"I believe you; I am sure I may trust you. I must tell you a part of my secret. I belong to the guards of Madame de Montpensier."
"In these troublous times, monsieur, every one guards himself as well as he can, and the house of Guise being a princely one--"
"Well, I had a mission to Amboise; when on the road I saw my enemy; you know the rest."--"Yes."
"Stopped by this wound, I must report to the duchesse the reason of my delay."
"Will you therefore put into her own hands the letter I am about to write?"
"It is needless, my soldier will get my tablets."
He instructed the soldier to take them from his pocket, opened them by a spring, wrote some lines in pencil, and shut them again. It was impossible for any one who did not know the secret to open them without breaking them.
"Monsieur," said Ernanton, "in three days these tablets shall be delivered."
The duke, exhausted by talking, and by the effort of writing the letter, sank back on his straw.
"Monsieur," said the soldier, in a tone little in harmony with his dress, "you bound me very tight, it is true, but I shall regard my chains as bonds of friendship, and will prove it to you some day."
And he held out a hand whose whiteness Ernanton had already remarked.
"So be it," said he, smiling; "it seems I have gained two friends."
"Do not despise them; one has never too many."
"That is true," said Ernanton; and he left them.
Ernanton arrived at Paris on the third day. At three in the afternoon he entered the Louvre, among his comrades. The Gascons called out in surprise at seeing him, and M. de Loignac looked gloomy, and signed to him to enter a little room, where he always gave his private audiences.
"This is nice behavior, monsieur," said he; "five days and nights absent; and you whom I thought so well of."
"To follow M. de Mayenne, and I have followed him."
"He left that same evening, and that seemed to me suspicious."
Ernanton related clearly and energetically all that had taken place. When Ernanton mentioned the letter:
"You have it, monsieur?" asked De Loignac.
"Diable! that deserves attention; come with me, I beg of you."
Ernanton followed De Loignac to the courtyard of the Louvre. All was preparing for the king's going out, and M. d'Epernon was seeing two new horses tried, which had been sent from England, as a present from Elizabeth to Henri, and which were that day to be harnessed to the king's carriage for the first time.