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肩書を与える: The Poisoners Author: Marjorie Bowen * A 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia eBook * eBook No.: 1302941h.html Language: English Date first 地位，任命するd: May 2013 Most 最近の update: May 2013 This eBook was produced by Colin Choat. 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia eBooks are created from printed 版s which are in the public domain in Australia, unless a copyright notice is 含むd. We do NOT keep any eBooks in 同意／服従 with a particular paper 版. Copyright 法律s are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright 法律s for your country before downloading or redistributing this とじ込み／提出する. This eBook is made 利用できる at no cost and with almost no 制限s どれでも. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the 条件 of the 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia License which may be 見解（をとる）d online at http://gutenberg.逮捕する.au/licence.html To 接触する 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia go to http://gutenberg.逮捕する.au
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"...this obscene and horrible episode of the
統治する of Louis XIV, that,
for more than twenty years, cast all Paris into convulsions of terror."
—Jules Loiseleur, Trois Enigmes Historiques.
The Poisoners — Beagle 調書をとる／予約するs, New York, 1953
In the year 1676 Madame de Brinvilliers was 遂行する／発効させるd in Paris for the 殺人s of her father, her two brothers and a sister. It was known that she had procured the mysterious 毒（薬） that she had 雇うd through the 機関 of one Sainte-Croix, who, in his turn, had received it from an Italian, Exili, whom he had met when both these scoundrels had been 拘留するd in the Bastille for minor offences.
This 事件／事情／状勢 原因（となる）d an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の sensation in Paris, but, with the death of the Marquise de Brinvilliers, it was considered の近くにd. When this 女性（の） "monster," as she was 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語d, had expiated her 罪，犯罪s, public 利益／興味 in the 事柄 病弱なd and police 調査s into the question of 毒（薬）s 中止するd.
すぐに after the 死刑執行 of Madame de Brinvilliers, however, the priests who were in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of Notre-Dame, the most 流行の／上流の church in Paris, 知らせるd the police that "an enormous number" of their penitents, when in the sanctity of the confessional, （刑事）被告 themselves of 毒（薬）ing their husbands. The active and intelligent 長，指導者 of Police, M. de La Reynie, 辞退するd to give any importance to this （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）; he thought that these women were so 影響する／感情d by the Brinvilliers 事例／患者 that they had become hysterical and that these painful derangements were better ignored.
The French 君主国 was at the 高さ of its glory during this period; Louis XIV was successful alike in the 閣僚 and in the field, and 影を投げかけるd Europe with his 外交 and his 武器; his 法廷，裁判所 was the most brilliant that the world had known since the days of the Byzantine Caesars; the arts 繁栄するd under his splendid patronage and in every department of social life Paris was the arbiter of fashion, taste and manners. The ruthless ambition of Louis made him hated and 恐れるd in Europe, but his 影響（力） on his times was undisputed. In 1676 he was under forty years of age and embellished not only with the 肩書を与える of "広大な／多数の／重要な," but with godlike せいにするs, 存在 一般的に known as "the Sun King."
This gorgeous personage had been for fifteen years 部隊d by powerful but illicit 関係 to the Marquise de Montespan, a 広大な／多数の／重要な lady of imperious temper and remarkable beauty, who considered herself nearly as high-born as her 王室の lover and 演習d a 完全にする 支配 over him. She had not 達成するd her position—Queen of the Left 手渡す—easily, for Louis did not admire her type of bold, sharp-tongued "m稱tresse femme," and she had to draw him from a sincere love for the gentle Louise de la Valli鑽e. Once, however, she had brought the King under her enchantments, she was all-powerful: not only did she 完全に detach him from his wife, Marie Th駻鑚e, but fickle and amorous as Louis 自然に was, she contrived to keep him faithful to her by banishing out of his reach any 可能性のある 競争相手. She had a large family by the King; these children were made 合法的 and given 肩書を与えるs and quasi-王室の honours.
About the time of the Brinvilliers スキャンダル the position of Madame de Montespan, which had appeared unassailable, was 脅すd by the King's sudden attraction に向かって Mlle. Fontanges, a rather stupid young woman, "beautiful as an angel" and belonging to that soft, tender and delicate type which Louis really most admired.
The powerful favourite contrived to keep this possible 競争相手 at bay, and no one believed that she would lose any of her 影響（力） over her lover; her 支配する had been so long and so 絶対の, her 持つ／拘留する over the King was stronger than love, it was that of a bad habit.
Such was the 状況／情勢 in Paris に向かって the end of the year 1678, when this story opens.
What was known in フラン as l'事件／事情／状勢 des 毒（薬）s was deliberately hushed up by the 長，指導者 of Police, 事実上の／代理 on 王室の 指示／教授／教育s; small 犯罪のs were sacrificed and 広大な／多数の／重要な ones 許すd to escape; most of the examinations and 裁判，公判s were held in secret; at some of these only the King, M. de La Reynie and M. de Louvois, or some other 大臣, were 現在の. Every 成果／努力 was made to 回避する a hideous スキャンダル 伴う／関わるing the noblest 指名するs in フラン, and the greatest pre 警告を与えるs were taken to this end. The King ordered all the voluminous 報告（する）／憶測s of the 事例／患者 in all its ramifications to be destroyed, every dossier to be burnt.
For a long time 完全にする obscurity 隠すd the 支配する, until, in 1789, the taking of the Bastille by the Parisian 暴徒 brought to light the secret 古記録s of this 要塞 刑務所，拘置所. These were, as the first 捜査官／調査官s 宣言するd, "in a 明言する／公表する of frightful 大混乱," but years of 患者, erudite 労働 徐々に 明らかにするd from these 混乱させるd 集まりs of papers the 報告（する）／憶測s of the Paris Police from 1655 to 1744. It was then discovered that a large number of the 文書s relating to l'事件／事情／状勢 des 毒（薬）s had not been destroyed; there were many lacunae in these and many 価値のある papers were 全く 行方不明の, some were mutilated and others half-廃虚d by neglect, some had been torn in fragments and others were partly 燃やすd. The scholars, however, 始める，決める to work with tireless diligence, and the result of their careful zeal was the 部分的な／不平等な 再建 of this celebrated historic mystery.
This was finally 減ずるd to a （疑いを）晴らす 輪郭（を描く） by the long 労働s of M. Fran輟is Ravaisson, who, with exacting care, sorted, deciphered, 目録d, annotated and explained the 集まり of 文書s 設立する in the 古記録s of the Bastille. Wherever possible this admirable 研究 労働者 filled in all gaps in his 構成要素 from other sources 利用できる in フラン.
What 現れるd from these 労働s was not only a 価値のある picture of the life of a bygone period, 十分な of minute 詳細（に述べる）s and the elucidation of a historic mystery that had puzzled 世代s, but the 再建s of a wild, 悪意のある tale of love and 魔法 that would do credit to the imagination of any 小説家 and 供給する ample 構成要素 for what is now called a "探偵，刑事 story" or "thriller".
It should be 解任するd that the French police were then the 真っ先の in Europe; considering what evils they had to 戦闘 and the modest means at their 処分, their work was of a high order. Nothing like this police organization was known in England until nearly two hundred years later. British love of freedom 反乱d against secret policing, and even when Peel introduced his "Bobbies" and 私立探偵s, these were resented as "foreign 会・原則s." The result of these prejudices was unhappy, as the reading of any old English 裁判，公判 will show. 国家の love of fair play was helpless in the 直面する of haphazard methods resulting from 欠如（する） of trained 捜査官／調査官s and from amateur methods of collecting and 精査するing 証拠.
M. de La Reynie, 中尉／大尉／警部補 de Police at Paris during this 半端物 and terrifying 商売／仕事 of "the 毒（薬）s," was honest, efficient and 熱心な. Living under an 絶対の 君主国 he was 軍隊d to 抑える or destroy much of his 証拠 at the 王室の 命令（する）, and 強いるd to 許す many 犯罪のs whom he had 跡をつけるd 負かす／撃墜する to escape, and in 結論 to consign the whole 事例／患者, to which he had 充てるd so much toil, to oblivion. Time, however, did him tardy 司法（官）, and when his 古記録s did at last see daylight, they 明らかにする／漏らすd his 正直さ, his courage, his 産業 and those 質s peculiar to the best type of Gallic mind, finesse, clarity, a 論理（学）の intellect and a serene 受託 of life and all its perverse difficulties.
It is indeed only the characters of La Reynie and his 同僚s that give sanity and the 影響 of reality to what would さもなければ seem a fantastic farrago of incredible people and incredible 出来事/事件s.
The に引き続いて' novel gives, in the form of fiction, the authentic 輪郭（を描く） and 詳細（に述べる）s of the events, pieced together by M. Ravaisson from the dossiers of La Reynie.
Marjorie Bowen
As the coach （機の）カム swinging 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the corner the young man 押し進めるd his companion still その上の behind him and held out his cloak in an 成果／努力 to 保護する her, but in vain, the wheels of the 乗り物, which was swinging ひどく on its leathers, splashed over the broken cobbles and cast a にわか雨 of liquid filth over the girl's camelot dress of blue and silver.
"My birthday gown!" she cried in 狼狽, "and your new cloak, Charles!"
The occupant of the coach had seen the 事故 and putting her 長，率いる out of the window called to the coachman to stop. He had gone some yards however before he could rein up the spirited animals, and when the 乗り物 had come at length to a 停止（させる） the young couple had 回復するd their good temper.
The girl's first thought had been for her 廃虚d finery, which had not been bought easily or without かなりの self-sacrifice; her second thought had been to laugh away the little misfortune in 事例／患者 her husband should be 伴う／関わるd in a humiliating and dangerous 論争 with a social superior.
"It is nothing," she said with her 手渡す on his arm, "I can wipe it off. Let us go away 静かに. Your cloak, too—that will 小衝突."
"What are you 脅すd of?" he smiled good-humouredly. "There's no one in the coach but a woman. See, she is beckoning to us, she is sorry for what has happened."
Solange Desgrez was still for 撤退, but her husband took her 手渡す 堅固に through his arm and led her に向かって the coach. This was handsomely gilded and painted and bore on the doors a 大規模な coat-of-武器. The coachman, and the footmen who hung behind, were in liveries of maroon and gold: they 星／主役にするd impassively in 前線 of them, while their mistress leaned out of the window and spoke to the two people in their mud-splashed 着せる／賦与するs.
"I am sorry, Madame, and for you too, Monsieur. We were 運動ing too 急速な／放蕩な, we took the corner too suddenly—I had no idea there was anyone there. Your beautiful dress, it is 廃虚d!"
She paused, biting her 十分な underlip in 当惑. She was very young, and it was （疑いを）晴らす she did not know what to do. Her 単独の companion was an 年輩の woman, who was nursing a frail-looking monkey on a cushion of saffron-coloured velvet. This person, who appeared to be half asleep, 申し込む／申し出d no help.
Charles Desgrez, curious and amused, waited, his hat in his 手渡す. His wife, also embarrassed and wishing to end the scene, tried to draw him away; but she, too, was 利益／興味d in the occupant of the coach, にもかかわらず her 願望（する） to efface herself and be civil. An aristocrat, thought Solange, one of the 広大な／多数の／重要な ladies of the 法廷，裁判所, and she 公式文書，認めるd shrewdly what the other girl, who was about her own age, wore, and how she looked.
Her 外見 was singularly fascinating, though she was hardly beautiful; her features were so soft, her complexion was so pale, her hair so light that she gave the impression of extreme, almost exasperating, fragility. An 表現 of timidity and stupidity, and a slight blurring of the lines of her 直面する 妨げるd her from 存在 lovely; she was rather like a wax doll that had been placed in 前線 of a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and was beginning to melt. Yet there was an obvious attraction in her 空気／公表する of gentleness and candour and her 人物／姿／数字 was graceful; she was dressed in purple velvet, with a satin tie under her cravat; all this was far too 暗い／優うつな and 激しい a style for her years, which could not have been more than eighteen or twenty.
"What shall I do?" she sighed, half to herself. "What shall I do?"
The smile of Charles Desgrez 深くするd; he knew what was in the lady's mind; she saw that she could not 申し込む／申し出 them money since they had pretensions to gentility; she also saw that they were so poor that the 損失d 着せる／賦与するs would be to them a かなりの loss.
Taking no 注意する either of her 当惑 or of the whispers of his wife, who wished to end the scene, the shrewd young Frenchman stood his ground and waited, courteous but 会社／堅い.
"I shall be late," said the lady at length; she unclasped a string of sapphires that she wore over her light doeskin glove, and with an 控訴，上告ing look 手渡すd it to Madame Desgrez. "Please 受託する this—no 賠償, of course, but a gift from a friend."
"No, Madame, indeed I would rather not," began Solange; but the lady told the coachman to 運動 on. With その上の murmured 陳謝 she 屈服するd to the young couple, then with drew into the 内部の of the coach, which was richly lined and padded with celestial blue velvet and knots of orange braid.
Solange, moving from the roadway and standing against the 激しい porch of a dark church, held out the string of blue 石／投石するs and looked at her husband reproachfully:
"You should not have 許すd me to take it. It is very 価値のある, it must be 価値（がある） more than the dress and my cloak and your mantle all put together."
"I daresay it is," replied Monsieur Desgrez drily, "but the lady can afford to give it, and you, my dear, cannot afford to lose your frock. You know how long it took you to save up for it."
"But I hope she did not know that," 発言／述べるd Solange apprehensively.
"No, she does not think of such things. She tried to do something graceful and courteous."
"Oh, yes," agreed Solange 温かく. "She meant it in 親切, and in 親切 I take it. But I do not like to 受託する any thing so 価値のある. See, they are 罰金, square Indian sapphires held together by little diamonds."
She gave the ornament to her husband, who 診察するd it with a 商売／仕事-like 空気／公表する.
"Yes, I think it is やめる 価値のある, Solange. The price of it will buy you one or two new frocks, and perhaps another piece of furniture for the salon. Or would you like it yourself—it is the sort of ornament," he said, with a 厳しい tenderness, "that I should like to have given you."
"It is the sort of ornament," replied the young wife quickly, "that I should not want, even if you ever could give it to me, Charles."
"I am afraid you will have a long time to wait before I can buy you anything like that." The smile on his thin lips was 厳しい. "Yes, I should like to see you wearing this, Solange, I should like to see you in a coach like that, with three liveried servants and an old woman with a pet monkey, or any other nonsense you might want."
"Hush, Charles. It is like blaspheming our happiness. Let us thank the good God for what we have. If you know who the lady is, I think we should return the jewel—it might belong to her husband or her father, who would 行方不明になる it and scold her."
"Yes, I know who the lady is," replied M. Desgrez. "She has no husband. That is Mademoiselle de Fontanges, one of the Queen's waiting women." He paused a second, then 追加するd with a 冷笑的な ちらりと見ること: "and one of the King's—"
"Oh, no." interrupted Solange. "That's not true!"
"You are her 支持する／優勝者," laughed M. Desgrez, "because she gave you this 価値のある ornament and spoke kindly to you! 井戸／弁護士席, perhaps it is not true. Come along, my dear, there is a 嵐／襲撃する rising."
They stood for a moment in the 厚い 影をつくる／尾行する of the church porch in the 新たな展開ing street, while the young man put the jewel carefully away in the inner pocket of his coat. It was winter and the filth in the roadway was coated with thin ice. The 狭くする street was 側面に位置するd by the dark, grim facades of h?els, with their アイロンをかける gates and porters' 宿泊するs. Above the church porch frowning images of saints rose into the grey 空気／公表する. 黒人／ボイコット clouds driven by a bitter 勝利，勝つd were rising over Paris. There were few people abroad, and those few went quickly, with cloaks held over their 直面するs and 長，率いるs bent before the grim 攻撃する of the 勝利，勝つd.
Solange wore a grey cloak over the blue and silver dress that had been so splashed; her 罰金 leather shoes were 保護するd by 木造の clogs; a dark silk hood was drawn closely under her chin and a coarse goat-肌 muff hung by a cord 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her neck served to guard her 手渡すs from the 天候.
Her young husband's ちらりと見ること took in もう一度 all these 詳細（に述べる）s which told of their poverty. He contrasted her in his mind with the woman who had given them the bracelet, and bitter 悔いる and 憤慨 rose in his soul, hardening his 罰金 features and 狭くするing his light-grey 注目する，もくろむs. He was a 中尉／大尉／警部補 in the city Police or Watch, and he had no means beyond his salary.
Solange was the daughter of a 治安判事 at Caen, and her dowry had been small, only 十分な to furnish the very modest two rooms in which they lived. Charles Desgrez knew that his wife might have married better; she had left her native town, her relations, the friends of her 青年, her home, all the 適切な時期s that lay before a young, pretty and popular woman, to 株 his fortunes in Paris; and his pride was stung and his ambitions 誘発するd because of her smiling, uncomplaining love and his 狭くする, mean and poor prospects; his wife's 圧力 on his arm checked his thoughts.
"Come," she said, shuddering. "The 嵐／襲撃する is certainly approaching." She ちらりと見ることd up almost fearfully into the blue-黒人／ボイコット clouds 総計費. "How dark and horrible Paris can be on a day like this!"
"You 悔いる Normandy?" her husband asked, 圧力（をかける）ing her 手渡す to his 味方する, and 急いでing her along over the dirty cobbles, where the gutter 十分な of filth and rubbish, 洪水d from the late rains.
"No, Charles, I 悔いる nothing. But Paris somehow seems to 圧倒する me, it is so strange and 悪意のある."
"Paris, why, you know nothing of it, my dear. What if you had seen that 味方する of it which I have!"
"Paris is where horrible things happen." she whispered, settling closely to his 味方する. "Where they used to happen. I am glad that is all over."
"Glad that what is over, Solange?"
"I was thinking," replied the young wife, "of Madame de Brinvilliers. You know. I am glad I was not in Paris when she was put to death, though she was a wicked woman, who 毒（薬）d so many people."
"She was a monster," said the young police officer 簡潔に. "But she has been destroyed and there is an end of that. We have no such 犯罪のs in Paris now."
"Why, you speak almost 残念に, Charles!"
"Perhaps I do. If I could discover some such 罪，犯罪, if I could 跡をつける some such 犯罪の, why, I might be able to get you a coach and pair and three liveried servants, and plenty of 着せる／賦与するs and a sapphire bracelet, Solange."
"I would rather you did not, Charles, I would rather no such chance （機の）カム your way, for such work must be difficult and perilous."
"Don't you wish difficult and perilous things for me, Solange? Do you want me to be content and 静かな? I am only twenty-five, and I married you."
She 圧力（をかける）d his arm in silence, not wishing him to be different, proud indeed that he showed ambition and 決意／決議. Yet she was happy as she was, for she loved this man and never regretted that she had left her pleasant town of Caen to come to this strange, bewildering and unfriendly Paris; even though her husband's 義務s took him away from their little home so often and she spent many hours alone, Solange was content.
The inner radiance of this contentment made her oblivious of the darkening day, of the 集会 strength of the gusts of 勝利，勝つd, of the 増加するing gloom as they proceeded through the sombre streets of Paris.
Their 目的地 was a small house の近くに to Notre- Dame, which was 占領するd by one Ma?re Perrin. This man, who was an obscure clerk in the 議会 of Paris, was one of the few friends whom young Desgrez—who had been in Paris only two years—knew in the 資本／首都. A good-natured bachelor with an excellent housekeeper, he had 申し込む／申し出d the young couple a little party on the occasion of the bride's birthday.
Solange Desgrez had been married only three months and her cheerful good-humour, her pride and 楽しみ in her new 広い地所, her 静かな devotion to her 義務s and her young husband, had 大いに touched the generous heart of Ma?re Perrin, who had lived in Paris for so many years without 達成するing or even remembering the ambition of forty years ago that had sent him from Brittany to the 資本／首都.
The old clerk was, in his way, as content as the young wife; he liked his little house, his good housekeeper, his cosy 地位，任命する, his 十分な salary and his little circle of friends. His 寛容, his fondness for society and his 切望 to be amused by 半端物, racy characters made his circle of 知識s a wide and somewhat eccentric one.
"I 推定する／予想する we shall see some strange people there to-night," 発言／述べるd M. Desgrez as he pulled the (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する アイロンをかける bell in 前線 of Ma?re Perrin's door.
"Oh, yes, he has some such コースを変えるing friends," laughed Solange, ready to be amused and pleased with everything, "and his food is very good and his ワイン is of the best!"
"Yes," smiled M. Desgrez, "and when that ワイン has gone 一連の会議、交渉／完成する a little, we いつかs hear some strange stories. But perhaps to-night there will be some music, which keeps everyone more or いっそう少なく in order, and we shall leave 早期に."
The 厚い yellow candles were already lit in the lawyer's modest but comfortable room, and a スピードを出す／記録につける 解雇する／砲火／射撃 burnt sturdily under the hooded chimney-piece. An excellent supper of game, pies, roast fowl, stuffed meat, marzipan, fruit and sweetmeats stood upon the polished （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—and the bride's place was garnished with a pretty 花冠 of waxed flowers, through which was drawn Ma?re Perrin's gift to Solange, a pair of white gloves with a silver monogram embroidered on the 支援するs in small 長，率いるs.
The 楽しみ and 感謝 of Madame Desgrez were interrupted by 陳謝s for her 国／地域d dress. There was no 疑問 about it, the blue and silver taffeta was 廃虚d, though the neat old housekeeper with sympathy and 狼狽 did what she could with warm water and a clean cloth. The filth of the Paris gutters, which ran, choked with 辞退する, 負かす／撃墜する the centre of the street, had left unsightly stains upon the delicate fabric.
M. Desgrez was reticent about the 事故, and no one 圧力（をかける）d him—such mischances were ありふれた enough in the Parisian streets. Solange, with a delicate sense of propriety, followed her husband's lead; she said nothing about Mlle. de Fontanges or the sapphire bracelet; and the company, after roundly 悪口を言う／悪態ing the 明言する／公表する of the Paris streets, the insolence of the aristocrats and the costliness of wearing apparel, sat 負かす／撃墜する to enjoy Ma?re Perrin's feast.
The young police officer's 狭くする grey 注目する，もくろむs ran with amusement and 利益／興味 over the company; he was 利益／興味d in his work and eager for 昇進／宣伝, ambitious, keen, shrewd and industrious, and though it was 一般的に believed that Paris was the best policed 資本／首都 in Europe with a 最小限 of 罪，犯罪 and 犯罪のs, yet Desgrez always hoped that something might occur that would give him an 適切な時期 of 証明するing his 価値（がある）. He had made himself tolerably 井戸／弁護士席 熟知させるd with the life of Paris, both that which showed on the surface and that which flowed beneath; he had a shrewd knowledge of the 法廷，裁判所 personalities, 法廷，裁判所 politics and intrigues; he did not disdain to gather from humble sources, such as members of the loyal 連隊s, members of the King's own special police 軍隊 and even servants 雇うd in aristocratic mansions.
At a first ちらりと見ること, the people who had gathered to do honour to Madame Desgrez appeared commonplace, if amusing; there were two 乾燥した，日照りの, middle-老年の lawyers of the same 安全な・保証する position and mediocre gifts as Ma?re Perrin himself; there was a third man, who was a wool merchant in a small way, and his pretty young wife, who aped 法廷，裁判所 fashions; there was Madame Vigoureux, wife of a ladies' tailor; there were a few other members of the small bourgeoisie, whom the young 中尉／大尉／警部補's experienced 注目する，もくろむs passed over as nonentities, and there was the 未亡人 Bosse, whom he had met before, and who kept, he knew, a small perfumer's shop, which 供給（する）d the more ambitious 国民s' wives with soaps and perfumes, that were cheap imitations of those used by 法廷，裁判所 ladies.
This woman amused the observant young man, because of her 影響する／感情d 空気／公表するs of gentility, her talkativeness, her mechanical coquetry, the extravagant styles of lace and furbelows with which she decked her middle-老年の charms.
As he obliquely watched her now across the 負担d （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, he thought to himself: "She must be making a good 取引，協定 of money. The 着せる／賦与するs she is wearing are very expensive."
Feminine 衣料品s were uppermost in his mind then be 原因（となる） of the 事故 to Solange's birthday dress; he knew what that had cost; the 未亡人 Bosse's gown of crimson silk gallooned with gold braid must have been 二塁打 that price; she had a fair string of pearls 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her plump white throat, too, and one or two 流行の／上流の （犯罪の）一味s, a 捕らえる、獲得する of brocade at her waist, while the cloak over the 議長，司会を務める had a collar of glossy sables. How was it that this little shopkeeper could dress so 井戸／弁護士席?
As the talk and laughter grew louder, M. Desgrez whispered this question to his host, leaning わずかに 今後 across his wife.
"Oh," whispered Ma?re Perrin with a wink, "the 未亡人 Bosse? Yes, she is very handsomely 始める，決める out, is she not?" he 追加するd with an 空気／公表する of mystery. Then, lowering his 発言する／表明する still more and leaning behind Solange's fan of mirror glass and dove's feathers, he whispered: "She tells fortunes, you know, and casts horoscopes."
"Does the?" whispered Solange gaily. "Then I will do the same. I 断言する I know as much about such things as she does, or as anyone can about such nonsense."
Ma?re Perrin shook his 長，率いる and winked again deliberately at M. Desgrez. "We know better than that, don't we, Monsieur? No, no, it is not a 商売／仕事 that a pretty young woman like you, Solange, can 干渉する."
"But if it does no 害（を与える）, it is an 平易な way to earn money!"
Her husband ちらりと見ることd 負かす／撃墜する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する to where the florid 未亡人, who had already drunk several glasses of ワイン, was noisily laughing with her 隣人, the tailor's wife.
"Fortune-telling and casting horoscopes," he repeated. "You are wrong, Solange, such practices may do 害（を与える）."
But Ma?re Perrin smiled indulgently. "No, no, don't be so 厳しい on the good woman. She is a pleasant creature enough, though she 貿易（する）s a little on human credulity. She only 約束s handsome husbands to old maids and good fortune for their children to married women, a little bit of good luck to the unfortunate, and then she sells them a ball of soap, a flagon of scent, and everyone is 満足させるd."
"She's drinking far too much ワイン," whispered Solange to her husband, 解除するing her fan to her mouth. "Why doesn't someone tell her? I think she's really very disagreeable."
The young man did not reply; he was 熟考する／考慮するing the 未亡人 Bosse, who certainly had a peculiar physiognomy; from the smooth contours of her 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 直面する rose a delicate, beak-like nose out of all 割合 to her small baby mouth; her 注目する，もくろむs, blue and 目だつ with a slight cast in one of them, gave her a fascinating 表現; her complexion was a brilliant pink and white and 借りがあるd little to artifice, and her feeble chin rolled in lines of fat to her plump neck; her hair, rather thin, was 井戸／弁護士席 pomaded and hung in small spiral ringlets in a 流行の／上流の style across her forehead and on to her white, わずかに humped shoulders.
Desgrez thought (and laughed at himself for it) that she was like a cruel caricature of Mlle. Fontanges, the lady who had 廃虚d Solange's frock and given her the sapphire bracelet.
The 未亡人 Bosse became conscious of the young man's gaze and, calling to him 負かす／撃墜する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with embarrassing clumsiness, challenged him to drink her health. This he did with 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 儀礼.
The 未亡人 swallowed her ワイン, smacked her moist rosy lips and filled her glass again. Her 隣人s tried, in a joking way, to 抑制する her, but with a sudden flash of temper she threw them all off. Again her plump white 手渡すs glittering with the ostentatious jewellery の近くにd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the glass; when she had again emptied it, she 星／主役にするd in a 敵意を持った fashion at Desgrez and challenged him, leaning 今後 and shouting 負かす／撃墜する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.
"What are you 星／主役にするing at me like that for? Who do you think I am? Do you suppose, because you're in the police, I am afraid of you? I must say, Ma?re Perrin, this is funny company you ask one to 会合，会う! Come, young man, what do you think of me, after you've taken such a good look?"
Everyone had had 十分な ワイン; the entire company looked at Desgrez, who answered 厳粛に:
"I think you are charming, Madame. I was admiring your beautiful satin dress, your exquisite furs, your sparkling jewels, your brocade 捕らえる、獲得する and gold braid—and I was thinking what a clever 商売／仕事 woman you must be to be able to earn all these 罰金 things for yourself."
The 未亡人 Bosse laughed and touched her thin curls, 高度に gratified.
"I do やめる 井戸／弁護士席 for myself, it is true," she 誇るd with tipsy self-保証／確信. "A poor woman who's left やめる alone has to, hasn't she? Yes, I do better now than I did when my husband, God keep him, was alive."
"By selling perfumes and soaps, Madame?" asked the young Desgrez, "or by telling fortunes?"
"Fortunes!" echoed the 未亡人 Bosse, and her 発言する／表明する rose to a metallic cackle. "Yes, I tell some pretty fortunes. Come 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and have yours told, my 罰金 young man—or rather—let your wife come!"
"Indeed, I should like to," began Solange, but her husband silenced her with a smiling ちらりと見ること, while he continued, leaning 今後 and speaking to the laughing 未亡人:
"How far can you see into the 未来, Madame, and how many of your 予測s come true?"
"All of them," she said, shaking a fat white finger at him, "all of them! There's no woman who's come to me to complain of her husband who can say I never helped her."
"By the cards?" asked Desgrez with a careless 空気／公表する.
"By what else?" put in Madame Vigoureux. "She tells fortunes, by the cards, by a tray of sand and by a bowl of water. I have been there myself, it is most amusing."
"特に," leered the 未亡人 Bosse, "when a lady turns up spades." She reached out her 手渡す for the dark 瓶／封じ込める of claret, which her 隣人 snatched out of her reach. "I shall soon be able to retire," she 誇るd. "I shall buy myself a ch穰eau in the country and a handsome young husband, and keep a coach and four horses. Yes, three more pretty dears who want to be 未亡人s and my fortune will be made."
The company laughed; everyone save Desgrez and his wife was a little flown by ワイン; Ma?re Perrin, comfortably warmed by food and drink, smiled cosily:
"What nonsense she 会談, La Bosse."
"Nonsense, indeed!" cried the 未亡人, rising. "I tell you I've only got three more poisonings to do and I shall be a very 豊富な woman." She staggered and lurched 支援する into her 議長，司会を務める, clutching at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 辛勝する／優位.
"She せねばならない go home," 抗議するd Madame Vigoureux. "She has had too much to drink and she does not know what she is 説."
"Poisonings, indeed," laughed one of the lawyers. "I sup 提起する／ポーズをとる she is thinking of that filthy syrup she sells that my wife uses for her complexion."
Madame Bosse now began to weep, her 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, fat white 肘s on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, her plump fingers knuckling her 目だつ 注目する，もくろむs. She was a poor honest woman, she 宣言するd, and it was a shame to make a jest of her and to bait her. She did nothing but sell scents, soaps and complexion washes and tell the cards for a few friends.
Madame Vigoureux 慰安d her, and Ma?re Perrin led the conversation to general talk of the extravagances of the 法廷，裁判所, the last arrogance of the 井戸／弁護士席-detested 王室の mistress, Madame de Montespan. Her insolence and her extravagance grew to greater 高さs with every day; she had been the King's favourite for twelve years and her 影響（力） over him seemed greater than ever; it was really astonishing, just as if the woman knew charms or witchcraft! The little people 熱望して gossiped about the 広大な／多数の／重要な people, turning over their 副／悪徳行為s, faults and peculiarities with greedy and spiteful zest.
中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez listened 熱心に. He often discovered a good 取引，協定 of truth in the chaff and スキャンダル and gossip, and it amused him to hear these petty creatures, their tongues 緩和するd by ワインs, exposing their own jealousies and malices by commenting on those of others.
The character of Madame de Montespan, the gorgeous Queen of the Left 手渡す, was torn to pieces without compassion. She was 宣言するd to be old, raddled, venomous, vile-tempered, an adept in making furious scenes, careless in her dress, unclean in her person, a proper witch.
Desgrez smiled to himself; he had seen the lady 運動ing in her golden coach with six white horses through the all馥s of Versailles, and he knew how untrue were these mean 名誉き損，中傷s.
Solange made a little grimace at him behind Ma?re Perrin's 長，率いる; she wished to go home, she did not care for this atmosphere of drunkenness, ugly gossiping, 紅潮／摘発するd 直面するs, raucous 発言する／表明するs; she had had enough of her birthday party; Ma?re Perrin was charming—but some of his friends! Her husband understood, and rose from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.
It took them some time to make excuses and 別れの（言葉，会）s; within half an hour they were out again in the now dark Parisian streets which were lit only by lamps 始める，決める at rare intervals over the house doors. The 勝利，勝つd had 増加するd in strength, a few 減少（する）s of rain fell now and then from the torn, hurrying, invisible clouds.
"There is a stand for 雇うd coaches by the Cathedral," said Desgrez. "We will take one."
Solange 抗議するd against the extravagance, but the young man 主張するd. The streets were not only filthy, but not 安全な after dark.
"You don't want me to be 殺人d trying to 保護する you, do you?" he said, kissing her smooth cheek on which the 勝利，勝つd blew 冷淡な and which the rain wetted.
A shabby 乗り物 was 設立する; the worn-out horse took them slowly homeward; in the foul-smelling 不明瞭 of the worn 内部の Desgrez put his arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his young wife.
"It has been a hateful day for you, my dear. First your pretty dress was 廃虚d, then, your birthday party—井戸／弁護士席, it was not what you should have had, not what I should have wished to have given you. I am sorry I took you there. Ma?re Perrin is not careful enough whom he 招待するs."
"Oh, no," 抗議するd the happy girl, with her 長，率いる against her husband's shoulder. "I was やめる content—indeed, I 設立する it amusing—though perhaps next time we'll make a little feast at home, just the two of us, with a good 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and 瓶／封じ込める of ワイン you have chosen, and dishes that I have cooked, eh, Charles?"
He kissed her again on the forehead where the fair curls fell from beneath the hood; Solange was a handsome young girl, twenty years of age, with that straight, brilliant beauty of her countrywomen which in later years turns to hardness of 輪郭（を描く） and fixity of colouring. The racial likeness between herself and her husband was strong; though they were in no way 関係のある, they might have been cousins. They were alike, too, in character, 冷静な／正味の, 勇敢に立ち向かう, shrewd and 有能な.
"Would you like to do something for me?" whispered Desgrez as the wretched 乗り物 trundled on its way, 揺さぶるing them now together and now apart as it bumped over the Paris 石／投石するs.
"Anything in the world, Charles—of course, you know it."
"井戸／弁護士席, I want you to go to the 未亡人 Bosse and have your fortune told."
"That, surely, is a waste of money," replied Solange disappointed. "I thought you were going to ask something difficult."
"I think this may be difficult before we have finished. I do not want you to go as yourself. You must put on some disguise. As a police officer's wife you will have to become used to such things. I do not think she 観察するd you very 井戸／弁護士席 to day. I have seen her before, have you?"
"No."
"You will be able, perhaps, to alter your 発言する／表明する, your hair—" He paused, thoughtful. "Yes, I should think it can be done. You must go to her, you must make some little 購入（する）, you must ask to have your fortune told."
"Yes, said Solange, when her husband paused. She was impressed by the gravity of his 発言する／表明する.
"It might be a chance for us, I don't know. When she begins to tell the cards you must take your 適切な時期 and do 正確に／まさに as I tell you. We will have a rehearsal so that nothing can go wrong?"
The 未亡人 Bosse sat in her little shop, 断続的に 熟考する／考慮するing her 直面する in a 手渡す-mirror. She had taken a long time making up her complexion, her lips, her 注目する，もくろむs and her hair, and she was by no means displeased with the result. A handsome cape of red fox fur lay across her shoulders; her dress of green cloth was laced with gold across her 幅の広い bosom to where it met her cravat of Mechlin lace.
She was directing a young man with a bilious complexion to tie up some boxes of soap scented with lilac, carnation and rose, and dividing her attention between this 占領／職業 and her own 外見.
The shop bell rang and a young woman stepped lightly up to the 反対する. Madame Bosse was 即時に all smiles and attention. The new-comer was tall, dressed in a cheap, grey, mantle and wore a small complexion mask or vizard; her 手渡すs were gloved and she carried a plain purse without crest or monogram.
Madame Bosse smiled more 概して. She was used to all these 警戒s.
"I should like," said the young woman in a 地方の accent and lowering her 発言する／表明する, "to 購入（する） a flagon of scent. I am tired of orange-flower water—かもしれない you have something a little more novel?"
"Indeed, yes," said La Bosse, rising, "in my little parlour at the 支援する of the shop."
The 顧客 followed Madame Bosse past the 棚上げにするs that were 負担d with tin and lacquer boxes and 瓶／封じ込めるs and jars of majolica ware, into a neat, modest parlour, where a tall window 慎重に curtained with green serge looked on to a small 中庭. A pleasant 解雇する／砲火／射撃 burnt on the hearth, there was a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, some arm-議長，司会を務めるs, a 閣僚, and a cat, curled flat as a winkle just drawn from its 爆撃する, on a cushion.
When the 顧客, who was Solange Desgrez, entered this apartment she felt a little twinge of 狼狽. She did not 大いに care to be alone with La Bosse, who was 堅固に shut ting the door between the parlour and the shop; the young girl, however, soon laughed at her own 恐れるs; her courage was equal to any 緊急, and this was not an 緊急, 単に a slight 当惑. Even if Madame La Bosse 認めるd her, she had a story up her sleeve to account for her disguise; but the fortune-teller showed no 調印する of discovering, in the masked stranger, the wife of the young lieu tenant of Police.
"You perhaps have come for the cards, for the horoscope?" she 示唆するd slyly.
Solange nodded and seated herself at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. She had rehearsed this scene several times with her husband and had her part perfectly by heart; feeling a little amused and a little foolish, she recited the story that she had learnt from Charles Desgrez.
She 宣言するd that she was a 井戸／弁護士席-placed lady, who did not wish to divulge her 指名する, that she was in trouble and pre pared to 支払う／賃金 高度に for any 援助 that the 未亡人 Bosse might give her. She 認める that she was unhappy with her husband, whose affection had 冷静な／正味のd since the 早期に days of their marriage, that he was behaving to her with 不正 and even cruelty, and that she had seen a man whom the 大いに preferred to this disappointing partner.
To her surprise the 未亡人 Bosse seemed to 受託する this story as やめる an ordinary one, nor did she try to 侵入する her （弁護士の）依頼人's disguise; she only asked:
"Who has sent you here, and what makes you think that I can help you?"
To these questions Solange replied: "A lady of some importance has sent me; I do not care to について言及する her 指名する even between ourselves. You understand? She is a penitent at Notre-Dame. Is that 十分な?"
"A penitent at Notre-Dame," repeated the 未亡人 Bosse. "Tell her, then, to be careful."
"Oh," replied Solange, feeling her way through this conversation, which she did not understand, "she is 存在 very careful—and you helped her かなり. Now, will you help me?"
"It will be expensive," replied the fortune-teller coyly.
"Oh, as for that, it does not 事柄. I am 用意が出来ている, of course to 支払う／賃金 高度に—but only on results," 追加するd Solange prudently.
The 未亡人 Bosse smiled, and throwing 負かす／撃墜する the pack of cards she held in her 手渡す, as if they were no longer of any use, said: "Come into the shop with me, and as we are passing through I shall give you a packet of soap balls and a purple phial—this will 含む／封じ込める a love potion, which you must give to your husband. I ask no money now. Come 支援する to me in three days' time and if he is not kinder we will try other means."
With this the 未亡人 Bosse waved her plump 手渡すs in 記念品 of 解雇／（訴訟の）却下, and Solange, feeling that she had wasted her time on a silly frivolity, passed out into the shop, received the soap and phial and then went into the street. As the shop door の近くにd behind her she shuddered from the 爆破 of the March 勝利，勝つd.
Paris looked dark and 暗い／優うつな, with tourelles and towers rising up an アイロンをかける-grey colour against the sky, which appeared like the dappled breast of a grey goose. Solange drew herself closer into her woollen hood and cloak as she crossed the Place du Parvis de Notre-Dame. It was on this wide, sombre square in 前線 of the 広大な／多数の／重要な Cathedral, and surrounded on either 味方する by the river, that 犯罪のs were 遂行する／発効させるd, and as Solange ちらりと見ることd up half in disgust at the 激しい Gothic porch of the Church of Our Lady she thought of the scaffold that had been 築くd there not so long ago, where Madame de Brinvilliers, the poisoner, had been beheaded before her 団体／死体 had been cast into the 炎上s.
A few beggars, mutilated by the wars or disfigured with 病気, はうd by, ぱたぱたするing dark-stained rags; the アイロンをかける-coloured river ran sluggishly under the Pont Henri-Quatre; Solange stifled a sigh for the old, girlhood days at Caen; she did not 悔いる her marriage, but she wished that her husband had another 占領／職業 in another city. She did not know what he was hoping from the errand on which he had sent her to the 未亡人 Bosse's shop, but she 恐れるd that she had wasted her afternoon on a piece of folly and she was half-inclined to take the foolish phial of purple glass out of her bosom and throw it into the sullen 暗い／優うつな river. It probably, she thought, 含む／封じ込めるs nothing but coloured water; she wished, however, to fulfil scrupulously her husband's 指示／教授／教育s, so, hunching her shoulders against the 勝利，勝つd, she turned に向かって their modest apartment.
M. de La Reynie, the 長，指導者 of Police, sat in his offices in the Bastille; this 厳しい, 大規模な building was a 中世 fort, which had been one of the most formidable in Paris; it was still 守備隊d, but used now as a 明言する／公表する 刑務所，拘置所 where the higher class of 違反者／犯罪者s were sent, and as the （警察，軍隊などの）本部 of the Parisian Police, who kept their 古記録s there and transacted most of their 商売／仕事 behind these 厚い, 古代の 塀で囲むs.
M. de La Reynie was a man still young, of majestic 外見, 厳格な，質素な, painstaking, of unimpeachable 正直さ; he sat in a plain closet lined with 棚上げにするs, on which were とじ込み／提出するs, 調書をとる／予約するs, locked 事例／患者s of papers. He was 厳しく but fastidiously dressed and his 直面する had an eager look.
In the light space of the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する window embrasure sat two clerks copying out dossiers; before the 長，指導者 of Police stood the young 中尉／大尉／警部補, Charles Desgrez, who was so insignificant and so newly come to Paris that M. de La Reynie had never heard of him before.
It had been with some difficulty that the young 中尉／大尉／警部補 had 得るd this interview, but now that at last he stood be fore the 広大な／多数の／重要な man he 設立する that he was received with 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な and courteous attention; he did not know that, before he had been received into his presence M. de La Reynie had made careful enquiries as to his background, character and work.
M. de La Reynie ちらりと見ることd now with 是認 at the 罰金, strong 人物／姿／数字, clean, 正確な features and 警報 grey 注目する，もくろむs of Charles Desgrez.
"I need not tell you to be 簡潔な／要約する, Desgrez."
"I shall give you the 必須のs of my story, Monsieur, in the fewest possible words, but I think we should be alone." Desgrez smiled に向かって' the two industrious copyists in the window embrasure.
"They are confidential men," replied La Reynie a little surprised. "But you may, if you like, lower your 発言する／表明する. Take this 議長，司会を務める opposite me and lean 今後 across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する."
Desgrez obeyed 即時に, and began speaking 明確に and 速く.
"A 確かな Ma?re Perrin gave a dinner-party for my wife on her birthday. There was a woman there whom I have met before at his house, a Madame La Bosse, a 未亡人. She keeps a perfumer's shop and tells fortunes. After she had had too much to drink, she began to 誇る that three poisonings would make her rich. No one took any notice of this, it was thought to be a jest. You know, that since the Brinvilliers 事例／患者 people have やめる had their 長，率いるs turned by the 支配する of 毒（薬）ing. 井戸／弁護士席, I thought the 事柄 over. As a police officer it had come to my ears that the priests of Notre-Dame had 報告（する）／憶測d that a large number of their penitents （刑事）被告 themselves of 殺人ing their husbands by 毒（薬）ing. You did not, I think, Monsieur, attach any importance to that?"
"非，不，無," replied La Reynie. "These gabbling, idling hysterical women will 告発する／非難する themselves of anything. After the Brinvilliers 事件／事情／状勢 it is almost a fashion to be a poisoner."
"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席," smiled Desgrez, "that, of course, is as you say, Monsieur. Yet it （機の）カム into my 長，率いる to make a little 実験（する）. I sent my wife to this La Bosse with the excuse of buying soaps and perfumes. I gave her a little tale to recite, she learnt it by heart. She soon induced La Bosse to tell her fortune and other nonsense like that. Then she 知らせるd her that she was unhappily married, that her husband was unkind to her, that she was in love with another man. This on the first interview. The 未亡人 gave her a little purple 瓶／封じ込める 含む／封じ込めるing some fluid supposed to be a love charm. I sent this to Lecoine, the 化学者／薬剤師, to be analysed. He 設立する that it 含む／封じ込めるd water, a little sugar, a little laudanum. After three days, as arranged, my wife returned to La Bosse. She said that the charm had been of no use, that her husband was more detestable than ever—speaking, of course, Monsieur, as I had 教えるd her. The woman then asked for her money. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 thirty gold louis d'or."
As this large sum was 指名するd, La Reynie looked 熱心に into the 意図 注目する，もくろむs of the young 中尉／大尉／警部補.
"Yes, Monsieur, that is the enormous price she asked. 井戸／弁護士席, it happened that I was in 所有／入手 of a piece of 価値のある jewellery. I had ーするつもりであるd to sell this and use the money for my wife's 利益. I did sell it, and I gave my wife these thirty gold pieces to return for a third time to La Bosse and ask her yet again for 救済 from her husband."
The young man paused a second, leant closer across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and lowered his 発言する／表明する again. La Reynie nodded to him to continue.
"This time, without the least difficulty, La Bosse took the money and gave my wife a small, white flat 瓶／封じ込める very securely corked. She told her to give this to her husband in three separate doses, on no account to touch it herself or 許す anyone else to do so, else the charm would not work. I sent this also to Lecoine. Here is his 報告（する）／憶測, here are the two 瓶／封じ込めるs."
Charles Desgrez put his 手渡す in his pocket and brought out a purple phial, a small, flat white 瓶／封じ込める and a piece of paper 調印するd and 調印（する）d by the 化学者／薬剤師, Jules Lecoine.
"You see, he says it is a 解答 of sublimate of pure arsenic, 十分な to kill ten people—so that is the way in which La Bosse encourages her （弁護士の）依頼人s to get rid of their husbands."
Without speaking the 長，指導者 of Police read the 化学者／薬剤師's 報告（する）／憶測 and 診察するd the two 瓶／封じ込めるs.
"You will see, Monsieur," continued the young 中尉／大尉／警部補, "that there is still half the 解答 left. You may, if you like, have it analysed yourself."
"This is scarcely," said La Reynie in a low トン, "to be believed. Your wife 得るd the 毒（薬） as easily as that?"
"Yes. The inference is that the woman has a 繁栄するing 商売／仕事—she is so used to purveying this 毒（薬） that she does so without the least hesitation. She feels sure that 非，不，無 of these women will betray her. Indeed, how can they do so without betraying themselves? As you yourself know, Monsieur," 追加するd the young スパイ／執行官 of Police with a touch of 勝利 in his 発言する／表明する, "even the priests' talk of what has been told them in the confessional has been 無視（する）d, and no one as yet has tried to 調査／捜査する the 支配する."
"That is true, Desgrez. It is, also, I think, a rebuke to me," replied the 長，指導者 of Police 厳粛に. "But I never thought such 事柄s possible. I believed that with Brinvilliers we had stamped out all this question of 毒（薬）. Yes, I have been blind. I did not think this was going on in Paris. Where do they get this stuff? It comes from Italy?"
"One would have to 調査／捜査する, Monsieur, and very carefully. You accounted for Madame de Brinvilliers' 共犯者s, I think, Monsieur?"
"Yes, the Italian, Exili, died in the Bastille, where he was on another 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金. Sainte Croix, the young Gascon adventurer, who was her lover and who undoubtedly 供給（する）d her with the 毒（薬）, was 設立する dead, you remember, in his 研究室／実験室. His glass mask had slipped and some poisonous ガス／煙s had killed him."
"Yes, Monsieur, it was through the letters 設立する in his casket on that occasion that she was 逮捕（する）d, was it not?"
"Yes," replied the 長，指導者 of Police. "We never could find that the 事件／事情／状勢 went any その上の. Sainte Croix met Exili in the Bastille—Exili was an Italian and had learnt his tricks at the 法廷，裁判所 of the Vatican. He had been in the 雇う of Madame Olympe, the ローマ法王's niece. We never could find anyone else connected with the 事件／事情／状勢. We thought that we had rooted it all out."
"Your 容赦, Monsieur, but I do not think so. I do not believe that this woman Bosse is an 孤立するd 事例／患者. The fact that she can so easily and so carelessly sell 毒（薬）s to a stranger, caring for nothing but a high price, shows that the 貿易（する） is going on shamelessly, almost 率直に, in the 暗黒街."
"There have been no mysterious 罪，犯罪s lately," 発言／述べるd M. de La Reynie 厳粛に, frowning 負かす／撃墜する at the little 瓶／封じ込める of 毒（薬）. "No one has disappeared, nor has anyone been 設立する dead, there have been no （民事の）告訴s by relations or 相続人s of sudden and 怪しげな deaths."
"No, Monsieur," replied the young police スパイ／執行官, "but who can tell how many deaths that have seemed natural have in truth not been so? I believe that one who dies by this subtle 毒（薬）ing has the symptoms of an ordinary 病気, and you will remember that Madame de Brinvilliers practised her arts on the 患者s in the hospital where she 行為／法令／行動するd as a Sister of Charity. Who then 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd that these people who died under her 手渡す had been 毒（薬）d?"
La Reynie sat silent and put his 手渡すs over his tired 注目する，もくろむs in the 態度 of a man before whom a terrifying prospect had been opened.
Was it possible, he asked himself, that this peculiarly atrocious form of 罪，犯罪 was corrupting all Paris and he knew nothing of it?
He felt alarmed and ashamed; this deadly 毒（薬） so mysterious, so difficult to trace, then, could be bought やめる easily, almost 率直に, in Paris; there must be a （犯罪の）一味 of scoundrels and their dupes in the horrible 商売／仕事. That it could be used easily he knew too 井戸／弁護士席 from the Brinvilliers 事例／患者, as Desgrez had reminded him; doctors were 権力のない to discover the symptoms, and how 非常に／多数の would be the 適切な時期s! In the familiarity of 国内の life a woman could 毒（薬） her father, her husband, her brother, her sister, her child without 誘発するing any 疑惑...The 長，指導者 of Police said aloud, though under his breath: "The women—always the women! Desgrez—it is the women! They are kept so の近くに, they lead unnatural lives, almost like 囚人s—they have lively passions and no means of 表明するing them. And very often their husbands or their fathers are cruel. 井戸／弁護士席 they take the only 武器 to their 手渡す. It seems that we may find it is a 武器 that has been used very 自由に."
M. La Reynie called out suddenly to one of the copyists in the window: "Masson, bring me すぐに the dossier of a 確かな 未亡人 Bosse, who lives at the 調印する of 'The Lily マリファナ' in the rue de Saint-Pierre 近づく the Parvis de Notre-Dame."
The clerk, a thin, 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な man, rose 即時に and left the room. La Reynie turned to Desgrez.
"You shall be paid the money you gave this woman. Tell me what else I can do for you. It seems to me that I am much 強いるd to you."
A 罰金 colour stained the young man's （疑いを）晴らす features.
"The only favour I ask," he said, and he could hardly keep the 切望 from his 発言する／表明する, "is that I may be permitted to have a 手渡す in the 調査 of this 事件／事情／状勢."
"Who better ふさわしい?" replied the 長，指導者 of Police.
"Many, I daresay," replied the young man modestly. "I have not had much experience. But I am ambitious, newly married—"
"Your wife must be a 勇敢に立ち向かう, clever woman," put in the 長，指導者 of Police kindly.
"Yes, she is, but I do not know that what she did 要求するd much courage. She would always be at our service if there was something that a woman alone could do."
"She certainly managed this little 事件／事情／状勢 very 井戸／弁護士席, and if I can do anything—"
"That, Monsieur, is all I 要求する, 許可 to 補助装置 in any 調査 you may 請け負う."
"You have that, of course," replied La Reynie, "but for a moment I do not know how to 行為／法令／行動する. To 逮捕（する） this La Bosse would be to 原因（となる） 疑惑 の中で a wide circle of 犯罪のs; it is better to have her watched, notice who her （弁護士の）依頼人s are and discover all we can about her."
"一方／合間, if Monsieur 許すs the comment," said Desgrez drily, "several more 犠牲者s may be sent on the way to heaven."
Before M. de La Reynie could answer, the copyist, Masson, returned with the dossier of the 未亡人 Bosse. In this police 登録（する） she was 述べるd as a Proven軋l who had come from Marseilles six years ago; at first she had been 雇うd in making hat and bonnet 形態／調整s, then she had opened a little shop for the sale of perfumery and soaps. She 得るd the 資本／首都 to do this by a 貸付金 from a lover, a married man 指名するd Bax, a wool-merchant in a small way. He still visited her and was supposed to have a 株 in the 商売／仕事. She was 公正に／かなり respectable and had never given any trouble to the 法律.
"You see," 発言／述べるd M. de La Reynie when he had ちらりと見ることd over this dossier, "nothing very much is known about her, 簡単に because no one has troubled with her. We must find out a little more."
That evening Desgrez, 事実上の／代理 on 指示／教授／教育s from the 長，指導者 of Police, took one of his men—a fellow Norman 指名するd. Clement, whom he 完全に 信用d—and 始める，決める out to watch the house of the 未亡人 Bosse. It was a 嵐の night; 冷淡な rain fell with each gust of 勝利，勝つd; the filthy water of the swollen gutters 洪水d, making the streets almost impassable; the rain 急ぐd along the gutters in the 前線 of the h?els and fell in cascades from the spouts at the corners. There were few people abroad.
Solange had watched her husband go on his errand with much trepidation; since the 発見 that the second phial that Madame Bosse had sold her 含む／封じ込めるd 毒（薬）, she had felt most uneasy, and wished that her husband had not em barked upon the 事件／事情／状勢 which he told her enthusiastically would end in fame and fortune for both of them. Solange had been ambitious and had 願望（する）d, more for her husband's sake than her own, success and the rewards of success. But now that her Charles had discovered so suddenly and 突然に this horrible mystery, she would have wished him to draw 支援する. Nor was she consoled by the little 捕らえる、獲得する of gold pieces that he put triumphantly into her 手渡すs; this 代表するd the money, part of the price of the sapphire bracelet, which she had expended in "The Lily マリファナ," and which had been 即時に repaid by M. de La Reynie.
"You can now, my dear, buy yourself two or three 罰金 dresses," he had said as he kissed her good-bye.
But Solange had not felt any 利益／興味 in new 着せる／賦与するs, or even in the handsome sum of money locked away in the metal coffer under her bed. She pulled aside the serge curtains from the high casement; she did not dare open the window—the 嵐／襲撃する 勝利，勝つd was too high—but through the diamond panes of glass peered 負かす／撃墜する into the street below and watched her husband and his man, ひどく cloaked and looking like ordinary 国民s, pass along the 狭くする street so dimly lit by the oil lamp whose 炎上 ぱたぱたするd in the 涙／ほころびing 勝利，勝つd.
M. de la Reynie had 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd that Madame Bosse received some of her more 価値のある and more 深く，強烈に 巻き込むd （弁護士の）依頼人s in the evening or even at night, and when the two men reached the rue de Saint-Pierre they were pleased to see a faint light 燃やすing in the 屈服する-window of the perfumer's shop; the shuttered 住居s either 味方する were in 不明瞭.
Keeping 井戸／弁護士席 in the 影をつくる／尾行する on the opposite 味方する of the road, Desgrez 観察するd these houses for the first time. Fearful of 誘発するing the 未亡人's 疑惑s, he had not been 近づく the place while his wife was making her visits there; now he 公式文書，認めるd, as closely as he could, the whole neighbourhood.
The little crooked, winding street was lit by four lamps. One was やめる の近くに to the perfumer's shop, so Desgrez was able to see that these 隣人ing houses were empty, or had every 外見 of 存在 so; the shutters were の近くにd across the windows, the doors were shut and had the 外見 of not having been opened for a long time, since the metalwork on them was unpolished and ひどく splashed with street dirt; no 調印するs hung out.
In the 未亡人 Bosse's dossier the police had 公式文書，認めるd that she let out the rooms above her shop, but Desgrez could see no 調印する that this was true; the windows that gave on the street at least were all shuttered and had no hint of life; but in the little shop itself the lantern light gleamed dully through the square panes of glass.
"井戸／弁護士席," whispered Desgrez to Clement, "I do not think that we shall see much to-night—the 天候 is too foul for even one on a bad errand to be abroad."
So keen, however, was his curious 利益／興味 in the 事柄 he had taken in 手渡す that he could not bring himself to leave すぐに, but にもかかわらず the 勝利，勝つd and rain, continued walking up and 負かす／撃墜する, keeping his 注目する，もくろむs on the dimly lit shop-前線.
He was soon and 突然に rewarded. The door of "The Lily マリファナ" opened with a little tinkle of the shop bell; there was a glimpse of the 未亡人 Bosse in a grey satin dress 持つ／拘留するing up a lantern, the light of which fell on her plump, 紅潮／摘発するd and smiling 直面する. A man, ひどく cloaked, stepped out. The door was shut, there was the sound of bolts 存在 drawn, the light in the shop went out.
"I suppose," said Desgrez to his man, "that is only the lover, our friend the wool-merchant, Bax. But let us follow him."
The man turned unhesitatingly 負かす／撃墜する the street に向かって the Cathedral and the river, and the two police スパイ／執行官s followed him at a careful distance. This 肉親，親類d of 跡をつけるing was not 平易な in the 孤独 of the streets, where even a footfall echoed distinctly in the emptiness and silence.
But Desgrez and his man contrived to keep the stranger 井戸／弁護士席 in 見解（をとる） by creeping along softly in the 影をつくる／尾行するs, dodging the lights of the street lamps and hiding under the 不明瞭 of balconies and in the 黒人／ボイコット 休会s of doorways.
Desgrez had taken the 演説（する）／住所 of Bax, the wool-merchant, who lived in a modest house 近づく the University. This, then, was either not he or he was not going home, for he turned に向かって the 橋（渡しをする） which crossed the river. The 軍隊 of the rain 少なくなるd with the rising of the 勝利，勝つd, which howled with a melancholy intensity 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the corners of the houses and along the wet, dark, desolate streets. After half an hour's laborious 跡をつけるing the two policemen saw the man whom they 追求するd turn 負かす／撃墜する a cul-de-sac and pause before the door of a garden 塀で囲む at the end.
This part of Paris was not very 井戸／弁護士席 known to Desgrez and he was not やめる sure where he was; beyond the fact that this was a blind alley (he could not see the 指名する up anywhere) of respectable-looking houses ending in this high brick 塀で囲む, he knew nothing of his どの辺に. Above the 塀で囲む the 勝利，勝つd shook to and fro straight upright boughs of leafless poplar trees, dimly discernible in the flickering light of the horn lantern that hung above the sunken garden door.
This ragged 照明 also fell over the stranger, who appeared to be 吸収するd in getting out his 重要な; Desgrez with Clement behind him, crouched in the portico of the silent house at the end of the 行き詰まり; he ーするつもりであるd, as soon as the man had entered the garden, to climb the 塀で囲む and follow him; 一方／合間, he was 熱心に memorizing the stranger's 外見. There was, however, little peculiar to be discerned in the ひどく cloaked 人物／姿／数字 with the 幅の広い-leaved hat drawn 負かす／撃墜する to the 倍のs of the mantle, only that the man was tall, 井戸／弁護士席 built and appeared young, at least no more than middle 老年の.
"He is a long time getting his 重要な, Monsieur," whispered Clement.
"I think he knows we are here," replied Desgrez with his 手渡す on his ピストル. "Look out. I do not suppose he would care to 取り組む us 選び出す／独身-手渡すd or even to attract attention to him self by a fight. He is wondering how to slip away."
As they whispered in the doorway the stranger, with an exclamation of annoyance as if he could not find his 重要な, suddenly struck with his knuckles three times, with a pause, and then again three times, upon the door in the garden 塀で囲む. This signal was almost 即時に answered. The door was opened from within; instead of passing through, the stranger said in a loud 発言する／表明する:
"I am followed—in that portico there."
Desgrez 即時に blew the whistle he carried, to 召喚する at need help from the Watch and the City police, and 前進するd, followed by Clement from the doorway; he was unable, how ever, to put himself in an 態度 of defence before he was 圧倒するd by what seemed to him, in that grey, uncertain light splashed with rain, a （人が）群がる of 飛行機で行くing 形態／調整s. He felt a 厳しい 苦痛 on the 寺, then his senses slid into 不明瞭.
A strange 発言する／表明する roused Charles Desgrez. He opened his 注目する，もくろむs, looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, quickly remembered his circumstances and his adventures, and saw that he was in a modest room, plainly furnished and lit by two candles stuck into cheap sticks placed on a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する on which were some glasses, a 瓶／封じ込める of ワイン and a flask of eau-de-争う. Two strangers, both 穏やかな-seeming 年輩の men, were looking at him with an 空気／公表する of 関心; both wore rather shabby dressing-gowns and nightcaps. One of them had a roll of linen plaster in his 手渡す.
Desgrez smiled, touched his 長，率いる and 設立する that it had been 包帯d.
"I have to thank you, it seems, for timely 援助, gentle men," he said; he ちらりと見ることd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する again and was much re 保証するd on seeing Clement seated inside the door.
"Yes, yes, indeed," nodded the gentleman who held the 包帯s. "I am Doctor Rabel. This is P鑽e Davout."
He smiled at his companion, a stout, flabby man of fifty or so whose fringe of white hair stuck out in comical fashion underneath his cotton sleeping-cap. "We are two old bachelors and we 株 this house between us."
Desgrez rose; he felt わずかに sick and giddy, but had him self almost 即時に under self-支配（する）／統制する.
"Yes," 発言／述べるd the fussy priest, with a 肉親，親類d of nervous 切望, "we heard your whistle—it woke us. We ran to the 前線 door, both of us together. You see, we have no servant who sleeps in the house; we 設立する you and your friend in the doorway. It seems that you have been the 犠牲者 of some scuffle, some quarrel, perhaps. Oh, the streets! Paris is not 安全な for decent people, as I always say!"
"I am a police officer," said Desgrez 簡潔に. "This is my assistant." He nodded に向かって Clement, who 持続するd a taciturn 態度. "We were patrolling the street when we saw someone whom I took to be a 怪しげな character. We followed him here, at least, I suppose that it was in the door of your house that we were hiding."
"I suppose so," agreed Doctor Rabel with a vague smile. "It was in our porch we 設立する you. A 怪しげな character in our 平和的な cul-de-sac? Why, this little alley, Monsieur, is 占領するd almost 完全に by doctors and students of the University."
At this Desgrez 関係のある 簡潔に his adventure; this was met by 抗議するs from both the priest and the doctor, who remained standing 味方する by 味方する, looking rather ridiculous in their night attire.
"But no one can have a 重要な to that garden gate, Monsieur, and no one can be lurking behind it! There is a house there that has been empty for years and must be almost 完全に uninhabitable by now, save by spiders, bats, ネズミs and mice. Everyone knows what a 静かな, respectable place the 行き詰まり des Fleurs is!"
The old priest laughed as he spoke, as if he had made a good joke.
"No, no, you were attacked by footpads, no 疑問," said Dr. Rabel, "but not by anyone who was knocking at that garden gate nor by anyone who （機の）カム through it!"
"Perhaps not," replied Desgrez drily. "We will 調査／捜査する by daylight. I have now, gentlemen, to thank you for your 援助. I am afraid I have broken your night's repose and I hope I have not been unconscious a long while."
"A 事柄, perhaps, of an hour and a half," said the Doctor with an amiable smile. "Will you take a little refreshment before you go? 事故s of this 肉親，親類d are my 商売／仕事—I am used to 存在 召喚するd at night. I work at the H?el Dieu."
"No, no, thank you, Doctor, I feel perfectly 井戸／弁護士席 now, but if you will give me a little （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about this 砂漠d house at the end—"
"Why, certainly, certainly, but I know very little about it; though I have lived here for several years, no one has ever taken any 利益／興味 in the house at the end of the 行き詰まり. I believe it used to be, perhaps a hundred years ago, やめる a かなりの mansion, but then the grounds were sold and these houses built upon them. The place itself became old-fashioned and was considered inconvenient—nobody would buy it or live in it and so it fell into disrepair. I believe that it is an 完全に uninteresting old house."
Desgrez, signalling to the silent Clement, took his leave; and the 穏やかな-looking old priest, still 表明するing 関心 at the police スパイ／執行官's 事故, 屈服するd them out of the room with many good wishes, while the doctor, 持つ／拘留するing aloft one of his candles, …を伴ってd them to the 前線 door. He was 極端に frank, even voluble.
"My 指名する is Rabel, Antoine Rabel. I …に出席する every day at the H?el Dieu. I lecture, too, at the Sorbonne. This is my 私的な 住居, the fourth house 負かす／撃墜する the 行き詰まり des Fleurs, though I don't think," he 追加するd with a little throaty laugh, "you will find many flowers 負かす／撃墜する here! But perhaps in that （土地などの）細長い一片 of neglected garden at the end there still are a few blooming, and all that we have ever seen," he 追加するd, shading his candle from the 勝利，勝つd as the door was opened, "are those poplar trees, and I 保証する you they are rather tiresome—特に on a 風の強い night. They make such a melancholy sighing sound."
The door の近くにd upon the nightcapped doctor and his candle; the rain had 中止するd to 落ちる and the sickly light of a 十分な moon fell over the sombre 行き詰まり des Fleurs.
Desgrez felt weak; he leant upon his assistant's arm.
"What do you make of that, Clement? What happened?"
His man could tell him little; some men, certainly three or four men, had 現れるd from the garden door and fallen upon them; in the fight that 続いて起こるd he believed that he, Clement, had 負傷させるd two or three of them; Desgrez had been struck almost すぐに with the butt end of a ピストル, Clement supposed; then all had disappeared, and while he was dragging his unconscious officer to the 避難所 of the nearest porch the door had opened and Doctor Rabel in dressing-gown and slippers had come out, with the 空気／公表する of one 乱すd by the fracas in the street.
"They did, Monsieur, of course, all that could be 推定する／予想するd of respectable 国民s—and yet somehow—"
"Somehow what?" asked Desgrez はっきりと.
"I don't know," replied his assistant doubtfully. "My 疑惑s are too 罰金 to be put into words. It's a queer story about that 砂漠d house, they seemed very anxious for us to think that no one could ever go there—foolish of them since what we saw, we saw with our own 注目する，もくろむs. Now, Monsieur, let us get out of this place. You are in no 明言する／公表する to withstand another attack."
The man 追加するd 残念に, as he helped his officer over the cobbles, "I am sorry, Monsieur, that you told them we were police スパイ／執行官s—there was nothing about our dress to betray us and I was careful not to let them know who we were."
"Perhaps it was stupid of me—yes, I should not have said that. My mind was not （疑いを）晴らす, I was a little giddy from the blow. Yes, perhaps it was foolish. You can go home with me, Clement, and then 直接／まっすぐに to the Bastille. Tell M. de La Reynie what has happened to-night. Give it him as my 広告 副／悪徳行為—though no 疑問 it is impertinent of me to give advice—that La Bosse should be 逮捕（する）d すぐに. I will wait on him myself to-day when I have 安心させるd my wife as to my safety. Listen! what was that? A coach, at this time of night, and in this 天候, in this ４半期/4分の1 of the town?"
The two men had reached the 入り口 into the 行き詰まり; a street of dingy houses mostly let out in apartments lay in 前線 of them; at the corner of the 行き詰まり, now 明らかにする／漏らすd by the moon, and unnoticed by them before, was an 古代の statue of a 女性（の） saint; the tall 石／投石する 人物／姿／数字 much defaced by time and 天候 was transfixed by a 石／投石する dagger, the hilt of which appeared above the bosom; the 直面する was thrown 支援する with a distorted 表現 of agony, which appeared dreadful in the colourless moonlight.
At the sound of the coach wheels Desgrez and his assistant withdrew into the 影をつくる／尾行する of this 暗い／優うつな and 悪意のある-looking statue. 保護物，者ing their 直面するs with their cloaks and standing motionless they 観察するd a small, light and 流行の／上流の coach, without, as far as they could see, any 武器 or trappings, drawn by a dark horse, come up the shabby street. The moon light fell 明確に on the driver and showed him to be a young Negro or Moor wearing neither livery nor cockade, but a plain grey habit.
At the 入り口 to the 行き詰まり this equipage, which was 訴訟／進行 very slowly, stopped; the door opened and a woman descended. Impulsively, without waiting for 援助 or for the foot-残り／休憩（する） to be put 負かす／撃墜する, she stepped into the muddy roadway. A gust of icy 勝利，勝つd blew aside her 黒人／ボイコット cloak and showed a grey satin gown, moulded by the 勝利，勝つd to the 形態／調整 of long 四肢s, and a square-toed grey shoe with a knot of blue 略章s; a 罰金 黒人／ボイコット 隠す was passed over her 長，率いる and knotted over her 直面する so closely that it was impossible to discern her features. It was, however, 平易な to see that she was in a 明言する／公表する of strong emotion; utterly 関わりなく the place, the 天候 or the time, she 新たな展開d her 手渡すs together, and つまずくing 今後 through the mud, hurried to 区s the 入り口 to the 行き詰まり des Fleurs.
She was 即時に followed by a 井戸／弁護士席-dressed man of more than middle age who wore a mask; he 急いでd after the young woman, put his arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her and with 広大な／多数の／重要な agitation 演説（する）／住所d to her words of 激励. Some of these the two police スパイ／執行官s could hear distinctly; they were: "Jacquetta, it will soon be over and then you will be 解放する／自由な and happy!"
"Monsieur, shall we follow them?" whispered Clement.
"No," said Desgrez, though against his own inclination. "It would be stupid for us to be imprudent now. Besides, it may be some very ordinary though ugly intrigue. You and I know what goes on in Paris, Clement. I wish we could follow the carriage, but see, it is already out of sight."
Indeed, while they were looking after the couple who had passed into the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the 行き詰まり, the little coach driven by the Negro had disappeared along the crooked street, which was 十分な of 影をつくる／尾行するs.
The young police スパイ／執行官 was shrewd and hard-長，率いるd, not given to imagination or fantasy, but even his （疑いを）晴らす mind had been touched by a vague, indefinable sense of horror by this last 出来事/事件. There was something in the sincere despair and terror of the 隠すd girl, in the grim agitation of her companion, in their sudden 外見 in this dreary 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, in the small dark equipage driven by the Negro, that had the 空気／公表する of an evil dream.
Charles Desgrez, though he laughed at himself for the feeling, could almost have imagined the whole scene to have been hallucination produced by the blow on his 長，率いる. Yet, as he had said to Clement, he knew 井戸／弁護士席 enough what went on in Paris after dark, a thousand and one intrigues and 悲劇s that were by no means his 商売／仕事, that did not come within the 範囲 of the 法律.
But as he and Clement turned に向かって his own home, he could not resist connecting the 脅すd girl and her masked companion with the 砂漠d house behind the garden 塀で囲む, with the attack on himself, with the man whom he had 跡をつけるd from "The Lily マリファナ" and with the 未亡人 Bosse and her 貿易（する） in 毒（薬）s; he felt baffled and disheartened by the dark silence of the sleeping city.
When 中尉／大尉／警部補 Charles Desgrez 報告（する）／憶測d himself to M. de La Reynie at his offices in the Bastille he 設立する the 長，指導者 of Police disappointed and serious.
"Desgrez, the woman has gone. Though I sent 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to this 'Lily マリファナ' almost as soon as Clement made his 報告（する）／憶測, she had fled. She must have been 警告するd during the night. Not a trace of her! The houses either 味方する are unoccupied, the other people in the street know nothing or will say nothing. Bax, the wool-merchant, has disappeared too. His wife says that he has been two weeks away in Flanders on his 商売／仕事—that is probably a 嘘（をつく）, I cannot 実験（する） it yet. She, too, of course, knows nothing." La Reynie shrugged his shoulders. "The 事件／事情／状勢 looks serious to me. I heard Clement's story of last night. Both Doctor Rabel and Father Davout are beyond reproach. They have been 井戸／弁護士席-known, 井戸／弁護士席-行為／行うd 国民s for years." La Reynie opened his 手渡すs and let them 落ちる upon the desk. "What they told you of this empty house, which so 誘発するd your 疑惑s, is true. We will have the place watched, of course, but it would be 極端に difficult, almost impossible, for any 犯罪のs to make a rendez-vous of this place so 近づく to the 住居 of respectable people—whose bona fides we cannot 疑問—like Doctor Rabel and Father Davout."
