But for your liberty
that is another matter.'
I would have said something, pleaded something; but he turned
abruptly to the table, and sitting down wrote a few lines on a
piece of paper. Then he rang his bell, while I stood waiting and
confounded.
The man in black came from behind the screen.
'Take this letter and that gentleman to the upper guard-room,'
the Cardinal said sharply. 'I can hear no more,' he continued,
frowning and raising his hand to forbid interruption. 'The
matter is ended, M. de Berault. Be thankful.'
In a moment I was outside the door, my head in a whirl, my heart
divided between gratitude and resentment. I would fain have
stood to consider my position; but I had no time. Obeying a
gesture, I followed my guide along several passages, and
everywhere found the same silence, the same monastic stillness.
At length, while I was dolefully considering whether the Bastille
or the Chatelet would be my fate, he stopped at a door, thrust
the letter into my hands, and lifting the latch, signed to me to
enter.
I went in in amazement, and stopped in confusion.
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