The cup was at his lips when I sprang forward and, heedless of ceremony, caught his arm. "Pardon, sire!" I cried, in sudden agitation. "If that is milk, I gave no order that it should be placed here; and I know nothing of its origin. I beg that you will not drink it, until I have made some inquiry." "They have all been tasted?" he asked, still holding the cup in his hand with the lid raised, but looking at it gravely. "They should have been!" I answered. "But La Trape, whom I made answerable for that, is outside. I will go and question him. If you will wait, sire, a moment--" "No," Henry said. "Have him here." I gave the order to the pages who were waiting outside, and in a moment La Trape appeared, looking startled and uncomfortable. Naturally, his first glance was given to the King, who had taken his seat on the edge of the bed, but still held the cup in his hand. After asking the King's permission, I said, "What drinks did you place on the table, here, sirrah?" He looked more uncomfortable at this, but he answered boldly enough that he had served a posset, some lemon water, and some milk. "But orders were given only for the lemon-water and the posset," I said. "True, your excellency," he answered. "But when I went to the pantry hatch, to see the under-butler carry up the tray, I found that the milk was on the tray; and I supposed that you had given another order." "Possibly Madame de Sully," the King said, looking at me, "gave the order to add it?" "She would not presume to do so, sire," I answered, sternly. "Nor do I in the least understand the matter. But at one thing we can easily arrive. You tasted all of these, man?" La Trape said he had. "You drank a quantity, a substantial quantity of each--according to the orders given to you? I persisted. "Yes, your excellency." But I caught a guilty look in his eyes, and in a gust of rage I cried out that he lied. "The truth!" I thundered, in a terrible voice. "The truth, you villain; you did not taste all?" "I did, your excellency; as God is above, I did!" he answered. But he had grown pale, and he looked at the King in a terrified way. "You did?" "Yes!" Yet I did not believe him, and I was about to give him the lie again, when the King intervened. "Quite so," he said to La Trape with a smile. "You drank, my good fellow, of the posset and the lemon water, and you tasted the milk, but you did not drink of it. Is not that the whole truth?" "Yes, sire," he whimpered, breaking down. "But I--I gave some to a cat." "And the cat is no worse?" "No, sire." "There, Grand Master," the King said, turning to me, "that is the truth, I think. What do you say to it?" "That the rest is simple," I answered, grimly. "He did not drink it before; but he will drink it now, sire."