inquired Lavedan, with the air of a man setting an unanswerable
question.

"Mon Dieu!" I cried, "will the world never forget that indiscretion?
An indiscretion of youth, no doubt much exaggerated outside Court
circles."

The Vicomte eyed me in some astonishment for a moment.

"Monsieur de Lesperon," he said at length, "you appear to hold this
Bardelys in high esteem. He has a staunch supporter in you and a
stout advocate. Yet me you cannot convince." And he shook his head
solemnly. "Even if I did not hold him to be such a man as I have
pronounced him, but were to account him a paragon of all the virtues,
his coming hither remains an act that I must resent."

"But why, Monsieur le Vicomte?"

"Because I know the errand that brings him to Lavedan. He comes
to woo my daughter."

Had he flung a bomb into my bed he could not more effectively
have startled me.

"It astonishes you, eh?" he laughed bitterly. "But I can assure
you that it is so. A month ago I was visited by the Comte de
Chatellerault - another of His Majesty's fine favourites. He came
unbidden; offered no reason for his coming, save that he was making
a tour of the province for his amusement. His acquaintance with
me was of the slightest, and I had no desire that it should