"My cousin," observed François II., with a melancholy smile, "you are, as you desired, thoroughly cleared of all suspicion of felony, in my opinion."
"Yes, Sire," said the "Silent Captain," with ingenuous impudence; "and I thank your Majesty for having assisted me."
He turned with an effort to Le Balafré, and added,—
"I also am grateful to my good ally and kinsman, Monsieur de Guise. I hope to prove afresh to him, and to all others, by my behavior to-night against the rebels, if there be an attack, that he was not wrong in taking my part."
Thereupon the Prince de Condé and the Duc de Guise exchanged most profoundly courteous salutations.
Then the prince, being well and duly justified, and having no further business there, bowed to the king, and left the room, followed by those who had come in with him.
None were left in the royal apartment but the four personages whose dreary waiting had been enlivened and their apprehension distracted for a moment by this singular comedy.
It was a chivalrous scene, peculiar to the politics of the sixteenth century.