CHAPTER XIX
AN INFORMER
On the occasion of this, our second meeting with Pierre des Avenelles, he was all timidity, and had lost his courage.
After bowing to the floor before Démocharès and De Braguelonne, he began in a faltering voice,—
"I am, I presume, in the presence of Monsieur le Lieutenant de Police?"
"And of Monsieur le Grand Inquisiteur de la Foi," added De Braguelonne, waving his hand toward De Mouchy.
"Oh, Holy Virgin!" cried poor Des Avenelles, turning still paler if that were possible. "Messeigneurs, you see, being a very great culprit,—alas! one who has been too guilty,—may I hope for mercy? I know not. Can my sincere wish to atone for my sins help me to lighten their punishment? It is for your clemency to reply."
Monsieur de Braguelonne saw at once with what manner of man he had to do.
"To confess is not sufficient," he said harshly; "there must be reparation as well."
"Oh, there shall be, Monseigneur, if I can accomplish it!" returned Des Avenelles.
"Very well; but in order to accomplish it," continued the lieutenant, "you must have it in your power to be of some service to us, or to give us some valuable information."
"I will try to do so," said the advocate, almost choked with terror.
"It will be very difficult," retorted De Braguelonne, carelessly, "for we already know all there is to know."
"What! you know—"
"Everything, I tell you; and in this pass to which you have brought yourself your tardy repentance will hardly avail to save your head, I promise you."
"My head! Oh, Heaven! My head in danger? Yet I have come—"
"Too late," said the inflexible De Braguelonne. "You cannot now be of any use to us, and we know in advance everything that you can tell us."
"Perhaps not," said Des Avenelles. "Excuse my question, but what do you know?"
"In the first place, that you are one of these damned heretics," interposed Démocharès, in a voice of thunder.
"Alas, alas! that is only too true!" replied Des Avenelles. "Yes, I am of the Religion,—why, I'm sure I have no idea; but I will abjure it, Monseigneur, if you will only spare my life. The meeting-house is surrounded by too many perils, and I will go back to Mass."
"That is not all," said Démocharès; "you are in the habit of entertaining Huguenots at your house."
"No one has ever been able to find one in any of their visitations," returned the advocate, eagerly.
"Very true," said Monsieur de Braguelonne; "for you probably have some secret exit from your house,—some hidden passage, some as yet unknown means of communication with the outer world. But one of these days we will not leave one stone of your house standing on another, and it will be forced to yield us its secret."
"I will give it up to you myself," said the advocate; "for I admit, Monseigneur, that I have at times furnished board and lodging to those of the Religion. They pay well; and my profession is so unremunerative! One must live! But it shall never happen again; and if my abjuration is accepted, no Huguenot will ever dare to knock at my door again."
"You have also spoken frequently at the Protestant meetings," continued Démocharès.
"I am an advocate," whined Des Avenelles. "Besides, I have always spoken in favor of moderate measures. You ought to know that, since you know everything."
Summoning courage to raise his eyes to these two forbidding personages, Des Avenelles went on,—
"But, asking your pardon, it seems to me that you do not know everything; for you speak only about me, and have nothing to say about the affairs of the party in general, which are in truth of vast moment. Therefore I am glad to see that there are many things of which you still know nothing."
"That is just where you are mistaken," retorted the lieutenant; "and we will prove it to you."
Démocharès motioned him to be careful.
"I understand you, Monsieur le Grand Inquisiteur," said he; "but there can be no imprudence in showing our hand to Monsieur, for Monsieur will not leave this place for a long time to come."
"What! not leave here for a long time?" cried Pierre des Avenelles, in affright.
"No, certainly not," coolly remarked Monsieur de Braguelonne. "Do you imagine, pray, that under color of coming here to make revelations, you will be allowed at your ease to observe our position, and assure yourself as to the extent of our information, and then go and report everything to your accomplices? That won't do, my dear Monsieur; and you are our prisoner from this moment."
"Prisoner!" Des Avenelles repeated the word as if overwhelmed at the thought; but upon reflection he adopted a different tone. Our man, we remember, had the courage of cowardice in the highest degree.
"Oh, well,—in fact, I much prefer it so!" he cried. "I am much safer here with you than I should be at home, in the midst of all their plot-hatching. And since you have determined to keep me here, Monsieur le Lieutenant, you will have no scruples now about consenting to reply to some of my respectful questions. In my humble opinion, you are not so thoroughly well informed as you believe, and I think I may find some way of proving my good faith and my loyalty by some valuable revelation."
"Hum! I much doubt it," replied Monsieur de Braguelonne.
