“Yes, monsieur, that is true. I know that you are discreet; but as I had prescribed nothing——”
The officer bowed. “Has your majesty nothing else to say to me?”
“No, monsieur; you may retire.”
“Shall I obtain permission not to do so till I have spoken to the king, sire?”
“What have you to say to me? Explain yourself, monsieur.”
“Sire, a thing without importance to you, but which interests me greatly. Pardon me, then, for speaking of it. Without urgency, without necessity, I never would have done it, and I would have disappeared, mute and insignificant as I always have been.”
“How! Disappeared! I do not understand you, monsieur.”
“Sire, in a word,” said the officer, “I am come to ask for my discharge from your majesty’s service.”
The king made a movement of surprise, but the officer remained as motionless as a statue.
“Your discharge—yours, monsieur? and for how long a time, I pray?”