Chicot the Jester

ome time. All at once the king jumped u

" asked he i

ath on m

en the lamp also went out, and the room was lighted only by the rays of the moon. At t

inner, art

enri, with ch

ery hoarse voice to come from heav

ar?" asked

m bowed down

exterior mummeries which you performed ye

ught Chicot. He appro

?" asked the king,

ai

at

r bed quietly, a

hy

of the Lord may

He will spar

shed the king gently ou

chair, and le

; he began t

said the voice; "you

the king's voice. Then he whispered to Henri,

can it

ai

" said t

icot; "I am a hardened si

dge your crime

a great traitor to my cousin

the king, "that

ue to the Poles, who chose me for king, and whom I abandoned

enri again: "that

let me

said th

r D'Alen?on, to whom it belonged of right, as I had f

" said

said th

e from France my brother-in-law, the King of Na

ered the ki

God, by trying to hide wha

tics," said

doleful voice, "is it my pr

es

that I am effeminate,

is t

ted my wife-such

one's self, and prefer her to all

ot, "then I have

ade others sin

is t

ou do not send him home to-morrow to hi

g, "the voice seems to be fr

a duke, to recompense h

the angel is much inter

out listening, "this voice

side, you mean

oice from

oice comes from that wall, Henri?

sphe

seem to recognize it. Go and visit him; he i

showed it to the king so laughing and amus

asonable, and do as I tell you. Go and s

he speak

For the last quarter of an hour I have been talkin

n to believe you are r

, t

idor. He had scarcely entered it, when he heard the

nconstant as a woman, as soft as a S

soft skin-such white hands-such a changeable mind? B

louder, and that it seemed to come from St. Luc's room, in which he could see a light

"is it possible that they hav

dful, and beside him, leaning on his shoulder, was a lady in white, who every now and then took the tube from him, and called through

l! such a trick on me! Oh! they shall pay dearly for

, while St. Luc, his face full of terror, fell on

m the bed, "Ah! mercy!-

umpet from the hands of St. Luc, raised it as

eman; you have no r

as Chicot, who, hearing the noise, judged that his presence was necessary as

after the Fall. You send th

es

be the exterm

and St. Luc, and waving the trumpet ove

have lost by your disobedience

St. Luc, who had hi

ill it, but be twenty league