"Yes, your Majesty," answered Frances, growing short of breath from excitement, "he is waiting below for it."
The king sat down at his desk, signed the treaty, affixed the Great Seal, returned the parchment to its envelope, and, turning to Frances, said:—
"Now, the first kiss, my beauty!"
"Not now, your Majesty. Please wait till I return," she answered, taking the treaty from the king's hand without his leave. "I do not want to disarrange my vizard till after I have returned the parchment to the Abbé. I fear the watermen will recognize me."
"Who is in the boat with the Abbé?" asked the king.
"His servant, a French gentleman, and two watermen. He insisted on bringing me, reluctant, doubtless to trust me with the parchments and the bill," she answered, lying with the ease of a Lombard Street hosier.
But the king, growing suspicious because of her haste, caught her by the arm, saying: "You remain here. I'll return the treaty."
She drew her arm from the king's grasp and started so hurriedly toward the door that the king took alarm and followed her, crying out:—
"I tell you I'll send the packet by other hands. You remain here."
She did not stop, so he caught her again by the arm, and spoke sharply: "You are to remain with me. Do you hear? I'm not to be played with. I'll send the packet—"