CHAPTER XII.
A PERILOUS EMBASSY Four or five days after our visit to Bettina, I met De Grammont at Charing Cross, and he surprised me with an invitation to his house that night to meet Monsieur l'Abbe du Boise at supper.
"The king and a dozen other gentlemen will be present," he said, "but there will be no ladies.

Monsieur l'Abbe, being of the church, is not a ladies' man, and besides, ladies have sharper eyes than men, and might see much that is intended to remain unseen." The count's remark seemed to settle the question of the Abbe's identity, and I hastened to Frances with the news.

She assured me that she was ready to die of fright, but showed no outward sign of dissolution, and when I complimented her on her power of self-control, said:-- "Fortunately, I am part hypocrite, and can easily act a part." "You have a hard one ahead of you," I returned, "and will need all your strength before it is played to the end." * * * * * I was on hand early at De Grammont's supper, but found several gentlemen ahead of me, awaiting, with the count in his parlor, the arrival of the king.

Soon after I entered the room, De Grammont presented me to the Abbe.

I was convinced at once that he was not George Hamilton.