In Kings Byways

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In Kings' Byways, by Stanley J. Weyman

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Title: In Kings' Byways
Author: Stanley J. Weyman
Release Date: August 16, 2007 [EBook #22334]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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IN KINGS' BYWAYS
BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN AUTHOR OF "A GENTLEMAN OF FRANCE," "THE CASTLE INN," "COUNT HANNIBAL," ETC.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 91 AND 93 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 1902
COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN
All rights reserved.
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BY STANLEY J. WEYMAN
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[Illustration: A DAUGHTER OF THE GIRONDE
Page 326]

CONTENTS
PART I
PAGE
FLORE, 1
CRILLON'S STAKE, 51
FOR THE CAUSE, 86
THE KING'S STRATAGEM, 131
THE HOUSE ON THE WALL, 152
HUNT THE OWLER, 177
THE TWO PAGES, 194
PART II
THE DIARY OF A STATESMAN
EPISODE OF THE FOWL IN THE POT, 213
EPISODE OF THE BOXWOOD FIRE, 238
EPISODE OF THE SNOWBALL, 266
PART III
KING TERROR
A DAUGHTER OF THE GIRONDE, 295
IN THE NAME OF THE LAW, 329

PART I

IN KINGS' BYWAYS

FLORE
(1643)
It was about a month after my marriage--and third clerk to the most noble the Bishop of Beauvais, and even admitted on occasions to write in his presence and prepare his minutes, who should marry if I might not?--it was about a month after my marriage, I say, that the thunderbolt, to which I have referred, fell and shattered my fortunes. I rose one morning--they were firing guns for the victory of Rocroy, I remember, so that it must have been eight weeks or more after the death of the late king, and the glorious rising of the Sun of France--and who as happy as I? A summer morning, Monsieur, and bright, and I had all I wished. The river as it sparkled and rippled against the piers of the Pont Neuf far below, the wet roofs that twinkled under our garret window, were not more brilliant than my lord the Bishop's fortunes: and as is the squirrel so is the tail. Of a certainty, I was happy that morning. I thought of the little hut under the pine wood at Gabas in Béarn, where I was born, and of my father cobbling by the unglazed window, his nightcap on his bald head, and his face plaistered where the sherd had slipped; and I puffed out my cheeks to think that I had climbed so high. High? How high might not a man climb, who had married the daughter of the Queen's under-porter, and had sometimes the ear of my lord, the Queen's minister--my lord of Beauvais in whom all men saw the coming master of France! my lord whose stately presence beamed on a world still chilled by the dead hand of Richelieu!
But that morning, that very morning, I was to learn that who climbs may fall. I went below at the usual hour; at the usual hour Monseigneur left, attended, for the Council; presently all the house was in an uproar. My lord had returned, and called for Prosper. I fancied even then that I caught something ominous in the sound of my name as it passed from lip to lip; and nervously I made all haste to the chamber. But fast as I went I did not go fast enough; one thrust me on this side, another on that. The steward cursed me as he handed me on to the head-clerk, who stormed at me; while the secretary waited for me at the door, and, seizing me by the neck, ran me into the room. "In, rascal, in!" he growled in my ear, "and I hope your skin may pay for it!"
Naturally by this time I was quaking: and Monseigneur's looks finished me. He stood