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When September arrived, the tall Cointet took David aside, and, learning that the latter meditated a crowning experiment, dissuaded him from further attempts. "Go to Marsac, my dear David, see your wife, and take a rest after your labors; we don't want to ruin ourselves," said Cointet in the friendliest way. "This great triumph of yours, after all, is only a starting-point.
Oh! and I had forgotten one thing, he continued, returning when he had already reached the door. 'My orders are to see that you do not hold converse with anyone until you have seen the king, M. de Marsac. You will kindly remember this if we are kept waiting in the antechamber. 'Am I to be transported to other custody? I asked, my mind full of apprehension. He shrugged his shoulders.
'The Marquis would not trust it to writing, sir, he continued, drawing me aside into a corner where we were conveniently retired, 'but he made me learn it by heart. "Tell M. de Marsac," said he, "that that which he was left in Blois to do must be done quickly, or not at all. There is something afoot in the other camp, I am not sure what. But now is the time to knock in the nail.
Early next morning, as Lucien sat at breakfast with David, who had come back alone from Marsac, in came Mme. Chardon with a scared face. "Well, Lucien," she said, "have you heard the news? Everyone is talking of it, even the people in the market. M. de Bargeton all but killed M. de Chandour this morning in M. Tulloy's meadow; people are making puns on the name. "It is a lie!
The less the claim to the money, the more eager he grew to pouch it. Not seldom his anxieties sent him hurrying from Marsac to Angouleme; he would climb up the rocky staircases into the old city and walk into his son's workshop to see how business went.
'M. de Marsac is waiting to see His Majesty? he asked aloud, speaking to M. la Varenne. My companion remaining silent, I bowed. 'In five minutes, M. de Rosny replied quietly, yet with a distant air, which made me doubt whether I had not dreamed all I remembered of this man. 'Ah! M. de Paul, what can I do for you? he continued.
'I do not think my name of much import at present, Mademoiselle, I answered, reluctant to proclaim myself a stranger. 'When 'Your name, your name, sir! she repeated imperiously, and I heard her little heel rap upon the stone floor of the balcony. 'Gaston de Marsac, I answered unwillingly. They both started, and cried out together.
'It came into the King of Navarre's hands before its full value was known to us, for that only accrued to it on M. de Guise's death. A month ago it this piece of evidence I mean was at Chize. A fortnight or so ago it was here in Blois. It is now, 'M. de Marsac, he continued, facing me suddenly as he came opposite me, 'in my house at Rosny. I started. 'You mean Mademoiselle de la Vire? I cried.
She would not go out on the river nor join the girls in swimming matches nor take part in dances. Sometimes with Pani she spent mornings in the minister's study, and read aloud or listened to him while his wife sat sewing. "You are not easily tempted," said the good wife one day. "It is no secret that this young trader, M. Marsac, is wild for love of you."
But of all their children only one remained, and now the elder De Marsac had a lucrative post at Michilimackinac, while his son went to and fro on business. Outside of the post in the country sections the mixed marriages were quite common, and the French made very good husbands. "Mam'selle Jeanne," he said with a low bow, "I admire your courage and taste.
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