Louis leaned forward interested.
"What do you hope to gain by this?"
Villon answered calmly:
"The right to die like a soldier by the sword, not like a rogue by the rope."
A murmur of approval stirred the silent crowd, but it died away as Katherine suddenly advanced and stood, a white figure like a fair lily, between the king and Villon.
"Nay, you gain more than this. I am the Lady Katherine de Vaucelles, kinswoman of the royal house, mistress of a hundred lands, Grand Seneschale of Gascony, Warden of the Marches of Poitou. In my own domains I exercise the High Justice and the Low. This man is of humble birth, and when I marry him he becomes my vassal. Over my vassals I hold the law of life and death."
Villon dropped on his knees beside his lady.
Louis clapped his thin hands together as a man might applaud a play.
"You are a bold minion and you have a quick wit. But if you marry this gaol bird you decline to his condition. Your high titles fall from you, your great estates are forfeit to the crown and you and he must go out into exile together; the beggar woman with the beggar man."
Katherine turned to Villon where he knelt beside her.