ur Excellency,' he answered, peeping into the black pot
before he lifted it to the hook.

'Very good. Then now let us hear what the news is,' I said drily.

'Of the Cardinal, M. de Berault.'

'Ah! And what?' He looked at me, holding the heavy pot suspended in his
hands.

'You have not heard?' he exclaimed in astonishment.

'Not a tittle. Tell it me, my good fellow.'

'You have not heard that his Eminence is disgraced?'

I stared at him. 'Not a word,' I said.

He set down the pot.

'Then your Excellency must have made a very long journey indeed,' he
said with conviction. 'For it has been in the air a week or more, and I
thought that it had brought you back. A week? A month, I dare say. They
whisper that it is the old Queen's doing. At any rate, it is certain
that they have cancelled his commissions and displaced his officers.
There are rumours of immediate peace with Spain. Everywhere his enemies
are lifting up their heads; and I hear that he has relays of horses set
all the way to the coast that he may fly at any moment. For what I know
he may be gone already.'

'But, man--' I said, surprised out of my composure. 'The King! You
forget the King. Let the Cardinal once pipe to him and he will dance.
And they will dance too!' I added grimly.

'Yes,' Frison answered eagerly. 'True, your Excellency, but the King
will not see him. Three times to-day, as I am told, the Cardinal
has driven to the Luxembourg and stood like any common man in the
ante-chamber, so that I hear it was pitiful to see him. But his Majesty
would not admit him. And when he went away the last time I am told that
his face was like death! Well, he was a great man, and we may be worse
ruled, M. de Berault, saving your presence. If the nobles did not like
him, he was good to the traders and the bourgeoisie, and equal to all.'

'Silence, man! Silence, and let me think,' I said, much excited. And
while he bustled to and fro, getting my supper, and the firelight
played about the snug, sorry little room, and the child toyed with his
plaything, I fell to digesting this great news, and pondering how I
stood now and what I ought to do. At first sight, I know, it seemed to
me that I had nothing to do but to sit still. In a few hours the man
who had taken my bond would be powerless, and I should be free; in a few
hours I might smile at him. To all appearance the dice had fallen well
for me. I had done a great thing, run a great risk, won a woman's love;