"Ah!" exclaimed the King, when Henry and he had crossed the drawbridge, "does it suit you, Henry, to have the gentlemen of Monsieur d'Alençon courting your wife?"
"How so, sire?"
"Truly, is not this Monsieur de Coconnas making eyes at Margot?"
"Who told you that?"
"Well," said the King, "I heard it."
"A mere joke, sire; Monsieur de Coconnas does make eyes at some one, but it is at Madame de Nevers."
"Ah, bah."
"I can answer to your Majesty for what I tell you."
Charles burst into laughter.
"Well," said he, "let the Duc de Guise come to me again with his gossip, and I will gently pull his mustache by telling him of the exploits of his sister-in-law. But after all," said the King, thinking better of it, "I do not know whether it was Monsieur de Coconnas or Monsieur de la Mole he referred to."