“After having hesitated for a time, I told his Eminence that I was willing to undertake the adventure, and quite ready to obey his commands.

“‘I have faith in you, M. de Rambure,’ said the Cardinal; ’I am perfectly convinced of the affection which you bear, not only towards the King and the state, but also towards myself; but I have determined to desire M. de Rochefort to disguise himself as a cripple, and to take up his position in front of the Luxembourg, where he must remain day and night until he has discovered whether it were really the Fleming that he saw.’

“Then, summoning a page who was waiting in the antechamber, his Eminence sent for M. de Rochefort, who was not long in coming; and told him what he proposed.  Rochefort, who was always ready to comply with every wish of the Cardinal, immediately declared his willingness to play the part assigned to him; and a trusty person who had attended him to the apartment of Monseigneur was instructed to procure without loss of time, and with the greatest secrecy, a pair of crutches, a suit of rags, and all the articles necessary to complete the metamorphosis.

“His Eminence having, on the return of the lackey, expressed his desire to witness the effect of the disguise, M. de Rochefort retired to another chamber, where, with the assistance of his servant, he exchanged his velvet vest and satin haut-de-chausses for the foul garb of a mendicant; this done, he smeared his face with dirt, and crouching down in a corner, he requested me to announce to Monseigneur that he was ready to receive him.  His Eminence was astonished at his appearance, as well as to see him act the character he had assumed as if he had studied and practised it all his life.  He told him to set forth, and that if he succeeded in his attempt he would render him the greatest service which he had ever received.

“As soon as the Cardinal had taken leave of Rochefort, he said to me:  ’In the disguise the Count has on, and when he is crouched upon his dunghill like a miserable cripple, it will be easy for him to look every one in the face; and I hope he will make some discovery of that which troubles me.’  His Eminence then told me that he wanted my valet, to place him in disguise in another direction.  I therefore called him.  He was a very sharp fellow at everything that was required of him; and the Cardinal made him put on a shabby cassock, with a false beard of grizzled hair and eyebrows to match, which were all fastened on with a certain liquid so firmly to the skin that it was necessary to apply vinegar in which the ashes of vine-twigs had been steeped, when they instantly fell off.  My Basque was at length dressed in a torn, threadbare cassock, masked by his false beard, with an old hat upon his head, a breviary under his arm, and a tolerably thick stick in his hand, and received an order to post himself near the little gate of the Luxembourg stables.  The Cardinal then desired me not to leave him, as he had certain orders to give me which he could not entrust to every one on such an occasion.