ness without more delay. Mazarin is still in the
house, and our men are waiting. The horses are harnessed, and directly
you give the signal the carriage will be at the door. I need not warn
you to take care of yourself."

"Three knocks, remember," said D'Arcy. "We will stand here in the
shadow; the others are in their places, and keeping a sharp look-out."

"One minute!" I whispered to him. "There is just a trifling matter I
wish done. If I don't return--and that seems not unlikely--will you go
straight back to La Boule d'Or? You will find a man in my room tied up
and gagged; set him at liberty."

D'Arcy gave a low whistle of surprise, but without asking for an
explanation he promised to go.

"If we succeed I can attend to him myself," I added. "Now stand back."

"Don't forget," said the third man, "that if the Cardinal slips through
your fingers your own neck will be in danger."

"Good luck," cried D'Arcy softly, as I crossed the road to the
astrologer's house.

For a moment, as my companions disappeared, my courage failed. I was
bound on a really desperate venture, and the first false slip might
land me in a dungeon of the dreaded Bastille.

Suppose that Mazarin, having learned of the plot, had filled the house
with his Guards? Once I raised my hand and dropped it, but the second
time I knocked at the door, which, after some delay, was opened wide
enough to admit the passage of a man's body. The entry was quite dark,
but I pushed in quickly, nerving myself for whatever might happen. At
the same moment sounds of firing came from the street, and I heard the
man Peleton exclaim, "Fly! We are betrayed!"

I turned to the door, but some one was already shooting the bolts,
while a second person, pressing a pistol against my head, exclaimed
roughly, "Don't move till we have a light. The floor is uneven, and
you might hurt yourself by falling."

"You can put down that weapon," I said. "I am not likely to run away,
especially as I have come of my own free will to see your master's
visitor."

The fellow laughed, and lowered his pistol.

"You will see him soon enough," said he, and I judged by his tone that
he did not think the interview would be a pleasant one.

Another man now arriving with a lantern, I was led to the end of the
passage, up three steps, and so into a large room, sparsely furnished,
but filled with soldiers. Truly the Abbe was well advised in
withdrawing from the conspiracy.

"_