forth.

The King pushed the door, which swung back noiselessly on its hinges,
and gazed inside, to see Leoni sitting at a table, studiously intent
upon some work--lost in the depths. He called softly:

"Leoni!"

The doctor did not turn his head.

"Leoni!" said the King once more, raising his voice; and the man of
learning leaped to his feet and came towards his master.

"My lord!" he ejaculated.

The King stepped into the room, and the door closed behind him.

"Busily engaged, Master Leoni?" he said bluffly.

The doctor bowed.

"In your service, sir," he replied humbly.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

THE GLITTERING STONE.

"You are satisfied, I trust, doctor, with our programme?" said the King,
in a slightly ironical tone, as he passed to the window, humming an old
hunting song as he tapped the panes, while Leoni remained standing near
the table at which he had been busily engaged writing.

"Sir--" he began.

"Sit down, Master Leoni; sit down. You can respect my disguise better,
and also more thoroughly please me. I was saying, you are satisfied?"

"Everything, sir, that you order is the best. Of that I am convinced;
and yet, sir, I am anxious about the Majesty of France. I am common
clay, sir. I am nothing; I can die; whereas you--"

"No, no, Leoni; not here, not here. We have left that in France. Do
you not understand? Just at present we are travelling companions, and I
look to you and to your great learning for assistance, just as I
received it in the forest that night; and then it was timely indeed."

"You are too indulgent, my lord, to any poor attainments that your
servant may possess. Such as they are, they will always be at my lord's
service," replied Leoni, and he slowly resumed his seat in the
high-backed chair, in obedience to a commanding gesture from the King.

Francis laughed lightly.

"The best swordsman," he said, "in all my fair kingdom of France--cut,
parry, and point; the greatest savant; and, by my sword, the best of
patrists.--No, no, Leoni, old friend, I am not too indulgent," and he
gave his follower a keen glance. "But as to the route; is it good to
start to-morrow?"

Leoni bowed.

"Yes, sir, it is good," he said, and he blew some few grains of sand off
the paper at which he had been engaged.

"Ah!" said the King. "'Tis well."

"And then, sir--"

"Then--I do not understand."

Leoni leaned forward, and with his elbows on the table joined the tips
of his fing