"Ah! good-evening, duke; I am enchanted to see you. Why were you not present at the execution of Salcede?—I told you there would be room in my box."
"Sire, I was unable to avail myself of your majesty's kindness."
"Unable?"
"Yes, sire; I was busy."
"One would think that you were my minister, coming to announce, with a long face, that some subsidy had not been paid."
"Ma foi! your majesty is right; the subsidy has not been paid, and I am penniless. But it was not that which occupied me."
"What then?"
"Your majesty knows what passed at the execution of Salcede?"
"Parbleu! I was there."
"They tried to carry off the criminal."