From bargaining the Cardinal passed on to threatening and from threatening to whining, and so on until the end--St.Auban preserving a firm demeanour--the comedy was played out and Mazarin fell in with his proposal and his terms.
"Mille diables!" I cried.

"And has St.Auban set out ?" "He starts to-morrow, and I go with him.

When finally the Cardinal had consented, the Marquis demanded and obtained from him a promise in writing, signed and sealed by Mazarin, that he should receive a third of the Canaples estates and the demesne on the outskirts of Blois, in exchange for the body of Armand de Canaples, dead or alive, and a proof of treason sufficient to warrant his arrest and the confiscation of his estates.

Next, seeing in what regard the Seigneur is held by the people of Blois, and fearing that his arrest might be opposed by many of his adherents, the Marquis has demanded a troop of twenty men.

This Mazarin has also granted him, entrusting the command of the troop to me, under St.Auban.Further, the Marquis has stipulated that the greatest secrecy is to be observed, and has expressed his purpose of going upon this enterprise disguised and masked, for--as he rightly opines--when months hence he enters into possession of the demesne of Canaples in the character of purchaser, did the Blaisois recognise in him the man who sold the Chevalier, his life would stand in hourly peril." I heard him through patiently enough; yet when he stopped, my pent-up feelings burst all bonds, and I resolved there and then to go in quest of that Judas, St.Auban, and make an end of his plotting, for all time.
But Montresor restrained me, showing me how futile such a course must prove, and how I risked losing all chance of aiding those at Canaples.
He was right.