"In the first place, what do you know about the latest meetings of the Huguenots, Monseigneur?" asked the advocate.
"Do you mean the one held at Nantes?" said the lieutenant.
"Ah! do you know that? Very well! Yes, the one held at Nantes. What took place there?"
"Do you refer to the conspiracy that was formed there?" rejoined Monsieur de Braguelonne, slyly.
"Alas, yes! I see that I can tell you nothing of consequence on that subject," replied Des Avenelles. "That conspiracy—"
"Has for its object to carry off the king from Blois, substitute the princes for Messieurs de Guise by force, convoke the States-General, etc. All this is ancient history, my dear Monsieur des Avenelles, for it happened way back on the 5th of February."
"And the conspirators who feel so sure of their secret!" exclaimed the advocate. "They are lost, and myself with them; for doubtless you know the leaders of the conspiracy?"
"The secret leaders as well as the avowed ones. The former are the Prince de Condé and the admiral; while the avowed leaders are La Renaudie, Castelnau, Mazères—But it would take too long to enumerate them all. See, here is a list of their names, and of the provinces as well which they are respectively expected to incite to rebellion."
"Great God of mercy! How skilful are the police, and what fools the conspirators!" cried Des Avenelles. "Is there not, then, the least little word which I can tell you, which you do not already know? The Prince de Condé and La Renaudie, for instance,—do you know where they are?"
"Together in Paris."
"Why, this is frightful! And there is nothing left for me to do but to commend my soul to God! Yet, stay!—one word more, in pity's name! Whereabouts in Paris are they?"
Monsieur de Braguelonne did not immediately reply, but with his clear and piercing glance seemed to be reading Des Avenelles's soul and his eyes to their lowest depths.
The latter, with labored breath, repeated his question,—"Do you know in what part of Paris the Prince de Condé and La Renaudie now are, Monseigneur?"
"We shall have no difficulty in finding them," replied Monsieur de Braguelonne.
"But you haven't found them yet!" cried Des Avenelles, with delight. "Ah! God be praised! I may still win my pardon. I know where they are, Monseigneur."
Démocharès's eye glistened; but the lieutenant of police concealed his satisfaction.
"Pray, where are they?" he said in the most indifferent tone imaginable.
"At my house, Messieurs, at my house!" said the advocate, proudly.
"I knew it," calmly replied Monsieur de Braguelonne. "What do you say,—you knew that, too?" ejaculated Des Avenelles, whose cheeks lost their color again.
"To be sure I did; but I wished to test your good faith. Come, it is all right, and I am content with you! Your case was a very serious one, to say the least. To think of having sheltered such great villains!"
"You made yourself quite as guilty as they," said Démocharès, sententiously.
"Oh, don't say so, Monseigneur!" rejoined Des Avenelles. "I feared I was incurring great risks, and I have hardly dared to breathe since I have known the horrible plans of my two guests. But I have known them only three days,—only three days, I solemnly swear! You should know that I was not present at the Nantes gathering. When the Prince de Condé and the Seigneur de la Renaudie arrived at my house in the early part of this week, I believed myself to be harboring adherents of the Reformed religion, but not conspirators. I have a holy horror of conspirators and conspiracies! They said nothing to me on the subject at first; and it is that for which I am angry with them. Thus to expose to deadly peril, without his knowledge, a poor fellow who had never done them aught but good turns,—that was very wrong. But these great personages never do otherwise."
"What's that?" was Monsieur de Braguelonne's sharp retort,—for he considered himself a very great man indeed.
"I refer to the great personages of the Reformed religion," the advocate made haste to explain. "However, they began by keeping everything from me; but they were whispering together all day long, and writing day and night; visits they received every minute. I watched and listened; in short, I guessed at the beginning of the plot, so that they were obliged to tell me everything,—their meeting at Nantes, their great conspiracy; in fact, all this that you know, and which they thought so carefully concealed. But since that revelation I have not been able to sleep or eat; I have just existed. Every time that anybody came to my house—and God knows how often people have come there!—I would imagine that they had come to carry me before the judges. During the night, in my rare moments of feverish sleep, I dreamed of nothing but courts and scaffolds and executioners, and I would awake bathed in a cold perspiration, to begin again my unceasing attempts to foresee and estimate the risk I was running."
"The risk you were running, did you say?" said Monsieur de Braguelonne. "Why, prison in the first place—"
"And torture in the second," added Démocharès.
"To be followed probably by hanging," said the lieutenant.
"Or the stake, possibly," continued the grand inquisitor.
"The wheel has been known to be used in such cases," the lieutenant put in, as a suitably effective end to the list.
