"Let them ride their way," said Queen Margaret, "and find their sport; for the matter I have to speak concerning involves honour and rank, life and means of living." "Nay, but I have to hear and judge between Calezon and John of Acqua Mortis, the two most celebrated Troubadours." "Postpone their cause till to-morrow," said Margaret, "and dedicate an hour or two to more important affairs." "If you are peremptory," replied King René, "you are aware, my child, I cannot say you nay." And with reluctance he gave orders for the hawkers to go on and follow their sport, as he could not attend them that day. The old King then suffered himself, like an unwilling greyhound withheld from the chase, to be led into a separate apartment. To insure privacy, Margaret stationed her secretary Mordaunt, with Arthur, in an antechamber, giving them orders to prevent all intrusion. "Nay, for myself, Margaret," said the good-natured old man, "since it must be, I consent to be put _au secret_; but why keep old Mordaunt from taking a walk in this beautiful morning; and why prevent young Arthur from going forth with the rest? I promise you, though they term him a philosopher, yet he showed as light a pair of heels last night, with the young Countess de Boisgelin, as any gallant in Provence." "They are come from a country," said Margaret, "in which men are trained from infancy to prefer their duty to their pleasure." The poor King, led into the council-closet, saw with internal shuddering the fatal cabinet of ebony, bound with silver, which had never been opened but to overwhelm him with weariness, and dolefully calculated how many yawns he must strangle ere he sustained the consideration of its contents. They proved, however, when laid before him, of a kind that excited even his interest, though painfully. His daughter presented him with a short and clear view of the debts which were secured on his dominions, and for which they were mortgaged in various pieces and parcels. She then showed him, by another schedule, the large claims of which payment was instantly demanded, to discharge which no funds could be found or assigned. The King defended himself like others in his forlorn situation. To every claim of six, seven, or eight thousand ducats, he replied by the assertion that he had ten thousand crowns in his chancery, and showed some reluctance to be convinced, till repeatedly urged upon him, that the same sum could not be adequate to the discharge of thirty times the amount. "Then," said the King, somewhat impatiently, "why not pay off those who are most pressing, and let the others wait till receipts come round?" "It is a practice which has been too often resorted to," replied the Queen, "and it is but a part of honesty to pay creditors who have advanced their all in your Grace's service."