'Tell me, man, what am I to do?' I said between my teeth. 'Speak! think! invent something!'
But he shook his head.
I let him go with a muttered oath, and sat down on a stool by the bed and took my head between my hands. At that very moment, however, relief came--came from an unexpected quarter. The door opened and the leech entered. He was a skilful man, and, though much employed about the Court, a Huguenot--a fact which had emboldened Simon Fleix to apply to him through the landlord of the 'Bleeding Heart,' the secret rendezvous of the Religion in Blois. When he had made his examination he was for leaving, being a grave and silent man, and full of business, but at the door I stopped him.
'Well, sir?' I said in a low tone, my hand on his cloak.
'She has rallied, and may live three days,' he answered quietly. 'Four, it may be, and as many more as God wills.'
Pressing two crowns into his hand, I begged him to call daily, which he promised to do; and then he went. My mother was still dozing peacefully, and I turned to Simon Fleix, my doubts resolved and my mind made up.
'Listen,' I said, 'and answer me shortly. We cannot both leave; that is certain. Yet I must go, and at once, to the place where you found the velvet knot. Do you describe the spot exactly, so that I may find it, and make no mistake.'
He nodded, and after a moment's reflection answered,
'You know the Rue St. Denys, M. de Marsac? Well, go down it, keeping the "Bleeding Heart" on your left. Take the second turning on the same side after passing the inn. The third house from the corner, on the left again, consists of a gateway leading to the Hospital of the Holy Cross. Above the gateway are two windows in the lower story, and above them two more. The knot lay below the first window you come to. Do you understand?'
'Perfectly,' I said. 'It is something to be a clerk, Simon.'