"The hopeless Conspiracy," as it came to be called later, was, from
the moment that De Beaurepaire, the Marquise de Villiers-Bordéville
and Van den Enden were arrested, one that caused more sensation in
France than any other event of the period. Not even that of the
Marquise de Brinvilliers for poisoning her own father and brothers at
the instigation of her lover, nor that of "La" Voisin for the sale of
poisons--for the purchase of which the Duchesse de Vivonne and Madame
de Montespan were themselves denounced, while Olympe Mancini fled the
country--were more talked of than this affair.
In this conspiracy stood, as its head and front, the handsomest
representative of a house that, since the suppression of the family of
De Guise, was the first in the kingdom; while others whose names were
the most notable of the time were strongly suspected of being
implicated in the plot. Among those names was that of the Duc de
Bourbon-Condé, grandson of the Prince de Condé--a man of whom it was
said that he was "an unnatural son, a cruel father, a terrible
husband, a detestable master, an evil neighbour, a man without
friendship or a friend, and equally fit to be his own executioner and
that of others." Another, on whom suspicion rested deeply, was the
brother of the Duc de Guiche; another the Cardinal de Retz. Of these
latter none were ever brought to trial, while the name of Condé's
grandson was, by order of the King himself, omitted from the
interrogatories and trial. For the Condés were of the House of
Bourbon, and the great head of that house could not see one of his own
blood, however evil, receive the ordinary treatment meted out to
suspected men.
In the Bastille, therefore, Louis de Beaurepaire, Emérance and Van den
Enden, all in separate rooms or _cachots_, awaited the day when they
should be put on their trial, the former inhabiting one of the
principal rooms in the Tour de la Bertaudière, the woman another off
the Chapel, and the Jew a dungeon in the basement. Day after day they
were submitted to interrogatories, sometimes by La Reynie himself,
sometimes by Bezous, _Conseiller au Parliament_, and sometimes by De
Pomereu, _Conseiller d'État_, yet, though not one of them had ever the
least opportunity of communicating with the other, or of knowing what
either of the others had admitted or denied, from none was any
admission obtained. De Beaurepaire asserted that he knew naught of the
conspiracy, while advancing what was an undoubtedly strong, as well as
a true, point in his favour, namely, that his family was not Norman
and that, absolutely, he had never been in Normandy. Emérance stated
that she was of Norman origin but that her social standing was of too
humble a nature for her to be admitted into any such conspiracy as the
one in question, even had she desired to be so admitted; while Van den
Enden said that his various visits to Holland and other places were
connected with the many commercial affairs in which he was concerned.
While these interrogatories were taking place, however, De Beaurepaire
learned that one person who, perhaps above all, had had it in his
power to testify against him and to include him in his own ruin should
he desire to do, was harmless now.
As, escorted by the Lieutenant du Roi, second in command of the
Bastille, and by four soldiers, he passed to the _Salle de
Justice_--where the Judges would occasionally, when they had nothing
else to occupy their time, attend with the view of inspecting the
accounts of the prison, the list of the prisoners who were still alive
or who had died since their last visit, and, also occasionally, to
discover if any person had happened to be detained there under a false
charge, or through a mistake, for some years--he observed De Brissac
seated in the Armoury, out of which the _Salle de Justice_ opened. He
observed also something else, namely, that the Commander of the Garde
du Corps was engaged in conversation with a man, well but plainly
dressed, who was standing before him; one whose heavily plumed hat
drawn down over his face partially disguised, but only partially, the
features of Boisfleury.
"So," De Beaurepaire thought to himself as he passed on, "De Brissac
has laid his hands on that rat. Well! what can he tell? He, who was
subaltern even to La Preaux! Nothing, except that La Preaux attempted
to slay, and thought he slew, Humphrey West."
His progress was, however, stopped by De Brissac, who, rising suddenly
from his chair, advanced towards the Lieutenant du Roi and, while
requesting him to halt the escort for a moment, stated that he wished
to address a few words to his prisoners.
"Monsieur le Commandeur," the Lieutenant du Roi replied, "it is
against all orders that any one should hold converse with the Prince
de Beaurepaire, even though it be Monsieur de Brissac, who can
scarcely be suspected of----"
"Bah! Bah!" De Brissac replied in a low voice, so that the man in
question could not hear his words, "what should I have to say to him
that can do harm, since on me has fallen the task of arresting all
these conspirators. Is De Brissac to be regarded now as one of the
joyous troop! Yet, let us remember that he and you and I have all been
soldiers together, and--_Bon-Dieu!_--good ones too; let us be as kind
to him as we may. Remember, too, that he is not tried yet, therefore
he is not yet pronounced guilty."
