other people, my dear son, I was curious to see the devils of the
+Ursulines; and knowing that they professed to speak all languages, I was
+so imprudent as to cease speaking Latin and to question them in Greek.
+The Superior is very pretty, but she does not know Greek!  Duncan, the
+physician, observed aloud that it was surprising that the demon, who knew
+everything, should commit barbarisms and solecisms in Latin, and not be
+able to answer in Greek.  The young Superior, who was then upon her bed,
+turned toward the wall to weep, and said in an undertone to Father Barre,
+'I can not go on with this, father.' I repeated her words aloud, and
+infuriated all the exorcists; they cried out that I ought to know that
+there are demons more ignorant than peasants, and said that as to their
+power and physical strength, it could not be doubted, since the spirits
+named Gresil des Trones, Aman des Puissance, and Asmodeus, had promised
+to carry off the calotte of Monsieur de Laubardemont.  They were
+preparing for this, when the physician Duncan, a learned and upright man,
+but somewhat of a scoffer, took it into his head to pull a cord he
+discovered fastened to a column like a bell-rope, and which hung down
+just close to the referendary's head; whereupon they called him a
+Huguenot, and I am satisfied that if Marechal de Breze were not his
+protector, it would have gone ill with him.  The Comte du Lude then came
+forward with his customary 'sang-froid', and begged the exorcists to
+perform before him.  Father Lactantius, the Capuchin with the dark visage
+and hard look, proceeded with Sister Agnes and Sister Claire; he raised
+both his hands, looking at them as a serpent would look at two dogs, and
+cried in a terrible voice, 'Quis to misit, Diabole?' and the two sisters
+answered, as with one voice, 'Urbanus.'  He was about to continue, when
+Monsieur du Lude, taking out of his pocket, with an air of veneration, a
+small gold box, said that he had in it a relic left by his ancestors, and
+that though not doubting the fact of the possession, he wished to test
+it.  Father Lactantius seized the box with delight, and hardly had he
+touched the foreheads of the two sisters with it when they made great
+leaps and twisted about their hands and feet.  Lactantius shouted forth
+his exorcisms; Barre threw himself upon his knees with all the old women;
+and Mignon and the judges applauded.  The impassible Laubardemont made
+the sign of the cross, without being struck dead for it!  When Monsieur
+du Lude took back his box the nuns became still.  'I think,' said
+Lactantius, insolently, 'that--you will not question your relics now.'
+'No more than I do the possession,' answered Monsieur du Lude, opening
+his box and showing that it was empty.  'Monsieur, you mock us,' said
+Lactantius.  I was indignant at these mummeries, and said to him, 'Yes,
+Monsieur, as you mock God and men.' And this, my dear friend, is the
+reason why you see me in my seven-league boots, so heavy that they hurt
+my legs, and with pistols; for our friend Laubardemont has ordered my
+person to be seized, and I don't choose it to be seized, old as it is."
+
+"What, is he so powerful, then?"  cried Cinq-Mars.
+
+"More so than is supposed--more so than could be believed.  I know that
+the possessed Abbess is his niece, and that he is provided with an order
+in council directing him to judge, without being deterred by any appeals
+lodged in Parliament, the Cardinal having prohibited the latter from
+taking cognizance of the matter of Urbain Grandier."
+
+"And what are his offences?"  asked the young man, already deeply
+interested.
+
+"Those of a strong mind and of a great genius, an inflexible will which
+has irritated power against him, and a profound passion which has driven
+his heart and him to commit the only mortal sin with which I believe he
+can be reproached; and it was only by violating the sanctity of his
+private papers, which they tore from Jeanne d'Estievre, his mother, an
+old woman of eighty, that they discovered his love for the beautiful
+Madeleine de Brou.  This girl had refused to marry, and wished to take
+the veil.  May that veil have concealed from her the spectacle of this
+day!  The eloquence of Grandier and his angelic beauty drove the women
+half mad; they came miles and miles to hear him.  I have seen them swoon
+during his sermons; they declared him an angel, and touched his garment
+and kissed his hands when he descended from the pulpit.  It is certain
+that, unless it be his beauty, nothing could equal the sublimity of his
+discourses, ever full of inspiration.  The pure honey of the gospel
+combined on his lips with the flashing flame of the prophecies; and one
+recognized in the sound of his voice a heart overflowing with holy pity
+for the evils to which mankind are subject, and filled with tears, ready
+to flow for us."
+
+The good priest paused, for his own voice and eyes were filled with
+tears; his round and naturally Joyous face was more touching than a
+graver one under the same circumstances, for it seemed as if it bade
+defiance to sadness.  Cinq-Mars, even more moved, pressed his hand
+without speaking, fearful of interrupting him.  The Abbe took out a red
+handkerchief, wiped his eyes, and continued:
+
+"This is the second attack upon Urbain by his combined enemies.  He had
+already been accused of bewitching the nuns; but, examined by holy
+prelates, by enlightened magistrates, and learned physicians, he was
+immediately acquitted, and the judges indignantly imposed silence upon
+these devils in human form.  The good and pious Archbishop of Bordeaux,
+who had himself chosen the examiners of these pretended exorcists,
+drove the prophets away and shut up their hell.  But, humiliated by the
+publicity of the result, annoyed at seeing Grandier kindly received by
+our good King when he threw himself at his feet at Paris, they saw that
+if he triumphed they were lost, and would be universally regarded as
+impostors.  Already the convent of the Ursulines was looked upon only as
+a theatre for disgraceful comedies, and the nuns themselves as shameless
+actresses.  More than a hundred persons, furious against the Cure, had
+compromised themselves in the hope of destroying him.  Their plot,
+instead of being abandoned, has gained strength by its first check; and
+here are the means that have been set to work by his implacable enemies.
+
+"Do you know a man called 'L'Eminence Grise', that formidable Capuchin
+whom the Cardinal employs in all things, consults upon some, and always
+despises?  It was to him that the Capuchins of Loudun addressed
+themselves.  A woman of this place, of low birth, named Hamon, having
+been so fortunate as to please the Queen when she passed through Loudun,
+was taken into her service.  You know the hatred that separates her court
+from that of the Cardinal; you know that Anne of Austria and Monsieur de
+Richelieu have for some time disputed for the King's favor, and that, of
+her two suns, France never knew in the evening which would rise next
+morning.  During a temporary eclipse of the Cardinal, a satire appeared,
+issuing from the planetary system of the Queen; it was called, 'La
+cordonniere de la seine-mere'.  Its tone and language were vulgar; but it
+contained things so insulting about the birth and person of the Cardinal
+that the enemies of the minister took it up and gave it a publicity which
+irritated him.  It revealed, it is said, many intrigues and mysteries
+which he had deemed impenetrable.  He read this anonymous work, and
+desired to know its author.  It was just at this time that the Capuchins
+of this town wrote to Father Joseph that a constant correspondence
+between Grandier and La Hamon left no doubt in their minds as to his
+being the author of this diatribe.  It was in vain that he had previously
+published religious books, prayers, and meditations, the style of which
+alone ought to have absolved him from having put his hand to a libel
+written in the language of the marketplace; the Cardinal, long since
+prejudiced against Urbain, was determined to fix upon him as the culprit.
+He remembered that when he was only prior of Coussay, Grandier disputed
+precedence with him and gained it; I fear this achievement of precedence
+in life will make poor Grandier precede the Cardinal in death also."
+
+A melancholy smile played upon the lips of the good Abbe as he uttered
+this involuntary pun.
+
+"What!  do you think this matter will go so far as death?"
+
+"Ay, my son, even to death; they have already taken away all the
+documents connected with his former absolution that might have served for
+his defence, despite the opposition of his poor mother, who preserved
+them as her son's license to live.  Even now they affect to regard a work
+against the celibacy of priests, found among his papers, as destined to
+propagate schism.  It is a culpable production, doubtless, and the love
+which dictated it, however pure it may be, is an enormous sin in a man
+consecrated to God alone; but this poor priest was far from wishing to
+encourage heresy, and it was simply, they say, to appease the remorse of
+Mademoiselle de Brou that he composed the work.  It was so evident that
+his real faults would not suffice to condemn him to death that they have
+revived the accusation of sorcery, long since disposed of; but, feigning
+to believe this, the Cardinal has established a new tribunal in this
+town, and has placed Laubardemont at its head, a sure sign of death.
+Heaven grant that you never become acquainted with what the corruption of
+governments call coups-d'etat!"
+
+At this moment a terrible shriek sounded from beyond the wall of the
+courtyard; the Abbe arose in terror, as did Cinq-Mars.
+
+"It is the cry of a woman," said the old man.
+
+"'Tis heartrending!"  exclaimed Cinq-Mars.  "What is it?"  he asked his
+people, who had all rushed out into the courtyard.
+
+They answered that they heard nothing further.
+
+"Well, well," said the Abbe, "make no noise."  He then shut the window,
+and put his hands before his eyes.
+
+"Ah, what a cry was that, my son!"  he said, with his face of an ashy
+paleness--"what a cry!  It pierced my very soul; some calamity has
+happened.  Ah, holy Virgin!  it has so agitated me that I can talk with
+you no more.  Why did I hear it, just as I was speaking to you of your
+future career?  My dear child, may God bless you!  Kneel!"
+
+Cinq-Mars did as he was desired, and knew by a kiss upon his head that he
+had been blessed by the old man, who then raised him, saying:
+
+"Go, my son, the time is advancing; they might find you with me.  Go,
+leave your people and horses here; wrap yourself in a cloak, and go; I
+have much to write ere the hour when darkness shall allow me to depart
+for Italy."
+
+They embraced once more, promising to write to each other, and Henri
+quitted the house.  The Abby, still following him with his eyes from the
+window, cried:
+
+"Be prudent, whatever may happen," and sent him with his hands one more
+paternal blessing, saying, "Poor child!  poor child!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE TRIAL
+
+               Oh, vendetta di Dio, quanto to dei
+               Esser temuta da ciascun che legge
+               Cio, che fu manifesto agli occhi miei.--DANTE.
+
+Notwithstanding the custom of having secret trials, freely countenanced
+by Richelieu, the judges of the Cure of Loudun had resolved that the
+court should be open to the public; but they soon repented this measure.
+They were all interested in the destruction of Urbain Grandier; but they
+desired that the indignation of the country should in some degree
+sanction the sentence of death they had received orders to pass and to
+carry into effect.
+
+Laubardemont was a kind of bird of prey, whom the Cardinal always let
+loose when he required a prompt and sure agent for his vengeance; and on
+this occasion he fully justified the choice that had been made of him.
+He committed but one error--that of allowing a public trial, contrary to
+the usual custom; his object had been to intimidate and to dismay.  He
+dismayed, indeed, but he created also a feeling of indignant horror.
+
+The throng without the gates had waited there two hours, during which
+time the sound of hammers indicated that within the great hall they were
+hastily completing their mysterious preparations.  At length the archers
+laboriously turned upon their hinges the heavy gates opening into the
+street, and the crowd eagerly rushed in.  The young Cinq-Mars was carried
+along with the second enormous wave, and, placed behind a thick column,
+stood there, so as to be able to see without being seen.  He observed
+with vexation that the group of dark-clad citizens was near him; but the
+great gates, closing, left the part of the court where the people stood
+in such darkness that there was no likelihood of his being recognized.
+Although it was only midday, the hall was lighted with torches; but they
+were nearly all placed at the farther end, where rose the judges' bench
+behind a long table.  The chairs, tables, and steps were all covered with
+black cloth, and cast a livid hue over the faces of those near them.  A
+seat reserved for the prisoner was placed upon the left, and on the crape
+robe which covered him flames were represented in gold embroidery to
+indicate the nature of the offence.  Here sat the accused, surrounded by
+archers, with his hands still bound in chains, held by two monks, who,
+with simulated terror, affected to start from him at his slightest
+motion, as if they held a tiger or enraged wolf, or as if the flames
+depicted on his robe could communicate themselves to their clothing.
+They also carefully kept his face from being seen in the least degree by
+the people.
+
+The impassible countenance of M. de Laubardemont was there to dominate
+the judges of his choice; almost a head taller than any of them, he sat
+upon a seat higher than theirs, and each of his glassy and uneasy glances
+seemed to convey a command.  He wore a long, full scarlet robe, and a
+black cap covered his head; he seemed occupied in arranging papers, which
+he then passed to the judges.  The accusers, all ecclesiastics, sat upon
+the right hand of the judges; they wore their albs and stoles.  Father
+Lactantius was distinguishable among them by his simple Capuchin habit,
+his tonsure, and the extreme hardness of his features.  In a side gallery
+sat the Bishop of Poitiers, hidden from view; other galleries were filled
+with veiled women.  Below the bench of judges a group of men and women,
+the dregs of the populace, stood behind six young Ursuline nuns, who
+seemed full of disgust at their proximity; these were the witnesses.
+
+The rest of the hall was filled with an enormous crowd, gloomy and
+silent, clinging to the arches, the gates, and the beams, and full of a
+terror which communicated itself to the judges, for it arose from an
+interest in the accused.  Numerous archers, armed with long pikes, formed
+an appropriate frame for this lugubrious picture.
+
+At a sign from the President, the witnesses withdrew through a narrow
+door opened for them by an usher.  As the Superior of the Ursulines
+passed M. de Laubardemont she was heard to say to him, "You have deceived
+me, Monsieur."  He remained immovable, and she went on.  A profound
+silence reigned throughout the whole assembly.
+
+Rising with all the gravity he could assume, but still with visible
+agitation, one of the judges, named Houmain, judge-Advocate of Orleans,
+read a sort of indictment in a voice so low and hoarse that it was
+impossible to follow it.  He made himself heard only when what he had to
+say was intended to impose upon the minds of the people.  He divided the
+evidence into two classes: one, the depositions of seventy-two witnesses;
+the other, more convincing, that resulting from "the exorcisms of the
+reverend fathers here present," said he, crossing himself.
+
+Fathers Lactantius, Barre, and Mignon bowed low, repeating the sacred
+sign.
+
+"Yes, my lords," said Houmain, addressing the judges, "this bouquet of
+white roses and this manuscript, signed with the blood of the magician,
+a counterpart of the contract he has made with Lucifer, and which he was
+obliged to carry about him in order to preserve his power, have been
+recognized and brought before you.  We read with horror these words
+written at the bottom of the parchment: 'The original is in hell, in
+Lucifer's private cabinet.'"
+
+A roar of laughter, which seemed to come from stentorian lungs, was heard
+in the throng.  The president reddened, and made a sign to the archers,
+who in vain endeavored to discover the disturber.  The judge-Advocate
+continued:
+
+"The demons have been forced to declare their names by the mouths of
+their victims.  Their names and deeds are deposited upon this table.
+They are called Astaroth, of the order of Seraphim; Eazas, Celsus, Acaos,
+Cedron, Asmodeus, of the order of Thrones; Alex, Zebulon, Cham, Uriel,
+and Achas, of the order of Principalities, and so on, for their number is
+infinite.  For their actions, who among us has not been a witness of
+them?"
+
+A prolonged murmur arose from the gathering, but, upon some halberdiers
+advancing, all became silent.
+
+"We have seen, with grief, the young and respectable Superior of the
+Ursulines tear her bosom with her own hands and grovel in the dust; we
+have seen the sisters, Agnes, Claire, and others, deviate from the
+modesty of their sex by impassioned gestures and unseemly laughter.
+When impious men have inclined to doubt the presence of the demons,
+and we ourselves felt our convictions shaken, because they refused to
+answer to unknown questions in Greek or Arabic, the reverend fathers
+have, to establish our belief, deigned to explain to us that the
+malignity of evil spirits being extreme, it was not surprising that they
+should feign this ignorance in order that they might be less pressed with
+questions; and that in their answers they had committed various solecisms
+and other grammatical faults in order to bring contempt upon themselves,
+so that out of this disdain the holy doctors might leave them in quiet.
+Their hatred is so inveterate that just before performing one of their
+miraculous feats, they suspended a rope from a beam in order to involve
+the reverend personages in a suspicion of fraud, whereas it has been
+deposed on oath by credible people that there never had been a cord in
+that place.
+
+"But, my lords, while Heaven was thus miraculously explaining itself by
+the mouths of its holy interpreters, another light has just been thrown
+upon us.  At the very time the judges were absorbed in profound
+meditation, a loud cry was heard near the hall of council; and upon going
+to the spot, we found the body of a young lady of high birth.  She had
+just exhaled her last breath in the public street, in the arms of the
+reverend Father Mignon, Canon; and we learned from the said father here
+present, and from several other grave personages, that, suspecting the
+young lady to be possessed, by reason of the current rumor for some time
+past of the admiration Urbain Grandier had for her, an idea of testing it
+happily occurred to the Canon, who suddenly said, approaching her,
+'Grandier has just been put to death,' whereat she uttered one loud
+scream and fell dead, deprived by the demon of the time necessary for
+giving her the assistance of our holy Mother, the Catholic Church."
+
+A murmur of indignation arose from the crowd, among whom the word
+"Assassin" was loudly reechoed; the halberdiers commanded silence with a
+loud voice, but it was obtained rather by the judge resuming his address,
+the general curiosity triumphing.
+
+"Oh, infamy!"  he continued, seeking to fortify himself by exclamations;
+"upon her person was found this work, written by the hand of Urbain
+Grandier," and he took from among his papers a book bound in parchment.
+
+"Heavens!"  cried Urbain from his seat.
+
+"Look to your prisoner!"  cried the judge to the archers who surrounded
+him.
+
+"No doubt the demon is about to manifest himself," said Father
+Lactantius, in a sombre voice; "tighten his bonds."  He was obeyed.
+
+The judge-Advocate continued, "Her name was Madeleine de Brou, aged
+nineteen."
+
+"O God!  this is too much!"  cried the accused, as he fell fainting on
+the ground.
+
+The assembly was deeply agitated; for a moment there was an absolute
+tumult.
+
+"Poor fellow!  he loved her," said some.
+
+"So good a lady!"  cried the women.
+
+Pity began to predominate.  Cold water was thrown upon Grandier, without
+his being taken from the court, and he was tied to his seat.  The Judge-
+Advocate went on:
+
+"We are directed to read the beginning of this book to the court," and he
+read as follows:
+
+     "'It is for thee, dear and gentle Madeleine, in order to set at rest
+     thy troubled conscience, that I have described in this book one
+     thought of my soul.  All those thoughts tend to thee, celestial
+     creature, because in thee they return to the aim and object of my
+     whole existence; but the thought I send thee, as 'twere a flower,
+     comes from thee, exists only in thee, and returns to thee alone.
+
+     "'Be not sad because thou lovest me; be not afflicted because I
+     adore thee.  The angels of heaven, what is it that they do?  The
+     souls of the blessed, what is it that is promised them?  Are we less
+     pure than the angels?  Are our souls less separated from the earth
+     than they will be after death?  Oh, Madeleine, what is there in us
+     wherewith the Lord can be displeased?  Can it be that we pray
+     together, that with faces prostrate in the dust before His altars,
+     we ask for early death to take us while yet youth and love are ours?
+     Or that, musing together beneath the funereal trees of the
+     churchyard, we yearned for one grave, smiling at the idea of death,
+     and weeping at life?  Or that, when thou kneelest before me at the
+     tribunal of penitence, and, speaking in the presence of God, canst
+     find naught of evil to reveal to me, so wholly have I kept thy soul
+     in the pure regions of heaven?  What, then, could offend our
+     Creator?  Perhaps--yes!  perhaps some spirit of heaven may have
+     envied me my happiness when on Easter morn I saw thee kneeling
+     before me, purified by long austerities from the slight stain which
+     original sin had left in thee!  Beautiful, indeed, wert thou!  Thy
+     glance sought thy God in heaven, and my trembling hand held His
+     image to thy pure lips, which human lip had never dared to breathe
+     upon.  Angelic being!  I alone participated in the secret of the
+     Lord, in the one secret of the entire purity of thy soul; I it was
+     that united thee to thy Creator, who at that moment descended also
+     into my bosom.  Ineffable espousals, of which the Eternal himself
+     was the priest, you alone were permitted between the virgin and her
+     pastor!  the sole joy of each was to see eternal happiness beginning
+     for the other, to inhale together the perfumes of heaven, to drink
+     in already the harmony of the spheres, and to feel assured that our
+     souls, unveiled to God and to ourselves alone, were worthy together
+     to adore Him.
+
+     "'What scruple still weighs upon thy soul, O my sister?  Dost thou
+     think I have offered too high a worship to thy virtue?  Fearest thou
+     so pure an admiration should deter me from that of the Lord?'"
+
+
+Houmain had reached this point when the door through which the witnesses
+had withdrawn suddenly opened.  The judges anxiously whispered together.
+Laubardemont, uncertain as to the meaning of this, signed to the fathers
+to let him know whether this was some scene executed by their orders;
+but, seated at some distance from him, and themselves taken by surprise,
+they could not make him understand that they had not prepared this
+interruption.  Besides, ere they could exchange looks, to the amazement
+of the assembly, three women, 'en chemise', with naked feet, each with a
+cord round her neck and a wax taper in her hand, came through the door
+and advanced to the middle of the platform.  It was the Superior of the
+Ursulines, followed by Sisters Agnes and Claire.  Both the latter were
+weeping; the Superior was very pale, but her bearing was firm, and her
+eyes were fixed and tearless.  She knelt; her companions followed her
+example.  Everything was in such confusion that no one thought of
+checking them; and in a clear, firm voice she pronounced these words,
+which resounded in every corner of the hall:
+
+"In the name of the Holy Trinity, I, Jeanne de Belfiel, daughter of the
+Baron de Cose, I, the unworthy Superior of the Convent of the Ursulines
+of Loudun, ask pardon of God and man for the crime I have committed in
+accusing the innocent Urbain Grandier.  My possession was feigned, my
+words were dictated; remorse overwhelms me."
+
+"Bravo!"  cried the spectators, clapping their hands.  The judges arose;
+the archers, in doubt, looked at the president; he shook in every limb,
+but did not change countenance.
+
+"Let all be silent," he said, in a sharp voice; "archers, do your duty."
+
+This man felt himself supported by so strong a hand that nothing could
+affright him--for no thought of Heaven ever visited him.
+
+"What think you, my fathers?"  said he, making a sign to the monks.
+
+"That the demon seeks to save his friend.  Obmutesce, Satanas!"  cried
+Father Lactantius, in a terrible voice, affecting to exorcise the
+Superior.
+
+Never did fire applied to gunpowder produce an effect more instantaneous
+than did these two words.  Jeanne de Belfiel started up in all the beauty
+of twenty, which her awful nudity served to augment; she seemed a soul
+escaped from hell appearing to, her seducer.  With her dark eyes she cast
+fierce glances upon the monks; Lactantius lowered his beneath that look.
+She took two steps toward him with her bare feet, beneath which the
+scaffolding rung, so energetic was her movement; the taper seemed, in her
+hand, the sword of the avenging angel.
+
+"Silence, impostor!"  she cried, with warmth; "the demon who possessed me
+was yourself.  You deceived me; you said he was not to be tried.  To-day,
+for the first time, I know that he is to be tried; to-day, for the first
+time, I know that he is to be murdered.  And I will speak!"
+
+"Woman, the demon bewilders thee."
+
+"Say, rather, that repentance enlightens me.  Daughters, miserable as
+myself, arise; is he not innocent?"
+
+"We swear he is," said the two young lay sisters, still kneeling and
+weeping, for they were not animated with so strong a resolution as that
+of the Superior.
+
+Agnes, indeed, had hardly uttered these words when turning toward the
+people, she cried, "Help me!  they will punish me; they will kill me!"
+And hurrying away her companion, she drew her into the crowd, who
+affectionately received them.  A thousand voices swore to protect them.
+Imprecations arose; the men struck their staves against the floor; the
+officials dared not prevent the people from passing the sisters on from
+one to another into the street.
+
+During this strange scene the amazed and panic-struck judges whispered;
+M. Laubardemont looked at the archers, indicating to them the points they
+were especially to watch, among which, more particularly, was that
+occupied by the group in black.  The accusers looked toward the gallery
+of the Bishop of Poitiers, but discovered no expression in his dull
+countenance.  He was one of those old men of whom death appears to take
+possession ten years before all motion entirely ceases in them.  His eyes
+seemed veiled by a half sleep; his gaping mouth mumbled a few vague and
+habitual words of prayer without meaning or application; the entire
+amount of intelligence he retained was the ability to distinguish the man
+who had most power, and him he obeyed, regardless at what price.  He had
+accordingly signed the sentence of the doctors of the Sorbonne which
+declared the nuns possessed, without even deducing thence the consequence
+of the death of Urbain; the rest seemed to him one of those more or less
+lengthy ceremonies, to which he paid not the slightest attention--
+accustomed as he was to see and live among them, himself an indispensable
+part and parcel of them.  He therefore gave no sign of life on this
+occasion, merely preserving an air at once perfectly noble and
+expressionless.
+
+Meanwhile, Father Lactantius, having had a moment to recover from the
+sudden attack made upon him, turned toward the president and said:
+
+"Here is a clear proof, sent us by Heaven, of the possession, for the
+Superior never before has forgotten the modesty and severity of her
+order."
+
+"Would that all the world were here to see me!" said Jeanne de Belfiel,
+firm as ever.  "I can not be sufficiently humiliated upon earth,
+and Heaven will reject me, for I have been your accomplice."
+
+Perspiration appeared upon the forehead of Laubardemont, but he tried to
+recover his composure.  "What absurd tale is this, Sister; what has
+influenced you herein?"
+
+The voice of the girl became sepulchral; she collected all her strength,
+pressed her hand upon her heart as if she desired to stay its throbbing,
+and, looking at Urbain Grandier, answered, "Love."
+
+A shudder ran through the assembly.  Urbain, who since he had fainted had
+remained with his head hanging down as if dead, slowly raised his eyes
+toward her, and returned entirely to life only to undergo a fresh sorrow.
+The young penitent continued:
+
+"Yes, the love which he rejected, which he never fully knew, which I have
+breathed in his discourses, which my eyes drew in from his celestial
+countenance, which his very counsels against it have increased.
+
+"Yes, Urbain is pure as an angel, but good as a man who has loved.  I knew
+not that he had loved!  It is you," she said more energetically, pointing
+to Lactantius, Barre, and Mignon, and changing her passionate accents for
+those of indignation--"it is you who told me that he loved; you, who this
+morning have too cruelly avenged me by killing my rival with a word.
+Alas, I only sought to separate them!  It was a crime; but, by my mother,
+I am an Italian!  I burned with love, with jealousy; you allowed me to
+see Urbain, to have him as a friend, to see him daily."  She was silent
+for a moment, then exclaimed, "People, he is innocent!  Martyr, pardon
+me, I embrace thy feet!"
+
+She prostrated herself before Urbain and burst into a torrent of tears.
+
+Urbain raised his closely bound hands, and giving her his benediction,
+said, gently:
+
+"Go, Sister; I pardon thee in the name of Him whom I shall soon see.
+I have before said to you, and you now see, that the passions work much
+evil, unless we seek to turn them toward heaven."
+
+The blood rose a second time to Laubardemont's forehead.  "Miscreant!"
+he exclaimed, "darest thou pronounce the words of the Church?"
+
+"I have not quitted her bosom," said Urbain.
+
+"Remove the girl," said the President.
+
+When the archers went to obey, they found that she had tightened the cord
+round her neck with such force that she was of a livid hue and almost
+lifeless.  Fear had driven all the women from the assembly; many had been
+carried out fainting, but the hall was no less crowded.  The ranks
+thickened, for the men out of the streets poured in.
+
+The judges arose in terror, and the president attempted to have the hall
+cleared; but the people, putting on their hats, stood in alarming
+immobility.  The archers were not numerous enough to repel them.  It
+became necessary to yield; and accordingly Laubardemont in an agitated
+voice announced that the council would retire for half an hour.  He broke
+up the sitting; the people remained gloomily, each man fixed firmly to
+his place.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Adopted fact is always better composed than the real one
+Advantage that a calm temper gives one over men
+Art is the chosen truth
+Artificialities of style of that period
+Artistic Truth, more lofty than the True
+As Homer says, "smiling under tears"
+Difference which I find between Truth in art and the True in fac
+Happy is he who does not outlive his youth
+He did not blush to be a man, and he spoke to men with force
+History too was a work of art
+In every age we laugh at the costume of our fathers
+It is not now what it used to be
+It is too true that virtue also has its blush
+Lofty ideal of woman and of love
+Money is not a common thing between gentlemen like you and me
+Monsieur, I know that I have lived too long
+Neither idealist nor realist
+No writer had more dislike of mere pedantry
+Offices will end by rendering great names vile
+Princesses ceded like a town, and must not even weep
+Principle that art implied selection
+Recommended a scrupulous observance of nature
+Remedy infallible against the plague and against reserve
+True talent paints life rather than the living
+Truth,  I here venture to distinguish from that of the True
+Urbain Grandier
+What use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example
+Woman is more bitter than death, and her arms are like chains
+Yes, we are in the way here
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, v1
+by Alfred de Vigny
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CINQ MARS
+
+By ALFRED DE VIGNY
+
+
+
+BOOK 2.
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE MARTYRDOM
+
+          'La torture interroge, et la douleur repond.'
+                              RAYNOURARD, Les Templiers.
+
+The continuous interest of this half-trial, its preparations, its
+interruptions, all had held the minds of the people in such attention
+that no private conversations had taken place. Some irrepressible cries
+had been uttered, but simultaneously, so that no man could accuse his
+neighbor.  But when the people were left to themselves, there was an
+explosion of clamorous sentences.
+
+There was at this period enough of primitive simplicity among the lower
+classes for them to be persuaded by the mysterious tales of the political
+agents who were deluding them; so that a large portion of the throng in
+the hall of trial, not venturing to change their judgment, though upon
+the manifest evidence just given them, awaited in painful suspense the
+return of the judges, interchanging with an air of mystery and inane
+importance the usual remarks prompted by imbecility on such occasions.
+
+"One does not know what to think, Monsieur?"
+
+"Truly, Madame, most extraordinary things have happened."
+
+"We live in strange times!"
+
+"I suspected this; but, i' faith, it is not wise to say what one thinks."
+
+"We shall see what we shall see," and so on--the unmeaning chatter of the
+crowd, which merely serves to show that it is at the command of the first
+who chooses to sway it.  Stronger words were heard from the group in
+black.
+
+"What!  shall we let them do as they please, in this manner?  What! dare
+to burn our letter to the King!"
+
+"If the King knew it!"
+
+"The barbarian impostors!  how skilfully is their plot contrived!  What!
+shall murder be committed under our very eyes?  Shall we be afraid of
+these archers?"
+
+"No, no, no!"  rang out in trumpet-like tones.
+
+Attention was turned toward the young advocate, who, standing on a
+branch, began tearing to pieces a roll of paper; then he cried:
+
+"Yes, I tear and scatter to the winds the defence I had prepared for the
+accused.  They have suppressed discussion; I am not allowed to speak for
+him.  I can only speak to you, people; I rejoice that I can do so.  You
+heard these infamous judges.  Which of them can hear the truth?  Which of
+them is worthy to listen to an honest man?  Which of them will dare to
+meet his gaze?  But what do I say?  They all know the truth.  They carry
+it in their guilty breasts; it stings their hearts like a serpent.  They
+tremble in their lair, where doubtless they are devouring their victim;
+they tremble because they have heard the cries of three deluded women.
+What was I about to do?  I was about to speak in behalf of Urbain
+Grandier!  But what eloquence could equal that of those unfortunates?
+What words could better have shown you his innocence?  Heaven has taken
+up arms for him in bringing them to repentance and to devotion; Heaven
+will finish its work--"
+
+"Vade retro, Satanas," was heard through a high window in the hall.
+
+Fournier stopped for a moment, then said:
+
+"You hear these voices parodying the divine language?  If I mistake not,
+these instruments of an infernal power are, by this song, preparing some
+new spell."
+
+"But," cried those who surrounded him, "what shall we do?  What have they
+done with him?"
+
+"Remain here; be immovable, be silent," replied the young advocate.
+"The inertia of a people is all-powerful; that is its true wisdom, that
+its strength.  Observe them closely, and in silence; and you will make
+them tremble."
+
+"They surely will not dare to appear here again," said the Comte du Lude.
+
+"I should like to look once more at the tall scoundrel in red," said
+Grand-Ferre, who had lost nothing of what had occurred.
+
+"And that good gentleman, the Cure," murmured old Father Guillaume
+Leroux, looking at all his indignant parishioners, who were talking
+together in a low tone, measuring and counting the archers, ridiculing
+their dress, and beginning to point them out to the observation of the
+other spectators.
+
+Cinq-Mars, still leaning against the pillar behind which he had first
+placed himself, still wrapped in his black cloak, eagerly watched all
+that passed, lost not a word of what was said, and filled his heart with
+hate and bitterness.  Violent desires for slaughter and revenge, a vague
+desire to strike, took possession of him, despite himself; this is the
+first impression which evil produces on the soul of a young man.  Later,
+sadness takes the place of fury, then indifference and scorn, later
+still, a calculating admiration for great villains who have been
+successful; but this is only when, of the two elements which constitute
+man, earth triumphs over spirit.
+
+Meanwhile, on the right of the hall near the judges' platform, a group of
+women were watching attentively a child about eight years old, who had
+taken it into his head to climb up to a cornice by the aid of his sister
+Martine, whom we have seen the subject of jest with the young soldier,
+Grand-Ferre.  The child, having nothing to look at after the court had
+left the hall, had climbed to a small window which admitted a faint
+light, and which he imagined to contain a swallow's nest or some other
+treasure for a boy; but after he was well established on the cornice, his
+hands grasping the bars of an old shrine of Jerome, he wished himself
+anywhere else, and cried out:
+
+"Oh, sister, sister, lend me your hand to get down!"
+
+"What do you see there?"  asked Martine.
+
+"Oh, I dare not tell; but I want to get down," and he began to cry.
+
+"Stay there, my child; stay there!"  said all the women.  "Don't be
+afraid; tell us all that you see."
+
+"Well, then, they've put the Cure between two great boards that squeeze
+his legs, and there are cords round the boards."
+
+"Ah!  that is the rack," said one of the townsmen.  "Look again, my
+little friend, what do you see now?"
+
+The child, more confident, looked again through the window, and then,
+withdrawing his head, said:
+
+"I can not see the Cure now, because all the judges stand round him, and
+are looking at him, and their great robes prevent me from seeing.  There
+are also some Capuchins, stooping down to whisper to him."
+
+Curiosity attracted more people to the boy's perch; every one was silent,
+waiting anxiously to catch his words, as if their lives depended on them.
+
+"I see," he went on, "the executioner driving four little pieces of wood
+between the cords, after the Capuchins have blessed the hammer and nails.
+Ah, heavens!  Sister, how enraged they seem with him, because he will not
+speak.  Mother!  mother!  give me your hand, I want to come down!"
+
+Instead of his mother, the child, upon turning round, saw only men's
+faces, looking up at him with a mournful eagerness, and signing him to go
+on.  He dared not descend, and looked again through the window,
+trembling.
+
+"Oh! I see Father Lactantius and Father Barre themselves forcing in more
+pieces of wood, which squeeze his legs.  Oh, how pale he is!  he seems
+praying.  There, his head falls back, as if he were dying!  Oh, take me
+away!"
+
+And he fell into the arms of the young Advocate, of M. du Lude, and of
+Cinq-Mars, who had come to support him.
+
+"Deus stetit in synagoga deorum: in medio autem Deus dijudicat--" chanted
+strong, nasal voices, issuing from the small window, which continued in
+full chorus one of the psalms, interrupted by blows of the hammer--an
+infernal deed beating time to celestial songs.  One might have supposed
+himself near a smithy, except that the blows were dull, and manifested to
+the ear that the anvil was a man's body.
+
+"Silence!"  said Fournier, "He speaks.  The chanting and the blows stop."
+
+A weak voice within said, with difficulty, "Oh, my fathers, mitigate the
+rigor of your torments, for you will reduce my soul to despair, and I
+might seek to destroy myself!"
+
+At this the fury of the people burst forth like an explosion, echoing
+along the vaulted roofs; the men sprang fiercely upon the platform,
+thrust aside the surprised and hesitating archers; the unarmed crowd
+drove them back, pressed them, almost suffocated them against the walls,
+and held them fast, then dashed against the doors which led to the
+torture chamber, and, making them shake beneath their blows, threatened
+to drive them in; imprecations resounded from a thousand menacing voices
+and terrified the judges within.
+
+"They are gone; they have taken him away!"  cried a man who had climbed
+to the little window.
+
+The multitude at once stopped short, and changing the direction of their
+steps, fled from this detestable place and spread rapidly through the
+streets, where an extraordinary confusion prevailed.
+
+Night had come on during the long sitting, and the rain was pouring in
+torrents.  The darkness was terrifying.  The cries of women slipping on
+the pavement or driven back by the horses of the guards; the shouts of
+the furious men; the ceaseless tolling of the bells which had been
+keeping time with the strokes of the question;
+
+     [Torture ('Question') was regulated in scrupulous detail by Holy
+     Mother The Church: The ordinary question was regulated for minor
+     infractions and used for interrogating women and children. For more
+     serious crimes the suspect (and sometimes the witnesses) were put to
+     the extraordinary question by the officiating priests.  D.W.]
+
+the roll of distant thunder--all combined to increase the disorder.  If
+the ear was astonished, the eyes were no less so.  A few dismal torches
+lighted up the corners of the streets; their flickering gleams showed
+soldiers, armed and mounted, dashing along, regardless of the crowd, to
+assemble in the Place de St. Pierre; tiles were sometimes thrown at them
+on their way, but, missing the distant culprit, fell upon some
+unoffending neighbor.  The confusion was bewildering, and became still
+more so, when, hurrying through all the streets toward the Place de St.
+Pierre, the people found it barricaded on all sides, and filled with
+mounted guards and archers.  Carts, fastened to the posts at each corner,
+closed each entrance, and sentinels, armed with arquebuses, were
+stationed close to the carts.  In the centre of the Place rose a pile
+composed of enormous beams placed crosswise upon one another, so as to
+form a perfect square; these were covered with a whiter and lighter wood;
+an enormous stake arose from the centre of the scaffold.  A man clothed
+in red and holding a lowered torch stood near this sort of mast, which
+was visible from a long distance.  A huge chafing-dish, covered on
+account of the rain, was at his feet.
+
+At this spectacle, terror inspired everywhere a profound silence; for an
+instant nothing was heard but the sound of the rain, which fell in
+floods, and of the thunder, which came nearer and nearer.
+
+Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, accompanied by MM. du Lude and Fournier and all the
+more important personages of the town, had sought refuge from the storm
+under the peristyle of the church of Ste.-Croix, raised upon twenty stone
+steps.  The pile was in front, and from this height they could see the
+whole of the square.  The centre was entirely clear, large streams of
+water alone traversed it; but all the windows of the houses were
+gradually lighted up, and showed the heads of the men and women who
+thronged them.
+
+The young D'Effiat sorrowfully contemplated this menacing preparation.
+Brought up in sentiments of honor, and far removed from the black
+thoughts which hatred and ambition arouse in the heart of man, he could
+not conceive that such wrong could be done without some powerful and
+secret motive.  The audacity of such a condemnation seemed to him so
+enormous that its very cruelty began to justify it in his eyes; a secret
+horror crept into his soul, the same that silenced the people.  He almost
+forgot the interest with which the unhappy Urbain had inspired him, in
+thinking whether it were not possible that some secret correspondence
+with the infernal powers had justly provoked such excessive severity;
+and the public revelations of the nuns, and the statement of his
+respected tutor, faded from his memory, so powerful is success, even in
+the eyes of superior men!  so strongly does force impose upon men,
+despite the voice of conscience!
+
+The young traveller was asking himself whether it were not probable that
+the torture had forced some monstrous confession from the accused, when
+the obscurity which surrounded the church suddenly ceased.  Its two great
+doors were thrown open; and by the light of an infinite number of
+flambeaux, appeared all the judges and ecclesiastics, surrounded by
+guards.  Among them was Urbain, supported, or rather carried, by six men
+clothed as Black Penitents--for his limbs, bound with bandages saturated
+with blood, seemed broken and incapable of supporting him.  It was at
+most two hours since Cinq-Mars had seen him, and yet he could hardly
+recognize the face he had so closely observed at the trial.  All color,
+all roundness of form had disappeared from it; a livid pallor covered a
+skin yellow and shining like ivory; the blood seemed to have left his
+veins; all the life that remained within him shone from his dark eyes,
+which appeared to have grown twice as large as before, as he looked
+languidly around him; his long, chestnut hair hung loosely down his neck
+and over a white shirt, which entirely covered him--or rather a sort of
+robe with large sleeves, and of a yellowish tint, with an odor of sulphur
+about it; a long, thick cord encircled his neck and fell upon his breast.
+He looked like an apparition; but it was the apparition of a martyr.
+
+Urbain stopped, or, rather, was set down upon the peristyle of the
+church; the Capuchin Lactantius placed a lighted torch in his right hand,
+and held it there, as he said to him, with his hard inflexibility:
+
+"Do penance, and ask pardon of God for thy crime of magic."
+
+The unhappy man raised his voice with great difficulty, and with his eyes
+to heaven said:
+
+"In the name of the living God, I cite thee, Laubardemont, false judge,
+to appear before Him in three years.  They have taken away my confessor,
+and I have been fain to pour out my sins into the bosom of God Himself,
+for my enemies surround me.  I call that God of mercy to witness I never
+have dealt in magic.  I have known no mysteries but those of the Catholic
+religion, apostolic and Roman, in which I die; I have sinned much against
+myself, but never against God and our Lord--"
+
+"Cease!"  cried the Capuchin, affecting to close his mouth ere he could
+pronounce the name of the Saviour.  "Obdurate wretch, return to the demon
+who sent thee!"
+
+He signed to four priests, who, approaching with sprinklers in their
+hands, exorcised with holy water the air the magician breathed, the earth
+he touched, the wood that was to burn him.  During this ceremony, the
+judge-Advocate hastily read the decree, dated the 18th of August, 1639,
+declaring Urbain Grandier duly attainted and convicted of the crime of
+sorcery, witchcraft, and possession, in the persons of sundry Ursuline
+nuns of Loudun, and others, laymen, etc.
+
+The reader, dazzled by a flash of lightning, stopped for an instant,
+and, turning to M. de Laubardemont, asked whether, considering the awful
+weather, the execution could not be deferred till the next day.
+
+"The decree," coldly answered Laubardemont, "commands execution within
+twenty-four hours.  Fear not the incredulous people; they will soon be
+convinced."
+
+All the most important persons of the town and many strangers were under
+the peristyle, and now advanced, Cinq-Mars among them.
+
+"The magician never has been able to pronounce the name of the Saviour,
+and repels his image."
+
+Lactantius at this moment issued from the midst of the Penitents, with an
+enormous iron crucifix in his hand, which he seemed to hold with
+precaution and respect; he extended it to the lips of the sufferer, who
+indeed threw back his head, and collecting all his strength, made a
+gesture with his arm, which threw the cross from the hands of the
+Capuchin.
+
+"You see," cried the latter, "he has thrown down the cross!"
+
+A murmur arose, the meaning of which was doubtful.
+
+"Profanation!"  cried the priests.
+
+The procession moved toward the pile.
+
+Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, gliding behind a pillar, had eagerly watched all
+that passed; he saw with astonishment that the cross, in falling upon the
+steps, which were more exposed to the rain than the platform, smoked and
+made a noise like molten lead when thrown into water.  While the public
+attention was elsewhere engaged, he advanced and touched it lightly with
+his bare hand, which was immediately scorched.  Seized with indignation,
+with all the fury of a true heart, he took up the cross with the folds of
+his cloak, stepped up to Laubardemont, and, striking him with it on the
+forehead, cried:
+
+"Villain, I brand thee with the mark of this red-hot iron!"
+
+The crowd heard these words and rushed forward.
+
+"Arrest this madman!"  cried the unworthy magistrate.
+
+He was himself seized by the hands of men who cried, "Justice! justice,
+in the name of the King!"
+
+"We are lost!"  said Lactantius; "to the pile, to the pile!"
+
+The Penitents dragged Urbain toward the Place, while the judges and
+archers reentered the church, struggling with the furious citizens; the
+executioner, having no time to tie up the victim, hastened to lay him on
+the wood, and to set fire to it.  But the rain still fell in torrents,
+and each piece of wood had no sooner caught the flame than it became
+extinguished.  In vain did Lactantius and the other canons themselves
+seek to stir up the fire; nothing could overcome the water which fell
+from heaven.
+
+Meanwhile, the tumult which had begun in the peristyle of the church
+extended throughout the square.  The cry of "Justice!"  was repeated and
+circulated, with the information of what had been discovered; two
+barricades were forced, and despite three volleys of musketry, the
+archers were gradually driven back toward the centre of the square.  In
+vain they spurred their horses against the crowd; it overwhelmed them
+with its swelling waves.  Half an hour passed in this struggle, the
+guards still receding toward the pile, which they concealed as they
+pressed closer upon it.
+
+"On! on!"  cried a man; "we will deliver him; do not strike the soldiers,
+but let them fall back.  See, Heaven will not permit him to die!  The
+fire is out; now, friend, one effort more!  That is well!  Throw down
+that horse!  Forward!  On!"
+
+The guard was broken and dispersed on all sides.  The crowd rushed to the
+pile, but no more light was there: all had disappeared, even the
+executioner.  They tore up and threw aside the beams; one of them was
+still burning, and its light showed under a mass of ashes and ensanguined
+mire a blackened hand, preserved from the fire by a large iron bracelet
+and chain.  A woman had the courage to open it; the fingers clasped a
+small ivory cross and an image of St. Magdalen.
+
+"These are his remains," she said, weeping.
+
+"Say, the relics of a martyr!"  exclaimed a citizen, baring his head.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE DREAM
+
+Meanwhile, Cinq-Mars, amid the excitement which his outbreak had
+provoked, felt his left arm seized by a hand as hard as iron, which,
+drawing him from the crowd to the foot of the steps, pushed him behind
+the wall of the church, and he then saw the dark face of old Grandchamp,
+who said to him in a sharp voice:
+
+"Sir, your attack upon thirty musketeers in a wood at Chaumont was
+nothing, because we were near you, though you knew it not, and, moreover,
+you had to do with men of honor; but here 'tis different.  Your horses
+and people are at the end of the street; I request you to mount and leave
+the town, or to send me back to Madame la Marechale, for I am responsible
+for your limbs, which you expose so freely."
+
+Cinq-Mars was somewhat astonished at this rough mode of having a service
+done him, was not sorry to extricate himself thus from the affair, having
+had time to reflect how very awkward it might be for him to be
+recognized, after striking the head of the judicial authority, the agent
+of the very Cardinal who was to present him to the King.  He observed
+also that around him was assembled a crowd of the lowest class of people,
+among whom he blushed to find himself.  He therefore followed his old
+domestic without argument, and found the other three servants waiting for
+him.  Despite the rain and wind he mounted, and was soon upon the
+highroad with his escort, having put his horse to a gallop to avoid
+pursuit.
+
+He had, however, hardly left Loudun when the sandy road, furrowed by deep
+ruts completely filled with water, obliged him to slacken his pace.  The
+rain continued to fall heavily, and his cloak was almost saturated.  He
+felt a thicker one thrown over his shoulders; it was his old valet, who
+had approached him, and thus exhibited toward him a maternal solicitude.
+
+"Well, Grandchamp," said Cinq-Mars, "now that we are clear of the riot,
+tell me how you came to be there when I had ordered you to remain at the
+Abbe's."
+
+"Parbleu, Monsieur!"  answered the old servant, in a grumbling tone,
+"do you suppose that I should obey you any more than I did Monsieur le
+Marechal?  When my late master, after telling me to remain in his tent,
+found me behind him in the cannon's smoke, he made no complaint, because
+he had a fresh horse ready when his own was killed, and he only scolded
+me for a moment in his thoughts; but, truly, during the forty years I
+served him, I never saw him act as you have in the fortnight I have been
+with you.  Ah!"  he added with a sigh, "things are going strangely; and
+if we continue thus, there's no knowing what will be the end of it."
+
+"But knowest thou, Grandchamp, that these scoundrels had made the
+crucifix red hot?--a thing at which no honest man would have been less
+enraged than I."
+
+"Except Monsieur le Marechal, your father, who would not have done at all
+what you have done, Monsieur."
+
+"What, then, would he have done?"
+
+"He would very quietly have let this cure be burned by the other cures,
+and would have said to me, 'Grandchamp, see that my horses have oats, and
+let no one steal them'; or, 'Grandchamp, take care that the rain does not
+rust my sword or wet the priming of my pistols'; for Monsieur le Marechal
+thought of everything, and never interfered in what did not concern him.
+That was his great principle; and as he was, thank Heaven, alike good
+soldier and good general, he was always as careful of his arms as a
+recruit, and would not have stood up against thirty young gallants with a
+dress rapier."
+
+Cinq-Mars felt the force of the worthy servitor's epigrammatic scolding,
+and feared that he had followed him beyond the wood of Chaumont; but he
+would not ask, lest he should have to give explanations or to tell a
+falsehood or to command silence, which would at once have been taking him
+into confidence on the subject.  As the only alternative, he spurred his
+horse and rode ahead of his old domestic; but the latter had not yet had
+his say, and instead of keeping behind his master, he rode up to his left
+and continued the conversation.
+
+"Do you suppose, Monsieur, that I should allow you to go where you
+please?  No, Monsieur, I am too deeply impressed with the respect I owe
+to Madame la Marquise, to give her an opportunity of saying to me:
+'Grandchamp, my son has been killed with a shot or with a sword; why were
+you not before him?'  Or, 'He has received a stab from the stiletto of an
+Italian, because he went at night beneath the window of a great princess;
+why did you not seize the assassin?'  This would be very disagreeable to
+me, Monsieur, for I never have been reproached with anything of the kind.
+Once Monsieur le Marechal lent me to his nephew, Monsieur le Comte, to
+make a campaign in the Netherlands, because I know Spanish.  I fulfilled
+the duty with honor, as I always do.  When Monsieur le Comte received a
+bullet in his heart, I myself brought back his horses, his mules, his
+tent, and all his equipment, without so much as a pocket-handkerchief
+being missed; and I can assure you that the horses were as well dressed
+and harnessed when we reentered Chaumont as if Monsieur le Comte had been
+about to go a-hunting.  And, accordingly, I received nothing but
+compliments and agreeable things from the whole family, just in the way
+I like."
+
+"Well, well, my friend," said Henri d'Effiat, "I may some day, perhaps,
+have these horses to take back; but in the mean time take this great
+purse of gold, which I have well-nigh lost two or three times, and thou
+shalt pay for me everywhere.  The money wearies me."
+
+"Monsieur le Marechal did not so, Monsieur.  He had been superintendent
+of finances, and he counted every farthing he paid out of his own hand.
+I do not think your estates would have been in such good condition, or
+that you would have had so much money to count yourself, had he done
+otherwise; have the goodness, therefore, to keep your purse, whose
+contents, I dare swear, you do not know."
+
+"Faith, not I."
+
+Grandchamp sent forth a profound sigh at his master's disdainful
+exclamation.
+
+"Ah, Monsieur le Marquis!  Monsieur le Marquis!  When I think that the
+great King Henri, before my eyes, put his chamois gloves into his pocket
+to keep the rain from spoiling them; when I think that Monsieur de Rosni
+refused him money when he had spent too much; when I think--"
+
+"When thou dost think, thou art egregiously tedious, my old friend,"
+interrupted his master; "and thou wilt do better in telling me what that
+black figure is that I think I see walking in the mire behind us."
+
+"It looks like some poor peasant woman who, perhaps, wants alms of us.
+She can easily follow us, for we do not go at much of a pace in this
+sand, wherein our horses sink up to the hams.  We shall go to the Landes
+perhaps some day, Monsieur, and you will see a country all the same as
+this sandy road, and great, black firs all the way along.  It looks like
+a churchyard; this is an exact specimen of it.  Look, the rain has
+ceased, and we can see a little ahead; there is nothing but furze-bushes
+on this great plain, without a village or a house.  I don't know where we
+can pass the night; but if you will take my advice, you will let us cut
+some boughs and bivouac where we are.  You shall see how, with a little
+earth, I can make a hut as warm as a bed."
+
+"I would rather go on to the light I see in the horizon," said Cinq-Mars;
+"for I fancy I feel rather feverish, and I am thirsty.  But fall back, I
+would ride alone; rejoin the others and follow."
+
+Grandchamp obeyed; he consoled himself by giving Germain, Louis, and
+Etienne lessons in the art of reconnoitring a country by night.
+
+Meanwhile, his young master was overcome with fatigue.  The violent
+emotions of the day had profoundly affected his mind; and the long
+journey on horseback, the last two days passed almost without
+nourishment, owing to the hurried pressure of events, the heat of the sun
+by day, the icy coldness of the night, all contributed to increase his
+indisposition and to weary his delicate frame.  For three hours he rode
+in silence before his people, yet the light he had seen in the horizon
+seemed no nearer; at last he ceased to follow it with his eyes, and his
+head, feeling heavier and heavier, sank upon his breast.  He gave the
+reins to his tired horse, which of its own accord followed the high-road,
+and, crossing his arms, allowed himself to be rocked by the monotonous
+motion of his fellow-traveller, which frequently stumbled against the
+large stones that strewed the road.  The rain had ceased, as had the
+voices of his domestics, whose horses followed in the track of their
+master's.  The young man abandoned himself to the bitterness of his
+thoughts; he asked himself whether the bright object of his hopes would
+not flee from him day by day, as that phosphoric light fled from him in
+the horizon, step by step.  Was it probable that the young Princess,
+almost forcibly recalled to the gallant court of Anne of Austria, would
+always refuse the hands, perhaps royal ones, that would be offered to
+her?  What chance that she would resign herself to renounce a present
+throne, in order to wait till some caprice of fortune should realize
+romantic hopes, or take a youth almost in the lowest rank of the army and
+lift him to the elevation she spoke of, till the age of love should be
+passed?  How could he be certain that even the vows of Marie de Gonzaga
+were sincere?
+
+"Alas!"  he said, "perhaps she has blinded herself as to her own
+sentiments; the solitude of the country had prepared her soul to receive
+deep impressions.  I came; she thought I was he of whom she had dreamed.
+Our age and my love did the rest.  But when at court, she, the companion
+of the Queen, has learned to contemplate from an exalted position the
+greatness to which I aspire, and which I as yet see only from a very
+humble distance; when she shall suddenly find herself in actual
+possession of the future she aims at, and measures with a more correct
+eye the long road I have to travel; when she shall hear around her vows
+like mine, pronounced by lips which could undo me with a word, with a
+word destroy him whom she awaits as her husband, her lord--oh, madman
+that I have been!--she will see all her folly, and will be incensed at
+mine."
+
+Thus did doubt, the greatest misery of love, begin to torture his unhappy
+heart; he felt his hot blood rush to his head and oppress it.  Ever and
+anon he fell forward upon the neck of his horse, and a half sleep weighed
+down his eyes; the dark firs that bordered the road seemed to him
+gigantic corpses travelling beside him.  He saw, or thought he saw, the
+same woman clothed in black, whom he had pointed out to Grandchamp,
+approach so near as to touch his horse's mane, pull his cloak, and then
+run off with a jeering laugh; the sand of the road seemed to him a river
+running beneath him, with opposing current, back toward its source.  This
+strange sight dazzled his worn eyes; he closed them and fell asleep on
+his horse.
+
+Presently, he felt himself stopped, but he was numbed with cold and could
+not move.  He saw peasants, lights, a house, a great room into which they
+carried him, a wide bed, whose heavy curtains were closed by Grandchamp;
+and he fell asleep again, stunned by the fever that whirred in his ears.
+
+Dreams that followed one another more rapidly than grains of sand before
+the wind rushed through his brain; he could not catch them, and moved
+restlessly on his bed.  Urbain Grandier on the rack, his mother in tears,
+his tutor armed, Bassompierre loaded with chains, passed before him,
+making signs of farewell; at last, as he slept, he instinctively put his
+hand to his head to stay the passing dream, which then seemed to unfold
+itself before his eyes like pictures in shifting sands.
+
+He saw a public square crowded with a foreign people, a northern people,
+who uttered cries of joy, but they were savage cries; there was a line of
+guards, ferocious soldiers--these were Frenchmen.  "Come with me," said
+the soft voice of Marie de Gonzaga, who took his hand.  "See, I wear a
+diadem; here is thy throne, come with me."  And she hurried him on, the
+people still shouting.  He went on, a long way.  "Why are you sad, if
+you are a queen?"  he said, trembling.  But she was pale, and smiled and
+spoke not.  She ascended, step after step, up to a throne, and seated
+herself.  "Mount!"  said she, forcibly pulling his hand.  But, at every
+movement, the massive stairs crumbled beneath his feet, so that he could
+not ascend.  "Give thanks to love," she continued; and her hand, now more
+powerful, raised him to the throne.  The people still shouted.  He bowed
+low to kiss that helping hand, that adored hand; it was the hand of the
+executioner!
+
+"Oh, heavens!"  exclaimed Cinq-Mars, as, heaving a deep sigh, he opened
+his eyes.  A flickering lamp lighted the ruinous chamber of the inn; he
+again closed his eyes, for he had seen, seated on his bed, a woman, a
+nun, young and beautiful!  He thought he was still dreaming, but she
+grasped his hand firmly.  He opened his burning eyes, and fixed them upon
+her.
+
+"Is it you, Jeannede Belfiel?  The rain has drenched your veil and your
+black hair!  Why are you here, unhappy woman?"
+
+"Hark!  awake not my Urbain; he sleeps there in the next room.  Ay, my
+hair is indeed wet, and my feet--see, my feet that were once so white,
+see how the mud has soiled them.  But I have made a vow--I will not wash
+them till I have seen the King, and until he has granted me Urbain's
+pardon.  I am going to the army to find him; I will speak to him as
+Grandier taught me to speak, and he will pardon him.  And listen, I will
+also ask thy pardon, for I read it in thy face that thou, too, art
+condemned to death.  Poor youth!  thou art too young to die, thy curling
+hair is beautiful; but yet thou art condemned, for thou hast on thy brow
+a line that never deceives.  The man thou hast struck will kill thee.
+Thou hast made too much use of the cross; it is that which will bring
+evil upon thee.  Thou hast struck with it, and thou wearest it round thy
+neck by a hair chain.  Nay, hide not thy face; have I said aught to
+afflict thee, or is it that thou lovest, young man?  Ah, reassure
+thyself, I will not tell all this to thy love.  I am mad, but I am
+gentle, very gentle; and three days ago I was beautiful.  Is she also
+beautiful?  Ah!  she will weep some day!  Yet, if she can weep, she will
+be happy!"
+
+And then suddenly Jeanne began to recite the service for the dead in a
+monotonous voice, but with incredible rapidity, still seated on the bed,
+and turning the beads of a long rosary.
+
+Suddenly the door opened; she looked up, and fled through another door in
+the partition.
+
+"What the devil's that-an imp or an angel, saying the funeral service
+over you, and you under the clothes, as if you were in a shroud?"
+
+This abrupt exclamation came from the rough voice of Grandchamp, who was
+so astonished at what he had seen that he dropped the glass of lemonade
+he was bringing in.  Finding that his master did not answer, he became
+still more alarmed, and raised the bedclothes.  Cinq-Mars's face was
+crimson, and he seemed asleep, but his old domestic saw that the blood
+rushing to his head had almost suffocated him; and, seizing a jug full of
+cold water, he dashed the whole of it in his face.  This military remedy
+rarely fails to effect its purpose, and Cinq-Mars returned to himself
+with a start.
+
+"Ah! it is thou, Grandchamp; what frightful dreams I have had!"
+
+"Peste!  Monsieur le Marquis, your dreams, on the contrary, are very
+pretty ones.  I saw the tail of the last as I came in; your choice is not
+bad."
+
+"What dost mean, blockhead?"
+
+"Nay, not a blockhead, Monsieur; I have good eyes, and I have seen what I
+have seen.  But, really ill as you are, Monsieur le Marechal would
+never--"
+
+"Thou art utterly doting, my friend; give me some drink, I am parched
+with thirst.  Oh, heavens!  what a night!  I still see all those women."
+
+"All those women, Monsieur?  Why, how many are here?"
+
+"I am speaking to thee of a dream, blockhead.  Why standest there like a
+post, instead of giving me some drink?"
