Yes; St. Auban has carried Canaples's letter to the
Cardinal already. I heard from his lips to-day--for I was present at the
interview--how the document had been wrested from Malpertuis. For your
sake, so that you might learn all he knew, I sought the fellow out, and
having found him in the Rue des Tournelles, I took you thither."
In a very fever of excitement I listened.
"To take up the thread of the story where Malpertuis left off, let me tell
you that St. Auban sought an audience with Mazarin this morning, and by
virtue of a note which he desired an usher to deliver to his Eminence, he
was admitted, the first of all the clients that for hours had thronged the
ante-room. As in the instance of the audience to Eug?ne de Canaples, so
upon this occasion did it chance that the Cardinal's fears touching St.
Auban's purpose had been roused, for he bade me stand behind the curtains
in his cabinet.
"The Marquis spoke bluntly enough, and with rude candour he stated that
since Mazarin had failed to bring the Canaples estates into his family by
marriage, he came to set before his Eminence a proof so utter of Canaples's
treason that it would enable him to snatch the estates by confiscation.
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