Be that as it may--and I do not doubt this,
any more than I ever doubted the reality of the affection in
which he held me--on a sudden he raised his hand and beckoned to
me.
I went down to him gravely, and not hurriedly. He looked at me
with some signs of confusion in his face. "You are late this
morning," he said.
"I have been on your Majesty's business," I answered.
"I do not doubt that," he replied querulously, his eyes
wandering. "I am not--I am troubled this morning." And after a
fashion he had when he was not at his ease, he ground his heel
into the soil and looked down at the mark. "The queen is not
well. Sillery has seen her, and will tell you so."
M. de Sillery, whose constant opposition to me at the council-
board I have elsewhere described, began to affirm it. I let him
go on for a little time, and then interrupted him brusquely. "I
think it was you," I said, "who nominated Ferret to be one of the
King's clerks."
"Ferret?" he exclaimed, reddening at my tone, while the King,
who knew me well, pricked up his ears.
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