Part 54 (1/2)
”Now for the cardinal,” he said; ”we ought to get so his head, he perceived the confessor, aiting his orders as respectfully as a school-boy
”Ah, ah!” he said, noticing his sub with the landlord”
”Yes, neur; and to the physician”
”To Grisart?”
”Yes”
”He is here, then?”
”He is waiting with the potion he promised”
”Very well; if I require hireat ineur”
”Then go and fetch me the Spanish Cardinal Herrebia Make haste Only, as you now understand the in to feel faint”
”Shall I summon the physician?”
”Not yet, not yet the Spanish cardinal, no one else Fly”
Five minutes afterwards, the cardinal, pale and disturbed, entered the little rooneur,-” stammered the cardinal
”To the point,” said the Franciscan, in a faint voice, showing the cardinal a letter which he had written to the grand council ”Is that your handwriting?”
”Yes, but-”
”And your summons?”
The cardinal hesitated to answer His purple revolted against the arb of the poor Franciscan, who stretched out his hand and displayed the ring, which produced its effect, greater in proportion to the greatness of the person over whom the Franciscan exercised his influence
”Quick, the secret, the secret!” said the dyingupon his confessor
”Coram isto?” inquired the Spanish cardinal 8 ”Speak in Spanish,” said the Franciscan, showing the liveliest attention
”You are aware,the conversation in Castilian, ”that the condition of theof France was the absolute renunciation of the rights of the said Infanta, as well as of King Louis XIV, to all clain in the affirmative
”The consequence is,” continued the cardinal, ”that the peace and alliance between the two kingdoms depend upon the observance of that clause of the contract” A sin from the Franciscan ”Not only France and Spain,” continued the cardinal, ”but the whole of Europe even, would be violently rent asunder by the faithlessness of either party” Anotherman's head
”It further results,” continued the speaker, ”that the ht be able to foresee events, and to render certain that which is noin the ood or evil, would preserve the world froreat catastrophe; and the event, which has no fixed certainty even in the brain of hie of our order”
”pronto, pronto!” murmured the Franciscan, in Spanish, who suddenly became paler, and leaned upon the priest The cardinal approached the ear of the dyingof France has determined that, at the very first pretext, a death for instance, either that of the king of Spain, or that of a brother of the Infanta, France will, arms in hand, claim the inheritance, and I have in reed upon by Louis XIV for this occasion”
”And this plan?” said the Franciscan
”Here it is,” returned the cardinal
”In whose handwriting is it?”
”My own”
”Have you anything further to say to ood deal, my lord,” replied the cardinal
”Yes, you have rendered the order a great service But how did you procure the details, by the aid of which you have constructed your plan?”
”I have the under-servants of the king of France in my pay, and I obtain fro burnt”
”Very ingenious,”to smile; ”you will leave this hotel, cardinal, in a quarter of an hour, and a reply shall be sent you” The cardinal withdrew
”Call Grisart, and desire the Venetian Marini to come,” said the sick man
While the confessor obeyed, the Franciscan, instead of striking out the cardinal's name, as he had done the baron's, made a cross at the side of it Then, exhausted by the effort, he fell back on his bed,the name of Dr Grisart When he returned to his senses, he had drunk about half of the potion, of which the relass, and he found himself supported by the physician, while the Venetian and the confessor were standing close to the door The Venetian submitted to the same formalities as his two predecessors, hesitated as they had done at the sight of the two strangers, but his confidence restored by the order of the general, he revealed that the pope, terrified at the power of the order, eaving a plot for the general expulsion of the Jesuits, and was ta with the different courts of Europe in order to obtain their assistance He described the pontiff's auxiliaries, his means of action, and indicated the particular locality in the Archipelago where, by a sudden surprise, two cardinals, adepts of the eleventh year, and, consequently, high in authority, were to be transported, together with thirty-two of the principal affiliated nor Marini It was by no ht service he had rendered the society by denouncing this pontifical project The Venetian thereupon received directions to set off in a quarter of an hour, and left as radiant as if he already possessed the ring, the sign of the supre, the Franciscan murmured to himself: ”All these eneral; they have all discovered a plot, but not one of them a secret It is not by means of ruin, or war, or force, that the Society of Jesus is to be governed, but by that mysterious influence moral superiority alone confers No, the man is not yet found, and to co Oh! must the society indeed fall with me for want of a colu for me, sith me the future of the order; that future which ten years more of my own life would have rendered eternal? for that future, with the reign of the new king, is opening radiant and full of splendor” These words, which had been half-reflected, half-pronounced aloud, were listened to by the Jesuit confessor with a terror sis of a person attacked by fever, whilst Grisart, with a her order, devoured them as the revelations of an unknoorld, in which his looks were plunged without ability to comprehend Suddenly the Franciscan recovered himself
”Let us finish this,” he said; ”death is approaching Oh! just noas dying resignedly, for I hoped while now I sink in despair, unless those who reer”
Grisart approached the dying monk, and made him s a few drops, not of the potion which was still left in the glass, but of the contents of a small bottle he had upon his person
”Call the Scotchman!” exclaimed the Franciscan; ”call the Bre I am suffocated”
The confessor darted forward to seek assistance, as if there had been any huth which could hold back the hand of death, which eighing down the sick man; but, at the threshold of the door, he found Araer on his lips, like the statue of Harpocrates, the God of silence, by a look motioned him back to the end of the apart consulted each other by looks, made a movens of the cross, each made in a different manner, transfixed them both in their places
”A chief!” they both murmured
Ara ony which had seized hi to the effect of the elixir, or whether the appearance of Arath, he , his mouth half open, and his hair damp with sweat, sat up upon the bed Ara; the ere closed; the fire was burning upon the hearth; a pair of candles of yelloere guttering down in the copper candlesticks, and still further increased, by their thick smoke, the te upon the dying ence and respect, said to hi in this manner, before you suht possibly die before you had seenman started and looked at the list
”You are, therefore, he as formerly called Aramis, and since, the Chevalier d'Herblay? You are the bishop of Vannes?”
”Yes, my lord”
”I know you, I have seen you”
”At the last jubilee, ith the Holy Father together”
”Yes, yes, I remember; and you place yourself on the list of candidates?”