"Monsieur," she said, "conceal yourself in this closet until I return. I am going to be present at the _petite levee_ of the King. Do not stir, for they will soon be searching the palace, with orders for your arrest. Had you not come after me, at once, two of the Scotch Guards would have found you where you waited. I slipped out while they were listening to the orders that my mother added to the King's." I fell on my knee, within the closet. "Madame," I said, trembling with gratitude, "you are more than a queen. You are an angel of goodness." "No; I am merely a woman who does not forget an obligation. I have heard, from one of my maids, who heard it from a friend of yours, how you knocked a too inquisitive person into the moat beneath my window. I had to burn the rope that was used that night, but I have since procured another, which may have to be put to a similar purpose!" And, with a smile, she shut the closet door upon me. CHAPTER V. HOW LA TOURNOIRE ESCAPED FROM PARIS I heard the key turn in the lock, and the Queen of Navarre leave the cabinet. She took the key with her, so that a tiny beam of light came through the keyhole, giving my dark hiding-place its only illumination. I felt complete confidence both in Marguerite's show of willingness to save me, and in her ability to do so. All I could do was to wait, and leave my future in her hands. After a long time, I heard steps in the cabinet outside the closet door, the beam of light from the keyhole was cut off, the key turned again, the door opened, and Marguerite again stood before me. "Monsieur," she said, "that we may talk without danger, remain in the closet. I will leave the door slightly ajar, thus, and will sit here, near it, with my 'Book of Hours,' as if reading aloud to myself. Should any one come, I can lock your door again and hide the key. Hark! be silent, monsieur!" And as she spoke, she shut the door, locked it, drew out the key, and sat down. I listened to learn what had caused this act of precaution. "Madame," I heard some one say, "M. de l'Archant desires, by order of the King, to search your apartments for a man who is to be arrested, and who is thought to have secreted himself somewhere in the palace." "Let him enter." said Marguerite. My heart stood still. Then I heard her say, in a tone of pleasantry: "What, M. le Capitain, is there another St. Bartholomew, that people choose my apartments for refuge?" "This time it is not certain that the fugitive is here," replied Captain de l'Archant, of the bodyguard. "He is known to have been in the palace this morning, and no one answering his description has been seen to leave by any of the gates. It was, indeed, a most sudden and mysterious disappearance; and it is thought that he has run to cover in some chamber or other. We are looking everywhere." "Who is the man?" asked Marguerite, in a tone of indifference. "M. de la Tournoire, of the French Guards."