"If--if," replied the Lieutenant, "it is no communication from any of
the other prisoners; no message from----"
"_Peste!_ I have a message from, or rather an account of--since he of
whom I speak can send no messages now--one who is dead. The birds you
have got fast in this cage are all alive--for the present."
"Is it about----?"
"It is." After which De Brissac advanced towards De Beaurepaire while
the Lieutenant du Roi gave an order to the soldiers to stand apart
from their charge during the time he conferred with the Colonel of the
Garde du Corps, and commenced to pace up and down the floor of the
Armoury himself.
"What is it, De Brissac?" De Beaurepaire said now, on observing that
the others had all withdrawn out of earshot. "What? Have you come to
tell me that you have at last found more _suspects_ for this charge? I
hear--for, even in this hideous place, whispers filter through the
very walls and reach us--that you and your master, De Louvois, seek to
ensnare half the noblesse of France within the net you throw
broadcast."
"Nay," De Brissac said, understanding yet not resenting the bitterness
of the other, since he recognised how justifiable such bitterness was,
if--as many people thought and openly said--De Beaurepaire's name had
been freely used by the Norman conspirators without his knowledge;
"nay. Instead, on seeing you here I have come to inform you of
that which may bring some calm to your spirit. That fellow over
there--Boisfleury--can tell the whole story of how the young
Englishman was first of all nearly done to death by the vagabond, La
Preaux, while, to make the certainty of death more great, he was
afterwards cast into the Rhine by him."
"What! Why! La Truaumont----" but he paused. If he repeated to De
Brissac what La Truaumont had told him, then, at once, he divulged
that he and the latter had been in communication with each other.
Added to which he knew also, perhaps by those very whispers which, a
moment before, he had said even filtered through the walls of the
Bastille, that La Truaumont had been in some strange way denounced to
De Louvois and La Reynie as one of the principal leaders of the
conspiracy, and he understood that it was madness to appear to be in
possession of any information furnished by him. Nevertheless, he had
mentioned La Truaumont's name ere he could collect himself and De
Brissac had heard him do so.
"La Truaumont!" the other exclaimed, while the strange look that was
so apparent at times came into his face. "La Truaumont!" Then, as
though desirous of helping De Beaurepaire out of a snare into which he
had inadvertently fallen, he said, "Ah! yes. It is so. He was in your
service. Did he not ride to Nancy for you?"
"To Basle in the escort of the Duchesse de Castellucchio. Afterwards
he was to go forward with her to Geneva on the road to Milan. Has
he--have they?" he asked, continuing his attempt to throw dust in De
Brissac's eyes, or, perhaps, with the wish to prevent it appearing
that he and La Truaumont had met in Paris recently, "have they arrived
in Italy?"
"Madame La Duchesse may have done so," De Brissac replied, while the
inscrutable look in his face became even more pronounced than before.
"As for La Truaumont, he arrived at Rouen the night after you were
arrested by me."
"Is he arrested, too?"
"I attempted to arrest him since it was to me that the order to do so
was sent."
"You attempted to do so! And failed!"
"Listen. When I, as chief of the King's special Garde du Corps, was
ordered to arrest one who had desired to do for Louis that which no
Garde du Corps could prevent if the opportunity should arise, I, with
four of my men, rode post-haste to Rouen. At six o'clock in the
morning--it was the day after you fell into my hands--walked into
them!--at Versailles, I was in La Truaumont's lodgings and found him
in bed. Awaking him, I told him that I had an order to arrest him,
upon which he exclaimed, 'So be it. I am here. Arrest me,' while, as
he spoke, he produced two pistols from a cabinet at the head of his
bed. 'If you can do so,' he added, pointing the weapon at me. 'Then
you are guilty,' I cried, drawing my sword. 'Guilty!' he exclaimed.
'Be sure I am. _Oui, mort Dieu_, guilty. I alone.'"
"Ah!" De Beaurepaire exclaimed.
"Yes. He said it," De Brissac answered. "He _said_ it. I can testify
to that."
