“Your Highness thought it was Père Le Rouge,” said St. Ibal; “but he would most likely come in at the door, if he did come; not through the window.”
Gaston of Orleans heard the jests of his two companions without anger; and a moment or two after, Cinq Mars, who stood near one of the dilapidated casements, turned round, exclaiming, “Hark! I hear the sound of a horse’s feet: it is Fontrailles at last. Give me a torch; I will show him where we are.”
“If it should be the Devil now——” said Montressor, as Cinq Mars left the room.
“Or Père Le Rouge,” added St. Ibal.
“Or both,” said the Duke of Orleans.
“Why for cunning and mischief they would scarcely supply the place of one Fontrailles,” rejoined St. Ibal. “But here comes one or the other,—I suppose it is the same to your Royal Highness which.”
“Oh, yes!” answered the Duke, “they shall all be welcome. Nothing like keeping good company, St. Ibal.”
As he spoke, Cinq Mars returned, accompanied by Fontrailles, both laughing with no small glee. “What makes ye so merry, my Lords?” exclaimed Montressor; “a laugh too good a thing to be lost. Has Monsieur de Fontrailles encountered his old friend Sathanus by the road-side, or what?”
“Not so,” answered Cinq Mars, “he has only bamboozled an innkeeper. But come, Fontrailles, let us not lose time: will you read over the articles of alliance to which we are to put our names; and let us determine upon them to-night, for, if we meet frequently in this way, we shall become suspected ere our design be ripe.”
“Willingly for my part,” replied Fontrailles, approaching the table, and speaking with some degree of emphasis, but without immediately deviating into declamation. “There certainly never was a case when speedy decision was more requisite than the present. Every man in this kingdom, from the King to the peasant, has felt, and does now feel, the evils which we are met to remedy. It is no longer zeal, but necessity, which urges us to oppose the tyranny of this daring Minister. It is no longer patriotism, but self-defence. In such a case, all means are justifiable; for when a man (as Richelieu has done) breaks through every law, human and divine, to serve the ungenerous purpose of his own aggrandizement; when he sports with the lives of his fellow-creatures with less charity than a wild beast; are we not bound to consider him as such, and to hunt him to the death for the general safety?”