contented Liegeois to boot,
who, by may faith, will not be in that case unwilling to choose him for
their captain and leader--let Charles then think of wars with France
when he will, or rather let him bless his stars if she war not with
him.--How dost thou like the scheme, Oliver, ha?"

"Rarely," said Oliver, "save and except the doom which confers that
lady on the Wild Boar of Ardennes.--By my halidome, saving in a little
outward show of gallantry, Tristan, the Provost Marshal, were the more
proper bridegroom of the two."

"Anon thou didst propose Master Oliver the barber," said Louis; "but
friend Oliver and gossip Tristan, though excellent men in the way of
counsel and execution, are not the stuff that men make counts of.--Know
you not that the burghers of Flanders value birth in other men precisely
because they have it not themselves?--A plebeian mob ever desire an
aristocratic leader. Yonder Ked, or Cade, or--how called they him?--in
England, was fain to lure his rascal rout after him by pretending to the
blood of the Mortimers [Jack Cade was the leader of Cade's Rebellion.
Calling himself Mortimer, and claiming to be a cousin of Richard, Duke
of York, in 1450, at the head of twenty thousand men, he took formal
possession of London. His alleged object was to procure representation
for the people, and so reduce excessive taxation.]. William de la Marck
comes of the blood of the Princes of Sedan, as noble as mine own.--And
now to business. I must determine the ladies of Croye to a speedy and
secret flight, under sure guidance. This will be easily done--we have
but to hint the alternative of surrendering them to Burgundy. Thou must
find means to let William de la Marck know of their motions, and let him
choose his own time and place to push his suit. I know a fit person to
travel with them."

"May I ask to whom your Majesty commits such an important charge?" asked
the tonsor.

"To a foreigner, be sure," replied the King, "one who has neither kin
nor interest in France, to interfere with the execution of my pleasure;
and who knows too little of the country and its factions, to suspect
more of my purpose than I choose to tell him--in a word, I design to
employ the young Scot who sent you hither but now."

Oliver paused in a manner which seemed to imply a doubt of the prudence
of the choice, and then added, "Your Majesty has reposed confidence in
that stranger boy earlier than is your wont."

"I have my reasons," a