was equal to the occasion; nothing
could have been more courtly, graceful, or unembarrassed than her manner
of receiving of King's gallant compliments, and of performing all the
courtesies suited to the hostess and queen of the place: it was the air
that would have befitted the stateliest castle hall, yet that in
its simplicity and brightness still more embellished the old ruinous
convent-cell. The King was delighted, he sat down upon one of the
three-legged stools, took Rayonette upon his knee, undertook to finish
washing the radishes, but ate nearly all he washed, declaring that they
put him in mind of his old hardy days on the mountains of Bearn. He
insisted on hearing all Rayonette's adventure in detail; and on seeing
the pearls and the silver bullet, 'You could scarcely have needed the
token, sir,' said he with a smile to Berenger; 'Mademoiselle had already
shown herself of the true blood of the bravest of knights.'

The tidings of the attack on Pont de Dronne had caused the Duke to make
a forced march to its relief, in which the King had insisted on joining
him; and they now intended to wait at Pont de Dronne till the rest
of the troops came up, and to continue their march through Guyenne to
Nerac, the capital of Henry's county of Foix. The Duke suggested that
if Philip were well enough to move when the army proceeded, the family
might then take him to Quinet, where the Duchess would be very desirous
to see Madame; and therewith they took leave with some good-humoured
mirth as to whether M. le Ribaumont would join them at supper, or remain
in the bosom of his family, and whether he were to be regarded as a gay
bridegroom or a husband of sixteen year's standing.

'Nay,' said the King, 'did his good Orpheus know how nearly his Eurydice
had slipped through his fingers again? how M. de Quinet had caught the
respectable Pluto yonder in the gray moustache actually arranging an
escort to send the lady safe back to Quinet _bon gre malgre_--and truly
a deaf Pluto was worse than even Orpheus had encountered!'

So laughing, he bowed again his compliments; but Eustacie demanded, so
soon as he was gone, what he meant by calling her by such names. If he
thought it was her Christian name, it was over-familiar--if not, she
liked it less.

'It is only that he last saw you in the Infernal Region, _ma mie_,'
said Berenger; 'and I have sought you ever since, as Orpheus sought
Eurydice.'

But her learning did not extend so far; a