“And you will bear me no ill-will for it?”
“Oh! no, sire; for I anticipated the event.”
“You had ‘anticipated’ that I should refuse to forgive those gentlemen?”
“Certainly; and all my measures were taken in consequence.”
“What do you mean to say?” cried the king, surprised.
“M. d’Herblay came, as may be said, to deliver himself into my hands. M. d’Herblay left to me the happiness of saving my king and my country. I could not condemn M. d’Herblay to death; nor could I, on the other hand, expose him to your majesty’s justifiable wrath; it would have been just the same as if I had killed him myself.”
“Well! and what have you done?”
“Sire, I gave M. d’Herblay the best horses in my stables and four hours’ start over all those your majesty might, probably, dispatch after him.”
“Be it so!” murmured the king. “But still, the world is wide enough and large enough for those whom I may send to overtake your horses, notwithstanding the ‘four hours’ start’ which you have given to M. d’Herblay.”
“In giving him these four hours, sire, I knew I was giving him his life, and he will save his life.”