But the gods,
who had given me a character calculated to lead a man into misfortune, had
given me a stout heart wherewith to fight that misfortune, and an armour of
recklessness against which remorse, regrets, aye, and conscience itself,
rained blows in vain.
And so it befell that presently I laughed myself out of the puerile humour
that was besetting me, and, finding myself chilled by inaction in my wet
clothes, I set off for the Palais Royal at a pace that was first cousin to
a run.
Ten minutes later I stood in the presence of the most feared and hated man
in France.
"Cospetto!" cried Mazarin as I entered his cabinet. "Have you swum the
Seine in your clothes?"
"No, your Eminence, but I have been serving you in the rain for the past
hour."
He smiled that peculiar smile of his that rendered hateful his otherwise
not ill-favoured countenance. It was a smile of the lips in which the eyes
had no part.
"Yes," he said slowly, "I have heard of your achievements."
"You have heard?" I ejaculated, amazed by the powers which this man
wielded.
"Yes, I have heard. You are a brave man, M.
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