ot looked to see him
joining so soon a board at which--or so at least I boasted--mirth
presided.

And so for a little space the Count stood pausing on my threshold,
whilst we craned our necks to contemplate him as though he had been
an object for inquisitive inspection. Then a smothered laugh from the
brainless La Fosse seemed to break the spell. I frowned. It was a climax
of discourtesy whose impression I must at all costs efface.

I leapt to my feet, with a suddenness that sent my chair gliding a full
half-yard along the glimmering parquet of the floor, and in two strides
I had reached the Count and put forth my hand to bid him welcome. He
took it with a leisureliness that argued sorrow. He advanced into the
full blaze of the candlelight, and fetched a dismal sigh from the depths
of his portly bulk.

"You are surprised to see me, Monsieur le Marquis," said he, and his
tone seemed to convey an apology for his coming--for his very existence
almost.

Now Nature had made my Lord of Chatellerault as proud and arrogant as
Lucifer--some resemblance to which illustrious personage his downtrodden
retainers were said to detect in the lineaments of his swarthy face.
Environment had added to that store of insolence wherewith Nature had
equipped him, and the King's favour--in which he was my rival--had gone
yet further to mould the peacock attributes of his vain soul. So that
this wondrous humble tone of his gave me pause; for to me it seemed that
not even a courtship gone awry could account for it in such a man.

"I had not thought to find so many here," said he. And his next
words contained the cause of his dejected air. "The King, Monsieur de
Bardelys, has refused to see me; and when the sun is gone, we lesser
bodies of the courtly firmament must needs turn for light and comfort to
the moon." And he made me a sweeping bow.

"Meaning that I rule the night?" quoth I, and laughed. "The figure is
more playful than exact, for whilst the moon is cold and cheerless, me
you shall find ever warm and cordial. I could have wished, Monsieur de
Chatellerault, that your gracing my board were due to a circumstance
less untoward than His Majesty's displeasure."

"It is not for nothing that they call you the Magnificent," he answered,
with a fresh bow, insensible to the sting in the tail of my honeyed
words.

I laughed, and, setting compliments to rest with that, I led him to the
table.

"Ganymede, a place here for Monsieur le Comte