"_Eh, bien_, why not?" his Majesty answered lightly. "The name is the name of Jacob, but the hand is the hand of Esau. Take it and send it by a trusty messenger. Perhaps the man who came with you, and who--pheugh, my lord! I had forgotten that this person was here! We have spoken too freely." The oath which the Duke let fall as he turned, and the face of dismay and anger with which he gazed on me, were proof enough that he shared the King's opinion, as he had shared his mistake. For a moment, the two glaring at me with equal disgust and vexation, I thought I should sink into the floor. Then the King beckoned me to come forward, and I obeyed him. CHAPTER XXV The odd and unexpected glimpse of generosity which the King had allowed to escape him, in his interview with the Duke, somewhat lessened the fears I must otherwise have entertained at that moment. To which must be added that I am one of those who, when violence and physical danger are not in question, retain a fair mastery of their minds. Nevertheless, I am free to confess that as I went forward, I wished myself anywhere else in the world, and would have sacrificed half my remaining economies to be seated, pen in hand, and obscurely safe, in Mr. Brome's room. But the thing took a turn which relieved me when I least expected it. As I approached, the chagrin in the King's face gave place to a look of surprise; and that again, but more slowly, to one of intelligence. "Ah! _Je me trompais!_" he muttered rapidly. "What did you say his name was?" "Price," the Duke answered, continuing to glower at me. "Price? _Ah, cela va sans dire!_ But--he is a cadet--a dependent? He is in some way connected--how do you say it--related to your family!" "To mine, sir!" the Duke exclaimed in a voice of the utmost astonishment; and he drew himself up as if the King had pricked him. "_N'est-ce pas ça?_" his Majesty replied, looking from one to the other of us. "Yet he has so much a look of you that it might be possible in some lights to take him for your grace, were he differently dressed!" The Duke looked purely offended. "Your Majesty is under a strange misapprehension," he said, very stiffly. "If this person resembles me--of which I was not aware--I know nothing of the cause; and the likeness for what it is worth, must be accidental. As a fact, I never saw him but once before in my life, sir, and that perfectly by chance." And he very briefly related the circumstances under which we came together. The King listened to the story, but as if he scarcely believed it; and he smiled when the Duke came to tell how he allowed me to escape. Then, "And you have never seen him from that day to this?" he said incredulously. "Never!" said the Duke, positively. "But it is not my intention to lose sight of him again." "Ah?" the King said.