Charles frowned; but his favourite pursued unmoved:—
“As I have only my beaux yeux, as we used to say abroad, to stake against your Majesty’s overwhelming attractions, I should be flattered indeed, however, were you to have me banned as a marauder.”
Touched upon the string of his humour, Charles was ever easily appeased. The very impudence of his grave constable’s proposal tickled him. It was not the first time that they had found themselves opposed in rivalry, though scarcely ever before so avowedly. On the last occasion (the King remembered this pleasantly) Rockhurst, for all his beaux yeux, had been notoriously displaced; and this, doubtless, was a little stroke of revenge. That was Rockhurst’s way.
“Beware of boasting, my lord Constable!” he exclaimed banteringly.
They were on the threshold of the apartment. Rockhurst made a deep congé.
“I never boast, as your Majesty knows. But your Majesty was wont to love a fair wager.”
Charles’s smile widened. He nodded assent, and Rockhurst pursued after a moment’s reflection:—
“Will your Majesty stake the payment of all the arrears due to my yeomen’s company that the linnet’s first song will not be for me? I would wager in return their immediate settlement, out of my own estate, unless your Majesty would impose on me any other stake.”
“Admirable!” said the King. “Yet we would have a more immediate, a more personal, token of victory—if we succeed against your beaux yeux,” he put in with a little mockery, “and that is, in addition to the paltry coin, a view of the contents of that locket, my merry Rockhurst.”