The messenger delivered the sealed packets into the hands of the young President, with notice that they were of the utmost importance; but, ere he opened them, Albert Maurice dismissed the bearer calmly, and finished the phrase which his entrance had interrupted. He then broke the seals, and read; but as he proceeded, notwithstanding his great command over his own feelings, it was clear, from the contraction of his brow, and the quivering of his lip, that the tale therein written was anything but pleasing.
Casting them on the table, after a moment's deep thought, the young citizen laid his hand sternly upon the papers, and approaching the lamp towards them, pointed to the fatal tidings from Arras, saying to his keen companion--"This is sad! this is terrible! We must, if possible, keep this from the knowledge of the council, till this pitiful ambassador has had his reply."
Ganay read the contents of the papers over, word by word; then raising his eyes to the face of his companion, and compressing his thin, bloodless lips, he replied, calmly but sternly--"Imbercourt must die!"
Albert Maurice started. "No, no! not so," replied he; "I am not one of those tigers, Ganay, to cross whose path is death. He may oppose me in the council; he may even thwart me in my plans; and yet not die, Ganay. But if he betray my country, his deed be upon his head. I will crush him with my heel, as I would a viper."
"Imbercourt must die!" reiterated Ganay, in the same stern, determined tone he had used before. "He will betray your country and mine--and he dies. I have marked him well, I see his plans. He, like the traitors who have gone over before, will sell his country to France for French gold; and he must die. The only difference between him and this Philippe de Crevecœur is, that the one, less cunning than the other, went over with nothing but his own brute courage to sell; while this Imbercourt, take my word for it, will carry, as merchandise to Louis of France, the hand of Mary of Burgundy, and the coronet of all these states."
"Never!" cried Albert Maurice, stung to the heart, as the other had intended, and striking his clenched hand upon the table; "never! My head or his shall whiten in the wind over the battlements of Ghent, before such a sacrifice be consummated."
The moment he had spoken, however, he felt that he had given Ganay an advantage; and well understanding that the game between him and his subtle comrade was one that admitted of no oversight, and that he must be as much upon his guard with his apparent friend as with a declared enemy, he hastened to turn the conversation from a topic on which he could not speak wisely. "We must think farther," he said; "we must think farther! In the meantime," he added, abruptly, "see you to this messenger, and ensure that he do not spread his news abroad before the reception of the worthy ambassador whom Louis has deigned to send. I have that in yon cabinet which shall overthrow, at a word, all that his cunning can advance, were he as cunning as the fiend whose name he takes. At the same time, Ganay, I must trust to your zeal also, my friend, for the skilful management of our other purpose. This Duke of Gueldres you must render popular with the citizens, and oppose him strongly to the Duke of Cleves. Not too far, however. I would equally divide between them the power that the Duke of Cleves at present holds entire. Better it were, nevertheless, that the people over-favoured him of Gueldres, than the other; for he has no hope. Every noble in the land would rise up against him; and, at the worst, it were but three passes of this steel," and he touched the hilt of his sword, "to send him howling to the place he has so long deserved; and to win me the thanks of all the world, for ridding it of such a monster."
Notwithstanding all his care, Albert Maurice felt, and felt angrily, that the eager passions of his heart would burst forth and display more of his real feelings and emotions than he was willing to expose. Ganay smiled, too, as he listened; and with his smiles there was always mingled a degree of mockery of the person who excited them, which rendered their meaning very doubtful.
"May I trust you?" demanded Albert Maurice, sternly.
"You may," answered the druggist. "Doubt me not; for with you, Albert Maurice, I am more frank a thousand-fold than with any other human being. We are like two men playing one game of chess, against a whole host of adversaries; and it is necessary that we should see each other's moves. Your game I know, Albert; and mine I do not seek to conceal from you; for it would be both useless and fatiguing. I will, then, do your bidding in regard to these two men of Cleves and Gueldres; and so play them off against each other, that they shall both combine, in their dissensions, to raise you to the height of your ambition."