he value of his services,
that he resolved to maintain the haughty position which he had assumed,
and to persist in a denial that was fated to cost him his life. Instead,
therefore, of throwing himself upon the clemency of the King by an
undisguised avowal of his treason, he merely replied to the appeal by
again demanding to know who were his accusers; upon which Henry rose
from his seat, and exclaiming: "Come, we will play a match at tennis,"
hastily left the room, followed by the culprit.

The King having selected the Comte de Soissons[186] as his second
against the Duc d'Epernon and the Marechal, this ill-assorted party
continued for some time apparently absorbed in the game; and so
thoroughly did it recall past scenes and times to the mind of the
monarch, that he resolved, before he abandoned his once faithful subject
to his fate, to make one last endeavour to overcome his obstinacy. He
accordingly authorized M. de Soissons to exert whatever influence he
possessed with the rash man who was so blindly working out his own ruin,
and to represent to him the madness of persisting in a line of conduct
which could not fail to provoke the wrath of his royal master.

"Remember, Monsieur," said the Prince, who was as anxious as the monarch
himself that the scandal of a public trial, and the certainty of an
ignominious death, should be spared to so brave a soldier--"remember
that a sovereign's anger is the messenger of destruction." [187]

Biron, however, persisted in declaring that he had no reason to fear the
displeasure of Henry, and had consequently no confession to make; and
with this fatal answer the Count was fain to content himself.

The King rose early on the following morning, full of anxiety and
apprehension. He could not look back upon the many gallant acts of the
unfortunate Marechal without feeling a bitter pang at the idea that an
old and formerly zealous servant was about to become a victim to
expediency, for the spirit of revolt, which he had hitherto endeavoured
to suppress by clemency, had now risen hydra-headed, threatening to
dispute his right of reprisal, and to involve the nation once more in
civil war. He painfully felt, that under circumstances like these,
lenity would become, not only a weakness, but a crime, and possessing,
as he did, the most indubitable proofs of Biron's guilt, he saw himself
compelled to forget the friend in the sovereign, and to deliver up the
attainted noble to the justice of