ined against the white background. The valet snapped his watch, and
bent over the sleeper.

"I have the honour to inform your Majesty that it is half-past eight,"
said he.

"Ah!" The king slowly opened his large dark-brown eyes, made the sign of
the cross, and kissed a little dark reliquary which he drew from under
his night-dress. Then he sat up in bed, and blinked about him with the
air of a man who is collecting his thoughts.

"Did you give my orders to the officer of the guard, Bontems?" he asked.

"Yes, sire."

"Who is on duty?"

"Major de Brissac at the main guard, and Captain de Catinat in the
corridor."

"De Catinat! Ah, the young man who stopped my horse at Fontainebleau.
I remember him. You may give the signal, Bontems."

The chief valet walked swiftly across to the door and threw it open. In
rushed the officer of the ovens and the four red-coated, white-wigged
footmen, ready-handed, silent-footed, each intent upon his own duties.
The one seized upon Bontem's rug and couch, and in an instant had
whipped them off into an ante-chamber, another had carried away the
_en cas_ meal and the silver taper-stand; while a third drew back the
great curtains of stamped velvet and let a flood of light into the
apartment. Then, as the flames were already flickering among the pine
shavings in the fireplace, the officer of the ovens placed two round
logs crosswise above them, for the morning air was chilly, and withdrew
with his fellow-servants.

They were hardly gone before a more august group entered the
bed-chamber. Two walked together in front, the one a youth little over
twenty years of age, middle-sized, inclining to stoutness, with a slow,
pompous bearing, a well-turned leg, and a face which was comely enough
in a mask-like fashion, but which was devoid of any shadow of
expression, except perhaps of an occasional lurking gleam of mischievous
humour. He was richly clad in plum-coloured velvet, with a broad band
of blue silk; across his breast, and the glittering edge of the order of
St. Louis protruding from under it. His companion was a man of forty,
swarthy, dignified, and solemn, in a plain but rich dress of black silk,
with slashes of gold at the neck and sleeves. As the pair faced the
king there was sufficient resemblance between the three faces to show
that they were of one blood, and to enable a stranger to guess that the
older was Monsieur, the younger brother of the king, while the other was