+
+"Enough, Monsieur; I will get more lemonade."  And going to the door, he
+called over the staircase, "Germain!  Etienne!  Louis!"
+
+The innkeeper answered from below: "Coming, Monsieur, coming; they have
+been helping me to catch the madwoman."
+
+"What mad-woman?"  said Cinq-Mars, rising in bed.
+
+The host entered, and, taking off his cotton cap, said, respectfully:
+"Oh, nothing, Monsieur le Marquis, only a madwoman that came here last
+night on foot, and whom we put in the next room; but she has escaped, and
+we have not been able to catch her."
+
+"Ah!"  exclaimed Cinq-Mars, returning to himself and putting his hand to
+his eyes, "it was not a dream, then.  And my mother, where is she?  and
+the Marechal, and--Ah!  and yet it is but a fearful dream!  Leave me."
+
+As he said this, he turned toward the wall, and again pulled the clothes
+over his head.
+
+The innkeeper, in amazement, touched his forehead three times with his
+finger, looking at Grandchamp as if to ask him whether his master were
+also mad.
+
+Grandchamp motioned him away in silence, and in order to watch the rest
+of the night by the side of Cinq-Mars, who was in a deep sleep, he seated
+himself in a large armchair, covered with tapestry, and began to squeeze
+lemons into a glass of water with an air as grave and severe as
+Archimedes calculating the condensing power of his mirrors.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE CABINET
+
+     Men have rarely the courage to be wholly good or wholly bad.
+                                                  MACHIAVELLI.
+
+Let us leave our young traveller sleeping; he will soon pursue a long and
+beautiful route.  Since we are at liberty to turn to all points of the
+map, we will fix our eyes upon the city of Narbonne.
+
+Behold the Mediterranean, not far distant, washing with its blue waters
+the sandy shores.  Penetrate into that city resembling Athens; and to
+find him who reigns there, follow that dark and irregular street, mount
+the steps of the old archiepiscopal palace, and enter the first and
+largest of its apartments.
+
+This was a very long salon, lighted by a series of high lancet windows,
+of which the upper part only retained the blue, yellow, and red panes
+that shed a mysterious light through the apartment.  A large round table
+occupied its entire breadth, near the great fireplace; around this table,
+covered with a colored cloth and scattered with papers and portfolios,
+were seated, bending over their pens, eight secretaries copying letters
+which were handed to them from a smaller table.  Other men quietly
+arranged the completed papers in the shelves of a bookcase, partly filled
+with books bound in black.
+
+Notwithstanding the number of persons assembled in the room, one might
+have heard the movements of the wings of a fly.  The only interruption to
+the silence was the sound of pens rapidly gliding over paper, and a
+shrill voice dictating, stopping every now and then to cough.  This voice
+proceeded from a great armchair placed beside the fire, which was
+blazing, notwithstanding the heat of the season and of the country.
+It was one of those armchairs that you still see in old castles, and
+which seem made to read one's self to sleep in, so easy is every part of
+it.  The sitter sinks into a circular cushion of down; if the head leans
+back, the cheeks rest upon pillows covered with silk, and the seat juts
+out so far beyond the elbows that one may believe the provident
+upholsterers of our forefathers sought to provide that the book should
+make no noise in falling so as to awaken the sleeper.
+
+But we will quit this digression, and speak of the man who occupied the
+chair, and who was very far from sleeping.  He had a broad forehead,
+bordered with thin white hair, large, mild eyes, a wan face, to which a
+small, pointed, white beard gave that air of subtlety and finesse
+noticeable in all the portraits of the period of Louis XIII.  His mouth
+was almost without lips, which Lavater deems an indubitable sign of an
+evil mind, and it was framed in a pair of slight gray moustaches and a
+'royale'--an ornament then in fashion, which somewhat resembled a comma
+in form.  The old man wore a close red cap, a large 'robe-dechambre',
+and purple silk stockings; he was no less a personage than Armand
+Duplessis, Cardinal de Richelieu.
+
+Near him, around the small table, sat four youths from fifteen to twenty
+years of age; these were pages, or domestics, according to the term then
+in use, which signified familiars, friends of the house.  This custom was
+a relic of feudal patronage, which still existed in our manners.
+The younger members of high families received wages from the great lords,
+and were devoted to their service in all things, challenging the first
+comer at the wish of their patron.  The pages wrote letters from the
+outline previously given them by the Cardinal, and after their master had
+glanced at them, passed them to the secretaries, who made fair copies.
+The Duke, for his part, wrote on his knee private notes upon small slips
+of paper, inserting them in almost all the packets before sealing them,
+which he did with his own hand.
+
+He had been writing a short time, when, in a mirror before him, he saw
+the youngest of his pages writing something on a sheet of paper much
+smaller than the official sheet.  He hastily wrote a few words, and then
+slipped the paper under the large sheet which, much against his
+inclination, he had to fill; but, seated behind the Cardinal, he hoped
+that the difficulty with which the latter turned would prevent him from
+seeing the little manoeuvre he had tried to exercise with much dexterity.
+Suddenly Richelieu said to him, dryly, "Come here, Monsieur Olivier."
+
+These words came like a thunder-clap on the poor boy, who seemed about
+sixteen.  He rose at once, however, and stood before the minister, his
+arms hanging at his side and his head lowered.
+
+The other pages and the secretaries stirred no more than soldiers when a
+comrade is struck down by a ball, so accustomed were they to this kind of
+summons.  The present one, however, was more energetic than usual.
+
+"What were you writing?"
+
+"My lord, what your Eminence dictated."
+
+"What!"
+
+"My lord, the letter to Don Juan de Braganza."
+
+"No evasions, Monsieur; you were writing something else."
+
+"My lord," said the page, with tears in his eyes, "it was a letter to one
+of my cousins."
+
+"Let me see it."
+
+The page trembled in every limb and was obliged to lean against the
+chimney-piece, as he said, in a hardly audible tone, "It is impossible."
+
+"Monsieur le Vicomte Olivier d'Entraigues," said the minister, without
+showing the least emotion, "you are no longer in my service."  The page
+withdrew.  He knew that there was no reply; so, slipping his letter into
+his pocket, and opening the folding-doors just wide enough to allow his
+exit, he glided out like a bird escaped from the cage.
+
+The minister went on writing the note upon his knee.
+
+The secretaries redoubled their silent zeal, when suddenly the two wings
+of the door were thrown back and showed, standing in the opening, a
+Capuchin, who, bowing, with his arms crossed over his breast, seemed
+waiting for alms or for an order to retire.  He had a dark complexion,
+and was deeply pitted with smallpox; his eyes, mild, but somewhat
+squinting, were almost hidden by his thick eyebrows, which met in the
+middle of his forehead; on his mouth played a crafty, mischievous, and
+sinister smile; his beard was straight and red, and his costume was that
+of the order of St. Francis in all its repulsiveness, with sandals on his
+bare feet, that looked altogether unfit to tread upon carpet.
+
+Such as he was, however, this personage appeared to create a great
+sensation throughout the room; for, without finishing the phrase, the
+line, or even the word begun, every person rose and went out by the door
+where he was still standing--some saluting him as they passed, others
+turning away their heads, and the young pages holding their fingers to
+their noses, but not till they were behind him, for they seemed to have a
+secret fear of him.  When they had all passed out, he entered, making a
+profound reverence, because the door was still open; but, as soon as it
+was shut, unceremoniously advancing, he seated himself near the Cardinal,
+who, having recognized him by the general movement he created, saluted
+him with a dry and silent inclination of the head, regarding him fixedly,
+as if awaiting some news and unable to avoid knitting his brows, as at
+the aspect of a spider or some other disagreeable creature.
+
+The Cardinal could not resist this movement of displeasure, because he
+felt himself obliged, by the presence of his agent, to resume those
+profound and painful conversations from which he had for some days been
+free, in a country whose pure air, favorable to him, had somewhat soothed
+the pain of his malady; that malady had changed to a slow fever, but its
+intervals were long enough to enable him to forget during its absence
+that it must return.  Giving, therefore, a little rest to his hitherto
+indefatigable mind, he had been awaiting, for the first time in his life
+perhaps, without impatience, the return of the couriers he had sent in
+all directions, like the rays of a sun which alone gave life and movement
+to France.  He had not expected the visit he now received, and the sight
+of one of those men, whom, to use his own expression, he "steeped in
+crime," rendered all the habitual disquietudes of his life more present
+to him, without entirely dissipating the cloud of melancholy which at
+that time obscured his thoughts.
+
+The beginning of his conversation was tinged with the gloomy hue of his
+late reveries; but he soon became more animated and vigorous than ever,
+when his powerful mind had reentered the real world.
+
+His confidant, seeing that he was expected to break the silence, did so
+in this abrupt fashion:
+
+"Well, my lord, of what are you thinking?"
+
+"Alas, Joseph, of what should we all think, but of our future happiness
+in a better life?  For many days I have been reflecting that human
+interests have too much diverted me from this great thought; and I repent
+me of having spent some moments of my leisure in profane works, such as
+my tragedies, 'Europe' and 'Mirame,' despite the glory they have already
+gained me among our brightest minds--a glory which will extend unto
+futurity."
+
+Father Joseph, full of what he had to say, was at first surprised at this
+opening; but he knew his master too well to betray his feelings, and,
+well skilled in changing the course of his ideas, replied:
+
+"Yes, their merit is very great, and France will regret that these
+immortal works are not followed by similar productions."
+
+"Yes, my dear Joseph; but it is in vain that such men as Boisrobert,
+Claveret, Colletet, Corneille, and, above all, the celebrated Mairet,
+have proclaimed these tragedies the finest that the present or any past
+age has produced.  I reproach myself for them, I swear to you, as for a
+mortal sin, and I now, in my hours of repose, occupy myself only with my
+'Methode des Controverses', and my book on the 'Perfection du Chretien.'
+I remember that I am fifty-six years old, and that I have an incurable
+malady."
+
+"These are calculations which your enemies make as precisely as your
+Eminence," said the priest, who began to be annoyed with this
+conversation, and was eager to talk of other matters.
+
+The blood mounted to the Cardinal's face.
+
+"I know it!  I know it well!" he said; "I know all their black villainy,
+and I am prepared for it.  But what news is there?"
+
+"According to our arrangement, my lord, we have removed Mademoiselle
+d'Hautefort, as we removed Mademoiselle de la Fayette before her.  So far
+it is well; but her place is not filled, and the King--"
+
+"Well!"
+
+"The King has ideas which he never had before."
+
+"Ha!  and which come not from me?  'Tis well, truly," said the minister,
+with an ironic sneer.
+
+"What, my lord, leave the place of the favorite vacant for six whole
+days?  It is not prudent; pardon me for saying so."
+
+"He has ideas--ideas!"  repeated Richelieu, with a kind of terror; "and
+what are they?"
+
+"He talks of recalling the Queen-mother," said the Capuchin, in a low
+voice; "of recalling her from Cologne."
+
+"Marie de Medicis!"  cried the Cardinal, striking the arms of his chair
+with his hands.  "No, by Heaven, she shall not again set her foot upon
+the soil of France, whence I drove her, step by step!  England has not
+dared to receive her, exiled by me; Holland fears to be crushed by her;
+and my kingdom to receive her!  No, no, such an idea could not have
+originated with himself!  To recall my enemy!  to recall his mother!
+What perfidy!  He would not have dared to think of it."
+
+Then, having mused for a moment, he added, fixing a penetrating look
+still full of burning anger upon Father Joseph:
+
+"But in what terms did he express this desire?  Tell me his precise
+words."
+
+"He said publicly; and in the presence of Monsieur: 'I feel that one of
+the first duties of a Christian is to be a good son, and I will resist no
+longer the murmurs of my conscience.'"
+
+"Christian!  conscience!  these are not his expressions.  It is Father
+Caussin--it is his confessor who is betraying me," cried the Cardinal.
+"Perfidious Jesuit!  I pardoned thee thy intrigue with La Fayette; but I
+will not pass over thy secret counsels.  I will have this confessor
+dismissed, Joseph; he is an enemy to the State, I see it clearly.
+But I myself have acted with negligence for some days past; I have not
+sufficiently hastened the arrival of the young d'Effiat, who will
+doubtless succeed.  He is handsome and intellectual, they say.  What a
+blunder!  I myself merit disgrace.  To leave that fox of a Jesuit with
+the King, without having given him my secret instructions, without a
+hostage, a pledge, or his fidelity to my orders!  What neglect!  Joseph,
+take a pen, and write what I shall dictate for the other confessor, whom
+we will choose better.  I think of Father Sirmond."
+
+Father Joseph sat down at the large table, ready to write, and the
+Cardinal dictated to him those duties, of a new kind, which shortly
+afterward he dared to have given to the King, who received them,
+respected them, and learned them by heart as the commandments of the
+Church.  They have come down to us, a terrible monument of the empire
+that a man may seize upon by means of circumstances, intrigues, and
+audacity:
+
+     "I.  A prince should have a prime minister, and that minister three
+     qualities: (1) He should have no passion but for his prince; (2) He
+     should be able and faithful; (3) He should be an ecclesiastic.
+
+     "II.  A prince ought perfectly to love his prime minister.
+
+     "III.  Ought never to change his prime minister.
+
+     "IV.  Ought to tell him all things.
+
+     "V.  To give him free access to his person.
+
+     "VI.  To give him sovereign authority over his people.
+
+     "VII.  Great honors and large possessions.
+
+     "VIII.  A prince has no treasure more precious than his prime
+     minister.
+
+     "IX.  A prince should not put faith in what people say against his
+     prime minister, nor listen to any such slanders.
+
+     "X.  A prince should reveal to his prime minister all that is said
+     against him, even though he has been bound to keep it secret.
+
+     "XI.  A prince should prefer not only the well-being of the State,
+     but also his prime minister, to all his relations."
+
+
+Such were the commandments of the god of France, less astonishing in
+themselves than the terrible naivete which made him bequeath them to
+posterity, as if posterity also must believe in him.
+
+While he dictated his instructions, reading them from a small piece of
+paper, written with his own hand, a deep melancholy seemed to possess him
+more and more at each word; and when he had ended, he fell back in his
+chair, his arms crossed, and his head sunk on his breast.
+
+Father Joseph, dropping his pen, arose and was inquiring whether he were
+ill, when he heard issue from the depths of his chest these mournful and
+memorable words:
+
+"What utter weariness!  what endless trouble!  If the ambitious man could
+see me, he would flee to a desert.  What is my power?  A miserable
+reflection of the royal power; and what labors to fix upon my star that
+incessantly wavering ray!  For twenty years I have been in vain
+attempting it.  I can not comprehend that man.  He dare not flee me;
+but they take him from me--he glides through my fingers.  What things
+could I not have done with his hereditary rights, had I possessed them?
+But, employing such infinite calculation in merely keeping one's balance,
+what of genius remains for high enterprises?  I hold Europe in my hand,
+yet I myself am suspended by a trembling hair.  What is it to me that I
+can cast my eyes confidently over the map of Europe, when all my
+interests are concentrated in his narrow cabinet, and its few feet of
+space give me more trouble to govern than the whole country besides?
+See, then, what it is to be a prime minister!  Envy me, my guards, if you
+can."
+
+His features were so distorted as to give reason to fear some accident;
+and at the same moment he was seized with a long and violent fit of
+coughing, which ended in a slight hemorrhage.  He saw that Father Joseph,
+alarmed, was about to seize a gold bell that stood on the table, and,
+suddenly rising with all the vivacity of a young man, he stopped him,
+saying:
+
+"'Tis nothing, Joseph; I sometimes yield to these fits of depression; but
+they do not last long, and I leave them stronger than before.  As for my
+health, I know my condition perfectly; but that is not the business in
+hand.  What have you done at Paris?  I am glad to know the King has
+arrived in Bearn, as I wished; we shall be able to keep a closer watch
+upon him.  How did you induce him to come away?"
+
+"A battle at Perpignan."
+
+"That is not bad.  Well, we can arrange it for him; that occupation will
+do as well as another just now.  But the young Queen, what says she?"
+
+"She is still furious against you; her correspondence discovered, the
+questioning to which you had subjected her--"
+
+"Bah! a madrigal and a momentary submission on my part will make her
+forget that I have separated her from her house of Austria and from the
+country of her Buckingham.  But how does she occupy herself?"
+
+"In machinations with Monsieur.  But as we have his entire confidence,
+here are the daily accounts of their interviews."
+
+"I shall not trouble myself to read them; while the Duc de Bouillon
+remains in Italy I have nothing to fear in that quarter.  She may have as
+many petty plots with Gaston in the chimney-corner as she pleases; he
+never got beyond his excellent intentions, forsooth!  He carries nothing
+into effect but his withdrawal from the kingdom.  He has had his third
+dismissal; I will manage a fourth for him whenever he pleases; he is not
+worth the pistol-shot you had the Comte de Soissons settled with, and yet
+the poor Comte had scarce more energy than he."
+
+And the Cardinal, reseating himself in his chair, began to laugh gayly
+enough for a statesman.
+
+"I always laugh when I think of their expedition to Amiens.  They had me
+between them, Each had fully five hundred gentlemen with him, armed to
+the teeth, and all going to despatch me, like Concini; but the great
+Vitry was not there.  They very quietly let me talk for an hour with them
+about the hunt and the Fete Dieu, and neither of them dared make a sign
+to their cut-throats.  I have since learned from Chavigny that for two
+long months they had been waiting that happy moment.  For myself, indeed,
+I observed nothing, except that little villain, the Abbe de Gondi,--
+[Afterward Cardinal de Retz.]--who prowled near me, and seemed to have
+something hidden under his sleeve; it was he that made me get into the
+coach."
+
+"Apropos of the Abbe, my lord, the Queen insists upon making him
+coadjutor."
+
+"She is mad!  he will ruin her if she connects herself with him; he's a
+musketeer in canonicals, the devil in a cassock.  Read his 'Histoire de
+Fiesque'; you may see himself in it.  He will be nothing while I live."
+
+"How is it that with a judgment like yours you bring another ambitious
+man of his age to court?"
+
+"That is an entirely different matter.  This young Cinq-Mars, my friend,
+will be a mere puppet.  He will think of nothing but his ruff and his
+shoulder-knots; his handsome figure assures me of this.  I know that he
+is gentle and weak; it was for this reason I preferred him to his elder
+brother.  He will do whatever we wish."
+
+"Ah, my lord," said the monk, with an expression of doubt, "I never place
+much reliance on people whose exterior is so calm; the hidden flame is
+often all the more dangerous.  Recollect the Marechal d'Effiat, his
+father."
+
+"But I tell you he is a boy, and I shall bring him up; while Gondi is
+already an accomplished conspirator, an ambitious knave who sticks at
+nothing.  He has dared to dispute Madame de la Meilleraie with me.  Can
+you conceive it?  He dispute with me!  A petty priestling, who has no
+other merit than a little lively small-talk and a cavalier air.
+Fortunately, the husband himself took care to get rid of him."
+
+Father Joseph, who listened with equal impatience to his master when he
+spoke of his 'bonnes fortunes' or of his verses, made, however, a grimace
+which he meant to be very sly and insinuating, but which was simply ugly
+and awkward; he fancied that the expression of his mouth, twisted about
+like a monkey's, conveyed, "Ah!  who can resist your Eminence?"  But his
+Eminence only read there, "I am a clown who knows nothing of the great
+world"; and, without changing his voice, he suddenly said, taking up a
+despatch from the table:
+
+"The Duc de Rohan is dead, that is good news; the Huguenots are ruined.
+He is a lucky man.  I had him condemned by the Parliament of Toulouse to
+be torn in pieces by four horses, and here he dies quietly on the
+battlefield of Rheinfeld.  But what matters?  The result is the same.
+Another great head is laid low!  How they have fallen since that of
+Montmorency!  I now see hardly any that do not bow before me.  We have
+already punished almost all our dupes of Versailles; assuredly they have
+nothing with which to reproach me.  I simply exercise against them the
+law of retaliation, treating them as they would have treated me in the
+council of the Queen-mother.  The old dotard Bassompierre shall be doomed
+for perpetual imprisonment, and so shall the assassin Marechal de Vitry,
+for that was the punishment they voted me.  As for Marillac, who
+counselled death, I reserve death for him at the first false step he
+makes, and I beg thee, Joseph, to remind me of him; we must be just to
+all.  The Duc de Bouillon still keeps up his head proudly on account of
+his Sedan, but I shall make him yield.  Their blindness is truly
+marvellous!  They think themselves all free to conspire, not perceiving
+that they are merely fluttering at the ends of the threads that I hold in
+my hand, and which I lengthen now and then to give them air and space.
+Did the Huguenots cry out as one man at the death of their dear duke?"
+
+"Less so than at the affair of Loudun, which is happily concluded."
+
+"What!  Happily?  I hope that Grandier is dead?"
+
+"Yes; that is what I meant.  Your Eminence may be fully satisfied.  All
+was settled in twenty-four hours.  He is no longer thought of.  Only
+Laubardemont committed a slight blunder in making the trial public.  This
+caused a little tumult; but we have a description of the rioters, and
+measures have been taken to seek them out."
+
+"This is well, very well.  Urbain was too superior a man to be left
+there; he was turning Protestant.  I would wager that he would have ended
+by abjuring.  His work against the celibacy of priests made me conjecture
+this; and in cases of doubt, remember, Joseph, it is always best to cut
+the tree before the fruit is gathered.  These Huguenots, you see, form a
+regular republic in the State.  If once they had a majority in France,
+the monarchy would be lost, and they would establish some popular
+government which might be durable."
+
+"And what deep pain do they daily cause our holy Father the Pope!"  said
+Joseph.
+
+"Ah," interrupted the Cardinal, "I see; thou wouldst remind me of his
+obstinacy in not giving thee the hat.  Be tranquil; I will speak to-day
+on the subject to the new ambassador we are sending, the Marechal
+d'Estrees, and he will, on his arrival, doubtless obtain that which
+has been in train these two years--thy nomination to the cardinalate.
+I myself begin to think that the purple would become thee well, for it
+does not show blood-stains."
+
+And both burst into laughter--the one as a master, overwhelming the
+assassin whom he pays with his utter scorn; the other as a slave,
+resigned to all the humiliation by which he rises.
+
+The laughter which the ferocious pleasantry of the old minister had
+excited had hardly subsided, when the door opened, and a page announced
+several couriers who had arrived simultaneously from different points.
+Father Joseph arose, and, leaning against the wall like an Egyptian
+mummy, allowed nothing to appear upon his face but an expression of
+stolid contemplation.  Twelve messengers entered successively, attired in
+various disguises; one appeared to be a Swiss soldier, another a sutler,
+a third a master-mason.  They had been introduced into the palace by a
+secret stairway and corridor, and left the cabinet by a door opposite
+that at which they had entered, without any opportunity of meeting one
+another or communicating the contents of their despatches.  Each laid a
+rolled or folded packet of papers on the large table, spoke for a moment
+with the Cardinal in the embrasure of a window and withdrew.  Richelieu
+had risen on the entrance of the first messenger, and, careful to do all
+himself, had received them all, listened to all, and with his own hand
+had closed the door upon all.  When the last was gone, he signed to
+Father Joseph, and, without speaking, both proceeded to unfold, or,
+rather, to tear open, the packets of despatches, and in a few words
+communicated to each other the substance of the letters.
+
+"The Due de Weimar pursues his advantage; the Duc Charles is defeated.
+Our General is in good spirits; here are some of his lively remarks at
+table.  Good!"
+
+"Monseigneur le Vicomte de Turenne has retaken the towns of Lorraine; and
+here are his private conversations--"
+
+"Oh!  pass over them; they can not be dangerous.  He is ever a good and
+honest man, in no way mixing himself up with politics; so that some one
+gives him a little army to play at chess with, no matter against whom,
+he is content.  We shall always be good friends."
+
+"The Long Parliament still endures in England.  The Commons pursue their
+project; there are massacres in Ireland.  The Earl of Strafford is
+condemned to death."
+
+"To death!  Horrible!"
+
+"I will read: 'His Majesty Charles I has not had the courage to sign the
+sentence, but he has appointed four commissioners.'"
+
+"Weak king, I abandon thee!  Thou shalt have no more of our money.  Fall,
+since thou art ungrateful!  Unhappy Wentworth!"
+
+A tear rose in the eyes of Richelieu as he said this; the man who had but
+now played with the lives of so many others wept for a minister abandoned
+by his prince.  The similarity between that position and his own affected
+him, and it was his own case he deplored in the person of the foreign
+minister.  He ceased to read aloud the despatches that he opened, and his
+confidant followed his example.  He examined with scrupulous attention
+the detailed accounts of the most minute and secret actions of each
+person of any importance-accounts which he always required to be added to
+the official despatches made by his able spies.  All the despatches to
+the King passed through his hands, and were carefully revised so as to
+reach the King amended to the state in which he wished him to read them.
+The private notes were all carefully burned by the monk after the
+Cardinal had ascertained their contents.  The latter, however, seemed by
+no means satisfied, and he was walking quickly to and fro with gestures
+expressive of anxiety, when the door opened, and a thirteenth courier
+entered.  This one seemed a boy hardly fourteen years old; he held under
+his arm a packet sealed with black for the King, and gave to the Cardinal
+only a small letter, of which a stolen glance from Joseph could collect
+but four words.  The Cardinal started, tore the billet into a thousand
+pieces, and, bending down to the ear of the boy, spoke to him for a long
+time; all that Joseph heard was, as the messenger went out:
+
+"Take good heed to this; not until twelve hours from this time."
+
+During this aside of the Cardinal, Joseph was occupied in concealing an
+infinite number of libels from Flanders and Germany, which the minister
+always insisted upon seeing, however bitter they might be to him.  In
+this respect, he affected a philosophy which he was far from possessing,
+and to deceive those around him he would sometimes pretend that his
+enemies were not wholly wrong, and would outwardly laugh at their
+pleasantries; but those who knew his character better detected bitter
+rage lurking under this apparent moderation, and knew that he was never
+satisfied until he had got the hostile book condemned by the parliament
+to be burned in the Place de Greve, as "injurious to the King, in the
+person of his minister, the most illustrious Cardinal," as we read in the
+decrees of the time, and that his only regret was that the author was not
+in the place of his book--a satisfaction he gave himself whenever he
+could, as in the case of Urbain Grandier.
+
+It was his colossal pride which he thus avenged, without avowing it even
+to himself--nay, laboring for a length of time, sometimes for a whole
+twelvemonth together, to persuade himself that the interest of the State
+was concerned in the matter.  Ingenious in connecting his private affairs
+with the affairs of France, he had convinced himself that she bled from
+the wounds which he received.  Joseph, careful not to irritate his ill-
+temper at this moment, put aside and concealed a book entitled 'Mystres
+Politiques du Cardinal de la Rochelle'; also another, attributed to a
+monk of Munich, entitled 'Questions quolibetiques, ajustees au temps
+present, et Impiete Sanglante du dieu Mars'.  The worthy advocate Aubery,
+who has given us one of the most faithful histories of the most eminent
+Cardinal, is transported with rage at the mere title of the first of
+these books, and exclaims that "the great minister had good reason to
+glorify himself that his enemies, inspired against their will with the
+same enthusiasm which conferred the gift of rendering oracles upon the
+ass of Balaam, upon Caiaphas and others, who seemed most unworthy of the
+gift of prophecy, called him with good reason Cardinal de la Rochelle,
+since three years after their writing he reduced that town; thus Scipio
+was called Africanus for having subjugated that PROVINCE!"  Very little
+was wanting to make Father Joseph, who had necessarily the same feelings,
+express his indignation in the same terms; for he remembered with
+bitterness the ridiculous part he had played in the siege of Rochelle,
+which, though not a province like Africa, had ventured to resist the most
+eminent Cardinal, and into which Father Joseph, piquing himself on his
+military skill, had proposed to introduce the troops through a sewer.
+However, he restrained himself, and had time to conceal the libel in the
+pocket of his brown robe ere the minister had dismissed his young courier
+and returned to the table.
+
+"And now to depart, Joseph," he said.  "Open the doors to all that court
+which besieges me, and let us go to the King, who awaits me at Perpignan;
+this time I have him for good."
+
+The Capuchin drew back, and immediately the pages, throwing open the
+gilded doors, announced in succession the greatest lords of the period,
+who had obtained permission from the King to come and salute the
+minister.  Some, even, under the pretext of illness or business, had
+departed secretly, in order not to be among the last at Richelieu's
+reception; and the unhappy monarch found himself almost as alone as other
+kings find themselves on their deathbeds.  But with him, the throne
+seemed, in the eyes of the court, his dying couch, his reign a continual
+last agony, and his minister a threatening successor.
+
+Two pages, of the first families of France, stood at the door, where the
+ushers announced each of the persons whom Father Joseph had found in the
+ante room.  The Cardinal, still seated in his great arm chair, remained
+motionless as the common couriers entered, inclined his head to the more
+distinguished, and to princes alone put his hands on the elbows of his
+chair and slightly rose; each person, having profoundly saluted him,
+stood before him near the fireplace, waited till he had spoken to him,
+and then, at a wave of his hand, completed the circuit of the room, and
+went out by the same door at which he had entered, paused for a moment to
+salute Father Joseph, who aped his master, and who for that reason had
+been named "his Gray Eminence," and at last quitted the palace, unless,
+indeed, he remained standing behind the chair, if the minister had
+signified that he should, which was considered a token of very great
+favor.
+
+He allowed to pass several insignificant persons, and many whose merits
+were useless to him; the first whom he stopped in the procession was the
+Marechal d'Estrees, who, about to set out on an embassy to Rome, came to
+make his adieux; those behind him stopped short.  This circumstance
+warned the courtiers in the anteroom that a longer conversation than
+usual was on foot, and Father Joseph, advancing to the threshold,
+exchanged with the Cardinal a glance which seemed to say, on the one
+side, "Remember the promise you have just made me," on the other, "Set
+your mind at rest."  At the same time, the expert Capuchin let his master
+see that he held upon his arm one of his victims, whom he was forming
+into a docile instrument; this was a young gentleman who wore a very
+short green cloak, a pourpoint of the same color, close-fitting red
+breeches, with glittering gold garters below the knee-the costume of the
+pages of Monsieur.  Father Joseph, indeed, spoke to him secretly, but not
+in the way the Cardinal imagined; for he contemplated being his equal,
+and was preparing other connections, in case of defection on the part of
+the prime minister.
+
+"Tell Monsieur not to trust in appearances, and that he has no servant
+more faithful than I.  The Cardinal is on the decline, and my conscience
+tells me to warn against his faults him who may inherit the royal power
+during the minority.  To give your great Prince a proof of my faith, tell
+him that it is intended to arrest his friend, Puy-Laurens, and that he
+had better be kept out of the way, or the Cardinal will put him in the
+Bastille."
+
+While the servant was thus betraying his master, the master, not to be
+behindhand with him, betrayed his servant.  His self-love, and some
+remnant of respect to the Church, made him shudder at the idea of seeing
+a contemptible agent invested with the same hat which he himself wore as
+a crown, and seated as high as himself, except as to the precarious
+position of minister.  Speaking, therefore, in an undertone to the
+Marechal d'Estrees, he said:
+
+"It is not necessary to importune Urbain VIII any further in favor of the
+Capuchin you see yonder; it is enough that his Majesty has deigned to
+name him for the cardinalate.  One can readily conceive the repugnance of
+his Holiness to clothe this mendicant in the Roman purple."
+
+Then, passing on to general matters, he continued:
+
+"Truly, I know not what can have cooled the Holy Father toward us; what
+have we done that was not for the glory of our Holy Mother, the Catholic
+Church?"
+
+"I myself said the first mass at Rochelle, and you see for yourself,
+Monsieur le Marechal, that our habit is everywhere; and even in your
+armies, the Cardinal de la Vallette has commanded gloriously in the
+palatinate."
+
+"And has just made a very fine retreat," said the Marechal, laying a
+slight emphasis upon the word.
+
+The minister continued, without noticing this little outburst of
+professional jealousy, and raising his voice, said:
+
+"God has shown that He did not scorn to send the spirit of victory upon
+his Levites, for the Duc de Weimar did not more powerfully aid in the
+conquest of Lorraine than did this pious Cardinal, and never was a naval
+army better commanded than by our Archbishop of Bordeaux at Rochelle."
+
+It was well known that at this very time the minister was incensed
+against this prelate, whose haughtiness was so overbearing, and whose
+impertinent ebullitions were so frequent as to have involved him in two
+very disagreeable affairs at Bordeaux.  Four years before, the Duc
+d'Epernon, then governor of Guyenne, followed by all his train and by his
+troops, meeting him among his clergy in a procession, had called him an
+insolent fellow, and given him two smart blows with his cane; whereupon
+the Archbishop had excommunicated him.  And again, recently, despite this
+lesson, he had quarrelled with the Marechal de Vitry, from whom he had
+received "twenty blows with a cane or stick, which you please," wrote the
+Cardinal Duke to the Cardinal de la Vallette, "and I think he would like
+to excommunicate all France."  In fact, he did excommunicate the
+Marechal's baton, remembering that in the former case the Pope had
+obliged the Duc d'Epernon to ask his pardon; but M. Vitry, who had caused
+the Marechal d'Ancre to be assassinated, stood too high at court for
+that, and the Archbishop, in addition to his beating, got well scolded by
+the minister.
+
+M. d'Estrees thought, therefore, sagely that there might be some irony in
+the Cardinal's manner of referring to the warlike talents of the
+Archbishop, and he answered, with perfect sang-froid:
+
+"It is true, my lord, no one can say that it was upon the sea he was
+beaten."
+
+His Eminence could not restrain a smile at this; but seeing that the
+electrical effect of that smile had created others in the hall, as well
+as whisperings and conjectures, he immediately resumed his gravity, and
+familiarly taking the Marechal's arm, said:
+
+"Come, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, you are ready at repartee.  With you I
+should not fear Cardinal Albornos, or all the Borgias in the world--no,
+nor all the efforts of their Spain with the Holy Father."
+
+Then, raising his voice, and looking around, as if addressing himself to
+the silent, and, so to speak, captive assembly, he continued:
+
+"I hope that we shall no more be reproached, as formerly, for having
+formed an alliance with one of the greatest men of our day; but as
+Gustavus Adolphus is dead, the Catholic King will no longer have any
+pretext for soliciting the excommunication of the most Christian King.
+How say you, my dear lord?"  addressing himself to the Cardinal de la
+Vallette, who now approached, fortunately without having heard the late
+allusion to himself.  "Monsieur d'Estrees, remain near our chair; we have
+still many things to say to you, and you are not one too many in our
+conversations, for we have no secrets.  Our policy is frank and open to
+all men; the interest of his Majesty and of the State--nothing more."
+
+The Marechal made a profound bow, fell back behind the chair of the
+minister, and gave place to the Cardinal de la Vallette, who, incessantly
+bowing and flattering and swearing devotion and entire obedience to the
+Cardinal, as if to expiate the obduracy of his father, the Duc d'Epernon,
+received in return a few vague words, to no meaning or purpose, the
+Cardinal all the while looking toward the door, to see who should follow.
+He had even the mortification to find himself abruptly interrupted by the
+minister, who cried at the most flattering period of his honeyed
+discourse:
+
+"Ah! is that you at last, my dear Fabert?  How I have longed to see you,
+to talk of the siege!"
+
+The General, with a brusque and awkward manner, saluted the Cardinal-
+Generalissimo, and presented to him the officers who had come from the
+camp with him.  He talked some time of the operations of the siege, and
+the Cardinal seemed to be paying him court now, in order to prepare him
+afterward for receiving his orders even on the field of battle; he spoke
+to the officers who accompanied him, calling them by their names, and
+questioning them about the camp.
+
+They all stood aside to make way for the Duc d'Angouleme--that Valois,
+who, having struggled against Henri IV, now prostrated himself before
+Richelieu.  He solicited a command, having been only third in rank at the
+siege of Rochelle.  After him came young Mazarin, ever supple and
+insinuating, but already confident in his fortune.
+
+The Duc d'Halluin came after them; the Cardinal broke off the compliments
+he was addressing to the others, to utter, in a loud voice:
+
+"Monsieur le Duc, I inform you with pleasure that the King has made you a
+marshal of France; you will sign yourself Schomberg, will you not, at
+Leucate, delivered, as we hope, by you?  But pardon me, here is Monsieur
+de Montauron, who has doubtless something important to communicate."
+
+"Oh, no, my lord, I would only say that the poor young man whom you
+deigned to consider in your service is dying of hunger."
+
+"Pshaw!  at such a moment to speak of things like this!  Your little
+Corneille will not write anything good; we have only seen 'Le Cid' and
+'Les Horaces' as yet.  Let him work, let him work!  it is known that he
+is in my service, and that is disagreeable.  However, since you interest
+yourself in the matter, I give him a pension of five hundred crowns on my
+privy purse."
+
+The Chancellor of the Exchequer retired, charmed with the liberality of
+the minister, and went home to receive with great affability the
+dedication of Cinna, wherein the great Corneille compares his soul to
+that of Augustus, and thanks him for having given alms 'a quelques
+Muses'.
+
+The Cardinal, annoyed by this importunity, rose, observing that the day
+was advancing, and that it was time to set out to visit the King.
+
+At this moment, and as the greatest noblemen present were offering their
+arms to aid him in walking, a man in the robe of a referendary advanced
+toward him, saluting him with a complacent and confident smile which
+astonished all the people there, accustomed to the great world, seeming
+to say: "We have secret affairs together; you shall see how agreeable he
+makes himself to me.  I am at home in his cabinet."  His heavy and
+awkward manner, however, betrayed a very inferior being; it was
+Laubardemont.
+
+Richelieu knit his brows when he saw him, and cast a glance at Joseph;
+then, turning toward those who surrounded him, he said, with bitter
+scorn:
+
+"Is there some criminal about us to be apprehended?"
+
+Then, turning his back upon the discomfited Laubardemont, the Cardinal
+left him redder than his robe, and, preceded by the crowd of personages
+who were to escort him in carriages or on horseback, he descended the
+great staircase of the palace.
+
+All the people and the authorities of Narbonne viewed this royal
+departure with amazement.
+
+The Cardinal entered alone a spacious square litter, in which he was to
+travel to Perpignan, his infirmities not permitting him to go in a coach,
+or to perform the journey on horseback.  This kind of moving chamber
+contained a bed, a table, and a small chair for the page who wrote or
+read for him.  This machine, covered with purple damask, was carried by
+eighteen men, who were relieved at intervals of a league; they were
+selected among his guards, and always performed this service of honor
+with uncovered heads, however hot or wet the weather might be.  The Duc
+d'Angouleme, the Marechals de Schomberg and d'Estrees, Fabert, and other
+dignitaries were on horseback beside the litter; after them, among the
+most prominent were the Cardinal de la Vallette and Mazarin, with
+Chavigny, and the Marechal de Vitry, anxious to avoid the Bastille, with
+which it was said he was threatened.
+
+Two coaches followed for the Cardinal's secretaries, physicians, and
+confessor; then eight others, each with four horses, for his gentlemen,
+and twenty-four mules for his luggage.  Two hundred musketeers on foot
+marched close behind him, and his company of men-at-arms of the guard and
+his light-horse, all gentlemen, rode before and behind him on splendid
+horses.
+
+Such was the equipage in which the prime minister proceeded to Perpignan;
+the size of the litter often made it necessary to enlarge the roads, and
+knock down the walls of some of the towns and villages on the way, into
+which it could not otherwise enter, "so that," say the authors and
+manuscripts of the time, full of a sincere admiration for all this
+luxury--"so that he seemed a conqueror entering by the breach.  "We have
+sought in vain with great care in these documents, for any account of
+proprietors or inhabitants of these dwellings so making room for his
+passage who shared in this admiration; but we have been unable to find
+any mention of such.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE INTERVIEW
+
+The pompous cortege of the Cardinal halted at the beginning of the camp.
+All the armed troops were drawn up in the finest order; and amid the
+sound of cannon and the music of each regiment the litter traversed a
+long line of cavalry and infantry, formed from the outermost tent to that
+of the minister, pitched at some distance from the royal quarters, and
+which its purple covering distinguished at a distance.  Each general of
+division obtained a nod or a word from the Cardinal, who at length
+reaching his tent and, dismissing his train, shut himself in, waiting for
+the time to present himself to the King.  But, before him, every person
+of his escort had repaired thither individually, and, without entering
+the royal abode, had remained in the long galleries covered with striped
+stuff, and arranged as became avenues leading to the Prince.  The
+courtiers walking in groups, saluted one another and shook hands,
+regarding each other haughtily, according to their connections or the
+lords to whom they belonged. Others whispered together, and showed signs
+of astonishment, pleasure, or anger, which showed that something
+extraordinary had taken place.  Among a thousand others, one singular
+dialogue occurred in a corner of the principal gallery.
+
+"May I ask, Monsieur l'Abbe, why you look at me so fixedly?"
+
+"Parbleu!  Monsieur de Launay, it is because I'm curious to see what you
+will do.  All the world abandons your Cardinal-Duke since your journey
+into Touraine; if you do not believe it, go and ask the people of
+Monsieur or of the Queen.  You are behind-hand ten minutes by the watch
+with the Cardinal de la Vallette, who has just shaken hands with
+Rochefort and the gentlemen of the late Comte de Soissons, whom I shall
+regret as long as I live."
+
+"Monsieur de Gondi, I understand you; is it a challenge with which you
+honor me?"
+
+"Yes, Monsieur le Comte," answered the young Abbe, saluting him with all
+the gravity of the time; "I sought an occasion to challenge you in the
+name of Monsieur d'Attichi, my friend, with whom you had something to do
+at Paris."
+
+"Monsieur l'Abbe, I am at your command.  I will seek my seconds; do you
+the same."
+
+"On horseback, with sword and pistol, I suppose?"  added Gondi, with the
+air of a man arranging a party of pleasure, lightly brushing the sleeve
+of his cassock.
+
+"If you please," replied the other.  And they separated for a time,
+saluting one another with the greatest politeness, and with profound
+bows.
+
+A brilliant crowd of gentlemen circulated around them in the gallery.
+They mingled with it to procure friends for the occasion.  All the
+elegance of the costumes of the day was displayed by the court that
+morning-small cloaks of every color, in velvet or in satin, embroidered
+with gold or silver; crosses of St. Michael and of the Holy Ghost; the
+ruffs, the sweeping hat-plumes, the gold shoulder-knots, the chains by
+which the long swords hung: all glittered and sparkled, yet not so
+brilliantly as did the fiery glances of those warlike youths, or their
+sprightly conversation, or their intellectual laughter.  Amid the
+assembly grave personages and great lords passed on, followed by their
+numerous gentlemen.
+
+The little Abbe de Gondi, who was very shortsighted, made his way through
+the crowd, knitting his brows and half shutting his eyes, that he might
+see the better, and twisting his moustache, for ecclesiastics wore them
+in those days.  He looked closely at every one in order to recognize his
+friends, and at last stopped before a young man, very tall and dressed in
+black from head to foot; his sword, even, was of quite dark, bronzed
+steel.  He was talking with a captain of the guards, when the Abbe de
+Gondi took him aside.
+
+"Monsieur de Thou," said he, "I need you as my second in an hour, on
+horseback, with sword and pistol, if you will do me that honor."
+
+"Monsieur, you know I am entirely at your service on all occasions.
+Where shall we meet?"
+
+"In front of the Spanish bastion, if you please."
+
+"Pardon me for returning to a conversation that greatly interests me.
+I will be punctual at the rendezvous."
+
+And De Thou quitted him to rejoin the Captain.  He had said all this in
+the gentlest of voices with unalterable coolness, and even with somewhat
+of an abstracted manner.
+
+The little Abbe squeezed his hand with warm satisfaction, and continued
+his search.
+
+He did not so easily effect an agreement with the young lords to whom he
+addressed himself; for they knew him better than did De Thou, and when
+they saw him coming they tried to avoid him, or laughed at him openly,
+and would not promise to serve him.
+
+"Ah, Abbe! there you are hunting again; I'll swear it's a second you
+want," said the Duc de Beaufort.
+
+"And I wager," added M. de la Rochefoucauld, "that it's against one of
+the Cardinal-Duke's people."
+
+"You are both right, gentlemen; but since when have you laughed at
+affairs of honor?"
+
+"The saints forbid I should," said M. de Beaufort.  "Men of the sword
+like us ever reverence tierce, quarte, and octave; but as for the folds
+of the cassock, I know nothing of them."
+
+"Pardieu!  Monsieur, you know well enough that it does not embarrass my
+wrist, as I will prove to him who chooses; as to the gown itself, I
+should like to throw it into the gutter."
+
+"Is it to tear it that you fight so often?"  asked La Rochefoucauld.
+"But remember, my dear Abbe, that you yourself are within it."
+
+Gondi turned to look at the clock, wishing to lose no more time in such
+sorry jests; but he had no better success elsewhere.  Having stopped two
+gentlemen in the service of the young Queen, whom he thought ill-affected
+toward the Cardinal, and consequently glad to measure weapons with his
+creatures, one of them said to him very gravely:
+
+"Monsieur de Gondi, you know what has just happened; the King has said
+aloud, 'Whether our imperious Cardinal wishes it or not, the widow of
+Henri le Grand shall no longer remain in exile.'  Imperious!  the King
+never before said anything so strong as that, Monsieur l'Abbe, mark that.
+Imperious!  it is open disgrace.  Certainly no one will dare to speak to
+him; no doubt he will quit the court this very day."
+
+"I have heard this, Monsieur, but I have an affair--"
+
+"It is lucky for you he stopped short in the middle of your career."
+
+"An affair of honor--"
+
+"Whereas Mazarin is quite a friend of yours."
+
+"But will you, or will you not, listen to me?"
+
+"Yes, a friend indeed!  your adventures are always uppermost in his
+thoughts.  Your fine duel with Monsieur de Coutenan about the pretty
+little pin-maker,--he even spoke of it to the King.  Adieu, my dear
+Abbe, we are in great haste; adieu, adieu!"  And, taking his friend's
+arm, the young mocker, without listening to another word, walked rapidly
+down the gallery and disappeared in the throng.
+
+The poor Abbe was much mortified at being able to get only one second,
+and was watching sadly the passing of the hour and of the crowd, when he
+perceived a young gentleman whom he did not know, seated at a table,
+leaning on his elbow with a pensive air; he wore mourning which indicated
+no connection with any great house or party, and appeared to await,
+without any impatience, the time for attending the King, looking with a
+heedless air at those who surrounded him, and seeming not to notice or to
+know any of them.
+
+Gondi looked at him a moment, and accosted him without hesitation:
+
+"Monsieur, I have not the honor of your acquaintance, but a fencing-party
+can never be unpleasant to a man of honor; and if you will be my second,
+in a quarter of an hour we shall be on the ground.  I am Paul de Gondi;
+and I have challenged Monsieur de Launay, one of the Cardinal's clique,
+but in other respects a very gallant fellow."
+
+The unknown, apparently not at all surprised at this address, replied,
+without changing his attitude:  "And who are his seconds?"
+
+"Faith, I don't know; but what matters it who serves him?  We stand no
+worse with our friends for having exchanged a thrust with them."
+
+The stranger smiled nonchalantly, paused for an instant to pass his hand
+through his long chestnut hair, and then said, looking idly at a large,
+round watch which hung at his waist:
+
+"Well, Monsieur, as I have nothing better to do, and as I have no friends
+here, I am with you; it will pass the time as well as anything else."
+
+And, taking his large, black-plumed hat from the table, he followed the
+warlike Abbe, who went quickly before him, often running back to hasten
+him on, like a child running before his father, or a puppy that goes
+backward and forward twenty times before it gets to the end of a street.
+
+Meanwhile, two ushers, attired in the royal livery, opened the great
+curtains which separated the gallery from the King's tent, and silence
+reigned.  The courtiers began to enter slowly, and in succession, the
+temporary dwelling of the Prince.  He received them all gracefully, and
+was the first to meet the view of each person introduced.
+
+Before a very small table surrounded with gilt armchairs stood Louis
+XIII, encircled by the great officers of the crown.  His dress was very
+elegant: a kind of fawn-colored vest, with open sleeves, ornamented with
+shoulder-knots and blue ribbons, covered him down to the waist.  Wide
+breeches reached to the knee, and the yellow-and-red striped stuff of
+which they were made was ornamented below with blue ribbons.  His riding-
+boots, reaching hardly more than three inches above the ankle, were
+turned over, showing so lavish a lining of lace that they seemed to hold
+it as a vase holds flowers.  A small mantle of blue velvet, on which was
+embroidered the cross of the Holy Ghost, covered the King's left arm,
+which rested on the hilt of his sword.
+
+His head was uncovered, and his pale and noble face was distinctly
+visible, lighted by the sun, which penetrated through the top of the
+tent.  The small, pointed beard then worn augmented the appearance of
+thinness in his face, while it added to its melancholy expression.  By
+his lofty brow, his classic profile, his aquiline nose, he was at once
+recognized as a prince of the great race of Bourbon.  He had all the
+characteristic traits of his ancestors except their penetrating glance;
+his eyes seemed red from weeping, and veiled with a perpetual drowsiness;
+and the weakness of his vision gave him a somewhat vacant look.
+
+He called around him, and was attentive to, the greatest enemies of the
+Cardinal, whom he expected every moment; and, balancing himself with one
+foot over the other, an hereditary habit of his family, he spoke quickly,
+but pausing from time to time to make a gracious inclination of the head,
+or a gesture of the hand, to those who passed before him with low
+reverences.
+
+The court had been thus paying its respects to the King for two hours
+before the Cardinal appeared; the whole court stood in close ranks behind
+the Prince, and in the long galleries which extended from his tent.
+Already longer intervals elapsed between the names of the courtiers who
+were announced.
+
+"Shall we not see our cousin the Cardinal?"  said the King, turning, and
+looking at Montresor, one of Monsieur's gentlemen, as if to encourage him
+to answer.
+
+"He is said to be very ill just now, Sire," was the answer.
+
+"And yet I do not see how any but your Majesty can cure him," said the
+Duc de Beaufort.
+
+"We cure nothing but the king's evil," replied Louis; "and the complaints
+of the Cardinal are always so mysterious that we own we can not
+understand them."
+
+The Prince thus essayed to brave his minister, gaining strength in jests,
+the better to break his yoke, insupportable, but so difficult to remove.
+He almost thought he had succeeded in this, and, sustained by the joyous
+air surrounding him, he already privately congratulated himself on having
+been able to assume the supreme empire, and for the moment enjoyed all
+the power of which he fancied himself possessed.  An involuntary
+agitation in the depth of his heart had warned him indeed that, the hour
+passed, all the burden of the State would fall upon himself alone; but he
+talked in order to divert the troublesome thought, and, concealing from
+himself the doubt he had of his own inability to reign, he set his
+imagination to work upon the result of his enterprises, thus forcing
+himself to forget the tedious roads which had led to them.  Rapid phrases
+succeeded one another on his lips.
+
+"We shall soon take Perpignan," he said to Fabert, who stood at some
+distance.
+
+"Well, Cardinal, Lorraine is ours," he added to La Vallette.  Then,
+touching Mazarin's arm:
+
+"It is not so difficult to manage a State as is supposed, eh?"
+
+The Italian, who was not so sure of the Cardinal's disgrace as most of
+the courtiers, answered, without compromising himself:
+
+"Ah, Sire, the late successes of your Majesty at home and abroad prove
+your sagacity in choosing your instruments and in directing them, and--"
+
+But the Duc de Beaufort, interrupting him with that self-confidence,
+that loud voice and overbearing air, which subsequently procured him the
+surname of Important, cried out, vehemently:
+
+"Pardieu!  Sire, it needs only to will.  A nation is driven like a horse,
+with spur and bridle; and as we are all good horsemen, your Majesty has
+only to choose among us."
+
+This fine sally had not time to take effect, for two ushers cried,
+simultaneously, "His Eminence!"
+
+The King's face flushed involuntarily, as if he had been surprised en
+flagrant delit.  But immediately gaining confidence, he assumed an air of
+resolute haughtiness, which was not lost upon the minister.
+
+The latter, attired in all the pomp of a cardinal, leaning upon two young
+pages, and followed by his captain of the guards and more than five
+hundred gentlemen attached to his house, advanced toward the King slowly
+and pausing at each step, as if forced to it by his sufferings, but in
+reality to observe the faces before him.  A glance sufficed.
+
+His suite remained at the entrance of the royal tent; of all those within
+it, not one was bold enough to salute him, or to look toward him.  Even
+La Vallette feigned to be occupied in a conversation with Montresor; and
+the King, who desired to give him an unfavorable reception, greeted him
+lightly and continued a private conversation in a low voice with the Duc
+de Beaufort.
+
+The Cardinal was therefore forced, after the first salute, to stop and
+pass to the side of the crowd of courtiers, as if he wished to mingle
+with them, but in reality to test them more closely; they all recoiled as
+at the sight of a leper.  Fabert alone advanced toward him with the
+frank, brusque air habitual with him, and, making use of the terms
+belonging to his profession, said:
+
+"Well, my lord, you make a breach in the midst of them like a cannon-
+ball; I ask pardon in their name."
+
+"And you stand firm before me as before the enemy," said the Cardinal;
+"you will have no cause to regret it in the end, my dear Fabert."
+
+Mazarin also approached the Cardinal, but with caution, and, giving to
+his mobile features an expression of profound sadness, made him five or
+six very low bows, turning his back to the group gathered around the
+King, so that in the latter quarter they might be taken for those cold
+and hasty salutations which are made to a person one desires to be rid
+of, and, on the part of the Duke, for tokens of respect, blended with a
+discreet and silent sorrow.
+
+The minister, ever calm, smiled disdainfully; and, assuming that firm
+look and that air of grandeur which he always wore in the hour of danger,
+he again leaned upon his pages, and, without waiting for a word or a
+glance from his sovereign, he suddenly resolved upon his line of conduct,
+and walked directly toward him, traversing the whole length of the tent.
+No one had lost sight of him, although all affected not to observe him.
+Every one now became silent, even those who were conversing with the
+King.  All the courtiers bent forward to see and to hear.
+
+Louis XIII turned toward him in astonishment, and, all presence of mind
+totally failing him, remained motionless and waited with an icy glance-
+his sole force, but a force very effectual in a prince.
+
+The Cardinal, on coming close to the monarch, did not bow; and, without
+changing his attitude, with his eyes lowered and his hands placed on the
+shoulders of the two boys half bending, he said:
+
+"Sire, I come to implore your Majesty at length to grant me the
+retirement for which I have long sighed.  My health is failing; I feel
+that my life will soon be ended.  Eternity approaches me, and before
+rendering an account to the eternal King, I would render one to my
+earthly sovereign.  It is eighteen years, Sire, since you placed in my
+hands a weak and divided kingdom; I return it to you united and powerful.
+Your enemies are overthrown and humiliated.  My work is accomplished.
+I ask your Majesty's permission to retire to Citeaux, of which I am
+abbot, and where I may end my days in prayer and meditation."
+
+The King, irritated by some haughty expressions in this address, showed
+none of the signs of weakness which the Cardinal had expected, and which
+he had always seen in him when he had threatened to resign the management
+of affairs.  On the contrary, feeling that he had the eyes of the whole
+court upon him, Louis looked upon him with the air of a king, and coldly
+replied:
+
+"We thank you, then, for your services, Monsieur le Cardinal, and wish
+you the repose you desire."
+
+Richelieu was deeply moved, but no indication of his anger appeared upon
+his countenance.  "Such was the coldness with which you left Montmorency
+to die," he said to himself; "but you shall not escape me thus."  He then
+continued aloud, bowing at the same time:
+
+"The only recompense I ask for my services is that your Majesty will
+deign to accept from me, as a gift, the Palais-Cardinal I have erected
+at my own expense in Paris."
+
+The King, astonished, bowed his assent.  A murmur of surprise for a
+moment agitated the attentive court.
+
+"I also throw myself at your Majesty's feet, to beg that you will grant
+me the revocation of an act of rigor, which I solicited (I publicly
+confess it), and which I perhaps regarded too hastily beneficial to the
+repose of the State.  Yes, when I was of this world, I was too forgetful
+of my early sentiments of personal respect and attachment, in my
+eagerness for the public welfare; but now that I already enjoy the
+enlightenment of solitude, I see that I have done wrong, and I repent."
+
+The attention of the spectators was redoubled, and the uneasiness of the
+King became visible.
+
+"Yes, there is one person, Sire, whom I have always loved, despite her
+wrong toward you, and the banishment which the affairs of the kingdom
+forced me to bring about for her; a person to whom I have owed much, and
+who should be very dear to you, notwithstanding her armed attempts
+against you; a person, in a word, whom I implore you to recall from
+exile--the Queen Marie de Medicis, your mother!"
+
+The King uttered an involuntary exclamation, so little did he expect to
+hear that name.  A repressed agitation suddenly appeared upon every face.
+All waited in silence the King's reply.  Louis XIII looked for a long
+time at his old minister without speaking, and this look decided the fate
+of France; in that instant he called to mind all the indefatigable
+services of Richelieu, his unbounded devotion, his wonderful capacity,
+and was surprised at himself for having wished to part with him.  He felt
+deeply affected at this request, which had probed for the exact cause of
+his anger at the bottom of his heart, and uprooted it, thus taking from
+his hands the only weapon he had against his old servant.  Filial love
+brought words of pardon to his lips and tears into his eyes.  Rejoicing
+to grant what he desired most of all things in the world, he extended his
+hands to the Duke with all the nobleness and kindliness of a Bourbon.
+The Cardinal bowed and respectfully kissed it; and his heart, which
+should have burst with remorse, only swelled in the joy of a haughty
+triumph.
+
+The King, deeply touched, abandoning his hand to him, turned gracefully
+toward his court and said, with a trembling voice:
+
+"We often deceive ourselves, gentlemen, and especially in our knowledge
+of so great a politician as this."
+
+"I hope he will never leave us, since his heart is as good as his head."
+
+Cardinal de la Vallette instantly seized the sleeve of the King's mantle,
+and kissed it with all the ardor of a lover, and the young Mazarin did
+much the same with Richelieu himself, assuming, with admirable Italian
+suppleness, an expression radiant with joy and tenderness.  Two streams
+of flatterers hastened, one toward the King, the other toward the
+minister; the former group, not less adroit than the second, although
+less direct, addressed to the Prince thanks which could be heard by the
+minister, and burned at the feet of the one incense which was intended
+for the other.  As for Richelieu, bowing and smiling to right and left,
+he stepped forward and stood at the right hand of the King as his natural
+place.  A stranger entering would rather have thought, indeed, that it
+was the King who was on the Cardinal's left hand.  The Marechal
+d'Estrees, all the ambassadors, the Duc d'Angouleme, the Due d'Halluin
+(Schomberg), the Marechal de Chatillon, and all the great officers of the
+crown surrounded him, each waiting impatiently for the compliments of the
+others to be finished, in order to pay his own, fearing lest some one
+else should anticipate him with the flattering epigram he had just
+improvised, or the phrase of adulation he was inventing.
+
+As for Fabert, he had retired to a corner of the tent, and seemed to have
+paid no particular attention to the scene.  He was chatting with
+Montresor and the gentlemen of Monsieur, all sworn enemies of the
+Cardinal, because, out of the throng he avoided, he had found none but
+these to speak to.  This conduct would have seemed extremely tactless in
+one less known; but although he lived in the midst of the court, he was
+ever ignorant of its intrigues.  It was said of him that he returned from
+a battle he had gained, like the King's hunting-horse, leaving the dogs
+to caress their master and divide the quarry, without seeking even to
+remember the part he had had in the triumph.
+
+The storm, then, seemed entirely appeased, and to the violent agitations
+of the morning succeeded a gentle calm.  A respectful murmur, varied with
+pleasant laughter and protestations of attachment, was all that was heard
+in the tent.  The voice of the Cardinal arose from time to time: "The
+poor Queen!  We shall, then, soon again see her!  I never had dared to
+hope for such happiness while I lived!"  The King listened to him with
+full confidence, and made no attempt to conceal his satisfaction.  "It
+was assuredly an idea sent to him from on high," he said; "this good
+Cardinal, against whom they had so incensed me, was thinking only of the
+union of my family.  Since the birth of the Dauphin I have not tasted
+greater joy than at this moment.  The protection of the Holy Virgin is
+manifested over our kingdom."
+
+At this moment, a captain of the guards came up and whispered in the
+King's ear.
