tell
me," he continued, as he passed his hand softly along the muscles of the
lad's arm, "what about the stiffness and pain?"

"All gone, sir. That salve you applied seemed to make it pass entirely
away."

"That is good," said the doctor, nodding his head. "But tell me, boy,
was I speaking aloud when I came into the room?"

"Not aloud, sir, but just so that I could hear what you said."

"Ah, a bad habit! And what did I say?"

"It was something about a blind search."

"Ah, yes; and you guessed at once what I meant?"

"Why, yes, sir. I immediately thought that you meant the--"

With a quick movement, accompanied by a smile, Leoni's long, thin, brown
fingers were laid upon Denis's lips.

"Hist, boy! We are in King Henry's palace, where walls may have ears.
Speak it not. We understand one another, and know what in our master's
service we have come to seek. Denis, you are a boy in years, but I find
you in many things a man at heart, and there should be no half
confidences between us two. I like you, my boy, and always have, stern
and cold and severe as I may have seemed. My face may have been hard,
but there are moments when my heart is soft. Denis, my son, we are
working for the King and for France, and so far I am at fault. I
thought my task would be so easy that, once here, that which we seek
would be within my grasp; and so far it seems beyond me, while the
golden hours glide swiftly away, and before many days have passed our
visit with all its risks must have an end. I shiver sometimes, boy, as
I stand close by and listen to our master's careless, light-hearted
speech. Again and again he has been within an ace of betraying who he
is, and at any moment some of the sharper-witted of the courtiers by
whom we are surrounded may grasp the truth, and then, Denis, as Francis
has said, we are in the lion's den and the risk is great."

"Yes, sir; I see all that," said Denis, in a low earnest whisper. "Then
you have no idea where the jewel of France is kept?"

"Not the slightest, boy, and I want you to use your eyes and ears to
help me all you can. There is that young English esquire. You are
great friends; perhaps he might know. I don't like asking you to play
the spy and betray your friend, but the English are our natural enemies.
We are here upon a sacred mission, and we must quiet our consciences
with the recollection that what we seek was torn by conquest from the
Valois diadem."

"Yes, I kno