AN INFORMER
On the occasion of this, our second meeting with Pierre des Avenelles,
he was all timidity, and had lost his courage.
After bowing to the floor before Démocharès and De Braguelonne, he
began in a faltering voice,--
"I am, I presume, in the presence of Monsieur le Lieutenant de Police?"
"And of Monsieur le Grand Inquisiteur de la Foi," added De Braguelonne,
waving his hand toward De Mouchy.
"Oh, Holy Virgin!" cried poor Des Avenelles, turning still paler if that
were possible. "Messeigneurs, you see, being a very great
culprit,--alas! one who has been too guilty,--may I hope for mercy? I
know not. Can my sincere wish to atone for my sins help me to lighten
their punishment? It is for your clemency to reply."
Monsieur de Braguelonne saw at once with what manner of man he had to
do.
"To confess is not sufficient," he said harshly; "there must be
reparation as well."
"Oh, there shall be, Monseigneur, if I can accomplish it!" returned Des
Avenelles.
"Very well; but in order to accomplish it," continued the lieutenant,
"you must have it in your power to be of some service to us, or to give
us some valuable information."
"I will try to do so," said the advocate, almost choked with terror.
"It will be very difficult," retorted De Braguelonne, carelessly, "for
we already know all there is to know."
"What! you know--"
"Everything, I tell you; and in this pass to which you have brought
yourself your tardy repentance will hardly avail to save your head, I
promise you."
"My head! Oh, Heaven! My head in danger? Yet I have come--"
"Too late," said the inflexible De Braguelonne. "You cannot now be of
any use to us, and we know in advance everything that you can tell us."
"Perhaps not," said Des Avenelles. "Excuse my question, but what do you
know?"
"In the first place, that you are one of these damned heretics,"
interposed Démocharès, in a voice of thunder.
"Alas, alas! that is only too true!" replied Des Avenelles. "Yes, I am
of the Religion,--why, I'm sure I have no idea; but I will abjure it,
Monseigneur, if you will only spare my life. The meeting-house is
surrounded by too many perils, and I will go back to Mass."
"That is not all," said Démocharès; "you are in the habit of
entertaining Huguenots at your house."
"No one has ever been able to find one in any of their visitations,"
returned the advocate, eagerly.
"Very true," said Monsieur de Braguelonne; "for you probably have some
secret exit from your house,--some hidden passage, some as yet unknown
means of communication with the outer world. But one of these days we
will not leave one stone of your house standing on another, and it will
be forced to yield us its secret."
"I will give it up to you myself," said the advocate; "for I admit,
Monseigneur, that I have at times furnished board and lodging to those
of the Religion. They pay well; and my profession is so unremunerative!
One must live! But it shall never happen again; and if my abjuration is
accepted, no Huguenot will ever dare to knock at my door again."
"You have also spoken frequently at the Protestant meetings," continued
Démocharès.
"I am an advocate," whined Des Avenelles. "Besides, I have always spoken
in favor of moderate measures. You ought to know that, since you know
everything."
Summoning courage to raise his eyes to these two forbidding personages,
Des Avenelles went on,--
"But, asking your pardon, it seems to me that you do not know
everything; for you speak only about me, and have nothing to say about
the affairs of the party in general, which are in truth of vast moment.
Therefore I am glad to see that there are many things of which you still
know nothing."
"That is just where you are mistaken," retorted the lieutenant; "and we
will prove it to you."
Démocharès motioned him to be careful.
"I understand you, Monsieur le Grand Inquisiteur," said he; "but there
can be no imprudence in showing our hand to Monsieur, for Monsieur will
not leave this place for a long time to come."
"What! not leave here for a long time?" cried Pierre des Avenelles, in
affright.
"No, certainly not," coolly remarked Monsieur de Braguelonne. "Do you
imagine, pray, that under color of coming here to make revelations, you
will be allowed at your ease to observe our position, and assure
yourself as to the extent of our information, and then go and report
everything to your accomplices? That won't do, my dear Monsieur; and you
are our prisoner from this moment."
"Prisoner!" Des Avenelles repeated the word as if overwhelmed at the
thought; but upon reflection he adopted a different tone. Our man, we
remember, had the courage of cowardice in the highest degree.
"Oh, well,--in fact, I much prefer it so!" he cried. "I am much safer
here with you than I should be at home, in the midst of all their
plot-hatching. And since you have determined to keep me here, Monsieur
le Lieutenant, you will have no scruples now about consenting to reply
to some of my respectful questions. In my humble opinion, you are not so
thoroughly well informed as you believe, and I think I may find some way
of proving my good faith and my loyalty by some valuable revelation."
"Hum! I much doubt it," replied Monsieur de Braguelonne.
