CHAPTER XXII

"The hopeless Conspiracy," as it came to be called later, was, from the moment that De Beaurepaire, the Marquise de Villiers-Bordéville and Van den Enden were arrested, one that caused more sensation in France than any other event of the period. Not even that of the Marquise de Brinvilliers for poisoning her own father and brothers at the instigation of her lover, nor that of "La" Voisin for the sale of poisons--for the purchase of which the Duchesse de Vivonne and Madame de Montespan were themselves denounced, while Olympe Mancini fled the country--were more talked of than this affair.

In this conspiracy stood, as its head and front, the handsomest representative of a house that, since the suppression of the family of De Guise, was the first in the kingdom; while others whose names were the most notable of the time were strongly suspected of being implicated in the plot. Among those names was that of the Duc de Bourbon-Condé, grandson of the Prince de Condé--a man of whom it was said that he was "an unnatural son, a cruel father, a terrible husband, a detestable master, an evil neighbour, a man without friendship or a friend, and equally fit to be his own executioner and that of others." Another, on whom suspicion rested deeply, was the brother of the Duc de Guiche; another the Cardinal de Retz. Of these latter none were ever brought to trial, while the name of Condé's grandson was, by order of the King himself, omitted from the interrogatories and trial. For the Condés were of the House of Bourbon, and the great head of that house could not see one of his own blood, however evil, receive the ordinary treatment meted out to suspected men.

In the Bastille, therefore, Louis de Beaurepaire, Emérance and Van den Enden, all in separate rooms or cachots, awaited the day when they should be put on their trial, the former inhabiting one of the principal rooms in the Tour de la Bertaudière, the woman another off the Chapel, and the Jew a dungeon in the basement. Day after day they were submitted to interrogatories, sometimes by La Reynie himself, sometimes by Bezous, Conseiller au Parliament, and sometimes by De Pomereu, Conseiller d'état, yet, though not one of them had ever the least opportunity of communicating with the other, or of knowing what either of the others had admitted or denied, from none was any admission obtained. De Beaurepaire asserted that he knew naught of the conspiracy, while advancing what was an undoubtedly strong, as well as a true, point in his favour, namely, that his family was not Norman and that, absolutely, he had never been in Normandy. Emérance stated that she was of Norman origin but that her social standing was of too humble a nature for her to be admitted into any such conspiracy as the one in question, even had she desired to be so admitted; while Van den Enden said that his various visits to Holland and other places were connected with the many commercial affairs in which he was concerned.

While these interrogatories were taking place, however, De Beaurepaire learned that one person who, perhaps above all, had had it in his power to testify against him and to include him in his own ruin should he desire to do, was harmless now.

As, escorted by the Lieutenant du Roi, second in command of the Bastille, and by four soldiers, he passed to the Salle de Justice--where the Judges would occasionally, when they had nothing else to occupy their time, attend with the view of inspecting the accounts of the prison, the list of the prisoners who were still alive or who had died since their last visit, and, also occasionally, to discover if any person had happened to be detained there under a false charge, or through a mistake, for some years--he observed De Brissac seated in the Armoury, out of which the Salle de Justice opened. He observed also something else, namely, that the Commander of the Garde du Corps was engaged in conversation with a man, well but plainly dressed, who was standing before him; one whose heavily plumed hat drawn down over his face partially disguised, but only partially, the features of Boisfleury.

"So," De Beaurepaire thought to himself as he passed on, "De Brissac has laid his hands on that rat. Well! what can he tell? He, who was subaltern even to La Preaux! Nothing, except that La Preaux attempted to slay, and thought he slew, Humphrey West."

His progress was, however, stopped by De Brissac, who, rising suddenly from his chair, advanced towards the Lieutenant du Roi and, while requesting him to halt the escort for a moment, stated that he wished to address a few words to his prisoners.

"Monsieur le Commandeur," the Lieutenant du Roi replied, "it is against all orders that any one should hold converse with the Prince de Beaurepaire, even though it be Monsieur de Brissac, who can scarcely be suspected of----"

"Bah! Bah!" De Brissac replied in a low voice, so that the man in question could not hear his words, "what should I have to say to him that can do harm, since on me has fallen the task of arresting all these conspirators. Is De Brissac to be regarded now as one of the joyous troop! Yet, let us remember that he and you and I have all been soldiers together, and--Bon-Dieu!--good ones too; let us be as kind to him as we may. Remember, too, that he is not tried yet, therefore he is not yet pronounced guilty."

