Pierre Pevel - By The Alchemist in the Shadows Page 0,73

to proceed. He nodded gravely and they broke the wax seal.

The envelope contained a letter along with several handwritten sheets that Agnes perused, showing signs of a growing astonishment.

'It's a pamphlet,' she said. 'It's about the queen, her failure to give birth to an heir and the king's supposed intention to repudiate her on those grounds. The author claims that the king has already communicated with Rome on this matter and that he will soon be in a position to choose a new wife

. . .'

All those listening gaped in disbelief.

Alter eighteen years of marriage Queen Anne d'Autriche was still childless. She had had several miscarriages and, for some time now, had suffered from the disaffection and indif-ference of her husband. Indeed, Louis XIII only rarely visited her bed. Nevertheless, the repudiation of the queen would provoke an outcry in the kingdom and a possible scandal at the royal court. But above all, it would constitute a casus belli with Madrid, Anne being the king of Spain's sister.

'Do you think there's any truth in it?' asked Agnes.

'Who knows?' replied La Fargue. 'But if people believe it, what does it matter?'

'This text was no doubt meant to be printed secretly in Paris,' noted Leprat. 'And then spread like wildfire.'

'In order to provoke unrest?' asked Marciac.

'Or to cause a big enough upset in Europe to embarrass the king and oblige him to renounce any such project . . .'

'And so that's it? La Donna's plot against the king?' the baronne de Vaudreuil exclaimed incredulously. 'Tell me another one!'

'No,' La Fargue intervened. 'There's something else going on. But whether its content is true or pure invention and calumny, this pamphlet is by no means innocent. I believe we have laid our hands on the package the queen mother was seeking to have delivered to the duchesse de Chevreuse.'

'And the letter probably contains special instructions to go with it.'

'Shall I open it?' asked the musketeer, holding up the missive that accompanied the manuscript.

'Yes,' ordered La Fargue.

There was, in an iron cabinet somewhere within the Palais-Cardinal, a whole collection of stolen or counterfeit seals, including that of the queen mother. Her seal could be replaced if necessary.

Leprat split the seal and unfolded the letter.

'We have a problem,' he said immediately. 'This is all in code.'

When he arrived at the Hotel de l'Epervier, Arnaud de Laincourt saw a sedan chair leaving with Marciac as its passenger, escorted by Ballardieu. The spectacle astonished the former spy, who moved aside and bemusedly acknowledged the Gascon's wave.

'I'm going to rest my wounds at Les Petites Grenouilles,'

Marciac announced. 'Come and visit me there when you have a moment. I'm sure you'll receive a fine welcome!'

Laincourt watched without saying a word as the chair passed through the door and then spotted La Fargue walking briskly towards the stable, where Almades was holding two saddled horses by their bridles.

'Monsieur!' he called.

The captain of the Blades halted.

'Yes, Laincourt?'

'Could you grant me a minute?'

'It will be a short one. I have to take some documents we found in Gueret's possession to the Palais-Cardinal.'

'You captured him?'

La Fargue reflected that he would probably save time if he fully briefed Laincourt right away.

'Follow me,' he said, signalling to Almades that he should wait there.

They entered the main building by the closest door, which was that of the kitchen. The two men sat down and, having asked Na'is to leave them, the old gentleman recounted the most recent events to Laincourt. The latter listened very attentively, occasionally nodding and taking mental note of every detail.

'One thing is for certain,' he said when the captain concluded, 'this pamphlet does indeed smack of the queen mother.'

Banished from the kingdom and exiled in Brussels, Marie de Medicis, widow of Henri IV and mother of Louis XIII, was an embittered old woman still brooding over the way her eldest son had brutally evicted her from power and replaced her with Richelieu. She schemed, dreamed of revenge and placed all her hopes in her other son, Gaston d'Orleans, also known as 'Monsieur', who she hoped to one day see ascend to the French throne.

'You're right,' the captain of the Blades acknowledged.

'And this encrypted letter, could you show it to me, please?'

'Might you be able to decipher it?'

'Possibly. I used to be one of the cardinal's code secretaries.'

Laincourt took the letter that La Fargue held out to him and ran his eyes over it rapidly. The text consisted of a single block - without punctuation or breaks in the lines — made up of