"In the first place, what do you know about the latest meetings of the
Huguenots, Monseigneur?" asked the advocate.
"Do you mean the one held at Nantes?" said the lieutenant.
"Ah! do you know that? Very well! Yes, the one held at Nantes. What took
place there?"
"Do you refer to the conspiracy that was formed there?" rejoined
Monsieur de Braguelonne, slyly.
"Alas, yes! I see that I can tell you nothing of consequence on that
subject," replied Des Avenelles. "That conspiracy--"
"Has for its object to carry off the king from Blois, substitute the
princes for Messieurs de Guise by force, convoke the States-General,
etc. All this is ancient history, my dear Monsieur des Avenelles, for it
happened way back on the 5th of February."
"And the conspirators who feel so sure of their secret!" exclaimed the
advocate. "They are lost, and myself with them; for doubtless you know
the leaders of the conspiracy?"
"The secret leaders as well as the avowed ones. The former are the
Prince de Condé and the admiral; while the avowed leaders are La
Renaudie, Castelnau, Mazères--But it would take too long to enumerate
them all. See, here is a list of their names, and of the provinces as
well which they are respectively expected to incite to rebellion."
"Great God of mercy! How skilful are the police, and what fools the
conspirators!" cried Des Avenelles. "Is there not, then, the least
little word which I can tell you, which you do not already know? The
Prince de Condé and La Renaudie, for instance,--do you know where they
are?"
"Together in Paris."
"Why, this is frightful! And there is nothing left for me to do but to
commend my soul to God! Yet, stay!--one word more, in pity's name!
Whereabouts in Paris are they?"
Monsieur de Braguelonne did not immediately reply, but with his clear
and piercing glance seemed to be reading Des Avenelles's soul and his
eyes to their lowest depths.
The latter, with labored breath, repeated his question,--"Do you know in
what part of Paris the Prince de Condé and La Renaudie now are,
Monseigneur?"
"We shall have no difficulty in finding them," replied Monsieur de
Braguelonne.
"But you haven't found them yet!" cried Des Avenelles, with delight.
"Ah! God be praised! I may still win my pardon. _I_ know where they are,
Monseigneur."
Démocharès's eye glistened; but the lieutenant of police concealed his
satisfaction.
"Pray, where are they?" he said in the most indifferent tone imaginable.
"At my house, Messieurs, at my house!" said the advocate, proudly.
"I knew it," calmly replied Monsieur de Braguelonne. "What do you
say,--you knew that, too?" ejaculated Des Avenelles, whose cheeks lost
their color again.
"To be sure I did; but I wished to test your good faith. Come, it is all
right, and I am content with you! Your case was a very serious one, to
say the least. To think of having sheltered such great villains!"
"You made yourself quite as guilty as they," said Démocharès,
sententiously.
"Oh, don't say so, Monseigneur!" rejoined Des Avenelles. "I feared I was
incurring great risks, and I have hardly dared to breathe since I have
known the horrible plans of my two guests. But I have known them only
three days,--only three days, I solemnly swear! You should know that I
was not present at the Nantes gathering. When the Prince de Condé and
the Seigneur de la Renaudie arrived at my house in the early part of
this week, I believed myself to be harboring adherents of the Reformed
religion, but not conspirators. I have a holy horror of conspirators and
conspiracies! They said nothing to me on the subject at first; and it is
that for which I am angry with them. Thus to expose to deadly peril,
without his knowledge, a poor fellow who had never done them aught but
good turns,--that was very wrong. But these great personages never do
otherwise."
"What's that?" was Monsieur de Braguelonne's sharp retort,--for he
considered himself a very great man indeed.
"I refer to the great personages of the Reformed religion," the advocate
made haste to explain. "However, they began by keeping everything from
me; but they were whispering together all day long, and writing day and
night; visits they received every minute. I watched and listened; in
short, I guessed at the beginning of the plot, so that they were obliged
to tell me everything,--their meeting at Nantes, their great conspiracy;
in fact, all this that you know, and which they thought so carefully
concealed. But since that revelation I have not been able to sleep or
eat; I have just existed. Every time that anybody came to my house--and
God knows how often people have come there!--I would imagine that they
had come to carry me before the judges. During the night, in my rare
moments of feverish sleep, I dreamed of nothing but courts and scaffolds
and executioners, and I would awake bathed in a cold perspiration, to
begin again my unceasing attempts to foresee and estimate the risk I was
running."
"The risk you were running, did you say?" said Monsieur de Braguelonne.
"Why, prison in the first place--"
"And torture in the second," added Démocharès.
"To be followed probably by hanging," said the lieutenant.
"Or the stake, possibly," continued the grand inquisitor.
"The wheel has been known to be used in such cases," the lieutenant put
in, as a suitably effective end to the list.
