Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-06-15

weak and husky by hectic cough,
"And, 90, Joseph, you think this
new conspiracy the craftiest trap yet
laid for the old fox?--a nickname /
like; for. as Plutarch said of the
Greek LYsander. that where the
lions skin fell short, he eked it out
with the fox's, and SO /. a great
statesman, Joseph, that sd me Lysan-
DER"
"Orleans heads the traitors"
"a very wooden head, then! We'll,
who's his lieutenant?"
"Baradas, the favorite."
"A boy" sneered the cardinal.
Baradas and Saint Simon shared
the kings favor. The latter was Of
high degree, but the other a weed of
hasty growth who had mounted as
high in half year as Richelieu, in
the times of the Huguenot's power
over France, in six years.
HE is mere gaudy lizard. But
l hold the ladder, and when shake
he falls! What moreP"
The Capuchin was glancing at
some papers.
The worst at last The count OF
| Soissons'-
"He who attempted our life in
49," intsrpolated Richelieu, with a
lighting up of the eye, which be-
trayed the worst point of his tenn
perament-its relentless Wind ictive-
ness, too blind to discriminate be-
tween personal grievances and those
against the state-''the count Of
scissors, that sly serpent, who
should have been trampled under
Mars steely train years agone, he
and-well?"
1.-The duke of Bouillon, whose
army is on the Piedmont frontier,
are in close communication. Orleans
engages to make them friends with
the Spaniard, whom they will well
come into France upon the advice
that the prime minister is in the
power OF the plotters.
"How in their power, Joseph
Methinks Gaston's is not the hand
to pluck this nettlc. =
They are seeking their Ravail-
lac"
What, would the duke OF Orleans
again try the stabbado? This be-
comes monotonous.
They hope they will by practice
| become expert"
"At least they have not chosen
the stiletto yet-eh, my noble heart
and truest friend?"
"Jehan," said the monk. using
that old name by which his ducal
eminence had Teen christened,
but which no other familiar en-
ployed save this humble-seeming
monk. OF whom his superior said in
tribute, "No other minister in
Europe can cope with this cowl," for
he punned like clown of the Pre-
St. Gervais. "Jehan, brother, the
dagger is ready, sharpened, pointed,
but they seek the guiding hand.
lyon do never warn vainly,
Joseph" said the premier, writing a
few lines, II will recast my guards.
The trusty blades are rusty since
Captain Cavois gave way TO Captain
Huguet, my Titan. A single traitor
could strike impotent the fate of
thousands. Joseph. are VIC sure Of
Huguet? We hanged his father for
the Montmorency rebellion in 49, "
But you have bought the son,
and heaped favors on him.
"Favors past are nothing. In his
hours of confidence with you. has he
named the lavors he counts on com
ing?"
Yes; q colonel's rank and letters
of nobility"
Colonel and nobleman! we UNI
make peers, not augment them.
That can never be. But we have
him not the less, for we'll promise
it. And see the king withholdsw
Yes" said the monk, with a vague
smile on his marble lips, the only
features Of ali his countenance that
seemed imbued with play Of muscle,
"kings are oft q great convenience
, 70 minister.
is tnero anything more bristling
in your budget" inquired the other,
letting his eyes wander almost heed
lessly OF his dialoguist around the
wall, from Perugino to Poussin,
whose patron lie was, from Titan to
the awful Durer OF the man Devil
dered in a thicket checked with
thorns, and impenetrable to all but a
grisly oncomer with scvthe, under
which was the label, der Tod kermit
den Weg'-Death finds the way.
Anything of the same agreeable
tenor?"
There is more, but private.
Louis, the king, has particularly re-
marked your ward, Julie de Morte-
mar. The chaste monarch is
charmed"
Richelieu stared. but Immediately
recovering himself, he answered.
"She will not be the first to sting
that apathetic blood. But have / not
from all such fair shoots plucked the
insidious ivy of his love-" nc added
confidently. "Yet shall it Greer
around my blossoming tree, where
innocent thoughts make music that
spirits in heaven might hear? No,
brother. Louis must have no mis-.
tress but the state.