at I should prove an
exceedingly difficult person to assassinate, and that those who sought
to slip a knife into me would find my hide peculiarly tough, and my hand
peculiarly ready to return the compliment.

So deeply did I sink into ponderings of this character that it was not
until two hours afterwards that I again found myself drawing near the
Connetable.

I reached the inn to find by the door a coach, and by that coach Andrea;
he stood bareheaded, despite the cold, conversing, with all outward
semblances of profound respect, with those within it.

So engrossed was he and so ecstatic, that my approach was unheeded, and
when presently I noted that the coach was Mademoiselle de Canaples's, I
ceased to wonder at the boy's unconsciousness of what took place around
him.

Clearly the farrier had been found at last, and the horse shod afresh
during my absence. Loath to interrupt so pretty a scene, I waited,
aloof, until these adieux should be concluded, and whilst I waited
there came to me from the carriage a sweet, musical voice that was not
Yvonne's.

"May we not learn at least, Monsieur, the name of the gentleman to whose
courtesy we are indebted for having spent the past two hours without
discomfort?"

"My name, Mademoiselle, is Andrea de Mancini, that of the humblest
of your servants, and one to whom your thanks are a more than lavish
payment for the trivial service he may have been fortunate enough to
render you."

Dame! What glibness doth a tongue acquire at Court!

"M. Andrea de Mancini?" came Yvonne's voice in answer. "Surely a
relative of the Lord Cardinal?"

"His nephew, Mademoiselle."

"Ah! My father, sir, is a great admirer of your uncle."

From the half-caressing tone, as much as from the very words she
uttered, I inferred that she was in ignorance of the compact into which
his Eminence had entered with her father--a bargain whereof she was
herself a part.

"I am rejoiced, indeed, Mademoiselle," replied Andrea with a bow, as
though the compliment had been paid to him. "Am I indiscreet in asking
the name of Monsieur your father?"

"Indiscreet! Nay, Monsieur. You have a right to learn the name of
those who are under an obligation to you. My father is the Chevalier de
Canaples, of whom it is possible that you may have heard. I am Yvonne de
Canaples, of whom it is unlikely that you should have heard, and this is
my sister Genevieve, whom a like obscurity envelops."

The boy's lips moved, but n