"No! Ah! by Saint-Carpion, he deserves to die. Did the scamp not think
my daughter beautiful?"

"Oh! that is not it," she said. "He kissed my feet and hands with an
ardor that might have touched the most virtuous of women. He loves me
truly in all honor."

"Do you take me for Saint-Louis, and suppose I should believe such
nonsense? A young fellow, made like him, to have risked his life just
to kiss your little slippers or your sleeves! Tell that to others."

"But, sire, it is true. And he came for another purpose."

Having said these words, Marie felt that she had risked the life of
her husband, for Louis instantly demanded:

"What purpose?"

The adventure amused him immensely. But he did not expect the strange
confidences his daughter now made to him after stipulating for the
pardon of her husband.

"Ho, ho, Monsieur de Saint-Vallier! So you dare to shed the royal
blood!" cried the king, his eyes lighting with anger.

At this moment the bell of Plessis sounded the hour of the king's
dinner. Leaning on the arm of his daughter, Louis XI. appeared with
contracted brows on the threshold of his chamber, and found all his
servitors in waiting. He cast an ambiguous look on the Comte de
Saint-Vallier, thinking of the sentence he meant to pronounce upon