many charges and skirmishes, I own for the third time in my
life I was afraid. Yes, and I would rather face your
majesty, however threatening your smile, than face those
demons who accompanied me hither and who sprung from I know
not whence, unless from deepest hell."
(" Bravo," said D'Artagnan in a whisper to Porthos; "well
answered.")
"Well," said the queen, biting her lips, whilst her
courtiers looked at each other with surprise, "what is the
desire of my people?"
"That Broussel shall be given up to them, madame."
"Never!" said the queen, "never!"
"Your majesty is mistress," said La Meilleraie, retreating a
few steps.
"Where are you going, marechal?" asked the queen.
"To give your majesty's reply to those who await it."
"Stay, marechal; I will not appear to parley with rebels."
"Madame, I have pledged my word, and unless you order me to
be arrested I shall be forced to return."
Anne of Austria's eyes shot glances of fire.
"Oh! that is no impediment, sir," said she; "I have had
greater men than you arrested -- Guitant!"
Mazarin sprang forward.
"Madame, "said he, "if I dared in my turn advise ---- "
"Would it be to give up Broussel, sir? If so, you can spare
yourself the trouble."
"No," said Mazarin; "although, perhaps, that counsel is as
good as any other."
"Then what may it be?"
"To call for monsieur le coadjuteur."
"The coadjutor!" cried the queen, "that dreadful mischief
maker! It is he who has raised all this revolt."
"The more reason," said Mazarin; "if he has raised it he can
put it down."
"And hold, madame," suggested Comminges, who was near a
window, out of which he could see; "hold, the moment is a
happy one, for there he is now, giving his blessing in the
square of the Palais Royal."
The queen sprang to the window.
"It is true," she said, "the arch hypocrite -- see!"
"I see," said Mazarin, "that everybody kneels before him,
although he be but coadjutor, whilst I, were I in his place,
though I am cardinal, should be torn to pieces. I persist,
then, madame, in my wish" (he laid an emphasis on the word),
"that your majesty should receive the coadjutor."
"And wherefore do you not say, like the rest, your will?"
replied the queen, in a low voice.
Mazarin bowed.
"Monsieur le marechal," said the queen, after a moment's
reflection, "go and find the coadjutor and bring him to me."
"And what shall I say to the people?"
"That they must have patience," said Anne, "as I have."
The fiery Spanish woman spoke in a tone so imperative that
the marechal made no reply; he bowed and went out.
(D'Artagnan turned to Porthos. "How will this end?" he said.
"We shall soon see," said Porthos, in his tranquil way.)
In the meantime Anne of Austria approached Comminges and
conversed with him in a subdued tone, whilst Mazarin glanced
uneasily at the corner occupied by D'Artagnan and Porthos.
Ere long the door opened and the marechal entered, followed
by the coadjutor.
"There, madame," he said, "is Monsieur Gondy, who hastens to
obey your majesty's summons."
The queen advanced a few steps to meet him, and then
stopped, cold, severe, unmoved, with her lower lip
scornfully protruded.
Gondy bowed respectfully.
"Well, sir," said the queen, "what is your opinion of this
riot?"
"That it is no longer a riot, madame," he replied, "but a
revolt."
"The revolt is at the door of those who think my people can
rebel," cried Anne, unable to dissimulate before the
coadjutor, whom she looked upon, and probably with reason,
as the promoter of the tumult. "Revolt! thus it is called by
those who have wished for this demonstration and who are,
perhaps, the cause of it; but, wait, wait! the king's
authority will put all this to rights."
"Was it to tell me that, madame," coldly replied Gondy,
"that your majesty admitted me to the honor of entering your
presence?"
"No, my dear coadjutor," said Mazarin; "it was to ask your
advice in the unhappy dilemma in which we find ourselves."
"Is it true," asked Gondy, feigning astonishment, "that her
majesty summoned me to ask for my opinion?"
"Yes," said the queen, "it is requested."
The coadjutor bowed.
"Your majesty wishes, then ---- "
"You to say what you would do in her place," Mazarin
hastened to reply.
The coadjutor looked at the queen, who replied by a sign in
the affirmative.
"Were I in her majesty's place," said Gondy, coldly, "I
should not hesitate; I should release Broussel."
"And if I do not give him up, what think you will be the
result?" exclaimed the queen.
