"Well, Sir," said the Cardinal, "if you have done the harangue with which you are edifying the council, I will proceed with my questions; but first let me tell you, that I am not disposed to be dared with impunity. I think you denied to me that you had ever forwarded any letters to Don Francisco de Mello, Leopold Archduke of Austria, or Philip King of Spain.--Beware what you say, Claude Count de Blenau!" "If I understand your Eminence rightly," said the prisoner, "you do not ask me whether I ever did forward such letters, but whether I ever denied to you that I did forward them: in which case, I must reply, that I did deny having expedited any letter to Don Francisco de Mello, but the two other names I never touched upon." "Then you acknowledge that you have conveyed letters from the Queen to the Archduke and the King of Spain?" demanded Richelieu. "I have made no such acknowledgment," answered De Blenau; "your Eminence puts a forced construction on my words." "In vain you turn, Sir, like a rebellious serpent that strives in its windings to escape the hand that grasps it. At once I ask you, have you or have you not, ever, by any means, expedited any letter from the Queen, or other person, to either the Archduke of Austria, or the King of Spain? This, Sir, is a question that you cannot get over!" The eyes of the whole Council fixed upon the Count as the Cardinal spoke. De Blenau paused for a moment to recollect himself, and then addressed himself directly to the King. "As a good and faithful subject," he said, "there is a great duty which I owe your Majesty, and I believe I have always performed it as I ought; but as a servant of your royal consort the Queen, I have other duties, distinct, though I hope in no degree opposed to those which bind me to my King. As a man of honour also and a gentleman, I am bound to betray no trust reposed in me, whether that trust seem to me material or not; and though I feel sure that I might at once answer the questions proposed to me by his Eminence of Richelieu without any detriment or discredit to her Majesty, yet so sacred do I hold the confidence of another, that I must decline to reply, whatever be the consequence. However, let me assure you, Sire, that no word or deed of her Majesty the Queen, which has ever come to my ears, has been derogatory to your Majesty's dignity, or contrary to your interest." "Then I am to conclude that you refuse to answer?" said Richelieu sternly: "think, Monsieur de Blenau, before you carry your obstinacy too far." "My conduct does not arise in obstinacy," replied De Blenau, "but from a sense of what is due to my own honour; and unless it can be shown me that it is her Majesty's desire I should inform your Eminence of all I know respecting her affairs, from henceforth I hold my tongue, and answer no farther questions whatever."