"I'll do it, Sire, I'll do it, though there should be twenty Counts of Narbonne to say No! Nor will there be time lost on the road. Once I have the boy I shall make straight for Plessis----? "Tse! Tse!" hissed Louis between his teeth, while he wagged a finger hastily at me. "No, no, you go too fast. Who bade you make straight for Plessis? The hand of France must not appear in this affair at all." "But, Sire, my credentials?" "Credentials? What? Parchments with a King's seal and countersign to certify you have the authority of France to go a-thieving? Why not ask for the oriflamme at once! By the splendour of God! d'Argenton, but the fellow thinks himself an ambassador plenipotentiary at the very least! Credentials! Authority under my hand to abduct Gaston de Foix! Do you take me for a fool, Monsieur?" "Then, Sire," said I bluntly, "if I am caught, I hang." "Ah!" answered Louis unctuously, and patting a saint's figure haphazard as he spoke, "All is as God wills, and surely it is as honourable to die for peace as to die in war?" "Then, Sire, having secured the boy?" "Having, with the blessing of God, secured the boy, Monsieur de Helville, you will then--where is the letter I bade Rochfort seal with your signet, d'Argenton? It should be amongst the papers on the table." "With my signet?" answered Monseigneur uneasily, "I have no knowledge--the Chancellor did not convey to me--that is, I had not heard----" "No, no; there was no need you should. Ah! here it is," and Louis, pushing aside some parchments which I do not doubt he had placed where they lay that they might conceal the folded paper he now drew towards him with the tips of his claws, lifted an oblong letter sealed broadly upon the back, and tied with silk, "Rochfort prepared it for me. Write your name across the corner, my friend, if you please. Since Monsieur desires credentials, this will serve him. So! your hand shakes, de Talmont, why is that? Now, Monsieur de Helville, attend; once, by God's grace you have secured the boy, open this and do what it bids you. That is all; d'Argenton, take him away and give him what he will need. Credentials! there are your credentials, money, money, and again money! What man of the world asks for finer credentials? Tell him the route too, as he travels it he will learn now far the arm of France can stretch whether to succour or to strike." Pushing himself to his feet, stiffly and with evident pain, Louis turned towards the altar behind him and bowed humbly, crossing his breast repeatedly, then faced again towards me. "The God of peace go with you, Monsieur de Helville, and at all times and in all acts remember Him you serve. Ay, ay," he went on, his voice hardening, "and remember, too, your Brigitta of the white limbs and red mouth, for, by the same God, I'll not forget her or you."