st
possible. The King is dead. It is being kept secret, but I send you
the warning that you may make yourself secure in Amboise. Note
carefully how the Dauphin takes it. I commend you to the keeping of
God.--TRISTAN.'

You see it is explicit."

"And Saxe was explicit, but he lied." She was too much of a woman to
spare him the thrust, but it was the only revenge she took, and having
taken it, she sat silent, her brows knit, her fingers playing
unconsciously with Charlemagne's soft ears. The dog's head was on her
lap, motionless, the gentle brown eyes fixed upon her face. Charlot
lay asleep at her feet, breathing little heavy breaths of contentment,
as if enough of his brain was awake to enjoy the sleep of the remainder.

"Yes," she said slowly, "I agree that the King's Provost-Marshal is
explicit, but I do not read his letter as you do. Perhaps it is
because Amboise has made me so suspicious. It is a sorrowful thing to
say, but we have been taught that safety lies in distrust of Valmy. It
is horrible, but it is not our fault, and I distrust now. Tristan is
your enemy and ours. The King, the great King, is not above setting a
trap. I think I see a double snare; a snare to catch the Dauphin, to
catch all who are his friends in Amboise, and a snare to catch the
great King's minister himself. Perhaps it is foolish, I know it is
presumptuous, but let me read the letter my own way; you can show me
afterwards where I am wrong. It is clever, but it is the cleverness of
the man who thinks only of his own interests, who makes no allowance
for love, loyalty, or single-hearted duty, and judges others by
himself. Is that your great King, Monsieur d'Argenton?" and Commines,
answering nothing, recognized the life-likeness of the portrait.

"But no!" she went on, "your great King is dead, the letter says so,
and this is your friend Tristan who sends you the warning that you may
make yourself secure in Amboise! What does that mean? You know that
better than I, but I suppose it means that, first in the field, you may
win the Dauphin's confidence and govern France through the boy. That
is a great gift from an enemy, Monsieur d'Argenton, and what would the
King say if he were alive? But the King is dead! Then why are you to
note carefully how the Dauphin takes the news? For whose benefit are
you to note it? For your own? But you are to make yourself secure in
Amboise! For Tristan's? But how does it touch Tris