"Oh, Camus is like a dog that loves biting, a dog that would bite his
own master in default of anyone else. Yes; he is there still. As for
his turning on you, that is part of his duty; he has been for years a
paid servant of Diane."
"How long is this woman to last?"
"As long as her roses. But they say those are fadeless; and Saint
Gelais has had to leave the Court in fear of his life for swearing that
she keeps them ever fresh by daily bathing her face in sow's milk."
And he laughed as he added: "But come, now, it is time to be moving."
We were soon in the long gallery leading to the Queen's apartments;
but, instead of the darkness and gloom that pervaded it on the occasion
of my last visit, all was in light. Cressets burned everywhere, and at
every few yards stood a flambeau-bearer, his torch alight. The vaulted
roof above us was dim with the smoke that rose from the torches, and
there was everywhere the subdued murmur of voices, as people passed and
repassed, or stood in small knots conversing. So great was the change
that I could not avoid noticing it; and Le Brusquet explained that it
was always so when any of the royal children, who lived at St.
Germain-en-Laye, visited the Queen. He had just said this when we
rounded the abrupt curve the gallery made, and came face to face with
two men walking arm-in-arm in the direction opposite to that we were
taking. They were Simon and De Ganache, and recognition was mutual and
instant. Monsieur de Ganache saw the surprised look on my face, which
he no doubt read, as I glanced from him to my brother; and lifting his
hat in a half-defiant, half-shamefaced manner, would have passed on,
but Simon held him by the arm, and planting himself right in our path
said, with an insolent stare:
"This gentleman must have mistaken the Louvre for the Gloriette."
Le Brusquet plucked my sleeve in warning; but I was cool enough, and
had no intention of again laying myself open to the law. I gave Simon
stare for stare. "Yes; it is I," I answered coldly; and then, turning
to De Ganache: "Monsieur, it was from the Vidame d'Orrain that I had
the good fortune to rescue Mademoiselle de Paradis. I thought you knew
of this. If not, you know now with whom your arm is linked."
"By God!" Simon burst out, "if I did not remember where I was----"
"Tush!" I broke in, "there are a hundred other places where we can
settle our differences. I have no time to be brawling here."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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