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Lagardere dismissed them. "Then, farewell, old friends, till to-night." When Lagardere was left alone he placed himself at the table where Gonzague had been sitting so short a time before, and, taking pen and paper, wrote rapidly a short letter. When he had folded and sealed this, he rose, and, crossing the room, went to the door which opened on the antechamber to the princess's apartments.
Involuntarily Lagardere echoed the last words, "I am here," and added, "The motto of Nevers." There was annoyance in the well-bred voice as it questioned, sharply: "What do you know of Nevers?" Peyrolles respectfully answered for the sham Saldagno: "Monseigneur, they all know whom they are to meet. How they know I cannot tell, but they do know. But they are to be trusted."
"You are my husband's servant," she said. "Are you much in his confidence?" "Madame," Lagardere replied, "I am too new to Paris to consider myself in any sense the confidential servant of his highness, but I can assure you that I hope to serve him as he deserves to be served." The princess seemed thoughtful, then she asked again: "Did you ever hear of a man named Henri de Lagardere?"
It had its risks, but what did that matter in an enterprise that was all risk; and if it succeeded, as, thanks to its very daring, it might succeed, it promised a magnificent reward. That it involved the despoiling of a dead body in no way harassed Lagardere.
Behind these the women huddled together, some screaming, but the most part too frightened to scream. Flora, overstrained, had fainted. Lagardere taunted Gonzague. "Come, monseigneur," he said, "are you afraid? The odds are not so favorable as they were at Caylus." With a writhing face Gonzague screamed to his friends: "Charge!" And Lagardere answered with a ringing cry: "I am here!"
"Let no one speak to her," Lagardere continued. "Devil a word," said Cocardasse. As the hunchback seemed to have no further instructions for them, the pair made to depart, but Lagardere restrained them, saying: "Ah, wait a moment. We are all the toys of fate. If any unlucky chance should arise, come to me in the presence of the king and fling down your glove." "I understand," said Cocardasse.
Gonzague tried to speak, and failed; tried to speak again, and succeeded: "Your highness, I again declare that I gave the true Gabrielle de Nevers to her mother. I have the page torn from the register of the chapel of Caylus in this sealed packet." As he spoke he held out a small sealed packet, which he had drawn from his breast. The king turned to Lagardere. "What do you say to this?"
Nevers, striving to rise, turned his face against his treacherous enemy, and seemed to recognize the shadow in spite of its masked visage. "You!" he gasped "you, for whom I would have given my life!" "Well, I take it," the shadow whispered, grimly, and stabbed him again. Nevers fell in a huddle to the earth, but he raised his dying breath in a cry. "Help, Lagardere! help! Save the child!
Avenge me!" Then he died. Though the assassin stabbed again, he only stabbed a corpse. Lagardere, who was brooming his foes before him as a gardener brooms autumnal leaves from grass, had been arrested in his course by the first cry of the wounded Nevers. While he paused, his antagonists, rallying a little and heartened by their numbers, made ready for a fresh attack.
"It is now two o'clock," he said, and showed the dial to Chavernay, who looked puzzled, but also unconvinced. "No one will come," said Navailles, mockingly. At that moment Chavernay's quick ear caught the sound of footsteps in the private passage outside, and called attention to the sound. "Some one is coming. Is it Lagardere?" As he spoke all eyes were fixed upon the door.
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