d this morning?"

"That is what I wished to speak of, your Eminence, but I am confident
you will agree that I acted rightly."

"I dislike putting the cart before the horse," said he; "the verdict
should follow the evidence. It will be better for you to relate the
story first."

Picking up his pen again, he sat twisting it between his fingers, but
looking me straight in the face, and listening intently to every word.
He did not once attempt to interrupt, but preserved his patience until
the end.

"Chut! my dear Martin," said he, when I had finished, just as if the
astrologer were present; "we were mistaken. This young provincial has
eyes in his head after all. M. de Lalande, not a word, not a syllable
of this to any one. Should you babble, the Bastille is not so full but
that it can accommodate another tenant. Now, let us go through the
story again. As you rightly observe, it is most interesting, quite
like a romance. These men were in the house; of that you are sure?"

I bowed.

"Very good. And our friend Martin denied having seen them?"

"He declared I was his first visitor this morning."

"You did not press the point?"

"Not at all, my Lord. I considered it better to admit my mistake, and
to allow the subject to drop."

"In that you did well. You are really learning fast, and I shall find
you of service yet. Now let us proceed. You saw the two men again,
but they did not come out of Martin's house. Are you certain about
that?"

"I did not once remove my eyes from the door, and it was closed the
whole time."

"Then you cannot account for the reappearance of these visitors?"

I shook my head.

"If my explanation is correct, it throws a light on several queer
things," said Mazarin smiling. "However, that part of the business can
stand over, I am not in a hurry at present. Now as to these cloaked
gentlemen! Did you recognise them?"

"Only my cousin Henri."

"Ah, he is a clever fellow, a trifle too clever perhaps. Now describe
his companion to me again."

"A little man, your Eminence, dark and ugly. An ill-made, awkward,
bow-legged fellow, looking the more ungainly because of his handsome
apparel."

"The description is not a flattering one!" laughed the Cardinal. "This
ugly little man of yours is no less a person than Jean Paul de Gondi,
Abbe de Retz, Coadjutor of Paris, Archbishop of Corinth, a future
Cardinal--so it is rumoured--and the man who is to fill Mazarin's
office when