On reaching the Rue de l'Echelle they began to perceive an unusual stir. All the avenues leading toward the Tuileries were guarded by detachments of musketeers and light horse, and the people, expelled from the court and gardens of the Tuileries, crowded into the Place du Carrousel. D'Harmental and Brigaud mixed with the mob.
Having arrived at the place where the triumphal arch now stands, they were accosted by an officer of Gray Musketeers, wrapped in a large cloak like themselves. It was Valef.
"Well, baron," asked Brigaud, "what news?"
"Ah! it is you, abbe," said Valef; "we have been looking for you, Laval, Malezieux, and myself. I have just left them; they must be somewhere near. Let us stop here; it will not be long before they find us. Do you know anything yourself?"
"No, nothing. I called at Malezieux's, but he had already gone out."
"Say that he was not yet come home. We remained at the Arsenal all night."
"And no hostile demonstration has been made?" asked D'Harmental.
"None. Monsieur le Duc de Maine, and Monsieur le Comte de Toulouse were summoned for the regent's council, which is to be held before the sitting of the parliament. At halfpast six they were both at the Tuileries, so Madame de Maine, in order to get the news as soon as possible, has come and installed herself in her superintendent's apartments."
"Is it known what has become of the Prince de Cellamare?" asked D'Harmental.
"He is sent to Orleans, in a chaise and four, in the company of a gentleman of the king's household, and an escort of a dozen light horse."
"And is nothing known about the paper which Dubois picked out of the cinders?" asked Brigaud."Nothing."
"What does Madame de Maine think?"
"That he is brewing something against the legitimated princes, and that he will profit by this to take away some more of their privileges. This morning she lectured her husband sharply, and he promised to remain firm, but she does not rely upon him."
"And Monsieur de Toulouse?"
"We saw him yesterday evening, but, you know, my dear abbe, there is nothing to be done with his modesty, or rather his humility. He always thinks that they have done too much for him, and is ready to abandon to the regent anything that is asked of him."
"Bytheby, the king?"
"Well, the king"
"Yes, how has he taken the arrest of his tutor?"
"Ah! do you not know? It seems that there was a compact between the marshal and Monsieur de Frejus, that if one of them left his majesty, the other should leave immediatelyyesterday morning Monsieur de Frejus disappeared."
"And where is he?"
"God knows! And so the king, who had taken the loss of his marshal very well, was inconsolable at that of his bishop."
"And how do you know all that?"
"Through the Duc de Richelieu, who went yesterday, about two o'clock, to Versailles, to pay his respects to the king, and who found his majesty in despair in the midst of the china and ornaments which he had broken. Unfortunately, Richelieu, instead of encouraging the king's grief, made him laugh by telling him a hundred stories, and almost consoled him by helping him to break the rest of the china and ornaments."
At this moment an individual clothed in a long advocate's robe, and with a square cap, passed near the group which was formed by Brigaud, D'Harmental, and Valef, humming the burden of a song made on the marshal after the battle of Ramillies. Brigaud turned round, and, under the disguise, thought he recognized Pompadour. On his part the advocate stopped, and approached the group in question. The abbe had no longer any doubt. It was really the marquis.
"Well, Maitre Clement," said he, "what news from the palace?"
"Oh!" answered Pompadour, "good news, particularly if it be true; they say that the parliament refuses to come to the Tuileries."
"Vive Dieu!" cried Valef, "that will reconcile me with the red robes. But they will not dare."
"Why not? You know that Monsieur de Mesme is for us, and has been named president through the influence of Monsieur de Maine."
"Yes, that is true, but that is long since," said Brigaud; "and if you have nothing better to rely upon, Maitre Clement, I should advise you not to count upon him."
"Particularly," answered Valef, "as he has just obtained from the regent the payment of five hundred thousand francs of his salary."
"Oh, oh!" said D'Harmental, "see, it appears to me that something new is going on. Are they not coming out of the regent's council?"
Indeed, a great movement was taking place in the court of the Tuileries, and the two carriages of the Duc de Maine and the Comte de Toulouse left their post, and approached the clock pavilion. At the same instant they saw the two brothers appear. They exchanged few words, each got into his own carriage, and the two vehicles departed at a rapid pace by the waterside wicket.
For ten minutes Brigaud, D'Harmental, Pompadour, and Valef were lost in conjectures regarding this event, which, having been remarked by others as well as by them, had made a sensation among the crowd, but without being able to assign it to its proper cause. Then they noticed Malezieux, who appeared to be looking for them: they went to him, and by his discomposed face they judged that the information which he had to bring was not comforting.
"Well," asked Pompadour, "have you any idea of what has been going on?"
