s. And why? because it pleases Monsieur
Philippe d'Orleans to think himself still major of the king's troops, or
commandant of the army in Spain, and to forget that he ceased to be so
from the moment he became regent of France."

"You _will_ have it, then," said the duke.

"Stay, monseigneur," said Dubois, "it shall not be said that in an
affair of this importance you gave way to my importunity. I have said
what I had to say, now I leave you--do as you please. I leave you the
paper; I am going to give some orders, and in a quarter of an hour I
will return to fetch it."

And Dubois saluted the regent and went out.

Left alone, the regent became thoughtful--this whole affair, so somber
and so tenacious of life, this remains of the former conspiracy, filled
the duke's mind with gloomy thoughts; he had braved death in battle, had
laughed at abductions meditated by the Spaniards and by Louis the
Fourteenth's bastards; but this time a secret horror oppressed him; he
felt an involuntary admiration for the young man whose poniard was
raised against him; sometimes he hated him, at others he excused--he
almost loved him. Dubois, cowering down over this conspiracy like an
infernal ape over some dying prey, and piercing with his ravenous claws
to its very heart, seemed to him to possess a sublime intelligence and
power; he felt that he, ordinarily so courageous, should have defended
his life feebly in this instance, and his eyes involuntarily sought the
paper.

"Yes," murmured he, "Dubois is right, my life is no longer my own;
yesterday, my mother also told me the same thing. Who knows what might
happen if I were to fall? The same as happened at the death of my
ancestor Henry the Fourth, perchance. After having reconquered his
kingdom step by step, he was about--thanks to ten years of peace,
economy, and prosperity--to add Alsace, Lorraine, and perhaps Flanders,
to France, while the Duke of Savoy, his son-in-law, descending the Alps,
should cut out for himself a kingdom in the Milanais, and with the
leavings of that kingdom enrich the kingdom of Venice and strengthen the
dukes of Modena, Florence, and Mantua; everything was ready for the
immense result, prepared during the whole life of a king who was at once
a legislator and a soldier; then the 13th of May arrived; a carriage
with the royal livery passed the Rue de la Feronniere, and the clock of
Les Innocents struck three. In a moment all was destroyed; past
prosperity, hop