"You have done well," said the king; "and we would fain believe that there is no contempt of our authority, nor disloyalty toward our person, at the bottom of your heart."
"I have proved my loyalty and my reverence, sire," replied De Brecy, "by shedding my blood for you in the field against your enemies, at all times, and on all occasions, and by lingering in inactivity for long months at Briare in obedience to your commands."
"Well," said the king, "it is well. But there be special circumstances, when men's own interests or passions will lead them to forget the general line of duty, and cancel good services by great faults. Charges of this kind are made against you."
"My lord, they are false," replied De Brecy; "and I will prove them so, either in your royal court, by evidence good and true, or in the lists against my accuser, my body against his, and God to judge between us."
He glanced, as he spoke, toward a slight young man standing beside La Trimouille; and the king, mistaking his look, replied, with a light laugh, "Our ministers are not challenged to the field for their actions, Monsieur De Brecy. La Trimouille is a flight above you."
"I thought not of Monsieur La Trimouille, sire," replied De Brecy. "I know not that I have offended him; and, moreover, I hold him to be the best minister your majesty ever had, because the one who has made your authority the most respected. I spoke generally of any accuser."
"Well, then," said the king, "in the first place, tell me, with that truth and freedom of speech for which you have a somewhat rough reputation, have you, or have you not just cause to think that a young lady who has been brought up under your charge from infancy, and lately at our court, is the daughter of our late uncle, the Duke of Orleans?"
"I have, sire," answered De Brecy.
"Then how did you presume to claim the guardianship of her against our power?" said the king, sternly. "As our first cousin, legitimate or illegitimate, she is our ward."
"My answer is simple, sire," replied De Brecy. "I have never done what your majesty says; and if I had, when last I stood before you, I should have done it in ignorance; for it is but three days since I received from one Lomelini, abbot of Briare, then upon his death-bed, any certain information regarding her birth. These packets should have been delivered to me long before, but they were retained through malice. I now lay them before you, to judge of them as may seem meet."