d was up and swords drawn, when no one, as De Pean remarked,
would be able to find an i undotted or a t uncrossed in a fair record of
the transaction, which would impose upon the most critical judge as an
honorable and justifiable act of self-defence.

This was Cadet's real intent, and perhaps Bigot's, but the Intendant's
thoughts lay at unfathomable depths, and were not to be discovered by
any traces upon the surface. No divining-rod could tell where the secret
spring lay hid which ran under Bigot's motives.

Not so De Pean. He meditated treachery, and it were hard to say whether
it was unnoted by the penetrating eye of Bigot. The Intendant, however,
did not interfere farther, either by word or sign, but left De Pean
to accomplish in his own way the bloody object they all had in view,
namely, the death of the Bourgeois and the break-up of the Honnetes
Gens. De Pean, while resolving to make Le Gardeur the tool of his
wickedness, did not dare to take him into his confidence. He had to
be kept in absolute ignorance of the part he was to play in the bloody
tragedy until the moment of its denouement arrived. Meantime he must be
plied with drink, maddened with jealousy, made desperate with losses,
and at war with himself and all the world, and then the whole fury
of his rage should, by the artful contrivance of De Pean, be
turned, without a minute's time for reflection, upon the head of the
unsuspecting Bourgeois.

To accomplish this successfully, a woman's aid was required, at once to
blind Le Gardeur and to sharpen his sword.

In the interests of the Company Angelique des Meloises was at all times
a violent partisan. The Golden Dog and all its belongings were objects
of her open aversion. But De Pean feared to impart to her his intention
to push Le Gardeur blindly into the affair. She might fear for the life
of one she loved. De Pean reflected angrily on this, but he determined
she should be on the spot. The sight of her and a word from her, which
De Pean would prompt at the critical moment, should decide Le Gardeur to
attack the Bourgeois and kill him; and then, what would follow? De
Pean rubbed his hands with ecstasy at the thought that Le Gardeur would
inevitably bite the dust under the avenging hand of Pierre Philibert,
and Angelique would be his beyond all fear of rivals.

CHAPTER XLVI. THE BOURGEOIS PHILIBERT.

The Bourgeois Philibert, after an arduous day's work, was enjoying in
his armchair a quiet sies