"No, but as the man whom the King delighteth to honour," she
answered, making a face at me. "Ha! ha! I am not afraid! I am
not afraid! I am not afraid!"

There was a good deal of laughter at this. "What shall I do to
her, M. de Rosny?" Mademoiselle cried out, coming to my rescue.

"If you will have the goodness to kiss her, mademoiselle," I
answered, "I will consider it an advance, and as one of the
council of the King's finances, my credit should be good for the
re--"

"Thank you!" the King cried, nimbly cutting me short. "But as
my finances seem to be the security, faith, I will see to the
repayment myself! Let them start again; but I am afraid that my
twenty crowns are yours, Grand Master; your man is in fine play."

I looked into the court. Diego, lithe and sinewy, with his
cropped black hair, high colour, and quick shallow eyes, bounded
here and there, swift and active as a panther. Seeing him thus,
with his heart in his returns, I could not but doubt; more, as
the game proceeded, amid the laughter and jests and witty sallies
of the courtiers, I felt the doubt grow; the riddle became each
minute more abstruse, the man more mysterious. But that was of
no moment now.

A little after four o'clock the match ended in my favour; on
which the King, tired of inaction, sprang up, and declaring that
he would try Diego's strength himself, entered the court. I