ade her speak no more of
it, saying that it was impossible so upright and honourable a gentleman
would undertake so vile a deed.

Some time afterwards a second warning arrived in confirmation of the
first, and the Governor, burning with love for his master, sought
permission either to banish the Count or else take him in hand in some
other fashion; but the King charged him expressly to keep the affair
secret, being persuaded that he might discover the truth by some other
means.

One day when going a-hunting, the King, as his sole weapon, buckled on
the finest sword it were possible to see, and took Count William along
with him, desiring that he would follow him close. After hunting the
stag for some time, seeing that all his people save the Count were far
off, he turned out of all the roads and tracks, till he found himself
alone with the Count in the deepest part of the forest, (5) when,
drawing his sword, he said:--

"Think you that this sword be handsome and trusty?"

5 This may be either the forest of Argilly or that of
Mondragon, both in the vicinity of Dijon.--ED.

The Count took it by the point, and answered that he had never seen one
that he liked better.

"You are right," said the King; "and I think that, if a gentleman had
resolved to slay me, he would think twice before he attacked me if
he knew the strength of my arm, the stoutness-of my heart, and the
excellence of this sword. Yet, for all that, I should count him but a
craven scoundrel if, when we were face to face and alone, he durst not
execute what he had dared to undertake."

"Sire," replied Count William, with astonished countenance, "the
wickedness of the undertaking would be very great, but the folly of
seeking to execute it would be no less."

The King laughed, sheathed his sword again, and hearing the hunt hard
by, spurred after it with all speed. When he reached his train he spoke
to none of what had passed, but he felt convinced that, although Count
William was as brave and ready a gentleman as might be, he was not the
man to carry out so high an enterprise.

However, Count William, fearing that he had been discovered or was at
least suspected, repaired the next morning to Robertet, Secretary
for the King's Finances, (6) and told him that he had considered the
privileges and pay offered him to continue in the King's service, and
that they would not suffice to support him for half the year. Unless
therefore it pleased the K