After which the colonel continued, "He called out so loudly as he
spoke and as he leapt from his bed, pistols in hand, that three of my
men--the fourth kept the door below--rushed into the room and a
struggle to the death ensued. La Truaumont discharged both his pistols
at me, killing, instead, however, one of my guards in doing so, and
was himself shot an instant afterwards by the man's comrades."
"Dead!" De Beaurepaire murmured. "Dead! La Truaumont dead. Ah! we had
been friends, comrades, for years. La Truaumont dead."
"He died eighteen hours later. Before he did so he called for paper
and ink and wrote that what he had said when I entered the room was
mere braggadocio. That he was not guilty but would have been if he
could have obtained assistance. He said also that, had the King let
him serve him, His Majesty would have had no more faithful subject.
They were the last words he spoke ere receiving the sacrament."
"And the only ones?" De Beaurepaire asked.
"The only ones."
The prisoner drew a long breath as De Brissac answered thus, after
which he said: "I told you but now that strange things reach our ears
in this place. That, from the outer world, comes news----"
"I know, I know," the other interrupted. "Like most who have lived in
France, in Paris, I have been here myself. Mazarin sent me here when I
was a boy, a _Porte Drapeau_, because I caned one of his bodyguard who
was insolent to me!" After saying which De Brissac continued, "What
other news has reached your ears?"
"That you have arrested all of us who are now in this fortress on this
charge. All who are here on the same charge as I?"
"Yes, it is true. As Colonel of the Garde du Corps, it falls to my lot
to seize upon all who aim at the King's body, at his life."
"Am I charged with that?"
"It may be. I do not know. Yet--since I arrested you----"
"I understand. De Louvois and La Reynie cut deep. Like skilful
surgeons they stop not at the surface. And--and--therefore--you
arrested--her?"
"It is so."
"What did she say?"
"Knowing that I had previously arrested you, she thanked me for also
making her a prisoner."
"Thanked you! Heavens!" De Beaurepaire whispered to himself, "it was a
heart to win. How many of those others would have thanked De Brissac
for that! Rather would they have told all, have witnessed against me
and invented all they did not know, so that, thereby, they might set
themselves free." And again he exclaimed aloud, "she thanked you!"
"Ay, it is so. While adding, as she spoke and smiled on me, that,
since she could not be at large and free to share your liberty, her
next greatest joy was to be beneath the same prison roof with you."
De Beaurepaire turned away as the other told him this; turned
away because, perhaps, he knew that the tears had come into
his eyes and he would not have De Brissac see them there. Yet the
latter--from whom the prisoner would have hidden those tears and, it
may be, all other signs of emotion which he knew well enough were on
his face--comprehended that they were there as easily as he
comprehended all that now racked and tore at the heart of the once
strong and masterful man before him. Wherefore, to ease that racked
heart, De Brissac added:--
"I likewise arrested the bully who calls himself Fleur de Mai, and the
Jew atheist, Van den Enden. And they too are firm, very firm. Listen,
De Beaurepaire, and, as you do so, deem me no traitor since I am none
such, but only one who has fought by your side and, later, taken the
word of command from you. Listen, I say. De Louvois, La Reynie, will
have to seek further than the walls of this prison to obtain the
conviction of any of you. If you and those who are here can be as
solidly, ay! and as stolidly, silent as you all are now, if you can
hold your peace and acknowledge nothing and deny nothing, they will
have trouble in bringing proof against you. H'st! the Lieutenant
comes. My friendship, my old comradeship with you has forced me to say
this. Think no evil of me for saying so much."
"God bless you," whispered De Beaurepaire huskily, while wondering as
he did so how long it was since such words had fallen from his lips,
and wondering, too, of how much or little good the prayer could be
productive. Nevertheless, he knew that they had been wrung from his
heart by De Brissac's friendly care for his safety, and recognised
that, evil as his life had been, he had at that moment no power of
repressing those words.
"It is the hour when the Commission will sit," the Lieutenant du Roi
said to De Brissac, "the Prince de Beaurepaire must tarry no longer.
_En avant!_" he cried now to the soldiers who had once more surrounded
the prisoner as their leader came forward, "_en avant!_"
"Farewell!" De Beaurepaire said to De Brissac as he set out again.
"Farewell!"
"Nay," De Brissac replied, "not farewell, instead _au revoir!_"