'I think you are the devil,'Henry answered,looking curiously at him.'You seem to know most things.But mind you,my friend,he speaks me fairly,and I will not take this on hearsay even from your master.Though,'he added after pausing a moment,'I love him.'
'And he,your Majesty.He desires only to prove it.'
'Yes,I know,I know,'the king answered fretfully.'I believes he does.I believe he does wish me well.But there will be a devil of an outcry among my people.And Turenne gives fair words too.And I do not know,'he continued,fidgeting with his cup and ball,'that it might not suit me better to agree with him,you see.'
I saw M.de Rosny draw himself up.'Dare I speak openly to you,sire,'he said,with less respect and more energy than he had hitherto used.'As I should to my master?'
'Ay,say what you like,'Henry answered.But he spoke sullenly,and it seemed to me that he looked less pleasantly at his companion.
'Then I will venture to utter what is in your Majesty's mind,'my patron answered steadfastly.'You fear,sire,lest,having accepted my master's offer and conquered your enemies,you should not be easily rid of him.'
Henry looked relieved.'Do you call that diplomacy?'he said with a smile.'However,what if it be so?What do you say to it?Methinks I have heard an idle tale about a horse which would hunt a stag;and for the purpose set a man upon its back.'
'This I say,sire,first,'Rosny answered very earnestly.'That the King of Navarre is popular only with one-third of the kingdom,and is only powerful when united with you.Secondly,sire,it is his interest to support the royal power,to which he is heir.And,thirdly,it must be more to your Majesty's honour to accept help from a near kinsman than from an ordinary subject,and one who,I still maintain,sire,has no good designs in his mind.'
'The proof'Henry said sharply.'Give me that!'
'I can give it in a week from this day.'
'It must be no idle tale,mind you,'the king continued suspiciously.
'You shall have Turenne's designs,sire,from one who had them from his own mouth.'
The king looked startled,but after a pause turned and resumed his walk.'Well,'he said,'if you do that,I on my part--'
The rest I lost,for the two passing to the farther end of the gallery,came to a standstill there,balking my curiosity and Rambouillet's also.The marquis,indeed,began to betray his impatience,and the great clock immediately over our heads presently striking the half-hour after ten,he started and made as if he would have approached the king.He checked the impulse,however,but still continued to fidget uneasily,losing his reserve by-and-by so far as to whisper to me that his Majesty would be missed.
I had been,up to this point,a silent and inactive spectator of a scene which appealed to my keenest interests and aroused my most ardent curiosity.Surprise following surprise,I had begun to doubt my own identity;so little had I expected to find myself first in the presence of the Most Christian King--and that under circumstances as strange and bizarre as could well be imagined--and then an authorised witness at a negotiation upon which the future of all the great land of France stretching for so many hundred leagues on every side of us,depended.I say I could scarcely believe in my own identity;or that I was the same Gaston de Marsac who had slunk,shabby and out-at-elbows,about St.Jean d'Angely.I tasted the first sweetness of secret power,which men say is the sweetest of all and the last relinquished;and,the hum of distant voices and laughter still reaching me at intervals,I began to understand why we had been admitted with,so much precaution,and to comprehend the gratification of M.de Rosny when the promise of this interview first presented to him the hope of effecting so much for his master and for France.
Now I was to be drawn into the whirlpool itself.I was still travelling back over the different stages of the adventure which had brought me to this point,when I was rudely awakened by M.de Rosny calling my name in a raised voice.Seeing,somewhat late,that he was beckoning to me to approach,I went forward in a confused and hasty fashion;kneeling before the king as I had seen him kneel,and then rising to give ear to his Majesty's commands.Albeit,having expected nothing less than to be called upon,I was not in the clearest mood to receive them.Nor was my bearing such as I could have wished it to be.
M.de Rosny tells me that you desire a commission at Court,sir,'
the king said quickly.
'I,sire?'I stammered,scarcely able to believe my ears.I was so completely taken aback that I could say no more,and I stopped there with my mouth open.
'There are few things I can deny M.de Rosny,'Henry continued,speaking very rapidly,'and I am told that you are a gentleman of birth and ability.Out of kindness to him,therefore,I grant you a commission to raise twenty men for my service.
Rambouillet,'he continued,raising his voice slightly,'you will introduce this gentleman to me publicly to-morrow,that;I may carry into effect my intention on his behalf.You may go now,sir.No thanks.And M.de Rosny,'he added,turning to my companion and speaking with energy,'have a care for my sake that you are not recognised as you go.Rambouillet must contrive something to enable you to leave without peril.I should be desolated if anything happened to you,my friend,for I could not protect you.I give you my word if Mendoza or Retz found you in Blois I could not save you from them unless you recanted.'
'I will not trouble either your Majesty or my conscience,'M.de Rosny replied,bowing low,'if my wits can help me.'
'Well,the saints keep you,'the king answered piously,going towards the door by which he had entered;'for your master and Ihave both need of you.Rambouillet,take care of him as you love me.And come early in the morning to my closet and tell me how it has fared with him.'
