'

The Solicitor went forward with the monk at his elbow, and I had leisure
to remark the favourable change which had taken place in the king, who
spoke more strongly and seemed in better health than of old. His
face looked less cadaverous under the paint, his form a trifle less
emaciated. That which struck me more than anything, however, was the
improvement in his spirits. His eyes sparkled from time to time, and he
laughed continually, so that I could scarcely believe that he was the
same man whom I had seen overwhelmed with despair and tortured by his
conscience.

Letting his attention slip from La Guesle, he began to bandy words with
the nobleman who stood nearest to him; looking up at him with a roguish
eye, and making bets on the fall of Paris.

'Morbleu!' I heard him cry gaily, 'I would give a thousand pounds to see
the 'Montpensier this morning! She may keep her third crown for
herself. Or, PESTE! we might put her in a convent. That would be a fine
vengeance!'

'The veil for the tonsure,' the nobleman said with a smirk.

'Ay. Why not? She would have made a monk of me,' the king rejoined
smartly. 'She must be ready to hang herself with her garters this
morning, if she is not dead of spite already. Or, stay, I had forgotten
her golden scissors. Let her open a vein with them. Well, what does your
friend want, La Guesle?'

I did not hear the answer, but it was apparently satisfactory, for in
a minute all except the Jacobin fell back, leaving the monk standing
before the king; who, stretching out his hand, took from him a letter.
The Jacobin, trembling visibly, seemed scarcely able to support the
honour done him, and the king, seeing this, said in a voice audible
to all, 'Stand up, man. You are welcome. I love a cowl as some love a
lady's hood. And now, what is this?'

He read a part of the letter and rose. As he did so the monk leaned
forward as though to receive the paper back again, and then so swiftly,
so suddenly, with so unexpected a movement that no one stirred until all
was over, struck the king in the body with a knife! As the blade flashed
and was hidden, and His Majesty with a deep sob fell back on the stool,
then, and not till then, I knew that I had missed a providential chance
of earning pardon and protection. For had I only marked the Jacobin as
we passed the door together, and read his evil face aright, a word, one
word, had done for me more than the pleading of a score of Crillons!

Too lat