es
through him as have nearly ruined me, please your lordship. And if the
tale that we have got the madness among the dogs, goes about----"

"Get up! Get up, man!" cried the King. And tearing off his mask he
stamped up and down the room, so torn by paroxysms of laughter that he
choked himself whenever he attempted to speak. I too now saw the
mistake, but I could not at first see it in the same light. Commanding
my choler as well as I could, I ordered one of the Swiss to fetch in the
innkeeper, but to admit no one else.

The knave fell on his knees as soon as he saw me, his cheeks shaking
like a jelly. "Mercy! mercy!" was all he could say.

"You have dared to play with _me_?" I whispered. "With me? With me?"

"You bade me joke!" he sobbed. "You bade me joke!"

I was about to say that it would be his last joke in this world, for my
anger was fully aroused, but the King intervened.

"Nay," he said, laying his hand on my shoulder, "it has been the most
glorious jest. He has joked indeed. I would not have missed it for a
kingdom! Not for a kingdom! I command you, Sully, to forgive him."

On which his Majesty strictly charged the three that they should not, on
peril of their lives, tell the story; his regard for me, when he had
laughed to satiety, proving strong enough to overcome his love of the
diverting. Nor to the best of my belief did they do so; being so
shrewdly scared when they recognized the King that I think they never
afterwards so much as spoke of the affair to one another. My master
further gave me his promise that he would not disclose the matter even
to Madame de Verneuil, or the Queen; and upon these representations he
induced me freely to forgive the innkeeper. I may seem to have dwelt
longer than I should on the amusing details of this conspiracy. But
alas! in twenty-one years of power, I investigated many, and this one
only--and one other--can I regard with satisfaction. The rest were so
many warnings and predictions of the fate which, despite all my care
and fidelity, was in store for the King, my master.

* * * * *

Such were the reasons, which would have led me had I followed the
promptings of my own sagacity to oppose the return of the Jesuits. It
remains for me to add that these arguments lost their weight when set in
the balance against the safety of my beloved master. To this plea the
King himself for once condescended, and found those who were most
strenuous