"And no one interfered with you?" said the Duke, who was examining the young man closely. "No, monseigneur. I told the first soldier, who made as though he would stop me, that I had come on duty to wait on the two Queens, and that my father is furrier to their Majesties." "What is doing in Paris?" asked the Cardinal. "They are still trying to discover the murderer who killed President Minard." "Are not you the son of my surgeon's greatest friend?" asked the Duc de Guise, deceived by Christophe's expression of candor, now that his fears were allayed. "Yes, monseigneur." The Grand Master went out, hastily lifted the curtain which screened the double doors of the council-chamber, and showed his face to the crowd, among whom he looked for the King's surgeon-in-chief. Ambroise Paré, standing in a corner, was aware of a glance shot at him by the Duke, and went to him. Ambroise, already inclined to the Reformed religion, ended by adopting it; but the friendship of the Guises and of the French kings preserved him from the various disasters that befell the heretics. The Duke, who felt that he owed his life to Ambroise Paré, had appointed him surgeon-in-chief to the King within a few days past. "What is it, monseigneur," said the leech. "Is the King ill? I should not be surprised." "Why?" "The Queen is too fascinating," said the surgeon. "Ah!" replied the Duke, surprised. "However, that is not the case," he went on after a pause. "Ambroise, I want you to see a friend of yours," and he led him on to the threshold of the council-chamber door and pointed to Christophe. "Ah, to be sure," cried the surgeon, holding out his hand to the youth. "How is your father, my boy?" "Very well, Master Ambroise," Christophe replied. "And what are you doing at Court?" Paré went on. "It is not your business to carry parcels; your father wants to make a lawyer of you. Do you want the protection of these two great Princes to become a pleader?" "Why, yes, indeed," replied Christophe, "but for my father's sake; and if you can intercede for us, add your entreaties," he went on, with a piteous air, "to obtain an order from Monseigneur the Grand Master for the payment of the moneys due to my father, for he does not know which way to turn----" The Cardinal and his brother looked at each other, and seemed to be satisfied. "Leave us now," said the Grand Master to Ambroise with a nod.--"And you, my friend," he added to Christophe, "settle your business quickly, and get back to Paris. My secretary will give you a pass, for, by Heaven, the roads will not be pleasant to travel on!" Neither of the brothers had the slightest suspicion of the important interests that lay in Christophe's hands, being now quite assured that he was certainly the son of Lecamus, a good Catholic, purveyor to the Court, and that he had come solely to get his money. "Take him round to be near the door of the Queen's chamber; she will ask for him no doubt," said the Cardinal to the surgeon.