Throwing open the door, he pushed me in by the shoulders, bidding me to knock loudly at that same door when I had done, and not to stop longer than necessary. I now found myself alone, in a little ante-chamber; and as it had but one other door, of course I advanced towards it, and entered the next room without ceremony. Here, seated at a table, which was covered with pots of beautiful carnations, sat a young man of about five or six and twenty, busily tending and arranging his flowers. He was alone--though I heard voices in a chamber beyond; and from the whole appearance of the apartment, the neglect and poverty of the furniture, and the simplicity of the young man's own attire, I might have imagined that he was some valet-de-chambre, admitted to the prison in order to attend upon the Princes, had he not looked up: as he did so, however, the eagle-eye could not be mistaken, and I felt that I must be in the presence of the great Condé.
"Who are you, my boy?" he asked, as soon as he saw me. "Good faith, this is a pleasing novelty: I have not seen a new face these two months; let me look at you;" and rising from his seat, he approached the window near which I passed as I entered from the ante-room. He was neither very tall nor very strongly made, but there was the promise of extraordinary activity in every limb. His features were slightly aquiline, and in general good, without being very striking. But his eye was, indeed, remarkable. It was deep set, it is true, and not particularly large; but there was a light, and a keenness, and an intensity in its slightest glance, that are quite indescribable. It was quick, too, as the lightning; and I observed, that at almost every other word the corner of the eyebrow next the nose was drawn forward, and rounded, as it were, so as to shade the eye in a degree, and to cut off every ray of light but those which fell upon the object at which he was looking.
"Who are you, my boy? Who are you--who are you?" he repeated, quickly. "Has Monsieur de Bar forgotten himself, and learned to believe that gentlemanly conduct is consistent with the office of a gaoler?"
For a moment I was in doubt how to answer; but as I still heard voices in the other room, I thought it best to be cautious, and being obliged to speak loud, on account of my distance from the Prince at the moment, I told him the same story that I had passed upon the governor.
"Ha!" he said, "Pallu should have come to me first. He forgets that he is my oracle as well as surgeon, and the only human thing that I see from week's end to week's end, except the grim visages of my gaolers, or the gloomy ones of my fellow-prisoners. However, if there was life or death in the case, as you say, of course he could not come."
While he was speaking I advanced quietly to the table, and putting down the packet of salves and dressings upon it, I approached closer to the Prince without saying a word. He looked at me sharply as I did so, seeming to comprehend at once that there was something extraordinary in this man[oe]uvre; and when I was within about a yard of him, he put out his hand to stop my further advance, saying, "Stay, stay; no nearer, if you please, till I hear more of your business."
I bowed low, and replied, in a tone that could only be heard by himself, "If your Highness will sit down and permit me to dress your arm, or, at least, to seem to do so, I may prove more oracular than Monsieur de Pallu. I come from your Highness's faithful friend and servant, Monsieur de Villardin, and from your no less faithful servant, Gourville."
"Hush!" he replied, "hush!" And advancing to the door which led into the other room, he said, speaking to the Prince de Conti and the Duke de Longueville, who were within, "Messieurs, I am going to have my wound dressed; and therefore, unless you wish to learn surgery, you may stay where you are for half an hour." He then closed the door, and returning to his seat near the table, stripped off his coat, and drawing back his sleeve, presented his arm to me, saying at the same time, "Now!"
I, on my part, busied myself with the dressings, and while I did so, proceeded to explain to him, in a low tone, but as distinctly as possible, the measures that had been taken for setting him at liberty on the Sunday following. I told him that the guards, who had entered into our plan, were already provided with the means of fastening the officers into the chapel during the vesper service, that horses would be ready at each of the villages within four miles of Vincennes, that the whole garrison was in his favour, and that nothing was wanting but preparation on his part to take advantage of the opportunity when it occurred.
"Fear not," he replied, in the same tone; "fear not that I will be found unprepared. No, no; as soon as that door is open, I will be quite ready to walk out of it. But tell me," he added, "who are you that have been trusted with such an important communication, and have had courage and address sufficient to execute it?"