"Alas!" answered Malezieux, "I am afraid that all is lost."
"You know that the Duc de Maine and the Comte de Toulouse have left the council?" asked Valef.
"I was on the quay when he passed in his carriage, and he recognized me, and stopped the carriage, and sent me this little pencil note by his valetdechambre."
"Let us see," said Brigaud, and he read:
"I do not know what is plotting against us, but the regent invited usToulouse and meto leave the council. That invitation appeared to me an order, and, as all resistance would have been useless, seeing that we have in the council only four or five voices, upon which we cannot count, I was obliged to obey. Try and see the duchesse, who must be at the Tuileries, and tell her that I am retiring to Rambouillet, where I shall wait for the turn of events.
"Your affectionate,
"LOUIS AUGUSTE."
"The coward," said Valef.
"And these are the men for whom we risk our heads," murmured Pompadour.
"You are mistaken, my dear marquis," said Brigaud, "we risk our heads on our own account I hope, and not for others. Is not that true, chevalier? Well, what the devil are you about now?"
"Wait, abbe," answered D'Harmental; "I seem to recognizeyes, by Heaven, it is he! You will not go away from this place, gentlemen!"
"No, I answer for myself at least," said Pompadour.
"Nor I," said Valef.
"Nor I," said Malezieux.
"Nor I," said the abbe.
"Well, then, I will rejoin you in an instant."
"Where are you going?" asked Brigaud.
"Do not look, abbe," said D'Harmental, "it is on private business."
Dropping Valef's arm, D'Harmental began to traverse the crowd in the direction of an individual whom he had been following with his eyes for some time, and who, thanks to his personal strength, had approached the gate.
"Captain," said the chevalier, tapping Roquefinette on the shoulder, and hoping that, thanks to the movement occasioned by the approach of the parliament, they should be able to talk without being observed, "can I say a few words to you in private?"
"Yes, chevalier, with the greatest pleasure. What is it?" continued he, drawing back. "I have recognized you for the last five minutes, but it was not my business to speak first."
"Yes, chevalier, with the greatest pleasure. What is it?" continued he, drawing back. "I have recognized you for the last five minutes, but it was not my business to speak first."
"And I see with pleasure," said D'Harmental, "that Captain Roquefinette is still prudent."
"Prudentissimo, chevalier; so if you have any new overture to make, out with it."
"No, captain, no; not at present, at least. Besides, the place is not suitable for a conference of that nature. Only I wish to know, in case of my having need of you, whether you still live in the same place?"
"Still, chevalier; I am like a briarI die where I grow; only, instead of your finding me, as you did the first time, on the first or second floor, you will have to look for me on the fifth or sixth, seeing that, by a very natural seesaw movement, as my funds lower I go up."
"How, captain," said D'Harmental, laughing, and putting his hand in his pocket, "you are in want of money, and you do not address yourself to your friends?"
"I, borrow money!" cried the captain, stopping D'Harmental's liberal intentions with a sign; "no; when I do you a service you make me a present; well and good. When I conclude a bargain you execute the conditions. But I to ask without having a right to ask! It may do for a church rat, but not for a soldier; although I am only a simple gentleman, I am as proud as a duke or a peer; but, pardon me, if you want me, you know where to find me. Au revoir, chevalier! au revoir!"
And, without waiting for D'Harmental's answer, Roquefinette left him, not thinking it safe that they should be seen talking together.
As it was only eleven o'clock in the morning, however, and as in all probability the parliament would not break up till four in the afternoon, and as, no doubt, there was nothing determined on yet, the chevalier thought that, instead of remaining on the Place du Carrousel, he would do better to turn the four hours which he had before him to the profit of his love. Moreover, the nearer he approached to the catastrophe, the more need he felt of seeing Bathilde. Bathilde had become one of the elements of his life; one of the organs necessary to his existence; and, at the moment when he might perhaps be separated from her forever, he did not understand how he could live a single day away from her. Consequently, pressed by the eternal craving for the presence of the loved object, the chevalier, instead of going to look for his companions, went toward the Rue du TempsPerdu.
D'Harmental found the poor child very uneasy. Buvat had not come home since halfpast nine the morning before. Nanette had been to inquire at the library, and to her great astonishment, and the scandal of his fellowclerks, she had learned that he had not been there for five or six days. Such a derangement in Buvat's habits indicated serious events. On the other hand, the young girl had noticed in Raoul, the day before, a sort of nervous agitation, which, although kept down by determination, gave warning of an important crisis. Thus, joining her old fears to her new agonies, Bathilde felt instinctively that a misfortune, invisible but inevitable, hung above her, and that at any moment it might fall on her devoted head.