Eustache de Miradoux did not shine; he had had to clothe Lardille,
Militor, and the two children. All the gentlemen were there admiring
each other, when M. de Loignac entered frowning, and placed himself in
front of them, with a countenance anything but agreeable.

"Gentlemen," said he, "are you all here?"

"All!" they replied.

"Gentlemen, you have been summoned to Paris as a special guard to the
king; it is an honorable title, but it engages you to much. Some of you
seem not to have understood your duties; I will, therefore, recall them
to you. If you do not assist at the deliberations of the council, you
will constantly be called upon to execute the resolutions passed there;
therefore, the responsibility of those secrets rests upon you. Suppose
now that one of the officers on whom the safety of the state and the
tranquillity of the crown reposes, betray the secrets of the council, or
a soldier charged with a commission does not execute it, his life is the
forfeit; you know that?"

"Doubtless," replied many voices.

"Well, gentlemen, this very day a measure of his majesty's has been
betrayed, and a step which he wished to take rendered, perhaps,
impossible."

Terror began to replace pride in the minds of the Forty-five, and they
looked at each other with suspicion and disquietude.

"Two of you, gentlemen," continued De Loignac, "have been heard in the