vable and not a muscle of his face was discomposed; only his glance
flashed like a sword in returning the furious looks of the queen.

("He were a dead man" said the Gascon, "if there were still a Vitry at
the court and if Vitry entered at this moment; but for my part, before
he could reach the good prelate I would kill Vitry at once; the cardinal
would be infinitely pleased with me."

"Hush!" said Porthos; "listen.")

"Madame," cried the cardinal, seizing hold of Anne and drawing her back,
"Madame, what are you about?"

Then he added in Spanish, "Anne, are you mad? You, a queen to quarrel
like a washerwoman! And do you not perceive that in the person of this
priest is represented the whole people of Paris and that it is dangerous
to insult him at this moment, and if this priest wished it, in an hour
you would be without a crown? Come, then, on another occasion you can be
firm and strong; but to-day is not the proper time; to-day, flatter and
caress, or you are only a common woman."

(At the first words of this address D'Artagnan had seized Porthos's arm,
which he pressed with gradually increasing force. When Mazarin ceased
speaking he said to Porthos in a low tone:

"Never tell Mazarin that I understand Spanish, or I am a lost man and
you are also."

"All right," said Porthos.)

This rough appeal, marked by the eloquence which characterized Mazarin
when he spoke in Italian or Spanish and which he lost entirely in
speaking French, was uttered with such impenetrable expression that
Gondy, clever physiognomist as he was, had no suspicion of its being
more than a simple warning to be more subdued.

The queen, on her part, thus chided, softened immediately and sat down,
and in an almost weeping voice, letting her arms fall by her side, said:

"Pardon me, sir, and attribute this violence to what I suffer. A woman,
and consequently subject to the weaknesses of my sex, I am alarmed at
the idea of civil war; a queen, accustomed to be obeyed, I am excited at
the first opposition."

"Madame," replied Gondy, bowing, "your majesty is mistaken in qualifying
my sincere advice as opposition. Your majesty has none but submissive
and respectful subjects. It is not the queen with whom the people are
displeased; they ask for Broussel and are only too happy, if you release
him to them, to live under your government."

Mazarin, who at the words, "It is not the queen with whom the people are
displeased," had pricked up his ears