s
presented itself to my mind."

"That he effected an entrance by means of the staircase."

"Alas, sire, that seems to me more than probable."

"There is no doubt that some one must have sold this secret of the
trap-door."

"Either sold it or given it."

"Why do you make that distinction?"

"Because there are certain persons, sire, who, being above the price of
a treason, give, and do not sell."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, sire! Your majesty's mind is too clear-sighted not to guess what I
mean, and you will save me the embarrassment of naming the person I
allude to."

"You are right: you mean Madame! I suppose her suspicions were aroused
by your changing your lodgings."

"Madame has keys of the apartments of her maids of honor, and she is
powerful enough to discover what no one but yourself could do, or she
would not be able to discover anything."

"And you suppose, then, that my sister must have entered into an
alliance with Bragelonne, and has informed him of all the details of the
affair?"

"Perhaps even better still, for she perhaps accompanied him there."

"Which way? through your own apartments?"

"You think it impossible, sire? Well, listen to me. Your majesty knows
that Madame is very fond of perfumes?"

"Yes, she acquired that taste from my mother."

"Vervain particularly."

"Yes, it is the scent she prefers to all others."

"Very good, sire! my apartments happen to smell very strongly of
vervain."

The king remained silent and thoughtful for a few moments, and then
resumed: "But why should Madame take Bragelonne's part against me?"

Saint-Aignan could very easily have replied: "A woman's jealousy!" The
king probed his friend to the bottom of his heart to ascertain if he had
learned the secret of his flirtation with his sister-in-law. But
Saint-Aignan was not an ordinary courtier; he did not lightly run the
risk of finding out family secrets; and he was too good a friend of the
Muses not to think very frequently of poor Ovidius Naso, whose eyes shed
so many tears in expiation of his crime for having once beheld
something, one hardly knows what, in the palace of Augustus. He
therefore passed by Madame's secret very skillfully. But as he had shown
no ordinary sagacity in indicating Madame's presence in his rooms in
company with Bragelonne, it was necessary, of course, for him to repay
with interest the king's _amour propre_, and reply plainly to the
question which had been put to him of