le!"

"Monseigneur! monseigneur! for pity's sake!"

"I give you ten minutes to make up your mind," added Fouquet, in a calm
voice. "I will sit down here, in this armchair, and wait for you; if,
in ten minutes' time, you still persist, I leave this place, and you may
think me as mad as you like. Then--you shall _see!_"

Baisemeaux stamped his foot on the ground like a man in a state of
despair, but he did not reply a single syllable; whereupon Fouquet
seized a pen and ink, and wrote:

"Order for M. le Prevot des Marchands to assemble the municipal guard
and to march upon the Bastile on the king's immediate service."

Baisemeaux shrugged his shoulders. Fouquet wrote:

"Order for the Duc de Bouillon and M. le Prince de Conde to assume the
command of the Swiss guards, of the king's guards, and to march upon the
Bastile on the king's immediate service."

Baisemeaux reflected. Fouquet still wrote:

"Order for every soldier, citizen, or gentleman to seize and apprehend,
wherever he may be found, le Chevalier d'Herblay, Eveque de Vannes,
and his accomplices, who are: first, M. de Baisemeaux, governor of the
Bastile, suspected of the crimes of high treason and rebellion--"

"Stop, monseigneur!" cried Baisemeaux; "I do not understand a single
jot of the whole matter; but so many misfortunes, even were it madness
itself that had set them at their awful work, might happen here in
a couple of hours, that the king, by whom I must be judged, will see
whether I have been wrong in withdrawing the countersign before this
flood of imminent catastrophes. Come with me to the keep, monseigneur,
you shall see Marchiali."

Fouquet darted out of the room, followed by Baisemeaux as he wiped the
perspiration from his face. "What a terrible morning!" he said; "what a
disgrace for _me!_"

"Walk faster," replied Fouquet.

Baisemeaux made a sign to the jailer to precede them. He was afraid of
his companion, which the latter could not fail to perceive.

"A truce to this child's play," he said, roughly. "Let the man remain
here; take the keys yourself, and show me the way. Not a single person,
do you understand, must hear what is going to take place here."

"Ah!" said Baisemeaux, undecided.

"Again!" cried M. Fouquet. "Ah! say 'no' at once, and I will leave the
Bastile and will myself carry my own dispatches."

Baisemeaux bowed his head, took the keys, and unaccompanied, except by
the minister, ascended the staircase. The higher they