"And who may that be?" demanded the King.
"The Governor of Normandy," Jean answered—"he and no other!"
"What—D'Epernon?" cried the Bearnais, really taken by surprise this time.
"I have just left his company," said Jean; "he has with him many gentlemen, the Professor of Eloquence at the Sorbonne, the nephew of the Cardinal Bourbon——"
"What, my cousin John the pretty clerk?" laughed Henry.
"He drives a good steel point," said Jean-aux-Choux; "it were a pity to make him a holy water sprinkler. I was too ugly to be a pastor. He is too handsome for a priest!"
"We will save him," said the Bearnais; "when our poor old Uncle of the Red Hat dies, they will doubtless try to make a king of this springald."
"He vows he would much rather carry a pike in your levies," said Jean-aux-Choux. "It is a brave lad. He loves good hard knocks, and from what I have seen, also to be observed of ladies!"
The Bearnais laughed a short, self-contemptuous laugh. "I fear we shall quarrel then, Cousin John and I," he said; "one Bourbon is enough in a camp where one must ride twenty miles to wave a kerchief beneath a balcony!"
"Also," continued Jean-aux-Choux, "there is with them my dear master's daughter, Mistress Claire——"