+
+"A courier from Cologne?"  said the King; "let him wait in my cabinet."
+
+Then, unable to restrain his impatience, "I will go!  I will go!"  he
+said, and entered alone a small, square tent attached to the larger one.
+In it he saw a young courier holding a black portfolio, and the curtains
+closed upon the King.
+
+The Cardinal, left sole master of the court, concentrated all its homage;
+but it was observed that he no longer received it with his former
+presence of mind.  He inquired frequently what time it was, and exhibited
+an anxiety which was not assumed; his hard, unquiet glances turned toward
+the smaller tent.  It suddenly opened; the King appeared alone, and
+stopped on the threshold.  He was paler than usual, and trembled in every
+limb; he held in his hand a large letter with five black seals.
+
+"Gentlemen," said he, in a loud but broken voice, "the Queen has just
+died at Cologne; and I perhaps am not the first to hear of it," he added,
+casting a severe look toward the impassible Cardinal, "but God knows all!
+To horse in an hour, and attack the lines!  Marechals, follow me."  And
+he turned his back abruptly, and reentered his cabinet with them.
+
+The court retired after the minister, who, without giving any sign of
+sorrow or annoyance, went forth as gravely as he had entered, but now a
+victor.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Doubt, the greatest misery of love
+Never interfered in what did not concern him
+So strongly does force impose upon men
+The usual remarks prompted by imbecility on such occasions
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, v2
+by Alfred de Vigny
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CINQ MARS
+
+By ALFRED DE VIGNY
+
+
+
+BOOK 3.
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE SIEGE
+
+There are moments in our life when we long ardently for strong excitement
+to drown our petty griefs--times when the soul, like the lion in the
+fable, wearied with the continual attacks of the gnat, earnestly desires
+a mightier enemy and real danger.  Cinq-Mars found himself in this
+condition of mind, which always results from a morbid sensibility in the
+organic constitution and a perpetual agitation of the heart.  Weary of
+continually turning over in his mind a combination of the events which he
+desired, and of those which he dreaded; weary of calculating his chances
+to the best of his power; of summoning to his assistance all that his
+education had taught him concerning the lives of illustrious men, in
+order to compare it with his present situation; oppressed by his regrets,
+his dreams, predictions, fancies, and all that imaginary world in which
+he had lived during his solitary journey-he breathed freely upon finding
+himself thrown into a real world almost as full of agitation; and the
+realizing of two actual dangers restored circulation to his blood, and
+youth to his whole being.
+
+Since the nocturnal scene at the inn near Loudun, he had not been able to
+resume sufficient empire over his mind to occupy himself with anything
+save his cherished though sad reflections; and consumption was already
+threatening him, when happily he arrived at the camp of Perpignan, and
+happily also had the opportunity of accepting the proposition of the Abbe
+de Gondi--for the reader has no doubt recognized Cinq-Mars in the person
+of that young stranger in mourning, so careless and so melancholy, whom
+the duellist in the cassock invited to be his second.
+
+He had ordered his tent to be pitched as a volunteer in the street of the
+camp assigned to the young noblemen who were to be presented to the King
+and were to serve as aides-de-camp to the Generals; he soon repaired
+thither, and was quickly armed, horsed, and cuirassed, according to the
+custom of the time, and set out alone for the Spanish bastion, the place
+of rendezvous.  He was the first arrival, and found that a small plot of
+turf, hidden among the works of the besieged place, had been well chosen
+by the little Abbe for his homicidal purposes; for besides the
+probability that no one would have suspected officers of engaging in a
+duel immediately beneath the town which they were attacking, the body of
+the bastion separated them from the French camp, and would conceal them
+like an immense screen.  It was wise to take these precautions, for at
+that time it cost a man his head to give himself the satisfaction of
+risking his body.
+
+While waiting for his friends and his adversaries, Cinq-Mars had time to
+examine the southern side of Perpignan, before which he stood.  He had
+heard that these works were not those which were to be attacked, and he
+tried in vain to account for the besieger's projects.  Between this
+southern face of the town, the mountains of Albere, and the Col du
+Perthus, there might have been advantageous lines of attack, and redoubts
+against the accessible point; but not a single soldier was stationed
+there.  All the forces seemed directed upon the north of Perpignan, upon
+the most difficult side, against a brick fort called the Castillet, which
+surmounted the gate of Notre-Dame.  He discovered that a piece of ground,
+apparently marshy, but in reality very solid, led up to the very foot of
+the Spanish bastion; that this post was guarded with true Castilian
+negligence, although its sole strength lay entirely in its defenders;
+for its battlements, almost in ruin, were furnished with four pieces of
+cannon of enormous calibre, embedded in the turf, and thus rendered
+immovable, and impossible to be directed against a troop advancing
+rapidly to the foot of the wall.
+
+It was easy to see that these enormous pieces had discouraged the
+besiegers from attacking this point, and had kept the besieged from any
+idea of addition to its means of defence.  Thus, on the one side, the
+vedettes and advanced posts were at a distance, and on the other, the
+sentinels were few and ill supported.  A young Spaniard, carrying a long
+gun, with its rest suspended at his side and the burning match in his
+right hand, who was walking with nonchalance upon the rampart, stopped to
+look at Cinq-Mars, who was riding about the ditches and moats.
+
+"Senor caballero," he cried, "are you going to take the bastion by
+yourself on horseback, like Don Quixote--Quixada de la Mancha?"
+
+At the same time he detached from his side the iron rest, planted it in
+the ground, and supported upon it the barrel of his gun in order to take
+aim, when a grave and older Spaniard, enveloped in a dirty brown cloak,
+said to him in his own tongue:
+
+"'Ambrosio de demonio', do you not know that it is forbidden to throw
+away powder uselessly, before sallies or attacks are made, merely to have
+the pleasure of killing a boy not worth your match?  It was in this very
+place that Charles the Fifth threw the sleeping sentinel into the ditch
+and drowned him.  Do your duty, or I shall follow his example."
+
+Ambrosio replaced the gun upon his shoulder, the rest at his side, and
+continued his walk upon the rampart.
+
+Cinq-Mars had been little alarmed at this menacing gesture, contenting
+himself with tightening the reins of his horse and bringing the spurs
+close to his sides, knowing that with a single leap of the nimble animal
+he should be carried behind the wall of a hut which stood near by, and
+should thus be sheltered from the Spanish fusil before the operation of
+the fork and match could be completed.  He knew, too, that a tacit
+convention between the two armies prohibited marksmen from firing upon
+the sentinels; each party would have regarded it as assassination.  The
+soldier who had thus prepared to attack Cinq-Mars must have been ignorant
+of this understanding.  Young D'Effiat, therefore, made no visible
+movement; and when the sentinel had resumed his walk upon the rampart,
+he again betook himself to his ride upon the turf, and presently saw five
+cavaliers directing their course toward him.  The first two, who came on
+at full gallop, did not salute him, but, stopping close to him, leaped to
+the ground, and he found himself in the arms of the Counsellor de Thou,
+who embraced him tenderly, while the little Abbe de Gondi, laughing
+heartily, cried:
+
+"Behold another Orestes recovering his Pylades, and at the moment of
+immolating a rascal who is not of the family of the King of kings, I
+assure you."
+
+"What! is it you, my dear Cinq-Mars?"  cried De Thou; "and I knew not of
+your arrival in the camp!  Yes, it is indeed you; I recognize you,
+although you are very pale.  Have you been ill, my dear friend?  I have
+often written to you; for my boyish friendship has always remained in my
+heart."
+
+"And I," answered Henri d'Effiat, "I have been very culpable toward you;
+but I will relate to you all the causes of my neglect.  I can speak of
+them, but I was ashamed to write them.  But how good you are!  Your
+friendship has never relaxed."
+
+"I knew you too well," replied De Thou; "I knew that there could be no
+real coldness between us, and that my soul had its echo in yours."
+
+With these words they embraced once more, their eyes moist with those
+sweet tears which so seldom flow in one's life, but with which it seems,
+nevertheless, the heart is always charged, so much relief do they give in
+flowing.
+
+This moment was short; and during these few words, Gondi had been pulling
+them by their cloaks, saying:
+
+"To horse! to horse, gentlemen!  Pardieu! you will have time enough to
+embrace, if you are so affectionate; but do not delay.  Let our first
+thought be to have done with our good friends who will soon arrive.  We
+are in a fine position, with those three villains there before us, the
+archers close by, and the Spaniards up yonder!  We shall be under three
+fires."
+
+He was still speaking, when De Launay, finding himself at about sixty
+paces from his opponents, with his seconds, who were chosen from his own
+friends rather than from among the partisans of the Cardinal, put his
+horse to a canter, advanced gracefully toward his young adversaries, and
+gravely saluted them.
+
+"Gentlemen, I think that we shall do well to select our men, and to take
+the field; for there is talk of attacking the lines, and I must be at my
+post."
+
+"We are ready, Monsieur," said Cinq-Mars; "and as for selecting
+opponents, I shall be very glad to become yours, for I have not forgotten
+the Marechal de Bassompierre and the wood of Chaumont.  You know my
+opinion concerning your insolent visit to my mother."
+
+"You are very young, Monsieur.  In regard to Madame, your mother,
+I fulfilled the duties of a man of the world; toward the Marechal,
+those of a captain of the guard; here, those of a gentleman toward
+Monsieur l'Abbe, who has challenged me; afterward I shall have that honor
+with you."
+
+"If I permit you," said the Abbe, who was already on horseback.
+
+They took sixty paces of ground--all that was afforded them by the extent
+of the meadow that enclosed them.  The Abbe de Gondi was stationed
+between De Thou and his friend, who sat nearest the ramparts, upon which
+two Spanish officers and a score of soldiers stood, as in a balcony, to
+witness this duel of six persons--a spectacle common enough to them.
+They showed the same signs of joy as at their bullfights, and laughed
+with that savage and bitter laugh which their temperament derives from
+their admixture of Arab blood.
+
+At a sign from Gondi, the six horses set off at full gallop, and met,
+without coming in contact, in the middle of the arena; at that instant,
+six pistol-shots were heard almost together, and the smoke covered the
+combatants.
+
+When it dispersed, of the six cavaliers and six horses but three men and
+three animals were on their legs.  Cinq-Mars was on horseback, giving his
+hand to his adversary, as calm as himself; at the other end of the field,
+De Thou stood by his opponent, whose horse he had killed, and whom he was
+helping to rise.  As for Gondi and De Launay, neither was to be seen.
+Cinq-Mars, looking about for them anxiously, perceived the Abbe's horse,
+which, caracoling and curvetting, was dragging after him the future
+cardinal, whose foot was caught in the stirrup, and who was swearing as
+if he had never studied anything but the language of the camp.  His nose
+and hands were stained and bloody with his fall and with his efforts to
+seize the grass; and he was regarding with considerable dissatisfaction
+his horse, which in spite of himself he irritated with his spurs, making
+its way to the trench, filled with water, which surrounded the bastion,
+when, happily, Cinq-Mars, passing between the edge of the swamp and the
+animal, seized its bridle and stopped its career.
+
+"Well, my dear Abbe, I see that no great harm has come to you, for you
+speak with decided energy."
+
+"Corbleu!"  cried Gondi, wiping the dust out of his eyes, "to fire a
+pistol in the face of that giant I had to lean forward and rise in my
+stirrups, and thus I lost my balance; but I fancy that he is down, too."
+
+"You are right, sir," said De Thou, coming up; "there is his horse
+swimming in the ditch with its master, whose brains are blown out.  We
+must think now of escaping."
+
+"Escaping!  That, gentlemen, will be rather difficult," said the
+adversary of Cinq-Mars, approaching.  "Hark!  there is the cannon-shot,
+the signal for the attack.  I did not expect it would have been given so
+soon.  If we return we shall meet the Swiss and the foot-soldiers, who
+are marching in this direction."
+
+"Monsieur de Fontrailles says well," said De Thou; "but if we do not
+return, here are these Spaniards, who are running to arms, and whose
+balls we shall presently have whistling about our heads."
+
+"Well, let us hold a council," said Gondi; "summon Monsieur de Montresor,
+who is uselessly occupied in searching for the body of poor De Launay.
+You have not wounded him, Monsieur De Thou?"
+
+"No, Monsieur l'Abbe; not every one has so good an aim as you," said
+Montresor, bitterly, limping from his fall.  "We shall not have time to
+continue with the sword."
+
+"As to continuing, I will not consent to it, gentlemen," said
+Fontrailles; "Monsieur de Cinq-Mars has behaved too nobly toward me.
+My pistol went off too soon, and his was at my very cheek--I feel the
+coldness of it now--but he had the generosity to withdraw it and fire in
+the air.  I shall not forget it; and I am his in life and in death."
+
+"We must think of other things now," interrupted Cinq-Mars; "a ball has
+just whistled past my ear.  The attack has begun on all sides; and we are
+surrounded by friends and by enemies."
+
+In fact, the cannonading was general; the citadel, the town, and the army
+were covered with smoke.  The bastion before them as yet was unassailed,
+and its guards seemed less eager to defend it than to observe the fate of
+the other fortifications.
+
+"I believe that the enemy has made a sally," said Montresor, "for the
+smoke has cleared from the plain, and I see masses of cavalry charging
+under the protection of the battery."
+
+"Gentlemen," said Cinq-Mars, who had not ceased to observe the walls,
+"there is a very decided part which we could take, an important share in
+this--we might enter this ill-guarded bastion."
+
+"An excellent idea, Monsieur," said Fontrailles; "but we are but five
+against at least thirty, and are in plain sight and easily counted."
+
+"Faith, the idea is not bad," said Gondi; "it is better to be shot up
+there than hanged down here, as we shall be if we are found, for De
+Launay must be already missed by his company, and all the court knows of
+our quarrel."
+
+"Parbleu!  gentlemen," said Montresor, "help is coming to us."
+
+A numerous troop of horse, in great disorder, advanced toward them at
+full gallop; their red uniform made them visible from afar.  It seemed to
+be their intention to halt on the very ground on which were our
+embarrassed duellists, for hardly had the first cavalier reached it when
+cries of "Halt!"  were repeated and prolonged by the voices of the chiefs
+who were mingled with their cavaliers.
+
+"Let us go to them; these are the men-at-arms of the King's guard," said
+Fontrailles.  "I recognize them by their black cockades.  I see also many
+of the light-horse with them; let us mingle in the disorder, for I fancy
+they are 'ramenes'."
+
+This is a polite phrase signifying in military language "put to rout."
+All five advanced toward the noisy and animated troops, and found that
+this conjecture was right.  But instead of the consternation which one
+might expect in such a case, they found nothing but a youthful and
+rattling gayety, and heard only bursts of laughter from the two
+companies.
+
+"Ah, pardieu!  Cahuzac," said one, "your horse runs better than mine; I
+suppose you have exercised it in the King's hunts!"
+
+"Ah, I see, 'twas that we might be the sooner rallied that you arrived
+here first," answered the other.
+
+"I think the Marquis de Coislin must be mad, to make four hundred of us
+charge eight Spanish regiments."
+
+"Ha! ha!  Locmaria, your plume is a fine ornament; it looks like a
+weeping willow.  If we follow that, it will be to our burial."
+
+"Gentlemen, I said to you before," angrily replied the young officer,
+"that I was sure that Capuchin Joseph, who meddles in everything, was
+mistaken in telling us to charge, upon the part of the Cardinal.  But
+would you have been satisfied if those who have the honor of commanding
+you had refused to charge?"
+
+"No, no, no!" answered all the young men, at the same time forming
+themselves quickly into ranks.
+
+"I said," interposed the old Marquis de Coislin, who, despite his white
+head, had all the fire of youth in his eyes, "that if you were commanded
+to mount to the assault on horseback, you would do it."
+
+"Bravo!  bravo!"  cried all the men-at-arms, clapping their hands.
+
+"Well, Monsieur le Marquis," said Cinq-Mars, approaching, "here is an
+opportunity to execute what you have promised.  I am only a volunteer;
+but an instant ago these gentlemen and I examined this bastion, and I
+believe that it is possible to take it."
+
+"Monsieur, we must first examine the ditch to see--"
+
+At this moment a ball from the rampart of which they were speaking struck
+in the head the horse of the old captain, laying it low.
+
+"Locmaria, De Mouy, take the command, and to the assault!"  cried the two
+noble companies, believing their leader dead.
+
+"Stop a moment, gentlemen," said old Coislin, rising, "I will lead you,
+if you please.  Guide us, Monsieur volunteer, for the Spaniards invite us
+to this ball, and we must reply politely."
+
+Hardly had the old man mounted another horse, which one of his men
+brought him, and drawn his sword, when, without awaiting his order, all
+these ardent youths, preceded by Cinq-Mars and his friends, whose horses
+were urged on by the squadrons behind, had thrown themselves into the
+morass, wherein, to their great astonishment and to that of the
+Spaniards, who had counted too much upon its depth, the horses were in
+the water only up to their hams; and in spite of a discharge of grape-
+shot from the two largest pieces, all reached pell-mell a strip of land
+at the foot of the half-ruined ramparts.  In the ardor of the rush, Cinq-
+Mars and Fontrailles, with the young Locmaria, forced their horses upon
+the rampart itself; but a brisk fusillade killed the three animals, which
+rolled over their masters.
+
+"Dismount all, gentlemen!"  cried old Coislin; "forward with pistol and
+sword!  Abandon your horses!"
+
+All obeyed instantly, and threw themselves in a mass upon the breach.
+
+Meantime, De Thou, whose coolness never quitted him any more than his
+friendship, had not lost sight of the young Henri, and had received him
+in his arms when his horse fell.  He helped him to rise, restored to him
+his sword, which he had dropped, and said to him, with the greatest
+calmness, notwithstanding the balls which rained on all sides:
+
+"My friend, do I not appear very ridiculous amid all this skirmish, in my
+costume of Counsellor in Parliament?"
+
+"Parbleu!"  said Montresor, advancing, "here's the Abbe, who quite
+justifies you."
+
+And, in fact, little Gondi, pushing on among the light horsemen, was
+shouting, at the top of his voice: "Three duels and an assault.  I hope
+to get rid of my cassock at last!"
+
+Saying this, he cut and thrust at a tall Spaniard.
+
+The defence was not long.  The Castilian soldiers were no match for the
+French officers, and not one of them had time or courage to recharge his
+carbine.
+
+"Gentlemen, we will relate this to our mistresses in Paris," said
+Locmaria, throwing his hat into the air; and Cinq-Mars, De Thou, Coislin,
+De Mouy, Londigny, officers of the red companies, and all the young
+noblemen, with swords in their right hands and pistols in their left,
+dashing, pushing, and doing each other by their eagerness as much harm as
+they did the enemy, finally rushed upon the platform of the bastion, as
+water poured from a vase, of which the opening is too small, leaps out in
+interrupted gushes.
+
+Disdaining to occupy themselves with the vanquished soldiers, who cast
+themselves at their feet, they left them to look about the fort, without
+even disarming them, and began to examine their conquest, like schoolboys
+in vacation, laughing with all their hearts, as if they were at a
+pleasure-party.
+
+A Spanish officer, enveloped in his brown cloak, watched them with a
+sombre air.
+
+"What demons are these, Ambrosio?"  said he to a soldier.  "I never have
+met with any such before in France.  If Louis XIII has an entire army
+thus composed, it is very good of him not to conquer all Europe."
+
+"Oh, I do not believe they are very numerous; they must be some poor
+adventurers, who have nothing to lose and all to gain by pillage."
+
+"You are right," said the officer; "I will try to persuade one of them to
+let me escape."
+
+And slowly approaching, he accosted a young light-horseman, of about
+eighteen, who was sitting apart from his comrades upon the parapet.  He
+had the pink-and-white complexion of a young girl; his delicate hand held
+an embroidered handkerchief, with which he wiped his forehead and his
+golden locks He was consulting a large, round watch set with rubies,
+suspended from his girdle by a knot of ribbons.
+
+The astonished Spaniard paused.  Had he not seen this youth overthrow his
+soldiers, he would not have believed him capable of anything beyond
+singing a romance, reclined upon a couch.  But, filled with the
+suggestion of Ambrosio, he thought that he might have stolen these
+objects of luxury in the pillage of the apartments of a woman; so, going
+abruptly up to him, he said:
+
+"Hombre!  I am an officer; will you restore me to liberty, that I may
+once more see my country?"
+
+The young Frenchman looked at him with the gentle expression of his age,
+and, thinking of his own family, he said:
+
+"Monsieur, I will present you to the Marquis de Coislin, who will, I
+doubt not, grant your request; is your family of Castile or of Aragon?"
+
+"Your Coislin will ask the permission of somebody else, and will make me
+wait a year.  I will give you four thousand ducats if you will let me
+escape."
+
+That gentle face, those girlish features, became infused with the purple
+of fury; those blue eyes shot forth lightning; and, exclaiming, "Money to
+me!  away, fool!" the young man gave the Spaniard a ringing box on the
+ear.  The latter, without hesitating, drew a long poniard from his
+breast, and, seizing the arm of the Frenchman, thought to plunge it
+easily into his heart; but, nimble and vigorous, the youth caught him by
+the right arm, and, lifting it with force above his head, sent it back
+with the weapon it held upon the head of the Spaniard, who was furious
+with rage.
+
+"Eh! eh! Softly, Olivier!"  cried his comrades, running from all
+directions; "there are Spaniards enough on the ground already."
+
+And they disarmed the hostile officer.
+
+"What shall we do with this lunatic?"  said one.
+
+"I should not like to have him for my valet-dechambre," returned
+another.
+
+"He deserves to be hanged," said a third; "but, faith, gentlemen, we
+don't know how to hang.  Let us send him to that battalion of Swiss which
+is now passing across the plain."
+
+And the calm and sombre Spaniard, enveloping himself anew in his cloak,
+began the march of his own accord, followed by Ambrosio, to join the
+battalion, pushed by the shoulders and urged on by five or six of these
+young madcaps.
+
+Meantime, the first troop of the besiegers, astonished at their success,
+had followed it out to the end; Cinq-Mars, so advised by the aged
+Coislin, had made with him the circuit of the bastion, and found to their
+vexation that it was completely separated from the city, and that they
+could not follow up their advantage.  They, therefore, returned slowly to
+the platform, talking by the way, to rejoin De Thou and the Abbe de
+Gondi, whom they found laughing with the young light-horsemen.
+
+"We have Religion and justice with us, gentlemen; we could not fail to
+triumph."
+
+"No doubt, for they fought as hard as we."
+
+There was silence at the approach of Cinq-Mars, and they remained for an
+instant whispering and asking his name; then all surrounded him, and took
+his hand with delight.
+
+"Gentlemen, you are right," said their old captain; "he is, as our
+fathers used to say, the best doer of the day.  He is a volunteer, who is
+to be presented today to the King by the Cardinal."
+
+"By the Cardinal!  We will present him ourselves.  Ah, do not let him be
+a Cardinalist; he is too good a fellow for that!"  exclaimed all the
+young men, with vivacity.
+
+"Monsieur, I will undertake to disgust you with him," said Olivier
+d'Entraigues, approaching Cinq-Mars, "for I have been his page.  Rather
+serve in the red companies; come, you will have good comrades there."
+
+The old Marquis saved Cinq-Mars the embarrassment of replying, by
+ordering the trumpets to sound and rally his brilliant companies.
+The cannon was no longer heard, and a soldier announced that the King and
+the Cardinal were traversing the lines to examine the results of the day.
+He made all the horses pass through the breach, which was tolerably wide,
+and ranged the two companies of cavalry in battle array, upon a spot
+where it seemed impossible that any but infantry could penetrate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE RECOMPENSE
+
+Cardinal Richelieu had said to himself, "To soften the first paroxysm of
+the royal grief, to open a source of emotions which shall turn from its
+sorrow this wavering soul, let this city be besieged; I consent.  Let
+Louis go; I will allow him to strike a few poor soldiers with the blows
+which he wishes, but dares not, to inflict upon me.  Let his anger drown
+itself in this obscure blood; I agree.  But this caprice of glory shall
+not derange my fixed designs; this city shall not fall yet.  It shall not
+become French forever until two years have past; it shall come into my
+nets only on the day upon which I have fixed in my own mind.  Thunder,
+bombs, and cannons; meditate upon your operations, skilful captains;
+hasten, young warriors.  I shall silence your noise, I shall dissipate
+your projects, and make your efforts abortive; all shall end in vain
+smoke, for I shall conduct in order to mislead you."
+
+This is the substance of what passed in the bald head of the Cardinal
+before the attack of which we have witnessed a part.  He was stationed on
+horseback, upon one of the mountains of Salces, north of the city; from
+this point he could see the plain of Roussillon before him, sloping to
+the Mediterranean.  Perpignan, with its ramparts of brick, its bastions,
+its citadel, and its spire, formed upon this plain an oval and sombre
+mass on its broad and verdant meadows; the vast mountains surrounded it,
+and the valley, like an enormous bow curved from north to south, while,
+stretching its white line in the east, the sea looked like its silver
+cord.  On his right rose that immense mountain called the Canigou, whose
+sides send forth two rivers into the plain below.  The French line
+extended to the foot of this western barrier.  A crowd of generals and of
+great lords were on horseback behind the minister, but at twenty paces'
+distance and profoundly silent.
+
+Cardinal Richelieu had at first followed slowly the line of operations,
+but had later returned and stationed himself upon this height, whence his
+eye and his thought hovered over the destinies of besiegers and besieged.
+The whole army had its eyes upon him, and could see him from every point.
+All looked upon him as their immediate chief, and awaited his gesture
+before they acted.  France had bent beneath his yoke a long time; and
+admiration of him shielded all his actions to which another would have
+been often subjected.  At this moment, for instance, no one thought of
+smiling, or even of feeling surprised, that the cuirass should clothe the
+priest; and the severity of his character and aspect suppressed every
+thought of ironical comparisons or injurious conjectures.  This day the
+Cardinal appeared in a costume entirely martial: he wore a reddish-brown
+coat, embroidered with gold, a water-colored cuirass, a sword at his
+side, pistols at his saddle-bow, and he had a plumed hat; but this he
+seldom put on his head, which was still covered with the red cap.  Two
+pages were behind him; one carried his gauntlets, the other his casque,
+and the captain of his guards was at his side.
+
+As the King had recently named him generalissimo of his troops, it was to
+him that the generals sent for their orders; but he, knowing only too
+well the secret motives of his master's present anger, affected to refer
+to that Prince all who sought a decision from his own mouth.  It happened
+as he had foreseen; for he regulated and calculated the movements of that
+heart as those of a watch, and could have told with precision through
+what sensations it had passed.  Louis XIII came and placed himself at his
+side; but he came as a pupil, forced to acknowledge that his master is in
+the right.  His air was haughty and dissatisfied, his language brusque
+and dry.  The Cardinal remained impassible.  It was remarked that the
+King, in consulting him, employed the words of command, thus reconciling
+his weakness and his power of place, his irresolution and his pride, his
+ignorance and his pretensions, while his minister dictated laws to him in
+a tone of the most profound obedience.
+
+"I will have them attack immediately, Cardinal," said the Prince on
+coming up; "that is to say," he added, with a careless air, "when all
+your preparations are made, and you have fixed upon the hour with our
+generals."
+
+"Sire, if I might venture to express my judgment, I should be glad did
+your Majesty think proper to begin the attack in a quarter of an hour,
+for that will give time enough to advance the third line."
+
+"Yes, yes; you are right, Monsieur le Cardinal!  I think so, too.  I will
+go and give my orders myself; I wish to do everything myself.  Schomberg,
+Schomberg!  in a quarter of an hour I wish to hear the signal-gun; I
+command it."
+
+And Schomberg, taking the command of the right wing, gave the order, and
+the signal was made.
+
+The batteries, arranged long since by the Marechal de la Meilleraie,
+began to batter a breach, but slowly, because the artillerymen felt that
+they had been directed to attack two impregnable points; and because,
+with their experience, and above all with the common sense and quick
+perception of French soldiers, any one of them could at once have
+indicated the point against which the attack should have been directed.
+The King was surprised at the slowness of the firing.
+
+"La Meilleraie," said he, impatiently, "these batteries do not play well;
+your cannoneers are asleep."
+
+The principal artillery officers were present as well as the Marechal;
+but no one answered a syllable. They had looked toward the Cardinal, who
+remained as immovable as an equestrian statue, and they imitated his
+example.  The answer must have been that the fault was not with the
+soldiers, but with him who had ordered this false disposition of the
+batteries; and this was Richelieu himself, who, pretending to believe
+them more useful in that position, had stopped the remarks of the chiefs.
+
+The King, astonished at this silence, and, fearing that he had committed
+some gross military blunder by his question, blushed slightly, and,
+approaching the group of princes who had accompanied him, said, in order
+to reassure himself:
+
+"D'Angouleme, Beaufort, this is very tiresome, is it not?  We stand here
+like mummies."
+
+Charles de Valois drew near and said:
+
+"It seems to me, Sire, that they are not employing here the machines of
+the engineer Pompee-Targon."
+
+"Parbleu!"  said the Duc de Beaufort, regarding Richelieu fixedly, "that
+is because we were more eager to take Rochelle than Perpignan at the time
+that Italian came.  Here we have not an engine ready, not a mine, not a
+petard beneath these walls; and the Marechal de la Meilleraie told me
+this morning that he had proposed to bring some with which to open the
+breach.  It was neither the Castillet, nor the six great bastions which
+surround it, nor the half-moon, we should have attacked.  If we go on in
+this way, the great stone arm of the citadel will show us its fist a long
+time yet."
+
+The Cardinal, still motionless, said not a single word; he only made a
+sign to Fabert, who left the group in attendance, and ranged his horse
+behind that of Richelieu, close to the captain of his guards.
+
+The Duc de la Rochefoucauld, drawing near the King, said:
+
+"I believe, Sire, that our inactivity makes the enemy insolent, for look!
+here is a numerous sally, directing itself straight toward your Majesty;
+and the regiments of Biron and De Ponts fall back after firing."
+
+"Well!"  said the King, drawing his sword, "let us charge and force those
+villains back again.  Bring on the cavalry with me, D'Angouleme.  Where
+is it, Cardinal?"
+
+"Behind that hill, Sire, there are in column six regiments of dragoons,
+and the carabineers of La Roque; below you are my men-at-arms and my
+light horse, whom I pray your Majesty to employ, for those of your
+Majesty's guard are ill guided by the Marquis de Coislin, who is ever too
+zealous.  Joseph, go tell him to return."
+
+He whispered to the Capuchin, who had accompanied him, huddled up in
+military attire, which he wore awkwardly, and who immediately advanced
+into the plain.
+
+In the mean time, the compact columns of the old Spanish infantry issued
+from the gate of Notre-Dame like a dark and moving forest, while from
+another gate proceeded the heavy cavalry, which drew up on the plain.
+The French army, in battle array at the foot of the hill where the King
+stood, behind fortifications of earth, behind redoubts and fascines of
+turf, perceived with alarm the men-at-arms and the light horse pressed
+between these two forces, ten times their superior in numbers.
+
+"Sound the charge!"  cried Louis XIII; "or my old Coislin is lost."
+
+And he descended the hill, with all his suite as ardent as himself; but
+before he reached the plain and was at the head of his musketeers, the
+two companies had taken their course, dashing off with the rapidity of
+lightning, and to the cry of "Vive le Roi!"  They fell upon the long
+column of the enemy's cavalry like two vultures upon a serpent; and,
+making a large and bloody gap, they passed beyond, and rallied behind the
+Spanish bastion, leaving the enemy's cavalry so astonished that they
+thought only of re-forming their own ranks, and not of pursuing.
+
+The French army uttered a burst of applause; the King paused in
+amazement.  He looked around him, and saw a burning desire for attack in
+all eyes; the valor of his race shone in his own.  He paused yet another
+instant in suspense, listening, intoxicated, to the roar of the cannon,
+inhaling the odor of the powder; he seemed to receive another life, and
+to become once more a Bourbon.  All-who looked on him felt as if they
+were commanded by another man, when, raising his sword and his eyes
+toward the sun, he cried:
+
+"Follow me, brave friends!  here I am King of France!"
+
+His cavalry, deploying, dashed off with an ardor which devoured space,
+and, raising billows of dust from the ground, which trembled beneath
+them, they were in an instant mingled with the Spanish cavalry, and both
+were swallowed up in an immense and fluctuating cloud.
+
+"Now!  now!"  cried the Cardinal, in a voice of thunder, from his
+elevation, "now remove the guns from their useless position!  Fabert,
+give your orders; let them be all directed upon the infantry which slowly
+approaches to surround the King.  Haste!  save the King!"
+
+Immediately the Cardinal's suite, until then sitting erect as so many
+statues, were in motion.  The generals gave their orders; the aides-de-
+camp galloped off into the plain, where, leaping over the ditches,
+barriers, and palisades, they arrived at their destination as soon as the
+thought that directed them and the glance that followed them.
+
+Suddenly the few and interrupted flashes which had shone from the
+discouraged batteries became a continual and immense flame, leaving no
+room for the smoke, which rose to the sky in an infinite number of light
+and floating wreaths; the volleys of cannon, which had seemed like far
+and feeble echoes, changed into a formidable thunder whose roll was as
+rapid as that of drums beating the charge; while from three opposite
+points large red flashes from fiery mouths fell upon the dark columns
+which issued from the besieged city.
+
+Meantime, without changing his position, but with ardent eyes and
+imperative gestures, Richelieu ceased not to multiply his orders, casting
+upon those who received them a look which implied a sentence of death if
+he was not instantly obeyed.
+
+"The King has overthrown the cavalry; but the foot still resist.  Our
+batteries have only killed, they have not conquered.  Forward with three
+regiments of infantry instantly, Gassion, La Meilleraie, and
+Lesdiguieres!  Take the enemy's columns in flank.  Order the rest of the
+army to cease from the attack, and to remain motionless throughout the
+whole line.  Bring paper!  I will write myself to Schomberg."
+
+A page alighted and advanced, holding a pencil and paper.  The minister,
+supported by four men of his suite, also alighted, but with difficulty,
+uttering a cry, wrested from him by pain; but he conquered it by an
+effort, and seated himself upon the carriage of a cannon.  The page
+presented his shoulder as a desk; and the Cardinal hastily penned that
+order which contemporary manuscripts have transmitted to us, and which
+might well be imitated by the diplomatists of our day, who are, it seems,
+more desirous to maintain themselves in perfect balance between two ideas
+than to seek those combinations which decide the destinies of the world,
+regarding the clear and obvious dictates of true genius as beneath their
+profound subtlety.
+
+     "M. le Marechal, do not risk anything, and reflect before you
+     attack.  When you are thus told that the King desires you not to
+     risk anything, you are not to understand that his Majesty forbids
+     you to fight at all; but his intention is that you do not engage in
+     a general battle unless it be with a notable hope of gain from the
+     advantage which a favorable situation may present, the
+     responsibility of the battle naturally falling upon you."
+
+These orders given, the old minister, still seated upon the gun-carriage,
+his arms resting upon the touch-hole, and his chin upon his arms, in the
+attitude of one who adjusts and points a cannon, continued in silence to
+watch the battle, like an old wolf, which, sated with victims and torpid
+with age, contemplates in the plain the ravages of a lion among a herd of
+cattle, which he himself dares not attack.  From time to time his eye
+brightens; the smell of blood rejoices him, and he laps his burning
+tongue over his toothless jaw.
+
+On that day, it was remarked by his servants--or, in other words, by all
+surrounding him--that from the time of his rising until night he took no
+nourishment, and so fixed all the application of his soul on the events
+which he had to conduct that he triumphed over his physical pains,
+seeming, by forgetting, to have destroyed them.  It was this power of
+attention, this continual presence of mind, that raised him almost to
+genius.  He would have attained it quite, had he not lacked native
+elevation of soul and generous sensibility of heart.
+
+Everything happened upon the field of battle as he had wished, fortune
+attending him there as well as in the cabinet.  Louis XIII claimed with
+eager hand the victory which his minister had procured for him; he had
+contributed himself, however, only that grandeur which consists in
+personal valor.
+
+The cannon had ceased to roar when the broken columns of infantry fell
+back into Perpignan; the remainder had met the same fate, was already
+within the walls, and on the plain no living man was to be seen, save the
+glittering squadrons of the King, who followed him, forming ranks as they
+went.
+
+He returned at a slow walk, and contemplated with satisfaction the
+battlefield swept clear of enemies; he passed haughtily under the very
+fire of the Spanish guns, which, whether from lack of skill, or by a
+secret agreement with the Prime Minister, or from very shame to kill a
+king of France, only sent after him a few balls, which, passing two feet
+above his head, fell in front of the lines, and merely served to increase
+the royal reputation for courage.
+
+At every step, however, that he took toward the spot where Richelieu
+awaited him, the King's countenance changed and visibly fell; he lost all
+the flush of combat; the noble sweat of triumph dried upon his brow.  As
+he approached, his usual pallor returned to his face, as if having the
+right to sit alone on a royal head; his look lost its fleeting fire, and
+at last, when he joined the Cardinal, a profound melancholy entirely
+possessed him.  He found the minister as he had left him, on horseback;
+the latter, still coldly respectful, bowed, and after a few words of
+compliment, placed himself near Louis to traverse the lines and examine
+the results of the day, while the princes and great lords, riding at some
+distance before and behind, formed a crowd around them.
+
+The wily minister was careful not to say a word or to make a gesture that
+could suggest the idea that he had had the slightest share in the events
+of the day; and it was remarkable that of all those who came to hand in
+their reports, there was not one who did not seem to divine his thoughts,
+and exercise care not to compromise his occult power by open obedience.
+All reports were made to the King.  The Cardinal then traversed, by the
+side of the Prince, the right of the camp, which had not been under his
+view from the height where he had remained; and he saw with satisfaction
+that Schomberg, who knew him well, had acted precisely as his master had
+directed, bringing into action only a few of the light troops, and
+fighting just enough not to incur reproach for inaction, and not enough
+to obtain any distinct result.  This line of conduct charmed the
+minister, and did not displease the King, whose vanity cherished the idea
+of having been the sole conqueror that day.  He even wished to persuade
+himself, and to have it supposed, that all the efforts of Schomberg had
+been fruitless, saying to him that he was not angry with him, that he had
+himself just had proof that the enemy before him was less despicable than
+had been supposed.
+
+"To show you that you have lost nothing in our estimation," he added, "we
+name you a knight of our order, and we give you public and private access
+to our person."
+
+The Cardinal affectionately pressed his hand as he passed him, and the
+Marechal, astonished at this deluge of favors, followed the Prince with
+his bent head, like a culprit, recalling, to console himself, all the
+brilliant actions of his career which had remained unnoticed, and
+mentally attributing to them these unmerited rewards to reconcile them to
+his conscience.
+
+The King was about to retrace his steps, when the Due de Beaufort, with
+an astonished air, exclaimed:
+
+"But, Sire, have I still the powder in my eyes, or have I been sun-
+struck?  It appears to me that I see upon yonder bastion several
+cavaliers in red uniforms who greatly resemble your light horse whom we
+thought to be killed."
+
+The Cardinal knitted his brows.
+
+"Impossible, Monsieur," he said; "the imprudence of Monsieur de Coislin
+has destroyed his Majesty's men-at-arms and those cavaliers.  It is for
+that reason I ventured just now to say to the King that if the useless
+corps were suppressed, it might be very advantageous from a military
+point of view."
+
+"Pardieu! your Eminence will pardon me," answered the Duc de Beaufort;
+"but I do not deceive myself, and there are seven or eight of them
+driving prisoners before them."
+
+"Well!  let us go to the point," said the King; "if I find my old Coislin
+there I shall be very glad."
+
+With great caution, the horses of the King and his suite passed across
+the marsh, and with infinite astonishment their riders saw on the
+ramparts the two red companies in battle array as on parade.
+
+"Vive Dieu!"  cried Louis; "I think that not one of them is missing!
+Well, Marquis, you keep your word--you take walls on horseback."
+
+"In my opinion, this point was ill chosen," said Richelieu, with disdain;
+"it in no way advances the taking of Perpignan, and must have cost many
+lives."
+
+"Faith, you are right," said the King, for the first time since the
+intelligence of the Queen's death addressing the Cardinal without
+dryness; "I regret the blood which must have been spilled here."
+
+"Only two of own young men have been wounded in the attack, Sire," said
+old Coislin; "and we have gained new companions-in-arms, in the
+volunteers who guided us."
+
+"Who are they?"  said the Prince.
+
+"Three of them have modestly retired, Sire; but the youngest, whom you
+see, was the first who proposed the assault, and the first to venture his
+person in making it.  The two companies claim the honor of presenting him
+to your Majesty."
+
+Cinq-Mars, who was on horseback behind the old captain, took off his hat
+and showed his pale face, his large, dark eyes, and his long, chestnut
+hair.
+
+"Those features remind me of some one," said the King; "what say you,
+Cardinal?"
+
+The latter, who had already cast a penetrating glance at the newcomer,
+replied:
+
+"Unless I am mistaken, this young man is--"
+
+"Henri d'Effiat," said the volunteer, bowing.
+
+"Sire, it is the same whom I had announced to your Majesty, and who was
+to have been presented to you by me; the second son of the Marechal."
+
+"Ah!" said Louis, warmly," I am glad to see the son of my old friend
+presented by this bastion.  It is a suitable introduction, my boy, for
+one bearing your name.  You will follow us to the camp, where we have
+much to say to you.  But what!  you here, Monsieur de Thou?  Whom have
+you come to judge?"
+
+"Sire," answered Coislin, "he has condemned to death, without judging,
+sundry Spaniards, for he was the second to enter the place."
+
+"I struck no one, Monsieur," interrupted De Thou reddening; "it is not my
+business.  Herein I have no merit; I merely accompanied my friend,
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars."
+
+"We approve your modesty as well as your bravery, and we shall not forget
+this.  Cardinal, is there not some presidency vacant?"
+
+Richelieu did not like De Thou.  And as the sources of his dislike were
+always mysterious, it was difficult to guess the cause of this animosity;
+it revealed itself in a cruel word that escaped him.  The motive was a
+passage in the history of the President De Thou--the father of the young
+man now in question--wherein he stigmatized, in the eyes of posterity, a
+granduncle of the Cardinal, an apostate monk, sullied with every human
+vice.
+
+Richelieu, bending to Joseph's ear, whispered:
+
+"You see that man; his father put my name into his history.  Well, I will
+put his into mine."  And, truly enough, he subsequently wrote it in
+blood.  At this moment, to avoid answering the King, he feigned not to
+have heard his question, and to be wholly intent upon the merit of Cinq-
+Mars and the desire to see him well placed at court.
+
+"I promised you beforehand to make him a captain in my guards," said the
+Prince; "let him be nominated to-morrow.  I would know more of him, and
+raise him to a higher fortune, if he pleases me.  Let us now retire; the
+sun has set, and we are far from our army.  Tell my two good companies to
+follow us."
+
+The minister, after repeating the order, omitting the implied praise,
+placed himself on the King's right hand, and the whole court quitted the
+bastion, now confided to the care of the Swiss, and returned to the camp.
+
+The two red companies defiled slowly through the breach which they had
+effected with such promptitude; their countenances were grave and silent.
+
+Cinq-Mars went up to his friend.
+
+"These are heroes but ill recompensed," said he; "not a favor, not a
+compliment."
+
+"I, on the other hand," said the simple De Thou "I, who came here against
+my will--receive one.  Such are courts, such is life; but above us is the
+true judge, whom men can not blind."
+
+"This will not prevent us from meeting death tomorrow, if necessary,"
+said the young Olivier, laughing.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE BLUNDERS
+
+In order to appear before the King, Cinq-Mars had been compelled to mount
+the charger of one of the light horse, wounded in the affair, having lost
+his own at the foot of the rampart.  As the two companies were marching
+out, he felt some one touch his shoulder, and, turning round, saw old
+Grandchamp leading a very beautiful gray horse.
+
+"Will Monsieur le Marquis mount a horse of his own?"  said he.  "I have
+put on the saddle and housings of velvet embroidered in gold that
+remained in the trench.  Alas, when I think that a Spaniard might have
+taken it, or even a Frenchman!  For just now there are so many people who
+take all they find, as if it were their own; and then, as the proverb
+says, 'What falls in the ditch is for the soldier.' They might also have
+taken the four hundred gold crowns that Monsieur le Marquis, be it said
+without reproach, forgot to take out of the holsters.  And the pistols!
+Oh, what pistols!  I bought them in Germany; and here they are as good as
+ever, and with their locks perfect.  It was quite enough to kill the poor
+little black horse, that was born in England as sure as I was at Tours in
+Touraine, without also exposing these valuables to pass into the hands of
+the enemy."
+
+While making this lamentation, the worthy man finished saddling the gray
+horse.  The column was long enough filing out to give him time to pay
+scrupulous attention to the length of the stirrups and of the bands, all
+the while continuing his harangue.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Monsieur, for being somewhat slow about this; but I
+sprained my arm slightly in lifting Monsieur de Thou, who himself raised
+Monsieur le Marquis during the grand scuffle."
+
+"How camest thou there at all, stupid?"  said Cinq-Mars.  "That is not
+thy business.  I told thee to remain in the camp."
+
+"Oh, as to remaining in the camp, that is out of the question.  I can't
+stay there; when I hear a musket-shot, I should be ill did I not see the
+flash.  As for my business, that is to take care of your horses, and you
+are on them.  Monsieur, think you I should not have saved, had I been
+able, the life of the poor black horse down there in the trench?  Ah, how
+I loved him!--a horse that gained three races in his time--a time too
+short for those who loved him as I loved him!  He never would take his
+corn but from his dear Grandchamp; and then he would caress me with his
+head.  The end of my left ear that he carried away one day--poor fellow!
+--proves it, for it was not out of ill-will he bit it off; quite the
+contrary.  You should have heard how he neighed with rage when any one
+else came near him; that was the reason why he broke Jean's leg.  Good
+creature, I loved him so!
+
+"When he fell I held him on one side with one hand and M. de Locmaria
+with the other.  I thought at first that both he and that gentleman would
+recover; but unhappily only one of them returned to life, and that was he
+whom I least knew.  You seem to be laughing at what I say about your
+horse, Monsieur; you forget that in times of war the horse is the soul of
+the cavalier.  Yes, Monsieur, his soul; for what is it that intimidates
+the infantry?  It is the horse!  It certainly is not the man, who, once
+seated, is little more than a bundle of hay.  Who is it that performs the
+fine deeds that men admire?  The horse.  There are times when his master,
+who a moment before would rather have been far away, finds himself
+victorious and rewarded for his horse's valor, while the poor beast gets
+nothing but blows.  Who is it gains the prize in the race?  The horse,
+that sups hardly better than usual, while the master pockets the gold,
+and is envied by his friends and admired by all the lords as if he had
+run himself.  Who is it that hunts the roebuck, yet puts but a morsel in
+his own mouth?  Again, the horse; sometimes the horse is even eaten
+himself, poor animal!  I remember in a campaign with Monsieur le
+Marechal, it happened that--  But what is the matter, Monsieur, you grow
+pale?"
+
+"Bind up my leg with something--a handkerchief, a strap, or what you
+will.  I feel a burning pain there; I know not what."
+
+"Your boot is cut, Monsieur.  It may be some ball; however, lead is the
+friend of man."
+
+"It is no friend of mine, at all events."
+
+"Ah, who loves, chastens!  Lead must not be ill spoken of!
+What is that--"
+
+While occupied in binding his master's leg below the knee, the worthy
+Grandchamp was about to hold forth in praise of lead as absurdly as he
+had in praise of the horse, when he was forced, as well as Cinq-Mars, to
+hear a warm and clamorous dispute among some Swiss soldiers who had
+remained behind the other troops.  They were talking with much
+gesticulation, and seemed busied with two men among a group of about
+thirty soldiers.
+
+D'Effiat, still holding out his leg to his servant, and leaning on the
+saddle of his horse, tried, by listening attentively, to understand the
+subject of the colloquy; but he knew nothing of German, and could not
+comprehend the dispute.  Grandchamp, who, still holding the boot, had
+also been listening very seriously, suddenly burst into loud laughter,
+holding his sides in a manner not usual with him.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!  Monsieur, here are two sergeants disputing which they ought
+to hang of the two Spaniards there; for your red comrades did not take
+the trouble to tell them.  One of the Swiss says that it's the officer,
+the other that it's the soldier; a third has just made a proposition for
+meeting the difficulty."
+
+"And what does he say?"
+
+"He suggests that they hang them both."
+
+"Stop!  stop!"  cried Cinq-Mars to the soldiers, attempting to walk; but
+his leg would not support him.
+
+"Put me on my horse, Grandchamp."
+
+"Monsieur, you forget your wound."
+
+"Do as I command, and then mount thyself."
+
+The old servant grumblingly obeyed, and then galloped off, in fulfilment
+of another imperative order, to stop the Swiss, who were just about to
+hang their two prisoners to a tree, or to let them hang themselves; for
+the officer, with the sang-froid of his nation, had himself passed the
+running noose of a rope around his own neck, and, without being told, had
+ascended a small ladder placed against the tree, in order to tie the
+other end of the rope to one of its branches.  The soldier, with the same
+calm indifference, was looking on at the Swiss disputing around him,
+while holding the ladder.
+
+Cinq-Mars arrived in time to save them, gave his name to the Swiss
+sergeant, and, employing Grandchamp as interpreter, said that the two
+prisoners were his, and that he would take them to his tent; that he was
+a captain in the guards, and would be responsible for them.  The German,
+ever exact in discipline, made no reply; the only resistance was on the
+part of the prisoner.  The officer, still on the top of the ladder,
+turned round, and speaking thence as from a pulpit, said, with a sardonic
+laugh:
+
+"I should much like to know what you do here?  Who told you I wished to
+live?"
+
+"I do not ask to know anything about that," said Cinq-Mars; "it matters
+not to me what becomes of you afterward.  All I propose now is to prevent
+an act which seems to me unjust and cruel.  You may kill yourself
+afterward, if you like."
+
+"Well said," returned the ferocious Spaniard; "you please me.  I thought
+at first you meant to affect the generous in order to oblige me to be
+grateful, which is a thing I detest.  Well, I consent to come down; but I
+shall hate you as much as ever, for you are a Frenchman.  Nor do I thank
+you, for you only discharge a debt you owe me, since it was I who this
+morning kept you from being shot by this young soldier while he was
+taking aim at you; and he is a man who never missed a chamois in the
+mountains of Leon."
+
+"Be it as you will," said Cinq-Mars; "come down."
+
+It was his character ever to assume with others the mien they wore toward
+him; and the rudeness of the Spaniard made him as hard as iron toward
+him.
+
+"A proud rascal that, Monsieur," said Grandchamp; "in your place Monsieur
+le Marechal would certainly have left him on his ladder.  Come, Louis,
+Etienne, Germain, escort Monsieur's prisoners--a fine acquisition, truly!
+If they bring you any luck, I shall be very much surprised."
+
+Cinq-Mars, suffering from the motion of his horse, rode only at the pace
+of his prisoners on foot, and was accordingly at a distance behind the
+red companies, who followed close upon the King.  He meditated on his way
+what it could be that the Prince desired to say to him.  A ray of hope
+presented to his mind the figure of Marie de Mantua in the distance; and
+for a moment his thoughts were calmed.  But all his future lay in that
+brief sentence--"to please the King"; and he began to reflect upon all
+the bitterness in which his task might involve him.
+
+At that moment he saw approaching his friend, De Thou, who, anxious at
+his remaining behind, had sought him in the plain, eager to aid him if
+necessary.
+
+"It is late, my friend; night approaches.  You have delayed long; I
+feared for you.  Whom have you here?  What has detained you?  The King
+will soon be asking for you."
+
+Such were the rapid inquiries of the young counsellor, whose anxiety,
+more than the battle itself, had made him lose his accustomed serenity.
+
+"I was slightly wounded; I bring a prisoner, and I was thinking of the
+King.  What can he want me for, my friend?  What must I do if he proposes
+to place me about his person?  I must please him; and at this thought--
+shall I own it?--I am tempted to fly.  But I trust that I shall not have
+that fatal honor.  'To please,' how humiliating the word!  'to obey'
+quite the opposite!  A soldier runs the chance of death, and there's an
+end.  But in what base compliances, what sacrifices of himself, what
+compositions with his conscience, what degradation of his own thought,
+may not a courtier be involved!  Ah, De Thou, my dear De Thou!  I am not
+made for the court; I feel it, though I have seen it but for a moment.
+There is in my temperament a certain savageness, which education has
+polished only on the surface.  At a distance, I thought myself adapted to
+live in this all-powerful world; I even desired it, led by a cherished
+hope of my heart.  But I shuddered at the first step; I shuddered at the
+mere sight of the Cardinal.  The recollection of the last of his crimes,
+at which I was present, kept me from addressing him.  He horrifies me;
+I never can endure to be near him.  The King's favor, too, has that about
+it which dismays me, as if I knew it would be fatal to me."
+
+"I am glad to perceive this apprehension in you; it may be most
+salutary," said De Thou, as they rode on.  "You are about to enter into
+contact with power.  Before, you did not even conceive it; now you will
+touch it with your very hand.  You will see what it is, and what hand
+hurls the lightning.  Heaven grant that that lightning may never strike
+you!  You will probably be present in those councils which regulate the
+destiny of nations; you will see, you will perchance originate, those
+caprices whence are born sanguinary wars, conquests, and treaties; you
+will hold in your hand the drop of water which swells into mighty
+torrents.  It is only from high places that men can judge of human
+affairs; you must look from the mountaintop ere you can appreciate the
+littleness of those things which from below appear to us great."
+
+"Ah, were I on those heights, I should at least learn the lesson you
+speak of; but this Cardinal, this man to whom I must be under obligation,
+this man whom I know too well by his works--what will he be to me?"
+
+"A friend, a protector, no doubt," answered De Thou.
+
+"Death were a thousand times preferable to his friendship!  I hate his
+whole being, even his very name; he spills the blood of men with the
+cross of the Redeemer!"
+
+"What horrors are you saying, my friend?  You will ruin yourself if you
+reveal your sentiments respecting the Cardinal to the King."
+
+"Never mind; in the midst of these tortuous ways, I desire to take a new
+one, the right line.  My whole opinion, the opinion of a just man, shall
+be unveiled to the King himself, if he interrogate me, even should it
+cost me my head.  I have at last seen this King, who has been described
+to me as so weak; I have seen him, and his aspect has touched me to the
+heart in spite of myself.  Certainly, he is very unfortunate, but he can
+not be cruel; he will listen to the truth."
+
+"Yes; but he will not dare to make it triumph," answered the sage De
+Thou.  "Beware of this warmth of heart, which often draws you by sudden
+and dangerous movements.  Do not attack a colossus like Richelieu without
+having measured him."
+
+"That is just like my tutor, the Abbe Quillet.  My dear and prudent
+friend, neither the one nor the other of you know me; you do not know how
+weary I am of myself, and whither I have cast my gaze.  I must mount or
+die."
+
+"What! already ambitious?"  exclaimed De Thou, with extreme surprise.
+
+His friend inclined his head upon his hands, abandoning the reins of his
+horse, and did not answer.
+
+"What! has this selfish passion of a riper age obtained possession of you
+at twenty, Henri?  Ambition is the saddest of all hopes."
+
+"And yet it possesses me entirely at present, for I see only by means of
+it, and by it my whole heart is penetrated."
+
+"Ah, Cinq-Mars, I no longer recognize you!  how different you were
+formerly!  I do not conceal from you that you appear to me to have
+degenerated.  In those walks of our childhood, when the life, and, above
+all, the death of Socrates, caused tears of admiration and envy to flow
+from our eyes; when, raising ourselves to the ideal of the highest
+virtue, we wished that those illustrious sorrows, those sublime
+misfortunes, which create great men, might in the future come upon us;
+when we constructed for ourselves imaginary occasions of sacrifices and
+devotion--if the voice of a man had pronounced, between us two, the
+single world, 'ambition,' we should have believed that we were touching a
+serpent."
+
+De Thou spoke with the heat of enthusiasm and of reproach.  Cinq-Mars
+went on without answering, and still with his face in his hands.  After
+an instant of silence he removed them, and allowed his eyes to be seen,
+full of generous tears.  He pressed the hand of his friend warmly, and
+said to him, with a penetrating accent:
+
+"Monsieur de Thou, you have recalled to me the most beautiful thoughts of
+my earliest youth.  Do not believe that I have fallen; I am consumed by a
+secret hope which I can not confide even to you.  I despise, as much as
+you, the ambition which will seem to possess me.  All the world will
+believe in it; but what do I care for the world?  As for you, noble
+friend, promise me that you will not cease to esteem me, whatever you may
+see me do.  I swear that my thoughts are as pure as heaven itself!"
+
+"Well," said De Thou, "I swear by heaven that I believe you blindly; you
+give me back my life!"
+
+They shook hands again with effusion of heart, and then perceived that
+they had arrived almost before the tent of the King.
+
+Day was nearly over; but one might have believed that a softer day was
+rising, for the moon issued from the sea in all her splendor.  The
+transparent sky of the south showed not a single cloud, and it seemed
+like a veil of pale blue sown with silver spangles; the air, still hot,
+was agitated only by the rare passage of breezes from the Mediterranean;
+and all sounds had ceased upon the earth.  The fatigued army reposed
+beneath their tents, the line of which was marked by the fires, and the
+besieged city seemed oppressed by the same slumber; upon its ramparts
+nothing was to be seen but the arms of the sentinels, which shone in the
+rays of the moon, or the wandering fire of the night-rounds.  Nothing was
+to be heard but the gloomy and prolonged cries of its guards, who warned
+one another not to sleep.
+
+It was only around the King that all things waked, but at a great
+distance from him.  This Prince had dismissed all his suite; he walked
+alone before his tent, and, pausing sometimes to contemplate the beauty
+of the heavens, he appeared plunged in melancholy meditation.  No one
+dared to interrupt him; and those of the nobility who had remained in the
+royal quarters had gathered about the Cardinal, who, at twenty paces from
+the King, was seated upon a little hillock of turf, fashioned into a seat
+by the soldiers.  There he wiped his pale forehead, fatigued with the
+cares of the day and with the unaccustomed weight of a suit of armor; he
+bade adieu, in a few hurried but always attentive and polite words, to
+those who came to salute him as they retired.  No one was near him now
+except Joseph, who was talking with Laubardemont.  The Cardinal was
+looking at the King, to see whether, before reentering, this Prince would
+not speak to him, when the sound of the horses of Cinq-Mars was heard.
+The Cardinal's guards questioned him, and allowed him to advance without
+followers, and only with De Thou.
+
+"You are come too late, young man, to speak with the King," said the
+Cardinal-Duke with a sharp voice.  "One can not make his Majesty wait."
+
+The two friends were about to retire, when the voice of Louis XIII
+himself made itself heard.  This Prince was at that moment in one of
+those false positions which constituted the misfortune of his whole life.
+Profoundly irritated against his minister, but not concealing from
+himself that he owed the success of the day to him, desiring, moreover,
+to announce to him his intention to quit the army and to raise the siege
+of Perpignan, he was torn between the desire of speaking to the Cardinal
+and the fear lest his anger might be weakened.  The minister, upon his
+part, dared not be the first to speak, being uncertain as to the thoughts
+which occupied his master, and fearing to choose his time ill, but yet
+not able to decide upon retiring.  Both found themselves precisely in the
+position of two lovers who have quarrelled and desire to have an
+explanation, when the King, seized with joy the first opportunity of
+extricating himself.  The chance was fatal to the minister.  See upon
+what trifles depend those destinies which are called great.
+
+"Is it not Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?"  said the King, in a loud voice.
+"Let him approach; I am waiting for him."
+
+Young D'Effiat approached on horseback, and at some paces from the King
+desired to set foot to earth; but hardly had his leg touched the ground
+when he dropped upon his knees.
+
+"Pardon, Sire!"  said he, "I believe that I am wounded;" and the blood
+issued violently from his boot.
+
+De Thou had seen him fall, and had approached to sustain him.  Richelieu
+seized this opportunity of advancing also, with dissembled eagerness.
+
+"Remove this spectacle from the eyes of the King," said he.  "You see
+very well that this young man is dying."
+
+"Not at all," said Louis, himself supporting him; "a king of France knows
+how to see a man die, and has no fear of the blood which flows for him.
