"But I dare not risk it," and again he shook his head. "Risk what, Monseigneur? Risk me, yourself, or the King?" "All three," he answered--"all three. You cannot understand." "Then what you dare not I will dare. In spite of you, Monsieur de Commines, I will force my way to the King, and if all three perish, they perish." For a moment he stood and stared angrily at me, then, as once before, his face softened. "Oh, you poor child! There are six separate guards, and you could not pass the first of them." "What! Not with that?" and I held the signet up towards him. "That?" He bent forward uncomprehendingly. But a single glance was enough, and as he understood, I saw him wince. "The ring de Helville carried away? I remember now. When the King asked for it I said I had given it to him that there might be no delay on his return. He was so eager for news that he held me excused." "Then you are beaten, Monseigneur?" "Yes and No," he answered. "I will tell you the whole truth, Mademoiselle. The King is too ill; this time I fear he is dying." "And yet I shall see him. Monsieur de Helville is more to me than any King living or dying." "Mademoiselle, you force me to say more than is safe. Alas! it is you who are beaten. You might as well cry to a log upon the bed. The King is unconscious. Had that not been so, I could not have left him. The express from Poictiers sapped his strength." "The news of Gaspard's arrest? That is the finger of God, Monseigneur." "Perhaps so," he answered moodily. "But remember, Mademoiselle de Narbonne, in spite of all, he is my King and my friend." There was a silence between us while I tried to tear a way out of the net that bound me, then, in desperation, I cried out-- "Monsieur de Commines, you are a subtle, supple courtier-politician, playing your own game through the hand of the King. Is all this true?" "True, God so judge me," he replied solemnly. "But, Mademoiselle, I do not say there is no hope; I believe the stupor will pass. I promise you this, so soon as the King's brain is clear you shall see him. I owe de Helville too much not to make the effort, and even though my debt was less, your courage and your love would compel me." At the time I thought that my holding the King's signet had much to do with the compulsion, but I curbed my tongue. For the present I was helpless, and the future was in the hands of his good-will. Therefore I only said-- "I hold your promise, Monseigneur; on the faith of a Christian gentleman?" "You hold it, Mademoiselle," answered he, earnestly; "and now, while I return to the King, you must eat, drink, and rest. Oh! not for your own sake," he went on, as I shook my head in protest, "but for Monsieur de Helville's. If you are to move the King at all, you must have strength to command your every word and act, no matter under what provocation."