Balsamo watched the cardinal go off in his carriage, with a melancholy eye and turned back on the porch, when this little beggar supplicated him.
“A brief hearing, my lord,” he said. “Do you not recall me?”
“No; but no matter, come in,” said the conspirator whose plots made him acquainted with stranger figures still: and he led him into the first room where he said, without altering his dull tone but gentle manner:
“You asked if I recalled you? well, I seem to have seen you before.”
“At Taverney, when the Archduchess came through. I was a dependent on the family. I have been away three years.”
“Coming to—— ”
“To Paris, where I have studied under M. Rousseau and, later, a gardener at Trianon by the favor of Dr. Jussieu.”
“You are citing high and mighty names: What do you want of me?”
Gilbert fixed a glance on Balsamo not deficient in firmness.
“Do you remember coming to Trianon on the night of the great storm, Friday, six weeks ago? I saw you there.”