“Yes, war, gentlemen; think of it, open war.  Rochelle and Navarre are arousing their Protestants; the army of Italy will enter on one side; the king’s brother will join us on the other.  The man we combat will be surrounded, vanquished, crushed.  The parliaments will march in our rear, bearing their petitions to the King, a weapon as powerful as our swords; and after the victory we will throw ourselves at the feet of Louis XIII, our master, that he may pardon us for having delivered him from a cruel and ambitious man, and hastened his own resolution.”

Here, again glancing around him, he saw increasing confidence in the looks and attitudes of his accomplices.

“How!” he continued, crossing his arms, and yet restraining with an effort his own emotion; “you do not recoil before this resolution, which would appear a revolt to any other men!  Do you not think that I have abused the powers you have vested in me?  I have carried matters very far; but there are times when kings would be served, as it were in spite of themselves.  All is arranged, as you know.  Sedan will open its gates to us; and we are sure of Spain.  Twelve thousand veteran troops will enter Paris with us.  No place, however, will be given up to the foreigner; they will all have a French garrison, and be taken in the name of the King.”

“Long live the King! long live the Union! the new Union, the Holy League!” cried the assembly.

“It has come, then!” cried Cinq-Mars, with enthusiasm; “it has come—­the most glorious day of my life.  Oh, youth, youth, from century to century called frivolous and improvident! of what will men now accuse thee, when they behold conceived, ripened, and ready for execution, under a chief of twenty-two, the most vast, the most just, the most beneficial of enterprises?  My friends, what is a great life but a thought of youth executed by mature age?  Youth looks fixedly into the future with its eagle glance, traces there a broad plan, lays the foundation stone; and all that our entire existence afterward can do is to approximate to that first design.  Oh, when can great projects arise, if not when the heart beats vigorously in the breast?  The mind is not sufficient; it is but an instrument.”

A fresh outburst of joy had followed these words, when an old man with a white beard stood forward from the throng.

“Bah!” said Gondi, in a low voice, “here’s the old Chevalier de Guise going to dote, and damp us.”

And truly enough, the old man, pressing the hand of Cinq-Mars, said slowly and with difficulty, having placed himself near him: 

“Yes, my son, and you, my children, I see with joy that my old friend Bassompierre is about to be delivered by you, and that you are about to avenge the Comte de Soissons and the young Montmorency.  But it is expedient for youth, all ardent as it is, to listen to those who have seen much.  I have witnessed the League, my children, and I tell you that you can not now, as then, take the title of the Holy League, the Holy Union, the Protectors of Saint Peter, or Pillars of the Church, because I see that you reckon on the support of the Huguenots; nor can you put upon your great seal of green wax an empty throne, since it is occupied by a king.”