"Monsieur," asked Desgrez 熱心に, "you are not going to 減少（する） the 事件／事情／状勢, are you? We have only just begun. I feel that we have our finger on a thread which, if followed, may lead to important 発見s."
"No, no," replied the 長，指導者 of Police at once, "that this woman has fled, that Bax cannot be 設立する, these facts are enough in themselves. Then the attack on you last night—that might have nothing to do with the main 商売／仕事 I 自白する," he 追加するd with a smile, "that I am, for a moment, at a loss, baffled."
"Nothing 設立する in the 未亡人 Bosse's shop?"
"A number of empty jars, drawers, boxes and feminine frippery of no account. There was not a 麻薬 or 薬／医学 in the place—everything has been （疑いを）晴らすd out—burnt, I should think, by the look of the fireplaces."
"I have been clumsy," said Desgrez in a トン of 広大な／多数の／重要な vexation. "I should not have 誘発するd this wretch's 疑惑. Yet it was only the Doctor and the Priest, whose characters you say are irreproachable, whom I told last night that I was 大（公）使館員d to the police."
"The man who attacked you, if he was an 共犯者 of La Bosse, probably 認めるd you."
"I do not see how that is possible. He was in 前線 of us all the way. He could only have 設立する out by a backward ちらりと見ること or so that he was 存在 followed. There was nothing on us to betray who we were."
La Reynie shrugged his shoulders. "井戸／弁護士席, the woman's 疑惑 was 誘発するd somehow, she managed to 警告する her lover. She must have had some hours in which to 準備する her flight, for she has left nothing 怪しげな behind her, not so much as a 捨てる of paper, and 絶対 no 手がかり（を与える） as to her どの辺に. Of course, we shall do the best we can to 跡をつける her. The frontiers will be watched and the boats to England. I shall have my 注目する，もくろむ on the Netherlands too. You remember it was to Flanders that Madame de Brinvilliers escaped." With a sudden change of トン M. de La Reynie 追加するd briskly: "Desgrez, I have another 事件／事情／状勢 for you." He raised his 罰金 手渡すs from above a letter on his desk. "This was brought me by a special messenger from the Louvre this morning. You know that the King, much as he dislikes the place, is in 住居 there for a short while."
"Yes," said Desgrez, surprised and rather disappointed at this turn of 事件／事情／状勢s.
"The 推論する／理由," 追加するd the 長，指導者 of Police with impassive 発言する／表明する and 直面する, "why His Majesty stays in the Louvre, is that Mademoiselle de Fontanges, in whom His Majesty takes a かなりの 利益／興味, is ill. She is not fit to be moved to Versailles or Fontainebleau or Marli, so the King 延期するs in Paris while the best doctors from the Sorbonne …に出席する the young lady."
Charles Desgrez was not very much 利益／興味d; he remained silent, still thinking over the events of last night, which 大いに exasperated him.
"This poor young girl's illness has been 複雑にするd by a 悲劇 that has overtaken one of her favourite maids," continued La Reynie, "an Italian girl, who was her constant companion. This girl, going out alone this morning to the Orangery to 選ぶ some flowers and fruit for her mistress, was attacked by some mysterious malefactors. She was discovered in a dying 条件 a few hours later by her father. She was taken at once to her apartment, but for a long while was unconscious. Now she is able to speak, I understand, but can give very little account of this horrible 事件／事情／状勢. They say she has only a few hours to live." La Reynie raised his hazel 注目する，もくろむs and gazed 直接／まっすぐに at the young policeman, who 即時に be （機の）カム 警報. "This girl's 指名する is Jacquetta Malipiero."
"Ah!" exclaimed Desgrez under his breath.
"The King is much 乱すd by this 犯罪の 事件／事情／状勢," continued M. de La Reynie 静かに, "which, of course," he 追加するd emphatically, "is wholly mysterious. I waited on the King 早期に this morning and heard an account of this 商売／仕事 from His Majesty's own lips. His Majesty, you will understand, is 主として 関心d with the 影響 on Mademoiselle de Fontanges. He is, Desgrez, and this is truly important, infatuated with that unfortunate young lady, who is 極端に stupid and not even very beautiful."
"What, then, is the attraction, for a Prince like the King?" asked Desgrez with an accent almost of contempt.
"You must understand," said M. de La Reynie 厳粛に, "if you are to 補助装置 me in what I think is going to be a very difficult 商売／仕事, that the King's feeling for Mademoiselle de Fontanges is a feeling for a ghost, a 感情, a faded rose, a memory of yesterday. In 簡潔な／要約する, this young lady is like, in looks and in character, Mademoiselle Louise de La Valli鑽e who, nearly twelve years ago, left His Majesty to go into a convent. It is 井戸／弁護士席 known," 追加するd the 長，指導者 of Police drily, "that the King always loved that lady, who was good and loyal and who has repented her fault in loving him with years of penitence."
"Why did he let her go, then?" asked Desgrez bluntly.
"Madame de Montespan saw to that," smiled Monsieur de La Reynie. "She contrived, God, or rather the Devil, knows how, to 勝利，勝つ the King 完全に. You know how many years she has held him. You can imagine her feelings now, when she sees him turning to Mademoiselle de Fontanges. Ah, 井戸／弁護士席, this is 非，不，無 of our 商売／仕事, but it is 井戸／弁護士席 you should know the 明言する／公表する of 事件／事情／状勢s."
M. de La Reynie rose, and Desgrez got to his feet.
"I want you to go to the Louvre to 調査／捜査する this extra ordinary attack upon Mademoiselle Malipiero. These are your 指示／教授／教育s."
Desgrez did not 試みる／企てる to disguise from his wife the importance and difficulty of the work upon which he was engaged, or the 近づく escape from death he had had in the attack made on him in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs; nor did she 乱す him by 恐れるs or lamentations. Since she had married him and come to Paris she had known the nature of his work and what she was likely to have to 直面する; she permitted herself only one sigh: "I wish I had not helped you to enter into this unhappy 商売／仕事!"
Then, with her 長，率いる 残り／休憩（する）ing on his shoulder and his arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her waist, she asked him one favour; it was much the same as the favour that he had asked M. de La Reynie.
"Will you, Charles, if there is ever a chance, 許す me to help you?"
Desgrez looked 真面目に at his young wife. "I did not bring you to Paris, Solange, to 伴う／関わる you in this sort of 商売／仕事. It is ugly and sordid, and it may be dangerous."
"I know, but I did come to Paris to be with you in every thing. I want to help you. I have already, you say, helped you a little."
"More than a little," he replied, "and there may be some things in this 事柄 that only a woman can 請け負う. You must understand, of course, that even M. de La Reynie him self can see only a little ahead. He's like, and so am I, a man in a 霧—only a foot or two of the way is 明白な."
"Remember that I am a stranger in Paris," said Solange coaxingly. "There is really nothing for me to do. I have no friends, and few 知識s whom I care about. You cannot 許す me to sit here alone hour after hour wondering what has happened to you You know, too, that you can 信用 me—I am not foolish nor am I sentimental or hysterical. If you confide any secrets to me, they will be 安全な."
"I know," he replied 厳粛に. He was by no means blinded by his affection for Solange; he did indeed know her character, which was much the same as his own.
These two, 部隊d by so strong an affection, understood each other perfectly. Desgrez knew that his wife had an active mind and that 施行するd leisure would be almost intolerable to one of her temperament. Before, therefore, he bade her good bye, he 約束d her 本気で and 厳粛に that, if there was an 適切な時期 for her of helping him in his work, he would 喜んで 受託する her 援助.
防備を堅める／強化するd by the strong, sincere love and friendship of Solange, which was the deepest reality of his life, the young 中尉／大尉／警部補 of Police proceeded to the Louvre. The 天候 was ugly, there had been no sun over Paris for days; sheets of grey rain still continued to 落ちる into the swollen river, which was beginning to （競技場の）トラック一周 the 堤防 and to 洪水 on to the cobbles of the streets.
Desgrez paused a moment to look at the long, impressive facade of the Louvre, which stretched along the banks of the Seine in a formidable monotony of pedimented windows and straight doors.
The 広大な／多数の／重要な palace, which had been built by the extravagant Valois Kings, was in the form of a quadrangle, one frontage lying along the river, the other enclosing 中庭s and gardens; gardens also lay either 味方する of the facade 直面するing the Seine. Behind the elegant balustrade Desgrez could see the statues, looking livid in this winter light, standing wet and gleaming under the leafless trees. Here and there an arbutus, an ilex or a laurel, 保持するd the dark green of its foliage, and through the 厚い leaves dripped water into fishponds and founts.
Desgrez could see, not far from the palace, the warm-coloured bricks of a modern orangery where exotic 工場／植物s were kept during the winter; he wondered if that had been the scene of the attack on Mademoiselle Jacquetta. 避けるing the arched 入り口 to the noble gates that pierced the palace frontage, which was reserved for the King and personages of importance, Desgrez went, as La Reynie had directed him, to a 味方する door, the third from the main 入り口 to the palace, and there pulled the (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する bell of wrought アイロンをかける.
He felt rather a childish and foolish sensation of elation at the importance of his （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限. It was 高度に 満足な to him, a raw 地方の, to be able, so soon after his arrival in Paris, to enter the Louvre and to 関心 himself in the 事件／事情／状勢s of those 大（公）使館員d to the 法廷，裁判所. In the 注目する，もくろむs of the young Norman 中尉／大尉／警部補 of Police, as in the 注目する，もくろむs of every French man, the King was a very 広大な／多数の／重要な man indeed—深い尊敬の念を抱くd at home, 恐れるd abroad, successful in the field as in the 閣僚, a model of 儀礼, patron of the arts, a personality that flashed, glittered and dazzled like a diamond.
Desgrez knew the King's faults, which were open enough to all his 支配するs. Charles Desgrez 裁判官d His Majesty to be a little vainglorious, extravagant in everything, from the magnificent, almost incredible, palaces he built 負かす／撃墜する to the lives of his 支配するs, who 死なせる／死ぬd by hundreds of thousands in his successful （選挙などの）運動をするs. He knew him, also, to be a man who, though 宗教的な to the point of bigotry, lived with a licentiousness that was an example not only to his 支配するs but to all Europe, for Louis XIV 始める，決める the fashion all over the civilized world. Desgrez was only one of the many Frenchmen who did not 容赦する the King's 悪名高い and 炎ing infidelities to his gentle wife, or his subjection to Madame de Montespan who, 冷淡な, haughty, しっかり掴むing and bitter-tongued, seemed to have no 質s beyond her high birth and her imperious beauty to fit her for her magnificent though shameful position as Queen of the Left 手渡す.
Desgrez deliberately put the King out of his mind; he had to concentrate on the 事柄 before him; M. de La Reynie had furnished him with the dossiers of both Mademoiselle de Fontanges and Mademoiselle Jacquetta, one of her maids.
The first 指名するd lady was an 孤児 and lived under the 名目上の guardianship of an uncle, an intriguing and unscrupulous man, who was believed to have sent his beautiful 区 to 法廷，裁判所 in the hope that she would catch the King's fancy. Her likeness to Louise de La Valli鑽e, who had been now for ten years in a convent, was considered by all who had seen both these women remarkable, and it was ありふれた talk that Mademoiselle de Fontanges' uncle had hoped that the fair gentle girl would soon 追い出す the powerful favourite in the King's affection.
"That leaves her," M. de La Reynie had said, "unprotected, you will perceive. She has not been very 井戸／弁護士席 educated and her mind is not strong. Her heart is good, her training has been 宗教的な, she is at 法廷，裁判所 alone and exposed to the strongest possible 誘惑s."
So much for Mademoiselle de Fontanges! Desgrez remembered her as she had leant from the window of her painted coach and 申し込む／申し出d with so much 儀礼 and 親切 the bracelet of sapphires to his wife.
Jacquetta was an Italian girl, who had been educated in フラン. M. de La Reynie did not know how or when she had entered the 雇用 of Mademoiselle de Fontanges. Her father, Agostino Malipiero, had recently come from Turin; he was trained in chemistry and his daughter had 安全な・保証するd him the position of apothecary to Mademoiselle de Fontanges. He did not live in the palace but had a shop along the quai, but he was frequently at the Louvre on the excuse of seeing his daughter and of …に出席するing to a small menagerie that Mademoiselle de Fontanges kept, for he was supposed to be very skilful with animals, not only in looking after them when they were sick, but in training them to 成し遂げる those tricks that the idle ladies of 法廷，裁判所 設立する so amusing.
Desgrez was 認める to the Louvre by a manservant, to whom he explained his 商売／仕事. He was 推定する／予想するd and without 延期する taken up to the apartments of Mademoiselle de Fontanges in one of the long galleries 直面するing the river. These handsome but rather 暗い／優うつな 議会s were decorated in the magnificent 激しい style of the Valois and were 据えるd in an angle of the 広大な building. A light, outside staircase led from them to the riverside gardens. This the servant, who seemed a confidential major-domo, あわてて explained as he ran over with Desgrez the story of the attack on the little Italian girl, which had so 苦しめるd his mistress.
He had scarcely finished this whispered tale when they reached the door of Mademoiselle de Fontanges's 私的な apartment and Desgrez 設立する himself looking with 尊敬（する）・点 and compassion at the young girl whose 指名する, perhaps all unknown to herself, was passing from lip to lip in Paris with さまざまな accents of derision, sympathy or amazement.
The girl was alone and seemed 極端に agitated; Desgrez 裁判官d her to have little courage or 支配（する）／統制する, little discretion or 知恵. She was seated in a high, crimson 議長，司会を務める trimmed with fringed braid before the hearth, on which 燃やすd perfumed スピードを出す／記録につけるs.
The 議会 was ornate and 激しい; 大規模な carvings of fruit and flowers surrounded dark and 暗い／優うつな portraits. The 冷気／寒がらせる light of the wet afternoon fell through the tall windows, from which dark curtains had been 宙返り飛行d 支援する.
The girl in her dress of pale grey satin with her light, almost silver hair knotted with a pearl-coloured 略章, with her pale 直面する and her large light 注目する，もくろむs わずかに reddened by weeping, looking ethereal against this sombre background, like a 勝利，勝つd-flower in the blackness of a pine forest. She did not 認める Desgrez as the man to whose wife she had given the bracelet: neither quick nor clever, she took the young man, who was wearing his uniform, for an スパイ／執行官 of police and nothing more. Desgrez, inwardly smiling, saw that she 受託するd him as a mere automaton, an 公式の／役人 without personality.
She stammered, speaking ばく然と, even incoherently, over the story of the attack on her maid. The young man soon courteously interrupted.
"There is no need, Mademoiselle, for you to 苦しめる your self with that story. We have heard it all."
She seemed relieved and Desgrez's smile 深くするd—how little she understood! He had a 十分な account of her and her maid and her maid's father in his pocket, and both he and M. de La Reynie had a shrewd idea as to the truth about the 罪，犯罪 of the night before.
"May I see this Mademoiselle Jacquetta, may I take her deposition from her own lips?"
"式のs," replied the lady in 深い and almost uncontrollable 苦しめる, "she is dying! M. Aquin, the King's 内科医, has been with her—he thinks there is no hope, she has already received the last Sacrament."
"にもかかわらず, Mademoiselle," said Desgrez 堅固に, "it is my 義務 to 調査／捜査する this atrocious 罪，犯罪. Consider, Mademoiselle; a young lady who is an attendant on one of Her Majesty's maids of honour goes out in the palace gardens to select some fruit from a 温室. The palace, during the 住居 of His Majesty, is guarded by 非常に／多数の 歩哨s. The gates are locked, the 塀で囲むs are high, yet some villain is lurking within, who, for no 目的 as it seems, so maltreats this poor young woman that she is about to die of her in 陪審／陪審員団s."
The トン in which Desgrez spoke these words 原因（となる）d Mademoiselle de Fontanges to look at him in quick 逮捕 and frowning bewilderment.
"M. de La Reynie is 責任がある the policing of Paris," continued Desgrez, "and I am his 代表者／国会議員. Pray, Mademoiselle, let us lose no time. Take me to the 病人の枕元 of this unfortunate young girl."
Mademoiselle de Fontanges pulled the silken rope that hung by the 味方する of the 大規模な fireplace. A page almost 即時に appeared.
"Take this police officer to Mademoiselle Jacquetta," she said faintly. Then, as if distracted: "No, I will come too. I should like to be 現在の."
"That is as you wish," replied Desgrez. "I have no 指示／教授／教育s, Mademoiselle, on that point, but if I had the honour to be your friend or 助言者, I should 示唆する that you remain here."
"Ah!" exclaimed the girl, sitting 負かす／撃墜する again in the fringed 議長，司会を務める from which she had risen. "You do, then, 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う some mystery?"
"My 商売／仕事," said Desgrez, "is to 調査／捜査する, not to 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う."
He followed the page 負かす／撃墜する the 回廊（地帯）, Mademoiselle de Fontanges 星／主役にするing after him in what seemed to him an agony of 不決断.
Jacquetta, the Italian girl, lay in a closet の近くに to her mistress's bedchamber, a rich but 暗い／優うつな little room with old-fashioned furnishings, which 含むd a dark tapestry in indigo blue and mignonette green of a hundred years ago, showing a 追跡（する）—a monstrous fat beast 存在 追求するd by lean hounds through a dense vegetation of enormous leaves and flowers.
The 曇った light of the March day had receded 早期に from this northward-looking 議会; the curtains had been drawn over the window and a lamp lit. The girl lay in a 狭くする bed, the curtains of white serge, embroidered with fox-gloves and acorns in russet and purple wool, were drawn 支援する; a 修道女 in a dark 式服 knelt praying beside the bed; at the end of it stood a middle-老年の man, whom Desgrez took to be the Doctor; the perfume of incense hung ひどく on the enclosed 空気／公表する.
Jacquetta lay stretched on her 支援する, her 手渡すs outside the white woollen quilt, a cloak of white fur 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her shoulders, her 注目する，もくろむs の近くにd and her 黒人／ボイコット hair 新たな展開d on the pillow.
Desgrez ちらりと見ることd at the Doctor, who raised his eyebrows and shook his 長，率いる.
"I have come to question her," whispered the police スパイ／執行官. "You are perhaps M. Aquin?"
The Doctor nodded and replied in a 法律 トン: "I am here by special request of His Majesty, but I can do nothing. This is a terrible 事件／事情／状勢, I hope M. de La Reynie will spare no 苦痛s to 調査／捜査する it."
"I am here," returned Desgrez still whispering, "because of his sparing no 苦痛s. You, Monsieur, who are …に出席するing her, you know her 傷害s. What truth is there in her story?"
The Doctor, whose 注目する，もくろむs showed swollen and tired from behind his 激しい spectacles, replied in one word: "非，不，無"—then laid his fingers on his lips.
"We knew as much," said Desgrez drily, "but I must find out what I can."
"You will be lucky if you discover anything from her," said the Doctor. "She's dying—a question, perhaps, of a few hours."
He 屈服するd and moved に向かって the door. "I am here by the direct 命令（する） of His Majesty, to whom I must now make a 報告（する）／憶測. One of Mademoiselle Fontanges's doctors has been …に出席するing the young lady. Doctor Rabel."
"Who lectures at the Sorbonne and lives in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs?" asked Desgrez.
"Yes," replied the Doctor. "The very man. He is 極端に clever."
"極端に," agreed the police スパイ／執行官 静かに. To himself he 追加するd: "They work in a very の近くに （犯罪の）一味."
He stepped to the 病人の枕元 of the young girl and, 演説（する）／住所ing the 修道女, said courteously: "My Sister, I am sent by M. de La Reynie, 中尉／大尉／警部補 of Police. Will you leave me alone for a few minutes with Mademoiselle Jacquetta?"
The 修道女 looked up from her 祈り, which she was reciting to a pear-支持を得ようと努めるd rosary, and 屈服するing without speaking was about to leave the room when another 発言する／表明する 原因（となる）d Desgrez to startle; it （機の）カム from the corner behind the curtained bed and asked, with a hint of sarcasm: "Am I also to leave the 議会? I am this unfortunate young woman's father, Agostino Malipiero."
Desgrez showed nothing of the surprise that he felt at the presence of this man, which had been 効果的に 隠すd by the 影をつくる／尾行する of the bed curtain.
"If you please, Monsieur," he said coolly. "I have to speak to your daughter alone."
"It seems," sighed the Italian apothecary, rising, "that she is in no 条件 to speak to anyone. Maybe she will die without 開始 her lips."
As he spoke the girl unclosed her 注目する，もくろむs and turned her mournful gaze slowly from her father to Desgrez.
"Mademoiselle Jacquetta," asked the young police スパイ／執行官, "can you understand me? I am here to help you. We want to discover the 原因（となる） of your misfortune. Terrible things like this must not happen in the King's palace."
The girl gazed at her father, who 発言／述べるd drily: "She might answer my questions—she will hardly answer yours."
"Please leave us," 命令（する）d Desgrez 厳しく, then to the girl: "Mademoiselle, I think you have received the Last 儀式s of the Church, you have 自白するd to the priest—what you have said I do not know, but it is not enough. You must confide your secrets not only to God, but to me, who 代表する His 法律 on earth."
"Yes, yes," whispered Jacquetta from the pillow, "I should die happier if I were to speak. Father," she 追加するd on a 公式文書，認める of poignant 控訴，上告, "leave me. I have so little time left, let me have that to myself."
At this the Italian slowly and reluctantly moved to the end of the room and stood with 倍のd 武器 in the curtained window-place.
"その上の than this I 辞退する to go," he 発言／述べるd. "She is my child and she is 苦しむing. I have the 技術, the 権利 to help her. Unless you use 軍隊 you will not make me leave her 議会."
Desgrez hesitated, then decided that the Italian had won this move. To 排除する／（飛行機などから）緊急脱出する him 強制的に would be to 原因（となる） a tumult and a スキャンダル, which might cost the 患者 her remaining strength. He knew by the '恐ろしい change that was taking place in the girl's features that he had arrived almost if not やめる too late.
ひさまづくing 負かす／撃墜する on the bed-step, he said impressively:
"Mademoiselle, you are すぐに to appear before God. Do so with a pure 良心. You are now beyond all earthly 恐れるs, for the sake of others who may be in danger—tell me the truth."
"For the sake of others," the girl repeated. She tried to turn her 長，率いる and to sit up. Desgrez placed his arm underneath the pillow and raised her gently. "I know so little," she gasped. "They never told me much. My mistress knows nothing at all."
"No one 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs her," said Desgrez. "Quick, Mademoiselle, tell me all you can."
"My father," whispered Mademoiselle Jacquetta, "is he still in the room? I cannot see, the lamp gives such a poor light."
"He cannot hear what we say," whispered Desgrez. "Is it your father of whom you are afraid?"
"Of him, and others—most of all the Master."
"Yes, the Master? Whom do you mean? Who is hidden under that 指名する?"
The girl tried to shake her 長，率いる; she 星／主役にするd intently into Desgrez's anxious 直面する with her dark, half-隠すd 注目する，もくろむs.
"He is not French—an Italian—an Englishman. They need the children for the 集まり—everybody must make a sacrifice—if I had not loved him! He always 約束d to take me away—save my mistress—I think they ーするつもりである—" She paused, struggling with her ぱたぱたするing breath. "Was it a 罪，犯罪? I was deceived!"
"Mademoiselle, in the 指名する of God," 勧めるd Desgrez anxiously, "explain yourself. I can make nothing of your broken 宣告，判決s—all is incoherent. Give me a 指名する, a 手がかり（を与える）!"
"The cock," whispered Mademoiselle Jacquetta, "did you hear the cock?"
Desgrez thought the unhappy creature's mind was wandering and again passionately exhorted her to tell him the truth, to give him at least, as he repeated, a 指名する, a 手がかり（を与える）. He saw that she was 猛烈に eager to 答える／応じる, willing to exhaust her last strength. There was an 表現 of anguish in her 注目する，もくろむs and she made a convulsive, ぱたぱたするing movement に向かって him—but in vain. He felt her slender 団体／死体 relax on the pillow that he supported. She gave him but one word, and that of no use; it was the 指名する of a flower—"carnation-pink."
The young man laid Mademoiselle Jacquetta 支援する on her bed. Her father with his cat-like tread, who had been intently watching them conversing, as he could not contrive to overhear, （機の）カム from the 影をつくる／尾行するs by the window.
"So you see, Monsieur," he sighed, "she is dead."
"And it is the 商売／仕事 of the police," replied Charles Desgrez ちらりと見ることing up はっきりと, "to discover who killed her."
"I hope you will," replied the apothecary with what appeared to be sincere 苦しめる. "She was my only child and very dear to me."
He bent over his daughter, composing her 手渡すs over her breast, の近くにing her 注目する，もくろむs, smoothing 支援する her 絡まるd 黒人／ボイコット hair with 気が進まない, tender movements.
A quick and trained 観察者／傍聴者, Desgrez was ちらりと見ることing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room to see if he could discover anything that might be of help to him in his 商売／仕事, when the door opened violently and Mademoiselle de Fontanges entered. She was やめる unnerved at the loss of one of her favourite maids under circumstances so mysterious and horrible; she つまずくd to the 病人の枕元 and stood crying like a child, wringing her 手渡すs and biting her handkerchief, calling upon her lost Jacquetta to look at her, to speak to her, one word, one ちらりと見ること!
"Mademoiselle, she is dead," said the Italian apothecary with sad 静める; he drew the sheet up over his daughter's 直面する. "Let her 残り／休憩（する） in peace. It is gracious of you," he 追加するd gently, "to be 関心d over one so insignificant."
Mademoiselle de Fontanges did not appear to hear these words, at least she took no notice of them: throwing herself on the embroidered bed she 残り／休憩（する）d her fair 長，率いる on the white coverlet and sobbed out in an 超過 of almost hysterical 証拠不十分:
"Save me, save me! Oh, God, do not let this happen to me! No, no, I will not, I will go into a convent, I will go to the ends of the earth!"
"What is she afraid of?" asked Desgrez, and touched the distracted lady on her satin-覆う？ shoulder. "Mademoiselle, you must not speak so 自由に in 前線 of me, in 前線 of your apothecary. Have you no friend here, no one in whom you can confide?"
She raised her smooth, pearl-like 直面する disfigured by 涙／ほころびs and 星／主役にするd at him for a moment as if she did not realize who he was, then muttering: "Oh, yes, the police スパイ／執行官," she 許すd him to 補助装置 her to her feet; he had to 持つ／拘留する her, she was trembling so violently.
"Can you tell me anything?" he asked. "Mademoiselle Jacquetta is dead, it might be possible to save others from her 運命／宿命. Can you throw any light upon this mystery?"
Mademoiselle de Fontanges shook her 長，率いる; her blonde hair had fallen on to her 罰金 lace collar, her pale satin dress; she looked like a white rose drenched in a 嵐／襲撃する; the young man felt an 巨大な compassion for her; M. de La Reynie had said that she was so lonely, so high-placed, 支配する to such 誘惑...
"Let me take you out of this room, Mademoiselle."
"No, no, I will stay, I want to watch by Jacquetta." She looked half-timidly, half-defiantly at the Italian apothecary. "You, Monsieur, must leave us also. After the good 修道女 comes 支援する she and I will pray together."
"Come," said Desgrez to the Italian.
The two men left the room together; the grey 修道女 slipped 支援する to her place and Mademoiselle de Fontanges's 発言する／表明する could be heard coming in sobs from behind her clenched fingers: "Save me, save me! Oh, God, save me!"
In the noble, dark 回廊（地帯） was Doctor Rabel, 急いでing に向かって the sick-room. Desgrez 迎える／歓迎するd him with a 乾燥した，日照りの smile.
"半端物 that we should 会合，会う again so soon, Doctor." He touched his plastered forehead. "I am very 感謝する for your care. You see it has やめる put me on my feet again."
Doctor Rabel, who was by daylight a little フクロウ-like man, grey and mildly 星／主役にするing, said in an unconcerned トン:
"Ah, Monsieur the police スパイ／執行官! 井戸／弁護士席, I suppose you are here 調査／捜査するing the mystery of poor Mademoiselle Jacquetta. I heard that Doctor Aquin was …に出席するing her, and I have been at the hospital."
Desgrez interrupted: "It is too late, Doctor, she died a few minutes ago."
Doctor Rabel did not appear in the least surprised; he 解除するd his shoulders to his ears: "井戸／弁護士席, I can spare you the trouble of 調査／捜査するing this 事例／患者 any その上の," he said in a confidential トン, pointing his finger at the young man's chest. "It was a love 事件／事情／状勢, you understand, and it was rather 不正に bungled. Mademoiselle Jacquetta was desperate to save what young ladies 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 their honour, so she made up, with her father's help, that rather stupid story. Just that," repeated the doctor with a 深くするing smile, "a love 事件／事情／状勢 and no more."
"A ありふれた sort of 事件／事情／状勢 to ask the police to help in," said Desgrez drily.
"Ah, indeed." The Doctor took a pinch of 消す. "It's a pity it should happen in the 世帯 of Mademoiselle de Fontanges. It was very 不正に managed. The little Italian girl might have kept her lover, her baby and her honour, if she had made her 準備s a little more carefully. As it is, my dear sir, I am afraid you have wasted your time."
"Mademoiselle de Fontanges seems much 苦しめるd," said Desgrez. He looked out of the window by which he stood at the grey rain over Paris and the grey river, in which were 反映するd the sparse lights of the lamps far 始める，決める on the parapet.
"One understands that," said Doctor Rabel genially. "Poor little Jacquetta fell a 犠牲者 to 誘惑s, to the 誘惑するs of some charming lover. Mademoiselle de Fontanges, here, might find herself in a like 事例／患者. She is in a difficult position, there is no one to 保護する her." The Doctor again shrugged his neat, 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd shoulders. "One understands this 悲劇 would make a 広大な／多数の／重要な impression on her."
"What do you know of the father, the Italian apothecary?" asked Desgrez, standing in the 狭くする 回廊（地帯） in such a position that the other could not pass him.
"やめる an inoffensive fellow," replied the Doctor blandly. "Able too, in his ways. He 供給（する）s me with many useful 麻薬s which he gets from Italy."
"He is with his daughter now," smiled the young police スパイ／執行官. "No 疑問, Doctor, he will be glad of your なぐさみ."
He turned and followed the page who was waiting to guide him to the door by which he had entered the Louvre; the 広大な palace, so sombre, magnificent and silent, 抑圧するd him; he had, too, been saddened by the death of Jacquetta and the painful, childish 苦しめる of her mistress; himself upright and temperate he was disgusted by this society, on the surface so gay and brilliant, where such horrors were possible—yes, horrors, for whatever truth there might be in the tale of Doctor Rabel it was （疑いを）晴らす that one of these girls had been destroyed and that the other was in 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 恐れる because of secret intrigues 扇動するd by ambition, greed and lust.
The page led Desgrez across a large salon, which was 十分な of 影をつくる／尾行する; the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 under the high hooded chimney had burnt to a bed of red ashes, the 激しい curtains of dark-crimson Venetian 削減（する） velvet were still drawn 支援する from the tall windows that showed the grey, 暗い／優うつな prospect of Paris beneath a dark sky.
Crossing this room, and 直接／まっすぐに in the way of Desgrez, was a young man of singularly pleasant 面; his 着せる／賦与するs were of almost clerical sobriety, his smooth dark hair hung on his crisp linen collar, and his long fingers were between the pages of a 調書をとる／予約する. ちらりと見ることing with aversion at Desgrez this gentleman exclaimed:
"A police スパイ／執行官 in the Louvre!"
"Yes, Monsieur, I have been sent to 調査／捜査する a very unfortunate 事件／事情／状勢."
"That of Mademoiselle Jacquetta?" asked the other sadly. "Does she live?"
"No. I have just seen her die."
The young man made the 調印する of the cross on his breast, a faint （軽い）地震 of disgust passed over his serene features.
"The 法廷，裁判所 of フラン," he said serenely, "is one of the 賭け金-議会s of Hell. I do not envy the 長，指導者 of Police."
"You are very bold, Monsieur."
"Perhaps because I have nothing to 恐れる," sighed the other, as with a courteous 屈服する he turned に向かって the dying 解雇する／砲火／射撃.
"You are fortunate," replied Desgrez as he followed the page out of the 暗い／優うつな salon. "Who is that gentleman?" he asked the boy in the 回廊（地帯）.
"That is the Marchese Innocenzo Pignata, 甥 to His Holiness the ローマ法王."
"He is here on a 外交の 使節団?"
"No, Monsieur—he has been sent from the ローマ法王 to the King on 私的な 商売／仕事. Everyone 尊敬（する）・点s him—people say that he could be a 枢機けい／主要な if he 手配中の，お尋ね者."
"He 許すs himself very 解放する／自由な speech."
"Yes, Monsieur, the King 許すs him every freedom—as he 許すs any liberty to M. Bossuet. It is believed that His Majesty thinks M. Pignata a saint."
"I think he may be," replied Desgrez; he had been much impressed by the personality, 厳格な，質素な and serene, of the young Italian, who seemed to disdain so coldly the vicious atmosphere in which he moved. "Probably," the young police スパイ／執行官 thought, "the King 尊敬（する）・点s him because he tells him the truth; it is 同様に that there is someone to do so."
He had reached the postern door by which he had entered and the page, 開始 this, left him on the wet step.
Twilight had fallen, the sparse river-味方する lamps 微光d dully through a rising もや; the rain fell in a 冷淡な 霧雨, now and then driven by gusts of 勝利，勝つd.
Desgrez felt baffled, 不満な and 抑圧するd by a sense of 失敗; he was haunted too, by last night's adventure—the Negro coachman, the 脅すd girl...
He had memorized the last words of the unfortunate Jacquetta, but he could make no sense of them and 恐れるd they were but the babblings of a broken, dying mind. What could she have meant by her 言及／関連s to "the Master", to a cock, to "carnation", to an Englishman, to an Italian?
Perhaps, indeed, it was just a sordid 悲劇, ありふれた enough in a licentious 法廷，裁判所, and the unhappy girl had died, as Doctor Babel said she had died, from the results of a secret love intrigue; perhaps her lover was a foreigner, an Englishman or an Italian, perhaps the crowing of a cock had been the signal agreed on between them for their secret 会合s, at first so charming and tender, afterwards so 十分な of terror and 苦悩. Perhaps her first 誓約（する）-申し込む／申し出ing to him had been a knot of pinks or carnations.
But—what Desgrez had seen last night? As the door of the Louvre の近くにd behind him the young man 解除するd his shoulders with a shrug of 辞職; he had a poor story to tell M. de La Reynie and no story at all to tell Solange. The 勝利，勝つd blew in icy gusts into his 直面する and flapped his hat about his 注目する，もくろむs.
He was turning in sober mood along the 堤防 に向かって the dark arch of the 橋（渡しをする） when he heard a step behind him and, turning, saw that a man had followed him from the palace; this was a tall, sallow fellow, who 演説（する）／住所d him with a half-insolent civility, speaking French with a strong foreign accent.
"You are Charles Desgrez, an スパイ／執行官 of police? You have been sent by M. de La Reynie, eh, to 調査／捜査する the attack on Mademoiselle Malipiero?"
Desgrez nodded, scanning the （衆議院の）議長 closely through the twilight.
"井戸／弁護士席, before you make your 報告（する）／憶測 to the 長，指導者 of Police it will be to your 利益／興味 to see my master."
"And who may he be?" asked Desgrez, smiling, as he clutched his hat and bent before a sudden 猛攻撃 of 勝利，勝つd and rain.
"One who can make it 価値（がある） your while to 強いる him," replied the other. "Come, there is no mystery—he Is the 外交官／大使 of Savoy, the Comte de Ferrero."
Desgrez was 完全に surprised by this 指名する, which he did not connect in the least with the 商売／仕事 he had in 手渡す; but disguising his amazement he replied that he was at the service of His Excellency of Savoy.
"But you must come with me now," 主張するd the sallow young man. "It will be too late after you have returned to the Bastille."
So 説 he took the young police スパイ／執行官's arm in a familiar way and led him along the 風の強い quay.
"I congratulate you," he grinned. "You have not been long in the police 軍隊, you are, 許す me, a raw 地方の, and this piece of good luck comes your way."
"The good luck of attracting your master's attention?" said Desgrez, feeling his way through this mysterious conversation.
"Oh, I don't know that you have attracted his attention. Any police スパイ／執行官 who had been sent to the Louvre to-day would have received the same consideration."
"Yet you know something about me," 反対するd the young man, "how long I have been in Paris and so on."
"Yes, it is our 商売／仕事 to know all that goes on in the 法廷，裁判所, and, of course, when we heard that you were taking up this 事例／患者 it was to our 利益／興味 to find out something about you. Your very simple dossier, my dear Desgrez, is in the 手渡すs of His Excellency."
The young man smiled as if he had made a good joke.
Charles Desgrez was thinking 速く. No one had known, save the 長，指導者 of Police himself, that he; Desgrez, was going to the Louvre to 調査／捜査する the 悲劇 of Mademoiselle Jacquetta: it would have been やめる impossible for the 外交官／大使 of Savoy to have discovered who was going to be sent on this 商売／仕事. It followed then, argued Desgrez, that the attention of De Ferrero must have been attracted to himself before; was the （外交）使節／代表 from Turin, then, 利益／興味d in the 未亡人 Bosse, in the mysterious house in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs? Who, wondered the young police スパイ／執行官, could have 警告するd him that I was 関心d in this 商売／仕事? The hag of a fortune-teller herself or Doctor Babel, whom I do not 信用 at all, the fat, innocent-looking priest who 宿泊するs with him, the Italian apothecary. And how is he, the 外交官／大使 of the Duke of Savoy, 関心d in all these 事柄s?
While Desgrez thus considered the 事例／患者 in which he 設立する himself, he was keeping up a casual conversation with his companion, on whom he now and then cast a 用心深い 注目する，もくろむ; he thought that it was やめる possible that his guide had been sent to 誘惑する him into some 砂漠d ４半期/4分の1, some dismal cul-de-sac, to be kidnapped or 殺人d, and that this sallow-直面するd fellow had nothing whatever to do with the 広大な／多数の／重要な personage whose 指名する he so 自由に used.
But his 恐れる 証明するd unfounded. His companion 行為／行うd him to the h?el of the 外交官／大使 of Savoy, which Desgrez knew 井戸／弁護士席—it was his 商売／仕事 to know all the 主要な／長／主犯 住居s in Paris.
When they were in the ornate porch of this handsome mansion, the young man said to Desgrez:
"You will not see M. de Ferrero, the 外交官／大使 of Savoy, but M. de Saint-Maurice, who is Plenipotentiary to フラン, as doubtless you know. He brings the 感謝 of the Dowager Duchess for the 弔慰s of His Most Christian Majesty on the untimely death of her husband, the late Duke Charles Emmanuel II."
"That is doubtless very 利益／興味ing," replied Desgrez as he followed the other into the magnificent hall of the h?el, "but I cannot see what it has to do with me or with my 商売／仕事."
As he spoke he tried to 解任する all that he knew about the late Duke of Savoy and his Duchess, Marie de Nemours, but he 所有するd nothing more than the ありふれた knowledge of these Princes.
The last Duke, a 親族 of the King of フラン, had died suddenly from a 冷気／寒がらせる caught while out 追跡（する）ing; his 未亡人 was a French Princess, gay and difficult, a favourite of the late Queen Dowager, Anne of Austria. Desgrez knew no more than this; he had not seen either the 外交官／大使 or the Plenipotentiary.
His guide took him up wide and handsome stairs to a little 議会, richly hung with gilt leather, where a young man dressed in the extreme of fashion was lounging in a high-支援するd gilt 議長，司会を務める, turning over the last copy of the Gazette de フラン.
"This, Monseigneur, is M. Charles Desgrez—中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez, the police スパイ／執行官."
So 説, Desgrez's companion 屈服するd and left him alone with the stranger, who, putting his paper 負かす／撃墜する but not rising, looked at him with half-amused 利益／興味.
This scrutiny the young Norman willingly returned; he 設立する the gentleman not at all to his taste: he did not like either his exceptionally good-looking, smooth features, でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd as they were in a 量 of glossy 黒人／ボイコット ringlets, or his 衣装 of peach-coloured velvet and silver braiding, or his 空気／公表する of half-insolent bravado. Charles Desgrez was quick to decide that this brilliant young cavalier 借りがあるd much to his tailor and barber, to native effrontery and comeliness and that he 押し進めるd his fortunes through his success with women.
"I am the Comte de Saint-Maurice," 発言／述べるd Saint-Maurice coolly. "Doubtless you are surprised, M. l'スパイ／執行官 de police, that I have sent for you."
"I am trained," replied Desgrez 静かに, "to be surprised at nothing, Monseigneur."
"That is the 権利 態度." The young cavalier smiled, 示すd a stool and begged the young police スパイ／執行官 to be seated. "In Paris I am Plenipotentiary of Savoy, in Turin I am Grand Chamberlain to the Dowager Duchess."
His words and his （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） were commonplace, but Desgrez noticed that there was a shrewdness and a sparkle in his large dark 注目する，もくろむs that were in contradiction to the insipid handsomeness of his charming features.
"Monseigneur has a distinguished position."
"I have also 責任／義務s. Madame, whom His Most Christian Majesty 許すs to be 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語d Madame 王室の, is often homesick for Paris. She has 教えるd me to buy furniture, pictures, even 衣装s—she has a sure 依存 on my taste. She also wishes me to procure for her active and able men. A French Princess—許す me if I 強調する this point—likes to see her own countrymen about her." Saint-Maurice paused for a second, smiling at Desgrez, and then 追加するd 突然の: "Would you, Monsieur, care to take service at the 法廷，裁判所 of Turin, say in the 私的な police 軍隊 of Her 王室の Highness? I can 約束 you good 支払う／賃金, every consideration and every chance of 昇進／宣伝."
"To what," asked Desgrez, "do I 借りがある the honour of this 申し込む／申し出, which is as 予期しない, Monseigneur, as it is gratifying?"
"Oh," replied Saint-Maurice carelessly, "I do not waste my time here. My 名目上の errand is a mere 形式順守, I have plenty of leisure for the 商売／仕事 of the Duchess. I am a friend of M. de La Reynie. I dined with him the other night, he について言及するd you, your services. I thought, that is the man for Madame 王室の. I have engaged several other Frenchmen for her service."
Desgrez appeared to hesitate, as if he were dazzled and amazed by this sumptuous 申し込む／申し出; all the while he was turning the 状況／情勢 over 速く in his mind and coming to a 決定／判定勝ち（する）. At last he said, with an 空気／公表する of 当惑:
"Monseigneur, I am truly 圧倒するd—this is all so surprising. I have a young wife."
"She, too, would be welcome in Turin," replied the other 滑らかに. "As you are both from Caen, perhaps you would not find yourselves greater strangers in Turin than you do in Paris."
Charles Desgrez quickly decided what course to take.
"If you had made me this 申し込む／申し出 a few days ago, Monseigneur," he said with an 空気／公表する of candour, "I should have been only too honoured to 受託する. But it happens that I am on a very important piece of 商売／仕事."
"Ah, I suppose you are not permitted to say what that 商売／仕事 is," smiled Saint-Maurice, playing with the golden acorns that hung from the 略章s at his wrist.
With an assumed frankness tinged with stupidity, Desgrez replied:
"M. de La Reynie thinks he has put his fingers on a group of 犯罪のs engaged in some obscure 共謀. He has ゆだねるd me with 調査／捜査するing this 事件／事情／状勢. I find the work very 利益／興味ing. If I am successful it will mean 昇進／宣伝. You can understand that under these circumstances I do not care to leave Paris."
Saint-Maurice flung 負かす／撃墜する his paper and rose suddenly; Desgrez also out of 尊敬（する）・点 got to his feet. He saw now that the young man was very tall with wide shoulders and 狭くする hips, of 運動競技の build; there was something formidable about his strength; his dark grace, his 正確な, almost girlish features 始める，決める off by the fleece of 黒人／ボイコット curls.
"にもかかわらず." he said 突然の, "I advise you to do so. Yes, 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez, I advise you to leave this 事件／事情／状勢 alone. I know, on good 当局, that it is not one that you, with your experience, can wisely meddle with."
"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席, Monseigneur, you advise me to leave it alone—you have, then, a good idea of what it is?"
"Think over my 申し込む／申し出 and 受託する it," smiled Saint-Maurice. "You are a good fellow with a young wife and fair prospects. Keep （疑いを）晴らす of 法廷，裁判所 intrigue."
"Monseigneur," said Desgrez はっきりと, "I did not について言及する the words 法廷，裁判所 intrigue. I said I was 調査／捜査するing an 事件／事情／状勢 for the 長，指導者 of Police."
"Do not let us quarrel over words," replied Saint-Maurice indifferently. "I have made my 申し込む／申し出, I have given you my advice. You must see," he 追加するd with meaning, "the fact that I have taken the trouble to receive you 個人として shows I regard the 事件／事情／状勢 as of some importance." He 屈服するd, then 発言／述べるd 静かに: "許す me to 保証する you once more, Monsieur, that you would not 悔いる going to Turin. But really, I have no more time to waste on a trivial 事柄."
He struck a bell. The sallow man who had 行為／行うd Desgrez from the Louvre to the H?el de Savoie 即時に appeared and took the young police スパイ／執行官 負かす／撃墜する the magnificent stairs to the 前線 door.
"I hope," smiled he confidentially, "you are pleased with your interview with Monsieur de Saint-Maurice. If he has cast a favourable 注目する，もくろむ on you, your fortune is made. He is a very 広大な／多数の／重要な personage indeed in Turin."
"No 疑問," said Desgrez guardedly, "he is the 肉親，親類d of man that would be successful anywhere."
"I am his 長官," 発言／述べるd the other, pausing with his 手渡すs on the bolt of the 前線 door. "My 指名する is Cl駻y, Pierre Cl駻y. I know my master 井戸／弁護士席. He is, as you say, the 肉親，親類d of man that would be successful anywhere. I might tell you also that he can be formidable, nay, terrible, anywhere."
With that M. Cl駻y opened the door and 屈服するd Desgrez into the street. 推定する／予想するing to be followed, Desgrez turned along the 風の強い, rain-swept quay in the opposite direction to the Bastille; but after a while he 満足させるd himself that there was no one 跡をつけるing him, so turned about and went to the Police （警察，軍隊などの）本部 in the Bastille.
M. de La Reynie 認める him 即時に to his office—he had, indeed, been waiting for him—and Desgrez 関係のある what had happened at the Louvre and his interview with M. de Saint-Maurice.
"It was 明白に, Monsieur, an 試みる／企てる to 賄賂 me, to get me out of the way. Saint-Maurice didn't trouble to disguise his 意向. He 申し込む／申し出d me almost anything I might like to ask for, if I would 減少（する） these 調査s and leave Paris. He thinks I know too much. But of what knowledge am I 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd, Monsieur? I have been thinking over the whole 事件／事情／状勢. I cannot put two and two together."
"I certainly did not think," smiled M. de La Reynie, with a sparkle of excitement in his tired 注目する，もくろむs, "that when we were 跡をつけるing our quarry we should come upon the 法廷，裁判所 of Savoy. Now what the devil have La Bosse and this poor Italian girl, the Italian apothecary, and Doctor Rabel, if it is true that he has anything to do with it—I tell you his career is irreproachable—but what the devil have these people to do with M. de Saint-Maurice?"
"Is anything known of him?" asked Desgrez 熱望して. "He is an exceptional man, 砕くd, scented, with features like a girl's—but no fool, no weakling."
"He is という評判の to be the lover of the Duchess of Savoy—that is all I know of him," replied M. de La Reynie. "I have had no 推論する／理由 to take any 利益／興味 in him so far. Now we will keep a watch on him. You say he is no fool, no weakling—he made a stupid move to-day when he tried to 賄賂 you so 率直に. He might have guessed that you would come straight to me with the tale."
"He thought I was a raw 地方の who could not fail to be dazzled. I daresay, now he sees that I have not been dazzled, he will take other means."
"I daresay," repeated M. de La Reynie, with a cynic smile. "Look out for your safety, don't go about alone. Beware of 罠（にかける）s. If M. de Saint-Maurice thinks that you know something that 影響する／感情s him or his mistress, it is やめる likely he will take 対策 to 除去する you. Perhaps you would, after all, have been wise to 受託する his 賄賂."
The 長，指導者 of Police ちらりと見ることd at his subordinate, who smiled without replying; then M. de La Reynie took a paper from a 大臣の地位 that lay の近くに under his 手渡すs.
"I do not know if this is anything to do with the 事件／事情／状勢 that we are 取引，協定ing with, but a Jesuit from the Jesuit Church in the rue Saint-Antoine 設立する this in one of the confessional boxes to-day. It is a letter with neither 演説（する）／住所 nor date nor 署名 that 言及するs to the 提案するd taking off of a high personage—the King himself, as it would seem. It may be a 罠（にかける）, a trick, a 誤った scent—it may be something very important. In the same way that Mademoiselle Jacquetta may have died—a mere 廃虚d folly—or there may be something else behind her 悲劇—even those stupid words that she gave you with her last breath, poor child, may have a meaning."
"I wish I could think so, Monsieur."
"This paper about the King may have no importance. Something else has occurred," continued M. de La Reynie. "We have 逮捕（する）d a 確かな Madame Poulaillon, one Marguerite de Jehan, a young 未亡人. You know we 再開するd 'The Lily マリファナ' and made it look as if La Bosse were still in 商売／仕事. 井戸／弁護士席, this poor fool walked straight into the 罠（にかける）. At 現在の she is half-dead with 恐れる and will say nothing. But presently, I hope, I can make her speak."
"What is there against her?"
"Only an old husband who died suddenly and a good-for-nothing lover, whom she's been supporting out of that same husband's coffers."
M. de La Reynie then showed Desgrez the 捨てる of paper that had been 設立する by the Jesuits in one of their confessional boxes, 発言／述べるing that the priests had no 手がかり（を与える） to which of their penitents had dropped it. Several ladies had visited that particular confessional box in the course of the day, and all had 否定するd any knowledge of the paper.
It was gilt-辛勝する／優位d, smelt of bergamot, and on it was written in English:
"The 事件／事情／状勢 is becoming 極端に dangerous. I shall 令状 no more. I do not wish to be 伴う／関わるd in bringing 負かす／撃墜する such a magnificent quarry. Remember the difficulties of the 企業. Not only フラン but the whole of Europe will be shocked and 乱すd. You are too ambitious, too vindictive. You could never make it 価値（がある） my while."
"Monsieur," asked Desgrez, "do you read that as referring to some 陰謀（を企てる） against the King? Why is it in English? Perhaps it is the King of England to whom it 言及するs."
M. de La Reynie shrugged his shoulders. "It appears to be a woman's notepaper and a woman's 手渡す. It seems such an unaccountable piece of carelessness for one 伴う／関わるd in anything dangerous to 減少（する） this in the confessional, and I am inclined to believe that it is a trick—something to put us off the 跡をつける. I have a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of the ladies who visit the Jesuit Church—they 含む Madame de Soissons and Madame de Bouillon. That reminds me that I have heard that this M. de Saint-Maurice frequently visits the H?el de Soissons."
"It is natural, I suppose, since Madame de Soissons is connected with the House of Savoy."
"She is also," commented the 長，指導者 of Police drily, "a 未亡人. You notice, my dear Desgrez, that in this 調査 we come upon a good number of 未亡人s. Also Madame de Soissons was Olympe Mancini, one of 枢機けい／主要な Mazarin's nieces, an Italian. It is not difficult to connect all these people together."
"But, Monsieur," said Desgrez 真面目に, "I cannot see what is behind it all, what these people have to do with one another, what we are really fighting against."
"The secret sale of 毒（薬）s in Paris," replied the 長，指導者 of Police 静かに. "That, Desgrez, is what we have to 直面する first of all. Then we have to discover who are these 仲買人s in death and where they 得る their 在庫／株-in-貿易（する） and who are their （弁護士の）依頼人s. We have to discover, also, if they are all but little people, or if, かもしれない, we may come upon some 広大な／多数の／重要な ones connected with 法廷，裁判所 intrigues and politics."
Desgrez looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the plain dark office with the bay window; it seemed such a 静かな, dull, 商売／仕事-like place, yet the young man knew it was the 神経 centre of a large, skilful organization on which the lives and peace of mind of all honest 国民s depended. To Desgrez the 長，指導者 of Police was more important than the King and all his 大臣s; he was also a man in whose 正直さ the young man had 完全にする 信用; not wholly for selfish 推論する／理由s did Desgrez long with an intensity that was almost violent to disentangle this 事件／事情／状勢 of the 毒（薬）s, he wished to serve, to please, M. de La Reynie.
"Monsieur," he asked 熱望して. "What shall we do now?"
The 年上の man smiled kindly, if a little sadly, at this enthusiasm.
"We must wait. We must 不信 all 証拠 until we have proofs. It is true that M. de Saint-Maurice did dine with me, and did try to 新採用する for the police 軍隊 of Savoy. His 使用／適用 to you might, かもしれない, have been 本物の. He may be no more than the mignon of Marie de Nemours—his 関心 may be that he is the friend of Jacquetta Malipiero's lover and wishes to hush that スキャンダル up."
"I am 納得させるd that it was Jacquetta Malipiero whom I saw last night descending from the coach driven by the Negro."
"It is likely enough. Work of that 肉親，親類d—abortion, infanticide—why, it is a 貿易（する） in Paris, almost impossible to trace, so many are 関心d in keeping it 静かな. The 法律 scarcely touches these horrors."
"But if the woman dies—is it not 殺人?"
"Yes—but how to 証明する it? Some tale is made up—like the attack in the Orangery—wild, foolish, incredible—but how to disprove it?"
"If we could 逮捕（する） some of the scoundrels, we could 軍隊 the truth out of them!"
"We have no 証拠 against anyone. The girl may have been going to Dr. Rabel's house, but I really cannot 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う him." M. de La Reynie shrugged his shoulders. "We must work very slowly, very carefully. If we are too officious—we shall find ourselves suddenly silenced. The King detests スキャンダル."
"I saw a 確かな Marchese Pignata in the Louvre," said Desgrez. "My page told me the King 尊敬（する）・点d him—恐れるd him, perhaps."
"That is true—but what has it to do with our 事件／事情／状勢?"
"容赦, Monsieur, but who 正確に／まさに is this gentleman?"
"A very gifted, brilliant man—but a fanatic, he cares for nothing but the 最高位 of Rome. He has been sent to フラン to 安定した the King against the Protestants, to keep the Church of フラン loyal to the ローマ法王."
"Thank you, Monsieur—he seemed truly shocked by the death of Mademoiselle Jacquetta."
"He was sincere. He has 辞退するd all worldly honours which he might have had, and lives like a 修道士—副／悪徳行為 disgusts him, 罪，犯罪 怒り／怒るs him, he seems to have 非，不，無 of the passions of his age."
"井戸／弁護士席, Monsieur," said Desgrez 熱望して, "a man of this type must have 広大な／多数の／重要な 影響（力） with the King, who is, at heart, very 宗教的な."
"Yes—but how does this help us?"
"井戸／弁護士席, Monsieur, if I were 中尉／大尉／警部補 of Police I should take this Innocenzo Pignata into my 信用／信任 and ask him to 説得する the King to 許す me to 逮捕（する） all persons 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd of 存在 顧客s of the 未亡人 Bosse—"
M. de La Reynie laughed as he interrupted.
"You do not yet know the 法廷，裁判所, Desgrez! We must 雇う indirect methods. But, if the chance arises I shall try to enlist the help of the Marchese Pignata."
Marguerite de Jehan, Madame de Poulaillon, had 崩壊（する）d as soon as she was 逮捕（する）d and it was impossible to 得る anything from her but 表現s of incoherent 恐れる and indignation.
She was a small, fair woman who seemed at once frivolous and gentle, not more than twenty-three years of age, ignorant, elegant and 自然に gay; her story, to a man of M. de La Reynie's experience, was not in the least 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の.
The daughter of small shopkeepers and convent-bred, she had been married at eighteen to M. de Poulaillon, a widower, a 製造業者 of porcelain, and a man thirty years her 上級の. The marriage had been unhappy. The young wife was so extravagant that the husband 辞退するd to 許す her to have a sou in her pocket, even buying her 着せる／賦与するs and 世帯 necessaries for her in 事例／患者 she should cheat him in the price of these.
In spite of this severity on the part of her husband, Marguerite de Jehan had contrived to find a lover, an idle, good-looking young scoundrel of the 指名する of Saint-Richard, who made his living by getting into the good graces of 井戸／弁護士席-to-do women.
While her husband was away on 商売／仕事 in Flanders, Madame de Poulaillon had sold most of the furniture in his house, 含むing a very valued 所有／入手—a bed furnished in English moire; the proceeds of this 無謀な 行為／法令／行動する had gone into the pocket of young Saint-Richard.
When the husband returned, furious scenes had followed his 発見 of his wife's 活動／戦闘s; she had been shut up in the house, 存在 許すd to go out only to 集まり …を伴ってd by a manservant wholly in the 信用／信任 of her husband. She had 影響する／感情d, however, a 深い penitence and contrived to get once more in the old man's good graces and wholly to 隠す from him the 存在 of her lover. Soon after this 仲直り the porcelain merchant fell ill, and にもかかわらず all his wife's 充てるd nursing, died in a few days.
His 未亡人 had then taken 所有／入手 of everything on which she could lay her 手渡すs, and, 反抗するing the 親族s who were the 相続人s to her husband's fortune, had lavishly 供給（する）d her lover with money. At the time of her 逮捕（する） she was still living in her husband's h?el waiting for his 事件／事情／状勢s to be settled and under the guardianship of a brother-in-法律 and his wife. These people were very bitter against the blonde little woman who had wasted, in so 犯罪の a fashion, as they 宣言するd, their brother's 実体, and who, they were sure, was visiting "The Lily マリファナ" for very evil 推論する／理由s indeed.
But M. de La Reynie could get no direct 証拠 against her; a 女性（の） servant, who was supposed to be in her 信用／信任, one Catherine Tokin, had disappeared, and it was impossible to find Saint-Richard.
It was M. de La Reynie that 示唆するd to Desgrez that his wife should visit Madame de Poulaillon and endeavour to 抽出する the truth from her; Solange had passionately 需要・要求するd of her husband the 権利 to help him in his 仕事, but she made a wry 直面する when asked to visit the Bastille and cross-診察する this 哀れな 囚人; this was not the 肉親，親類d of 援助 which she really wished to （判決などを）下す, but she sup 圧力（をかける）d her feelings of distaste, listened carefully to the 指示／教授／教育s that the 長，指導者 of Police gave her 本人自身で and was 認める on the afternoon of a 嵐の day に向かって the end of March into the 独房 in the Bastille where the 未亡人 Bosse's unhappy （弁護士の）依頼人 was 限定するd.
The apartment was comfortable and decently furnished; it held a 解雇する／砲火／射撃, 令状ing 構成要素s, a good lamp, a shelf with 調書をとる／予約するs of devotion, a comfortable bed, a straw-stuffed 議長，司会を務める, a 審査する, and a worn carpet; but Solange, with an inward shudder, noticed at once that the place was unmistakably a 刑務所，拘置所. There was the 閉めだした window 始める，決める high and looking on a blank 塀で囲む, there was the 激しい door with bolts and locks, beyond which a jailer was perpetually on guard, and there was, beyond the 審査する, in a corner of the room 控えめの with her 調書をとる／予約する of devotion, a grey 修道女. Madame de Poulaillon was never left alone, because it was 恐れるd she might endeavour to destroy herself in a fit of despair.
When Solange looked at the little creature 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd up on the bed with の近くにd 注目する，もくろむs, bluish lips and twitching 手渡すs, her heart failed her; it seemed cruel to 拷問 one already in such despair; it seemed, also, hopeless to 推定する／予想する from one in such a 明言する／公表する of 崩壊（する） any （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） of value. 軍隊ing herself, however, to an 空気／公表する of 信用／信任 and serenity, Solange approached the bed, sat 負かす／撃墜する on the stool beside it and took one of the little woman's restless 手渡すs in her 会社／堅い clasp.
"I have come as a friend," she said in her 冷静な／正味の, pleasant 発言する／表明する. "You are in a terrible 状況／情勢 and I pity you from my heart. I may be able to help you, too. Please look at me—I think, when you see my 直面する, you will understand that I am not here to trick or deceive you."
Madame de Poulaillon opened her 注目する，もくろむs, which were 血 発射 with 涙／ほころびs and sleeplessness; she snatched away her 手渡す, sat up in bed and broke into a flood of meaningless protestations—why had she been 逮捕（する）d?—she was innocent, she had never done any wrong—unless it was wrong for a young woman to love a young man and to hate an old husband—and she began lamenting Saint-Richard, of whom she had had no news since she had been in the Bastille.
"He is 安全な, I can 保証する you of that," said Solange. "He has not been 逮捕（する）d, I do not think he is in any danger. Probably he has left the country. You can help him and your self and all your friends if you will tell the truth."
"The truth," repeated the 囚人 as if the words sounded strange in her ears.
"Yes, the truth," said Solange with a 厳しい accent. "Come, it is known that the 未亡人 Bosse sold 毒（薬）s. You were 設立する going to her shop, 内密に at night. She had fled but you did not know that. Come now, Madame de Poulaillon, what were you going to that shop for?"
"I used to go to 会合，会う Saint-Richard there," replied the 囚人 faintly. "The 未亡人 Bosse kept a maison de rendez-vous—that was how she made her money. She had two 罰金 議会s at the 支援する of the shop and another one upstairs. It paid her to buy the houses next door, so everything was secret and 静かな." The 囚人 ちらりと見ることd furtively sideways at Solange. "I used to go and buy soap and perfume there, too."
"Yes," agreed Madame Desgrez, "but what 肉親，親類d of soap and what 肉親，親類d of perfume? You remember the 事例／患者 of Madame de Brinvilliers, how she was 拷問d, taken in a tumbril through Paris, beheaded in 前線 of Notre-Dame and how her 団体／死体 was thrown to the 炎上s, because she had 毒（薬）d people?"
A spasm passed over the 病弱な 直面する of Madame de Poulaillon; she sat up in bed, clasping her 手渡すs feverishly 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her hunched-up 膝s; twice she tried to speak, but her 乾燥した，日照りの lips 辞退するd to move.
"I can save you from these horrors," 勧めるd Solange. "The police believe that they have put their finger on a 共謀 of 犯罪のs. If you will help them—"
"How can I help?" whispered the 囚人, 縮むing into herself and speaking with difficulty. "I don't know what she gave me. She said the 瓶／封じ込めるs held potions for charms. I gave them to my husband in his broth to make him kinder to me."
"Did you not give them to him in order that he might die and leave you his money, that you might be 解放する／自由な to go to your lover? And When you 設立する you had but 交流d one tyranny for another and that your brother and sister-in-法律 were taking up 住居 in your h?el, did you not think that you would go 支援する to La Bosse and get another charm to put in their broth?"
"It cannot be known!" sighed the 囚人; she fell 支援する on her pillow as if half-unconscious, but Solange saw her 注目する，もくろむs gleaming underneath the fair 攻撃するs and her fingers stiffly clutching the coarse 一面に覆う／毛布.
"You cannot pretend and 行為／法令／行動する with me as you can with the men, Madame de Poulaillon. I see that you are trying to be cunning. Very 井戸／弁護士席. I will leave you."
Solange rose and the 囚人 at once sat up in bed and caught her skirt.
"No, don't leave me. I will tell you all I know, if you'll save me, if you'll 断言する—"
Solange broke in on this desperate vehemence. "I can 断言する to nothing. I have no 力／強力にする to 約束 anything—but if you help the police, we will see that you are 保護するd."
A convulsion of terror, which Solange saw was not assumed, now shook the 囚人, who sat up crouching on the pallet bed.
"But I dare not! You do not know how powerful they are! You do not understand any of it! They always 脅すd me that if I breathed a word—"
"Yes, but who are they?" asked Solange, leaning 今後. "Who are these people who have this 力／強力にする over you? Who was the 未亡人 Bosse?"
"She was only one of their スパイ／執行官s," shuddered Madame de Poulaillon. "I didn't know much about her, she was only one of those people that one met at the services of the 集まり that was held in that house at the end of the 行き詰まり des Fleurs. I did not go there often. He was so unfaithful—Saint-Richard, I mean—I gave him all the money I could."
"Yes, the old house in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs," repeated Solange 静かに, "and the 集まり? What was this service?"
"It was in honour of the Devil," whispered Madame de Poulaillon. "They said one had to do it, or the charms would not work. There were horrors—but one had to shut one's 注目する，もくろむs. They all worked under the direction of the Master. I never saw him—I think he is an Englishman."
She fell 支援する again as if exhausted and a light 泡，激怒すること gathered on her pale lips.
"Tell me," asked Solange, speaking gently, "how one may find these people and …に出席する these 悪魔の（ような） 儀式s? They shall never know that you have betrayed them. Come, you are 安全な."
But the tormented girl shook her 長，率いる on the coarse pillow. "Give me the password," 勧めるd Solange. "Tell me how you 設立する your way there."
"If one shows in one's 手渡す," whispered Madame de Poulaillon without 開始 her 注目する，もくろむs, "a 黒人／ボイコット cross upside 負かす／撃墜する—"
A convulsion shook her; her 四肢s then became rigid; she lay still.
Solange tried to 慰安 the unhappy creature, for whom she felt an unreasoning pity.
"You are so young," she pleaded, leaning over her. "Perhaps you have only been foolish, deceived by others, perhaps if you have done wrong, it has been unintentional. Come, make 修正するs by helping us to discover and wipe out this evil."
Madame de Poulaillon opened her 注目する，もくろむs; she seemed やめる exhausted.
"I 信用 you and believe in you." Her feeble 手渡す caught at the strong fingers of Solange Desgrez. "But I can't talk now. Indeed I am tired. The doctor has been giving me laudanum for the 苦痛 in my 長，率いる, and that has made me sleepy. If I have done wrong," she 追加するd with a feeble 試みる／企てる at 暴力／激しさ, "it was because I was so unhappy! A girl does not like to live like a bird in a cage—locked up by an old man. He （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 me because I sold his bed of English moire—it was a hideous thing, too." She turned her thin 直面する to the pillow and began to weep.
Solange saw that it was of no use to endeavour to question her any longer.
"I will come again to-morrow," she said 静かに with impressive serenity. "Please think over all I have told you—please give me an exact account of all you know. I think I can 約束 you perfect safety, in the 未来 perhaps, even happiness."
"Yes, yes," whispered the 囚人 from her pillow. "It will 緩和する me to 自白する—I will tell you everything. But not now, not now—my 長，率いる is not （疑いを）晴らす, I do not remember very 井戸／弁護士席."
Solange rose, and looking behind the 審査する, made a 調印する to the 宗教上の sister to …に出席する to her 患者. As the dark-式服d sister rose to her feet, Solange left the 刑務所，拘置所. She was disappointed that she had nothing to give her husband but a recital of some 混乱させるd jargon, no more coherent than that which had left the lips of Jacquetta, the Italian girl, on her death-bed, and which very likely meant nothing at all except that the unfortunate Madame de Poulaillon had been in love with a scoundrel, for whose sake she had robbed her husband and bought charms and even 麻薬s from the 未亡人 Bosse.
Charles Desgrez agreed with his wife's opinion of what she had been able to 抽出する from the 囚人. Very likely in Marguerite de Jehan they had nothing but a weak, silly, vicious little woman driven to desperate 海峡s by ill-治療.
"We have no proof at all," said the young スパイ／執行官 of police, "that she 毒（薬）d her husband. She may, indeed, as she said herself, have gone to the shop 単に to 会合，会う her lover. It is certainly 半端物 that she should have について言及するd the empty house in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs, but it is やめる possible that that was only used for some more or いっそう少なく innocent 目的s."
"Innocent 目的s!" grimaced Solange with a little 解除する of her pretty upper lip, which made Desgrez exclaim in laughing rebuke:
"I see, my dear, that you take very lightly these 事柄s, which seem to me most serious! Do you think," he 追加するd with mock gravity, "that that is the way for a young wife to behave?"
Charles Desgrez took his Solange 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the waist and kissed her smooth cheeks.
"You must remember what 肉親，親類d of husband she has, my dear!" she exclaimed, "one who takes horrors for 認めるd and is やめる at home with scoundrels!"
"That is my work, Solange—one must have a 確かな in sensibility."
But Charles Desgrez did not feel as 平易な as he tried to appear; the 商売／仕事 in which he had so 突然に 設立する himself engaged did 内密に shock and horrify him; 罪，犯罪 he 推定する／予想するd to have to 直面する, but there was about this 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners a 毒気／悪影響 of evil that was peculiarly dreadful; the fact that these young women, Mademoiselle de Fontanges, Jacquetta and Madame de Poulaillon were 伴う／関わるd in 事柄s so noisome and mysterious was intensely painful to Charles Desgrez. He did not care to think of that little shop where the unctuous 未亡人 sold 毒（薬） so 自由に to discontented wives—he did not care to think that Dr. Rabel, a hard-working 内科医 井戸／弁護士席 known for his charity. was 関心d in infanticide, or that the meek, rosy priest, Father Davout, might be his 共犯者. He felt as if he and his young wife belonged to another world from that in which the poisoners moved; he looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 雇うd room that she had made so charming and clasped her の近くに, laying his cheek next to hers; a 脅すing sensation that their lives, in themselves so happy, were built over a dark abyss of wrong and 苦しむing, 所有するd him; supposing their thin crust of 安全 割れ目d and they were （海，煙などが）飲み込むd in the blackness of these unnamable horrors!
Too 熱望して and thoughtlessly he had taken this dear creature from her comfortable 地方の home, where no one had ever dreamed of the 暗黒街 of Paris or of those who はうd there.
Some 恐れる seemed to touch Solange also, for she said with a sigh under her breath:
"I wish I had not seen that poor wretch in the Bastille—Charles, she was no older than I!"
Struggling against his own repugnance the police スパイ／執行官 replied:
"But if she does 自白する anything to you, the lives of many people may be saved—Solange, it is really our 義務 to get to the 底（に届く） of this 商売／仕事, as it is the 義務 of a doctor to 削減（する） away the tumour that is 殺人，大当り the 患者."
"Yes, I know."
They stood silent, each thinking of Paris, the tortuous slums, the crooked alleys, the cavernous doorways, the windswept, river-washed quays, the dens and hovels that clustered の近くに to the magnificent 法廷，裁判所s of the Louvre, the 厳格な，質素な and noble 輪郭（を描く）s of the University, the splendid mansions of the nobility. Solange had a simple unquestioning 約束 in God that gave her a courage not easily shaken and, besides, knew little of what Charles knew or 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd about the secret practices of the poisoners; but he could not altogether repress a shudder at the thought of Satan and his 乗組員. Who could say that these were not fiends, or that fiendish work was not abroad in Paris? Who knew what 力／強力にする the Evil one 所有するd? Desgrez, like many 強健な-minded, hard-長，率いるd Normans, 所有するd a strong vein of mysticism and was unable to discredit all 証拠 of the supernatural.
Solange seemed to read his thoughts, for she tenderly kissed his cheek and said 厳粛に:
"We must go on, Charles, and 信用 in God."
The commonplace words were 十分な of meaning for the young man; they did really seem to picture the brilliant, if distant light of Eternal 司法（官） 向こうずねing over the dark places of human sin; in silence he traced the 調印する of the cross over his wife's forehead, then, 解放（する）ing her gently, turned to the 議長，司会を務める where lay his sword, gloves, cloak and hat.
Leaving Solange a little lonely, a little afraid for all her 勇敢に立ち向かう 前線, in the humble apartment that she kept so 削減する, Charles Desgrez went to the 長，指導者 of Police's office in the Bastille to 報告（する）／憶測 the result of his wife's visit to the 囚人.
M. de La Reynie agreed that what Madame de Poulaillon had said in her 悲惨 was not of much importance; he had, on his part, some news of the 事件／事情／状勢 Bosse, as he 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語d it on the headings of the さまざまな dossiers to do with the 事例／患者.
"The mysterious 未亡人 herself has been 逮捕（する）d の近くに to the Spanish frontier. She has been passing under an assumed 指名する, that of the wife of a 確かな Delmas. The couple have been 逮捕（する）d because they were endeavouring to pass 誤った money."
"Counterfeiters now!" exclaimed Desgrez.
"This Delmas," 追加するd M. de La Reynie, "has been in the 世帯 of the Duke of Savoy."
He looked up at his subordinate. "We shall have to go very carefully and very 内密に. Desgrez."
"Is it possible that the 未亡人 Bosse will 自白する?" asked the young man 熱望して.
"Unfortunately, no. Through a stupid oversight she was 許すd to commit 自殺."
"自殺!" exclaimed Desgrez in a トン of strong excitement.
"Yes. Nobody could be more 悩ますd than I am. She asked for a glass of water. When it was given her, she broke it and swallowed the pieces." De La Reynie frowned and 追加するd drily: "She must have been very much afraid, to give herself such a frightful death. Even broken glass in one's entrails is, I suppose, より望ましい to the 拷問-room and the 火刑／賭ける."
