ess hard on the heels of pride. Consider this and hold
your tongue."

* A lord having a right on the woods of his vassals.

These words, uttered with severity, made Master Olivier's face revert to
its insolence.

"Good!" he muttered, almost aloud, "'tis easy to see that the king is
ill to-day; he giveth all to the leech."

Louis XI. far from being irritated by this petulant insult, resumed with
some gentleness, "Stay, I was forgetting that I made you my ambassador
to Madame Marie, at Ghent. Yes, gentlemen," added the king turning to
the Flemings, "this man hath been an ambassador. There, my gossip," he
pursued, addressing Master Olivier, "let us not get angry; we are old
friends. 'Tis very late. We have terminated our labors. Shave me."

Our readers have not, without doubt, waited until the present moment to
recognize in Master Olivier that terrible Figaro whom Providence, the
great maker of dramas, mingled so artistically in the long and bloody
comedy of the reign of Louis XI. We will not here undertake to develop
that singular figure. This barber of the king had three names. At court
he was politely called Olivier le Daim (the Deer); among the people
Olivier the Devil. His real name was Olivier le Mauvais.

Accordingly, Olivier le Mauvais remained motionless, sulking at the
king, and glancing askance at Jacques Coictier.

"Yes, yes, the physician!" he said between his teeth.

"Ah, yes, the physician!" retorted Louis XI., with singular good humor;
"the physician has more credit than you. 'Tis very simple; he has taken
hold upon us by the whole body, and you hold us only by the chin. Come,
my poor barber, all will come right. What would you say and what would
become of your office if I were a king like Chilperic, whose gesture
consisted in holding his beard in one hand? Come, gossip mine, fulfil
your office, shave me. Go get what you need therefor."

Olivier perceiving that the king had made up his mind to laugh, and that
there was no way of even annoying him, went off grumbling to execute his
orders.

The king rose, approached the window, and suddenly opening it with
extraordinary agitation,--

"Oh! yes!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands, "yonder is a redness in the
sky over the City. 'Tis the bailiff burning. It can be nothing else but
that. Ah! my good people! here you are aiding me at last in tearing down
the rights of lordship!"

Then turning towards the Flemings: "Come, look at this, gentle