Part 40 (1/2)

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 a.s.sembly. 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 pa.s.sera 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 a.s.sembly. 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 a.s.semblages; 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 pa.s.s 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.