no larger than her hand."

I remembered the knave, then, as a fashionable dog dealer, who had been
much about the court in the reign of Henry the Third and later; and I saw
at once how convenient a tool he might be made, since he could be seen in
converse with people of all ranks without arousing suspicion. The man's
face as he spoke expressed so much fear and surprise that I determined to
try what I had often found successful in the case of greater criminals, to
squeeze him for a confession while still excited by his arrest, and before
he should have had time to consider what his chances of support at the
hands of his confederates might be. I charged him therefore solemnly to
tell the whole truth as he hoped for the king's mercy. He heard me, gazing
at me piteously; but his only answer, to my surprise, was that he had
nothing to confess.

"Come, come," I replied sternly, "this will avail you nothing; if you do
not speak quickly, rogue, and to the point, we shall find means to compel
you. Who counseled you to attempt his majesty's life?"

On this he stared so stupidly at me, and exclaimed with so real an
appearance of horror: "How? I attempt the king's life? God forbid!" that I
doubted that we had before us a more dangerous rascal than I had thought,
and I hastened to bring him to the point.

"What, then," I cried, frowning, "of the stuff Master la Rivière is to
give you to take the king's life to-morrow night? Oh, we know something, I
assure you; bethink you quickly, and find your tongue if you would have an
easy death."

I expected to see his self-control break down at this proof of our