Desgrez sighed, 深く，強烈に disappointed.
"We still, however, Monsieur, have this Delmas."
"Yes, but he is a slippery fish. He says he had met the woman only a few weeks before—選ぶd her up in a 賭事ing hall in 小旅行するs. As for the coins, they were louis d'or—he says they were given him in 支払い（額） of a long-standing 負債. He 宣言するs that he was 解任するd from the 世帯 of the late Duke of Savoy on the sudden death of that prince, that when we 逮捕（する）d him he was travelling to （問題を）取り上げる a new place—he is a trained manservant—in Brussels. All this, of course," 追加するd M. de La Reynie with an 空気／公表する of 疲労，（軍の）雑役, "will have to be 調査／捜査するd. But so far we seem in another blind alley. There is only just one thing, that little 関係 with Savoy."
With this M. de La Reynie gave Desgrez copies of the de positions of this Delmas, an account of the 未亡人 Bosse and her death, and told him to take a clerk, and annotating and collating the 証拠, to 連合させる it with the other dossiers of the 事例／患者.
When the 長，指導者 of Police had done this, he left the modest office where he did most of his serious work and went into the handsome 賭け金-議会 where he had to receive a 訪問者 of distinction.
This apartment had been modernized, was handsomely panelled and furnished with gilt 議長，司会を務めるs upholstered with 激しい Genoese velvet and ball fringe in green colour.
His 訪問者 was punctual; as the 厚かましさ／高級将校連 bracket clock struck the 任命するd hour, the Marchese Innocenzo Pignata was shown into the presence of the 長，指導者 of Police.
The 水晶 and silver lamp hanging from the 天井 had been lit and the soft light fell 十分な on the two men at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, the tall, stately 人物／姿／数字 of the 長，指導者 of Police, in his plain, dark green coat, braided with 黒人／ボイコット soutache, and carelessly 倍のd cambric cravat, and the わずかな／ほっそりした person of Innocenzo Pignata, which was attired in the simplest of 黒人／ボイコット 幅の広い cloth, 削減（する） in an almost clerical style.
The young Italian wore linen cuffs and 禁止（する）d and was as 非武装の as if he had been a priest; M. de La Reynie admired him for this disdainful courage, which few men living in Paris would have dared to emulate.
"The bravado of the fanatic," thought the 長，指導者 of Police, "the enthusiasm of the Puritan!"
He 注目する，もくろむd his 訪問者 with some secret amusement 同様に as a lively 利益／興味; even when he was not engaged in his 義務s he could not help mentally "summing up" everyone with whom he （機の）カム in 接触する and 調査（する）ing into his character.
"I am a foreigner," began Pignata 厳粛に, speaking good if slow French. "I am here for one 推論する／理由 only, to keep His Most Christian Majesty loyal to the Church of Rome—"
M. de La Reynie 屈服するd, hardly listening to this preamble, but 熟考する／考慮するing with 楽しみ the young man's noble features, which were peculiarly engaging by 推論する／理由 of their amiable 表現 and the light of enthusiasm that sparkled in the soft, dark 注目する，もくろむs, above which the hairs rose in pure lines like the wings of a bird.
"I hear that you have 逮捕（する）d some 哀れな wretches 近づく the Spanish frontiers," continued Pignata, "and that one is the woman who kept 'The Lily マリファナ.'"
"Yes, Monseigneur. I 恐れる I have a 激しい 事件／事情／状勢 on my 手渡すs."
"But you must 調査（する） to the depths, Monsieur! You must stop at nothing to clean this hideous sore that eats into the very entrails of フラン."
"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席, Monseigneur," smiled the other. "But I have to be careful—I am only the 長，指導者 of Police."
Pignata interrupted passionately.
"Care for nothing but the blessing of God Almighty! I have no 権利 to 干渉する—but one cannot see such horrors going on and not be moved. Besides, I believe you begin to touch on my countrymen."
"This Malipiero, yes. I have no 証拠 against him."
"Nor I, though I have been making enquiries. But do not 信用 him! Assuredly he killed his wretched daughter!"
The 長，指導者 of Police shrugged his shoulders.
"I will say," continued Pignata, frowning, "though it be to my shame—that all these malpractices come from Italy. The police of Rome, directed by the zeal of His Holiness, struggle in vain against the 暗黒街 of these 犯罪のs, whose activities stretch all over Europe."
"We know that. We are aware that Exili and Sainte-Croix who 供給（する）d the 毒（薬） to Madame de Brinvilliers, received it from Italy."
"I can give you more 正確な （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）. Madame Olympia Maldachini, niece of the late ローマ法王, discovered the secret of this deadly 毒（薬）—it was with this that she 除去するd her enemies and 得るd the 枢機けい／主要な's hat for her brother by putting his 競争相手s out of the way."
"Does this help us? The lady is dead and her secrets with her."
"It was the apothecary Glazer that used to make this 毒（薬）, which floats on the water, is 消費するd by 解雇する／砲火／射撃, is so dangerous that one must wear a glass mask when 準備するing it—and so subtle that it can be introduced into every article of daily use. Oh, Monsieur! I was 吸収するd in 調査／捜査するing this 商売／仕事 in Rome—and to find that it has taken root here!"
"It seems it has. Lecoine, the 化学者／薬剤師, could not wholly 指名する the 毒（薬） that Madame Desgrez 得るd from this 未亡人 Bosse—arsenic there was, certainly—but something else, strange and deadly."
"It is that! The secret death of Exili; of Glazer; of Olympia Maldachini!" Pignata was 明白に 苦しめるd. "What a terrible 武器 to be in the 手渡すs of these scoundrels, Monsieur!"
"Yes, we shall have a panic in Paris soon, the traffic must be pretty 井戸／弁護士席 設立するd," 発言／述べるd the 長，指導者 of Police grimly.
"Have you no 手がかり（を与える）? This woman Bosse destroyed herself?"
"Yes. Can you help-do you know anything that might 補助装置 us, Monseigneur?"
"I want to, that is why I am here," replied the young man 熱望して. "I know, as you, Monsieur, cannot know, the extent of this powerful evil. My uncle, His Holiness, I myself have been 脅すd—it seems incredible that these villains can not be 跡をつけるd 負かす／撃墜する!"
M. de La Reynie smiled drily.
"Remember that we を取り引きする—as I think—a powerful secret organization, probably 保護するd by people in high positions—we 取引，協定 not only with a traffic in 毒（薬）s, but with all the foul 貿易（する）s that pander to 副／悪徳行為—abortion, infanticide, coining, the 製造（する） of supposed love philtres, of 麻薬s that profess to 回復する lost 青年 and withered beauty."
"Yes—I 恐れる as much," sighed Pignata. "And Italy is the home of this accursed 商売／仕事. Have you, Monsieur, any 疑惑s of 黒人／ボイコット 魔法?"
"That, too, without 疑問. But what form it takes and how far the practice goes, I do not know."
"This Marguerite de Poulaillon, will she speak?"
"Not yet. I have hopes, however."
Innocenzo di Pignata rose, the natural sweetness of his 直面する was 曇った with an 表現 of horror.
"I shall 令状 to Rome to-night. My uncle's police will get to work on this. I daresay I may be able to （判決などを）下す you some 援助. But keep my 指名する out of it."
"Certainly, Monsieur."
"Not that I 恐れる anything," 追加するd the young Italian 簡単に. "I 充てる my life to the Church, and she is best served by 戦闘ing evil—but if it is known that I meddle, I shall be handicapped in my 調査s."
"There is one other 事柄, Monseigneur. I believe that there is a 長，指導者 to this 共謀, one whom they 指名する the Master—or the 広大な／多数の／重要な Author. It is possible that he is an Italian? Do you know of anyone on whom 疑惑 might 落ちる?"
Pignata gave a slight shudder of disgust.
"God guard me from such 知識s! No, Monsieur, I am aware of several unscrupulous, detestable men in Italy—of 非，不，無 whom I could 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う of such hideous infamy."
"I think, however, there is such a person."
"It seems to me impossible! Such a man would have to 所有する 広大な／多数の／重要な wit, courage, 演説（する）／住所, knowledge—why should he waste such 質s in the service of the Devil? What could he 伸び（る） from these petty, horrible and fruitless 罪，犯罪s?"
"I cannot guess his 目的（とする）s," replied M. de La Reynie 厳粛に. "He may work に向かって some 私的な end—he may 行為／法令／行動する 単独で from love of 力／強力にする, he may be a 納得させるd Satanist—奮起させるd by diabolical 動機s! All I know is, I must find him—if he 存在するs."
"I shall try all means to 補助装置 you, Monsieur—count on me. I have some 影響（力） at the Vatican and even in the 法廷，裁判所 of フラン."
"You are fortunate in keeping so long in the King's favour, His Majesty is fickle and 安定性のない."
"I find something noble in him, にもかかわらず his 証拠不十分, his 副／悪徳行為s," replied the young man 真面目に. "M. Bossuet and I have hopes of detaching him from his evil genius, Madame de Montespan."
"To 配達する him to poor little Mlle. Fontanges?"
"Ah, now! The 器具 of the Church, Monsieur, is Madame de Maintenon, governess to the 王室の children."
"井戸／弁護士席," smiled M. de La Reynie, "these 法廷，裁判所 intrigues are beyond me. I have enough to do in policing Paris. I shall keep you in touch with all I discover and count on your help."
He was really 感謝する for the 援助 約束d by this intelligent, 高度に connected young man, who moved in the very centre of the 法廷，裁判所, but he saw him 出発／死 without 悔いる.
The 長，指導者 of Police, 自由主義の-minded by nature, had long since learned a 完全にする, detached 寛容, and the rather tiresome fanaticism and unbending 緊縮 of Pignata 疲れた／うんざりしたd him; there was something unnatural in the bigotry of one so young and M. de La Reynie had heard remarkable tales as to the length that the secret （外交）使節／代表 from the Vatican 押し進めるd his enthusiasm for 正統派の piety.
It was true that Pignata was attractive, gentle, 井戸／弁護士席-bred and winning, but M. de La Reynie would have preferred his 存在 いっそう少なく 吸収するd in the 約束 of Rome and the 政策s of the Vatican.
"However, I daresay he can be of use to me, and I must 耐える his fanaticisms. A pity he does not enter the Church—they say that he 宣言するs himself unworthy. 井戸／弁護士席, I suppose he will be sainted for his 苦痛s."
Solange Desgrez was 心から sorry for the unhappy 囚人 in the Bastille, whom she could not think of as a murderess, but only as a love-sick fool.
"Perhaps she loved her Saint-Richard as I love my Charles," thought the happy young wife, as she 用意が出来ている a basket of fruit and cakes to take with her to the 刑務所，拘置所.
"Even if she cannot eat the things, she will like to see them," thought Solange as she arranged her macaroons in a pretty packet of gilded paper and placed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する them the oranges 始める，決める off by their dark green leaves and 追加するd little packets of comfits in cardboard spangled with silver 星／主役にするs. "Poor thing, perhaps she is really やめる innocent, and it was only some いわゆる charm that she gave her husband—perhaps a 麻薬 to make him sleep while she ran out with her Saint-Richard. 井戸／弁護士席, it is a 誘惑 to which any woman might succumb. I hope to-day that I can soothe her and get her 信用／信任 and perhaps find out from her something that really will be of use to Charles and that will save her from 罰."
With a light heart and an 空気／公表する of 見込み Solange 始める，決める out along the Paris streets. She had thrown off all the nervous terrors which, にもかかわらず her courage, had been hanging over her for the last few days; all these mysteries, excitements, hints of 罪，犯罪s were new to her; in Caen she had lived a most 平和的な life. Yet, if her heart shrank from these dark 事件／事情／状勢s, her intellect was roused and 利益／興味d—besides, it was all for Charles.
When she arrived at the 独房 of Madame de Poulaillon she was told that the 囚人 had been very ill during the night, but に向かって the morning had 回復するd and seemed to look 今後 to Solange's visit with 広大な／多数の／重要な 楽しみ.
"She is 解決するd, I think," said the 修道女 who 認める Solange into the 独房, "to tell you everything. Ah, I see you have brought her a basket of cakes and fruit—that is the second 現在の she has received this morning."
"Who sent her the other?" asked Solange. "I am glad that some of her friends remember her."
"I do not know who it was—a woman called at the 刑務所，拘置所 宿泊する and sent up, what do you think—a basket 含む／封じ込めるing a bouquet of flowers!—so 早期に in the year, they are indeed rare and 高くつく／犠牲の大きい, hyacinths, daffodils and syringa grown under glass. They gave her such 楽しみ."
And the good 修道女 smiled に向かって the plain 審査する that hid the 囚人's bed in the dark corner of the 独房.
Solange passed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する this with pleasant words of 迎える／歓迎するing on her lips, but these changed すぐに to an exclamation of horror.
"Sister! Come here!"
The 修道女 急いでd to the 味方する of Madame Desgrez; the two women instinctively clutched at each other's 手渡すs. Madame de Poulaillon lay dead upon her 刑務所，拘置所 bed, her 強化するing fingers stuck in the mattress either 味方する of her as if she had died in a strong convulsion, her 長，率いる thrown 支援する with a grimace of agony on her sharp features. On her thin bosom, arched in a contortion, lay the bouquet of 軍隊d flowers, the waxy bells of purple and white hyacinths, the cream and 珊瑚 coloured horns of syringa, the yellow cups of daffodils and their scattered smooth blue-green leaves.
"Go for the doctor, Sister," said Solange faintly, and the 修道女 hurried from the 独房, しっかり掴むing her rosary.
Madame Desgrez sat 負かす／撃墜する on the stool by the bed; she felt a curious faintness coming over her, her senses seemed blur red. She had never in her life swooned nor lost 十分な 支配（する）／統制する of her faculties, and shocked and 苦しめるd as she was by this sudden sight of the 死体 of Marguerite de Jehan, it did not seem to her that her emotion was 十分な to account for this physical 崩壊（する）. With a strong 成果／努力 of will she left the bed and passed to the window. The 空気／公表する coming in through the high-placed 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s 生き返らせるd her and she 押し進めるd her fingers up into her 厚い, fair hair, trying to think, to 反映する...
In a few minutes the Sister returned with the 刑務所，拘置所 doctor; he began at once to talk of 自殺—it was so ありふれた の中で 囚人s, 特に the women, they all dreaded the 拷問 議会.
"I do not think so in this 事例／患者—she had been 保証するd of safety. Besides, she was happy," 抗議するd the 修道女. "I heard her this morning—she was looking 今後 to the visit of Madame Desgrez here—she was a light, 平易な creature, afraid of death."
Solange （機の）カム 今後. "How could she have destroyed herself?" she asked the doctor. "The Sister was with her all night."
"Yes," said the 修道女. "I took turn and turn about with Sister Marie-Joseph—the 囚人 was never alone."
The doctor knelt by the 団体／死体 of Madame de Poulaillon, from which Solange with a shiver 回避するd her 注目する，もくろむs. The 直面する of the poor young girl was horribly distorted; a 厚い, discoloured 泡，激怒すること was on her grinning lips, her 注目する，もくろむs had turned in her 長，率いる with a 星／主役にする of anguish, her delicate 団体／死体 was already rigid in an unnatural hoop.
"I cannot think how it happened," stammered the 修道女. "She was talking a little while ago. She seemed so pleased to see the flowers. I gave them to her and then she said she would sleep so as to be strong when Madame （機の）カム, and I put the 審査する 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her. The light 悩ますd her."
"She has been 毒（薬）d," 発表するd the doctor, interrupting the 修道女's voluble excuses.
"毒（薬）d!" exclaimed Solange. "But how—and by whom?"
"How can I tell that, Madame? But here are all the symptoms of violent 毒（薬）ing. In this manner the 犠牲者s of Madame Brinvilliers died. Stand 支援する. Who knows—" He touched the coarse sheets gingerly with his fingers. "There seem to me to be 激しい ガス／煙s rising here."
"I thought so, too," said Solange. "When I was bending over her I felt faint."
"The flowers!" 発言／述べるd the doctor, grimly; with the 辛勝する／優位 of his sleeve he cast the spring blossoms, so gay and 壊れやすい, on to the 床に打ち倒す.
"Is it possible!" exclaimed the 脅すd 修道女. "A 毒（薬）d bouquet! I have heard of such horrors happening in Italy—but the blossoms are themselves やめる fresh!"
"They, the poisoners, know how to do such things," stammered the doctor, who was himself pale; he wiped his lips with a 手渡す that trembled. "Bring me a 'kerchief, a pillow cover, anything—"
He kicked into a corner of the 独房 the wicker basket that had 含む／封じ込めるd the flowers.
The 修道女, from a cupboard in a corner of the 独房, brought a square of white linen. This the doctor laid on the 床に打ち倒す, then, with the toe of his shoe, 押し進めるd the flowers on to it; the linen was then knotted and the deadly bouquet placed out 味方する the 独房.
"This," said the doctor, "must be 報告（する）／憶測d at once to M. de La Reynie. I believe this unhappy girl to have been 毒（薬）d by those flowers. We shall soon know. A pity there is no 記録，記録的な／記録する nor remembrance of the woman who brought them."
"I suppose," said Solange with a half-sob in her throat as she turned from the 独房, leaning on the 修道女, "the poor little wretch was 毒（薬）d because she knew too much and they thought she would speak."
When half an hour later the 刑務所，拘置所 doctor brought Madame de Poulaillon's bouquet of flowers to put before M. de La Reynie he had nothing but a few blackened shrivelled stalks lying in the centre of a square of stained linen to 申し込む／申し出 the 長，指導者 of Police. He pointed to these with 暗い／優うつな 勝利.
"You see, Monsieur, we are 取引，協定ing with a very virulent 毒（薬）—some form of arsenic, I suppose, but the Devil him self alone knows what it is these damned Italians make. The 囚人 only needed to put the bouquet to her nostrils and she would have been 毒（薬）d without 存在 able to cry out. One convulsion and phew—all is over!"
M. de La Reynie rose 怒って; he ちらりと見ることd at the 厳しい 直面する of Desgrez who stood behind him:
"This is becoming serious. We are not 取引，協定ing with trivial 事柄s. I shall go straight to M. Louvois or M. Colbert, maybe to the King himself. This is intolerable. One of our 囚人s commits 自殺, another is 毒（薬）d! Certainly it was care いっそう少なく to 許す her to receive gifts from outside—but who would have thought of this! Even Exili was not able to play tricks like these—why, no one is 安全な. What secret of importance is 存在 guarded? Everywhere I turn the birds are flown. I had that house in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs watched—no one ever comes 近づく it, it is 砂漠d. I have had Doctor Rabel and his friend, Father Davout, watched—they seem to me the most irreproachable men alive."
"The Italian apothecary?" asked Desgrez.
"Nothing against him either. It seems, indeed, as if his daughter died through the result of an imprudent love 事件／事情／状勢?" M. de La Reynie 追加するd 激しく: "I cannot find even this young scoundrel Saint-Richard, or the maidservant who was no 疑問 the go-between of this wretched girl and himself."
The 長，指導者 of Police then 解任するd the doctor and the two copyists who always sat in the window embrasure, and turning to Desgrez said 真面目に:
"Only you and I, Desgrez, know how serious this 事件／事情／状勢 is. I have tried to make light of it to everyone. Perhaps I spoke a little too 率直に just now before the doctor, but he is a man whom one can 信用—twenty-five years in service here. It is true I ーするつもりである to go to the King and I also ーするつもりである to give it out 公然と that the 事件／事情／状勢 has been dropped, that I am 満足させるd it is of no importance. Above all things I do not wish to start a panic の中で these devils. Let us wait a little till they 伸び（る） enough 信用／信任 to come out into the open."
"What—whom do you 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う?" asked Desgrez 熱心に.
"I do not know—I have some vague 疑惑s. I dare not 発言する／表明する them even to you. It is this 技術 of the poisoners that confounds me. Where have they learnt these tricks? I, poor fool that I was, thought the whole 悪名高い 商売／仕事 had been wiped out with the death of Madame de Brinvilliers."
"Monsieur," 示唆するd Desgrez, "容赦 me, but would it not be better to keep this from the King until we know a little more? I 疑問 if it would be wise. His Majesty likes to think he knows all that goes on in his 資本／首都—this would 乱す him. He might forbid その上の 調査s. Besides, the death of this Italian girl who was in the 雇う of Mademoiselle Fontanges touches him very closely."
"You've heard that that young lady, shocked, no 疑問, by the sordid death of her favourite maid, has fled from the 法廷，裁判所 to her 後見人's ch穰eau? It is a 勝利 for Madame de Montespan and a grief for the King."
"I hope," replied Desgrez 心から, "that the young lady will never return to 法廷，裁判所. I felt a 深い compassion for her, lonely and unprotected as she was."
"井戸／弁護士席, she has gone. Maybe the King will 説得する her 支援する—I do not know how 深い his affection is," said M. de La Reynie impatiently. He 追加するd, with 増加するd distaste: "It is the licentiousness of His Majesty's own manners that makes this 明言する／公表する of 事件／事情／状勢s possible in his 資本／首都."
So 説, the 長，指導者 of Police took his hat, 茎 and gloves from the stand in the corner of his room and 用意が出来ている to leave his office.
"Monsieur," said Desgrez, "I have something to tell you. I have done a little work on my own. I have taken it upon myself to watch the apothecary's shop kept by Malipiero, and I have seen the Comte de Saint-Maurice, the 青年 with the doll-like features and the 注目する，もくろむs like Satan, to whom I took a powerful dislike, frequently enter the place."
"No 疑問 to buy his soaps and perfumes," said M. de La Reynie impatiently. "That's the worst of an 事件／事情／状勢 like this, one is always starting a hare. There is probably nothing in that."
Desgrez was not discouraged by this rebuke. "This Delmas that you have, Monsieur, what was his position at the 法廷，裁判所 of Savoy?"
"He was manservant to the Duke. He was in 出席 on him at his death."
"Then he must know M. de Saint-Maurice. Would it not be 同様に to 直面する them?"
"直面する them!" exclaimed the 長，指導者 of Police. "But how is that possible? One is a 囚人—a 哀れな wretch with out friends or 影響（力） and （刑事）被告 of an 嫌悪すべき 罪，犯罪, 偽造, and かもしれない 毒（薬）ing—and the other is the Plenipotentiary from Savoy, against whom we have not a 影をつくる／尾行する of an imputation. How 直面する them?"
"I think it could be contrived. If you will leave the 商売／仕事 to me, Monsieur," 追加するd Desgrez 熱望して. "I believe I can do it and with 予定 discretion. You know that my wife and I are working 手渡す in glove in this?"
"Yes, Desgrez, and I am 感謝する for her help. What she has discovered may yet be useful. But do remember what you are exposing her to. We have had three deaths already in this 事件／事情／状勢 and have only touched the fringe of it. Desgrez, I implore you, do not let your 忠義 to me 干渉する with your 忠義 to your wife."
The young man 紅潮／摘発するd. "As if I would expose her to the least danger—"
"You would not willingly do so, I know, but your zeal might outrun your discretion. Be very careful how she is seen 干渉するing—do not let it be known that she helps you. If she does anything, let it be done in the most 隠しだてする manner, under some disguise."
"Monsieur, you touch my heart when you talk of danger to my Solange. Yet I 約束d her she should help me—and there are things that only a woman can do. But I will remember your advice. Give me twenty-four hours in which to make a few 調査s into the 事件／事情／状勢s of Saint-Maurice, and his friend, the Italian apothecary. Delmas, I suppose, is 存在 brought to Paris?"
"Yes. すぐに. He has been interrogated several times, but nothing is to be got out of him. If he is a scoundrel, he is a の近くに one."
A few evenings later Charles and Solange, in the plain attire of 国民s of the humbler sort, kept watch on the little shop owned by Matiniero, the Italian apothecary. Aware that the man might 井戸／弁護士席 be 怪しげな, Desgrez took care that this 秘かに調査するing was not done in any 目だつ way. He and his wife took it in turns to watch at the 入り口 to the street, which was one of a 狭くする 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集める of 小道／航路s at the 支援する of the Jesuit church in the rue Saint-Antoine, while the other hurried past the shop looking like a 淡褐色 passer-by in 追跡 of some humble 商売／仕事.
The April day was 罰金, sharp and （疑いを）晴らす; the rains, which had been continuous for the last five weeks, had suddenly 中止するd; there was a sparkle in the 空気／公表する and もやs no longer rose from the wide, grey river.
It was Solange, loitering at the corner of the street with her market basket and her woollen hooded cloak 井戸／弁護士席 over her 直面する, that saw the handsome equipage of the Plenipotentiary of Savoy draw up.
The alley in which the apothecary's shop was 据えるd was too 狭くする to 許す a coach to pass 負かす／撃墜する it, so M. de Saint-Maurice descended from his ornate coach, and on foot, care fully treading の中で the filth that まき散らすd the cobbles, made his way without disguise to Malipiero's shop.
Solange 熟考する／考慮するd him carefully and not without 是認: she smiled 内密に at her husband's unfriendly description of the Plenipotentiary as a popinjay and effeminate wretch who looked more like a doll, a painted puppet out of a marionette show, than a man. In the feminine estimation of Solange, Saint-Maurice was 極端に attractive; she by no means disliked his exquisitely tailored coat of green velvet, his sable muff, his embroidered gloves and sword-belt, the cascades of lace at wrist and throat.
As soon as Saint-Maurice had entered the apothecary's shop, Solange joined her husband, who loitered in a doorway the other 味方する of the street.
"井戸／弁護士席, Solange, there he is, and now you know what to do. I shall be waiting for you a few paces 負かす／撃墜する the road."
With her heart （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing rather 急速な／放蕩な, but more from excitement than 恐れる or 当惑, Solange boldly entered the apothecary's shop, の近くにing the door with its jangling bell smartly behind her; Saint-Maurice was leaning across the 反対する; he looked up, surprised. There was amazement, too, on the wrinkled 直面する of the yellow Italian standing の中で his マリファナs, jars and 規模s; he was not used to 顧客s of this type—Solange appeared like the wife of a small tradesman.
She dropped a little curtsey to the nobleman, and 演説（する）／住所ing the apothecary, said in an assumed 発言する／表明する: "Monsieur, I hear you have very good soap balls scented with almonds. They have been recommended to me for the complexion."
"They are not cheap, my good woman," replied the apothecary, to which Solange replied with a laugh that she had won a prize in a 宝くじ and could afford a little extravagance.
Agostino Malipiero then reluctantly turned to the 支援する of the shop to fetch the soap, and 即時に Mange took a paper out of her 捕らえる、獲得する and slid it along the 反対する to M. de Saint-Maurice, lounging elegantly over the 反対する. On it her husband had carefully printed in Gothic lettering the に引き続いて message:
The man Roussel, who has been 逮捕（する）d for passing 偽造の money on the Spanish frontier, is in reality Delmas. He is 存在 brought to Paris. It is 恐れるd that, 直面するd by 拷問, he may speak. What do you 示唆する?
At the 底（に届く） of this message Charles Desgrez had painted a stiff bunch of carnations and a 黒人／ボイコット cross upside 負かす／撃墜する. He and Solange had laughed together as they had composed this message, they had had so little to go upon, and as for the two symbols they had placed at the 底（に届く） of the paper, they were indeed the 製図／抽選 of a 屈服する at a 投機・賭ける, since they referred only to 表現s which had fallen from the lips of foolish, distracted, sick women now dead.
Solange waited for M. de Saint-Maurice to flick aside the paper, to upbraid her for insolence or impertinence; but in stead he 倍のd it up quickly, put it in his pocket, and said to her in an undertone: "At Passy, the usual place, the usual time."
Quickly Solange replied in her half-assumed 発言する／表明する: "But that is dangerous, the police are watching."
"In the 行き詰まり des Fleurs, then," said Saint-Maurice, still not looking at her but standing rigidly at the 反対する so that his 罰金 profile でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd in the long curls was に向かって her.
"No, no," 抗議するd Solange, 猛烈に eager to get a rendez-vous that it would be possible to keep, "Passy would be better than that. But at what time?"
"Nine o'clock to-morrow," replied Saint-Maurice, 選ぶing up a flask of perfume from the 反対する and 影響する／感情ing to smell it.
Malipiero was coming 支援する from the parlour behind the shop, the soap in his 手渡すs, and Solange 恐れるd that her 成果／努力 had been a 失敗, when, to her 広大な／多数の／重要な 救済, Saint-Maurice whispered はっきりと: "Come to my house this time—the 味方する door." He gave her a sharp look as if he wished to 侵入する her disguise but Solange had her hood 十分な over her 直面する. She perceived that Saint-Maurice had some secrets from the apothecary and did not wish the Italian to know that he had received the message—so she paid for the soap, took it up and put it in her basket and left the shop in a slow and indifferent manner.
Charles was waiting for her at the corner of the street; when she joined him she could not 差し控える from breaking out into laughter.
"He walked straight into the 罠（にかける）, Charles! He does know something. He 受託するd the message and the symbols. It is やめる （疑いを）晴らす that he is afraid of what Delmas might give away." And she told her husband of the 任命 that had been made for to-morrow night. "Will you be able to find it? He said at his house at Passy. Has he got a house there, he, a mere 訪問者 to Paris?"
"He is a Frenchman and used to live here," replied Charles Desgrez, taking his wife's arm and 主要な her 速く away from the crooked by-street. "These 広大な／多数の／重要な nobles like to keep these little 郊外住宅s along the river. Now what are we going to do next? It is （疑いを）晴らす that you cannot keep that 任命 to-morrow," he 追加するd gaily. "I am not so sure that it would be wise for me to do so; if I am known, my game is up. I have not done much in the way of disguises and I 疑問 if I could escape 発見. Still, we will see. I believe Delmas has arrived in Paris. I will interview him in the light of the know ledge we now have."
Solange clung to her husband's arm; the streets of Paris looked more than ever foreboding and 悪意のある; a new moon hung high in the pellucid sky and a 冷淡な 勝利，勝つd blew above the dark housetops, the grim facades, pointed tourelles and churches, mansions and public buildings.
"I almost wish," whispered Solange, shuddering, "that we could draw 支援する. What we have put our 手渡す to seems to me to become with every day more difficult and dangerous. Charles, I know it's just a woman's 証拠不十分, but—"
"But what?" he said tenderly, and leaning 負かす／撃墜する, pinched her cheek, which was 冷淡な under the grey hood. "Surely you don't 推定する／予想する me to give up now, just when the 商売／仕事 is becoming exciting and looks to be profitable? Why, think what I have made out of it already. I may almost call myself, in a 静かな, secret sort of way, M. de La Reynie's 権利 手渡す. I have had an entr馥 to the Louvre, I may have a chance of going to Versailles itself. Come, my darling, do not lose heart—this 事件／事情／状勢 may bring us fortune yet."
"But," replied Solange 厳粛に, "you may not live to enjoy this fortune. Remember that Saint-Maurice has 申し込む／申し出d to 賄賂 you—the next thing will be a 脅し. I felt that it was a dangerous thing I did to-night in the shop. It is true he has never seen me before, nor is he likely to again, but somehow I felt uneasy at deceiving him. He has a terrible 直面する."
"A terrible 直面する, Solange?" laughed Desgrez. "It's like as I told you, a girl's, a doll's."
"That makes it more terrible. His 注目する，もくろむs are really like those of the Devil with those 広範囲にわたる brows that almost 会合，会う."
"And when have you seen the Devil?" laughed Desgrez. "Saint-Maurice is a very ordinary young scoundrel who happens to be good-looking."
He stopped at the corner of the street; taking his wife by the shoulders, he kissed her 温かく.
"We will go home separate ways, dear," he said. "I shall make a d騁our by the Bastille to see if M. de La Reynie has returned yet to his offices. You will be やめる 安全な now—you have nothing but one 幅の広い, 井戸／弁護士席-たびたび（訪れる）d street to walk 負かす／撃墜する."
With that Charles Desgrez parted from his wife and turned away briskly into the 影をつくる／尾行するs.
It was true that Solange had only a little way to go before she reached the respectable ４半期/4分の1 where she and her husband 宿泊するd, and as the streets of Paris were so 井戸／弁護士席 policed—unlike those of London and the Italian towns—it was やめる 安全な for a respectable woman to be out after dark alone as long as she 避けるd 疑わしい ４半期/4分の1s and dark alleys.
Yet Solange felt a sense of loneliness, even of 逮捕, and almost instinctively quickened her steps. Through nervousness she kept looking over her shoulder, yet she was sure that she had not been followed from the apothecary's shop. How would that have been possible without either her or her husband knowing of it? Yet when she was a few paces from her own door, a man, who seemed to her excited fancy to have sprung from the ground, was suddenly behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Solange, with difficulty, sup 圧力（をかける）d a 叫び声をあげる of terror.
This stranger had his hat 井戸／弁護士席 pulled over his brow and a winter cloak thrown 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the lower part of his 直面する; he was immensely tall and 幅の広い-shouldered, and Solange 認めるd him even before he spoke; it was M. de Saint-Maurice himself.
"He must indeed be in league with the Devil to be able to follow me like this unperceived," thought Solange in terror, but she stood her ground bravely.
"Listen," said Saint-Maurice. "I do not know who you are—perhaps you would be good enough to tell me?"
"It would be too dangerous," whispered Solange in her assumed 発言する／表明する. "I dare not breathe a word, even here. Who knows, behind some doorway, at some window—" she re called the words uttered by Jacquetta and Madame de Poulaillon. "I obey the Master."
Saint-Maurice seemed 満足させるd with this excuse; he lowered his 発言する／表明する even more, and muttered: "If you are in touch with the man Delmas, or can get in touch with him, 警告する him that it will be more dangerous for him to 自白する than to keep silent. Tell him not to 恐れる, we can 救助（する） him from these infernal police."
"Yes, yes, I will do my best," replied Solange. "But what if the man is obstinate? After all, they will provably 脅す to 拷問 him."
"Then he must be silenced," replied Saint-Maurice, "as Madame de Poulaillon was silenced. You should not," he 追加するd in a 厳しい トン of rebuke, "have followed me into Malipiero's shop—there are some things of winch he knows nothing though probably now he must be told—he saw you pass the 公式文書，認める."
With that he turned off 突然の into the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the houses, walking slowly, his 手渡すs in his pockets, his shoulders hunched.
Solange walked on, 決めかねて what to do. It was 明確に most imprudent even to think of returning to her own home; Saint-Maurice would certainly follow her, watch where she went, and find out, without much difficulty, who she was. "They will call me," she thought with a touch of horror, "a police 秘かに調査する. Neither my life nor that of Charles will be 安全な. But where shall I go, how shall I get rid of him?"
As she was still hesitating, Saint-Maurice, to her 広大な／多数の／重要な alarm, （機の）カム 支援する and overtook her again. This time he said, bending 負かす／撃墜する from his 広大な／多数の／重要な 高さ に向かって her:
"Tell '行方不明になる Pink' to be a little more careful the next time she sends me messages. The Master could not have wished this imprudence."
With that he was gone 速く again.
"'行方不明になる Pink'!" Solange turned over the two English words, which to her meant nothing whatever. Then she took her 決意／決議—a bold and, no 疑問, a foolish one she could think of nothing better in that moment of 恐れる and distraction. She would go to the Louvre, she would pretend to be entering the 広大な／多数の／重要な palace by one of the 味方する doors—or, at least, she would cast off the man who was 影をつくる／尾行するing her in the 周辺 of that dark and majestic building.
"Perhaps," she thought, as she hurried in the direction of the river, "I am making a mistake and he will know that he has no friends within the palace."
Yet she thought of Jacquetta, of Doctor Rabel—"Malipiero at least has the entr馥 to the palace, I suppose."
Then she remembered that Mademoiselle de Fontanges had left the 法廷，裁判所 and retired to her 後見人's country house, and that therefore the apothecary had no longer an excuse to visit the Louvre. Still, she shrugged her shoulders: "I can think of nothing else."
She did not see Saint-Maurice again, but she was やめる sure that by dodging in 影をつくる／尾行するs and doorways he was contriving to follow her; she crossed the 橋（渡しをする）; there the faint moon light and the yellow lamplight made a （疑いを）晴らす enough 照明, and when she looked over her shoulder there was the tall, 幅の広い-shouldered 人物／姿／数字 of her pursuer, sauntering with a careless 空気／公表する several yards behind.
伸び（る）ing the 堤防 in 前線 of the Louvre, Solange made as if to turn under the main archway and crouched there in the 影をつくる／尾行するs; her grey cloak made her, she was sure, invisible; she saw Saint-Maurice, a dark 人物／姿／数字 in the half-light, pause and look to 権利 and left; then she ran along the 前線 of the palace, keening 井戸／弁護士席 in the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the jutting ornaments of the balconies; Saint-Maurice, she 観察するd by looking over her shoulders, turned in the opposite direction. Solange 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the palace, then, when she reached the 私的な gates where the 歩哨s stood, darted 支援する and 伸び（る）d the 堤防, and 横断するd it for a long while until she （機の）カム to a フェリー（で運ぶ） which took her across. She was by now やめる sure that she had 完全に baffled Saint-Maurice, and it was with a feeling of 勝利—although she was exhausted—that she 伸び（る）d her apartment.
With a laugh, 存在 a neat housewife, she unpacked at once Malipiero's soap, and placed it by the wash-水盤／入り江.
"行方不明になる Pink, 行方不明になる Pink." She repeated the two meaningless words to herself. "Now what did he mean by that? I wish Charles were here, so that I could ask him."
Then a horrible thought struck her: she snatched the soap and, 倍のing it in a towel, laid it carefully aside.
The man Roussel or Delmas, the companion of the 未亡人 Bosse when she had been 逮捕（する）d, was 宿泊するd 概略で in the Bastille. His 石／投石する 独房 with the one, high-placed, 閉めだした window, the rough 木造の furniture and pallet bed, his meals of coarse boiled meat, 黒人／ボイコット bread and sour ワイン were not calculated to fill him with much hope of leniency from the 法律.
When Charles Desgrez went to interview him the day after the visit of Solange to the Italian apothecary, he 設立する Delmas in a dejected mood. The man was a dark, lean Southerner with the cropped hair, shaven 直面する and servile manners of a lackey. He 補欠／交替の／交替するd between terrified humility and insolent effrontery.
"Monsieur," he began at once when Desgrez entered his 独房, "it is useless to interrogate me その上の. I have said all I know, my poor 長，率いる 分裂（する）s with answering questions. Was it my fault that I was at the 法廷，裁判所 of Savoy when the Duke caught a 冷気／寒がらせる out 追跡（する）ing? Was it my fault," he 追加するd with 増加するing 反抗, "that I 選ぶd up a pleasant-looking little woman for a travelling companion and 設立する she was 手配中の，お尋ね者 by the police? Is it my fault that a debtor 支払う／賃金s me with bad money?"
"All this is certainly your misfortune," said Desgrez, smiling. "A man is 裁判官d, you know, Delmas, by the company he keeps. You were under an assumed 指名する, too, and we can find nothing about this いわゆる debtor of yours."
"Would he be likely to put in an 外見?" retorted the other. "Surely, Monsieur, you can see that it is the mere ありふれた sense of the 事例／患者—the man knowing he gave me this 偽造の money would disappear and leave me to 支払う／賃金 the 刑罰，罰則."
"I have not come here to talk to you about the 偽造の money," said Desgrez, standing inside the door and 倍のing his 武器 on his chest. "I think you are 伴う／関わるd in 事柄s more serious than that."
Delmas seemed 脅すd, Desgrez thought, by this re 示す. He made an 成果／努力 at jauntiness as he replied: "More serious? There are heavier 刑罰，罰則s for 偽造 than I should care to を受ける."
Coolly and deliberately Desgrez drew his 屈服する at a 投機・賭ける.
"But for the 殺害者 is reserved the most terrible 運命／宿命 of all. He is broken on the wheel, and then cast, still living, into the 炎上s."
Delmas winced; he put his 手渡すs before his 注目する，もくろむs and 押し進めるd his fingers up into his cropped hair.
"Your only hope," said Desgrez, "is in making a 自白."
But to the police スパイ／執行官's 激しい 失望 the 囚人 seemed to have 回復するd some of his courage, for he answered sullenly:
"Indeed, I know nothing. The Duke was overheated, he had been in the saddle for hours. I tell you, Monsieur, he was a doomed man when I gave him the shirt."
"Ah," cried Desgrez, tailing with delicate precision on that 声明, "when you gave him the shirt! So you 収容する／認める that, do you?" He was still moving like a man blind-倍の, intently watching the movements and 表現 of the 囚人, who stammered:
"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席, Monsieur, yes. I gave him the shirt—it was my 義務. I was his 団体／死体-servant. I did not know, when M. de Saint-Maurice got me the position—"
"Ah, it was M. de Saint-Maurice who got you this position, was it?"
"Yes, yes, that is known—I have already told the police."
"And what was it you did not know?"
"I knew nothing," said Delmas sullenly, "nothing whatever! Who am I to know anything of the intrigues of Princes?"
"It is usually their 団体／死体-servants that do know these 事柄s," replied Desgrez. "Come 支援する to the shirt, my friend. What was it you were not to know?"
"I was not to know that it was 毒（薬）d—if it was," said Delmas. "The story went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する afterwards, but that was the first I heard of it."
"In whose 利益／興味 could it have been 毒（薬）d?"
An 表現 of cynic malice crossed Delmas's sallow 直面する. "Perhaps the Duchess can tell you that—and she's Madame 王室の of フラン now, so I don't suppose the King will want the 事柄 調査／捜査するd. But I know nothing, nothing at all."
"Perhaps the sight of the rack would refresh your memory," said Desgrez, 狭くするing his shrewd grey 注目する，もくろむs. He was sick with 失望, baffled and 疲労，（軍の）雑役d, and would willingly have given the wretch the shock of a visit to the 拷問 議会, but Delmas 軍隊d a sickly grin.
"One can't say what one doesn't know, Monsieur, even if one's 四肢s are pulled off one's 団体／死体."
Desgrez thought: "The fellow is 高度に 保護するd."
He turned as if to leave by the door which stood behind him, then paused and on the threshold asked 突然の: "Is the 調印する of a 黒人／ボイコット cross turned upside 負かす／撃墜する familiar to you, or that of a knot of carnations?"
The 囚人's repulsive 直面する was inscrutable. He answered with a leer: "My betters will be able to give you that in 形式, Monsieur l'スパイ／執行官 de police."
On that same day when Charles Desgrez told the 長，指導者 of Police what Solange had learned from M. de Saint-Maurice, de La Reynie was 完全に at a loss as to how to make use of the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that Solange had so cleverly 得るd. He had several good 秘かに調査するs in his 雇用, but hesitated to 雇う them in this instance. He had seen M. Colbert at the palace of Versailles; he had only just returned from that interview, and the 大臣 had told him that the King took the 事件／事情／状勢 very 本気で and wished it to be most 完全に 調査／捜査するd; he also wished it kept, for the 現在の at least, secret, so that the 犯罪のs might be 誘惑するd into betraying themselves.
"I could not see His Majesty himself," continued La Reynie. "He is not 井戸／弁護士席. M. Aquin is in 出席 on him. He is 苦しむing from the most frightful 頭痛s and a continuous sickness that is やめる alarming; few see him besides Madame de Montespan and his children and the pious governess, Madame de Maintenon."
"He is taking it to heart, perhaps," said Desgrez, "the flight of Mademoiselle de Fontanges from the 法廷，裁判所?"
"I believe so," smiled Monsieur de La Reynie with a wry 直面する. "He 行方不明になるs, too, the 占領／職業 of war—he would like to be going as usual to a （選挙などの）運動をする in Flanders. Times of peace are tedious to these 広大な／多数の／重要な ones." He sighed as he smiled.
"一方／合間 we have this 事件／事情／状勢 on our 手渡すs. As I said, I do not wish to 雇う an ordinary 秘かに調査する to-night, because that means letting someone else into the secret of what we Are doing."
"I will go," said Desgrez. "I believe, after all, I can disguise myself 井戸／弁護士席 enough. I am new to Paris and scarcely likely to be known to these people. I do not think any of associate me with these 調査s. It is true that Malipiero and Doctor Rabel both saw me at the Louvre, but they consider that 事例／患者 の近くにd. Doctor Rabel and Father Davout also know that I was 調査／捜査するing in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs, but if you, Monsieur, say they are innocent men, there is no 事柄 for that." He smiled ironically.
"Do not 関心 yourself, my friend," said the 長，指導者 of Police. "We are certainly 取引，協定ing with infernally clever 犯罪のs, and it is やめる obvious that they must know by now you are working with me against them. Your wife, however, was able to deceive Saint-Maurice, and it is possible that you may be able to deceive them to-night. You will, however, be taking, as the 説 goes, your life in your 手渡すs."
"I am willing to do that, Monsieur," said Desgrez, but 厳粛に, for he was thinking of Solange. "Only, if anything should happen to me—"
"I know what you would ask," said the 長，指導者 of Police kindly, "your wife—she shall be looked after, 保護するd and 年金d."
"That is all I want," said Desgrez. "But who, in the Devil's 指名する, am I suppose to be?" he asked in mock despair. "I shall go to this rendez-vous—I have discovered where M. de Saint-Maurice lives—the little house of his at Passy—and I am supposed to be one of themselves. But who?"
"I do not know enough about them to be able to 示唆する a character for you. It seems to me," M. de La Reynie 追加するd reflectively, "that your part will be 極端に difficult. I 疑問 even if it is wise for you to go until we know a little more. Perhaps it would be safer 単に to watch the house."
The に引き続いて 計画（する） was then decided upon. Desgrez was to assume some
disguise and keep watch upon the 郊外住宅 from nine o'clock onwards. If he could
not see enough to 満足させる himself through this means, then he was to
endeavour to introduce himself to the conspirators as one of their number,
keeping up a mystery 関心ing his 身元. M. de La Reynie thought that
this 計画（する） would not work, but Desgrez believed that it could be done.
When Desgrez returned home he 設立する Solange anxiously waiting for him; she had not seen him since they had parted in the street the night before. With a laughter that disguised an inward trepidation, she told him of her adventures and how she had been followed by Saint-Maurice, who had spoken twice to her, and how she had thrown him off by losing herself in the 影をつくる／尾行するs of the 広大な fa軋de of the Louvre.
Desgrez commended his wife's ingenious spirit, but with an inner 沈むing of the heart.
"You must do no more of this sort of work," he said. "I will not 雇う you again."
Solange shook her 長，率いる and placed her 手渡すs on her husband's shoulders.
"You know that you 約束d that I should help you—help you I must, and will."
Then, trying to make 事柄s light between them to relieve the 緊張 they both felt, she told him about the strange message that M. Saint-Maurice had given her. "行方不明になる Pink, now—what does that mean? 行方不明になる, I know it is Mademoiselle, but Pink—an English word, or is it Dutch? I have been thinking so hard what it could be. I remember a Dutch friend of my father's—he used to speak of pinken or the pink, a little fishing-boat it meant, when we visited him at Fecamp."
"In English it means the colour rose," said Desgrez, "so we must look for
a 行方不明になる Rose—then perhaps again it is a mere trick and Saint-Maurice was
fooling you."
Twenty-four hours later Desgrez was standing outside the 郊外住宅 of Monsieur de Saint-Maurice at Passy. He had chosen one of the simplest and most 効果的な of disguises, that of a wandering Franciscan 修道士. The 長，指導者 of Police's wardrobe had 供給するd him with a long 牽引する-coloured, grey-speckled 耐えるd and wig, which one of the police 秘かに調査するs experienced in the art of disguise had fastened carefully over his own straight fair locks and smooth chin. A 自由主義の handful of Paris dirt rubbed into his 直面する and 手渡すs and under his nails, the donning of a tattered brown habit with a cord girdle and a leather 捕らえる、獲得する 十分な of greasy pieces on his shoulder, the en 事例／患者ing of his feet in torn stockings, the thrusting of them into ride sandals, and the police スパイ／執行官's disguise was 完全にする; fastened in a belt under his habit and easily accessible through a slit in the coarse cloth was a sharp dagger, whistle and a purse of gold and silver pieces, for Charles Desgrez did not know where the adventure might end.
A coach belonging to the 長，指導者 of Police brought him 平易な distance of the 郊外住宅, which was known as Les Peupliers because of the group of tall poplars that grew at the end of the garden; there was a sense of spring in the 空気／公表する and these trees were already dusted with the first 赤みを帯びた gold leaves which gave them a shimmer of colour in the pale, cloudless moonlight.
The 郊外住宅 was not large and consisted, as Desgrez discovered by gazing through the 広大な／多数の／重要な アイロンをかける gate, of gardens laid out in the Italian style with little pavilions, fountains and par terres. The house was an ordinary little 楽しみ or summer house, red-bricked, white-直面するd, one-storeyed, with green shutters and a wide door with a winged staircase. At the 支援する was a small orangery or glasshouse used to 保護する exotic 工場／植物s during the winter. Beside the line main gate through which Desgrez made his 観察 there were two postern doors, one in each of two 味方する 塀で囲むs of the 郊外住宅 garden.
Desgrez had no guide to the time; it was, as he supposed, somewhere about rune o'clock that three cavaliers 棒 up from the direction of Paris; one was 明確に recognizable from his tall 人物／姿／数字, wide shoulders and fleece of 黒人／ボイコット hair as M. de Saint-Maurice himself; the other two were strangers to Desgrez, who, by 推論する／理由 of the moonlight, had to keep his distance and crouch 負かす／撃墜する in the 影をつくる／尾行する cast by the garden 塀で囲む, which was some way from the main gate. The cavaliers were all laughing immoderately; to the police スパイ／執行官 there was some thing 悪意のある and most unpleasant in this high, half-hysterical laughter which rang in the 空気／公表する as the three flung themselves from their horses and pulled the アイロンをかける bell at the gate.
A servant （機の）カム and opened this; he had in his 手渡す a lantern. The beams of this tell on one of the cavaliers, 明らかにする／漏らすing a characteristic that the police スパイ／執行官 すぐに 公式文書，認めるd; though this man wore a 幅の広い-brimmed hat and a long cloak they did not 隠す the fact that he was hunchbacked. The third person appeared to be a young boy or 青年 of very slender build, or, and this seemed to Desgrez the more likely, a woman in masculine attire.
The three men disappeared into the garden and were followed by the servant 主要な their horses. The gates の近くにd. Almost すぐに afterwards a plain, shabby coach, which might have been a 雇うd 乗り物, drew up. Out of this coach descended two women and two men; they rang the bell at the gate for it to be opened and passed into the 郊外住宅 grounds while the coach drove off; the driver was a little old man, almost a dwarf.
Several more people, walking too の近くに together for Desgrez to distinguish either their number or their sex in the 反対／詐欺 fusing moonlight and cross-影をつくる／尾行するs, now approached on foot. They were 即時に 認める, as the others had been on the first （犯罪の）一味ing of the bell.
After waiting for a while and finding that no one else appeared, Desgrez thought:
"I suppose the company is now 完全にする—it seems a 十分に large and formidable 集会. They must be all 極端に anxious to have the 最新の news of M. Delmas."
Encumbered by his 式服 and smiling grimly to himself at his own clumsiness, Desgrez now climbed over the 塀で囲む at the point furthest from the house where it was 影をつくる／尾行するd by the poplar trees. With the 援助 of these he was able to 減少（する） lightly on to the soft ground the other 味方する; before him lay the 井戸／弁護士席-kept grounds, the clipped rose trees already beginning to put 前へ／外へ their glossy leaves, the panes of the glass-house gleaming like ice in the moonlight, the fountain where the water splashed in silver threads, hollow-注目する，もくろむd termini 始める，決める between イチイ trees. The windows in the 味方する of the 楽しみ house 直面するing Desgrez were shuttered; he crept along, however, most warily; he did not know who was 地位，任命するd in the gardens nor what 歩哨s might be placed about the house and grounds.
As he passed the glass-house, keeping carefully behind it, he noticed that the door of this had been left ajar; through it （機の）カム the delicious fragrance of 軍隊d and exotic flowers. This brought 速く to the police スパイ／執行官's mind the bouquet that had been sent to Madame de Poulaillon and had 原因（となる）d her death. He peered in at the flowers, which looked as if they were 削減（する） from ice and silver in the fantastic light that the moonbeams sent through the glass, even the purple hyacinths and dark tresses of Persian lilac appearing diaphanous in those pallid rays.
Desgrez noticed that in the glass-house were all the flowers that had composed the 致命的な bouquet. He then, 用心深い and 警報 but with かなりの trepidation, for he was not used to this 肉親，親類d of work, scouted 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the garden 塀で囲む, keeping in the 影をつくる／尾行する. When he had reached a point of vantage where he could see the other 味方する of the house he noticed that the windows were unshuttered.
Deciding to 危険 everything ーするために 伸び（る） a sight of the Company within, he followed the 塀で囲む till he was opposite the 前線 of the house, then crossed over to it, and passing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it 設立する that he was able, by going on his 手渡すs and 膝s, to gaze into the room. Two curtains of straw-coloured silk 妨げるd his 見通し a little, but by turning his 長，率いる here and there he was soon able to his 激しい satisfaction to 観察する and memorize all the members of the company who were gathered 一連の会議、交渉／完成する a long （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する of green marble, on which were placed sweetmeats, ワイン and fruit cordials.
Some of these people, at whom he looked with curiosity, were already 井戸／弁護士席 known to him. At the 長，率いる of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する was M. de Saint-Maurice; その上の 負かす／撃墜する were Malipiero, the Italian apothecary, Father Davout in 非軍事の dress, Doctor Rabel, and several women. In a place of honour on the 権利 手渡す of Saint-Maurice sat the hunchbacked cavalier whom Desgrez had noticed entering the アイロンをかける gates of the 郊外住宅. He was a man of middle age with a clever, imperious countenance. The police スパイ／執行官 believed that he 認めるd this gentleman, but was almost afraid to do so; surely there was but one hunchback with such a 命令（する）ing and haughty presence, so richly dressed and 扱う／治療するd with so much honour in フラン?
Next to him sat the woman in boy's 着せる／賦与するs; she was pretty in an insipid 肉親，親類d of way with fair hair, hazel 注目する，もくろむs, upper teeth that caught on her lower lip and an anxious and 反抗的な 表現.
Desgrez made 公式文書，認める of the other persons 現在の; he was 特に impressed by the formidable personalities of two women; by the likeness and the difference in age, he 裁判官d them to be mother and daughter—黒人／ボイコット-browed, with a strong 直面する 示すd by cunning, self-indulgence and the scarcely 傷をいやす／和解させるd traces of a virulent 肌 病気, the 年上の woman was a most repulsive personality, but she was bravely decked underneath her disguising hood and cloak in green satin trimmed with vermilion 略章s; the woman who appeared to be her daughter was no いっそう少なく brazen in 耐えるing and had not a much larger 部分 of good looks; she too was handsomely dressed and wore a good 取引，協定 of jewellery. Desgrez 裁判官d them to be of the lower middle-class.
There was little by which he could distinguish the other women 現在の; there were three of them, of middle age and nondescript features, dressed in plain 衣料品s that Desgrez believed had been assumed as disguises. To his 激しい annoyance, Desgrez could not overhear what was 存在 said; the window was 井戸／弁護士席 の近くにd, and the 厚い silk curtains その上の 妨げるd the sound.
The hunchbacked cavalier was speaking, with 軍隊, with a 命令（する）ing 空気／公表する, with irony, with 時折の cynic laughter. The 残り／休憩（する） of the company listened; all—save Saint-Maurice and his companion, the woman disguised as a man—seemed to be uneasy.
Desgrez, 未使用の to スパイ and anxious not to lose a 選び出す／独身 詳細（に述べる） of what was occurring, forgot his own 危険，危なくする, and it was with 本物の amazement 同様に as alarm that he saw the woman with the 直面する 爆発, whom he had so much disliked, suddenly rise and point her finger at him, while the whole company turned and gazed at the window behind which he crouched; but Desgrez felt his courage and 神経 増加するd at this terrible 緊急; he smiled and nodded from under his hood at the company and knocked three times on the glass pane.
Malipiero sprang up, crossed the 床に打ち倒す, opened the window and drew Desgrez into the room; the company gazed at him in silence, and, 冷静な／正味の as he was, the police スパイ／執行官 felt a tautening of all his 神経s, a 強化するing of all his muscles; he knew that he was in the presence of extreme danger.
Whatever these people were, he was やめる sure that they were 冷淡な-血d and unscrupulous 犯罪のs, or people who were the associates of 冷淡な-血d and unscrupulous 犯罪のs.
The pause of silence in which they all 星／主役にするd at him had in it something dreadful and there was an atmosphere in the room, a 毒気／悪影響 of evil that the police スパイ／執行官, unimaginative as he was, 設立する truly appalling.
On the surface, it was an ordinary enough 集会 in an ordinary enough room, for the 議会 with its green 塀で囲むs, handsome pictures of game and fruit, the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 燃やすing under a marble chimney-piece, the 議長，司会を務めるs of gilt leather, and the Persian carpet were comfortable, even rich and luxurious; but there was something in those 直面するs—male and 女性（の）—bent on him with such 表現s of watchful 恐れる and hate, that made the whole scene appear 悪意のある—even unnatural, as if all were spectres.
Desgrez had the impression, which he threw off 即時に, as it was necessary for him to keep all his wits, that he was gazing at a group of lost souls.
"井戸／弁護士席, Mesdames and Messieurs," he said in his rough assumed 発言する／表明する, "did I not yesterday 約束 M. de Saint-Maurice that I should be here at nine o'clock? I think you leave your gates unattended. I rang, but no one took any 注意する, so, as I have done before, I jumped the 塀で囲む."
"Who are you?" 需要・要求するd Saint-Maurice, standing up from his 議長，司会を務める and 倍のing his 武器 across his chest.
Desgrez at once noticed how truly terrible was that young man's 直面する with its baby features, 広範囲にわたる brows and 十分な dark 注目する，もくろむs, which, it did not take much fancy to imagine, flashed with infernal 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Desgrez knew that to hesitate might mean half a dozen knives in his 団体／死体, so he said boldly:
"She who sent me, and you know who that is, 願望（する）d me to keep myself secret. I gave you yesterday the password."
"It was you that gave me the 公式文書，認める?" asked Saint-Maurice suspiciously.
"It was I. I give the 調印する again." Desgrez drew in the 空気／公表する a cross turned upside-負かす／撃墜する, "that and a knot of carnations."
The fair woman in male attire made a vehement movement at these words; she was becoming 極端に restless.
"Whom is she 雇うing now?—I at least have a 権利 to know."
"She is becoming desperate," said Desgrez, inventing generalizations with a growing boldness. "She wants to know when all this will end? Delmas will certainly talk. I have sure （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that he fainted twice at the sight of the rack. It will not be so 平易な to make away with him as it was to make away with Madame de Poulaillon and Jacquetta."
He saw that his words had impressed the company. They 交流d ちらりと見ることs with one another and several of them bit their lips and rapped はっきりと with their nails on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.
"One does not send a man a bouquet of flowers," continued Desgrez, "and all food will be closely watched, you may be sure."
At this the woman with the scarred 直面する threw in: "Mademoiselle Rose will wash his linen for him."
Desgrez 公式文書，認めるd the 指名する, "行方不明になる Pink"—Mademoiselle Rose. He had hardly time, however, to 明確に表す his thoughts when the hunchbacked cavalier rose impatiently and exclaimed with 厳しい 当局: "非，不，無 of this 商売／仕事 has anything to do with me. I think there are too many people here to-night. One gets 疲れた／うんざりした of the whole 事件／事情／状勢. I have had no results yet—no, 非，不，無. And who is this man, this friar?—what are his 信任状?"
He turned his arrogant gaze with grim 疑惑 に向かって Desgrez. "I say this 商売／仕事 becomes, Madame Voisin"—he flung the words at the woman with the scarred 直面する—"not only tedious but dangerous."
"It is true," said Desgrez, deliberately 危険ing much, perhaps everything, on a bold throw, "and she who sent me, M. le 損なう馗hal de Luxembourg, thinks so also. That is why she contrived the taking off of Madame de Poulaillon."
The manner in which this was received 証明するd to the police スパイ／執行官 that he had been 権利 in his supposition that had at first seemed to him so extravagant; it was Fran輟is-Henrie de Montmorenci—duc de Luxembourg, one of King Louis's most famous and 尊敬（する）・点d generals, that stood there in this ugly company; with a sour laugh the hunchbacked 損なう馗hal sank into his seat and smiling maliciously said:
"I see at least that you are not a 秘かに調査する and know what you're talking about. Why this mystery as to your 身元? Some foolish feminine trick on the part of your mistress, I suppose? 井戸／弁護士席, tell her that I have a 警告 in my turn—a younger and more beautiful woman is ready to step into her place, and I very much 疑問 if our friend here, Madame Voisin"—he 屈服するd sarcastically に向かって the woman with the scars—"can 妨げる this 大災害, even with all the diabolic 武器s in her infernal 兵器庫."
Saint-Maurice rapped the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する impatiently; his 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd with fury; Desgrez 公式文書，認めるd that he was a man of a violent temper.
"Tell me about Delmas—explain yourself. Remember that we 危険 a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定. You, or your mouthpiece, bungled the message. 行方不明になる Rose did not send it."
"I have given you the news about Delmas," replied Desgrez composedly. "As Madame La Voisin 示唆するd, Monseigneur, I should think that a shirt washed by Mademoiselle Rose would do this 商売／仕事 同様に as it did that of the Duke of Savoy. As for the message, you, not I, について言及するd 行方不明になる Pink."
"Ah, for God's sake!" exclaimed the woman in masculine attire, springing up, while Saint-Maurice, with his baby 直面する unmoved, remained smiling in his 議長，司会を務める, his long, elegant fingers の近くにd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the gold knob of his 茎.
"You will produce your 信任状?" asked Madame Voisin of Desgrez. Before the police スパイ／執行官 could answer, Malipiero, who hitherto had been silent with a sullen, brooding 直面する, rose in his place and 演説（する）／住所ing Saint-Maurice said 厳しく:
"Saving your presence, Monseigneur, I am still not 満足させるd. I want this good friar to 公表する／暴露する who he is and whom he comes from. Let us have no hints, half-words or generalizations, but the plain truth."
"The plain truth," said Desgrez, 前進するing to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 星／主役にするing at the Italian from under his greasy hood and the 淡褐色 locks of his 絡まるd wig. "Do you, Agostino Malipiero, wish to hear the plain truth?" He let his ちらりと見ること rove to Father Davout, who wore the 淡褐色 着せる／賦与するs of a small merchant or tradesman. "There I see a fellow priest," he 宣言するd. "One who, like me, has 補助装置d at the 集まり, eh? Such a 集まり as Boulle was burnt for celebrating some while ago—the Eucharist of Hell, eh, Monsieur?"
Father Davout answered uneasily:
"I have no 疑問, Monsieur, that you are 始めるd into all our mysteries, but if you would but 公表する／暴露する to the satisfaction of these gentlemen here who you are—"
"Is it not rather a question who you are?" replied Desgrez, still feeling his way through his own pretences. "You and this learned doctor here who have such good 評判s, who live in your little apartment in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs, who were there when Mlle. Jacquetta was brought by her father to 補助装置 at one of our 儀式s—"
"No more, no more," muttered Davout あわてて, "even here." But Madame Voisin laughed loudly.
"I see you are a 罰金 fellow. I like the way this cock crows," she grinned. "Let us see you to-morrow. She 絶対 主張するs on another 儀式, and you said yourself she was growing desperate. We have everything ready. M. de Luxembourg ーするつもりであるs to be there, out of curiosity and in disguise, of course."
"In the 行き詰まり des Fleurs?" asked Desgrez, but at that moment the Italian apothecary, who had been scowling at him in a 敵意を持った manner, broke out.
"I'll not stay here another moment. I think this man's a 秘かに調査する." The word, like a snake's hiss, went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—"秘かに調査する," "秘かに調査する"—half in incredulity, half in terror; all the 直面するs, which seemed to be わずかに 乱すd, turned に向かって Desgrez.
"At least," said Luxembourg, who seemed to take a disdainful, cynically scornful 見解（をとる） of the whole 訴訟／進行, "tell us who you are. Your disguise is fair, but I feel it to be a disguise."
"Surely it is that." said Desgrez boldly, "since the priests of Satan dress themselves as the priests of God. What is that but a disguise?"
The woman dressed as a man suddenly flung herself on to Saint-Maurice with a cry of terror: she seemed unnerved; Desgrez had seen her whimpering like a child.
"Perhaps it is the Master, the Grand Author himself!" she slobbered, while Saint-Maurice tried to fling her off.
Desgrez snatched at this suggestion. "Ay, take care, I am newly come from Italy," he cried. "I have visited England on my way. It may he you are in the presence of the Master."
He felt himself at the end of his 神経s, 混乱させるd by the nonsense he was uttering, bewildered by this company of 悪意のある people who regarded him with such unnatural ちらりと見ることs of 恐れる, awe and curiosity, he thought that all of them—with the possible exceptions of Luxembourg and Saint-Maurice—were partly drugged or intoxicated: he himself felt as if he were under the 影響（力） of some hallucination; these 緊張するd, pallid 直面するs looked distorted, monstrous, the 影をつくる／尾行するs that filled the room beyond the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する were abominably dark, there was an acrid perfume in the 空気／公表する that seemed clouded by 隠すs of faint lilac smoke: with an 成果／努力 he gripped at his 支配（する）／統制する.
Malipiero began to speak, but Luxembourg 厳しく cried:
"Silence, lackey!" To Saint-Maurice the 損なう馗hal then said: "What company are we in? That man should not be here!"
Desgrez heard Saint-Maurice whisper in reply. "He knows too much. We shall see to it, Monseigneur."
The police スパイ／執行官 felt that he must carry all before him or be lost; 倍のing his 武器 across his chest, he exclaimed:
"Remember I 持つ／拘留する all your lives in the hollow of my 手渡す. I can sacrifice you all and save myself. You have no conception of my 力／強力にする." Desgrez remembered what Innocenzo Pignata had told him and 追加するd: "Which reaches to the Vatican itself!"
At this Catherine Voisin began to moan fearfully, and tried to raise her bulky person from the 議長，司会を務める in which she sat ーするために cast herself at Desgrez's feet: "Oh, Master, Master, you never told me you were coming in this guise nor so soon!" she exclaimed, rolling her 注目する，もくろむs as if about to 落ちる into a fit.
She would have said more but the apothecary snatched her plump, coarse 手渡す and flung her 支援する into her place. "It is all a trick and we are betrayed!" he exclaimed, leaving the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, springing に向かって the police スパイ／執行官 as if to snatch at his 耐えるd, hair and cloak.
"Once I lose my disguise someone here may 認める me. It will be almost impossible to deceive M. de Luxembourg. I shall certainly be 殺人d," thought Desgrez 速く. He leaned 今後, took the 水晶 lamp from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, dashed it on the ground, and crying out in a loud and terrible 発言する／表明する: "You will soon find out if I was the Master or no"—急ぐd に向かって the window through which he had been 認める.
There was a tawny 不明瞭 only broken by the spurting light from the coals on the hearth, and then from the 炎上s in the centre of the room as the overturned lamp caught the lace cloth.
Desgrez, つまずくing into the 感謝する damp of the garden, felt somebody つまずく after him; in the moonlight he could see it to be the fair-長，率いるd creature with the わずかに protruding teeth who was dressed as a cavalier, that gasped: "I believe in you, and she, she would not 感情を害する／違反する you at any price. Ah, Master, be there on Friday—the 行き詰まり des Fleurs. We will all be there, ready to worship you, ready to obey you. Oh, Master, but appear and put us at 緩和する."
"緩和する about what?" said Desgrez, 概略で しっかり掴むing the woman's arm. "I am not 満足させるd, I have been insufficiently obeyed."
"But she will do anything. Only this one last boon—she will give anything."
"I care nothing for what she does. Tell her if she is not careful her day is over!" cried Desgrez.
"You say," replied the woman, still 粘着するing to him as the others （機の）カム つまずくing out of the window in the half light, "that you （機の）カム through England, my native country. Did you see—"
Desgrez flung her off, for behind her were her companions, fled 負かす／撃墜する the garden, 丸天井d the 塀で囲む by the poplar trees and ran along the river bank to the grove of chestnuts where he had left the coach in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of two 機動力のある archers. 涙／ほころびing off his 誤った 耐えるd and wig, thrusting these into his 式服 and making this into a bundle, he jumped into the 乗り物, which turned in the direction of Paris.
M. de La Revnie and his two confidential clerks soon 減ずるd to 明らかにする 必須のs Desgrez's already concise 報告（する）／憶測 of his 広告 投機・賭けるs at the 郊外住宅 of M. de Saint-Maurice at Passy.
It was now beyond 論争 that the Plenipotentiary from Savoy entertained with almost insolent recklessness a very strange company at his 楽しみ house. Of these Desgrez had been able to identify the 損なう馗hal de Luxembourg, the Italian apothecary Malipiero, Doctor Rabel and Father Davout. He had also learnt that a 確かな swarthy woman, whose 直面する was disfigured by a scarcely 傷をいやす／和解させるd 肌 病気, was 指名するd La Voisin, and he surmised that her younger companion was her daughter. The other people 現在の at the 郊外住宅 Desgrez could not identify: the most remarkable of them had been the blonde woman. English, he believed—so at least she had 明言する／公表するd herself—who had been dressed as a cavalier.
From the conversation of these people, whom he had been able for a while to deceive so 首尾よく, Desgrez had not learned very much beyond that they were engaged in some 犯罪の practices and that they were やめる 用意が出来ている to 殺人 the 囚人 Delmas by means of a 毒（薬）d shirt which should be 用意が出来ている by a 確かな Mlle. Rose; M. de La Reynie and his subordinate believed that this must be the "行方不明になる Pink," the Englishwoman already について言及するd by Saint-Maurice.
Two other facts were 明確に 明白な in the convolutions of the intricate puzzle; one was that these people worked under directions of a 確かな unknown Master or "広大な／多数の／重要な author" as they 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語d him, of whose 身元 at least some of them were unaware; the other was that a 確かな 広大な／多数の／重要な lady, whom Desgrez had only heard referred to as "she," was 深く，強烈に 伴う／関わるd in this dark organization and that the Englishwoman dressed as a man was her confidante.
M. de La Reynie, always anxious to 避ける exaggerations or romanticisms or any 事柄 of wild supposition, 宣言するd 慎重に and after long consideration:
"Understand, Desgrez, there may after all not be very much in this. These people are 豊富な, idle, licentious—they are indulging in all the intrigues that one must 推定する／予想する about a 法廷，裁判所, 特に a 法廷，裁判所 支配するd by women. Some low scoundrels, men and women, 取引，協定 in 麻薬s, charms, abortion, for tune-telling, astrology and the like, and they have induced—we do not yet know the link—these 広大な／多数の／重要な ones to 貿易（する） with them. It is possible that some of these people, like this de Luxembourg, for instance, are in this ugly 商売／仕事 for mere cynic amusement. It is hard to believe that a man like the 損なう馗hal could believe in these 天然のまま witchcrafts."
"Can anyone of education believe in this foul rubbish?" asked Desgrez with aversion.
"A large number of people believe anything," replied the 長，指導者 of Police. "The 事柄 is neither so simple nor so foolish as it seems. The witchcraft of two hundred years ago was a very potent evil—it was a 網状組織 of secret societies 取引，協定ing in every 肉親，親類d of abomination, 直接／まっすぐに …に反対するd to Christianity and encouraging paganism and atheism. It had its 網状組織 all over Europe and there was hardly a town of any importance without some 支店 society (v)提携させる(n)支部，加入者d to the （警察，軍隊などの）本部, which were probably here in Paris."
"All this is 古代の history, is it not?" asked Desgrez. "I 脅すd them by について言及するing the Boulle 事件／事情／状勢—but surely that 肉親，親類d of thing is stamped out?"
"By no means. We believe that we have broken up this organization, rooted out its members, and, by the most 厳しい 罰s, 廃止するd its practices—but a 残余 存在するs here and there, and this 残余 is, perhaps, far more powerful than we know. It seems that we have our finger on it here. These people may be mere ignorant imitators, they may know nothing of the secrets of the true 黒人／ボイコット 魔法 教団—they may be mere dabblers in wizardry, but that they practise it there seems little 疑問."
"And little 疑問 that they 取引，協定 in 毒（薬）s, Monsieur," said Desgrez. "I heard やめる enough last night. They do in tend to 殺人 Delmas, they 事実上 認める that the Duke of Savoy was made away with by means of a shirt washed with arsenic soap. At least, I put so much together from what they said."
M. de La Reynie made a wry grimace. "Here we touch on high 事柄s. The Duchess of Savoy is 関係のある to the King. This part of the intrigue I see やめる 明確に. Her husband was 甚だしい／１２ダース and unfaithful, the lady was spirited and amorous, Saint-Maurice was a comely villain—he （機の）カム her way at the 権利 time. He, with Delmas and this Mlle. Rose, the laundress, and probably some others, contrived the death of the Duke in so subtle a way that no 疑惑 was 誘発するd."