"Imprisoned! tortured! hanged! burned alive! broken on the wheel!" Poor Des Avenelles repeated every word as if he had actually undergone each of the punishments they enumerated.
"Dame! You are an advocate, and should know the law," retorted Monsieur de Braguelonne.
"Indeed, I know it only too well!" cried Des Avenelles. "Therefore, after three days of mortal anguish, I could restrain myself no longer: I felt that such a secret was too heavy a burden for my responsibility, and I came to deposit it in your hands, Monsieur le Lieutenant de Police."
"That was the safest course to pursue," replied Monsieur de Braguelonne; "and although, as you see, your revelation is of no great service to us, still we will take your good intentions into consideration."
He talked for some moments in a low tone with De Mouchy, who seemed to be urging him, not without much resistance, to adopt a certain course of action.
"Before everything, I beg you, for mercy's sake," said Des Avenelles, imploringly, "not to betray my defection to my former—accomplices; for, alas! they who murdered President Minard might well do me an ill turn also."
"We will keep your secret," replied the lieutenant of police.
"But you propose to keep me a prisoner, do you not?" said Des Avenelles, with a very humbled and frightened air.
"No; you may return freely to your own house at any moment," replied De Braguelonne.
"Do you mean it?" said the advocate. "Ah! I see you propose to arrest my guests?"
"Not your guests, either. They will remain as free as yourself."
"How is that?" asked Des Avenelles, in amazement.
"Just listen to me a moment," replied Monsieur de Braguelonne, in an authoritative tone, "and pay good heed to my words. You will return at once to your own house, lest a too long absence should arouse suspicion. You will say not a word more to your guests, either as to your own fears or their secrets. You will act, and leave them to act, as if you had not been in this room to-day. Do you understand me? Hinder nothing, and express surprise at nothing. Let things take their course."
"That is easily done," said Des Avenelles.
"However," added Monsieur de Braguelonne, "if we need any information, we will either send to you for it or summon you hither, and you will hold yourself always in readiness to serve us in either way. If a descent upon your house is judged necessary, you will lend a hand in making it effective."
"Since I have done so much merely to make a beginning, I will go through with it," said Des Avenelles, with a sigh.
"Very well. One word in conclusion. If matters progress in a way to prove that you have obeyed these very simple instructions, you shall have your pardon; but if we have reason to suspect that you have been in the least degree indiscreet, you will be the first to be punished, and will suffer worse than all the others."
"You shall be burned alive, by our Lady!" chimed in Démocharès, in his deep and gloomy voice.
"However—" began the trembling advocate.
"That is sufficient," said De Braguelonne. "You have heard; see that you remember. Au revoir."
He made an imperious motion with his hand. The too prudent advocate left the room, relieved and anxious at the same time.
After his departure, for a moment nothing was said by the two others.
"You wished it so, and I yielded," said the lieutenant, finally; "but I confess that I have serious doubts as to the wisdom of that mode of procedure."
"No, everything is as well as can be," replied Démocharès. "This business must be allowed to take its own course, and with that in view, the important point was not to give the alarm to the conspirators. Let them think themselves sure of their secret, and go ahead in their false security. They fancy that they are marching in darkness, while we are following all their movements in the broad daylight. It is superb! Such another occasion to strike a deadly blow at the root of the heresy will not present itself in twenty years. Besides, I know the ideas of his Eminence the Cardinal de Lorraine upon this matter."
"Better than I do, to be sure," said De Braguelonne. "What are we to do now?"
"You will remain at Paris," said Démocharès, "and with the assistance of Lignières and Des Avenelles, keep a strict watch upon the two leading conspirators. I shall set out in an hour for Blois, to warn Messieurs de Guise. The cardinal will be somewhat alarmed at first, but Le Balafré is with him to encourage him; and when he comes to think it over, he will be in an ecstasy of delight. It is for those two to assemble in a fortnight around the king, without disturbance, all the forces they have available. Meanwhile, our Huguenots will have nothing to startle them; they will fall in a body, or one by one, into the trap we have laid, the blind fools, and they will be at our mercy. We shall have them, and then,—'General slaughter!'"
The grand inquisitor stalked up and down the room rubbing his hands for joy.
"May God grant," said Monsieur de Braguelonne, "that no unforeseen event shall reduce this splendid scheme to nought!"
"Impossible!" Démocharès made haste to say. "General slaughter! We have them on the hip! Call Lignières back, if you will, so that he may finish with the information he has for us, which I am to report to the Cardinal de Lorraine. But I look upon the heresy as already extinct. General slaughter!”