ing's favorite and felt the sense of his own
security. What a cat's paw he made of me! And so he--they are gone,
Jacqueline?"

"Yes," she returned, surprised at his language, and, for the first
time, wondering if the duke's wooing admitted of other complications
than she had suspected. "They are on their way to the duke's kingdom."

"His kingdom!" said the fool, with derision. "But go on. Tell me
about it, Jacqueline. Their parting with the court? How they set out
on their journey. All, Jacqueline; all!"

"They were married in the Chapelle de la Trinite," responded the girl,
hesitating. Then with an odd side look, she went on rapidly: "The
bridal party made an imposing cavalcade: the princess in her litter,
behind a number of maids on horseback. At the castle gates several
pages, dressed as Cupids, sent silver arrows after the bridal train.
'Hymen; Io Hymen!' cried the throng. 'Godspeed!' exclaimed Queen
Marguerite, and threw a parchment, tied with a golden ribbon, into the
princess' litter; an epithalamium, in verse, written in her own fair
hand. '_Esto perpetua_!' murmured the red cardinal. Besides the
groom's own men, the king sent a strong escort to the border, and thus
it was a numerous company that rode from the castle, with colors flying
and the princess' handkerchief fluttering from her litter a last
farewell."

"A last farewell!" repeated the fool. "A splendent picture,
Jacqueline. They all shouted _Te Deum_, and none stood there to warn
her."

"To warn!" retorted the jestress. "Not a maid but envied her that
spectacle; the magnificence and splendor!"

"But not what will follow," he said, and, lying back on his couch,
closed his eyes.

Rapidly the scene passed before him; the false duke at the head of the
cavalcade, elate, triumphant; the princess in her litter, brilliant,
dazzling; the laughter, the hurried adieus; tears and smiles; the smart
sayings of the jesters, a bride their legitimate prey, her blushes the
delight of the facetious nobles; the complacency of the pleasure-loving
king--all floated before his eyes like the figment of a dream. How
mocking the pomp and glitter! For the princess, what an awakening was
to ensue! The free baron must have known the emperor was in Spain, and
had met the fool's stratagem with a final masterly manoeuver. The bout
was over; the first great bout; but in the next--would there be a next?
Jacqueline's words now implied a doubt.

"You are soo