d clothes brought there; and, as we were only a
few steps off, we came here on foot, and here we are. On my honor,
Messire Voyer d'Argenson would be clever, indeed, if he recognized us in
this disguise."

"I see, with pleasure," said Malezieux, "that your highness is not cast
down by the events of this horrible day."

"Cast down! I! Malezieux, I hope you know me too well to have feared it
for a single instant. Cast down! On the contrary, I never felt more
vigor, or more determination. Oh, if I only were a man!"

"Let your highness command," said D'Harmental, "and everything that you
could do if you could act yourself, we will do--we, who stand in your
stead."

"No, no; it is impossible that any other should do that which I should
have done."

"Nothing is impossible, madame, to five men as devoted as we are.
Moreover, our interest demands a prompt and energetic course of action.
It is not reasonable to believe that the regent will stop there. The day
after to-morrow--to-morrow evening, perhaps--we shall all be arrested.
Dubois gives out that the paper which he saved from the flames at the
Prince of Cellamare's is nothing less than the list of the conspirators.
In that case he knows all our names. We have, then, at this very moment,
a sword hanging over each of our heads; do not let us wait tamely till
the thread which suspends it snaps; let us seize it, and strike!"

"Strike! What--where--and how?" asked Brigaud. "That abominable
parliament has destroyed all our schemes. Have we measures taken, or a
plot made out?"

"The best plan which has been conceived," said Pompadour, "and the one
which offered the greatest chance of success, was the first; and the
proof is, that it was only overthrown by an unheard-of circumstance."

"Well, if the plan was good then, it is so still," said Valef; "let us
return to it!"

"Yes, but in failing," said Malezieux, "this plan put the regent on his
guard."

"On the contrary," said Pompadour; "in consequence of that very failure,
it will be supposed that we have abandoned it."

"And the proof is," said Valef, "that the regent, on this head, takes
fewer precautions than ever. For example--since his daughter,
Mademoiselle de Chartres, has become abbess of Chelles, he goes to see
her every week, and he goes through the wood of Vincennes without
guards, and with only a coachman and two lackeys, and that at eight or
nine o'clock at night."

"And what day does he pay this visit?" a