+This young man interests me.  Let him be carried into my tent, and let my
+doctors attend him.  If his wound is not serious, he shall come with me
+to Paris, for the siege is suspended, Monsieur le Cardinal.  Such is my
+desire; other affairs call me to the centre of the kingdom.  I will leave
+you here to command in my absence.  This is what I desired to say to
+you."
+
+With these words the King went abruptly into his tent, preceded by his
+pages and his officers, carrying flambeaux.
+
+The royal pavilion was closed, and Cinq-Mars was borne in by De Thou and
+his people, while the Duc de Richelieu, motionless and stupefied, still
+regarded the spot where this scene had passed.  He appeared thunder-
+struck, and incapable of seeing or hearing those who observed him.
+
+Laubardemont, still intimidated by his ill reception of the preceding
+day, dared not speak a word to him, and Joseph hardly recognized in him
+his former master.  For an instant he regretted having given himself to
+him, and fancied that his star was waning; but, reflecting that he was
+hated by all men and had no resource save in Richelieu, he seized him by
+the arm, and, shaking him roughly, said to him in a low voice, but
+harshly:
+
+"Come, come, Monseigneur, you are chickenhearted; come with us."
+
+And, appearing to sustain him by the elbow, but in fact drawing him in
+spite of himself, with the aid of Laubardemont, he made him enter his
+tent, as a schoolmaster forces a schoolboy to rest, fearing the effects
+of the evening mist upon him.
+
+The prematurely aged man slowly obeyed the wishes of his two parasites,
+and the purple of the pavilion dropped upon him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE NIGHT-WATCH
+
+               O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
+               The lights burn blue.  It is now dead midnight,
+               Cold, fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
+               What do I fear?  Myself?
+               I love myself!
+                         SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Hardly was the Cardinal in his tent before he dropped, armed and
+cuirassed, into a great armchair; and there, holding his handkerchief to
+his mouth with a fixed gaze, he remained in this attitude, letting his
+two dark confidants wonder whether contemplation or annihilation
+maintained him in it.  He was deadly pale, and a cold sweat streamed upon
+his brow.  In wiping it with a sudden movement, he threw behind him his
+red cap, the only ecclesiastical sign which remained upon him, and again
+rested with his mouth upon his hands.  The Capuchin on one side, and the
+sombre magistrate on the other, considered him in silence, and seemed,
+with their brown and black costumes like the priest and the notary of a
+dying man.
+
+The friar, drawing from the depth of his chest a voice that seemed better
+suited to repeat the service of the dead than to administer consolation,
+spoke first:
+
+"If Monseigneur will recall my counsels given at Narbonne, he will
+confess that I had a just presentiment of the troubles which this young
+man would one day cause him."
+
+The magistrate continued:
+
+"I have learned from the old deaf abbe who dined at the house of the
+Marechale d'Effiat, and who heard all, that this young Cinq-Mars
+exhibited more energy than one would have imagined, and that he attempted
+to rescue the Marechal de Bassompierre.  I have still by me the detailed
+report of the deaf man, who played his part very well.  His Eminence the
+Cardinal must be sufficiently convinced by it."
+
+"I have told Monseigneur," resumed Joseph--for these two ferocious Seyds
+alternated their discourse like the shepherds of Virgil--"I have told him
+that it would be well to get rid of this young D'Effiat, and that I would
+charge myself with the business, if such were his good pleasure.
+It would be easy to destroy him in the opinion of the King."
+
+"It would be safer to make him die of his wound," answered Laubardemont;
+"if his Eminence would have the goodness to command me, I know intimately
+the assistant-physician, who cured me of a blow on the forehead, and is
+now attending to him.  He is a prudent man, entirely devoted to
+Monseigneur the Cardinal-Duke, and whose affairs have been somewhat
+embarrassed by gambling."
+
+"I believe," replied Joseph, with an air of modesty, mingled with a touch
+of bitterness, "that if his Excellency proposed to employ any one in this
+useful project, it should be his accustomed negotiator, who has had some
+success in the past."
+
+"I fancy that I could enumerate some signal instances," answered
+Laubardemont, "and very recent ones, of which the difficulty was great."
+
+"Ah, no doubt," said the father, with a bow and an air of consideration
+and politeness, "your most bold and skilfully executed commission was the
+trial of Urbain Grandier, the magician.  But, with Heaven's assistance,
+one may be enabled to do things quite as worthy and bold.  It is not
+without merit, for instance," added he, dropping his eyes like a young
+girl, "to have extirpated vigorously a royal Bourbon branch."
+
+"It was not very difficult," answered the magistrate, with bitterness,
+"to select a soldier from the guards to kill the Comte de Soissons; but
+to preside, to judge--"
+
+"And to execute one's self," interrupted the heated Capuchin, "is
+certainly less difficult than to educate a man from infancy in the
+thought of accomplishing great things with discretion, and to bear all
+tortures, if necessary, for the love of heaven, rather than reveal the
+name of those who have armed him with their justice, or to die
+courageously upon the body of him that he has struck, as did one who was
+commissioned by me.  He uttered no cry at the blow of the sword of
+Riquemont, the equerry of the Prince.  He died like a saint; he was my
+pupil."
+
+"To give orders is somewhat different from running risk one's self."
+
+"And did I risk nothing at the siege of Rochelle?"
+
+"Of being drowned in a sewer, no doubt," said Laubardemont.
+
+"And you," said Joseph, "has your danger been that of catching your
+fingers in instruments of torture?  And all this because the Abbess of
+the Ursulines is your niece."
+
+"It was a good thing for your brothers of Saint Francis, who held the
+hammers; but I--I was struck in the forehead by this same Cinq-Mars, who
+was leading an enraged multitude."
+
+"Are you quite sure of that?"  cried Joseph, delighted.  "Did he dare to
+act thus against the commands of the King?"  The joy which this discovery
+gave him made him forget his anger.
+
+"Fools!"  exclaimed the Cardinal, suddenly breaking his long silence, and
+taking from his lips his handkerchief stained with blood.  "I would
+punish your angry dispute had it not taught me many secrets of infamy on
+your part.  You have exceeded my orders; I commanded no torture,
+Laubardemont.  That is your second fault.  You cause me to be hated for
+nothing; that was useless.  But you, Joseph, do not neglect the details
+of this disturbance in which Cinq-Mars was engaged; it may be of use in
+the end."
+
+"I have all the names and descriptions," said the secret judge, eagerly,
+bending his tall form and thin, olive-colored visage, wrinkled with a
+servile smile, down to the armchair.
+
+"It is well!  it is well!"  said the minister, pushing him back;
+"but that is not the question yet.  You, Joseph, be in Paris before this
+young upstart, who will become a favorite, I am certain.  Become his
+friend; make him of my party or destroy him.  Let him serve me or fall.
+But, above all, send me every day safe persons to give me verbal
+accounts.  I will have no more writing for the future.  I am much
+displeased with you, Joseph.  What a miserable courier you chose to send
+from Cologne!  He could not understand me.  He saw the King too soon,
+and here we are still in disgrace in consequence.  You have just missed
+ruining me entirely.  Go and observe what is about to be done in Paris.
+A conspiracy will soon be hatched against me; but it will be the last.
+I remain here in order to let them all act more freely.  Go, both of you,
+and send me my valet after the lapse of two hours; I wish now to be
+alone."
+
+The steps of the two men were still to be heard as Richelieu, with eyes
+fixed upon the entrance to the tent, pursued them with his irritated
+glance.
+
+"Wretches!"  he exclaimed, when he was alone, "go and accomplish some
+more secret work, and afterward I will crush you, in pure instruments of
+my power.  The King will soon succumb beneath the slow malady which
+consumes him.  I shall then be regent; I shall be King of France myself;
+I shall no longer have to dread the caprices of his weakness.  I will
+destroy the haughty races of this country.  I will be alone above them
+all.  Europe shall tremble."
+
+Here the blood, which again filled his mouth, obliged him to apply his
+handkerchief to it once more.
+
+"Ah, what do I say?  Unhappy victim that I am!  Here am I, death-
+stricken!  My dissolution is near; my blood flows, and my spirit desires
+to labor still.  Why?  For whom?  Is it for glory?  That is an empty
+word.  Is it for men?  I despise them.  For whom, then, since I shall
+die, perhaps, in two or three years?  Is it for God?  What a name!
+I have not walked with Him!  He has seen all--"
+
+Here he let his head fall upon his breast, and his eyes met the great
+cross of gold which was suspended from his neck.  He could not help
+throwing himself back in his chair; but it followed him.  He took it; and
+considering it with fixed arid devouring looks, he said in a low voice:
+
+"Terrible sign!  thou followest me!  Shall I find thee elsewhere--
+divinity and suffering?  What am I?  What have I done?"
+
+For the first time a singular and unknown terror penetrated him.  He
+trembled, at once frozen and scorched by an invincible shudder.  He dared
+not lift his eyes, fearing to meet some terrible vision.  He dared not
+call, fearing to hear the sound of his own voice.  He remained profoundly
+plunged in meditations on eternity, so terrible for him, and he murmured
+the following kind of prayer:
+
+"Great God, if Thou hearest me, judge me then, but do not isolate me
+in judging me!  Look upon me, surrounded by the men of my generation;
+consider the immense work I had undertaken!, Was not an enormous lever
+wanted to bestir those masses; and if this lever in falling crushes some
+useless wretches, am I very culpable?  I seem wicked to men; but Thou,
+Supreme judge, dost thou regard me thus?
+
+"No; Thou knowest it is boundless power which makes creature culpable
+against creature.  It is not Armand de Richelieu who destroys; it is the
+Prime-Minister.  It is not for his personal injuries; it is to carry out
+a system.  But a system--what is this word?  Is it permitted me to play
+thus with men, to regard them as numbers for working out a thought, which
+perhaps is false?  I overturn the framework of the throne.  What if,
+without knowing it, I sap its foundations and hasten its fall!  Yes, my
+borrowed power has seduced me.  O labyrinth!  O weakness of human
+thought!  Simple faith, why did I quit thy path?  Why am I not a simple
+priest?  If I dared to break with man and give myself to God, the ladder
+of Jacob would again descend in my dreams."
+
+At this moment his ear was struck by a great noise outside--laughter of
+soldiers, ferocious shouts and oaths, mingled with words which were a
+long time sustained by a weak yet clear voice; one would have said it was
+the voice of an angel interrupted by the laughter of demons.  He rose and
+opened a sort of linen window, worked in the side of his square tent.
+A singular spectacle presented itself to his view; he remained some
+instants contemplating it, attentive to the conversation which was going
+on.
+
+"Listen, listen, La Valeur!"  said one soldier to another.  "See, she
+begins again to speak and to sing!"
+
+"Put her in the middle of the circle, between us and the fire."
+
+"You do not know her!  You do not know her!"  said another.  "But here is
+Grand-Ferre, who says that he knows her."
+
+"Yes, I tell you I know her; and, by Saint Peter of Loudun, I will swear
+that I have seen her in my village, when I had leave of absence; and it
+was upon an occasion at which one shuddered, but concerning which one
+dares not talk, especially to a Cardinalist like you."
+
+"Eh!  and pray why dare not one speak of it, you great simpleton?"  said
+an old soldier, twisting up his moustache.
+
+"It is not spoken of because it burns the tongue.  Do you understand
+that?"
+
+"No, I don't understand it."
+
+"Well, nor I neither; but certain citizens told it to me."
+
+Here a general laugh interrupted him.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!  is he a fool?"  said one.  "He listens to what the
+townsfolk tell him."
+
+"Ah, well!  if you listen to their gabble, you have time to lose," said
+another.
+
+"You do not know, then, what my mother said, greenhorn?"  said the
+eldest, gravely dropping his eyes with a solemn air, to compel
+attention.
+
+"Eh!  how can you think that I know it, La Pipe?  Your mother must have
+died of old age before my grandfather came into the world."
+
+"Well, greenhorn, I will tell you!  You shall know, first of all, that my
+mother was a respectable Bohemian, as much attached to the regiment of
+carabineers of La Roque as my dog Canon there.  She carried brandy round
+her neck in a barrel, and drank better than the best of us.  She had
+fourteen husbands, all soldiers, who died upon the field of battle."
+
+"Ha!  that was a woman!"  interrupted the soldiers, full of respect.
+
+"And never once in her life did she speak to a townsman, unless it was to
+say to him on coming to her lodging, 'Light my candle and warm my soup.'"
+
+"Well, and what was it that your mother said to you?"
+
+"If you are in such a hurry, you shall not know, greenhorn.  She said
+habitually in her talk, 'A soldier is better than a dog; but a dog is
+better than a bourgeois.'"
+
+"Bravo!  bravo!  that was well said!"  cried the soldier, filled with
+enthusiasm at these fine words.
+
+"That," said Grand-Ferre, "does not prove that the citizens who made the
+remark to me that it burned the tongue were in the right; besides, they
+were not altogether citizens, for they had swords, and they were grieved
+at a cure being burned, and so was I."
+
+"Eh!  what was it to you that they burned your cure, great simpleton?"
+said a sergeant, leaning upon the fork of his arquebus; "after him
+another would come.  You might have taken one of our generals in his
+stead, who are all cures at present; for me, I am a Royalist, and I say
+it frankly."
+
+"Hold your tongue!"  cried La Pipe; "let the girl speak.  It is these
+dogs of Royalists who always disturb us in our amusements."
+
+"What say you?"  answered Grand-Ferre.  "Do you even know what it is to
+be a Royalist?"
+
+"Yes," said La Pipe; "I know you all very well.  Go, you are for the old
+self-called princes of the peace, together with the wranglers against the
+Cardinal and the gabelle.  Am I right or not?"
+
+"No, old red-stocking.  A Royalist is one who is for the King; that's
+what it is.  And as my father was the King's valet, I am for the King,
+you see; and I have no liking for the red-stockings, I can tell you."
+
+"Ah, you call me red-stocking, eh?"  answered the old soldier.  "You
+shall give me satisfaction to-morrow morning.  If you had made war in the
+Valteline, you would not talk like that; and if you had seen his Eminence
+marching upon the dike at Rochelle, with the old Marquis de Spinola,
+while volleys of cannonshot were sent after him, you would have nothing
+to say about red-stockings."
+
+"Come, let us amuse ourselves, instead of quarrelling," said the other
+soldiers.
+
+The men who conversed thus were standing round a great fire, which
+illuminated them more than the moon, beautiful as it was; and in the
+centre of the group was the object of their gathering and their cries.
+The Cardinal perceived a young woman arrayed in black and covered with a
+long, white veil.  Her feet were bare; a thick cord clasped her elegant
+figure; a long rosary fell from her neck almost to her feet, and her
+hands, delicate and white as ivory, turned its beads and made them pass
+rapidly beneath her fingers.  The soldiers, with a barbarous joy, amused
+themselves with laying little brands in her way to burn her naked feet.
+The oldest took the smoking match of his arquebus, and, approaching it to
+the edge of her robe, said in a hoarse voice:
+
+"Come, madcap, tell me your history, or I will fill you with powder and
+blow you up like a mine; take care, for I have already played that trick
+to others besides you, in the old wars of the Huguenots.  Come, sing."
+
+The young woman, looking at him gravely, made no reply, but lowered her
+veil.
+
+"You don't manage her well," said Grand-Ferre, with a drunken laugh; "you
+will make her cry.  You don't know the fine language of the court; let me
+speak to her."  And, touching her on the chin, "My little heart," he
+said, "if you will please, my sweet, to resume the little story you told
+just now to these gentlemen, I will pray you to travel with me upon the
+river Du Tendre, as the great ladies of Paris say, and to take a glass of
+brandy with your faithful chevalier, who met you formerly at Loudun, when
+you played a comedy in order to burn a poor devil."
+
+The young woman crossed her arms, and, looking around her with an
+imperious air, cried:
+
+"Withdraw, in the name of the God of armies; withdraw, impious men!
+There is nothing in common between us.  I do not understand your tongue,
+nor you mine.  Go, sell your blood to the princes of the earth at so many
+oboles a day, and leave me to accomplish my mission!  Conduct me to the
+Cardinal."
+
+A coarse laugh interrupted her.
+
+"Do you think," said a carabineer of Maurevert, "that his Eminence the
+Generalissimo will receive you with your feet naked?  Go and wash them."
+
+"The Lord has said, 'Jerusalem, lift thy robe, and pass the rivers of
+water,'" she answered, her arms still crossed.  "Let me be conducted to
+the Cardinal."
+
+Richelieu cried in a loud voice, "Bring the woman to me, and let her
+alone!"
+
+All were silent; they conducted her to the minister.
+
+"Why," said she, beholding him--"why bring me before an armed man?"
+
+They left her alone with him without answering.
+
+The Cardinal looked at her with a suspicious air.  "Madame," said he,
+"what are you doing in the camp at this hour?  And if your mind is not
+disordered, why these naked feet?"
+
+"It is a vow; it is a vow," answered the young woman, with an air of
+impatience, seating herself beside him abruptly.  "I have also made a vow
+not to eat until I have found the man I seek."
+
+"My sister," said the Cardinal, astonished and softened, looking closely
+at her, "God does not exact such rigors from a weak body, and
+particularly from one of your age, for you seem very young."
+
+"Young!  oh, yes, I was very young a few days ago; but I have since
+passed two existences at least, so much have I thought and suffered.
+Look on my countenance."
+
+And she discovered a face of perfect beauty.  Black and very regular eyes
+gave life to it; but in their absence one might have thought her features
+were those of a phantom, she was so pale.  Her lips were blue and
+quivering; and a strong shudder made her teeth chatter.
+
+"You are ill, my sister," said the minister, touched, taking her hand,
+which he felt to be burning hot.  A sort of habit of inquiring concerning
+his own health, and that of others, made him touch the pulse of her
+emaciated arm; he felt that the arteries were swollen by the beatings of
+a terrible fever.
+
+"Alas!"  he continued, with more of interest, "you have killed yourself
+with rigors beyond human strength!  I have always blamed them, and
+especially at a tender age.  What, then, has induced you to do this?  Is
+it to confide it to me that you are come?  Speak calmly, and be sure of
+succor."
+
+"Confide in men!"  answered the young woman; "oh, no, never!  All have
+deceived me.  I will confide myself to no one, not even to Monsieur Cinq-
+Mars, although he must soon die."
+
+"What!"  said Richelieu, contracting his brows, but with a bitter laugh,
+--"what!  do you know this young man?  Has he been the cause of your
+misfortune?"
+
+"Oh, no!  He is very good, and hates wickedness; that is what will ruin
+him.  Besides," said she, suddenly assuming a harsh and savage air, "men
+are weak, and there are things which women must accomplish.  When there
+were no more valiant men in Israel, Deborah arose."
+
+"Ah!  how came you with all this fine learning?"  continued the Cardinal,
+still holding her hand.
+
+"Oh, I can't explain that!"  answered she, with a touching air of naivete
+and a very gentle voice; "you would not understand me.  It is the Devil
+who has taught me all, and who has destroyed me."
+
+"Ah, my child!  it is always he who destroys us; but he instructs us
+ill," said Richelieu, with an air of paternal protection and an
+increasing pity.  "What have been your faults?  Tell them to me; I am
+very powerful."
+
+"Ah," said she, with a look of doubt, "you have much influence over
+warriors, brave men and generals!  Beneath your cuirass must beat a noble
+heart; you are an old General who knows nothing of the tricks of crime."
+
+Richelieu smiled; this mistake flattered him.
+
+"I heard you ask for the Cardinal; do you desire to see him?  Did you
+come here to seek him?"
+
+The girl drew back and placed a finger upon her forehead.
+
+"I had forgotten it," said she; "you have talked to me too much.  I had
+overlooked this idea, and yet it is an important one; it is for that that
+I have condemned myself to the hunger which is killing me.  I must
+accomplish it, or I shall die first.  Ah," said she, putting her hand
+beneath her robe in her bosom, whence she appeared to take something,
+"behold it!  this idea--"
+
+She suddenly blushed, and her eyes widened extraordinarily.  She
+continued, bending to the ear of the Cardinal:
+
+"I will tell you; listen!  Urbain Grandier, my lover Urbain, told me this
+night that it was Richelieu who had been the cause of his death.  I took
+a knife from an inn, and I come here to kill him; tell me where he is."
+
+The Cardinal, surprised and terrified, recoiled with horror.  He dared
+not call his guards, fearing the cries of this woman and her accusations;
+nevertheless, a transport of this madness might be fatal to him.
+
+"This frightful history will pursue me everywhere!"  cried he, looking
+fixedly at her, and thinking within himself of the course he should take.
+
+They remained in silence, face to face, in the same attitude, like two
+wrestlers who contemplate before attacking each other, or like the
+pointer and his victim petrified by the power of a look.
+
+In the mean time, Laubardemont and Joseph had gone forth together; and
+ere separating they talked for a moment before the tent of the Cardinal,
+because they were eager mutually to deceive each other.  Their hatred had
+acquired new force by their recent quarrel; and each had resolved to ruin
+his rival in the mind of his master.  The judge then began the dialogue,
+which each of them had prepared, taking the arm of the other as by one
+and the same movement.
+
+"Ah, reverend father!  how you have afflicted me by seeming to take in
+ill part the trifling pleasantries which I said to you just now."
+
+"Heavens, no!  my dear Monsieur, I am far from that.  Charity, where
+would be charity?  I have sometimes a holy warmth in conversation, for
+the good of the State and of Monseigneur, to whom I am entirely devoted."
+
+"Ah, who knows it better than I, reverend father?  But render me justice;
+you also know how completely I am attached to his Eminence the Cardinal,
+to whom I owe all.  Alas!  I have employed too much zeal in serving him,
+since he reproaches me with it."
+
+"Reassure yourself," said Joseph; "he bears no ill-will toward you.  I
+know him well; he can appreciate one's actions in favor of one's family.
+He, too, is a very good relative."
+
+"Yes, there it is," answered Laubardemont; "consider my condition.  My
+niece would have been totally ruined at her convent had Urbain triumphed;
+you feel that as well as I do, particularly as she did not quite
+comprehend us, and acted the child when she was compelled to appear."
+
+"Is it possible?  In full audience!  What you tell me indeed makes me
+feel for you.  How painful it must have been!"
+
+"More so than you can imagine.  She forgot, in her madness, all that she
+had been told, committed a thousand blunders in Latin, which we patched
+up as well as we could; and she even caused an unpleasant scene on the
+day of the trial, very unpleasant for me and the judges--there were
+swoons and shrieks.  Ah, I swear that I would have scolded her well had I
+not been forced to quit precipitately that, little town of Loudun.  But,
+you see, it is natural enough that I am attached to her.  She is my
+nearest relative; for my son has turned out ill, and no one knows what
+has become of him during the last four years.  Poor little Jeanne de
+Belfiel!  I made her a nun, and then abbess, in order to preserve all for
+that scamp.  Had I foreseen his conduct, I should have retained her for
+the world."
+
+"She is said to have great beauty," answered Joseph; "that is a precious
+gift for a family.  She might have been presented at court, and the King
+--Ah! ah!  Mademoiselle de la Fayette--eh!  eh!--Mademoiselle
+d'Hautefort--you understand; it may be even possible to think of it yet."
+
+"Ah, that is like you, Monseigneur!  for we know that you have been
+nominated to the cardinalate; how good you are to remember the most
+devoted of your friends!"
+
+Laubardemont was yet talking to Joseph when they found themselves at the
+end of the line of the camp, which led to the quarter of the volunteers.
+
+"May God and his Holy Mother protect you during my absence!"  said
+Joseph, stopping.  "To-morrow I depart for Paris; and as I shall have
+frequent business with this young Cinq-Mars, I shall first go to see him,
+and learn news of his wound."
+
+"Had I been listened to," said Laubardemont, "you would not now have had
+this trouble."
+
+"Alas, you are right!"  answered Joseph, with a profound sigh, and
+raising his eyes to heaven; "but the Cardinal is no longer the same man.
+He will not take advantage of good ideas; he will ruin us if he goes on
+thus."
+
+And, making a low bow to the judge, the Capuchin took the road which he
+had indicated to him.
+
+Laubardemont followed him for some time with his eyes, and, when he was
+quite sure of the route which he had taken, he returned, or, rather, ran
+back to the tent of the minister.  "The Cardinal dismisses him, he tells
+me; that shows that he is tired of him.  I know secrets which will ruin
+him.  I will add that he is gone to pay court to the future favorite.
+I will replace this monk in the favor of the minister.  The moment is
+propitious.  It is midnight; he will be alone for an hour and a half yet.
+Let me run."
+
+He arrived at the tent of the guards, which was before the pavilion.
+
+"Monseigneur gives audience to some one," said the captain, hesitating;
+"you can not enter."
+
+"Never mind; you saw me leave an hour ago, and things are passing of
+which I must give an account."
+
+"Come in, Laubardemont," cried the minister; "come in quickly, and
+alone."
+
+He entered.  The Cardinal, still seated, held the two hands of the nun in
+one of his, and with the other he imposed silence upon his stupefied
+agent, who remained motionless, not yet seeing the face of this woman.
+She spoke volubly, and the strange things she said contrasted horribly
+with the sweetness of her voice.  Richelieu seemed moved.
+
+"Yes, I will stab him with a knife.  It is the knife which the demon
+Behirith gave me at the inn; but it is the nail of Sisera.  It has a
+handle of ivory, you see; and I have wept much over it.  Is it not
+singular, my good General?  I will turn it in the throat of him who
+killed my friend, as he himself told me to do; and afterward I will burn
+the body.  There is like for like, the punishment which God permitted to
+Adam.  You have an astonished air, my brave general; but you would be
+much more so, were I to repeat to you his song--the song which he sang to
+me again last night, at the hour of the funeral-pyre--you understand?--
+the hour when it rains, the hour when my hand burns as now.  He said to
+me: 'They are much deceived, the magistrates, the red judges.  I have
+eleven demons at my command; and I shall come to see you when the clock
+strikes, under a canopy of purple velvet, with torches--torches of resin
+to give us light--' Ah, that is beautiful!  Listen, listen to what he
+sings!"
+
+And she sang to the air of De Profundis.
+
+"Is it not singular, my good General?"  said she, when she had finished;
+"and I--I answer him every evening."
+
+"Then he speaks as spirits and prophets speak.  He says: 'Woe, woe to him
+who has shed blood!  Are the judges of the earth gods?  No, they are men
+who grow old and suffer, and yet they dare to say aloud, Let that man
+die!  The penalty of death, the pain of death--who has given to man the
+right of imposing it on man?  Is the number two?  One would be an
+assassin, look you!  But count well, one, two, three.  Behold, they are
+wise and just, these grave and salaried criminals!  O crime, the horror
+of Heaven!  If you looked upon them from above as I look upon them, you
+would be yet paler than I am.  Flesh destroys flesh!  That which lives by
+blood sheds blood coldly and without anger, like a God with power to
+create!'"
+
+The cries which the unhappy girl uttered, as she rapidly spoke these
+words, terrified Richelieu and Laubardemont so much that they still
+remained motionless.  The delirium and the fever continued to transport
+her.
+
+"'Did the judges tremble?' said Urbain Grandier to me.  'Did they tremble
+at deceiving themselves?'  They work the work of the just.  The question!
+They bind his limbs with ropes to make him speak.  His skin cracks, tears
+away, and rolls up like a parchment; his nerves are naked, red, and
+glittering; his bones crack; the marrow spurts out.  But the judges
+sleep!  they dream of flowers and spring.  'How hot the grand chamber
+is!' says one, awaking; 'this man has not chosen to speak!  Is the
+torture finished?' And pitiful at last, he dooms him to death--death, the
+sole fear of the living!  death, the unknown world!  He sends before him
+a furious soul which will wait for him.  Oh!  has he never seen the
+vision of vengeance?  Has he never seen before falling asleep the flayed
+prevaricator?"
+
+Already weakened by fever, fatigue, and grief, the Cardinal, seized with
+horror and pity, exclaimed:
+
+"Ah, for the love of God, let this terrible scene have an end!  Take away
+this woman; she is mad!"
+
+The frantic creature turned, and suddenly uttering loud cries, "Ah, the
+judge!  the judge!  the judge!"  she said, recognizing Laubardemont.
+
+The latter, clasping his hands and trembling before the Cardinal, said
+with terror:
+
+"Alas, Monseigneur, pardon me!  she is my niece, who has lost her reason.
+I was not aware of this misfortune, or she would have been shut up long
+ago.  Jeanne!  Jeanne!  come, Madame, to your knees!  ask forgiveness of
+Monseigneur the Cardinal-duc."
+
+"It is Richelieu!"  she cried; and astonishment seemed wholly to paralyze
+this young and unhappy beauty.  The flush which had animated her at first
+gave place to a deadly pallor, her cries to a motionless silence, her
+wandering looks to a frightful fixedness of her large eyes, which
+constantly followed the agitated minister.
+
+"Take away this unfortunate child quickly," said he; "she is dying, and
+so am I.  So many horrors pursue me since that sentence that I believe
+all hell is loosed upon me."
+
+He rose as he spoke; Jeanne de Belfiel, still silent and stupefied, with
+haggard eyes, open mouth, and head bent forward, yet remained beneath the
+shock of her double surprise, which seemed to have extinguished the rest
+of her reason and her strength.  At the movement of the Cardinal, she
+shuddered to find herself between him and Laubardemont, looked by turns
+at one and the other, let the knife which she held fall from her hand,
+and retired slowly toward the opening of the tent, covering herself
+completely with her veil, and looking wildly and with terror behind her
+upon her uncle who followed, like an affrighted lamb, which already feels
+at its back the burning breath of the wolf about to seize it.
+
+Thus they both went forth; and hardly had they reached the open air, when
+the furious judge caught the hands of his victim, tied them with a
+handkerchief, and easily led her, for she uttered no cry, not even a
+sigh, but followed him with her head still drooping upon her bosom, and
+as if plunged in profound somnambulism.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE SPANIARD
+
+Meantime, a scene of different nature was passing in the tent of Cinq-
+Mars; the words of the King, the first balm to his wounds, had been
+followed by the anxious care of the surgeons of the court.  A spent ball,
+easily extracted, had been the only cause of his accident.  He was
+allowed to travel and all was ready.  The invalid had received up to
+midnight friendly or interested visits; among the first were those of
+little Gondi and of Fontrailles, who were also preparing to quit
+Perpignan for Paris.  The ex-page, Olivier d'Entraigues, joined with them
+in complimenting the fortunate volunteer, whom the King seemed to have
+distinguished.  The habitual coldness of the Prince toward all who
+surrounded him having caused those who knew of them to regard the few
+words he had spoken as assured signs of high favor, all came to
+congratulate him.
+
+At length, released from visitors, he lay upon his camp-bed.  De Thou sat
+by his side, holding his hand, and Grandchamp at his feet, still
+grumbling at the numerous interruptions that had fatigued his wounded
+master.  Cinq-Mars himself tasted one of those moments of calm and hope,
+which so refresh the soul as well as the body.  His free hand secretly
+pressed the gold cross that hung next to his heart, the beloved donor of
+which he was so soon to behold.  Outwardly, he listened with kindly looks
+to the counsels of the young magistrate; but his inward thoughts were all
+turned toward the object of his journey--the object, also, of his life.
+The grave De Thou went on in a calm, gentle voice:
+
+"I shall soon follow you to Paris.  I am happier than you at seeing the
+King take you there with him.  You are right in looking upon it as the
+beginning of a friendship which must be turned to profit.  I have
+reflected deeply on the secret causes of your ambition, and I think I
+have divined your heart.  Yes; that feeling of love for France, which
+made it beat in your earliest youth, must have gained greater strength.
+You would be near the King in order to serve your country, in order to
+put in action those golden dreams of your early years.  The thought is a
+vast one, and worthy of you!  I admire you; I bow before you.  To
+approach the monarch with the chivalrous devotion of our fathers, with a
+heart full of candor, and prepared for any sacrifice; to receive the
+confidences of his soul; to pour into his those of his subjects; to
+soften the, sorrows of the King by telling him the confidence his people
+have in him; to cure the wounds of the people by laying them open to its
+master, and by the intervention of your favor thus to reestablish that
+intercourse of love between the father and his children which for
+eighteen years has been interrupted by a man whose heart is marble; for
+this noble enterprise, to expose yourself to all the horrors of his
+vengeance and, what is even worse, to brave all the perfidious calumnies
+which pursue the favorite to the very steps of the throne--this dream was
+worthy of you.
+
+"Pursue it, my friend," De Thou continued.  "Never become discouraged.
+Speak loudly to the King of the merit and misfortunes of his most
+illustrious friends who are trampled on.  Tell him fearlessly that his
+old nobility have never conspired against him; and that from the young
+Montmorency to the amiable Comte de Soissons, all have opposed the
+minister, and never the monarch.  Tell him that the old families of
+France were born with his race; that in striking them he affects the
+whole nation; and that, should he destroy them, his own race will suffer,
+that it will stand alone exposed to the blast of time and events, as an
+old oak trembling and exposed to the wind of the plain, when the forest
+which surrounded and supported it has been destroyed.  Yes!"  cried De
+Thou, growing animated, "this aim is a fine and noble one.  Go on in your
+course with a resolute step; expel even that secret shame, that shyness,
+which a noble soul experiences before it can resolve upon flattering--
+upon paying what the world calls its court.  Alas, kings are accustomed
+to these continual expressions of false admiration for them!  Look upon
+them as a new language which must be learned--a language hitherto foreign
+to your lips, but which, believe me, may be nobly spoken, and which may
+express high and generous thoughts."
+
+During this warm discourse of his friend, Cinq-Mars could not refrain
+from a sudden blush; and he turned his head on his pillow toward the
+tent, so that his face might not be seen.  De Thou stopped:
+
+"What is the matter, Henri?  You do not answer.  Am I deceived?"
+
+Cinq-Mars gave a deep sigh and remained silent.
+
+"Is not your heart affected by these ideas which I thought would have
+transported it?"
+
+The wounded man looked more calmly at his friend and said:
+
+"I thought, my dear De Thou, that you would not interrogate me further,
+and that you were willing to repose a blind confidence in me.  What evil
+genius has moved you thus to sound my soul?  I am not a stranger to these
+ideas which possess you.  Who told you that I had not conceived them?
+Who told you that I had not formed the firm resolution of prosecuting
+them infinitely farther in action than you have put them in words?  Love
+for France, virtuous hatred of the ambition which oppresses and shatters
+her ancient institutions with the axe of the executioner, the firm belief
+that virtue may be as skilful as crime,--these are my gods as much as
+yours.  But when you see a man kneeling in a church, do you ask him what
+saint or what angel protects him and receives his prayer?  What matters
+it to you, provided that he pray at the foot of the altars that you
+adore--provided that, if called upon, he fall a martyr at the foot of
+those 'altars?  When our forefathers journeyed with naked feet toward the
+Holy Sepulchre, with pilgrims' staves in their hands, did men inquire the
+secret vow which led them to the Holy Land?  They struck, they died; and
+men, perhaps God himself, asked no more.  The pious captain who led them
+never stripped their bodies to see whether the red cross and haircloth
+concealed any other mysterious symbol; and in heaven, doubtless, they
+were not judged with any greater rigor for having aided the strength of
+their resolutions upon earth by some hope permitted to a Christian--some
+second and secret thought, more human, and nearer the mortal heart."
+
+De Thou smiled and slightly blushed, lowering his eyes.
+
+"My friend," he answered, gravely; "this excitement may be injurious to
+you.  Let us not continue this subject; let us not mingle God and heaven
+in our discourse.  It is not well; and draw the coverings over your
+shoulder, for the night is cold.  I promise you," he added, covering his
+young invalid with a maternal care--"I promise not to offend you again
+with my counsels."
+
+"And I," cried Cinq-Mars, despite the interdiction to speak, "swear to
+you by this gold cross you see, and by the Holy Mary, to die rather than
+renounce the plan that you first traced out!  You may one day, perhaps,
+be forced to pray me to stop; but then it will be too late."
+
+"Very well!"  repeated the counsellor, "now sleep; if you do not stop, I
+will go on with you, wherever you lead me."
+
+And, taking a prayer-book from his pocket, he began to read attentively;
+in a short time he looked at Cinq-Mars, who was still awake.  He made a
+sign to Grandchamp to put the lamp out of sight of the invalid; but this
+new care succeeded no better.  The latter, with his eyes still open,
+tossed restlessly on his narrow bed.
+
+"Come, you are not calm," said De Thou, smiling; "I will read to you some
+pious passage which will put your mind in repose.  Ah, my friend, it is
+here that true repose is to be found; it is in this consolatory book,
+for, open it where you will, you will always see, on the one hand, man in
+the only condition that suits his weakness--prayer, and the uncertainty
+as to his destiny--and, on the other, God himself speaking to him of his
+infirmities!  What a glorious and heavenly spectacle!  What a sublime
+bond between heaven and earth!  Life, death, and eternity are there; open
+it at random."
+
+"Yes!"  said Cinq-Mars, rising with a vivacity which had something boyish
+in it; "you shall read to me, but let me open the book.  You know the old
+superstition of our country--when the mass-book is opened with a sword,
+the first page on the left contains the destiny of him who reads, and the
+first person who enters after he has read is powerfully to influence the
+reader's future fate."
+
+"What childishness!  But be it as you will.  Here is your sword; insert
+the point.  Let us see."
+
+"Let me read myself," said Cinq-Mars, taking one side of the book.  Old
+Grandchamp gravely advanced his tawny face and his gray hair to the foot
+of the bed to listen.  His master read, stopped at the first phrase, but
+with a smile, perhaps slightly forced, he went on to the end.
+
+"I.  Now it was in the city of Milan that they appeared.
+
+"II.  The high-priest said to them, 'Bow down and adore the gods.'
+
+"III.  And the people were silent, looking at their faces, which appeared
+as the faces of angels.
+
+"IV.  But Gervais, taking the hand of Protais, cried, looking to heaven,
+and filled with the Holy Ghost:
+
+"V.  Oh, my brother!  I see the Son of man smiling upon us; let me die
+first.
+
+"VI.  For if I see thy blood, I fear I shall shed tears unworthy of the
+Lord our God.
+
+"VII.  Then Protais answered him in these words:
+
+"VIII.  My brother, it is just that I should perish after thee, for I am
+older, and have more strength to see thee suffer.
+
+"IX.  But the senators and people ground their teeth at them.
+
+"X.  And the soldiers having struck them, their heads fell together on
+the same stone.
+
+"XI.  Now it was in this same place that the blessed Saint Ambroise found
+the ashes of the two martyrs which gave sight to the blind."
+
+"Well," said Cinq-Mars, looking at his friend when he had finished, "what
+do you say to that?"
+
+"God's will be done! but we should not scrutinize it."
+
+"Nor put off our designs for a child's play," said D'Effiat impatiently,
+and wrapping himself in a cloak which was thrown over him.  "Remember the
+lines we formerly so frequently quoted, 'Justum et tenacem Propositi
+viruna'; these iron words are stamped upon my brain.  Yes; let the
+universe crumble around me, its wreck shall carry me away still
+resolute."
+
+"Let us not compare the thoughts of man with those of Heaven; and let us
+be submissive," said De Thou, gravely.
+
+"Amen!"  said old Grandchamp, whose eyes had filled with tears, which he
+hastily brushed away.
+
+"What hast thou to do with it, old soldier?  Thou weepest," said his
+master.
+
+"Amen!"  said a voice, in a nasal tone, at the entrance of the tent.
+
+"Parbleu, Monsieur!  rather put that question to his Gray Eminence, who
+comes to visit you," answered the faithful servant, pointing to Joseph,
+who advanced with his arms crossed, making a salutation with a frowning
+air.
+
+"Ah, it will be he, then!"  murmured Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Perhaps I come inopportunely," said Joseph, soothingly.
+
+"Perhaps very opportunely," said Henri d'Effiat, smiling, with a glance
+at De Thou.  "What can bring you here, Father, at one o'clock in the
+morning?  It should be some good work."
+
+Joseph saw he was ill-received; and as he had always sundry reproaches to
+make himself with reference to all persons whom he addressed, and as many
+resources in his mind for getting out of the difficulty, he fancied that
+they had discovered the object of his visit, and felt that he should not
+select a moment of ill humor for preparing the way to friendship.
+Therefore, seating himself near the bed, he said, coldly:
+
+"I come, Monsieur, to speak to you on the part of the Cardinal-
+Generalissimo, of the two Spanish prisoners you have made; he desires to
+have information concerning them as soon as possible.  I am to see and
+question them.  But I did not suppose you were still awake; I merely
+wished to receive them from your people."
+
+After a forced interchange of politeness, they ordered into the tent the
+two prisoners, whom Cinq-Mars had almost forgotten.
+
+They appeared--the one, young and displaying an animated and rather wild
+countenance, was the soldier; the other, concealing his form under a
+brown cloak, and his gloomy features, which had something ambiguous in
+their expression, under his broad-brimmed hat, which he did not remove,
+was the officer.  He spoke first:
+
+"Why do you make me leave my straw and my sleep?  Is it to deliver me or
+hang me?"
+
+"Neither," said Joseph.
+
+"What have I to do with thee,  man with the long beard?  I did not see
+thee at the breach."
+
+It took some time after this amiable exordium to make the stranger
+understand the right a Capuchin had to interrogate him.
+
+"Well," he said, "what dost thou want?"
+
+"I would know your name and your country."
+
+"I shall not tell my name; and as for my country, I have the air of a
+Spaniard, but perhaps am not one, for a Spaniard never acknowledges his
+country."
+
+Father Joseph, turning toward the two friends, said: "Unless I deceive
+myself, I have heard his voice somewhere.  This man speaks French without
+an accent; but it seems he wishes to give us enigmas, as in the East."
+
+"The East?  that is it," said the prisoner.  "A Spaniard is a man from
+the East; he is a Catholic Turk; his blood either flags or boils; he is
+lazy or indefatigable; indolence makes him a slave, ardor a tyrant;
+immovable in his ignorance, ingenious in his superstition, he needs only
+a religious book and a tyrannical master; he obeys the law of the pyre;
+he commands by that of the poniard.  At night he falls asleep in his
+bloodthirsty misery, nurses fanaticism, and awakes to crime.  Who is this
+gentleman?  Is it the Spaniard or the Turk?  Guess!  Ah!  you seem to
+think that I have wit, because I light upon analogy."
+
+"Truly, gentlemen, you do me honor; and yet the idea may be carried much
+further, if desired.  If I pass to the physical order, for example, may I
+not say to you, This man has long and serious features, a black and
+almond-shaped eye, rugged brows, a sad and mobile mouth, tawny, meagre,
+and wrinkled cheeks; his head is shaved, and he covers it with a black
+handkerchief in the form of a turban; he passes the whole day lying or
+standing under a burning sun, without motion, without utterance, smoking
+a pipe that intoxicates him.  Is this a Turk or a Spaniard?  Are you
+satisfied, gentlemen?  Truly, it would seem so; you laugh, and at what do
+you laugh?  I, who have presented this idea to you--I have not laughed;
+see, my countenance is sad.  Ah!  perhaps it is because the gloomy
+prisoner has suddenly become a gossip, and talks rapidly.  That is
+nothing!  I might tell you other things, and render you some service, my
+worthy friends.
+
+"If I should relate anecdotes, for example; if I told you I knew a priest
+who ordered the death of some heretics before saying mass, and who,
+furious at being interrupted at the altar during the holy sacrifice,
+cried to those who asked for his orders, 'Kill them all!  kill them
+all!'--should you all laugh, gentlemen?  No, not all!  This gentleman
+here, for instance, would bite his lips and his beard.  Oh!  it is true
+he might answer that he did wisely, and that they were wrong to interrupt
+his unsullied prayer.  But if I added that he concealed himself for an
+hour behind the curtain of your tent, Monsieur de Cinq-Mars, to listen
+while you talked, and that he came to betray you, and not to get me, what
+would he say?  Now, gentlemen, are you satisfied?  May I retire after
+this display?"
+
+The prisoner had uttered this with the rapidity of a quack vending his
+wares, and in so loud a voice that Joseph was quite confounded.  He arose
+indignantly at last, and, addressing himself to Cinq-Mars, said:
+
+"How can you suffer a prisoner who should have been hanged to speak to
+you thus, Monsieur?"
+
+The Spaniard, without deigning to notice him any further, leaned toward
+D'Effiat, and whispered in his ear:
+
+"I can be of no further use to you; give me my liberty.  I might ere this
+have taken it; but I would not do so without your consent.  Give it me,
+or have me killed."
+
+"Go, if you will!"  said Cinq-Mars to him.  "I assure you I shall be very
+glad;" and he told his people to retire with the soldier, whom he wished
+to keep in his service.
+
+This was the affair of a moment.  No one remained any longer in the tent
+with the two friends, except the abashed Joseph and the Spaniard.  The
+latter, taking off his hat, showed a French but savage countenance.  He
+laughed, and seemed to respire more air into his broad chest.
+
+"Yes, I am a Frenchman," he said to Joseph.  "But I hate France, because
+she gave birth to my father, who is a monster, and to me, who have become
+one, and who once struck him.  I hate her inhabitants, because they have
+robbed me of my whole fortune at play, and because I have robbed them and
+killed them.  I have been two years in Spain in order to kill more
+Frenchmen; but now I hate Spain still more.  No one will know the reason
+why.  Adieu!  I must live henceforth without a nation; all men are my
+enemies.  Go on, Joseph, and you will soon be as good as I.  Yes, you
+have seen me once before," he continued, violently striking him in the
+breast and throwing him down.  "I am Jacques de Laubardemont, the son of
+your worthy friend."
+
+With these words, quickly leaving the tent, he disappeared like an
+apparition.  De Thou and the servants, who ran to the entrance, saw him,
+with two bounds, spring over a surprised and disarmed soldier, and run
+toward the mountains with the swiftness of a deer, despite various
+musket-shots.  Joseph took advantage of the disorder to slip away,
+stammering a few words of politeness, and left the two friends laughing
+at his adventure and his disappointment, as two schoolboys laugh at
+seeing the spectacles of their pedagogue fall off.  At last they prepared
+to seek a rest of which they both stood in need, and which they soon
+found-=the wounded man in his bed, and the young counsellor in his chair.
+
+As for the Capuchin, he walked toward his tent, meditating how he should
+turn all this so as to take the greatest possible revenge, when he met
+Laubardemont dragging the young mad-woman by her two hands.  They
+recounted to each other their mutual and horrible adventures.
+
+Joseph had no small pleasure in turning the poniard in the wound of his
+friend's heart, by telling him of the fate of his son.
+
+"You are not exactly happy in your domestic relations," he added.  "I
+advise you to shut up your niece and hang your son, if you are fortunate
+enough to find him."
+
+Laubardemont replied with a hideous laugh:
+
+"As for this idiot here, I am going to give her to an ex-secret judge, at
+present a smuggler in the Pyrenees at Oleron.  He can do what he pleases
+with her--make her a servant in his posada, for instance.  I care not, so
+that my lord never hears of her."
+
+Jeanne de Belfiel, her head hanging down, gave no sign of sensibility.
+Every glimmer of reason was extinguished in her; one word alone remained
+upon her lips, and this she continually pronounced.
+
+"The judge!  the judge!  the judge!"  she murmured, and was silent.
+
+Her uncle and Joseph threw her, almost like a sack of corn, on one of the
+horses which were led up by two servants.  Laubardemont mounted another,
+and prepared to leave the camp, wishing to get into the mountains before
+day.
+
+"A good journey to you!"  he said to Joseph.  "Execute your business well
+in Paris.  I commend to you Orestes and Pylades."
+
+"A good journey to you!"  answered the other.  "I commend to you
+Cassandra and OEdipus."
+
+"Oh!  he has neither killed his father nor married his mother."
+
+"But he is on the high-road to those little pleasantries."
+
+"Adieu, my reverend Father!"
+
+"Adieu, my venerable friend!"
+
+Then each added aloud, but in suppressed tones:
+
+"Adieu, assassin of the gray robe!  During thy absence I shall have the
+ear of the Cardinal."
+
+"Adieu, villain in the red robe!  Go thyself and destroy thy cursed
+family.  Finish shedding that portion of thy blood that is in others'
+veins.  That share which remains in thee, I will take charge of.  Ha!
+a well-employed night!"
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Ambition is the saddest of all hopes
+Assume with others the mien they wore toward him
+Men are weak, and there are things which women must accomplish
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, v3
+by Alfred de Vigny
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CINQ MARS
+
+By ALFRED DE VIGNY
+
+
+
+BOOK 4.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE RIOT
+
+              "Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies,
+               In motion of no less celerity
+               Than that of thought,"
+
+exclaims the immortal Shakespeare in the chorus of one of his tragedies.
+
+              "Suppose that you have seen
+               The well-appointed king
+               Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet
+               With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning.
+               .  .  .  .  .  .
+               .  .  .  behold,
+               And follow."
+
+With this poetic movement he traverses time and space, and transports at
+will the attentive assembly to the theatre of his sublime scenes.
+
+We shall avail ourselves of the same privilege, though without the same
+genius.  No more than he shall we seat ourselves upon the tripod of the
+unities, but merely casting our eyes upon Paris and the old dark palace
+of the Louvre, we will at once pass over the space of two hundred leagues
+and the period of two years.
+
+Two years!  what changes may they not have upon men, upon their families,
+and, above all, in that great and so troublous family of nations, whose
+long alliances a single day suffices to destroy, whose wars are ended by
+a birth, whose peace is broken by a death!  We ourselves have beheld
+kings returning to their dwelling on a spring day; that same day a vessel
+sailed for a voyage of two years.  The navigator returned.  The kings
+were seated upon their thrones; nothing seemed to have taken place in his
+absence, and yet God had deprived those kings of a hundred days of their
+reign.
+
+But nothing was changed for France in 1642, the epoch to which we turn,
+except her fears and her hopes.  The future alone had changed its aspect.
+Before again beholding our personages, we must contemplate at large the
+state of the kingdom.
+
+The powerful unity of the monarchy was rendered still more imposing by
+the misfortunes of the neighboring States.  The revolutions in England,
+and those in Spain and Portugal, rendered the peace which France enjoyed
+still more admired.  Strafford and Olivares, overthrown or defeated,
+aggrandized the immovable Richelieu.
+
+Six formidable armies, reposing upon their triumphant weapons, served as
+a rampart to the kingdom.  Those of the north, in league with Sweden, had
+put the Imperialists to flight, still pursued by the spirit of Gustavus
+Adolphus, those on the frontiers of Italy had in Piedmont received the
+keys of the towns which had been defended by Prince Thomas; and those
+which strengthened the chain of the Pyrenees held in check revolted
+Catalonia, and chafed before Perpignan, which they were not allowed to
+take.  The interior was not happy, but tranquil.  An invisible genius
+seemed to have maintained this calm, for the King, mortally sick,
+languished at St. Germain with a young favorite; and the Cardinal was,
+they said, dying at Narbonne.  Some deaths, however, betrayed that he yet
+lived; and at intervals, men falling as if struck by a poisonous blast
+recalled to mind the invisible power.
+
+St.-Preuil, one of Richelieu's enemies, had just laid his "iron head"
+upon the scaffold without shame or fear, as he himself said on mounting
+it.
+
+Meantime, France seemed to govern herself, for the prince and the
+minister had been separated a long time; and of these two sick men, who
+hated each other, one never had held the reins of State, the other no
+longer showed his power--he was no longer named in the public acts; he
+appeared no longer in the government, and seemed effaced everywhere; he
+slept, like the spider surrounded by his webs.
+
+If some events and some revolutions had taken place during these two
+years, it must have been in hearts; it must have been some of those
+occult changes from which, in monarchies without firm foundation,
+terrible overthrows and long and bloody dissensions arise.
+
+To enlighten ourselves, let us glance at the old black building of the
+unfinished Louvre, and listen to the conversation of those who inhabited
+it and those who surrounded it.
+
+It was the month of December; a rigorous winter had afflicted Paris,
+where the misery and inquietude of the people were extreme.  However,
+curiosity was still alive, and they were eager for the spectacles given
+by the court.  Their poverty weighed less heavily upon them while they
+contemplated the agitations of the rich.  Their tears were less bitter on
+beholding the struggles of power; and the blood of the nobles which
+reddened their streets, and seemed the only blood worthy of being shed,
+made them bless their own obscurity.  Already had tumultuous scenes and
+conspicuous assassinations proved the monarch's weakness, the absence and
+approaching end of the minister, and, as a kind of prologue to the bloody
+comedy of the Fronde, sharpened the malice and even fired the passions of
+the Parisians.  This confusion was not displeasing to them.  Indifferent
+to the causes of the quarrels which were abstruse for them, they were not
+so with regard to individuals, and already began to regard the party
+chiefs with affection or hatred, not on account of the interest which
+they supposed them to take in the welfare of their class, but simply
+because as actors they pleased or displeased.
+
+One night, especially, pistol and gun-shots had been heard frequently in
+the city; the numerous patrols of the Swiss and the body-guards had even
+been attacked, and had met with some barricades in the tortuous streets
+of the Ile Notre-Dame; carts chained to the posts, and laden with
+barrels, prevented the cavaliers from advancing, and some musket-shots
+had wounded several men and horses.  However, the town still slept,
+except the quarter which surrounded the Louvre, which was at this time
+inhabited by the Queen and M. le Duc d'Orleans.  There everything
+announced a nocturnal expedition of a very serious nature.
+
+It was two o'clock in the morning.  It was freezing, and the darkness was
+intense, when a numerous assemblage stopped upon the quay, which was then
+hardly paved, and slowly and by degrees occupied the sandy ground that
+sloped down to the Seine.  This troop was composed of about two hundred
+men; they were wrapped in large cloaks, raised by the long Spanish swords
+which they wore.  Walking to and fro without preserving any order, they
+seemed to wait for events rather than to seek them.  Many seated
+themselves, with their arms folded, upon the loose stones of the newly
+begun parapet; they preserved perfect silence.  However, after a few
+minutes passed in this manner, a man, who appeared to come out of one of
+the vaulted doors of the Louvre, approached slowly, holding a dark-
+lantern, the light from which he turned upon the features of each
+individual, and which he blew out after finding the man he sought among
+them.  He spoke to him in a whisper, taking him by the hand:
+
+"Well, Olivier, what did Monsieur le Grand say to you?
+
+     [The master of the horse, Cinq-Mars, was thus named by abbreviation.
+     This name will often occur in the course of the recital.]
+
+Does all go well?"
+
+"Yes, I saw him yesterday at Saint-Germain.  The old cat is very ill at
+Narbonne; he is going 'ad patres'.  But we must manage our affairs
+shrewdly, for it is not the first time that he has played the torpid.
+Have you people enough for this evening, my dear Fontrailles?"
+
+"Be easy; Montresor is coming with a hundred of Monsieur's gentlemen.
+You will recognize him; he will be disguised as a master-mason, with a
+rule in his hand.  But, above all, do not forget the passwords.  Do you
+know them all well, you and your friends?"
+
+"Yes, all except the Abbe de Gondi, who has not yet arrived; but 'Dieu me
+pardonne', I think he is there himself!  Who the devil would have known
+him?"
+
+And here a little man without a cassock, dressed as a soldier of the
+French guards, and wearing a very black false moustache, slipped between
+them.  He danced about with a joyous air, and rubbed his hands.
+
+"Vive Dieu!  all goes on well, my friend.  Fiesco could not do better;"
+and rising upon his toes to tap Olivier upon the shoulder, he continued:
+
+"Do you know that for a man who has just quitted the rank of pages, you
+don't manage badly, Sire Olivier d'Entraigues?  and you will be among our
+illustrious men if we find a Plutarch.  All is well organized; you arrive
+at the very moment, neither too soon nor too late, like a true party
+chief.  Fontrailles, this young man will get on, I prophesy.  But we must
+make haste; in two hours we shall have some of the archbishops of Paris,
+my, uncle's parishioners.  I have instructed them well; and they will
+cry, 'Long live Monsieur!  Long live the Regency!  No more of the
+Cardinal!' like madmen.  They are good devotees, thanks to me, who have
+stirred them up.  The King is very ill.  Oh, all goes well, very well!
+I come from Saint-Germain.  I have seen our friend Cinq-Mars; he is good,
+very good, still firm as a rock.  Ah, that is what I call a man!  How he
+has played with them with his careless and melancholy air!  He is master
+of the court at present.  The King, they say, is going to make him duke
+and peer.  It is much talked of; but he still hesitates.  We must decide
+that by our movement this evening.  The will of the people!  He must do
+the will of the people; we will make him hear it.  It will be the death
+of Richelieu, you'll see.  It is, above all, hatred of him which is to
+predominate in the cries, for that is the essential thing.  That will at
+last decide our Gaston, who is still uncertain, is he not?"
+
+"And how can he be anything else?"  said Fontrailles.  "If he were to
+take a resolution to-day in our favor it would be unfortunate."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because we should be sure that to-morrow morning he would be against
+us."
+
+"Never mind," replied the Abbe; "the Queen is firm."
+
+"And she has heart also," said Olivier; "that gives me some hope for
+Cinq-Mars, who, it seems to me, has sometimes dared to frown when he
+looked at her."
+
+"Child that you are, how little do you yet know of the court!  Nothing
+can sustain him but the hand of the King, who loves him as a son; and as
+for the Queen, if her heart beats, it is for the past and not for the
+future.  But these trifles are not to the purpose.  Tell me, dear friend,
+are you sure of your young Advocate whom I see roaming about there?  Is
+he all right?"
+
+"Perfectly; he is an excellent Royalist.  He would throw the Cardinal
+into the river in an instant.  Besides, it is Fournier of Loudun; that is
+saying everything."
+
+"Well, well, this is the kind of men we like.  But take care of
+yourselves, Messieurs; some one comes from the Rue Saint-Honore."
+
+"Who goes there?"  cried the foremost of the troop to some men who were
+advancing.  "Royalists or Cardinalists?"
+
+"Gaston and Le Grand," replied the newcomers, in low tones.
+
+"It is Montresor and Monsieur's people," said Fontrailles.  "We may soon
+begin."
+
+"Yes, 'par la corbleu'!"  said the newcomer, "for the Cardinalists will
+pass at three o'clock.  Some one told us so just now."
+
+"Where are they going?"  said Fontrailles.
+
+"There are more than two hundred of them to escort Monsieur de Chavigny,
+who is going to see the old cat at Narbonne, they say.  They thought it
+safer to pass by the Louvre."
+
+"Well, we will give him a velvet paw!"  said the Abbe.
+
+As he finished saying this, a noise of carriages and horses was heard.
+Several men in cloaks rolled an enormous stone into the middle of the
+street.  The foremost cavaliers passed rapidly through the crowd, pistols
+in hand, suspecting that something unusual was going on; but the
+postilion, who drove the horses of the first carriage, ran upon the stone
+and fell.
+
+"Whose carriage is this which thus crushes foot-passengers?"  cried the
+cloakmen, all at once.  "It is tyrannical.  It can be no other than a
+friend of the Cardinal de la Rochelle."
+
+     [During the long siege of La Rochelle, this name was given to
+     Cardinal Richelieu, to ridicule his obstinacy in commanding as
+     General-in-Chief, and claiming for himself the merit of taking that
+     town.]
+
+"It is one who fears not the friends of the little Le Grand," exclaimed a
+voice from the open door, from which a man threw himself upon a horse.
+
+"Drive these Cardinalists into the river!"  cried a shrill, piercing
+voice.
+
+This was a signal for the pistol-shots which were furiously exchanged on
+every side, and which lighted up this tumultuous and sombre scene.  The
+clashing of swords and trampling of horses did not prevent the cries from
+being heard on one side: "Down with the minister!  Long live the King!
+Long live Monsieur and Monsieur le Grand!  Down with the red-stockings!"
+On the other: "Long live his Eminence!  Long live the great Cardinal!
+Death to the factious!  Long live the King!"  For the name of the King
+presided over every hatred, as over every affection, at this strange
+time.
+
+The men on foot had succeeded, however, in placing the two carriages
+across the quay so as to make a rampart against Chavigny's horses, and
+from this, between the wheels, through the doors and springs, overwhelmed
+them with pistol-shots, and dismounted many.  The tumult was frightful,
+but suddenly the gates of the Louvre were thrown open, and two squadrons
+of the body-guard came out at a trot.  Most of them carried torches in
+their hands to light themselves and those they were about to attack.  The
+scene changed.  As the guards reached each of the men on foot, the latter
+was seen to stop, remove his hat, make himself known, and name himself;
+and the guards withdrew, sometimes saluting him, and sometimes shaking
+him by the hand.  This succor to Chavigny's carriages was then almost
+useless, and only served to augment the confusion.  The body-guards, as
+if to satisfy their consciences, rushed through the throng of duellists,
+saying:
+
+"Gentlemen, gentlemen, be moderate!"
