have given ourselves to you; command, we shall obey.”
“Very well, then,” said Mazarin; “enter this cabinet and
wait till I come back.”
And turning off he entered the drawing-room by another door.
48
The Riot becomes a Revolution.
The closet into which D’Artagnan and Porthos had been
ushered was separated from the drawing-room where the queen
Page 325
Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
was by tapestried curtains only, and this thin partition
enabled them to hear all that passed in the adjoining room,
whilst the aperture between the two hangings, small as it
was, permitted them to see.
The queen was standing in the room, pale with anger; her
self-control, however, was so great that it might have been
imagined that she was calm. Comminges, Villequier and
Guitant were behind her and the women again were behind the
men. The Chancellor Sequier, who twenty years previously had
persecuted her so ruthlessly, stood before her, relating how
his carriage had been smashed, how he had been pursued and
had rushed into the Hotel d’O —- , that the hotel was
immediately invaded, pillaged and devastated; happily he had
time to reach a closet hidden behind tapestry, in which he
was secreted by an old woman, together with his brother, the
Bishop of Meaux. Then the danger was so imminent, the
rioters came so near, uttering such threats, that the
chancellor thought his last hour had come and confessed
himself to his brother priest, so as to be all ready to die
in case he was discovered. Fortunately, however, he had not
been taken; the people, believing that he had escaped by
some back entrance, retired and left him at liberty to
retreat. Then, disguised in he clothes of the Marquis d’O
—- , he had left the hotel, stumbling over the bodies of
an officer and two guards who had been killed whilst
defending the street door.
During the recital Mazarin entered and glided noiselessly up
to the queen to listen.
“Well,” said the queen, when the chancellor had finished
speaking; “what do you think of it all?”
“I think that matters look very gloomy, madame.”
“But what step would you propose to me?”
“I could propose one to your majesty, but I dare not.”
“You may, you may, sir,” said the queen with a bitter smile;
“you were not so timid once.”
The chancellor reddened and stammered some words.
“It is not a question of the past, but of the present,” said
the queen; “you said you could give me advice — what is
it?”
“Madame,” said the chancellor, hesitating, “it would be to
release Broussel.”
The queen, although already pale, became visibly paler and
her face was contracted.
“Release Broussel!” she cried, “never!”
At this moment steps were heard in the ante-room and without
any announcement the Marechal de la Meilleraie appeared at
the door.
“Ah, there you are, marechal,” cried Anne of Austria
joyfully. “I trust you have brought this rabble to reason.”
Page 326
Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After
“Madame,” replied the marechal, “I have left three men on
the Pont Neuf, four at the Halle, six at the corner of the
Rue de l’Arbre-Sec and two at the door of your palace —
fifteen in all. I have brought away ten or twelve wounded. I
know not where I have left my hat, and in all probability I
should have been left with my hat, had the coadjutor not
arrived in time to rescue me.”
“Ah, indeed,” said the queen, “it would have much astonished
me if that low cur, with his distorted legs, had not been
mixed up with all this.”
“Madame,” said La Meilleraie, “do not say too much against
him before me, for the service he rendered me is still
fresh.”
“Very good,” said the queen, “be as grateful as you like, it
does not implicate me; you are here safe and sound, that is
all I wished for; you are not only welcome, but welcome
back.”
“Yes, madame; but I only came back on one condition — that
I would transmit to your majesty the will of the people.”
“The will!” exclaimed the queen, frowning. “Oh! oh! monsieur
marechal, you must indeed have found yourself in wondrous