osny."

"Of boxwood?" I exclaimed, astonished.

"Ay, is it not?" he asked, looking at me with much simplicity.

"No!" I made answer rather peevishly. "Who ever heard of people burning
boxwood in Paris, father? In the south, perhaps."

He apologized for his ignorance on the ground of his southern birth, and
took his departure, leaving me in doubt as to the real purport of his
visit. I was, indeed, more troubled by the uncertainty I felt than
another less conversant with the methods of the Jesuits might have been;
for I knew that it was their habit to drop a word where they dared not
speak plainly, and I felt myself put on my mettle to interpret the
father's hint. My perplexities were increased by the belief that he
would not have intervened in a matter of small moment; hence the
conviction grew upon me that while I stood idle before the hearth, the
greatest interests might be at stake.

"Michel," I said at last, addressing the doyen of my secretaries, who
chanced to be a Provencal "have you ever seen a boxwood fire?"

He replied respectfully, but with some show of surprise, that he had
done so, but not often; adding that that wood was so valuable to the
turner that few people were extravagant enough to use it for fuel. I
assented, and felt the more certain that the Jesuit's remark held a
meaning. The only other clue I had consisted in the mistake he had made
as to the King's residence; and this might have dropped from him in
inadvertence. Yet I was inclined to think it intentional; and I
construed it as implying that the matter concerned the King personally.
Which the more alarmed me.

I passed the day in great perplexity; but towards evening, acting on a
sudden thought, I sent La Trape, my valet, a trusty fellow, who had
saved my life at Villefranche, to the Three Pigeons, a large inn in the
suburbs of Paris, at which travellers from north to south, who do not
wish to enter the city, are accustomed to change horses. Acquitting
himself of the commission with his usual adroitness, he returned with
the news that a traveller of rank had passed through three days before,
having sent in advance to order relays there and at Essonnes. La Trape
reported that the gentleman had remained in his coach, and that none of
the servants of the inn had seen his face. "But he had companions?" I
said. My mind had not failed to conceive a certain suspicion.

"Only one, your grace. The rest were servants."

"And that one?"

"A man