‘I will put only one before you,’ he answered.
My neighbour seemed to shrink into himself with disappointment. ‘Who is it?’ he murmured piteously.
‘The king and his service, my friend,’ M. de Rosny replied drily. And with that he walked away. But half a dozen times at least; before he reached the upper end of the room I saw the scene repeated.
I looked on at all this in the utmost astonishment, unable to guess or conceive what had happened to give M. de Rosny so much importance. For it did not escape me that the few words he had stopped to speak to me had invested me with interest in the eyes of all who stood near. They gave me more room and a wider breathing-space, and looking at me askance, muttered my name in whispers. In my uncertainty, however, what this portended I drew no comfort from it; and before I had found time to weigh it thoroughly the door through which Turenne and Rosny had entered opened again. The pages and gentlemen who stood about it hastened to range themselves on either side. An usher carrying a white wand came rapidly down the room, here and there requesting the courtiers to stand back where the passage was narrow. Then a loud voice without cried, ‘The King, gentlemen! the King!’ and one in every two of us stood a-tiptoe to see him enter.
But there came in only Henry of Navarre, wearing a violet cloak and cap.
I turned to La Varenne and with my head full of confusion, muttered impatiently, ‘But the king, man! Where is the king?’
He grinned at me, with his hand before his mouth. ‘Hush!’ he whispered. ‘’Twas a jest we played on you! His late Majesty died at daybreak this morning. This is the king.’
‘This! the King of Navarre?’ I cried; so loudly that some round us called ‘Silence!’
‘No, the King of France, fool!’ he replied. ‘Your sword must be sharper than your wits, or I have been told some lies!’
I let the gibe pass and the jest, for my heart was beating so fast and painfully that I could scarcely preserve my outward composure. There was a mist before my eyes, and a darkness which set the lights at defiance. It was in vain I tried to think what this might mean—to me. I could not put two thoughts together, and while I still questioned what reception I might expect, and who in this new state of things were my friends, the king stopped before me.