all, hooded figure, the lights of the
torches playing on her, and all bowing respectfully; and then De
Lorgnac called out in a loud voice:

"Madame would see his Majesty the King!"

Almost on his words a lean shadow came running down the steps towards
us. By the lights of the torches flickering through the grey of the
morning I saw it was Simon of Orrain himself. La Valentinois saw him
too, and stood motionless until he came up to her. Simon's eyes blazed
with a hundred unasked questions, but he merely said:

"His Majesty has just heard of your return, madame, and is overjoyed.
It will be a great hunt to-day. Permit me!" And then he caught sight
of me, and started back, his half-outstretched arm falling to his side,
his lips curled back in a snarl.

"You keep madame waiting, Monsieur le Vidame," I said, "and her
business is of vital import."

He was about to answer when La Valentinois placed her hand on his arm,
and muttering something under his breath, Simon turned and led her up
the stairway, all bowing as though she were the Queen. Whilst the two
went up, they began to talk in low, hurried tones, and twice Simon
looked back at me, the hate of a devil in his glance. Most of those
present followed them; but there still remained many who crowded around
us buzzing with questions; but we put them aside, saying we were weary,
and needed rest.

As the red dawn came I found myself seated on a wooden bench near my
horse's stable wondering, fearing, and hoping. The escort had been
dismissed by De Lorgnac, with orders to return to Paris under M. de
Tolendal, as soon as the horses were rested, and De Lorgnac himself had
gone off somewhere. So two hours must have passed, and it seemed to me
that the movement in the courtyards and in the Chateau grew less and
less. Presently half a dozen huntsmen, leading their hounds, passed
close to me, talking in loud and aggrieved tones.

"_Mille diables_!" exclaimed one. "To think it is all off!"

"Never have I known the like!" said another.

"What has happened, my friends?" I asked; and the first speaker replied:

"The hunt is put off, monsieur. Put off, after we had marked down the
largest and fiercest boar in France! As high as that!" And he held
his palm out almost on a level with his breast.

"Ay; and as grey as my beard," put in another, a little, shrivelled old
man. "He has the devil on his side, that boar. Five times has he
escaped. Three of my best hound