"I did, your excellency; as God is above, I did!" he answered. But he had grown pale, and he looked at the King in a terrified way.
"You did?"
"Yes!"
Yet I did not believe him, and I was about to give him the lie again, when the King intervened. "Quite so," he said to La Trape with a smile. "You drank, my good fellow, of the posset and the lemon water, and you tasted the milk, but you did not drink of it. Is not that the whole truth?"
"Yes, sire," he whimpered, breaking down. "But I—I gave some to a cat."
"And the cat is no worse?"
"No, sire."
"There, Grand Master," the King said, turning to me, "that is the truth, I think. What do you say to it?"
"That the rest is simple," I answered, grimly. "He did not drink it before; but he will drink it now, sire."
The King, sitting on the bed, laughed and looked at La Trape; as if his good-nature almost led him to interpose. But after a moment's hesitation he thought better of it, and handed me the cup. "Very well," he said; "he is your man. Have your way with him. After all, he should have drunk it."