ut the Palais Royal, the courts and ground floors
of which were filled with musketeers and Swiss guards, and there awaited
the outcome of all this disturbance.

Such was the state of affairs at the very moment we introduced our
readers to the study of Cardinal Mazarin--once that of Cardinal
Richelieu. We have seen in what state of mind he listened to the murmurs
from below, which even reached him in his seclusion, and to the guns,
the firing of which resounded through that room. All at once he raised
his head; his brow slightly contracted like that of a man who has formed
a resolution; he fixed his eyes upon an enormous clock that was about to
strike ten, and taking up a whistle of silver gilt that stood upon the
table near him, he shrilled it twice.

A door hidden in the tapestry opened noiselessly and a man in black
silently advanced and stood behind the chair on which Mazarin sat.

"Bernouin," said the cardinal, not turning round, for having whistled,
he knew that it was his valet-de-chambre who was behind him; "what
musketeers are now within the palace?"

"The Black Musketeers, my lord."

"What company?"

"Treville's company."

"Is there any officer belonging to this company in the ante-chamber?"

"Lieutenant d'Artagnan."

"A man on whom we can depend, I hope."

"Yes, my lord."

"Give me a uniform of one of these musketeers and help me to put it on."

The valet went out as silently as he had entered and appeared in a few
minutes bringing the dress demanded.

The cardinal, in deep thought and in silence, began to take off the
robes of state he had assumed in order to be present at the sitting of
parliament, and to attire himself in the military coat, which he wore
with a certain degree of easy grace, owing to his former campaigns in
Italy. When he was completely dressed he said:

"Send hither Monsieur d'Artagnan."

The valet went out of the room, this time by the centre door, but still
as silently as before; one might have fancied him an apparition.

When he was left alone the cardinal looked at himself in the glass
with a feeling of self-satisfaction. Still young--for he was scarcely
forty-six years of age--he possessed great elegance of form and was
above the middle height; his complexion was brilliant and beautiful;
his glance full of expression; his nose, though large, was well
proportioned; his forehead broad and majestic; his hair, of a chestnut
color, was curled slightly; his beard, which w