In a flash Law was at her side, kneeling, seeking to draw away her fingers with hands that trembled as much as her own.
"Do not! Do not!" he cried. "I am not worth it! It shall be as you like. Let me go away forever. This I can not endure!"
"Ah, John Law, John Law!" murmured Catharine Knollys, "why did you break my heart!"
CHAPTER IV
THE REGENT'S PROMISE
"Tell me, then, Monsieur L'as, of this new America. I would fain have some information at first hand. There was rumor, I know not how exact, that you once traveled in those regions."
Thus spake his Grace Philippe, Duke of Orléans, regent of France, now, in effect, ruler of France. It was the audience which had been arranged for John Law, that opportunity for which he had waited all his life. Before him now, as he stood in the great council chamber, facing this man whose ambitions ended where his own began—at the convivial board and at the gaming table—he saw the path which led to the success that he had craved so long. He, Law of Lauriston, sometime adventurer and gambler, was now playing his last and greatest game.
"Your Grace," said he, "there be many who might better than I tell you of that America."