"Enough to begin with at least if not enough to complete the glorious task. Now unfold all that is decided on." CHAPTER XIV "_Le Dédaigneux!_" Humphrey said to himself. "_Le Dédaigneux_. Some man, some great one masquerading under a sobriquet, a _nom de guerre!_ Who can it be but one! Who but the one whose proud family motto almost speaks of their disdain for even kings; whose own life bespeaks his scorn for all who are not of his blood; who looks down on other men as other men look down on the insects crawling in their path! Who can it be but he? Yet--does he lead these conspirators or is he led by them? Is he their chief or cat's-paw? I must know that." "Listen," he heard Van den Enden saying now. "Briefly, all that is devised is as follows." "Those men, that money, and the Dutch Fleet are in our hands, at our service," Van den Enden continued next; "the moment that your Normandy is prepared to rise against this tyrant whose tyranny is greater than was the tyranny of Richelieu, of Mazarin, or of both combined. If your chiefs, your great noblesse, your merchants of Rouen, Havre and other cities--all groaning under this tyrant's unjust taxation of them, specially for his wars; all hating his wantons, his mad extravagance and love of splendour--are ready to rise and form themselves into a Republic which shall at last be a Republic formed of the whole of France, then the Spaniards and Hollanders are ready to play their part." "Republics have heads, dictators, rulers, as well as monarchies. Men who are yet monarchs though without crowns, or thrones, or rights hereditary. Whom does Spain produce?" La Truaumont asked. "De Montérey at first stipulated for the head of the house of--_Le Dédaigneux_. The Duke----" "Ah!" whispered Humphrey to himself. "But finding that this might not be, that the Duke refuses since he would have to throw too heavy a stake to win even so great a prize as this, they will accept him." "They must," the listener heard the woman say. "He must be head or nothing." "They have agreed," Van den Enden continued. "They desire Quillebeuf, De Montérey avers, more than all the places of which Le Roi Soleil has despoiled them. They wish to form a Republic rivalling that of Venice, one that, in being with them, shall crush all who are against them." "And Louis! The King. What of him?" "Listen. His guards have been dispatched to join the army. _Le Dédaigneux_ as their colonel has taken care of that." "My God!" Humphrey whispered to himself. "He is in it. The chief conspirator and no tool!" "The King will," Van den Enden went on, "be either at St. Germain or Fontainebleau for the next few weeks or months. And then--then----" "Then?" said La Truaumont. "Then five hundred Norman gentlemen will subdue the courtiers and seize on him. We shall have him. Hold him." "Go on!" La Truaumont muttered, his voice husky and deep. "What next? What will you do with him?" "He will sign a renunciation of his throne or----" "Or?"