ou have tried a house in Blois before?' I replied with the same
bluntness. 'You should know as well as I, woman.'

'She must be taken from here, then,' she answered, nodding her head,
cunningly. 'I can persuade her. Do you send for your people, and be here
in half an hour. It may take me that time to wheedle her. But I shall do
it.'

'Then listen,' I said eagerly, seizing the opportunity and her sleeve
and drawing her farther from the door. 'If you can persuade her to that,
you can persuade to all I wish. Listen, my friend,' I continued, sinking
my voice still lower. 'If she will see the king for only ten minutes,
and tell him what she knows, I will give you--'

'What?' the woman asked suddenly and harshly, drawing at the same time
her sleeve from my hand.

'Fifty crowns,' I replied, naming in my desperation a sum which would
seem a fortune to a person in her position. 'Fifty crowns down, the
moment the interview is over.'

'And for that you would have me sell her!' the woman cried with a rude
intensity of passion which struck me like a blow. 'For shame! For
shame, man! You persuaded her to leave her home and her friends, and the
country where she was known; and now you would have me sell her! Shame
on you! Go!' she added scornfully. 'Go this instant and get your men.
The king, say you? The king! I tell you I would not have her finger ache
to save all your kings!'

She flounced away with that, and I retired crestfallen; wondering much
at the fidelity which Providence, doubtless for the well-being of the
gentle, possibly for the good of all, has implanted in the humble.
Finding Simon, to whom I had scarce patience to speak, waiting on the
stairs below, I despatched him to Maignan, to bid him come to me with
his men. Meanwhile I watched the house myself until their arrival,
and then, going up, found that Fanchette had been as good as her word.
Mademoiselle, with a sullen mien, and a red spot on either cheek,
consented to descend, and, preceded by a couple of links, which Maignan
had thoughtfully provided, was escorted safely to my lodgings; where I
bestowed her in the rooms below my own, which I had designed for her.

At the door she turned and bowed to me, her face on fire.

'So far, sir, you have got your way,' she said, breathing quickly. 'Do
not flatter yourself, however, that you will get it farther--even by
bribing my woman!'

CHAPTER XXIII. THE LAST VALOIS.

I stood for a few moments on the stairs,