“’Twas well done!” he cried. “By my word, I would I had been there. You are right, de Brancas, assassination is something no gentleman can countenance. I am surprised that Madame du Maine should go so far. She must indeed have been desperate.” He remained silent for some moments, musing deeply. “So the regent was too quick for us and everything is known,—even my treason, for so it must appear to him. In faith, I do not wonder he had sworn to have my head. And yet,” he added, “I would he had taken it rather than that Charlotte should pay this price.”
“How did you learn of it?” I questioned.
“An hour ago,” said Richelieu, “a guard came to my cell and told me to follow him. I did not doubt that my destination was the Place de Greve, but I had found imprisonment so irksome that I was ready to welcome any change, even the block. Besides, I was not sorry to have the opportunity of showing the regent how a gentleman should die. I was taken to the office of Maison-Rouge and left there alone with him. He told me that the regent had ordered my release, and when I remained too astonished to reply, he handed me a note.
“‘’Tis from the regent,’ he said.
“I opened the note, suspecting some new blow. You may guess my feelings when I saw that it was a command to be present to-morrow morning at the Palais Royal to witness the marriage by proxy of Charlotte and the Duc de Modena. Across the bottom of the note was written, ‘The price paid for the head of M. le Duc de Richelieu.’ I tore the note into a thousand pieces. I told Maison-Rouge that I would not accept the price and commanded him to take me back to my cell. He merely smiled, and said that the price had already been accepted by the regent, since my head belonged no longer to me but to him, and calling two guards, he had me led to the outer gate, which was closed behind me.”
“I’ll wager ’twas the first time in the history of the Bastille that a prisoner had to be forced to leave it,” I cried. “Come, monsieur, do not despair. The regent has overleaped himself in releasing you so soon. The price may have been accepted, but it is not yet paid.”
“Not yet paid?”
“No. And furthermore, it need never be paid if you do not wish it.”
“You have a plan, then?” cried Richelieu, his face brightening.
“Perhaps.”