me song. I rose and went forward, and to my surprise saw it was
Le Brusquet, lute in hand, and by his side there sat a small brown ape,
a collar of gold round his neck.

I listened till the last of the song, and was about to turn away; but,
the ape running out of the summer-house at the time, the jester put his
head through the entrance, with a "Back! Pompon! back!" and caught
sight of me.

In a moment he was by my side, and, willy-nilly, forced me into the
summer-house.

"The very man I wanted," he said. "I came here to think of you. I
always come here when in doubt or trouble--and here you are--dropped
from the clouds." He poured out some wine for me, and when we had
drank a health together he asked me:

"_Eh bien_, monsieur, tell me how you came here; tell me all, for I am
a friend."

It was impossible not to see this, and in a few words I told him. He
listened gravely the while, stroking his ape's head.

When I had done he spoke. "I too have something to tell you. There is
an outcry about Madame Diane's Italian--the first time an outcry has
been made about any such scum. This morning there was a scene at the
_petit couvert_. I was there. The short of it is that the King, my
gossip, sided with his mistress as against Vendome. Words ran so high
that the Duke was ordered to leave Paris, which he did at once."

I looked at the ring on my finger, and Le Brusquet saw the look.

"I fear," he said, "that little talisman has lost its power for the
present; but, to go on, I had other business in the morning which I
could not avoid. Towards eleven o'clock I hastened to the Rue des
Lavandieres to return your sword and to warn you. To my relief you
were not there. Your hermit's paradise is gone, and an angel, in the
form of one of M. Morin's guards, is at the door. Instead of a flaming
sword he carries an arquebus----"

"It is quick work," I cut in; "and they have seized everything, I
suppose?"

"Yes; everything. And your ostensible accuser and witness against you
is one Camus, a glove-maker. He laid an information against you at
sunrise. He was with Valentinois an hour later. Diane rises with the
dawn, you know; and he is her glove-maker."

"So he has struck hard, and struck quickly."

"Yes; there is very little glove about his action. And more, Diane
seems bent upon avenging the death of her Italian. But, monsieur, what
is your next move?"

I explained my intention, and how I proposed to