+
+But when two gentlemen had decidedly crossed swords, and were in active
+conflict, the guard who beheld them stopped to judge the fight, and
+sometimes even to favor the one who he thought was of his opinion, for
+this body, like all France, had their Royalists and their Cardinalists.
+
+The windows of the Louvre were lighted one after another, and many
+women's heads were seen behind the little lozenge-shaped panes,
+attentively watching the combat.
+
+Numerous Swiss patrols came out with flambeaux.
+
+These soldiers were easily distinguished by an odd uniform.  The right
+sleeve was striped blue and red, and the silk stocking of the right leg
+was red; the left side was striped with blue, red, and white, and the
+stocking was white and red.  It had, no doubt, been hoped in the royal
+chateau that this foreign troop would disperse the crowd, but they were
+mistaken.  These impassible soldiers coldly and exactly executed, without
+going beyond, the orders they had received, circulating symmetrically
+among the armed groups, which they divided for a moment, returning before
+the gate with perfect precision, and resuming their ranks as on parade,
+without informing themselves whether the enemies among whom they had
+passed had rejoined or not.
+
+But the noise, for a moment appeased, became general by reason of
+personal disputes.  In every direction challenges, insults, and
+imprecations were heard.  It seemed as if nothing but the destruction of
+one of the two parties could put an end to the combat, when loud cries,
+or rather frightful howls, raised the tumult to its highest pitch.  The
+Abbe de Gondi, dragging a cavalier by his cloak to pull him down,
+exclaimed:
+
+"Here are my people!  Fontrailles, now you will see something worth while!
+Look!  look already who they run!  It is really charming."
+
+And he abandoned his hold, and mounted upon a stone to contemplate the
+manoeuvres of his troops, crossing his arms with the importance of a
+General of an army.  Day was beginning to break, and from the end of the
+Ile St.-Louis a crowd of men, women, and children of the lowest dregs of
+the people was seen rapidly advancing, casting toward heaven and the
+Louvre strange vociferations.  Girls carried long swords; children
+dragged great halberds and pikes of the time of the League; old women in
+rags pulled by cords old carts full of rusty and broken arms; workmen of
+every trade, the greater number drunk, followed, armed with clubs, forks,
+lances, shovels, torches, stakes, crooks, levers, sabres, and spits.
+They sang and howled alternately, counterfeiting with atrocious yells the
+cries of a cat, and carrying as a flag one of these animals suspended
+from a pole and wrapped in a red rag, thus representing the Cardinal,
+whose taste for cats was generally known.  Public criers rushed about,
+red and breathless, throwing on the pavement and sticking up on the
+parapets, the posts, the walls of the houses, and even on the palace,
+long satires in short stanzas upon the personages of the time.  Butcher-
+boys and scullions, carrying large cutlasses, beat the charge upon
+saucepans, and dragged in the mud a newly slaughtered pig, with the red
+cap of a chorister on its head.  Young and vigorous men, dressed as
+women, and painted with a coarse vermilion, were yelling, "We are mothers
+of families ruined by Richelieu!  Death to the Cardinal!"  They carried
+in their arms figures of straw that looked like children, which they
+threw into the river.
+
+When this disgusting mob overran the quays with its thousands of imps, it
+produced a strange effect upon the combatants, and entirely contrary to
+that expected by their patron.  The enemies on both sides lowered their
+arms and separated.  Those of Monsieur and Cinq-Mars were revolted at
+seeing themselves succored by such auxiliaries, and, themselves aiding
+the Cardinal's gentlemen to remount their horses and to gain their
+carriages, and their valets to convey the wounded to them, gave their
+adversaries personal rendezvous to terminate their quarrel upon a ground
+more secret and more worthy of them.  Ashamed of the superiority of
+numbers and the ignoble troops which they seemed to command, foreseeing,
+perhaps, for the first time the fearful consequences of their political
+machinations, and what was the scum they were stirring up, they withdrew,
+drawing their large hats over their eyes, throwing their cloaks over
+their shoulders, and avoiding the daylight.
+
+"You have spoiled all, my dear Abbe, with this mob," said Fontrailles,
+stamping his foot, to Gondi, who was already sufficiently nonplussed;
+"your good uncle has fine parishioners!"
+
+"It is not my fault," replied Gondi, in a sullen tone; "these idiots came
+an hour too late.  Had they arrived in the night, they would not have
+been seen, which spoils the effect somewhat, to speak the truth (for I
+grant that daylight is detrimental to them), and we would only have heard
+the voice of the people 'Vox populi, vox Dei'.  Nevertheless, no great
+harm has been done.  They will by their numbers give us the means of
+escaping without being known, and, after all, our task is ended; we did
+not wish the death of the sinner.  Chavigny and his men are worthy
+fellows, whom I love; if he is only slightly wounded, so much the better.
+Adieu; I am going to see Monsieur de Bouillon, who has arrived from
+Italy."
+
+"Olivier," said Fontrailles, "go at once to Saint-Germain with Fournier
+and Ambrosio; I will go and give an account to Monsieur, with Montresor."
+
+All separated, and disgust accomplished, with these highborn men, what
+force could not bring about.
+
+Thus ended this fray, likely to bring forth great misfortunes.  No one
+was killed in it.  The cavaliers, having gained a few scratches and lost
+a few purses, resumed their route by the side of the carriages along the
+by-streets; the others escaped, one by one, through the populace they had
+attracted.  The miserable wretches who composed it, deprived of the chief
+of the troops, still remained two hours, yelling and screaming until the
+effect of their wine was gone, and the cold had extinguished at once the
+fire of their blood and that of their enthusiasm.  At the windows of the
+houses, on the quay of the city, and along the walls, the thoughtful and
+genuine people of Paris watched with a sorrowful air and in mournful
+silence these preludes of disorder; while the various bodies of
+merchants, dressed in black and preceded by their provosts, walked slowly
+and courageously through the populace toward the Palais de justice, where
+the parliament was to assemble, to make complaint of these terrible
+nocturnal scenes.
+
+The apartments of Gaston d'Orleans were in great confusion.  This Prince
+occupied the wing of the Louvre parallel with the Tuileries; and his
+windows looked into the court on one side, and on the other over a mass
+of little houses and narrow streets which almost entirely covered the
+place.  He had risen precipitately, awakened suddenly by the report of
+the firearms, had thrust his feet into large square-toed slippers with
+high heels, and, wrapped in a large silk dressing-gown, covered with
+golden ornaments embroidered in relief, walked to and fro in his bedroom,
+sending every minute a fresh lackey to see what was going on, and
+ordering them immediately to go for the Abbe de la Riviere, his general
+counsellor; but he was unfortunately out of Paris.  At every pistol-shot
+this timid Prince rushed to the windows, without seeing anything but some
+flambeaux, which were carried quickly along.  It was in vain he was told
+that the cries he heard were in his favor; he did not cease to walk up
+and down the apartments, in the greatest disorder-his long black hair
+dishevelled, and his blue eyes open and enlarged by disquiet and terror.
+He was still thus when Montresor and Fontrailles at length arrived and
+found him beating his breast, and repeating a thousand times, "Mea culpa,
+mea culpa!"
+
+"You have come at last!"  he exclaimed from a distance, running to meet
+them.  "Come! quick!  What is going on?  What are they doing there?  Who
+are these assassins?  What are these cries?"
+
+"They cry, 'Long live Monsieur!'"
+
+Gaston, without appearing to hear, and holding the door of his chamber
+open for an instant, that his voice might reach the galleries in which
+were the people of his household, continued to cry with all his strength,
+gesticulating violently:
+
+"I know nothing of all this, and I have authorized nothing.  I will not
+hear anything!  I will not know anything!  I will never enter into any
+project!  These are rioters who make all this noise; do not speak to me
+of them, if you wish to be well received here.  I am the enemy of no man;
+I detest such scenes!"
+
+Fontrailles, who knew the man with whom he had to deal, said nothing, but
+entered with his friend, that Monsieur might have time to discharge his
+first fury; and when all was said, and the door carefully shut, he began
+to speak:
+
+"Monseigneur," said he, "we come to ask you a thousand pardons for the
+impertinence of these people, who will persist in crying out that they
+desire the death of your enemy, and that they would even wish to make you
+regent should we have the misfortune to lose his Majesty.  Yes, the
+people are always frank in their discourse; but they are so numerous that
+all our efforts could not restrain them.  It was truly a cry from the
+heart--an explosion of love, which reason could not restrain, and which
+escaped all bounds."
+
+"But what has happened, then?"  interrupted Gaston, somewhat calmed.
+"What have they been doing these four hours that I have heard them?"
+
+"That love," said Montresor, coldly, "as Monsieur de Fontrailles had the
+honor of telling you, so escaped all rule and bounds that we ourselves
+were carried away by it, and felt seized with that enthusiasm which
+always transports us at the mere name of Monsieur, and which leads us on
+to things which we had not premeditated."
+
+"But what, then, have you done?"  said the Prince.
+
+"Those things," replied Fontrailles, "of which Monsieur de Montresor had
+the honor to speak to Monsieur are precisely those which I foresaw here
+yesterday evening, when I had the honor of conversing with you."
+
+"That is not the question," interrupted Gaston.  "You cannot say that I
+have ordered or authorized anything.  I meddle with nothing; I know
+nothing of government."
+
+"I admit," continued Fontrailles, "that your Highness ordered nothing,
+but you permitted me to tell you that I foresaw that this night would be
+a troubled one about two o'clock, and I hoped that your astonishment
+would not have been too great."
+
+The Prince, recovering himself little by little, and seeing that he did
+not alarm the two champions, having also upon his conscience and reading
+in their eyes the recollection of the consent which he had given them the
+evening before, sat down upon the side of his bed, crossed his arms, and,
+looking at them with the air of a judge, again said in a commanding tone:
+
+"But what, then, have you done?"
+
+"Why, hardly anything, Monseigneur," said Fontrailles.  "Chance led us to
+meet in the crowd some of our friends who had a quarrel with Monsieur de
+Chavigny's coachman, who was driving over them. A few hot words ensued
+and rough gestures, and a few scratches, which kept Monsieur de Chavigny
+waiting, and that is all."
+
+"Absolutely all," repeated Montresor.
+
+"What, all?"  exclaimed Gaston, much moved, and tramping about the
+chamber.  "And is it, then, nothing to stop the carriage of a friend of
+the Cardinal-Duke?  I do not like such scenes.  I have already told you
+so.  I do not hate the Cardinal; he is certainly a great politician, a
+very great politician.  You have compromised me horribly; it is known
+that Montresor is with me.  If he has been recognized, they will say that
+I sent him."
+
+"Chance," said Montresor, "threw in my way this peasant's dress, which
+Monsieur may see under my cloak, and which, for that reason, I preferred
+to any other."
+
+Gaston breathed again.
+
+"You are sure, then, that you have not been recognized.  You understand,
+my dear friend, how painful it would be to me.  You must admit
+yourself--"
+
+"Sure of it!"  exclaimed the Prince's gentleman.  "I would stake my head
+and my share in Paradise that no one has seen my features or called my by
+my name."
+
+"Well," continued Gaston, again seating himself on his bed, and assuming
+a calmer air, in which even a slight satisfaction was visible, "tell me,
+then, what has happened."
+
+Fontrailles took upon himself the recital, in which, as we may suppose,
+the populace played a great part and Monsieur's people none, and in his
+peroration he said:
+
+"From our windows even, Monseigneur, respectable mothers of families
+might have been seen, driven by despair, throwing their children into the
+Seine, cursing Richelieu."
+
+"Ah, it is dreadful!"  exclaimed the Prince, indignant, or feigning to be
+so, and to believe in these excesses.  "Is it, then, true that he is so
+generally detested?  But we must allow that he deserves it.  What!  his
+ambition and avarice have, then, reduced to this extremity the good
+inhabitants of Paris, whom I love so much."
+
+"Yes, Monseigneur," replied the orator.  "And it is not Paris alone, it
+is all France, which, with us, entreats you to decide upon delivering her
+from this tyrant.  All is ready; nothing is wanting but a sign from your
+august head to annihilate this pygmy, who has attempted to assault the
+royal house itself."
+
+"Alas!  Heaven is my witness that I myself forgive him!"  answered
+Gaston, raising up his eyes.  "But I can no longer bear the cries of the
+people.  Yes, I will help them; that is to say," continued the Prince,
+"so that my dignity is not compromised, and that my name does not appear
+in the matter."
+
+"Well, but it is precisely that which we want," exclaimed Fontrailles, a
+little more at his ease.
+
+"See, Monseigneur, there are already some names to put after yours, who
+will not fear to sign.  I will tell you them immediately, if you wish
+it."
+
+"But--but," said the Duc d'Orleans, timidly, "do you know that it is a
+conspiracy which you propose to me so coolly?"
+
+"Fie, Monseigneur, men of honor like us! a conspiracy!  Oh! not at all;
+a league at the utmost, a slight combination to give a direction to the
+unanimous wish of the nation and the court--that is all."
+
+"But that is not so clear, for, after all, this affair will be neither
+general nor public; therefore, it is a conspiracy.  You will not avow
+that you are concerned in it."
+
+"I, Monseigneur!  Excuse me to all the world, since the kingdom is
+already in it, and I am of the kingdom.  And who would not sign his name
+after that of Messieurs de Bouillon and Cinq-Mars?"
+
+"After, perhaps, not before," said Gaston, fixing his eyes upon
+Fontrailles more keenly than he had expected.
+
+The latter hesitated a moment.
+
+"Well, then, what would Monseigneur do should I tell him the names after
+which he could sign his?"
+
+"Ha! ha! this is amusing," answered the Prince, laughing; "know you not
+that above mine there are not many?  I see but one."
+
+"And if there be one, will Monseigneur promise to sign that of Gaston
+beneath it?"
+
+"Ah, parbleu!  with all my heart.  I risk nothing there, for I see none
+but that of the King, who surely is not of the party."
+
+"Well, from this moment permit us," said Montresor, "to take you at your
+word, and deign at present to consent to two things only: to see Monsieur
+de Bouillon in the Queen's apartments, and Monsieur the master of the
+horse at the King's palace."
+
+"Agreed!"  said Monsieur, gayly, tapping Montresor on the shoulder.
+"I will to-day wait on my sister-in-law at her toilette, and I will
+invite my brother to hunt the stag with me at Chambord."
+
+The two friends asked nothing further, and were themselves surprised at
+their work.  They never had seen so much resolution in their chief.
+Accordingly, fearing to lead him to a topic which might divert him from
+the path he had adopted, they hastened to turn the conversation upon
+other subjects, and retired in delight, leaving as their last words in
+his ear that they relied upon his keeping his promise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE ALCOVE
+
+While a prince was thus reassured with difficulty by those who surrounded
+him, and allowed them to see a terror which might have proved contagious,
+a princess more exposed to accidents, more isolated by the indifference
+of her husband, weaker by nature and by the timidity which is the result
+of the absence of happiness, on her side set the example of the calmest
+courage and the most pious resignation, and tranquillized her terrified
+suite; this was the Queen.  Having slept hardly an hour, she heard shrill
+cries behind the doors and the thick tapestries of her chamber.  She
+ordered her women to open the door, and the Duchesse de Chevreuse, in her
+night attire, and wrapped in a great cloak, fell, nearly fainting, at the
+foot of her bed, followed by four of her ladies-in-waiting and three of
+the women of the bed-chamber.  Her delicate feet were bare, and bleeding
+from a wound she had received in running.
+
+She cried, weeping like a child, that a pistol-shot had broken her
+shutters and her window-panes, and had wounded her; she entreated the
+Queen to send her into exile, where she would be more tranquil than in a
+country where they wished to assassinate her because she was the friend
+of her Majesty.
+
+Her hair was in great disorder, and fell to her feet.  It was her chief
+beauty; and the young Queen thought that this toilette was less the
+result of chance than might have been imagined.
+
+"Well, my dear, what has happened?"  she said to her with sang-froid.
+"You look like a Magdalen, but in her youth, and before she repented.
+It is probable that if they wish to harm any one here it is I; calm
+yourself."
+
+"No, Madame! save me, protect me! it is Richelieu who pursues me, I am
+sure!"
+
+The sound of pistols, which was then heard more distinctly, convinced the
+Queen that the terrors of Madame de Chevreuse were not vain.
+
+"Come and dress me, Madame de Motteville!" cried she.  But that lady had
+completely lost her self-possession, and, opening one of those immense
+ebony coffers which then answered the purpose of wardrobes, took from it
+a casket of the Princess's diamonds to save it, and did not listen to
+her.  The other women had seen on a window the reflection of torches,
+and, imagining that the palace was on fire, threw jewels, laces, golden
+vases, and even the china, into sheets which they intended to lower into
+the street.  At this moment Madame de Guemenee arrived, a little more
+dressed than the Duchesse de Chevreuse, but taking events still more
+tragically.  Her terror inspired the Queen with a slight degree of fear,
+because of the ceremonious and placid character she was known to possess.
+She entered without curtseying, pale as a spectre, and said with
+volubility:
+
+"Madame, it is time to make our confession.  The Louvre is attacked, and
+all the populace are arriving from the city, I have been told."
+
+Terror silenced and rendered motionless all the persons present.
+
+"We shall die!"  exclaimed the Duchesse de Chevreuse, still on her knees.
+"Ah, my God!  why did I leave England?  Yes, let us confess.  I confess
+aloud.  I have loved--I have been loved by--"
+
+"Well," said the Queen, "I do not undertake to hear your confession to
+the end.  That would not perhaps be the least of my dangers, of which,
+however, you think little."
+
+The coolness of Anne of Austria, and this last severe observation,
+however, restored a little calm to this beautiful personage, who rose in
+confusion, and perceiving the disordered state of her toilet, went to
+repair it as she best could in a closet near by.
+
+"Dona Stefania," said the Queen to one of her women, the only Spaniard
+whom she had retained, "go seek the captain of the guards.  It is time
+that I should see men at last, and hear something reasonable."
+
+She said this in Spanish, and the mystery of this order, spoken in a
+tongue which the ladies did not understand, restored those in the chamber
+to their senses.
+
+The waiting-woman was telling her beads, but she rose from the corner of
+the alcove in which she had sought refuge, and hastened to obey her
+mistress.
+
+The signs of revolt and the evidences of terror became meantime more
+distinct.  In the great court of the Louvre was heard the trampling of
+the horses of the guards, the orders of the chiefs, the rolling of the
+Queen's carriages, which were being prepared, should it be necessary to
+fly.  The rattling of the iron chains dragged along the pavement to form
+barricades in case of an attack, hurried steps in the corridor, the clash
+of arms, the confused cries of the people, which rose and fell, went and
+came again, like the noise of the waves and the winds.  The door once
+more opened, and this time it was to admit a very charming person.
+
+"I expected you, dear Marie," said the Queen, extending her arms to the
+Duchesse de Mantua.  "You have been more courageous than any of us; you
+are attired fit to be seen by all the court."
+
+"I was not in bed, fortunately," replied the young Princesse de Gonzaga,
+casting down her eyes.  "I saw all these people from the windows.
+O Madame, Madame, fly!  I implore you to escape by the secret stairway,
+and let us remain in your place.  They might take one of us for the
+Queen."  And she added, with tears, "I have heard cries of death.
+Fly, Madame!  I have no throne to lose.  You are the daughter, the wife,
+and the mother of kings.  Save yourself, and leave us here!"
+
+"You have more to lose than I, 'm'amaie', in beauty, youth, and, I hope,
+in happiness," said the Queen, with a gracious smile, giving the Duchess
+her beautiful hands to kiss.  "Remain in my alcove and welcome; but we
+will both remain there.  The only service I accept from you, my sweet
+child, is to bring to my bed that little golden casket which my poor
+Motteville has left on the ground, and which contains all that I hold
+most precious."
+
+Then, as she took it, she whispered in Marie's ear:
+
+"Should any misfortune happen to me, swear that you will throw it into
+the Seine."
+
+"I will obey you, Madame, as my benefactress and my second mother," Marie
+answered, weeping.
+
+The sound of the conflict redoubled on the quays, and the windows
+reflected the flash of the firearms, of which they heard the explosion.
+The captain of the guards and the captain of the Swiss sent for orders
+from the Queen through Dona Stefania.
+
+"I permit them to enter," said the Queen.  "Stand aside, ladies.  I am a
+man in a moment like this; and I ought to be so."  Then, raising the bed-
+curtains, she continued, addressing the two officers:
+
+"Gentlemen, first remember that you answer with your heads for the life
+of the princes, my children.  You know that, Monsieur de Guitaut?"
+
+"I sleep across their doorway, Madame; but this disturbance does not
+threaten either them or your Majesty."
+
+"Very well; do not think of me until after them," interrupted the Queen,
+"and protect indiscriminately all who are threatened.  You also hear me,
+Monsieur de Bassompierre; you are a gentleman.  Forget that your uncle is
+yet in the Bastille, and do your duty by the grandsons of the dead King,
+his friend."
+
+He was a young man, with a frank, open countenance.
+
+"Your Majesty," said he, with a slight German accent, "may see that I
+have forgotten my family, and not yours."  And he displayed his left hand
+despoiled of two fingers, which had just been cut off.  "I have still
+another hand," said he, bowing and withdrawing with Guitaut.
+
+The Queen, much moved, rose immediately, and, despite the prayers of the
+Princesse de Guemenee, the tears of Marie de Gonzaga, and the cries of
+Madame de Chevreuse, insisted upon placing herself at the window, and
+half opened it, leaning upon the shoulder of the Duchesse de Mantua.
+
+"What do I hear?"  she said.  "They are crying, 'Long live the King!
+Long live the Queen!'"
+
+The people, imagining they recognized her, redoubled their cries at this
+moment, and shouted louder than ever, "Down with the Cardinal!  Long live
+Monsieur le Grand!"
+
+Marie shuddered.
+
+"What is the matter with you?"  said the Queen, observing her.  But as
+she did not answer, and trembled in every limb, this good and gentle
+Princess appeared not to perceive it; and, paying the greatest attention
+to the cries and movements of the populace, she even exaggerated an
+inquietude which she had not felt since the first name had reached her
+ear.  An hour later, when they came to tell her that the crowd only
+awaited a sign from her hand to withdraw, she waved it graciously, and
+with an air of satisfaction.  But this joy was far from being complete,
+for her heart was still troubled by many things, and, above all, by the
+presentiment of the regency.  The more she leaned forward to show
+herself, the more she beheld the revolting scenes which the increasing
+light revealed.  Terror took possession of her soul as it became
+necessary to appear calm and confiding; and her heart was saddened at the
+very gayety of her words and countenance.  Exposed to all eyes, she felt
+herself a mere woman, and shuddered in looking at that people whom she
+would soon perhaps be called upon to govern, and who already took upon
+themselves to demand the death of ministers, and to call upon their Queen
+to appear before them.
+
+She saluted them.
+
+A hundred and fifty years later that salute was repeated by another
+princess, like herself of Austrian blood, and Queen of France.  The
+monarchy without foundation, such as Richelieu made it, was born and
+died between these two salutes.
+
+The Princess at last closed her windows, and hastened to dismiss her
+timid suite.  The thick curtains fell again over the barred windows; and
+the room was no longer lighted by a day which was odious to her.  Large
+white wax flambeaux burned in candelabra, in the form of golden arms,
+which stand out from the framed and flowered tapestries with which the
+walls were hung.  She remained alone with Marie de Mantua; and reentering
+with her the enclosure which was formed by the royal balustrade, she fell
+upon her bed, fatigued by her courage and her smiles, and burst into
+tears, leaning her head upon her pillow.  Marie, on her knees upon a
+velvet footstool, held one of her hands in both hers, and without daring
+to speak first, leaned her head tremblingly upon it; for until that
+moment, tears never had been seen in the Queen's eyes.
+
+They remained thus for some minutes.  The Princess, then raising herself
+up by a painful effort, spoke:
+
+"Do not afflict yourself, my child; let me weep.  It is such a relief to
+one who reigns!  If you pray to God for me, ask Him to grant me
+sufficient strength not to hate the enemy who pursues me everywhere,
+and who will destroy the royal family of France and the monarchy by his
+boundless ambition.  I recognize him in all that has taken place; I see
+him in this tumultuous revolt."
+
+"What, Madame! is he not at Narbonne?--for it is the Cardinal of whom you
+speak, no doubt; and have you not heard that these cries were for you,
+and against him?"
+
+"Yes, 'm'amie', he is three hundred leagues away from us, but his fatal
+genius keeps guard at the door.  If these cries have been heard, it is
+because he has allowed them; if these men were assembled, it is because
+they have not yet reached the hour which he has destined for their
+destruction.  Believe me, I know him; and I have dearly paid for the
+knowledge of that dark soul.  It has cost me all the power of my rank,
+the pleasures of my age, the affection of my family and even the heart
+of my husband.  He has isolated me from the whole world.  He now confines
+me within a barrier of honors and respect; and formerly he dared, to the
+scandal of all France, to bring an accusation against myself.  They
+examined my papers, they interrogated me, they made me sign myself
+guilty, and ask the King's pardon for a fault of which I was ignorant;
+and I owed to the devotion, and the perhaps eternal imprisonment of a
+faithful servant,
+
+     [His name was Laporte.  Neither the fear of torture nor the hope of
+     the Cardinal's reward could draw from him one word of the Queen's
+     secrets.]
+
+the preservation of this casket which you have saved for me.  I read in
+your looks that you think me too fearful; but do not deceive yourself, as
+all the court now does.  Be sure, my dear child, that this man is
+everywhere, and that he knows even our thoughts."
+
+"What, Madame!  does he know all that these men have cried under your
+windows, and the names of those who sent them?"
+
+"Yes; no doubt he knows it, or has foreseen it.  He permits it; he
+authorizes it, to compromise me in the King's eyes, and keep him forever
+separated from me.  He would complete my humiliation."
+
+"But the King has not loved him for two years; he loves another."
+
+The Queen smiled; she gazed some time in silence upon the pure and open
+features of the beautiful Marie, and her look, full of candor, which was
+languidly raised toward her.  She smoothed back the black curls which
+shaded her noble forehead, and seemed to rest her eyes and her soul in
+looking at the charming innocence displayed upon so lovely a face.  She
+kissed her cheek, and resumed:
+
+"You do not suspect, my poor child, a sad truth.  It is that the King
+loves no one, and that those who appear the most in favor will be the
+soonest abandoned by him, and thrown to him who engulfs and devours all."
+
+"Ah, mon Dieu!  what is this you tell me?"
+
+"Do you know how many he has destroyed?"  continued the Queen, in a low
+voice, and looking into her eyes as if to read in them all her thoughts,
+and to make her own penetrate there.  "Do you know the end of his
+favorites?  Have you been told of the exile of Baradas; of that of Saint-
+Simon; of the convent of Mademoiselle de la Fayette, the shame of Madame
+d'Hautfort, the death of Chalais?  All have fallen before an order from
+Richelieu to his master.  Without this favor, which you mistake for
+friendship, their lives would have been peaceful.  But this favor is
+mortal; it is a poison.  Look at this tapestry, which represents Semele.
+The favorites of Louis XIII resemble that woman; his attachment devours
+like this fire, which dazzles and consumes her."
+
+But the young Duchess was no longer in a condition to listen to the
+Queen.  She continued to fix her large, dark eyes upon her, dimmed by a
+veil of tears; her hands trembled in those of Anne of Austria, and her
+lips quivered with convulsive agitation.
+
+"I am very cruel, am I not, Marie?"  continued the Queen, in an extremely
+sweet voice, and caressing her like a child from whom one would draw an
+avowal.  "Oh, yes; no doubt I am very wicked!  Your heart is full; you
+can not bear it, my child.  Come, tell me; how do matters stand with you
+and Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?"
+
+At this word grief found a vent, and, still on her knees at the Queen's
+feet, Marie in her turn shed upon the bosom of the good Princess a deluge
+of tears, with childish sobs and so violent an agitation of her head and
+her beautiful shoulders that it seemed as if her heart would break.  The
+Queen waited a long time for the end of this first emotion, rocking her
+in her arms as if to appease her grief, frequently repeating, "My child,
+my child, do not afflict yourself thus!"
+
+"Ah, Madame!"  she exclaimed, "I have been guilty toward you; but I did
+not reckon upon that heart.  I have done wrong, and I shall perhaps be
+punished severely for it.  But, alas!  how shall I venture to confess to
+you, Madame?  It was not so much to open my heart to you that was
+difficult; it was to avow to you that I had need to read there myself."
+
+The Queen reflected a moment, laying her finger upon her lips.  "You are
+right," she then replied; "you are quite right.  Marie, it is always the
+first word which is the most difficult to say; and that difficulty often
+destroys us.  But it must be so; and without this rule one would be often
+wanting in dignity.  Ah, how difficult it is to reign!  To-day I would
+descend into your heart, but I come too late to do you good."
+
+Marie de Mantua hung her head without making any reply.
+
+"Must I encourage you to speak?"  said the Queen.  "Must I remind you
+that I have almost adopted you for my eldest daughter?  that after
+seeking to unite you with the King's brother, I prepared for you the
+throne of Poland?  Must I do more, Marie?  Yes, I must, I will.  If
+afterward you do not open your whole heart to me, I have misjudged you.
+Open this golden casket; here is the key.  Open it fearlessly; do not
+tremble as I do."
+
+The Duchesse de Mantua obeyed with hesitation, and beheld in this little
+chased coffer a knife of rude form, the handle of which was of iron, and
+the blade very rusty.  It lay upon some letters carefully folded, upon
+which was the name of Buckingham.  She would have lifted them; Anne of
+Austria stopped her.
+
+"Seek nothing further," she said; "that is all the treasure of the Queen.
+And it is a treasure; for it is the blood of a man who lives no longer,
+but who lived for me.  He was the most beautiful, the bravest, the most
+illustrious of the nobles of Europe.  He covered himself with the
+diamonds of the English crown to please me.  He raised up a fierce war
+and armed fleets, which he himself commanded, that he might have the
+happiness of once fighting him who was my husband.  He traversed the seas
+to gather a flower upon which I had trodden, and ran the risk of death to
+kiss and bathe with his tears the foot of this bed in the presence of two
+of my ladies-in-waiting.  Shall I say more?  Yes, I will say it to you--
+I loved him!  I love him still in the past more than I could love him in
+the present.  He never knew it, never divined it.  This face, these eyes,
+were marble toward him, while my heart burned and was breaking with
+grief; but I was the Queen of France!"  Here Anne of Austria forcibly
+grasped Marie's arm.  "Dare now to complain," she continued, "if you have
+not yet ventured to speak to me of your love, and dare now to be silent
+when I have told you these things!"
+
+"Ah, yes, Madame, I shall dare to confide my grief to you, since you are
+to me--"
+
+"A friend, a woman!"  interrupted the Queen.  "I was a woman in my
+terror, which put you in possession of a secret unknown to the whole
+world.  I am a woman by a love which survives the man I loved.  Speak;
+tell me!  It is now time."
+
+"It is too late, on the contrary," replied Marie, with a forced smile.
+"Monsieur de Cinq-Mars and I are united forever."
+
+"Forever!"  exclaimed the Queen.  "Can you mean it?  And your rank, your
+name, your future--is all lost?  Do you reserve this despair for your
+brother, the Duc de Bethel, and all the Gonzagas?"
+
+"For more than four years I have thought of it.  I am resolved; and for
+ten days we have been affianced."
+
+"Affianced!"  exclaimed the Queen, clasping her hands.  "You have been
+deceived, Marie.  Who would have dared this without the King's order?
+It is an intrigue which I will know.  I am sure that you have been misled
+and deceived."
+
+Marie hesitated a moment, and then said:
+
+"Nothing is more simple, Madame, than our attachment.  I inhabited, you
+know, the old chateau of Chaumont, with the Marechale d'Effiat, the
+mother of Monsieur de Cinq-Mars.  I had retired there to mourn the death
+of my father; and it soon happened that Monsieur de Cinq-Mars had to
+deplore the loss of his.  In this numerous afflicted family, I saw his
+grief only, which was as profound as mine.  All that he said, I had
+already thought, and when we spoke of our afflictions we found them
+wholly alike.  As I had been the first to suffer, I was better acquainted
+with sorrow than he; and I endeavored to console him by telling him all
+that I had suffered, so that in pitying me he forgot himself.  This was
+the beginning of our love, which, as you see, had its birth, as it were,
+between two tombs."
+
+"God grant, my sweet, that it may have a happy termination!"  said the
+Queen.
+
+"I hope so, Madame, since you pray for me," continued Marie.  "Besides,
+everything now smiles upon me; but at that time I was very miserable.
+The news arrived one day at the chateau that the Cardinal had called
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars to the army.  It seemed to me that I was again
+deprived of one of my relatives; and yet we were strangers.  But Monsieur
+de Bassompierre spoke without ceasing of battles and death.  I retired
+every evening in grief, and I wept during the night.  I thought at first
+that my tears flowed for the past, but I soon perceived that it was for
+the future; and I felt that they could not be the same tears, since I
+wished to conceal them.  Some time passed in the expectation of his
+departure.  I saw him every day; and I pitied him for having to depart,
+because he repeated to me every instant that he would have wished to live
+eternally as he then did, in his own country and with us.  He was thus
+without ambition until the day of his departure, because he knew not
+whether he was--whether he was--I dare not say it to your Majesty--"
+
+Marie blushed, cast down her humid eyes, and smiled.
+
+"Well!"  said the Queen, "whether he was beloved,--is it not so?"
+
+"And in the evening, Madame, he left, ambitious."
+
+"That is evident, certainly.  He left," said Anne of Austria, somewhat
+relieved; "but he has been back two years, and you have seen him?"
+
+"Seldom, Madame," said the young Duchess, proudly; "and always in the
+presence of the priest, before whom I have promised to be the wife of no
+other than Cinq-Mars."
+
+"Is it really, then, a marriage?  Have you dared to do it?  I shall
+inquire.  But, Heaven, what faults!  how many faults in the few words I
+have heard!  Let me reflect upon them."
+
+And, speaking aloud to herself, the Queen continued, her eyes and head
+bent in the attitude of reflection:
+
+"Reproaches are useless and cruel if the evil is done.  The past is no
+longer ours; let us think of the future.  Cinq-Mars is brave, able, and
+even profound in his ideas.  I have observed that he has done much in two
+years, and I now see that it was for Marie.  He comports himself well;
+he is worthy of her in my eyes, but not so in the eyes of Europe.  He
+must rise yet higher.  The Princesse de Mantua can not, may not, marry
+less than a prince.  He must become one.  By myself I can do nothing;
+I am not the Queen, I am the neglected wife of the King.  There is only
+the Cardinal, the eternal Cardinal, and he is his enemy; and perhaps this
+disturbance--"
+
+"Alas!  it is the beginning of war between them.  I saw it at once."
+
+"He is lost then!"  exclaimed the Queen, embracing Marie.  "Pardon me,
+my child, for thus afflicting you; but in times like these we must see
+all and say all.  Yes, he is lost if he does not himself overthrow this
+wicked man--for the King will not renounce him; force alone--"
+
+"He will overthrow him, Madame.  He will do it, if you will assist him.
+You are the divinity of France.  Oh, I conjure you, protect the angel
+against the demon!  It is your cause, that of your royal family, that of
+all your nation."
+
+The Queen smiled.
+
+"It is, above all, your cause, my child; and it is as such that I will
+embrace it to the utmost extent of my power.  That is not great, as I
+have told you; but such as it is, I lend it to you entirely, provided,
+however, that this angel does not stoop to commit mortal sins," added
+she, with a meaning look."  I heard his name pronounced this night by
+voices most unworthy of him."
+
+"Oh, Madame, I would swear that he knows nothing of it!"
+
+"Ah, my child, do not speak of State affairs.  You are not yet learned
+enough in them.  Let me sleep, if I can, before the hour of my toilette.
+My eyes are burning, and yours also, perhaps."
+
+Saying these words, the amiable Queen laid her head upon the pillow which
+covered the casket, and soon Marie saw her fall asleep through sheer
+fatigue.  She then rose, and, seating herself in a great, tapestried,
+square armchair, clasped her hands upon her knees, and began to reflect
+upon her painful situation.  Consoled by the aspect of her gentle
+protectress, she often raised her eyes to watch her slumber, and sent her
+in secret all the blessings which love showers upon those who protect it,
+sometimes kissing the curls of her blond hair, as if by this kiss she
+could convey to her soul all the ideas favorable to the thought ever
+present to her mind.
+
+The Queen's slumber was prolonged, while Marie thought and wept.
+However, she remembered that at ten o'clock she must appear at the royal
+toilette before all the court.  She resolved to cast aside reflection,
+to dry her tears, and she took a thick folio volume placed upon a table
+inlaid with enamel and medallions; it was the 'Astree' of M. d'Urfe--
+a work 'de belle galanterie' adored by the fair prudes of the court.
+The unsophisticated and straightforward mind of Marie could not enter
+into these pastoral loves.  She was too simple to understand the
+'bergeres du Lignon', too clever to be pleased at their discourse, and
+too impassioned to feel their tenderness.  However, the great popularity
+of the romance so far influenced her that she sought to compel herself to
+take an interest in it; and, accusing herself internally every time that
+she felt the ennui which exhaled from the pages of the book, she ran
+through it with impatience to find something to please and transport her.
+An engraving arrested her attention.  It represented the shepherdess
+Astree with high-heeled shoes, a corset, and an immense farthingale,
+standing on tiptoe to watch floating down the river the tender Celadon,
+drowning himself in despair at having, been somewhat coldly received in
+the morning.  Without explaining to herself the reason of the taste and
+accumulated fallacies of this picture, she sought, in turning over the
+pages, something which could fix her attention; she saw the word "Druid."
+
+"Ah!  here is a great character," said she.  "I shall no doubt read of
+one of those mysterious sacrificers of whom Britain, I am told, still
+preserves the monuments; but I shall see him sacrificing men.  That would
+be a spectacle of horror; however, let us read it."
+
+Saying this, Marie read with repugnance, knitting her brows, and nearly
+trembling, the following:
+
+     "The Druid Adamas delicately called the shepherds Pimandre,
+     Ligdamont, and Clidamant, newly arrived from Calais.  'This
+     adventure can not terminate,' said he, 'but by the extremity of
+     love.  The soul, when it loves, transforms itself into the object
+     beloved; it is to represent this that my agreeable enchantments will
+     show you in this fountain the nymph Sylvia, whom you all three love.
+     The high-priest Amasis is about to come from Montbrison, and will
+     explain to you the delicacy of this idea.  Go, then, gentle
+     shepherds!  If your desires are well regulated, they will not cause
+     you any torments; and if they are not so, you will be punished by
+     swoonings similar to those of Celadon, and the shepherdess Galatea,
+     whom the inconstant Hercules abandoned in the mountains of Auvergne,
+     and who gave her name to the tender country of the Gauls; or you
+     will be stoned by the shepherdesses of Lignon, as was the ferocious
+     Amidor.  The great nymph of this cave has made an enchantment.'"
+
+The enchantment of the great nymph was complete on the Princess, who had
+hardly sufficient strength to find out with a trembling hand, toward the
+end of the book, that the Druid Adamas was an ingenious allegory,
+representing the Lieutenant-General of Montbrison, of the family of the
+Papons.  Her weary eyes closed, and the great book slipped from her lap
+to the cushion of velvet upon which her feet were placed, and where the
+beautiful Astree and the gallant Celadon reposed luxuriously, less
+immovable than Marie de Mantua, vanquished by them and by profound
+slumber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE CONFUSION
+
+This same morning, the various events of which we have seen in the
+apartments of Gaston d'Orleans and of the Queen, the calm and silence of
+study reigned in a modest cabinet of a large house near the Palais de
+justice.  A bronze lamp, of a gothic shape, struggling with the coming
+day, threw its red light upon a mass of papers and books which covered a
+large table; it lighted the bust of L'Hopital, that of Montaigne the
+essayist, the President de Thou, and of King Louis XIII.
+
+A fireplace sufficiently large for a man to enter and sit there was
+occupied by a large fire burning upon enormous andirons.  Upon one of
+these was placed the foot of the studious De Thou, who, already risen,
+examined with attention the new works of Descartes and Grotius.  He was
+writing upon his knee his notes upon these books of philosophy and
+politics, which were then the general subjects of conversation; but at
+this moment the 'Meditations Metaphysiques' absorbed all his attention.
+The philosopher of Touraine enchanted the young counsellor.  Often, in
+his enthusiasm, he struck the book, uttering exclamations of admiration;
+sometimes he took a sphere placed near him, and, turning it with his
+fingers, abandoned himself to the most profound reveries of science;
+then, led by them to a still greater elevation of mind, he would suddenly
+throw himself upon his knees before a crucifix, placed upon the chimney-
+piece, because at the limits of the human mind he had found God.  At
+other times he buried himself in his great armchair, so as to be nearly
+sitting upon his shoulders, and, placing his two hands upon his eyes,
+followed in his head the trace of the reasoning of Rene Descartes, from
+this idea of the first meditation:
+
+     "Suppose that we are asleep, and that all these particularities--
+     that is, that we open our eyes, move our heads, spread our arms--are
+     nothing but false illusions."
+
+to this sublime conclusion of the third:
+
+     "Only one thing remains to be said; it is that like the idea of
+     myself, that of God is born and produced with me from the time I was
+     created.  And certainly it should not be thought strange that God,
+     in creating me, should have implanted in me this idea, to be, as it
+     were, the mark of the workman impressed upon his work."
+
+These thoughts entirely occupied the mind of the young counsellor, when a
+loud noise was heard under the windows.  He thought that some house on
+fire excited these prolonged cries, and hastened to look toward the wing
+of the building occupied by his mother and sisters; but all appeared to
+sleep there, and the chimneys did not even send forth any smoke, to
+attest that its inhabitants were even awake.  He blessed Heaven for it;
+and, running to another window, he saw the people, whose exploits we have
+witnessed, hastening toward the narrow streets which led to the quay.
+
+After examining this rabble of women and children, the ridiculous flag
+which led them, and the rude disguises of the men: "It is some popular
+fete or some carnival comedy," said he; and again returning to the corner
+of the fire, he placed a large almanac upon the table, and carefully
+sought in it what saint was honored that day.  He looked in the column of
+the month of December; and, finding at the fourth day of this month the
+name of Ste.-Barbe, he remembered that he had seen several small cannons
+and barrels pass, and, perfectly satisfied with the explanation which he
+had given himself, he hastened to drive away the interruption which had
+called off his attention, and resumed his quiet studies, rising only to
+take a book from the shelves of his library, and, after reading in it a
+phrase, a line, or only a word, he threw it from him upon his table or on
+the floor, covered in this way with books or papers which he would not
+trouble himself to return to their places, lest he should break the
+thread of his reveries.
+
+Suddenly the door was hastily opened, and a name was announced which he
+had distinguished among those at the bar--a man whom his connections with
+the magistracy had made personally known to him.
+
+"And by what chance, at five o'clock in the morning, do I see Monsieur
+Fournier?"  he cried.  "Are there some unfortunates to defend, some
+families to be supported by the fruits of his talent, some error to
+dissipate in us, some virtue to awaken in our hearts?  for these are of
+his accustomed works.  You come, perhaps, to inform me of some fresh
+humiliation of our parliament.  Alas!  the secret chambers of the Arsenal
+are more powerful than the ancient magistracy of Clovis.  The parliament
+is on its knees; all is lost, unless it is soon filled with men like
+yourself."
+
+"Monsieur, I do not merit your praise," said the Advocate, entering,
+accompanied by a grave and aged man, enveloped like himself in a large
+cloak.  "I deserve, on the contrary, your censure; and I am almost a
+penitent, as is Monsieur le Comte du Lude, whom you see here.  We come to
+ask an asylum for the day."
+
+"An asylum!  and against whom?"  said De Thou, making them sit down.
+
+"Against the lowest people in Paris, who wish to have us for chiefs, and
+from whom we fly.  It is odious; the sight, the smell, the ear, and the
+touch, above all, are too severely wounded by it," said M. du Lude, with
+a comical gravity.  "It is too much!"
+
+"Ah!  too much, you say?"  said De Thou, very much astonished, but not
+willing to show it.
+
+"Yes," answered the Advocate; "really, between ourselves, Monsieur le
+Grand goes too far."
+
+"Yes, he pushes things too fast.  He will render all our projects
+abortive," added his companion.
+
+"Ah! and you say he goes too far?"  replied M. de Thou, rubbing his chin,
+more and more surprised.
+
+Three months had passed since his friend Cinq-Mars had been to see him;
+and he, without feeling much disquieted about it--knowing that he was at
+St.-Germain in high favor, and never quitting the King--was far removed
+from the news of the court.  Absorbed in his grave studies, he never
+heard of public events till they were forced upon his attention.  He knew
+nothing of current life until the last moment, and often amused his
+intimate friends by his naive astonishment--the more so that from a
+little worldly vanity he desired to have it appear as if he were fully
+acquainted with the course of events, and tried to conceal the surprise
+he experienced at every fresh intelligence.  He was now in this
+situation, and to this vanity was added the feeling of friendship; he
+would not have it supposed that Cinq-Mars had been negligent toward him,
+and, for his friend's honor even, would appear to be aware of his
+projects.
+
+"You know very well how we stand now," continued the Advocate.
+
+"Yes, of course.  Well?"
+
+"Intimate as you are with him, you can not be ignorant that all has been
+organizing for a year past."
+
+"Certainly, all has been organizing; but proceed."
+
+"You will admit with us that Monsieur le Grand is wrong?"
+
+"Ah, that is as it may be; but explain yourself.  I shall see."
+
+"Well, you know upon what we had agreed at the last conference of which
+he informed you?"
+
+"Ah!  that is to say--pardon me, I perceive it almost; but set me a
+little upon the track."
+
+"It is useless; you no doubt remember what he himself recommended us to
+do at Marion de Lorme's?"
+
+"To add no one to our list," said M. du Lude.
+
+"Ah, yes, yes!  I understand," said De Thou; "that appears reasonable,
+very reasonable, truly."
+
+"Well," continued Fournier, "he himself has infringed this agreement; for
+this morning, besides the ragamuffins whom that ferret the Abbe de Gondi
+brought to us, there was some vagabond captain, who during the night
+struck with sword and poniard gentlemen of both parties, crying out at
+the top of his voice, 'A moi, D'Aubijoux!  You gained three thousand
+ducats from me; here are three sword-thrusts for you.  'A moi', La
+Chapelle!  I will have ten drops of your blood in exchange for my ten
+pistoles!' and I myself saw him attack these gentlemen and many more of
+both sides, loyally enough, it is true--for he struck them only in front
+and on their guard--but with great success, and with a most revolting
+impartiality."
+
+"Yes, Monsieur, and I was about to tell him my opinion," interposed De
+Lude, "when I saw him escape through the crowd like a squirrel, laughing
+greatly with some suspicious looking men with dark, swarthy faces; I do
+not doubt, however, that Monsieur de Cinq-Mars sent him, for he gave
+orders to that Ambrosio whom you must know--that Spanish prisoner, that
+rascal whom he has taken for a servant.  In faith, I am disgusted with
+all this; and I was not born to mingle with this canaille."
+
+"This, Monsieur," replied Fournier, "is very different from the affair at
+Loudun.  There the people only rose, without actually revolting; it was
+the sensible and estimable part of the populace, indignant at an
+assassination, and not heated by wine and money.  It was a cry raised
+against an executioner--a cry of which one could honorably be the organ
+--and not these howlings of factious hypocrisy, of a mass of unknown
+people, the dregs of the mud and sewers of Paris.  I confess that I am
+very tired of what I see; and I have come to entreat you to speak about
+it to Monsieur le Grand."
+
+De Thou was very much embarrassed during this conversation, and sought in
+vain to understand what Cinq-Mars could have to do with the people, who
+appeared to him merely merrymaking; on the other hand, he persisted in
+not owning his ignorance.  It was, however, complete; for the last time
+he had seen his friend, he had spoken only of the King's horses and
+stables, of hawking, and of the importance of the King's huntsmen in the
+affairs of the State, which did not seem to announce vast projects in
+which the people could take a part.  He at last timidly ventured to say:
+
+"Messieurs, I promise to do your commission; meanwhile, I offer you my
+table and beds as long as you please.  But to give my advice in this
+matter is very difficult.  By the way, it was not the fete of Sainte-
+Barbe I saw this morning?"
+
+"The Sainte-Barbe!"  said Fournier.
+
+"The Sainte-Barbe!"  echoed Du Lude.  "They burned powder."
+
+"Oh, yes, yes!  that is what Monsieur de Thou means," said Fournier,
+laughing; "very good, very good indeed!  Yes, I think to-day is Sainte-
+Barbe."
+
+De Thou was now altogether confused and reduced to silence; as for the
+others, seeing that they did not understand him, nor he them, they had
+recourse to silence.
+
+They were sitting thus mute, when the door opened to admit the old tutor
+of Cinq-Mars, the Abbe Quillet, who entered, limping slightly.  He looked
+very gloomy, retaining none of his former gayety in his air or language;
+but his look was still animated, and his speech energetic.
+
+"Pardon me, my dear De Thou, that I so early disturb you in your
+occupations; it is strange, is it not, in a gouty invalid?  Ah, time
+advances; two years ago I did not limp.  I was, on the contrary, nimble
+enough at the time of my journey to Italy; but then fear gives legs as
+well as wings."
+
+Then, retiring into the recess of a window, he signed De Thou to come to
+him.
+
+"I need hardly remind you, my friend, who are in their secrets, that I
+affianced them a fortnight ago, as they have told you."
+
+"Ah, indeed!  Whom?"  exclaimed poor De Thou, fallen from the Charybdis
+into the Scylla of astonishment.
+
+"Come, come, don't affect surprise; you know very well whom," continued
+the Abbe.  "But, faith, I fear I have been too complaisant with them,
+though these two children are really interesting in their love.  I fear
+for him more than for her; I doubt not he is acting very foolishly,
+judging from the disturbance this morning.  We must consult together
+about it."
+
+"But," said De Thou, very gravely, "upon my honor, I do not know what you
+mean.  Who is acting foolishly?"
+
+"Now, my dear Monsieur, will you still play the mysterious with me?  It
+is really insulting," said the worthy man, beginning to be angry.
+
+"No, indeed, I mean it not; whom have you affianced?"
+
+"Again! fie, Monsieur!"
+
+"And what was the disturbance this morning?"
+
+"You are laughing at me!  I take my leave," said the Abbe, rising.
+
+"I vow that I understand not a word of all that has been told me to-day.
+Do you mean Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?"
+
+"Very well, Monsieur, very well!  you treat me as a Cardinalist; very
+well, we part," said the Abbe Quillet, now altogether furious.  And he
+snatched up his crutch and quitted the room hastily, without listening to
+De Thou, who followed him to his carriage, seeking to pacify him, but
+without effect, because he did not wish to name his friend upon the
+stairs in the hearing of his servants, and could not explain the matter
+otherwise.  He had the annoyance of seeing the old Abbe depart, still in
+a passion; he called out to him amicably, "Tomorrow," as the coachman
+drove off, but got no answer.
+
+It was, however, not uselessly that he had descended to the foot of the
+stairs, for he saw thence hideous groups of the mob returning from the
+Louvre, and was thus better able to judge of the importance of their
+movements in the morning; he heard rude voices exclaiming, as in triumph:
+
+"She showed herself, however, the little Queen!"  "Long live the good Duc
+de Bouillon, who is coming to us!  He has a hundred thousand men with
+him, all on rafts on the Seine.  The old Cardinal de la Rochelle is dead!
+Long live the King!  Long live Monsieur le Grand!"
+
+The cries redoubled at the arrival of a carriage and four, with the royal
+livery, which stopped at the counsellor's door, and in which De Thou
+recognized the equipage of Cinq-Mars; Ambrosio alighted to open the ample
+curtains, which the carriages of that period had for doors.  The people
+threw themselves between the carriage-steps and the door of the house, so
+that Cinq-Mars had an absolute struggle ere he could get out and
+disengage himself from the market-women, who sought to embrace him,
+crying:
+
+"Here you are, then, my sweet, my dear!  Here you are, my pet!  Ah, how
+handsome he is, the love, with his big collar!  Isn't he worth more than
+the other fellow with the white moustache?  Come, my son, bring us out
+some good wine this morning."
+
+Henri d'Effiat pressed, blushing deeply the while, his friend's hand,--
+who hastened to have his doors closed.
+
+"This popular favor is a cup one must drink," said he, as they ascended
+the stairs.
+
+"It appears to me," replied De Thou, gravely, "that you drink it even to
+the very dregs."
+
+"I will explain all this clamorous affair to you," answered Cinq-Mars,
+somewhat embarrassed.  "At present, if you love me, dress yourself to
+accompany me to the Queen's toilette."
+
+"I promised you blind adherence," said the counsellor; "but truly I can
+not keep my eyes shut much longer if--"
+
+"Once again, I will give you a full explanation as we return from the
+Queen.  But make haste; it is nearly ten o'clock."
+
+"Well, I will go with you," replied De Thou, conducting him into his
+cabinet, where were the Comte du Lude and Fournier, while he himself
+passed into his dressing-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+TOILETTE
+
+
+The carriage of the Grand Equerry was rolling rapidly toward the Louvre,
+when, closing the curtain, he took his friend's hand, and said to him
+with emotion:
+
+"Dear De Thou, I have kept great secrets in my heart, and, believe me,
+they have weighed heavily there; but two fears impelled me to silence--
+that of your danger, and--shall I say it?--that of your counsels."
+
+"Yet well you know," replied De Thou, "that I despise the first; and I
+deemed that you did not despise the second."
+
+"No, but I feared, and still fear them.  I would not be stopped.  Do not
+speak, my friend; not a word, I conjure you, before you have heard and
+seen all that is about to take place.  I will return with you to your
+house on quitting the Louvre; there I will listen to you, and thence I
+shall depart to continue my work, for nothing will shake my resolve, I
+warn you.  I have just said so to the gentlemen at your house."
+
+In his accent Cinq-Mars had nothing of the brusqueness which clothed his
+words.  His voice was conciliatory, his look gentle, amiable,
+affectionate, his air as tranquil as it was determined.  There was no
+indication of the slightest effort at control.  De Thou remarked it, and
+sighed.
+
+Alighting from the carriage with him, De Thou followed him up the great
+staircase of the Louvre.  When they entered the Queen's apartment,
+announced by two ushers dressed in black and bearing ebony rods, she was
+seated at her toilette.  This was a table of black wood, inlaid with
+tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, and brass, in an infinity of designs of
+very bad taste, but which give to all furniture an air of grandeur which
+we still admire in it.  A mirror, rounded at the top, which the ladies of
+our time would consider small and insignificant, stood in the middle of
+the table, whereon were scattered jewels and necklaces.
+
+Anne of Austria, seated before it in a large armchair of crimson velvet,
+with long gold fringe, was as motionless and grave as on her throne,
+while Dona Stefania and Madame de Motteville, on either side, lightly
+touched her beautiful blond hair with a comb, as if finishing the Queen's
+coiffure, which, however, was already perfectly arranged and decorated
+with pearls.  Her long tresses, though light, were exquisitely glossy,
+manifesting that to the touch they must be fine and soft as silk.  The
+daylight fell without a shade upon her forehead, which had no reason to
+dread the test, itself reflecting an almost equal light from its
+surpassing fairness, which the Queen was pleased thus to display.  Her
+blue eyes, blended with green, were large and regular, and her vermilion
+mouth had that underlip of the princesses of Austria, somewhat prominent
+and slightly cleft, in the form of a cherry, which may still be marked in
+all the female portraits of this time, whose painters seemed to have
+aimed at imitating the Queen's mouth, in order to please the women of her
+suite, whose desire was, no doubt, to resemble her.
+
+The black dress then adopted by the court, and of which the form was even
+fixed by an edict, set off the ivory of her arms, bare to the elbow, and
+ornamented with a profusion of lace, which flowed from her loose sleeves.
+Large pearls hung in her ears and from her girdle.  Such was the
+appearance of the Queen at this moment.  At her feet, upon two velvet
+cushions, a boy of four years old was playing with a little cannon, which
+he was assiduously breaking in pieces.  This was the Dauphin, afterward
+Louis XIV.  The Duchesse Marie de Mantua was seated on her right hand
+upon a stool.  The Princesse de Guemenee, the Duchesse de Chevreuse, and
+Mademoiselle de Montbazon, Mesdemoiselles de Guise, de Rohan, and de
+Vendome, all beautiful and brilliant with youth, were behind her,
+standing.  In the recess of a window, Monsieur, his hat under his arm,
+was talking in a low voice with a man, stout, with a red face and a
+steady and daring eye.  This was the Duc de Bouillon.  An officer about
+twenty-five years of age, well-formed, and of agreeable presence, had
+just given several papers to the Prince, which the Duc de Bouillon
+appeared to be explaining to him.
+
+De Thou, after having saluted the Queen, who said a few words to him,
+approached the Princesse de Guemenee, and conversed with her in an
+undertone, with an air of affectionate intimacy, but all the while intent
+upon his friend's interest.  Secretly trembling lest he should have
+confided his destiny to a being less worthy of him than he wished, he
+examined the Princess Marie with the scrupulous attention, the
+scrutinizing eye of a mother examining the woman whom her son has
+selected for his bride--for he thought that Marie could not be altogether
+a stranger to the enterprise of Cinq-Mars.  He saw with dissatisfaction
+that her dress, which was extremely elegant, appeared to inspire her with
+more vanity than became her on such an occasion.  She was incessantly
+rearranging upon her forehead and her hair the rubies which ornamented
+her head, and which scarcely equalled the brilliancy and animated color
+of her complexion.  She looked frequently at Cinq-Mars; but it was rather
+the look of coquetry than that of love, and her eyes often glanced toward
+the mirror on the toilette, in which she watched the symmetry of her
+beauty.  These observations of the counsellor began to persuade him that
+he was mistaken in suspecting her to be the aim of Cinq-Mars, especially
+when he saw that she seemed to have a pleasure in sitting at the Queen's
+side, while the duchesses stood behind her, and that she often looked
+haughtily at them.
+
+"In that heart of nineteen," said he, "love, were there love, would reign
+alone and above all to-day.  It is not she!"
+
+The Queen made an almost imperceptible movement of the head to Madame de
+Guemenee.  After the two friends had spoken a moment with each person
+present, and at this sign, all the ladies, except Marie de Mantua, making
+profound courtesies, quitted the apartment without speaking, as if by
+previous arrangement.  The Queen, then herself turning her chair, said to
+Monsieur:
+
+"My brother, I beg you will come and sit down by me.  We will consult
+upon what I have already told you.  The Princesse Marie will not be in
+the way.  I begged her to remain.  We have no interruption to fear."
+
+The Queen seemed more at ease in her manner and language; and no longer
+preserving her severe and ceremonious immobility, she signed to the other
+persons present to approach her.
+
+Gaston d'Orleans, somewhat alarmed at this solemn opening, came
+carelessly, sat down on her right hand, and said with a half-smile and a
+negligent air, playing with his ruff and the chain of the Saint Esprit
+which hung from his neck:
+
+"I think, Madame, that we shall fatigue the ears of so young a personage
+by a long conference.  She would rather hear us speak of dances, and of
+marriage, of an elector, or of the King of Poland, for example."
+
+Marie assumed a disdainful air; Cinq-Mars frowned.
+
+"Pardon me," replied the Queen, looking at her; "I assure you the
+politics of the present time interest her much.  Do not seek to escape
+us, my brother," added she, smiling.  "I have you to-day!  It is the
+least we can do to listen to Monsieur de Bouillon."
+
+The latter approached, holding by the hand the young officer of whom we
+have spoken.
+
+"I must first," said he, "present to your Majesty the Baron de Beauvau,
+who has just arrived from Spain."
+
+"From Spain?"  said the Queen, with emotion.  "There is courage in that;
+you have seen my family?"
+
+"He will speak to you of them, and of the Count-Duke of Olivares.  As to
+courage, it is not the first time he has shown it.  He commanded the
+cuirassiers of the Comte de Soissons."
+
+"How?  so young, sir!  You must be fond of political wars."
+
+"On the contrary, your Majesty will pardon me," replied he, "for I served
+with the princes of the peace."
