“I, and before everything, let me thank you for the service you rendered me.”
“Ah! it was quite natural; I could not bear to see a brave gentleman assassinated: I thought you killed.”
“It did not want much to do it, but I got off with a wound, which I think I repaid with interest to Schomberg and D’Epernon. As for Quelus, he may thank the bones of his head: they are the hardest I ever knew.”
“Ah! tell me about it, it will amuse me a little.”
“I have no time now, I come for something else. You are ennuyé——”
“To death.”
“And a prisoner?”
“Completely. The king pretends no one can amuse him but me. He is very good, for since yesterday I have made more grimaces than his ape, and been more rude than his jester.”
“Well, it is my turn to render you a service: can I do it?”
“Yes, go to the Marshal de Brissac’s, and reassure my poor little wife, who must be very uneasy, and must think my conduct very strange.”