Bassompierre turned his head toward Cinq-Mars with a hearty laugh.  “You see, my friend, how we young men are placed under guardianship; so take care of yourself.”

“I will go, then,” said Henri; “this is the last time I shall play the knight-errant for any one against his will;” and, reentering the wood as the carriage dashed off at full speed, he proceeded by narrow paths toward the castle, followed at a short distance by Grandchamp and his small escort.

On arriving at the foot of the western tower, he reined in his horse.  He did not alight, but, approaching so near the wall that he could rest his foot upon an abutment, he stood up, and raised the blind of a window on the ground-floor, made in the form of a portcullis, such as is still seen on some ancient buildings.

It was now past midnight, and the moon was hidden behind the clouds.  No one but a member of the family could have found his way through darkness so profound.  The towers and the roof formed one dark mass, which stood out in indistinct relief against the sky, hardly less dark; no light shone throughout the chateau, wherein all inmates seemed buried in slumber.  Cinq-Mars, enveloped in a large cloak, his face hidden under the broad brim of his hat, awaited in suspense a reply to his signal.

It came; a soft voice was heard from within: 

“Is that you, Monsieur Cinq-Mars?”

“Alas, who else should it be?  Who else would return like a criminal to his paternal house, without entering it, without bidding one more adieu to his mother?  Who else would return to complain of the present, without a hope for the future, but I?”

The gentle voice replied, but its tones were agitated, and evidently accompanied with tears:  “Alas!  Henri, of what do you complain?  Have I not already done more, far more than I ought?  It is not my fault, but my misfortune, that my father was a sovereign prince.  Can one choose one’s birthplace or one’s rank, and say for example, ‘I will be a shepherdess?’ How unhappy is the lot of princesses!  From the cradle, the sentiments of the heart are prohibited to them; and when they have advanced beyond childhood, they are ceded like a town, and must not even weep.  Since I have known you, what have I not done to bring my future life within the reach of happiness, in removing it far from a throne?  For two years I have struggled in vain, at once against my evil fortune, that separates me from you, and against you, who estrange me from the duty I owe to my family.  I have sought to spread a belief that I was dead; I have almost longed for revolutions.  I should have blessed a change which deprived me of my rank, as I thanked Heaven when my father was dethroned; but the court wonders at my absence; the Queen requires me to attend her.  Our dreams are at an end, Henri; we have already slumbered too long.  Let us awake, be courageous, and think no more of those dear two years—­forget all in the one recollection of our great resolve.  Have but one thought; be ambitious for—­be ambitious—­for my sake.”