The King's Esquires; Or, The Jewel of France

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

  SO DOES DENIS.

  It was the very next day that Denis, after his attendance upon Francis,who had gone to join Henry, was alone in the King's apartments, standingin the deep recess of a casement window, which he had flung open, andwas leaning out gazing at the landscape stretching far and wide beforehim, and giving him a silvery glimpse here and there of the brightglittering river.

  He was so lost in admiration of the scene that he did not hear the dooropen, and was only made conscious of some one being in the room behindhim by hearing a low muttering voice say:

  "A blind search! A blind search! What shall I do next to bring it toan end?"

  Denis made a sharp movement, catching the sleeve of his doublet againstthe copper fastening which held open the casement; and as he turned anervous hand suddenly seized him by the shoulder in a painful grasp, forit was as if fingers of steel were pressing into his flesh.

  "You, Master Leoni!" he cried, as the clutch was relaxed as quickly asit came. "Yes, my boy," said the doctor; and the lad shivered slightlyas the fierce fire in one of Leoni's eyes died into a pleasant smile,though the cold fixed stare in the other remained the same as of old.

  "I thought I was alone."

  "Well, boy; do you like your life here in the castle?"

  "Oh yes," cried Denis; "but when are we to have, Carrbroke and I,another fencing lesson?"

  "At any time when the King does not require my services," said Leoni,smiling. "Why, you will soon be a better swordsman than I."

  "Oh, sir!" cried Denis deprecatingly.

  "Well, say as good, my dear boy, when you know all that I can teachyou."

  "And you will teach me all, sir?"

  "Of course, of course," said the doctor, laying his hand caressingly onthe boy's shoulder. "You are a pupil of whom I feel proud. But tellme," he continued, as he passed his hand softly along the muscles of thelad's arm, "what about the stiffness and pain?"

  "All gone, sir. That salve you applied seemed to make it pass entirelyaway."

  "That is good," said the doctor, nodding his head. "But tell me, boy,was I speaking aloud when I came into the room?"

  "Not aloud, sir, but just so that I could hear what you said."

  "Ah, a bad habit! And what did I say?"

  "It was something about a blind search."

  "Ah, yes; and you guessed at once what I meant?"

  "Why, yes, sir. I immediately thought that you meant the--"

  With a quick movement, accompanied by a smile, Leoni's long, thin, brownfingers were laid upon Denis's lips.

  "Hist, boy! We are in King Henry's palace, where walls may have ears.Speak it not. We understand one another, and know what in our master'sservice we have come to seek. Denis, you are a boy in years, but I findyou in many things a man at heart, and there should be no halfconfidences between us two. I like you, my boy, and always have, sternand cold and severe as I may have seemed. My face may have been hard,but there are moments when my heart is soft. Denis, my son, we areworking for the King and for France, and so far I am at fault. Ithought my task would be so easy that, once here, that which we seekwould be within my grasp; and so far it seems beyond me, while thegolden hours glide swiftly away, and before many days have passed ourvisit with all its risks must have an end. I shiver sometimes, boy, asI stand close by and listen to our master's careless, light-heartedspeech. Again and again he has been within an ace of betraying who heis, and at any moment some of the sharper-witted of the courtiers bywhom we are surrounded may grasp the truth, and then, Denis, as Francishas said, we are in the lion's den and the risk is great."

  "Yes, sir; I see all that," said Denis, in a low earnest whisper. "Thenyou have no idea where the jewel of France is kept?"

  "Not the slightest, boy, and I want you to use your eyes and ears tohelp me all you can. There is that young English esquire. You aregreat friends; perhaps he might know. I don't like asking you to playthe spy and betray your friend, but the English are our natural enemies.We are here upon a sacred mission, and we must quiet our conscienceswith the recollection that what we seek was torn by conquest from theValois diadem."

  "Yes, I know, sir," whispered Denis eagerly, influenced as he was by themasterful spirit and words of his tutor.

  "Then try, boy; try your best to help me, while we have time. Youpromise me this?"

  "Of course, sir. But what," cried Denis, with his eyes flashing, "if Ialready know?"

  "Boy!" cried Leoni excitedly; and he caught his young companion by theshoulders, but checked himself, instantly drew back, walked slowlyacross the room to the door, opened it and looked out, and then cameback and signed to Denis to close the window, while he softly moved hereand there; and the boy noticed how, as if to examine the beauty of thesilken hangings, he touched them again and again, as if to make surethat no listener was concealed behind.

  Leoni ended by joining his young companions in the deep embrasure of thewindow, taking him by the arm, and pressing him towards the diamondpanes of the casement as if to draw his attention to something outbeyond the terrace and the steep slope below.

  "Now," he said, in a quick whisper, "speak beneath your breath. Youknow where?"

  "In the tall, square-turreted cabinet three parts of the way down thelong corridor by the King's private apartments."

  "Ah, I have not been there, and dared not raise suspicion by askingpermission to go. Are you sure?"

  "Carrbroke has as good as told me it was there. He spoke of a charmwith fateful powers of its own, and that the King held gems as sacredrelics."

  "Ah!" ejaculated Leoni softly. "Boy, you make me begin to live."

  "Shall I tell you something more, sir?"

  "There can be nothing more that I wish to hear," whispered Leoni. "Boy,you have filled an empty void. But speak; tell me what more you have tosay."

  "The King has a secret passage whose door is in the arras two chambersdown the long corridor farther on."

  "Young Carrbroke told you so?"

  "Yes."

  "Bah! But it would be a secret way known only to himself, of no availto us. It could not be found. Once the relic is in our hands, a silkenrope and some window must be our way."

  "But I know the secret of the passage, sir, how to open the door, andwhere the passage leads."

  "Where, boy, where?" cried Leoni excitedly.

  "Down to the grounds, and then by a long winding alley through theprivate gardens to the riverside."

  "Hist!" whispered Leoni. "No more, boy, for your words have seemed toburn. Ah, it is strange! The workings too of fate. What I havestriven for in vain has come to you without seeking, without thought.It is fate, boy, fate. The spirit of our great nation is working on ourbehalf, and has made you the chosen instrument of our success. We must,we shall succeed, and through you. Now silence; not another word butthese. I say silence, Denis. It is for our master's sake and for _laFrance_."