Chapter I: Front Matter

_By_ Wymond Carey

MONSIEUR MARTIN

A ROMANCE OF THE GREAT SWEDISH WAR

Crown octavo. (By mail, $1.35.) _Net_, $1.20

“NO. 101”

Illustrated. Crown octavo. $1.50.

G. P. Putnam’s Sons
_New York_ _London_

(_See page 158._)]

“No. 101”

BY
Wymond Carey
Author of “Monsieur Martin,” “For the White Rose,” etc.

G. P. Putnam’s Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1905

COPYRIGHT, 1905
BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

The Knickerbocker Press, New York

TO
MY MOTHER

“But still, Beloved, the best of all my bringings
Belongs to you.”

NOTE

THERE was a real “No. 101.” Unpublished MS. despatches now in the Record Office of the British Museum reveal the interesting fact that on more than one occasion the British Government obtained important French state secrets through an agent known to the British ministers as “No. 101.” Who this mysterious agent was, whether it was a man or a woman, why and how he or she so successfully played the part of a traitor, have not, so far as is known to the present writer, been discovered by historians or archivists. The references in the confidential correspondences supply no answer to such questions. If the British ministers knew all the truth, they kept it to themselves, and it perished with them. Doubtless there were good reasons for strict secrecy. But it is more than possible that they themselves did not know, that throughout they simply dealt with a cipher whose secret they never penetrated. It is, however, clear that “No. 101” was in a position to discover some of the most intricate designs in the policy of the French Court, and that the British Government, through its agents, was satisfied of the genuineness of the secrets for which it paid handsomely.

On the undoubted existence of this mysterious cipher, and the riddles that that existence suggests, the writer has based his historical romance.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. “NO. 101” 1

II. ONE-FOURTH OF A SECRET AND THREE-FOURTHS OF A MYSTERY 12

III. A FAIR HUNTRESS AND THE GIRL WITH THE SPOTTED COW 26

IV. A LOVER’S TRICK 39

V. THE PRESUMPTION OF A BEARDLESS CHEVALIER 53

VI. THE WISE WOMAN OF “THE COCK WITH THE SPURS OF GOLD” 66

VII. THE KING’S HANDKERCHIEF 78

VIII. THE VIVANDIÈRE OF FONTENOY 95

IX. AT THE CHARCOAL-BURNER’S CABIN IN THE WOODS 109

X. FONTENOY 121

XI. IN THE SALON DE LA PAIX AT VERSAILLES 137

XII. A ROYAL GRISETTE 149

XIII. WHAT THE VICOMTE DE NÉRAC SAW IN THE SECRET PASSAGE 160

XIV. TWO PAGES IN THE BOOK OF LIFE 171

XV. ANDRÉ IS THRICE SURPRISED 182

XVI. THE FOUNTAIN OF NEPTUNE 196

XVII. DENISE’S ANSWER 207

XVIII. THE HEART OF THE POMPADOUR 220

XIX. THE FLOWER GIRL OF “THE GALLOWS AND THE THREE CROWS” 231

XX. AT HOME WITH A CIPHER 244

XXI. THE KING’S COMMISSION 253

XXII. ON SECRET SERVICE 264

XXIII. THE KING FAINTS 274

XXIV. A WISHED-FOR MIRACLE 285

XXV. THE FALL OF THE DICE 297

XXVI. THE THIEF OF THE SECRET DESPATCH 308

XXVII. THE CHEVALIER MAKES HIS LAST APPEARANCE 319

XXVIII. THE CARREFOUR DE ST. ANTOINE NO. 3 330

XXIX. ANDRÉ FAILS TO DECIDE 339

XXX. DENISE HAS TO DECIDE FOR THE LAST TIME 354

XXXI. FORTUNE’S BANTER 366

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

“THE VICOMTE HENCEFORTH CANNOT WITHOUT HARMING HIMSELF VISIT
PUBLICLY A _BOURGEOISE_ GRISETTE” _Frontispiece_

STATHAM SAT PONDERING, HIS EYES RIVETED ON THE CROSSED DAGGERS 6

“IS THAT LETTER TO THE COMTESSE DES FORGES, ONE OF MY
FRIENDS--MY FRIENDS, _MON DIEU!_--YOURS, OR IS IT NOT?” 48

“FAIR ARCHERESS,” HE SAID, “SURELY THE SHAFTS YOU LOOSE ARE
MORTAL” 88

YES, THAT IS MONSEIGNEUR LE MARÉCHAL DE SAXE, CARRIED IN A
WICKER LITTER, FOR HE CANNOT SIT HIS HORSE 124

MADAME DE POMPADOUR 188

THE CURTAIN WAS SHARPLY FLUNG ASIDE, AND HE SAW DENISE 204

YVONNE VERY MODESTLY DISENGAGED THE ARM WHICH FOR THE FIRST
TIME HE HAD SLIPPED ABOUT HER SUPPLE WAIST 234

YVONNE WITH A FINGER TO HER LIPS, HOLDING HER PETTICOATS OFF
THE FLOOR, STOLE IN, AND BEHIND HER A STRANGER 268

THE CANDLE FELL FROM HER HAND. “GONE!” SHE MUTTERED FEEBLY,
“GONE!” 320

“YVONNE, OF COURSE; YVONNE OF THE SPOTLESS ANKLES,” SHE
LIFTED HER DRESS A FEW INCHES 350

NO. 101.

NO. 101