'a l'outrance, and must take the consequences. I am sorry for him.
I have left them to float about in open water for the last two years.
I shall now draw the net."

"It is time, Monseigneur," said Joseph, who often trembled involuntarily
as he spoke. "Do you bear in mind that from Perpignan to Narbonne the
way is short? Do you know that if your army here is powerful, your own
troops are weak and uncertain; that the young nobles are furious; and
that the King is not sure?"

The Cardinal looked at the clock.

"It is only half-past eight, Joseph. I have already told you that I will
not talk about this affair until nine. Meantime, as justice must be
done, you will write what I shall dictate, for my memory serves me well.
There are still some objectionable persons left, I see by my notes--four
of the judges of Urbain Grandier. He was a rare genius, that Urbain
Grandier," he added, with a malicious expression. Joseph bit his lips.
"All the other judges have died miserably. As to Houmain, he shall be
hanged as a smuggler by and by. We may leave him alone for the present.
But there is that horrible Lactantius, who lives peacefully, Barre, and
Mignon. Take a pen, and write to the Bishop of Poitiers,

"MONSEIGNEUR: It is his Majesty's pleasure that Fathers Mignon and
Barre be superseded in their cures, and sent with the shortest
possible delay to the town of Lyons, with Father Lactantius,
Capuchin, to be tried before a special tribunal, charged with
criminal intentions against the State."

Joseph wrote as coolly as a Turk strikes off a head at a sign from his