What was the reason of that slowness?—but let us wait and see.
The parts were now reversed; whereas, the French had been formerly anxious for delays, they were now all afire with eagerness to put the business through; whilst the Duke of Mantua and his Mattioli, once so impatient of any hitch in the negotiations, now seemed scarcely interested any longer in the question of Casale. Pressed by D’Asfeld and Pinchesne to promise that he would be at that place by the 20th of February at latest, the duke declined to commit himself; and when he answered them at last through Mattioli (who, on his arrival in Italy, was once more prevented for a time from attending to business by another of his inopportune attacks of illness) Duke Charles sent word to say that he could not possibly get to Casale before the 10th of March, urging three separate reasons for his inability to do so. These were: That he had not sufficient funds for such a journey; that he was unwilling to leave his heir-presumptive, Don Vincenzo Gonzaga, behind at Mantua at such a crisis; and “the obligation he found himself under of holding a sort of carousal with several Venetian gentlemen.” Could anything be more frankly careless than this last; more plainly indicative of the fact that Duke Charles, disappointed by the smallness of the monetary advantage proffered him in return for the control of Casale, was either desirous of obtaining more by giving an impression of indifference in the matter, or else, that he was genuinely indifferent, by reason of the knowledge that Mattioli was even at that moment (and by preconcerted arrangement with himself) displaying the political wares so undervalued by Louis XIV to other and more generous purchasers along the road from Paris to Venice?
And yet the French agents, at this stage of things, still reported their unshaken belief that the duke had every intention of remaining true to their master in Paris!
Meanwhile, the massing of the French troops over against the Piedmontese frontier was causing consternation throughout Northern Italy. Duke Charles even received “representations” from the Spanish and Austrian ministers at Mantua, protesting violently against the news they had heard from Turin—“that he wished to give Casale and the Montferrat to the King of France.” To which the ingenuous Charles returned a flat denial, expressing some mild wonder at their excellencies’ credulousness! All was now suspicion and anger, and veiled threats for Duke Charles from both sides; couriers were being sent off at top-speed to Vienna and Madrid, and even to Venice, with the news of Charles’ projected “deal” with the French; whilst Pinchesne and D’Asfeld pressed him, without mercy or intermission, to betake himself to Casale, there to wait for the French troops and to hand over the keys of the place to them on their arrival. At last he agreed to do this; at the same time, D’Asfeld and Mattioli were to meet at Incréa, not far from Casale, and to exchange the ratifications of the treaty—this, I fancy, by the duke’s stipulation, seeing that both Mattioli and D’Asfeld were in Venice with the treaty in their pockets. This eccentric provision seems to prove all the more clearly, in the light of subsequent events, that Duke Charles was perfectly aware of those events, and that he had no intention whatever of binding himself to Louis XIV by any signed instrument that might afterwards be held against him by that person.
The duke then was to be at Casale by the 15th of March; and Mattioli was to meet D’Asfeld at Incréa on the 9th of the same month.
And then, all at once, it was learned that D’Asfeld, marching to keep his appointment with Mattioli, had been arrested by the Spanish Government in the Duchy of Milan, which he was obliged to cross to reach the rendezvous at Incréa; on the other hand, neither Duke Charles nor Mattioli had as yet left Mantua for Casale or for Incréa—although the latter was the first to send the news of D’Asfeld’s arrest to the French agents, D’Estrades at Turin and Pinchesne at Venice. It was now the end of the month of March, and those same French agents were beginning to entertain the strongest suspicions of Mattioli himself.
April passed away and still the business remained stationary, while those suspicions increased to a straining-point—and then on May Day, 1679, the storm broke.
The whole of the proposed cession of Casale was made known, simultaneously at Turin, Madrid, Vienna, Milan, and Venice; at one and the same time, the representative of each state announced his perfect knowledge of the entire transaction to Monsieur de Pomponne, the French minister for foreign affairs!
CHAPTER XIV TRUTH OF THE IRON MASK
Mattioli’s Betrayal of Louis XIV—Participation of Duke Charles—Louis’ True Character Exhibited to World—Abduction of Mattioli—Imprisoned for Fifteen Years—Insanity—Story of the Mask—Mattioli’s Disappearance No Mystery—Explanation of the Riddle—Mattioli’s Hardships—His End.