"I don't understand you!"
"No, the shoe is on the other foot--I understand you," I replied
drily. "Chut, man!" I continued, "you don't make a cats-paw of
me. I see the game. You are for sitting in Madame de Sourdis'
seat, and giving your son a Hat, and your groom a
Comptrollership, and your niece a--"
"Hush, hush, M. de Rosny," he muttered, turning white and red,
and wiping his brow with his kerchief. "MON DIEU! your words
might--"
"If overheard, make things very unpleasant for M. de Perrot," I
said.
"And M. de Rosny?"
I shrugged my shoulders contemptuously. "Tush, man!" I said.
"Do you think that I sit in no safer seat than that?"
"Ah! But when Madame de Beaufort is Queen?" he said slily.
"If she ever is," I replied, affecting greater confidence than I
at that time felt.
"Well, to be sure," he said slowly, "if she ever is." And he
looked towards the King and his companion, who were still
chatting gaily. Then he stole a crafty glance at me. "Do you
wish her to be?" he muttered.
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