"Imprisoned! tortured! hanged! burned alive! broken on the wheel!" Poor
Des Avenelles repeated every word as if he had actually undergone each
of the punishments they enumerated.
"_Dame_! You are an advocate, and should know the law," retorted
Monsieur de Braguelonne.
"Indeed, I know it only too well!" cried Des Avenelles. "Therefore,
after three days of mortal anguish, I could restrain myself no longer: I
felt that such a secret was too heavy a burden for my responsibility,
and I came to deposit it in your hands, Monsieur le Lieutenant de
Police."
"That was the safest course to pursue," replied Monsieur de Braguelonne;
"and although, as you see, your revelation is of no great service to us,
still we will take your good intentions into consideration."
He talked for some moments in a low tone with De Mouchy, who seemed to
be urging him, not without much resistance, to adopt a certain course of
action.
"Before everything, I beg you, for mercy's sake," said Des Avenelles,
imploringly, "not to betray my defection to my former--accomplices; for,
alas! they who murdered President Minard might well do me an ill turn
also."
"We will keep your secret," replied the lieutenant of police.
"But you propose to keep me a prisoner, do you not?" said Des Avenelles,
with a very humbled and frightened air.
"No; you may return freely to your own house at any moment," replied De
Braguelonne.
"Do you mean it?" said the advocate. "Ah! I see you propose to arrest my
guests?"
"Not your guests, either. They will remain as free as yourself."
"How is that?" asked Des Avenelles, in amazement.
"Just listen to me a moment," replied Monsieur de Braguelonne, in an
authoritative tone, "and pay good heed to my words. You will return at
once to your own house, lest a too long absence should arouse suspicion.
You will say not a word more to your guests, either as to your own fears
or their secrets. You will act, and leave them to act, as if you had not
been in this room to-day. Do you understand me? Hinder nothing, and
express surprise at nothing. Let things take their course."
"That is easily done," said Des Avenelles.
"However," added Monsieur de Braguelonne, "if we need any information,
we will either send to you for it or summon you hither, and you will
hold yourself always in readiness to serve us in either way. If a
descent upon your house is judged necessary, you will lend a hand in
making it effective."
"Since I have done so much merely to make a beginning, I will go through
with it," said Des Avenelles, with a sigh.
"Very well. One word in conclusion. If matters progress in a way to
prove that you have obeyed these very simple instructions, you shall
have your pardon; but if we have reason to suspect that you have been in
the least degree indiscreet, you will be the first to be punished, and
will suffer worse than all the others."
"You shall be burned alive, by our Lady!" chimed in Démocharès, in his
deep and gloomy voice.
"However--" began the trembling advocate.
"That is sufficient," said De Braguelonne. "You have heard; see that you
remember. _Au revoir_."
He made an imperious motion with his hand. The too prudent advocate left
the room, relieved and anxious at the same time.
After his departure, for a moment nothing was said by the two others.
"You wished it so, and I yielded," said the lieutenant, finally; "but I
confess that I have serious doubts as to the wisdom of that mode of
procedure."
"No, everything is as well as can be," replied Démocharès. "This
business must be allowed to take its own course, and with that in view,
the important point was not to give the alarm to the conspirators. Let
them think themselves sure of their secret, and go ahead in their false
security. They fancy that they are marching in darkness, while we are
following all their movements in the broad daylight. It is superb! Such
another occasion to strike a deadly blow at the root of the heresy will
not present itself in twenty years. Besides, I know the ideas of his
Eminence the Cardinal de Lorraine upon this matter."
"Better than I do, to be sure," said De Braguelonne. "What are we to do
now?"
"You will remain at Paris," said Démocharès, "and with the assistance
of Lignières and Des Avenelles, keep a strict watch upon the two
leading conspirators. I shall set out in an hour for Blois, to warn
Messieurs de Guise. The cardinal will be somewhat alarmed at first, but
Le Balafré is with him to encourage him; and when he comes to think it
over, he will be in an ecstasy of delight. It is for those two to
assemble in a fortnight around the king, without disturbance, all the
forces they have available. Meanwhile, our Huguenots will have nothing
to startle them; they will fall in a body, or one by one, into the trap
we have laid, the blind fools, and they will be at our mercy. We shall
have them, and then,--'General slaughter!'"
The grand inquisitor stalked up and down the room rubbing his hands for
joy.
"May God grant," said Monsieur de Braguelonne, "that no unforeseen event
shall reduce this splendid scheme to nought!"
"Impossible!" Démocharès made haste to say. "General slaughter! We
have them on the hip! Call Lignières back, if you will, so that he may
finish with the information he has for us, which I am to report to the
Cardinal de Lorraine. But I look upon the heresy as already extinct.
General slaughter!"