"I have no knowledge of that," I said coldly.
"No, or I am sure that you would not harbour the fellow," the secretary
answered. "Now that you do know it, however, I take it for granted
that you will dismiss him? If you held any but the great place you do
hold, M. de Rosny, it would be different; but all the world see who
follow you, and this man's presence stains you, and is an offence to my
master."
"Softly, softly, M. d'Evora," I said, with a little warmth. "You go
too fast. Let me tell you first, that, for my honour, I take care of
it myself; and, secondly, for your master, I do not allow even my own
to meddle with my household."
"But, my lord," he said pompously, "the King of Spain--"
"Is the King of Spain," I answered, cutting him short without much
ceremony. "But in the Arsenal of Paris, which, for the present, is my
house, I am king. And I brook no usurpers, M. d'Evora."
He assented to that with a constrained smile.
"Then I can say no more," he answered. "I have warned you that the man
is a rogue. If you will still entertain him, I wash my hands of it.
But I fear the consequences, M. de Rosny, and, frankly, it lessens my
opinion of your sagacity."
Thereat I bowed in my turn, and after the exchange of some civilities
he took his leave. Considering his application after he was gone, I
confess that I found nothing surprising in it; and had it come from a
man whom I held in greater respect I might have complied with it in an
indirect fashion. But though it might have led me under some
circumstances to discard Diego, naturally, since it confirmed his story
in some points, and proved besides that he was not a persona grata at
the Spanish Embassy, it did not lead me to value him less. And as
within the week he was so fortunate as to defeat La Varenne's champion
in a great match at the Louvre, and won also a match, at M. de
Montpensier's which put fifty crowns into my pocket, I thought less and
less of d'Evora's remonstrance; until the king's return put it quite
out of my head. The entanglement with Mademoiselle d'Entragues, which
was destined to be the most fatal of all Henry's attachments, was then
in the forming; and the king plunged into every kind of amusement with
fresh zest. The very day after his return he matched his marker, a
rogue, but an excellent player, against my man; and laid me twenty
crowns on the event, the match to be played on the following Saturday
after a dinner which M. de Lude was giving in honour of the lady.
On the Thursday, however, who should come in to me, while I was sitting
alone after supper, but Maignan: who, closing the door and dismissing
the page who waited there, told me with a very long face and an air of
vast importance that he had discovered something.
"Something?" I said, being inclined at the moment to be merry. "What?
A plot to reduce your perquisites, you rascal?"
"No, my lord," he answered stoutly. "But to tap your excellency's
secrets."
"Indeed," I said pleasantly, not believing a word of it. "And who is
to hang?"
"The Spaniard," he answered in a low voice.
That sobered me, by putting the matter in a new light; and I sat a
moment looking at him and reviewing Diego's story, which assumed on the
instant an aspect so uncommon and almost incredible that I wondered how
I had ever allowed it to pass. But when I proceeded from this to the
substance of Maignan's charge I found an IMPASSE in this direction
also, and I smiled. "So it is Diego, is it?" I said. "You think that
he is a spy?"
Maignan nodded.
"Then, tell me," I asked, "what opportunity has he of learning more
than all the world knows? He has not been in my apartments since I
engaged him. He has seen none of my papers. The youngest footboy
could tell all he has learned."
"True, my lord," Maignan answered slowly; "but--"
"Well?"
"I saw him this evening, talking with a Priest in the Rue Petits Pois;
and he calls himself a Protestant."
"Ah! You are sure that the man was a priest?"
"I know him."
"For whom?"
"One of the chaplains at the Spanish Embassy."
It was natural that after this I should take a more serious view of the
matter; and I did so. But my former difficulty still remained, for,
assuming this to be a cunning plot, and d'Evora's application to me a
ruse to throw me off my guard, I could not see where their advantage
lay; since the Spaniard's occupation was not of a nature to give him
the entry to my confidence or the chance of ransacking my papers. I
questioned Maignan further, therefore, but without result. He had seen
the two together in a secret kind of way, viewing them himself from the
window of a house where he had an assignation. He had not been near
enough to hear what they said, but he was sure that no quarrel took
place between them, and equally certain that it was no chance meeting
that brought them together.
Infected by his assurance, I could still see no issue; and no object in
such an intrigue. And in the end I contented myself with bidding him
watch the Spaniard closely, and report to me the following evening;
adding that he might confide the matter to La Trape, who was a supple
fellow, and of the two the easier companion.
Accordingly, next evening Maignan again appeared, this time with a face
even longer; so that at first I supposed him to have discovered a plot
worse than Chastel's; but it turned out that he had discovered nothing.
The Spaniard had spent the morning in lounging and the afternoon in
practice at the Louvre, and from first to last had conducted himself in
the most innocent manner possible. On this I rallied Maignan on his
mare's nest, and was inclined to dismiss the matter as such; still,
before doing so, I thought I would see La Trape, and dismissing Maignan
I sent for him.