+
+Anne of Austria smiled at this jeu-de-mot.  The Duc de Bouillon, seizing
+the moment to bring forward the grand question he had in view, quitted
+Cinq-Mars, to whom he had just given his hand with an air of the most
+zealous friendship, and approaching the Queen with him, "It is
+miraculous, Madame," said he, "that this period still contains in its
+bosom some noble characters, such as these;" and he pointed to the master
+of the horse, to young Beauvau, and to De Thou.  "It is only in them that
+we can place our hope for the future.  Such men are indeed very rare now,
+for the great leveller has swung a long scythe over France."
+
+"Is it of Time you speak," said the Queen, "or of a real personage?"
+
+"Too real, too living, too long living, Madame!"  replied the Duke,
+becoming more animated; "but his measureless ambition, his colossal
+selfishness can no longer be endured.  All those who have noble hearts
+are indignant at this yoke; and at this moment, more than ever, we see
+misfortunes threatening us in the future.  It must be said, Madame--yes,
+it is no longer time to blind ourselves to the truth, or to conceal it--
+the King's illness is serious.  The moment for thinking and resolving has
+arrived, for the time to act is not far distant."
+
+The severe and abrupt tone of M. de Bouillon did not surprise Anne of
+Austria; but she had always seen him more calm, and was, therefore,
+somewhat alarmed by the disquietude he betrayed.  Quitting accordingly
+the tone of pleasantry which she had at first adopted, she said:
+
+"How!  what fear you, and what would you do?"
+
+"I fear nothing for myself, Madame, for the army of Italy or Sedan will
+always secure my safety; but I fear for you, and perhaps for the princes,
+your sons."
+
+"For my children, Monsieur le Duc, for the sons of France?  Do you hear
+him, my brother, and do you not appear astonished?"
+
+The Queen was deeply agitated.
+
+"No, Madame," said Gaston d'Orleans, calmly; "you know that I am
+accustomed to persecution.  I am prepared to expect anything from that
+man.  He is master; we must be resigned."
+
+"He master!"  exclaimed the Queen.  "And from whom does he derive his
+powers, if not from the King?  And after the King, what hand will sustain
+him?  Can you tell me?  Who will prevent him from again returning to
+nothing?  Will it be you or I?"
+
+"It will be himself," interrupted M. de Bouillon, "for he seeks to be
+named regent; and I know that at this moment he contemplates taking your
+children from you, and requiring the King to confide them to his care."
+
+"Take them from me!"  cried the mother, involuntarily seizing the
+Dauphin, and taking him in her arms.
+
+The child, standing between the Queen's knees, looked at the men who
+surrounded him with a gravity very singular for his age, and, seeing his
+mother in tears, placed his hand upon the little sword he wore.
+
+"Ah, Monseigneur," said the Duc de Bouillon, bending half down to address
+to him what he intended for the Princess, "it is not against us that you
+must draw your sword, but against him who is undermining your throne.
+He prepares an empire for you, no doubt.  You will have an absolute
+sceptre; but he has scattered the fasces which indicated it.  Those
+fasces were your ancient nobility, whom he has decimated.  When you are
+king, you will be a great king.  I foresee it; but you will have subjects
+only, and no friends, for friendship exists only in independence and a
+kind of equality which takes its rise in force.  Your ancestors had their
+peers; you will not have yours.  May God aid you then, Monseigneur, for
+man may not do it without institutions!  Be great; but above all, around
+you, a great man, let there be others as strong, so that if the one
+stumbles, the whole monarchy may not fall."
+
+The Duc de Bouillon had a warmth of expression and a confidence of manner
+which captivated those who heard him.  His valor, his keen perception in
+the field, the profundity of his political views, his knowledge of the
+affairs of Europe, his reflective and decided character, all rendered him
+one of the most capable and imposing men of his time-the only one,
+indeed, whom the Cardinal-Duc really feared.  The Queen always listened
+to him with confidence, and allowed him to acquire a sort of empire over
+her.  She was now more deeply moved than ever.
+
+"Ah, would to God," she exclaimed, "that my son's mind was ripe for your
+counsels, and his arm strong enough to profit by them!  Until that time,
+however, I will listen, I will act for him.  It is I who should be, and
+it is I who shall be, regent.  I will not resign this right save with
+life.  If we must make war, we will make it; for I will do everything but
+submit to the shame and terror of yielding up the future Louis XIV to
+this crowned subject.  Yes," she went on, coloring and closely pressing
+the young Dauphin's arm, "yes, my brother, and you gentlemen, counsel me!
+Speak!  how do we stand?  Must I depart?  Speak openly.  As a woman, as a
+wife, I could have wept over so mournful a position; but now see, as a
+mother, I do not weep.  I am ready to give you orders if it is
+necessary."
+
+Never had Anne of Austria looked so beautiful as at this moment; and the
+enthusiasm she manifested electrified all those present, who needed but a
+word from her mouth to speak.  The Duc de Bouillon cast a glance at
+Monsieur, which decided him.
+
+"Ma foi!"  said he, with deliberation, "if you give orders, my sister, I
+will be the captain of your guards, on my honor, for I too am weary of
+the vexations occasioned me by this knave.  He continues to persecute me,
+seeks to break off my marriage, and still keeps my friends in the
+Bastille, or has them assassinated from time to time; and besides, I am
+indignant," said he, recollecting himself and assuming a more solemn air,
+"I am indignant at the misery of the people."
+
+"My brother," returned the Princess, energetically, "I take you at your
+word, for with you, one must do so; and I hope that together we shall be
+strong enough for the purpose.  Do only as Monsieur le Comte de Soissons
+did, but survive your victory.  Side with me, as you did with Monsieur de
+Montmorency, but leap the ditch."
+
+Gaston felt the point of this.  He called to mind the well-known incident
+when the unfortunate rebel of Castelnaudary leaped almost alone a large
+ditch, and found on the other side seventeen wounds, a prison, and death
+in the sight of Monsieur, who remained motionless with his army.  In the
+rapidity of the Queen's enunciation he had not time to examine whether
+she had employed this expression proverbially or with a direct reference;
+but at all events, he decided not to notice it, and was indeed prevented
+from doing so by the Queen, who continued, looking at Cinq-Mars:
+
+"But, above all, no panic-terror!  Let us know exactly where we are,
+Monsieur le Grand.  You have just left the King.  Is there fear with
+you?"
+
+D'Effiat had not ceased to observe Marie de Mantua, whose expressive
+countenance exhibited to him all her ideas far more rapidly and more
+surely than words.  He read there the desire that he should speak--the
+desire that he should confirm the Prince and the Queen.  An impatient
+movement of her foot conveyed to him her will that the thing should be
+accomplished, the conspiracy arranged.  His face became pale and more
+pensive; he pondered for a moment, realizing that his destiny was
+contained in that hour.  De Thou looked at him and trembled, for he knew
+him well.  He would fain have said one word to him, only one word; but
+Cinq-Mars had already raised his head.  He spoke:
+
+"I do not think, Madame, that the King is so ill as you suppose.  God
+will long preserve to us this Prince.  I hope so; I am even sure of it.
+He suffers, it is true, suffers much; but it is his soul more peculiarly
+that is sick, and of an evil which nothing can cure--of an evil which one
+would not wish to one's greatest enemy, and which would gain him the pity
+of the whole world if it were known.  The end of his misery--that is to
+say, of his life--will not be granted him for a long time.  His languor
+is entirely moral.  There is in his heart a great revolution going on;
+he would accomplish it, and can not.
+
+"The King has felt for many long years growing within him the seeds of a
+just hatred against a man to whom he thinks he owes gratitude, and it is
+this internal combat between his natural goodness and his anger that
+devours him.  Every year that has passed has deposited at his feet,
+on one side, the great works of this man, and on the other, his crimes.
+It is the last which now weigh down the balance.  The King sees them and
+is indignant; he would punish, but all at once he stops and weeps.  If
+you could witness him thus, Madame, you would pity him.  I have seen him
+seize the pen which was to sign his exile, dip it into the ink with a
+bold hand, and use it--for what? --to congratulate him on some recent
+success.  He at once applauds himself for his goodness as a Christian,
+curses himself for his weakness as a sovereign judge, despises himself as
+a king.  He seeks refuge in prayer, and plunges into meditation upon the
+future; then he rises terrified because he has seen in thought the
+tortures which this man merits, and how deeply no one knows better than
+he.  You should hear him in these moments accuse himself of criminal
+weakness, and exclaim that he himself should be punished for not having
+known how to punish.  One would say that there are spirits which order
+him to strike, for his arms are raised as he sleeps.  In a word, Madame,
+the storm murmurs in his heart, but burns none but himself.  The
+thunderbolts are chained."
+
+"Well, then, let us loose them!"  exclaimed the Duc de Bouillon.
+
+"He who touches them may die of the contact," said Monsieur.
+
+"But what a noble devotion!"  cried the Queen.
+
+"How I should admire the hero!"  said Marie, in a half-whisper.
+
+"I will do it," answered Cinq-Mars.
+
+"We will do it," said M. de Thou, in his ear.
+
+Young Beauvau had approached the Duc de Bouillon.
+
+"Monsieur," said he, "do you forget what follows?"
+
+"No, 'pardieu'!  I do not forget it," replied the latter, in a low voice;
+then, addressing the Queen, "Madame," said he, "accept the offer of
+Monsieur le Grand.  He is more in a position to sway the King than either
+you or I; but hold yourself prepared, for the Cardinal is too wary to be
+caught sleeping.  I do not believe in his illness.  I have no faith in
+the silence and immobility of which he has sought to persuade us these
+two years past.  I would not believe in his death even, unless I had
+myself thrown his head into the sea, like that of the giant in Ariosto.
+Hold yourself ready to meet all contingencies, and let us, meanwhile,
+hasten our operations.  I have shown my plans to Monsieur just now; I
+will give you a summary of them.  I offer you Sedan, Madame, for
+yourself, and for Messeigneurs, your sons.  The army of Italy is mine; I
+will recall it if necessary.  Monsieur le Grand is master of half the
+camp of Perpignan.  All the old Huguenots of La Rochelle and the South
+are ready to come to him at the first nod.  All has been organized for a
+year past, by my care, to meet events."
+
+"I should not hesitate," said the Queen, "to place myself in your hands,
+to save my children, if any misfortune should happen to the King.  But in
+this general plan you forget Paris."
+
+"It is ours on every side; the people by the archbishop, without his
+suspecting it, and by Monsieur de Beaufort, who is its king; the troops
+by your guards and those of Monsieur, who shall be chief in command, if
+he please."
+
+"I!  I! oh, that positively can not be!  I have not enough people, and I
+must have a retreat stronger than Sedan," said Gaston.
+
+"It suffices for the Queen," replied M. de Bouillon.
+
+"Ah, that may be!  but my sister does not risk so much as a man who draws
+the sword.  Do you know that these are bold measures you propose?"
+
+"What, even if we have the King on our side?"  asked Anne of Austria.
+
+"Yes, Madame, yes; we do not know how long that may last.  We must make
+ourselves sure; and I do nothing without the treaty with Spain."
+
+"Do nothing, then," said the Queen, coloring deeply; "for certainly I
+will never hear that spoken of."
+
+"And yet, Madame, it were more prudent, and Monsieur is right," said the
+Duc de Bouillon; "for the Count-Duke of San Lucra offers us seventeen
+thousand men, tried troops, and five hundred thousand crowns in ready
+money."
+
+"What!"  exclaimed the Queen, with astonishment, "have you dared to
+proceed so far without my consent? already treaties with foreigners!"
+
+"Foreigners, my sister!  could we imagine that a princess of Spain would
+use that word?"  said Gaston.
+
+Anne of Austria rose, taking the Dauphin by the hand; and, leaning upon
+Marie: "Yes, sir," she said, "I am a Spaniard; but I am the grand-
+daughter of Charles V, and I know that a queen's country is where her
+throne is.  I leave you, gentlemen; proceed without me.  I know nothing
+of the matter for the future."
+
+She advanced some steps, but seeing Marie pale and bathed in tears, she
+returned.
+
+"I will, however, solemnly promise you inviolable secrecy; but nothing
+more."
+
+All were mentally disconcerted, except the Duc de Bouillon, who, not
+willing to lose the advantages he had gained, said to the Queen, bowing
+respectfully:
+
+"We are grateful for this promise, Madame, and we ask no more, persuaded
+that after the first success you will be entirely with us."
+
+Not wishing to engage in a war of words, the Queen courtesied somewhat
+less coldly, and quitted the apartment with Marie, who cast upon Cinq-
+Mars one of those looks which comprehend at once all the emotions of the
+soul.  He seemed to read in her beautiful eyes the eternal and mournful
+devotion of a woman who has given herself up forever; and he felt that if
+he had once thought of withdrawing from his enterprise, he should now
+have considered himself the basest of men.
+
+As soon as the two princesses had disappeared, "There, there!  I told you
+so, Bouillon, you offended the Queen," said Monsieur; "you went too far.
+You can not certainly accuse me of having been hesitating this morning.
+I have, on the contrary, shown more resolution than I ought to have
+done."
+
+"I am full of joy and gratitude toward her Majesty," said M. de Bouillon,
+with a triumphant air; "we are sure of the future.  What will you do now,
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars?"
+
+"I have told you, Monsieur; I draw not back, whatever the consequences.
+I will see the King; I will run every risk to obtain his assent."
+
+"And the treaty with Spain?"
+
+"Yes, I--"
+
+De Thou seized Cinq-Mars by the arm, and, advancing suddenly, said, with
+a solemn air:
+
+"We have decided that it shall be only signed after the interview with
+the King; for should his Majesty's just severity toward the Cardinal
+dispense with it, we have thought it better not to expose ourselves to
+the discovery of so dangerous a treaty."
+
+M. de Bouillon frowned.
+
+"If I did not know Monsieur de Thou," said he, "I should have regarded
+this as a defection; but from him--"
+
+"Monsieur," replied the counsellor, "I think I may engage myself, on my
+honor, to do all that Monsieur le Grand does; we are inseparable."
+
+Cinq-Mars looked at his friend, and was astonished to see upon his mild
+countenance the expression of sombre despair; he was so struck with it
+that he had not the courage to gainsay him.
+
+"He is right, gentlemen," he said with a cold but kindly smile; "the King
+will perhaps spare us much trouble.  We may do good things with him.  For
+the rest, Monseigneur, and you, Monsieur le Duc," he added with immovable
+firmness, "fear not that I shall ever draw back.  I have burned all the
+bridges behind me.  I must advance; the Cardinal's power shall fall, or
+my head."
+
+"It is strange, very strange!"  said Monsieur; "I see that every one here
+is farther advanced in the conspiracy than I imagined."
+
+"Not so, Monsieur," said the Duc de Bouillon; "we prepared only that
+which you might please to accept.  Observe that there is nothing in
+writing.  You have but to speak, and nothing exists or ever has existed;
+according to your order, the whole thing shall be a dream or a volcano."
+
+"Well, well, I am content, if it must be so," said Gaston; "let us occupy
+ourselves with more agreeable topics.  Thank God, we have a little time
+before us!  I confess I wish that it were all over.  I am not fitted for
+violent emotions; they affect my health," he added, taking M. de
+Beauvau's arm.  "Tell us if the Spanish women are still pretty, young
+man.  It is said you are a great gallant among them.  'Tudieu'! I'm sure
+you've got yourself talked of there.  They tell me the women wear
+enormous petticoats.  Well, I am not at all against that; they make the
+foot look smaller and prettier.  I'm sure the wife of Don Louis de Haro
+is not handsomer than Madame de Guemenee, is she?  Come, be frank; I'm
+told she looks like a nun.  Ah! you do not answer; you are embarrassed.
+She has then taken your fancy; or you fear to offend our friend Monsieur
+de Thou in comparing her with the beautiful Guemenee.  Well, let's talk
+of the customs; the King has a charming dwarf I'm told, and they put him
+in a pie.  He is a fortunate man, that King of Spain!  I don't know
+another equally so.  And the Queen, she is still served on bended knee,
+is she not?  Ah! that is a good custom; we have lost it.  It is very
+unfortunate--more unfortunate than may be supposed."
+
+And Gaston d'Orleans had the confidence to speak in this tone nearly half
+an hour, with a young man whose serious character was not at all adapted
+to such conversation, and who, still occupied with the importance of the
+scene he had just witnessed and the great interests which had been
+discussed, made no answer to this torrent of idle words.  He looked at
+the Duc de Bouillon with an astonished air, as if to ask him whether this
+was really the man whom they were going to place at the head of the most
+audacious enterprise that had ever been launched; while the Prince,
+without appearing to perceive that he remained unanswered, replied to
+himself, speaking with volubility, as he drew him gradually out of the
+room.  He feared that one of the gentlemen present might recommence the
+terrible conversation about the treaty; but none desired to do so, unless
+it were the Duc de Bouillon, who, however, preserved an angry silence.
+As for Cinq-Mars, he had been led away by De Thou, under cover of the
+chattering of Monsieur, who took care not to appear to notice their
+departure.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+A queen's country is where her throne is
+All that he said, I had already thought
+Always the first word which is the most difficult to say
+Dare now to be silent when I have told you these things
+Daylight is detrimental to them
+Friendship exists only in independence and a kind of equality
+I have burned all the bridges behind me
+In pitying me he forgot himself
+In times like these we must see all and say all
+Reproaches are useless and cruel if the evil is done
+Should be punished for not having known how to punish
+Tears for the future
+The great leveller has swung a long scythe over France
+The most in favor will be the soonest abandoned by him
+This popular favor is a cup one must drink
+This was the Dauphin, afterward Louis XIV
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, v4
+by Alfred de Vigny
+
+
+
+
+
+
+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
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CINQ MARS
+
+By ALFRED DE VIGNY
+
+
+
+BOOK 6
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE STORM
+
+                   'Blow, blow, thou winter wind;
+                    Thou art not so unkind
+                    As man's ingratitude.
+                    Thy tooth is not so keen,
+                    Because thou art not seen,
+                    Although thy breath be rude.
+          Heigh-ho!  sing, heigh-ho!  unto the green holly.
+          Most friendship is feigning; most loving mere folly.'
+
+                                             SHAKESPEARE.
+
+Amid that long and superb chain of the Pyrenees which forms the embattled
+isthmus of the peninsula, in the centre of those blue pyramids, covered
+in gradation with snow, forests, and downs, there opens a narrow defile,
+a path cut in the dried-up bed of a perpendicular torrent; it circulates
+among rocks, glides under bridges of frozen snow, twines along the edges
+of inundated precipices to scale the adjacent mountains of Urdoz and
+Oleron, and at last rising over their unequal ridges, turns their
+nebulous peak into a new country which has also its mountains and its
+depths, and, quitting France, descends into Spain.  Never has the hoof of
+the mule left its trace in these windings; man himself can with
+difficulty stand upright there, even with the hempen boots which can not
+slip, and the hook of the pikestaff to force into the crevices of the
+rocks.
+
+In the fine summer months the 'pastour', in his brown cape, and his black
+long-bearded ram lead hither flocks, whose flowing wool sweeps the turf.
+Nothing is heard in these rugged places but the sound of the large bells
+which the sheep carry, and whose irregular tinklings produce unexpected
+harmonies, casual gamuts, which astonish the traveller and delight the
+savage and silent shepherd.  But when the long month of September comes,
+a shroud of snow spreads itself from the peak of the mountains down to
+their base, respecting only this deeply excavated path, a few gorges open
+by torrents, and some rocks of granite, which stretch out their
+fantastical forms, like the bones of a buried world.
+
+It is then that light troops of chamois make their appearance, with their
+twisted horns extending over their backs, spring from rock to rock as if
+driven before the wind, and take possession of their aerial desert.
+Flights of ravens and crows incessantly wheel round and round in the
+gulfs and natural wells which they transform into dark dovecots, while
+the brown bear, followed by her shaggy family, who sport and tumble
+around her in the snow, slowly descends from their retreat invaded by the
+frost.  But these are neither the most savage nor the most cruel
+inhabitants that winter brings into these mountains; the daring smuggler
+raises for himself a dwelling of wood on the very boundary of nature and
+of politics.  There unknown treaties, secret exchanges, are made between
+the two Navarres, amid fogs and winds.
+
+It was in this narrow path on the frontiers of France that, about two
+months after the scenes we have witnessed in Paris, two travellers,
+coming from Spain, stopped at midnight, fatigued and dismayed.  They
+heard musket-shots in the mountain.
+
+"The scoundrels!  how they have pursued us!"  said one of them.  "I can
+go no farther; but for you I should have been taken."
+
+"And you will be taken still, as well as that infernal paper, if you lose
+your time in words; there is another volley on the rock of Saint Pierre-
+de-L'Aigle.  Up there, they suppose we have gone in the direction of the
+Limacon; but, below, they will see the contrary.  Descend; it is
+doubtless a patrol hunting smugglers.  Descend."
+
+"But how?  I can not see."
+
+"Never mind, descend.  Take my arm."
+
+"Hold me; my boots slip," said the first traveller, stamping on the edge
+of the rock to make sure of the solidity of the ground before trusting
+himself upon it.
+
+"Go on; go on!"  said the other, pushing him.  "There's one of the
+rascals passing over our heads."
+
+And, in fact, the shadow of a man, armed with a long gun, was reflected
+on the snow.  The two adventurers stood motionless.  The man passed on.
+They continued their descent.
+
+"They will take us," said the one who was supporting the other.  "They
+have turned us.  Give me your confounded parchment.  I wear the dress of
+a smuggler, and I can pass for one seeking an asylum among them; but you
+would have no resource with your laced dress."
+
+"You are right," said his companion; and, resting his foot against the
+edge of the rock, and reclining on the slope, he gave him a roll of
+hollow wood.
+
+A gun was fired, and a ball buried itself, hissing, in the snow at their
+feet.
+
+"Marked!"  said the first.  "Roll down.  If you are not dead when you get
+to the bottom, take the road you see before you.  On the left of the
+hollow is Santa Maria.  But turn to the right; cross Oleron; and you are
+on the road to Pau and are saved.  Go; roll down."
+
+As he spoke, he pushed his comrade, and without condescending to look
+after him, and himself neither ascending nor descending, followed the
+flank of the mountain horizontally, hanging on by rocks, branches, and
+even by plants, with the strength and energy of a wild-cat, and soon
+found himself on firm ground before a small wooden hut, through which a
+light was visible.  The adventurer went all around it, like a hungry wolf
+round a sheepfold, and, applying his eye to one of the openings,
+apparently saw what determined him, for without further hesitation he
+pushed the tottering door, which was not even fastened by a latch.  The
+whole but shook with the blow he had given it.  He then saw that it was
+divided into two cabins by a partition.  A large flambeau of yellow wax
+lighted the first.  There, a young girl, pale and fearfully thin, was
+crouched in a corner on the damp floor, just where the melted snow ran
+under the planks of the cottage.  Very long black hair, entangled and
+covered with dust, fell in disorder over her coarse brown dress; the red
+hood of the Pyrenees covered her head and shoulders.  Her eyes were cast
+down; and she was spinning with a small distaff attached to her waist.
+The entry of a man did not appear to move her in the least.
+
+"Ha!  La moza,--[girl]-- get up and give me something to drink.  I am
+tired and thirsty."
+
+The young girl did not answer, and, without raising her eyes, continued
+to spin assiduously.
+
+"Dost hear?"  said the stranger, thrusting her with his foot.  "Go and
+tell thy master that a friend wishes to see him; but first give me some
+drink.  I shall sleep here."
+
+She answered, in a hoarse voice, still spinning:
+
+"I drink the snow that melts on the rock, or the green scum that floats
+on the water of the swamp.  But when I have spun well, they give me water
+from the iron spring.  When I sleep, the cold lizards crawl over my face;
+but when I have well cleaned a mule, they throw me hay.  The hay is warm;
+the hay is good and warm.  I put it under my marble feet."
+
+"What tale art thou telling me?"  said Jacques.  "I spoke not of thee."
+
+She continued:
+
+"They make me hold a man while they kill him.  Oh, what blood I have had
+on my hands!  God forgive them!--if that be possible.  They make me hold
+his head, and the bucket filled with crimson water.  O Heaven!--I, who
+was the bride of God!  They throw their bodies into the abyss of snow;
+but the vulture finds them; he lines his nest with their hair.  I now see
+thee full of life; I shall see thee bloody, pale, and dead."
+
+The adventurer, shrugging his shoulders, began to whistle as he passed
+the second door.  Within he found the man he had seen through the chinks
+of the cabin.  He wore the blue berret cap of the Basques on one side,
+and, enveloped in an ample cloak, seated on the pack-saddle of a mule,
+and bending over a large brazier, smoked a cigar, and from time to time
+drank from a leather bottle at his side.  The light of the brazier showed
+his full yellow face, as well as the chamber, in which mule-saddles were
+ranged round the byasero as seats.  He raised his head without altering
+his position.
+
+"Oh, oh!  is it thou, Jacques?"  he said.  "Is it thou?  Although 'tis
+four years since I saw thee, I recognize thee.  Thou art not changed,
+brigand!  There 'tis still, thy great knave's face.  Sit down there, and
+take a drink."
+
+"Yes, here I am.  But how the devil camest thou here?  I thought thou
+wert a judge, Houmain!"
+
+"And I thought thou wert a Spanish captain, Jacques!"
+
+"Ah!  I was so for a time, and then a prisoner.  But I got out of the
+thing very snugly, and have taken again to the old trade, the free life,
+the good smuggling work."
+
+"Viva! viva! Jaleo!"--[A common Spanish oath.]-- cried Houmain.  "We
+brave fellows can turn our hands to everything.  Thou camest by the other
+passes, I suppose, for I have not seen thee since I returned to the
+trade."
+
+"Yes, yes; I have passed where thou wilt never pass," said Jacques.
+
+"And what hast got?"
+
+"A new merchandise.  My mules will come tomorrow."
+
+"Silk sashes, cigars, or linen?"
+
+"Thou wilt know in time, amigo," said the ruffian.  "Give me the skin.
+I'm thirsty."
+
+"Here, drink.  It's true Valdepenas!  We're so jolly here, we bandoleros!
+Ay! jaleo! jaleo! come, drink; our friends are coming."
+
+"What friends?"  said Jacques, dropping the horn.
+
+"Don't be uneasy, but drink.  I'll tell thee all about it presently, and
+then we'll sing the Andalusian Tirana."--[A kind of ballad.]
+
+The adventurer took the horn, and assumed an appearance of ease.
+
+"And who's that great she-devil I saw out there?"  he said.  "She seems
+half dead."
+
+"Oh, no!  she's only mad.  Drink; I'll tell thee all about her."
+
+And taking from his red sash a long poniard denticulated on each side
+like a saw, Houmain used it to stir up the fire, and said with vast
+gravity:
+
+"Thou must know first, if thou dost not know it already, that down below
+there [he pointed toward France] the old wolf Richelieu carries all
+before him."
+
+"Ah, ah!"  said Jacques.
+
+"Yes; they call him the king of the King.  Thou knowest?  There is,
+however, a young man almost as strong as he, and whom they call Monsieur
+le Grand.  This young fellow commands almost the whole army of Perpignan
+at this moment.  He arrived there a month ago; but the old fox is still
+at Narbonne--a very cunning fox, indeed.  As to the King, he is sometimes
+this, sometimes that [as he spoke, Houmain turned his hand outward and
+inward], between zist and zest; but while he is determining, I am for
+zist--that is to say, I'm a Cardinalist.  I've been regularly doing
+business for my lord since the first job he gave me, three years ago.
+I'll tell thee about it.  He wanted some men of firmness and spirit for a
+little expedition, and sent for me to be judge-Advocate."
+
+"Ah!  a very pretty post, I've heard."
+
+"Yes, 'tis a trade like ours, where they sell cord instead of thread; but
+it is less honest, for they kill men oftener.  But 'tis also more
+profitable; everything has its price."
+
+"Very properly so," said Jacques.
+
+"Behold me, then, in a red robe.  I helped to give a yellow one and
+brimstone to a fine fellow, who was cure at Loudun, and who had got into
+a convent of nuns, like a wolf in a fold; and a fine thing he made of
+it."
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!  That's very droll!"  laughed Jacques.  "Drink," said
+Houmain.  "Yes, Jago, I saw him after the affair, reduced to a little
+black heap like this charcoal.  See, this charcoal at the end of my
+poniard.  What things we are!  That's just what we shall all come to when
+we go to the Devil."
+
+"Oh, none of these pleasantries!"  said the other, very gravely.  "You
+know that I am religious."
+
+"Well, I don't say no; it may be so," said Houmain, in the same tone.
+"There's Richelieu, a Cardinal!  But, no matter.  Thou must know, then,
+as I was Advocate-General, I advocated--"
+
+"Ah, thou art quite a wit!"
+
+"Yes, a little.  But, as I was saying, I advocated into my own pocket
+five hundred piastres, for Armand Duplessis pays his people well, and
+there's nothing to be said against that, except that the money's not his
+own; but that's the way with us all.  I determined to invest this money
+in our old trade; and I returned here.  Business goes on well.  There is
+sentence of death out against us; and our goods, of course, sell for half
+as much again as before."
+
+"What's that?"  exclaimed Jacques; "lightning at this time of year?"
+
+"Yes, the storms are beginning; we've had two already.  We are in the
+clouds.  Dost hear the roll of the thunder?  But this is nothing; come,
+drink.  'Tis almost one in the morning; we'll finish the skin and the
+night together.  As I was telling thee, I made acquaintance with our
+president--a great scoundrel called Laubardemont.  Dost know him?"
+
+"Yes, a little," said Jacques; "he's a regular miser.  But never mind
+that; go on."
+
+"Well, as we had nothing to conceal from one another, I told him of my
+little commercial plans, and asked him, when any good jobs presented
+themselves, to think of his judicial comrade; and I've had no cause to
+complain of him."
+
+"Ah!"  said Jacques, "and what has he done?"
+
+"Why, first, two years ago, he himself brought, me, on horseback behind
+him, his niece that thou'st seen out there."
+
+"His niece!"  cried Jacques, rising; "and thou treat'st her like a slave!
+Demonio!"
+
+"Drink," said Houmain, quietly stirring the brazier with his poniard; "he
+himself desired it should be so.  Sit down."
+
+Jacques did so.
+
+"I don't think," continued the smuggler, "that he'd even be sorry to know
+that she was--dost understand?--to hear she was under the snow rather
+than above it; but he would not put her there himself, because he's a
+good relative, as he himself said."
+
+"And as I know," said Jacques; "but go on."
+
+"Thou mayst suppose that a man like him, who lives at court, does not
+like to have a mad niece in his house.  The thing is self-evident; if I'd
+continued to play my part of the man of the robe, I should have done the
+same in a similar case.  But here, as you perceive, we don't care much
+for appearances; and I've taken her for a servant.  She has shown more
+good sense than I expected, although she has rarely ever spoken more than
+a single word, and at first came the delicate over us.  Now she rubs down
+a mule like a groom.  She has had a slight fever for the last few days;
+but 'twill pass off one way or the other.  But, I say, don't tell
+Laubardemont that she still lives; he'd think 'twas for the sake of
+economy I've kept her for a servant."
+
+"How! is he here?"  cried Jacques.
+
+"Drink!"  replied the phlegmatic Houmain, who himself set the example
+most assiduously, and began to half shut his eyes with a languishing air.
+"'Tis the second transaction I've had with this Laubardemont--or demon,
+or whatever the name is; but 'tis a good devil of a demon, at all events.
+I love him as I do my eyes; and I will drink his health out of this
+bottle of Jurangon here.  'Tis the wine of a jolly fellow, the late King
+Henry.  How happy we are here!--Spain on the right hand, France on the
+left; the wine-skin on one side, the bottle on the other!  The bottle!
+I've left all for the bottle!"
+
+As he spoke, he knocked off the neck of a bottle of white wine.  After
+taking a long draught, he continued, while the stranger closely watched
+him:
+
+"Yes, he's here; and his feet must be rather cold, for he's been waiting
+about the mountains ever since sunset, with his guards and our comrades.
+Thou knowest our bandoleros, the true contrabandistas?"
+
+"Ah! and what do they hunt?"  said Jacques.
+
+"Ah, that's the joke!"  answered the drunkard.  "'Tis to arrest two
+rascals, who want to bring here sixty thousand Spanish soldiers in paper
+in their pocket.  You don't, perhaps, quite understand me, 'croquant'.
+Well, 'tis as I tell thee--in their own pockets."
+
+"Ay, ay!  I understand," said Jacques, loosening his poniard in his sash,
+and looking at the door.
+
+"Very well, devil's-skin, let's sing the Tirana.  Take the bottle, throw
+away the cigar, and sing."
+
+With these words the drunken host began to sing in Spanish, interrupting
+his song with bumpers, which he threw down his throat, leaning back for
+the greater ease, while Jacques, still seated, looked at him gloomily by
+the light of the brazier, and meditated what he should do.
+
+A flash of lightning entered the small window, and filled the room with a
+sulphurous odor.  A fearful clap immediately followed; the cabin shook;
+and a beam fell outside.
+
+"Hallo, the house!"  cried the drunken man; "the Devil's among us; and
+our friends are not come!"
+
+"Sing!"  said Jacques, drawing the pack upon which he was close to that
+of Houmain.
+
+The latter drank to encourage himself, and then continued to sing.
+
+As he ended, he felt his seat totter, and fell backward; Jacques, thus
+freed from him, sprang toward the door, when it opened, and his head
+struck against the cold, pale face of the mad-woman.  He recoiled.
+
+"The judge!"  she said, as she entered; and she fell prostrate on the
+cold ground.
+
+Jacques had already passed one foot over her; but another face appeared,
+livid and surprised-that of a very tall man, enveloped in a cloak covered
+with snow.  He again recoiled, and laughed a laugh of terror and rage.
+It was Laubardemont, followed by armed men; they looked at one another.
+
+"Ah, com-r-a-d-e, yo-a ra-a-scal!"  hiccuped Houmain, rising with
+difficulty; "thou'rt a Royalist."
+
+But when he saw these two men, who seemed petrified by each other, he
+became silent, as conscious of his intoxication; and he reeled forward to
+raise up the madwoman, who was still lying between the judge and the
+Captain.  The former spoke first.
+
+"Are you not he we have been pursuing?"
+
+"It is he!"  said the armed men, with one voice; "the other has escaped."
+
+Jacques receded to the split planks that formed the tottering wall of the
+hut; enveloping himself in his cloak, like a bear forced against a tree
+by the hounds, and, wishing to gain a moment's respite for reflection, he
+said, firmly:
+
+"The first who passes that brazier and the body of that girl is a dead
+man."
+
+And he drew a long poniard from his cloak.  At this moment Houmain,
+kneeling, turned the head of the girl.  Her eyes were closed; he drew her
+toward the brazier, which lighted up her face.
+
+"Ah, heavens!"  cried Laubardemont, forgetting himself in his fright; "
+Jeanne again!"
+
+"Be calm, my lo-lord," said Houmain, trying to open the eyelids, which
+closed again, and to raise her head, which fell back again like wet
+linen; "be, be--calm!  Do-n't ex-cite yourself; she's dead, decidedly."
+
+Jacques put his foot on the body as on a barrier, and, looking with a
+ferocious laugh in the face of Laubardemont, said to him in a low voice:
+
+"Let me pass, and I will not compromise thee, courtier; I will not tell
+that she was thy niece, and that I am thy son."
+
+Laubardemont collected himself, looked at his men, who pressed around him
+with advanced carabines; and, signing them to retire a few steps, he
+answered in a very low voice:
+
+"Give me the treaty, and thou shalt pass."
+
+"Here it is, in my girdle; touch it, and I will call you my father aloud.
+What will thy master say?"
+
+"Give it me, and I will spare thy life."
+
+"Let me pass, and I will pardon thy having given me that life."
+
+"Still the same, brigand?"
+
+"Ay, assassin."
+
+"What matters to thee that boy conspirator?"  asked the judge.
+
+"What matters to thee that old man who reigns?"  answered the other.
+
+"Give me that paper; I've sworn to have it."
+
+"Leave it with me; I've sworn to carry it back."
+
+"What can be thy oath and thy God?"  demanded Laubardemont.
+
+"And thine?"  replied Jacques.  "Is't the crucifix of red-hot iron?"
+
+Here Houmain, rising between them, laughing and staggering, said to the
+judge, slapping him on the shoulder.
+
+"You are a long time coming to an understanding, friend; do-on't you know
+him of old?  He's a very good fellow."
+
+"I?  no!" cried Laubardemont, aloud; "I never saw him before."
+
+At this moment, Jacques, who was protected by the drunkard and the
+smallness of the crowded chamber, sprang violently against the weak
+planks that formed the wall, and by a blow of his heel knocked two of
+them out, and passed through the space thus created.  The whole side of
+the cabin was broken; it tottered, and the wind rushed in.
+
+"Hallo!  Demonio!  Santo Demonio!  where art going?"  cried the smuggler;
+"thou art breaking my house down, and on the side of the ravine, too."
+
+All cautiously approached, tore away the planks that remained, and leaned
+over the abyss.  They contemplated a strange spectacle.  The storm raged
+in all its fury; and it was a storm of the Pyrenees.  Enormous flashes of
+lightning came all at once from all parts of the horizon, and their fires
+succeeded so quickly that there seemed no interval; they appeared to be a
+continuous flash.  It was but rarely the flaming vault would suddenly
+become obscure; and it then instantly resumed its glare.  It was not the
+light that seemed strange on this night, but the darkness.
+
+The tall thin peaks and whitened rocks stood out from the red background
+like blocks of marble on a cupola of burning brass, and resembled, amid
+the snows, the wonders of a volcano; the waters gushed from them like
+flames; the snow poured down like dazzling lava.
+
+In this moving mass a man was seen struggling, whose efforts only
+involved him deeper and deeper in the whirling and liquid gulf; his knees
+were already buried.  In vain he clasped his arms round an enormous
+pyramidal and transparent icicle, which reflected the lightning like a
+rock of crystal; the icicle itself was melting at its base, and slowly
+bending over the declivity of the rock.  Under the covering of snow,
+masses of granite were heard striking against each other, as they
+descended into the vast depths below.  Yet they could still save him;
+a space of scarcely four feet separated him from Laubardemont.
+
+"I sink!"  he cried; "hold out to me something, and thou shalt have the
+treaty."
+
+"Give it me, and I will reach thee this musket," said the judge.
+
+"There it is," replied the ruffian, "since the Devil is for Richelieu!"
+and taking one hand from the hold of his slippery support, he threw a
+roll of wood into the cabin.  Laubardemont rushed back upon the treaty
+like a wolf on his prey.  Jacques in vain held out his arm; he slowly
+glided away with the enormous thawing block turned upon him, and was
+silently buried in the snow.
+
+"Ah, villain," were his last words, "thou hast deceived me!  but thou
+didst not take the treaty from me.  I gave it thee, Father!" and he
+disappeared wholly under the thick white bed of snow.  Nothing was seen
+in his place but the glittering flakes which the lightning had ploughed
+up, as it became extinguished in them; nothing was--heard but the rolling
+of the thunder and the dash of the water against the rocks, for the men
+in the half-ruined cabin, grouped round a corpse and a villain, were
+silent, tongue-tied with horror, and fearing lest God himself should send
+a thunderbolt upon them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+ABSENCE
+
+                    L'absence est le plus grand des maux,
+                    Non pas pour vous, cruelle !
+
+                                             LA FONTAINE.
+
+Who has not found a charm in watching the clouds of heaven as they float
+along?  Who has not envied them the freedom of their journeyings through
+the air, whether rolled in great masses by the wind, and colored by the
+sun, they advance peacefully, like fleets of dark ships with gilt prows,
+or sprinkled in light groups, they glide quickly on, airy and elongated,
+like birds of passage, transparent as vast opals detached from the
+treasury of the heavens, or glittering with whiteness, like snows from
+the mountains carried on the wings of the winds?  Man is a slow traveller
+who envies those rapid journeyers; less rapid than his imagination, they
+have yet seen in a single day all the places he loves, in remembrance or
+in hope,--those that have witnessed his happiness or his misery, and
+those so beautiful countries unknown to us, where we expect to find
+everything at once.  Doubtless there is not a spot on the whole earth, a
+wild rock, an arid plain, over which we pass with indifference, that has
+not been consecrated in the life of some man, and is not painted in his
+remembrance; for, like battered vessels, before meeting inevitable wreck,
+we leave some fragment of ourselves on every rock.
+
+Whither go the dark-blue clouds of that storm of the Pyrenees?  It is the
+wind of Africa which drives them before it with a fiery breath.  They
+fly; they roll over one another, growlingly throwing out lightning before
+them, as their torches, and leaving suspended behind them a long train of
+rain, like a vaporous robe.  Freed by an effort from the rocky defiles
+that for a moment had arrested their course, they irrigate, in Bearn, the
+picturesque patrimony of Henri IV; in Guienne, the conquests of Charles
+VII; in Saintogne, Poitou, and Touraine, those of Charles V and of Philip
+Augustus; and at last, slackening their pace above the old domain of Hugh
+Capet, halt murmuring on the towers of St. Germain.
+
+"O Madame!"  exclaimed Marie de Mantua to the Queen, "do you see this
+storm coming up from the south?"
+
+"You often look in that direction, 'ma chere'," answered Anne of Austria,
+leaning on the balcony.
+
+"It is the direction of the sun, Madame."
+
+"And of tempests, you see," said the Queen.  "Trust in my friendship, my
+child; these clouds can bring no happiness to you.  I would rather see
+you turn your eyes toward Poland.  See the fine people you might
+command."
+
+At this moment, to avoid the rain, which began to fall, the Prince-
+Palatine passed rapidly under the windows of the Queen, with a numerous
+suite of young Poles on horseback.  Their Turkish vests, with buttons of
+diamonds, emeralds, and rubies; their green and gray cloaks; the lofty
+plumes of their horses, and their adventurous air-gave them a singular
+eclat to which the court had easily become accustomed.  They paused for a
+moment, and the Prince made two salutes, while the light animal he rode
+passed gracefully sideways, keeping his front toward the princesses;
+prancing and snorting, he shook his mane, and seemed to salute by putting
+his head between his legs.  The whole suite repeated the evolution as
+they passed.  The Princesse Marie had at first shrunk back, lest they
+should see her tears; but the brilliant and flattering spectacle made her
+return to the balcony, and she could not help exclaiming:
+
+"How gracefully the Palatine rides that beautiful horse!  he seems scarce
+conscious of it."
+
+The Queen smiled, and said:
+
+"He is conscious about her who might be his queen tomorrow, if she would
+but make a sign of the head, and let but one glance from her great black
+almond-shaped eyes be turned on that throne, instead of always receiving
+these poor foreigners with poutings, as now."
+
+And Anne of Austria kissed the cheek of Marie, who could not refrain from
+smiling also; but she instantly sunk her head, reproaching herself, and
+resumed her sadness, which seemed gliding from her.  She even needed once
+more to contemplate the great clouds that hung over the chateau.
+
+"Poor child," continued the Queen, "thou dost all thou canst to be very
+faithful, and to keep thyself in the melancholy of thy romance.  Thou art
+making thyself ill with weeping when thou shouldst be asleep, and with
+not eating.  Thou passest the night in revery and in writing; but I warn
+thee, thou wilt get nothing by it, except making thyself thin and less
+beautiful, and the not being a queen.  Thy Cinq-Mars is an ambitious
+youth, who has lost himself."
+
+Seeing Marie conceal her head in her handkerchief to weep, Anne of
+Austria for a moment reentered her chamber, leaving Marie in the balcony,
+and feigned to be looking for some jewels at her toilet-table; she soon
+returned, slowly and gravely, to the window.  Marie was more calm, and
+was gazing sorrowfully at the landscape before her, the hills in the
+distance, and the storm gradually spreading itself.
+
+The Queen resumed in a more serious tone:
+
+"God has been more merciful to you than your imprudence perhaps deserved,
+Marie.  He has saved you from great danger.  You were willing to make
+great sacrifices, but fortunately they have not been accomplished as you
+expected.  Innocence has saved you from love.  You are as one who,
+thinking she has swallowed a deadly poison, has in reality drunk only
+pure and harmless water."
+
+"Ah, Madame, what mean you?  Am I not unhappy enough already?"
+
+"Do not interrupt me," said the Queen; "you will, ere long, see your
+present position with different eyes.  I will not accuse you of
+ingratitude toward the Cardinal; I have too many reasons for not liking
+him.  I myself witnessed the rise of the conspiracy.  Still, you should
+remember, 'ma chere', that he was the only person in France who, against
+the opinion of the Queen-mother and of the court, insisted upon war with
+the duchy of Mantua, which he recovered from the empire and from Spain,
+and returned to the Duc de Nevers, your father.  Here, in this very
+chateau of Saint-Germain, was signed the treaty which deposed the Duke of
+Guastalla.--[The 19th of May, 1632.]-- You were then very young; they
+must, however, have told you of it.  Yet here, through love alone (I am
+willing to believe, with yourself, that it is so), a young man of two-
+and-twenty is ready to get him assassinated."
+
+"O Madame, he is incapable of such a deed.  I swear to you that he has
+refused to adopt it."
+
+"I have begged you, Marie, to let me speak.  I know that he is generous
+and loyal.  I am willing to believe that, contrary to the custom of our
+times, he would not go so far as to kill an old man, as did the Chevalier
+de Guise.  But can he prevent his assassination, if his troops make him
+prisoner?  This we can not say, any more than he.  God alone knows the
+future.  It is, at all events, certain that it is for you he attacks him,
+and, to overthrow him, is preparing civil war, which perhaps is bursting
+forth at the very moment that we speak--a war without success.  Whichever
+way it turns, it can only effect evil, for Monsieur is going to abandon
+the conspiracy."
+
+"How, Madame?"
+
+"Listen to me.  I tell you I am certain of it; I need not explain myself
+further.  What will the grand ecuyer do?  The King, as he rightly
+anticipated, has gone to consult the Cardinal.  To consult him is to
+yield to him; but the treaty of Spain is signed.  If it be discovered,
+what can Monsieur de Cinq-Mars do?  Do not tremble thus.  We will save
+him; we will save his life, I promise you.  There is yet time, I hope."
+
+"Ah, Madame, you hope!  I am lost!"  cried Marie, half fainting.
+
+"Let us sit down," said the Queen; and, placing herself near Marie, at
+the entrance to the chamber, she continued:
+
+"Doubtless Monsieur will treat for all the conspirators in treating for
+himself; but exile will be the least punishment, perpetual exile.
+Behold, then, the Duchesse de Nevers and Mantua, the Princesse Marie de
+Gonzaga, the wife of Monsieur Henri d'Effiat, Marquis de Cinq-Mars,
+exiled!"
+
+"Well, Madame, I will follow him into exile.  It is my duty; I am his
+wife!"  exclaimed Marie, sobbing.  "I would I knew he were already
+banished and in safety."
+
+"Dreams of eighteen!"  said the Queen, supporting Marie.  "Awake, child,
+awake!  you must.  I deny not the good qualities of Monsieur de Cinq-
+Mars.  He has a lofty character, a vast mind, and great courage; but he
+may no longer be aught for you, and, fortunately, you are not his wife,
+or even his betrothed."
+
+"I am his, Madame-his alone."
+
+"But without the benediction," replied Anne of Austria; "in a word,
+without marriage.  No priest would have dared--not even your own; he told
+me so.  Be silent!"  she added, putting her two beautiful hands on
+Marie's lips.  "Be silent!  You would say that God heard your vow; that
+you can not live without him; that your destinies are inseparable from
+his; that death alone can break your union?  The phrases of your age,
+delicious chimeras of a moment, at which one day you will smile, happy at
+not having to lament them all your life.  Of the many and brilliant women
+you see around me at court, there is not one but at your age had some
+beautiful dream of love, like this of yours, who did not form those ties,
+which they believed indissoluble, and who did not in secret take eternal
+oaths.  Well, these dreams are vanished, these knots broken, these oaths
+forgotten; and yet you see them happy women and mothers.  Surrounded by
+the honors of their rank, they laugh and dance every night.  I again
+divine what you would say--they loved not as you love, eh?  You deceive
+yourself, my dear child; they loved as much, and wept no less.
+
+"And here I must make you acquainted with that great mystery which
+constitutes your despair, since you are ignorant of the malady that
+devours you.  We have a twofold existence, 'm'amie': our internal life,
+that of our feelings powerfully works within us, while the external life
+dominates despite ourselves.  We are never independent of men, more
+especially in an elevated condition.  Alone, we think ourselves
+mistresses of our destiny; but the entrance of two or three people
+fastens on all our chains, by recalling our rank and our retinue.  Nay;
+shut yourself up and abandon yourself to all the daring and extraordinary
+resolutions that the passions may raise up in you, to the marvellous
+sacrifices they may suggest to you.  A lackey coming and asking your
+orders will at once break the charm and bring you back to your real life.
+It is this contest between your projects and your position which destroys
+you.  You are invariably angry with yourself; you bitterly reproach
+yourself."
+
+Marie turned away her head.
+
+"Yes, you believe yourself criminal.  Pardon yourself, Marie; all men are
+beings so relative and so dependent one upon another that I know not
+whether the great retreats of the world that we sometimes see are not
+made for the world itself.  Despair has its pursuits, and solitude its
+coquetry.  It is said that the gloomiest hermits can not refrain from
+inquiring what men say of them.  This need of public opinion is
+beneficial, in that it combats, almost always victoriously, that which is
+irregular in our imagination, and comes to the aid of duties which we too
+easily forget.  One experiences (you will feel it, I hope) in returning
+to one's proper lot, after the sacrifice of that which had diverted the
+reason, the satisfaction of an exile returning to his family, of a sick
+person at sight of the sun after a night afflicted with frightful dreams.
+
+"It is this feeling of a being returned, as it were, to its natural state
+that creates the calm which you see in many eyes that have also had their
+tears-for there are few women who have not known tears such as yours.
+You would think yourself perjured if you renounced Cinq-Mars!  But
+nothing binds you; you have more than acquitted yourself toward him by
+refusing for more than two years past the royal hands offered you.  And,
+after all, what has he done, this impassioned lover?  He has elevated
+himself to reach you; but may not the ambition which here seems to you to
+have aided love have made use of that love?  This young man seems to me
+too profound, too calm in his political stratagems, too independent in
+his vast resolutions, in his colossal enterprises, for me to believe him
+solely occupied by his tenderness.  If you have been but a means instead
+of an end, what would you say?"
+
+"I would still love him," answered Marie.  "While he lives, I am his."
+
+"And while I live," said the Queen, with firmness, "I will oppose the
+alliance."
+
+At these last words the rain and hail fell violently on the balcony.
+The Queen took advantage of the circumstance abruptly to leave the room
+and pass into that where the Duchesse de Chevreuse, Mazarin, Madame de
+Guemenee, and the Prince-Palatine had been awaiting her for a short time.
+The Queen walked up to them.  Marie placed herself in the shade of a
+curtain in order to conceal the redness of her eyes.  She was at first
+unwilling to take part in the sprightly conversation; but some words of
+it attracted her attention.  The Queen was showing to the Princesse de
+Guemenee diamonds she had just received from Paris.
+
+"As for this crown, it does not belong to me.  The King had it prepared
+for the future Queen of Poland.  Who that is to be, we know not."  Then
+turning toward the Prince-Palatine, "We saw you pass, Prince.  Whom were
+you going to visit?"
+
+"Mademoiselle la Duchesse de Rohan," answered the Pole.
+
+The insinuating Mazarin, who availed himself of every opportunity to worm
+out secrets, and to make himself necessary by forced confidences, said,
+approaching the Queen:
+
+"That comes very apropos, just as we were speaking of the crown of
+Poland."
+
+Marie, who was listening, could not hear this, and said to Madame de
+Guemenee, who was at her side:
+
+"Is Monsieur de Chabot, then, King of Poland?"
+
+The Queen heard that, and was delighted at this touch of pride.  In order
+to develop its germ, she affected an approving attention to the
+conversation that ensued.
+
+The Princesse de Guemenee exclaimed:
+
+"Can you conceive such a marriage?  We really can't get it out of our
+heads.  This same Mademoiselle de Rohan, whom we have seen so haughty,
+after having refused the Comte de Soissons, the Duc de Weimar, and the
+Duc de Nemours, to marry Monsieur de Chabot, a simple gentleman!  'Tis
+really a sad pity!  What are we coming to?  'Tis impossible to say what
+it will all end in."
+
+"What!  can it be true?  Love at court!  a real love affair!  Can it be
+believed?"
+
+All this time the Queen continued opening and shutting and playing with
+the new crown.
+
+"Diamonds suit only black hair," she said.  "Let us see.  Let me put it
+on you, Marie.  Why, it suits her to admiration!"
+
+"One would suppose it had been made for Madame la Princesse," said the
+Cardinal.
+
+"I would give the last drop of my blood for it to remain on that brow,"
+said the Prince-Palatine.
+
+Marie, through the tears that were still on her cheek, gave an infantine
+and involuntary smile, like a ray of sunshine through rain.  Then,
+suddenly blushing deeply, she hastily took refuge in her apartments.
+
+All present laughed.  The Queen followed her with her eyes, smiled,
+presented her hand for the Polish ambassador to kiss, and retired to
+write a letter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE WORK
+
+One night, before Perpignan, a very unusual event took place.  It was ten
+o'clock; and all were asleep.  The slow and almost suspended operations
+of the siege had rendered the camp and the town inactive.  The Spaniards
+troubled themselves little about the French, all communication toward
+Catalonia being open as in time of peace; and in the French army men's
+minds were agitated with that secret anxiety which precedes great events.
+
+Yet all was calm; no sound was heard but that of the measured tread of
+the sentries.  Nothing was seen in the dark night but the red light of
+the matches of their guns, always smoking, when suddenly the trumpets of
+the musketeers, of the light-horse, and of the men-at-arms sounded almost
+simultaneously, "boot and saddle," and "to horse."  All the sentinels
+cried to arms; and the sergeants, with flambeaux, went from tent to tent,
+along pike in their hands, to waken the soldiers, range them in lines,
+and count them.  Some files marched in gloomy silence along the streets
+of the camp, and took their position in battle array.  The sound of the
+mounted squadrons announced that the heavy cavalry were making the same
+dispositions.  After half an hour of movement the noise ceased, the
+torches were extinguished, and all again became calm, but the army was on
+foot.
+
+One of the last tents of the camp shone within as a star with flambeaux.
+On approaching this little white and transparent pyramid, we might have
+distinguished the shadows of two men reflected on the canvas as they
+walked to and fro within.  Outside several men on horseback were in
+attendance; inside were De Thou and Cinq-Mars.
+
+To see the pious and wise De Thou thus up and armed at this hour, you
+might have taken him for one of the chiefs of the revolt.  But a closer
+examination of his serious countenance and mournful expression
+immediately showed that he blamed it, and allowed himself to be led into
+it and endangered by it from an extraordinary resolution which aided him
+to surmount the horror he had of the enterprise itself.  From the day
+when Henri d'Effiat had opened his heart and confided to him its whole
+secret, he had seen clearly that all remonstrance was vain with a young
+man so powerfully resolved.
+
+De Thou had even understood what M. de Cinq-Mars had not told him,
+and had seen in the secret union of his friend with the Princesse Marie,
+one of those ties of love whose mysterious and frequent faults,
+voluptuous and involuntary derelictions, could not be too soon purified
+by public benediction.  He had comprehended that punishment, impossible
+to be supported long by a lover, the adored master of that young girl,
+and who was condemned daily to appear before her as a stranger, to
+receive political disclosures of marriages they were preparing for her.
+The day when he received his entire confession, he had done all in his
+power to prevent Cinq-Mars going so far in his projects as the foreign
+alliance.  He had evoked the gravest recollections and the best feelings,
+without any other result than rendering the invincible resolution of his
+friend more rude toward him.  Cinq-Mars, it will be recollected, had said
+to him harshly, "Well, did I ask you to take part in this conspiracy?"
+And he had desired only to promise not to denounce it; and he had
+collected all his power against friendship to say, "Expect nothing
+further from me if you sign this treaty."  Yet Cinq-Mars had signed the
+treaty; and De Thou was still there with him.
+
+The habit of familiarly discussing the projects of his friend had perhaps
+rendered them less odious to him.  His contempt for the vices of the
+Prime-Minister; his indignation at the servitude of the parliaments to
+which his family belonged, and at the corruption of justice; the powerful
+names, and more especially the noble characters of the men who directed
+the enterprise--all had contributed to soften down his first painful
+impression.  Having once promised secrecy to M. de Cinq-Mars, he
+considered himself as in a position to accept in detail all the secondary
+disclosures; and since the fortuitous event which had compromised him
+with the conspirators at the house of Marion de Lorme, he considered
+himself united to them by honor, and engaged to an inviolable secrecy.
+Since that time he had seen Monsieur, the Duc de Bouillon, and
+Fontrailles; they had become accustomed to speak before him without
+constraint, and he to hear them.
+
+The dangers which threatened his friend now drew him into their vortex
+like an invincible magnet.  His conscience accused him; but he followed
+Cinq-Mars wherever he went without even, from excess of delicacy,
+hazarding a single expression which might resemble a personal fear.  He
+had tacitly given up his life, and would have deemed it unworthy of both
+to manifest a desire to regain it.
+
+The master of the horse was in his cuirass; he was armed, and wore large
+boots.  An enormous pistol, with a lighted match, was placed upon his
+table between two flambeaux.  A heavy watch in a brass case lay near the
+pistol.  De Thou, wrapped in a black cloak, sat motionless with folded
+arms.  Cinq-Mars paced backward and forward, his arms crossed behind his
+back, from time to time looking at the hand of the watch, too sluggish in
+his eyes.  He opened the tent, looked up to the heavens, and returned.
+
+"I do not see my star there," said he; "but no matter.  She is here in my
+heart."
+
+"The night is dark," said De Thou.
+
+"Say rather that the time draws nigh.  It advances, my friend; it
+advances.  Twenty minutes more, and all will be accomplished.  The army
+only waits the report of this pistol to begin."
+
+De Thou held in his hand an ivory crucifix, and looking first at the
+cross, and then toward heaven, "Now," said he, "is the hour to complete
+the sacrifice.  I repent not; but oh, how bitter is the cup of sin to my
+lips!  I had vowed my days to innocence and to the works of the soul,
+and here I am about to commit a crime, and to draw the sword."
+
+But forcibly seizing the hand of Cinq-Mars, "It is for you, for you!"
+he added with the enthusiasm of a blindly devoted heart.  "I rejoice in
+my errors if they turn to your glory.  I see but your happiness in my
+fault.  Forgive me if I have returned for a moment to the habitual
+thought of my whole life."
+
+Cinq-Mars looked steadfastly at him; and a tear stole slowly down his
+cheek.
+
+"Virtuous friend," said he, "may your fault fall only on my head!  But
+let us hope that God, who pardons those who love, will be for us; for we
+are criminal--I through love, you through friendship."
+
+Then suddenly looking at the watch, he took the long pistol in his hand,
+and gazed at the smoking match with a fierce air.  His long hair fell
+over his face like the mane of a young lion.
+
+"Do not consume," said he; "burn slowly.  Thou art about to light a flame
+which the waves of ocean can not extinguish.  The flame will soon light
+half Europe; it may perhaps reach the wood of thrones.  Burn slowly,
+precious flame!  The winds which fan thee are violent and fearful; they
+are love and hatred.  Reserve thyself!  Thy explosion will be heard afar,
+and will find echoes in the peasant's but and the king's palace.
+
+Burn, burn, poor flame!  Thou art to me a sceptre and a thunderbolt!"
+
+De Thou, still holding his ivory crucifix in his hand, said in a low
+voice:
+
+"Lord, pardon us the blood that will be shed!  We combat the wicked and
+the impious."  Then, raising his voice, "My friend, the cause of virtue
+will triumph," he said; "it alone will triumph.  God has ordained that
+the guilty treaty should not reach us; that which constituted the crime
+is no doubt destroyed.  We shall fight without the foreigners, and
+perhaps we shall not fight at all.  God will change the heart of the
+king."
+
+"'Tis the hour! 'tis the hour!"  exclaimed Cinq-Mars, his eyes fixed upon
+the watch with a kind of savage joy; "four minutes more, and the
+Cardinalists in the camp will be crushed!  We shall march upon Narbonne!
+He is there!  Give me the pistol!"
+
+At these words he hastily opened the tent, and took up the match.
