King. "You know who I am?"

"As well as your Majesty knows his faithful servant," came now in
familiar tones.

"Master Leoni!" cried all three, in a breath, the King's voice sounding
loudest of all.

"Yes, Sire," said the owner of the name quietly, as if there were no
such thing as excitement left in his composition, and instead of being a
fighting man he was the most peaceable of souls. "Your Majesty, in the
fullness of your confidence, thought you would not need your follower's
services, but I feared that you would, and hence I came. You see, you
did."

"But how--and mounted! How came you here? You bade us farewell at
Fontainebleau a week ago."

"Yes, Sire; a week gave me plenty of time, as you travelled slowly, to
get to the port two days earlier than you. I have been well before you
all the time."

"Then that paper!" cried Denis excitedly. "It was you who placed that
beneath the King's trencher at the inn?"

"I did, Master Denis," said Leoni quietly, "and I think the warning was
needed. It would have been safer if his Majesty had taken it to heart,
though I feared in his reckless bravery he would laugh at my warning,
and so I kept watch and came on in advance."

"Then you knew that the road was haunted by folk like these?" said the
King.

"Yes, Sire; I found that in a forest not far from here they have a
gathering place, and are always on the look-out for rich travellers on
the way to London. They have spies at the port and at the principal
towns to give them warning, and I wonder that you escaped so far without
the loss of your horses."

"Humph!" ejaculated the King sourly. "We should have lost them but for
the brave action of young Denis here; but look you, Master Leoni," he
continued sternly, "I gave you my commands to keep watch and ward over
my goods and chattels at my palace of Fontainebleau until my return."

"Your Majesty did," said Leoni humbly.

"And disobedience to my commands is treason, sir, and the punishment of
that is death."

"Yes, Sire; but your royal life is the greatest of your possessions, and
I felt that might be in danger. You gave me a free hand to do what was
best in your service, and even if I have offended I deemed it my duty to
save my sovereign's life even at the cost of my own. Your Majesty, I
have no further defence to make."

"Hah!" said the King. "He has disarmed me, boys, and I as his master
almost feel that I cannot order him to execution for such a