Then Jean seated himself thoughtfully on the corner of the Count's table, and for a few moments was busy with his seals and wax.
"Since the sentries are doubled, we must take double precaution," he murmured. "Chance is a very useful mistress sometimes, but it does not pay to leave too much to her."
Count Felix went quickly to the suite of rooms Countess Elisabeth occupied for the time being in the castle. He had requested her not to return to the Place Beauvoisin until after he was crowned Duke. He wanted his talisman beside him, he said; and the Countess, perhaps hoping that she would never permanently return to the Place Beauvoisin, remained.
She received him now, as she always did, with a smile of welcome, and he bent over her hand in silence before seating himself beside her.
"I would it were well over, Elisabeth."
"To-morrow at this time it will be," she answered.
"Had I dared to do so, I would have altered the ceremony," he went on; "I would have curtailed some of these absurd customs, and made my coronation far more simple and direct. It should have been swiftly done, and I would have had the reins firmly in my hands before any had time to question me."
"Who can question you?"
"I fear even the voice of one starveling about the court, or even of some soldier who mayhap has begun his revelling too early."