"And yet you seemed anxious to taste the broiled fowl of _La Belle etoile_. As for me, I am dying of starvation!"
"Well, Monsieur de Coconnas, here is a fine chance for you to make use of your arguments on virtue and to put your admiration for Plutarch to the proof, for that great writer says somewhere: "It is good to accustom the soul to pain and the stomach to hunger"--"_Prepon esti ten men psvchen odune, ton de gastera semo asken._""
"Ah, indeed! So you know Greek?" exclaimed Coconnas in surprise.
"Faith, yes," replied La Mole, "my tutor taught me."
"By Heaven! count, your fortune is made if that is so; you will compose poetry with Charles IX. and you will talk Greek with Queen Marguerite!"
"Not to reckon that I can still talk Gascon with the King of Navarre!"
added La Mole, laughing.
At this moment the door communicating with the King"s apartment opened, a step was heard, and a shade was seen approaching in the darkness. This shade materialized into a body. This body belonged to Monsieur de Besme.
He scrutinized both gentlemen, so as to pick out the one he wanted, and then motioned Coconnas to follow him.
Coconnas waved his hand to La Mole.
De Besme conducted Coconnas to the end of the gallery, opened a door, and stood at the head of a staircase.
He looked cautiously round, then up and down.
"Monsir de Gogonnas," said he, "vere are you staying?"
"At _La Belle etoile_, Rue de l"Arbre Sec."
"Goot, goot! dat is glose by. Go pack to your hodel gwick and to-nide"--
He looked around him again.
"Well, to-night?"
"Vell, gome here mit a vite gross in your hat. De ba.s.svord is "Gouise."
Hush! nod a vord."
"What time am I to come?"
"Ven you hear de dogsin."
"What"s the dogsin?" asked Coconnas.
"Ja! de dogsin--pum! pum!"
"Oh! the tocsin!"
"Ja, vot elus tid I zay?"
"Good--I shall be here," said Coconnas.
And, saluting De Besme, he took his departure, asking himself:
"What the devil does he mean and why should the tocsin be rung? No matter! I persist in my opinion: Monsieur de Besme is a charming Tedesco--Why not wait for the Comte de la Mole? Ah faith, no! he will probably be invited to supper with the King of Navarre."
And Coconnas set forth for the Rue de l"Arbre Sec, where the sign of _La Belle etoile_ like a lodestone attracted him.
Meantime a gallery door which led to the King of Navarre"s apartment opened, and a page approached Monsieur de la Mole.
"You are the Comte de la Mole?" said he.
"That is my name."
"Where do you lodge?"
"At _La Belle etoile_, Rue de l"Arbre Sec."
"Good, that is close to the Louvre. Listen--his majesty the King of Navarre has desired me to inform you that he cannot at present receive you; perhaps he may send for you to-night; but if to-morrow morning you have received no word, come to the Louvre."
"But supposing the sentinel refuse me admission."
"True: the countersign is "Navarre;" that word will open all doors to you."
"Thanks."
"Wait, my dear sir, I am ordered to escort you to the wicket gate for fear you should get lost in the Louvre."
"By the way, how about Coconnas?" said La Mole to himself as soon as he was fairly in the street. "Oh, he will remain to supper with the Duc de Guise."
But as soon as he entered Maitre la Huriere"s the first thing La Mole saw was Coconnas seated before a gigantic omelet.
"Oho!" cried Coconnas, laughing heartily, "I see you have no more dined with the King of Navarre than I have supped with the Duc de Guise."
"Faith, no."
"Are you hungry now?"
"I believe I am."
"In spite of Plutarch?"
"Count," said La Mole, laughing, "Plutarch says in another place: "Let him that hath, share with him that hath not." Are you willing for the love of Plutarch to share your omelet with me? Then while we eat we will converse on virtue!"
"Oh, faith, not on that subject," cried Coconnas. "It is all right when one is at the Louvre and there is danger of eavesdroppers and one"s stomach is empty. Sit down and have something to eat with me."
"There, now I see that fate has decidedly made us inseparable. Are you going to sleep here?"
"I have not the least idea."
"Nor I either."