long
in prison. Richelieu, again at liberty, after a captivity of three
months, was more brilliant and more sought after than ever; but the
closet had been walled up, and Mademoiselle de Valois became Duchesse de
Modena.

The Abbe Brigaud--arrested, as we have said, at Orleans--was kept for
some time in the prison of that town, to the great despair of Madame
Denis and her children; but, one fine morning, as they were sitting down
to breakfast, the abbe entered, as calm as ever. They asked him a number
of questions, but--with his habitual prudence--he referred them to his
judicial declarations, saying that the affair had already given him so
much trouble that they would greatly oblige him by never speaking of it
any more. Now, as the Abbe Brigaud was quite an autocrat in Madame
Denis's establishment, his desire was religiously respected, and from
that day the affair was as completely forgotten in the Rue du
Temps-Perdu as if it had never existed. Some days afterward Pompadour,
Valef, Laval, and Malezieux went out of prison in their turn, and began
again to pay their court to Madame de Maine, as if nothing had happened.
As to the Cardinal de Polignac, he was not even arrested; he was simply
exiled to his Abbey d'Anchin.

These proofs of clemency appeared to Dubois so out of all reason that he
came to the regent, intending to make a scene about it, but the regent
only replied by repeating the burden of the song which Saint-Simon had
made on him:

"For I am Philippe le Debonnaire,
Philippe le Debonnaire."

This enraged Dubois so much that the regent, in order to pacify him, was
obliged to transform him into his Eminence the Cardinal.

END OF "THE CONSPIRATORS."

[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the
original edition have been corrected.

On page 242, an extra quotation mark after "would deceive." was deleted.

On page 243, an extraneous period following "which his fathers had left
him" was deleted.

On page 250, "The Chevalier d'Harmentel saw" was changed to "The
Chevalier d'Harmental saw".

On page 260, "D'Harmental only knew the Marquis de Pompador" has been
changed to "D'Harmental only knew the Marquis de Pompadour".

On page 266, "soupe au fromage and macroni" was changed to "soupe au
fromage and macaroni".

On page 286, "you come, young and inexperiened" was changed to "you
come, young and inexperienced".

On page 293, a comma following "he s