"If--if," replied the Lieutenant, "it is no communication from any of the other prisoners; no message from----"

"Peste! I have a message from, or rather an account of--since he of whom I speak can send no messages now--one who is dead. The birds you have got fast in this cage are all alive--for the present."

"Is it about----?"

"It is." After which De Brissac advanced towards De Beaurepaire while the Lieutenant du Roi gave an order to the soldiers to stand apart from their charge during the time he conferred with the Colonel of the Garde du Corps, and commenced to pace up and down the floor of the Armoury himself.

"What is it, De Brissac?" De Beaurepaire said now, on observing that the others had all withdrawn out of earshot. "What? Have you come to tell me that you have at last found more suspects for this charge? I hear--for, even in this hideous place, whispers filter through the very walls and reach us--that you and your master, De Louvois, seek to ensnare half the noblesse of France within the net you throw broadcast."

"Nay," De Brissac said, understanding yet not resenting the bitterness of the other, since he recognised how justifiable such bitterness was, if--as many people thought and openly said--De Beaurepaire's name had been freely used by the Norman conspirators without his knowledge; "nay. Instead, on seeing you here I have come to inform you of that which may bring some calm to your spirit. That fellow over there--Boisfleury--can tell the whole story of how the young Englishman was first of all nearly done to death by the vagabond, La Preaux, while, to make the certainty of death more great, he was afterwards cast into the Rhine by him."

"What! Why! La Truaumont----" but he paused. If he repeated to De Brissac what La Truaumont had told him, then, at once, he divulged that he and the latter had been in communication with each other. Added to which he knew also, perhaps by those very whispers which, a moment before, he had said even filtered through the walls of the Bastille, that La Truaumont had been in some strange way denounced to De Louvois and La Reynie as one of the principal leaders of the conspiracy, and he understood that it was madness to appear to be in possession of any information furnished by him. Nevertheless, he had mentioned La Truaumont's name ere he could collect himself and De Brissac had heard him do so.

"La Truaumont!" the other exclaimed, while the strange look that was so apparent at times came into his face. "La Truaumont!" Then, as though desirous of helping De Beaurepaire out of a snare into which he had inadvertently fallen, he said, "Ah! yes. It is so. He was in your service. Did he not ride to Nancy for you?"

"To Basle in the escort of the Duchesse de Castellucchio. Afterwards he was to go forward with her to Geneva on the road to Milan. Has he--have they?" he asked, continuing his attempt to throw dust in De Brissac's eyes, or, perhaps, with the wish to prevent it appearing that he and La Truaumont had met in Paris recently, "have they arrived in Italy?"

"Madame La Duchesse may have done so," De Brissac replied, while the inscrutable look in his face became even more pronounced than before. "As for La Truaumont, he arrived at Rouen the night after you were arrested by me."

"Is he arrested, too?"

"I attempted to arrest him since it was to me that the order to do so was sent."

"You attempted to do so! And failed!"

"Listen. When I, as chief of the King's special Garde du Corps, was ordered to arrest one who had desired to do for Louis that which no Garde du Corps could prevent if the opportunity should arise, I, with four of my men, rode post-haste to Rouen. At six o'clock in the morning--it was the day after you fell into my hands--walked into them!--at Versailles, I was in La Truaumont's lodgings and found him in bed. Awaking him, I told him that I had an order to arrest him, upon which he exclaimed, 'So be it. I am here. Arrest me,' while, as he spoke, he produced two pistols from a cabinet at the head of his bed. 'If you can do so,' he added, pointing the weapon at me. 'Then you are guilty,' I cried, drawing my sword. 'Guilty!' he exclaimed. 'Be sure I am. Oui, mort Dieu, guilty. I alone.'"

"Ah!" De Beaurepaire exclaimed.

"Yes. He said it," De Brissac answered. "He said it. I can testify to that."

