The cardinal's musketeer

ON the Rue de la Ferronnerie, near the end of the Rue St. Honoré, where Henri Quatre was stabbed, stood the clockmaker’s shop. In the days of the thirteenth Louis, the streets o...

THE little Péron enjoyed every privilege of the clockmaker’s house, but there was one spot in it which he had never entered. That was the garret under the gabled roof. It was no...

AFTER Péron had gratified his curiosity in regard to the garret and found it such a bare and unprofitable spot, he speedily forgot it, and only once again during his childhood w...

IT was one of Péron’s few privileges to pay an occasional visit to the pastry shop of his friend Archambault. A privilege which he prized most highly when he could go without Ma...

IT was not until Péron was ten years old that he made a journey outside the gates of Paris. Jacques des Horloges was accustomed to go from one grand house to another, to regulat...

THE two children, thus suddenly confronted, stood regarding each other for some moments in silence. Then the little girl drew back with a gesture which was wonderfully full of h...

THE Rue de Bethisi was the artery which connected the older quarter of the Hôtel de Ville and the Palais Tournelles with the more modern neighborhood of the Louvre. In the vicin...

WHEN the boy was twelve years old, a great change came into his life. The Prince de Condé, coming into the shop one day, saw him, noticed his strength and beauty, and offered to...

TIME passed, and there were changes in state and at court. The trouble between the Huguenots and the Catholics had reached a climax, and France had once more beheld a religious...

ON the stroke of the clock the door at the further end of the room was opened and M. de Nançay entered unattended. As he advanced, his tall figure loomed conspicuously in the na...

PÉRON and his twelve men, all armed and prepared for possible resistance, left the Palais Cardinal in less than a quarter of an hour after Richelieu had given his final instruct...

HALF an hour later, Péron had completed his fruitless search. He had expected no results from it, after mademoiselle’s manœuver, but had faithfully executed his orders. She, mea...

IN the morning, Péron waited upon the cardinal for his instructions, and they were not only unexpected but also unwelcome. Richelieu was alone when he summoned his musketeer, an...

WHEN Péron met Choin and his company at the corner of the Rue St. Thomas du Louvre, he had discarded his uniform and wore a dress more becoming to his actual station in life. It...

CHOIN had been too well instructed by Péron to express any surprise at finding the door of the tall house unfastened, and he and one of his men entered, and lighted some tapers...

MORE than an hour had passed in this tedious watch; the stillness without was scarcely greater than the stillness within. Mademoiselle and her woman remained in their quarters,...

BEFORE daybreak, Péron was forced to provide a meal for Monsieur, who, finding himself in an uncomfortable situation, was disposed to be as peevish and refractory as possible. W...

HALF an hour later, Péron had told the cardinal the whole story of the ride to Poissy and of mademoiselle’s signal. He was too straightforward to conceal even that which was to...

ON the lonely journey to Flanders, Péron had not only time, but food, for reflection. He found himself in a singular position: his father had been deeply wronged and he himself...

HAVING secured the strong door of the house of the iron cross, the priest lighted Péron through the hall and up the narrow stairs to the second floor, where, in a front room, a...

WHEN Péron returned from his errand to the stables, he found the public room of the inn full to overflowing. There was a fair at the horse-market, and it had crowded all the hos...

PÉRON’S captors rode about three leagues beyond Amiens, on the road to Beauvais, before they halted and loosed his bonds a trifle, that he might lie more easily in the litter, w...

THE room in which the prisoner was confined was a small one in the cellar of the Château de Nançay, and was strong enough to resist his greatest efforts to effect an escape. Tha...

IN the Rue des Bons Enfans, behind the gardens of the Palais Cardinal, Péron had his lodgings. He had long since outgrown the proportions of his little room over the clockmaker’...

NINON’S announcement, coming with unexpected force and with truthfulness, dashed Péron’s new-born hopes to the ground. Mademoiselle’s flashes of tenderness and emotion were but...

IT was one o’clock when Péron rode through St. Denis, and a light spring rain was falling; through the mist he saw the blurred lights of the guardhouse and he heard the tolling...

AFTER leaving Père Antoine, Péron stopped only long enough at his lodgings to remove the stains of travel, and still wearing his plain suit of dark blue taffety, he bent his ste...

IT was the evening of the day following that on which Péron was proclaimed Marquis de Nançay, and he sat at a small table in the pastry shop on the Rue des Petits Champs. He was...

PÈRE ANTOINE did not keep his appointment; in fact he was in sore perplexity between mademoiselle and Péron. Knowing the thoughts and impulses of both and pledged not to betray...

THERE was one thing that Péron noticed in his walks with Père Antoine--whom he had followed like a shadow--and that was that they passed so frequently through the Rue du Chaume,...