"I will go and fetch them," said Beausire. But they did not choose to let him leave the room without them, so they caught hold of him by the coat, saying:
"Oh no, dear M. Beausire, do not leave us."
"But how am I to get the money if I do not leave you?"
"We will go with you."
"But it is in my wife"s bedroom."
"Ah," cried one of them, "you hide your wife from us!"
"Are we not presentable?" asked the other. "We wish to see her."
"You are tipsy, and I will turn you out!" said Beausire.
They laughed.
"Now you shall not even have the money I promised," said he, emboldened by what he thought their intoxication; and he ran out of the room.
They followed and caught him; he cried out, and at the sound a door opened, and a woman looked out with a frightened air. On seeing her, the men released Beausire, and gave a cry of exultation, for they recognized her immediately who resembled the Queen of France so strongly.
Beausire, who believed them for a moment disarmed by the sight of a woman, was soon cruelly undeceived.
One of the men approached Oliva, and said:
"I arrest you."
"Arrest her! Why?" cried Beausire.
"Because it is M. de Crosne"s orders."
A thunderbolt falling between the lovers would have frightened them less than this declaration.
At last Beausire said, "You came to arrest me?"
"No; it was a chance."
"Never mind, you might have arrested me, and for sixty louis you were about to leave me at liberty."
"Oh no, we should have asked another sixty; however, for one hundred we will do so."
"And madame?"
"Oh, that is quite a different affair."
"She is worth two hundred louis," said Beausire.
They laughed again, and this time Beausire began to understand this terrible laugh.
"Three hundred, four hundred, a thousand--see, I will give you one thousand louis to leave her at liberty!"
They did not answer.
"Is not that enough? Ah, you know I have money, and you want to make me pay. Well, I will give you two thousand louis; it will make both your fortunes!"
"For 100,000 crowns we would not give up this woman. M. de Rohan will give us 500,000 francs for her, and the queen 1,000,000. Now we must go.
You doubtless have a carriage of some kind here; have it prepared for madame. We will take you also, for form"s sake; but on the way you can escape, and we will shut our eyes."
Beausire replied, "Where she goes, I will go; I will never leave her."
"Oh, so much the better; the more prisoners we bring M. de Crosne, the better he will be pleased."
A quarter of an hour after, Beausire"s carriage started, with the two lovers in it. One may imagine the effect of this capture on M. de Crosne. The agents probably did not receive the 1,000,000 francs they hoped for, but there is reason to believe they were satisfied. M. de Crosne went to Versailles, followed by another carriage well guarded. He asked to see the queen, and was instantly admitted. She judged from his face that he had good news for her, and felt the first sensation of joy she had experienced for a month.
"Madame," said M. de Crosne, "have you a room here where you can see without being seen?"
"Oh yes--my library."
"Well, madame, I have a carriage below, in which is some one whom I wish to introduce into the castle unseen by any one."
"Nothing more easy," replied the queen, ringing to give her orders.
All was executed as he wished. Then she conducted M. de Crosne to the library, where, concealed from view behind a large screen, she soon saw enter a form which made her utter a cry of surprise. It was Oliva, dressed in one of her own favorite costumes--a green dress with broad stripes of black moiree, green satin slippers with high heels, and her hair dressed like her own. It might have been herself reflected in the gla.s.s.
"What says your majesty to this resemblance?" asked M. de Crosne, triumphantly.
"Incredible," said the queen. She then thought to herself, "Ah! Charny; why are you not here?"
"What does your majesty wish?"
"Nothing, sir, but that the king should know."
"And M. de Provence see her? shall he not, madame?"
"Thanks, M. de Crosne, you hold now, I think, the clue to the whole plot."
"Nearly so, madame."
"And M. de Rohan?"
"Knows nothing yet."
"Ah!" cried the queen; "in this woman, doubtless, lies all his error."
"Possibly, madame; but if it be his error it is the crime of some one else."
"Seek well, sir; the honor of France is in your hands."