can speak.'

Perhaps I felt as foolish on this occasion as ever in my life; and
surely never was man placed in a more ridiculous position. After
overcoming numberless obstacles, and escaping as many perils, I had
brought the king here, a feat beyond my highest hopes--only to be
baffled and defeated by a waiting-woman! I stood irresolute; witless and
confused; while the king waited half angry and half amused, and madame
kept her place by the entrance, to which she had retreated.

I was delivered from my dilemma by the curiosity which is,
providentially perhaps, a part of woman's character, and which led
mademoiselle to interfere herself. Keenly on the watch inside, she had
heard part of what passed between us, and been rendered inquisitive by
the sound of a strange man's voice, and by the deference which she
could discern I paid to the visitor. At this moment, she cried out,
accordingly, to know who was there; and Fanchette, seeming to take this
as a command, rose and dragged her stool aside, saying peevishly and
without any increase of respect, 'There, I told you she could hear.'

'Who is it?' mademoiselle asked again, in a raised voice.

I was about to answer when the king signed to me to stand back, and,
advancing himself, knocked gently on the door. 'Open, I pray you,
mademoiselle,' he said courteously.

'Who is there?' she cried again, her voice trembling.

'It is I, the king,' he answered softly; but in that tone of majesty
which belongs not to the man, but to the descendant, and seems to be the
outcome of centuries of command.

She uttered an exclamation and slowly, and with seeming reluctance,
turned the key in the lock. It grated, and the door opened. I caught a
glimpse for an instant of her pale face and bright eyes, and then his
Majesty, removing his hat, passed in and closed the door; and I withdrew
to the farther end of the room, where madame continued to stand by the
entrance.

I entertained a suspicion, I remember, and not unnaturally, that she
had come to my lodging as her husband's spy; but her first words when I
joined her dispelled this. 'Quick!' she said with an imperious gesture.
'Hear me and let me go! I have waited long enough for you, and suffered
enough through you. As for that, woman in there, she is mad, and her
servant too! Now, listen to me. You spoke to me honestly to-day, and
I have come to repay you. You have an appointment with my husband
to-morrow at Chaverny. Is it not so?' sh