The prince covered his face with his hands, and there was a moment of silence. In it Renée’s eyes met the young soldier’s with a sympathetic flash of contempt for the crouching heap in the chair. Monsieur’s thick curls fell disordered around his face, and his white hands trembled as he held them over his eyes. Suddenly he rallied and sat up, looking defiantly at Péron.
“You can prove nothing against me, sir musketeer,” he said. “I came here, it is true—but how do you know my errand?”
“It is true that I do not know it, your highness,” he replied gravely, “neither do the men without know you; there is your advantage.”
“Tush!” said Gaston, with rising courage, “’tis all a trap of Richelieu’s; a clear evidence of his persecution of me. My brother shall know it!”
He rose from his chair and felt in his pockets for a comb, which he found, and began to arrange his curls.
“Your pardon, mademoiselle,” he said peevishly. “I could not see for my disordered hair.” Then he turned to Péron. “Now, sir,” he added, “I will go to your prison until daybreak, but you shall all suffer for this!”
Péron laid his hand on the latch.
“I pray your highness to assume your disguise,” he said; “we must cross the hall, and it is now full of soldiers.”
The prince resumed his cloak and hat with some muttered imprecations, but he was careful to muffle his face before the door was opened. As Péron had said, the entry was full of troopers, but at a sign from him they all fell back and allowed the prince to cross the hall to a room on the other side, which his captor took care should be secure before he left him there to rest for the few hours that remained before daybreak.
Meanwhile Péron found enough to do to make his arrangements and keep his pledge to the Duke of Orleans. However, the others were tolerably satisfied with the ease with which they had secured the prisoner, and did not press the question of his identity, after their leader told them that he was not at liberty to reveal it. Whatever their suspicions were, they did not soar as high as the truth, and Péron felt confident that all would go well, if there was no attempt at a rescue by the other conspirators.