"
"Very true," he answered, suavely. "And I wish I could stay with
you. But it was not for pleasure I came. The King sent me. He
desires to know--"
"What?" I said.
"If you know anything of Mademoiselle D'Oyley. Between
ourselves, M. le Duc--"
I looked at him in amazement. "Why," I said, "what on earth has
the girl done now?"
"Disappeared," he answered.
"But she had done that before."
"Yes," he said, "and the King had your message. But--"
"But what?" I said sternly.
"He thought that you might wish to supplement it for his private
use."
"To supplement it?"
"Yes. The truth is," Varennes continued, looking at me
doubtfully, "the King has information which leads him to suppose
that she may be here."
"She may be anywhere," I answered in a tone that closed his
mouth, "but she is not here. And you may tell the King so from
me!"
Though he had begun life as a cook, few could be more arrogant
than Varennes on occasion; but he possessed the valuable knack of
knowing with whom he could presume, and never attempted to impose
on me.
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