“Here is the letter. Bear it to the address. That is all.”
The adept of the Order looked at the envelope and the seal, and seeing that both were intact, he manifested his joy, and disappeared in the shadows.
“What a pity I could not keep such an autograph,” sighed the magician “and what a pity it cannot be placed by sure hands before the King.”
“Who is there?” he asked of Fritz who appeared.
“A young and pretty lady with an old gentleman whom I do not know as they have never called before.”
“Where are they?”
“In the parlor.”
Balsamo walked into the room where the countess had concealed her face completely in her cloak hood; she looked like a woman of the lower middle class. The marshal, more shrinking than she, was garbed in grey like an upper servant in a good house.
“My lord count,” began Dubarry, “do you know me?”
“Perfectly, my lady the countess. Will you please take a seat, and also your companion.”