"Very true, my good cousin, and I am glad to see that you remember Bicocque and Marignan, and that warlike impulses are coming back to you again. Draw your sword from the scabbard, then, and I shall rejoice. All that I wish to say is that we must think now of nothing but war, and of honorable and glorious war. Monsieur le Cardinal de Lorraine, be good enough to write to your brother, Monsieur de Guise, to return immediately. As for internal affairs and family matters, they must be postponed; and I think we shall have to wait for the Pope's dispensation, Monsieur de Montmorency, before considering farther the proposed marriage of Madame d'Angoulême." The constable made a wry face, while the cardinal smiled, and Gabriel breathed again. "Come, gentlemen," added the king, who seemed to have shaken off his indifference all at once, "come, we must collect our thoughts now with so many serious matters to consider. The session is at an end for this morning, but the council will meet again this evening. Till evening, then, and God protect France!" "_Vive le roi_!" cried the members of the council with one voice. And the assemblage dispersed. CHAPTER XII A TWOFOLD KNAVE The constable left the king's presence buried in thought. Master Arnauld du Thill put himself in his way, and accosted him in a low voice. This took place in the grand gallery of the Louvre, "Monseigneur, one word--" "Who is it?" said the constable. "Ah, you, Arnauld? What do you want with me? I am hardly in trim to listen to you to-day." "Yes, I imagined," said Arnauld, "that Monseigneur was vexed by the turn which the marriage project concerning Madame Diane and Monseigneur François has taken." "How did you know that, you rascal? But after all, what does it matter who knows it? The wind is from a stormy quarter, and favors the Guises, that is sure." "But to-morrow it may be a fair wind for the Montmorencys," said the spy; "and if there is none but the king against this marriage to-day, why, he will be for it to-morrow. No, the fresh obstacle which bars our way, Monseigneur, is a more serious one, and comes from another quarter." "And whence can come a more serious obstacle than the disapprobation or even lukewarmness of the king?" "From Madame d'Angoulême herself, for instance," replied Arnauld. "You have scented something in that quarter, have you, my keen hound?" said the constable, drawing nearer to him, and evidently becoming interested. "And how did Monseigneur suppose that I had passed the fortnight that has elapsed?" "True, it is a long while since I have heard a word of you." "Neither directly nor indirectly, Monseigneur," replied Arnauld, proudly; "and you, who used to reproach me for being mentioned rather too often in the police-patrol reports, must confess, I think, that for two weeks I have worked shrewdly and quietly."