"Is it possible for us to bring these people to 司法（官）?" asked Desgrez 熱望して. "I detest Saint-Maurice—cannot we 逮捕（する） him?"
"I do not think so. I should not dare to take any steps until I have asked the King."
Desgrez made a gesture of vexation.
"It is hard," he said 激しく, "to 明らかにする these 犯罪のs and then find they are 保護するd by the very highest in the land."
"It would not be for the honour of the King or for the honour of フラン to expose a スキャンダル of this magnitude," replied La Reynie frowning. "But we are not 敗北・負かすd yet, we may get these people on some other account. If I could once 説得する His Majesty, or even M. Colbert or M. Louvois, of the 犯罪 of Saint-Maurice, he would certainly never 始める，決める foot in フラン again—and for the lesser ruffians, we should get them."
"I think so, Monsieur. It would be possible to 逮捕（する） the apothecary, the priest, the doctor, now, for instance—and the two La Voisin if you could find them."
"I shall find them without much difficulty. All these people seem very 確信して, they take little trouble to disguise them selves. I shall discover, too, this Englishwoman who dresses as a boy. As for the 広大な／多数の／重要な lady whose confidante she is, I imagine her to be the Comtesse de Soissons."
"Is she another lady," asked Desgrez grimly, "who has put a dull and boring husband out of the way?"
"She has been for some time a 未亡人, she was once the King's mistress," said La Reynie rising, with an agitation he rarely showed. "You do not know Paris, the 法廷，裁判所, 井戸／弁護士席 yet, my friend. Do not talk, speak so boldly, even here."
"Surely Monsieur, we are 安全な in your offices in the Bastille?"
"One never knows," replied the 長，指導者 of Police. "Even I, I, might be 投げつけるd from my position to-morrow, I might disappear. Remember, the King has only to 調印する a lettre de cachet and one goes into 不明瞭, and for ever."
"Is there no 司法（官） in the country?" said the young man scornfully. "Is all 汚職 and intrigue?"
"No," replied the 長，指導者 of Police 厳粛に while he 新たな展開d his long white quill pen in restless fingers, "and the King is at heart just and generous—he does not know what goes on. M. Colbert is an honest man, and so are many others who 持つ／拘留する high offices, but these streams of iniquity flow under the feet of these 広大な／多数の／重要な ones, who never see how their shoes are 存在 国／地域d. The King has the greatest horror of these 肉親，親類d of practices—of Satanism, of witchcraft, of any manner of wizardry. If he knew that anyone connected with his 法廷，裁判所 was touched by it, he would go, without スキャンダル, without 馗lat—he would go. But I, I must move carefully, or it may be—" and the 長，指導者 of Police shrugged his shoulders—"that I shall be the one who will go."
"I see, Monsieur," replied Desgrez 厳粛に. "The King is an 絶対の 君主, but yet he is a man who is 支配するd by his own passions. Therefore he is in some sense a slave, not a King."
"That is true. For twelve years he has been 支配するd by Madame de Montespan, whom, as is said, I think he has never loved. She is so imperious, so violent, such an adept at seduction and scenes of temper and fury, he has never been able to 解放する／自由な himself from her Think of that, Desgrez, this man, the greatest 君主 in the world, really afraid of that beautiful shrew—but not so beautiful now, she is thirty-eight years old and has borne a large family."
"It seems," said Desgrez, "that she has 勝利d in the 撤退 of Mlle. de Fontanges from the 法廷，裁判所."
"For a while, yes," M. de La Reynie sighed. "The King is not by nature faithful, he has been attracted by several fresh young beauties during the 統治する of Madame de Montespan but they have never dared to 競争相手 her. As soon as she has noticed that the King is looking at them, they retire from 法廷，裁判所—they are afraid to （問題を）取り上げる the challenge."
"Is that why Mlle. de Fontanges returned to her 後見人's house, because she was afraid of this other woman?"
"No," said M. de La Reynie. "M. Colbert told me that the child is really good and timid—she thinks that it is a 広大な／多数の／重要な sin to be a King's mistress. She was much shocked by the death of the young Italian girl, Jacquetta, the 犠牲者 of another illicit love 事件／事情／状勢—and while she could save her honour and her peace of mind, she has fled."
"Do you connect her at all with this 事件／事情／状勢 we have in 手渡す?" asked Desgrez quickly.
"I cannot in any way connect her, except that this Italian girl was in her 雇う and that Doctor Rabel, one of the 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs, …に出席するd her 世帯—but we must keep our 注目する，もくろむs and ears open. I have had it put into the Gazette that the 事件／事情／状勢 of the 未亡人 Bosse is の近くにd. I have never let it 漏れる out that you have discovered she was a poisoner. I 許す it to pass now that she was no more than a fortune-teller, an abortionist—that she died a natural death soon after her 逮捕（する）. I have covered up the Delmas 事件／事情／状勢 in secrecy. I have done all I can to 静かな everyone—I do not wish the least 疑惑 raised. Yet I feel, I sense, a 確かな uneasiness in Paris. There are a 広大な／多数の／重要な many people who are afraid."
"You will not, then," asked Desgrez disappointed, "be able to 逮捕（する） these ruffians that I am able to point out to you, such as the Italian apothecary, the doctor and the priest who live together in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs?"
"Not yet. Do not let them 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う too soon that you are a police 秘かに調査する—let them continue to think that you were there as the Master or 'grand author' in disguise. It is imperative that we should see this 儀式. How is it to be contrived? How, I do not know."
"I could go in the same dress—as a beggar."
"I do not think it would be wise. The Italian apothecary 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd you. He might be able to unmask you. It is not a question of courage, my dear Desgrez, but of prudence. Of what use would you be to me if you were 殺人d, or clapped up somewhere, or your 団体／死体 put into a 解雇（する） and thrown into the Seine—I should never even know what had become of you."
"井戸／弁護士席," said Desgrez, "I must obey your 命令（する）s, Monsieur. In any 事例／患者, perhaps you will 許す me to 調査／捜査する this 古代の house in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs? It has the 外見 of having been 砂漠d for years and years."
"Can you do this without 誘発するing 疑惑?" asked the 長，指導者 of Police.
"Surely, Monsieur; I think so."
"I will give you La Tulipe to help you. He is one of my most able 秘かに調査するs—during the war he did good work for me in England and the Netherlands. I have 設立する it necessary to confide in him. He should be able to tell you a good 取引，協定 about disguise. Go then, and discover what you can, while I make some more enquiries about this La Voisin, her daughter, and Mlle. Rose. Perhaps first, you would like to see a little collection of 地雷."
He put his 手渡す on the shoulder of Desgrez and led him across the simple room to an inner door, which he opened, and 明らかにする／漏らすd a small inner 議会, lit by a high 閉めだした window. The 塀で囲むs were lined with cupboards and on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in the centre of the room was a curious collection of 反対するs; the 強硬派-like 直面する of M. de La Reynie bent over these as he explained them to the eager Charles Desgrez.
"This was the still used by Exili, this retort （機の）カム from the 研究室／実験室 of Glazer, this is the glass mask that slipped from the 直面する of Sainte-Croix, 原因（となる）ing his death, these 瓶／封じ込めるs were used by Madame de Brinvilliers for her concoctions—these are much older, they date from '47, the 事例／患者 you spoke of just now—that of Boulle, who, （刑事）被告 of 悪魔の（ような） practices by the 修道女 Madeleine Davent, was 罪人／有罪を宣告するd and burnt."
M. de La Reynie 選ぶd up a small 木造の box, opened it and showed Desgrez some 黒人／ボイコット three-pointed wafers mingled with others of a crimson colour.
"These the 修道女, Davant, 宣言するd were used in the Eucharist of Hell. This," M. de La Reynie took up a small マリファナ, "is 魔法 ointment made by Boulle. It is composed of aconite, すす and human fat—the first is a powerful 毒（薬）. This was supposed to 会談する the gift of flight when rubbed over the 四肢s. On this parchment, traced in human 血, is the 二塁打 pentacle or 調印（する） of Solomon. This is a chew 石／投石する or 水晶—いつかs called Hecate's circle—you see it is en の近くにd in a thong of bull's hide. All these other parchments have 類似して 魔法 meaning."
The young police スパイ／執行官 注目する，もくろむd the ugly collection with aversion.
"Is this, Monsieur, all nonsense, mere blasphemous rubbish, or do these wretches know some secrets?"
"They certainly do," smiled M. de La Reynie grimly. "The use of subtle 麻薬s and the 製造（する） of these extra ordinary 毒（薬）s. As for the 悪魔の（ような） 味方する of the 事件／事情／状勢, I must leave you to decide for yourself, my dear Desgrez, how much truth there is in that."
He turned to the 塀で囲む cupboards, 打ち明けるd them and showed Desgrez 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of 調書をとる／予約するs.
"There is a 罰金 collection of grimoires, 調書をとる／予約するs on 魔法. The police have been 集会 them together for years—some are mere trash, peddled to the peasantry, some are (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する copies of the Kabbalah, the Clavicle and the Grand Grimoire. We 設立する some of these rubbishy treatises on Satanism in the 所有／入手 of the 未亡人 Bosse and of Delmas—facts that may mean little or nothing."
Desgrez ちらりと見ることd at the 容積／容量s, handsomely bound in 支持を得ようと努めるd, 厚かましさ／高級将校連 and parchment, at the 小冊子s rudely printed on rough paper, and took several 負かす／撃墜する from their 棚上げにするs and opened them at 無作為の. The 冷淡な light coming from the high-始める，決める window showed uncouth and 複雑にするd designs on the pages that Desgrez turned over; 製図／抽選s of witches surrounded by hideous familiars, sketches of Sabbaths, witches in flight, 人物／姿／数字s of pentacles, 魔法 circles and 決まり文句／製法 for charms, recipes for making potions, for 行為／行うing mysteries, for incantations and （一定の）期間s.
The young man の近くにd and returned the 容積／容量s to their place with disgust.
"Rubbish much of it is," 発言／述べるd M. de La Reynie 厳粛に, の近くにing the cupboard doors, "but imagine the evils that spring from these means when placed in the 手渡すs of the wicked to 偉業／利用する the weak! Think, Desgrez, of human passions inflamed by these means! What filthy practices result, what 罪，犯罪s, what sins!"
"It is this that we now 直面する, Monsieur!"
"Surely—yes. Nor are these people fools. They know a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 about chemistry. We have not yet been able to discover how they 準備する their arsenic. That must be sent from Italy. They know, too, how to bemuse the senses, to inflame the appetites, to create illusions—and they are most carefully 組織するd by someone of 広大な／多数の／重要な talent."
M. de La Reynie sighed and ちらりと見ることd at the collection on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.
"I いつかs believe in 黒人／ボイコット 魔法 myself, Desgrez, seeing how I have been baffled for so long by these scoundrels. Take care, do not despise them," he 追加するd 真面目に. "I have shown you these things ーするために 警告する you. I am myself taking 広大な／多数の／重要な 警戒s, my food, my drink, my linen are all carefully 監督するd. I touch nothing sent by strangers. I use gloves or 結社s—"
"Is it as 普及した as that, Monsieur!"
"I think so. How did Madame de Poulaillon die? By the by, I think I have M. Saint-Richard or rather his 死体. We 跡をつけるd our 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs to Lille and there 設立する his 団体／死体 hanging from the bed-tester of his own bedroom. His pockets were 十分な of charms and 砕くs, which I am having 診察するd."
"At every turn we are 敗北・負かすd!" exclaimed Desgrez. "I thank you for your 警告, Monsieur. Solange, my wife, has given me a charm to wear." He smiled tenderly, shyly. "Some words from St. John, written on virgin parchment, in a silk 捕らえる、獲得する, poor child!"
"Wear it, Desgrez, it can do no 害（を与える）. And since we believe in God, we must believe in His 力／強力にする to 保護する us."
Desgrez 設立する this "La Tulipe," who had been a police 秘かに調査する for twenty years and, in a hundred and one disguises, had travelled all over Europe, to be a 乾燥した，日照りの fellow, taciturn to the point of seeming dull, an adept in impersonation, whose profession seemed to be not only his 占領／職業 and his hobby, but his 単独の delight. Throwing his usual 静かな zeal into his 仕事 and telling Desgrez that in this 事例／患者 the simplest disguises would be the most 効果的な, La Tulipe selected the humble at tire of stonemasons for himself and Desgrez from the large wardrobe of the police in the Bastille.
"You know," he 発言／述べるd in a detached manner that 隠すd an 激しい 利益／興味 in the 事柄 in 手渡す, "that the 砂漠d mansion at the end of the 行き詰まり and the gardens have been 完全に 診察するd. Nothing is to be 伸び（る）d by going over that ground again—we shall find nothing but over grown briars and 少しのd, a few broken statues, a 乾燥した，日照りのd-up fountain, and a mansion that is 速く becoming too dilapidated for 修理."
"You have, I think, a theory?" said Desgrez, not without envy of the other man's wider experience.
"I was interrupted in my scrutiny of the old house," replied the police 秘かに調査する. "Some men who 影響する／感情d to be possible purchasers, and who were probably nothing of the 肉親，親類d, entered the grounds guided by a man who pretended to be a house スパイ／執行官. As I was disguised as a filthy old beggar with a string of ballads 一連の会議、交渉／完成する my neck, dozing away in this 哀れな 避難所, there was nothing for me to do but （疑いを）晴らす out. But my 疑惑 is that there is a large cellar or even 議会 underneath that mansion and that it is approached from Doctor Rabel's house."
ーするために put this to the 実験（する） the police スパイ／執行官 and the 秘かに調査する, in their disguises, on the Friday after the 会合 in the 郊外住宅 at Passy, waited about the 入り口 to the 行き詰まり des Fleurs until they ascertained that Doctor Rabel had gone to the hospital and Father Davout was also abroad; this priest did not appear to be 大（公）使館員d to any church; the police had discovered that he was a ベルギー, probably unfrocked and using an assumed 指名する.
選ぶing up their 捕らえる、獲得するs of 道具s, Desgrez and La Tulipe then went to the doctor's house and knocked confidently on the 前線 door. A 不平（をいう）ing old woman opened it, and La Tulipe told her, with an 空気／公表する of 無関心／冷淡, that they had come to 検査／視察する the 修理s in the kitchen, having been ordered to do this some days before but not having 設立する leisure until now.
The old servant 認める them without 延期する. She said that she did not sleep in the house and knew very little about what was to be done to it, but she 追加するd viciously that it 手配中の，お尋ね者 修理ing from 最高の，を越す to 底（に届く）: "The ネズミs and mice in the cellar eat one alive."
"It is the fireplace that we are to 修理," said La Tulipe with professional effrontery. "The good doctor says part of the chimney has fallen 負かす／撃墜する and that the damp and すす 廃虚 the cooking."
The old woman, with maledictions on the world in general, agreed that this was so, and led the two men 負かす／撃墜する to the 地階.
La Tulipe 影響する／感情d to 診察する the fireplace, which was large, open, with a couple of brick ovens and in a half-ruinous 条件. The old woman, who had
"Perhaps there is going to be a change in the 設立," said La Tulipe with a sudden grim humour that surprised Desgrez. "Perhaps the good doctor is going to take a wife and wishes to have everything fresh and dainty for her."
He then begged the 不平（をいう）ing hag to bring him some water and, seeing her 不本意, 追加するd: "Perhaps when we have finished our work we can all 株 a 瓶／封じ込める of ワイン—but bring the water, good mother, I wish to mix a little 迫撃砲 and 取って代わる some bricks."
The woman, わずかに mollified at this, hobbled out of the kitchen. The two men began to make an instant, quick but earnest scrutiny. They had not long to search for what they 手配中の，お尋ね者 to find; in the middle of the dirty 床に打ち倒す was a large, ordinary cellar flap.
"We have some minutes—the 井戸／弁護士席 is in the backyard and the old witch is 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd with rheumatism," said La Tulipe.
Desgrez took 持つ／拘留する of the rusty アイロンをかける （犯罪の）一味 and pulled up the flap; a short ladder led to the cellar below.
"See," 追加するd La Tulipe, "that is the way. They go 負かす／撃墜する there, through a passage, and come out in some 丸天井 under the old mansion. You go 負かす／撃墜する. When the old woman returns I shall say that I have sent you 支援する for some more 構成要素—I will keep her in play a little and then pretend that I have made a mistake in the house and that it was another doctor in another 行き詰まり whom I meant I shall so 混乱させる the old fool that she will have but a 大混乱／混沌とした tale to tell her master—indeed, if she troubles to tell him at all—and I shall not rouse her 疑惑s."
As Desgrez began to descend the ladder into the cellar, La Tulipe, going on his 膝s, bent 負かす／撃墜する and said to him: "You have flint and tinder, 武器s, money. I do not think you will be 乱すd, but"—he 警告を与えるd—"I have always 設立する the disguise you are wearing a very useful one. Hardly anyone 関心s himself about an 半端物 labourer or mason, 特に if he is discovered in an old house. Find out what you can."
"How am I to return?" whispered Desgrez, looking up.
"Not this way, certainly. I should say up through the house—there must be a way—through the garden and over the 塀で囲む. But you will be guided by what you find."
With that La Tulipe 慎重に lowered the flap and Desgrez 設立する himself in 完全にする 不明瞭. When he felt his feet on the 冷淡な 石／投石する 床に打ち倒す of the cellar, he struck a flint and tinder and looked about him. The place was 明らかにする save for a rotting バーレル／樽 and a heap of broken 瓶／封じ込めるs in a corner; it was 明白に long since it had been put to its proper use. 近づく Desgrez, as he stood with his 支援する to the ladder, was a half= open door. He went to this at once and, the tinder still ゆらめくing in his 手渡す, saw a long straight passage before him. Evidently the experienced La Tulipe had been 訂正する in his surmises. It was （疑いを）晴らす, too, that the people who were in the habit of using this passage had regarded it as so 安全な・保証する that they had taken no 警戒s to disguise it.
Feeling his way, for he wished to economize his light, Desgrez proceeded along the passage, which was so 狭くする that when he squared his 肘s they touched the 塀で囲むs on either 味方する. As he proceeded he began to breathe with difficulty—the 空気／公表する was so horribly nauseous that he thought that it was fouler than could be accounted for by mere damp and staleness. Since Doctor Rabel's house was the last in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs, Desgrez knew that he must almost すぐに be passing under the rotting garden; probably the foul earth over 長，率いる, and the 負わせる of dead vegetation accounted for the unpleasant odour that 侵入するd the passage.
This, after a while, turned はっきりと to the 権利—に向かって the centre of the garden and under the mansion, thought Desgrez. He lit another tinder and stood still for a moment listening; the 塀で囲むs of the passage, which were of 石／投石する, oozed damp and were patched with livid-looking 黒人／ボイコット, purple and white lichen.
Desgrez 星／主役にするd about him with a feeling of distaste 量ing to horror—a 毒気／悪影響 of he knew not what, that was evil and disgusting, seemed to 圧倒する and almost choke him. Yet there was nothing there—only those foully blotched 塀で囲むs, 不明瞭 behind him and ahead of him, and, when he chanced to look 負かす／撃墜する, some broken 黒人／ボイコット feathers lying on the dirty 旗s. The tinder ゆらめくd out as the police スパイ／執行官 proceeded through the 厚い 不明瞭; this was broken at last by two straight 微光s of light—the 最高の，を越す and 底（に届く） of a door.
Desgrez 設立する the latch, 解除するd it 慎重に, opened the door and stepped into the kitchens of the 砂漠d mansion. These neglected, decaying apartments showed the police スパイ／執行官 nothing of 利益／興味; they were half 地階; the glass in the windows had long since been broken or 除去するd—絡まるs of last year's rotting 少しのd 軍隊d themselves through the window spaces, the damp made patches of 黒人／ボイコット mould on the 塀で囲むs; it was 明白に a long time since the place had been used, but in the large fireplace were 調印するs of a 最近の 解雇する／砲火／射撃—a charred スピードを出す／記録につける, ashes, and a serviceable 始める，決める of kitchen utensils, a three-legged cauldron, a poker, a pair of 結社s, and one or two nondescript metal 大型船s.
"井戸／弁護士席, someone comes to cook here—in a place like this," thought Desgrez. "I suppose they 要求する refreshment after their orgies."
An unpleasant smell, even more objectionable than that which he had noticed in the passage, 原因（となる）d him to pull out his handkerchief and 持つ／拘留する it to his lips. He was almost retching with horror and disgust, partly physical, partly mental.
"It is like the Devil's kitchen itself," he thought. "Someone must have left some meat or game to putrefy here."
Opposite him was an 入り口 in the 塀で囲む, which had 明白に been recently made; the doorway had been 概略で knocked into the brickwork and the door itself was of rough, unfinished 支持を得ようと努めるd; Desgrez 押し進めるd it open and saw a flight of new, 概略で hewn steps descending below him. All was as La Tulipe had said: there was evidently a large 議会, too spacious to be 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語d a cellar, beneath the old mansion. The 古代の ４半期/4分の1s of Paris were 十分な of such places, Desgrez knew, and it was possible that this had once been a chapel, and that the subterranean 議会 had once been a burial 丸天井, perhaps even part of the catacombs that lay under Paris. When he reached it, he 設立する it to be of かなりの size and lit by a scant filter of daylight that （機の）カム from a square window at one end, which was lit by a little area and grating giving on the garden beyond.
Desgrez looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 慎重に; there was no place for anybody to be 隠すd—he was alone. There was little to gratify his 激しい curiosity, but he could at least be sure that the place had been used recently.
The 地下組織の 議会 was in good 修理, the plaster work on the 塀で囲むs looked 公正に／かなり new; no damp entered, the 厚い greenish glass in the window was clean, the 床に打ち倒す had been lately swept. In one corner was a pile of straw-底（に届く）d 議長，司会を務めるs 始める，決める one on the other, in another corner some footstools and a broom; beneath the window was a small 壇・綱領・公約 approached by two steps—nothing else, save that foul smell which seemed here to mingle with the acrid perfume of burnt aromatics.
"I suppose," thought Desgrez, "whatever horrid 儀式s they have, they 持つ／拘留する here, but they must bring all their paraphernalia with them."
As a 事柄 of 決まりきった仕事 義務, for he did not 推定する／予想する to discover anything, the police スパイ／執行官 searched the pile of 議長，司会を務めるs. Nothing there. He then went to the other corner and looked behind the footstools, which were of plain green serge. Nothing there. Behind the broom was a little heap of twigs, dust and dirt from the 床に打ち倒す, some 黒人／ボイコット feathers 類似の to those that Desgrez had seen in the passage, a gilt tassel from a woman's dress, some charred fragments of paper, and what seemed to Desgrez a bundle of rags stained with 血.
He thought 速く: "There has been food cooked here, these are the rags the meat was wrapped in."
But he recoiled from the corner and looked apprehensively 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the gaunt 議会—so 淡褐色, so 明らかにする in 外見. There was nothing to horrify or disgust, only the plain 塀で囲むs, the blank window through which the daylight filtered 冷気／寒がらせる and grey past the grating, the piled up 議長，司会を務めるs, the piled up foot stools and the plain 壇・綱領・公約; yet the whole place seemed to Desgrez, strong 神経d as he was, to be 十分な of a 毒気／悪影響 of indescribable evil.
The police スパイ／執行官 stooped, 選ぶd up the fragments of half-charred paper, on which he could see some 令状ing in 署名／調印する, put this into his shirt and left the 地下組織の apartment by the way he had come.
He looked at the 捨てるs of paper and 設立する that they bore traces of some of the curious 人物／姿／数字s that M. de La Reynie had shown him in the pages of the grimoires, pentacles and 魔法 circles; the 指名する Louis was repeated many times in red 署名／調印する. This told Desgrez nothing; Louis was, perhaps, the commonest 指名する in フラン.
The police スパイ／執行官 had no 疑問 that he had discovered the place, probably one of many, where the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり was held, together with other obscene and terrible 儀式s; sticking to the end of one of the pieces of paper was a three-cornered 黒人／ボイコット wafer, such as had been used in the Boulle 事件／事情／状勢.
Desgrez had been told by M. de La Reynie that the Satanists chose, if possible, for their 恐ろしい 祝賀s, places that had once been used for Christian worship, and liked, as a background to their abominations, 廃虚s haunted by the bat, the フクロウ and the spider.
Desgrez could not altogether repress a shudder as he left the dismal, 明らかにする 地下組織の 議会; even when all obvious theatrical 影響s were 割引d, there remained a hideous residue of the vilest human passions 表明するd by means of the most repulsive of human degradations, 主要な to secret 殺人 for the basest 動機s. The young police スパイ／執行官 wondered what 目的 there could be strong enough to induce even the vicious-minded and the 黒人／ボイコット-hearted to 沈む to these depths—the very cesspools of human folly and sin.
When he reached the kitchens, he easily 設立する the door that led him to the staircase that brought him into the large salon of the mansion. Here, as La Tulipe had told him, there was nothing; the place was unfurnished and 落ちるing into decay; the shutters had dropped from the windows, the plaster from the cornice, the floorboards had rotted, festoons of cobwebs draped the corners of the room; an unnerving silence filled the place.
Desgrez peered out of the broken window-panes into a 厚い growth of laurels and briars, which, まっただ中に their entangled 茎・取り除くs and 支店s, were putting out small pale leaves; beneath them on the neglected earth grew some 厚い 有望な 少しのd; beyond waved the blue-黒人／ボイコット flat boughs of a cypress tree; the ground was so shaded and 隠すd by the long neglected overgrowth that Desgrez believed it would be 平易な for him to pass through the gardens unobserved. He therefore stepped through the window and, 避けるing the briars with their large flesh-coloured thorns, passed between the glossy leaves and stiff 支店s of the laurel.
Making as little movement as possible の中で the boughs of the trees in 事例／患者 the garden might be 観察するd from any of the houses in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs, the police スパイ／執行官 slowly 軍隊d his way に向かって what he thought must be the 支援する 塀で囲む of the garden, which looked on to a little place that was usually 砂漠d. Suddenly the bushes （機の）カム to an end. Putting aside a bough of the long dark leaves of a laurel Desgrez 設立する himself 直面する to 直面する with a small （疑いを）晴らすing, which had evidently recently been 解放する／自由なd of trees, shrubs and even 少しのd. He looked at a square space of newly turned earth, の中で which showed the withering roots of 勝利，勝つd flowers and blue bells; beyond this was a その上の waste of untouched brambles, laurels and ilex trees. Against one of these Desgrez could discern a rough shed, from which hung two large spades to which fresh mould clung.
The police スパイ／執行官, though not a 宗教的な man, made the 調印する of the Cross and muttered: "God 保護する us, God save us from evil."
The （疑いを）晴らすd ground had been turned over into little heaps; at one end was a shallow ざん壕 not more than two feet long. "They look like 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大なs," thought the police スパイ／執行官, "and one still を待つs its occupant. But no, it isn't possible."
He stood rigid, his shrewd 直面する hardening, his 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd; he remembered the death of Jacquetta, the terror of Mlle. de Fontanges, the 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd activities of the Italian apothecary—he counted the heaps of 上昇傾向d earth, which cast faint 影をつくる／尾行するs in the 隠すd light that fell scattered through the budding boughs.
The silence of the place was oppressive: Desgrez was so conscious of a 毒気／悪影響 of evil that he could fancy fiendish 発言する／表明するs whispering in the undergrowth, fiendish 直面するs peering through the still 支店s of the trees.
He was relieved to think that it was not his 義務 to dig in any of these 塚s—no, he must not leave behind any traces of his visit.
Quitting this （疑いを）晴らすing, he 急落（する），激減（する）d again into the bushes, made his way as 井戸／弁護士席 as he could through the 厚い under growth, reached the 支援する 塀で囲む, surmounted it with the help of the trees and 設立する himself in the 砂漠d little place, which 含む／封じ込めるd only some tumbledown houses and a cheap ワイン shop. Desgrez went to this latter, and, putting 負かす／撃墜する his sous, ordered a glass of coarse ワイン. While he was drinking it he tried to get some （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） out of the host, a rough Parisian of the lowest type, but the man either could not or would not speak; he knew nothing about the 砂漠d mansion, he had never seen anyone go in or out, it was just an old place that had been 許すd to 落ちる into decay, he did not know to whom it belonged.
"井戸／弁護士席," said Desgrez, "I ask because I have been sent along to 修理 the 塀で囲む. My master told me to come here to-day. When I got there I rang the bell at the outer gates and no 団体／死体 took any notice. I suppose I must have made a mistake."
With this excuse he left the ワイン shop and, losing himself in a maze of streets, took a roundabout way to the Bastille.
にもかかわらず the spring day, Paris, always an 外国人 city to the young Norman, looked dark and grim; the old, smoke-grimed towers and chimneys rose 淡褐色 and 暗い／優うつな into the 厚い pale clouds that obscured the sky; the streets through which Desgrez threaded his way were crooked, pierced by alleys and 法廷，裁判所s, overhung by 中世 houses, some of which had half fallen 負かす／撃墜する, others were propped up by 木材／素質s; 天候-de 直面するd 調印するs hung on rusty stanchions, 栄冠を与えるs, roses, lilies, fantastic beasts showed dimly from the broken boards. Filth, over which 飛行機で行くs hovered, rotted in the choked gutter channels that ran 負かす／撃墜する the centre of the streets; with the 増加するing warmth of the season the foul stenches were insistent and mingled with the odour of frying oil, garlic and greasy soup.
Ragged loungers stood before the sunk doors of ワイン-shops, pallid-直面するd children played on dirty thresholds where the sewing and spinning women sat; hawkers and ballad singers wandered up and 負かす／撃墜する crying their wares.
Desgrez 注目する，もくろむd all of these people with 疑惑—who could tell whether some of them might not be the devil's scouts? Which of these wretched dwellings was 解放する／自由な from the 可能性 that it was an outpost of Hell?
M. de La Reynie listened 熱心に to the 報告（する）／憶測 brought him by Desgrez after he had 検査／視察するd the house in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs.
"It is much what one 推定する／予想するd," said the 長，指導者 of Police. "They have got 持つ／拘留する of some old burial 丸天井, as you surmised—no 疑問 there are several of these places in Paris. As for your little graveyard, we can guess who is 融通するd there. You remember," he 追加するd drily, "the death of Mlle. Jacquetta?"
"I did not want to remember it," said Desgrez. "The ground I saw was large enough to hide dozens of new-born 幼児s."
"And probably does," said La Reynie. "I think," he 追加するd, "we have another link in our chain of 証拠. I have discovered who your Catherine La Voisin is—these people have a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of effrontery and do not even trouble to change their 指名するs. She is a nurse and midwife who is often 雇うd by Doctor Rabel. She frequently changes her 演説（する）／住所 and does not seem very successful in her profession—she lives in obscure ４半期/4分の1s and even slums at 現在の in the rue Beauregard. She is as often in Versailles as in Paris—she has さまざまな lodgings in that town. Her daughter is her たびたび（訪れる） companion; though she is not young, and, as you saw for yourself, 極端に unattractive, she has a lover—a 確かな Descourets. He is a coach 建設業者 in a small way. 非，不，無 of these people has been in 刑務所，拘置所, but all of them belong to the lowest class of society."
"Why should this Catherine La Voisin," asked Desgrez, "go to Versailles?"
"I do not know, but one may guess, if she is an intimate of men like the 損なう馗hal de Luxembourg. I should very much like to 逮捕（する） her and put her to the question, but it would be imprudent to do so until she has betrayed herself a little その上の. It is （疑いを）晴らす that she is only the 器具, the 道具, of some 広大な／多数の／重要な personage. The Englishwoman in male attire is probably the link between her and her patroness. This person is, we may believe, for some 推論する／理由 or other, desperate—she 要求するs the help of these base creatures and is 用意が出来ている to go any length to 得る it. She is becoming 無謀な. I believe that she is either Olympe Mancini, or Madame de Soissons, or Madame de Bouillon—in any 事例／患者, it is almost certainly a love intrigue, かもしれない 複雑にするd with money. These women, 豊富な as they are, lose enormously at cards—they are some times desperate to 得る the means to continue their extravagances.
"But, Monsieur, you 警告するd me that we could not proceed against these people."
"I know. I do not think we can, but it is our 義務 to collect all possible 証拠 against them. I shall then put it before M. de Louvois or M. Colbert. I have 設立する them both 深く，強烈に 関心d at what I have told them, incredulous too. I 非難する myself," 追加するd the 長，指導者 of Police 激しく. "The 事件／事情／状勢 has grown to such 割合s, under my very nose, as it were! I believed that after the La Brinvilliers 事例／患者 I had made the 最大の 調査s; these people are cunning, their very recklessness saves them, they go about so 率直に that one does not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う them. It is as if one 解除するd up a fair white 石／投石する and underneath was a nest of cockroaches."
"How long are you going to 持つ／拘留する your 手渡す, Monsieur?"
"Not long. Be at the end of the 行き詰まり des Fleurs at half-past eight to-night. This is the 任命するd Friday, is it not?"
"You ーするつもりである, Monsieur, to be 現在の at the 儀式 held in the 丸天井 underneath the old mansion?"
"Yes. Someone else is coming with me, too. I will not ex plain to you now what we are going to do. Be there. Go home to your wife, Desgrez, and 始める，決める her mind at 緩和する. You've been many hours away from home. Ah," he 追加するd, ちらりと見ることing at the 公式文書，認めるs on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in 前線 of him, "there is one item in the dossier of Madame Catherine La Voisin that I forgot to tell you. She has had living with her for some weeks a girl of the 指名する of Mlle. Rose, who used to be a laundress, an 専門家 in 罰金 starching of ruffles and frills—she is your 行方不明になる Pink, as I believe, and that part of the 陰謀（を企てる） is （疑いを）晴らす enough."
"Why the English 指名する?" asked Desgrez.
La Reynie shrugged his shoulders. "Who can tell? It is all so trivial, and, in a way, stupid—yet maybe it is of the 最大の importance. I saw the Marchese Pignata again to-day—he is very 熱心な. The truth is, I think, that he is, for all his piety, 十分な of intrigue and has 刺激するd some bitter enemies."
"He 恐れるs to be struck at 内密に?"
"I think so. I believe that is one 推論する／理由 why he remains in Paris. Not only is he anxious to watch the 利益／興味s of the Vatican, but he wishes to be out of the way of those who mean him a mischief."
"No 疑問, then," smiled Desgrez, "he will be a little nervous when he finds these evil activities have reached Paris."
"He is. I am 納得させるd that he is trying to help me, He has given me some very succinct 報告（する）／憶測s from the Roman police. The thing seems very 深く，強烈に rooted in Italy."
"Is any of this （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） of any 肯定的な use to us, Monsieur?"
"I'm afraid not. There is a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of seven or eight Italian Princes who might be, in Pignata's opinion, the 'author' or 'Master'—but no proof against any of them—no, Desgrez, we must continue to play a dangerous game—and partly, at least, in the dark." He rose, 追加するing pleasantly: "Be ready for to night. Perhaps we shall really discover something useful."
When Charles Desgrez returned to his apartment he 設立する Solange in a 明言する／公表する of 深い dejection; she had been anxious while he was abroad, and had brought herself to the point when she wished that they had never …に出席するd Ma?re Perrin's party that he had given on her last birthday.
"Oh, Charles, see what it has entangled us in! I'm afraid, I can hardly 耐える to have you out of my sight. I know you don't tell me everything, and that only makes it worse."
Charles Desgrez embraced his wife 温かく, feeling in her 甘い presence even more than his usual 楽しみ after the hideous company he had been in, and the horrible places he had seen.
When he was with Solange, his 武器 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her waist and her cheek on his shoulder, he did indeed feel that he would willingly leave Paris and all the Paris 暗黒街 that was 存在 slowly and in such hideous colours 広げるd before his 注目する，もくろむs. He longed for his native Normandy, the cider-apple orchards, the fields of 穀物, the 広大な／多数の／重要な 広い地所s, the green meadow and woodland, the clean towns swept by sea 勝利，勝つd, the comfortable farms with the bakehouses, tiled roofs, all馥s of chestnuts, and lily ponds. But he 抑えるd this nostalgia as a 証拠不十分; he was a young man with his way to make, he could not turn 支援する from whatever 運命／宿命 might 申し込む／申し出 him. Besides, his strong, simple nature could see no escape from 正直さ; his 忠義 was to his work, and to his 長，指導者; he tried to 安心させる Solange, 宣言するing that he was in no danger and was 井戸／弁護士席-保護するd. All of what he knew, and all that he had seen, he did not like to tell her.
"I see," smiled the young woman sadly, "that you are going to break your word to me, Charles. You 約束d that I should be with you in this and help you in your work, even in your danger. Instead of that you are now keeping things 支援する from me. You leave me alone for hours. Oh, I am not rebuking you, I understand why you do this, but it leaves me lonely, restless, sad."
Charles gazed at her tenderly, anxiously. "Even if there were anything you could do—"
"Ah, I know your provisos." She put her fingers over his lips. "Do not say the words 'if there is anything you can do that is not dangerous!' I don't mind a little danger—I'm healthy and quick-witted and I rather love to disguise and play tricks on people. Did I not do 井戸／弁護士席 with that young M. de Saint-Maurice? He never 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd me—and how clever it was of me to throw him off by the Louvre. Do you know, Ma?re Perrin （機の）カム to see me to-day. He knows nothing of what we are engaged in. It was so strange to look at him, to think that it had all begun on the night of the birthday-party he gave for me. He について言及するd the 見えなくなる of the 未亡人 Bosse—he doesn't know that we have had a 手渡す in it! He thinks that she was in 負債 and shut her shop to run away to escape her creditors. Do you know, I asked him about those two English words—行方不明になる Pink."
"Yes, I have 設立する out that they mean just 'Mlle. Rose', and I've 設立する out the person too, Solange—a little laundress or servant kept by this La Voisin I told you of."
"Yes, but the words mean something else besides 'Mlle. Rose'—pink is the English word for the flower that we call carnation. They are called that, Ma?re Perrin said, because of the little cutting or frill to their petals. You remember that there was a little 製図／抽選—a pink—on the paper that I showed M. de Saint-Maurice? You remember I put it there because of what poor Jacquetta said when she was dying? You see, I think there may be another meaning beside 'Mlle. Rose'."
Charles Desgrez turned the 事柄 over thoughtfully—he could make no 関係, however, between anything he knew of the poisoners and these exquisite flowers, called by the French carnations and by the English pinks.
"It may be just a symbol or password they use. I shall re member, however, what you have told me, Solange."
He 熟考する／考慮するd her gratefully in the pleasant mingled lamp and firelight of their little room, thankful for her pleasant, pale Norman beauty, for her candour and love, for her courage and 信用, 感謝する—half-unconsciously—to God for giving him this woman in a world where there were those other women of whom he had lately heard and seen too much.
"You wear the little charm I gave you, Charles?"
"Yes, yes, indeed I do," he touched his breast. "But why are you afraid for me. I do nothing more than any other police スパイ／執行官 in Paris."
"Perhaps not," replied Solange thoughtfully, "but you are my 関心, the others are not. I spend a lot of time alone, you know, Charles, and so I think—and so I become afraid—"
"You must not be afraid, Solange. I cannot 耐える that
"Afraid for you, dear. I look out over the roofs and towers of Paris, so old—so dark. I think of all those little 法廷，裁判所s and alleys, of the river—so wide and swift—"
"Don't have such 暗い／優うつな thoughts, Solange!"
She smiled.
"Even now you want to leave me and you will not tell me where you are going! Oh, wear the charm, Charles. God 配達する us from evil!" She crossed her breast. "I remember the old tales my grandmother used to tell me of the 力／強力にするs of evil. I think they are abroad in Paris now."
In 広大な／多数の／重要な 苦しめる Desgrez tried to 抗議する, but she stopped him by kissing his lips.
"You know that it is true! Don't worry, I shan't 悩ます you any more—while you are out to-night I shall pray for you."
"I shall remember that, Solange. I shall feel 保護するd and blessed."
He held her closely to him, 強化するd and 慰安d by her love, her 信用 and courage; she laughed, casting 支援する her curls, disguising her 深い 恐れる that was like a 冷淡な 手渡す clutching at her heart.
"Go to sleep, sweetheart, don't wait up for me."
He kissed her 熱望して and was gone; Solange stood rigid, listening to his 出発／死ing footsteps.
When Desgrez kept the 任命 with the 長，指導者 of Police at the corner of the 行き詰まり des Fleurs, he 設立する La Reynie …を伴ってd by a gentleman of his own 高さ and 明らかに his own age; he wore a plain cloak and hat, a 赤みを帯びた brown peruke and one of those 深い masks which were usually worn by all persons of 質 when travelling.
Desgrez 屈服するd to this stranger, who was not 現在のd to him by his 長，指導者 and who said nothing; M. de La Reynie walked a few paces in 前線 as the three turned 負かす／撃墜する the 行き詰まり des Fleurs; Desgrez was wearing an ordinary 非軍事の dress with a vizor; so, too, was the 長，指導者 of Police, who said: "You have nothing to do but keep の近くに to me and obey any 指示／教授／教育s I may give you. Be on the 警報, 影響する／感情 no surprise or horror at whatever you may see."
The night was 曇った, though the 空気／公表する was 十分な of the freshness of late spring; now and then the twinkle of 星／主役にするs showed behind the loose, dark purple of the clouds. There were only two street lamps in the 行き詰まり and one of them was 大（公）使館員d to the porch of Doctor Rabel's house; Desgrez ちらりと見ることd up at this building and saw the windows all shuttered; the 長，指導者 of Police snatched at the アイロンをかける bell-pull and the door was 即時に opened by one of his own archers.
"Ah," thought Desgrez, "he has taken strong 対策 at last."
The three entered the 狭くする passage of the house, "Upstairs?" asked La Reynie.
The archer replied:
"Yes, Monsieur—all has been done as you directed."
Desgrez ちらりと見ることd at the stranger with a 確かな curiosity; he 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd that this must be someone sent from the 法廷，裁判所; the King must have been no 疑問 満足させるd with the 証拠 of one of his intimates that there was some truth in the horrible tale that La Reynie had told him; Desgrez 設立する it impossible to 裁判官 the person and features of this man, 隠すd as they were by hat, peruke and cloak; only it was obvious that he was a gentleman, a person of distinction and used to 命令（する）.
When they reached the room on the first 床に打ち倒す where Desgrez had been taken after he was attacked and where he had been …に出席するd by Doctor Rabel, they 設立する the 内科医 武装解除するd, seated at his desk and surrounded by four police スパイ／執行官s, who had their muskets ready in their 手渡すs.
The doctor had taken off his wig, his bald 長，率いる shone pink and damp in the light of the shabby lamp; seldom had Desgrez seen a picture of more piteous terror on a human 直面する; all colour had been sucked from the doctor's waxy features—his pallid mouth hung loose, his 注目する，もくろむs 星／主役にするd fixedly in 前線 of him, and with shuddering fingers he fumbled at the cravat 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his neck, as if he 恐れるd it would choke him.
When the three men entered the room the 囚人 made an 試みる／企てる at self-支配（する）／統制する and dignity; he tried to rise, could not, and stammered out:
"This is an 乱暴／暴力を加える! Why am I 逮捕（する）d in my own house, without any explanation? I 需要・要求する 司法（官）!"
"Do not trouble," replied La Reynie 厳しく, "to make use of those commonplace words, Doctor Rabel, that are uttered by all 囚人s. Everything is known. There is only one means by which you can escape the worst of 罰s."
"The worst," stammered the 内科医, with such a look and 活動／戦闘 of 哀れな terror that Desgrez almost pitied him.
"The worst," repeated La Reynie. "The rack, the wheel, the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. All, I repeat to you, is known."
"What service do you 要求する of me? What do you want me to do?" whispered the doctor, his 手渡すs at his throat as if he still tried to untie the knot of his cravat.
"You are to …に出席する a 確かな 儀式 to-night in the room underneath the 砂漠d mansion at the end of the 行き詰まり. The 入り口 is through your house, a flap in your cellar leads to a passage that comes out in this 丸天井. It is my 意向, and that of my two companions, to be 現在の at this 集まり."
"This 集まり," repeated the doctor thickly, stupidly.
"Ah, you see I know what I am talking about," said La Reynie.
"I dare not. I dare not. No, I would rather die."
"Very likely you will die in any 事例／患者. It's 簡単に a question of how you die."
"If it were discovered, as it's bound to be discovered, I should be torn 四肢 from 四肢," stammered the 内科医. "I know what they do, ay, I know."
"As to that, you need have no 恐れる. As soon as this 儀式 is over, you will be 逮捕（する）d and 宿泊するd in the Bastille. There you will be 安全な from your friends—your 共犯者s."
"But from you, from the 法律?"
"I can 約束 you your life, your 四肢s too—you shall neither be 拷問d nor be put to death, if you will do as I 企て，努力，提案 you now. If you 辞退する, if you endeavour to 警告する your 共犯者s, you will be taken at once to the 拷問 議会 at the Bastille, and there, no 疑問, the rack and the pulley and the water-jar will help you to make a 完全にする 自白. Now, Antoine Rabel."
"I will do as you say. Yes, yes, I am in your 手渡すs."
"You must 支配（する）／統制する yourself. Your agitation is pitiful and obvious."
"Yes, yes." The trembling man reached for his wig, which hung on the corner of the 議長，司会を務める. "I will compose myself, I see how much is at 火刑／賭ける. But how am I to introduce you? How am I to excuse your presence?"
"You will say"—La Reynie pointed to his companion—"that this gentleman is the '広大な／多数の／重要な author', 'the unknown', 'the Master.'"
"Ah, you know that do you?" stammered Rabel, 落ちるing 支援する into the 議長，司会を務める from which he was trying to rise.
"Yes, and more. My companion is masked and disguised by his peruke, his hat, his cloak. He will readily be 受託するd as the person you say he is. I and this other gentleman will pass as his guards or companions. You will say that we are Italians. Leave it at that—and the 残り／休憩（する） to us."
"You will be discovered," gibbered Rabel, shaking his 長，率いる foolishly and clasping and unclasping his 手渡すs. "You have no idea how careful they are, how everything is scrutinised. There may be some to-night who know the Master."
"Even if they do," replied La Reynie, "they cannot be 確かな that this is not he."
Doctor Rabel made one more 抗議する:
"But since you know everything, why should I go through this? Why should you want to …に出席する to-night since you know what is going to take place?"
"I and my companions," said La Reynie, "wish to see 確かな things with our own 注目する，もくろむs."
"井戸／弁護士席, I won't be 責任のある for your lives," said the doctor, biting his pale ragged lips. "You hear that?"
"As for that, have no 恐れる. I have a couple of hundred archers hidden in the 行き詰まり and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the mansion. I have only to blow my whistle and they will break into the 丸天井. They know 正確に／まさに where it is."
The doctor rose; he had 回復するd something of his dignity. "Monsieur, have I your word, if I do this, for my safety?"
"You have my word that you will be taken to the Bastille, 解放する／自由な from the vengeance of your 共犯者s, and that you will be dealt with—as an 密告者—with the greatest possible leniency."
"Very 井戸／弁護士席. But I know nothing. I was dragged into this against my will—I do not know even the 指名するs of all the people who come. I have been ゆすり，恐喝d because of a little mistake. A stupid young woman in a difficulty—you under stand? I helped her out of the goodness of my heart. I had no idea of—of—the other 商売／仕事."
"When you are 診察するd by the 治安判事," said La Reynie, "you will be able to explain all that. Take," he 追加するd 静かに, "a glass of eau-de-争う or a glass of ワイン, or one of your own 興奮剤s—for upon your self-支配（する）／統制する now, depends not only your life but the lives of all your 共犯者s."
"You ask of me more than you know," replied the doctor, still with a 確かな dignity. "I do not know who your friends are, Monsieur, and no 疑問 it is useless for me to ask, but I think that for the sake of フラン, the sake of the King, you should leave this 事柄 alone."
"You are indeed insolent," smiled La Reynie. "You are trying to 脅す me by hinting that there will be a スキャンダル about some high-placed people, if this 共謀 of 犯罪のs is 明らかにする／漏らすd?"
He turned to his companion, the disguised stranger who stood silently beside Desgrez. "This gentleman here, who is far more powerful than I am, is 解決するd to see this 事柄 through to a finish, no 事柄 whom it 伴う／関わるs."
The doctor shrugged his shoulders, straightened his attire and adjusted his wig. He had been 武装解除するd, but the archers kept very の近くに to him, for he was continually ちらりと見ることing from 権利 to left, as if to snatch at some 武器 or even the light. M. de La Reynie was soon by his 味方する; he 恐れるd that the cornered man might do something desperate, such as casting himself out of the window or trying to snatch at one of the archers' knives to 削減（する） his throat.
"Let us make haste," said the stranger standing beside Desgrez, speaking for the first time. "Let us have no more 延期するs, Monsieur de La Reynie."
"Very 井戸／弁護士席," cried the doctor in a 厳しい 発言する／表明する that rose nearly to a 叫び声をあげる. "I 警告する you, gentlemen, that if it is discovered I am a 反逆者, if it is 設立する out that I have introduced three of the police into this place, we shall be all torn to pieces at once."
"Believe me," replied M. de La Reynie, "we are all 井戸／弁護士席-武装した, the house is watched as I told you. Before your friends have got far enough to drag our 四肢s off our 団体／死体s, my archers would be at their throats. Lead the way."
Doctor Rabel, with his 手渡すs in his pockets and his shoulders hunched up, walked 今後. Desgrez, obeying a signal from M. de La Reynie, stepped beside him; two other police スパイ／執行官s （機の）カム behind. The archers were left in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the doctor's house; they put out all the lights and remained seated in the dark so that the place seemed empty when seen from the street.
Doctor Rabel brought his three captors to the 罠（にかける） door already familiar to Desgrez and the four descended the ladder, leaving the two police スパイ／執行官s behind, into the cellar and walked along the passage that Desgrez had already 横断するd; M. de La Reynie was 供給するd with a lantern; this Desgrez took from him and held aloft to light the way.
When they had almost reached the kitchens of the 砂漠d mansion, the 内科医's courage sank; he hung 支援する and muttered that he would rather be killed on the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す than go through with the 商売／仕事 he had undertaken.
"You have no such choice," whispered La Reynie 厳しく. "If you do not go 今後 you will be taken to the Bastille and 即時に put to the question—we already know enough against you to send you to the wheel and the 火刑／賭ける."
The doctor つまずくd 今後. They passed through the kitchen; Desgrez noticed that a large 解雇する／砲火／射撃 now burnt on the open hearth, and so 負かす／撃墜する into the room that the young police スパイ／執行官 had visited before. This was very much altered in 外見; the 塀で囲むs had been hung with some cheap 黒人／ボイコット 構成要素, 味方する （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs had been 始める，決める out on which were lamps; the straw 議長，司会を務めるs and the green footstools had been put in place, arranged in 列／漕ぐ／騒動s as if to 融通する an audience; on the 演壇 was 築くd a rude altar, consisting of a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する covered with three linen cloths, an inverted crucifix, a large 調書をとる／予約する bound in pale parchment and six 黒人／ボイコット candles in 巡査 sticks. Two "priests", also 式服d in 黒人／ボイコット were in 出席; one of them Desgrez 認めるd as Father Davout. He had a violet chasuble. The other, who wore a 対処する of white silk embroidered with モミ 反対／詐欺s, was a stranger to him. A wicker cage, which 含む／封じ込めるd three 黒人／ボイコット cockerels, was at the 味方する of the altar.
Some of the company had already 組み立てる／集結するd. Desgrez noticed the 損なう馗hal de Luxembourg, who was laughing and talking with a cynic and petulant 空気／公表する, the Englishwoman, debauched looking, who was still attired as a cavalier.' M. de Saint-Maurice and the Italian apothecary; also 隠すd and attired in 黒人／ボイコット as if they were 修道女s, Catherine La Voisin and her daughter.
All these people turned and 星／主役にするd as the doctor entered the room with his three companions, masked, shrouded in their slouch hats and long cloaks.
"Now," whispered La Reynie in the ear of his 囚人; a spasm passed over the 内科医's 直面する; then, by a frantic 成果／努力, he assumed composure which surprised even La Reynie and Desgrez; stepping up to the altar, he said with an 空気／公表する of 当局:
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are honoured to-night with the presence of the Grand Master himself, our unknown 長，指導者! The man who 供給（する）s the 構成要素s with which we work has recently returned from Italy and ーするつもりであるs to be 現在の at to-night's 儀式."
"Surely," thought Desgrez, "they will not 受託する that."
But to his amazement the company made no demur. There was a movement の中で them; some of the women laughed in an excited way, some shouted, Desgrez thought that many of them were drugged; Saint-Maurice seemed alarmed, Luxembourg amused.
"It must be," thought Desgrez, "that 非，不，無 of them 現実に know who this unknown is. Probably he is an 完全に fictitious person, whom some of these scoundrels have invented to be muse the others," and he wondered with a lively curiosity who the man really was whom M. de La Reynie had brought with him. While he was looking at this, the stranger, 前進するing to the foot of the altar, in a 深い 発言する／表明する and an impressive manner, said:
"I find that in my absence you become 無謀な. Is this a place in which to 持つ／拘留する your 儀式s? Do you not know that the death of Jacquetta Malipiero, the end of La Bosse and that of Madame de Poulaillon have excited the 疑惑s of the police? And yet you 会合，会う here boldly in the very heart of Paris!"
Saint-Maurice rose to answer this rebuke; his manner, usually so coolly insolent, was servile; he stammered, excusing himself. "We believed, Master, that the stable was becoming a dangerous place to use, too much 観察するd, and as for the house at Versailles, there were many 推論する／理由s against that. We have been 保証するd, too, that the police are no longer on our 跡をつける. Three 囚人s have been made, Monseigneur, one has been destroyed, one destroyed herself, and the third, Delmas, will certainly be put out of the way before he has a chance to speak."
"I 受託する your excuses," replied the stranger brusquely. "Let the 儀式 proceed. Afterwards, M. de Saint-Maurice, I will see you in 私的な. These, my two companions,"—he nodded first に向かって La Reynie, then に向かって Desgrez—"are men 完全に in my 信用. They come from the 法廷，裁判所 of England on the 商売／仕事 you know something about."
With that he seated himself on one of the 議長，司会を務めるs in the 前線 列／漕ぐ／騒動, the two police officers beside him. Desgrez felt his heart （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing quicker; he had not believed that this bold effrontery would be successful, and he wondered, with an even deeper curiosity, who this man might be who could carry off such a 状況／情勢 with so high a 手渡す.
Some more women, masked and cloaked, now entered the apartment, and in a few moments the 儀式, a parody of the fearsome 黒人／ボイコット 集まり of the Middle Ages, began.
Desgrez became more 納得させるd that most of those 現在の—all perhaps with the exception of Luxembourg and Saint Maurice—were drugged, such groans, cries and hysterical shrieks rose from this strange congregation.
Besides, the enclosed 空気／公表する was thickened from the ガス／煙s of some 麻薬, which seemed to be 燃やすing in a pan behind the altar: Desgrez felt his senses becoming drowsy and his 見通し わずかに troubled. The two priests （機の）カム to the 辛勝する／優位 of the 演壇 and by means of a 黒人／ボイコット 小衝突 ぱらぱら雨d some noisome liquids into the 空気／公表する; one of them turned に向かって the inverted crucifix, and in a mumbling rigmarole invoked the Devil, making the 調印する of the inverted cross with his 権利 手渡す.
The Host was then produced, some filthy-looking water was 注ぐd over a 黒人／ボイコット, three-cornered wafer, which was flung 負かす／撃墜する and trodden on by the priests.
The congregation uttered frenzied cries and yells during this 儀式; the ガス／煙s from the 燃やすing 麻薬 became stronger; Desgrez, わずかに dizzy, felt the sweat beading under his vizard; he 安定したd himself by ちらりと見ることing at the immobile 人物／姿／数字s of La Reynie and his companion: Doctor Rabel looked livid. Desgrez 恐れるd that his 神経 would not 持つ／拘留する, that he would betray himself and them.
The priests seemed to be 主要な a general 自白 in which the congregation joined; everyone 参加するd in the ritual, which was 十分な of blasphemy and obscenity.
Desgrez 設立する this 儀式 at first stupid and even tedious, like some jest played by a schoolboy to terrify a child; he even smiled behind his vizard as he saw the priests, who had been joined by the two La Voisin women, passing to and fro in 前線 of the 黒人／ボイコット altar muttering incantations, reading 宣告，判決s in some unintelligible gibberish from the parchment-covered 調書をとる／予約する, lighting the 黒人／ボイコット candles in groups of seven until twenty-one burnt upon the altar.
He thought, fighting off drowsiness: "Oh 井戸／弁護士席, one must lead a very empty life, have a very idle mind to be amused by this sort of rubbish."
At a 調印する from Father Davout the company went on their 膝s and then Desgrez was suddenly conscious of a feeling of nausea, of 猛烈な／残忍な distaste; the place was 嫌悪すべき, the 黒人／ボイコット candles against the 黒人／ボイコット 塀で囲むs gave a sickly and unnatural light; the 直面するs of the two women and of the priest were bestial; there was something most 悪意のある in that masked congregation, for everyone save Luxembourg, Saint-Maurice, and the Italian apothecary, wore wizards. The presence of the women, too, 困らすd Desgrez, who, like so many hard-長，率いるd materialists, was sentimental where the 女性（の） sex were 関心d; he disliked to see those delicate creatures with their 罰金 手渡すs clutched and twitching in their （競技場の）トラック一周s, with their white throats and delicate bosoms showing between the 倍のs of their 黒人／ボイコット scarves and cloaks, while hysterical cries 問題／発行するd from behind their masks.
Nonsense the whole horrid 商売／仕事 might be, but it was ugly nonsense; it was not pleasant to the 厳格な，質素な young man to know that there were so many women—and finely-bred gentlewomen, too, by the looks of them—in Paris who cared to be 現在の at this 肉親，親類d of blasphemy. Blasphemy! That word （機の）カム into his mind and stuck there, and he began to shiver a little.
He 星／主役にするd at the altar on which was placed the 抱擁する 黒人／ボイコット cross, upside-負かす／撃墜する; he remembered the symbol that he had put at the end of the paper Solange had given to Saint-Maurice.
The rigmarole of the service went on; the 黒人／ボイコット cocks, squawking and ぱたぱたするing, were taken out of the wicker cage, their throats 削減（する） and their 血 dropped into a chalice that was held by the 年上の La Voisin woman. The dead birds were then slit open, their entrails taken out and cast on to a brazier the younger woman produced from behind the altar; a nauseous odour filled the 地下組織の room; Desgrez noticed that his two companions coughed and choked as the ガス／煙s rose; La Voisin then （機の）カム to the 前線 of the 壇・綱領・公約 and asked if there was anyone 現在の who had a favour to 需要・要求する.
At this M. Luxembourg rose 即時に, and said in a トン of cynic 無関心／冷淡:
"What I 需要・要求するd before—the death of my wife, the favour of the King, the position of Lord-中尉／大尉／警部補 of Languedoc."
Then he 追加するd with sardonic self-contempt: "But you, Madame, cannot 得る any of these things for me and I do not believe in your （一定の）期間s." He sank 支援する in his place, 倍のd his 武器 on his chest and seemed to go to sleep, his 長，率いる nod ding under his 広大な／多数の／重要な 赤みを帯びた peruke.
"Perhaps, Monseigneur," cried La Voisin at the 最高の，を越す of her loud, 厳しい 発言する／表明する, "the time will come when you will believe in my 力／強力にする!"
The women in the congregation then began to come up to the altar one by one; they knelt before the two priests, the two priestesses at the altar, muttering some 祈りs, which were unintelligible to Desgrez, and 手渡すing up, he thought, some personal 所有／入手, some trifle like a 略章 or a buckle or a flower made of silk or velvet, a kerchief or a bracelet of beads. All these articles La Voisin took in her 手渡すs and touched with the 血 of the 黒人／ボイコット cocks in the dark chalice, which stood on the altar.
The monotonous drone of the 女性（の） whisperings as the 行列 of the 黒人／ボイコット-隠すd, 黒人／ボイコット-cloaked women 前進するd and 屈服するd, one after another, began to 抑圧する Desgrez with a sense of an intolerable nightmare; he had to use a strong 成果／努力 of will to 持つ／拘留する himself in his place, he had to 安心させる himself of reality by looking at the stranger by his 味方する and then at La Reynie; they at least were sane in a world that seemed composed of lunatics.
Some of the women were 打ち勝つ by emotion when they reached the altar and fell 負かす／撃墜する in a 肉親，親類d of fit or trance; one 泡，激怒することd at the mouth and 叫び声をあげるd hysterically; she was dragged 支援する to her seat and hushed by her companions. The 空気／公表する had become 厚い and foul from the smoke of the 燃やすing entrails of the cocks; it was mingled with the reek of the per ガス／煙 used by the women. Desgrez thrust his handkerchief to his nostrils and hoped the 事件／事情／状勢 would soon be over.
La Voisin began to throw more 麻薬s on the brazier; blue and yellow 炎上s she up and nauseous ガス／煙s rose slowly, diffused through the 議会 so that the congregation seemed to be blurred by a 明白な 毒気／悪影響 of evil.
Exhausted, excited and half-drowsy 借りがあるing to the 麻薬s, many of the people took off their masks. Two of the women fainted and were 許すd to 嘘（をつく） unconscious in a 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集める in their 議長，司会を務めるs. La Voisin began 詠唱するing a parody of the penitential psalm; the dog-Latin mingled with 捨てるs of Arabic rose 厳しく, like the song of a lunatic.
Saint-Maurice got to his feet and clapped his 手渡すs. The congregation, after a little hesitation, a little 不本意, rose also and went by twos and threes to the door. La Voisin, her daughter and the two priests remained standing by the 黒人／ボイコット altar; they were joined by the young Englishwoman in masculine attire; who was laughing in hysteric fashion.
Doctor Rabel put a 冷淡な 手渡す on that of M. de La Reynie and whispered quickly in his ear: "I implore you, for the love of God, to come away now. I think you have seen enough."
"I ーするつもりである," whispered the 長，指導者 of Police, "to see every thing."
La Voisin （機の）カム to the 辛勝する／優位 of the 壇・綱領・公約, 屈服するd low before the three strangers, and 需要・要求するd if it was the Master's 楽しみ to remain.
The stranger replied: "Yes, and one of my friends. But this man"—he put his 手渡す on Desgrez's shoulder—"will leave."
Desgrez was 激しく disappointed, even 感情を害する／違反するd; he wished to 抗議する, but knew that he dared not do so. Why had he been 解任するd when La Reynie was 許すd to remain? 屈服するing stiffly he rose and passed 負かす／撃墜する the room. Where was he to go? What was he to do?
Shaken with 悔いる and shame, he wondered if in some way he had disobeyed or 感情を害する／違反するd. To be thus 解任するd at the moment of the greatest 利益／興味, and かもしれない—humiliating thought—greatest danger! Did not M. de La Reynie 信用, then, his courage, discretion?
It was Saint-Maurice that 護衛するd him to the kitchen, where the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 燃やすd brightly.
"I can guess your 身元, Monseigneur," he 発言／述べるd pleasantly. "You were always squeamish. I can't say I like the 儀式 myself, but she 主張するs. I suppose I shall 会合，会う you at Versailles to-morrow?—or are you here on 非公式の 商売／仕事 only?"
"At Versailles," said Desgrez 屈服するing, and using an assumed 発言する／表明する.
"I wish," said Saint-Maurice, "that Doctor Rabel had told me you were coming to-night. I agree with what the Grand Master said. I think this is a most imprudent place. I prefer the stables or Passy." With that Saint-Maurice opened the door that led from the kitchen to the upper part of the house and, nodding carelessly, turned away.
The house was lit dimly but Desgrez had no difficulty in finding the 前線 door and letting himself out into the garden. He knew that the house was surrounded, though he believed that it was not M. de La Reynie's 意向 to make many, if any, 逮捕（する）s that night. He could not bring himself to leave, while he knew that something of 利益／興味 and importance was taking place, and so stood hesitant in the dark garden where the strong, 穏やかな 勝利，勝つd refreshed his drowsy senses.
He remembered the window that lit, by means of a grating in the garden, the 地下組織の room and 急いでd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to this. Moving 慎重に through the undergrowth he 設立する that by lying flat, 審査するd by the laurels and bushes, he could contrive to see between the 割れ目s of the 黒人／ボイコット curtains that had been carelessly drawn over this window.
The hall was as he had left it; he could see the altar with the inverted cross, the brazier, the chalice of 血, the two women and the two priests with the violet chasuble and white 対処する; の近くに beside them still stood the Englishwoman in her male attire, which was adorned with a 広大な／多数の／重要な frippery of coloured 略章s. She was now 持つ／拘留するing a large の近くにd wicker basket against her 味方する.
The 残り／休憩（する） of the room was empty save for M. de La Reynie and his companion, the stranger, who remained in their places on the 議長，司会を務めるs 近づく the altar.
There was something to Desgrez 悪意のある and horrible to the last degree in this scene, which had first seemed to him so paltry and even ridiculous; he felt a pang of 逮捕 for the safety of his 長，指導者 and his 長，指導者's friend. He thought: "They should not have sent me away, they might need me. If they were 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd they would be killed 即時に."
As he lay there clutching at the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s of the grating and peering through the 分割 in the curtains, he saw a woman enter the 地下組織の room alone; she wore no mask but her 長，率いる and 直面する were tied up in a 罰金 黒人／ボイコット 隠す, as Jacquetta's 直面する had been disguised when she had entered the 行き詰まり des Fleurs. Passing up to the altar, she 屈服するd to the man whom she believed to be the "Master" or "広大な／多数の／重要な author"; standing in 前線 of the altar, she unclasped her purple cloak and let it 落ちる to the ground, then unbuttoned her bodice and unhooked her skirts and, letting these 衣料品s 沈む to the ground, she stood 築く in a white 転換 that had a 国境 of モミ 反対／詐欺s.
Desgrez could not hear what was taking place, but he could see the lips of the priests and of the two women moving: "They must be at their horrid incantations again."
Doctor Rabel then 前進するd from his seat beside the 長，指導者 of Police and his friend to the altar, and took from Father Davout a long, はっきりと pointed knife: slowly, with movements that seemed mechanical, the woman standing in 前線 of the altar divested herself of her remaining 衣料品. 完全に naked, she stepped on to the 壇・綱領・公約 and laid herself along the altar, her 長，率いる and 直面する still 列d in the 黒人／ボイコット 隠す.
To Desgrez, 星／主役にするing through the grating, her pale 微光ing 団体／死体 looked like a length of satin laid on the three white linen cloths on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する; she had the 黒人／ボイコット lace 隠す so tightly knotted 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her 長，率いる and 直面する that it was impossible to discern even the 輪郭（を描く） of her features or the colour of her hair; the six 黒人／ボイコット candles had half burnt away; the inverted cross stood in the centre, by the middle of the woman's 団体／死体.
As Desgrez gazed fascinated, he saw the Englishwoman, grotesque in her masculine attire, open the wicker basket that she held and 公表する／暴露する a small, naked baby who began to wail. As this 幼児 was 解除するd up by La Voisin and carried に向かって the woman stretched on the altar, Desgrez 緊急発進するd from his place and fell 支援する into the laurel bushes.
"They were 権利 to send me away," he thought. "I could not have 耐えるd it. I must have come 今後 and betrayed myself."
As he 押し進めるd through the laurels he heard, or thought he heard, a shrill 叫び声をあげる of anguish; but, no, he tried to re 保証する himself—he had not seen 適切に, the whole thing had been an hallucination, a nightmare; even if there had been a child, it would have been dead—or perhaps it was not a child at all, 単に a wax image.
Hardly seeing where he was going, he 緊急発進するd through the ragged undergrowth of neglected trees, which waved dark boughs in the 厚い, 冷淡な light of a moon that appeared and disappeared behind the ragged clouds. When he reached the 塀で囲む he 設立する this closely guarded by M. de La Reynie's archers; on showing his badge he was 許すd through the postern door.
He was in no mood to return to Solange, he felt 国／地域d by what he had seen, degraded by what he had taken part in; he was glad of the night 空気／公表する on his 直面する, he was glad to be able to look up at the moon sailing 冷淡な and pure so high over 長，率いる. He walked briskly に向かって the Bastille and waited there till the 長，指導者 of Police returned, which was not until 早期に the next morning.
M. de La Reynie, who appeared to be exhausted, had with him the stranger, who, once he was in the 長，指導者 of Police's office, flung off, with a sigh, his hat, cloak and mask, and showed that he was a much older man than Desgrez had supposed him to be; he was perhaps sixty years of age, stoutly built, tall and upright, his 直面する 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な and lined, his 注目する，もくろむs tired and 激しい-lidded.
"This is M. de Colbert," said the 長，指導者 of Police to his sub ordinate. "He wished to see those abominations with his own 注目する，もくろむs."
Desgrez 屈服するd before the 監査役-General of His Most Christian Majesty's 財政／金融s, a man whom he 井戸／弁護士席 knew by 評判 as one who was 広大な／多数の／重要な not only by 推論する／理由 of his position but by 推論する／理由 of his character.
"I have seen, I have seen." M. de Colbert with a groan sank 負かす／撃墜する in the high-支援するd 議長，司会を務める by the desk. "You are 感情を害する／違反するd with me, perhaps, young man, because I had you sent away. I guessed what was going to happen and I did not think you could 耐える it. I dared not 危険 an indiscretion on your part."
Desgrez 屈服するd again without speaking.
M. Colbert continued ひどく: "A child, new-born, and living as I think, though of that I cannot be sure, was sacrificed on the naked 団体／死体 of some woman, which was used as an altar. There was some 汚い 儀式 of conjuration."
"Did you not find out, Monseigneur, who she was?" asked Desgrez 熱望して.
"No, that I could not. I was supposed, in my r?e of the Grand Master, to know. She 保持するd a 隠す over her 長，率いる the whole time. A 部分 of the child was burnt afterwards to make a philtre. The 儀式s were obscene and disgusting to the last degree—may I never see anything like it again."
M. Colbert made the 調印する of the Cross on his breast. "I saw! I saw!" he repeated. "We have 逮捕（する）d Rabel, he is in the Bastille now—also we have taken the Italian apothecary, Father Davout, as I hear his 指名する is, and his companion who calls himself the Abbe Guibourg. I tell you these things, M. Desgrez, because I heard from M. de La Revnie that you have been active in this 事件／事情／状勢, most 熱心な and diligent from the first."
Desgrez 屈服するd again and murmured his thanks.
"But Monseigneur has not touched those others, who were there. M. de Luxembourg—"
"I have their 指名するs!" cried Colbert with a grim smile. "I wonder if you, young man, 認めるd any of them?"
"No, Monsieur, the ladies and gentlemen of the 法廷，裁判所 are not known to me—only M. de Luxembourg, I guessed who he was when I saw him the other night at Passy."
"Because of his deformity?" asked M. Colbert. "It is within 同様に as without that M. le 損なう馗hal is deformed."
The 大臣 pointed to the stand of pens and paper at the end of the bureau: "令状 負かす／撃墜する, M. Desgrez, these 指名するs. The Prince de Clermont Lod鈩e, the Princesse de Tingry, Madame de Roure, Madame de Bouillon, Madame de Soissons, Madame Saint-ツバメ, the Marquise de Chanteuil. Madame de Polignac, in his words, in his gestures. "Perhaps you, Monsieur, who are young, sober-minded and honest, can 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる something of what this means to me."
He turned and traced up and 負かす／撃墜する the 狭くする room, where the 淡褐色 light of 夜明け was 落ちるing through the wide windows and mingling with the warm glow of the lamp that Desgrez had lit and placed on the bureau.
Colbert was so 深く，強烈に moved that he could barely 含む／封じ込める himself; his ひどく furrowed 直面する twitched and the 手渡す that しっかり掴むd his dark cloak trembled, as he muttered あられ／賞賛する to him self: "I, who have made modern フラン; I, who have controlled this extravagant, vicious and frivolous King; I, who have somehow 財政／金融d his senseless wars and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the money for the buildings, those monstrous, vain-glorious palaces that M. de Louvois has put up to gratify his master's vanity! Do you know anything of me, M. Desgrez?" continued the 大臣, who was moved beyond 支配（する）／統制する, beyond reserve, "do you know what I have tried to do for this country, do you know how many years I have been the first 大臣 of フラン, how many times I have drawn her 支援する from the 瀬戸際 of 破産, where she had been driven by the 無謀な ambition of the King, supported by M. de Louvois?" He paused, sighed and 追加するd in a lower 発言する／表明する: "I know, perhaps, as no other Frenchman knows, how this country is run, how the 歳入s are spent. I have had to find four thousand livres for a 選び出す／独身 feast. Let it go, I have done what I can."
