“See, Monseigneur, there are already some names to put after yours, who will not fear to sign.  I will tell you them immediately, if you wish it.”

“But—­but,” said the Duc d’Orleans, timidly, “do you know that it is a conspiracy which you propose to me so coolly?”

“Fie, Monseigneur, men of honor like us! a conspiracy!  Oh! not at all; a league at the utmost, a slight combination to give a direction to the unanimous wish of the nation and the court—­that is all.”

“But that is not so clear, for, after all, this affair will be neither general nor public; therefore, it is a conspiracy.  You will not avow that you are concerned in it.”

“I, Monseigneur!  Excuse me to all the world, since the kingdom is already in it, and I am of the kingdom.  And who would not sign his name after that of Messieurs de Bouillon and Cinq-Mars?”

“After, perhaps, not before,” said Gaston, fixing his eyes upon Fontrailles more keenly than he had expected.

The latter hesitated a moment.

“Well, then, what would Monseigneur do should I tell him the names after which he could sign his?”

“Ha! ha! this is amusing,” answered the Prince, laughing; “know you not that above mine there are not many?  I see but one.”

“And if there be one, will Monseigneur promise to sign that of Gaston beneath it?”

“Ah, parbleu! with all my heart.  I risk nothing there, for I see none but that of the King, who surely is not of the party.”

“Well, from this moment permit us,” said Montresor, “to take you at your word, and deign at present to consent to two things only:  to see Monsieur de Bouillon in the Queen’s apartments, and Monsieur the master of the horse at the King’s palace.”

“Agreed!” said Monsieur, gayly, tapping Montresor on the shoulder.  “I will to-day wait on my sister-in-law at her toilette, and I will invite my brother to hunt the stag with me at Chambord.”

The two friends asked nothing further, and were themselves surprised at their work.  They never had seen so much resolution in their chief.  Accordingly, fearing to lead him to a topic which might divert him from the path he had adopted, they hastened to turn the conversation upon other subjects, and retired in delight, leaving as their last words in his ear that they relied upon his keeping his promise.

CHAPTER XV

THE ALCOVE

While a prince was thus reassured with difficulty by those who surrounded him, and allowed them to see a terror which might have proved contagious, a princess more exposed to accidents, more isolated by the indifference of her husband, weaker by nature and by the timidity which is the result of the absence of happiness, on her side set the example of the calmest courage and the most pious resignation, and tranquillized her terrified suite; this was the Queen.  Having slept hardly