Stanley J. Weyman

“ At nine o’clock I sent Frison out again; and at ten, and at eleven—always with the same result. I was like a man waiting, and looking, and, above all, listening for a reprieve, and as sick as any craven. But when he came back at eleven, I gave up hope and dressed myself carefully. I suppose I had an odd look then, however; for Frison stopped me at the door, and asked me, with evident alarm, where I was going.
I put the little man aside gently. ‘To the tables,’ I said. ‘To make a big throw, my friend.’
It was a fine morning; sunny, keen, pleasant. Even the streets smelled fresh. ”

“ They fell off like rats,—just like rats,—until he was left standing alone. And I have seen him!’—Frison lifted up his eyes and his hands and drew in his breath—‘Ah, I have seen the King look shabby beside him! And his eye! I would not like to meet it now.’
‘Pish!’ I growled. ‘Some one has fooled you. Men are wiser than that.’
‘So? Well, your excellency understands. ”

“ Your excellency will pardon the children,’ he continued, as I took the old seat on the three-legged stool before the hearth. ‘The night is cold and there is no fire in your room.’
While he ran to and fro with my cloak and bags, little Gil, to whom I had stood at St. Sulpice’s—borrowing ten crowns the same day, I remember—came shyly to play with my sword hilt. ‘So you expected me back when you heard the news, Frison, did you?’ I said, taking the lad on my knee. ”