s all arranged and neatly tied. The pincers clicked, and the King,
with a smile of triumph at his little piece of dexterity, withdrew
half-a-dozen folded sheets.

"Yes, I have heard," he said, "the men you commanded my Viceroy to
remove from the galleys and to place in Pilate's House at Tarragona--a
young Sorbonnist whom once before you allowed to escape at Perpignan,
and the Scottish spy Francis Agnew."

"My father," began Claire, catching the name, but only imperfectly
understanding the Castilian which they were speaking--"my father
is----"

But Valentine la Nina stopped her with an imperious gesture of the hand.
It was her affair, the movement said.

The King shook his head gravely and a little indulgently.

"My daughter," he said, "you have taken too much on yourself already.
And my Viceroy in Catalonia is also to blame----"

"Pardon me," cried Valentine la Nina, "and listen. This is what I came
to say. There is in your city of Madrid a convent of the Carmelites, the
same which Theresa reformed. It is strictly cloistered, the rule serene,
austere. Those who enter there have done with life. Give these two men
their liberty, escort them to France, and I promise you I will enter it
of my own free will. I will take the Black Veil, and trouble neither you
nor your heirs more in this world."

The King did not answer immediately, but continued to turn over the
sheaf of papers in his hand.

"And why," he said at last, "will you do for this maid--for the lives of
these two men, what no persuasion of family or Church could previously
persuade you to do?"

Valentine went hastily up to the King's side who, dwelling in perpetual
fear of assassination, moved a little uneasily, watching her hand. But
when she bent and whispered softly, none heard her words but himself.
Yet they moved him.

"Yes, I loved her--the wife of my youth!" he answered aloud (and as if
speaking involuntarily) the whispered question.

"And she loved you?" said Valentine la Nina.

"She loved me--yes--God be her judge!" said the King. "She died for
me!"

"Then," continued Valentine la Nina slowly, "you understand why for this
young man's sake I am willing to accept death in life! I desire that he
shall wed the woman he loves--whom he has chosen--who loves him!"

But under her breath she added, "Though not as I!"

And Valentine la Nina took the King's hand in hers, and motioned to
Claire to come near and kiss it.

But Claire, kneeling, kiss