Do you follow me ?" "Yes, sire." The young man had turned deadly pale, and he shifted his feet, and opened and clasped his hands.

He had faced death a dozen times and under many different forms, but never had he felt such a sinking of the heart as came over him now.
"You are yourself a Huguenot, I understand.

I would gladly have you, then, as the first-fruit of this great measure.

Let us hear from your own lips that you, for one, are ready to follow the lead of your king in this as in other things." The young guardsman still hesitated, though his doubts were rather as to how he should frame his reply than as to what its substance should be.
He felt that in an instant Fortune had wiped out all the good turns which she had done him during his past life, and that now, far from being in her debt, he held a heavy score against her.

The king arched his eyebrows and drummed his fingers impatiently as he glanced at the downcast face and dejected bearing.
"Why all this thought ?" he cried.