"
He sprang a pace from me with a cry of rage and astonishment.
"You did that?" he screamed.
"Softly, softly, M. de Perrot," I said, in a voice which brought
him somewhat to his senses. "Certainly I did. You bade me say
whatever was necessary, and I did so. No more. If you wish,
however," I added grimly, "to explain to Madame that--"
But with a wail of lamentation he rushed from me, and in a moment
was lost in the darkness; leaving me to smile at this odd
termination of an intrigue that, but for a lad's adroitness,
might have altered the fortunes not of M. de Perrot only but of
the King my master and of France.
II. THE TENNIS BALLS.
A few weeks before the death of the Duchess of Beaufort, on
Easter Eve, 1599, made so great a change in the relations of all
at Court that "Sourdis mourning" came to be a phrase for grief,
genuine because interested, an affair that might have had a
serious issue began, imperceptibly at the time, in the veriest
trifle.
One day, while the King was still absent from Paris, I had a mind
to play tennis, and for that purpose summoned La Trape, who had
the charge of my balls, and sometimes, in the absence of better
company, played with me.
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