"It is known, Monsieur," said Desgrez, 深く，強烈に touched. "Indeed, it is known and 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がるd in フラン. We are not all of us braggart and shallow—"
"No," said Colbert with a wry smile. "Some of you are 雇うd in the 産業s I have 設立するd. I have broken the Venetian monopoly for silks and lace, that of Genoa for velvet. I have 設立するd factories all over the country, I have 保護するd the 労働者s by my factory 法律s. Why do I run over these things now? Perhaps it is cowardice—I am tainted by the abominations I have seen to-night. M. de La Reynie, am I the man who 設立するd the 皇室の 観測所, the Jardin des 工場／植物s, the 学院 of 絵, the 学院 of Architecture, the 兵器庫s of Brest, Toulon and Rochefort; am I the man who created the French 海洋 and taught my country how to compete even with England; am I the man who has made engineers, 大臣s, captains, sailors; have I sent the 旗 of フラン even to the Indies?"
He turned to Desgrez: "You are a Norman. You have seen, perhaps, Cherbourg, which, on your barren shore, I have turned into a 安全な harbour. All these things I have done and in doing them I have displeased the King and M. de Louvois, his flatterer. And now when I age, when I am worn out, it comes to this—I discover Paris, nay, for all I know, the whole of フラン, 土台を崩すd by sorcerers—all the horrors of 殺人, abortion, charms, all this filth—half a hideous absurdity, half an obscene reality!" He paused and put his を引き渡す his tired 注目する，もくろむs.
"What are your orders, Monsieur?" asked La Reynie. "I, from my heart, feel for you. I 高く評価する／（相場などが）上がる all you have said. I will work with you and for you to the end."
"You may 背負い込む the 敵意 of Louvois, even that of the King. Several of these people are friends of his. Even I, M. de La Reynie, could so easily be sent into 退職."
"I know, Monsieur. And as for me, my 地位，任命する would be 価値（がある） nothing 'should I 感情を害する／違反する either the King or M. de Louvois. But as long as I have my liberty and my 当局, I will do as you 企て，努力，提案 me."
The 大臣 put out his 手渡す and clasped that of the 長，指導者 of Police.
"We will do what we can, while we can. You have a 確かな number of men you can 信用?"
"Yes, Monsieur. A good staff of 完全に reliable men."
"These people of 質 must not be 逮捕（する）d, the King must be told. You have La Voisin, her daughter, those two blaspheming priests and the Doctor and the Italian apothecary under lock and 重要な. We will see what we can get out of them. There is, besides, the man Delmas."
"I have, too, the girl Rose. She was, it seems, a laundress at the 法廷，裁判所 of Savoy."
"That 事件／事情／状勢 seems （疑いを）晴らす enough," said Colbert 激しく. "A French Princess!—the King will have it hushed up, no 疑問. Pride and arrogance before 司法（官） again."
La Reynie asked anxiously:
"Who was the woman? She is 明白に the person whom 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez heard spoken of in the little house at Passy, the woman of whom they are all afraid, the most important person, after this mysterious Grand Master, in the whole 共謀."
"I do not know." sighed Colbert wearily. "I should have said Madame de Soissons, that 黒人／ボイコット Olympe, but she was in the congregation. The Englishwoman dressed as a man I do know; she held some position at the 法廷，裁判所, but years ago—I thought she had returned to England, she must be over here 内密に."
He paused, went to the window and 星／主役にするd at the brightening sky.
"The King of England's son, the Duke of Monmouth," he 追加するd, "is in Paris. He is idle, frivolous, unscrupulous. Saint-Maurice thought that you, Desgrez, were this Prince to night. He excused your squeamishness on that 得点する／非難する／２０—this young English scoundrel has, I believe, a tender heart, at least that 肉親，親類d of tenderness which will not 補助装置 at abominations."
"It is very likely, Monsieur," said La Reynie. "We have been watching the young English Prince, his movements are erratic, 怪しげな."
"We are honoured," 発言／述べるd the 大臣 激しく, "with the presence of another English person—Lady Castlemaine—she is the King of England's mistress, and, I believe, 恐れるs to lose her 力／強力にする over the King. She is という評判の to dabble in sorcery, I think it was she that we saw to-night. The English woman, who has been living so long in Paris, is a go-between."
"It is possible. Lady Castlemaine has been called the most wicked woman in Europe."
"I never heard any good of her. But we can do nothing. Two Kings 保護する her!"
"I 解任する," 発言／述べるd the 長，指導者 of Police, "that this Lady Castlemaine （機の）カム over to Paris to watch the 死刑執行 of Madame de Brinvilliers—she seemed 大いに 利益／興味d in that 事件／事情／状勢."
"It is possible," replied the 大臣, "that she 取引，協定s in 毒（薬） herself. We can do nothing but have her watched, and pray the good God that she soon leaves フラン. Keep your 囚人s の近くに, M. de La Reynie, have them carefully guarded so that they do not commit 自殺, see that nothing is given them that may be sent them—neither flowers nor shirts nor cakes."
"I shall have an 注目する，もくろむ to that," said de La Reynie. "They shall neither die nor escape nor be 殺人d while they are in my care. Monsieur, may I ask if you ーするつもりである to put these abominations before the King?"
"It is my 義務 to do so. I shall ask for a Special （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 to be 始める，決める up to 調査／捜査する the whole 事件／事情／状勢, I shall 需要・要求する that no one, no 事柄 of what sex or 階級, be spared." As he rose wearily, he 追加するd with a flash of sardonic humour: "It may be that I shall, after all, have M. de Louvois on my 味方する. He loathes M. de Luxembourg."
The 大臣 was about to leave when he turned to Desgrez and put his 手渡す kindly on the young man's shoulder: "The King of フラン needs men like you. You are the 構成要素 that I like to see, I shall not lose sight of you. You must not mind 燃やすing your fingers a little, or, what is worse, 国／地域ing them, in this most necessary service."
With that M. de Colbert left the office, followed by the 長，指導者 of Police. Desgrez remained 築く by the 議長，司会を務める in which the 広大な／多数の／重要な 大臣 had sat; those last few words had atoned to him for all the abominations of the evening.
すぐに after the 逮捕（する） of La Voisin and her 共犯者s, M. de La Revnie told Desgrez that he would like his constant personal 出席 and 願望（する）d him to sleep in the police ４半期/4分の1s in the Bastille. This gave Desgrez an 適切な時期 of 説 what had been for some days on his mind.
"It is my wife, Monsieur," he said 簡単に. "She is not a nervous or a foolish woman—indeed, as you know, she has been more than anxious to help in this 事件／事情／状勢—but lately she has been much on my 良心. We live in a little apartment in a good ４半期/4分の1 of Paris, but she believes that she has been followed and 認めるd."
"Ah, by whom?" asked La Revnie, ちらりと見ることing up from the pile of papers under his 手渡すs, which he was scrutinizing with 深遠な earnestness.
"That she cannot say. The man was tall and, of course, cloaked with his hat pulled over his brow. She thinks it might have been Saint-Maurice. Since I heard that, of course. I have made her 約束 to spend her days with Ma?re Perrin, a friend of 地雷 who knows something of what I am doing in this 事件／事情／状勢."
"Not much I hope. You know how I 願望（する） to keep it all secret."
"Certainly, Monsieur. I hone you do not think that I have been indiscreet. M. Perrin knows no more than appears in the Gazette. Nor do I wish to trouble you with my 私的な 事件／事情／状勢s, but now that you have asked me to be in constant 出席 upon you perhaps you could 示唆する some place of safety for my wife."
"Yes, I can find you such a 退却／保養地 for Madame Desgrez," replied the 長，指導者 of Police 厳粛に. "I cannot ask her to come into the Bastille," he 追加するd with a wry smile, "unless she cares to 占領する a 独房. But I do know a house on the Versailles road, where Captain Dechamps, one of my staunchest officers, an old 兵士 井戸／弁護士席-seasoned in the wars, lives with his wife. The Versailles road is, for His Majesty's sake, 極端に 井戸／弁護士席-guarded. I will see that your wife 宿泊するs with these good people. Dechamps 産む／飼育するs a peculiarly savage 肉親，親類d of watch dog—he usually has two or three archers also in his house. Your wife could not be safer anywhere."
Desgrez thanked the 長，指導者 of Police with 深い 感謝.
"Once Solange is 安全な I am yours day and night, Monsieur, until this 事件／事情／状勢 is （疑いを）晴らすd up."
"（疑いを）晴らすd up! You are young and 希望に満ちた," exclaimed the older man 激しく, raising his 罰金 手渡すs and letting them 落ちる on the pile of papers in 前線 of him. "The 絡まる, the 反対／詐欺 fusion is worse, darker, as we proceed. The girl Rose has 自白するd—the mere sight of the rack, the water jars was 十分な. She seems, however, to have been a mere 道具, the mistress of this Delmas, who, in his turn, was 雇うd by Saint-Maurice, and he again, in his turn, receives the 毒（薬）s from some unknown person—this Grand Master or '広大な／多数の／重要な author', perhaps. The girl says that the custom is to wash shirts or even bed-linen or cravats in arsenic soap—this produces on the 犠牲者 an 爆発 and a slight fever. He is then put to bed and the doctor called in. The poisoner then gets to work; he doses the 薬／医学, and the fever and the 肌 爆発 pass as the 病気 that has 証明するd 致命的な."
"Is that how the Duke of Savoy died?"
"So it seems." La Reynie shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose M. Colbert will find means to get this Saint-Maurice out of the Kingdom. He can do very little. But this is only one 支店 of the whole 商売／仕事—we are 関心d more with what is happening in our own Kingdom. フラン is our 関心 not Savoy."
"La Voisin," asked Desgrez, "will she speak?"
"No. She is 極端に insolent. It is （疑いを）晴らす that she considers herself 高度に 保護するd—no 疑問 she is." La Reynie sighed from physical 疲労，（軍の）雑役 and put his 手渡すs in 前線 of his 疲れた／うんざりした 注目する，もくろむs. "I have been 尋問 her. She has that mixture of stupidity, ignorance and effrontery which, when 連合させるd in a 女性（の）, makes all one's arts useless, useless."
"She must 収容する／認める something," said Desgrez. "She cannot 否定する the whole thing. Why, she was caught 現行犯で."
"井戸／弁護士席, she 収容する／認めるs to selling a few love philtres, helping a few women to get rid of their unwanted children, casting a few （一定の）期間s—害のない she calls them. Nothing more. Her daughter is silent too. The two priests, Davout and Guibourg, are sullen also—I think they may talk, out I do not know how much I can rely on what they say. I daresay they are only 道具s, they did perhaps nothing but officiate at these hideous 儀式s."
"The other places where these were held," asked Desgrez. "Cagny—that is a 郊外 of Versailles, is it not?"
"Yes," replied the 長，指導者 of Police, "and leads us nowhere. There are seven or eight mansions there, all belonging to different noblemen. There are also one or two empty houses. Cagny is too vague a 手がかり（を与える）."
"The stable—they spoke, too, of the stable?"
"That also is vague enough. What mansion of any pre 緊張 has not a stable? No, Desgrez, it is my opinion that these abominable 儀式s have been held all over Paris and its 近郊. After all, the 成分s are simple."
"The Italian apothecary," questioned Desgrez, "and Doctor Rabel? What of those two 囚人s, Monsieur?"
"The Italian apothecary is an 極端に cunning rogue—he lies skilfully. I ーするつもりである to 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 him with the 殺人 of his daughter, Mlle. Jacquetta."
"Why should he 殺人 her?" asked Desgrez, frowning.
"I think he was, in a way, ゆすり，恐喝ing her. She was 伴う／関わるd in some love 事件／事情／状勢 that was about to break her—she was also, I think, 事実上の／代理 for him under 脅し of （危険などに）さらす on some difficult and, perhaps, horrible 商売／仕事. The girl's courage failed her, she 辞退するd to go on—she even, perhaps, 脅すd to betray her father's 計画／陰謀s. Under the excuse of taking her to some wise woman who would end her trouble for her, he had the wretched girl 毒（薬）d—that is my theory."
"What work could she be doing for him? She was only a little Italian chambermaid at the Louvre."
"Who knows, who knows?" replied the 長，指導者 of Police. "I tell you I work in the dark. As for the Doctor, he too is stubborn. He will 収容する／認める nothing except 出席 at some of these 儀式s, which he 宣言するs are obscene but not 犯罪の. He 断言するs he has never before seen a living sacrifice."
"Liar," said Desgrez. "That child was alive the other evening. I heard it crying out in the basket."
"The children, of course, have always been alive—when they could procure them." said M. de La Reynie grimly. "But this is a difficult 事柄 to 証明する. Who has any care of, or kept any 記録，記録的な／記録するs of the base-born of 広大な／多数の／重要な ladies who have gone astray? The bringing into the world of these children, dead or alive, and the selling of their 団体／死体s, dead or alive, have been the most profitable part of the whole 商売／仕事."
"Madame La Voisin does not seem to have 設立する it very profitable. Monsieur." 発言／述べるd Desgrez. "As far as I can understand she has always lived in 哀れな ４半期/4分の1s and poor streets and accented small sums for nursing in the hospitals from those 患者s who could not afford much."
"Yes, that is mysterious, it puzzles me," replied M. de La Reynie. "The woman must have had a large fortune passing through her 手渡すs. I can only suppose that she has sent it out of the country, that she ーするつもりであるs, when she considers her hoard big enough, to retire. She must have スパイ／執行官s, perhaps in Italy, perhaps in the Netherlands, her fortune must be securely banked—she did not dare attract attention to herself. Some one whom we have not vet put our finger on would 料金 her very 高度に indeed, making it 価値（がある） her while to live this 哀れな life for the sake of what she has 蓄積するd."
The 長，指導者 of Police was silent a moment: he looked across his 淡褐色 office to the square of window that showed the pale sky of 早期に summer; he sighed then, as if 悩ますd with himself for even momentarily forgetting his 義務, turned to the pile of papers under his 手渡すs.
"I have some other news for you, which I will tell you 簡潔に. Desgrez. It was in the Gazette that La Voisin and her daughter had been 逮捕（する）d. I did not について言及する the other 指名するs. The result has been that several high-placed people have left フラン—the Princesse de Tingry, the Prince de Clermont Lodene, several others—some of those M. de Colbert 認めるd that night at the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり. 井戸／弁護士席, they have gone, crossed the frontiers."
"But not all of them, Monsieur; some stay to brazen it out?"
"They do indeed, and with disgraceful insolence. M. de Colbert, however, ーするつもりであるs to have them 逮捕（する）d. Yes, he even ーするつもりであるs to have Madame de Soissons and Madame de Bouillon, though they are の中で the greatest in the land, 逮捕（する）d and 宿泊するd in the Bastille 近づく La Voisin."
"Will he be able to do this? Will the King be agreeable?"
"That we do not know. Probably the 影響（力） of M. de Louvois will be against him. M. Colbert is an honest man, a 広大な／多数の／重要な man, his 正直さ is unimpeachable. He has been struck to the heart by the 発見 of this canker in the bosom of フラン. He orders you, Desgrez, to go to him at Versailles. You will be, of course, at his 処分. As soon as he has done with you, you will return to me here. I have La Tulipe and several other confidential men working on this now. You can 保証する M. Colbert—if he asks you—that the 囚人s are all 井戸／弁護士席 guarded and 井戸／弁護士席 watched. Tell him of the girl Rose's 自白."
La Reynie leant over his bureau and scribbled a few lines on a sheet of paper:
"This is the 演説（する）／住所 of Captain Dechamps—his house. You can take your wife there on your way to Versailles, and leave her 確信して that she will be 安全な. Give this 公式文書，認める to Dechamps. Be 保証するd that your wife will have every consideration."
Solange did not want to leave the little apartment that was her first home after her marriage; she liked the two rooms and the pieces of modest furniture that she kept so 向こうずねing, she liked the 見解（をとる） over the roof-最高の，を越すs of Paris and the pigeons that （機の）カム ぱたぱたするing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the window to be fed; she liked the sound of the bells from the Paris churches, （犯罪の）一味ing out their nine canonical hours above the ガス／煙s of the 支持を得ようと努めるd smoke. She shrank from going to live with strangers, who she 恐れるd were taking her in only on sufferance, and who might, for all she knew, be 厳しい. The young woman's spirit was as 独立した・無所属 as it was strong and she could not 耐える to 降伏する her liberty.
"I would rather be in danger," she said emphatically to her husband. But, seeing his real 関心 and his 激しい 苦悩 for both her safety and obedience to his 長，指導者, she gave way, though with an 成果／努力.
"Must it come to it. Charles?" She smiled and sighed together. "You 約束d you would let me help you. I've even been already of some 援助 to you, but when it comes to anything dangerous or difficult a woman is always put aside. Keep your sword with you—you will need food and drink, you want money in your pocket—but will you need a woman, your wife, no, certainly not! The moment there is real danger I must go!"
Charles Desgrez did not 試みる／企てる to 否定する this; he kissed his wife tenderly, 残念に. "So it is, my love—a woman's a woman, a man's a man! How can a man work if he knows the dearest creature in the world is in danger? Were you to live here I should never feel 平易な, even though I asked M. de La Reynie to guard the house, even though I asked Ma?re Perrin always to …を伴って you on your walks—no, I should not be able to do my work, my 義務, I might make some 失敗s which would be very 高くつく／犠牲の大きい to フラン. This is your part, Solange, the difficult part—abnegation."
"I know! 井戸／弁護士席, perhaps some day we shall come 支援する to these little rooms!"
"If I am at all successful," replied the young man 熱心に, "we shall return to a better house than this, Solange."
"I do not want to leave it—there are all my memories here. I have been happy, yes, even in Paris, Charles. I know I feel that it is a formidable, 悪意のある place, with its dark towers, 狭くする streets, strange alleys, the muddy river—so different from Caen—yet I am 気が進まない to leave it."
Charles took his wife, riding pillion behind him, along the Versailles road, recently laid out straight and elegant for the King's 楽しみ that he might 運動 without hindrance from the 資本／首都 to his magnificent palace.
Beyond the gates of Paris and the 要塞s were several small houses of the meaner 肉親，親類d; その上の on along the road were some pretty country 郊外住宅s and farms, and 近づく the little town of Versailles were some handsome ch穰eaux that had recently sprung up for the accommodation of the King's 法廷，裁判所 and some of his favourites. It was in one of the little houses, 中途の between the 法廷，裁判所 郊外s and Paris, that Captain Dechamps lived.
Desgrez noticed with some satisfaction that the house stood 井戸／弁護士席 支援する from the road, had a high 塀で囲む all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する it and was shaded by a bouquet of chestnut trees then 広げるing their white blossoms. The outer gates were kept locked and a porter with a couple of dogs was on 義務 in the little brick gate house behind.
The 住居 itself was a pleasant two-storey building with red brick and white 石／投石する facings and green shutters. Though he worked obscurely and his 指名する was unknown to the public, Dechamps had an important position in the Paris police; he was one of those who were 責任がある the safety of His Majesty; he and his men had to patrol the road to Versailles with an 注目する，もくろむ on 怪しげな characters and to 妨げる importunate beggars, possible conspirators or anyone who might be disagreeable to the King.
He was a man of rather more than middle-age, ひどく built, with a florid complexion and アイロンをかける grey hair clipped to his shoulders; his manner, however, was 精製するd and kindly, and he welcomed Solange with a 儀礼 that 始める，決める her soon at 緩和する. His wife Agnes was a pleasant creature much younger than himself.
She took Solange at once to see her child, a boy of eight years of age, who was playing in the garden 近づく a large aviary 十分な of exotic birds, doves and pigeons, many of which had been given to Dechamps by one of the gardeners at Versailles from the 王室の aviary, which was one of the most magnificent in the world.
Desgrez had hardly realized how anxious he had been for his wife's safety until he 設立する himself again on the road galloping に向かって Versailles, truly light-hearted at knowing that Solange was 安全な and that he could, whilst this earnest 商売／仕事 圧力（をかける）d upon him, put her for a time out of his mind.
Desgrez had not been to the 王室の palace before, and the stately splendour of the place impressed him with a sense of awe, he felt himself insignificant, on the enormous parade ground in the 抱擁する 法廷，裁判所 of Honour; there seemed to him to be something superhuman in the mighty building, as if it had taken more than mortal 手渡すs to raise this grandiose erection.
He remembered what he had heard of it, how a 沼 had been drained and thousands of men had died or malaria in doing this, how the all馥s, groves, green swards, fountains and lakes were all the results of human ingenuity and human 労働 struggling against 巨大な 半端物s. In the 創造 of Versailles, the King and his architects, gardeners and artists, had indeed made "the 砂漠 blossom like the rose!"
Desgrez, as he made his way, after losing it once or twice, to the door where he had been bidden to enquire for M. Colbert, remembered what all this had cost, and in his 慎重な, practical Norman mind there arose a faint 軽蔑（する） of the King who could squander money on wars and 楽しみ while his 資本／首都 was 許すd to 産む／飼育する a 汚職 that was spreading to his own 法廷，裁判所. Desgrez thought of the elegant ladies whom he had seen at the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり.
M. Colbert received Desgrez in a plain office that had no other adornments but a 一連の 地図／計画するs of フラン, 計画（する）s of harbours and 広大な／多数の／重要な buildings, which, carefully engraved with little 重要なs underneath, hung on the 塀で囲むs.
In the light of the fair summer day that fell 連続する through the square windows, M. Colbert looked far older than Desgrez had remembered him; his 直面する, handsome in 輪郭（を描く）, was sallow and ひどく 影をつくる／尾行するd; his 注目する，もくろむs, tired and 血 発射, were 保護するd with a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles. He took these off, wiped them and slipped them into his pocket, ちらりと見ることd at Desgrez and said at once:
"Come with me. I want from you, 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez, nothing but frankness. You will tell all you know and as 簡潔に as possible."
"Yes, Monseigneur."
The 大臣 rose and opened a door in the 塀で囲む that, when の近くにd, seemed part of the panelling, and so they proceeded along a small 回廊（地帯） that was hung with the tapestry showing the Voyage of the Argo.
With a slight smile M. Colbert pointed out this pictured tale to the police 中尉／大尉／警部補.
"商業, Monsieur, 商業—the golden fleece that is all 価値（がある） a nation's while—not wars, not extravagances, but 商業—always remember that! Teach your sons that! Schools, colleges, factories—商業."
Before the young Norman could reply, the 大臣 had opened a door in the 回廊（地帯） and passed into another room that was hung with embossed leather. Desgrez, with his hat under his arm, expectant and eager, followed him across the polished threshold.
This room was small, lit by a window that gave on to the famous "green carpet" (tapis vert) that stretched the whole length of the ch穰eau de Versailles and of the terraces in 前線 of the long fa軋de, which were adorned with large 石／投石する vases, in which gleamed the 厚い leaves of arbutus and agaves.
Beyond this magnificent lawn, the largest in Europe, was stretched an enchanting vista—the finest 成果／努力 of the 真っ先の landscape gardeners of the day, broken by groups of statuary and smaller lawns, on which shone the 爆撃する-like 水盤／入り江s of fountains casting the intermittent glitter of their cascades through the pure 空気／公表する; a slight 煙霧 was over this prospect; trees and 空気／公表する were blended in a silver もや; the upper blue was faintly broken by a curdle of 乳の-coloured clouds.
This superb 見解（をとる） was the one centre of 利益／興味 in a room that さもなければ 含む／封じ込めるd nothing but leather 議長，司会を務めるs where the gold embossed designs rose from a scarlet ground, a small desk and a 閣僚, above which hung a 高くつく／犠牲の大きい crucifix where an ivory Christ gleamed from an ebony cross; the nails piercing the Sacred 四肢s had diamond 長，率いるs, the 栄冠を与える of Thorns was of 新たな展開d gold and the 減少（する）s of 血 on the 拷問d forehead and from the pierced 味方する were of rubies.
This 閣僚 was 占領するd by two men; one was seated at the window and the other stood in an 平易な 態度 by his 議長，司会を務める; both were of the same age, something about forty, and both had the same type of Gallic features, high cheek-bones, small nose, mouth and chin, long brown 注目する，もくろむs the colour of an onyx under straight brows and a 量 of natural chestnut-coloured hair elaborately curled.
The seated gentleman was the better looking; he might indeed have passed in the 注目する，もくろむs of a woman for an 極端に handsome man; others might have considered his features too hard, too exact, they had almost a look as if they had been delicately carved from polished 石／投石する; he wore a prune-coloured cloth coat, a stiff 屈服する of 黒人／ボイコット 略章 at his throat in the centre of which was a large diamond on a cascade of lace—all his other 任命s were very plain; his 手渡すs were 顕著に white and 井戸／弁護士席-形態／調整d; he looked at them continually as if he himself admired them; his 空気／公表する was 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な and anxious; his pallor seemed 予定 to agitation, or ill-health and not natural to his rather florid complexion.
The other gentleman had coarser features, a more insolent 空気／公表する and was more gorgeously dressed. His coat was of brocade, his ruffles and cravat of rich lace were of 過度の length; his sword-belt and sash were ひどく embroidered.
At the 入ること／参加（者） of Colbert and Desgrez these two men both turned はっきりと, while the seated one said:
"Ah! M. Colbert at last! I think you are three minutes late." He ちらりと見ることd at an egg-形態／調整d 水晶 watch on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in 前線 of him.
Desgrez knew that it was his fault, this unpunctuality; he had lost his way in the vastness of the 広大な／多数の／重要な palace; but he did not dare to こそこそ動く until asked to do so. The seated gentle man continued 速く:
"Is that the young Norman of whom you spoke, 中尉／大尉／警部補 Charles Desgrez? Come 今後, sir."
Desgrez obeyed: standing in the 十分な light of the April day he looked 負かす／撃墜する into the almost colourless 直面する, the onyx-coloured eves and 明確に defined features also handsomely でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd with the chestnut curls, of the seated gentleman, who said to him with a 簡単 that was にもかかわらず subtly touched with a theatrical 空気／公表する:
"You are speaking to your King."
For a second Desgrez lost his habitual coolness; he blushed, stammered and knew not what to do; he really felt like a man who had climbed up one mountain piled on another until he finally 直面するd the sun, with so 深い an awe did it 奮起させる him to know that he stood 直面する to 直面する in this small room with the King of フラン; but, at the very second that he felt thus 圧倒するd, his shrewd Norman 観察 showed him that the King was gratified by his 混乱, and this made him guess that this little surprise had been arranged for its 劇の value. It was not in M. Colbert's simple nature to bring him thus unannounced into the august presence.
With the sense of the very fallible humanity of the man before him, Desgrez's composure returned; he fell on one 膝 and gracefully 抗議するd his 義務 to His Majesty. The King, although he had obvious 最大の関心事s, was also 明確に gratified with the 影響 he had produced upon the young 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez, and his manner became exceedingly gracious. Nodding to the man with the rather cynic 表現 who remained standing behind his 議長，司会を務める, he told the young 中尉／大尉／警部補 that this was M. de Louvois. His Majesty then asked M. Colbert to be seated, and bidding Desgrez to remain standing in 前線 of the bureau, he asked him to tell him everything from the first of the 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners.
"All you know, omitting nothing."
"Yes, Sire."
Desgrez almost imperceptibly caught his breath, 直す／買収する，八百長をするing his two 前線 teeth in his lower lip; this was a hard and 予期しない 仕事. The 注目する，もくろむs of the three greatest men in フラン were upon him. He 尊敬（する）・点d most M. Colbert, the man who was the oldest of the three, the most simple in manner, the most unattractive in exterior; he 投機・賭けるd to flash his 注目する，もくろむs to Louvois and saw disdain, incredulity and arrogance upon those hard, formidable features.
"Speak," 命令（する）d the King with a touch of impatience. "This is an 事件／事情／状勢 that comes 権利 to our heart. Speak, 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez—all you know, and from the first!"
The young police-中尉／大尉／警部補 began his recital, from the day that he had taken his wife to the birthday party at Ma?re Perrin's, where the 未亡人 Bosse had 誇るd that three more poisonings would make her a 豊富な woman. Once he had begun his recital, he did not find it difficult to continue; the 事件／事情／状勢 had 吸収するd him for weeks, and every night he had made 公式文書，認めるs of it and committed them to memory. He flattered himself that not a 選び出す／独身 詳細（に述べる） had escaped his mind—all that he had himself seen, all that Solange had seen and told him, all that M. de La Reynie had told him, he had been able to 一覧表にする and arrange 明確に. Remembering that he must not 疲れた／うんざりした or exasperate his illustrious listeners, he told his tale in the fewest possible words. At the end of twenty minutes by the 水晶 watch at which the King now and then cast a ちらりと見ること, Desgrez had finished his account of what he knew of the mysterious 事件／事情／状勢 in which he had so strangely become 伴う／関わるd.
Even as he spoke the reflection was passing through the 支援する of his mind—"how curious that this 商売／仕事 should begin in so humble a way, that modest little party at Ma?re Perrin's, that stupid, half-drunk woman making her 誇る, and so, from one to another, that I am now here, in the King's room, speaking to the King."
He was aware that Louis must have been familiar with a 広大な／多数の／重要な part of what he, Desgrez, now 関係のある; and he could see that, as the King heard the horrid tale again, 確認するd and in 追加するd 詳細（に述べる）, he was profoundly moved, and, as he listened he even, Desgrez thought, forgot himself; he no longer ちらりと見ることd complacently at his beautiful 手渡すs, nor remembered that he was the King; slight spasms of 苦痛 passed over his pallid 直面する, he bit his lips, he 始める，決める his 肘s on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and thrust his fingers up into his hair; he の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs, then ちらりと見ることd 負かす／撃墜する sideways at the prospect beyond the window; never once did he look either に向かって Colbert, seated in the centre of the room, or at Louvois, standing behind his 議長，司会を務める.
Desgrez thought: "All these people were his friends, he 信用d them."
Yet the comment of His Majesty, made after Desgrez had said: "Sire, that is all," was a 純粋に selfish one. He asked: "The paper that was 設立する in the confessional of the Jesuit church in the rue Saint-Antoine—that referred to an 試みる／企てる on my life—has anything その上の been discovered about that?"
"No, Your Majesty. M. de La Reynie thought that it might not be Your Majesty that was ーするつもりであるd, but the King of England."
At this Louis わずかに shrugged his shoulders. Desgrez 解釈する／通訳するd the gesture to mean: "There is only one King in the world of the least importance."
"I should have thought," 発言／述べるd His Majesty, "that that 商売／仕事 might have been 調査／捜査するd."
"Sire," said Desgrez, anxious for the credit of his 長，指導者, "M. de La Reynie did all that was possible. The words, Your Majesty will 解任する, were in English. M. de La Reynie believes that the message has 言及／関連, rather, to M. de Monmouth's father, the King of England."
The King sat for a second in moody silence, then 発言／述べるd: "These subtle poisoners abroad—so many insidious fiends 治めるing 毒（薬）s—who feels 安全な? In a shirt, in a bouquet, or rubbed on one's fork or spoon, on the 縁 of one's goblet, in one's handkerchief or 薬／医学—who knows, eh, Louvois?"
He swung 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in his 議長，司会を務める and ちらりと見ることd up at the 大臣 of War, the man who had more 影響（力） over him than any other person, the man who encouraged him in all his 副／悪徳行為s and extravagances, the man who spent the money saved by the careful 患者 genius of Colbert.
Now that he had an 適切な時期 of speaking, M. Louvois 表明するd himself emphatically.
"Sire, I think this 事件／事情／状勢 has been, by the zeal, no 疑問 sincere, of M. de La Reynie and his subordinates, 大いに 誇張するd. I wonder that M. Colbert has taken such a farrago of nonsense 本気で. I can see nothing in any of this but the follies of some feather-長，率いるd women and their cavaliers. When has there been a moment that idle, 広大な／多数の／重要な ladies have not amused themselves with charms, philtres and incantations? What 豊富な 資本／首都 has ever 存在するd that has not had its means of 隠すing the results of illicit love 事件／事情／状勢s?"
"But 毒（薬）ing, Louvois!" 強調するd the King, "but 毒（薬）ing!"
"We have no proof of that, Sire. It is all surmise, wild words of distraught, dying girls, half 自白s of 囚人s 脅すd with 拷問—a 一連の crazy romances as far as I can see it!"
"But," 勧めるd the King 真面目に, "look at this 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） I have here—of those who have left the Kingdom since the 逮捕（する） of this woman La Voisin."
"They know the zeal of M. de La Reynie," replied Louvois drily. "One cannot suppose that Madame de Bouillon or Madame de Soissons would relish 存在 逮捕（する）d by your 長，指導者 of Police and 宿泊するd at the Bastille."
"Still, had they been innocent surely they would not have fled?" replied the King uneasily; he looked across the room at Colbert, who 持続するd a dignified and sad silence. "Do you believe in all these 残虐（行為）s, this witchcraft, sorcery, 偽造, abortion, 毒（薬）ing?"
"Sire, had I not believed, I should not have put the 事柄 before you. The 事件／事情／状勢 of the death of the Duke of Savoy is 事実上 証明するd, there are some points not （疑いを）晴らす—"
The King interrupted with an accent almost of terror: "We will have it no clearer! Saint-Maurice shall be 手渡すd his papers—the laundress and Delmas, and any other who may be 巻き込むd in that 事件／事情／状勢, shall be （刑事）被告 on other 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s and put to death—速く, and it may be, 内密に."
"Sire, is this 司法（官）?" asked Colbert.
The King looked 負かす／撃墜する at his 手渡すs without replying, and Louvois, with an impatient sneer, exclaimed:
"Do you question the King's 司法（官）, M. Colbert?"
"Ah I you are very 敵意を持った to the whole 商売／仕事," replied the 監査役-General unmoved. "Perhaps you are 利益／興味d, M. Louvois, to know that La Voisin has について言及するd the 指名する of the 損なう馗hal de Luxembourg in her 簡潔な／要約する 自白? She says that he has been 現在の at many of her obscene 儀式s, and I, with my own 注目する，もくろむs, beheld him at the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり in the 丸天井 under the house in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs."
"I certainly," said the 大臣 of War scornfully, "should not be sorry to hear M. de Luxembourg answer for himself."
"We cannot touch Luxembourg," said the King nervously. "A 損なう馗hal of フラン, one of our greatest heroes. Impossible! Yet," he 追加するd with a shudder that he strove in vain to repress, "I would not have him 近づく me if he is a wizard or 関心d with sorcery. My God! these horrors!" He put his 手渡す to his throat and 星／主役にするd out of the window at the exquisite landscape that was glowing in the brightening rays of the sun, as if to 安心させる himself of beauty, of goodness.
"The 長，指導者 of Police," said M. Colbert, "を待つs your Majesty's 命令（する）s. He will not, of course, take a step that you forbid him to take, but until you do forbid him—" Colbert rose to his gaunt 高さ in the centre of the little room "—he will continue to 調査／捜査する this most horrible 事件／事情／状勢, and I shall continue to 補助装置 him によれば my best 力／強力にする."
"Hush up the Savoy スキャンダル," said the King hurriedly. "We cannot have the 指名する of a Princess of フラン dragged into such an ugly 商売／仕事. 調査／捜査する the other. 持つ／拘留する out the hope of a 容赦 to La Voisin and her daughter, to any of them who seem inclined to talk. Let all the examinations be held in secret in the Bastille or in the 兵器庫—only yourself and de La Reynie, this young man and a few other confidential police 現在の. The （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 that I may 始める，決める up must sit in secret. It might be that I should wish to go myself and listen to the examination of some of these 犯罪のs."
"Surely, Sire!" 抗議するd Louvois.
"You too, Monsieur, you too should go, Monsieur Louvois you should hear yourself. The 事件／事情／状勢 must be kept secret. I will certainly 始める，決める a （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 up to 調査／捜査する it—yes, a secret （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 to sit in the Bastille or at the 兵器庫. Put nothing in the Gazette or the 水銀柱，温度計—too much has been blown abroad already." He paused a moment as if struggling to 保持する his 完全にする self-支配（する）／統制する, and Desgrez saw disgust and nausea convulse his 罰金 features; at length he said, half-stammering: "Find her—at all costs find her—that woman—the one who took the 主要な／長／主犯 part at that abominable 儀式. My God! Colbert, is it possible that a woman 存在するs who could so behave?"
"We are leaving no 石／投石する unturned," replied Colbert 厳粛に, "M. de La Reynie and I, we still believe that it was Madame Castlemaine."
"I hope," sighed the King, "it is not a Frenchwoman. In 行為, I hope so." He turned quickly and exclaimed: "Come in!"—for his quick ear had heard an accustomed signal of a （電話線からの）盗聴 on the door that the others had not noticed.
It was Lacombe, the King's confidential valet, one of the most powerful men in フラン, that entered; with his gliding step and gentle yet not servile 空気／公表する, he crossed to the King and whispered something into His Majesty's ear at which he startled violently. Turning に向かって Colbert, he exclaimed:
"An 表明する has just come in from the Bastille from M. de La Reynie. Luxembourg has given himself up!"
"Ah, and yet no 疑惑 has been cast on him," 発言／述べるd Colbert 熱心に. "He has heard his 指名する について言及するd."
"井戸／弁護士席, Louvois, you have him now under lock and 重要な," said the King with some bitterness.
"The old hunchbacked devil!" exclaimed the 大臣 of War. "Your Majesty in his heart knows him as I do."
"It's true I have never liked the man," murmured the King uneasily. "A wizard! The 悪口を言う／悪態 of God is on that hunch 支援する, and yet—a brilliant, a successful general! Is it possible he 伸び（る）d my victories with the help of Satan!" exclaimed the King with a look of horror.
"We shall soon find out," smiled M. de Louvois with a look of satisfaction. "With Your Majesty's 許可 I will order him to be 限定するd in a small 地下組織の 独房, say twelve feet by nine feet. There, without any of his friends, 調書をとる／予約するs or usual dark amusements, M. de Luxembourg will perhaps be able to think things over."
"A 損なう馗hal of フラン in the Bastille!" exclaimed Louis. "I should never have dared to have him 逮捕（する）d. Why did he give himself up?"
"Sire," replied Colbert, "Luxembourg is not a man to 飛行機で行く over the frontiers. He is a 兵士."
"Perhaps he is," 追加するd the King, with a wildness in his 発言する／表明する and taking no 注意する of this, "planning my death!"
"I do not think so, Sire," replied Colbert 静かに. "I do not believe much in M. de Luxembourg's 黒人／ボイコット 魔法. It cannot take the hump off his 支援する, or, I fancy, open the doors of the Bastille for him."
At this the King seemed somewhat 安心させるd. He turned to Desgrez, and with an 仮定／引き受けること of that 平易な yet pompous dignity which sat so gracefully upon him, said: "中尉／大尉／警部補, we can count 絶対 on your zeal, devotion, even till death."
"Even till death, Sire," replied the young Norman, putting what fervour he could into the 従来の words.
When M. Colbert and the young 中尉／大尉／警部補 of Police had left the palace and were 訴訟／進行 along the terrace then fully lit by the summer sun, the 大臣 said: "His Majesty is afraid for his personal safety—that makes him difficult, 不当な. He has all his linen, all his silver 検査／視察するd—only the most 信用d and faithful servants are 許すd to 扱う his personal 所持品. Ah, 井戸／弁護士席!"
"The King, I noticed, has also a general horror of sacrilege and sorceries and all the other abominations, Monsieur."
"Yes, in his heart he is a 宗教的な man, bigoted and superstitious—and yet he 反抗するs God by living in open 姦通 with Madame de Montespan."
"He 支払う／賃金s for that, perhaps, Monsieur," 示唆するd Desgrez.
"Yes, he 支払う／賃金s for it," said Colbert, "when he's ill or despondent, when the priests get 持つ／拘留する of him, when Madame de Maintenon, the pious governess, reminds him of his soul! Then he is for sending Madame de Montespan away and for becoming reconciled with the Queen. I have seen the Marquise once, twice, thrice sent from the 法廷，裁判所—each time she has returned, more powerful than ever, more by 推論する／理由 of her tongue and hysteric scenes than because of her beauty or her tenderness."
When they had reached the corner of the terrace by the magnificent little theatre, Colbert, with an 空気／公表する of 簡単, bade 別れの（言葉，会） to Desgrez and told him to return at once to Paris, and to 報告（する）／憶測 at the Bastille to M. de La Reynie; the 大臣 追加するd that he was pleased with Desgrez; then, with bent shoulders and a 激しい step, Colbert turned aside, walking with the slowness of an ageing man whose 重荷（を負わせる） becomes hard to 耐える.
Desgrez went to fetch his horse, which he had left in the stables, 据えるd in the 右翼 of the palace. As he crossed the park, feeling, にもかかわらず the 複雑化s of his 激しい 仕事, gay-hearted because of the summer, his own 青年 and Solange, he saw moving quickly through the trees of orange-coloured 支店d モミs a woman whose gait seemed familiar. He could not see her 直面する, for her 支援する was に向かって him and she wore a wide-brimmed hat with sulphur-coloured plumes; yes, there was something familiar in her walk and in the way she swung her hips in the flowing blue skirt, in the way she now and then jerked her 長，率いる 支援する. He hurried until he had overtaken her, passed, her and then ちらりと見ることd 支援する. Although she appeared to walk 速く she took short steps that made little 進歩.
For a moment he could not place her countenance with the pale, わずかに 目だつ 注目する，もくろむs, with an upper tooth catching on the lower lip; then he 解任するd who she was, and with that re collection the 推論する／理由 for not knowing her before.
It was the Englishwoman that he had seen twice before in man's attire.
Desgrez sauntered on through the tall trees, baffled, wondering what to do; at first he could not やめる credit his own senses; was it possible that this woman, who seemed even to his hard-長，率いるd realism the lost of the lost, the abandoned of the abandoned, was walking 自由に with a gay and pleasant 空気／公表する in the gardens of Versailles? He had had so far no 手がかり（を与える） to her 身元, but had believed that she was the link between the French conspirators and Madame de Castlemaine, and perhaps with the Duke of Monmouth.
The lady took no notice of him—he was careful to keep his 直面する turned away; yet he remembered 速く that he had been disguised on each occasion that he had seen her before. Why should she notice him? Hundreds of people were 許すd into the park of Versailles, and he was dressed inconspicuously in russet and grey, he might have been a clerk, perhaps a servant.
The lady sauntered on and Desgrez 影響する／感情ing a leisurely walk himself, kept her in sight. She reached a little 寺 that enclosed a 人物／姿／数字 of Love 均衡を保った on a pedestal and 狙撃 a feathered arrow 負かす／撃墜する an avenue of oleanders; a gardener was working there, bedding out 工場／植物s he had brought from a glass-house. The lady paused and spoke to him; Desgrez passed の近くに enough to hear her ask the man if the roses were yet above ground in the 軍隊ing house.
Then she passed on still with her careless 空気／公表する, and the 中尉／大尉／警部補 pausing himself by the little 寺 saw her walking 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the lake, which 反映するd her blue dress, her dark hat with sulphur-coloured feathers. From a little 捕らえる、獲得する on her arm she took morsels of bread, which she cast on to the smooth surface of the water, thus beguiling to her 味方する several 罰金 swans that were preening their strong feathers in the 有望な sunlight.
Desgrez asked the gardener in a 静かな 発言する／表明する: "Who was that lady—I have met her but cannot 解任する her 指名する." The man 吸収するd in his 仕事 answered indifferently "Monsieur, that is the Demoiselle des Oeillets."
"Ah, yes," replied the young man, controlling his 激しい surprise. "I 解任する now of course. She is no longer 大（公）使館員d to the 法廷，裁判所; I have not seen her for some time."
"No, Monsieur, she has not been here very long, but then neither have I; she is familiar with the palace and with the 世帯 of His Majesty. She is an Englishwoman and often goes to England."
The man now began to look curiously at Desgrez, wondering why he was 尋問 him, and he went on with his work as a signal for the other's 出発. Desgrez turned away quickly having no wish to come 直面する to 直面する with the lady whom he had now identified as "行方不明になる Pink," oeillet 存在 the French word for that flower whose English 指名する is pink or carnation.
He contrived for some space of time in the sunny after noon to keep the lady in 見解（をとる）. This was a tedious and not altogether 平易な 事柄, for she proceeded slowly, indifferently through the magnificent grounds; now and then she met a friend with whom she chatted for a few moments; now and then she sat on a bank and taking a 調書をとる／予約する from the 捕らえる、獲得する on her arm, read a little; then she would pass on and look for flowers in the grass; and while she ぐずぐず残るd Desgrez had to secrete himself, remain hidden, and move carefully behind bushes and 負かす／撃墜する paths at 権利 angles to that which she had chosen, in order that she might not 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that she was 存在 watched.
At last, however, she left the park by a postern door and proceeded on foot 負かす／撃墜する the street of Versailles.
Now Desgrez's 仕事 was easier; the streets of the little town were （人が）群がるd like a fair with all manners of people, charlatans, old 兵士s, loose women, all the hangers on of the 法廷，裁判所 who were kept at arm's length from the 王室の circle, and it was not difficult for the police スパイ／執行官 to lose himself in this （人が）群がる and yet to keep in sight the lady in her 目だつ blue dress and the vivid sulphur feathers.
She presently went into a glover's shop; Desgrez waited outside till she re-appeared, then himself entered the shop; a spruce little woman was behind the 反対する putting 支援する gloves into their long boxes 倍のd in silver paper.
"That was Mlle. des Oeillets, who has just left your shop, was it not, Madame?" asked the police スパイ／執行官.
The shopkeeper seeing so personable a cavalier scented an amorous intrigue, 特に as Desgrez took the 警戒 to turn over the gloves with an appreciative 注目する，もくろむ.
"Where is she living now?" he asked. "I have not seen her since she （機の）カム 支援する from England, and as she was a little 感情を害する／違反するd with me before she left, I do not like to ask her direct. I want however to send her a little 現在の."
He then selected two pairs of finely fringed gauntlets; his 慎重な mind somewhat resented the price the woman 即時に put upon them, but it was not a moment to argue. Two gold pieces went 負かす／撃墜する on the 反対する, and he was the possessor of Mlle. des Oeillets' 演説（する）／住所.
This was a 郊外住宅 at Cagny that had the fanciful foreign 指名する of La 郊外住宅 Malcontenta, "The Discontented House." Desgrez did not like to 圧力（をかける） his enquiries その上の, where the house was, and how one 得るd 接近 to it, who was the owner, and so on.
He gathered that Mlle. des Oeillets was 単に some 扶養家族 in a noble 設立; he directed that the gloves should be sent to her at the 演説（する）／住所 given and left the shop.
The English woman in the blue gown and sulphur-coloured feathers was now out of sight, and Desgrez returned to the Palace of Versailles, 得るd admission to the grounds by showing his police badge, got his horse from the stables and 棒 支援する to Paris.
M. de La Reynie had scarcely seen to the 宿泊するing of the sardonic 損なう馗hal de Luxembourg in the Bastille when he received a letter brought by a prim man in a sad-coloured livery; this epistle was from the Marchese Pignata, who had not followed the 法廷，裁判所 to Versailles but had remained in his apartment in the Louvre.
The ローマ法王's 甥 prayed the instant 出席 of the 長，指導者 of Police; he was too ill to come to the Bastille.
M. de La Reynie felt distracted; he had been working long and closely at this mysterious 事例／患者 and was baffled, sickened and exhausted.
"Does your master think that he has been 毒（薬）d?" he asked ironically. "Tell him to drink 量s of milk—and to take a strong emetic."
The lackey replied 厳粛に that the Marchese had some news of importance to communicate 本人自身で to the 長，指導者 of Police.
"I suppose I must, then, wait on him. Tell him I will be with him in half an hour."
M. de La Reynie struck his bell, ordered coffee and some bread and cheese.
"I suppose," he said to his confidential clerk, "that you are still taking all 警戒s—for all our sakes?"
"Yes, Monsieur. Everything is locked up. I keep the 重要なs. Nothing is 受託するd from strangers."
The man placed carefully on the desk the 厚い white cup and plate.
"I notice, Monsieur, that these same 警戒s are 存在 taken everywhere in Paris, people even use paper napkins and cloths that can be burnt."
"I know, I know. I tried to 妨げる this panic from getting abroad—but we could not keep such a number of 逮捕（する）s secret. 疑惑, horror, 不信 everywhere! And いつかs I wonder if I shall ever get to the 底（に届く） of this horrid mystery, ever （疑いを）晴らす out and fumigate this stinking cesspool that 感染させるs the entire nation."
M. de La Reynie 設立する the Marchese Pignata in bed, the curtains 宙返り飛行d 支援する from his pillows and a priest seated by his 味方する; as the 長，指導者 entered, this good father rose silently and glided away, never raising his 注目する，もくろむs from his 調書をとる／予約する.
The young Italian looked ill; his 直面する was hollow and sallow, his 黒人／ボイコット hair hung lankly either 味方する his thin cheeks and his plain linen night-shirt had almost the suggestion of a shroud; his large 注目する，もくろむs, わずかに bloodshot under dark frowning brows, glittered with 楽しみ when he saw the 長，指導者 of Police and he nervously clasped M. de La Reynie's 手渡す.
"I felt I must see you," he said hoarsely. "I have had news from Rome," he ちらりと見ることd に向かって a packet on the bed coverlet, "and for my own sake—I 自白する that I am afraid," he 追加するd with a sad smile, "not for myself—I have often wished to die—my life has been nothing but 失望 and toil—but I am afraid because I see the 力／強力にする of Satan 増加するing."
He sat silent, propped against his cushions and the 長，指導者 of Police took the stool that the priest had just left; M. de La Reynie 設立する the atmosphere of the large, barely furnished bedchamber oppressive, the young zealot had made his apartment as 厳格な，質素な as possible; the hangings were of 下落する-green serge such as was used for 嘆く／悼むing, the furniture was of dark 支持を得ようと努めるd, without upholstery or cushions; the bed curtains were of 淡褐色-coloured cloth and a sombre Spanish picture of a 拷問d saint hung, in a 黒人／ボイコット でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる, beneath a 天然のまま crucifix, where the agonising 人物／姿／数字 of Christ was painted with life like 詳細（に述べる）s of 涙／ほころびs, sweat and 血.
"I was too ill to follow the King to Versailles," said Pignata, "but his Confessor 報告（する）／憶測s to me daily. The King is 深く，強烈に troubled by the 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners—he even tries to 避ける Madame de Montespan and to 充てる himself to piety."
"Or to Mlle. de Fontanges?"
"No—she has left the 法廷，裁判所, she is 解決するd not to return, she is, really, a good child. Besides, Madame de Maintenon, a pious, earnest woman, begins to have some 影響（力） with His Majesty—and she 作品 完全に in the 利益／興味s of the 宗教上の Church."
"But the particular 商売／仕事, Monseigneur, upon which you wished to see me?"
"I wished to give you this dossier from Rome. It tells of the police work there during the last few weeks."
M. de La Reynie took the packet.
"Does it 含む／封じ込める anything 親族 to 事柄s here?"
"Nothing 限定された I 恐れる—but there is much useful （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）—for one thing, it is 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd that this 'grand author' or '広大な／多数の／重要な Master', whatever they call him, may be a woman."
"No, because Colbert passed for him in the 丸天井 in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs—no one questioned him."
"Did they not? I was ignorant of that—what a 無分別な thing for M. Colbert to do!"
"Oh, I had the place surrounded. We—I was there, too—were 安全な enough."
Pignata shuddered and thrust his handkerchief to his lips.
"You—現実に saw this abomination?"
"Yes, I don't care to think of it. What I saw I shall never forget. I am 決定するd to do all in my 力／強力にする to 洗浄する Paris."
"And the King? He will 許す you to 逮捕（する） some of the noblest in フラン? It is known that several 広大な／多数の／重要な ones have fled the country, that the 損なう馗hal de Luxembourg is in the Bastille?'
"I am 支援するd by M. Colbert."
"But not by M. de Louvois!" Pignata flung himself 支援する on his pillow with a groan. "I despair! I despair! My own life has been 脅すd—in letters that I have 設立する even here—on my bed—that have been flung into my carriage, 調印（する）d by that detestable blasphemy, a three-cornered, 黒人／ボイコット wafer."
"You 恐れる 毒（薬）ing?"
"Perhaps. I 恐れる I have incurred the 敵意 of Madame de Soissons, I spoke too boldly in her presence of the licence of the 法廷，裁判所."
"But you are careful?"
"Yes, yes, indeed." Pignata seemed exhausted, he の近くにd his 注目する，もくろむs and his 長，率いる sunk into the cushions, but he began to ask 熱望して about the 囚人s in the Bastille, what they had 自白するd, what 証拠 there was against them.
"He has some good 推論する／理由 to 恐れる these poisoners," thought La Reynie. "Perhaps he knows more about them than he dare tell me."
He then told the anxious Italian that he had been able to 得る very little （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） from the 囚人s; their 部分的な／不平等な 自白s had been contradictory, what they swore one day they 否定するd the next.
"I believe," said the 長，指導者 of Police, "that they are 高度に 保護するd and they think they are 安全な."
Pignata seemed much disappointed and very uneasy.
"Why are not these wretches put to death?" he 需要・要求するd. "Surely if they were punished 厳しく it would be an example to the others."
"No 疑問, Monseigneur, they will all come 結局 to the Place du Parvis de Notre-Dame," replied M. de La Reynie. "But first I hope to make them speak."
He rose, わずかに 悩ますd at the loss of his time through the 神経s of Innocenzo Pignata who, after all, had nothing to tell him of the least importance. As he was 集会 up his hat, gloves and 茎, he saw an inner door open and a little old woman entered wearing a Neapolitan 小作農民's dress, her 長，率いる, which was 異常に large, 存在 covered with a white silk handkerchief, embroidered in brilliant colours. She carried a tray on which was a meat soup in a yellow bowl, a couple of raw eggs and two slices of 黒人／ボイコット bread.
"I told you, Monsieur, that I was careful," smiled Pignata from his pillow. "My old nurse, Maria Pia, 準備するs every thing I eat and use."
The 古代の woman 始める，決める 負かす／撃墜する her tray on the white coverlet and dropped a curtsey to M. de La Reynie; her 薄暗い 注目する，もくろむs were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd devotedly on her young master, to whom she spoke a few words in 早い Italian; Pignata replied affectionately, but to the 長，指導者 of Police Maria Pia had a repulsive 面; like so many 老年の Southern Italians she was 完全に withered, toothless and blear-注目する，もくろむd, while sprouting hairs on her chin and upper lip gave her a 厳しい, masculine 外見.
Pignata again thanked M. de La Reynie for his visit and 勧めるd him to read carefully the dossiers from Rome.
The 長，指導者 of Police left the Louvre in a 不満な mood. "That bigoted Italian is 単に afraid for his own 肌—he has wasted my time." he thought as he turned over the Roman papers and 設立する that, though they gave 利益／興味ing accounts of the activities of 犯罪のs in the Papal dominions, they 含む／封じ込めるd nothing helpful to himself.
When he again reached his bureau at the Bastille he 設立する Charles Desgrez waiting for him with a 報告（する）／憶測 of his visit to Versailles and his 遭遇（する） with the Demoiselle des Oeillets, the lady whom he had identified as 行方不明になる Pink. La Reynie said that he would at once take steps to discover who was the owner of the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta.
"But it will not be 平易な," he 追加するd, "in that little 郊外 there are many fantastic houses kept by these 広大な／多数の／重要な ladies of 疑わしい 評判. The houses are 雇うd out to them or run by them under 指名するs not their own. They retire there when they are 疲れた／うんざりした of the 法廷，裁判所 or when they are in some 不名誉 or difficulty. They go there to 残り／休憩（する）, to 賭事, to 生き返らせる their beauty by secret 治療s, to 会合，会う their lovers. But though it will be difficult to discover who the owner of this 郊外住宅 is, you have done much in discovering that '行方不明になる Pink' is not Mlle. Rose, but Mlle. des Oeillets."
One of the archers who （機の）カム to and fro between the police （警察，軍隊などの）本部 in Paris and the house of Captain Dechamps on the Versailles road brought Solange a letter from her husband, in which he told her of his love, his 感謝 for her abnegation in going into 退却／保養地 and his 保証／確信 that he would come and see her as soon as there was a break in his incessant 出席 on M. de La Reynie. He knew how this 分離, so 早期に in their married life, must be depressing her, and how gaffing this inactivity must be to her 警報 and resolute nature; and (like a sop, thought Solange to herself with a loving smile) he told her about the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta, to which he had finally 跡をつけるd "行方不明になる Pink" or Mlle. des Oeillets. While 温かく 勧めるing her not to go out without an 護衛する and never to be beyond her host's gates after dusk, Desgrez 示唆するd that when she went shopping in Versailles or walking with the Dechamps she might do what she could to discover something about this 郊外住宅 and its mysterious owners. It was, now and then, 住むd, as M. de La Reynie had ascertained; the sullen, one-注目する，もくろむd man and his crabbed wife who lived there as 管理人s 宣言するd that the owner of the house lived abroad—いつかs in England, いつかs in the Netherlands, いつかs in Vienna. The 忠義 and prudence of this uncouth couple had 敗北・負かすd the subtle 成果／努力s of the police 秘かに調査するs to discover the 指名する of this person.
"Why should not I," thought Solange at once, "go and try to discover something about this place. It will not be breaking my word to Charles, I shall be perfectly 安全な, I will even take one of the dogs with me."
It was not difficult for Solange to discover that the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta lay in a small, pleasant nark at Cagny, a 郊外 of Versailles, and the day after she had received her husband's letter, the active young woman, who liked Madame Dechamps, who liked the dogs, the child, the aviary in the garden, but who にもかかわらず felt 外国人 in this comfortable home, took Rollo, one of the large wolf-hounds, and went out, 約束ing her host to keep to the high road, to return within an hour or so. Captain Dechamps had no 恐れる that any 害（を与える） would 生じる his 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 in 幅の広い daylight and on the Versailles road, so 井戸／弁護士席-patrolled, so 近づく the palace. He had not, indeed, any 恐れる that she would come to 害（を与える） were she to 調査する the neighbourhood, and he had smiled to himself at the lover-like 苦悩s of Charles Desgrez, who believed that his wife was the 反対する of special attention on the part of dangerous 犯罪のs. So, without any 疑惑, he gave Solange her freedom, only 申し込む／申し出ing her the perfunctory advice to keep the dog always with her and to beware of strangers.
It was a beautiful day; the stiff green leaves of the chestnuts showed tipped with brown: the silver boles of the beech were splashed with the red-gold of their fading foliage; the scarlet leaves of wild geraniums, ground ivy and late bramble flowers were vivid in the 支持を得ようと努めるd; the 空気／公表する was fresh with the scent of fading ferns and with the strong 少しのd growing の中で the damp mosses; a few fleecy clouds passed over the pale blue of the upper 空気／公表する.
Solange felt her heart light within her; her mood was in harmony with the exquisite day; she was a contented woman; she valued her blessings: she felt that it was good to have 設立する her true love while she was young, that it was good to be 部隊d to a man whom she admired and 尊敬（する）・点d, that there was a glorious feeling of exhilaration in the fact that she had no sense of 悔いる or 悔恨, no sighing for any past, no yearning for any 未来; she was happy now in this moment to be the wife of Charles Desgrez, the young Police 中尉／大尉／警部補, to be in a way helpful to him, even if only by waiting, by leaving him alone to do his work.
She left the high road as she approached Cagny, which was not far from the Dechamps' house, and entered the 支持を得ようと努めるd that 国境d the 罰金 広い地所 lying beyond the town of Versailles. She passed no one save one or two woodmen, who saluted her without taking any 利益／興味 in her, and a few children 集会 the late flowers to weave into garlands for the wayside 神社s and the altars of Our Lady in the village churches; Rollo trotted beside her contentedly, now and then making an excursion into the undergrowth, but never far nor for long, for he was a trained watch-dog and he knew that Solange was in his care.
The girl walked quickly, taking a 広大な／多数の／重要な 楽しみ in the 演習; she had to 解除する her 十分な, long skirts up, for they 妨げるd her 進歩, and she wished that she could have followed the example of the, to her, mysterious "行方不明になる Pink" and put on male attire for such an excursion as this. She had almost for gotten her self-課すd errand to the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta, and all the ugly, mysterious 事件／事情／状勢 in which her husband was 伴う／関わるd, in the joy of her own 青年 and happiness and the brightness of the morning, when Rollo, coming to her 味方する, gave a 警告 growl; looking 負かす／撃墜する at him, she saw him standing rigid with his smooth grey lips 解除するd over his sharp white teeth.
Fearful that he might, in her defence, 飛行機で行く at some unoffending stranger, she slipped the hook of the chain she carried on to his collar, though she wondered if she would be able to 抑制する the wolf-hound should he 発揮する his 十分な strength.
Speaking to the dog soothingly, she looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to see what had 原因（となる）d his 警告 growl: as she did so, she perceived that she had, in a sense, lost her way: she had left the wide path running through the 支持を得ようと努めるd that had led her from the high road, and unconsciously had followed a mere 跡をつける between the young beech trees—a little footpath that had been so long disused that the yellowing ferns almost met across it.
A little to the 権利 of this was a 井戸／弁護士席, circled by a 石／投石する parapet and covered by a 石／投石する arch in which maidenhair and other ferns grew luxuriantly.
Seated on this parapet was the 原因（となる） of Rollo's angry 疑惑. A man in a plain green habit, who might have been, Solange thought, a forester or garde chasse, was looking 熱心に at Solange from underneath the brim of his 幅の広い-brimmed hat; he carried a small riding switch, with which he was impatiently （電話線からの）盗聴 his high boots. He was good-looking and, Solange thought, attractive, but he was gazing at her in a way that she 設立する unpleasant, as if he resented and even challenged her presence there; then it occurred to her that she might be trespassing, so she said, 持つ／拘留するing on to the 緊張するing dog by the collar:
"Monsieur, I am a stranger here. I have lost my way. I hope I am not, by error, on 私的な ground."
The gentleman rose and 解除するd his hat with extreme but formal 儀礼.
"These parts of the 支持を得ようと努めるd are open to all," he replied. "I see you have a good watch-dog. Does he not belong to the police?"
"Oh, yes," smiled Solange. "I am staying with Captain Dechamps who lives on the Paris-Versailles road."
At the について言及する of this 指名する the hard look of 憤慨 passed from the stranger's 直面する; he smiled pleasantly, and wishing the lady a good-day, returned to his seat on the parapet of the 井戸／弁護士席.
"He is waiting for somebody, it is a romantic 任命," thought Solange, but in her extreme 青年, she 追加するd innocently: "But he is too old, he must be nearly forty." Then, 存在 a young woman of 資源, she thought she might turn this chance 会合 to account and said aloud:
"Monsieur, is the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta 近づく here?"
At once a look of 疑惑 and even of alarm returned to the gentleman's 直面する, （判決などを）下すing his features hard and formidable.
"What do you want, Mademoiselle, with the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta?" he 需要・要求するd.
She noticed that he had 保持するd his seat and kept his hat on. She did not resent this, she thought: "He is probably of high 階級." Aloud, and 危険ing a 無作為の 発射, she said: "Oh, I am 熟知させるd with Mlle. des Oeillets."
This 指名する seemed to 安心させる the stranger as much as that of Captain Dechamps had done.
"Then, if you are 熟知させるd with that lady, you should know the way to the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta, where she is frequently staying, as I believe."
"I do, Monsieur, but not from this part of the 支持を得ようと努めるd. As I told you," replied Solange with 影響する／感情d 簡単, "I have lost my way in the forest. The day is so 甘い, so beguiling."
"You think of your lover, perhaps," smiled the stranger.
"Certainly, Monsieur, I think of my lover, and in thinking of him I have 逸脱するd from the road to the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta."
"If you go straight on," said the gentleman, still 保持するing his seat on the parapet of the 井戸／弁護士席, "until you come to a large chestnut tree that stands by itself in a （疑いを）晴らすing and then turn to the left keeping along a 盗品故買者, you will come into a grove of ilex, on a 高さ. From there you will see below you the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta."
Delighted to have this （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） Solange dropped a little curtsey and with pretty thanks and 別れの（言葉，会） passed on her way, the police dog trotting behind her. The man seated on the parapet of the 井戸／弁護士席 looked after her and sighed; she was young, she was fresh, she was in love; she was, he was sure, as good as she was charming. He watched her plain brown habit flecked with 影をつくる／尾行する and sun, now crossed by the trunks of trees, now by the fronds of ferns, now by the entanglements of bracken, until it had disappeared. Then he turned, and looking 負かす／撃墜する into the dark water under the hooded arch, dipped in his 罰金 forefinger, and in the water wrote on the 石／投石する his 指名する and 質—Louis de Bourbon, King of フラン and Navarre.
"Written in water," he murmured to himself, "no 調印する, no trace."
It was with an unwonted humility that the magnificent man, usually surrounded by thousands of magnificent flatterers, mused in the lovely 支持を得ようと努めるd. He felt stripped of all his worldly grandeur in the still beauty of the summer 天候; he could no longer, in this 孤独, believe that he was a 広大な／多数の／重要な King, a magnificent 征服者／勝利者, a superb general, the 政治家 at whose feet Europe trembled, the dispenser of millions of 続けざまに猛撃するs, the 絶対の arbiter over millions of lives—all these things seemed to have dropped from him with his splendid habit.
The man felt as simple as his plain attire; his mind went 支援する to the day when he had been a cowed and timid boy, 貧しく 覆う？, 貧しく fed, ignorant and browbeaten. He put his 手渡す, still wet with the 井戸／弁護士席 water, across his tired 注目する，もくろむs; he was tormented by a continual 頭痛, he had たびたび（訪れる） at tacks of giddiness and his sight was troubled. These symptoms of mortality alarmed him acutely—he believed they were 罰s for sin; the priests had 警告するd him; in particular M. de Bossuet, whom he admired and dreaded, had 警告するd him—those 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, serious men whom he 尊敬（する）・点d, men who had been his father's friends, had 警告するd him.
He was living in sin with a woman whom he did not love, he was making a mockery of the 法律s of God and man, he was slighting his Queen and 原因（となる）ing a スキャンダル in フラン and in Europe for the sake of a woman whom he did not love—nay, almost more than that, for the sake of a woman whom he had come to hate.
How often had he 解決するd to be rid of her, and each time she had won him 一連の会議、交渉／完成する again with her flattery and her 暴力／激しさ and her 脅しs, with that overpowering vitality that overbore him and held him chained as by an enchantment. He sighed again, in 深遠な discouragement, and 星／主役にするd 負かす／撃墜する at the gold and green trembling leafage of the glade. He whom thousands flattered as the greatest man in the world was the slave of custom, of tradition, of a shrewish tongue. This moment of peace and inner communion 明らかにする／漏らすd to him the truth about himself with poignant clarity.
One truth at least was 明らかな to him; he 軍隊d his mind backwards, he turned over the past—no, he had never loved her. He had loved only two women, one was the sister of Olympe Mancini, the 黒人／ボイコット-browed Marie Mancini, 枢機けい／主要な Mazarin's niece. He had loved her when he was a very young man, almost a boy; he would have married her, putting aside for her sake pride of birth and race, all political considerations, but they had 軍隊d him to 辞職する her; he had let her go, he had sent her from his 法廷，裁判所 to marry another man and he had made that political marriage with the dull little Spanish Princess. He could remember the last reproach of the fiery beautiful creature when she left him; her 注目する，もくろむs had been as brilliant as diamonds behind her 涙／ほころびs as she said: "You are the King, you love me, and I go away."
井戸／弁護士席, she had gone. He, the King, had served his 大臣s' turn, and, he supposed, the country's turn.
Then there had been Louise de La Valh鑽e. He had loved her truly and for years, so gentle was she, so soft, so uncomplaining, so 明確に had she loved the man and cared nothing for the King; she had been virtuous too, she had only 産する／生じるd to him with shame, with 悔恨, with 悔いる. Yes, he loved her; he would have married her too had she 生き延びるd his wife. But the Marquise de Montespan had won him away—the gentle Louise had been no match for that tempestuous and haughty creature. He felt ashamed as he remembered how his gentle love had been harried, 侮辱d and finally driven into a convent.
Since then he had not seen her. Often, even recently, he had gone to the House of the Carmelite Sisters where she 宿泊するd and implored but five minutes with her; yes, even though they kept her behind the 取調べ／厳しく尋問する. But she would not see him. As far as he was 関心d, nay, as far as the world was 関心d, she might 同様に have been in Heaven; so he had to content himself, like many lesser men, with second best, with the 影をつくる／尾行する, with the 代用品，人—and this, too, had escaped him.
His 直面する took on its least pleasant 表現 as he 反映するd how Madame de Montespan's spite and fury had driven from the 法廷，裁判所 Mlle. de Fontanges, how she had taken 避難 with her 後見人 and, when that adroit courtier had tried to send her 支援する to Versailles, how she too had gone into a convent. He had sent for her, however; he was waiting for her now. She was, in truth, but a phantom of his own love, his Louise, but in her softness, in her blondeness, in her 肌 white as the lily of the valley, in her pale blue 注目する，もくろむs and delicate contours, she did remind him of that lost delight.
He said to himself aloud: "I must have her."
He needed her for many 推論する／理由s; he was no longer young, he dreaded age, he could not 耐える to think of death, he wished to put this young, fair ghost of his one true love between himself and the 黒人／ボイコット thoughts of despair that over （機の）カム him when he considered that end of all things, which （機の）カム to all men, even to Louis de Bourbon, King of フラン and Navarre.
He did not care to reside in his gorgeous palace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye because from the terrace he could see the spires of Saint-Denis, where all the Kings of フラン were buried.
She flattered him, too, this pale girl; she adored him, she was at his feet, in an ecstasy of rapture whenever he should deign to notice her; she did not know him as Madame de Montespan knew him, as his courtiers knew him, as his wife and his confessor knew him. Ah, yes, they might all flatter him and whine and cringe to his 直面する, but they knew him—all the faults and 証拠不十分s in his character, all his 副／悪徳行為s, his gluttony, his vanity, his extravagance!
They knew that he was not a 勇敢に立ち向かう man on the 戦場 not a good 政治家 in the 閣僚, they knew that it was Louvois that really controlled his armies and Colbert that really controlled his 財政／金融s and La Reynie that really 反対／詐欺 trolled his police.
But she, La Fontanges, she knew nothing! She took him for a demi-god. There was only one whom she put higher than Louis de Bourbon, and that was God—and he meant to 勝利，勝つ her away from God.
He looked again into the 黒人／ボイコット water of the 井戸／弁護士席, in which no light was 反映するd, as if he gazed into his own 運命; as he turned his 長，率いる he saw her coming across the grass through the 支持を得ようと努めるd.
Ah he knew that she would not be able to resist this romantic, dangerous mood. When he had written in the 公式文書，認める he had sent to the convent. "I shall be there alone by the old 井戸／弁護士席," he knew that she, the silly child, would come.
She was there in her long grey cloak with her pale hair, the colour of new cedar 支持を得ようと努めるd, 落ちるing outside the hood: she was wringing her 手渡すs and sobbing at his feet の中で the moist ferns. He was almost ashamed of his 平易な victory. Yet he needed her far more 深く，強烈に than she knew. He raised her, 始める，決める her on the seat beside him and began to kiss her 手渡すs.
"You will return to Versailles," he said in a low トン of 命令（する）.
She showed here more firmness than he had 推定する／予想するd; there was terror in her broken 発言する／表明する as she replied:
"Sire, I have sworn to God to save myself—I cannot, I will not I am afraid."
"With me to 保護する you?" he smiled.
"Sire, I have spoken of God—it is He that I 恐れる. I have 公約するd to detach myself from the world, I wish to efface from myself the sin—"
"—of loving me?" asked the King in the 発言する／表明する he could so 井戸／弁護士席 modulate into seductive トンs.
"Yes," breathed Mlle. de Fontanges. "I wish to expiate that sin, I wish to enter the Sisterhood—to take the 隠す. I 願望（する） to see no more of the world."
"Why, has it 証明するd so distasteful to you? Did you find my 法廷，裁判所 a hateful place?"
"No, but Sire, I had an Italian waiting woman, a charming creature whom I loved, and she—she died horribly. She was so gay, she had no thought of evil, I am sure, and someone loved her and she was afraid of 不名誉. She cried—they gave her something, she died, poor Jacquetta!"
The King frowned. He had heard something of that unpleasant 事件／事情／状勢. "You must not compare yourself," he said, annoyed that the woman whom he had 選び出す／独身d out by his favour should be so humble in her thoughts, "with an Italian waiting woman Her father is under 逮捕（する） for her death," he 追加するd 厳しく. "It shall be remembered against him that he has 苦しめるd you."
"My apothecary, Malipiero, 逮捕（する）d!" exclaimed Mlle. de Fontanges. "I had not heard that, though I knew that there had been some 逮捕（する）s in Paris, some 事例／患者s of 毒（薬）ing, was it not, and selling of charms and such like horrors? Oh, Sire, the more I hear of the world, the more I 願望（する） to leave it. Indeed, indeed," she 追加するd passionately, clasping her 手渡すs, "苦しむ me to 出発／死, 苦しむ me to retire into my convent—remember me only in your 祈りs, Sire, in no other way."
She rose and was turning aside; her strength startled and exasperated him; he felt conscious that he was 戦闘ing some 軍隊 that, unless he was careful, would be more powerful than himself. Not only did this 感情を害する／違反する his 深遠な vanity but it 奮起させるd him with a sense of panic.
