s. No, my friends, we need a man with a strong
arm and a stout heart; a leader whom the soldiers love; a general whom
the Spaniards fear; a prince of the blood who would make France great,
powerful, glorious; the hero of Locroi and Lens, the finest soldier in
the world, the great Conde."

The orator finished amidst an outburst of cheering, which was renewed
again and again, till hundreds of people were shouting for Conde.

"It is certain," said the Cardinal, turning to me, "that you bring me
luck. I will chance another turn of the wheel. Go to that man and
tell him the Duc de La Rochefoucauld says he has done splendidly, but
that he must not bear so hard on Gaston. Mind that you watch his face
closely. I will stay for you yonder in the shadow of the buttress."

Why the Cardinal gave me this strange order I could not guess, but it
was none of my business, so, taking the orator aside, I delivered the
message word for word. The man's eyes sparkled with joy; he begged me
to thank the Duke, and to add that he would remember the hint
concerning Gaston of Orleans. More hopelessly perplexed than ever, I
returned to Mazarin, and related what had passed, on which he smiled
with a satisfied air, and hurried me away.

"A clever rogue whose master should not begrudge him his wages!" he
said with a quiet chuckle, "though he has made one grave mistake
to-night. But what extraordinary luck! Surely my star must be in the
ascendant! Ah, Martin, my friend, one need not necessarily be an
astrologer to foretell the future."

From this speech I gathered two pieces of information. First, that we
were on our way to the astrologer's, and second that our visit was in
some way mixed up with the knowledge I had already obtained. The scene
on the Pont Neuf I did not understand. The Black Mantle who had
stirred up the people on behalf of Conde could be no friend to Mazarin,
yet the Cardinal had sent me to him with a most astounding message.
Then again, every one knew that La Rochefoucauld was Conde's righthand
man, but he was supposed to be far away from Paris.

Ah! That gave me a clue, and I looked at Mazarin in amazed wonder.
How clever he was! From a hint here and a word there he had discovered
that a huge plot was on foot. I did not know the truth till later, but
it may as well be set down here.

The Cardinal's enemies found they could accomplish nothing without
Conde, but that prince and his brother were in prison. After