o did not like him, began to talk over his head to M.
de Thou--a mortification which always exasperated the little Abbe, who
abruptly left her, walking as tall as he could, and scornfully twisting
his moustache.

All at once a sudden silence took possession of the assembly. A rolled
paper had struck the ceiling and fallen at the feet of Cinq-Mars. He
picked it up and unrolled it, after having looked eagerly around him. He
sought in vain to divine whence it came; all those who advanced had only
astonishment and intense curiosity depicted in their faces.

"Here is my name wrongly written," he said coldly.

"A CINQ MARCS,

CENTURIE DE NOSTRADAMUS.

Quand bonnet rouge passera par la fenetre,
A quarante onces on coupera tete,
Et tout finira."

[This punning prediction was made public three months before the,
conspiracy.]

"There is a traitor among us, gentlemen," he said, throwing away the
paper. "But no matter. We are not men to be frightened by his sanguinary
jests."

"We must find the traitor out, and throw him through the window," said
the young men.

Still, a disagreeable sensation had come over the assembly. They now only
spoke in whispers, and each regarded his neighbor with distrust. Some
withdrew; the meeting grew thinner. Marion de Lorme repeated to every one
that she would dismiss her servants, who alone could be suspected.
Despite her efforts a coldness reigned throughout the apartment. The
first sentences of Cinq-Mars' address, too, had left some uncertainty as
to the intentions of the King; and this untimely candor had somewhat
shaken a few of the less determined conspirators.

Gondi pointed this out to Cinq-Mars.

"Hark ye!" he said in a low voice. "Believe me, I have carefully studied
conspiracies and assemblages; there are certain purely mechanical means
which it is necessary to adopt. Follow my advice here; I know a good deal
of this sort of thing. They want something more. Give them a little
contradiction; that always succeeds in France. You will quite make them
alive again. Seem not to wish to retain them against their will, and they
will remain."

The grand ecuyer approved of the suggestion, and advancing toward those
whom he knew to be most deeply compromised, said:

"For the rest, gentlemen, I do not wish to force any one to follow me.
Plenty of brave men await us at Perpignan, and all France is with us. If
any one desire