Part 53 (1/2)
Gondy relide over his head as the sarcase were accu in his heart silently and drop by drop He looked coldly at the queen, who nudged Mazarin toto his custo little
”Ho! ho!” said he, ”good advice, advice of a friend I, too, would give up that good Monsieur Broussel, dead or alive, and all would be at an end”
”If you yield him dead, all will indeed be at an end, my lord, but quite otherwise than you mean”
”Did I say 'dead or alive?'” replied Mazarin ”It was only a way of speaking You know I ae, which you, monsieur le coadjuteur, both speak and write so well”
(”This is a council of state,” D'Artagnan remarked to Porthos; ”but we held better ones at La Rochelle, with Athos and Aramis”
”At the Saint Gervais bastion,” said Porthos
”There and elsewhere”) The coadjutor let the storm pass over his head and resumed, still with the same tranquillity: ”Madame, if the opinion I have submitted to you does not please you it is doubtless because you have better counsels to follow I know too well the wisdom of the queen and that of her advisers to suppose that they will leave the capital long in trouble that may lead to a revolution”
”Thus, then, it is your opinion,” said Anne of Austria, with a sneer and biting her lips with rage, ”that yesterday's riot, which to-day is already a rebellion, to-morrow may become a revolution?”
”Yes, ravely
”But if I am to believe you, sir, the people seem to have thrown off all restraint”
”It is a bad year for kings,” said Gondy, shaking his head; ”look at England, madame”
”Yes; but fortunately we have no Oliver Cromwell in France,” replied the queen
”Who knows?” said Gondy; ”such nizes them only when they have struck”
Every one shuddered and there was awhich the queen pressed her hand to her side, evidently to still the beatings of her heart
(”Porthos,” nan, ”look well at that priest”
”Yes,” said Porthos, ”I see him What then?”
”Well, he is a nan in astonish) ”Your majesty,” continued the coadjutor, pitilessly, ”is about to take such ood to you, but I foresee that they will be violent and such as will still further exasperate the rioters”
”In that case, you, monsieur le coadjuteur, who have such power over them and are at the same time friendly to us,” said the queen, ironically, ”will quiet the upon them”
”Perhaps it will be too late,” said Gondy, still univing up Broussel your ain the right to punish severely any revival of the revolt”
”Have I not, then, that right?” cried the queen
”If you have it, use it,” replied Gondy
(”Peste!” said D'Artagnan to Porthos ”There is a man after nan, instead of belonging to that beast of a Mazarin, ether!”
”Yes,” said Porthos) The queen n for every one, except Mazarin, to quit the room; and Gondy bowed, as if to leave with the rest
”Stay, sir,” said Anne to hi to yield”
(”She is going to have hinan to Porthos, ”but at all events it shall not be by me I swear to Heaven, on the contrary, that if they fall upon him I will fall upon them”
”And I, too,” said Porthos) ”Good,”startling”
The queen's eyes followed the retreating figures and when the last had closed the door she turned away It was evident that she was er; she fanned herself, srette and walked up and down Gondy, who began to feel uneasy, examined the tapestry with his eyes, touched the coat of own and felt froer, which was hidden under his cloak, ithin reach
”And now,” at last said the queen, ”now that we are alone, repeat your counsel, monsieur le coadjuteur”
”It is this, madame: that you should appear to have reflected, and publicly acknowledge an error, which constitutes the extra strength of a strong governive him back to the people”
”Oh!” cried Anne, ”to hu mob, are they, or are they not, uards? Ah! by Notre Dame! as Queen Catherine used to say,” continued she, excited by her oords, ”rather than give up this infale hi toward Gondy, whom assuredly at that moment she hated more than Broussel, with outstretched arms The coadjutor remained immovable and not a lance flashed like a sword in returning the furious looks of the queen
(”He were a dead man” said the Gascon, ”if there were still a Vitry at the court and if Vitry entered at this ood prelate I would kill Vitry at once; the cardinal would be infinitely pleased with me”
”Hush!+” said Porthos; ”listen”) ”Mada her back, ”Madame, what are you about?”
Then he added in Spanish, ”Anne, are you mad? You, a queen to quarrel like a washerwoman! And do you not perceive that in the person of this priest is represented the whole people of Paris and that it is dangerous to insult him at this moment, and if this priest wished it, in an hour you would be without a crown? Co; but to-day is not the proper time; to-day, flatter and caress, or you are only a conan had seized Porthos's ar force When Mazarin ceased speaking he said to Porthos in a low tone: ”Never tell Mazarin that I understand Spanish, or I aht,” said Porthos) This rough appeal, marked by the eloquence which characterized Mazarin when he spoke in Italian or Spanish and which he lost entirely in speaking French, was uttered with such inoto be more subdued
The queen, on her part, thus chided, softened i voice, letting her arms fall by her side, said: ”Pardon me, sir, and attribute this violence to what I suffer A woman, and consequently subject to the weaknesses of my sex, I am alarmed at the idea of civil war; a queen, accustomed to be obeyed, I am excited at the first opposition”
”Mada, ”yourmy sincere advice as opposition Your majesty has none but submissive and respectful subjects It is not the queen hom the people are displeased; they ask for Broussel and are only too happy, if you release hiovernment”
Mazarin, who at the words, ”It is not the queen hom the people are displeased,” had pricked up his ears, thinking that the coadjutor was about to speak of the cries, ”Doith Mazarin,” and pleased with Gondy's suppression of this fact, he said with his sweetest voice and his racious expression: ”Madame, credit the coadjutor, who is one of the most able politicians we have; the first available cardinal's hat see already to his noble brow”
”Ah! how ht Gondy
(”And ill he pro away hats like that, Porthos, let us look out and both deiment to-morrow Corbleu! let the civil war last but one year and I will have a constable's sword gilt for me”
”And for ive you the baton of the Marechal de la Meilleraie, who does not seem to be much in favor just now”) ”And so, sir,” said the queen, ”you are seriously afraid of a public tu further advanced; ”I fear that when the torrent has broken its embankment it will cause fearful destruction”
”And I,” said the queen, ”think that in such a case other embankments should be raised to oppose it Go; I will reflect”
Gondy looked at Mazarin, astonished, and Mazarin approached the queen to speak to her, but at this htful tumult arose from the square of the Palais Royal