The King's Esquires Part 29

"All gone, sir. That salve you applied seemed to make it pa.s.s entirely away."

"That is good," said the doctor, nodding his head. "But tell me, boy, was I speaking aloud when I came into the room?"

"Not aloud, sir, but just so that I could hear what you said."

"Ah, a bad habit! And what did I say?"

"It was something about a blind search."

"Ah, yes; and you guessed at once what I meant?"

"Why, yes, sir. I immediately thought that you meant the--"

With a quick movement, accompanied by a smile, Leoni's long, thin, brown fingers were laid upon Denis's lips.

"Hist, boy! We are in King Henry's palace, where walls may have ears.

Speak it not. We understand one another, and know what in our master's service we have come to seek. Denis, you are a boy in years, but I find you in many things a man at heart, and there should be no half confidences between us two. I like you, my boy, and always have, stern and cold and severe as I may have seemed. My face may have been hard, but there are moments when my heart is soft. Denis, my son, we are working for the King and for France, and so far I am at fault. I thought my task would be so easy that, once here, that which we seek would be within my grasp; and so far it seems beyond me, while the golden hours glide swiftly away, and before many days have pa.s.sed our visit with all its risks must have an end. I s.h.i.+ver sometimes, boy, as I stand close by and listen to our master's careless, light-hearted speech. Again and again he has been within an ace of betraying who he is, and at any moment some of the sharper-witted of the courtiers by whom we are surrounded may grasp the truth, and then, Denis, as Francis has said, we are in the lion's den and the risk is great."

"Yes, sir; I see all that," said Denis, in a low earnest whisper. "Then you have no idea where the jewel of France is kept?"

"Not the slightest, boy, and I want you to use your eyes and ears to help me all you can. There is that young English esquire. You are great friends; perhaps he might know. I don't like asking you to play the spy and betray your friend, but the English are our natural enemies.

We are here upon a sacred mission, and we must quiet our consciences with the recollection that what we seek was torn by conquest from the Valois diadem."

"Yes, I know, sir," whispered Denis eagerly, influenced as he was by the masterful spirit and words of his tutor.

"Then try, boy; try your best to help me, while we have time. You promise me this?"

"Of course, sir. But what," cried Denis, with his eyes flas.h.i.+ng, "if I already know?"

"Boy!" cried Leoni excitedly; and he caught his young companion by the shoulders, but checked himself, instantly drew back, walked slowly across the room to the door, opened it and looked out, and then came back and signed to Denis to close the window, while he softly moved here and there; and the boy noticed how, as if to examine the beauty of the silken hangings, he touched them again and again, as if to make sure that no listener was concealed behind.

Leoni ended by joining his young companions in the deep embrasure of the window, taking him by the arm, and pressing him towards the diamond panes of the cas.e.m.e.nt as if to draw his attention to something out beyond the terrace and the steep slope below.

"Now," he said, in a quick whisper, "speak beneath your breath. You know where?"

"In the tall, square-turreted cabinet three parts of the way down the long corridor by the King's private apartments."

"Ah, I have not been there, and dared not raise suspicion by asking permission to go. Are you sure?"

"Carrbroke has as good as told me it was there. He spoke of a charm with fateful powers of its own, and that the King held gems as sacred relics."

"Ah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Leoni softly. "Boy, you make me begin to live."

"Shall I tell you something more, sir?"

"There can be nothing more that I wish to hear," whispered Leoni. "Boy, you have filled an empty void. But speak; tell me what more you have to say."

"The King has a secret pa.s.sage whose door is in the arras two chambers down the long corridor farther on."

"Young Carrbroke told you so?"

"Yes."

"Bah! But it would be a secret way known only to himself, of no avail to us. It could not be found. Once the relic is in our hands, a silken rope and some window must be our way."

"But I know the secret of the pa.s.sage, sir, how to open the door, and where the pa.s.sage leads."

"Where, boy, where?" cried Leoni excitedly.

"Down to the grounds, and then by a long winding alley through the private gardens to the riverside."

"Hist!" whispered Leoni. "No more, boy, for your words have seemed to burn. Ah, it is strange! The workings too of fate. What I have striven for in vain has come to you without seeking, without thought.

It is fate, boy, fate. The spirit of our great nation is working on our behalf, and has made you the chosen instrument of our success. We must, we shall succeed, and through you. Now silence; not another word but these. I say silence, Denis. It is for our master's sake and for _la France_."

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

THE CHAMBERLAIN HAS SUSPICIONS.

Several days pa.s.sed at the Court in a succession of gaieties including hunting, an excursion on the river, and at night banquet and dance.

Henry was charmed with the pleasant sprightliness of his guest, whose lively French manner attracted him more and more. He distinguished himself in the field and in the chivalrous sports in the Castle Yard.

There were moments when the King looked grim and slightly disposed to be jealous of the applause given to the Comte, and more than once Lord Hurst saw his master frown heavily upon seeing how great a favourite Francis had made himself with the courtiers, who were delighted with the change the gay Frenchman made in the monotony of their daily life. But Leoni felt that the luxurious seats he occupied at Windsor were stuffed with thorns, and that they were placed close to the edge of a mine that might at any moment explode.

Still the time wore on and the danger seemed as far off as ever, for in obedience to Leoni's prompting Francis, though often sailing very near the wind, dexterously gave a turn to the rudder just at the right time, and the doctor breathed freely once again, while he waited for the moment when he could put into action one or other of the plans he had thought out, to get possession of the fateful jewel whose resting-place he felt he knew, lying as it did, though still distant, almost within his grasp. For short of gaining entrance to the private corridor where it lay, and boldly breaking open the cabinet some night, to carry off the prize, he could not yet see his way.

"That must be the last resource," he said to Denis. "The Comte and I must exercise subtlety. The knowledge came from you, boy--given to you by fate; and we must wait longer, even if it be for days. Who knows but, as she has favoured us so far, fate may place in our hands the fruit that is ripe to pluck?"

"I wish they'd pluck it or leave it alone," said Denis to himself. "I hate the whole business. It is very pleasant being here, and Carrbroke makes himself quite like a brother, though I can't help laughing at him sometimes when he speaks such bad French; but that doesn't matter. He laughs at my bad English just the same, and it's all capital sport when we are together, if I didn't feel so treacherous. There are times when I should like to tell him all, and why we are here; but I can't, for that would be behaving treacherously to my King."

The lad ended his musings rather gloomily, as he felt sure that before long they would be found out and the daring business be all come to an end.

Similar thoughts kept Leoni awake the greater part of each night in his luxurious chamber, spoiling his rest, and making him attend his master the next morning terribly troubled in mind, but only to brighten up on finding how well in favour the Comte seemed with the King, who was always seeking his visitor out for some new pursuit in courtly pleasure or excursion.

But the cloud was gathering all the same, and the discovery very near at hand.

One morning Lord Hurst was in attendance upon Henry, making his customary daily reports and taking his orders for various preparations to carry out something fresh in the way of entertainment, when the King waved his hand impatiently.

"There, there," he cried, "no more of this!" Then, good-humouredly, "Well, Hurst, what do you think of our amba.s.sador?"

"Think of him, Sire?" replied the courtier.

"Yes, yes," cried the King testily. "Do I not speak plainly? Why do you look at me like that? Do you not think he is a most worthy representative of his master?"

"Undoubtedly, Sire, but--"

"Hurst," cried the King furiously, "have I not made you my trusted adviser?"