“But, even if they hang the Guises, it will not give me back my son,” said the wretched father.
At that instant some one rapped cautiously on Tourillon’s outer door, and the glover went downstairs to open it himself. The night was dark. In these troublous times the masters of all households took minute precautions. Tourillon looked through the peep-holes cut in the door, and saw a stranger, whose accent indicated an Italian. The man, who was dressed in black, asked to speak with Lecamus on matters of business, and Tourillon admitted him. When the furrier caught sight of his visitor he shuddered violently; but the stranger managed, unseen by Tourillon, to lay his fingers on his lips. Lecamus, understanding the gesture, said immediately:—
“You have come, I suppose, to offer furs?”
“Si,” said the Italian, discreetly.
This personage was no other than the famous Ruggiero, astrologer to the queen-mother. Tourillon went below to his own apartment, feeling convinced that he was one too many in that of his guest.
“Where can we talk without danger of being overheard?” said the cautious Florentine.
“We ought to be in the open fields for that,” replied Lecamus. “But we are not allowed to leave the town; you know the severity with which the gates are guarded. No one can leave Orleans without a pass from Monsieur de Cypierre,” he added,—“not even I, who am a member of the States-general. Complaint is to be made at to-morrow’s session of this restriction of liberty.”
“Work like a mole, but don’t let your paws be seen in anything, no matter what,” said the wary Italian. “To-morrow will, no doubt, prove a decisive day. Judging by my observations, you may, perhaps, recover your son to-morrow, or the day after.”
“May God hear you—you who are thought to traffic with the devil!”
“Come to my place,” said the astrologer, smiling. “I live in the tower of Sieur Touchet de Beauvais, the lieutenant of the Bailliage, whose daughter the little Duc d’Orleans has taken such a fancy to; it is there that I observe the planets. I have drawn the girl’s horoscope, and it says that she will become a great lady and be beloved by a king. The lieutenant, her father, is a clever man; he loves science, and the queen sent me to lodge with him. He has had the sense to be a rabid Guisist while awaiting the reign of Charles IX.”