“Well, let us see,” said Mazarin; “isn’t there still time to repair the evil?  Search among your friends, your oldest friends.”

“What do you mean, monsieur?”

“Nothing else than I say —­ search.”

“Alas, I look around me in vain!  I have no influence with any one.  Monsieur is, as usual, led by his favorite; yesterday it was Choisy, to-day it is La Riviere, to-morrow it will be some one else.  Monsieur le Prince is led by the coadjutor, who is led by Madame de Guemenee.”

“Therefore, madame, I ask you to look, not among your friends of to-day, but among those of other times.”

“Among my friends of other times?” said the queen.

“Yes, among your friends of other times; among those who aided you to contend against the Duc de Richelieu and even to conquer him.”

“What is he aiming at?” murmured the queen, looking uneasily at the cardinal.

“Yes,” continued his eminence; “under certain circumstances, with that strong and shrewd mind your majesty possesses, aided by your friends, you were able to repel the attacks of that adversary.”

“I!” said the queen.  “I suffered, that is all.”

“Yes.” said Mazarin, “as women suffer in avenging themselves.  Come, let us come to the point.  Do you know Monsieur de Rochefort?”

“One of my bitterest enemies —­ the faithful friend of Cardinal Richelieu.”

“I know that, and we sent him to the Bastile,” said Mazarin.

“Is he at liberty?” asked the queen.

“No; still there, but I only speak of him in order that I may introduce the name of another man.  Do you know Monsieur d’Artagnan?” he added, looking steadfastly at the queen.

Anne of Austria received the blow with a beating heart.

“Has the Gascon been indiscreet?” she murmured to herself, then said aloud: 

“D’Artagnan! stop an instant, the name seems certainly familiar.  D’Artagnan! there was a musketeer who was in love with one of my women.  Poor young creature! she was poisoned on my account.”

“That’s all you know of him?” asked Mazarin.

The queen looked at him, surprised.

“You seem, sir,” she remarked, “to be making me undergo a course of cross-examination.”

“Which you answer according to your fancy,” replied Mazarin.

“Tell me your wishes and I will comply with them.”

The queen spoke with some impatience.

“Well, madame,” said Mazarin, bowing, “I desire that you give me a share in your friends, as I have shared with you the little industry and talent that Heaven has given me.  The circumstances are grave and it will be necessary to act promptly.”

“Still!” said the queen.  “I thought that we were finally quit of Monsieur de Beaufort.”

“Yes, you saw only the torrent that threatened to overturn everything and you gave no attention to the still water.  There is, however, a proverb current in France relating to water which is quiet.”