"Well, Monsieur d'Exmès, despite the walk which we took together to the Rue St. Jacques, you retained your freedom of action, and only bound yourself at your own discretion. But now you seem to me to be too high in favor at court, and justly so, not to be enrolled in the king's army, as against the heresy, as it is called." "I think that you are mistaken, Monsieur l'Amiral," said Gabriel, whose eyes never left the king. "I have every reason to think, on the other hand, that I shall very soon have the right to march in the ranks of the oppressed against the oppressors." "What! What do you mean?" asked the admiral. "You are pale, Gabriel, and your voice falters. Pray, what is the matter?" "Oh, nothing, nothing, Monsieur l'Amiral! But I must leave you. _Au revoir_! We shall soon meet again." Gabriel had observed an acquiescent gesture made by the king; whereupon Monsieur de Montmorency had left the room at once, darting a triumphant glance at Diane as he went. However, the reception came to an end a few moments later; and Gabriel, as he was bowing to the king on taking his leave, ventured to say,-- "Sire, until to-morrow." "Until to-morrow, Monsieur," the king replied. But as he spoke Henri avoided Gabriel's eye; he even turned away, nor did he smile any longer, while Madame de Poitiers's face was beaming. Gabriel, whom every one thought to see radiant with joy and hope, withdrew with grief and terror at his heart. All the evening he haunted the neighborhood of the Châtelet. He regained his courage to some slight extent when time passed without his seeing Monsieur de Montmorency leave the prison. Then he felt the royal signet on his finger, and recalled the solemn words of Henri II., which left no chance for doubt, and which could not conceal a deception,--"The object of your sublime and holy ambition shall be restored to you." Courage! The night which still separated Gabriel from the decisive moment seemed more than a year long. CHAPTER XXIX PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES What Gabriel thought and what he suffered during those mortal hours God only knows; for when he returned to his own house he said nothing to his retainers, nor even to his nurse. From that moment began an absorbed and concentrated dumb life, so to speak,--a life all action, and very sparing of words, to which he devoted himself strictly from this time on, as if he had tacitly taken vows of silence. Consequently, the disappointed hopes, energetic resolutions, projects of love or vengeance,--everything, in short, that Gabriel thought or dreamed, or vowed in his own heart that night remained a secret between his noble heart and his God. Not till eight o'clock could he present himself at the Châtelet, with the ring given him by the king,--the talisman which was to open all the doors, not to him alone, but to his father. Until six in the morning Gabriel remained alone in his room, and refused to speak with any person.