I felt that my sister's choice had been a grand one,
but my heart sank as I heard the sneer behind me: 'Hein! The
conceited lawyers are ruffling it finely. They shall pay for it!'
There was a really terrible fight on the steps of the Parliament
House, when the mob forced the door of the great chamber, and twenty-
five people were killed; but Darpent and his little party helped out
a great many more of the counsellors, and the town-guard coming up,
the mob was driven off. That evening I saw the Cardinal de Retz. He
was in bad odour with Monsieur and Mademoiselle, because he was
strongly against the Prince, and would fain have stirred the Duke of
Orleans to interfere effectively at the head of the Parliament and
city of Paris; but a man of his rank could not but appear at times at
the Duke's palace, and on this fine May evening, when all had gone
out after supper into the alleys of the garden of the Luxembourg, he
found me out. How young, keen, and lively he still looked in spite
of his scarlet! How far from one's notions of an Eminence!
'That was a grand exploit of our legal friend, Madame,' he said; 'but
I am afraid he will burn his fingers. One is not honest with
impunity unless one can blindly hang on to a party. Some friend
should warn him to get out of the way when the crash comes, and a
victim has to be sacrificed as a peace-offering. Too obscure, did
Madame say? Ah! that is the very reason! He has secured no
protector.
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