第65章 IN THE KING'S CHAMBER.(3)

'A small command,'M.de Rambouillet answered,readily playing his part.'And your Majesty would oblige me if you could grant the Sieur de Marsac's petition.I will answer for it he is a man of experience.'

'Chut!A small command?'Henry ejaculated,sitting down suddenly in apparent ill-humour.'It is what everyone wants--when they do not want big ones.Still,I suppose,'he continued,taking up a comfit-box,which lay beside him,and opening it,'if you do not get what you want for him you will sulk like the rest,my friend.'

'Your Majesty has never had cause to complain of me,'quoth the Marquis,forgetting his role,or too proud to play it.

'Tut,tut,tut,tut!Take it,and trouble me no more,'the king rejoined.'Will pay for twenty men do for him?Very well then.

There,M.de Marsac,'he continued,nodding at me and yawning,'your request is granted.You will find some other pretty baggages over there.Go to them.And now,Rambouillet,'he went on,resuming his spirits as he turned to matters of more importance,'here is a new sweetmeat Zamet has sent me.I have made Zizi sick with it.Will you try it?It is flavoured with white mulberries.'

Thus dismissed,I fell back;and stood for a moment,at a loss whither to turn,in the absence of either friends or acquaintances.His Majesty,it is true,had bidden me go to certain pretty baggages,meaning,apparently,five ladies who were seated at the farther end of the room,diverting themselves with as many cavaliers;but the compactness of this party,the beauty of the ladies,and the merry peals of laughter which proceeded from them,telling of a wit and vivacity beyond the ordinary,sapped the resolution which had borne me well hitherto.

I felt that to attack such a phalanx,even with a king's good will,was beyond the daring of a Crillon,and I looked round to see whether I could not amuse myself in some more modest fashion.

The material was not lacking.Crillon,still mouthing out his anger,strode up and down in front of the trunk on which M.de Biron was seated;but the latter was,or affected to be,asleep.

'Crillon is for ever going into rages now,'a courtier beside me whispered.

'Yes,'his fellow answered,with a shrug of the shoulder;'it is a pity there is no one to tame him.But he has such a long reach,morbleu!'

'It is not that so much as the fellow's fury,'the first speaker rejoined under his breath.'He fights like a mad thing;fencing is no use against him.'

The other nodded.For a moment the wild idea of winning renown by taming M.de Crillon occurred to me as I stood alone in the middle of the floor;but it had not more than passed through my brain when I felt my elbow touched,and turned to find the young gentleman whom I had encountered on the stairs standing by my side.

'Sir,'he lisped,in the same small voice,'I think you trod on my toe a while ago?'

I stared at him,wondering what he meant by this absurd repetition.'Well,sir,'I answered drily,'and if I did?'

'Perhaps,'he said,stroking his chin with his jewelled fingers,'pending our meeting to-morrow,you would allow me to consider it as a kind of introduction?'

'If it please you,'I answered,bowing stiffly,and wondering what he would be at.

'Thank you,'he answered.'It does please me,under the circumstances;for there is a lady here who desires a word with you.I took up her challenge.Will you follow me?'

He bowed,and turned in his languid fashion.I,turning too,saw,with secret dismay,that the five ladies,referred to above,were all now gazing at me,as expecting my approach;and this with such sportive glances as told only too certainly of some plot already in progress or some trick to be presently played me.

Yet I could not see that I had any choice save to obey,and,following my leader with as much dignity as I could compass,Ipresently found myself bowing before the lady who sat nearest,and who seemed to be the leader of these nymphs.

'Nay,sir,'she said,eyeing me curiously,yet with a merry face,'I do not need you;I do not look so high!'

Turning in confusion to the next,I was surprised to see before me the lady whose lodging I had invaded in my search for Mademoiselle de la Vire--she,I mean,who,having picked up the velvet;knot,had dropped it so providentially where Simon Fleix found it.She looked at me blushing and laughing,and the young gentleman,who had done her errand,presenting me by name,she asked me,while the others listened,whether I had found my mistress.

Before I could answer,the lady to whom I had first addressed myself interposed.'Stop,sir!'she cried.What is this--a tale,a jest,a game,or a forfeit?'

'An adventure,madam,'I answered,bowing low.

'Of gallantry,I'll be bound,'she exclaimed.'Fie,Madame de Bruhl,and you but six months married!'

Madame de Bruhl protested,laughing,that she had no more to do with it than Mercury.'At the worst,'she said,'I carried the POULETS!But I can assure you,duchess,this gentleman should be able to tell us a very fine story,if he would.'

The duchess and all the other ladies clapping their hands at this,and crying out that the story must and should be told,Ifound myself in a prodigious quandary;and one wherein my wits derived as little assistance as possible from the bright eyes and saucy looks which environed me.Moreover,the commotion attracting other listeners,I found my position,while I tried to extricate myself,growing each moment worse,so that I began to fear that as I had little imagination I should perforce have to tell the truth.The mere thought of this threw me into a cold perspiration,lest I should let slip something of consequence,and prove myself unworthy of the trust which M.de Rosny had reposed in me.