"This is a point to settle with the commissioners, of whom this is a list. I will send three or four executioners from Paris--men accustomed to noble deeds--who have preserved the traditions of the Cardinal de Richelieu." "Good God!" cried the regent; "bloodshed under my reign--I do not like it. As to Count Horn, he was a thief, and Duchaffour a wretch; but I am tender, Dubois." "No, monseigneur, you are not tender; you are uncertain and weak; I told you so when you were my scholar--I tell you so again, now that you are my master. When you were christened, your godmothers, the fairies, gave you every gift of nature--strength, beauty, courage, and mind: only one--whom they did not invite because she was old, and they probably foresaw your aversion to old women--arrived the last, and gave you weakness--that spoiled all." "And who told you this pretty tale? Perrault or St. Simon?" "The princess palatine, your mother." The regent laughed. "And whom shall we choose for the commission?" asked he. "Oh, monseigneur, people of mind and resolution, be sure; not provincials; not very sensitive to family scenes; men old in the dust of tribunals, whom the Breton men will not frighten with their fierce eyes, nor the Breton women seduce with their beautiful languid ones." The regent made no reply. "After all," continued Dubois, "these people may not be as guilty as we suppose. What they have plotted let us recapitulate. Bah! mere trifles. To bring back the Spaniards into France, what is that? To call Philip the Fifth king, the renouncer of his country; to break all the laws of the State--these good Bretons." "Dubois, I know the national law as well as you." "Then, monseigneur, if you speak truly, you have only to approve the nomination of the commissioners I have chosen." "How many are there?" "Twelve." "Their names?" Dubois gave in the list. "Ah, you were right--a happy choice; but who is to preside over this amiable assembly?" "Guess, monseigneur." "Take care; you must have an honest man at the head of these ravagers." "I have one." "Who is it?" "An ambassador." "Cellamare, perhaps." "Ma foi! I think if you would let him come out of Blois he would not refuse you even the heads of his accomplices." "Let him stop at Blois. Who is to preside?" "Chateau-Neuf." "The ambassador from Holland, from the great king. Dubois, I do not generally compliment you, but this time you have done wonders." "You understand, monseigneur: he knows that these people wish to make a republic; and he, who is brought up to know none but sultans, and who has a horror of Holland through the horror of Louis XIV. for republics, has accepted with a good grace. We shall have Argram for prosecutor. Cayet shall be our secretary. We go to work quickly and well, monseigneur, for time presses." "But shall we at least have quiet afterward?" "I believe so. We may sleep all day and all night; that is to say, when we have finished the war in Spain."