myself,
'This is the stuff of which kings' minions are made!'

To my surprise, however, M. de Rambouillet went to meet him with the
utmost respect, sweeping the dirty floor with his bonnet, and bowing
to the very ground. The newcomer acknowledged his salute with negligent
kindness. Remarking pleasantly 'You have brought a friend, I think?' he
looked towards us with a smile.

'Yes, sire, he is here,' the marquis answered, stepping aside a little.
And with the word I understood that this was no minion, but the king
himself: Henry, the Third of the name, and the last of the great House
of Valois, which had ruled France by the grace of God for two centuries
and a half! I stared at him, and stared at him, scarcely believing what
I saw. For the first time in my life I was in the presence of the king!

Meanwhile M. de Rosny, to whom he was, of course, no marvel, had gone
forward and knelt on one knee. The king raised him graciously, and with
an action which, viewed apart from his woman's face and silly turban,
seemed royal and fitting. 'This is good of you, Rosny,' he said. 'But it
is only what I expected of you.'

'Sire,' my companion answered, 'your Majesty has no more devoted servant
than myself, unless it be the king my master.'

'By my faith,' Henry answered with energy--'and if I am not a good
churchman, whatever those rascally Parisians say, I am nothing--by my
faith, I think I believe you!'

'If your Majesty would believe me in that and in some other things
also,' M. de Rosny answered, 'it would be very well for France.' Though
he spoke courteously, he threw so much weight and independence into
his words that I thought of the old proverb, 'A good master, a bold
servant.'

'Well, that is what we are here to see,' the king replied. 'But one
tells me one thing,' he went on fretfully, 'and one another, and which
am I to believe?'

'I know nothing of others, sire,' Rosny answered with the same spirit.
'But my master has every claim to be believed. His interest in the
royalty of France is second only to your Majesty's. He is also a king
and a kinsman, and it erks him to see rebels beard you, as has happened
of late.'

'Ay, but the chief of them?' Henry exclaimed, giving way to sudden
excitement and stamping furiously on the floor. 'He will trouble me no
more. Has my brother heard of THAT? Tell me, sir, has that news reached
him?'

'He has heard it, sire.'

'And he approved? He approved, of course?'

'Beyond