Richelieu, replacing his
footstool. "You appear to have lost your equanimity."

"But--but, Monseigneur, must we not warn Monsieur de Fabert?"

"Let him sleep, and go to bed yourself; and you also, Joseph."

"Monseigneur, another strange event has occurred--the King has arrived."

"Indeed, that is extraordinary," said the minister, looking at his
watch. "I did not expect him these two hours. Retire, both of you."

A heavy trampling and the clattering of arms announced the arrival
of the Prince; the folding-doors were thrown open; the guards in the
Cardinal's service struck the ground thrice with their pikes; and the
King appeared.

He entered, supporting himself with a cane on one side, and on the
other leaning upon the shoulder of his confessor, Father Sirmond,
who withdrew, and left him with the Cardinal; the latter rose with
difficulty, but could not advance a step to meet the King, because his
legs were bandaged and enveloped. He made a sign that they should assist
the King to a seat near the fire, facing himself. Louis XIII fell into
an armchair furnished with pillows, asked for and drank a glass of
cordial, prepared to strengthen him against the frequent fainting-fits
caused by his malady of languor, signed to all to leave the room, and,
alone with Richelieu, he said in a languid voice:

"I am departing, my dear Cardinal; I feel that I shall soon return
to God. I become weaker from day to day; neither the summer nor the
southern air has restored my strength."

"I shall precede your Majesty," replied the minister. "You see that
death has already conquered my limbs; but while I have a head to think
and a hand to write, I shall be at the service of your Majesty."

"And I am sure it was your intention to add, 'a heart to love me.'"

"Can your Majesty doubt it?" answered the Cardinal, frowning, and biting
his lips impatiently at this speech.

"Sometimes I doubt it," replied the King. "Listen: I wish to speak
openly to you, and to complain of you to yourself. There are two things
which have been upon my conscience these three years. I have never
mentioned them to you; but I reproached you secretly; and could anything
have induced me to consent to any proposals contrary to your interest,
it would be this recollection."

There was in this speech that frankness natural to weak minds, who seek
by thus making their ruler uneasy, to compensate for the harm they dare
not do him, and revenge their subjection by a ch