“Yes,” replied the king, still lost in his own thoughts.
“Did you fight the watchman and frighten some of the burghers? Who are the men you brought here and locked up? They must be very criminal, as you won’t allow any communication with them. No girl was ever locked in as carefully, and they have not had a mouthful to eat since they came. The Germans whom Solern left to guard them won’t let any one go near the room. Is it a joke you are playing; or is it something serious?”
“Yes, you are right,” said the king, coming out of his reverie, “last night I did scour the roofs with Tavannes and the Gondis. I wanted to try my old follies with the old companions; but my legs were not what they once were; I did not dare leap the streets; though we did jump two alleys from one roof to the next. At the second, however, Tavannes and I, holding on to a chimney, agreed that we couldn’t do it again. If either of us had been alone we couldn’t have done it then.”
“I’ll wager that you sprang first.” The king smiled. “I know why you risk your life in that way.”
“And why, you little witch?”
“You are tired of life.”
“Ah, sorceress! But I am being hunted down by sorcery,” said the king, resuming his anxious look.
“My sorcery is love,” she replied, smiling. “Since the happy day when you first loved me, have I not always divined your thoughts? And—if you will let me speak the truth—the thoughts which torture you to-day are not worthy of a king.”
“Am I a king?” he said bitterly.
“Cannot you be one? What did Charles VII. do? He listened to his mistress, monseigneur, and he reconquered his kingdom, invaded by the English as yours is now by the enemies of our religion. Your last coup d’Etat showed you the course you have to follow. Exterminate heresy.”