第81章

DucorandProst，apothecariestohismajesty，

hadbeencollectedtogetherforthispurposebytheducd’Aiguillon。

Thesegentlemencametoreporttheterminationoftheirexperiments

attheverymomentwhenthechancellorandlieutenantofpolice

enteredtheroom；theducdelaVrillierehadprecededthemby

aboutfiveminutes；theducd’Aiguillonrequestedthesegentlemen

tobeseated。

ThedoctorsQuesnayandlaMartinierewere

introduced，anddesiredtomakeknowntheresultoftheiroperations。

Mynewly-arrivedguests，whoasyetunderstoodnothingofwhat

wasgoingon，werestruckwithastonishmentathearingitsaid，

thatthefourbottlesoforange-flowerwatercontaineda

considerableproportionofamostactivepoison，ofwhichafew

dropswouldbesufficienttocauseinstantaneousdeath。

Having

thusexecutedtheircommission，themedicalgentlemenbowed

andretired。

M。d’Aiguillonthenexplainedtomywonderingfriendsthehorrible

affairwhichhadoccasionedtheirbeingsentforsohastily。

I

cannottellyouwhateffectthisdisclosureproducedonM。dela

VrilliereorM。deMaupeou，mywholeattentionbeingfixedupon

M。deSartines。

Youmaysupposethatalieutenantofpolice，

particularlyonewhopiquedhimselfuponknowingeverything，

couldnotfeelverymuchathisease，wheneachwordthatwas

utteredconvictedhimeitherofincapacityornegligence。

His

browbecamecontracted，hehemmed，choked，fidgetedabout，and

appearedasthoughhewouldhavegiveneverythingintheworldf

orlibertytojustifyhimself，butetiquetteforbadeit，andhe

wasonlypermittedtospeakafterthesecretariesofstatethen

present，orifcalleduponbyeitherofthem。

WhenM。d’Aiguillonhadceasedspeaking，thechancellorinhis

turntookuptheconversation。

M。deMaupeouwasbynaturecold

andsarcastic，delightinginannoyinganyperson；but，onthe

presentoccasion，theill-natureinherentinhimwasstillexcited

bythedecidedhatredheboretotheunfortunateM。deSartines。

Hebeganbysaying，thattheconspiracywasevident，andwas

easilyexplainedbythestateofexasperationinwhichtheJesuits

andparliamentariansnowwere；bothorderslookingfornoother

prospectofamendmentintheirconditionthansuchasmightarise

fromsomesuddenconvulsionofthekingdom。

Heexpressedhis

opinionofthenecessityofinstitutingarigorousinquiryintothe

conductofthesetwobodies；andthen，turningtoM。deSartines，

whosecheekgrewpaleatthemovement，hechargedhimtolay

beforethecouncilallthoseparticularswhichhemustnecessarily

possessasheadofthepolice，eitherrespectingthepresentplot，

orrelatingtoanyoftheancientmembersofparliamentorthe

orderofJesuits。

ThiswasadaggertotheheartofM。deSartines，whoinvain

soughttoframeasuitablereply:butwhatcouldhesay？

Hedid

notinrealitypossessanyoftheinformationforwhichhehad

receivedcredit，andaftermanyawkwardendeavoursatexplaining

himself，hew