d movement on the part of the Abbe.

Marie exclaimed, "I foresaw it; this is the misfortune I dreamed and
dreamed of! It is I who caused it?"

"He deceived me, as he pressed my hand," continued Cinq-Mars; "he
betrayed me by the villain Joseph, whom an offer has been made to me to
poniard."

The Abbe gave a start of horror which half opened the door of the
confessional.

"O father, fear nothing," said Henri d'Effiat; "your pupil will never
strike such blows. Those I prepare will be heard from afar, and the
broad day will light them up; but there remains a duty--a sacred
duty--for me to fulfil. Behold your son sacrifice himself before you!
Alas! I have not lived long in the sight of happiness, and I am about,
perhaps, to destroy it by your hand, that consecrated it."

As he spoke, he opened the light grating which separated him from his
old tutor; the latter, still observing an extraordinary silence, passed
his hood over his forehead.

"Restore this nuptial ring to the Duchesse de Mantua," said Cinq-Mars,
in a tone less firm; "I can not keep it unless she give it me a second
time, for I am not the same whom she promised to espouse."

The priest hastily seized the ring, and passed it through the opposite
grating; this mark of indifference astonished Cinq-Mars.

"What! Father," he said, "are you also changed?"

Marie wept no longer; but, raising her angelic voice, which awakened a
faint echo along the aisles of the church, as the softest sigh of the
organ, she said, returning the ring to Cinq-Mars:

"O dearest, be not angry! I comprehend you not. Can we break asunder
what God has just united, and can I leave you, when I know you are
unhappy? If the King no longer loves you, at least you may be assured he
will not harm you, since he has not harmed the Cardinal, whom he never
loved. Do you think yourself undone, because he is perhaps unwilling
to separate from his old servant? Well, let us await the return of his
friendship; forget these conspirators, who affright me. If they give up
hope, I shall thank Heaven, for then I shall no longer tremble for you.
Why needlessly afflict ourselves? The Queen loves us, and we are both
very young; let us wait. The future is beautiful, since we are united
and sure of ourselves. Tell me what the King said to you at Chambord. I
followed you long with my eyes. Heavens! how sad to me was that hunting
party!"

"He has betrayed me, I tell you," answered Cinq-Mars. "Yet who could
ha