as about to do a most gallant thing in the service of his King, he
seemed to have no time to think; but now in the silence and gloom of
that solitary inner room, there was time for thought, time for his
feelings to be harrowed by the knowledge of what was to come, and as he
lay there he began to picture to himself how it would all be.

How soon he knew not, but before long some one would come, miss the
King's attendants, inquiry would be made, and possibly the supposed
Comte, lying wounded in the bed, would be sharply questioned as to the
whereabouts of his doctor and gentlemen.

"What shall I do?" thought Denis. "I must keep up the semblance of
being the King. I am supposed to be very ill, and I can pretend to be
insensible. That will all gain time if I refuse to speak; and those who
come will never for a moment think that the King's attendants have left
him helpless here--far less fancy that they have escaped.

"But have they escaped?" thought the lad; and in his excitement the
perspiration broke out upon his brow, as he lay wondering whether they
had found the private passage unfastened and won their way through to
the gardens, so as to pass unnoticed along the alleys and down to the
river steps and boat.

"No," he thought. "Impossible. The people here would surely have
securely fastened up that way, and the King has been captured; and with
such an enemy as Henry what will be his fate?"

For some time he gave these thoughts firm harbour, but at last his
common sense prevailed. The idea was absurd, he told himself. If the
little party had been seized while making their escape the whole castle
would have been in an uproar, full of wild excitement, with the hurrying
to and fro of steps, especially the heavy tramp and clash of the guards,
instead of which all was horribly still, while the candles burning in a
couple of sconces were hidden from his sight by the heavy hangings of
the bed, so that he lay there alone in the deep gloom.

There were moments when the shadows cast by the lights seemed to take
form and move, making him feel that he could lie there no longer, that
he must spring out of bed to face bravely these weird and shadowy forms,
and convince himself that he really was alone, and merely a prey to a
childish superstitious dread brought about by the horror of his
position.

It was hard to bear, and required a heavy call upon his manliness to
force back these fancies and prepare himself to play hi