Five minutes afterwards, the cardinal, pale and disturbed, entered the little room. “I am informed, monseigneur,--” stammered the cardinal. “To the point,” said the Franciscan, in a faint voice, showing the cardinal a letter which he had written to the grand council. “Is that your handwriting?” “Yes, but--” “And your summons?” The cardinal hesitated to answer. His purple revolted against the mean garb of the poor Franciscan, who stretched out his hand and displayed the ring, which produced its effect, greater in proportion to the greatness of the person over whom the Franciscan exercised his influence. “Quick, the secret, the secret!” said the dying man, leaning upon his confessor. “_Coram isto?_” inquired the Spanish cardinal. [8] “Speak in Spanish,” said the Franciscan, showing the liveliest attention. “You are aware, monseigneur,” said the cardinal, continuing the conversation in Castilian, “that the condition of the marriage of the Infanta with the king of France was the absolute renunciation of the rights of the said Infanta, as well as of King Louis XIV., to all claim to the crown of Spain.” The Franciscan made a sign in the affirmative. “The consequence is,” continued the cardinal, “that the peace and alliance between the two kingdoms depend upon the observance of that clause of the contract.” A similar sign from the Franciscan. “Not only France and Spain,” continued the cardinal, “but the whole of Europe even, would be violently rent asunder by the faithlessness of either party.” Another movement of the dying man’s head. “It further results,” continued the speaker, “that the man who might be able to foresee events, and to render certain that which is no more than a vague idea floating in the mind of man, that is to say, the idea of a future good or evil, would preserve the world from a great catastrophe; and the event, which has no fixed certainty even in the brain of him who originated it, could be turned to the advantage of our order.” “_Pronto_, _pronto!_” murmured the Franciscan, in Spanish, who suddenly became paler, and leaned upon the priest. The cardinal approached the ear of the dying man, and said, “Well, monseigneur, I know that the king of France has determined that, at the very first pretext, a death for instance, either that of the king of Spain, or that of a brother of the Infanta, France will, arms in hand, claim the inheritance, and I have in my possession, already prepared, the plan of policy agreed upon by Louis XIV. for this occasion.” “And this plan?” said the Franciscan. “Here it is,” returned the cardinal. “In whose handwriting is it?” “My own.” “Have you anything further to say to me?” “I think I have said a good deal, my lord,” replied the cardinal. “Yes, you have rendered the order a great service. But how did you procure the details, by the aid of which you have constructed your plan?”