Part 54 (2/2)
”Monseigneur, I have heard it said that the order required to beco that froned your functions in favor of the person who should be the depositary of such a secret, I wrote to say that I was ready to co alone a secret I believe to be important”
”Speak,” said the Franciscan; ”I ae the importance of the secret”
”A secret of the value of that which I have the honor to confide to you cannot be communicated by word of mouth Any idea which, when once expressed, has thereby lost its safeguard, and has becoarized by any er is the property of hiave it birth My words may be overheard by soht not, therefore, to speak at random, for, in such a case, the secret would cease to be one”
”How do you propose, then, to convey your secret?” inquired the dying ned to the physician and the confessor to withdraw, and with the other he handed to the Franciscan a paper enclosed in a double envelope
”Is not writing e?”
”No, my lord,” said Aramis, ”for you will find within this envelope characters which you and I alone can understand” The Franciscan looked at Aramis with an astonishment which momentarily increased
”It is a cipher,” continued the latter, ”which you used in 1655, and which your secretary, Juan Jujan, who is dead, could alone decipher, if he were restored to life”
”You knew this cipher, then?”
”It was I who taught it hiracefulness full of respect, and advancing towards the door as if to leave the rooesture of the Franciscan accompanied by a cry for him to remain, restrained hi the paper a second time, he called out, ”Approach, approach quickly!”
Aramis returned to the side of the Franciscan, with the saed The Franciscan, extending his arm, burnt by the flame of the candle the paper which Ara hold of Aramis's hand, he drew him towards him, and inquired: ”In what manner and by whose means could you possibly becoh Madame de Chevreuse, the intimate friend and confidante of the queen”
”And Madame de Chevreuse-”
”Is dead”
”Did any others know it?”
”A man and a woman only, and they of the lower classes”
”Who are they?”
”Persons who had brought him up”
”What has become of them?”
”Dead also This secret burns like vitriol”
”But you survive?”
”No one is aware that I know it”
”And for what length of time have you possessed this secret?”
”For the last fifteen years”
”And you have kept it?”
”I wished to live”
”And you give it to the order without aive it to the order with ambition and with a hope of return,” said Aramis; ”for if you live, my lord, you will ht to be”
”And as I a,” exclaimed the Franciscan, ”I constitute you , he passed it on Ara towards the two spectators of this scene, he said: ”Be ye witnesses of this, and testify, if need be, that, sick in body, but sound in , the token of supreneur d'Herblay, bishop of Vannes, whom I nominate my successor, and before whom I, an humble sinner, about to appear before Heaven, prostrate myself, as an example for all to follow” And the Franciscan bowed lowly and submissively, whilst the physician and the Jesuit fell on their knees Ara man himself, bent his looks successively upon all the actors of this scene Profoundly gratified ambition floith life-blood towards his heart
”We must lose no time,” said the Franciscan; ”what I had still to do on earth was urgent I shall never succeed in carrying it out”
”I will do it,” said Ara towards the Jesuit and the doctor, he added, ”Leave us alone,” a direction they instantly obeyed
”With this sign,” he said, ”you are the man needed to shake the world fron you will overthroith this sign you will edify; in hoc signo vinces!” 9 ”Close the door,” continued the Franciscan after a pause Aramis shut and bolted the door, and returned to the side of the Franciscan
”The pope is conspiring against the order,” said the monk; ”the pope must die”
”He shall die,” said Ara to a Breet the guarantee of nature”
”He shall be paid,” said Arahts of Malta, whose names are written here, have discovered, by the indiscretion of one of the affiliated of the eleventh year, the three mysteries; it must be ascertained what else these ain and bury it”
”It shall be done”
”Three dangerous affiliated members must be sent away into Tibet, there to perish; they stand condemned Here are their names”
”I will see that the sentence be carried out”
”Lastly, there is a lady at Anvers, grand-niece of Ravaillac; she holds certain papers in her hands that compro the last fifty-one years a pension of fifty thousand livres The pension is a heavy one, and the order is not wealthy Redeem the papers, for a sum of money paid down, or, in case of refusal, stop the pension-but run no risk”
”I will quickly decide what is best to be done,” said Aramis
”A vessel chartered from Lima entered the port of Lisbon last week; ostensibly it is laden with chocolate, in reality with gold Every ingot is concealed by a coating of chocolate The vessel belongs to the order; it is worth seventeen millions of livres; you will see that it is clai”
”To what port shall I direct it to be taken?”
”To Bayonne”
”Before three weeks are over it shall be there, wind and weather pern in the affirer speak; the blood rushed to his throat and his head, and gushed fro man had barely time to press Aramis's hand, when he fell in convulsions from his bed upon the floor Aramis placed his hand upon the Franciscan's heart, but it had ceased to beat As he stooped down, Araiven the Franciscan had escaped being burnt He picked it up, and burnt it to the last ato the confessor and the physician, he said to the for more than prayers and the burial bestowed upon the pious dead Go and prepare what is necessary for a simple interment, such as a poor monk only would require Go”
The Jesuit left the roo his pale and anxious face, he said, in a low tone of voice: ”Monsieur Grisart, elass; there is too rand council desired you to put in”
Grisart, amazed, overcome, completely astounded, aled his shoulders in sign of pity, took the glass, and poured out the contents a the papers of the dead man with him