第72章 THE OFFER OF THE LEAGUE.(1)

When the last sound of his footsteps died away,I awoke as from an evil dream,and becoming conscious of the presence of M.

Francois and the servants,recollected mechanically that I owed the former an apology for my discourtesy in keeping him standing in the cold.I began to offer it;but my distress and confusion of mind were such that in the middle of a set phrase I broke off,and stood looking fixedly at him,my trouble so plain that he asked me civilly if anything ailed me.

'No,'I answered,turning from him impatiently;'nothing,nothing,sir.Or tell me,'I continued,with an abrupt change of mind,'who is that;who has just left us?'

'Father Antoine,do you mean?'

'Ay,Father Antoine,Father Judas,call him what you like,'Irejoined bitterly.

'Then if you leave the choice to me,'M.Francois answered with grave politeness,'I would rather call him something more pleasant,M.de Marsac--James or John,let us say.For there is little said here which does not come back to him.If walls have ears,the walls of Blois are in his pay.But I thought you knew him,'he continued.'He is secretary,confidant,chaplain,what you will,to Cardinal Retz,and one of those whom--in your ear--greater men court and more powerful men lean on.If I had to choose between them,I would rather cross M.de Crillon.'

'I am obliged to you,'I muttered,checked as much by his manner as his words.

'Not at all,'he answered more lightly.'Any information I have is at your disposal.'

However,I saw the imprudence of venturing farther,and hastened to take leave of him,persuading him to allow one of M.de Rambouillet's servants to accompany him home.He said that he should call on me in the morning;and forcing myself to answer him in a suitable manner,I saw him depart one way,and myself,accompanied by Simon Fleix,went off another.My feet were frozen with long standing--I think the corpse we left was scarce colder--but my head was hot with feverish doubts and fears.The moon had sunk and the streets were dark.Our torch had burned out,and we had no light.But where my followers saw only blackness and vacancy,I saw an evil smile and a lean visage fraught with menace and exultation.

For the more closely I directed my mind to the position in which I stood,the graver it seemed.Pitted against Bruhl alone,amid strange surroundings and in an atmosphere of Court intrigue,Ihad thought my task sufficiently difficult and the disadvantages under which I laboured sufficiently serious before this interview.Conscious of a certain rustiness and a distaste for finesse,with resources so inferior to Bruhl's that even M.de Rosny's liberality had not done much to make up the difference,Ihad accepted the post offered me rather readily than sanguinely;with joy,seeing that it held out the hope of high reward,but with no certain expectation of success.Still,matched with a man of violent and headstrong character,I had seen no reason to despair;nor any why I might not arrange the secret meeting between the king and mademoiselle with safety,and conduct to its end an intrigue simple and unsuspected,and requiring for its execution rather courage and caution than address or experience.

Now,however,I found that Bruhl was not my only or my most dangerous antagonist.Another was in the field--or,to speak more correctly,was waiting outside the arena,ready to snatch the prize when we should have disabled one another,From a dream of Bruhl and myself as engaged in a competition for the king's favour,wherein neither could expose the other nor appeal even in the last resort to the joint-enemies of his Majesty and ourselves,I awoke to a very different state of things;I awoke to find those enemies the masters of the situation,possessed of the clue to our plans,and permitting them only as long as they seemed to threaten no serious peril to themselves.

No discovery could be more mortifying or more fraught with terror.The perspiration stood on my brow as I recalled the warning which M.de Rosny had uttered against Cardinal Retz,or noted down the various points of knowledge which were in Father Antoine's possession.He knew every event of the last month,with one exception,and could tell,I verily believed,how many crowns I had in my pouch.Conceding this,and the secret sources of information he must possess,what hope had I of keeping my future movements from him?Mademoiselle's arrival would be known to him before she had well passed the gates;nor was it likely,or even possible,that I should again succeed in reaching the king's presence untraced and unsuspected.In fine,I saw myself,equally with Bruhl,a puppet in this man's hands,my goings out and my comings in watched and reported to him,his mercy the only bar between myself and destruction.At any moment I might be arrested as a Huguenot,the enterprise in which I was engaged ruined,and Mademoiselle de la Vire exposed to the violence of Bruhl or the equally dangerous intrigues of the League.

Under these circumstances I fancied sleep impossible;but habit and weariness are strong persuaders,and when I reached my lodging I slept long and soundly,as became a man who had looked danger in the face more than once.The morning light too brought an accession both of courage and hope.I reflected on the misery of my condition at St.Jean d'Angely,without friends or resources,and driven to herd with such a man as Fresnoy.And telling myself that the gold crowns which M.de Rosny had lavished upon me were not for nothing,nor the more precious friendship with which he had honoured me a gift that called for no return,I rose with new spirit and a countenance which threw Simon Fleix who had seen me lie down the picture of despair--into the utmost astonishment.

'You have had good dreams,'he said,eyeing me jealously and with a disturbed air.