Sire, made him what he is--the real military adviser of the
kingdom. But what of his past? No one knows, unless it be von
Wallenstein, his intimate. I, for one, while I may be wrong,
trust only those whose past I know, and even then only at
intervals."

"Colonel Beauvais?" murmured the king. "I am sure that you are
unjustly suspicious. How many times have I leaned on his stout
arm! He taught Alexia a thousand tricks of horse, so that to-day
she rides as no other woman in the kingdom rides. Would that I
stood half so straight and looked at the world half so
fearlessly. He is the first soldier in the kingdom."

"All men are honest in your Majesty's eyes," said the archbishop.

"All save the man within me," replied the king.

At this juncture the king's old valet came in with the evening
meal; and soon after the prelate and the chancellor withdrew
from the chamber.

"How long will he live?" asked the latter.

"A year; perhaps only till to-morrow. Ah, had he but listened to
me several years ago, all this would not have come to pass. He
would see nothing; he persisted in dreams. With the death of
Josef he was convinced that his enemies had ceased to be. Had he
listened, I should have dismissed the cabinet, and found enough
young blood to answer my purposes; I should have surrounded him
with a mercenary army two thousand strong; by now he should have