; "my cousin
Charles is not handsome, but he is very brave, and fought like a
landsknecht; and if he continues to fight thus, no doubt he will finish
by gaining a battle, like Rocroy----"

"He has no soldiers," interrupted the Chevalier de Lorraine.

"The king of Holland, his ally, will give him some. I would willingly
have given him some if I had been king of France."

Louis XIV. blushed excessively. Mazarin affected to be more attentive to
his game than ever.

"By this time," resumed the Comte de Guiche, "the fortune of this
unhappy prince is decided. If he has been deceived by Monk, he is
ruined. Imprisonment, perhaps death, will finish what exile, battles,
and privations have commenced."

Mazarin's brow became clouded.

"Is it certain," said Louis XIV. "that his majesty Charles II., has
quitted the Hague?"

"Quite certain, your majesty," replied the young man; "my father has
received a letter containing all the details; it is even known that the
king has landed at Dover; some fishermen saw him entering the port; the
rest is still a mystery."

"I should like to know the rest," said Philip, impetuously. "You
know,--you, my brother."

Louis XIV. colored again. That was the third time within an hour. "Ask
my lord cardinal," replied he, in a tone which made Mazarin, Anne of
Austria, and everybody else open their eyes.

"That means, my son," said Anne of Austria, laughing, "that the king
does not like affairs of state to be talked of out of the council."

Philip received the reprimand with good grace, and bowed, first smiling
at his brother, and then his mother. But Mazarin saw from the corner of
his eye that a group was about to be formed in the corner of the room,
and that the Duc d'Anjou, with the Comte de Guiche, and the Chevalier de
Lorraine, prevented from talking aloud, might say, in a whisper, what
it was not convenient should be said. He was beginning, then, to dart at
them glances full of mistrust and uneasiness, inviting Anne of Austria
to throw perturbation in the midst of the unlawful assembly, when,
suddenly, Bernouin, entering from behind the tapestry of the bedroom,
whispered in the ear of Mazarin, "Monseigneur, an envoy from his
majesty, the king of England."

Mazarin could not help exhibiting a slight emotion, which was perceived
by the king. To avoid being indiscreet, rather than to appear useless,
Louis XIV. rose immediately, and approaching his eminence, wished him
good-night. All the