'You
and those others! Have a care, I say, or you may find yourselves
mistaken yet.'
'As Heaven shall judge me,' I answered solemnly, 'that is not
true. Until I reached Paris last night I knew nothing of this
report. I came here with a single mind, to redeem my honour by
placing again in your Eminence's hands that which you gave me on
trust, and here I do place it.'
For a moment he remained in the same attitude, staring at me
fixedly. Then his face relaxed somewhat.
'Be good enough to ring that bell,' he said.
It stood on a table near me. I rang it, and a velvet-footed man
in black came in, and gliding up to the Cardinal, placed a paper
in his hand. The Cardinal looked at it; while the man stood with
his head obsequiously bent, and my heart beat furiously.
'Very good,' his Eminence said, after a pause which seemed to me
to be endless, 'Let the doors be thrown open.'
The man bowed low, and retired behind the screen. I heard a
little bell ring somewhere in the silence, and in a moment the
Cardinal stood up.
'Follow me!' he said, with a strange flash of his keen eyes.
Pages:
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314