en men conspire, they seek the death or at least
the downfall of some one, eh?"

And he paused.

"Now in that case, we are out with God, and in with the Devil, eh?"

"Secundo, as they say at the Sorbonne; it's no worse when one is damned,
to be so for much than for little, eh?"

"Ergo, it is indifferent whether a thousand or one be killed. I defy you
to answer that."

"Nothing could be better argued, Doctor-dagger," said Fontrailles,
half-laughing, "I see you will be a good travelling-companion. You shall
go with me to Spain if you like."

"I know you are going to take the treaty there," answered Jacques; "and
I will guide you through the Pyrenees by roads unknown to man. But I
shall be horribly vexed to go away without having wrung the neck of that
old he-goat, whom we leave behind, like a knight in the midst of a
game of chess. Once more Monsieur," he continued with an air of pious
earnestness, "if you have any religion in you, refuse no longer;
recollect the words of our theological fathers, Hurtado de Mendoza and
Sanchez, who have proved that a man may secretly kill his enemies, since
by this means he avoids two sins--that of exposing his life, and that
of fighting a duel. It is in accordance with this grand consolatory
principle that I have always acted."

"Go, go!" said Cinq-Mars, in a voice thick with rage; "I have other
things to think of."

"Of what more important?" said Fontrailles; "this might be a great
weight in the balance of our destinies."

"I am thinking how much the heart of a king weighs in it," said
Cinq-Mars.

"You terrify me," replied the gentleman; "we can not go so far as that!"

"Nor do I think what you suppose, Monsieur," continued D'Effiat, in a
severe tone. "I was merely reflecting how kings complain when a subject
betrays them. Well, war! war! civil war, foreign war, let your fires be
kindled! since I hold the match, I will apply it to the mine. Perish
the State! perish twenty kingdoms, if necessary! No ordinary calamities
suffice when the King betrays the subject. Listen to me."

And he took Fontrailles a few steps aside.

"I only charged you to prepare our retreat and succors, in case of
abandonment on the part of the King. Just now I foresaw this abandonment
in his forced manifestation of friendship; and I decided upon your
setting out when he finished his conversation by announcing his
departure for Perpignan. I feared Narbonne; I now see that he is going
there to delive