Pierre Pevel - By The Alchemist in the Shadows Page 0,72

him and, unfortunately, he broke his skull in a fall.'

'Unfortunately. That's one way of putting it . . . And how was it that Gueret managed to surprise you? Was no one keeping watch?'

Agnes and Marciac exchanged an embarrassed glance. Ballardieu kept his eyes fixed on the floor in front of him.

'Yes,' said the old soldier. 'I was.'

'And you didn't see the man coming back . . .'

'It was a dark night,' the Gascon interjected. 'And with the rain, the storm—'

'—and the wine, am I wrong?' La Fargue continued relentlessly.

'No,' confessed Ballardieu. 'I just went off for a moment to buy a bottle and—'

The Blades' captain thundered at him:

'You BLOODY OLD TOSS-POT! HAVE YOU ANY IDEA WHAT YOUR FOOLISHNESS HAS

COST US?'

Ballardieu kept his mouth shut. There was an oppressive silence in the room.

After a moment, La Fargue rose and went to a window. It opened onto the wet garden, where the chestnut tree's leaves were shedding their final drops upon the old table. Hands behind his back, he took the time to regain his calm. Then, still facing the garden, he said in a quieter voice:

'Any witnesses?'

'None,' replied Agnes. 'And the innkeeper will hold his tongue.'

'The body?'

'Thrown, naked and unrecognisable, into the Seine. With the waters still high from the storm, he'll never be found.'

'His belongings?'

'I lis baggage and the clothes he was wearing are all here.'

From over his shoulder, La Fargue glanced at the table the young woman was pointing to. On it were placed the small

travelling chest, the big leather bag and Gueret's still-damp clothing. Papers found in the false bottom of the chest were also spread out.

Leprat was already inspecting them in silence.

'There are sealed letters, a map of Lorraine and another of Champagne, false passports, promissory notes . . .' he finally announced. 'Add to that French, Spanish and Lorraine currency, and you have everything one might expect to find in the possession of a spy who, according to marks on this map, came from Lorraine and passed through Champagne to reach Paris.'

'And the letters?' asked Marciac, craning his neck to see from his armchair.

'There are three of them, all addressed to the duchesse de Chevreuse. The first comes from Charles IV, the second is from his brother, the cardinal of Lorraine, and the third is from the Spanish ambassador to Lorraine. I did not think it appropriate for me to open them.'

Nancy was the capital of the duchy de Lorraine, of which Charles IV was the sovereign. Located on the border of the Holy Roman Empire and defended by one of the most formidable fortresses in Europe, Lorraine was a rich territory much coveted by France. Relations between Louis XIII and his 'dear cousin' Charles were, moreover, execrable, the duke seeming to do everything in his power to exasperate the king and defy his authority. Twice now, royal armies had marched on Nancy to compel Charles to respect the treaties he had signed. And twice the duke had made promises that he failed to keep. Thus his palace continued to welcome dissenters, plotters and other adversaries of Louis XIII. Banished for a time from France, the duchesse de Chevreuse had been one of their number.

'And that's everything?' asked Agnes.

'My word,' replied Leprat in surprise, 'it doesn't seem such a bad haul to me . . .'

Even La Fargue looked at the young baronne with puzzlement.

Was she joking?

'To be sure,' she explained, 'these passports, maps, and letters are by no means worthless. But Gueret was sent to the duchesse de Chevreuse by the queen mother, wasn't he?'

She looked at them all intently, as if they were missing something obvious. And it was the captain of the Blades who was the first to see what she was driving at.

'In all this,' he said, pointing at the documents cluttering the table, 'there is nothing from the queen mother addressed to La Chevreuse . . .'

'Exactly. The queen mother is not going to dispatch one of her agents merely to collect a few letters in Lorraine and deliver them to the duchesse, is she . . . ? Are you sure you haven't missed anything, Antoine?'

Leprat considered the dead spy's belongings displayed before him.

'I believe so, yes . . .'

'What about the clothes our man was wearing last night?' suggested Marciac.

Agnes came to the musketeer's assistance and together they lound a leather envelope concealed in the lining of Gueret's doublet. As it was closed with a strip of sealed cloth, they hesitated and looked to La Fargue for permission