"I believe that not a stone in Paris will remain unturned,"
put in the marechal.
"It was not your opinion that I asked," said the queen,
sharply, without even turning around.
"If it is I whom your majesty interrogates," replied the
coadjutor in the same calm manner, "I reply that I hold
monsieur le marechal's opinion in every respect."
The color mounted to the queen's face; her fine blue eyes
seemed to start out of her head and her carmine lips,
compared by all the poets of the day to a pomegranate in
flower, were trembling with anger. Mazarin himself, who was
well accustomed to the domestic outbreaks of this disturbed
household, was alarmed.
"Give up Broussel!" she cried; "fine counsel, indeed. Upon
my word! one can easily see it comes from a priest.
Gondy remained firm, and the abuse of the day seemed to
glide over his head as the sarcasms of the evening before
had done; but hatred and revenge were accumulating in his
heart silently and drop by drop. He looked coldly at the
queen, who nudged Mazarin to make him say something in his
turn.
Mazarin, according to his custom, was thinking much and
saying 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 am not familiar with the French
language, 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, madame," replied the coadjutor, gravely.
"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 men are like thunderbolts --
one recognizes them only when they have struck."
Every one shuddered and there was a moment of silence,
during which the queen pressed her hand to her side,
evidently to still the beatings of her heart.
("Porthos," murmured D'Artagnan, "look well at that priest."
"Yes," said Porthos, "I see him. What then?"
"Well, he is a man."
Porthos looked at D'Artagnan in astonishment. Evidently he
did not understand his meaning.)
"Your majesty," continued the coadjutor, pitilessly, "is
about to take such measures as seem good 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 them by bestowing
your blessing upon them."
"Perhaps it will be too late," said Gondy, still unmoved;
"perhaps I shall have lost all influence; while by giving up
Broussel your majesty will strike at the root of the
sedition and will gain 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
my own heart. Oh! if he were minister and I were his
D'Artagnan, instead of belonging to that beast of a Mazarin,
mordieu! what fine things we would do together!"
"Yes," said Porthos.)
The queen made a sign for every one, except Mazarin, to quit
the room; and Gondy bowed, as if to leave with the rest.
"Stay, sir," said Anne to him.
"Good," thought Gondy, "she is going to yield."
("She is going to have him killed," said D'Artagnan 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," muttered Mazarin, sitting down, "we shall soon see
something 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 making unnatural efforts to subdue her anger;
she fanned herself, smelled at her vinaigrette and walked up
and down. Gondy, who began to feel uneasy, examined the
tapestry with his eyes, touched the coat of mail which he
wore under his long gown and felt from time to time to see
if the handle of a good Spanish dagger, which was hidden
under his cloak, was well within 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 government;
release Broussel from prison and give him back to the
people."
"Oh!" cried Anne, "to humble myself thus! Am I, or am I not,
the queen? This screaming mob, are they, or are they not, my
subjects? Have I friends? Have I guards? Ah! by Notre Dame!
as Queen Catherine used to say," continued she, excited by
her own words, "rather than give up this infamous Broussel
to them I will strangle him with my own hands!"
And she sprang toward Gondy, whom assuredly at that moment
she hated more than Broussel, with outstretched arms. The
coadjutor remained immovable and not a muscle of his face
was discomposed; only his glance 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 moment;
but for my part, before he could reach the good prelate I
would kill Vitry at once; the cardinal would be infinitely
pleased with me."
"Hush!" said Porthos; "listen.")
"Madame," cried the cardinal, seizing hold of Anne and
drawing 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? Come, then, on another occasion you can
be firm and strong; but to-day is not the proper time;
to-day, flatter and caress, or you are only a common woman."
(At the first words of this address D'Artagnan had seized
Porthos's arm, which he pressed with gradually increasing
force. When Mazarin ceased speaking he said to Porthos in a
low tone:
"Never tell Mazarin that I understand Spanish, or I am a
lost man and you are also."
"All right," 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 impenetrable expression that Gondy, clever
physiognomist as he was, had no suspicion of its being more
than a simple warning to be more subdued.
The queen, on her part, thus chided, softened immediately
and sat down, and in an almost weeping 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."
"Madame," replied Gondy, bowing, "your majesty is mistaken