+
+"A courier from Paris!  an express from court!"  cried a voice outside,
+as a man, heated with hard riding and overcome with fatigue, threw
+himself from his horse, entered, and presented a letter to Cinq-Mars.
+
+"From the Queen, Monseigneur," he said.  Cinq-Mars turned pale, and read
+as follows:
+
+     M. DE CINQ-MARS: I write this letter to entreat and conjure you to
+     restore to her duties our well-beloved adopted daughter and friend,
+     the Princesse Marie de Gonzaga, whom your affection alone turns from
+     the throne of Poland, which has been offered to her.  I have sounded
+     her heart.  She is very young, and I have good reason to believe
+     that she would accept the crown with less effort and less grief than
+     you may perhaps imagine.
+
+     It is for her you have undertaken a war which will put to fire and
+     sword my beautiful and beloved France.  I supplicate and implore you
+     to act as a gentleman, and nobly to release the Duchesse de Mantua
+     from the promises she may have made you.  Thus restore repose to her
+     soul, and peace to our beloved country.
+
+     The Queen, who will throw herself at your feet if need be,
+
+                                                  ANNE.
+
+Cinq-Mars calmly replaced the pistol upon the table; his first impulse
+had been to turn its muzzle upon himself.  However, he laid it down, and
+snatching a pencil, wrote on the back of the letter;
+
+     MADAME: Marie de Gonzaga, being my wife, can not be Queen of Poland
+     until after my death.  I die.
+
+                                                  CINQ-MARS.
+
+Then, as if he would not allow himself time for a moment's reflection, he
+forced the letter into the hands of the courier.
+
+"To horse!  to horse!"  cried he, in a furious tone.  "If you remain
+another instant, you are a dead man!"
+
+He saw him gallop off, and reentered the tent.  Alone with his friend, he
+remained an instant standing, but pale, his eyes fixed, and looking on
+the ground like a madman.  He felt himself totter.
+
+"De Thou!"  he cried.
+
+"What would you, my friend, my dear friend?  I am with you.  You have
+acted grandly, most grandly, sublimely!"
+
+"De Thou!"  he cried again, in a hollow voice, and fell with his face to
+the ground, like an uprooted tree.
+
+Violent tempests assume different aspects, according to the climates in
+which they take place.  Those which have spread over a terrible space in
+northern countries assemble into one single cloud under the torrid zone--
+the more formidable, that they leave the horizon in all its purity, and
+that the furious waves still reflect the azure of heaven while tinged
+with the blood of man.  It is the same with great passions.  They assume
+strange aspects according to our characters; but how terrible are they in
+vigorous hearts, which have preserved their force under the veil of
+social forms?  When youth and despair embrace, we know not to what fury
+they may rise, or what may be their sudden resignation; we know not
+whether the volcano will burst the mountain or become suddenly
+extinguished within its entrails.
+
+De Thou, in alarm, raised his friend.  The blood gushed from his nostrils
+and ears; he would have thought him dead, but .for the torrents of tears
+which flowed from his eyes.  They were the only sign of life.  Suddenly
+he opened his lids, looked around him, and by an extraordinary energy
+resumed his senses and the power of his will.
+
+"I am in the presence of men," said he; "I must finish with them.  My
+friend, it is half-past eleven; the hour for the signal has passed.
+Give, in my name, the order to return to quarters.  It was a false alarm,
+which I will myself explain this evening."
+
+De Thou had already perceived the importance of this order; he went out
+and returned immediately.
+
+He found Cinq-Mars seated, calm, and endeavoring to cleanse the blood
+from his face.
+
+"De Thou," said he, looking fixedly at him, "retire; you disturb me."
+
+"I leave you not," answered the latter.
+
+"Fly, I tell you!  the Pyrenees are not far distant.  I can not speak
+much longer, even to you; but if you remain with me, you will die.  I
+give you warning."
+
+"I remain," repeated De Thou.
+
+"May God preserve you, then!"  answered Cinq-Mars, "for I can do nothing
+more; the moment has passed.  I leave you here.  Call Fontrailles and all
+the confederates: distribute these passports among them.  Let them fly
+immediately; tell them all has failed, but that I thank them.  For you,
+once again I say, fly with them, I entreat you; but whatever you do,
+follow me not--follow me not, for your life!  I swear to you not to do
+violence to myself!"
+
+With these words, shaking his friend's hand without looking at him, he
+rushed from the tent.
+
+Meantime, some leagues thence another conversation was taking place.  At
+Narbonne, in the same cabinet in which we formerly beheld Richelieu
+regulating with Joseph the interests of the State, were still seated the
+same men, nearly as we have described them.  The minister, however, had
+grown much older in three years of suffering; and the Capuchin was as
+much terrified with the result of his expedition as his master appeared
+tranquil.
+
+The Cardinal, seated in his armchair, his legs bound and encased with
+furs and warm clothing, had upon his knees three kittens, which gambolled
+upon his scarlet robe.  Every now and then he took one of them and placed
+it upon the others, to continue their sport.  He smiled as he watched
+them.  On his feet lay their mother, looking like an enormous animated
+muff.
+
+Joseph, seated near him, was going over the account of all he had heard
+in the confessional.  Pale even now, at the danger he had run of being
+discovered, or of being murdered by Jacques, he concluded thus:
+
+"In short, your Eminence, I can not help feeling agitated to my heart's
+core when I reflect upon the dangers which have, and still do, threaten
+you.  Assassins offer themselves to poniard you.  I beheld in France the
+whole court against you, one half of the army, and two provinces.
+Abroad, Spain and Portugal are ready to furnish troops.  Everywhere there
+are snares or battles, poniards or cannon."
+
+The Cardinal yawned three times, without discontinuing his amusement, and
+then said:
+
+"A cat is a very fine animal.  It is a drawing-room tiger.  What
+suppleness, what extraordinary finesse!  Here is this little yellow one
+pretending to sleep, in order that the tortoise-shell one may not notice
+it, but fall upon its brother; and this one, how it tears the other!  See
+how it sticks its claws into its side!  It would kill and eat it, I fully
+believe, if it were the stronger.  It is very amusing.  What pretty
+animals!"
+
+He coughed and sneezed for some time; then he continued:
+
+"Messire Joseph, I sent word to you not to speak to me of business until
+after my supper.  .  .  I have an appetite now, and it is not yet my hour.
+Chicot, my doctor, recommends regularity, and I feel my usual pain in my
+side.  This is how I shall spend the evening," he added, looking at the
+clock.  "At nine, we will settle the affairs of Monsieur le Grand.  At
+ten, I shall be carried round the garden to take the air by moonlight.
+Then I shall sleep for an hour or two.  At midnight the King will be
+here; and at four o'clock you may return to receive the various orders
+for arrests, condemnations, or any others I may have to give you, for the
+provinces, Paris, or the armies of his Majesty."
+
+Richelieu said all this in the same tone of voice, with a uniform
+enunciation, affected only by the weakness of his chest and the loss of
+several teeth.
+
+It was seven in the evening.  The Capuchin withdrew.  The Cardinal supped
+with the greatest tranquillity; and when the clock struck half-past
+eight, he sent for Joseph, and said to him, when he was seated:
+
+"This, then, is all they have been able to do against me during more than
+two years.  They are poor creatures, truly!  The Duc de Bouillon, whom I
+thought possessed some ability, has forfeited all claim to my opinion.
+I have watched him closely; and I ask you, has he taken one step worthy
+of a true statesman?  The King, Monsieur, and the rest, have only shown
+their teeth against me, and without depriving me of one single man.  The
+young Cinq-Mars is the only man among them who has any consecutiveness of
+ideas.  All that he has done has been done surprisingly well.  I must do
+him justice; he had good qualities.  I should have made him my pupil, had
+it not been for his obstinate character.  But he has here charged me
+'a l'outrance, and must take the consequences.  I am sorry for him.
+I have left them to float about in open water for the last two years.
+I shall now draw the net."
+
+"It is time, Monseigneur," said Joseph, who often trembled involuntarily
+as he spoke.  "Do you bear in mind that from Perpignan to Narbonne the
+way is short?  Do you know that if your army here is powerful, your own
+troops are weak and uncertain; that the young nobles are furious; and
+that the King is not sure?"
+
+The Cardinal looked at the clock.
+
+"It is only half-past eight, Joseph.  I have already told you that I will
+not talk about this affair until nine.  Meantime, as justice must be
+done, you will write what I shall dictate, for my memory serves me well.
+There are still some objectionable persons left, I see by my notes--four
+of the judges of Urbain Grandier.  He was a rare genius, that Urbain
+Grandier," he added, with a malicious expression.  Joseph bit his lips.
+"All the other judges have died miserably.  As to Houmain, he shall be
+hanged as a smuggler by and by.  We may leave him alone for the present.
+But there is that horrible Lactantius, who lives peacefully, Barre, and
+Mignon.  Take a pen, and write to the Bishop of Poitiers,
+
+     "MONSEIGNEUR: It is his Majesty's pleasure that Fathers Mignon and
+     Barre be superseded in their cures, and sent with the shortest
+     possible delay to the town of Lyons, with Father Lactantius,
+     Capuchin, to be tried before a special tribunal, charged with
+     criminal intentions against the State."
+
+Joseph wrote as coolly as a Turk strikes off a head at a sign from his
+master.  The Cardinal said to him, while signing the letter:
+
+"I will let you know how I wish them to disappear, for it is important to
+efface all traces of that affair.  Providence has served me well.  In
+removing these men, I complete its work.  That is all that posterity
+shall know of the affair."
+
+And he read to the Capuchin that page of his memoirs in which he recounts
+the possession and sorceries of the magician.--[Collect. des Memoires
+xxviii. 189.]--During this slow process, Joseph could not help looking
+at the clock.
+
+"You are anxious to come to Monsieur le Grand," said the Cardinal at
+last.  "Well, then, to please you, let us begin."
+
+"Do you think I have not my reasons for being tranquil?  You think that I
+have allowed these poor conspirators to go too far.  No, no!  Here are
+some little papers that would reassure you, did you know their contents.
+First, in this hollow stick is the treaty with Spain, seized at Oleron.
+I am well satisfied with Laubardemont; he is an able man."
+
+The fire of ferocious jealousy sparkled under the thick eyebrows of the
+monk.
+
+"Ah, Monseigneur," said he, "you know not from whom he seized it.  He
+certainly suffered him to die, and in that respect we can not complain,
+for he was the agent of the conspiracy; but it was his son."
+
+"Say you the truth?"  cried the Cardinal, in a severe tone.  "Yes, for
+you dare not lie to me.  How knew you this?"
+
+"From his attendants, Monsiegneur.  Here are their reports.  They will
+testify to them."
+
+The Cardinal having examined these papers, said:
+
+"We will employ him once more to try our conspirators, and then you shall
+do as you like with him.  I give him to you."
+
+Joseph joyfully pocketed his precious denunciations, and continued:
+
+"Your Eminence speaks of trying men who are still armed and on
+horseback."
+
+"They are not all so.  Read this letter from Monsieur to Chavigny.  He
+asks for pardon.  He dared not address me the first day, and his prayers
+rose no higher than the knees of one of my servants.
+
+     To M. de Chavigny:
+
+     M. DE CHAVIGNY: Although I believe that you are little satisfied
+     with me (and in truth you have reason to be dissatisfied), I do not
+     the less entreat you to endeavor my reconciliation with his
+     Eminence, and rely for this upon the true love you bear me, and
+     which, I believe, is greater than your anger.  You know how much I
+     require to be relieved from the danger I am in.  You have already
+     twice stood my friend with his Eminence.  I swear to you this shall
+     be the last time I give you such an employment.
+                                             GASTON D'ORLEANS.
+
+
+"But the next day he took courage, and sent this to myself,
+
+     To his Excellency the Cardinal-Duc:
+
+     MY COUSIN: This ungrateful M. le Grand is the most guilty man in the
+     world to have displeased you.  The favors he received from his
+     Majesty have always made me doubtful of him and his artifices.  For
+     you, my cousin, I retain my whole esteem.  I am truly repentant at
+     having again been wanting in the fidelity I owe to my Lord the King,
+     and I call God to witness the sincerity with which I shall be for
+     the rest of my life your most faithful friend, with the same
+     devotion that I am, my cousin, your affectionate cousin,
+                                                            GASTON.
+
+and the third to the King.  His project choked him; he could not keep it
+down.  But I am not so easily satisfied.  I must have a free and full
+confession, or I will expel him from the kingdom.  I have written to him
+this morning.
+
+     [MONSIEUR: Since God wills that men should have recourse to a frank
+     and entire confession to be absolved of their faults in this world,
+     I indicate to you the steps you must take to be delivered from this
+     danger.  Your Highness has commenced well; you must continue.  This
+     is all I can say to you.]
+
+"As to the magnificent and powerful Due de Bouillon, sovereign lord of
+Sedan and general-in-chief of the armies in Italy, he has just been
+arrested by his officers in the midst of his soldiers, concealed in a
+truss of straw.  There remain, therefore, only our two young neighbors.
+They imagine they have the camp wholly at their orders, while they really
+have only the red troops.  All the rest, being Monsieur's men, will not
+act, and my troops will arrest them.  However, I have permitted them to
+appear to obey.  If they give the signal at half-past eleven, they will
+be arrested at the first step.  If not, the King will give them up to me
+this evening.  Do not open your eyes so wide.  He will give them up to
+me, I repeat, this night, between midnight and one o'clock.  You see that
+all has been done without you, Joseph.  We can dispense with you very
+well; and truly, all this time, I do not see that we have received any
+great service from you.  You grow negligent."
+
+"Ah, Monseigneur!  did you but know the trouble I have had to discover
+the route of the bearers of the treaty!  I only learned it by risking my
+life between these young people."
+
+The Cardinal laughed contemptuously, leaning back in his chair.
+
+"Thou must have been very ridiculous and very fearful in that box,
+Joseph; I dare say it was the first time in thy life thou ever heardst
+love spoken of.  Dost thou like the language, Father Joseph?  Tell me,
+dost thou clearly understand it?  I doubt whether thou hast formed a very
+refined idea of it."
+
+Richelieu, his arms crossed, looked at his discomfited Capuchin with
+infinite delight, and continued in the scornfully familiar tone of a
+grand seigneur, which he sometimes assumed, pleasing himself with putting
+forth the noblest expressions through the most impure lips:
+
+"Come, now, Joseph, give me a definition of love according to thy idea.
+What can it be--for thou seest it exists out of romances.  This worthy
+youngster undertook these little conspiracies through love.  Thou heardst
+it thyself with throe unworthy ears.  Come, what is love?  For my part,
+I know nothing about it."
+
+The monk was astounded, and looked upon the ground with the stupid eye of
+some base animal.  After long consideration, he replied in a drawling and
+nasal voice:
+
+"It must be a kind of malignant fever which leads the brain astray; but
+in truth, Monseigneur, I have never reflected on it until this moment.
+I have always been embarrassed in speaking to a woman.  I wish women
+could be omitted from society altogether; for I do not see what use they
+are, unless it be to disclose secrets, like the little Duchess or Marion
+de Lorme, whom I can not too strongly recommend to your Eminence.  She
+thought of everything, and herself threw our little prophecy among the
+conspirators with great address.  We have not been without the marvellous
+this time.  As in the siege of Hesdin, all we have to do is to find a
+window through which you may pass on the day of the execution."
+
+     [In 1638, Prince Thomas having raised the siege of Hesdin, the
+     Cardinal was much vexed at it.  A nun of the convent of Mount
+     Calvary had said that the victory would be to the King and Father
+     Joseph, thus wishing it to be believed that Heaven protected the
+     minister.  --Memoires pour l'histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu.]
+
+"This is another of your absurdities, sir," said the Cardinal; "you will
+make me as ridiculous as yourself, if you go on so; I am too powerful to
+need the assistance of Heaven.  Do not let that happen again.  Occupy
+yourself only with the people I consign to you.  I traced your part
+before.  When the master of the horse is taken, you will see him tried
+and executed at Lyons.  I will not be known in this.  This affair is
+beneath me; it is a stone under my feet, upon which I ought not to have
+bestowed so much attention."
+
+Joseph was silent; he could not understand this man, who, surrounded on
+every side by armed enemies, spoke of the future as of a present over
+which he had the entire control, and of the present as a past which he no
+longer feared.  He knew not whether to look upon him as a madman or a
+prophet, above or below the standard of human nature.
+
+His astonishment was redoubled when Chavigny hastily entered, and nearly
+falling, in his heavy boots, over the Cardinal's footstool, exclaimed in
+great agitation:
+
+"Sir, one of your servants has just arrived from Perpignan; and he has
+beheld the camp in an uproar, and your enemies in the saddle."
+
+"They will soon dismount, sir," replied Richelieu, replacing his
+footstool.  "You appear to have lost your equanimity."
+
+"But--but, Monseigneur, must we not warn Monsieur de Fabert?"
+
+"Let him sleep, and go to bed yourself; and you also, Joseph."
+
+"Monseigneur, another strange event has occurred--the King has arrived."
+
+"Indeed, that is extraordinary," said the minister, looking at his watch.
+"I did not expect him these two hours.  Retire, both of you."
+
+A heavy trampling and the clattering of arms announced the arrival of the
+Prince; the folding-doors were thrown open; the guards in the Cardinal's
+service struck the ground thrice with their pikes; and the King appeared.
+
+He entered, supporting himself with a cane on one side, and on the other
+leaning upon the shoulder of his confessor, Father Sirmond, who withdrew,
+and left him with the Cardinal; the latter rose with difficulty, but
+could not advance a step to meet the King, because his legs were bandaged
+and enveloped.  He made a sign that they should assist the King to a seat
+near the fire, facing himself.  Louis XIII fell into an armchair
+furnished with pillows, asked for and drank a glass of cordial, prepared
+to strengthen him against the frequent fainting-fits caused by his malady
+of languor, signed to all to leave the room, and, alone with Richelieu,
+he said in a languid voice:
+
+"I am departing, my dear Cardinal; I feel that I shall soon return to
+God.  I become weaker from day to day; neither the summer nor the
+southern air has restored my strength."
+
+"I shall precede your Majesty," replied the minister.  "You see that
+death has already conquered my limbs; but while I have a head to think
+and a hand to write, I shall be at the service of your Majesty."
+
+"And I am sure it was your intention to add, 'a heart to love me.'"
+
+"Can your Majesty doubt it?" answered the Cardinal, frowning, and biting
+his lips impatiently at this speech.
+
+"Sometimes I doubt it," replied the King.  "Listen: I wish to speak
+openly to you, and to complain of you to yourself.  There are two things
+which have been upon my conscience these three years.  I have never
+mentioned them to you; but I reproached you secretly; and could anything
+have induced me to consent to any proposals contrary to your interest,
+it would be this recollection."
+
+There was in this speech that frankness natural to weak minds, who seek
+by thus making their ruler uneasy, to compensate for the harm they dare
+not do him, and revenge their subjection by a childish controversy.
+
+Richelieu perceived by these words that he had run a great risk; but he
+saw at the same time the necessity of venting all his spleen, and, to
+facilitate the explosion of these important avowals, he accumulated all
+the professions he thought most calculated to provoke the King.
+
+"No, no!"  his Majesty at length exclaimed, "I shall believe nothing
+until you have explained those two things, which are always in my
+thoughts, which were lately mentioned to me, and which I can justify by
+no reasoning.  I mean the trial of Urbain Grandier, of which I was never
+well informed, and the reason for the hatred you bore to my unfortunate
+mother, even to her very ashes."
+
+"Is this all, Sire?"  said Richelieu.  "Are these my only faults?
+They are easily explained.  The first it was necessary to conceal from
+your Majesty because of its horrible and disgusting details of scandal.
+There was certainly an art employed, which can not be looked upon as
+guilty, in concealing, under the title of 'magic,' crimes the very names
+of which are revolting to modesty, the recital of which would have
+revealed dangerous mysteries to the innocent; this was a holy deceit
+practised to hide these impurities from the eyes of the people."
+
+"Enough, enough, Cardinal," said Louis XIII, turning away his head, and
+looking downward, while a blush covered his face; "I can not hear more.
+I understand you; these explanations would disgust me.  I approve your
+motives; 'tis well.  I had not been told that; they had concealed these
+dreadful vices from me.  Are you assured of the proofs of these crimes?"
+
+"I have them all in my possession, Sire; and as to the glorious Queen,
+Marie de Medicis, I am surprised that your Majesty can forget how much I
+was attached to her.  Yes, I do not fear to acknowledge it; it is to her
+I owe my elevation.  She was the first who deigned to notice the Bishop
+of Luton, then only twenty-two years of age, to place me near her.  What
+have I not suffered when she compelled me to oppose her in your Majesty's
+interest!  But this sacrifice was made for you.  I never had, and never
+shall have, to regret it."
+
+"'Tis well for you, but for me!"  said the King, bitterly.
+
+"Ah, Sire," exclaimed the Cardinal, "did not the Son of God himself set
+you an example?  It is by the model of every perfection that we regulate
+our counsels; and if the monument due to the precious remains of your
+mother is not yet raised, Heaven is my witness that the works were
+retarded through the fear of afflicting your heart by bringing back the
+recollection of her death.  But blessed be the day in which I have been
+permitted to speak to you on the subject!  I myself shall say the first
+mass at Saint-Denis, when we shall see her deposited there, if Providence
+allows me the strength."
+
+The countenance of the King assumed a more affable yet still cold
+expression; and the Cardinal, thinking that he could go no farther that
+evening in persuasion, suddenly resolved to make a more powerful move,
+and to attack the enemy in front.  Still keeping his eyes firmly fixed
+upon the King, he said, coldly:
+
+"And was it for this you consented to my death?"
+
+"Me!"  said the King.  "You have been deceived; I have indeed heard of a
+conspiracy, and I wished to speak to you about it; but I have commanded
+nothing against you."
+
+"'The conspirators do not say so, Sire; but I am bound to believe your
+Majesty, and I am glad for your sake that men were deceived.  But what
+advice were you about to condescend to give me?"
+
+"I--I wished to tell you frankly, and between ourselves, that you will do
+well to beware of Monsieur--"
+
+"Ah, Sire, I can not now heed it; for here is a letter which he has just
+sent to me for you.  He seems to have been guilty even toward your
+Majesty."
+
+The King read in astonishment:
+
+     MONSEIGNEUR: I am much grieved at having once more failed in the
+     fidelity which I owe to your Majesty.  I humbly entreat you to allow
+     me to ask a thousand pardons, with the assurances of my submission
+     and repentance.
+               Your very humble servant,
+                                        GASTON.
+
+"What does this mean?"  cried Louis; "dare they arm against me also?"
+
+"Also!"  muttered the Cardinal, biting his lips; "yes, Sire, also; and
+this makes me believe, to a certain degree, this little packet of
+papers."
+
+While speaking, he drew a roll of parchment from a piece of hollowed
+elder, and opened it before the eyes of the King.
+
+"This is simply a treaty with Spain, which I think does not bear the
+signature of your Majesty.  You may see the twenty articles all in due
+form.  Everything is here arranged--the place of safety, the number of
+troops, the supplies of men and money."
+
+"The traitors!"  cried the King, in great agitation; "they must be
+seized.  My brother renounces them and repents; but do not fail to arrest
+the Duc de Bouillon."
+
+"It shall be done, Sire."
+
+"That will be difficult, in the middle of the army in Italy."
+
+"I will answer with my head for his arrest, Sire; but is there not
+another name to be added?"
+
+"Who--what--Cinq-Mars?"  inquired the King, hesitating.
+
+"Exactly so, Sire," answered the Cardinal.
+
+"I see--but--I think--we might--"
+
+"Hear me!"  exclaimed Richelieu, in a voice of thunder; "all must be
+settled to-day.  Your favorite is mounted at the head of his party;
+choose between him and me.  Yield up the boy to the man, or the man to
+the boy; there is no alternative."
+
+"And what will you do if I consent?"  said the King.
+
+"I will have his head and that of his friend."
+
+"Never!  it is impossible!"  replied the King, with horror, as he
+relapsed into the same state of irresolution he evinced when with Cinq-
+Mars against Richelieu.  "He is my friend as well as you; my heart bleeds
+at the idea of his death.  Why can you not both agree?  Why this
+division?  It is that which has led him to this.  You have between you
+brought me to the brink of despair; you have made me the most miserable
+of men."
+
+Louis hid his head in his hands while speaking, and perhaps he shed
+tears; but the inflexible minister kept his eyes upon him as if watching
+his prey, and without remorse, without giving the King time for
+reflection--on the contrary, profiting by this emotion to speak yet
+longer.
+
+"And is it thus," he continued, in a harsh and cold voice, "that you
+remember the commandments of God communicated to you by the mouth of your
+confessor?  You told me one day that the Church expressly commanded you
+to reveal to your prime minister all that you might hear against him;
+yet I have never heard from you of my intended death!  It was necessary
+that more faithful friends should apprise me of this conspiracy; that the
+guilty themselves through the mercy of Providence should themselves make
+the avowal of their fault.  One only, the most guilty, yet the least of
+all, still resists, and it is he who has conducted the whole; it is he
+who would deliver France into the power of the foreigner, who would
+overthrow in one single day my labors of twenty years.  He would call up
+the Huguenots of the south, invite to arms all orders of the State,
+revive crushed pretensions, and, in fact, renew the League which was put
+down by your father.  It is that--do not deceive yourself--it is that
+which raises so many heads against you.  Are you prepared for the combat?
+If so, where are your arms?"
+
+The King, quite overwhelmed, made no reply; he still covered his face
+with his hands.  The stony-hearted Cardinal crossed his arms and
+continued:
+
+"I fear that you imagine it is for myself I speak.  Do you really think
+that I do not know my own powers, and that I fear such an adversary?
+Really, I know not what prevents me from letting you act for yourself--
+from transferring the immense burden of State affairs to the shoulders of
+this youth.  You may imagine that during the twenty years I have been
+acquainted with your court, I have not forgotten to assure myself a
+retreat where, in spite of you, I could now go to live the six months
+which perhaps remain to me of life.  It would be a curious employment for
+me to watch the progress of such a reign.  What answer would you return,
+for instance, when all the inferior potentates, regaining their station,
+no longer kept in subjection by me, shall come in your brother's name to
+say to you, as they dared to say to Henri IV on his throne: 'Divide with
+us all the hereditary governments and sovereignties, and we shall be
+content.'--[Memoires de Sully, 1595.]-- You will doubtless accede to
+their request; and it is the least you can do for those who will have
+delivered you from Richelieu.  It will, perhaps, be fortunate, for to
+govern the Ile-de-France, which they will no doubt allow you as the
+original domain, your new minister will not require many secretaries."
+
+While speaking thus, he furiously pushed the huge table, which nearly
+filled the room, and was laden with papers and numerous portfolios.
+
+Louis was aroused from his apathetic meditation by the excessive audacity
+of this discourse.  He raised his head, and seemed to have instantly
+formed one resolution for fear he should adopt another.
+
+"Well, sir," said he, "my answer is that I will reign alone."
+
+"Be it so!"  replied Richelieu.  "But I ought to give you notice that
+affairs are at present somewhat complicated.  This is the hour when I
+generally commence my ordinary avocations."
+
+"I will act in your place," said Louis.  "I will open the portfolios and
+issue my commands."
+
+"Try, then," said Richelieu.  "I shall retire; and if anything causes you
+to hesitate, you can send for me."
+
+He rang a bell.  In the same instant, and as if they had awaited the
+signal, four vigorous footmen entered, and carried him and his chair into
+another apartment, for we have before remarked that he was unable to
+walk.  While passing through the chambers where the secretaries were at
+work, he called out in a loud voice:
+
+"You will receive his Majesty's commands."
+
+The King remained alone, strong in his new resolution, and, proud in
+having once resisted, he became anxious immediately to plunge into
+political business.  He walked around the immense table, and beheld as
+many portfolios as they then counted empires, kingdoms, and States in
+Europe.  He opened one and found it divided into sections equalling in
+number the subdivisions of the country to which it related.  All was in
+order, but in alarming order for him, because each note only referred to
+the very essence of the business it alluded to, and related only to the
+exact point of its then relations with France.  These laconic notes
+proved as enigmatic to Louis, as did the letters in cipher which covered
+the table.  Here all was confusion.  An edict of banishment and
+expropriation of the Huguenots of La Rochelle was mingled with treaties
+with Gustavus Adolphus and the Huguenots of the north against the empire.
+Notes on General Bannier and Wallenstein, the Duc de Weimar, and Jean de
+Witt were mingled with extracts from letters taken from the casket of the
+Queen, the list of the necklaces and jewels they contained, and the
+double interpretation which might be put upon every phrase of her notes.
+Upon the margin of one of these letters was written: "For four lines in a
+man's handwriting he might be criminally tried."  Farther on were
+scattered denunciations against the Huguenots; the republican plans they
+had drawn up; the division of France into departments under the annual
+dictatorship of a chief.  The seal of this projected State was affixed to
+it, representing an angel leaning upon a cross, and holding in his hand a
+Bible, which he raised to his forehead.  By the side was a document which
+contained a list of those cardinals the pope had selected the same day as
+the Bishop of Lurgon (Richelieu).  Among them was to be found the Marquis
+de Bedemar, ambassador and conspirator at Venice.
+
+Louis XIII exhausted his powers in vain over the details of another
+period, seeking unsuccessfully for any documents which might allude to
+the present conspiracy, to enable him to perceive its true meaning, and
+all that had been attempted against him, when a diminutive man, of an
+olive complexion, who stooped much, entered the cabinet with a measured
+step.  This was a Secretary of State named Desnoyers.  He advanced,
+bowing.
+
+"May I be permitted to address your Majesty on the affairs of Portugal?"
+said he.
+
+"And consequently of Spain?"  said Louis.  "Portugal is a province of
+Spain."
+
+"Of Portugal," reiterated Desnoyers.  "Here is the manifesto we have this
+moment received."  And he read, "Don John, by the grace of God, King of
+Portugal and of Algarves, kingdoms on this side of Africa, lord over
+Guinea, by conquest, navigation, and trade with Arabia, Persia, and the
+Indies--"
+
+"What is all that?"  said the King.  "Who talks in this manner?"
+
+"The Duke of Braganza, King of Portugal, crowned already some time by a
+man whom they call Pinto.  Scarcely has he ascended the throne than he
+offers assistance to the revolted Catalonians."
+
+"Has Catalonia also revolted?  The King, Philip IV, no longer has the
+Count-Duke for his Prime-Minister?"
+
+"Just the contrary, Sire.  It is on this very account.  Here is the
+declaration of the States-General of Catalonia to his Catholic Majesty,
+signifying that the whole country will take up arms against his
+sacrilegious and excommunicated troops.  The King of Portugal--"
+
+"Say the Duke of Braganza!"  replied Louis.  "I recognize no rebels."
+
+"The Duke of Braganza, then," coldly repeated the Secretary of State,
+"sends his nephew, Don Ignacio de Mascarenas, to the principality of
+Catalonia, to seize the protection (and it may be the sovereignty) of
+that country, which he would add to that he has just reconquered.  Your
+Majesty's troops are before Perpignan--"
+
+"Well, and what of that?"  said Louis.
+
+"The Catalonians are more disposed toward France than toward Portugal,
+and there is still time to deprive the King of-the Duke of Portugal, I
+should say--of this protectorship."
+
+"What!  I assist rebels!  You dare--"
+
+"Such was the intention of his Eminence," continued the Secretary of
+State.  "Spain and France are nearly at open war, and Monsieur d'Olivares
+has not hesitated to offer the assistance of his Catholic Majesty to the
+Huguenots."
+
+"Very good.  I will consider it," said the King.  "Leave me."
+
+"Sire, the States-General of Catalonia are in a dilemma.  The troops from
+Aragon march against them."
+
+"We shall see.  I will come to a decision in a quarter of an hour,"
+answered Louis XIII.
+
+The little Secretary of State left the apartment discontented and
+discouraged.  In his place Chavigny immediately appeared, holding a
+portfolio, on which were emblazoned the arms of England.  "Sire," said
+he, "I have to request your Majesty's commands upon the affairs of
+England.  The Parliamentarians, commanded by the Earl of Essex, have
+raised the siege of Gloucester.  Prince Rupert has at Newbury fought a
+disastrous battle, and of little profit to his Britannic Majesty.  The
+Parliament is prolonged.  All the principal cities take part with it,
+together with all the seaports and the Presbyterian population.  King
+Charles I implores assistance, which the Queen can no longer obtain from
+Holland."
+
+"Troops must be sent to my brother of England," said Louis; but he wanted
+to look over the preceding papers, and casting his eyes over the notes of
+the Cardinal, he found that under a former request of the King of England
+he had written with his own hand:
+
+"We must consider some time and wait.  The Commons are strong.  King
+Charles reckons upon the Scots; they will sell him.
+
+"We must be cautious.  A warlike man has been over to see Vincennes, and
+he has said that 'princes ought never to be struck, except on the head.'"
+
+The Cardinal had added "remarkable," but he had erased this word and
+substituted "formidable."  Again, beneath:
+
+"This man rules Fairfax.  He plays an inspired part.  He will be a great
+man--assistance refused--money lost."
+
+The King then said, "No, no!  do nothing hastily.  I shall wait."
+
+"But, Sire," said Chavigny, "events pass rapidly.  If the courier be
+delayed, the King's destruction may happen a year sooner."
+
+"Have they advanced so far?"  asked Louis.
+
+"In the camp of the Independents they preach up the republic with the
+Bible in their hands.  In that of the Royalists, they dispute for
+precedency, and amuse themselves."
+
+"But one turn of good fortune may save everything?"
+
+"The Stuarts are not fortunate, Sire," answered Chavigny, respectfully,
+but in a tone which left ample room for consideration.
+
+"Leave me," said the King, with some displeasure.
+
+The State-Secretary slowly retired.
+
+It was then that Louis XIII beheld himself as he really was, and was
+terrified at the nothingness he found in himself.  He at first stared at
+the mass of papers which surrounded him, passing from one to the other,
+finding dangers on every side, and finding them still greater with the
+remedies he invented.  He rose; and changing his place, he bent over, or
+rather threw himself upon, a geographical map of Europe.  There he found
+all his fears concentrated.  In the north, the south, the very centre of
+the kingdom, revolutions appeared to him like so many Eumenides.  In
+every country he thought he saw a volcano ready to burst forth.  He
+imagined he heard cries of distress from kings, who appealed to him for
+help, and the furious shouts of the populace.  He fancied he felt the
+territory of France trembling and crumbling beneath his feet.  His feeble
+and fatigued sight failed him.  His weak head was attacked by vertigo,
+which threw all his blood back upon his heart.
+
+"Richelieu!" he cried, in a stifled voice, while he rang a bell; "summon
+the Cardinal immediately."
+
+And he swooned in an armchair.
+
+When the King opened his eyes, revived by salts and potent essences which
+had been applied to his lips and temples, he for one instant beheld
+himself surrounded by pages, who withdrew as soon as he opened his eyes,
+and he was once more left alone with the Cardinal.  The impassible
+minister had had his chair placed by that of the King, as a physician
+would seat himself by the bedside of his patient, and fixed his sparkling
+and scrutinizing eyes upon the pale countenance of Louis.  As soon as his
+victim could hear him, he renewed his fearful discourse in a hollow
+voice:
+
+"You have recalled me.  What would you with me?"
+
+Louis, who was reclining on the pillow, half opened his eyes, fixed them
+upon Richelieu, and hastily closed them again.  That bony head, armed
+with two flaming eyes, and terminating in a pointed and grizzly beard,
+the cap and vestments of the color of blood and flames,--all appeared
+to him like an infernal spirit.
+
+"You must reign," he said, in a languid voice.
+
+"But will you give me up Cinq-Mars and De Thou?"  again urged the
+implacable minister, bending forward to read in the dull eyes of the
+Prince, as an avaricious heir follows up, even to the tomb, the last
+glimpses of the will of a dying relative.
+
+"You must reign," repeated the King, turning away his head.
+
+"Sign then," said Richelieu; "the contents of this are, 'This is my
+command--to take them, dead or alive.'"
+
+Louis, whose head still reclined on the raised back of the chair,
+suffered his hand to fall upon the fatal paper, and signed it.  "For
+pity's sake, leave me; I am dying!"  he said.
+
+"That is not yet all," continued he whom men call the great politician.
+"I place no reliance on you; I must first have some guarantee and
+assurance.  Sign this paper, and I will leave you:
+
+     "When the King shall go to visit the Cardinal, the guards of the
+     latter shall remain under arms; and when the Cardinal shall visit
+     the King, the guards of the Cardinal shall share the same post with
+     those of his Majesty.
+
+"Again:
+
+     "His Majesty undertakes to place the two princes, his sons, in the
+     Cardinal's hands, as hostages of the good faith of his attachment."
+
+"My children!"  exclaimed Louis, raising his head, "dare you?"
+
+"Would you rather that I should retire?"  said Richelieu.
+
+The King again signed.
+
+"Is all finished now?"  he inquired, with a deep sigh.
+
+All was not finished; one other grief was still in reserve for him.  The
+door was suddenly opened, and Cinq-Mars entered.  It was the Cardinal who
+trembled now.
+
+"What would you here, sir?"  said he, seizing the bell to ring for
+assistance.
+
+The master of the horse was as pale as the King, and without
+condescending to answer Richelieu, he advanced steadily toward Louis
+XIII, who looked at him with the air of a man who has just received a
+sentence of death.
+
+"You would, Sire, find it difficult to have me arrested, for I have
+twenty thousand men under my command," said Henri d'Effiat, in a sweet
+and subdued voice.
+
+"Alas, Cinq-Mars!"  replied the King, sadly; "is it thou who hast been
+guilty of these crimes?"
+
+"Yes, Sire; and I also bring you my sword, for no doubt you came here to
+surrender me," said he, unbuckling his sword, and laying it at the feet
+of the King, who fixed his eyes upon the floor without making any reply.
+
+Cinq-Mars smiled sadly, but not bitterly, for he no longer belonged to
+this earth.  Then, looking contemptuously at Richelieu, "I surrender
+because I wish to die, but I am not conquered."
+
+The Cardinal clenched his fist with passion; but he restrained his fury.
+"Who are your accomplices?"  he demanded.  Cinq-Mars looked steadfastly
+at Louis, and half opened his lips to speak.  The King bent down his
+head, and felt at that moment a torture unknown to all other men.
+
+"I have none," said Cinq-Mars, pitying the King; and he slowly left the
+apartment.  He stopped in the first gallery.  Fabert and all the
+gentlemen rose on seeing him.  He walked up to the commander, and said:
+
+"Sir, order these gentlemen to arrest me!"
+
+They looked at each other, without daring to approach him.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am your prisoner; yes, gentlemen, I am without my sword, and
+I repeat to you that I am the King's prisoner."
+
+"I do not understand what I see," said the General; "there are two of you
+who surrender, and I have no instruction to arrest any one."
+
+"Two!"  said Cinq-Mars; "the other is doubtless De Thou.  Alas!  I
+recognize him by this devotion."
+
+"And had I not also guessed your intention?"  exclaimed the latter,
+coming forward, and throwing himself into his arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE PRISONERS
+
+Amoung those old chateaux of which France is every year deprived
+regretfully, as of flowers from her, crown, there was one of a grim and
+savage appearance upon the left bank of the Saline.  It looked like a
+formidable sentinel placed at one of the gates of Lyons, and derived its
+name from an enormous rock, known as Pierre-Encise, which terminates in a
+peak--a sort of natural pyramid, the summit of which overhanging the
+river in former times, they say, joined the rocks which may still be seen
+on the opposite bank, forming the natural arch of a bridge; but time, the
+waters, and the hand of man have left nothing standing but the ancient
+mass of granite which formed the pedestal of the now destroyed fortress.
+
+The archbishops of Lyons, as the temporal lords of the city, had built
+and formerly resided in this castle.  It afterward became a fortress,
+and during the reign of Louis XIII a State prison.  One colossal tower,
+where the daylight could only penetrate through three long loopholes,
+commanded the edifice, and some irregular buildings surrounded it with
+their massive walls, whose lines and angles followed the form of the
+immense and perpendicular rock.
+
+It was here that the Cardinal, jealous of his prey, determined to
+imprison his young enemies, and to conduct them himself.
+
+Allowing Louis to precede him to Paris, he removed his captives from
+Narbonne, dragging them in his train to ornament his last triumph, and
+embarking on the Rhone at Tarascon, nearly, at the mouth of the river, as
+if to prolong the pleasure of revenge which men have dared to call that
+of the gods, displayed to the eyes of the spectators on both sides of the
+river the luxury of his hatred; he slowly proceeded on his course up the
+river in barges with gilded oars and emblazoned with his armorial
+bearings, reclining in the first and followed by his two victims in the
+second, which was fastened to his own by a long chain.
+
+Often in the evening, when the heat of the day was passed, the awnings of
+the two boats were removed, and in the one Richelieu might be seen, pale,
+and seated in the stern; in that which followed, the two young prisoners,
+calm and collected, supported each other, watching the passage of the
+rapid stream.  Formerly the soldiers of Caesar, who encamped on the same
+shores, would have thought they beheld the inflexible boatman of the
+infernal regions conducting the friendly shades of Castor and Pollux.
+Christians dared not even reflect, or see a priest leading his two
+enemies to the scaffold; it was the first minister who passed.
+
+Thus he went on his way until he left his victims under guard at the
+identical city in which the late conspirators had doomed him to perish.
+Thus he loved to defy Fate herself, and to plant a trophy on the very
+spot which had been selected for his tomb.
+
+     "He was borne," says an ancient manuscript journal of this year,
+     "along the river Rhone in a boat in which a wooden chamber had been
+     constructed, lined with crimson fluted velvet, the flooring of which
+     was of gold.  The same boat contained an antechamber decorated in
+     the same manner.  The prow and stern of the boat were occupied by
+     soldiers and guards, wearing scarlet coats embroidered with gold,
+     silver, and silk; and many lords of note.  His Eminence occupied a
+     bed hung with purple taffetas.  Monseigneur the Cardinal Bigni, and
+     Messeigneurs the Bishops of Nantes and Chartres, were there, with
+     many abbes and gentlemen in other boats.  Preceding his vessel, a
+     boat sounded the passages, and another boat followed, filled with
+     arquebusiers and officers to command them.  When they approached any
+     isle, they sent soldiers to inspect it, to discover whether it was
+     occupied by any suspicious persons; and, not meeting any, they
+     guarded the shore until two boats which followed had passed.  They
+     were filled with the nobility and well-armed soldiers.
+
+     "Afterward came the boat of his Eminence, to the stern of which was
+     attached a little boat, which conveyed MM. de Thou and Cinq-Mars,
+     guarded by an officer of the King's guard and twelve guards from the
+     regiment of his Eminence.  Three vessels, containing the clothes and
+     plate of his Eminence, with several gentlemen and soldiers, followed
+     the boats.
+
+     "Two companies of light-horsemen followed the banks of the Rhone in
+     Dauphin, and as many on the Languedoc and Vivarais side, and a noble
+     regiment of foot, who preceded his Eminence in the towns which he
+     was to enter, or in which he was to sleep.  It was pleasant to
+     listen to the trumpets, which, played in Dauphine, were answered by
+     those in Vivarais, and repeated by the echoes of our rocks.  It
+     seemed as if all were trying which could play best."--[See Notes.]
+
+In the middle of a night of the month of September, while everything
+appeared to slumber in the impregnable tower which contained the
+prisoners, the door of their outer chamber turned noiselessly on its
+hinges, and a man appeared on the threshold, clad in a brown robe
+confined round his waist by a cord.  His feet were encased in sandals,
+and his hand grasped a large bunch of keys; it was Joseph.  He looked
+cautiously round without advancing, and contemplated in silence the
+apartment occupied by the master of the horse.  Thick carpets covered the
+floor, and large and splendid hangings concealed the walls of the prison;
+a bed hung with red damask was prepared, but it was unoccupied.  Seated
+near a high chimney in a large armchair, attired in a long gray robe,
+similar in form to that of a priest, his head bent down, and his eyes
+fixed upon a little cross of gold by the flickering light of a lamp, he
+was absorbed in so deep a meditation that the Capuchin had leisure to
+approach him closely, and confront the prisoner before he perceived him.
+Suddenly, however, Cinq-Mars raised his head and exclaimed, "Wretch, what
+do you here?"
+
+"Young man, you are violent," answered the mysterious intruder, in a low
+voice.  "Two months' imprisonment ought to have been enough to calm you.
+I come to tell you things of great importance.  Listen to me!  I have
+thought much of you; and I do not hate you so much as you imagine.  The
+moments are precious.  I will tell you all in a few words: in two hours
+you will be interrogated, tried, and condemned to death with your friend.
+It can not be otherwise, for all will be finished the same day."
+
+"I know it," answered Cinq-Mars; "and I am prepared."
+
+"Well, then, I can still release you from this affair.  I have reflected
+deeply, as I told you; and I am here to make a proposal which can but
+give you satisfaction.  The Cardinal has but six months to live.  Let us
+not be mysterious; we must speak openly.  You see where I have brought
+you to serve him; and you can judge by that the point to which I would
+conduct him to serve you.  If you wish it, we can cut short the six
+months of his life which still remain.  The King loves you, and will
+recall you with joy when he finds you still live.  You may long live,
+and be powerful and happy, if you will protect me, and make me cardinal."
+
+Astonishment deprived the young prisoner of speech.  He could not
+understand such language, and seemed to be unable to descend to it from
+his higher meditations.  All that he could say was:
+
+"Your benefactor, Richelieu?"
+
+The Capuchin smiled, and, drawing nearer, continued in an undertone:
+
+"Policy admits of no benefits; it contains nothing but interest.  A man
+employed by a minister is no more bound to be grateful than a horse whose
+rider prefers him to others.  My pace has been convenient to him; so much
+the better.  Now it is my interest to throw him from the saddle.  Yes,
+this man loves none but himself.  I now see that he has deceived me by
+continually retarding my elevation; but once again, I possess the sure
+means for your escape in silence.  I am the master here.  I will remove
+the men in whom he trusts, and replace them by others whom he has
+condemned to die, and who are near at hand confined in the northern
+tower--the Tour des Oubliettes, which overhangs the river.  His creatures
+will occupy their places.  I will recommend a physician--an empyric who
+is devoted to me--to the illustrious Cardinal, who has been given over by
+the most scientific in Paris.  If you will unite with me, he shall convey
+to him a universal and eternal remedy."
+
+"Away!"  exclaimed Cinq-Mars.  "Leave me, thou infernal monk!  No, thou
+art like no other man!  Thou glidest with a noiseless and furtive step
+through the darkness; thou traversest the walls to preside at secret
+crimes; thou placest thyself between the hearts of lovers to separate
+them eternally.  Who art thou?  Thou resemblest a tormented spirit of the
+damned!"
+
+"Romantic boy!"  answered Joseph; "you would have possessed high
+attainments had it not been for your false notions.  There is perhaps
+neither damnation nor soul.  If the dead returned to complain of their
+fate, I should have a thousand around me; and I have never seen any,
+even in my dreams."
+
+"Monster!"  muttered Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Words again!"  said Joseph; "there is neither monster nor virtuous man.
+You and De Thou, who pride yourselves on what you call virtue--you have
+failed in causing the death of perhaps a hundred thousand men--at once
+and in the broad daylight--for no end, while Richelieu and I have caused
+the death of far fewer, one by one, and by night, to found a great power.
+Would you remain pure and virtuous, you must not interfere with other
+men; or, rather, it is more reasonable to see that which is, and to say
+with me, it is possible that there is no such thing as a soul.  We are
+the sons of chance; but relative to other men, we have passions which we
+must satisfy."
+
+"I breathe again!"  exclaimed Cinq-Mars; "he believes not in God!"
+
+Joseph continued:
+
+"Richelieu, you, and I were born ambitious; it followed, then, that
+everything must be sacrificed to this idea."
+
+"Wretched man, do not compare me to thyself!"
+
+"It is the plain truth, nevertheless," replied the Capuchin'; "only you
+now see that our system was better than yours."
+
+"Miserable wretch, it was for love--"
+
+"No, no!  it was not that; here are mere words again.  You have perhaps
+imagined it was so; but it was for your own advancement.  I have heard
+you speak to the young girl.  You thought but of yourselves; you do not
+love each other.  She thought but of her rank, and you of your ambition.
+One loves in order to hear one's self called perfect, and to be adored;
+it is still the same egoism."
+
+"Cruel serpent!"  cried Cinq-Mars; "is it not enough that thou hast
+caused our deaths?  Why dost thou come here to cast thy venom upon the
+life thou hast taken from us?  What demon has suggested to thee thy
+horrible analysis of hearts?"
+
+"Hatred of everything which is superior to myself," replied Joseph, with
+a low and hollow laugh, "and the desire to crush those I hate under my
+feet, have made me ambitious and ingenious in finding the weakness of
+your dreams."
+
+"Just Heaven, dost thou hear him?"  exclaimed Cinq-Mars, rising and
+extending his arms upward.
+
+The solitude of his prison; the pious conversations of his friend; and,
+above all, the presence of death, which, like the light of an unknown
+star, paints in other colors the objects we are accustomed to see;
+meditations on eternity; and (shall we say it?) the great efforts he had
+made to change his heartrending regrets into immortal hopes, and to
+direct to God all that power of love which had led him astray upon earth-
+all this combined had worked a strange revolution in him; and like those
+ears of corn which ripen suddenly on receiving one ray from the sun, his
+soul had acquired light, exalted by the mysterious influence of death.
+
+"Just Heaven!"  he repeated, "if this wretch and his master are human,
+can I also be a man?  Behold, O God, behold two distinct ambitions--the
+one egoistical and bloody, the other devoted and unstained; theirs roused
+by hatred, and ours inspired by love.  Look down, O Lord, judge, and
+pardon!  Pardon, for we have greatly erred in walking but for a single
+day in the same paths which, on earth, possess but one name to whatever
+end it may tend!"
+
+Joseph interrupted him harshly, stamping his foot on the ground:
+
+"When you have finished your prayer," said he, "you will perhaps inform
+me whether you will assist me; and I will instantly--"
+
+"Never, impure wretch, never!"  said Henri d'Effiat.  "I will never unite
+with you in an assassination.  I refused to do so when powerful, and upon
+yourself."
+
+"You were wrong; you would have been master now."
+
+"And what happiness should I find in my power when shared as it must be
+by a woman who does not understand me; who loved me feebly, and prefers a
+crown?"
+
+"Inconceivable folly!"  said the Capuchin, laughing.
+
+"All with her; nothing without her--that was my desire."
+
+"It is from obstinacy and vanity that you persist; it is impossible,"
+replied Joseph.  "It is not in nature."
+
+"Thou who wouldst deny the spirit of self-sacrifice," answered Cinq-Mars;
+"dost thou understand that of my friend?"
+
+"It does not exist; he follows you because--"
+
+Here the Capuchin, slightly embarrassed, reflected an instant.
+
+"Because--because--he has formed you; you are his work; he is attached to
+you by the self-love of an author.  He was accustomed to lecture you; and
+he felt that he should not find another pupil so docile to listen to and
+applaud him.  Constant habit has persuaded him that his life was bound to
+yours; it is something of that kind.  He will accompany you mechanically.
+Besides, all is not yet finished; we shall see the end and the
+examination.  He will certainly deny all knowledge of the conspiracy."
+
+"He will not deny it!"  exclaimed Cinq-Mars, impetuously.
+
+"He knew it, then?  You confess it," said Joseph, triumphantly; "you have
+not said as much before."
+
+"O Heaven, what have I done!"  gasped Cinq-Mars, hiding his face.
+
+"Calm yourself; he is saved, notwithstanding this avowal, if you accept
+my offer."
+
+D'Effiat remained silent for a short time.
+
+The Capuchin continued:
+
+"Save your friend.  The King's favor awaits you, and perhaps the love
+which has erred for a moment."
+
+"Man, or whatever else thou art, if thou hast in thee anything resembling
+a heart," answered the prisoner, "save him!  He is the purest of created
+beings; but convey him far away while yet he sleeps, for should he awake,
+thy endeavors would be vain."
+
+"What good will that do me?"  said the Capuchin, laughing.  "It is you
+and your favor that I want."
+
+
+The impetuous Cinq-Mars rose, and, seizing Joseph by the arm, eying him
+with a terrible look, said:
+
+"I degraded him in interceding with thee for him."  He continued, raising
+the tapestry which separated his apartment from that of his friend,
+"Come, and doubt, if thou canst, devotion and the immortality of the
+soul.  Compare the uneasiness and misery of thy triumph with the calmness
+of our defeat, the meanness of thy reign with the grandeur of our
+captivity, thy sanguinary vigils to the slumbers of the just."
+
+A solitary lamp threw its light on De Thou.  The young man was kneeling
+on a cushion, surmounted by a large ebony crucifix.  He seemed to have
+fallen asleep while praying.  His head, inclining backward, was still
+raised toward the cross.  His pale lips wore a calm and divine smile.
+
+"Holy Father, how he sleeps!"  exclaimed the astonished Capuchin,
+thoughtlessly uniting to his frightful discourse the sacred name he every
+day pronounced.  He suddenly retired some paces, as if dazzled by a
+heavenly vision.
+
+"Nonsense, nonsense!"  he said, shaking his head, and passing his hand
+rapidly over his face.  "All this is childishness.  It would overcome me
+if I reflected on it.  These ideas may serve as opium to produce a calm.
+But that is not the question; say yes or no."
+
+"No," said Cinq-Mars, pushing him to the door by the shoulder.  "I will
+not accept life; and I do not regret having compromised De Thou, for he
+would not have bought his life at the price of an assassination.  And
+when he yielded at Narbonne, it was not that he might escape at Lyons."
+
+"Then wake him, for here come the judges," said the furious Capuchin, in
+a sharp, piercing voice.
+
+Lighted by flambeaux, and preceded by a detachment of the Scotch guards,
+fourteen judges entered, wrapped in long robes, and whose features were
+not easily distinguished.  They seated themselves in silence on the right
+and left of the huge chamber.  They were the judges delegated by the
+Cardinal to judge this sad and solemn affair--all true men to the
+Cardinal Richelieu, and in his confidence, who from Tarascon had chosen
+and instructed them.  He had the Chancellor Seguier brought to Lyons, to
+avoid, as he stated in the instructions he sent by Chavigny to the King
+Louis XIII--"to avoid all the delays which would take place if he were
+not present.  M. de Mayillac," he adds, "was at Nantes for the trial of
+Chulais, M. de Chateau-Neuf at Toulouse, superintending the death of M.
+de Montmorency, and M. de Bellievre at Paris, conducting the trial of M.
+de Biron.  The authority and intelligence of these gentlemen in forms of
+justice are indispensable."
+
+The Chancellor arrived with all speed.  But at this moment he was
+informed that he was not to appear, for fear that he might be influenced
+by the memory of his ancient friendship for the prisoner, whom he only
+saw tete-a-tete.  The commissioners and himself had previously and
+rapidly received the cowardly depositions of the Duc d'Orleans, at
+Villefranche, in Beaujolais, and then at Vivey,--[House which belonged to
+an Abbe d'Esnay, brother of M. de Villeroy, called Montresor.] two miles
+from Lyons, where this wretched prince had received orders to go, begging
+forgiveness, and trembling, although surrounded by his followers, whom
+from very pity he had been allowed to retain, carefully watched, however,
+by the French and Swiss guards.  The Cardinal had dictated to him his
+part and answers word for word; and in consideration of this docility,
+they had exempted him in form from the painful task of confronting MM. de
+Cinq-Mars and De Thou.  The chancellor and commissioners had also
+prepared M. de Bouillon, and, strong with their preliminary work, they
+visited in all their strength the two young criminals whom they had
+determined not to save.
+
+History has only handed down to us the names of the State counsellors who
+accompanied Pierre Seguier, but not those of the other commissioners, of
+whom it is only mentioned that there were six from the parliament of
+Grenoble, and two presidents.  The counsellor, or reporter of the State,
+Laubardemont, who had directed them in all, was at their head.  Joseph
+often whispered to them with the most studied politeness, glancing at
+Laubardemont with a ferocious sneer.
+
+It was arranged that an armchair should serve as a bar; and all were
+silent in expectation of the prisoner's answer.
+
+He spoke in a soft and clear voice:
+
+"Say to Monsieur le Chancelier that I have the right of appeal to the
+parliament of Paris, and to object to my judges, because two of them are
+my declared enemies, and at their head one of my friends, Monsieur de
+Seguier himself, whom I maintained in his charge.
+
+"But I will spare you much trouble, gentlemen, by pleading guilty to the
+whole charge of conspiracy, arranged and conducted by myself alone.  It
+is my wish to die.  I have nothing to add for myself; but if you would be
+just, you will not harm the life of him whom the King has pronounced to
+be the most honest man in France, and who dies for my sake alone."
+
+"Summon him," said Laubardemont.
+
+Two guards entered the apartment of De Thou, and led him forth.  He
+advanced, and bowed gravely, while an angelical smile played upon his
+lips.  Embracing Cinq-Mars, "Here at last is our day of glory," said he.
+"We are about to gain heaven and eternal happiness."
+
+"We understand," said Laubardemont, "we have been given to understand by
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars himself, that you were acquainted with this
+conspiracy?"
+
+De Thou answered instantly, and without hesitation.  A half-smile was
+still on his lips, and his eyes cast down.
+
+"Gentlemen, I have passed my life in studying human laws, and I know that
+the testimony of one accused person can not condemn another.  I can also
+repeat what I said before, that I should not have been believed had I
+denounced the King's brother without proof.  You perceive, then, that my
+life and death entirely rest with myself.  I have, however, well weighed
+the one and the other.  I have clearly foreseen that whatever life I may
+hereafter lead, it could not but be most unhappy after the loss of
+Monsieur de Cinq-Mars.  I therefore acknowledge and confess that I was
+aware of his conspiracy.  I did my utmost to prevent it, to deter him
+from it.  He believed me to be his only and faithful friend, and I would
+not betray him.  Therefore, I condemn myself by the very laws which were
+set forth by my father, who, I ho
+pe, forgives me."
+
+At these words, the two friends precipitated themselves into each other's
+arms.
+
+Cinq-Mars exclaimed:
+
+"My friend, my friend, how bitterly I regret that I have caused your
+death!  Twice I have betrayed you; but you shall know in what manner."
+
+But De Thou, embracing and consoling his friend, answered, raising his
+eyes from the ground:
+
+"Ah, happy are we to end our days in this manner!  Humanly speaking, I
+might complain of you; but God knows how much I love you.  What have we
+done to merit the grace of martyrdom, and the happiness of dying
+together?"
+
+The judges were not prepared for this mildness, and looked at each other
+with surprise.
+
+"If they would only give me a good partisan," muttered a hoarse voice (it
+was Grandchamp, who had crept into the room, and whose eyes were red with
+fury), "I would soon rid Monseigneur of all these black-looking fellows."
+Two men with halberds immediately placed themselves silently at his side.
+He said no more, and to compose himself retired to a window which
+overlooked the river, whose tranquil waters the sun had not yet lighted
+with its beams, and appeared to pay no attention to what was passing in
+the room.
+
+However, Laubardemont, fearing that the judges might be touched with
+compassion, said in a loud voice:
+
+"In pursuance of the order of Monseigneur the Cardinal, these two men
+will be put to the rack; that is to say, to the ordinary and
+extraordinary question."
+
+Indignation forced Cinq-Mars again to assume his natural character;
+crossing his arms, he made two steps toward Laubardemont and Joseph,
+which alarmed them.  The former involuntarily placed his hand to his
+forehead.
+
+"Are we at Loudun?"  exclaimed the prisoner; but De Thou, advancing, took
+his hand and held it.  Cinq-Mars was silent, then continued in a calm
+voice, looking steadfastly at the judges:
+
+"Messieurs, this measure appears to me rather harsh; a man of my age and
+rank ought not to be subjected to these formalities.  I have confessed
+all, and I will confess it all again.  I willingly and gladly accept
+death; it is not from souls like ours that secrets can be wrung by bodily
+suffering.  We are prisoners by our own free will, and at the time chosen
+by us.  We have confessed enough for you to condemn us to death; you
+shall know nothing more.  We have obtained what we wanted."
+
+"What are you doing, my friend?"  interrupted De Thou.  "He is mistaken,
+gentlemen, we do not refuse this martyrdom which God offers us; we demand
+it."
