"What news?"
"Mironsac tells me that His Majesty is more overwrought than he has
ever seen him. You are to come to the Palace at once. I have an
order here from the King."
We went in a coach, and with all privacy, for he informed me that
His Majesty desired the affair to be kept secret, having ends of his
own to serve thereby.
I was left to wait some moments in an ante-chamber, whilst
Castelroux announced me to the King; then I was ushered into a small
apartment, furnished very sumptuously in crimson and gold, and
evidently set apart for His Majesty's studies or devotions. As I
entered, Louis's back was towards me. He was standing - a tall,
spare figure in black - leaning against the frame of a window, his
head supported on his raised left arm and his eyes intent upon the
gardens below.
He remained so until Castelroux had withdrawn and the door had closed
again; then, turning suddenly, he confronted me, his back to the
light, so that his face was in a shadow that heightened its gloom and
wonted weariness.
"Voila, Monsieur de Bardelys!" was his greeting, and unfriendly.
"See the pass to which your disobedience of my commands has brought
you."
"I would submit, Sire," I answered, "that I have been brought to it
by the incompetence of Your Majesty's judges and the ill-will of
others whom Your Majesty honours with too great a confidence, rather
than by this same disobedience of mine."
"The one and the other, perhaps," he said more softly.
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