If he lost her, what was there before him—him, an ageing, 病んでいる man tied to an ageing shrew, his friends growing old, this hideous 共謀 割れ目ing the very 創立／基礎s of his world, poisoners, sorcerers, witchcraft all about him; a man like Luxembourg, who had won for him some of his most brilliant laurels, a 囚人 in the Bastille; a Princess of His 王室の House, Marie de Nemours, a secret poisoner; the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり and all those abominable sorceries that made him sick even to think of, taking place in his 資本／首都, and he was al One to 直面する it all, no one to love him, no woman, no friend!
"You must stay!" he cried, and the 誠実 in his heart, 発言する／表明する, so different from his usual トン of light compliment, 原因（となる）d the girl, alarmed and moved, to turn and 星／主役にする at him.
"I need you, I need you more than God needs you, more than anyone in Heaven or on earth needs you."
"You, you do not love me, Sire!" she stammered.
"I do not know the answer to that," he said, looking at her in bewilderment. "I love something you 代表する, you are like one whom I did love. Come 支援する to Versailles, come to me. I will make it 平易な for you, you shall have everything."
"I shall lose everything," replied Mlle. de Fontanges, "even my soul—and I am afraid of the dark, of death, of damnation."
She stood silent for a moment gazing 負かす／撃墜する the 独房監禁 sunny woodland glade; then whispered in a terror-stricken トン:
"Madame de Montespan was 辞退するd absolution."
The King shuddered.
"I, too, should be 辞退するd," 追加するd Mlle. de Fontanges, の近くにing her pale blue 注目する，もくろむs, "and I do not know if I could 耐える to live as one who is lost, abandoned by the Church."
"にもかかわらず," said the King 厳しく, "I ask you to come to Versailles. All these 事柄s may be 融通するd. I have said that I will give you everything."
"I cannot 取引," replied the girl, "do not, Sire, try to 賄賂 me. Should I come, it would be without 条件s. But I tell you, I speak to you as if you were not the King, 単に a man who says he loves me, I tell you I am afraid for my soul in the next world and my 団体／死体 in this."
"Do not be afraid!" exclaimed the King, "when I have said that I will 保護する you."
"I am afraid!" 強調するd Mlle. de Fontanges, "afraid of Madame de Montespan—yet I did not leave the 法廷，裁判所 be 原因（となる） of her, but because of the death of Jacquetta, because I saw that the same thing would happen to me—yet I do not think I could have long affronted her wrath."
"She would not dare to give you even an unpleasant ちらりと見ること," said the King, 深く，強烈に moved.
"You know, Sire, that she dares everything. She seems to me a formidable and 悪意のある woman. Every woman on whom your 注目する，もくろむ has fallen, Sire, everyone whom you have deigned to notice, has had to leave the 法廷，裁判所. Some have sickened and died. When I was at the 法廷，裁判所 I was ill—since I have been away I have become 井戸／弁護士席 again. I have enjoyed the sunlight, walking in the 支持を得ようと努めるd, my birds, my music, my needlework. When I was at the 法廷，裁判所 I was always sick—with 逮捕, 恐れる and 衝突 of the mind."
It was above all things intolerable to the King that he should be considered the slave of an arrogant mistress; he could not 耐える to 反映する that the reproach of Mlle. de Fontanges was true, that Madame de Montespan had contrived to 運動 from the 法廷，裁判所 every woman who was a possible 競争相手.
"I will make you a Duchess, I will give you a 罰金 歳入, you shall have the 権利 to the tabouret, at the Queen's lev馥—you shall have a coach with six horses and outriders and your own ch穰eau. I will 始める，決める you up as high as I ever 始める，決める La Valli鑽e—"
"And leave me, when my time comes for me to go, as she was left!" whispered the pale girl, stepping 支援する before him as he approached her.
"I shall keep you with me always. I think you love me, that this moment means a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 to you. Mademoiselle, consider, it is the man and not the King that speaks to you—I have cares and 苦悩s of which you could scarcely guess. I have 設立する that much that I once so enjoyed has become a little bitter to the taste. I have planned and spent and 征服する／打ち勝つd and done what I pleased, and all is becoming stale."
"Oh, no, Sire, you are the greatest King, the most splendid man in the world!" Mlle. de Fontanges spoke with child like enthusiasm, and Louis smiled.
"I am weak enough, I am petty enough to want to hear at least one woman say that, with a truthful accent! I am surrounded now, Mademoiselle, with horrors of which I cannot even speak to you, that I never want you to hear. I must pause. See, I 自白する to you my 証拠不十分, I am not above ありふれた 恐れるs and needs—I must have one who loves me, who admires me, who 信用s me, standing beside me. Mademoiselle, you will be my last love."
The girl put her 手渡すs to her 直面する and began to weep softly; she repeated:
"I am afraid, I am afraid of Madame de Montespan."
"Should she 害（を与える） you by a ちらりと見ること, by a word, she shall leave the 法廷，裁判所." The King raised his 手渡す. "I 断言する that to you! 信用 me! My God, what am I, if you cannot 信用 me, not いっそう少なく than a King, but いっそう少なく than a man?"
"Sire," said Mlle. de Fontanges trembling, "leave me now—let me return."
"No," he said, kissing her trembling 手渡すs which he drew 負かす／撃墜する from her 直面する. "Once the priests and the 修道女s have got 持つ／拘留する of you again, you will forget all I have said—they will overbear you, you will forsake me. Your 地位，任命する in the Queen's 世帯 has never been filled, your apartments wait for you—"
His mood changed into a bitter reaction against himself, against her, he had never pleaded so long nor so 本気で with any woman, not even with Louise; the thought that he was ageing struck him with an intolerable pang—yes, a middle-老年の man beseeching a girl for her favours.
"Perhaps," he said 厳しく, "you have another lover."
He dropped her 手渡すs and turned away from the 井戸／弁護士席; in that second she was won, she could not leave him, to return after this to the 荒涼とした 孤独 of the convent, the abnegation of a long penitence for a sin she had not committed, for a 楽しみ she had not enjoyed, for a worldly 勝利 that had never been hers—that was too much for her gentle spirit.
"I will come," she sobbed, "I will come."
In her heart, she 追加するd: "Now I am doomed and lost, 団体／死体 and soul."
Solange soon 設立する the 首脳会議 栄冠を与えるd with ilex of which the King had told her, and that 命令（する）d a fair 見解（をとる） of the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta—a 罰金 park and gardens, that lay on the hillside, the house 存在 in the centre in a slight hollow of a valley; "a dark and uncomfortable 状況／情勢," Solange thought; the mansion was also guarded by groves of tall trees, so that it was much in 影をつくる／尾行する.
It was an old-fashioned, Fran輟is 首相 building with a high 予定する hip roof and tourelles and red brick 塀で囲むs 直面するd with white 石／投石する; it was surrounded by a small moat, used more as a toy and an ornament than because it was part of the 初めの design of the building, for this had never been a 防備を堅める／強化するd dwelling. The place was 井戸／弁護士席-kept; the trees were evidently continually looked after, the sward 近づく the house was 滑らかに 削減（する）; there was an Italian garden, where the last roses—Solange could see the red, white and pink of them—were blooming in the neat beds beneath the white marble termini. There were swans on the moat, and the drawbridge was up, held by chains to the 地位，任命するs of the gate; as Solange gazed she noticed the purple 黒人／ボイコット of 嵐／襲撃する rising behind the tourelles and darkening the 日光.
"So that," she thought, "is where '行方不明になる Pink', our amiable Englishwoman, spends some of her time. Now, there must be some 関係 between the occupant or the owner of this house, whoever it may be, and the 犯罪のs whom Charles is 追求するing—'行方不明になる Pink' was 現在の at the 会合 in Saint Maurice's Passy 郊外住宅 and at the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり in the house in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs."
She turned and patted the dog, who stood beside her: "I wish that we could 調査／捜査する, you and I, Rollo."
She saw two gardeners below working の中で the roses and longed to question them. Of course, the police had already done this in some subtle, unobtrusive way—but perhaps she, a woman, might be able to discover something. It was, how ever, useless to think of such a 計画／陰謀—she had no good excuse for approaching the 郊外住宅 その上の; she did not wish either to disobey her husband's （裁判所の）禁止（強制）命令s not to run into danger or to attract attention to herself by 無分別な adventuring; so she turned with a sigh 支援する into the 支持を得ようと努めるd. Her problem now was how to find her way to the high road and to the Dechamps' 設立. She hesitated to return by the path along which she had come.
"If that was a lover's rendez-vous, the gentleman in the green habit may still be there. I do not wish to surprise them. They might think I was 秘かに調査するing."
She turned and walked straight through the trees in the direction where she felt sure the high road must 嘘（をつく）. Once that was 伸び（る）d, she would have no difficulty in reaching the Dechamps' house. She had not proceeded far before she （機の）カム upon a little summer-house; this was made of 支持を得ようと努めるd, painted blue and red in a fantastic style with gilt pine-apples at the four corners and a glass ドーム above. It looked like the toy of a very capricious person and rather amused Solange—it was so out of place in the serene beauty of the summer 支持を得ようと努めるd. Impelled by a bold curiosity, she fastened the dog to a tree, whispering in his ear as she left him that he was to 嘘（をつく） 静かな and wait for her, she then went 今後 alone. The 支援する of the summer-house was に向かって her; it was raised on a 石／投石する 壇・綱領・公約; at the four corners of this were terra-cotta vases filled with the 厚い, fleshy, 厄介な leaves of agaves.
"I feel," thought Solange, "like a child getting into mischief."
She went softly across the 壇・綱領・公約 and 設立する that by standing on tip-toe, she could see through the high-始める，決める window of the summer-house. There were four of these windows, each in a section underneath the glass cupola.
Solange peered 負かす／撃墜する into the 内部の of the little pavilion, which was lined by a circular seat piled with cushions covered in 厚い gold and crimson brocade; she felt a little thrill of surprise, for she had 推定する／予想するd the summer-house—she did not know why—to be empty, but there was an occupant.
An 極端に beautiful woman was seated by the 入り口, 星／主役にするing across the 見解（をとる） of trees 紅潮／摘発するd with yellowing leaves, of lawns that led to the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta, covered with 影をつくる／尾行するs from the dark moving clouds. Her profile was to 区s Solange; a 量 of dark brown hair, rich but untended, flowed over her white neck, she was negligently dressed in a russet-coloured silk; Solange could see only her profile; she 公式文書，認めるd its superb lines and the beautiful sweep of throat and 破産した／（警察が）手入れする. The lady seemed to be impatient, for with an 空気／公表する of irritation she was （電話線からの）盗聴 her foot continuously on the 石／投石する step of the pavilion. In one 手渡す that hung 負かす／撃墜する beside her was a small 調書をとる／予約する in a 高くつく／犠牲の大きい binding; across her bosom was an unusual ornament for such a place and such an hour—a magnificent cluster of diamonds glittered on the russet-brown silk.
To Solange, peering through the small 一連の会議、交渉／完成する window of the summer-house, there was something fearful and 悪意のある about the scene; she felt that same 半端物 冷気／寒がらせる of 逮捕 as she had experienced when she had walked through the streets of Paris at the beginning of this 事件／事情／状勢 months ago, when the 黒人／ボイコット skies and the rain had 抑圧するd her with a sense of 不明瞭 and of doom. Now the day was fair enough, but Solange could perceive, rolling over the horizon, the purple clouds that presaged a coming 雷雨, and the 空気／公表する was becoming の近くに and 蒸し暑い so that there seemed a difficulty of breathing.
"How curious that the fair morning should be so suddenly 曇った," thought the young woman fearfully. When she had been walking through the 支持を得ようと努めるd, when she had been speaking to the gentleman seated on the parapet of the fern-grown 井戸／弁護士席, all had seemed to be fair and 甘い—she had been happy in her own personal happiness; now as she gazed at that strange woman, who in her turn was gazing 負かす／撃墜する at the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta, she felt uneasy, alarmed, uncertain of the 未来, and, as if in sympathy with her mood, the whole day had changed and darkened.
Solange was bold and healthy and not given to fancies, yet it did seem to her that the change in the whole scene and in her own humour emanated from the richly dressed woman with a cluster of diamonds on her bosom who was seated at the 入り口 to the summer-house, and that in this beautiful per son lay the 手がかり（を与える） to all the horrid mystery that had surrounded Solange and her husband for so many weeks.
Solange did not know what to do, whether to continue her 秘かに調査するing, which was repugnant to her, and yet which she felt it was almost her 義務 to continue, whether boldly to go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the summer-house and 発表する herself to the stranger as a woman staying in the neighbourhood who had lost her way, or whether 単に to creep 支援する through the 支持を得ようと努めるd to the place where she had left Rollo tied up to one of the yellow-leaved beeches.
As she was still hesitant the strange lady rose, ちらりと見ることd に向かって the violet clouds that were 開始するing beyond the distant rolling horizon and, to Solange's surprise, fell upon her 膝s in an 態度 of 祈り, her mind, however, did not seem 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on Heaven—it was on the earth she looked, and this she touched several times with her plump white 手渡すs, muttering as she did so words which Solange could not hear. She then turned her 直面する に向かって the summer-house and, 製図／抽選 some chalk from her bosom, made a curious 人物／姿／数字, a pentacle 始める，決める with numbers, on the smooth 石／投石する 床に打ち倒す of the pavilion; all the while she gazed 負かす／撃墜する, never raising her 注目する，もくろむs for a second to the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する window where Solange furtively gazed, nor beyond at the rich rolling country now 徐々に 存在 over-影をつくる／尾行するd by the 雷雨. Still on her 膝s, she dragged herself to the centre of the circle she had made, and with a small fruit knife she had hanging at her girdle she gashed her arm and 許すd the 血 to 減少（する） into the centre of each of the 人物／姿／数字s she had chalked.
Solange knew what the beautiful stranger was about; this was some 儀式 of witchcraft; perhaps, thought the young woman, it is innocent in its sheer foolishness, yet she does not think it either innocent or foolish and it is horrible to watch. It was 正確に the stranger's 完全にする and desperate 誠実 that 影響する／感情d Solange with the greatest repugnance and horror—whatever might be the real value of the 儀式s that the lady was 成し遂げるing, there was no question that she her self believed in them; her 直面する was pale, her forehead beaded with perspiration, her lips compressed, her beauty effaced by the 超過 of her passion; it was （疑いを）晴らす that she was imploring some favour of some infernal 力／強力にする and doing so with all the earnestness and 誠実 of which she was 有能な.
Unable to 耐える this scene any longer, Solange （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the summer-house and, standing in the doorway, clapped her 手渡すs to attract the attention of the woman on her 膝s and said in a 発言する／表明する that agitation made 厳しい:
"Madame! Madame! You are not alone. I am here."
She spoke at 無作為の, 存在 desirous above all things to distract the woman from this horrid 商売／仕事; she had some half-formed idea in her 長，率いる of 説 that she had lost her way, which, after all, was but the truth. But the other woman gave her no chance of 説 any more; she turned, still on her 膝s, and 星／主役にするd up at Solange with an 表現, to the other's extreme surprise, of rapturous joy.
"So, you have come—I was told to 推定する／予想する anyone, any 形態／調整—only it was to be here! Have you a message? Yes, it must be that you have one!"
"From whom do you think I come, Madame?" asked Solange, without the 意向 to deceive and recoiling a little from this 熱烈な, overwrought creature, who replied from pallid lips:
"I do not ask. I know that whatever you say, I will listen to! I thought I could not be so 患者 in my need—yes, in my 広大な／多数の／重要な need—but I can, I can!"
"She thinks," thought Solange with repugnance, "that I am some infernal messenger come in answer to her 魔法 儀式s. How lost she must be, how sunk in superstition!"
Yet even as these thoughts passed through Solange's mind, they were followed by the uneasy reflection: "Perhaps there is something in it after all"—and her 手渡す の近くにd half-unconsciously on the familiar rosary in her pocket.
"Stand up, Madame, and speak to me—tell me what it is you want," she said, and in her daring and bold way she 反映するd that this woman must in some manner be 関心d with the poisoners and that it was her 義務 to her husband and to M. de La Reynie to 得る what （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） she could from her, and underneath her repulsion, disgust and uneasiness was a sense of 楽しみ in the prospect that she might be after all useful to Charles.
The woman rose and stood in her dark flowing gown, the diamonds sparkling on her bosom and her 手渡すs clasped over her heart, gazing at Solange with 血-注入するd 注目する，もくろむs; she was hardly in that moment beautiful; there was no colour in her 直面する, and in her carelessly 押し進めるd-支援する hair, grey 立ち往生させるs showed under the chestnut locks; her lips were 乾燥した，日照りの across her glistening teeth, her 直面する was 影をつくる／尾行するd and hollowed—she looked almost middle-老年の, yet in her 形態／調整 and 耐えるing was still a majesty that approached beauty.
"My need is desperate," she said. "Tell her so—even if she is in the Bastille, cannot she work her （一定の）期間s? How long does she ーするつもりである to remain there? She has not communicated with me. Every day there are more 逮捕（する）s—what am I to think? Every hour someone crosses the frontier."
"All this is known to me," replied Solange coldly.
"Your 容赦," said the other woman, speaking with a humility that seemed foreign to her disposition. "I have done what I could for myself—there are few of us left, and we make the sacrifices and 持つ／拘留する the 集まり, but what comes of it? He ーするつもりであるs to ask her 支援する to 法廷，裁判所—tell La Voisin that, though she knows it if her arts are what people say they are. How many times have I done all that she has told me? How much gold have I not put into her 手渡すs?"
"I know all this," replied Solange. She stood 築く with her 支援する to the light, the thunderclouds, 増加するing in 容積／容量, slowly blotting out the pale blue sky behind her; a low mutter of 雷鳴 broke across the horizon and some 雷 pierced the purple clouds.
"See," said Solange, "what you have evoked with your （一定の）期間s. All the fiends are darkening the heavens to help you!" She was almost afraid to utter this blasphemy, but she saw that it had an 影響 upon her listener, who again went on her 膝s, and in her 魔法 circle, clasping her 手渡すs on her bosom, began to mutter some jargon that Solange thought was supposed to be 祈りs to the infernal 力／強力にするs.
"Leave that," said Solange, "and tell me what you want. What do you ask for now? La Voisin is not 権力のない—she will do as you 企て，努力，提案 her. Is it not 十分な that she has sent me here in answer to your 使用／適用s and （一定の）期間s?"
"It is 十分な," murmured the other woman in the トン and 態度 of subjection. "Tell her that if I cannot 保持する his passion—" Solange noticed she did not use the word 'love'—"as I have 保持するd it for all these years by （一定の）期間s and enchantments, tell her that if this pale girl is to 伸び（る） him, then I 願望（する） that they both shall 死なせる／死ぬ."
"Both 死なせる／死ぬ?" repeated Solange in a 厳しい 発言する／表明する.
"Yes, let that be contrived. I will not be left. I will have my 復讐. And it must be done in such a way that not the least 疑惑 落ちるs on me. La Voisin knows that I am not for a convent, that I shall not, like La Valli鑽e, play the penitent, perhaps for thirty, forty years."
Solange began to guess to whom she spoke; she controlled herself, using a 会社／堅い 成果／努力 of her strong will, and said in a low 発言する／表明する:
"How far would you dare?"
"Have I not already dared as far as any woman could when I first spoke the 指名する of Louis de Bourbon before the infernal altars?" The other woman paused, and Solange 抑えるd the exclamation that rose to her lips. "Yes, let him die, let his heart be burnt and his entrails 消費するd, let him 耐える all the agonies that the 毒（薬）s can contrive or the （一定の）期間s induce."
Solange stood her ground and controlled the 願望（する） to flinch away from this fearful woman who uttered with such a hard passion words so terrible and cruel.
"But let her die first," continued the frantic creature, "let him see that! Let him stand by and see her 苦しむ and die, and be unable to help her! Then, perhaps, he will feel some thing of what I have felt, the agony, the despair, the humiliation, the shame of 存在 権力のない, of losing what one—"
"Do not," interrupted Solange 厳しく, "use the word love, Madame. We are speaking of infernal （一定の）期間s and of 事柄s where we must ask the Devil's 援助（する）."
The words had scarcely left her lips when the 雷鳴 broke 総計費; the sky was now 隠すd with the 厚い violet clouds that the 雷 pierced with greenish livid darts behind the 黒人／ボイコット facade of the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta.
"Speak 明確に," muttered the other woman. "Tell her from me what I 願望（する）. What 指名する shall I give you?"
"Nay, 非，不，無," said Solange. "When next you see me I shall be in another 形態／調整."
She was turning away with as grim and 脅すing an 面 as she could assume, when the other woman called after her:
"Everything is 安全な, is it not? La Voisin can see to it that 非，不，無 of them speak?"
Solange's 発言する／表明する was borne on the 蒸し暑い 空気／公表する as she turned away from the summer-house. "All is 安全な—be content, be 患者."
Solange 急いでd into the 支持を得ようと努めるd, hardly knowing for a few moments where she went, unconscious of the 激しい 減少（する）s of rain that fell upon her; it was the barking of the dog that roused her to a sense of reality; she turned her steps, still half-mechanically, に向かって the tree where she had left Rollo tied up, unfastened him and 急いでd again 今後 through the 支持を得ようと努めるd, 持つ／拘留するing the dog's lead tightly.
She began to 審議 her own 行為／行う—the episode had been so 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の, so 予期しない; she had no 疑問 as to whom she had spoken, she could not 疑問 the 陰謀（を企てる） now laid 明らかにする before her. It had not been Lady Castlemaine, the mistress of the English King, but Madame de Montespan, the mistress of the French King, that had been the central 人物／姿／数字 at the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり, that had been using La Voisin to 供給する her with （一定の）期間s and 麻薬s, that now 要求するd La Voisin to 供給する her with 毒（薬）.
Solange remembered the paper that had been 選ぶd up in the confessional box of the Jesuit Church in the rue Sainte-Antoine. That had spoken of some 陰謀（を企てる） against the King. This furious, desperate woman, 脅すd, after all these years, by a 競争相手 whom she could not 追い出す as she had 追い出すd all the others, was 用意が出来ている to go to extreme lengths to 除去する not only her 競争相手 but her faithless lover.
To Solange, it was still impossible that she, a 相当な flesh and 血 woman, should have been mistaken by an other human 存在 for a spirit, for a messenger from the 内部の 地域s; but she turned her mind 支援する to all she had heard, since this horrible 事件／事情／状勢 had begun, of the 教団 of 黒人／ボイコット 魔法, and she realized that those who took part in these obscene 儀式s, who 耐えるd the horrors and degradations that Madame de Montespan had 耐えるd, must 堅固に believe in witchcraft, devils and evil spirits and in their 力／強力にする to take 有形の forms...the diamonds too, were not these considered most potently magical 石／投石するs?
"And this La Voisin, I suppose," thought Solange as she 急いでd through the darkening 支持を得ようと努めるd, "is no more than a clever charlatan, 十分な of tricks—and yet this 広大な／多数の／重要な lady thinks her 有能な of 取引，協定ing with the devil, of escaping 罰 by 魔法."
Again the young woman's 手渡す の近くにd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the rosary. Supposing, after all, it was true!
She paused, finding that she had lost her way, that in her agitation and 混乱 of thought she had been walking blindly. Perhaps if she gave the dog his liberty, he would find it, she could follow him. She 抑えるのをやめるd the animal and spoke to him encouragingly. The sky was now 黒人／ボイコット 総計費 and the withering leaves of the trees looked an 半端物, livid yellow green against this unnatural 不明瞭. The 雷鳴 was rolling away, but was still たびたび（訪れる） and insistent, the 雷 削減（する） the sombre vapours of the clouds, and darted in the dense 休会s of the 支持を得ようと努めるd.
The dog ran about a little, snuffling the ground, then whined and returned to Solange, sitting 負かす／撃墜する beside her. He 明白に considered it his 義務 to guard her, to guide her by his means to Captain Dechamps' house.
"They will be getting anxious about me," she thought. "Perhaps even they will send out to search for me." She much disliked 原因（となる）ing trouble or 関心 to anyone, and it occurred to her that perhaps her husband might come late that after noon to Les Peupliers and be 深く，強烈に 苦しめるd at finding her absent and 原因不明の／行方不明の（unaccounnted-for） for.
Yet even these considerations went again into the 支援する ground of her mind as she pondered over what had occurred in the summer-house of the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta. She felt smirched by this scene, degraded by her own grotesque deception; she wished that she had told Madame de Montespan her 身元; yet to have done so would have been an 行為／法令／行動する of extreme folly.
Supposing she had said: "I am Solange, wife of Charles Desgrez, the スパイ／執行官 of police who is helping M. de la Reynie in the 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners." Not only would she have learnt nothing from Madame de Montespan, but that lady would surely have 設立する an 適切な時期 of having her put very securely out of the way. Solange knew from her husband that there were many people shut away in the dungeons through lettres de cachet which Madame de Montespan had begged of the King.
Solange winced in terror as she thought of the 可能性 of such a 運命／宿命; yes, it was in the 力／強力にする of Madame de Montespan to snatch her away to be a 囚人 under ground for ever, without even Charles knowing what her 運命／宿命 had been!
No, she had done 権利 to keep up the 恐ろしい farce and she had learnt much that was of 最高の importance—Madame de Montespan was trying to invoke infernal spirits, she was trying to get Catherine La Voisin, then a 囚人 in the Bastille, to communicate with her, she was trying—in an 超過 of spite and fury and jealousy that approached insanity—to 毒（薬） not only Mlle. de Fontanges, but the man whom she 指名するd Louis de Bourbon.
"I must tell Charles," thought the loyal young wife "Charles must have the credit of this, but first I must find my way 支援する to Captain Dechamps' house—"
She struck out boldly through the 支持を得ようと努めるd, に引き続いて the dog: the rain was 増加するing as the 嵐／襲撃する died away, refreshing the 空気／公表する and 原因（となる）ing an acrid perfume of fading green to rise from the woodland.
"If only Rollo can find a path," thought Solange; she hurried along, 持つ／拘留するing up her skirts, Rollo trotting beside her. She was becoming unpleasantly drenched and was 関心d for her 罰金, new autumn 着せる／賦与するs, nor could she altogether banish a sense of loneliness and 逮捕 at knowing she was, if not lost, far from home in these 支持を得ようと努めるd, that seemed so desolate even though they were so 近づく the town and ch穰eau of Versailles. It was, therefore, with 救済 that she saw, as she turned at 無作為の through the 支持を得ようと努めるd, a path that, moss-grown and disused, broke from a 絡まる of under growth that she was hurrying past. に引き続いて Rollo, who took this 跡をつける, she 設立する that it broadened into a 井戸／弁護士席-たびたび（訪れる）d way that ended 突然の in a small chapel.
This, from the statue over the door, appeared to be 献身的な to Saint-Hubert, patron saint of sportsmen. Chapels in his honour were ありふれた enough 近づく 追跡（する）ing-宿泊するs or 楽しみ 郊外住宅s, and usually there was a priest, 修道士 or lay brother in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of them.
Solange, therefore, 急いでd 今後 hopefully, glad not only of the 避難所 from the rain, but of the prospect once more of wholesome human company. She fastened the dog in the 避難所 of the porch, 安全な・保証するing his lead to the 脚 of one of the （法廷の）裁判s that had been placed there for tired wayfarers, and entered the church, not without a 願望（する） to purify herself from her interview with that distracted woman in the pavilion, and to breathe a 祈り to God after having been taken for an 特使 of the devil.
The piety of Solange was sincere if undefined; she had goodness and evil 明確に divided in her mind and shuddered from the latter as much as she aspired to the former; she was 反対／詐欺 テント to 受託する all the 儀式s of the church without ever 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うing that they might be as much a part of a superstition as the 儀式s practised by the devil worshippers that had seemed to her so unspeakably horrible.
The little chapel was 簡単に furnished; it was empty but 井戸／弁護士席 cared for, a few ひさまづくing hassocks were laid about the altar and there was a handsomely carved prie-Dieu. Solange knelt at this for a moment and prayed. There was some 古代の coloured glass in the window; the brilliant vermilion and transparent blue colours showed oddly 有望な in the greenish 不明瞭 of the chapel 内部の and against the outer 不明瞭 of the 嵐の day.
The place was 冷淡な, and Solange, 冷気／寒がらせるd by the rain, began to shiver a little. She tried to concentrate on spiritual 事柄s but she 設立する herself thinking of what had happened to her so recently. She became restless and impatient to return to her friends, to Charles. It now seemed hopeless to wait here until the rain had 中止するd; indeed, in this 避難所 her impression of a long, 激しい 嵐／襲撃する seemed more 激しい; the splashing of rain against those coloured windows seemed more terrifying than the direct 落ちる of it upon her own person when she had 急いでd through the 支持を得ようと努めるd; yes, the forest seemed more friendly than God's church.
She rose, only by a strong 成果／努力 repressing a sensation of panic. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see even the friendly grey 直面する of Rollo, who would surely, if she 信用d him, lead her home.
As Solange left the prie-Dieu, she was brought to a pause by the sound of knocking 直接／まっすぐに beneath her feet. She had been so sure that she was alone in a small chapel in the 中央 of a large forest that she had to 支配する the 支援する of the prie-Dieu to 安定した herself; then she tried to put all 最高の natural 恐れるs out of her 長，率いる; there were human 存在s here, then, in some cellars or 丸天井s beneath her; she did not think that these chapels 大（公）使館員d to 追跡（する）ing-宿泊するs were ever used as burial places, but here there must be a 丸天井 or subterranean passage. As she listened the knocking continued, irregularly, loudly, and then softly, as if someone were 大打撃を与えるing on metal, then ended.
Solange listened intently in the silence for a few moments, then left the chapel, patting Rollo's 長，率いる as she passed him. He remained watchful in the porch and whined after her, 緊張するing at his lead. 慎重に and continually looking about her, Solange went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the chapel; on one 味方する the grass grew 権利 up to the 塀で囲む; behind the east end or 最高の，を越す she 設立する a small enclosed grating, 概略で two or three feet square. She had never seen an 入り口 to a burial 丸天井 like this before; she 避けるd it for 恐れる her 影をつくる／尾行する might 落ちる across it or she herself be seen; she noticed at the 味方する a small chimney that rose up beside and blended with the masonry of the 塀で囲む. From this, driven downward again by the 強い雨, rose some dun-coloured smoke.
"There must be people 負かす／撃墜する there," thought Solange at once, "and they are up to no good 目的. It must all be part of this same 商売／仕事."
She 反映するd 速く that it would be useless for her, a woman, without disguise, and 妨害するd with feminine 着せる／賦与するs, to 試みる／企てる to 調査／捜査する, but it would be やめる 平易な to memorize the position of this building, and to send Captain Dechamps or Charles to 調査／捜査する still その上の and find out what was going on there. She therefore returned あわてて to the porch ーするために collect the dog.
Rao was growling and the hairs on his 狭くする 支援する were rising. "He, too, must have heard something," thought Solange with a わずかに 増加するd 逮捕—but it took her by surprise as the powerful animal got out of 支配（する）／統制する when she 抑えるのをやめるd him, and tried to get through the half-open chapel door. His growling was 増加するing; in alarm Solange threw herself on the animal and しっかり掴むd him by the collar; he struggled for his freedom and between them they 押し進めるd the chapel door wide open. The young woman, using all her strength to 持つ／拘留する the animal 支援する, saw the 原因（となる） of his 不安.
A Negro was standing beside the altar to the left; he had come up through a door that was open behind him—it showed on to the blackness of a subterranean staircase. He wore a plain turban of saffron-coloured and scarlet silk 負傷させる 一連の会議、交渉／完成する his small 長，率いる; he had a plain green coat with galloons of gold that might have been a livery; there was nothing uncommon in his 外見; since she had come to Paris Solange had seen many such 黒人／ボイコット servants, yet his 外見 here, in this place, at this moment, filled her with indescribable terror; for getting prudence and courage, she turned to run.
One word left the Negro's lips: "秘かに調査する!" he exclaimed and clapped his 手渡すs.
"Here Rollo!" cried Solange, "come with me at once."
She felt that it would be intolerable to lose the companion ship and 保護 of the dog. The animal turned, leapt up, licked her 手渡すs and followed her. He was soon, indeed, through the church door ahead of her, as if he too scented an 予期しない danger and 手配中の，お尋ね者 to get away. Solange つまずくd in her long skirts and fell 今後 against the door, の近くにing it. In terror, she looked 支援する over her shoulder and saw that five men had entered the chapel by the secret stairway; their 外見 was the last thing she 推定する／予想するd to see and its grotesqueness 追加するd to her alarm. They had, at first, the look of workmen wearing leather aprons and breeches, coarse stockings, and clumsy shoes. Two of them were wearing coloured spectacles and all of them had their short sleeves rolled up above the 肘s exposing their 武器 and 手渡すs, which were stained with 化学製品s.
Solange, 集会 all her courage, called out in a loud 発言する／表明する: "Gentlemen!" as, leaning against the の近くにd door, she tried to fumble with the 激しい 複雑にするd fastening, "I have lost my way, I am staying 近づく Versailles with friends! After having walked through the 支持を得ようと努めるd I （機の）カム here by chance!"
The Negro spoke up quickly to his associates:
"She has seen too much, whether she be fool or 秘かに調査する it is the same thing. Madame, it is useless to trouble with that door. You are too 脅すd, and too encumbered with your 激しい, damp skirts to run far or 急速な／放蕩な—we should soon 追いつく you."
He was speaking in perfect French, with a cultured accent, not in the least like the dialect of the Negroes Solange had overheard speaking in their clipped, broken lingo. She noticed, too, as he now 前進するd に向かって her, that his colouring was a 深い brown, with 非，不，無 of the bluish look ありふれた to Africans. "He, is, I suppose," she thought, "a Moor."
倍のing her 武器 on her bosom, she replied: "My companions are not far away. They will 捜し出す for me and I'm sure will soon find me. I am 井戸／弁護士席-known and shall soon be 行方不明になるd. If you have anything to 隠す, Messieurs, it would surely be wiser for you to 許す me to go than bring several other people to your hiding place."
集会 courage from the sound of her own words, Solange 追加するd: "This is, I suppose, or once was, a 宗教上の place. I am 用意が出来ている to 断言する not to betray you if you will 許す me to go."
"What do you think we have to 隠す?" asked the Negro, 解除するing his lips over sharp teeth.
"I do not know," replied Solange honestly enough, for she could not understand what these people were about.
"No 疑問, Madame, you have a shrewd 疑惑," replied the Moor 厳しく. "How did you contrive to come here? This is, for miles around, 私的な ground. How you escaped the 歩哨s I do not know. You 嘘（をつく） when you say you are …を伴ってd, that you have friends 近づく. You must be miles from any possible help."
He made a signal to two of the leather-aproned men, who 前進するd without a word to place themselves either 味方する of Solange. "Perhaps you were sent from the police," sneered the Moor. "The Paris police are becoming very active just now, are they not, with their 秘かに調査するs and their 逮捕（する）s and their clever disguises."
"I was not sent by the police," said Solange, again truth fully. She walked 今後 reluctantly, not daring to remain where she was for 恐れる the two rough-looking men should 掴む her. When she reached the door by which the Moor still stood, she drew 支援する with an involuntary shudder.
"Oh, it is やめる amusing and agreeable below, Madame," said the coloured man with an ironic 屈服する. "You will please step 負かす／撃墜する, there is one of your own sex there to welcome you."
Solange tried to keep her 神経s 冷静な／正味の and 安定した; she thought: "The best thing I can do is to play for time, to discover all I can and look for a possible chance of escape."
She thought with 救済 and 感謝 of the dog; he must have run off through the forest—surely he would be trained to return home, and when he did go 支援する to Captain Dechamps' house without her, surely he would lead his master to the place of her 監禁，拘置? This at least was her 広大な／多数の／重要な hope. 一方／合間, she told herself as she descended the dark staircase with the Moor and the leather-aproned men behind her, she must keep 冷静な／正味の, 警報, and observant, and in her heart she prayed 真面目に that she might be guarded against the 力／強力にするs of Evil.
She 設立する herself in a good-sized 地下組織の 議会, which, she thought, must run almost the entire length of the church; it was lit partly by the grating she had 観察するd from the outside and partly by large oil lamps fastened against the 塀で囲む. By the 味方する of this grating was the furnace—from it rose the chimney 軸 that Solange had seen from outside—this was filled with （疑いを）晴らす 燃やすing coal and either 味方する were ovens, on the 最高の，を越す of which stood さまざまな 大型船s of 巡査 and アイロンをかける, while on the 床に打ち倒す below were moulds, crucibles, retorts and a large number of utensils and 器具／実施するs of which Solange did not know the 指名するs.
She was, however, 井戸／弁護士席 aware of the character of the place she had entered. Alchemy was 明白に practised here, and she wondered why they should be so fearful and so 隠しだてする about it, since this science was by no means forbidden and was practised 率直に by many 高度に placed people, while the search for the "philosopher's 石／投石する" had, Solange knew, been going on for hundreds of years without secrecy or 非難する. But when she ちらりと見ることd at the other end of the room, which, 存在 farthest from the window and the lamps, was mostly in 影をつくる／尾行する, she saw an (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する apparatus, the use of which she did not in the least know. There seemed to be a small mill, a small 圧力（をかける）, several 封鎖するs and moulds, 同様に as all the paraphernalia for distilling. As she gazed through the 影をつくる／尾行するs she made out—and this 原因（となる）d her to wince with horror—the form of a dead boar: its hind 脚s were tied together and fastened to a nail on the wail, and from the open jaws of its low-hanging 長，率いる, 血-stained 泡，激怒すること was dropping into a small 巡査 大型船. Beside this were some uncouth wax images and, on a shelf, several 調書をとる／予約するs in pale bindings.
In the centre of the room was a plain （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する covered with 令状ing 構成要素 and more 調書をとる／予約するs, some knives and swords and rolls of silk. At this sat a young woman in male attire—Solange 認めるd her 即時に as the Englishwoman known as "行方不明になる Pink" or Mlle. des Oeillets.
"A police 秘かに調査する," 発言／述べるd the Moor to this woman, drily 示すing Solange.
"Ali!" cried the young Englishwoman with a look of fury, "how stupid to send a 女性（の）, and in that attire, to 跡をつける us here. 井戸／弁護士席, you must decide what to do with her. It is やめる 確かな ," she 追加するd 速く, "that she has seen too much. The whole 事件／事情／状勢 is getting 極端に unpleasant."
Solange thought so also; for the presence of Mlle. des Oeillets 原因（となる）d her to connect these people with the poisoners—something worse than alchemy was practised here, she guessed; perhaps this was where they 現実に distilled the 毒（薬）s.
Then another 疑惑 （機の）カム into her mind—those five men in their workmanlike attire, who had gone to the 影をつくる／尾行するs at the end of the room, the apparatus she saw there, the anvil and the 大打撃を与えるs, little 解雇（する）s lying along the 塀で囲む out of the mouths of which 有望な coins gleamed—this was a 捏造／製作 of 誤った money, the （警察，軍隊などの）本部 of a ギャング（団） of forgers.
Her courage wavered a little: she did not 疑問 their ferocity, there was something pitiless in the 冷淡な 目だつ 注目する，もくろむs of the Englishwoman, in the 緊張するd, almost doll-like features of the Moor, in the silent impassivity of the five workmen; she thought, too, of the 孤独 of the place; if the dog failed her, who was likely to find her here?
Besides, no 疑問 these people were in touch with Madame de Montespan, and once Madame de Montespan knew that she had betrayed herself to a woman whom she would consider a police 秘かに調査する!—Solange stood 築く without wincing, but her lips 狭くするd and her 注目する，もくろむs were cast 負かす／撃墜する.
The Englishwoman was 調査するing her coldly. "You are very 勇敢に立ち向かう, but you are afraid にもかかわらず," she said. "You have good 推論する／理由 to be so. There are so many 広大な／多数の／重要な ones in this that we cannot consider people like you." She rose as if to leave the 丸天井, and said casually to the Moor: "I will go upstairs and you must do what you will with her."
"There's no need to leave us," replied the coloured man. "This woman may have many uses. She will never be 設立する here, though we had better take the 警戒 of damping 負かす／撃墜する the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 so that no smoke appears, and putting sods over the grating."
"井戸／弁護士席, what do you ーするつもりである to do?" asked Mlle. des Oeillets impatiently. "Remember, we are in constant danger our selves. For my part, I am tired of it all—I shall return to England."
"Perhaps it will not be so 平易な," sneered the Moor, "Re member, all the ports are watched."
He turned 突然の to Solange, and when he looked 十分な at her with his large dark 注目する，もくろむs she 設立する it difficult to 支配（する）／統制する her impulse of terror. Plain as was his attire and ordinary as was his 外見, she 設立する his personality 完全に terrifying.
"If you care to tell us who you are and what your errand here was, it might help you."
Solange thought 速く: "The more I can invent and 反対／詐欺 fuse them, the better for me"—so, with an assumed 空気／公表する of honesty, she replied: "I am staying with a friend of 地雷, Madame Rameau, in Versailles. My 指名する is Claire Montaigne, I am an 孤児. My home is with an uncle in Rouen." She thought, with 勝利, that she perceived a baffled look on the Moor's 直面する, as if he were almost 説得するd by her seeming frankness.
After a second or two, however, he lightly shrugged his shoulders as if he 解任するd everything she had said as rubbish, and, 手渡すing her a 議長，司会を務める with something of an 空気／公表する of 産む／飼育するing, bade her 残り／休憩（する） herself, for she would presently have much to 耐える.
During the first few days of Solange's stay at the house of Captain Dechamps, Charles Desgrez had scarcely left the Police （警察，軍隊などの）本部 in the Bastille or the 兵器庫. He had been 現在の at all the 私的な examinations of the 囚人s before the 法廷 or （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 that the King had 始める，決める up—which sat いつかs at the Bastille and いつかs at the 兵器庫. Some of them had been 診察するd before Louvois or Colbert. With the さまざまな underlings and 共犯者s of the 主要な／長／主犯s, the 囚人s 量d to nearly a hundred, though this number was 隠すd from the public; there was no 願望（する） on the part of the 政府 to spread その上の the panic that had already 掴むd Paris.
Silver utensils had gone out of fashion, save for those 豊富な enough to carry their own 事例／患者s of knives, forks and cutlery; glasses, plates and dishes were cleaned at （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, charming bouquets of flowers and innocent-looking dishes of luscious fruit were regarded with horrible 疑惑; a woman 恐れるd to 扱う her 集まり 調書をとる／予約する, a man to touch his rosary; as every day fresh 逮捕（する）s were made, the alarm, and horror grew; 全世界の／万国共通の 不信 was abroad. Colbert, listening to nothing but the dictates of the sternest 司法（官）, ordered the 逮捕（する） of two 広大な／多数の／重要な 法廷，裁判所 ladies—Madame de Soissons and Madame de Bouillon. The former of these fled the country, but the latter was 宿泊するd in handsome apartments in the Bastille, where M. de Luxembourg still fretted away his 存在 in a small dark dungeon 割り当てるd to him by the spite of Louvois. Everyone felt insecure, embarrassed; every twenty-four hours brought an 追加するd horror to Paris.
"The thing," said M. de La Reynie, "must come to an end."
He did what he could to 静める the public alarm; the meanest of the 犠牲者s were sacrificed; Malipiero, the Italian apothecary, Doctor Rabel, the two priests, Davout and Guibourg, were 非難するd to death for infanticide, sorcery and blasphemy. There was nothing about 毒（薬）ing in the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s brought against them, and as they had been 診察するd in secret and no 報告（する）／憶測s of the 裁判，公判s published, the public were in the dark as to the real extent of their 罪，犯罪s; even when 直面するd with the prospect of 拷問 and death, all these wretches 辞退するd to make 自白s. It was the opinion of M. de La Reynie that they knew very little beyond their own small part in the large 陰謀（を企てる） in which they were 伴う／関わるd; he also believed that they were ブイ，浮標d up by the hope of 救助（する） from the powerful organization to which they belonged.
The Marchese Pignata, now 回復するd to health and activity, had been able to give him useful （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）, which linked these people with 犯罪のs in Italy.
Charles Desgrez was 現在の one brilliant autumn morning when these 犯罪のs were led out, and, まっただ中に the exclamations of the 抱擁する （人が）群がる, strangled and burnt in the Place de Gr钁e. The 長，指導者 of Police, obeying orders received direct from the King, had 行為／法令／行動するd 速く; daily 死刑執行s took place until, by the time of Solange's adventure in the 支持を得ようと努めるd 近づく the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta, few people remained in 保護／拘留 beyond La Voisin and her daughter, the 損なう馗hal de Luxembourg, the Duchesse de Bouillon and some scoundrels, unfrocked priests.
The two La Voisin women, Catherine and her daughter, were regarded by the 長，指導者 of Police as the two most important 囚人s. The first 影響する／感情d an insolent demeanour and when 診察するd bore herself with arrogance and told manifest and casual lies. The second 影響する／感情d a 明言する／公表する of 半分-idiocy and 補欠／交替の／交替するd between bravado and hysterical 恐れる. La Reynie believed that both these 明言する／公表するs were assumed, and that the two women were really shrewd, 勇敢に立ち向かう, and perfectly 井戸／弁護士席-知らせるd of all the ramifications of the 共謀 of the poisoners.
He 隠すd from them the 運命／宿命 of their 共犯者s and the number of 逮捕（する）s that had been made, and took the greatest possible care that neither should have any communication with the outside world; but for all that, though they were kept in 孤立／分離, and could not かもしれない have received any messages of hope or 激励, the two in their ways remained unmoved. Neither M. Colbert nor M. de Louvois, neither La Reynie himself nor the young police-中尉／大尉／警部補 could shake them in their baffling pretences.
It was M. de La Reynie himself that advised his young assistant to take a 簡潔な／要約する 一時的休止，執行延期 from these arduous and 暗い／優うつな 労働s and to visit his young wife at the house of Captain Dechamps.
As soon as Charles Desgrez took the Versailles road, he felt his 負担 of 苦悩 解除するd, and all the 黒人／ボイコット, hideous, melancholy spectacle that he had lately seen 消えるd from his mind.
But when he reached the pleasant little house 近づく the town of Versailles he was met with the disquieting news that Solange had gone for a walk with the dog and was now many hours 延滞の: Captain Dechamps and two of his assistants were leaving the house, 武装した and with lanterns and dogs when Desgrez reined up his horse at the gate. They had already been out once, searching up and 負かす／撃墜する the high road for Solange; now Dechamps ーするつもりであるd to take what he felt was an extreme 手段—that of searching the 支持を得ようと努めるd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する Versailles, parts of which were 私的な and 厳密に guarded. It was possible, he argued, that there was nothing really 悪意のある in the long absence of the young woman, that she had 単に lost her way in unfamiliar places; he had come 支援する to see if, during his absence, she had returned home.
He was explaining all this to the alarmed and anxious husband, who felt his heart 沈む to 激烈な／緊急の despair at the thought of the possible danger of Solange, when Rollo, flecked with 泡，激怒すること and with his tongue hanging out, （機の）カム 急いでing up out of the dark and fawned with an anxious 空気／公表する at the feet of his master, now and then pausing in these endearments to throw 支援する his 長，率いる and howl.
"It is the dog she took with her," said Dechamps as the 中尉／大尉／警部補 of Police threw himself from his saddle. "He is 井戸／弁護士席-trained, old Rollo, he will probably lead us to where he last saw her."
"Why should he have left her?" stammered Charles Desgrez in an 超過 of 苦悩. "Why did not the dog remain with her? What can have happened?"
The 年上の man took the young Norman's arm reassuringly.
"Do not let us waste time," he said 静かに, "with these 憶測s. There may be nothing horrible or mysterious about it at all. Your wife may have met with some 事故. These dogs are trained, if they lose sight of the person they are in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of, to return and 捜し出す help as the St. Bernards do in the アルプス山脈 when they find someone 打ち勝つ in the snow."
Charles Desgrez controlled himself, but with difficulty; he had 設立する his experiences of the last few months very horrible; he was not used to these 事柄s of mystery, secret death and public 死刑執行, not yet 常習的な to all the 嫌悪すべき filth a man must gaze on who tries to find his way through the 暗黒街 of Paris, and he had felt, while so 絶えず and so faithfully at de La Reynie's 味方する, an 激しい 願望（する） to retire with his young wife to some pleasant, 平和的な place where he would not hear the words—poisoner, 罪，犯罪, 囚人, 罰.
The thought that Solange, whose company he had sacrificed by sending her to what he regarded as a 安全な place, had にもかかわらず fallen into danger afflicted him almost beyond en durance; it was with difficulty that he 避けるd bitter reproaches against Captain Dechamps, who, indeed, took some 非難する on himself, but, as he reminded Desgrez:
"Your wife is 公正に／かなり high-spirited and 公正に／かなり 独立した・無所属. It has 困らすd her very much 存在 shut up here and it was really impossible for me to forbid her going out for a walk …を伴ってd by the dog. She 約束d me," he 追加するd with a sly smile, "to keep to the high road. Is it possible that she broke her word?"
"It is true," muttered Desgrez, "Solange has, for a woman, an uncommon courage and daring. She has been most anxious to help me—it is even possible that she has tried to 調査／捜査する on her own account. I did, fool that I was, について言及する to her that we should like to know something about the inhabitants of the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta. It is 考えられる that she went there."
"Let us, at least, go in that direction, if the dog leads us nowhere in particular," agreed Dechamps.
The two officers, …を伴ってd by four men, 始める，決める off 負かす／撃墜する the high road; Rollo, as his master had 推定する／予想するd, led them. With his nose on the ground, the dog 始める，決める on the 追跡する. At a 確かな point in the road he turned off into the 支持を得ようと努めるd, now dark save for the faint light of the 星／主役にするs that were scattered over the 黒人／ボイコット heavens. The 嵐／襲撃する had rolled 完全に away and the 空気／公表する was fresh and pure; the last faint twittering of the homing birds was heard in the half-の近くにd 支店s over their 長，率いるs; the 支持を得ようと努めるd flowers, mosses and grasses, still drenched with the strong rain of the late afternoon, gave out their 冷静な／正味の, pure night perfume; now and then a little animal scurried away into the undergrowth with a soft rustle of twigs. The dog kept at first to 井戸／弁護士席-defined paths, then 支店d off into the forest where the men had difficulty in に引き続いて him through the bushes, tall 少しのd and の近くに-始める，決める trunks of the trees; they had to go in 選び出す／独身 とじ込み／提出する.
Captain Dechamps, who by no means wished to attract attention to themselves, had all the lanterns darkened save one, which Charles Desgrez carried, and walked ahead. At one time they （機の）カム の近くに to a long, low 塀で囲む, behind which, through a 審査する of chestnuts where the sparse yellow leaves gleamed faintly pale in the 厚い dusk, could be seen the out lines of a building; Captain Dechamps told the 中尉／大尉／警部補 that that was the convent where Mlle. de Fontanges was in 退却／保養地.
"They say the King 勧めるs her daily to return, にもかかわらず the 暴力／激しさ and the 警告s she has received from Madame de Montespan. It is not believed that Versailles," 追加するd Dechamps with a laugh and a shrug, "広大な as it is, can 持つ／拘留する both those ladies."
The last 痕跡 of light had gone, and they had been two hours or more walking through the forest when the dog at last led them on to a 井戸／弁護士席-worn path.
Desgrez's lantern flashed on to a large white 石／投石する cross that was placed between the trees; the sight of this, ぼんやり現れるing out of the 不明瞭 by the little group of trees, was to Desgrez him self ominous; his impatience began to be touched with despair.
Captain Dechamps 圧力（をかける）d him reassuringly on the arm. "I know where we are now, の近くに to the little chapel of Saint-Hubert that is in the grounds of the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta. We are in the 支持を得ようと努めるd of Cagny."
"I 推定する／予想する Solange （機の）カム here!" exclaimed Desgrez in 深い 苦しめる. "Yes, she was trying to 調査／捜査する for me."
"Do not raise your 発言する／表明する," Captain Dechamps's 支配する 強化するd on the younger man's arm. "The chapel is, I think, 砂漠d—I believe these grounds are 私的な, and yet we have passed no 歩哨. See, the dog continues to lead us ahead. Cover your lantern," he 命令（する）d, "we can find our way in the dark."
Rollo, the wolf-hound, was 緊張するing at his lead, which Dechamps held tightly. The other men fell into line behind him, and so 前進するd slowly, 慎重に, along the path that here and there was 妨げるd by brackens, ferns and 少しのd に向かって the porch of the chapel of Saint-Hubert.
In the room under the chapel Solange sat alone with Mile. des Oeillets. The Moor and the five leather-aproned workmen had disappeared through the passage by which they had brought Solange to this 議会, which was now her 刑務所，拘置所. Her 長，率いる was aching and she had a sensation of constriction over her heart.
The scene appeared to her 全く unreal. The soft day light, which had entered through the grating, had now 全く faded, and only the yellow light of two oil lamps illuminated the 丸天井-like 議会. Solange -had 新たな展開d her 議長，司会を務める so that she could not see the unearthly looking apparatus behind her and the dead boar 一時停止するd by its feet from the hook; but every 反対する upon which she cast her 注目する，もくろむ was to her horrible and 十分な of 悪意のある meaning; nor could she by any means 避ける the presence of the Englishwoman, who lounged across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with her 直面する in her 手渡すs and taunted her with malicious and rambling speech.
There was something about the 人物／姿／数字 of this woman that was to Solange in every way repellent. Her 直面する, which once perhaps had been beautiful, had a 廃虚d, ashy look; her lips were loose and her 注目する，もくろむs bloodshot, her fair hair hung in a 絡まる over her masculine cravat. To her dishevelled love-lock was fastened a knot of blue 略章; her 手渡すs were 罰金, 井戸／弁護士席-kept and adorned with （犯罪の）一味s, but they twitched nervously. Her accents were, Solange thought, those of a lost soul.
"'Tis pleasant," she said in a トン of evil mockery, "to have someone to speak to. You know, I have not had a confidante for years."
"Beware," Solange replied 厳しく, "how you confide in me, Mademoiselle."
"It will not 事柄—in a few hours you will be dead. If you are not dead, you will be past caring about what I have told you."
Solange shuddered inwardly at these words, which she tried to 軍隊 herself to believe were mere bravado.
"I have been in this 商売／仕事 a long while," 追加するd the Englishwoman. She filled a milk-coloured glass in 前線 of her with liquid from a flat ruby-coloured 瓶／封じ込める. It was not, Solange thought, ワイン, but some 肉親，親類d of 麻薬; 行方不明になる Pink appeared bemused, indifferent to reality—yet this drowsiness was broken by flashes of unnatural 暴力／激しさ.
"I cannot remember when I was not like this," she muttered, propping her chin on her shaking 手渡すs and 星／主役にするing at Solange with greedy envy of the younger woman's 会社／堅い health, brilliant 青年 and wholesome beauty. "As soon as I entered her service I 設立する out which way the money lay. She 賄賂s high, you know, and it was so 平易な to go from one thing to another."
"Was it?" asked Solange disdainfully. "Did you find it 平易な to go from what began, as I suppose, with the usual lies and flattery and ended with 毒（薬）ing?"
"They have no proof of that," sneered Mlle. des Oeillets, "and if they have, they'll not dare to use it. She is 安全な enough, and so am I, for I know all her secrets."
"If you do," replied Mme Desgrez, "you must be very vile."
"Ah, you can call me what you like," replied the English woman. "It makes no difference to me now—I'm in and I can't get out. There are no doors in hell, you know."
"How, then, does one enter that 地域?" asked Solange with a wry smile.
"It grows about one, little by little—it 塀で囲むs one in, and then there is no way out."
"The devil, it seems," said Solange grimly, "is an ill 支払う／賃金 master. He has not, Mademoiselle, served you very 井戸／弁護士席, or Catherine La Voisin, or her daughter, or those people who were strangled and 燃やすd on the Place de Gr钁e the other day."
"One never knows," whispered Mlle. des Oeillets with a maudlin sigh, "perhaps they did something wrong, disobeyed."
"Hush," said Solange, moving from her 議長，司会を務める, for it was intolerable to her to sit there any longer listening to this evil talk. "You do not know of what you speak. I do not think, Mademoiselle, that you could have ever realized evil for what it is."
"No?" exclaimed the other with a wild laugh. "You will soon see, when you begin to understand what they ーするつもりである to do with you."
"What do they ーするつもりである to do with me?" 需要・要求するd Solange. "Come, you may as 井戸／弁護士席 tell me."
"Perhaps I may—I rather like to see people afraid, I have been made afraid so often myself. 井戸／弁護士席, you will be useful to them in many ways. Perhaps you will serve at one of the 儀式s." She put her forefinger across her throat. "At first I used to shudder at seeing the warm 血 run into the cup, but now, I enjoy it." She laughed again her wild, lost laugh. "The devil, you know, 需要・要求するs his sacrifices."
Solange frowned and her lips 強化するd. It was やめる possible that these ruffians, half-lunatics as she took them to be, did ーするつもりである to 支配する her to fearful 拷問, perhaps to use her as a 犠牲者 at one of their obscene 儀式s. She looked at the woman in 前線 of her, wondering if it were possible to 控訴，上告 to her for pity, to 推論する／理由 with her.
She thought: "If they knew what I discovered this after noon, they would not let me live another five minutes." A 安定した scrutiny of the 直面する of Mlle. des Oeillets told Solange that it was useless to 控訴，上告 to her either on the grounds of compassion or on those of ありふれた sense, useless to say to her: "Do not stain yourself with another 罪，犯罪, it would be wiser for you to let me go. I will 断言する to keep silence about what I have seen." No, this woman was debauched with 副／悪徳行為, and, Solange thought, broken by 悲惨—sodden, too, with the 麻薬s she was continually taking from the milk-coloured glass.
The 囚人, for all her courage, could not resist a nervous movement of her 手渡す to her bosom and a quick ちらりと見ること 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the room.
Mlle. des Oeillets saw this and laughed: "It is useless, the grating has been covered up with sods, the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 you see, has been banked 負かす／撃墜する. Neither smoke nor light will come up, even supposing that anyone should chance to stroll this way."
"Where are the others?" 需要・要求するd Solange. "Where are the Moor and those workmen? It cannot be possible that they are all going to stand by and see me 殺人d. Where have they gone? What do they ーするつもりである to do?"
"Ah, for a 秘かに調査する you have not, after all, very much courage."
"I tell you," said Solange, "I was not 秘かに調査するing." I was out here with my dog, she was going to 追加する, but she held these words 支援する. Better, perhaps, not to 警告する the woman that she had been …を伴ってd by the dog Rollo, in whom lay now her 単独の chance of 救助（する）. She sat silent, casting 負かす／撃墜する her 注目する，もくろむs and knotting her fingers in her （競技場の）トラック一周, fighting hard against the sense of horror, the gloom, the 不景気, with which these unnatural surroundings and this hideous company 奮起させるd her.
"I am sitting," she thought, "in an outpost of Hell—speaking with a lost soul."
Mlle. des Oeillets 選ぶd up one of the 調書をとる／予約するs on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and held it in 前線 of the 囚人's 直面する.
"This is the service for the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり—the 集まり of Ste. Secaire where they all wear goats' masks," she muttered with an intoxicated laugh. "It is bound in the 肌 of an unbaptized child."
"Oh, horror!" exclaimed Solange. "I pray that you are deceived or that you 嘘（をつく）!"
"Neither, my pretty dear, I have been in this 商売／仕事 for years now. There is a good 貿易（する） in these misbegotten brats—I've known as many as eighty to be sacrificed in one place alone."
"What does the celebrant—what does anyone hope to 伸び（る） by such horrors?"
"Love—money," grinned the Englishwoman, "and 力／強力にする."
"What have you made out of this hideous traffic?"
"Oh, I have had my pleasant times! I have ridden in a coach-and-six and been embraced by handsome young men. I've had 広大な／多数の／重要な ladies flatter me. I like to move behind the scenes, to help pull the strings."
"And what will the end be? During the last weeks there has been a constant stream of 犯罪のs to the Place de Gr钁e."
"I am too 井戸／弁護士席 保護するd," leered the other. "I know too much—no one will ever dare to touch me. I care nothing about what happens to the others."
Solange remembered the frantic woman in the summer house; she thought, "I will find out what I can—in 事例／患者 I escape." Her fingers clutched the rosary in her pocket as she asked:
"Your patroness—your 雇用者—is Madame de Montespan?"
"Ah, you are a police 秘かに調査する!"
"No. But I can tell you more. This woman has 解決するd that, if Mlle. de Fontanges is taken into the King's favour, she will destroy not only the girl but Louis himself."
"So! It is lucky for us that you （機の）カム here to-day—we should all be lost were that known. Yet," 追加するd Mlle. des Oeillets, 回復するing her effrontery, "no one would believe it. The King would never credit it. Ah, La Voisin has 自白するd!" she exclaimed suddenly, "the 臆病な／卑劣な trull—"
"Perhaps she has," replied Solange. "In any 事例／患者 you see that I know what I am talking about."
"It will avail you nothing, you will soon have a sod in your mouth."
Solange compressed her lips and cast a fearful ちらりと見ること at the dead boar hanging in the 影をつくる／尾行するs at the end of the room.
"Is that how you get your 毒（薬）? Distilled from a dead beast?"
"That is only half the secret. The stuff we 毒（薬） the animal with comes from Italy—we have not the knowledge to distil it perfectly—that which we use for our most subtle death comes ready-made from Rome."
"Who makes it? Who sends it?"
"I don't know. There are some things one is shut out of. I don't think," muttered the Englishwoman sullenly, "that Saint-Maurice knows—he has spoken to the Master—but does not know his 身元. He is always disguised."
"Perhaps it is the Devil himself," said Solange with a 病弱な smile, crossing herself. "Strange to me that you should be in subjection to this Unknown! Stranger still that he should care to 危険 what he does 危険—for what?"
"For 力／強力にする, for his own secret ends—how should I know," replied Mlle. des Oeillets drowsily. "I should like to be in his place. Think of having ローマ法王s and Kings tremble before you! Think of having the 力／強力にする of life and death over all the 広大な／多数の／重要な ones of the world!"
"But he has not that 力／強力にする—no, it is not possible!"
"Is it not? Why, you yourself know that the life of the King of フラン is 脅すd."
"Are you not all lunatics there?" asked Solange shrewdly. "If you 殺人 the King, Madame de Montespan will 落ちる—and you with her—you are 涙／ほころびing 負かす／撃墜する the 力／強力にする that supports you."
Mlle. des Oeillets laughed and thrust her fingers through her dishevelled hair.
"She will have her 復讐—at all costs. The Master sup ports her—he too, it seems, wishes—at all costs—vengeance on the King of フラン."
"Politics?" breathed Solange.
But the Englishwoman was not to be drawn その上の; lost, wretched and 無謀な as she was, a 漸進的な 悔恨 and 悔いる seemed to 侵入する her 麻薬-sodden mind as she 熟視する／熟考するd the other woman, as if she, Mary Pink, 解任するd the days when she too had been young, innocent and happy.
"Why don't they come and take you away?" she muttered, 押し進めるing her 議長，司会を務める 支援する from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "I don't want to sit here looking at you."
"Oh!" exclaimed Solange, "how did you come to such a pass!"
"That would be a long story and one not 価値（がある） telling now, but 悪口を言う／悪態d be the day when I first met Ath駭ais de Montespan!" She groaned and 圧力（をかける）d her 寺s with her finger tips. "The dwarf is certainly an evil spirit—he is the link with the Master, who, as you say, my dear, may be the Devil himself."
"What dwarf?" asked Solange, who had seen several of these piteous deformities in Paris where they were often 大（公）使館員d to the 世帯s of 広大な／多数の／重要な nobles; she 解任するd that her husband had told her that one of the carriages driven up to the 郊外住宅 at Passy had had a dwarf coachman. The English woman did not answer, she had fallen 支援する in her 議長，司会を務める and seemed sunk in a stupor; Solange rose, passed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する that was laden with the ugly and 悪意のある mummery of 黒人／ボイコット 魔法 and shook the other woman by the shoulders.
"You do know more than you pretend," she said. "Why not 緩和する your mind by telling me the truth? Since I am soon to die I can betray nothing."
Without 開始 her 注目する，もくろむs the Englishwoman muttered: "Lost and damned! Lost and damned!"
Solange stood 築く and を締めるd herself to look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the horrible room. It was （疑いを）晴らす what evil activities took place there, the 製造（する） of 毒（薬）s, the coining of 誤った money, 研究s for the Philosopher's 石／投石する, 儀式s of conjuration and divination, the distilling of philtres and charms.
No 疑問, also, this dark, dismal and secret place was the scene of many a hideous 共謀, of many a foul 陰謀（を企てる）. No 疑問 but that here the bouquet plucked in the glass-houses of M. de Saint-Maurice at Passy had been subtly 毒（薬）d before it was sent to Madame de Poulaillon in the Bastille, that here the letters on Madame de Montespan's evil 商売／仕事, 示すd with the 調印する of a knot of carnations, the 指名する of her go-between, had been written, and so had those other missives on which the inverted cross was drawn.
Solange had discovered much, but she knew that much remained to be discovered—who was this Master—the adroit 長，率いる of this 犯罪の organization—why was he working in the 利益／興味s of Madame de Montespan? Why did he wish to avenge himself on King Louis?
The 捕虜 put her 手渡すs to her 長，率いる, trying to think 明確に, to 推論する／理由 out these problems—if only to take her mind off her 現在の 状況／情勢. Her 注目する，もくろむs ached and her 寺s throbbed, the very 空気／公表する—stale, fetid—that she breathed seemed to be 感染させるing her with a deadly lethargy against which she fought 猛烈に, 恐れるing to be 奪うd of her consciousness, perhaps of her 推論する／理由.
As she ちらりと見ることd again and with 増加するing 恐れる 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the hideous 丸天井 and at the 人物／姿／数字 of the wretched woman in masculine attire, 低迷d grotesquely in her 議長，司会を務める, with her draggled love-lock hanging over her pallid brows, and a leer in her half-の近くにd 注目する，もくろむs and on her ragged lips, Solange could hardly repress a cry of despair.
As she stood rigid, her 手渡す clutching her heart, 努力する／競うing for 支配（する）／統制する, the door by which she had been dragged into this 刑務所，拘置所, and which seemed the only 入り口 to the room, was opened, and the Moor, standing on the threshold, beckoned her に向かって him.
Solange saw that he had behind him the leather-aproned men; she 裁判官d it better to obey 暗黙に, so she rose and crossed the 床に打ち倒す, and Mlle. des Oeillets, lurching to her feet, swayed behind her.
Solange thought as she passed up the dark staircase between her captors: "They will let Madame de Montespan know that they have 逮捕（する）d me, and so she will be 警告するd—she will learn that it was not some infernal messenger that appeared to her in the pavilion during the 雷雨, but a mortal woman." And Solange regretted 激しく that she had failed to help her husband; she could hardly 耐える the impatience that 所有するd her when she thought what M. de La Reynie would give for the news that she would be able to impart to him were she 解放する／自由な. The sombre party reached the upper 空気／公表する; Solange felt the 冷静な／正味の night 空気／公表する on her 直面する.
"I 警告する you," whispered the Moor, の近くに to her ear, "not to call out. It would be useless if you did, for you are in utter loneliness. Yet if you make a sound I shall have to gag you. I daresay," he 追加するd with a sneer, "that you would not care to be 扱うd by my men here."
This was true, but Solange could not repress the instinct to shout for help, to make one frantic, if hopeless, 成果／努力 to escape. She thought of the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり, of the sacrifices and the unspeakable 儀式s that took place; she imagined herself stretched in 前線 of the sable altar with the 黒人／ボイコット-hooded priestess 持つ／拘留するing the knife to her throat, and all her agony escaped in her cry of "Charles!"
She was 即時に struck on the shoulder with a 軍隊 that sent her to her 膝s, but her frantic 控訴，上告 for help was as opportune as if her 後見人 angel had directed her to make it, for at that moment the little party of police were 現れるing from the thicket by the church, and had not Solange called aloud, she and her captors might have hurried off in the other direction while Dechamps and his men were in the porch.
As it was, they （機の）カム running 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the church in the direction of the cry, and in a few seconds the two parties were engaged in a struggle, the fiercer and the more desperate for the 不明瞭; heartened by this miraculous, 予期しない 救助（する）, Solange with 無謀な courage sprang from her 膝s. The door 主要な up from the 丸天井 was not yet の近くにd; in the 薄暗い light of it lurched Mlle. des Oeillets. Seeing that her 共犯者s had been surprised, the Englishwoman drew an elegant ピストル from her belt and would have 解雇する／砲火／射撃d it at 無作為の, but Solange threw herself on her, knocked up her arm, 押し進めるd her backward 負かす／撃墜する the 丸天井 steps, and の近くにd the door on her, leaning against it, panting.
"There is one at least," she gasped, "accounted for."
Uncertain and excited she watched the 形態／調整s struggling together in the half-dark.
The fight was 簡潔な／要約する; though the numbers were equal, the conspirators were unprepared and the five workmen were without 武器s. The Moor, taken at a disadvantage, was 軍隊d against the chapel 塀で囲む, where he fought furiously, striking at 無作為の with a short sword; it was Desgrez that 武装解除するd him and thrust him 負かす／撃墜する after he had 辞退するd to 降伏する and was struggling in what seemed an insane passion with 明らかにする 手渡すs.
Dechamps, 急いでing up, slid 支援する the shutter of the dark lantern and saw the police-中尉／大尉／警部補 ひさまづくing beside the fallen man; the yellow lantern-rays fell over the Moor, writhing in convulsion on the ground.
"I had to strike him," exclaimed Desgrez 残念に. "He was at my throat! I 恐れる he is dying."
"A pity," 発言／述べるd Captain Dechamps, 落ちるing on one 膝. "Now very likely we shall never know who he is."
He tried to 解除する up the dying man, and as he did so the turban fell off, 公表する／暴露するing that the Moor's 黒人／ボイコット hair was 大（公）使館員d to it and 明らかにする／漏らすing him as a European; the stains that made the brown complexion ended where the turban had 圧力（をかける）d the brow.
"A disguise!" exclaimed Desgrez.
"Let him be, he is dying," said Dechamps. "Fellow, do you care to speak? Is there anything you wish to say?"
The fallen man shook his 長，率いる, at the same time giving a 恐ろしい smile, and turning over on to his 直面する gasped out his last breaths on the grass.
"What of the others?" asked Captain Dechamps rising.
"Two have been 逮捕（する）d, two killed," Desgrez 報告（する）／憶測d, after he had passed his lamp 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the group of men. "They were taken by surprise and 武装解除するd. It was not a very difficult 商売／仕事. But I am sorry I have killed this ruffian, who seems the leader."
"There is another 囚人!" exclaimed Solange, coming for 区. "Oh, Charles, if ever a 祈り was answered, surely 地雷 was just now!"
With an incoherent cry her husband took her in his 武器. "You must thank Rollo for this," he said as the 広大な／多数の／重要な hound fawned on them both.
"Madame Desgrez!" exclaimed Captain Dechamps. "The dog led us very 井戸／弁護士席 after all."
"These men made me a 囚人, there is a room underneath the chapel," gasped Solange quickly. "There is a woman 負かす／撃墜する there. I thrust her 負かす／撃墜する just now. She was about to 解雇する／砲火／射撃 her ピストル. It is your Mademoiselle des Oeillets, Charles."
"Then we need not 悔いる the death of that scoundrel," said Captain Dechamps. "Let us make haste, she may do herself some mischief 負かす／撃墜する there."
"She is a wild, lost soul," said Solange. "I think probably she will tell you everything. She was taking some 肉親，親類d of 麻薬 that sends her into a half-sleep and a half-frenzy."
"Perhaps she has locked the door on the inside," exclaimed Desgrez; but this was not the 事例／患者, for a small-sized door beside the 石／投石する buttress opened, and Desgrez and Dechamps, 急いでing 負かす／撃墜する the dark stairs, 設立する Mlle. des Oeillets seated again at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, 持つ／拘留するing in her pale fingers the milk-coloured glass.
She looked at them insolently, sleepily. The room was 十分な of acrid smoke and a foul stench. During the few moments she had been 負かす／撃墜する there she had been 雇うd in 燃やすing さまざまな 実体s on the smouldering coal of the banked-負かす／撃墜する furnace.
Captain Dechamps put the Englishwoman, who 辞退するd to say a word, in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez, whilst he made a 徹底的な search of the 丸天井. There was little to be 設立する beyond the boar hanging up by its hind-脚s and the さまざまな apparatus for coining, distilling and 化学製品 実験s. All the papers that had been on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する had been cast on to the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 by Mlle. des Oeillets; 酸性の, too, had been ぱらぱら雨d over the pages of the 調書をとる／予約するs so that it was almost impossible to decipher any of them.
"She should have been watched sooner," said Desgrez 激しく.
The Englishwoman laughed in his 直面する. "The いっそう少なく you know of this 商売／仕事, it will be the better for you, young man."
