“Why, the King has again shaken hands with Monsieur.  Thank Heaven, gentlemen, we’re rid of the Cardinal!  The old boar is hunted down.  Who will stick the knife into him?  He must be thrown into the sea.”

“That’s too good for him,” said Olivier; “he must be tried.”

“Certainly,” said the Abbe; “and we sha’n’t want for charges against an insolent fellow who has dared to discharge a page, shall we?” Then, curbing his horse, and letting Olivier and Montresor pass on, he leaned toward M. du Lude, who was talking with two other serious personages, and said: 

“In truth, I am tempted to let my valet-de-chambre into the secret; never was a conspiracy treated so lightly.  Great enterprises require mystery.  This would be an admirable one if some trouble were taken with it.  ’Tis in itself a finer one than I have ever read of in history.  There is stuff enough in it to upset three kingdoms, if necessary, and the blockheads will spoil all.  It is really a pity.  I should be very sorry.  I’ve a taste for affairs of this kind; and in this one in particular I feel a special interest.  There is grandeur about it, as can not be denied.  Do you not think so, D’Aubijoux, Montmort?”

While he was speaking, several large and heavy carriages, with six and four horses, followed the same path at two hundred paces behind these gentlemen; the curtains were open on the left side through which to see the King.  In the first was the Queen; she was alone at the back, clothed in black and veiled.  On the box was the Marechale d’Effiat; and at the feet of the Queen was the Princesse Marie.  Seated on one side on a stool, her robe and her feet hung out of the carriage, and were supported by a gilt step—­for, as we have already observed, there were then no doors to the coaches.  She also tried to see through the trees the movements of the King, and often leaned back, annoyed by the passing of the Prince-Palatine and his suite.

This northern Prince was sent by the King of Poland, apparently on a political negotiation, but in reality, to induce the Duchesse de Mantua to espouse the old King Uladislas vi; and he displayed at the court of France all the luxury of his own, then called at Paris “barbarian and Scythian,” and so far justified these names by strange eastern costumes.  The Palatine of Posnania was very handsome, and wore, in common with the people of his suite, a long, thick beard.  His head, shaved like that of a Turk, was covered with a furred cap.  He had a short vest, enriched with diamonds and rubies; his horse was painted red, and amply plumed.  He was attended by a company of Polish guards in red and yellow uniforms, wearing large cloaks with long sleeves, which hung negligently from the shoulder.  The Polish lords who escorted him were dressed in gold and silver brocade; and behind their shaved heads floated a single lock of hair, which gave them an Asiatic and Tartar aspect, as unknown at the court of Louis XIII as that of the Moscovites.  The women thought all this rather savage and alarming.