After which the colonel continued, "He called out so loudly as he spoke and as he leapt from his bed, pistols in hand, that three of my men--the fourth kept the door below--rushed into the room and a struggle to the death ensued. La Truaumont discharged both his pistols at me, killing, instead, however, one of my guards in doing so, and was himself shot an instant afterwards by the man's comrades."

"Dead!" De Beaurepaire murmured. "Dead! La Truaumont dead. Ah! we had been friends, comrades, for years. La Truaumont dead."

"He died eighteen hours later. Before he did so he called for paper and ink and wrote that what he had said when I entered the room was mere braggadocio. That he was not guilty but would have been if he could have obtained assistance. He said also that, had the King let him serve him, His Majesty would have had no more faithful subject. They were the last words he spoke ere receiving the sacrament."

"And the only ones?" De Beaurepaire asked.

"The only ones."

The prisoner drew a long breath as De Brissac answered thus, after which he said: "I told you but now that strange things reach our ears in this place. That, from the outer world, comes news----"

"I know, I know," the other interrupted. "Like most who have lived in France, in Paris, I have been here myself. Mazarin sent me here when I was a boy, a Porte Drapeau, because I caned one of his bodyguard who was insolent to me!" After saying which De Brissac continued, "What other news has reached your ears?"

"That you have arrested all of us who are now in this fortress on this charge. All who are here on the same charge as I?"

"Yes, it is true. As Colonel of the Garde du Corps, it falls to my lot to seize upon all who aim at the King's body, at his life."

"Am I charged with that?"

"It may be. I do not know. Yet--since I arrested you----"

"I understand. De Louvois and La Reynie cut deep. Like skilful surgeons they stop not at the surface. And--and--therefore--you arrested--her?"

"It is so."

"What did she say?"

"Knowing that I had previously arrested you, she thanked me for also making her a prisoner."

"Thanked you! Heavens!" De Beaurepaire whispered to himself, "it was a heart to win. How many of those others would have thanked De Brissac for that! Rather would they have told all, have witnessed against me and invented all they did not know, so that, thereby, they might set themselves free." And again he exclaimed aloud, "she thanked you!"

"Ay, it is so. While adding, as she spoke and smiled on me, that, since she could not be at large and free to share your liberty, her next greatest joy was to be beneath the same prison roof with you."

De Beaurepaire turned away as the other told him this; turned away because, perhaps, he knew that the tears had come into his eyes and he would not have De Brissac see them there. Yet the latter--from whom the prisoner would have hidden those tears and, it may be, all other signs of emotion which he knew well enough were on his face--comprehended that they were there as easily as he comprehended all that now racked and tore at the heart of the once strong and masterful man before him. Wherefore, to ease that racked heart, De Brissac added:--

"I likewise arrested the bully who calls himself Fleur de Mai, and the Jew atheist, Van den Enden. And they too are firm, very firm. Listen, De Beaurepaire, and, as you do so, deem me no traitor since I am none such, but only one who has fought by your side and, later, taken the word of command from you. Listen, I say. De Louvois, La Reynie, will have to seek further than the walls of this prison to obtain the conviction of any of you. If you and those who are here can be as solidly, ay! and as stolidly, silent as you all are now, if you can hold your peace and acknowledge nothing and deny nothing, they will have trouble in bringing proof against you. H'st! the Lieutenant comes. My friendship, my old comradeship with you has forced me to say this. Think no evil of me for saying so much."

"God bless you," whispered De Beaurepaire huskily, while wondering as he did so how long it was since such words had fallen from his lips, and wondering, too, of how much or little good the prayer could be productive. Nevertheless, he knew that they had been wrung from his heart by De Brissac's friendly care for his safety, and recognised that, evil as his life had been, he had at that moment no power of repressing those words.

"It is the hour when the Commission will sit," the Lieutenant du Roi said to De Brissac, "the Prince de Beaurepaire must tarry no longer. En avant!" he cried now to the soldiers who had once more surrounded the prisoner as their leader came forward, "en avant!"

"Farewell!" De Beaurepaire said to De Brissac as he set out again. "Farewell!"

"Nay," De Brissac replied, "not farewell, instead au revoir!"