Captain Dechamps gave his その上の orders:
"Let the 囚人s and the 団体／死体s be taken to Versailles and as quickly as possible. There we will find a wagon to 伝える them to Paris. I wish as little noise to be made of this as possible. This is a coiners' den and, I take it, a poisoners' distillery. It is not 安全な for anyone to remain here. I will 調印（する） up the door and 始める，決める a guard on it."
When the two men and their 囚人 again reached the upper 空気／公表する, Solange, though half-fainting from exhaustion and excitement, drew her husband aside and told him that she had most important （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） to give to Captain Dechamps before he 出発／死d for Versailles with the 囚人s.
"I must go with them, darling. But what are we to do with you?"
"Madame Desgrez will come with us," said Dechamps. "She cannot remain here and I have no 護衛する to send with her, I cannot even spare you. I do not know what number of the ギャング（団） there may be in the 支持を得ようと努めるd. We cannot, after all, take the 死体s with us." As he spoke he turned, and gripping Mlle. des Oeillets by the wrists, 需要・要求するd ひどく: "Who is that man?—that supposed Moor or Negro?"
The Englishwoman broke into crazy laughter, throwing her 長，率いる 支援する and showing her 目だつ teeth. "It is the Comte de Saint-Maurice," she shrieked, "the Comte de Saint-Maurice! You have killed the Plenipotentiary from Savoy! Now get out of that, if you can!"
After Desgrez had given M. de La Reynie an account of Solange's adventure and the extraordinarily important 発見 she had made at the summer-house in the grounds of the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta, the 長，指導者 of Police 発言／述べるd 静かに:
"Your wife is a 勇敢に立ち向かう woman, Monsieur Desgrez. She shall be rewarded. I hope you have her now in a place of safety."
"I have sent her to the convent at Claves—I did not consider her 安全な even in Dechamps' house."
"You have done wisely. The convent is ３倍になる 塀で囲むd, and yet—" M. de La Reynie gave a wry smile, "it could not long 含む／封じ込める Mademoiselle de Fontanges. That is where she was in 退却／保養地, and you have heard that she is now at Versailles?"
"Yes, I am sorry about it, Monsieur."
"Sorry? 井戸／弁護士席, I don't know—it's the way the world goes 一連の会議、交渉／完成する. She will be the King's mistress; and made a Duchess, and given a fortune, and she will 運動 in a coach with six horses."
"She will not be happy. One can see that she is not the 肉親，親類d of woman to enjoy those （名声などを）汚すd honours."
"Maybe, maybe," replied the 長，指導者 of Police wearily.
"Besides, I think—I don't know," said Desgrez, "but I do think that she is 脅すd. I saw her once, I remember, it seems so long ago, but it was only last winter, 運動ing through the streets of Paris. She splashed my wife's dress and gave her a bracelet—it was just at the beginning of this 事件／事情／状勢. I thought her gentle, 肉親，親類d, courteous—"
"She is all that, but foolish. She is the ghost of the King's real love," smiled La Reynie. "井戸／弁護士席, she must work out her 運命 like the 残り／休憩（する） of us. But why should you think she is afraid?"
"Perhaps she guesses, Monsieur, what we know—that Madame de Montespan is 解決するd to 除去する her."
There was a silence between the two men, and the 長，指導者 of Police looked grimly 負かす／撃墜する at the desk in 前線 of him.
"I do not like to use the words 'I dare not'," he said. "Yet I think there are no others that 適用する here. I dare not tell the King what we have discovered about Madame de Montespan."
Desgrez knew that La Reynie did not speak from any personal 恐れる, for there was no blemish in his courage.
"For what 推論する／理由, then, Monsieur, dare you not tell the King that we have discovered Madame de Montespan to be a sorceress 有能な of 殺人?"
"He has lived with her for twelve years, they have several children, whom he has made 合法的 Princes of the 血—he has not, perhaps, loved her, who can 裁判官?—but she has been his Queen of the Left 手渡す, 始める，決める up by him above all other women. He would not believe me," 追加するd M. de La Reynie 簡単に. "He has an unspeakable horror of such things—he would believe that I, you, your wife, Dechamps, all of us, were in a 共謀 to 名誉き損，中傷 the favourite—and we should go, as so many others have gone, that have dared to say a word against her."
After a pause he 追加するd sadly: "We have, you see, no proof."
"That is true," said Desgrez. "There is only my wife's word. The King would not be likely to take that against Madame de Montespan's—she must be, by now, an 遂行するd liar. Perhaps," he 追加するd, "you yourself, Monsieur, do not believe that what Solange says is true? You think, perhaps, it was an hallucination born of the 雷雨, her fright when she was lost?"
"No," replied the 長，指導者 of Police 厳粛に, "because La Voisin herself has 自白するd she has been for years in the 雇用 of Madame de Montespan."
"井戸／弁護士席, then," exclaimed Desgrez 熱望して, "will not that 納得させる the King?"
"The word of a woman like that, a sorceress, a poisoner, an abortionist, a creature from the slums of Paris? No!"
"Yet His Majesty was ready to credit that other 広大な／多数の／重要な ladies were 有罪の, that M. de Luxembourg was 有罪の. Is he so infatuated with Madame de Montespan that he will not hear a word against her?"
"His pride," said M. de La Reynie, "his pride. Never would he 収容する／認める that he had been deceived, vilely deceived by such a woman—and for years."
"What then, Monsieur," 需要・要求するd Desgrez, "do you ーするつもりである to do?"
Without bravado, but rather with the 空気／公表する of a man 大いに 疲労，（軍の）雑役d, M. de La Reynie replied: "My 義務, 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez. I shall put the dossier 含む／封じ込めるing the examination of Catherine La Voisin before M. Colbert. He, I do not 疑問, will put it before the King, and the result will be—" he smiled grimly, "we shall be ordered to send the woman to instant 死刑執行—and Madame de Montespan will 向こうずね more brightly in her lover's 注目する，もくろむs as she has shone before after 試みる／企てるs to 除去する her."
He rose, at which Desgrez 即時に also go to his feet. "Monsieur, may I ask one thing? What of Mademoiselle de Fontanges?"
"What of her?" repeated the 長，指導者 of Police, 注目する，もくろむing his subordinate intently.
"Do you not think, on your 良心, on your honour, Monsieur, that we should try to save her? It is undoubted that there is a 陰謀（を企てる） against her life—that is the kernel of all this 商売／仕事 we have been fumbling with for months, a 陰謀（を企てる） against the life of that unhappy young girl, against the life of the King."
"The King will be 警告するd—we can do no more. He will 辞退する to believe—I think you will find that we, you and I, and everyone else 伴う／関わるd in this 警告, shall lose our positions—we may be sent to the dungeons here in the Bastille. As I read the King, he will be glad to do this service for Madame de Montespan ーするために balance his infidelity with Mademoiselle de Fontanges."
"It is intolerable," exclaimed Desgrez, "that we should lose everything, our work, our position, perhaps our lives, for the gratification of this woman—and is she to be left to work その上の mischief?"
"I do not know what else we can do, Colbert himself may 落ちる if he tries to cross her."
M. de La Reynie took a pace or two across the room; the window-space where the clerks usually worked was empty. He paused there in the big 屈服する and looked out at the late summer 日光 gleaming over the 荒涼とした 塀で囲むs of the Bastille. "We have this for our 慰安, Desgrez," he said 本気で. "As far as I can understand, the 逮捕する has been flung wide, and all her 道具s and 共犯者s are in 刑務所，拘置所."
"Saint-Maurice is dead—and all his secrets with him, Monsieur," said Desgrez with 悔いる, "I see that the manner of his death was skilfully hushed up."
"M. Colbert wished it to be so—he did not even tell the King, he knew that he would not hear any スキャンダル that might touch the 指名する of the Princess of Savoy. You see what we work against," and M. de La Reynie shrugged his shoulders. "You saw the sumptuous and public funeral that Saint-Maurice had; he was supposed to have died from a sudden ague."
"Is it so 平易な," exclaimed Desgrez, "to buy so many people—doctors, lackeys, priests?"
"In Paris," replied M. de La Reynie, "anything may be bought for money."
He 追加するd in a more 事務的な トン: "The two coiners, whom I take to be but mean underlings, I am 非難する with their offence. That is public—they are brutish, sullen fellows who have 辞退するd to answer any questions. As for this Englishwoman, this Mademoiselle des Oeillets, now that she is 奪うd of her 麻薬s, she lies in an unconscious 条件. It seems that she used to be in the service of Madame de Montespan, who long ago rented the 郊外住宅 Malcontenta at Cagny to retire there when she had quarrelled with His Majesty. It was in this 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, La Voisin 宣言するs, in the stables there, that the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり was frequently held. Mademoiselle des Oeillets, La Voisin also 自白するs, left the service of Madame de Montespan some years ago and was believed to have returned to England—she （機の）カム now and then on visits to Versailles. It is （疑いを）晴らす that she has been the go-between for Madame de Montespan and La Voisin."
"We get so far!" exclaimed Desgrez in exasperation, "and yet, Monsieur, we never get to the end!"
"We never shall," replied M. de La Reynie. "The 事例／患者 is too obscure, too mysterious, too far-reaching. We might sit here 診察するing 囚人s for years and still never get to the 底（に届く） of it. All these people 嘘（をつく）, 否定する one another, create a 反対／詐欺 fusion by sheer malice, or sheer stupidity. Even the sight of the 拷問 議会, the 恐れる of the wheel or the 火刑／賭ける only 脅すs them into fresh lies. There have been now seventy-five 死刑執行s—and where are we? What we know has been discovered by chance, partly by your exertions and the courage of your wife. I have," he 追加するd, "to keep as （疑いを）晴らす a 長，率いる as possible. This, I think, is all we can do. Madame de Montespan must be 脅すd, must be 警告するd—she wouldn't dare, I believe, to 試みる／企てる either the life of the King or that of Mademoiselle de Fontanges—I cannot believe that she has any 道具s, 共犯者s at liberty. She would not like to at tempt anything herself—so," he 追加するd reflectively, "Madame de Montespan, aware that La Voisin, La Voisin's daughter, and Mademoiselle des Oeillets are in 刑務所，拘置所, will, I think, 持つ／拘留する her 手渡す."
"And yet one can never be sure, Monsieur, with a jealous woman. Think of her—ageing, fighting hard for the 力／強力にする that is life to her, seeing the King 落ちる into the 手渡すs of a younger 競争相手!"
"I do think of it," said the 長，指導者 of Police grimly. "I shall do what I can."
For several weeks M. de La Reynie received no answer to the 派遣（する）s that he had sent to M. Colbert. He and his sub ordinates doggedly did their 義務 through the autumn days that were slipping into winter; the tedious 決まりきった仕事 work of 診察するing 囚人s, collating 証拠, 行為／行うing the secret 裁判，公判s in the 兵器庫, …に出席するing 死刑執行s, went on.
Madame de Bouillon was 診察するd before the 法廷 sitting in the 兵器庫 and behaved with the greatest insolence. She appeared, …に出席するd by her dolt of a husband and by her arrogant lover, the Duc de Vendome, and 否定するd all the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s against her with a careless bravado that exasperated the 長，指導者 of Police.
M. de Luxembourg, undaunted by weeks spent in his 暗い／優うつな 地下組織の 独房, also behaved with cynic 無関心／冷淡, and 扱う／治療するd all the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s of sorcery, 毒（薬）ing and blasphemy as mere childish 発明s of his enemies. The スキャンダル of keeping a man of his position in 刑務所，拘置所 so long became at length intolerable to the 法廷，裁判所, and M. de Luxembourg was 申し込む／申し出d his 解放（する） from the Bastille on 条件 that he re tired to his 広い地所s; this he would not do, 需要・要求するing an open 裁判，公判, which was 辞退するd.
La Voisin 証明するd 平等に obstinate: she 拒絶する／低下するd to 追加する to her 自白 relating to Madame de Montespan. She even took 支援する much of this, 宣言するing that she had lied from spite.
M. de La Reynie believed, though all 証拠 was to the contrary, that she must have received some message telling her to keep up her courage because a 救助（する） was at 手渡す, so hard and insolent had become her 反抗的な manner—and yet her position was to all 外見s hopeless: she knew that nearly a hundred of her 共犯者s had 死なせる／死ぬd miserably and before her there was no prospect save that of the rope and the 火刑／賭ける.
"She has received some letter," said M. de La Reynie, "from the outside. Or the Devil himself," he 追加するd in exasperation, "has in reality got into her 独房 to encourage her."
The 長，指導者 of Police felt dispirited; he had the truth, the ugly, tremendous truth in his 手渡すs, and he knew that he could do nothing with it. This 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners continued to spread a fearful panic throughout フラン and still he could not stamp the evil out. He felt exhausted, 疲れた／うんざりした, both his strength and his courage ebbing; he envied Charles Desgrez, his young attendant, and his brilliant young wife, who had each other, their ありふれた 青年, their ありふれた happiness. He now had all the streets between Paris and Versailles so 井戸／弁護士席 policed that he considered it 安全な for Solange to leave the convent at Claves; she had returned to the house of Captain Dechamps, and there she had been joined by her husband, to whom the 長，指導者 of Police had given leave of absence for a few days.
The Chapel of Saint-Hubert that was over the coiners' den had been 破壊するd and the police had taken 所有／入手 of every 反対する 設立する there. M. de La Reynie believed that in the dead boar they had come very 近づく to the secret of the mysterious 毒（薬）. It had been 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd before that this 毒（薬） was distilled from the 泡，激怒すること 落ちるing from the jaws of an animal that had died from a dose of arsenic. It had, however, been impossible to 証明する this, as "行方不明になる Pink" had made the most of the few minutes she had been shut alone in the 地下組織の room. The pan that had 含む／封じ込めるd the liquid that had dropped from the dead animal's mouth had been cast on to the coals and the mouth itself smeared with ashes. Nor could La Reynie find a doctor in Paris who dared to under take the 仕事 of dissecting the animal; it was 確かな death, they 宣言するd, even to touch the carcass, which, dragged out from the coiners' den by アイロンをかける hooks, was cast into a 深い 炭坑，オーケストラ席 in the 支持を得ようと努めるd.
The 残り／休憩（する） of the paraphernalia in the 丸天井 was such as was necessary both to (1)偽造する／(2)徐々に進む 明らかな gold and silver pieces of base metal and to 成し遂げる さまざまな 化学製品 実験s. It was possible to discern from what remained of the 調書をとる／予約するs over which Mlle. des Oeillets had ぱらぱら雨d the 酸性の that these were 作品 of 黒人／ボイコット 魔法 in さまざまな languages, mostly German and English.
It was on the day that M. de La Reynie read in the Gazette, and read with an indescribable pang, of the sudden illness of the young Duchesse de Fontanges, that he received a message from Versailles. This 含む／封じ込めるd a letter from M. Colbert; in it were the 簡潔な／要約する 指示／教授／教育s that La Voisin was to be sent to instant 死刑執行 and to be 許すd to believe that at the last minute she might be 救助（する）d. This was only what the 長，指導者 of Police had 推定する／予想するd—yet it filled him with bitterness. The lesser 犯罪の was to be sacrificed and the greater to escape! The King, Colbert wrote, 扱う／治療するd the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） about Madame de Montespan as the basest 名誉き損，中傷, and he would not 危険 any chance of its 存在 repeated.
"He will not 直面する the truth," thought La Reynie as he gave the order for the 死刑執行 of Catherine La Voisin. "He will not even 直面する the 明らかにする 可能性 of its 存在 true. How can I," he asked himself in despair, "do my 義務? How can I root out this horror of 毒（薬）ing and sorcery from Paris when I 行為／法令／行動する under such a King?"
The other letter from Versailles, from M. de Louvois, 追加するd to M. de La Reynie's 失望. The （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 sitting in the 兵器庫 was to be 解散させるd, the 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners was to be の近くにd, the 罰 of La Voisin was to 令状 finis at the end of this 一時期／支部. The 事件／事情／状勢, wrote Louvois, was becoming so world-wide, so pernicious in its 影響s on the dignity and 評判 of フラン, that it must be at all costs hushed up.
"And secret 殺人," said La Reynie 激しく to himself, "it to continue! All our lives are to be held at the mercy of malice, greed, jealousy or madness!"
The 長，指導者 of Police's bitter and baffled musings were interrupted by one of his clerks who 知らせるd him that the Marchese Pignata を待つd him in his 賭け金-議会; M. de La Reynie received his 訪問者 with a 儀礼 that 隠すd a 疲れた／うんざりした 不本意 to 関心 himself with this young zealot who had so officiously proffered his help in the 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners, but who, though he had taken up a good 取引，協定 of the time and patience of M. de La Reynie, had never 与える／捧げるd anything of value to his 研究s.
He stood now by the fireplace on which the スピードを出す／記録につけるs 燃やすd, for the days were becoming short and 冷気／寒がらせる, and 迎える／歓迎するd the 長，指導者 of Police 熱望して.
"I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see you, Monsieur," he began at once, "'for I 恐れるd that you would be depressed by the 派遣（する）s from Versailles."
"You know their contents?" 需要・要求するd La Reynie rather drily.
"I am in the 信用／信任 of His Majesty's spiritual 助言者s. I am aware of the terrible 衝突 that is taking place in the mind of the King," replied Pignata 簡単に. "I know what he has 苦しむd. I was even permitted to 申し込む／申し出 him some advice."
"And what was that?"
"I 勧めるd him to 許す Madame de Montespan to be 逮捕（する）d and 直面する the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s of sorcery and 殺人."
"By your leave, Monseigneur, that's bold advice!" exclaimed La Reynie. "The King could not, would not, sacrifice this woman."
"Did not you 示唆する it yourself?"
"No. I only hoped to 納得させる the King of her 犯罪 in order that he might banish her from 法廷，裁判所, from public life."
"A 妥協!" exclaimed Pignata contemptuously. He held his delicate 手渡すs out to the 炎 of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. "This terrible woman せねばならない be punished—with 広大な／多数の／重要な severity."
La Reynie shrugged his shoulders; the young Italian's continual platitudes annoyed him.
"井戸／弁護士席, it is out of my 手渡すs. I have orders to send La Voisin to the scaffold, and to encourage her to hope for a 救助（する） to the last."
"It is fitting that she should die, but first she should be put to the 拷問 in order that she might 自白する."
"But it is 正確に her 自白 that I am to 妨げる—"
"Her public 自白, perhaps, but do you not wish, for your own satisfaction, to hear what she has to say?"
"Under 拷問? No, I shall probably 診察する her once more, in my own fashion, before her 宣告，判決 is 遂行する／発効させるd. Besides, I remember what even Colbert seems to have for gotten, that I have the daughter of La Voisin in 刑務所，拘置所 and that she is in 所有／入手 of all the secrets of her mother."
Pignata shuddered, 製図／抽選 nearer to the 炎上s.
"If I were the King of フラン I should root out all these abominations! I should 恐れる nothing. Saint-Maurice should not sleep in an honoured 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な."
"So, Monseigneur, you know that!"
"Did I not tell you that the King, 深く，強烈に 宗教的な at heart, often confides in me?" replied Pignata with his 甘い, serene look. "I know more than Colbert or Louvois—more perhaps that M. Bossuet or His Majesty's confessor. I have a 確かな 力／強力にする," he 追加するd modestly.
"Then, Monseigneur, I beg of you," said La Reynie 真面目に, "try to save the King's last favourite—the Duchesse de Fontanges."
"To save her?" Pignata ちらりと見ることd over his shoulder. "Her soul, you mean? Ah, she will repent soon enough! And per form as long a penance as La Valh鑽e."
"I did not mean her soul, but her life, poor child—since you know so much, Monseigneur, you must know that Madame de Montespan 脅すs her very 存在."
"Now that all her 共犯者s are in 刑務所，拘置所—or dead—she would not dare—nor would she have the means."
"So I thought, but I see in the Gazette that La Fontanges is ill."
"Yes, she is believed to be fretting, she was never strong—but I shall watch, I shall do my best—though what I can do I do not know."
"Could not 'you speak to Madame de Montespan, 警告する her of what you know?"
"She flaunts me, despises all advice; she is sure that though the King may 中止する to care for her he will never believe any thing against her," Pignata made a gesture of despair.
"The Devil himself seems to support that woman!"
"Or perhaps this 'Grand Master'," 示唆するd Pignata 激しく. "You have not come upon his 跡をつけるs?"
"No."
"井戸／弁護士席, I believe that I perhaps have. I was leaving the Louvre the other evening when a plain carriage drew up—a dwarf was 運動ing, a pale young man something of my own complexion was inside. He let 負かす／撃墜する the window and threw me a 一括, then the equipage drove on." Pignata paused; he seemed much agitated. "I was so amazed that I shouted after the carriage, but it was soon out of sight. I then returned to my apartment and 設立する that the wrapping of the packet was covered with a number of horrible 調印するs, 含むing the inverted cross. I was about to open it when my faithful Maria Pia （機の）カム in to （不足などを）補う the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and snatched the 一括 from me. I had forgotten my customary 警戒 of wearing gloves when touching strange 反対するs—a faintness over （機の）カム me. My old nurse threw the devilish stuff on the 解雇する／砲火／射撃—there was an 爆発, some 厚い foul ガス／煙s—and, God help me, I saw some hideous creatures like toads and reptiles はうing まっただ中に the 炎上s!"
"Some of their vile 麻薬s produce hallucinations," 観察するd La Reynie, who was inclined to think that the overwrought young man 大いに 誇張するd in this wild story.
"Maybe, maybe," Pignata shuddered, and put his slender 手渡すs over his 直面する for a second. "I am 納得させるd," he 追加するd, struggling for composure, "that this was an 試みる／企てる to 毒（薬） me."
"That may 井戸／弁護士席 be, Monseigneur. You are 井戸／弁護士席 advised to take all 警戒s. I do myself."
Pignata sighed.
"I am 納得させるd, also, that the young man was the 'Grand Master'—he had the 直面する of a fiend!"
"It might be, I 自白する that I have 設立する no 手がかり（を与える）. Yet some 長，率いる of this vile organization there must be. It is difficult to understand his 動機s."
The young Italian 選ぶd up his 黒人／ボイコット hat and gloves. "The 動機s of this villain? Those which 奮起させる the Devil, Monsieur. Pride and love of 力／強力にする."
La Reynie had scarcely 行為／行うd his 訪問者 to the gates of the Bastille when another 表明する arrived from Versailles. The advice of Colbert had 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるd over that of Louvois and the 影響（力） of Madame de Montespan. La Voisin was not to be sent to the 火刑／賭ける and every 成果／努力 was to be made to 抽出する 自白s from all the 囚人s.
A 延期する of more than three months in the 死刑執行 of the 宣告，判決 had not resulted in the extraction of any useful in 形式 from either La Voisin, or her daughter, or the English woman, Mary Pink (Mlle. des Oeillets), and the 複雑にするd 法廷，裁判所 intrigues in which M. de La Reynie knew it useless to 関心 himself had ended in the 勝利 of Madame de Montespan. La Voisin was to be put beyond any possible 弱めるing on her part; she was to be burnt 公然と in Paris while her male 共犯者s, の中で whom was Adam Descourets, her lover, were to be sent to serve a life 宣告，判決 in the galleys.
"Let us see now," 発言／述べるd Louvois drily, "how useful her 協定／条約 with Satan will 証明する! Perhaps he can 救助（する） her in 幅の広い daylight from the 中央 of the Parisian （人が）群がるs!"
As if to 確認する his contempt for the rumour whispered abroad against Madame de Montespan, the King was seen frequently in the company of his haughty mistress, who could not, however, induce him to 解任する the young Duchesse de Fontanges, who was kept with secret splendour in a 郊外住宅 out 味方する Versailles.
"It seems," sighed La Reynie, "as if the 力／強力にするs of evil have won the day."
He knew that La Voisin was 存在 punished not because of her 罪，犯罪s, but because Madame de Montespan did not feel 安全な while she lived—he could guess at the scenes and counterscenes that had taken place before the distracted King had been brought to this 決定／判定勝ち（する）.
The 長，指導者 of Police had no choice but instant obedience to the King and to the 大臣s. He 決定するd, however, if only for his own satisfaction, to discover as much as he could of the truth, before La Voisin paid the 刑罰，罰則 for her 罪，犯罪. For this 目的, therefore, he decided to visit her, on the eve of her terrible 罰, in her 独房.
Charles Desgrez …を伴ってd him. M. de La Reynie had conceived a warm regard for this young man to whose shrewdness he 借りがあるd much of the 漸進的な 広げるing of the whole 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners.
Catherine La Voisin still 占領するd the 荒涼とした 独房 that had been her home for months. A straw pallet was in one corner, a 木造の stool in another, a 閉めだした window gave, in the daytime, a 暗い／優うつな light—at night there was a small lantern placed in one corner, beneath which sat the 淡褐色 人物／姿／数字 of the janitress whose wax-like 直面する was tied in a cotton rag. The sorceress was never alone, a 女性（の） jailer always sat inside, and a male jailer always outside, her 独房; Desgrez had not seen her for several weeks and he felt an almost unconquerable revulsion at her 外見, as she half-sat, half-lay on her mat tress. The confinement, 相反する passions, the 刑務所，拘置所 diet had 減ずるd her person, always coarse and degraded, to one almost bestial; she had 倍のd her 手渡す in the dirty white kerchief of coarse linen across her bosom, a filthy cap with strings was drawn 負かす／撃墜する over her ragged grey hair, her lower lip hung pendulous, her lids drooped over her pouched 注目する，もくろむs.
As soon as she saw the two police officers, she began to mutter a stream of 乱用 in the language of the Paris streets. They stood silent just inside the door listening to her; there was no sense to be made out of her vile speech, which was incoherent and contradictory.
"There is no 信用," said La Reynie at last, "to be placed in anything you say, Catherine La Voisin. You would 告発する／非難する the King himself if you thought it would 伸び（る） you another day's life or gratify your malice."
La Voisin drew her 膝s up to her chin and clasped her 手渡すs 一連の会議、交渉／完成する them and, crouching in this unnatural position, grinned up at the two police officers.
"You are not as clever as you think you are," she sneered, dropping her witch-like 乱用 for a 事務的な トン. "You have already told me that to-morrow I shall be taken out in a tumbril and on the Place de Gr钁e be 燃やすd alive unless someone has the charity to order me to be strangled first."
"That is the truth. Have no more hope," said La Reynie 厳しく. "Remember that over a hundred people, your 共犯者s, your 道具s, or those working in the same organization as that to which you belong, have already 苦しむd this 運命／宿命."
"It will not be 地雷," replied the old woman wildly. "I have 力／強力にするs who will 救助（する） me."
"Can you still deceive yourself on that 得点する／非難する／２０?" 需要・要求するd the 長，指導者 of Police with disgust. "Do you not see your own 条件, your 哀れな 苦境? Is it possible you are still so besotted in your vile superstition as to think that any devil or fiend will come to your 援助（する） now?"
At this La Voisin laughed so defiantly and with such an 空気／公表する of self-保証／確信 that M. de La Reynie was, as he had been on this 得点する／非難する／２０ before, かなり baffled. It certainly seemed to him that someone had 伝えるd 保証／確信 of help to the woman. She would not surely, if she really believed that she was going to die the most horrible of deaths to-morrow, be have like this.
中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez said in a low トン to the 長，指導者 of Police:
"Monsieur, ask her on what she 設立するs her hope."
M. de La Reynie did so; the reply of the woman showed that she was gratified by having 混乱させるd the two police officers.
"Ah! you are wondering who has got in to me here—you keep me closely guarded, do you not? I am never alone night or day, am I? How many times have you taken me out and had me 診察するd, how many times have been led to the 拷問-議会 and made to look upon the rack and the pulleys and the water-jars? And still you've had nothing out of me."
"Nothing but lies," said M. de La Reynie; then he uttered the 指名するs of Madame de Montespan, Madame de Soissons and Madame de Bouillon. Catherine La Voisin laughed again; the 薄暗い yellow light of the lantern cast her pallid 直面する with the ragged hair and untidy cap into hideous 救済 of light and shade; she turned and shook her 握りこぶし at the jailer's wife, who, with her 直面する 包帯d because of toothache, was seated inside the door knitting indifferently.
"Ah! you would like to get something out of me now, would you not? But I have nothing to say—no, nothing! And don't you think that to-morrow you will see me 減ずるd to ashes. I shall be 救助（する）d—aye, even if you had ten thousand archers lining the 大勝する," she 追加するd wildly, "there are 力／強力にするs who will come to snatch me away! As for this hag here, she can't get anything out of me either, even though she 秘かに調査するs on me while I sleep."
"There will be nobody," said M. de La Reynie grimly, "even to 手渡す you a 減少（する） of your own 毒（薬） to put an end to your agonies to-morrow. You will be tied to the 火刑／賭ける and burnt to ashes—these will be scattered to the four 勝利，勝つd of Heaven, and Paris will be the purer. Come, Desgrez."
He took the arm of his subordinate and they left the 独房. As they walked 負かす／撃墜する the ill-lit 回廊（地帯）s of the Bastille, Desgrez asked his 長，指導者:
"The jailer, and the woman who sits with her, they are beyond 疑惑?"
"Oh yes," replied de La Reynie wearily. "People whom I have had in my 雇う for years, the staunchest and most faithful in my service."
"井戸／弁護士席," said Desgrez, "I was 観察するing the woman who was sitting in the corner while we were talking. I did not care for her looks—an 半端物, ネズミ-like 直面する—I thought the creature might have been a boy, it is true she is ill—perhaps in 苦痛, with that swollen, 包帯d 直面する."
"Your fancy is running away with you," smiled de La Reynie. "That was Martha Regnier. She is the wife of one of the jailers. No, no, Desgrez, Catherine La Voisin has had no communication with the outside world. No trick of that 肉親，親類d can have been played. She is 単に deceiving herself—and that's what the King wants. I should not have said what I said to her to-night, only I thought she might have 明らかにする／漏らすd something that would put us on the 跡をつける of what yet remained to be discovered. You must remember we still do not know who this 'Grand Author', this 'Master' is, who is directing the whole 商売／仕事—if such a person 存在するs outside Hell! I thought I could discover something from La Voisin on that 得点する／非難する／２０—but no!"
"I think that secret," replied Desgrez, "lies in the tomb that 持つ／拘留するs Saint-Maurice."
M. de La Reynie was 軍隊d to do what he much disliked, to play into the 手渡すs of his enemies. It was as much the 意向 of the King as of the poisoners that La Voisin should not 自白する to any 罪，犯罪s that 巻き込むd 広大な／多数の／重要な 指名するs or cast any スキャンダル upon the 法廷，裁判所. This M. de La Reynie under stood and in a way 認可するd; yet his instincts, both as a man and as 長，指導者 of Police, were against this の近くにing over of an ulcerated 負傷させる, this hushing up of a 網状組織 of 嫌悪すべき 罪，犯罪s. He had, however, stood over one of his cleverest clerks—an 専門家 copyist of all 肉親，親類d of handwriting and a man able to 除去する and 取って代わる 調印（する）s without breaking them—while he had written out on a 捨てる of paper as 近づく as possible in colour and texture to that 設立する in the confessional in the Jesuit church—"恐れる nothing. Your friends are powerful. You will be 救助（する）d, even at the last minute. Let no secrets pass your lips."
This piece of thin paper was rolled carefully, thrust into a straw, and the straw put through an orange that was served to La Voisin with her evening meal the night before her 死刑執行.
It was with some vexation that M. de La Reynie told Desgrez of this trick. "Not that I flatter myself I could ever have got the truth out of the woman, but I might have got something on which I could have worked—but now, because of 広大な／多数の／重要な ladies like la Montespan and la Bouillon and a few others, she is to be hushed up, and forever! ブイ，浮標d up with these 誤った hopes, she will go smiling to the scaffold and never utter a word."
"You 持つ／拘留する the other two women," said Desgrez 熱望して, "Mlle. des Oeillets and La Voisin's daughter."
"Yes," 報告（する）／憶測d the 長，指導者 of Police wearily. "But the first is so 麻薬-sodden that she is useless for our 目的—she does nothing but rave incoherent nonsense. The second is, or 影響する／感情s to be, an idiot."
"Monsieur, I do not think her so idiotic," 発言／述べるd Desgrez. "Let her stand to-day at the window of her 刑務所，拘置所, where she may see her mother going out in the tumbril, seated in the straw with the confessor behind her. Perhaps that will re 蓄える／店 to her some of her wits."
"I had thought of that. The King and M. de Louvois have overlooked these two women. They are so anxious that La Voisin should not speak, they have not remembered that there are two others who かもしれない might open their mouths. Yes, I will do that. Both these women shall stand where they will be 軍隊d to see La Voisin going 前へ／外へ to the 火刑／賭ける, where, perhaps, they will hear the shout of the （人が）群がる that 迎える／歓迎するs her."
"I have something else to tell you," said Desgrez. "Listen, Monsieur. I was not 満足させるd with regard to that woman whose 直面する was bound up as if she had a toothache, seated in the corner of La Voisin's 独房. Your know you told me that she was Martha Regnier, the jailer's wife, and a faithful servant."
"Yes, and surely it was?"
"I did not like the look of her, she gave me a 星／主役にする too blank, and this morning I took it upon myself to go to the woman Regnier's 宿泊するing, and, as I supposed, she had been 賄賂d to give up her 地位，任命する on more than one occasion to this stranger, this creature whom we saw yesterday. She showed me, poor devil, in a paroxysm of 悔恨 and 恐れる, a 捕らえる、獲得する of gold—five newly 造幣局d louts d'or—that she had been given to 降伏する her place to this person."
"Is it possible!" exclaimed La Reynie, amazed and humiliated. "Have you any 手がかり（を与える）, Desgrez, to discover who this creature is? Some messenger from any of the poisoners that are still 捕まらないで?"
"No, I have no 手がかり（を与える）. The disguise was very carefully done. Madame Regnier knows nothing except that two men dressed as Franciscan friars brought her the money, took from her the 着せる／賦与するs she usually wears, her 重要なs and the password, and sent this 代用品，人 in her place. As far as I can make out, on at least three occasions, this creature—I do not know if it be man or woman, but I 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う the former—has been seated in La Voisin's 独房 for hours. It was やめる unnecessary, Monsieur, I think," 追加するd Desgrez with a touch of respectful irony, "for you to send a message in the orange. La Voisin is already fully 保証するd of a 救助（する）."
"I grow 疲れた／うんざりした at my 仕事," 認める the 長，指導者 of Police, "These people are too clever for me."
"As it happens in this instance, Monsieur," replied Desgrez, with 広大な／多数の／重要な sympathy for his over-重荷（を負わせる）d 長，指導者, "these people have played into our 手渡すs. It was to our advantage that La Voisin should be 安心させるd 関心ing her last minute 救助（する）. By the by, Monsieur, do you think it possible that a 救助（する） may really be undertaken?"
"No, no. Who would be 関心d to 救助（する） this wretched sorceress? She has served the turn of these people—they are only 関心d that she should die without betraying them. It is strange that she 信用s them."
"Perhaps," 示唆するd Desgrez with a wry smile, "she really believes in the 保護 of the Devil."
The 長，指導者 of Police wrote an order for the 逮捕（する） of Marthe Regnier, the jailer's wife, and closely questioned Desgrez about the two 誤った Franciscans who had visited this wretch.
Desgrez had 得るd all possible （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） on this point. The woman had 述べるd one 修道士 as of medium 高さ, slender, with features so 始める，決める and stiff that he appeared to be wearing a mask under his hood, the other as 存在 so short that he might, have been 述べるd as a dwarf; they had 得るd 入り口 to the 管区s of the Bastille because they had passed for begging friars. They seemed to know their way about the place very 井戸／弁護士席, and had 設立する just the 権利 moment to tempt poor Marthe Regnier when she was alone in her little upper 議会.
There was, the 哀れな woman had 宣言するd, something fearful about the two friars and she had acceded to their wishes as much from 恐れる as from greed.
"They were sent by Madame de Montespan without 疑問," said La Reynie. "It shows that she still has willing, adroit 道具s at her 命令（する）."
"What is she afraid of now?"
"That La Voisin will speak her 指名する to the （人が）群がるs—自白するing everything out of spite."
"This messenger, then, 約束d her a 救助（する）?"
"So I take it, yes."
"But, Monsieur," said Desgrez, "if Madame de Montespan still has these powerful 共犯者s—what of the Duchesse de Fontanges, who is still, we hear, in a languishing 明言する／公表する?"
"There may be a hundred 推論する／理由s for that illness, besides the malice of Madame de Montespan," replied the 長，指導者 of Police, but a shade of uneasiness passed over his worn 直面する. "She has always been delicate—she must feel her position, this glittering dishonour, acutely. She is no 疑問 脅すd—even her fanatic love for the King cannot blind her to the shame and danger of her 地位，任命する. I hear that she has retired from the 法廷，裁判所 to a 郊外住宅 the King has given her 近づく Versailles—poor child, she has everything the world can 申し込む／申し出, yet they say she seems to be fading daily, like a flower without water."
"Still, I 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う Madame de Montespan," whispered Desgrez, lowering his 発言する／表明する. Though the two were alone in one of the long 回廊（地帯）s of the 刑務所，拘置所, he was 用心深い.
"I do not think she would dare, and now that the poor little 競争相手 has left the 法廷，裁判所, how is la Montespan to find an 適切な時期 of 害（を与える）ing her?"
"Still, I 恐れる her," replied M. Desgrez. "And so does Solange—she says she can never forget her 会合 with la Montespan at Cagny."
The streets of Paris were （人が）群がるd with 観客s on the occasion of the 罰 of La Voisin. There was in the 広大な／多数の／重要な city a sense of 救済; it was believed that this dreadful sorceress was the 長，指導者 of the 禁止（する）d of poisoners who had been lately brought to light, and it was felt that with her death, and the scattering of her ashes to the 勝利，勝つd, a 深い terror and a horrible menace would be 解除するd from all フラン. In all, nearly a hundred and fifty people had been 遂行する／発効させるd for the 罪，犯罪s of 毒（薬）ing, sorcery, infanticide and blasphemy, while more than that number of 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs had fled from フラン. The 詳細（に述べる）s of these 罪，犯罪s were kept from the public, who therefore invented wildly and embroidered fantastically the little that became known. The numbers of 殺人s, the times the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり had been held, the death roll of the 幼児s used in the 悪魔の（ような） ritual, the high 指名するs 伴う／関わるd, were all 誇張するd. The 指名するs of the 広大な／多数の／重要な ones who, like M. de Luxembourg, having been 解放（する）d from the Bastille, retired to their 広い地所s, Of of those who, like the Comtesse de Soissons, had left the country, were mouthed with delight by the gossips. But the 警戒s taken by the 長，指導者 of Police, in obedience to the order from the 法廷，裁判所, had been successful, and the 指名する of the King's powerful favourite had never been について言及するd in 関係 with these dreadful 事件／事情／状勢s, though bitter gossip had circled as 自由に and maliciously around the 指名する of many another 広大な／多数の／重要な lady 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd of—if not punished for—sorcery, 毒（薬）ing and infanticide.
Now the 死刑執行 of the 宣告，判決 on La Voisin was looked upon as the 最高潮 of the 事件／事情／状勢. Every window, every roof on the way from the Bastille to the Place de Gr钁e was packed; people stood in the road and on stands 築くd in 前線 of shops and doors. There was some dark 見込み that there might be an 試みる／企てる at 救助（する）, some uneasy feeling that the terrible sorceress might even now escape her 運命／宿命; there was also hope that a blasphemous but fascinating 陳列する，発揮する of 黒人／ボイコット 魔法 might be about to take place.
Who knew the 力／強力にするs of this woman? They had certainly not been 十分な to get her out of the Bastille or to 妨げる her from 存在 dragged in a tumbril to the most ingnominious and horrible of deaths—yet who knew? She might have saved the 最高の moment for a みごたえのある 救助（する）, if not by human 軍隊s, perhaps by the cohorts of Hell.
The February day was 冷淡な, a chilly 勝利，勝つd blew over the dark towers of Paris. The river, swollen in its banks, moved ひどく, flecked by にわか雨s of rain; but this 荒涼とした 天候 did not 妨げる 観客s from （人が）群がるing to suffocation all along the 大勝する, 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 広大な／多数の／重要な square where the scaffold was 築くd, where from the noble door of the Cathedral the grinning gargoyles looked 負かす／撃墜する on the funeral pyre where the 炎上s already burnt brightly.
It was 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez's 義務 to ride behind the tumbril at the 長，率いる of his company of archers. The death-cart was so ひどく guarded and the streets were so （人が）群がるd that the gaunt white horse could proceed only at a slow walking pace. To Desgrez this long 進歩 was horrible; he had now been 現在の at the deaths of many 犯罪のs, but had not over come his repugnance to this (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する 儀式の that presaged the taking of human life. He had to remind himself of that scene in the 地下組織の room at the end of the 行き詰まり des Fleurs, the moan of the 幼児 in the basket, the naked woman stretched on the 黒人／ボイコット altar and all the abominations of the witch and her 乗組員, before he could go through this final scene with equanimity. Desgrez thought of the 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of small, あわてて-made 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大なs in the （疑いを）晴らすing of the 絡まるd garden of the 砂漠d house, and decided 堅固に that it would be better for Catherine La Voisin to pass through the purifying 炎上s and be 減ずるd to ashes.
The demeanour of the 非難するd woman on whom so many 注目する，もくろむs were turned with looks of 恐れる and hate showed that she was under no 逮捕 in regard to her safety. She bore herself, indeed, with incomparable insolence, turning with arrogant rudeness from the confessor in the cart with her, who tried to induce her to look at the crucifix he held. She wore a 未亡人's plain dress of grey serge, with 黒人／ボイコット braiding and a plain white kerchief tied under her chin; a long confinement and the privation she had undergone had 追加するd 大いに to her 外見 of age; she seemed twenty years older than the still buxom matron with dyed hair and painted 直面する who had been sent to the Bastille いっそう少なく than a year before.
She is either, thought Desgrez, very sure of herself or extra ordinarily 勇敢な for, riding as の近くに as he was behind the cart, he could 示す that her lips were 会社／堅い, her 注目する，もくろむs （疑いを）晴らす, that the clasped 手渡すs she kept 倍のd in her （競技場の）トラック一周 did not tremble. She looked with disdain and curiosity on the （人が）群がる that, held 支援する with difficulty by the archers who lined the road, now and then 殺到するd 今後 so as to bring the プロの／賛成の cession to a 行き詰まり. All of the 観客s were 敵意を持った and many shouted vile 指名するs at the sorceress; now and then she smiled or waved her 手渡す at someone whom she managed to 選ぶ out in the （人が）群がる, either a friend or an enemy; then her 注目する，もくろむs, 有望な in their pouches of ash-coloured flesh, were 解除するd and she 星／主役にするd 熱望して at the facades of the houses, the hooded porches and elegant balconies of the noble h?els; from these, curious 直面するs, some 縮むing, some 熱心な with curiosity and hate, gazed 負かす／撃墜する upon her.
"She is wondering," thought Desgrez, "from what direction her 救助（する） is coming."
He, too, was on the 警報; he knew that nearly a thousand men would be on 義務 in the Place de Gr钁e in 事例／患者, indeed, there was some wild 試みる／企てる to 救助（する） the sorceress at the last moment. He 株d M. de La Reynie's opinion that this would not be very likely—it was 価値（がある） no one's while to at tempt so daring a 行為 for the sake of this abominable woman, now useless even to those who had 雇うd her so long. Besides, how could anyone 試みる／企てる a 救助（する） without 公表する／暴露するing their 身元 and running the 危険 of 株ing the 運命／宿命 of the 囚人?
"It is curious," thought Desgrez, "that she is still so 確信して."
He felt relieved when the dismal 進歩 at length ended in the 広大な／多数の／重要な square where the soldiery were 集まりd in 前線 of the 圧力（をかける） of the 観客s. The scaffold with its hideous paraphernalia stood stark against the noble facade of the church; the 炎上s of the funeral pyre 燃やすd brightly; the rain had been swept aside by a stiff, freshening 勝利，勝つd and the sky showed pale and faintly blue behind the two noble towers of Notre Dame.
Desgrez took up his place with his men beneath the scaffold, already guarded by two とじ込み／提出するs of soldiery. He ちらりと見ることd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the windows of the houses nearest the scaffold and he noticed that the second house from the Cathedral appeared to be empty, although no 疑問 a good price could have been 得るd for the use of the windows by sightseers.
These windows, however, were shuttered, save in the 事例／患者 of one in the 最高の，を越す storey. There, while Desgrez gazed, a 人物／姿／数字 appeared—a woman in a 黒人／ボイコット cloak which, as no 疑問 it was ーするつもりであるd, 合併するd with the background of the room. This person wore an ordinary vizard or travelling mask and her hood was over her 長，率いる. There was nothing peculiar about her 外見; Desgrez knew that there were many ladies of position and 肩書を与える who liked these horrible spectacles, but did not care to be seen enjoying them. It was やめる likely, he thought grimly, that this was one of Madame La Voisin's former （弁護士の）依頼人s who, having escaped herself by 推論する／理由 of her high position, wished to see how the ありふれた wretch 耐えるd the 拷問 she was about to 苦しむ. Desgrez, however, ちらりと見ることd continually at the house, for it occurred to him that it was possible some 試みる／企てる at 救助（する） might be made from this 静かな-looking building.
He noticed that La Voisin, as she 機動力のある the first step of the scaffold, also turned and ちらりと見ることd at this house; no 疑問 she had been told that even at the last minute she would be 救助（する）d. Yes, it was astonishing, but her 耐えるing showed that she believed it 確かな that even now, surrounded by hundreds of 兵士s and a large 敵意を持った （人が）群がる, she would be 救助（する）d.
"She must, indeed, believe in the Devil," thought Desgrez with an inner shudder; the 勝利，勝つd was bitter and stung his 上昇傾向d 直面する.
The sorceress had been 許すd the 特権 of 絞殺 before she was cast to the 炎上s, and the executioner stood ready; 式服d in 黒人／ボイコット, masked, with the cord in his 手渡す, 公式の／役人s behind him and the priests beside him; the 派手に宣伝するs （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域, then were silent; the 宣告，判決 was read; the （人が）群がる was bushed in 見込み.
Even now La Voisin did not seem to lose hope; she slowly unknotted the white kerchief under her chin and, に引き続いて the 指示／教授／教育s of the executioner, turned 負かす／撃墜する the neck of her bodice. All the while her small, evil 注目する，もくろむs were travelling over the （人が）群がる, waiting perhaps for a signal, waiting for some 介入 from man or devil; then her ちらりと見ること travelled again to that plain house with the の近くにd shutters and to that upper window where the woman in 黒人／ボイコット sat half-crouching behind the window-でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる.
A 深い hiss of horrid 見込み rose from the （人が）群がる as the executioner stepped 今後 with his cord. This sound 原因（となる）d Catherine La Voisin, for the first time, to 滞る; her courage seemed to 落ちる from her as suddenly as the white kerchief dropped from her 強化するd fingers. She looked 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, saw the man, saw the rope, she looked 負かす／撃墜する and saw the 直面するs of the （人が）群がる and the gleam of the 冷淡な daylight on the アイロンをかける 武器s of the 兵士s; she looked up again to that silent, shuttered house.
The executioner's assistant 軍隊d her 負かす／撃墜する on her 膝s; an 表現 of diabolical despair distorted her hideous features; as the rope was passed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her neck, a 指名する uttered in a gurgle of fury and 憎悪 left her lips.
The cord was 強化するd so quickly that only those nearest the scaffold could hear this 指名する: "La Montespan!"
At the same moment as the 団体／死体 of the sorceress was 投げつけるd to the 炎上s, the woman at the upper window with drew into the 不明瞭 of the room, which Desgrez believed must have been hung for the 目的 of concealment with 黒人／ボイコット cloth.
"Madame de Montespan herself!" he thought, and a daring 計画／陰謀 （機の）カム into his 長，率いる. If that was the King's favourite who had come to make sure that her vile 道具 死なせる／死ぬd with out speaking, this might be a superb 適切な時期 of trapping her, a chance, though it was the last chance of saving the life of la Fontanges, for Desgrez could not 株 the belief of M. de La Reynie in the impossibility of the favourite's 試みる／企てるing the life of the King's new love. He could not, however, leave his 地位，任命する until the 死刑執行 was 完全にする in all its 詳細（に述べる）, and even when the 団体／死体 of Catherine La Voisin had been 投げつけるd into the 炎上s and raucous cries of exultation and 救済 had gone up from the （人が）群がる, the 圧力（をかける） was so 広大な／多数の／重要な that Desgrez could only with かなりの difficulty manoeuvre his horse through the excited people.
So, when, …を伴ってd by two of his men, he reached the door of the の近くにd house, some time had passed since he had seen the lady at the upper window. The door was locked and there was no answer to the repeated pulls he gave the wrought-アイロンをかける bell 扱う. It was necessary, therefore, to 軍隊 the door. This 活動／戦闘 on the part of the police 原因（となる）d a commotion の中で the （人が）群がる in the 周辺, and Desgrez silenced them by shouting out that he was 跡をつけるing a すり who had been stealing from some of the good 国民s who had been watching the death of the sorceress.
Desgrez felt his heart （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 high; he knew that he was doing a daring, perhaps an indiscreet thing; even if it were Madame de Montespan crouching in this mean house in the Place de Gr钁e, it was not the wish of the King or of many other powerful people that she should be discovered. But Desgrez could not get out of his mind, perhaps out of his heart, the 人物／姿／数字 of that gentle young girl—la Fontanges. He remembered the two occasions on which he had seen her, once as she leant with an 空気／公表する of 関心 out of her 激しい coach, and 申し込む／申し出d his wife the sapphire bracelet to 支払う／賃金 for the spoiled gown, once as she knelt in terror by the death-bed of Jacquetta, the Italian maid.
He thought of her now, of all she had sacrificed for her romantic, childish love for the King—of the horrible vengeance that he was sure was slowly 消費するing her life. He was playing for high 火刑／賭けるs—a dangerous game, too—but if he could find the jealous Marquise who was a （弁護士の）依頼人 of La Voisin, he might be able to terrify her into forgoing her vengeance. He would have liked to 請け負う the adventure alone; he did not dare to do so; it was やめる possible that Madame de Montespan, or whoever the lady might be, had several 共犯者s with her in the house, and to 直面する them alone would be 単に foolhardy. Nor was it likely that either of the archers he had with him knew the King's favourite by sight or would 認める her under such 予期しない circumstances.
The house was unfurnished save for a few of the heavier pieces—sideboard, 議長，司会を務めるs and （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する: "Someone with some money to spend must have taken it, and taken it some months ago," thought Desgrez. "The houses that overlook the place of 死刑執行 命令（する） a high price."
There was no one on the ground 床に打ち倒す; he sent his archers to the 支援する to ascertain if there was an 出口 there, and alone, with his 手渡す on his sword, went up the 狭くする, plain, dark staircase. He believed it most likely that the woman whom he had seen at the 最高の，を越す window would wait until the （人が）群がる and soldiery had left the square, before she 試みる／企てるd to leave the house—unless, of course, there was some secret way at the 支援する. He was, therefore, intensely disappointed when he 設立する the two upper storeys 完全に empty; there were the large beds with their mattresses and hangings rolled up, there was a big Bible box (which made Desgrez 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that the house belonged to Protestants), there were one or two bales of tapestries and 一面に覆う／毛布s—nothing else.
Desgrez searched あわてて, but carefully everywhere, looking in the cupboards, in the closets, and even running upstairs and searching the attics in the mansard-roof—there was no one.
"She, whoever she was, has fooled me," he thought. "There must be a way out at the 支援する. It is impossible she should have slipped through that （人が）群がる unobserved—I had my 注目する，もくろむ on the door the whole time."
As he stood hesitating a shout from his men below 原因（となる）d him to hurl himself downstairs, taking two or three steps at a time. There was a 支援する door, which led on to a small 法廷，裁判所 yard, and there stood the two archers, a woman 完全に dressed in 黒人／ボイコット struggling in their しっかり掴む. She was cloaked, hooded and masked and was undoubtedly the same woman as Desgrez had seen at the upper window.
The archer explained that at first they had 設立する nobody either in the 中庭 at the 支援する of the house or in the small out-building that surrounded the outdoor 井戸／弁護士席, but that when one of them had gone downstairs into the cellar he had 設立する this woman crouching there behind a ワイン-butt. 納得させるd that they had 逮捕（する）d a 著名な prize, either the 選ぶ pocket herself or the 共犯者 of a すり, they held the struggling woman 堅固に while they explained themselves to 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez.
"Take your 手渡すs off the lady," he said, "and 許す her to explain herself."
"Surely, Monsieur," cried the woman in a 発言する／表明する that was hoarse with 怒り／怒る, "it is you that should explain yourself—this is my house, how is it you dare enter it with your men and 扱う／治療する me so violently?"
"We are in search of a 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd person, Madame. We have the King's 令状 to enter where we will. If you are innocent take off that vizard and explain your 商売／仕事. Tell me how it was that you were crouching in the cellar of your house, instead of 直面するing us as you would have done if you had been innocent?"
The lady seemed baffled by this bold 演説（する）／住所.
"I 辞退する to 宣言する my 身元," she answered, and her 発言する／表明する, which was low, 厳しい and oddly attractive, 滞るd a little. "I 控訴，上告 to your gallantry, your chivalry, Monsieur. There are occasions when it is not to a lady's advantage to 公表する／暴露する herself."
"Do not try to put me off, Madame," replied Desgrez 厳しく, "by feigning a love intrigue. I know you are here for another 推論する／理由. I saw you looking from the window when La Voisin was strangled half an hour or so ago. I saw you, Madame, put your finger to your lips as she raised her 注目する，もくろむs to you."
At this the lady drew 支援する, setting her tall majestic 人物／姿／数字 against the door that led into the 中庭.
"What do you want of me?" she said; her 手渡す went to her bosom, and through the 倍のs of the 黒人／ボイコット cloak, which was of some 罰金 woollen 構成要素, Desgrez saw the glitter of a remarkable cluster of diamonds.
"Not a 賄賂," he 発言／述べるd 厳しく. "But I have no 疑問 we can come to some 取引."
"取引! You 取引 with me!" replied the stranger with indescribable haughtiness.
Desgrez was inflamed by her トン and said grimly:
"Remember, Madame, that it is in my 力／強力にする to have your vizard taken from your 直面する. I have no 疑問 that I should 認める you."
"Your 容赦," said the lady, who seemed 打ち勝つ by 証拠不十分; she drooped against the dirty 石／投石する 塀で囲む of the pas 下落する. "I feel faint—you will excuse me—let me have at least a little 空気／公表する."
"Go into the 中庭, Madame, and take what 空気／公表する you wish."
Desgrez 動議d to his men to …を伴って the lady. She stepped into the 中庭 and, as if half-unconscious from faintness, sank 負かす／撃墜する on to the 石／投石する 縁 of the 井戸／弁護士席 on which stood a bucket.
"Very 井戸／弁護士席," she sighed in feeble トンs. "I am in your 力／強力にする, and if you wish to 取引 with me I must 服従させる／提出する. But, Monsieur, you are a gentleman, send away these two men. Do not have me exposed before them."
"I dare not, Madame," replied Desgrez. "I have seen too much this last year in Paris to 信用 anyone."
"But you see how helpless I am! Indeed, I feel ill! Do you think it is pleasant to see another woman strangled? My God, her 注目する，もくろむs, her 直面する—she began to 叫び声をあげる, too, I think, as she felt the rope 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her neck."
"She did not 叫び声をあげる—she uttered a 指名する, one that should be familiar to you, though perhaps it did not come to your ears, Madame."
"許す me," whispered the lady in an even fainter 発言する／表明する, "to smell my vinaigrette."
She pulled off her long 黒人／ボイコット gloves and Desgrez 発言／述べるd that her ringless 手渡すs were white and 井戸／弁護士席 kept; but they was already beginning to show the faint curdle of middle-age in the smooth 肌. He was watching her carefully, sure that she was looking for an 適切な時期 of fooling him, but she did indeed take the vinaigrette from a ch穰elaine at her waist. It was a long 瓶／封じ込める of pink glass covered with filigree silver, with a stopper 形態／調整d like a tulip, he noticed.
Still swaying, as if from extreme 証拠不十分, on the 辛勝する／優位 of the 井戸／弁護士席, the lady with a slow movement uncorked the 瓶／封じ込める and raised it to her nostrils under the 黒人／ボイコット lace frill of her vizard. Then, with a movement of incredible swiftness, she rose, dashed the contents—a strong-smelling perfumed spirit—in the 直面する of Desgrez, and was gone with a quickness almost unbelievable in one of her majestic stature through a 味方する door in the 中庭.
The men were after her 即時に, but she had locked the door in their 直面するs, and when Desgrez, feeling humiliated and foolish, had dashed the stinging perfume out of his 注目する，もくろむs, he saw them struggling in vain at the の近くにd door. But one of them had a トロフィー of かなりの value; he had clutched at the 飛行機で行くing lady and snatched from her bosom the knot of diamonds that Desgrez had seen gleaming under her cloak.
"I should never have listened to her 嘆願 for fresh 空気／公表する, I should never have 許すd her to come out here."
Desgrez felt 激しく cheated. He 星／主役にするd at the diamonds in his 手渡す; these were 大（公）使館員d to a knot of blue 略章, the colour of the 非常線，警戒線 bleu; he saw that they were の間の laced 初期のs—A. L.
"井戸／弁護士席, that is better than nothing," he sighed as he put them in his pocket.
When the two archers had broken 負かす／撃墜する the door in the 回廊（地帯） they 設立する themselves in an empty passage, one of the small, tortuous alleys that taken. He returned to the Bastille with the cluster of diamonds carefully 隠すd in the inner pocket of his jacket.
M. de La Reynie 設立する the expedient of placing his two remaining 囚人s where they could see La Voisin 存在 driven 前へ／外へ to her hideous death 高度に successful. The Englishwoman had fallen into a succession of fits and, にもかかわらず the cares of a doctor, seemed now beyond hope. But this 事柄d little to the 長，指導者 of Police, for the other 囚人, the younger La Voisin, had dropped all her affectations of idiocy and 落ちるing on her 膝s, had 宣言するd in a loud, （疑いを）晴らす 発言する／表明する that she would 自白する to the least 詳細（に述べる） all the 処理／取引s she had taken part in. She 宣言するd that she had been her mother's 権利 手渡す from the very beginning of the 事件／事情／状勢, that she knew all her mother's （弁護士の）依頼人s and that she had been 現在の at all the 黒人／ボイコット 集まりs both in Paris and Cagny where Madame de Montespan had invoked infernal 援助（する）, first to 安全な・保証する, then to keep the affection and passion of Louis de Bourbon.
M. de La Reynie sat up all night with two clerks taking 負かす／撃墜する the deposition of Mlle. La Voisin; he had taken it upon himself to 約束 her life; she would not be 許すd to remain in フラン, she might be 拘留するd in some island off the coast, she might be 追放するd, but he could 約束 her her life, and that she would not have to 直面する 拷問 if she would tell him without reserve all she knew. He did not 疑問 her 誠実; she dropped all her theatrical 空気／公表するs and all her 井戸／弁護士席-assumed affectations and 証明するd to be a woman of some sense, 完全に unscrupulous in character, callous to the last degree, and, until the moment when she had seen her mother 存在 taken in the cart to the Place de Gr钁e, of an implacable courage.
She spoke 明確に and sensibly; her story fitted together and on many points she was able to 申し込む／申し出 証拠. What she said 同時に起こる／一致するd with the depositions taken from other 囚人s of which she had not heard, and of which she could not be aware. On only one point was she obdurate; she 宣言するd that she did not know the 身元 of the "Grand Author" or "Grand Master", the 長，率いる of this infernal organization.
M. de La Reynie, after 診察するing this woman for hours, （機の）カム exhausted and 厳しい-直面するd into his office. The first pale, 恐ろしい light was 落ちるing over Paris and streaming faintly into the room where Desgrez waited for his 長，指導者. M. de La Reynie called for coffee, and when one of the clerks who were on 義務 at night brought this—it was always kept ready on a pan of charcoal—he drank it 熱望して, cup after cup.
Desgrez shook his 長，率いる; he had already had his breakfast and some sleep. He 関係のある to M. de La Reynie the scene that had taken place on the Place de Gr钁e and his own 試みる／企てる, which had only just failed, to 掴む the woman whom he believed to be Madame de Montespan; and he put on the 長，指導者 of Police's desk the cluster of diamonds 新たな展開d into the 形態／調整 of an A and an L.
"It was she," agreed M. de La Reynie 厳しく. "I have the whole story now 完全にする."
"And, Monsieur, what are you going to do with it?" 需要・要求するd Desgrez. "Is this to be hushed up?"
"No, I think it is a question of a woman's life. From what I can hear, you were 権利. La Fontanges is doomed, the other woman does ーするつもりである to 除去する her."
"The King—is the King to be told?" asked Desgrez.
"I shall go to Versailles at once. Though I feel that I can scarcely keep my 長，率いる up from 疲労，（軍の）雑役, it is my 義務 to go. She, this poor young Duchess, is languishing—and whether the King loves her or whether he has 単に used her as his toy, he surely will wish to save her."
"But will he believe you?" exclaimed Desgrez. "You have always told me that not a word against Madame de Montes pan will be credited."
"That is true enough," said M. de La Reynie wearily. "But I must try. I shall go to M. Colbert. I shall ignore M. de Louvois, who is her 同盟（する）, and if M. Colbert 許すs me, I shall myself tell the King what I have heard to-night from the lips of Catherine La Voisin's daughter."
When later in that day M. de La Reynie entered Versailles, a 疲れた／うんざりした man leaning 支援する on the cushions of his modest coach, his equipage had to stand 支援する while another far more sumptuous passed it. This was drawn by six grey horses harnessed in azure leather and caparisoned in tassels of blue wool and scarlet silk. On 最高の，を越す of this ornate coach was an (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する coronet, and a sumptuous coat of 武器 adorned the パネル盤s. M. de La Reynie ちらりと見ることd through the window and saw within, leaning 支援する on the blue cushions, the woman whom he knew as la Fontanges—now the youngest Duchess in フラン and the King's last mistress. Her 手渡すs were clasped on her （競技場の）トラック一周, where her pet monkey lay asleep, her 注目する，もくろむs were の近くにd, her 直面する was pale—she looked as pallid as a hot-house flower. "She is dying," thought M. de La Reynie with a pang of 悔恨. In a small room in the 広大な palace of Versailles, far from the sumptuous galleries and stately salons, M. de La Reynie spoke with M. Colbert, showed him papers, explained them 簡潔に, gave an account of what he had heard from the daughter of La Voisin.
The 大臣 made 公式文書，認めるs of this conversation, took the papers from the 長，指導者 of Police, put them into his 大臣の地位 and waited on the King, entering His Majesty's apartments すぐに before the (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する 儀式の of supper.
That night the courtiers were not received by His Majesty, who sent out a message by his chamberlain that he was indisposed and would keep his rooms. It was seldom that one so rigid in the 事柄 of etiquette as Louis XIV broke his own 支配するs, anti the 撤退 of the King from all his familiar observances and customs 原因（となる）d much comment and whisper の中で the courtiers. It was 一般的に believed that he was 大いに 乱すd by the sudden relapse of la Fontanges, who had lately been much 回復するd in her health.
There was no one, however, who （機の）カム 近づく to guessing the real 原因（となる） of the King's 撤退 from his 法廷，裁判所, and no one save M. Colbert, M. de La Reynie and the King's faithful valet knew that His Majesty, in the plainest of 着せる／賦与するs and wearing, contrary to his custom, a 黒人／ボイコット peruke over his own chestnut hair, had left the 広大な ch穰eau by a 味方する door and had driven in La Reynie's coach, as quickly as fresh horses could contrive, to Paris.
The 長，指導者 of Police was 許すd through the gates without any 尋問, and the plainly dressed gentleman in the 影をつくる／尾行する of the coach passed for one of his assistants. When they arrived at the Bastille it was the middle of the night, a 冷静な／正味の 勝利，勝つd blowing, the glow of 冷淡な moonlight 落ちるing over the roofs and towers of Paris.
M. de La Reynie sent for 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez and, 製図／抽選 him aside, あわてて explained the position to him:
"The King has been told by M. Colbert of our 発見. He is utterly 圧倒するd, and yet, even now, he will not believe. He has come here to listen himself to this woman."
"Here, himself!" whispered Desgrez. "His Majesty in the Bastille!"
"Aye, for the first, and, as I suppose, the last time. But nothing else will 満足させる him. M. Colbert told me that his sufferings are terrible—he has been struck cruelly on his tenderest 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, his pride, and perhaps his affection for this woman."
"But," replied Charles Desgrez, "does he not understand that he is 危うくするing the life of the young Duchess?"
"He does not, cannot, believe that. He thinks that she is 沈むing in a 消費. Yet he was shaken when he re called that the Duchesse de Fontanges had received from Madame de Montespan a pair of Italian gloves, a box of English lace, a bouquet of hot-house flowers and several other trifles. She has 影響する／感情d, you see, a 完全にする 仲直り with, and friendship for, her 競争相手."
"There still may," said Desgrez, "be nothing in it."
"I do not think so," said M. de La Reynie 厳しく. "My hope is to save that young woman, the last 犠牲者 of the poisoners. It is hardly possible that the King will not be 納得させるd by what he hears to-night. I want you." he 追加するd, "to be 現在の. There is no one else on whom I can so 完全に rely. You will take the place of a clerk and will remain in a corner, taking 負かす／撃墜する as 速く as you can what passes. You will, of course, pretend to be 完全に ignorant of the 身元 of the King."
The examination of the younger La Voisin took place in her 独房; there were 現在の M. Colbert, the 長，指導者 of Police, the King and Desgrez; the 囚人 knew only the 身元 of the two police officers—the other gentlemen were to her 単に 公式の／役人s of the Bastille.
Desgrez could not help giving a furtive ちらりと見ること at the King. He felt a 深い compassion for the man who must be 耐えるing at this moment a bitter humiliation and an almost 信じられない anguish.
With a nervous signal to M. Colbert and M. de La Revnie to 請け負う all the 商売／仕事, the King took one of the straw-底（に届く）d 議長，司会を務めるs and sat with his 支援する against the 塀で囲む, 井戸／弁護士席 out of the light of the one lantern that cast a 暗い／優うつな 照明 into the 独房. His 直面する was pale and twitching, his 手渡すs moved nervously in the plain lace of his ruffles; he looked his age and more. Desgrez wondered whether if any of his 支配するs were to see him now they would 認める in him their magnificent 君主, the idol of a nation and the terror of Europe.
La Voisin, haggard and desperate, but （疑いを）晴らす and resolute in her speech, repeated all she had already told M. de La Reynie. M. Colbert cross-診察するd her with 公平さ and 技術, now and then checking facts and dates from the papers he held in his 手渡すs. The narrative that thus 現れるd was unassailable in its grim truth. La Voisin 宣言するd that Madame de Montespan had come to her mother for a love philtre some twelve years ago, before the King had even looked at her, that it was by the means of these potions that she had drawn His Majesty's affection from Louise de Valli鑽e to herself. She 宣言するd that during these years when Madame de Montespan had 支配するd as Queen of the Left-Nand she had been in constant touch with Catherine La Voisin, who had 供給（する）d her with 麻薬s to keep the King faithful to her every time that there had been a 弱めるing in his infatuation—when, for instance, he had left to join the armies in Flanders, Madame de Montespan, in despair at either his absence or his coldness, had 訴える手段／行楽地d to Catherine La Voisin, and there had been in the stables of the 郊外住宅 at Cagny or in the 廃虚d house in the 行き詰まり des Fleurs in Paris or in some other obscure 位置／汚点／見つけ出す, a 祝賀 of the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり at which Madame de Montespan had not hesitated to 成し遂げる the most 反乱ing and detestable 儀式s. She had permitted, on her に代わって, infanticide—the sacrifice of a new-born 幼児 whose 血, as an 申し込む／申し出ing to the Infernal 力／強力にするs, had been 注ぐd upon her nude 団体／死体, which had served as altar.
La Voisin also 自白するd that when the King had first turned his attention to Mademoiselle de Fontanges, Madame de Montespan had again 訴える手段／行楽地d to these 黒人／ボイコット arts. This time they had not been successful, and the young woman swore that she had heard the 追い出すd favourite ask Madame La Voisin not for a love charm but for some 毒（薬） which should destroy both la Fontanges and the King.
"You say," 示唆するd M. de La Reynie deliberately, not looking at the man who sat in the 影をつくる／尾行する beyond the lantern light, but ちらりと見ることing for a second at the pale, lined 直面する of M. Colbert, "that Madame de Montespan 願望（する）d to encompass the death of the King."
"Indeed, that is so. It was before our 逮捕（する） that she first made the suggestion. She said that she would not live to be 取って代わるd, to retire to a convent. She 宣言するd that the King should go. One suggestion was that he should he 手渡すd a 嘆願（書） when he was 運動ing from Versailles, and that this should be impregnated with arsenic. But she always 宣言するd that she would see la Fontanges die first, that the King was to 耐える that 苦しむing."
At these words Louis made a sudden movement, then, as Colbert ちらりと見ることd at him, drew 支援する into the 影をつくる／尾行する again, putting his 手渡すs in 前線 of his 直面する.
"Why was it that your mother did not 明らかにする／漏らす any of these horrors?"
"Because," replied the young woman, "she was 約束d, even to the last, that she should he 救助（する）d. She believed that the Master had the 力／強力にする to do this. She did not think that Madame de Montespan would 許す her to die. Her hopes were raised when a messenger arrived, taking the place of the jailer's wife and sitting with her all day. She told me this when we were 許すd to 会合，会う just before she was taken away for her 宣告，判決 to be 遂行する／発効させるd."
"And this messenger," asked La Reynie 熱心に, "did you know who he was?"
"No, I did not. My mother did not tell me. I do not know who the Grand Author is, I 断言する to you—I should 断言する as much with the rack and the pulleys in 前線 of me. I should 断言する as much were I at the 火刑／賭ける—I do not know."
"It is possible," said M. de La Reynie calmly. "I have 約束d you your life, that you shall not be 拷問d. Now, I have one thing more to ask you. As far as I know, all the conspirators in this horrible 商売／仕事 have been 逮捕（する）d and most of them have been put to death. How then would it be possible for Madame de Montespan to 器具／実施する her designs without any help?"
"She will do it herself," said La Voisin. "I see, Monsieur, that you do not know this woman. Nothing would stop her once her fury was roused."
Again the King made a movement of 苦しめる, and Colbert spoke あわてて:
"Do you mean that Madame de Montespan, would, by her own means, her own 手渡すs, as it were, 毒（薬） her 競争相手?"
"Yes, she would. She would even 危険 （犯罪，病気などの）発見. She knows that the King will not dare to touch her—even if he （機の）カム to loathe her, the スキャンダル would be too horrible. Besides, I think that if she could avenge herself, she would die willingly."
"Where," asked M. de La Reynie, "would she get the 毒（薬）? It used, I take it, to be 製造（する）d in the coiners' den beneath the Chapel of Saint-Hubert in the park at Cagny?"
"Mademoiselle des Oeillets 伝えるd to Madame de Montespan a large 部分 of the sublimate of arsenic の直前に her 逮捕（する）. She was the go-between, why don't you question her? There was a dwarf, too, who seemed to know everything."
"But you—have you told everything? We are 取引，協定ing with coinage, 殺人, blasphemy, all these 残虐（行為）s! The only expiation that you can make—a 哀れな one—is to 明らかにする／漏らす all that you know."
"Question me," replied the woman with a sullen, exhausted 空気／公表する. "Ask what you will."
The 大臣 ちらりと見ることd at the King and asked in a low 発言する／表明する:
"What is your 楽しみ, Monsieur?"
There was a moment's silence in the dark 独房, then, with a half sigh, the King spoke.
"Yes, I have some questions to ask. Woman, answer me honestly. If I （悪事，秘密などを）発見する you in a 嘘（をつく）, M. de La Reynie's 約束 will be 孤立した, and you shall 苦しむ the proper 罰 for a witch."
Trembling before this トン of 当局, La Voisin clasped her 手渡すs and swore to speak the truth.
"Then," said the King, speaking slowly, "do you know anything of the death of the Duke of Savoy?"
"He was 毒（薬）d by his wife, Marie de Nemours, and her lover, Saint-Maurice. They were helped by Delmas (or Roussel), the Duke's 団体／死体-servant, and Rose, a laundry-girl my mother trained."
"Why did the Duchess send her lover—after this 殺人—to フラン?"
"Because she 設立する another. They quarrelled. She paid Saint-Maurice—all of us—to keep 静かな. Saint-Maurice ran a coining factory—we had スパイ／執行官s to pass the money into Spain and Flanders, but he was very extravagant. My mother introduced him to la Montespan. He was the only one amongst us that knew how to get the truly 効果的な 毒（薬）, the mixture of Exili and Glazer. He 始める，決める up several women in Paris to sell the stuff—La Bosse の中で them. My mother's lover, Adam Descourets, used to 行為／法令／行動する as スパイ／執行官 for Saint-Maurice."
