"Yes," said the Cardinal de Polignac; "and then she will fail in that promise."
"No, your eminence! I will answer for her."
"What I see most clearly in all this is," said Laval, "that we must compromise the king. Once compromised, he must go on."
"Now, then," said Cellamare, "we are coming to business."
"But how to compromise him," asked the Duchesse de Maine, "without a letter from him, without even a verbal message, and at five hundred leagues' distance?"
"Has he not his representative at Paris, and is not that representative in your house at this very moment, madame?"
"Prince," said the duchess, "you have more extended powers than you are willing to admit."
"No; my powers are limited to telling you that the citadel of Toledo and the fortress of Saragossa are at your service. Find the means of making the regent enter there, and their Catholic majesties will close the door on him so securely that he will not leave it again, I promise you."
"It is impossible," said Monsieur de Polignac.
"Impossible! and why?" cried D'Harmental. "On the contrary, what is more simple? Nothing is necessary but eight or ten determined men, a well-closed carriage, and relays to Bayonne."