Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-02

dition, and his desire to have an heir;
which affected the issue that instead of
fulfilling my expectations the event left
me more Respondent than before. The
king wrote indeed, and within the hour,
and his letter was i'll form an apology.
But it was so lacking in graciousness, SO
stiff, though it began My good friend
Rosny,' and so insincere, though 1t re-
| ferred to my past services, that when 1
| had read 1t l stood awhile gazing at 1t.
| afraid to turn lest De Vic and Narennes,
| who had brought it, should read my dis
appointment in my face.
| For l could not hide from myself that
| the gist of the letter lay, not in the ex-
pressions of regret which opened it, but in
| the complaint which closed it; wherein the
king sullenly excused his outbreak on the
| ground of the magnitude of the interests
| which my careleSSneSS had endangered,
and the opening to harass the queen which
l had heedie.;sly given. This CIPHER he
| said. has long been a whim with my wife,
| from whom, for good reasons we'll known
10 you and connected with the grand
| dukes court l have thought fit to with
| hold 1t. Now, nothing will persuade her
that have not granted to another what L
| refused her. L trouble, my friend lest you
| be found to have done more ill to France
| in moment Of carelessness than all your
| services have done good
1t was not difficult to find a threat I'M
DERIVING these words, nor to discern that
| il the queens fancy remained mistaken,
and i'll came of it, the king would hardly
forgive me. Recognizing this. and that L
/
L could not escape but by the use of my
| utmost powers, L assumed serious and
thoughtful air, and, without affecting to
| disguise the fact that the king was dis
| pleased with me- dismissed the ENJOYS with
a few civil speeches, i'll which 1 did not fail
To speak OF his majesty in terms that even
inaievolence could not twist to my disad-
vantage.
When they We're gone, doubtless to tell
| Henry how L had taken it, | sat down to
supper with La Font. Boisrueil, and two
| or three gentlemen of my suite and, with
out appearing too cheerful, contrived to
| eat with my usual appetite. Afterward |
withdrew in the ordinary course to nv
chamber, and, being now at liberty to look
| the situation in the face, found it as Sc
| rious as had feared. The falling man has
| few friends; he must act quickly if he
| would retain any. L was not slow in de-
| Gliding that my sole chance of an honor
| able escape lay in discovering-and that
| within few hours-who stole the cipher
ana conveyed 1t TO Nine. de Verneuil, and
| in placing before the queen such evidence
| OF this as must convince her
| BY way OF beginning, 1 summoned Maip-
nan ana put Min through severe exam
! NATION Later, L sent for the rest of my
| houSehold-such, l mean, as had accom-
| panied nIe-and, ranging them against the
walls OF my chamber, took a fiambeau in
nay hand and went the round of them
| questioning each, and marking his air and
| aspect as he answered. But with no re-
| suit; so that after following some clews to
| no purpose, ana suspecting several persons
| 7 he-
! came assured that the chain must be taken
| UP at the other end, and the first link
! found among Nine. de NerneuiPs follow
| ing.
my people We're dropping with fatigue
| Nevertheless a sense of the desperate
| nature of the case animating them, they
| formed themselves voluntarily into a kind
| of council, all feeling their probity at
| tackled. in which various modes of forcing
the secret from those who held it We're
proposed-Maignan sug sestions being
| especially violent Doubling, however
whether madame had more than one con-
| fdante, L secretly made up my mind to a
course which none dared to suggest; and
| then, dsmssing all to bed. kept only
| Maignan to lie in my chamber, that if any
| points occurred to me in the night l might
question him on them.
At o'clock i called him. and babe him
| go out and quietly saddle two horses. This
| done. l slipped out myself without arousing
| any one, and, mounting at the stables, took
| the Orleans road through the forest. My
| plan was to strike at the head, and.
| prising Nine de Nerneuil while the event
| still hung uncertain, to wreSt the secret
| from her by trick or threat. The enter
| prise was desperate for | knew the stub
| bOrnneSs and arrogance of the woman, and
! the inveterate enmty which she enter
tanned toward me, more particularly since
| the kings marriage. But in a dangerous
| case any remedy is welcome.
! l reached MalesherEes, where madame
was residing with her parents, little be-
| lore q clOch, am, lliiHS Nltlioul ulSS use
to the chateau demanded to see her She
| was not yet risen. and the servants, whom
| my appearance threw into the utmost con-
| fusion. objected this to me; but l knew
| that the excuse was no real one, and an
| swered roughly that l came from the king,
| and must see her This opened all doors,
| and in a moment L found myself in her
chamber. She sitting up in bed,
| clothed in an elegant nighttrail, and
| seemed in no wise surprised to see me. On
! the contrary, she greeted me with a smile
| fsT.ty M o
! that might evince her dislaiT or hurt my
! dignity She let. me advance without Of
| fering me a chair and wesn, after saluting