'What Countess?'
'Madame d'Amboise. You have read and destroyed her last despatch from Paris, I hope?'
'Yes, Chevalier; and deposited the answer.'
'Where, M. le Prince?'
'In the place agreed upon; the old oak at the fountain on the highway; 'tis, as usual, in ciphers, which she of course alone can read, having the key. Moreover—'
'Hush, M. l'Abbé—we are observed.'
'Then let us retire.'
They rose abruptly and withdrew; but this unguarded conversation convinced me more than ever that the famous Princess Marie Louise of Lorraine was living concealed in Paris; that the mistress of the King was betraying both him and Richelieu, and, being a Lorrainer, was in the interest of Duke Charles and his people.
'Comrades, excuse me for a minute,' said I, and followed these Lorrainers, whom I found in the act of receiving their swords from the tapster, and mounting their horses, which were strong and active nags, accoutred with valises and holster-pistols.
'Monseigneur,' said I, saluting the Prince, 'I have discovered you; indeed I must have been blind or mad, had I failed to do so.'