Part 32 (1/2)
”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. G.o.d 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 grat.i.tude, and it is this internal combat between his natural goodness and his anger that devours him. Every year that has pa.s.sed 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 n.o.ble 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 Roch.e.l.le 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.”