But before he had crossed the threshold, Richelieu, the captain of arquebusiers, entered, and said hastily to the king,—
"Pardon, Sire, but Monsieur de Condé thinks he overheard certain words reflecting upon his honor, and he urgently demands the privilege of clearing himself from these insulting suspicions in your Majesty's presence, once for all."
The king might have refused to see the prince; but the Duc de Guise had already made a sign. Captain Richelieu's arquebusiers stepped aside, and Monsieur de Condé entered, with head erect and cheeks flushed.
He was followed by a few nobles, and a number of canons of St. Florentin, regular attaches of the Château d'Amboise, whom the cardinal had transformed into soldiers that night to assist in the defence, and who, as was frequently the case in those days, carried the arquebuse with the rosary, and wore the helmet under their cowl.
"Sire, I trust you will pardon my boldness," said the prince, after saluting the king; "but it is perhaps justified in advance by the insolence of certain charges, which are made, it seems, in the dark by my foes against my loyalty, and which I feel called upon to bring forth into the light that I may confound and chastise them."
"To what do you refer, my cousin?" asked the king, gravely.
"Sire," replied Condé, "they dare to say that I am the real leader of the rebels, whose foolhardy and impious undertaking is at this moment throwing the realm into confusion, and filling your Majesty's heart with dismay."
"Ah, they say that, do they?" returned François. "Who says it, pray?"
"I succeeded just now in surprising these hateful slanders, Sire, upon the lips of these reverend brothers of St. Florentin, who, believing doubtless that they were among friends, did not scruple to repeat aloud what had been whispered in their ears."
"Do you mean to accuse those who repeated the offensive words, or those who whispered them in the first place?" asked François.