anion. Suppose one of those fellows had plucked at my cloak? I
fancy both the Cardinal and his servant would have received but short
shrift."

"We should have died for the Queen, my Lord!"

Mazarin shrugged his shoulders and answered drily, "I prefer my friends
to live. It is my _enemies_ who should get themselves killed. But
listen!" and from a distance came a tremendous roar of "Down with
Mazarin! Live the Queen!"

"It is strange," muttered the Cardinal, "how these people will cheer
for every one but me, yet I have done them more good than all the
others put together. But come, unless the stars play me false, these
same folk shall raise my name as high as the rest."

"Till the wind blows from a fresh quarter," I muttered, watching the
hawker; and, indeed, it seemed to me that Mazarin, though a shrewd man,
was striving for an empty honour.

However, there was little leisure for thinking just then; we walked on
rapidly, turning to the right at the end of the Rue Croquin, and made
our way through several side streets which were nearly deserted. After
a long roundabout journey we approached the neighbourhood where Martin
lived, when suddenly an officer whom I recognised as Roland Belloc
stepped out from a hiding place.

"Have you posted your soldiers?" asked Mazarin quietly.

"Every avenue is guarded. No one can enter or leave the street
unchallenged."

"The men are well out of sight?"

"It would take your Eminence a long time to discover them!" replied the
veteran warrior smiling.

"That is well. People who saw them might be curious. There is nothing
fresh going on yonder?" and he waved his hand in the direction of
Martin's house.

"No, except that we arrived just in time to see Pillot going away."

"Did you secure him?"

"No, my Lord; I had no orders to detain him."

"Chut!" exclaimed Mazarin testily, "you should have acted without
orders. By the way, did you know that La Rochefoucauld is in Paris?
The game grows very exciting," and he laughed softly at Belloc's
astonishment.

"We must strike at once," said the old soldier.

"On the contrary, we will wait till the blow will do the most mischief.
That is why I shall spare the good Martin--for a time. Now I am going
to pay my visit. There is not much chance of danger, but if the
unexpected happens, why, in that case, a Cardinal's life is worth more
than that of an astrologer. Eh? my trusty Belloc?"

"Perhaps it will be as well for me t