ace.

"He leads the king by the ear!" he declaimed loudly, in an accent which
marked him for a Gascon. "That villain of a De Rosny! But I will show
him up! I will trounce him!" With that he drew the hilt of his long
rapier to the front with a gesture so truculent that the three bullies,
who had stopped to laugh at him, resumed their game in disorder.

Notwithstanding his hatred for me, I was pleased to meet with a man of
so singular a temper, whom I also knew to be truly courageous; and I was
willing to amuse myself further with him. "But," I said, modestly, "I
have had some affairs with M. de Rosny, and I have never found him cheat
me."

"Do not deceive yourself!" he roared, slapping the table. "He is a
rascal!"

"Yet," I ventured to reply, "I have heard that in many respects he is
not a bad minister."

"He is a villain!" he repeated, so loudly as to drown what I would have
added. "Do not tell me otherwise. But rest assured! be happy, sir! I
will make the king see him in his true colours! Rest content, sir! I
will trounce him! He has to do with Armand de Boisrose!"

Seeing that he was not open to argument,--for, indeed, being opposed,
he grew exceedingly warm,--I asked him by what channel he intended to
approach the king, and learned that here he felt a difficulty, since he
had neither a friend at court nor money to buy one. Being assured that
he was an honest fellow, and knowing that the narrative of our rencontre
and its sequel would vastly amuse his Majesty, who loved a jest of this
kind, I advised Boisrose to go boldly to the king, which, thanking me as
profusely as he had before reproached me, he agreed to do. With that I
rose to depart.

At the last moment it occurred to me to try upon him the shibboleth
which in Father Cotton's mouth had so mystified me.

"This fire burns brightly," I said, kicking the logs together with my
riding-boot. "It must be of boxwood."

"Of what, sir?" quoth he, politely.

"Of boxwood, to be sure," I replied, in a louder tone.

"My certes!" he exclaimed. "They do not burn boxwood in this country.
Those are larch trimmings--neither more nor less!"

While he wondered at my ignorance, I was pleased to discover his, and
so far I had lost my pains. But it did not escape me that the three
gamesters had ceased to play and were listening intently to our
conversation. Moreover, as I moved to the door, they followed me with
their eyes; and when I turned, after riding a hundred yard