onsultation; then they knocked again. I asked loudly
who was there, but to this they did not choose to give any answer,
while I, on my part, determined not to open until they did. The door
was strong, and I smiled grimly at the thought that this time they would
have their trouble for their pains.

To my surprise, however, they did not desist, and go away, as I
expected, but continued to knock at intervals and whisper much between
times. More than once they called me softly by name and bade me open,
but as they steadily refrained from saying who they were, I sat still.
Occasionally I heard them laugh, but under their breath as it were;
and persuaded by this that they were bent on a frolic, I might have
persisted in my silence until midnight, which was not more than two
hours off, had not a slight sound, as of a rat gnawing behind the
wainscot, drawn my attention to the door. Raising my candle and shading
my eyes I espied something small and bright protruding beneath it, and
sprang up, thinking they were about to prise it in. To my surprise,
however, I could discover, on taking the candle to the threshold,
nothing more threatening than a couple of gold livres, which had been
thrust through the crevice between the door and the floor.

My astonishment may be conceived. I stood for full a minute staring at
the coins, the candle in my hand. Then, reflecting that the young sparks
at the Court would be very unlikely to spend such a sum on a jest, I
hesitated no longer, but putting down the candle, drew the bolt of the
door, purposing to confer with my visitors outside. In this, however, I
was disappointed, for the moment the door was open they pushed forcibly
past me and, entering the room pell-mell, bade me by signs to close the
door again.

I did so suspiciously, and without averting my eyes from my visitors.
Great were my embarrassment and confusion, therefore, when, the door
being shut, they dropped their cloaks one after the other, and I saw
before me M. du Mornay and the well-known figure of the King of Navarre.

They seemed so much diverted, looking at one another and laughing, that
for a moment I thought some chance resemblance deceived me, and that
here were my jokers again. Hence while a man might count ten I stood
staring; and the king was the first to speak. 'We have made no mistake,
Du Mornay, have we?' he said, casting a laughing glance at me.

'No, sire,' Du Mornay answered. 'This is the Sieur de Marsac, the