'I knew,' she rejoined quietly, 'that my guardian would do everything in his power to further the good of our country.'
'And incidentally to promote your happiness, my dear.'
'Oh!' she said, with an indifferent shrug of the shoulders, 'my happiness is not in question, is it? Else you would not propose that I should wed a Prince of the House of Valois.'
'I am not so sure,' he replied, with a humorous twinkle in his old eyes. 'Monsieur Duc d'Anjou, is not—or I am much mistaken—quite the rogue that mischievous rumour hath painted.'
'Let us hope, for my sake,' she retorted dryly, 'that rumour hath wronged him in all particulars.'
'In one, at any rate, I'll vouch for that. Monsieur is more than commonly well-favoured—a handsome figure of a man, with the air and the voice of a soldier.'
'You know him well?'
'I have seen much of him,' said Monseigneur with an enigmatic smile, 'these past four weeks.'
'These past four weeks?' she exclaimed. 'But you have not been out of Cambray.'
'Nor has he,' put in Monseigneur quietly.