"She is mixed up in the plot which Mazarin has discovered. I am sorry for her niece."
"Mazarin will do the maid no harm," exclaimed the old soldier. "I have always found his bark worse than his bite. Are you sure that he is quite safe yonder?"
"Everything appears as usual."
"Still, in case you are sent on another message, it will be as well that the Cardinal has some protection," and he gave a private signal which quickly brought two soldiers to our side.
"You are under the orders of M. de Lalande," he exclaimed, and, leaving me to return to the house, hurried off.
"Affairs go well," said the Cardinal briskly, as I entered the room, "and the credit is yours, M. de Lalande. But for your sharp eyes I might have failed to get on the track of this conspiracy against the King. There is one thing more for you to do. Take this note to Madame Coutance in the Rue Crillon. It is a request by our dear Martin that she will give up the papers relating to the plot. You will pass them to M. Belloc with orders to bring them here at once."
"Suppose the lady refuses to surrender them, my Lord?"
"You will search her room, while this lettre de cachet will secure her a lodging in the Bastille. If, on the other hand, she has the good sense to yield quietly, you will simply escort her to her chateau. The carriage will be in readiness."
I told him of the soldiers stationed in the corridor, and once more left the house. The night was growing late, and the streets, in spite of the falots filled with burning pitch, and the dingy lamps suspended by chains passing from one side of the road to the other, were almost in darkness.
But Paris was wide awake and unduly excited. Swarms of people of the lowest class, unkempt, ragged, and frowsy, but all armed in some fashion, were prowling around intent on mischief, and cheering for De Retz. Bands of Black Mantles, grave and preoccupied as became owners of property, guarded the shops, in dread equally of the canaille and the nobles.