ht. In a minute or two the King turned and
came back towards me; and again, as if he could not restrain his
curiosity, looked up so that our eyes met. This time I thought that he
would beckon me to him, satisfied with the lengths to which he had
already carried his displeasure. But he turned again, with a light
laugh.

At this a courtier, one of Sillery's creatures, who had presumed on the
occasion so far as to come to my elbow, thought that he might safely
amuse himself with me. "I am afraid that the King grows older, M. de
Rosny," he said, smirking at his companions. "His sight seems to be
failing."

"It should not be neglected then," I said grimly. "I will tell him
presently what you say."

He fell back, looking foolish at that, at the very moment that Henry,
having taken another turn, dismissed Villeroy, who, wiser than the
puppy at my elbow, greeted me with particular civility as he passed.
Freed from him, Henry stood a moment hesitating. He told me afterwards
that he had not turned from me a yard before his heart smote him; and
that but for a mischievous curiosity to see how I should take it, he
would not have carried the matter so far. Be that as it may--and I do
not doubt this, any more than I ever doubted the reality of the
affection in which he held me--on a sudden he raised his hand and
beckoned to me.

I went down to him gravely, and not hurriedly. He looked at me with
some signs of confusion in his face. "You are late this morning," he
said.

"I have been on your Majesty's business," I answered.

"I do not doubt that," he replied querulously, his eyes wandering. "I
am not--I am troubled this morning." And after a fashion he had when
he was not at his ease, he ground his heel into the soil and looked
down at the mark. "The queen is not well. Sillery has seen her, and
will tell you so."

M. de Sillery, whose constant opposition to me at the council-board I
have elsewhere described, began to affirm it. I let him go on for a
little time, and then interrupted him brusquely. "I think it was you,"
I said, "who nominated Ferret to be one of the King's clerks."

"Ferret?" he exclaimed, reddening at my tone, while the King, who knew
me well, pricked up his ears.

"Yes," I said; "Ferret."

"And if so?" Sillery asked, haughtily. "What do you mean?"

"Only this," I said. "That if his Majesty will summon him to the
queen's closet, without warning or delay, and ask him in her presence
how m