“Certainly, your excellency; I will keep half a company always under arms, so that at the shortest notice they will be in readiness to act as you may direct.  But surely, your excellency, you have the queen’s musketeers close at hand?”

“The queen’s musketeers are a body of gallant soldiers, but they will take their orders only from the queen.  They were strongly anti-cardinalist in the late reign, and I do not suppose that they are better affected towards myself than they were towards Richelieu.  If they heard that my hotel was attacked they would not move a foot until they received orders from the queen to do so.”

“At any rate, you shall have no reason to complain of delay on our part, your excellency, and I can assure you of my devotion.”

Hector at once went to an auberge but a few hundred yards from the cardinal’s residence.  He thought it better to put up there than to take lodgings, as he could then have his four mounted men with him; and, riding to St. Denis, he returned the same night with them.

“A horse is always to be saddled,” he said to them when they had dismounted and his orderlies had come up to his room, “and one of you by turns will always remain here armed and ready to mount without an instant’s delay.  The others will put aside their scarves; and one of you will always be at the cabaret nearest to the Hotel de Vendome, the residence of the Duke of Beaufort, who is a son of the Duc de Vendome.  At times two of you can be there so as to drink and play cards together, as the appearance of one sitting too long might attract attention.  Your object is to find out from the conversation of the duke’s guards and servants whether they have any idea that anything unusual is going to take place.  I have reason to believe that there is a plot against the cardinal, and I am much concerned in defeating it.”

When the four Scotch soldiers had retired, Hector said to Paolo: 

“Now, Paolo, I place more reliance upon your finding out anything that is afloat than upon the soldiers.  It is not likely that any plans Beaufort may form will be communicated to his people until the moment for action, and indeed it is probable that he will rely solely upon his personal friends.  Now I want you to disguise yourself in any way you may think best, and watch Beaufort’s hotel; see who comes in and out, and if a messenger goes out follow him, see the houses he calls at, and mark if those who dwell there repair at once to the Hotel de Vendome.  If you perceive that this is the case let me know at once.  See if you can get hold of half a dozen street gamins, and employ them to watch the houses of all these gentlemen, and especially that of Monsieur Id, captain of Beaufort’s guards, and of the two Messieurs de Campion and the Count de Beaupuis, who are, I know, among the duke’s most intimate friends.  There are scores of these street boys who for a few sous a day would gladly undertake the work.”