Part 27 (1/2)
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 a.s.suming 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 a.s.sault 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.