"Then Monsieur le Baron de Canolles is your enemy?"
"I never saw him; I know him only by reputation, and I must say that he is said to be a gallant knight and worthy gentleman."
"I am to understand that your action is not induced by hatred of any person?"
"Go to! if I had a grievance against Baron de Canolles I should challenge him to exchange shots or sword-thrusts with me, and he is too much of a man ever to decline an invitation of that kind."
"In that case I must recur to the reason you have given me."
"I think you can do no better."
"Very good! I understand that you have the letter which proves Mademoiselle de Lartigues to be unfaithful."
"Here it is. No offence, but this is the second time I have shown it to you."
The older gentleman glanced sadly from afar at the dainty paper, through which he could see the written characters.
The young man slowly unfolded the letter.
"You recognize the writing, do you not?"
"Yes."
"Then give me the blank signature, and you shall have the letter."
"In a moment. Will you allow me to ask you a question?"
"Ask it, monsieur."
The young man tranquilly folded the paper again, and replaced it in his pocket.
"How did you procure the letter?"
"I am quite willing to tell you."
"I am listening."
"You know that the somewhat extravagant government of the Duc d'Épernon has aroused a strong feeling against him in Guyenne?"
"Very well; go on."
"You know that the frightfully stingy government of Monsieur de Mazarin has aroused a tremendously strong feeling against him in the capital?"
"What have Monsieur de Mazarin and Monsieur d'Épernon to do with the matter?"
"One moment; these two strongly contrasted governments have produced a state of things much resembling a general war, in which every one has a share. At this moment Monsieur de Mazarin is fighting for the queen; you are fighting for the king; the coadjutor is fighting for Monsieur de Beaufort; Monsieur de Beaufort is fighting for Madame de Montbazon; Monsieur de La Rochefoucauld is fighting for Madame de Longueville; Monsieur le Duc d'Orléans is fighting for Mademoiselle Soyon; the Parliament is fighting for the people; lastly, Monsieur de Condé, who was fighting for France, has been imprisoned. Now I, who have no great stake to gain by fighting for the queen, for the king, for the coadjutor, for Monsieur de Beaufort, for Madame de Montbazon, for Madame de Longueville, for Mademoiselle Soyon, for the people, or for France, conceived the scheme of espousing no party whatever, but of following the one which I feel inclined to follow at the moment. Thus with me it is a question of expediency pure and simple. What say you to the idea?"
"It is ingenious, certainly."
"Consequently I have levied an army. You can see it drawn up yonder on the bank of the Dordogne."
"Five men? Nonsense!"
"That's one more than you have yourself; it doesn't look well, therefore, for you to treat it with contempt."
"Very ill clad," continued the older man, who was in ill-humor, and for that reason inclined to be censorious.
"True," rejoined his interlocutor, "they somewhat resemble the companions of Falstaff. Falstaff, by the way, is an English gentleman of my acquaintance. But to-night they will be newly equipped, and if you fall in with them to-morrow, you will admit that they are pretty fellows."
"Let us return to yourself. I am not concerned with your men."
"Very well; as I was saying, in the course of my warfare on my own account, we fell in with the tax-collector of this district, who was going from village to village, rounding out his Majesty's purse. So long as there was a single stiver uncollected we did escort duty for him faithfully, and I confess that, as I watched his money-bags filling, I was strongly tempted to join the king's faction. But the infernal confusion that reigned everywhere, together with a fit of spleen against Monsieur de Mazarin, and the complaints that we heard on all sides against Monsieur d'Épernon, brought us to our senses. We concluded that there was much to be said in favor of the justice of the princes' cause, and we embraced it with ardor; the collector completed his round of visits at the little house which stands by itself yonder among the poplars and sycamores."
"Nanon's house!" muttered the other; "yes, I see it."
"We watched until he came out, we followed him as we had been doing for five days, we crossed the Dordogne with him just below Saint-Michel, and when we were in midstream I told him of our conversion politically, and requested him, with all the courtesy of which I am capable, to turn over to us the cash in his possession. Would you believe, monsieur, that he refused? Thereupon, my comrades searched him, and as he was shrieking in a way to cause scandal, my lieutenant, a resourceful rascal, – you see him yonder, in a red cloak, holding my horse, – reflected that the water, by intercepting the air-currents, interfered with the continuity of sound; that is an axiom in physics which I, as a physician, understood and applauded. The author of the suggestion thereupon bent the recalcitrant tax-collector's head over toward the river, and held it a foot – no more – under water. As a matter of fact he ceased to shout, or, to put it more accurately, we ceased to hear him. We were able, therefore, to seize in the name of the princes all the money in his possession, and the correspondence which had been intrusted to him. I gave the money to my soldiers, who, as you justly observed, need to be newly equipped, and I kept the papers, this one among others: it seems that the worthy collector acted as Mercury for Mademoiselle de Lartigues."
"Indeed," muttered the old gentleman, "he was a creature of Nanon's if I mistake not. What became of the wretch?"
"Ah! you will see whether we did well to dip the wretch, as you call him, in the river. Why, except for that precaution he would have aroused the whole country. Fancy, when we took him out of the water, although he had been there hardly quarter of an hour, he was dead with rage!"
"You plunged him in again, no doubt?"
"As you say."
"But if the messenger was drowned – "
"I didn't say that he was drowned."
"Let us not haggle over words; if the messenger is dead – "
"Oh! as to that, he's dead enough."
"Monsieur de Canolles will not have received the letter, of course, and consequently will not keep the appointment."
"Oh! one moment; I make war on powers, not on private individuals. Monsieur de Canolles received a duplicate of the letter making the appointment; but as I considered that the autograph manuscript was of some value, I retained it."
"What will he think when he fails to recognize the writing?"
"That the person who hungers for a sight of him has employed another hand, as a measure of precaution."
The stranger eyed Cauvignac in evident admiration of such unbounded impudence combined with such perfect self-possession. He was determined, if possible, to find some means of frightening the reckless swashbuckler.
"What about the government," he said, "and the investigations that may be set on foot? Do you never think of that?"
"Investigations?" rejoined the younger man, with a laugh. "Oh! Monsieur d'Épernon has many other things to do besides investigate; and then, did I not tell you that I did what I did for the purpose of obtaining his favor? He would be ungrateful indeed if he didn't bestow it on me."
"I don't altogether understand," said the other, satirically, "how it ever occurred to you, who have, by your own admission, taken up the cause of the princes, to do Monsieur d'Épernon a service."
"And yet it's the simplest thing in the world: an inspection of the papers found upon