"Where in the first instance did the 毒（薬） come from?"
"Italy as we supposed, but we never knew. Saint-Maurice kept that secret. I am not sure if even he knew who the Grand Master was."
The King gave a faint groan, and bit his under-lip.
"It is incredible!" he exclaimed, "that all this was taking place in Paris and no one knew!"
"A large number of people knew, Monsieur," replied La Voisin with a sneer. "It was because of that that the secret was kept—it was in the 利益／興味 of so many to be 控えめの!"
Controlling himself with an 成果／努力, the King asked:
"This—貿易（する）—was so 井戸／弁護士席 organised, so 井戸／弁護士席 設立するd that 毒（薬）s, charms, 麻薬s could be 得るd 自由に and infanticide and abortion were almost 率直に practised?"
"Yes," the 囚人 grinned. "No 疑問 you would be surprised, Monsieur, at the 指名するs of some of the 広大な／多数の／重要な ones who made 協定／条約s with Satan—why hardly a Captain went to the wars who did not come to us for a charm to （判決などを）下す him 弾丸 proof."
"So!" exclaimed the King with an impatient movement. "井戸／弁護士席, witch, I have a mind to order you, after all, a turn of the rack. I believe that you do know who this Grand Master, this arch-villain, is."
"No! No! I 断言する! No one knows! Not even la Montespan!"
"There must be an intermediary."
"It was a dwarf."
"Bah, there are hundreds of these little monsters in Paris!"
"On my soul—"
"Your soul," interrupted the King in 広大な／多数の／重要な agitation, "that is 予定 to the Devil—lost, damned. La Reynie," he turned to the 長，指導者 of Police, "I feel stifled in here—the 空気／公表する is really foul with evil."
"You wish this examination to be 結論するd, Monsieur?" asked the 長，指導者 of Police.
The King ちらりと見ることd at Colbert and then said ひどく: "No." を締めるing himself, he turned again to the 囚人 and asked 厳しく:
"Have you ever seen the Devil or any of his fiends?" The 囚人 gave a wild laugh.
"How do I know? The 集まりs were ugly enough—one was always intoxicated. I've seen things."
The King leant 今後 and clutched Colbert's wrist.
"Young Innocenzo Pignata told me he had seen vile reptiles in the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 after he had 燃やすd a packet given him by a stranger who was driven by a dwarf."
"Pignata is a zealot," replied Colbert. "He's a fanatic."
"He is pious and 充てるd to God," said the King uneasily. "He may have a （疑いを）晴らす 見通し for these abominations! He saw La Voisin driven through Paris—he told me he saw her familiars crouching in the straw of the cart." Louis shuddered violently. "He fainted on the balcony of the H?el de Sully."
"He せねばならない be in a 修道院 where his 見通し could be controlled," 発言／述べるd Colbert.
The King's panic was checked by this comment. He turned to the 囚人 and 需要・要求するd in トンs of sharp 当局:
"You have no 疑惑 of the 身元 of this Grand Master—no 手がかり（を与える）?"
"非，不，無. I have 宣言するd as much again and again. Why do you contrive to 拷問 me?"
"You were 現在の at these unspeakable 儀式s—in which Madame de Montespan took part?" whispered the King.
"Yes—many times."
"Who were the celebrants?"
"Guibourg and Davout."
"Both since strangled at the 火刑／賭ける," put in La Reynie. "What was the 反対する of Madame de Montespan's 出席 at these 儀式s?"
"I have said. To awaken and 保持する the passion of the King for herself. My mother continually gave her love-philtres with which she dosed the King. She kept him drugged for years."
Louis put his 手渡す to his 直面する, then asked 静かに:
"What do you know of the 殺人 of Jacquetta Malipiero?"
"The usual story!" sneered the 囚人. "Her father was in the 支払う／賃金 of Saint-Maurice and tried to 雇う the girl to dose the food of la Fontanges, when she 誘発するd the jealousy of la Montespan."
"Ah, that!"
"正確に, that! Besides Jacquetta had a lover, she would never tell his 指名する—she said he lived in the Louvre, and that he was as beautiful as an angel! An angel! My God!"
"Why was she 殺人d?" 需要・要求するd the King ひどく.
"She had to get rid of her child, and we 手配中の，お尋ね者 one for the 集まり—but it was difficult to get her 同意. She knew too much. So her father got rid of her and invented the attack in the orangery. How much more do you want to know?"
"Have you any idea who this 哀れな creature's lover may have been?"
"No. We always thought it was the Saint-Richard who was the lover of Madame de Poulaillon. Perhaps the Grand Master in person amusing himself with his disciples!"
"Was this Saint-Richard ever 設立する?" 需要・要求するd the King of M. de La Reynie.
"No, Monsieur. The 指名する was, I think, assumed."
The King rose; Desgrez noticed that he had to clutch the 支援する of his 議長，司会を務める to support himself.
"Enough," he muttered. "Enough," and he turned to leave the 独房. With a frenzied cry the 囚人 投げつけるd herself for 区, shrieking:
"Remember your 約束! Remember!"
"It shall be remembered," replied M. de La Reynie, with upraised 手渡す. The four men passed into the 回廊（地帯）, and the 長，指導者 of Police slipped the bolts of the 独房 door.
"She must not be 解放（する）d," whispered the King. "Ten years at least in Sainte-Marguerite, until this—horror—has been forgotten."
"If she made public, Sire, what she has told us to-night, she would not be believed," said Colbert. "Does Your Majesty wish to leave now?"
"No. I want to see Mademoiselle des Oeillets."
"Sire!" 抗議するd La Reynie, "she is in a shocking 明言する／公表する—the 欠如（する） of her 麻薬s has 減ずるd her to 半分-idiocy."
"I must see her. I knew her—she was Madame de Montes pan's attendant."
Reluctantly La Reynie led the way to the ４半期/4分の1s of the 要塞 where the sick 囚人s were kept and, leaving Colbert and Desgrez on the threshold, 行為／行うd the King into the room where the Englishwoman passed her 存在 between raving frenzy and torpor.
She lay on a bed half 隠すd by blue and white check curtains, a serge coverlet over her 団体／死体; a 修道女 sat at her Breviary by the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in the corner, the 独房, if 荒涼とした, was clean and warmed by a stove 井戸／弁護士席 filled with billets of 支持を得ようと努めるd. 動議ing to the sister to remain still, the King crossed the room, pulled aside the cheap curtains, and 星／主役にするd 負かす／撃墜する into the puffy, distorted 直面する of Mary Pink.
She opened her swollen 注目する，もくろむs and blinked up for a second at the haggard man gazing at her in the 暗い／優うつな light of the oil lamp, then, with a maniac shriek, she sprang to a sitting position.
"Ah! Louis de Bourbon! How often has your 指名する been written on the 黒人／ボイコット wafer and ぱらぱら雨d with the 血 of the 殺人d 幼児!"
The King stepped 支援する, letting the curtains 落ちる, and 解除するd his 手渡すs to his 注目する，もくろむs.
The 長，指導者 of Police led the way to his office, and there he and Colbert remained standing while the King sank into the worn leather 議長，司会を務める at the desk.
"毒（薬）d!" he exclaimed, "and for years!—kept bemused, crazed, sick with her filthy 麻薬s."
He raised his 手渡す and let it 落ちる over the pile of papers in 前線 of him. It was （疑いを）晴らす to the two men who watched him that he could scarcely 命令（する） himself. "And yet," he 追加するd obstinately, "still I do not believe! How can I tell whether that sorceress was not lying? The Englishwoman was 明確に lunatic."
"It is possible, Sire," replied M. de La Reynie 静かに, "that she is lying. I have but one other piece of 証拠 to put before Your Majesty." He 関係のある 簡潔に the 出来事/事件 that had taken place on the occasion of the 死刑執行 of the 宣告，判決 upon Catherine La Voisin, when Desgrez had seen a woman watching from the 明らかに empty house in the Place de Gr钁e.
"That lady, who pretended she was some aristocrat engaged in an amorous intrigue, escaped by a trick—not, however, before one of the archers had clutched this from her dress."
M. de La Reynie put on the desk in 前線 of the King the interlaced diamonds that formed the 初期のs A. and L. "Those who 干渉する witchcraft, Sire, like to wear diamonds, which are supposed to have the 所有物／資産／財産 of 保護するing them from the 力／強力にする of Satan."
After a half-ちらりと見ること at the King's 直面する, the two men turned aside and walked to the window place, leaving Louis de Bourbon without anyone to 調査する on his agony of 苦しめる and shame.
He 選ぶd up the flashing jewels and 鎮圧するd them in his 手渡すs until the setting pierced his flesh; he remembered when he had given them to her—the day of the 広大な／多数の／重要な f黎e in Versailles when her beauty, her brilliance and her amusing tongue had won him from the woman whom he had truly loved—Louise de La Valli鑽e.
He had had the jewels 始める，決める for Madame de Montespan some weeks before the festival, and yet had hesitated whether or not to give her this 記念品 of love, for she had not before then 大いに fascinated him, he had not liked her violent temper, her arrogant 空気／公表するs.
It was useless now to think of these things; he had been 部隊d to a sorceress, perhaps to a murderess—all that he held abominable and dreadful had been 部隊d to him by the tenderest, most 熱烈な of 関係; for her sake he had sacrificed Louise, for her sake he was sacrificing another woman. With greater terror and 悲惨 than he had ever felt in his 勝利を得た life, he thought of the young woman whom he had lately created a Duchess, whom he had seen sick and languishing in the splendid 郊外住宅 he had given her の近くに to his own 城—who had told him in the glades of Cagny: "I am afraid!"
He put the diamonds in his pocket and rose. "M. de La Reynie," he whispered hoarsely.
The 長，指導者 of Police （機の）カム 今後.
"Should Your Majesty 要求する any more 証拠, I have it. There are letters, there are papers that were 設立する in the last 住居 of La Voisin in the rue Beauregard—the paper that was 設立する in the confessional of the Jesuit Church in the rue Saint-Antoine has been traced to this Mademoiselle des Oeillets. It seems, even then, there was a 陰謀（を企てる） against your Majesty's life. This Englishwoman had begun at that period to take 麻薬s, she was not a 信頼できる スパイ／執行官 of these abominable designs, and in a fit of 悔恨 entered the confessional, where she dropped this paper."
The King did not seem to listen; he was 星／主役にするing 負かす／撃墜する at the desk, on which were the neat piles of police dossiers.
"I do not 願望（する）," he said under his breath, "to hear any more. I wish to return, 即時に, to Versailles."
M. Colbert went up to his master, to the man whom he had served so loyally and brilliantly for so long; the King took his arm; he staggered a little as he turned to the door, and the 大臣 said:
"Would not Your Majesty stay in Paris for one night? It could all be contrived so that no 疑惑 was 誘発するd."
"Not for one night," replied the King. "I have an 緊急の 義務 to 成し遂げる."
"And so have I," sighed M. de La Reynie as the door の近くにd upon the two. "I have nearly （疑いを）晴らすd up this 事件／事情／状勢, but I in tend to find out who this Grand Author is."
He touched his bell for Desgrez, who was waiting outside, and when the young man （機の）カム in, spoke to him with 疲れた／うんざりした 決意／決議.
"Desgrez, the King is 納得させるd at last. I hope in time to save la Fontanges."
"He 苦しむd horribly, Monsieur. I 現実に pitied him. I pitied the King of フラン!"
"You had good 原因（となる）. He is a most unhappy man, most humiliated. Besides, he is getting old. They say that he turns more and more to la Maintenon, the pious governess of his children by this wretched woman."
"I hope that she can 慰安 him now."
"She will do her best," smiled La Reynie. "She has been waiting a long time. It is 半端物 that while la Montespan has gone to such lengths to rid herself of possible 競争相手s, she has never noticed that menace on her own hearth."
The 長，指導者 of Police sighed and yawned.
"Tell them to make some coffee, Desgrez, plenty of strong coffee. Sit 負かす／撃墜する. Keep me company a little while."
Desgrez obeyed, asking, "Is this 事件／事情／状勢 really at an end, Monsieur?"
"It is to be の近くにd. The King will を取り引きする la Montespan. The （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 sitting at the 兵器庫 is to be 解任するd. All the 記録，記録的な／記録するs of the different examinations and 裁判，公判s are to be destroyed. The public is to be 安心させるd that all is over—the sorcerers and poisoners all rooted out."
"But I 悔いる, Monsieur, that we cannot find this infernal Grand Master!"
"I ーするつもりである to find him," replied La Revnie, 熱望して drinking his coffee. "See this, Desgrez, that was flung into my carriage to-day, wrapped 一連の会議、交渉／完成する a 石／投石する."
"By a dwarf?"
"By an old woman wearing a high bonnet—read it." Desgrez 広げるd the 捨てる of plain white paper on which was written in a neat script:
"Congratulations. M. le 中尉／大尉／警部補 de Police! You have done very 井戸／弁護士席! But I think that the winning card remains with me. You have certainly broken up my organization, but you have not discovered my 身元. You are, after all, わずかに stupid! Grubbing along at your 決まりきった仕事 work you have no conception of real greatness, courage, genius! Do you think that I who have dared so much will now 辞職する myself to oblivion? You cannot understand my 動機s. You do not realize the joy it is to be God and Satan in one—to destroy for the love of 破壊, for lust or greed or ambition, as one wishes! You cannot understand the superb sense of 力／強力にする it gives me to walk modestly, unnoticed, perhaps despised, and to know that I have 力／強力にする even over Kings! I could have 除去するd you before—though it is true that you took 広大な／多数の／重要な 警戒s—but I spared you because it amused me to 炭坑，オーケストラ席 my wits against yours. But I shall no longer 持つ／拘留する my 手渡す. Unless you get me—soon—I shall get you.
"(調印するd) The 広大な／多数の／重要な Author."
"The letter of a madman!" exclaimed Desgrez.
"Perhaps. I have noticed many crazy 匿名の／不明の letters since this 事件／事情／状勢 began. Yet, I don't know. You see, at the 底（に届く）, the inverted cross, the 黒人／ボイコット three-cornered wafer. In any 事例／患者 I shall （問題を）取り上げる the challenge."
"How, Monsieur?" asked Desgrez 熱心に. "Have you any 手がかり（を与える）?"
"非，不，無!" smiled La Reynie, rising. "Come, let us get some fresh 空気／公表する, my 長，率いる aches."
The two men went to the 一連の会議、交渉／完成する window and, 開始 the shutters, looked silently over the darkling 集まり of Paris, silent beneath the starless sky. Charles Desgrez thought with joy of Solange.
Without sleep, with no more refreshment than a cup of coffee, 単に changing his disguise for a plain riding 衣装, the King left Versailles an hour or so after he had reached it, and in the 早期に morning drove over to the mansion where he had 任命する／導入するd the young Duchesse de Fontanges.
He 設立する the 世帯 astir and in some commotion. The illness of the Duchess had reached a 危機; there were two doctors at her 病人の枕元; a messenger had already put foot in the stirrup with the 意向 of riding to Versailles to tell the King the sad 条件 of his mistress.
Louis put aside all the women and pages and, 開始するing briskly the gilt staircase, made his way to the 議会 where the young woman lay. Restless and unhappy as she was, she had not been to bed that night, but had lain during all the 疲れた／うんざりした dark hours on a couch in 前線 of the 支持を得ようと努めるd 解雇する／砲火／射撃 that a dwarf in her liveries kept tended. This little creature, who was no more than four feet high, and a young girl who was her mistress's favourite, were the only people in the room besides the doctors, who, やめる at a loss, were standing by the couch on which their 患者 lay.
Brocade cushions adorned with armorial designs in gilt braid were piled under the frail fair 長，率いる of the Duchesse de Fontanges. She had complained, between her fits of fever and convulsions, of 激しい 冷淡な. Her weeping 女性（の） attendant 宣言するd that her feet already felt like ice—over her, there fore, were draped two cloaks, one of fox fur, one of ermine, gifts from the King.
When Louis entered the room she tried to raise her 長，率いる, but fell 支援する, smiling faintly. The King was 深く，強烈に shocked by the change in her; he threw himself on his 膝s by her 味方する and 掴むd her 手渡すs in his, stammering in an incoherent passion that was more 悔恨 and fury than love. But this the young woman did not know; in that moment she believed that her romantic passion was returned, and even in the feebleness of her agony, she smiled. Her 直面する, pale as the 冷気／寒がらせる petals of a winter rose, was 紅潮／摘発するd with joy.
"Sire," she murmured, and her 発言する／表明する was so faint and uncertain that the King could scarcely catch the word, "I knew I could not live. You remember I told you that day in the park by the 井戸／弁護士席, when I left the cloister to 会合，会う you. I knew that my sin was to be punished, but the priest tells me that perhaps I have expiated everything."
The King bent his 長，率いる on her 手渡すs; he could not speak.
"Do not be 苦しめるd," she murmured. "If I had lived, I should not have come 支援する to you. Think of me kindly. I have not been, save for this, a 広大な／多数の／重要な sinner."
"You shall not die," cried Louis 厳しく, suddenly looking up. "I will have all the 内科医s in フラン, in Europe, here to cure you. Why should you die? You are so young."
"I am twenty years of age," replied the Duchess. "I have seen the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大なs of those who have died younger." She turned her 直面する in the pillows, her talk distracted by a spasm of agony.
The King called to the two doctors, who stood fearful and hesitant at the 支援する of the room.
"What is her 病気?" he 需要・要求するd. "How is it that you cannot cure or relieve her?"
"It is beyond our arts, Sire," said the 年上の of the 内科医s. "We have used all 資源s."
"Don't speak to them—let them go," murmured the dying woman. "Let us be alone. I do not 悔いる—no, I 悔いる nothing."
She 新たな展開d on the cushions; she tried to raise her 長，率いる as if she 申し込む／申し出d her lips to the King, then fell 支援する in horrible convulsions.
The King, who never could 耐える the sight of death, covered his 注目する，もくろむs with his 手渡すs and fell 支援する against the tapestried 塀で囲む as the attendant and the doctors 急ぐd for 区. Only the dwarf in his livery of green and gold remained impassive by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, on which he placed, delicately using steel 結社s, small billets of aromatic 支持を得ようと努めるd.
Louis crept away from the death 議会, he had not the courage to watch her die. He sat unnoticed in the 賭け金-議会 while the women and the doctors went to and fro with water, napkins, surgical 器具s—they were 開始 a vein, he supposed—how useless!
He had seen death on the grey 直面する that had turned such piteous looks of love に向かって him; and he had never loved her, only taken her to put between himself and loneliness, tedium and 恐れる of old age.
Never again; this was his last love, his last mistress—the sorceress would have to go. He shuddered, then thought with 感謝する 救済 of the serene 直面する, the 冷淡な piety of Madame de Maintenon, who had often soothed his 悔恨, given him good advice, 慰安d his 退屈. Perhaps she could advise him even in this 危機; how was he to punish the sorceress—perhaps the murderess?
He rose uncertainly as the bedroom door opened.
"Is she—?" he stammered.
"The young Duchess is dead, Sire," replied the 脅すd doctor.
"From what 原因（となる）?"
"I do not know, Sire. But the symptoms seem to 示唆する 毒（薬）."
The King 命令（する）d an 検視 to be すぐに per formed upon the 団体／死体 of the Duchesse de Fontanges. It was, he 宣言するd to the doctors, the most important thing in the world for him to know how she had died.
Taking upon himself what he had never taken before, the 詳細（に述べる）s of his own 私的な 商売／仕事, the King 診察するd the 主要な／長／主犯 members of the dead woman's 世帯. They ware Most of them of his own 任命するing and 井戸／弁護士席-known to him. The little attendant whom the young Duchess had lately taken into favour was beyond 疑惑; she was an 孤児 girl from a convent, and had been 可決する・採択するd by the lonely, sad young favourite because she reminded her of the dead Jacquetta.
The King then asked what had become of the gifts that Madame de Montespan had sent to the Duchesse de Fontanges. He 宣言するd that he wished to take them with him 支援する to Versailles—a souvenir from the dead woman. He then learnt that all these articles—some gloves, some flowers—had disappeared. The chamberwomen 宣言するd that they had al ways considered it curious that soon after Madame de Montes pan had sent a gift—and she had sent many during the illness of Mlle. de Fontanges—it could not be 設立する, even a few hours afterwards. When asked who had been the messenger who had brought these 現在のs, the chamberwomen replied that it was the dwarf that His Majesty might have noticed making the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 in their mistress's bedchamber.
The King had not noticed this monstrosity; he was too used to coloured slaves, dwarfs and such creatures in all the 議会s he entered; but as the women spoke it occurred to him that here was the link. The dwarf was no 疑問 in Madame de Montespan's 支払う／賃金. Sick with fury, but 持続するing an outward coolness, he ordered the creature to be brought before him. It was too late; the dwarf, who was an Italian of the 指名する of Grimaldi, and who had been in the young Duchess's service for only a few weeks, had disappeared.
The King ordered the creature to be 跡をつけるd and taken. Disguising his 目的, though with an 成果／努力, he said:
"No 疑問 the little monster is 打ち勝つ with grief for his mistress. I wish to have him consoled and rewarded for his faithfulness to her No 疑問 Madame de Montespan will take him into her service."
But to himself the stricken man said: "Too late! Too late! I would not believe, I would not be 警告するd! Now it is too late! They have destroyed her, almost they have destroyed me."
He put his 手渡す on the knot of diamonds in his pocket: "A and L"...how often had those two 指名するs been muttered together before the 恐ろしい altar at which obscene 儀式s were celebrated.
"毒（薬）d! And for years!" He shuddered as he sank 支援する against the cushions of his coach. 井戸／弁護士席, now he understood his 頭痛s, his drowsiness, those attacks of sickness and giddiness that had so puzzled his 内科医s. The woman had been filling him with filthy 麻薬s—and for years, for years.
The King stayed his 手渡す and kept to his apartments on pretence of sickness until he received the result of the 検視 on the Duchesse de Fontanges. When this arrived, he ちらりと見ることd at it, put it in his pocket, and went at once to the apartments of Madame de Montespan, which, sumptuous as those of the Queen, 占領するd almost one of the entire wings of the ch穰eau. His mistress was not there; she had driven out 早期に that morning and her women did not know when she would return; they cowered before him, 脅すd by his 直面する.
"I will wait," he said, but he remained in the 賭け金-議会, 辞退するing to enter those apartments where he had spent so many hours with Madame de Montespan. The women fled and called the governess, Madame de Maintenon, who soon entered the antechamber. She was a 静かな 未亡人 nearly forty-six years of age, virtuous, 控えめの, always 冷静な／正味の and able to 申し込む／申し出 good advice.
The King saw her with a strange 救済; there was some thing both consoling and refreshing in her staid, demure presence after the horrors which still （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 in his heart and brain. He had known her for years, for she had always been 現在の when he had come to see his children, whom she tended with the care their mother never showed them. He had learnt to value her good sense, her piety, her 正規の／正選手 and decorous life. He asked her now with the abrupt freedom used に向かって an old friend:
"Do you know a dwarf, an Italian who goes by the 指名する of Grimaldi—who used to go between Madame de Montespan and Mademoiselle de Fontanges with gifts?"
"Yes, Sire," replied the 未亡人. "There was such a one. He was 以前は, but not for very long, in the 世帯 of Madame de Montespan. I believe he （機の）カム 初めは from Italy, but he used to be in the 雇う of the Comtesse de Soissons."
"The Duchesse de Fontanges is dead," said Louis 厳しく. The governess made an exclamation of pity, and the King continued: "The dwarf has disappeared. I 持つ／拘留する here the result of the 検視 on the Duchesse de Fontanges."
"I did not know she was dead," 滞るd the governess. "Poor lady! Poor child! I 恐れる that she 苦しむd."
"I had the news of her death kept 支援する until I had this 報告（する）／憶測. She died, Madame de Maintenon, of 毒（薬）ing."
"Ah, 毒（薬）ing!" The 未亡人's 手渡すs rose in a gesture of despair and fell again. "This terrible 事柄 of 毒（薬）ing comes so の近くに to Your Majesty, then!"
"So の近くに indeed," said the King. In the fury of his 苦しめる he turned to this 信頼できる counsellor, scarcely realizing the tremendous step he was taking in making her thus his confidante. "What would you do if you discovered one whom you had 信用d all your life—no, for years—what am I 説—"
"Sire," interrupted the 未亡人 in the most 熱烈な, yet most respectful of トンs, "Sire, let me speak for you. If one were to discover that a person whom one had honoured and loved and 信用d was 有罪の of unspeakable infamy—"
"Yes," whispered the King, "unspeakable infamy—such as sorcery or 殺人."
"Sire," said Madame de Maintenon with 広大な／多数の／重要な dignity and composure. "Almighty God will punish the wicked. Such 罪，犯罪s as these must be answered for to God, and to God alone."
The King, always superstitious and intensely 宗教的な, blanched before these words, and stepped 支援する, put out his 手渡す and touched the 黒人／ボイコット marble mantelpiece, above which a tall mirror 反映するd his haggard, distorted 直面する.
"I too, am to 非難する," he said. "I, too."
"Sire," replied the 未亡人 undaunted, "that is true. Has not the Church long endeavoured to induce Your Majesty to break your 関係s with these women, which are against the 法律s of God and of man?"
There was no other person in the world except the 静かな governess from whom the King would have taken these words. It was not the first time that Madame de Maintenon had spoken to him 率直に of his failings, and he never felt any 憤慨 at her 勇敢な reproaches. He crossed himself now, murmuring under his breath:
"My fault! My fault! Tell me what I am to do?"
His 長，率いる was 屈服するd on his 手渡すs and a curious, 勝利を得た smile passed over the smooth features of the 未亡人 as she gazed over at the bent 長，率いる and 屈服するd shoulders of the greatest man in Europe.
"He ages," she thought. "He grows afraid of God. He has 設立する her out at last. La Fontanges was his last love. I shall have him when he is old, burnt out, dull and pious, but I shall never be his mistress—only, if the Queen dies, I might be his wife."
Aloud she said in her still, demure 発言する／表明する: "Do not gratify your enemies in Europe, Sire, by making a スキャンダル of this horrible 事件／事情／状勢. Let the whole thing be ignored, let it be believed that this unhappy young lady died of 消費. Hush it all up. 企て，努力，提案 M. de La Reynie destroy all the 記録，記録的な／記録するs he has made of this 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners. After a decent lapse of years, 許す those people of high position who have been （刑事）被告 to return to フラン or to their 広い地所s."
"Yes," whispered the King, "yes," meek and eager as the child at his mother's 膝, thankful to have the 重荷（を負わせる） of the terrible 決定／判定勝ち（する） taken from his mind. "But what of her? You do not know what I know."
"I do not wish to, Sire," said the 未亡人, raising her gentle 手渡すs. "But I can guess. I have been her の近くに companion for years."
"But you never spoke, you never 警告するd me."
"Sire," smiled Madame de Maintenon. "When a man is infatuated with a woman, it is useless for another woman to speak. I have waited. I think perhaps the time has come."
In her mind she thought: "My time has come."
"Should she not be punished?" asked the King.
"Sire, have I not said that she will be in the 手渡すs of God? Believe me, the 残り／休憩（する） of her life will be a hell. Yes, she shall be punished," 追加するd the 未亡人 reflectively. "Let Your Majesty leave her the 外見 of her position so that the world is deceived. Let Your Majesty even visit her to keep up the pretence—but let Your Majesty never see her alone, never 演説（する）／住所 her a 肉親，親類d word. Let Your Majesty's every look and ちらりと見ること, save those few formal ones you 交流 in public, 表明する your implacable hate, your undying 復讐."
The King smiled faintly. This 計画／陰謀 ふさわしい his temperament and his circumstances; it saved his pride in the 直面する of the world, and, he was quick to see, it did indeed （打撃，刑罰などを）与える terrible 罰 upon the proud vindictive woman whom he now loathed and 恐れるd.
"See her alone! Nay, I could never see her alone!" he exclaimed.
"There will be no need. Sire," said the other woman, keeping the 勝利を得た smile from her charming mouth. "I should always be 現在の. I do not think she will long 耐える that life. She will of herself retire from the 法廷，裁判所 and enter a convent—where," 追加するd the 未亡人 demurely, "no 疑問 her penitence will save her soul."
"It shall be," said the King, incredibly relieved that the 事件／事情／状勢 had been arranged so cleverly for him, "正確に／まさに as you say. You shall have everything in her 設立, the children, the 当局, the money. She will have only the outward 外見."
"I hope, Sire, I shall be worthy of this 広大な／多数の／重要な 信用, this 広大な／多数の／重要な honour." The 未亡人 dropped a curtsey and kissed the King's 手渡す, soothing his 深く，強烈に 負傷させるd vanity by this graceful humility, while she thought: "Is it possible? I have won at last, after all these years of 患者 waiting." She was amazed at the sudden manner in which the prize had fallen into her （競技場の）トラック一周.
As soon as Madame de Montespan heard of the death of the Duchesse de Fontanges, she had, in a 明言する／公表する of indescribable agitation, left her apartments and gone to wander in the 支持を得ようと努めるd of the 広大な／多数の／重要な park of Versailles. There alone she had communed with her tormented soul; no 悔恨 touched her she was glad that she had, にもかかわらず the 障害（者） of having most of her 共犯者s either dead or in 刑務所，拘置所, been able to wreak her vengeance upon the young woman who had dared to try to steal her 王室の lover; nor did she hesitate in her その上の design of 除去するing the King himself should he 辞退する to return to her enchantments.
Her pacing to and fro beneath the trees was 単に to 伸び（る） 支配（する）／統制する and courage for this last 成果／努力. In her 注目する，もくろむs the King had but one chance of life, and that was to 収容する／認める her once and forever as his mistress—and this in the 十分な sense of the word.
Madame de Montespan 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be not 単に a 王室の favourite, but 絶対の 支配者 of the King, of his life, his 活動／戦闘s, his thoughts and all his 傾向s. She had not altogether 放棄するd a wild hope of becoming the wife of Louis de Bourbon when his effaced and sickly Queen should die.
In spite of the grim fact that neither Catherine La Voisin nor any of her associates had been able to save themselves from death, Madame de Montespan did not altogether disbelieve in the 力／強力にするs of 黒人／ボイコット 魔法—whatever might have happened to others she felt that she had been miraculously 保護するd. Throughout the long and (a)手の込んだ／(v)詳述する 調査s into the 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners, no finger of 疑惑 had been pointed at her, and, as it were, under the very 注目する，もくろむs of the police who were most 関心d in bringing the poisoners to 司法（官）, she had been able to destroy the King's mistress.
"If," thought the pitiless woman, "La Voisin was strangled and flung to the 炎上s, it must have been because the Devil forsook her—if all those others （機の）カム to 哀れな ends, it must have been because they made some mistake in their （一定の）期間s. But, as for me, I am 保護するd."
Yet Madame de Montespan's superstition 削減（する） both ways.
She believed in God as ardently as she believed in the Devil, and still 信用d that a time might come when she would be in a worldly sense so 安全な that she could forsake the worship of Satan and return with an 許容できる penitence to God. For this end she ーするつもりであるd to 軍隊 the priests to give her absolution.
Feeling serene, sure of herself, 満足させるd with the horrible death of her 競争相手, Madame de Montespan returned to her apartments at Versailles. As usual, disdainful of 儀式, she went alone through the 回廊（地帯）s of the 広大な／多数の／重要な ch穰eau, swinging her fan, which hung by a gold chain at her wrist, carelessly, and looking with the arrogance that made her so detested at all who passed her. "Yes, some of them ran after la Fontanges," she thought, "but now they would all willingly fawn on me. They see that it is not 安全な for anyone to 影響する／感情 to be my 競争相手."
Now that she had 性質の／したい気がして of the young Duchess, her mind, which had been 完全に 占領するd by this 事件／事情／状勢, re turned to Madame de Maintenon, the meek governess of her children—a poor relation of hers, a meek, useful woman, almost a drudge, one whom it was ridiculous to think of in any way as a 競争相手—and yet one who had become a little too 目だつ in Madame de Montespan's 国内の life.
She had discovered the King rather too often in 静かな conversation with the 未亡人; not that there was any 害（を与える） in that, they talked only of the children and such-like dull 事柄s.
"Yet I feel sure," thought Madame de Montespan with her fingers on the 扱う of the door 主要な to her antechamber, "that it is time she went. I will have someone even older and uglier to look after the children. She is too stupid to be an intriguer, too plain-featured to be 恐れるd—and yet I have had やめる enough of her."
She stepped into the antechamber and 設立する herself to her surprise in the presence of the King and of the woman who had just been in her thoughts. There was something in the looks and 態度s of these two people that impressed Madame de Montespan very unpleasantly. She の近くにd the door and 始める，決める her 支援する against it, and her 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd.
Madame de Maintenon was leaning against the harpsichord that 占領するd one corner of the room, looking 負かす／撃墜する with a curious 空気／公表する on the King, who, seated on a low 議長，司会を務める, had his 直面する in his 手渡すs.
"Has she dared to console him for the death of la Fontanges!" thought Madame de Montespan; she was about to speak, and to speak 熱心に, when the other woman raised her 長，率いる and the smile on her thin lips was such as to keep even the imperious favourite silent. At that second the King looked up, saw who had entered, and sprang to his feet.
"Sorceress, poisoner," he said under his breath, 持つ／拘留するing his heart.
"You are mad," cried Madame de Montespan. "See me alone, send that woman away."
"I shall never see you alone, Madame—for the sake of フラン, for the sake of our children, you will keep the 外見 of your position as long as you can 耐える to do so. When you leave my 法廷，裁判所, it will be of your own 解放する／自由な will—but never shall I see you alone."
"Send away that woman," repeated Madame de Montespan, livid with fury.
The King cast 負かす／撃墜する on the 床に打ち倒す between them the knot of diamonds that were 新たな展開d into an A and an L.
"These were given to me by the Paris police," he said. "You know from whom they were taken, and where."
Madame de Montespan only repeated: "Send away that woman," and threw herself on her 膝s before the King.
"Never," said Louis. "She never shall be sent away. I shall never speak to you except in her presence. It is useless to implore me, do not touch me, not so much as the hem of my coat."
"Is this possible?" moaned Madame de Montespan, "is it possible?"
"Last night," replied the King, "I listened as Catherine La Voisin's daughter was 存在 診察するd by M. de La Reynie and M. Colbert in the Bastille. I spoke to your 道具, the Englishwoman. This morning I was 現在の at the death-bed of the Duchesse de Fontanges. There is no more to be said."
He passed her without looking 負かす／撃墜する at the frantic woman and left the room.
As the door の近くにd Madame de Montespan sprang to her feet and turned in a vindictive fury on the governess, 注ぐing out a 激流 of half-incoherent words.
"It is useless," said the 未亡人 smiling demurely, "やめる useless, Madame. I am here by the King's orders—and by the King's orders I shall remain."
M. de La Reynie told Desgrez that he had had orders from the King to 解放（する） Mlle. des Oeillets on the 条件 that she returned 即時に to England. She had once been in the service of Lady Castlemaine and it was through the instance of the English 外交官／大使 that she had been 認めるd this favour.
"But," said M. de La Reynie, "she will 明白に be of no use to anyone. I think her wits have gone, she is no more than a drooling idiot."
"And what about the other woman, La Voisin?" asked Desgrez.
"I 約束d she should not be 害（を与える）d, and I must keep my word," replied the 長，指導者 of Police with a wry 直面する. "Though I do not like to 始める，決める such a vile creature 解放する／自由な to work more mischief. However, I think she has had a 厳しい fright, and she probably will be 静かな—at least for a while. I shall 始める，決める her over the frontier. She says she knows where to go and has some means."
"No 疑問 she has all the plunder that her mother hid," said Desgrez.
"Let her keep it," replied the 長，指導者 of Police. "We have cleaned up フラン 同様に as we can. The （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 is 解任するd, the 記録，記録的な／記録するs destroyed, and my work is at an end—or almost at an end."
"You still ーするつもりである to try to discover who the Grand Author is? A pity that we have not been able to trace this dwarf, who was, no 疑問, the intermediary between Madame de Montespan and the unfortunate young Duchess."
"No, and yet it should not be difficult to trace a dwarf. He must be a 目だつ 人物／姿／数字 anywhere. I have made enquiries and 設立する there was some such dwarf in the service of Saint-Maurice when he was at the 法廷，裁判所 of Turin."
"There is another person we never traced," said Desgrez, "and that is the man who disguised himself as a jailer's wife. I always think of him as the woman with the toothache."
"No 疑問 there are many of these people still about. We know that those 広大な／多数の／重要な ones who have fled フラン had a 手渡す in the 商売／仕事, but they may not be touched. Still, we have done what we can. With the death of La Voisin, the panic seems to have 解除するd a little from Paris—people breathe more easily, smile more readily, 信用 one another again." M. de La Reynie drew に向かって him from under the papers on his desk a 事例／患者 of red leather. "This （機の）カム from Versailles to-day," he said. "It was sent through M. de Colbert—it comes from Madame de Maintenon. It is for your wife."
"For Solange—" exclaimed the young 中尉／大尉／警部補, 紅潮／摘発するing 深く，強烈に.
"Yes, His Majesty heard of what she had done. Madame de Maintenon, too, feels 感謝する. She said, Colbert told me, that she would not send diamonds, or yet sapphires—they have, in this 事件／事情／状勢, sad 協会s. But these I think Madame Desgrez may 受託する, and wear—contentedly."
He opened the red leather 事例／患者 and showed a necklace and hair ornament of pearls of the finest lustre.
"I do not like to take them," said Desgrez uneasily. "I do not wish Solange to have any reward out of this 事件／事情／状勢. I am sorry that she mingled in it, I wish she had not been used as an 器具, even though it was to bring evil to 司法（官）."
"You must take them—Madame has this way of doing things—she will be all-powerful now. The King ーするつもりであるs 昇進／宣伝, reward for you, too—but you must wait a while, he does not wish anything 目だつ at the moment."
Desgrez felt his heart swell with 勝利. He was young, ambitious, eager to 後継する, eager to show his wife and his wife's relations that he was something more than a humble スパイ／執行官 of police, and in his simple gratification he forgot the swift horrors of the 事件／事情／状勢 of the poisoners. He had 後継するd, and by valiant and honest means. The older man looked at him with a 確かな sad sympathy; for him there was no reward, no 勝利. The whole 事件／事情／状勢 was to be hushed up and the 古記録s that would 含む／封じ込める the 証拠 of the honest, 苦痛s taking 産業 and patience of M. de La Reynie were to be destroyed. He, the 長，指導者 of Police, had earned little for him self beyond an almost 全世界の／万国共通の 憎悪.
"Of course," the wits had said, "the fact that M. de La Reynie lives is a proof there are no more poisoners in Paris."
"One thing, Monsieur," said Desgrez, standing before his melancholy 長，指導者, "I should like to understand—how much does His Majesty know? Madame de Maintenon sends this handsome gift to Solange and the King 会談 of awards of 昇進／宣伝 for me, he was 現在の at the examination of the young La Voisin, and yet—and yet—Madame de Montespan appears to enjoy all her former favour. The King even visits her, her children are not taken from her, not a word is breathed against her."
"Perhaps not," said La Reynie, ちらりと見ることing up with a half-smile at the young man. "But for all that, believe me, she is punished. Happier la Valli鑽e in the convent, happier la Fontanges in her tomb than la Montespan in her apartments in Versailles. The King, too, is punished," 追加するd the 長，指導者 of Police in a lower 発言する／表明する. "No more light loves for him—he's turned to piety, and to Madame de Maintenon, who is a most virtuous woman."
Desgrez 選ぶd up the King's gift and put the 事例／患者 in his pocket. "I am pleased, honoured and flattered that Solange should have these pearls," he said uneasily. "And yet—and yet—"
"You cannot 持つ／拘留する them blessed," smiled La Reynie. "Do not think of that, let your wife wear them with a light heart."
"They are too rich," said the young man. "Solange is not a woman for such splendid ornaments. We will perhaps sell them or put them by." He 追加するd: "I should like to find before this 事件／事情／状勢 is finally の近くにd the dwarf and the woman with tooth ache."
"Certainly, if you think you can 得る any more （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） from her. There are certainly some 事柄s I should like （疑いを）晴らすd up. My life has been 脅すd again in an 匿名の／不明の letter in the same handwriting, 示すd with the same symbols. Not that I attach much importance to that—but, unless they are the work of a jester, these letters show that one of these 犯罪のs is still active."
"Cannot something more be 抽出するd from this La Voisin woman before she is 解放（する）d?"
La Reynie shrugged his shoulders.
"You were 現在の when the King 診察するd her, I think she told all she knew—as for the dwarf, as His Majesty him self said—there are so many of these little monsters in Paris!"
"Just as there are so many Negroes—that is why Saint-Maurice took that disguise."
"But, Desgrez, no one could disguise himself as a dwarf!"
"No, Monsieur, but a dwarf would be a very useful go between—a creature easily insinuated into a luxurious house 持つ／拘留する. And this creature is cunning and skilful as they so often are. With your 許可 I will question La Voisin once more."
"As you please, Desgrez," smiled the 長，指導者 of Police. "Do not forget to give Madame de Maintenon's pearls to your wife—and she can wear them without 不名誉—they come from a very virtuous source!"
When the 長，指導者 of Police was alone, he sat musing for a while. He was 疲労，（軍の）雑役d, not wholly 満足させるd with the result of his year's 労働s on the 事例／患者 of the poisoners. He had seen Madame de Montespan 運動ing furiously through the 狭くする streets of Paris in 十分な 明言する／公表する, the knot of diamonds 新たな展開d into an L on her breast; but he had 公式文書，認めるd her stony 直面する, her glittering 注目する，もくろむs, her compressed lips, and he had seen Madame de Maintenon, placid, serene, smiling beside her. La Reynie believed that la Fontanges was avenged.
Not even the アイロンをかける 神経, the icy courage that had been able to 直面する the 力／強力にするs of Hell could withstand such a 罰. La Reynie knew that before long la Montespan would 飛行機で行く from the grim mockery of her position and 捜し出す by abject penitence to appease the Heaven she had so foully 乱暴／暴力を加えるd.
The 長，指導者 of Police rose and went into the inner room where he kept all the 調書をとる／予約するs on 魔法, the dossiers of the 事件／事情／状勢 of the 毒（薬）ing and the collection of curious and repulsive 反対するs 設立する in the houses, dens and lairs of the 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うs.
Nearly two hundred people had gone to public death for this 黒人／ボイコット 商売／仕事, as many more had fled the country. The distorted 直面するs of the men and women who had been driven in the tumbrils through Paris passed before the mind of La Reynie—Davout, Guibourg, the renegade priests, Malipiero, who had 殺人d his daughter, Descourets, the lover of La Voisin, the coiner's skilful workmen, Dr. Rabel, clever 内科医—one after another they had 神経d themselves for the rope, the wheel, the 火刑／賭ける—the hisses of the furious （人が）群がるs.
La Reynie thought of La Bosse, swallowing broken glass, of Madame de Poulaillon, dying from the 毒（薬）d bouquet, of Jacquetta sacrificed to a rascal lover, a vile father, of la Fontanges, the 犠牲者 of infernal jealousy, of the English woman known as Mlle. des Oeillets 減ずるd to imbecility through 麻薬s, of Saint-Maurice, 殺害された miserably in his de grading disguise...
With a sigh the 長，指導者 of Police returned to his 閣僚, the さまざまな dossiers of the 事件／事情／状勢s in his 手渡す—the examinations of M. de Luxembourg, of Madame de Bouillon, the 証拠 against Madame de Soissons, the Duc de Vend?e, the Princesse de Tingry—against a dozen other 広大な／多数の／重要な ones.
Slowly La Reynie tore these papers across and threw them into the 沈むing 解雇する／砲火／射撃. There were others, 平等に 妥協ing to the dignity of the aristocracy of フラン, that would have to be destroyed, but to-night he was tired; he contented him self with locking up what remained of the dossiers relating to l'事件／事情／状勢 des 毒（薬）s.
Desgrez 設立する La Voisin's daughter ready enough to talk; even willing to search her memory for any 詳細（に述べる）s she might have forgotten till now. She was that most dangerous type of woman, the 完全に pliable. She had become a 犯罪の because her mother was one, and she 設立する herself in the company of 犯罪のs; while even 間接に under the 影響（力） of her mother she had remained 信頼できる to her old associates. Since her mother's death she had come 完全に under the 影響（力） of the police and was now as resolute to speak as she once had been obstinately silent; she was also frantically 感謝する for her 解放（する） and 約束d, with facile 誠実, to lead a 改革（する）d life.
Desgrez 設立する, however, to his 失望, that she knew very little. She had seen the dwarf, or a dwarf, as she had 宣言するd, before at several of the 会合s held at Saint Maurice's house in Passy or in the other places where the conspirators gathered to celebrate the 黒人／ボイコット 集まり; but for some while she had lost sight of him She still 持続するd that she did not know who the messenger was who had come in disguise as the jailer's wife with the toothache. The only 捨てるs of （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that Desgrez gathered from the wretched woman that were of the least use to him were these:
This dwarf, who had been seen at these 会合s and whom La Voisin had never heard 指名するd Grimaldi, but some times Trictrac and いつかs Des Rues, at times disguised himself as an old woman selling ballads. La Voisin had known him, under this assumed character, to 宿泊する in a 確かな shop that sold rags and old 着せる／賦与するs in the 行き詰まり de l'Enfer, which was not far from the h?el of the 外交官／大使 of Savoy and the shop of the Italian apothecary. She had been sent there once or twice in the old days by her mother, and she had seen the dwarf, whose disguise, she 宣言するd, was perfect, in company with a tall, dark young man who she was told was Saint-Richard, the 行方不明の lover of Madame de Poulaillon, and who might かもしれない, she thought, be the person who had 侵入するd into the Bastille in the disguise of a jailer's wife. Saint-Richard looked like an Italian, 宣言するd La Voisin, and was undoubtedly in the 陰謀（を企てる）.
"Saint-Richard!" exclaimed Desgrez. "Yes, we never traced him—you say that he was the companion of this dwarf."
"Yes," grinned La Voisin, "and the lover of Jacquetta 同様に as of Madame de Poulaillon—he was a 黒人／ボイコット-hearted man, without pity."
"Jacquetta Malipiero said that her lover resided in the Louvre."
"井戸／弁護士席, Monsieur, may not Saint-Richard have lived there? Many hundreds of people do—and Saint-Richard was not, of course, his 指名する. Perhaps that was one 推論する／理由 why she was put out of the way—she had discovered this villain's 身元."
"But if this man was in some good 雇用 he would not need to have 廃虚d a tradesman's wife and robbed her husband."
"Ah," laughed La Voisin's daughter. "He liked mischief for its own sake, he was malicious, callous and always ready to take money from anyone."
"Can you 解任する his 外見?"
"I did not see him very often—he （機の）カム いつかs to our house in the rue Beauregard. He used to wear different coloured perukes and masks, he was not very tall and had a swarthy complexion. I have seen many southern Italians like that."
"And since the police began to 調査／捜査する this 事件／事情／状勢 he has disappeared 完全に?"
"Monsieur," replied the woman 熱望して, "I 断言する to you that I had not seen him for several months before my 逮捕（する）! But my mother told me that she thought that the woman with the toothache was Saint-Richard. That was why she was so 慰安d, she had 広大な／多数の／重要な 約束 in his 力／強力にするs, she felt sure that she would be 救助（する）d."
"You must all believe in the Devil!" exclaimed Desgrez contemptuously. "Who else could have 救助（する）d your mother from the 中央 of the police, the 兵士s, the （人が）群がる?"
"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席," replied the woman sullenly. "Some of us thought that Saint-Richard was the Devil, and who knows?"
The young police officer watched La Voisin's daughter enter the plain coach that was to 伝える her, under strong 護衛する, to the Spanish frontier, and then stood thoughtfully, fondling the pearls for Solange that lay in his pocket.
A dwarf disguised as an old woman, who kept a rag shop in the 行き詰まり de l'Enfer!
The 手がかり（を与える） was so vague that it scarcely seemed 価値（がある） 調査／捜査するing, but Desgrez 解決するd to put the （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）, for what it was 価値（がある）, before La Reynie. He 解任するd the 自殺 discovered at Lille—that had been thought to be Saint-Richard. There had, however, been no proof of the dead man's 身元, and the wretch, whoever he was, might have been sacrificed in the 利益／興味s of his master.
Desgrez went to see La Reynie at his 私的な house, for the 長，指導者 of Police had not been for some days past at his bureau in the Bastille, where he had worked so continuously for the last year.
La Reynie was not alone; the Marchese Pignata sat opposite to him, 残り／休憩（する）ing his elegantly gloved 手渡すs on a long, tasselled 茎. He 迎える／歓迎するd Desgrez courteously, reminding him of their 会合 in the Louvre.
"I have come to take leave of M. de La Reynie," he said. "I am returning to Rome. There is work for me to do else where. Perhaps I shall never come to フラン again."
"You are 満足させるd with the result of your 使節団 here?" asked the 長，指導者 of Police, civility cloaking a 欠如（する） of 利益／興味.
"The King of フラン," replied Pignata with his 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, 甘い smile, "has—にもかかわらず 外見s—解任するd Madame de Montespan and through the 影響（力） of la Maintenon become reconciled with 宗教上の Church. There remains nothing その上の for me to do—again, my congratulations, Monsieur, on your excellent 管理／経営 of this abominable 毒（薬）ing 事件／事情／状勢."
"I have not 満足させるd myself, Monseigneur."
"No? But why? Has not the whole horror been stamped out—all the 犯罪のs punished?"
La Reynie smiled.
"The 事例／患者 is の近くにd. Some are punished. Some remain not only 解放する／自由な, but unknown."
"Ah!" exclaimed Pignata with a sigh, "it is true that I never feel 安全な!" He pulled off his left glove and showed a magnificent ruby in a curious setting on the third finger of his shapely 手渡す. "Now I always wear this talisman—this carbuncle 保護するs from evil and, by darkening, 警告するs one of danger?'
"I thought," 発言／述べるd La Reynie, "that it was the diamond that had that 力／強力にする."
"Yes, that is true," replied Pignata 厳粛に. "The diamond gives courage—it is the one unchangeable 実体 in nature and can withstand even 解雇する／砲火／射撃, it 保護するs against enchantment and evil."
"Therefore, no 疑問, Madame de Montespan always wears them," 発言／述べるd the 長，指導者 of Police drily, "but they do not seem able to を取り引きする Madame de Maintenon."
"She—la Montespan, is an evil, worthless woman," Pignata moved his 手渡す so that the light slipped in and out of the 広大な／多数の／重要な ruby on his finger. "This is the 石／投石する that I prefer! So you say, Monsieur, that you believe that some of these 犯罪のs are 捕まらないで still? A horrible thought!"
"What did La Voisin tell you, Desgrez?" asked the 長，指導者 of Police, turning to his subordinate.
"事実上 nothing. She has really, I think, no idea who this dwarf is—or was. She reminded me that we had never 設立する out who that Saint-Richard was, who seduced and plundered Madame de Poulaillon."
"One of the thousand and one 匿名の／不明の scoundrels in Paris!" replied La Reynie, drily.
The Marchese Pignata rose.
"You really, 中尉／大尉／警部補 Desgrez, discovered nothing from this witch?"
"No, Monseigneur."
The young Italian drew on his soft white glove that contrasted vividly with his 削減する 黒人／ボイコット attire.
"井戸／弁護士席, I wish you all success. I shall send you 報告（する）／憶測s from Rome. I hope you are taking all 警戒s against these rascals?"
"Against secret 毒（薬）ing? Yes, the most stringent 警戒s."
"別れの（言葉，会）. I leave to-morrow morning. Did I tell you of my misfortune? My faithful old nurse, Maria Pia, is dead—she will not see Italy again, 式のs!" He turned に向かって the door, 持つ／拘留するing his 黒人／ボイコット hat with the long sable feather to his breast; then paused.
"I had forgotten—I 選ぶd this up on your threshold—a letter for you."
He turned 支援する and, smiling, cast on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する a little packet with a 黒人／ボイコット 調印（する）.
"An 匿名の／不明の letter!" exclaimed La Reynie. "I get enough of them!"
"匿名の／不明の letters!" repeated Pignata 厳粛に. "Now I think of it, I saw, as I stepped from my carriage, a dwarf hurrying up the street."
He 屈服するd again with his 甘い smile and left the room.
The 長，指導者 of Police was about to （問題を）取り上げる the letter when Desgrez exclaimed:
"You forget your usual 警戒s, Monsieur! Have you no 結社s?"
"Bah, these letters have never been 毒（薬）d!"
"Perhaps that was to give you 信用／信任."
Desgrez pulled on his glove, broke the 黒人／ボイコット 調印（する） and read:
"別れの（言葉，会）, M. le 中尉／大尉／警部補 de Police! I believe that our accounts are now squared, and that you will, after all, die without guessing my 身元."
"Nonsense, as usual," said La Reynie wearily, but Desgrez pondered over the message and replied:
"By your leave, I will take this paper to Lecoine, the 化学者／薬剤師—or make some 実験s with it myself. I also, though this seems hardly 価値（がある） について言及するing, ーするつもりである to 調査／捜査する the rag shop in the 行き詰まり de l'Enfer."
"As you please, Desgrez, but I scarcely hope to discover anything その上の now."
Solange received her pearls with childlike 楽しみ; contrary to her young husband's 期待, she 願望（する）d neither to sell nor to hoard them.
"I know they are too splendid for me, yet I can wear them with safety, for everyone will think they are imitation. Yet I would change them for the bracelet of sapphires which that poor young girl gave me."
"I could do that for you, if you wish, Solange. It would not be difficult to discover the man to whom we sold the bracelet, and buy it 支援する again with some of these splendid pearls."
"Do that for me then, dear," said Solange, 持つ／拘留するing up her 直面する for her husband to kiss. "I should like to keep it in memory of this strange year in Paris."
"In memory of our 失敗, too," said the young man rather 激しく. "I would have given a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 to have saved her life."
"Perhaps," said Solange, smiling sadly, speaking the commonplace words with 誠実, "she is happier where she is. I do not say that idly, Charles. Her position was from the first most wretched. Yes," said the happy young wife tenderly, "I will buy her jewels 支援する and I will sell some more of the pearls to 支払う／賃金 for 集まりs for her soul at the Church of the Jesuits in the rue Saint Antoine—and that will still leave me enough to make a very 罰金 necklace."
"There are other rewards coming our way, too, Solange. I may have a very 罰金 position—almost any 地位，任命する I choose, I think, in the Paris police."
"I am glad for your sake, Charles—yet, you know, I 悔いる the happier, 安全な・保証する days—I dread that we may be suddenly too successful! Never mind, I am a fool, 支払う／賃金 no attention to me!"
He kissed her again and held her in his 武器, and then 投機・賭けるd to tell her that he had one dangerous 義務 to under take; Solange was most disappointed.
"I thought this was all over!"
"How can it ever be over? It is my work, my life. I must 推定する／予想する at any moment the dangerous （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限s."
"But you have done so much, you have been in such 危険，危なくする—and now, when all seems 安全な—"
"In this 事件／事情／状勢 I shall not meddle again. I 約束 you that, Solange. Only this once, only to-morrow night I have 説得するd M. de La Reynie to go with me to 調査／捜査する a 確かな place where—かもしれない—we may find something about one of the poisoners, a 確かな Saint-Richard."
Solange leaned against his shoulder as he told her of the possible 手がかり（を与える） in the 行き詰まり de l'Enfer.
"I have been there in the daytime, there is what seems to be a rag shop—it is 一般に shut up—but the 隣人s talked of an old woman who （機の）カム there at night."
Solange was only half listening; she was watching the pearls slip over her 会社／堅い pretty fingers, and thinking that she would have an oyster-white frock to wear with them, but the bracelet of blue 石／投石するs would give her greater 楽しみ, and certainly she would 支払う／賃金 for 集まりs for the soul of the poor young Duchess, who had died, it was whispered, without a priest...
"Solange, you are not listening! The mice died. Yes, I took the letter that the Marchese Pignata brought in to La Reynie to Lecoine. He shut it in a cage with some mice—and they died!"
"The letter was 毒（薬）d!"
"So it seems," replied Desgrez drily. "If La Reynie had touched it with 明らかにする 手渡すs, he would have died. It was very subtly 毒（薬）d, Lecoine did not know how—it was the 毒（薬） of Glazer, of Exili, of Sainte Croix. It was that that 説得するd La Reynie to …を伴って me to-night."
Solange, sighed and ちらりと見ることd wistfully 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her new apartment. She answered 厳粛に. "You are 権利. You must do what you can, Charles. Wear your talisman and think of me. I shall stay here and pray for you—and then choose the pearls that I mean to keep."
When La Reynie agreed to …を伴って Desgrez on his 調査s into the shop in the 行き詰まり de l'Enfer, he had 示唆するd that La Tulipe should be of the party.
"The three of us should be enough—against two, and one a dwarf. They may have assistants or 共犯者s, but we can not take a large number or we shall rouse 疑惑. Let us not 延期する, as you may be sure these people will be getting out of Paris as soon as possible since they have, doubtless, heard of the 解放（する） of La Voisin's daughter."
It was a still, warm night of 早期に spring when the 長，指導者 of Police, Desgrez and La Tulipe in the plain 着せる／賦与するs of sober 国民s passed the noble facade of the H?el de Savoie, and made their way through the 網状組織 of dark, shabby streets at the 支援する of the mansion. They soon reached, の近くに to a miser able ワイン shop, the dark alley known as the 行き詰まり de l'Enfer.
La Tulipe, who looked the humblest of the three, entered this tavern, and after ordering a pint of claret got into conversation with the landlord, and asked him where he might find the shop of an old woman who bought disused 着せる／賦与するs. His wife, he said, was lately dead, and the woman who nursed her had recommended this shop, then forgotten to give him the exact 演説（する）／住所. By this ruse, La Tulipe discovered that La Voisin's daughter had spoken the truth for once—there was such a rag shop and it was kept by an old woman who was looked upon, によれば the ワイン-shop keeper, with a good 取引，協定 of awe and 疑惑, since she was supposed to be a witch, or at least to have witch-like 質s. She was 避けるd because she was 隠しだてする, morose and vile-tempered; her shop was often の近くにd for weeks together; she いつかs wandered the country selling ballads or peddling trifles; then again, for long periods, she would be in the shop and appear to do a 栄えるing 貿易（する） in old 着せる／賦与するs, bones and rubbish; she was 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd of selling charms.
When La Tulipe joined the other two men outside in the still, moonless night, he 関係のある his （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）: "This sup 提起する／ポーズをとるd shop is where they keep all their disguises, Monsieur. It is a simple but clever expedient. One can understand that they could here, without the least difficulty, keep every manner of 衣装, wig, 構成要素 for making themselves up, 同様に as different 武器s and any other 肉親，親類d of trumpery."
"It is curious," said La Reynie, as they turned 負かす／撃墜する the little dark alley, 不正に lit by the flickering lamp over the 神社 at the corner, 選ぶing their way carefully through the filth on the cobbles. "It is strange that this 事件／事情／状勢 that has led us to the very 高さs of Olympus, should finally bring us to a rag-picker's shop in a slum!"
They 設立する, without much difficulty, the 哀れな habitation the ワイン 販売人 had spoken of; the lower windows were stuffed with rags, the upper windows had 天候-beaten shutters across them, but the three police officers 公式文書，認めるd that the door was 堅固に fastened, and that the lock-plates were in good 条件. At the 味方する of this door was a low arch that led 負かす／撃墜する a 狭くする passage—this was in 完全にする 不明瞭.
"That," said La Reynie, "is probably where they enter. They have chosen a very good lair," he 発言／述べるd, ちらりと見ることing up and 負かす／撃墜する. "This is a poor, 哀れな street, probably 住むd by thieves and gutter scum. Almost any evil activities would be やめる unremarked here."
"Monsieur, what are we to do?" asked Desgrez. "We might watch the house all night in vain and see no light anywhere."
"Let us go 負かす／撃墜する the passage," replied La Reynie. "Both of you, have your 手渡すs on your 武器s. We shall probably take them 完全に by surprise. As I think I have 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd all the poisoners up, I do not believe there will be more than these two, the man who goes by the 指名する of Saint-Richard, and the dwarf who was in the 設立 of la Fontanges." He ちらりと見ることd at the filthy-looking shop, and 追加するd grimly; "No 疑問 it was here that the 毒（薬）d letter was 捏造する，製作するd."
The three went 慎重に 負かす／撃墜する the dark, vile-smelling passage that turned 突然の to the 権利 and led them, as they had supposed it would, to the 支援する of the rag shop. This looked upon a tall, 塀で囲むd 中庭, in the middle of which was a pump. The scene was illuminated by the light that fell from one of the 支援する windows of the half 宙返り／暴落する-負かす／撃墜する house; La Tulipe, an adept at this sort of work, 辛勝する／優位d up to this window, and 残り／休憩（する）ing his fingers on the sill, peered through the dirty glass.
Returning to the two men who remained in the 影をつくる／尾行する of the 塀で囲む, he 報告（する）／憶測d that he had seen within an old woman in 十分な skirt, shawl and high Norman cap, who easily might be the dwarf, Grimaldi, and a dark young man seated at a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する watching a retort in which 泡d some 化学製品s.
The room was small, wretched, and lined with 着せる／賦与するs hanging on pegs or draped on to 木造の 人物／姿／数字s. The only light was a lamp on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する by the stranger; there seemed to be a good 取引，協定 of magical apparatus about the place.
"We will take," decided M. de La Reynie, "a bold course."
He crossed the yard, went to the 支援する door and knocked on it loudly with the hilt of his sword; he kept La Tulipe with him, and sent Desgrez to return 負かす／撃墜する the passage and wait at the 前線 of the house. There was, for a second or two, 完全にする silence in the rag shop. Then a 命令（する）ing 発言する／表明する said:
"Open."
There was another pause, a shuffling sound within the house, a 重要な turning in its lock, and the door was opened by the old woman, who, peering out of uncertain light into uncertain light, gazed with dark twinkling 注目する，もくろむs suspiciously at the tall 人物／姿／数字 of La Reynie; a glass mask covered her ugly features.
A thrill of exultation, not untouched with 恐れる, 原因（となる）d the 長，指導者 of Police to clasp his sword tightly—had he at last, 突然に, almost by chance, come upon the heart of this terrifying mystery? Was this hideous creature, whose glass mask left little room for 疑問 as to his 占領／職業, perhaps the Master himself?
"I wish to speak to your master," said the 長，指導者 of Police. "It is most important. 収容する／認める me without 延期する."
He stepped over the threshold, 小衝突ing the old woman aside against the 塀で囲む of the 回廊（地帯）. At this she turned and clutched his cloak with a surprising strength, but La Tulipe, に引き続いて quickly, had the creature gripped 堅固に by the collar of her bodice at the 支援する of the neck.
"You are caught, Grimaldi, Trictrac—悪魔の（ような） whelp, what ever you call yourself," he said すぐに. "Do not give us any trouble!"
But the dwarf, with amazing strength and agility, writhed 解放する／自由な from his captor and, shouting out 厳しく in a strange language, 急ぐd 支援する into the lighted room: the two police officers were on his 跡をつける in a second. The young man, whom La Tulipe had 観察するd through the window, had risen and was standing by the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. He was of medium 高さ, slender, and attired in dark green. La Reynie, ちらりと見ることing 熱望して at his 直面する, was astonished at his blank 表現, and for all his professional insensibility he could not help a 冷気／寒がらせる of distaste when he saw that it was a mask he gazed at. A wax mask, 正確に／まさに fitting the man's 直面する, was tied over his features, by 黒人／ボイコット 略章s fastened across his 厚い hair; there were small 穴を開けるs at eves, nose and mouth.
On the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, casting monstrous 影をつくる／尾行するs in the light of the one lamp, stood a 化学製品 apparatus, brazier filled with char coal, an alembic, some tubes, retorts, phials, moulds, 調印（する）s and several sheets of paper 示すd with 黒人／ボイコット wafers and inverted crosses.
"No 疑問!" exclaimed La Reynie, 前進するing while La Tulipe kept the door and struggled with the dwarf. "You are engaged in another 試みる／企てる to 毒（薬） me—but your luck is out. Saint-Richard."
The masked young man stood his ground not only with courage, but with disdain. He 倍のd his 手渡すs covered with loose gloves on his breast, and replied in トンs that whistled horribly through the 穴を開ける in the wax that had been painted to a doll-like prettiness.
"I am indeed Saint-Richard. You are 権力のない to 害（を与える） me. We have been matching wits for a year now and you are as far from learning the truth about me as you ever were."
"Whoever you are, or whoever you pretend to be," said La Reynie contemptuously, "I shall soon know—you'll need the help of all the devils of your 知識 now."
The young man leaned 今後 and snatched the alembic in which the poisonous essence seethed behind the glass globe.
"掴む him!" exclaimed La Reynie to La Tulipe, reaching out his 手渡す for the lamp. The young man was too quick; he had 掴むd and dashed 負かす／撃墜する the light and, in the moment of 混乱 of 不明瞭 十分な of stifling ガス／煙s, escaped, followed by the dwarf, the 長，指導者 of Police and La Tulipe in 追跡.
"Desgrez will catch them!" exclaimed La Reynie, as they 伸び（る）d the street, but even as he spoke he saw the police 中尉／大尉／警部補 sprawling over the broken step in 前線 of the shuttered rag shop. Desgrez explained ruefully as he 緊急発進するd to his feet that the two 逃亡者／はかないものs had flung themselves on him, caught him unawares, thrown him off his balance and escaped.
"The young man made a pass at me with his dagger, but 行方不明になるd." Desgrez, laughing 激しく at himself, showed a bleeding 手渡す.
"Quick, in 追跡, La Tulipe is a swift 走者, and you are young," gasped La Reynie. "I shall follow as quickly as I can. They cannot get far. The young man is light on his feet—the dwarf won't be, 特に 妨げるd by those skirts."
Desgrez, smarting from his humiliation, started off at a quick pace; he 設立する La Tulipe, who was wiry and lean, 井戸／弁護士席 able to keep up with him. The slum ４半期/4分の1 through which the 追跡 took place was 砂漠d, save for a few beggars crouching in doorways and tattered drunkards lurching out of poor ワイン shops. The moonlight shone 十分な on the street as Desgrez turned out of the dark 行き詰まり, for the moon had just risen above the dark roofs of Paris; in this silver light he could see before him the two 飛行機で行くing 人物／姿／数字s; the dwarf had discarded his skirt and shawl and now wore nothing but the masculine attire he had had 隠すd beneath this disguise. "Fools," thought Desgrez, "where do they think they can hide? What is the use of this flight?"
The 追跡 had settled into a 安定した race; all four were 保存するing their 成果／努力s. The moonlight made concealment difficult; they （機の）カム out on the quay, and Desgrez saw the two dark 人物／姿／数字s running に向かって the 橋（渡しをする）, the Pont-Henri-Quatre; the police スパイ／執行官s were 刻々と 伸び（る）ing upon the 逃亡者／はかないものs. The whole scene, the whole circumstances had to Desgrez, panting along the quay, an 空気／公表する of unreality; he looked up at the sky, （疑いを）晴らす, 十分な of moonlight, at the dark roofs, towers and tourelles of Paris; he looked ahead of him at the silent silver scene, at the arch of the 橋（渡しをする）, at those two running 人物／姿／数字s, bent before the night 勝利，勝つd; he spurred his strength to another 成果／努力—La Tulipe was わずかに ahead of him.
Desgrez 伸び（る）d the 橋（渡しをする） and began to cross it; he had fallen to a 安定した pace, not so 急速な／放蕩な now; the 追跡 began to seem hopeless; his 寺s throbbed and there was a 苦痛 in his 味方する; if these two escaped, even now, what irony! And they might escape, in some alley, through some door—and the 身元 of the man in the waxen mask would remain a mystery.
But La Tulipe was 伸び（る）ing on the two 逃亡者／はかないものs, his trained agility was telling in the race; he had often had to 危険 his life on his 速度(を上げる）.
A clock chimed, breaking the stillness with startling clangs; a 冷淡な 勝利，勝つd rose suddenly from the river; Desgrez felt his strength fail him; he paused for a second, しっかり掴むing the 冷淡な parapet of the 橋（渡しをする）, 製図／抽選 his breath in 広大な／多数の／重要な gasps.
He could see the three dark 人物／姿／数字s ahead, now almost blended into one. 神経ing himself to one more 成果／努力, Desgrez struggled on.
In the centre of the 橋（渡しをする） the dwarf had fallen, broken by 疲労，（軍の）雑役 and つまずくing in the 深い cobbles; he made a clutch at the cloak of his companion, who 残酷に shook him off. This second's 延期する was 十分な to give La Tulipe time to 追いつく his men; with Desgrez panting a few paces behind, he （機の）カム up to them.
The dwarf had risen; the two police officers 掴むd him; the young man turned aside and began to climb the parapet of the 橋（渡しをする）.
"Don't let him escape," shrieked the dwarf, writhing in the strong 手渡すs of La Tulipe. "It is 権利 that he should 苦しむ too! He is the man you want, he is the Grand Master—he has always been a bad 雇用者! Trying to serve two ends at once."
"He will scarcely escape by 落ちるing into the Seine," gasped Desgrez, 急いでing to the place where the young man clung to the parapet.
"Yes, yes, he will," 叫び声をあげるd the dwarf. "He knows how to get away!"
Desgrez 投げつけるd himself upon the young man, 掴むing him by the cloak, by the arm, by the 脚, fought with him 猛烈に.
"Don't let him go over!" he shouted to La Tulipe. "Get 持つ／拘留する of him, even if you have to let the other go!"
"He shan't escape!" yelled the dwarf. "Let him taste the wheel, the 火刑／賭ける!"
"Fool," （機の）カム the unnatural 発言する／表明する hissing from behind the wax mask, "help me now and you shall have your heart's 願望（する）."
As he spoke he snatched his cloak from the しっかり掴む of Desgrez and began to lower himself over the 味方する of the parapet; his gloves had been torn off in the struggle and a dark red 石／投石する on one of his fingers gleamed dully in the moonlight.
The dwarf in what seemed a frenzy of malice, had 掴むd the young man by the throat, thus 原因（となる）ing him to lose his balance. The two 倒れるd together over the 橋（渡しをする） with a terrible cry, and the police スパイ／執行官s, gazing over the parapet, saw the 団体／死体s tightly locked 存在 borne 負かす／撃墜する the 早い 現在の.
"に向かって Saint-Cloud!" cried Desgrez. "Come, La Tulipe, let us go 負かす／撃墜する to the foreshore. The 現在のs may wash them up!"
Panting, frantic, the two police スパイ／執行官s 急いでd off the 橋（渡しをする） and ran along the river below the 狭くする parapet of the 堤防. Too late! The 団体／死体s, 渦巻くd along the muddy yellow river, were already out of sight.
Desgrez 設立する a boat and waterman not many paces from the 橋（渡しをする）; he and La Tulipe sprang in and told the astonished man to 列／漕ぐ／騒動 them 負かす／撃墜する the river.
"Nothing!" muttered La Tulipe 激しく.
Desgrez, leaning 熱望して from the boat and peeling into the turgid water, drew out a wax mask to which was 大（公）使館員d 黒人／ボイコット strings; as he gazed at the beautifully modelled classic features a sensation of superstitious horror such as he had never known before ran through him, and ちらりと見ることing at the impassive 直面する of La Tulipe, he muttered: "The Grand Master! The Devil himself I should say!"
With the 星／主役にするing wax mask with its painted wistful smile in his 手渡す, the long strings dripping water, Desgrez gazed about him; above was the moon, remote, high, 冷淡な, around was the 暗い／優うつな 輪郭（を描く） of Paris roofs, towers, tourelles, 黒人／ボイコット against the silver-filled atmosphere; below the boat in which he sat with the darkling, 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集めるd 人物／姿／数字s of the boatman and La Tulipe, the powerful river 渦巻くd in muddy 現在のs to 区s the sea.
The police 調印（する）d up the rag and bone shop in the 行き詰まり de l'Enfer; M. de La Reynie and Charles Desgrez 診察するd the contents of that hideous little house in 私的な. Standing まっただ中に the 悪意のある-looking apparatus, the 調書をとる／予約するs on 魔法, the 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of dresses, coats and 衣装s that hung like shrivelled 死体s 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 塀で囲むs, the 列／漕ぐ／騒動s of masks that grinned or simpered from their hooks like dead 直面するs, La Reynie showed Desgrez a notice in the 週刊誌 Gazette:
The 団体／死体 of the ローマ法王's 甥, Innocenzo Pignata, who disappeared on the eve of his 出発 for Rome, has been 設立する washed 岸に at Saint-Cloud.
This distinguished person had been a 犠牲者 of foul play, or an 事故, it was supposed. He had been identified only by some curious 示すs on his 団体／死体 that had been known to his servant, and by the magnificent ruby that he wore on his left 手渡す as a charm against evil, for his 直面する had been 完全に eaten by water-ネズミs.
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