"In fact," said the regent, "the Baron de Valef narrowly escaped Dubois's emissaries; it needed some courage to renew such a work. I know that when the regent saw Madame de Maine and Cellamare arrested; Richelieu, Polignac, Malezieux, and Mademoiselle de Launay in the Bastille; and that wretched Lagrange-Chancel at the Sainte Marguerite, he thought all was finished."
"You see he was mistaken, monseigneur."
"But do not these Breton conspirators fear that in thus rising they may sacrifice the heads of the Paris conspirators whom the regent has in his power?"
"They hope to save them, or die with them."
"How save them?"
"Let us return to the dispatch, if you please, monseigneur; here it is."
The regent took the paper, but seeing the address to his excellency the Duc d'Olivares, laid it on the table unopened. Strange inconsistency! This man opened two hundred letters a day by his spies; it is true that then he dealt with a Thorey or a Dubois, and not with a Chevalier de Chanlay.
"Well, monseigneur," said Gaston.
"You know, doubtless, what this dispatch contains, monsieur?"
"Not word for word, perhaps; but I know what was arranged."