“What do you wish, monsieur?” she asked.
“I come on business of the King, good Mother,” he replied seriously, and stepped inside.
“It is a strange hour for business,” she said severely.
“The King may come at all hours,” he answered soothingly: “is it not so? By the law he may enter when he wills.”
“You are not the King, monsieur,” she objected, with her head held up sedately.
“Or the Governor may come, good Mother?”
“You are not the Governor, Monsieur Doltaire,” she said, more sharply still.
“But a Governor may demand admittance to this convent, and by the order of his Most Christian Majesty he may not be refused: is it not so?”
“Must I answer the catechism of Monsieur Doltaire?”
“But is it not so?” he asked again urbanely.