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But I had no heart to enter into his jocularity This woue had destroyed everything

"I see no likelihood of being her daughter's husband," I answered hed "Down on your knees, then," said he, "and render thanks to Heaven"

But I shookcoedy"

"Corows so sad with being King of France! Tell me what vexes you"

"Mademoiselle de Lavedan has promised that she will marry me only when I have saved her father from the scaffold I came to do it, very full of hope, Sire But his wife has forestalled lance fell; his countenance resuain, and in thethat was very like affection

"You know that I love you, Marcel," he said gently "Were you ate, dissolute knave, and your scandals have rung in my ears more than once; yet you are different from these other fools, and at least you have never weariedI would not lose you, Marcel; as lose you I shall if you uedoc, for I take it that she is too sweet a flower to let wither in the stale atmosphere of Courts This man, this Vicomte de Lavedan, has earned his death Why should I not let him die, since if he dies you will not wed?"

"Do you ask me why, Sire?" said I "Because they call you Louis the Just, and because no king was everof the title"

He winced; he pursed his lips, and shot a glance at La Fosse, as deep in the mysteries of his volu a quill, he sat toying with it

"Because they call me the Just, I must let justice take its course," he answered presently

"But," I objected, with a sudden hope, "the course of justice cannot lead to the headsman in the case of the Vicomte de Lavedan"

"Why not?" And his solemn eyes met mine across the table

"Because he took no active part in the revolt If he was a traitor, he was no more than a traitor at heart, and until a man coour His wife has made his defection clear; but it were unfair to punish hiainst you, Sire"