+
+"But," said Cinq-Mars, "do you need such infamous tortures to obtain
+salvation--you who are already a martyr, a voluntary martyr to
+friendship?  Gentlemen, it is I alone who possess important secrets; it
+is the chief of a conspiracy who knows all.  Put me alone to the torture
+if we must be treated like the worst of malefactors."
+
+"For the sake of charity," added De Thou, "deprive me not of equal
+suffering with my friend; I have not followed him so far, to abandon him
+at this dreadful moment, and not to use every effort to accompany him to
+heaven."
+
+During this debate, another was going forward between Laubardemont and
+Joseph.  The latter, fearing that torments would induce him to disclose
+the secret of his recent proposition, advised that they should not be
+resorted to; the other, not thinking his triumph complete by death alone,
+absolutely insisted on their being applied.  The judges surrounded and
+listened to these secret agents of the Prime-Minister; however, many
+circumstances having caused them to suspect that the influence of the
+Capuchin was more powerful than that of the judge, they took part with
+him, and decided for mercy, when he finished by these words uttered in a
+low voice:
+
+"I know their secrets.  There is no necessity to force them from their
+lips, because they are useless, and relate to too high circumstances.
+Monsieur le Grand has no one to denounce but the King, and the other the
+Queen.  It is better that we should remain ignorant.  Besides, they will
+not confess.  I know them; they will be silent--the one from pride, the
+other through piety.  Let them alone.  The torture will wound them; they
+will be disfigured and unable to walk.  That will spoil the whole
+ceremony; they must be kept to appear."
+
+This last observation prevailed.  The judges retired to deliberate with
+the chancellor.  While departing, Joseph whispered to Laubardemont:
+
+"I have provided you with enough pleasure here; you will still have that
+of deliberating, and then you shall go and examine three men who are
+confined in the northern tower."
+
+These were the three judges who had condemned Urbain Grandier.
+
+As he spoke, he laughed heartily, and was the last to leave the room,
+pushing the astonished master of requests before him.
+
+The sombre tribunal had scarcely disappeared when Grandchamp, relieved
+from his two guards, hastened toward his master, and, seizing his hand,
+said:
+
+"In the name of Heaven, come to the terrace, Monseigneur!  I have
+something to show you; in the name of your mother, come!"
+
+But at that moment the chamber door was opened, and the old Abbe Quillet
+appeared.
+
+"My children!  my dear children!"  exclaimed the old man, weeping
+bitterly.  "Alas!  why was I only permitted to enter to-day?  Dear Henri,
+your mother, your brother, your sister, are concealed here."
+
+"Be quiet, Monsieur l'Abbe!"  said Grandchamp; "do come to the terrace,
+Monseigneur."
+
+But the old priest still detained and embraced his pupil.
+
+"We hope," said he; "we hope for mercy."
+
+"I shall refuse it," said Cinq-Mars.
+
+"We hope for nothing but the mercy of God," added De Thou.
+
+"Silence!"  said Grandchamp, "the judges are returning."
+
+And the door opened again to admit the dismal procession, from which
+Joseph and Laubardemont were missing.
+
+"Gentlemen," exclaimed the good Abbe, addressing the commissioners, "I am
+happy to tell you that I have just arrived from Paris, and that no one
+doubts but that all the conspirators will be pardoned.  I have had an
+interview at her Majesty's apartments with Monsieur himself; and as to
+the Duc de Bouillon, his examination is not unfav--"
+
+"Silence!"  cried M. de Seyton, the lieutenant of the Scotch guards; and
+the commissioners entered and again arranged themselves in the apartment.
+
+M. de Thou, hearing them summon the criminal recorder of the presidial
+of Lyons to pronounce the sentence, involuntarily launched out in one of
+those transports of religious joy which are never displayed but by the
+martyrs and saints at the approach of death; and, advancing toward this
+man, he exclaimed:
+
+"Quam speciosi pedes evangelizantium pacem, evangelizantium bona!"
+
+Then, taking the hand of Cinq-Mars, he knelt down bareheaded to receive
+the sentence, as was the custom.  D'Effiat remained standing; and they
+dared not compel him to kneel.  The sentence was pronounced in these
+words:
+
+     "The Attorney-General, prosecutor on the part of the State, on a
+     charge of high treason; and Messire Henri d'Effiat de Cinq-Mars,
+     master of the horse, aged twenty-two, and Francois Auguste de Thou,
+     aged thirty-five, of the King's privy council, prisoners in the
+     chateau of Pierre-Encise, at Lyons, accused and defendants on the
+     other part:
+
+     "Considered, the special trial commenced by the aforesaid attorney-
+     general against the said D'Efiiat and De Thou; informations,
+     interrogations, confessions, denegations, and confrontations, and
+     authenticated copies of the treaty with Spain, it is considered in
+     the delegated chamber:
+
+     "That he who conspires against the person of the ministers of
+     princes is considered by the ancient laws and constitutions of the
+     emperors to be guilty of high treason; (2) that the third ordinance
+     of the King Louis XI renders any one liable to the punishment of
+     death who does not reveal a conspiracy against the State.
+
+     "The commissioners deputed by his Majesty have declared the said
+     D'Effiat and De Thou guilty and convicted of the crime of high
+     treason:
+
+     "The said D'Effiat, for the conspiracies and enterprises, league,
+     and treaties, formed by him with the foreigner against the State;
+
+     "And the said De Thou, for having a thorough knowledge of this
+     conspiracy.
+
+     "In reparation of which crimes they have deprived them of all honors
+     and dignities, and condemned them to be deprived of their heads on a
+     scaffold, which is for this purpose erected in the Place des
+     Terreaux, in this city.
+
+     "It is further declared that all and each of their possessions, real
+     and personal, be confiscated to the King, and that those which they
+     hold from the crown do pass immediately to it again of the aforesaid
+     goods, sixty thousand livres being devoted to pious uses."
+
+After the sentence was pronounced, M. de Thou exclaimed in a loud voice:
+
+"God be blessed!  God be praised!"
+
+"I have never feared death," said Cinq-Mars, coldly.
+
+Then, according to the forms prescribed, M. Seyton, the lieutenant of the
+Scotch guards, an old man upward of sixty years of age, declared with
+emotion that he placed the prisoners in the hands of the Sieur Thome,
+provost of the merchants of Lyons; he then took leave of them, followed
+by the whole of the body-guard, silently, and in tears.
+
+"Weep not," said Cinq-Mars; "tears are useless.  Rather pray for us; and
+be assured that I do not fear death."
+
+He shook them by the hand, and De Thou embraced them; after which they
+left the apartment, their eyes filled with tears, and hiding their faces
+in their cloaks.
+
+"Barbarians!"  exclaimed the Abbe Quillet; "to find arms against them,
+one must search the whole arsenal of tyrants.  Why did they admit me at
+this moment?"
+
+"As a confessor, Monsieur," whispered one of the commissioners; "for no
+stranger has entered this place these two months."
+
+As soon as the huge gates of the prison were closed, and the outside
+gratings lowered, "To the terrace, in the name of Heaven!"  again
+exclaimed Grandchamp.  And he drew his master and De Thou thither.
+
+The old preceptor followed them, weeping.
+
+"What do you want with us in a moment like this?"  said Cinq-Mars, with
+indulgent gravity.
+
+"Look at the chains of the town," said the faithful servant.
+
+The rising sun had hardly tinged the sky.  In the horizon a line of vivid
+yellow was visible, upon which the mountain's rough blue outlines were
+boldly traced; the waves of the Saline, and the chains of the town
+hanging from one bank to the other, were still veiled by a light vapor,
+which also rose from Lyons and concealed the roofs of the houses from the
+eye of the spectator.  The first tints of the morning light had as yet
+colored only the most elevated points of the magnificent landscape.  In
+the city the steeples of the Hotel de Ville and St. Nizier, and on the
+surrounding hills the monasteries of the Carmelites and Ste.-Marie, and
+the entire fortress of Pierre-Encise were gilded with the fires of the
+coming day.  The joyful peals from the churches were heard, the peaceful
+matins from the convent and village bells.  The walls of the prison were
+alone silent.
+
+"Well," said Cinq-Mars, "what are we to see the beauty of the plains, the
+richness of the city, or the calm peacefulness of these villages?  Ah, my
+friend, in every place there are to be found passions and griefs, like
+those which have brought us here."
+
+The old Abbe and Grandchamp leaned over the parapet, watching the bank of
+the river.
+
+"The fog is so thick, we can see nothing yet," said the Abbe.
+
+"How slowly our last sun appears!"  said De Thou.
+
+"Do you not see low down there, at the foot of the rocks, on the opposite
+bank, a small white house, between the Halincourt gate and the Boulevard
+Saint Jean?"  asked the Abbe.
+
+"I see nothing," answered Cinq-Mars, "but a mass of dreary wall."
+
+"Hark!"  said the Abbe; "some one speaks near us!"
+
+In fact, a confused, low, and inexplicable murmur was heard in a little
+turret, the back of which rested upon the platform of the terrace.  As it
+was scarcely larger than a pigeon-house, the prisoners had not until now
+observed it.
+
+"Are they already coming to fetch us?"  said Cinq-Mars.
+
+"Bah!  bah!"  answered Grandchamp, "do not make yourself uneasy; it is
+the Tour des Oubliettes.  I have prowled round the fort for two months,
+and I have seen men fall from there into the water at least once a week.
+Let us think of our affair.  I see a light down there."
+
+An invincible curiosity, however, led the two prisoners to look at the
+turret, in spite of the horror of their own situation.  It advanced to
+the extremity of the rock, over a gulf of foaming green water of great
+depth.  A wheel of a mill long deserted was seen turning with great
+rapidity.  Three distinct sounds were now heard, like those of a
+drawbridge suddenly lowered and raised to its former position by a recoil
+or spring striking against the stone walls; and three times a black
+substance was seen to fall into the water with a splash.
+
+"Mercy!  can these be men?"  exclaimed the Abbe, crossing himself.
+
+"I thought I saw brown robes turning in the air," said Grandchamp; "they
+are the Cardinal's friends."
+
+A horrible cry was heard from the tower, accompanied by an impious oath.
+The heavy trap groaned for the fourth time.  The green water received
+with a loud noise a burden which cracked the enormous wheel of the mill;
+one of its large spokes was torn away, and a man entangled in its beams
+appeared above the foam, which he colored with his blood.  He rose twice,
+and sank beneath the waters, shrieking violently; it was Laubardemont.
+
+Cinq-Mars drew back in horror.
+
+"There is a Providence," said Grandchamp; "Urbain Grandier summoned him
+in three years.  But come, come!  the time is precious!  Do not remain
+motionless.  Be it he, I am not surprised, for those wretches devour each
+other.  But let us endeavor to deprive them of their choicest morsel.
+Vive Dieu! I see the signal!  We are saved!  All is ready; run to this
+side, Monsieur l'Abbe!  See the white handkerchief at the window!  our
+friends are prepared."
+
+The Abbe seized the hands of both his friends, and drew them to that side
+of the terrace toward which they had at first looked.  "Listen to me,
+both of you," said he.  "You must know that none of the conspirators has
+profited by the retreat you secured for them.  They have all hastened to
+Lyons, disguised, and in great number; they have distributed sufficient
+gold in the city to secure them from being betrayed; they are resolved to
+make an attempt to deliver you.  The time chosen is that when they are
+conducting you to the scaffold; the signal is your hat, which you will
+place on your head when they are to commence."
+
+The worthy Abbe, half weeping, half smiling hopefully, related that upon
+the arrest of his pupil he had hastened to Paris; that such secrecy
+enveloped all the Cardinal's actions that none there knew the place in
+which the master of the horse was detained.  Many said that he was
+banished; and when the reconciliation between Monsieur and the Duc de
+Bouillon and the King was known, men no longer doubted that the life of
+the other was assured, and ceased to speak of this affair, which, not
+having been executed, compromised few persons.  They had even in some
+measure rejoiced in Paris to see the town of Sedan and its territory
+added to the kingdom in exchange for the letters of abolition granted to
+the Duke, acknowledged innocent in common with Monsieur; so that the
+result of all the arrangements had been to excite admiration of the
+Cardinal's ability, and of his clemency toward the conspirators, who, it
+was said, had contemplated his death.  They even spread the report that
+he had facilitated the escape of Cinq-Mars and De Thou, occupying himself
+generously with their retreat to a foreign land, after having bravely
+caused them to be arrested in the midst of the camp of Perpignan.
+
+At this part of the narrative, Cinq-Mars could not avoid forgetting his
+resignation, and clasping his friend's hand, "Arrested!"  he exclaimed.
+"Must we renounce even the honor of having voluntarily surrendered
+ourselves?  Must we sacrifice all, even the opinion of posterity?"
+
+"There is vanity again," replied De Thou, placing his fingers on his
+lips.  "But hush!  let us hear the Abbe to the end."
+
+The tutor, not doubting that the calmness which these two young men
+exhibited arose from the joy they felt in finding their escape assured,
+and seeing that the sun had hardly yet dispersed the morning mists,
+yielded himself without restraint to the involuntary pleasure which old
+men always feel in recounting new events, even though they afflict the
+hearers.  He related all his fruitless endeavors to discover his pupil's
+retreat, unknown to the court and the town, where none, indeed, dared to
+pronounce the name of Cinq-Mars in the most secret asylums.  He had only
+heard of the imprisonment at Pierre-Encise from the Queen herself, who
+had deigned to send for him, and charge him to inform the Marechale
+d'Effiat and all the conspirators that they might make a desperate effort
+to deliver their young chief.  Anne of Austria had even ventured to send
+many of the gentlemen of Auvergne and Touraine to Lyons to assist in
+their last attempt.
+
+"The good Queen!"  said he; "she wept greatly when I saw her, and said
+that she would give all she possessed to save you.  She reproached
+herself deeply for some letter, I know not what.  She spoke of the
+welfare of France, but did not explain herself.  She said that she
+admired you, and conjured you to save yourself, if it were only through
+pity for her, whom you would otherwise consign to everlasting remorse."
+
+"Said she nothing else?"  interrupted De Thou, supporting Cinq-Mars, who
+grew visibly paler.
+
+"Nothing more," said the old man.
+
+"And no one else spoke of me?"  inquired the master of the horse.
+
+"No one," said the Abbe.
+
+"If she had but written to me!"  murmured Henri.
+
+"Remember, my father, that you were sent here as a confessor," said De
+Thou.
+
+Here old Grandchamp, who had been kneeling before Cinq-Mars, and dragging
+him by his clothes to the other side of the terrace, exclaimed in a
+broken voice:
+
+"Monseigneur--my master--my good master--do you see them?  Look there--
+'tis they!  'tis they--all of them!"
+
+"Who, my old friend?"  asked his master.
+
+"Who?  Great Heaven!  look at that window!  Do you not recognize them?
+Your mother, your sisters, and your brother."
+
+And the day, now fairly broken, showed him in the distance several women
+waving their handkerchiefs; and there, dressed all in black, stretching
+out her arms toward the prison, sustained by those about her, Cinq-Mars
+recognized his mother, with his family, and his strength failed him for a
+moment.  He leaned his head upon his friend's breast and wept.
+
+"How many times must I, then, die?"  he murmured; then, with a gesture,
+returning from the top of the tower the salutations of his family, "Let
+us descend quickly, my father!"  he said to the old Abbe.  "You will tell
+me at the tribunal of penitence, and before God, whether the remainder of
+my life is worth my shedding more blood to preserve it."
+
+It was there that Cinq-Mars confessed to God what he alone and Marie de
+Mantua knew of their secret and unfortunate love.  "He gave to his
+confessor," says Father Daniel, "a portrait of a noble lady, set in
+diamonds, which were to be sold, and the money employed in pious works."
+
+M. de Thou, after having confessed, wrote a letter;--[See the copy of
+this letter to Madame la Princesse de Guemenee, in the notes at the end
+of the volume.]--after which (according to the account given by his
+confessor) he said, "This is the last thought I will bestow upon this
+world; let us depart for heaven!" and walking up and down the room with
+long strides, he recited aloud the psalm, 'Miserere mei, Deus', with an
+incredible ardor of spirit, his whole frame trembling so violently it
+seemed as if he did not touch the earth, and that the soul was about to
+make its exit from his body.  The guards were mute at this spectacle,
+which made them all shudder with respect and horror.
+
+Meanwhile, all was calm in the city of Lyons, when to the great
+astonishment of its inhabitants, they beheld the entrance through all its
+gates of troops of infantry and cavalry, which they knew were encamped at
+a great distance.  The French and the Swiss guards, the regiment of
+Pompadours, the men-at-arms of Maurevert, and the carabineers of La
+Roque, all defiled in silence.  The cavalry, with their muskets on the
+pommel of the saddle, silently drew up round the chateau of Pierre-
+Encise; the infantry formed a line upon the banks of the Saone from the
+gate of the fortress to the Place des Terreaux.  It was the usual spot
+for execution.
+
+     "Four companies of the bourgeois of Lyons, called 'pennonage', of
+     which about eleven or twelve hundred men, were ranged [says the
+     journal of Montresor] in the midst of the Place des Terreaux, so as
+     to enclose a space of about eighty paces each way, into which they
+     admitted no one but those who were absolutely necessary.
+
+     "In the centre of this space was raised a scaffold about seven feet
+     high and nine feet square, in the midst of which, somewhat forward,
+     was placed a stake three feet in height, in front of which was a
+     block half a foot high, so that the principal face of the scaffold
+     looked toward the shambles of the Terreaux, by the side of the
+     Saone.  Against the scaffold was placed a short ladder of eight
+     rounds, in the direction of the Dames de St. Pierre."
+
+Nothing had transpired in the town as to the name of the prisoners.  The
+inaccessible walls of the fortress let none enter or leave but at night,
+and the deep dungeons had sometimes confined father and son for years
+together, four feet apart from each other, without their even being
+aware of the vicinity.  The surprise was extreme at these striking
+preparations, and the crowd collected, not knowing whether for a fete
+or for an execution.
+
+This same secrecy which the agents of the minister had strictly preserved
+was also carefully adhered to by the conspirators, for their heads
+depended on it.
+
+Montresor, Fontrailles, the Baron de Beauvau, Olivier d'Entraigues,
+Gondi, the Comte du Lude, and the Advocate Fournier, disguised as
+soldiers, workmen, and morris-dancers, armed with poniards under their
+clothes, had dispersed amid the crowd more than five hundred gentlemen
+and domestics, disguised like themselves.  Horses were ready on the road
+to Italy, and boats upon the Rhone had been previously engaged.  The
+young Marquis d'Effiat, elder brother of Cinq-Mars, dressed as a
+Carthusian, traversed the crowd, without ceasing, between the Place des
+Terreaux and the little house in which his mother and sister were
+concealed with the Presidente de Pontac, the sister of the unfortunate
+De Thou.  He reassured them, gave them from time to time a ray of hope,
+and returned to the conspirators to satisfy himself that each was
+prepared for action.
+
+Each soldier forming the line had at his side a man ready to poniard him.
+
+The vast crowd, heaped together behind the line of guards, pushed them
+forward, passed their lines, and made them lose ground.  Ambrosio, the
+Spanish servant whom Cinq-Mars had saved, had taken charge of the captain
+of the pikemen, and, disguised as a Catalonian musician, had commenced a
+dispute with him, pretending to be determined not to cease playing the
+hurdy-gurdy.
+
+Every one was at his post.
+
+The Abbe de Gondi, Olivier d'Entraigues, and the Marquis d'Effiat were in
+the midst of a group of fish-women and oyster-wenches, who were disputing
+and bawling, abusing one of their number younger and more timid than her
+masculine companions.  The brother of Cinq-Mars approached to listen to
+their quarrel.
+
+"And why," said she to the others, "would you have Jean le Roux, who is
+an honest man, cut off the heads of two Christians, because he is a
+butcher by trade?  So long as I am his wife, I'll not allow it.  I'd
+rather--"
+
+"Well, you are wrong!"  replied her companions.  "What is't to thee
+whether the meat he cuts is eaten or not eaten?  Why, thou'lt have a
+hundred crowns to dress thy three children all in new clothes.  Thou'rt
+lucky to be the wife of a butcher.  Profit, then, 'ma mignonne', by what
+God sends thee by the favor of his Eminence."
+
+"Let me alone!"  answered the first speaker.  "I'll not accept it.  I've
+seen these fine young gentlemen at the windows.  They look as mild as
+lambs."
+
+"Well!  and are not thy lambs and calves killed?" said Femme le Bon.
+"What fortune falls to this little woman!  What a pity!  especially when
+it is from the reverend Capuchin!"
+
+"How horrible is the gayety of the people!"  said Olivier d'Entraigues,
+unguardedly.  All the women heard him, and began to murmur against him.
+
+"Of the people!"  said they; "and whence comes this little bricklayer
+with his plastered clothes?"
+
+"Ah!"  interrupted another, "dost not see that 'tis some gentleman in
+disguise?  Look at his white hands!  He never worked a square; 'tis some
+little dandy conspirator.  I've a great mind to go and fetch the captain
+of the watch to arrest him."
+
+The Abbe de Gondi felt all the danger of this situation, and throwing
+himself with an air of anger upon Olivier, and assuming the manners of a
+joiner, whose costume and apron he had adopted, he exclaimed, seizing him
+by the collar:
+
+"You're just right.  'Tis a little rascal that never works!  These two
+years that my father's apprenticed him, he has done nothing but comb his
+hair to please the girls.  Come, get home with you!"
+
+And, striking him with his rule, he drove him through the crowd, and
+returned to place himself on another part of the line.  After having well
+reprimanded the thoughtless page, he asked him for the letter which he
+said he had to give to M. de Cinq-Mars when he should have escaped.
+Olivier had carried it in his pocket for two months.  He gave it him.
+"It is from one prisoner to another," said he, "for the Chevalier de
+jars, on leaving the Bastille, sent it me from one of his companions in
+captivity."
+
+"Ma foi!" said Gondi, "there may be some important secret in it for our
+friends.  I'll open it.  You ought to have thought of it before.  Ah,
+bah! it is from old Bassompierre.  Let us read it.
+
+     MY DEAR CHILD: I learn from the depths of the Bastille, where I
+     still remain, that you are conspiring against the tyrant Richelieu,
+     who does not cease to humiliate our good old nobility and the
+     parliaments, and to sap the foundations of the edifice upon which
+     the State reposes.  I hear that the nobles are taxed and condemned
+     by petty judges, contrary to the privileges of their condition,
+     forced to the arriere-ban, despite the ancient customs."
+
+"Ah! the old dotard!"  interrupted the page, laughing immoderately.
+
+"Not so foolish as you imagine, only he is a little behindhand for our
+affair."
+
+     "I can not but approve this generous project, and I pray you give me
+     to wot all your proceedings--"
+
+"Ah! the old language of the last reign!"  said Olivier.  "He can't say
+'Make me acquainted with your proceedings,' as we now say."
+
+"Let me read, for Heaven's sake!"  said the Abbe; "a hundred years hence
+they'll laugh at our phrases."  He continued:
+
+     "I can counsel you, notwithstanding my great age, in relating to you
+     what happened to me in 1560."
+
+"Ah, faith!  I've not time to waste in reading it all.  Let us see the
+end.
+
+     "When I remember my dining at the house of Madame la Marechale
+     d'Effiat, your mother, and ask myself what has become of all the
+     guests, I am really afflicted.  My poor Puy-Laurens has died at
+     Vincennes, of grief at being forgotten by Monsieur in his prison;
+     De Launay killed in a duel, and I am grieved at it, for although I
+     was little satisfied with my arrest, he did it with courtesy, and I
+     have always thought him a gentleman.  As for me, I am under lock and
+     key until the death of M. le Cardinal.  Ah, my child!  we were
+     thirteen at table.  We must not laugh at old superstitions.  Thank
+     God that you are the only one to whom evil has not arrived!"
+
+"There again!"  said Olivier, laughing heartily; and this time the Abbe
+de Gondi could not maintain his gravity, despite all his efforts.
+
+They tore the useless letter to pieces, that it might not prolong the
+detention of the old marechal, should it be found, and drew near the
+Place des Terreaux and the line of guards, whom they were to attack when
+the signal of the hat should be given by the young prisoner.
+
+They beheld with satisfaction all their friends at their posts, and ready
+"to play with their knives," to use their own expression.  The people,
+pressing around them, favored them without being aware of it.  There came
+near the Abbe a troop of young ladies dressed in white and veiled.  They
+were going to church to communicate; and the nuns who conducted them,
+thinking, like most of the people, that the preparations were intended to
+do honor to some great personage, allowed them to mount upon some large
+hewn stones, collected behind the soldiers.  There they grouped
+themselves with the grace natural to their age, like twenty beautiful
+statues upon a single pedestal.  One would have taken them for those
+vestals whom antiquity invited to the sanguinary shows of the gladiators.
+They whispered to each other, looking around them, laughing and blushing
+together like children.
+
+The Abbe de Gondi saw with impatience that Olivier was again forgetting
+his character of conspirator and his costume of a bricklayer in ogling
+these girls, and assuming a mien too elegant, an attitude too refined,
+for the position in life he was supposed to occupy.  He already began to
+approach them, turning his hair with his fingers, when Fontrailles and
+Montresor fortunately arrived in the dress of Swiss soldiers.  A group of
+gentlemen, disguised as sailors, followed them with iron-shod staves in
+their hands.  There was a paleness on their faces which announced no
+good.
+
+"Stop here!"  said one of them to his suite; "this is the place."
+
+The sombre air and the silence of these spectators contrasted with the
+gay and anxious looks of the girls, and their childish exclamations.
+
+"Ah, the fine procession!"  they cried; "there are at least five hundred
+men with cuirasses and red uniforms, upon fine horses.  They've got
+yellow feathers in their large hats."
+
+"They are strangers--Catalonians," said a French guard.
+
+"Whom are they conducting here?  Ah, here is a fine gilt coach!  but
+there's no one in it."
+
+"Ah! I see three men on foot; where are they going?"
+
+"To death!"  said Fontrailles, in a deep, stern voice which silenced all
+around.  Nothing was heard but the slow tramp of the horses, which
+suddenly stopped, from one of those delays that happen in all
+processions.  They then beheld a painful and singular spectacle.  An old
+man with a tonsured head walked with difficulty, sobbing violently,
+supported by two young men of interesting and engaging appearance, who
+held one of each other's hands behind his bent shoulders, while with the
+other each held one of his arms.  The one on the left was dressed in
+black; he was grave, and his eyes were cast down.  The other, much
+younger, was attired in a striking dress.  A pourpoint of Holland cloth,
+adorned with broad gold lace, and with large embroidered sleeves, covered
+him from the neck to the waist, somewhat in the fashion of a woman's
+corset; the rest of his vestments were in black velvet, embroidered with
+silver palms.  Gray boots with red heels, to which were attached golden
+spurs; a scarlet cloak with gold buttons--all set off to advantage his
+elegant and graceful figure.  He bowed right and left with a melancholy
+smile.
+
+An old servant, with white moustache, and beard, followed with his head
+bent down, leading two chargers, richly comparisoned.  The young ladies
+were silent; but they could not restrain their sobs.
+
+"It is, then, that poor old man whom they are leading to the scaffold,"
+they exclaimed; "and his children are supporting him."
+
+"Upon your knees, ladies," said a man, "and pray for him!"
+
+"On your knees," cried Gondi, "and let us pray that God will deliver
+him!"
+
+All the conspirators repeated, "On your knees!  on your knees!"  and set
+the example to the people, who imitated them in silence.
+
+"We can see his movements better now," said Gondi, in a whisper to
+Montresor.  "Stand up; what is he doing?"
+
+"He has stopped, and is speaking on our side, saluting us; I think he has
+recognized us."
+
+Every house, window, wall, roof, and raised platform that looked upon the
+place was filled with persons of every age and condition.
+
+The most profound silence prevailed throughout the immense multitude.
+One might have heard the wings of a gnat, the breath of the slightest
+wind, the passage of the grains of dust which it raised; yet the air was
+calm, the sun brilliant, the sky blue.  The people listened attentively.
+They were close to the Place des Terreaux; they heard the blows of the
+hammer upon the planks, then the voice of Cinq-Mars.
+
+A young Carthusian thrust his pale face between two guards.  All the
+conspirators rose above the kneeling people.  Every one put his hand to
+his belt or in his bosom, approaching close to the soldier whom he was to
+poniard.
+
+"What is he doing?"  asked the Carthusian.  "Has he his hat upon his
+head?"
+
+"He throws his hat upon the ground far from him," calmly answered the
+arquebusier.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE FETE
+
+                    "Mon Dieu! quest-ce que ce monde!"
+
+                                   Dernieres paroles de M. Cinq-Mars
+
+The same day that the melancholy procession took place at Lyons, and
+during the scenes we have just witnessed, a magnificent fete was given at
+Paris with all the luxury and bad taste of the time.  The powerful
+Cardinal had determined to fill the first two towns in France with his
+pomp.  The Cardinal's return was the occasion on which this fete was
+announced, as given to the King and all his court.
+
+Master of the French empire by force, the Cardinal desired to be master
+of French opinion by seduction; and, weary of dominating, hoped to
+please.  The tragedy of "Mirame" was to be represented in a hall
+constructed expressly for this great day, which raised the expenses of
+this entertainment, says Pelisson, to three hundred thousand crowns.
+
+The entire guard of the Prime-Minister were under arms; his four
+companies of musketeers and gens d'armes were ranged in a line upon the
+vast staircases and at the entrance of the long galleries of the Palais-
+Cardinal.  This brilliant pandemonium, where the mortal sins have a
+temple on each floor, belonged that day to pride alone, which occupied it
+from top to bottom.  Upon each step was placed one of the arquebusiers of
+the Cardinal's guard, holding a torch in one hand and a long carbine in
+the other.  The crowd of his gentlemen circulated between these living
+candelabra, while in the large garden, surrounded by huge chestnut-trees,
+now replaced by a range of archers, two companies of mounted light-horse,
+their muskets in their hands, were ready to obey the first order or the
+first fear of their master.
+
+The Cardinal, carried and followed by his thirty-eight pages, took his
+seat in his box hung with purple, facing that in which the King was half
+reclining behind the green curtains which preserved him from the glare of
+the flambeaux.  The whole court filled the boxes, and rose when the King
+appeared.  The orchestra commenced a brilliant overture, and the pit was
+thrown open to all the men of the town and the army who presented
+themselves.  Three impetuous waves of spectators rushed in and filled it
+in an instant.  They were standing, and so thickly pressed together that
+the movement of a single arm sufficed to cause in the crowd a movement
+similar to the waving of a field of corn.  There was one man whose head
+thus described a large circle, as that of a compass, without his feet
+quitting the spot to which they were fixed; and some young men were
+carried out fainting.
+
+The minister, contrary to custom, advanced his skeleton head out of his
+box, and saluted the assembly with an air which was meant to be gracious.
+This grimace obtained an acknowledgment only from the boxes; the pit was
+silent.  Richelieu had wished to show that he did not fear the public
+judgment upon his work, and had given orders to admit without distinction
+all who should present themselves.  He began to repent of this, but too
+late.  The impartial assembly was as cold at the tragedie-pastorale
+itself.  In vain did the theatrical bergeres, covered with jewels, raised
+upon red heels, with crooks ornamented with ribbons and garlands of
+flowers upon their robes, which were stuck out with farthingale's, die of
+love in tirades of two hundred verses; in vain did the 'amants parfaits'
+starve themselves in solitary caves, deploring their death in emphatic
+tones, and fastening to their hair ribbons of the favorite color of their
+mistress; in vain did the ladies of the court exhibit signs of perfect
+ecstasy, leaning over the edges of their boxes, and even attempt a few
+fainting-fits--the silent pit gave no other sign of life than the
+perpetual shaking of black heads with long hair.
+
+The Cardinal bit his lips and played the abstracted during the first and
+second acts; the silence in which the third and fourth passed off so
+wounded his paternal heart that he had himself raised half out of the
+balcony, and in this uncomfortable and ridiculous position signed to the
+court to remark the finest passages, and himself gave the signal for
+applause.  It was acted upon from some of the boxes, but the impassible
+pit was more silent than ever; leaving the affair entirely between the
+stage and the upper regions, they obstinately remained neuter.  The
+master of Europe and France then cast a furious look at this handful of
+men who dared not to admire his work, feeling in his heart the wish of
+Nero, and thought for a moment how happy he should be if all those men
+had but one head.
+
+Suddenly this black and before silent mass became animated, and endless
+rounds of applause burst forth, to the great astonishment of the boxes,
+and above all, of the minister.  He bent forward and bowed gratefully,
+but drew back on perceiving that the clapping of hands interrupted the
+actors every time they wished to proceed.  The King had the curtains of
+his box, until then closed, opened, to see what excited so much
+enthusiasm.  The whole court leaned forward from their boxes, and
+perceived among the spectators on the stage a young man, humbly dressed,
+who had just seated himself there with difficulty.  Every look was fixed
+upon him.  He appeared utterly embarrassed by this, and sought to cover
+himself with his little black cloak-far too short for the purpose.  "Le
+Cid! le Cid!" cried the pit, incessantly applauding.
+
+"Terrified, Corneille escaped behind the scenes, and all was again
+silent.  The Cardinal, beside himself with fury, had his curtain closed,
+and was carried into his galleries, where was performed another scene,
+prepared long before by the care of Joseph, who had tutored the
+attendants upon the point before quitting Paris.  Cardinal Mazarin
+exclaimed that it would be quicker to pass his Eminence through a long
+glazed window, which was only two feet from the ground, and led from his
+box to the apartments; and it opened and the page passed his armchair
+through it.  Hereupon a hundred voices rose to proclaim the
+accomplishment of the grand prophecy of Nostradamus.  They said:
+
+"The bonnet rouge!-that's Monseigneur; 'quarante onces!'--that's Cinq-
+Mars; 'tout finira!'--that's De Thou.  What a providential incident!  His
+Eminence reigns over the future as over the present."
+
+He advanced thus upon his ambulatory throne through the long and splendid
+galleries, listening to this delicious murmur of a new flattery; but
+insensible to the hum of voices which deified his genius, he would have
+given all their praises for one word, one single gesture of that
+immovable and inflexible public, even had that word been a cry of hatred;
+for clamor can be stifled, but how avenge one's self on silence?  The
+people can be prevented from striking, but who can prevent their waiting?
+Pursued by the troublesome phantom of public opinion, the gloomy minister
+only thought himself in safety when he reached the interior of his palace
+amid his flattering courtiers, whose adorations soon made him forget that
+a miserable pit had dared not to admire him.  He had himself placed like
+a king in the midst of his vast apartments, and, looking around him,
+attentively counted the powerful and submissive men who surrounded him.
+
+Counting them, he admired himself.  The chiefs of the great families, the
+princes of the Church, the presidents of all the parliaments, the
+governors of the provinces, the marshals and generals-in-chief of the
+armies, the nuncio, the ambassadors of all the kingdoms, the deputies and
+senators of the republics, were motionless, submissive, and ranged around
+him, as if awaiting his orders.  There was no longer a look to brave his
+look, no longer a word to raise itself against his will, not a project
+that men dared to form in the most secret recesses of the heart, not a
+thought which did not proceed from his.  Mute Europe listened to him by
+its representatives.  From time to time he raise an imperious voice, and
+threw a self-satisfied word to this pompous circle, as a man who throws a
+copper coin among a crowd of beggars.  Then might be distinguished, by
+the pride which lit up his looks and the joy visible in his countenance,
+the prince who had received such a favor.
+
+Transformed into another man, he seemed to have made a step in the
+hierarchy of power, so surrounded with unlooked-for adorations and sudden
+caresses was the fortunate courtier, whose obscure happiness the Cardinal
+did not even perceive.  The King's brother and the Duc de Bouillon stood
+in the crowd, whence the minister did not deign to withdraw them.  Only
+he ostentatiously said that it would be well to dismantle a few
+fortresses, spoke at length of the necessity of pavements and quays at
+Paris, and said in two words to Turenne that he might perhaps be sent to
+the army in Italy, to seek his baton as marechal from Prince Thomas.
+
+While Richelieu thus played with the great and small things of Europe,
+amid his noisy fete, the Queen was informed at the Louvre that the time
+was come for her to proceed to the Cardinal's palace, where the King
+awaited her after the tragedy.  The serious Anne of Austria did not
+witness any play; but she could not refuse her presence at the fete of
+the Prime-Minister.  She was in her oratory, ready to depart, and covered
+with pearls, her favorite ornament; standing opposite a large glass with
+Marie de Mantua, she was arranging more to her satisfaction one or two
+details of the young Duchess's toilette, who, dressed in a long pink
+robe, was herself contemplating with attention, though with somewhat of
+ennui and a little sullenness, the ensemble of her appearance.
+
+She saw her own work in Marie, and, more troubled, thought with deep
+apprehension of the moment when this transient calm would cease, despite
+the profound knowledge she had of the feeling but frivolous character of
+Marie.  Since the conversation at St.-Germain (the fatal letter), she had
+not quitted the young Princess, and had bestowed all her care to lead her
+mind to the path which she had traced out for her, for the most decided
+feature in the character of Anne of Austria was an invincible obstinacy
+in her calculations, to which she would fain have subjected all events
+and all passions with a geometrical exactitude.  There is no doubt that
+to this positive and immovable mind we must attribute all the misfortunes
+of her regency.  The sombre reply of Cinq-Mars; his arrest; his trial--
+all had been concealed from the Princesse Marie, whose first fault, it is
+true, had been a movement of self-love and a momentary forgetfulness.
+
+However, the Queen by nature was good-hearted, and had bitterly repented
+her precipitation in writing words so decisive, and whose consequences
+had been so serious; and all her endeavors had been applied to mitigate
+the results.  In reflecting upon her conduct in reference to the
+happiness of France, she applauded herself for having thus, at one
+stroke, stifled the germ of a civil war which would have shaken the State
+to its very foundations.  But when she approached her young friend and
+gazed on that charming being whose happiness she was thus destroying in
+its bloom, and reflected that an old man upon a throne, even, would not
+recompense her for the eternal loss she was about to sustain; when she
+thought of the entire devotion, the total abnegation of himself, she had
+witnessed in a young man of twenty-two, of so lofty a character, and
+almost master of the kingdom--she pitied Marie, and admired from her very
+soul the man whom she had judged so ill.
+
+She would at least have desired to explain his worth to her whom he had
+loved so deeply, and who as yet knew him not; but she still hoped that
+the conspirators assembled at Lyons would be able to save him, and once
+knowing him to be in a foreign land she could tell all to her dear Marie.
+
+As to the latter, she had at first feared war.  But surrounded by the
+Queen's people, who had let nothing reach her ear but news dictated by
+this Princess, she knew, or thought she knew, that the conspiracy had not
+taken place; that the King and the Cardinal had returned to Paris nearly
+at the same time; that Monsieur, relapsed for a while, had reappeared at
+court; that the Duc de Bouillon, on ceding Sedan, had also been restored
+to favor; and that if the 'grand ecuyer' had not yet appeared, the reason
+was the more decided animosity of the Cardinal toward him, and the
+greater part he had taken in the conspiracy.  But common sense and
+natural justice clearly said that having acted under the order of the
+King's brother, his pardon ought to follow that of this Prince.
+
+All then, had calmed the first uneasiness of her heart, while nothing
+had softened the kind of proud resentment she felt against Cinq-Mars,
+so indifferent as not to inform her of the place of his retreat, known to
+the Queen and the whole court, while, she said to herself, she had
+thought but of him.  Besides, for two months the balls and fetes had so
+rapidly succeeded each other, and so many mysterious duties had commanded
+her presence, that she had for reflection and regret scarce more than the
+time of her toilette, at which she was generally almost alone.  Every
+evening she regularly commenced the general reflection upon the
+ingratitude and inconstancy of men--a profound and novel thought, which
+never fails to occupy the head of a young person in the time of first
+love--but sleep never permitted her to finish the reflection; and the
+fatigue of dancing closed her large black eyes ere her ideas had found
+time to classify themselves in her memory, or to present her with any
+distinct images of the past.
+
+In the morning she was always surrounded by the young princesses of the
+court, and ere she well had time to dress had to present herself in the
+Queen's apartment, where awaited her the eternal, but now less
+disagreeable homage of the Prince-Palatine.  The Poles had had time to
+learn at the court of France that mysterious reserve, that eloquent
+silence which so pleases the women, because it enhances the importance of
+things always secret, and elevates those whom they respect, so as to
+preclude the idea of exhibiting suffering in their presence.  Marie was
+regarded as promised to King Uladislas; and she herself--we must confess
+it--had so well accustomed herself to this idea that the throne of Poland
+occupied by another queen would have appeared to her a monstrous thing.
+She did not look forward with pleasure to the period of ascending it,
+but had, however, taken possession of the homage which was rendered her
+beforehand.  Thus, without avowing it even to herself, she greatly
+exaggerated the supposed offences of Cinq-Mars, which the Queen had
+expounded to her at St. Germain.
+
+"You are as fresh as the roses in this bouquet," said the Queen.  "Come,
+'ma chere', are you ready?  What means this pouting air?  Come, let me
+fasten this earring.  Do you not like these toys, eh?  Will you have
+another set of ornaments?"
+
+"Oh, no, Madame.  I think that I ought not to decorate myself at all, for
+no one knows better than yourself how unhappy I am.  Men are very cruel
+toward us!
+
+"I have reflected on what you said, and all is now clear to me.
+Yes, it is quite true that he did not love me, for had he loved me
+he would have renounced an enterprise that gave me so much uneasiness.
+I told him, I remember, indeed, which was very decided," she added, with
+an important and even solemn air, "that he would be a rebel--yes, Madame,
+a rebel.  I told him so at Saint-Eustache.  But I see that your Majesty
+was right.  I am very unfortunate!  He had more ambition than love."
+Here a tear of pique escaped from her eyes, and rolled quickly down her
+cheek, as a pearl upon a rose.
+
+"Yes, it is certain," she continued, fastening her bracelets; "and the
+greatest proof is that in the two months he has renounced his enterprise
+--you told me that you had saved him--he has not let me know the place of
+his retreat, while I during that time have been weeping, have been
+imploring all your power in his favor; have sought but a word that might
+inform me of his proceedings.  I have thought but of him; and even now I
+refuse every day the throne of Poland, because I wish to prove to the end
+that I am constant, that you yourself can not make me disloyal to my
+attachment, far more serious than his, and that we are of higher worth
+than the men.  But, however, I think I may attend this fete, since it is
+not a ball."
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear child!  come, come!"  said the Queen, desirous of
+putting an end to this childish talk, which afflicted her all the more
+that it was herself who had encouraged it.  "Come, you will see the union
+that prevails between the princes and the Cardinal, and we shall perhaps
+hear some good news."  They departed.
+
+When the two princesses entered the long galleries of the Palais-
+Cardinal, they were received and coldly saluted by the King and the
+minister, who, closely surrounded by silent courtiers, were playing at
+chess upon a small low table.  All the ladies who entered with the Queen
+or followed her, spread through the apartments; and soon soft music
+sounded in one of the saloons--a gentle accompaniment to the thousand
+private conversations carried on round the play tables.
+
+Near the Queen passed, saluting her, a young newly married couple--the
+happy Chabot and the beautiful Duchesse de Rohan.  They seemed to shun
+the crowd, and to seek apart a moment to speak to each other of
+themselves.  Every one received them with a smile and looked after them
+with envy.  Their happiness was expressed as strongly in the countenances
+of others as in their own.
+
+Marie followed them with her eyes.  "Still they are happy," she whispered
+to the Queen, remembering the censure which in her hearing had been
+thrown upon the match.
+
+But without answering, Anne of Austria, fearful that in the crowd some
+inconsiderate expression might inform her young friend of the mournful
+event so interesting to her, placed herself with Marie behind the King.
+Monsieur, the Prince-Palatine, and the Duc de Bouillon came to speak to
+her with a gay and lively air.  The second, however, casting upon Marie a
+severe and scrutinizing glance, said to her:
+
+"Madame la Princesse, you are most surprisingly beautiful and gay this
+evening."
+
+She was confused at these words, and at seeing the speaker walk away with
+a sombre air.  She addressed herself to the Duc d'Orleans, who did not
+answer, and seemed not to hear her.  Marie looked at the Queen, and
+thought she remarked paleness and disquiet on her features.  Meantime,
+no one ventured to approach the minister, who was deliberately meditating
+his moves.  Mazarin alone, leaning over his chair, followed all the
+strokes with a servile attention, giving gestures of admiration every
+time that the Cardinal played.  Application to the game seemed to have
+dissipated for a moment the cloud that usually shaded the minister's
+brow.  He had just advanced a tower, which placed Louis's king in that
+false position which is called "stalemate,"--a situation in which the
+ebony king, without being personally attacked, can neither advance nor
+retire in any direction.  The Cardinal, raising his eyes, looked at his
+adversary and smiled with one corner of his mouth, not being able to
+avoid a secret analogy.  Then, observing the dim eyes and dying
+countenance of the Prince, he whispered to Mazarin:
+
+"Faith, I think he'll go before me.  He is greatly changed."
+
+At the same time he himself was seized with a long and violent cough,
+accompanied internally with the sharp, deep pain he so often felt in the
+side.  At the sinister warning he put a handkerchief to his mouth, which
+he withdrew covered with blood.  To hide it, he threw it under the table,
+and looked around him with a stern smile, as if to forbid observation.
+Louis XIII, perfectly insensible, did not make the least movement, beyond
+arranging his men for another game with a skeleton and trembling hand.
+There two dying men seemed to be throwing lots which should depart first.
+
+At this moment a clock struck the hour of midnight.  The King raised his
+head.
+
+"Ah, ah!" he said; "this morning at twelve Monsieur le Grand had a
+disagreeable time of it."
+
+A piercing shriek was uttered behind him.  He shuddered, and threw
+himself forward, upsetting the table.  Marie de Mantua lay senseless in
+the arms of the Queen, who, weeping bitterly, said in the King's ear:
+
+"Ah, Sire, your axe has a double edge."
+
+She then bestowed all her cares and maternal kisses upon the young
+Princess, who, surrounded by all the ladies of the court, only came to
+herself to burst into a torrent of tears.  As soon as she opened her
+eyes, "Alas!  yes, my child," said Anne of Austria.  "My poor girl, you
+are Queen of Poland."
+
+It has often happened that the same event which causes tears to flow in
+the palace of kings has spread joy without, for the people ever suppose
+that happiness reigns at festivals.  There were five days' rejoicings for
+the return of the minister, and every evening under the windows of the
+Palais-Cardinal and those of the Louvre pressed the people of Paris.  The
+late disturbances had given them a taste for public movements.  They
+rushed from one street to another with a curiosity at times insulting and
+hostile, sometimes walking in silent procession, sometimes sending forth
+loud peals of laughter or prolonged yells, of which no one understood the
+meaning.  Bands of young men fought in the streets and danced in rounds
+in the squares, as if manifesting some secret hope of pleasure and some
+insensate joy, grievous to the upright heart.
+
+It was remarkable that profound silence prevailed exactly in those places
+where the minister had ordered rejoicings, and that the people passed
+disdainfully before the illuminated facade of his palace.  If some voices
+were raised, it was to read aloud in a sneering tone the legends and
+inscriptions with which the idiot flattery of some obscure writers had
+surrounded the portraits of the minister.  One of these pictures was
+guarded by arquebusiers, who, however, could not preserve it from the
+stones which were thrown at it from a distance by unseen hands.  It
+represented the Cardinal-Generalissimo wearing a casque surrounded by
+laurels.  Above it was inscribed:
+
+          "Grand Duc: c'est justement que la France t'honore;
+          Ainsi que le dieu Mars dans Paris on t'adore."
+
+These fine phrases did not persuade the people that they were happy.
+They no more adored the Cardinal than they did the god Mars, but they
+accepted his fetes because they served as a covering for disorder.  All
+Paris was in an uproar.  Men with long beards, carrying torches, measures
+of wine, and two drinking-cups, which they knocked together with a great
+noise, went along, arm in arm, shouting in chorus with rude voices an old
+round of the League:.
+
+
+                        "Reprenons la danse;
+                         Allons, c'est assez.
+                         Le printemps commence;
+                         Les rois sont passes.
+
+                        "Prenons quelque treve;
+                         Nous sommes lasses.
+                         Les rois de la feve
+                         Nous ont harasses.
+
+                        "Allons, Jean du Mayne,
+                         Les rois sont passes.
+
+                        "Les rois de la feve
+                         Nous ont harasses.
+                         Allons, Jean du Mayne,
+                         Les rois sont passes."
+
+The frightful bands who howled forth these words traversed the Quais and
+the Pont-Neuf, squeezing against the high houses, which then covered the
+latter, the peaceful citizens who were led there by simple curiosity.
+Two young men, wrapped in cloaks, thus thrown one against the other,
+recognized each other by the light of a torch placed at the foot of the
+statue of Henri IV, which had been lately raised.
+
+"What!  still at Paris?"  said Corneille to Milton.  "I thought you were
+in London."
+
+"Hear you the people, Monsieur?  Do you hear them?  What is this ominous
+chorus,
+
+'Les rois sont passes'?"
+
+"That is nothing, Monsieur.  Listen to their conversation."
+
+"The parliament is dead," said one of the men; "the nobles are dead.
+Let us dance; we are the masters.  The old Cardinal is dying.  There is
+no longer any but the King and ourselves."
+
+"Do you hear that drunken wretch, Monsieur?"  asked Corneille.  "All our
+epoch is in those words of his."
+
+"What!  is this the work of the minister who is called great among you,
+and even by other nations?  I do not understand him."
+
+"I will explain the matter to you presently," answered Corneille.  "But
+first listen to the concluding part of this letter, which I received to-
+day.  Draw near this light under the statue of the late King.  We are
+alone.  The crowd has passed.  Listen!
+
+     "It was by one of those unforeseen circumstances which prevent the
+     accomplishment of the noblest enterprises that we were not able to
+     save MM. de Cinq-Mars and De Thou.  We might have foreseen that,
+     prepared for death by long meditation, they would themselves refuse
+     our aid; but this idea did not occur to any of us.  In the
+     precipitation of our measures, we also committed the fault of
+     dispersing ourselves too much in the crowd, so that we could not
+     take a sudden resolution.  I was unfortunately stationed near the
+     scaffold; and I saw our unfortunate friends advance to the foot of
+     it, supporting the poor Abbe Quillet, who was destined to behold the
+     death of the pupil whose birth he had witnessed.  He sobbed aloud,
+     and had strength enough only to kiss the hands of the two friends.
+     We all advanced, ready to throw ourselves upon the guards at the
+     announced signal; but I saw with grief M. de Cinq-Mars cast his hat
+     from him with an air of disdain.  Our movement had been observed,
+     and the Catalonian guard was doubled round the scaffold.  I could
+     see no more; but I heard much weeping around me.  After the three
+     usual blasts of the trumpet, the recorder of Lyons, on horseback at
+     a little distance from the scaffold, read the sentence of death, to
+     which neither of the prisoners listened.  M. de Thou said to M. de
+     Cinq-Mars:
+
+     "'Well, dear friend, which shall die first?  Do you remember Saint-
+     Gervais and Saint-Protais?'
+
+     "'Which you think best,' answered Cinq-Mars.
+
+     "The second confessor, addressing M. de Thou, said, 'You are the
+     elder.'
+
+     "'True,' said M. de Thou; and, turning to M. le Grand, 'You are the
+     most generous; you will show me the way to the glory of heaven.'
+
+     "'Alas!' said Cinq-Mars; 'I have opened to you that of the
+     precipice; but let us meet death nobly, and we shall revel in the
+     glory and happiness of heaven!'
+
+     "Hereupon he embraced him, and ascended the scaffold with surprising
+     address and agility.  He walked round the scaffold, and contemplated
+     the whole of the great assembly with a calm countenance, which
+     betrayed no sign of fear, and a serious and graceful manner.  He
+     then went round once more, saluting the people on every side,
+     without appearing to recognize any of us, with a majestic and
+     charming expression of face; he then knelt down, raising his eyes to
+     heaven, adoring God, and recommending himself to Him.  As he
+     embraced the crucifix, the father confessor called to the people to
+     pray for him; and M. le Grand, opening his arms, still holding his
+     crucifix, made the same request to the people.  Then he readily
+     knelt before the block, holding the stake, placed his neck upon it,
+     and asked the confessor, 'Father, is this right?' Then, while they
+     were cutting off his hair, he raised his eyes to heaven, and said,
+     sighing:
+
+     "'My God, what is this world?  My God, I offer thee my death as a
+     satisfaction for my sins!'
+
+     "'What are you waiting for?  What are you doing there?' he said to
+     the executioner, who had not yet taken his axe from an old bag he
+     had brought with him.  His confessor, approaching, gave him a
+     medallion; and he, with an incredible tranquillity of mind, begged
+     the father to hold the crucifix before his eyes, which he would not
+     allow to be bound.  I saw the two trembling hands of the Abbe
+     Quillet, who raised the crucifix.  At this moment a voice, as clear
+     and pure as that of an angel, commenced the 'Ave, maris stella'.
+     In the universal silence I recognized the voice of M. de Thou, who
+     was at the foot of the scaffold; the people repeated the sacred
+     strain.  M. de Cinq-Mars clung more tightly to the stake; and I saw
+     a raised axe, made like the English axes.  A terrible cry of the
+     people from the Place, the windows, and the towers told me that it
+     had fallen, and that the head had rolled to the ground.  I had
+     happily strength enough left to think of his soul, and to commence a
+     prayer for him.
+
+     "I mingled it with that which I heard pronounced aloud by our
+     unfortunate and pious friend De Thou.  I rose and saw him spring
+     upon the scaffold with such promptitude that he might almost have
+     been said to fly.  The father and he recited a psalm; he uttered it
+     with the ardor of a seraphim, as if his soul had borne his body to
+     heaven.  Then, kneeling down, he kissed the blood of Cinq-Mars as
+     that of a martyr, and became himself a greater martyr.  I do not
+     know whether God was pleased to grant him this last favor; but I saw
+     with horror that the executioner, terrified no doubt at the first
+     blow he had given, struck him upon the top of his head, whither the
+     unfortunate young man raised his hand; the people sent forth a long
+     groan, and advanced against the executioner.  The poor wretch,
+     terrified still more, struck him another blow, which only cut the
+     skin and threw him upon the scaffold, where the executioner rolled
+     upon him to despatch him.  A strange event terrified the people as
+     much as the horrible spectacle.  M. de Cinq-Mars' old servant held
+     his horse as at a military funeral; he had stopped at the foot of
+     the scaffold, and like a man paralyzed, watched his master to the
+     end, then suddenly, as if struck by the same axe, fell dead under
+     the blow which had taken off his master's head.
+
+     "I write these sad details in haste, on board a Genoese galley, into
+     which Fontrailles, Gondi, Entraigues, Beauvau, Du Lude, myself, and
+     others of the chief conspirators have retired.  We are going to
+     England to await until time shall deliver France from the tyrant
+     whom we could not destroy.  I abandon forever the service of the
+     base Prince who betrayed us.
+
+                                             "MONTRESOR"
+
+"Such," continued Corneille, "has been the fate of these two young men
+whom you lately saw so powerful.  Their last sigh was that of the ancient
+monarchy.  Nothing more than a court can reign here henceforth; the
+nobles and the senates are destroyed."
+
+"And this is your pretended great man!"  said Milton.  "What has he
+sought to do?  He would, then, create republics for future ages, since he
+destroys the basis of your monarchy?"
+
+"Look not so far," answered Corneille; "he only seeks to reign until the
+end of his life.  He has worked for the present and not for the future;
+he has continued the work of Louis XI; and neither one nor the other knew
+what they were doing."
+
+The Englishman smiled.
+
+"I thought," he said, "that true genius followed another path.  This man
+has shaken all that he ought to have supported, and they admire him!
+I pity your nation."
+
+"Pity it not!"  exclaimed Corneille, warmly; "a man passes away, but a
+people is renewed.  This people, Monsieur, is gifted with an immortal
+energy, which nothing can destroy; its imagination often leads it astray,
+but superior reason will ever ultimately master its disorders."
+
+The two young and already great men walked, as they conversed, upon the
+space which separates the statue of Henri IV from the Place Dauphine;
+they stopped a moment in the centre of this Place.
+
+"Yes, Monsieur," continued Corneille, "I see every evening with what
+rapidity a noble thought finds its echo in French hearts; and every
+evening I retire happy at the sight.  Gratitude prostrates the poor
+people before this statue of a good king!  Who knows what other monument
+another passion may raise near this?  Who can say how far the love of
+glory will lead our people?  Who knows that in the place where we now
+are, there may not be raised a pyramid taken from the East?"
+
+"These are the secrets of the future," said Milton.  "I, like yourself,
+admire your impassioned nation; but I fear them for themselves.  I do not
+well understand them; and I do not recognize their wisdom when I see them
+lavishing their admiration upon men such as he who now rules you.  The
+love of power is very puerile; and this man is devoured by it, without
+having force enough to seize it wholly.  By an utter absurdity, he is a
+tyrant under a master.  Thus has this colossus, never firmly balanced,
+been all but overthrown by the finger of a boy.  Does that indicate
+genius?  No, no!  when genius condescends to quit the lofty regions of
+its true home for a human passion, at least, it should grasp that passion
+in its entirety.  Since Richelieu only aimed at power, why did he not,
+if he was a genius, make himself absolute master of power?  I am going to
+see a man who is not yet known, and whom I see swayed by this miserable
+ambition; but I think that he will go farther.  His name is Cromwell!"
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+A cat is a very fine animal.  It is a drawing-room tiger
+But how avenge one's self on silence?
+Deny the spirit of self-sacrifice
+Hatred of everything which is superior to myself
+Hermits can not refrain from inquiring what men say of them
+Princes ought never to be struck, except on the head
+These ideas may serve as opium to produce a calm
+They loved not as you love, eh?
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, v6
+by Alfred de Vigny
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS FOR THE ENTIRE CINQ MARS:
+
+A cat is a very fine animal.  It is a drawing-room tiger
+A queen's country is where her throne is
+Adopted fact is always better composed than the real one
+Advantage that a calm temper gives one over men
+All that he said, I had already thought
+Always the first word which is the most difficult to say
+Ambition is the saddest of all hopes
+Art is the chosen truth
+Artificialities of style of that period
+Artistic Truth, more lofty than the True
+As Homer says, "smiling under tears"
+Assume with others the mien they wore toward him
+But how avenge one's self on silence?
+Dare now to be silent when I have told you these things
+Daylight is detrimental to them
+Deny the spirit of self-sacrifice
+Difference which I find between Truth in art and the True in fac
+Doubt, the greatest misery of love
+Friendship exists only in independence and a kind of equality
+Happy is he who does not outlive his youth
+Hatred of everything which is superior to myself
+He did not blush to be a man, and he spoke to men with force
+Hermits can not refrain from inquiring what men say of them
+History too was a work of art
+I have burned all the bridges behind me
+In pitying me he forgot himself
+In every age we laugh at the costume of our fathers
+In times like these we must see all and say all
+It is not now what it used to be
+It is too true that virtue also has its blush
+Lofty ideal of woman and of love
+Men are weak, and there are things which women must accomplish
+Money is not a common thing between gentlemen like you and me
+Monsieur, I know that I have lived too long
+Neither idealist nor realist
+Never interfered in what did not concern him
+No writer had more dislike of mere pedantry
+Offices will end by rendering great names vile
+Princes ought never to be struck, except on the head
+Princesses ceded like a town, and must not even weep
+Principle that art implied selection
+Recommended a scrupulous observance of nature
+Remedy infallible against the plague and against reserve
+Reproaches are useless and cruel if the evil is done
+Should be punished for not having known how to punish
+So strongly does force impose upon men
+Tears for the future
+The great leveller has swung a long scythe over France
+The most in favor will be the soonest abandoned by him
+The usual remarks prompted by imbecility on such occasions
+These ideas may serve as opium to produce a calm
+They tremble while they threaten
+They have believed me incapable because I was kind
+They loved not as you love, eh?
+This popular favor is a cup one must drink
+This was the Dauphin, afterward Louis XIV
+True talent paints life rather than the living
+Truth,  I here venture to distinguish from that of the True
+Urbain Grandier
+What use is the memory of facts, if not to serve as an example
+Woman is more bitter than death, and her arms are like chains
+Yes, we are in the way here
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Cinq Mars, entire
+by Alfred de Vigny
+
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