d he whispered to me as he had whispered to
the King in the Council Chamber.

"With my favour and such a lady for his wife, a gentleman might climb
high."

I heard the words, and I could not repress a start. At last the puzzle
was pieced, and my part plain. I knew now the work I was to do, the
price of the reward I was to gain. Had he said it a month before, when I
was not yet trained to self-control and concealment, King as he was, I
would have drawn my sword on him. For good or evil dissimulation is soon
learnt. With a great effort I repressed my agitation and hid my
disgust. King Louis smiled at me, deeming what he had suggested no
insult.

"Your wedding shall take place at Calais," he said; and I (I wonder now
to think of it) bowed and smiled.

"Be ready in a quarter of an hour," said he, and left me with a gracious
smile.

I stood there where I was for the best part of the time still left to
me. I saw why Carford desired the mission on which I went, why Madame
bade me practise the closing of my eyes, how my fortune was to come from
the hand of King Louis. An English gentleman and his wife would travel
back with the King; the King would give his favour to both; and the lady
was Barbara Quinton.

I turned at last, and made my final preparation. It was simple; I loaded
my pistol and hid it about me, and I buckled on my sword, seeing that it
moved easily in the sheath. By fortune's will, I had to redeem the
pledge which I had given to my lord; his daughter's honour now knew no
safety but in my arm and wits. Alas, how slender the chance was, and how
great the odds!

Then a sudden fear came upon me. I had lived of late in a Court where
honour seemed dead, and women, no less than men, gave everything for
wealth or place. I had seen nothing of her, no word had come from her to
me. She had scorned Monmouth, but might she not be won to smile on M. de
Perrencourt? I drove the thought from me, but it came again and again,
shaming me and yet fastening on me. She went with M. de Perrencourt; did
she go willingly?

With that thought beating in my brain, I stepped forth to my adventure.

CHAPTER XVI

M. DE PERRENCOURT WONDERS

As I walked briskly from my quarters down to the sea, M. de
Perrencourt's last whisper, "With my favour and such a lady for his
wife, a gentleman might climb high," echoed in my ears so loudly and
insistently as to smother all thought of what had passed in the Council
Chamber, and to