"

"Not particularly--as far as I know, at least. But if you wish to know
more, M. le Duc," Boisrueil continued, "I will--"

"No, no," I said peevishly. The Queen had just handed her last rouleau
across the table, and was still playing. "Go, man, about your
business; I don't want to spend the evening gossiping with you."

He went, and I dismissed the young fellow from my mind; only to find
him five minutes later at my elbow. To youth and good looks he added a
modest bearing that did not fail to enhance them and commend him to me;
the majority of the young sparks of the day being wiser than their
fathers. But I confess that I was not prepared for the stammering
embarrassment with which he addressed me--nor, indeed, to be addressed
by him at all.

"M. de Sully," he said, in a tone of emotion, "I beg you to pardon me.
I am in great trouble, and I think that perhaps, stranger as I am, you
may condescend to do me a service."

So many men appeal to a minister with some such formula on their lips,
and at times with a calculated timidity, that at the first blush of his
request I was inclined to bid him come to me at the proper time; and to
remove to another part of the room. But curiosity, playing the part of
his advocate, found so much that was candid in his manner that I
hesitated. "What is it?" I said stiffly.

"A very slight, if a very unusual, one," he muttered. "M. le Duc, I
only want you to--"

"To?" for he stopped and seemed unable to go on.

"To supplement the present you have given to the Queen with this," he
blurted out, his face pale with emotion; and he stealthily held out to
me a green silk purse, through the meshes of which I saw the glint of
gold. "M. de Sully," he continued, observing my hasty movement, "do
not be offended! I know that you have done all that hospitality
required. But I see that the Queen has already lost your gift, and
that--"

"She is playing on credit?"

"Yes, Monsieur."

He said it simply, and as he spoke, he again pressed on me the purse.
I took and weighed it, and calculated at a guess that it held fifty
crowns. The sum astonished me. "Why, man," I said, "you are not mad
enough to be in love with her Majesty?"

"No!" he cried, vehemently, yet with a gleam of humour in his eye. "I
swear that it is not so. If you will do me this favour--"

It was a mad impulse that took me, but I nodded, and resolving to make
good the money out of my own pocket should the c