The cardinal read the despatch.
It contained some good news: perhaps a report of the small number of troops that Gonzalez of Cordova had before Casal; perhaps of a conspiracy of the queens against the power which saved France.
Whatever it may have been, the cardinal folded the despatch with a shrewd smile and looked up at Mario, saying:
"Propitious fate has ordained everything so well to-day, that it has chosen an archangel for messenger. Who are you, monsieur, and how does it happen that you are the bearer of such a despatch?"
"I am a volunteer," Mario replied. "I took this despatch from the hand of a dying man, which was held out to me in the midst of our pursuit of the enemy. He said to me: 'The king's service before everything.'—I could not obtain access to the king, so I thought I would seek access to your eminence."
"So you thought that it was all the same, in the sense that the king can have no secrets from the minister?"
"I thought that he should have none," replied Mario, calmly.
"What is your name?"
"Mario de Bois-Doré."
"Your age?"