I who have protected so many people! So I change my formula, sire; and when any one says to me ‘Later,’ I reply ‘Now.’ It is rest that I solicit, sire. That may be easily granted me. That will cost nobody anything.”

“I did not look for this language, monsieur, particularly from a man who has always lived among the great. You forget you are speaking to the king, to a gentleman who is, I suppose, as of good a house as yourself; and when I say later, I mean a certainty.”

“I do not at all doubt it, sire; but this is the end of the terrible truth I had to tell you. If I were to see upon that table a marshal’sstick, the sword of constable, the crown of Poland, instead of later, I swear to you, sire, that I should still say Now! Oh, excuse