"Aye," he said quietly. "I would have let him go. But you have made it impossible."
Never have I seen so piteous a sight as her face of misery. Had my hands been free, Mayenne had been startled to find a knife in his heart.
"Never mind, mademoiselle," I cried to her. "You came and wept over me, and that is worth dying for."
"Monsieur," she cried, recovering herself after the first instant of consternation, "you are degrading the greatest noble in the land! You, the head of the house of Lorraine, the chief of the League, the commander of the allied armies, debase yourself in stooping to take vengeance on a stable-boy."
"It is no question of vengeance; it is a question of safety," he answered impatiently. Yet I marvelled that he answered at all, since absolute power is not obliged to give an account of itself.
"Is your estate then so tottering that a stable-boy can overturn it? In that case be advised. Go hang yourself, monsieur, while there is yet time."
He flushed with anger, and this time he offered no justification. He advanced on the girl with outstretched hand.
"Mademoiselle, it is not my habit to take advice from the damsels of my household. Nor do I admit them to my council-room. Permit me then to conduct you to the staircase."
She retreated toward the threshold where I stood, still covering me as with a shield.
"Monsieur, you are very cruel to me."