n? I promise you that, in
these twenty-four hours, which will make you long for death--I, Simon
of Orrain, swear it!"

With this he swung round, and, springing into the saddle, went off at a
gallop, leaving me staring after him, wondering what devilry lay behind
his words. I watched him till he rounded the elbow of the wood that
lay without the gates, and then, sheathing my sword, went slowly
towards the Horseshoe Stair.

Under other circumstances I should have looked with wonder and
admiration on the magnificent pile that the splendour of the late King
had erected on the old-time fortress of Louis VII, but, as it was, I
paced up and down the Cour du Cheval Blanc, gazing at the wide stairway
and the silent walls, every minute that passed seeming an hour to me in
my impatience. At last I saw a figure at the head of the Horseshoe.
It was De Lorgnac, and he beckoned to me. In a moment I was by his
side.

"Have you heard anything?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"She has had three hours." And I pointed to the sun.

"You must give her time. It will be sufficient if we hear by noon."

Then I told him of Simon and his strange departure, and whilst we spoke
together Carnavalet, one of the chamberlains, appeared, and walked
leisurely up to us.

"Messieurs," he said, "you are wanted. Have the goodness to follow me."

The Galerie de Cerfs, into which Carnavalet took us, was all that
remained in the modern Chateau of the old hunting-lodge and fortress of
the Kings of France, and, despite the trophies of the chase and
tapestries that hung to its walls, it still retained the grim and
forbidding aspect of the past.

It was used as an ante-room, not only to the King's apartments but to
the council chamber, and was crowded when we entered. Placing us near
a pillar Carnavalet bade us wait until he returned, and threading his
way through the press passed through a door at the extreme end of the
gallery that led to the private apartments of the King.

Many and curious were the glances cast at us as we stood there,
dust-begrimed and travel-stained; and a number of those whom we had put
off in the early morning swarmed round us again with their endless
questions, which we were hard pressed to parry.

Almost beside us was another door, opening into the council chamber,
and interest seemed to be divided between us and what was passing
there. It was clear that something of importance was in the air, for
secretaries came out and