"What things?" asked D'Harmental.
"Do you not know?"
"I know absolutely nothing, except that—unless what you have to tell me is of the greatest importance—I should like to strangle you for having disturbed me; so take care, and if you have not any news worthy of the occasion, invent some."
"Unfortunately," replied the abbe, "the reality leaves little to the imagination."
"Indeed, my dear abbe," said D'Harmental, "you look in a terrible fright. What has happened? Tell me."
"Oh, only that we have been betrayed by some one. That the Marshal de Villeroy was arrested this morning at Versailles, and that the two letters from Philip V. are in the hands of the regent."
D'Harmental perfectly understood the gravity of the situation, but his face exhibited the calmness which was habitual to him in moments of danger.
"Is that all?" he asked, quietly.
"All for the present; and, if you do not think it enough, you are difficult to satisfy."
"My dear abbe," said D'Harmental, "when we entered on this conspiracy, it was with almost equal chances of success and failure. Yesterday, our chances were ninety to a hundred; to-day they are only thirty; that is all."