“As an incitement to your highness to return to your duty, the king my master graciously offers you the im mediate restitution of the whole of your possessions, which will otherwise be confiscated, the re-establishment of all the pensions of which you have been deprived, with full assurance that they shall hereafter be paid with exactitude.” He then paused for a moment, and added, “What answer shall I take from your highness to his majesty?” “Tell the king your master,” rejoined Bourbon, sternly and haughtily, “that I have thrown off my allegiance to him, and consequently he has no power to pardon me. Tell him that he has already played me false, and that I would not trust his promise to restore me my possessions, or to continue my pensions. Tell him to confiscate my domains if he likes--I will soon have them back again.” “I will repeat word for word what your highness has told me,” replied the envoy. “You may depart, then,” said Bourbon. “I have not yet done,” said D'Imbaut, assuming a different and more haughty manner; “since your highness has declared that you have thrown off your allegiance, I must, in the name of the king my master, demand your sword as Constable of France.” Bourbon's eyes blazed with anger at this demand, but he constrained himself. “The king your master took that sword from me at Fontainebleau,” he said. “But I have another sword, which he shall have--when he can take it.” “I have my answer,” said D'Imbaut. Then looking round at the group of gentlemen, he asked: “Messeigneurs, do you all remain obstinate in rebellion? I am enabled to offer you the king's grace. Will none of you accept it?” “None,” they replied, with one voice. “A moment, sir,” said Bourbon to the envoy. “Tell the king your master, from me, his enemy, that when next we meet we shall have changed places. It will be for him to sue for pardon.” Charged with this defiant message, D'Imbaut departed. END OF THE SECOND BOOK BOOK III.--THE CHEVALIER BAYARD. I. HOW THE COMTE DE SAINT-VALLIEr's PARDON WAS OBTAINED. |On learning that his offer had been scornfully rejected by Bourbon, as related in the preceding chapter, François I. at once ordered the Chancellor Duprat to confiscate the whole of the fugitive's possessions, to degrade him from his rank, and declare his name infamous; to efface his armorial bearings, and his swords as Constable from all his châteaux; to demolish in part his magnificent hôtel in Paris, and strew the ground with salt; and to cause the public executioner to sully with yellow ochre such portion of the building as should be left standing, in order that it might remain as a memento of the duke's treason.