und silence. In the street
of Saint Thomas-du-Louvre they stopped at the barrier distinguished by
the name of Quinze-Vingts. Here Guitant spoke to one of the subalterns,
asking how matters were progressing.

"Ah, captain!" said the officer, "everything is quiet hereabout--if I
did not know that something is going on in yonder house!"

And he pointed to a magnificent hotel situated on the very spot whereon
the Vaudeville now stands.

"In that hotel? it is the Hotel Rambouillet," cried Guitant.

"I really don't know what hotel it is; all I do know is that I observed
some suspicious looking people go in there----"

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Guitant, with a burst of laughter; "those men must
be poets."

"Come, Guitant, speak, if you please, respectfully of these gentlemen,"
said Mazarin; "don't you know that I was in my youth a poet? I wrote
verses in the style of Benserade----"

"You, my lord?"

"Yes, I; shall I repeat to you some of my verses?"

"Just as you please, my lord. I do not understand Italian."

"Yes, but you understand French," and Mazarin laid his hand upon
Guitant's shoulder. "My good, my brave Guitant, whatsoever command I may
give you in that language--in French--whatever I may order you to do,
will you not perform it?"

"Certainly. I have already answered that question in the affirmative;
but that command must come from the queen herself."

"Yes! ah yes!" Mazarin bit his lips as he spoke; "I know your devotion
to her majesty."

"I have been a captain in the queen's guards for twenty years," was the
reply.

"En route, Monsieur d'Artagnan," said the cardinal; "all goes well in
this direction."

D'Artagnan, in the meantime, had taken the head of his detachment
without a word and with that ready and profound obedience which marks
the character of an old soldier.

He led the way toward the hill of Saint Roche. The Rue Richelieu and the
Rue Villedot were then, owing to their vicinity to the ramparts, less
frequented than any others in that direction, for the town was thinly
inhabited thereabout.

"Who is in command here?" asked the cardinal.

"Villequier," said Guitant.

"Diavolo! Speak to him yourself, for ever since you were deputed by
me to arrest the Duc de Beaufort, this officer and I have been on bad
terms. He laid claim to that honor as captain of the royal guards."

"I am aware of that, and I have told him a hundred times that he was
wrong. The king could not give that order, since