"When the King shall go to visit the Cardinal, the guards of the latter shall remain under arms; and when the Cardinal shall visit the King, the guards of the Cardinal shall share the same post with those of his Majesty.
"Again:
"His Majesty undertakes to place the two princes, his sons, in the
Cardinal's hands, as hostages of the good faith of his attachment."
"My children!" exclaimed Louis, raising his head, "dare you?"
"Would you rather that I should retire?" said Richelieu.
The King again signed.
"Is all finished now?" he inquired, with a deep sigh.
All was not finished; one other grief was still in reserve for him. The door was suddenly opened, and Cinq-Mars entered. It was the Cardinal who trembled now.
"What would you here, sir?" said he, seizing the bell to ring for assistance.
The master of the horse was as pale as the King, and without condescending to answer Richelieu, he advanced steadily toward Louis XIII, who looked at him with the air of a man who has just received a sentence of death.