'I will not detain you from the dogs one moment longer,' quoth Madame Deschwanden, pouring a little water from a decanter on the table into a tumbler; 'oblige me with a lump of sugar and a drop of orange-flower water. Thank you. It makes one thirsty to listen to another person talking. Well, as I was saying, you cannot manage this affair yourself, you want my help. You must have my help. And, monsieur, I proffer it with enthusiasm. I cast myself zealously into your cause. I lend my assistance to one who is certain to fail abjectly, to one lacking all the requisites essential to success; for I flatter myself that I possess the qualifications in which he is deficient. I make no boast of it, not I. But if Providence has endowed one person with a delicacy, a finesse, a sensibility, and all that constitute a successful intriguer, it is not boasting if she acknowledges thankfully that she possesses these talents. She cannot be blind to them. If she were blind, she would not use them.'
'In short, you will help me?'
'I will do my best. With me to say that, is to say it is done. I do not boast, but I cannot shut my eyes to facts. If I were to do so, you would call me a fool, and justly. I should be a fool. But I make one stipulation,—no, I make two.'
'What are they?'
'Tell me,' entreated madame, throwing passionate earnestness into her voice and gesture, 'tell me, you have no conscience. I am tired of conscience. My faith! what is conscience? It is a kind of flea; you never know where it is. Now it is here, now it is there. You come down with your finger on the spot, and it is gone. And then there is irritation everywhere, and no rest. My husband is a martyr to conscience, so is Nicholas, but Nicholas is the corporal repeated in miniature. Have morals, I say, have philosophy, but crush conscience; it is a pest. And then, I insist, you leave Gabrielle to me. Do not interfere. Let me manage her. I know the ins and outs of a woman's mind; I will so manage the affair for you that you will be full of gratitude to me, that you will overwhelm me with testimonials of your indebtedness. If you interfere, and send your gendarmes to the house again, then I throw it up. I will have no more to say to it, and you may botch your work again. Will you promise me solemnly to let me conduct operations in my own way? Will you promise me not to interfere by so much as lifting a finger?'
'Wait a bit,' said Berthier; 'before I promise anything, tell me where Gabrielle is now.'
'With the greatest pleasure. You know that she has seen the queen?'
'No!' he started.
'Yes, she has. She has seen her and has been refused.'
Berthier drew a long breath.