"What, Monseigneur! without a moment's rest?" said Aloyse. "Besides, you forget that it is only seven o'clock and that you would find the doors closed; they are barely opened at nine." "That's true," said Gabriel,--"two hours more to wait! Give me the patience to wait two hours, O Lord, as I have already waited two months! At all events, I shall be able to find Monsieur de Coligny and Monsieur de Guise," he continued. "No, for in all likelihood they are at the Louvre," said Aloyse. "Besides, the king doesn't receive before noon, and you cannot see him earlier than that, I fear. So you will have three hours to converse with Monsieur l'Amiral, and Monsieur le Lieutenant-Général of the kingdom,--that, you know, is the new title with which the king at the present grave crisis has clothed Monsieur de Guise. Meanwhile, Monsieur, you surely will not refuse to eat something, and to receive your old and faithful servants, who have so long wished in vain for your return." Just at this moment--as if to occupy the young man's mind and effectually beguile his weary waiting--Martin-Guerre, apprised doubtless of his master's arrival, burst into the room, paler even from joy than from the suffering he had undergone. "What! Is it you? Is it really yourself, Monseigneur?" he cried. "Oh, what happiness!" But Gabriel gave a very cold reception to the poor squire's transports of delight. "If by good luck I am here at last, Martin," said he, "you must agree that it is not by your efforts: for you did your very best to leave me a prisoner forever." "What! you too, Monseigneur!" said Martin, in consternation. "You too, instead of putting me right at the first word, as I hoped, accuse me of having had those ten thousand crowns. Who knows what will come next? Perhaps you will even go so far as to say that you commissioned me to receive them and bring them to you?" "Of course I did," said Gabriel, quite stupefied with surprise. "So, then," rejoined the poor squire, in a dull voice, "you believe me, Martin-Guerre, to be capable of basely appropriating money which did not belong to me,--money designed to procure my master's liberty?" "No, Martin, no," replied Gabriel, earnestly, touched by the tone in which his faithful servant spoke. "My suspicions have never, I swear, led me to suspect your honesty; and Aloyse and I were just saying that very thing. But the money was stolen from you or you lost it on the road when you were coming back to me." "Coming back to you!" echoed Martin. "But where, Monseigneur? Since we left St. Quentin together may God strike me dead if I know where you have been! Where was I to come back to you?" "At Calais. Martin. However light and foolish your brain may be, you surely can't have forgotten Calais!" "How in the world could I forget what I never knew?" said Martin-Guerre, calmly. "Why, you miserable wretch, do you mean to perjure yourself in that matter?" cried Gabriel.