but nobody had signed it, or thought of
doing so. They got pamphlets written by Abbe Brigault, whom the duchess
had sent to Spain; the mystery was profound, and all the conspirators
were convinced of the importance of their manoeuvres; every day, however,
the Regent was informed of them by his most influential negotiator with
foreign countries, Abbe Dubois, his late tutor, and the most depraved of
all those who were about him. Able and vigilant as he was, he was not
ignorant of any single detail of the plot, and was only giving the
conspirators time to compromise themselves. At last, just as a young
abbe, Porto Carrero, was starting for Spain, carrying important papers,
he was arrested at Poitiers, and his papers were seized. Next day,
December 7, 1718, the Prince of Cellamare's house was visited, and the
streets were lined with troops. Word was brought in all haste to the
Duchess of Maine. She had company, and dared not stir. M. de Chatillon
came in; joking commenced. "He was a cold creature, who never thought of
talking," says Madame de Stael in her memoirs. "All at once he said,
'Really there is some very amusing news: they have arrested and put in
the Bastille, for this affair of the Spanish ambassador, a certain Abbe
Bri . . . . Bri' he could not remember the name, and those who knew
it had no inclination to help him. At last he finished, and added, 'The
most amusing part is, that he has told all, and so, you see, there are
some folks in a great fix.' Thereupon he burst out laughing for the
first time in his life. The Duchess of Maine, who had not the least
inclination thereto, said, 'Yes, that is very amusing.' 'O! it is enough
to make you die of laughing,' he resumed; 'fancy those folks who thought
their affair was quite a secret; here's one who tells more than he is
asked, and names everybody by name!'" The agony was prolonged for some
days; jokes were beginning to be made about it at the Duchess of Maine's;
she kept friends with her to pass the night in her room, waiting for her
arrest to come. Madame de Stael was reading Machiavelli's conspiracies.
"Make haste and take away that piece of evidence against us," said Madame
du Maine, laughingly, "it would be one of the strongest."

The arrest came, however; it was six A.M., and everybody was asleep, when
the king's men entered the Duke of Maine's house. The Regent had for a
long time delayed to act, as if he wanted to leave everybody time to get