The boy sped away quickly; and during his absence St. Real proceeded to his own apartments, and wrote to the officer whom he had left in command of his troops near Senlis, directing him, in as few words as possible, to advance without loss of time to the distance of half a march from the royal army. Ere he had concluded, Leonard de Monte returned, and, in reply to St. Real's eager question of what news, informed him, that an order had just been given out to put the royal forces under arms, as it was supposed that those who had instigated the attempt at assassination, not knowing that it had failed, would endeavour to take advantage of the confusion they expected to follow its success amongst the royalists.
"A wise precaution!" said St. Real--"a wise precaution, marking that Henry of Navarre is in the camp, even if one did not know it from other circumstances. Now, tell me, Leonard," he continued, after having sealed and despatched his letter, "how long have you been here?"
"I reached Paris some five days since," replied the boy, "and waited two days there, in hopes of your coming; but, finding that you did not arrive, I grew anxious, knowing that there are wily men and unscrupulous of all parties in these places. Then, when you did not appear the third day, I set off hither to see whether you had been delayed against your will at the king's quarters; and ever since then I have been coming and going between the camp and the city of Paris, till I learned this morning that you were here."
"But were you never stopped at the outposts?" demanded St. Real; "your pass extended only to the capital?"
"Oh, no!" replied the boy, in a gay tone; "I passed and repassed as often as I liked, and will do it again whensoever it pleases me. I have the secret of making myself invisible; and they must be sharper eyes than either those of the League or of the Huguenots that will spy me out to stop me as I go."
"Indeed!" said St. Real: "that were a secret worth knowing."
"Easy to learn, but not so easy to practise," answered the boy. "I had first to consider the sentry as I came up to him; then, if I found him a Huguenot Gascon, to stop a quarter of an hour to listen to all the great exploits he had performed at Montcontour, Jarnac, or any other place; then--seeming to believe the whole--to tell him as great a lie as any that he told me, vowing that I was the truant son of some Huguenot lord, going back to hear Du Plessis Mornay preach against the Pope of Rome; and thus might I pass by without farther question. If, on the contrary, it were a royalist, I vowed I was King Henry's new page, and talked about Monsieur de Biron, and the good Duke of Epernon. If it were a Swiss, I boldly said, 'What is your price?' put the crowns in his hands, and walked on. And when I came back to the sentinels of the League, I had but to throw this toy over my shoulders," he continued, drawing a black-and-green scarf from the bosom of his vest, which, according to the custom of those days, was made very large and full, and often served the purpose of a pocket--"I had only to throw this toy over my shoulders, and swear by the holy mass that I had gone out to kill the king, and would have done it, too, if I had not, by mischance, trod on the toes of one of his Polish puppies, and been turned out of the ante-room for that grave offence."
St. Real laughed. "You are a brave boy," he said, "and seem to know these people thoroughly--perhaps better than I do."
"Perhaps I may," replied the youth: "but still, call me not a brave boy, for I am not; on the contrary, I am as arrant a coward as ever lived; so, if you intend to take me with you into a pitched battle, or even a skirmish, or so much as the siege of a town, you are very much mistaken, for I shall certainly lag behind."
"You jest," said St. Real, smiling; "for, though you are too young to be led into battles, or to sieges either, yet you are one of those whereof, some day, men may make good soldiers."