your friends."

"My patience can bear no more," cried the king furiously. "I leave you,
madame, and forever."

But her fury had swept all fear and discretion from her mind.
She stepped between the door and him, her face flushed, her eyes
blazing, her face thrust a little forward, one small white satin slipper
tapping upon the carpet.

"You are in haste, sire! She is waiting for you, doubtless."

"Let me pass, madame."

"But it was a disappointment last night, was it not, my poor sire?
Ah, and for the governess, what a blow! Great heaven, what a blow!
No archbishop! No marriage! All the pretty plan gone wrong! Was it
not cruel?"

Louis gazed at the beautiful furious face in bewilderment, and it
flashed across his mind that perhaps her grief had turned her brain.
What else could be the meaning of this wild talk of the archbishop and
the disappointment? It would be unworthy of him to speak harshly to one
who was so afflicted. He must soothe her, and, above all, he must get
away from her.

"You have had the keeping of a good many of my family jewels," said he.
"I beg that you will still retain them as a small sign of my regard."

He had hoped to please her and to calm her, but in an instant she was
over at her treasure-cupboard hurling double handfuls of precious stones
down at his feet. They clinked and rattled, the little pellets of red
and yellow and green, rolling, glinting over the floor and rapping up
against the oak panels at the base of the walls.

"They will do for the governess if the archbishop comes at last," she
cried.

He was more convinced than ever that she had lost her wits. A thought
struck him by which he might appeal to all that was softer and more
gentle in her nature. He stepped swiftly to the door, pushed it half
open, and gave a whispered order. A youth with long golden hair waving
down over his black velvet doublet entered the room. It was her
youngest son, the Count of Toulouse.

"I thought that you would wish to bid him farewell," said Louis.

She stood staring as though unable to realise the significance of his
words. Then it was borne suddenly in upon her that her children as well
as her lover were to be taken from her, that this other woman should see
them and speak with them and win their love while she was far away.
All that was evil and bitter in the woman flashed suddenly up in her,
until for the instant she was what the king had thought her. If her son
was no