"He tapped his squire on the shoulder good-naturedly. He was very pale, but spoke with a sort of solemn calmness. Again he said to Perrot,—
"'Is it a long while that these reports have been circulating?'
"'Monseigneur,' said Perrot, 'it is five months that you have been in love with Madame de Poitiers; and your marriage was arranged to take place in November. I am assured that Monseigneur le Dauphin has been in love with Madame Diane since about a month after she welcomed your addresses. However, it is hardly more than two months since it has been talked about, and personally I have known of it for only a fortnight. The rumors did not take definite shape until the postponement of the wedding, and the talk has been mostly under the rose, for fear of Monseigneur le Dauphin. Only yesterday I whipped one of Monsieur de la Garde's people for having the face to laugh about it in my hearing; and Monsieur de la Garde didn't dare to say a word.'
"'They shall not laugh any more about it,' said Monseigneur, in a tone that made me fairly shudder.
"When he was ready to depart, he passed his hand across his forehead, and said,—
"'Aloyse, bring Gabriel to me; I want to kiss him.'
"You were sleeping, Monseigneur Gabriel,—sleeping calmly like a little cherub; and you began to cry when I woke you and took you from your bed. I wrapped you in a blanket, and thus carried you to your father. He took you in his arms, gazed at you for some time without a word, as if to take his fill of the sight of you, then pressed a kiss upon your half-closed eyes. At the same time a tear fell on your rosy cheek,—the first tear which he, the strong proud man, had ever shed before me. He gave you back to my arms, saying,—
"'I commend my child to you, Aloyse.'
"Alas! they were the last words he ever said to me. They have remained where they fell, and I seem to hear them always.
"'I am going with you, Monseigneur,' said my good Perrot then.