"You make me uneasy, monsieur," said D"Harmental, "for I have not the seals of King Philip, to sign brevets in his name. But never mind; speak."
"Well," said Roquefinette, "I see so many greenhorns at the heads of regiments, that I also have thought of being a colonel."
"Colonel? Impossible!"
"Why so?"
"Because, if they make you a colonel, you who only hold a secondary position in the affair, what am I to ask, I, who am at the head?"
"That is the very thing: I wish to change positions for the moment. You remember what I said to you on a certain evening in the Rue du Valois?"
"Aid my memory, captain. I have unfortunately forgotten."
"I told you that if I had an affair like this to manage, things would go better. I added that I would speak to you of it again. I do so now."
"What the devil are you talking about, captain?"
"A simple matter, chevalier. We made a first attempt together, which failed. Then you changed batteries: you thought you could do without me, and you failed again. The first time you failed at night, and without noise: we each went our own way, and there was nothing known about it.
The second time, on the contrary, you failed in broad daylight, and with an eclat which has compromised all; so that if you do not save yourselves by a bold stroke, you are all lost, as Dubois has your names; and to-morrow--to-night perhaps--you may be all arrested, knights, barons, dukes, and princes. Now, there is in the world one man, and one only, who can free you from your troubles--that man is Captain Roquefinette, and you offer him the same place he held before! Fie, chevalier!--you wish to bargain with him. Remember, pretensions increase with the services to be rendered. I am now an important personage. Treat me as such, or I put my hands in my pockets, and leave Dubois to do as he likes."
D"Harmental bit his lips, but he understood that he had to treat with a man who was accustomed to sell his services as dear as possible; and as what the captain said of their necessity was literally true, he restrained his impatience and his pride.
"Then you wish to be a colonel?"
"That is my idea."
"But suppose I make you this promise, who can answer that I have influence enough to ratify it?"
"Oh, chevalier, I reckon on managing my little affairs myself."
"Where?"
"At Madrid."
"Who told you that I shall take you there?"
"I do not know if you will take me there, but I know that I shall go there."
"You, to Madrid! What for?"
"To take the regent."
"You are mad."
"Come, come, chevalier, no big words. You ask my conditions; I tell them you. They do not suit you: good-evening. We are not the worst friends for that."
And Roquefinette rose, took his hat, and was going toward the door.
"What, are you going?"
"Certainly."
"But you forget, captain."
"Ah! it is true," said Roquefinette, intentionally mistaking D"Harmental"s meaning: "you gave me a hundred louis; I must give you an account of them."
He took his purse from his pocket.
"A horse, thirty louis; a pair of double-barreled pistols, ten louis; a saddle, bridle, etc., two louis; total, forty-two louis. There are fifty-eight louis in this purse; the horse, pistols, saddle, and bridle, are yours. Count, we are quits."
And he threw the purse on the table.
"But that is not what I have to say to you, captain."
"What is it, then?"
"That it is impossible to confide to you a mission of such importance."
"It must be so, nevertheless, or not at all. I must take the regent to Madrid, and I alone, or he remains at the Palais Royal."
"And you think yourself worthy to take from the hands of Philippe d"Orleans the sword which conquered at Lerida La Pucelle, and which rested by the scepter of Louis XIV., on the velvet cushion with the golden ta.s.sels?"
"I heard in Italy that Francis I., at the battle of Pavia, gave up his to a butcher."
And the captain pressed his hat on his head, and once more approached the door.
"Listen, captain," said D"Harmental, in his most conciliating tone; "a truce to arguments and quotations; let us split the difference. I will conduct the regent to Spain, and you shall accompany me."
"Yes, so that the poor captain may be lost in the dust which the dashing chevalier excites, and that the brilliant colonel may throw the old bandit into the shade! Impossible, chevalier, impossible! I will have the management of the affair, or I will have nothing to do with it."
"But this is treason!" cried D"Harmental.
"Treason, chevalier! And where have you seen, if you please, that Captain Roquefinette was a traitor? Where are the agreements which I have made and not kept? Where are the secrets which I have divulged? I, a traitor! Good heavens, chevalier, it was only the day before yesterday that I was offered gold to betray you, and I refused! No, no! Yesterday you came and asked me to aid you a second time. I told you that I was ready, but on new conditions. Well, I have just told you those conditions. Accept them or refuse them. Where do you see treason in all this?"
"And if I was weak enough to accept these conditions, monsieur, do you imagine that the confidence which her royal highness the d.u.c.h.esse de Maine reposes in the Chevalier d"Harmental can be transferred to Captain Roquefinette?"
"And what has the d.u.c.h.esse de Maine to remark upon in this? You undertake a piece of business. There are material hindrances in the way of your executing it yourself. You hand it over to me. That is all."
"That is to say," answered D"Harmental, shaking his head, "that you wish to be free to loose the regent, if the regent offers you, for leaving him in France, twice as much as I offer you for taking him to Spain."
"Perhaps," replied Roquefinette.
"Hearken, captain." said D"Harmental, making a new effort to retain his sang-froid, and endeavoring to renew the negotiations, "I will give you twenty thousand francs down."
"Trash," answered the captain.
"I will take you with me to Spain."