irresistible Monarch, _I_ am!" he seems to be saying. "I'll follow
this up." So he struts down with a fixed smile on his face, like the
impudent young dog he is, and pats his chest passionately at her.
_Louise_ startled. "Don't go away," says _Louis_ in pantomime. "I say,
there's an arbour in that shrubbery,--let's go and sit in it--_do_!"
_Louise_ undecided; tries to excuse herself. "Earwiggy? not a bit of
it!" _Louis_ assures her (he wouldn't be so confident about it if he
had seen his Gardeners at work); "_come_ along!" _Louise_ still timid;
suggests spiders. _Louis_ vows that no spider shall harm her while he
lives to protect her, and draws her gently towards the shrubbery; he
does this several times, but on each occasion her dread of insects
returns, and she recoils shrinking. The King puts his arms round
her to give her courage, and at this instant, _Raoul de Bragelonne_
returns, sees the back of someone embracing the maiden who was
betrothed to him in childhood, draws his sword--and recognises his
Sovereign. "Whew!" his expression says plainly enough. "Now I _have_
put my foot in it nicely!" He takes off his hat and apologises
profusely; but _Louis_ is indignant. What's the use of being a _Roi
Soleil_ if you can't ask a lady of your Court to sit in an arbour
without being interrupted like this? He swells visibly, and intimates
that he will pay _Raoul_ out for this in various highly unpleasant
ways. _Louise_ kneels to him for pardon. _Louis_ subsides gradually,
but still shows the whites of his eyes; finally he tells _Raoul_ to be
off. _Raoul_ is submissive--only wants to know where he's to _go_ to.
_Louis_ points to Heaven, evidently regal politeness forbids him to
indicate any other place. _Raoul_ goes off perplexed, and no wonder.
Then, as the Argument explains, "_a trumpet-call is heard_," and
_Louise "bewildered_," perhaps because it is the signal to go and
dress for dinner, escapes to the palace; and _Louis_, feeling that
the arbour is only a question of time, follows. Then Musketeers come